A brief of newspaper articles for the day bearing
relevance to Civil Services preparation
National
[1]. Gadgil takes green crusade to Wikipedia
What has happened?
Successive state and central governments have dumped Gadgil’s report on Western Ghats called the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP) report.
Now he is taking his green campaign to Wikipedia.
Prof Gadgil was honoured with the prestigious 2015 Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement in March for authoring the landmark report on the preservation of the unique ecosystem of the Western Ghats and the inclusion of local committees.
His Wikipedia articles will be crowd sourced and people contributing to it freely.
Why Wikipedia?
Lack of advertisements on the site and most importantly, out of government control.
What will be covered?
a) Issues like illegal sand and stone mining, deforestation
b) Uploading extensive information about several villages, their social parameters, and the problems the villagers face.
c) Credible references from a variety of sources, including newspapers and research articles, would constitute the ‘base’ article to which citizens could contribute their own observations
Inspired from:-
In western countries promises made by political candidates have been juxtaposed with the actuals delivered in the public domain.
What has been done till now?
Information on villages affected by the pollution of the Panchaganga and its tributaries hae been uploaded.
About two other villages: Parite and Haldi. The base article on Haldi has information about its sewage being flown into the river, which leads to gastric diseases.
Tyler prize:-
Awarded to recognize those individuals who have contributed in an outstanding manner to the scientific knowledge and public leadership to preserve and enhance the environment of the world.
Recommendations of Gadgil report:-
The entire Western Ghats is considered an Ecologically Sensitive Area (ESA) and, assigned three levels of Ecological Sensitivity to different regions of it. These are termed as Ecologically Sensitive Zone 1 (ESZ1), Ecologically Sensitive Zone 2 (ESZ2) and Ecologically Sensitive Zone 3 (ESZ3).
It advocates a graded or layered approach, with regulatory as well as promotional measures appropriately fine-tuned to local ecological and social contexts
No new dams based on large scale storage will be permitted in Ecologically Sensitive Zone 1
Phasing out of mining in Ecologically Sensitive Zone 1 by 2016 and continuation of existing mining in Ecologically Sensitive Zone 2 under strict regulation with an effective system of social audit.
The fundamental error of the Gadgil report emanates from the very trend of environmentalism ‘negating human livelihood to conserve environment.
International
[2]. Sri Lanka eager to share ‘Make in India’ avenues
What has happened?
Sri Lanka is eager to share the opportunities created by major government plans such as Make in India and Digital India.
Make in India will create a chain of production and major research and development opportunities, some of which can be shared by Sri Lanka as we have the required manpower and infrastructure in place
Push for conclusion of ETCA:-
Economic and Technological Cooperation Agreement, which is more focused on increasing the Sri Lankan share in Indian opportunities.
Negotiation for CEPA:-
Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement
CEPA is being criticised as an Indian attempt to flood Sri Lankan markets with Indian products. But a middle way in this negotiation to be found without compromising on Sri Lankan economic strengths
Bridge over the Palk Strait:-
Campaign for the bridge connecting Thalaimannar in Sri Lanka and Rameswaram in India is perceived as another attempt to open up Sri Lankan market to India and has drawn criticism.
Economic Digest
[1]. Government to respond to WTO’s ‘Nairobi package’ in Parliament/India eclipsed at WTO ministerial/Nairobi setback
What has happened?
Trade experts and NGOs have also said the ‘Nairobi package’ has “effectively killed” the fundamental objective of the WTO’s Doha Round negotiations, which was to improve the trading prospects of the developing and the poor world, or in other words a development agenda.
Disappointments:-
a) The Nairobi Ministerial Declaration reflects the surrender to insistent US proposals to set aside key Doha issue and to open the door to issues that favour its own commercial interests.
b) The developing and the poor world wanted the Doha Round to continue till all outstanding issues, including on protection of poor farmers and food sovereignty, are resolved.
c) But the rich countries wanted the Round to end and had sought the introduction of new issues that are of their interests, including e-commerce, global value chains, competition laws, labour, environment and investments.
Achievements:-
Six ministerial-level decisions on agriculture, cotton and other issues, including
a) A commitment to abolish export subsidies for farm exports
b) Public stockholding for food security purposes
c) A special safeguard mechanism for developing countries
d) Measures related to cotton and preferential treatment for least developed countries in the area of services.
India’s Issues:-
India demanded for SSM, permanent solution for public stockholding programmes for food security and the reaffirmation to continue the DDA negotiations.
The ministerial decision on SSM for developing countries recognises that they will have the right to temporarily increase tariffs in the face of import surges while committing members to engage constructively in finding a permanent solution on public stockholding for food security
[2]. Will Fed lift off lead to emerging markets crash?
What has happened?
Fed has increased its interest rate by 25 basis points. Three more rate increases of 25 basis points each are expected during 2016.
It can be called as normalisation rather than tightening.
Apart from US and Bank of England all other major economies of the world are either reducing their interest rates or remaining neutral.
Similar situation in 1995:-
Debt securities prices fell significantly
Under intense pressure and the ensuing volatility continued into the early months of 1996.
The decline of the rupee also engendered substitution of foreign credit by domestic credit, which put pressure on domestic liquidity and interest rate.
Impact now:-
Vulnerability of the rupee will increase.
Unlike in 1994, when the real exchange rate appreciation of the rupee was under check because of the U.S. dollar’s relative stability against other major currencies, the situation now entails a real appreciation of the rupee.
Emerging market corporate debt has doubled since 2008 and it is close to 105 per cent of aggregate GDP.
The debts in foreign currencies, especially those denominated in U.S. dollar will now become more expensive to service as also to refinance.
With interest rate rising in U.S. and dollar appreciating, the decrease of risk appetite will mean lower prices of stocks and bonds in emerging market economies, including India.
Apart from causing vulnerability to balance of payments, higher cost of servicing external borrowing will lead to still higher NPA of banks.
The end of a prolonged era of easy money in the U.S. will likely bring to the fore pre-existing vulnerabilities.
[3]. Crop insurance or deficiency payments?
Context:-
In the light of the proposed agriculture insurance schemes, the article discusses the Demerits of deficiency payment system which can be seen as an alternative to crop insurance.
States like Punjab and Maharashtra are already attempting deficiency payments in some crops that have a minimum support price (MSP) provision.
Issues associated with Deficiency payment system:-
Landlessness:-
In some states landlessness is as high as 70%. This shows that farmers are not the major population in rural areas anymore.
A lot of them are dependent upon casual labour to earn a livelihood.
In this case asking for minimum income insurance for only farmers is just lobbying for a dominant rural group.
Increased public spending-
If landless labours are also included under such schemes it is debatable whether the country can afford such income insurance when even MGNREGA was being targeted for wastage of money.
Skewed agriculture productivity:-
Once a farmer is assured of a minimum income, he need not work hard.
As any deficiency in income arising out of below average yields and below average or minimum prices will be met by the state.
International pressures:-
When India has been opposing the domestic support subsidies in developed countries and is herself under constant attack for crossing the mandated Aggregate Measure of Support (AMS) levels, how can it go for deficiency payments?
Sharecroppers will be left out:-
These real farmers (sharecroppers or leasees) will not get the income insurance.
This will lead to further raising income inequalities.
Use of APMC for deficiency payments:-
After amended APMC act farmers in India are undertaking contract farming or selling to food supermarkets and other buyers directly without contract.
So it’s a complete lie that a farmer cannot sell outside APMC markets.
To avail of the benefit under the deficiency direct payment system a farmer will have to submit a copy of the APMC receipt as proof of selling below MSP, his land records, and estimated yield of his farm as a record.
In this case where will the farmer register his produce for minimum income support when some states have shut APMC markets?
Allied activities are excluded:-
The scheme does not seem to include allied occupations like dairying, fisheries, non-timber forest produce or poultry as that produce does not come to the APMC market.
But they face price and market risk like any other crop farmer .
Less state intervention:-
It makes the state give up its responsibility of intervening in markets by undertaking procurement at MSP
By doing so it sends signals to other buyers and creates competitive conditions for farmer benefit.
Once the MSP is not backed by procurement, it would leave the market to the private players who may not even buy at MSP.
Way forward:-
- It is better to have multiple mechanisms of agricultural risk management, some of which are already available like
- MSP (backed by more effective procurement across most MSP crops),
- Market Intervention Scheme (MIS) in states like Karnataka and Himachal Pradesh, for crops that have no MSP
- Contract farming
- Warehouse receipts system
- Better implemented crop insurance with some state subsidy for commercial crops that matter for farmer livelihood
- Help achieve desired diversification in cropping pattern.
[4]. Don’t give up on fiscal consolidation/ Re-look deficit-CPI target
The first article argues for fiscal consolidation and the latter argues for relaxation in Fiscal deficit targets
Context:-
The mid-year economic review, released by the finance ministry last week, argued in favour of relaxing the fiscal deficit target in order to address demand issues in the economy.
The review suggested that
- Medium-term fiscal framework should be reconsidered.
- And the need to redefine monetary policy objectives, to meet inflation objectives.
Why Fiscal consolidation is need of the hour?
Any deviation from the fiscal consolidation path will affect the credibility of the government and will raise questions about its ability to reach the desired goal of consolidation.
This government has already pushed the target for bringing down the fiscal deficit to 3% of the GDP by a year. Further delay can dent financial market confidence in a significant way.
If monetary policy is it will only induce uncertainty and complicate matters both for the financial markets and the real economy.
Way forward:-
Nurture the economic recovery through structural reforms,
Remove supply side barriers as it will help economic activity and boost revenues.
Reviving the disinvestment programme can provide a steady inflow for capital expenditure.
Article 1 Conclusion:-
The very idea of reconsidering the fiscal consolidation roadmap should immediately be taken off the table as it could potentially backfire by hurting market confidence.
It is important for policymakers to not shift focus from long-term objectives for short-term gains.
Article 2:-
Increase public investment:-
It is said that two of the engines fueling the economy in the past—exports and private investment—are not available in the short run.
And the onus has to fall on private consumption and public investment which is vulnerable to some serious downsizing if commitments to fiscal discipline are to be kept.
Since there is little capital expenditure likely from the private sector for at least another year or two, it is important the government keep up the pace of investments
Fresh public investment would create jobs and put more money in people’s pockets, required to keep private consumption levels up.
Rethinking monetary policy:-
The government and the private sector are in danger of getting caught in a debt trap as long as interest rates are higher than nominal growth rates.
Asking RBI to relax its CPI targets is one option, but what is more important is cutting interest rates on small-savings schemes so that banks can lower interest rates on deposits and transmission will be faster.
[5]. Banks to Raise Provisioning for Another Bank’s NPAs
What has happened?
The below idea has been proposed to curtail NPA menace in banks.
If a company’s account in one bank is classified as NPA then his account in other banks will be treated as NPA even if he is not defaulting his payments in other banks.
It is based on the fact that the borrower is either facing problems or promoters have misused the money because of which he is defaulting payments in one bank.
Now, if the cash flow problem persists, it’s a matter of time it would default to other banks as well.
How does it affect banks?
For every NPA the banks have to set aside a percentage of the loan from their profits this is called Loan provisioning. This will hurt bank’s earnings as now they have to provision for NPA’s of other banks too.
But such a mechanism can provide cushioning against future defaults.
Opinions & Editorials
[1]. Big Question for our generation
1st question: in order to promote education and sanitation, Haryana panchayati raj amendment act 2015 has made it mandatory for candidates who want to stand for election to be both literate (class 10 for general, class 8 for dalit and class 5 for women) and have toilet in their homes. This was upheld by supreme court.
Is this amendment justified as the constituent assembly after extensive debate finally decided to give Indians the right to vote and stand for election without any restriction.
2nd question: is the removal “no detention policy” being contemplated and implemented in some states justified? This policy has improved GER (gross enrollment ratio) tremendously and is a great remedy to the problem of dropouts. But many feel that this policy has prompted poor learning outcomes and low standards. This is because CCE i.e. continuous and comprehensive evaluation which is a part of no detention policy has not be carried out sincerely.
3rd question: is lowering of juvenile age from 18 to 16 years under juvenile justice(care and protection of children)bill,2015 justified? This will hit the marginalized section the hardest while also putting young boys in consensual relationships at risk. Besides, rehabilitative juvenile justice have been found to lower re-arrest than adult justice system.
4th question: children under the age of 14 are currently banned from working in “hazardous industries”. is it justified to reduce the number of industries considered hazardous from 83 to 3 and to allow children to work in their own family businesses of zari, bangle n carpet making, etc.? The govt argues such amendments are being made to allow children to learn traditional crafts after school hours. This might lead to children dropping out of schools to work full time for enterprises under the garb of “family business”. Instead of eliminating child labour this will provide perfect condition for child labour as well as juvenile crimes.
[2]. Cure the doctor
What has happened: the Lancet published a paper this month with the objective of transforming India’s healthcare system to achieve the govt’s vision of health for all. It found that India’s healthcare delivery system is so expensive that it is driving millions of Indians into poverty.
Causes:
- Corruption in admission to both pvt n public medical colleges
- Nexus of doctors and pharmaceutical companies
- Lack of regulation of Medical Council of India
- Over commercialisation of healthcare
- Kickbacks in cash or kind for prescriptions or referrals
Remedy:
- Training to medical students to prepare them to work in primary care in villages n towns
- Rejuvenate and re-engineer Medical council of india
- Make costs of care transparent in the spirit of RTI
- Jan Swasthya Abhiyan recommends all kickbacks and commissions be deemed illegal
[3]. Art of a climate deal
What has happened: Paris climate talks produced a deal that 196 member countries agreed on. India was looked upon as critical before the talks as we being the fourth largest emitter of co2 were expected to reduce our dependence on coal. But we felt that converting to cleaner energy would risk our growth and development. After the talks however we were applauded for our constructive role in the talks. China on the other hand had arrived with a huge fund and pact to compensate for their rising emissions but after talks they were viewed as obstructionist and unhelpful.
Highlight : Bill Gates along with 30 business leaders including Mukesh Ambani and Ratan Tata formed the Breakthrough Energy Coalition in Paris to provide seed, angel and series A investments to early stage green technology innovations. The coalition will also coordinate with 20 Govts that focus on state R&D investments on scalable, locally implementable and transformational clean tech innovations. This will provide necessary commitment from pvt sector to find cheap and powerful alternatives to coal for developing countries.
[4]. Justice that is rehabilitative
What has happened: The juvenile involved in Nirbhaya case has completed his time in special home but the govt has appealed to the SC to stay his release. But the sc has refused to do so.
View of the writer: This decision is applauded as it is a misplaced view to punish juveniles as adults and keep them from reintegrating into society. With a proper post-release individual care plan and quarterly follow up reports, rehabilitation of the juvenile can be assured thus reducing chances of his misconduct. rehabilitative justice is required for child offenders for transitioning into responsible adults thus ensuring safety and security of society in the long run.
Environment
[1]. In hot water
What has happened: A new study by Washington State University which studied lake temperatures from 1985 to 2009 shows that world’s lakes are warming rapidly at approx 0.3°C every decade. Esp. lakes in higher altitudes are warming faster. This is the effect of climate change.
Impact: Weak algal bloom which is fodder for fish. hence, thinning fish population. Consequently, impoverished fishing community. For instance, lake Tanganyka in Africa and lake Erie in N.America. Rising temperature in lake Baikal in Siberia is threatening the Baikal seals. Also fast melting of glaciers has lowered temperatures in some lakes.
By: ForumIAS Editorial Team
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