Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Hoolock Gibbons
Mains level: Wildlife conservation and various policy efforts
Hoolock Gibbons, the only species of apes found in India, are threatened with extinction in the Ukhrul and Kamjong districts of Manipur, a report has claimed.
Try this PYQ from CSP2013:
Q.Consider the following pairs:
Protected area:: Well-known for
- Bhitarkanika, Orissa:: Salt Water Crocodile
- Desert National Park, Rajasthan:: Great Indian Bustard
- Eravikulam, Kerala:: Hoolock Gibbon
Which of the above pairs is/are correctly matched?
(a) 1 only
(b) 1 and 2 only
(c) 2 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3
Hoolock Gibbons
- The two districts used to be covered with dense, tropical rainforests, which provided ideal tree canopies for the arboreal, brachiating ape species.
- Rampant deforestation for timber, forest fires and indiscriminate hunting had led to the decline in their population.
- Without the tree canopies, the gibbons cannot swing from branch to branch and stake out their territories.
- They also cannot adapt to living on the ground and cannot bear the high temperatures brought about by the loss of green cover.
Conservation status (a/c to WWF India)
- The gibbon has a much wider range, as it is found in all the states of the north-east, restricted between the south of the Brahmaputra River and east of the Dibang River.
- Outside India, it is found in eastern Bangladesh and north-west Myanmar.
- The eastern hoolock gibbon inhabits specific pockets of Arunachal Pradesh and Assam in India, and southern China and north-east Myanmar.
- Of the two, the western hoolock is listed as Endangered in the IUCN Redlist, while the eastern hoolock is listed as Vulnerable.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Bharat Air Fibre Services
Mains level: Digital India
The Union Ministry of Communications has inaugurated “Bharat Air Fibre Services” at Akola in Maharashtra.
Try this PYQ from CSP 2018:
Q: Which of the following is/are the aim/aims of “Digital India” plan of the Government of India?
- Formation of India’s own Internet companies like china did.
- Established a policy framework to encourage overseas multinational corporations that collect big data to build their large data centers within our national geographical boundaries.
- Connect many of our villages to the internet and bring WiFi to many of our schools, public places and major tourist centers.
Select the correct answer using the code given below:
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 3 only
(c) 2 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3
Bharat Air Fibre Services
- The Bharat Air Fibre services are introduced by BSNL as part of Digital India initiates by the GoI.
- It aims to provide Wireless Connectivity in the range of 20 KMs from the BSNL Locations.
- It provides internet connectivity upto 100 Mbps speed.
- It is completely wireless and offers broadband up to 10Mbps up to a distance of 5 Kms.
- These services are special and different from other operators as BSNL is providing unlimited free voice calling.
- Customers at remote places also will be benefitted as BSNL comes with the cheapest services with the support of Telecom Infrastructure Partners (TIPs).
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: UPI
Mains level: Paper 3- Examining the success of UPI
The UPI sets the template for India in its journey toward digitalisation. This article by WhatsApp head Will Cathcart explains the success story of UPI and the future scope to build on its success.
The success story of UPI
- The UPI system set a national open standard for all of India’s banks, more than 155 of which have adopted it.
- UPI is open standard that technology companies can adopt on an equal and level-playing field.
- This means that no one company, foreign or domestic, can write the rules for the other.
- Since its launch, the UPI system has grown to manage a 100 million-strong user base.
- NPCI has also set a goal to increase UPI’s user base to 500 million by 2022, which if achieved, would be a true game-changer for Digital India.
What the success of UPI means
- UPI has set important new frameworks around security and efficiency.
- Because of the strong rules that India has put in place, payment transaction information remains with the banks and within the country.
- And as a platform built on Indian technology and governed by Indian rules, UPI benefits Indians now and holds great potential for further innovation and commerce.
Future scope for UPI
- It is imperative more tech companies are able to leverage the power of UPI to expand the digital ecosystem to accelerate financial inclusion.
- UPI can also anchor a broader suite of fintech applications like micro-pensions, digital insurance products, and flexible loans.
- These are custom solutions created by Indian technology companies, on the public infrastructure of UPI.
- These solutions will first solve large social, business and financial problems in India and then become templates for other countries to deploy.
- COVID-19 has only underscored the importance of these tools that will serve as critical lifelines for small and micro-enterprises and individuals as they look to recover.
Consider the question “Within a short period from its launch the UPI has transformed the payment landscape in India. Examine the factors that contributed to the success of UPI and elaborate on its future scope.”
Conclusion
With courage, ambition, and boundless potential, India can emerge from this pandemic stronger than ever before — a leading democratic digital powerhouse that will lead the world in the 21st century.
B2BASICS
What is Unified Payments Interface (UPI)?
- It was launched in April 2016 and in the last two years, the platform has emerged as a popular choice among users for sending and receiving money.
- UPI is a payment system that allows money transfer between any two bank accounts by using a smartphone.
- UPI allows a customer to pay directly from a bank account to different merchants, both online and offline, without the hassle of typing credit card details, IFSC code, or net banking/wallet passwords.
- It also caters to the “Peer to Peer” collect request which can be scheduled and paid as per requirement and convenience.
Original article:
https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/coronavirus-india-economy-poverty-digital-payment-bhim-upi-6533171/
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- Issues in National Education Policy
The article critically examines the various aspects of the National Education Policy 2020 and the issue of flexibility and exams has been analysed closely.
Context of scepticism
- The New Education Policy is a forward-looking framework for transforming Indian education.
- But the past record on implementation of polity raises the concern that the New Education Policy should not turn out to be just “another document”.
- Also, the emphasis in the document on critical thinking and free inquiry is entirely well placed.
- But universities are being intimidated into political and cultural conformity.
- The document lays down objectives; the strategy has yet to come.
Walking the tightrope
- On the language issue it prefers the long-standing recommendation of primary education in the mother tongue.
- But does not categorically recommend curb English.
- On the basic architecture of delivery, policy does not show an inclination towards public or private education both in school and higher education.
School education: Most promising part
- The policy focus on early child development, learning outcomes, different forms of assessment, holistic education, and, recognises the centrality of teacher and teacher education.
- The document recognises that “the very highest priority of the education system will be to achieve universal foundational numeracy and literacy.”
- The suggestions for school education are ambitious, centred on the students, cater to their pedagogical diversity, and take on board the world of knowledge as it is now emerging.
Multidisciplinary education
- The document mentions the word multidisciplinary a bit too much, without explicating what it means.
- One way of thinking about this is not in terms of multiple subjects.
- It is reorienting education from disciplinary content to modes of inquiry that allow students to access a wide variety of disciplines.
Two concerns
1) Flexibility issue
- Under the policy, students might need different exit options.
- But it is unclear if the diploma or early exit options all be made available within a single institution, or different institutions.
- If it is within single institutions, this will be a disaster.
- Because structuring a curriculum for a classroom that has both one-year diploma and four-year degree students takes away from the identity of the institution.
- There is also a risk that without adequate financial support, the exercising of exit options will be determined by the financial circumstances of the student.
- The flexibility offered through multidisciplinary education is against the principle that different institutions have a different characters and strengths.
- A healthy education system will comprise of a diversity of institutions, not a forced multi-disciplinarity.
2) Issue of exams conundrum
- The document rightly emphasises that focus needs to shift from exams to learning. But it contradicts itself.
- Exams are burdon because of competition and cost in terms of opportunities.
- So the answer to the exam conundrum lies in the structure of opportunity.
- This will require a less unequal society both in terms of access to quality institutions.
- Exams are also necessary because in a low trust system people want objective measures of commensuration.
- So the policy reintroduces exams back into the picture by recommending a national aptitude test.
- But the idea that this will reduce coaching is wishful thinking, as all the evidence from the US and China is showing.
Consider the question “The National Education Policy 2020 moves away from rigidity and offers flexibility in many ways. In light of this examine the flexible dimensions offered in the policy and issues with it.”
Conclusion
The policy is commendable for focussing on the right questions. But the hope is that with this our education policy can be transformed into a treat, not another trick.
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Metropolitan cities of India suffers from various issues. This article analyses such issues and suggests some steps to deal with them.
Inadequate public health infrastructure
- India’s public health expenditure in 2018 was a mere 1.28% of GDP.
- According to the World Bank, India’s out-of-pocket health expenditure was 62.4% in 2017, against the world average of 18.2%.
- Manpower in the health sector is low with India’s doctor-population ratio being 1:1,457 against WHO norm of 1:1,000.
Governance issues
- Factors underlying city governance include spatial planning, municipal capacities, empowered mayors and councils and inter-agency coordination, and ward-level citizen participation.
- Twenty-seven after the 74th Constitutional Amendment Act, these reform agendas continue to be slow in implementation.
- India’s metropolitan cities have weak capacities in finance and staffing.
- Bengaluru’s average percentage of own revenue to total expenditure is 47.9%, Chennai 30.5%, Mumbai 36.1% and Kolkata at 48.4%.
- According to ASICS 2017, Mumbai has the highest number of officers per lakh population at 938 in the country.
- Yet it is abysmally low compared to global cities such as Johannesburg with 2,922 and New York with 5,446 officers per lakh population
Limited powers of mayors
- The leaders steering India’s metropolitan cities are toothless.
- No big metropolitan cities with 10 million-plus population has a directly-elected Mayor.
- Mumbai’s Mayor has a tenure of 2.5 years, Delhi and Bengaluru, a mere one year.
- Mayors do not have full decision-making authority over critical functions of planning, housing, water, environment, fire and emergency services in most cases.
- Our metropolitan cities are far from being local self-governments.
- Parastatal agencies for planning, water and public transport report directly to State governments.
- The State government also largely controls public works and police.
- Globally, metropolitan cities are steered by a directly-elected leader.
- Evolved examples include the Tokyo metropolitan government and recent experimental models such as combined authorities in the United Kingdom and Australia.
Suggestions
- India needs home-grown solutions suited to its context and political realities while imbibing lessons on institutional design from global examples.
- It is time the Central and State governments lead efforts towards a metropolitan governance paradigm.
- The first steps should include empowered Mayors with five-year tenure, decentralised ward level governance, and inter-agency coordination anchored by the city government.
Lack of transparency, accountability and citizen participation
- Transparent cities with institutional platforms encouraging citizen participation improve urban democracy.
- No metropolitan has functional ward committees and area sabhas.
- An absence of citizen participation is worsened by poor transparency in finance and operations.
- As per ASICS 2017, India’s big metropolitan cities on average score 3.04/10 in transparency, accountability and participation.
Significance of smaller cities
- A World Bank report notes that despite the emergence of smaller towns, the underlying character of India’s urbanisation is “metropolitan”.
- Under this metropolitan character, new towns emerge around existing large cities.
- According to a McKinsey report, in 2012, 54 metropolitan cities and their hinterlands accounted for 40% of India’s GDP.
- The report also estimates that by 2025, 69 metropolitan cities, combined with their hinterlands, will generate over half of India’s incremental GDP between 2012 and 2025.
- Despite this, India is yet to begin an active discourse on cohesive metropolitan governance frameworks.
- Studies by the Centre for Policy Research point that India’s spatial feature exhibits the growth of small towns beyond the economics of large agglomerations.
- This indicates that while India’s urban vision should focus on its metropolitan cities to reap the benefit of scale, it shouldn’t ignore smaller cities.
Consider the question “Examine the issues in the governance of metropolitan cities. To what extent the limited power of mayors contributes to the issues of the metropolitan cities in India?”
Conclusion
India should use the current pandemic as an opportunity to introspect and reform the way its metropolises are governed.
Back2Basics: ASICS 2017
- The Annual Survey of India’s City-Systems (ASICS) 2017 evaluates quality of governance in cities, covering 23 major cities in India across 20 states based on 89 questions.
- Indian cities scored between 3.0 and 5.1 on 10, with Pune topping the charts for the first time.
- Other cities that came in the top five include Kolkata, Thiruvananthapuram, Bhubaneswar and Surat, with scores in the range of 4.6 to 4.5.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Anti-defection law
Mains level: Issues over Anti-defection law
A political party is trying to win back its defected MLAs in Rajasthan. This has raised a new question- “Does the anti-defection law apply here?”
Try this question for mains:
Q.“Time and again, the courts have spoken out against the Governor acting in the capacity of an all-pervading super-constitutional authority.” Analyse.
What does “merger” mean a/c to Tenth Schedule?
- The Tenth Schedule of the Constitution prohibits defection to protect the stability of governments but does not prohibit mergers.
- Paragraph 4(2) of the Tenth Schedule, dealing with mergers, says that only when two-thirds of the members agree to “merge” the party would they be exempt from disqualification.
- The “merger” referred to in Paragraph 4(2) is seen as a legal fiction, where members are deemed to have merged for the purposes of being exempt from disqualification, rather than a merger in the true sense.
The ‘merger’ Politics
- The political party is arguing that a state unit of a national party cannot be merged without the party being merged at the national level.
- However, the Tenth Schedule identifies this dichotomy between state units and national units.
- As per Paragraph 4(2), “merger” of a party means merger of a legislative party of that House.
- In this case, it would be the Rajasthan Legislative unit of the BSP and not the BSP at the national level.
- Paragraph 1 of the Tenth Schedule which defines terms specified in the context of the anti-defection law states this clearly.
- “Legislature Party” for the purposes of Paragraph 4 (which deals with mergers) means the group consisting of all the members of that House for the time being belonging to that political party in accordance with the said provisions.
Role of Whip
- Every legislative party identifies the party’s whip at the beginning of the Assembly’s term and conveys this to the Speaker.
- A national leader’s direction cannot be considered a whip in the context of the anti-defection law.
On what grounds is the case-based?
- The contention is that the merger is illegal and unconstitutional because, for a national party, such merger has to take place at the national level.
- Supporting this argument, there are two decisions of the Supreme Court: the 2006 Jagjit Singh v State of Haryana, and the 2007 ruling in Rajendra Singh Rana and Ors vs Swami Prasad Maurya.
- In these cases, the SC ruled that the split cannot be recognised primarily because not all these MLAs split at once.
- The key aspect is that these cases deal with splits where when one-third of the members of a legislative party split; they could not attract disqualification as per Paragraph 3 of the Tenth Schedule.
Row over one-third
- In 2003, through the 91st Constitutional Amendment, Paragraph 3 was deleted from the Tenth Schedule.
- The amendment was made as the one-third split rule was grossly misused by parties to engineer divisions and indulge in horse-trading.
- One-third was regarded as an easy target to achieve and the law now exempts defection only when it is at two-thirds (in a merger).
Are there any such precedents?
- In July 2019, 10 of the 15 one party’s MLAs in Goa joined the other taking the ruling party’s tally to 27 in the 40 member House.
- Since they formed two-thirds of the strength of the legislative party unit, they are exempt from disqualification.
- However, the Speaker’s decision not to disqualify them is under challenge before the Supreme Court.
- Similarly in Telangana in 2016, two years after the 12 out of 15 of MLAs joined the ruling party.
- The Speaker recognised the defection as a merger since more than two-thirds had moved.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: UNFAO
Mains level: Assurance of Food Security
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has unveiled a new platform to help accelerate the global reduction in food loss and waste.
Try this PYQ from CSP 2016:
Q. The FAO accords the status of ‘Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System (GIAHS)’ to traditional agricultural systems. What is the overall goal of this initiative?
- To provide modern technology, training in modern farming methods and financial support to local communities of identified GIAHS so as to greatly enhance their agricultural productivity.
- To identify and safeguard eco-friendly traditional farm practices and their associated landscapers, agricultural biodiversity and knowledge systems of the local communities.
- To provide Geographical Indication status to all the varieties of agricultural produce in such identified GIAHS.
Select the correct answer using the code given below.
(a) 1 and 3 only
(b) 2 only
(c) 2 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3
About the Platform
- The Technical Platform on the Measurement and Reduction of Food Loss and Waste brings together information on measurement, reduction, policies, alliances, actions and examples of successful models applied to reduce food loss and waste across the globe.
- The platform will contain information on measurement, reduction policies, alliances, actions and examples of successful models applied to reduce food loss and waste.
- The platform will be officially launched on the first International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste on 29 September 2020.
How will it work?
- The platform is as a gateway to information on food loss and waste from various resources, including the largest online collection of data on what food is lost and wasted.
- Links to related portals from development partners are also provided.
Why need such a portal?
- Food loss and waste is a sign of food systems in distress. Nutritious foods are the most perishable, and hence, the most vulnerable to lose.
- Not only food is being lost, but food safety and nutrition are being compromised as well.
- At least 14 per cent of food is lost (food wastage and food loss together), valued at $400 billion annually.
- In terms of greenhouse gas emissions, the food that is lost is associated with around 1.5 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent.
- Major losses are seen in roots tubers and oil-bearing crops (25 per cent), fruits and vegetables (22 per cent), and meat and animal products (12 per cent).
- Reducing food loss and waste can bring about many benefits: more food available for the most vulnerable; a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions; less pressure on land and water resources; and increased productivity and economic growth.
Food loss vs food wastage
- There is a difference between food wastage and food losses.
- Food is wasted when it is discarded by consumers or is disposed of in retail due to its inability to meet quality standards.
- Food loss, on the other hand, occurs when it is spoilt or spilt before reaching the final product or retail stage.
- For example, dairy, meat, and fish can go bad in transit because of inadequate refrigerated transport and cold storage facilities.
Back2Basics: Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO)
Objective: Lead international efforts to defeat hunger
Members: FAO has 194 Member Nations, two associate members and one member organization, the European Union
Headquarters: Rome, Italy
Year Founded: Established in 1945
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Commonwealth of Nations
Mains level: Abolition of modern slavery
The CHRI has released a report on “Eradicating Modern Slavery: An assessment of Commonwealth government progress”.
Try this PYQ from CSP 2012:
Q.Consider the following statements:
- The Commonwealth has no charter, treaty or constitution
- All the territories/countries once under the British Empire (jurisdiction/rule/mandate) automatically joined the Commonwealth as its members
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2
About the report
The report was released on the occasion of World Day Against Trafficking in Persons by the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) and an international anti-slavery organisation Walk Free.
Highlights of the report
- The report assessed the progress made by Commonwealth countries on the promises made in 2018 to end modern slavery by 2030 and achieve the SDGs of ending forced labour, human trafficking and child labour.
- The report found that one-third of the Commonwealth countries had criminalised forced marriage, while 23 had not criminalised commercial sexual exploitation of children.
- Commonwealth countries have made little progress towards their commitment to eradicate modern slavery by 2030.
- One in every 150 people in the Commonwealth is living in conditions of modern slavery.
- Out of 54 countries, only four engage with business to investigate supply chains, and all countries report gaps in victim assistance programs
- None of the Asian countries in the group had implemented laws against forced labour in supply chains.
India is the worst performer
- India had fared the worst in terms of coordination with no national coordinating body or National Action Plan in place.
- India, like all other Commonwealth countries in Asia, had not ratified the International Labour Organization’s 2011 Domestic Workers Convention or the 2014 Forced Labour Protocol.
- The report said India accounted for one-third of all child brides in the world.
- Despite being the largest country in the region, India has the weakest response on national coordination, with no national coordinating body or National Action Plan in place.
Back2Basics: Commonwealth of Nations
- The Commonwealth of Nations is an intergovernmental organisation of 53 member states that are mostly former territories of the British Empire.
- It dates back to the first half of the 20th century with the decolonization of the British Empire through increased self-governance of its territories.
- It was originally created as the British Commonwealth of Nation through the Balfour Declaration at the 1926 Imperial Conference, and formalized by the UK through the Statute of Westminster in 1931.
- The current body was formally constituted by the London Declaration in 1949, which modernized the community, and established the member states as “free and equal”.
- The symbol of this free association is Queen Elizabeth II, who is the Head of the Commonwealth.
- The Queen is head of state of 16 member states, known as the Commonwealth realms, while 32 other members are republics and five others have different monarchs.
- Member has no legal obligations to one another. Instead, they are united by language, history, culture and their shared values of democracy, human rights and the rule of law.
Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI)
- It is an independent, non-partisan & nonprofit international NGO which works towards the practical realization of human rights in the countries of the Commonwealth.
- It was founded in 1987 and is headquartered at New Delhi.
- CHRI’s objectives are to promote awareness and adherence to the Commonwealth’s Harare Declaration, to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, to other internationally recognised human rights instruments.
- The organisation specializes in transparency and accountability issues, with a focus on access to justice and access to information.
- The organisation mainly works in South Asia, East Africa, and Ghana region.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Smog towers
Mains level: Air pollution in Delhi
In January this year, the Supreme Court has directed that two smog towers should be installed in the capital by April on a pilot project basis considering a proposal by the IIT-Bombay.
Try this question from CS Mains 2015:
Q.Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata are the three mega cities of the country but the air pollution is much more serious problem in Delhi as compared to the other two. Why is this so?
What is a ‘Smog Tower’?
- A smog tower is a structure designed to work as a large-scale air purifier, fitted with multiple layers of filters which trap fine dust particles suspended in the air as it passes through them.
- Air is drawn through fans installed at the top of the tower, passed through filters, and then released near the ground.
- The large-scale filters expected to be installed in the towers in Delhi would use carbon nanofibres as a major component.
- It would be fitted along the peripheries of the towers and the height would be 20 metres.
How does it work?
- The 20-metre (65 feet) high tower will trap particulate matter of all sizes suspended in the air.
- Large-scale air filters shall draw in the air through fans installed at the top before passing it through the filters and releasing it near the ground.
- The filters installed in the tower will use carbon nanofibres as a major component and will be fitted along its peripheries. The tower will focus on reducing particulate matter load.
Has anyone else experimented with a smog tower?
- Yes, smog towers have been experimented with in recent years in cities in the Netherlands, China, South Korea and Poland.
- The first such tower was erected in 2015, in Rotterdam, Netherlands, created by Dutch artist Daan Roosegaarde.
- The towers to be installed in Delhi are to be the result of a collaboration between the IITs at Mumbai and Delhi, and the University of Minnesota.
Why New Delhi?
- Air pollution in the national capital has been an issue of concern for quite some time as Delhi and its suburbs have ranked among the most polluted cities in the world frequently.
- In 2014, the World Health Organisation (WHO) had declared Delhi the most polluted city in the world.
- Pollution levels in Delhi increase dramatically during winter — on some days to nearly 10 times above the limits prescribed by WHO, posing a serious risk to vulnerable and also healthy populations.
- This is large because sources of emissions — construction work, industrial and vehicular pollution — in and around the city remain more or less consistent.
- The situation is aggravated at the start of winter by smoke from stubble-burning in northwestern states, coupled with unfavourable meteorological conditions, such as calm winds, low temperatures, and fewer sunny days.
How effective are smog towers?
- An estimate on air quality shows that a tower would reduce 50% of the particulate matter load in an area of 1 kilometre in the direction of the wind, as well as 200 metres each along the sides of the tower and against the direction of the wind.
- In an open field in calm weather, it can reduce the particulate matter of 10 micrometres (PM10) up to 45%, and PM2.5 levels up to 25% in an area of 20 metres around the tower, as per details on the ENS Clean Air website.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Black Rain
Mains level: Hiroshima and Nagasaki Bombings by US
Ahead of the 75th anniversary of Hiroshima, a Japanese court has recognised 84 survivors of the post-nuclear explosion “black rain” as the atomic bomb survivors. This would enable them to avail free medical benefits.
Try this question from CSP 2011:
Q.Acid rain is caused by the pollution of the environment by:
(a) Carbon dioxide and nitrogen
(b) Carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide
(c) Ozone and carbon dioxide
(d) Nitrous oxide and Sulphur dioxide
What is Black Rain?
- An estimated 69 per cent of the buildings in Hiroshima were destroyed by the atomic bomb.
- The debris and soot from this, mixed with the radioactive fallout from the bomb, raised high into the atmosphere in the form of a mushroom cloud.
- This material combined with the vapour in the atmosphere and came down as dark drops of liquid that have been called black rain.
- Survivors of the black rain described it as consisting of large, greasy drops that are much heavier than normal raindrops.
- It is full of highly radioactive material, and studies have shown that exposure to it can result in serious illnesses.
What was its effect?
- A study conducted in the year 1945 itself showed that black rain had come down as far as 29 km away from ground zero.
- The rain contaminated everything it came in contact with, and dead fish were reported floating in water bodies and severely ill cattle were seen lying in the fields.
- It has caused acute radiation symptoms (ARS) in many who were exposed to it, with reports of people suffering from nausea and diarrhoea for weeks.
- Other ARS include fever, sore throat and loss of hair. Over time, many people who were exposed to black rain have developed cancer.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Finance Commission
Mains level: Finance Commission, Its evolving role in fiscal federalism
The High-Level Group on Agricultural Exports set up by the Fifteenth Finance Commission has submitted its report to the Commission.
Try this PYQ from CSP 2019
Q.In India, which of the following reviews the independent regulators in sectors like telecommunications, insurance, electricity, etc.?
- Ad Hoc Committees set up by the Parliament
- Parliamentary Department Related Standing Committees
- Finance Commission
- Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission
- NITI Aayog
Select the correct answer using the code given below.
(a) 1 and 2
(b) 1, 3 and 4
(c) 3, 4 and 5
(d) 2 and 5
Why focus on Agri-exports?
- India’s agricultural export has the potential to grow from USD 40 billion to USD 70 billion in a few years.
- The estimated investment in agricultural export could be in the tune to USD 8-10 billion across inputs, infrastructure, and processing and demand enablers.
- Additional exports are likely to create an estimated 7-10 million jobs.
- It will lead to higher farm productivity and farmer income.
Highlights of the report
(A) The HLEG has made its recommendations, major among which are:
- Focus on 22 crop value chains – demand-driven approach.
- Solve Value Chain Clusters (VCC) holistically with a focus on value addition.
- Create a State-led export plan with participation from stakeholders.
- Private Sector should play an anchor role.
- The centre should be an enabler.
- The robust institutional mechanism to fund and support implementation.
(B) State-led Agri Exports
The Group has recommended a State-led Export Plan – a business plan for a crop value chain cluster. It will lay out the opportunity, initiatives and investment required to meet the desired value chain export aspiration.
The Group has also said that for its success, the following factors needed to be considered:-
- Plans should be collaboratively prepared with private sector players and Commodity Boards.
- Leveraging of state plan guide and value chain deep dives.
- The private sector should play an anchor role in driving outcomes and execution.
- The centre should enable state-led plans.
- Institutional governance should be promoted across the state and centre.
- Funding through the convergence of existing schemes, Finance Commission allocation and private sector investment.
Back2Basics: Finance Commission (FC)
- The FC is a constitutionally mandated body that decides, among other things, the sharing of taxes between the Centre and the states.
- Article 280 (1) requires the President to constitute, “within two years from the commencement of this Constitution.
- And thereafter constitute FC at the expiration of every fifth year or at such earlier time as the President considers necessary.
- An FC “which shall consist of a Chairman and four other members”.
Divisible Pool of Taxes
- Under Article 280(3) (a) the FC must make recommendations to the President “as the distribution between the Union and the States of the net proceeds of taxes which are to be, or maybe, divided between them under this Chapter and the allocation between the States of the respective shares of such proceeds”.
- Accordingly, the FC determines a formula for tax-sharing between the states, which is a weighted sum of the states’ population, area, forest cover, tax capacity, tax effort and demographic performance, with the weights expressed in percentages.
- This crucial role of the Commission makes it instrumental in the implementation of fiscal federalism.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Provisions in the National Education Policy
Mains level: Paper 2- National Education Policy
National Education Policy, while comprehensive in its approach misses out on some crucial issues. These issues are discussed here.
Following are the issues with the National Education Policy-
1) Implications for SEDGs
- Implications of the policy for SEDGs-Socially and Economically Disadvantaged Groups-needs to be considered.
- The term “caste” is absent from the document apart from a fleeting reference to Scheduled Castes.
- Also absent is any mention of reservation in academic institutions, whether for students, teachers, or other employees.
- Reservation is the bare minimum required in terms of affirmative action in the highly differentiated socio-economic milieu in which we exist.
2) Education in tribal areas
- There is the passing reference to educational institutions in tribal areas, designated as ashramshalas.
- While there are sections of the document that describe ways in which SEDGs are supposed to gain access to higher education institutions, there is no time-frame that is specified.
- In a situation of growing privatisation how these policies will be implemented is a matter of concern.
3) Multi-disciplinarity misses some disciplines
- Multi-disciplinarity is an attractive and flexible proposition, allowing learners to experiment with a variety of options.
- While the list of the disciplines in which multi-disciplinary approach is allowed is unexceptionable, it is worth flagging what is missed out.
- Fields of studies such as Women’s Studies or Gender Studies, Cultural Studies, Media Studies, Dalit Studies, Studies of Discrimination and Exclusion, Environmental Studies and Development Studies are missing.
- Many of these have engaged with multi-disciplinarity/inter-disciplinarity in exciting and disturbing ways, bringing to the fore issues of diversity, difference and identity.
4) Problem of autonomy
- While the documents mention autonomy and choice in the document, but there are limits.
- For instance, the selection of vocational subjects in middle school is described as a fun choice.
- At the same time, it is to be exercised “as decided by States and local communities and as mapped by local skilling needs”.
- National Testing Agency, will be a centralised agency to conduct exams will be against the autonomy proposed in the policy.
- HEIs will now be run by a Board of Governors backed by legislative changes where required.
- Further centralisation is envisaged through the setting up of “the National Higher Education Regulatory Authority (NHERA).
5) Depriving the HEI democratic functioning
- Several universities and HEIs have evolved and sustained democratic mechanisms, including academic and executive councils.
- What has made them vibrant institutions is the presence of faculty and students, elected, as well as on the basis of seniority and rotation.
- Abandoning them will deprive members of HEIs of an opportunity to engage with the challenges of democratic functioning.
6) No mention of Fundamental Rights
- Several values are identified as constitutional and there is an occasional mention of fundamental duties.
- But there is no mention of fundamental rights.
Consider the question “Examine the provision for governance of education in the National Education Policy. Also, examine the issues with the policy.”
Conclusion
The Education Policy has many novel ideas with the potential to transform the education system in the country, however, the issues discussed here highlights the need to revisit it, before it is actually implemented.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Education Policy 2020
Mains level: Paper 2- Proposals in Education Policy 2020
The Education Policy 2020 comes with many changes in education in the country. Key aspects of the policy are discussed in the article.
Context
- National Education Policy 2020 is the fourth major policy initiative in education since Independence.
- The last one was undertaken a good 34 years ago and modified in 1992.
- NEP 2020 seeks to address the entire gamut of education from preschool to doctoral studies.
Challenges India faces in education
- Lack of resources and capacity.
- Dozens of mother tongues, a link language that despite being the global language of choice is alien to most.
- A persistent mismatch between the knowledge and skills imparted and the jobs available.
Follwing are the key aspects of the policy-
1) 5+3+3+4 Model
- A 5+3+3+4 model recognises the primacy of the formative years from ages 3 to 8 in shaping the child’s future.
- It also recognises the importance of learning in the child’s mother tongue till at least Class 5.
- As picking up languages is easy between ages 3 and 8, children will learn English and mother tongue together.
- Multilingual felicity could become the USP of the educated Indian.
- The policy envisages 100% Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in school education by 2030.
2) Flexibility in choosing subjects and vocational education
- Another key aspect of new policy is the breaking of the compartments of arts, commerce and science streams in high school.
- Policy also aims at introducing vocational courses with internship.
- The ‘blue-collarisation’ of vocations in our society is also a hurdle to be overcome.
- NEP 2020 proposes a multi-disciplinary higher education framework with portable credits.
- An ambitious GER of 50% in higher education is envisaged by 2035.
- At the apex will be Multidisciplinary Education and Research Universities, where research will be supported by a new National Research Foundation.
3) Question of regualtion
- NEP 2020 aims to free our schools, colleges and universities from periodic “inspections” and place them on the path of self-assessment and voluntary declaration.
- Transparency, maintaining quality standards and a favourable public perception will become a goal for the institutions.
- This will lead to all-round improvement in their standard.
- A single, lean body with four verticals for standards-setting, funding, accreditation and regulation is proposed to provide “light but tight” oversight.
4) Addressing deprivation
- Inequality and challenges faced by the disadvantaged and disabled have been considered in NEP.
- The NEP lays particular emphasis on providing adequate support to ensure that no child is deprived of education, and every challenged child is provided the special support she needs.
5) Ancient knowledge
- The long-neglected ancient Indian languages and Indic knowledge systems are also identified for immediate attention.
Resource challenge
- An ambitious target of public spending on education at 6% of GDP has been set.
- This is certainly a tall order, given the current tax-to-GDP ratio and competing claims on the national exchequer by other key sectors.
- If public and political will can be mustered, resources will find their way from both public and private sources.
Consider the question “What are the measures proposed in the Education Policy 2020 for higher education.”
Conclusion
Resources are never the main roadblock to success in education. NEP 2020 provides the ingredients and the right recipe. What we make of it depends entirely on us.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: National Education Policy
Mains level: Need for imbibing competitiveness in Indian education system
The Union Cabinet has approved the National Education Policy 2020, making way for large scale, transformational reforms in both school and higher education sectors.
Practice question for mains:
Q.What are the key features of the National Education Policy, 2020? Discuss how it will facilitate the universalization of education in India.
School Education 
- New Policy aims for universalization of education from pre-school to secondary level with 100 % Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in school education by 2030.
- NEP 2020 will bring 2 crores out of school children back into the mainstream through the open schooling system.
- The current 10+2 system to be replaced by a new 5+3+3+4 curricular structure corresponding to ages 3-8, 8-11, 11-14, and 14-18 years respectively.
- This will bring the hitherto uncovered age group of 3-6 years under the school curriculum, which has been recognized globally as the crucial stage for the development of mental faculties of a child.
- The new system will have 12 years of schooling with three years of Anganwadi/ pre-schooling.
- Emphasis on Foundational Literacy and Numeracy, no rigid separation between academic streams, extracurricular, vocational streams in schools; Vocational Education to start from Class 6 with Internships
- Teaching up to at least Grade 5 to be in mother tongue/ regional language. No language will be imposed on any student.
- Assessment reforms with 360-degree Holistic Progress Card, tracking Student Progress for achieving Learning Outcomes
- A new and comprehensive National Curriculum Framework for Teacher Education, NCFTE 2021, will be formulated by the NCTE in consultation with NCERT.
- By 2030, the minimum degree qualification for teaching will be a 4-year integrated B.Ed. degree.
Higher Education
- Gross Enrolment Ratio in higher education to be raised to 50 % by 2035; 3.5 crore seats to be added in higher education.
- The policy envisages broad-based, multi-disciplinary, holistic Under Graduate Program with flexible curricula, creative combinations of subjects, integration of vocational education and multiple entries and exit points with appropriate certification.
- Academic Bank of Credits to be established to facilitate Transfer of Credits
- Multidisciplinary Education and Research Universities (MERUs), at par with IITs, IIMs, to be set up as models of best multidisciplinary education of global standards in the country.
- The National Research Foundation will be created as an apex body for fostering a strong research culture and building research capacity across higher education.
- Higher Education Commission of India (HECI) will be set up as a single overarching umbrella body for entire higher education, excluding medical and legal education. HECI to have four independent verticals – National Higher Education Regulatory Council (NHERC) for regulation, General Education Council (GEC ) for standard-setting, Higher Education Grants Council (HEGC) for funding, and National Accreditation Council( NAC) for accreditation.
- Public and private higher education institutions will be governed by the same set of norms for regulation, accreditation and academic standards.
- Affiliation of colleges is to be phased out in 15 years and a stage-wise mechanism is to be established for granting graded autonomy to colleges.
- Over a period of time, it is envisaged that every college would develop into either an Autonomous degree-granting College or a constituent college of a university.
Others
- An autonomous body, the National Educational Technology Forum (NETF), will be created to provide a platform for the free exchange of ideas on the use of technology to enhance learning, assessment, planning, administration.
- NEP 2020 emphasizes setting up of Gender Inclusion Fund, Special Education Zones for disadvantaged regions and groups
- New Policy promotes Multilingualism in both schools and higher education. National Institute for Pali, Persian and Prakrit, Indian Institute of Translation and Interpretation to be set up
- The Centre and the States will work together to increase the public investment in the Education sector to reach 6% of GDP at the earliest.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: EC Act
Mains level: Regulation of essential commodities
As the Union government announced massive reforms as a response to the coronavirus pandemic. All attention went to three agriculture sector ordinances related to farmers’ trade, contract farming and amendments in the Essential Commodities Act.
Try this question for mains:
Q.Discuss how Essential Commodities Act works to maintain fair prices of commodities for consumers.
Recent amendment to the EC Act
- Recently, the Centre notified an Amendment Ordinance to the EC Act.
- A new sub-section 1A in Section 3 of the act stipulated control orders — with respect to the supply of certain foodstuffs was added.
- It would be issued only under extraordinary circumstances that may include war, famine, extraordinary price rise and natural calamity of grave nature.
An order for regulating stock limit of any agricultural produce may be issued only if there is:
- A full increase in the retail price of horticultural produce, or
- A 50 per cent increase in the retail price of non-perishable agricultural food items over the price prevailing immediately preceding a year or the average retail price in the past five years, whichever is lower
The Essential Commodities Act
- The EC Act, 1955 was enacted at a time when the country faced an acute shortage of several commodities, especially food items.
- Under the act, an ‘essential commodity’ is a commodity specified under the schedule of the Act.
- The Union government is empowered to amend the schedule to add or remove a commodity to said schedule in the public interest and in consultation with state governments.
- The schedule was amended recently in March 2020, when the Centre declared face masks and hand sanitisers as essential commodities and fixed their prices.
Issues over the amendment ordinance:
1. Ordinance route and federalism
- Though agriculture is a state subject, the concurrent list empowers the Centre to legislate on production and trade and supply of foodstuffs.
- By taking the ordinance route, a clear attempt was made to bypass the parliamentary process.
- When a proposed amendment is introduced in Parliament, it is open to debate, scrutiny, comments and valuable inputs from stakeholders before being passed.
2. Surpassing concerns
- Critical legislation like this should certainly have been put before Parliament.
- The Sarkaria Commission report on Centre-state relations pointed out that the Centre disproportionately empower itself in the sphere of agriculture.
- The power of the Centre in agriculture management has certainly increased through this ordinance.
- States like Tamil Nadu and West Bengal have repeatedly called for transfer such entities from the Concurrent to the State list.
3. Constitutional validity and Ninth Schedule
- The constitutional validity of price fixation under the act was in question before the Supreme Court in the Prag Ice and Oil Mills case, 1978.
- It was observed that the dominant purpose of price fixation was to ensure availability of essential commodities to consumers at a fair price.
- It was also held that availability of an essential commodity to the common man, at a fair price, must rank higher than any other consideration.
- The Essential Commodities Act is enlisted under the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution. This does not, however, mean it is outside the scope of judicial review.
4. EC Act is no exception
- The Ninth Schedule came under scrutiny after the landmark IR Coelho, 2007 judgement.
- The Supreme Court said the laws inserted in it after April 24, 1973 — the day the Kesavananda Bharti verdict was pronounced — are also open to judicial review if they are violative of the basic structure of the Constitution.
- Farmers may approach the Supreme Court if they feel laws such as the Essential Commodities Act violate their fundamental rights under Articles 14, 19, 21 or 32.
5. Questions over the amendment
- The ordinance does not expressly define ‘extraordinary circumstances’, which ‘may’ include war, famine, extraordinary price rise and natural calamities of a grave nature.
- Even in extraordinary circumstances, the government only ‘may’ choose to exercise regulation.
- Such legislative ambiguity makes one question the entire exercise of introducing this particular provision.
6. Farmers stake are still at risk
- Drastic changes such as the removal of stock limits and exemption to exporters, traders and value chain participants may not help farmers directly.
- Big corporates and MNC may prefer to stock up their quota at the time of harvest when prices are low and, thus, would not need to buy from farmers when prices rise.
- If farmers decide to retain produce for later, prices may not go up or the private sector may not enter the market to purchase.
Conclusion
- India no longer faces food shortage problems, according to the Economic Survey, 2020.
- What is seemingly ignored, however, is the population of India increased to 1.3 billion in 2020 from 360 million in 1951.
- There are more mouths to feed and the responsibility of ensuring food security to the masses cannot be shunned.
- Sights of migrants scraping for morsels of food during the COVID-19 crisis continue to haunt.
- Our policies, thus, must ensure sustainable farm growth taking into consideration factors like climate change, land holdings, consumer capacity and farmers’ interests.
Original article:
https://www.downtoearth.org.in/blog/governance/essential-commodities-amendment-ordinance-a-strong-ec-act-is-still-needed-72540
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Aravalli Range
Mains level: Various afforestation measures
The Haryana Forest Department has started aerial seeding across the state on a pilot basis with special focus on the Aravalli region.
Do you know?
The Aravalli range is considered the “lungs” of the polluted National Capital Region.
What is Aerial Seeding?
- Aerial seeding is a technique of plantation wherein seed balls – seeds covered with a mixture of clay, compost, char and other components.
- They are sprayed on the ground using aerial devices, including planes, helicopters or drones.
How does this technique work?
- Seeds balls or seed pellets are dispersed in a targeted area by the low-flying drones, falling to the ground with the help of the coating of clay, compost, char and other material.
- Coating provides the required weight for seeds to drop on a predetermined location rather than disperse in the wind.
- These pellets will then sprout when there is enough rain, with the nutrients present within them helping in the initial growth.
Why Aravallis?
- Aravallis these days is severely inundated due to heavy mining and has undergone rapid development and construction activities.
What are the advantages of this technique?
- Areas that are inaccessible, have steep slopes, are fragmented or disconnected with no forest routes, making conventional plantation difficult, can be targeted with aerial seeding.
- Furthermore, the process of the seed’s germination and growth is such that it requires no attention after it is dispersed – the reason why seed pellets are known as the “fire and forget” way of the plantation.
- They eliminate the need for ploughing and digging holes in the soil and the seeds do not need to be planted, since they are already surrounded by soil, nutrients, and microorganisms.
- The clay shell of these pellets along with the other items in the mixture also protects them from birds, ants and rats.
What kind of species can be dispersed using aerial seeding?
- The species selected have to be native to the area and hardy, with seeds that are of an appropriate size for preparing seedballs and have to have a higher survival percentage.
- It is critical that the timing of the seeding be correct in order for the plantation to be successful.
Can this replace conventional plantation methods?
- Seeding should be done only on a pilot basis to evaluate the effectiveness of the technology and the dispersal mechanism.
- Conventional methods of afforestation cannot be replaced but supplemented with areal seeding.
- In this case, the technique will allow plantation in sections of the Aravallis that are either difficult to access or inaccessible altogether.
Back2Basics: Aravalli Range
- The Aravalli Range is a mountain range running approximately 692 km in a south-west direction, starting near Delhi, passing through southern Haryana and Rajasthan, and ending in Gujarat.
- The highest peak is Guru Shikhar at 1,722 metres (5,650 ft).
- The Aravalli Range, an eroded stub of ancient mountains, is the oldest range of Fold Mountains in India.
- The natural history of the Aravalli Range dates back to times when the Indian Plate was separated from the Eurasian Plate by an ocean.
- Aravalli, being the old fold mountains, have stopped growing higher due to the cessation of upward thrust caused by the stopping of movement of the tectonic plates in the Earth’s crust below them.
- In ancient times, Aravalli was extremely high but since have worn down almost completely by millions of years of weathering, whereas the Himalayas being young fold mountains are still continuously rising.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: UNCAT, ICCPR, Art. 21
Mains level: Right to peaceful assembly
As authorities worldwide grapple with demonstrations over issues like political rights and racial justice, a UN committee has reaffirmed that protesting peacefully, online or in person, is a fundamental human right.
Practice question for mains:
Q.There is an urgent need for reforming the criminal justice system in India in light of rising cases of custodial torture and killings. Comment.
What is the news?
- The independent experts on the Human Rights Committee published a fresh interpretation of the right of peaceful assembly.
- It offered comprehensive legal guidance about where and how it applies and also outlining governments’ obligations.
- The committee is tasked with monitoring how countries implement the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which under Article 21 guarantees the right to peaceful assembly.
About ICCPR
- The ICCPR is a multilateral treaty adopted by UN General Assembly Resolution on 16 December 1966, and in force from 23 March 1976.
- The covenant commits its parties to respect the civil and political rights of individuals, including the right to life, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, electoral rights and rights to due process and a fair trial.
- As of September 2019, the Covenant has 173 parties and six more signatories without ratification.
- It is part of the International Bill of Human Rights, along with the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).
- It is monitored by the UN Human Rights Committee (a separate body to the UN Human Rights Council).
Back2Basics: Article 21
- Article 21 is the protection of life and personal liberty No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to the procedure established by law.
- The Article prohibits the deprivation of the above rights except according to a procedure established by law.
- Article 21 applies to natural persons. The right is available to every person, citizen or alien. Thus, even a foreigner can claim this right.
- It, however, does not entitle a foreigner the right to reside and settle in India, as mentioned in Article 19 (1) (e).
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Rafale, Hammer
Mains level: India's arsenal
The five Rafale fighter jets that landed in Ambala will resurrect the Number 17 Golden Arrows squadron of the Indian Air Force (IAF).
Try this PYQ from CSP 2018:
Q.What is “Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD)”, sometimes seen in the news?
(a) An Israeli radar system
(b) India’s indigenous anti-missile programme
(c) An American anti-missile system
(d) A defence collaboration between Japan and South Korea
Dassault Rafale
(Refer image for specifications)
- The state-of-the-art 4.5 Generation Rafale jet can reach almost double the speed of sound, with a top speed of 1.8 Mach.
- With its multi-role capabilities, including electronic warfare, air defence, ground support and in-depth strikes, the Rafale lends air superiority to the Indian Air Force.
Armed with modern arms
- Each aircraft has 14 storage stations for weapons. The jets come with one of the most advanced Meteor air-to-air missiles.
- The 190-kg missile has a Beyond Visual Range (BVR) of over 100 km, travelling at a top speed of Mach 4.
- The Rafale jets also come with SCALP, the air-to-ground cruise missile with a range over 300 km. It is a long-range deep strike missile.
- The MICA air-to-air missile on Rafale is for both, close-quarter dogfights, and for BVR.
- IAF has also asked for HAMMER (Highly Agile and Manoeuvrable Munition Extended Range), which is an air-to-ground precision-guided missile that can be used against bunker-type hardened targets within the range of 70 km.
What is so special about Rafale fighter jet?
- India in September 2016 inked a direct deal with the French government to purchase 36 new Rafale fighter jets in a 7.87 billion euro deal that is likely to bring major work to the Indian private sector in terms of offsets under the make in India policy.
- The Rafale deal for 36 jets includes over 3 billion euros of work for the Indian industry over the next 7-8 years.This has a huge potential to develop direct and indirect employment opportunities.
- High-end technology like engine know-how, major structural assembly is also likely in India, besides a chunk of avionics work.
- India will also get latest weapons like the Meteor and Scalp missiles as part of the contract, besides a 5 year support package that assures high availability of the fighter.
- India will pay a 15 % advance and deliveries are to start in three years.
India Specific enhancements
The Rafale deal caters to specific Indian air force needs. The fighter jet will be modified by France to meet the following:
- Helmet mounted sights and targeting system to give the pilots lightening quick ability to shoot off weapons.
- Ability to taken off from high altitude airbases like Leh on a ‘cold start’ – for quick reaction deployment
- radar warning receiver to identify hostile tracking systems
- A towed decoy system to thwart incoming missile attacks
- French industrial support for fighter for 50 years
VITAL Stats
- 7.87 billion Euro: Deal cost. This includes weapon systems, five year support, training, infrastructure and warranties. 15% to be paid in advance.
- 91.7 million euros: as per contract, if other costs like weapons, training etc not counted, per unit price of single seat Rafale is 91.7 million euros
- 75 % availability: French side will ensure that at any given point, at least 75 percent of the fleet is combat worthy. Failing which, heavy penalities to be invoked.
- 67 months delivery: All aircraft ordered to be delivered within 67 months with first one coming in by 36 months
- 50% offsets: Indian industry to get major boost as French side will invest half of deal value in Make in India products or technology transfer. Indian Partners to be firmed up within a year.
- 328 million Euros: Saved by negotiation efforts by the Indian side on the Rafale deal, according to defence ministry sources.
- 28/8: according to deal, India to get 28 single seater jets and 8 twin seaters for training.
For an edge over China
- While China’s J20 Chengdu jets are called fifth-generation combat jets, compared to 4.5 generation Rafale, the J20 have no actual combat experience.
- Whereas the Rafale is combat proven, having been used by the French Air Force for its missions in Afghanistan, Libya and Mali.
- It has also been used for missions in Central African Republic, Iraq and Syria. Rafale can also carry more fuel and weapons than the J20.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Bank CEO tenure and appointement
Mains level: Paper 3- Governance of the banks
The article examines the utility of the proposed limit on the banks CEO tenure.
Context
- Last month, the Reserve Bank of India released a discussion paper on governance in commercial banks in India.
- It has a proposal to cap the tenure of bank CEOs.
Details of the proposed limit and rationale
- The paper proposes to cap the maximum tenure of a promoter/major shareholder of a bank as a CEO or a Whole Time Director (WTD) at 10 years.
- This move aims to separate ownership from management.
- The rationale offered is that 10 years is an adequate period for a promoter/major shareholder of a bank as CEO/WTD to stabilise its operations and to transition the managerial leadership to professional management.
- The corresponding limit for a CEO who is not a promoter/major shareholder is 15 consecutive years. T
- Thereafter, that individual is eligible for re-appointment as CEO or WTD only after the expiration of three years.
Why banks are different from other companies: 3 Reasons
- Ordinary corporate governance norms exhort managers to run a company in the interest of shareholders but it may not be suitable approach for all types of banks.
- 1) Banks are highly leveraged, creating powerful incentives for shareholders to engage in risky strategies at great risk to creditors, including retail depositors.
- 2) Bank failure could involve systemic risk, which could result in a government bail-out.
- This moral hazard creates even more high-powered incentives for shareholders to engage in risky strategies.
- 3) Financial assets held by a bank are hard to monitor and measure.
- Consequently, external scrutiny of a bank by depositors and creditors is difficult.
- These unique factors are likely to encourage bank managers to take excessive risks to maximise shareholder value.
Purpose of Bank governance
- Bank governance seeks to curb such excessive risk-taking discussed above.
- It encourages prudent risk-taking such that shareholders’ interests are secondary to depositors’ interests.
- This is the main logic as suggested in the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision guidelines and the Financial Stability Board principles respectively.
Will capping the CEO tenure help
- It is unclear whether imposing a maximum cap on CEO tenure would encourage prudent risk-taking by the management.
- For Indian banks, the limited empirical evidence seems to suggest that bank performance improves with increasing CEO tenure.
- A paper published in International Journal of Financial Studies finds that an increase in CEO tenure is associated with significant improvements in asset quality and performance of the bank.
- The effect of CEO tenure increases rapidly with the year of CEO tenure.
- Concerning public sector banks (PSBs), the P J Nayak Committee report had identified shorter tenure of chairmen and executive directors as a key reason for weaker empowerment of their boards.
- These findings seem to be at odds with RBI’s suggestion to cap CEO tenure.
Consider the question “Examine the factors that justify the application of stricter governance principle for the banks. What would be the impacts of the RBI’s proposed limit on the CEO term of the banks on governance?
Conclusion
It may be prudent for the RBI to publish an empirical study on the impact of CEO tenure on bank performance before translating this proposal into an enforceable regulation.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: HRD Ministry revamp, National Education Policy 2020
Mains level: National Education Policy 2020
The Union Cabinet has approved the renaming of the Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) to the Ministry of Education to more clearly define its work and focus.
Before reading this newscard, try this PYQ from CSP 2019:
Q.The Ninth Schedule was introduced in the Constitution of India during the Prime Ministership of:
(a) Jawaharlal Nehru
(b) Lal Bahadur Shastri
(c) Indira Gandhi
(d) Morarji Desai
A flip-back
- With the renaming, the Ministry got back the name that it had started out with after Independence, but which was changed 35 years ago when Rajiv Gandhi was Prime Minister.
Who were some of India’s early Education Ministers?
- The Ministry which was focussed on education from the primary classes to the level of the university was headed by some of the stalwarts of Indian politics in its early years.
- For more than a decade after Independence, the Ministry was led by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad.
- He was followed by Kalulal Shrimali and the eminent jurist M C Chagla, with the poet-educationist Humayun Kabir holding the portfolio for a short while in between.
- Later Education Ministers of India included Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, who went on to become President.
- The last Education Minister of India was KC Pant, who served in the post in 1984-85, after which the name of the Ministry was changed.
Under what circumstances did the Ministry of Education become HRD?
- Upon becoming PM in 1984, Rajiv Gandhi, who had surrounded himself with a new crop of advisers, showed restlessness for change and innovation in a number of areas.
- He accepted a suggestion that all departments related to education should be brought under one roof.
- There was some opposition from academic circles who complained that the country no longer had a Department with ‘education’ in its name. Some newspapers wrote editorials criticizing the change of name.
- But the decision had been made, and subsequently, in 1986, the government cleared a new education policy – the second in the country’s history, and one that was to survive until now.
Under HRD roof
- On September 26, 1985, the Ministry of Education was renamed as the Ministry of Human Resource Development, and P V Narasimha Rao was appointed Minister.
- Related Departments such as those of Culture and Youth & Sports were brought under the Ministry of HRD, and Ministers of State were appointed.
- Even the Department of Women and Child Development – which became a separate Ministry with effect from January 30, 2006 – was a Department under the Union HRD Ministry.
Were changes made in the Ministry even afterwards?
- Yes, changes were made from time to time. After Atal Bihari Vajpayee became PM in 1998, the government decided to separate the Department of Culture from the Ministry of HRD.
- In October 1999, a new Ministry of Culture came into being, with the late Ananth Kumar in charge.
- The Department of Youth too was separated from the Ministry of HRD, and Ananth Kumar was given charge of this new Ministry as well.
- With these decisions of the Vajpayee government, the HRD Ministry remained ‘HRD’ only in name – for all practical purposes, it was back to being a ministry for education.
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