Brief of newspaper articles for the day bearing
relevance to Civil Services preparation
- GS PAPER 2
- Bitter medicine for the Centre {Judiciary}
- NOTA on my ballot { Judiciary}
- Unseeing the drought { Welfare Schemes}
- GS PAPER 3
- SC ‘no’ to smaller pictorial warnings on tobacco packets {Bills and Laws}
- Low inflation shows oil price benefit passed on: Pradhan {Economy}
- National insecurity {Security}
- The pulse of India’s agrarian economy {Agriculture}
- The global growth funk deepens {Economy}
GS PAPER 2
[1] Bitter medicine for the Centre
The Supreme Court has set up a three-member committee headed by former Chief Justice of India R.M. Lodha to perform the statutory functions of the Medical Council of India.
Issues which needs reform on urgent basis are:
- Need to reduce the cost of medical education and increase access in different parts of the country.
- Need to improve the doctor-to-population ratio, which is one for every 1,674 persons, as per the parliamentary panel report, against the WHO-recommended one to 1,000.
- Need to remove bottlenecks to start medical colleges, such as conditions stipulating the possession of a vast extent of land and needlessly extensive infrastructure, and to considerably rectify the imbalance, especially in underserved States.
- The primary criterion to set up a college should only be the availability of suitable facilities to impart quality medical education.
- The development of health facilities has long been affected by a sharp asymmetry between undergraduate and postgraduate seats in medicine.
- There are only about 25,000 PG seats, against a capacity of 55,000 graduate seats. The Lodha committee will review this gap.
- National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test, some States
- Will addresses issues such as the urban-rural divide and language barriers.
The single most important issue that the Lodha committee would have to address is corruption in medical education, in which the MCI is mired.
- Appointing prominent persons from various fields to a restructured council would shine the light of transparency, and save it from reverting to its image as an “exclusive club” of socially disconnected doctors.
[2] NOTA on my ballot
Context
- A symbol has been allotted to “none of the above”, or NOTA.
Symbol
- The last option on the electronic voting machine (EVM) now carries a symbol of a big cross mark to denote NOTA.
- It was designed by Ahmedabad’s National Institute of Design .
Background
- Earlier, voters could deface the ballot paper or leave it unmarked to cast an invalid vote.
- With EVMs, a vote is deemed to have been taken place only when a button is pressed. So, a voter could not register discontent.
- With a view to bringing about purity in elections, the Supreme Court in its landmark judgement in 2013 held that a voter could exercise the option of negative voting and reject all candidates as unworthy of being elected.
- The Supreme Court had clarified that a high NOTA count would not invalidate an election and the highest-polling candidate would be declared elected.
NOTA, so far
- Voting NOTA is a statement of intent.
- NOTA votes are disproportionately higher in reserved constituencies, at the Lok Sabha and Assembly levels, revealing an undercurrent of social prejudice.
- In the 2013 Assembly elections in Chhattisgarh, for example, it was more than 3 per cent of total votes cast — indicating possibly coercion (whereby a voter forced to cast her ballot beats the effort by invalidating it) or relatively higher alienation.
[3] Unseeing the drought
Context
- Around one-third of the residents in India’s countryside are in the severe grip of drought – which is lingering on for the third consecutive year now.
Problems faced because of drought
- Near-zero yields, sinking groundwater levels, drying streams and reservoirs have resulted in a massive slowdown in agricultural growth — it grew by minus 0.2 per cent in 2014-15, with no imminent signs of recovery.
- For millions of farmers, especially the small and marginal ones who are most dependent on rains, there is little food and almost no work alternative. The rural reality is stark:
- Around 55 per cent of households have no land at all, and are entirely dependent on manual labour to provide food to their families. But outside farming, there is little work available in the countryside.
The human consequences of this massive distress movement of people are inestimable. The avoidable suffering of millions of children, women and men in today’s India, because they lack food, work and water, still does not create public outrage, much less elementary accountability from governments.
Even the past was rosy when compared to the present
- Pre -independence, even the colonial governments were guided in times of scarcity by famine codes, which contained detailed guidelines to employ all persons who seek work in low-paid public works, to enable survival.
- These were combined with programmes of distress-feeding of children, the old and sick, and starving; fodder camps for cattle; and the transportation of water.
The times today are dramatically different. In the glitter of contemporary India, the issues of urban areas and other problems which are much less significant than those of drought affected rural people, is given more importance.
What should the govt do?
- The first priority of the Central government in times of scarcity should be to ensure the creation of millions of additional person-days of work in all affected villages. Instead, we find that it continues a policy of false claims, low-resourcing and poor management of highly delayed financial flows.
- Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), which creates legal obligations on governments to create at least 100 days of work in a year for all rural households that seek wage work in rural public works close to their homes has a potential to deal with such distress.
- Also,given the scale of distress of landless workers, small and marginal farmers and livestock rearing communities in times of recurring scarcity, it can reasonably be expected that there would be a huge spurt of demand for employment in these times.
MGNREGA – the saviour, too is marred with problems
- The finance minister claimed he had allocated the highest ever resources to MGNREGA in the 2016 budget. However, allocations have actually fallen significantly in real terms. The allocations made in the current budget is Rs 38,500 crore. Of this, as much as Rs 12,590 crore is required to meet the record high of pending liabilities at the end of the last financial year (2015-16). Therefore, the amount of resources required to meet wage demands in the current year is only Rs 25,910 crore.
- This huge bill of pending liabilities simply means that workers have not been paid wages, often for several months, for work done in the past.
- If wages are delayed so extensively even during times of acute distress then a precariously surviving impoverished person cannot rely on MGNREGA to extend wage and social protection in normally lean times.
- Also, by deliberately delaying fund releases to states, the Central government ensures that fewer and fewer workers actually demand work under the programme. Chronically delayed payments kill the demand for work and thereby subvert the central purpose of the law – a demand-led programme, in which the Central government is legally bound to provide all the resources needed to meet the demands for work.
Merely providing additional days of work is not the solution
- Drought has been declared in 10 states. The Union government made a grand announcement of 50 days additional work in drought affected areas, but it did not back it with the allocation of a single additional rupee.An additional 50 days of work just for drought affected job-card holders would require an additional allocation of Rs 15,000 crore. This allocation seems a far fetched dream when the govt is not releasing even the pending funds.
Conclusion
- The govt must take the necessary steps to streamline MGNREGA along with the drought distress faced by the people.
- It must ensure that the additional days of work under MGNREGA come with additional funds and pending liabilities are cleared.
- It must make effective policy framework to deal with such situations effectively in future.
GS PAPER 3
[1] SC ‘no’ to smaller pictorial warnings on tobacco packets
News
The Supreme Court has refused to shrink the size of pictorial health warnings on cigarette and tobacco packets and asked manufacturers to abide by a Health Ministry notification on increasing the size of the warning messages to 85 per cent from the present 20 per cent of the principal display area on packets from April 1.
Why are pictorial warnings necessary
- The positive effects of shocking images on tobacco users have been well documented.
- Nearly 67 per cent of smokers in Brazil and New Zealand and 44 per cent in the case of Canada and Thailand wanted to quit smoking as a result of graphic pictorial warnings.
- In the UK, the most graphic pictures that revealed the negative health impacts of smoking received the most votes from the people. Ditto in the case of Canada. “Participants consistently expected or wanted to be shocked by [health warning messages], or emotionally affected in some ways
A picture speaks a thousand words
If pictorial warnings can create awareness of all the harmful effects of tobacco consumption even among a large chunk of the educated population, the benefits will be tremendously high in the case of poor, illiterate people.
[2] Low inflation shows oil price benefit passed on: Pradhan
Since the last two years, the ballpark figures for inflation have been under control: Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Mr. Pradhan
How come?
- If we had not passed on the crude oil price benefit to the consumer, the transportation sector would not have seen so much rationality in prices.
Profitability ratio:
- Today, 50 per cent of the profitability due to the slide in oil prices has been passed on to consumers.
- The remaining 50 per cent was kept with the Centre.
- Of that 50 per cent, 42 per cent is transferred to the states as per the 14th Finance Commission’s recommendations.
There is no developed country that has transferred the benefit of sliding oil prices to the consumers in any real way.
What is the government’s logic to raise taxes on fuels while global prices fell?
- If you make the consumer vulnerable by exposing him to low prices, then he will feel such a pinch when the prices go up.
Central and state-level taxes now account for around 60 per cent of the final price of petrol and 55 per cent of the final price of diesel in the national capital, as per official data. The minister said that the high proportion of taxes on petrol and diesel could be reduced when oil prices rise again.
Minister pointed out:
Is energy only the diesel that is put in sports utility vehicles (SUVs)?
- It is also the clean fuel that should go into houses.
- Centre has been using the fuel tax receipts to finance critical development programs such as affordable housing, cooking gas connections for the poor and so on.
LPG
- LPG came in the country in 1955.
- From then to May 2014, India had 130 million active LPG connections.
- In the last 22 months, we have added 35 million new LPG connections
- we have brought in the Ujjwala Yojana where, in the next three years, we will add five crore LPG connections in the names of the women in BPL households, with financial support from the government.
PTI reports:
Some Facts
- Centre saved over Rs.21,000 crore in LPG subisdy in the last two financial years as paying the dole directly into bank accounts of actual users helped eliminate duplicate connections as well as diversions.
- The government began paying subsidy directly into bank accounts of cooking gas consumers in select districts from November 2014 and in the rest of the country from January 1, 2015.
- As on April 1, 2015, there were 18.19 crore registered LPG consumers and 14.85 crore active consumers implying a gap of 3.34 crore consumers which were duplicate, fake or inactive.
- Eliminating such 3.34 crore consumers helped save Rs.14,672 crore in 2014-15 fiscal.
- The saving in 2015-16 was about Rs.7,000 crore, lower than the previous fiscal mainly because global oil prices slumped, cutting the subsidy required.
[3] National insecurity
Issue
- Accountability needs to be set for lapses in the National Security.
Context
- Something is seriously wrong with our counter-terror security establishment,” Parliament’s Standing Committee on Home Affairs has reported regarding attack on the Indian Air Force base in Pathankot.
- It said that something is seriously wrong with our counter-terror security establishment,
- Its calls for more effective police action against cross-border trafficking, to “effectively seal the border” and for “better intelligence and operational coordination”
Moment of Truth
- The truth is that the resources to do what the committee knows needs doing just do not exist.
- Funds are not available even for fuel and maintenance needs for Punjab Police patrol vehicles.
- BSF is desperately short of officer-rank personnel.
- IB and R&AW are over a third short of staff allocations.
- Throughout the security sector, training standards are being diluted, and specialist skills are in short supply.
Problem
Accountability can’t be demanded unless security forces are given functional autonomy, and credible resources to go with it.
[4] The pulse of India’s agrarian economy
The severe drought across India should hopefully help focus attention on the overuse of water in agriculture.
- A data analysis showed that the average water footprint for five major crops—rice, wheat, maize, sugarcane and cotton—is far higher than global averages.
Time to Change
- In 1960s. the dominant role was given to water-intensive cereals
- It is time India switched its policy focus to the efficiency of water use rather than adding to the food mountain.
- One key element of this switch should be greater incentives for the cultivation of pulses as well as millets because
- They use less water for every unit of output
- It also acts as a weapon in the fight against hidden hunger.
Why in news?
- Maharashtra government has taken a few baby steps to help farmers move away from crops that use water intensively.
- It will make it more attractive for farmers to grow pulses by offering to pay a guaranteed price that is 5-10% higher than the central minimum support prices (MSPs) for pulses, as well as provide free seeds and fertilizers to farmers who grow pulses.
- This is a welcome beginning in a state that is dominated by the sugar lobby, and an experiment that other state governments should keep a keen eye on.
We need to apply this on national level
- Rising prices of these pulses are not only a big contributor to high food inflation.
- We are importing pulses to feed growing demand in India.
- To minimize the wedge between domestic prices and zero-tariff import prices, the government should also consider doing away with export duties on pulses.
- This will prompt farmers to produce more for both the domestic and foreign markets.
Conclusion
- The centre and states would also do well to simultaneously focus on insuring farmers, raising yields within water constraints, enhancing food processing and storage facilities and abandoning export controls. A shift in the highly skewed cropping pattern of the country is the need of the hour.
[5] The global growth funk deepens
Context
- The International Monetary Fund and others have recently revised downward their forecasts for global growth. And as things are running world over,, we are likely to remain in what the IMF calls the “new mediocre”, Larry Summers calls “secular stagnation”, and the Chinese call the “new normal”.
State of Affairs in Advanced economies
- US has just experienced two quarters of growth averaging 1%.
- Monetary easing has boosted a cyclical recovery in the euro zone, though potential growth in most countries remains well below 1%.
- In Japan, ‘Abenomics’ is running out of steam, with the economy slowing since mid-2015 and now close to recession.
- In the UK, uncertainty surrounding the June referendum on continued European Union membership is leading firms to keep hiring and capital spending on hold.
- And other advanced economies—such as Canada, Australia, Norway—face headwinds from low commodity prices.
State of Affairs in Emerging economies
- Among the five BRICS countries, two (Brazil and Russia) are in recession, one (South Africa) is barely growing, another (China) is experiencing a sharp structural slowdown, and India is doing well, comparatively, as others are going through tough times.
- Many other emerging markets have slowed since 2013 as well, owing to weak external conditions, economic fragility (stemming from loose monetary, fiscal and credit policies in the good years), and, often, a move away from market-oriented reforms and towards variants of state capitalism.
Key Observations:-
- Potential growth has also fallen in both advanced and emerging economies.
- The rise in income and wealth inequality exacerbates the global saving glut. As income is redistributed from labour to capital, it flows from those who have a higher marginal propensity to spend (labour) to those who have a higher marginal propensity to save(capital).
- A protracted cyclical slump can lead to lower trend growth. Economists call this “hysteresis”: Long-term unemployment erodes workers’ skills and human capital; and, because innovation is embedded in new capital goods, low investment leads to permanently lower productivity growth.
- Asymmetric adjustment between debtor and creditor economies has also undermined growth. The former, having overspent and under-saved, had to spend less and save more when markets forced them to do so, whereas the latter were not forced to spend more and save less. This exacerbated the global savings glut and global investment slump.
Way ahead
- There are no politically easy solutions to the global economy’s current quandary.
- Unsustainably high debt should be reduced in a rapid and orderly fashion, to avoid a long and protracted (often a decade or longer) deleveraging process.
- But orderly debt-reduction mechanisms are not available for sovereign countries and are politically difficult to implement within countries for households, firms and financial institutions.
- Likewise, structural and market-oriented reforms are necessary to boost potential growth.
- But, given the timing of costs and benefits, such measures are especially unpopular if an economy is already in a slump.
Is the “new mediocre” a healthy order?
- There is nothing normal or healthy about economic performance that is increasing inequality and, in many countries, leading to a populist backlash—both on the right and the left—against trade, globalization, migration, technological innovation and market-oriented policies
1. The lead article of the day is covered under Editorial Today. Click here to read.
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