Syllabus: General Studies Paper 2

Context:

India’s National Security Advisor has invited his counterparts from Pakistan, Iran, Central Asia, Russia, and China to join the discussion on Afghanistan. 

• This week’s consultations in Delhi on the crisis in Afghanistan among the region’s top security policymakers, following the US withdrawal, is part of developing a Eurasian strategy. 
• Pakistan’s reluctance to engage with India reinforces the urgency of an Indian strategy to deal with Eurasia.

Indo-pacific and Eurasia

• The Indo-Pacific describes the long stretch of tropical waters from the east coast of Africa to the central Pacific.
  • After years of self-doubt, Delhi has made the Indo-Pacific integral to India’s foreign and security policies. 
  • The strategic alliance Quad or the Quadrilateral forum that brings India together with Australia, Japan and the US, highly impacts the Indo-Pacific debate. 

• Eurasia is the name of a tectonic plate that lies under much of Europe and Asia. 
  • India must now devote high energy to the development of a “Eurasian” policy. 
  • If the Indo-Pacific is about Delhi’s new maritime geopolitics, Eurasia involves the reorientation of India’s continental strategy.
  • As in the Indo-Pacific, so in Eurasia, there is no shared international understanding of what constitutes the region. 
  • In Russia’s definition, Eurasia covers the former territories of the Soviet Union, which collapsed in 1991.
  • It is about Russia’s political claim to a sphere of influence in its “near abroad”. 
  • Then there are various older terms like “inner Asia” and “Central Asia” that cover parts of the region. 
  • There is a deep connection between Muslim Central Asia and West Asia, therefore the term “Greater Middle East” is used to describe parts of this region.
  • For India it makes sense to use the broadest possible definition of Eurasia in reimagining the region.

Dynamics of Eurasian politics

• The most important development in Eurasia today is the dramatic rise of China and its growing strategic assertiveness, expanding economic power and rising political influence. 
• Beijing is 
  • adopting muscular approach to the long and disputed border with Bhutan and India, 
  • hoping for security presence in Tajikistan, 
  • actively searching for a larger role in Afghanistan, and a greater say in the affairs of the broader sub-Himalayan region 
• As the world’s second-largest economy, China’s commercial influence is felt across the world. 
• Physical proximity multiplies China’s economic impact on the inner Asian regions.
• The impressive expansion of China’s Belt and Road initiative across central Asia and Russia, onto the shores of the Atlantic, and Europe’s growing economic interdependence with China have added to Beijing’s powerful support system in Eurasia. 
• China is deepening its alliance with Russia. Russia’s disputes with Europe and America have increased Moscow’s reliance on Beijing.
• Shift in USA’s Eurasian policy

• Washington has begun to rethink its strategic commitments to Eurasia. The US withdrawal from Afghanistan is just the beginning of this rethinking.
• Europe has had a massive deployment of US military resources since the Second World War. Washington and Europe are now in the middle of an important debate on how to rebalance the trans-Atlantic responsibilities for Europe’s collective defence.
• Europe must necessarily take on a larger regional Eurasian security role. More broadly, regional powers are going to reshape Eurasia.

Significance of Indo-Eurasia relations

India has certainly dealt with Eurasia’s constituent spaces separately over the decades. What Delhi now needs is an integrated approach to Eurasia. Like the Indo-Pacific, Eurasia is new to India’s strategic discourse.

• Cultural significance: There are references to India’s ancient civilisational links with Eurasia. The collaboration between the Sangha and the Shreni in the Buddhist era produced lasting interaction between the two regions. 
• Historical ties: The arrival of the British in India and the consolidation of the Raj as a territorial entity in the subcontinent saw the outward projection of India’s influence into Central Asia. 
• British rivalry with Russia during the Great Game in the 19th and early 20th centuries put Eurasian geopolitics at the top of undivided India’s security agenda. The Great Game was a political and diplomatic confrontation that existed for most of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century between the British Empire and the Russian Empire over Afghanistan and neighbouring territories in Central and South Asia. It also had direct consequences in Persia and British India.
• The Partition of the subcontinent: This event physically disconnected India from inner Asia. It also cut India off from Eurasian geopolitics. 

Challenges:

• India will surely encounter many regional contradictions in each of the three areas — between and among America, Europe, Russia, China, Iran, and the Arab Gulf. 
• Pakistan is the geographic limitation and a challenge to an expanded Indian role in Eurasian geopolitics.
  • Turkey’s alliance with Pakistan is hostile to Delhi.
• India’s drift towards Russia: Before independence, many Indian nationalists turned to Europe to secure the nation’s liberation from British colonialism. 
  • After independence, Delhi’s drift towards an alliance with Moscow saw India neglect Europe’s strategic significance. 

As in the Indo-Pacific, so in Eurasia, Delhi should not let these contradictions hold India back.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 3

Context:

The World Trade Organization (WTO)’s 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12) will be convened in Geneva, Switzerland. Earlier it was scheduled to be held in Kazakhstan (June 2020) but postponed due to the novel coronavirus pandemic).

• MC12 needs to consider how the economically weaker countries “can secure a share in the growth in international trade according to  the needs of their economic development, 
• It is an objective that is mandated by the Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization.
  • The Marrakesh Agreement of 1994 is the culmination of the GATT’s Uruguay Round that was introduced in 1986 and led to the establishment of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). 
  • The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) 1994 is an international treaty binding upon all WTO Members. It is only concerned with trade in goods.
  • The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) traces its origins to the 1944 Bretton Woods Conference.
  • On 1 January 1995, the WTO replaced GATT, which had been in existence since 1947, as the organization overseeing the multilateral trading system.

Key issues:

• • Fisheries: The current drafts on this issue are completely unbalanced as they do not provide means to rein in large-scale commercial fishing that are depleting fish stocks the world over. It is threatening the livelihoods of small fishermen in countries such as India.
  • E-commerce: In recent months, the proposal by the members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the G-20 members to introduce global minimum taxes on digital companies has made headlines. 
    • Discussions on e-commerce have been held in the WTO since 1998 after the adoption of the Ministerial Declaration on Global Electronic Commerce. WTO members had agreed to continue the practice of not imposing customs duties on electronic transmissions. 
    • The more substantive outcome was the decision to “establish a comprehensive work programme” taking into “account the economic, financial, and development needs of developing countries”.
    • Currently “development needs of developing countries”, is entirely missing from the text document that is the basis for the current negotiations. 
    • On the negotiating table are issues relating to the liberalisation of the goods and services trade, and guarantee for free flow of data across international boundaries. This is all aimed at facilitating expansion of businesses of e-commerce firms. 
    • The sole objective of the negotiations on e-commerce is to facilitate expansion of e-commerce firms.

• IPRs and vaccine issue

• Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) protected using the provisions of the WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) are formidable barriers to ensuring equitable access to vaccines. 
• Pharmaceutical companies controlling the global markets have used monopoly rights granted by their IPRs to deny developing countries access to technologies and know-how. 
• This undermines the possibility of production of vaccines in these countries. 
• The involvement of developing countries in vaccine production could have increased supplies of affordable vaccines to the low-income countries. 
• Availability of vaccines remains a critical problem in these countries even after a year since the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine was administered. 
• Recent statistics show that until now, a mere 4.1% of the population in low-income countries have received at least one dose of the vaccine.
• India and South Africa had tabled a proposal in the WTO in October 2020, for waiving enforcement of several forms of IPRs on health products and technologies useful for COVID-19 treatment. 
  • By doing so, barriers created by IPRs to timely access to affordable medical products could be removed. 
  • This proposal, supported by nearly two-thirds of the organisation’s membership, was opposed by the developed countries batting for their corporates. 

Divisions over investment: The current focus of the WTO to promote the global interests of oligopolies is the initiative for the adoption of an investment facilitation agreement. An oligopoly is a market form wherein a market or industry is dominated by a small group of large sellers.

• In 2001, the Doha Ministerial Declaration had included a work programme on investment but developing countries were opposed to its continuation because it favoured expanding the rights of foreign investors through a multilateral agreement on investment. 
• Its ultimate objective was to bind host governments into a multilaterally agreed commitment to comprehensively protect investor interests.

Concerns:

• Besides the bias in favour of global oligopolies, the current negotiating processes in the WTO are fundamentally flawed. 
• The negotiations on e-commerce and investment facilitation are being conducted not by a mandate given by the entire membership of the WTO in a transparent manner.
• Instead, these negotiations owe their origins to the so-called “Joint Statement Initiatives” (JSI) in which a section of the membership has developed the agenda with a view to producing agreements in the WTO. 
• This will then be offered to the rest of the member nations on a “take-it-or-leave-it” basis. 
• This entire process is “detrimental to the very existence of a rule-based multilateral trading system under the WTO”.

Recent WTO estimates show that global trade volumes could expand by almost 11% in 2021, and by nearly 5% in 2022, and could stabilise at a level higher than the pre-COVID-19 trend. The buoyancy in trade volumes has played an important role in supporting growth in economies such as India where domestic demand has not yet picked up sufficiently. Therefore, these favourable conditions provide an ideal setting to revisit trade rules and to agree on a work programme for the organisation, which can help maintain the momentum in trade growth.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 2

Context:

The trilateral security agreement between Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States (AUKUS) continues to be in the news. 

• AUKUS is based on a shared commitment of its three members to deepening diplomatic, security and defence cooperation in the Indo-Pacific to meet the challenges of the 21st century. 
• China has criticised AUKUS as an “exclusive bloc” that gravely undermines regional peace and security and reflects a Cold War mentality. 

The reason behind the formation of AUKUS

• The rise of China, its rapid militarisation and aggressive behaviour, is the trigger behind AUKUS.
• Historical defence partnerships: The transfer of sensitive submarine technology by the U.S. to the U.K. is an arrangement based on their long-standing Mutual Defence Agreement of 1958. 
  • The U.S. and the U.K. have fought together as allies, together with Australia, in the Second World War. 
  • The U.S. shared nuclear weapons technology with the U.K. following the merging of the latter’s nuclear weapons programme with the American Manhattan Project as early as 1943. 
    • The Manhattan Project was a research and development undertaking during World War II that produced the first nuclear weapons. It was led by the United States with the support of the United Kingdom and Canada.
  • The first U.K. test was conducted in 1952 in the Montebello Islands in Australia
• Engagement with China: For three nations, their relations with China have recently been marked by a bad phase, especially with Australia.
  • While China remains Australia’s largest trading partner, relations between the two sides have been hit by a trade war. China has imposed stiff tariffs on Australian barley and wine exports and created barriers for products such as Timber and coal.
  • In 2017 and 2019, the Talisman Sabre exercises (a biennial exercise that is led by either Australia or the U.S.), conducted by the Royal Australian Navy, were tagged by a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) vessel. 
  • China also used the same type of vessel to monitor the multilateral Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise in 2018.
    • RIMPAC is the world’s largest international maritime warfare exercise
    • It is a biennial exercise that is hosted and administered by the United States Navy’s Indo-Pacific Command.

Quad and AUKUS

• The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue is a strategic dialogue between the United States, India, Japan and Australia that is maintained by talks between member countries.
• The Quad and AUKUS are distinct, yet complementary. 
• Whereas the Quad initiatives engage with the Indian and the Pacific Oceans, the AUKUS is Pacific-centric oriented. 
• Such a strategy could potentially strengthen Japan’s security as well as that of Taiwan in the face of China’s mounting aggression.
• Shifting AUKUS’s focus to the Pacific Ocean could reassure ASEAN nations. 
• It could also maintain the balance of power in the Indian Ocean.  China’s potent military capacities must be taken seriously. 

Concerns for AUKUS

The ASEAN factor: There is also the matter of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) disunity over the emergence of AUKUS. 

• The Southeast Asian nations have been unable to agree on other issues before, such as developments in Myanmar or the strategic threats posed by China. 
• While AUKUS is clearly an attempt by the U.S. to bolster regional security, including securing Australia’s seaborne trade, any sudden increase in Australia’s naval capabilities is bound to cause unease in the region. 
• China is trying to exploit ASEAN’s concerns amidst worsening U.S.-China regional rivalry. 
• Australia reassured the region of its commitment to ASEAN centrality and its continued support for the South Pacific Nuclear-Free Zone Treaty as well as the Treaty of Southeast Asia Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone. 

Significance of AUKUS

• China’s naval power is enabling it to challenge U.S. dominance in the Pacific beyond the first island chain. 
  • China has a large and growing undersea fleet, including attack submarines, both nuclear-powered and diesel-electric.
• The U.S. is tempted to look at effective means to militarily counter China. 
• The Quad structure currently has neither the mandate nor the capability to achieve this. 
• There are limited options in the economic arena with China already having emerged as a global economic powerhouse. 
• AUKUS, though, provides an opportunity to the U.S. to place proxy submarine forces to limit China’s forays, especially in the Pacific Ocean.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 3

Context:

Recently, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation released data showing its world Food Price Index (FPI) averaging 133.2 points in October 2021, the highest since July 2011.

Fuel and food

• One reason why petroleum and agri-commodity prices move in tandem is the bio-fuels link. 
• When crude prices rise, blending ethanol from sugarcane and corn (maize) with petrol or diverting palm and soyabean oil for biodiesel production becomes that much more attractive. 
• Cotton, likewise, turns relatively affordable vis-à-vis petrochemicals-based synthetic fibres. Also, since corn is primarily an animal feed, its diversion to ethanol leads to substitution by other grains, including wheat, for livestock use. That, then, pushes up prices of foodgrains as well.
• The same happens to sugar, as mills step up the proportion of cane crushed for fermenting into alcohol.
• The present global cotton rates of 125 cents-plus per pound were last seen in July 2011. Corn and sugar prices, too, are ruling way higher compared to a year ago.
• But it isn’t the bio-fuels effect alone: Large price increases also tend to rub off on other farm produce through the creation of positive “sentiment”. 
  • International coffee prices have nearly doubled in the last year and, like most other agri-commodities, also strengthened along with crude oil in the last three months.
• Economic activity and stimuli.
• “Sentiment” is, in turn, connected with two things.
  • The first is, demand returning with a revival of economic activity worldwide amid receding pandemic cases and rising vaccination rates.
  • The second is the flood of liquidity unleashed by the US Federal Reserve and other global central banks, to limit the economic damage wreaked by Covid-19. 
    • The US Fed’s total assets (mainly government bonds and mortgage-backed securities that it buys) on its balance sheet has expanded from $4241.51 billion to $8,574.87 billion between March 2, 2020 and November 1, 2021. 
    • All this money, combined with the policy-induced ultra-low global interest rates, has found its way into stock markets, start-up investments and also commodities. 
    • And since restoration of supply chains hasn’t kept pace with the demand recovery (manifested in congestion at ports, shortage of shipping containers/vessels and labourers yet to fully return to plantations) the overall result has been inflation.

Impact on farmers

• The surge in international prices benefited producers, especially farmers. 
  • Kapas (raw unginned cotton) is today selling at Rs 7,500-8,000 per quintal in Rajkot market (Gujarat), well above the government’s minimum support price (MSP) of Rs 6,025 for long-staple varieties.
  • Soyabean growers are similarly realising Rs 5,000-plus per quintal rates in markets such as Ujjain (Madhya Pradesh) and Latur (Maharashtra), against the MSP of 3,950.
• On the flip side, however, farmers are being forced to pay much more for fuel and fertilisers, as their international prices also have shot up. 

Fertilizers

• The situation is worse in fertilisers. 
  • Di-ammonium phosphate (DAP) is currently being imported into India at $800 per tonne, including of cost and ocean freight. 
  • Muriate of potash (MOP) is available for no less than $450 a tonne. 
  • These are close to the prices that prevailed during the world food crisis of 2007-08.
• Landed prices of urea, on the other hand, have crossed unheard-of levels of $900 per tonne. 
• Together with fertilisers, the prices of their intermediates and raw materials such as rock phosphate, sulphur, phosphoric acid and ammonia have also skyrocketed due to a combination of demand-pull (from higher crop plantings) and cost-push (from oil and gas).
• There is a huge challenge for the government to make fertilisers (particularly phosphatic and potassic nutrients) available in reasonable quantities, to enable farmers meet the requirements for their wheat, mustard, potato, onions and rabi pulses crops. 
  • That would matter for food prices down the line — at a time when fuel and fertilisers are also on fire.

Reason behind the fuel price rise

• The price of Brent Crude breached the $85 per barrel mark, reaching its highest level since 2018 on the back of a sharp increase in global demand as the world economy recovers from the pandemic. 
• Key oil producing countries have kept crude oil supplies on a gradually increasing production schedule despite a sharp increase in global crude oil prices. 
• The price of Brent crude has nearly doubled compared to the price of $42.5 per barrel a year ago.
• Recently, the OPEC+ group of oil producing countries reaffirmed that they would increase total crude oil supply by only 400,000 barrels per day in November 2021 despite a sharp increase in prices. 
• The output of the top oil-producing countries – Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq, UAE and Kuwait — would still be about 14 per cent lower than reference levels of production post the increase in November 2021.
• OPEC+ had agreed to sharp cuts in supply in 2020 in response to Covid-19 global travel restrictions in 2020 but the organisation has been slow to boost production as demand has recovered. 
• India and other oil importing nations have called on OPEC+ to boost oil supply faster, arguing that elevated crude oil prices could undermine the recovery of the global economy.
• Supply side issues in the US including disruptions caused by hurricane Ida and lower than expected natural gas supplies from Russia amid increasing demand in Europe have raised the prospect of natural gas shortages in the winter.
  • International coal prices have also reached all-time highs as China faces a coal shortage that has led to factories across China facing power outages. 
  • A faster than expected recovery in global demand has pushed the price of Indonesian coal up from about $60 per tonne in March to about $200 per tonne in October.

Overall Impact on India

• High crude oil prices have contributed to the prices of petrol and diesel regularly setting new record highs across the country in 2021. 
• India has seen a faster recovery in the consumption of petrol than of diesel after pandemic-related restrictions with petrol consumption up 9 per cent in September compared to the year-ago period but diesel consumption remaining 6.5 per cent below 2020 levels. 
• Diesel accounts for about 38 per cent of petroleum product consumption in India and is a key fuel used in industry and agriculture.
• S&P Global Platts Analytics noted in a report;
  • Demand for diesel in India was expected to go up in the next few months with the upcoming festive season set to accelerate the economic recovery and push up diesel consumption. 
  • However, predict that India’s total demand for crude oil would only surpass pre-pandemic levels in 2022.
• High international gas prices have led to an upward revision in the price of domestically produced natural gas. 
  • The Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) set the price of natural gas produced by state-owned ONGC and Oil India under the nomination regime to $2.9 per mmbtu up from $1.79 per mmbtu in the previous six month period. 
  • The PPAC also increased the ceiling price of $6.13 per mmbtu for gas extracted from ultra-deepwater, and high pressure, high-temperature discoveries from $3.62 per mmbtu in the previous six month period.
• The increase in gas prices has put upward pressure on the price of both Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) used as a transport fuel and Piped Natural Gas (PNG) used as cooking fuel. 
• High international prices of coal have added to a coal shortage at India’s thermal power plants by forcing thermal plants to use imported coal that could not pass on the higher price of coal to procurers to stop supplying power. 
• Low coal stocks at a number of coal-fired thermal power plants have led to power outages in a number of states including Punjab and Rajasthan and have forced states to buy power at well above normal prices on the power exchange.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 3

Context:

At the UN climate conference in Glasgow recently, the Prime Minister raised India’s existing climate targets, and also announced a few new targets. Importantly, none of the targets is likely to be too difficult to achieve.

Net-zero

• Of the five-point targets announced by the PM, achieving net-zero emission status by 2070 is the one whose roadmap is not available right now. 
• This promise seems to have been made primarily to satisfy international demand. 
• At the same time, 2070 is a long way away — and there is plenty of time to plan a roadmap to achieve that target.
• The other four targets have to be achieved in a more immediate time frame, by 2030.

Emission intensity, renewables

• Two of the targets — reducing emissions intensity and increasing the renewable mix in installed electricity capacity — are already part of India’s official Nationally Determined Contributions or NDCs, submitted in 2015 as part of the requirement under the Paris Agreement.
  • In that NDC, India had promised to reduce its ‘emissions intensity’, or emissions per unit of GDP, by 33-35% from 2005 levels by 2030, and to ensure that at least 40% of its installed electrical capacity in 2030 would come through non fossil-fuel-based energy sources.
  • India has now enhanced both these targets: emissions intensity reduction to 45%, and the share of renewables in installed electricity capacity to 50%.
• India intended to fulfil 50% of its energy requirement through renewable energy by 2030. But all previous commitments were formulated for electrical capacity, which is only one part of the larger energy basket.
• The enhanced target related to installed electricity capacity, not energy requirement. This will be reflected in the revised NDC India submits to the UN Climate secretariat incorporating the new targets.
• India was already on course to achieve both these existing targets well before the 2030 deadline. 
• India’s emissions intensity was 24% below 2005 levels in 2016 itself, the latest year for which data are available. 
  • A 33-35% reduction is expected to be achieved within the next two years. Although initial reductions are easier to achieve than later ones, a 45% reduction is not expected to pose too much of a challenge.
  • The case of renewable installed capacity is not very different.
• By November 2020, the share of renewables, including large hydropower, in total installed electrical capacity had already crossed 36%. 
• The share of non-fossil fuel energy sources was over 38%. Most of the new capacity additions are happening in the renewable space, and therefore taking this share to 50% will likely not be too difficult.

Forest cover: Not addressed

• The third promise made in India’s NDC, about increase in forest cover, did not find a mention in PM’s speech. And that is the only target India is struggling to achieve.
• In the NDC, India has promised to create an additional carbon sink of 2.5-3 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent through forest and tree cover by 2030. 
• Although forest cover has been growing, according to official data, the pace of growth so far has been far from commensurate with what is required to meet the target.

Non-fossil fuel

• PM’s other two announcements, about raising installed capacity of renewable energy, and an absolute reduction of 1 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide by 2030, are not part of India’s existing commitments, but are nonetheless linked.
  • India had initially set out to install 20 GW of solar power capacity by 2020. That was later raised to 100 GW by 2022. 
  • Targets for wind and biogas were later added, making it a renewable energy power capacity target of 175 GW for 2022. 
  • Two years ago, the PM enhanced this to 450 GW for 2030. None of this was ever part of the NDC, but publicly announced targets India had set for itself.
• In Glasgow, PM cited that India would have 500 GW of non-fossil fuel-based energy capacity by 2030. 
• Non-fossil fuels include not just renewables like solar or wind, but also nuclear and hydro, which together make up over 50 GW right now. 
• Achieving the 450 GW target for renewable energy, therefore, would automatically achieve the target of 500 GW for non-fossil fuel energy sources.
• Also, installed nuclear energy is in the process of a significant ramping-up. Installed nuclear power capacity is set to increase to 22 GW by 2031 from the current 7 GW.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 2

Context:

Recently, the Centre has decided to scrap the system of caste-based wage payments in the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) scheme after complaints from State Governments.

• Earlier, the Central government had introduced a category-wise (SC, ST and others) wage payment system, for better accounting purposes.
• No doubt, knowing the earnings of SC/ST households is useful. But it could have been done after the wages were paid.
• Eight crore MGNREGA wage transactions were pending on Diwali.

Issues:

• Negative impact of caste-based segregation: While 46% of payments to SC workers and 37% for ST workers were completed in the mandated seven-day period, it was a dismal 26% for non-SC/ST workers. 
  • The negative impact of caste-based segregation was felt acutely in poorer States such as Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Odisha and West Bengal. 
  • In addition to such stark differences, in West Bengal, the Central government kept pending nearly 45% of the wages beyond 15 days as on October 13.
• Caste-based segregation has also resulted in tensions at worksites. 
  • It had also resulted in a threefold increase of workload for computer operators at blocks. 
  • After critical media reportage, the Central government has revoked the caste-based segregation of wage payments. 
  • However, the Central government has not assumed any accountability by paying compensation for delays despite the evident damage caused by caste-based segregation of payments.
• Lack of funds: The Ministry of Rural Development said that currently Rs.8921 crore funds are available which can meet the wage liability. 
  • This statement is misleading as the Ministry has not accounted for pending arrears of ₹17,543 crore from previous years. 
  • There is ample evidence by now that delays in wage payments are a consequence of insufficient funds. 
  • It showed that funds allocation this financial year (FY) is 34% lower than the revised budget allocation of last year. And this year’s funds have been exhausted. 
  • The Chief Ministers of Odisha and Tamil Nadu wrote to the Prime Minister seeking additional funds for MGNREGA.
• No advantage of technology: according to a report, there is any difference in the time taken for payments through the Aadhaar Payment Bridge Systems (APBS) and traditional account-based payments. 
  • In fact, APBS has given rise to complicated problems like misdirected payments and payment failures due to erroneous Aadhaar mapping with the payment software. 
  • Misdirected payments happen when one person’s Aadhaar gets linked to somebody else’s bank account. 
  • These problems are difficult to resolve even for bank and block officials resulting in increased hardships for workers. 
• Wage payment process of MGNREGA
  • There are two stages in the wage payment process. 
  • In Stage 1, States must electronically send invoices, also called FTOs, to the Central government within eight days of completion of work at a worksite. 
  • These invoices contain essential worker details like their names and bank account numbers. 
  • Stage 2: The Central government then processes the invoices and transfers wages directly to the workers’ accounts. This is the Central government’s responsibility that must be completed within seven days after Stage 1. 
  • Since Supreme Court orders in 2018, Stage 1 delays have been reduced while Stage 2 delays continue. 
  • As per the Act, if Stage 1 plus Stage 2 exceeds 15 days, then workers are entitled to a delay compensation for each day’s delay. 
  • However, in violation of the Act and the Supreme Court’s orders, no delay compensation for Stage 2 is even being calculated. 
  • Instead of ensuring sufficient funds for timely payments, the Central government has repeatedly modified the payment architecture as if payment delays are due to technological hurdles. 
  • Earlier, the invoices were not segregated by caste. Recently, the Central government issued a circular to segregate invoices based on the caste of workers (Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and ‘Others’). It was then taken back.
• Delay in Stage 2: In our sample, Stage 2 was completed only for 29% of the invoices within the mandated seven-day period. 
  • For two-thirds of the transactions in Jharkhand and more than half the transactions in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal, Stage 2 exceeded 15 days. 
  • There was also a steady increase in Stage 2 delays from July to September indicating depletion of funds.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 2

Context:         

The central government is preparing to give a fresh push to the establishment of an All India Judicial Service (AIJS) on the lines of the central civil services.

Background

• The Law Minister has called a meeting of state law ministers recently to discuss the AIJS and issues related to infrastructure in the lower judiciary.
• The idea of centralised recruitment of judges has been debated in legal circles for decades and remains contentious.

About the proposed All India Judicial Service (AIJS)

• The AIJS is a reform push to centralise the recruitment of judges at the level of additional district judges and district judges for all states.
• In the same way that the Union Public Service Commission conducts a central recruitment process and assigns successful candidates to cadres, judges of the lower judiciary are proposed to be recruited centrally and assigned to states.

Implementation & Challenges

• As per the amended Constitution, although Article 312(1) gives provision for setting up All India Judicial Services, a resolution must be passed in the Rajya Sabha with the support of not less than two-thirds of its members present and voting.
• Thereafter, a law for the creation of AIJS has to be enacted by the Parliament.
• The challenge behind the implementation of the All India Judicial Service (AIJS) is that the filling of vacancies of Judicial officers or Judges in Subordinate Courts and Districts is the domain of the respective High Courts and State Governments.
• Hence, the Government has to take a consultative approach to arrive at a common ground as the different stakeholders have diverging opinions.
• In November 2012, a Committee of Secretaries had approved a proposal for the constitution of AIJS. This was a comprehensive proposal.
• This proposal was included as an agenda item in the Conference of Chief Justices of the High Courts and State Chief Ministers, which was held in April 2013. Some of the States and High Courts wanted changes in the proposal, some of them had favoured the proposal, while some of the States and High Courts had rejected the proposal.
• The proposals received from the State Governments and High Courts were included in the Chief Justices’ conference held in April 2015.
• In 2019, the Government of India had initiated a consultative process for the establishment of the All India Judicial Services (AIJS). Eleven states did not respond to the Government, Five States had suggested some changes, and the Eight States had rejected the proposal of the Government.

Current recruitment process

• Articles 233 and 234of the Constitution of India deal with the appointment of district judges, and place it in the domain of the states.
• The selection process is conducted by the State Public Service Commissions and the concerned High Court, since High Courts exercise jurisdiction over the subordinate judiciary in the state.
• Panels of High Court judges interview candidates after the exam and select them for appointment.
• All judges of thelower judiciary up to the level of district judge are selected through the Provincial Civil Services (Judicial) exam.
• PCS(J) is commonly referred to as the judicial services exam.

The rationale behind the AJIS proposal

• The idea of a centralised judicial service was first mooted in the Law Commission’s 1958 ‘Report on Reforms on Judicial Administration’.
• The idea was:
  • to ensure an efficient subordinate judiciary,
  • to address structural issues such as varying pay and remuneration across states, to fill vacancies faster, and
  • to ensure standard training across states.
• A statutory or constitutional body such as the UPSC to conduct a standard, centralised exam to recruit and train judges were discussed.
• The idea was proposed again in the Law Commission Report of 1978, which discussed delays and arrears of cases in the lower courts.
• In 2006, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice in its 15th Report backed the idea of a pan-Indian judicial service, and also prepared a draft Bill.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 3

Context:

The increasing push towards solar energy, shifting of hitherto cross-subsidising private entities to renewable energy has compounded the perilous position of utilities making the need for reforms more urgent.

Background:

• Distribution Companies (DisComs) are the utilities that typically buy power from generators and retail these to consumers.
• For all of India’s global leadership for the growth of renewable energy, or ambitions of smart energy, the buck stops with the DisComs.
• The days of scarcity of power are over.
• The physical supply situation has mostly improved.
• But the financial picture has not brightened much.

Analysing the data on liabilities of the DisComs

•  ₹90,000 crore (later upgraded to  ₹1,25,000 crore) was earmarked for DisComs in ₹20-lakh crore package announced in the wake of Covid-19’s economic shock.
• The Power Finance Corporation (PFC)’s Report on Utility Workings for 2018-19 showed dues to generators were ₹2,27,000crore, and this is well before COVID-19.
• It also showed similar Other Current Liabilities.
• DisComs have delayed their payments upstream (not just to generators but others as well) — in essence, treating payables like an informal loan.

Impact of Covid pandemic

• COVID-19 has completely shattered incoming cash flows to utilities.
•  The revenue implications were far worse since the lockdown disproportionately impacted revenues from so-termed paying customers, commercial and industrial segments.
• Reduced demand for electricity did not save as much because a large fraction of DisCom cost structures are locked in through Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) that obligate capital cost payments, leaving only fuel savings with lower offtake.

Way forward

We will probably need a much larger liquidity infusion than has been announced thus far, but it also must go hand-in-hand with credible plans to pay down growing debt. We need a complete overhaul of the regulation of electricity companies and their deliverables. We need to apply common sense metrics of lifeline electricity supply instead of the political dole out of free electricity even for those who may not deserve such support For the rest, regulators must allow cost-covering tariffs.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 2

Context:

The idea of centralised recruitment of judges has been debated in legal circles for decades and remains contentious.

Background:

• In 1958, the 14th report of the Law Commission of India had recommended the creation of the All India Judicial Service (AIJS).
• In 1961 at the Chief Justices’ Conference, a proposal was given for the creation of All India Judicial Service. This recommendation was given at the conference to remove any kind of intervention either by the Executive or Judiciary while making appointments to the Judiciary.
• After opposition from High Courts and some states, the proposal for the All India Judicial Service (AIJS) was shelved until 1976.
• The Constitution was amended, under Article 312, a provision was made for AIJS.
• The recommendation for the creation of All India Judicial Service (AIJS) was once again given by the Law Commission in its 77th report which was submitted in 1978 and in its 116th report which was submitted in 1986.
• The Government was asked to check the feasibility of the recommendations given by the Law Commission, to set up the All India Judicial Service (AIJS).
• This recommendation to the Government was given by the Supreme Court of India in the All India Judges Association versus Union of India and others case.
• The matter concerning the creation of the All India Judicial Service was considered and recommended by the Justice Shetty Commission, also known as the First National Judicial Pay Commission (FNJPC).
• In 2012, a proposal was given by the Government of India regarding the AIJS.
• Due to opposition from the Chief Justices of the High Courts on the grounds that it would be an infringement of their rights, the proposal had to be shelved once again.

All India Judicial Service (AIJS) – Need for Indian Judicial Service

• As per a report given by the National Court Management Systems in 2012, the number of cases that would be filed in 30 years would be as high as 15 crores.
• To handle these many projected cases in the given timeline, there would be a requirement of 75,000 Judges.
• A “properly framed” All India Judicial Service (AIJS) on the lines of other all-India services would help in strengthening the overall Justice delivery system.
• All India Judicial Service will help in the inclusion of fresh talents through a merit-based selection process conducted throughout the country.
• There will be representation from deprived sections, marginalized sections of the society and address the problems of Social Inclusion.

Implementation & Challenges

• As per the amended Constitution, although Article 312(1) gives provision for setting up All India Judicial Services, a resolution must be passed in the RajyaSabha with the support of not less than two-thirds of its members present and voting.
• Thereafter, a law for the creation of AIJS has to be enacted by the Parliament.
• The challenge behind the implementation of the All India Judicial Service (AIJS) is that the filling of vacancies of Judicial officers or Judges in Subordinate Courts and Districts is the domain of the respective High Courts and State Governments.
• Hence, the Government has to take a consultative approach to arrive at a common ground as the different stakeholders have diverging opinions.
• In November 2012, a Committee of Secretaries had approved a proposal for the constitution of AIJS. This was a comprehensive proposal.
• This proposal was included as an agenda item in the Conference of Chief Justices of the High Courts and State Chief Ministers, which was held in April 2013. Some of the States and High Courts wanted changes in the proposal, some of them had favoured the proposal, while some of the States and High Courts had rejected the proposal.
• The proposals received from the State Governments and High Courts were included in the Chief Justices’ conference held in April 2015.
• In 2019, the Government of India had initiated a consultative process for the establishment of the All India Judicial Services (AIJS). Eleven states did not respond to the Government, Five States had suggested some changes, and the Eight States had rejected the proposal of the Government

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 3

Context:

Recently, the Cabinet approved several measures to extend a lifeline to the cash-strapped telecom sector. But they are not enough.

Background: 

There are nine structural reforms and five procedural reforms for the sector. It includes 

• A four-year moratorium on all spectrum and AGR dues
  • The redefinition of adjusted gross revenue (AGR), prospectively, not retrospectively.
  • AGR calculations would exclude all non-telecom revenue from now and penalties had been completely scrapped.
• Equity option for paying dues: 
  • The change in definition that will reduce the burden on telcos, applies only prospectively, so those past dues remain payable.
  • Interest on those dues will now be compounded annually instead of monthly and the Minister said interest would be charged at a ‘reasonable rate of MCLR plus 2%. 
  • MCLR refers to the lowest lending rate banks are permitted to offer — the marginal cost of funds-based lending rate.
  • Companies have the option of doing this through equity. And the government has retained the option of converting remaining dues at the end of the moratorium period too, to equity.
• A fixed calendar for spectrum auctions with an extended tenure of 30 years for future spectrum allocations, and a mechanism to surrender and share spectrum. 
  • The enhancement of the life of spectrum by 10 years, 
  • The removal of a financial constraint to spectrum sharing, 
• Foreign direct investment (FDI) in the sector has also been allowed up to 100% under the automatic route, from the existing limit of 49%. 

Significance of the telecom reforms:

• It should ensure that the sector does not become a duopoly of Airtel and Jio and encourage companies to invest in customer service and new technology. 
• The announcements would pave the way for large scale investments into the sector, including for 5G technology deployment, and generate more jobs.
• Digital India goal: The telecom sector is one of the prime movers of the economy and the measures announced by the government would enable the industry to achieve the goals of Digital India.
• The moratorium on AGR dues provides an annual cash flow breather of around ₹14,000 crore for the industry while the moratorium on spectrum dues gives another ₹32,000 crore of annual cash flow relief as a whole.
• According to Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s, ‘Yearly Performance Indicators – Indian Telecom Sector, 2020’, the country’s wireless tele-density in 2020 was high at 84.90 per cent. It comprises urban and rural tele-densities of 134.34 and 58.75 per cent, respectively.

Concerns:

• The package, however, does have positive features such as 
  • exclusion of non-telecom revenues from the levy on adjusted gross revenue (AGR), 
  • lengthening of tenure of spectrum to 30 years from 20 in future auctions, and 
  • Abolition of spectrum usage charge (SUC) for spectrum acquired in future auctions.
• The four-year AGR moratorium will provide temporary cash flow relief to telecom companies (telcos). 
  • However, the telcos are required to pay an interest of MCLR plus 2 percent, which is currently 9 per cent, on their AGR dues during the moratorium, so that the government’s receipts are ‘NPV protected’. 
  • NPV, or net present value, is the current value of a future stream of payments discounted at the applicable interest rate.
  • When the interest rates on long term retail home loans range from 6.5 to 7 per cent, the 9 per cent interest for a four-year moratorium is excessive. 
  • Telecom levies in India are higher than in most developing Asian economies.
  • The government must roll back the interest on AGR.
• The government is already burdened with two loss-making telcos — BSNL and MTNL. Acquiring equity stakes in more struggling telcos is imprudent. 
• In India, telcos have tended to compete on the basis of price, a practice that intensified with the entry of Reliance Jio in 2015-16. 
  • The average revenue per user (ARPU) realised by Indian telcos in 2020 was 39-58 per cent lower than those by telecoms domiciled in countries in a comparable stage of development — Indonesia and the Philippines..
• High spectrum prices have resulted in Indian telcos accumulating excessive liabilities including debt and forking out a higher share of revenues as interest payments. 
• India’s high corporate tax rate is the second-highest among the BRICS and ASEAN countries.