Brief of newspaper articles for the day bearing
relevance to Civil Services preparation
- GS PAPER 2
- Curbs on NGOs come in for flak {International Relations}
- Determined to honour pact on uranium supply: Namibia {Foreign Policy}
- GS PAPER 3
- Police stations to have wider jurisdiction over coasts {Security}
- Draft wind-solar hybrid policy proves restrictive {Economy}
- NITI Aayog submits proposals for divestment {Economy}
- Proposed market-driven pricing at India’s major ports is a chimera {Economy}
- Views to watch {Security}
- The challenge of unemployment {Economy}
- Regional connectivity subsidy subject to passenger loads {Economy}
- Airlines free to change N-E flights {Economy}
- Current account deficit contracts {Economy}
GS PAPER 2
[1] Curbs on NGOs come in for flak
What happened?
- UN special rapporteurs have criticised the Indian Government for its crackdown on NGOs.
- The registration of Lawyers Collective, an NGO has been suspended under the FCRA (Foreign Contribution Regulation Act).
What are special rapporteurs?
- Special Rapporteur, Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Independent Expert are titles given to individuals working on behalf of the United Nations (UN) within the scope of “Special Procedures” mechanisms, who bear a specific mandate from the United Nations Human Rights Council, either a country mandate or a thematic mandate.
Issues raised
- They have mentioned that FCRA provisions are being used more and more to silence organisations involved in advocating civil, political, economic, social, environmental or cultural priorities, which may differ from those backed by the Government.
How do the government ‘interfere’ in the functioning of NGOs?
- The Government can either suspend the NGOs straightway or it can hurt the funding of the NGOs by putting it under “prior referral” basis.
[2] Determined to honour pact on uranium supply: Namibia
- Already discussed, please refer to India eyes uranium from Africa
Additional points:-
- In 2009, Namibia had signed an agreement to supply uranium to India.
- To honour that pact, it has asked India to enter into similar agreements with other countries to convince the member-states of the African Nuclear Weapon Free Zone Treaty (ANWFZT).
- ANWFZT is named after South Africa’s main Nuclear Research Centre, run by the South African Nuclear Energy Corporation.
- It was the location where South Africa’s atomic bombs of the 1970s were developed, constructed and subsequently stored.
GS PAPER 3
[1] Police stations to have wider jurisdiction over coasts
What happened?
- The Government has extended the jurisdictional limits for notified police stations from the existing 12 nautical miles (about 22 kilometres) to 200 nautical miles (about 370 kilometres) .
Why it has been done?
- This was required as the local police should have a greater say while dealing with cases of smuggling and terrorism.
Additional points:-
- Following the 26/11 terror attacks, the Coast Guard were made responsible for securing the territorial waters extending up to 12 nautical miles from the shore.
- The new coastal police stations have been proposed to maintain security up to five nautical miles from the shore.
- Union Government has accepted the proposal of the Maharashtra Government to create a Central Marine Police Force for patrolling the coastline.
[2] Draft wind-solar hybrid policy proves restrictive
Issue
- Critical analysis of the draft policy for wind and solar hybrid plants.
Why going for hybrid systems?
- The superimposition of wind and solar resource maps shows that there are large areas where both wind and solar have high to moderate potential.
- The existing wind farms have scope of adding solar PV (photovoltaic) capacity and similarly there may be wind potential in the vicinity of existing solar PV plants.
Objective of the policy
- The main aim of the policy is to lay a framework for promoting large grid connected wind-solar photovoltaic system.
- This will be helpful for creating optimal and efficient transmission infrastructure and land, reducing the variability in renewable power generation to achieve better grid stability.
- The goal of the policy is to reach a wind-solar hybrid capacity of 10 GW by 2022.
Critical analysis of the policy
Restrictions placed:-
- The hybrid power injected in to the grid will not be more than the transmission capacity/grid connectivity allowed/sanctioned for existing wind/solar project.
- The rationale behind this move is to ensure that no augmentation of transmission capacity is required.
- But it places the onus of size restrictions on the utility owner rather than on the government, which is responsible for transmission capacity.
Missing details:-
- The draft policy is not detailed enough when it comes to tariff structures and financial incentives.
- The draft policy is not clear about the financial incentives for hybrid systems and merely refers to the existing incentives for solar and wind projects.
[3] NITI Aayog submits proposals for divestment
What happened?
- NITI Aayog has submitted two sets of recommendations to the Centre for strategic disinvestment of PSUs.
Key points:-
- The first set of recommendations deals with sick and loss-making government-owned companies (74 such companies).
- It has suggested closure of 25 such companies and after which their assets, especially land holdings, could be disposed off and employees be offered voluntary retirement.
- Of the remaining companies, it recommended either mergers with other public sector units or strategic disinvestment.
- This set of suggestions was submitted to the Prime Minister’s Office, which will take a decision on subsequent action.
- The second set of recommendations deals with separate list of 15 PSUs in which it has recommended strategic disinvestment on priority.
- This list has been submitted to the Department of Investment and Public Asset management in the Finance Ministry.
[4] Proposed market-driven pricing at India’s major ports is a chimera
Issue
- Critical analysis of the the draft of the Central Port Authorities Act 2016.
- The Bill seeks to enable port authorities to function like a corporate entity.
- But according to author, it will not solve the complex rate-setting problems at major ports,
Problem of rate setting
- It has been a perennial problem for the functioning of the ports.
- Rate regulation has suffocated the growth of the 11 ports.
- It resulted in diversion of cargo to private ports that are controlled by market forces.
What were the options available to the Government, so that a level-playing field can be created between the major ports and private ports?
- Either wind up the existing Tariff Authority for Major Ports (TAMP) which set the rates.
- Or enact a new law to govern the 11 ports which would render the rate regulator redundant.
The Government opted for both.The Government created a new law. To know its features, refer to Centre’s new bill to give more power to major sea ports
- The board of a port authority will be delegated power to fix rates for services and assets.
- But, a rate regulator does not figure in the proposed new law.
- After going through its features, it appears that there is lack of clarity on the path forward on rate setting.
- Current provisions regarding the role of the Tariff Authority for Major Ports (TAMP) in setting the rates
- Currently, rates for services rendered by the 11 port trusts are set by TAMP based on a tariff policy issued by the shipping ministry in January 2015.
- The rates for privately-run cargo terminals are set by the regulator based on the guidelines.
- So, TAMP merely acts as a rubber stamp.
- It functions as per aid and advice of the Shipping Ministry.
- And TAMP does not have any regulating authority, as it it has no powers to enforce its decisions.
Critical analysis of the new provisions under the new law
Government control prevails instead of a market driven policy
- Rates at each of the major ports will be decided by the board of the respective port authorities or a committee formed by the board based on some tariff policy/guidelines.
- The central government, will have the right to frame rules for, or to issue directions to, every port authority either individually or collectively in matters related to (among others) fixation and implementation of rates.
- The rates set by a board-appointed panel will have to be ratified by the board prior to implementation.
Unfair Competition
- Another loophole or drawback in the bill is that the port authorities will also be tasked with setting rates for private facilities.
- This will lead to unfair competition and a lack of a level-playing field because these ports also run cargo terminals that compete with private facilities therein.
[5] Views to watch
Context
India has refused Google to launch its street view service. This is done due to the objection by Ministry of Defence.
What is Google Street View?
Google street view is an app which displays the 360 degree panoramic view of public places. These images are captured by Google’s moving vehicles. It is almost similar to Google Maps but it adds more depth and reality to the maps.
Why the Defence Ministry objected?
During the recent Pathankot terror attacks, it is believed that the terrorists used google maps to study the entire area which was to be targeted. Now with Street view which adds more reality to the map and gives a panoramic view, the threat of such misuse has increased manifolds.
However, India has specifically stated that it might change its decision when Geospatial Bill- to regulate map creation is finally implemented.
Is the rejection of street view valid?
- Many countries like USA, Germany and Japan have had concerns with the street view app. The objections ranged from defence concerns (USA) to loss of privacy (Germany) but the solutions were found and street view was launched.
- In USA, google was asked to remove the sensitive areas from street view while in Germany people could blur their household if they wished (for privacy).
- India must also look to weed out the problems rather than completely stopping the launch because not only can street view bolster tourism by displaying panoramic view of monuments, statues and other places of interest but it can also be extremely helpful in disaster management.
Conclusion
There is no problem related to the technology for which solutions can’t be found. It will be in India’s best interest to seek cooperation from google in mitigating it concerns ,like the other countries did, rather than putting a complete halt on street view.
[6] The challenge of unemployment
Context
The biggest challenge that India faces today is that of unemployment. The Indian Labour and Development Report, 2016 although says that the employment has improved during the 21st century but it also emphasizes the challenges that are still persistent.
Findings of the employment survey designed by NSSO
As per the employment surveys designed by NSSO, the following information can be extracted:
- All the people in the working age population are not in the labour force.
- At present India has 511 million workers and if we exclude part time, elderly and child workers the figure is 433 million, of which 22% are women.
- This stock of workers is growing at 1.5% per year. This rate of labour force growth is lower than the one at the end of 20th century. This slowdown is because of many factors e.g. the decline in population since 80s and the decline of child labour.
- But the most significant reason for decline is the decrease in labour force participation by the working age group that too among women. This can also be attributed to declining poverty which brings a feeling that now since the household income has increased, the women don’t need to work in poor and low quality jobs.
- Also, while demographic dividend is increasing the share of those in working age group actually participating in the workforce is declining. This is increasing the dependency ratio rather than decreasing it.
- Since Indian job market is highly segmented from organized formal and informal sector to unorganized informal and casual sector. Now, the poor household due to lack of proper jobs take up work in casual, unorganized informal sector to survive. Since such sectors can not be fully accounted for in the employment figures, the exact scenario of the labour market is seldom available.
- The report mentions that employment in organized sector has increased aggressively, workers have moved to better jobs i.e. from formal to informal and from casual to regular. Real wages have shot up for almost every category of work and so did productivity.
- However, the organized sector still accounts for only 17% of the total employment with formal employment of only 9% of the total. Casual and unorganized employment still has a share of 78% in total employment. Low productivity employment in agriculture sector is still 43% and incidence of unemployment is very high
Solutions
The report suggests that:
- India’s growth must be led by manufacturing as employment elasticity is high in manufacturing.
- Since a large chunk of labour force is uneducated and unskilled there is an urgent need of sound education policy reforms. Before skill development, the underlying basic education must be made stronger which has till now been neglected.
Without these reforms, the unemployment levels in India will be extremely difficult to demolish.
[7] Regional connectivity subsidy subject to passenger loads
Context
The subsidy that the centre would give to the airline under regional connectivity scheme (RCS) would be reduced if the passenger load of airline increases to a certain level.
What is Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS)
- Under RCS, the airlines will connect to small towns with flights of about 1 hour capped at Rs 2500.
- The centre will compensate for the losses by subsidising the airlines flying on regional routes so that they can charge Rs 2500 to passengers for one hour flight. This is also known as viability gap funding (VGF).
- The ratio between centre to state of this VGF will be 80:20
How to determine when to reduce subsidies?
- If in future the airlines are able to fill 70% to 80% of their seats, this subsidy can be reduced.
- The subsidy will be reviewed every 3 years.
- The airlines can also exit easily if the find that the unconnected routes are not viable.
Conclusion
Not only has the centre taken a good step forward by making sure that small towns are connected by flights through RCS but has also made sure that the airlines do not incur losses in doing so. Also, reducing the subsidies in case of higher passenger load is another smart move as it would ease the pressure of the govt when the airlines in itself become viable.
[8] Airlines free to change N-E flights
Context
Centre has allowed a free hand to the airlines to withdraw or change flights to and within North-Eastern states, island territories and Ladakh as per their own requirement.
Analysis
- As of now, the airlines must take permission from the civil aviation ministry to withdraw the routes from these regions but with the new rule, the airlines only need to inform the ministry and Directorate General of Civil Aviation , three months prior about the change rather than taking permission.
- This can be done only when the airlines are in full compliance with the route dispersal guideline which binds them to have a certain share of flights on some small and remote routes.
- Another change is that at present the airlines have to deploy 50% of its flight on metro routes to non metro and non remote routes. This has been changed to 35%.
All these steps have been taken since the new Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) serves a similar purpose, and the airlines should not be burdened anymore.
[9] Current account deficit contracts
Context
India’s current account deficit (CAD) for the period between January- March has reduced to 0.1% of GDP and stands at $0.3 billion.
Analysis
- CAD in the previous quarter was $7.1 billion in the previous year and $0.7 billion in the same quarter of the previous year.
- This reduction in CAD has been due to declining trade deficit.
Will it be the same in future?
According to ICRA, the CAD would widen in FY 2017, though it would still be around 1.2% to 1.3% of GDP.
This widening will happen because an increase in commodity prices especially the crude oil will increase the dependence on imports, while at the same time the private remittances from middle east will be lesser.
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