Brief of newspaper articles for the day bearing
relevance to Civil Services preparation
National
[1]. Rupee slumps to touch pre Rajan era level
Context:-
India’s benchmark equity indices fell to their lowest levels in 20 months .
Reasons:-
Investors sold their shares due to concerns about
- Global economic slowdown
- Slumping commodity prices
- Weakening rupee
Lowest rupee since 2013:-
Rupee was at a record low of 68.85 a dollar on August 28, 2013.
Now rupee breached the 68-a-dollar mark on Wednesday for the first time since August 2013.
Positive interventions:-
State-run banks intervened on behalf of the central bank helping the rupee close at 67.95, compared with Tuesday’s 67.65.
The RBI intervened in both the currency futures as well as in the spot market.
Role of RBI Intervention:-
The intention of the central bank was not to allow the rupee to depreciate at a fast pace.
The central bank always maintains that it intervenes to curb volatility and does not target any level for the rupee.
Rupee and other BRICS Currencies:-
The Indian currency has performed better than its emerging market peers from Russia, Brazil and South Africa.
[2]. PMO exerts pressure, data released / Child stunting declines, but still high, data show
The Hindu | The Hindu | The Hindu
Context:-
Health Ministry released the first set of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) data comprising a partial data set for 13 States.
What is NFHS?
The National Family Health Survey (NFHS), a large-scale household sample survey is the main source for detailed health statistics in India.
The survey had last been conducted in 2005-06 and the public health community.
It is India’s official source of nutrition data — key to measure stunting, wasting and other indicators of acute malnutrition.
The complete data from NFHS-4 will be available by September.
The data released on Tuesday has health indicators for Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Goa, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Meghalaya, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Tripura, Uttarakhand, West Bengal and Union Territories of Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Puducherry.
Child Stunting:-
Indian States have seen some improvements in child nutrition over the last decade but over one in three children is still stunted, and over one in five underweight. As of 2005-06, India had 62 million stunted children, accounting for a third of the world’s burden of stunting.
Science & Technology
[1]. ISRO puts fifth GPS satellite in orbit
Context:-
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Wednesday launched IRNSS-1E, the fifth of the seven-satellite Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) into space.
PSLV C-31 rocket lifted the 1,425 kg satellite and placed it in orbit.
This is ISRO’s first launch for this year.
IRNSS-1E:-
IRNSS-1E with a mission life of 12 years was launched into a sub geosynchronous transfer orbit with a 284 km perigee (nearest point to Earth) and 20,657 km apogee (farthest point from Earth) with an inclination of 19.2 degree with reference to the equatorial plane.
IRNSS-1E carried navigation and ranging payloads, including a rubidium atomic clock, C-band transponder and corner cube retro reflectors for laser ranging.
The signal-in-space of four satellites has already been validated by various agencies within and outside the country.
IRNSS:-
Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System is India’s own regional navigation satellite system to provide accurate real-time positioning & timing services over India and region extending to 1500 Km around India.
It offers two services Standard Positioning Service (SPS) and Restricted Service (RS) with encryption. The fully deployed IRNSS system consist of 3 satellites in GEO orbit and 4 satellites in GSO orbit, approximately 36,000 km altitude above earth surface.
Geo stationary orbit and Geosynchronous orbit:-
Geosynchronous:-
An orbit around Earth whose orbital period is equal to a sidereal day (23 hours, 56 minutes), irrespective of its inclination.
A person on a point on Earth will see a satellite in this orbit in the same place in the sky at the same time of the day, everyday.
Geostationary: –
A geosynchronous orbit around Earth at 35,786 km above the equator, so that it remains stationary as seen from Earth.
A person on any point on Earth will see a satellite in this orbit stationary w.r.t his position, just like a star in the sky.
[2]. Ninth planet?/‘Good evidence’ for 9th planet in solar system:-
Context:-
Scientists reported that they finally have “good evidence” for Planet X, a true ninth planet on the fringes of our solar system.
The gas giant is thought to be almost as big as Neptune and orbiting billions of kilometres beyond Neptune’s path distant enough to take 10,000 to 20,000 years to circle the sun.
They base their findings on mathematical and computer modelling, and anticipate its discovery via telescope within five years or less.
Environment, Ecology & Climate Change
[1]. Carcass of over 150 Olive Ridleys found
Context:-
Carcasses of over 150 Olive Ridley turtles and a bottlenose dolphin washed ashore.
Reason:-
It is suspected that the turtles were killed after being hit by the fishing trawlers in the sea.
Annual Nesting:-
The turtles in large numbers come to Gahirmatha, mouth of rivers Devi and Rushikulya on the Odisha coast for annual nesting.
Restricted fishing:-
There is a prohibition on fishing for a distance of 20 km from the beach, the trawler operators undertake fishing illegally there.
Threats to olive ridleys:-
IUCN Red list: Vulnerable
Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act: Schedule I
The olive ridley is the smallest of all the sea turtle species. It gets its name from the olive green colouration of its carapace (shell).
Olive ridleys are known for their arribadas or synchronised mass nesting during which time tens of thousands of female ridleys come ashore to nest in the span of a few days.
And when the eggs hatch, millions of olive ridley turtle hatchlings emerge and return to the sea.
http://sstcn.org/olive-ridleys/threats/
http://seaturtlesofindia.org/?page_id=15
[2]. New class of frogs found in North East
Context:-
A class of frogs that grows in tree holes and, as tadpoles feed on eggs laid by their mother have been discovered in the north-east region, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.
It was once considered a species lost to science. This genus remained unnoticed by researchers probably because of its secretive life in tree holes
It has been named Frankixalus Jerdonii.
Interesting Feature:-
Due to insufficient food resources in tree holes, the mother exhibits “remarkable parental care” by laying unfertilised eggs to feed her tadpoles.
Tree frogs occur across sub-Saharan Africa, China, much of tropical Asia, Japan, the Philippines and Sulawesi.
Increasing discoveries:-
India has reported a rapid rise in the discovery of frog species from the Western Ghats and, more recently, the north-eastern States.
Concern:-
More molecular analysis might be required to be convinced that the find was indeed a new genus.
[3]. 2015 was earth’s hottest in modern times by far
Context:-
2015 was the planet’s hottest in modern times by the widest margin on record, setting a troubling new milestone as the climate warms at an increasing pace.
Average Temperature:-
During 2015, the average temperature across global land and ocean surfaces was 1.62 [0.90 Celsius] above the 20th century average.
This was the highest among all years in the 1880-2015 record. This is also the largest margin by which the annual global temperature record has been broken.
The report, which was confirmed by a separate analysis from NASA scientists, marks the fourth time a global temperature record has been set this century.
Last year alone, 10 months had record high temperatures for their respective months.
Felt worldwide:-
The heat was felt worldwide, with unprecedented warmth covering much of Central America and the northern half of South America.
Hot temperatures were observed in parts of northern, southern and eastern Europe as well as western Asia and a large section of east-central Siberia.
The El Nino effect
Regions of eastern and southern Africa experienced more blistering heat than ever, as did large parts of the north-eastern and equatorial Pacific boosted by the El Nino weather phenomenon.
[4]. Ending open defecation
Context:-
More than half of India’s population defecates in the open. The numbers have not come down much despite Prime Minister’s bold target of building 110 million toilets and making India free of this practice by 2019.
Unaffordable Open Pit Latrines:-
Research shows that people in India seek to build enormous open-pit latrines because they fear the ‘polluting’ aspects in caste terms of closing and emptying them, even long after the faeces have decomposed.
Indian open-pit latrines are thus not as affordable as those built in Bangladesh, say, where less than five per cent of the population defecate in the open.
Not Using:-
The government is counting the number of toilets instead of counting the number of open defecators.
Swachh Bharat also risks becoming an exercise in meeting numerical targets in terms of building toilets while the social ill of open defecation remains unchecked.
Even those households in India that have new toilets often tend not to use them.
They are used as small granaries or as store rooms.
The usage patterns remain unchanged and anecdotal evidence suggests the government’s big push might even be contributing to corruption since in many cases, funds are being funneled through village leaders without adequate administrative oversight to see that toilets are actually being built or are functional.
Health issues associated with open defecation:-
The issue is deathly serious because widespread open defecation in India often leads to contamination of the water supply.
In turn, repeated bouts of diarrhea suffered by many toddlers in India contribute to high numbers of children dying before they reach the age of five and malnutrition and impaired learning abilities among those who survive.
There may be toilets for girls in every school in the country as this government reports at regular intervals, but many are not functional because they are not maintained, are broken or have no water. Many times when they are functional, they remain locked and are opened only for teachers or for visitors to use.
Awareness campaigns have backfired:-
The emphasis in television advertisements on it being a safe way for women to go to the toilet rather risk molestation outdoors has backfired as people believe toilets are for the infirm and women.
Conclusion:-
The government ought to approach the researchers to seek information on the usage and adoption of toilets in rural India. Some Civil Society organisations have arguably done the best research on how widespread open defecation is in India and the social attitudes that make it so prevalent.
Economic Digest
[1]. Cabinet nod for power tariff policy
Context:-
Several amendments to the national power tariff policy are proposed with a view to promote renewable energy and improve the ease of doing business for developers in the sector.
The amendments are based on four Es—electricity for all, efficiency that will ensure affordable tariffs, the environment, and ease of doing business to attract greater investment in the sector
Proposed amendments:-
Passing costs to customers:-
Power companies are allowed to pass costs on to consumers arising out of any changes in taxes, cesses and levies levied on them.
Selling Surplus power:-
The policy also seeks to “create a win-win between the generator, utilities and consumers” by allowing power generators to sell their surplus power on the power exchange and sharing the proceeds with the state government.
Renewable energy Obligation:-
The amended tariff policy also imposes a renewable energy obligation on new coal or lignite-based thermal plants, requiring them to establish or purchase renewable capacity alongside their own generation units.
This provision is very important as it will be a big boost for renewable energy.
Automatic route for expansions:-
To encourage efficiency, the policy allows power producers to expand up to double their capacity through the automatic route, at their existing unit locations.
This automatic approval was earlier limited to 50 per cent capacity expansions
Fixing the tariff:-
Further, the tariffs for multi-state power projects will be determined by the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission, thereby removing a major point of uncertainty to do with such projects.
Action plan:-
The amended policy also said that the power regulator has to come up with a clear action plan to ensure 24×7 power supply to all consumers by 2021-22 or earlier.
Towards the power for all initiative, the policy enables the creation of micro-grids in remote villages as yet unconnected to the grid, and also says that these micro-grids can sell their surplus power to the grid when it reaches those areas.
Renewable energy provision concerns:-
There are generating companies that are already stressed as they are not being able to sell the power they generate. Now they will have to purchase renewable power, which will add to their stress
Firms will also have to take a call on how they procure their renewable obligations.
The costs and business models for different renewable alternatives such as rooftop solar or grid-connected sources are constantly evolving so the decision won’t be top-down any longer.
[2]. Commerce ministry backs measures to boost SEZs.
Context:-
The Commerce Ministry is in the process of identifying reasons for the slowdown in the Special Economic Zones (SEZ).
It has also asked the Finance Ministry to consider steps to ensure greater investment and employment generation in these enclaves to boost exports from SEZs.
Issues raised by SEZs:-
Removal or reduction of Minimum Alternate Tax (MAT) and Dividend Distribution Tax (DDT) on SEZs:-
The imposition of MAT and DDT on SEZs has led to a slowdown in terms of growth in exports from these enclaves, reduced number of SEZ notifications, slower operationalisation of SEZs and increased number of applications for de-notification of approved SEZs
MAT should be totally withdrawn or reduced to its original rate of 7.5 per cent.
Stalling the proposal to abolition of all direct tax benefits:-
A proposal is being considered by the finance ministry for abolition of all direct tax benefits for SEZs not operationalised before April, 2017.
Doing so would create uncertainty in the minds of investors and lead to an increase in the number of applications for de-notification of approved SEZs.
Extending the Sun set clause:-
Finance ministry has been asked to extend the Sunset Clause (provision relating to the expiry of the benefits to SEZs) on SEZs up to 2023.
Level playing field with imports in domestic trade:-
SEZ units should be allowed to sell in the domestic tariff area (DTA or domestic market) by shelling out the same duty applicable to imports from nations who are free trade agreement (FTA) partners of India.
Since SEZs are duty and tax free enclaves, they have to pay regular duties for sales in the domestic market, which in turn makes their items costlier as compared to imports from FTA partner nations that enter India at zero or lower than regular duties.
What is MAT?
MAT was introduced to facilitate the taxation of ‘zero tax companies’.
It had been observed that many companies, despite showing high profits in their books of accounts and paying substantial dividends, were paying marginal or no tax, by taking advantage of various tax concessions and other incentives, in a manner so as to avoid paying tax.
MAT was thus envisaged as levying a minimum tax on such companies by deeming a certain percentage of their book profits, computed under the Companies Act, as taxable income.
For more:-
http://finmin.nic.in/reports/ReportonApplicabilityofMinimumAlternateTax%20onFIIsFPIs.pdf
[3]. Shifting India to clean energy
Context:-
By 2022, India aims to have an installed solar energy capacity of 100 gigawatts (Gw) and wind turbine capacity amounting to another 60 Gw.
In total, it hopes to have 175 Gw worth of renewable energy (RE) capacity by 2022. The next target is to double this, to 350 Gw of RE by 2030.
Assuming all targets are met, about 40 per cent of total power capacity will be RE by 2030, with solar and wind forming the backbone. (Much less than 40 per cent of actual power generation would be from renewables because RE load factors are low.)
Benefits:-
There are many positive public associations with renewables. It is assumed that the environmental footprint is small.
It is believed that woes like anthropogenic global warming, conflicts in petroleum-rich regions, atmospheric pollution, environmental damage and conflicts caused by coal mining etc, will ease off as RE becomes a larger part of the energy mix.
Challenges:-
Solar, wind et al, will mitigate some problems. But renewable technologies have significant downsides. Solar and wind will also cause major and messy shifts in employment patterns.
Costly:-
Huge sums are required. Solar alone needs $95-100 billion equivalent of investments (at Rs 65/USD) to meet the 100 Gw target of 2022. To put that in perspective, the current outstanding bank credit to the entire Indian power sector (conventional and RE) is $85 billion equivalent.
Technicalities:-
There are also enormous technical challenges in integrating intermittent power generation via solar and wind, with conventional grids.
Grid-balancing becomes tricky – they must get much smarter, which is of course, a good thing.
Smart solutions for net metering – adjusting power bills to reflect RE generated and put on the grid by the consumer – will also be required.
Puts Pressure on resources:-
Solar and wind need specific natural conditions (sunshine, wind consistency). Both place pressure on land and other resources.
Instead of being dependent only on imports of crude, gas and coal, India could end up dependent on rare earth imports as well as crude and gas. The only big exporter of rare earth metals is China and it has put the squeeze on that market many times.
Labour Intensive:-
Solar and wind are more labour-intensive than conventional power. Manual supervision is required to install, maintain and repair installations, quite apart from the labour requirements of factories manufacturing RE equipment.
Loss of employment in conventional energy sector:-
There could be loss of employment and loss of revenues in two major employment-generating industries as RE takes hold.
RE requires far less construction activity compared to conventional power (or hydro, or nuclear). Construction employs over 40 million people at present.
Second, there would be an impact on coal mining and the associated value chain. The transition phase where coal miners and construction workers are laid off would have to be managed well.
Environmental Impact of Wind Mills:-
Wind Kills birds. It is estimated that literally millions (by some estimates more than 10 million) of birds are killed all over the world every year by wind turbines.
Each turbine installation consumes large amounts of concrete and steel, PVC and fibre-reinforced plastics. These are all materials with nasty footprints.
Wind can coexist with crops. But it needs a lot of land with consistent wind speeds.
Ideally, wind turbines can be located offshore where noise doesn’t matter, and there are fewer birds to kill. But then there are problems connecting to the grid, due to the necessity of laying undersea cables. Offshore facilities also incur much higher maintenance costs due to the corrosive effects of sea water.
Environmental Impact of Solar Plants:-
India is well-suited to solar because it averages nearly 300 days of sunshine across a very large tropical region (“high solar irradiation” in the jargon). Still, enormous amounts of land are required.
Setting up a capacity of 50 Mw in India needs about one square km of land. A Gw (1 Gw=1,000 Mw) therefore, needs about 20 square km and 100 Gw will require upwards of 2,000 square km.
Delhi city (area 1,485 square km) currently consumes over 6 Gw. In fact, 40 Gw of that by 2022 is to be built on roofs. Gujarat has built arrays on top of canals.
Solar needs water (or lots of manual labour) to keep panels clean. Installations in deserts must solve that problem.
Some solar energy concentration technologies also kill birds by flash frying them in large numbers.
Conclusion:-
As with all new technologies, RE will bring some new problems in its wake. Of course, the net effects of diversifying the energy mix and reducing the environmental footprint should be positive. But there will be downsides and some of those could be destabilising. We should be prepared for that.
[4]. Shipping industry gets infrastructure status
Context:-
The union government has granted infrastructure status to the shipyard industry in a bid to ease its financial stress.
Benefits of the move:-
The shipyards will be able to avail flexible structuring of long-term project loans, long-term funding from infrastructure funds at lower rates of interest and longer tenure equivalent to the economic life of their assets, relaxed ECB norms, issuance of infrastructure bonds for meeting working capital requirements as well as benefits under Income Tax Act, 1961, according to the statement.
Importance of ship Building Industry:-
The Indian shipyards employ around 30,000 people at present which will substantially go up once this sector is revitalised.
The shipbuilding industry is a strategically important industry due to its role in energy security, national defence and for developing heavy engineering industry.
Opinions & Editorials
[1]. The hidden wealth of Nations
Context:-
The article discusses the issue of tax avoidance by the Multi National Enterprises and the loss caused by them to the developing economies.
BEPS Report:-
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) had led project on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS).
It refers to the erosion of a nation’s tax base due to the accounting tricks of Multinational Enterprises (MNEs) and the legal but abusive shifting out of profits to low-tax jurisdictions
It lays out 15 action points to curb abusive tax avoidance by MNEs and is a positive development for tax justice.
Why curb tax evasion?
India’s recent economic history tells us that economic growth without public investment in social infrastructure such as health care and education can do very little to better the life conditions of the majority.
That is why curbing tax evasion to boost public finance is part of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Policies are put on hold fearing stock market reactions:-
Last year, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) on black money had recommended mandatory disclosure to the regulator, as per Know Your Customer (KYC) norms, of the identity of the final owner of P-notes.
It is known that a bulk of P-note investments in the Indian stock market were from tax havens such as Cayman Islands.
Reacting to it the Sensex crashed by 500 points in a day.
The government promptly issued a statement assuring investors that it was in no hurry to implement the SIT recommendations.
All it takes is for the stock market to sneeze, and the Indian state swoons.
The postponement of the enforcement of General Anti-Avoidance Rules (GAAR) to 2017 is also for the same reason.
Curbing the abuse of DTAA:-
The OECD’s BEPS report urges nations to curb treaty abuse by amending their Double Taxation Avoidance Agreements (DTAA) suitably.
The obvious litmus test of India’s seriousness on BEPS is its DTAA with Mauritius.
FDI from Mauritius:-
Mauritius accounted for 34 per cent of India’s FDI equity inflows from 2000 to 2015.
It’s been India’s single-largest source of FDI for nearly 15 years.
It is difficult to explain how an island economy with a GDP less than one-hundredth of India’s GDP supplying more than one-third of India’s FDI.
Tax haven in Mauritius and Round tripping:-
Mauritius is a tax haven. While not in the same league as Cayman Islands or Bermuda, Mauritius is a rising star,
It is because of the tax-allergic business elite.
Mauritius is a popular hub for what is known as “round-tripping”.
A wealthy Indian, say, will send his money to Mauritius, where it is dressed up in a secrecy structure, then disguised as foreign investment, before being returned to India. The sender of the money can avoid Indian tax on local earnings.
In other words, it appears that India’s biggest source of FDI is India itself.
This denotes a massive loss of tax revenue, part of the $1.2 trillion stolen from developing countries every year.
What makes this possible?
What makes this theft of tax revenue not just possible but also legal is India’s DTAA with Mauritius. It is a government-sponsored loophole for MNEs to avoid tax by channelling investments and profits through an offshore jurisdiction.
For instance, as per this DTAA, capital gains are taxable only in Mauritius, not in India. But here’s the thing: Mauritius does not tax capital gains. India, like any sensible country, does
Set up a company in Mauritius, and route all Indian investments through it.
China’s example:-
India has spent much of 2015 ‘trying’ to renegotiate this treaty. But with our Indian-made foreign investors lobbying furiously, the talks have so far yielded nothing.
Meanwhile, China, which too had the same problem with Mauritius, has already renegotiated its DTAA, and it can force investors to pay 10 per cent capital gains tax in China.
Renaming the Tax Havens:-
Tax havens such as Mauritius thrive parasitically, feeding on substantive economies like India.
They are now called Jurisdictions Committed to Improving Transparency and Establishing Effective Exchange of Information in Tax Matters.
They include Cayman Islands, Bermuda, Bahamas, Cyprus, and of course, Mauritius.
Elements of Tax Havens:-
Not about Geography alone:-
Tax havens are not necessarily about geography; they are simply someplace where a country’s normal tax rules don’t apply.
The U.S. is a classic example. It has stringent tax laws, and is energetic in prosecuting tax evasion by its citizens around the world.
But it is equally keen to attract tax-evading capital from other countries, and does so through generous sops and helpful pieces of legislation which have effectively turned the U.S. into a tax haven for non-residents.
Secrecy:-
More than the nominally low taxes, the bigger attraction of tax havens is secrecy.
Secrecy is important for two reasons: to be able to avoid tax, you need to hide your real income; and to hide your real income, you need to hide your identity, so that the booty stashed away in a tax haven cannot be traced back to you by the taxmen at home.
So, even a country whose taxes are not too low can function as a tax haven by offering a combination of exemptions and iron-clad secrecy — which is the formula adopted by the likes of Luxembourg and the Netherlands.
Offshore Financial Centres:-
The extreme combination of low taxes and high secrecy brought about a new mutation of tax havens in the 1960s: they turned themselves into offshore financial centres (OFCs).
OFCs are markets in which financial operators are permitted to raise funds from non-residents and invest or lend the money to other non-residents free from most regulations and taxes.
It is estimated that OFCs are recipients of 30 per cent of the world’s FDI, and are, in turn, the source of a similar quantum of FDI.
OFCs set up by other countries:-
The U.S. set up International Banking Facilities (IBFs), “to offer deposit and loan services to foreign residents and institutions free of… reserve requirements”.
Japan set up the Japanese Offshore Market (JOM).
Singapore has the Asian Currency Market (ACU)
Thailand has the Bangkok International Banking Facility (BIBF)
Malaysia has an OFC in Labuan island, and other countries have similar facilities.
OFCs behind 2008 Financial crisis:-
Every major hedge fund operates out of an OFC. Given the volume of unregulated financial transactions that OFCs host, it is no surprise that they were at the heart of the 2008 financial crisis.
Undermining democracies:-
Apart from accumulating illicit capital (in the tax haven role), channelling this capital back onshore dressed up as FDI (in investment hub role), and deploying it to engage in destructive financial speculation (in OFC role), these strongholds of finance capital also serves a political function: they undermine democracy by enabling financial capture of the political levers of democratic states.
It is well known that political parties in most democracies are amply funded by slush funds that would not have accumulated in the first place had taxes been paid.
Lone Exception:-
A lone exception seems to be Iceland, which began the new year on a rousing note — by sentencing 26 corrupt bankers to a combined 74 years in jail.
[2]. The case for going universal
Context:-
The author argues for a universal Maternal Health care scheme rather than those with conditionality taking into account of the poor health and education parameters of India.
NFSA and Maternal Health care:-
National Food security Act recognises the need to address poor maternal nutrition as it is extremely important for health, well-being, and productivity.
According to the NFSA, Every pregnant and lactating mother is entitled to a free meal at the local Anganwadi (during pregnancy and six months after child birth) as well as maternity benefits of Rs. 6,000, in instalments.
Poor Maternal Nutrition:-
Indian women are unhealthily thin and gain too little weight during pregnancy to nurture healthy babies.
Maternal nutrition is so poor that Indian women actually weigh less at the end of pregnancy than sub-Saharan African women do at the beginning.
As a result, India’s neonatal mortality rate is high, birth weight is low, and far too many children suffer the consequences of being undernourished in the womb.
No Pan India Maternal Entitlements:-
Except for laudable efforts of NFSA in Odisha and Tamil Nadu,and a small pilot programme called the Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahyog Yojana (IGMSY) which is active in only 53 of India’s 676 districts, maternity entitlements have not been implemented.
Government’s role
The health of future Indians depends on women gaining more weight during pregnancy.
Maternity entitlements could be used to purchase vegetables, fruits, dairy products, eggs, or meat, which are essential for healthy pregnancies but are not distributed through existing programmes.
The government should put new emphasis on educating women and their families about weight gain during pregnancy.
It should combat the common, though false, notion that women should eat less, not more, during pregnancy.
IGMSY and its shortcomings:-
IGMSY is a conditional cash transfer, which means that mothers only receive benefits if they meet certain requirements.
Recipients must register pregnancies with a village health worker, receive ante-natal check-ups, take iron-folic acid supplements, receive immunisation, attend infant-feeding counselling sessions, breastfeed for six months, and begin complementary foods at six months.
These are steps to raising healthy children, but making them conditions for receiving benefits makes little sense.
Conditional Cash transfers will not work in India:-
Conditional cash transfers have been successful in Latin America, where health systems are well-developed.
In India, though, major deficiencies in the provision of health services mean that conditional transfers will not work similarly.
Conditional transfers solve demand problems, but India chiefly faces supply problems.
Gives room for Corruption:-
Conditions that have to do with mothers’ behaviour rather than participation in services are nearly impossible to verify.
Verifying behaviour which occurs in private, at home, constitutes an undue burden on health workers.
The need to document the fact that conditions have been met invites corruption: many health workers demand to be paid for producing paperwork that “verifies” the unverifiable.
Universal transfers do not increase fertility:
IGSMY restricts benefits to the first two births.
This position appears to be based on the ill-conceived notion that universal transfers increase fertility.
Certainly, people respond to incentives. But a Rs. 6,000 transfer is not large enough to persuade parents to raise a child they don’t want.
Children are expensive: the 2011 India Human Development Survey found that parents spend an average of Rs. 4,207 per year educating each 5-18-year-old child.
Also restricting participation to the first two births would disproportionately exclude mothers from poor and minority backgrounds.
False Claims:-
Some recent research, casually cited in media reports, claims that Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) incentives for institutional birth have slowed fertility decline.
The basis of this claim is that between 2001 and 2008, fertility decline was slower in States with high JSY incentives than in those with low incentives. This argument, however, overlooks the fact that NFHS data show that this pattern was applicable even before JSY was launched.
Conclusion:-
Maternity entitlements are an important policy tool for encouraging better maternal health.
But a well-designed programme would not merely scale up the IGMSY. It would be, as the law already requires, a universal programme, and it would do away with conditionality in favour of educating families about the importance of investing in healthy pregnancies.
[3]. Forging PPP of a different kind
Context:-
The article discusses how NGOs and civil society can be incorporated to provide basic services to the public. He cites the example of Chennai floods where citizens volunteered in huge numbers to provide rescue and relief operations and how this can be sustained into a Long term PPP.
Fixing shortages with Volunteers:-
There is a shortage of half-a-million policemen and teachers across States. The National Health Mission also talks about a severe shortage of specialists and overburdened primary and community health centres.
The author suggests the use of general public — available absolutely free of cost — in some of these sectors while filling up these vacancies.
Government Schools could collaborate with both private teachers and subject-matter experts to conduct weekend classes for the students for free.
Similarly, primary health centres in Bihar could throw its doors open to doctors ready to do pro bono work at a fixed time or day in a week.
The benefits of such an arrangement could be manifold. Besides the obvious improvement in service delivery, this intermingling of government staff with private individuals would help the former imbibe best practices.
This will also help bring transparency and serve as a social audit of government services and accounts.
Problems faced by NGO’s while collaborating with Government:-
Ad hocism and lack of continuity:-
Each officer has his or her own idea of what needs to be done. By the time there is a tangible impact, either the officer moves out or there is a regime change, and everything is back to square one.
Mindset of Government:-
Wherever the government has engaged with an NGO, it looks at the NGO more as a contractor which could bring down its overheads (in terms of staff cost) and relieve it of some of its statutory responsibilities.
The moment the NGO starts suggesting improvements or a different way of doing things, it is immediately shown the door
Big brother attitude:-
Many NGOs say that the government displays ‘big brother attitude’ even when an NGO brings in everything to a project, including funds.
The government should also understand that for many of these NGOs, doing what they are doing is not a 9-5 job. So, they bring in lot of passion and expertise to the table. If both these are not recognised, they see no point in working with the government.
Conclusion:-
We must admit that the government continues to be the biggest welfare machinery. If the government can iron out these wrinkles, it could well be setting in motion an army of selfless volunteers who could be the solution to many of the problems that the government is blamed for.
[4]. Questioning the axioms
Context:-
The author feels that the Indian intelligentsia is increasingly imitating the West.
Key points:-
There are three ideas in the West about law that are taken as axioms. First, that all societies are founded on law; if they are not, they ought to be.
The second is that law teaches and educates a people.
The third is their corollary: Only thus do a people become a nation.
Romulus gave law to Rome and made it into a state; Moses gave law to a people and made them into a nation; Mohammed is a lawgiver; so is Manu in India. These ideas are not dated, apparently. Today, all these ideas enjoy the same currency they had during colonial rule.
Allow reason or law to criticise unreasonable behaviours but do not make either of the two into a foundation for human interaction.
[5]. The new quota
Context:-
The Bihar government’s move to reserve 35 per cent of all jobs in the state sector for women is an attempt to increase their presence in the workforce.
Benefits:-
Better representation in the formal workforce, which offers assured incomes and wages, would help improve the status of women and make society sensitive towards gender equality in social and economic spaces.
Moreover, public institutions that have a representative workforce are likely to provide better services.
Concern:-
With not many jobs being created in the public sector, the policy offers more symbolic value than radical content: Its potential in transforming the social and economic stature of women is limited.
Other measures like providing free schooling, textbooks and bicycles for girls were truly empowering in the sense that they endowed the beneficiaries with skills to participate in the job market, including in the private sector, where much of employment creation happens today.
Current scenario:-
Labour Force Participation:-
The labour force participation rate among women of working age, at 9 per cent, is one of the lowest in India, and far below the all-India average of 33 per cent.
Participation in Casual Labour:-
The scale of gender disparity in Bihar is also evident in the large presence of women in casual employment — nearly 50 per cent as against the all-India average of 31 per cent.
Female Literacy:-
Bihar has seen remarkable improvement in women’s participation in education in recent years. In the decade between 2001 and 2011, female literacy rose by over 20 percentage points, although, at 53 per cent, it is still far behind the national average of 65.5 per cent.
Participation in Election:-
Election data points to more women exercising their voting rights compared to men — a clear indication of the former, becoming aware of the political process and their role in it.
The 2006 government decision to reserve 50 per cent seats in panchayati raj institutions for women has led to the creation of a new set of leaders and role models, offsetting many social stereotypes and deepening democracy.
The recognition of the economic rights of women and state intervention to address gender disparity in employment was inevitable considering the trajectory Bihar has embarked on.
[6]. Of deaths and births
Context:-
The article speaks about the lack of consistency in registering deaths across rural and urban India.
The act:-
Since 1969, there has been a Registration of Births and Deaths Act. This makes the registration of births and deaths compulsory (within 21 days of the incident).
Where do we register?
As with birth, there’s a civil registration system (CRS).
From a registrar general in New Delhi, it flows down through state-level chief registrars to district registrars and village/ town registrars.
Who informs the registrar?
If death occurs in a hospital, nursing home, medical institution, hostel, hotel or boarding-house, the institution is responsible.
If death occurs at home, the head of the family or any other family member has the responsibility. Keepers of burial grounds and crematoriums must inform the registrar.
Finally, there’s a residual category, where a dead body may be found abandoned in a public place. Then the responsibility devolves on the sarpanch or SHO of the local police station.
Incentives for registering Birth:-
There has been an emphasis on shifting births from homes to institutions, with cash incentives for institutional delivery through the Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) — or the Janani Shishu Suraksha Yojana (JSSY) — and similar state-level schemes.
Inconsistency between states:-
Based on the civil registration system, we have data for 2013 — 85.6 per cent of live births are registered, but only 70.9 per cent of deaths are registered.
States like Haryana, Karnataka, Kerala, Punjab and Tamil Nadu do rather well. With the exception of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Lakshadweep, all Union territories do exceedingly well.
As is to be expected, Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh are a problem.
The efficiency of the civil registration system (not just deaths) can be seen as a function of the differences in the registration machinery across states.
In some cases, it’s routed through health departments. But elsewhere, it is the planning, economics and statistics department. In rural areas, sometimes (not always), panchayats and revenue departments are involved.
Inconsistencies between Urban and Rural Local Bodies:-
In the Seventh Schedule, Entry 10 in the State List mentions “burials and burial grounds; cremations and cremation grounds”.
Under Article 243G of the Constitution, state governments can delegate powers to panchayats, “including those in relation to the matters listed in the Eleventh Schedule”. Sure, delegation isn’t restricted to items mentioned in the Eleventh Schedule alone. But the Eleventh Schedule has no mention of burial grounds and crematoriums.
Contrast this with municipalities, Article 243W and the Twelfth Schedule. Entry 14 in the Twelfth Schedule mentions “burials and burial grounds; cremations, cremation grounds; and electric crematoriums”.
This shows that the 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendments are not much in harmony.
For rural India, no data on burial grounds/ crematoriums exists. Land use classification puts these in a motley category of land not available for cultivation. Approved works under the MPLADS include the construction of crematoriums and structures on burial grounds/ crematoriums. Presumably some database exists there.
By: ForumIAS Editorial Team
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