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Answer the following questions in 150 words:
General Studies – 1
Reference: Insights on India
Introduction
Salinity refers to the total content of dissolved salts in sea water. It is calculated as the amount of salt (in gm) dissolved in 1,000 gm (1 kg) of seawater. The salinity of ocean water is usually around 35 parts per thousand on an average at zero degrees Celsius. This implies that in the total weight of ocean water, dissolved salts amount to 3.5 percent. Sodium chloride or the common salt is the most common among all the dissolved salts in the sea.
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Factors influencing salinity are: Factors affecting the amount of salt in different oceans and seas are called as controlling factors of oceanic salinity.
- Evaporation: The salinity of water in the surface layer of oceans depend mainly on evaporation. Where the evaporation is greater, the salinity is higher, for example, Mediterranean sea.
- Freshwater flow influx: Surface salinity is greatly influenced in coastal regions by the freshwater flow from rivers, and in polar regions by the processes of freezing and thawing of ice.
- Where the freshwater flow into the oceans is greater, the salinity is lower.
- For instance, at the mouths of rivers such as Amazon, Congo, Ganga etc., the ocean surface salinity is found to be lower than the average surface salinity.
- Temperature and density: Salinity, temperature and density of water are interrelated. Hence, any change in the temperature or density influences the salinity of an area.
- In general, regions with high temperatures are also, regions with high salinity.
- Ocean Currents: They play an important role in the spatial distribution of dissolved salts in ocean waters.
- The warm currents near the equatorial region push away the salts from the eastern margins of the oceans and accumulate them near the western margins.
- Similarly, ocean currents in the temperate regions increase the salinity of ocean waters near the eastern margins. For instance, Gulf Stream in the North Atlantic Ocean increases the salinity of ocean waters along the western margins of the Atlantic Ocean.
- Precipitation: Precipitation and salinity share an inverse relationship.
- In general, regions with higher levels of precipitation have lower levels of salinity. This is the reason why though the equatorial region is as hot as the sub-tropics; it records lower salinity than the sub-tropics since the former receives heavy precipitation in a day.
- Atmospheric pressure and Wind direction: anti-cyclonic conditions with stable air and high temperature increase salinity of the surface water of oceans
- winds help is redistribution of salinity, as they drive away saline waters to fewer saline areas resulting into decrease of salinity in the former and increase in the latter
Conclusion
Salinity, along with temperature, determines the density of seawater, and hence its vertical flow patterns in thermohaline circulation. Every year, around 3 billion tons of salt gets added to the oceans from the land. A tiny fraction of this salt is extracted by humans for daily consumption.
2. Discuss the relevance of Buddha’s fourfold philosophy in the present times. (150 words)
Reference : Indian Express
Introduction
Buddhism begun in India over 2,500 years ago as a way life that had a potential of transforming an individual and thereby the society.
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The main teachings of Buddhism are condensed in the basic concept of 4 noble truths or ariya- sachchani and eightfold path or astangika marg.
Four noble truths:
- Suffering (Dukkha) is the essence of the world.
- Every suffering has a cause – Samudya.
- Suffering could be extinguished – Nirodha.
- It can be achieved by following the Atthanga Magga (Eight Fold Path).
The humanities across the sphere are facing serious concerns ranging from moral and cultural degradation to religious conflicts, corruption, lack of economic opportunity and employment, environmental degradations etc. It is in these periods that values like compassion, solidarity and peace become more relevant.
With every progress that man has made, there has been an associated negative effect in society.
- Physical Displeasure and Mental Discontentment: Nowadays, in this scientifically and technologically advanced world, though there are numerous amenities, for easy living and pleasure, people are not satisfied both physically and mentally and do not have a feeling of security.
- Estrangement: consumerism is causing collapse in community and is leading towards hyper-individuality, and alienation from the families and communities. This has further led to a lack of empathy towards the suffering of others, fundamentally invoking selfishness and greed in society.
Relevance of Buddha’s Teachings
- Buddha’s teachings stress on learning focussed on one’s observations and perception and trust that knowledge is not possible without experience.
- Desire, Greed, Ignorance and delusion, Hatred and destructive needshave been reflected to be the chief causes of suffering, according to Buddha.
- Buddha recommended an eightfold path, the middle path for liberation. It revolves around Wisdom(right understanding and intention), Ethical Conduct (right speech, action and livelihood) and Meditation (right effort, mindfulness and concentration).
- Right effort, concentration and mindfulness can guarantee mental peace and augment moral and cultural values.
- Right understanding and intentioncan open the track for knowledge and can help liberate the people from ignorance.
- Right action and livelihoodwould liberate society from corruption, it can also ensure security of food and water and will improve economic opportunity and employment paving way to prosperity for all.
- Right speechcan release us from the hatred that is spreading across the world on the label of race, ethnicity, religion etc.
- Buddha emphasized in his teachings that the approach to extinguish desire, which causes suffering, is to liberate oneselffrom attachments like desire, greed, delusion, ignorance, hatred and destructive urges.
- The principles of peace, compassion, calmness, accommodation, and inclusiveness, which are a part of our societies can be accredited to the influence of the teachings of Buddha.
- Buddha’s teachings can transform societies to a better and more humane form as said by Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama “the 20th century was a century of war and violence, now we all need to work to see that the 21st century is of peace and dialogue.”
Conclusion
The precept of right livelihood from the Buddha’s Eightfold Path shows that true contentment and happiness lie in needs, not wants. By following it, we can create a more sustainable world.
General Studies – 2
Reference: The Hindu
Introduction
The Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS) was launched in December, 1993, to provide a mechanism for the Members of Parliament to recommend works of developmental nature for creation of durable community assets and for provision of basic facilities including community infrastructure, based on locally felt needs. The MPLADS is a Central Sector Scheme which is fully funded by Government of India. The annual MPLADS fund entitlement per MP constituency is Rs. 5 crore.
Citing economic recovery, the Union Cabinet has restored the Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS) that was suspended in April 2020 subsuming the funds for the scheme in the consolidated fund of India. However, the MPs will get ₹2 crore instead of the annual approved ₹5 crore.
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Objectives:
- To enable MPs to recommend works of developmental nature with emphasis on the creation of durable community assets based on the locally felt needs to be taken up in their Constituencies.
- Lok Sabha Members can recommend works within their constituencies and elected Members of Rajya Sabha can recommend works within the State they are elected from.
- Nominated Members of both the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha can recommend works anywhere in the country.
- To create durable assets of national priorities viz. drinking water, primary education, public health, sanitation and roads, etc.
Features for effective development of each constituency
- An MP knows the developmental and welfare issues of his constituency better than anyone else.
- The MPLADS has enabled MPs to play a leadership role in the developmental process of his constituency and sort out its day-to-day problems.
- It is one of the ways government funds are transferred to the grassroots with precision.
- Local MPs can channel fund for specific needs of local communities, whether it is to tar a road, install streetlights or water pumps, or bolster local school and healthcare infrastructure.
- Besides capacity building in the local economy, these works also offer jobs to local people.
- The pork barrel policy of State and Union Governments often leads to skewed development and regional imbalance. The ruling party channels public money to particular constituencies based on political considerations, at the expense of broader public interests. The elected opposition legislators of those constituencies fall victim to this pork barrel politics.
- MPLADS has been an antidote to the above favouritism. The Scheme provided opposition MPs some chance to cater to the developmental needs of their constituency.
- Of the MPLADS corpus, 15% has been earmarked for the development of Scheduled Castes and 5% for the Scheduled Tribes. Around ₹20 lakh of the MPLADS fund per annum has been allotted for the welfare of differently abled people.
Challenges in MPLADS
- Since its inception in 1993, MPLADS has attracted increasing scholarly and media attention focusing on the various ways in which its politicised nature leads to the underutilisation of funds or the misallocation of funds over space and time.
- MPs in the run-up to an election allocate significantly more funds than at other times to projects that eventually end up incomplete.
- TheComptroller and Auditor-General of India (CAG) has time and again flagged instances of financial mismanagement and artificial inflation of amounts spent.
- Within MPLADS, the automatic ‘rollover’ of unspent MPLADS funds from one year to the next enables politicians to concentrate their project recommendations before anticipated election dates, which is associated with higher project failure rates.
- MPLADS is not governed by any statutory law and is subject to the whims and fancies of the government of the day.
- MPLADS encroaches upon the domain of local self-governing institutions and thereby violates Part IX and IX-A of the Constitution.
- The scheme faces conflict with Doctrine of Separation of Powers as MPs are involved in executive functions.
Way forward
- There is a need to eliminate the automatic rollover provision.
- In addition, providing information to voters on the efforts of incumbents, or lack thereof, with regard to the progress of specific public works projects could incentivize newly elected MPs to follow through on the proposals made by their predecessors.
- Political parties could also help by encouraging competent incumbents to stand for election again in the same constituency which could have beneficial effects on any future discretionary spending programmes.
- More broadly, policies that minimise discretion and that require more stringent and standardised criteria for the approval of project proposals could also reduce the negative effect of democratic elections on public service provision.
- This could also reduce negative effects of demands by the public for greater accountability and transparency from lawmakers to design programmes to benefit the public instead of supporting the interests of incumbent politicians.
General Studies – 3
Reference: Indian Express
Introduction
Smog is a harmful mixture of fog, dust and air pollutants such as nitrogen oxides, volatile organic compounds, etc. which combine with sunlight to form a dense layer of ground-level ozone. It is a specific type of air pollution. It is a combination of harmful pollutants that are introduced into the atmosphere by both natural and human induced processes.
At 471, the AQI has reached the upper end of the ‘severe’ category, going by the Central Pollution Control Board’s recent bulletin. This is worse than what was seen on November 5, 2021 the day after Diwali, when an AQI of 462 was recorded.
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Cause for the poor Air Quality Index levels of Delhi
Air pollution in Delhi and the whole of the Indo Gangetic Plains is a complex phenomenon that is dependent on a variety of factors.
Geographic factors
- Withdrawal of monsoons
- During monsoons, the prevalent direction of wind is easterly. Once monsoon withdraws, the predominant direction of winds changes to north westerly.
- During summers, too, the direction of wind is north westerly and storms carry dust from Rajasthan and sometimes Pakistan and Afghanistan.
- Dip in Temperatures
- As temperature dips, the inversion height — which is the layer beyond which pollutants cannot disperse into the upper layer of the atmosphere – is lowered.
- The concentration of pollutants in the air increases when this happens.
- Lack of High-speed winds
- They are very effective at dispersing pollutants, but winters bring a dip in wind speed over all as compared to in summers.
Anthropogenic factors
- National capital shares its border with the states of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. One of the main reasons of increasing air pollution levels in Delhi is crop residue burning by the farmers in these states. Farmers burn rice stubbles in Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. A 2015 source-apportionment study on Delhi’s air pollution conducted by IIT-Kanpur also states that 17-26% of all particulate matter in Delhi in winters is because of biomass burning.
- Pollution caused by the traffic menace in Delhi is another reason contributing to this air pollution and smog. According to the IIT Kanpur study, 20 % of PM 2.5 in winters comes from vehicular pollution.
- As the winter season sets in, dust particles and pollutants in the air become unable to move. Due to stagnant winds, these pollutants get locked in the air and affect weather conditions, resulting in smog.
- Over-population in the capital only adds up to the various types of pollution, whether it is air pollution or noise pollution.
- Large scale construction in Delhi-NCR is another culprit that is increasing dust and pollution in the air. Dust pollution contributes to 56% of PM 10 and the PM2.5 load at 59 t/d, the top contributors being road 38 % of PM 2.5 concentration, the IIT Kanpur study said.
- Industrial pollution and garbage dumps are also increasing air pollution and building-up smog in the air.
- Despite the ban on cracker sales, firecrackers were a common sight this Diwali. It may not be the top reason for this smog, but it definitely contributed to its build up.
- Investing less on public infrastructure is another reason of air pollution. In India, investment in public transport and infrastructure is low which leads to congested roads, and hence air pollution.
Measures needed
- Short term measures should be accompanied by measures that increase the forest cover of the land and provide farmers with an alternative to burning the remains of their crops.
- An innovative approach could be to use climate change funds to turn farm residues into a resource, using technological options such as converting them into biofuels and biofertilizers.
- Proactive engagements are necessary to persuade and reassure farmers.
- It is important to find other uses for stubble such as biomass, which may encourage farmers to look for alternative sources of income.
- India should at least now give high importance to the WHO warning about air pollution being the new tobacco. Sharply escalated, deterrent parking fees can be implemented.
- From an urban development perspective, large cities should reorient their investments to prioritise public transport, favouring electric mobility.
- Incentives for adoption of alternate mobility technologies should be promoted.
- The World Bank has said it is keen to enhance its lending portfolio to tackle air pollution, opening a new avenue for this.
- Governments should make the use of personal vehicles in cities less attractive through strict road pricing mechanisms like Congestion tax, Green-house Gas tax
- Need to speed up the journey towards LPG and solar-powered stoves.
- Addressing vehicular emissions is within India’s grasp but requires a multi-pronged approach. It needs to combine the already-proposed tighter emission norms (in form of BS VI), with a push for shared mobility and public transport and adoption of alternate mobility technologies.
- NCAP should take precedence from emerging practices in the country—pollution cess in Delhi on truck entry, big diesel cars, and diesel fuel sales and the coal cess—to generate dedicated funds to finance clean air action plan.
- Tackle road dust by mechanised sweeping and water-sprinkling but what would be more beneficial is if the sides of the roads could be paved or covered with grass that holds the soil together and stops the production of the dust in the first place.
- Attention to non-technological aspects such as urban planning, to reduce driving, and to increase cycling, walking, and use of public transport are needed.
Conclusion
India has 12 out of 14 cities which are high levels of air pollution. Involvement of Supreme Court in this issue is a significant moment in India’s battle for clean air, emphasising the need for a comprehensive plan presenting systemic solutions and reminding governments that a plan can be executed successfully only if all stakeholders work in tandem. This template should also be adapted for other Indian cities that suffer appalling air quality. Air pollution extracts an enormous price in terms of health, particularly of children. Combating it must become a governance priority.
Value addition
Government efforts in dealing with air pollution:
- The government acknowledged air pollution as a pan–India problem with the drafting of the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP), which was intended to build and strengthen the institutional capacity to monitor air quality across India, carry out indigenous studies to understand the health impacts of air pollution and create a national emission inventory.
- Banning the use of private vehicles from November 1 onwards in Delhi, although drastic, will definitely not be enough to curb pollution.
- Odd-even schemes and, recently, the allowance by the Supreme Court (SC) for only green or zero-emission firecrackers, are the episodic measures that have been used, and still continue to be, to combat this methodical pollution.
- There have also been instances of ban on construction activities.
- States have got nearly Rs.650 crores to help farmers buy subsidised equipment such as Happy Seeder, Paddy Straw Choppers and Zero Till Drill.
- There is a 50% subsidy to farmers, and a 75% waiver to cooperative societies, agencies that rent out equipment, farmers’ interest groups or gram panchayats to buy such machines.
Reference: The Hindu
Introduction
The Goods and Services Tax is an indirect tax system which was rolled out in 2017 with the aim of ‘One Nation, one tax’. The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has pointed out lacunae in the GST regime, saying that system-validated input tax credit through invoice matching is not in place and a non-intrusive e-tax system still remains elusive after two years of its rollout.
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Shortcomings of GST regime
- Input Tax Credit (ITC) is an area which has certain limitations that need to be addressed. The GST regime sought to have a seamless flow of ITC, however, conditions for availing ITC being stringent, many taxpayers lost out on ITC. Also, taxpayers lose their ITC due to non-reporting or mistakes by their suppliers.
- Compliance issues: taxpayers are also complaining about the imposing an arbitrary monetary limit on availing input tax credit through Rule 36(4) and mandating that a certain percentage of GST has to be paid in cash. These laws are making life difficult for even the most honest taxpayers.
- Difficulty in tax administration: Goes against the canons of taxation. A modern tax system should be fair, uncomplicated, transparent and easy to administer. It must yield revenues sufficient to cover the cost of government services and public goods.
- Lack of clarity on many rules is also leading to various litigation and different interpretations (of the same laws) by Advanced Ruling Authorities in different states.
- Complicated taxation structure: A World Bank study published in May 2018 said that the Indian GST rate was the second highest among the 115 countries with a national value-added tax. It was also the most complicated, with five main tax rates, several exemptions, a cess and a special rate for gold. The multilateral lender said that only five countries had four or more non-zero tax rates—India, Italy, Pakistan, Luxembourg and Ghana.
- Falling revenue amid disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic has continuously delayed the reform, leaving a large number of items in high tax slabs.
- GST revenue potential overestimated: The Union Budget for 2018-19 (the first full year under GST) estimated receipts to the tune of ₹7.43 lakh crore. Actual collections were just 78% of this amount. While the shortfall between Budget Estimates (BE) and actual collections reduced significantly in 2019-20 (the latter was 90% of the former) the BE number itself saw a significant downward revision to ₹6.63 lakh crore.
- High compliance costs: are also arising because the prevalence of multiple tax rates implies a need to classify inputs and outputs based on the applicable tax rate. Along with the need to apply the correct rate, firms are required to match invoices between their outputs and inputs to be eligible for full input tax credit, which increases compliance costs further.
- Tax-Sharing issues: alleged deviation in the way GST revenue is shared with states. To determine how integrated GST is to be split up, the report notes, the government has followed a formula prescribed by the Finance Commission, though it should have gone by the Constitution and Integrated GST Act.
- The nationwide lockdown, however, intensified the problem of revenue shortfall for states with the Centre not paying up the dues on time. Also with coffers drying up and with social and health spending going up, states are growing disenchanted with the system
- Last year, the GST Council had borrowed `1.1 lakh crore to pay the states in order to make up for the shortfall. Still, `63,000 crore is pending which the Centre intends to pay this year.
- GST Council meetings: the meetings of the GST Council are not as frequent as they were earlier, if the recent incidents are anything to go by, and it often end up with disagreement, fight and strong letters and statements. States have also accused the Centre of cornering a substantial portion of tax in forms of cess.
- There has been lack of coordination between the Department of Revenue, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs and the GST Network
However, there are gains too from the GST Regime
- Introduced as one of the biggest economic reforms by the incumbent government, the GST kicked off with the promise to streamline taxation and compliance burden.
- Based on the one nation one tax ideology, GST has helped in reducing the cascading effect of tax considerably.
- Also, multiplicity of compliances under various indirect taxes has been reduced.
- Hence, introduction of GST in India has brought in efficiencies in indirect tax compliance, incidence and reduced the number of indirect tax authorities that a taxpayer needed to interact with
- Another positive is the concept of e-invoicing which seeks to ensure greater transparency in supplier-receiver transactions.
- The introduction of e-way bill coupled with the crackdown on fake invoicing has helped in bringing in a substantial portion of GST revenues, which were either being evaded or under-reported, in order.
Way Forward:
- The first target should be to move to at least a three-rate structure, a lower rate for essential goods, a relatively high rate for luxury goods, and a standard rate for the majority of goods and services.
- The next step would be simplifying the tax returns process.
- The scope for lowering the GST rate is umbilically linked to direct tax reform.
- A better way to make a tax system more just is by lowering regressive indirect tax rates while widening the base for progressive direct taxes on income and corporate profits.
- The government needs to establish GST Tribunals to reduce litigation timelines and the pressure on courts.
- The state authorities for Advance Ruling should ideally also have an independent jurist member, apart from a representative from the tax department.
- Many goods are still outside the GST net, which comes in the way of seamless flow of input tax credit. Key items outside its ambit are electricity, alcohol, petroleum goods and real estate. This aspect need to be looked into.
- Emulating the best practices. The GST in New Zealand, widely regarded as the most efficient in the world, has a single standard rate of 12.5 percent across all industry groups.
- The Fifteenth finance commission, in its latest report, has addressed many issues including large shortfall in collections as compared to original forecast, high volatility in collections, accumulation of large integrated GST credit, glitches in invoice and input tax matching, and delay in refunds.
- The Commission also observed that the continuing dependence of states on compensation from the central government for making up for the shortfall in revenue is a concern.
- While at the same time it suggested that the structural implications of GST for low consumption states need to be considered.
Conclusion
While the GST’s journey has given its stakeholders some causes to celebrate, it has also given moments of worry. But then, no transformation of the scale and complexity can be achieved without its share of hiccups and challenges. The process of evolution will take a few years more for the mammoth structural change to stabilize. The four-year journey of GST has been a roller-coaster ride for all stakeholders with equitable share of hits, misses and expectations. A work-in-progress in its transformational journey, GST suffers from several shortcomings which need to be resolved quickly, but its journey to ‘Good & Simple Tax’ is still quite long.
Answer the following questions in 250 words:
General Studies – 1
Introduction
Industry refers to an economic activity that is concerned with production of goods, extraction of minerals or the provision of services.
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Many important geographical factors involved in the location of individual industries are of relative significance. But besides such purely geographical factors influencing industrial location, there are factors of historical, human, political and economic nature which are now tending to surpass the force of geographical advantages. Consequently, the factors influencing the location of industry can be divided into two broad categories – Geographical and Non- Geographical factors.
- Capital:
- Modem industries are capital-intensive and require huge investments.
- Capitalists are available in urban centers.
- Big cities like Mumbai, Kolkata, Delhi, and Chennai are big industrial centers, because the big capitalists live in these cities.
- Government Policies:
- Government activity in planning the future distribution of industries, for reducing regional disparities, elimination of pollution of air and water and for avoiding their heavy clustering in big cities, has become no less an important locational factor.
- Industrial Inertia:
- Industries tend to develop at the place of their original establishment, though the original cause may have disappeared.
- This phenomenon is referred to as inertia, sometimes as geographical inertia and sometimes industrial inertia.
- The lock industry at Aligarh is such an example.
- Efficient Organization:
- Efficient and enterprising organization and management is essential for running modem industry successfully.
- Bad management sometimes squanders away the capital and puts the industry in financial trouble leading to industrial ruin.
- Banking Facilities:
- Establishment of industries involves daily exchange of crores of rupees which is possible through banking facilities only.
- So the areas with better banking facilities are better suited to the establishment of industries.
- Insurance:
- There is a constant fear of damage to machine and man in industries for which insurance facilities are badly needed.
- Political and economic situation:
- Political harmony and peace in a particular region encourage the establishment of industrial units.
- On the other hand, disturbed political and economic set up discourages the growth of industries in the region.
- On account of Naxalites movement in West Bengal, Industries started moving out of West Bengal.
- Similarly, is the case in certain other states where, on account of political disturbances, manufacturers have started thinking to settle elsewhere and further industrial expansion has been greatly affected.
- Availability of research facilities:
- The main aim of any industrial undertaking is to have maximum production with minimum cost.
- Constant research and experimentation is undertaken to develop products and improved methods of production.
- Possibilities of future expansion:
- The area for location should be such as to provide all possible opportunities for future development and expansion of the industrial unit without involving extra cost.
- Every industrial undertaking is established with the aim to expand in future.
Conclusion
Thus, the location of industries is dependent on a combination of geographical and non-geographical factors.
General Studies – 2
Reference: The Hindu
Introduction
The UK, US and Australia have announced a historic security pact in the Asia-Pacific, in what’s seen as an effort to counter China. It is called the AUKUS pact and AUKUS alliance. It is a landmark security pact involving the UK, US and Australia that will allow Australia to build nuclear-powered submarines for the first time with technology provided by the US underscores the rapidly shifting realities of the Indo- Pacific.
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Overview on AUKUS pact
- Under the AUKUS alliance, the three nations have agreed to enhance the development of joint capabilities and technology sharing, foster deeper integration of security and defence-related science, technology, industrial bases and supply chains.
- Under the first major initiative of AUKUS, Australia would build a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines with the help of the US and the UK, a capability aimed at promoting stability in the Indo-Pacific region.
- In recent years, Beijing has been accused of raising tensions in disputed territories such as the South China Sea.
- Western nations have been wary of China’s infrastructure investment on Pacific islands, and have also criticised China’s trade sanctions against countries like Australia.
- Australia will be joining a select group of countries, including the US, UK, France, China, India and Russia, that operate nuclear-powered submarines.
- It will also be only the second nation after the UK with which the US will be sharing its submarine technology.
AUKUS pact: Regional security architecture in the Indo-Pacific and beyond
- Technology transfer to non-nuclear state: In an extraordinary move, the US and UK are willing to export nuclear technology to a non-nuclear powered nation.
- Regional security concerns have been the main driver behind this ‘Aukus pact’ that is being touted as Canberra’s biggest defence partnership in decades, involving artificial intelligence, cyber and other cutting-edge defence technologies.
- Indo-Pacific security: It described the pact as a “historic opportunity for the three nations, with like-minded allies and partners, to protect shared values and promote security and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region.
- Countering Chinese expansionist policy: For Washington and its allies in the Pacific, a new class of nuclear-powered submarines can be of critical value in challenging Chinese military expansionism.
- It would also allow the three nations to operate more effectively together undersea across the Pacific.
- Timing of announcement: The announcement of this major pact comes against the backdrop of a disastrous withdrawal of American forces from Afghanistan that had raised widespread doubts across the Indo-Pacific about the credibility of American commitments in the region.
- Brexit and UK’s projection as global power: Britain aims to play a larger role in the Indo-Pacific, especially after its exit from the European Union.
- The Boris Johnson administration is keen on projecting the idea of a ‘Global Britain’ as the central narrative of British foreign policy after Brexit, and greater engagement in the Indo-Pacific with like-minded nations is a natural corollary to that.
- In July, the UK’s new aircraft carrier, Queen Elizabeth, sailed through the South China Sea waters despite denunciations from Beijing.
- India’s stance: The latest developments are largely favourable from an Indian viewpoint and as our focus now shifts to the Quad meeting, it is clear that like-minded regional powers are trying to evolve a partnership that will see closer alignment of regional policies and actions as well as greater integration of their defence forces.
- Alongside India’s stated intent to acquire more nuclear-powered submarines, it will amount to a step-change increase in the Quad’s undersea and anti-submarine warfare capabilities.
Conclusion
The message from Aukus is that while the current churn in the Indo-Pacific may have begun with Chinese actions, it is now other regional players that are willing to set new terms of engagement with Beijing. They can effectively counter Chinese Aggression and their ‘middle kingdom’ agenda alongside the Quad.
Reference: The Hindu
Introduction
The Supreme Court had flagged the consequences of growing digital divide. It observed, the digital divide caused by online classes will defeat the fundamental right of every child to education.
Digital divide means discrepancy between people who have access to and the resources to use new information and communication tools, such as the Internet, and people who do not have the resources and access to the technology.
It also means discrepancy between those who have the skills, knowledge and abilities to use the technologies and those who do not.
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Impact of COVID-19
- Little children whose parents are too poor to afford laptops, tablets or an “optimum” Internet package at home for online classes during the pandemic have dropped out of school and even run the danger of being drawn into child labour or worse, child trafficking.
- Even, the right to educationhas now hinged on who could afford “gadgets” for online classes and who could not.
- The digital divide can exist between those living in rural areas and those living in urban areas, between genders, between the educated and uneducated, between economic classes, and on a global scale between more and less industrially developed nations.
- In some cases, teachers are unfamiliar with online education technology.
- Children belonging to theEconomically Weaker Sections, Marginalised sections /Disadvantaged Groups had to agonise the consequence of not having to fully follow their education or worse still drop out because of the lack of access to Internet and computer.
- Most rural areas tend to produce half-baked graduates because of inadequate trainingand due to limited research abilities as connectivity to the internet is inadequate also having low cadre training equipment.
- Superior students who have access to internet have an unfaircompetitive edge over their less privileged counterparts.
- Rural/ Underprivileged families find difficulty in adjusting to the whole online system, amid the added household responsibilities.
Status in India
- Although India has 220 million smartphone users and is the second largest smartphone market in the world, the overall penetration is still just about 30 per cent of the population.
- There is a huge rural- urban and inter-state digital divide in India.
- According to statistics, more than 75 per cent of the broadband connections in the country are in the top 30 cities.
- Similarly, many states like north-eastern states, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, Chhattisgarh and Assam lag behind other states in the use and development of ICTs.
- Globally 12 percent more men used the internet than women in 2017, while in India only 29% of total internet users are females.
- Another important reason of digital divide in India is knowledge divide. Knowledge divide is directly related with digital divide.
Impact of Digital Divide
- Low female representation:Due to huge digital divide in gender, thousands of Indian girls in these far-flung areas are refused access to Information and Communications Technology (ICTs), which is a primary cause of low female representation in jobs
- Denial to information/knowledge:This lack of equal opportunities to access online services and information deprive people of higher/quality education and skill training that could help them contribute to the economy and become leaders on a global level.
- Non delivery of welfare schemes:As many schemes have started using ICT in their delivery, at the same time due to digital divide it will create more problem.
Conclusion
Though schools are now gradually reopening due to the retreating curve of the pandemic, the “need to provide adequate computer-based equipment along with access to online facilities for children is of utmost importance”. Precedence should be given to the less privileged students who do not have access to e-learning.
General Studies – 3
Reference: Live Mint
Introduction
Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 provides a time-bound process for resolving insolvency in companies and among individuals. IBC, which helped improve the credit culture in the country and made corporate rescue more dynamic, is set for another makeover.
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Purpose of 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 stipulates that the resolution process of a stressed company will have to be completed in a maximum of 270 days.
Efficacy of IBC
Success points
- The interest of all parties, lenders, borrowers and even operational creditors is now addressed under a unified law under the IBC.
- RBI report says that gross NPA has come down from2% to 9.2% from 2017-18 to 2018-19.
- The IBC has given more teeth to lenders and has changed the credit behaviour of borrowers. Now, there is a heartening trend of defaulters paying up dues before the case is admitted for insolvency under IBC.
- It showed that defaulters will not only lose control of the companies, but will also be prevented from winning them back unless the dues are paid.
- The IBC’s operation has been marked by intense litigation involving promoters, lenders, and investors, some spectacular successes, and, in several cases, liquidation of firms.
- IBC proposes a paradigm shift from the existing ‘Debtor in possession’ to a ‘Creditor In Control’ regime, as now the Board of Directors is suspended in case of default and the IP manages the enterprise in the best interest of all its stakeholders.
- IBC has made possible for struggling companies to ‘exit’ easily allowing creditors to take the company to the NCLT for winding up.
- IBC has reduced crony capitalism, under and over invoicing, serial defaulters and lead to better allocation of capital by limiting the escape routes for defaulters and water tight frame for disposal of cases
- The success of the act lies in the fact that many cases have been resolved even before it was referred to NCLT.
- Statistics : Nearly, 4452 cases were dismissed at the pre-admission stage. Hence, it shows the effectiveness of IBC.
- Presently, there are 1332 cases before NCLT. Realization by creditors around Rs 80,000cr in resolution cases.
- Banks recovered Rs 5.28 lakh crore in 2017-18, compared to just Rs 38500 cr in 2016-17.The maximum amount recovered was Rs 4, 92,500 cr from 21 companies. 12 big cases are likely to be resolved this year, and the realization in these cases is expected to be around Rs 70000 Cr.
Challenges still remain
- Slow judicial process in India allows the resolution processes to drag on, this was the same reason for slow recovery under SICA or RBBD.
- Lack of capacity: There are inadequate benches to hear and resolve disputes quickly at the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT).
- These factors lead to the erosion of public money.
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- For example: If inflation is 4%, every year’s delay effectively reduces the recovery by the same proportion.
- The time value of delays in the Essar case, assuming an inflation rate of 4%, and where the final bid is worth over ₹42,000 crore, is close to ₹5 crore a day.
- Lack of operational NCLT benches: Though the government had, in July 2019, announced setting up of 25 additional single and division benches of NCLT at various places including Delhi, Jaipur, Kochi, Chandigarh, and Amravati, most of these remain non-operational or partly operational on account of lack of proper infrastructure or adequate support staff.
- Low approval rate of resolution plans: According to the data from the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI), of the 2,542 corporate insolvency cases filed between December 1, 2016 and September 30, 2019, about 156 have ended in approval of resolution plans — a mere 15%.
Way Forward
- Reforms to the scheme provisions of the Companies Act will provide an enabling framework for Indian companies to resolve and restructure their debts and avoid the spate of insolvencies that may occur after the period for which the IBC is suspended comes to an end.
- A free-standing moratorium will allow companies a ‘calm period’ to work out a resolution. Further, having introduced a modern cross-class cram down provision as part of our insolvency law in the IBC, lawmakers should not hesitate to make similar provisions in the scheme process.
- Historically, schemes have been frustrated by persons who have no real economic value in the resolution.
- The success of the IBC is owed in no small measure to the decision-making being confined to the financial creditors as a single class.
- It is time to replicate the successful features of the IBC in the Companies Act to create an alternative resolution mechanism that is equally effective.
Reference: Indian Express
Introduction
Globally, India is competing with the US and China in the Agri-startup space. According to Agfunder, India witnessed an increase in funding from $619 million in H1 2020 to $2 billion in H1 2021, behind the US ($9.5 billion) and China ($4.5 billion)
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Agri-tech startups in India and their potential
- High potential in terms of value: An Ernst & Young 2020 study pegs the Indian agritech market potential at $24 billion by 2025, of which only 1 per cent has been captured so far.
- Supply chain segments: Among various agritech segments, the supply chain technology and output markets have the highest potential, worth $12.1 billion.
- Currently, it is estimated that there are about 600 to 700 agritech startups in India operating at different levels of Agri-value chains.
- Modern technology to agriculture: Many of them use artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), internet of things (IoT), etc, to unlock the potential of big data for greater resource use efficiency, transparency and inclusiveness. E.g.: Ninjacart, Dehaat, and Crofarm (Otipy) are a few of the many startups that are redefining the agrifood marketplace.
- Establishing an ecosystem: The novelty of startup-led value chain transformation is not limited to empowering farmers but also co-opting local grocery, mom-and-pop, and Kirana stores as well as small agrifood businesses that are an integral part of the agri-food ecosystem.
- Expanding economy around Agri economy: At the same time, the start-up network is able to leverage the bigger front-end players who demand bulk quality produce and have challenges in directly linking with farmers.
Issues faced by the startups
- Government policies: Although government has made a shift in their policies related to agriculture but we still have a long way to go. Today we have Digital India, Make in India, Start-up India, Skill in India but nothing converges at the farm level.
- Many agtech firms are grappling with their own set of issues. These include rigid business models that are at times difficult to scale up and lack of insights and expertise on the subject matter which is essential in network build-up.
- Resistant farmers unwilling to adopt technology and most farmers being small and subsistent makes it difficult to introduce technology in agriculture.
- There are glaring gaps in the supply chain management and also poor last-mile connectivity especially at grass-roots level as well lack of investments to drive the businesses.
- Farming companies are also impacted by limited traceability and visibility. Agri input companies still struggle with inefficient field force management and operations along with lack of centralised database that causes huge losses along the value chain.
Hence, it becomes imperative for the government, agritech businesses and food supply chain companies to collectively fix these loopholes and create a transparent system which, in the long-term, will benefit all the stakeholders involved including the investors.
Measures needed
- The startup-FPO partnership can be further strengthened by incentivising the FPOs under the central government’s programme to add 10,000 new FPOs by 2024.
- Collaboration across sectors: The network of agritech start-ups, incubators, accelerators and investors need to work closely with policymakers, academia, think tanks, and government departments to develop a more nuanced understanding of the dynamics of the agrifood sector.
- This will also enable the government and policymakers to leverage the existing agritech pool and co-create solutions for shared value.
- If policies, institutions and partnerships can harness the current momentum, the startup ecosystem can be the next-generation technology revolution in the agrifood sector.
- Experts, agritech entrepreneurs and investors believe that new approaches and new institutions are required which can really pull farmers from lifelong penury. This can be achieved if both private and public companies work together in unison to boost the agriculture space in a massive way.
- Skilling farmers to infuse technology in agriculture will not only lead to better Agri-incomes, it will also make agriculture more efficient. Government aids are available to buy machineries and these can be made available to ensure start-ups can scale their reach to farmers.
Conclusion
The Indian agriculture industry, pegged at $39.1 billion as on 2019, is poised for huge growth and contribution to the world food trade. Startups have a crucial role to play in helping farmers harness technology, which will increase crop yield and double the income of farmers. With the infusion of technology in the sector, agriculture is set to make big gains and move towards Aatmanirbhar Bharat.
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