SYLLABUS: GENERAL STUDIES PAPER 2

Context:

• The announcement by President Joe Biden that the US will withdraw all its troops from Afghanistan by September 11, 2021, the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, has sent tremors through the region’s fault-lines.

Why United States is pulling out?

• The withdrawal is inconsonance with President Trump’s America First rhetoric. According to Trump, United States has been wasting its “blood and treasure” on distant conflicts, instead of rebuilding itself. In the 17th year since its inception in 2001, the Afghanistan conflict is the US’s longest running war & has had huge economic as well as human costs. Despite prolonged investment of financial and human resources, the political solution is nowhere in sight and this has resulted in growing scepticism within the United States administration over the futility of military involvement.

COVID-19 epidemic has revealed the shortcomings in the bureaucratic response to crisis-management.

• System inadequacy is the reflection of the outdated nature of public bureaucracy.
• In the 21st century, democratic countries are still relying on traditional bureaucracies to perform public policy formulation and implementation roles. 

Weberian bureaucracy:

• It prefers leadership based on position.
• In today’s system, a generalist is still preferred over a specialist.
  • A generalist officer (IAS and State civil service officials) is deemed an expert and as a result, superior, even if the officer works in one department or ministry today and in another tomorrow.
  • Specialists in every government department have to remain subordinate to the generalist officers. This has cost us dearly as policy formulations have been left to the generalists when they should be in the hands of the specialists.Dr. Anthony Fauci has been the prominent leader in USA fight against COVID whereas in India it has been the health secretary.

Close to 90 per cent of India is witnessing a high Covid positivity rate as 640 districts out of the 734 are above the national threshold level of 5 per cent positivity rate, with cases rising sharply in the rural areas.

Underlining the need to break the chain of transmission, officials have cautioned states about the spread of the virus to tier 3 cities and villages.

Reasons of spread to rural areas

The surge of cases in rural areas is not unexpected because of following reasons-

• dense networks that exist between cities and villages,
• continuous inter-state movement,
• the return of migrants for Holi and the harvesting season and also in response to curbs in bigger cities,
• the impact of Kumbh, and in the case of UP, untimely panchayat elections,
• The pace of vaccination, the most effective way to fight the disease, is much slower than needed in rural areas.

Environmental Financing needs reforms to address both the issue of pollution as well as generating resources for health sector.

• The Indian government announced a pandemic-related stimulus package in FY 2020-21 even when there was large decline in tax revenue due to lockdown. The fiscal deficit for FY 2020-21 (revised estimates) is projected to be 9.5% of the GDP; for 2021-22, it is pegged at 6.8%.
• The focus is on maintaining fiscal discipline. In such a situation, regular fiscal support for health-care sector remains a challenge in India.

As per World Health Organization (WHO) data on the percentage of the total population where the household expenditure on health was greater than 10% and 25% (Rural and Urban) of the total household expenditure or income in India in 2011 –

• 33% of the population in India made out-of-pocket payments(expense without reimbursement) on health, especially in rural areas.
• Globally, the average was 12.67%,which means that 12.67% of the population spent more than 10% of their income (out of their pocket) on health.
• In India, 9% of the population made more than 25% of out-of-pocket payments on health, with 4.34% in the rural areas.

Syllabus: General studies Paper 2

Current scenario:

The second wave of Covid-19 is creating havoc in the country. The country is facing challenges in overcoming the medical Oxygen crisis, lockdown associated losses to the economy, etc.  All this necessitated coordination between the center and the states. While states are struggling with a lack of financial resources, the center is finding itself helpless in tackling the pandemic all over the country on its own.

Introduction:

India’s success in defeating Covid-19 actively rests upon Centre-State collaboration. As it is the States which act as first responders to the pandemic, supplying them with adequate funds and autonomy becomes a prerequisite in effectively tackling the crisis. This requires the Centre to view the States as equals, and strengthen their capabilities, instead of increasing their dependence upon itself. In this context, Covid-19 poses a litmus test for the federal structure of India, whose nature is already a matter of debate amongst constitutional experts.

Federalism in India:

Federalism traditionally signifies the independence of the Union and State governments of a country, in their respective spheres. However, due to the centralising tendency of Indian federalism, K C Wheare referred to it as “Quasi federal”.

Similarly other constitutional experts describe it as, “federation without federalism” and “a Union of Unequal States”, particularly the way it has evolved over the years.

• A five-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court recently held the Maharashtra State Reservation for Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEBC) Act of 2018 as unconstitutional. This Maratha reservation law provides reservation benefits to the Maratha community in admissions and government jobs. However, the implementation of this reservation took the quota limit in the State in excess of 50%. The Supreme Court also held that this law does not qualify for the “exceptional circumstances” mentioned in the Indra Sawhney case.
• Earlier the Supreme court mentioned that it may re-examine the 50% reservation cap set by the Mandal case ruling of 1992(Also known as Indra Sawhney case). But during the recent verdict, the court mentioned that there is no need to revisit the 50% reservation cap. The court mentioned that the arbitrary 50% ceiling set by the Mandal case is now constitutionally recognized.

What is the reservation?

• Reservation is the process of facilitating people in education, scholarship and jobs etc. that were faced with historical injustice.
• Reservation is the form of quota-based affirmative action.
• Reservation is governed by constitutional laws, statutory laws, and local rules and regulations.
• Reservation system in India constitutes a number of initiatives like reserving access to seats in the legislatures, to government jobs and to enrolment in higher educational institutions.

Syllabus – GENERAL STUDIES-III -Regulatory framework for money and banking.

• The Indian banking sector has been evolving on a continuous basis, from being exclusivist to becoming a carrier of social reform and financial inclusion. However, in recent times, the banking industry has experienced many issues.
• For instance, a decline in asset quality, financial soundness, and efficiency has marred the functioning of the Indian banking industry.
• Given the current challenges of a burgeoning population, the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, and the West’s intention to shift its manufacturing base to India and elsewhere, it is essential to say ‘yes’ to fifth generation banking reforms.

Evolution of Indian Banking Industry

• First Generation Banking:During the pre-Independence period (till 1947), the Swadeshi Movement saw the birth of many small and local banks.
  • Most of them failed mainly due to internal frauds, interconnected lending, and the combining of trading and banking books.
• Second Generation Banking (1947-1967):Indian banks facilitated concentration of resources (mobilised through retail deposits) in a few business families or groups, and thus neglected credit flow to agriculture.
• Third Generation Baking (1967-1991):The government was successful in breaking the nexus between industry and banks through the nationalisation of 20 major private banks in two phases (1969 and 1980) and introduction of priority sector lending (1972).
  • These initiatives resulted in the shift from ‘class banking’ to ‘mass banking’.
  • Further, it had a positive impact on the expansion of branch networks across (rural) India, massive mobilisation of public deposits and incremental credit flow to agriculture and allied sectors.
• Fourth Generation Banking (1991-2014):This period saw landmark reforms such as issue of fresh licences to private and foreign banks to infuse competition, enhanced productivity as well as efficiency.
  • This was done by leveraging technology; introduction of prudential norms; providing operational flexibility coupled with functional autonomy; focus on implementation of best corporate governance practices; and strengthening of capital base as per the Basel norms.
• Current Model:Since 2014, the banking sector has witnessed the adoption of the JAM (Jan-Dhan, Aadhaar, and Mobile) trinity, and issuance of licences to Payments Banks and Small Finance Banks (SFBs) to achieve last-mile connectivity in the financial inclusion drive.

The recent COVID-19 epidemic has put a lot of strain on the already tottering healthcare system in India. This, along with other challenges in achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), need the healthcare systems to be strengthened.

Healthcare workforce

One of the critical building blocks of the health system is human resources. Health workers are critical not just for the functioning of health systems but also for the preparedness of health systems in preventing, detecting and responding to threats posed by diseases and epidemics such as COVID-19.

A 2019 report by US based Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics & Policy (CDDEP) found out that

• India has a shortage of an estimated 600,000 doctors and 2 million nurses. There is one government doctor for every 10,189 people (the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends a ratio of 1:1,000).

The workforce crisis has been aggravated by the imbalances within the country.

• Spatial Imbalances- the doctor-population ratio in northern States is far short of the required norm, while the southern States, barring Telangana, have enough doctors in possession.
• Rural-Urban Divide– across the nation there is a general lack of adequate staffing in rural areas.

For democracy to be meaningful and just, it is important that the election system is impartial and transparent. Several efforts have been made in India to ensure the free and fair election system and process. The most important among these is the creation of an independent Election Commission to ‘supervise and conduct’ elections.

ABOUT ELECTION COMMISSION:

• It is a permanent and independent body established by the Constitution of India to ensure free and fair elections in the country.
• Article 324 of the Constitution provides that the power of superintendence, direction, and control of elections shall be vested in the election commission.
• This includes elections to parliament, state legislatures, the office of president of India, and the office of vice-president of India.
• It grants election symbols and also recognizes political parties.
• It issues a model code of conduct and keeps an eye on the election expenditure of candidates.

An Earthquake of 6.4 magnitude hit Assam on April 28th, 2021. It caused sufficient damage to buildings and property but fortunately, no fatalities were reported.

•  It occurred near Dhekiajuli in the Sonitpur district of Assam, 80 kilometres northeast of Guwahati.
• Following the main tremors, six aftershocks (of magnitude ranging from 3.2 to 4.7) also occurred within two-and-a-half hours.
• The National Centre for Seismology (NCS) recently mentioned that these tremors were attributed to the Kopili Fault Zone.

The northeastern region has a peculiar record of experiencing earthquakes at regular intervals due to its unique geographical location. The state of Assam itself witnessed two great earthquakes (Magnitude >8) in 1897 and 1950.

How does an earthquake occur?

• Firstly, an earthquake occurs when there is a sudden release of energy in the Earth’s lithosphere that creates seismic waves.
• Secondly, the release of energy occurs along a fault. A fault is a sharp break in the crustal rocks.
• Thirdly, rocks along a fault tend to move in opposite directions. As the overlying rock strata press them, the friction locks them together. However, their tendency to move apart at some point in time overcomes the friction.
• Fourthly, as a result, the blocks get deformed, and eventually, they slide past one another abruptly. This causes a release of energy, and the energy waves travel in all directions.