Brief of newspaper articles for the day bearing
relevance to Civil Services preparation
Note: There will be no 9 PM brief on 24th and 25th of March in lieu of Holi celebrations. Any important articles will be listed on Saturday i.e. 26th March
-
- DR-TB greater threat to India than HIV {Health}
- India to host BRICS summit in October {International affairs}
- A pivotal shift to Cuba {International affairs}
- The errors that made the Brussels attack possible {International affairs}
- GS PAPER 3
- Govt. to focus on Swachh Bharat on second anniversary {Environment}
- Private participation in defence production to wait {Defence Procurement}
- Ignoring the elephant in the room {Industry}
- Why the Internet isn’t just free yet {Technology}
- LPG for every Indian household {Government Scheme}
- Firms pay 50% of cost as bribes {World Bank Report}
- New insurance scheme to cover 50% of farmers, says Jaitley {Saving Scheme}
- Half of India’s entry points yet to adopt paperless platform {World Bank Report}
- Indian vehicles to meet international standards by 2020, says Pawan Goenka {International norms}
- Governor’s call {Banking Policy}
- Drone-powered advertising is here {Technology}
- How India had gradually rebuilt the credibility of its economic policy {Economic Policy}
- Automating the ration shops {Digitalisation}
GS PAPER 2
[1]. DR-TB greater threat to India than HIV
People who are suffering from Drug Resistant Tuberculosis are far more than people who are suffering from HIV.
Death in last decades
- Deaths reduced considerably
Concern
- Need aggressive strategy to achieve health targets
- And to achieve this every section of the society need to work hard.
- Many organisation and people are working fantastic job in their respective fields. To encourage these people there is an award known as REACH Lilly MDR-TB Partnership Media Award.
What is REACH Lilly MDR-TB Partnership Media Award?
- This award recognise the best reporting on TB by Indian journalists, in English and all other languages.
[2]. India to host BRICS summit in October
What is Brics?
- BRICS is the acronym for an association of five major emerging national economies: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
- The grouping was originally known as “BRIC” before the inclusion of South Africa in 2011.
- All five are G 20 members
- The BRIC grouping first formal summit, also held in Yekaterinburg, Russia,, commenced on 16 June 2009
BRICS Last summit
- 7th summit
- In Russia, Ufa
- Under Vladimir Putin
BRICS 2016 8th summit
- India will be the host
- In Goa
- External affair minister announced its logo and a website of the summit
What will the core theme of the summit?
- Building responsive, inclusive and collective solutions for the grouping
What will be the logo of the summit?
- lotus with colours from all the five member-countries and a traditional ‘namaste’ in the centre.
What will be the approach?
- Institution Building, Implementation, Integration, Innovation, and Continuity with Consolidation
[3] A pivotal shift to Cuba + The Opening
Context
Historic visit by a US president in Cuba after 88 years.
Why Historic?
The two countries have remained hostile even after the end of the cold war.
Steps taken by both the countries to ease the tensions
- It removed Cuba from its list of nations charged with sponsoring terrorism.
- Cuba reopened its embassy at Washington.
What prompted them to start the dialogue?
- The opposition of the Cuban American community towards Havana.
- The demand from Farm companies in US for new markets.
- Cuba is driven by economic imperatives as it is starved of funds because of US embargo.
- Cuban youth want new opportunities for growth which can be brought by US companies.
Demands of both the countries
- Cuba wants embargo to be lifted and Guantanamo Bay be returned to it.
- US wants that Cuba should improve its human rights record, especially with regard to jailed dissidents.
Conclusion
Mr. Obama and Mr. Castro have created a historic momentum in bilateral ties, and it is up to the next generation of leaders to built on it.
[4] The errors that made the Brussels attack possible
Issue
- Terror attacks in europe in last couple of years could have been prevented by pro-active approaches.
Loopholes in the System
- Any security system is only as strong as its weakest link. France has the strongest anti-terrorism laws and most aggressive law enforcement, despite that the terrorists carried out an attack from Belgium.So, EU as a whole is not immune to attacks like these, as such attacks can be planned from any State.
Europol
- A shared police force of the countries of EU with low staff and low budget has no real law-enforcement powers. It cannot make arrests and cannot get involved in an investigation
- The European parliament voted overwhelmingly to give Europol the power to track down terrorists and their groups but it will not come into effect until April 2017.
Schengen
- A way by which citizens of member countries can travel through the borders of other member countries.
- This agreement between the countries has resulted into free passing of citizens between the countries, decreasing the amount of time taken at checkpoints and borders.
- This is the same reason which is debated across and it is problematic, but each individual countries can do their own checks on the flow of people for any suspicious persons.
How can they be contained
- For local authorities to counter the attack by terrorists, national and international support is crucial.
Security
- Strengthening existing counter terrorism and policing institutions will result in a robust counter terrorism strategy all around the world.
GS PAPER 3
[1] Govt. to focus on Swachh Bharat on second anniversary
Narendra modi’s Pet project will complete 2 yrs on 29 May
- All the ministries will take mass pledge on that day
Upcomings in 2016 and 2017
- summarised and sent to all ministries in a calendar called ‘Swachhta Pakhwadas’
- Government made a blueprint for the theme of swachh bharat for every fortnight.
- It will begin on !st april 2016
Like
- target the slum areas and discourage them from manual scavenging, in a bid to mark the Ambedkar Jayanti
- teachers will be asked to hold sensitisation meetings with parents on Teacher’s Day
- school children will be asked to clean the nearby monuments on World Heritage Day
- Children will also take a mass pledge on children’s day for cleanliness
- citizens will be asked to “voluntarily” put ‘friendship bands’ on municipal workers serving in their area
- cleanliness drive will take place in all the religious places during Christmas eve
- cleaning drives will be held in and around factories during the International Labour Day
- Cleaning drive will be held around all water bodies and beaches and river banks on the World Water Day
- Even soldiers will be asked to take ‘Swacchata marches’ in December
- Factories will be inspected to check the sanitary facilities for workers
- government officials, employee volunteers, residents welfare association residents and youth groups will take pledges as a part of the campaign in different months of the year
- Sports personalities, who are Swachh Bharat ambassadors, will hold special drives on National Sports Day
- To mark the World Environment Day on June 5, awareness campaigns will be held in parks on safe disposal of animal excreta, apart from drives against littering in sanctuaries and forest areas.
- During the Durga Puja later in October, pandals will be cleaned every day after ‘prasad’ distribution.
[2] Private participation in defence production to wait
Issue?
- In much awaited Defence Procurement Procedure(DPP) the reform meant to induct private sector in defence manufacturing would be missing.
Why?
- There is still no clarity on how to select private companies to become strategic partners in defence procurement programmes.
- Defence Minister Manohar Parrrikar said that the chapter on identifying strategic private sector partners was going “through an extensive exercise that will take another month or two” and it requires approval from the Cabinet Committee on Security.
- Also the chapter which would have listed major Indian private sector companies identified for preferential treatment, would now be on hold.
- In 2006, government gave Raksha Udyog Ratnas status to several private players i.e. gave them preference at par with defence PSUs in contracts.
- But ,the government had to shelve the plan because of opposition, from both the trade unions of DPSUs and from Indian private players who were left out of the list.
- The present effort to grant the status of “strategic partners” flows from the recommendations of the Dhirendra Singh Committee, formed in 2015 to evolve a robust policy to facilitate ‘Make in India’ in the defence sector.
- It recommended identification of private sector companies that could play a key role in developing and manufacturing of complex and strategic systems or receive significant technology transfers from abroad for manufacture in India.
For implementing the recommendation the Ministry’s Task Force suggested creation of two groups
- Group 1 for aircraft, aero-engines, helicopters, submarines, naval ships, guns and armoured vehicles
- Group 2 various materials and alloys, composites and polymers, and ammunition.
It also gave a set of criteria for selecting strategic partners. But it would be a contentious exercise to draw up a set of criteria without subverting merit. Thus there have been several rounds of discussions but no consensus yet.
[3] Ignoring the elephant in the room
Issue?
Indian drug companies are failing on FDA (Food and Drug administration) standards but the government is not worried about it.
What is FDA?
It is a Federal agency of US department of Health. It is responsible for regulation and supervision of pharmaceutical drugs.
Two seemingly unrelated issue but both have impact on health.
First, the Volkswagen issue:-
Issue?
The company used software in its engine to trick emission tests which shows that the car produced less amount of pollution. This led to millions of car being recalled in Europe and countries have launched probe against Volkswagen.
It is feared that other cars sold in India could have same problem but we don’t have strong regulatory and testing mechanism that will test on-road emissions for all vehicles and address the larger problem.
Second, the drug safety issue
US FDA has given warning to several drug manufactures in India. Various big pharmaceutical industries have been hauled by FDA on aspects that range from supplying adulterated drugs to questionable data reporting, hygiene and sanitation standards, process and production quality, etc.
But the doctors and chemist used to waive this issue saying that such niceties like product quality were not important, especially when such a ‘big company’ was involved. Also at least these manufacturers were better than our small manufacturer who followed the rules in the loosest sense of the word.
The situation might be very worse because generally these companies have different plants to produce drug for Indian market and overseas market. And the drugs for overseas market presumably follow higher standards. Moreover only 10-15 per cent of the overall industry follows World Health Organisation (WHO) manufacturing standards.
But the changes proposed by the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) to existing pharmaceutical manufacturing laws to bring them on a par with those recommended by the WHO are nowhere in sight.
[4] Why the Internet isn’t just free yet
Issue
What changes will be made after the transition of oversight of ICANN from the US government to the “Multistakeholder ICANN community” ?
What is ICANN?
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, is the U.S.-based body that runs the Internet’s central directory and coordinates its key technical functions.
What will will change with this oversight transition?
- ICANN will become an independent body in managing its domain names-related policy work.
- It will also manage the Internet’s root zone file, containing information about Internet names and numbers, addresses, which are copied and replicated by other servers the world over.
What will not change?
- The numerous judicial, executive and legislative powers held by the U.S. government over ICANN as an American organisation will remain unchanged.
- US interference in the ICANN’s policy work and Internet’s root server (containing the authoritative root zone file).
Critics of Transition
- Democracy and representation will be lacking in this group
- It will still remain a U.S.-based industry, overwhelming white men, some from Europe, plus, co-optation of, largely, a few elite groups from other countries.
- Global public interest concerns will be not be taken care of, and self-interest-based and commercial interests will be pursued.
What is required to be done?
- ICANN should be incorporated under international law, with host countries immunities for an international organisation.
- There should be an external oversight but it does not necessarily have to be from governments.
[5] LPG for every Indian household
Cabinet Committee approved Pradhan mantri Ujjwal yojana
What is the Aim of the scheme?
Providing five crore subsidised Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) connections to women of poor households (Below Poverty Line) in the next three years.
How much money is allocated for this program?
Rs 8000 crore.
How many household it will cover?
5 crore
It is an important scheme for two reasons
- it has brought focus to the important developmental issue of enabling clean cooking energy. (Because indoor air pollution, caused by smoke from the traditional chulha stove leads to more than a million premature deaths in the country every year)
- the scheme improves the quality of life of poor women whose health interests are usually neglected in household priorities
There is a report of a survey by Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) and the Department of Political Science at Columbia University that 95 % of household which are deprived of LPG are due to inability to pay.
National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) data also highlight the low expenditure capacity of poorer households in having access to LPG.
What are the Challenges?
- High cost and, perception and cash flow
- High number of rural household use biomass from rural informal market of firewood and dung cakes. Rural people end up paying more than those who rely on LPG. LPG connection would be economically attractive for these kind of households.
- Some household rely on complete free of cost fuel would opt for subsidized connection.
- But they would not spend on refilling the cylinder.
Solutions:
- creating awareness about the actual cost of fuel and its benefits, especially those related to health
- Introducing smaller LPG cylinders (2 to 5 kg) for this section could be a solution
- leveraging mobile money for LPG payments Because DBT for LPG program could create hindrance for this section due to far reach of banking services. Jan dhan yojana helped financial inclusion but still a person have to travel far to reach bank services.
- Limited LPG distribution networks in rural areas.
Solution:
- Innovation is required in distribution
- Awareness and administrative issues
- 40% of the LPG deprived household does not have the information about the process of getting connection.
- Absence of residential proofs in urban slum area’s also causing problem in getting connections.
Solution:
- Government’s scheme of selling 5 kg LPG cylinders at petrol pumps and kirana stores may help but its limited penetration and retail pricing still make it challenging for many poor households
- Opening exclusive dealerships for smaller cylinders (2 and 5 kg)
[6] Firms pay 50% of cost as bribes
Issue?
- It is about World Economic Forum (WEF) report on corruption in the country in real estate and infrastructure sector.
- According to the report titled ‘Building Foundations for Transparency’ , India has taken over as the fastest-growing large economy, especially as China’s economy has recently slowed down but corruption remains a major barrier to growth in India
- Real estate and infrastructure sector are perceived to be among the industries most affected by bribery around the world thus forum focused on this sector in its report.
- More than two-thirds of the respondents perceive that the Indian IU (infrastructure and urban development) industries are more affected by corruption than other industries in the country.
- Within India, the Forum chose to examine the regulatory system for construction permits, land acquisition and land title registration in Maharashtra as a pilot as it contributes the maximum share to the Indian economy and attracted 22 per cent of the country’s real estate investments in 2014-15.
- These regulatory domains faced the most pressing corruption risks.
Top reasons for project developers paying ‘speed’ money:-
- Norms for change in land use that are exploited by influential developers,
- Dodgy land records
- Need for multiple clearances as the top reasons for project developers paying ‘speed’ money
Flagging complex and opaque processes for getting permits as a key cause of delays for project clearance, the WEF said delay leads to substantial increase in costs and hence, incentivise the payment of bribes to speed up project clearance.
Recommending clear regulations for changes in land use, the report noted that the ‘discretionary power of some players allows for sudden changes in land use. Thus
- Increases the uncertainty for potential sellers.
- Encourages incentives to engage in bribery for buyers.
This, in turn, led to “increasing market concentration” in cities like Mumbai where global and national players struggle to enter the market.
[7] New insurance scheme to cover 50% of farmers, says Jaitley
What is Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY)
Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) is the new crop insurance scheme that has been approved by the Union Cabinet in January 2016.
This scheme will provide low premium insurance scheme which will not burden the farmer. The farmer will also not feel pressured to pay the premium even if the crop is destroyed by the nature or there is low yield.
Farmers will pay a lower premium for more coverage, while compensation will be higher in the event of any crop failure or damage.
The scheme will be rolled out on a “mission mode” from April to cover kharif or summer crop from this year itself, according to the government.
What are the previous crop schemes
- In 1985, Comprehensive Crop Insurance scheme (CCIS).
- In 1997, an Experimental Crop Scheme was launched which lasted only for a year.
- In 1999, National Agriculture scheme(NIAS) under this select “notified” crops were insured. Flat insurance premium depending upon crop type and this premium was subsidized by government.
- In UPA Government, the NAIS was modified and was called Modified NAIS or M-NAIS
In 2007, Weather-based Crop Insurance Scheme (WBCIS)
Both modified NIAS and WBCIS were compulsory for farmers who had taken loans, main objective was to settle outstanding dues from the farmers
What is different in PMFBY
The Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) will reduce the distress of farmers in the country as it will grant insurance cover to 50 per cent of them.
Under the scheme, farmers will pay a lower premium for more coverage, while compensation will be higher in the event of any crop failure or damage.
The scheme will be rolled out on a “mission mode” from April to cover kharif or summer crop from this year.
Reasons behind the PMFBY?
If India were to develop and get rid of poverty, the agriculture sector needs to grow at a faster pace.
The last two crop seasons have been adversely affected on account of inadequate monsoons. We need to put a veil of some security around the farmers,”
To check misuse
Under the new scheme, the government was planning to impose penalties for delays in settlement of farmers’ claims.
[8] Half of India’s entry points yet to adopt paperless platform
Context
According to World Bank’s latest (ease of) Doing Business Report (2016), India fared poorly on the “trading across borders” criterion.
Same Rank as the last year
- India was ranked 133rd out of 189 economies while China came 96th.
- “Trading across borders” criterion records the time and cost (excluding tariffs) associated with the logistical process of exporting and importing goods.
- Poor rank denotes that it takes more time in border and documentary compliance to export and import.
Current situation
There are as many as 298 ports and customs points (excluding those in the Special Economic Zones) and over half of these are not covered by the Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) or the ‘paperless’ international trading platform.
Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)
- The EDI system is a component of the project ‘e-Trade’ to ensure trade facilitation and in turn greater ease of doing business in India.
- It electronically links the customs department, Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), exporters/importers, agents, banks, airports and seaports, inland container depots and container freight stations, Container Corporation of India and shipping lines and airlines.
- Users can access the system round-the-clock. Simple and transparent procedures as well as electronic delivery of services by the government lead to reduction of transaction cost and time.
- The ICEGATE (or the Indian Customs E-commerce/EDI Gateway) is meant to enable quicker customs clearance to facilitate export-import trade.
Trade Facilitation reforms
- Trade facilitation reforms such as e-Trade and the EDI platform are meant to help India comply with the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) requirements.
- And aimed at easing custom rules to expedite global flows of goods.
[9] Governor’s call
Issue?
Raghuram Rajan has argued for a new international agreement, along the lines of the Bretton Woods conference (that yielded the International Monetary Fund and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development) to form basic rules that should be followed by central banks, especially “internationally influential central banks”.
Why such agreement is required?
While all economies, both advanced and emerging, are straining to grow faster, few are succeeding. Thus countries have resorted to “beggar thy neighbour” policies, which have proved detrimental for all economies.
What is “beggar thy neighbor policy”?
That attempts to cure a country’s balance of trade,inflation and unemployment problems by practices that harm the economic interests of its trading partners. It usually takes the form of
(1) Restricting imports by quotas or by raising tariffs
(2) Currency devaluation that makes imports more expensive and exports cheaper, or
(3) currency appreciation that reduces domestic inflation but makes its products more expensive in the importing countries.
Why he said this?
In the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, When even bringing down interest rates to zero per cent did not stimulate the economy adequately, central banks went for unconventional tools, such as quantitative easing (QE). In essence, QE is the creation of new money.
But such methods had laid to:-
1 depriciation of domestic currency
2 creation of asset bubbles
Other central banks retaliated by devaluing their currency which arguably brought down overall level of global employment. For example in 2015 china devalued its currency to boost its export.
Thus Rajan’s call for a new set of rules for assessing policies:-
- That are acceptable (green)
- That are acceptable in the short term (orange)
- That are not acceptable at all (red).
However, India cannot afford to wait for changes in the global order. India should shore up reforms that “increase competition, foster innovation, and drive institutional change.
[10] Drone-powered advertising is here
What is a “Drone”
An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone
UAVs are increasingly finding uses in civil and recreational applications,such as policing and surveillance, aerial filming, and drone racing, advertising and agriculture related work.
All drones are built to fly through remotes, GPS and other sensors from operators on the
ground. Because the drones are not built to hold a human pilot in cockpit, they can be very small
and light weight, significantly reducing the cost of operation.
Key Security issues related to drones
- Threaten airspace security to kill someone by carrying explosives
- Drone crashes is also a threat to life
- Privacy also becomes an issue, unregistered and unregulated drones might hamper the privacy of civilians, defense and government places.
Positive aspects of the technology
- Drones are going to be used more and more in areas such as farming (crop dusting), pest control, and drone-based delivery systems.
- Indian forest department is planning to use drones to track tigers in a sanctuary. And yet another report said that airport authorities are planning to train eagles to attack drones that enter the airspace reserved for landing and takeoff of aircraft.
- Cargo transport
- Archaeology
- Disaster relief
- Oil gas exploration by geophysical and geomagnetic surveys
Advertising?
Earlier full plane branding and using a “Blimp”( a low altitude flying, large flying balloon) were used
Now with the technological advancement
These low cost drones will now do the work, drone cams already fly in other countries, with proper regulations and registration,
Some company might venture out in providen camera feed to the public or their target market of different things like traffics on the road, mountain terrain, live twitter feeds directly on mobile phones, etc
[11] How India had gradually rebuilt the credibility of its economic policy
Issue
Indian economic policy is coming out of a long credibility crisis.It had lost credibility after global recession because, the targets were never met.
Story of Fiscal Policy after global crisis
- India could not meet the target of fiscal deficit under the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act (FRBM) because of global recession.
- It forced the Indian Government to spend in a bid to keep the economy on an even keel and go for fiscal expansion.
- But after that, it could never got back on the path of fiscal discipline—one important reason why India had to deal with high inflation followed by a run on the rupee in August 2013.
Story of Monetary Policy after global crisis
- Inflation went out of control once the Indian economy recovered from the immediate effects of the financial crisis.
- Interest rate hikes were delayed for too long.
- The Reserve Bank of India did not have a formal inflation target.
- There was a wide gap between what the Indian central bank said and what it delivered, and it dented the credibility of monetary policy.
- The muddled defence of the rupee in August 2013 made matters worse.
Conclusion
As a country we should make efforts to regain credibility because it has far deeper consequences in a volatile world than the immediate attractions of stimulus.
[12] Automating the ration shops
What is ration shop
A ration shop is also known as Public Distribution System(PDS) outlet. It is jointly managed by central and state governments of India.
It distributes subsidized food and non-food items to India’s poor. The item from these shops are much cheaper but are of average quality.
Ration shops are now present in most localities, villages towns and cities. India has 5,35,000 shops constituting the largest distribution network in the world.
Why automate
Ration shops provide rice, wheat, sugar, salt and kerosene, among other necessary items. They serve millions people below poverty line (BPL) in India. With the debut of the food security law, FPS has become even more important.
Corruption in PDS
- Corruption, inefficiency and leakage ever since the beginning.
- BPL family is entitled to 35 kg rice or wheat and above poverty line (APL) 15 kg of foodgrain every month but the foodgrain is either not enough to meet demand or are of inferior quality
Current state of automation
- In India, digitization, computerization and automation have done everything except providing efficiency and transparency.
- What the government often means by automation is to merely provide a few computers, software and networking—without ensuring their functioning or use—to make our lives easier.
- Out of the 2,50,000 panchayats, more than 50,000 have been provided computers and connectivity but these facilities are almost never used.
Where is automation successful
Chhattisgarh and Odisha—that have shown extraordinary success in making PDS work efficiently and equitably.
Note: There will be no 9 PM brief on 24th and 25th of March in lieu of Holi celebrations. Any important articles will be listed on Saturday i.e. 26th March
Leave a Reply