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INSIGHTSONINDIA
SECURE SYNOPSIS
MAINS - 2018
GS-III
C o p y r i g h t s © I N S I G H T S A C T I V E L E A R N I N G
OCTOBER - 2017
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Table of Contents
Topic: Indian Economy; Economic growth and development; Mobilization of resources ____________________ 7
Q) Pulses have seen an average annual inflation rate of 12%—the highest among food crops—in the
past 12 years. What steps can government take to stabilise prices of pulses? Examine. (200 Words)
_________________________________________________________________________________________ 7
Q) A strong presence of knowledge ecosystem is sine qua non for robust economic growth. Comment.
(200 Words) ______________________________________________________________________________ 7
Q) Consumption expenditure without investment increase leads to a credit cycle. Comment on the
rising consumption expenditure in India. (200 Words) ________________________________________ 8
Q) The union government has been pushing for changes in the labour law ecosystem by replacing
all the labour laws with just four labour codes – the first of which is the Wage Code, which is being
opposed by trade unions across India. Examine the components of the new wage code and reasons
why it’s being opposed. (200 Words) ________________________________________________________ 8
Q) Are investments in education and agricultural research and development, and in rural
infrastructure development and health provisions have improved farm income and reduced poverty
levels in India? Examine. (200 Words) ______________________________________________________ 9
Q) Reforming and redefining economic models to get them in sync with the technology- is an
absolute necessity to ensure better efficiency and productivity. Comment. (200 Words) _________ 11
Q) Balancing local employment interests and consumer ease is crucial to making innovative
business choices. Do you think taxi aggregators such as Uber and Ola threaten local drivers? Give
reasons for your answer. (200 Words) ______________________________________________________ 11
Q) In a recent report, the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) household finance committee found the
average Indian household keeps just 5% of its wealth in financial assets. What measures can be
taken to nudge households to invest more in financial assets? Also examine, from economy point of
view, why is it important to push households to invest in financial assets. (200 Words) _________ 12
Q) Public Sector Banks (PSBs) are the front runners for financial inclusion and need to be financed
well themselves. Comment. (200 Words) ___________________________________________________ 13
Q) Bank recapitalisation plan is a necessary but not sufficient condition for reviving growth. It must
be accompanied by structural changes. Discuss. (200 Words) _________________________________ 13
Q) The NPA crisis is product of not only the failure of banking governance, but also due to failure
of institutions such as judiciary and CAG. Comment. (200 Words) ____________________________ 16
Q) Recapitalisation will help banks maintain their capital adequacy ratio. Banks’ capacity to lend
will increase, but that does not mean lending will increase. Comment. (200 Words) ____________ 17
Topic: Employment __________________________________________________________________________ 18
Q) Despite India hosting the largest public works program MGNREGA, examine the reasons for
persisting unemployment. (200 Words) ____________________________________________________ 18
Q) The workers in the leather processing industry are one the neglected minorities in our country.
Comment. (200 Words) ___________________________________________________________________ 19
Topic: Effects of liberalization on the economy, changes in industrial policy and their effects on industrial growth.
__________________________________________________________________________________________ 20
Q) Low – End Manufacturing has the potential for productive skill friendly employment and
enhancing national policy goals. Analyse. (200 Words) ______________________________________ 20
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Q) Discuss the key constraints facing the information technology sector in a highly competitive
global market scenario and the role of state and union governments in the growth of IT sector in
India. (200 Words) _______________________________________________________________________ 21
Topic: Inclusive growth and issues arising from it __________________________________________________ 22
Q) Universal Basic Income, is a magic wand for welfare but may require several customisations for
the Indian context. Comment. (200 Words) _________________________________________________ 22
Q) In the light of pressing issues being faced by mining industry, examine the features of Draft of
New National Minerals Policy 2017. (200 Words) ___________________________________________ 23
Topic: Land reforms in India; __________________________________________________________________ 24
Q) Blockchain technology is at the forefront of a technological shift called disintermediation. What
do you understand by disintermediation? Discuss significance of blockchain for land reforms. (200
Words) _________________________________________________________________________________ 24
Topic: Agriculture; Agriculture marketing and other issues; e-technology in the aid of farmers _____________ 25
Q) What is stubble burning? What measures can be undertaken so that stakeholders are persuaded
against undertaking such a practice? Discuss. (200 Words) __________________________________ 25
Topic: Food security; Food processing and related industries in India- scope and significance, location, upstream
and downstream requirements, supply chain management. _________________________________________ 26
Q) Food Adulteration is pervasive, persistent, and peculiar despite dedicated laws. With references
to efforts that may be made by respective state governments, how can food adulteration be removed?
Discuss. (200 Words) _____________________________________________________________________ 26
Topic: Issues related to direct and indirect farm subsidies and minimum support prices ___________________ 27
Q) Competitive market is a key ingredient for agriculture reforms. Comment. (200 Words) _____ 27
Topic: Economics of animal rearing _____________________________________________________________ 29
Q) Write a critical note on the “Kochi Initiative” of fisheries management. (200 Words)_________ 29
Q) Dairy farming in a confluence of international trade cycles and domestic structural inadequacies.
Examine. (200 Words) ____________________________________________________________________ 29
Q) Discuss the contours of the economics of milk production in India. (200 Words) _____________ 30
Q) Changing infrastructure, services and the changing economics contributed to the milk revolution
more than the genetic import. Discuss. (200 Words) _________________________________________ 31
Topic: Storage, transport and marketing of agricultural produce and issues and related constraints; ________ 33
Q) Pesticides aid in sustaining agricultural production as well as disease control. Examine the need
to regulate pesticides with ways to do so. (200 Words) _______________________________________ 33
Q) Based on Karnataka’s pioneering agricultural output marketing reforms, discuss challenges and
prospects of agricultural market reforms in India. (200 Words)_______________________________ 34
Q) India’s agro processing industry needs consistency of governmental regulations and policy
guidelines more than a sectoral push. Discuss. (200 Words) __________________________________ 35
Topic: Infrastructure _________________________________________________________________________ 37
Q) Upgrading existing infrastructure and not creating new is the key to socio-economic
transformation. Comment. (200 Words) ____________________________________________________ 37
Q) Public Private Partnerships not only aid in sharing burden but also tend to be more qualitative.
Critically analyse the PPP developmental model. (200 Words) _______________________________ 37
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Q) Employment creation requires creation of social infrastructure as much as it does require
structural reforms. Comment. (200 Words) _________________________________________________ 38
Q) Targeted universal electrification through Saubhagya still does not solve the paying capacity of
end users to clear bills despite access. Comment. (200 Words) ________________________________ 40
Q) The telecom and internet revolution in India has ushered in good connectivity and infrastructure,
but quality of service is poor compared to international standards. Discuss the issue and suggest
reforms. (200 Words) _____________________________________________________________________ 41
Topic: Science and Technology- developments and their applications and effects in everyday life ___________ 42
Q) What do you understand by cryptocurrency/crypto-token powered initial coin offerings (ICO)?
Should India regulate ICOs? If yes, how? Examine. (200 Words) _____________________________ 42
Topic: Awareness in the field of Space; biotechnology; Computers, robotics _____________________________ 44
Q) The Chinese government has been looking to big data for solutions in areas ranging from policing
to education and urban planning to traffic management; the optimal use of big data, it believes, can
help foster higher economic growth. How can India use big data to its advantage? What are the
challenges it faces in this regard? Discuss. (200 Words) _____________________________________ 44
Q) A Nobel Prize may be awarded to one but overshadows the efforts of many working behind the
scenes endlessly. Comment. (200 Words) ___________________________________________________ 46
Q) What are bitcoins? How are they beneficial in financial services? Can they be sustainable as an
idea? Discuss. (200 Words) _______________________________________________________________ 46
Q) Robotisation can either emancipate the labour sector or further exploit it. Comment. (200 Words)
________________________________________________________________________________________ 48
Q) What are Yescarta (axicabtagene ciloleucel) and Kymriah therapies? Discuss their applications
and risks. (150 Words) ___________________________________________________________________ 49
Topic: Issues relating to intellectual property rights________________________________________________ 50
Q) To enhance innovation, the ingenuity of ideas must also be protected. Comment. (200 Words) 50
Topic: Environmental pollution; conservation; ____________________________________________________ 51
Q) Environmental concerns by the public and state institutions should be weighed in proportion
with the universal right to dissent. Comment in the light of the National Green Tribunal’s (NGT)
ban on protests at Jantar Mantar Road. (200 Words) ________________________________________ 51
Q) Global Environmental Policy need stability as much as it needs consensus. With reference to the
Paris Agreement, identify the key outcomes of the same with India’s take towards them. (200
Words) _________________________________________________________________________________ 51
Q) The complementary phenomena of executive abdication and judicial activism have created an
ugly spectacle of environmental mismanagement in India. Critically comment. (200 Words) ____ 52
Q) Air Pollution suffers from multifaceted turbulences without a national action plan.
Comment. (200 Words) __________________________________________________________________ 53
Q) To prefer clean fuel is a combination of policy concurrence and citizen awareness. Comment on
the need on a clean fuel and energy consumption policy need by India on an urgent basis. (200
Words) _________________________________________________________________________________ 54
Q) Demarcating silence zones can be only as effective to curb noise pollution as their
implementation. Comment. (200 Words) ___________________________________________________ 55
Q) Negative Emissions models are not able to limit global warming indicators and alternative
approaches may be explored. Examine. (200 Words) ________________________________________ 56
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Q) Laws such as the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest
Rights) Act and the purpose of national parks seems to be in contradiction when it comes to
conservation of ecosystem and protection of livelihood of forest people. Comment. (200 Words) __ 58
Topic: Disaster and disaster management ________________________________________________________ 58
Q) Climate Change and Disaster Risk Reduction are correlated and should be simultaneously
addressed. Comment. (200 Words) ________________________________________________________ 58
Topic: Linkages between development and spread of extremism. ____________________________________ 60
Q) “The relationship between underdevelopment and Maoist activity cannot be explained in simple
economic terms.'” Comment. (200 Words) __________________________________________________ 60
Topic: Various Security forces and agencies and their mandate _______________________________________ 62
Q) Convergence of the armed forces in an egalitarian manner can address the mechanics of national
security. Comment with reference to the prospect of integrating Armed Forces. (200 Words) ____ 62
Topic: Role of external state and non-state actors in creating challenges to internal security _______________ 63
Q) Social Network suffers from an authenticity problem only to be solved by internal and external
regulations. Comment. (200 Words) _______________________________________________________ 63
Q) Naxalism is a national security threat owing to incoherent and shifting ideological principles.
Analyse. (200 Words) ____________________________________________________________________ 63
Topic: Role of media and social networking sites in internal security challenges, basics of cyber security; _____ 65
Q) Effective cyber security measures need adaptive technology and policies as opposed to compliant
ones. Comment. (200 Words) ______________________________________________________________ 65
Q) Criminalising Cyber speech should carefully balance wrongful intent and free speech. Comment.
(200 Words) _____________________________________________________________________________ 67
NOTE: Please remember that following ‘answers’ are NOT ‘model answers’. They
are NOT synopsis too if we go by definition of the term. What we are providing is
content that both meets demand of the question and at the same time gives you
extra points in the form of background information.
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General Studies Paper - III
Topic: Indian Economy; Economic growth and development; Mobilization of resources
Q) Pulses have seen an average annual inflation rate of 12%—the highest among food
crops—in the past 12 years. What steps can government take to stabilise prices of
pulses? Examine. (200 Words)
Livemint
Introduction :- One of the key debates going around the country’s agricultural front today is the upswing in the prices of pulses. The retail prices of almost all the varieties of pulses have reportedly crossed ₹100 per kg in metropolitan cities. Consumers worry about high prices of pulses and producers about low prices. Inflation peaks whenever there is a production shortfall. The steepest peak (49%) was in November 2015 and the steepest fall (-32.6%) in June 2016 shows volatility of price for pulses.
Efforts are needed to stabilize prices :-
Flexibility in export policy, in terms of permitting exports of the restricted pulses during times of excess production.
Only a fifth of the area under pulses has irrigation support. This exposes production to the vagaries of the monsoon and amplifies the price cyclicality. Hence, there is a need to develop an irrigation buffer.
Developing agricultural markets is always important, particularly for essential commodities such as pulses that are prone to price manipulation.
The government should reduce the transportation costs of farmers by linking them to markets with better roads.
To incentivize private sector participation, ad hoc restrictions on stocks should be avoided.
Forward contracts help reduce the uncertainty of future market prices. The government can use future market signals to fix MSP values and make appropriate interventions before crises occur.
Governments efforts like setting up of price stabilization fund for pulses, revising MSP prices and promoting farmers to cultivate more pulses by diversifying the mono-cropping of wheat and rice are some noteworthy efforts.
Q) A strong presence of knowledge ecosystem is sine qua non for robust economic
growth. Comment. (200 Words)
The Hindu
Introduction :- The knowledge economy is a system of consumption and production that is based on intellectual capital. The knowledge economy commonly makes up a large share of all economic activity in developed countries. In a knowledge economy, a significant part of a company’s value may consist of intangible assets, such as the value of its workers’ knowledge (intellectual capital), but generally accepted accounting principles do not allow companies to include these assets on balance sheets.
Knowledge ecosystem and economic growth :-
Lesser-developed countries tend to have agriculture and manufacturing-based economies, while developing countries tend to have manufacturing and service-based economies, and developed countries tend to have service-based economies.
By the 1960s, American economists such as Kenneth Arrow and Robert Solow had begun to notice that growth and productivity could not be explained only by capital and labour. This differential they attributed to the knowledge content of an economy.
It is no accident that the U.S. accounts for 33% of global output of knowledge-intensive services, China 10%, but India only 2%. In high-technology manufacturing, India barely exists.
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The creation of a knowledge ecosystem that allows for robust institutions that focus on information gathering, planning, research, teaching, credit supply, and ensuring that people are filled with hope rather than derision for the society in which they live will make a society wealthier.
Other side :-
The heartening thing is that even with a rather low funding to research as percentage of GDP, with very few Indians taking to formal learning and research, India still accounted for 4.4% of the global output of science research publications in 2013.
Translating this research into technology remains the weak link. For that to happen, the latest suggestion in the choice-based credit system is to include project work at all levels in higher education institutions.
We also need to ensure ease in movement of personnel between universities and industry.
We need to provide more autonomy to public institutions in hiring and firing people.
Once an institution is given a grant, we need to ensure that it is utilised for the purpose given.
Q) Consumption expenditure without investment increase leads to a credit cycle.
Comment on the rising consumption expenditure in India. (200 Words)
Livemint
Introduction :- India is set to become the third largest consumer economy by 2025, trailing only the US and China, fuelled by an increase in consumption levels, changes in consumer behaviour and spending patterns, according to a report released by consulting firm The Boston Consulting Group.
Consumption across the country is expected to almost triple over the next decade from the current $1.4 trillion to $4 trillion, according to the report titled The New Indian: The Many Facets of a Changing Consumer. India is now the sixth largest consumer economy, after the US, China, Japan, the UK and Germany.
Consumption expenditure without investment has deteriorating impacts :-
Only consumption booms that are accompanied by an increase in investments tend to be sustainable as more investments result in higher job creation.
India’s ongoing consumption growth has been accompanied by a drastic fall in the investment to GDP ratio.
Besides the absence of strong fundamental underpinnings to India’s consumption growth, it is worth noting that consumer confidence in India dipped quite comprehensively in 1QFY18 as per the Reserve Bank of India’s consumer confidence survey.
Indian households’ overall savings ratio ebbed to an 18-year low in FY16 and India’s consumption-to-GDP ratio has consequently edged up.
This rise of consumption growth appears to be the result of the rise of retail credit. As corporate credit demand waned, banks and NBFCs aggressively pushed retail credit, resulting in India’s retail credit-to-GDP ratio rising from 13% in FY12 to 16% in FY17.
Hence it is required that the consumer spending must be accompanied with the investment increase. For this steps like creating awareness about prudential consumer spending and enhancing households, institutional savings to invest in economy is important. A well directed consumer expenditure can boost the economy’s efficiency in utilizing it’s financial resources.
Q) The union government has been pushing for changes in the labour law ecosystem
by replacing all the labour laws with just four labour codes – the first of which is the
Wage Code, which is being opposed by trade unions across India. Examine the
components of the new wage code and reasons why it’s being opposed. (200 Words)
The Wire
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Introduction :- As part of labour law reforms, the Government has undertaken the exercise of rationalisation of the 38 Labour Acts by framing 4 labour codes viz Code on Wages, Code on Industrial Relations, Code on Social Security and Code on occupational safety, health and working conditions.
Wage code :-
It subsumes 4 existing Laws, viz. the Minimum Wages Act, 1948; the Payment of Wages Act, 1936; the Payment of Bonus Act, 1965; and the Equal Remuneration Act, 1976.
The Code would ensure universal minimum wage for all industries and workers. Moreover, it will also cover those workers who are getting a monthly pay of higher than Rs 18,000.
Seeks to empower the Centre to set a minimum wage across sectors and states will have to maintain that.
The minimum wage would be applicable on all classes of workers. At present, it is applicable for scheduled industries or establishments in the law.
Why it is being opposed :-
The Bill makes a mockery of the idea of a ‘national minimum wage’ by providing for different national minimum wages to be fixed for different states – instead of providing for a uniform national minimum wage for the entire country.
Trade unions are demanding the same minimum wage of Rs 18,000 per month for all workers. But the Wage Code Bill does not provide for that.
The formulation of minimum wage has been kept under the sole discretion of the government without taking into consideration all stakeholders.
Another concern is that the Code has removed the Schedule of Employment, which lists the industries governed by labour laws.
Moreover, the Code significantly weakens the Equal Remuneration Act, one of the four laws it seeks to replace.
Significantly, the Code seeks to render trade unions toothless in a number of ways.
For one, the Code does away with the right of trade unions to legally access the audits of the establishment’s accounts, The Code also deems workers who are participating in a strike to be absent.
As for revision of the minimum wages, the Code sets five years as the standard time for wages to be revised, while currently five years is the maximum period for the revision of wages.
Q) Are investments in education and agricultural research and development, and
in rural infrastructure development and health provisions have improved farm
income and reduced poverty levels in India? Examine. (200 Words)
EPW
Introduction :- Poverty reduction requires economic growth which, when accompanied by sound macroeconomic management and good governance, investment in critical areas results in sustainable and socially inclusive development.
Asian Developmental Bank 1999
Greater access of the poor to education and health services, water and sanitation, employment, credit, and markets for produce is needed in order to reduce poverty. Moreover, the vulnerability of the poor to economic shocks and natural disasters must be reduced to enhance their well-being and encourage investment in human capital and in higher-risk and higher-return activities.
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Investment in critical areas of education, health, infrastructure and poverty performance :-
Public expenditure on investments and subsidies is assumed to impact agricultural growth and poverty through several channels: by improving technology and the availability of inputs and by increasing irrigation, relative prices, wages, and non-farm employment.
Investing in infrastructure creates income opportunities and generates jobs. Directly as employment can be created during the construction and maintenance of infrastructure by using labour-based methods. An increased use of local resources (labour and materials) in addition will have backward and forward linkages further stimulating the local economy. Indirectly as the assets created by themselves will improve access to income and employment opportunities hence poverty reduction.
Education is not only an influential role in every individual’s personal life, it also benefits society as a whole. If everyone in the world had an equal opportunity at an education, the world would no longer have to face the horrible issue of global poverty.
Economists like Fan, Sen, Ahluwalia has emphasized ublic investment, if rationally targeted, helps in reducing poverty directly and/or indirectly through pro-poor growth.
The paper produced by Seema Bathla, Sukhadeo Thorat, P K Joshi, Bingxin Yu states that education and agricultural research and development produced the highest marginal returns for promoting agricultural income, while investments in rural infrastructure development and health provisions are the most effective in reducing rural poverty.
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Q) Reforming and redefining economic models to get them in sync with the
technology- is an absolute necessity to ensure better efficiency and productivity.
Comment. (200 Words)
The Hindu
Introduction :- We are in the midst of the most transformative age in human history where technological leaps could make possible a world of limitless food, water, and energy. The inevitable widespread adoption of next generation technologies indicates a future of mass unemployment, and concentration of wealth in the hands of a few enterprises capable of providing minuscule job openings.
Hence reforming and redefining economic models to get them in sync with the technology- is an absolute necessity to ensure better efficiency and productivity :-
Today’s primary challenge is the optimal allocation of copiously produced resources among an increasing population with dwindling wage-earning opportunities.
Taking cue from these trends, several progressive political outfits across Europe have started demanding legislation favouring reduced working hours with no cuts in pay, three-day weekends, and the introduction of a universal basic income.
Even if new models built around the reduction, sharing, and diffusion of work and the provision of a supplementary income can sustain employment levels and living standards in wealthy nations with a steady, declining, or ageing population, with most of them plugged into the formal economy, it will be impractical in countries like India.
India has massive basic infrastructural capacity requirements. Focussed government planning and spending, along with the creation of an environment that would encourage private investments into these potentially large-scale projects, could create immediate openings for millions in sectors like construction, India’s second largest employer, providing jobs for over 44 million.
If leveraged to create essential and permanent assets, employment-guaranteeing schemes like MGNREGA would also effectively absorb a large slice of job seekers.
Redefining the existing economic planning, employment and resource-allocation models, to get them in sync with this technology-accelerated age, is the need of the hour.
Q) Balancing local employment interests and consumer ease is crucial to making
innovative business choices. Do you think taxi aggregators such as Uber and Ola
threaten local drivers? Give reasons for your answer. (200 Words)
The Hindu
Introduction :- The tussle and competition created due to rapid penetration of cab aggregators like Ola, Uber with local drivers can be seen in many strikes, demands to regulate their functioning etc.
They threaten the local drivers :-
Uber and Ola, in India and elsewhere, often resort to cat-and-mouse tactics with regulatory authorities. There are no regulations in place for monitoring surge pricing and the overall cab sharing services offered by the cab aggregators. This not only hampers customers but also local drivers in terms of intense competition.
Whether existing laws have contributed to the problems in the traditional taxi businesses is unclear, but Uber and Ola were quick to exploit this confusion and the structural problems of the traditional taxi services.
App-based cab services have always defined themselves against the image of traditional taxi services characterised by lack of convenience, overpriced rides, rickety cars and ill-mannered drivers.
The unintended effect of this nullification is that traditional taxis are now being increasingly seen as relics from a previous generation. Even though Uber and Ola maintain that both traditional and tech-dependant services can coexist, their actions give the impression that the latter are efficient because they do not follow ‘archaic’ laws.
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By clamouring to cut down regulations since they represent stifling old-world analogue practices, they are virtually asking traditional taxi services to operate in an ‘unequal’ environment. This signals nothing but the impending decline of traditional cabs at the hands of digital players.
They exploit the advantages of their digital technologies as well. Traditional taxi services have also been accused of running a taxi mafia that charge exorbitant prices for short distances and often refuse to go to locations that would be inconvenient for the driver.
Considering all above the need of the hour is to regulate the increasing presence of cab aggregators in Indian transportation systems. Comprehensive regulation by centre, state and even city governments will help.
Q) In a recent report, the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) household finance committee
found the average Indian household keeps just 5% of its wealth in financial assets.
What measures can be taken to nudge households to invest more in financial assets?
Also examine, from economy point of view, why is it important to push households
to invest in financial assets. (200 Words)
Livemint
Introduction :- Households’ Savings correspond to the total income saved by households during a certain period of time. Savings and investments in banks, stock markets, Post office schemes, company deposits etc., are considered as Financial Assets / Financial Savings. Investments in properties, gold, silver etc., are Physical Savings / Physical Assets.
According to RBI report the average Indian household keeps just 5% of its wealth in financial assets.
The report Indian Household Finance found many barriers faced by households to participating in the formal financial system. While some of these barriers are cultural, such as low trust in financial institutions, many are supply-side frictions. Banks’ “one-size-fits-all” products don’t account for the complexity of Indians’ financial lives, and transaction costs are high.
Some statistics :-
From 1990 to 2000, a very high proportion of Indian households savings were invested in Financial assets when compared to Physical assets.
From 2000 to 2007, more household savings were routed to Physical assets.
Interestingly in 2007/08, more investments were made in Financial assets. This shows that retails/small investors participated in stock markets when their valuations are at peak. The markets eventually crashed in 2008.
From 2008 to 2014, physical savings are preferred to financial savings.
The total amount of Financial Savings made by households was Rs 8,194 billion in 2014. This is an increase of 18% when compared to financial savings of 2013.
The total amount of savings in Physical Assets was at Rs 12,123 billion, a decrease of around 5% when compared to previous year’s data.
It is very clear that households savings are routed to investments in physical assets but the gap between Financial savings and Physical assets is slowly shrinking, which is a very good sign.
Why it’s important to push household to invest in financial assets :-
Such pushing will increase the formal economy and will boost the high household saving assets and rates into productive channels.
It will not only help household to gain better returns but also will save government from financial crisis.
This can be utilise to fund critical sectors of economy like infrastructure, manufacturing base, recapitalisation of banks etc.
The gold obsession can be converted into meaningful asset generation and investment patterns considering the volume of household investment in gold.
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Measures needed to nudge households to invest in financial assets :-
While innovation is thriving in India with an active fintech landscape, regulators need to keep pace with the brand-new business models that are rapidly emerging.
Indian investors are very sensitive to tax. A small change can result in multiple-crore Rupees moving from one instrument to another. To ensure a shift away from bank deposits, Go I has made all dividends, including those from Mutual Funds, tax free. This needs to be implemented on larger scale.
Financial literacy, the ability to process financial information and make informed decisions about personal finance, needs to be increased and penetrated in Indian society to make people more aware about diverse options to invest.
Q) Public Sector Banks (PSBs) are the front runners for financial inclusion and need
to be financed well themselves. Comment. (200 Words)
The Hindu
Public sector banks are the backbone of the bank sector. They play a critical rule as front runners in the following ways
1. Reach in rural areas
Bank branches of public sector are located in rural areas.
2. Access for needy people
They provide easily credit facilities to needy people
3. Encourage savings among the poor
They encourage small savings among the poor people.
4. Effect government schemes
They trickle down effect of government schemes through PMJDY, DBT etc.
Need for financing of the bank
1. Rising NPAs
The rising NPA of banks [ around 9 lakh crore] deems adequate financing of the bank.
2. Twin balance sheet problem
The twin balance sheet problem has slowed down economic activities.
The corporate sector is in the debt and thus is not in the position to invest, while the banks are facing NPAs and thus cannot lend to the corporate.
It has lead to standstill in private investment due to impact of demonatization
Way forward
More autonomy to banks
Implement recommendation of Viral Acharya committee on bad loans
Banks itself should raise capital from markets
Effective implement insolvency and bankruptcy code
Q) Bank recapitalisation plan is a necessary but not sufficient condition for reviving
growth. It must be accompanied by structural changes. Discuss. (200 Words)
The Indian Express
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Introduction:
The government announced a ₹2.11 lakh crore recapitalisation plan for public sector banks in India.
In funding this plan, ₹1.35 lakh crore is expected to come from the issue of recapitalisation bonds, while the remaining ₹76,000 crore will be through budgetary allocation and market borrowing.
The three-part package for lenders includes ₹18,000 crore from the Budget, ₹58,000 crore that banks can raise from the market (possibly by tapping the significant room available to dilute the government’s equity that remains well over 51%) and the issue of recapitalisation bonds worth ₹1.35 lakh crore.
Why recapitalisation was necessitated?
Banks are currently flush with cash which was deposited after demonetisation. Much of that same cash will be used to buy those bonds. The proceeds of the sale of these bonds will be put back into the bank as fresh equity by the government. It’s a neat roundtrip of depositors’ cash coming back as capital. To that extent it is taxpayers who are funding this equity injection.
1. Stressed assets due to PPP model
First, public sector banks have experienced a steady deterioration in the quality of assets. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) noted in its annual report for 2016–17 that as of end-March 2017, 12.1% of the advances of the banking system were stressed.
These assets are a sum of gross non-performing assets and restructured standard advances.
This deterioration has been happening since 2009 when in the wake of the global financial crisis, Indian regulators behaved as if this country had a similar crisis and resorted to measures of regulatory forbearance.
The resultant exuberance in lending to infrastructure projects via the public–private partnership (PPP) model, coupled with governance issues in select public sector banks and associated reports of crony capitalism added to this baggage of non-performing assets.
2. Low credit growth
India is predominantly a bank finance-led economy, so when bank lending slows down, it surely impacts future growth. Bank credit growth has been at nearly a 60-year low.
Bank credit growth since 2014–15 has decelerated drastically and stood as low as 8.2% during 2016–17; latest credit growth (at the end of September 2017) on an annualised basis stood at single digits.
More importantly, credit to agriculture and allied activities experienced a sharp deceleration: it increased by 5.8% in September 2017, lower than the increase of 15.9% a year ago.
Credit growth to the services sector decelerated to 7% in September 2017 as well, down from the increase of 18.4% in September 2016.
Not sufficient
1. Governance reform in banks needed
Apart from recognition, recapitalisation, resolution, reform is critically needed.
Those reforms are mostly about governance, meaning granting genuine autonomy to banks in their functioning, including all aspects such as lending, recovery, and recruitment decisions.
Banks have to be accountable to shareholders, including the government, through their respective boards.
Without reform of credit functioning, culture, treatment of delinquencies and even ownership structure in banking, this recap effort will only be stopgap.
2. Structural issues lingering
Burden of bad loans
On the supply side, the big constraint on fresh lending is the burden of non-performing assets (NPAs). The NPA ratio has been deteriorating for more than six years, and worse is yet to come. The diagnosis of worsening NPAs reveals five different causes, not all caused by the bankers themselves.
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Infrastructure projects
The first is the disproportionate share of loans that went to infrastructure. These projects are of long gestation and long payback period, so unsuitable for bank lending. That creates an asset liability mismatch for banks, since the liability side is of a short-term nature.
During the UPA regime, public-sector banks were under pressure to fund the ambitious $1 trillion infrastructure vision.
Normally such projects ought to be funded by long-term bonds or developmental organisations like the World Bank or the Asian Development Bank, or the IDBI in its original avatar. But in the absence of those options of development finance, it fell to public sector banks to provide infrastructure finance. This led to over-exposure.
Judicial decisions
The second reason for deterioration of loans could be the impact of key judicial decisions like abrupt cancellations of coal mines and spectrum allocation.
When the same were re-allocated through expensive auctions, it proved to be a fatal burden on respective business models of power, steel and telecom.
Land acquisition and Environemntal clearances
The third reason for worsening NPA ratios could be the delays caused by land acquisition and environmental clearances. This reason for NPAs was adequately documented in the Economic Survey.
Asset Quality Review of RBI
The fourth reason is the Asset Quality Review mandated by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in 2015.
This was much needed, since it put a stop to the “extend and pretend” culture around worsening credit.
Crony capitalism
The fifth reason for worsening NPA is an omnibus called “malfeasance”.
This includes cosy relationships between banker and borrower, crony capitalism, political interference in lending decisions (a legacy of the past), a less than vigorous attempt to recover past dues, careless due diligence, etc.
Steps taken
Extending duration of loans, debt restructuring, swapping equity for debt
New insolvency and bankruptcy law.
Indradhanush scheme focused on banking reforms and recapitalisation of NPA-burdened banks. Two instalments of infusion in the past two years proved woefully inadequate as the NPA ratio continued to mount.
Conclusion
Expectations towards resolving the banking crisis, however, have been otherwise. It is called “lemon socialism,” wherein losses are socialised and profits are privatised.
The enactment of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code in December 2016 was anticipated to have ushered in a new era, but the reality turned out to be different.
Sectors like steel, power, or telecommunication continue to be severely stressed.
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Q) The NPA crisis is product of not only the failure of banking governance, but also
due to failure of institutions such as judiciary and CAG. Comment. (200 Words)
The Indian Express
Introduction:
NPA crisis responsible for a sub-optimal performance of the Indian economy, even when development deficit presents enough opportunity to invest and boost the economy, is not just an outcome of one or two structural problems.
Poor bank governance and fallouts of 2008 global slowdown indeed played their part, but multiple hassles of political and systematic nature are also to be equally blamed.
1. Judicial activism and overreach
Judiciary constantly interfered in the affairs of a democratically-elected govt and its conduct.
Judiciary cancelled all telecom licences and coal block allocations by ignoring the technical aspects and the business-acumen behind did cost the economy heavily.
Many investors, foreign and domestic, found their investments set to naught without establishing culpability.
2. CAG’s theories
The theory of presumptive losses, or the theory of malafide intention propounded by CAG are too subjective and prevent govt officials as well as elected members from taking bold decisions.
CAG tried to intervene in the policy question grossly and held that natural resources, if allocated without competitive bidding, will amount to revenue loss.
Effects due to cancellation of telecom spectrum
Telecom operators starved of spectrum had to bid to survive. Capital required for investments in infrastructure went into discharging debt. Banks were not willing to lend to operators already heavily indebted and return on investment was inadequate to service mounting debt.
Today, the sector is under a debt of around Rs 5 lakh crore.
Telenor, Etisalat and Sistema bled and have exited. Vodafone and Idea intend to merge and Tata Telecom has been, in a sense, gifted to Airtel. Reliance is in deep trouble, the Aircel-Reliance deal having fallen through. Reliance has no choice except to exit. So we will be left with three players: Jio, Airtel and Vodafone/Idea. Vodafone might not wish to increase its exposure any more, given the nature of our regulatory juggernaut.
Allocation of spectrum encouraged competition leaving surpluses for investments in infrastructure. Auctions soured that story.
Effects due to cancellation of coal blocks
Power, steel, cement and ferroalloys need coal. Coal India does not produce enough to meet domestic demand.
States seek investments in these sectors but without firm and adequate supply of coal, stakeholders are hesitant to invest. All the allocations were cancelled by the Supreme Court which found fault with both extant procedures for allocations made on the recommendations of the screening committee set up by the Union, and in law, in the absence of amendments to the Coal Nationalisation Act.
At the auction which followed, the results were disastrous. Many failed and some of those who succeeded were targeted; their bids were cancelled for obviously political reasons. Over a hundred coal blocks have yet to be put up for auction. The investment climate being, to say the least, tepid, there are hardly any takers. Qua some auctions, the bid parameters were sought to be changed midstream.
Most of the auctions were mired in litigation for different reasons. Output suffered. Import, the only alternative source of coal, was at the time an expensive option, impacting competition.
In an emerging economy, if there is no demand for power, the economy suffers from a development paralysis. Auction of coal blocks and its consequences contributed to the NPAs.
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Conclusion
Government in a democracy should also be seen as a professional body besides a moral body. Attaching moral responsibilities to government everywhere reduces its efficiency multi-folds as economic decisions often need more professional approach than moral alone. To gauge policies with the lens of moral duties alone is naive and extra-cautious. Hence, we have a crisis before us today where we need development and have resources , yet we are not able to meet it.
Q) Recapitalisation will help banks maintain their capital adequacy ratio. Banks’
capacity to lend will increase, but that does not mean lending will increase.
Comment. (200 Words)
The Indian Express
What is capital adequacy?
Regulation requires that banks hold assets only in proportion to the capital they have. ‘Capital’ is a combination of equity, equity-like instruments and bonds.
For a given balance sheet, there is a certain minimum of capital that banks must hold. This is called ‘capital adequacy’.
Significance of capital adequacy
The higher the capital is above the regulatory minimum, the greater the freedom banks have to make loans. The closer bank capital is to the minimum, the less inclined banks are to lend. If capital falls below the regulatory minimum, banks cannot lend or face restrictions on lending.
When loans go bad and turn into non-performing assets (NPAs), banks have to make provisions for potential losses. This tends to erode bank capital and put the brakes on loan growth. That is precisely the situation PSBs have been facing since 2012-13.
Recapitalisation plans
The government’s move to recapitalise banks changes the picture.
Of the ₹2.11 trillion package, ₹1.35 trillion will be towards issue of recapitalisation bonds. PSBs will subscribe to these bonds. The government will plough back the funds into banks as equity. Another ₹180 billion will be provided as budgetary support. The remaining ₹580 billion will be raised from the market.
Once PSBs have enough capital and are in a mood to lend, they can liquidate excess holding of government securities and use the cash to make more loans.
Issues
1. Increased stressed assets
‘Stressed advances’ (which represent non-performing loans as well as restructured loans) have risen from a little over 10% in 2012-13 to 15% in 2016-17. This has caused capital adequacy at PSBs to fall.
Average capital at PSBs has fallen from over 13% in 2011-12 to 12.2% in 2016-17. The minimum capital required is 10.5%.
2. Reduced credit flow
Inadequate capital at PSBs has taken its toll on the flow of credit. Growth in credit has fallen below double digits over the last three years.
Between 2009-10 and 2014-15, annual credit growth was in the range of 15-20%. In the ‘India Shining’ period of 2004-09, credit growth had been over 20%.
3. Fiscal problem due to recapitalisation bonds
The proposed recapitalisation bonds are likely to add to the fiscal deficit unless the government resorts to other fudges such as getting the Life Insurance Corporation of India or a separate holding company to issue the bonds.
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Way forward
Though corporates have excessive debt and are in no position to finance any investment. This may be true of large corporates, it is not true of enterprises in general.
The demand for investment finance may have decelerated but demand for working capital remains strong.
If anything, the introduction of GST has increased small business demand for working capital. Low growth in credit is confined to PSBs. Private banks have seen loan growth of 15% this year.
Topic: Employment
Q) Despite India hosting the largest public works program MGNREGA, examine the
reasons for persisting unemployment. (200 Words)
The Wire
Introduction:
India is the second most populous country of the world with 10 lacs people entering the workforce every year, the unemployment rate already at 5% need immediate measures.
Though there is a public works programme MNREGA which guarantees the rural households 100 days unskilled labour in a year, it has not been successful in reducing the unemployment.
The reasons are as follows
1. Restricted to rural areas
MNREGA provides labour to only rural households & that too unskilled people. The skilled labour are not included in it.
2. Only unskilled jobs on offer
MGNREGA is restricted to unskilled jobs and that too for a limited time period in a year.
What is needed?
Coordinate trade and industrial policies
Comprehensive trade and industrial policies should be made which enhance the capacity of the manufacturing sector, which can absorb millions.
Labour reforms
Labour regulations are impediment to the “economies of scale” due to which small sector become hesitant to expand its capacities and employ more.
Skill development
There should be coordination between educational institutes and industries
Encourage MSME sector
Cluster-development in MSMEs
Startups should be emphasised, as in Start Up India scheme
Coordinate with urban development schemes like AMRUT
Revitalise labour intensive secotrs
Special package to rejuvenate labour-intensive sectors like apparel, garments, wood, furniture, leather etc
Human development
Development of social infrastructure- investment in education, health, women empowerment, housing etc. holds the key for employment in future.
BBBP, SSA, National Health Policy, PM Awas Yojana are in god direction
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Along with plugging the loopholes of MNREGA, the schemes like START UP INDIA, STAND UP INDIA, MAKE IN INDIA & steps like encouraging FDI, Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code to increase ease if doing business need to be strengthened in order to generate employment opportunities.
Q) The workers in the leather processing industry are one the neglected minorities
in our country. Comment. (200 Words)
The Wire
Introduction:
Indian leather industry occupies a prominent place in the Indian economy in view of its massive potential for employment, growth, exports etc.
However it is ironical that the workers in the leather industry are one of the most neglected in our country.
Reasons for poor conditions of the workers in leather industry
There are certain social formations which engage in recovering the skins, bones and hooves of these animals. These materials find their use in downstream industry.
Social factors
1. Caste occupation
In India the social status of a group depends upon the frequency of contact the group members have with organic materials and the nature of those materials. Males from high castes have very little touch with any organic material during the course of their normal occupations. People from the middle castes tend to work with soil and with animals. Women constantly deal with organic material, etc.
The flayers of skins and those who deal with bones, those who work with these skins to make leather and those who make footwear and other items deal with dead animals and their residues. As a result, they are forced to remain at the bottom rung of the society. And this ascribed status in the caste system perpetuates through generations.
2. Minority of these workers in contrast to huge animal population
The animal population in India is huge, exceeding 240 million animals of the bovine species alone. But the animals are held in a highly decentralised manner across a dispersed geography. Even within a village, dispersed households hold them in a decentralised manner.
Barely one or two families perhaps live in a village in order to utilise the resources in terms of carcasses of dead animals (cows, calves, bullocks, buffalos, mules, horses, camels, rabbits). This is the tragedy of the group. It is highly scattered across a wide terrain, and in each of its habitations, it is a hopeless minority.
3. Sanskritisation of these caste workers
The social formations engaged in work on animal residues in general are an oppressed lot across the entire country. Many diverse social and economic developments have been affecting them. During the seventies, for instance, there was a strong movement towards sanskritisation in the group.
Caste Panchayat took the view that since the occupation of flaying the skins off dead animals was one that made their social status so low, they would refrain from doing so.
This resulted in the group experiencing livelihoods stress on one hand and environmental distress due to decaying animals on the other.
Economic reasons
1. Emergence of synthetic materials
The second important development that emergence of synthetic materials as a resource for making products hitherto made out of leather. The massive incursion of synthetic footwear in rural and urban economy has in the first instance affected the footwear makers (cobblers).
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2. Exploitation by upstream leather industry
The effect on the upstream has also been severe but in part cushioned by the fact that a bulk of Indian hides and skins were exported for a substantial period of time.
The difference between the economic engagements of the leather flayers earlier and now is that the contractor and aggregators that supply to the tanneries tend to be the chief economic actors they have to engage with. Due to the complex and often times hostile regulatory environment, these agents acquire monopolistic power over the leather flayers.
There is a complex interplay between religious affinity, caste hierarchy and economic force in the leather and tannery sector.
Policy apathy
Central and State Government policies for the sector tend to be dominated by commercial interests.
These put the commercial interests of exporters and tanneries in sharp relief neglecting the interests of the voiceless leather flayers and the leather workers.
The polity, ranging from formation of co-operatives to compulsory licensing for processing the carcass, gave complex responses. Also, some of those who dealt with bones took to skin work.
Since there undoubtedly is an economic value in animal residues, it was inevitable that a combination of economic incentives and physical force would combine to make the hapless flayers continue to do the work.
Topic: Effects of liberalization on the economy, changes in industrial policy and their effects on
industrial growth.
Q) Low – End Manufacturing has the potential for productive skill friendly
employment and enhancing national policy goals. Analyse. (200 Words)
The Wire
Introduction :- China currently dominates the global market of textiles and apparel, footwear and furniture which is low end manufacturing. However China’s move up the value chain and the relocation of low-end manufacturing to cheaper countries will continue to create opportunities and support strong economic growth in some of Asia’s frontier emerging markets.
Benefits offered by low end manufacturing :-
India should shift focus to low end manufacturing like China to take full advantage of its demographic dividend which stands nearly at 65% to avert an unemployment crisis in future.
The myth that India can bypass manufacturing stage and become developed has to be sidelined and steps for low end manufacture ng can be the first game changer.
For the sake of creating more jobs to accommodate the growing working population, India should not neglect the manufacturing sector, especially low-end labor-intensive industries. This could also help absorb a large number of workers who are employed in unorganized sectors.
China lifted millions of people out of poverty in the last three decades by focusing on developing its own manufacturing industry India must learn and try to follow it.
According to a 2014 Boston Consulting Group report, the cost of Indian labour has remained virtually flat over the past decade when adjusted for productivity gains. By contrast, labour costs in China’s coastal provinces have nearly tripled due to low end manufacturing opportunities.
Low end manufacturing in national policy goal :-
India is striving hard to enhance the output of it’s manufacturing sector. The services sector absorbs only about a quarter of the labor force in India despite the fact that it accounts for more than half of GDP. On the other hand, manufacturing accounts for about 15 per cent of the country’s GDP and employs 11 per cent of the labour force. Hence low end manufacturing will provide ample scope.
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Skill India aims to skill population of 40 crore by 2022. Such huge workforce will need to be absorbed accordingly for which sectors like apparel, textile, footwear are needed.
Another clear positive for India is the large size of its domestic market. It is not only the third largest economy in Purchasing Power Parity terms, it is also currently the fastest growing large economy. All this growth phenomenon will enhance with focus on low end manufacturing.
Challenges :-
Bangladesh and Vietnam already have strong footholds in these sectors – together they accounted for 8% of global clothing, footwear and furniture exports in 2015.
Such manufacturing base will require much work on backward and forward linkages in terms of market connectivity, skilling of workers, availability of infrastructure etc.
Indian labour laws, market regulatory system, ease of doing business environment will not favour a rapid enhancement of such low end manufacturing.
Q) Discuss the key constraints facing the information technology sector in a highly
competitive global market scenario and the role of state and union governments in
the growth of IT sector in India. (200 Words)
EPW
Constraints faced by IT sector in the global competitive market
Strict import facilities in some countries like in China for Indian technologies
Lack of FDI policies & lack of ease of doing business which act as impediments in IT investment in India
Labour & Land reforms come in way in the establishment of IT parks
Competition with the world technological giants like Japan, US, South Korea
Lack of special package to promote export of IT products
Meager funds spent on R&D(only 0.8% Of GDP) is not helpful to compete with the global market
What is needed?
At national level
National IT policy is required
Special packages for the exports of IT products
Signing MOUs with countries to promote R&D in IT sector- MOUs signed with Japan, US etc are in good direction.
Establishing IT industry – College coordination so that the IT graduates get jobs easily
Promoting start-ups in IT sector
Negotiations with US, UK etc to provide hassle-free visa policy for IT guys so that they can get expertise working there
Taking measures to stop “brain drain” – providing incentives to the IT trained labour
At state level
Domestic policy to promote export of IT products
States like Karnataka can collaborate with the foreign countries for cooperation in IT sector at their own level
Infrastructure development – education, training, envisaging more state level IT institutions, speedy land acquisition for SEZs, IITS etc
India is known for its IT hub in Bangalore. More such hubs need to be established through domestic policies and public interventions. The schemes like START UP INDIA, SEZ etc are good direction.
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Topic: Inclusive growth and issues arising from it
Q) Universal Basic Income, is a magic wand for welfare but may require several
customisations for the Indian context. Comment. (200 Words)
Livemint
Introduction:
Universal Basic income is a concept in which a certain amount of money government will provide annually to every citizen of the country. This concept is being adopted from European countries like Norway.
Universal Basic Income is seen by many as an alternative to the existing system of subsidies, which is often associated with systemic inefficiencies.
Planning Commission had worked on it in the early 1960s.
Arguments in favour
2016-17 Economic Survey argued that Universal Basic Income is “…more feasible in a country like India, where it can be pegged at relatively low levels of income but still yield immense welfare gains”.
IMF, in its analysis, used fiscal space equivalent to the cost of the public distribution system and energy subsidies in 2011-12 and showed that this can finance an annual Universal Basic Income of Rs 2,600 per person, which is equivalent to about 20% of that year’s median per capita consumption, with the estimated cost at about 3% of the gross domestic product (GDP).
1. Social equality can be maintained with the help of financial aid
2. Market demand will get a boost.
Argument against
There are strong economic and political reasons why India cannot opt for Universal Basic Income, at least in the present circumstances.
1. Poor fiscal capacity
India doesn’t have the fiscal capacity to implement Universal Basic Income.
Economic Survey calculations showed that a 75% universality rate with an annual Universal Basic Income of Rs 7,620 per year at 2016-17 prices will cost about 5% of the GDP.
Economist Pranab Bardhan showed that an inflation- indexed Universal Basic Income of Rs 10,000 at 2014-15 prices—about three-quarters of that year’s poverty line—will cost about 10% of the GDP.
It is often assumed that resources can be raised by rationalizing subsidies and capturing a part of the revenue forgone on account of various tax exemptions, including in the personal income tax. These may not happen. The revenue forgone in most cases is optical and the result of poor design.
It is always advisable for the government to work on reducing non-merit subsidies, but the gains should be used to increase capital spending, which will help boost growth in the medium-to-long term.
2. Distort labour market
Universal Basic Income can create distortions in the labour market.
A steady, permanent and guaranteed income without any work is likely to affect labour mobility and participation.
It is also likely to increase wages without a commensurate increase in productivity which will affect India’s competitiveness. This could also have longer-term implications in terms of higher inflation and lower growth.
The distortions in the labour market will, of course, depend on the amount of Universal Basic Income.
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Conclusion
What India needs is not Universal Basic Income. It needs rationalization of subsidies, better targeting and operational efficiency. It needs to move to cash transfers at an accelerated pace with the use of Jan-Dhan, Aadhaar and mobile. This will help reduce costs and spare resources for capital spending to augment growth.
Q) In the light of pressing issues being faced by mining industry, examine the
features of Draft of New National Minerals Policy 2017. (200 Words)
The Wire
Introduction:
The first draft of a K.R. Rao committee’s effort to revamp India’s national minerals policy – mandated as part of a recent Supreme Court judgement that slammed illegal mining in Odisha – retains the broad structure of the earlier 2008 policy while adding new paragraphs on illegal mining, sustainable development, compensating local tribal populations affected by industrial mining and responsible mine closure.
As part of its judgment, the bench specifically singled out the ineffectiveness of the 2008 minerals policy while calling for a “fresh and more effective, meaningful and implementable policy”.
Issues and respective solutions of mining industry
The changes, while helpful, may not do much to shake up an industry that over the last eight years has been marked by illegal and excess mining, environmental violations and unequal distribution of gains.
1. E governance against illegal mining
Over the last few years, it has become clear that mining regulations have failed to clamp down on illegal mining everywhere from Karnataka to Goa. The 2008 policy made only two references to illegal mining, both in a mostly inconsequential manner.
The preamble of the 2017 policy has been tweaked to acknowledge that an “efficient regulatory mechanism with high penetration of IT, space technology and e-governance” needs to be put in place.
The advantages of IT and remote sensing technology shall be leveraged for ensuring a monitoring system which is transparent, bias-free, and one that has minimum human interference and effective deterrence effect. An effective follow-up action at various levels through effective coordination among various agencies will ensure prevention and curb illegal mining.
However, doing away with physical inspections (even in a phased manner) would be unwise.
2. Audit agency against under voicing
In Goa in 2014, the enforcement directorate’s probe into illegal mining placed under-invoicing as a top priority – in addition to the obvious consequences of tax evasion, under-invoicing also inevitably leads to excess mining.
What is really needed is a mineral supply chain audit agency that will detect and prevent under-invoicing and other value leakages.
The first draft of the 2017 policy makes no reference to this even though this practice has become increasingly common.
3. Standards to control corruption
Another currently missing aspect that civil society stakeholders have pushed for is having India move towards joining the ‘Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative’ – a global standard that is currently an effective practice for controlling corruption.
It was quickly dismissed by industry arguing that by adopting these standards it would make it difficult for companies to get bank loans.
4. Sustainable development and mining
The draft mineral policy also adds substantive paragraphs on ecologically-sensitive mining – although the bulk portion of this comes from adding portions of the government’s 2011 ‘Sustainable Development Framework’.
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This framework was also referenced in the 2008 policy but not added as it would take another three years for it to be finalised.
The government must ensure that “post-production mine decommissioning and land reclamation” are an integral part of the mine development process.
Mine reclamation seeks to rehabilitate a mine site to a viable, and wherever practicable, self-sustaining, ecosystem that is compatible with a healthy environment and other human activities. In this context, the government has a role in ensuring the reclamation of currently operating and future mine sites.
The committee also directs the government to ensure that “comprehensive plans for the reclamation of mined out areas are developed, including the provision of satisfactory financial assurances to cover the costs of reclamation and, where necessary, long-term maintenance”.
Topic: Land reforms in India;
Q) Blockchain technology is at the forefront of a technological shift called
disintermediation. What do you understand by disintermediation? Discuss
significance of blockchain for land reforms. (200 Words)
Livemint
What is disintermediation?
Disintermediation is the removal of intermediaries in exchange processes that enables people to transact in a peer-to-peer fashion based on the trust provided by blockchain.
Andhra Pradesh government has taken steps to use blockchain technology for land titling.
Problems related to land
1. Land disputes overburden judiciary and incur costs on litigants
Of 7.5 million civil cases in district courts, more than 66% are related to land or property.
Not only is the judiciary overburdened, the poor litigants are also losing Rs1,300 on average per day of court hearing in litigation costs and foregone business.
2. Centralised database and thus exclusion errors
At present, land ownership data is stored with the government in centralized ledgers (records).
This means that the data can be accessed and modified only by the government. This is a problem because if this data is erroneously entered, lost or forged, the ledger will no longer represent the true ownership of assets.
Significance for land reforms
1. No exclusion errors as data is distributed over network
Blockchain allows the government to maintain a public ledger of asset-ownership in a distributed fashion. The data is stored on a network of devices and there is no central point of failure.
It ensures trust by being transparent—it is visible for everyone to verify.
2. Ownership well defined
At the same time, it ensures privacy for the owner by ensuring that the ownership of the asset only changes hands after authorization.
Blockchain has the potential to represent what is economically meaningful about any asset—size, location, use-restrictions, etc.—linking it to the owner unambiguously, and tracking all future exchanges.
Conclusion
Secure land ownership will prove immensely beneficial for India’s poor.
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The poor in India do own things, but they don’t have a way to represent their property and create capital. They have houses but not titles; crops but not deeds; businesses but not statutes of incorporation. They produce all kinds of things—from clothing and footwear to leather bags and wrist watches.
But due to missing documents of ownership, they are pushed into the unregulated sector of the economy—unable to access credit and public utilities like water and power. These enterprises of the poor are very much like corporations that cannot issue shares or bonds to obtain finance and investment.
It will free the assets of the poorest Indians to create capital and enter the formal economy.
However, recognizing the present owners of the lands is a huge task in itself. GPS technology can be used to mark their lands on government maps and secure their property. Something similar must be done for the vast swathes of India’s countryside.
Topic: Agriculture; Agriculture marketing and other issues; e-technology in the aid of farmers
Q) What is stubble burning? What measures can be undertaken so that stakeholders
are persuaded against undertaking such a practice? Discuss. (200 Words)
The Indian Express
Introduction:
Pollution in Delhi has reached hazardous levels with potentially serious health effects on people, especially on children, the elderly and physically vulnerable people. Besides host of other facts, stubble burning is one of the critical reason for the pollution levels.
What is stubble burning?
Stubble burning is a common practice followed by farmers in the neighboring states Haryana and Punjab to prepare fields for sowing of wheat in November as there is little time left between the harvesting of paddy and sowing of wheat.
Stubble burning results in emission of harmful gases such carbon diaoxide, sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide along with particulate matter.
Why it is proffered?
Burning stubble is convenient and cheap for the farmers.
Unlike the wheat stalk, which is used to make cattle fodder, the paddy stalk is of inferior quality and is of practically no use. So, the farmers cut it and set it afire.
What measures need to be taken?
As 2015 ban on crop-residue burning in Punjab and Haryana has not worked, other measures are needed as follows
1. Incentive for Electricity production
The available paddy straw can be effectively used for power generation, which will go a long way towards overcoming the problem of disposal of crop residues and power deficit in the region.
Biomass-energy plants that buy paddy straw from farmers can be used in generating power.
But government incentives for biomass-energy plants haven’t been enough to galvanise industry.
There is great potential for making investments in paddy straw-based power plants which can help avoid stubble burning to a large extent and also create employment opportunities.
2. Make available latest technology
Avail affordable machinery for collection, chopping and in situ incorporation of straw is required. For this, initiatives can also be made to convert the removed residues into enriched organic manure through composting.
Though the government has offered subsidies on a machine called Happy Seeder, which doesn’t require a stubble-free field to plant wheat, farmers haven’t taken to it as burning remains cheaper.
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Conclusion
The regulatory bodies such as CPCB, SPCB, National Green Tribunal need to be empowered with penal provisions as well.
However the problem cannot be resolved only by penalising errant farmers as there are economic and behavioural issues behind farmers’ reluctance to use modern technology, which needs to be addressed.
Topic: Food security; Food processing and related industries in India- scope and significance,
location, upstream and downstream requirements, supply chain management.
Q) Food Adulteration is pervasive, persistent, and peculiar despite dedicated laws.
With references to efforts that may be made by respective state governments, how
can food adulteration be removed? Discuss. (200 Words)
The Hindu
Introduction :- Adulteration is a legal term meaning that a food product fails to meet federal or state standards. Food adulteration is the addition or removal of any substances to or from food, so that the natural composition and quality is affected. Adulterated food is impure, unsafe and not wholesome. Food can be adulterated intentionally and accidentally. Unintentional adulteration is a result of ignorance or the lack of facilities to maintain food quality. This may be caused by spillover effect from pesticides and fertilisers. Inappropriate food handling and packaging methods can also result in adulteration
Efforts taken by state government :-
Indian government enacted FSSA. The act brought into force in place of the PFA is the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 (hereinafter referred to as “FSSA”) that overrides all other food related laws. It specifically repealed eight laws which were in operation prior to the enforcement of FSSA:
The Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954
The Fruit Products Order, 1955
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The Meat Food Products Order, 1973
The Vegetable Oil Products (Control) Order, 1947
The Edible Oils Packaging (Regulation) Order, 1998
The Solvent Extracted Oil, De oiled Meal, and Edible Flour (Control) Order, 1967
The Milk and Milk Products Order, 1992
Essential Commodities Act, 1955 (in relation to food)
The Punjab Government has framed a draft Bill for the prevention of adulteration of food which it has forwarded for the approval of the Government of India and published for general information.
Measures that are being taken and need to be taken to reduce food adulteration :-
Refresher training programmes are being arranged for all the functionaries namely: (a) Food Inspectors, (b) Local (Health) Authorities, (c) Food (Health) Authorities, (d) Public Analyst and Chemist. Training for Analysts and Chemists are being organized in their own laboratories by trainer deputed by the Central Government. These trainers stay in one lab for six working days and first of all they setup the laboratory as per Good Laboratory Practices and thereafter, the specific training is organized.
Sophisticated equipments are being supplied to State Food Testing Laboratories so that at least one laboratory in each State is appropriately strengthened. Efforts are being made to ensure that warranty of the equipment so supplied are for minimum 3 years along with consumables and proper trainings is provided to the analysts/chemists by the supplier for handling and running the equipment.
Efforts are also being made to ensure that each State is linked electronically with its District Headquarters. The expenditure for this is proposed to be provided from the World Bank Assisted Capacity Building Project for food and drugs being implemented by the Central Government. This will facilitate smooth sharing of information and networking.
Efforts are being made to provide at least one analyst from the Central Budget through the World Bank Assisted Project in each Food Testing Lab for a period of 5 years.
Standard reference material for pesticides, listed under Rule 65 of PFA Rules, all the metals listed under Rule 57 of the PFA Rules and aflatoxin are being supplied to one lab in each State.
Books on methods of analysis like AOAC, Pearson, Food Chemical Codex, have already been supplied to a majority of the laboratories.
Training programme for consumers, traders, vendors and street food hawkers have been organized and will be organized in future as a consumer education programme on food safety.
Sensitisation training programmes have been organized for Port (Health) Officers/Customs Officers/Customs House Clearing Agents and importers on various provisions of PFA Act/Rules and other provisions namely packaged Commodity Order and Customs Act, so that these officers may appropriately handle the imported food product
Topic: Issues related to direct and indirect farm subsidies and minimum support prices
Q) Competitive market is a key ingredient for agriculture reforms. Comment. (200
Words)
The Indian Express
Introduction:
Competitive Market affects the demand and supply in an economy positively in various ways.
It increases the rates to ensure monetary flow to suppliers (farmers)
Competition ensures quality in production.
Low wastage and Less hoarding.
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Impact of regulation
Regulation and competition in the market affect price volatility.
Essential Commodities Act with stock limits on traders rule out the possibility of the private sector mopping up more than the normal marketed surplus, forcing prices to go down.
When there is a glut, there is a disproportionate price spread between retail and farm. This is particularly true in the case of vegetables.
Price spikes are also sometimes created by cartels of traders, especially at the local level. The reason for such price fluctuations is poor market integration across regions/states over time.
Agricultural reforms in recent times has had to deal with MSP in case of pulses and other cereals. MSP ensures that the farmer is paid a minimum price for production regardless of whether the produce is sold in the market or not.
Arguments in favor
Free Trade – Less regulation by the Government allows free trade between the Producers and the Consumers.
Less hoarding, illegal storage and other unfair trade practices
Price volatility leads to increase in monetary surplus in times of market boom in hands of farmers.
Less involvement of middle-men and private players who have been seen to derive unfair profits.
Demerits
Inflation – Food being a primary product can easily succumb to economic inflation if allowed free trade.
It may increase the instances of lower demand and thus marginalizes poor farmers.
Potential solutions
Remove various restrictions under the APMC Act
Facilitate private sector participation and investment in agri markets
Promote storage
Link the processing industry to the farm through contract farming
Follow up solutions for the states
Adopt a model APMC Act.
Allow direct purchase by the private sector
Set up mandis in the private sector
Allow farmers to sell directly to consumers
Ensure a single trading license
Allow electronic trading
Take fruits and vegetables out of the purview of the APMC Act.
The failure to establish a competitive market is forcing farmers to ask for higher MSP and expand procurement to all crops to make MSP effective.
Conclusion
The Government in India has relied on Surplus Storage and Price Regulation in market, which has helped curtail price volatility when even when the rest of the world was reeling under the same.
Initiatives like E-NAM, farmerzone have helped the Farmers.
Even though today the whole Agricultural Sector cannot be made freely competitive, sectors like Horticulture, Floriculture, certain commodities besides cereal may be allowed free trade eventually.
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Topic: Economics of animal rearing
Q) Write a critical note on the “Kochi Initiative” of fisheries management. (200
Words)
EPW
Introduction :- The Kochi Initiative resulted in agreements between the fishermen and scientist community for the problems occurring in the fisheries for small pelagics such as oil sardines and mackerel.
The reduction in migratory fish stocks has induced both small-scale fishers and their mechanised boat counterparts to approach the scientific community and agree to codes of conduct for both ring seining and trawling.
These codes include “scientifically proven” regulations to reduce overfishing. Moreover, the state is argued to be buying into the initiative, creating conditions for responsible co-governance.
Positives of the initiative :-
Tamil Nadu has seen the number of its fishers increase over the years, with innovations contributing to higher catches, but—alarmingly—also to serious evidence of overfishing. This has led to predator species becoming scarcer and sizes and numbers of catch declining. Kochi initiative can address this problem.
The willingness of fishers to engage with management is unique, they also overlook the strong traditions and practices of management that exist within the fishing population.
It will not only maintain the health of the ecosystem and of important fish stocks but also the need to have fairness in the distribution of access to and proceeds from the fisheries
However there are concerns too :-
Calling upon state agencies to take decisive action, fisher populations are frustrated by what they see as indecision and a proclivity for symbolic gestures, leaving core problems unaddressed.
While co-management policy, which gathers fishers and government officials in a common decision-making structure, is gaining adherence in both Kerala and Tamil Nadu, state agencies find it difficult to engage with fisher populations in policy discussions, which necessarily involves the application of science but also practitioner knowledge.
While the Kochi Initiative is a worthwhile endeavour, it is unlikely to be replicated on a broad scale. With a future in fisheries being experienced as highly uncertain, many fisher families in Kerala and Tamil Nadu are sending their children to school and hoping that they will eventually find jobs outside the sector. It is unlikely, however, that they will succeed in the short term. It is for this reason that realising a sustainable management regime in fisheries is so incredibly important.
Q) Dairy farming in a confluence of international trade cycles and domestic
structural inadequacies. Examine. (200 Words)
Down to Earth
Introduction:
India’s ongoing milk crisis has been pushing small dairy farmers out of business and helping dairy multinationals to expand at their expense. It argues that localised and people-driven milk markets based on agro-ecological livestock culture would be on its way out due to current milk crisis.
International trade cycle
1. Affected exports
The global slump in skimmed milk powder (SMP) prices since 2015 is a result of China and Russia stopping import of SMP.
It created glut in the EU and sent ripples in the global market. The situation worsened after April 2015 when the EU scrapped its milk quota, which regulates the production of milk and control its overproduction.
The increase in production of milk in these countries has affected export of SMP from India.
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2. Corporates benefited at the cost of small farmers globally
Dip in price due to surplus in global market has given opportunity to big companies to expand into other countries.
It pushed small dairy farmers out of the market but helped big corporations and cooperatives to expand their business.
The local and small dairy farmers became contract-based workers for big corporations. They have now become more vulnerable as they are now part of ecologically unsustainable production strategies.
3. Other countries captured market
Our international counterparts such as the USA, EU and New Zealand have strategies in place to address the issue of plenty of low-priced milk in the market.
They have started capturing the world market through investment, mergers and partnership across the globe.
Domestic structural issues
1. Import of butter fat increased to conver SMP into milk
Butter fat, which is needed to make milk from SMP, was imported in a large amount at a cheap rate from the EU and the US in 2014-15.
Meanwhile, India’s export of butter fat reduced from 2 million kg in January 2014 to around zero in March 2016.
The Indian dairy companies had attempted to dispose of SMP stocks in domestic market after recombining it with butter fat and converting it back to liquid milk. It led to slump in procurement price of milk in domestic market.
The availability of this milk further depressed the procurement prices. Less money from milk is pushing small dairy farmers in debt.
2. Low quality milk
The milk made from SMP has lower nutritional value as compared to fresh milk. Fresh milk is richer in vitamins and minerals than SMP. Moreover, a consumer is not able to determine the age of milk.
Q) Discuss the contours of the economics of milk production in India. (200 Words)
EPW
Dairy and agriculture interlinked
Livestock farming in India is part of a composite farming system characterised by crop–livestock interactions
The by-products from several of the crops (crop residues, hay and straw) are used as input for dairy production, in addition to other inputs for which they have to directly incur costs (cattle feed, veterinary medicines, and artificial insemination).
Animal dung and urine are used as inputs (bio-fertilisers and biopesticides) by farmers for improving soil fertility.
Many times, paddy straw and wheat hay, pod of groundnut and shell of different types of bean are used as dry fodder and feed for the animals.
In such cases, part of the cost of production of these crops will have to be allocated to the by-products based on what proportion of the market value of the total produce these by-products account for.
Regional variation in growth rate
The growth rate has been one of the highest in eastern India, with an annual compounded growth rate of 4.67%, in spite of low per capita arable land availability.
The highest growth rate was recorded in central India (Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh).
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The second highest growth rate was in western India, which included Gujarat, a state known for White Revolution. As a matter of fact, Gujarat and Rajasthan accounted for most of the growth in milk production in western India
1. Western India
In some parts of western India (especially Gujarat), dairy farming is intensive with farmers growing irrigated fodder crops such as alfalfa.
Under intensive dairy farming, milk yield and revenue are high, but the input costs are also high as farmers have to grow green fodder, use expensive cattle feed to increase the milk yield, and so on.
2. Northern India
It is semi-intensive in northern India, with farmers mostly dependent on crop by-products from their own farm for feeding the livestock.
3. Eastern India
It is mostly traditional in eastern India, including eastern Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and West Bengal.
In traditional dairy farming (practised in high rainfall, humid, and sub-humid regions of India), milk yield and revenue are low, but the input costs are also low, with animals grazing in the wild, and farmers depending on natural grasses and crop residues as fodder for animals, using small amounts of cattle feed.
The low land availability also creates surplus family labour that can be gainfully employed for animal rearing; for this the market value of labour should not be considered.
While the arable land availability is low, biomass is available round the year. The opportunity cost and the direct cost of using these inputs for dairy farming are negligible
But a sizeable portion of total produce was retained by the dairy farmers—37% in Bihar, 27% in West Bengal, and 21% in Uttar Pradesh and Delhi .
Also, it is quite common for dairy farmers in India to convert part of the milk produced into value added dairy products such as curd, butter milk and ghee, and sell in the local market.
This means that for traditional dairy farming by smallholders, it is all the more important to get the real economic value of the milk consumed by the household, and the actual economic cost of all inputs, including labour. This real economic value of the milk consumed domestically is often not considered in estimating the gross revenue from dairy production
Burgeoning dairy sector
First of all, dairy production is the only subsector of farm sector in India that has been growing steadily over the past couple of decades, whereas the cash crop sector, though growing, shows high degree of erraticism.
During the past three and a half decades (1985–86 to 2010–11), the lowest five-year average annual growth rate in dairy production was 4.1% and the highest was 7.1%.
Q) Changing infrastructure, services and the changing economics contributed to the
milk revolution more than the genetic import. Discuss. (200 Words)
Down to Earth
Introduction:
During the past three years, India has outpaced the global milk production with an annual growth rate of 5.53% compared with the 2.09% achieved globally.
India has been the largest producer of milk in the world for the past 15 years.
Milk production, which was around 17-22 million tonnes in the 1960s, has increased to 163.7 million tonnes in 2016-17. Particularly, it has increased by 19% during 2016-17 in comparison to the year 2013-14.
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Similarly, per capita availability of milk has increased from 307 grams in 2013-14 to 351 grams in the year 2016-17. The income of dairy farmers increased by 23.77% in 2014-17 compared to 2011-14.
Changing economics
1. Decreasing landholding size
With the average landholding size reducing consistently over the years and water scarcity problems growing, the small and marginal farmers increasingly prefer dairy farming.
This is because milk production is not land and water dependent when done on a small scale, since farmers can buy both green and dry fodder from within the village or from outside.
2. Increasing demand for milk due to increased per capita incomes
The price of milk has been rising in India during the past one decade owing to rapidly growing demand for milk and other dairy products as a result of rising per capita income.
In fact, the wholesale price index (WPI) of milk has been increasing at an average rate of 10.5% since April 2006.
There has been increasing demand for fresh milk from small towns and cities that are in close vicinity of rural areas
Changing infrastructure:
Storage and marketing infrastructure
Procurement and marketing infrastructure for milk has remarkably improved over the years throughout the country, with dairy cooperatives and private dairies, along with remarkable improvement in dairy technology.
Productivity of animals a lesser factor
Over 95 per cent of India’s milk production comes from two species namely cattle and buffalo.
The Indian indigenous varieties of cows (desi cows) are known to have less milking potential than exotic cows like Jersey or Holstein Friesian.
Focus on cross breeding than genetic import
However, the exotic breeds are unable to cope with the Indian climate, diseases and other conditions.
Recognising this, the government promoted a systematic cross breeding programme. The crossbreeds are known to have milk yields substantially higher than the desi cows and arealso much more resilient than the exotic pure breeds.
Although Artificial Insemination (AI) was first performed in India in 1939, it was intensified in the third phase of Operation Flood starting in 1985.
Operation Flood
Operation Flood was started by National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) in the 1970s.
The objective of this programme was to create a nation-wide milk grid.
The bedrock of Operation Flood has been village milk producers’ cooperatives, which procure milk and provide inputs and services, making modern management and technology available to members. Unique to cows was the AI programme with exotic semen.
As a strategy to increase milk yield crossbreeding with exotic cows like Jersey, Holstein Friesian was aggressively promoted. The breed improvement drive was so aggressive that in states like Kerala, mandatory castration of desi bulls was an enforced law.
Although the proportion of crossbred cows is only 21 per cent their total share in cow’s milk is 59.15 per cent.
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Topic: Storage, transport and marketing of agricultural produce and issues and related
constraints;
Q) Pesticides aid in sustaining agricultural production as well as disease control.
Examine the need to regulate pesticides with ways to do so. (200 Words)
The Hindu
Introduction :- Pesticides are substances that are meant to control pests (including weeds). The term pesticide includes all of the following: herbicide, insecticides (which may include insect growth regulators, termiticides, etc.) nematicide, molluscicide, piscicide, avicide, rodenticide, bactericide, insect repellent, animal repellent, antimicrobial, fungicide, disinfectant (antimicrobial), and sanitizer. The most common of these are herbicides which account for approximately 80% of all pesticide use. Most pesticides are intended to serve as plant protection products (also known as crop protection products), which in general, protect plants from weeds, fungi, or insects.
Benefits of pesticides :-
Controlling pests and plant disease vectors
Improved crop/livestock yields
Improved crop/livestock quality
Invasive species controlled
Controlling human/livestock disease vectors and nuisance organisms
Human lives saved and suffering reduced
Animal lives saved and suffering reduced
Diseases contained geographically
Controlling organisms that harm other human activities and structures
Drivers view unobstructed
Tree/brush/leaf hazards prevented
Wooden structures protected
However their overuse and uncontrolled use has created many problems :-
They are mobile in the environment and often move through water, air and soil. The problem with pesticide mobility is that when they travel, the pesticides come in contact with other organisms and can cause harm.
Pesticides have also been shown to disrupt the balance of an ecosystem. In many situations, when a pesticide is used, it also kills non-pest organisms.
Another major problem associated with pesticide use is bioaccumulation and biological magnification. Many synthetic pesticides are not able to be broken down. Once they enter the body of an organism, they are permanently stored in the body tissue.
Way Forward :-
Some measures and precautions, regulations are needed in order to control use of pesticides in order to curb their impacts and disastrous incidences like Yawatmal tragedy in Maharashtra.
Need to provide education or awareness about the precautions to be taken while spraying toxic pesticides.
The corporates can use their CSR spending in educating the farmers about the right usage of pesticides.
Union Agriculture Ministry must launch an awareness campaign about the harmful effects of pesticides across the country.
Knowledge about the science of the soil will help the sons of the soil.
Regulating the sale of pesticides to ensure that they are cleared after safety checks
Provide and train farmers to adopt protective gears such as masks and gloves while spraying pesticides.
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Government must scrutinise recommendations of pesticide firms that prescribe formulae to farmers to enhance quality and quantity of crops.
Creating a policy framework involving all the stakeholders for providing guidelines for the proper use of pesticides.
Rather than selling pesticides, the selling agency must provide the pest control services on the field which is followed in many developed countries.
There is a need to improve upon application of pesticides. Use of pesticides per hectare of net sown area in Japan is 10 times of what it is in India. But the pesticide residue on food is not beyond the permissible limits.
The government must constitute pesticides development and regulation authority for regulation of the pesticide sector as recommended by Parliamentary Standing Committee on Agriculture
Developing resistant varieties, use of bio pesticides and integrated pest management
Q) Based on Karnataka’s pioneering agricultural output marketing reforms, discuss
challenges and prospects of agricultural market reforms in India. (200 Words)
EPW
Introduction:
Karnataka has been a forerunner among states in reforming agricultural output markets. It has amended APMC Act based on the Model Act 2003 and established an electronic platform to support trading and combines more substantive legal-institutional reform with automation and unification.
As the annual income of a farmer depends upon both yield and the price that his produce fetches, the Government has rolled out large number of programmes to improve agriculture market such as Model APMC Act, e-NAM.
e-NAM:
e-NAM is supposed to create an all India market, in order to ensure better prices to farmers.
Government launched the electronic national agricultural market or e-NAM, a portal which would link 585 mandis by March 2018 and create a trading forum to encourage transparency in transactions and allow farmers to command competitive prices.
e-NAM would challenge trade cartels who control prices and charge large commission fees. These cartels came into being through the misuse of the Agriculture Produce Market Committees Act, 2016.
But it faces many challenges such as:
1. Different regulations in every state
Different states have their own agriculture market regulations and thus “one nation one market” is far fetched goal.
2. Brokers disinterest
The brokers are intentionally not trading through the e-NAM platform as it would affect their profit margins.
3. Lack of technology
Shortage of computer terminals at the entry gates, lack of trained personnel and slow internet speed are some of the major impediments of e-NAM.
Software is still being installed in mandis to enable them to switch auctions from the shouting platform to the electronic ones
4. Interstate trade not viable in current system
Despite the platform being touted as a mechanism to encourage inter-state trade, there are no specifications as to how farmers can access multiple markets to obtain the best price for their produce.
In contrast, buyers are at an advantage as they access market information from multiple states, and accordingly, make the lowest bids.
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5. APMC amendments
Even the amendments to the APMC Act are biased towards the buyers. The amendments require that there should be a single licence that would be valid across the state and a single point levy of market fee.
But neither a licence nor a market fee was a requirement for farmers to trade at a local market earlier, thus creating new liabilities for farmers.
Without ironing out the discrepancies in e-NAM or pushing for the effective implementation of the new model law—Agricultural Produce and Livestock Marketing (Promotion and Facilitating) Act (APLM), 2017—the Union government has taken a decision which could add fuel to the existing crisis.
6. Foreign investment
Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) approved US e-commerce giant Amazon’s proposal to invest about US $500 million in the food retail business in India.
Similar investment proposals to the tune of US $195 million by companies such as Grofers and Big Basket are being considered by DIPP.
Therefore, the Ministry of Food Processing Industries needs to evaluate if the approval granted to Amazon is in the best interest of farmers and whether there are enough safeguards to protect farmers from predatory practices.
7. Middlemen prevalent
The government needs to also launch a campaign to eliminate brokers and corrupt officials in the system.
Way forward
Measures such as expanding the network of APMC mandis and linking them to a network of warehouses would aid modernisation.
More importantly, the government needs to overhaul the infrastructure facilities such as cold storage and warehouses to ease the food supply chain and help small farmers get a fair price and profit for their produce through direct procurement.
However, an easier way to improve farmers’ profitability is to open up exports of all agri-products, without any restrictions, and allowing private trade to build global value chains, keeping the ECA in abeyance.
This would require a change from the current pro-consumer approach to one that is focussed on farmers.
For achieving the goal of doubling the farmer income the reform in agriculture marketing, and providing forward and backward linkages is need of the hour.
As agriculture is in the state list and the agricultural marketing have huge potential in solving many issue but it success depend on the states initiatives and Karnataka model of agricultural markets reforms should be seen as a similar case a state innovation that can guide the whole country.
Q) India’s agro processing industry needs consistency of governmental regulations
and policy guidelines more than a sectoral push. Discuss. (200 Words)
The Wire
The food processing industry has a high concentration of unorganised segments, representing almost 75 per cent across all product categories.
Indian agro-processing industry is suffering from various issues like-
Supply side bottlenecks
Small and dispersed marketable surplus due to fragmented holdings, low farm productivity, high seasonality, perishability and intermediation result in lack of distribution on supply and quality, and in turn, impede processing and exports.
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Infrastructure bottlenecks
More than 30 per cent of the produce from farm gate is lost due to inadequate cold chain infrastructure and inadequate logistics.
The development of cold chains and logistics infrastructure remains an unviable investment option, on account of, lack of critical scale and high operating costs.
Transportation
Instead of using specialised transportation for perishables like reefer vans, their logistics predominantly rely on traditional modes, commonly used for grains.
Deficiencies in the regulatory environment
Lack of integration & clarity: Numerous laws, under the jurisdiction of different ministries and departments, govern food safety and packaging – leads to contradictions in specifications, conflicting approach, lack of co-ordination and administrative delays.
Lack of Holistic Approach – absence of vital peripheral infrastructural linkages and legislation for contract and corporate farming, inadequate implementation of the APMC Act and cumbersome procedures to avail grants.
Other issues
Besides these, inherent anomalies such as mounting cost of finance, lack of skilled and trained manpower, inadequate quality control and packaging units and high taxes and duties, thwart development of FPI.
Way forward
1. Plug supply side and infrastructure bottlenecks
Foster development of backward linkages by evolving conducive regulatory framework for contract and corporate farming and encouraging commodity clusters and intensive livestock rearing.
Promote holistic development through private sector participation while expounding a robust supporting framework with well defined roles of the participants, risk sharing mechanisms, fiscal incentives and partnership models for creation of infrastructure for logistics, storage and processing.
Encourage technology up gradation of existing facilities and investment in development of ancillary industries like research and development, packaging, food processing equipment manufacturing, food safety certifying agencies by extending fiscal incentives to investors.
2. Streamlining the regulatory structure
Remove impediments of multiple departments and laws in seeking approvals by bringing them under a single window thereby providing clarity in roles and channels of operational and service delivery.
Ensure uniform implementation of the APMC act to encourage private sector investment in infrastructure development.
Hasten harmonization of indirect taxes by implementation of Goods & Services Tax, as aimed in the current budget, to warrant uniform tax structures across the country and reduce vast price differences in products.
3. Marketing
Change in mindset-Orienting stakeholders towards ‘demand and profit driven production’ – Need to shift their focus from trying to market ‘what is produced’ to producing ‘processable varieties and marketable products’ meeting global quality standards and traceability requirements, duly adopting need based viable technologies and quality controls.
4. Human resource development-to meet increasing demand for skilled manpower
Stimulate industry, academia and government to put in combined efforts for development of specialized institutes and courses for providing training on managerial, safety and enforcements, technology and production, warehousing and distribution aspects.
Encourage State Agricultural Universities to commence courses in food packaging, processing, bio-technology, information technology in agriculture and such allied fields.
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Topic: Infrastructure
Q) Upgrading existing infrastructure and not creating new is the key to socio-
economic transformation. Comment. (200 Words)
The Hindu
Introduction :- Infrastructure sector is a key driver for the Indian economy. The sector is highly responsible for propelling India’s overall development and enjoys intense focus from Government for initiating policies that would ensure time-bound creation of world class infrastructure in the country. Infrastructure sector includes power, bridges, dams, roads and urban infrastructure development. In 2016, India jumped 19 places in World Bank’s Logistics Performance Index (LPI) 2016, to rank 35th amongst 160 countries.
The social infrastructure is crucial for countries overall economic growth. However considering slow down of Indian economy greater public investment must now flow into the repair and reconstruction of infrastructure rather than starting new projects.
Increased public investment in new projects leads to a higher deficit, which is the gap between the government’s expenditure and its receipts.
Government’s efforts to ensure a good living habitat for the poor in the country and launching of new flagship urban missions like the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban), Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT), and Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban) under the urban habitat model need further up gradation in order to enhance it’d reach and impact.
The development of road infrastructure is getting funding and up gradation with government support and innovative methods like the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) launched its first overseas issue of Masala Bond at the London Stock Exchange
The Ministry of Shipping plans to undertake development of 37 national waterways (NWs), out of the 111 NWs declared under the National Waterways Act 2016, in the next three years, which would have positive impact on reduction of overall logistics cost.
The Central Electricity Authority (CEA) expects investment in India’s existing power transmission sector to reach Rs 2.6 lakh crore (US$ 38.85 billion) during the 13th plan (2017-22), and to enhance the transmission capacity of the inter-regional links by 45,700 megawatt (MW).
Such investment in existing infrastructure project will save precious government financial resources, will enhance prudent allocation of money and will help in upgrading the critical infrastructure needed for country’s overall development. However neglect of new projects should not be done. India also need to explore modern options like bullet trains, green field regional airports, shipping waterways etc to lead country in global developments.
Q) Public Private Partnerships not only aid in sharing burden but also tend to be
more qualitative. Critically analyse the PPP developmental model. (200 Words)
Livemint
Introduction :- A public–private partnership (PPP or 3P) is a commercial legal relationship defined by the Government of India in 2011 as “an arrangement between a government / statutory entity / government owned entity on one side and a private sector entity on the other, for the provision of public assets and/or public services, through investments being made and/or management being undertaken by the private sector entity, for a specified period of time, where there is well defined allocation of risk between the private sector and the public entity and the private entity receives performance linked payments that conform (or are benchmarked) to specified and pre-determined performance standards, measurable by the public entity or its representative”.
India has systematically rolled out a PPP program for the delivery of high-priority public utilities and infrastructure and, over the last decade or so, developed what is perhaps one of the largest PPP Programs in the world. With close to 1300 PPP projects in various stages of implementation, according to the World Bank, India is one of the leading countries in terms of readiness for PPPs.
The Government of India recognizes several types of PPPs, including: User-fee based BOT model, Performance based management/maintenance contracts and Modified design-build (turnkey) contracts.
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Advantages of PPP :-
Public private partnerships offer several benefits:
They provide better infrastructure solutions than an initiative that is wholly public or wholly private. Each participant does what it does best.
They result in faster project completions and reduced delays on infrastructure projects by including time-to-completion as a measure of performance and therefore of profit. A public private partnership’s return on investment or ROI might be greater than traditional, entirely private or government methods. Innovative design and financing approaches become available when the two entities work together.
Risks are fully appraised early on to determine project feasibility. In this sense, the private partner can offer a brake on unrealistic government promises or expectations.
The operational and project execution risks are transferred from the government to the private participant, which usually has more experience in cost containment.
Public private partnerships may include early completion bonuses that further increase efficiency. They can sometimes reduce change order costs as well.
By increasing the efficiency of the government’s investment, it allows government funds to be redirected to other important socioeconomic areas.
The greater efficiency of P3s reduces government budgets and budget deficits.
High quality standards are better obtained and maintained throughout the life cycle of the project.
Public private partnerships that reduce costs also allow lower taxes.
Public Private Partnership Disadvantages
P3s also have some drawbacks:
Every public private partnership involves risks for the private participant, which reasonably expects to be compensated for accepting those risks. This can increase government costs.
When there are only a limited number of private entities that can perform these tasks, such as with the development of a jet fighter, the limited number of private participants that are big enough to take these tasks on might limit the competitiveness required for cost effective partnering.
Profits of the projects can vary depending on the assumed risk, competitive level, complexity, and the volume of the project being performed.
If the expertise in the partnership lies heavily on the private side, the government is at an inherent disadvantage. For example, it might be unable to accurately assess the proposed costs.
Q) Employment creation requires creation of social infrastructure as much as it does
require structural reforms. Comment. (200 Words)
The Hindu
Introduction:
India is indeed the fastest growing large economy in the world; yet with investment low, credit offtake low, capacity utilisation in industry low, agricultural growth low, plant load factor low, it is hardly surprising that job growth is low as well.
The pattern of growth is the problem in which it is not manufacturing that has been the leading sector driving growth.
Manufacturing should drive productivity in the whole economy. Services cannot, as services by definition ‘service’ the distribution of produced goods.
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Structural reforms
Integrated industrial and trade policy
An industrial and trade policy is needed. Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) is finally preparing an industrial policy, given the fat that there was no National Manufacturing Policy since 1991 before it came in 2011.
It is essential that trade policy is consistent with such an industrial policy. Otherwise the two may work at cross purposes and undermine each other’s objectives as excessive imports have been decimating Indian manufacturing.
Reverse inverted duty structures
Higher duty on intermediate goods compared to final finished goods, with the latter often enjoying concessional customs duty.
It lead to higher raw material cost at home, emanating from the unfavourable inverted duty structure. This was true for critical sectors like aluminium, steel, chemicals, capital goods, electronics. This has prevented many manufacturing sectors from growing since economic reforms began. The automobiles sector in India faced no inverted duty structure, and has thrived.
This must be corrected.
Special packages for labour-intensive industries
There are a number of labour intensive manufacturing sectors in India such as food processing, leather and footwear, wood manufacturers and furniture, textiles and apparel and garments.
The apparel and garments sector received a package from the Government of India roughly a year back. The other labour intensive sectors have been ignored.
The nature of the package will need to be individually designed for each sector defined as quickly as possible.
Cluster development in MSMEs
There should be cluster development to support job creation in micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).
Most of the unorganised sector employment is in MSMEs, which tend to be concentrated in specific geographic locations.
There are 1,350 modern industry clusters in India and an additional 4,000 traditional product manufacturing clusters, like handloom, handicraft and other traditional single product group clusters.
There is a cluster development programme of the Ministry of MSMEs, which is poorly funded and could be better designed as well.
Spread over 6,000 clusters, it becomes even more inadequate to transform MSMEs located in clusters.
Align urban development with manufacturing clusters
The Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD) has a programme called AMRUT (Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation) aimed at improving infrastructure for small towns. Infrastructure investment by the government always creates many jobs. But the programme does not take into account whether the infrastructure investment under it is taking place in towns which have clusters of unorganised sector economic activities.
Hence an engagement between the Urban Development and MSME Ministries is necessary to ensure that this is happening. It will attract more investment to industrial clusters, which is where most non-agricultural jobs are.
Creation of social infrastructure
Women participation in workforce
Girls are losing out in jobs, or those with increasing education can’t find them, despite having gotten higher levels of education in the last 10 years. Secondary enrolment in the country rose from 58% to 85% in a matter of five years (2010-2015), with gender parity.
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Skilling close to clusters (rather than standalone vocational training providers), which is where the jobs are, is likely to be more successful.
The availability of jobs close to where the skilling is conducted will also enhance the demand for skilling.
Public investment in human development
Public investments in health, education, police and judiciary can create many government jobs.
Health
Given the state of health and nutrition of the population, it is critical that public expenditure on health is increased faster and not as late as 2025.
More government expenditure in health means more jobs in government and better health outcomes.
Education
The number of teachers required, at secondary and higher secondary levels, is very high, particularly in science and mathematics.
Many new government jobs can be provided if more young people could be trained specially to become teachers for science and mathematics at the secondary and higher secondary levels.
More Police and judiciary
State governments are not filling even sanctioned posts in the policy and in the judiciary (at all levels there are vacancies).
More police and a larger judiciary can both reduce crime as well as speed up the process of justice for the ordinary citizen.
Q) Targeted universal electrification through Saubhagya still does not solve the
paying capacity of end users to clear bills despite access. Comment. (200 Words)
The Hindu
Introduction:
Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana, or Saubhagya scheme, was announced
Even after 70 years of Independence, there are more than four crore households which do not have an electricity connection. There are 25 crore households in India and four crore of this would mean nearly 20 per cent.
More than 125 years have passed since the great scientist Thomas Alva Edison invented the bulb. While exhibiting his invention, Edison had said, ‘We will make electricity so cheap that only the rich will burn candles.’
Details
Under the Saubhagya scheme, the government will provide free electricity connections to all poor rural and urban households across the country irrespective of whether the household is in a slum or in some inaccessible area.
The poor households without electricity would be exempted from paying installation charges for electricity connections and that government officials would themselves visit these households to provide the connection.
The government would incur an expenditure of around Rs.16,000 crore in implementing the scheme.
Focus on households than village
It has emerged that the latest scheme is a slightly reworked version of the Deendayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DUGJY), launched in July 2015, which itself was an upgraded version of the Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana, launched by the United Progressive Alliance government in 2005.
Under these two schemes, targets were set for villages while the Saubhagya scheme focusses on covering all households.
As per law, even if 10 per cent of the households in a village have electricity connections, the village is considered to be electrified. So, technically, even if all the villages are electrified, it may not imply that all the households have power connections.
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Criticism
1. Inability to pay bills later
Free electricity connection to all willing Below Poverty Line households and to all others on a payment of ₹500 (which shall be recovered by the power distribution companies/power departments in 10 instalments along with electricity bills), it expects the poor to pay the bills without providing any subsidy to ease their burden.
Even to the best of their abilities the poor would often not be in a position to pay regular electricity bills, which in turn could result in disconnection.
The government has conveniently overlooked the fact that for the poor in some States, the inability to pay an electricity bill is a big impediment.
2. Power shortage for the nation and consequently households
Even if the programme is successful, hypothetically, and all households are provided a connection, there would still be the problem of regular supply.
Industry estimates suggest that this scheme would potentially require an additional 28,000 MW and additional energy of about 80,000 million units per annum, which is roughly 7% of India’s current installed power capacity.
There is a power shortage even at this moment leading to scheduled and unscheduled load shedding, often up to 10 hours or more. The problem is graver still in interior rural India.
Q) The telecom and internet revolution in India has ushered in good connectivity
and infrastructure, but quality of service is poor compared to international
standards. Discuss the issue and suggest reforms. (200 Words)
Livemint
Introduction:
India is pushing ambitious Digital India programme to usher in a digitally empowered society, but quality of service (QoS) of the vital telecom and internet infrastructure that powers digitization has not received much attention.
Before we embark on deploying 5G technologies and networks, as is being advocated by the telecom regulator, it is time to step back and assess the associated QoS issues.
Increasing data usage
While India relies predominantly on wireless data services, the burgeoning demand for more data and better services is indeed becoming a challenge. Total data payload in the Indian telecom network grew 60% over last year to reach 165 petabytes.
Despite the high indices on consumption, India is ranked 89 among 100 countries on average mobile internet connection speed at 4.9 megabits per second (mbps), much behind other Asia-Pacific countries
Network outages, frequent call and packet drops, and congested networks unable to allocate capacity result in increased download times and poor coverage.
Quality of Service
According to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the regulatory goal of a telecom service must be to ensure:
(i) the delivery of acceptable service for telecommunications users; and (ii) that consumers are aware of the variations in performance from various service providers, thereby
allowing them to make an educated choice regarding their preference.
To ensure quality data services, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) had published QoS regulations for wireless data services in 2012, stating the minimum quality benchmarks for every service provider to adhere to and report.
However, TRAI itself has admitted that these measurements and report mechanism have not been beneficial to consumers.
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Issues with measuring quality
1. Evolving standards
QoS measurement of data services and narrowing down of bottlenecks is very different compared to that for voice, due to the inherent “store and forward” characteristics of the internet.
Though there are standardized measurements such as Mean Opinion Score (MOS) for internet telephony calls, measurements and metrics for other applications such as video and chat sessions, media streaming and games are still evolving.
2. Quality of Experience based on varying factors
However, in the case of data services, gauging Quality of Experience may be quite complex as it is subjective and based on factors of usage such as time of day, type of application, type of subscribers (heavy or light data user), type of subscriber contracts (with varying guaranteed speeds and data limits), location and mobility, to name a few.
Way forward
TRAI’s MySpeed app
Owing to consumers persistently complaining about poor QoS/QoE and to enhance transparency, TRAI developed and deployed its MySpeed mobile app and associated portal for crowdsourcing connection speeds and other parameters.
It crowdsources a wealth of data on QoS parameters such as downlink/uplink speeds, network delay and packet loss, which may be analysed to provide concrete recommendations to the regulator on the bottlenecks and associated corrective measures.
However, a robust information disclosure mechanism is much needed, which may aid consumers in knowing the accurate QoS on offer for their broadband services and based on it, enabling informed decision -making.
Building labels to depict service quality
“Consumer broadband labels” like labels on packaged food products and energy ratings on electric appliances are a way. If published by the service providers, these labels disclose speed, reliability, service limits and conditions, pricing and other information for the offered broadband services to consumers in a standard and easily understandable format.
Now that mobile broadband has become the spine of the “digital economy”, it is the right time for us to start an initiative such as this to promote the required transparency and accountability in broadband-service provisioning in the country.
Topic: Science and Technology- developments and their applications and effects in everyday
life
Q) What do you understand by cryptocurrency/crypto-token powered initial coin
offerings (ICO)? Should India regulate ICOs? If yes, how? Examine. (200 Words)
Livemint
Introduction :- ICO is the abbreviation of Initial Coin Offering. It means that someone offers investors some units of a new cryptocurrency or crypto-token in exchange against cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin or Ethereum. Since 2013 ICOs are often used to fund the development of new cryptocurrencies. The pre-created token can be easily sold and traded on all cryptocurrency exchanges if there is demand for them.
An ICO is largely similar to an initial public offering, but it differs to the extent that instead of offering shares in a company, cryptocurrencies or crypto-tokens are offered at a predetermined rate. These crypto-tokens are basically digital assets which can be configured in a number of ways to represent a variety of services.
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Should India regulate ICO :-
Currently, there isn’t much regulatory clarity globally regarding ICOs.
China has recently banned all ICOs in order to check the disruption of economic and financial order in the Chinese market.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission and the Canadian Securities Administrators, on the other hand, have released investor bulletins highlighting that some ICOs may need to be categorized as securities in accordance with the nature of the crypto-token offered.
India should think on regulating ICOs as the cryptocurrencies are the future currencies. They are bound to occupy the traditional currency market and if not regulated can exaggerate the problems of corruption, black money, terror financing etc.
How should India regulate it :- In order to streamline and regulate ICOs in India, there are legal and regulatory challenges that need to be addressed.
Based on their nature, crypto-tokens/cryptocurrencies could be classified as securities or currency or a payment system or intangible property. This classification shall be crucial in determining the regulatory framework governing their issuance even otherwise and through the ICO route.
Compliance requirements will also vary if crypto-token is a currency then it will be required to follow know your customer norms and anti-money laundering requirements—whereas if they are considered securities, then companies will be required to comply with SEBI listing regulations.
crypto-regulations will have to be enacted inter alia governing issuance through ICOs, transfer and management of crypto-tokens, which shall serve as the Bible for intermediaries such as crypto-exchanges and crypto-brokers among others.
In India, there is regulatory opaqueness surrounding the regulation of ICOs. As a crucial first step, it is recommended that a regulatory sandbox approach is followed to develop laws that achieve synergy between new technology, investor protection and effective regulatory oversight. If such an approach is followed, it may lead to greater innovation and investment in India.
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Topic: Awareness in the field of Space; biotechnology; Computers, robotics
Q) The Chinese government has been looking to big data for solutions in areas
ranging from policing to education and urban planning to traffic management; the
optimal use of big data, it believes, can help foster higher economic growth. How can
India use big data to its advantage? What are the challenges it faces in this regard?
Discuss. (200 Words)
The Indian Express
Introduction :- Big data is a term for data sets that are so large or complex that traditional data processing application software is inadequate to deal with them. Big data challenges include capturing data, data storage, data analysis, search, sharing, transfer, visualization, querying, updating and information privacy.
Chinese government is using this big data for multiple uses and Indian government can also use it for making the institutions, governance and people more easy to function.
The use and adoption of big data within governmental processes allows efficiencies in terms of cost, productivity, and innovation.
Advancements in big data analysis offer cost-effective opportunities to improve decision-making in critical development areas such as health care, employment, economic productivity, crime, security, and natural disaster and resource management.
Based on TCS 2013 Global Trend Study, improvements in supply planning and product quality provide the greatest benefit of big data for manufacturing. Big data provides an infrastructure for transparency in manufacturing industry, which is the ability to unravel uncertainties such as inconsistent component performance and availability. India aspires to be global manufacturing hub hence big data role is inevitable.
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Human inspection at the big data scale is impossible and there is a desperate need in health service for intelligent tools for accuracy and believability control and handling of information missed. Indian health care system which is in much broken stage can take help of big data.
A McKinsey Global Institute study found a shortage of 1.5 million highly trained data professionals and managers and a number of universities including University of Tennessee and UC Berkeley, have created masters programs to meet this demand. Indian education system is second largest in world and suffers from many such problems hence can be benefitted with big data.
The use of big data to resolve IT and data collection issues within an enterprise is called IT Operations Analytics (ITOA). By applying big data principles into the concepts of machine intelligence and deep computing, IT departments can predict potential issues and move to provide solutions before the problems even happen
Challenges :-
Data analysis often requires multiple parts of government (central and local) to work in collaboration and create new and innovative processes to deliver the desired outcome.
longstanding challenges for developing regions such as inadequate technological infrastructure and economic and human resource scarcity exacerbate existing concerns with big data such as privacy, imperfect methodology, and interoperability issues.
There is a huge need for Big Data analysts and Data Scientists. The storage of quality data scientists and skilled human resource in this area has slowed down process of use of data analytics.
Big data involves big risks when it comes to the security and the privacy of the data. The tools used for analysis, stores, manages, analyses, and utilizes the data from a different variety of sources. This ultimately leads to a risk of exposure of the data, making it highly vulnerable.
“Data”, Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani said “is the new oil, which does not need to be imported. We have it in super-abundance”. True it is. Hence India must work on taking advantage of this for betterment of it’s citizens.
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Q) A Nobel Prize may be awarded to one but overshadows the efforts of many
working behind the scenes endlessly. Comment. (200 Words)
The Hindu
Introduction :- The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes created by the Swedish industrialist, inventor, and armaments manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Chemistry, Physics, Physiology or Medicine, and Literature. Since March 1901, it has been awarded annually (with some exceptions) to those who have “done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses“.
The Nobel Prize in Physics 2017 was awarded to Rainer Weiss, Barry C. Barish, Kips S. Thorne for- decisive contributions to the LIGO detector and the observation of gravitational waves. The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2017 was awarded to Jacques Dubochet, Joachim Frank, Richard Henderson for- developing cryo-electron microscopy for the high-resolution structure determination of biomolecules in solution.
The Noble Prizes are the highest recognition in world however in the course of its evolution the Nobel Prize has turned out to be much more than feting prize racehorses and it was a single phrase in Alfred Nobel’s will that it was to be a reward for those who “during the preceding year, shall have conferred the greatest benefit to mankind” — that appears to have elevated it.
For this reforms like awarding a prize to women, to multiple people or institutions etc. were done. The one barrier that hasn’t been broken is accepting that science — that’s of the “greatest benefit to mankind” — is now a collective enterprise. A Nobel Prize may be awarded to one but overshadows the efforts of many working behind the scenes endlessly.
It’s often said that a key impediment to allowing groups win the prize is that the rules explicitly bar the prize from being split more than three ways.
It’s time to acknowledge that scientific achievements draw from more than individual genius.
While there may be prizes that give away more money than the Nobel, none can equal it in prestige. That’s because of its long history and ability to ensure that excellence in human intellectual endeavour is duly honoured. Going ahead, the future of Big Science projects increasingly lies in global participation, and the latter is unlikely to be sufficiently incentivised until it gets a fair share of the recognition.
Q) What are bitcoins? How are they beneficial in financial services? Can they be
sustainable as an idea? Discuss. (200 Words)
The Hindu
What is bitcoin?
Bitcoins are “mined” by players by solving complex mathematical puzzles that require combining guesses with running algorithms. Each step creates a block of transactions linked or chained to the puzzle in the previous block—hence the term “blockchain”. When the puzzle is solved the miner is rewarded with an allocation of bitcoins.
However, the process of generating new bitcoins is planned and the total volume to be generated is capped.
The cap is 21 million bitcoins and the pace of their generation is adjusted downwards so that the cap is reached only in 2140. As of now, around 16.7 million bitcoins have been released.
Launched in 2009, the role of bitcoin has always been in question
Arguments in favour
1. Competition to national currencies good
Enthusiasts argue that cryptocurrencies like bitcoin are rapidly transforming into mainstream money that will offer serious competition to national currencies issued by central banks.
Decentralised management by a community that can ensure integrity through verification of transactions over a “public”, peer-to-peer network
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2. Excellent returns
Extraordinary return the digital currency has given investors as its price has witnessed a meteoric rise, from just a few cents in 2010 to hit a lifetime high of over $11,000 last week. In 2017 alone, bitcoin price has increased by over 1000%.
Other cryptocurrencies like Ethereum too have shown equally impressive gains and falls, particularly over the last year.
Therefore they see bitcoin’s current price rise as merely a reflection of its bright future as a stateless currency.
3. Protect identity
One advantage of the currency is that transactions involving movements of large volumes of money across space and borders can be conducted without revealing the identity of the transactor.
Arguments against
1. Financial bubble
Sceptics, however, have pointed to the Tulip Bubble of the 17th century and Internet stocks of the late 1990s as cautionary examples.
Prices are clearly being driven by speculation, as there is no underlying asset to back them. Further, rising prices will attract more people to start such currencies and invest in them. This will increase the contact of virtual currencies with formal finance, and developments in this market would affect the financial system.
2. Acceptability low
Yet the fundamental value of any currency is based not on its underlying technology but on its general acceptability as money for the purpose of commerce.
Bitcoin, or any other cryptocurrency, is nowhere close to widespread use as a medium that helps in the exchange of goods and services.
Earlier this year, a Morgan Stanley research note concluded that bitcoin’s acceptance “is virtually zero”.
In fact, it found that the acceptance of bitcoin among the top 500 online retailers actually dropped in the last year.
In itself there was no reason to expect that bitcoin would emerge as an alternative asset, since there was nothing endowing it with value other than the state of demand relative to the limited quantity being put into the market.
So long as that demand was restricted to those from the “bitcoin community”, the virtual currency had little value in terms of real currency.
3. Affects investment in areas wherever required
An increase in the use of such instruments could also affect financial intermediation, investment and growth. Therefore, it is important for policymakers to carefully evaluate the potential costs and benefits of a possible rise in the use of unregulated cryptocurrencies.
4. Financial instability
If automated risk management, smart contracts, and similar tools are deployed across a network, cascades of rapid and hard-to-control obligations and liquidity flows could propagate across a network
This interdependence will likely call for creative organizational thinking to address the need for governance and strong risk management.
A central bank manages the supply and cost of money in the system to attain maximum growth with price stability. But in the world of unregulated cryptocurrencies, central banks may find it difficult to manage the level of economic activity.
5. Financial avenue for criminals due to identity security
Criminals of various kinds have been using the currency to transfer funds.
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For example, demand for bitcoins initially rose because drug dealers were making payments with the currency on the Silk Road website. Since then there have been many reports about the links between illegal activities and the bitcoin market.
Conclusion
The blockchain technology may well have some merits, as shown by increasing interest in it even among central banks and other financial institutions. Many have even started offering financial products and services centred around bitcoin.
It is also a telling sign of the times where easy monetary policy has pushed investors starved of yield in traditional assets into highly risky assets like bitcoin.
A prudential decision should be made by taking all the pros and cons into consideration before the central bank issues digital currency.
Q) Robotisation can either emancipate the labour sector or further exploit it.
Comment. (200 Words)
The Hindu
Robotisation for the welfare of worker
If properly managed, the robotic revolution could be a chance to free millions of people from a system of exploitation of labour which is unprecedentedly inhumane.
1. Creation of alternate humane jobs
A socially sensitive policy should consider this a chance for the government to gather advantages from higher robotisation and distribute them to the work force by creating job alternatives.
2. Less working hours
The Industrial Revolution and the continuous automation of work have morphed us into becoming increasingly less human workers. This is the central premise before looking into what robotisation can offer to the future of work in India.
By providing subsidies and employment systems with less working hours — such as part-time and work from home, robotisation can be a game changer.
3. Distributing gains of robotised work
Robotised work should distribute earnings to those who will permanently lose their jobs. And this could be done in very specific ways.
Robotisation may exploit workers
1. Poor wages for workers improving robots
AI companies are hiring women and youth and in turn spending some of its profit on education and drinking water for the community. But what is passed for bringing employment to underdeveloped areas is neo-colonial exploitation at its best. Workers are paid peanuts to build the very same AI that will render them obsolete.
To refine conversation skills, a digital AI assistant needs to be told over and over when it has failed. If the workers understood the ramifications of their work, they might demand to be paid much more.
2. Transformation of worker in cyborg era
The movement to “humanistic intelligence” era in which we transform our workers, first with wearable computers (smartwatches and Google glasses are a beginning, the new smartphones operating according to moods, gaze and gestures are the next step), and then with deeper integration, like implanting chips under the skin of their employees’ wrists.
It is called “shortening the chain of command”— from the smart screen era, to the cyborg era.
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At first, technology might not immediately take all our jobs, but it will take over our bodies. This is how humans will compete with robots in an intermediary phase. What does it mean for society and its sense of identity, our relationship to our bodies?
There might be a lot of jobs for our new cyborg selves out there, in what is called the aug-mediated reality. Humans, some argue, are not to be defended, but expanded. So, humans will have to become transhumanistic, pimped-up cyborgs, with mechanical elements expanding our physical limitations.
Way forward
1. Higher wages for people collecting data for robot optimisation
Enforce a high international minimum wage for all data-entry and data-supervision workers. Help people who are “feeding the machine” be better paid for contributing to coding reality into its virtual version.
2. Nationalisation or licensing of robots
As labour is being transformed at its roots, economic forces are not the only determining factor, but also ethical and political, we should find ways so that everyone must benefit from the capital generated by robotisation.
Alternative form of ownership of the robots should be explored like they can become public property, since they are objects that occupy and operate on public grounds, impacting public economy and nation-wide employment.
Robots owned by private companies could be allowed to operate only by purchasing a costly state licence, benefitting society at large or, specifically, displaced workers, thus funding unemployment.
3. Job permits for robots
Creating “job permits for robots” is also an option so that part of the revenue they raise with their work goes directly to finance the pension funds of the workers made redundant by robotisation.
Q) What are Yescarta (axicabtagene ciloleucel) and Kymriah therapies? Discuss
their applications and risks. (150 Words)
The Indian Express
Yescarta
Yescarta (axicabtagene ciloleucel) therapy is a newly discovered way to fight cancer by an alteration of genes — a type of gene therapy that turns cells in the patient’s body into a “living drug” that targets and kills cancer cells
It is for adult patients with certain types of large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), who have not responded to or who have relapsed after at least two other kinds of treatment.
Kymriah
Earlier in “making the first gene therapy available in the United States”, approving Kymriah (tisagenlecleucel) for certain paediatric and young adult patients (up to 25 years of age) with a form of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), who had failed to respond to other types of treatments.
ALL is a cancer of the bone marrow and blood, in which the body makes abnormal lymphocytes.
How exactly does gene therapy for cancer work?
Both Yescarta and Kymriah use ‘CAR-T cells’.
CAR-T cell therapy works by helping the patient’s own immune system to fight cancer. CAR stands for “chimeric antigen receptor” — engineered receptors that are grafted on to the patient’s ‘T cells’.
T cells are a type of lymphocytes (a kind of white blood cells) that destroy infected or cancerous cells. After their re-engineering in the lab, T cells are called CAR-T cells.
Once they are re-introduced into the patient’s bloodstream, the army of CAR-T cells multiplies, and goes after the cancer cells.
Each dose of Kymriah or Yescarta is a customised treatment that is created using the individual patient’s own T cells.
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Risks
Yescarta has the potential to cause severe side effects
Among potential complications are cytokine release syndrome (CRS), a response to the activation and proliferation of CAR-T cells, which leads to high fever and neurological problems.
Both CRS and neurologic toxicities can be fatal or life-threatening.
Other side effects include serious infections, low blood cell counts and a weakened immune system.
Side effects from treatment with Yescarta usually appear within the first one to two weeks, but some side effects may occur later.
Both Yescarta and Kymriah are being allowed only gradually, and will be available with a trained set of oncology professionals.
Topic: Issues relating to intellectual property rights
Q) To enhance innovation, the ingenuity of ideas must also be protected. Comment.
(200 Words)
The Indian Express
Introduction:
India is placed 60th among 127 countries according to the Global Innovation Index of 2017 — an index prepared by Cornell University, INSEAD and the World Intellectual Property Organisation. Switzerland tops the list followed by Sweden, the Netherlands, the US and UK. Singapore is ranked seventh, Japan is at the 14th position, Israel is ranked 17th, and China 22nd.
Why protecting innovation is required?
1. Failed government efforts
National Innovation Council (NIC) was constituted in 2010 under Sam Pitroda, then adviser to the prime minister on innovations. The NIC’s key mandate was to draw a roadmap for innovations between 2010 and 2020. The council submitted three annual reports to the government, the last of which was in 2013.
Sectoral innovation councils were set up in 25 major departments of the Union government, including in the ministry of agriculture.
State Innovation Councils were also set up.
The idea behind the setting up of these councils was to mainstream the idea of innovation in the functioning of the Union and state governments.
2. Innovation cannot happen in government agencies
However, it soon became evident that despite the government’s best intentions, there were hardly any innovative ideas which could be scaled up to the national level.
This shows that government organisations are not ideally suited to devise game-changing innovations as they are mired in routine work.
The work of the Sectoral Councils proves that innovations are designed in a supporting environment, irrespective of the size or nature of an organisation.
Way forward
The most important support that the government can provide is to protect the innovation itself.
The first lesson is to create an enabling environment to safeguard the intellectual property of individuals, private and public companies that develop new products and ideas using their own investments.
PM Modi said that “Innovation is life. When there is no innovation, there is stagnation”.
In budget 2015, the finance minister announced the setting up of the Atal Innovation Mission.
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Topic: Environmental pollution; conservation;
Q) Environmental concerns by the public and state institutions should be weighed
in proportion with the universal right to dissent. Comment in the light of
the National Green Tribunal’s (NGT) ban on protests at Jantar Mantar Road. (200
Words)
The Indian Express
Introduction :- The National Green Tribunal (NGT) ban on protests at Jantar Mantar Road has justifiably raised apprehensions and concerns about the shrinking spaces for democratic dissent in the country’s capital.
Ban on basis of three criteria :-
Jantar Mantar is not an authorised site for protests
Jantar Mantar Road is marked as a residential area in the Delhi Master Plan and hence cannot be allowed to be used for other purpose
the protestors and agitators cause pollution, particularly noise pollution, because of unregulated use of loudspeakers and amplifiers, public address systems, drums
However though the above stated reasons are just environmental concerns by the public and state institutions should be weighed in proportion with the universal right to dissent.
Issues of littering, sanitation, and even of cow protection groups bringing cows and carts to the area have been mentioned in the NGT order as justification for the ban However, what the NGT has clearly overlooked in its zeal to sanitise the area is that master plans and zoning laws are open-ended documents.
Cities have an organic life of their own; it is restrictive and even absurd to insist that they be bound and confined by the imperfections of masterplans conceived long ago.
The Jantar Mantar area became the preferred site for those protesting against government policy and injustice when authorities banned them from the Boat Club lawns citing security reasons.
Jantar Mantar turned out to be a hospitable site for dissent since it is easily accessible to citizens while being close to Parliament, unlike the Ramlila Maidan, an open ground in a chaotic and congested locality of the city.
Jantar Mantar turned out to be a hospitable site for dissent since it is easily accessible to citizens while being close to Parliament, unlike the Ramlila Maidan, an open ground in a chaotic and congested locality of the city.
Q) Global Environmental Policy need stability as much as it needs consensus. With
reference to the Paris Agreement, identify the key outcomes of the same with India’s
take towards them. (200 Words)
The Hindu
Introduction :- The Paris Agreement or Paris climate accord or Paris climate agreement is an agreement within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) dealing with greenhouse gas emissions mitigation, adaptation and finance starting in the year 2020. The language of the agreement was negotiated by representatives of 196 parties at the 21st Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC in Paris and adopted by consensus on 12 December 2015.
The 23rd UNFCCC conference being held at Bonn in Germany. The meeting will primarily concentrate on various aspects associated with the implementation of the Paris Agreement (PA), which was negotiated at COP-21.
Treats of instability and inconsistency :-
In June 2017, U.S. President Donald Trump announced his intention to withdraw the United States from the agreement, causing widespread condemnation both internationally and domestically. Under the agreement, the earliest effective date of withdrawal for the U.S. is November 2020.
There is speculation whether the formal withdrawal of the U.S. would alter the stance taken by Europe, Australia, and large countries at the COP and what role, if any, the U.S. would play behind the scenes.
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The target set in COP21 refers to adhering limits of 1.5 Celsius. However many scientist and scholars argue that this limit is no way suitable to the changing challenges of global warming. Soon planet needs to prepare to limit 4 Celsius fall in temperature.
India’s stance :-
India is responsible for 6% of the global CO2 emissions following China, which accounts for 28%, the United States for 16% and the European Union 10%. In terms of per capita CO2 emissions, 10 other countries are ahead of India.
As part of the initial commitments to the agreement, India also plans to reduce its carbon emission intensity – emission per unit of GDP – by 33-35% from 2005 levels over 15 years. It aims at producing 40% of its installed electricity capacity by 2030 from non-fossil fuels.
This would mean India will have to shift significantly from coal-based power generation to renewable energy sources. It will have to produce 100 gigawatt from solar, 60 gigawatt from wind, 10 gigawatt from biomass and 5 gigawatt from small hydropower by 2022.
Additional information :-
Bonn meet agenda :-
The meetings in Bonn will cover a wide range of issues, including adjusting to living in a warmer world with the associated impacts, known as adaptation to climate change and reduction in greenhouse gases, referred to as mitigation.
They will also include sessions on loss and damage, or the means of addressing economic and non-economic forfeitures and potential injury associated with climate change.
Finally, the discussions will be about the implementation of targets that were decided by each country ahead of the Paris meeting, referred to as the nationally determined contributions (NDCs), and the finance, capacity building and technology transfer required by developing countries from rich nations.
Q) The complementary phenomena of executive abdication and judicial activism
have created an ugly spectacle of environmental mismanagement in India. Critically
comment. (200 Words)
Livemint
Introduction :- In recent years, there has been a sustained focus on the role played by the higher judiciary of India in devising and monitoring the implementation measures for pollution control, conservation of forests and wildlife protection. Many of these judicial interventions have been triggered by the persistent incoherence in policy due to executive abdication.
In modern India, failure of the state agencies in effective enforcing the environmental law non- compliance of the polluters, degrading norms has resulted in degrading of the environment, responsibility of environmental protection upon the Judiciary.
In some instances the judiciary has to not only exercise its role as an interpreter of the law, Judicial Activism in Environmental protection especially by means of various Public Interest Litigation has been initiated in various courts has gained importance.
In accordance with the growing national awareness and with the global perspectives of environment and development, Right to healthy environment is established in constitutional interpretations of Article 21 of the Constitution of India.
The provisions inserted in the Constitution by the 42ndAmendment which is relating to the protection of environment. It is the part dealing in Directive Principles of State Policy as Article 48A and Article 51A (g) imposes duty on citizens to protect the environment and improve it.
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However all this has created an ugly face of environmental mismanagement in India which can be seen from following cases
The Supreme Court recently banned the firecrackers in Delhi. The decision requires weighing trade-offs, which would depend on numerous inputs from scientific organizations, regulatory institutions, public policy experts and civil society. Since a court of law does not have in-house expertise in these domains, it should leave such matters to the executive. As bans are rarely effective the firecrackers were bursted and environmental pollution was not in control. The manner in which the Supreme Court has dealt with this particular case also raises a number of concerns.
Supreme Court had increased the entry tax on trucks entering Delhi without factoring in the demand elasticity of goods (carried in those trucks) transported to Delhi, an overwhelmingly consumption-heavy state.
Supreme Court had ordered the conversion of the public transport fleet in Delhi from diesel to CNG. Even as the order was passed without the requisite infrastructure being ready, it was lauded widely and did indeed improve the quality of air over the next few years. But questions still remained. Pratap Bhanu Mehta, a leading political scientist, for example, has asked whether the court achieved the lowering of air pollution in a cost-effective manner.
WAY FORWARD :-
It is high time the executive returned to take charge at the wheel. The elected government is in the best position to elicit scientific and economic inputs and take a call, even if it involves expending political capital.
The governments at the Centre and the states should involve different agencies like the Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation and the pollution control boards and invest in setting regulatory standards for the medium to long term.
In the past few years, there are several judgments have not been implemented for lack of political or administrative will or because of other lacunae. Nevertheless Judiciary is actively playing its role in spite of repetitive failure of other organs.
In public perception, the judiciary is the last hope and it is necessary that the executive enforces its orders. In addition, the role of concerned citizens, NGOs and the media visual enactment of various provisions of the law, especially related to development and environmental issues, have become phenomenal.
Q) Air Pollution suffers from multifaceted turbulences without a national action
plan. Comment. (200 Words)
Down to Earth
Introduction:
British journal Lancet that concluded that there were 25 lakh premature deaths in India in 2015 due to air pollution.
While Delhi is the focus of current discussions, the reality is that many Indian cities have poor air quality.
Three years ago, the writing on the wall was the revelation by the World Health Organisation (WHO) that Delhi was the most polluted city in the world, and 13 out of the 20 worst impacted were in north India.
The tell-tale parameter is the smallest measurable particulate matter — PM of less than 2.5 microns — which was an annual average of 153 micrograms per cubic metre that year, well above the WHO limit of 35. Beijing, which was previously the black sheep of the world’s urban air contamination, recorded 53 micrograms.
Air pollution in India suffers from the multifaceted turbulences in the following ways
1. Lack of policy and institutional coordination
Due to lack of comprehensive National Action Plan, there is no coordination between Central Pollution Control Board, NGT, states, urban local bodies to control air pollution. Many a times their decisions come in conflict or overlap.
There is a lack of decisive and persistent policy actions, butt panic-driven and ill-considered bans like cracker ban.
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2. Impact of pollution on many aspects
Air pollution affects economy in major ways, besides health burden as suggested by Global disease burden.
So there is a need to formulate National Action Plan so that comprehensive network can be built with utmost coordination.
Collaboration of all the stakeholders will be achieved.
.National, State, District wise Air Pollution Index can be maintained
Use of big data, artificial intelligence & satellites to keep real time data on air pollution
It can be brought in sync with the international declarations like Paris Agreement, Kyoto Protocol.
A synergy with National Energy Policy of the Plan can also be established so that renewable energy is generated.
A National Plan also act as a tool for mass awareness about the importance of forestry, organic farming which curtails air pollution
Way forward
There is a need to take decisive and persistent policy actions, not panic-driven and ill-considered bans.
The targets to produce 175 GW from renewable energy by 2022, International Solar Alliance, FAME, BS-IV vehicle are in the same direction.
Regulation, including laws concerning land use
Giving priority to public transport over private – In 2002, when the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) rang the alarm bell about the quality of air in the capital and fought for the substitution of diesel with compressed natural gas (CNG) in all public transport.
Creating public access to open and green areas
Checking sources of pollution in the surrounding areas for a city is not an island.
Q) To prefer clean fuel is a combination of policy concurrence and citizen awareness.
Comment on the need on a clean fuel and energy consumption policy need by India
on an urgent basis. (200 Words)
The Indian Express
Introduction:
Clean fuel refer to those energy sources which do not pollute the environment. These include Natural Gas, Electricity, Hydrogen, Propane, Biodiesel, Methanol.
India will soon overtake China with the most number of deaths caused by respiratory illness.
Today when our per capita energy consumption is 521 kgoe (kilogram/oil equivalent) and the bulk of our population lives in villages. The situation in 2040 when the per capita energy consumption would have doubled to approximately 1,100 kgoe (the Niti Aayog’s projection) and nearly a billion urbanites would be looking at internal combustion engines for mobility.
India has opted for Clean Energy by acceding to United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Kyoto Protocol in 2002 and more recently has ratified the Paris Convention on Climate Change.
Government Policies
Renewable Energy
India has set the ambitious target of 175-GW renewable energy by 2022.
Solar Energy
The government has set itself a target of 100 GW of solar power by 2022, of which 60 GW is to come from utilities and 40 GW from rooftop solar installations.
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Wind Farms
These are slated to be installed in Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Odisha, Karnataka.
Electricity generation
By 2030, 40% of the country’s electricity needs would come from non-fossil fuel.
Citizen Awareness on access to renewable energy
1. Electric Vehicles
The sale of Electric vehicles are leady rising in number. This comes just a year after ratification of the Paris Conference when the need for Renewable Energy was thrown into the spotlight.
2. Solar Power
Use of Solar lamps in rural and Semi-Urban areas, Rooftop solar installations in Apartment and Commercial complexes are on the rise.
3. Private Companies participation
Tata Motors has collaborated with Energy Efficency Services Limited (EESL) under the administration of Ministry of Power to supply 10,000 EVs
LITHIUM URBAN is an Electric Cab Service Startup soon to open doors.
Limited capacity of renewables to replace fossils
Renewables cannot replace coal as the bulwark of the energy system in the foreseeable future.
In 2040, fossil fuels (coal, oil, gas) will together contribute between 70 per cent to 80 per cent of our primary energy requirements.
Coal offers the cheapest source of energy, electricity infrastructure is built around this fuel, alternatives are not competitive and vested interests (politicians, labour unions, mafia) make it “fiendishly difficult” to substantively replace this fuel.
A quarter of our population does not have access to electricity; 40 per cent still use firewood and dung for cooking and lighting.
Against this backdrop, that we eschew our most abundant and cheapest energy resource because of what Subramanian refers to as “carbon imperialism” would be political, economic and social naïveté of the highest order.
Way forward
Niti Aayog circulated a Draft National Energy Policy,
It suggests that the government should augment coal production but also support renewables.
It should conserve demand, improve efficiency of usage but also develop green coal technologies like coal gasification.
Q) Demarcating silence zones can be only as effective to curb noise pollution as their
implementation. Comment. (200 Words)
Down to Earth
Introduction:
Noise pollution refers to the situation when the noise is beyond a standard limit affecting the health of the people of the area in an adverse manner.
Noise pollution can cause hypertension, high stress levels, tinnitus, hearing loss, sleep disturbances, and other harmful effects.
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Silence zones
The neighbourhoods of hospitals are declared silence zones so that patients receiving treatment are not disturbed. So are the areas around schools, colleges, courts and other such places that need to be noise-free.
As per the standards, the decibel level in silence zones should not exceed 50 dB during the day and 40 dB during the night. But, sound levels at the sites varied from 56 dB to even as high as 77 dB for the day time and from 51 dB to 75 dB for the night.
Policy to curb noise pollution
Noise Pollution (Regulation and Control) (Amendment) Rules, 2010 has been in order to address the issue of noise pollution.
These rules include restriction on use of horns, sound emission construction equipment and bursting of fire crackers.
It is restricted to honk, burst crackers, use construction equipment in silent zones during night times unless it is an emergency.
Implementation of Rules an issue
The above data highlights the fact that even the best rules fail to achieve the desired results if its implementation is not done properly.
People are not aware of the rules and the authority concerned to complain. Even the implementing agencies are not monitoring the compliance properly.
Steps needed
1. Expand network for monitoring of noise
The data collected through the National Ambient Noise Monitoring Network of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).
The CPCB had set up the network in two phases. The first batch of 35 monitoring stations was set up in 2011 and the second, again of 35 stations, in 2014.
The noise monitoring network be further expanded so that the authorities could develop detailed noise maps
2. Institute remedial efforts
Installation of noise barriers for hospitals and other sensitive buildings,
Enforcement of speed limits for heavy vehicles traversing through residential areas
Demarcation of no-honking zones
Adoption of proper land use plans.
Conclusion
Hence first, the implementing authorities are to be made accountable & ensure they do regular inspections and punish the defaulters as per the rules.
Second, the public vigilance is important. People are needed to be created awareness on the rules & their right for a peaceful environment.
Q) Negative Emissions models are not able to limit global warming indicators and
alternative approaches may be explored. Examine. (200 Words)
The Hindu
Introduction:
Negative emissions refers to removing the carbon dioxide present in the atmosphere in excess or changing the radiation pattern of the earth through geo-engineering. It is like a cure to the blunder man has already manifested.
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The solution however lies more in prevention than the cure per se due to the inability of this method to control the situation.
Negative emission effects will be limited because
It will take time to convert into effective results
It requires huge investment in infra and technology to reduce emission cuts
Unequal resources between the countries as many developing countries need to have more push for industrialization to improve their economy
The need of the hour is to reduce the source of emission itself by:
1. USE OF RENEWABLE SOURCE OF ENERGY
Eco friendly sources of energy will help reduce carbon emission like use of hydro power and solar energy.
2. Carbon Tax
Progressive tax as per increasing carbon emission can be levied to ensure that individuals and institutions are forced to reduce carbon emissions.
3. INCENTIVIZING SCHEME
Incentives can be given to those who achieve in reducing carbon emissions.
4. REDUCTION IN VEHICULAR EMISSIONS
Adopting cleaner fuels and better protocols can lead to lesser emissions.
5. FILTERING THE POLLUTING EMISSIONS
The smoke from pollution causing industries can be filtered before being left in the environment.
Way forward
1. At rural level
Afforestation and better farming practices. Instead of stubble burning in open, using machines to cut the stubbles and convert them as source of energy in bio plants.
2. At urban level
Use of electric vehicles
Encourage public transport
FAME India should pace up its projects.
Adoption of natural gas- Urja Ganga, Gas4campaign, Subsidy on CNG vehicles.
3. At industrial level
Transition to renewable sources
Integration with grid sources
Carbon tax
New thermal plants also needs to build renewable sources within their premises
4. At international level
Use of space satellites for better planning of projects
Mapping of hotspots to deal them effectively
Best international practices needs to be built in developing countries like Germany is using renewable sources for its energy requirement, Bhutan’s carbon neutral model can also be replicated.
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Q) Laws such as the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers
(Recognition of Forest Rights) Act and the purpose of national parks seems to be in
contradiction when it comes to conservation of ecosystem and protection of
livelihood of forest people. Comment. (200 Words)
EPW
Introduction:
Laws such as scheduled tribes and other traditional forest dwellers (recognition of rights) and the wildlife protection act ( for national parks establishment) are found to be contradictory to each other.
On one hand where the former is recognising the legitimate rights of scheduled tribes who are living there since generations and attempts to empower them with devolution of powers from forest department to Gram sabha.
On the other hand wildlife protection act which seeks for the establishment of the national parks and other reservations to conserve ecosystem prevent tribals from accessing the rights ascertained by the former.
There are several contradictions in the implementation of the acts
1. Forest rights
The former act recognises the rights of tribal communities and assures them that by allowing them NISTRA, habitation and self cultivable land.
The latter focuses primarily on the health of the ecosystem and biodiversity.
2. Freedom to navigate and trade
The former allows forest dwellers to transport minor produce with appropriate transport.
Wildlife protection act restricts the movement and use and disposal of resources in the defined sensitive area
3. Decentralisation vs centralisation
The former relies heavily on gram sabha committee and give them right to even modify management plans of forest after consultation .
The latter depends more on state administration to bring any change in plans.
Consclusion
Forest Rights Act 2006 was not applicable to national parks and sanctuaries as they were considered sensitive, thereby restricting rights of forest dwellers. But the government amended rules of FRA in 2012, allowing tribals to claim certain forest rights in National Parks and Wildlife sanctuaries subject to verification by forest rights committee in consultation with forest rights department.
Though the content of both acts seems to be contradicting but the contextual study of the acts presents a much clearer picture and their relative importance to each other .for eg :- every forest dweller area is not chosen fit for a national park or sanctuary . It can be said that both acts are accomodative in nature and promotes human rights along with sustainable environment .
Topic: Disaster and disaster management
Q) Climate Change and Disaster Risk Reduction are correlated and should be
simultaneously addressed. Comment. (200 Words)
The Hindu
Introduction:- In recent times, Category 5 hurricanes in the Caribbean and in the American mainland; record floods across Bangladesh, India and Nepal; and drought emergencies in 20 countries in Africa have damaged these regions, killed hundreds, and ruined the lives of millions. These events show the co-relation of climate change and disaster risk.
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Climate change is a change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns when that change lasts for an extended period of time (i.e., decades to millions of years). Climate change may refer to a change in average weather conditions, or in the time variation of weather within the context of longer-term average conditions. Climate change is caused by factors such as biotic processes, variations in solar radiation received by Earth, plate tectonics, and volcanic eruptions. Certain human activities have been identified as primary causes of ongoing climate change, often referred to as global warming.
Disaster risk reduction (DRR) is a systematic approach to identifying, assessing and reducing the risks of disaster. It aims to reduce socio-economic vulnerabilities to disaster as well as dealing with the environmental and other hazards that trigger them.
Both are co-related hence should be simultaneously addressed :-
While 4.2 million people dying prematurely each year from ambient pollution, the effect of heat-trapping greenhouse gases on extreme weather events is coming into sharper focus.
During the last two years, over 40 million people, mainly in countries which contribute least to global warming, have been forced from their homes by disasters.
There is clear consensus: rising temperatures are increasing the amount of water vapour in the atmosphere, leading to more intense rainfall and flooding in some places, and drought in others.
While carbon emissions are expected to drop as countries meet their targets, the impacts of climate change may be felt for some time, leaving the world with little choice but to invest, simultaneously, in efforts to adapt to climate change and reduce disaster risk. This will require international cooperation.
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Way forward :-
Topic: Linkages between development and spread of extremism.
Q) “The relationship between underdevelopment and Maoist activity cannot be
explained in simple economic terms.'” Comment. (200 Words)
EPW
Introduction :- A Naxal or Naxalite is a member of the Communist Party of India (Maoist). The term Naxal derives from the name of the village Naxalbari in West Bengal, where the movement had its origin. Naxalites are considered far-left radical communists, supportive of Maoist political sentiment and ideology.
It was perceived that Naxalism stems from the economic causes. The alienation of tribal from their forest resources, wrecking of their land rights etc. Hence efforts were made to spread economic developments through spread of industries, IITs and NITs level educational institutions.
However other factors have played huge role in Moist activities :-
The lack of human development causes anger and resentments amongst the people. They feel alienated and excluded. In addition often local elites are engaged in exploiting, harassing and even torturing the tribal population
Their causes for supporting the violent movement are manifold. Among these groups persists low degree of employment and qualification, new forest policies with restriction for their livelihoods, cultural humiliation, weak access to health care, education and power, restricted and limited access to natural resources, multifaceted forms of exploitation, social atrocities, displacement and deficient rehabilitation programs, political marginalization and suppression of protests.
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The slow implementation of land reforms is the main reason for the growth of Naxalism. Landlords frequently moved the court to delay implementation of these reforms. They also connived with local politicians and bureaucrats, making the land reform process slow and cumbersome.
The social structure of society in these areas could be cited as a second reason for emergence of the Naxalite problem. Invariably, wherever the Naxalite problem exists, there is a poor section of society, with no resources to meet their quality requirements.
The most Naxal affected areas Jharkhand, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, and Andhra Pradesh are rich in natural resources. In this area, natural resources are not only reason of promoting Naxalite movement. It could be one of the reasons, but not the only reason.
The failure of the government to reach out to these areas is another major factor that aids the growth of Naxalism in these areas. The governance is poor or worse, in certain places it is nonexistent. Popular schemes take long to devise but longer to implement. Even while implementing, the benefit always reach those who are the „naves‟ and not those who are in need.
The Indian aboriginals, known as adivasis, live these richly forested lands, which are wanted for development by businesses. The conflict between economic progress and aboriginal land rights continues to fuel the Naxalite‟s activities.
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Government has taken many steps to address the problem of Naxalism like Rehabilitation and Resettlement Policy, 2007, Forest Rights Act, 2006, Chhattisgarh Special Public Securities Act, 2006, schemes like Nai Roashani etc. The complexity of the causes of the Naxalite problem as well as its implications both for internal and external security reflect a solution that is multi-dimensional and calls for a synergy between the central governments and the states.
Therefore the state must start to fight the conflict legally, minimize collateral damage, strengthen the leadership of the security forces and abstain from any human rights violation. The security forces should better start protecting the population living within the area of conflict instead of merely confronting the Maoists on large scale. The Naxalite movement must be challenged politically by presenting better alternatives to the Maoist approach and offer new perspectives. In this regard the state should start addressing the basic needs of the poor and fulfilling its main responsibilities to deliver human development to these disadvantaged areas.
Topic: Various Security forces and agencies and their mandate
Q) Convergence of the armed forces in an egalitarian manner can address the
mechanics of national security. Comment with reference to the prospect of
integrating Armed Forces. (200 Words)
The Hindu
Introduction :- The recent comments by Indian Air Force, Vice Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal S.B. Deo that “Ours is a growing country, our budget is limited. We cannot afford duplicating capabilities. We cannot have an Air Force with the Army, an Air Force with the Navy and another Air Force.” Has created debate over the possibilities of integration of Armed forces.
Advantages and need for integration :-
Chief of Defence staff post :- India’s strategic weaknesses that have emerged in the wars since 1947 centre on lack of war preparedness, poor intelligence and crippling processing of defence requirements. Subrahmanyam Committee proposed having a CDS for the first time after the review of Kargil war. Such post under integration will prevent any mis-communication and inefficiency in handling war like situations.
India’s land borders and threats are predominantly land-based and oriented. Despite technological advances India’s defence requirements would be man-power extensive based on the Indian Army. Hence integration under Army is needed.
The three Armed Forces function largely as separate executive entities without adequate coordination and wastage of resources. For ex. the army, air force and navy wastefully have their own separate logistics networks which results in considerable redundancy and even more waste.
Close monitoring and candid joint assessment of emerging situations, their implications and responses instead of three separate assessments is a must in the national interest, and this can only occur through better management of higher defence.
It will ensure service specific approach to operations towards a system which avoids duplication, ensures optimum utilisation of available resources, brings in greater jointness, leads to timely and mature decisions to developing situations and ensures flawless execution of orders to achieve success in battle.
Way forward :-
After much deliberation, the consensus has turned towards a Permanent Chairman Chiefs of Staff Committee (CoSC), a four star officer equivalent to the three service chiefs, while ideally what the country needs is a full-fledged five star officer. The four star officer would serve no real purpose except adding to the already existing protocol nightmare and complicating the situation further.
The Defence Ministry is yet to form a view on the subject. But experience from the US, Russia and China shows that the decision to create integrated theatre commands will have to be a political one, which will then be executed by the defence services.
A precursor to the creation of integrated theatre commands has to be the appointment of a Chief of Defence Staff or Permanent Chairman, COSC. This was first proposed by the GoM in 2001, but hasn’t been implemented
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so far. Even the last Combined Commanders Conference at Dehradun in February, chaired by the Prime Minister, was inconclusive on the subject, with a consensus on taking the proposal forward.
The recently released ‘Joint military doctrine of the Indian armed forces 2017’ made the right noise on jointness and integration, but much work is needed on the ground to achieve desired goal.
Topic: Role of external state and non-state actors in creating challenges to internal security
Q) Social Network suffers from an authenticity problem only to be solved by internal
and external regulations. Comment. (200 Words)
Livemint
Why regulation of social media for fake news important?
Social media has become the largest source of news.
It sells ads against content, it hires moderators, it censors certain types of content, it commissions content providers to create original products and so on—that place it squarely in the media category. Facebook or Twitter doesn’t need to hire (or pay) journalists to produce journalism.
However they claim that they were not a media companies, but tech companies which hire engineers and not reporters.
Today, if the potentially libellous information was published on a platform like Facebook or Twitter, the platform won’t be liable for any damages. In media, however, both the outlet and the journalist can be held responsible. That’s where the regulation of social media needs to change.
Internal regulations
Making Facebook directly responsible for everything it publishes would probably be going too far, but not for the reasons Facebook itself puts forward.
It keeps saying it’s unable to police the vast sea of content its billion users produce.
That’s a flawed argument; attracting hundreds of millions of unpaid writers and refusing to edit them because there are too many wouldn’t have saved any other news outlet from liability.
Social media must update its algorithms which can catch hate content effectively.
External regulations
Practically speaking, however, the goal of any new regulation wouldn’t be to bury Facebook and its rivals in lawsuits: There should be a way for them to make a transition to surviving as legitimate media businesses.
It might be a better idea to make Facebook, Twitter and others liable only in cases where the original producer of the offending content cannot be traced.
There are multiple ways to make sure all the users are real people who are responsible for what they publish for everyone to see.
An incentive to identify users properly would also solve the advertising transparency problem, which, however, is less important than the traceability of public posts to specific authors. If Facebook, contrary to its own rules, wants to provide anonymity in the name of some lofty ideal like giving a voice to dissidents, it should be prepared to pay for it when necessary — a laudable undertaking that media liability insurance could cover.
Q) Naxalism is a national security threat owing to incoherent and shifting ideological
principles. Analyse. (200 Words)
The Hindu
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Introduction:
Naxalism began a half century ago as an idealogical struggle in the aftermath of armed peasant movements, including the Telangana armed struggle and the Tebhaga movement (in Bengal). Naxalbari movement however seemed to follow a different trajectory.
Earlier Maoist movement
1. Intellectual heft
It was ignited by a small group of Bengal revolutionaries (all members of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) formed in 1964) who felt disillusioned with the so-called embourgeoisement of the party which had only recently split from the CPI on the ground it had turned revisionist.
2. Chinese support
Breaking away from the CPI(M), this faction received almost instant endorsement from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) under Mao.
This was followed by a few cadres visiting China to receive the benediction of the CCP. In course of time some of the cadres went to China for training.
It was in April 1969 that the movement took formal shape, with the coming into existence of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) under the leadership of Charu Mazumdar.
It initially had a mesmeric effect, enthusing sections of the rural population as well as some semi-urban and urban elements mainly in the States of West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala.
The Chinese Communists were keen that the new Naxalbari movement should follow the Chinese model of revolution relying on the peasantry, establishing base areas in the countryside and using the countryside to encircle and finally capture the cities.
Why Maoist movement is changing?
The decline in the rate of Maoist successes — in the past year the numbers of those killed by the Maoists was hardly 20% of that in 2010 — and the relative success of the security forces, seems to have induced some rethinking in Maoist circles.
There is growing demand today for a change in approach, and for a new direction.
More militarised than ideological
As the movement progressed, it became obvious that the Indian Marxist-Leninist revolutionaries preferred the Ho Chi Minh model to that of Mao.
The CPI (ML), hence, consisted of both rural and semi-urban elements.
In the early years, and till the 1990s, a number of recruits to the movement came from the urban intelligentsia.
Over the years, the concept of capturing the cities by mobilising the countryside has lost much of its steam.
Far fewer recruits to the Maoist cause also came from the urban areas, especially the intellectual class.
By the turn of the century, the movement had become increasingly militarised, more adept at so-called military actions and hardly retaining any of its intellectual élan.
Conclusion
As perceptions of a Maoist decline intensify, the CPI (Maoist) would move away from the previous traditional line and embark on a more violent path. This would be under a new leadership more attuned to such policies and techniques.
The CPI (Maoist), bereft of ideology, could then drift towards becoming like any other militant or terror group active in different parts of the country.
This could have graver consequences for the country since the CPI (Maoist) has a much wider base than any other militant outfit.
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Topic: Role of media and social networking sites in internal security challenges, basics of cyber
security;
Q) Effective cyber security measures need adaptive technology and policies as
opposed to compliant ones. Comment. (200 Words)
Livemint
Why is there a need for comprehensive cybersecurity?
1. Economic and governance dependence on cyber world
India is one of the key players in the digital and knowledge-based economy, holding more than a 50% share of the world’s outsourcing market.
India is already the third largest hub for technology-driven startups in the world and its Information and Communications Technology sector is estimated to reach the $225 billion landmark by 2020.
Pioneering and technology-inspired programmes such as Aadhaar, MyGov, Government e-Market, DigiLocker, Bharat Net, Startup India, Skill India and Smart Cities are propelling India towards technological competence and transformation.
2. Cyber attacks
India the fifth most vulnerable country in the world in terms of cybersecurity breaches, according to the Internal Security Threat Report of 2017 by Symantec India.
3. Attacks from private organised and unorganised hackers
The recent WannaCry ransomware attack (May 2017), which infected more than 2,30,000 computers in over 150 countries, brought the compelling need for cybersecurity policies and laws into sharp focus. This malware infected at least 48,000 computer systems across various organisations in India.
In India, in May 2017, a data breach at the food delivery App, Zomato, led to personal information of about 17 million users being stolen and put for sale on the Darknet.
Similarly, hackers stole data from 57 million Uber riders and drivers.
While Windows operating systems were the most vulnerable to cyberattacks, a number of Android threats have been reported in the last couple of years, including potent crypto-ransomware attacks on Android devices.
4. State sponsored cyber attacks
In a series of recent events, a number of countries have witnessed serious incidents wherein outside agencies have attempted to hack networks during general elections and turn cyberspace to a certain strategic advantage or tip election results in favour of a particular party or candidate.
It is widely believed that the 2016 US presidential election was an easy target for Russian cyberespionage
Government efforts
Cybersecurity needs to be integrated in every aspect of policy and planning.
The second Global Cybersecurity Index, released by the International Telecommunication Union in July, which measured the commitment of nations to cybersecurity, found that India ranked 23 out of 165 nations.
1. Funding to cybersecurity research
The government is keen to fund cybersecurity research.
It announced that it will award a grant worth ₹5 crore to startups working on innovations in the field of cybersecurity.
It will help create adequate infrastructure
2. Update Policy and laws
India needs to quickly frame an appropriate and updated cybersecurity policy,
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National Cybersecurity Policy, 2013
The NCSP offers a 14-point strategy to establish a secure cyber-ecosystem and assurance framework.
It centres on product, process/technology, and the personnel that form the basic building blocks of any cybersecurity system.
It seeks to promote global best practices in information security (IS) and compliance through standards and guidelines—the International Organization for Standardization/International Electrotechnical Commission (ISO/IEC) 2001 is the best known standard in the family providing requirements for an information security management system (ISMS)—it includes IS system audits, penetration testing and vulnerability assessments, formal risk assessments and risk management processes, as well as a cyber-crisis management plan for all entities within the government and critical sectors.
The document envisioned the creation of a 5,00,000-person workforce (cyber-warriors) skilled in cybersecurity within five years. However, there appears to be a glaring skill gap in the cybersecurity industry, and to compound the problem, cybersecurity professionals are in great demand in the public as well as private sectors.
Moreover, there are very few academic programmes on cybersecurity at the university level, and existing curricula do not address emerging trends and challenges.
The NCSP needs an overhaul to grapple with new technological innovations and, in turn, challenges in the field.
Information Technology Act, 2000
The IT Act, 2000 was designed in response to the increasing risk of cyberattacks.
It seeks to reduce the digital divide to bring about societal transformation.
The IT Act is an umbrella legislation that primarily aims to regulate electronic commerce as well as to gradually promote a culture of e-governance in India.
It seeks to effectuate the 1997 United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) Model Law on E-Commerce and refers to it in its preamble.
An amendment in 2008 to the act widened the definition of cybersecurity to include “protecting information, equipment, devices, computer, computer resources, communication device, and information stored therein from unauthorised access, use, disclosure, disruption, modification, or destruction”
The law seems to make a reasonable effort to tackle two areas of policy in need of reform: cybersecurity and data privacy.
However, it lacks detailed architecture to establish an effective cybersecurity system.
As such, it calls for a comprehensive cybersecurity legislation to address growing threats to information infrastructure systems and networks and suggests a new specialised professional institutional structure to meet the cybersecurity challenge.
1. International Cooperation
India should foster closer collaboration between all those involved to ensure a safe cyberspace.
There must be enhanced cooperation among nations and reaffirmed a global call to action for all United Nations member nations to not attack the core of the Internet even when in a state of war.
There is a need for a Geneva-like Convention to agree on some high-level recommendations among nations to keep the Internet safe, open, universal and interoperable.
2. National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre
GoI established the National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre (NCIIPC) to safeguard critical infrastructure and key resources in 2014.
The NCIIPC acts as a nodal agency for all measures to protect critical information infrastructure (CII), defined in the IT Act (2000) as “the computer resource, the incapacitation or destruction of which, shall have debilitating impact on national security, economy, public health, or safety.”
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3. CERT-In
Meanwhile, to handle emergency situations and ensure crisis management, another institution—the Computer Emergency Response Team-India (CERT-In)—has been created.
It operates 24/7 to help users respond to cybersecurity incidents.
CERT-In has established links with international CERTs and security agencies to facilitate the exchange of information on the latest cybersecurity threats and international best practices.
4. Defence cybersecurity
An increase in the volume and scale of cyberattacks on defence infrastructure has heightened the need for cybersecurity.
A proposal is already pending before the Ministry of Defence to set up a dedicated tri-service command with the Indian Air Force, army and navy for cybersecurity.
It is time to enhance cyber capabilities so that the defence forces can deploy both defensive and offensive cyber operations to protect vital national interests.
Q) Criminalising Cyber speech should carefully balance wrongful intent and free
speech. Comment. (200 Words)
The Indian Express
Introduction:
Cyber speech refers to the speech expressed on the cyberspace. This speech can be broadly of two genres, one which opines for certain political values and the other of the kind of hate speech which rests on false propaganda.
There are plethora of sections in IPC which criminalises speech on cyberspace, though they never meant to in their original form like Sections 295A, 124A, 153A, 505 that target acts ranging from malicious, to seditious, to disruptive of public order or morality, to violent, to plain mischievous.
In the light that Section 66A of the IT Act have been struck down in the Shreya Singhal case, there is a need to balance the criminalisation of cyber speech so that free speech is ensured and wrongful act is curbed.
1. Maintain sanctity of Article 19
Right to speech is a fundamental right and thus unabated criminalisation of speech is against the principles of Constitution.
Article 19 in itself provides for reasonable restrictions, and therefore constitutionality of restricting speech should be reasonable.
2. Alternate political voices important
No democracy is sustainable without constant questioning of the social mores and political class.
Criminalisation would promote an intolerant society only and thus denying the right to dissent.
3. Hate speech be curbed
Without denying the space for raising voice against discriminatory practices of culture or communities, hate speech should be curbed through effective mechanisms.
Social media websites can be asked to filter the content technologically by updating their algorithms.
Way-Forward.
Intervention of Supreme Court under Habeus corpus writ) on any cases of arrest or detention for alleged
Executive officials be careful while criminalizing cyber speech on Grounds of natural justice(only as Last Resort)
Detailed Legislation/SC guidelines on what is offensive and what isn’t.
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Today about 64% of the readers gets her news online. With prevalence of Whatsapp, facebook, etc. Social Media today influence more than it lets on. Lonewolf attacks today are blamed on Fake News. Cyber Crime thus must be Curbed, but only on grounds of restrictions mentioned in our Constitution.
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