Syllabus– General Studies 3(economy) 

Context

• Recently, the government launched a new scheme to improve the distribution infrastructure of the distribution companies (discoms) with the primary intention of improving their financial health. 

Furthermore 

• Under the scheme, the discoms will be offered financial assistance provided they meet certain laid down criteria. 
• The total outlay for the scheme is around Rs 3.03 lakh crore, spread over five years. 
• The objective of the scheme is to bring down commercial losses in the range of 12-15 per cent and also reduce the difference between the average cost of supply (ACS) and average revenue realised (ARR) to zero by 2024-25.

Earlier initiatives 

• The kind of assistance programme for discoms is nothing new and has been going on since 2001, when the Accelerated Power Development Scheme was initiated. 
  • This was followed by various other schemes with some differences between them. 
  • But the overall principle remained the same — financial assistance will be offered in the form of grants and loans provided some pre-identified parameters move in a direction that would indicate better performance of discoms. 
  • Prior to the launching of this scheme, the government had launched the UDAY scheme in 2015. UDAY, however, did not involve any monetary assistance to the states, but only promised to help the states in reducing the cost of power through coal linkage rationalisation, etc.

Issues

• The problem with all these schemes (including UDAY) is that they have not delivered and the financial position of the discoms has only worsened. 
• A recent report of Niti Aayog has assessed the losses to be about Rs 90,000 crore in 2020-21, though this figure is not strictly comparable to the Power Finance Corporation (PFC) figure. 
  • Surprisingly, such schemes are being formulated, one after another, with outlays running into trillions of rupees knowing fully well that they are not effective and have not worked in the past. 
• Though the average losses (inclusive of technical and commercial) is about 22 per cent today, several discoms have losses in excess of 40 per cent. It is common knowledge that it is possible to bring down losses from 40 per cent to about 15 per cent without any significant investments in infrastructure. 
  • Investments, however, would be required to bring down losses further to a single-digit level since all low-hanging fruits would have been consumed by then.
• The governance of these reform-linked schemes is a complex issue because the performance of the discoms needs to be monitored quarterly to facilitate the release of funds to deserving discoms. 
• In the scheme now announced by the government, monitoring will be all the more complex since about 26 parameters will be taken into consideration and assigned a score. Some of the parameters are even questionable, for instance, liquidation of regulatory assets, since these are mandated by the regulatory commissions and therefore, the discoms have no role to play in them.
• Due to all the problems associated with reform-linked assistance schemes, an alternate approach that could be considered by the Centre (in lieu of such assistance schemes) is providing only transitional financial support to all discoms, which are privatised under the private-public partnership mode. 
  • One would again like to cite the case of Delhi. A transitional support of Rs 3,450 crore spread over five years proved to be exceedingly beneficial since it allowed the privatised utilities some breathing time to bring down their losses. 
  • On the flip side, one can also mention the case of the first phase of privatisation of discoms in Odisha (late 1990s), which proved to be a failure and one of the reasons often cited was the lack of any transitional support.

Syllabus: General studies paper 3

Context:

The Indian Ocean is warming at a higher rate than other oceans, said the latest report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Key Findings of the IPCC report:

• The recently released report is the first part of the Sixth Assessment Report by IPCC.
• The scientists warned that India will witness increased heatwaves and flooding, which will be the irreversible effects of climate change.
  • The current overall global warming trends are likely to lead to an increase in annual mean precipitation over India, with more severe rain expected over southern India in the coming decades.

Increase in Sea level:

• The warming of the ocean would lead to a rise in sea levels, leading to frequent and severe coastal flooding in low-level areas.
• With a 7,517-km coastline, India would face significant threats from the rising seas.
• Across the port cities of Chennai, Kochi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Surat and Visakhapatnam, 28.6 million people would be exposed to coastal flooding if sea levels rise by 50 cm.

Extreme Monsoon:       

• Monsoon extremes are likely to increase over India and South Asia, while the frequency of short intense rainy days is expected to rise.
• Models also indicate a lengthening of the monsoon over India by the end of the 21st century, with the South Asian monsoon precipitation projected to increase.

• The probable cause cited in the report:
  • Stating that human activities are causing climate change, the report said the planet was irrevocably headed towards warming by 1.5 degrees Celsius over pre-industrial times in the next two decades.
• The increases in temperature, rainfall, or other factors like glacier melting that are reported in the assessment (report), are mainly averages.
  • But averages often mask the extremes.
  • In a 2°C warmer world, for example, not every day would be 2°C warmer than pre-industrial times.
  • Some days can be 6°C to 8°C, or even 10°C, warmer.
  • That is how global warming will manifest at the local levels

Tropical Cyclones:

• Tropical cyclones are getting stronger and wetter, while Arctic Sea ice is dwindling in the summer and permafrost is thawing.
  • All these trends will get worse.

Glaciers:

• Glaciers in the Hindu Kush Himalayan (HKH) region will keep shrinking and the snow cover will retreat to higher altitudes.
• It is projected to increase in major mountainous regions with potential cascading consequences of floods, landslides and lake outbursts in all scenarios.
• The snow cover had reduced since the early 21st century and glaciers had thinned, retreated and lost mass since the 1970s.
  • However, the Karakoram glaciers had either slightly gained mass or were in an approximately balanced state.
• Snow-covered areas and snow volumes will decrease during the 21st century, snowline elevations will rise and glacier mass is likely to decline with greater mass loss in higher greenhouse gas emission scenarios.
• Rising temperatures and precipitation can increase the occurrence of glacial lake outburst floods and landslides over moraine-dammed lakes.

Syllabus– General Studies 2(polity) 

Context

• Recently, the Supreme Court has voiced concern over the Government’s lackadaisical attitude towards a large number of vacancies in High Courts and tribunals. 
  • Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana confronted the Government with a list of 240 vacancies in various tribunals. 

Furthermore 

• Many tribunals lack presiding officers, and recommendations made by selection committees have not been acted upon. 
• The vacancies in High Courts are at a staggering 455, as of August 1. 
• The exhortations from the courts, and even a judicial order from the top court in April — fixing time-frames for the Intelligence Bureau and the Government to process names forwarded by the Collegium for making appointments to the High Courts or returning files and for accepting names reiterated by the judges’ body — has not imparted a sense of urgency. 
• A two-judge Bench has noted that the Centre’s delay in making appointments to the High Courts is adversely affecting the adjudication of commercial disputes.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 3

Context:

Finance Minister introduced the Taxation Laws (Amendment) Bill in the Lok Sabha to nullify the tax clause provision that allows the government to levy taxes retrospectively.

What are the proposed changes in the Taxation Laws (Amendment) Bill?

• The Bill says that it is argued that such retrospective amendments militate against the principle of tax certainty and damage India’s reputation as an attractive destination.
• The country today stands at a juncture when quick recovery of the economy after the COVID-19 pandemic is the need of the hour and foreign investment has an important role to play.
• The Bill proposes to do away with retrospective taxation on the sale of assets in India by foreign entities executed before May 2012, with a caveat, the companies that will benefit from the amendment must withdraw all legal cases against the government and forfeit interest, costs and any damages.
• The government, on its part, is willing to refund any tax dues it may have collected or seized.

Meaning of Retrospective Taxation:

• Retrospective Taxationallows a country to pass a rule on taxing certain products, items or services and deals and charge companies from a time behind the date on which the law is passed.

Background:

• In May 2007, Vodafone bought Hong Kong-based Hutchison’s controlling stake in Hutchison Essar for $10.9 billion.
• The transaction took place in the Cayman Islands where Hutchison’s unit which in turn was acquired by Vodafone’s Netherlands-based Vodafone International Holdings.
• That September, India’s Income Tax Department served a notice on Vodafone for failing to deduct tax at source from the amount it paid to Hutchison in lieu of the capital gains tax it contended the seller Hutchison was liable for. The case went to court.
• In January 2012, India’s Supreme Court backed Vodafone, ruling that indirect transfer of shares to a non-Indian company would not attract tax in India.
• Separately, in 2006-07, Cairn Energy U.K. had reorganised its Indian oil and gas exploration business ahead of a planned IPO in India and subsequently sold part of its stake in Cairn India Ltd., first to Malaysia’s Petronas, and then the Vedanta Group during the 2009-11 period.
• In the Union Budget of 2012, the then Finance Minister, introduced an amendment to the Finance Act, which allowed the government to retrospectively tax such transactions.
• In 2014, the Income Tax Department froze Cairn’s remaining shares in Cairn India. The next year, Cairn initiated international arbitration against the government under the India-U.K. bilateral investment treaty.

Why did the government decide to rescind the provision?

• Though the government had raised tax demands in 17 such cases, Vodafone and Cairn attracted the most attention.
• Both initiated international arbitration under bilateral agreements.
• Vodafone got a favourable ruling in September 2020 at the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague in the ₹22,000-crore case.
• In December, an Arbitral Tribunal ruled in favour of Cairn, awarding it $1.2 billion plus interest and costs in damages, which came to $1.7 billion in total.
• Government insisted that, by introducing this bill would help in establishing an investment-friendly business environment, which can increase economic activity and help raise more revenue over time for the government.
• This could help restore India’s reputation and improve ease of doing business.

Syllabus– General Studies 2(international relations) 

Context

India’s decision to convene an open debate of the UN Security Council (UNSC) on enhancing maritime security, reflects India’s international evolution as a maritime nation.

Several events on which India reflected as a Maritime Nation:

• The fallout of the 2004 tsunami:
  • It took a heavy toll on human and natural resources, led to the creation of an Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System by the UN in 2005. 
  • Early warnings through an international network seek to prevent a recurrence of such devastation. 
• Faced with the increased threat from piracy originating off the coast of Somalia since 2007 to shipping in the western Indian Ocean; 
  • The Indian Navy participated robustly as part of a UNSC mandated 60-country Contact Group on Piracy off the coast of Somalia.
• With a coastline of over 7,500 km, India has a natural interest in enhancing maritime security. 
  • The Indian Ocean region transports 75 per cent of the world’s maritime trade and 50 per cent of daily global oil consumption. 
• India’s Security and Growth for All (SAGAR) policy: 
  • It was unveiled by PM during a visit to Mauritius in March 2015, proposes an integrated regional framework meet such an objective in the Indian Ocean.
  • The five pillars of SAGAR are:
    • One, India’s role as a net security provider in the Indian Ocean region (IOR). 
    • Two, active engagement with friendly countries in the IOR. 

• India would continue to enhance the maritime security capacities and economic resilience of these countries. 

• Three, developing a network to take effective collective action for advancing peace and security in the region. 
• Four, a more integrated and cooperative focus on the future of the IOR, which would enhance the prospects for the sustainable development of all countries in the region. 
• Five, the primary responsibility for peace, stability and prosperity in the IOR would be on those “who live in this region”. 
  • India would continue its engagement with other nations having strong interests and stakes in this region through dialogue, visits, exercises, capacity building and economic partnership.

Context

The Commission for Air Quality Management in the National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas Bill, 2021, was recently passed by the parliament.

Current status of monitoring the Air pollution:

• The monitoring and management of air quality in the Delhi-NCR region have been done in pieces by multiple bodies, including:
  • The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), 
  • The state pollution control boards, 
  • The state governments in the region, including Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and Rajasthan, and 
  • The Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority (EPCA) of the National Capital Region.
• They, in turn, are monitored by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests and Climate Change (MoEF), and the Supreme Court which monitors air pollution as per the judgment in ‘M C Mehta vs Union of India’ case in 1988.

About the Commission for Air Quality Management in the National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas Bill of 2021:

• The Bill, however, seeks to create an overarching body to consolidate all monitoring bodies.
• To bring them on one platform so that air quality management can be carried out in a more comprehensive, efficient, and time-bound manner.
• The Centre also seeks to relieve the Supreme Court from having to constantly monitor pollution levels through various cases.
• Both the central, as well as state governments, stand on the receiving end every winter as air pollution levels start rising in the National Capital Region.

Context

• As part of the Union Budget address for 2020-21, the Finance Minister, said that the shutting down of old coal power plants, which are major contributors to emissions, will aid the achievement of India’s Nationally Determined Contributions.

Furthermore

• It is argued that the availability of under-utilised newer (and presumably more efficient) coal-based capacity means that shutting down older inefficient plants would lead to improved efficiencies, reduced coal usage, and hence, cost savings.
• It is argued that it would be uneconomical for old plants to install pollution control equipment required to meet the emission standards announced by the Environment Ministry, and hence it would be better to retire them.
• The recent order from the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) allowing Delhi’s BSES distribution company to exit its concluded 25 year old power purchase agreement with the National Thermal Power Corporation Limited’s Dadri-I generating station, also lends some credence to this.

Syllabus– General Studies 3(environment) 

Context

• In the coming week, the Geneva-based Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change will release the first part of its Sixth Assessment Report.
  • This part of the report will present the latest scientific understanding of the climate system, how and why it is changing, and the impact of human activities on this process.

Background

• The five previous assessment reports that have come out since the IPCC was established in 1988 have formed the basis of international climate change negotiations and the actions that governments across the world have been taking in the last three decades to restrict the rise of global temperatures. 
• Their value has been globally acknowledged, and the fourth assessment report, which came out in 2007, won the IPCC the Nobel Peace Prize.
• All of them, starting from the first one in 1990, have been categorical in stating that the rise in global surface temperatures since the 1950s was most likely caused by human activities and that any rise beyond 2°C, compared to the temperatures of the late 19th century, would make the Earth extremely difficult place to live for human beings, and thousands of other species of plants and animals.
• The reports have also presented projections for temperature rise till 2100 under different scenarios and the kind of impacts that can be expected under each of these pathways.

More in News

• In the last few weeks, the world has seen unexpected floods in Europe and China, record-breaking heat waves in the United States, and deadly forest fires in Siberia, and Turkey and Greece. 
• Amid gloomy predictions of a continued rise in the frequency and intensity of such extreme weather events, all attributable to global warming, scientists are set to present the most comprehensive health check-up of the Earth’s climate.
• The second and third parts of the report, dealing with the expected impacts of climate change, and the actions required to prevent the worst impacts, are slated to come out next year.

Sixth Assessment Report

• Apart from incorporating the latest available scientific evidence, the Sixth Assessment Report is also attempting to provide more actionable information to help governments make policy decisions.
• REGIONAL FOCUS: The Sixth Assessment Report will put much more emphasis on regional assessment. So, it is expected that this report would likely state what the scenarios for sea-level rise in the Bay of Bengal region is, not just what the average sea-level rise across the world is likely to be.
• EXTREME EVENTS: There is expected to be a bigger focus on extreme weather events, like the ones we have seen in the last few weeks. 
  • Attribution science is likely to get important space in the report.
• CITIES: Densely populated megacities are supposed to be among the most vulnerable to impacts of climate change. The Sixth Assessment Report is expected to present specific scenarios of the climate change impacts on cities and large urban populations, and also implications for key infrastructure. 
• SYNERGIES: IPCC is expected to present a more integrated understanding of the situation, cross-link evidence and discuss trade-offs between different options or pathways, and also likely to cover social implications of climate change action by countries.

Syllabus: General studies paper 1

Context:

The violent stand-off between the Assam and Mizoram armed policemen at Vairengte in Mizoram, on 26th July 2021, took six lives and left 50 injured is the culmination of a long-standing border dispute.

Historical:

• Almost one and a half centuries ago and 17 years before the Lushai Hills were annexed to British Assam in 1892. 
• The ‘inner line’ boundary of the Lushai hills was ‘fixed’ in 1875 on the southern border of Assam’s Cachar district. 
• In line with the colonial practice of ‘fixing’ borders, this boundary was however not ‘precise’ as it was drawn largely using natural markers such as rivers and hills. 
• In post-independent India: 
  • The Mizoram government has accepted this boundary in preference over the subsequent revisions made by the colonial government when the Inner Line Permit under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation, 1873 was extended to the Lushai Hills district in 1930 and 1933.
• Unlike the 1875 boundary, which involved a proxy of Suakpuilala one of the Lushai chiefs, the Mizoram government perceives that; 
  • The boundary instituted by these revisions sidestepped them and amounted to unilateral superimposition driven as it were by ‘administrative convenience’. 
• These revisions are also seen to conspicuously fail to recognise the Mizo’s long-standing historical rights to use the un-demarcated southern border of Cachar; 
  • As their hunting ground, for jhum cultivation, and as sites of their resource extraction including rubber and timber. 
• The enclosure of about 509 square miles of the Lushai hills under the Inner Line Reserve Forest area via the Assam Forest Regulation, 1877, is being cited as one of the glaring exemplars of ‘encroachment’ by the Assam government into the Lushai Hills (now Mizoram). 
• However, considering that borders cannot be driven by perception but by institutionalised rules and laws, Assam’s government continues to refuse to accept Mizoram’s standpoint

Assam’s stand:

• Seen from this standpoint, the Assam government considers Mizo plantation and settlements in the Inner Line Reserve Forest areas as an ‘encroachment’. 
• Such a standpoint is oblivious to the fact that Seipuia, a Lushai chief, established a village, Seidpur, on a hill nearly 10 miles from Silchar, the capital of Cachar. 
• The Jalenga tea estate located in Tlangpui village and Paloi tea estate near Vairengte (both in Cachar) took their names after Zalenga and Palawia, two Lushai chiefs. 
• Given that the Lushai (also known as old Kukis — Hrangkhawl, Biete, Ralte, etc.) are among the earliest settlers of Cachar, many villages in Cachar (and Karimganj) have Lushai settlements. Sporadic incidents of evictions or arrests by the Assam officials were reported in the 1970s and 2000s. 
• A recent allegation of ‘encroachment’ happened in October 2020 when Assamese officials burnt down Mizo huts and other settlements in the Singla Reserve Forest which led to border clashes and a 12-day blockade of National Highway 306.
  • Although Assam incumbent Chief Minister is partially right in claiming that: 
    • The dispute is about ‘reserve forest’ and not ‘land’, what is at the heart of this dispute is the contending approaches of the Assam and Mizoram governments to ‘borders’, namely: 

• State-centric and People-centric approaches.

• The Assam government represents a continuum of the colonial state-centric approach to borders which gives premium to legal, juridical and administrative recognition and protection of the border. 
• Colonial state-making and state expansion entail a ‘fixing’ of borders. 
• The discovery of oil, tea, rubber and coal around the middle of the 19th century in the outer limits of Assam proper and the concomitant attempt to commercialise these commodities; 
  • Impel the regulation of trade and commerce between the British and their competitors. 
  • The enclosing of land in these outer limits by declaring them either as ‘forest reserve areas’ or imposing an inner line permit raj system stem from this.
• This development leverages a new land-use regime that is principally driven by efforts to augment State revenues. 
• Forest conservation and the protection of tribal/indigenous land interests are peripheral concerns. 
• One of the unintended consequences was the large-scale migration of labour from various parts of British India into Cachar, Hailakandi, and Karimganj. 
• The ‘encroachment’ and ‘enclosure’ of their land and forest ‘commons’ reinforced the steely resolve of the tribal groups such as the Lushais to ‘protect’ their land. 
• The series of raids since the mid-1840s, which culminated in the famous raid of Alexandrapore tea garden in Cachar in early January 1871, stems from this. 
  • In this raid, James Winchester, a British tea planter, was killed, and Mary Winchester, his daughter, was captured. 
• The British launched the Lushai Expedition (1871-72) partly to secure Mary’s release. 
• The recent overtures by the Assam government to approach the Supreme Court of India, and raise a 4,000-strong commando battalion to ‘protect’ the ‘forest reserve’ areas need to be seen against this backdrop. 
• Parading a bullet-proof armoured vehicle is intended to drive home this message. 
• The muscular display of power also becomes fully evident in the way in which a contingent of about 200 Assam armed policemen along with Karimganj forest officials overran the central paramilitary outpost, marched and ‘encroached’ deep into Mizoram’s border at Vairengte a day after the dispute had already flared up.
• Critics squarely blamed Assam for this misadventure and political upmanship which cost the lives of five of Assam’s armed policemen and a civilian and left over 50 people injured. 
• It remains to be seen if the immediate valorisation, ex gratia payment of ₹50 lakh and securing jobs to each family of the ‘martyrs’, and ₹1 lakh relief to the injured edify his image as a ‘decisive’ Chief Minister or expose him as a regional bully. 
• The last image has gained traction given that Assam has a long-standing border dispute with Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and Nagaland.

Mizoram’s approach:

• In contrast to the above, the Mizoram government advocate a people-centric approach that seeks to give a premium to the historical and traditional rights of the local indigenous people on the one hand and to the principle of uti possidetis Juris (‘as you possess under the law’, including customary law) on the other hand. 
• The incumbent CM and his predecessors have made concerted attempts to forge a consensus around this approach. 
• The two-member boundary committee report of 1973 and the memorandum prepared by the Joint Action Committee, non-governmental organisations and all political parties in Mizoram in 2018, which has been submitted to the Prime Minister of India, are pointers to this.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 2

Context:

The Bihar government recently announced 33% horizontal reservation for women in State engineering and medical colleges.

• Horizontal reservation refers to the equal opportunity provided to other categories of beneficiaries, such as women, veterans, the transgender community, and individuals with disabilities, cutting through the vertical categories.
• Bihar at present has 60% reservation in the State higher educational institutions along with the six vertical categories (SCs, STs, EWS and so on).
• The newly announced reservation for women in engineering and medical seats will not be in addition to this, it will instead be distributed across all the vertical categories, including the non-reserved 40% seats open to all.
• For example, if an engineering college has 100 reserved seats for STs, 33 of those seats will have to be filled with ST women.
• Article 15(3) of the Constitution allows governments to make special provisions for women and children.

About Horizontal Reservation:

• Reservation is a form of positive discrimination, created to promote equality among marginalised sections, so as to protect them from social and historical injustice.
• Generally, it means giving preferential treatment to marginalised sections of society in employment and access to education.
• Horizontal Reservation refers to the equal opportunity provided to other categories of beneficiaries such as women, veterans, the transgender community, and individuals with disabilities, cutting through the vertical categories.
• Article 15(3) allows protective discrimination in favour of women.
• Article 15(4) and 16(4) of the Constitution enabled the State and Central Governments to reserve seats in government services for the members of the SC and ST.
• The Constitution was amended by the Constitution (77th Amendment) Act, 1995 and a new clause (4A) was inserted in Article 16 to enable the government to provide reservation in promotion.
• Article 335 of the Constitution says that the claims of SCs and STs shall be taken into consideration constituently with the maintenance of efficacy of the administration.

Dropping out of the workforce:

• This horizontal reservation initiative should be welcomed and adopted across sectors, departments, and States given that India’s female labour force participation (FLFP) rate is consistently declining and is worryingly low.
• World Bank data shows that the FLFP came down to 21% in 2019 from 31.79% in 2005.
• As per the Bihar Economic Survey 2019-20, the State’s FLFP rate was abysmal compared to the all-India average.
• Only 6.4% and 3.9% of women were employed in the urban and rural areas of Bihar compared to the all-India figures of 20.4% and 24.6% respectively.
• The FLFP rate needs to be treated cautiously though as it doesn’t take into account unpaid work (majorly performed by women) or the role played by social barriers like caste in blocking employment opportunities for women like owning a shop.
• The government needs to work towards reducing the female and male school dropout rate and ensure quality education at the primary and secondary levels.

More jobs for women:

• While the Bihar government has taken some laudable steps for the empowerment of women, the low female literacy rate and FLFP rate are of concern.
• One of the important factors for the low FLFP rate is the lack of employment opportunities for women after matriculation and graduation.
• The India Human Development Survey-II found that women with low levels of education and from rural areas are relatively more active in the labour market compared to women with middle or high school education.
• Therefore, the Bihar government needs to ensure that women don’t fall out of the labour market as they become more educationally qualified.
• One way this can be done is by filling up pending vacancies in the health sector, police force, teaching and other government departments as at least 35% of these posts will go to women.
• The government should also do away with hiring workers on contract and make all the current contractual workers permanent.
• A strong political will is indispensable to find equilibrium between justice to the backwards, equity for the forwards and efficiency for the entire system.