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NOTE: Please remember that following ‘answers’ are NOT ‘model answers’. They are NOT synopsis too if we go by definition of the term. What we are providing is content that both meets demand of the question and at the same time gives you extra points in the form of background information.
General Studies – 2
Topic: Effect of policies and politics of developed and developing countries on India’s interests, Indian diaspora.
Reference: The Hindu
Why the question:
The article explains the challenges faced by Indian students abroad and provides suggestions.
Key Demand of the question:
Discuss the challenges faced by Indian students abroad and provide suggestions to address the same.
Directive:
Discuss – This is an all-encompassing directive – you have to debate on paper by going through the details of the issues concerned by examining each one of them. You have to give reasons for both for and against arguments.
Structure of the answer:
Introduction:
Start with context of the question.
Body:
The answer body must have the following aspects covered:
Talk about the number of students abroad; provide some data for the same.
Explain how Indian students studying overseas and those looking to go abroad are facing many COVID-related challenges.
Indian students were forced to delay their plans in 2020 due to the imposition of lockdowns, disruption of flights, and embassies not issuing student visas. Furthermore, many countries have closed their borders and/or restricted flights from India.
Provide for suggestions as to what needs to be done.
Conclusion:
Conclude that policies pertaining to air travel and recognition of Covaxin need to be addressed at the earliest to facilitate smooth travel for tourists seeking to go overseas.
Introduction
According to Global Migration Report 2020, India continues to be the largest country of origin of international migrants with a 17.5 million-strong diaspora across the world, and it received the highest remittance of $78.6 billion (this amounts to a whopping 3.4% of India’s GDP) from Indians living abroad.
Body
According to UNESCO, there were 5 million international students across the globe in 2018, and 750,000 of those happened to be from India. However, Covid-19 has forced students across India to rethink their decision to study abroad and even where they do so.
Indian students in abroad:
- Students from China and India accounted for 47% of all active foreign students in the U.S. in 2020
- Indian students comprised the second-largest student community in the U.K. and Australia in 2019-2020.
- Similarly, Indian students are now the largest group within the international student community in Canada.
But despite that, during the Covid-19 pandemic, Indian students face several problems which need to be addressed.
Challenges Faced by Indian Diaspora
- Issues faced by Indian students during Covid-19:
- Indian students were forced to delay their plans in 2020 due to the imposition of lockdowns, disruption of flights, and embassies not issuing student visas.
- Furthermore, many countries have closed their borders and/or restricted flights from India.
- Many foreign universities require students to get vaccinated before they go. Covaxin and Sputnik V are yet to be recognised by the World Health Organization. Countries like the U.S. do not accept students who have been inoculated with these vaccines and have told them to get re-vaccinated.
- Due to the disruption caused by COVID-19, students overseas are finding it difficult to get jobs.
- All this led to a drop in the number of Indian students going abroadto study in 2020.
- According to the Ministry of External Affairs, while in 2019 nearly 5.9 lakh students went overseas for higher education, in 2020 only 2.6 lakh were able to go.
Way Forward
- Policies pertaining to air travel and recognition of Covaxin need to be addressed at the earliest to facilitate smooth travel for tourists seeking to go overseas.
- Indian diaspora can provide the requisite strategic impulse, which makes it all the more important to unlock India’s potential.
- India should formulate a new NRI policy, the government must immediately work with developed countries to ask that they kick back a portion of the income tax revenues they collect from the Indian diaspora.
- This is fair because these countries did not invest anything in creating this talent but benefit immediately when the immigrant pays taxes abroad.
- There is a need for a strategic diaspora evacuation policy from conflict zones in a world where crises materialise without warnings and give very little reaction time for governments.
- India’s foreign policy aims to translate partnerships to benefits for key projects like Swachh Bharat, Clean Ganga, Make in India, Digital India, and Skill India, the diaspora has plenty of scopes to contribute.
- VAJRA (Visiting Advanced Joint Research Faculty)scheme which seeks to formalise a rotation program wherein top NRI scientists, engineers, doctors, managers and professionals serve Indian public sector organizations for a brief period, lending their expertise- is a step in the right direction.
- Improvement in ease of doing businesswill go long, in enabling investments from the Indian diaspora.
Conclusion
Despite the risks involved, over 91 per cent of Indian students expressed a strong interest in studying abroad as soon as they were allowed to do so. As the international policies change and the universities reopen, it remains to be seen where the Indian students appear on the global landscape and which countries will be countries will be their focus.
Topic: Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.
Reference: Indian Express
Why the question:
The article highlights the police brutality and steps to stop the custodial deaths.
Key Demand of the question:
Elaborate and critically analyse as to in what way human rights are most violated in the Indian police stations.
Directive:
Critically analyze – When asked to analyse, you have to examine methodically the structure or nature of the topic by separating it into component parts and present them as a whole in a summary. When ‘critically’ is suffixed or prefixed to a directive, one needs to look at the good and bad of the topic and give a fair judgment.
Structure of the answer:
Introduction:
NCRB data have repeatedly shown police brutality, violation of human rights, and even extreme instances of custodial killings.
Body:
Start by giving examples of recent custodial deaths that were prevalently seen and witnessed.
Elaborate on custodial violence; Custodial violence primarily refers to violence in police and judicial custody. It includes death, rape and torture.
Between 2001 and 2018, 1,727 persons died in police custody. This includes both persons on police/ judicial remand and those just arrested and not produced before the court. Only 26 policemen were convicted in this period for such deaths.
Discuss the underlying reasons of custodial violence. Suggest what needs to be done to overcome this violation of human rights.
Conclusion:
Conclude suitably.
Introduction
Custodial torture is global, old and stubborn. In India, the National Human Rights Commission figures of reported torture cases, the report said the figures showed custodial violence and torture continue to be rampant in the country. It also pointed out that the number of reported cases being only a fraction of actuals, the situation was serious.
The recent death of a fruit stall owner, 47-year-old A Murugesan, allegedly as a result of a brutal thrashing by a special sub-inspector of Tamil Nadu police in Vazhapadi in Salem district on June 22, has revived memories of Bennix and his father Jayaraj who died in custody last year in June in Thoothukudi.
Body:
Rising trend of custodial deaths in India:
- According to the NCRB’s 2019 figures, 85 cases of custodial deaths were reported in the year with Tamil Nadu registering the highest number of cases followed by Gujarat, Punjab and Rajasthan and Odisha.
- No policeman was convicted, though 14 personnel of Gujarat were arrested, and charge-sheeted.
- For six custodial deaths in Rajasthan, three magisterial inquiries and two judicial inquiries were initiated against erring policemen.
- In a written reply in the Lok Sabha, the former Minister of State for Home Affairs stated that 1,697 custodial deaths were registered between April 2019 and March 2020, of which 1,584 deaths were in judicial custody while the rest (113) were in police custody.
- Uttar Pradesh topped the list with 400 custodial deaths followed by Madhya Pradesh (143).
- This meant that about five custodial deaths took place every day in our country.
- While several policemen do get convicted, there are good reasons to believe that many go scot free — by manipulating records, intimidating complainants or political patronage.
Custodial torture is an inhuman practice:
- It represents the worst form of excesses by public servants entrusted with the duty of law enforcement.
- The practice of custodial power is about men — and sometimes, women — who are in positions of power, even if for a brief while and over a limited terrain, having custody over a powerless person.
- Custodial death, when not ‘natural’, is the extreme end-point of custodial torture. The death penalty, notwithstanding ‘due process’, is a close kin to this lawless and heartless game.
Need for an anti-torture legislation in India:
- India has practised and continues to practise the ‘third degree’ with impunity.
- India signed the UN Convention against Torture in 1997, but neither has it ratified nor followed or preceded by domestic legislation to outlaw and prevent custodial torture.
- India’s non-ratification of the Convention is both surprising and dismaying.
- In 2010, the then government introduced Prevention of Torture Bill in the Lok Sabha in 2010 and had it passed in 10 days. The bill as passed by the Lok Sabha was referred to a select committee of the Rajya Sabha.
- The committee gave its report recommending the Bill’s adoption later the same year. It lapsed with the dissolution of the 15th Lok Sabha. And was not revived by the 16th, the present Lok Sabha.
- The current government spoke of amending Sections 330 (voluntarily causing hurt to extort confession) and 331 of the Indian Penal Code, but in vain.
- There has been no consistent documentation of torture-related complaints. The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) does not document cases of custodial torture. The NHRC does deal with cases of torture in custody, but the annual figures related to such cases do not get reported in its reports.
- In the ten-month period between September 2017 and June 2018, English language news reports on Internet noted 122 incidents of custodial torture resulting in 30 deaths. In several cases among these 122 incidents, there were multiple victims.
- The procedure to deal with children in conflict with law is different from the routine procedure of criminal justice system. But incidents show that children have been subjected to torture in police custody
- Torture is not just confined to police custody, but is also perpetrated in otherwise assumed to be “safer” custodial institutions like judicial custody (prisons), juvenile homes, de-addiction centres etc
- Nine years after the report of the Select Committee and 21 years after signing the Convention, India is yet to legislate a law that will outlaw torture
Way Forward:
- In a matter that concerns ‘life and liberty’, the Supreme Court is the guardian of the Constitution’s guarantees.
- The Law Commission of India submitted its 273rd report recommending government to ratify the UNCAT and also proposed the Prevention of Torture Bill 2017.
- Definition of torture should be broadened to include discrimination of any kind as one of the purposes of torture. It is widely recognised that discrimination based on religion, caste and association with ideas does have an impact on the incidence and extent of torture.
- Given the fact that there is a possibility of a range of acts that can be committed under torture, cruelty and ill-treatment leading to differing severity of harm—the punishment prescribed should have further gradation. Also, death penalty should not be included as the punishment.
- The bill should enlist possible factors based on which the calculation of compensation should be devised.
- It is imperative that the democratic opposition makes the ratification of the Convention and a new anti-torture legislation part of its common programme. The 17th Lok Sabha must take a stand on this matter.
- It gives us a choice to join the civilised world in moving away from ancient barbarism
Conclusion:
The prevention of torture has been one of the key human rights developments in the last decade. With India’s strong stake for a seat at the UNSC, the issue has assumed importance. There is an urgent need to address the ways in which inequalities continue to exist and question the nature of our criminal justice system which turns a blind eye to torture. Erring personnel must be promptly punished to send out the clear message that no one is beyond the reach of the law.
Topic: Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.
Reference: Hindustan Times
Why the question:
The article talks about the hurdles India is facing in granting completely the demand of permanent commissioning of women in the armed forces.
Key Demand of the question:
Discuss the need for the permanent commissioning of women in the armed forces and analyse the challenges in realizing the same.
Directive:
Discuss – This is an all-encompassing directive – you have to debate on paper by going through the details of the issues concerned by examining each one of them. You have to give reasons for both for and against arguments.
Structure of the answer:
Introduction:
The recent decisions of the Supreme Court regarding grant of permanent commission to women officers are seen as a landmark step towards women empowerment and corrective change to prevent perceived gender bias against women.
Body:
The answer body must have the following aspects covered:
Discuss first the need for the permanent commissioning of women in the armed forces.
Highlight its importance.
Bring out the concerns associated. Take hints from the article and explain.
Conclusion:
Conclude with what needs to be done and suggest way forward.
Introduction
The Supreme Court has ruled that the Short Service Commission (SSC) women officers are eligible for the permanent commission and command posts in the Army irrespective of their years of service. The verdict came on a nearly 10-year-old appeal filed by the government against the 2010 decision of the Delhi High Court to grant SSC women officers permanent commission.
Body
Background
- Earlier women were barred from serving in the force for more than 14 years.
- Only after last year’s Supreme Court (SC) ruling can women officers now extend their term into permanency, thereby becoming eligible for the occupational benefits their male counterparts have long received.
- Despite this step in the right direction, recent developments show that the road to getting permanent commission (PC) is not smooth.
Need for the permanent commissioning of women in the armed forces
- A quick look at the past records reveals, all the arguments put forth against giving women more responsibility have been answered by the armed forces by giving women greater responsibility in uniform — the IAF has allowed women to become fighter pilots, and the Army has sent them to tough UN peacekeeping missions globally.
- Women officers are already commanding platoons, companies and second in command successfully, with male soldiers accepting orders from them as part of a professional force.
- Now they are being excluded from commanding a unit, only on the basis that they are women. This argument doesn’t hold water.
- A professional force does not discriminate on the basis of gender, it works because of training, norms and culture. Denying women the posts will be an “extremely retrograde step” and “will inflict irreparable injury” to their dignity.
Challenges faced by women to get permanent commission
- More than an a year into the verdict, the forces proclaimed that 70 per cent of women were eligible for PC, receiving widespread praise.
- However, a more careful look at the data reveals that of the 70 per cent women deemed fit, only 45 per cent were commissioned.
- This figure stands in stark contrast to 90 per cent of Short Service Commission (SSC) male officers receiving PC in 2020.
- Apart from delaying the sentence enforcement deadline from May 2020 to September 2020 after a series of extensions, the force erected four additional provisions that women officers must now clear for a PC.
- This was also set aside by the court in March 2021. After this Centre asked for miscellaneos clarification to Supreme court, delaying the process further.
- In its March 25 ruling, the Indian Army was directed to positively grant permanent commission to all WSSCOs who obtained 60% marks in their assessment subject to their meeting the medical criteria prescribed by the army’s August 1 2020 order and receiving disciplinary and vigilance clearance.
- In its defence, the army maintains that lowering physical standards for women would lead to “catastrophic results for the nation’s security and sovereignty” and that women are seeking special treatment.
- Data presented in the Rajya Sabha revealed that there was only one female officer in the forces for every 16 male officers, with the ratio in the army being 1 to 26.
- The uncertainty around tenure length, combined with patriarchal attitudes, resulted in women tending to jobs such as routine desk work.
Conclusion
Prospective female cadets have a less thorny path to PC than their predecessors, and an attitude shift is bound to happen as women can now contend for the same positions and tenure as men. As one of the petitioners mentioned, it is not just a matter of welfare, “the idea is to give women a chance at nation-building”. Though last year’s verdict was widely hailed as a watershed moment for women across the country, it was only the first step in a long journey towards overcoming institutionalised sexism in India’s security apparatus.
Topic: Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests.
Reference: Times of India
Why the question:
Maintaining and strengthening maritime security is a key concern for India. With an open debate on the issue in UNSC, India has a chance to showcase that maritime security requires a multi-dimensional and multi-stakeholder approach.
Key Demand of the question:
Discuss in detail the importance of strengthening maritime security for India.
Directive:
Analyze – When asked to analyse, you have to examine methodically the structure or nature of the topic by separating it into component parts and present them as a whole in a summary.
Structure of the answer:
Introduction:
Start with the recent happenings around maritime security in Indian context.
Body:
India recently convened an open debate of the UN Security Council (UNSC) on enhancing maritime security. The objective of the debate was to highlight the effectiveness of international maritime cooperation to respond holistically to natural and man-made threats to maritime security.
Explain briefly why marine security is important for India?
Ponder upon the SAGAR policy of India.
Discuss the relevant issues that India needs to address.
Conclusion:
Conclude that the ability of the UNSC to respond to the debate by endorsing a multiple stakeholder approach to enhancing maritime security would be a significant outcome. It would set a paradigm for upholding “multi-dimensional” security in the 21st century.
Introduction
Recently, India has proposed to convene an open debate of the UN Security Council (UNSC) on enhancing maritime security. The objective of this debate is to highlight effective international maritime cooperation to respond holistically to natural and manmade threats to maritime security. It also reflects India’s international evolution as a maritime nation.
Body
Importance of Indian Ocean for India
- Long Maritime Boundary:With a coastline of over 7,500 km, India has a natural interest in enhancing maritime security.
- Securing Sea lanes of Communication:In the Indian Ocean, three major Sea Lanes Of Communication (SLOCS) play a crucial role in the energy security and economic prosperity:
- SLOC connecting the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean through the Bab al-Mandab(that transports the bulk of Asia’s international trade with its major trading partners in Europe and America),
- SLOC connecting thePersian Gulf to the Indian Ocean through the Strait of Hormuz (transporting the bulk of energy exports to major import destinations like India, ASEAN, and East Asia),
- SLOC connecting theIndian and Pacific Oceans through the Straits of Malacca (integral to the smooth flow of trade with ASEAN, East Asia, Russia’s Far East and the US).
- The Indian Ocean region transports 75% of the world’s maritime trade and 50% of daily global oil consumption.
India’s Maritime Initiatives:
- Disaster Management:The fallout of the 2004 tsunami, which took a heavy toll on human and natural resources, led to the creation of an Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System by the UN in 2005. Through this, an international network seeks to prevent a recurrence of such devastation.
- Anti-Piracy Operations:Faced with the increased threat from piracy originating off the coast of Somalia since 2007 to shipping in the western Indian Ocean, the Indian Navy participated robustly as part of a UNSC mandated 60-country Contact Group on Piracy off the coast of Somalia.
- SAGAR policy: India launched SAGAR(Security and Growth for All) initiative which proposes an integrated regional framework to enhance maritime security in the Indian Ocean & focuses on following 5 pillars –
- Role of India– as a net security provider in the region.
- Active engagement with friendly countries– to enhance the maritime security capacities and economic resilience of these countries.
- Advancing peace and security– by developing a network to take effective collective action.
- Ensuring sustainable development in the region– through integrated and cooperative focus on the future of the IOR
- Collective approach– ensuring that the primary responsibility for peace, stability and prosperity in the IOR would be on those “who live in this region”.
- The primary responsibility for peace, stability and prosperity in the IOR would be on those “who live in this region”.
- Abiding by the International Law:India accepted the United Nations Convention for the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) tribunal award on the maritime boundary arbitration between India and Bangladesh.
- It envisaged contributing a new impulse to effective international economic cooperation among the littoral states of the Bay of Bengal (BIMSTEC).
- Data Sharing:Sharing data on threats to commercial shipping is an important component of enhancing maritime security.
- In this context, India established anInternational Fusion Centre (IFC) for the Indian Ocean region in Gurugram in 2018.
- IFC is jointly administered by the Indian Navy and Indian Coast Guard. IFC serves the objective of generating Maritime Domain Awareness on safety and security issues.
Way Forward
- International Cooperation:Sustaining international cooperation to enhance maritime security requires two supportive frameworks in the policy and operational areas.
- Rule-of-law Based Approach:There is a need to review the operational effectiveness of the UNCLOS.
- Especially regarding the enforcement of its provisions on freedom of navigation, the sustainable exploitation of maritime resources, and the peaceful resolution of disputes.
- Securing the Sea Lanes of Communication:Securing SLOCs that traverse the oceans is of central importance to enhancing maritime security.
- Thus, the global debate must focus on ensuring equal and unrestricted access to SLOCs by states while resolving differences through peaceful means.
- Engaging Private Sector:There is a need for an increasing role of the private sector in the maritime domain, whether it is in shipping, or in sustainable development through the Blue Economy.
- Further, the use of the maritime domain can be leveraged to provide the critical submarine fibre-optic cables supporting the Digital Economy.
- The ability of the UNSC to respond to the debate by endorsing a multiple stakeholder approach to enhancing maritime security would be a significant outcome, setting a paradigm for upholding “multi-dimensional” security in the 21st century.
Topic: Important aspects of governance, transparency and accountability, e-governance applications, models, successes, limitations, and potential; citizens charters, transparency & accountability and institutional and other measures.
Reference: pib.gov.in
Why the question:
In a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha, the Minister of Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions stated various administrative reforms brought by the government, to encourage greater efficiency, to transparency and create corruption free governance by increasing accountability and reduce scope for discretion. Thus the question.
Key Demand of the question:
One is to discuss the various administrative reforms brought by the government recently, to encourage greater efficiency, to transparency and create corruption free governance.
Directive:
Discuss – This is an all-encompassing directive – you have to debate on paper by going through the details of the issues concerned by examining each one of them. You have to give reasons for both for and against arguments.
Structure of the answer:
Introduction:
Start with general importance of administrative reforms.
Body:
The question is straightforward and one must discuss the various initiatives taken by the government in recent times.
Administrative reforms like – Launch of Mission Karmayogi, e-Samiksha, e-office, Self-certification of documents for appointments, Discontinuation of interview in recruitment of junior level posts etc.
Elaborate on above policies and other key measures that were taken recently.
Conclusion:
Conclude with way forward.
Introduction
Corruption is an important manifestation of the failure of ethics. It is unfortunate that corruption has, for many, become a matter of habit, ranging from grand corruption involving persons in high places to retail corruption touching the everyday life of common people.
As Gladstone has aptly said, “The purpose of a government is to make it easy for people to do good and difficult to do evil”.
Body
Various administrative reforms brought by the government recently, to encourage greater
efficiency, to transparency and create corruption free governance:
- Launch of “Mission Karmayogi”-National Programme for Civil Services Capacity Building (NPCSCB), a new national architecture for civil services capacity building has been launched. It is a comprehensive reform of the capacity building apparatus at individual, institutional and process levels for efficient public service delivery;
- e-Samiksha-A real time online system for monitoring and follow up action on the decisions taken by the Government at the Apex level in respect of implementation of important Government programmes / projects;
- e-Office-e-Office Mission Mode Project (MMP) has been strengthened for enabling Ministries/ Departments to switchover to paperless office and efficient decision making;
- Self-certification of documents for appointments-From June, 2016, recruiting agencies issue provisional appointment letters based on submission of self-certified documents by the candidates;
- Discontinuation of interview in recruitment of junior level posts-From January, 2016, interview has been dispensed with for recruitment to all Group ‘C’, Group ‘B’ (Non-Gazetted posts) and other equivalent posts in all Government of India Ministries/ Departments/ Attached Offices/ Subordinate Offices/ Autonomous Bodies/ Public Sector Undertakings to curb malpractices and for bringing objectivity to the selection process;
- Appointment at senior positions-Multi-source feedback for empanelment for the posts of Joint Secretary and above has been introduced;
- Citizen Charters-Government has mandated Citizen Charters for all Ministries/Departments which are updated and reviewed on a regular basis. The Citizen Charters of Central Government Departments are available at the respective web-sites of Ministries/Departments and Government of India charters website
- Intensive review for weeding out inefficient and Officers of doubtful integrity by premature retirement;
- Use of Integrated Government Online Training Programme for online module-based training;
- Good Governance Index 2019– was launched, which assesses the Status of Governance and impact of various interventions taken up by the State Government and Union Territories (UTs). The objectives of GGI are to provide quantifiable data to compare the state of governance in all States and UTs, enable States and UTs to formulate and implement suitable strategies for improving governance and shift to result oriented approaches and administration;
- Comprehensive restructuring of the Scheme for ‘Prime Minister’s Awards for Excellence in Public Administration’ in 2014 and thereafter in 2020;
- To promote e-Governance in a holistic manner, various policy initiatives and projects have been undertaken to develop core and support infrastructure;
- National Conference on e-Governance –provides a platform for government to engage with experts, intellectuals from industry and academic institutions to exchange experiences relating to e-Governance initiatives;
- National e-Governance Service Delivery Assessment –aims at assessing the States, UTs and Central Ministries on the efficiency of e-Governance service delivery;
- Centralized Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPGRAMS)-The Government is undertaking CPGRAMS reforms in the top grievance receiving Ministries/ Departments by enabling questionnaire guided registration process and providing for automatic forwarding of grievances to field level functionaries thereby reducing the redress time;
- Increasing efficiency in decision making in Central Secretariat by reducing the channel of submission to 4, adoption of e-Office version 7.0, digitization of central registration units, greater delegation of virtual private networks under the Central Secretariat Manual of Office Procedure 2019, and adoption of desk officer system.
Way forward to curb corruption:
The solution to the problem of corruption has to be more systemic than any other issue of governance. Merely shrinking the economic role of the state by resorting to deregulation, liberalization and privatization is not necessarily the solution to addressing the problem.
- Adopting effective and coordinated policies against corruption
- Developing a coherent anti-corruption policy which identifies the causes of corruption and commits to practical, coordinated and effective measures to address these causes is a prerequisite for success.
- Fair and transparent system of public procurement
- Establishing a procurement system, built on the principles of objectivity, transparency and competition, is important to both saving public money and to ensuring that the policy and developmental objectives of the government are met.
- g.: GeM Government E-market Place is a step in the right directions. With this, Public Finance Management System also helps in tracking the real-time usage of funds.
- Strengthened transparency and public reporting
- An informed society with free access to information is a strong deterrent to corruption.
- This underlines the importance of transparency, public reporting and access to information in preventing corruption.
- Right to Information needs to be strengthened to make the public officials and governments more accountable to the citizens.
- Citizens must be Vigilant: Otherwise, like Plato said “The punishment suffered by the wise who refuse to take part in government, is to suffer under the government of bad men”
- Institutional monitoring and legislative reforms
- Prevalent institutional arrangements have to be reviewed and changes made where those vested with power are made accountable, their functioning made more transparent and subjected to social audit with a view to minimize discretionary decisions.
- Napoleon who said, ‘Law should be so succinct that it can be carried in the pocket of the coat and it should be so simple that it can be understood by a peasant’.
- The 2nd ARC recommended that The Prevention of Corruption Act should be amended to ensure that sanctioning authorities are not summoned and instead the documents can be obtained and produced before the courts by the appropriate authority.
- E-governance
- The focus should be on e-governance and systemic change. An honest system of governance will displace dishonest persons.
- Other Reforms
- All procedures, laws and regulations that breed corruption and come in the way of efficient delivery system will have to be eliminated.
- The perverse system of incentives in public life, which makes corruption a high return low risk activity, need to be addressed.
- In this context, public example has to be made out of people convicted on corruption charge
- Establishing a procurement system, built on the principles of objectivity, transparency and competition, is important to both saving public money and to ensuring that the policy and developmental objectives of the government are met.
Second ARC guidelines to prevent corruption
- Vigilance and Corruption:
- Strengthening pro-active vigilance to eliminate corruption and harassment to honest civil servants including, wherever necessary, limiting executive discretion.
- Addressing systemic deficiencies manifesting in reluctance to punish the corrupt.
- Identify procedures, rules and regulations and factors which lead to corruption.
- Relationship between Political Executive and Permanent Civil Service: Improvements in the institutional arrangements for smooth, efficient and harmonious relationship between civil service and the political executive is needed.
- Code of Conduct for different organs of Government: This includes Political Executive, Civil Services, etc.
Conclusion
“Rivers do not drink their waters themselves, nor do trees eat their fruit, nor do the clouds eat the grains raised by them. The wealth of the noble is used solely for the benefit of others.” Corruption needs to be rooted out from the very core of our nation, so that there is justiciable distribution of resources in the country leading to inclusive growth and ‘Sabka Vikas.’
General Studies – 3
Topic: Infrastructure: Energy, Ports, Roads, Airports, Railways etc.
Reference: The Hindu
Why the question:
The article discusses economic and the environmental benefits of shutting down older inefficient coal plants in India.
Key Demand of the question:
One is to examine the risks associated with retirement of old coal plants in India and what steps should be taken to avoid the same.
Directive:
Examine – When asked to ‘Examine’, we must look into the topic (content words) in detail, inspect it, investigate it and establish the key facts and issues related to the topic in question. While doing so we should explain why these facts and issues are important and their implications.
Structure of the answer:
Introduction:
Start with context of the question.
Body:
The answer body must have the following aspects covered:
First, present an overview of India’s coal plants and explain what the benefits are of shutting down old coal plants.
Then move on to highlight the risks associated with retirement of old coal plants and what steps should be taken to avoid the same.
Explain that as it would be uneconomical for old plants to install pollution control equipment to meet the emission standards it’s time to consider technical, economic, and operating characteristics of plants apart from growing demand, intermittency of renewables and need to meet emission norms to make retirement-related decisions.
Conclusion:
Conclude with way forward.
Introduction
As part of the Union Budget address for 2020-21, the Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, said that the shutting down of old coal power plants, which are major contributors to emissions, will aid the achievement of India’s Nationally Determined Contributions.
Body
Need of retirement of old coal plants
- Some research studies have argued in favour of removing old coal plants, citing the economic and the environmental benefits of shutting down coal plants older than, say, 25 years.
- It is argued that the availability of under-utilised newer (and presumably more efficient) coal-based capacity means that shutting down older inefficient plants would lead to improved efficiencies, reduced coal usage, and hence, cost savings.
- Further, it is argued that it would be uneconomical for old plants to install pollution control equipment required to meet the emission standards announced by the Environment Ministry, and hence it would be better to retire them.
Risk associated with retirement of old coal plants
- Analysis suggests that the total savings in generation cost from shutting down plants older than 25 years would be less than ₹5,000 crore annually, which is just 2% of the total power generation cost.
- These savings may not be sufficient to even pay for the fixed costs (such as debt repayment) that would have to be paid anyway, even if the plants are prematurely retired.
- Similarly, savings in coal consumption by replacing generation from plants older than 25 years with newer coal plants are also likely to be only in the 1%-2% range.
- To support the growing intermittent renewable generation in the sector, there is an increasing need for capacity that can provide flexibility, balancing, and ancillary services. Old thermal capacity, with lower fixed costs, is a prime candidate to play this role until other technologies (such as storage) can replace them at scale. Further, the capacity value of the old capacity is critical to meet instantaneous peak load, and to meet load when renewable energy is unavailable.
Steps to avoid the risks and way forward
- This is not to say that no old plant should be retired. However, using age as the only lever to drive these decisions is too blunt an instrument, and can prove counter-productive.
- Instead, a more disaggregated and nuanced analysis, considering the various technical, economic and operating characteristics of individual plants and units, while also accounting for aspects such as intermittency of renewables, growing demand, and need to meet emission norms, would be appropriate to make retirement-related decisions.
- Hence, it may be prudent to let old capacity fade away in due course, while focusing on such detailed analysis and weeding out the needless capacity in the pipeline, to derive long-term economic and environmental benefits.
Topic: , basics of cyber security
Reference: The Week
Why the question:
The article explains the Opportunities, Risk and Disruptions associated with Central Bank Digital Currency.
Key Demand of the question:
Discuss the importance of high standards of cybersecurity in dealing with Central Bank Digital Currency.
Directive:
Justify – When you are asked to justify, you have to pass a sound judgement about the truth of the given statement in the question or the topic based on evidences. You have to appraise the worth of the statement in question using suitable case studies or/ and examples.
Structure of the answer:
Introduction:
The broader adoption of general-purpose central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) will present authorities with trade-offs between the associated risks and benefits.
Body:
The key benefits of retail CBDCs lie in their potential to enhance authority-backed cashless payments with innovations in step with the wider digitalization of society.
For central banks in some emerging markets, a key driver for researching CBDCs is the opportunity to bring under banked communities into the financial system, and improve the cost, speed and resilience of payments.
Some advocates see CBDCs as a way of addressing challenges presented by the declining use of cash. The rise of digital payment systems, which have strong network effects, can create oligopolies among payment-system providers, often from the private sector.
Discuss how above mentioned aspects demand high standards of cyber security.
Conclusion:
Conclude with importance.
Introduction
Digital currencies are gaining more and more traction by the day, and there are countries which have launched, or are going to be launching digital currencies, including Ecuador, Tunisia, Senegal, Sweden, Estonia, China, Russia, Japan, Venezuela, and Israel.
Body
Background
- A CBDC is a central bank issued digital currency which is backed by some kind of assets in the form of either gold, currency reserves, bonds and other assets, recognised by the central banks as a monetary asset.
- This guarantee from a central bank reduces the CBDC risk, volatility, and ensures a larger acceptance across the globe.
- On the other hand, a cryptocurrency is issued by a network and backed by a crypto asset which may or may not have the backing of any monetizable asset or physical asset.
Significance of CBDC
- The enhanced surveillance and real-time situational monitoring enabled by the central bank digital currencies can go a long way in stimulating these processes.
- RBI’s move to enable CBDC provides all participants a framework to fully realize the potential of digital currency.
- The central bank’s effort to be at the forefront of digital innovation can help grow an ecosystem similar to UPI that will reduce inefficiencies for the end customer while opening up massive opportunities for entrepreneurs.
- CBDC could allow governments to effectively tackle illegal activities, such as payment fraud, giving people a greater sense of security with their money.
- Digital fiat currencies create greater barriers to illicit activity, as physical cash can help conceal and transfer funds outside of regulated financial systems.
- With the growing adoption of CBDCs, payments and transfers will be easier to identify and trace to previous sources, significantly reducing the risk of fraud and money laundering.
Need to ensure high standards of cybersecurity to introduce central bank digital currency
- India is the 5 th most vulnerable nation to cybersecurity breach as per Symantec report. India stands 47/175 in ITU’s Global cybersecurity index.
- Cyber attacks nearly cost $4 billion USD per year for India. India accounted for 5.09% of all cyberattacks in 2017.
- Increasing e-governance and delivery of services online make cybersecurity even more important. Eg: Aadhar based banking, Digilocker, DBT etc.
- Pegasus, a spyware was in news and according to WhatsApp, the spyware was deployed on at least 1,400 targets, including lawyers, activists, dissidents and diplomats.
- The Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) in October 2019 notified cyber attack on its system. This shows that even critical infrastructure are under attack.
- More secure environment is needed to operate the central bank digital currency and appropriate laws have to be made against hacking, making it a criminal offence.
Conclusion
The government and the central bank have to access and analyse every possible scenario to build robust control and framework around the evolving blockchain technology. There is a huge opportunity for India to take a lead globally via a large-scale rollout and adoption of digital currencies.
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