9 PM Daily Current Affairs Brief – September 20th, 2022

Current Affairs Compilations for UPSC IAS Prelims 2022

Mains Oriented Articles

GS Paper 2

• Can Indian universities and colleges take up the task of producing workers for the knowledge society?
• Knowing the killer
• Market forces could play a role in India water security
• Supreme Court’s basic structure doctrine in a new context
• Non-alignment 2.0 has high a chances of success
• Why we need to build a framework for global digital governance
• The hijab case and the essential practices doctrine

GS Paper 3

• Dematerialisation: A digital revolution in Indian finance
• One Nation, One Grid: A problematic power equation

Prelims Oriented Articles (Factly)

• Explained | Will the future of the Commonwealth change?
• What are the ‘colour revolutions’ that China’s Xi Jinping has warned against?
• Indians prefer religious organisations, beggars for making donations: survey
• The controversy over NAAC’s system for assessing higher education
• What is the Sova virus? All you need to know about the new mobile banking virus
• Union Minister inaugurates the 9th Session of Governing Body of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture
• Oil Ministry seeks review of windfall tax, wants certain fields exempted
• India considers laying more petro pipelines for Nepal
• Scandinavian social democracy

Mains Oriented Articles

GS Paper 2

Can Indian universities and colleges take up the task of producing workers for the knowledge society?

News: The University Grants Commission has recently notified its guidelines for transforming Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) into autonomous institutions.

This will help to transform colleges to either multidisciplinary universities or degree-awarding autonomous institutions by 2035.

It is based on the objectives of the National Education Policy 2020.

However, this transformation will be not enough for improving the education in HEIs and there is more required.

What is the current situation of Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs) in India?

According to the Global employability surveys, less than 10 Indian institutions are in the top 500.

Another survey states that there are a large number of unemployable graduates.

What are the problems associated with Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs) in India?

Poor teaching methods that are not in line with the relevant skills required by students for employment.

Higher educational institutions in India are mostly state-funded. Thus, they do not suffer in terms of resources when they hire poor quality faculty or when the selected faculty does not upgrade their skills.

UGC has introduced multiple mechanisms such as grading systems, made financial grants dependent on grades obtained in order to improve the condition of educations in HEIs.

However, due to its non-binding nature, Universities are not prevented from free-riding on the success of other linked universities.

Why is ensuring accountability of HEIs utmost important now?

NEP emphasizes that higher educational institutions should become autonomous. But, there is no mechanism available that can ensure accountability.

However, quasi market accountability is present in the market in the form of competition through the Academic Bank of Credits program, Edtech companies, digital learning providers, employer schemes and industry bodies.

Now the monopoly of traditional institutions over content delivery and acting as quality signaling agencies, is on the decline.

This competition will make institutions accountable to learners for not delivering quality educations. Further, this accountability will make it difficult for universities to ask for funds from the government.

Also, formal institutions of learning blocks the free adaptation of learning due to institutional rigidities due to institutional rigidities.

What should be the course of action?

The mode of appointments of teachers in universities has to be re-examined so that universities recruit the best possible candidates. The mechanism should be made binding. If universities do not follow the guidelines, then proper action should be taken against them.

knowledge creation and upgradation must be made participatory. HEIs must adopt an “Open-Source strategy” where they can source expertise from different people or experts.

The UGC’s recent proposal of allowing educational institutions to hire experts as “Professors of Practice” is an attempt to rectify this problem.

The recruitment criteria set by HEIs can be made flexible which would allow lateral entries to those who have expertise in different fields.

The traditional methods of teaching can be taken out of the curriculum of the institutions and more recent methods should be introduced in its place.

Knowing the killer

News:  The article discusses the recent SC judgment on the capital punishment.

What has SC said regarding the judgments on death penalty?

The Supreme Court has laid down that the death penalty can be imposed only in the “rarest of rare” cases.

The nature of offence cannot be made the only criteria to decide the “rarest of rare” category. It should also include the person’s socio-economic background and his state of mind.

The latest order of a three-judge Bench has referred the issue to a Constitution Bench which will provide a meaningful opportunity to convicts.

What is the current situation on hearing of the death sentence?

Presently, the problem with the convict is that they are only allowed to speak about mitigating circumstances after conviction.

The prosecution takes advantage of it by describing the extent of the crime and the punishment required for it, at the initial stage.

What more has been said by the Court?

Same day sentencing is upheld by various judgments and SC also said in this regard that a meaningful opportunity has to be given to the convict to present mitigating factors.

Therefore, the Constitution Bench may come up with new guidelines. Under which the trial courts themselves can hold a comprehensive investigation into factors before deciding the punishment.

Market forces could play a role in India water security

News– The article explains the need for enhancing water use efficiency in India and the roadmap for achieving this target.

Why has the importance of water security increased?

According to a NITI Aayog report, 600 million Indians face extreme water stress.

Water demand for irrigation is expected to grow by 14% by 2025, for domestic needs and double for industrial use.

Water efficiency is low in India. A Global Water Intelligence study shows that water loss in India is almost at 50%.

What are the best practices for water use efficiency around the world?

Australia Water Efficiency Labeling and standard scheme– It reduces water consumption by promoting use of technologies and products that save water. Products are given a water efficiency rating.

Singapore Mandatory Water Efficiency Management Practices– Commercial entities are required to submit details of their water consumption and water efficiency plan to concerned government department. With this data, water efficiency benchmarks for different sectors are developed.

What should be the further course of action?

India’s star rating programme for energy efficient products has been a successful initiative.

A water rating system needs to be developed to measure water consumption by individuals.

Demand at individual level needs to be monitored. We need to fast-track the installation of water meters.

Customers need to pay for water consumption. Prices need to be higher in water-stressed areas to incentivize the saving of water.

There is a need to generate political will for introducing market methods of demand and supply.

The proposed National Bureau of Water Use Efficiency needs to be established.

A multi-year coordinated effort between government, customers, and businesses is required.

Supreme Court’s basic structure doctrine in a new context

News– The article explains the evolution of basic structure doctrine. It also provides insights into evolution of judicial viewpoint about constitutional amendments.

What are the constitutional provisions related to amendment in the constitution?

The courts can invalidate any executive order or legislative amendment if it violates the fundamental rights. But the constitution is silent on the court’s power to decide about the validity of any constitutional amendment.

What are the major judicial decisions related to amending the power of Parliament?

Shankari parsad vs Union of India– SC denied any limitation on amending power of Parliament.

Sajjan Singh vs State of Rajasthan-SC again denied any limitation.

Kesavananda Bharati case-Parliament can amend each and every article. But it is subjected to the basic structure of the constitution.

The Supreme Court was criticized for exceeding its authority as constitutional adjudicator.

Allahabad High Court (1975)– It invalidated the election of Indira Gandhi from her constituency. She had to resign from the PM post.

39th constitutional amendment (1975)– It provided that no election law made by Parliament would apply to the election of a person appointed as Prime Minister.

Indira Gandhi vs Raj Narain (1975)- It upheld the decision of Allahabad High Court. The court stated that free and fair elections were part of the basic structure.

I.R. Coelho case– Supreme Court upheld the kesavananda Bharati judgement. It gave permanent constitutional validity to basic structure doctrine.

Why has it survived?

The basic structure theory was the response of the court to the experience of the working of India’s Constitution during its first 25 years.

It has come to stay more because of political compulsions. Initially for a long period, no single political party in India had secured a two-thirds representation in Parliament.

Non-alignment 2.0 has high a chances of success

News– The article explains India foreign policy of non-alignment. It also explains India principle stand at SCO summit in Samarkand and lessons from our position at Samarkand

How India foreign policy of non-alignment was perceived by other countries?

Western powers looked at India’s policy of non-alignment with suspicion. The reason was that our economy was closed and Russia was the main supplier of arms.

On the other hand, Russia did not have any issue with our position of neutrality in world affairs.

Our tilt towards Russia was India’s way to protect our strategic autonomy in world affairs. It helped India to protect its national interest.

What was our stand during the SCO summit?

During the SCO summit in Samarkand, Our PM advised Putin that, “today’s era is not an era of war.

It was an articulation of the long-held policy of India’s principled stand in world affairs.

The Western world appreciated our position. But it was not rebuke to Russia.

What are the lessons from the SCO summit?

India should take a cue from its stand at SCO. It should be used by our diplomats at various international forums for consolidating global conviction in India neutrality. Recently India been accused of supporting autocratic regimes by western powers.

Non-alignment as the guiding principle of our foreign policy should be guided by proper sense of what is good for the world. It favours not only India but other countries also.

What are the impacts of western sanctions on Russia?

It has raised energy costs and inflated other prices.

The EU is finding ways to decrease its dependence on Russian gas.

Russia needs external buyers for its crude oil to reduce volatility in oil prices.

India as a bulk buyer due to its foreign policy of non-alignment can purchase Russian oil. But it is a very difficult choice for India.

Why we need to build a framework for global digital governance

News– The article explains the need for global cooperation in the field of digital governance.

What is the global example of regulation of internet companies?

The European Union passed General Data Protection Regulation to protect the privacy of individuals. It has also enacted Digital Services and Digital Market Acts.

In the UK, the Digital Regulation Cooperation Forum promotes cooperation between different regulatory authorities like financial, telecom and competition regulators.

Why is there a need for regulation of digital economy?

The big digital platforms have become pervasive. It is not easy to find a digital replacement for them.

Digital platforms have now become our gateway to the internet. They are now seen as infrastructure.

What is the scope for global minimum digital governance framework?

Digital platform economy is global. Complete convergence of the regulatory system is not possible. But we can have some kind of deal.

Under the G20, the International Labour Organisation has already placed a proposal in the employment working group for digital labour platforms to develop an international governance system determining minimum rights and protections for platform workers.

In area of digital taxation, the OECD facilitated Base Erosion and Profit Shifting have arrived at a global solution.

Bretton wood institutions are being proposed as platforms to regulate digital money at an international level.

Another area of potential cooperation is enforcement of anti-trust provisions that prevent monopoly. Countries are moving from traditional methods of enforcement.

How will it be useful?

A common minimum digital governance framework can become a win-win situation for both governments as well as internet companies.

It will help in striking a balance between reining in Big Tech versus boosting their digital economy. Companies are also burdened with regulatory requirements of the different countries they operate in. It will ease their regulatory burden.

The hijab case and the essential practices doctrine

News: The Supreme Court of India is presently hearing arguments on the correctness of a Karnataka High Court judgment that upheld the ban on the use of the hijab by students in Karnataka.

What are the decisions of the Karnataka High Court on the Hijab ban?

The Karnataka High Court made three primary findings in its judgment.

1) The use of a hijab is not essential to the practice of Islam. Thus, the right to freedom of religion was not violated, 2) There exists no substantive right to freedom of expression or privacy inside a classroom. This is because the court believed classrooms are “qualified public spaces” where individual rights must give way to the interests of “general discipline and decorum”, 3) The ban did not come directly out of the government’s order(GO). The GO only called for a uniform dress code to be prescribed by the State or school management committees. Hence, the law did not discriminate, either directly or indirectly, against Muslim students.

What are the questions before SC on the hijab ban?

a) Whether Muslim women have been discriminated against the ban or not, b) Whether the right to freedom of expression exists within the educational institution or not. If the court confirms that freedom of expression exists within the educational institution then the onus shifts to the State to show that the ban is proportionate and legitimate.

A reversal of any of the three findings made by the High Court ought to result in a nullification of the ban.

Can the state intervene in matters connected to religion?

B.R. Ambedkar in the Constituent Assembly said, “The religious conceptions in this country are so vast that they cover every aspect of life….. It is not necessary that… laws relating to tenancy or laws relating to succession, should be governed by religion.” In short, he said that the state should be allowed to intervene in matters that are connected to religion but are not intrinsically religious.

In a series of cases, the Court determined whether a practice which was religious in nature was also “essential” to that religion. At present, the state also lawfully interferes in the interests of social welfare and reform and courts provide constitutional protection to such laws and regulations.

What are the outcomes of the court’s interference in religion?

Over time the Court narrowed the extent of safeguards available to religious customs by directly encroaching on the autonomy of religious groups. This is considered as a violation of the right to ethical independence.

Sometimes, the court restricts social justice legislations of government as they are encroachment on religion. For example, in 1962, the Court struck down a Bombay law that prohibited excommunications made by the Dai of the Dawoodi Bohra community

For now, any Court hearing a matter touching upon a matter of faith has the task of acting not merely as an expert on law but also as an expert on religion.

GS Paper 3

Dematerialisation: A digital revolution in Indian finance

News:  The number of dematerialized accounts in India recently crossed 100 million. There is a need to look at the evolution of the system.

History of Dematerialization

1993: The foreign institutional investor (FII) started increasing. However, the system of physical shares resulted in the harassment of domestic investors by bad deliveries and fake certificates.

Due to these issues the Stock Holding Corporation of India proposed for building a depository by immobilising share certificates.

Later NSE proposed to eliminate the physical share certificates with dematerialisation which was about one-sixth the cost of the physical certificates.

This type of depository was first introduced within NSE and it was named as National Securities Depository Ltd (NSDL).

1995: The digital depository required legal reforms which were brought by the Depositories Ordinance in September 1995. The word demat was first introduced in this ordinance.

Later, other reforms were also brought to solve various other issues associated with stocks of the companies, stamp duty, securities, income tax, etc.

What were the transformations brought by the Indian government?

According to the Stamp Act, the revenues from the duty levied on securities are assigned to states.

The stamp duty rates for select instruments are to be decided by the Government of India (GoI) and the balance instruments by states.

Different states have their own stamp duty legislation because of the subject mentioned in the Concurrent List.

This led to differential rate structures on the same instruments across states which required uniformity.

This problem of uniformity of rates was solved in 2019 by amending Ordinance Act of 1995.

How the institutional set-up of securities markets changed in India?

The transformation of the Indian securities markets was led by setting up new institutions.

National Stock Exchange (NSE), National Securities Clearing Corporation (NSCC) and then National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL) came up in the securities market of India.

National Securities Depository Limited is an Indian central securities depository, based in Mumbai. It was established in August 1996 as the first electronic securities depository in India with national coverage.

Moreover, the government has expected the problems of monopoly of a single depository (NSDL).

Therefore, BSE build a competitor to NSDL which was called the Central Depository Services Ltd (CDSL). Today, CDSL has more accounts than NSDL.

These institutions proved to be beneficial for India in many ways.

What were the benefits of these institutions?

These institutions have helped in cutting operational prices with the increase in output volumes.

NSDL helped in designing of the New Pension System.

A Central Recordkeeping Agency was created that stored facts about each pension system participant for decades and supported frictionless transfers from one pension fund manager to another.

NSDL was also the institutional foundation for building the Tax Information Network for the income tax system.

NSDL and CSDL also have various other benefits also such as it can easily store government bonds and securities for issuers (either private or governments) overseas.

One Nation, One Grid: A problematic power equation

News: The concept of “One Nation, One Grid, One Frequency, One Price” was announced in October 2021. The policy is based on the market-based economic dispatch, or MBED, mechanism. There are many issues associated with this mechanism.

It is part of the National Electricity Policy of 2021 which proposes to double the penetration of short-term power markets by 2023-24.

The intention of this policy is to reduce the price of power to the consumer but the procedure by which this goal will be achieved appears problematic.

What is the Market-Based Economic Dispatch (MBED) mechanism?

The centralized policy is based on the market-based economic dispatch or MBED mechanism.

Under this mechanism the power ministry is planning to set up a central scheduling and pooling system.

What will be the benefit of MBED mechanism?

First, this system will allocate power at a favorable price by prioritizing the least-cost and most efficient generators and removing more expensive ones.

Second, this system will reduce consumers’ power-purchase cost initially by 5 per cent and will help in the distribution of cheap power across the country.

Third, this system will also replace the existing decentralised and voluntary system which operates through a network of load dispatch centres.

Fourth, it will lead to a “uniform clearing price”. Sellers and buyers will be able to bid for the day ahead of the market leading to market clearing price. This in turn will help to generate savings for consumers.

However, there are many problems associated with this centralized MBED mechanism.

What are the problems associated with MBED?

First, generators use their capacity under long-term power-purchase agreements (PPAs) up to 25 years with state distribution companies (discoms) at negotiated prices.

Therefore, it is unclear how MBED will work in these long-term PPAs in its “lowest-cost” pricing.

Second, the inclination of states to offer power to politically sensitive groups below actual cost will impose burden on discoms.

This has already made the financial conditions of discoms bad and their dues on states stand at Rs 1.3 trillion.

As per a recent study by the RBI, a bailout of discoms in 18 large states is likely to impose a burden equivalent to around 2.3 per cent of the GSDP of these states.

Central schemes have been unsuccessful in addressing the problems of discom.

Third, MBED can create constitutional problems.

Power lies in the concurrent list of the Constitution and centralising pricing and supply decisions can take away the autonomy of states.

Prelims Oriented Articles (Factly)

Explained | Will the future of the Commonwealth change?

Source: The post is based on the article “Explained | Will the future of the Commonwealth change?” published in The Hindu on 20th September 2022.

What is the News?

The death of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom marks not only the end of an era for the British monarchy but also a turning point for the 14 Commonwealth realms of which she was the Head of State.

What is the Commonwealth?

The Commonwealth of Nations is a group of 56 member countries, the vast majority of which are former British colonies. It was established by the London Declaration in 1949.

The member countries are mostly from Africa, Asia, the Americas, and the Pacific. Three European nations are part of the Commonwealth: Cyprus, Malta and UK.

The developed nations of the Commonwealth are Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. India is also part of the Commonwealth.

Republics and Realms: The Commonwealth consists of both republics and realms. The British monarch is the Head of State for the realms whereas the republics are ruled by elected governments except in the case of five countries — Brunei Darussalam, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malaysia and Tonga — each a self-governed monarchy. 

What is the relevance of the Commonwealth in today’s world?

Although the Commonwealth may seem like an outdated forum after the death of the queen, yet it retains a suitable relevance which has sustained it over time even after the decolonization of the British Empire.

In this regard, Queen Elizabeth played a critical role in championing the organization and maintaining the group’s relevance.

Has any country left the commonwealth?

In the 1970s, a host of countries chose to leave the Commonwealth realm including Dominica, Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago, effectively removing the Queen as their head of state. 

In 2021, Barbados left the realm arguing that the time has come fully to leave our colonial past behind.

Which countries are moving towards ending formal ties with monarchs?

Australia, New Zealand, and the Bahamas are likely to remove King Charles from the role of official Head of State and become republics.

Governments in five other Caribbean nations — Antigua and Barbuda, Belize, Grenada, Jamaica and Saint Kitts and Nevis — have signalled their intention to act similarly.

Thus, it is not beyond imagination that following the death of Queen Elizabeth, the Commonwealth realms might fade into being a relic of the past, and nations that suffered a history of colonialism — along with its attendant violence and resource extraction — will move forward to establish themselves as republics.

What are the ‘colour revolutions’ that China’s Xi Jinping has warned against?

Source: The post is based on the article “What are the ‘colour revolutions’ that China’s Xi Jinping has warned against?” published in Indian Express on 20th September 2022.

What is the News?

The Chinese President has appealed to Russia, India and other members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization(SCO) to cooperate with each other in order to prevent foreign powers from destabilizing their countries by inciting “colour revolutions”.

What are Colour Revolutions?

​​Colour revolutions refer to a series of uprisings that first began in former communist nations in Eastern Europe in the early 2000s but are also used in reference to popular movements in the Middle East and Asia.

Most have involved large-scale mobilization on the streets, with demands for free elections or regime change, and calls for the removal of authoritarian leaders.

What are some of the colour revolutions in the recent past?

Orange Revolution: It refers to a series of protests that occurred in Ukraine between 2004 and 2005. The movement was in response to reports from international and domestic observers that the Presidential election was rigged.

Tulip Revolution: It is also called the First Kyrgyz Revolution, the movement led to the ouster of Kyrgyzstan’s President Askar Akayev in early 2005.

Jasmine Revolution: The popular uprising that occurred between 2010 to 2011 in Tunisia was in response to the underlying corruption, unemployment, inflation and lack of political freedoms in the country.

Indians prefer religious organisations, beggars for making donations: survey

Source: The post is based on the article “Indians prefer religious organisations, beggars for making donations: survey” published in Indian Express on 20th September 2022.

What is the News?

Centre for Social Impact and Philanthropy (CSIP),Ashoka University has released a  report titled “How India Gives 2020-21’.

What are the key findings of the report?

Indians donated Rs 23,700 crore in cash between October 2020 and September 2021.

Due to religious belief and “family tradition’’, Indians give mostly to religious organizations — constituting 70% of the market share.

Of the donations to ‘non-religious organizations’, 51% were received by NGOs, trusts, foundations, and schools; followed by PM CARES, CM CARES and UNICEF.

The highest number of donations were made by the middle-class and the lower-income households.

Urban India donates more in quantum than the country’s rural areas, which account for a higher number of donations.

While men and women have equal say in donations, males tend to donate to religious organisations and family and friends. Women tend to donate to beggars and the household staff.

Among regions – eastern India has reported the highest incidence of donation at 96% followed by northern India at 94%.

Significance of this study: The findings of this study will form the baseline as the survey will continue on a year-to-year basis to understand the trends of donations in the country.

The controversy over NAAC’s system for assessing higher education

Source: The post is based on the article “The controversy over NAAC’s system for assessing higher education” published in Indian Express on 20th September 2022.

What is the News?

National Assessment and Accreditation Council(NAAC) has withheld the results of the rating process for Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda based on allegations that the University unduly tried to influence members of the peer review team that visited the university with gold, cash and other favours.

What is NAAC?

NAAC is an autonomous body under the University Grants Commission (UGC).

It assesses and certifies Higher Education Institutions(HEIs) with gradings as part of accreditation.

The ratings of institutions range from A++ to C. If an institution is graded D, it means it is not accredited.

Can all higher educational institutes apply for accreditation?

Under the rules, only higher education institutions that are at least six years old, or from where at least two batches of students have graduated, can apply. 

The accreditation is valid for five years. Aspiring institutes need to be recognised by the UGC and have regular students enrolled in their full-time teaching and research programmes. 

How is the accreditation process carried out?

The current accreditation approach has been described as “input-based”. In other words, NAAC relies heavily on self-assessment reports of applicant institutions.

The first step has an applicant institution submitting a self-study report of information related to quantitative and qualitative metrics. The data is then validated by NAAC expert teams followed by peer team visits to the institutions.

What are the alternative accreditation approaches being explored by NAAC?

From the prevailing “input-based” approach, the NAAC plans to adopt an “outcome-based approach”. 

This is because the current system is akin to accepting the claim of a PhD candidate that his thesis is of high quality.

On the other hand, in the outcome-based approach, NAAC can ask institutions to provide evidence such as samples of learning materials, continuous assessment tasks and final examinations to show they have outcomes of learning specified in the syllabus.

What is the Sova virus? All you need to know about the new mobile banking virus

Source: The post is based on the article “What is the Sova virus? All you need to know about the new mobile banking virus” published in Livemint on 19th September 2022.

What is the News?

Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT–IN) has given advisory on SOVA virus – a novel mobile banking “Trojan” virus that is currently targeting Indian customers.

What is SOVA?

SOVA is a new mobile banking ‘Trojan’ virus.

Note: Trojan is a file, program, or piece of code that appears to be legitimate and safe but is actually malware. Malware is software intentionally designed to cause disruption to gain unauthorized access to information or systems.

How is SOVA targeting users?

SOVA malware hides itself within fake Android applications that show up with the logo of a few famous legitimate apps like Chrome, Amazon, NFT (non-fungible token linked to cryptocurrency) platform to deceive users into installing them.

– Once the fake android application is installed on the phone, it sends the list of all applications installed on the device to the C2 (command and control server) controlled by the threat actor in order to obtain the list of targeted applications.

What information can SOVA collect?

SOVA can collect keystrokes, steal cookies, intercept multi-factor authentication (MFA) tokens, take screenshots and record video from a webcam and can perform gestures like screen click, swipe using the android accessibility service. It also has the capability to encrypt all data on an Android phone and hold it to ransom.

Can this application be deleted from the phone?

SOVA protects itself from different victim actions For example, if the user tries to uninstall the malware from the settings or pressing the icon, SOVA is able to intercept these actions and prevent them by returning to the home screen and showing a toast (small popup) displaying “This app is secured”.

Union Minister inaugurates the 9th Session of Governing Body of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture

Source: The post is based on the article “Union Minister inaugurates the 9th Session of Governing Body of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture” published in PIB on 19th September 2022.

What is the News?

The Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare has inaugurated the Ninth Session of the Governing Body of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA) in New Delhi.

What is the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA)?

Click Here to read

Note: This is a legally binding treaty.

About Ninth Session of the Governing Body of ITPGRFA

Hosted by: New Delhi

Theme: “Celebrating the Guardians of Crop Diversity: Towards an Inclusive Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework”. 

– The theme aims to highlight the contribution of the world’s small farmers to the effective management of PGRFA and provide an opportunity to consider how the treaty and its community can contribute to the new global biodiversity architecture.

The major issues to be deliberated during the meeting comprise (i) Amendment of the Treaty to expand the list of crops in the multilateral system; (ii)  Capacity-development strategy for the Treaty; (iii) Funding strategy, resource mobilization and the budget; (iv) Conservation and sustainable use of PGRFA and agriculture among others.

What are the key highlights from the minister’s address at the session?

No negotiation is possible at the cost of food security. All international forums must not forget that food is an essential fundamental right.

Article 9 of ITPGFRA specially deals with farmers’ rights and India is fully compliant with it and relevant provisions are enshrined in The Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights (PPV&FR) Act, 2001.

Oil Ministry seeks review of windfall tax, wants certain fields exempted

Source: The post is based on the article “Oil Ministry seeks review of windfall tax, wants certain fields exempted” published in The Hindu on 20th September 2022.

What is the News?

The Oil Ministry has sought a review of the Windfall Profit tax on domestically-produced crude oil saying it goes against the principle of fiscal stability provided in contracts for finding and producing oil.

What is the Windfall Tax?

Click Here to read

Why has the Oil Ministry sought a review of the Windfall Tax imposed on oil companies?

The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas has sought an exemption from the Windfall Tax for fields or blocks – which were bid out to companies under the Production Sharing Contract(PSC) and the Revenue Sharing Contract(RSC).

This is because these contracts already have an in-built mechanism to factor in high prices as incremental gains get transferred in the form of higher profit share for the government.

Hence, levying Windfall Tax on these companies results in a situation where the operator ends up paying much more than the windfall gain itself.

India considers laying more petro pipelines for Nepal

Source: The post is based on the article “India considers laying more petro pipelines for Nepal” published in Livemint on 20th September 2022.

What is the News?

India is considering setting up more pipelines for transporting refined petroleum products such as diesel to Nepal.

Dependence of Nepal on India for petroleum products

Nepal is significantly dependent on India for petroleum products.

During the first eleven months of the Nepali financial year 2021-22, Nepal imported petroleum products worth Nepali rupee 292.77 billion which was 88.7% more than the imported amount of fossil fuels during the previous financial year.

What is the current petroleum pipeline between India and Nepal?

A 69-km-long petroleum pipeline between Motihari in Bihar and Amlekhgunj in Nepal’s Bara district constructed with India’s assistance is already in operation.

It was inaugurated in 2019 and is being used for supplying diesel from Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) to Nepal Oil Corporation.

What are the future petroleum pipelines between India and Nepal?

Nepal has sought India’s technical support and grant assistance to construct two more petroleum pipeline projects under a government-to-government agreement.

One is for the construction of a 52 km pipeline from Siliguri in West Bengal to Jhapa in Nepal and another 69 km pipeline connecting Amlekhgunj to Lothar in Chitawan district both within Nepal as an extension of the Motihari-Amlekhgunj pipeline.

Once completed, these pipelines will supply fuel for aircraft and other petroleum products to Nepal, substantially reducing fuel transport costs.

Scandinavian social democracy

Source: The post is based on the article “Scandinavian social democracy” published in The Hindu on 20th September 2022.

What is the News?

The Nordic model of social democracy offers lessons to the developing world including countries like India despite the myriad complexities of diversities.

What is the Nordic Model?

The Nordic model, also known as the Scandinavian model, is the combination of social welfare and economic systems adopted by Nordic countries (Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, and Iceland). 

It combines features of capitalism, such as a market economy with social benefits, such as state pensions and income distribution. 

Advantages of the Nordic model: The Nordic model yields equality and social mobility. Everyone has free access to decent public services including some of the best education and healthcare in the world, and people appear happy to pay their taxes to make sure that this continues.

– These collective benefits are merged with entrepreneurship, creating an efficient blend of capitalism and socialism—or “cuddly capitalism,” as some like to call it.

Criticism of Nordic Model: Opponents of the Nordic model criticize the high taxes, high degree of government intervention, and relatively low gross domestic product (GDP) and productivity, noting that these all limit economic growth. 

– They point out that the Nordic model redistributes assets, limits the amount of money available for personal spending and consumption, and encourages reliance on government-subsidized programs.

Challenges faced by Nordic Model: The Nordic model faces some notable pressures on its sustainability. Two of the largest concerns:

– Ageing Population: In terms of an ageing population, a large base of young taxpayers and a smaller population of older residents receiving services are the ideal scenarios. As the population balance shifts the other way, benefit reductions are a likely outcome.

– Influx of Immigrants: These countries attract a notable influx of newcomers seeking to enjoy generous public benefits. These new arrivals can present a significant burden to the system and could ultimately, result in its demise.