Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: credible minimum deterrence’
Mains level: Nuclear diplomacy and foreign policy
Context
- The return of nuclear weapons on the global platform. After 1998, India premised its strategy on building ‘credible minimum deterrence’. The time has come to reflect on what is ‘credible’ and redefine what ‘minimum’ might be to strengthen nuclear diplomacy.
Definition of nuclear diplomacy
- Nuclear diplomacy deals with prevention of nuclear war and peacetime proliferation. It also deals with the use of threat of nuclear warfare to achieve diplomatic goals.
Theme of article
- India, one of the world’s nuclear weapon powers, ought to be paying a lot more attention to the international nuclear discourse that is acquiring new dimensions and taking a fresh look at its own civilian and military nuclear programmes.
- Nuclear cooperation has brought a new dimension to India’s nuclear diplomacy in the 21st India’s status as a responsible nuclear power is predicated upon the civil relationships in the nuclear domain that it has established with major powers.
- Credible minimum deterrence is the principle on which India’s nuclear diplomacy is based. It underlines no first use (NFU) with an assured second strike capability and falls under minimal deterrence, as opposed to mutually assured destruction.
Why do countries proliferate nuclear weapons?
- Proliferation models centred on security concerns or dilemmas dominate nuclear literature.
- Nuclear weapons provide an overwhelmingly destructive force that increases a state’s relative power in comparison to its neighbours.
- It provides a powerful tool in an anarchic system where superpowers dominate other nation-states sovereignty.
- Hence weaponizing helps establish a deterrence to prevent war.
Why relook is needed?
- Possessing nuclear weapons can confer India increased leverage to conduct foreign policy in both regional and international contexts.
- There are two ways in which the possession of nuclear weapons can affect a state’s conduct of foreign policy and diplomacy.
- The first involves military and strategic signalling. This includes military-oriented functions of deterrence, coercion, and brinkmanship.
- The second, deals with non-military affairs.
Way forward
- It should be noted that India’s quest to be a “responsible nuclear state” has given it considerable diplomatic capital in the West.
- It would be unfortunate for India to squander such gain owing to the lack of carefully considered foreign policy that leverages its nuclear status for its national interest.
Conclusion
- India’s civil nuclear engagements with the global community have strengthened its position in the global civil nuclear order, there is a need for the country to push for greater engagements with more key suppliers and stakeholders to fulfill its military nuclear potential and assert its status as a responsible nuclear state.
Mains question
Q. India has been a nuclear weapons state for 22 years. Has this affected India’s foreign policy in a direct manner? Express your views in context of the return of nuclear weapons on the global platform.
UPSC 2023 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: particulars of virus
Mains level: Human health
Context
- The death of a 12-year-old girl in Pathanamthitta has sharpened the focus on the rising number of rabies cases and the growing population of stray dogs in Kerala
What is rabies?
- The rabies virus attacks the central nervous system of the host, and in humans, it can cause a range of debilitating symptoms including states of anxiety and confusion, partial paralysis, agitation, hallucinations, and, in its final phases, a symptom called “hydrophobia,” or a fear of water.
What are rabies caused by?
- Rabies is a preventable viral disease most often transmitted through the bite of a rabid animal. The rabies virus infects the central nervous system of mammals, ultimately causing disease in the brain and death.
Can rabies person survive?
- Once clinical signs of rabies appear, the disease is nearly always fatal, and treatment is typically supportive. Less than 20 cases of human survival from clinical rabies have been documented.
How long can a human live with rabies?
- Death usually occurs 2 to 10 days after first symptoms. Survival is almost unknown once symptoms have presented, even with intensive care.
Facts on rabies
- What animal has the most rabies?
- Bats
- Wild animals accounted for 92.7% of reported cases of rabies in 2018. Bats were the most frequently reported rabid wildlife species (33% of all animal cases during 2018), followed by raccoons (30.3%), skunks (20.3%), and foxes (7.2%).
What is the issue?
- There is a blame game over the rising rabies cases: With the rabies deaths causing panic and reports of residents killing stray dogs through poisoning and strangulation, there is a blame game over the rising canine population and rabies cases. Some legal experts blame it on conflicts in the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960 and the Animal Birth Control (Dogs) Rules, 2001; others point to the flawed implementation of birth control measures.
- Legal battle over the issue in the Supreme Court: Canine culling campaigners and advocates of animal rights are also engaged in a protracted legal battle over the issue in the Supreme Court. V.K. Biju, a lawyer of the Supreme Court, who brought the issue of the “stray dog menace” before the apex court, contends that the root cause is the enactment of the Rules, which according to him, were passed in contravention of the parent Act, the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act.
- Existence of stray dogs has adversely affected the fundamental rights of citizens: Biju says that while the Act stands for the “destruction” of stray dogs, the rules are against the “destruction” of stray dogs, including the rabies affected ones, besides providing specific protection of stray dogs. In his submission before the Supreme Court, he argues that the existence of stray dogs has adversely affected the fundamental rights of citizens, i.e. the right to life and free movement.
- The quashing of the Rules to make India free of stray dogs: In his writ petition filed before the apex court, Biju has sought orders for the strict implementation of the Act and the quashing of the Rules to make India free of stray dogs.
- Animal rights campaigners are apprehensive: In the light of this, animal rights campaigners are apprehensive over the campaign to cull dogs to check rabies.
How can we prevent rabies in animals?
- First, visit your veterinarian with your pet on a regular basis and keep rabies vaccinations up-to-date for all cats, ferrets, and dogs.
- Second, maintain control of your pets by keeping cats and ferrets indoors and keeping dogs under direct supervision.
- Third, spay or neuter your pets to help reduce the number of unwanted pets that may not be properly cared for or vaccinated regularly.
- Finally, call animal control to remove all stray animals from your neighbourhood since these animals may be unvaccinated or ill.
How can we prevent rabies in humans?
- Leave all wildlife alone.
- Know the risk: contact with infected bats is the leading cause of rabies deaths in people followed by exposure to rabid dogs while traveling internationally.
- Wash animal bites or scratches immediately with soap and water.
- If you are bitten, scratched, or unsure, talk to a healthcare provider about whether you need postexposure prophylaxis. Rabies in people is 100% preventable through prompt appropriate medical care.
- Vaccinate your pets to protect them and your family.
National Rabies Control Programme: This programme is being restructured as Integrated National Rabies Control Programme under ‘One Health Approach’, with a aim to provide vaccination to stray dogs and free vaccines through Government hospitals.
Way forward
- Think globally, act locally. Study and adopt global ‘best-practices’ after customising them to local needs.
- Apply integrated approach. Follow a holistic strategy.
- Ensure efficient and effective collaboration across various government departments.
- Partner with Civil Society Organisations (especially with WASH – Water, Sanitation and Hygiene – sector) for ground-level implementation and monitoring.
Mains question
Q. What is rabies? What ethical challenges are involved in culling of stray dogs? Explain the control measures for the same.
UPSC 2023 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NA
Mains level: Infrastructure diplomacy
Context
- From mines to ports and logistics, the Adani conglomerate has been expanding across sectors, regions. This has gone hand in hand with India’s diplomatic and strategic outreach towards infrastructure diplomacy.
What is infrastructure?
- Infrastructure is the set of facilities and systems that serve a country, city, or other area, and encompasses the services and facilities necessary for its economy, households and firms to function.
- Power and the source of its production such as coal and oil;
- Roads and road transport;
- Railways;
- Communication, especially telecommunication;
- Ports and airports; and.
- For agriculture, irrigation constitutes the important infrastructure.
What is infrastructure diplomacy?
- Infrastructure diplomacy is to promote infrastructure cooperation and economic ties overseas through political means and to enhance political trust between countries via collaboration in infrastructure development.
Why in news?
- “Several foreign governments are now approaching us to work in their geographies and help build their infrastructure. Therefore, in 2022, we also laid the foundation to seek a broader expansion beyond India’s boundaries,” chairman and founder of the Adani group Gautam Adani,now the world’s third-richest person.
Background
- Foreign presence much earlier: In fact, the Adani group had been scouting abroad much earlier. Since 2010, the Adani group has been in Australia, developing the Carmichael coal mine in Queensland.
- A greenfield multi-purpose port: In 2017, Adani Ports and Special Economic Zones (Ltd) signed an MoU for a greenfield multi-purpose port for handling containers at Carey Island in Selangor state, about 50 km southwest of Kuala Lumpur.
What is situation now?
- Company pursue international infrastructure projects aggressively: The last two years, however, have seen the company pursue international infrastructure projects aggressively. In May 2022, APSEZ made a winning bid of $1.18 billion for Israeli state-owned Haifa Port, jointly with Israeli chemicals and logistics firm Gadot.
- Strategic joint investments: In August this year, APSEZ and Abu Dhabi’s AD Ports Group signed MoU for “strategic joint investments” in Tanzania. The new ASEZ-AD MoU will look at a bouquet of infrastructure projects besides Bagamoyo in the East African Indian Ocean nation — rail, maritime services, digital services and industrial zones.
- India’s strategic objectives than has been possible so far: Is it just a coincidence that Adani’s global expansion closely shadows the Chinese footprint along its Belt and Road Initiative? Or is it that as Delhicompetes with China for influence in the neighbourhood and beyond, the Adani group’s size, resources and capacity are seen as a key element in achieving India’s strategic objectives than has been possible so far.
- India’s infrastructure diplomacy: Is now becoming identified the world over with one company.
- Public and private investment to bridge gaps: For the Adani group, described as India’s biggest ports and logistics company, there couldn’t be a better time. As the Quad grouping of Australia, India, Japan, and the US, competes with China in the Indo-Pacific, it has committed “to catalyse infrastructure delivery” by putting more than $50 billion on the table for “assistance and investment” in the Indo-Pacific over the next five years and “drive public and private investment to bridge gaps”.
Implications of infrastructure diplomacy
- Win-Win deal: Adani’s new “no-hands” model of doing business with neighbours a power plant in Jharkhand, exporting all its output to Bangladesh has been seen as a “win-win” deal.
- Economic interests lie at the heart of geopolitics: The link between diplomacy and commercial interests has generated its share of debate, especially in the US, where its diplomats, intelligence agencies and military interventions abroad have actively pushed the interests of big business first the hunt for cheaper raw materials, then for markets abroad, then to shift industry where manpower was cheaper. As seen in the new age trading blocs the US-led IPEF, and the Chinese dominated RCEP economic interests lie at the heart of geopolitics.
Conclusion
- At a time when global rivalries are growing sharper in the shadow of the war in Europe, and as India looks out for its own interests, pushing powerful corporates to the centre-stage of its diplomacy, whether it is to build ports, buy or sell weapons or make chips, is inevitable.
Mains question
Q. Economic interests lie at the heart of geopolitics. Analyse this statement in context of India’s active push for infrastructure diplomacy by including private conglomerates like Adani in it.
UPSC 2023 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: election commission of india
Mains level: electoral reforms
Context
- Congress party has issued a notification for the party’s presidential election hinting towards intra party election.
- As per the official notification, party leaders can file nominations from 24 September to 30 September. The voting will be held on 17 October and the results will be declared on 19 October.
What are the elections?
- An election is a way people can choose their representatives of their preferences in a representative democracy. Elections enable people to judge the performance of the government.
Why they are important?
- Elections give people a chance to evaluate their leaders, chance to change the government.
- Elections help the people in the selection of their representatives and it provides law making power directly to the people.
- Elections make a fundamental contribution to democratic governance.
What is mean by Intra party elections?
- It is a mechanism to choose the candidates for various posts of the political through a democratic process, it’s a mandate given by the members of the party itself.
- The intra-party election is a fundamental indicator to explore the authenticity of democratization and decentralization of political parties.
Why elections are necessary within the political parties?
- Internal debates: During intra party elections there would be contests between leaders. There will be debate, discussions some criticism, and differences of opinion. There should be a dialogue between the leaders, members and volunteers
- Democratic culture: Political parties don’t have to be homogeneous in terms of both ideas and leadership. Political parties are aggregations of interests yet Party workers should not feel they are being ignored, that their efforts are not appreciated or not going in vain under the shadow of a leader came from the family lines.
- Political career: Having these internal elections, meetings and contests of ideas is important. Internal election is a key for upward mobility. It gives better understanding of the party’s idea, culture and the work process.
- High command culture: High command culture is what we are witnessing today in India and South Asia is problematic for democracy, where all political parties are centralized. The few members at the helm are controlling even the smallest decisions about what party should do. Members are not able to express freely their personal views.
- Feudalism: They are family-controlled parties, and dynastic politics has become a norm. Won’t be able to name more than three or four political parties which have survived 30 years in Indian politics and are today not controlled by apolitical family.
- Favoritism: where you can only rise up the ranks in the system depending on the relationship you share with the first family of that party. Irrespective of difference of opinions with the top leaders of the party, the upward mobility majorly depends on the relationship.
What is a Legal framework for election?
There is no law for intra-party elections as of now.
- Seshan effect: When T.N. Seshan was at the helm of the Election Commission of India (ECI); by an executive order political parties were ordered to conduct intra party elections. And because Seshan was a much respected and feared person, political parties complied with it. Since then, elections are held periodically in every recognized party.
- What Constitution says: Article 324 says free and fair elections to parliament, state assemblies, president and vice-president. It doesn’t say anything about political party or election within.
- What Courts argue: The courts have made an observation that nothing in Article 324 of the Constitution, or Section 29A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 tells us that the ECI can actually regulate internal structures, organizations or elections of the party. Which is why parties, on the left or right, have not been conducting internal elections as we want them to conduct them
Worldwide practice
- USA: In the U.S. election, the selection of the candidate to be the presidential nominee is done via debate, in which the contenders condemn and criticize each other.
- UK: In the U.K. Democracy should be at every level, and political parties are an essential pillar of democracy. Intra party election happens to choose the leader of party.
What is state funding of election?
- It is an idea where state or Government of India provides funding to political parties according to their electoral performance.
- As of today, state does provide land at concessional rate, free air time on national television but today political parties do not come under RTI. Hence some suggest state funding of elections to regulate the behavior of political parties.
What is the Role of Election Commission in organizational election of political parties?
- The ECI does insist on organizational elections, but only gently. They do go through the process.
- Election can happen only if there are two or more candidates in the fray. Getting elected unopposed is also a valid election. It is not just within the political parties, we have
Seen it in panchayat elections and sometimes even in Lok Sabha and State Assembly elections that candidates have got elected unopposed.
How to fix the accountability of the political parties?
- ECI re-interpreting the existing laws, as happened in the 1990s. ECI has to imagine its role as a regulator of these political parties and in some ways. They have to try out milder options.
- Political parties are required to hold organizational elections regularly. The parties are required to inform the ECI about changes in their office-bearers.
- They are required to submit a document of expenditure incurred during elections and in the non-election periods. But there is no cost attached to non-compliance.
- Expert suggests state funding of election would ensure the accountability of parties as it will bring parties under ambit of RTI and voters can seek the expenditure report from parties. Election commission can also penalize party for non-compliance.
Conclusion
- Election for a gram panchayat or presidential it is always a booster for democracy. Intraparty elections are beneficial for party, contesting individual and country at large, it culminates into emergence of quality leadership which in turn a boon for good governance.
Mains Question
Q. Intra party elections are essential feature of healthy democracy. Discuss the role of election commission, the courts and the political parties for the healthy functioning of intra party democracy.
Do follow
Internal democracy in political parties
UPSC 2023 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: CBI and ED
Mains level: governance and transparency
Context
- Despite several observations made by the Supreme Court of India (SC) against the inefficient functioning of the CBI nothing has happened to improve the situation.
- The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is in the news now and often.
Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)
- The Bureau of Investigation traces its origins to the Delhi Special Police Establishment, a Central Government Police force, which was set up in 1941 by the Government of India.
- It then aimed to investigate bribery and corruption in transactions with the War and Supply Department of India.
- It then had its headquarters in Lahore.
- After the end of the war, there was a continued need for a central governmental agency to investigate bribery and corruption by central-government employees.
- The DSPE acquired its popular current name, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), through a Home Ministry resolution dated in 1963.
Mandate of the CBI
- The CBI is the main investigating agency of the GoI.
- It is not a statutory body; it derives its powers from the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, 1946.
- Its important role is to prevent corruption and maintain integrity in administration.
- It works under the supervision of the CVC (Central Vigilance Commission) in matters pertaining to the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.
- The CBI is also India’s official representative with the INTERPOL.
Cases to investigate
- Cases connected to infringement of economic and fiscal laws
- Crimes of a serious nature that have national and international ramifications
- Coordination with the activities of the various state police forces and anti-corruption agencies.
- It can also take up any case of public importance and investigate it
- Maintaining crime statistics and disseminating criminal information.
Notable cases cracked by CBI
- Bhanwri Devi missing case: Jat leader and former Rajasthan minister Mahipal Maderna, Congress MLA Malkhan Singh and Bhanwari’s husband Amarchand were all part of the conspiracy to abduct and eliminate Bhanwari. Bhanwari had threatened to expose Malkhan’s relationship with her at the Bishnoi mahapanchayat. Maderna, Malkhan, the three kidnappers and Sahiram along with Amarchand were arrested by the CBI.
- Noida double murder case: In May 2008, the nation was shocked with the sensational double murders in Noida. The victims were Arushi Talwar and Hemraj Banjade. Initially, there was no clarity about the motive or the perpetrator of this ghastly crime. After a lengthy investigation which spanned close to 6 years, the CBI based on circumstantial evidence established that the parents of Aarushi Talwar, Rajesh Talwar and Nupur Talwar were the perpetrators of this crime.
- The Satyam Case: B Ramalinga Raju, the disgraced chairman of Satyam Computers Services Ltd, along with 13 individuals and entities including Chintalapati Srinivasa Raju of iLabs, made Rs 2,000 crore in illegal wealth in the Satyam scam. The CBI constituted a Multi-Disciplinary Investigation Team (MDIT) to investigate the case. The team worked hard, burnt midnight oil and achieved success in a record time of 45 days when it filed its first chargesheet against the accused for offences of criminal conspiracy, cheating, forgery and falsification of accounts.
Issues with CBI
- Caged parrot: The Supreme Court has criticized the CBI by calling it a “caged parrot speaking in its master’s voice”.
- Political interference: It has often been used by the government of the day to cover up wrongdoing, keep coalition allies in line and political opponents at bay.
- Investigation delay: It has been accused of enormous delays in concluding investigations due to political inertia.
- Loss of Credibility: CBI has been criticised for its mismanagement of several cases involving prominent politicians and mishandling of several sensitive cases like Bofors scandal, Bhopal gas tragedy.
- Lack of Accountability: CBI is exempted from the provisions of the Right to Information Act, thus, lacking public accountability.
- Acute shortage of personnel: A major cause of the shortfall is the government’s sheer mismanagement of CBI’s workforce.
- Limited Powers: The powers and jurisdiction of members of the CBI for investigation are subject to the consent of the State Govt., thus limiting the extent of investigation by CBI.
- Restricted Access: Prior approval of Central Government to conduct inquiry or investigation on the employees of the Central Government is a big obstacle in combating corruption at higher levels of bureaucracy.
Why was it called caged carrot by the Supreme Court?
- Politicisation of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has been a work in progress for years.
- Corruption and Politically biased nature, This was highlighted in Supreme Court criticism for being a caged parrot speaking in its master’s voice.
- CBI has been accused of becoming ‘handmaiden’ to the party in power; as a result high profile cases are not treated seriously.
- Since CBI is run by central police officials on deputation hence chances of getting influenced by government was visible in the hope of better future postings.
Suggestions for the improvement of the functioning of the CBI under the supervision of the CVC
- One, the CVC Act should be amended, providing for a five/seven member Central Vigilance Commission, which could broadly assume the role visualised for the Lokpal. The selection process of the CVC members should be more broad based to prevent favouritism or from controversial persons being appointed.
- Two, the CVC should constitute an advisory committee of at least 11 members drawn from criminologists and forensic science experts. This will augment the professional input in its functioning. Further, to reduce the burden on the CVC, it should be given the power to go to any expert or professional to assist it in screening complaints.
- Three, the jurisdiction of CVC, which presently covers all employees of the central government and the CPSUs, should remain unchanged. There is already an administrative arrangement to delegate the vigilance administration over class II and lower formations to the ministries/departments concerned. However, if the lower formations are involved with the class I officers in a composite case, the CVC exercises a natural jurisdiction over all of them. To make this arrangement more effective, it would be important that the CVC exercises complete control over the selection, appointment and functioning of the CVOs.
- Four, the CVC should have an adequately experienced team to technically examine and assess the gravity of a complaint, which can then be assigned to the CBI for investigation or can be investigated by this team. After assessing a complaint by this broad-based CVC, there should be no need to seek prior permission from the government.
- Five, in the cases assigned to it by the CVC, the CBI should be made functionally and financially independent of the controls of any government ministry/department. The professional supervision over the investigations of the CBI should rest only with the CVC.
- Six, the manner of the appointment of the CBI Director should be broad based as in the case of the CVC members, whereas the other inductions/appointments in the CBI should be brought under the overarching supervision of the CVC.
- Seven, to achieve better synergy between anti-corruption laws and grievance handling, the laws relating to the whistle blowers and grievance redressal should be placed within the jurisdiction of the CVC.
- Eight, effective administration of anti-corruption laws at the grass roots is the key to responsible governance. The state and their anti-corruption agencies would, therefore, need to be equally insulated from the state government’s interference on similar lines.
Reforming CBI
- Need for autonomy: As long as the government of the day has the power to transfer and post officials of its choice in the CBI, the investigating agency will not enjoy autonomy and will be unable to investigate cases freely.
- Selection of director/ Officers: To ensure that the CBI is a robust, independent and credible investigation agency, there is an urgent need to work out a much more transparent mechanism for selection and induction of officers on deputation.
- Lokpal scrutiny: The Lokpal Act already calls for a three-member committee made up of the PM, the leader of the opposition and the CJI to select the director.
- Bifurcation of Cadre: CBI should be bifurcated into an Anti-Corruption Body and a National Crime Bureau.
- Develop own cadre: One of the demands that have been before Supreme Court, and in line with international best practices, is for the CBI to develop its own dedicated cadre of officers.
- Annual social audit should be carried out by ten reputed, knowledgeable persons with background of law, justice, public affairs and administration and the audit report should be placed before the parliament.
About Enforcement Directorate (ED)
- It goes back to May 1, 1956, when an ‘Enforcement Unit’ was formed in the Department of Economic Affairs.
- It then aimed for handling Exchange Control Laws violations under the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act (FERA).
- The ED today is a multi-dimensional organisation investigating economic offences under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, Foreign Exchange Management Act and FERA.
From where does the ED get its powers?
- When proceeds of crime (property/money) are generated, the best way to save that money is by parking it somewhere, so one is not answerable to anyone in the country.
- Therefore, there was a need to control and prevent the laundering of money.
- The PMLA was brought in for this exact reason in 2002, but was enacted only in 2005.
- The objective was to prevent parking of the money outside India and to trace out the layering and the trail of money.
- So as per the Act, the ED got its power to investigate under Sections 48 (authorities under act) and 49 (appointment and powers of authorities and other officers).
At what stage does the ED step in when a crime is committed?
- Whenever any offence is registered by a local police station, which has generated proceeds of crime over and above ₹1 crore, the investigating police officer forwards the details to the ED.
- Alternately, if the offence comes under the knowledge of the Central agency, they can then call for the First Information Report (FIR) or the chargesheet if it has been filed directly by police officials.
- This will be done to find out if any laundering has taken place.
What differentiates the probe between the local police and officers of the ED?
Case study:
- If a theft has been committed in a nationalised bank, the local police station will first investigate the crime.
- If it is learnt that the founder of the bank took all the money and kept it in his house, without being spent or used, then the crime is only theft and the ED won’t interfere because the amount has already been seized.
- But if the amount which has been stolen is used after four years to purchase some properties, then the ill-gotten money is brought back in the market.
- Or if the money is given to someone else to buy properties in different parts of the country, then there is ‘laundering’ of money.
- Hence the ED will need to step in and look into the layering and attachment of properties to recover the money.
- If jewellery costing ₹1 crore is stolen, police officers will investigate the theft. The ED, however, will attach assets of the accused to recover the amount of ₹1 crore.
What are the other roles and functions of the ED?
- The ED carries out search (property) and seizure (money/documents) after it has decided that the money has been laundered, under Section 16 (power of survey) and Section 17 (search and seizure) of the PMLA.
- On the basis of that, the authorities will decide if arrest is needed as per Section 19 (power of arrest).
- Under Section 50, the ED can also directly carry out search and seizure without calling the person for questioning.
- It is not necessary to summon the person first and then start with the search and seizure.
- If the person is arrested, the ED gets 60 days to file the prosecution complaint (chargesheet) as the punishment under PMLA doesn’t go beyond seven years.
- If no one is arrested and only the property is attached, then the prosecution complaint along with attachment order is to be submitted before the adjudicating authority within 60 days.
Can the ED investigate cases of money laundering retrospectively?
- If an ill-gotten property is acquired before the year 2005 (when the law was brought in) and disposed off, then there is no case under PMLA.
- But if proceeds of the crime were possessed before 2005, kept in storage, and used after 2005 by buying properties, the colour of the money is still black and the person is liable to be prosecuted under PMLA.
- Under Section 3 of PMLA, a person shall be guilty of money-laundering, if such person is found to have directly or indirectly attempted to indulge or knowingly assist a party involved in one or more of the following activities:
- Concealment; possession; acquisition; use; or projecting as untainted property; or claiming as untainted property in any manner etc.
Allegations against ED
- Huge discretions: The ED is the only Central agency in the country that does not require permission from the government to summon or prosecute politicians or government functionaries for committing economic offences like money laundering.
- Used for petty crimes: PMLA is pulled into the investigation of even “ordinary” crimes and assets of genuine victims have been attached.
- Actual purpose denigrated: PMLA was a comprehensive penal statute to counter the threat of money laundering, specifically stemming from the trade in narcotics.
- Violations of Rights: PMLA was enacted in response to India’s global commitment to combat the menace of money laundering. Instead, rights have been “cribbed, cabined and confined”.
- Functional opacity: There is also a lack of clarity about ED’s selection of cases to investigate. We often see ED raiding houses of opposition parties suddenly.
- Poor rate of conviction: We have hardly read the conclusion of cases by ED. Meantime media-trial tears off the accused person’s credibility which is the most desired intent.
- Under-trials and slower prosecution: ED has been focusing on keeping the accused in custody rather than actually proving the charges against them.
Challenges to ED
- ED being dragged to court: The petitions against the ED had the effect of slowing down the investigations, as officers have to defend themselves in court.
- Foul crying politicians: There are attempts to cover up unexplained, high-value transactions that fall within the PMLA’s ambit
- Investigation of foreign transactions: Getting information on accounts and money stashed abroad to establish a trail is the biggest challenge they face.
Way forward
- The fight against corruption is intimately linked with the reform of the investigations.
- Therefore the adjudicating authorities must work in cooperation and ensure the highest standards of transparency and fairness.
- ED has been walking a tightrope to safeguard its integrity by speeding up investigations and court procedures.
- The need of the hour could be systemic fixes—and not shrill calls to throw the baby out with the bathwater.
- It is unlikely that corruption can be substantially reduced without modifying the way government agencies operate.
Conclusion
- It is for the nation to demand that the country’s premier investigating agencies like the CBI, income tax authorities and the ED are not used as instruments of blackmail and intimidation by the government of the day. Rather they should work with complete objectivity and in the interest of the nation.
Mains question
Q. CBI and ED was called caged carrot by the Supreme Court. Do you agree with this? What issues are being faced by these premier agencies? Suggest some dynamic solutions to overcome these issues.
Do follow
[Burning Issue] Enforcement Directorate (ED): Dreaded nightmare of Indian Politicians & Businessmen
UPSC 2023 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: particulars of census data
Mains level: Population issues
Context
- As there is no official reassurance that India will not skip its decadal Census, we can declare that we have a case of the missing census.
- The census is a very important source of statistics on various indicators.
- The ability to hold a census peacefully, and not coercively, has been the hallmark of a civilized state and state of affairs.
What is a census?
- Census is nothing but a process of collecting, compiling, analyzing, evaluating, publishing and disseminating statistical data regarding the population.
- It covers demographic, social and economic data and is provided as of a particular date.
What is the purpose of the census?
- To collect the information for planning and formulation policies for Central and the State Governments.
- The census tells us who we are and where we are going as a nation.
- It helps the government decide how to distribute funds and assistance to states and localities.
- The census data is widely used by National and International Agencies, scholars, business people, industrialists, and many more.
Why is the census important?
- Provides most credible source of information: information on Demography (Population characteristics), Economic Activity, Literacy and Education, Housing & Household Amenities, Urbanisation, Fertility and Mortality, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, Language, Religion, Migration, Disability and many other socio-cultural and demographic data.
- The delimitation/reservation of Constituencies: Parliamentary/Assembly/Panchayats and other Local Bodies are also done on the basis of the demographic data thrown up by the Census.
- Administration: Census is the basis for reviewing the country’s progress in the past decade, monitoring the ongoing Schemes of the Government.
- Planning the future: It provides pathways for planning and resolving problems, and fixing deficiencies. Government goes through analysis over the census data and formulates policies for the future accordingly.
- Detailed accounts: The best of sample surveys find it impossible to beat a census as It carries the promise of counting each and every Indian. A census is when the state connects to every individual and it will find it hard to hide or duck from the data.
- Welfare schemes: Identifying the actual beneficiaries, Census is the key to creating identity and affirming it over time .Census data enable neat, inter-temporal comparability.
Censuses in India so far
- Census operations started in India long back during the period of the Maurya dynasty.
- It was systematized during the years 1865 to 1872, though it has been conducted uninterruptedly from the year 1881 being a trustworthy resource of information.
- India has held its decadal censuses regularly from 1881 to 2011, despite diseases, world wars, Partition and other instances of turmoil only COVID-19 as an exception.
- Census 2011 is the 15th National Census of the Country.
- The Census established that the Total Fertility Rate (TFR) is coming down at a very rapid pace and is well on its way to stabilization.
- The 2011 Census also dispelled the notion of divorce rate differentials between city and rural India. The urban divorce rate (0.89%) is almost equal to the rural rate (0.82%).
Why census 2021 has been postponed indefinitely?
- The Ministry of Home Affairs told the Lok Sabha in August, 2021 that the massive, decennial exercise came to a grinding halt due to the advent of Coid-19 pandemic.
What was the original timeline of the Census and how is it being delayed?
- Gazette notification: The Centre’s intent to conduct Census 2021 was notified in the Gazette of India on March 28, 2019. The exercise was to have been conducted in two phases, with the housing Census from April to September 2020 and population enumeration from February 9, 2021.but it did not take place due to the spread of COVID-19.
- Alternative timeline post-covid-19: In March 2021, the Home Ministry gave a Parliamentary panel a tentative alternative timeline. The fieldwork for the first phase, which would provide data on housing conditions, household amenities and assets possessed by households, is expected during 2021-22, while the fieldwork to count the population and provide data on demography, religion, Scheduled Castes and Tribes (SC/ST), language, literacy and education, economic activity, migration and fertility would be done in 2023-24, it said.
- Said Provisional data: The Ministry added that provisional data would be released in 2023-24 before the next general elections. Usually, more detailed tables providing village-level data on specific indicators will continue to be released for several years after the key information.
Impact of delay in census 2021
- Public distribution system:
- The National Food Security Act, 2013, says that 75% of the rural population and 50% of the rural population are entitled to receive subsidised food grains from the government under the targeted public distribution system (PDS).
- Under the 2011 Census, India’s population was about 121 crore, hence PDS covered approximately 80 crore people.
- If we apply projected population of 137crore ,current delay in Census data would continue to deprive more than 10 crore people of subsidised food entitlements, with the biggest gaps in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, with 2.8 crore and 1.8 crore projected exclusions respectively.
- welfare schemes:
- Although the Government’s intent to use SECC data but failed at budgetary allocation for the projected expansion.
- Census data may not be used to calculate the beneficiaries of most schemes, but it is critical to policy planning, budgeting and administration.
- A number of schemes need to use the disaggregated age and fertility indicators to assess effectiveness as demographics change over time.
- Huge lag in Migration data:
- From the COVID19 lockdowns it is realized that the Numbers, causes and patterns of migration, which could not be answered using outdated 2011 Census data.
- The D-tables on migration from the 2011 Census were only released in 2019, so it’s outdated by the time it came out.
- Apart from the One Nation, One Ration card scheme which now allows for portability of food subsidy entitlements, the migration data is actually not used too much in broader economic policy and planning.
- India’s population has since increased three-fold to 1.21 billion in 2011.
- Experts believe the economic status of the dominant OBC castes have improved in the past 80 years and certain castes have not benefited as much.
- So, the new caste census is required to measure the economic and social well-being of all castes.
Other related information Key findings of 2011 census
- Population:
- India’s population grew by 17.7 per cent during 2001-11, against 21.5 per cent in the previous decade.
- India’s total population stands at 1.21 billion, which is 17.7 per cent more than the last decade, and growth of females was higher than that of males.
- The growth rate of females was 18.3 per cent which is higher than males — 17.1 per cent.
- Among the major states, highest decadal growth in population has been recorded in Bihar (25.4 per cent) while 14 states and Union Territories have recorded population growth above 20 per cent.
- Rural and urban population:
- Urban proportion has gone up from 17.3 per cent in 1951 to 31.2 per cent in 2011.
- Highest proportion of urban population is in NCT Delhi (97.5 per cent).
- Top five states in share of urban population are Goa (62.2 per cent), Mizoram (52.1 per cent), Tamil Nadu (48.4 per cent), Kerala (47.7 per cent) and Maharashtra (45.2 per cent).
- Literacy:
- Literacy rate in India in 2011 has increased by 8 per cent to 73 per cent in comparison to 64.8 per cent in 2001.
- Male literacy rate stands at 80.9 per cent, which is 5.6 per cent more than the previous census whereas the female literacy rate stands at 64.6 per cent, increase of 10.9 per cent than 2001.
- The highest increase took place in Dadra and Nagar Haveli by 18.6 points (from 57.6 per cent to 76.2 per cent), while in Bihar by 14.8 points (from 47.0 per cent to 61.8 per cent), Tripura by 14.0 points (from 73.2 per cent to 87.2 per cent)
- Density:
- The density of population in the country has also increased from 325 in 2001 to 382 in 2011 in per sq km.
- Among the major states, Bihar occupies the first position with a density of 1106, surpassing West Bengal which occupied the first position during 2001.
- Delhi (11,320) turns out to be the most densely inhabited followed by Chandigarh (9,258), among all states and UT’s, both in 2001 and 2011 Census.
- The minimum population density works out in Arunachal Pradesh (17) for both 2001 and 2011 Census.
- Sex ratio:
- The sex ratio of population in the country in 2011 stands at 940 female against 1000 males, which is 10 per cent more than the last census when the number female per thousand male stood at 933.
- The number of females per 1000 males in Haryana in 2011 stands at 879 followed by Jammu and Kashmir (889 female) and Punjab (895 females).
- The other two worst-performing states in terms of skewed sex ration are Uttar Pradesh (912 females) and Bihar (918 females).
- Five top performing states in terms of sex ratio were Kerala (1,084 females), Tamil Nadu (996), Andhra Pradesh (993), Chhattisgarh (991),Odisha (979).
- Child population:
- Child population in the age of 0 to 6 years has seen an increase of 0.4 per cent.
- There has been a decline of 8 per cent in the sex ratio of 0-6 age group. In 2011, the child sex ratio (0-6) stands at 919 female against 1000 male in comparison to 927 females in 2001.
- Male child (0-6) population has increased whereas female child population has decreased during 2001-11.
- The worst performing states in regard to sex ration in the age group of 0 to 6 years are Haryana (834 females), Punjab (846), Jammu and Kashmir (862), Rajasthan (888) and Gujarat (890).
- The best performing states are Chhattisgarh (969), Kerala (964), Assam (962), West Bengal (956) Jharkhand (948) and Karnataka (948).
- SC/ST data:
- According to the Census, Scheduled Castes are notified in 31 states and UTs and Scheduled Tribes in 30 states. There are altogether 1,241 individual ethnic groups notified as SC’s .The number of individual ethnic groups, notified as ST’s is 705.
- There have been some changes in the list of SC’s/ST’s in states and UT’s during the last decade.
- The SC population in India now stands at 201.4 million, which is 20 per cent more than the last census. The ST population stands at 104.3 million in 2011 – 23.7 per cent more than 2001.
- Religious demographics:
- The religious data on India Census 2011 was released by the Government of India on 25 August 2015.
- Hindus are 79.8% (966.3 million), while Muslims are 14.23% (172.2 million) in India.
- For the first time, a “No religion” category was added in the 2011 census. 2.87 million Were classified as people belonging to “No Religion” in India in the 2011 census. – 0.24% of India’s population of 1.21 billion.
- Median marriage age:
- The median age increased for men – from 22.6 (2001) to 23.5 (2011) and for women – from 18.2 (2001) to 19.2 (2011).
Conclusion
- The census is vital and precious as it is a repository of complete data about the country which is gathered openly, voluntarily, and with the use of public money, making it a social good.
- The new Census is likely to capture the extent of the observed movement in migration trends towards smaller two-tier towns apart from the large metropolitan centre.
- It could help answer questions of what kind of healthcare and social services are most needed and where.
- The Census is about many things. But, fundamentally, it is a way in which the state, by knocking at all doors, displays its desire to connect with the people who ultimately comprise the nation.
Mains Question
Q. Apart from being used to demarcate constituencies, updated decadal census data is vital to administration. How will the indefinite postponement of census impact the policy formation for the future? Critically Analyse.
Do follow this link
Census 2011 | The basics and summary of important findings
UPSC 2023 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: composition of fly ash
Mains level: environmental pollution
Context
- India depends heavily on coal for power generation. This creates the problem of fly-ash generation and its proper disposal, usage.
- The National Green Tribunal (NGT) noted September 19, 2022 that there was an urgent need to augment the utilisation and disposal of fly ash in Chhattisgarh.
What is fly ash?
- Fly ash is a by-product of coal combustion. It contains Aluminium Silicate, SiO2, CaO, oxides of iron, magnesium and toxic metals like lead, arsenic, cobalt, and copper.
- It can travel to far places. India is growing to double its power generation in the next decade and with coal being the biggest source of fuel for power generation, the problem of fly ash is going to increase too.
Environmental Problems with fly ash
- A large quantity of fly ash dumped into poorly designed and maintained ash ponds. About a billion tonnes of this toxic ash lie dumped in these ponds, polluting land, air, and water.
- All the heavy metals found in fly ash—nickel, cadmium, arsenic, chromium, lead, etc—are toxic in nature. They leech into the surrounding soil and can enter food-chains.
- Fly ash gets easily ingested through respiration, which causes many diseases such as asthma, neurological disorders.
- Suspended fly ash in the air acts as a global warming agent and heats the earth’s surface.
- Fly ash settles on leaves and crops and reduces crop productivity.
- It pollutes the groundwater.
- There is a reduction in recharging of groundwater due to fly ash filled mine voids.
- Reduces visibility by creating dense fog in the winter season.
Issues with fly ash management
- The government mandates that all coal power plants (CPPs) reach 100% utilization of fly ash.
- Along with it, CPPs should give a certain amount of fly ash free of cost for MSMEs to manufacture bricks, tiles and rest of the fly ash should be sold to other industries.
- CPPs will have to maintain fly ash ponds to reduce its suspension in air.
- But all these steps for utilization areas are problematic as they do little to mitigate these risks.
- The pricing of fly ash is increasingly becoming a contentious issue that is hampering its gainful utilization.
- The current approaches to evaluating risks with fly ash disposal are very limited, and they may underestimate the true risks
- In spite of initiatives taken by the government, several nongovernmental and research and development organizations for fly ash utilization, the level of fly ash utilization in the country is quite low at only 38% which is less than the global standards.
- Hence, rather than being utilized, fly ash is being stored despite warnings from regulators.
- Deposition in storage places has negative influences on water and soil because of their mineral composition as well as morphology and filtration properties.
- Ash-handling units are the biggest consumers of water in CPPs. The government advocates the designed ash-to-water ratios as approximately 1:5 for fly ash, but the observed ratios have been around 1:20.
- Certain states have discouraged the use of blended cement and fly ash bricks in public works.
The above issues can be addressed by
- Greater regulatory oversight and price control,
- Revision of cement blending standards,
- Research in improving fly ash quality,
- Reducing the cost of transportation,
- Provisions for overcoming information asymmetries,
- Incentivising use in brick kilns for producing fly ash bricks,
- Overall sensitization of key decision-makers on the matter.
- Instead of dumping it on ash ponds, can be used for construction due to its reuse as pozzolan, and replacement of portland cement by hydraulic cement
- Due to its grain size distribution, enhanced strength permeability, it can be used to construct embankments at road construction, concrete dams like GHATGHAR DAM
- Strong penalties for those production units who do not use proper filtration devices
- Moving to renewable energy production away from coal-based thermal production.
Conclusion
- Utilization of Fly Ash is not only possible but also essential. In this context “Fly Ash Mission of Government of India” is a slow but steady start, the pace of which needs to be ramped up. An honest effort is required by the concerned stakeholders to improve the perceptions of fly ash-based cement or concrete; increase its use, particularly for government works; and impart scientific knowledge about fly ash, its uses, and possible impacts.
Mains question
Q. What is fly ash? Discuss the environmental challenges it poses. Suggest how to address the situation.
UPSC 2023 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NA
Mains level: women empowerment
Context
- Due to prevalence of patriarchy women have been discriminated not only in India but in most parts of the world. According to The United Nations, one out of every three women experience domestic violence. The same UN report suggests that the most dangerous place for women is their home. Gender equality and women’s empowerment are essential for the development and well-being of families, communities and nations.
How UN women defines Violence against women and girls
- Any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or mental harm or suffering to women and girls, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life.
Why Women are the victim?
- Domestic violence is one of the most common forms of violence experienced by women globally.
- Women are usually the victim of domestic violence that derives from unequal power relationships between men and women.
Why there is recent spike in violence against women?
- According to UN, Violence against women and girls is one of the world’s most prevalent human rights violations, taking place every day, many times over, in every corner of the world.
- Conditions created by the pandemic – including lockdowns, reduced mobility, heightened isolation, stress and economic uncertainty have led to an alarming spike in domestic violence and have further exposed women and girls to other forms of violence, from child marriage to sexual harassment online.
What is Domestic violence?
- Domestic violence is any pattern of behavior that is used to gain or maintain power and control over an intimate partner. It encompasses all physical, sexual, emotional, economic and psychological actions or threats of actions that influence another person.
- Domestic violence can include the following.
- Psychological violence: Psychological violence involves causing fear, threatening physical harm or forcing isolation from friends, family, school or work.
- Economic violence: Making or attempting to make a person financially dependent by maintaining total control over financial resources.
- Emotional violence: Undermining a person’s sense of self-worth through constant criticism; belittling one’s abilities; verbal abuse.
- Physical violence: Use of Physical force or hurting or trying to hurt a partner .it also includes denying medical care.
- Sexual violence: Forcing a partner to take part in a sex act when the partner does not consent
What is the current Status in India?
- Nearly one-third of women in India have experienced physical or sexual violence
- The most common type of spousal violence is physical violence (28%), followed by emotional violence and sexual violence
- While domestic violence against women has declined from 31.2% to 29.3% in the country, 30% women between the age of 18 and 49 have experienced physical violence since the age of 15 years, while 6% have experienced sexual violence in their lifetime,.
- Only 14% of women who have experienced physical or sexual violence by anyone have brought the issue up.
- 32% of married women (18-49 years) have experienced physical, sexual, or emotional spousal violence.
Recent findings from National Family health Survey Report-5
- Status: Domestic violence against women is highest in Karnataka at 48%, followed by Bihar, Telangana, Manipur and Tamil Nadu. Lakshawdeep has the least domestic violence at 2.1%.
- Rural–urban difference: Physical violence is more common among women in rural areas (32%) as compared to their urban areas (24%).
- Impact of schooling and education: 40% women with no schooling are subject to physical violence compared to 18% who completed their schooling.
- Impact of employment and wealth: The experience of physical violence ranges between 39% among women in the lowest wealth quintile and 17% in the highest wealth quintile.
Why women left behind as compared to men in India?
- Patriarchal structure: Patriarchal structures and ideologies and the mindset lead to women subordination and gender inequalities
- Low sex ratio: Sex ratios for women in India Is not good comparatively. It was even bad at the time of independence.
- Life expectancy: Women’s life expectancy, health, nutritional levels are significantly lower than that of men.
- Education: low investment on girl education, Girl children are kept out of schools, or made drop out of school at early age, girl is considered as burden on family in many societies.
- Employment: even if they are educated they are not allowed to work by their families Discrimination at the workplaces, lower wages for the work of equal value.
- Decision making: The have little say in the families, socio economic, legal and political rules and policy formulations. Very limited or no decision making power.
- Political participation: The participation of women in political and social decision making power is abysmally low. Their number in parliament has never exceeded more than 10%.
- Recognition: Recognition of women as productive, vital agents of family and environment should be a precondition for addressing their social needs. We need to change the way they are perceived.
- Treatment: They must not be only treated only as objects of welfare but needed to be treated as those who are contributing to the economy.
- Health: To provide quality and affordable healthcare and must be easily accessible.
- Education: Education of women is the most important component for women’s empowerment.
- Safe and secure environment: providing safety and security is the precondition for empowerment and social justice.
- Economic Independence: Helping women to stand on their legs, become independent and also to earn for their family is necessary to empowering women and to raise their hand in decision making process of family, society and nation
Woman as the foundation stone of every family, society and nation
- India has an ancient woman worship tradition.
- In India we see woman as a mother goddess. There are no of evidences to support this idea
- For instance the Sanskrit text “Yatra naryastu pujyante ramante tatra Devata”which means where women are honored, there gods resides.
- Which means there is a overall development if the women of the family is happy.
Conclusion
- Domestic violence against women is major obstacle on progress on achieving development targets. Without addressing it, anybody have little chance of meeting millennium development. Recognition of women as productive, vital agents of family and environment should be a precondition for addressing their social needs. Gender equality and women’s empowerment are essential for the development and well-being of families, communities and nations.
Mains Question
Q. Empowering women on every front is the pre-condition for the overall development of the nation. Discuss.
UPSC 2023 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NA
Mains level: border security
Context
- According to the consensus reached in the 16th round of India China Corps Commander Level Meeting, the Indian and Chinese troops in the area of Gogra-Hotsprings (PP-15) have begun to disengage in a coordinated and planned way. With disengagement at PP 15 India China border, forces of the two countries have disengaged at all friction points in the region which included the North and South banks of the Pangong Tso, PP 14, PP 15 and PP 17A.
Why the India-China Border situation is still risky?
The tentative conciliatory steps between two nuclear-armed rivals are important; but they also carry risks, especially for India. The risks are as follows:
- Uneasy peace: Despite the latest round of disengagement, the LAC remains deeply unsettled. Observers have pointed out that the buffer zones produced by the crisis inhibit India’s ability to patrol its own territory.
- Un-resolve areas: India and China have tacitly agreed to postpone settlement at two other confrontation sites, particularly tactically valuable area known as Depsangand Charding Nala regions.
- Persisting threat: The reinforcements that each side deployed since 2020 have not returned to garrison. Even if future rounds of talks continue “disengagement and de-escalation,” and reduce those forces, returning to the status quo ante is now impossible.
- Border infrastructure: Both sides on India China border are racing towards building permanent military infrastructure near the border, to help them surge forces to the border. Unsurprisingly, China seems to have outpaced India in building these roads, helipads, and communications nodes.
- Possibility of conflict: The increasing capabilities and mobility on both sides of the border means that a crisis can more quickly escalate to a large military stand-off anywhere on the LAC, and possibly even trigger a conflict
- Changing priorities: India has reassigned one of three originally Pakistan-facing Strike Corps to the China front. It has deployed its newest artillery, jets, and drones to the China border.
- Unattended Indian Ocean: India has not yet improved its capabilities or posture in the Indian Ocean region significantly.
- Diversion from real threat: With the border crisis, China seems to have successfully fixed India’s gaze to the land border, at the expense of that more consequential competition over the Indian Ocean.
- Loss of grazing: Ladakh’s elected representatives said the disengagement has caused loss of huge grazing land as it would now be converted into no man’s land.
Steps taken by India
- Increasing capability: from cruise missile-equipped fighter jets and U.S.-origin naval helicopters to a brand-new indigenously-built aircraft carrier.
- Atmanirbhar Bharat: India undertook several structural economic reforms for strengthening domestic capability and reducing the economic parity between two nations. Defence ministry has decided to increase CAB (capital acquisition budget), around 64% of modernization fund around 70000 cr. has been allocated for purchasing from domestic market. Atma Nirbhar Bharat and Make in India mission will also include Defence sector, we can see the local or private companies can also participate in procurement of defence equipment
- Defence India Start-up Challenge (DISC): Started by the defence ministry and over 1200 MSMEs participated in the fourth edition of the DISC in 2020. The government has prepared a negative list, it include light combat helicopters, artillery guns; these items will not be imported by anyone thus encouraging self-reliant India.
- The SRIJAN portal: Launched to facilitate the two initiatives, Atmanirbhar Bharat and make in India
- Sagarmala project: The sagarmala project has been started to revamp port Infrastructure which is a welcome step in modernization.
Conclusion
- For china Deception is diplomacy. Time and again China tries a deception strategy from its Confucius doctrine to defeat its enemy. From 1962 to 2022 India has made a lot of progress in military and economic sphere but China is way ahead than us. Strategic competition between two Asian giants will continue foreseeable future. So as long as India doesn’t gain domestic capabilities it would be prudent step to undertake strategic balancing.
Mains Question
Q. India has decided to maintain a strategic balance with china rather than being subsidiary to china. Discuss.
UPSC 2023 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NA
Mains level: social justice
Context
- Union government intends to appoint a national commission to study the status of Dalits (ex “untouchable” castes) belonging to the Muslim and Christian communities. Aim of study to check the socio-economic condition of Muslims and Christian Dalits on par with Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist Dalits.
Current reservation policy
- At present, scheduled caste reservation is applicable only to schedule caste (Dalit) belongs to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist. Currently it is unavailable for schedule caste belongs to Muslims and Christians.
Why Muslim and Christian Dalit needs reservation?
- In 2008 review-study commissioned by the National Commission of Minorities (NCM) and housed in the Sociology Department of Delhi The remit of the study was to conduct a comprehensive review of already existing social-scientific evidence that might offer answers to three questions.
- What is the contemporary status of Dalit Muslims (DMs) and Dalit Christians (DCs) in terms of their material well-being and social status?
- How does their situation compare with that of: a) non-Dalits of their own communities, and b) Dalits of other communities?
- Do the caste disabilities suffered by these groups justify state intervention?
What were the findings of study?
- The study reviewed two main kinds of available evidence, ethnographic-descriptive and macro-statistical, in addition to semi-academic NGO reports and publications.
- The survey of ethnographic materials began with the finding that the existence of caste divisions – including the presence of ex-untouchable castes recognised as such – among both Muslims and Christians – was beyond dispute.
- DMs and DCs were identified and segregated much like their counterparts in the Hindu or Sikh communities.
- Evidence was tabulated on five forms of caste-based social discrimination – the practice untouchability; enforced ban on inter-marriage; occupational segregation; social and cultural segregation and finally, economic discrimination.
- The most common instances were separate mosques or churches (or hierarchically segregated seating); separate burial grounds; strict prohibition on inter-marriage with very severe punishments (sometimes extending to murder) for breaking this taboo; and general avoidance of social interaction and cooperation.
- The main findings were that DMs are clearly the worst off among all Dalits, while DCs are somewhat better off than other Dalits except Sikh Dalits (who are by far the best off, especially in the rural sector).
Why DMs and DCs doesn’t have reservation?
- The courts accept that “caste survives conversion” but complain about the lack of reliable data. No recognition, no data; no data, no recognition.
- Informal guesstimates (based on the 2001 Census and the 2004-05 NSSO survey) place the proportion of DMs at 1 per cent or less of the Muslim population, and DCs as anything between 40-50 per cent of the Christian population of India.
- As per the 2011 Census, Muslims are 14.2 per cent and Christians 2.3 per cent of our population. Taken together, DMs and DCs are likely to form less than 2 per cent of the total Dalit population of India, more than 90 per cent of which is Hindu.
- According to experts Adding DMs and DCs will not rock the boat of reservation, since the increment will be roughly one-fifth of the 10 per cent reservation readily granted to the upper castes as the Economically Weaker Sections.
What efforts have been made to include Muslims and Christians of Dalit origin among SCs?
- After 1990, a number of Private Member’s Bills were brought in Parliament for this purpose.
- In 1996, a government Bill called The Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Orders (Amendment) Bill was drafted, but in view of a divergence of opinions, the Bill was not introduced in Parliament.
- Then government headed by PM Manmohan Singh set up two important panels:
- Ranganath Misra Commission: The National Commission for Religious and Linguistic Minorities, popularly known as the Ranganath Misra Commission, in October 2004 and
- Sachar Committee: A seven-member high-level committee headed by former Chief Justice of Delhi High Court Rajinder Sachar to study the social, economic, and educational condition of Muslims in March 2005.
What did they recommend?
- The Sachar Committee Report observed that the social and economic situation of Dalit Muslims and Dalit Christians did not improve after conversion.
- The Ranganath Misra Commission, which submitted its report in May 2007, recommended that SC status should be completely de-linked from religion and Scheduled Castes should be made fully religion-neutral like Scheduled Tribes.
Reception to these recommendations
- The report was tabled in Parliament in 2009, but its recommendation was not accepted in view of inadequate field data and corroboration with the actual situation on the ground.
- Few studies, commissioned by the National Commission for Minorities, was also not considered reliable due to insufficient data.
Conclusion
- Schedule caste community from all religion India suffers from same fate of untouchability. Change of religion unfortunately, have change their social status. If 70+ year of reservation of Dalit in Hindu haven’t substantially change their social destiny, we have to think beyond reservation for social dignity and economic empowerment of schedule castes in India.
Mains question
Q. Reservation policy in India is religion based and not based on overall social discrimination. Comment in the context of demand for Dalit reservation extension to Christians and Muslims Dalits.
UPSC 2023 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NA
Mains level: urban floods mitigation
Context
- The recent events of heavy downpours in short period of time and the recent example of Banglore flood, highlights how cities in India and elsewhere need to adapt to climate change as it brings more extreme rainfall in the future.
What is heavy downpour?
- A downpour or cloudburst is a sudden and unexpected heavy fall of rain.
- It is usually local in nature and of brief duration. Most so-called cloudbursts occur in connection with thunderstorms.
- Heavy downpour in short period causes flood, damage to buildings and infrastructure can disrupt transport, communications and connectivity, loss of crops and livestock.
The heavy rainfall and the Banglore flood causes
- Rise in built up area: Lakes and natural depressions may not always fill up during many monsoons so the people who are unaware of hydrology tempts to build and buy in the catchment areas of water-bodies, which will be disastrous when it rains heavily as there is rise in the quantity.
- Water-logging: rainwater and sewage water are forced to build up, which results in water-logging. The highway acts as a dam for the water ,Garbage frequently clogs drains, which limits the flow of sewage, and they are too small to support the weight of the expanding population.
- Physical shrinkage of water-bodies: Destruction of lakes is a major issue .lakes can store the excess water and regulate the flow of water however the pollution of natural water bodies and converting them for development purposes has increased the risks of floods. Unplanned growth, Rise in population, rise in the built up areas along streams, canals, around the lakes, leaving no storage capacity.
- Compromised runoff potential and health hazards: Choked and encroached drains and lakes, ill designed infrastructure and missing pipes compromising run off potential. Not only the physical quantity of the runoff that poses a hazard. When polluted drains and lakes overflow, the flood can pose a health hazard especially to vulnerable and exposed marginal communities living in informal settlements.
- Zero or limited ability to allow infiltration of water: Encroachments in and around wetlands and green lands harming the natural way of water infiltration and ground water recharge.
- Lack of vision in rain water harvesting: Ignorance towards the tradition rain water harvesting techniques and no or limited vision for creating new systems of rain water harvesting. Exceptionally heavy monsoon rains have been exacerbated by poor urban planning in the Indian tech hub, showing the need for improved water systems.
What are the reasons behind the frequent floods in urban areas?
- Meteorological factors: change in the weather patterns, increase in the temperature leading to heavy rainfall, sudden downpour, cloudburst, thunderstorms, hailstorms etc.
- Hydrological factors: Natural surface infiltration rate, soil moisture level, presence or absence of Overbank flows, Presence of impervious cover, the occurrence of high tides impeding the drainage in coastal cities.
- Man-Made factors:
- Unplanned urbanization: Unplanned settlement is one of the main cause of urban flooding. Blocking of natural drainage pathways through construction activity and encroachment on catchment areas, streams, rivers, lakebeds. Reduced infiltration and ground water recharge of water, destruction of lakes, Land-use changes (e.g. surface sealing due to urbanization, deforestation) increase runoff and sedimentation. Inefficiency or non-maintenance of infrastructure etc.
- Outdated Drainage systems: The old and ill-maintained drainage system is one of the main factor making cities in India vulnerable to flooding
- Encroachments on and around water-bodies: Illegal Habitations started growing into towns and cities alongside rivers and watercourses. As a result of this, the capacity of the natural drains has decreased, resulting in flooding.
- Climate Change: Climate change due to various anthropogenic events has led to extreme weather events, increasing temperature which resulting in heavy rainfall in one part while drought and dry spells in other.
- Poor Solid Waste Management System: Indiscriminate disposal of solid waste, poor waste management system, clogging drains because of accumulation of non-biodegradable wastes are major concerns. Domestic, commercial and industrial waste and dumping of it into the drains also contribute significantly to reducing their capacities.
- Reduced Seepage: use of hard and non-porous construction material making the soil impervious, reducing the seepage capability in no of cities in India.
- Weak Implementation and lack of awareness:Even with provisions of rainwater harvesting, sustainable urban drainage systems, etc, in regulatory mechanisms like the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), adoption at user end as well as enforcement agencies remains weak.
- No Community Participation:Flood control measures planned without participation of the affected community are unsustainable as they do not meet the needs of relevant stakeholders.
What can be done to prevent the urban floods and prevent losses?
- Developing climate Resilient Infrastructure: using permeable material for roads and pavement, green roofs and harvesting systems in buildings. To reduce the burden of road infrastructure in cities Outer Ring Road should be explored. Innovative approaches like Sponge Cities wetland restoration, flushing systems using collected rooftop water, public spaces as flexible water retention facilities can be applied to Indian urban areas.
- Use of technology in Early Warning Systems and Communication: Early-warning systems using sensors across waterbodies and drains, and a network of communication for hotspots of emerging flood risk in the wet-season should be put in place. Providing real-time data where traditional systems fail. Tools such as predictive precipitation modelingcan help do that and are also able to link it with the adaptive capacity of urban land use.
- Proper management and regular upgrade of Urban Drainage System: drains need to be cleaned on a regular basis to permit the free flow of water .Proper management of the drainage system is necessary to ensure that the water does not get stored in one place. Watershed management and emergency drainage plan should be clearly enunciated in policy.
- Rainwater Harvesting: It will serve the twin purposes of lowering the peak runoff and raising the groundwater table. Many municipal corporations in India have already made rainwater harvesting compulsory.
- Conservation of Water Bodies: Urban water bodies like lakes, tanks, and ponds also play a very important role in the management of urban flooding by reducing the flood water run-off by capturing it.
- Holistic approach: Improved monitoring, forecasting, and decision-support systems. Find out the different method for improving the preparedness for urban flooding.
- Responsibility on every stakeholder: Locally, citizens, local ward officials and staff will need to work together to minimize dumping of solid waste and garbage in storm-water drains. As this is a socio –political problem, public participation awareness and responsibility of citizen is the need of the hour. To develop a long-lasting solution, all parties must acknowledge the issues and adopt a thorough strategy.
What we as citizens can do on a personal level to prevent the urban environment?
- Raising voice at all available forums and platforms
- Making politicians and bureaucrats accountable
- Refuse to buy a house in the encroached lands.
- Applying methods of rain water harvesting on individual level.
Way ahead
- Exceptionally heavy monsoon rains have been exacerbated by poor urban planning in the Indian tech hub, showing the need for improved water systems.
- Urbanization is a global and inevitable process, and with cities as engines of the economy, built-up areas will continue to grow. But we need to draw upon these experiences and the growing perils of climate change and extreme rain events and change course.
- According to UN projections, by 2050 more than 68% of the world’s population could be concentrated in urban areas.
- In this context, resilience-based strategies should be adopted to improve the capacity to handle the crisis arising out of climate change.
- Wetlands are the kidneys of the earth, let’s keep it healthy.
Mains Question
Q. What are the factors causing flood in the urban cities? What are the measures to prevent the urban flooding keeping in mind the sustainable development? Discuss.
UPSC 2023 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: particulars of doctrine of essentiality
Mains level: judicial reforms
Context
- A two-judge Bench of the Supreme Court of India is presently hearing arguments on the correctness of a Karnataka High Court judgment that upheld the ban on the use of the hijab by students in Karnataka which raises question on doctrine of essentiality.
What is ‘doctrine of essentiality’?
- A seven-judge Bench of the Supreme Court invented the doctrine of “essentiality” in the Shirur Mutt case in 1954. The court held that the term “religion” will cover all rituals and practices “integral” to a religion.
Importance doctrine of essentiality
- In the legal framework, the doctrine of essentiality is a doctrine that has evolved to protect the religious practices that are essential or integral and does not violate any fundamental right. India being a secular country has discrete religious beliefs and to deny any is to violate the freedom of religion.
Why hijab is not an essential practice?
- Wearing of hijab (head scarf) by Muslim women does not form a part of essential religious practices in Islamic faith and it is not protected under the right to freedom of religion guaranteed under Article 25 of the Constitution of India, the High Court of Karnataka declared on March 15 2022.
Is hijab essential part of Islam?
- The Qur’an instructs Muslim women and men to dress modestly, and for some, the hijab is worn by Muslim girls and women to maintain modesty and privacy from unrelated males. According to the Encyclopedia of Islam and Muslim World, modesty concerns both men’s and women’s “gaze, gait, garments, and genitalia”.
How do you identify essential religion practice?
- The Court observed that in order to determine whether or not a particular practice is an essential part of religion, the test must be whether the absence of the practice itself
- Freedom to manage religious affairs Subject to public order, morality and health, every religious denomination or any section thereof shall have the right.
Examples of the essential religious practices test
- While these issues are largely understood to be community-based, there are instances in which the court has applied the test to individual freedoms as well.
- In a 2004 ruling, the Supreme Court held that the Ananda Marga sect had no fundamental right to perform the Tandava dance in public streets since it did not constitute an essential religious practice of the sect.
- For example, in 2016, the Supreme Court upheld the discharge of an airman from the Indian Air Force for keeping a beard.
- It distinguished the case of a Muslim airman from that of Sikhs who are allowed to keep a beard.
- In 2015, the Supreme Court restored the Jain religious practice of Santhara/Sallekhana (a ritualistic fast unto death) by staying an order of the Rajasthan HC.
What is the Supreme Court’s judgement on Doctrine of Essentiality?
- The doctrine of “essentiality” was invented by a seven-judge Bench of the Supreme Court in the ‘Shirur Mutt’ case in 1954.
- It is a contentious doctrine evolved by the court to protect only such religious practices which were essential and integral to the religion.
- The court held that the term “religion” will cover all rituals and practices “integral” to a religion, and took upon itself the responsibility of determining the essential and non-essential practices of a religion.
- Referring to the Ayodhya case, the Constitution Bench had ruled in 1994 that A mosque is not an essential part of the practice of the religion of Islam and namaz (prayer) by Muslims can be offered anywhere, even in open.
How has the doctrine been used in subsequent years?
- The ‘essentiality doctrine’ of the Supreme Court has been criticised by several constitutional experts.
- Scholars of constitutional law have argued that the essentiality/integrality doctrine has tended to lead the court into an area that is beyond its competence, and given judges the power to decide purely religious questions.
- As a result, over the years, courts have been inconsistent on this question — in some cases they have relied on religious texts to determine essentiality.
- In others it relied on the empirical behaviour of followers, and in yet others, based on whether the practice existed at the time the religion originated.
Issues over the doctrine
- In the beginning, the court engaged with the question of whether untouchability, manifested in restrictions on entry into temples, was an “essential part of the Hindu religion”.
- After examining selected Hindu texts, it came to the conclusion that untouchability was not an essential Hindu practice.
- The idea of providing constitutional protection only to those elements of religion which the court considers “essential” is problematic as it assumes that one element or practice of religion is independent of other elements or practices.
- So, while the essentiality test privileges certain practices over others, it is, in fact, all practices taken together that constitute a religion.
How does essentiality square up against religious freedom?
- Freedom of religion was meant to guarantee freedom to practice one’s beliefs based on the concept of “inward association” of man with God.
- The apex court in ‘Ratilal Panachand Gandhi vs The State of Bombay and Ors’ (March 18, 1954) acknowledged that “every person has a fundamental right to entertain such religious beliefs as may be approved by his judgment or conscience”.
- The framers of the Constitution wanted to give this autonomy to each individual. Scholars have argued that the essentiality test impinges on this autonomy.
- The apex court has itself emphasised autonomy and choice in its Privacy (2017), 377 (2018), and Adultery (2018) judgments.
Its effect on society
- Narrowing of safeguards to religious customs: It has allowed the Court to narrow the extent of safeguards available to religious customs by directly impinging on the autonomy of groups to decide for themselves what they deem valuable, violating, in the process, their right to ethical independence.
- Negated legislation that might otherwise enhance the cause of social justice: It has also negated legislation that might otherwise enhance the cause of social justice by holding that such laws cannot under any circumstances encroach on matters integral to the practice of a religion. For example, in 1962, the Court struck down a Bombay law that prohibited excommunications made by the Dai of the Dawoodi Bohra community when it held that the power to excommunicate is an essential facet of faith and that any measure aimed at social welfare cannot reform a religion out of its existence.
- A principle of anti-exclusion: Its application would require the Court to presume that a practice asserted by a religious group is, in fact, essential to the proponents of its faith. But regardless of such grounding, the Constitution will not offer protection to the practice if it excludes people on grounds of caste, gender, or other discriminatory criteria.
Conclusion
- For now, any Court hearing a matter touching upon a matter of faith has the unenviable task of acting not merely as an expert on law but also as an expert on religion.
Mains question
Q. Every person has a fundamental right to entertain such religious beliefs as may be approved by his judgment or conscience. Critically examine in context of doctrine of essentiality.
UPSC 2023 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Context
- In an interview earlier this month, Telecom Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw spoke about a comprehensive policy roadmap for India’s digital economy and digital governance.
What is digital governance ?
- Electronic governance or e-governance can be defined as the usage of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) by the government to provide and facilitate government services, exchange of information, communication transactions and integration of various standalone systems and services.
What is “global digital governance”?
- Global digital governance encompasses the norms, institutions, and standards that shape the regulation around the development and use of these technologies. Digital governance has long-term commercial and political implications.
Why is it important?
- The main objective of e-governance is to provide a friendly, affordable, and efficient interface between a government and its people. It is about ensuring greater transparency, accountability and objectivity, resulting in cost-effective and high-quality public service.
What are the three domains of e-governance?
- E-administration: improving government processes
- E-services: connecting individual citizens with their government
- E-society: building interactions with and within civil society.
Is there a historical parallel to governing key economic sectors globally?
- Digital economy is not unprecedented: Sectors critical to the global economy are subject to international cooperation frameworks and pacts. Therefore, the idea of setting up a single multilateral organization with a mandate to govern the digital economy is not unprecedented.
- The International Commission for Air Navigation (ICAN): Global aviation has been regulated since 1903 when the International Commission for Air Navigation (ICAN) first met, subsequently replaced by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) in 1947.
- Bank for International Settlements (BIS): Similarly, the modern international banking system is governed by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), an institution initially set up in the interwar period in 1930 to oversee Germany’s reparations to the Allies under the Treaty of Versailles. The BIS acquired a more global mandate beginning in the 1950s and is now partially responsible for global financial stability.
Who are the key players in the global contest for digital governance?
- China seeks to champion the concept of cyber sovereignty: An authoritarian vision drives the first model. Most notably, China is emerging as the standard-bearer for this model with its desire to “reinvent the internet.” China seeks to champion the concept of “cyber sovereignty,” allowing countries to control access to the internet, censor content, and institute data localization requirements, as a pretext to protecting individual national interests.
- European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR): Which provides a more democratic concept for digital governance. This model primarily seeks to protect the privacy and rights of internet users and online content consumers. Adopted with the overwhelming support of the European Parliament in 2014, the GDPR came into effect in May 2018, giving firms that rely on digital technologies the opportunity to modify their data usage and privacy policies. The adoption of the GDPR has been a turning point for global internet governance as consumers gained unprecedented control over their data in a manner that preserved freedom and openness online.
Why global digital governance is important?
- Minimum rights and protections for platform workers: Under the G20, the International Labour Organisation has already placed a proposal in the employment working group for digital labour platforms to develop an international governance system determining minimum rights and protections for platform workers.
- Implementation of central bank digital currency projects: Similarly, on digital money, a reincarnated Bretton Woods is being advocated to address the distrust in private currencies and to coordinate the implementation of central bank digital currency projects.
- Digital taxation: Finally, in the deeply contested area of digital taxation, the OECD facilitated Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) negotiations and helped arrive at a global solution.
- Digital sovereignty: The internet is splintering and digital sovereignty is now commonplace; yet, there is no better time for countries to come together and build a framework for global digital governance.
What are the big 5 tech companies called?
- The Big Five tech giants—Apple, Amazon, Google (Alphabet), Meta, and Microsoft.
Conclusion
- The rapid digitalisation of the world along with a new focus on trust in the global supply chains for digital products and services presents tremendous opportunities for India and its youth. It is now up to all of us to engage in a collective “sabka prayas” to realise New India’s economic potential.
Mains question
Q. The rapid digitalisation of the world along with a new focus on trust in the global supply chains for digital products and services presents tremendous opportunities for India. Comment.
UPSC 2023 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: types of inflation
Mains level: inflation overview
Context
- It seems that inflation may hover around 7 per cent despite RBI’s tightening of monetary policy in the months to come.
What is a simple definition for inflation?
- Inflation is an increase in the level of prices of the goods and services that households buy. It is measured as the rate of change of those prices. Typically, prices rise over time, but prices can also fall (a situation called deflation).
Inflation Rate
- Inflation Rate is the percentage change in the price level from the previous period. If a normal basket of goods was priced at Rupee 100 last year and the same basket of goods now cost Rupee 120, then the rate of inflation this year is 20%.
- Inflation Rate= {(Price in year 2 – Price in year 1)/ Price in year 1} *100
Types of Inflation
Creeping Inflation
- Creeping or mild inflation is when prices rise 3% a year or less. This kind of mild inflation makes consumers expect that prices will keep going up. That boosts demand. Consumers buy now to beat higher future prices. That’s how mild inflation drives economic expansion.
Walking Inflation
- This type of strong, or pernicious, inflation is between 3-10% a year. It is harmful to the economy because it heats up economic growth too fast. People start to buy more than they need, just to avoid tomorrow’s much higher prices. This drives demand even further so that suppliers can’t keep up. More important, neither can wages. As a result, common goods and services are priced out of the reach of most people.
Galloping Inflation
- When inflation rises to 10% or more, it wreaks absolute havoc on the economy. Money loses value so fast that business and employee income can’t keep up with costs and prices. Foreign investors avoid the country, depriving it of needed capital. The economy becomes unstable, and government leaders lose credibility. Galloping inflation must be prevented at all costs.
Hyperinflation
- Hyperinflation is when prices skyrocket more than 50% a month. It is very rare. In fact, most examples of hyperinflation have occurred only when governments printed money to pay for wars. Examples of hyperinflation include Germanyin the 1920s, Zimbabwe in the 2000s, and Venezuela in the 2010s. The last time America experienced hyperinflation was during its civil war.
Core Inflation
- The core inflation rate measures rising prices in everything except food and energy. That’s because gas prices tend to escalate now and then. Higher gas costs increase the price of food and anything else that has large transportation costs.
Consumer Price Index
- CPI is used to monitor changes in the cost of living over time. When the CPI rises, the average Indian family has to spend more on goods and services to maintain the same standard of living. The economic term used to define such a rising prices of goods and services is Inflation.
Whole sale Price Index
- WPI is used to monitor the cost of goods and services bought by producer and firms rather than final consumers. The WPI inflation captures price changes at the factory/wholesale level.
GDP Deflator
- Another important measure of calculating standard of living of people is GDP Deflator. GDP Deflator is the ratio of nominal GDP to real GDP. The nominal GDP is measured at the current prices whereas the real GDP is measured at the base year prices. Therefore, GDP Deflator reflects the current level of prices relative to prices in a base year. Example, In India the base year of calculating deflator is 2011-12.
Factors fuelling inflation in India
- Falling rupee: Inflation is here to stay because it has much to do with the decline in value of the rupee that has fallen to its lowest, which makes imports of oil and gas more expensive.
- Ukraine crisis: The war in Ukraine has the same effect and pushes the price of some food items upward.
- Poor inflation management: With inflation, as measured by the consumer price index, in August going back to 7 per cent, and the wholesale price index coming in at 12.4 per cent, one thing is clear India is not out of the woods on inflation management.
Rising inflation have these implications
- Impact on the poor: This upsurge of inflation is affecting the poor more because some of the commodities whose prices are increasing the most represent a larger fraction of the budget of the most vulnerable sections of society.
- Rising inequality: As a result, inequalities which were already on the rise are increasing further. Recently, the State of Inequality in India report showed that an Indian making Rs 3 lakh a year belonged to the top 10 per cent of the country’s wage earners.
- Inequality in healthcare: India’s spending on healthcare is among the lowest in the world. Decent level of healthcare is available only to the ones who can afford it because of increasing out-of-pocket expenditure the payment made directly by individuals for the health service, not covered under any financial protection scheme. Overall, these out-of-pocket expenses on healthcare are 60 per cent of the total expenditure on public health in India, which is one of the highest in the world.
Need for bold steps on three fronts to tackle inflation
- Unless bold and innovative steps are taken at least on three fronts, GDP growth and inflation both are likely to be in the range of 6.5 to 7.5 per cent in 2022-23.
1] Tightening of loose monetary policy: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is mandated to keep inflation at 4 per cent, plus-minus 2 per cent.
- The RBI has already started the process of tightening monetary policy by raising the repo rate, albeit a bit late.
- It is expected that by the end of 2022-3, the repo rate will be at least 5.5 per cent, if not more.
- It will still stay below the likely inflation rate and therefore depositors will still lose the real value of their money in banks with negative real interest rates.
- That only reflects an inbuilt bias in the system — in favour of entrepreneurs in the name of growth and against depositors, which ultimately results in increasing inequality in the system.
2] Prudent fiscal policy: Fiscal policy has been running loose in the wake of Covid-19 that saw the fiscal deficit of the Union government soar to more than 9 per cent in 2020-21 and 6.7 per cent in 2021-22, but now needs to be tightened.
- Government needs to reduce its fiscal deficit to less than 5 per cent, never mind the FRMB Act’s advice to bring it to 3 per cent of GDP.
- However, it is difficult to achieve when enhanced food and fertiliser subsidies, and cuts in duties of petrol and diesel will cost the government at least Rs 3 trillion more than what was provisioned in the budget.
3] Rational trade policy: Export restrictions/bans go beyond agri-commodities, even to iron ore and steel, etc. in the name of taming inflation.
- But abrupt export bans are poor trade policy and reflect only the panic-stricken face of the government.
- A more mature approach to filter exports would be through a gradual process of minimum export prices and transparent export duties for short periods of time, rather than abrupt bans, if at all these are desperately needed to favour consumers.
Conclusion
- Though the government is opting for market-based economics, currently, India needs a mixed solution that comprises price stability via government channels and subsidies.
Mains question
Q.What are the fuelling factors for inflation? Discuss what steps should be taken to tackle inflation.
UPSC 2023 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Vaikom satyagraha
Mains level: Social reform movement in tamil nadu
Context
- We celebrate Periyar E.V. Ramasamy’s birth anniversary (September 17) as Social Justice Day.
Who is periyar?
- Erode Venkatappa Ramasamy, revered as Periyar or Thanthai Periyar, was an Indian social activist and politician who started the Self-Respect Movement and Dravidar Kazhagam. He is known as the ‘Father of the Dravidian movement’. He rebelled against Brahminical dominance and gender and caste inequality in Tamil Nadu.
Who started self-respect movement?
- The self-respect movement was founded by V.Ramaswamy Naicker, commonly known as Periyar. It was a dynamic social movement aimed at destroying the contemporary Hindu social order in its totality and creating a new, rational society without caste, religion and god.
Why Periyar is called as vaikom hero?
- V. Ramasamy Periyar led the famous Vaikom Sathya Graha in 1924, where the people of down trodden community were prohibited to enter into the temple. Finally the Travancore government relaxed such segregation and allowed the people to enter into the temple. Hence periyar was given the title of ‘Vaikom Hero’.
Leadership at a critical juncture
- The satyagraha began with the active support of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee.
- Within a week all its leaders were behind bars. George Joseph sought directions from Gandhi and C. Rajagopalachari. He also wrote to Periyar pleading with him to lead the satyagraha.
- Periyar was in the midst of political work. As he was then the president of the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee, Periyar handed over temporary charge to Rajaji before reaching Vaikom in 1924.
- From that date to the day of the victory celebrations in 1925, he was in the struggle giving it leadership at a critical juncture.
Periyar’s role
- Against violence – Periyar presided over the satyagraha in the face of violence and indignity inflicted by the orthodox and the repression of the police.
- Mobilising – To mobilise support, he visited villages in and around Vaikom and delivered public speeches in several towns.
- Gandhi – When the Kerala leaders asked for Gandhi’s permission to make the satyagraha an all-India affair, Gandhi refused saying that volunteers from Tamil Nadu would keep it alive.
- In reports – the British Resident said in his report to the government of Madras: “In fact, the movement would have collapsed long ago but for the support it has received from outside Travancore…”
- Historian T.K. Ravindran — observes that Periyar’s arrival gave “a new life to the movement”.
His Vision for the future
- Ideas on rationality: When he presented his thoughts, there was nuance, honesty, and an explicitness, which prompted even people practising different faiths to discuss and debate his ideas on rationality and religion.
- Freedom of expression: Periyar himself said, “Everyone has the right to refute any opinion. But no one has the right to prevent its expression.”
- Eradication of social evils: Periyar is often referred to as an iconoclast, for the rebellious nature of his ideas and the vigour with which he acted. His vision for the future was a part of all his actions. He did not merely aim at the eradication of social evils; he also wanted to put an end to activities that do not collectively raise standards of society.
Foundation of rationalism
- He understood the evolution of political thought: Periyar’s vision was about inclusive growth and freedom of individuals. He was an important ideologue of his day because of the clarity in his political stand. More importantly, he understood the evolution of political thought and was able to glide through time with this.
- He presented rationalism as a solid foundation: For thinking along these lines. He said, “Wisdom lies in thinking. The spearhead of thinking is rationalism.” Periyar was way ahead of his time.
- Concern towards poor: “Whomsoever I love and hate, my principle is the same. That is, the educated, the rich and the administrators should not suck the blood of the poor.”
- Periyar proclaimed that he would always stand with the oppressed: In the fight against oppressors and that his enemy was oppression. There have been several social reformers in Tamil Nadu who shared their revolutionary thoughts with the people in the past century. In that spectrum, Periyar occupies a unique place because he made interactions of multiple worlds possible.
Periyar said, “Any opposition not based on rationalism or science or experience, will one day or other, reveal the fraud, selfishness, lies, and conspiracies.”
Conclusion
- His works against the Bhraminical dominance, oppression of women in Tamil Nadu, caste prevalence are exemplary. Periyar promoted the principles of rationalism, self-respect, women’s rights and eradication of caste. He opposed the exploitation and marginalisation of the people of South India and the imposition of what he considered Indo-Aryan India.
Mains question
Q.Discuss the future vision of periyar by discussing his role in vaikom satyagraha. Do you think he has placed foundation of rationalism in Tamil Nadu?
UPSC 2023 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NA
Mains level: human population
Context
- Though the Global population, in terms of numbers, has been steadily increasing the average global fertility rate has been consistently declining over the past 70 years.
What Reports say?
- Reports suggest that the global population could grow to around 8.5 billion in 2030.
- According to the World Population Prospects 2022, Average number of children per woman in the reproductive age group has declined by 50%, from an average of five children per woman in 1951 to4 children in 2020.
What is Fertility?
- Fertility is the quality or state of being fertile.
- Fertility is the ability to reproduce through normal sexual interaction. In other words it is the natural capacity to conceive a biological child.
- Fertilitychanges with age. Both males and females become fertile in their teens following puberty.
What is fertility rate?
- The number of live births in women over a specific length of time.
- Total fertility rate is the average number of children born to a woman during her lifetime.
Recent findings
The newly released World Population Prospectus notes that the global fertility rate fell from three in 1990 to 2.3 in 2021.
Overview of fertility dynamics
- Reason: Speeding up the social phenomenon of demographic transition.
- Poorer countries: speeding up the Transition a lot faster than the richer ones.
- Britain: Took 130 years to transition from a fertility rate of five per woman in 1800 to two in 1930, whereas
- South Korea: Took 20 years from 1965 to 1985 to achieve the same. South Korea reporting the lowest fertility rate, 1.05 children per woman.
- Most advanced economies: Have their fertility rate below the replacement rate of 2.1.
- Sub-Saharan African countries: Expected to contribute more than half the population growth after 2050 and grow through 2100. For example, Niger a sub Saharan country with highest fertility rate in the world, estimated to be 91 children per woman.
- What is Demographic transition: is a long-term trend of declining birth and death rate. It is shift from high birth rates to low birth rates in societies with minimal technology, education (especially of women) and economic development and from high death rates to Low death rates in societies with advanced economies and development.
Where India Stands
- According to National Family Health Survey (NFHS), fertility rate falling below the replacement level for the first time to 2.0 in 2021.dropped from 2.2 to 2.0.
- only five States have a fertility rate above the replacement rate: Bihar (3), Meghalaya (2.9), Uttar Pradesh (2.4), Jharkhand (2.3), and Manipur (2.2)
- At the time of Independence, India’s fertility rate was six per woman, and it had taken 25 years to reach five, with the government launching the first ever family planning program in the world in 1952.
- India’s fertility further declined to four in the 1990s when Kerala became the first State in India to have a fertility rate below replacement l
- Increased use of contraception, more years of average schooling, better health care, and an increase in the mean marriage age of women are of the reasons behind the steady dip in fertility rate.
Lower fertility rate as cause and consequences on the economy
Positive impact:
- Lower fertility leads to rise in women’s education.
- Window of time where the ration of working-age population is higher than that of the dependent age groups.
- This high proportion of people in the workforce boosts income and investment, and higher level of saving.
- Lower pressure on land, water and other resources and would also contribute to achieving environmental goals.
- Advanced health care and better nutrition, results in increased life expectancy and productivity of citizens.
Negative impact:
- Lower fertility impacts women’s education positively, which in turn lowers the fertility of the next generations.
- While the income rises with better health care and better infrastructure development, Fertility drops.
- A fall in fertility rate beyond replacement level would have a negative effect on the proportion of the working population, which in turn will affect output in an economy.
- After the window of demographic dividend, the huge working age population moves to old age, supported by fewer workers.
- Japan was the first country to experience the implications of falling fertility rates. Country is now facing fiscal challenges to meet rising social security costs.
Experiments to deal with fertility decline
Countries across the globe are experimenting with policies to boost fertility.
- Germany: found success in boosting births through liberal labour laws, allowing more parental leave and benefits.
- Denmark: offering state-funded IVF for women below 40 years
- Hungary: Recently nationalized IVF clinics.
- Poland: Gives out monthly cash payments to parents having more than two children
- Russia: Makes one-time payment to parents when their second child is born. Reinstituted the Soviet-era ‘Mother Heroine’ title, who bore and raised more than 10 children amounting to almost a one-time payment of 13 lakh.
Way ahead
- Need of the hour is to ensure liberal labor reforms, encourage higher female labor force participation, higher focus on nutrition and health.
- Although India’s working age population will continue to grow for many more decades, it would need to keep an eye on fertility dips.
Mains Question
What are Implications of lower fertility rate on the economy? What steps could be taken to deal with fertility decline? Discuss.
UPSC 2023 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: PLI scheme
Mains level: sectors of economy
Context
- Manufacturing can create higher productivity jobs.
What is service sector?
- The service sector, also known as the tertiary sector, is the third tier in the three-sector economy. Instead of product production, this sector produces services maintenance and repairs, training, or consulting. Examples of service sector jobs include housekeeping, tours, nursing, and teaching.
What is called manufacturing sector?
- Manufacturing is the making of goods by hand or by machine that upon completion the business sells to a customer. Items used in manufacture may be raw materials or component parts of a larger product. The manufacturing usually happens on a large-scale production line of machinery and skilled labor.
Should India focus on manufacturing over services?
- Services sector failed to create more jobs: So far, in services, we have certainly developed some advantage and we are doing rather well. Services’ share of the economy has gone up to over 50% of the GDP. However, this sector has not been able to create enough jobs in a commensurate manner. The result is that agriculture still continues to sustain nearly half of India’s workforce, which means that 15% of GDP is supporting some 45% of the workforce.
- Manufacturing can provide productive jobs: We need more productive job opportunities for the workforce to shift away from agriculture. We need to focus attention on the manufacturing sector because of the direct and indirect jobs that it can create.
- Empirical fact: It is an empirical fact that manufacturing of all productive sectors has the highest backward and forward linkages.
- Significant potential: So, all together, there is significant potential for the manufacturing sector to create higher productivity jobs for people stuck in agricultural activities. That is the future for India.
What is PLI Scheme?
- As the name suggests, the scheme provides incentives to companies for enhancing their domestic manufacturing apart from focusing on reducing import bills and improving the cost competitiveness of local goods.
- PLI scheme offers incentives on incremental sales for products manufactured in India.
- The scheme for respective sectors has to be implemented by the concerned ministries and departments.
Criteria laid for the scheme
- Eligibility criteria for businesses under the PLI scheme vary based on the sector approved under the scheme.
- For instance, the eligibility for telecom units is subject to the achievement of a minimum threshold of cumulative incremental investment and incremental sales of manufactured goods.
- The minimum investment threshold for MSME is Rs 10 crore and Rs 100 crores for others.
- Under food processing, SMEs and others must hold over 50 per cent of the stock of their subsidiaries, if any.
- On the other hand, for businesses under pharmaceuticals, the project has to be a green-field project while the net worth of the company should not be less than 30 per cent of the total committed investment.
What are the incentives offered?
- An incentive of 4-6 per cent was offered last year on mobile and electronic components manufacturers such as resistors, transistors, diodes, etc.
- Similarly, 10 percent incentives were offered for six years (FY22-27) of the scheme for the food processing industry.
- For white goods too, the incentive of 4-6 per cent on incremental sales of goods manufactured in India for a period of five years was offered to companies engaged in the manufacturing of air conditioners and LED lights.
Benefits of PLI
- 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.
Conclusion
- In order to integrate India as a pivotal part of this modern economy, there is a strong need to step up our manufacturing capabilities.
Mains question
Q.Should India focus on manufacturing over services for job creation? Discuss the role Production Linked Incentive Scheme could play in boosting manufacturing in India.
UPSC 2023 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: CCI
Mains level: deliberation for effective democracy
Context
- In the recent monsoon session of Parliament (July-August) the Competition (Amendment) Bill, 2022 and the Electricity (Amendment) Bill, 2022 sent to the Parliamentary Committees for detailed examination and a report thereon.
Background
- Parliament had only limited legislative time this session and could pass only five pieces of legislation
- Oppositions stand: opposition alleging that the Government has been trying to steamroll various pieces of legislation in the last few sessions.
- Governments stand: Government worries that so much time is lost in disruptions in Parliament that the legislative process, as it is, becomes unduly delayed and therefore, referring the bills to the Standing Committees.
Parliamentary Committees
- Need of parliamentary committees: The functions of the Parliament are varied, complex and voluminous. Moreover, it has neither the adequate time nor necessary expertise to make a detailed scrutiny of all legislative measures.
- Function: To assist parliament to discharge of its duties.
- Mandate: To examine various legislations referred to it, the budget proposals of different Ministries, and also to do policy thinking on the vision, mission and future direction of the Ministries concerned.
- Composition: Members of the Parliament of both the LokSabha and the RajyaSabha in the ratio 2:1,
- Authority: constituted by the Speaker of the LokSabha and the Chairman of the RajyaSabha, jointly.
- Classification: Broadly, two kinds–Standing Committees and Ad Hoc Standing Committees are permanent (constituted every year or periodically) and work on a continuous basis, while Ad Hoc Committees are temporary and cease to exist on completion of the task assigned to them.
- Parliament has 24 Department Related Parliamentary Standing Committees (DRSC).
Relevance of parliamentary committees
- Withdrawal of farm law bills shows that if bills are not discussed thoroughly, these laws are just bizarre pieces of legislation from point of view consumers and stakeholders.
- Parliamentary committee’s discussions are held closed door. Members can express their opinion freely.
- Members of DRSC always try reach to consensus despite political differences. Such practices are essential for healthy democracy.
- To strengthen the relevance of parliamentarians the parliamentary committees are crucial tools.
How to improve Efficacy of committees?
- Compulsory process: The Speaker of the Lok Sabha and the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha have powers to refer Bills to a DRSC of Parliament. Making the process of reference of Bills to these committees compulsory/an automatic process will be useful. An exemption could be made with the specific approval of the Speaker/ Chairman after detailed reasons for the same.
- No whip: All discussions in the Parliamentary Standing Committee should be frank and free. No whip of the party would apply to them during the discussion.
- Time bound: fixed timeline to come up with the recommendation and present its report which can be decided by the Speaker/Chairman. In case the committee if fails to give its recommendation within the approved/extended time, the Bill may be put up before the House concerned directly.
- Inviting filed Expertise: To ensure quality work in the committees, experts in the field may be invited who could bring with them the necessary domain knowledge and also help introduce the latest developments and trends in that field from Some subject matter experts/young researchers could be associated with the committee for a short period would be fruitful.
- Authority: The Speaker/Chairman should have the right to fix a time limit, sometimes even stringent, if the government of the day asks for it and the demand is found to be reasonable by the Speaker/Chairman.
- Organized work in the gap: Between two sessions, there is generally enough time to organise committee meetings for discussions on Bills in the parliamentary committees. It is important for the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs in collaboration with the committee chairmen to get these parliamentary works organized during the intersessional period, in advance.
- Other than Budget Proposals: The committees should not limit themselves to discussing just the budget proposals and endorsing them with a few qualifications here or amendments there. They should also come up with suggestions for the Ministry to take up new initiatives and people friendly measures.
Conclusion
- Discussion is not a stumbling block but an indispensable preliminary of any wise actions.
- Discussion is soul of democracy.
- Parliamentary committees are truly democratic institutions in India due to its consensus and bonhomie while functioning.
- Government of the day should take step to strengthen DRSC and refer more bills to committees.
Other related information
Parliamentary sessions
- The president from time to time summons each House of Parliament to meet.
- The maximum gap between two sessions of Parliament cannot be more than six months.
- In other words, the Parliament should meet at least twice a year.
- There are usually three sessions in a year: 1. The Budget Session (February to May); 2. The Monsoon Session (July to September); and 3. The Winter Session (November to December).
Competition Commission of India (CCI)
- CCI is the chief national competition regulatorin India.
- The commission was established on 14 October 2003. It became fully functional in May 2009
- It is a statutory body within the Ministry of Corporate Affairs
- Responsibility: To enforce the Competition Act, 2002 to promote competition and to prevent activities that effects negatively on competition in India.
- The CCI looks into cases and investigates them if the same has a negative impact on competition.
- CCI also approves combination under the act so that two merging entities do not overtake the market.
Mains Question Q.
Evaluate the significance of parliamentary standing committee in parliamentary democracy. Suggest the steps to strengthen the parliamentary committees.
UPSC 2023 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: FAME India scheme
Mains level: sustainable mobility
Context
- Centralized procurement of 5,450 electric buses and subsequent increase in ambition to have 50,000 e-buses on the country’s roads by 2030 under FAME scheme.
- With the shared aim to rapidly electrify a key pillar of India’s public transportation, recent governance efforts of Union and state governments have created a new business model for e-buses.
Status of State-owned buses
- Status: There are currently around 1,40,000 registered public buses on India’s roads.
- Condition: Large numbers of them having sputtering engines which emits planet-warming fumes into the atmosphere. At least 40,000 of these buses are at the end of their lifespan and must be taken off the roads
- Operators: Most buses are owned and operated by State transport undertakings, which are in poor financial health.
- Revenue loss: They incur large losses because of the subsidized fares to crores of Indians each day.
- Problem: problems of fragmented demand and high prices.
- Limitation: As State governments control issues such as transit, urban governance and pollution control so there’s a limitation for the nation-wide action on this issue.
What is FAME India scheme?
- The National Electric Mobility Mission Plan (NEMMP) 2020: Is a National Mission document providing the vision and the roadmap for the faster adoption of electric vehicles and their manufacturing in the country.
- FAME: As part of the NEMMP 2020, Department of Heavy Industry formulated a Scheme viz. Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid &) Electric Vehicles in India (FAME India) Scheme in the year 2015 to promote manufacturing of electric and hybrid vehicle technology and to ensure sustainable growth of the same.
- FAME Phase-II: Government has approved Phase-II of FAME Scheme with an outlay of Rs. 10,000 Crore for a period of 3 years commencing from 1st April 2019.
- Out of total budgetary support, about 86 percent of fund has been allocated for Demand Incentive so as to create demand for EVs in the country.
- This phase aims to generate demand by way of supporting 7000 e-Buses, 5 lakh e-3 Wheelers, 55000 e-4 Wheeler Passenger Cars (including Strong Hybrid) and 10 lakh e-2 Wheelers. However, depending upon off-take of different category of EVs, these numbers may vary as the provision has been made for inter as well as intra segment wise f
- Incentives: Only advanced battery and registered vehicles will be incentivized under the scheme.
- Coverage: With greater emphasis on providing affordable & environment friendly public transportation options for the masses, scheme will be applicable mainly to vehicles used for public transport or those registered for commercial purposes in e-3W, e-4W and e-bus segments. However, privately owned registered e-2Ws are also covered under the scheme as a mass segment.
Obstacles in electric vehicle mobility
EV Cost and Battery cost:
- The cost is the most concerning point for an individual when it comes to buying an electric vehicle.
- However, there are many incentives given off by central and state governments. But the common condition in all policies is that the incentives are only applicable for up to a certain number of vehicles only and after removing the discount and incentives the same EV which was looking lucrative to buy suddenly becomes unaffordable
Beta version of vehicles:
- Right now, both the technology and companies are new to the market and the products they are manufacturing are possibly facing real costumers for the first time.
- It’s nearly impossible to make such a complex product like an automobile perfect for the customers in the first go, and as expected the buyers faced many issues. Vehicles like RV400, EPluto 7G, Nexon all them has to update their vehicle up to a very high extent after customer feedback and reviews.
Poor Infrastructure and range anxiety:
- Poor infrastructure is among the most pressing issue among people thinking to opt for electric vehicles.
- Poor infra doesn’t only include a lack of charging stations but also the lack of proper charging set up in their home.
No Universal charger and Ecosystem (Lack of standardization):
- Every second electric vehicle-making company has its own different charging port which is becoming a hurdle to setting up a proper charging ecosystem.
- Also, many EV users complained about facing moral trouble for charging their vehicle in different EV-making Company’s charging stations which can impact the growth of the EV industry.
Temperature Issues:
- Temperature can affect the performance of an EV battery at a large extent which makes EV’s inappropriate for too cold (Uttarakhand, Meghalaya) or too hot regions like (Rajasthan, Kerala). The battery can give its ideal performance when it’s in use under the temperature range of 15-40 degrees.
Environmental concerns:
- The EV revolution is necessary for the most populated and polluted parts of India like Delhi, Mumbai, etc. but in such cities the major chunk of electricity is generated through burning fossil fuels which are equivalent to spreading the pollution through the ICE vehicle smoke, even most of the charging stations are reportedly operating upon diesel-driven electricity generator.
Way ahead
- With anything new, there will always be challenges.
- The EV industry is still in a nascent stage in India but developing at a rapid pace. Catching up to speed are the infrastructure requirements to support the EV demand.
- Even with the current challenges, electric vehicles present huge potential to reduce our carbon footprints and provide a cost-effective system of transportation.
- And one way to contribute towards this growth is to buy an electric vehicle.
Mains Question
Q. What do you understand by FAME India scheme? How it will help tackling climate change? What are the obstacles in implementation of this scheme?
UPSC 2023 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: government schemes
Mains level: social welfare
Context
India will be facing the immediate challenge –The ageing of the population. Challenge to ensure a decent quality of life for the old age people in the near future, planning and providing for it must begin today.
Background
- Life expectancy in India has more than doubled since Independence from around 32 years in the late 1940s to 70 years or so today, a historical achievement.
- Over the same period, the fertility rate has crashed from about six children per woman to just two, which liberated women from the cycle of continuous child bearing and child care.
What is ageing of the population?
- Meaning: Population ageing is a shift in the distribution of a country’s population towards older ages.
- Reason behind it: Decline in the fertility rate and Rise In the life expectancy. An increase in longevity increases the average age of the population by increasing the numbers of surviving older people.
- Impact of the ageing population:, labor supply shortage, change in patterns of saving and investment, deteriorate fiscal balance, lack of adequate welfare system etc.
- Challenges they impose: Social security, elderly Healthcare, Dependence on the family etc.
What is the status in India?
- According to the National Commission on Population, The share of the elderly (persons aged 60 years and above) close to 9% in 2011.
- It is growing fast and may reach 18% by 2036.
- Depression: According to survey by Abdul Latif Jameel foundation in Tamilnadu, 30-50% of people above age of 60 has a symptoms of depression.The proportion with depression symptoms is much higher for women than men, and rises sharply with age. In most cases, depression remains undiagnosed and untreated.
- Loneliness: Loneliness one the major factor leading to depression. A large majority of elderly persons living alone are women, mainly widows.
- Hardship of age: Monetary assistance can certainly help to cope with many health issues.
- Poverty and poor health: Old age pensions are vital. Cash helps to lead a dignified life.
Current government schemes for elderly
Pradhan Mantri Vaya Vandana Scheme – This is one of the most popular senior citizen pension schemes in India.
- Designed for senior citizens above 60 years of age, the policy term of this Prime Minister Senior Citizen Scheme extends to ten years.
- The pensioner can choose the frequency of the payment – monthly/quarterly/half- yearly/annually.
- You can earn interest of 8% per annum over this scheme.
- The minimum and maximum capping of pension are Rs. 3,000 per month and 10,000 per month, respectively
National Programme for the Health Care of Elderly (NPHCE)–
- Introduced in 2010, this scheme concentrates on preventive as well as promotive, care for the maintenance of overall health.
- This program was launched to address the health issues faced by seniors.
- The district-level objectives include providing dedicated health facilities in district hospitals, community health centres (CHC), primary health centres (PHC), and sub-centres (SC) levels through State Health Society.
- These facilities maybe free or highly subsidized.
Varishta Mediclaim Policy –
- This policy aids seniors by covering the cost of medicines, blood, ambulance charges, and other diagnosis related charges.
- Designed for senior citizens between the age of 60 and 80 years, this helps meet the health-related expenses of senior citizens.
- Income tax benefits are allowed for payment of premium.
- Although the policy period is for one year, you can extend the renewal up to the age of 90 years.
Rashtriya Vayoshri Yojana –
- This scheme provides physical aids and assisted-living devices to the elderly above 60 years of age that belong to the BPL (below the poverty line) category.
- If senior citizens wish to avail this, then they must have a BPL card.
- This is a Central Sector Scheme and is entirely funded by the Central Government.
Varishta Pension Bima Yojana –
- This pension scheme, launched by the Ministry of Finance, is for senior citizens above 60 years.
- The LIC of India has the authority to operate this scheme.
- Any Medical check-ups is not necessary to avail this policy.
- It offers assured pension with a guaranteed interest rate of 8% per annum for up to 10 years –
- You can opt for monthly, quarterly, half-yearly, and yearly pension – depends on how you’d like to receive it.
Vayoshreshtha Samman –
This scheme focuses on those seniors who have made significant contributions in their disciplines and recognized their efforts.
It was upgraded to the National Award in 2013, and since then, awards have been granted below thirteen categories.
Conclusion
- Social security pensions, of course, are just the first step towards a dignified life for the elderly. They also need other support and facilities such as health care, disability aids and assistance with daily tasks, recreation opportunities and a good social life. They can be the active contributor to the economy having the years of experience and mentorship to the demographic dividend.
Mains Question Q.
Discuss the challenges before our elderly today? What steps have been taken by government to address these challenges?
UPSC 2023 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
What are the Strategic implications?