A brief of newspaper articles for the day bearing
relevance to Civil Services preparation
National
[1]. New-look Indira Awaas Yojana to Get New Name
Context: Indira Awas Yojana to be renamed as Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana
Indira Awas Yojana:
Started in 1985 – 86
Objective: To provide housing for shelterless below poverty line households in rural areas. Financial assistance is provided for construction of house.
Runs under Ministry of Rural Development
So is it more than name change?
The proposed upgrade on earlier schemes are:
a) Unit allocation of cost per household has been increased from Rs. 75,000/- to Rs. 1,25,000/-.
b) The size of kitchen will be increasing thereby increasing the total size of unit house by 3 sq. m from 22 sq. m to 25 sq. m.
c) Proposal to converge the scheme under different running government schemes:
i) Already merged with MNREGS (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme) as construction has been made eligible itme under MNREGS giving the household beneficiaries 90 – 95 days of unskilled labour job.
ii) States have been asked to ensure that Jan Dhan Yojana, Unnat Chulha Abhiyan and Deendayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana are made available to the beneficiaries.
d) Proposal is there to have quantum of assistance be derived from the grass root problems affecting different geographic regions.
Housing for All is the contemporary scheme being run for urban areas providing assistance of Rs. 1 lakh.
Glossary:
MNREGS – The objective of the Act is to enhance livelihood security in rural areas by providing at least 100 days of guaranteed wage employment in a financial year to every household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work.
Jan Dhan Yojana – The National Mission of Financial Inclusion named as the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana seeks to integrate the poorest of the poor with bank accounts.
Unnat Chulha Abhiyan (more efficient, less polluting cooking fuel) – Unnat Chulah Abhiyan (UCA) is a programme of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.
Objectives:
A) To develop and deploy improved biomass cook – stoves for providing cleaner cooking energy solutions in rural, semi – urban and urban areas using biomass as fuel for cooking.
B) To mitigate drudgery of women and children using traditional chulha for cooking.
C) To mitigate climate change by reducing the black carbon and other emissions resulting from burning biomass for cooking.
Deendayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (Electrification): Union Government launched Deendayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DUGJY) in Patna, Bihar. The flagship scheme was launched with an aim to provide 24×7 uninterrupted electricity supply to each rural household across the country by 2022.
[2]. High-Level Panel to Help Jumpstart Innovation
Context: Booming Startup Culture in India
Proposal:
India plans to establish a high-level, inter-ministerial panel that will act as the fulcrum of the Modi government’s plan to create an ecosystem to nurture innovation.
The panel will evaluate startup proposals to see if they qualify for incentives.
How will they be incentivized?
a) Sharp reduction in the plethora of compliances now needed to set up businesses
b) Swifter approvals
c) Easier finance and tax breaks
Committee Composition:
Secretaries of departments of information technology, biotechnology and others. The committee will be anchored under the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP)
The Sticking Issue
There is yet to decide the definition of START- UP.
The Keyword which will decide who will get incentive: INNOVATION
January 16, 2016 – Expected date of unveiling of Start Up India Stand Up India policy full action plan
[3]. Ramakrishna Mission-UNESCO establish ‘official ties’
The United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) has established an ‘official relationship’ with the Ramakrishna Mission in the areas of inter-cultural dialogue, social cohesion and for promoting peace and non-violence.
In 2012, the UNESCO set up a chair on Inclusive Adapted Physical Education Bnd Yoga at the Coimbatore campus of Vivekananda University.
The organisation found common features with the Ramakrishna Mission in many respects.
[4]. Kant made NITI Aayog CEO
Industry Secretary Amitabh Kant had been given the additional responsibility of being Chief Executive Officer of NITI Aayog.
[5]. LPG subsidy linked to income
Context:–
The government has declared that those who earned over Rs. 10 lakh in the previous financial year will be ineligible for LPG subsidy from January.
Current Scenario:
At present, all households are entitled to 12 cylinders of 14.2 kg at the subsidised rate of Rs. 419.26. The market price is Rs. 608 a cylinder.
The government had also launched a scheme for people to give up their subsidies so that the less privileged would benefit. So far, 57.50 lakh LPG consumers have opted
Expected Benefits:
It would save the government Rs. 113 crore. Such a decision will likely affect at least 60 lakh people, if one were to go only by the number of people who filed their returns in the government’s e-filing portal.
Economic Digest
[1]. Panel refuses ‘Swiss Challenge’; wants changes in corruption law/Kelkar chalks out rules for PPP revival
Context:-
An expert panel led by Vijay Kelkar, has called for swift amendments to the anti-corruption law and an backing from the Parliament for a new policy for public private partnerships or Public Private Partnership (PPPs) that balances risk-sharing between private and public partners, in order to encourage infrastructure building.
Issues:-
Infrastructure investments have remained stuck at different stages due to a variety of issues such as land acquisition, lack of clearances, unfavourable market conditions, and costly finances. This puts stress on banks and the developers’ balance sheet.
A healthy PPP is required to balance country’s infrastructure needs and the availability of long-term funding.
Also it is critical for India to make the leap from a low-income country to a high-income one in two to three decades, else it risks falling into a ‘middle income’ trap.
It is observed that risk allocations in India’s PPP projects over the past 15 years are inefficient and inequitable; the panel blamed it on a “one-size-fits-all” approach to model concession agreements or contracts signed for such projects.
Recommendations of Kelkar Panel:-
Remove Swiss challenge:-
The Kelkar panel has asked the government to actively ‘discourage’ the ‘Swiss Challenge’ for auctioning infrastructure projects.
In this model any bidder can offer to improve upon a project proposal submitted by another player. It was adopted by the government to redevelop 400 railway stations.
This system brings information asymmetries in the procurement process and results in lack of transparency and in the fair and equal treatment of potential bidders in the procurement process
Swiss Challenge: Swiss challenge method is a new process of giving contracts…Any person with credentials can submit a development proposal to the government. That proposal will be made online and a second person can give suggestions to improve and beat that proposal.”
An expert committee will accept the best proposal and the original proposer will get a chance to accept it if it is an improvement on his proposal.
Distinguish between genuine errors and malafide actions:-
The panel called for urgent changes to the Prevention of Corruption Act of 1988 as well as government’s vigilance and conduct rules.
This should be done to distinguish “genuine errors” in decision-making by public servants from acts of corruption.
It has emphasised the need to guard officers against ‘witch hunt’ while taking immediate measures to punish malafide actions.
Disallow State owned Entities:-
State-owned entities or public sector units should not be allowed to bid for PPP project .
Rational allocation of risks:-
A rational allocation of risks can only be undertaken in sector and project-specific contexts.
This arrangement has to done in collaboration with all the stakeholders.
Renegotiation:-
The r report has drawn up extensive guidelines regarding the re-negotiation of the terms of concession agreement.
It also has stipulated the reasons that form the basis for re-negotiation and those that should not be entertained as valid reasons.
Re-Bid stalled Projects:-
It has proposed ‘umbrella guidelines’ for dealing with stalled projects and even suggested cancelling projects don’t achieve a prescribed progress threshold on the ground.
“Re-bid such projects once issues have been resolved or complete them through public funds and if viable, bid out for Operations and Maintenance.
Institutional reforms:-
IPAT: It also recommends the creation of an Infrastructure PPP Adjudication Tribunal (IPAT) which is to be chaired by a former Supreme Court Judge or former High Court Chief Justice, with at least one technical and financial member.
IPRC: The report says that an Infrastructure PPP Project Review Committee (IPRC) be constituted comprising at least one expert in finance and economics, law, and one or more sectoral experts, preferably engineers with a minimum of 15 years of experience in the industry in question.
Right to Information:-
On the issue of PPP developer’s account books being open to government audit and the Right To Information law, the Kelkar panel has asked for comprehensive guidelines to be framed, adding that the private sector must be protected against the loss of bargaining power over time.
Conclusion:-
Instead of suggesting an overarching PPP law, the panel has suggested formulating a national PPP policy and seeking Parliament’s backing for it to be effective.
[2]. India Post payment bank to be operational by March 2017
Highlights:-
India Post, which was among the eleven applicants to have received approval from RBI for payment banks in August, will start its service by March 2017.
About 40 international financial conglomerates including World Bank, Barclays and ICICI have shown interest to partner with the Postal Department for the payment bank
The Department has 1,55,015 post offices across the country, of which 1,39,144 are in rural areas.
Add ons:-
Wi-fi hotspots were launched at Har ki Pauri in Haridwar and Dargah Sharif in Ajmer.
[3]. Interest subvention should be phased out: central bank panel
Context:-
The government must do away with the interest subvention scheme and introduce a universal crop insurance scheme for small and marginal farmers according to a recommendation from a panel constituted by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)
What is interest subvention?
This implies that with the subsidy in hand, the loan borrower has not to pay total interest on loan amount and the balance interest amount is borne by the government.
Drawback:-
There is a specific purpose of subvention where farmers receive loans at a lower cost with the government paying the balance. By changing the same to insurance, the purpose is lost. Besides, insurance works for the farmer when the crop fails, while subvention helps even under normal circumstance.
Other recommendations:-
Multiple guarantee agencies, both public and private, that can provide credit guarantees in niche areas need to be encouraged and the role of counter guarantee and re-insurance companies should be explored in order to deepen the credit guarantee market.
Issue identified by the panel:-
The committee recognised that substantial progress has been made in terms of access of financial products and services especially after the launch of the Jan Dhan Yojana.
But still there were significant gaps in terms of usage, inadequate ‘last mile’ service delivery, and exclusion of women as well as small and marginal farmers and very low formal link for micro and small enterprises.
The Mohanty panel also noted significant financial exclusion continues to persist in the north-eastern, eastern and central states to achieve near-universal access.
[4]. India Trade Gloom
Context: Contraction in India’s export fo 12 months in a row and diminishing participation and role of India in global trade.
Reason for insignificance:
India trying to plat leading role in WTO trying to protect interest of developing countries as well as its own stock holding program hence putting itself on defensive ground and not having any forward looking agenda at WTO ministerial meet at Nairobi.
WTO Relevance:
Most of the developed countries has realised it is very difficult to reach consensus on any forward looking agenda on WTO. They have been looking at the WTO as a forum for preserving their defensive spaces in global trade.
The Difference:
One of the main reasons for the attitudinal difference between these countries and India on the WTO is that the former have located alternative forums for articulating forward-looking interests in global trade.
These are the various regional trade agreements (RTAs) being worked out across the world involving developed countries and emerging markets.
India and RTAs:
India suffers from a variety of cross-cutting opinions and interests leading to an odd posturing in RTAs and FTAs. An important element among these is India’s inability to rationalise RTAs exclusive of the WTO.
The leadership role in a multilateral trade forum (WTO) has partly blunted the ability to objectively assess benefits of entering into RTAs, particularly with developed countries
Few segments of Indian industry has also been opposed to RTAs and FTAs and has successfully lobbied with the government on several occasions for preserving defensive interests.
Mega RTA – TPP – has been discussed in below article in detail
The Needed Change in India:
a) First, domestic improvements, particularly in doing business conditions remain essential for improving exporter competitiveness. Necessary domestic regulatory reforms can get a leg-up from signing FTAs& RTAs and can bring about quicker change in this aspect.
b) The second, and specifically important point is engaging in RTAs with a constructive vision. India’s RTAs have not produced the desired results since many of these have been shallow with limited market depth and have not been taken to domestic industry as meaningfully as they should have been.
Conclusion:
The need of the hour for India is to look into its specific economic interest and be an active participant in RTAs to provide impetus to its trade as well as opportunity to improve domestic business conditions. This will help India create its own space in global trade governance.
Opinions & Editorials
[1]. A Christmas course correction
Context:-
Prime Minister’s unscheduled visit to Lahore signifies a major course correction in the government’s Pakistan policy.
New Modus Vivendi:-
The new initiatives indicate a clear preference for summit diplomacy over incrementalism.
India-Pakistan relationship is ripe for summit diplomacy as well as bold initiatives since most of the outstanding issues have already been discussed in great detail over the last many years.
All that is needed now is the political will to implement some of those win-win solutions.
What is incrementalism?
It means ensuring progress through small steps rather than drastic initiatives.
Key issues:-
Cease fire violations:-
Both India and Pakistan need to share the blame for the intermittent ceasefire violations along the Line of Control and the International Border.
Consulting Separatist leaders:-
Also the way in which New Delhi react to, if Islamabad insists on consulting the Kashmiri dissident leadership needs to be charted out, as the two governments need to find a way to get out of the commitment trap they jointly created.
Rising radicalisation:-
Pakistan’s civilian establishment as well as its army have been raising their stakes on the Kashmir front.
Also the situation in Kashmir is going from bad to worse with a number of educated youngsters joining the ranks of militants and radicalisation on the rise among the disenchanted Kashmiris.
In this context, reaching out to Pakistan could potentially alleviate at least some of these worries.
Containing Chinese influence:-
Increasing Chinese influence in the region and in Pakistan in particular, this, if unchecked, will be difficult for us to handle in the days ahead.
This is also the reason for India’s new approach to Afghanistan.
Relations with Pakistan army:-
Government should also make a serious attempt at establishing back-channel contact with the powerful Pakistan Army which might be a major hindrance to normalising India-Pakistan relations.
Trade as a tool for Diplomacy:-
Government also believes how business ties can transform strategic relations. They should therefore front load the current engagement process with enhanced commercial and trade relations between the two counties.
[2]. Free run for the rent-seekers
Context:-
With Plurilateral agreements sidelining WTO, the author feels that developing countries like India should initiate measures to protect their domestic interests.
Existential Threat to WTO:-
The reasons for such a claim are as follows:
a) The post-Nairobi work programme has very few substantive issues that can meaningfully engage its 162 members,
b) The Doha Development Agenda (DDA), that has been the lifeline of the WTO for nearly a decade and a half, now faces the imminent threat of closure.
The Doha agenda
It was a collective articulation of the developing countries for working towards a just and equitable trading system.
Remove Trade distorting subsidies in agriculture in developed countries:-
It was agreed that agriculture must be stripped of all policy distortions, including the unacceptably high levels of subsidies that provide unfair advantage to the large conglomerates controlling global trade in commodities
Food Security issues of developing countries:-
Amending the agreement on Agriculture (AOA)to address smallholder agriculture and give developing countries new instruments to address concerns regarding food security, protection of rural livelihoods and rural development.
Flexibility with regard to Tariffs:-
Developing countries would be able to enjoy flexibility while reducing tariffs in both agriculture and industry, so as to ensure that these enterprises are prevented from facing competitive pressures before they are adequately prepared to do so.
Opening up of services:-
In the area of services, most developing countries, including India, have been seeking ways to improve their presence in the global services markets, especially through cross-border trade in services and through movement of natural persons.
Towards Plurilateral agreements:
Powers like US are showing least interests in DDA thus the Nairobi meet marks that WTO is no longer inclined to discuss the DDA and its covered issues.
Developed countries are more inclined towards the “plurilateral formats” such as Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership.
What is TPP?
The TPP is a 12-member arrangement, led by the U.S’s quest for markets, without any consideration being given to the ability of smaller countries in the grouping to be able to compete with the larger countries
In this countries of vastly unequal strengths would be treated equally.
Another problem with the TPP is that it ignores the presence of large policy distortions, for instance, the granting of high levels of farm subsidies by the U.S. while pushing for opening of markets.
The rising influence of Transnational Corps:-
These transnational corporations earn unacceptably high rents through the exercise of the extraordinary rights they have been promised for their intellectual property and their investments.
They have also successfully brought cases against their host countries before international arbitration panels when the host countries have tried to bring domestic regulations to check blatant violation of norms.
Conclusion:-
WTO is facing the imminent danger of being taken over by a grossly unjust and undemocratic governance structure that would be dominated by the powerful interests
In this context India and other developing countries need to seriously consider the contours of their future engagement with this organisation.
Also they should set up stage to discuss the developmental issues which have been sidelined in the current meet.
[3]. Onion lessons
Context:-
The author feels that the government’s decision to remove minimum export price for onion is a welcome move which should have been done earlier.
Key issues:-
Though the Centre is always quick in imposing or hiking MEPs when domestic prices firming up, the same is rarely seen when it comes to removal or reduction, which obviously works against growers.
The MEPs according to the author have only caused collateral damage through the loss of valuable export markets.
The time has come to review the utility of not just MEPs, but also other restrictions on movement, storage and marketing of agricultural produce.
Such measures are counterproductive, because they inhibit the supply response from farmers.
What is MEP?
Minimum Export Price (MEP) is the price below which an exporter is not allowed to export the commodity from India.
MEP is imposed in view of the rising domestic retail / wholesale price or production disruptions in the country. MEP is a kind of quantitative restriction to trade.
[4]. Ramping up
Highlights
The prime minister suggested the usage of the word “divyang (person with a divine limb)” instead of “viklang (disabled)” to denote that persons with disabilities, in fact, have “extra power”.
The 100 million-odd disabled persons in India arguably constitute one of the most disadvantaged groups — a majority are illiterate and only 25 per cent are employed.
The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill was introduced in the Rajya Sabha in 2014.
It’s high time to pass the bill, which views disability through the lens of rights and entitlements, not charity and goodwill.
by: ForumIAS Editorial Team
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