[Mission 2023] SECURE SYNOPSIS: 25 June 2022 – INSIGHTSIAS

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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.

Answer the following questions in 150 words:

General Studies – 1

 

1. Compare and contrast the Sufi and the Bhakti movement in India. What were the factors that led to emergence of Bhakti movement? (250 words)

Reference: Insights on India

Introduction

The Bhakti and Sufi movements had brought the whole of the Indian Subcontinent under their sway. The Bhakti and Sufi saints lived and worked in the midst of the common people. They needed to reach out to common people in order to spread their socio-religious and philosophical messages. They did everything to establish brotherhood, love and friendship between the Hindus and Muslims.

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Bhakti and Sufi movements – similarities:

  • Bhakti movement was a socio-religious movement that opposed religious bigotry and social rigidities.
  • Both emphasised good character and pure thinking.
  • The importance of the Bhakti and Sufi saints lies in the new atmosphere created by them, which continued to affect the social, religious and political life of India even in later centuries.
  • The Bhakti and Sufi saints made valuable contributions to medieval Indian society in terms of laying a liberal foundation and promoting a tremendous growth of regional literature and local languages.
  • Bhakti and Sufi traditions gave respectability to many low castes, posing a challenge to the upper caste hegemony; this tradition had an inclusive approach towards Muslims as well.
  • The Bhakti and Sufi traditions opposed the rituals, hegemony of the elite of society. They adopted the languages more popular with the masses. Also, they talked of one God.
  • They treated Hindus and Muslims alike. Amir Khusrau said “Though the Hindu is not like me in religion, he believes in the same things that I do”.
  • Sufis bridged the communal divide as is evidenced by the reverence the Subcontinent’s non-Muslim population exhibited for Sufi saints. Bhakti tradition preached the principle of co­existence.
  • The importance of the Bhakti and Sufi saints lies in the new atmosphere created by them, which continued to affect the social, religious and political life of India even in later centuries. Akbar’s liberal ideas were a product of this atmosphere in which he was born and brought up.
  • Both rebelled against all forms of religious formalism, orthodoxy, falsehood and hypocrisy and endeavoured to create a new world order in which spiritual bliss was the only and the ultimate goal.

Differences between Bhakti and Sufi Movements

  • While the origin of Bhakti Movement was in India in 9th Century AD, the Sufi movement traces its origin to Arabian Peninsula in 7th
  • Bhakti movement used songs, bhajans to encourage religious devotion while Sufis used Qawwalis.
  • The Bhakti Movement had a direct emotional and intellectual relationship with the divine. Wheras, Sufism emphasized simplicity and austerity, and it gained many followers as a result of the worldliness of medieval empires and kingdoms.
  • From its origins in South India, the Bhakti movement spread throughout East and North India beginning in the 15th century. Sufism reached across many continents and cultures.

Factors that led to the Bhakti movement:

Political:

  • It has been pointed out that as the popular bhakti movement could not take root in Northern India before the Turkish conquest because the socio-religious milieu was dominated by the Rajput-Brahman alliance which was hostile to any heterodox movement.
  • The Turkish conquests brought the supremacy of this alliance to an end.
  • The advent of Islam with the Turkish conquest also caused a setback to the power and prestige commanded by the Brahmans.
  • Thus, the way was paved for the growth of non-conformist movements, with anti-caste and anti-Brahminical ideology.
  • The loss of power and influence by the Brahmans and the new political situation ultimately created conditions for the rise of the popular monotheistic movements and other bhakti movements in Northern India.

Socio-economic:

  • It has been argued that the bhakti movements of medieval India represented sentiments of the common people against feudal oppression.
  • The Vaishnava bhakti saints broke away from orthodox Brahminical order only to the extent that they believed in bhakti and religious equality.
  • Normally, they continued to subscribe to many basic principles of orthodox Brahmanism.

Religious:

  • Evils in the Hindu Society: Hindu society was full of many social anomalies like rigidity of caste system, irrelevant rituals and religious practices, blind faiths and social dogmas. Common men in general had developed an adverse attitude towards these social evils and were in need of a liberal form of religion where they could identify themselves with simple religious practices.
  • Complexity of religion: The high philosophy of the Vedas and Upanishads were very complicated for the common people. They wanted a simple way of worship, simple religious practices and simple social customs. Alternative was Bhakti marga—a simple way of devotion to get salvation from worldly life.
  • Role of Religious Reformers: The chief exponents of the movement were Shankara, Ramanuja, Kabir, Nanak, Shri Chaitanya, Mirabai, Ramananda, Namdev, Nimbarka, Madhava, Eknath, Surdas, Tulsidas, Tukaram, Vallabhacharya and Chandidas. They were the propounders of Bhakti movement and gave a call to the people to worship in the simplest possible way of devotion and love.
  • Challenge from Rival Religion: the impact of the Muslim rule and Islam put dread in the heart of Hindu masses. The Hindus had suffered a lot under some of the fanatic rulers. They wanted some solace to heal their despairing hearts.
  • Influence of Sufism: The Sufi saints of the Muslim community also inspired the movement. Some similar chords in the two evoked resonance.

Conclusion

The essence of the Sufi and Bhakti tradition are reminders that the spiritual-moral part of religion has been undermined in current times. The inclusive, humane-nature of these traditions needs to be upheld and the divisive-exclusionary versions of religions have to be ignored for humanity to progress.

 

2. Depleting and decreasing status of water resources may be one of the most critical resource issues of the 21st century. Critically analyse the issues and challenges in interlinking of rivers in India as a measure to overcome water crisis. (250 words)

Reference: Down to Earth , Insights on India

Introduction
The river interlinking project aims to link India’s rivers by a network of reservoirs and canals that will allow for their water capacities to be shared and redistributed. Some experts claim that this is an engineered panacea that will reduce persistent floods in some parts and water shortages in other parts besides facilitating the generation of hydroelectricity for an increasingly power hungry country.

Environmental groups in Karnataka have criticised the project to link the Bedti and Varada rivers in Karnataka, calling it ‘unscientific’ and a ‘waste of public money’. Thousands of people had protested the project recently.

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Opportunities arising out of River linking projects

  • India receives most of its rain during monsoon season from June to September, most of it falls in northern and eastern part of India, the amount of rainfall in southern and western part are comparatively low. It will be these places which will have shortage of water. Interlinking of rivers will help these areas to have water throughout the year.
  • This will cut farmers dependence on monsoon rains by bringing millions of hectares of cultivatable land under irrigation.
  • Crop productivity would increase and so would revenues for the State.
  • Even one bad monsoon has a direct and debilitating economic impact.
  • The river linking project will ease the water shortages in western and southern India while mitigating the impacts of recurrent floods in eastern India.
  • The Ganga Basin, Brahmaputra basin sees floods almost every year. In order to avoid this, the water from these areas has to be diverted to other areas where there is scarcity of water. This can be achieved by linking the rivers. There is a two way advantage with this – floods will be controlled and scarcity of water will be reduced.
  • Simultaneous floods and droughts continue to wreak havoc, destroying the lives and livelihoods of millions.
  • India needs clean energy to fuel its development processes, and river water can be leveraged for this.
  • Fulfilling water needs impact socio-economic life of people which will help end poverty.
  • Need for interlinking of rivers to prevent inter-state water disputes.
  • Potential benefits to transportation through navigation, as well as broadening income sources in rural areas through fishing.

Challenges posed

  • The idea that river linking would allow us to cope with flood in the north east and shortage of water in the Deccan is the positive aspect as pointed earlier but misleading one too.
  • This floods come at the time when most parts of the country run short of water, we need to hold the water somewhere to use it in dry season but the amount of flowing in the short period of time in Brahmaputra and Ganga is so huge to store and use it later.
  • Variability in rainfall is high which is the main source in the country, flood and drought simultaneously within the states of Bihar and Maharashtra.
  • Irrigation potential from interlinking rivers will have limited impact. The net national irrigated area from big dams has decreased and India’s irrigated area has gone up primarily due to groundwater.
  • Interlinking of rivers is a very expensive proposal. The amount required for these projects is so huge that government will have to take loans from the foreign sources which would increase the burden on the government and country will fall in a debt trap.
  • The river interlinking project will adversely affect land, forests, biodiversity, rivers and the livelihood of millions of people.
  • The Ken-Betwa link threatens about 200 sq. km of the Panna tiger reserve.
  • Interlinking of rivers will lead to destruction of forests, wetlands and local water bodies, which are major groundwater recharge mechanisms.
  • Less than positive experience that other countries have, like diversion of Amu Darya and the Syr Darya or the Australia’s experiments in its Murray Darling basin.
  • It causes massive displacement of people. Huge burden on the government to deal with the issue of rehabilitation of displaced people.
  • Due to interlinking of rivers, there will be decrease in the amount of fresh water entering seas and this will cause a serious threat to the marine life.
  • The Shah committee pointed out that the linking of rivers will affect natural supply of nutrients for agricultural lands through curtailing flooding of downstream areas.

Way forward

  • To look at water as a strategic resource for development.
  • Environment is one issue where anyone of us should be concerned about.
  • Best practices done by China and neighbouring countries needs to be looked upon.
  • The biggest, cheapest, most benign, possibly fastest and most decentralized storage option for India is the groundwater
  • Invest in water conservation, more efficient irrigation and better farm practices.
  • Recycling of water for internal usage as that of Israel.
  • We need a mandatory enforceable river policy aimed at treating rivers as national treasure.
  • Accumulation of silt in huge quantities, particularly the Ganga and its tributaries. These rivers need to be desilted.
  • River linking in the south and other parts which was undertaken in the past has been going well so such model needs to be taken forward.
  • Planting trees on the river banks is one way of bringing life back to the rivers.
  • Forest catchments will need to be restored, wastewater from industries and towns will need to be treated, sand mining need to be stopped.
  • Need to build the responsibility, capability and accountability in our water management institutions to revive our rivers.
  • The judicious use of canal water, growing crops that are appropriate to a region, encouraging drip irrigation and reviving traditional systems such as tanks.

Conclusion

The river linking project is a great challenge and an opportunity to address the water issues arising out of climate change. The long-term solution to water scarcity lies in making the IRL project work by building a network of dams and canals across the length and breadth of the country. However, interlinking has to take place after a detailed study so that does not cause any problem to the environment or aquatic life.

 

General Studies – 2

 

3. Given our developmental targets and ambition, a massive scale-up in capacity-building is needed at the bureaucratic level. In this context, discuss the role of Mission Karmayogi in efficiency in action for producing maximum results. (250 words)

Reference: Indian Express , Insights on India

Introduction

The ‘National Programme for Civil Services Capacity Building – Mission Karmayogi’ was launched to affect a transformational shift from rule-based training to role-based capacity development of all civil services in the country so as to enhance citizen experience for government services and improve availability of competent workforce.

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Issues in the present bureaucratic system

  • There is a tendency in the Bureaucracy to resist the change which challenges their status quo.
  • The bureaucracy too must understand the need of domain knowledge and the importance of moving away from generalist to specialist approach.
  • In today’s world the governance is getting technical with each passing day and hence it’s important that the person in authority too should have the requisite skill and experience in that particular area.
  • Thus, there should be a behavioural change in the bureaucracy too and they must embrace the change as a need of the hour and not an attack on their status quo.
  • Moreover, these online courses must not become another opportunity for the officers to go for the sabbatical leaves.
  • It must be ensured that they are actually attending the courses and participating in it so that the purpose doesn’t get defeated.

Objectives of Karmayogi mission

  • It is aimed at building a future-ready civil service with the right attitude, skills and knowledge, aligned to the vision of New India.
  • It aims to prepare Indian civil servants for the future by making them more creative, constructive, imaginative, proactive, innovative, progressive, professional, energetic, transparent, and technology-enabled.
  • Comprehensive reform of the capacity building apparatus at the individual, institutional and process levels for efficient public service delivery.
  • To cover around 46 lakh central employees, a sum of Rs 510.86 crore will be spent over a period of 5 years from 2020-21 to 2024-25.
  • The expenditure is partly funded by multilateral assistance to the tune of $50 million.

Need for introducing Mission

  • As the Indian economy grows, it will get more complex to govern; the governance capacities will have to be enhanced proportionately which this reform undertakes.
  • There is a need to develop domain knowledge besides administrative capacity in the bureaucracy.
  • There is a need to formalize the recruitment process and match the public service to a bureaucrat’s competence, so as to find the right person for the right job.
  • The plan is to begin right at the recruitment level and then invest in building more capacity through the rest of their career.
  • The reforms in the Indian bureaucracy are the need of the hour and it is a major reform undertaken in recent years to transform it.

Conclusion

The ultimate aim of Mission Karmayogi is to ensure “Ease of Living” for the common man, “Ease of Doing Business” and Citizen-Centricity that is reducing the gap between the government and the citizens. Mission Karmayogi aims to prepare the Indian Civil Servant for the future by making him more creative, constructive, imaginative, innovative, proactive, professional, progressive, energetic, enabling, transparent and technology-enabled. This can only be achieved by regular and constructive involvement by the government and civil servants.

Value addition

About igot platform

  • The Karmyogi Programme will be delivered by setting up an Integrated Government Online Training (iGOT) Karmayogi Platform.
  • iGOT-Karmayogi is a continuous online training platform, which would allow all government servants from assistant secretary to secretary level to undergo continuous training, depending on their domain areas.
  • Courses from international universities will be made available on the platform for officers to take any time
  • The platform is expected to evolve into a vibrant and world-class market place for content where carefully curated and vetted digital e-learning material will be made available.
  • Besides capacity building, service matters like confirmation after probation period, deployment, work assignment and notification of vacancies etc. would eventually be integrated with the proposed competency framework.

 

General Studies – 3

 

4. In what ways can the science, innovation, and research & development (SIRD) be given an impetus in the country? Discuss the role that ‘petty patents’ can play in this regard. (250 words)

Reference: The Hindu

Introduction

Innovative activity is the key driver of competitiveness and economic growth. In that context, India’s rank of 46 in WIPO’s Global Innovation Index (GII) 2021, up from 81 in 2015, is encouraging. This finding corroborates an earlier one by UNCTAD in its Digital Economy Report 2021 where India was seen as exceeding expectations. While these findings are encouraging, India, which aspires to emerge as one of the largest economies of the world, needs to move up further in the innovation rankings, for building self-reliance in technology, especially in the context of the incipient digital revolution.

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Background

  • India has much room for enhancing its innovative activity. Among the key indicators, gross R&D expenditure (GERD) as a percentage of GDP at 0.7% is low.
  • It needs to rise to upwards of 2% of GDP, as in the leading innovative nations. Furthermore, only about 30% of the GERD is spent by business enterprises, despite the generous tax incentives offered by the government.
  • This suggests that Indian enterprises have not got into an R&D culture, not to talk of innovative rivalry.
  • The bulk of innovative activity is conducted by a handful of companies in the pharma and auto sectors.

Measures to boost and give impetus to innovation and research

  • Given the strategic importance of innovative activity, governments in developed countries spend billions of dollars on R&D subsidies given to national enterprises to shore up their competitiveness.
  • Subsidies up to 50% of project costs have been made non-actionable under the World Trade Organization rules. In India, R&D activities have been encouraged mainly through weighted tax deductions.
  • Partial funding for specific R&D projects undertaken by business enterprises may be desirable to develop products or processes, thus strengthening competitiveness.
  • Funding support for R&D activity of business enterprises may help to direct it to a desirable direction or field. For instance, it may be used to promote capability building for new products, process innovations for local or global markets, focus on enhancing ecological sustainability, promote industry’s linkage with public-funded research laboratories and universities, and so on.
  • A generous programme is needed to push R&D activities of enterprises through partial funding for viable R&D proposals of industry to strengthen India’s competitive edge.
  • Besides, products based on indigenously developed technology could be given production tax concessions (such as those extended to small-scale industry products) and income tax concessions (such as those enjoyed by export turnover) to encourage innovation.

Role of petty patents

  • The number of patents registered by residents is another indicator of innovative activity. The patent filings by Indian enterprises and other institutions have increased from 8,841 in 2011 to 23,141 in 2020 (WIPO).
    • However, patents granted have been only 776 and 4,988 respectively. Although the ratio of applications to grants has gone up over the years, many patent applications fail to satisfy the three-pronged test of novelty, inventive step and utility.
  • In that context, another policy to promote local innovation could be to protect minor innovations through the so-called utility models or petty patents, as has been done by several East Asian countries.
    • The patent system fails to encourage minor innovations since the criteria for inventiveness tend to look at the novelty of the invention.
  • The experience of several East Asian countries suggests that petty patents and industrial design patents could be effective means of encouraging domestic enterprises to undertake minor adaptive innovations and foster an innovation-based rivalry among them.
  • India should consider adopting a petty patents regime that provides limited protection to minor incremental innovations made, especially those by MSMEs, often called jugaad. T
  • he utility models or petty patents typically provide a limited period of protection (5-10 years in contrast to 20 years in case of patents) and have less stringent requirements and procedures.
  • Incentivising minor and incremental innovations through limited protection under utility models will help to foster the innovation rivalries among firms, particularly MSMEs, paving the way for more significant innovations by them in the future.

Conclusion

India’s rising rank in the global innovation league suggests its potential, opportunity, and stakes in boosting the R&D culture among business enterprises to strengthen their competitiveness. R&D funding and petty patents could foster these.

 

5. What is single-use plastic and what are the concerns associated with it? How can it be successfully phased out in the country? (250 words)

Reference:  Indian Express , Insights on India

Introduction

Single Use plastic is a form of plastic that is disposable, which is only used once and then has to be thrown away or recycled. The single-use plastic items include plastic bags, water bottles, soda bottles, straws, plastic plates, cups, most food packaging and coffee stirrers. The single-use plastic products also prevent the spread of infection. Instruments such as syringes, applicators, drug tests, bandages and wraps are often made to be disposable. Also, single-use plastic products have been enlisted in the fight against food waste, keeping food and water fresher for longer and reducing the potential for contamination.

The Centre has defined a list of single-use plastic items that will be banned from July 1, 2022. The manufacture, import, stocking, distribution, sale and use of following single-use plastic, including polystyrene and expanded polystyrene, commodities shall be prohibited with effect from the 1st July, 2022.

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Govt. of India has laid great emphasis on eradicating single use plastic which has become one of the biggest sources of pollution. During his Independence Day Speech this year Prime Minister had urged the people to take a pledge on Mahatma Gandhi’s 150th Anniversary on 2nd October to make the country free of single use plastic

Challenges posed:

  • Petroleum-based plastic is not biodegradable and usually goes into a landfill where it is buried or it gets into the water and finds its way into the ocean.
  • Plastic in oceans and forests are choking flora and fauna. In fact, plastic trash is expected to exceed the fish population in 2050.
  • Microplastics have ability to enter food chain with the highest concentration of the pollutants.
  • The PWM Rules Amendment, 2018, omitted explicit pricing of plastic bags that had been a feature of the 2016 Rules.
  • Waste plastic from packaging of everything from food, cosmetics and groceries to goods delivered by online platforms remains unaddressed.
  • The fast moving consumer goods sector that uses large volumes of packaging, posing a higher order challenge.
  • Lack of adequate infrastructure for segregation and collection is the key reason for inefficient plastic waste disposal.
  • Small producers of plastics are facing the ban, while more organised entities covered by the Extended Producer Responsibility clause continue with business as usual.
  • Lack of consultation with stakeholders such as manufacturers of plastics, eateries and citizen groups: This leads to implementation issues and inconvenience to the consumers.
  • Exemptions for certain products such as milk pouches and plastic packaging for food items severely weaken the impact of the ban.
  • No investment in finding out alternative materials to plug the plastic vacuum: Until people are able to shift to a material which is as light-weight and cheap as plastic, banning plastic will remain a mere customary practice.
  • Lack of widespread awareness among citizens about the magnitude of harm caused by single-use plastic: Without citizens ‘buying in’ to a cause, bans only result in creating unregulated underground markets.
  • No strategy to offset the massive economic impact: Sweeping bans like the one in Maharashtra are likely to cause massive loss of jobs and disruption of a large part of the economy dependent on the production and use of plastic.

Measures needed

  • Target the most problematic single-use plastics by conducting a baseline assessment to identify the most problematic single use plastics, as well as the current causes, extent and impacts of their mismanagement.
  • Consider the best actions to tackle the problem (e.g. through regulatory, economic, awareness, voluntary actions), given the country’s socio-economic standing and considering their appropriateness in addressing the specific problems identified.
  • Assess the potential social, economic and environmental impacts (positive and negative) of the preferred short-listed instruments/actions. How will the poor be affected? What impact will the preferred course of action have on different sectors and industries?
  • Identify and engage key stakeholder groups – retailers, consumers, industry representatives, local government, manufacturers, civil society, environmental groups, tourism associations – to ensure broad buy-in. Evidence-based studies are also necessary to defeat opposition from the plastics industry.
  • Raise public awareness about the harm caused by single-used plastics. Clearly explain the decision and any punitive measures that will follow.

Way forward

  • Promote alternatives like cotton, khadi bags and bio-degradable plastics.
  • Provide economic incentives to encourage the uptake of eco-friendly and fit-for-purpose alternatives that do not cause more harm. Support can include tax rebates, research and development funds, technology incubation, public-private partnerships, and support to projects that recycle single-use items and turn waste into a resource that can be used again.
  • Reduce or abolish taxes on the import of materials used to make alternatives.
  • Provide incentives to industry by introducing tax rebates or other conditions to support its transition. Governments will face resistance from the plastics industry, including importers and distributors of plastic packaging. Give them time to adapt.
  • Use revenues collected from taxes or levies on single-use plastics to maximize the public good. Support environmental projects or boost local recycling with the funds. Create jobs in the plastic recycling sector with seed funding.
  • Enforce the measure chosen effectively, by making sure that there is clear allocation of roles and responsibilities.
  • Monitor and adjust the chosen measure if necessary and update the public on progress.
  • International examples:
    • The success of imposing a plastic bag fee has also been established in cities like Chicago and Washington, showing that such interventions could be effective in shaping behaviour change.
    • The European Union is mulling new laws to ban some everyday single-use plastic products including straws, cutlery and plates citing plastic litter in oceans as the concern prompting the action.
    • Countries such as the U.S., Canada and the Netherlands have already put in place regulations to stop the use of microbeads in personal-care products. The sooner India adopts such regulations, the better
  • Encouraging plogging: Picking up litter while jogging or strolling was kick-started on a small scale in a small part of Stockholm about an year ago, it has spread across the globe and India can adopt this as well.

 

 

Answer the following questions in 250 words(15 marks each):

General Studies – 1

 

6. Sustained growth of the India’s older population presents many socio-economic challenges. We must quickly recognize the scope of the new demographic reality and adjust current policies accordingly. Discuss.

Reference: The Hindu , Insights on India

Introduction

In 2009, there were 88 million elderly people in India. By 2050, this figure is expected to soar over 320 million. Between 2000 and 2050 the overall population of the country is anticipated to grow by 60 per cent whereas population of people of age 60 years and above would shoot by 360 per cent. The Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens (Amendment) Bill, 2019 was cleared by the Cabinet recently

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Challenges posed by growing elderly population in India:

  • Isolation and loneliness among the elderly is rising.
    • Nearly half the elderly felt sad and neglected, 36 per cent felt they were a burden to the family.
  • Rise in age-related chronic illness:
    • Heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and other chronic diseases will cause more death and illness worldwide than infectious or parasitic diseases over the next few years.
    • In developed nations, this shift has already happened. Dementia and Alzheimer’s disease are expected to almost double every 20 years, as life expectancy increases.
  • Special challenges for less developed nations:
    • Poorer countries will carry the double burden of caring for older people with chronic diseases, as well as dealing with continued high rates of infectious diseases.
  • Increasing need for long-term care:
    • The number of sick and frail elderly needing affordable nursing homes or assisted living centers will likely increase.
  • Rise in the Health care costs:
    • As older people stop working and their health care needs increase, governments could be overwhelmed by unprecedented costs.
    • While there may be cause for optimism about population aging in some countries, the Pew survey reveals that residents of countries such as Japan, Italy, and Russia are the least confident about achieving an adequate standard of living in old age.
  • Elderly women issues:
    • They face life time of gender-based discrimination. The gendered nature of ageing is such that universally, women tend to live longer than men.
    • In the advanced age of 80 years and above, widowhood dominates the status of women with 71 per cent of women and only 29 per cent of men having lost their spouse.
    • Social mores inhibit women from re-marrying, resulting in an increased likelihood of women ending up alone.
    • The life of a widow is riddled with stringent moral codes, with integral rights relinquished and liberties circumvented.
    • Social bias often results in unjust allocation of resources, neglect, abuse, exploitation, gender-based violence, lack of access to basic services and prevention of ownership of assets.
    • Ageing women are more likely to get excluded from social security schemes due to lower literacy and awareness levels.
  • Ageing individual is expected to need health care for a longer period of time than previous generations but elderly care for a shorter period of time

Roadmap for elderly care with passage of time

  • As a signatory to Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing (MIPAA), India has the responsibility to formulate and implement public policy on population ageing.
  • Issues of poverty, migration, urbanization, realization and feminization compound the complexity of this emerging phenomenon. Public policy must respond to this bourgeoning need and mainstream action into developmental planning.
  • Gender and social concerns of elderly, particularly elderly women, must be integrated at the policy level.
  • The elderly, especially women, should be represented in decision making.
  • With the WHO declaring 2020 to 2030 as “Decade of Healthy Ageing”, there is a need for Institutes like AIIMS to be in the forefront in promoting healthy ageing.
  • Increasing social/widow pension and its universalization is critical for expanding the extent and reach of benefits.
  • Renewed efforts should be made for raising widespread awareness and access to social security schemes such as National Old Age Pension and Widow Pension Scheme. Provisions in terms of special incentives for elderly women, disabled, widowed should also be considered.
  • Government must proactively work on life style modification, non-communicable disease management, vision and hearing problem management and accessible health care through Ayushman Bharat.

Conclusion

The elderly are the fastest growing, underutilized resource that humanity has to address many other problems. Re-integration of the elderly into communities may save humanity from mindlessly changing into a technology driven ‘Industry 4.0’ which futurists are projecting: an economy of robots producing things for each other. Healthy elderly citizens can share their wealth of knowledge with younger generations, help with child care, and volunteer or hold jobs in their communities.

 

 

General Studies – 2

 

7. Digitisation in India is making strides at a great pace. Hence, access to internet becomes pertinent for the upliftment of the masses as a social measure. Do you think access to internet should be declared as a fundamental right? Critically analyse. (250 words)

Reference: Live Mint

Introduction

Internet broadband and mobile Internet services are a lifeline to people in India from all walks of life. While the Internet is certainly a main source of information and communication and access to social media, it is so much more than that. In Sep 2019, the Kerala High Court, in Faheema Shirin v. the State of Kerala case, declared the right to Internet access as a fundamental right forming a part of the right to privacy and the right to education under Article 21 of the Constitution. Despite this, according to the Software Freedom Law Centre data, there have been more than a 100 Internet shutdowns in different parts of India in 2019 alone.

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Need for right for Internet:

Internet has become quite useful in our daily public life as well. It is quite hard to ignore the need, importance and the value of internet in our daily life. Though there are countless uses of Internet in society, we have listed out here a few benefits of Internet for society.

 

  • Online Banking: In the world we live today, the role of Internet has tremendously grown. In the field of online banking, the advantages of internet are of pivotal importance. Earlier, there used to be manual banking work. It was quite difficult to handle banking and transaction online. Now, with the help of Internet it has been made quite easier to send and receive payments anywhere in the world. It has brought many positive economic impacts on our society.
  • Online Trade & E commerce: E-commerce is gaining popularity across the world. It is only because of Internet that doing business has become quite easier. Online trade has changed the fortunes of millions of people across the world. It has revolutionized the social life.
  • Faster Connectivity: Due to Internet, the connectivity has become much faster. The distances have disappeared. The world has become global. It is quite easy to connect with each other. The virtual world has made it possible for us to get in touch easily with each other. The world has become a global village where the knowledge, ideas, information and everything flows quite easily from one place to another. It has the great benefits for society.
  • Creation of More Jobs & More Income Opportunities: In Old times, the economy used to be limited and isolated. But with the advent of Internet the industries and world economies have come closer to each other. Thanks to Internet, millions of new jobs are being created. The economic advantages of internet for society have been witnessed. Millions of People are changing their lives with the help of Internet. This is one of the greatest benefit of Internet for society.
  • Spread of Education and Awareness: Internet has completely changed the system of education. Earlier there used to be the traditional and limited education system. Education has spread quickly via online learning. The online education system via internet has dramatically reduced the cost of education. It has become easily accessible and affordable. With the help of online videos platforms, teaching models and multiple audio, video and visual study material, the education and awareness has been spreading very fast. It is again one of the greatest social benefit of Internet for our lives.
  • The Role of Artificial Intelligence: Artificial Intelligence and machine learning has completely changed the scope and future of computer education. Artificial intelligence is proving quite beneficial for society. It is useful in every walk of life including in education, health, economy, trade, industry and in medial field. This great social benefit is again due to internet.
  • Role of Internet and Informational Technology in Medical and Health Field: Thanks to modern technology of today we have the cures of these diseases easily available. The medical field has greatly progressed because of Internet connectivity and information technology.
  • Internationally, the right to access to the Internet can be rooted in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which states that “everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.”

 

However, there are associated concerns too of making internet a fundamental right:

 

Digital divide scenario in India:

  • The report, titled Internet in India 2017, was released by the Internet and Mobile Association of India.
  • In December 2017, internet penetration in urban India was at 64.84 percent as compared to 60.6 per cent in December 2016. In rural India, however, internet penetration was at 20.26 percent in December 2017, from 18 percent in 2016.
  • According to a 2017 global survey by the Pew Research Centre, only one in four Indian adults report using Internet or owning a smartphone.
  • despite the booming economy, India’s progress in smartphone penetration has been slow.
  • in India and Tanzania, less than one-quarter report owning smartphones, the lowest among the countries surveyed.
  • A Deloitte India report released in January 2018 revealed that with only 17 percent internet penetration, rural India is lagging behind in connectivity owing to challenges in deployment of fixed broadband networks.

Implications of Digital divide:

  • Increasing penetration of digital technology by bridging the existing digital divides is associated with greater social progress of a country.
  • Social capital: Once an individual is connected, Internet connectivity and ICTs can enhance his or her future social and cultural capital.
  • Economic disparity is created between those who can afford the technology and those who don’t.
  • A direct correlation between a company’s access to technological advancements and its overall success in bolstering the economy.
  • Countries with less digital gap are benefitted more than the ones with more digital gap.
  • Education:
    • The digital divide also impacts children’s ability to learn and grow in low-income school districts.
    • Without Internet access, students are unable to cultivate necessary tech skills in order to understand today’s dynamic economy
  • Lack of information:
    • Almost all India’s socio-economic problems had links to the “digital divide”, which had come to stay during the era of digital revolution and then again during the era of internet revolution in India.
    • Rural India suffered from information poverty. Information is controlled by a few at the top of the pyramid who restrict its percolation down to those at the bottom.
  • Political empowerment and mobilization in the age of social media is difficult when there is digital divide.
  • Transparency and accountability are increased when digitalized for instance people filing taxes online, single window mechanisms for delivery of services ensures good governance as well.

Conclusion

 

The usefulness of the Internet cannot be overstated and the government should do everything possible to bridge the digital divide among its constituents. But declaring access to the Internet as a citizen’s right is not a defensible proposition.

 

8. At times, judiciary assumes the role of the legislature and proposes new laws and regulations that the legislative body should have enacted instead. However, judiciary may have transgressed its jurisdiction, violating the doctrine of separation of powers. Critically analyse. (250 words)

Reference: The Hindu , Insights on India

Introduction

The Constitution, under various provisions, has clearly drawn the line between Legislature and the Judiciary to maintain their independence in their respective functioning. Article 121 and 211 forbid the legislature from discussing the conduct of any judge in the discharge of his duties, while Articles 122 and 212, on the other hand, prevent the courts from sitting in judgment over the internal proceedings of the legislature. In recent times, there have been criticism levelled against judicial activism, calling it adventurism and overreach.

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Background

Recently, the Allahabad High Court, while allowing two criminal revisions pertaining to a dowry case, took cognisance of the misuse of Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), proposed certain safeguards and directed the State authorities of Uttar Pradesh to take the necessary steps for their implementation in a given time period.

Judicial activism needed in legislative vacuum

  • Upholds Constitutional morality: An important case which employed this concept in an innovative manner was the Naz Foundation Case which used the concept of constitutional morality to strike down Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code and decriminalize homosexuality.
    • The Delhi High Court had said that “In our scheme of things, constitutional morality must outweigh the argument of public morality, even if it be the majoritarian view.”
  • Executive lacks Political gumption: Justice Chandrachud’s view in the Sabarimala judgement, he held that women should be allowed entry in the Sabarimala temple against popularly held religious beliefs.
    • Political parties and governments did not take a stand or repeal discriminatory laws in fear of losing support base of masses.
  • To protect fundamental rights: Triple Talaq in 2017 was banned as being ultra vires to fundamental rights of Muslim women. This legislation would not have been accepted if it had come from the executive or through the Parliament.
    • Right to privacy also became Fundamental right under Article 21
  • Most trusted institution: A People’s Survey of India report noted that Indians had 80% trust in the Supreme court. Though not an elected body, the apex court is significant to uphold rule of law.
    • Eg: Whistle Blowers Act against corrupt officials and politicians was given under Article 142, until Parliament made a law on the subject.

Demerits of Judicial activism

  • Unelected body: Judiciary being the unelected body, does not enjoy the “General Will” of the people. Judicial restraint is more apt for such an institution rather than dictation a legislation. Eg: Ban on liquor sale on highways led to backlash as well as spurious means to overcome the dictum
  • Lack of expertise: Judiciary lacks both time and resources to enact legislation. Sometimes practical difficulties of such enactments are not known to the courts.
    • Eg: Ban on BS-IV vehicles from April 2020 which had to be extended many times.
  • Against Constitution’s Mandate: Judicial Review is a basic structure of the Constitution; however enacting legislation is not. Courts can look into the validity of the law, but not necessarily make a law.
  • Unaccountable: Politicians remain “accountable” to the people in at least some sense, because they depend upon them in order to continue in office after five years.
    • Judges who are insulated from any external control are accountable only to themselves
  • Judicial adventurism: Subhash Kashinath Mahajan v. State of Maharashtra (2018): the court amended the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, by annulling Section 18 which said that no anticipatory bail will be granted to persons accused under the Act.
    • There was widespread protest and opposition to this from all quarters. Finally, the law brought in to undo this was also upheld in the court.

Conclusion

Each organ of our democracy must function within its own sphere and must not take over what is assigned to the others. Judicial activism must also function within the limits of the judicial process because the courts are the only forum for those wronged by administrative excesses and executive arbitrariness. Hence legislation enacted by Judiciary must be in the rare cases as mentioned above

 

 

General Studies – 3

 

9. While the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) has successfully chartered a new era in the history of bankruptcy resolution in India, it needs reform in order to speed up resolution and recovery from insolvency firms. Analyse. (250 words)

Reference: Live Mint , Insights on India

Introduction

The game-changing IBC law made its debut in 2016, in the form of India’s Insolvency and Bankruptcy (IBC) Code, which allowed companies an easy and time-bound exit. The IBC effected a tectonic shift in the way lending was perceived. At the start of its implementation, a default as small as ₹1 lakh could lead to insolvency proceedings being initiated by the affected creditor. This gave creditors the confidence that borrowers, especially promoters, would take their debt obligations seriously.

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Success of IBC Code

  • The IBC has initiated a cultural shift in the dynamics between lender and borrower, promoter and creditor. It played a critical role in reshaping behaviour of borrowers.
  • Before enactment of the IBC, the recovery mechanisms available to lenders were through Lok Adalat, Debt Recovery Tribunal and SARFAESI Act.
    • While the earlier mechanisms resulted in a low average recovery of 23%, the recoveries have risen to 43% under the IBC regime.
  • Since enactment of the IBC, India significantly improved its ‘Resolving Insolvency’ ranking 108 in 2019 from 134 in 2014 where it remained stagnant for several years.
  • India won the Global Restructuring Review award for the most improved jurisdiction in 2018.
  • An IMF-World Bank study in January 2018 observed that India is moving towards a new state-of-the-art bankruptcy regime.
  • Insolvency law has led to stability in financial systems.
  • Recovery through the IBC was about Rs 70,000 crore in fiscal 2019 twice the amount recovered through other resolution mechanisms such as the Debt Recovery Tribunal, Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Securities Interest Act, and Lok Adalat in fiscal 2018.
  • The recovery rate is also twice the liquidation value for these 94 cases, which underscores the value maximisation possible through the IBC process.

Issues persisting

  • In its initial years, the IBC faced teething problems and it was expected that with the passage of time, these will be resolved and its functioning will improve.
  • However, according to the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) newsletter for January-March 2022, 7% of all the cases admitted for the corporate insolvency resolution process (CIRP) since 2016 that have been closed, 11% have been withdrawn, about 14 % settled, 30% liquidated and 9% resolved (wherein a resolution plan was approved).
  • Data released by the IBBI shows that the resolution rate of cases under CIRP is rather low and that the number of cases seeing liquidation are three times more than those being resolved.
  • Thus, it is clear that the CoC and courts have been bottlenecks for the IBC’s success.
  • Banks, especially those in the public sector, are unable to take pragmatic decisions as any risk-taking that could potentially yield a low rate of dues recovery in the short term may be subjected to vigilance inquiries and audits.

Measures to be taken

  • Freedom to banks: Allow banks to take bold decisions and not create an environment where they limit their decisions to choosing the ‘L1’ or lowest possible haircut quote in fear of future trouble.
    • Most importantly, banks need to be freed of this regulatory overhang so that they can take bold measures for restructuring.
    • To achieve this, bankers should be protected for bona fide decision-making during the resolution process, based on a premise like the ‘business judgement’ rule available for board directors in many countries.
  • Written plea: Also, given that most of the delay occurs at the stage of case admission, it is worth making applications for admission under sections 7, 9 and 10 of the IBC disposable on a written plea rather than on oral arguments.
  • Further, one could identify provisions under the IBC where courts are mandated not to adjudicate but only administrate.
    • But concerns will remain over the expertise of commercial court judges to decide on such matters.
    • Commercial courts need fresh talent with an understanding of business for proper decision-making.
  • The insolvency litigation procedure should aim at reducing the duration of the process and also case volumes, so as to reduce uncertainties that result.
    • This can be done by shortening the window within which a party must lodge a claim, whether it is an initial challenge or an appeal, which elsewhere is often shorter than in other civil or criminal litigation.
    • In France, it is usually 10 days; in 2021, through insolvency and restructuring law reforms, it extended this further by providing for the full judicial resolution of certain disputes ahead of the confirmation of a restructuring plan by a court.
    • In the same spirit of limiting insolvency litigation, the reform also limits which parties may initiate certain legal actions.
    • These entail court-appointed insolvency practitioners or parties involved in the restructuring process.
  • Another feature that is worth weighing is to either give some adjudicating power to the case’s insolvency professional or appoint a supervisory judge for each case. In France, such judges have exclusive power to authorize important settlements with the insolvent company, some of which also require insolvency court ratification.
    • They are often the first to decide an issue, and though their decisions are subject to challenge at the insolvency court and the latter’s decision can be challenged before a court of appeal, insolvency courts tend to confirm the orders of supervisory judges.
      • Most litigants expect they would need to escalate their case to a court of appeal to effectively challenge a supervisory judge’s decision, which is not easy.

 

Conclusion

In conclusion, we need a serious rethink on how to design a suitable insolvency ecosystem for India amid our existing challenges of limited court capacity and high regulatory cholesterol. Whatever the government decides, it is important to act in time before the IBC loses its sheen and stakeholders who looked up to this law as a saviour give up hope and search of a newer regime.

 

Value Addition

About IBC

The IBC was enacted in 2016, replacing a host of laws, with the aim to streamline and speed up the resolution process of failed businesses.

The Code also consolidates provisions of the current legislative framework to form a common forum for debtors and creditors of all classes to resolve insolvency.

The Code creates various institutions to facilitate resolution of insolvency. These are as follows:

  • Insolvency Professionals.
  • Insolvency Professional Agencies.
  • Information Utilities.
  • Adjudicating authorities: The National Companies Law Tribunal (NCLT); and the Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT).
  • Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board.

 

10. What is ‘critical information infrastructure’? There is a need for a more integrated and strategic approach to securing critical information infrastructure, as they are so crucial to the economic, social and political wellbeing of the country. Examine. (250 words)

Reference: Indian Express , Insights on India

Introduction

The Information Technology Act, 2000 defines Critical Information Infrastructure (CII) as “those computer resource, the destruction of which, shall have debilitating impact on national security, economy, public health or safety”. Communications networks are crucial to the connectivity of other critical infrastructure, viz. civil aviation, shipping, railways, power, nuclear, oil and gas, finance, banking, communication, information technology, law enforcement, intelligence agencies, space, defence, and government networks.

The Union Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) has declared IT resources of ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and UPI managing entity NPCI as ‘critical information infrastructure’.

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Importance of Critical information Infrastructure

  • World over governments have been moving with alacrity to protect their critical information infrastructure.
  • IT resources form the backbone of countless critical operations in a country’s infrastructure, and given their interconnectedness, disruptions can have a cascading effect across sectors.
  • An information technology failure at a power grid can lead to prolonged outages crippling other sectors like healthcare, banking services.

Various measures undertaken to prevent the threats:

  • National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre (NCIIPC)
    • The nodal agency created in January 2014, takes all measures to protect the nation’s critical information infrastructure.
    • It is mandated to guard CIIs from “unauthorized access, modification, use, disclosure, disruption, incapacitation or distraction”.
    • NCIIPC monitors and forecasts national-level threats to CII for policy guidance, expertise sharing and situational awareness for early warning or alerts.
  • National Cyber Security Policy, 2013:
    • The Government of India took the first formalized step towards cyber security in 2013, vide the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, Department of Electronics and Information Technology’s National Cyber Security Policy, 2013.
    • The Policy is aimed at building a secure and resilient cyberspace for citizens, businesses and the Government.
    • Its mission is to protect cyberspace information and infrastructure, build capabilities to prevent and respond to cyber-attacks, and minimize damages through coordinated efforts of institutional structures, people, processes, and technology.
  • Cyber Swachhta Kendra’ (Botnet Cleaning and Malware Analysis Centre)
    • To combat cyber security violations and prevent their increase, Government of India’s Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-in) in February 2017 launched ‘Cyber Swachhta Kendra’ (Botnet Cleaning and Malware Analysis Centre) a new desktop and mobile security solution for cyber security in India.
  • Collaboration with industry partners:
    • Development of Public Private Partnerships is an important strategy under the National Cyber Security Policy 2013. Pursuant to this aim, under the aforementioned Cyber Swachhta Kendra initiative, antivirus company Quick Heal is providing a free bot removal Tool.
  • International Cooperation Initiatives:
    • Information sharing and cooperation is an explicit strategy under the 2013 Policy.
    • Consequently, as and answer to the increasing international nature of cybercrime, the Indian government has entered into cyber security collaborations with countries such as the USA, European Union and Malaysia.
    • The government is drafting guidelines that will bind companies such as Twitter, WhatsApp, YouTube and Facebook to respond to complaints over content in a “few hours” as against the current norm of 36 hours.

Challenges faced

  • Instances of cyberattacks by national/state actors targeting critical infrastructureand nationally important establishments are becoming more common.
  • A string of high-profile cyberattacks in recent months has exposed vulnerabilities in the critical infrastructure of even advanced nations.
  • This has reinforced the need for improved defences against cyberattacks across continents.
  • Defending civilian targets, and more so critical infrastructure, against cyberattacks such as ransomware and phishing will stretch the capability and resources of governments across the globe.
  • On October 12, 2020 as India battled the pandemic, the electric grid supply to Mumbai suddenly snapped hitting the mega city’s hospitals, trains and businesses. Later, a study by a US firm that looks into the use of the internet by states, claimed that this power outage could have been a cyber attack, allegedly from a China-linked group, aimed at critical infrastructure.

Way forward

  • A Defence Cyber Agencycould be the first step the government plans to for critical infrastructure and military networks that are increasingly becoming dependent on the Internet, thus increasing vulnerabilities.
  • Equally important is cyber propaganda. During the Doklam conflict, China tried its best to unleash cyber propaganda on India and indulged in complex psychological operations (psy-ops).
  • Critical cyber infrastructure needs to be defendedand the establishment of the National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre (NCIIPC) is a good step in this direction.
  • A robust ecosystem must be built to secure India from acts of state and non-state actors, including protocol for grievance redressal in international forums.
  • A national gold standard should be created, which ensures that Indian hardware and software companies adhere to the highest safety protocols
  • There is a need to clearly articulate a doctrine that holistically captures its approach to cyber conflict, either for conducting offensive cyber operations or the extent and scope of countermeasures against cyber attacks.
  • Given the mutual distrust and vulnerability of the public and private sector, any solution involves sharing responsibility through a public-private partnership for critical infrastructure protection.
  • These should focus on building an institutional framework, expanding and deepening capacity, creating security standards and strict audits and evolving a cybersecurity incident reporting framework.

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