From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: hambantota, trinconmalee projects
Mains level: indo srilanka bilateral relations
Context
The present economic crisis in Sri Lanka has pushed it closer to India for immediate relief.
Reasons for the Crisis
The first wave of the pandemic in 2020 offered early and sure signs of distress.
In-migration: Thousands of Sri Lankan laborers in West Asian countries were left stranded and returned jobless.
Shut-down: Garment factories and tea estates could not function, as infections raged in clusters. Tourism sector to saw a big dip.
Domestic job losses: Thousands of youth lost their jobs in cities as establishments abruptly sacked them or shut down.
Forex decline: It meant that all key foreign exchange earning sectors, such as exports and remittances, along with tourism, were brutally hit.
Reasons behind crisis
The Easter bomb blasts of April 2019 in churches in Colombo resulting in 253 casualties,consequently, dropped the number of tourists sharply leading to a decline in foreign exchange reserves.
The newly led government by Gotabaya Rajapaksa in 2019 promised lower tax rates and wide-ranging SoPs for farmers during their campaign.
No strategy: The lack of a comprehensive strategy to respond to the crisis then was coupled with certain policy decisions last year.
Ill-advised policies: It included the government’s abrupt switch to organic farming —widely deemed “ill-advised”, further aggravated the problem.
Food hoarding: The government declared emergency regulations for the distribution of essential food items. It put wide import restrictions to save dollars which in turn led to consequent market irregularities and reported hoarding.
Continuous borrowing: Fears of a sovereign default rose by the end of 2021, with the country’s foreign reserves plummeting to $1.6 billion, and deadlines for repaying external loans looming.
Brief background of India-SL relations
India is the only neighbor of Sri Lanka, separated by the Palk Strait; both nations occupy a strategic position in South Asia and have sought to build a common security umbrella in the Indian Ocean.
There are deep racial and cultural links between the two countries. Both share a maritime border.
The India- SL relations have been however tested by the Sri Lankan Civil War and by the controversy of Indian intervention during the war.
In recent years Sri Lanka has moved closer to China, especially in terms of naval agreements.
India has signed a nuclear energy deal to improve relations and made a nuclear energy pact with Sri Lanka in 2015.
India’s role in the Lankan Civil War
In the 1970s–1980s, the RAW and the state government of Tamil Nadu were believed to be encouraging the funding and training for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a separatist insurgent force.
In 1987, faced with growing anger amongst its own Tamils, and a flood of refugees India intervened directly in the conflict for the first time.
This was after the Sri Lankan government attempted to regain control of the northern Jaffna region by means of an economic blockade and military assaults; India supplied food and medicine by air and sea.
Why did India intervene?
Indian intervention in Sri Lankan civil war became inevitable as that civil war threatened India’s unity, national interest and territorial integrity.
Outcomes
The peace accord assigned a certain degree of regional autonomy in the Tamil areas with a body controlling the regional council and called for the Tamil militant groups to lay down their arms.
Further India was to send a peacekeeping force, named the IPKF to Sri Lanka to enforce the disarmament and to watch over the regional council.
The accord failed over the issue of representations. The result was that the LTTE now found itself engaged in military conflict with the Indian Army.
Areas of cooperation
(1) Political Relations
Regular Exchange: Political relations between the two countries have been marked by high-level exchanges of visits at regular intervals.
Bilateral Cooperation: A joint statement covering all areas of bilateral cooperation, titled ‘MitratvaMaga’ was issued following the Virtual Summit of 2020.
(2) Commercial Relations
ISFTA: The India-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement (ISFTA) in 2000 contributed significantly towards the expansion of trade in areas such as infrastructure, connectivity, transportation, housing, health, livelihood and rehabilitation, education, and industrial development.
Trading Partner: India has traditionally been among Sri Lanka’s largest trade partners and Sri Lanka remains among the largest trade partners of India in the SAARC.
In 2020, India was Sri Lanka’s 2nd largest trading partner with the bilateral merchandise trade amounting to about USD $ 3.6 billion.
India and Sri Lanka are member nations of several regional and multilateral organizations such as the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), South Asia Co-operative Environment Programme, South Asian Economic Unionand BIMSTEC.
India is Sri Lanka’s third-largest export destination, after the US and UK.
Exports: Sri Lankan exports to India have increased substantially since 2000 when ISLFTA came into force.
FDI: India is also one of the largest contributors to Foreign Direct Investment in Sri Lanka. According to BoI, FDI from India amounted to about US$ 1.7 billion during the period 2005 to 2019.
(3) Development Cooperation
Grants: The overall commitment by GOI is to the tune of more than USD 3.5 billion.
Demand-driven and people-centric nature of India’s development partnership with Sri Lanka have been the cornerstone of this relationship.
The Indian Housing Project: India has so far committed to construct close to 62,500 houses in Sri Lanka, making it one of the largest projects undertaken by GoI abroad.
Emergency Ambulance Service: The Service which was initially launched in July 2016 is now expanded to all the Provinces.
At a total cost of more than USD 22.5 million, close to 300 ambulances were provided by GOI under this project.
Other Projects: India is also involved in projects for renovation of Palaly Airport, Kankesanthurai Harbor, construction of a Cultural Centre in Jaffna, interconnection of electricity grids between the two countries, construction of a 150-bed hospital in Dickoya and setting up a coal power plant in Sampur as a joint venture between National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) and Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB).
Latest Development: India-SL agreed for joint development of Trincomalee Oil Tank farmed in 2022 after 35 years of wait.
(4) Projects under Lines of Credit
Sectors: 11 Lines of credit (LOC) have been extended to Sri Lanka by the Export Import Bank of India in the last 15 years.
Important sectors under these LOCs include: Railway, transport, connectivity, defense, solar.
Infrastructure: Some important Projects completed are- supply of defense equipments; up-gradation of the railway line from Colombo to Matara; track laying by IRCON on Omanthai-Pallai sector; reconstruction of the Railway line; signaling and telecommunication system; supply of engine kits for buses, diesel locomotives railways, DMUs, Carrier and fuel tank wagons etc.
Rehabilitation: A project for the rehabilitation of the Kankesanthurai harbor is being executed under a LOC of USD 45.27 million, bringing immense economic benefits to the Northern region of Sri Lanka.
Solar Energy: A US$ 100 million LoC for undertaking solar projects in Sri Lanka has been signed for rooftop solar units for Government buildings, rooftop solar units for low-income families and a floating solar power plant.
Security: In 2019, a LOC of USD 400 million for development and infrastructure projects and USD 50 million for security and counter-terrorism were announced.
These LOC Agreements are currently under discussion.
(5) Cultural relations
India and Sri Lanka have a shared legacy of historical, cultural, religious, spiritual and linguistic ties that is more than 2,500 years old.
In contemporary times, the Cultural Cooperation Agreement signed by the Government of India and the Government forms the basis for periodic Cultural Exchange Programmes between the two countries.
(6) People-to-people ties: Buddhism
Buddhism is one of the strongest pillars connecting the two nations and civilizations from the time when Emperor Ashoka sent his children Arhat Mahinda and Sangamitta to spread the teachings of Lord Buddha at the request of King Devanampiya Tissa of Sri Lanka.
Underlining the deep people-to-people connect and shared Buddhist heritage, the venerated relics of Lord Buddha from Kapilawasthu discovered in 1970 in India have been exhibited two times in Sri Lanka.
India in 2020, announced USD 15 million grant assistance for the protection and promotion of Buddhist ties between India and Sri Lanka.
It may be utilized for the construction/renovation of Buddhist monasteries, education of young monks, strengthening engagement of Buddhist scholars and clergy, development of Buddhist heritage museums, etc.
Transport- In July 2020, the GoI declared the Kushinagar Airport in India, the place of Lord Buddha’s Mahaparinibbana, as an international airport, to allow Buddhist pilgrims from around the world to visit the revered site associated with Lord Buddha with ease.
The Swami Vivekananda Cultural Centre (SVCC)– since its inception in 1998, is actively promoting awareness of Indian culture by offering classes in Bharatnatyam, Kathak, Hindustani and Carnatic vocal, Violin, Sitar, Tabla, Hindi and Yoga.
(7) Tourism
e-Visa- Tourism also forms an important link between India and Sri Lanka. GoI formally launched the e-Tourist Visa (eTV) scheme for Sri Lankan tourists on 14 April 2015.
Visa Fee- Subsequently, in a goodwill gesture, the visa fee for eTV was sharply reduced. In 2019, out of the total 1.91 million tourists, 355,000 tourists arrived from India.
Sri Lankan tourists too are among the top ten sources for the Indian tourism market.
Visa on arrival- On 24 July 2019 Sri Lanka included India in the free visa on arrival scheme and commenced the scheme on 1 August 2019.
Plummeting relations
The ties began to worsen between the two since February, 2021 when Sri Lanka backed out from a tripartite partnership with India and Japan for its East Container Terminal Project at the Colombo Port, citing domestic issues.
However, later, the West Coast Terminal was offered under a public private partnership arrangement to Adani Ports and Special Economic Zones Ltd.
Sri Lanka in a state of economic emergency: Sri Lanka is running out of foreign exchange reserves for essential imports like food. It has recently declared a state of economic emergency.
Covid Impact:
Sri Lanka increased policy rates after the covid pandemic in response to rising inflation in August 2021 caused by currency depreciation.
Tourism sector has suffered since the Easter Sunday terror attacks of 2019, followed by the pandemic.
Earnings fell from $3.6 billion in 2019 to $0.7 billion in 2020, even as FDI inflows halved from $1.2 billion to $670 million over the same period.
Sri Lanka’s fragile liquidity situation has put it at high risk of debt distress. Its public debt-to-GDP ratio was at 109.7% in 2020, and its gross financing needs remain high at 18% of GDP.
Its gross official reserves slipped to $2.8 billion, which is equivalent to just 1.8 months of imports. More than $2.7 billion of foreign currency debt will be due in the next two years.
Major outstanding issues
1. Fishing disputes
There have been several alleged incidents of Sri Lankan Navy personnel firing on Indian fishermen fishing in the Palk Strait, where India and Sri Lanka are only separated by 12 nautical miles.
The issue started because of Indian fishermen having used mechanized trawlers, which deprived the Sri Lankan fishermen (including Tamils) of their catch and damaged their fishing boats.
The Sri Lankan government wants India to ban use of mechanized trawlers in the Palk Strait region, and negotiations on this subject are undergoing.
So far, no concrete agreement has been reached since India favors regulating these trawlers instead of banning them altogether.
2.Alleged political interference
A media report from Colombo soon after Rajapaksa’s defeat in the January 8 elections of 2015 had said that an Indian Intelligence official was instrumental in uniting rival political parties — the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and the United National Party (UNP) — against him during the polls.
In October 2018, President Sirisena alleged that Indian intelligence agencies were plotting his assassination.
3.Katchatheevu Island
It is an uninhabited island that India ceded to Sri Lanka in 1974 based on a conditional agreement called “Kachchativu island pact”.
Later on, Sri Lanka declared Katchatheevu, a sacred land given the presence of a Catholic shrine.
But Tamil Nadu claimed that Katchatheevu falls under the Indian Territory and Tamil fishermen have traditionally believed that it belongs to them and therefore want to preserve the right to fish there.
4.China factor
Sri Lanka has a history of taking independent decisions even if they cause misgivings in India.
In the period of low profile relationship between the two nations, Sri Lanka apparently started favoring China over India.
China is Sri Lanka’s largest bilateral creditor: China’s loans to the Sri Lankan public sector amounted to 15% of the central government’s external debt, making China the largest bilateral creditor to the country.
Sri Lanka has increasingly relied on Chinese credit to address its foreign debt burden.
China’s Exports surpasses India: China’s exports to Sri Lanka surpassed those of India in 2020 and stood at $3.8 billion.
India’s exports were $3.2 billion.
Infrastructural Investment by China: Owing to Sri Lanka’s strategic location at the intersection of major shipping routes, China’s investment stands at $12 billion between 2006 and 2019.
Unable to service its debt, in 2017, Sri Lanka lost the unviable Hambantota port to China for a 99-year lease.
Sri Lanka passed the Colombo Port City Economic Commission Act, which provides for establishing a special economic zone around the port and also a new economic commission, to be funded by China.
The Colombo port is crucial for India as it handles 60% of India’s trans-shipment cargo.
Why is Sri Lanka important to India?
India is Sri Lanka’s closest neighbor. Both sides have built upon a legacy of intellectual, cultural, religious and linguistic interaction.
Sri Lanka has always been politically and economically important to India given its strategic geographical position in the Indian Ocean. The relationship has been marked by close contacts at all levels.
Sri Lanka sits at the epicenter of the arc connecting the Persian Gulf to the Strait of Malacca. An island nation with an economy that’s mainly reliant on tourism and tea exports, Sri Lanka’s blessed geography puts it at a crucial juncture of the busy shipping lanes of the Indian Ocean.
India also has a vital strategic stake in Sri Lanka for its own security interests. An unfriendly Sri Lanka or a Sri Lanka under influence of a power unfriendly to India would strategically discomfit India.
For the Indian Navy, Sri Lanka is important as the switching of naval fleets from the Bay of Bengal to the Arabian Sea and vice versa requires the fleets to go around the island nation.
Both countries share a common broad understanding on major issues of international interest and experience common social-political problems relating to community divides.
How India has helped to boost Sri Lanka’s economy
Grants: The overall commitment by GOI is to the tune of more than USD 3.5 billion. Demand-driven and people-centric nature of India’s development partnership with Sri Lanka have been the cornerstone of this relationship.
The Indian Housing Project: India has so far committed to construct close to 62,500 houses in Sri Lanka, making it one of the largest projects undertaken by GoI abroad.
Other Projects: India is also involved in projects for renovation of Palaly Airport, Kankesanthurai Harbor, construction of a Cultural Centre in Jaffna, interconnection of electricity grids between the two countries, construction of a 150-bed hospital in Dickoya and setting up a coal power plant in Sampur as a joint venture between National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) and Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB).
Latest Development: India-SL agreed for joint development of Trincomalee Oil Tank farmed in 2022 after 35 years of wait.
Impact of recent Economic crisis on India
Export:
Sri Lanka’s share in India’s total exports has declined from 2.16 percent in FY15 to just 1.3 percent in the first 10 months of FY22.
Shipping:
If the current situation in the island nation persists, it could cause a major disruption to the normal functioning of the Colombo Port.
This would be detrimental to India’s interest.
The port handles over 30 percent of India’s container traffic and 60 percent of its trans-shipment.
Investments:
India has had a substantial investment in Sri Lanka in areas including real estate, manufacturing, and petroleum refining. They all might be adversely affected if the crisis continued.
Migration:
Also, the continuing Sri Lankan crisis could compel many Sri Lankans to leave for India for their survival.
Already, scores of them have fled from the island nation to India.
Opportunities for India for deeper engagement
Dairy sector: Sri Lanka imports a considerable quantity of milk powder. On average, Colombo annually imports dairy products worth $315 million. . India can help Sri Lanka develop its dairy sector.
Poultry sector: In this area, through its host of agricultural universities, India can share its knowledge on ways to increase both production and productivity.
Energy sector: Considering how the problem on the energy front exploded into a major political crisis in Sri Lanka, India’s participation in energy projects will be desirable.
Education sector: School education is another area where India’s presence could be more felt. India can expand its scheme of establishing smart classrooms and modern computer labs to cover all those institutions teaching children of hill country Tamils, the most underprivileged section in society.
Challenges
Possibility of greater economic collaboration: Whether this bonhomie can lead to greater economic collaboration between Sri Lanka and south India, not necessarily Tamil Nadu alone, given the historical baggage, is anybody’s guess.
Baggage of history: Some sections of the Sinhalese still hold the view that India had been a threat to them and it can still be a threat to them.
Modest investment in development: Despite India’s open willingness to take part in the development of Sri Lanka after the civil war, the scale of its involvement has been modest.
Incomplete projects due to lack of political will: After the cancellation of the tripartite agreement, India was later provided with projects such as the West Container Terminal, the Trincomalee oil tank farm and a couple of renewable projects, there were several proposals that envisaged India’s participation but did not see the light of day.
Way forward
Infrastructure development: Even now, there is enormous scope for collaboration between the two countries in the area of infrastructure development.
Cross-border energy trade: The economic crisis has revived talk of linking Sri Lanka’s electricity grid with that of India.
Facilitating people-to-people interaction: The apprehension in the minds of sections of the Sinhalese majority about India being a threat can be dispelled only by facilitating greater people-to-people interaction, including pilgrimages by monks and other sections of society to places of Buddhist importance not only in north India but also in the south (Andhra Pradesh).
No china factor indeed: Labeling governments in Sri Lanka as “pro-China” or “pro-India” is irrelevant. It is evident that China’s economic and strategic salience in the subcontinent is not tied to the regime leadership. Previous Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena who considered as pro-India came to power criticizing the Chinese projects in Sri Lanka, but within two years into power, it extended full backing to the Chinese projects.
Conclusion
Given the history of bilateral ties, instances such as the Hambantota controversy are bound to arise. But what should not be glossed over is that a politically and economically stable Sri Lanka will be in India’s interest too.
Mains question
Q. There is no such thing as charity in international politics. Critically analyse this statement showing how India can reap benefits of economic cooperation with Sri Lanka.
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NA
Mains level: Social security,Populist measures.
Context
‘Revdi Culture’ (sweet) or Govt’s Basic Responsibility? What Prioritising Welfare Is Really About
While hearing a petition demanding the de-recognition of political parties that promise “irrational freebies” to voters, the Supreme Court recently drew attention to the substantial fiscal cost of freebies.
What are freebies?
A freebie is any public policy intervention that will have a long-term impact on production as well as productivity.
Any public policy intervention that doesn’t support medium-term to long-term production and productivity may be termed as a freebie.
The term Freebies is not new; rather it is a prevalent culture in Indian politics (in the name of socialism).
The political parties are always trying to outdo each other in luring the Indian voters with
Examples of freebies
Promise of Rs 15 lakh in our bank accounts
Free TV, Laptops
Free electricity
Loan waivers
Offering free public transport ride to all women in Delhi
Why are such policies popular among the public?
Failure of economic policies: The answer lies in the utter failure of our economic policies to create decent livelihood for a vast majority of Indians.
Quest for decent livelihood: The already low income had to be reoriented towards spending a disproportionately higher amount on education and health, from which, the state increasingly withdrew.
Prevailing unemployment: Employment surveys have shown that employment growth initially slowed down from the 1990s, and then has turned negative over the past few years.
Increased cost of living: Real income growth of the marginal sections has actually slowed down since 1991 reforms.
Increased consumerism: The poor today also spend on things which appear to be luxuries; cellphones and data-packs are two such examples which are shown as signs of India’s increased affluence.
Thin line between freebie and public welfare
Using freebies to lure voters is not good.
Voter’s greediness may lead to a problem in choosing a good leader.
When we don’t have a good leader then democracy will be a mockery.
Negative implications
Never ending trail: The continuity of freebies is another major disadvantage as parties keep on coming up with lucrative offers to lure more number of votes to minimize the risk of losing in the elections.
Burden on exchequer: People forget that such benefits are been given at the cost of exchequer and from the tax paid.
Ultimate loss of poors: The politicians and middlemen wipe away the benefits and the poor have to suffer as they are deprived from their share of benefits which was to be achieved out of the money.
Inflationary practice: Such distribution freebie commodity largely disrupts demand-supply dynamics.
Lethargy in population: Freebies actually have the tendency to turn the nation’s population into: Lethargy and devoid of entrepreneurship.
Rational elements in freebies
Social investment:Aid to the poor is seen as a wasteful expenditure. But low interest rates for corporates to get cheap loans or the ‘sop’ of cutting corporate taxes are never criticized.
Socialistic policy:This attitude comes from decades of operating within the dominant discourse of market capitalism.
Election manifesto: Proponents of such policies would argue that poll promises are essential for voters to know what the party would do if it comes to power and have the chance to weigh options.
Why they need to stop?
Winning election and good governance are two different things. The role of freebies to avail good governance is definitely questionable.
The social, political and economic consequences of freebies are very short-lived in nature.
There are many freebies and subsidies schemes available in many States but we still find starvation deaths, lack of electricity, poor education and health service.
Hence the sorrow of the masses of India cannot be solved by freebies or by incentives.
Conclusion
There is nothing wrong in having a policy-led elaborate social security programme that seeks to help the poor get out of poverty.
But such a programme needs well thought out preparation and cannot be conjured up just before an election.
Mains question
Q. Do you think freebies are justified under the name of social security? Critically evaluate the rising freebie culture in India with its negative implications.
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: International solar alliance.
Mains level: Energy security.
Context
Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has said that civilisation will be mostly solar-powered in the future, a world without Sun will turn into a dark ice ball as the Earth gets all of its energy from it.
Definition of solar energy
Solar energy is radiant light and heat from the Sun that is harnessed using a range of technologies such as solar power to generate electricity, solar thermal energy, and solar architecture.
India’s solar target.
Target: India is targeting about 500 GW by 2030, of renewable energy deployment, out of which ~280 GW is expected from solar PV. This necessitates the deployment of nearly 30 GW of solar capacity every year until 2030.
Commitment: Solar power is a major prong of India’s commitment to address global warming according to the terms of the Paris Agreement, as well as achieving net zero, or no net carbon emissions, by 2070.
International solar alliance and India’s pledge
Climate action commitment: It symbolizes about the sincerity of the developing nations towards their concern about climate change and to switch to a low-carbon growth path.
Clean energy: India’s pledge to the Paris summit offered to bring 40% of its electricity generation capacity from non-fossil sources (renewable, large hydro, and nuclear) by 2030.
Global electrification: India has pledged to let solar energy reach to the most unconnected villages and communities and also towards creating a clean planet.
Global cooperation: It is based on world cooperation irrespective of global boundaries.
India’s Soft power: For India, possible additional benefits from the alliance can be a strengthening of ties with the major African countries and increasing goodwill for India among them.
Some Interesting facts
Solar power is the most abundant energy source on earth.
Solar is the cheapest source of energy in the world.
Solar electricity has been around since 1839.
Solar panels can produce power without direct sunlight.
Challenges before solar future
High Imports: Indian solar deployment or installation companies depend heavily on imports. It currently imports 100% of silicon wafers and around 80% of cells even at the current deployment levels.
Field deployment: Also, out of the 15 GW of module manufacturing capacity, only 3-4 GW of modules are technologically competitive and worthy of deployment in grid-based projects.
Land issue: Land, the most expensive part of solar projects, is scarce in India — and Indian industry has no choice but to move towards newer and superior technologies as part of expansion plans.
Lack of investment: India has hardly invested in this sector which can help the industry to try and test the technologies in a cost-effective manner.
Way forward
Supportive policies and innovative technological approaches are needed for the sector to achieve its potential.
Indian policymakers need to plan for rooftop solar plus storage, rather than rooftop solar alone with the grid as storage (net / gross metering).
The declining cost of storage solutions, along with that of rooftop solar solutions, is likely to change the future of the Indian power sector.
Conclusion
In the foreseeable future, one can witness a just and equitable energy order if solar energy, along with other forms of renewable energy, can be harnessed more positively.
Mains question
Q.Fossil fuels have a 60% share in India’s total energy mix in this context discuss solar future for India with challenges for the same.
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Finance commission
Mains level: Fiscal federalism
Context
The centralisation of fiscal powers in India has been blamed for the poor fiscal health of the states.
Why in news?
Chief Ministers expressed their concern about dwindling State revenues in a NITI Aayog meeting chaired by the Prime Minister.
They sought a higher share in the divisible pool of taxes and an extension of GST compensation, both of which have long remained a bone of contention between the Union government and the States.
Need for financial devolution
To strengthen democracy at grass root level with more revenue resources for better service delivery.
To increase accountability to people so performance can be realized as direct contact with people.
What is divisible pool of taxes?
The divisible pool is that portion of gross tax revenue which is distributed between the Centre and the States. The divisible pool consists of all taxes, except surcharges and cess levied for specific purpose, net of collection charges.
What is fiscal federalism?
Fiscal federalism refers to how federal, state, and local governments share funding and administrative responsibilities within our federal system. The funding for these programs comes from taxes and fees.
Poor state of state finances
Stagnant revenue: Since States cannot raise tax revenue because of curtailed indirect tax rights — subsumed in GST, except for petroleum products, electricity and alcohol — the revenue has been stagnant at 6% of GDP in the past decade.
Distorted expenditure: While States lost their capacity to generate revenue by surrendering their rights in the wake of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime, their expenditure pattern too was distorted by the Union’s intrusion, particularly through its centrally sponsored schemes.
Decline in share: The ability of States to finance current expenditures from their own revenues has declined from 69% in 1955-56 to less than 38% in 2019-20.
Stress on finance: States’ financial health had taken a turn for the worse with the implementation of the Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana, farm loan waivers, as also the slowdown in growth in 2019- 20.
Key fact to remember
Finance Commission keeps tax devolution for states at 41% in FY22
How fiscal centralisation impacts on states?
Cut in the corporate tax: The recent drastic cut in corporate tax, with its adverse impact on the divisible pool, and ending GST compensation to States have had huge consequences.
States paying high interest rates: States are forced to pay differential interest — about 10% against 7% — by the Union for market borrowings.
Centrally sponsored schemes curbing autonomy: There are 131 centrally sponsored schemes, with a few dozen of them accounting for 90% of the allocation, and States required to share a part of the cost.
Suggestions for strong fiscal federalism
Creation of federal institution: We need to create another institution in the form of a GST state secretariat that can bring together senior officers from the Centre and states in an institutional forum registered under the Society Act.
State Finance Commissions: should be accorded the same status as the Union Finance Commission and the 3Fs of democratic decentralization (funds, functions, and functionaries) should be implemented properly.
Robust GST regime: Transparency, simplification and rationalisation of GST will help states to recover soon.
Way Forward
Relook on various exemptions to rationalise the taxes/levies
Augmentation of Tax Administration Structure
Technology-based Tax Administration may also be further expanded to cover even utility charges like water, street lights, sanitation charges, etc.
Conclusion
It is important now to rethink the design and structure of a genuine fiscal partnership, which should not merely be a race to garner more resources, but a creative attempt to move towards a vibrant Indian value chain that can catapult India’s growth rate closer to the quest for double-digit growth.
Mains question
Q. Why it is important now to rethink the design and structure of a genuine fiscal partnership? Discuss this in context of Skewed divisible pool and state of fiscal federalism in India.
op-ed snap | Enviro & Biodiversity | Mains Paper 3: Effects Of Globalization On Indian Society,Effects Of Liberalization On The Economy, Changes In Industrial Policy and their effects on Industrial Growth
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NA
Mains level: Minimalism as way of life
Context
The COVID-19 pandemic brought shifts in consumer behaviour. The world witnessed a shrinkage of demand. But post-pandemic recovery and suppressed consumerism is now leading to ‘revenge shopping’.
What is consumerism?
Consumerism is a social and economic order that encourages the acquisition of goods and services in ever-increasing amounts.
What is minimalism?
Minimalism is owning fewer possessions. It is intentionally living with only the things we really need those items that support our purpose. Removing the distraction of excess possessions to focus more on those things that matter most.
What Is Revenge Shopping?
Revenge shopping occurs when a customer who previously could not get access to certain goods or services for a period of time suddenly has access. It can also occur when customers have been deprived of other events or happenings.
The symptoms of excessive consumerism
You buy more than you planned: if you set out with a plan of what you need to purchase but consistently come back with more than you anticipated, then you’re falling in the consumerist trap.
You run out of storage space for your stuff: sometimes it can’t be helped if you live in a tight area or you’re disorganised. But suppose you’re in a reasonable situation and things you bring in don’t have an allocated home. In that case, you’re likely living excessively.
You rely too much on return policies: returning an item is useful. Particularly if you need to test a product for the intended purpose, be it sizing for clothes or a tool for a building project. However, suppose you’re depending on returns for purchases. In that instance, you’re not sure you need it, or if you can’t afford it, then you’re probably suffering from too much consumerism.
You routinely seek approval for your purchases: getting feedback on purchases can be reassuring, especially if you’re indecisive. Yet, there’s a difference between picking someone’s brain before buying and looking to justify your purchase after the fact. If you’re seeking post-acquisition approval, you probably don’t need the item.
You mistakenly buy things you already have: not much to say here. If you’re getting things only to realise you already have it, then you’re probably deep in a consumerist cycle.
You buy things on credit: if you’re strategic and disciplined, you can buy things on credit cards to acquire points and benefits. However, if you’re like the majority of us, then you’re vulnerable to buying things you can’t afford.
You constantly go over your budget: sometimes, you miss-forecast how much you need to spend each month. But if you set a realistic budget and find that you’re still going over, then you’re probably consuming excessively.
You regret your purchases: the most obvious sign that you have a shopping habit is you regret things you bought. Buyer’s remorse is an overwhelming feeling and one we want to avoid.
Negatives of consumerism
Causes more pollution: Consumerism as a system can have devastating effects on the environment.
A major contributor to resource depletion: The second main negative of consumerism is resource depletion. Simply put, resource depletion refers to the idea that human beings are using up the resources on the earth as an ever increasing rate such that we will ‘deplete’ or completely use up some resources.
Leads companies to develop low quality products: Modern companies practice a technique called ‘planned obsolescence’. In general, planned obsolescence is best understood as products that are designed to fail. Modern companies do this to encourage consumers to repurchase a product over and over again.
Does not necessarily lead to increased happiness beyond a certain point: The main negative aspect of consumerism is that it does not necessarily lead to higher levels of happiness for people.
Global inequality: The huge rise in resource consumption in wealthier countries has led to an ever widening gap between the rich and the poor. As the age old saying goes, “the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.”
What can we do?
Extend the lifespan of your things: Repairing your things is not only an effective way to reduce your consumption, but it’s also beneficial to the environment.
Reframe shopping as a skill: When you focus on the role the thing you’re buying will play in the overall experience instead of the experience of shopping itself, you’ll be able to shift away from a consumerist mind-set.
Do the deathbed test: Not to get too dark, but if you were hypothetically on your deathbed today, and you were reflecting on your life, what would be your fondest memories? The quality of our lives is generally measured by moments of “that was a good time”, not “that thing I had was awesome”.
Borrow or rent instead of buy: A simple method for getting your consumerism under control is to rent or borrow items instead of buying them.
Practice minimalism: What’s the ultimate alternative to consumerism? Minimalism. A minimalist is someone who naturally rejects consumerism and sees value in having fewer things over more things. Minimalism is a powerful philosophy that impacts how you view material things, your relationships, commitments, and digital inventory.
Conclusion:
The M.K. Gandhi once said: “The Earth provides-enough to satisfy everyone’s needs but not any one’s greed.” We shall find that Gandhian call to curtailment of wants is relevant in the rapidly depleting natural resources, bio-diversity and eco-system and its contemporary relevance
Mains question
Q. What do you understand by the term consumerism? Discuss importance of minimalism as there is rise in revenge shopping in post covid19 era.
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: FRBM act
Mains level: Fiscal health of states
Context
The Central government’s alarm has been on the mounting debt burden and the deteriorating fiscal situation in some States due to diversion in fiscal prudence.
As both the Union government and States are expected to work closely in a co-operative federal structure, frictions arising out of these exchanges might have repercussions on both resource sharing and expenditure prioritisation.
What is India’s fiscal federalism?
Fiscal federalism refers to the financial relations between the country’s federal government system and other units of government.
It refers to how federal, state, and local governments share funding and administrative responsibilities within our federal system.
Three issues in India’s fiscal federalism
First: are a set of issues related to Goods and Services Tax (GST) such as the rate structure, inclusion and exclusion of commodities, revenue sharing from GST and associated compensation.
Second: State-level expenditure patterns especially related to the welfare schemes of States.
Third: the conception and the implementation of central schemes.
Meaning of fiscal prudence
Fiscal prudence is defined as the ability of a government to sustain smooth monetary operation and long-standing fiscal condition.
Where should state government spend the borrowed money?
Fundamental infrastructure: Ideally, governments should use borrowed money to invest in physical and social infrastructure that will generate higher growth, and thereby higher revenues in the future so that the debt pays for itself.
Targeted expenditure only: On the other hand, if governments spend the loan money on populist giveaways that generate no additional revenue, the growing debt burden will eventually implode.
Why there is a need for Fiscal Council?
Institutionalizing fiscal practices: With a complex polity and manifold development challenges, India need institutional mechanisms for fiscal prudence.
Transparency: An independent fiscal council can bring about much needed transparency and accountability in fiscal processes across the federal polity.
Fiscal prudence: International experience suggests that a fiscal council improves the quality of debate on public finance, and that, in turn, helps build public opinion favourable to fiscal discipline.
Fiscal consolidation is defined as concrete policies aimed at reducing government deficits and debt accumulation.
Why fiscal consolidation is needed?
Fiscal expansion financed through debt and the resultant debt accumulation have important impacts on the economy both in the short run as well as in the long run.
How to achieve fiscal consolidation?
Better targeting of government subsidies and extending Direct Benefit Transfer scheme for more subsidies
Improved tax revenue realization For this, increasing efficiency of tax administration by reducing tax avoidance, eliminating tax evasion, enhancing tax compliance etc. are to be made.
Enhancing tax GDP ratio by widening the tax base and minimizing tax concessions and exemptions also improves tax revenues.
Suggestions
Amend FRBM Act for complete disclosure: First, the FRBM Acts of the Centre as well as States need to be amended to enforce a more complete disclosure of the liabilities on their exchequers.
Centre should impose conditionalities: Under the Constitution, States are required to take the Centre’s permission when they borrow. The Centre should not hesitate to impose conditionalities on wayward States when it accords such permission.
Use of financial emergency provision: There is a provision in the Constitution of India which allows the President to declare a financial emergency in any State if s/he is satisfied that financial stability is threatened.
Course correction by the Centre: The Centre itself has not been a beacon of virtue when it comes to fiscal responsibility and transparency. It should complete that task in order to command the moral authority to enforce good fiscal behaviour on the part of States.
Conclusion
Fiscal correction at the State level is important. While there exists a need for raising additional resources at the sub-national levels, expenditure prioritisation has to be carried out diligently. The Centre, too, on its part needs to demonstrate commitment to fiscal discipline by sticking to announced fiscal glide path to ensure the sustainability of a frictionless cooperative federal structure.
Mains question
Q. Why Fiscal correction at the State level is important? Why fiscal consolidation is needed? Write in context frictionless cooperative fiscal federal structure.
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: article 51 a
Mains level: scientific literacy
Context
India has not produced any Nobel Prize winner in science in the last 85 years — largely because of the lack of a scientific environment in the country.
What is scientific temper?
Jawaharlal Nehru coined the term ‘scientific temper’; he defines it as an attitude of logical and rational thinking. An individual is considered to have scientific temper if she employs the scientific method when making decisions.
Why it is important?
Scientific temper is very important for bringing forth a progressive society. It is free from superstitions. Irrational practices in developing the nation are in all aspects like political, economic and social.
Its components
The vital parts of scientific temper are discussion, argument, and analysis. Various elements like fairness, equality, and democracy. The most important characteristic of a scientific temper is: – untiring search for truth with an open mind and spirit of inquiry.
Constitutional mandate of scientific temper
In 1976, the Government of India reemphasised its commitment to cultivate scientific temper through a constitutional amendment (Article 51A).
Article 51A in the 42nd Amendment of the Constitution in 1976 says “It shall be the duty of every citizen of Indian to develop the scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of enquiry and reform.”
Importance of scientific temper in nation building
Formation of public policy: Scientific temperament can become a part of the policy formation and plan through analyzing the performance of our nations, especially all the hardships and shortfalls that occurred in the past years.
Self -Reliance: There is a relationship between scientific temperament and becoming self-reliant. Our country is becoming self-reliant with the available technology and industrial infrastructure.
Quality education: It will help the children to assimilate the knowledge acquired through the practical observations in a scientific framework; thus, laying down a basis for the growth of a scientific perspective in the children.
Challenges before scientific temper
Political unwillingness: Most of the policymakers and the politicians to increase their vote banks include the stagnant ideologies and beliefs of the people in their public policies, and the government tends to give away in the popular public opinion rather than try to improve their thinking by including a more scientific approach to the various societal problems.
Prevalent orthodoxy: In India, people still have an orthodox ideology and will not adhere to the scientifically obtained solutions.
Low budget: Even after seventy years of independence, Indian Scientists are working on tight budgets, and they don’t have resources like other nations for conducting scientific research.
Pseudoscience: Pseudoscience is everywhere, whether in denying the science of climate change or the evolution theory that explains the secret of diversity that we see around us.
Value addition / case study / Innovation
An IIT Kanpur alumni Mr.Arvind Gupta tries to inculcate a spirit of inquiry among children through toys made from inexpensive everyday items.
What can be done?
Directional efforts: Activities focused on school children can be undertaken like nature walks, visit to museums etc. ‘Science Express’, a collaborative effort of Ministry of railways and Ministry of Environment & Forests & Climate Change, is a progressive step because it provides a platform that can expose children and common people in far-flung areas of the country to scientific aspects of our everday life.
Policy initiatives: Children’s Science Congress organized by National Council for Science & Technology Communication (NCSTC) is a good way to encourage scientific temper in children.
Public initiative: Civil Society organizations like, Kerala Sastra Sahitya Parishad (KSSP) and Delhi Science Forum, which are People’s Science Movement, can also go a long way in boosting scientific temper amongst the community.
From Sensationalism to Sensible Science Journalism:The media must monitor the content to discourage and limit superstition and blind belief.
Scientific journalism: Science communicators do the critical job of bridging the gap between science, society, and policymakers. Science journalism should be promoted at the university level. Science agencies should fund science communication activities in their domains.
From Exclusive to Inclusive Science: Inequitable participation concerning gender and social diversity must be eliminated. The ‘open source science’ or ‘open science’ movement includes, at the core, open access, open data, open-source, and available standards that offer unfettered dissemination of scientific discourse.
Open science: Government has a significant role in facilitating open science and promoting and preserving a free-thinking, open-minded society.
Conclusion
Let’s hope that someday all cultures free themselves from the shackles of blind faith with science likely to play a major hand in this endeavour. Unto a similar goal, we should celebrate India’s constitutional provision for the scientific temper and vigorously safeguard it.
Mains question
Q. The shrinking space for scientific temper in India today is worrisome for some reasons. Do you think so? Identify these reasons and suggest way forward for scientific future of India.
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Community forest rights
Mains level: Tribal welfare
Context
There is a surge in demand by forest communities to not only access the resources of their habitat, but also to establish their ownership over forests as forest rights act in not meeting its objective.
What is the news?
Residents of 18 villages in Chhattisgarh’s Udanti Sitanadi Tiger Reserve blocked the busy National Highway 130C.
What tribal people say?
“We need forest resources for survival. Being a tiger reserve, we already lead a life with many restrictions. There is no power supply, access to grazing lands is non-existent and we cannot undertake construction works,” says Arjun Nayak of Nagesh, one of the 18 villages in Gariaband district.
The Forest Rights Act (FRA), 2006 recognizes the rights of the forest dwelling tribal communities and other traditional forest dwellers to forest resources, on which these communities were dependent for a variety of needs, including livelihood, habitation and other socio-cultural needs.
It aimed to protect the marginalised socio-economic class of citizens and balance the right to environment with their right to life and livelihood.
What are individual rights under FRA act?
The Act encompasses Rights of Self-cultivation and Habitationwhich are usually regarded as Individual rights.
Community Rights as Grazing, Fishing and access to Water bodies in forests, Habitat Rights for PVTGs, Traditional Seasonal Resource access of Nomadic and Pastoral community, access to biodiversity, community right to intellectual property and traditional knowledge, recognition of traditional customary rights and right to protect, regenerate or conserve or manage any community forest resource for sustainable use.
Case study / Value addition
Chargaon village, Dhamtari district, Chhattisgarh
Migration has drastically reduced due to economic benefits after getting CFRR. Success in improving quality of tendu leaves with better management practices, increasing income.
Issues with Forest rights act
Non responsive states: The forest rights claims of these tribes and forest-dwellers are mostly rejected by the States.
Improper claims: Being poor and illiterate, living in remote areas, they do not know the appropriate procedure for filing claims.
Low awareness: The gram sabhas, which initiate the verification of their claims, are low on awareness of how to deal with them.
Why are forest rights important for tribals?
Justice: Aimed at undoing the “historic injustice” meted out to forest-dependent communities due to curtailment of their customary rights over forests, the FRA came into force in 2008.
Livelihood: It is important as it recognises the community’s right to use, manage and conserve forest resources, and to legally hold forest land that these communities have used for cultivation and residence.
Conservation: It also underlines the integral role that forest dwellers play in the sustainability of forests and in the conservation of biodiversity.
Conclusion
Despite the contentious and debatable nature of this law, the importance and necessity of the FRA, 2006 can not be negated completely. The law assumes even more significant importance when the country is a developing economy and is full-fledged following the path of capitalism, thus making it even more substantial to provide a redressal mechanism for vulnerable and marginalised communities and groups, such as the Adivasis and the other similar tribes, from the necessary evil of development and infrastructural growth while also safeguarding their traditions, heritage and identity that forms an important part of the nation’s cultural diversity as well.
Mains question
Q. There is a surge in demand by forest communities to not only access the resources of their habitat, but also to establish their ownership over forests. In this context analyse the issues with working of FRA 2006.
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NA
Mains level: solid waste management
Context
Huge amounts of construction and demolition waste in a residential area is hazardous for human health and warrants immediate disposal.
Why in news?
The Twin towers in Noida, Uttar Pradesh were demolished by controlled implosion. Their being located in a residential neighbourhood of Noida makes it even more essential to introduce interventions to mitigate pollution and waste, post-demolition.
What is construction and demolition waste?
Construction and demolition wastes (CDW) are the status of building materials after the end life of buildings. CDW could be concrete, steel, wood products, asphalt shingles, and bricks from building.
Waste management refers to the activities and actions required to manage waste from its start till its disposal. This includes collection, transport, treatment and disposal of waste together with monitoring and regulation.
Why they should be managed properly?
Waste management and diligent planning becomes critical for regulation of humongous solid waste being generated every day. With growing urbanization and rise of smart cities on the offing the issue of solid waste management becomes even more imperative.
Data to remember
62 million tons of waste is generated annually in the country at present.
India manages to recover and recycle only about 1 per cent of its construction and demolition (C&D) waste, says new CSE analysis.
What are the impacts of construction waste on the environment and human health?
Air: Disassembling and shredding of construction waste generate dust or large particulates into the surroundings and affects the respiratory health of waste management workers and others.
Water: (Landfills are not properly designed to hold construction waste + Illegal dump sites + Improper recycling & disposal of e-waste) = compounds leach into the ground = Groundwater gets toxified due to heavy metals from demolition waste.
Soil: Soil is contaminated by direct contact with contaminants from construction waste or its by-products from recycling & disposal + indirectly through irrigation. Soils become toxic when substances such as lead, mercury, cadmium, arsenic, and polychlorinated biphenyl’s (PCBs) are deposited in landfills. Contaminated soils have bad impacts on microbes and plants => the pollutants reach higher animals or humans through the food chain.
Construction And Demolition Waste Management Rules, 2016 – Salient Features
1.Duties of waste Generators
Construction and demolition waste must be separated by each waste generator, and it must be deposited at a collection site or given to authorised processing companies.
Should take care to prevent any trash or depositing that could block vehicles, the general public, or drains.
Before beginning building, demolition, or remodelling work, large generators (those that create more than 20 tonnes or more in a single day or 300 tonnes per project in a month) must submit a waste management plan and obtain the necessary approvals from the local authorities.
Large generators must have an environmental management strategy to address any environmental problems resulting from building and demolition work, storage, transportation, and waste disposal and recycling.
The waste from large generators must be divided into four streams, including concrete, soil, steel, wood, and plastics, as well as bricks and mortar.
The appropriate fees for collection, transportation, processing, and disposal must be paid by large generators according to the notices issued by the competent authorities.
2.Duties of Service providers and Contractors
Within six months of the rules’ notification, the service providers are required to develop a thorough waste management plan for the waste produced under their control.
They must also remove all construction and demolition waste independently or through a third party after consulting with the relevant local authority.
3.Duties of State Government and Local Authorities
Within one and a half years after the date of the final notice of these regulations, the responsible State Government department dealing with land should offer suitable locations for the establishment of the storage, processing, and recycling facilities for construction and demolition waste.
In order to prevent long-term disruption of the processing plant, the Town and Country Planning Department must include the location in the authorised land use plan.
In municipal and government contracts, materials created from building and demolition waste must be purchased and used to the tune of 10–20%.
The local authority must install suitable bins for garbage collection, removal at regular intervals, and transportation to suitable facilities for processing and disposal.
Large generators of construction and demolition waste must submit a comprehensive plan or undertaking before Local Authorities may approve the waste management plan;
Seek help from the relevant authorities for the safe disposal of any nuclear waste or building and demolition debris contaminated with hazardous or toxic materials from industry;
Local Authorities must provide the generator with the necessary incentives for salvaging, processing, and/or recycling, preferably on-site;
Million plus cities (based on the 2011 Indian census) must commission the processing and disposal facility within 1.5 years of the date of final announcement of these regulations.
Local Authorities will build a database and update it once a year.
4.Duties of Central Pollution Control Board, State Pollution Control Board or Pollution Control Committee
Construction and demolition waste management operating rules must be created by the Central Pollution Control Board.
The construction and demolition waste processing plant will receive authorization from SPCB.
The involved local bodies will keep an eye on how these guidelines are being applied.
Send an annual report to the State Government and the Central Pollution Control Board.
Construction and Demolition Waste Management – Concerns
In spite of the aforementioned, industry and state pollution control boards operate poorly.
In India, between 25 and 30 million tonnes of C&D waste are produced each year, but barely 5 percent of it gets treated.
It is noteworthy that dirt, sand, and gravel make up 36% of C&D waste. This waste affects soil fertility and poses a threat to public health in cities.
The almost total lack of recycling also violates India’s obligations to reduce carbon emissions.
The need to recycle C&D waste is critical.
This is due to the fact that widespread sand mining is already eroding river beds and ultimately aggravating flood damage.
Some positive suggestions
Need robust estimation and characterisation of C&D waste to design systems for material recovery: Cities need comprehensive assessment and quantification of C&D waste generation, to plan adequate infrastructure and systems for treatment and management.
Need of documentation: Cities must create easily accessible databases of buildings and their physical and legal attributes. Construction/demolition permits need to be inventorised with associated waste management plans attached.
Preparing for waste management from new generation material: Expanded polystyrene insulation (EPS), Styrofoam, plastic spacers, bituminous material and asbestos embedded within new wall assemblies are a recycling challenge. This needs special attention.
Infrastructure projects need to set up their own recycling facilities: DMRC has done so. Concrete can be easily recycled. Butt excavated waste is a challenge. Other infrastructure projects like highway and roadwork find recycling of bituminous material waste challenging. Globally, proactive prevention of waste is undertaken through modification of existing on site construction practices etc.
Responsibility of the construction Industry: The current system provides no incentive to the construction agencies for managing their own waste via waste reduction and on-site reuse and recycling. The Rules have created a push by creating a legal requirement for waste management but the financial drivers are missing. This requires fiscal strategy.
Conclusion
Environmental and material challenges associated with the Construction and Demolition waste problem need urgent and immediate attention nation-wide to recover material, protect environment, and for clean air.
Mains question
Q. India manages to recover and recycle only about 1 per cent of its construction and demolition waste analyse the constraints in it. Also suggest some positive measures to address this challenge.
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NA
Mains level: gender norms , women empowerment
Context
Japan ranked lowest among the developed countries in the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index 2022 due to its prevalent gender norms.
What Is a Gender-equal Society?
A society in which both women and men shall be given equal opportunities to participate voluntarily in activities in all fields as equal partners, and be able to enjoy political, economic, social and cultural benefits equally as well as to share responsibilities.
What is sexism in simple words?
Prejudice or discrimination based on sex especially discrimination against women. Behaviour, conditions, or attitudes that foster stereotypes of social roles based on sex.
What is the meaning of gender norms?
Gender norms are social principles that govern the behaviour of girls, boys, women, and men in society and restrict their gender identity into what is considered to be appropriate. Gender norms are neither static nor universal and change over time.
Persistent gender norms in japan
Men should work outside the home.
Genders should be brought up differently.
Women are more suited to household work and child rearing than men.
Full time housewives are valuable to society because of their family raising role.
What is womenomic’s?
“Womenomics”, a theory linking the advancement of women to increased development rates. The concept, originally defined by the Japanese Prime Minister Abe.
Women’s empowerment can be defined to promoting women’s sense of self-worth, their ability to determine their own choices, and their right to influence social change for themselves and others.
Measures toward the Realization of a Gender-equal Society
Promoting the Participation of Women in National Advisory Councils and Committees.
Recruiting and Promoting of Female National Public Officers.
What is needed to improve women’s welfare?
Community sensitization: Persistent effort must be directed toward community sensitization to root out patriarchal social norms.
Directional efforts: In addition to enforcing existing regulations like minimum wages, there must be supportive ancillary policies including childcare; secure transport; lighting; safety at work; and quotas in hiring, corporate boards, and politics to foster more women in leadership.
Key fact
Japan is the world’s fourth largest economy.
Conclusion
Due to the labour shortage in Japan, women are undoubtedly an essential resource for the nation. Hence, they should also be further involved in policy-making and social decisions such as gender inequality solving and feasible Womenomic’s adjustments for the next future.
Mains question
Q.Japan’s struggle with gender parity teaches us that investing in women’s education and health may have limited impact if that society is trapped in gender norms that restrict women from capitalising these investments for themselves, the society and the country. Critically analyse.
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: article 21
Mains level: right to privacy
Context
Data privacy breaches which result in the loss and theft of personal, sensitive data have not reduced in terms of measurable frequency or their impact.
It has been 5 years since the nine-judge Supreme Court bench delivered the judgment in the Puttaswamy case. It asserted that Indians have a constitutionally protected fundamental right to privacy.
The right of a person to be free from any unwarranted publicity;
The right to live without any unwarranted interference by the public in matters with which the public is not necessarily concerned.
Definition of data
Data is a collection of discrete values that convey information, describing quantity, quality, fact, statistics, other basic units of meaning, or simply sequences of symbols that may be further interpreted.
What is Data Protection?
Data protection refers to policies and procedures seeking to minimise intrusion into the privacy of an individual caused by collection and usage of their personal data.
What is data privacy?
Data privacy refers to controlling access to the data. Organizations must determine who has access to data. Understandably, a privacy breach can lead to data security issues.
What is data security?
Data security refers specifically to measures taken to protect the integrity of the data itself against manipulation and malware. It provides defense from internal and external threats.
Why we need data protection?
Increasing internetuse: India currently has over 750 million Internet users, with the number only expected to increase in the future.
Data breaches: At the same time, India has among the highest data breaches in the world. Without a data protection law in place, the data of millions of Indians continues to be at risk of being exploited, sold, and misused without their consent.
Individual privacy: Data monetization may happen at cost of individual privacy. The most sought-after datasets are those that contain sensitive personal data of individuals, ex. medical history, financial data.
Issues with the data breaches in India
Violation of the right to privacy: The right to privacy was recognized as a fundamental right, included under the right to life and liberty by the Supreme Court of India in 2017.
Absence of legal framework: Without a law in place to regulate data collection and to act as an oversight mechanism, valid concerns about privacy and other rights violations continue to arise.
High Infrastructural Costs: Technologies like Artificial Intelligence and Big Data are costly to implement. The size of stored information is extremely large and requires huge network & data storage facilities, which are currently not available in India.
The concern of Data Leakage: In today’s world of cybercrime, it is important to put appropriate safeguards in place in order to ensure the integrity of the repository/database, so that it doesn’t leak out the information and is not privatized or monetized.
Reliability & Authenticity: As the data collected may be used in the court of law during the course of a criminal trial, the reliability and the admissibility of the data along with standards and procedures followed would be taken into consideration. Hence, the authenticity of the data is crucial.
Conclusion
Today, there is a relentless pace of digitisation that relies on gathering personal data in all spheres of our lives. All of this is done in a legal vacuum without any oversight or remedy. This underscores the urgent need for robust data protection law.
Mains question
Q. What do you understand by the term data privacy? Explain how data leakages threatens the sacred right to privacy?
While AFSPA is repealed in 28 districts in Assam, 7 districts in Nagaland and 6 in Manipur, NSF president Kegwayhun Tep said that it should be repealed in all Northeastern states .
Armed Forces Special Powers Act, to put it simply, gives armed forces the power to maintain public order in “disturbed areas.”
AFSPA gives armed forces the authority use force or even open fire after giving due warning if they feel a person is in contravention of the law.
The Act further provides that if “reasonable suspicion exists”, the armed forces can also arrest a person without warrant; enter or search premises without a warrant; and ban the possession of firearms.
AFSPA: A Backgrounder
The AFSPA, 1958 came into force in the context of insurgency in the North-eastern States decades ago.
It provides “special power” to the Armed Forces applies to the Army, the Air Force and the Central Paramilitary forces etc.
It has been long contested debate whether the “special powers” granted under AFSPA gives total immunity to the armed forces for any action taken by them.
What are the Special Powers?
Power to use force: including opening fire, even to the extent of causing death if prohibitory orders banning assembly of five or more persons or carrying arms and weapons, etc are in force in the disturbed area;
Power to destroy structures: used as hide-outs, training camps, or as a place from which attacks are or likely to be launched, etc;
Power to arrest: without warrant and to use force for the purpose;
Power to enter and search premises: without a warrant to make arrest or recovery of hostages, arms and ammunition and stolen property etc.
Who can declare/notify such areas?
The Central Government or the Governor of the State or administrator of the Union Territory can declare the whole or part of the State or Union Territory as a disturbed area.
Issues with AFSPA
Power to kill: Section 4 of the Act granted officers the authority to “take any action” even to the extent to cause the death.
Sexual Misconduct by Armed Forces: The issue of violation of human rights by actions of armed forces came under the consideration of the Committee on Amendments to Criminal Law (popularly known as Justice Verma Committee) set up in 2012. It observed that- in conflict zones, legal protection for women was neglected.
Autocracy: The reality is that there is no evidence of any action being taken against any officer of the armed forces or paramilitary forces for their excesses.
Recommendations to repeal AFSPA
Justice B.P. Jeevan Reddy Commission: The 2004 Committee headed by Justice B.P. Jeevan Reddy, the content of which has never officially been revealed by the Government, recommended that AFSPA be repealed.
ARC II: The Administrative Reforms Commission in its 5th Report on ‘Public Order’ had also recommended that AFSPA be repealed.
Human right violations: The repeal of AFSPA is necessary not just for restoring constitutional sanity, but also as a way of acknowledging dark history of our conduct in Nagaland.
Need for ensuring individual dignity: The political incorporation of Nagaland (and all other areas where this law applies) will be set back if the guarantees of individual dignity of the Indian Constitution are not extended.
Not state of exception: We often describe AFSPA in terms of a “state of exception”. But this theoretical term is misleading. How can a law that has been in virtually continuous existence since 1958 be described as an “exception”.
Lack of human empathy: At the heart of AFSPA is a profound mutilation of human empathy.
Conclusion
To bring in lasting peace in the North East, the government needs to avoid the trap of watered-down peace accords. While the move to withdraw AFSPA is welcome, it needs to be gradually erased. For that, changes in the ground situation would be crucial. Mere smoke signals or drum-beating can never do the job.
Mains question
Q. Do you think AFSPA is license to kill? Critically examine the utility of AFSPA today.
Green finance is a phenomenon that combines the world of finance and business with environment friendly behaviour. It may be led by financial incentives, a desire to preserve the planet, or a combination of both.
In addition to demonstrating proactive, environment friendly behaviour, such as promoting of any business or activity that could be damaging to the environment now or for future generations.
Green finance instruments
Dedicated fund: A “green super fund” could be established to jumpstart green investments by pooling together international and domestic capital.
Sovereign green bond (SGB): The sovereign green bond is a novel idea. It will be a part of the government’s borrowing programme. The gross borrowing programme of the government is pegged at Rs 14.95 lakh crore. The SGB (sovereign green bond) raised will be part of the aggregate borrowing programme and has to be used for projects which are ESG (environment, social and governance) compliant.
Network for Greening the Financial System
The Network for Greening the Financial System is a network of 114 central banks and financial supervisors that aims to accelerate the scaling up of green finance and develop recommendations for central banks’ role for climate change.
The NGFS was created in 2017 and its secretariat is hosted by the Banque de France.
Purpose
The Network’s purpose is to help strengthening the global response required to meet the goals of the Paris agreement and to enhance the role of the financial system to manage risks and to mobilize capital for green and low carbon investments in the broader context of environmentally sustainable development.
Significance
Green goals: Reaching net-zero emissions and other climate-related and environmental goals will require significant investments to enable decarbonisation and innovation across all sectors of the economy. Greening the financial system is key to making these investments happen.
SDG goals: Green finance initiatives also aim to achieve the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), shifting the focus from creating value for shareholders (economic) to creating value for stakeholders (economic, environmental, and social).
Green future: And as we begin to recover from the pandemic, green finance presents a huge opportunity to build back with a greener future, creating new businesses and jobs.
Robust growth: Supports strong and green growth in all sectors of economy .
The issues in mobilization and effective use of green finance are
Low incentives: The return on green finance is long term, low in monetary value & many times intangible, so that the ability of the financial system to mobilize private green finance, especially in developed countries is difficult.
Distribution challenge: Developing countries like India have challenges of development & poverty alleviation, so allocation of resources towards meeting fundamental needs & promoting the green projects which require heavy investment is a challenge.
Skewed investment: In many countries, green finance & much of the green projects are limited to the investment in renewable energy: India whose 60% of installed capacity is coal based, greening of coal technology is required which is mostly limited to private players in developed countries. It is subjected to IPR & makes them cost prohibitory.
High risk: Green bonds are perceived as new and attach higher risk and their tenure is also shorter. There is a need to reduce risks to makes them investment grade.
Conclusion
Our future depends on how we resolve our environmental challenges. Further, we are the world’s third-largest carbon emitter and will play a crucial role in getting the planet to a low-carbon trajectory. Simply put, we must urgently transform our economy to get to the green frontier.
Mains question
Q. As the world copes with the repercussions of carbon emissions, there is growing pressure to achieve climate-compatible growth. In this context What do you understand by the term green finance? Discuss how it will help to achieve climate-compatible growth along with limitations of green finance.
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Digital health id
Mains level: National digital health mission
Context
The covid-19 pandemic has presented a watershed moment, bringing the world’s healthcare systems to a halt, forcing us to rethink existing healthcare delivery models and embrace the digital health transformation of the sector.
Definition of digital health care
Digital health is a discipline that includes digital care programs, technologies with health, healthcare, living, and society to enhance the efficiency of healthcare delivery and to make medicine more personalized and precise.
Digital Health: A Backgrounder
The National Health Policy 2017 had envisaged creation of a digital health technology eco-system aiming at developing an integrated health information system.
A Digital Health ID was proposed to reduce the risk of preventable medical errors and significantly increase the quality of care.
It recognised the need to establish a specialised ecosystem, called the National Digital Health Mission (NDHM).
The National Digital Health Mission
The NDHM is a digital health ecosystem under which every Indian citizen will now have unique health IDs, digitized health records with identifiers for doctors and health facilities.
The mission will significantly improve the efficiency, effectiveness, and transparency of health service delivery and will be a major step towards the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goal 3.8 of Universal Health Coverage, including financial risk protection.
Significance of digital health
Prioritizing patients: Say, mortality from Covid-19 is significantly increased by comorbidities or the presence of other underlying conditions like hypertension or diabetes.With digital health records, doctors can prioritise patients based on their test results.
Portability of health records: Portability of records fairly eases in a patient with the first hospital visit, or her/his most frequently visited hospital. If she/he wishes to change a healthcare provider for cost or quality reasons, she can access her health records without carrying pieces of paper prescriptions and test reports. People will able to access their lab reports, x-rays and prescriptions irrespective of where they were generated, and share them with doctors or family members — with consent.
Easy facilitation: This initiative will allow patients to access healthcare facilities remotely through e-pharmacies, online appointments, teleconsultation, and other health benefits. Besides, as all the medical history of the patient is recorded in the Health ID card, it will help the doctor to understand the case better, and improved medication can be offered.
Technology impetus in policymaking: Meanwhile, it is also not just individuals who could emerge beneficiaries of the scheme. With large swathes of data being made available, the government too can form policies based on geographical, demographical, and risk-factor based monitoring of health.
Critical point to remember
In the case of lung cancer, only 18.5 % of patients survive five or more years once diagnosed. These are threats that data-led technology will help address.
Informed Consent:The citizen’s consent is vital for all access. A beneficiary’s consent is vital to ensure that information is released.
Data leakages issue:Personalised data collected at multiple levels are a “sitting gold mine” for insurance companies, international researchers, and pharma companies.
Digital divide:Other experts add that lack of access to technology, poverty, and lack of understanding of the language in a vast and diverse country like India are problems that need to be looked into.
Data Migration:The data migration and inter-State transfer are still faced with multiple errors and shortcomings in addition to concerns of data security.
Other challenges
Existing digitalization is yet incomplete:India has been unable to standardise the coverage and quality of the existing digital cards like One Nation One Ration card, PM-JAY card, Aadhaar card, etc., for accessibility of services and entitlements.
Lack of healthcare facilities:The defence of data security by expressed informed consent doesn’t work in a country that is plagued by the acute shortage of healthcare professionals to inform the client fully.
Lack of finance:With the minuscule spending of 1.3% of the GDP on the healthcare sector, India will be unable to ensure the quality and uniform access to healthcare that it hoped to bring about.
Conclusion
With an enabling ecosystem, supported by effective policies for digital healthcare and increased innovation, the promise of digital solutions in healthcare is immense. It’s not long before precision healthcare becomes central to the health and well-being of every citizen.
Mains question
Q. The covid-19 pandemic has presented a watershed moment, bringing the world’s healthcare systems to a halt, forcing us to rethink existing healthcare delivery models. In this context discuss challenges and opportunities of digital health ecosystem in India.
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: sports bodies
Mains level: sport governance transparency
Context
The judicial push for reforms in sport governance of various sporting bodies, football, hockey, table tennis and the Indian Olympic Association has understandably received mixed reactions.
Why in news?
The national sports federation’s usual governance practices do not place either the sport or the athlete front and centre; that space is reserved for official egos, whims and political clout.
What is sport governance?
Sport governance refers to the power a government has over institutions and allows their decisions to be made with due consideration to their influence, authority, and organizational structure.
Physical activity is fundamental to human beings: The report states that having a fundamental right to literacy would mean identifying the intrinsic value of physical activity to human living.
Part of elementary education: It would mean not seeing physical activity as an end in itself, and the establishment of physical activity/ physical education as a core component of the education curriculum.
Supportive to other FRs: A fundamental right to physical literacy would actualise and enhance the enjoyment of other fundamental rights. It would go a long way in enhancing the opportunities and freedom to express oneself.
Enhancing life quality: A physically literate individual would have a more fulfilling life of higher quality than one who is not. Physical literacy, as a building block, would go a long way in the promotion and realisation of the right to health and the right to education.
Issues with the Current Sports governance
Lack of check and balance: The biggest concern regarding these bodies so far has been a complete lack of checks and balances.
Excessive autonomy: In the pretext of autonomy, they have been allowed to function in any manner.
Less people centric approach: The federations have generally fallen short of public expressions and have failed to carry out their jobs. It has been largely attributed to the way they are governed.
Accountability: The current sports model faces accountability issues such as that of having unlimited discretionary powers and also there is no transparency in the decision-making.
Sport governance in India is administered by
Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports (MYAS)
National Sports Federation (NSF)
Indian Olympic Association (IOA)
State Olympic Association (SOA)
Sports Authority of India (SAI)
Positive Suggestions
Legislation: There must be presence of powerful and defined sports legislation in India covering all the nuances of sports and giving no arbiter powers to any authority.
Transparency-: To maintain transparency with expenditure and fund utilization, Information like a board of members, administrative officials, and remuneration information must be in public domain.
Women Representation: It is very important to have sufficient women representation in sports as well as in the administrative bodies, and it is the responsibility of these admin bodies to ensure sufficient representation from women in the board too, to maintain the diversity within the board.
Plans: There should be fix timelines disclosed which are to be adopted by sports bodies for the purpose of growth and development of sports in future, which is to be achieved in a given specific period of time. These kinds of timelines and plans would be motivational for players and bodies to. Goals to be targeted in future must be predecided, which can be well monitored and regulated by the authorities. Effective implementation would bring positive results in future.
Committees: To set up specific committees for specific activities relating to sports activities, like for planning, financing, research and development purposes. These committees would look after the particular task, which would bring transparency in work and achieving the common objective.
Rules and Regulations: like other fields, sports also have conflicts regarding disciplinary, administrative and management issues, to solve this issues governing bodies must set up a common judicial system (tribunal) to deal with sports-related conflicts.
Conclusion
There is a close association of sports with national pride and the kind of influence it has on the psyche of the nation, a role for the State is urgent in sports reforms.
Mains question
Q. The national sports federation’s usual governance practices do not place either the sport or the athlete front and centre; that space is reserved for official egos what do you think on this ? Explain the term sport governance with some dynamic changes needed in it.
A wildfire, forest fire, bushfire, wildland fire or rural fire is an unplanned, uncontrolled and unpredictable fire in an area of combustible vegetation starting in rural and urban areas.
What causes forest fires?
Human activities: Forest fires can be caused by a number of natural causes, but officials say many major fires in India are triggered mainly by human activities.
Climate change: Emerging studies link climate change to rising instances of fires globally, especially the massive fires of the Amazon forests in Brazil and in Australia in the last two years. Fires of longer duration, increasing intensity, higher frequency and highly inflammable nature are all being linked to climate change.
Season: In India, wildfires are most commonly reported during March and April, when the ground has large quantities of dry wood, logs, dead leaves, stumps, dry grass and weeds that can make forests easily go up in flames if there is a trigger.
Natural reasons: Under natural circumstances, extreme heat and dryness, friction created by rubbing of branches with each other also have been known to initiate fire.
Key fact
7.4 million acres of forest are getting burnt annually now an area roughly the size of Belgium.
What factors make forest fires a concern?
Carbon emission: They act as a sink, reservoir and source of carbon.
Livelihood loss: In India, with 1.70 lakh villages in close proximity to forests (Census 2011), the livelihood of several crores of people is dependent on fuelwood, bamboo, fodder, and small timber.
Destruction of animals’ habitat: Heat generated during the fire destroys animal habitats. Soil quality decreases with the alteration in their compositions.
Soil degradation: Soil moisture and fertility, too, is affected. Thus forests can shrink in size. The trees that survive fire often remain stunted and growth is severely affected.
Measures to curb Forest fires
1) National Action Plan on wild fires
The MoEFCC has prepared a National Action Plan on wild fire in 2018 after several rounds of consultation with all states and UTs.
The objective of this plan is to minimize forest fires by informing, enabling and empowering forest fringe communities and incentivizing them to work in tandem with the State Forest Departments.
The plan also intends to substantially reduce the vulnerability of forests across diverse forest ecosystems in the country against fire hazards, enhance capabilities of forest personnel and institutions in fighting fires and swift recovery subsequent to fire incidents.
2) Forest Fire Prevention and Management scheme
The MoEFCC provides wildfire prevention and management measures under the Centrally Sponsored Forest Fire Prevention and Management (FPM) scheme.
The FPM is the only centrally funded program specifically dedicated to assist the states in dealing with forest fires.
The FPM replaced the Intensification of Forest Management Scheme (IFMS) in 2017. By revamping the IFMS, the FPM has increased the amount dedicated for forest fire work.
Funds allocated under the FPM are according to the 90:10 ratio of central to state funding in the Northeast and Western Himalayan regions and 60:40 ratio for all other states.
Nodal officers for forest fire prevention and control have been appointed in each state.
Way forward
Awareness should be created among the villagers residing near the forests with respect to the long-term ill effects of forest fires.
Measures to prevent wildfires have to be taken before summer season when fires are prevalent.
Local people should be given skills to use online portals or mobile apps in order to monitor the forests for fires and inform forest authorities regarding the same.
Mains question
Q. Climate change is driving more intense and widespread forest fires by fueling more extreme heat and deepening drought. Why forest fires are cause of concern? Discuss our preparedness level for the same in the above context.
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: mullaperiyar dam
Mains level: dam safety bill ,DRIP.
Context
Integrated risk assessment of dam safety required to prevent human-made disasters: Experts
Why in news?
The recent floods in the Mahanadi basin in Odisha have brought to the fore, the faulty management of dam safety, which were built to mitigate floods and not be the cause of them.
What is a dam?
A dam is a barrier that stops the flow of water and results in the creation of a reservoir. Dams are mainly built in order to produce electricity by using water. This form of electricity is known as hydroelectricity.
Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, aquaculture, and navigability.
Key facts
India has 5,745 large dams according to the National Register of Large Dams, 2019, prepared by the Central Water Commission. Some 5,334 of them are operational and the remaining 411 are under construction.
The Act comprehensively postulates for surveillance, inspection, operation and maintenance of dams to prevent disasters.
Features
National Committee on Dam Safety (NCDS): It will be constituted and will be chaired by the chairperson, Central Water Commission. Its’ functions will include formulating policies and regulations regarding dam safety standards and prevention of dam failures, analyzing the causes of major dam failures, and suggesting changes in dam safety practices.
National Dam Safety Authority (NDSA): It will be headed by an officer, not below the rank of an Additional Secretary, to be appointed by the central government. The main task of this authority includes implementing the policies formulated by the NCD, resolving issues between State Dam Safety Organisations (SDSOs), or between an SDSO and any dam owner in that state, specifying regulations for inspection and investigation of dams.
State Dam Safety Organisation (SDSO): Its functions will be to keep perpetual surveillance, inspection, monitoring the operation and maintenance of dams, keeping a database of all dams, and recommending safety measures to owners of dams.
Dam Safety Unit: The owners of the specified dams are required to provide a dam safety unit in each dam. This unit will inspect the dams before and after the monsoon session, and during and after any calamity or sign of distress.
Emergency Action Plan: Dam owners will be required to prepare an emergency action plan, and carry out risk assessment studies for each dam at specified regular intervals.
Certain offences: The act provides for two types of offences – obstructing a person in the discharge of his functions, and refusing to comply with directions issued under the proposed law.
Dam rehabilitation and improvement programme DRIP
Government of India, with financial assistance from the World Bank initiated Dam Rehabilitation and Improvement Project (DRIP) in April 2012 with an objective to improve the safety and operational performance of selected existing dams along with dam safety institutional strengthening with system wide management approach. It was a State Sector Scheme with Central component.
Do you know?
Four dams — Mullaperiyar, Parambikulam, Thunakkadavu and Peruvaripallam — located in Kerala but owned, operated and maintained by the Tamil Nadu Government.
Conclusion
The bill aims to help all States and Union Territories to adopt uniform dam safety procedures which will ensure safety of dams and safeguard benefits from such dams. In order to iron out the differences and issues in the bill, central government should take the state governments into consideration and hold talks with all the stakeholders. This will go a long way in ensuring the safety of dams in India, which ranks third in the world in terms of number of large dams.
Mains question
Q. India, which ranks third in the world in terms of number of large dams.Ageing dams poses several challenges for India. In this context discuss the importance of dam safety bill 2021.
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NA
Mains level: equitable health and education
Context
To create the foundation for the next century, we need to invest in equitable education and health care in the next 25 years not just for the elite, but for all.
What is current status of education?
Expenditure on Education: The expenses on education as a percentage to GDP, India lags behind some developed/ developing nations.
Infrastructure deficit: Dilapidated structures, single-room schools, lack of drinking water facilities, separate toilets and other educational infrastructure is a grave problem.
Student-teacher ratio: Another challenge for improving the Indian education system is to improve the student teacher ratio.
What is current status of healthcare?
Weak delivery: Current health infrastructure in India paints a dismal picture of the healthcare delivery system in the country.
Unpreparedness: Public health experts believe that India is ill-equipped to handle emergencies.
Technical glitches in urban areas: It is not prepared to tackle health epidemics, particularly given its urban congestion.
A systemic approach to reforming education system in the country needs
Dynamic pedagogy: Academic interventions involve the adoption of grade competence framework instead of just syllabus completion.
Directional efforts: Effective delivery of remedial education for weaker students like after-school coaching, audio-video based education.
Administrative reforms: that enable and incentivize teachers to perform better through data-driven insights, training, and recognition. Example: Performance based increments in Salary.
A systemic approach to reforming healthcare system in the country needs
Universal health coverage: Access to healthcare in India is not equitable—the rich and the middle class would survive the COVID-19 or any other crisis but not the poor.
Increasing healthcare professionals in numbers: India has handled the COVID-19 pandemic exceptionally well. However, India is in dire need of more medical staff and amenities.
Revamping medical education: If the government wants to stay successful in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, it needs to rapidly build medical institutions and increase the number of doctors.
Cross-subsidization of health-care: How the poor managed without, or even with, any government insurance scheme is a big question. They can make up for the loss by cross-subsidizing treatments of patients with premium insurance policies.
Recent initiatives
PLI scheme: In view of these challenges, the government announced various policies like PLI scheme for domestic manufacturing of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs).
National Digital Health Mission: It also announced the National Digital Health Mission.
Way forward
India’s healthcare system is too small for such a large population.
There seems to be a long battle ahead. The public healthcare system cannot be improved overnight.
The country needs all hands on deck during and after this crisis—both public and private sectors must work together and deliver universal health coverage for all citizens.
Conclusion
Providing expanded access to high quality education and healthcare supports—particularly for those young people who today lack such access—will not only expand economic opportunity for those individuals, but will also likely do more to strengthen the overall state economy.
Mains question
Q. To create the foundation for the next century, we need to invest in education and health in the next 25 years not just for the elite, but for all. Critically examine
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Data localisation
Mains level: Data diplomacy, Data sovereignty
Context
The government has withdrawn the Personal Data Protection Bill from Parliament after several amendments were proposed by the Joint-Parliamentary Committee.
Definition of data
Data is a collection of discrete values that convey information, describing quantity, quality, fact, statistics, other basic units of meaning, or simply sequences of symbols that may be further interpreted.
What is Data Protection?
Data protection refers to policies and procedures seeking to minimise intrusion into the privacy of an individual caused by collection and usage of their personal data.
What is data localisation?
Data localization or data residency law requires data about a nation’s citizens or residents to be collected, processed, and/or stored inside the country, often before being transferred internationally.
What is Data Governance?
Data governance is a collection of processes, roles, policies, standards, and metrics that ensure the effective and efficient use of information in enabling an organization to achieve its goals. Data governance defines who can take what action, upon what data, in what situations, using what methods.
Interesting facts
Over 90% of all the data in the world was created in the past 2 years;
The total amount of data being captured and stored by industry doubles every 1.2 years;
If you burned all of the data created in just one day onto DVDs, you could stack them on top of each other and reach the moon – twice.
Data sovereignty of India
Definition: India has placed itself at the heart of the battle, its foreign policy vision fuelled by the principle of ‘data sovereignty’—a broad notion that supports the assertion of sovereign writ over data generated by citizens within a country’s physical boundaries.
Issues: The ideal of “data sovereignty”, and global attempts to leverage it, has come under heavy criticism from various stakeholders who are of the view that the concept violates the principle of “free and open internet”. They also argue that “data sovereignty” hampers innovation and economic growth, and is a ruse for authoritarian digital governance.
India’s Data Diplomacy: Three Pillars
Pillar 1: India’s data for India’s development
The flagship ‘Digital India’ programme clearly views data as the cornerstone of India’s socioeconomic future—one where the government leverages the Indian citizen’s data for the benefit of the people themselves, and not solely for profit-making.
Pillar 2: Cross-border data flows and digital trade
In keeping with its foreign policy tradition of actively shaping debates on global trade rules, India has been an active participant in the ongoing contestation on regulating cross-border data flows.
Pillar 3: Securitising the economic
The final pillar of India’s data diplomacy has been predicated ostensibly on safeguarding its citizens’ data from external threats.
Why data is important?
Improve People’s Lives: Data will help you to improve quality of life for people you support: Improving quality is first and foremost among the reasons why organizations should be using data.
Make Informed Decisions: Data = Knowledge. Good data provides indisputable evidence, while anecdotal evidence, assumptions, or abstract observation might lead to wasted resources due to taking action based on an incorrect conclusion.
Stop Molehills from Turning into Mountains: Data allows you to monitor the health of important systems in your organization: By utilizing data for quality monitoring, organizations are able to respond to challenges before they become full-blown crisis.
Get The Results You Want: Data allows organizations to measure the effectiveness of a given strategy: When strategies are put into place to overcome a challenge, collecting data will allow you to determine how well your solution is performing, and whether or not your approach needs to be tweaked or changed over the long-term.
Conclusion
The fulcrum of India’s data diplomacy should be predicated on the rule of law and the genuine protection of fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution. A commitment to the rule of law and accountability for all actors sets India apart from present adversaries like China and offers an opportunity to burnish its reputation globally.
Mains question
Q.Data is considered as new gold across the globe in this context analyse data sovereignty along with status of data diplomacy of India.
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Freedom fighters in news
Mains level: Feminist contribution in freedom struggle
Context
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Independence Day speech underlined the role of women veeranganas in our freedom movement. The initiative highlighting the brave women of our freedom struggle, under the broader celebration of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, will mark a turning point in Indian feminist history writing from an Indic perspective.
What veerangana means?
Veerangana means a brave female, someone who can fight for their rights. A strong woman not only protects herself, but protects others too.
Veerangana’s in freedom struggle
Rani Laxmibai
The queen of the princely state of Jhansi, Rani Laxmibai is known for her role in the First War of India’s Independence in 1857.
Refusing to cede her territory, the queen decided to rule on behalf of the heir, and later joined the uprising against the British in 1857.
Cornered by the British, she escaped from Jhansi fort. She was wounded in combat near Gwalior’s Phool Bagh, where she later died.
Sir Hugh Rose, who was commanding the British army, is known to have described her as “personable, clever…and one of the most dangerous Indian leaders”.
Jhalkari Bai
A soldier in Rani Laxmibai’s women’s army, Durga Dal, she rose to become one of the queen’s most trusted advisers.
She is known for putting her own life at risk to keep the queen out of harm’s way.
Till date, the story of her valour is recalled by the people of Bundelkhand, and she is often presented as a representative of Bundeli identity.
Durga Bhabhi
Durgawati Devi, who was popularly known as Durga Bhabhi, was a revolutionary who joined the armed struggle against colonial rule.
A member of the Naujawan Bharat Sabha, she helped Bhagat Singh escape in disguise from Lahore after the 1928 killing of British police officer John P Saunders.
Later, as revenge for the hanging of Bhagat Singh, Rajguru, and Sukhdev, she made an unsuccessful attempt to kill the former Punjab Governor, Lord Hailey.
Rani Gaidinliu
Born in 1915 in present-day Manipur, Rani Gaidinliu was a Naga spiritual and political leader who fought the British.
She joined the Heraka religious movement which later became a movement to drive out the British. She rebelled against the Empire, and refused to pay taxes, asking people to do the same.
The British launched a manhunt, but she evaded arrest, moving from village to village.
Gaidinliu was finally arrested in 1932 when she was just 16, and later sentenced for life. She was released in 1947.
Then PM Nehru described Gaidinliu as the “daughter of the hills”, and gave her the title of ‘Rani’ for her courage.
Rani Chennamma
The queen of Kittur, Rani Chennamma, was among the first rulers to lead an armed rebellion against British rule.
Kittur was a princely state in present-day Karnataka.
She fought back against the attempt to control her dominion in 1824 after the death of her young son. She had lost her husband, Raja Mallasarja, in 1816.
She is seen among the few rulers of the time who understood the colonial designs of the British.
Rani Chennamma defeated the British in her first revolt, but was captured and imprisoned during the second assault by the East India Company.
Begum Hazrat Mahal
After her husband, Nawab of Awadh Wajid Ali Shah, was exiled after the 1857 revolt, Begum Hazrat Mahal, along with her supporters, took on the British and wrested control of Lucknow.
She was forced into a retreat after the colonial rulers recaptured the area.
Velu Nachiyar
Many years before the revolt of 1857, Velu Nachiyar waged a war against the British and emerged victorious. Born in Ramanathapuram in 1780, she was married to the king of Sivagangai.
After her husband was killed in battle with the East India Company, she entered the conflict, and won with support of neighbouring kings.
She went on to produce the first human bomb as well as establish the first army of trained women soldiers in the late 1700s.
Her army commander Kuyili is believed to have set herself ablaze and walked into a British ammunition dump.
She was succeeded by her daughter in 1790, and died a few years later in 1796.
Conclusion
The veeranganas are a potent symbol of nationalism and patriotism. They can overturn oppressive attitudes towards women in society. Their role and celebration in popular culture also refutes the colonial allegations about the suppression of women throughout Indian history. But it is essential to discover, rewrite and reinterpret the role and representation of these heroic women in the liberation of the motherland.
Mains question
Q.The veerangana’s are a potent symbol of nationalism and patriotism. They can overturn oppressive attitudes towards women in society. Discuss examples of them showing how they inspire women’s today.
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What Is Revenge Shopping?
The symptoms of excessive consumerism
Negatives of consumerism
Context 
Meaning of fiscal prudence
Why there is a need for Fiscal Council?
Challenges before scientific temper 
What can be done?
Context 
What are individual rights under FRA act?
Issues with Forest rights act
Why are forest rights important for tribals?
Context 
Why they should be managed properly?
What are the impacts of construction waste on the environment and human health?
Context 
Persistent gender norms in japan 
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Definition of data 
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What are the Special Powers?
Issues with AFSPA
Context 
Network for Greening the Financial System
Significance 
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The National Digital Health Mission
Significance of digital health 
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Issues with the Current Sports governance 
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Way forward
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Dam rehabilitation and improvement programme DRIP
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A systemic approach to reforming healthcare system in the country needs
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