9 PM Daily Brief – 11th December 2015

A brief of newspaper articles for the day bearing
relevance to Civil Services preparation

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National

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[1]. Supreme Court upholds Haryana Panchayat law

 What has happened?

In what may be a precedent preventing illiterate persons from participating in grass roots democracy, the Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a Haryana State law mandating that only those having “minimum” educational qualifications will be eligible to contest panchayat elections in the State

 

Minimum educational qualifications necessary under The Haryana Panchayati Raj (Amendment) Act, 2015

1. Completion of matriculation in case of general candidates;
2. Completion of Class 8 for a woman candidate or a candidate belonging to Scheduled Caste;
3. Completion of Class 5 pass for a Scheduled Caste woman candidate contesting for the post of ‘Panch’

 

Ground of disqualification under the act

1. Failure to pay arrears to any primary agriculture co-operative society or agriculture co-operative banks,
2. Failure to pay electricity bill arrears
3. Not having a functional toilet at home

 

Impact of the judgement

1. The law leaves 68 per cent of the Scheduled Caste women and 41 per cent of the Scheduled Caste men in Haryana ineligible to contest panchayat elections. The judgment may become a rallying point for other States also to amend their laws in the same fashion.

 

Reasons given for the verdict

1. There is nothing “irrational or illegal or unconnected” if the law prescribes minimum educational qualification for candidates. Basic education would “enable the candidates to effectively discharge duties of the panchayat.”
2. It is only education which gives a human being the power to discriminate between right and wrong, good and bad. Therefore, prescription of an educational qualification is not irrelevant for better administration
3. Law was necessary to elect “model representatives for local self government for better administrative efficiency

 

[2]. Kerala is expected to be declared first digital state

 What has happened?

Kerala is expected to be declared the first digital State in the country shortly, on the strength of its digital infrastructure and e-governance initiatives. Discussions are on to get Prime Minister Narendra Modi to make the declaration

High mobile and Internet penetration and the increasing use of smart phones had hastened the evolution of Kerala as a digital society. Various initiatives under the digital Kerala programme have been critical in bridging the digital divide in the state.

What is digital divide?

Digital divide is a term that refers to the gap between demographics and regions that have access to modern information and communications technology, and those that don’t or have restricted access. This technology can include the telephone, television, personal computers and the Internet

 

[3]. Anti-Dengue vaccine brings hope

 What has happened?

The Mexican government has approved the world’s first anti-dengue vaccine which is designed to protect people in the 9-45 age group from nine to 45 years from all four subtypes of the virus.

Name of the vaccine: Dengvaxia

Developed by – the vaccine has been developed by France-based Sanofi Pasteur and is the result of an extensive clinical development programme running for almost two decades

 

India will be able to benefit because it is seeing rising number of dengue cases year after year.

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International

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[1]. Global NGOs want road map to 1.5^oC, not just a target

 

What has happened?

Global NGOs have raised a joint demand that the final pact spell out the road map to achieving the goal of 1.5 degrees Celsius rise in temperature

NGOs stand

1. They deplored US and EU moves to avoid any commitments on compensation for the countries that are experiencing the effects of climate change despite not contributing to the problem themselves.
2. voluntary pledges made by countries, called INDCs, were totally inadequate for the task of cutting carbon emissions significantly
3. Financial help: The agreement should include provisions for grant of finance to the developing world. Developing countries are not seeking charity, and have a right to financial assistance to move to clean energy
4. Stop subsidizing fossil fuel companies: The Paris agreement must ensure that international development finance should stop subsidizing fossil fuel companies, and instead flow into renewable energy

 

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Business & Economy

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[1]. India rejects ‘artificial deadlines’ for WTO deal

 

What has happened?

India has rejected WTO Director General’s suggestion to treat the time available till Nairobi ministerial as a last opportunity to show political will & flexibility for making Nairobi ministerial a success.

 

India’s stance

India has categorically rejected the suggestion,

1. Why should this be the last opportunity? We have been negotiating for a long time. All the countries have invested a lot in this Round and you cannot put that away.”
2. India’s intention is not to delay the talks, but to ensure that the talks come to a successful, logical and balanced conclusion, and fulfilment of the development dimension in every aspect. At the end of the Nairobi meet, we should have a work programme to implement the development agenda as well as to meet and continue the talks till it is concluded successfully
3. Instead of inserting new issues and hurrying to conclude the Doha round of talks, developed nations should first address matters relevant to developing and poor countries.

 

Issues which India wants addressed

1. reduction of ‘huge and trade distorting’ agribusiness subsidies in developed countries,
2. an effective Special Safeguard Mechanism (a trade remedy allowing developing countries to temporarily hike duties on farm products to counter sudden import surges and price falls, thereby protecting the interests of poor farmers),
3. a permanent solution to the issue of public food stockholding in developing countries for the purpose of food security

 

[2]. Facebook says Free Basics initiative ‘non-discriminatory’

 

What has happened?

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) had on 9^th Dec 2015 had issued a consultation paper on differential pricing for data services to telecom operators, who offer free or discounted tariffs for accessing certain websites. TRAI has asked stakeholders as to what steps should be taken to ensure that principles of non-discrimination, transparency, affordable Internet access, competition, market entry and innovation are adhered to, in case differential pricing is allowed for data services.

 

Facebook says,

‘Free Basics’ initiative, originally known as Internet.Org, is “non- discriminatory”.

 

What is Free Basic?

For Free Basics, Facebook has partnered with Reliance Communications in India to offer access to certain applications and websites to users without any data charges. However, it has been widely criticised for violating Net Neutrality principles and favouring Facebook’s own services over its rivals.

 

What is differential pricing?

Differential pricing is the strategy of selling the same product to different customers at different prices. Consider the pricing behavior at an auction. Everyone has the same information and bids on the same item.

For eg: Last year in 2014 Bharti Airtel had introduced differential pricing and had begun by charging consumers differently for using the Mobile Internet for services such as Skype and Viber, and differently for other types of Mobile Internet usage.

 

Differential pricing violates net neutrality but what is net neutrality?

Net neutrality: The principle that Internet service providers should enable access to all content and applications regardless of the source, and without favouring or blocking particular products or websites is termed as net neutrality

Three core principles of net neutrality

1. All sites must be equally accessible: ISPs and telecom operators shouldn’t block certain sites or apps just because they don’t pay them.
2. All sites must be accessible at the same speed (at an ISP level): This means no speeding up of certain sites because of business deals. More importantly, it means no slowing down some sites.
3. The cost of access must be the same for all sites (per Kb/Mb or as per data plan): This means no “Zero Rating”. In countries like India, Net Neutrality is more about cost of access than speed of access, because, well, we don’t have fast and slow lanes: all lanes are slow.

 

Must read: http://www.financialexpress.com/article/industry/companies/back-to-basics-for-airtel-zero-internet-org-over-discriminatory-services/176818/

 

[3]. GEAC must approve GM mustard

Context: Author says that Genetically Modified crops should be allowed in India as there is no scientific evidence that GM crops are unsafe

 

What has happened?

It is time for Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) to approve GM mustard. For long, the ministry of environment has buckled under public pressure brought by the anti-GM lobby, and has shown no courage to take a decision based on scientific data. The anti-GM lobby led by Vandana Shiva has submitted a petition via Change.org signed by thousands people to force GEAC not to approve GM mustard, ostensibly because of safety reasons and inappropriateness of the technology itself to Indian agriculture. The facts are far from the ground realities.

 

GM mustard

It has been engineered using a system of genes called Barnase/Barstar to create nuclear male sterile plants needed to create hybrids. Such GM canola, a cousin of canola, has been under cultivation in the US, Canada and Australia for over a decade without any report of harm to the environment or human health.

 

Safety of GM mustard: GM mustard has undergone rigorous testing for all bio-safety characters and for environmental impact. The results show that it does not impact the environment any differently than conventional hybrid counterparts.

 

Scientists’ view

The scientists said genetically engineered crops are need of the times, and have no harmful effects on the atmosphere or as human health.

 

Conclusion

Indian agriculture badly needs new technology infusion to improve its performance. Indian farmers, if they are to become globally competitive, need the benefits of modern science and technology, and it high time that the ministry of environment approved GM crops without further vacillation

 

[4]. The economics of GST, hostage to politics

 

What the article is all about?

In the article author explains the benefits of GST and underlines the fact that despite there being a general consensus the GST bill is being held hostage in the parliament owing to politics of the day

 

Benefits of GST

1. It will eliminate all taxes on production and distribution.
2. The abolition of taxes on the movement of goods between states will end the unnecessary fragmentation of Indian production.
3. The efficiency of the tax system would be optimized.
4. GST will improve governance by creating incentives for the reduction in corruption. For example, a company will need documentation from a supplier if it is to claim tax credit, and in general, the new tax will create a proper paper trail of transactions across value chains, reducing the black economy.
5. Would unify India into a common market on account of single tax rate

Conclusion

India won’t get a flawless GST but still passing of GST bill would signify a watershed moment in the history of Indian Republic

 

[5]. How to fast forward backward states

Context: Author states that Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan & Uttar Pradesh account for 45% of Indian population and 35% of total land available in India but they contribute only 28% of national income and are home to 53% of the people who live below the official poverty line in India. These states need to catch up with other states if India needs to develop fast.

Reason of low income of poor states despite rapid growth

1. Population growth was significantly higher in the poorer states
2. Regions that are better endowed with natural resources, physical infrastructure, skilled labour or educated people, experience rapid growth. Like magnets, they attract resources and people from elsewhere. In contrast, disadvantaged regions tend to lag behind and become even more disadvantaged.

 

Author did research on developing countries in world economy.

Author’s research common factors underlying the success of latecomers to industrialization and development points out to three facts,

1. Initial conditions– Improving initial conditions means creation of proper infrastructure through public investment in power, roads, transport and communications & spread of education in society, where primary and secondary education
2. Enabling institutions– Corruption and rents, patronage and exploitation, or arbitrariness or inefficiency, are deeply embedded flaws. These can be controlled and must be minimized by making ministers, legislators and administrators responsive and accountable to people, so that performance is rewarded and incompetence is penalized.
3. Supportive governments – State governments should concentrate on safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, and public health in rural areas, to support those who cannot meet these basic human needs through private incomes. Good governance is also critical. The quality of governance is an important determinant of success or failure at development

[6]. Modi Govt Replaces RFD Model to Measure Performance with eSamiksha and PRAGATI

 

What has happened?

Government has dropped a major scheme through which performance of ministries was monitored. The government “has not pursued the mechanism of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation System (PMES) for 2014-15 and thereafter“. Under PMES, every ministry made a Result Framework Document (RFD) every year against which its performance was measured at the end of the year.

 

What is PMES and why government scrapped it?

PMES – It was brought in 2011 for monitoring performance of government departments. Every ministry made its RFD every year through PMES since 2011 spelling out its key targets. At the end of the year, all ministries reviewed their performance against the targets and were given marks.

 

Government saw the RFD concept as a “completely unviable concept “since it was not possible to quantify performance of any ministry. Most ministries are dependent on execution of schemes by states and are only monitoring schemes. Also, giving marks to a ministry at the end of the year based on performance which cannot be quantified is useless. Many ministries were setting lower targets to get more marks

 

How the progress is being monitored now?

PM and Cabinet Secretariat were now directly monitoring projects and schemes of ministries through eSamiksha project launched by PM Modi

 

What is eSamiksha and PRAGATI?

The eSamiksha is a real time, online system for monitoring of projects by the PM and follow-up action is to be updated by the concerned ministry as and when the status changes or at least every month -PM monitors this on his iPad. PRAGATI is another platform through which PM once every month monitors and reviews important programmes and projects of Centre and states.

[7]. GST critical for Make-in-India

Context: Author points out that GST is critical for the Make-in-India

Author says,

1. 1% tax is a bad idea: The large exemptions that both the Centre and the states give today—these add up to around 2.7% of GDP—and the impact of the current system of taxation. The 2% central sales tax levied today, for instance, Subramanian points out, means a good faces an additional tax of 4% if, after an intermediate being produced in Maharashtra, it goes to Andhra Pradesh for conversion into a final good which, in turn, is sold in Tamil Nadu—for goods consumed in Chennai, it will be cheaper to import from South East Asia. This distortion, Subramanian estimates, affects at least half the trade flows between states
2. Countervailing and Special additional duties (CVD and SAD) affect the domestically produced product negatively.

By: ForumIAS Editorial Team