9 PM Daily Brief – November 13, 2020

Good evening dear reader.

Here is our 9pm current affairs brief for you today

GS 2

Media regulation

Right to work

GS 3

Atmanirbhar Bharat

3RD Stimulus package

9 PM for Preliminary examination

FACTLY

Media regulation

Source: The Hindu

Syllabus: GS-2- Polity

Context: The government is bringing online news and current affairs portals along with “films and audio-visual programmes made available by online content providers” under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

Analyse the problems with this step.

• This is an attack on the free press:
• It is targeted at a section that has been bold and forthright in speaking truth to power.
• This move has been criticised as it is set out to make the media institutionally captive.
• It is clubbing the only sector of the media which has pre-censorship, namely films (through the Central Board of Film Certification).
• The news media which has so far, not been subject to pre-censorship, although media practitioners know the grave post publication consequences of airing news or views critical or adversarial to the government.
• Regulation leading to censorship:
  • The reason given by the government for this annexation of the digital media by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting is that the self-regulation proposals given by the sector were not satisfactory.
  • It hijacks another public interest litigation in the Supreme Court relating to content on “Over the Top” (OTT) platforms not being subject to official oversight.
• Arms the executive: It neatly hijacks matter before the Supreme Court of India relating to freedom of the press and freedom of expression to arm the executive with control over the free press, thereby essentially making it unfree.
• The instant case is that relating to Sudarshan News, in which hate speech is being disingenuously sought to be passed off as freedom of the press.
• Divide and rule strategy: It seeks to divide and rule the press by creating an artificial distinction between the new-age digital media which is the media of the future, the media of the millennial generation and the older print and TV news media.
• There is no comparison between the Press Council of India and the NBA as professional bodies on the one hand and the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on the other.
• Fate of digital media: The fate of the digital media under the control of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting leaves little scope for hope for both the media practitioner and the media entrepreneur and for the start-ups that have been the new vibrant face of contemporary journalism.

Way forward

• This move must be seen for what it is politically and morally decrepit and must be legally challenged as unconstitutional and autocratic.

Right to work

Source: The Hindu

Gs2:  Fundamental Rights

Context: Need for Right to work in India.

What is the legal status of the right to work internationally and in India?

• International: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights includes the right to work in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
• In India: Though Right to work is not a constitutional right but it was accorded Statutory rights through MGNREGA act. Under MGNREGA, a person can hold the state accountable for not fulfilling the right by demanding an unemployment allowance.

Need for Right to work?

• Failure of market: The right to work is not only about lack of adequate work but also the profound lack of public goods and assets. It is the state’s responsibility to provide these public goods when the market fails provide welfare.
• Destruction due to Development: The path of development has not only created adequate employment opportunities but it has also resulted in displacement of people from their means of livelihood.
• Jobless growth: Along with this, the failure to create new jobs by the government and advent of automation leading to jobless growth there is a need to think on the right to work and make it legally enforceable.
• Statutory backing can be repealed any time: Also, the statutory backing given to right to work in India through MGNREGA can be withdrawn through legislative actions.

How can we make ‘the right to work’ in India a reality?

• One approach is through Decentralised Urban Employment and Training, or DUET.
• For DUET, urban local bodies can issue job vouchers to certified public institutions such as schools and universities for pre-approved tasks. These institutions can only use the vouchers to hire labour for pre-defined tasks e.g. painting school buildings.
• Along with MGNREGA, an Urban Employment Guarantee can be enacted. In the wake of COVID-19, three States Odisha, Jharkhand and Himachal Pradesh have launched measures along these lines.
• States need to expand spending on providing basic services such as health, education and housing, and in providing them, employment can be generated.
• For example, Thailand, which has a universal basic healthcare system that is labour-intensive. It solves two problems, builds social infrastructure and simultaneously it creates jobs.

Does the 4 labour codes dilutes the worker rights?

• India is a labour surplus economy, so in the capital-labour bargaining process, labour is structurally weak in India.
• To balance this government needs to legislate protective labour laws however the four labour codes tries to achieve the opposite.
• An effective employment guarantee programme can be an excellent solution to the structural weakness of labour. it automatically creates the conditions for better treatment of workers.

‘Right to work’ is not only about employment opportunities but also the right to earn one’s own livelihood without any obstruction and in a dignified way. Dignity of living should be assured through fair work conditions, such as being paid a fair wage, regulated work hours.

Atmanirbhar Bharat

Source: Indian Express

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

Context: Making India   self-reliant India or Atmanirbhar Bharat

What are the current economic challenges faced by India?

• The supply chain disruption due to national and localised lockdowns has led to supply side and demand side contraction.
• Slowdown of aggregate demand due to low, private final consumption expenditure (PFCE), investment and exports.
• Even, the consumption demand of the rest of the demography from agriculture, small-scale manufacturing and self-employed is stagnant due to low income growth.
• The investment slowdown is affecting industries like steel, cement and power and income, employment and demand.
• Along with these constraints, India has huge developmental implications on poverty, inequality and standard of living.

What are advantages for India in present labour market?

• All other manufacturing giants are ageing: For example, Japan, EU, the US, South Korea and China. Ageing population has forced them to move out of low-end labor-intensive manufacturing.
• China’s lost advantage: Due to a rise in wages, strict environmental regulations and an increase in the cost of production along with the uncertainties due to China’s friction with the US and other countries.

How to ensure Atmanirbhar Bharat?

• Incentivising the farming community: Need to shift from grain-based farming to cash crops, horticulture and livestock products. For example, the Chinese experience in the late 1970s has shown that reforms in agriculture increased rural income, leading to demand for labor-intensive industrial goods.
• Exploiting the demographic dividend: India has around 900 million people in the working-age population with an average age of 27.
• Shift the labour force from agriculture to manufacturing: For this, labour-intensive manufacturing should be promoted that can generate employment opportunities for labour force with low or little skills, along with income and demand.
• Create a competitive manufacturing sector: Need to aggressively reduce both tariffs and non-tariff barriers on imports of inputs and intermediate products that will create a competitive manufacturing sector for Make in India, and “Assembly in India”.
• Ensure free flow of Investments: Attracting multinational enterprises and foreign investors in labour-intensive manufacturing will facilitate R&D, branding, exports, etc.
• Market reforms: By rationalizing punitive land acquisition clauses and rationalizing labour laws, both at the Centre and state level.
• Human capital development: Need for a large-scale vocational training from the secondary-school level, like China and other east and south-east Asian countries.

The COVID-triggered economic crisis can bean oppurtunity for India  if we  create a development model that brings  opportunities for the people at the bottom of the pyramid. A competitive and open economy can ensure Atmanirbhar Bharat

3^RD Stimulus package

Source- The Indian Express

Syllabus- GS 3- Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization, of resources, growth, development and employment.

Context- Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the next set of stimulus package to boost the coronavirus-hit economy.

What are the key highlights of 3^rd stimulus package?

Union Finance Minister on recently announced a third stimulus package to help pull the Covid-19-battered economy. The FM announced 12 measures under Atmanirbhar Bharat3.0 which includes-

1. Atmanirbhar Bharat Rozgar Yojana.
2. Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) 2.0.
3. Atmanirbhar Manufacturing Production-Linked Incentives for 10 champion sectors.
4. To boost demand in Real Estate sector, relief for home buyers and sellers.
5. Support for construction and Infrastructure- Relaxation of EMDs and Performance Security on government tenders.
6. Income tax relief for homebuyers and developers.
7. Infrastructure Debt Financing.
8. Support for Agriculture.
9. Boost for rural employment.
10. Boost for Project Exports.
11. Capital and Industrial Stimulus.
12. Research and Development grant for Covid-19 vaccine.

Previously announced package-

1. Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKP) – The government had announced Rs 1.70 lakh crore during March to protect the poor and vulnerable sections from the impact of COVID-19 crisis.
2. The Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan package– The stimulus of Rs 20.97 lakh crore in May, largely focused on supply-side measures and long-term reforms.

What are the key areas of focus of this fiscal package?

1. Incentivizing job creation-

• Boost formal sector employment-Providing incentives to EPFO-registered firms to hire more employees could lead to job creation. Formalization of the existing informal work force in urban areas.
• MGNREGA boost– Further additional outlay of Rs 10,000 crores will be provided for PM Garib Kalyan Rozgar Yojana in the current financial year.

2. To boost demand in Real estate sector –

• Rs 18,000 crores additional outlay for PM Awas Yojana (Urban) over the Budget Estimates for 2020-21. This is over and above Rs 8,000 core already this year.
• This will help 12 lakh houses to be grounded and 18 lakhs to be complemented.
• The scheme will also guarantee additional jobs to 78 lakhs.

3. To boost manufacturing production-

• Production Linked Incentives with proposed expenditure of ₹1.46 lakh crore over five years will be offered to ten stressed sectors to boost domestic manufacturing.
• And create an efficient domestic manufacturing ecosystem.

4. To Research and Development grant for Covid-19 vaccine-

• Rs 900 crores provided for Covid-19 Suraksha Mission for the development of the Indian vaccine to the Department of Biotechnology.

5. Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) 2.0-

• EECLG 2.0 for MSMEs, businesses, MUDRA borrowers and individuals (loans for business purposes), has been extended till March 31, 2021.
• Under this credit scheme, banks will be able to lend to stressed sectors from 26 sectors identified by the K.V. Kamath committee earlier this year.
• The new scheme will have a 1-year moratorium and 5 years of repayment.

Read also :- Current affairs

What are the challenges to India’s economic recovery according to RBI?

• The foremost risk stems from the global economy now at risk from the second wave of COVID-19.
• The Second major risk is the stress that has been intensifying among households and corporations

Way forward-

• Ensuring credit off-take of previously announced schemes amongst the poorest sections must be a priority.
• Forcing banks to lend to companies where assessing risk has become a challenge due to the pandemic puts banks at a bigger risk.

9 PM for Preliminary examination

Click on “Factly articles for November 12, 2020”

https://factly.forumias.com/factly-articles-for-november-13-2020/