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 System inadequacy is the reflection of the outdated nature of public bureaucracy.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....Read More

Recent Context 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....Read More

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....Read More

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....Read More

Syllabus – Bodies constituted, Policies, Programmes and Schemes for welfare of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Women, Minorities, Backward classes, Differently-abled persons, and children in India.  Recent Context 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....Read More