9 PM Daily Brief – August 5th,2020

Good evening dear reader.

Here is our 9pm current affairs brief for you today

9 PM for Main examination

GS-2

1. Preventive detention
2. One year of the abrogation of Article 370

GS-3

3. Effect of declining tax collection on Economy
4. Self-reliance in the defence sector
5. Need a bottom up approach to tackle the new economic challenges of 21^stcentury

9 PM for Preliminary examination

FACTLy

1.Preventive detention

Source: The Hindu

Syllabus: GS-2- Polity

Context: Unchecked preventive detention and difficulty in accessing information in the valley are the violation of human rights ever since the abrogation of article 370.

Under house arrest

• The state is empowered to declare a building or house as a sub-jail even though the concept of house arrest is not mentioned in the criminal manual.
• The resident of a sub-jail is automatically under detention which is also known as house arrest.
• The state virtually acquires the property for its own purposes and the owner of the house is entitled to rent or compensation for the use and occupation of the property.
• For instance, vast tracts of land were taken over by the armed forces to suppress an insurgency. Mizo landowners have petitioned for compensation, though with little effect and people in the valley may face similar problem.
• During the emergency, few tourist resorts near Delhi were declared as sub-jails where prominent political leaders were confined.

Preventive detention

• Preventive detention under the public safety act is harsh but our constitution provides important procedural safeguards that must be followed by the state.
• It’s the fundamental right of the person in detention to be communicated and informed about the grounds of detention and given a chance of representation against the order.
• Decisions of the Supreme Court hold that if there is an unexplained delay of even one or two days in dealing with representation, the order of preventive detention is debased.
• In the case of A.K Roy v. Union of India (1981)the Supreme Court stated that “Laws of preventive detention cannot, by the back door, introduce procedural measures of a punitive kind, the normal rule has to be that the person in detention will be kept in a place which is within the localities of his or her ordinary place of residence.”

Problems faced by people of the valley

• Access to informationis a human right, if not a fundamental right yet the residents of the valley have been deprived of the benefit of 4G internet for past one year.
• Right to healthis an essential component of the right to life and this has been denied to a large number of patients as medical professionals have difficulty in advising and counselling their patients.
• The economy in the valleyhas taken a hit as businesses have suffered.
• It has been difficult for students as the joy of learning has become a hasslewith 2G internet.

Way forward

It is possible to block access even in a limited way with today’s advanced technology and so the threat which comes with uncontrolled access to internet and misuse of internet by terrorists and militants could be curbed.

2.One year of the abrogation of Article 370

Source: The Hindu

Syllabus: GS-2- Polity

Context: It’s been one year since the abrogation of some provisions of the Article 370

Background

On 5th August,2019, the government of India took the following steps:

• Promulgated the Constitution (Application to Jammu and Kashmir) Order, 2019. The order abrogated some provisions in Article 370.
• Introduced the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Bill 2019. As per the provisions of the bill, the state of J&K has been bifurcated into two Union territories – Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.
• Jammu and Kashmir Reservation (Second Amendment) Bill, 2019 was also introduced to extend the reservation for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) in educational institutions and government jobs in Jammu and Kashmir.

Article 370

The Article 370 of Indian Constitution gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir. The article was drafted in Part XXI of the Indian Constitution: “Temporary, Transitional and Special Provisions”. This special status gave the following special powers to J&K:

• It allowed J&K to have its own Constitution and Flag.
• Article 370 also explicitly mentioned that only the provisions of Article 1 and Article 370 applied to the state.
• The Centre could extend the central laws on subjects included in the Instrument of Accession (IoA) — Defence, External Affairs and Communications — by “consultation” with the state government.
• The remaining central laws could be extended to the state only with the “concurrence” of the state government.

Article 35A

• It was included in the Constitution by a Presidential Order in 1954.
• Article 35A of the Indian Constitution gave power to the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly to define ‘permanent residents’ of the state, their special rights and privileges. The Jammu and Kashmir Constitution was adopted on November 17, 1956. It defined a ‘permanent resident’ as a person who was a state subject on May 14, 1954, or was a resident in the state for 10 years on that date, with a legally acquired property.
• As per the provisions of Article 35A, non-permanent residents couldn’t acquire immovable property, get government employment, scholarships or other aid provided by the state government.
• It also provided that no act of the J&K legislature under Article 35A can be challenged on the grounds of violating the Indian Constitution.

Improvements in Jammu and Kashmir after removal of Article 370

1. End of Discrimination:Article 370 was discriminatory on the basis of caste, class, gender and place of origin. For instance, many who migrated from Pakistan post-partition were not given Permanent Resident Status, voting rights etc.  Similarly, Article 35A was discriminatory to the Valmikis who were brought in from Punjab as government sweepers in 1957. But the provisions of Article 35A prevented them from getting a permanent resident status. The removal of Article 370 has ended discrimination.
2. Right to Education:  After removal of Article 370, Right to Education is applicable in the region. This has paved the way for universal elementary education across the region.
3. Reduced Militancy:Abrogating Article 370 has helped in integrating the region with the rest of the country. This has helped bringing private investments, generate revenue and create new jobs for the locals and reduced militancy in J&K.
4. Gender Rights:Article 35A led to denial of property rights to women who marry outside the state. For ex- the child of a woman married to an outsider was denied inheritance rights. The discriminatory provisions have been removed after removal of Article 35 A.
5. Economic Transformation:
   1. National Saffron Mission has been introduced and more than 3,500 hectares of land are being rejuvenated for saffron cultivation
   2. The government is also incentivising farmers to introduce ultra-high-density plantation of apple and other fruits.
   3. Tourism infrastructure is being upgraded in mission mode. In a bid to further boost tourism and connectivity, 11 airports in J&K and two in Ladakh are being considered under the UDAN scheme.
6. Health Infrastructure revamped: he health sector has been transformed with the opening of two AIIMS Hospitals and five new medical colleges. The Ayushman Bharat scheme is now available for all residents of J&K.

3.Effect of declining tax collection on Economy

Source: BusinessLine

Syllabus: GS3: Government Budgeting.

Context: With tax collections below target, the Centre will possibly resort to higher market borrowings, thereby raising bond yields

Reasons for Short fall in tax collection

• Downsizing human resources: Industries are facing fall in their business activity due to pandemic induced lockdown. Hence to protect their businesses, corporates are taking measures such as job cuts, decreasing the salaries of their staff, reduction in variable pay etc. Which negatively impacts tax collection.
• Fall in business profits: Industries are also facing reduced sales activity and contraction in their profits this will result in reduced tax payments affecting tax collection.
• Declining GST collection: because GST is a consumption tax, so for GST collection to increase there needs to be an increase in consumption whereas lockdown has restricted consumer spending there by lowering the revenue for the government.
• Decrease in custom tax: Due to fall in economic activities and reduced demand, imports are declining thereby reducing custom tax collection

Impact of falling tax collection on economy

• Impact on State: Due to shortfalls in the centre’s revenue, resource transfer to states will be decreased which will push states to cut back on expenditure.
• Impact on Centre: Faced with unexpected increase in relief expenditure, central government will be forced to cut expenditures either by resorting to cut Capital expenditure or by bringing sharp cuts in subsidies.
• Resorting to borrowing: To balance higher fiscal deficit centre will be necessitated to borrow form the market which will result in increased bond yields.

4.Self-reliance in the defence sector

Source: Live Mint

Syllabus: GS-3- Security

Context: India’s new policy for the domestic production of weaponry will make the country self reliant in defence sector

Introduction

• The draft Defence Production and Export Promotion Policy 2020aims for domestic output worth ₹1.75 trillion of aerospace and defence goods and services by 2025, with exports raking in ₹35,000 crore.
• The document contains various strategic initiatives that would aid the indigenous development of modern weaponry, from hypersonic missiles and ace sensors to stealth submarines and fly-by-wire fighter jets.
• Rapid upgradationwas required as the rest of the country’s armoury does little justice to big power stature.

Current situation

• India had to place an emergency order for 21 MiG-29 jetswith Russia; it was done to meet an Air Force shortfall that the local production of Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd’s Tejas has failed to address.
• Defence Research and Development Organisation’s (DRDO) scientists claim success in several projects, including the Tejas design but decisions on attaining for our armed forces are made through a complex process which involves service chiefs, technocrats and politicians and that ends up favouring foreign purchases.
• India was the world’s third largest military spenderin 2019, with a bill of over $71 billion, after the US and China. Though finer details of defence deals are usually confidential.
• Long drawn out attainment processes may partly be to blame for our private sector into the act have not progressed too well.

Way forward

A big push for “made in India” defence systems calls an entire ecosystem of experiments, ideas and technical skills into being, it could help our economy leap ahead too.

5.Need a bottom up approach to tackle the new economic challenges of 21^stcentury

Source: LiveMint

Syllabus: Gs3: Indian Economy and issues relating to Planning, Mobilization of Resources, Growth, Development and Employment.

Context: The new economic challenges of 21^st century cannot be tackled with old trade and free-market ideas (Export led growth, Market reforms, sustaining high growth rate etc.)

Culmination of export-led growth

• By transforming itself into an export-based economy, China became the factory of the world that helped them to lift itself out of poverty. But now, the world will not be ready to allow another china to rise. So, export led growth will not be a reality in coming days.
• India needs to concentrate on specific sectors where Indian manufacturers can compete with the world rather than focusing on to replace China as global supply chains look to diversify their sources.

Market reforms won’t work

• Market reforms produced the intended benefits during 1991 by boosting growth and generating new jobs but the same won’t be able to deliver results in this complex changing world.
• With growth in technology, it has replaced all other factors of production as the main driver of growth.
• Now, for businesses, labour laws aren’t the source of worry. They look up to other factors such as court delays, excess regulation at multiple levels (central, state and local bodies) and expensive logistics to decide their investment. Hence market reforms cannot generate jobs as well as growth.

Economies cannot sustain high growth due to decreasing demand and decline in credit growth

• With more focus on climate change andthreat of global warming forcing the world to “reduce, recycle and reuse” demand for consumption will reduce.
• Also, with most of the developed nations are ageing and a greater number of developing nations reaching replacement fertility rate growth is expected to slow down.
• Changing demand structures that advances pay-by-use ideas (rental homes, shared mobility) inspite of ownership of goods have impacted credit growth as companies are reluctant to borrow to finance expansion.
• Similarly, companies are more pronounced towards equity rather than debt. This means that banks need to shrink their traditional volume businesses and focus on small firms which affects credit growth.

Conclusion: The government needs to devolve more powers to empower people to try and experiment what works for them so that they can develop the needed resilience to respond to new opportunities and threats posed in a more complex world.

9 PM for Preliminary examination

Click on “Factly articles for 5th August 2020”

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