Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much.
Mains level: Paper 2- Prospects of revival of SAARC and India's leadership in the aftermath of COVID-19.
Context
If PM Modi’s gesture to SAARC is to go some way towards a solution for the region, India, which will be picking up the pieces itself, must have something to offer to its neighbours.
Background
- Not a viable option: Since 2014, when the last SAARC summit was held in Kathmandu, India had made it more than clear that it no longer considers the South Asia grouping viable.
- It was Islamabad’s turn to host the next summit in 2016, but the Uri attack intervened, and India refused to attend.
- SAARC in limbo: Under the SAARC charter, the summit cannot be held even if a single nation stays away, and the grouping has remained in limbo since.
- India’s increased engagement with other groups: In the last five years, India has actively sought to isolate Pakistan in the region.
- India hyped up its engagement with other regional groupings such as-
- BBIN (Bangladesh-Bhutan-India-Nepal), and
- BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation), which includes Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Nepal and Bhutan.
How to read the sudden resurrection of SAARC?
- Officials denied revival speculation: Despite hopes that this might be a SAARC revival, officials have discounted such speculation. That would require India to climb down from its position that Pakistan has taken verifiable steps to address India’s concerns on terrorism. There is no evidence at all that Delhi is about to do that.
- No hope of move from Pakistan: It would need Pakistan to turn over a new leaf, stop playing with free radicals to use against India, in Kashmir or elsewhere when the time is ripe. Neither is about to happen.
No cooperative response in the works
- First to call the neighbours: At a time when leaders across the globe appeared to be engrossed in the COVID-19 calamity of their own nations, Modi was the first to think of calling the neighbours.
- Why cooperation among neighbours matter? Almost all South Asian countries are bound to each other by land borders and frequent inter-travel, and it is important that the region liaises to stop the disease from spreading across the Subcontinent.
- Countries not willing to learn from each other: It was a trifle disappointing, therefore, that beyond the experience of witnessing a unique video summit, there is not much to suggest that a cooperative response is in the works.
- There is no evidence that each country is willing to learn from the other’s experiences, or public health systems, or that we are tracking each other’s data and responses.
- What were the proposals made in the summit? Two proposals were made:
- One by India for a regional fund that Modi has generously offered to put aside $10 million for.
- Pakistan proposed the setting up of a diseases surveillance centre for sharing real-time data. India has said it would prepare emergency response task forces to help out the member countries in need.
- Delhi is said to be in the process of sending medical supplies worth $1 million to Nepal, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Bhutan and Maldives, which sounds like a fraction of what they may eventually require.
- Pakistan has said China will give it testing kits, protective gear and portable ventilators, as well as a cash grant for a state-of-the-art isolation centre.
- Beijing, eager to live down its image as the point of origin for this global mayhem, will make the same offer to other South Asian countries soon.
What were the lessons India need to learn from video-summit?
- Indian need to go beyond Big Brother events: If the intention was to try and restore the aura Prime Minister Modi enjoyed in the region at the beginning of NDA-1, as some have not improbably suggested, it has to go beyond this Big Boss event.
- The video summit saw polite attendance by all SAARC leaders, with the exception of Pakistan which sent its health minister.
- But going by the scant media coverage that the summit, the first after six years, received in the neighbourhood, no one is holding their breath.
- India has lost heft it once held: For many countries in the region now, India has lost the heft it used to have in the last century.
- A proximate reason is that it is no longer an economic powerhouse nor holds the promise of being one in the near future.
- The other reason is that it no longer offers itself as a model nation, pulling together its complex diversities, pluralism and political ideologies in a broad-minded vision.
- CAA factor and changing the perception of India: The real damage to India’s standing was, of course, done by the badmouthing of the Muslim countries in the neighbourhood to justify the Citizenship (Amendment) Act 2019.
- Larger image of themselves: Seen from the eyes of other countries in South Asia today, India is now just a larger version of themselves and their political and economic dysfunctions.
- While additionally possessing and wielding the instruments to be vengeful and punitive in its foreign policy — including arm-twisting them now and then in its constant quest to isolate Pakistan.
Conclusion
- The real test for India lies ahead: The real test of Modi’s leadership of South Asia, and by extension of India’s, will come after the pandemic subsides, when each country has to deal with what remains of its economy.
- The tourism economy of Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka would have been crushed by then. Pakistan will be worse off than it is now.
- There will be more unemployment and hardship everywhere in the region.
- Some of these countries will inevitably turn to China.
- India must have something to offer as a solution: If Modi’s gesture is to go some way as part of the solution for the region, India, which will be picking up the pieces itself, must have something to offer to its South Asian neighbours six months to a year down the line.
- Is there such a plan? Can India put aside the prejudices of its domestic communalism, and its own economic woes, demonstrate large-heartedness to all the countries of the region, irrespective of what religion its people follow, irrespective of its historical hostilities with at least one?
- There may be more economic refugees knocking on India’s doors, apart from a host of other inter-regional problems.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much.
Mains level: Paper 2- Improving the standard and status of State universities and problems faced by them?
Context
State universities will have to deliver more to the State where they are located
Status of the state universities in India
- Significance of state universities: Out of about a thousand higher education institutions (HEIs) that are authorised to award degrees in India, about 400 are state public universities.
- These state universities produce over 90% of our graduates (including those from the colleges affiliated to them) and contribute to about one-third of the research publications from this country.
- Poor quality: That their quality and performance is poor in most cases is accepted as a given today.
- It is evidenced by their poor performance in institutional rankings,
- the poor employment status of their students,
- rather poor quality of their publications,
- negligible presence in national-level policy/decision-making bodies,
- poor track record in receiving national awards and recognition, poor share in research funding and so on.
- Stated reasons for poor performance– Commonly stated reasons for these observations include government/political interference in the management of the university, lack of autonomy, poor governance structures, corruption, poor quality of teachers, outdated curricula, plagiarism, poor infrastructure and facilities, overcrowding, evils of the “affiliation” system and poor linkages with alumni and industry.
- Symptoms of the problem: While many of these observations are no doubt valid, they appear to be only the symptoms and consequences of some deeper malaise and not the underlying cause.
Core causative factors for the poor state of state universities
- Lack of support: State universities are not supported the way Central universities are supported by the Central government as well as given patronage by the section of society.
- It is as though State-level players do not have much stake in the stability and performance of the State university system.
- What could be the reason for lack of support? One reason why State-level players do not feel compelled to back the State university system more strongly could be that the latter does not commit itself to anything that may be of particular interest and value to the State where the university is located.
- What could be the solution? In order to receive much more funding and support from the State system then, State universities would have to commit to delivering lots more to the State and its people where they are located.
- New vision and programmes: They must come up with a new vision and programmes specifically addressing the needs of the State, its industry, economy and society, and on the basis of it make the State-level players commit to providing full ownership and support to them.
Conclusion
The initiative to start a larger dialogue on the future of our State universities would have to be taken primarily by the academic community of these institutions.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much.
Mains level: Paper 2- What are the attitudinal problems in India's healthcare system and how India should deal with the outbreak of COVID-19?
Context
The COVID-19 pandemic has repercussions beyond the biomedical sector — it impinges on industry, transport, finance, banking and education sectors. All of them must act in unison.
Virus different from its nearest relative
- Comparison with SARS and MERS: The rapid spread of the zoonotic (transmitted from animal-to-human) coronavirus infection in Wuhan in China — several hundreds every day — in December 2019 and January 2020 was a clear signal that COVID-19 is drastically different from its nearest relative viz.-
- the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) coronavirus,
- and its distant relative, the Middle-East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) coronavirus.
- The former spread slowly among humans in 2002-2003. It was checked globally within nine months by screening passengers and quarantining travellers from infected countries.
- There have been no cases since July 2003. MERS coronavirus is, by and large, an inefficient spreader — it has been confined to the Middle-East.
- How COVID-19 is different? COVID-19 has assumed a pandemic form.
- In less than three months, it has reached more than 180 countries and claimed more than 10,000 lives.
- The disease has claimed more people in Italy than in the country of its origin.
- Travel bans, screening travellers and quarantines are necessary to slow the spread of COVID-19.
- However, there is a limit to the utility of these measures.
- Community transmission: When the infection becomes widespread, screening procedures will become inefficient — the virus will spread stealthily.
- Indigenous transmission — the virus spreading within communities — has begun in many countries.
- This is typical of viruses that spread from human to human through the respiratory system.
How India’s health management systems deals with the disease burden?
- Medicine consists of three components —
- universal healthcare,
- public health, and
- research to constantly contextualise solutions to local problems.
- Reaction after falling ill: Many of us in India believe that disease is a matter of fate or karma and disease prevention is not always in human hands — we only react after falling ill.
- No focus on prevention and control: Therapeutics and surgeries — healthcare interventions — are valued much, but not disease prevention and control.
- Cultural beliefs matter: Attitudes and cultural beliefs do matter. If victims are somehow regarded as responsible for their maladies, universal healthcare is perceived as an optional service — not mandatory.
Good reasons to change the attitude
- There are good reasons for such thinking to change.
- Every person who contracts a communicable disease stands the risk of spreading it to others.
- Prevention of disease is states’ duty: At the same time, the state, too, is responsible for the spread of diseases by not mitigating the environmental and social risk factors or determinants. Prevention of disease is the state’s duty.
- Investment in health and its implications: Healthy people create wealth. For example, every year, uncontrolled tuberculosis drains India’s economy of the equivalent of the GDP of roughly 2 million people.
- Investment in health, therefore, can have implications for the country’s economy.
- But Indians have never really demanded an effective public health system.
- Healthcare has never become a political slogan. That’s one reason for the sorry state of India’s public health system.
- Absence of effective public health system: The country does have international obligations to control TB, malaria and leprosy, and eliminate polio.
- Ad hoc measures: In the absence of an effective public health system, the country has depended on fulfilling these obligations through ad hoc measures that are targeted towards one disease.
- Need for robust health system: Robust public health systems are needed to prevent typhoid, cholera, dysentery, leptospirosis, brucellosis, water-born hepatitis and influenza.
- Overburdened healthcare system with communicable disease: The absence of an effective preventive element means that healthcare services in the public sector are over-burdened with uncontrolled communicable diseases.
- The entry of the private sector: This encourages private sector healthcare providers to step in, which brings in problems related to unregulated profits.
- Questions are often raised over the quality of service.
- COVID-19 could compound the systems problems: Moreover, uncontrolled communicable diseases vie with the non-communicable ones for the healthcare provider’s attention. The COVID-19 outbreak could compound the system’s problems.
One step ahead of the virus
- SARS and Nipah in Kerala: The SARS and Nipah virus outbreak in Kerala in 2018 were crises that required short bursts of professional activity. Our healthcare systems coped with them.
- But endemic diseases, even influenza, that has a vaccine, require sustained interventions.
- Test for the country’s healthcare system: Herein lies the test for the country’s healthcare system.
- It has often been seen that the system is not able to sustain its initial momentum.
- There is a possibility that COVID-19 could follow the path taken by the HINI influenza – after the epidemic died down, the disease became endemic.
- The country’s healthcare system has to prepare for that. In other words, it has to be one step ahead of the virus.
Way forward
- Equipping district hospitals: Every district hospital must be equipped to diagnose infections caused by serious communicable diseases — these affect the lungs, brain, liver and kidneys.
- The system should also ensure that healthcare personnel do not get infected.
- Allocate 5% of GDP to health budget: The country needs to allocate 5 per cent of the GDP to the health budget to have a health management system that can take care of public health emergencies such as the COVID-19 outbreak — and its aftermath.
- Unified control machinery: A unified command and control machinery, under the prime minister’s guidance, to control the spread of COVID-19 is overdue by at least six weeks in the country.
- Define the tasks of various authorities: The tasks of the Directorate-General of Health Services, National Centre for Disease Control, Indian Council of Medical Research, National Health Mission and state health ministries must be clearly defined.
- The mechanism for coordination: Most importantly, a mechanism for coordination between these agencies should be set up to deal with the COVID-19 threat.
Conclusion
The COVID-19 pandemic has repercussions beyond the biomedical sector — it impinges on industry, transport, finance, banking and education sectors. All of them must act in unison.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: SAARC and BIMSTEC
Mains level: Paper 2- Why should India revive the SAARC?
Context
Prime Minister Narendra Modi signalled a change in India’s rejection of SAARC as a platform for regional cooperation by inviting all heads of state and government of SAARC countries to a video summit to promote a region-wide response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
SAARC in virtual deep freeze
- Who attended the video conference? The video summit was attended by all SAARC leaders, except for Prime Minister Imran Khan of Pakistan, who deputed his special assistant for health to represent him.
- Status of SAARC: SAARC has been in a virtual deep freeze since India conveyed it would not attend the 19th SAARC summit, to be hosted by Pakistan in 2017, in the wake of the cross-border terrorist incidents at Pathankot and Uri.
- Other SAARC leaders also declined to attend.
- The summit was indefinitely postponed.
- Focus on BIMSTEC: Since then India has downgraded SAARC as an instrument of its “Neighbourhood First” policy and shifted the focus to the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) instead.
Backdrop of SAARC revival
- For his swearing-in ceremony in 2014, PM Modi had invited leaders of all SAARC countries including Pakistan.
- For the swearing-in ceremony in 2019, it is BIMSTEC leaders who were the invited guests.
- Soon after taking over as external affairs minister, S Jaishankar referred to SAARC having “certain problems” while BIMSTEC was described as having both energy and possibility and “a mindset which fits in with that very optimistic vision of economic cooperation that we want.”
- Deliberate political message: Against this backdrop, Modi’s initiative in convening a SAARC video summit, instead of a BIMSTEC video summit, conveys a deliberate political message.
Proposal of SAARC Covid-19 Fund and Health Ministers’ Conference
- At the conference, Modi gave a call for the countries of SAARC “coming together and not going apart.”
- A SAARC Covid-19 Fund has been proposed with India committing US$10 million.
- Modi referred to the role which could be played by an existing SAARC institution, the Disaster Management Centre, in enabling a coordinated response to Covid-19.
- Suggestions were made by several leaders, including the Pakistani representative, for a SAARC Health Ministers’ Conference to follow up on the summit. This is likely to be convened soon.
Pakistan on defensive
- India seen as undermining SAARC: Modi’s initiative has put Pakistan on the defensive. So far, it was India which was seen as undermining SAARC in which other South Asian countries have a keen interest.
- BIMSTEC no alternative to SAARC: While there has been readiness on their part to participate in BIMSTEC, they do not consider the latter as an alternative to SAARC. In taking this initiative, Modi may be responding to these sentiments.
- Onus on Pakistan: If Pakistan now drags its feet, then the onus will be on her for weakening the Association.
- There is a new situation as a result of the abrogation of Article 370 relating to Kashmir, which has been denounced by Pakistan.
- Difficulty for Pakistan: It would be difficult for Pakistan to accept cooperation with India under SAARC because this would compromise its stand on Kashmir.
BIMSTEC not delivered expected results
- Not yielded the expected result: It is also a fact that the focus on BIMSTEC has not yielded the results India may have expected.
- Trade below the set target: Current trade among its members is US$40 billion, though the potential was set at $250 billion.
- Act East policy stalled: India’s Act East policy, which involved a key role for India’s Northeast, has stalled.
- RCEP factor: The Northeast is in political turmoil while India has opted out of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), which would have added substance to BIMSTEC.
Why India should revive SAARC
1.BIMSTEC not a credible option to SAARC
- Today it is difficult to see BIMSTEC as a credible and preferred alternative to SAARC.
- Cooperation both through SAARC and BIMSTEC: In any case, it makes better sense for India to pursue regional economic cooperation both through SAARC as well as BIMSTEC rather than project them as competing entities.
- SCO membership a contradictory position: If the argument is that regional cooperation involving Pakistan is a non-starter due to its ingrained hostility towards India, then being part of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), where both are members, becomes a somewhat contradictory position.
2.The China factor
- China making inroad into the neighbourhood: In determining its position towards SAARC, India must also take into account the significant inroads that China has been making in its sub-continental neighbourhood.
- BRI initiative: With the exception of Bhutan, every South Asian country has signed on to China’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
- A number of Chinese infrastructure projects are already in place or are being planned in each of our neighbours.
- China likely to become a key player: With SAARC becoming inoperative and BIMSTEC not living up to its promise, China is likely to become a key economic partner for South Asia and India’s hitherto pre-eminent role will be further eroded.
- On this count, too, it is advisable for India to advance regional cooperation both under SAARC as well as BIMSTEC. Both are necessary.
3.Pakistan factor
- Should not give up on Pakistan: Despite the frustration in dealing with Pakistan, India should not give up on its western neighbour.
- Relation needs to be managed: Relations with Islamabad will remain adversarial for the foreseeable future but still need to be managed with two ends in mind.
- One, to ensure that tensions do not escalate into open hostilities and,
- two, to reduce leverage which third countries may exercise over both countries on the pretext of reducing tensions between them.
- No compromise in position on terrorism: This does not in any way compromise our firm stand against cross-border terrorism emanating from Pakistan. The revival of SAARC could be an added constraint on Pakistan’s recourse to terrorism as an instrument of state policy.
4.Afghanistan factor
- Finally, the revival of SAARC would also support the Ashraf Ghani government in Kabul in navigating through a difficult and complex peace process involving a Pakistan-sponsored Taliban.
Conclusion
While these are essentially tactical considerations, there is a compelling reality which we ignore at our peril. Whether it is a health crisis like the Covid-19 or climate change, the melting of Himalayan glaciers or rising sea levels, all such challenges are better and more efficiently dealt with through regional cooperation. The Indian Subcontinent is an ecologically integrated entity and only regionally structured and collaborative responses can work.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Desertification and Land Degradation
Mains level: Various initiatives for water conservation
The Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare has provided useful information about land degradation in India citing the Desertification and Land Degradation Atlas.
Desertification and Land Degradation Atlas of India
- Space Applications Centre (SAC), ISRO has released out an inventory and monitoring of desertification of the entire country in 2016.
- This Atlas presents state-wise desertification and land degradation status maps depicting land use, process of degradation and severity level.
- This was prepared using IRS Advanced Wide Field Sensor (AWiFS) data of 2011-13 and 2003-05 time frames in GIS environment.
- Area under desertification / land degradation for the both time frames and changes are reported state-wise as well as for the entire country.
Degraded land in India
- About 29.32% of the Total Geographical Area of the country is undergoing the process of desertification/land degradation.
- Approximately 6.35% of land in Uttar Pradesh is undergoing desertification/degradation.
Various move for land conservation
- National Afforestation & Eco Development Board (NAEB) Division of the MoEFCC is implementing the “National Afforestation Programme (NAP)” for ecological restoration of degraded forest areas.
- Various other schemes like Green India Mission, fund accumulated under Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA), Nagar Van Yojana etc. also help in checking degradation and restoration of forest landscape.
- MoEF&CC also promote tree outside forests realizing that the country has a huge potential for increasing its Trees Outside Forest (TOF) area primarily through expansion of agroforestry, optimum use of wastelands and vacant lands.
Various institutions for land conservation
- Indian Institute of Soil and Water Conservation (IISWC): Bio-engineering measures to check soil erosion due to run-off of rain water
- Central Arid Zone Research Institute (CAZRI), Jodhpur: Sand dune stabilization and shelter belt technology to check wind erosion
- Council through Central Soil Salinity Research Institute, Karnal: Reclamation technology, sub-surface drainage, bio-drainage, agroforestry interventions and salt tolerant crop varieties to improve the productivity of saline, sodic and waterlogged soils in the country
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: SPECS
Mains level: Not Much
The Union Cabinet has approved Scheme for Promotion of manufacturing of Electronic Components and Semiconductors.
About SPECS
- The scheme aims to offer the financial incentive of 25% of capital expenditure for the manufacturing of goods that constitute the supply chain of electronic products.
- The scheme will help offset the disability for domestic manufacturing of electronic components and semiconductors in order to strengthen the electronic manufacturing ecosystem in the country.
Benefits
The proposal, when implemented, will lead to the development of electronic components manufacturing ecosystem in the country. Following are the expected outputs/outcomes in terms of measurable indicators for the scheme:
- Development of electronic components manufacturing ecosystem in the country and deepening of Electronics value chain
- New investments in Electronics Sector to the tune of at least Rs. 20,000 crore
- Total employment potential of the scheme is approximately 6,00,000
- Reducing dependence on import of components by large scale domestic manufacturing that will also enhance the digital security of the nation
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Defence Procurement Procedure
Mains level: Defence procurement in India
Raksha Mantri unveiled the draft Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP) 2020 that aims at further increasing indigenous manufacturing and reducing timelines for procurement of defence equipment.
Defence Procurement Procedure
- The draft of DPP 2020 has been prepared by a Review Committee headed by Director General (Acquisition) based on the recommendations of all stakeholders, including private industry.
- The first DPP was promulgated in 2002 and has since been revised a number of times to provide impetus to the growing domestic industry and achieve enhanced self-reliance in defence manufacturing.
Features:
- The government is constantly striving to formulate policies to empower the private industry including MSMEs in order to develop the eco-system for indigenous defence production.
- The major changes proposed in the new DPP are:
1) Indigenous Content ratio hiked
- The draft proposes increasing the Indigenous Content (IC) stipulated in various categories of procurement by about 10% to support the ‘Make in India’ initiative.
- A simple and realistic methodology has been incorporated for verification of indigenous content for the first time.
2) New Category: “Buy Global” Manufacture in India
- It has been introduced with minimum 50% indigenous content on cost basis of total contract value.
- Only the minimum necessary will be bought from abroad while the balance quantities will be manufactured in India.
- This would be in preference to the ‘Buy Global’ category as manufacturing will happen in India and jobs will be created in the country.
3) Leasing introduced as a new category
- Leasing has been introduced as a new category for acquisition in addition to existing ‘Buy’ & ‘Make’ categories to substitute huge initial capital outlays with periodical rental payments.
- Leasing is permitted under two categories e, Lease (Indian) where Lessor is an Indian entity and is the owner of the assets and Lease (Global) where Lessor is a Global entity.
- This will be useful for military equipment not used in actual warfare like transport fleets, trainers, simulators, etc.
4) Product support
- The scope and options for Product Support have been widened to include contemporary concepts in vogue, namely Performance Based Logistics (PBL), Life Cycle Support Contract (LCSC), Comprehensive Maintenance Contract (CMC), etc to optimize life cycle support for equipment.
- The capital acquisition contract would normally also include support for five years beyond the warranty period.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Production Incentive Scheme (PLI)
Mains level: Various schemes for Industrial promotion
The Union Cabinet has approved the Production Incentive Scheme (PLI) for Large Scale Electronics Manufacturing.
Production Incentive Scheme (PLI)
- The scheme proposes production linked incentive to boost domestic manufacturing and attract large investments in mobile phone manufacturing and specified electronic components including Assembly, Testing, Marking and Packaging (ATMP) units.
- The scheme shall extend an incentive of 4% to 6% on incremental sales (over a base year) of goods manufactured in India and covered under target segments, to eligible companies, for a period of five (5) years subsequent to the base year as defined.
- The proposed scheme is likely to benefit 5-6 major global players and few domestic champions, in the field of mobile manufacturing and Specified Electronics Components and bring in large scale electronics manufacturing in India.
Benefits
- The scheme has a direct employment generation potential of over 2,00,000 jobs over 5 years.
- It would lead to large scale electronics manufacturing in the country and open tremendous employment opportunities. Indirect employment will be about 3 times of direct employment as per industry estimates.
- Thus, the total employment potential of the scheme is approximately 8,00,000.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: IIIT Amendment Act
Mains level: Not Much
Lok Sabha passed the IIIT Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2020.
About IIIT Act
- IIITs are envisaged to promote higher education and research in the field of Information Technology.
- The IIT Act of 2014 and IIIT (Public-Private Partnership) Act, 2017 are the unique initiatives of the govt. to impart knowledge in the field of IT to provide solutions to the challenges faced by the country.
- Every Institute shall be open to all persons irrespective of gender, caste, creed, disability, domicile, ethnicity and social or economic background.
What are the proposed Amendments?
- Introduction of the Amendment 2020 will amend the principal acts of 2014 and 2017.
- It will grant statutory status to five IIIT in PPP mode in Gujarat (Surat), Madhya Pradesh (Bhopal), Bihar (Bhagalpur), Tripura (Agartala), and Karnataka (Raichur).
- It would declare them as Institutions of National Importance along with already existing 15 IIIT under the 2017 Act.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: EMC 2.0 Scheme
Mains level: Not Much
The Union Cabinet has approved financial assistance to the Modified Electronics Manufacturing Clusters (EMC2.0) Scheme
Background
- To build and create requisite infrastructure ecosystem for electronics manufacturing; Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology notified Electronics Manufacturing Clusters (EMC) Scheme which was open for receipt of applications upto October, 2017.
- A period of 5 years is available for disbursement of funds for the approved projects.
- There was a need for continuation of such scheme in modified form for further strengthening the infrastructure base for electronics industry in the country and deepening the electronics value chain.
EMC 2.0 Scheme
- The Modified Electronics Manufacturing Clusters (EMC 2.0) Scheme would support setting up of both Electronics Manufacturing Clusters (EMCs) and Common Facility Centers (CFCs).
- For the purpose of this Scheme an EMC would set up in geographical areas of certain minimum extent, preferably contiguous, where the focus is on development of basic infrastructure, amenities and other common facilities for the ESDM units.
- For Common Facility Centre (CFC) there should be a significant number of existing ESDM units located in the area and the focus is on upgrading common technical infrastructure and providing common facilities for the ESDM units in such EMCs, Industrial Areas/Parks/industrial corridors.
Aims and objectives
- The scheme aims for development of world class infrastructure along with common facilities and amenities through Electronics Manufacturing Clusters (EMCs).
- It is expected that these EMCs would aid the growth of the ESDM sector, help development of entrepreneurial ecosystem, drive innovation and catalyze the economic growth of the region by attracting investments in the sector, increasing employment opportunities and tax revenues.
Benefits
The Scheme will create a robust infrastructure base for electronic industry to attract flow of investment in ESDM sector and lead to greater employment opportunities. Following are the expected outputs/outcomes for the Scheme:
- Availability of ready infrastructure and Plug & Play facility for attracting investment in the electronics sector:
- New investment in electronics sector
- Jobs created by the manufacturing units;
- Revenue in the form of taxes paid by the manufacturing units
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Highlights of the World Happiness Report for 2020
Mains level: Happiness as a measure of progress
The World Happiness Report for 2020 has been recently released.
The World Happiness Report
- The WHR is an annual publication of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network.
- It contains articles and rankings of national happiness based on respondent ratings of their own lives which the report also correlates with various life factors.
- The 2020 report for the first time ranks cities around the world by their subjective well-being and digs more deeply into how the social, urban and natural environments combine to affect our happiness.
Highlights of the 2020 report
- Finland has been declared the world’s happiest nation for the third year running.
- As in each of the previous seven reports, Nordic states dominated the top ten, along with countries such as Switzerland, New Zealand and Austria. Luxembourg also edged into the tenth spot for the first time this year.
Why Finland?
- People in Finland are said to be shy, away from spontaneous demonstrations of joy, valuing instead the quiet and solitude of the country’s vast forests and thousands of lakes.
- The northern country’s long dark winters were reputed to be behind high levels of alcoholism and suicide, but a decade-long public health drive has helped cut rates by more than half.
- Finland’s residents enjoy a high quality of life, security and public services, with rates of inequality and poverty among the lowest of all OECD countries.
India’s dismal performance
- India was at a 144 rank nestled between Lesotho and Malawi nations.
- Pakistan, on the other hand, has been ranked 66.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much.
Mains level: Paper 3- How will India economy be impacted by the Covid-19?
Context
India is currently in the grip of dual shocks: Covid-19 and a financial one.
The supply and demand shock
- Containing outbreak at economic cost: Even as infection rates have tapered in China, they are rising elsewhere. Countries that have succeeded in containing it have done so at an economic cost, by quarantining people, implementing lockdowns and social distancing.
- This has resulted in a plateauing of new infection cases in China and South Korea, but they are still rising exponentially across Europe and the US.
- Supply shock: This is both a supply as well as demand shock. On the former, the impact is via disruptions in China-centred supply chains.
- Demand shock: But there is also a hit to final demand as infections spread across the rest of the world, hurting travel, tourism, hotels and local retail activity.
- Tightened financial condition: The correction in equity markets and wider credit spreads have tightened financial conditions, and both consumer and business confidence has faltered.
- Rising infections in Europe a big concern: Rising infections in Europe and the US are a big concern as both are large services-driven economies. Any pullback in their consumption demand will likely result in a demand shock for the rest of the world.
Global spillover of Covid-19
- Hitting economies in waves: One uncertainty pertains to how long this shock will last. There are no definite answers as of now. Covid-19 shocks are hitting economies in waves and countries are imposing lockdowns, one by one.
- Hence, instead of a synchronized global slump over one or two months, the economic impact is getting spread out.
- For example, supply chain disruptions and lockdowns in China are gradually easing, and we estimate that factories should be operating at full capacity by mid-April.
- Hit to travel and tourism to last till June: The hit to travel and tourism will last at least until June because even if the number of new infection cases eases, travellers will remain cautious initially.
- Demand in the US and Europe to remain low until April: Curtailment in discretionary demand due to social distancing in the US and Europe only started in March and will likely continue until April, if not longer.
- Global spillover to continue till May: The global spillovers of Covid-19 will likely be spread out over February and May, implying a weak first half of 2020.
- Whether the shocks last longer will depend on whether countries successfully contain infections.
- It also depends on the ability of countries to prevent spillover effects onto corporate balance sheets (more defaults) and the labour market (job losses).
- Global GDP to remain low in the first half: Global gross domestic product (GDP) growth in the first half of 2020 is likely to be weaker than during the global financial crisis of 2008-09, due to a sharp first-quarter decline in China, and weaker final demand in developed economies in the second.
What will be the impact on India?
- The economic hit to India will be felt through multiple channels.
- First, India is not a part of China-centric global value chains, but China accounts for a significant share of India’s imports (14%) and its production halt will hit India’s imports of
- primary and intermediate goods,
- disrupting domestic production,
- particularly in industries such as pharmaceuticals, auto, electronics, solar power and agriculture.
- Second, there will be a slowdown in international and domestic travel and tourism. India earns over 1% of GDP as foreign exchange earnings from tourism annually.
- Third, social distancing measures, along with the public fear factor will hit domestic retail activity as people avoid public places.
- Fourth, India will face the indirect effects of weaker global demand, tighter financial conditions and low confidence.
- Oil windfall offset: Even though lower oil prices are a boon, in the current environment any benefit from lower oil prices will be offset by other negatives.
- Domestic financial sector risk: Another big challenge for India relates to domestic financial sector risks.
- The spillover effect of Yes bank: Weak growth and financial stability concerns have been brewing for over a year now and the spillover effects of Yes Bank’s takeover are still reverberating through the system.
- The fallout of the shadow banking slowdown via potential stress for real estate developers and small and medium-sized enterprises is a risk.
- If the asset quality of both shadow banks and the banking sector deteriorate in the next few quarters, as is likely, then domestic credit conditions may stay tight, as the perceived risk premium could rise further.
- GDP growth rate: In this backdrop, the real activity could suffer. The GDP growth is expected to average around 4% year-on-year in the first half of 2020, with risks skewed to the downside.
- GDP growth in 2020-21 is unlikely to be more than 2019-20’s 5%.
Way forward
- An optimal policy response to Covid-19: The optimal policy response to is globally-coordinated public health safety and virus containment. India has taken some worthy decisions on this.
- Since Covid-19 will adversely impact service sectors like retail, hospitality, travel and civil aviation, the government’s fiscal policy response should be aimed well through measures such as tax relief and interest-free loans, particularly for small and medium enterprises.
- Liquidity easing and policy accommodation: On monetary policy, a combination of liquidity easing and policy accommodation would be needed beyond the moves already made.
- Macro-prudential steps such as lowering the counter-cyclical capital buffer for banks could be announced.
- Fixing the financial sector, though, would need a broader response, including a recognition of the full scale of the problem and then adequately recapitalising banks and shadow banks.
- Else, credit risk premia may stay elevated and credit growth may not pick up.
Conclusion
In all, the economic impact on India due to shocks emanating from Covid-19 could get compounded due to weak domestic balance sheets. The coming quarters call for close vigilance of credit risks and the prioritizing of financial stability.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much.
Mains level: Paper 2- Need to entrust the Human Right Commissions with more powers.
Context
The Madras High Court is to decide on whether the recommendations made by such panels are binding upon the state.
A fourth branch institution
- Enactment of the Act and its purpose: In 1993, the Indian Parliament enacted the Protection of Human Rights Act.
- Purpose: The purpose of the Act was to establish an institutional framework that could effectively protect, promote and fulfil the fundamental rights guaranteed by the Indian Constitution.
- To this end, the Act created a National Human Rights Commission, and also, Human Rights Commissions at the levels of the various States.
- What is fourth branch institution: The National and State Human Rights Commissions are examples of what we now call “fourth branch institutions.”
- According to the classical account, democracy is sustained through a distribution of power between three “branches” — the legislature, the executive, and the judiciary, with each branch acting as a check and a balance upon the others.
- The necessity of independent bodies: The complexity of governance and administration in the modern world has necessitated the existence of a set of independent bodies, which are charged with performing vital functions of oversight.
- Some of these bodies are constitutional bodies — established by the Constitution itself. These include, for instance, the Election Commission and the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General.
- Others have been established under law: for example, the Information Commission under the Right to Information Act, and Human Rights Commissions under the Protection of Human Rights Act.
- HRC under scrutiny and criticism: In the two-and-a-half decades of their existence, however, the functioning of the Human Rights Commissions have come under scrutiny and criticism.
- There have been the usual critiques of the politicization of autonomous bodies, and selectiveness.
- Toothless: Even more than that, however, it has been alleged that for all intents and purposes, the Human Rights Commissions are toothless: at the highest, they play an advisory role, with the government left free to disobey or even disregard their findings.
Limitations of NHRC
- NHRC’s recommendations are not binding
- NHRC cannot penalize authorities who do not implement its orders
- JK is out of its jurisdiction
- NHRC jurisdiction does not cover human right violations by private parties
- 3/5 are judges, leading to more judicial touch to its functioning
- 2/5 are also not Human rights experts. Political appointments.
- Time limit is set to 1 year i.e. NHRC cannot entertain ca case older than 1 year
- Limited jurisdiction over violation by armed forces
- The act does not extend to J&K
- Vacancies are not filled on time. Most human rights commissions are functioning with less than the prescribed Members
- Fund crunch
- Overload and backlog. Too many complaints. Hence, in recent days, NHRC is finding it difficult to address the increasing number of complaints
- Bureaucratic style of functioning
What the case before Madras High Court will decide?
- Whether recommendations are mandatory or not: A Full Bench of the High Court will be deciding upon whether “recommendations” made by the Human Rights Commissions are binding upon their respective State (or Central) governments, or whether the government is entitled to reject or take no action upon them.
- What are the power of HRC under the act? Under the Protection of Human Rights Act, the Human Rights Commissions are empowered to inquire into the violations of human rights committed by state authorities, either upon petitions presented to them, or upon their own initiative.
- Powers of civil courts: While conducting these inquiries, the Commissions are granted identical powers to that of civil courts, such as the examining witnesses, ordering for documents, receiving evidence, and so on.
- These proceedings are deemed to be judicial proceedings, and they require that any person, who may be prejudicially affected by their outcome, has a right to be heard.
- Issue over the meaning of recommend: The controversy before the Madras High Court stems from the issue of what is to be done after the Human Rights Commission completes its enquiry, and reaches a conclusion that human rights have been violated.
- Section 18 of the Protection of Human Rights Act empowers the Human Rights Commission to “recommend” to the concerned government to grant compensation to the victim, to initiate prosecution against the erring state authorities, to grant interim relief, and to take various other steps.
- The key question revolves around the meaning of the word “recommend.”
- Opposite conclusion by different benches: The Full Bench of the Madras High Court is hearing the case because different, smaller benches, have come to opposite conclusions about how to understand the word “recommend” in the context of the Protection of Human Rights Act.
- According to one set of judgments, this word needs to be taken in its ordinary sense. To “recommend” means to “put forward” or to “suggest” something or someone as being suitable for some purpose.
- Ordinarily, a mere “suggestion” is not binding. Furthermore, Section 18 of the Human Rights Act also obligates the concerned government to “forward its comments on the report, including the action taken or proposed to be taken thereon, to the Commission”, within a period of one month.
- The argument, therefore, is that this is the only obligation upon the government.
- If indeed the Act intended to make the recommendations of the Commission binding upon the government, it would have said so: it would not simply have required the government to communicate what action it intended to take to the Commission (presumably, a category that includes “no action” as well).
Why ordinary meaning of recommend needs to be rejected?
- Argument against the ordinary meaning of “recommend”
- Ordinary meaning and meaning within the legal framework: The first is that there is often a gap between the ordinary meanings of words and the meanings that they have within legal frameworks.
- Legal meaning: Legal meaning is a function of context, and often, the purpose of the statute within which a word occurs has a strong influence on how it is to be understood.
- For example, the Supreme Court has held, in the past, that the overriding imperative of maintaining judicial independence mandates that “consultation” with the Chief Justice for judicial appointments (as set out under the Constitution) be read as “concurrence” of the Chief Justice (this is the basis for the collegium system).
- Recently, while interpreting the Land Acquisition Act, the apex court held that the word “and” in a provision had to be construed as “or”.
- Of course, there needs to be a good reason for interpretations of this kind.
- Constitutional commitment: This brings us to the purpose of the Human Rights Act, and the importance of fourth branch institutions.
- Ensure adequate realisation of constitutional commitment: As indicated above, the Human Rights Act exists to ensure the protection and promotion of human rights.
- To fulfil this purpose, the Act creates an institutional infrastructure, via the Human Rights Commissions.
- The Human Rights Commissions, thus, are bodies that stand between the individual and the state, and whose task is to ensure the adequate realisation of constitutional commitment to protecting human rights.
- Leaving decision with the state would defeat the purpose of the act: It stands to reason that if the state was left free to obey or disobey the findings of the Commission, this constitutional role would be effectively pointless, as whatever the Human Rights Commission did, the final judgment call on whether or not to comply with its commitments under the Constitution would be left to the state authorities.
- This, it is clear, would defeat the entire purpose of the Act.
- Past precedents: Indeed, in the past, courts have invoked constitutional purpose to determine the powers of various fourth branch institutions in cases of ambiguity.
- For example, the Supreme Court laid down detailed guidelines to ensure the independence of the Central Bureau of Investigation; various judgments have endorsed and strengthened the powers of the Election Commission to compulsorily obtain relevant details of candidates, despite having no express power to do so.
- It is therefore clear that in determining the powers of autonomous bodies such as the Human Rights Commission, the role those fourth branch institutions are expected to play in the constitutional scheme is significant.
- Powers of civil courts: And lastly, as pointed out above, the Human Rights Commission has the powers of a civil court, and proceedings before it are deemed to be judicial proceedings. This provides strong reasons for its findings to be treated — at the very least — as quasi-judicial, and binding upon the state (unless challenged).
- Indeed, very recently, the Supreme Court held as much in the context of “opinions” rendered by the Foreigners Tribunals, using very similar logic to say that these “opinions” were binding.
Conclusion
The crucial role played by a Human Rights Commission — and the requirement of state accountability in a democracy committed to a ‘culture of justification’ — strongly indicates that the Commission’s recommendations should be binding upon the state. Which way the Madras High Court holds will have a crucial impact upon the future of human rights protection in India.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much.
Mains level: Paper 3- Using technology to deal with epidemics.
Context
Coronavirus crisis is an opportunity for India to build on domestic technological capabilities in artificial intelligence, big data analytics, life sciences and health technology in the private sector.
How a small tech company flagged Covid-19 outbreak?
- What does it do? A small tech company in Canada — BlueDot — was among first outside China to spot a new epidemic spreading out from Wuhan last December.
- BlueDot, founded in Canada by a medical scientist of South Asian origin, Kamran Khan, tracks the origin and transmission of infectious diseases around the world.
- How could they detect the outbreak in China? BlueDot did this by sifting through massive volumes of news reports and blogs by individuals, including health professionals flowing out of China.
- Data analytics and medical expertise combined: BlueDot combines “public health and medical expertise with advanced data analytics to build solutions that track, contextualise, and anticipate infectious disease risks”.
- Use of AI: BlueDot is one of the many technology firms leveraging artificial intelligence for business and policy purposes.
- Many governments are reaching out to tech companies to cope with the corona crisis.
- The state government of California has just hired BlueDot to help it deal with the challenge.
The growing role of technology in dealing with coronavirus
- Across the world, policymakers see a growing role for technology in identification, tracking, and treating the coronavirus.
- Alibaba and Tencent’s help in China: In China, the Communist Party roped in big tech companies like Alibaba and Tencent in the battle against the virus.
- Silicon valley’s help in the US: In the US, President Donald Trump has set aside his well-known distaste for Democrat-leaning Silicon Valley to tackle what he now calls a war-like emergency.
- India will need all the science and technology it can get hold of in overcoming the crisis that is bound to escalate by the day.
- An opportunity to do good: For the small tech startups in related areas, this is a moment to shine. For the large tech companies, this is a huge opportunity to deploy their immense capabilities to resolve the specific problems posed by the spread of the coronavirus.
- In rising to the occasion, they could fend off a lot of the recent negative criticism of their business practices and demonstrate that their commitment to “doing good” is not just empty rhetoric.
- A good business proposition: “Doing good” is also a sensible business proposition at this time.
- As governments desperately seek solutions to the crisis, the tech startups and established companies leverage the moment to scale up many technologies, develop new uses and markets.
How countries used technology to deal with the outbreak
- How China used technology? In China, as the government moved decisively after the delayed initial response, it turned to-
- the well-established mass surveillance system based on facial recognition technologies,
- sensing technologies to identify those with fever in public places and
- data from mobile phone companies to trace the people who might be infected, and limit the spread of the disease.
- China also developed a Health Code that uses data analytics to-
- identify and assess the risk of every individual in a targeted zone based on travel history and time spent in infected places.
- The individuals are assigned a colour code (red, yellow, or green) which they can access via popular apps to know if they ought to be quarantined or allowed in public.
- How Korea used technology? Many Asian democracies like South Korea have also turned to AI tools to contain the spread of the disease.
- How the US used technology? As it copes with the rapid spread of the coronavirus, the US had no option but to use surveillance to contain it.
- Partners in dealing with outbreak: Unsurprisingly, the big tech companies in the US, based on collecting and monetising massive amounts of data from individuals, have inevitably become partners for Washington.
- But the relationship between the government, corporations and individual citizens in the US is governed by a welter of laws.
- There is mounting pressure now to tweak these laws to manage the corona crisis.
- The US is also liberalising the regulations on the access to, and use of, patients’ health records.
Growing collaboration between science and the state
- The race between China and the US: Overarching these arguments is a race between the US and China to find new vaccines for the coronavirus.
- And, more broadly, for the mastery of new scientific capabilities — from artificial intelligence to health technologies.
- The competition, in turn, is promoting a more intensive alliance between science and the state in both nations.
- Collaboration could accelerate the technological capabilities: The collaboration between science and the state during past crises led to a dramatic acceleration of technological capabilities.
- World War precedents: During the Second World War, science and the state got together to move nuclear physics from the lab to the battlefield.
- Cold War precedent: The Cold War between America and Russia promoted the development of space technology, microelectronics, communications and computing.
- Role of private entities: What marks out the current technological race between the US and China is the role of private and non-governmental entities.
- That might well be the missing link in India’s effort to beat the coronavirus.
Conclusion
- Opportunity for India: The current crisis, however, is also an opportunity for India to build on the existing domestic technological capabilities in the areas of artificial intelligence, big data analytics, life sciences, health technology in the private sector.
- India needs stronger private sector in science: In India, the state has dominated the development of science and its organisation. That was of great value in the early decades after Independence.
- Today, what Delhi needs is a stronger private sector in science and greater synergy with it in dealing with challenges like the corona crisis.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Various instruments of OMOs, OMOs
Mains level: Read the attached story
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has decided to infuse ₹10,000 crore liquidity in the banking system by buying government securities through open market operations (OMO).
What are Open Market Operations (OMOs)?
- OMOs are conducted by the RBI by way of sale and purchase of G-Secs to and from the market with an objective to adjust the rupee liquidity conditions in the market on a durable basis.
- When the RBI feels that there is excess liquidity in the market, it resorts to sale of securities thereby sucking out the rupee liquidity.
- Similarly, when the liquidity conditions are tight, RBI may buy securities from the market, thereby releasing liquidity into the market.
How and in what form can government securities be held?
- The public debt office (PDO) of RBI, acts as the registry and central depository for G-Secs.
- They may be held by investors either as physical stock or in dematerialized (demat/electronic) form.
- It is mandatory for all the RBI regulated entities to hold and transact in G-Secs only in dematerialized subsidiary general ledger or SGL form.
Types:
i) Physical form
- G-Secs may be held in the form of stock certificates. A stock certificate is registered in the books of PDO.
- Ownership in stock certificates cannot be transferred by way of endorsement and delivery.
- They are transferred by executing a transfer form as the ownership and transfer details are recorded in the books of PDO.
- The transfer of a stock certificate is final and valid only when the same is registered in the books of PDO.
ii) Demat form:
- Holding G-Secs in the electronic or scripless form is the safest and the most convenient alternative as it eliminates the problems relating to their custody, viz., loss of security.
- Besides, transfers and servicing of securities in electronic form is hassle free.
How are the G-Secs issued?
- G-Secs are issued through auctions conducted by the RBI.
- Auctions are conducted on the electronic platform called the E-Kuber, the Core Banking Solution (CBS) platform of RBI.
- The RBI, in consultation with the Government of India, issues an indicative half-yearly auction calendar which contains information about the amount of borrowing, the range of the tenor of securities and the period during which auctions will be held.
- The RBI conducts auctions usually every Wednesday to issue T-bills (Treasury Bills) of 91-day, 182-day and 364-day tenors.
- Settlement for the T-bills auctioned is made on T+1 day i.e. on a working day following the trading day. Like T-bills, CMBs are also issued at a discount and redeemed at face value on maturity.
- The tenor, notified amount and date of issue of the CMBs depend upon the temporary cash requirement of the Government. The tenors of CMBs are generally less than 91 days.
What is meant by repurchase (buyback) of G-Secs?
- Repurchase (buyback) of G-Secs is a process whereby the central government and state governments buy back their existing securities, by redeeming them prematurely, from the holders.
- The objectives of buyback can be the reduction of cost (by buying back high coupon securities), reduction in the number of outstanding securities and improving liquidity in the G-Secs market (by buying back illiquid securities) and infusion of liquidity in the system.
- The repurchase is also undertaken for effective cash management by utilising the surplus cash balances.
- The state governments can also buy back their high coupon (high-cost debt) bearing securities to reduce their interest outflows in the times when interest rates show a falling trend.
- States can also retire their high-cost debt pre-maturely in order to fulfil some of the conditions put by international lenders like Asian Development Bank, World Bank etc. to grant them low-cost loans.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Windrush Generation
Mains level: Windrush Scandal
The British government has apologised for its treatment of Britons of Caribbean origin, which were wrongly detained or deported for being illegal immigrants, after the publication of a devastating official report.
What is the scandal?
- The Windrush scandal is a 2018 British political scandal concerning people who were wrongly detained, denied legal rights, threatened with deportation, and, in at least 83 cases wrongly deported from the UK.
- Many of those affected had been born British subjects and had arrived in the UK before 1973, particularly from Caribbean countries as members of the “Windrush generation”.
- As well as those who were wrongly deported, an unknown number were wrongly detained, lost their jobs or homes, or were denied benefits or medical care to which they were entitled.
- A number of long-term UK residents were wrongly refused re-entry to the UK, and a larger number were threatened with immediate deportation by the Home Office.
- The scandal also prompted a wider debate about British immigration policy and Home Office practice.
Windrush Generation
- The Windrush generation is named after one of the many vessels that ferried some half a million people from the Caribbean islands to the U.K. in the late 1940s.
- The “Empire Windrush” ship had brought one of the first groups of West Indian migrants to the UK in 1948.
- The generation refers to migrants from the Caribbean Commonwealth who had come to the U.K. at a time when they had the right to remain indefinitely in Britain but had had their rights questioned under a toughened immigration regime.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Lipids, Non-polar compounds
Mains level: Not Much
A researcher from IIT Bombay is using biologically active lipid molecules as chemical biology tools to elucidate their biological disease-causing function.
About the research
- The research is focused to explore how lipids play critical roles in infectious diseases by intervening in cellular signaling, membrane trafficking, and protein function all of which are intimately involved in host-pathogen interplay.
- The research works with lipids from Mycobacteria tuberculosis (Mtb), which synthesizes atypical lipids predisposed on its surface to interact with the human host membrane.
- Using Mtb lipids as tools, the research elucidates a direct correlation between human host lipid membrane modification and modulation of associated signaling pathways by these exogenous Mtb lipids.
What are Lipids?
- A lipid is a biomolecule that is soluble in nonpolar solvents.
- Non-polar solvents are typically hydrocarbons used to dissolve other naturally occurring hydrocarbon lipid molecules that do not (or do not easily) dissolve in water, including fatty acids, waxes, sterols, fat-soluble vitamins (such as vitamins A, D, E, and K), monoglycerides, diglycerides, triglycerides, and phospholipids.
- The functions of lipids include storing energy, signaling, and acting as structural components of cell membranes.
- Lipids have applications in the cosmetic and food industries as well as in nanotechnology.
Role of Lipids
- Lipids are important components of living cells and are responsible for maintaining the integrity of our cell membrane, which allows nutrients and drugs to pass through the cell.
- These are commonly breached during infection and in diseases.
- Lipids play a major role in altering cell membrane properties modulating lipid and protein diffusion and membrane organization.
- Thus, changes in membrane properties control the proper functioning of cells and are harnessed by pathogens for their survival and infection.
- Lipids critically dictate the molecular interactions of drugs with membranes influencing drug diffusion, partitioning, and accumulation, thereby underpinning lipid-composition specificity.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: IUSSTF
Mains level: India-US collaboration in STEM
Indian students will undertake a research internship at Viterbi School of Engineering, University of Southern California, LA, USA under the IUSSTF Program.
What is IUSSTF?
- IUSSTF is an acronym for the Indo-U.S. Science and Technology Forum.
- It is established under an agreement between the Governments of India and the USA in March 2000.
- It is an autonomous bilateral organization jointly funded by both the Governments that promote Sci-Tech, Engineering and Innovation through substantive interaction among government, academia and industry.
- The Department of Science & Technology, Governments of India and the U.S. Department of States are respective nodal departments.
About Viterbi Program
- The Viterbi Program of IUSSTF was developed between IUSSTF and the Viterbi School of Engineering, University of Southern California (USC).
- This program is a part of the Government’s endeavour to encourage research and development amongst the bright young Indian minds to create long-term, sustainable, and vibrant linkages between India and the US.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much.
Mains level: Paper 2- Breach of privacy in sharing of call record data of citizens.
Context
In bypassing established protocol to seek call details of citizens en masse, the government violates SC guidelines.
What is the issue?
- Departure from stringent protocol: The Cellular Operators Association of India has reported mass requests from the government for mobile call detail records (CDRs).
- Which is a serious departure from the stringent protocol established by the UPA government following an uproar in 2013 after prominent politicians were found to be under unauthorised surveillance.
- Records of all customers: Records have been sought for all consumers on certain dates in parts of Delhi, Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Kerala, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and Punjab.
- In the case of Delhi, records were sought for the last three days of campaigning before assembly elections, while the anti-CAA protests were at their peak.
- How the data was requested? Requests were delivered by local offices of the Department of Telecommunications, taking advantage of a condition in licences granted to operators, which permits the DoT to inspect their CDRs, which go back one year.
Breach of many requirements and norms
- A serious breach of privacy: These requests depart from established protocol and international expectations on multiple counts, and amount to a serious breach of privacy.
- What is the protocol for requesting CDR information? A CDR request is supposed to be sanctioned by the home secretary and handled by a police officer of the rank of SP or above,
- But in this case DoT offices were used.
- The requirement of informing magistrate was not fulfilled: The requirement to report CDR requests on a monthly basis to the district magistrate was not complied with.
- No reason was offered: Most importantly, no reason was offered for snooping on the traffic of citizens.
- Surveillance must be specific and purposive: It is generally understood that communications surveillance must be specific and purposive, and must not trespass on the privacy of the innocent.
- Invasion of privacy of all citizens: Indiscriminate mass surveillance of communications invades the privacy of all citizens to the detriment of public trust. In this case, it was for purposes which are not verifiably honourable, since the government has chosen not to reveal them.
Why the CDR data matters if it is metadata only?
- Combining CDR with other data gives more information: CDRs are all metadata and no content. They do not reveal any words uttered or messaged.
- But combining the metadata with phone location data reveals a lot about connections between specific people and the actions that they take.
- Multi-dimensional map of human activity: If data is available at scale, as was the case here, it is possible to build a multi-dimensional map of human activity, and correlate it with real events.
- This would disturb the balance of information power between the citizen and the state, and amount to a breach of privacy.
Conclusion
If the government needs CDR data for a legitimate purpose, it should have no objection to following the rule-book scrupulously. And if there is a reason for sidestepping protocol in a sensitive matter, it should explain why.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much.
Mains level: Paper 2- India is unprepared for dealing with pandemics.
Context
India is unprepared for dealing with the outbreak of coronavirus.
Is India really faring better than the other countries?
- 45 days for first 100,000: Globally, it took roughly 45 days for the first 100,000 cases. It is likely to take nine days for the next 100,000.
- Death count: The global death count is now doubling every nine days and stands at 8,248, with 207,518 confirmed cases.
- That is how epidemics work — they gather steam as infected individuals go on to infect even more people. Confirmed cases in India, as of today stand at 169.
- It is much lower than in small countries such as Iceland (around 250). Could this really be the case that we have fared better than everyone else?
- Probably India is not performing better: Testing in India remains abysmally low. Only about 10 in a million people in India have been tested, compared to say nearly 120 in a million in Thailand or 40 per million in Vietnam.
- Why testing in not being done in India? The stated explanation is that the limited number of test kits are being conserved for when they are truly needed but when is the need greater than right now?
- There are probably shortages even in being able to procure adequate supplies given that many countries are seeking to buy the limited stocks.
- Importance of testing: Testing is the most important thing we could be doing right now.
- As the Director-General of the World Health Organization, said recently about the need for more testing, “You cannot fight a fire blindfolded.”
Avoiding undercounting
- Timely identification is essential to prevent secondary infection: We need to identify coronavirus-infected patients in a timely manner in order to increase our chances of preventing secondary infections.
- There is no shame in saying that we have far more cases than what we have detected so far.
- K.’s admitted undercounting: Even the United Kingdom, which has a far better health system than India, has admitted that it is probably undercounting its true infections by a factor of 12, and is likely have about 10,000 cases.
- Is it possible that India with 20 times their population has only 169 cases?
- Preparedness to deal with a higher number of cases: If widespread testing were to commence in India, the number of confirmed cases would likely climb to the thousands very quickly. This is something we have to be prepared for without panic or fear-mongering.
- Positive action: This is how epidemics move and the real numbers should spur us into positive action.
- Strict measures by the government: At some stage, it is possible that the government may have to put in place very strict measures on quarantining and closures, much like what China had to do to control the epidemic in Wuhan.
How prepared is India?
- There is not an easy answer to how worst things could go.
- Mutation or sensitivity of virus: If we escape the worst, either because this virus mutates to a less virulent form or because there is something about its temperature or geographical sensitivity that we know nothing about, then we should count our blessings.
- Viruses do mutate and generally to be less lethal.
- Projection from Europe: If the projections from Europe are applicable in India, our ‘namastes’ and clean hands notwithstanding, the prevalence in India would be upwards of 20%.
- In other words, we should expect to see about 200-300 million cases of COVID-19 infections and about four and eight million severe cases of the kind that are flooding hospitals in Italy and Spain at the moment.
- More importantly, these cases are projected to appear in just a two to the four-month window.
- In the current scenario, we are not ready.
- India has somewhere between 70,000 and 100,000 intensive care unit beds and probably a smaller number of ventilators.
- That is simply inadequate.
- What should be done? The next two weeks should be spent on planning for large, temporary hospitals that can accommodate such numbers. If we are lucky, we will not need them.
Unprepared for pandemics
- Catastrophic event with highest probability-Pandemic: This all sounds doomsday-like. But we have known for decades now that of all catastrophic events to befall humanity, between an asteroid hit and a nuclear war, a disease pandemic has always been the highest on our list of impact and probability.
- Not enough changes in preparedness: There were some changes after the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) but not nearly enough.
- Pandemic preparedness always took a backseat to the crisis of the moment.
- And in fairness, there is truly no amount of preparation that can fully mitigate such an occurrence.
Conclusion
Things are about to get a lot worse. Let us hope that this brings out the best in us, and not the worst. Whether we know this or not, these events are just a dress rehearsal for the more challenging events such as climate change that are likely to be with us this century. And if we take care of each other, we will survive both these challenges with our humanity intact.
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