simplifying ias exam preparation - …...examine whether the focus of the policy is more on...

INSIGHTSIAS SIMPLIFYING IAS EXAM PREPARATION

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MAINS 2018

AUGUST 2018

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GS-III

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- I A S S E L F S T U D Y G U I D E -

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are NOT synopsis too if we go by definition of the term. What we are providing is

content that both meets demand of the question and at the same time gives you extra

points in the form of background information.

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Table of Contents

General Studies Paper - III ________________________________________________________________ 6

Topic: Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization of resources, growth, development and

employment. Inclusive growth and issues arising from it. ____________________________________________ 6

Q) Discuss the impact that the draft e commerce policy is likely to have on online as well as brick

and mortar retail ? (250 words) ____________________________________________________________ 6

Q) When it comes to skilling our youth, our efforts are still sub par, as highlighted by Somaiya

committee. Discuss. (250 words) ___________________________________________________________ 9

Q) Discuss the implementation hurdles faced by MSMEs with respect to GST ? Examine the recent

steps taken by GSTN in this regard ? (250 words) ___________________________________________ 11

Q) What do you understand by LoU and LoC. Discuss their importance in modern finance. (250

words) __________________________________________________________________________________ 13

Q) A plethora of regulations are already in use to combat fugitive economic crimes in India. Examine

the legislative void that Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill is trying to fill and analyze its

effectiveness ? (250 words) ________________________________________________________________ 15

Q) Increasing fiscal deficit of states is a cause of worry and there is a considerable need to focus on

state government finances. Analyze. (250 words) ___________________________________________ 18

Q) Farm loan waivers have become a popular demand and a politically attractive option. Discuss in

light of the recent decision of Karnataka state government to waive off farmers loans. (250 words)

________________________________________________________________________________________ 20

Q) It is high time for both the RBI and the government to make a choice between legislative

mandates of inflation rate targeting and a holistic approach for development management.

Critically Comment. (250 words) __________________________________________________________ 22

Q) The recent report by the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD),

reiterate the vulnerability of Indian agriculture households. Discuss. (250 words) _____________ 23

Q) Discuss the steps taken by the RBI in recent years to clean up the balance sheets of commercial

banks. (250 words) _______________________________________________________________________ 25

Q) Critically examine the need for dual-class shares vis a vis the Indian market. (250 words) ___ 27

Topic-Effects of liberalization on the economy, changes in industrial policy and their effects on industrial growth.

__________________________________________________________________________________________ 29

Q) Discuss how the recently envisaged Strategic Partnership policy aims to revitalise defence

industrial ecosystem and progressively build indigenous capabilities in the private sector.(250

words) __________________________________________________________________________________ 29

Q) Tariff liberalisation policies and the liberal FDI policy regime, enveloped within a passive

industrial policy framework, have resulted in India’s increased electronics import dependence.

Critically analyze. (250 words) ____________________________________________________________ 31

Topic- Inclusive growth and issues arising from it. _________________________________________________ 34

Q) Rural tourism provides many opportunities for rural development in India, but at the same times

poses several challenges which need to be taken care of. Comment. (250 words) _______________ 34

Q) Bridging the gender gap in mobile ownership and digital literacy in India will hasten women

empowerment and help transform their lives. Comment. (250 words) _________________________ 38




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Q) Addressing undernutrition challenge should be taken up on mission mode by the government.

Discuss. Also suggest ways to address this challenge. (250 words) ____________________________ 40

Topic: Issues related to direct and indirect farm subsidies and minimum support prices; Public Distribution System-

objectives, functioning, limitations, revamping; issues of buffer stocks and food security; Technology missions;

economics of animal-rearing. __________________________________________________________________ 42

Q) Critically analyze the options available for price stabilisation of agriculture commodities in the

face of increased output. (250 words) ______________________________________________________ 42

Topic: Major crops cropping patterns in various parts of the country, different types of irrigation and irrigation

systems storage, transport and marketing of agricultural produce and issues and related constraints; e-

technology in the aid of farmers ________________________________________________________________ 46

Q) Critically examine whether Bt Cotton has helped Indian farmers and Indian economy ? Do you

think government should stop resisting the usage of such technology ? (250 words) ____________ 46

Q) Discuss the significance of NABARD’s All India Rural financial inclusion survey and examine

what it tells us about the dream of doubling farmer’s income by 2022 ? (250 words) ____________ 48

Topic – Land reforms in India __________________________________________________________________ 50

Q) Discuss the of land reforms carried out in India since independence? Do you think digitisation of

land record is the most crucial land reform that can be undertaken in the present age ? (250 words)

________________________________________________________________________________________ 50

Topic: Infrastructure: Energy, Ports, Roads, Airports, Railways etc., Investment Models. __________________ 53

Q) Beyond merely funding civil works, PMGSY seeks to emphasize on managing the rural road

network through green and climate resilient construction. Discuss. (250 words) _______________ 53

Q) India has made remarkable strides in renewable energy during the recent years, which has

emerged as an integral part of the solution to nations energy needs. Discuss the steps taken by the

government in this direction. (250 words) __________________________________________________ 55

Q) Indian Railways has often been called out for its lack of modernization. Consequently,

modernization of Indian Railways is a priority area for the government. Discuss the roadmap for

modernization and examine issues as highlighted by CAG ? (250 words) ______________________ 59

Q) Several factors have contributed to the slow progress in India’s biodiesel development

programme. Critically examine. (250 words) _______________________________________________ 62

Q) India is the world’s fastest growing domestic aviation market and regional connectivity is critical

if this high growth is to be sustained. In this context, discuss the achievements of UDAN-RCS and

the challenges lying in front of it. (250 words) ______________________________________________ 64

Topic: Science and Technology- developments and their applications and effects in everyday life ___________ 66

Q) Discuss the history of evolution of Artificial Intelligence and examine the challenges for further

development of AI ? (250 words) ___________________________________________________________ 66

Q) Greater diversification of energy will be imperative for Indian refining and marketing companies

in order to mitigate the disruptive potential of EVs over the longer term. Comment. (250 words) 68

Topic: Awareness in the fields of IT, Space, Computers, robotics, nanotechnology, biotechnology and issues

relating to intellectual property rights. __________________________________________________________ 70

Q) India’s human spaceflight programme (HSP), the Gaganyaan, is still a long way away, despite

advancements in some critical technologies in the past decade. Analyze. (250 words) ___________ 70

Q) Antibiotic resistance is one of the biggest health challenges of 21st century. Examine why. Also

discuss the threat posed in this regard by gut bacteria ? (250 words)__________________________ 72




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Topic: Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment, Disaster and

disaster management. _______________________________________________________________________ 74

Q) There is a need to develop and harness non-invasive, local, large-scale ‘conserve and use’ projects

in order to address the looming water crisis in India. Comment with examples.(250 words) _____ 74

Q) Given the tremendous use and the precarious state of springs in India, there is an urgent need

to launch a National Programme on Springshed Management. Discuss. (250 words) ___________ 76

Q) The destructive power of Tsunamis is all because of the topography of the seafloor near the shore,

and is bound to increase in the future. Discuss. (250 words) _________________________________ 79

Q) Examine the impact of increasing human footprint on world’s oceans? Also suggest ways through

which we can tide over this crisis? (250 words) _____________________________________________ 81

Q) Various committees have been formed to give recommendations on preservation of Western

Ghats, but not a lot has happened on that front. Examine. (250 words) _______________________ 83

Q) Analyze the reasons behind the differences in performance of some of India’s large cities, with

respect to transport related pollution. (250 words) __________________________________________ 85

Q) There is a need to strengthen the EIA procedures and norms to make ourselves less vulnerable

to the vagaries of nature. Analyze. (250 words) _____________________________________________ 87

Q) Bioremediation process is a better, alternate low-cost solution to capping of solid waste

management and disposal in our cities. Analyze. (250 words) ________________________________ 90

Q) Ecosystem based adaptation focuses on the benefits humans derive from biodiversity and

ecosystem services, and how these benefits can be utilized in the face of a disaster. Discuss. (250

words) __________________________________________________________________________________ 93

Q) The EIA process in India is merely a documentary exercise, with very little practical utility.

Critically examine. (250 words) ___________________________________________________________ 95

Topic – Disaster and disaster management _______________________________________________________ 98

Q) Discuss the reasons why Kerala is experiencing unprecedented flooding? Also, highlight how can

we enhance our preparedness for such events? (250 words) __________________________________ 98

Q) Given the startling forecasts about the impact of climate change, it is the need of the hour to

educate and equip both rural and urban communities to build resilience against natural disasters.

Discuss. (250 words) ___________________________________________________________________ 100

Q) It is time to formulate water management policies for reservoirs in such a manner that dams are

used to control floods, not cause them. Critically Comment. (250 words) ____________________ 102

Topic-Security challenges and their management in border areas; linkages of organized crime with terrorism 104

Q) While the idea of a Theatre Command may seemingly have some operational advantage, the

permanency of dividing our own territory into Operational Theatres as a defence measure may be

counterproductive. Comment. (250 words) _______________________________________________ 104

Topic– Money-laundering and its prevention. ____________________________________________________ 106

Q) What do you understand by Money laundering. Discuss. Also, examine the need to revisit the

Prevention of Money Laundering Act. (250 words) ________________________________________ 106

Topic– Internal security ______________________________________________________________________ 109

Q) What are tax havens and explain why they pose a threat to nation’s security? Examine whether

crackdowns on tax havens help recover taxes ? (250 words) ________________________________ 109




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General Studies Paper - III

Topic: Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization of resources, growth, development

and employment. Inclusive growth and issues arising from it.

Q) Discuss the impact that the draft e commerce policy is likely to have on online as well as

brick and mortar retail ? (250 words)

Livemint

Financial express

Why this question

The draft e commerce policy proposes several steps relating to discounts, data security etc which will have a big impact on the e-commerce space. Understanding those impacts is critical for e-commerce sector in which space policy regulations are still in their trial and error phase. These articles discuss the steps suggested in the draft policy as well as critical analysis of the same. Hence this question.

Key demand of the question

The question expects us to bring out the changes that have been suggested by the draft policy, its overall comments on the ecommerce sector. Next , we need to bring out the overall impact of these steps on online retail and brick and mortar retail. We also need to discuss the indirect impacts on jobs etc. Thereafter, we have to give some suggestions or way forward.

Directive word

Introduction – Mention about the growth in e-commerce sector along with potential (substantiate with data).

Body

Discuss the needs of a growing e-commerce sector and the policy steps suggested in draft policy such as ending discounts after 2 years, 49% FDI in inventory model etc

Examine the needs of ecommerce sector and whether a policy micromanaging their pricing etc would impact them. Examine the suggestions like cap on discounts, and how it would impact the bottom-line of online retailers whose USP is selling at lower prices. Discuss the impact of allowing 49% FDI in inventory model but control to remain with Indian etc

Examine whether the focus of the policy is more on protecting brick and mortar retailers whose businesses are being impacted by growth of ecommerce players

Examine the real challenges faced by e-commerce players like capital availability, infrastructure for logistics services, EoDB which needs to be addressed

Conclusion – Give your view on the policy and discuss way forward.

Background:-

In the last couple of years, e-commerce transactions have risen substantially in India and abroad. The size of the digital economy in India will be $1 trillion by 2022 and it will account for close to 50% of the entire economy by 2030.

This necessitates better policy response and coordination among various wings of the government. A national e-commerce policy will be an attempt at creating a one-stop shop for the norms and regulations under which online retailers will be covered.



http://www.insightsonindia.com/2018/08/03/4-discuss-the-impact-that-the-draft-e-commerce-policy-is-likely-to-have-on-online-as-well-as-brick-and-mortar-retail250-words/

http://www.insightsonindia.com/2018/08/03/4-discuss-the-impact-that-the-draft-e-commerce-policy-is-likely-to-have-on-online-as-well-as-brick-and-mortar-retail250-words/

https://www.livemint.com/Industry/y3n5W8CMzCrZprZ8QUk3lO/Mint-Primer--How-India-plans-to-regulate-ecommerce-sector.html

https://www.financialexpress.com/opinion/e-commerce-plan-is-badly-conceived-best-to-scrap-it/1266463/


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Draft e-commerce policy:-

Discounts:-

Draft e-commerce policy proposes that all discounts offered by large e-commerce firms be phased out within two years to ensure fair competition with brick-and-mortar stores.

Consumer data:-

It mandates e-commerce firms to store consumer data in India. The firms will be given two years to comply.

An independent regulator will address compliance with FDI caps in e-commerce.

Data localization:-

The draft India e-commerce policy proposes tax sops to encourage data localization and grant infra status to data centres.

FDI:-

The draft policy proposes 49% FDI under the inventory model for firms to sell locally-produced goods on their online platforms. The control of such firms will remain with Indians.

Bulk purchases of branded goods “by related party sellers which lead to price distortions in a marketplace” will be prohibited.

To provide a forum for consumers, the task force has suggested the setting up of a Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA).

Foreign e-commerce websites should be brought on a level playing field with their Indian counterparts by making them follow the same rules for payment systems

Greater regulatory scrutiny has been recommended for mergers and acquisitions that may “distort competition’. The Competition Commission of India has been asked to undertake such exercises. This assumes significance in the light of the recent acquisition of Flipkart by US retail major Walmart.

Marketplace model :-

For online marketplaces, restrictions would be imposed on group companies of such platforms.

Redressal :-

The draft suggests a separate wing to be set up in the Enforcement Directorate. This will handle grievances related to guidelines for foreign investment in ecommerce.




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Payment :-

Currently, a large number of payments for online purchases is made through the cash-on-delivery option.

To make online payments safer, the task force has suggested creating a fraud intelligence mechanism. This would use artificial intelligence-based authentication systems, for early detection of frauds.

Impact :-

Positives:-

The draft policy makes a strong case for championing Indian online enterprise and creates a level playing field for homegrown companies.

Having a regulator, e-consumer courts may better address complaints about online financial frauds

In the long run, it helps the country and Make in India.

Millions of micro, medium and small enterprises (MSMEs) have a better chance to go online.

It will also help large companies build a viable business rather than just depend on discounts.

National e-commerce policy will also enable better negotiations on multilateral issues with the World Trade Organization.

Negatives:-

It may have major implications for foreign-owned ecommerce majors operating in India.

Heavy discounts offered by shopping portals may soon become a thing of the past.

Existing brick and mortar retailers, for instance, are saying that FDI into e-commerce players has been given a back-door entry. The way to set this right is by allowing 100% FDI in multi-brand retail. Instead, the policy seems to be looking to tighten controls over the e-commerce space under the guise of accelerating the pace of the digital economy “by providing a facilitative eco-system for spurring digital innovation”.

The top concerns raised by e-commerce firms include a recommendation that will restrict sellers to buy in bulk, a sunset clause that restricts discounting on e-commerce platforms.

E-commerce firms may have to share their stored data with the government. This is becoming to these e commerce companies.

Experts are expressing concerns over provisions relating to data protection and localisation.

Way forward:-

The policy need to look into the following issues:-

Modern companies face the challenge of collaborating between different departments, some geographically isolated and present in different time zones. Marketers, merchandisers and e-Commerce managers need to learn to strategically operate through one integrated channel.

Managing a repository of customer data is a challenge in itself, added to that e-Commerce companies have to understand how to use that data. Delivering customized content in the form of advertisements, special offers etc. are some of the methods which can be employed.

The vast rural-urban divide, the incompetent and inefficient delivery infrastructure in many backward areas, the inadequate power supply, inaccessibility of the internet, are some major issues that India needs to tackle in order to successfully craft an e-commerce policy that will add to the economic welfare and development of the country.




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Focus on ease of doing business so that the sector can thrive locally too.

All the major segments of an e-commerce platform should be taken care of be it logistics, employees or the back-end. The policy should ensure that all employees are provided with minimum wages, medical expenses, among other benefits.

Managing logistics, seller registration, and inventory accounting present bigger challenges for the e-commerce companies

Q) When it comes to skilling our youth, our efforts are still sub par, as highlighted by Somaiya

committee. Discuss. (250 words)

The hindu

Why this question

The article discusses the observations of the Somaiya committee on ITIs which paints a sad picture of the status of Skill India Mission. Since this mission is one of the key government initiatives, this report provides good filler material for preparing Skill India and other related topic for mains.

Directive word

Discuss – The findings of the report has to be discussed, along with an analysis of what this means for the progress of Skill India Mission.


The question expects us to explain the role that ITIs are expected to play in skilling of people. Next, we need to examine the observations and issues pointed out by the standing committee of parliament with regards to ITIs. We need to discuss in detail the reasons for poor performance of ITIs and give suggestions for course correction

Structure of the answer

Introduction – Give the status of skilling in India which is despite the various missions undertaken by the government

Body

Discuss the observations made by the committee regarding the status of ITIs – increase in numbers since inception, mostly private, show a scant regard for norms and standards etc. Also touch upon the observations made with regards to NSDC.

Discuss the issues plaguing skilling efforts such as – quality control, lack of regulator for skill development, responsibility outsourcing, no oversight, connivance and an ownership tussle between the Central and State governments. Discuss these issues in detail along with its impact.

Discuss the way forward by talking about the Sharda Prasad committee recommendations

Conclusion – Emphasize on the importance of skilling and give a way forward.

Background:-

The two goals in ‘Skill India’ are, first, to meet employers needs of skills and, second, to prepare workers (young and old) for a decent livelihood but India seemed to have failed in both.

Somaiya committee:-

It is the standing Committee on Labour (2017-18) headed by Kirit Somaiya, on the “Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) and Skill Development Initiative Scheme” of the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE)



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https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-opinion/rebooting-the-system-for-a-skills-upgrade/article24618726.ece


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Findings of the committee:

Government unable to regulate private institutions for quality:-

The committee says that it is not efficiency but a disregard for norms and standards. However, the ITIs are not alone.

The National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) today has more than 6,000 private training centres. Since it has short-term courses and its centres open and close frequently, it is all the more prone to a dilution of standards.

It outlines instances of responsibility outsourcing, no oversight, connivance and an ownership tussle between the Central and State governments.

The lack of a regulator for skill development with adequate powers has led to poor quality affiliation, assessment and certification.

Quality Council of India :-

Private-ITI accreditation troubles started when the Quality Council of India (QCI), a private body, was hired due to high workload of affiliation and shortage of [government] staff .

The QCI did not follow accreditation norms created by the National Council for Vocational Training (NCVT) and it appears that neither scale nor standard was achieved, but only speed.

ITIs often run into issues with no one to take ownership :-

A case in point is the examination process for instance the question paper is prepared by the NCVT, but administered and evaluated by instructors of the State Councils for VT. So The NCVT has no role in actually assessing quality.

Evading scrutiny:-

There are 183 cases pending in High Courts on non-compliance of norms by the ITIs. However, the short-term training programmes of the Ministry evade any scrutiny and action. For example, the Standard Training Assessment and Reward scheme spent Rs.850 crore in 2013-14 with no norms for quality.

There were no Aadhaar checks, attendance requirements and batch size limitations.

Issues with Private ITIs:

Private sector engagement in skill development has been taken up by standalone private training partners and not employers who could have made the system demand-driven.

They offered training in less than five trades (in government ITIs it is less than 10), had fewer classrooms and workshops for practice and their teachers were very poorly paid.

Way forward:-

There is a need to implement Sharda Prasad Committee recommendations.

India needs better oversight, with a national board for all skill development programmes. The core work (accreditation, assessment, certification and course standards) cannot be outsourced.

Like every other education board (such as the CBSE), a board is required in vocational training that is accountable.

India should also have a mandatory rating system for the ITIs that is published periodically. A ranking of the ITIs on several parameters such as the one done by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council in tertiary education can be replicated.

There should be one system, with one law and one national vocational education and training system.

India needs to create a unified national vocational system where the ITIs, NSDC private vocational trainers and vocational education in schools, and the other Central ministries conducting training gel seamlessly and can learn from, and work with each other. A unified legal framework can facilitate such a unification.




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Skilling teachers :-

There is also a critical need to reskill ITI teachers and maintain the student-teacher ratio. Since technology obsolescence is a continuous challenge, financial support envisaged through the NSDC should be extended to the ITIs.

Institutional reforms such as moving the office of the Directorate General of Employment from the Ministry of Labour to the MSDE would help. It would also complement the Directorate General of Training already under MSDE.

Reimbursable industry contribution (RIC) a 1-2% payroll tax that will be reimbursed when employers train using public/private infrastructure and provide data need to be implemented.

Q) Discuss the implementation hurdles faced by MSMEs with respect to GST ? Examine the

recent steps taken by GSTN in this regard ? (250 words)

The hindu

Why this question

MSME sector is a focus area for the government, considering the potential this sector has for the benefit of Indian economy. GST is a landmark tax reform and has had a disruptive effect on many sectors including MSME sector. However, many argue that MSME sector have in fact started reaping benefits on account of GST, with much more benefits over a longer time. This question expects you to discuss such issues in detail.

Directive word

Discuss – This is an all-encompassing directive – you have to debate on paper by going through the details of the issues concerned by examining each one of them. You have to give reasons for both for and against arguments.

Examine – When you are asked to examine, you have to probe deeper into the topic, get into details, and find out the causes or implications if any .


The question expects us to highlight the issues faced and also discuss whether any advantage has accrued to MSME sector on account of GST. Thereafter, it expects us to explain the initiatives proposed by GSTN to address the issues faced by MSME sector and the impact it would have.


Introduction – Mention that MSME sector is of special significance for the Indian government, expecting it to offer higher employment opportunities by 2020. The sector forms a key component of the government’s ‘Make in India’ and ‘Skill India’ programme.

Body – Discuss the issues faced by MSME sector with GST – acclimatization issue, problems in getting ITC, infrastructural glitches etc. Explore whether GST has had certain advantageous impact on MSMEs. Give your opinion on the full potential of GST for businesses such as – expand consumer base, take advantage of schemes like composition tax payer etc. Thereafter, highlight the steps suggested by GSTN and its overall impact.

Conclusion – Discuss the overall impact of GST on MSME and suggest way forward.

Background :-

Goods and Services Tax (GST) roll out had a significant impact on the MSME sector, which houses 63 million firms. Digital transaction trails created by dual authentication of invoices under GST will strengthen tax compliance. Additionally, a lower tax burden under GST will reduce the cost of raw materials and logistics.



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https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/editorial/pause-refresh-on-the-gst-councils-focus-on-msmes/article24626670.ece


SECURE SYNOPSIS

Issues to MSME :-

Costs:-

India’s paradigm shift to the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime will increase their compliance costs and snare a majority of them into the indirect tax net for the first time.

For manufacturers, the reduction in the threshold for GST exemption to Rs.20 lakh from Rs. 1.5 crore means tens of thousands of unorganised MSMEs will soon be cast into the tax net

GST will have a marginally negative impact because of higher tax rates

Input Tax Credit

Along with the initial confusion and infrastructure glitches that took some time to stabilize, there were reports of delays in receiving Input Tax Credit (ITC), which directly affected the MSME industry.

The advent of GST also affected supply chains, notably where small traders acted as suppliers of intermediates to larger manufacturing companies.

In addition, with most MSMEs not being listed entities, their monthly or quarterly business performance filings are also largely unavailable.

While the delay in trade receivables impacted all the companies in the MSME sector, the export segment took most of the hit.

Increased cost of compliance and an evolving refund mechanism resulted in a spike in working capital needs of exporters.

The transition to the GST regime affected the MSME sector more than any other, since its players lack compliance infrastructure to map their outstanding inventory with tax invoices. Furthermore, its weak credit profile and risk weightages attached to it by banks, pushed it closer to higher credit change options from the non-banking finance segment.

Benefits as well :-

Full potential of GST for businesses such as expand consumer base, take advantage of schemes like composition tax payer etc.

A simplified tax structure and a unified market will improve operational efficiencies, especially of MSMEs with a wider reach.

GST is expected to provide a boost to this segment because of lower tax incidence.

The Government’s thrust on ‘Make in India’ will also lead to continued investments, helping the sector maintain growth momentum.

Measures taken :-

GSTN, took following remedial measures for companies with turnover less than 5 crore

The council decided that those with a turnover of up to Rs 5 crore would have to file their returns only once in a quarter, while continuing to pay their taxes on a monthly basis.2)e-Wallets to facilitate quick transfer of ITC.

This decision will benefit 93 per cent of traders who have a turnover of less than Rs 5 crore and they will benefit substantially from the simplification measures proposed to improve their ease of doing business. Even the large traders would find the design of the new return quite user friendly.

The reverse charge mechanism that asks the buyer to pay tax if goods are procured from an unregistered dealer has been deferred for one year

Providing compliance services at Common service centre

Threshold for composition dealers would be increased to Rs 1.5 crore from Rs 1 crore earlier. Traders who also provide services of up to 10 per cent of their turnover can now opt for the composition scheme.




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Way forward:-

Priority lending to honest taxpayers

The Council should advise the government to incentivise MSMEs who pay promptly and within timelines. Adding to this, banks and associated financial organisations can introduce priority lending for honest taxpayers based on returns filing. This would improve the working capital for these businesses and have a positive impact.

Reducing time limit for reversal of ITC

ITC ought to be inverted under the CGST, in case the receiver is unable to pay to the supplier within a time period of 180 days. Ideally, for MSMEs, this time limit should be lowered to 90 days. As, being a part of the working capital and a lifeline for their business, any postponement in the payments is sure to impact business operations at all times.

Increasing definition of class of persons

The class of person definition has been raised from Rs 3 crore to Rs 5 crore. An additional increase of Rs 10 crore is recommended because it will then cover MSME service and industrial units, thus, amounting to benefits at large.

Adding services to composition scheme

About 48 percent of the GDP is contributed by the service sector and there are several SMEs operating service businesses. Thus, it’s vital that services are counted in the composition scheme minus any cap.

Adding POS solutions to ‘Digital MSME’ scheme

As per the recent changes, taxpayers with turnover of up to Rs 5 crore can file GSTR – 1 on a quarterly basis. The best way to tackle this is to use Point of Sale (POS) solutions that provide end-to-end assistance from generating digital invoices to payments to capturing data.

MSMEs with a turnover of Rs 2 to Rs 3 crore can easily use POS, along with the associated digital compliance and filing software, to maintain their data and file on time.

And the government can further expedite this process by subsiding POS sales. Under the ‘Digital MSME’ scheme that promotes cloud computing, POS solutions can also be introduced as one of the products.

Conclusion:-

As MSMEs become accustomed to a larger compliance climate, a better level of preparedness and discipline in conducting business will gradually be a part of operation. With the government’s commitment to strengthen MSMEs on all fronts, the current challenges will stabilize and gradually take a positive turn to fulfill the nation’s ‘Make in India’, ‘Skill India’ as well as ‘Startup India’ visions.

Q) What do you understand by LoU and LoC. Discuss their importance in modern finance. (250

words)

The hindu

Economictimes

Reference

Hindubuisnessline

Why this question

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Commerce has recently presented a report in which it has said that the Reserve Bank of India’s decision to discontinue the issuance of Letters of Undertaking (LoU) and Letters of Credit (LoC) for trade credit was a knee-jerk reaction to the Punjab National Bank fraud case and the facility should be restored at the earliest. It is thus important to discuss the meaning of LoU and LoC and to know their importance in modern finance.



http://www.insightsonindia.com/2018/08/10/4-what-do-you-understand-by-lou-and-loc-discuss-their-importance-in-modern-finance-250-words/

http://www.insightsonindia.com/2018/08/10/4-what-do-you-understand-by-lou-and-loc-discuss-their-importance-in-modern-finance-250-words/

https://www.thehindu.com/business/Industry/rbi-must-resume-issuing-lous-locs/article24617751.ece

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/policy/rbi-discontinues-letters-of-underataking-letters-of-comfort-as-trade-credits/articleshow/63287180.cms

https://www.bankersadda.com/2018/02/what-are-lou-cbs-loc-swift.html

https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/opinion/columns/slate/all-you-wanted-to-know-about-letters-of-understanding/article22859794.ece


SECURE SYNOPSIS

Directive word

Discuss- This is an all-encompassing directive which mandates us to write in detail about the key demand of the question. We also have to discuss about the related and important aspects of the question in order to bring out a complete picture of the issue in hand.

Key demand of the question.

The question wants us to simply bring out the meaning of the two terms- LoU and LoC. It then wants us to discuss their importance in modern finance framework.


Introduction– write a few lines on the popularity of LoU and LoC in the international finance system.

Body-

o Define LoC . E.g A letter of credit is a letter from a bank guaranteeing that a buyer’s payment to a seller will be received on time and for the correct amount. In the event that the buyer is unable to make payment on the purchase, the bank will be required to cover the full or remaining amount of the purchase.

o Give a simple definition of LoU-e.g. An LoU is an assurance given by one bank to another to meet a liability on behalf of a customer. The LoU is akin to a letter of credit or a guarantee. LoUs are used in international banking transactions. An LoU is issued for overseas import remittances and involves four parties — an issuing bank, a receiving bank, an importer and a beneficiary entity overseas. Since LoUs are a form of lending, they are typically backed by security.

o Discuss their importance in the modern financial system. E.g LoUs are important instruments that allow those in the import trade to transact their business. As an importer in India cannot simply buy dollars and send it abroad to make payments to his supplier, various instruments such as LoUs and Letters of Credit are required to carry out the transaction. LoUs, which are essentially a form of guarantee, have come to be a far cheaper and convenient way for importer to raise credit etc. Take the help of the articles attached to the question and other relevant material to from your answer.

Conclusion- Based on your discussion, form a fair and a balanced conclusion on the given issue.

Background:-

Issuance of LoUs was banned in March by RBI after their misuse was detected in the Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam.

Recently the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Commerce has sought immediate restoration of issuance of LoUs and LoCs with proper safeguards.

What is Letter of Undertaking (LoU)?

LoUs are used in international banking transactions.

LoU is a bank guarantee under which a bank allows its customer to raise money from another Indian bank’s foreign branch in the form of short-term credit.

The loan is used to make payment to the customer’s offshore suppliers in foreign currency.

The overseas bank usually lends to the importer based on the LoU issued by the importer’s bank.

The messages are sent through SWIFT which is an inter-bank messaging network for securely transmitting instructions for financial transactions.

An LoU involves four parties which are an issuing bank, a receiving bank, an importer and a beneficiary entity overseas.

What is a ‘Letter Of Credit’?

A letter of credit is a letter from a bank guaranteeing that a buyer’s payment to a seller will be received on time and for the correct amount.




SECURE SYNOPSIS

In the event that the buyer is unable to make payment on the purchase, the bank will be required to cover the full or remaining amount of the purchase.

Difference between LoU and LoC

A letter of credit is more secure because it has the details of the purchase by the importer, date of issue, expiry date, the material purchase and other transaction details.

LoU does not have these details and when it is not linked to the banking system it cannot be traced like it happened with PNB.

Importance of LoU and LoC in modern finance:-

LoUs are important instruments that allow those in the import trade to transact their business.

An importer in India cannot simply buy dollars and send it abroad to make payments to his supplier so instruments such as LoUs and LoCs are required to carry out the transaction.

LoUs, which are essentially a form of guarantee, have come to be a far cheaper and convenient way for importer to raise credit.

RBI must strengthen and tighten regulations rather than discontinuing a legitimate product and tool.

They will benefit number of companies engaged in cross-border trade, particularly SMEs.

Its restoration assumes more significance because the content of imports is over 20% of India’s total exports.

Reasons for restoring LoUs and LoCs

The discontinuation of the LoU and LoC facility had resulted in a 2-2.5% increase in the cost of credit.

This will affect the cost competiveness of the country’s trade and industry and have a cascading effect on jobs. The country cannot afford the job loss.

All the stakeholders, including banks, were of the opinion that LoUs and LoCs were accepted globally.

They are efficient as a source of cost-effective short term credit of foreign currency for importers.

Rating agencies, too, had sounded caution on the LoU ban.

The Indian unit of global rating agency, Fitch, had said that banning LoUs will reduce the financial flexibility of importers, lead to liquidity pressure and result in higher funding costs for small companies.

The banning of LoUs also hit exporters hard since they use these instruments heavily to buy raw materials that are used to make export materials.

Q) A plethora of regulations are already in use to combat fugitive economic crimes in India.

Examine the legislative void that Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill is trying to fill and analyze

its effectiveness ? (250 words)

epw

Why this question

In recent years a lot of economic offenders have fled from the country and escaped the judicial system of the country. The investigative agencies rue the fact that the existing legislations are ill equipped to deal with the scenario where the offenders flee the country. The question is based on examining what kind of legislative void exists in the country and how FEOB will improve the situation.


The question expects us to discuss whether any legislative void exists in the country. Thereafter, we need to discuss the provisions of the Bill and analyze how the Bill would help us in dealing with economic offenders like Vijay Mallya and Nirav Moti.



http://www.insightsonindia.com/2018/08/13/4-a-plethora-of-regulations-are-already-in-use-to-combat-fugitive-economic-crimes-in-india-examine-the-legislative-void-that-fugitive-economic-offenders-bill-is-trying-to-fill-and-analyze-its-effect/



https://www.epw.in/journal/2018/32/editorials/futile-run-after-fugitives.html


SECURE SYNOPSIS

Directive word


Analyze – When asked to analyze, you have to examine methodically the structure or nature of the topic by separating it into component parts and present them as a whole in a summary.

Directive word

Introduction – Highlight the background in which FEOB has been introduced in Parliament.

Body

o Examine whether any legislative void exists in the country. Argue from both side of the debate and give a fair and balanced conclusion. Mention that the absence of offenders during investigations poses problems for the probing agencies, and discuss the deterrent effect that the legislation creates. On the other side, we can bring out that the implementation of existing laws PMLA etc can only serve the purpose as argued in EPW article

o Bring out the main features of the Bill and what the Bill is trying to achieve – discuss the expected impact first which is expected to re-establish the rule of law as the accused will be forced to return to India and face trial for his offences. This would also help the banks and other financial institutions to achieve higher recovery from financial defaults committed by such fugitive economic offenders, improving the financial health of such institutions. Discuss how this is expected to be done.

o Examine the Bill from constitutional, practical, legal perspectives and how the Bill would stand the test of time.

Conclusion – Give your view on whether the Bill would help in resolving the issue and what should be the way forward.

Background:-

The Government’s move to enact fugitive economic offenders bill 2018 comes in the wake of several high profile industrialists like Vijay Mallya, and diamantaires Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi duping the banking system and evading the process of law in India by staying outside the jurisdiction of Indian courts.

Plethora of regulations already exist to combat fugitive economic crimes :-

The existing laws on economic offences (such as the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, among others) provide for confiscation as a punishment for the offence committed, but no deterrence against absconding from Indian jurisdiction for the accused, and that the Fugitive economic offenders bill will address this gap.

There have been several instances of economic offenders fleeing the jurisdiction of Indian courts, anticipating the commencement, or during the pendency, of criminal proceedings. The absence of such offenders from Indian courts has several deleterious consequences

First, it hampers investigation in criminal cases

Second, it wastes precious time of courts of law

Third, it undermines the rule of law in India. So the bill ensures to fill these gaps.

Fugitive economic offenders bill :-

It is a bill to empower the authorities to confiscate and sell assets of economic offenders, especially bank fraudsters and scamsters who have fled the country

The Bill paves the way for confiscation of all assets, including benami assets, both within and outside the country, of declared economic offenders.

The proposed law will apply for economic offences with monetary value in excess of Rs.100 crore.




SECURE SYNOPSIS

All cases under the proposed law will be tried under the PMLA Act and the administrator will sell the fugitive’s properties to pay off the lenders.

The proposed law will have an overriding effect over all other pieces of legislation. The offender will not be able to pursue any civil cases in India.

The Bill aims to curb the practice of evading the criminal prosecution by the economic offenders who flee from the country to stay out of the jurisdiction of Indian courts.

The Bill will give the right to the government to confiscate the property of such economic offenders in India and abroad. The Bill will also be applicable on the proxy-owned properties of the economic offenders.

The Bill defines the economic offenders as those against whom a legal warrant has been issued, but they refuse to adhere to the summons of the legal authorities.

The law balances itself with a provision that allows the accused to file an appeal in the High Court to state their case.

The Bill keeps the banks and other financial institutions at the Centre and seeks to help them recover the amount. The Bill will only be used for economic offences over Rs 100 crores.

The Bill makes provisions for a Court (‘Special Court’ under the Prevention of Money-laundering Act, 2002) to declare a person as a Fugitive Economic Offender

Merits :-

Strong deterrent to people fleeing the country after committing a crime.

The bill is expected to plug gaps and provide a higher deterrent effect on economic offenders.

Cases of economic offences involving non-repayment of bank loans impact the financial health of the banking sector and erode the government’s declared fight against corruption. This can be checked now.

The Bill is expected to re-establish the rule of law with respect to the fugitive economic offenders as they would be forced to return to India to face trial for scheduled offences.

This would also help the banks and other financial institutions to achieve higher recovery from financial defaults committed by such fugitive economic offenders, improving the financial health of such institutions.

It is expected that the special forum to be created for expeditious confiscation of the proceeds of crime, in India or abroad, would coerce the fugitive to return to India to submit to the jurisdiction of Courts in India to face the law in respect of scheduled offences.

Demerits :-

The blanket ban on offenders contesting the confiscation of their properties through civil suits, sale of property without trial, and deterioration in value of seized assets and finding suitable buyers are some of the concerns around the new law.

An absolute ban is contrary to the basic tenets of justice and fair play, besides being in violation of the Indian Constitution.

Sale of property of a fugitive economic offender without adjudicating after a proper trial whether or not the said person is actually liable for the offence, would amount to violation of the settled principle under the Constitution that one is considered innocent unless proven guilty. Anyone can be prosecuted or property can be acquired without the person being found guilty. These provisions are against the fundamental rights.

Being an ex post facto regulation, FEOA cannot resolve the ongoing fiascos, which took place before the new act came into being.

Assets confiscated by enforcement agencies and courts are termed as distressed properties, and seldom find buyers.

A case in point is Sahara’s Amby Valley, which despite efforts by Bombay high court’s official liquidator has been unable to find suitable buyers for almost a year.

Experts say that flaws in the proposed legislation could be used to challenge the law in courts.




SECURE SYNOPSIS

The provision that empowers any court to disentitle any person from putting forward or defending any civil action if that he/she is declared as a fugitive economic offender is seen as draconian. A challenge may be made against such provision on the ground that it is disproportionate and arbitrary.

Legal experts say the draft Bill that is in public domain does not provide for a situation where the confiscated property is in excess of the claims against the fugitive offender.

Way ahead:-

To avoid failed attempts at sale the bill should provide for time limits for disposal and encashment of property, separate limits for movable-immovable property and running business, and any property which would be subject to valuation loss over a period of time must be disposed of quickly.

Even key managerial persons can be declared fugitives, if a court has issued warrant against them. To further strengthen it, the bill should separately provide for dealing with siphoning off of funds, round-tripping, and employing any scheme or edifice to cause loss.

The capacity of our legal system needs to get better. The issue of lack of time, and domain knowledge and expertise needs to be taken care of.

Government needs to focus a lot on how the rules are made and framed in a manner that they reflect the true spirit of the law.

Government needs to reach out to different countries with whom we don’t have as yet the arrangement to have enforcement of the provisions under the law. We need to really expand that list to make sure that very few countries are left as a matter of fact no country should be left out of the purview of the contracting laws.

Q) Increasing fiscal deficit of states is a cause of worry and there is a considerable need to focus

on state government finances. Analyze. (250 words)

Livemint

Why this question

The article discusses the increasing fiscal deficit of the states, the reasons for the same and the issues that might arise out of unchecked expenditure. Economic Survey last year had also discussed the need for keeping a tab on state government finances. This question expects you to prepare an important macroeconomic issue with wider ramifications.


The question expects us to analyze the situation of the states with respect to their fiscal deficit, the reasons for the worsening performance of the states over the years, the need to refocus on state government finances as highlighted in the article as well as by NK Singh committee. Finally, we need to suggest a way forward.

Directive word



Introduction – Discuss the recommendation of FRBM Act wet state finances and why the issue of state finances has been in the news off late.

Body

o Discuss the status quo of states wrt their fiscal performance – fiscal deficit has widened from 18% in FY12 to 44% in FY18. Consolidated state government expenditure is around 1.4 times the size of the Central government expenditure.

o Discuss the aims of FRBM Act and NK Singh committee wrt state finances

o Examine the causes behind poor performance of state wrt their finances – GST, share of state’s own revenue, rising expenditure commitment etc



http://www.insightsonindia.com/2018/08/16/3-increasing-fiscal-deficit-of-states-is-a-cause-of-worry-and-there-is-a-considerable-need-to-focus-on-state-government-finances-analyze-250-words/

http://www.insightsonindia.com/2018/08/16/3-increasing-fiscal-deficit-of-states-is-a-cause-of-worry-and-there-is-a-considerable-need-to-focus-on-state-government-finances-analyze-250-words/

https://www.livemint.com/Opinion/2oPDUwBzZHb9ZKwf0C464K/Opinion--Need-to-focus-on-state-government-finances.html


SECURE SYNOPSIS

o Discuss the need to refocus on state finances to ensure that the macroeconomic stability is not disturbed

Conclusion – emphasize on the need to refocus on state finances and discuss the way forward.

Background :-

There are doubts that Central government could overshoot its fiscal deficit target for FY19 as goods and services tax (GST) revenue has been falling short of target. Also the fiscal deficit on states is again becoming a cause of concern.

Increasing fiscal deficit of states :-

As per a recent Reserve Bank of India (RBI) report on state government finances, the consolidated fiscal deficit of the state governments in FY18 was 3.1%, against the budget estimate of 2.7%.

State government fiscal deficit has been widening. The share of state governments in the combined (Centre plus state) fiscal deficit has widened from 18% in FY12 to 44% in FY18.

Consolidated state government expenditure is around 1.4 times the size of the Central government expenditure which was not the case earlier.

Reasons :-

While the state governments expenditure commitment has increased over time in line with the spirit of fiscal federalism, they still have limited autonomy in revenue collection.

With the introduction of the GST, state autonomy reduces further as states do not have the power to independently decide GST rates.

State governments had managed to keep their fiscal deficit below 3% since FY06. However, in FY16 and FY17, as state governments took over the debt of power distribution companies under the UDAY (Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana) scheme, the fiscal deficit breached the 3% level.

Farm loan waivers and the pay hikes of state government employees (considered revenue expenditure) were important factors putting pressure on government finances.

After including the cesses/surcharges, the share of states in the Centre’s gross tax revenue fell to 34.6% in FY18 (from 35.4% in FY15) even though total devolvement to states from the tax collected by the Centre has increased to 42%.

How is this a cause of concern :-

State finances become important because of state governments increased reliance on market borrowings.

The widening of state fiscal deficit now has more direct implications for interest rates in the economy.

Fiscal deficit exceeded 3% in FY18 even after the termination of the UDAY scheme. The revenue deficit has also been widening.

Recent reduction in GST rates for many items heightens concerns about revenue collection.

State government debt-to- GDP ratio has risen from 21.5% in FY15 to 24% and is a cause of concern.

Fiscal deficits may cause macroeconomic instability by inflating the economy as money supply rises.

Corporate sector is crowded out as they are left with inadequate funds in the markets as the government borrowing requirements increase.

Interest rates will be high as there is pressure on the available money in the market.

Large deficits even if they do not spill over into macroeconomic instability in the short run will require higher taxes in the long term to cover the heavy burden of internal debt.

Way forward :-

There is a need to implement NK Singh committee recommendations with respect to Fiscal deficit for a stable economy.




SECURE SYNOPSIS

Suggested a fiscal deviation band of 0.5%.This means that the government can deviate by 0.5% from the fiscal Deficit target if the economy is in slowdown.

The flexibility has been allowed for the government to create space for stimulus to pump-prime the economy.

On the other hand, when the economy is doing well, the deficit can be compressed by 0.5%.

Q) Farm loan waivers have become a popular demand and a politically attractive option.

Discuss in light of the recent decision of Karnataka state government to waive off farmers

loans. (250 words)

Financial express

Why this question

The issue of loan waivers, comes in news repeatedly because most of the state governments see it as a low hanging fruit. The overall impact of the loan waivers is not judged. The article discusses these issues and indicates why waiving off farmers loans may not be the best idea in helping them.


The question expects us to discuss the pros and cons of loan waivers, examine the reasons why loan waivers are resorted to by state governments, and the impact that it has.

Directive word

Discuss – This is an all-encompassing directive – you have to debate on paper by going through the details of the issues concerned by examining each one of them. You have to give reasons for both for and against arguments.


Introduction – Highlight the instances in recent times where loan waivers have been given to farmers.

Body

o Discuss the reasons behind loan waivers – political, agriculture in distress, environmental challenges for the farmers etc

o Discuss the pros and cons of loan waivers. Examine the challenges that it causes for the banking sector. Mention the view of Swaminathan committee etc on loan waivers.

o Discuss alternatives to loan waivers – more constructive solution to farmers distress.

Conclusion – Give your view on the penchant of state government to give loan waivers and discuss the way forward.

Background:-

Agriculture currently contributes just about 15% to the national output and about 50% of the population directly or indirectly depends on it for employment.

Farmer distress is a real and pressing problem, as evidenced by the protests currently taking place in various parts of the country.

In the recent past, widespread demands have been heard for farm loan waivers amid continuing agrarian distress.

Why farm waivers are important :-

Agriculture in India has been facing many issues like fragmented land holding, depleting water table levels, deteriorating soil quality, rising input costs, low productivity.

Output prices may not be remunerative. Farmers are often forced to borrow to manage expenses.

Indebtedness is a key reason for the many farmer suicides in the country.



http://www.insightsonindia.com/2018/08/17/4-farm-loan-waivers-have-become-a-popular-demand-and-a-politically-attractive-option-discuss-in-light-of-the-recent-decision-of-karnataka-state-government-to-waive-off-farmers-loans-250-words/



https://www.financialexpress.com/opinion/farm-loan-waivers-tread-with-caution-here-is-why/1281838/


SECURE SYNOPSIS

Loan waivers provide some relief to farmers in such situations.

Farm loan waivers are at best a temporary solution.

Farm loan waivers is becoming a necessity now because these deep rooted problems are not being addressed related to farmers and their sufferings cannot be ignored.

Negative implications

Less long term impact:-

Loan waivers might help the government buy peace with farmers in the short run, but they are unlikely to change much on the ground.

Research shows that loan waivers do not result in greater investment or better labour market outcomes.

Experience shows failure:-

No improvement in farm productivity for households qualifying for loan waiver indicates a failure of the programme to achieve its desired goals.

Loan waivers can also affect the flow of credit:-

It creates distortions in the credit market, as repeated waivers incentivise default.

They can not only increase the deficit and interest burden, but also limit the ability of the government to undertake capital expenditure. Lower capital expenditure affects longer-term growth prospects, including that of the agriculture sector.

Debt waiver in case of default, farmers are likely to reduce productive investments and spend more on consumption.

Providing loan waivers in some states promote farmers from other states also demanding farm loan waiver.

Due to farm loan waivers, overall borrowings of the government would go up and that can lead to crowding out private borrowers and increase the cost of borrowings for others.

This idea seems to be bad politics as well as bad economics because it may win the political party some votes but is not sustainable in the long run. Waiver of loan is a plain action where the credit climate is hampered. It will be counter productive not only for the state but for the entire credit market.

Farm loan waivers may act as a temporary solution and can prove to be moral hazard in future because those farmers who are able to pay their loans might not pay it expecting a waiver.

Affects banking system:-

The banks may become wary in providing loans to the poor farmers who actually need it. These waivers will add to the NPAs of the banks and it will cost taxpayers.

Solutions that go beyond loan waivers are:-

As a long term measure, agriculture should be made sustainable by:

Reducing inefficiencies and increasing income

Providing protection through insurance schemes

Better risk management and more efficient agricultural markets

Subsidies should be directed towards the farmers not the companies.

Incentivise people to move out of agriculture by expansion in the manufacturing sector.

Apart from efforts to increase yields, land leasing should be strengthened, which will not only allow consolidation, but will also give an opportunity to unwilling farmers to exit the sector.

Adequate safeguards need to be built in order to protect farmers against both production and price risks.

Central and state governments will need to work together in order to enhance the viability of the sector.




SECURE SYNOPSIS

Investment in practically every aspect of the farm economy, including irrigation, agricultural research, storage and marketing.

Require policy decisions in other areas like FDI in multi-brand retail, which would lay the groundwork for cold- chain storage infrastructure that support the sector.

Formulate eligibility rules for loan waiver that depend on historical loan-utilization, investment, and repayment patterns.

Alternative policy intervention is the agricultural insurance.

The money waived could be invested for creating infrastructure that makes farmers independent of cartel of traders and help them to reap maximum economic benefit of their produce.

Considering loan waiver only up to a specified threshold limit (mostly Rs 1 lakh), and any amount over that will have to be paid so that there may not be a significant worsening of credit culture.

Q) It is high time for both the RBI and the government to make a choice between legislative

mandates of inflation rate targeting and a holistic approach for development management.

Critically Comment. (250 words)

epw

Livemint

Why this question

A strict Inflation targeting approach of the RBI, as mandated, has been criticized for various reasons with restricting development opportunities being the most important of them. The RBI has recently been increasing repo rate as well as reverse repo rates under inflationary expectations. It is necessary to revisit the issue and have a short discussion thereupon.

Directive word

Critically Comment- here we have to express our knowledge and understanding of the issue and form an overall opinion thereupon. Here we have to look at both negative as well as positive aspects and then form our opinion on the issue.


The question wants us to discuss the positive as well as negative aspects of inflation targeting and how it affects development of the country. Based on our discussion we have to form a substantive conclusion on the issue.


Introduction– write a few lines about the mandate of RBI to restrict inflation to 4 +/- 2%. Also mention RBI’s recent monetary policy changes like hike in repo and reverse repo rates.

Body-

o Discuss the positive aspects of such a targeting approach on development. E.g fosters stable macroeconomic conditions; stable inflation rates and expectations- linked to such domestic and business decisions; generates high investment confidence etc.

o DIscuss the negative aspects. E.g restricts development opportunities, inadequate allocation of public funds for social sectors; propagates social inequality; is insufficient as a measure because of strong association of inflation in India with the supply side etc.

Conclusion– Based on your discussion form a conclusion as to what should be done in this regard. Your opinion should be supported by further arguments in case needed.



http://www.insightsonindia.com/2018/08/20/4-it-is-high-time-for-both-the-rbi-and-the-government-to-make-a-choice-between-legislative-mandates-of-inflation-rate-targeting-and-a-holistic-approach-for-development-management-critically-comment/



https://www.epw.in/journal/2018/33/editorials/circumscribed-consumer-prices.html

https://www.livemint.com/Opinion/XfZRdcwaAPk4CP62fRP0nL/RBI-monetary-policy-Is-flexible-inflation-targeting-working.html


SECURE SYNOPSIS

Background:-

India formally backed the inflation strategy of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) by notifying a retail inflation target of 4% as an anchor for monetary policy. The RBI has recently been increasing repo rate as well as reverse repo rates under inflationary expectations.

Benefits:-

Inflation persistence has decreased in recent years. Shocks to core inflation dissipate in some time rather than leading to a higher level of inflation.

Inflation expectations are more stable since the introduction of flexible inflation targeting two years ago.

It allows monetary policy to focus on domestic considerations and to respond to shocks to the domestic economy.

High investor confidence:-

It facilitates well-informed decision-making by households and investors, reduces economic and financial uncertainty, and increases the effectiveness of monetary policy.

An explicit numerical inflation target increases a central bank’s accountability and it can also insulate the bank from political pressure to undertake an overly expansionary monetary policy.

Most important being, a formalised monetary policy helps in anchoring long-term inflation expectations.

Monetary policy framework will help reduce inflation volatility, anchor inflation expectations and improve the credibility of the central banker.

Disadvantages:-

Increases in inflation (mainly CPI) are not necessarily coupled to any factor internal to a country’s economy and strictly adjusting interest rates will potentially be ineffectual and may restricts economic growth.

It neglects output shocks by focusing solely on the price level and it may leads to potential instability in the event of large supply-side shocks.

It may leads to restricted ability of the central bank to respond to financial crises or unforeseen events.

It restricts development opportunities and also there will be inadequate allocation of public funds for social sectors leading to propagation of social inequality.

Q) The recent report by the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD),

reiterate the vulnerability of Indian agriculture households. Discuss. (250 words)

Reference

Reference

Why this question

Agriculture is the livelihood of around 48% of Indian population. It is extremely essential to discuss about the vulnerabilities of Indian agriculture households and how they have progressed with time. Besides, launched in 2016-17, NAFIS is a national level survey that offers a comprehensive overview of the rural population in terms of their status of livelihoods and level of financial inclusion. It was conducted in more than 40,000 households from 245 districts in 29 states. Its findings are important.

Directive word




http://www.insightsonindia.com/2018/08/20/5-the-recent-report-by-the-national-bank-for-agriculture-and-rural-development-nabard-reiterate-the-vulnerability-of-indian-agriculture-households-discuss-250-words/

http://www.insightsonindia.com/2018/08/20/5-the-recent-report-by-the-national-bank-for-agriculture-and-rural-development-nabard-reiterate-the-vulnerability-of-indian-agriculture-households-discuss-250-words/

https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/in-4-years-farmers-income-has-increased-by-just-rs-2-505-per-month-nabard-report-61410

https://www.downtoearth.org.in/coverage/into-the-abyss-48222


SECURE SYNOPSIS


The question wants us to write in detail about the findings of the recent report by NABARD which highlights the vulnerabilities of Indian agriculture households. We also have to discuss the findings of some other report which reiterates such findings.


Introduction– write a few lines about the importance of agriculture for the vast majority of Indian farming households, as a source of subsistence and livelihood. Mention agriculture’s contribution to national GDP.

Body–

o Discuss the findings of the report of the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO), released in 2014, which gives a detailed picture of the vulnerability of Indian agricultural households. E.g 52 per cent of the total agricultural households in the country are in debt; If you adjust for inflation, farmers’ incomes have remained frozen in the past 10 years; the debt is being incurred by the the richer, more prosperous farmers etc.

o Discuss the findings of the recent NABARD All India Rural Financial Inclusion Survey (NAFIS) report. E.g Apart from a paltry income, farmers are facing rising indebtedness, lesser financial inclusion, and absence of insurance facility, in the past four years, the income of a farm household has increased by just Rs 2,505/month; 41 per cent of rural households are indebted, of which majority (43 per cent) are agriculture households; Around one-third of total households take loan from money lenders and other non-financial institutions. Although around 60 per cent of households take loans from financial institutions, the average amount of loan from non-institution is more than double than any financial institution etc.

Conclusion– sum up your discussion in a few lines and form a fair and a balanced conclusion on the above issue.

Background:-

The state of agriculture in India still needs lot to be done even though government has been taking measures to improve the lives of farmers. The recent NAFIS report gives data regarding the status of farmers .

The report, titled ‘Situation Assessment Survey of Agricultural Households in India’ by NSSO during 2012-2013 stated that 52 per cent of the total agricultural households in the country are in debt. The average debt is Rs 47,000 per agricultural household in this country, where the yearly income from cultivation per household is Rs 36,972.

NABARD report:-

NABARD All India Rural Financial Inclusion Survey (NAFIS) shows that average agriculture household income was a mere Rs 8,931 per month in 2016-17. Apart from a paltry income, farmers are facing rising indebtedness, lesser financial inclusion, and absence of insurance facility, according to the report.

Survey shows that 41 per cent of rural households are indebted, of which majority (43 per cent) are agriculture households. Gujarat, Maharashtra, Telangana, Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh are the most indebted households.

Finance:-

Around one-third of total households take loan from money lenders and other non-financial institutions. Although around 60 per cent of households take loans from financial institutions, the average amount of loan from non-institution is more than double than any financial institution.

Insurance

Only one-fourth of the total rural households have any kind of insurance such as life insurance, vehicle, accident or health insurance.




SECURE SYNOPSIS

Out of the total rural households, only 26 per cent of agriculture households have any kind of insurance. Only 5 per cent and 2 per cent of rural household have vehicle and accidental insurance respectively, said the survey.

Financial Inclusion

Around 49 per cent of total rural households report savings in financial institution and around 53 per cent of agriculture households save in financial institution.

Vulnerability of agriculture households:-

In the last 10 years, the voluminous debt of Indian agricultural households has increased almost four-fold whereas their undersized monthly income from cultivation has increased three-fold.

Even the number of indebted agricultural households has increased in the last 10 years. At the same time, there has been a micro-increment in the number of agricultural households in India.

Debt is being incurred by the the richer, more prosperous farmers.

NSSO data shows that richer agricultural states like Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Punjab have the highest average outstanding loans per agricultural household, whereas poorer states like Assam, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh have the lowest amount of average outstanding loans.

This is substantiated by the data which shows that among agricultural households which possess less than 0.01 ha the share was only 15 per cent of the total outstanding institutional loan, whereas for households which possess more than 10 ha the share was about 79 per cent.

Even as agriculture has intensified, investment in it is very less.

Q) Discuss the steps taken by the RBI in recent years to clean up the balance sheets of

commercial banks. (250 words)

epw

economictimes

Economictimes

Why this question

India’s NPA problem is huge and has been gradually resolving but the pace has not been upto the mark. In this context RBI has been at the forefront and has taken several measures in recent years to resolve the problem of NPAs. Thus it is important to discuss these steps and inform ourselves about them.

Directive word



The question wants us to write in detail about all the measures taken by the RBI to resolve the problem of rising NPAs in Indian banking system.


Introduction– write a few lines about India’s NPA problem its status etc.

Body– Discuss the measures taken by the RBI in recent years. E.g insisting on a more vigorous asset quality review and providing a realistic picture of NPAs and provisioning ratios for the existing stock of restructured loans that are showing signs of stress. In order to prevent banks from liberally restructuring loans, the RBI cautioned that units not found viable would henceforth be treated as substandard assets for the purpose of provisioning; scheme for sustainable structuring of stressed assets,” (S4A); Taking cognisance of the continuous increase in bad debts, the RBI further initiated



http://www.insightsonindia.com/2018/08/27/2-discuss-the-steps-taken-by-the-rbi-in-recent-years-to-clean-up-the-balance-sheets-of-commercial-banks-250-words/

http://www.insightsonindia.com/2018/08/27/2-discuss-the-steps-taken-by-the-rbi-in-recent-years-to-clean-up-the-balance-sheets-of-commercial-banks-250-words/

https://www.epw.in/journal/2018/34/perspectives/non-performing-assets-commercial-banks.html

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/policy/rbi-withdraws-cdr-sdr-s4a-jlf-schemes-to-restructure-defaulted-loans/articleshow/62891543.cms

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/banking/finance/banking/rbis-new-npa-resolution-framework-long-term-positive-report/articleshow/62917062.cms


SECURE SYNOPSIS

stringent measures in February 2018, as per which the lenders should identify incipient stress in loan accounts and classify the stress accounts into three categories of special mention accounts (SMA), depending upon the default of payments and report the data to the RBI under CRILC. The resolution plan thereof would entail downgrading or upgrading of the loan accounts without loss of time. The loan classification and reclassification would be an ongoing exercise. according to which a portion of the stressed assets could be converted into equity of the company; scrapped numerous loan restructuring programmes prevalent among banks to restructure defaulted loans(CDR, SDR, S4A, JLF schemes) and made resolution of defaults time bound with the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code becoming the main tool to deal with defaulters etc.

Conclusion- Based on your discussion, form a fair and a balanced conclusion on the given issue- e.g in view of the stringent measures imposed during the last two years and to maintain the stipulated CRAR norms, care should also be taken to ensure that there is no erosion of capital for any eventual decline in profits. If the repayments are not forthcoming as per the terms and conditions, and the assisted units are not found to be viable, steps need to be taken for fast recovery; need for a relook and review the database on NPAs of commercial banks etc.

Background:-

The Financial Stability Report, 2017, released by the RBI, states that India’s gross NPAs stands at 9.6%.

Steps taken by RBI:-

The RBI has taken important steps to clean up the balance sheets of commercial banks during 2015–16, insisting on a more vigorous asset quality review and providing a realistic picture of NPAs and provisioning ratios for the existing stock of restructured loans that are showing signs of stress.

In order to prevent banks from liberally restructuring loans, the RBI cautioned that units not found viable would henceforth be treated as substandard assets for the purpose of provisioning, culminating in the 15% norm prescribed for substandard assets.

Scheme for sustainable structuring of stressed assets:-

A portion of the stressed assets could be converted into equity of the company.

The implication of this measure is that, with a high stake in equity, the returns thereof are expected to offset the bad debts that could have been incurred otherwise.

While this could improve the leverage ratios of the companies in the short run, and may be beneficial to both the bank and the company, the viability of the company could be at stake if the bank decides to withdraw the capital at a later date.

Taking cognisance of the continuous increase in bad debts, the RBI further initiated stringent measures in 2018, as per which the lenders should identify incipient stress in loan accounts and classify the stress accounts into three categories of special mention accounts (SMA), depending upon the default of payments and report the data to the RBI under CRILC.

The resolution plan thereof would entail downgrading or upgrading of the loan accounts without loss of time.

The loan classification and reclassification would be an ongoing exercise. This will have a drastic effect on the provisioning ratio and the profitability of the banks would get further eroded, unless continuous vigilance and monitoring of these accounts is ensured

RBI scrapped numerous loan restructuring programmes prevalent among banks to restructure defaulted loans (CDR, SDR, S4A, JLF schemes) and made resolution of defaults time bound with the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code becoming the main tool to deal with defaulters etc.

Lenders will now have to work out a resolution plan for defaults within 180 days, failing which the account would be referred to the bankruptcy courts

Central bank has also toughened the reporting of defaults to the central repository by making it monthly from quarterly. All borrower entities in default with an exposure of more than Rs. 5 crores have to be reported on weekly basis.




SECURE SYNOPSIS

Way forward:-

Commercial banks will have to perform a balancing act in the coming years with better management of credit risks, particularly in respect of restructured advances and provisions thereof, in view of the stringent measures imposed during the last two years.

In order to maintain the stipulated CRAR norms, care should also be taken to ensure that there is no erosion of capital for any eventual decline in profits.

If the repayments are not forthcoming as per the terms and conditions, and the assisted units are not found to be viable, steps need to be taken for fast recovery.

It is time to have a relook and review the database on NPAs of commercial banks, which could be more useful in the context of the developments taking place in the banking sector.

The basic statistical returns (BSR) information system can be tapped by the generation of tabulations needed for the purpose, suitably modifying the formats in data collection.

Q) Critically examine the need for dual-class shares vis a vis the Indian market. (250 words)

Economictimes

Reference

Reference

Why this question

Dual-class share issuance is on the rise in a number of markets around the world. Many jurisdictions allow dual-class share structures, including the United States, Canada, Brazil, France, and Italy. Other economies such as Singapore and Hong Kong are reconsidering whether to allow dual-class share structures. It is therefore essential to discuss the desirability of dual class shares vis a vis India.

Directive word

Critically examine- Here we have to probe deeper into the topic, get into details, and find out the causes or implications if any. Based on our discussion we have to form a concluding opinion on the issue.


The question wants us to dig deep into the issue and deliberate upon both the sides of dual-class shares in terms of their implications for the economy, market and the shareholder. It then wants us to form a personal opinion on the issue.


Introduction-write a few introductory lines about dual-class shares and how they are different from normal shares. E.g such shares offer different voting rights ( or dividend payments) to different class of shareholders-e.g founders vs general public. Mention that dual-class share issuance is on the rise in a number of markets around the world. Many jurisdictions allow dual-class share structures, including the United States, Canada, Brazil, France, and Italy.

Body–

Discuss the pros of dual class shares. E.g Even without dual-class shares, outside shareholders do not enjoy much control; the dual-class share structure makes insider control more transparent. It will signal the firms in which insiders enjoy absolute control; allowing dual-class shares is the only way we can have an Indian-owned unicorn etc.

Discuss the cons of dual-class shares. E.g Supporters feel that the structure allows strong leadership and the placing of long-term interests over near-term financial results etc.

Conclusion– Based on your discussion, form a fair and a balanced opinion on the issue.



http://www.insightsonindia.com/2018/08/31/4-critically-examine-the-need-for-dual-class-shares-vis-a-vis-the-indian-market-250-words/

https://blogs.economictimes.indiatimes.com/et-editorials/let-banks-form-spv-to-own-power-assets/?_ga=2.235504193.1763643438.1535606538-981891512.1534237400

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/d/dualclassstock.asp

https://www.cfainstitute.org/en/advocacy/issues/dual-class-shares


SECURE SYNOPSIS

Background:-

Dual-class share issuance is on the rise in a number of markets around the world. Many jurisdictions allow dual-class share structures, including the United States, Canada, Brazil, France, and Italy.

Dual class shares:-

DCS structure permits the issuing of different classes of shares with differential voting rights and dividend payment arrangements by the same company

A dual class stock structure can consist of Class A and Class B shares, for example. Shares can differ, based on distinct voting rights and dividend payments.

When multiple share classes are typically issued: one share class is offered to the general public, while the other is offered to company founders, executives and family.

The class offered to the general public has limited voting rights, while the class available to founders and executives has more voting power and often provides for majority control of the company.

Why India needs dual class shares :-

Long term interests

Supporters feel that the structure allows strong leadership and the placing of long-term interests over near-term financial results

Strengthen corporate governance:-

By selling two kinds of partnership shares, through the dual-class share system, Indian businesses will actually strengthen corporate governance

Transparency:-

Dual-class share structure makes insider control more transparent. This will put greater onus on outside investors to exercise due diligence before investing.

Having access to dual class shares will enable them to grow fast using outside equity while retaining control:-

New technology firms typically have an asset-light balance sheet. They do not invest in physical assets such as plant and equipment but in intangible assets. In the absence of a dual-class share structure, raising outside equity would dilute the insider’s ownership stake and risk loss of control.

Even without dual-class shares, outside shareholders do not enjoy much control.

Ideal for small shareholders:-

These shares are ideal for small shareholders as they rarely exercise their voting rights. This is because only a few understand the company’s affairs in such detail that they can influence its actions. They buy shares only to make money and so happily give away voting rights in favour of those who have management control.

For promoters:-

The dual-class structure allows promoters to hold a large percentage of voting rights, while minimizing their cash flow stake. Thus, dual class shares system assist management in deterring potential rivals from winning a control contest.

These shares are priced lower at issuance and offer higher dividends

Criticism:-

Control:-

Opponents of the system feel it allows a small group of privileged shareholders to maintain control, while other shareholders (with less voting power) provide the majority of the capital.

Academic research has proven that powerful classes of shares for insiders can actually hinder long term outperformance.

Strips stockholders of the power to push through changes in management, when companies are poorly run.




SECURE SYNOPSIS

Security holders with superior control claims can affect the value of other minority claimholders by taking decisions in favour of promoters.

Topic-Effects of liberalization on the economy, changes in industrial policy and their effects on industrial

growth.

Q) Discuss how the recently envisaged Strategic Partnership policy aims to revitalise defence

industrial ecosystem and progressively build indigenous capabilities in the private sector.(250

words)

Economictimes

Why this question

India is the world’s largest importer of defence products and it is very important for us to develop indigenous manufacturing capacities in the sector, in order to give a boost to make in India, seek strategic independence and create employment opportunities. Recent the DAC has approved the SP policy in defence manufacturing in this direction, which needs to be discussed upon.


The question wants us to write in detail about the newly introduced SP policy in defense production and discuss how it aims to revitalise defence industrial ecosystem and progressively build indigenous capabilities in the private sector. What is the strategy envisaged.

Directive word

Discuss- This s an all-encompassing directive which mandates us to write in detail about the key demand of the question. We also have to discuss about the related and important aspects of the question in order to bring out a complete picture of the issue in hand.


Introduction – write a few lines about India’s defense imports, present some related statistics and mention about the recent SP policy released by DAC.

Body-

Discuss the aim of the policy. E.g the SP model aims to create a vibrant defence manufacturing ecosystem in the country through joint ventures between Indian corporates and global defence majors; the government is looking at achieving a turnover of Rs 1,70,000 crore in military goods and services by 2025 and the SP model is envisaged to capitalise this opportunity and contribute to make in India programme.

Discuss how the policy wants to achieve those aims.E.g all procurements under the SP Model would be executed by specially constituted Empowered Project Committees (EPC) to provide focussed attention and ensure timely execution; specified norms for carrying out various sector specific manufacturing projects; lay emphasis on incentivisation of transfer of niche technology and ensure higher indigenous content in military platforms to be produced in India etc.

Conclusion– Briefly discuss what more needs to be done in this regard and present a fair and a balanced conclusion on the given issue.

Background :-

Recently government approved key guidelines for implementation of an ambitious policy under which select private firms will be roped in to build military platforms like submarines and fighter jets in India in partnership with foreign entities.

The Strategic partnership Model was first proposed by the Dhirendra Singh Committee in July 2015. It has been recently adopted by the government under its Make in India programme to increase the participation of domestic private firms as well as foreign firms in defence manufacturing in the country.



http://www.insightsonindia.com/2018/08/01/6-discuss-how-the-recently-envisaged-strategic-partnership-policy-aims-to-revitalise-defence-industrial-ecosystem-and-progressively-build-indigenous-capabilities-in-the-private-sector-250-words/



https://www.google.co.in/amp/s/m.economictimes.com/news/defence/guidelines-for-implementation-of-strategic-partnership-model-in-defence-manufacturing-approved/amp_articleshow/65202868.cms


SECURE SYNOPSIS

Strategic partnership policy :-

At initial stages, the policy is expected to be implemented only in few selected segments viz. fighter aircraft, submarines and armoured vehicles. Government may add additional segments to it in future.

This model involves creating two separate pools of Indian private companies and foreign OEMs

It promotes competitive bidding for project procurements, but also allows the Indian companies to tie up with a foreign OEM(Original Equipment Manufacturers)

Why this policy is needed?

Defence production in India is currently dominated by state-owned manufacturers and lacks autonomy and modernisation.

India spends huge amount on defence as evident from the recent report of Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), which says that India is world’s largest defence importer during 2012-16.

The Union Budget 2017-18 has allocated Rs. 3,59,854 crore to the Ministry of Defence and most of this amount goes for defence acquisition. Still, India can’t even compare to its neighbour China in modern warfare and has been unable to protect its borders from being intruded by the militants.

The major problem behind this is lack of high levels of indigenisation in this The “strategic partnership model” is aimed at making efforts to stimulate defence manufacturing ecosystem in the country through involvement of Indian as well as foreign firms.

How this policy revitalizes defence industrial ecosystem :-

SP model aims to create a vibrant defence manufacturing ecosystem in the country through joint ventures between Indian corporates and global defence majors.

All procurements under the SP Model would be executed by specially constituted Empowered Project Committees (EPC) to provide focussed attention and ensure timely execution.

Global defence majors, which are ready for collaboration with Indian partners and can help the country become a manufacturing hub for military production, will also be incentivized.

This will give a major fillip towards encouraging self-reliance and aligning the defence sector with the ‘Make in India’ initiative of the Government.

SP model aims to revitalise defence industrial ecosystem and progressively build indigenous capabilities in the private sector to design, develop and manufacture complex weapon systems for the future needs of the armed forces.

It promotes high levels of indigenisation, helping the country to become self-reliant in this sector, which was elusive till now.

Being a manufacturing sector, it has humongous potential to generate employment, the much needed by the country.

It provides a lucrative option for Indian private sector and start-ups. Their investment in this sector would help the country to stimulate its GDP growth rate.

It would reduce foreign procurements of defence equipments, thereby, reducing the wastage of our foreign reserves.

It would generate healthy competition between private sector firms and state-owned firms, thus providing state-owned firms with opportunity to come at par with private sector.

From the private sector’s point of view:-

The biggest benefit would be the opportunity to participate in some big ticket contracts estimated to be worth over two lakh crore rupees in the initial phase of execution which were hitherto reserved for the DPSUs and OFs.

At the same time, the model would also go a long way in bridging the long-standing trust gap between the Indian private sector and MoD, with the latter perceived to be friendlier toward public sector entities.




SECURE SYNOPSIS

Further, Strategic Partners, being private sector companies, are expected to exploit their dynamism, competiveness, profit orientation, and exposure to the civilian sector for efficient utilisation of the technology, manpower and infrastructure developed in the process.

The development of competitiveness and expertise to compete to win future contracts, which was lacking in the case of DPSUs/OFs because of a constant flow of orders handed over on a platter by the MoD, is something that would contribute to laying a strong and credible foundation for India’s military industrial complex.

It will serve to enhance competition, increase efficiencies, facilitate faster and more significant absorption of technology, create a tiered industrial ecosystem, ensure development of a wider skill base and trigger innovation, leading to reduction in dependence on imports and greater self-reliance in meeting national security objectives.

Issues:-

The lack of institutional capacity and ability to guide the new process to its logical conclusion. In the past, several promising measures, especially those connected with the ‘Make’ and ‘Buy and Make (Indian)’ procedures, have failed to yield the desired results because of these shortcomings.

There is also a concern regarding the long-term viability of SPs largely due to the privileged position enjoyed by public sector entities. It would be futile to expect SPs to make major investments if the government does not provide a level-playing filed to the private sector.

The initial cost involved in developing such defence ecosystem is very high. As per a report, if India manufactures Kamov helicopters domestically, it would cost India nearly 2.5 times what it pays to Russia for the same.

It is for sure that once the manufacturing unit will be set up, it would not only focus on domestic requirement but also try for export the products. But Indian logistics sector is still one of the major challenges for country’s export oriented programmes.

Setting up a manufacturing industry requires large tracts of contiguous land. Since land is a state subject in India, its procurement would be time consuming process.

There is the sensitive issue of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR), which is one of the reasons why foreign OEMs are generally reluctant to transfer technologies.

Conclusion:-

The policy can be considered a great initiative in larger national interest as it promotes indigenisation and has extreme potential to generate employment. The huge initial cost can be neglected for the time being as it is one time cost. Once the manufacturing starts, it would balance the cost within 5-10 years time period, and the investment will prove profitable. It will finally prove to be a capacity building initiative for not only the private sector but also of Indian public sector in defence manufacturing.

Q) Tariff liberalisation policies and the liberal FDI policy regime, enveloped within a passive

industrial policy framework, have resulted in India’s increased electronics import dependence.

Critically analyze. (250 words)

epw

Reference

Why this question

Liberalization in India helped India becoming a leading IT services hub of the world. But its electronics manufacturing industry has not been able to even (substantially) reduce, leave alone eliminate import dependence. This is a serious economic and policy matter which needs to be probed in detail.



http://www.insightsonindia.com/2018/08/27/3-tariff-liberalisation-policies-and-the-liberal-fdi-policy-regime-enveloped-within-a-passive-industrial-policy-framework-have-resulted-in-indias-increased-electronics-import-dependence-c/



https://www.epw.in/system/files/pdf/2018_53/34/SA_VIII_34_250818_Smitha%20Francis.pdf

http://www.makeinindia.com/article/-/v/fuelling-electronics-manufacturing-in-india


SECURE SYNOPSIS

Directive word

Critically analyze- Here we have to examine methodically the structure or nature of the topic by separating it into component parts, and present them as a whole in a summary. Based on our discussion we have to form a concluding opinion on the issue.


The question wants us to dig deep into the issue and bring out how these factors- tariff liberalisation policies , a liberal FDI policy regime, a passive industrial policy framework- have led to India’s increased electronics import dependence. We have to discuss each factor separately but present them all as contributing factors to- India’s increased electronics import dependence.


Introduction-write a few lines indicating the present status of the Electronic System Design and Manufacturing (ESDM) sector in India and about the electronics imports in India. Mention the predicted growth in the sector and the need of the hour to seize that opportunity.

Body-

Discuss how each of the three factors have led to India’s increased electronics import dependence. E.g

o Tariff liberalization policies- India joined the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Information Technology Agreement (ITA-1) in 1996, with the conviction that lowering duties on a range of ICT products under the ITA-1 would boost the competitiveness of India’s software exports, apart from increasing their market access. Compared to the 1993–98 period electronics sector witnessed significant net decline in total factor productivity growth (TFPG) between 1999 and 2004. This downward trend continued after trade liberalisation was intensified from 1997 onwards under the ITA-1 which was then exacerbated by the equally non-strategic tariff liberalisation carried out by India under its free-trade agreements (FTAs) with the ASEAN and Japan and South Korea, countries that were already deeply integrated into global value chains (GVCs) in the electronics sector.

o FDI policies have provided limited incentive for large foreign original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and electronics manufacturing service providers to invest in local production. Instead, they typically choose to only set up final assembly plants in India . A trade policy that promotes duty-free imports will clearly reduce the appeal of domestic production, particularly in a scenario where there is inadequate policy support for enhancing productivity at the firm and industry levels.

o Discuss how the industrial policy framework failed to recognize the need to encourage technological innovation through government funding; protect domestic industries; enhance the productivity of the industry as well as labour, ensure significant value addition; integrate ourselves into global value chains etc.

Conclusion- sum up your discussion in a few lines and form a fair and a balanced conclusion on the above issue.

Background :-

Electronics industry is strategic for any country because of the wide applicability of these products and technologies across sectors, and their economy‐wide productivity enhancing impact.

At present, while India is considered a global super power in the IT services sector, the electronics industry is one of the top contributors to Indiaʹs merchandise imports.

In 2017, India’s net electronic imports increased 12% compared to a year ago.




SECURE SYNOPSIS

How tariff liberalization policies impacted electronics industry:-

Pre-liberalisation situation:-

The domestic electronics industry’s pre‐liberalisation development trajectory shows that there were inadequate government‐ directed efforts for creating technological capabilities and scale in domestic firms, and for developing synergies at the industry level.

As a result, the industry’s premature exposure to severe external competitive pressures with rapid trade liberalisation of the computer and telecommunications industries under the WTO’s ITA‐1 from 1997 became a major obstacle in its subsequent development.

India did this with the conviction that lowering duties on a range of ICT products under the ITA-1 would boost the competitiveness of India’s software exports, apart from increasing their market access.

A significant part of the learning process required for technological catchup and potential for systemic synergies was further lost because direct imports took over and domestic manufacturing was avoided in the case of a large number of products in the absence of strategic industrial policy support.

The tariff liberalisation of the computer and telecommunications industries under the ITA‐1 was worsened by the tariff liberalisation under India’s FTAs with East and Southeast Asian countries, with the latter extending it to several non‐ITA‐1 products, including consumer electronics and home appliances as well as professional, medical and scientific instruments and their parts.

After nearly two decades of trade liberalisation, the gap between country’s electronics demand and domestic production capacity has only been widening.

FDI policies impact on electronics industry:-

Under successive governments liberal FDI regimes, there were nil or ineffective industrial policy measures in place linking foreign‐invested firms and the domestic supplier base to ensure positive spill‐over effects.

The deep and broad trade liberalisation, the liberal FDI regime, and the absence of vertical industrial policies have together removed tariff‐hopping and other policy‐driven incentives for MNCs and domestic firms to undertake local production.

The government failed to provide incentive for large foreign original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and electronics manufacturing service providers to invest in local production. Instead, they typically choose to only set up final assembly plants in India .

There were also no policies linking foreign invested firms and the domestic supply base which could have let to vertical spillage effects and technological upgrading among domestic firms.

Passive industrial policy framework:-

The high tariffs for the hardware sector meant that there was some domestic production of hardware products including PCs, peripherals, and components. This was aided by the general reduction in duty on components and liberal import of capital goods for component manufacture under the Components Policy of 1981.

Meanwhile, all segments of the domestic PC industry grew under high tariffs and quantitative restrictions.

The nature of incentives for software exports and the absence of vertical industrial policies led to a disconnect between subsequent boom in software export growth and the domestic IT hardware and telecommunication production trajectories.

The lack of a strategic policy thrust for developing strong and varied technological capabilities has meant that while India currently has a strong integrated circuit (IC) design base located within MNCs, Indian chip design engineers lack the breadth and depth in capabilities required for semiconductor fabrication, component manufacturing, as well as in system design and systems manufacturing.

A trade policy that promotes duty‐free imports will clearly reduce incentives for domestic production in the absence of other policies that promote domestic production.

Moreover, the fact that there was no industrial strategy guiding tariff liberalisation in any strategic manner led to many final products becoming duty‐free, while several components had to be imported paying tariffs.




SECURE SYNOPSIS

Despite having the advantage of a large domestic market, this became an adverse factor influencing producers incentives even for domestic assembly, in the absence of a sufficiently developed domestic parts and components supply base.

Consequently, trade liberalisation has only seen India’s growing demand for electronics products leading to high import dependence.

The underlying reason behind the erosion of electronics manufacturing capabilities appears to be the absence of a visionary state with a long‐term industrial development strategy, which guides trade liberalisation and ensures focussed implementation of structural support policies that push firms to be productive and innovative as well as ensure backward linkages from foreign invested companies to the domestic supplier base, as it happened in South Korea, Taiwan, and more recently, in China

Inverted tax structure for electronic goods. Due to a limited base of local component suppliers, manufacturers are dependent on importing parts.

The positive custom duties on the components used in electronic products make it expensive for domestic manufacturers to compete with foreign competitors who can access the components at lower prices.

Way forward:-

Trade and investment policies and other industrial policy measures for skill and technological capability development have to be coordinated within a strategic industrial development vision to achieve sustainable development of any industry.

Along with vertical industrial policies for upgrading firm and industry level productivity and improved infrastructure, a calibrated approach towards trade and FDI policies is needed such that they do not negate incentives for value adding local production which is an imperative for enabling domestic firms to engage in global value chains in a sustainable manner.

Government efforts to reinvigorate investments into the electronics industry and the continuing desire to enter into new FTAs need to keep these policy lessons in mind.

Increase the country’s general competitiveness in the export market instead of pursuing sectoral policies. India’s share in the global electronics market was a minuscule 1.6% of the market in 2015 that is currently valued over $1.75 trillion.

Bring the duties on components down to the level of the product. Some parts might be used for multiple products that may have different duties, but it’s important to rule in favour of simple rules and apply the rate-cut regardless of use.

Laws need to be liberal and predictable.

In the case of taxation, it is important to clearly establish the tax liabilities under different circumstances in full detail.

A possible experiment could be special economic zones like the Dubai International Financial Centre. Dubai’s normal civil and commercial laws do not apply in this area and a British chief justice ensures the practice of British common law.

Targeted initiatives launched by the government have provided much needed impetus to local manufacturing but to make itself sustainable more support must be provided.

Topic- Inclusive growth and issues arising from it.

Q) Rural tourism provides many opportunities for rural development in India, but at the same

times poses several challenges which need to be taken care of. Comment. (250 words)

Reference

Why this question

Rural development is a necessity for India and any strategy/ policy in this direction s a welcome step. There is a lot of scope of rural tourism, given the vast rural hinterland of India and growing



http://www.insightsonindia.com/2018/08/02/6-rural-tourism-provides-many-opportunities-for-rural-development-in-india-but-at-the-same-times-poses-several-challenges-which-need-to-be-taken-care-of-comment-250-words/

http://www.insightsonindia.com/2018/08/02/6-rural-tourism-provides-many-opportunities-for-rural-development-in-india-but-at-the-same-times-poses-several-challenges-which-need-to-be-taken-care-of-comment-250-words/

https://zenodo.org/record/1164011/files/RURAL%20TOURISM%20NEED%20SCOPE%20AND%20CHALLENGES%20IN%20INDIAN%20CONTEXT.pdf


SECURE SYNOPSIS

connectivity between urban and rural centres. Although it provides various opportunities for rural development it also faces several challenges, which need to be discussed.


The question wants us to express our opinion on whether there are significant opportunities in exploring rural tourism as a means to rural development in India. It also wants us to discuss the challenges associated therein and then form an overall opinion on the issue.

Directive word

Comment- here we have to express our knowledge and understanding of the issue and form an overall opinion thereupon.


Introduction- write a few lines about the vast rural hinterland with diverse geography, culture, history and mention that this provides great opportunity for rural tourism in India.

Body-

Discuss the opportunities in rural tourism and also discuss what benefits it could provide. E.g Desire for escape from the monoculture of city living. Increasing Interest in Outdoor Recreation, Eco-Tourism and Special Interest Tourism. Rural locations are ideal for relaxation and rejuvenation. Over-familiarity and Congestion with traditional tourist resorts Increased Interest in alternative and off-beat attractions Curiosity for rural India and its culture, customs and heritages Accessibility of Rural Areas. Growing number of special interest tourists etc.

Discuss the challenges involved therein. E.g Deprivation, Improper Communication Facilities and Embryonic Stage of Rural Market; Communication Skill; Insufficient Financial Support; lack of trained human resources; lack of proper physical connectivity etc.

Conclusion– mention the govt initiatives in this direction e.g Swadesh Darshan, PRASAD, and form a fair and a balanced conclusion on the issue.

Background:-

Rural Tourism is playing a significant role not only in the global scenario but also it has the potentiality to become equally important in rural India.

Such form of tourism not only provides rewarding and individualized holiday products to tourists by ensuring absolute peace from monotonous urban city life and its traffic, noise and pollution but also it generates employment for the local community and diversifies the economy and regional employment.

Rural tourism contributing to rural development:-

Reasons why rural tourism need to be promoted:-

Seeing the stressful urban lifestyles leading towards “counter-urbanization” syndrome

Growing curiosity of urban people regarding rural culture and heritages

Downfall of income level from agriculture and related works

Lack of alternative way outs for earning sufficient money

Scope for new business opportunities

Changing attitude in Indian and global tourists behaviour in terms of nature awareness and increasing demand for niche tourism and green products. So it is evident that the future of Rural Tourism in India is going to be very promising one.

It has a great impact in case of maintaining the sustainable livelihood of the rural population, promoting local culture and heritages, empowering local women, alleviating poverty, conserving and preserving natural resources, improving basic rural infrastructure, adopting new work culture and overall developing a better impression of locality and its people in tourists mind.




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Reduces migration:-

Rural Tourism facilitates the declining areas to be developed with basic infrastructure facilities and provides the host community alternative ways of employment and side by side it reduces out-migration.

It fosters a closer relationship between city dwellers and rural communities.

Alternative Way of Earning

Most of the rural dwellers in India are dependent on traditional agricultural activities to maintain their livelihood. In this connection, rural tourism can be a potential tool to reduce their over-dependency on cultivation and it contributes to the overall economic development of an area that would otherwise be deprived.

Employment

Rural tourism creates a large number of semi-skilled jobs for the local population in not only local hotels and catering trades but also in other fields like transport, retailing, heritage interpretation etc.

Moreover, it ensures revival of traditional arts, crafts, building art etc. and brings marketing opportunity for rural producers to sell their products directly to the tourists.

Rural performers are hired for cultural programs where they can exhibit talent and also can earn money.

It allows alternative sources of earning opportunities from non-agricultural sectors that improve living standards of the rural dwellers to some extent.

Job Retention

Cash flows generating from rural tourism can assist job retention in services such as retailing, transport, hospitality, medical care etc. It provides additional income for farmers, local fishermen and local suppliers

Alternative Business Opportunities

Rural Tourism generates new business opportunities even those rural businesses, not directly related to tourism can also gain benefit from tourist activity through developing close relationships with tourist facilities.

For example, a number of tourists love to taste local cuisines of different tourist spots. Therefore any restaurant serving ethnic foods can also attract tourists though many of these restaurants are not directly related to tourism business.

Poverty Alleviation

Rural Tourism is being admired all over the world because such form of tourism can shape up rural society both by economic and social terms.

It brings both monetary and social benefits to the rural people.

It alleviates poverty by creating alternative sources of earning.

Empowerment of Localities

Rural Tourism cannot be flourished without the involvement of local people in it.

Accommodation facilities are being provided by local hotel owners whereas local suppliers supply food and beverages to the local hotels.

Local producers produce locally made products as per tourists demand and earn money by selling them in the local market.

To entertain tourists, local organizers conduct different cultural programmes where local performers exhibit their art and culture through live performance.

Not only that, rural people also become engaged in different decision-making processes. All such engagement actually empowers the localites.




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Entrepreneurial scope

Rural Tourism has increased career options for these young entrepreneurs.

Arts and Crafts Sale

Arts and crafts are the evidence of local culture and heritages of a community belonging from any region or any nation. The urban tourists, wherever they go, generally prefer to have a collection of local arts and crafts to make their trip-experience a remembering one.

Such tendency motivates them to purchase local arts and crafts from the local producers and artists.

Side by side it encourages the local community to sell their products in local market. Such practice opens an alternative way of earning to the rural people.

Environmental Improvement :-

Environmental improvements such as village paving and traffic regulation schemes, sewage and litter disposal can be assisted by tourism revenues and political pressures from tourism authorities.

These help develop pride of place, important in retaining existing population and businesses, and in attracting new enterprises and families.

Heritage Preservation:-

Rural Tourism brings a strong sense of emotion in everyone’s (both community and tourists) mind to preserve and reserve the local culture and heritages to make any place attractive for the tourists to visit it and also for the host community to live in.

Such sense is maintained through rural museums that play a significant role in local heritage preservation.

Challenges:-

Deprivation, Improper Communication Facilities and Embryonic Stage of Rural Market

Rural markets are often characterized by rural population and majority of them still come under below Poverty Line. These villagers are less involved in showcasing their culture and heritages in front of the tourists visiting their places as they are not very much aware of the potentiality of rural tourism that can act as an alternative source of earning

Moreover, most of the rural markets are underdeveloped with lots of hindrances like absence of proper mode of surface transportation, lack of basic infrastructure etc.

Communication Skill

The difference in languages and lack of basic education are the two basic obstacles for the rural marketers.

Legislation Problem

Generally, owners of licensed accommodation units pay taxes to the government. But it is kind of burden for the poor rural marketers to pay tax at a regular basis as they lack sufficient financial backing and many a time they face losses in business because of seasonal demand.

Insufficient Financial Support

Most of the rural tourism marketers come from the poor family background and not every time they are financially supported by the local banks or local government bodies through loan facilities.

Lack of Trained Human Resource

In rural areas, lack of trained human resource is a common issue that affects directly the tourism and hospitality industry badly. Moreover, the trained people from urban areas normally are not interested in going to rural areas to work due to lack of basic infrastructure facilities.

Lack of Proper Physical Communications

Proper drinking water, sufficient electricity, good telecommunication, safety and security, etc. are the few basic needs of a tourist while he or she is visiting any place individually or in a group. It is unfortunate but




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true that nearly half of the villages in this country do not have all- weather roads and above said basic facilities.

Way forward:-

In this connection, the role of Government and local monitoring bodies is going to be very crucial.

Government should educate rural villagers to enhance their communication skill, create sense of ownership, make them aware of the value of their culture and heritages and motivate them to take active participation

Encouraging local entrepreneurs, private enterprises, investors and other tourism stakeholders to come under a common umbrella for basic rural infrastructure development activities is also essential.

Implementation of Swadesh darshan and PRASAD scheme:-

The Union Ministry of Tourism had launched the Swadesh Darshan Scheme in 2014-15 with an aim to develop theme based tourist circuits in the country. These tourist circuits will be developed on principles of high tourist value, competitiveness and sustainability in an integrated manner.

They will be developed by synergizing efforts to focus on concerns and needs of all stakeholders to enrich tourist experience and enhance employment opportunities.

Product development as per tourists changing demands.

Proper planning and conservation of natural resources and local heritages for the sustainable development of Rural Tourism.

Educate the rural villagers and develop their communication skill and language

Creating awareness regarding rural tourism benefits.

Democratic movement that helps rural people at all levels to participate in tourism development activities.

Conduct regular Government and/or private sponsored skill development programmes in identified rural area to train the rural people appointed in rural tourism business.

Encourage young and potential business entrepreneurs for their businesses.

Government initiatives to support the young entrepreneurs by providing loans.

Rural Tourism should be tax free.

FDI or Private investment to introduces latest technology.

Taking Rural Tourism Circuit development approach for overall regional development.

Take necessary safety and security measures for the tourists

Share information to make better business decisions

Any museum or interpretation centre can be set-up to provide information to tourists.

Q) Bridging the gender gap in mobile ownership and digital literacy in India will hasten women

empowerment and help transform their lives. Comment. (250 words)

Livemint

Livemint

Why this question

Women empowerment is a critical goal to be achieved, more so especially for a country placed like India. It has been observed that improving mobile ownership and digital literacy in women pays huge dividends in a multitude of ways, thereby empowering them economically as well as socially. Thus it is important to discuss the scope of such an intervention.



http://www.insightsonindia.com/2018/08/09/4-bridging-the-gender-gap-in-mobile-ownership-and-digital-literacy-in-india-will-hasten-women-empowerment-and-help-transform-their-lives-comment-250-words/

http://www.insightsonindia.com/2018/08/09/4-bridging-the-gender-gap-in-mobile-ownership-and-digital-literacy-in-india-will-hasten-women-empowerment-and-help-transform-their-lives-comment-250-words/

https://www.livemint.com/Opinion/jhU4leh5ikkc0wQDCaXRhO/Opinion-Digitally-empowering-women-in-rural-India.html

https://www.livemint.com/Opinion/sD6mVqLAEa7cvfJtmdXXuO/She-is-offlineIndias-digital-gender-divide.html


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Directive word



The question wants us to express our opinion on whether bridging the gender gap in mobile ownership and digital literacy in India will hasten women empowerment and help transform their lives. We have present our opinion based on our arguments, which form a part of our knowledge and understanding of the issue as expressed in our answer.


Introduction- write a few lines depicting the grim situation of digital gender divide in India- e.g The world today has 3.58 billion internet users. Roughly 2 billion (56%) are men and 1.57 billion (44%) are women. Of that shortfall of 430 million users, 42% comes from India. India accounts for nearly half the digital gender gap worldwide, even though we account for 12% of the internet total population etc.

Body-

Discuss the benefits that bridging the gender gap in mobile ownership and digital literacy in India, will have on women empowerment and their life in general. E.g Use of mobile based cash transfers linked to various govt schemes and welfare programs thereby economically empowering women and increase their role in decision-making in the family; by dismantling hostile norms surrounding gender- quote the study on mobile phone ownership and usage by women in India, using 2004-2005 National Family Health Survey; economic empowerment by triggering occupational and workforce changes and mention how women can be socially empowered by providing advisory services, legal and consultancy services on mobile phones etc; give the examples of m-PESA project of Kenya etc.

Conclusion– sum up your discussion in a few lines and form a fair and a balanced conclusion on the above issue in the form of a way forward- like giving subsidy in buying mobile phones to women; integrating the issue in Digital India programme etc.

Background :-

According to the latest UNESCO survey, more than 70% of internet users are men in India. India’s digital gender divide is worse than countries like Saudi Arabia and Iran.

Digital literacy and gender gap in mobile ownership:-

Current internet usage by women in India is quite low, especially in rural India. It deprives a considerable number of women from accessing online services including communication and information pertaining to health, education, skill development, participating in the economy etc.

Hence, when it comes to making the women of India digital ready, India has a twin challenge of not only increasing the gender parity, but also bridging the urban/rural inequality by means of special attention and appropriate solutions.

The women in rural India face multiple issues for accessing internet/gaining digital literacy, such as lack of education, awareness, accessibility and affordability and often restrictions/resistance because of their gender.

How bridging this gap leads to women empowerment:-

Bridging the gender gap in mobile ownership and digital literacy in both urban and rural India may increase the agency of women and help dismantle social norms that have been holding them back for decades.

In fact, addressing the gender divide in digital literacy is perhaps necessary to ensure inequality of opportunity across gender does not widen in an India where the digital economy is expected to multiply by five times by 2023.

Study from Niger :-

Results show that households which received transfers via mobile phones saw a 10% improvement in diet diversity, a one-third increase in children’s meal consumption per day, and an increase in the cultivation of




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marginal crops that are primarily grown by women. The impact was a result of improved household bargaining power of the women beneficiaries.

The mobile-transfer beneficiaries were more likely to obtain the transfer on their own as opposed to relying on their husbands.

When women adopted mobile phone services to directly receive cash transfers, it increased their agency in household decision-making. Prioritizing digital literacy for women by combining mobile technology with the array of existing welfare programmes targeted at women can potentially lead to similar empowerment of women in rural India.

Case study from Kenya :-

M-Pesa is a service that allows users to store monetary value on their phones and transfer to others via text message. Access to M-Pesa has uplifted 2% of Kenya’s households out of poverty. The results are most compelling for female beneficiaries.

Impact is driven by change in financial behaviour of these women, particularly saving behaviour, that has translated into their altering occupational choices by graduating from subsistence agriculture and multiple part-time jobs to business ownership.

This could be a result of direct access to remittances through M-Pesa, and therefore, increased agency. This could also be because these women may have not been primary earning members in their households, and were constrained before they had access to mobile money.

Integrating benefits targeted to the poorest women with mobile phones in this manner could be a promising way to plug leakages and make welfare programmes more effective.

Digital inclusion can empower women not only through improving their individual agency, but also by dismantling hostile norms surrounding gender.

Reduction of violence:-

Studies show that households where women had mobile phones reported lower tolerance for domestic violence and higher women’s autonomy in mobility and economic independence.

Monitoring:-

Asha workers said that they are able to access information on basic health issues that they are unfamiliar with, especially everyday health problems of adolescent girls.

Economic awareness:-

Those already skilled, such as in stitching and craft, and currently making clothes and jewellery for self-use are able to access new designs and techniques to incorporate with eye on enterprise.

Way forward :-

Communities or organizations are suggested to collaborate with each other, so they can expand their training or workshops to cover the variety of age and levels of women’s digital media literacy and also can increase the number of female teachers of digital media literacy.

Collaboration is needed among women’s empowerment programs, from government as the policy makers and infrastructure builders, non-governmental organizations as the initiators/creators of women’s empowerment actions, and from communities, as the developers to support and expand women’s empowerment directly, especially to reach out to women who live in rural areas.

Q) Addressing undernutrition challenge should be taken up on mission mode by the

government. Discuss. Also suggest ways to address this challenge. (250 words)

The hindu

Why this question

The article contains very important statistics on status of malnutrition in India and strategies to deal with it. This topic is quite important while discussing inclusive growth in India.



http://www.insightsonindia.com/2018/08/20/6-addressing-undernutrition-challenge-should-be-taken-up-on-mission-mode-by-the-government-discuss-also-suggest-ways-to-address-this-challenge-250-words/

http://www.insightsonindia.com/2018/08/20/6-addressing-undernutrition-challenge-should-be-taken-up-on-mission-mode-by-the-government-discuss-also-suggest-ways-to-address-this-challenge-250-words/

https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-opinion/no-child-left-behind/article24721200.ece


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The question expects us to highlight the status quo of undernutrition among children, women and other vulnerable sections of the society. Through such data and other constitutional and social imperatives, we need to establish the need of tackling this problem on mission mode. In the final part of the answer, we need to discuss the steps that need to be taken to address this significant challenge facing the Indian state.

Directive word

Discussion – In your discussion, you need to establish the need of tackling the problem of undernutrition on an urgent basis and give suggestions for tackling this issue.


Introduction – Explain that India has been taking several measures to improve the status of nutrition and how the definition of nutrition has changed over the years with focus on micronutrients.

Body

o Use the statistics mentioned in the article to explain that India’s status quo wrt undernutrition is quite alarming. Discuss that it the moral obligation of government to implement directive policies which explicitly states that undernutrition needs to be challenged. Also highlight the international obligations on India which should compel it to tackle this challenge on an urgent basis.

o Highlight that the problem plagues women, children and other vulnerable section

o Discuss why tackling undernutrition should be a key focus area of the government. Highlight points such as building human capital, reaping demographic dividend etc

o Discuss the steps that need to be taken to address this challenge – the steps suggested by NITI Ayog etc

Conclusion – Summarize your answer while emphasizing the need of tackling this challenge and how we can do it.

Background:-

Despite a 7% compound annual growth rate over the last decade and the various programmes to improve nutrition, levels of under-nutrition are unacceptably high.

The urgency to address poor nutrition in India, especially among children, adolescent girls and women is compelling, and re-confirmed in virtually every survey from NFHS-4 in 2015-16 (the latest available information), to the Global Nutrition Report 2016 and the Global Hunger Index (GHI) 2017, which ranks India at 100 out of 119 countries, with a low overall score of 31.4.

Among children less than 5 years, wasting (low weight for height), continues to be 21% in the 2017 index .There has been a stunting (height for age) of 38.4% in 2017, reported in the GHI 2017.

Mortality among children less than 5 years old is around 5% according to both the GHI and the NFHS. However, 25% of India’s children less than 5 years old are still malnourished.

Government approach:-

The National Nutrition Mission (NNM), or Poshan Abhiyaan, has its own specific budget of Rs. 9,046 crore and a proposed World Bank loan of $200 million, to ensure convergence among the various programmes of the government.

Additionally, NITI Aayog has worked on a National Nutrition Strategy (NNS), isolated the 100 most backward districts for stunting and prioritised those for interventions.

Failure of government approach:-

Both the National nutrition strategy and the national Nutrition mission have recognised the criticality of working collaboratively across Ministries yet both are silent on the constructive role that the private sector, development agencies and civil society can and must play in realising these ambitious goals.




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Challenge for India is to simultaneously address insufficient and poor diets, inadequate hygiene and sanitation and better management of disease and infections.

Why India needs to focus on mission mode :-

To build human capital and to reap the benefits of demographic dividend

To adequately re-engineer the ICDS, MDM and PDS for greater effectiveness. This is an ideal initiative for public-private partnerships as the strength of good private sector companies is in creating and designing frameworks, structures, processes and metrics for action,

Better implementation and tracking:-

For example, involving the best nutritionists to work with local communities on calorie and nutrition dense supplementary foods, using easily available local ingredients could easily be anchored by the relevant private sector and development agencies

The key advantages of this disaggregated supply model are that it engages local communities, generates employment and ensures minimal leakage as it works with and inside the community.

This will also ensure that space and other constraints of lack of hygiene at Anganwadi Centres do not become impediments in the supply of nutritious food.

Ways to address this challenge:-

There is persuasive evidence from several countries of the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of large-scale staple food fortification to address “hidden hunger” or micro-nutrient deficiencies.

Considerable work will also have to be done to make fortified rice and wheat available through the PDS. This requires addressing the supply chain capability to deliver another excellent PPP initiative, that has been piloted in several States for edible oil and wheat flour and can easily be replicated.

Multiple campaigns designed to inform, communicate and educate on nutrition-specific and nutrition-sensitive behaviours like breast feeding, diet diversity, hand-washing, de-worming, safe drinking water, hygiene and sanitation. Nutrition has to be marketed and made interesting, engaging, simple and personally relevant

Nutrition is complex, and therefore its delivery must be simplified through greater awareness and actions. The delivery models must be collaborative across domains enabled by technology and a significant investment in strengthening people competencies.

Topic: Issues related to direct and indirect farm subsidies and minimum support prices; Public

Distribution System- objectives, functioning, limitations, revamping; issues of buffer stocks and food

security; Technology missions; economics of animal-rearing.

Q) Critically analyze the options available for price stabilisation of agriculture commodities in

the face of increased output. (250 words)

Indianexpress

Why this question

India has been witnessing farming distress which is partly due to increased production and a weaker demand, which in turn brings down the prices of agricultural commodities. It is therefore essential to evaluate the options available to the government under these circumstances and which can be practically applied on the ground.

Directive word

Critically analyze- Here we have to examine methodically the structure or nature of the topic by separating it into component parts, and present them as a whole in a summary. Based on our discussion we have to form a concluding opinion on the issue.



http://www.insightsonindia.com/2018/08/29/5-critically-analyze-the-options-available-for-price-stabilisation-of-agriculture-commodities-in-the-face-of-increased-output-250-words/

http://www.insightsonindia.com/2018/08/29/5-critically-analyze-the-options-available-for-price-stabilisation-of-agriculture-commodities-in-the-face-of-increased-output-250-words/

https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/farmers-msp-farm-distress-agriculture-kharif-crops-5327781/


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The question wants us to dig deep into the issue and evaluate all the practical options available to the government in such circumstances. Based on our discussion we have to form an overall opinion on the issue.


Introduction– Write a few lines about the farming distress due to increased supply. E.g The “farm distress” in recent years has been partly on account of output increases well beyond the market demand at a price remunerative to producers. in the absence of effective price support policy, farmers are faced with a loss of income, depending on the price decline.

Body– discuss individually the options available to the government under these particular circumstances and discuss their benefits as well as cons/ limitations.

MSP and Open Procurement. e.g faces the problem of procurement as not all the produce can be procured at such prices and in all places; it does not solve the supply side problem; distribution problem etc.

Price deficiency compensation. E.g the market prices may continue to fall as the supply exceeds the “normal demand” and nearly all the produce may become eligible for the “deficiency payments” as the prices, in general, would have fallen for all the producers.

Limited procurement. E.g the government will procure the “excess”, leaving the normal production level to clear the market at a remunerative price. Thus, procurement will continue until the market price rises to touch the MSP; The timing and speed with which the procurement is implemented are critical. It is important to determine the excess supply, which will indicate how much is to be procured. Therefore, an assessment of the likely production is essential for an effective market intervention. Equally important is the quick assessment of price trends, particularly in the period immediately after the harvest begins, to arrive in the key markets; Storage facilities for managing the procured grain are essential for the success of the system; however, it will not work if the MSP is fixed at a level to which the market price will never rise.

conclusion-Based on your discussion, form a fair and a balanced conclusion on the given issue.

Background:-

When output increases well beyond the market demand at a price remunerative to producers, market prices decline and in the absence of effective price support policy, farmers are faced with a loss of income, depending on how much the price decline is. The “farm distress” in recent years has been partly on account of this situation, as the loss of income is beyond the ability of the small farmers to absorb.

Options available:-

MSP:-

Hike in MSPs was required, given the current adverse conditions of prices and operating conditions of the farm sector, and is a key component of the prime minister’s goal of doubling farm incomes by 2022

Incentivise production of a specific food crop which is in short supply.

Protects farmers from any sharp fall in the market price of a commodity.

Ensures that the country’s agricultural output responds to the changing needs of its consumers.

Ex: The government hiked the MSP of pulses to expand sowing of pulses.

Higher farm profits will encourage farmers to spend more on inputs, technology etc

Protect farmers from the unwarranted fluctuation in prices, provoked by the international level price variations.




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Issues with MSP:-

Imposition of MSP beyond some point is market distorting as it severs the link between prices and demand-supply. This can also be inflationary and out of sync with the physical market dynamics.

Support price does not come with a commitment to buy whatever farmers offer. Actual procurement will be limited by the fiscal room available, especially at a time when a significantly higher fiscal deficit could lead to further pressure on the rupee.

RBI has highlighted the announcement of higher MSPs as being one of the major risk factors this year for inflation. This is significant as the government has spoken of providing a mark-up of 50% on cost for all products when deciding on the MSPs for FY19.

Farmers have got negative returns in several crops prompting many economists to question the usefulness of MSP’s.

Input costs:-

The cost of cultivation varies across states while MSP’s are based on a weighted all India average so farmers don’t get guaranteed profits.

MSP’s have failed to keep pace with input costs.

Only a selected few states such as Punjab, MP, Haryana etc have well developed procurement infrastructure

Government procurement at MSP is benefiting the large traders than farmers.

More than three fourths of farming households don’t produce any marketable surplus and hence cannot really benefit from price support.

There is no provision in the budget to increase the ambit of farmers who are covered by MSP and that is a problem in addition to how the MSP is calculated

Its reach is limited, in terms of both the crops and the geographical area it covers:-

Farmers also argue that MSP is only announced for 25 crops, while for other crops they have to deal with market volatility. There is no MSP for fruits and vegetables.

Only a fraction of the farmers actually have access to MSP.

MSP often does not reach farmers as the government does not procure on time and the farmer has to make distress sales at rates lower than the MSP.

In the recent budget , government has decided to keep MSP for all the unannounced crops of kharif at least at one and half times of their production cost .There is no clarity on how the implementation takes place.

There are concerns whether all states would agree with that cost

Also as MSP and Inflation highly co-related and any increase in MSP will eventually resulted into price hike of many agricultural products.

India’s price support programme is also promoting cultivation of water intensive crops like paddy and sugarcane even in water deficit regions such as Punjab ,Haryana and Maharashtra

Farmers keep producing the same varieties as cropping pattern is hardly changed in some regions.

Higher MSP’s over incentivize production leading to supply glut.

Hikes in MSP’s also adversely affect exports by making Indian farm goods uncompetitive especially when international market prices are lower.

2. Price deficiency:-

PDPS is a system in which the farmer is free to sell in the open market and, if the market price falls below the MSP, the government steps in and makes a deficiency payment which is equal to the difference between MSP and the market price.

As this system does not involve public procurement, the costs on account of procurement, storage and distribution are avoided.




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Also, the system retains the incentive effects of MSP.

Benefits:-

The key benefit from the price deficiency payment is that it will reduce the need for the government to actually procure food crops, transport and store them and then dispose of them under PDS.

The difference between the support and market prices can instead simply be paid in cash to the farmer.

Price deficiency payment can also keep India’s bill on food subsidies under check

More effective than MSP:-

PDP system may be more effective than MSPs at ensuring that cropping patterns in India respond to consumer needs. It may also ensure that more farmers actually benefit from price support.

Monoculture also results in soil degradation and makes crops susceptible to pest and weed, leading to higher usage of chemical fertilisers and pesticides. The price deficiency system may incentivise farmers to diversify beyond the conventional cereals. The crops with effective MSPs such as rice, wheat and sugarcane, where support prices are effective now, are also water-intensive.

It can also address to an extent the world nations concern on India’s procurement subsidies being trade-distorting.

Constraints:-

Difficult to operationalise the system effectively:-

For example, there needs to be a record of the quantity and price of each sale and since the farmer is free to sell anywhere it becomes practically impossible to collect and collate this data for millions of farmers.

Therefore, it becomes necessary to restrict sales in a designated location to, say, a mandi. Even then, the mandi price will keep fluctuating through the season, and even during a single day.

Thus, the deficiency payments will be different for different farmers larger for farmers who sell at lower prices and vice-versa. This has two adverse effects

The farmer will have little incentive to look for the best possible price in the market since he will be compensated for the difference

The farmers may sell inferior products under the PDPS, which is likely to fetch a lower price or may even result in them remaining unsold in an open market

A major limitation of PDPS is that it is a counter-cyclical payment (the farmer gets a higher payment when market price is low and vice-versa). This insulates farmers from the market and may not help in market development or improving the market price for farmers. This implies that government intervention in the market needs to be continuous.

Since the demand side is completely ignored (because of the assured price), the farmer is unlikely to adjust supply in accordance with demand. This may result in frequent instances of supply outstripping demand, which can create problems for finding market outlets.

Madhya Pradesh implemented a variant of PDPS on a pilot basis, called the Bhavantar Bhugtan Yojana, during the kharif season of 2017-18. The evidence from this confirms many of the issues discussed above

3. Open procurement:-

Open procurement system has been in vogue quite effectively in the case of rice and wheat, where procurement is open-ended at the MSP. This scheme, however, poses the challenge of managing the distribution of the procured grain.




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4. Limited procurement:-

Under this scheme, the government will procure the “excess”, leaving the normal production level to clear the market at a remunerative price. Thus, procurement will continue until the market price rises to touch the MSP.

The effectiveness of the limited procurement system would depend on several factors.

The timing and speed with which the procurement is implemented are critical. Therefore, an assessment of the likely production is essential for an effective market intervention.

Equally important is the quick assessment of price trends, particularly in the period immediately after the harvest begins, to arrive in the key markets.

The effectiveness of the system would also depend on how distribution of the procured grain is managed.

Storage facilities for managing the procured grain are essential for the success of the system.

The suggested limited procurement system will not work if the MSP is fixed at a level to which the market price will never rise.

Topic: Major crops cropping patterns in various parts of the country, different types of irrigation and

irrigation systems storage, transport and marketing of agricultural produce and issues and related

constraints; e-technology in the aid of farmers

Q) Critically examine whether Bt Cotton has helped Indian farmers and Indian economy ? Do

you think government should stop resisting the usage of such technology ? (250 words)

Financialexpress

Why this question

The article talks about the benefits that have been reaped from BT cotton. The have been several arguments regarding Bt crops said in favour and against. Understanding those arguments is thus critical, hence this question.


The question expects us to explain the pros and cons of utilisation of bt cotton and give our on opinion on what the government should do regarding the future of bt crops.

Directive word

Critically examine – When you are asked to examine, you have to probe deeper into the topic, get into details, and find out the causes or implications if any . When ‘critically’ is suffixed or prefixed to a directive, all you need to do is look at the good and bad of something and give a fair judgement.


Introduction– Explain what Bt Cotton is.

Body

Mention about the fact that impressed by the advantages offered by Bollgard II, farmers have planted Bt cotton, unapproved, in several parts of the country.

Discuss the advantages offered for the farmers. Mention that the proof of the advantages reaped lies in the fact that farmers are willing to pay more than the capped amount for purchasing seeds.

Give other advantages of usage of such technology – increased production and exports , reduction in use of pesticides etc

Discuss some of the challenges – opposition by farmers welfare group who raise fear of conglomerates like Monsanto, the impact on ecology due to fear of monoculture etc



http://www.insightsonindia.com/2018/08/07/6-critically-examine-whether-bt-cotton-has-helped-indian-farmers-and-indian-economy-do-you-think-government-should-stop-resisting-the-usage-of-such-technology250-words/

http://www.insightsonindia.com/2018/08/07/6-critically-examine-whether-bt-cotton-has-helped-indian-farmers-and-indian-economy-do-you-think-government-should-stop-resisting-the-usage-of-such-technology250-words/

https://www.financialexpress.com/opinion/since-vajpayees-approval-of-bt-cotton-india-has-gained-from-exports-and-import-savings-to-the-tune-of-67-bn/1270538


SECURE SYNOPSIS

Give your view on what according to you should be the future

Conclusion – discuss what the way forward must be.

Background :-

Bt cotton, as GM cotton is known, is the only commercialised GM crop in the country. Bt cotton seeds account for 40% of the Rs 14,000 crore national seeds market in India.

How Bt cotton helped Indian economy :-

Less use of insecticides:-

To produce the GM Cotton, the gene coding for Bt toxin (Cry-1-ac) has been inserted into cotton, causing cotton to produce this natural insecticide in its tissues. By this, the larvae are killed by the Bt protein in the GM cotton they eat. This eliminates the need to use large amounts of broad-spectrum insecticides to kill various pesticides.

There is no doubt that the Bt technology has brought down the use of pesticides by about 50%

Increasing yields:-

It resulted in increased yield because of superior bollworm control bringing down cost of bollworm control and thereby raising the net incomes of the farmers.

Reduced infestation of the boll worm.

Due to the adoption of Bt cotton ensured that India transitioned into a cotton-exporting country from being a net importer

Criticism:-

Loss caused by the pink bollworm infestation have raised questions about the sustainability of GM cotton, which accounts for over 90% of all cotton grown in the country.

GM crops face strident opposition due to their perceived adverse ecological, bio-safety measures and health implications.

Cotton is also plagued by use of illegal herbicide-tolerant Bt cotton seeds.

There was no substantial difference found between Bt and non-Bt cotton for germination and vigour, indicating that there is no substantial difference between transgenic Bt and control non-Bt cotton with regard to their weediness potential.

Bt cotton hybrids do not have any toxic effects on the non -target species such as sucking pests. The beneficial insects remained active in both Bt and non Bt varieties.

The growing number of farmers committing suicides in some cotton growing states has re-ignited the protests against the Bt Cotton.

Bt hybrids:-

Farmers in rain-fed regions were / are compelled to choose from a long list of Bt hybrids, most of which are late maturing, sucking pest-susceptible hybrids, that are unsuitable for rain-fed region.

Problem is with late maturing hybrids that do not perform well owing to the late-season moisture deficit in shallow soils, especially when they are sown late.

High cost of Bt cotton seeds as compared to non Bt cotton seeds.

Effectiveness up to 120 days, after that the toxin producing efficiency of the Bt gene drastically reduces.

India is the only country whose intellectual property laws have never prevented its farmers from either saving or selling seeds.

Over 70 countries that are members of the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants, for example, allow farmers to reuse seeds from a protected plant variety, but not to sell them.

Hybrids lose their genetic stability when their seeds are replanted. This compels farmers to repurchase seeds each year, protecting corporate revenues.




SECURE SYNOPSIS

The diffusion of illegal Bt hybrids that hadn’t been cleared for biosafety standards, leading to fears of environmental toxicity. There were more than 1000 varieties of cotton hybrids and uninformed and vague choices on the part of the farmers led to stagnant production these Bt hybrids were unsuitable for rain-fed cotton lands.

Normal cotton seed is largely unavailable to Indian farmers because of Monsanto’s control of the seed market.

Government should stop resisting this technology because:-

Given the increased growth of global population and increased urbanization, GM crops offer one of the promising solutions to meet the world’s food security needs in the foreseeable future.

Switching to high-yield oilseeds engineered specially for India’s semi-arid zones can help India reduce its dependence on imports.

Several international organisations such as the Food and Agriculture Organization, World Health Organization and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development have repeatedly confirmed the safety of biotech crops and concluded that foods derived from biotechnology are as safe and nutritious as those derived from conventional and organic methods.

The reasons why government is still resisting this technology are:-

GMOs carry risks of ‘unintended’ effects and toxicity, which confront India with a double problem as scientists don’t know what to look for, and health impacts become apparent only in the long term, such as cancer.

HT mustard field trials, which were accessed under the Right to Information Act, are a revelation of regulatory shambles.

One of the principal reasons for opposition to GM crops is the potential for serious, irreversible damage to human health and the environment. This is especially relevant in the context of crops such as Bt brinjal which involve direct consumption by humans, unlike Bt cotton.

Lack of transparency in the regulatory process further amplifies apprehensions stemming from a precautionary approach.

All the safety tests for regulatory approvals are typically conducted by the same party that applies for commercialisation of GM crops

This conflict of interest was made worse by the refusal of GEAC (in both cases) to publicly release the safety testing data submitted for regulatory approval until GM opponents filed a Right to Information petition.

This tendency to operate in secrecy has not only created a serious distrust of the government and the promoters of GM crops but is also fuelling the conflict.

Opposition by farmers welfare group who raise fear of conglomerates like Monsanto.

Way forward :-

Government must take decisions on GM technologies on the basis of scientific evidence.

Government should adopt a participatory approach to bring together all stakeholders to develop regulatory protocols that restore trust in the process.

Q) Discuss the significance of NABARD’s All India Rural financial inclusion survey and

examine what it tells us about the dream of doubling farmer’s income by 2022 ? (250 words)

Indian express

Why this question

NAFIS survey provides very important insights into farmers income levels and considering the importance accorded to doubling farmers income, is quite important for mains.


The question expects us to discuss why NAFIS survey is significant, the insights it offers us into the levels of farmers income in the country. In the second part of the question, we need to analyze the



http://www.insightsonindia.com/2018/08/21/5-discuss-the-significance-of-nabards-all-india-rural-financial-inclusion-survey-and-examine-what-it-tells-us-about-the-dream-of-doubling-farmers-income-by-2022250-words/

http://www.insightsonindia.com/2018/08/21/5-discuss-the-significance-of-nabards-all-india-rural-financial-inclusion-survey-and-examine-what-it-tells-us-about-the-dream-of-doubling-farmers-income-by-2022250-words/

https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/farm-income-agricultural-economy-nabard-national-agricultural-survey-5314680


SECURE SYNOPSIS

findings and discuss whether achieving the dream of doubling farmer’s income by 2022 is possible, and ways to achieve it.

Directive word

Discuss – here the significance of the survey and the key findings of the survey are to be mentioned.



Introduction – Explain what the survey is and what it does. Mention that it combines the strengths of the NSSO’s Situation Assessment Survey (SAS) and RBI’s All India Debt and Investment Survey.

Body

o Explain the significance of the survey in terms of what it is trying to achieve and the gap it fills. Also mention why a survey on farmer’s income is critical

o Discuss the methodology and key findings of the survey –

o NAFIS estimates that an average Indian farming household earned Rs 8,931/month (Rs 1,07,172/year) in agriculture year 2015-16. This is up from Rs 2,115 earned in 2002-03 as per the NSSO’s SAS, implying a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of about 12 per cent in nominal terms and 3.7 per cent in real terms (2015-16 base) in 13 years. Mention the caveats

o The survey also estimates income of non-agri rural HH at Rs 7,269/month, more than half of which comes from working as wage labourers.

o The pie of where the income is coming from

o Examine in light of Dalwai committee recommendations, what the survey tells us about our dream of doubling farmer’s income. Discuss the recommendations of Dalwai Committee in light of data got from the survey, how the dream can be achieved

Conclusion – Give your view on what can be drawn from the survey and the way forward for doubling farmer’s income by 2022.

Background :-

Government presented the vision of doubling farmer incomes by 2022-23 however there was no assessment of the base (2015-16) aggregate income levels. The estimates from NAFIS fill that gap.

Survey:-

NAFIS is based on a sample of 40,327 rural households in 29 states of which 48 per cent are agriculture households, 87 per cent are small and marginal farmer households.

The survey combines the strengths of the NSSO’s Situation Assessment Survey (SAS) and RBI’s All India Debt and Investment Survey.

Because of a wider definition of rural areas, unlike NSSO, the NABARD survey includes areas that are bigger including Tier Three, Four and Five towns.

At Rs 5,000, it has a higher threshold level of income from agricultural and allied activities compared to the NSSO’s threshold income level of Rs 3,000. This is likely to create an upward-bias in NAFIS’s estimates of farmers income.

The survey also estimates income of non-agri rural HH at Rs 7,269/month, more than half of which comes from working as wage labourers. The overall weighted average monthly income of a rural HH is found to be Rs 8,059.

On the financial aspects of the rural agricultural households, NAFIS found for the reference year that about 43.5 per cent borrowed money with average availed loan of Rs 1,07,083.

More than 60 per cent of these Households borrowed from institutional sources, 30.3 per cent from non-institutional and 9.3 per cent from both.




SECURE SYNOPSIS

Close to 56 per cent of loans were for non-agri purposes.

More than half (52.5 per cent) of the agricultural households were found to be indebted, with an average outstanding debt of Rs.1,04,602 for the year.

Almost 88 per cent of all rural households had bank accounts, and their monthly consumption expenditure on food was 51 per cent of total expenditure.

What the survey tells about doubling if farmers income :-

The Dalwai Committee set up to advise on the strategy to double farmers incomes by 2022, did not have any benchmark income levels for 2015-16. So, the committee derived them by applying yearly growth rates of state-wise net-state-domestic-product (NSDP) to the NSSO estimates of 2012-13 income levels.

For 2015-16, the committee found that average Indian agri-HH earned about Rs 8,059/month. This estimate is lower than that of NAFIS at Rs 8,931.

In terms of sources of income, NAFIS offers interesting insights, particularly for the Dalwai Committee. NAFIS estimates that in 2015-16, 35 per cent of farmers income came from cultivation, 8 per cent from livestock, 50 per cent from wages and salaries and 7 per cent from non-farm sectors.

Dalwai Committee assumes that by 2022-23, 69 to 80 per cent of farmers incomes will accrue from farming and animal rearing.

Despite its limitations, the country now has access to an independent source of data not only on farmers income due to the government’s promise to double farmers’ income by FY 2023, but also on consumption, household savings, investments, indebtedness, micro-finance and even financial knowledge of households.

Way forward :-

To achieve government’s goal of doubling farmers incomes by 2022-23, the Dalwai Committee points out that farmers real incomes need to grow at 10.4 per annum, that is 2.8 times the growth rate achieved historically.

NAFIS has provided new insights into the conditions of households in rural and semi-urban areas which would be useful to policy makers in addressing specific challenges in various states.

The data again proves that state specific policies are required to enable agri and non-agri households in rural and semi-urban India earn a decent income.

Topic – Land reforms in India

Q) Discuss the of land reforms carried out in India since independence? Do you think

digitisation of land record is the most crucial land reform that can be undertaken in the present

age ? (250 words)

Livemint

Why this question

Land Reform is a topic in GS3 which comprises mostly of understanding the nature of land reforms carried out so far. The article explain why focus must shift to the unfinished agenda of land reforms which is digitisation of land records.

Directive word

Discuss – The various land reform initiatives undertaken by the government since independence has to be explained in brief – the aims they were trying to achieve, the result, the impact etc.


The question expects us to explain in brief the diverse nature of land reforms undertaken in our country. Your answer should cover the aims they were trying to achieve, the result, the impact etc. Thereafter, move on to establishing the need for a digitisation drive for land records, and ways we can go about it.



http://www.insightsonindia.com/2018/08/09/5-discuss-the-of-land-reforms-carried-out-in-india-since-independence-do-you-think-digitisation-of-land-record-is-the-most-crucial-land-reform-that-can-be-undertaken-in-the-present-age250-words/



https://www.livemint.com/Opinion/RqVa2F89ZKwcFPdvYOUu3M/Opinion-The-need-for-digitizing-land-records-in-India.html


SECURE SYNOPSIS


Introduction – Mention the overall need for land reforms in a country like India. Discuss whether the issue of land reform is still relevant, so many years after independence.

Body – Explain the various land reform measure undertaken by government since independence in brief. Emphasize that digitisation of land reforms despite multiple efforts by government through programmes like DILRMP 2008 etc have been, but breakthrough has been elusive. Explain why digitisation of land record is required. Mention the steps taken by government like Andhra Pradesh towards this end, as well as the opportunity provided by blockchain technology.

Conclusion – Examine whether digitisation of land record would help in resolving the issues related to land reforms and suggest way forward.

Background:-

Nearly two-thirds of all pending cases in Indian courts are related to property disputes. NITI Aayog has said that such property cases take an average of 20 years to settle. The result is that millions of Indians cannot use their principal asset as collateral to borrow from the formal financial system. Hence the need for land reforms in India. The government has now pushed the year of completion to 2021.

Land reforms in India :-

The process of land reform after independence basically occurred in two broad phases.

The first phase also called the phase of institutional reforms started soon after independence and continued till the early 1960s focussed on the following features:

Abolition of intermediaries like zamindars, jagirdars, etc.

Tenancy reforms involving providing security of tenure to the tenants, decrease in rents and conferment of ownership rights to tenants

Ceilings on size of landholdings

Cooperativization and community development programmes.

The second phase beginning around the mid- or late 1960s saw the gradual ushering in of the so-called Green Revolution and has been seen as the phase of technological reforms.

Failure:-

The absence of adequate land records made implementation of these acts difficult.

Personal cultivation:

‘Personal cultivation’ was very loosely defined which led to not only those who tilled the soil, but also those who supervised the land personally or did so through a relative, or provided capital and credit to the land, to call themselves a cultivator.

The provisions introduced to protect the small landowners were misused by the larger landlords with the active connivance of the revenue officials.

The long delay and the nature of the legislation, ensured that the ceilings would have a very muted impact as by the time the ceiling legislations were in place, there were barely any holdings left above the ceiling .

Earlier instances of digitisation of land records:–

Making land records available to all, to contain/check property frauds, became one of the objectives of the government of India in the late 1980s.

To address the same, the Digital India Land Records Modernisation Programme (DILRMP) was launched by the government of India in August 2008.

The main aim of the programme, was to computerise all land records, including mutations, improve transparency in the land record maintenance system, digitise maps and surveys, update all settlement records and minimise the scope of land disputes.




SECURE SYNOPSIS

Digitisation would provide clear titles of land ownership that could be monitored easily by government officials, to facilitate quicker transactions. This will also reduce construction timelines and the overall cost for the developer, the benefits of which can be transferred to the consumer, making property prices more attractive.

However the reforms failed :-

Insufficient data:-

Although the government wants complete digitisation of land records, due to the lack of clear and sufficient data and mismanagement between the various agencies handling land records, the data registered at various government levels is not identical.

Statistics from the DILRMP show that in most states, the digital land record database has not been synced with the digitised land registration database.

Experience from states:-

Progress over the past decade has been uneven, with some states, such as Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra, doing better than the others. However, there are challenges, even in advanced states such as Maharashtra.

New digitized land records do a good job in reflecting ownership of land, but less so when it comes to recording encumbrances and area of land parcels.

Reasons why digitisation of land records is a priority now:-

States are already focusing on these :-

Bhoomi Project in Karnataka led the way even before the Union government got into the act. The relevant document i.e.., the record of rights, tenancy and crops has been made available through kiosks. The need to pay bribes to get access to this basic information in government offices has been done away with.

The Rajasthan legislature passed the Rajasthan Urban Land (Certification of Titles) Act. This law ensures that the state government is a guarantor for land titles in Rajasthan, and will provide compensation in case of issues of defective title. The guarantee is based on certification provided by the Urban Land Title Certification Authority, which will verify ownership of any property for a fee.

Andhra Pradesh :-

Its state government has tied up with a Swedish firm to use new blockchain technology to prevent property fraud. As in all other trades, blockchain will allow participants in a distributed ledger to check the ownership of a land parcel.

Advantages of having land records digitized:-

Clear land titles will ease a lot of constraints from making it easier for the poor to borrow from the formal financial sector to easing commercial land acquisition for infrastructure projects instead of the misuse of eminent domain.

Complicated structures will become simplified:-

In the past, most of the land records in the country were through village maps, marking boundaries and/or paper records, which included the names of the occupants. Moreover, various types of information like property maps and sale deeds, are maintained by different departments at the village level. These departments work alone and their personnel lack training on digital access.

Due to the lack of maintenance of streamlined land records, there have been litigations, scams and property disputes over land ownership. A digital department, hence, has to be set up, for better maintenance of land records.

Digitisation of land records, will lead to transparency and reduce the time taken to procure

Benefits to real estate :-

Registered property title documents should be provided by the government, as evidence of ownership. This will also encourage faster transactions and completion of projects in the real estate industry.




SECURE SYNOPSIS

Development of infrastructure to support national growth, will also require litigation-free land for commercial and residential use.

Unclear land titles, accompanying costs due to title disputes and litigation and lack of transparency in real estate transactions, make the real estate market seem sluggish, while clear land titles will help in accelerating the pace of new projects.

Greater ease of doing business in the sector, by making it simpler for the developers and buyers to check the authenticity of the land or the property.

Resolution of land disputes have to be solved, then, digitisation of land records, vis-à-vis site plans, location, ownership details, khata details, property tax and other cesses payable on the property, is very important.

Digitisation of land and property records, will also directly boost the government’s Digital India mission.

A complete computerised compilation of land data, starting from the original owner to the present status of land, including an image of the property and the landowner for identification purposes, will reveal the total area of land owned by a person.

A fresh survey of every parcel of land at regular intervals, should be undertaken, to update the records. This will also help, in avoiding confusion between government land and private land. Transparency through digitisation, will make it difficult for the general public to evade property tax.

Digitisation can speed up the process of land acquisition, thereby, making it easier for the government to work on its Smart Cities mission or plan industrialisation.

For home buyers, digitisation will offer the correct details of the owner of a particular property. The buyer can also check if the land is under litigation. If a buyer wants to buy a property from a developer, he or she can check if the building has adhered to all the regulations.

Similarly, digitisation will help the buyer to check for transparent market-based pricing, before buying a plot of land.

Topic: Infrastructure: Energy, Ports, Roads, Airports, Railways etc., Investment Models.

Q) Beyond merely funding civil works, PMGSY seeks to emphasize on managing the rural road

network through green and climate resilient construction. Discuss. (250 words)

Yojana Magazine, July 2018 issue.

Why this question

The Government of India and the World Bank recently signed a dollar 500 million loan agreement to provide additional financing for PMGSY. Climate change has increased the vulnerability of rural road network and maintaining rural roads has been difficult. Thus it is important to know about the importance and the strategy of the project.

Directive word



The question wants us to write in detail about the need to emphasize on managing the rural road network through green and climate resilient construction and how the PMGSY seeks to achieve it.


Introduction – write a few lines about the extent of rural roads in India, the diverse and difficult terrain through which they pass, high cost of maintenance especially in the wake of climate change etc. mention about the partnership between World Bank and PMGSY in this direction.



http://www.insightsonindia.com/2018/08/06/6-beyond-merely-funding-civil-works-pmgsy-seeks-to-emphasize-on-managing-the-rural-road-network-through-green-and-climate-resilient-construction-discuss-250-words/

http://www.insightsonindia.com/2018/08/06/6-beyond-merely-funding-civil-works-pmgsy-seeks-to-emphasize-on-managing-the-rural-road-network-through-green-and-climate-resilient-construction-discuss-250-words/


SECURE SYNOPSIS

Body–

Discuss in points the strategy envisaged by the project. How they aim to manage the rural road network through green and climate resilient construction. E.g

Climate vulnerability assessment during the design process to identify the critical locations affected by natural hazards; special treatment for flood-affected areas through adequate waterways and submersible roads to allow easy passage of water and improved drainage; use of environmentally optimised road designs and new technologies which use local and marginal materials and industrial byproducts in place of crushed rocks; innovative bridge and culverts through use of prefabricated units build roads and bridges having better ability to bit and earthquakes and water sources etc.

Conclusion– write a few lines expressing the desirability of the project and how it could be further strengthened/ better complemented with other programmes- e.g Green Highways Project etc.

Background:-

India and the World Bank recently signed a $500-million loan agreement to provide additional funding for the centre’s flagship rural roads programme, the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY).

Government has signed US $500 million loan agreement with World Bank to provide additional financing for Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) rural road projects. The loan has maturity of 10 years along with 3 year grace period. It will provide additional financing for PMGSY Rural Roads Project to build 7,000 km of climate resilient roads, out of which 3,500 km will be constructed using green technologies.

PMGSY:-

PMGSY is fully funded centrally sponsored scheme launched in 2000.

It aims to provide single all-weather road connectivity to all eligible unconnected habitations in the rural areas with population of 500 persons and above (in plain areas) and 250 persons and above (in Hilly States , desert Areas, Tribal areas and selected Tribal and Backward Districts). Union Ministry of Rural Development is nodal ministry for implementation of Scheme.

For this scheme, 75 paise per litre has been earmarked out of cess levied on high speed diesel. It considers habitation as unit for providing connectivity and not a revenue village. The scheme encourages use of “Green Technologies” and non-conventional materials for constructing rural roads.

Under PMGSY, the government aims to construct 7,000km of climate-resilient roads. Out of this, 3,500km will be built using green technologies.

Success:-

Roads are primary to any development agenda. PMGSY, since its inception in 2000, has been able to provide connectivity to 1,52,124 habitations (85.37% against 1,78,184 eligible habitations). Sensing the importance and urgency of rural roads for national development the target date for completion of PMGSY-I has been preponed from 2022 to 2019.

The PMGSY over the years has brought about a paradigm shift in the way rural roads are mapped, designed, monitored and built, involving communities, especially women.

The PMGSY and the World Bank’s involvement under this additional financing, will emphasize on managing the rural road network through green and climate-resilient construction using green, low-carbon designs and new technologies far beyond merely funding civil works.

Use of non-conventional, locally available construction materials and “Green Technologies” have been encouraged for climate resilient roads in PMGSY. There has been wide acceptability of these technologies. During the financial year 2017-18, a record length of 6,313 kms has been constructed using green technologies.

The Additional Financing will also fill the gender gap by creating employment opportunities for women in construction and maintenance.




SECURE SYNOPSIS

The additional finance will bring a new shift in construction technology using green and low-carbon designs and climate-resilient techniques. Now, more rural communities will have access to better economic opportunities and social services. This new project will demonstrate how climate-resilient construction can be integrated in the strategy and planning of rural roads.

Success in states:-

Its implementation in states having a historical deficit of rural roads is staggering for its scope and size.

The pace of construction of PMGSY roads reached a seven-year high of 130 km per day in 2016-17 as against an average of 73 km during the period 2011 to 2014.

Not only has it ensured connectivity for perishable commodities, but helped ramp up productivity and wider distribution, primarily due to economies of scale.

PMGSY not only strives to build roads but good quality roads. The in-built frame work of Quality Management mechanism in PMGSY is a combination of in-house quality control measures and independent verification at state and national levels.

The scheme also ensures climate vulnerability assessment during the design process to identify the critical locations affected by natural hazards, special treatment for flood-affected areas through adequate waterways and submersible roads to allow easy passage of water and improved drainage

It also uses innovative bridge and culverts through use of prefabricated units build roads and bridges having better ability to bit and earthquakes and water sources etc.

Transparency

As a measure of Transparency and Accountability, the scheme has put in place a Citizen Feedback system through the MeriSadak App. This provides a direct interface with the citizens and this G2C platform enables citizens to provide real time feedback on the implementation of the PMGSY programme.

Community Contracting initiative in Rural Roads:-

Maintenance software eMarg used in MP will be replicated in all states to streamline maintenance systems of rural roads.

Use of IT:-

Satellite imagery is being used to verify the completion of road length being reported by States on the programme software i.e. OMMAS as well as to verify habitation connectivity.

Issues:-

Maintenance of the existing 4.6 million km of the road network is emerging as a major challenge in India

Many parts of the existing road network are either vulnerable to or have already suffered damage from climate-induced events such as floods, high rainfall, sudden cloud bursts and land-slides.

Conclusion:-

To support the rural economy and communities and households that depend on rural livelihoods, it will be critical to ensure that infrastructure is built and maintained to withstand climatic changes.

Q) India has made remarkable strides in renewable energy during the recent years, which has

emerged as an integral part of the solution to nations energy needs. Discuss the steps taken by

the government in this direction. (250 words)


Why this question

India’s renewable energy generation has expanded substantially in recent years to the extent that India is very close to achieve its 175 GW target. A number of initiatives have been taken by the government which have fuelled the growth in the sector.



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SECURE SYNOPSIS

Directive word



The question wants us to write in detail about the growth witnessed in India’s renewable sector vis a vis the targets set. It also wants us to write in detail about the initiatives which have been responsible for these achievements.


Introduction– mention India’s renewable energy target of 175 GW by 2022 and present the growth story of the sector as witnessed in recent years in terms of some statistics- e.g around 38 GW capacity addition in last 4 years, increasing installed renewable energy capacity to 69 GW etc.

Body–

Discuss in points the initiatives taken by the govt in this direction. E.g

Solar power- capacity of the scheme, “Development of solar parks and ultra mega solar power projects” has been enhanced from 20 GW to 40 GW; amendments in building bye-laws raising tax free solar bonds for solar projects, tariff-based competitive bidding process for purchase of solar power, central financial assistance for setting up rooftop solar PV ,Surya Mitra program for creation of qualified technical workforce for mandatory provision of rooftop solar for new construction or higher floor area ratio and making rooftop solar as a part of housing loans;

Wind power

Revised assessment to 302 GW potential; National Offshore wind energy policy.

Bio-energy

Central financial assistance for Biomass power projects, promotion of off-grid biogas power projects for captive power generation, family size biogas plants set up under the National Biogas and Manure Management Programme.

Amendments in tariff policy enhancement in Solar RPO to 8% by March 2022; introduction of RGO for coal/ lignite based power plants etc.


Background:-

The renewable energy sector in India has emerged as an integral part of the solution to meet the nation’s energy needs.

There has been a visible impact of renewable energy in the Indian energy scenario during the last few years as India is on its way to achieving the 175 GW target for installed Renewable Energy capacity by 2022.

Recent Initiatives

The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has taken several steps for a clean energy future by taking up the largest renewable capacity expansion programme in the world.

Till March 2018, a capacity addition of 37.33 GW of renewable energy has been reported during the last four years with a total of 69 GW renewable energy installed capacity.

In order to achieve the target of 175 GW by the year 2022, the ministry launched schemes on development of wind-solar hybrid power projects, biomass power and bagasse cogeneration, biomass gasifier for industries, scheme for development of solar parks and ultra-mega solar power projects, grid connected solar PV power plants on canal banks and canal tops and biogas based grid power generation programme.




SECURE SYNOPSIS

Solar and wind power:-

Among all, the National Solar Mission is the most ambitious program which aims to promote solar energy for power generation with an aim of making levelized cost of solar energy competent with coal/gas based power generation.

Historical low tariffs for solar and wind was achieved giving a big push to the renewable sector.

Capacity of the scheme for Development of Solar Parks and Ultra Mega Solar Power Projects has been enhanced from 20 GW to 40 GW.

Amendments in building by-laws for mandatory provision of roof top solar for new construction or higher floor area ratio and making roof top solar as a part of housing loan by banks.

Provision of roof top solar system and 10% renewable energy as mandatory under guidelines for development of smart cities.

Raising tax free solar bonds for managing equity to setup solar projects.

Tariff based competitive bidding process for purchase of solar power.

Surya-Mitra programme for creation of qualified technical workforce.

The Gujarat government launched Suryashakti Kisan Yojna (SKY) under which grid-connected solar panels will be provided to over 12,000 cultivators who have already taken regular electricity connections for irrigation purpose.

This is for the first time in the country that farmers will be able to produce solar energy, consume as much as they need and sell the remaining.

The biggest advantage of this project is that the farmers, after using required electricity generated from solar panels, can sell additional electricity to the government and earn good income out of it.

Wind power:-

In terms of wind power installed capacity, India is globally placed at 4th position after china, USA and Germany.

India has long coastline where there is a good possibility for developing offshore wind power projects. The cabinet has cleared the National Offshore Wind Energy Policy.

Bio-Energy

Central financial assistance for biomass power project includes biomass gasification and bagasse co-generation.

Promotion of off-grid biogas power project for captive power generation.

Family size biogas plants mainly for rural and semi-urban households are setup under the National Biogas and Manure Management Programme (NBMMP).

Amendments in Tariff Policy

Enhancement in solar renewable purchase obligations to 8% by March 2022.

Introduction of renewable generation obligation for new coal/lignite based thermal plants.

Waving off inter-state transmission charges for solar and wind power.

The government is providing generation based incentives, capital and interest subsidies, viability gap funding, concessional finance, fiscal incentives etc. for providing financial support to various schemes.

Ministry has taken steps for strong enforcement of Renewable Purchase Obligation (RPO) and providing Renewable Generation Obligation (RGO), incorporating measures in Integrated Power Development Scheme (IPDS) for encouraging distribution companies and making net-metering compulsory and raising funds from bilateral and international donors as also the Green Climate Fund to achieve the target.




SECURE SYNOPSIS

Other Initiatives

Formation of International Solar Alliance (ISA) which became a legal entity in December 2017. India has been playing a leading role in the International Renewable Community along with France, with its headquarters in India.

Bank loans for purposes like solar based and biomass based power generators, wind power systems, micro-hydel plants and for renewable energy based street lighting systems and remote village electrification.

Foreign Direct Investment up to 100% is permitted under the automatic route for renewable energy generation and distribution projects.

Concerns:-

Issues related to trade remedies

Implementing trade remedies that have anti-competition implications has become commonplace, with clean energy becoming its newest victim. Such a move would also result in higher tariffs and make solar power less attractive for the already financially strained and RE-sceptical utilities

Compliance with the global trade regime

It is vital that India remains compliant with the global trade regime

Previous measures (for example, the domestic content requirement or DCR scheme) to assuage the concerns of the domestic solar manufacturers were challenged and overturned at the World Trade Organisation WTO

Inter ministerial conflict:-

India’s solar sector is currently caught in inter-ministerial cross-fire

The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has been grappling with issues posed by the MoF regarding: the re-classification of solar panels as electrical motors (the current classification is photosensitive semiconductor devices), imposing additional duties and cesses on importers

RE as deployed today helps meet an energy need (kWh), but doesn’t help meet the peak by contributing capacity (kW) at the right time, which is India’s main challenge.

Additional worries include concerns on panel quality/lifespan (especially with hot Indian conditions), and whether costs will continue to fall (just recently Chinese module suppliers raised prices, reversing years of a downward trend and putting recent bids at risk as they likely factored in continually falling prices).

Commercial banks in India constitute major source of financing for infrastructure. But these banks provide loan at a rate much higher than in the developed nations.

Availability of land is also a big impediment for this sector. In India generally land is segmented and records might not be available.

Evacuation systems for transmitting the electricity generated in the solar power plant are still fully not equipped.

Way forward:-

Developers and manufacturers need to voice their needs clearly and respond to policy implications clearly.

The industry needs one unified voice representing the key concerns of each stakeholder-category, without ignoring the broader interests of the sector.

India will need a comprehensive strategy on issues such as effective sourcing of critical minerals and investment in R&D.

Innovative Financing measures such as clean energy fund, generation based incentive linked loan repayment and green bonds could be one solution to overcome the financial needs of this sector.

Conclusion:-

Moving towards newer energy options is the demand of time which can restrain indiscriminate exploitation of natural resources and make access to affordable and sustainable energy in the times to come.




SECURE SYNOPSIS

Q) Indian Railways has often been called out for its lack of modernization. Consequently,

modernization of Indian Railways is a priority area for the government. Discuss the roadmap

for modernization and examine issues as highlighted by CAG ? (250 words)

The hindu

pib

Why this question

CAG observation on modernization of railways had brought the focus back on this key priority area of government as highlighted in the Budget. This means that we need to prepare notes on the plan for modernization and the issues in implementation to tackle questions of this nature.

Directive word

Discuss – The modernization plan has to be explained, the issues involved to be brought out along with way forward.


Introduction – Highlight why modernization of railways is a priority.

Body – Discuss the plan for modernization – explain the focus areas and the reasons why it is a focus area, discuss steps such as modernization of coaches, increase in speed, better facilities as well as amenities etc. Discuss the observations made by CAG – that the focus of CAG is mainly on improving the facade and passenger facilities, rather that removing bottlenecks to ensure timely movement of trains. Bring out the other areas where CAG has suggested an improvement.

Conclusion – Examine whether CAG report on modernization of railways, if paid heed to, would help in improving the status of Indian railways. Give way forward.

Background:-

Rail experts believe that the rail transport systems are six times more energy efficient than road and four times more economical. The social costs in terms of environment damage or degradation are significantly lower in rail.

Rail construction costs are approximately six times lower than road for comparable levels of traffic. Historically, the Indian railways have played a leading role in carrying passengers and cargo across India’s vast territory.

In the next five years, Indian railway market will be the 3rd largest, accounting to 10% of the global market and Metro rail is going to be 70% of the railway market in India.

Lack of modernization in Indian railways:-

Today the country’s high-density rail corridors face severe capacity constraints.

There is a definite need for capacity enhancement, upgradation, creation of new passenger and freight corridors.

Other issues plaguing the rail transport are the differential speeds of trains, inadequate connectivity to ports and mines, inability to carry longer and heavier trains and lower throughput and longer turn-around period.

It was reported that between 2011-12 and 2016-17, 50% of the accidents occurred due to derailments and 40% occurred due to collisions at level crossings

Maintenance issues:-

It is now well established that the conventional rail system suffers from overloading of tracks and the maintenance staff do not even get 2-3 hours of uninterrupted time for the upkeep of rail infrastructure. The non-availability of time to maintain tracks has been resulting in derailments in IR.

Signalling issues:-

Although IR has improved its signalling system enormously, it still uses a spatial signalling system, whereas developed countries have adopted in-cab signalling and automatic train stop systems. The spatial signalling system is prone to human error and reduces the throughput of the rail network



http://www.insightsonindia.com/2018/08/09/6-indian-railways-has-often-been-called-out-for-its-lack-of-modernization-consequently-modernization-of-indian-railways-is-a-priority-area-for-the-government-discuss-the-roadmap-for-modernization/



https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/railways-focus-misplaced-cag/article24628163.ece

http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=176124


SECURE SYNOPSIS

Government is focussing on it :-

Indian Railways had recently announced moving to the advanced European system, which would allow it to increase the train running capacity on the existing tracks.

India announced a $133 billion, five-year programme backed by private and public investment aimed to boost passenger and freight volumes, lay new tracks, introduce modern trains and drive growth to help meet ambitious economic targets.

India has taken certain very important decisions to modernise the rail transport networks by launching the Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC)

FDI:-

India is allowing 100 per cent foreign direct investment in new rail sectors such as suburban corridors, high-speed train systems and the freight line projects implemented through public-private partnership. Foreign investors will be allowed to fully own new services in suburban areas, high speed tracks, and connections to ports, mines and power installations.

Modernisation of coaches:-

Large scale proliferation of Linke Hofmann Busch (LHB) coaches

IR has decided to proliferate LHB coaches, which are technologically superior and have better riding and aesthetics.

Improvements in EMU (Electric Multiple Unit) / MEMU (Mainline Electric Multiple Unit) rakes

Manufacture of electric train set coaches:

141 Electric Train set coaches in 2018-19 and 11 in 2019-20 have been included in the Production Programme. The train sets will be semi high speed with distributed power, with quicker acceleration and contemporary passenger amenities.

Mid-Life-Rehabilitation (MLR) of coaches:

MLR work of Broad Gauge (BG) non-AC & AC coaches is carried out in three workshops, namely Parel (Central Railway), Jhansi (North Central Railway) and Bhopal (West Central Railway). The work includes complete overhauling of interiors of coaches. Considering the present scenario, around 1000 coaches per annum are likely to be given MLR during the next three years.

Model Rake Coaches

IR has planned to improve the interior of the Integral Coach Factory (ICF) design coaches

IR has launched Project Swarn with the objective of significantly improving the passenger experience.

Safety and Security of railway passengers and stations:

Improving fire retardancy in coaches by providing fire retardant furnishing materials in coaches.

Safety and security in Railway stations:

Provision of CCTV cameras has been made over 394 railway stations.

Networking of Posts and Security Control Rooms of the RPF is under progress for faster dissemination of data/feedback/Complaints.

Catering facilities:

To improve the standard of food being provided to passengers, new Catering Policy has been issued wherein inter-alia Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Limited (IRCTC) has been mandated to carry out the unbundling by creating a distinction primarily between food preparation and food distribution.




SECURE SYNOPSIS

Issues highlighted by CAG:-

Wrong focus:-

Rather than removing bottlenecks to ensure timely movement of trains the focus of Railways modernisation plans for its stations is mainly on improving the façade and passenger facilities,

Neglected areas:-

Important activities such as providing platforms with adequate length for easy boarding of long trains, providing adequate facilities for stabling trains and for their maintenance in stations, and adequate yard capacity significantly contribute to timely arrival and departure of trains.

Infrastructure such as platforms, washing pit lines and stabling lines at the stations were not augmented to match the increase in number of trains handled in all these stations.

Maintenance issues:-

Non-availability of adequate washing pit lines and stabling lines led to movement of empty trains to other depots for maintenance purposes. This caused blockage of lines.

Way forward:-

CAG recommendations:-

Before taking up modernization/redevelopment of stations and constructing new buildings, the possibility of further expansion of the stations by adding more platforms needs to be considered.

The modernisation/ redevelopment of stations should also address infrastructural constraints and works such as construction of additional platforms, stabling and washing pit lines and remodelling of yards should be included in its scope.

It becomes imperative to locate power-efficient technology in Railway systems that will help tackle this problem as well as ecological concerns.

Sam pitroda report touched almost every area of operation and management of Indian Railways and came up with five strategic planks viz. modernisation of core assets; exploration of new revenue models; review and assessment of capital projects sanctioned and work-in-process; focus on enablers and mobilisation of resources.

Bibek Debroy Committee in its report on the Indian Railways recommends sweeping changes in the way the ailing organisation runs. Some of them are:

Transition to commercial accounting:

The financial statements of Indian Railways need to be re-drawn, consistent with principles and norms nationally and internationally accepted.

Focus on non-core areas:

Indian Railways should focus on core activities to efficiently compete with the private sector. It will distance itself from non-core activities, such as running a police force, schools, hospitals and production and construction units.

Encouraging private entry:

Private entry into running both freight and passenger trains in competition with Indian railways should be allowed and private participation in various Railway infrastructure services and non-core activities like production and construction, should be encouraged by the Ministry of Railways.

Independent regulator:

The report recommends setting up a Railway Regulatory Authority of India (RRAI) statutorily, with an independent budget, so that it is truly independent of the Ministry of Railways.




SECURE SYNOPSIS

Q) Several factors have contributed to the slow progress in India’s biodiesel development

programme. Critically examine. (250 words)

Reference

Reference

Pib

Why this question

Biodiesel and ethanol are one the most important economically as well as technologically feasible alternatives to fossil fuel use in automobiles. India has not realized the potential in both these fronts. Here we have to concentrate on biodiesel. And it is important to discuss the reasons behind the slow progress in India’s biodiesel programme.

Directive word

Examine- Here we have to probe deeper into the topic, get into details, and find out the causes or implications if any. Based on our discussion we have to form an opinion on the issue.


The question wants us to dig deep into India’s BIOFUEL Programme and discuss what are the factors responsible for the slow progress in achieving the desired objectives of the Biodiesel part of the programme. Then we have to form an opinion on the question accordingly.


Introduction– write a few lines about India’s Biofuel policy, 2009 and it’s biodiesel component- its target/ mandate of 20% blending of ethanol and biodiesel etc. mention the failure to achieve the set targets.

Body-

o Mention that In India, there is a vast potential for the production of biodiesel from Jatropha and the Indian Beech-Karanj, as they occur in plenty in forests and wastelands.Discuss in points the factors responsible for the slow progress of the biodiesel programme. E.g an acute shortage of Jatropha seeds- due to very poor Jatropha seed yield; limited availability of wasteland and high plantation and maintenance costs rendering biodiesel projects unviable; Trial results with High Yielding Varieties (HYVs) of Jatropha for production of biodiesel have not been satisfactory; thus because of limited availability of biodiesel and the volatile nature of its prices, the speed of blending had suffered a setback; higher gestation period of biodiesel crops (3–5 years for Jatropha) results in a longer payback period and creates additional problems for farmers where state support is not readily available; sub-optimal processing and marketing infrastructure and under-developed distribution channels; several existing biodiesel plants shifted operations to adopt multiple feedstock technology; several existing biodiesel plants shifted operations to adopt multiple feedstock technology etc.

Conclusion– Bring out the importance of the success of biodiesel programme in terms of India’s primary reliance on diesel, for transportation and to achieve energy security and reduce energy imports. Write in few lines the way-forward.

Background:-

With its domestic crude oil output stagnating and the demand for oil continuing to rise at an ever-increasing pace, India has an opportunity to use substitutes of fossil fuels for both, economic and environmental benefits. Ethanol and biodiesel are some such options.

National Policy on Biofuels has a provision for blending mandate of 20% Ethanol and Bio-diesel by 2017.



http://www.insightsonindia.com/2018/08/13/5-several-factors-have-contributed-to-the-slow-progress-in-indias-biodiesel-development-programme-critically-examine-250-words/

http://www.insightsonindia.com/2018/08/13/5-several-factors-have-contributed-to-the-slow-progress-in-indias-biodiesel-development-programme-critically-examine-250-words/

https://www.downtoearth.org.in/blog/biodiesel-in-india-the-jatropha-fiasco-61321

https://mnre.gov.in/biofuels

http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=148141


SECURE SYNOPSIS

India’s biodiesel development programme:-

In India, there is a vast potential for the production of biodiesel from Jatropha and Pongamia pinnata as they occur in plenty in forests and wastelands.

In December 2009, the Union government launched the National Biodiesel Mission (NBM) identifying Jatropha as the most suitable tree-borne oilseed for biodiesel production to help achieve a proposed biodiesel blend of 20 per cent with conventional diesel by 2017.

Biodiesel procurement started in 2014 and a pilot programme was started in August 2015. It has been extended to six states.

Why there has been slow progress in this programme:-

Acute shortage of Jatropha seeds:-

Much has been done to initiate large-scale cultivation, increasing Jatropha yield and switching to substitutes. However, much of this has not yielded successful results.

Moreover, several existing biodiesel plants shifted operations to adopt multiple feedstock technology.

For instance, they use used cooking oils, animal fats and imported crude vegetable oils to produce biodiesel while private producers are encouraged to sell more biodiesel directly to end-users provided they meet the prescribe Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) norms.

Unviable projects:-

Several corporations, petroleum companies and private companies have entered into Memoranda of Understanding with state governments to establish and promote Jatropha plantations on government-owned wastelands or through contract farming with small and medium farmers.

However, due to constraints like limited availability of wasteland and high plantation and maintenance costs, biodiesel projects became unviable.

Trial results with High Yielding Varieties (HYVs) of Jatropha for production of biodiesel have not been satisfactory.

Consequently, because of limited availability of biodiesel and the volatile nature of its prices, the speed of blending had suffered a setback.

Difficulty in initiating large-scale cultivation of Jatropha:-

The higher gestation period of biodiesel crops (3–5 years for Jatropha) results in a longer payback period and creates additional problems for farmers where state support is not readily available.

An ICAR study also points out that the Jatropha-based biodiesel production programme is bogged down with several obstacles like slow progress in planting, sub-optimal processing and marketing infrastructure and under-developed distribution channels.

Way forward:-

A substantial research thrust on the development of second and third generation feedstocks is crucial to address the future bio energy needs of the country.

There is an urgent need to undertake research by public sector Oil Manufacturing Companies to achieve higher yield of feedstock, developing short duration crops and jatropha cultivation through planned varietal improvement programmes, particularly in a few selected areas of the country to establish its viability.

The principal changes in policy required are a multi-feed feedstock approach, an attractive incentive mechanism, both at the feedstock stage as well as biodiesel production stage, and research and development for increasing the yield from feedstock.




SECURE SYNOPSIS

Q) India is the world’s fastest growing domestic aviation market and regional connectivity is

critical if this high growth is to be sustained. In this context, discuss the achievements of

UDAN-RCS and the challenges lying in front of it. (250 words)


Reference

Why this question

UDAN Regional Connectivity Scheme has been quite successful in improving regional connectivity in India, which fares very poor compared to the metropolitan connectivity. It is therefore essential to underline the achievements of the scheme as well as the challenges faced by it.

Directive word



The question wants us to write in detail about the achievements of the UDAN-RCS and what are the challenges lying ahead of it.


Introduction– Write a few lines about the concentration of most of the air-traffic in India at metropolitan airports and write a few lines about the UDAN-RCS- e.g launched in 2017; its aim is to “enhance regional connectivity through fiscal support and infrastructure development” etc.

Body-

o Discuss the achievements of the scheme. E.g After two rounds of UDAN bidding, routes from following Airports/ Heliports awarded ; • Unserved Airports 56 • Underserved Airports 17 • Heliports 31 ; Till date RCS operations from 30 Airports have been commenced etc.

o Discuss the challenges lying ahead. E.g Not all the underserved and unserved airports which were envisaged to become operational have been revived; all the routes for which Airlines had placed their bids have not been started and there is operationally no helicopter service yet; some of the airlines which have participated in the bidding under the scheme have little previous experience or short on funding and seem to be struggling with the economics and logistics of offering connectivity from remote locations; new number of occupied seats on some routes along with high cancellation rates; till now there has been no scheduled helicopter services anywhere in the country so norms have to be laid down from scratch; soaring oil prices and only a three-year window of viability gap funding available to operators etc.


Background:-

India is the fastest growing aviation market in the world now and majority of air traffic is still concentrated at airports in its biggest cities. To sustain high growth there is a need to launch flights to tier 2 and 3 cities and ensuring that fares remain affordable.

This not only allows redundant airport infrastructure to become useable but also provides air connectivity to businesses and individuals residing in India’s hinterland. Since the ‘UDAN’ scheme was launched, this is precisely what has been happening.

UDAN scheme:-

Small towns, inaccessible hilly regions and the north-east of the country-all these territories are being slowly brought onto the aviation map under the UDAN scheme.



http://www.insightsonindia.com/2018/08/13/7-india-is-the-worlds-fastest-growing-domestic-aviation-market-and-regional-connectivity-is-critical-if-this-high-growth-is-to-be-sustained-in-this-context-discuss-the-achievements-of-udan-rcs-an/



https://www.aai.aero/sites/default/files/rcs_news_notifications/Brief%20on%20RCS%2001%20Aug%202018.pdf


SECURE SYNOPSIS

Under the UDAN scheme, the state government and the centre are providing subsidy as per a predefined formula as Viability Gap Funding (VGF).

Under the VGF there is subsidy for 50% of the seats on each flight, exclusive route monopoly for the airline for three years and host of other concessions.

The airline operator is bound to cap fares for the UDAN seats at Rs 2500 per seat per hour or for about 500 kms of flying.

Achievements:-

The success of UDAN can be gauged from the fact that in 12 months from the date of launch, the Shimla-Delhi flight has carried about 12,000 passengers in all with average load factor of 90% (number of occupied seats from total available seats).

Not just ghost airports, even some airports which have existing flight operations but in a limited way, are seen benefitting under the UDAN scheme.

It could lead to development of smaller cities as faster air connectivity will attract infrastructure & investment

It could ease passenger pressure from Railways & Roads.

It may provide major boost to Tourism industry in India

Smaller Airlines could successfully compete with bigger airlines.

Moreover, of the 35 crore middle class citizens, only 8 crore people fly. Capping of fares, enhancing connectivity will lead to an increase in the number of citizens who can fly and can take some burden off railways.

It will give impetus to India’s ambition of becoming third largest aviation market by 2020

Because of RCS Companies have no competition. Companies can work with a pricing model and develop a route and are protected from competitive pressures. Demand can be generated by developing capacities and stimulating the market with a good pricing strategy,

Challenges:-

Not all the underserved and unserved airports which were envisaged to become operational have been revived, not all the routes which airlines had placed bids have been started and there is still no helicopter service under the UDAN scheme.

None of the 75 helicopter routes connecting hilly terrain and islands have commenced yet

Airports not ready:-

Of the 56 unserved airports that the government planned to add to the aviation map in a year, only 16 are ready, and 10 of the 25 under-served airports have been developed.




SECURE SYNOPSIS

Issues with smaller players:-

Smaller players like Air Odisha and Air Deccan have struggled to raise sufficient capital for their operations, hire trained manpower and lease planes, and have slowed down the implementation of the scheme.

Infrastructure constraints, too, have checked the pace of implementation of the scheme.

Forty unserved and 15 underserved airports are not ready yet for operations.

Many airports in round two are unserved [ie where no operations exist] and it is difficult to start flights there because virtually nothing exists there. For example, the airport at Darbhanga is operated by Indian Air Force, where the runway is capable of handling only IAF jets and not commercial aircraft like a Q400.

Some airports owned by State governments and private players have been hesitant in participating as there is little for them to gain with RCS flights exempt from paying landing and parking charges and States required to provide land, security and fire services free of cost.

Bigger airports have struggled to allocate slots for RCS flights:-

In Phase I, Delhi and Mumbai airports could grant only half of the 20 slots sought from each of them by the Ministry.

Airport officials say the smaller planes carrying 20-40 passengers take more time on the runway affecting the operational efficiency.

Funding issues:-

Some of the airlines which came alive under UDAN have little previous experience, are short on funding and seem to be struggling with the economics and logistics of offering connectivity from remote locations.

Quality of service:-

Then even the quality of service under UDAN is not quite upto the mark. As per DGCA data, some flights had the highest cancellation rates among all domestic airlines and naturally, maximum complaints from passengers.

The operators who have bagged the UDAN routes of their choice may find it tough to sustain these after the Viability Gap Funding (VGP) period of three years ends, especially since oil prices are already very volatile.

Long term viability:-

To make UDAN flights more attractive the government has already begun allowing waiver of the three year exclusivity clause, if the operator working the route does not object, but still concerns on long term viability remain.

There are 476 airstrips in the country out of which 90 are in usable state, among which 76 are operational currently. It can be challenging to develop so many airports in the span of 10 years.

Way forward:-

Focus of UDAN-3 would be on tourist destinations and Buddhist Circuits etc.

As requested by few States UDAN International connectivity to ASEAN/SAARC Countries would be explored.

Topic: Science and Technology- developments and their applications and effects in everyday life

Q) Discuss the history of evolution of Artificial Intelligence and examine the challenges for

further development of AI ? (250 words)

Livemint

Why this question

AI is a disruptive innovation that has had a huge impact so much so that it is being compared to the advent of a new Industrial Revolution. India has also stated its commitment to incorporating AI in its developmental journey. The article discusses how AI came to its present state and the future challenges that AI will have to overcome to reach its full potential.



http://www.insightsonindia.com/2018/08/16/4-discuss-the-history-of-evolution-of-artificial-intelligence-and-examine-the-challenges-for-further-development-of-ai250-words/

http://www.insightsonindia.com/2018/08/16/4-discuss-the-history-of-evolution-of-artificial-intelligence-and-examine-the-challenges-for-further-development-of-ai250-words/

https://www.livemint.com/Opinion/GqamWc9Zvo9s4NGF9srGSP/Retooling-time-for-Artificial-Intelligence.html


SECURE SYNOPSIS


As the question demands, first, we need to discuss how AI came to its present form starting from rudimentary systems to systems that can imitate human action. Thereafter, our focus has to shift to explaining how AI would need to evolve in light of the challenges that it faces. The first part of the question is primarily theoretical where we need to discuss the evolution of AI, whereas, the second part expects us to discuss the way forward for AI.

Directive word

Discuss – Here your discussion should focus on bringing out the various stages in evolution of AI, and the challenges therein which have to be overcome.


Introduction – Explain what AI and discuss AI is expected to usher in the era of post industrial revolution.

Body

o Discuss the significant milestones in evolution of AI to the stage it is today – from deep blue to alpha go to self driven cars. Explain how the technology has evolved

o Discuss that AI today is performing the jobs that human perform and therefore the main focus is on ensuring that AI imitate human actions which means that several variables have to be controlled.

o Post examining the challenges, we need to highlight what the way forward is.

Conclusion – Emphasize on the role that AI is going to play in the years to come and discuss how the challenges discussed herein can be resolved.

Background:-

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been implemented and is delivering on its promise at least at large companies including Facebook, Google, and Netflix. Retailers are using AI-powered robots in their warehouses, Utilities use AI to forecast electricity demand,

Automakers are using AI for autonomous cars, and Financial Services companies are using AI to better understand their customers, look for potential fraud, and to identify new products/services customers will want.

History of evolution of artificial intelligence :-

It evolved a lot since Alan Turing did Turing test in 1950

Deep Blue computer defeated Gary Kasparov in 1997

Major advantages of Deep Blue lay in its memory and computation powers. It could compute faster and thereby it could analyse potential positions more accurately than a human.

But this computer could not learn anything by itself. It just performed according to the inputs given to it.

In 2016, AlphaGo, a Go-playing computer system defeated the world’s best Go player shows that that machines can learn, and that too possibly better than a human.

Even higher peaks are activities such as speech recognition and language translation. Computers are already doing a fairly good job doing these activities too.

Next level of activities are very different from activities that machines so far have done an excellent job of mastering.

The next level activity AI hopes to master is social interactions. AI is entering the complex world of human behaviour. There are very few clear rules that govern human behaviour. More importantly, emotions are involved in all facets of human behaviour.

Unless AI understands and incorporates emotions, it will always remain artificial.




SECURE SYNOPSIS

Challenges for further development of AI:-

Mastering human behaviour is tougher as that a vast majority of brain activities occur at a non-conscious level.

Cost :-

Supporting not only the initial outlays for software and costs for cloud support but the ongoing costs for training employees and continued training of the AI system when business processes change.

AI can be just as or even more biased than humans.

If the information trainers feed to these algorithms is unbalanced, the system will eventually adopt the covert and overt biases that those data sets contain.

Before AI, it was relatively easy to determine whether an incident was the result of the actions of a user, developer or manufacturer. But in the era of AI-driven technologies, the lines are not as clearcut. This can become an issue when AI algorithms start making critical decisions such as when a self-driving car has to choose between the life of a passenger and a pedestrian.

There’s also the issue of bad actors, of both governmental and non-governmental nature, that might put AI and Machine learning to ill use.

A very effective Russian face recognition app rolled out last year proved to be a potential tool for oppressive regimes seeking to identify and crack down on dissidents and protestors

Way forward:-

New regulations must be put in place to clearly predict and address legal issues that will surround AI in the near future. The use and availability of the technology must also be revised and regulated in a way to prevent or minimize ill use.

Promote investment in research and development in AI that generates public trust in new technologies, and encourage industry to invest in developing and deploying AI that supports economic growth and women’s economic empowerment while addressing issues related to accountability, assurance, liability, security, safety, gender and other biases and potential misuse.

Policymakers should consider ways to encourage human-centered AI at work and to provide training and social welfare programs to ease the transition to what can be a more productive and humane workplace of the future.

Q) Greater diversification of energy will be imperative for Indian refining and marketing

companies in order to mitigate the disruptive potential of EVs over the longer term. Comment.

(250 words)

Financial express

Why this question

Growing pollution concerns and increasing demand and adoption of EVs which is bound to increase to 40% on medium term basis, are serious threats to the refining and marketing companies of India. Thus it is important to discuss what are the risks and how to mitigate them.

Directive word



The question wants us to discuss the disruptive potential of EVs in the long run and express our opinion as to how risks are posed by them to the Indian refining and marketing companies and how they can be mitigated by energy diversification.



http://www.insightsonindia.com/2018/08/18/3-greater-diversification-of-energy-will-be-imperative-for-indian-refining-and-marketing-companies-in-order-to-mitigate-the-disruptive-potential-of-evs-over-the-longer-term-comment-250-words/



https://www.financialexpress.com/industry/mitigating-the-disruptive-potential-of-electric-vehicles/1283179/


SECURE SYNOPSIS


Introduction– Write a few lines about the growing need to combat air pollution, of which the automobile sector is a major source, and the growing popularity of EVs. Mention their anticipated growth rate.

Body-

Discuss further the growing popularity and reducing costs of EVs and mention that strong incentives by countries/governments such as lower taxes and toll exemptions auger well for EV growth. Nonetheless, the main challenge to growth is the need to build adequate infrastructure for charging EVs, which is bound to take time etc. mention that in the near future EVs will have a disruptive effect in automobile sector especially the refining and marketing companies.

Discuss what are the risks posed. E.g mention the growing oil demand; domestic refining and marketing companies’ expansion of refineries to cater to the rising demand for petroleum products as the economy progresses; substitutes in the form of domestic gas and LNG could slow down the demand of other petroleum products like naphtha, furnace oil and LPG, which could put more pressure on profitability.

Bring out the need for energy diversification in order to mitigate the risks involved.

Conclusion– Based on your discussion, form a fair and a balanced conclusion on the given issue.

Background:-

In order to achieve emission targets, overhauling the transport sector is a key imperative, as it accounts for about 23% of global greenhouse gas emissions .In this regard, electric vehicles (EVs), both battery EVs and plug-in hybrid EVs, are seen as the silver lining, for they can help reduce carbon footprint, lower operating costs and are more energy-efficient.

Globally, EV sales have already surpassed 1 million in numbers supported by their growing familiarity, improvements in driving range, fall in battery prices, along with the availability of tax and other incentives.

Electric vehicles (EVs) are growing in popularity and certainly in mind space. They are cleaner and more efficient, easy to maintain and there is an advantage of regenerative braking. On the whole it is a package to fight against climate change and global warming as green house gas emissions are reduced .

Problems with current Electric vehicles model in India:-

Most worries hinge on battery costs and manufacturer readiness. Also at current the electric vehicles take longer time to charge than conventional vehicles.

A more India-specific concern will be that of the electricity grid as there are doubts when it can successfully handle the demand.

India needs to focus on ecosystem EV because the present system does not help environment as most power comes from coal-fired power

Will use solar photovoltaics (PV) to charge EVs. This means that Renewable energy may at best contribute some fraction of energy at different times but with personal vehicles and public transport mostly charged at night solar energy advantage as an alternative is constrained.

The main challenge to growth is the need to build adequate infrastructure for charging EVs, which is bound to take time.

Disruptive potential of electric vehicles:-

Impacts profits:-

Substitutes in the form of domestic gas and LNG could slow down the demand of other petroleum products like naphtha, furnace oil and LPG, which could put more pressure on profitability.

Domestic refining and marketing companies are investing in brownfield and greenfield expansion of refineries to cater to the rising demand for petroleum products as the economy progresses.




SECURE SYNOPSIS

Widespread adoption of battery-powered vehicles is a serious threat to the oil industry

Big electricity utilities burning fossil fuels such as gas or coal face the risk of batteries solving the intermittency problem of wind or solar plants that cannot generate on windless days or at night.

Need for energy diversification:-

Greater diversification to petrochemicals and other forms of energy including natural gas chain, EV infrastructure and renewable energy will be imperative for Indian refining and marketing companies in order to mitigate the disruptive potential of EVs over the longer term.

Making sure that the electricity generation is done mostly from renewables sources as well as companies be given incentives based on their PAT and RPO ratings.

PPP:-

Coal bed methane, shale gas, poly-metallic nodules, methane hydrates, are some areas that are relatively untapped in India but have immense potential.

Topic: Awareness in the fields of IT, Space, Computers, robotics, nanotechnology, biotechnology and

issues relating to intellectual property rights.

Q) India’s human spaceflight programme (HSP), the Gaganyaan, is still a long way away,

despite advancements in some critical technologies in the past decade. Analyze. (250 words)

The hindu

Timesofindia

Wikipedia

Why this question

The PM of India recently announced India’s intentions to send a Human spaceflight by 2022. This would be a remarkable achievement for India given that only three other countries have successfully launched such a program. It is therefore essential to know the preparedness and challenges involved in the programme.

Directive word

Analyze- Analyze- Here we have to dig deep into the issue and identify and discuss about all the related and important aspects and correlate them to satisfy the key demand of the question.


The question wants us to delve deep into India’s HSP and identify the critical technologies required for the mission and bring out the level of preparedness of launching a successful Gaganyaan Mission.


Introduction- Write a few lines about the spaceflight and its history. E.g Human spaceflight is a space travel with a crew or passengers aboard the spacecraft. Spacecraft carrying people may be operated directly, by human crew, or it may be either remotely operated from ground stations on Earth or be autonomous, able to carry out a specific mission with no human involvement. The first human spaceflight was launched by the Soviet Union on 12 April 1961. Mention India’s Gaganyaan Mission.

Body- Mention that the objective is to carry a crew of two to low Earth orbit (LEO) and return them safely for a water-landing at a predefined landing zone. The program is proposed to be implemented in defined phases. Currently, the activities are progressing with a focus on the development of critical technologies for subsystems

o Discuss in points the critical technologies required for the mission and discuss their level of preparedness.



http://www.insightsonindia.com/2018/08/17/3-indias-human-spaceflight-programme-hsp-the-gaganyaan-is-still-a-long-way-away-despite-advancements-in-some-critical-technologies-in-the-past-decade-analyze-250-words/

http://www.insightsonindia.com/2018/08/17/3-indias-human-spaceflight-programme-hsp-the-gaganyaan-is-still-a-long-way-away-despite-advancements-in-some-critical-technologies-in-the-past-decade-analyze-250-words/

https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/science/with-human-space-flight-india-to-push-frontiers/article24698496.ece

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/india-to-launch-first-manned-space-mission-by-2022-pm-modi/articleshow/65410373.cms

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_spaceflight


SECURE SYNOPSIS

o E.g Environment Control and Life Support Systems- meant to make the crew capsule liveable and the flight safe for the astronauts. in development phase and work is going on in case of space suits etc.

o The Crew Escape System- It is an emergency escape measure designed to quickly pull the crew module along with the astronauts to a safe distance from the launch vehicle in the event of a launch abort. Mention experiment for emergency escape of astronauts called the Pad Abort Test which will be repeated at higher distances etc.

o Crew Module- India has successfully launched a crew module with dummy payloads and brought it back to the Arabian sea etc.

o A new dedicated control centre for HSP would be set up at ISTRAC etc.


Background :-

Human spaceflight is a space travel with a crew or passengers aboard the spacecraft. Spacecraft carrying people may be operated directly, by human crew, or it may be either remotely operated from ground stations on Earth or be autonomous, able to carry out a specific mission with no human involvement.

The first human spaceflight was launched by the Soviet Union on 12 April 1961.

Gaganyaan :-

India’s first manned space flight Gaganyaan is expected to send three persons into the space for seven days and the spacecraft will be placed in a low earth orbit of 300-400 km.

Two unmanned Gaganyaan missions will be undertaken prior to sending humans. The total programme is expected to be completed before 2022 with first unmanned flight within 30 months.

The mission is estimated at 9000 crore.

It would raise scientific and technological temper across the country and inspire youngsters.

When it achieves the mission, India would be the fourth nation to circle Earth after the Soviets, the Americans and the Chinese.

Critical technologies:-

ISRO said that it carried out a major technology demonstration, the first in a series of tests to qualify a crew escape system, a critical technology relevant for human spaceflight.

In 2014, experimental flight of GSLV Mk-III was successfully tested. It also had successfully tested experimental crew module, demonstrating reentry capability. In 2017, first developmental flight of GSLV Mk-III was successfully conducted. In 2018, first successful flight of crew escape system was tested.

ISRO has developed some critical technologies like re-entry mission capability, crew escape system, crew module configuration which was successfully launched with dummy payloads and brought it back to the Arabian sea etc, thermal protection system, deceleration and floatation system, sub-systems of life support system etc. required for this programme.

Some of these technologies have been demonstrated successfully through the Space Capsule Recovery Experiment (SRE-2007), Crew module Atmospheric Reentry Experiment (CARE-2014) and Pad Abort Test (2018). These technologies will enable ISRO in accomplishing the programme objectives in a short span of 4 years.

Environment Control and Life Support Systems are meant to make the crew capsule liveable and the flight safe for the astronauts.

The Crew Escape System is an emergency escape measure designed to quickly pull the crew module along with the astronauts to a safe distance from the launch vehicle in the event of a launch abort. Mention experiment for emergency escape of astronauts called the Pad Abort Test which will be repeated at higher distances etc.

India has a new dedicated control centre for HSP would be set up at ISTRAC etc.




SECURE SYNOPSIS

However more needs to be done :-

Since time is short, the ISRO won’t be able to establish an astronaut training facility for the current mission and instead will have to train its astronauts in a foreign centre.

ISRO is still long way away, despite advancements in some critical technologies in past decade. It is stilling building its capabilities and developing critical technologies required to send astronaut being into space.

The required key technologies ISRO still has to develop for such mission. It includes ability to launch, recover and ensure earth-like conditions for astronauts. ISRO so far has successfully tested many of the technologies required for such a manned mission, but there are still others to be developed and tested.

Q) Antibiotic resistance is one of the biggest health challenges of 21st century. Examine why.

Also discuss the threat posed in this regard by gut bacteria ? (250 words)

The hindu

Why this question

The article discusses the findings of Translational Health Science and Technology Institute (THSTI) that describes the role gut bacteria play in transmitting antimicrobial resistance. The topic of AMR is important and hence this research can help in preparing feeder points.


The question expects us to discuss the reasons why AMR is the most significant public health challenge of 21st century. Your view on this is expected as a part of the answer. In the next next part, we need to explain the research study and its implication

Directive word

Examine -When you are asked to examine, you have to probe deeper into the topic, get into details, and find out the causes or implications if any .


Introduction – Explain AMR.

Body –

Give reasons why AMR has become a big headache for researchers, doctors and administrators such as excessive use of medicines in poultry, lack of complete treatment in case of TB etc

Discuss the findings of the report and analyze how it leads to development of resistance.

Discuss the threat posed by AMR in general.

Conclusion – Discuss a way forward for dealing with this situation.

Background:-

According to WHO, Antimicrobial resistance is resistance of a microorganism to an antimicrobial drug that was originally effective for treatment of infections caused by it. It is not a country specific issue but a global concern that is jeopardizing global health security. In India the infectious disease burden is among the highest in the world.

Why is antibiotic resistance one of the biggest health challenges:-

Antimicrobial resistance will result in difficulty in controlling the diseases in the community and ineffective delivery of the health care services.

Neonates and the elderly both are more prone to infections and are vulnerable.

A very significant part of out-of-pocket expenditure on health care is on medicines. The ineffective drugs and/or second line expensive antibiotics is pushing the treatment costs higher.



http://www.insightsonindia.com/2018/08/27/7-antibiotic-resistance-is-one-of-the-biggest-health-challenges-of-21st-century-examine-why-also-discuss-the-threat-posed-in-this-regard-by-gut-bacteria250-words/

http://www.insightsonindia.com/2018/08/27/7-antibiotic-resistance-is-one-of-the-biggest-health-challenges-of-21st-century-examine-why-also-discuss-the-threat-posed-in-this-regard-by-gut-bacteria250-words/

https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-opinion/a-nursery-of-drug-resistance/article24782749.ece


SECURE SYNOPSIS

WHO has published its first ever list of antibiotic-resistant ‘priority pathogens’ a catalogue of 12 families of bacteria that pose the greatest threat to human health and most of these 12 superbugs have presence in India.

Antibiotic resistance is emerging as a threat to the successful treatment of infectious diseases, organ transplantation, cancer chemotherapy and major surgeries.

Even when the process happens naturally, it is accelerated by the wrong use of antibiotics in humans and animals, and the effectiveness of these in the treatment of diseases such as pneumonia, tuberculosis and gonorrhea has diminished.

Treating fatal diseases like sepsis, pneumonia and tuberculosis (TB) are becoming tough because microbes that cause these diseases are increasingly becoming resistant to fluoroquinolones.

Excessive use of medicines in poultry:-

Unregulated sale of the drugs for human or animal use accessed without prescription or diagnosis has led to unchecked consumption and misuse.

Of tested birds destined for meat consumption, 87% had the super germs based on a study published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.

The mutated robust microbe strain can invade the body and cause diseases that are difficult to treat. Even mild infections require stronger dosage.

Annual healthcare cost due to antibiotic resistance is estimated to be as high as $20 billion, with an additional productivity loss of up to $35 billion in the US.

Threat posed with respect to gut bacteria:-

Scientists found that friendly gut bacteria are a reservoir of drug resistance genes which, when transferred to disease-causing bacteria, may make them untreatable.

Way forward:-

Poultry:-

Ban the use of antibiotics for growth promotion and mass disease prevention. It should only be used to cure the sick animals based on prescription of veterinarians

There is a need to introduce a labelling system wherein poultry raised without use of antibiotics should be labelled through reliable certified schemes to facilitate consumer choice.

Rationalizing antibiotic use to limit antibiotic resistance in India.

Improving regulation of drug production and sale

Encouraging behavior change among doctors and patients are of immediate priority.

Regulation of the medical sector, particularly in the prescription of medicines.

Improved management of the health care delivery systems, both public and private, will minimize conditions favourable for the development of drug resistance.

Improved awareness of antimicrobial resistance through effective communication. WHO’s World Antibiotic Awareness Week is one such event.

Reducing the incidence of infection through effective infection prevention and control. As stated by WHO, making infection prevention and hand hygiene a national policy priority.

Discourage non-therapeutic use of antimicrobial agents in veterinary, agriculture and fishery practices as growth-promoting agents.

Promoting investments for antimicrobial resistance activities, research and innovations

Strengthening India’s commitment and collaborations on antimicrobial resistance at international, national and sub-national levels.

Regulate the release of antibiotic waste from pharmaceutical production facilities and monitoring antibiotic residues in wastewater.




SECURE SYNOPSIS

Topic: Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact

assessment, Disaster and disaster management.

Q) There is a need to develop and harness non-invasive, local, large-scale ‘conserve and use’

projects in order to address the looming water crisis in India. Comment with examples.(250

words)

The hindu

Why this question

Water scarcity is a looming crisis in most of the Indian cities as well as many of its villages. It is essential to discuss all the plausible solutions that could be used to overcome the problem as well as meet the growing per capita demands of the population.


The question wants us to dig deep into the issue and express our opinion on how non-invasive, large scale projects can address the looming water crisis in the country. We have to give suitable examples in order to illustrate our point.

Directive word



Introduction- Write a few lines depicting India’s water crisis and give examples of Shimla and Bangalore which depict the state of water crisis in India.

Body-

Mention that over the years, several bottom-up schemes to revive and rejuvenate lakes, wetlands, streams and other small water bodies have been deployed. While these movements have brought about a significant change at the local level, the scale of India’s water problems is much larger. Discuss why- growing population; growing consumption; growing pollution etc.

Discuss the role of large scale non-invasive schemes. E.g they can provide a perennial supply of water to large populations in cities and towns, engage the natural landscape, sustain ecological balance and have major economic and health benefits etc. give examples like the Himalayan floodplain- If we conserve and use the floodplain, it can be a self-sustaining aquifer wherein every year, the river and floodplain are preserved in the same healthy condition as the year before- e.g The Delhi Palla floodplain project ; a forest (like Asola Bhatti in Delhi) can be sustained as a mineral water sanctuary etc.


Background:-

India has long undervalued one of its most precious resources, water. The country’s chronic mismanagement of water is staring at it now. Over 600 million Indians rely on the monsoon to replenish their water sources, and the unpredictable nature of rain leaves them vulnerable.

The NITI Aayog report on Composite Water Management Index said that India is facing its ‘worst’ water crisis in history



http://www.insightsonindia.com/2018/08/03/5-there-is-a-need-to-develop-and-harness-non-invasive-local-large-scale-conserve-and-use-projects-in-order-to-address-the-looming-water-crisis-in-india-comment-with-examples-250/



https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/scaled-up-solutions-for-a-future-of-water-scarcity/article24575853.ece


SECURE SYNOPSIS

Water crisis in India:-

Taps in Shimla went dry this summer, posing an unprecedented water crisis in the hill town.

Reasons for water crisis can be :-

A combination of population explosion, unplanned growth of the city and its expansion to some traditional catchment areas (a region from which rainfall flows into a river, lake, or reservoir) have led to a reduction in the natural flow of water, and large-scale deforestation.

Climate change, leading to much lower precipitation during the winter months. As a result, the natural flow and recharge of water in the region has fallen sharply

The water demand in Shimla during peak tourist season is very high

Failure of State governments to check unplanned development and exploitation of water resources. There is no attempt at the central or state levels to manage water quantity and quality

The vegetation pattern has changed, tree cover is shrinking and unscientific dumping of debris in water streams is rampant.

The debris blocks the natural course of water bodies.

Increasing number of tube wells resulting in depletion of groundwater.

Changes in farming patterns lead to consumption of more water for irrigation and also change the soil profile because of the use of fertilizers

The states ranked lowest like Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Jharkhand – are home to almost half of India’s population along with the majority of its agricultural produce.

There is also a lack of interest in maintaining India’s traditional water harvesting structures.

Increase in population, reduced rainfall, encroachment of water bodies, poor handling of industrial waste water, exploitation of natural resources, change in food consumption pattern etc. have all come together to deplete the amount of water available

Invasive schemes like dams to service these large cities and the huge needs of agriculture have caused extreme ecological devastation.

Resources (forests, mountains, floodplains and rivers) are often lost to the greed of governments, institutions, corporations and individuals.

Why non invasive large scale conserve and use projects are needed:-

Large-scale schemes can provide a perennial supply of water to large populations in cities and towns, engage the natural landscape, sustain ecological balance and have major economic and health benefits.

Floodplains of rivers are exceptional aquifers where any withdrawal is compensated by gravity flow from a large surrounding area and can be used as a source of providing water to cities for instance Himalayan floodplain.

Land on the floodplains can be leased from farmers in return for a fixed income from the water sold to cities. The farmers can be encouraged to grow orchards/food forests to secure and restore the ecological balance of the river ecosystem.

If we conserve and use the floodplain, it can be a self-sustaining aquifer wherein every year, the river and floodplain are preserved in the same healthy condition as the year before. For instance a forest (like Asola Bhatti in Delhi) can be sustained as a mineral water sanctuary etc.

Non invasive schemes can change the relationship between nature, water and cities. They differ in scale from the small, community-driven projects of check dams, water harvesting and lakes and can service large populations. Unlike large-scale dams, these projects work with nature rather than against it.

Way Forward:-

Deepen our understanding of our water resources and usage and put in place interventions that make our water use efficient and sustainable.




SECURE SYNOPSIS

Augmentation of watersheds that can store more good water, for use in agriculture and to serve habitations.

Strict pollution control enforcement.

Decentralisation of irrigation commands, offering higher financial flows to well-performing States through a National Irrigation Management Fund.

Groundwater extraction patterns need to be better understood through robust data collection.

Pollution can be curbed by levying suitable costs.

Poor maintenance of pipelines, consistent leakage and illegal tapping of water are some of the issues that need to be addressed on a war-footing.

Adopting rainwater harvesting techniques is the need of the hour.

A legal mandate will work better than just competition and cooperation; it would make governments accountable.

These forward-looking changes would need revamped national and State institutions, and updated laws.

Urban India needs to focus on recycling and harvesting water, having better testing and purification facilities and increase public awareness on the need to conserve water.

Large catchment areas need to be developed around water bodies so that natural recharge of groundwater takes place. A good example is the Seog catchment area which has been denoted as a wildlife sanctuary and where no construction is allowed.

Greywater recycling, a method of recycling wastewater from kitchen sinks, showers and laundry fixtures.

Q) Given the tremendous use and the precarious state of springs in India, there is an urgent

need to launch a National Programme on Springshed Management. Discuss. (250 words)

Reference

Reference

Why this question

Mountain springs are the primary source of water for the rural households in the Himalayan region. For many people, springs are the sole source of water. Spring discharge is reported to be declining due to a host of natural and anthropogenic factors. It is therefore essential to discuss the need for a National Programme on Springshed Management.

Directive word



The question wants us to write in detail about the present grim situation of the springs in India, their importance and then write in detail about the need for a National Programme on Springshed Management- what should be its components etc.


Introduction- Write a few lines about the importance of springs as a source of water in India especially in the Himalayan region.

Body–

o Discuss why there is an urgent need for a comprehensive and a dedicated programme for springshed management. E.g Springs form the sources of many small and large rivers in India. Almost all non-Himalayan Rivers and many Himalayan Rivers originate in the form of thousands of springs in the catchment areas; Springs directly support either the whole or part of the water



http://www.insightsonindia.com/2018/08/10/5-given-the-tremendous-use-and-the-precarious-state-of-springs-in-india-there-is-an-urgent-need-to-launch-a-national-programme-on-springshed-management-discuss-250-words/

http://www.insightsonindia.com/2018/08/10/5-given-the-tremendous-use-and-the-precarious-state-of-springs-in-india-there-is-an-urgent-need-to-launch-a-national-programme-on-springshed-management-discuss-250-words/

http://dst.gov.in/sites/default/files/NITI-Aayog-report-Springs-29Dec2017-FINAL.pdf

http://springseternalproject.org/springs/ginnie-springs/know-your-springs-ginnie/


SECURE SYNOPSIS

need of more than 15% of India’s population; The drying down of many springs has led to great distress for mountain populations, both rural and urban; The need to identify, conserve and protect the recharge areas of springs becomes important not just for local sustainability but also for the sustenance of our river systems; Integrating the understanding of the resource (mostly groundwater) alongside improved recharge, efficient supply and equitable demand hold the key to protecting and conserving springs.

o Discuss what is springshed -e.g A springshed is an area within a ground or surface water basin that contributes to the spring flow. The boundaries of springshed are dynamic – they change based on the level of the aquifer (otherwise known as its potentiometric surface). Discuss what should be the key components of a National Programme on Springshed Management- e.g must have both, a development component and a research component. The development component would enable the implementation while the research component could support the design, planning and impact assessment of springshed management. Briefly discuss the key components under each heading. Take the help of the article attached to the question to frame your answer.


Why there is a need to launch this national programme on Springshed programme :-

Primary source of water:-

Mountain springs are the primary source of water for the rural households in the Himalayan region.

For many people, springs are the sole source of water.

For example, a major proportion of drinking water supply in the mountainous parts of Uttarakhand is spring based, while in Meghalaya all villages in the state use springs for drinking and/or irrigation.

Springs did not receive adequate attention:-

As per a rough estimate, there are five million springs across India, out of which nearly 3 million are in the Himalayan region alone. Despite the key role that they play, springs have not received their due attention and are today facing the threat of drying up.

Spring discharge is reported to be declining due to increased water demand, changing land use patterns, and ecological degradation.

With the climate change manifested in the form of rising temperatures, rise in rainfall intensity, reduction in its temporal spread and a marked decline in winter rain, the problem of dying springs is being increasingly felt across the Indian Himalayan region.

The ignorance of springs in the larger context of rivers, watersheds and aquifers is also a reason for great concern as such ignorance has led to large gaps in practice and policy in developing any strategic national response to spring water management in India.

National Water Policy (2012) :-

The Himalayan region has been mentioned in the National Water Policy only in the context of consideration of environmental issues while planning. There has been no specific emphasis on springs and springshed management in the document, or for that matter, the connection between springs and groundwater.

Springs form the sources of many small and large rivers in India.

Almost all non-Himalayan Rivers and many Himalayan Rivers originate in the form of thousands of springs in the catchment areas.

Many of these springs have been revered through historic periods either in the form of a symbolic temple or with the tribal legacy of ‘sacred groves’.

Springs directly support either the whole or part of the water need of more than 15% of India’s population.

The need to identify, conserve and protect the recharge areas of springs becomes important not just for local sustainability but also for the sustenance of our river systems.




SECURE SYNOPSIS

Integrating the understanding of the resource (mostly groundwater) alongside improved recharge, efficient supply and equitable demand hold the key to protecting and conserving springs.

Springshed:-

It is an area within a ground or surface water basin that contributes to the spring flow. The boundaries of springsheds are dynamic as they change based on the level of the aquifer This means that a springshed may cover different areas at different times, depending on whether water levels are high or low.

National Programme on Springshed Management:-

The programme may involve research, management and protection of say about half-a-million springs across the region.

The programme could be anchored by the NITI Aayog, given its very strategic and national importance.

The programme must envisage a multidisciplinary, collaborative approach of managing springs and will involve building upon the existing body of work on spring- water management.

The programme can be designed on the concept of an action-research programme as part of a hydrogeology-based, community–support system on spring water management.

It can integrate other disciplines such as social sciences and ecology in building multidisciplinary dimensions that can help sustain this effort in the long run.

The programme will be relevant to all the regions falling in the Indian Himalayan Region, where communities depend upon spring water for both, domestic and livelihood needs.

Community centred action research interventions are not only essential but also indispensable for resource conservation in eco-fragile systems like the Himalaya, Western Ghats and Eastern Ghats.

A strategic approach to springshed management must have both, a development component and a research component.

The development component would enable the implementation

Development components

Geographical targeting using vulnerability assessment at the village level, including information on climate, dependency factor and other such important

Prepare Village Water Security Plans (VWSPs) for these villages combining dependencies and availability of local water resources.

Identify critical springs within vulnerable villages

Start small pilots using ‘resource block strategy’, or clusters of springs in pre- identified blocks of some districts in each of the Himalayan States

Develop cadre of trained para-hydrogeologists while creating capacity across the entire section of government department and ministries dealing with or connected with springs, water supply and sanitation in the Himalayan Region. This should especially include the Department of Forests in all the States

Develop a national spring atlas, monitoring discharge and rainfall data, in the resource blocks

While the research component could support the design, planning and impact assessment of springshed management by enabling recognition of the spring typology, identifying the recharge area, instrumenting the spring discharge and rainfall, provide help in regular monitoring and evaluation and updating the national springs web portal.

Research components

Develop long-term spring observatory by instrumenting few springs and streams in the resource blocks of springs

Initiate participatory mapping of recharge areas by convergence with trained para-hydrogeologists with a clear focus of core recharge areas for implementing recharge measures to many springs.




SECURE SYNOPSIS

Update the information on a monthly basis on the national springs portal so that the portal is dynamic and become a potential platform for tracking the progress of spring performance.

Way forward:-

Community awareness:-

It is important that communities that use springs are convinced of the need to conserve their springs, that they understand how it is done, and that they be willing to assume the responsibility of managing their springs.

Q) The destructive power of Tsunamis is all because of the topography of the seafloor near the

shore, and is bound to increase in the future. Discuss. (250 words)

Reference

Reference

Why this question

In a recent scientific research paper, it has been claimed that climate change will increase the destructive power of the tsunamis. It is pertinent under these circumstances to discuss about Tsunamis as well as the research findings.

Directive word

Discuss- This is an all-encompassing directive which mandates us to write in detail about the key demand of the question.


The question wants us to write in detail about the tsunamis and their relationship with the topography of the seafloor and how it determines the destructive power of the tsunami waves. It also wants us to discuss how this destructive power is going to increase in the future.


Introduction- Write a few lines about the nature of tsunami waves and how they are caused.

E.g Tsunami waves are huge waves – generally on oceans, but sometimes in lakes or large rivers caused by sudden motions, which displace a large amount of water like an earthquake, a volcanic eruption or underwater landslide.

Body-

o Discuss how the wavelength, speed and wave-height of tsunami waves is influenced by the depth of the water and how on coming in contact with the seafloor near the shore the wavelength is decreased and wave height increases etc.

o Discuss the impact of global warming on the destructive power of tsunami waves. Mention the sea-level rise, which will lead to more inundation of the coastal areas and hitherto untouched areas, as well as mention the higher destruction potential of much weaker tsunami waves which would increase in future etc.


Background :-

Tsunami is a seismic sea wave or tidal wave, catastrophic ocean wave, usually caused by a submarine earthquake, an underwater or coastal landslide, or a volcanic eruption. The term tidal wave is frequently used for such a wave, but it is a misnomer, for the wave has no connection with the tides.

Sea-level rise can significantly increase the tsunami hazard, which means that smaller tsunamis in the future can have the same adverse impacts as big tsunamis would today,



http://www.insightsonindia.com/2018/08/16/6-the-destructive-power-of-tsunamis-is-all-because-of-the-topography-of-the-seafloor-near-the-shore-and-is-bound-to-increase-in-the-future-discuss-250-words/

http://www.insightsonindia.com/2018/08/16/6-the-destructive-power-of-tsunamis-is-all-because-of-the-topography-of-the-seafloor-near-the-shore-and-is-bound-to-increase-in-the-future-discuss-250-words/

https://www.thesun.co.uk/tech/7021529/tsunami-warning-climate-change-rising-sea-levels/

https://www.britannica.com/science/tsunami


SECURE SYNOPSIS

Topography of the seafloor near the shore affects the power of Tsunamis:-

Tsunami waves become dangerous only when they get close to the coast: the height of a Tsunami wave grows larger as the water becomes more and more shallow in a wave shoaling process

An increase in wave amplitude results in “shoaling” when waves, including tsunamis, run from deep to shallow water. This is significant in coastal regions. This phenomena occurs because of the force from the seabed as it becomes shallower. This slows down the wave: the shallower the water, the slower the wave.

Even when tsunamis have only a small amplitude (less than a meter) they can shoal up to many meters high as they hit shallow water. When a tsunami hits shallower coastal waters, the trough or base of the wave contacts the beach floor. As a consequence, the leading edge of the tsunami slows dramatically due to the shallower water, but the trailing part of the wave is still moving rapidly in the deeper water.

The wave is compressed and its velocity slows below 80 kilometers per hour. Its wavelength diminishes to less than 20 kilometers and its amplitude is magnified many times. This piling up of tsunami energy results in growth of the wave height.

The form of the adjacent geography to deep water (open bays and coastline), can shape the tsunami into a step-like wave with a steep braking face. The wave height as it crashes upon a shore depends almost entirely upon the submarine topography offshore. Steeper shorelines produce higher tsunami waves.

Because of the factors of low amplitude in deep water and large wavelength, tsunamis are often not noticed in mid-ocean. As the tsunami hits shallower water, the velocity slows, wavelength decreases and the waves height (amplitude) increases.

Small islands with steep slopes usually experience little runup – wave heights there are only slightly greater than on the open ocean. This is the reason that islands with steep-sided fringing or barrier reefs are only at moderate risk from tsunamis.

However, this is not the case for islands such as the Hawaiian or the Marquesas. Both of these island chains do not have extensive barrier reefs and have broad bays exposed to the open ocean




SECURE SYNOPSIS

Q) Examine the impact of increasing human footprint on world’s oceans? Also suggest ways

through which we can tide over this crisis? (250 words)

Reference

Why this question

The article talks about the impact humans have had on marine ecology which is a problem which has been in the limelight off late. The article discusses the issue in detail, examining the causes and the effects which makes it useful for preparing environment section in GS3.


The question expects us to discuss the status of world’s oceans, the impact of growing human footprint on the world’s oceans and the ways in which we can mitigate this crisis. We also need to bring out what would happen if status quo is allowed to prevail.

Directive word



Introduction – Discuss the status of world’s oceans. According to a recent study by the Wildlife Conservation Society, only 13 percent of the planet’s oceans are untouched by human activity. The only unaffected portions are in remote protected parts of the Pacific Ocean and around the poles; even there, apparently, the tide is turning, making the waters unsafe for marine life. Also highlight that dead zones in the oceans have quadrupled.

Body

Discuss the ways in which human footprint impacts oceans – exploiting for resources, waste disposal, fishing

Discuss humanity’s impact on the oceans through activities such as fisheries, exploitation of other oceanic resources, global warming, plastic pollution etc

Bring out the various ways in which the condition can be made better – establishment of protected spaces – The United Nations believes that setting aside sanctuaries in the oceans will help improve the state of fish stocks and the health of marine habitats in general, waste management, lessening the use of plastic, focussing on Blue Economy where IORA has made several strides etc



http://www.insightsonindia.com/2018/08/18/4-examine-the-impact-of-increasing-human-footprint-on-worlds-oceans-also-suggest-ways-through-which-we-can-tide-over-this-crisis250-words/

http://www.insightsonindia.com/2018/08/18/4-examine-the-impact-of-increasing-human-footprint-on-worlds-oceans-also-suggest-ways-through-which-we-can-tide-over-this-crisis250-words/

https://www.orfonline.org/research/a-marine-ecological-crisis-in-south-asia/


SECURE SYNOPSIS

Conclusion – Highlight why this issues needs our urgent attention and the way forward for cleaner oceans.

Background:-

Across the globe, marine habitats are in a state of dramatic decline. According to a recent study by the Wildlife Conservation Society, only 13 percent of the planet’s oceans are untouched by human activity.

Impact:-

Marine dead zones are areas with little or no oxygen supporting microbial processes that also remove nitrogen from the ocean have quadrupled since the 1950s, and industrial fishing areas now cover half of the world’s oceans.

Humanity’s growing footprint in the world’s oceans is primarily a product of increased fishing activity.

According to recent estimates, roughly 90 percent of the world’s fish stocks are now fully fished, overfished, or depleted, with nearly one-third of all marine stocks exploited beyond biologically sustainable levels.

Not only are marine resources being depleted, the fishing industry is failing spectacularly at curbing illegal fishing.

To make matters worse, devastating practices like bottom trawling and the use of seine nets in shallow spaces like the Palk Bay are further depleting marine wealth.

Plastic pollution:-

Littoral Asia is drowning in a sea of synthetic trash. India’s coastal regions are witnessing their most rapid expansion of plastic pollution in recent years.

Oil spills in the ocean usually happen when an ocean oil rig springs a leak or when an ocean going tanker (carrying oil) wrecks.

Chemicals released into the ocean cause a myriad of problems. Pesticides, coming from runoff of agricultural land into the ocean damages marine organisms.

Thermal pollution is a byproduct of the ocean’s use as a cooling agent:-

The cool ocean water taken in is released at a higher temperature. Although the temperature of release is usually controlled by laws, and is not such a threat as the other forms of pollution mentioned here, one could imagine what it would be like if more and more plants began using ocean water as a coolant.

This change in temperature, due to humans in this case, would change the makeup of the species in these areas.

Noise pollution is one of the more recent threats to marine life.

Several studies have shown that the noise produced by boats interferes with many species of marine life. The number of large tankers now cruising the oceans creates a significant level of noise that may make it difficult for whales to communicate.

Habitat destruction occurs directly when man ‘develops’ marine areas by filling them in with sediment to create more usable acreage.

The main areas of human impact can be divided into those related to ocean pollution, habitat destruction, and the introduction of alien species.

Way forward:-

One remedy for shrinking habitats is the establishment of protected spaces.

The United Nations believes that setting aside sanctuaries in the oceans will help improve the state of fish stocks and the health of marine habitats in general.

The political leadership needs to impose limitations on technology-based economic development, pushing the industry to meet its social obligations for the protection and conservation of coastal and marine ecosystems.

The challenge is to get industry interested in a social model of blue growth that does not focus exclusively on pecuniary gains.




SECURE SYNOPSIS

Supporting communities to securing coastal livelihoods and restoring fish stocks should be central to any strategy.

WWF works with governments, partners and the private sector to design and implement a true Sustainable Blue Economy to ensure that the ocean economy contributes to prosperity and the resilience of coastal communities, today and long into the future.

Waste management, lessening the use of plastic, focussing on Blue Economy where IORA has made several strides need to be initiated successfully

Reduce Your Plastic Use:

Reduce plastic pollution by refusing single-use plastics and using reusable bags, cups, and tableware instead.

Dispose of waste in an environmentally safe way:

Harmful waste can end up the ocean when not properly disposed of, hurting the health of the ocean. Recycle and reuse whenever possible, and dispose of chemicals properly .

Q) Various committees have been formed to give recommendations on preservation of Western

Ghats, but not a lot has happened on that front. Examine. (250 words)

Reference

Why this question

The recent Kerala floods have brought the attention on Gadgil committee recommendation on Western Ghats and reveals the frailness of the Ghats. The non implementation of Gadgil committee report has been touted as one of the reason why Kerala floods were this severe. Thus the committees formed for the preservation of Western Ghats in particular and Western Ghats in general has become important for mains.


The question expects us to discuss the recommendations of Gadgil committee, Kasturiranjan Committee and Oommen v Oommen Committee and how the recommendations of the three committees varied from each other, along with the impact that the non implementation of the recommendations have had.

Directive word



Introduction – Discuss the ecological criticality of Western Ghats and the details of the 3 committees mentioned above.

Body

o Discuss the key recommendations of the 3 committees

o Gadgil – classifying entire western ghats into 3 ecologically sensitive zones and imposing the strictest environmental standards in ESZ 1

o Kasturiranjan – 37% of western ghats to be classified as ecologically sensitive area , but a wider definition of Western Ghats

o Oommen v Oommen – make changes in environmentally fragile land in western ghats, made several pro farmer recommendations etc

o Give the status of these reports and the criticism of these reports which led to these reports not being implemented

o Discuss the fact that Kerala rejected the Gadgil committee report and the impact it has had on Kerala.



http://www.insightsonindia.com/2018/08/20/3-various-committees-have-been-formed-to-give-recommendations-on-preservation-of-western-ghats-but-not-a-lot-has-happened-on-that-front-examine-250-words/

http://www.insightsonindia.com/2018/08/20/3-various-committees-have-been-formed-to-give-recommendations-on-preservation-of-western-ghats-but-not-a-lot-has-happened-on-that-front-examine-250-words/

https://www.indiatoday.in/amp/kerala-floods/story/kerala-floods-is-man-made-calamity-madhav-gadgil-1316713-2018-08-17


SECURE SYNOPSIS

Conclusion – in light of extreme climate events, discuss the need for greater protection being accorded to ecologically sensitive areas like Western Ghats and the way forward.

Background :-

The recent monsoon in Kerala brought to attention the recommendations of the committees set up for the conservation of western ghats.

Most of the regions impacted by this monsoon were once classified as ecologically-sensitive zones (ESZs) by the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP), also known as the Gadgil Committee.

Gadgil committee:-

Committee had suggested that 140,000 kilometres of the Western Ghats be classified in three zones as per the requirement of environmental protection in the areas.

In some areas, the committee recommended strong restrictions on mining and quarrying, use of land for non forest purposes, construction of high rises etc. The report was first submitted to the government in 2011.

But the Kerala government rejected the committee report and did not adopt any of its recommendations.

Committee report had recommended to protect the resources with the cooperation of local self governments and people, but those recommendations were rejected.

Kasturirangan committee:-

While the Gadgil panel identified the entire Ghats as an ESA, it created three categories of protection regimes (ESZ-1, 2 and 3) and listed activities that would be allowed in each based on the level of ecological richness and land use.

On the other hand, the Kasturirangan panel used a different method. It recommended removing the cash crop plantations such as rubber, agricultural fields and settlements from the ESZ.

Moreover, Kasturirangan panel also removed already modified areas under private control from the protection regime. This was to avoid any sort of conflict between government (licensor) and private parties (licensees).

Instead of declaring entire Western Ghats as ESA, the panel said that 90 per cent of the “natural landscape” should be protected. The identification of ESA was based on the fragmentation of the forests, population density of villages and the richness of the biodiversity in villages.

This would be around 60,000 Km² ecologically sensitive area spread over six states. Thus, it diluted the protection of 137000 Km² areas as stipulated in the Gadgil report. This implies that according to Kasturirangan committee, around 37.5 % of the total area of the Western Ghats is ecologically sensitive.

This committee said that economic options (Businesses and Livelihood) should not be forbade (i.e. allowed to continue), but answer to protection of the Western Ghats lies in providing better incentives to move businesses / livelihoods towards greener and more sustainable practices.

The Gadgil panel puts in place a blanket ban on all such activities which may have harmed or will harm the environment including ban of pesticide use, ban on GM crops, decommissioning the hydropower projects and gradual shift from plantation to the natural forests.

On the other hand, the Kasturirangan panel recommended restrictions on highly damaging activities including mining (and quarrying), red-category industries, construction in around 20,000 Km² area.

While the Gadgil panel recommended a national level Western Ghats Ecology Authority (WGEA), the Kasturirangan panel recommended strengthening the existing framework of environmental clearances and setting up of a state-of-the-art monitoring agency

According to environmentalists, if the Madhav Gadgil and Kasturirangan Committee’s recommendations were fully implemented, Kodagu and Kerala would not have been damaged to this extent due to floods. The damage would have been minimal.




SECURE SYNOPSIS

Oomen committee:-

Oommen V. Oommen Committee appointed by the Kerala Government to review the Kasturirangan panel report has come out with a report that is friendly to the farmers of the Western Ghats in the State.

The expert committee, which was asked to review the Kasturirangan report, which in itself was a diluted version of the Madhav Gadgil report, has recommended that the inhabited areas, plantations and agricultural lands in the Western Ghats region be excluded from the scope of ‘ecologically sensitive areas’ (ESA).

The committee recommended the government to make changes in the clauses of Environmentally Fragile Land (EFL) in the Western Ghats.

The Oommen Committee reported that serious lapses happened in determining the EFL areas. The committee adopted a satellite survey to determine EFL and even plantations and estates were included in it.

It also recommended stopping land acquisition proceedings according to the Kasturirangan committee report.

The panel has made several pro-farmer recommendations, including the exclusion of inhabited regions and plantations from the purview of ecologically sensitive areas (ESAs).

Why the governments failed to implement these committee recommendations:-

Gadgil committee:-

Major criticism faced by Gadgil Committee report was that it was more environment-friendly and not in tune with the ground realities.

Recommendations were cited as impractical to implement.

Gadgil report has asked for a complete eco-sensitive cover for the Western Ghats which hamper different states on energy and development fronts.

Gadgil report is against dams in the Western Ghats, which is a crucial blow on the ailing power sector. Considering the growing energy needs of India, critics argue that this recommendation cannot be taken.

The Gadgil Committee report adversely affects the various mafia

Many mafias created fear among farmers in Kerala that the Gadgil report is against them, and that they will lose livelihood if its recommendations are implemented

Kasturirangan committee Report

The Kasturirangan panel used remote sensing and aerial survey methods for zonal demarcation of land in the Western Ghats. The usage of such techniques, without examining the ground reality, has caused many errors in the report.

The power is vested with the bureaucrats and forest officials and not with gram sabhas.

Many fear that the farmers would get evicted if the Kasturirangan Committee report is implemented. Under this report, the mining and quarrying lobbies are expected to flourish. When these lobbies and tourism flourish, it will be disastrous for the environment.

The use of “erroneous method” had caused inclusion of many villages under Ecologically Sensitive Areas (ESA) though there were only rubber plantations and no forest land.

Conclusion :-

Proper steps need to be taken to avert future calamities in Western ghats and government needs to review the recommendations of the committee again and ensure sustainable development as the goal.

Q) Analyze the reasons behind the differences in performance of some of India’s large cities,

with respect to transport related pollution. (250 words)

Reference



http://www.insightsonindia.com/2018/08/27/4-analyze-the-reasons-behind-the-differences-in-performance-of-some-of-indias-large-cities-with-respect-to-transport-related-pollution-250-words/

http://www.insightsonindia.com/2018/08/27/4-analyze-the-reasons-behind-the-differences-in-performance-of-some-of-indias-large-cities-with-respect-to-transport-related-pollution-250-words/

https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/air/transport-related-emissions-in-megacities-delhi-on-top-bhopal-emits-the-least-61443


SECURE SYNOPSIS

Why this question

Urban commuting has become one of the most energy- and pollution-intensive activities in India, contributing to increased greenhouse gas emissions. Transport sector is the third highest GHG contributor among all the sectors. On top of that, motorisation in India is happening at a breakneck speed. Thus it is important to understand why some cities have performed better while others fared poor in terms of air-quality standards, as is revealed by a recent CSE report.

Directive word

Here we have to examine methodically the structure or nature of the topic by separating it into component parts, and present them as a whole in a summary.


The question wants us to dig deep into the issue and bring out the reasons behind difference in the performance of India’s large cities with respect to transport-related pollution. It wants us to discuss what are the factors behind the decrease in air quality standards in the face of transport related pollution and how they lead to difference in performance of different cities.


Introduction– write a few lines about the role of transport sector in GHG emissions and air pollution in the form of release of NOx, SOx, CO2, CO, particulate matter etc.

Body-

o Discuss the performance of various big cities as revealed by the CSE report. E.g Delhi is most polluted, Kolkata least polluted among the 4 largest metro cities and Bhopal being the least polluted.

o Discuss the factors which decide the air pollution by transport sector and how they vary among different cities. E.g level of motorisation, travel demand based on population, share of different modes of transport (public transport, walking, cycling, and personal vehicles), average length of daily travel trips, and quality of vehicle technologies and fuels. Discuss what is lagging in each such city and what are the factors in favour of that city. Take the help of the article attached to the question to frame your answer.


Background:-

Urban commuting has become one of the most energy- and pollution-intensive activities in India, contributing to increased greenhouse gas emissions.

Differences in performance of India’s cities regarding transport related pollution:-

The parameters considered for understanding the differences across cities include

Level of motorization

Travel demand based on population

Share of different modes of transport (public transport, walking, cycling, and personal vehicles)

Average length of daily travel trips

Quality of vehicle technologies and fuels.

Emissions:-

Delhi ranks the worst in terms of overall toxic emissions, heat-trapping emission and energy consumption.

This is despite the fact that most of its parameters are better than most other megacities, such as rate of trip generation, average trip length and public transport share.

The reasons are the highest vehicle stock and relatively higher population than other megacities.




SECURE SYNOPSIS

Sheer effect of population, volume of travel and highest vehicle stock eclipses the benefits of having CNG, and better travel parameters than other cities, and thus Delhi comes out to be the worst in terms of total emissions per day.

Overall emissions may be lower in smaller cities such as Chandigarh and Lucknow due to lower volume of travel and vehicles, but may still have very unsustainable pattern of travel due to high per-trip emission due to high car usage.

Emissions per trip are high:-

Though cities like Chennai have lesser number of vehicles than Delhi, higher trip rate, trip lengths and decreasing share of public transport in urban commuting means their emissions per trip are high, and worse than Delhi.

It means, as population increases in these cities and they sprawl further, air pollution, carbon emissions and energy consumption will get far worse, leaving behind Delhi.

Among the 14 cities, Bhopal emits the lowest and guzzles fuel the least during urban commuting. Hence, the city has the lowest particulate, CO2 and nitrogen oxide load from urban commute.

While lower population, much lesser vehicle numbers and vehicle miles travelled compared to the megacities work to its advantage, the city has taken early action to improve its public transport usage.

One of the biggest advantages of the city is a very high share of walking and cycling. It has also initiated a public bike-sharing programme.

Diverse public transport:-

When it comes to overall emissions and energy consumption, Kolkata ranks sixth among all the 14 cities but emerges the least energy-guzzling and GHG-emitting megacity.

It has the most diverse public transport systems for urban commuting, does better than even some metropolitan cities such as Pune and Ahmedabad.

Kolkata also has the lowest vehicle stock among the megacities and second highest share of public transport. This proves that early investment in diverse and connected public transport and physical restraints can help.

Mumbai’s overall energy consumption and emissions are comparatively lower as its suburban rail, which has zero local emissions, meets 52 per cent of the travel demand.

Kolkata and Mumbai also have the lowest per-trip emission among 14 cities. This indicates a high modal share of public transport and non-motorised transport with low trip length.

Way forward:-

The CSE study recommends setting time-bound targets for improving modal share of public transport and linking funding strategies with reforms in public transport sector.

Besides implementing measures for discouraging personal vehicle usage through parking policy, low emissions zones approach, and congestion pricing, both metropolitan and megacities need to integrate urban mobility strategies with clean fuels and fuel-efficient vehicle technologies.

Q) There is a need to strengthen the EIA procedures and norms to make ourselves less

vulnerable to the vagaries of nature. Analyze. (250 words)

Hindustantimes

Why this question

The frequency of natural disasters is on the rise not only in India but across the world. In India, however , as we have seen in the case of Kerala floods, our preparedness to deal with such natural disasters is limited because of the poor EIA norms. The article discusses the issues with EIA which is the first step in understanding how the process can be improved.



http://www.insightsonindia.com/2018/08/28/5-there-is-a-need-to-strengthen-the-eia-procedures-and-norms-to-make-ourselves-less-vulnerable-to-the-vagaries-of-nature-analyze-250-words/

http://www.insightsonindia.com/2018/08/28/5-there-is-a-need-to-strengthen-the-eia-procedures-and-norms-to-make-ourselves-less-vulnerable-to-the-vagaries-of-nature-analyze-250-words/

https://m.hindustantimes.com/analysis/india-disregards-scientific-opinion-on-environment/story-CH2gY2rPVLm3QTwd0pYTiK.html


SECURE SYNOPSIS


The question expects us to discuss the issues with the current process of EIA, highlight the lacunae and discuss how strengthening EIA would help in making is better prepared for the disasters of the future.

Directive word



Introduction – Explain what EIA is, the legal provisions related to EIA.

Body

o Highlight the importance of EIA in making us better prepared to deal with disasters.

o Discuss the issues with EIA process in India – Deliberate omission of vital information, False, unreliable and doubtful data, funded by agency whose primary business is to obtain clearance, no accreditation of EIA consultancy etc

o Discuss the instances where poor EIA has led to magnification of impact post disasters – you can quote the examples cited in the article and the court cases as well

o Thereafter, examine the linkage between strengthening EIA process and enhancing our disaster preparedness.

Conclusion – Emphasize on the importance of strengthening the EIA process and the way forward.

Background:-

Compromised decision-making on development and infrastructure projects have already wrecked the lives of rural and forest dwelling people. Mining and industries pollute their water sources and farmlands and prohibit their access to forests.

What is EIA?

It is a study to evaluate and identify the predictable environmental consequences and the best combination of economic and environmental costs and benefits of the proposed project.

On the basis of EIA, an Environmental Management Plan (EMP) is prepared, which is a description of the means by which the environmental consequences as pointed out in the EIA will be mitigated. Together the whole draft is termed as EIA-EMP report.

Environmental Impact Assessment Notification (EIA) ,2006:-

The EIA notification categorizes all kinds of developmental projects in various schedules.

The EIA notification establishes four stages for obtaining Environmental Clearance.

Screening

Scoping

Public hearing

Appraisal

Importance of EIA in disaster management:-

Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) provides a framework for assessing the environmental impact of projects at their concept stage. It normally includes a detailed risk assessment.

This process is established good practice and an integral part of most multilateral and bilateral donors as well as governments planning for infrastructure investment.

EIA plays an important part in identifying technological hazard risks and ensuring that appropriate measures are taken to prevent accidents.




SECURE SYNOPSIS

EIAs also include the development of a ‘safety case’, integrating safety concerns at stages of design, construction and operation.

Standard EIA guidelines include assessment of the potential impact of projects on natural hazards,

Why there is need to strengthen EIA:-

Report Issues.

Screening and Scoping not well defined:-

In the EIA notification 2006, there is a lack of clarity in overall conductance of the Screening process. As it is discretion of the State Level committee to decide which projects are B1 and which are B2, many a times the bias of respective State Governments come into play. The Scoping process faces same types of issues because of lack of clarity in guidelines.

Misleading EIA reports :-

Sometimes the EIA reports lack the expected degrees of honesty, owing to bias, corruption, exaggeration and wrong claims. Due to poor knowledge of the project area the agencies lift paragraphs and sentences from other sources, thus presenting contradictory, inconsistent and outdated information. Moreover there is no process for punishing the agencies tabling such dishonest EIA reports.

The EIA reports for the approved redevelopment projects in Delhi used plagiarised information and old baseline data.

Insufficient EIA reports:-

Agencies or project proponents also prepare incomplete EIA reports, which include incomplete surveys, arbitrary demarcation of EIA study area and unsubstantiated statements. Sometimes the impact with respect to flash floods, landslides, peak precipitation etc. round the year is grossly ignored in reports.

Poor quality of EIA professionals:-

This happens mostly when the proponents themselves conduct the EIA. They intentionally hire local and incompetent professionals to save cost over the whole process or some other vested reasons. These poor professionals prepare a poor quality of EIA reports.

Indian EIAs are never peer reviewed. EIA procedures are so corrupted by project interests that reputable scientists almost never agree to be on the Expert Appraisal Committees (EAC) after one experience.

In the 1990s, EAC committees used to have eminent environmentalists in them which is not the case now

Public hearing issues

Lack of awareness:-

There is a gross lack of awareness among the local people, about the process of EIA, its significance for them, role of various players and their own rights and responsibilities.

Moreover there is a communication gap between authorities and local people because the notice for Public hearing is issued in local newspapers only and no separate notices are sent to individual concerned panchayats.

Lobbying efforts have ensured that several sectors, including real estate construction, are altogether exempted from public hearings giving urban communities no say in how their cities are shaped and reshaped.

There are no public hearings held for urban construction projects, and governments assume that citizens have nothing to say about them.




SECURE SYNOPSIS

Unavailability of EIA in local languages:-

Most of the time EIA reports are unavailable in local languages, thus local people are unable to decipher the reports, and are misled by the proponents. This can be interpreted as a clear violation of the right to information on their part.

Ignorance of officials:-

The concerned officials for example those in Public Hearing committee are ignorant of their roles and responsibilities. Sometimes they don’t even get a copy of EIA report and it is passed without their consent, owing to gross corruption of the system.

Over involvement of Public hearing consultants:-

In the public hearing meeting, the consultants should not be allowed to have a dominant say, except responding to the issues of the people. On the contrary, they get involved in public hearings beyond requirements and thus mislead the local people.

Unaddressed issues persist:-

The issues raised by people in public hearings remains unanswered and they do not know what happens to the issues, nor do they know if the issues raised are reflected in public hearing reports that is presented to Ministry of Environment and forests

Large constructions have been difficult to manage in India. The sector has systematically lobbied to be excluded from the environmental norms of the country and has been successful in carving out special privileges for itself in the environment clearance process.

Compensatory afforestation taken up in lieu of trees felled by projects is a failure due to poor survival rates of saplings and no monitoring.

Way forward:-

The burden of resource use in upcoming buildings or urban housing projects can be minimized in many ways.

Properly designed housing projects can provide numerous services such as purification of air and water, pollution control, mitigation of floods and droughts, re-generation of soil fertility, moderation of temperature extremes, climate change mitigation and enhancing the landscape quality.

The NCEPC, revived in a form reflecting the times, could be the body entrusted with the preparation of a workable policy document on “Environment and Development”

It could be fashioned on the model of the White House Council on Environmental Quality functioning in the US directly under the President.

The Indian version could be under the Prime Minister advising him on matters referred to it by him or taken up by it suo moto for enquiry.

The reason for locating the Committee directly under the Prime Minister is that environment being an all-embracing term, the issues it would deal with would often be the concern of more than one ministry and their examination has necessarily to be undertaken with a perspective larger than what any individual department or ministry may have.

The revival of the NCEPC need not be at the cost of the MOEF:-

While the former would act as a senior policy adviser to the Prime Minister, the latter could continue to look after its present duties and responsibilities

Q) Bioremediation process is a better, alternate low-cost solution to capping of solid waste

management and disposal in our cities. Analyze. (250 words)

Indianexpress

Indian express



http://www.insightsonindia.com/2018/08/30/4-bioremediation-process-is-a-better-alternate-low-cost-solution-to-capping-of-solid-waste-management-and-disposal-in-our-cities-analyze-250-words/

http://www.insightsonindia.com/2018/08/30/4-bioremediation-process-is-a-better-alternate-low-cost-solution-to-capping-of-solid-waste-management-and-disposal-in-our-cities-analyze-250-words/

https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/waste-management-environment-municipal-corporation-garbage-dumping-5329741/

https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/a-city-laid-waste-waste-management-environment-4725115/


SECURE SYNOPSIS

Why this question

Open dump sites and mismanaged landfills are the harsh realities of most of the Indian cities today. They contribute to air and water pollution, compromise the public health and also decrease the aesthetic appeal of an area making it less desirable for residential and commercial purposes.

Directive word

Analyze-Here we have to examine methodically the structure or nature of the topic by separating it into component parts, and present them as a whole in a summary.


The question wants us to dig deep into the issue and compare bioremediation as an alternative to capping of landfills. We have to bring out the limitations of the latter and highlight the benefits of the former.


Introduction- write a few lines about the problem of solid waste management in Indian cities- growth of poorly managed landfills and open dump sites which due to the growth of city limits have come in close association with the population.

Body–

Discuss the limitations and disadvantages of capping of landfill sites. E.g capping is successful only when the landfills have a certain height which has been already crossed in most of the landfills; it requires proper scientific designing and construction in the absence of which the structure faces the same problems as open dump sites- leakage of gases, foul smell, leachate etc.

Define the term bioremediation and discuss its desirability and advantages. E.g Bio-remediation and bio-mining are clearly specified as the first choice under Rule 15 (zj) of The Rules for the Safe Treatment of Legacy Waste in all open dumpsites and existing operational dumpsites in India; near-zero emission of harmful gases (such as methane, hydrogen sulphide, and ammonia) and leachate; organic fraction of the original waste is degraded biologically by the bioculture. Specific microbes are also used for leachate treatment. Once the waste is stabilised, it is ready for bio-mining, and can be separated into different fractions which can then be used for different purposes — for compost, road subgrade, making RDF (Refuse Derived Fuel) pellets, recycling plastics, or inert for landfills etc.


Background:-

Most Indian cities are surrounded by hills of garbage, which are a testimony to India’s neglect over a long period of managing and disposing of the waste it generates in the course of its household activities and commercial activities in the cities.

Even after the Municipal Solid Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 2000 specified that landfill sites should be allocated on which sanitary landfills should be developed to receive the final residual waste, the sites have been used only as open dumpsites for all kinds of waste, mixed together.

Why bioremediation is necessary:-

Solid-waste management is a major challenge in urban areas throughout the world. Without an effective and efficient solid-waste management program, the waste generated from various human activities, can result in health hazards and have a negative impact on the environment.

Continuously and uncontrolled discharge of industrial and urban wastes into the environmental sink has become an issue of major global concern

The industrial and anthropogenic activities had also led to the contamination of agricultural lands which results the loss of biodiversity.




SECURE SYNOPSIS

Although the use of pesticides, herbicides increases the productivity of crop but also increase the contamination in the soil, water and air.

Limitations and disadvantages of capping of landfill sites:-

Capping is successful only when the landfills have a certain height which has been already crossed in most of the landfills

It requires proper scientific designing and construction in the absence of which the structure faces the same problems as open dump sites- leakage of gases, foul smell, leachate etc.

Bioremediation:-

Bioremediation is not only a process of removing the pollutant from the environment but also it an eco-friendly and more effective process

The pollutants can be removes or detoxify from the soil and water by the use of microorganism, known as bioremediation

The purpose of bioremediation is to make environment free from pollution with help of environmental friendly microbes.

Bio-remediation and bio-mining are clearly specified as the first choice under Rule 15 (zj) of The Rules for the Safe Treatment of Legacy Waste in all open dumpsites and existing operational dumpsites in India.

Advantages :-

The contaminations of soil through heavy metals become a major problem among all other environmental problems.

These metals can also be removed by the use of various biological agents like yeast, fungi, bacteria, and algae etc. which act as bio sorbent for sequestering the metals.

In solid waste, about 12% constitute of rubber. A rubber can neither degrade easily nor recycled due to its physical composition. This can be removed due to bioremediation.

Bioremediation of Agricultural Waste

Each year, human, livestock, and crops produce approximately 38 billion metric tons of organic waste worldwide. Disposal and environmental friendly management of these wastes has become a global priority. These can be managed through vermicomposting.

A vermicomposting is nothing but a joint action between the earth warms and microorganism. Here microorganism helps in degradation of organic matter and earth warm drives the process and conditioning to the substrate and altering the biological activity.

It leads to near-zero emission of harmful gases (such as methane, hydrogen sulphide, and ammonia) and leachate

Organic fraction of the original waste is degraded biologically by the bioculture. Specific microbes are also used for leachate treatment.

Once the waste is stabilised, it is ready for bio-mining, and can be separated into different fractions which can then be used for different purposes — for compost, road subgrade, making RDF (Refuse Derived Fuel) pellets, recycling plastics, or inert for landfills etc.

The major advantage of the bioremediation methods is that it allows for contamination to be treated, neutralized or removed and then produces a waste product itself that is more easily disposed of.

In some cases, there is no need for disposal at all. In the case of the plants used in phytoremediation and rhizofiltration, the plant is able to do something called bioaccumulation. This means is holds onto the contaminant. As the plant is still growing, there is no need to remove and destroy it.




SECURE SYNOPSIS

Q) Ecosystem based adaptation focuses on the benefits humans derive from biodiversity and

ecosystem services, and how these benefits can be utilized in the face of a disaster. Discuss.

(250 words)

Indianexpress

Reference

Why this question

The recent Kerala floods have demonstrated the vulnerability of today’s habitations and the magnitude of harm disasters can inflict on a society. In this regard it is essential to discuss the ecosystem based approach to disaster reduction. The concept has been supported by not only many environmentalists, conservationists but also by several international institutions including UNEP.

Directive word



The question wants us to write in detail about the ecosystem based adaptation- what it means, why it is important and how to follow it.


Introduction– Write a few lines about ecosystem based approaches to disasters. E.g Ecosystem-based Approaches to Disaster Adaptation, or Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA) involves a wide range of ecosystem management activities to increase the resilience and reduce the vulnerability of people and the environment to disasters. Such an approach involves the use of biodiversity and ecosystem services as part of an overall adaptation strategy to help people to adapt to the adverse effects of climate change.

Body-

Discuss the need for such a approach. E.g The role of ecosystems in adaptation is well-recognized at the international level, under the UNFCCC, the CBD and the UNCCD; The ability of people to adapt to climate change is inextricably linked to their access to basic human rights and to the health of the ecosystems they depend on for their livelihoods and wellbeing; If adaptation policies and programs are to be effective, they must integrate efforts to sustain and restore ecosystem functions and promote human rights under changing climate conditions etc.

Discuss how such an approach can be followed. E.g coastal habitat restoration, agroforestry, integrated water resource management, livelihood diversification, and sustainable forest management interventions that use nature to reduce vulnerability to climate change and other natural disasters etc.

Conclusion-Based on your discussion, form a fair and a balanced conclusion on the given issue.

Background:-

Climate change magnifies the existing risks and vulnerabilities associated with disasters, due to changing patterns of some hazards and due to increased population exposure and land-use changes.

Since 2009, IUCN has promoted the use of EbA as a nature-based solution for addressing the impacts of climate change on people and their environment

Ecosystem based adaptation:-

Ecosystem-based Approaches to Climate Change Adaptation, or Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA) involves a wide range of ecosystem management activities to increase the resilience and reduce the vulnerability of people and the environment to climate change.



http://www.insightsonindia.com/2018/08/30/5-ecosystem-based-adaptation-focuses-on-the-benefits-humans-derive-from-biodiversity-and-ecosystem-services-and-how-these-benefits-can-be-utilized-in-the-face-of-a-disaster-discuss-250-words/



https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/kerala-floods-rains-relief-camps-listen-to-deluge-5329745/

https://www.iucn.org/theme/ecosystem-management/our-work/ecosystem-based-approaches-climate-change-adaptation


SECURE SYNOPSIS

Ecosystem-based adaptation is the use of biodiversity and ecosystem services as part of an overall adaptation strategy to help people to adapt to the adverse effects of climate change.

Why such approach is necessary:-

EbA is a people-centric concept, one that acknowledges that human resilience depends critically on the integrity of ecosystems. Yet ecosystem health alone does not guarantee human resilience, so EbA is best implemented as an integrated element of a broader adaptation strategy.

EbA – or the conservation, sustainable management, and restoration of ecosystems to help people adapt to the impacts of climate change – is gaining increasing attention, as such approaches are accessible to the rural poor in developing countries and can be cost-effective.

EbA approaches include, for example, coastal habitat restoration, agroforestry, integrated water resource management, livelihood diversification, and sustainable forest management interventions that use nature to reduce vulnerability to climate change.

The ability of people to adapt to climate change is inextricably linked to their access to basic human rights and to the health of the ecosystems they depend on for their livelihoods and wellbeing. If adaptation policies and programs are to be effective, they must integrate efforts to sustain and restore ecosystem functions and promote human rights under changing climate conditions.

The role of ecosystems in adaptation is well-recognized at the international level, under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).

How to follow such approach in future:-

In the context of floods:-

For example, what needs to be done is to reserve enough land for the river to expand at the time of flooding. That means disallowing the building of houses near rivers and reserving the land for agricultural purposes.

If there are cities near rivers, they will have to be protected by safety walls.

These approaches are wide ranging and include

Mangrove restoration to buffer against storm surges

Watershed management to protect against droughts and floods

Rangeland management to prevent desertification

Sustainable management of fisheries and forests to ensure food security.




SECURE SYNOPSIS

Q) The EIA process in India is merely a documentary exercise, with very little practical utility.

Critically examine. (250 words)

The hindu

Why this question

In times of disaster, we remember what could have been done. Off late, the focus has shifted to the process of EIA, which has several gaps which need to be plugged to ensure that the environmental damages are kept at a minimum. This article discusses the problems with the process of EIA which needs to be examined.


The question is making an assertion that the EIA process is merely filling up paper, with very little to no original work being done. Basically it raises question mark over the process of EIA. We have to give arguments both for and against this assertion, give a balanced view at the end and discuss the way in which the process can be improved.

Directive word

Critically examine – When you are asked to examine, you have to probe deeper into the topic, get into details, and find out the causes or implications if any . When ‘critically’ is suffixed or prefixed to a directive, all you need to do is look at the good and bad of something and give a fair judgement


Introduction – Explain the process of EIA and highlight that the poor quality of eia is now affecting us when we are faced with disasters at a very high frequency.

Body

Explain in detail what all are the key components of EIA

First of all discuss why it is said that EIA had become merely a documentary exercise. Highlight the issues with the process of EIA both in terms of issues in preparation of report and also bring out the public hearing issues.

Thereafter, discuss why the process of EIA is so critical and highlight the advantages that has accrued to India on account of EIA

Discuss how the process can be strengthened by suggesting reforms.

Conclusion – Give a fair and balanced view on EIA and mention the way forward.

Background:-

Compromised decision-making on development and infrastructure projects have already wrecked the lives of rural and forest dwelling people. Mining and industries pollute their water sources and farmlands and prohibit their access to forests.

What is EIA?

It is a study to evaluate and identify the predictable environmental consequences and the best combination of economic and environmental costs and benefits of the proposed project.

On the basis of EIA, an Environmental Management Plan (EMP) is prepared, which is a description of the means by which the environmental consequences as pointed out in the EIA will be mitigated. Together the whole draft is termed as EIA-EMP report.

Environmental Impact Assessment Notification (EIA) ,2006:-

The EIA notification categorizes all kinds of developmental projects in various schedules.

The EIA notification establishes four stages for obtaining Environmental Clearance.

Screening



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https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-opinion/how-not-to-do-an-environmental-assessment/article24814537.ece


SECURE SYNOPSIS

Scoping

Public hearing

Appraisal

Importance of EIA:-

Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) provides a framework for assessing the environmental impact of projects at their concept stage. It normally includes a detailed risk assessment.

This process is established good practice and an integral part of most multilateral and bilateral donors as well as governments planning for infrastructure investment.

EIA plays an important part in identifying technological hazard risks and ensuring that appropriate measures are taken to prevent accidents.

EIAs also include the development of a ‘safety case’, integrating safety concerns at stages of design, construction and operation.

Standard EIA guidelines include assessment of the potential impact of projects on natural hazards

EIA-based approvals for most projects also involve the process of conducting public hearings, so that who are likely to be affected can be taken on board before approving the project

EIA links environment with development. The goal is to ensure environmentally safe and sustainable development.

Issues with the current EIA process and why there is a need to strengthen EIA:-

Report Issues.

Screening and Scoping not well defined:-

In the EIA notification 2006, there is a lack of clarity in overall conductance of the Screening process. As it is discretion of the State Level committee to decide which projects are B1 and which are B2, many a times the bias of respective State Governments come into play. The Scoping process faces same types of issues because of lack of clarity in guidelines.

Misleading EIA reports :-

Sometimes the EIA reports lack the expected degrees of honesty, owing to bias, corruption, exaggeration and wrong claims. Due to poor knowledge of the project area the agencies lift paragraphs and sentences from other sources, thus presenting contradictory, inconsistent and outdated information. Moreover there is no process for punishing the agencies tabling such dishonest EIA reports.

The EIA reports for the approved redevelopment projects in Delhi used plagiarised information and old baseline data.

Insufficient EIA reports:-

Agencies or project proponents also prepare incomplete EIA reports, which include incomplete surveys, arbitrary demarcation of EIA study area and unsubstantiated statements. Sometimes the impact with respect to flash floods, landslides, peak precipitation etc. round the year is grossly ignored in reports.

Poor quality of EIA professionals:-

This happens mostly when the proponents themselves conduct the EIA. They intentionally hire local and incompetent professionals to save cost over the whole process or some other vested reasons. These poor professionals prepare a poor quality of EIA reports.

Indian EIAs are never peer reviewed. EIA procedures are so corrupted by project interests that reputable scientists almost never agree to be on the Expert Appraisal Committees (EAC) after one experience.

In the 1990s, EAC committees used to have eminent environmentalists in them which is not the case now




SECURE SYNOPSIS

Public hearing issues

Lack of awareness:-

There is a gross lack of awareness among the local people, about the process of EIA, its significance for them, role of various players and their own rights and responsibilities.

Moreover there is a communication gap between authorities and local people because the notice for Public hearing is issued in local newspapers only and no separate notices are sent to individual concerned panchayats.

Lobbying efforts have ensured that several sectors, including real estate construction, are altogether exempted from public hearings giving urban communities no say in how their cities are shaped and reshaped.

There are no public hearings held for urban construction projects, and governments assume that citizens have nothing to say about them.

Unavailability of EIA in local languages:-

Most of the time EIA reports are unavailable in local languages, thus local people are unable to decipher the reports, and are misled by the proponents. This can be interpreted as a clear violation of the right to information on their part.

Ignorance of officials:-

The concerned officials for example those in Public Hearing committee are ignorant of their roles and responsibilities. Sometimes they don’t even get a copy of EIA report and it is passed without their consent, owing to gross corruption of the system.

Over involvement of Public hearing consultants:-

In the public hearing meeting, the consultants should not be allowed to have a dominant say, except responding to the issues of the people. On the contrary, they get involved in public hearings beyond requirements and thus mislead the local people.

Unaddressed issues persist:-

The issues raised by people in public hearings remains unanswered and they do not know what happens to the issues, nor do they know if the issues raised are reflected in public hearing reports that is presented to Ministry of Environment and forests

Large constructions have been difficult to manage in India. The sector has systematically lobbied to be excluded from the environmental norms of the country and has been successful in carving out special privileges for itself in the environment clearance process.

Compensatory afforestation taken up in lieu of trees felled by projects is a failure due to poor survival rates of saplings and no monitoring.

Way forward:-

The burden of resource use in upcoming buildings or urban housing projects can be minimized in many ways.

Properly designed housing projects can provide numerous services such as purification of air and water, pollution control, mitigation of floods and droughts, re-generation of soil fertility, moderation of temperature extremes, climate change mitigation and enhancing the landscape quality.

The NCEPC, revived in a form reflecting the times, could be the body entrusted with the preparation of a workable policy document on “Environment and Development”

It could be fashioned on the model of the White House Council on Environmental Quality functioning in the US directly under the President.

The Indian version could be under the Prime Minister advising him on matters referred to it by him or taken up by it suo moto for enquiry.




SECURE SYNOPSIS

The reason for locating the Committee directly under the Prime Minister is that environment being an all-embracing term, the issues it would deal with would often be the concern of more than one ministry and their examination has necessarily to be undertaken with a perspective larger than what any individual department or ministry may have.

The revival of the NCEPC need not be at the cost of the MOEF:-

While the former would act as a senior policy adviser to the Prime Minister, the latter could continue to look after its present duties and responsibilities

Adverse impacts of development projects can be reduced with the full and equal participation of both genders, particularly women in decision-making processes.

NGOs, civil society groups and local communities need to build their capacities to use the EIA notification towards better decision making on projects.

Topic – Disaster and disaster management

Q) Discuss the reasons why Kerala is experiencing unprecedented flooding? Also, highlight how

can we enhance our preparedness for such events? (250 words)

timesofindia

Reference

Why this question

Kerala is suffering from the worst flood the state has experienced in past 100 years. The loss to life and property is immense. We need to understand the reasons why Kerala is facing a situation of such unprecedented havoc, and the ways in which we can enhance our preparedness for such extreme weather events.


The question expects us to bring out the various reasons why the situation in Kerala is so bad. Also we need to bring out the reforms needed in our disaster management efforts to help us better deal with such extreme weather events.

Directive word

Discuss – here your discussion should focus on bringing out the main reasons for such unprecedented disaster in that state.


Introduction – Highlight the situation in Kerala as on date.

Body – Explain the various reasons behind the floods in Kerala – incessant rains, lesser dry spells in between, injudicious land utilisation, non implementation of Gadgil committee recommendations on Western Ghats etc. Highlight the reforms required to help is deal with such disasters effectively. You can discuss the recommendation of 2nd ARC committee with respect to reforms in the area of disaster management.

Conclusion – Highlight that with climate change, such extreme weather events are going to become a norm rather than exception and highlight the way forward.

Background:-

Recently incessant rains in the past couple of weeks has caused massive flooding across Kerala.

Reasons for flooding in Kerala:-

More than average rainfall:-

India’s western coast has received above-average rainfall on account of sustained low-pressure conditions.



http://www.insightsonindia.com/2018/08/18/5-discuss-the-reasons-why-kerala-is-experiencing-unprecedented-flooding-also-highlight-how-can-we-enhance-our-preparedness-for-such-events250-words/

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https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/the-reason-kerala-continues-to-sink-people-and-property-included/articleshow/65433480.cms

https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/india/kerala-floods-why-incessant-rains-are-not-the-only-reason-for-the-devastation-2854331.html


SECURE SYNOPSIS

Land use:-

Injudicious use of land is responsible for making some regions of the state more prone to floods and landslides.

However, other factors such as a change in land use patterns and climate change could have contributed to the situation on the ground.

Incursions into catchment areas of rivers that have dried up and mountainous areas have rendered settlements in their vicinity vulnerable to the vagaries of nature.

Kerala is yet to implement recommendations of the Gadgil Committee on conservation of Western Ghats.

The state is an exception that it does not have a single batallion of SDRF task force which is mandatory as per rules to tackle natural calamities..

Dam management:-

Also state did not gradually release water from about 30 dams in anticipation of rains.

Local officials have been blamed for exacerbating the situation by failing to gradually open the dams dotting the state’s complex river network, waiting instead until they were already full before unleashing the excess water.

India’s Central Water Commission has also been under fire for failing to introduce a flood forecasting system to issue warnings.

Climate change and global warming:-

Recent research indicates that rising temperatures have led to huge fluctuations in the monsoon winds carrying the moisture from the Arabian Sea, resulting in heavy-to-extreme rains over the Western Ghats and central India, lasting for two to three days.

Deforestation :-

Unfettered development activity in the Western Ghats had increased the chances of landslides, a major cause of casualties during the floods.

Wetlands have been lost to development projects, construction of roads, and buildings at places too close to rivers.

CAG report:-

As per the 2017 CAG report, Kerala had not conducted a dam-break analysis or prepared an Emergency Action Plan. Neither has the state prepared the Operation and Maintenance (O&M) Manuals for any of its dams.

The audit also observed that prescribed quality checks were not conducted by monitoring agencies in all four projects in Kerala.

How to ensure such incidents don’t happen in future:-

Reservoir operation and management need to be taken more seriously

Implementation of committee recommendations:-

Kerala should relook the Gadgil committee and the Kasturirangan committee reports. It has put forth objections to both reports and tried to reduce the area under ecologically sensitive zones (ESZs). It is time for it to re-evaluate its position regarding ESZs.

The Gadgil panel report calls for government intervention to curb activities such as quarrying, mining, land clearance or construction in ecologically-sensitive zones such as those close to riverbanks and violation of Wetlands Protection Rules too need to be looked into.

Kerala should set up a State Flood Commission to evolve a comprehensive approach to manage extreme rainfall in the state.

This commission should examine the impact of major land use changes on the hydrology of the state.




SECURE SYNOPSIS

It should also look at the dam management systems.

Besides this, district-level sub-commissions should be set up to identify the areas where roads, railways, hydropower, embankments and other infrastructure projects aggravated flood problems and suggest mitigation measures.

As a country, India needs to improve environmental governance while working with other countries to halt global warming.

Flood control can be effected through an Integrated Dam Management System, which is totally computerised and automated, the only exception being lifting and lowering of shutters which has to be done manually. This system which can be called IDMS, has to be evolved and developed independently.

Integrated approach to managing floods requires a sound understanding of the patterns that rivers such as the Ganga and its tributaries display during the monsoon. Governmental understanding of the problem generally relies not so much on advanced techniques such as mapping based on satellite imagery and Geographic Information Systems, but on ground-level surveys and anecdotal reporting. This needs to change.

Q) Given the startling forecasts about the impact of climate change, it is the need of the hour

to educate and equip both rural and urban communities to build resilience against natural

disasters. Discuss. (250 words)

The hindu

Why this question

Climate change is a global and a vital issue having implications for all the communities and all the ecosystems. Given its potentially drastic and dangerous consequences it is important to educate people about the issue and also to build their resilience against natural disasters whose frequency is only going to increase in the coming years.

Directive word



The question wants us to write in detail about the forecasts for climate change and its potential hazards. We have to bring out the need to educate and equip both rural and urban communities to build resilience against natural disasters. We also have to briefly discuss the strategy to do so.


Introduction- write a few lines about climate change and the temperature forecasts for the century, vulnerability of all societies and ecosystems, especially those inhabited by the poor to the disastrous effects of climate change.

Body-

Discuss the forecasts for climate change. E.g The UN Sustainable Goals Report, 2018 notes that climate change is among the key factors in rising hunger and human displacement. The World Health Organisation estimates that climate change will cause an additional 250,000 deaths per year between 2030 and 2050, due to malnutrition, malaria, diarrhoea and heat stress. Undoubtedly, much of this loss will be accounted for by low-income groups in developing nations, including India. The World Bank projects that climate change could cost India 2.8% of its GDP, and diminish living standards for nearly half the country’s population, in the next 30-odd years etc

Bring out the need to educate people about the possible implications and involve and equip them in building resilience against disasters. Mention the limited capacity of the government in tackling the climate change.



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https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/educating-people-about-climate-change/article24739327.ece


SECURE SYNOPSIS

Discuss how to build resilience against disasters. E.g compulsory environmental education to all students in schools and colleges; Corporate organisations, research and education institutes, NGOs and foundations have committed themselves to educating people about climate change and providing the know-how for mitigation, adaptation and resilience building. Both these initiatives have already been taken and have proven insufficient. Discuss what more can be done. E.g need to incorporate climate change to be articulated and specified as an activity for CSR, rather than be implied in the umbrella term of environmental sustainability; Scaling up current initiatives of the corporate and social sectors to regional or national levels etc.


Background :-

Climate change poses a serious threat to efforts to reduce global poverty. According to the United Nations International Panel on Climate Change, the changing climate will have widespread effects on human life and ecosystems. It brings heat waves, flooding, droughts, intense tropical cyclones, rising sea levels, and damages biodiversity.

Forecasts for climate change :-

The UN Sustainable Goals Report, 2018 notes that climate change is among the key factors in rising hunger and human displacement. The World Health Organisation estimates that climate change will cause an additional 250,000 deaths per year between 2030 and 2050, due to malnutrition, malaria, diarrhoea and heat stress.

The World Bank projects that climate change could cost India 2.8% of its GDP, and diminish living standards for nearly half the country’s population, in the next 30-odd years.

Why there is need to educate :-

Climate change education offers a valuable opportunity to combat climate change. It gives children and young people the knowledge and skills to make informed decisions about how to adapt individual lives and ecological, social or economic systems in a changing environment.

Education plays a vital role in bringing about behavioral change, and schools can play an important part by becoming carbon neutral, energy efficient and reducing their own ecological footprint.

Yale University research on climate change communications pointed out that 65% of the Indian population is not aware of climate change

Compliance of Nationally Determined Contributions in Paris Agreement for reaching reduced level of greenhouse emissions so as to limit the rise in temperature to 2°C, and to 1.5°C in the extreme case, would need greater participation from all sectors of the economy, be it industry, household or farming.

Globally, climate change education has been discussed in various negotiating platforms of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

How to make the communities educated about climate change and make them resilient against disasters ?

Corporate organisations, research and education institutes, NGOs and foundations have committed themselves to educating people about climate change and providing the know-how for mitigation, adaptation and resilience building.

These initiatives target urban and rural populations including school going children. Their thrust ranges from inculcating the concept of environmental sustainability to driving home the impact of climate change on food, water, nutrition and health.

Scaling up current initiatives of the corporate and social sectors to regional or national levels etc.

At present, climate change does not find specific mention in Schedule VII of the Companies Act, 2013. However, if it were to be articulated and specified as an activity for corporate social responsibility (CSR), rather than be implied in the umbrella term of environmental sustainability, organisations may be encouraged to view it with increased importance and clarity and lend more weight to creating awareness, mitigation and resilience-building.




SECURE SYNOPSIS

Film industry could consider ways to incorporate key aspects of climate change in films, writers could introduce climate change in adult and children’s literature, and gaming companies could develop games on this theme.

The Science Express Climate Action Special, an innovative mobile science exhibition travelling thousands of kilometers to create awareness has taken shape under the guidance of the department of science and technology.

At the school levels the Center of Environment Education has been creating awareness. The concept of increasing ‘hand print’ for action towards sustainability, as against reducing carbon footprint for mitigation of climate change is being evolved.

Capacity building for strengthening roots or mentoring to build resilience is more recent. The Climate Change Research Institute through its research in the energy sector, are working on capacity building among the youth in schools (K12) and colleges. This needs to be expanded further.

Climate change education for awareness, capacity building and innovation is still in a nascent stage and should become part of the structured education.

Find a way to help mitigation of climate change through of science, technology and innovation. Climate Change Education will help not only in ‘development’, which is core objective education, but also in ‘sustainable development’.

Problem solving innovations in developing clean energy alternatives, in improving farming techniques, in water resource management and others are possible by building technical knowledge mainstreamed in the formal education.

Q) It is time to formulate water management policies for reservoirs in such a manner that dams

are used to control floods, not cause them. Critically Comment. (250 words)

The hindu

Indianexpress

Why this question

Kerala recently witnessed devastating floods of unprecedented magnitude. Different reasons have been forwarded for the reason behind the floods and sudden release of water from dams is the most cited reason in this regard. However, dams serve some important purposes and can be better managed. It is therefore necessary to discuss the issue of management of dams in detail.

Directive word


The question wants us to dig deep into the issue and bring out the role of dam management in controlling as well as causing floods. We have to discuss both the aspects of the dams- as causative agents of floods as well as the preventive agent. Based on our discussion we have to form a personal opinion on the issue.


Introduction– write a few lines about the number of dams in India, contribution of hydropower generation in overall electricity generation.

Body-

Discuss how dams are responsible for floods. E.g they harm the natural ecosystem and course of rivers; siltation with time decreases reservoir capacity and increases propensity of floods in the future, increased risks of earthquakes, landslides which can trigger floods etc.

Discuss how dams can be better managed so that they can be used to control floods rather than cause them. E.g Authorities always look to store the maximum amount of water in reservoirs during the monsoon season, which is then used for irrigation and generation of electricity during the summer months. It is an internationally accepted practice that the water level of a reservoir should be kept below a certain level before the onset of the monsoon season. This is so that when the monsoon rains come, there is space to store the



http://www.insightsonindia.com/2018/08/29/4-it-is-time-to-formulate-water-management-policies-for-reservoirs-in-such-a-manner-that-dams-are-used-to-control-floods-not-cause-them-critically-comment-250-words/

http://www.insightsonindia.com/2018/08/29/4-it-is-time-to-formulate-water-management-policies-for-reservoirs-in-such-a-manner-that-dams-are-used-to-control-floods-not-cause-them-critically-comment-250-words/

https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/how-dams-can-control-floods/article24794603.ece?homepage=true

https://www.google.co.in/amp/s/indianexpress.com/article/india/kerala-floods-m-rajeevan-ministry-of-earth-sciences-met-department-5324840/lite/ll


SECURE SYNOPSIS

excess rainwater and also so that water can be released in a regulated manner, thus preventing floods downstream when there is heavy inflow to the dams; regular desiltation of dams should be done; At present, the task of dam and water management is vested with the Public Works Department, the Electricity Board, and the Irrigation Department. Even in normal conditions, given contradictory opinions from various departments, it is difficult to implement decisions. Hence, the State Dam Security Authority, if competent, should be entrusted with the task of water management in reservoirs and with taking decisions in emergency situations etc.

Conclusion– Based on your discussion, form a fair and a balanced conclusion on the given issue. E.g mention regular audit of dams; increasing the share of solar, wind energy etc.

Background:-

In the monsoon season, there is an increase in frequency of heavy rainfall.

Global warming and lack of scientific flood management hold clues to the frequent floods witnessed in recent years.

The tragedy in Kerala has highlighted the dangers of excess water accumulation in dams. More than 20 dams released water that cascaded down the hills, leaving behind a trail of destruction.

Dams are used to control floods:-

The world over, dams are constructed mainly for the purposes of irrigation, power generation, and flood control.

The role of dams in flood control has been underestimated.

It is an internationally accepted practice that the water level of a reservoir should be kept below a certain level before the onset of the monsoon season. This is to prevent floods downstream when there is heavy inflow to the dams.

Dams have caused floods as well:-

Dams have also induced floods when water released from a dam reservoir is beyond the carrying capacity of channels downstream.

Authorities always look to store the maximum amount of water in reservoirs during the monsoon season, which is then used for irrigation and generation of electricity during the summer months.

In India, most of the flood-management systems are not supported by science.

Dam proponents are ignoring crucial decision-making data now available on patterns of rainfall, geology and climate change.

According to the India Water Portal, over 100 dams in India are over a century old, and more than 500 large dams which are 50-100 years old, many have major defects and need urgent repair.

Dams can trigger seismic events.

The reservoir-induced seismicity (RIS) from the weight of the reservoir has resulted in earthquakes in various parts of the country

Way forward:-

International Practice

The Colorado River in the US runs through seven states. They do very good reservoir system management. They look at weather forecasts to understand how much water to expect. They start releasing water, based on the predictions, even before something serious happens. India can follow this scientific approach

It is time for the government and the public to formulate water management policies for reservoirs in such a manner that dams are used to control floods.

It is important that at least 30% of the storage capacity of dams be kept free before the monsoon.




SECURE SYNOPSIS

Non conventional sources:-

It is time to think of non-conventional sources for electricity generation such as solar, wind and tidal power, rather than over-dependence on hydel projects.

The practice of solar power generation in Kochi airport can be copied in similar large-scale projects by other government agencies.

Administration:-

The State government, the State Dam Security Authority and the National Water Commission should all be prepared to take bold decisions together on water management so that there are no devastating floods in the future.

At present, the task of dam and water management is vested with the Public Works Department, the Electricity Board, and the Irrigation Department. Even in normal conditions, given contradictory opinions from various departments, it is difficult to implement decisions. Hence, the State Dam Security Authority, if competent, should be entrusted with the task of water management in reservoirs and with taking decisions in emergency situations etc.

Regular desiltation of dams should be done

India needs full-fledged flood management systems using scientific methods to understand when the time is right to open the gates.

Decentralised alternatives involve water recycling and reuse.

The immediate task is to critically review every dam in the country, decommission those that are at end-of-life, and establish sound safety protocols.

Topic-Security challenges and their management in border areas; linkages of organized crime with

terrorism

Q) While the idea of a Theatre Command may seemingly have some operational advantage, the

permanency of dividing our own territory into Operational Theatres as a defence measure may

be counterproductive. Comment. (250 words)

Indian express

Why this question

There have been calls for a unified theatre command on lines of NATO and others. But the idea has its own pitfalls which need to be discussed upon.

Directive word



The question wants us to deliberate upon the idea of a theatre command and bring out as to whether dividing our country into operational theatres will be counter productive or not. We have to form the opinion based on a proper discussion in which arguments for or against the statement need to be presented.


Introduction- write a few introductory lines about the Theatre Command concept- the idea of forming three integrated military Theatre Commands, covering the Northern, Eastern and Southern territory, that would subsume all operational functions of the existing 19 predominantly single-service commands in their respective geographical areas.



http://www.insightsonindia.com/2018/08/17/2-while-the-idea-of-a-theatre-command-may-seemingly-have-some-operational-advantage-the-permanency-of-dividing-our-own-territory-into-operational-theatres-as-a-defence-measure-may-be-counterproducti/



https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/why-military-theatre-commands-is-an-unnecessary-idea-5308890/


SECURE SYNOPSIS

Body-

o Discuss the benefits of such a command. E.g better coordination; quicker maneuverability; quicker response in case of a war etc.

o Discuss the cons of a theatre command concept. E.g technology now offers stand-off means and special weapons that reduce the need for direct confrontation. The days of large manoeuvering armies are over, especially in a nuclear-threat scenario; the current responsibilities of the 19 commands towards administering, training, equipping and supporting the forces under their charge would in no way diminish if such Theatre Commands are formed- creating more top-heavy organization, which is not required; IAF assets, including special weapons, are limited in number and are distributed across the country, which require base-installation support. It is not possible to triplicate or quadruplicate them to every Theatre Command. Same is the case with skilled personnel and EW (electronic warfare) and C4ISR (command, control, computers, communications, intelligence and reconnaissance) equipment etc.


Background :-

Recently there have been discussions about the idea of forming three integrated military Theatre Commands, covering the Northern, Eastern and Southern territory, that would subsume all operational functions of the existing 19 predominantly single-service commands in their respective geographical areas.

Theatre commands:-

Under theatre commands like the ones which exist in the US, all the forces working in a geographical area are put under a theatre command which can be headed by one officer from any of the three services.

The integrated theatre commander will not be answerable to individual Services, and will be free to train, equip and exercise his command to make it a cohesive fighting force capable of achieving designated goals.

Theatre command benefits:-

Speedy decision making:-

19 different commands in India are neither co-located nor co-purposed. Since speed in decision-making, allocation of resources and flexible operations would be the essence in modern war, it is important that there should be only two commanders, one for each joint command theatre, instead of the present 19. An example given is of the Chinese military which has created theatre commands.

Brings in greater jointness:-

The armed forces need to move away from a service specific approach to operations towards a system which avoids duplication, ensures optimum utilisation of available resources, brings in greater jointness.

It leads to timely and mature decisions to developing situations and ensures flawless execution of orders to achieve success in battle.

International instances:-

Major military powers like the US and China, who are serious about their war fighting capabilities, operate via theatre commands as it is seen to be a better means of pooling resources and improving efficiency.

China restructured its military in 2015 to come up with six theatre commands, whereas America’s theatres the Unified Combatant Commands are global in scope.

Today’s military challenges cannot be tackled without a real integration up to the command level :-

Modern potential conflict with a major military power like China might extend well beyond the typical theatres into the domains of cyber, space, nuclear and covert capabilities. A more integrated response will be needed from the Indian armed forces.




SECURE SYNOPSIS

The pressures for increasing jointness in the Indian military, like other militaries, are because of not only the need for enhanced efficiency in the use of resources but also due to the need for optimising military performance in joint operations.

Criticism:-

Forming Theatre Commands would demand large increase in expenditure with doubtful returns.

India is still lagging behind in modernization of defence forces so formation of a Theatre Command at this juncture would not be in the best interest of the nation.

India, unlike China, does not have a vibrant defence-industrial complex to accelerate productions to meet the war-effort. Given this, the time for India to have joint theatre commands has not come.

Might lead to operational chaos:-

By adding another layer in the form of joint theatre commander, there would be three operational commanders leading to further operational chaos.

Airforce issues:-

While India would undertake hostilities on its western border, it would inevitably get sucked into a two-front war (non-contact with China and a partial contact war with Pakistan) scenario. Given this, the IAF aircraft and other support assets would need the Air Force Headquarters, rather than the two joint theatre commanders, for fighting the war.

The IAF feels that it doesn’t have enough resources fighter squadrons, mid-air refuellers and AWACS to allocate them dedicatedly to different theatre commanders.

All services not on the same page:-

Defence experts feel that the recent Air Force war game Exercise Gaganshakti showcased that its assets can shift from one theatre to the other within no time and putting them under a dedicated theatre would not be of much use in a country with limited resources.

There are also underlying fears about the smaller Services losing their autonomy and importance.

Way forward:

A precursor to the creation of integrated theatre commands has to be the appointment of a Chief of Defence Staff or Permanent Chairman, COSC. This was first proposed by the GoM in 2001, but hasn’t been implemented so far.

Experience from the US, Russia and China shows that the decision to create integrated theatre commands will have to be a political one, which will then be executed by the defence services.

Topic– Money-laundering and its prevention.

Q) What do you understand by Money laundering. Discuss. Also, examine the need to revisit

the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. (250 words)

Financial express

Why this question

Money laundering is a key concern for the governments across the globe and India is not immune to it. It is therefore important to know the meaning of the concept and discuss the need to modify the law related to it.

Directive word


Examine- Here we have to probe deeper into the topic, get into details, and find out the causes or implications if any.



http://www.insightsonindia.com/2018/08/18/2-what-do-you-understand-by-money-laundering-discuss-also-examine-the-need-to-revisit-the-prevention-of-money-laundering-act-250-words/

http://www.insightsonindia.com/2018/08/18/2-what-do-you-understand-by-money-laundering-discuss-also-examine-the-need-to-revisit-the-prevention-of-money-laundering-act-250-words/

https://www.google.co.in/amp/s/www.financialexpress.com/economy/prevention-of-money-laundering-act-why-pmla-needs-a-relook/1283175/lite/


SECURE SYNOPSIS


The question wants us to write in detail about money laundering- definition, purpose, means etc. It also wants us to discuss why there is a need to relook the PMLA.


Introduction– Write a few lines about the meaning of money laundering- e.g Money laundering is the process of creating the appearance that large amounts of money obtained from criminal activity, such as drug trafficking or terrorist activity, originated from a legitimate source. The money from the illicit activity is considered dirty, and the process “launders” the money to make it look clean.

Body-

Discuss the steps in money laundering- Placement-criminally derived funds are introduced in the financial system; Layering-the property is ‘washed’ and its ownership and source is disguised; Integration-‘laundered’ property is re-introduced into the legitimate economy; This three staged definition of money laundering is highly simplistic. The reality is that the so called stages often overlap and in some cases, for example in cases of financial crimes, there is no requirement for the proceeds of crime to be ‘placed’.

Discuss why there is a need to relook the PMLA. e.g The term “reason to believe” is a vague term, which is not defined in the PMLA, thus giving wide powers to the enforcement directorate to attach the properties; The concerned authorities appear more interested in putting the accused behind bars and attaching their properties, thus bringing a big stretch of offences covered under Indian Penal Code, Income-tax Act, Wildlife Act, Copyright Act, etc, as shoots of the parent money laundering offences. Banks also become the “victims of crimes” as they are not able to alienate or dispose of secured assets into their hands to recover the money and bring liquidity and finances into the market, thus increasing NPAs and bad debt etc.


Money laundering:-

Money laundering is the process of creating the appearance that large amounts of money obtained from criminal activity, such as drug trafficking or terrorist activity, originated from a legitimate source. The money from the illicit activity is considered dirty, and the process “launders” the money to make it look clean.

A case of Money laundering ostensibly appears to be an above-board financial transaction, however, the criminality underneath is hidden by a three stage process :

1. The first stage is when the crime money is injected into the formal financial System. This is called ‘placement’;

2. In the second stage, money injected into the system is layered and spread over various transactions with a view obfuscate the tainted origin of the money. This process is called ‘layering’;

3. In the third and the final stage, money enters the financial system in such a way that original association with the crime is sought to be obliterated so that the money can then be used by the offender or person receiving as clean money. This is called ‘Integration




SECURE SYNOPSIS

PMLA:-

In India, the specific legislation dealing with money laundering is the Prevention of Money-Laundering Act, 2002 .The law was enacted to combat money laundering in India and has three main objectives :

To prevent and control money laundering

To provide for confiscation and seizure of property obtained from laundered money

To deal with any other issue connected with money-laundering in India

Why there is a need to revisit PMLA:-

India will have to make money laundering an explicitly standalone offence to upgrade its compliance ahead of the on-site mutual evaluation by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which is due in November-December 2020.

Despite several amendments, the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) remains a predicate-offence-oriented law:-

This means a case under the Act depends on the fate of cases pursued by primary agencies such as the CBI, the Income Tax Department or the police. The latest instances are the verdicts in the 2G spectrum and Aircel-Maxis cases by the CBI courts, in which the money laundering angle probed by the Enforcement Directorate fell apart.

The term “reason to believe” is a vague term, which is not defined in the PMLA, thus giving wide powers to the enforcement directorate to attach the properties

The concerned authorities appear more interested in putting the accused behind bars and attaching their properties, thus bringing a big stretch of offences covered under Indian Penal Code, Income-tax Act, Wildlife Act, Copyright Act, etc, as shoots of the parent money laundering offences.

Banks also become the “victims of crimes” as they are not able to alienate or dispose of secured assets into their hands to recover the money and bring liquidity and finances into the market, thus increasing NPAs and bad debt etc.

Government is yet to implement the legislation effectively, especially with regard to criminal convictions

Law enforcement agencies in India open criminal investigations reactively and seldom initiate proactive analysis and long term investigations

While the Indian government has taken action against certain hawala financing activities, prosecutions have generally focused on non-financial businesses that conduct hawala transactions as a secondary activity.




SECURE SYNOPSIS

The government has not taken adequate steps to ensure all relevant industries are complying with AML/CFT regulations.

The degree of training and expertise in financial investigations involving transnational crime or terrorism-affiliated groups varied widely among the federal, state, and local levels and depended on the financial resources and individual policies of various jurisdictions

According to experts US investigators have had limited success in coordinating the seizure of illicit proceeds with Indian counterparts

While the Indian government supervised, regulated, and monitored these entities to prevent misuse and terrorist financing, a large unregulated and unlicensed MSB sector remained vulnerable to exploitation by illicit actors

Conclusion:-

The Indian government is serious about curbing money laundering so India has to focus on financial literacy education so that people are aware.

Topic– Internal security

Q) What are tax havens and explain why they pose a threat to nation’s security? Examine

whether crackdowns on tax havens help recover taxes ? (250 words)

The hindu

Why this question

Tax havens often comes to mind when we talk of black money. It is a significant challenge for any nation, and the article presents an alternative viewpoint of dealing with tax havens, which needs examination.


The question expects us to explain what tax havens are and how do they impact a nation’s economy and security. Thereafter we need to evaluate the viewpoint expressed in the article given in the link which holds that crackdown on tax havens lead to lowering of ability to recover taxes.

Directive word



Introduction – Explain what tax havens are.

Body – Discuss the threat that tax havens pose to economy and security of nations through its role in tax evasion and money laundering. Thereafter, we need to examine whether our method of dealing with tax havens helped us in resolving issues, or whether we need to think of alternatives to dealing with tax havens

Tax havens:-

Tax haven is defined as a place where there is low or no taxes at all, thereby giving shelter and protection from the loss of money.

This gives many advantages to companies and citizens of countries that charge high income taxes, but of course, it is disadvantageous to the nations that lose these tax revenues.

There are roughly 45 tax havens today in the world among which Switzerland tops the rank.

As of February 2008 the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) there are three factors to identify whether the jurisdiction is tax haven or not:

Lack of transparency:-

A lack of transparency in operation of the legal or administrative provision is another factor to determine the tax havens.



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https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-opinion/the-economics-of-tax-havens/article24618733.ece


SECURE SYNOPSIS

It must have a low rate of taxation:-

Tax havens impose nominal taxes as a place to be used by non-residents to escape high taxes in their country of residence.

Laws to protect financial information:-

This is the most vital feature of a tax haven as it protects the financial information of the investor with a high level of supremacy.

These are the routes through which half of international trade now takes place. Apart from high-net-worth individuals, tax havens are liberally used by multinationals and their army of accountants and lawyers for tax planning and transfer pricing. They are also places for money launderers.

Tax havens have some common characteristics such as ease of setting up companies/trusts/foundations, minimal disclosure requirements, the possibility to hide beneficial ownership, and low or no effective taxation on income or wealth.

How they pose a threat to national security :-

Tax havens are increasing inequality, poverty, reducing the financial market and thus promoting corruption.

Tax haven cannot be a benefit to the Indian economy:-

The size in which tax haven causing danger to the Indian economy can be determined from the fact that Mauritius which is a small country with an economy 1/100th the size of the Indian economy is one of the major exporter of foreign capital to India (Approx 43% of the Indian FDI). This part states why tax haven is a great danger to India than other developed countries.

According to reports the amount of money stashed away from India between 2002- 2006 is estimated to be the US $ 27.3 billion annually.

Another major consequence of tax havens which is not a benefit to the Indian economy is that they are the contributors to the weakening of the quality of institutions, bureaucracy, and political system.

Terrorism:-

A major concern to the Indian economy is the use of tax havens for the undercover financing of terrorist activities.

Phenomenon of routing black money to tax havens has given birth to what is called round-tripping.

Illegal activities:-

The worry is that the anonymity that tax havens offer allows other kinds of illegal activity to flourish too. The world over billions made through illegal routes such as drug trafficking and arms smuggling are said to be laundered through tax havens.

Crackdown on tax havens helps in recovering taxes :-

Tax havens help large corporations, foreign investors and other big guys sidestep Indian tax laws.

Supports the illegal accumulation of wealth :-

Organisations like Oxfam have often characterised tax havens as “anti-poor” since they help the rich avoid paying taxes to governments.

Crackdown has its own disadvantages :-

International case study :-

Existence of tax havens allowed corporations to invest in the U.S. despite the country’s high tax rates because tax havens helped to lower the effective U.S. tax rate. But with the crackdown on tax havens, corporations could no longer serve U.S. consumers.

Despite the crackdown on tax havens, the practice of shifting profits to avoid paying higher taxes continues unabated.




SECURE SYNOPSIS



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