Brief of newspaper articles for the day bearing
relevance to Civil Services preparation
- GS PAPER 2
- Myanmar’s slow, incomplete transition to democracy {International affairs}
- Capacity Crisis in Indian Air Force {International affairs}
- Why we must have water budgets {Water Scarcity}
- For security’s sake {Nuclear Diplomacy}
- Why India lags in Innovation {Research & Development + Patent}
- GS PAPER 3
- Defence policy to give a push to “Make in India”{Manufacturing + Defence Policy}
- More than reforms, implementation is the key {Economic Policy}
- Come clean on nuclear security {Nuclear Security}
- Providing transparency in rural electrification {Rural Electrification}
- Fertiliser subsidy bill set to shrink next year {Subsidies}
- Europe, after Brussels {Terrorism}
- The basis of privacy {Aadhar Bill)
- Time for brand new FRBM act {Fiscal Policy}
GS PAPER 2
[1] Myanmar’s slow, incomplete transition to democracy
Issue?
- Myanmar’s parliament has elected Htin Kyaw as the country’s next president, the first civilian leader after more than 50 years of military rule.
- Senior General, Min Aung Hlaing commented that that when a National League for Democracy (NLD)-led government is sworn in on Wednesday, it would only mark progress towards a predominantly civilian government, not an establishment of full democracy.
- This statement is seen as a reaction to Aung San Suu Kyi’s remarks to BBC wherein she said that any attempt to intervene in her work would be against the will of the people.
What is constitutional Provision?
- Representatives of the armed forces will continue to retain three important portfolios in the Cabinet — home, defence and border affairs.
- Home Ministry is particularly significant, as it is not only responsible for maintaining peace and internal security, but all civil servants, right down to district level, report to it.
Thus the armed forces could indirectly “impede implementation of policies” of ministries.
Why Suu Kyi could not take the presidency herself?
- A clause in the constitution, widely seen as being tailored against her, says anyone whose children have another nationality cannot become president. Her children hold British passports.
- But she was permitted to take over the reins of power in the realms of economic development and external affairs.
[2] Capacity Crisis in Indian Air Force
Report
by Ashley Tellis, Senior Associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
- Falling end strength and problematic force structure
- Combined with its troubled acquisition and development program
- Air dominance is vital for India if it is to have deterrence stability in southern Asia and for preserving the strategic balance in the wider Indo-Pacific region.
- IAF’s fighter force is weaker than the numbers suggest, and “at nominally 36.5 squadrons, it is well short of its sanctioned strength, and many of its frontline aircraft are obsolete
- IAF’s desire for 42–45 squadrons by 2027, which is the equivalent of around 750–800 aircraft, is “compelling”, yet the likelihood of reaching this goal is “poor”.
- The report urges India to be “cautious about expanding the Tejas acquisition beyond six squadrons and consider enlarging the MMRCA component with the cheapest fourth-generation-plus Western fighter available”.
Solution :
IAF is hampered by serious constraints on India’s defence budget
- Constraints imposed by the acquisition process should be resolved
- Meagre achievements of the country’s domestic development organisations
- Weaknesses of the higher defence management system delays the growth
- India’s inability to reconcile the need for self-sufficiency in defence production with the necessity of maintaining technological superiority over rivals
This approach may make sense from a cost perspective in that India could save money for a probable future purchase of the F-35.
However, it may also slow India’s progress in building up its security posture in the manner envisioned by the Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) tender, under which another 90 advanced fighters are still required.
[3] Why we must have water budgets
News
Protest by farmers in Chikballapur, over the scarcity of drinking water
Why?
- Groundwater plays an important role in our lives and India’s economy
- it is disappearing fast
- we are extracting more than can be naturally replenished
- Groundwater-dependent towns and villages spend lot of money chasing the water table
Central Ground Water Board
- One third of groundwater is “overexploited” or “semi-critical”.
Why we are unable to address it?
- partly in politics
- partly in the invisible nature of groundwater
- partly in our reliance on simple techno-economic fixes.
- Flawed regulatory structure
- Electricity problem
- Electricity is supplied to farmers free of cost. This policy made sense when groundwater was abundant in the 1980s. Indeed, it helped millions of farmers escape poverty. But today, where groundwater levels have fallen hundreds of feet below the ground, the subsidy is actually only utilised by the richest farmers who can afford to drill deep.
- Now charging farmers for electricity is double jeopardy.
- aquifers and rivers are also interconnected, depleting groundwater means drying rivers.
- groundwater and rivers are regulated by different agencies that do not properly account for the linkages between them
Solutions
- techno-economic fixes, reducing pumping costs and using local aquifers instead of building big, expensive dams
- Boosting recharge through rainwater harvesting
- improve efficiency through subsidised drip irrigation or energy-saving pumps.
Techno-economic fixes do not address the problem without these:
- Without understanding how much water is available, how much is being used and by whom (People and Ecosystem)
- Water budgeting, ensuring that water resources are allocated between communities fairly and transparently.
- Use of low-water-use crops, xeriscaping
- Economic incentives that reduce actual water use
- Strong water governance system based on awareness building, science and a commitment to fairness and sustainability.
[4] For security’s sake
Nuclear Security Summit (NSS)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be in Washington DC this week to attend the fourth and last Nuclear Security Summit (NSS) — the series was launched by US President Barack Obama in Washington in 2010.
- This year’s summit will be attended by 53 states and four global institutions, which cover 98 per cent of the nuclear material on the planet.
- Iran and North Korea are not invited, and Russian President Vladimir Putin will stay away due to his differences with Obama over Ukraine.
What will happen at the summit
- The current edition will review the work done on nuclear security over the last six years.
- India has played an active role in these summits and made a voluntary contribution of $1 million to the Nuclear Security Fund.
- New Delhi has also established a Global Centre of Excellence for Nuclear Energy Partnership, where more than a dozen national and international training programmes have been conducted so far.
NSS has also attracted much criticism.
- With the process limited to non-military purposes, 83 per cent of nuclear material is outside its ambit.
- Despite being projected as one of its initial goals, the NSS has not been able to amend the IAEA’s convention on nuclear safety.
- That there is no legally binding outcome at the end of six years of the NSS process is seen as a major drawback.
- The NSS has, instead, focused on asking countries to tighten their national laws, rules and capabilities on nuclear security.
- This has meant that military facilities are treated as national responsibilities and dealt with as per international obligations.
Achievements of the Nuclear Summit
- NSS raised awareness about the threat of nuclear terrorism
- Its scenario-based threat analysis has led to the personal involvement of political leaders of major countries.
- 15 MT of highly enriched uranium (HEU) has been down-blended to low-enriched uranium
- 24 countries have agreed to give up their stocks of HEU
India
- India aims to establish India as a responsible nuclear-weapons state and ensure India’s participation in civilian international nuclear trade.
- India’s interests at the NSS lie in ensuring that all nuclear materials and facilities — in India and its neighbourhood — are subjected to the highest levels of security to prevent them from falling into the hands of terrorists.
[5] Why India lags in Innovation
International patent applications filed from India
According to figures released by the Geneva-based World Intellectual Property Organization under the Patent Cooperation Treaty,
- 1,320 in 2013
- 1,428 in 2014
- 1,423 in 2015
Internationally
- Japan’s 44,235
- China’s 29,846
- South Korea’s 14,626
- US filed 57,385
In 2014, Indian Research and Manufacturing entities,
both in the private and public sector, filed 1,428 international patent applications
- 42,381 by Japan
- 25,548 by China
- 13,117 by South Korea.
China
- A late entrant into the world of innovation and inventions, is now racing ahead in its long march to be the world’s champion of the latest technologies.
- It has developed technologies across areas, including solar technologies for harnessing renewable power
- China’s Huawei Technologies, with 3,898 patent applications, almost three times the number of patent applications filed from India, ranks first among companies in the world.
India’s Paradox
- India has eclipsed China as the world’s fastest growing major economy with its gross domestic product forecast to increase to 7.6% in the fiscal year through March, it has performed poorly in generating measurable innovative activity.
- Despite sending an orbiter to Mars and making strides in fields such as pharmaceutical products, India is nowhere to be seen on the international science and technology radar.
India lacks in innovation- Questions to answer
- Is it due to a lack of investment in basic and applied science and technology that is essential for innovation which, in turn, accelerates the pace of intellectual property activities?
- Can innovation and inventions happen in India when there is no transmission of existing knowledge, which is the basis for the generation of new knowledge?
- Will undermining scientific inquiry and questioning solve the problems India is facing and putting aside the social beliefs?
Solution
India’s initiatives in innovation
- It has notched up overseas investment commitments of more than $400 billion over the past two years.
- The government plans to create 100 million new factory jobs by 2022 and increase manufacturing’s share in the economy to 25% during the next six years.
- That India is open to international business and willing to remove all regulatory hurdles to embrace foreign capital
But, in one area, the Make in India programme is yet to generate positive results. This is the area of “incidence and location of innovation”, which is a prerequisite for generating new knowledge in science and technology.
GS PAPER 3
[1] Defence policy to give a push to “Make in India”
Defence Ministry publicly announced the new Defence Procurement Policy,
- at the inauguration of DefExpo, an exhibition of land and naval systems
- in Goa
- participation of 1,055 companies from 47 countries and 224 delegations from 48 countries.
Main aim
- to speedy procurement, focus on indigenous design and development and lay emphasis on Make in India.
FDI limit remains 49 per cent through the automatic route, a higher percentage can be considered on special cases
Boost will be given to small and medium enterprises in the sector
Self-reliance is “a major corner-stone
focal point of the defence acquisition policy/procedure will be Make in India.
New Category?
Newly incorporated procurement class called “Buy (Indian-IDDM)”, where IDDM stands for Indigenous Designed Developed and Manufactured.
- refers to the procurement from an Indian vendor of either products that have been indigenously designed, developed and manufactured with a minimum of 40 per cent indigenous content or products having 60 per cent of it on a cost basis but not designed and developed indigenously.
Policy also liberalised the offset liability for foreign vendors, which makes companies to invest 30% of contract value in india.
While offset was compulsory for all contracts more than Rs. 300 crore earlier, the minimum contract value has now been increased to Rs. 2,000 crore.
Policy has also omitted the seventh chapter titled ‘Strategic Partners and Partnerships’.
[2] More than reforms, implementation is the key
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said
- Even more than reforms, India needed improved implementation.
- government is plugging leakages in social expenditure, building infrastructure and focussing on improving implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and the National Food Security Act.
- Reformed policies is needed instead new policies
Outcomes
- Nationwide implementation of national food security act
- Reduced leakages in MGNREGA to ensure that the benefit reaches to the poor.
Narendra modi also pointed out that low global trade and growth and drought years 2014 and 2015 does lowers that trade. But food production remained much higher and inflation much lower if we compare it with 2009-10 drought year.
He also said that Stand Up scheme to come on 5 april 2,50,000 entrepreneurship loans to women and Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
[3] Come clean on nuclear security
Issue?
- This week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be in Washington, DC for the fourth and final Nuclear Security Summit, a biennial conference series initiated in 2010 by the Barack Obama administration.
What is expected from India there?
It is expected to break silence on two questions
- How can India address disquieting signals that have emerged in recent times, which point to growing concerns over the security of its nuclear materials.
- As India’s macro strategy of rapid economic development is premised on peace and stability in the neighbour, is it not appropriate that India call for an end to the nuclear arms race in Asia, and address environmental risks of India’s covert weapons plants.
India’s Nuclear security
- The need for heightened nuclear security has now become urgent, especially with the emergence of global jihadi threats such as the Islamic State.
Thus potential nuclear threats are:-
- Extremists making or acquiring and exploding a nuclear bomb.
- The danger of radioactive material being fashioned into a “dirty bomb”
- The risk of nuclear reactor sabotage.
According to a paper published by Harvard university Indian nuclear security measures is “weaker than those of Pakistan and Russia.
Further there are concerns about threats within Indian nuclear facilities stemming in part from “significant insider corruption”
Environmental impact
- Evidence suggests that the Chitradurga and Khudapura sites may be degrading the surrounding grassland ecosystems called kavals, which are habitats for critically endangered local species such as the Great Indian Bustard, the Lesser Florican and the Black Buck, not to mention the livelihoods source for thousands of pastoral communities.
[4] Providing transparency in rural electrification
Issue
Rural electrification has been an enduring challenge for successive governments. Given India’s federal structure:
- States provide last-mile connectivity which includes providing access to and distributing electricity, and maintaining infrastructure
- Central government provides policy and financial support.
- Based on Census 2011, States had provided a list of 18,452 un-electrified villages as on April 1, 2015.
Shortcomings in rural electrification
- Un-electrified villages located in inaccessible or left-wing extremism-affected areas.
- Over the last three years, there has been a rapid decline in the pace of rural electrification to only 5,189 villages.
- Several States, particularly in eastern India, have seen even lower levels of electrification.
- Uttar Pradesh electrified just 64 villages against the 1,518 that were sanctioned
- Bihar electrified only 1,248 villages against the 9,246 that were sanctioned.
National Democratic Alliance government launched the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY) to ensure
- Rapid electrification
- Feeder separation
- Strengthening of rural distribution infrastructure.
- Metering to reduce the losses
Solution:
Grameen Vidyut Abhiyantas( GVA)
- Central government appointed 309 young and passionate engineers
- To transparently monitor the process
- Reports by these GVAs are shared through the GARV (Grameen Vidyutikaran) app with officials as well as the public.
- It puts pressure on State governments for timely and quality delivery.
Transparent monitoring system to bring accountability
- Villages are electrified as per the old 10 per cent household connectivity criterion, but the Central government aims at connecting 100 per cent households of the 18,452 villages.
- Habitations with less than 100 people (Dhanis, Majalas, Tolas, etc.) outside revenue villages were not even included earlier, but are now electrified.
- GVAs provide a verification mechanism in a bold, transparent, and reliable manner.
- GVA verification would be mandatory for electrified villages so that States provide accurate data.
[5] Fertiliser subsidy bill set to shrink next year
Subsidy bill shrink by about Rs.10,000 crore in next financial year
How?
Cut in nutrient-based subsidy rates and the lower price of gas, the key feedstock in urea production, according to Crisil.
- Phosphatic fertilisers cut by Rs. 5,000 crore
- Nitrogen and phosphatic nutrients would be cut by Rs.5 a kg and Rs.5.4 a kg, respectively, amounting to a 25-30 per cent reduction.
- The subsidy rate for potassic nutrients was kept largely unchanged.
Poor monsoon over the last two years has created a vicious cycle in the fertiliser sector.
- Burdened it with excess inventory, estimated at around 5 million tonnes, which is equivalent to 90-100 days of consumption
- That means manufacturers will have limited ability to increase prices to compensate for the reduction in subsidy, which, in turn, increases their dependence on monsoons.
[6] Europe, after Brussels
Issue
The belgium bombings have left a question mark on the security of the country
What’s the explanation for this generation
- If 8.5 per cent Belgians are unemployed, this scourge affects 25 percent of North African or Maghreb-origin workers.
- This rate is sometimes two-times higher among the youth in certain neighbourhoods.
- In this hotbed without hope, radical discourse takes root more easily.
In the 1990s,
- Belgium has been a nerve centre for arms trafficking in Europe.
- Albanian and Chechen mafia networks were able to gain a foothold in eastern Belgium.
- It’s thought that it was in Charleroi that Amedy Coulibaly procured the weapons he used to attack the kosher supermarket in Paris on January 9, 2015.
Challenges to overcome and solution
Europe is struggling to find a joint response. Ten years have elapsed since some states wished to adopt the common PNR (passenger name records), which would centralise information on flight passengers. This will not only provide a track of all the passengers travelling in the transport system but also keep strong vigil on suspicious persons.
[7] The basis of privacy
Issue?
- It is about privacy issue in Aadhar Bill.
- Core deficiency rested not in the lack of protections in the Aadhaar bill but in the absence of a comprehensive privacy statute to develop and enforce them.
Any committee on Privacy?
- In 2012 the Government of India established a committee of experts on privacy, chaired by Justice AP Shah (Shah Committee) to review international best practices on privacy and recommend a framework for a privacy legislation in India.
- Committee suggested nine distinct principles canonising the right to privacy.
An analysis of the Aadhaar bill shows that it does not even recognise some of these nine principles. For instance, take the principle of access; a person cannot in any instance demand access to their core biometric information under the Aadhaar bill.
- But greater difficulty exists in enforcing the safeguards of the bill.
- Three forms of judicial remedy usually enforced are civil, criminal and the writ jurisdiction of high courts and the Supreme Court.
- Civil Remedies
The bill oust the jurisdiction of civil courts in favour of the penalties setup under the Information Technology Act. But the existing penalties under the IT Act are deficient. Also the adjucating officers are not trained thus not adequately capable. It results in arise in appeal against order. Moreover the Cyber Appellate Tribunal that hears such appeals has not been properly constituted and is not functioning.
- Criminal Remedies
Only the UIDAI can make complaints for the offences contained under the Aadhaar bill. Not only is this a conflict of interest but it also takes away the Aadhaar user’s recourse to a criminal remedy.
- Writ
It would normally be expected that a person would be able to approach an HC if the UIDAI does not provide authentication as it is intended to do, or fails to correct the data records. However, these rights are problematically phrased as “requests” for supplying and correcting information.
This was the reason why Justice Shah report suggested a comprehensive legislation to safeguard privacy and also the office of a central privacy commissioner to develop and apply it.
[8] Time for brand new FRBM act
Issue?
- The finance minister, in his budget speech, announced that a committee would be set up to review the implementation of the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act (FRBM Act) and suggest modifications for the future.
What is FRBM Act?
- (FRBM) became an Act in 2003. The objective of the Act is to ensure inter-generational equity in fiscal management.
- It specifies reduction of fiscal deficit to 3% of the GDP by 2008-09 with annual reduction target of 0.3% of GDP per year by the Central government.
- Revenue deficit has to be reduced by 0.5% of the GDP per year with complete elimination to be achieved by 2008-09.
The FRBM Act, 2003, has many flaws and we need to reflect on five issues and produce a truly modern act.
1. Are fiscal rules really helpful?
- The FRBM Act succeeded in disciplining the states, because the states cannot borrow without the permission of the centre, but it was spectacularly ineffective in disciplining the centre.
- Sovereign governments are not easily disciplined by fiscal rules unless Parliament is an effective watchdog. This is possible in a presidential system but not in a parliamentary system, where the government can have its way because it commands a majority in the legislature.
- Nevertheless, well-designed fiscal rules can at least help encourage a spirited discussion in Parliament
Notwithstanding these problems, there is merit in having transparent and credible fiscal rules, even if they can be flouted.
2. What is a reasonable fiscal deficit
- The existing FRBM Act prescribes a target fiscal deficit of 3% of GDP for the centre but with no explicit justification for the number.
- Since there is also a separate limit for the states (although not specified in the Act), the combined fiscal deficit (general government deficit in International Monetary Fund terminology) is much larger.
- Fourteenth Finance Commission (chaired by Y.V. Reddy), for example, has explicitly recommended a 3% fiscal deficit for the centre and another 3% for the states, yielding a combined limit of 6% per year for the period 2015-16 to 2019-20.
- Reasonability of a fiscal deficit can be determined by looking at two criteria: does it “crowd out” private investment and does it worsen debt sustainability?
- Crowd out
The difference between the net financial savings of household and combined fiscal deficit of centre and state would be left for corporate sector to invest. Thus increase in fiscal deficit would leave less money for private sector to invest.
- Debt Sustainability
Since fiscal deficit is equal to the increase in total government debt at the end of the year, the size of the deficit in successive years determines what happens to the government debt-to-GDP ratio.
- Thus ideally, the FRBM Act should not prescribe specific numbers. Instead it should require the government to present every year an explicit analysis of the crowding-out implications and government debt-to-GDP ratio implications.
3. Apportioning the total deficit between the centre and states
- The total deficit as determined above has to be apportioned between the centre and the states.
- Past practice would allow each state to borrow up to 1% of its gross state domestic product (GSDP). This seems fair, but it can be argued that states with high debt ratios should borrow less and states with a low growth potential should also borrow less. This may seem unfair, but financially weak states should be helped with more grant funds and not more borrowings.
4. Should fiscal targets be flexible?
- In a cyclical downturn, it doesn’t make sense to adhere to the earlier deficit target by cutting expenditures or raising taxes. Instead, we should allow the deficit to exceed the target as a contra-cyclical measure. However, it should not be an open-ended departure from the target, but one which ensures that the “structurally adjusted” deficit remains on track.
- The structurally adjusted deficit is what the deficit would have been if the cyclical shocks had not occurred
- The approach must be symmetric—when positive shocks produce an unexpected gain in revenue, the observed fiscal deficit should be lower than the target.
- Flexibility may also be needed because of non-cyclical shocks, for example a permanent increase in oil prices. In such a situation the correct approach is to determine a new fiscal trajectory, which takes appropriate account of crowding out and the debt/GDP ratio.
5. Would a Fiscal Accountability Council help?
- Both the Thirteenth Finance Commission and the Fourteenth Finance Commission recommended the establishment of an autonomous body to review fiscal performance under the FRBM Act
- This could evolve into a statutory Fiscal Council, reporting to Parliament through the finance ministry.
- It would certainly improve the quality of Parliamentary oversight and also contribute to a more informed public debate.
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