Author: Explains

Attempt the questions individually by clicking on them.

Q.1) There are formidable social, economic and environmental reasons which cry out against GM mustard. In the light of the above statement critically discuss the pros and cons of GM mustard.

Source: https://www.civilsdaily.com/gm-mustard-debate/

Genetically modified organisms (GMO) can be defined as organisms (i.e. plants, animals or microorganisms) in which genetic material has been altered in a way that cannot be altered naturally.  DMH-11 is a Genetically Modified (GM) mustard hybrid. Hybrids are normally obtained by crossing two genetically diverse plants from the same species.  

GM Mustard being the first GM food crop has some perceived benefits. The expected benefits of introducing GM Mustard in India are as follows-

• Presently, the production of edible oil in India is not much due to which India has to import lot of edible oil outside from outside.GM mustard is expected to boost the production of mustard and thereby would help to cut the import of oil.
• GM crops are engineered to withstand the extremes of weather. In India, where variability of monsoon badly affects the crop production, the introduction of GM crops would help to alleviate the risks associated with it.
• The most perceived benefit which GM mustard or GM crop in general is expected to bring about is their ability to be pest resistance. It would allow farmers to save the money which they would earlier spend on buying pesticides.
• The resulting GM mustard hybrid, it is claimed, gives 25-30% more yield than the best varieties such as ‘Varuna’ currently grown in the country.

The Cons associated with GM crops are as follows:

• At a time when sustainable farming and low-input agriculture are becoming the buzzwords, GM mustard will require almost double the quantity of fertilizer and water.
• Health concerns of GM Mustard include allergenicity, gene transfer, especially of antibiotic-resistant genes, from GM foods to cells or bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract. The movement of genes from GM plants to conventional crops, posing indirect threats to food safety and security.
• GM mustard can affect honeybees directly and indirectly through effecting flowering and pollen production. Protease inhibitors have proved detrimental to the longevity and behaviour of bees.
• The Genetic Engineering Approval Committee, which is responsible for approving large-scale releases and commercialization of GMOs, is not entirely independent and accused of regulatory weakness.
• GM technology makes the crops to survive high doses of herbicides resulting in higher herbicides residues in food.
• There is growing concern that GMO are creating ‘super weeds ’which can only by killed by toxic poisons.
• Further, GMO contaminate forever.GMO cross pollinate and their seeds can travel far and wide. It is impossible to fully clean the contaminated pool of genes.
  

Way forward

There is need to construct a possible way to address the concerns related to GM crops while at the same time, leveraging benefits associated with the GM technology. There should be independent and autonomous evaluation of GM crops before commercially introducing them. The risk assessment along with public awareness and enhanced information dissemination has to undertaken before the clearance to allay the fears. The results should be made available to public transparently so there would be coherence among the stakeholders to adopt this technology.

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Q.2) Li-Fi is not expected to completely replace Wi-Fi, but the two technologies could be used complementarily to create more efficient, green and future-proof access networks.” Discuss.

Source: https://www.civilsdaily.com/li-fi/

Li-Fi (Light Fidelity) is a breakthrough high-speed wireless communication technology that uses visible light to transmit information. This technology invented by German physicist and Professor Harald Haas, is a wireless technology that makes use of visible light in place of radio waves to transmit data at terabits per second speeds—more than 100 times the speed of Wi-Fi.

Multiplier benefits of Li-Fi

• Li-Fi relies on visible light to communicate, which is a good thing in more ways than one. These waves are able to carry far more information than the traditional radio waves used in WiFi technology.
• The visible light spectrum is almost 10,000 times larger than the spectrum occupied by radio waves.
• Also, Li-Fi is said to increase bandwidth by 100 times what we have today with Wi-Fi.
• A Li-Fi connection can transmit data at the rate of 224 gigabytes per second.
• Li-Fi is also more suitable in electromagnetic-sensitive areas like hospitals, airplane cabins, and nuclear power plants (where electromagnetic disturbance can be disastrous).
• Also, it presents another unique possibility: transmitting power wirelessly, wherein the smart phone will not only receive data through Li-Fi, but will also receives power to charge itself.

Shortcomings of LI-FI

• Since it uses visible light to transmit data, Li-Fi would be rather useless in conditions where there is no light. That means no Internet while lying in your bed at night.
• If you have a Wi-Fi router installed in one room of your house, you can connect your devices sitting anywhere in the house, but this is not the case with Li-Fi.
• Since visible rays cannot pass through walls, you have to be in the immediate vicinity of the source of light to access the Internet on your device, which may not sound particularly convenient to many people.
• This technology is also said to be less reliable (again, due to it being dependent on visible light) and has high installation charges.
• The main challenge is to create a Li-Fi ecosystem, which will need the conversion of existing smartphones into Li-Fi enabled ones by the use of a converter/adapter.

If Li-Fi can be put into practical use, every LED lamp (indoor as well as outdoor) can be converted into something like a hot spot to transmit data to every mobile device to achieve universal broadband communication between devices.

There’s no doubt that Li-Fi is going to transform the world of Internet connectivity, but it seems unlikely that its rise would necessarily mean the death of Wi-Fi, since the latter is deeply embedded in the lifestyles of billions of people. A more likely scenario, though, is that we’ll eventually have a wide range of technologies available at our disposal and will be free to choose the most appropriate one. Having that flexibility certainly seems like the most desirable scenario to us.

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Q.3) There is nothing Indian about denying rohingyas refuge. Critically discuss

Source: http://www.dailyo.in/variety/dont-deport-rohingya-muslims-india-myanmar-aung-san-suu-kyi/story/1/19362.html

Rohingya Muslims comprise one million out of the 53 million people that live in Myanmar, forming the world’s largest stateless population in a single country. The discrimination and persecution of Rohingyas has existed since the 1962 coup by the Burmese Army, which went on to legally strip Rohingyas of their Burmese nationality in 1982. The current round of oppression is therefore only a continuation of the ethno-communal identity politics played by Buddhist majority Myanmar.

India’s tough stand on deporting Rohingyas back to Rakhine State in the midst of the ongoing violence has evoked criticism from national and international human rights activists.

India’s national fabric is not divisiveness; it is universal acceptance and tolerance. India’s idea was and should remain every religion is true, every path leads to the same destination. In order to preserve India it is imperative to deny refuge to Muslim Rohingyas is incongruous with India and its civilizational ethos. Fear begets hatred, fearlessness is love. India has sheltered persecuted Jews, Zoroastrians, Muslims of Prophet’s family and Syrian Christians. India is already home to diverse groups of refugees including Chakmas from Bangladesh, Bhutanese, Nepalis and many other groups from African and Asian countries.

However, in recent some years, the resurgence of atrocities on Rohingya Muslims has raised question on this long tradition of generosity of India.There are two reasons for which India has been criticized. It is against the culture and values that India has been following from the beginning. India should offer shelter to refuges in the same way as it had done with other minorities. Though India is not a signatory to United Nations Convention on Refugees, it hails the principle of non-refoulement, which applies to everyone.

Though the above mentioned issues to some extent valid, but there is another angle which should be analyzed prior to any judgment. India is justified with its decision on the following grounds:

• They are a potential threat to national security on the behest of their alleged association with Islamic state and other terrorist organizations.
• Given the limited resources and increasing population, the pressure on existing resources is increasing day by day. At this point of time, giving shelter to more people could provide challenges in terms of providing adequate facilities to the people.
• Ethnic conflicts have been the part of Indian history. Influx of more people could create more ethnic conflicts. The fragile North east corridor may further become destabilized.
• Myanmar is considered to be safe haven for various insurgent groups. Accepting Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar could be detrimental to the internal security of India.
• There is also a serious possibility of violence against Buddhists living in India by radicalized Rohingyas.

Thus, India should take a middle ground to address the humanitarian concerns of Rohingyas and the security concerns of the country. It must be understood that deportation of Rohingyas must be seen in right perspective. Financial aid to Bangladesh for rehabilitation of refugees should be considered. The ideal solution would be for Rohingyas to be equal and free citizens in their own land Myanmar, but that would require the US, India and China and the UN to align and speak in one voice through international pressure against the Burmese Military Junta, instead of the present trend of placating Myanmar for its strategic-economic importance. India should engage bilaterally with Myanmar and mobilize regional forums like ASEAN to solve this issue. India has been equally concerned about the situation. But it should show it by active engagement with Myanmar to solve this problem.

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Q.4) Do you think the existence of Section 124-A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), 1860 is justifiable in a true democracy? Critically comment

Source:  https://www.civilsdaily.com/should-section-124-be-amended/

Some time back, it was commented that  judiciary must draw its own ‘Lakshman rekha (inviolable boundary)’ and not take decisions that fall in the domain of executive, highlighting the increasing friction between the judiciary and executive over a perceived overreach by the courts by the use of two devices at its dispersion that are- Judicial Activism and Judicial Overreach.

Judicial Activism is the view that courts make political rather than legal decisions to further some agenda. It refers to the process in which judiciary steps into the shoes of legislature and comes up with new rules and regulations, which the legislature ought to have done earlier.

Judicial Overreach refers to an extreme form of judicial activism where arbitrary, unreasonable and frequent interventions are made by judiciary into the legislature’s domain.

Judicial activism is important

1. When the other branches of the government fail to discharge their functions leading to erosion of the citizens confidence in the constitutional values and democracy.
2. Also when the fundamental rights of the citizens are trampled, then the judiciary steps in to restore the primacy of the fundamental rights over the arbitrary action of the government or the third party.
3. It also helps to fill the legislative vacuum to provide for the immediate societal needs.

The Constitution of India empowers the judiciary to strike down arbitrary legislation infringing citizen’s fundamental rights and the ones that has been framed by the legislature beyond its competence through Articles 13, 21, 32, 226 and 227. Also Article 142 extends a unique, extraordinary power to our Supreme Court to do ‘complete justice’ in any matter before it.

However, judicial activism has been criticized on various grounds as

1. Viewed as a challenge to basic structure of the Constitution by challenging the idea of separation of powers.
2. Just as independence of the judiciary is part of basic structure, the primacy of the legislature in policy making is also part of basic structure and interference by the courts into their domain is not justified.
3. Judiciary has the function of interpreting the laws and decides whether they conform to the Constitution of India or not. It shall not consider itself sole custodian of public interest.

Judicial activism seeks to correct the failings of the legislature and the misdeeds of the executive but it must not intrude into the domain of legislative functioning. Judiciary must set its own limits and be accountable to the citizens like all other institutions in the democracy.  Also, strive to plug the loopholes like inadequate judicial infrastructure, judges strength and effective case management through use of information and technology.

 

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Q.5) Ministry of Road Transport & Highways has decided to leapfrog from BS-IV to BS-VI emission norms directly by completely skipping BS-V norms. Discuss the Significance of this step and challenges in implementing this decision.

Source: https://www.civilsdaily.com/a-direct-shift-from-bs-1v-to-bs-vi-by-2020-issues-challenges/

Bharat stage emission standards were instituted by the Government of India in 1991 to normalize the productivity of air pollutants from internal combustion engine equipment. Recently the government decided to directly shift to BS VI norms by April 1, 2020 norms from the current BS IV norms in order to contain the large amount of vehicular emissions and their debilitating effects on climate change. This is a progressive step towards air pollution control but the direct transition to BS VI norms comes with several techno-economic challenges posing the automobile industry.

Significance of direct transition to BS VI norms

1. It would improve air quality and is in direction of the India’s commitment at Paris climate change conference.
2. The BS-VI compliant fuels have sulphur concentration of as low as 10 parts per million as compared to 50 parts per million (ppm) in BS-IV fuels. This means a lower level concentration of PM 2.5 and thus reduced incidence of lung diseases.
3. It will also reduce concentration of carbon monoxide, unburnt hydrocarbons and nitrous oxide.
4. India has been lagging behind its counterparts for example China has already upgraded to BS V equivalent Euro V emission norms.
5. The experience of countries such as China and Malaysia shows that poor air quality can be bad for business.

Challenges in implementation

1. According to Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) economic burden of moving to BS VI norms will  be very significant for automobile manufacturers as many new technologies would have to be developed.
2. The transition will involve overhauling the working dynamics of the automakers and will alter the cost structure forever.
3. There’s a time crunch and firms would have to develop and optimize the Diesel Particulate Filter  and Selective Catalytic Reduction systems in parallel, instead of doing it sequentially.
4. The shift to BS VI is set to shake up the auto component industry.
5. In a cost-sensitive market like India, the challenge is to design a system for India that would not just meet the stringent particulate matter (PM) and NOx emissions of BS VI but also be cost-effective and robust.
6. Skilled manpower would be required by the industry which in itself is a mammoth cahllenge.
7. The climatic conditions, driving habits ,road conditions, fuel conditions and maintenance practices in India are different from that in Europe.

Thus, this binary transition to BS VI standards is not a easy task. It must be supplemented with government efforts to increase fuel standards, increase the frequency and number of public transport vehicles and steps like hiking parking charges to disincentivise private transport  will also help to improve air quality. As under Article 21, right to clean air is a fundamental right, required steps must be undertaken by the government.

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Q.6) UBI is a “powerful idea” and would be more effective at combating poverty than existing state benefits. Critically discuss

Source: https://www.civilsdaily.com/should-india-adopt-universal-basic-income-model/

The large scale poverty, deepening income inequalities and the prospective job losses owing to the automation in the economy which already has high unemployment rate calls for Universal Basic Income(UBI) which guarantees a minimum level of income support. UBI is based on the three cardinal principles of universality, unconditionality and agency.

Benefits of UBI

1. 1. Free from inclusion and exclusion errors as it is universal and unconditional
   2. The money will be transferred directly into the account of the beneficiaries making the process transparent and less prone to leakages.
   3. It will empower the people providing them with greater decision making opportunities to spend their money according to their priorities and needs.
   4. It will reduce poverty as people will be less worried about from where there next meal will come from and will invest more time in planning their lives and businesses. This will also usher innovative thinking at the level of an individual.

 

• It will also tackle the problem of multiple authorities giving different subsidies like food, water, housing, education etc. Thus, freeing up bureaucracy from complex welfare activities.

 

1. Currently more than 350 welfare schemes are being run by government, UBI will help by clubbing them into one and therefore increasing efficiency and better targeting.
2. It will provide a minimum safety net to all people thus minimizing exploitations because for survival people do all kinds of menial jobs  (example- manual scavenging).

Challenges in implementation of UBI

1. Unaffordable– It will amount to huge fiscal burden on the government, even if Rs 5000 is provided every month owing to the huge population of India. Switzerland UBI due to its fiscal pressures.
2. Inflation– Universal cash transfers are subject to inflation as they will influence people spending behavior and also will raise the labour costs thus affecting markets.
3. It might hamper the motivation to work leading to laziness.
4. It may also lead to unproductive spending. Example on alcohol, gambing etc.
5. It also poses challenges to how food subsidies will be implemented and if they are abolished it may affect food Security to all farmers may not feel motivated enough to grow more.
6. It may also lead to market fluctuations.
7. India has still not achieved the goal of universal financial inclusion and it acts as an impediment in the implementation of UBI.

Way Forward

Basic incomes are no panacea; but for overworked developing-country citizens living in extreme poverty, they would certainly be a relief. But they need to be supplemented with broad based economic reforms which strive to encourage entrepreneurship, lead to job creation, strive for development in MSMEs and agriculture sector. UBI gave results when implemented on a pilot basis in a village in Madhya Pradesh, Finland is also successfully implemented UBI as experimental scheme. But UBI must not be a solution to collusion and connivance in welfare scheme because we cannot throw baby with the bathwater.

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Q.7)  Sexual consent is the right of every woman, married or unmarried, as much as of men, and non-consensual sex should be treated exactly the same, irrespective of the relationship of the perpetrator to the victim. In the light of the above statement discuss whether Marital rape should be criminalized?

Source: https://www.civilsdaily.com/should-marital-rape-be-criminalized/

Hints:

• Sexual intercourse releases physical & mental tension, gives a sense of psychological fulfillment, enhances body image & boosts self-esteem. Perhaps the biggest role that sex plays in human life is the strengthening of the bonds of intimacy between two steady partners. However, the consent matters the most every time from both sides.
• Thus the sex without consent by spouse with his wife/husband obtained by force, threat of force, or by physical violence, or when s/he is unable to give consent is termed as marital rape. Marital rape occurs mostly against women and is not criminalized in India as Section 375 of IPC only criminalizes (recognizes rape) when women is below 15 years of age.
• However, the growing sufferings of women due to harassment by spouse made it necessary to think on the issue and criminalize marital rape.

Why it should be criminalized?

• An informal survey conducted by NFHS indicates that 97.7% rapes were committed by the people known to the victim, of which marital rape accounts for 2/3rd. Thus the sheer intensity suggests it to be criminalized.
• This inflicts mental trauma among women who are forcefully raped every night, even during pregnancy and expecting child that too by the person who is known to her and are supposed to take care of her feelings.
• This also violates Fundamental rights guaranteed under Article 21 – right to live dignified life, Article 14 – right to have equal consent and equal protection apart from violating the person’s human rights.
• Marital privacy – which justifies laws such as the marital rape exception – is a fundamental denial of society’s commitment to treating all persons with equal concern and respect.
• Many countries have made it a crime for a husband to force his wife to have sex in recent years.  India too being a progressive country should consider criminalizing marital rape otherwise India would be gagged for not protecting women at par with men.
• Even the law commission and Justice Verma committee have recommended criminalizing marital rape by doing away with the exemption granted to marital rape in the laws.

However, Criminalizing Marital rape will have certain considerations such as:

• • Prone to misuse: If marital rape is criminalized without adequate safeguards it could be misused like the current dowry law by the dis-satisfied wives to harass and   torture their Husbands.
  • Subjectivism: It is very subjective and intricate to determine whether consent was acquired or not. Sometimes women use denying intercourse even if she is comfortable with, as a tool for punishment or getting their demands fulfilled.
  • Affects social fabric: Marriage is the holy institution and application of such laws will wither away its basic fabric as it will lead the investigation to the intricate relationship between the couple.
  • Burden on Judiciary: Will increase the burden of judiciary which otherwise may serve other more important causes.
  • Cannot be applied to India: Due to dynamic society with various factors like level of education/illiteracy, poverty, myriad social customs and values, religious beliefs, mindset of the society to treat the marriage as a sacrament the concept will never be applied to India.

Conclusion:

• • The need of the hour is to bring adequate safeguard in the law which the opportunities for misusing this law like the dowry Act could be avoided.
  • Here we also need to focus that, only legal reforms are not sufficient as along with legal reforms we also need social reform so that this menace could be eradicated from our society.
  • However, this law is a progressive one considering the current situations but the political will as well as social consciousness is the need of the hour.

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Q.8) India was one of the most sued countries in 2015. Will the country’s new model bilateral investment treaty attract and safeguard foreign investment more effectively?

Source: https://www.civilsdaily.com/model-bilateral-investment-treaty/

Hints:

• Bilateral investment Treaties (BITs) or Bilateral Investment Protection Agreements (BIPAs) are agreements between two countries for the reciprocal promotion and protection of investments in each other’s territories by individuals and companies situated in either State.
• Though, they are signed by governments, their beneficiaries are business entities.
• Due to some lacunas in BIT-1993 which resulted India being sued several times by foreign corporations like Sistema, Vodafone, and Children Investment Fund etc. tempted the policy makers to reframe the BITs.
• In the year 2016, India drafted new Model Bilateral Investment Treaty to overcome the earlier drawbacks with many modified provisions. The move is important as it will help the country to make its treaty more specific in international arbitrations. The textual consistency of a countries’ BIT determines its success in BIT negotiations and disputes.

How it will attract and safeguard foreign investment?

• Enterprise based definition of investment instead of asset based definition: Recognizing whole of enterprise instead of individual products in order to narrow the scope of protected investments are reduce the potential liability of the state under Investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) claims.

• • Exclusion of MFN treatment: This is adopted in order to eliminate discrimination among investors from various countries means providing equal opportunities for all.

 

• Full Protection and Security: The new MBIT ensures physical security of investors and to investment which strengthens trust among investors and thus bound to attract more corporations.

• State Government as Stakeholders: this gives opportunity to state government also in order to participate in business with foreign investors. This will boost technological transfer as well as expertise.

• Fair and Equitable treatment: The new model BIT recognizes international laws in order to treat any dispute redressal and other issues. This ensures more hold of government and regulators on corporation investing.

• Expropriation:  The new model BIT provides security to investors by restricting the state from nationalizing the foreign investment, except for reasons of public purpose.

 

• • Non-Discriminatory treatment: The Model BIT includes a new clause on non-discriminatory treatment for compensation of losses. As per the clause, investors can avail non-discriminatory just compensation in circumstances like armed conflict, natural disasters and in the state of national emergency.
  • It recognizes Corporate Social Responsibility: The Model BIT mandates foreign investors to voluntarily adopt internationally recognized standards of corporate social responsibility.

 

• Taxation: The model BIT tries to balance protection to the investor with state regulations.

 

Conclusion:

 

• Hence, the above mentioned features indicates that the new Indian Model BIT text will provide appropriate protection to foreign investors in India and Indian investors in the foreign country in the light of relevant international precedents and practices, while at the same time maintaining a balance between the investor’s rights and the Government obligations.

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Q.9) What do you understand by Big Data? Discuss some of its applications

Source: https://www.civilsdaily.com/big-data/

Hints:

• 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. This include capturing data, data storage, data analysis, search, sharing, transfer, visualization, querying, updating and information privacy.
• Here, the challenging data could be from social networks, web server logs, traffic flow sensors, satellite imagery, broadcast audio streams, banking transactions, MP3s of rock music, the content of web pages, scans of government documents, GPS trails, telemetry from automobiles, financial market data and so on.
• The Big Data is very useful to identify ‘patterns of certain type that could be used for other purposes.

Some of its potential applications are as follows:

• Seed Selection – Big-data businesses can analyse varieties of seeds across numerous fields, soil types, and climates and select the best.
• Crop disease – Similar to the way in which Google can identify flu outbreaks based on where web searches are originating, analysing crops across farms helps identify diseases that could ruin a potential harvest.
• Irrigation – Precision agriculture aids farmers in tailored and effective water management, helping in production, improving economic efficiency and minimising waste and environmental impact.
• Weather – Advanced analytics capabilities and agri-robotics such as aerial imagery, sensors help provide sophisticated local weather forecasts can help increasing global agricultural productivity over the next few decades.
• Climate change – Since, climate change and extreme weather events will demand proactive measures to adapt or develop resiliency, Big Data can bring in the right information to take informed decisions.
• Food processing – They help in streamlining food processing value chains by finding the core determinants of process performance, and taking action to continually improve the accuracy, quality and yield of production. They also optimize production schedules based on supplier, customer, machine availability and cost constraints.
• Loss control – In India, every year 21 million tons of wheat is lost, primarily due to scare cold-storage centres and refrigerated vehicles, poor transportation facilities and unreliable electricity supply. Big Data has the potential of systematization of demand forecasting thus reducing such losses.
• Pricing – A trading platform for agricultural commodities that links small-scale producers to retailers and bulk purchasers via mobile phone messaging can help send up-to-date market prices via an app or SMS and connect farmers with buyers, offering collective bargaining opportunities for small and marginal farmers.

Conclusion:

• Big Data is a revolution in data processing and information technology and is a boon for India at a time when India is suffering from vulnerable cyber threats, and lacks proper handling of online data. Given India’s urge for digitization this will give a big push to the concept. However, there is need to implement a proper system to deal with the big data so that its advantages can be harnessed can concerns could be addressed properly.

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Q.10) Critically examine the performance of Demonetization?

Source: https://www.civilsdaily.com/demonetization-an-analysis/

Achievements

1. Increase in tax collection: As a result of demonetization drive, there is a substantial increase in the number of Income Tax Returns (ITRs) filed. The number of Returns filed as on August 5, 2017 registered an increase of 24.7% compared to a growth rate of 9.9% in the previous year.
2. Curb on Black money: Transactions of more than 3 lakh registered companies are under the radar of suspicion while one lakh companies were struck off the list. The government has already identified more than 37000 shell companies which were engaged in hiding black money and hawala transactions. Around 163 companies which were listed on the exchange platforms were suspended from trading, pending submission of proof documents.
3. Impact on terrorism and naxalism
   i. As a result of demonetization of SBNs, terrorist and naxalite financing stopped almost entirely.
   ii. No high quality FICN was found / seized by intelligence operations, including at the Indo-Bangladesh Border since demonetization.
   iii.Further, it also adversely affected the hawala operators and dabba trading venues.
4. Promoted Digital Payment: In 2015-16, the value of transactions for debit and credit cards was ₹1.6 lakh crore and ₹2.4 lakh crore, respectively; in 2016-17, it was ₹3.3 lakh crore for each. Also, in 2016, the National Electronic Funds Transfer handled 160 crore transactions valued at ₹120 lakh crore, up from around 130 crore transactions worth ₹83 lakh crore in the previous year. Note that the demonetisation impact would only have been registered in the final four to five of 2016-17. The gains in 2017-18 will be even more.

On the other hand, the drawbacks of demonetization are as follows:

Black money

1. . It was thought that if cash was squeezed out, the black economy would be eliminated.
2. But cash is only one component of black wealth: about 1% of it.
3. It has now been confirmed that 98.8% of demonetised currency has come back to the Reserve Bank of India.
4. Further, of the ₹16,000 crore that is still out, most of it is accounted for. In brief, not even 0.01% of black money has been extinguished.
5. Black money is a result of black income generation. This is produced by various means which are not affected by the one-shot squeezing out of cash. Any black cash squeezed out by demonetisation would then quickly get regenerated. So, there is little impact of demonetisation on the black economy, on either wealth or incomes

GDP growth

1. GDP growth in the first quarter of 2017-18, at 5.7 per cent, compared with 7.9% in the same quarter a year ago, was way lower than consensus estimates by Reuters (6.6%) and Bloomberg (6.5%). Both supply and demand were impacted due to a combination of demonetisation
2. The big failure of demonetisation is that it was carried out without preparation and caused big losses to the unorganised sector. This has not been factored into the recent data on growth rate, so the loss to the economy would be in lakhs of crores of rupees. Farmers, traders and the youth are all agitating.

Agriculture

1. Another factor that did not support growth as anticipated is agriculture, particularly in view of the record food grain production in 2016-17.
2. Agricultural growth declined to 2.3% from 5.2% in January-March 2017 and 2.5% in April-June 2016. In view of record foodgrain production, it appears the shortfall is mainly due to the underperformance of allied sectors, namely dairy, fisheries etc.
3. The main negative economic consequence of demonetisation has been the disruption of unorganized supply chains that are dependent on cash transactions; it is still not clear how smoothly they were being rebuilt as the economy was remonetized.
4. RBI annual report shows a rather dramatic spike in the number of suspicious transaction reports filed by banks, financial institutions and intermediaries in 2016-17—it was up from 61,361 in the previous year to a staggering 361,214.

Job Loss

Demonetization decision may have resulted in the loss of roughly 1.5 million jobs, according to survey data put out by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE). CMIE’s data is based on the result of consecutive waves of household surveys performed from January 2016 to April 2017 .

Conlcusion

1. Available data points to a lingering impact of demonetisation.
2. All economic data points are from the organised/corporate sector. The unorganised/informal sector was badly impacted by demonetisation and the present data set has not been able to capture its impact. The annual survey of industries will be able to capture the impact of demonetisation on the unorganised/informal sector, but this will come with a lag. The organised/corporate sector depends on the unorganised/informal sector for provision of intermediate goods and services, which are used in final production. The Central Statistical Office is using only the database of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs. The true picture may emerge only after the annual surveys of industries results are available.
3. Tax reforms and effective monitoring of suspicious transactions are a better alternative for addressing the issues that the policy-makers sought to fix through demonetisation.

Ethics

Q.11) Define and explain with examples the following terms:

a) Probity

b) Integrity

c) Objectivity

d) Accountability

Probity : The quality of having strong moral principles, honesty and rectitude. It brings the objectivity in the concept of Ethics and Morality because it lets a person to take an extra step to confer to what they feel right. It is the high action part of ethics and morality.

Example of Probity: If you found that a poor person is in distress and need some financial help and you don’t have enough money to help. Helping with how much you can is Ethics or Morality, but arranging money for him by requesting others to also help and taking care of non-financial part will be Probity.

Integrity: The quality to remain consistent to your basic ethics and morality even at the time of crisis. Most of the people will behave ethically in moderate situations, but an extreme situation actually tests one’s Integrity.

Example of Integrity: Sharing food while you are also feeling hungry with someone from whom you don’t expect anything in return shows your Integrity of moral of selfless help.

Objectivity: The ability of finding, reaching or exhibiting a discrete and clear conclusion for your actions.

Example of Objectivity: In time of moral dilemma if you are able to come to conclusion in lesser amount of time with clear resolution.

Accountability: The principle of taking responsibility of failure or low-quality result of your actions. It is important attribute of highly successful and humble personalities to take full responsiblity and admit their mistake and not to hide.

Example of Accountablity: If you are project owner and under your guidance whole team’s effort didn’t yield expected result. You take responsibility for it and inspire team to work harder for next time rather than blaming them for such result.

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Q.12) You are stranded in traffic in your car. You are driving the car. A poor girl looking very frail approaches you and start begging for money. Looking at he frail appearance, out of compassion, you take out your wallet to search for a ten Rupees note. The girl who is standing very near to you snatches the wallet and starts running. A man on a motorbike who see this act, catches the girl and starts beating her in full view of public. Now the traffic is moving and your car is in the middle of the road. What will you do in such a situation? And why?

Action should be as follow:

1. Park Car- so that no disturbance to the traffic
2. Call to destination where I was heading about the emergency so that they will not wait for me.
3. Reach the spot where the man is beating girl and immediately stop him and ask him not to beat or take law in his hand. Thank him for taking notice of the theft and taking action, but remind him that the girl is very young and could have acted out of hunger too. Remind him gently that it is a public space and such act physical violence could land him in legal trouble. This should lower his anger.
4. If girl is injured- carry out first aid from the box available in the car. Get her something to eat and drink.
5. Try to know her history and then informing to NGO or child care centre and personally taking to there will be my choice since leaving her just like that will make her to repeat the act since its the poverty and poor care made her to act. If these are given girl will desist from such acts.
6. Make an occasional follow up of the girl with the agency to whom she had been handed over to.

 

• India embraced an economic model which has the features of both free market capitalism and socialism. The policy makers called this a model of ‘Mixed Economy’.
• The reason for adopting such a hybrid model was to raise people’s standard of living and reduce income inequality.
• India embraced an economic model that uniquely combined free market capitalism with that of State intervention in essential sectors of the economy.
• The record of India’s successive governments in providing social welfare is at best mediocre.
• The Government must build a comprehensive welfare state with a strong emphasis on redistribution of resources to poor along with provisions of social services (Public Health, Education, Equitable Institutions, Un-Employment Benefits, Old Age Pensions etc.) financed through taxation.
• In today’s changing World of high technology, the Government must do a lot of public spending on investment in human capital and research and development.
• On Jobs creation front, the government must adopt a judicious mix of labour market institution that includes a fairly flexible labour market allowing easy hiring and firing of employees along with strong labour associations to safeguard the interest of employees.
• On the External front, the government must embrace globalisation, openness to trade and investment but with risk sharing approach. The government should share the risk arising out of globalisation, by training and skilling those who have suffered from the negative impact of globalisation. The process of risk sharing will make globalisation acceptable to all.
• Adopting the above features will allow India to achieve high growth along with high social ambitions/indicators.
• Therefore, in a nutshell, the future of India’s rapid and sustainable development lies in the following:

Note4Students

This article is related to many important topics of the mains syllabus viz Environment, Automobile Industry, Government Policies, etc. Hybrid Vehicle is an effective solution against rising pollution and environmental issues.Given the Push the Current Government is giving to Electric Vehicles and number of times op-ed have come on this issue in recent times. CD considers this topic as very important for mains 2017.

Hybrid Electric Vehicles

1. Conventional cars use an internal combustion engine for power.
2. Battery electric vehicles only use an electric motor and battery, eschewing conventional engines altogether.
3. Hybrid cars have the advantage of both of above type of vehicle. They have, in addition to internal combustion engine, also an electric motor and a battery.
4. If we had better batteries with greater power storage capacity, we would need hybrid cars.
5. The most advanced hybrids have larger batteries and can recharge their batteries from an outlet. These are known as “plug-in hybrids” and can cover long distances.

Benefits

1. Fuel Efficiency: It greatly increases fuel efficiency by increasing mileage, turning off combustion engine while driving at lower speeds and when the car is stopped, battery provides power for air conditioning.
2. While accelerating or at higher speeds, combustion engine can be used, thus not compromising with the power of vehicles.
3. Global Warming: Will cut down emissions of global warming pollutants by a 1/3 to 1/2.
4. It will greatly reduce dependence on fossil fuels.
5. Later model may cut down these emissions even further.

FAME India – Hybrid and Electric vehicles scheme

Union Government on 1 April 2015 launched Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric vehicles (FAME) – India Scheme

The scheme was launched as part of the National Mission for Electric Mobility to boost eco-friendly vehicles sales in the country

Key facts:

1. Objective: To support the hybrid or electric vehicles market development and its manufacturing eco-system in the country in order to achieve self-sustenance in stipulated period
2. The overall scheme is proposed to be implemented over a period next 6 years i.e. till 2020
3. It envisages providing Rs 795 crore support till 2020 for the manufacturing and sale of electric and hybrid vehicles
4. It also seeks to provide demand incentives to electric and hybrid vehicles from two-wheeler to buses
5. Implementation: It will be implemented in phases
6. The Phase-1 will be implemented over a two year period in FY15-16 and FY16-17
7. Based on the outcome and experience from the Phase-1, it will be reviewed for implementation after 31 March 2017
8. Then appropriate fund will be allocated for future.
9. Four focus areas: Technology development, Pilot Projects, Demand Creation and Charging Infrastructure.
10. In the first two years Rs 260 crore and Rs 535 crore will be spent on the focus areas
11. The Department of Heavy Industries under the aegis of Union Ministry of Heavy Industries will be will be nodal department for the scheme

Question

Q.) “An incremental, technology-neutral approach to the adoption of electric vehicles is the way forward for Automobile Sector in India” Comment.

Attempt the questions individually by clicking on them.

Q.1)  The proposed ban on the sale and purchase of cattle for slaughter at agricultural markets violates fundamental rights of food and livelihood, and the spirit of federalism. Discuss

Source: https://www.civilsdaily.com/prevention-of-cruelty-to-animals-regulation-of-livestock-markets-rules-2017/

Following the Supreme Court’s orders in the case of Gauri Maulekhi versus Union of India and others, the Government of India sought to effectively prohibit cattle slaughter across the country through rules made under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960.  Though these  rules do not explicitly ban slaughter, they ban the sale and purchase of cattle for slaughter at agricultural markets and therefore, in effect, are attempting to put an end to all kinds of cattle slaughter across the country. Therefore, they came under heavy criticism for violating various Fundamental Rights and interfering with the spirit of federalism.

Fundamental Right to Food– These are said to depriving the citizen of their food choices, imposing forced vegetarism to some extent and also violating Article 21 as right to food is derived from it. Some states like Kerala, West Bengal, Tripura and Karnataka represent allege that they are protected from any such legislative or executive encroachment under Article 29 of the  Indian Constitution as they represent a unique culture of their own that comprises of beef and meat eating. On the contrary, some people are supporting the rules as they consider beef eating against Hindu religion.

Fundamental Right to Livelihood- These rules are said to be inconsistent with  the Article-19 of the Indian Constitution. Also,  it has immensely impacted the livestock and leather industry(most of them Muslim meat and leather traders). They have  also deprived farmers of their traditional source of income from selling non-milch and ageing cattle.and have also added the financial burden of their upkeep and care.

Spirit of Federalism-The Centre has taken recourse to PCA,1960 to frame the rules, although cruelty to animals subject is listed under concurrent list, but cattle is state subject. There exist multiple state legislations that permit the slaughter of cattle and the the PCA, 1960 act allows the killing of animals if permitted under other existing laws, therefore the government cannot render such slaughter illegal under this act. Also, in issuing these set of rules the government has exercised the power it does not have under the PCA,1960.The government is justifying the slaughter under DPSP(Article-48), it was framed by the constitution makers in the interest of animal husbandry but the impact of the rules indicate huge losses to the livestock trade.

A glaring anomaly in the new rules is that the government seems interested in preventing cruelty only to cattle  and not other animals like chickens, fishes, pigs etc which raises a doubt about the real intentions of the government. But the recent steps taken by the Bombay High Court which struck down the prohibition contained in legislation and also upheld the constitutional liberty to determine individual dietary preference surely protects fundament rights enshrined in the Constitution.

 

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Q.2) Recently the Environment Ministry has decided to allow some States to cull wildlife? Critically Discuss the issues involved in this decision.

Source: https://www.civilsdaily.com/should-culling-of-animals-be-allowed/

 

The Ministry of Environment recently permitted states to declare earlier protected wild animal species as “vermin” under the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972, thereby allowing private shooters and others to kill these species with few safeguards and no risk of prosecution. Recent examples are Nilgai in Bihar and Maharashtra, Rhesus macaque in HP, Wild pig in all States except Himachal Pradesh

Culling is basically selective killing of a species, usually as a population control measure. Section 11(1) A of the Wildlife Protection Act (WPA) authorizes chief wildlife warden to permit hunting of any problem wild animal only if it cannot be captured, tranquillized or translocation. Section 62 of Act empowers Centre to declare wild animals other than Schedule I & II to be vermin for specified area and period.

Arguments in favour of culling

• It is the feasible solution to save life and property of the citizens.
• By law, wildlife is protected because they are too few and require protection.
• It destroys hard work of one year of the farmers and pushes them to the debt crises.
• The absence of lawful intervention often triggers retaliation by illegal means. Hence such a law is very necessary.
• Can be monitored easily using strict guidelines and law enforcement.
• Fencing is not a good measure in this regard and is expensive and its maintenance is not effective.
• Even selection of crops that traditionally repelled animals does not seem to work any longer. For example, farmers in Sirmour, Himachal Pradesh, now complain that monkeys raid garlic fields that they avoided until recently.

Arguments against culling

• Ethical grounds: Even Supreme Court recognized the Right to Life to animals.
• Animal welfare activists believe that every individual animal is ethically indispensable, even at the cost of putting entire species at risk.
• Culling is against animal protection and conservation.
• It shows the barbarian mind-set still existing in human beings, according to the animal welfare groups.
• Culling creates a conducive atmosphere for the poaching mafia to move in.
• Man-animal conflict can be controlled through non-invasive means, including fencing crop fields, planting chilli around cropland, selecting non-edible crops etc.

Alternative solutions

• Popularizing insurance of crops and other properties.
• Forest department should be more active to deter the animals from harming humans.
• Use sedatives rather killing.
• Reduce activities causing habitat loss of animals

Conclusion

Animals are not the real problem. We need to look into the root cause of such conflicts. Providing human needs, enhancing local amenities, and adopting science-based and sustained interventions will provide more lasting solutions. India is already suffering from serious effects of climate change, including a warming climate, changing rainfall patterns, and droughts—all factors which hurt farmers first. Without healthy forests for our wildlife to live in, animals, and humans, suffer. Also, it is the duty of every Indian citizen under Article 51A (G) of our nation’s constitution to protect wildlife and to have compassion for living creatures.

 

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Q.3) The new law creates a situation where an Indian citizen who has legally bought and developed an enemy property after 1968, will be divested of his rights in the property. In the light of the above statement, Critically analyse the Key features of Enemy Property Ordinance 2016.

Source: https://www.civilsdaily.com/enemy-protection-ordinance-issues-and-analysis/

Enemy property refers to any property belonging to, held or managed on behalf of an enemy, an enemy subject or an enemy firm. After the India-Pakistan War of 1965, the Enemy Property Act was enacted in 1968, which regulates such properties and lists the Custodian’s powers. The government brought the amendment in the wake of a claim laid by the heirs of Raja Mohammad Amir Mohammad Khan, known as Raja of Mahmudabad, on his properties spread across Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. The important provisions of the bill have been enumerated as follows:

Key Provisions:

• The definition of “enemy” and “enemy subject” shall include the legal heir and successor of an enemy, whether a citizen of India or a citizen of a country which is not an enemy, and also include the succeeding firm of an enemy firm in the definition of “enemy firm” irrespective of the nationality of its members or partners.
• The enemy property shall continue to vest in the Custodian even if the enemy or enemy subject or enemy firm ceases to be an enemy due to death, extinction, winding up of business or change of nationality or that the legal heir or successor is a citizen of India or a citizen of a country which is not an enemy.
• The enemy property shall continue to vest in the Custodian with all rights; title and interest in the property, and the Custodian shall preserve the same until it is disposed of by the Custodian, with the prior approval of the Central Government, in accordance with the provisions of the Act.
• The law of succession or any custom or usage governing succession shall not apply in relation to enemy property.
• No enemy or enemy subject or enemy firm shall have any right, and shall never be deemed to have any right to transfer any property vested in the Custodian, and any transfer of such property shall be void.
• The amendments through the Ordinance include that once an enemy property is vested in the Custodian, it shall continue to be vested in him as enemy property irrespective of whether the enemy, enemy subject or enemy firm has ceased to be an enemy due to reasons such as death etc;
• There cannot be transfer of any property vested in the Custodian by an enemy or enemy subject or enemy firm and that the Custodian shall preserve the enemy property till it is disposed of in accordance with the provisions of the Act.
• The Custodian, with prior approval of the Central Government, may dispose of enemy properties vested in him in accordance with the provisions of the Act, and for this purpose, the Government may issue such directions to the Custodian that shall be binding upon him.
• The Central Government may transfer property vested in the Custodian which was not actually enemy property to the person who was aggrieved by the vesting order issued by the Custodian.
• No civil court or other authority shall entertain any suit or proceeding in respect of any enemy property or any action taken by the Government or the Custodian.

Issues Involved

• The new law creates a situation where an Indian citizen who has legally bought and developed an enemy property after 1968, will be divested of his rights in the property.
• This situation could be challenged in court as a violation of Article 14 , which guarantees the right to equality and protects people from arbitrary actions of the government.
• Further, following the passage of the Bill, judicial recourse on enemy property disputes will only be available before High Courts and the Supreme Court, limiting the options available to people whose property rights have been affected.
• The thrust of the amendments is to guard against claims of succession or transfer of properties left by people who migrated to Pakistan and China after the wars.
• The amendments deny legal heirs any right over enemy property. The main aim is to negate the effect of a court judgment in this regard. The Act gives the sole right of disposal of enemy property to the Custodian.
• Once an enemy property is vested in the Custodian, it shall continue to be vested in him as enemy property irrespective of whether the enemy, enemy subject or enemy firm has ceased to be an enemy due to reasons such as death etc.,
• Law of succession does not apply to enemy property, that there cannot be transfer of any property vested in the Custodian by an enemy or enemy subject or enemy firm, and the Custodian shall preserve the enemy property till it is disposed of in accordance with the provisions of the Act.

 

The amendments are aimed at plugging the loopholes in the Act to ensure that the enemy properties that have been vested in the Custodian remain so and do not revert to the enemy subject or firm. However, rights of citizens also. There are no permanent enemies or friends. The citizens should not be deprived of rights including inheritance and succession. Moreover, those assets could be diverted towards public welfare.

 

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Q.4) What is First past the post system? How it is different form Proportional representation?  Is it time for India to shift from FPTP system to PR system? Critically analyse.

Source:https://www.civilsdaily.com/should-first-past-the-post-system-be-replaced-with-proportional-representation-system/

 

• India adopted Parliamentary form of government with representative democracy in which legislatures are elected by First Past The Post system (FPTP) type of election.
• Under this FPTP system in India:
  • Entire country divided in to constituencies now 543.
  • Each constituency elects one candidate
  • Candidate who gets highest number of votes declared elected than others. Even if votes share less than 50%.(Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) massive election victory is the claim that they got 31.84% of vote share and  won 282 seats that, therefore, 69% of those who voted did not vote in favour of the winning party)
• This system is also known as Single Member Plurality or Plurality Voting system in which winner takes it all. And all other votes are disregarded.

In proportional representation system Seats are allotted to the political parties according to their vote share. Here voter vote for party not for candidates.

Is it time for India to shift from FPTP system to PR system?

Yes, because Proportional Representation system

• Faithfully translate votes cast into seats won.
• Encourage or require the formation of political parties.
• Give rise to very few wasted votes, depending on the threshold.
• Facilitate minority parties’ access to representation depending on the or the district magnitude.
• Encourage parties to campaign beyond the districts.
• Restrict the growth of ‘regional fiefdoms’.
• Make power-sharing between parties and interest groups more visible.

No PR system also leads to:

• Gives rise to coalition governments and a fragmented party system i.e. Less stable government.
• The inability of the voter to enforce accountability by throwing a party out of power or a particular candidate out of office.
• Difficulties either for voters to understand or for the electoral administration to implement depending on voter’s education and training of poll workers.

Way Forwards

• On the lines of European countries Dual system of election model need to be studied in which voters cast vote both to Political party and candidate.
• recommendations of the Law Commission’s 170th and 255th report should be implemented:
  • A hybrid of both first-past-the-post and proportional representation should be tried.
  • Both the reports have suggested that 25% or 136 more seats should be added to the present Lok Sabha and be filled by Proportional Representation.
• Need to study PR system on pilot basis.

 

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Q.5) The government of India recently decided to build a high-speed rail (HSR) corridor between Mumbai and Ahmedabad at a cost of Rs 97,636 crore with Japanese financial and technical assistance.  Does India need projects such as this at such a high cost? Comment.

Source: https://www.civilsdaily.com/do-india-require-high-speed-rail/

High-speed rail is a type of rail transport that operates significantly faster than traditional rail traffic, using an integrated system of specialized rolling stock and dedicated tracks.

The first Proposed High speed Train in India would run some 500 kilometers (310 miles) between India’s financial capital Mumbai and the western city of Ahmadabad, at a top speed of 320 km/h. Under the Japanese proposal, construction is expected to begin in 2017 and be completed in 2023. It would cost about 980 billion (US$15 billion) and be financed by Low interest loan from Japan.

Points in Favour of High speed rail Corridor

• Cheap: The rate of interest of 0.1 per cent per annum and tenure of 50 years with 15 years, grace is the best till now for any project financed through a bilateral/multilateral agency in India.
• Speed: High speed is one of the biggest reasons for the proposal of this idea when it was first initiated in India. Major cities connecting with towns of economic growth face the problem of fast transportation. This would save time and boost businesses amongst the connected cities. Reduction in commuting time is greatly required in Mumbai and other metro cities where a lot of time is consumed in the process.
• Promote Make in India: Second, the assistance programme involves transfer of technology and a Make in India component, which will have long-term benefits for Indian manufacturing.
• Stronger and eco-friendly: Not only these High speed trains are stronger enough to carry heavier weight but are also eco-friendly as they do not require deforestations to set tracks. It is a modern and technologically advanced means of transportation which can be a step towards growth and development in India.
• Gestation period is long: The bullet train between Mumbai and Ahmedabad will cost Rs 97,636 crore and will be built over seven years. Hence, the entire Rs 98,000 crore (approximately) will not be spent in one year.
• Will have multiplier effect: A growing economy like India needs investment in infrastructure and railways, which has a multiplier effect. The Indian Railways is not constrained by demand but by capacity, and any substantial investment in railways will enable economic growth.
• Will enhance transport capacity: The HSR will enhance transport capacity by four to five times of the normal capacity and facilitate the movement of a large number of people. The high cost of the project is offset by much higher utilization rates of the network and rolling stock per km than conventional rail.
• Highly Safe: Eighthly since the HSR system is highly safe, they reduce external costs (accidents, air/ noise pollution, impact on climate, etc). There has been no casualty due to accidents on Japanese high-speed trains since they started in 1964.

Challenges /Criticisms

The project looks ambitious but challenges are many

• • Land acquisition: Bullet trains require seamless straight tracks on a flat terrain. Though France managed it in the existing tracks itself, but if new lands need to be acquired, it can come only at an expensive compensation in Mumbai-Ahmedabad industrial cluster. It will also demand huge political will.
  • Operation and maintenance: Considering the existing scenario of the quality of O&M in Indian railways, the maintenance of this new elephant will pose many challenges even if it is privatized. Fencing all along the track and over bridges at all the line crossings will cost too dearer. The power demand will be more too. It will require the infrastructure of existing railway stations from where bullet train will pass to be upgraded as per the specifications which again will cost enormously.

• Utility: Indian Railways is the lifeline of a common man. Common man will find it expensive. In the era of multimodal integrated transportation, isn’t it wise to better utilize the existing infrastructure more wisely? Invest to improve all existing tracks to make them sustain 160+ speeds. Major part of the city population is middle and lower income household, who demand more capacity rather than ultra high speed.

• Cost-Benefit: The bullet trains in china run in losses. China being an infrastructure driven economy could sustain it. We need to analyze can we bear such a loss. We need huge investment in infrastructure in coming two decades. With limited resources we must ensure that cost benefit ratio is most efficient.

 

Bullet train has sets of pros and cons under India’s present situations and they need to be properly handled so that it brings prosperity and development in the country and not debacles. Every factor must be considered wisely and safeguarding of people’s living should not be compromised. There are risks in this project but without risks nothing big can be acquired. Constructing HSR lines in the country should be seen as a nation-building exercise rather than a standalone project justified only on transport demand.

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Q.6) It is commented by many experts that Farm Loan Waiver creates Moral Hazard Problem among Farmers? In the Light of the above statement critically Discuss the rationale behind Farm loan waiver?

Source: http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/JGWTvQih0NMED3pXJoasiM/Are-farm-loan-waivers-really-so-bad.html

There has been a rising trend in farm loan waivers recently with UP, Maharashtra, Punjab and Karnataka announcing them for few categories of farmers. RBI Governor Urijit Patel has recently put up concern with this trend he called them to engender moral hazard as-

1. Farm loan waivers pose risk of inflation.
2. It creates pressure on State’s finances.
3. Undermines honest credit culture, even those who can afford to pay may not, in the expectation of a waiver.
4. Entails transfer of taxpayers money to borrowers .
5. It also leads to crowding out of private borrowers .
6. Other states may also follow the suit.

Also, according to recent report by CAG out of all granted debt waivers, about 8.5% of the beneficiaries were not eligible for it. Thus identification of eligible categories is another set of problem. Many have termed such loan waiver announcements as populist agenda for vote bank politics.

But, at the same time farm loan waivers are justified as-

1. Agriculture in India has been facing many issues like fragmented land holding, depleting water table, deteriorating soil quality, low productivity, rising input costs and low output prices for the produce. In addition the two consecutive draught years has resulted into acute agrarian distress which culminated into huge number of farmer suicide.
2. No evidence of weak credit culture or repeated demands of farm waivers has been found after the incident of waivers. Also credit culture and timely repayment of loan is an individual attribute and cannot be generalized.
3. The present distress in the agriculture is said to be largely because of demonetization following which farmers faced cash shortage to buy farm inputs and sow their crops timely.
4. Agricultural loans by banks in India are compulsorily insured by the Agricultural Insurance Company of India (AIC), whose liabilities are back-stopped by the Centre through budgetary support. Hence, even if loans aren’t waived, there is no loss to banks. Only difference being that in case of farm loan waiver States bear the cost and in case of default the Union government pays, thus even in case of default transfer from taxpayers to borrowers is taking place.

Way Forward:

1. Long Term Solution

The problems faced by Indian agriculture are structural and the government needs to support the agriculture sector by investing the money in irrigation, water conservation, better storage facilities, market connectivity, in agriculture research and insurance. The recent initiatives like PMSY, PMFBY, Sampada Yojana are steps in the right direction.

1. In the Short Run to overcome immediate distress the government needs to implement a well designed loan waiver programme, for example which contains eligibility rules like loan utilization, investment and repayment patterns. This will lead to productive investments by the farmers in the future and healthy credit culture.

 

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Q.7) In 2016 the union government announced new hydrocarbon exploration and pricing policy. Examine the merits and demerits of this policy.

Source: https://www.civilsdaily.com/hydrocarbon-exploration-and-licensing-policy/

Hydrocarbon Exploration and Licencing Policy (HELP), recently introduced by the government is being hailed as a landmark policy change.

The merits of the new policy could be:

– Revenue Sharing Contract (RSC) under HELP, instead of Production Sharing Contract (PSC) under the earlier New Exploration and Licencing Policy (NELP). This is in accordance with CAG recommendation. The step could result in lesser disputes and delays in the projects.
– Uniform Licensing and Policy Framework for Oil, Gas and Coal Bed Methane.
– Open Acreage: Private explorers can also bid on blocks not put up for bidding by the government
– Boost to Ease of Doing Business
– Boost to investment in the oil and gas exploration and development, increased transparency and employment opportunities in the sector
– Reduced dependency on imports
– Settlement or withdrawal of pending arbitration, since the new regime applies only if there’s not any pending legal proceedings.
– Pricing freedom, subject to a cap, on hydrocarbon discoveries in deep sea and other difficult areas would promote investments in their exploration

Possible demerits of the policy could be:
– Price rise in downstream industries, which might have an adverse impact on sectors such as fertilizers, power and steel which take in raw materials from downstream sector. This might lead to inflation. The ceiling price may be higher than ideal.
– Higher risk on the investor’s part
– Blocks already under production aren’t covered
– Banks may not give credit easily to such projects given their high gestation periods and the rising NPAs
– A shift from PSC to RSC shows lack of faith in investors on government’s part.

Overall, the policy is a step in the right direction. It should be tweaked in the future to ensure better implementation. If followed in its letter and spirit, the policy can help India achieve energy security in the long run.

 

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Q.8) A pre-requisite to Stable and Developed North East is Strong ties between India & Myanmar. Discuss

Source: https://www.civilsdaily.com/indo-myanmar-relations/

Introduction:

• Myanmar is the bridge between ASEAN and India which can boost the relationship among East Asian countries with special focus to the development of northeastern region of India in terms of strengthening cultural, economic, social, political and strategic ties.
• Both the countries have history old common cultural and religious bond between their citizens which flourished due to open border and trade relation through the maritime boundary in the Bay of Bengal.
• However, in the time of decades both the countries have not been able to exploit these close historical and cultural connections. For the development of North-Eastern region of India and western part of Myanmar, both the countries need to be effectively engaged with effective cooperation on strategic line.

Problems in North-Eastern region and their solutions:

• Throughout the year since independence the northeastern region remained underdeveloped due to its isolation from the mainland India, difficult terrain, ethnic clashes and history old insurgencies. This led to the feeling of alienation among the people of North-east and developed hatred against India.
• Active engagement with Myanmar will open the positive opportunities for the people of northeast. The projects like Kaladan Multimodel Project which ensures faster connectivity with the hinterland of NE states will be highly beneficial in this regard.
• This underdeveloped condition is also with the western part of Myanmar consisting of Chin, Sagaing and Kachin states which has caused multiple problems like rise in insurgencies, illegal trade and human trafficking. Such tendency of insurgents/illegal merchants for taking shelter across border will effectively be tackled with positive cooperation.
• The energy produced in Myanmar will fuel the NE state to push start the industrial development in the region subsequently providing livelihood opportunities to millions of people there by raising entrepreneurial skills and multiple business opportunities.
• The cases of illegal migration impacting the demography as well as exploitation of limited resources in the region (for example: recent Rohingya Crisis) from Myanmar will be effectively dealt with strong ties between the countries.
• India is known to be the hub of education since ancient. Connectivity with the East Asian countries and other South East Asian countries will develop the North-East as a new hub of education in India which will attract the students from across the border.
• The project like India-Myanmar-Thailand highway will boost connectivity among the states of NE and will provide greater market access for India in ASEAN region. This will have multiplier effect in the Economy of North East.
• Projects like BCIM Corridor, Mekong-Ganga Cooperation, developing sittwe port in Myanmar by India along with forums like BIMSTEC, ASEAN and SAARC etc. will not only boost the economy but also will bring people together with amalgamation of cultural ties and regional cooperation.

Conclusion:

• The saying that Southeast Asia begins in northeast India takes credence. The need of the hour is to have positive will power among the political bosses of both the countries to take the faster implementation of projects for the sake of regional development of both the countries.
• With the coming of democratic regime in Myanmar the opportunities have doubled for India for active bilateral engagement. This positive engagement will certainly ensure strengthening of close cultural ties, geopolitical as well as geo-economical stability of both the countries and also for the NE regions of India.

 

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Q.9) What do you understand by ‘internet of things’ (IoT)? How will digitization help IoT and how will IOT help India in turn? Examine.

Source: https://www.civilsdaily.com/internet-of-things/

Introduction: Internet of Things

• IoT is a system of interrelated computing devices, mechanical and digital machines, objects, or people that are provided with unique identifiers.
• Thus it can be said that it is an inter-networking of physical devices, vehicles, buildings and other items—embedded with electronics, software, sensors and network connectivity.
• This internetworking has the ability to transfer data over a network without requiring human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction.
• IoT is also dubbed as the infrastructure of the information society. It allows objects to be sensed and controlled remotely across existing network infrastructure.
• Thus it creates opportunities for more direct integration of physical world into computer-based systems, and resulting in improved accuracy, efficiency and economic benefits.

How Digitization will help in IoT?

• Digitalization is the process of making available the services to the citizens electronically by improved online infrastructure and by increasing Internet Connectivity or by making the country digitally empowered in the field of technologies.
• India is set for a “digitization revolution” which, in turn, would fuel the growth of the Internet of Things (IoT). Digitization would bring digital connectivity, affordability, accessibility and would provide a platform for Internet of Things. With a push to digitization in India like Bharat-Net, Optical Fibre Network etc. IoT can be taken to even the remotest of areas.
• Digitalization will bring technology and technological illiteracy among masses which in turn will help in Internet of Things and fruitful use of IoT applications. IoT is bridging the physical, digital, cyber and virtual worlds and this requires extensive information processing capabilities.

How IoT will help India in turn:

• Internet of things on broader scale can be applied to things like transportation networks: ‘smart cities’ which can help us reduce waste and improve efficiency for things such as energy use, health care, other sectors of day to day life like collecting data on temperature, signal strength, pressure, pH, voltage etc. technical parameters and helping us understand and improve how we work and live.
• Other fields of applications include: waste management, urban planning, environmental sensing, social interaction gadgets, sustainable urban environment, continuous care, emergency response, intelligent shopping, smart product management, smart meters, home automation, smart events and smart grids etc.
• IoT itself, fuelled by the advancement of digital technologies, is dramatically changing the way companies engage in business activities and how people interact with their environment.

Conclusion:

• With the explosion of data, the role of information technology is shifting from that of an enabler to a strategic partner. The digital wave, in this backdrop, is turning out to be a disruptor in multiple industry verticals. For example, the present banking system is much impacted by digitization and accordingly every sector of the economy is transforming itself from being cash based to using the Internet as the growing means of payment.
• Among other things, IoT has made the mode of payments so easy that there is no direct access to the customer at the time of purchase. The process—where customers can pay their bills through any of the multiple acquirers via multiple banks and points of sale terminals to the merchant/brand—is possible with help of IoT. For a country such as India, digitization coupled with IoT could be a real game changer.

 

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Q.10) What Do you understand by Paid news? What are the challenges in Dealing with Paid News? Should Election commission make Paid news an electoral offence?

Source: https://www.civilsdaily.com/issue-of-paid-news/

Introduction:

• Paid news is “any news or analysis appearing in any media (print & electronic) for a price in cash or kind as consideration”. 
• In other words, ‘The news or articles on Newspapers, Magzines and the Electronic Media which has/have been brought by some institution for vested interests in return of payment in cash or kind.
• This kind of news has been considered a serious malpractice since it deceives the citizens, not letting them know that the news is, in fact, an advertisement. Secondly, the payment modes usually violate tax laws and election spending laws. More seriously, it has raised electoral concerns because the media has a direct influence on voters.

Challenges in dealing with the Paid News:

• Corporatization of media, desegregation of ownership and editorial roles, decline in autonomy of editors/journalists due to emergence of contract system and poor wage levels of journalists are the main reason as well as challenges in dealing with paid news.
• Lack of adequate power with regulators, lack of effective penal action against those who violate the rules and inaction by the government in cases related to paid news are also important challenges to deal with.
• Establishing transaction of cash or kind is almost impossible as it is usually done without any record and promptly denied by both sides when enquired. In these circumstances, identifying cases is a herculean task.
• Media violations, surrogate advertisement and unreported advertisements are often mistaken as Paid News sometimes in true cases also.
• It is difficult to identify and solve the cases in a set time limit. The cases keep on pending for a long period of time before the courts.
• The independence of the media and its ability to bring about transparency in society by playing an adversarial role against the establishment get compromised because of corruption within the folds of the media itself and it is usually difficult to fix the accountability in such cases.

Should paid news be made an electoral offence?

• Paid News deceives and misleads the public and hampers the ability of people to form correct opinions.
• Paid News causes undue influence on voters and also affects their Right to Information by furnishing fake news or news of vested interests.
• Paid News seeks to circumvent election expenditure laws/ ceiling. The payment modes usually violate tax laws and election spending laws. It displays the role of money in election.
• Paid News adversely affects level playing field by favouring one party. Such practices interfere with free and fair elections in the country by violating democratic principle enshrined in our constitution.
• Media is described as the fourth pillar of democracy. Such incidents bring down the faith of people in democratic institutions by conveying incorrect and false information to the people.
• The above circumstances show that there is no any benefit of paid news for the concern of citizens and of democracy. By providing benefits to individual, it harms the society and the country most. Hence, the Election Commission should declare the paid news as an offence which should be punishable also.

Conclusion

• The media acts as a repository of public trust for conveying correct and true information to the people. The “paid news” is therefore, a serious matter as it influences the functioning of a free press. There is an urgent need to protect the right of the public to accurate information before voters exercise their franchise when such incidents are on rise.
• Hence, a legal framework in which electoral issues are expeditiously adjudicated must be put in place if election laws are to be enforced in both letter and spirit.

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Ethics Questions

Q.11) How would you classify the conscience? Suppose an old man has a pension claim before a civil servant and according to law it is a doubtful claim, what he should do and why?   

The conscience is defined as that part of the human psyche that induces mental anguish and feelings of guilt when we violate it and feelings of pleasure and well-being when our actions, thoughts and words are in conformity to our value systems. Conscience is not be bound by the logic, facts and arguments. Conscience for a civil servant should be derived from constitutional morality and galvanized with emotional intelligence.

There are several different interpretations of conscience based on which it can be classified such as:

1. Conscience as a faculty of moral cognition: A faculty that enables us to ascertain what is morally right and what is morally wrong (Buttler).
2. Conscience as a mode of developed sensibility: Such that we feel painful regret and remorse when we act contrary to it (Mill).
3. Conscience as an internal judge or the moral worth of our ends and motives: Conscience does not determine what we are to do, but it can judge whether we have acted in a morally worthy manner (Kant).
4. Conscience as a faculty of practical reason by which we deliberate with a view to deciding on
   particular actions to perform, in aiming at conformity with moral principles. Conscience specifies particular actions in the overall project of aiming at what we take to be  This allows scope for the possibility that an agent could be conscientious but have wrong values(Aquinas).
5. Conscience as a reflective consideration guiding employment of criteria of moral soundness with a view to ascertaining which actions meet those criteria (Smith).

In case of doubtful pension claim by an old man as mentioned in the above case, the civil servants should act in conscience manner. The following steps he can include in his action.

He should take through enquiry of the legitimacy of his claim. If found genuine, he should be facilitated with the pension as soon as possible and in case of doubtful claim the person should be asked to clear the doubt by furnishing the relevant document as a proof. The office staff should be asked to cooperate with the old person in his effort of finding the valid documental proof.

The Civil Servants have delegated authority and are allowed to act with conscience in times of need. His action should not be bound by the common code of conduct rather should be guided by his experience and rationality.

Strictly following the rules and regulation will not be in conformity of the dynamic nature of our society and values.  In case, if the minor proof in missing, the Civil Servant should take action as per his cognizance if his inner conscience allows about the same. Person with the old age should be looked with sympathy and empathy and should not be harassed and asked to furnish the relevant proof again and again. Here, the action of the civil servant should be in accordance with his conscience.

However, the civil servant should also look for other options for availing the benefits to the old age person to avoid any confrontation with laws and regulations. There should not be huge compromization with the rules and regulation while allowing for pension, and also it should not hurt in any manner to other beneficiaries.

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Q.12) You are a senior functionary in rural development ministry of government of India and in course of your tour in the remote part of the country you want to have a first hand assessment of rural development programmes and their impact on the socio economic condition of people especially of BPL category. The district officials show you some of the houses constructed under rural housing schemes. You also talked to the people and local PRI representatives.

The officials gave you a brighter picture of the situation where as people in general were critical about the attitude and approach of the officials. You were sad when you found impact of the rural development programmes/schemes far from satisfactory.

(a) Bring out the ethical issues involved in rural development programmes.

(b) What would be your reaction after your above visit?

(c) What recommendations you propose to make so as to bring impact on rural development programmes.

 

Answer:

(a) The various ethical issues involved in rural development programmes are-

– Lack of proper evaluation on part of officials shows acting in an irresponsible way

– Failure to realize the flight of poor reflects the lack of empathy.

– The officers are responsible to make sure the benefits of these schemes reach the poor for whom such schemes are intended. But they are not doing it and moreover giving a different picture in front of senior officials. It reflects negligent attitude on their part.

(c) When it is found that the impact of these programmes is far from satisfactory, it is the duty of the senior officers to himself conduct an evaluation programme and arrive at the real solution of the problem.

– He should check the records himself rather than believing the officials.

– He should set up some monitoring committees, the function of which is to see if the benefits

of such schemes is ultimately reaching the poor people or not.

– Adequate steps to fill any gap in the results should be taken.

 

 

 

Note4Students

Marital Rape has been in news recently because Modi government has filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court arguing against criminalizing marital rape. A number of op-eds have been written over this issue in past few Months. Also, this topic is linked to GS 1 Social issues and GS 2 Vulnerable sections. Therefore, CD considers this topic important for mains 2017.

Context

The Narendra Modi government has filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court arguing against criminalizing marital rape. According to Government Doing so would “destabilize the institution of marriage, apart from being an easy tool for harassing husbands

 

What is marital rape?

Marital rape (also known as spousal rape and rape in marriage) is non-consensual sex in which the perpetrator is the victim’s spouse. It is a form of partner rape, Domestic violence and sexual violence.

Current status of marital rape in India

1. Our legal system doesn’t provide any concrete protection to the victims of marital rape. Under Hindu marriage act, 1955 one of the “conjugal duties” of the wife is to provide sexual satisfaction to her husband, a very archaic thought congruent to the thoughts of a patriarchal society. Section 375 of the Indian Penal Code(IPC) considers forced sex in marriages as a crime only when the wife is below 15 or the couple is legally separated. Thus, marital rape is not a criminal offense under the IPC.
2. Marital rape victims have to take recourse to the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act 2005(PWDVA).The PWDVA, which came into force in 2006, outlaws marital rape. However, it offers only a civil remedy for the offence.

 

Arguments in favour of criminalizing marital rape

1. Sheer Number: Out of the total number of rapes reported to NFHS (though it is an informal survey whose premise was to provide anonymity), 97.7% rapes were committed by the people known to the victim, out of which marital rapes accounts for 2/3rd.Thus the sheer  intensity  of marital rape suggests that it should be criminalized.
2. Mental Trauma: There have been many heartrending stories of women raped every night, even during pregnancy and child birth. It is a physical as well as mental trauma because the perpetrator is known to the person, often very close.
3. Violation of Fundamental right: Marital rape is considered as the violation of Fundamental Right guaranteed under Article 14 of the Indian constitution which guarantees the equal protection of laws to all persons.
4. By depriving married women of an effective penal remedy against forced sexual intercourse, it violates their right to privacy and bodily integrity, aspects of the right to life and personal liberty under Article 21, by differentiating them from unmarried women.
5. Marital privacy – which justifies laws such as the marital rape exception – is a fundamental denial of society’s commitment to treating all persons with equal concern and respect.
6. After making high pitch for the government flagship Beti Bachao beti padao, we want our ‘Beti’ to not have a right on her own body. If marital rape has been committed, wife is a rape survivor and she has same rights like any other rape survivor.
7. International Example: Many countries have made it a crime for a husband to force his wife to have sex in recent years. Malaysia changed its laws to that effect in 2007; Turkey in 2005; and Bolivia in 2013. The United States began criminalizing marital rape in 1970s and most European countries in the 1990s. The United Nations has also recommended India to criminalize marital rape. Though we try to emulate US in many areas to prove ourselves as progressive, doesn’t this law provide the opportunity for the same
8.  Even the Law Commission’s report (2000) and Justice Verma panel’s (2013) recommended to do away with the exemption granted to marital rape in the laws.

 

Arguments against Criminalization ?

1. Subjective: It is very subjective and intricate to determine whether consent was acquired or not. Sometimes women use denying intercourse even if she is comfortable with, as a tool for punishment or getting their demands fulfilled.
2.  Prone to Misuse: If marital rape is criminalized without adequate safeguards it could be misused like the current dowry law by the dissatisfied wives to harass and   torture their Husbands.
3. Marriage is the holy institution and application of such laws will wither away its basic fabric as it will lead the investigation to the intricate relationship between the couple.
4. Burden on Judiciary: Will increase the burden of judiciary which otherwise may serve other more important causes
5. Potentially miniscule Law: This law will more likely to be a passive and potentially minuscule law. Since less educated and rural women are not likely to use it and the other strata of women can be said to empowered enough to say no for this kind of acts of their rapist husband’s. 
6. Cannot be applied to India: The concept of marital rape, as understood internationally, cannot be suitably applied in the Indian context due to various factors like level of education/illiteracy, poverty, myriad social customs and values, religious beliefs, mindset of the society to treat the marriage as a sacrament, etc.
7. U.S.A did criminalize marital rapes in 1970’s, most European countries have done so, countries such as Bolivia and Turkey, being the latest entrants to this list. It is a weak argument that just because so and so country have done it, so should we. Going by this logic, Netherlands has legalized prostitution and marijuana, then, so should we.

 

Conclusion

1. Sexual consent is the right of every woman, married or unmarried, as much as of men, and nonconsensual sex should be treated exactly the same, irrespective of the relationship of the perpetrator to the victim. Adequate safeguards however need to be included in the law which limits the opportunities for misusing this law like the dowry law. Just because the law can be misused does not mean that we should evade from our responsibility. However just legal reform is not sufficient as along with legal reform we also need social reform so that this menace could be eradicated from our society.  It is the progressive social consciousness which is need of the hour.

 

 

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Note4students

It is important due to its applications in many fields(as given below).

Basics of the ‘Big Data’

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.

The data could be from social networks, web server logs, traffic flow sensors, satellite imagery, broadcast audio streams, banking transactions, MP3s of rock music, the content of web pages, scans of government documents, GPS trails, telemetry from automobiles, financial market data and so on.

It answers specific questions such as the need of the customers, their opinion and image of the brand

For organisations, analysis of this hidden data may give an insight into things which were previously hidden due to its bulk and the subsequent cost required for its process. This is done by collecting, organizing and analysing large sets of data to discover patterns and other useful information.

For instance, analysis of shoppers’ transactions, social and geographical data gives the analyst knowledge about peer influence on customers, greatly reducing the time that would otherwise require for sampling followed by extensive investigations.

It also enables new products and services, by combining a large number of signals from a user’s actions and those of their friends, Facebook has been able to craft a highly personalized user experience and create a new kind of advertising business.

With the right big data analytics platforms an enterprise can boost sales, increase efficiency, and improve operations, customer service and risk management.

One of the fundamental reasons for opposition of Big Data is centered on privacy since massive amounts of personal data is collected and analysed without a consideration to the person in question.

The large volume of information being collected may be used by finance companies to personalise various schemes for maximisation of their benefits thereby leading to indiscrimination against a certain group of people.

Applications based on ‘Big Data’ Technology

Seed Selection – Big-data businesses can analyse varieties of seeds across numerous fields, soil types, and climates and select the best.

Crop disease – Similar to the way in which Google can identify flu outbreaks based on where web searches are originating, analysing crops across farms helps identify diseases that could ruin a potential harvest.

Irrigation – Precision agriculture aids farmers in tailored and effective water management, helping in production, improving economic efficiency and minimising waste and environmental impact.

Weather – Advanced analytics capabilities and agri-robotics such as aerial imagery, sensors help provide sophisticated local weather forecasts can help increasing global agricultural productivity over the next few decades.

Climate change –  Since, climate change and extreme weather events will demand proactive measures to adapt or develop resiliency, Big Data can bring in the right information to take informed decisions.

Food processing – They help in streamlining food processing value chains by finding the core determinants of process performance, and taking action to continually improve the accuracy, quality and yield of production. They also optimise production schedules based on supplier, customer, machine availability and cost constraints.

Loss control – In India, every year 21 million tons of wheat is lost, primarily due to scare cold-storage centres and refrigerated vehicles, poor transportation facilities and unreliable electricity supply. Big Data has the potential of systematisation of demand forecasting thus reducing such losses.

Pricing – A trading platform for agricultural commodities that links small-scale producers to retailers and bulk purchasers via mobile phone messaging can help send up-to-date market prices via an app or SMS and connect farmers with buyers, offering collective bargaining opportunities for small and marginal farmers.

How can it be a Challenge?

The challenges and opportunities of data is immense in a country like India with 638,000 villages and 130 million with 140 million hectares of cultivable land under 127 agro climatic regions capable of supporting 3,000 different crops and one million varieties.

Self-driven vehicles can already drive themselves across fields using Global Positioning System (GPS) signals accurate to less than inch of error thus helping farmers plant more accurately.

But the real potential is what happens when this data from thousands of tractors on thousands of farms is collected, grouped and analysed in real time.

There is need to formulate a business model wherein value can be captured from the scale of data being captured by different players in the agri-supply chain.

Companies must act now to focus, simplify and standardise big data through an enterprise-wide data management strategy.

Question

Q.) The age of Big Data, the growing pervasiveness of Aadhaar, and the government’s push towards a cashless and digital economy has led to a re-emergence of interest in privacy and data protection in India. In your opinion, what are the key elements that should drive the design of a privacy law (when it is actually enacted), or laws that have an impact on privacy? Discuss.

 

 

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Note4students

It has recently became a hot topic of discussion due to a famous debate between Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg.

What is Artificial Intelligence?

1. Artificial intelligence is the branch of computer science concerned with making computers behave like humans. The term was coined in 1956 by John McCarthy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

2. Artificial Intelligence is the area of computer science focussing on creating machines that can engage on behavior that human consider intelligent.

3. It is the study of ways in which machines can be made to have sufficient creative reasoning power to perform mental task at which, at prevent, human beings are better.

4. Examples of problem that falls under the area of Artificial Intelligence include common sense tasks, such as understanding of language, recognising scenes, finding a way to reach an object that is far overhead etc.

5. In addition Artificial Intelligence includes expert tasks, such as diagnosing diseases, designing computer system and planning scientific expedition.

Where can we use Artificial Intelligence?

1. Games playing: programming computers to play games against human opponents.

2. Expert systems: programming computers to make decisions in real-life situations (for example, some expert systems help doctors diagnose diseases based on symptoms).

3. Natural language: programming computers to understand natural human languages.

4. Neural networks: Systems that simulate intelligence by attempting to reproduce the types of physical connections that occur in animal brains.

5. Robotics: programming computers to see and hear and react to other sensory stimuli.

Approaches:

1. Neural Network: This is bottom up approach. It basically aims at mimicking the structure & functioning of the human brain, to create intelligent behaviour. Researchers are attempting to build a silicon based electronic network that is modeled on the working & form of human brain.

2. Expert System: This is top down approach. Instead of starting at the base level of neurons, followers of the expert system are designing intelligent machines by taking advantage of the phenomenal computational power of the modern computer that can solve problem by deductive logic.

 

Application of AI

They combine precision & computational powers with pure logic, to solve problems & reduce error in operation therefore are used in every field of human endeavor.

1. Heavy Industries & Space: Through AI an entire manufacturing process can be made totally automated, controlled & maintained by computer system in car manufacturing machine tool production, computer chip production. etc. They carry out dangerous tasks like handling hazardous radioactive materials.

2. Finance: Banks use intelligent software application to screen & analyse financial data. Software that can predicts trends in stock market have been created which have been known to beat humans in predictive power.

3. Computer Science: Researchers in quest of AI have created spin offs like dynamic programming, object oriented programming, symbolic programming, intelligent storage management system etc.

4. Aviation: Air lines use expert system in planes to monitor atmospheric condition & system status.

5. Weather Forecast: Neural Network is used for predicting weather condition. Previous data are fed to a neural network which learns the pattern & uses that knowledge to predict weather pattern.

Question

Q.)Discuss critically various opinions  expressed against Artificial Intelligence by scientists, philosophers and technology leaders.

 

Note4Students

Malaria is a major public health problem in India but is preventable and curable. Malaria interventions are highly cost-effective and demonstrate one of the highest returns on investment in public health. The National Framework for Malaria Elimination (NFME) outlines India’s strategy for elimination of the disease by 2030. It’s important to its objectives, various provisions, challenges and way forward.

Introduction

1. 1. Disease burden due to malaria in India has been reduced significantly over the years with an overall decline in malaria–related morbidity and mortality. This has been made possible by a series of interventions such as the introduction of artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT), malaria rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) ,revision of the National Drug Policy for malaria in 2013 etc. However, a number of challenges have emerged in recent years which pose a threat to the country’s progress in its fight against malaria. These include the development of antimalarial drug resistance and insecticide resistance, development of malaria multi-drug resistance including ACT resistance in neighbouring countries, emergence of malaria in urban areas, existence of high endemic malaria pockets in hard-to-reach areas and in tribal populations, climate change and increased tourism and migration.

 

• In order to address these challenges, a national strategy for malaria elimination has been envisaged prompting the development of the National Framework for Malaria Elimination in India 2016–2030.

 

Vision

1. Eliminate malaria nationally and contribute to improved health, quality of life and alleviation of poverty.

Goals

1. Eliminate malaria (zero indigenous cases) throughout the entire country by 2030; and
2. Maintain malaria–free status in areas where malaria transmission has been interrupted and prevent re-introduction of malaria.

Objectives

The Framework has four objectives:

1. Eliminate malaria from all 26 low (Category 1) and moderate (Category 2) transmission states/union territories (UTs) by 2022;
2. Reduce the incidence of malaria to less than 1 case per 1000 population per year in all states and UTs and their districts by 2024;
3. Interrupt indigenous transmission of malaria throughout the entire country, including all high transmission states and union territories (UTs) (Category 3) by 2027; and
4. Prevent the re-establishment of local transmission of malaria in areas where it has been eliminated and maintain national malaria-free status by 2030 and beyond

Key strategic approach

1. Programme phasing considering the varying malaria endemicity in the country
2. Classification of States/UTs based on API as primary criterion (Category 0: Prevention of re- introduction phase; Category 1: Elimination phase; Category 2: Pre-elimination phase; Category 3: Intensified control phase)
3. District as the unit of planning and implementation
4. Focus on high endemic areas
5. Special strategy for P. vivax elimination.

Short term milestones

1. By end of 2016, all states/UTs are expected to include malaria elimination in their broader health policies and planning framework
2. By end of 2017, all states are expected to bring down API to less than 1 per thousand population
3. By end of 2020, 15 states/UTs under category 1 (elimination phase) are expected to interrupt transmission of malaria and achieve zero indigenous cases and deaths due to malaria.

Challenges

• Population movements, often uncontrolled across states/UTs, and sharing of large international borders with neighbouring malaria endemic countries
• Shortage of skilled human resources

 

1. Insecticide resistance: The extensive use of insecticides, particularly DDT, under the vector control programme controlled malaria to a great extent but exerted high selection pressure on the vector population to develop resistance.
2. Access to conflict-affected tribal areas and to areas with a high malaria endemicity is a problem
3. High endemicity states include those in the Northeast, which share borders with neighbouring countries like Bangladesh, where the prevalence of malaria is high.
4. Neglect of malaria and unreliable data:
   • There is no reliable data to know how many people suffer from this disease annually as estimates do not take into account the 60-80% patients in the urban area who gets treatment from private hospitals
5. Although malaria is made as a notifiable disease, penalties are not imposed on doctors and hospitals if they are not notifying.

Way forward

1. With the availability of medicines and diagnostic kits, the delivery mechanism has to be streamlined to enable access to them.
2. Overburdened staffs tend to underperform. So, more community health workers and supporting staffs need to be appointed and trained to function effectively.
3. Budgetary allocation for the programme in specific and overall health care in general has to be increased.
4. Secure and sustain adequate financial resources for implementing the elimination programme through domestic funding.
5. Additionally, innovative financing models, partnerships and integration with other government departments has to be explored.
6. Also, steps have to be taken to create awareness among the people so as to ensure their active participation.
7. Lastly, there is a need for community mobilization and sustenance of efforts to make this program successful.

Questions

1. Discuss the objectives and provisions of National Strategic Plan for Malaria Elimination
2. How should India address the rising challenge of Malaria?

Note4Students

Government of India has sought to effectively prohibit cattle slaughter across the country through rules made under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960.It came under heavy criticism that it is constitutional misadventure on multiple grounds involving fundamental rights, separation of powers and federalism. It is important to know the new rules and the issues involved in it.

Introduction

The prime focus of the regulation is to protect the animals from cruelty and not to regulate the existing trade in cattle for slaughter houses. It is envisaged that welfare of cattle dealt in the market will be ensured and that only healthy animals are traded for agriculture purposes for the benefits of the farmers. The notified rules will remove the scope of illegal sale and smuggling of the cattle which is a major concern. The specific provisions apply only to animals which are bought and sold in the notified live stock markets and animals that are seized as case properties.

 

Why such a rule?

Environment Ministry has issued a clarification that the notification is issued on the basis of the Supreme Court order in the case of Gauri Maulekhi versus Union of India and others.

Rules

1. It allows only farmland owners to trade at animal markets. Both seller and buyer will have to produce identity and farmland ownership documents.
2. After buying a cow, a trader must make five copies of proof of sale and submit them at the local revenue office, the local veterinary doctor in the district of the purchaser, animal market committee, apart from one each for seller and buyer
3. The cattles bought cannot be resold within six months
4. District Animal Market Monitoring Committee be set up in each which will be headed by a Magistrate, for regulation of animal markets in the district.
5. It also mandates the AMC to ensure that the buyer of cattle does not further sell the animals for slaughter.
6. The local authority is then directed to make a list of animal markets functional prior to the commencement of the rules.
7. It bans setting of animal markets within 50 km of an international border and 25 km of a state border.
8. Taking animal outside the State will require special approval of the State Government nominee.
9. The Rules go on to prohibit several practices as “cruel and harmful”. These include
   1. Animal identification methods such as hot branding and cold branding;
   2. Shearing and painting of horns, bishoping in horses and ear cutting in buffaloes;
   3. Casting animals on hard ground without adequate bedding;
   4. Use of any chemicals or colors on body parts of animals.
10. The person in charge of an animal has been fixed with the responsibility to ensure that the animal is not caused injury or unnecessary pain or suffering.
11. They also make it mandatory for veterinary inspector to certify proper loading and unloading of animals to ensure they are not cramped inside trucks. The inspector can proceed to mark any animal unfit for sale.

Criticism

1. The new regulation such as, cattle bought cannot be resold for six months will hurt the business of cattle traders
2. It introduced a lot of paperwork for cattle traders who are predominantly illiterate and poor.
3. It provides too much discretion on the hand of veterinary inspector. He has to certify proper loading and unloading of animals. He can also mark any animal unfit for sale.
4. Traders are of the view that this definition of animal markets makes it very difficult for them to procure animals.
5. The industry fears that it will lead to huge losses as most of the cattle trade for slaughter takes place through animal markets.
6. The new rules will make it difficult for farmers to dispose their spent cattle as traders usually buy buffaloes from farmers in cattle markets and then transport them to slaughterhouses.
7. The ban has hurt mostly Muslim meat and leather traders who face mounting violence by cow vigilante groups.
8. Farmers have also been deprived of a traditional source of income from selling non-milch and ageing cattle.
9. Only state governments were empowered to make laws on cattle markets and fairs, which rendered the new rules arbitrary, illegal and unconstitutional.
10. It is argued that the rules were violative of the fundamental right to carry on trade and the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (PCA) Act of 1960, under which the rules were notified, itself does not ban cattle slaughter

Conclusion

1. The Centre must address the concerns of the trade as well as of those who suspect the notification is a part of a Machiavellian plot to influence and curb food choices. 
2. While there is a case to retain most of the rules prohibiting the cruel treatment of animals, the ban on the sale of cattle for slaughter in animal markets must go.

Questions

1. “The proposed ban on the sale and purchase of cattle for slaughter at agricultural markets violates fundamental rights of food and livelihood, and the spirit of federalism.” Critically comment
2. “Govt has banned the sale, purchase of cattle from animal markets for slaughter by notifying a stringent rule under Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act.” Examine the issues involved.

 

Note4Students

Making paid news an electoral offence has been demanded from long. Paid news plays an important role in influencing the voters. The Election Commission’s order disqualifying Madhya Pradesh Minister Narottam Mishra for three years is an important step in curbing ‘paid news’.

 

Context

1. The Election Commission (EC) has disqualified a Minister for three years for filing wrong accounts of election expenditure.
2. The membership has been revoked under section 10A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.

 

What is paid news?

1. According to Press Council of India, paid news is “any news or analysis appearing in any media (print & electronic) for a price in cash or kind as consideration”. 
2. It refers to propaganda in favour of a candidate masquerading as news reports or articles for a price in cash or kind as consideration. The news is much like an advertisement, but without the ‘ad tag’.

 

Is paid news an electoral offence?

1. Paid news is not an electoral offence yet in India, but there is a case to make it one.
2. However, the EC has recommended that the Representation of the People Act, 1951, be amended to make the publishing or abetting the publishing, of paid news to further a candidate’s prospects or prejudicially affect another’s an electoral offence.

 

Negatives of paid news:

1. Affects people’s thinking and opinion:

This kind of news has been considered a serious malpractice since it deceives the citizens, not letting them know that the news is, in fact an advertisement and affecting people’ s rational thinking and opinion.

2. Display of money power:

The payment modes usually violate tax laws and election spending laws. It displays the role of money in elections.

3. Hits the bottom of democracy:

Such news play a significant role in influencing voting tendency of voters as the viewer does not get a correct picture of the personality or performance of the candidate in whose favour or against he decides to cast his vote. This destroys the very essence of the democracy.

4. Affects free and fair elections:

Such practices interfere with free and fair elections in the country by violating democratic principle enshrined in our constitution.

5. Curbs the faith of people in media:

Media is described as the fourth pillar of democracy. Such incidents bring down the faith of people in democratic institutions by conveying incorrect and false information to the people.

 

Reasons for rise in paid news: 

1. The Department-Related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology in its 47th report on the “Issues Related to Paid News” has identified corporatization of media, desegregation of ownership and editorial roles, decline in autonomy of editors/journalists due to emergence of contract system and poor wage levels of journalists as key reasons for the rise in the incidence of paid news. 
2. Besides these, lack of adequate powers available with regulators, lack of effective penal action against those who violate the rules and inaction by the government in cases related to paid news are also important reasons for rise in incidents of paid news.

 

Election Commission Guidelines to Curb Paid News

1. All state Chief Electoral Officers will have to obtain a list of all TV and radio channels and newspapers in the state as well as their standard advertisement rate cards six months before the term of the Lok Sabha or the State Legislative Assembly expires.
2. Setting up of Media Certification and Monitoring Committee (MCMC) at district and state level which will have to monitor all political advertisements in relation to candidates.
3. The committee will intimate the Returning Officer for issue of notices to candidates for inclusion of notional expenditure based on standard rate cards in their election expenses account, “even if they actually do not pay any amount to the channel/newspaper, that is otherwise the case with paid news.”
4. The expenditure will also include publicity for a candidate by a “star campaigner” or others, to impact his electoral prospects.

 

Challenges in dealing with paid news

1. There is circumstantial evidence, but little proof. Establishing transaction of cash or kind is indeed not very easy, as it is usually done without any record and promptly denied by both sides, when enquired. Identifying the cases is a herculean task.
2. Media violations, surrogate advertisement and unreported advertisements are often mistaken as Paid News sometimes in true cases.
3. It is difficult to identify and solve the cases in a set time limit. The cases keep on pending for a long period of time before the courts.
4. The independence of the media and its ability to bring about transparency in society by playing an adversarial role against the establishment get compromised because of corruption within the folds of the media itself and it is usually difficult to fix the accountability in such cases.

 Way forward

To curb such incidents in future, it is necessary to make ‘paid News’ an electoral offence through amendment of Representation of the People Act, 1951. The expenditure ceilings prescribed by Election Commission should be strictly adhered to by political parties and candidates. The people should be sensitized by creating awareness among them and seeking partnership with all stakeholders, including political parties and media.

 

 Conclusion

1. The media acts as a repository of public trust for conveying correct and true information to the people. The “paid news” is therefore, a serious matter as it influences the functioning of a free press. There is an urgent need to protect the right of the public to accurate information before voters exercise their franchise when such incidents are on rise.
2. Hence, a legal framework in which electoral issues are expeditiously adjudicated must be put in place if election laws are to be enforced in both letter and spirit.

Sources 

http://indianexpress.com/article/explained/what-is-the-menace-of-paid-news-election-commission-narottam-mishra-madhya-pradesh-minsiter-2008-assembly-elections-4755328/

http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/editorial/pay-to-publish/article19165976.ece

http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/Paid-news-a-deep-seated-malaise/article16838453.ece

http://www.business-standard.com/article/opinion/the-menace-of-paid-news-116050800630_1.html

Questions

Q.1) The Election Commission’s order disqualifying a minister in the Madhya Pradesh government for three years is an important step in curbing ‘paid news’ in the electoral arena. Do you think ‘paid news’ should be considered as an electoral offence? Substantiate. 

Q.2) With the increase in incidents of paid news across the country and the involvement of political leaders and political parties in such cases, discuss what are the challenges in dealing with paid news? Do you think EC should make paid news an electoral offence? Critically comment. What are the

 

 

Note4Students/Syllabus Mapping: GS2

The recent nine-judge Constitution bench of Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice J. S. Khehar ruled ‘Right to Privacy’ as a Fundamental right protected intrinsically as part of rights guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution. As any constitutional interpretation this one is historic and a watershed judgment which has multiplier ramifications over social, political, cultural and economic spheres of citizen-state machinery. UPSC is usually interested in Supreme Court interpretations and this topic forms potential bedrock for analysis. A question on analysis of this topic is expected this year CSE Mains 2017.

Context:

Under the three key Issues involved:

1. Whether Right to Privacy is a fundamental right or not?
2. Need for a stringent data protection act in lieu of fundamental right to privacy.
3. Is sharing personal data to government same as sharing our data with foreign private players?

The recent Supreme Court ruling that Right to Privacy is a Fundamental Right has put to rest the questions rose about definition of privacy and clarified the ambiguities around this matter.

Significance of the Judgment- Multiplier implications!

• • The final verdict says “Privacy is intrinsic to the right to life and personal liberty under Article 21 of the Constitution and an inherent part of fundamental freedom under part III of the Constitution.”
  • The Supreme Court has reaffirmed the primacy of the individual and served as a check on legislative and executive power.
  • The amorphous definition of Privacy has been done away with by overruling earlier judgments of M.P Sharma vs Satish Chandra (1954) and Kharak Singh vs State of Uttar Pradesh (1962) that had held privacy to not be a fundamental right.
  • An ordinary man not just a citizen, but anyone, whether an Indian national or not, can move the constitutional courts of the land under Articles 32 and 226, respectively, to get justice in case of violation of fundamental right.
  • The court emphasized upon personal, informational and digital privacy. It cleared the air on the amorphous nature the concept of privacy.
  • The judgment of the SC by overruling it earlier verdict shows evolution of our judiciary with changing time.
  • It will directly impact food choices, beef bans and any such restrictions that is intrinsic to choice and privacy
  • The nine-judge Bench’s judgment gains international significance as privacy enjoys a robust legal framework internationally, though India has remained circumspect.
  • The apex court has set the stage for the introduction of a new privacy law by the government.
  • The right to privacy is now applicable against the state as well as against the private companies who possess large amounts of user data without consent or nominal consent of users.

 

1. Acknowledging the pervasion of technology, the apex court identified privacy of information as a subset of the right to privacy. 
2. The judgment cites women’s abortion rights and the execrable Section 377 to note that sexual orientation, gender identity and women’s bodily autonomy are bound with human dignity and the right to privacy. This has profound implications for women and the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) community.

The Contours of Privacy:

 

1. It would include bodily integrity, personal autonomy, protection from state surveillance and freedom of dissent, movement, and thought.
2. Privacy in its core includes the “preservation of personal intimacies, the sanctity of family life, marriage, procreation, the home and sexual orientation”.
3. A woman’s freedom of choice to bear a child or abort the pregnancy, freedom to choose to work or not and the right to travel freely fall within this right.
4. It encompasses concepts of personal, informational and digital privacy.
5. Considering the secret ballot an extension of privacy principles into the public space and political system, without which elections would be a farce in a democracy like India.

Right to privacy – why do we need it?

1. The right to privacy has become fundamental in today’s age of technological advancements. For instance through Global Positioning System (GPS), the movement of person could be tracked and misused by the State as well as by non-State actors.
2. Privacy enjoys robust legal framework recognition internationally under Article 12 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 17 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). India has signed and ratified the ICCPR without reservation.
3. It is essential to preserve the balance of power between governments and citizens, especially for a large democracy like India.

Caveats to the judgment:

• • Privacy is at best a “sub-species of liberty and every aspect could not qualify as being fundamental in nature” and that the right could not be extended to “every aspect” of privacy.
  • The litigation against the Aadhaar programme is still pending in a separate case, the striking down of Aadhaar Act (which has now become the bedrock of government welfare programmes, the tax administration network and online financial transactions) on grounds of privacy violations could curtail DBT and welfare scheme benefits.
  • The idea of the “right to be left alone” against the long-standing demand of India’s poor for the “right to be acknowledged” by the state—which was the genesis of Aadhaar in the first place.
  • It will most likely roll back many of the gains made under the ambit of the right to information, which is not a fundamental right, but a statutory right under the Right to Information Act, 2005. Such a ruling could also run afoul of access to information such as voters’ lists, National Rural Employment Guarantee Act muster rolls, etc., which we now take for granted in the name of transparency.
  • Likewise, the state’s actions and processes when it comes to law and order and national security will come under increased scrutiny.
  • Right to life implicitly contains the right to privacy as well. Those protections and rights can be constrained by “procedure established by law”. Without the reasonableness guaranteed by Article 14 to test that procedure, Article 21 is weakened.
  • Right to terminate life under euthanasia as a choice claimed under privacy can have negative fallout along with rise of suicides and abortion if recognized as arbitrary private decisions.
  • Now that Aadhaar has covered 99% of the population, if struck down, could cost exchequer heavily.
  • Right to privacy is not expressly included in the Constitution as the founding fathers rejected or jettisoned the idea of inclusion of privacy as a fundamental right. 

 

1. Some experts raised an argument that there is difference between the right to privacy being considered a common law right and a fundamental right.
2. ‘Informational privacy’ could not be a right to privacy and it could not ever be a fundamental right as Most of our data is anyway outside, and we have no control over its usage. 

Way forward:

1. A data protection regime should carefully balance the trade-off between individual interests and legitimate concerns of the state.
2. The State is obliged to put a robust personal data protection mechanism in place in this digital age. A data protection law as soon as possible is the way to go as highlighted by Nandan Nilekani.
3. Neither private entity nor government should have unrestricted access to information. Both need to come under accountability mechanisms.

Conclusion:

A judgment this comprehensive and far-reaching is bound to raise questions as well. By declaring right to privacy as a new freedom and clear fundamental right it has opened up plethora of hopes and aspirations of Indian citizens as a whole and protects them from arbitrary intrusions of their personal space. While it has negative fallouts, rationally demarcated restrictions on this freedom and a properly regulated robust data protection law to support the judgment is the need of the hour.

 

Note4Student:

Government is likely to scrap public distribution scheme (PDS) system and transfer money directly to the accounts of poor beneficiaries after getting encouraging results from Haryana and Puducherry. This move has been supported as well as criticized by many economists.

 

What is PDS?

Under the PDS, central public sector undertaking Food Corporation of India (FCI) sells food grains, including wheat, rice and sugar, and kerosene through fair price shops in states and union territories. 

 

Arguments in Favour of substituting PDS grain transfers with cash?

1.PDS Prone to corruption and leakage: Proponents of substituting PDS grain transfers with cash argue that PDS is an inefficient mode of transfer of subsidies, prone to enormous leakages into the black market, and high waste in costs of transferring subsidies in the form of food transfers. They argue that replacing food with direct cash transfers would greatly reduce corruption and leakages.

2.Better targeting: It would enable the poor to access goods currently denied them by a PDS beset by corruption.

3.More Choice for consumers: It would enable people to buy better quality food of their choice from the open market and not be restricted to items sold in the PDS, which are often inferior in quality and limited in range.

4.Will Reduce wastage: Providing subsidies directly to the poor, it is further argued, would both bypass brokers as well as reduce the waste and holding costs of storing grains in government silos. The amount of grain actually required for India’s buffer stock needs could be held in better-quality warehouses, eliminating waste and rotting.

5.Will reduce fiscal deficit: Cash transfers would help reduce fiscal deficit by curbing expenditures earmarked for the PDS that are siphoned off through corruption, as well as avoiding substantially higher costs of transferring food rather than cash.

 

Arguments against Arguments in Favour of substituting PDS grain transfers with cash?

Not leakage proof: it is problematic to assume that cash transfers would in themselves bring about drastic reductions in corruption and leakages in welfare programmes, as there is nothing intrinsic to cash transfers which renders them less vulnerable to leakages. Irregularities are empirically found to be high in existing cash transfer programmes. Cash transfers of old-age pensions are at least as notorious for corruption and leakages as the PDS.

PDS performing better: Studies confirm that many states have been able to reform PDS and significantly reduce leakages, as much as some states have reformed pension transfers. Clearly, the difference between the corruption or probity of delivery of welfare programmes is not dependent on whether cash or food is delivered, but on political and administrative will and capacities, and public vigilance and organization.

Misuse of Cash: It is also possible for people to spend cash transfers not on more nutritious food, as proponents suggest, but instead on non-food items, which would decrease the amount of household money left for buying food. There are significant gendered differences of choice here. Research confirms that culturally decisions relating to cash in households tend to be made by men, who may or may not spend the money on food. Decisions relating to food are made by women in almost all cultures, and therefore food rather than cash in a household is more likely to end up as food in a child’s stomach.

Weak Banking Infrastructure: There are also worries about how genuinely inclusive of people in remote rural regions is India’s banking system. Fair price shops exist in three of every four villages, and are therefore generally accessible. According to one survey, average distance to the nearest bank branch is between 6.5km to 10km. Distances would be much longer in remote regions, entailing high additional costs of transport and time.

PDS a shield against Inflation: Another advantage of PDS over cash transfers from the perspective of the poor is that PDS supplies rations at a constant price, irrespective of the fluctuations in market prices. This therefore provides a shield against inflation, a benefit that cash transfers cannot match.

PDS ensures stable income for Farmer’s:  it is a mistake to view PDS only as a means to transfer subsidies to poor households. PDS costs need to be measured against its other goals as well. PDS requires the government to procure food from farmers. The government builds up stocks of grains which are also useful for price stabilization. Indeed, the guarantee of minimum support price purchase by the government for wheat and rice is the most important instrument for the protection of farmers’ income in India, and this would become unfeasible if the government could not offload a lot of this grain back through the PDS.

Cash Transfer leading to exclusion: In areas where pilot programme has been launched There were issues in transfers, as results show as high as 50 per cent of those entitled did not receive the full or part cash transfer, especially due to issues in linking of bank accounts with Aadhaar and ration cards. 

 

Way Forward:

1. Certainly, DBT is a novel idea and it could certainly reduce leakages and corruption of PDS system has proven its record in LPG case where Government saved rs 14000 crore due to better targeting and elimination of ghost beneficiaries
2. However, DBT in food subsidy is an idea which has many flaws as mentioned above. PDS system itself is flawed and it needs to be eliminated.
3. Therefore, instead of cash transfer Government should give food coupons as this will solve the problem of misuse of cash for buying non-food things and it will also give poor people choice to buy food from the retailer of their choice. Food coupon amount should be periodically revised so that it takes into account the current inflation. Thus what we require is a system which is somewhere in between the present inefficient PDS system and the proposed DBT system.

 

Questions:

(Q) Should PDS scheme be replaced by Direct benefit transfer in Food Subsidy. Give Pros and cons.

(Q.) Replacing PDS with cash transfers would, in effect, gradually erode and eventually dismantle this obligation of the government, with an adverse impact on an already precarious agriculture and farmer protection. Critically comment

 

Note4Students

1. Section 124A was challenged in the Supreme Court as unconstitutional. In its celebrated judgment in the case of Kedarnath vs State of Bihar, the Supreme Court explained the scope of sedition law. It ruled that “vigorous words in writing and very strong criticism of measures of government or acts of public officials, would be outside the scope of Section 124A”.It has been in news very frequently due to its frequent misuse.A large number of op-eds have been written on this issue in recent years.UPSC also asked a similar kind of question (Hate speech) in UPSC mains 2014. Therefore it’s necessary to prepare both arguments in favour and against Sedition law.

Introduction

1. The section 124A of Indian Penal Code is a pre-independence provision which covers sedition charges against government. 
2. Section 124A of the IPC defines sedition and says:
   • whoever by words either spoken or written or by signs or by visible representation or otherwise brings or attempts to bring into hatred or contempt, the government established by law; or
   • Whoever by the above means excites or attempts to excite disaffection towards the government established by law, has committed the offence of sedition.

 

1. Figures of the National Crime Records Bureau reveal that in the two years preceding the Jawaharlal Nehru University case, there were a total of 77 sedition cases, of which only one resulted in conviction.
2. Human rights activists and supporters of free speech argued that this section is draconian and should be got rid of.

 

Arguments in favour of Sedition Law

 

1. In 1962, the Supreme Court in Kedar Nath Singh vs State of Bihar upheld Section 124A and held that it struck a “correct balance” between fundamental rights and the need for public order.
2. The court has reduced the scope of Sedition law to only those cases where there is incitement to imminent violence towards overthrow of the state. 
3. The Court held that it is not mere against government of the day but the institutions as symbol of state. 

 

Argument against section 124A

1. It stifles the democratic right of people to criticize the government.
2. In the Menaka Gandhi case, the Supreme Court had held that  freedom of speech and expression is not confined to geographical limitations and it carries with it the right of a citizen to gather information and to exchange thought with others not only in India but abroad too.
3. Thus, criticism against the government policies and decisions within a reasonable limit that does not incite people to rebel is consistent with freedom of speech and expression.
4. In the Kedarnath Singh case, the Supreme Court has warned against the arbitrary use of sedition law because such arbitrary use would violate the freedom of speech and expression guaranteed by the Constitution.
5. The police might not have the “requisite” training to understand the consequences of imposing such a “stringent” provision.
6. It has been used arbitrarily to curb dissent. In many cases the main targets have been writers, journalists, activists who question government policy and projects, and political dissenters.
7. The draconian nature of this law—non-bailable, non-cognisable and punishment that can extend for life, has a strong deterrent effect on dissent even if it is not used.
8. The press should be protected so that it could bare the secrets of government and inform the people. Only a free and unrestrained press can effectively expose deception in government
9. Legislation exists to deal with unlawful activities and armed movements. There is no need to criminalize words spoken or written.

 

Way Forward

1. India of the 21st century does not require a law used by the colonial government to suppress India’s voice.
2. The guidelines of the SC must be incorporated in Section 124A as well by amendment to IPC so that any ambiguity is removed.
3. This will ensure that section 124 A of IPC strikes a balance between security and smooth functioning of state with the fundamental right of freedom of speech and expression.

 

Questions

1. What do understand by sedition? Should it be deleted? Critically comment
2. “The arbitrariness of the sedition charges imposed on various situations makes for a test case on the validity of Section 124A” Critically examine

Note4Students:

India has been facing a bad loan Problem from last few Years. According to latest report of RBI, Stressed assets, which include non-performing assets (NPAs) and restructured loans, form some 12% of the total loans in Indian banking now. A question on NPA is expected from last 2 years. Probably this is the year where UPSC will ask question on NPA in Mains.

Context

According to RBI’s recent data The pile of bad loans, or stressed assets, is close to Rs10 lakh crore($154 billion) now, which is more than the GDP of at least 137 countries. And what’s more, it is only growing.

Stressed assets, which include non-performing assets (NPAs) and restructured loans, form some 12% of the total loans in Indian banking now.

 

What is NPA?

1. The assets of the banks which don’t perform (that is – don’t bring any return) are called Non Performing Assets (NPA) or bad loans. Bank’s assets are the loans and advances given to customers. If customers don’t pay either interest or part of principal or both, the loan turns into bad loan.
2. According to RBI, terms loans on which interest or instalment of principal remain overdue for a period of more than 90 days from the end of a particular quarter is called a Non-performing Asset.
3. However, in terms of Agriculture / Farm Loans; the NPA is defined as under: For short duration crop agriculture loans such as paddy, Jowar, Bajra etc. if the loan (installment / interest) is not paid for 2 crop seasons, it would be termed as a NPA. For Long Duration Crops, the above would be 1 Crop season from the due date.

source

 

Impact of NPA on Economy

The problem of NPAs in the Indian banking system is one of the foremost and the most formidable problems that had impact the entire banking system. Higher NPA leads to following adverse impact on Economy:

1. Depositors do not get rightful returns and many times may lose uninsured deposits. Banks may begin charging higher interest rates on some products to compensate Non-performing loan losses
2. Bank shareholders are adversely affected
3. Bad loans imply redirecting of funds from good projects to bad ones. Hence, the economy suffers due to loss of good projects and failure of bad investments
4. When bank do not get loan repayment or interest payments, liquidity problems may ensue.

Reasons for the rise in NPA in recent years

1. GDP slowdown: Between early 2000’s and 2008 Indian economy were in the boom phase. During this period Banks especially Public sector banks lent extensively to corporates. However, the profits of most of the corporate dwindled due to slowdown in the global and domestic economy, bans in mining projects, delays in environmental related permits ,Land acquisition hurdles and volatility in prices of raw material. This has adversely affected their ability to pay back loans and is the most important reason behind increase in NPA of public sector banks.
2. Relaxed lending Norms: One of the main reasons of rising NPA was the relaxed lending norms especially for corporate honchos when their financial status and credit rating was not analyzed properly. Also, to face competition banks were hugely selling unsecured loans .
3. Priority Sector Lending: There is a myth that main reason for rise in NPA in Public sector banks was Priority sector lending as according to the findings of Standing Committee on Finance , NPAs in the corporate sector are far higher than those in the priority or agriculture sector. However, even if PSL is not the main cause but it is still a cause for rising NPA which can be seen from the fact that As per the latest estimates by the SBI, education loans constitute 20% of its NPAs.
4. The Lack of Bankruptcy code in India and sluggish legal system makes it difficult for banks to recover these loans from both corporate and noncorporate.

 

Other factors

1. Banks did not conducted adequate contingency planning, especially for mitigating project risk. They did not factor eventualities like failure of gas projects to ensure supply of gas or failure of land acquisition process for highways.
2. Restructuring of loan facility was extended to companies that were facing larger problems of over-leverage & inadequate profitability. This problem was more in the Public sector banks.
3. Companies with dwindling debt repayment capacity were raising more & more debt from the system.

Why most NPA in Public sector?

1. Five sectors Textile, aviation, mining, Infrastructure contributes to most of the NPA, since most of the loan given in these sector are by PSB, they account for most of the NPA.
2. Public Sector banks provide around 80% of the credit to industries and it is this part of the credit distribution that forms a great chunk of NPA. Last year, when kingfisher was marred in financial crisis, SBI provided it huge amount of loan which it is not able to recover from it.
3. Less Professional management
4. Political Pressure and interference forces PSB to lend to not so commercially sounds project.

Steps taken by RBI and Government in last few years to curb NPA

• 1. Government has launched Mission Indradhanush to make the working of public sector bank more transparent and professional in order to curb the menace of NPA in future.
  2. Government has also proposed to introduce Bankruptcy code which will make it easier for banks to Recover the loans from the debtors.
  3. RBI introduced number of measures in last few years which include:
  4. Tightening the Corporate Debt Restructuring (CDR) mechanism,
  5. Setting up a Joint Lenders’ Forum, prodding banks to disclose the real picture of bad loans, asking them to increase provisioning for stressed assets,
  6. Introducing a 5:25 scheme where loans are to be amortized over 25 years with refinancing option after every five years, and

 

• Empowering them to take majority control in defaulting companies under the Strategic Debt Restructuring (SDR) scheme.
• Amendment in banking law to give RBI more powers: The Banking Regulation Act may be amended to give RBI more powers to monitor bank accounts of big defaulters. The amendment in the banking law will enable setting up of a committee to oversee companies that have been the biggest defaulters of loans.
• Stringent NPA recovery rules: The government has over the years enacted and tweaked stringent rules to recover assets of defaulters. The Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act or Sarfaesi Act of 2002 was amended in 2016 as it took banks years to recover the assets.

How to curb the menace of NPA?

#1. Short Term measures

1. Review of NPA’S/Restructured advances- We need to assess the viability case by case. Viable accounts need to be given more finance for turnaround and unviable accounts should either be given to Asset Reconstruction Company or Management/ownership restructuring or permitting banks to take over the units.
2. Bankruptcy code should be passed as soon as possible. Bankruptcy code will make it easier for banks to recover loans from unviable enterprises.
3. Government should establish ARC with equity contribution from the government and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The established ARC should take the tumor (of non-performing assets or NPAs) out” of the banking system. An ARC acquires bad loans from banks and financial institutions, usually at a discount, and works to recover them through a variety of measures, including sale of assets or a turnaround steered by professional management. Relieved of their NPA burden, the banks can focus on their core activity of lending.

#2. Long term Measures

1. Improving credit risk management– This includes credit appraisal, credit monitoring, and efficient system of fixing accountability and analyzing trends in group leverage to which the borrowing firm belongs to
2. Sources/structure of equity capital– Banks need to see that promoter’s contribution is funded through equity and not debt.
3. Banks should conduct necessary sensitivity analysis and contingency planning while appraising the projects and it should built adequate safeguards against such external factors.
4. Strengthen credit monitoring– Develop an early warning mechanism and comprehensive MIS(Management information system) can play an important role in it.MIS must enable timely detection of problem accounts, flag early signs of delinquencies and facilitate timely information to management on these aspects.
5. Enforce accountability- Till now lower ring officials considered accountable even though loaning decisions are taken at higher level. Thus sanction official should also share the burden of responsibility.
6. Restructured accounts should treated as non performing and technical write offs where Banks remove NPA’S from their balance sheets Permanently should be dispensed with.
7. Address corporate governance issues in PSB- This includes explicit fit and proper criteria for appointment of top executives and instituting system of an open market wide search for Chairman.

Questions:

 

Q.1) Non-performing assets, restructured loans and written-off assets — collectively called ‘stressed assets’ — have become a major challenge to the country’s banking system. To combat these, what has government done? Will these measures be effective? Examine.

Q.2) The problem of non-performing assets (NPAs) in the Indian banking system is said to be big and might affect economic growth of the country. What are the approaches that RBI and government are adopting to clean the banking system of NPAs? Examine.

 

 

Note4Students

Bankruptcy code addresses the larger issue of ease of doing business. Economic survey 2016 talked about chakravyuha problem of Indian business ecosystem. In this context bankruptcy code is important topic to examine.

Introduction

1. Hitherto India was lacking the legal and institutional machinery for dealing with debt defaults as per the global standards.
2. The recovery proceedings by creditors, either through the Contract Act or through special laws such as the Recovery of Debts due to Banks and Financial Institutions Act, 1993 and the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act, 2002, has not had desired outcomes.
3. Similarly, action through the Sick Industrial Companies (Special Provisions) Act, 1985 (SICA) and the winding up provisions of the Companies Act, 1956 have neither been able to aid recovery for lenders nor restructuring of firms.
4. Laws dealing with individual insolvency, the Presidency Towns Insolvency Act, 1909 and the Provincial Insolvency Act, 1920, were almost a century old. This has hampered the confidence of the lender and development of the credit markets in India. Resultantly, credit by banks is the largest component of the credit market in India and corporate bond market has not yet developed to the desired level.

Analysis

Highlights of the Code

1. The Code creates time-bound processes for insolvency resolution of companies and individuals.  These processes will be completed within 180 days.  If insolvency cannot be resolved, the assets of the borrowers may be sold to repay creditors.
2. The resolution processes will be conducted by licensed insolvency professionals (IPs).  These IPs will be members of insolvency professional agencies (IPAs).  IPAs will also furnish performance bonds equal to the assets of a company under insolvency resolution.
3. Information utilities (IUs) will be established to collect, collate and disseminate financial information to facilitate insolvency resolution.
4. The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) will adjudicate insolvency resolution for companies.  The Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT) will adjudicate insolvency resolution for individuals.
5. The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India will be set up to regulate functioning of IPs, IPAs and IUs.

Positive Aspects

1. The new law aims to consolidate the laws relating to insolvency of companies and limited liability entities (including limited liability partnerships and other entities with limited liability), unlimited liability partnerships and individuals, Presently contained in a number of legislations, into a single legislation and provide for their reorganization and resolution in a time bound manner for maximization of value of their assets.
2. Such consolidation will provide for a greater clarity in law and facilitate the application of consistent and coherent provisions to different stakeholders affected by business failure or inability to pay debt.
3. This law will thus promote entrepreneurship, availability of credit and balance the interest of all stakeholders.
4. It is true that some business ventures will always fail, but such failures will be handled rapidly and swiftly. Entrepreneurs and lenders will be able to move on, instead of being bogged down with decisions taken in the past.
5. The Code empowers the operational creditors (workmen, suppliers etc.) also to initiate the insolvency resolution process upon non-payment of dues. In order to develop the credit market in India, in case of liquidation, financial debts owed to unsecured creditors have been kept above the Government’s dues in the list of priorities (waterfall).
6. Facilitating early resolution and exit is as important as facilitating investment.
7. The essential idea of the new law is that when a corporate entity defaults on its debt, control shifts from the shareholders/promoters to a committee of creditors, who have 180 days (extendable by 90 days in deserving cases) to evaluate proposals from various players about resuscitating the company or taking it into liquidation.
8. When decisions are taken in a time-bound manner, there is a greater chance that the corporate entity can be saved as a going concern, and the productive resources of the economy (labour and capital) can be put to the best use. This is in complete departure from SICA regime where there were delays leading to destruction of the value of the firm.
9. The Code separates commercial aspects of the insolvency proceedings from judicial aspects.
10. While Insolvency Professionals (IPs) will deal with commercial aspects such as management of the affairs of the corporate debtor, facilitating formation of committee of creditors, organising their meetings, examination of the resolution plan, etc.,
11. judicial issues will be handled by proposed Adjudicating Authorities (National Company Law Tribunal / Debt Recovery Tribunal). One more important institution created under the Code is the ‘Information Utility’ which would store financial information and data and terms of lending in electronic databases. This would eliminate delays and disputes about facts when default does take place.
12. The Code also provides a fast track insolvency resolution process for corporates and LLPs. This will be an enabler for start-ups and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to complete the resolution process in 90 days (extendable to 45 days in deserving cases).
13. The Code also addresses the important issue relating to cross border insolvency by providing the enabling mechanism on the subject. The Government, at an appropriate time, will come out with a detailed framework for cross border insolvency.

Key Issues

1. In relation to corporate persons, the Code looks to wrap up the game in 180 days.
2. It warrants a notice of dispute to be issued followed by a response period of 10 days for the corporate debtor, failing which the creditor is entitled to file an insolvency application before the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT).
3. Within 14 days from filing, the application must be admitted. Upon admission, the moratorium period (freezing of bank accounts, prohibition on foreclosures in relation to financial debts, etc.) commences.
4. At this stage, the existing management of the company loses complete control and all powers vest with an interim resolution professional, who has merely 30 days to put together all the relevant information and call for a meeting of the financial creditors.
5. Once the financial creditors meet, they must appoint a resolution professional who will put together an information memorandum of the company that forms the basis for a resolution applicant to propose a resolution plan for the company.
6. The Code fails to define a resolution applicant. All such resolution plans are placed before the financial creditors. When at least 75% of the financial creditors approve, the plan is implemented by way of an order by the NCLT. If the financial creditors fail to arrive at a consensus, the default plan is to liquidate the company.
7. The Code rides substantially on the unquestionable word of the creditors. Neither does the corporate debtor have an opportunity to put forth his/her case nor is there any scope of discretion provided to the adjudicating authority itself.
8. At various stages — of admission of the insolvency proceedings, of appointing the insolvency professional, of finalising the resolution plan — the Code fails to provide any opportunity to the corporate debtor to make a representation, at the very least.
9. In this manner, the Code ignores rights enshrined in the Constitution. (In Maneka Gandhi v. Union of India, 1978, the Supreme Court observed that it is the duty of the authority to give reasonable opportunity to be heard, even where there is no specific provision for showing cause when a proposed action affects the rights of the individual.)
10. The Code is also deficient in providing a yardstick for the qualification of the interim and of the final insolvency resolution professionals.It allows for any person to access the information memorandum put together by the insolvency professional without restricting competitors or imposing any confidentiality obligations.
11. This allows for any person to access proprietary information of the corporate debtor and misuse the same, given that there is no law protecting confidentiality and vitiates the fundamental right to business under Article 19(1)(g).
12. The Code prohibits withdrawal of the application once the same has been admitted.
13. This means that there is no scope whatsoever for settlement.
14. This is despite the recent ruling of the Supreme Court in Lokhandwala Kataria Construction (P) Ltd. V. Nisus Finance and Investment Managers LLP (2017), wherein a settlement proposal was taken on record and the appeal was disposed of. However, this cannot be held as a precedent.
15. Further, the unrestricted access of any person without mandatory contractual obligations in relation to confidentiality vitiates the fundamental right to business under Article 19(1)(g).
16. Time-bound insolvency resolution will require establishment of several new entities.  Also, given the pendency and disposal rate of DRTs, their current capacity may be inadequate to take up the additional role.
17. IPAs, regulated by the Board, will be created for regulating the functioning of IPs.  This approach of having regulated entities further regulate professionals may be contrary to the current practice of regulating licensed professionals.  Further, requiring a high value of performance bond may deter the formation of IPAs. 
18. The Code provides an order of priority to distribute assets during liquidation.  It is unclear why: (i) secured creditors will receive their entire outstanding amount, rather than up to their collateral value, (ii) unsecured creditors have priority over trade creditors, and (iii) government dues will be repaid after unsecured creditors.
19. The Code provides for the creation of multiple IUs. However, it does not specify that full information about a company will be accessible through a single query from any IU.  This may lead to financial information being scattered across these IUs.
20. The Code creates an Insolvency and Bankruptcy Fund.  However, it does not specify the manner in which the Fund will be used.

Conclusion

The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code is

a comprehensive and systemic reform, which will give a quantum leap to the functioning of the credit market. It would take India from among relatively weak insolvency regimes to becoming one of the world’s best insolvency regimes. It lays the foundations for the development of the corporate bond market, which would finance the infrastructure projects of the future. The passing of this Code and implementation of the same will give a big boost to ease of doing business in India.

Question

Q.) “Bankruptcy code is a greater step towards the business friendly India.” Comment

Q.) What are the features of the bankruptcy code. Do think certain provisions undermine the fundamental right to carry out any profession

Source

The Hindu

PRS

Note4Students

1. Foreign investments are inevitable to expand our infra-structure projects. BIT should offer certain degree of protection to investor as well it should actualise our developmental goals. In this context, model BIT deserves greater analysis to understand various features . This topic is important while considering a host of issues like ease of doing business.

Introduction

1. The revised Indian model text for Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) will replace the existing Indian Model BIT.  The revised model BIT will be used for re-negotiation of existing BITs and negotiation of future BITs and investment chapters in Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreements (CECAs)/ Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreements (CEPAs) / Free Trade Agreements (FTAs).

Analysis

Why the new Model BIT?

1. Main reason for bringing the Model BIT was the constant suing of the country by foreign firms.
2. India was one of the most sued countries during 2015 and 2016.
3. According to UNCTAD- the international institution that tracks global investment trends; around 17 investor-state arbitrations are filed against the country launched by foreign investors by the end of 2015.
4. The flooding of arbitrations including that of the Sistema, Vodafone, Children Investment Fund etc. tempted the policy makers to reframe the BITs.
5. The government thus has modified the existing 1993 BIT framework and brought out the 2015 Model BIT. The move is important as it will help the country to make its treaty more specific in international arbitrations. The textual consistency of a countries’ BIT determines its success in BIT negotiations and disputes.

Important features of Model Bilateral Investment Treaty

 

Enterprise based definition of investment instead of asset based definition

1. The Model has adopted an ‘enterprise-based’ definition of investment that under which investment is treated as the one made by an enterprise incorporated in the host state.
2. Under the earlier ‘asset based definition’ of investment included intellectual property and other assets that whereas these assets are not considered as assets under the new definition.
3. The objective of adopting enterprise-based approach
4. is to narrow the scope of protected investments and reduce the potential liability of the state under Investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) claims.
5. Asset based definition considers every kind of asset – both movable and immovable as investment and gives protection under treaties, though their contribution to national economic development is meagre.

 

Exclusion of MFN treatment

1. The most important feature of the amended model is that it dropped the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status previously included.
   1. Purpose of the MFN clause for the investor’s angel is to ensure that a say, a US investor is not discriminated compared to say, a Japanese investor.
2. In recent years, complaining foreign investors sued India arguing that they have to get the same beneficial treatment given to companies from other countries. This was happened in the case of White Industries. The White Industries case is pointed as the main factor that produced the deletion of the MFN clause.

 

Full Protection and Security (FPS):

1. In the context of the Model, FPS means obligations only relating to physical security of investors and to investments.

 

State government as stake holders:

1. Actions of the state Governments are included under the Model BIT.

 

Fair and equitable treatment (FET)

1. The Model BIT links Fair and Equitable Treatment to international laws.
2. This is aimed to counter a broad interpretation and risk misuse. Here, customary international law, which is built in state practice, gives a minimum standard of protection to investors.
3. Any potential violation listed in the provisions of denial of justice, breach of due process etc, requires a violation of customary international law for a claim to be justified.
4. When the Model BIT linked FET to international law, it gives more scope for government and regulators.

 

Expropriation

1. Expropriation means nationalization of assets of foreign companies.
2. As in other BITs, the Model BIT provides that the State cannot nationalise or expropriate an Investment or take measures equivalent to expropriation,
3. except “for reasons of public purpose” in accordance with the procedure established by law and on payment of adequate compensation.
4. But it gives certain exemptions. Here, the Model BIT says that, any measure by a judicial body aiming to protect public interest will be outside the purview of expropriation. Similarly, non-discriminatory regulatory measures were also excluded.

 

Non-Discriminatory treatment

1. The Model BIT includes a new clause on non-discriminatory treatment for compensation of losses. As peer the clause, investors can avail non-discriminatory just compensation in circumstances like armed conflict, natural disasters and in the state of national emergency.

 

Provision for transparency

1. The Model BIT incorporates a clause for transparency, requiring the Parties (government and regulators) to ensure that all the laws, regulations, procedures and administrative rulings regarding matters covered in the BIT are published or are available for interested persons to get acquainted with them. The clause thus ensures clarity of laws and policies for the investors.

 

Corporate Social Responsibility 

1. The Model BIT mandates foreign investors to voluntarily adopt internationally recognized standards of corporate social responsibility.

 

Conditions for initiating arbitrations at international arbitrations

1. The Model BIT stipulates that the aggrieved investor should use all local remedies as well as negotiations and consultations initiating arbitrations against the host State. Investor can use outside remedies only five years after resorting to all domestic arrangements.

 

The model BIT approved by the cabinet excludes matters relating to taxation.

The model Bill thus tries to balance protection to the investor with state regulations. More importantly it was configured in the context of excess legal arbitration against the state. What is more important is to renegotiate with the partner countries and attract foreign investment in the context of the change.

Criticism

Reduced Scope of Protection

• 1. The Draft Model BIT has limited the scope of protection under the BIT by introducing an ‘enterprise’ based definition of ‘Investment’: only enterprises constituted in India that have ‘real and substantial business operations’ in India and are owned or controlled by the Investor qualify as Investment for the purposes of the treaty.
  2. The enterprise will be considered owned by the Investor only if more than 50% of the capital is held by the investor. This definition excludes all minority investments unless they are controlled by the investor through voting agreements or any other agreements of similar nature.
  3. The definition of “investment” in the Draft Model BIT is restrictive. Besides excluding Indian holding companies and foreign portfolio investments from the definition of “investment”, it also sweeps out intangible rights like goodwill, brand value, investments in government debt and public sector undertakings, in addition to orders or judgments of any judicial, regulatory, administrative or arbitral authority.

Narrow Fair and Equitable Protection

1. The Draft Model BIT restricts the protection under fair and equitable treatment to only excessively qualified measures such as “un-remedied and egregious violations of due process”, “denial of justice” or “manifestly abusive treatment involving continuous, unjustified and outrageous coercion or harassment”.
2. Such narrow formulation of this standard takes away a wide range of procedural and substantive protection to the investors and their investment, like legitimate expectations which have otherwise been covered under this standard of protection under almost all BITs, notwithstanding certain variations among texts of different BITs.

De-Levelling the Playing Field

1. The ‘Most Favored Nations’ clause, which has been traditionally considered to be extremely significant in economic treaties, guarantees the investors of a non-discriminatory treatment vis-à-vis investors of other countries.
2. However, in its endeavor to restrict the rights of the investors, the Draft Model BIT completely wipes out this clause. By omission of such cardinal protection, it appears that India is not serious in granting protection to the Investors but only wants to protect itself from a potential fate such as in the White Industries’ case, in which India had to pay the Australian investor over US$ 8 million on account of inordinate delay in Indian courts to enforce the award passed in a commercial arbitration.
3. The protection of national treatment, which ensures that the investors are not discriminated vis-à-vis domestic investors, has been diluted to exclude regional or local government measures.
4. Thus, a foreign investor cannot complain about a state government’s regulatory measure favoring local investment, under the BIT, even if it is for protectionist purposes.

Arbitration

1. The Draft Model BIT departs from the practice followed in international arbitration disputes by taking away the authority of the Arbitral Tribunal to review the Host State’s determination of whether an expropriatory measure was taken for a public purpose or in compliance with its law or not.
2. While the requirement of exhaustion of local remedies is in consonance with the position under customary international law, considering the state of Indian judicial system it is an unattractive and unfair proposition for foreign investors to be subjected to lengthy and unending court proceedings in India.

Conclusion

The new Indian Model BIT text will provide appropriate protection to foreign investors in India and Indian investors in the foreign country, in the light of relevant international precedents and practices, while maintaining a balance between the investor’s rights and the Government obligations.

Questions:

India was one of the most sued countries in 2015. Will the country’s new model bilateral investment treaty attract and safeguard foreign investment more effectively?

Note4Students

There has been an increasing demand from various middle castes for reservation. Reservation is an important topic which is in news for the fact that reservation policy should be reviewed. Seeing the current trend, topics which are in news from quite a long time are also important. A probable question could be expected on the topic.

Context

The people from various middle castes like Patels in Gujarat, Jats in Haryana, Marathis in Maharashtra and Kapus in Andhra Pradesh are demanding for reservation. This is an emerging trend where we are witnessing many dominant and Landholding castes asking for backward reservation.

Reasons for this phenomenon

1. Farmer’s distress-There is tremendous amount of Farmer distress in Countryside in last few years due to agrarian crisis. Since most of these communities are landed agrarian caste, they are facing the brunt of agriculture slowdown. This might have contributed to the recent demand of Marathas and Patidars (also known as Patels) to be included in the other backward classes (OBC) category so that they could shift away from agriculture.
2. Crippled urban economy-Due to less number of jobs created in the economy, dominant castes who are turning away from agriculture have very less opportunities to get job in private sector and thus only option left for them is government jobs, however there general status is making the competition tough for them. Therefore they are asking for reservation.
3. Resentment against other OBC communities-Due to social, economic and political disparity between these groups and the groups who are already OBCs, these castes want them to be given OBC status.
4. Successful quota system: Due to reservation the representation of OBCs in government jobs has increased significantly in last few years which has made these castes envy of these other OBC community and therefore motivated them to demand for reservation.
5. Political support-Most of this dominant caste are electorally and politically very powerful in that state, and they get support from opposition parties for vote bank politics.

Will giving reservations to these castes solve the problem?

1. Mere inclusion in OBC list will not address structural deficiencies in the caste system and the societal hold it enjoys. This will lead to demand for reservation by more castes.
2. Even in OBC list these castes will have to face stiff competition and not to mention opposition from other OBC castes, resistance among higher castes. Without education, mere inclusion will just give short term benefits.
3. There also arises the problem of correct evaluation and inclusion of deserving castes as to see who are the real people who deserve to be benefited from the reservation policy of the government.

Way forward

1. The whole idea of reservation was to provide for substantive equality, i.e., to make the condition of those who were historically disadvantaged better so that they can lead a good life. But, with time, the rich and privileged took more benefits than those who needed.
2. At a time, when there is a demand for reservation from dominant caste, India needs to ensure that it creates a better version of reservation which includes the poor and backward and excludes rich and dominating sections.
3. Before, extending reservation to more groups, the entire reservation policy needs to be revisited. These efforts should be coupled with a vigorous national effort to provide opportunities to the disadvantaged.

Conclusion

It is high time that we need to rethink our reservation policies. The radical rethinking on reservation should aim at:

1. Excluding the entire creamy layer from reservation.
2. Developing the capabilities of the deprived and excluded beyond offering them admission to higher education or jobs on a platter.
3. India must address the challenge of reservations honestly, fairly and innovatively by creating opportunities for all disadvantaged children. It must look for some other comprehensive criteria for reservation in short term and take a call to end reservation policy in a decade or two very well in advance.

Sources

http://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/dominant-castes-resent-reservations-backward-groups-havent-fully-benefited-2872075/

http://www.business-standard.com/article/economy-policy/why-dominant-castes-want-other-backward-classes-status-115102801691_1.html

http://awaremonk.com/dominant-castes-are-asking-for-reservations-today-do-you-think-inclusion-of-their-castes-in-obc-list-will-help-address-their-problems

https://counterview.org/2016/06/24/demand-for-quota-by-dominant-castes-how-about-reservation-in-the-occupation-of-sweeping/

Question

Q) While on one hand, some castes want reservations to be abolished, some of the dominant castes are asking for reservations today. Do you think inclusion of their castes in OBC list will help address their problems? Critically examine.

Q) What are the reasons for increasingly demand by the dominant castes for demand for reservation? Do you think India should reexamine its reservation policy which has become too old. Give arguments in support of your answer.