A brief of newspaper articles for the day bearing
relevance to Civil Services preparation
National
[1]. India among 4 nations to sign trade pact
Trade Pact and Its Purpose – Establishment of Commonwealth Trade Finance Facility to boost trade and investment flows, particularly for developing nations of the Commonwealth.
What is The Commonwealth of Nations?
Countries Involved
Sri Lanka, India, Malta and Mauritius
Features
- The four countries have inked the document, Declaration of Intent, as anchor investors at the ongoing Commonwealth Summit in Malta.
- The facility, structured as a guarantee fund, will cover risk for providers of trade credit in financial institutions of Commonwealth countries.
- It seeks to stimulate lending by major banks to smaller banks in member states and reduce risk.
- The fund, voluntary in nature, hopes to attract start-up capital of $ 20 million.
- It will provide member countries facing trade challenges with the funds.
- It is estimated for every dollar invested, the fund will generate $ 20, according to a release issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Sri Lanka government here.
[2]. 16 CAG reports to be tabled in winter session
Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) of India
- C&AG is an authority, established by the Constitution, audits all receipts and expenditure of the Government of India and the state governments, including those of bodies and authorities substantially financed by the government.
- The C&AG is mentioned in the Constitution of India under Article 148 – 151
- The C&AG can be removed only on an on his removel demand being approved by both the houses of parliament on the ground of proved misbehaviour or incapacity.The C&AG vacates the office on attaining the age of 65 years age even without completing the 6 years term.
Recent report
- C&AG has submitted 16 performance and compliance audit reports on various sectors to the Union Finance Ministry, and they will be tabled in Parliament this winter session.
- The reports include the audit report on paddy procurement and milling for the Central pool.
Report Findings
- The C&AG audited the financial dealings between government agencies and rice mills in eight major paddy-producing States, probing allegations that millers generated huge sums of unaccounted wealth by hiding or under-reporting earnings from the sale of by-products such as bran, husk and broken rice.
- As per government records, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Haryana, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal are among the top contributors to the Central paddy pool.
- The Central and State governments procure paddy from farmers at the minimum support price and give it to the mills for processing of rice, or millers themselves purchase paddy from farmers and process it for supply to the government.
- Under both schemes, the government collects 68 kg parboiled or 67 kg raw rice per 100-kg paddy.
- However, the lack of clarity on the pricing of the rest of the 32-33 kg by-products allowed unscrupulous millers to generate black money.
Opinions & Editorials
[1]. A setback for surrogacy in India?
- On November 4, the Supreme Court imposed a ban on foreign nationals.
- Through the introduction of the proposed Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) Bill, the Central Government now seeks to narrow surrogacy services to Indian couples or foreigners married to Indian citizens.
Steps taken by Surrogate Mother’s
- A group of surrogate mothers has moved the Supreme Court seeking a withdrawal of the November 4 circular banning foreign commissioning parents.
Reasons for Favouring Foreign Nationals Inclusion
- Group of Commercial surrogate mothers believe they are doing a “noble job”. The money doesn’t hurt either.
- They are in the business “because it also pays well.’’ Citing reasons that they dont have Pension or government security when they grow old
- Some group of women suggest that Motherhood and the ability to have children is a gift that nature has given to lucky women. They don’t think there is anything wrong in ‘gifting’ and ‘sharing’ this divine power and engaging in something that is mutually beneficially to all the parties involved.
What all are the Grey area
- Commercial surrogacy, largely an unregulated grey area, has been allowed in India since 2002.
- The Supreme Court (2008) called surrogacy a medical procedure legal in several countries including India.
The surrogacy debate started with
- It started with the Baby Manji Yamada case in which the commissioning parents divorced during the pregnancy and the commissioning mother refused to accept the baby.
- The court finally granted custody to the baby’s grandmother.
- In 2008, another case, on the citizenship of surrogate babies, led the Gujarat High Court to state that there is “extreme urgency to push through legislation” which addresses issues that arise out of surrogacy.
Present scenario
- A draft ART Bill, pending in Parliament since 2010, is now expected to be taken up in the on-going winter session.
- It is India’s first attempt at regulating the surrogacy industry which was earlier guided by the National Guidelines for Accreditation, Supervision and Regulation of ART Clinics in India, 2005, and subsequently amended in 2008, 2010 and 2013.
- It is being seen as a setback for commissioning parents.
Issues
- Almost all surrogate mothers and commissioning parents this correspondent spoke to agree that foreign surrogacy should not be stopped.
- The association of medical practitioners providing fertility treatments are concerned that the government, instead of effecting better regulation, has imposed a blanket ban on a section of customers.
- The new restrictions are too binding. One have to understand that surrogacy needs a more humane approach and more individual case-by-case attention.
- India cannot have a single blanket rule to govern the ethical and legal nuances of surrogacy.
Against
- Poor women should not be exploited in the name of noble work.
- There are many issues besides sex selection and exploitation of the poor surrogate mothers. There are countries that do not allow surrogacy. What would the nationality of the child be when the intended parents are from that country? About 48 per cent couples opting for surrogacy are foreigners.
- The that surrogates aren’t given their due.Though the couple who wants to have a baby through a surrogate mother pays anything between Rs.2 lakh to Rs.5 lakh to agents, the woman who delivers the baby gets only Rs.75,000 to Rs.1 lakh.
What India offer’s
- The country offers the best in terms of medical advancement, it’s reliable, cheap and world class.Cheap medical facilities, advanced reproductive technological knowhow, coupled with poor socio-economic conditions and a lack of regulatory laws in India are what make India an attractive option.
- Besides, surrogate mothers are available here in India which isn’t the case in most parts of the world.
Data reveals
- In India, the business of providing “wombs on rent” is now valued at $500 million. The number of cases of surrogacy is believed to be increasing at a galloping rate
- Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) data says that approximately 2,000 babies are born every year through commercial surrogacy.
- Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) figures claim that surrogacy is a $2.3 billion industry in India, because it is largely unregulated and cheap.
- Clinics function in tight cliques; unrelated centres like dental clinics sometimes assist fertility clinics, say experts.
- ICMR says that professional surrogates need to “protected against exploitation”.
What needs to be done
- We hope to ensure accountability of the ART banks and ensure that the malpractices — private clinics advertise for surrogates and the money paid is arbitrary — is eliminated altogether.
- The rights of the commissioning couples will be protected and the industry will be streamlined and brought under the preview of proper rules and regulations.
[2]. A vaccine boost to India’s polio fight
- After nearly five polio-free years, and with the launch of the inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) injection in the national immunization programme tomorrow India will be pushing for “endgame polio”.
- The injectable vaccine, which uses killed polio viruses, will be used alongside the oral polio vaccine (OPV).
Usage of IPV
- For now, immunisation using IPV will be restricted to Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.
- In the first quarter of 2016, it will be expanded to the other Northern and Northeastern States and in the second quarter, will encompass the four southern States and Maharashtra.
Features of IPV
- Cheap and easy to administer
- It has an inherent safety issue
- IPV aims to prevent vaccine caused polio cases, where viruses used in OPV cause flaccid paralysis
- Flaccid paralysis is a clinical manifestation characterized by weakness or paralysis and reduced muscle tone without other obvious cause
- Till date, India, like many other countries, has been relying on an OPV campaign-style programme several times a year to keep the naturally-occurring wild polio viruses at bay.
- All three strains of the Poliovirus (type 1, type 2 and type 3) are used in OPV.
- Type 1 is the most pervasive strain of poliovirus
- Type 2 polio virus has been eliminated in the wild.
- Type 3 is at very low levels.
- The switch from OPV with all three strains to only two strains (type 1 and type 3) will happen towards the end of April 2016.
- It is to minimise this that the Global Polio Eradication Initiative requires all countries using the three-strain to introduce at least one dose of the injectable vaccine before making the switch.
Economic Digest
[1]. What is economic reform, what is not
The modern era of economic reforms began in 1991. Here is the List of Reforms post 1991
- The Foreign Trade Policy that was unveiled in a series of steps between July 1991 and March 1992. We made a bonfire of the Red Book and the thousands of pages of gobbledegook that were passed off as export and import policies. We abolished the office of the Chief Controller of Imports and Exports. We declared that exports and imports of goods will be free. Of course, it took a few years to roll out the policy (and there is still work to be done).
- The abolition of industrial licenses that freed industries from controls on capacity, technology and prices, and promoted competition.
- The movement away from a fixed exchange rate and toward a market determined exchange rate that was started in July 1991. It was quickly followed by the repeal of FERA and the enactment of FEMA, signaling the change from “control” to “regulation”.
- The virtual creation of the Indian capital market. We abolished the office of Controller of Capital Issues and constituted SEBI. The stock market came to life.
- The repeal of key chapters of the MRTP Act. This was followed by the enactment of the Competition Commission Act, 2002. We encouraged large size and scale, but put in place a law to prevent anti-competitive agreements and abuse of dominance.
- The reduction of tax rates both direct and indirect started in 1992 but got a bold and decisive push in the budget of February 1997. Personal income tax rates of 10 percent, 20 percent and 30 percent have become irreversible. (Did you know that once upon a time the marginal rate of personal income tax was 97.5 percent?)
- The 1997 agreement between Government and RBI to end ad hoc Treasury Bills and the automatic monetization of the fiscal deficit. Government was obliged to borrow at market rates of interest and hence focus on containing the fiscal deficit.
- Disinvestment in public sector enterprises that enabled them to discover their true value and introduced a measure of accountability to shareholders. It also paved the way for Government to exit (1999-2004) from businesses it had no business to run.
- The adoption of the PPP model to garner private resources for public projects. It has yielded mixed results but, with some tweaking, it can be more successful.
- The abolition of State monopoly in telecommunications and the ushering in of the telecom revolution.
- The Aadhaar and the Direct Benefit Transfer has now been re-launched. It will drastically change the regime of subsidies and help us deliver only the absolutely necessary subsidies to the absolutely deserving beneficiaries.
What needs to be done now
If the Government is serious about economic reforms, it should try and match the above illustrative list. Swachh Bharat is the re-named and scaled-up Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan to build toilets and change human behaviour. Jan Dhan Yojana is the re-named Financial Inclusion intended to provide the poor easy access to banking services. Neither, however, qualifies as true economic reform.
There are several low-hanging “reform” fruit: GST, DTC and the recommendations of the FSLRC. Passing those Bills — through negotiation and accommodation — will be true economic reforms.
By: ForumIAS Editorial Team
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