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THE GIST of Editorial for UPSC Exams : 15 october 2019 (Financial stability and the RBI (The Hindu))

Financial stability and the RBI (The Hindu)

Mains Paper 3: Economy
Prelims level: Reserve Bank of India
Mains level: Role of RBI

Context

  • The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) recently carried out its mandatory bi-monthly announcement on the future course of monetary policy.
  • These ostensibly offer ‘forward guidance’ to economic participants, so that they may plan their future.
  • Arguably, though, the public would have perhaps been more interested in knowing how the RBI intends to respond to the unusually large number of instances of fraud that have surfaced in the financial sector of late.
  • The RBI’s reputation as a regulator has been affected by these. What led the bank to this place needs understanding.

Role of a central bank

  • How in a democracy so much power could be ceded to an unelected body must itself come as a surprise.
  • It reflects two things: the political power of financial interests in the U.S. economy and the global intellectual influence of the American economic model.
  • This model revolves around the goal of maximum creation of wealth by private individuals unimpeded by societal objectives.
  • Leave alone the distribution of income, not even the objective of ensuring stability of the economy is allowed to come in the way of private individuals pursuing wealth enhancement.

Public regulation

  • It sets limits to private activity, is rejected as an unnecessary interference in beneficial activity that maximises social gain, and is therefore to be avoided.
  • When applied to finance, this model requires of the government only one action, namely, the control of inflation.
  • It is difficult to see why anticipated inflation, being an increase in all prices at the same rate, is harmful to production, the basis of an increase in wealth.
  • After all, when prices rise together, no one individual is worse off if the inflation has been perfectly anticipated.
  • It is unanticipated inflation that is the problem for producers, as it has the potential to derail their profit calculations.
  • However, inflation, even when fully anticipated, can harm holders of financial assets yielding fixed incomes by eroding their wealth.

Inflation control

  • As the volume of financial wealth in an economy increases so does the power of its owners over government.
  • Now inflation control tends to take centrestage in economic policy formulation.
  • When inflation control is implemented via monetary policy it results in higher interest rates.
  • Managers of financial wealth lobby for such a policy on behalf of their clients. This lobbying is the origin of the policy of inflation targeting.
  • Inflation targeting by the central bank involves use of the interest rate to keep inflation under control.
  • As it targets inflation it must let go of the employment objective. Though ‘flexible inflation-targeting’ is meant to take care of this objection, inflation is retained as the target and the central bank is not accountable for unemployment.
  • In fact, in situations where growth, employment and inflation are jointly determined, and mostly they are, inflation-targeting via the interest rate can lower inflation only by suppressing growth.
  • This is the mechanism by which inflation-targeting inevitably lowers growth.
  • On the other hand it points to other means of keeping inflation low, which, as has been demonstrated for India, would take the form of checking food-price inflation.

India’s hawkish stand

  • In a monumental failure of the imagination, India’s policymakers adopted inflation-targeting as the defining function of its central bank, even as the rest of the world was reassessing its credibility.
  • Though the switch was effected by legislation only in 2015, a hawkish inflation stance had emerged at the RBI some two years prior to that. The real interest rate swung upward by over 5 percentage points.
  • Inflation did come down, but that it continued to decline even as the real interest did not do so commensurately belies the possibility that inflation-targeting alone is responsible for it.
  • Commodity prices, both of oil and domestic agricultural goods, have grown slower since. Oil prices have actually been declining in certain phases, and would surely have had a direct impact on inflation.
  • But the slowing of the economy after 2016, which we are still experiencing, suggests that inflation-targeting may have had an impact on growth. This would not be surprising at all.

Financial instability

  • The emergence of financial instability in India following the institution of inflation-targeting is in line with what we have seen in the Anglo-American economic area.
  • In India, the virtual redefinition of the central bank’s functions appears to have encouraged the RBI to consider its work done once inflation is within target.
  • Televised monetary policy statements every two months would be no more than a charade, if inflation slows for extraneous reasons, and a smokescreen, if financial stability has been compromised due to lax regulation of the financial sector.

    Online Coaching for UPSC PRE Exam

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THE GIST of Editorial for UPSC Exams : 15 october 2019 (Good conduct leads to good corporate governance (The Hindu))

Good conduct leads to good corporate governance (The Hindu)

Mains Paper 4: Ethics
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Corporate Governance

Context

  • Good conduct automatically results in good governance and bad conduct is the prescription for corporates to go downhill over a period of time.
  • Most corporates ignore the virtues of the behavioural aspect of governance in their quest of seeking rapid growth and chasing profits.
  • This set me on the exciting journey of discovering the difference between corporate governance and corporate conduct.

Governance

  • Governance is the process whereby elements in society wield power and authority and enact policy and decisions concerning public life, and economic and social development.
  • Extending this concept to corporate governance, it means the manner in which the management prescribes conduct of the organisation.
  • This also means that governance is overarching, and conduct is the way of executing governance.

An ideal design for good corporate governance

  • By design, good corporate governance means abiding by the laws and regulations in letter and spirit and ensuring that all statutory obligations are discharged on time.
  • It also encompasses the manner in which board and committee meetings are conducted and the decisions minuted.
  • Corporates that are obsessed with full compliance will leave no stone unturned in adhering to the letter and spirit of laws and regulations.
  • They probably constitute 10 per cent of the corporate population. The other extreme is some corporates taking a considered view that penalties are cheaper than adhering to regulations, more so considering the overall cost of compliance.
  • For them the stigma of non-compliance is a non-issue. These constitute, say, 10 per cent of corporate population.
  • The balance 80 per cent form the safety net group where compliance is respected and followed in letter but may not be fully in spirit.
  • They would take multiple legal opinions for an adventurous route and back themselves that it will finally succeed in the Supreme Court.
  • There is an overall feeling that there are too many regulations and the costs of compliance and litigation are disproportionately high in India compared to global standards.

Transparency

  • Good corporates believe in a full and fair disclosure of their approach to all stakeholders.
  • Chairman’s speech, board report, management discussion analysis and notes on accounts to financial statements are areas where one can judge the quality of full and fair disclosure of corporates.
  • Disclosure of all accounting policies, managerial remuneration and related-party transactions in a fair and transparent manner is a requirement in today’s corporate regulations.
  • Also, disclosure of other non-financial matters such as conservation of energy, technological absorption, etc., are reported more like a statistical information rather than in a detailed cogent manner.

Conduct

  • The value system of every company is imbibed in the day-to-day conduct of the top management.
  • Corporate conduct consists of two parts: conduct vis-à-vis internal management (workforce); and conduct vis-à-vis external stakeholders — other shareholders, vendors, regulators, customers, etc.
  • Corporates that spend enough time and energy in adhering to good conduct emerge clear winners in the race to the final destination of excellence.
  • Corporate conduct also flows from the personal attributes of the leader. If he swipes the access card first coming into office, then others will follow and come on time.
  • Though we live in an age of flexible timings, good corporate conduct at the top always sets the example of early entry into office and late exit from office.

Element of personal expenses

  • Another example of good corporate conduct is where companies ensure that no element of personal expenses is charged to the company’s account.
  • There are enough checks and balances in the areas of propriety in the Companies Act and Income Tax Act to ensure that personal expenses are not charged to revenue.
  • However, shades of grey are visible where some of the expenses have both official and personal elements.
  • The feeling in corporate sector is that “all expenses are official, unless proved otherwise”.
  • Corporates with good conduct ensure that every item of expense is official and there are no shades of personal element involved.
  • Corrective measures are possible, provided corporates believe that they need corrections. It is here an enlightened board can step in and engineer the required corrective measures.

Model code of conduct

  • Tata Motors: The TATA code of conduct embraces the spirit of i-PURE, namely Integrity, Pioneering, Unity, Responsibility and Excellence. The box relating to integrity epitomises ideal corporate conduct. It says, “We will be fair, honest, transparent and ethical in our conduct; everything we do must stand the test of public scrutiny.”
  • Google: The Google’s code of conduct has two distinct compartments: The first relates to the external world which can be termed as PRAISE-U: Privacy, Responsiveness, take Action, Integrity, Security, freedom of Expression and Usefulness.

Conclusion

  • With so many first-generation and start-up companies coming up it is vital to instil in them the importance of good governance and good conduct.
  • Training sessions on corporate governance should have modules on good conduct which alone will ensure sustained and profitable growth for corporates.
  • The best CSR (corporate social responsibility) that corporates can undertake is first ensuring that they conduct themselves with decency and courtesy while dealing with stakeholders and the community at large.

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THE GIST of Editorial for UPSC Exams : 15 october 2019 (Economics Nobel rewards research that tackled poverty (The Hindu))

Economics Nobel rewards research that tackled poverty (The Hindu)

Mains Paper 3: Economy
Prelims level: J-PAL
Mains level: Poverty alleviation in global context

Context

  • By conferring the Nobel prize for economics on poverty researchers Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo and Michael Kremer, the Nobel committee has once again sent out a message that economics must address pressing concerns of the people rather than merely confine itself to arcane pursuits, such as the intricacies of derivatives trading.

Key observation made by the committee

  • In its citation, the Nobel committee has said that the winners of 2019 have helped break down the complex dimensions of poverty into simpler micro-level problems, such as education for girls and sanitation, for which specific policy solutions can be more easily tailored for a particular region.
  • The Academy observes that as a result of micro-level studies, it was possible in India to tailor remedial education programmes that benefited five million children.

About J-PAL

  • Banerjee, who has created the Abdul Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) in MIT, has worked with Duflo and Kremer in creating a methodology of ‘randomised control trials’ (RCTs) to assess the performance and potential of public policy.
  • J-PAL has carried out over 500 RCTs in 10 countries, including India, which includes an audit of pollution control in Gujarat, MGNREGA schemes and numerous welfare schemes in Tamil Nadu.
  • The studies in Tamil Nadu in partnership with the State government pertain to disease control, improving breastfeeding outcomes and dealing with anaemia in children.
  • Banerjee has notably been in the news for actively backing the Congress’ Nyuntam Aay Yojana, which promised to provide an estimated ₹6,000 a month to 25 crore people estimated to be in need of income support.
  • He has worked with French economist Thomas Piketty in pointing out the extent of wealth inequality in India, and in the context of NYAY observing that there was immense scope to raise money through taxes to fund such schemes.
  • By focussing on poverty and the nature of policy instruments required to address it, Banerjee et al share the concerns of earlier Nobel prize winners who have focussed on poverty, such as Amartya Sen (1998) and Angus Deaton (2015).

About RCTs

  • RCTs are based on the experimental methods of science, peers including Deaton have questioned this approach.
  • Whether a problem of economics can be delinked from politics, history and culture is a moot point. Sen adopts an institutional approach, as does Deaton.
  • Besides, it is possible to devise effective welfare schemes, such as Kudumbashree in Kerala, without resorting to RCT, if the political institutions are responsive to the needs of the people.
  • Governance outcomes in India are superior where democratic and social institutions are more evolved.
  • RCTs are an effective evaluation tool and can work as a micro-guide in guiding the direction and finances of welfare policies.

Conclusion

(GIST OF YOJANA) Infrastructure Development for the Next Generation [SEPTEMBER-2019]

(GIST OF YOJANA)  Infrastructure Development for the Next Generation

[SEPTEMBER-2019]

Infrastructure Development for the Next Generation

Introduction

  •  The Government has emphasized on creating world-class infrastructure for building a New India. It has undertaken various projects such as the Sagarmala Project (for accelerating port-led development), the Bharatmala Project (to link India from west to east), the Mumbai Trans Harbour Link project (for building the country's largest sea bridge) and the Setu Bharatam Project (making national highways free of railway level crossings) among others, to improve the present conditions of infrastructure. It also connected various villages through the construction of roads providing significant relief to the rural masses.
  •  The Government has also provided impetus for regional air connectivity, increased safety measures in railways and the development of smart cities for urban transformation. All these developmental efforts have paved the way for a better India with a strong economic base.
    PRADHAN MANTRI AYVAS YOJANA (PMAY)
  •  The Government has launched a comprehensive mission “Housing for All by 2022”.
  •  The scheme aims to construct more than four crore houses across the length and breadth of the nation within a span of next seven years (2015-2022).
  •  The scheme known as Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) is implemented as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS).
  •  The objective of the PMAY is to provide ever)' family with a pucca house, with a water connection, toilet facilities, and 24x7 electricity supply and access and to build 2.95 core housing units in rural areas and 1.2 crore housing units in urban areas.
  •  This mandate also includes upgradation of slums. Achieving the goal of ‘Housing for All’ will be a big step in the realisation of New India Vision 2022 that will trigger economic growth and create millions of jobs for skilled as well as unskilled workers. Moreover, given the forward and backward linkages of the housing sector, the focus on affordable housing could bring rich dividends for other sectors such as steel and cement.
  •  The target beneficiaries of the scheme would be poor and those living under EYVS and L1G categories in urban establishments of the country in 4041 statutory towns as per Census 2011 with focus on 500 Class I cities that would be covered and carried out in three substantial phases as follows:
  •  PMAY Phase I: April 2015 to March 2017;
  •  PMAY Phase II: April 2017 to March 2019;
  •  PMAY III: April 2019 to March 2022.
  •  Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana Urban (PMAY-U) aims to achieve the objective of ‘Housing for All’ by 2022 through its four pillars :
  •  In-situ slum redevelopment;
  •  Affordable housing through a credit linked subsidy scheme;
  •  Affordable housing in partnership between public and private agencies; and
  •  Subsidy for beneficiary-led individual house construction or enhancement.

ENERGY

  •  The Government’s on-going energy sector policies aim “to provide access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy”. At the convergence of its domestic goals and the global development agenda, it also intends to hit the following milestones:
  •  Make available 24x7 power to all by 2019;
  •  Achieve 175 GigaWatt (GW) of renewable energy generation capacity by 2022; and
  •  Reduce imports of oil and gas by 10 per cent by 2022-23.
    Some of the major challenges on achieving the milestones set for 2022- 23 are
  •  Overall energy: A variety of subsidies and taxes distort the energy market and promote the use of inefficient/over efficient fuels and also make Indian exports and domestic production uncompetitive as energy taxes are not under GST, and hence, no input credit is given.
  •  Power: The high industrial/commercial tariff and the cross subsidy regime have affected the competitiveness of the industrial and commercial sectors.
  •  Oil and Gas: Lack of market driven gas prices for old fields disincentivises further production. Also, the gas pipeline infrastructure is not adequate.
  •  Coal: There is a tendency to expand open-cast mining and discourage underground operation even for better quality coal reserves.
  •  Renewable Energy: High energy costs result in reneging on old Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) and erode their sanctity. This leads to uncertainty regarding power off-take and consequently endangers further investments.
  •  Energy efficiency: Limited technical capabilities, high initial capital expenditure, limited market and other issues have affected efforts to achieve energy efficiency.

Way Forward

  •  Overall Energy: Oil, natural gas, electricity and coal may be brought under GST to enable input tax credit and the same GST rate may apply for all forms of energy to enable a level playing field.
  •  Power: All PPAs including those with State generation companies should be based on competitive bidding. For agriculture, an upfront subsidy per acre of land through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) may be considered instead of providing separate subsidies for fertilizers, electricity, crop insurance etc. Moreover, it is necessary to actively promote cross-border electricity trade to utilize existing/upcoming generation assets.
  •  Oil and Gas: It is important to provide for a common carrier and open access to gas pipelines and separate the developmental and regulatory functions of the PNGRB. In addition, providing for shared infrastructure for evacuation of oil and gas from small and scattered on-shore and offshore fields should be made possible.
  •  Coal: Detailed exploration through exploration-cum-mining leases based on production revenue sharing model and with the onus on concerned State Governments.
  •  Renewable energy: Central level agencies like Central Electricity Regulatory Commission or National Load Despatch Centre should socialize the costs of balancing inter-state transmission systems (ISTS) connected power plants, over the entire system, on the lines of the point of connection (PoC) or a similar mechanism.
  •  Energy efficiency: Promote the mandatory use of LED and the replacement of old appliances in government buildings with five star appliances. Focus the UJALA (Unnat Jyoti by Affordable LEDs for All) programme on lower income households and small commercial establishments.
  •  The number of appliances covered under the Standards and Labelling programme should be increased. Widen and deepen the Perform, Achieve and Trade (PAT) programme; make Energy Saving Certificate (ESCcrt) trading under the PAT scheme effective by ensuring strict penalties against defaulters. Promote the use of the public transport system.

TRANSPORT

Roads

  •  It is a matter of pride that India is the world’s second-largest road network, and most dense among countries according to size. Increasing the coverage and quality of roads and highways is critical to enhancing connectivity and internal and external trade. By 2022-23, India should achieve the following objectives:
  •  Increase connectivity by expanding the road network:  achieve the Bharatmala Phase-I target by completing 24,800 km by 2021-22, including 2,000 km of coastal and port connectivity roads, complete Phase I of the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) with quality monitoring at every stage,  double the length of national highways (NHs) to 2 lakh km by 2022-23 from the existing 1.22 lakh km, and widen single/intermediate lane (SL/IL) NHs and reduce the length of SL/IL Nils to less than 10 percent of total length by 2022-23 from the present 26.46 per cent.
  •  Improve the regulatory framework for roads to achieve better compliance, seamless connectivity, road safety and quality.
  •  Reduce the number of road accidents and fatalities by 50 per cent by 2020.
  •  The road sector in India accounts for the largest share in the movement of both passengers and freight. Driven by a rapidly growing economy, access to vehicle finance and improved road connectivity, the demand for mobility on roads has risen continuously, leading to a sharp rise in the number of road transport vehicles.
  •  Over the years, both accessibility and mobility have improved through construction of new roads and development of existing roads.

Challenges

  •  Capacity: The existing length of the NH network is 1.22 lakh km, which is 2.2 percent of the country’s total road network of 56.03 lakh km. The existing NH length with 4-lane and above NH standards is 27,658 km (22.59 per cent), and that with single/intermediate lane width is 32,395 km (26.46 per cent); the remaining 62,379 km (50.95 per cent) is of 2-lane NH standards.
  •  Maintenance: Regular preventive maintenance has to be an integral element of road investment.
  •  Land acquisition: Existing land laws should be amended to complete infrastructure projects at a fast pace.
  •  Inter-agency co-ordination: Horizontal and vertical inter-agency cooperation is needed for planned land use to ensure inter-modal connectivity and to connect well with other parts of the network to boost overall capacity.
  •  Funding: Sources for road funding are principally commitments from gross budgetary outlays, though these may stem from earmarked revenue streams, taxes and cess, dedicated road funds, or special development programmes such as the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY).
  •  Institutional arrangements: Large number of institutions and agencies are responsible for design, construction, operation and maintenance at all levels of Government. No single institution should be expected to successfully negotiate the multitude of responsibilities and functions associated with all classes of roads.

Way Forward

  •  Increase connectivity by expanding the road network: To achieve this, the four very important projects to be undertaken:
  •  Bharatmala Pariyojana Phase-I: complete 24,800-km by 2021-22,
  •  Special Accelerated Road Development Programme for the North-Eastern region (SARDPNE), Phase ‘A’: improve about 4,099 km in the North-East,
  •  ‘North-East Road Network Connectivity Project Phase I’: improve infrastructure in Meghalaya and Mizoram and enhance connectivity with inter- state roads and international borders and Chardham Mahamarg Vikas Pariyojna.
  •  Improve road maintenance and safety: Maintain NH assets by adopting a maintenance management system (MMS).
  •  Streamline land acquisition: Sensitize stakeholders to iron out details of land acquisitions like determining market value, deciding a compensation amount, disbursement of compensation, etc., as detailed in the 2017 guidelines issued by MORTH.
  •  Skill development: Introduce vocational training courses on road construction in Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) and ensure stringent testing of driving skills before granting driving licences by adopting technologically advanced methods such as the automated driving testing system.
  •  Increase emphasis on research and development (R and D): Earmark 0.1 per cent of MORTH’s annual budget for R and D, establish a transport data centre at the national level for applied research on roads, enhance R and D on IT-enabled traffic management systems, and periodically revise codes/standards/guidelines related to technology use in line with the latest technological developments in the highways sector.
  •  Increase the capacity and reach of public transport: Transform State Road Transport Undertakings (SRTUs) and promote public transport, rural transport and last mile connectivity and the Central Government will have to work with states to develop bus terminals and provide support on technologies/software such as VAHAN (for vehicle registration) and Saarthi (for driving licences).
  •  Expand the reach of the electronic toll collection (ETC) system: Streamline the ‘FASTag’ charging system, and engage with stakeholders and concessionaires (for PPP toll plazas) to ensure that all toll plazas have the requisite infrastructure for ETC.

Railways

  •  The Indian Railways (IR) is the third largest railway network in the world under a single management and is the fourth largest network in the world in terms of route km (67,368 km in FY17). It is also the largest passenger (1,150 billion-passenger km in FY17) and fourth largest freight (620 billion net-tonne km in FY17) transporting railway system globally. In FY17, 13,329 passenger trains carried over 22.24 million passengers daily while the freight transported was 1.1 billion tonnes.
  •  By 2022-23, India should have a rail network that is not only efficient, reliable and safe, but is also cost effective and accessible, both with respect to the movement of people and goods. This requires achieving the following objectives:
    Augment the capacity of existing railway infrastructure.
  •  Increase the speed of infrastructure creation from the present 7 km/day to 19 km/day by 2022-23.
  •  Achieve “100 percent” electrification of broad-gauge track by 2022-23 from the 40 percent level in 2016-17.
  •  Increase the average speed of freight and mail/ express trains to 50 km/hr (from about 24 km/hr in 2016-17) and 80 km/hr (from about 60 km/ hr), respectively.
  •  Improve the safety of the railways, achieving zero fatalities.
  •  Enhance service delivery, achieving 95 per cent on-time arrivals by 2022-23.
  •  By 2022-23, the railways should have a freight load of 1.9 billion tonnes and an improved modal share of 40 percent of freight movement from the current level of 33 per cent.
  •  Increase the share of non-fare revenues in total revenue to 20 per cent.

Challenges

  •  Over-stretched infrastructure with 60 per cent plus routes being more than 100 percent utilized, leading to a reduction in average speed of passenger and freight trains.
  •  Moreover, negligible non-fare revenues and high freight tariffs have led to a sub-optimal freight share.

CIVIL AVIATION

  •  India’s civil aviation sector has been growing steadily; the number of passengers was 158 million in 2016-17. Domestic passenger traffic increased at a CAGR of almost 10 per cent between 2007-08 and 20lb-17 and international passenger traffic grew at a CAGR of 8.07 per cent during the same period.

Objectives

  •  Enhance the affordability of flying to enable an increase in domestic ticket sales from 103.75 million in 2016-17 to 300 million by 2022.
  •  Double air cargo handled from about 3.3 million tonnes in 2017-I8 to about 6.5 million tonnes.
  •  Expand the Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) industry from USD 1.8 billion in 2017 to USD 2.3 billion.
  •  Expand airport capacity more than five times to handle one billion trips a year.
  •  Enhance availability and affordability of regional air connectivity and revive/upgrade 56 unserved airports and 31 unserved helipads through the Regional Connectivity Scheme - Ude Desh Ka Aam Naagrik (RCS-UDAN).
  •  Ensure that airport tariffs, taxes on fuel, landing charges, passenger services, cargo and other charges are determined in an efficient, fair and transparent manner.

Challenges

  •  Adequate hangar space and availability of land to expand airports at their current sites, particularly in major cities, are needed.
  •  Skilled workers: According to a study conducted by the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Indian aviation could directly support 1.0 to 1.2 million jobs by 2035. This implies that about 0.25 million persons will need to be skilled over the next 10 years.
  •  The Ministry of Civil Aviation has mandated that all airports move from a single to a hybrid till structure.
  •  Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) is relatively expensive in India.
  •  The number of aviation safety violations needs to be controlled.

Wav Forward

  •  Enhance aviation infrastructure. Complete the planned airports under the UDAN initiative in a time-bound manner, in addition to completing two new airports for Delhi and Mumbai by 2022.
  •  Increase investment in the sector through financial and infrastructure support.
  •  Increase skilled manpower: Promote collaboration between original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), industry and educational institutes to teach the latest concepts in the aviation industry including management principles, IT in aviation, etc.
  •  Ease the regulatory environment for airports: Adopt a consistent model for tariff determination so that it reduces passenger cost and align taxation and pricing structure to global benchmarks by considering bringing aviation turbine fuel (ATF) under the rubric of GST.

PORTS and SHIPPING AND INLAND WATER TRANSPORT (IWT)

Objectives

  •  Double the share of freight transported by coastal shipping and inland waterways from 6 per cent in 20 1 6-17 to 12 per cent by 2025.
  •  Increase the port handling capacity to 2,500 million metric tonnes (MMT) by 2022-23.
  •  Reduce the turnaround time at major ports from about 3.44 days (2016-17) to 1-2 days (global average) by 2022-23.
  •  Increase the throughput of inland waterways from 55.20 MMT in 2016-17 to 60-70 MMT by 2022-23.
  •  Augment the capacity of inland water transport by increasing the least available depth.

Inland Waterways

  •  Inland Water Transport (IWT) carries less than 2 per cent of India's organized freight traffic and negligible passenger traffic. The Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) is mandated to develop and maintain infrastructure for fairway, navigational aids and terminals.
  •  Until 2015, there were only five National Waterways (NWs) in the country.
  •  In April 2016, 106 more waterways spread over 24 states were declared as NWs.
  •  The Ministry is augmenting the capacity of NW-I under the Jal Marg Vikas project. The project will enable the movement of larger vessels of 1,500-2,000 tonnes on inland waterways.

Challenges

  •  A minimum draft depth of 18 metres is needed to enable mother vessels to dock at ports.
  •  It is difficult to attract capital for building inland vessels as it is a significant investment.

Way Forward

  •  Dredging market to open up attracting more players, particularly international players, in dredging activities.
  •  Expedite the completion of various projects under Sagarmala.
  •  IWT should be integrated to multimodal/ intermodal connectivity.
  •  Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved the implementation of the Jal Marg Vikas Project (JMVP) to augment the capacity of National Waterway-1 (NW-I) with technical assistance and investment support from the World Hank at a cost of Rs. 5369.18 crore.

UPSC Pre General Studies Study Material

LOGISTICS

  •  The contemporary definition of logistics involves the integration of information, transportation, inventory, warehousing, materials handling and packaging.
  •  Logistics management includes the design and administration of systems to control the (low of material, work-in-progress, and finished inventory to support business unit strategy.

Objectives

  •  Achieve multi-modal movement of cargo on par with global logistics standards.
  •  Reduce the logistics cost to less than 10 percent of GDP from the current level of 14 percent.
  •  Expand the logistics market to USD 215 billion by 2020 from the current level of USD 160 billion.
  •  Improve logistics skilling and increase jobs in the sector to 40 million by 2022-23 from about 22 million in 2016.

Challenges

  •  Absence of last mile connectivity and infrastructure, competition and underutilized capacity, lack of interoperability of software systems used by the authorities governing different modes of transport leads to an increase in transit time.

Way Forward

  •  Rationalize tariffs and determine prices in an efficient manner across different modes, create an overarching body that maintains a repository of all transport data to internal stake-holders and conduct robust analysis of the data, setting up multimodal logistics parks etc. will help address issues related to infrastructure development.

Complete Study Material For UPSC, IAS Exams

(GIST OF YOJANA) Build upon ongoing initiatives and supplementary steps to transform health in India [SEPTEMBER-2019]

(GIST OF YOJANA)  Build upon ongoing initiatives and supplementary steps to transform health in India

[SEPTEMBER-2019]

Build upon ongoing initiatives and supplementary steps to transform health in India

Introduction

  •  Develop a road-map for a possible health insurance/assurance programme, for secondary and tertiary level hospitalization with no financial cap covering up to 80% Indian population, under Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana(PM-JAY). Though, non-poor may be asked for mandatory contribution.
  •  Link existing secondary and tertiary level insurance schemes with financial cover for non-hospitalisation (out-patient consultation) services.
  •  In other words, effective hospitalisation and out-patient coverage linkage. The services should be designed to be free at the point of delivery.
  •  Revise the norm for Urban Primary Health Centre (UPIIC) from one for every 50,000 population to one for every 25,000 population by 2022 and for every 10.000 population by 2028.
  •  Establish additional 50,000 IIWCs by 2022 to fill the shortage of Government primary healthcare infrastructure in India. More such facilities need to come up in urban areas and with innovative approaches.

UPSC Pre General Studies Study Material

  •  All Indian states to set up public health cadre to strengthen preventive and preventive health services.
  •  Consider an All India cadre of specialist doctors (on line of erstwhile Indian Medical Services) to address the shortage of specialist doctors at public health facilities. This approach can help, along with designing of sub-district-based health system, to address shortage of specialist doctors which is in the range of 60-80% in most of the states.
  •  Establish independent and autonomous institutional mechanisms for operational/ implementation research and for technical support to provide evidence and guidance for health systems strengthening. The health sector is a specialised field and dedicated and evidence-based technical advice by full time staff is desirable for effective and large-scale health initiatives in India.
  •  Plan health services so as to see both primary healthcare and hospital in continuum of care with effective functioning at all levels. Evidence suggests that a strengthened PHC system performs better when supported by an equally well-functioning hospital services/system, with two-way referral. In this context, there is a need to consider establishing stronger linkage under Ayushman Bharat Programme between HWC and PMJAY.

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BIHAR State GK Questions (Set-25) for BPSC Exam

BIHAR State GK Questions (Set-25) for BPSC Exam

Q.1 : देश का सबसे बड़ा पशु मेला किस राज्य में लगता है ?

(a) राजस्थान
(b) बिहार
(c) उड़ीसा
(d) मध्य प्रदेश

Q.2 : बिहार राज्य के किस स्थान पर देश का सबसे बड़ा पशु मेला लगता है ?

(a) रामपुर
(b) अररिया
(c) सोनपुर
(d) गया

Q.3 : देश के सर्वोच्च अलंकरण "भारतरत्न" से सम्मानित उस्ताद बिस्मिला खॉं बिहार के किस जिले के निवासी है ?\

(a) बक्सर
(b) दरभंगा
(c) पटना
(d) पटना

Q.4 : बिहार राज्य में शिक्षा के प्रसार के लिए किस वर्ष को विद्यालयों में नामांकन वर्ष के रूप में मनाते है ?

(a) वर्ष, 2009
(b) वर्ष, 2002
(c) वर्ष, 2001
(d) वर्ष, 2000

Q.5 : बिहार की राजधानी पटना प्राचीन काल में किस नाम से विख्यात थी ?

(a) कुसुमपुर
(b) पाटलिपुत्र
(c) अजीमाबाद
(d) उपरोक्त सभी

बिहार लोक सेवा आयोग प्रारम्भिक परीक्षा के लिए अध्ययन सामग्री

Study Kit for Bihar Public Service Commission Preliminary Examination

(GIST OF YOJANA) SKILLS FOR A $5 TRILLION ECONOMY [SEPTEMBER-2019]

(GIST OF YOJANA)  SKILLS FOR A $5 TRILLION ECONOMY

[SEPTEMBER-2019]

SKILLS FOR A $5 TRILLION ECONOMY

Introduction

  •  The Prime Minister has set a target for India to be a S5 trillion economy by 2024. A key enabler to this is having the requisite skilled manpower in the various sectors that would drive this growth. India has a distinct advantage today over its competitors in terms of the age of working population. With half of its population below the age of 25, the country has the world’s youngest population.
  •  Along with this, India is also slated to go through a phase of sharp slowdown in population growth in the next two decades, as pointed out in the Economic Survey for 2018-19. This means that while the country as a whole will enjoy the “demographic dividend” phase, parts of it will witness the transition to ‘an ageing society by the 2030s’.
  •  The big challenge today, therefore, is of converting this transition into a dividend - the number of those gainfully contributing to economic growth equalling the number of those dependant on them.
  • There are various processes and pathways to do this.
  •  The first of these is education. Education for all, expansion of higher education and specific professional courses like architecture, law, medical, engineering and others are the key initiatives.
  •  The second is skill development for entry-level jobs for those either in education or in employment or out of education and employment.
  •  The third is add- skilling, that is upskilling and reskilling those who have been educated and have worked or are working, or those who have worked and out of job to meet the skill requirements of the new jobs or changed jobs.
  •  According to the Economic Survey, ‘the working-age population in the country will grow by roughly 97 lakh per year during the coming decade and 42 lakh per year in the 2030s’.
    Key Central and State-Specific Skill Development Programmes

Central:

  •  Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana
  •  SkillsAcquisition and Knowledge Awareness for Livelihood Promotion (SANKALP)
  •  UDAAN (Special industry initiative for J and K)
  •  Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Kendra
  •  Recognition of Prior Learning
  •  Apprenticeship training
  •  National Apprenticeship
  •  Promotion Scheme
  •  Craftsmen Training Scheme
  •  DeenDayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana
  •  Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana
  •  Samarth (Textile Sector)
  •  Modular Employable Skill under Skill Development Initiative
  •  Green Skill Development Programme
  •  Skill Development for PwDs (SIPDA)
  •  Sub-Mission on Polytechnics under the Coordinated Action for Skill Development
  •  Establishment of Centres for Training and Research in Frontier Areas of Science and Technology (Fast)
  •  Scheme for Higher Education Youth in Apprenticeship and Skills
  •  Skill Development for Minorities (Special Programmes)
  •  Scckho aur Kamao (Learn and Earn)
  •  Upgrading the Skills and Training in Traditional Arts/Crafts for Development (USTTAD)
  •  Nai Manzil
  •  Maulana Azad National Academy for Skills

Select State-Specific Programmes:

  •  Mukhya Mantri Kaushal Samvardhan Yojana (MMKSY) – Madhya Pradesh
  •  Kushal Yuva Program– Bihar
  •  Mukhya Mantri Shram Shakti Yojana– Bihar
  •  Kaushalkar.com – Karnataka
  •  Kaushalya Vardhan Kendra (KVK) – Gujarat
  •  SURYA – Haryana
  •  SAKSHAM – Haryana
  •  Seckho-Sikhao (Training of Trainers) – Haryana
  •  S-Mart(Skill Mart) – Haryana

    UPSC Pre General Studies Study Material

Various Skill development schemes in detail

  •  A comprehensive skill development programme has been implemented in the last five years with the setting up of the Ministry for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) in November 2014. The Government formulated the National Policy on Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, 2015, under which the Skill India Mission by 2022 was formulated.
  •  The Skill India initiative was launched in 2015. A flagship programme Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) is aimed at mobilising the youth to take up industry-relevant skill training and recognise and certify prior learning.
  •  PMKVY’s first version, launched in 2015. had a target to train 1 crore youth by 2020. During 2015-16, 19.8 lakh youth were trained as against the target of 24 lakh.
  •  Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) 2016-2020 was launched under MSDE in 2016. More than 3crore people have been trained under Skill India, and more than 50
  •  lakh candidates so far under PMKVY.
  •  PMKVY’s second version for 2016-20 brought in mandatory provisions for placement tracking and achieved 54 per cent placement, about 12.05 lakh candidates, in the short-term training. Of the 30 lakh candidates who enrolled, 27.9 lakh were trained.
  •  Under Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Kendra (PMKK), launched in 2015 to set up aspirational model training centres in every district, 851 PMKKs have been allocated and 601 PMKKs have already been established till June 2019.
  •  National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme was initiated in 2016 to promote apprenticeship with provision for basic training and on the-job training or practical training at workplace. Till June 2019, 1 1.87 lakh candidates and 76,860 establishments have registered under the scheme.
  •  SANKALP, launched in 2017, aims to create convergence among all skill training activities, improve the quality of skill development programmes and create industry-led and demand-driven skill training capacity. As on December 2018, the process of disbursement of funds to States and UTs is underway. Regional workshops with States and UTs are also being held to facilitate roll out.
  •  STRIVE, another initiative launched in 2017, aims to create awareness through industry clusters, integrate and enhance delivery quality of ITIs.
    NSDC Contribution
  •  The NSDC, one of its kind. Public-Private Partnership Company has acted as a catalyst in skill development. It has engaged in 235 private sector partnerships for training and capacity Riding - each to train at least 50,000 persons over a 10-year period. FICCI is a shareholder of NSDC.

Impact

  •  The impact analysis of the short-term training under PMKVY on employment shows that training and certification has led to a nine percentage point increase in proportion of employed individuals.
  •  The training part alone has contributed eight percentage points on employability. In terms of income, PMKVY training and certification has contributed 15 per cent to the mean monthly income. The training part had an impact of 9 per cent, as mean monthly income of PMKVY trained individuals was seen to be Rs. 8283 as compared to Rs. 7584 of the comparison group. Certification has been found to have an impact of 9 per cent on the mean monthly income.
  •  Also, assessment of the impact of the recognition of prior learning on income indicated a significant difference of 19 per cent in the mean monthly income of certified candidates.
  •  Many training organisations, even though not training under the PMKVY or other Government programmes, have started using these qualifications to meet the needs of employers. Universities and colleges are doing add on programmes with the Skill Councils to make students work ready or to do programmes for those in work to upskill them.
  •  There are also changes on the anvil. The New Education Policy aims to introduce skills in schools, colleges and Universities. The MSDE is in the process of restructuring the NQSF and the National Council for Vocational Training. There are also discussions on revamping the PMKVY.

Conclusion

  •  The skills ecosystem that has been created could also address the needs of those firms who find it difficult to identify the right people to employ.
  •  It could be done by developing the qualification pack for the job role, getting it approved and then working with a training partner to enable the right person to be trained and recruited. Similarly, we could train for the world.

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THE GIST of Editorial for UPSC Exams : 14 october 2019 (In his company (Indian Express))

In his company (Indian Express)

Mains Paper 1: Society
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Gender Equality at work place

Context

  • If national societies were brands, “diversity” would certainly be the buzzword for India. So would hierarchy and inequality.

Key facts

  • The CS Gender 3000 report, released by the Credit Suisse Research Institute, points to the lack of equal or even adequate representation of women in the upper echelons of corporate India.
  • According to the report, India’s female representation on corporate boards has increased by 4.3% over the past five years to 15.2%.
  • This growth is well below the global average of over 20%.
  • India also has the third-lowest rank in the Asia Pacific region with regard to female CEO representation – at 2%.
  • It also has the second-lowest rank for female CFO representation at just 1%.

Highlights about the mere confirmation

  • The report merely confirms what has long been known anecdotally.
  • Apart from a few high-profile corporate leaders, by and large, the upper echelons and even senior management positions in the private sector continue to be dominated by men.
  • At the time of intake, there is far greater gender parity, but the number of women reduces exponentially as we move higher on the pyramid of the corporate hierarchy.
  • The report surveyed 3,000 companies across 56 countries and found that, globally, the number of women in leadership has doubled.
  • The countries that lead — Norway, France, Sweden, and Italy — either have formal quotas or informal targets for gender parity in place. India’s private sector has long resisted government-imposed quotas for affirmative action

Steps to resolve the inequalities

  • Since Independence, various attempts have been made to resolve the contradiction between diversity and inequality.
  • Reservation in government jobs and educational institutions, 25% quota for students from economically weaker sections in private schools are such attempts.
  • Though the private sector resists legislation that circumscribes it in matters of hiring and promotion, there can be no case for the continuing glass ceiling that women and marginalised social groups face.
  • The private sector accounts for over 95% of the labour force. Corporate leaders and boards must seriously consider institutionalised mechanisms to ensure diversity and equality.
  • Government regulation is best stymied by proactive action from companies themselves

Conclusion

THE GIST of Editorial for UPSC Exams : 14 october 2019 (Prize for peace: On Nobel for Ethiopia PM (The Hindu))

Prize for peace: On Nobel for Ethiopia PM (The Hindu)

Mains Paper 2: Governance
Prelims level: Abiy Ahmed
Mains level: Describe the role of Abiy Ahmed to resolve Ethiopian crisis

Context

  • The Norwegian Nobel Committee’s decision to award this year’s Peace Prize to Abiy Ahmed, the Prime Minister of Ethiopia.

Reasons behind the recognition

  • It is both a recognition of his efforts for peace in East Africa.
  • Mr. Abiy, who became Prime Minister in April 2018 after his predecessor Hailemariam Desalegn resigned amid a political crisis and social unrest.
  • He has taken steps to politically stabilise the country and establish peace on its borders.
  • The committee recognised in particular his “decisive initiative to resolve the border conflict with neighbouring Eritrea”.

Eritrea conflict

  • Eritrea, which got independence from Ethiopia in 1991, has fought a disastrous border war during 1998-2000 with its big neighbour.
  • It split thousands of families and killed about 80,000 people.
  • In Eritrea, the dictatorship used the prolonged border conflict as a convenient excuse for conscription and repression of its critics, which led to a mass refugee outflow.
  • Mr. Abiytook steps to resume the stalled peace process to led Ethiopia’s first state visit to Eritrea and met its President, Isaias Afwerki. Within days both countries declared the end of the border war.

Reform works

  • Mr. Abiy had also initiated reforms at home, such as lifting the ban on opposition political parties, releasing political prisoners and jailed journalists and removing media curbs.
  • Half of his Cabinet members are women and his government has welcomed the dissidents who were living in exile to return.
  • Mr. Abiy, himself hailing from the Oromo ethnic group, persuaded the Oromo Liberation Front to join a wide-ranging peace process with the government.

Challenges ahead

  • But his biggest challenge is to calm ethnic tensions in his conflict-ridden country. Ethiopia is a multi-ethnic federation ruled by the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front with a tight grip.
  • Mr. Abiy has loosened this grip and called for a pan-Ethiopian identity and a freer economy and polity. But his reform agenda was challenged by ethno-nationalists both within and outside his party. His government remained a spectator when ethnic violence was unleashed in several parts of the country over the past year, and sub-nationalisms emerged stronger. The Oromia and Amhara regions remain tense.
  • Ethnic Gedeos and Gujis are in conflict in the south. Earlier this year, at least 5,22,000 Ethiopians were displaced by ethnic conflicts.

Conclusion

  • With the country set to go to elections next year, many fear that violence could escalate.
  • Mr. Abiy has to arrest this slide of Ethiopia into an inter-ethnic civil war.
  • Being a Nobel peace prize winner, he should come up with a national action plan to end violence, ease ethnic tensions and resettle the thousands displaced by the violence.
  • That should be as important for him as ending the war with Eritrea.

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THE GIST of Editorial for UPSC Exams : 14 october 2019 (A tax policy that could work (The Hindu))

A tax policy that could work (The Hindu)

Mains Paper 3: Economy
Prelims level: Corporate tax rate
Mains level: Discuss the role of corporate tax to boosting an economy

Context

  • Its declared budgetary target for the current year requires tax receipts to increase by around 25%, when the first quarter increase was only 6% over the previous year.
  • In the misplaced belief that what is required to address the current slowdown is more tax relief to corporates, it has offered tax rate reductions to 25% of profits to companies that do not avail of other concessions, and further rebates to new companies.
  • So very significant tax shortfalls are likely even in the current year, unless the government takes proactive measures.

Looking at MNCs

  • But such measures need not — and should not — take the form of the tax terrorism that this government has been prone to, or increasing GST rates, which would be regressive and counterproductive in the slowdown.
  • There are other measures that could provide significantly more tax revenues to the government.
  • One obvious low-hanging fruit is a strategy to ensure that multinational companies (MNCs) actually pay their fair share of taxes.
  • It is well known that MNCs manage to avoid taxation in most countries, by shifting their declared costs and revenues through transfer pricing across subsidiaries, practices described as “base erosion and profit shifting” (BEPS).
  • Matters have got even worse with digital companies, some of the largest of which make billions of dollars in profits across the globe, but pay barely any taxes anywhere.
  • The International Monetary Fund has estimated that countries lose $500 billion a year because of this.
  • Also, it creates an uneven playing field, since domestic companies have to pay taxes that MNCs can avoid.

How the idea works

  • The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has now recognised this through its BEPS Initiative, and has even attempted a belated attempt to include developing countries through what it calls its inclusive process.
  • So far, this process has delivered a few benefits, but these are limited because it has continued to operate on the basis of the arm’s-length principle of treating the subsidiaries as separate entities.

The idea is this

  • Since an MNC actually functions as one entity, it should be treated that way for tax purposes.
  • So the total global profits of a multinational should be calculated, and then apportioned across countries according to some formula based on sales, employment and users (for digital companies).
  • This is something that is actually already used in the United States where state governments have the power to set direct and indirect tax rates.
  • A minimum corporate tax should be internationally agreed upon for this to prevent companies shifting to low tax jurisdictions (ICRICT has suggested 25%).
  • Then, each country can simply impose taxes on the MNCs operating in their jurisdictions, in terms of their own shares based on the formula.
  • It could be argued that this would only work if all countries agree, and certainly that is the ideal to be aimed at.
  • But the beauty of this proposal is that just some large countries can move the debate and make it less advantageous for global companies to shift their profits around.
  • If the big markets such as the United States and the European Union together decided to tax according to this proposed principle, there would be little incentive for many MNCs to try and shift reported profits to other places.

Measures taken by Indian Government

  • The Indian government has already proposed in a white paper that it could take such a unilateral initiative for digital companies.
  • The OECD BEPS Initiative will be meeting on October 19 to set out its own proposal, and for the first time, it is willing to consider the possibility of unitary taxation.
  • But there are some stings in the tail that may well render the proposed measures practically impotent.
  • These concerns are set out clearly in a new report from ICRICT.

Key concerns

  • The biggest problem is the arbitrary separation between what OECD calls “routine” and “residual” profits, and the proposal that only residual profits will be subject to unitary taxation. This has no economic justification, since profits are anyway net of various costs and interest.
  • The proposal does not clearly specify the criteria for determining routine profits, instead suggesting that the “arm’s-length principle” will be used to decide this, which defeats the entire purpose.
  • There is no system of corporate taxation anywhere in the world that makes such a distinction — so why should an international system rely on this?
  • Another concern is about the formula to be used to distribute taxable profits. The OECD suggests only sales revenues as the criterion, but developing countries would lose out from this because they are often the producers of commodities that are consumed in the advanced economies.
  • The G24 group of (some of the most influential) developing countries has proposed that a combination of sales/users and employment should be used, which makes much more sense.

Conclusion

  • It is important for the Indian government to look at this issue seriously and take a clear position at the OECD meeting, because the outcome will be very important for its own ability to raise tax revenues.
  • A government that is currently ineffective in battling both economic slowdown and declining tax revenues cannot afford to neglect this crucial opportunity.
    But more public pressure may be required to make the government respond.

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THE GIST of Editorial for UPSC Exams : 14 october 2019 (Scholarship in times of populism (The Hindu))

Scholarship in times of populism (The Hindu)

Mains Paper 2: Social Justice
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Civil liberties

Context

  • The task of a scholar is not only to coin clever sound-bytes.
  • Intellectuals have to bring a historical and comparative perspective to bear upon the present.
  • Their job is to tell us what the historical processes that brought us from ‘there’ to ‘here’ are, identify political problems, and, if possible, help resolve them.
  • But reflection, analysis, critique and conceptualisation need stable political contexts. We must know of what we speak when we speak of categories that allow us to tidy, challenge and remake our worlds. We must be sure of the empirical referents we address.

Threat to civil liberties

  • Till the first decade of the 21st century, the political context in which scholars theorised was more or less settled.
  • Today the political battleground that constitutes our worlds, which is the context for our words, is consolidated by the emergence of right-wing populists across countries.
  • The empirical referrals of analysis, critique, conceptualisation and theory have rapidly changed.

Appropriation of nationalism

  • Nationalism formed the anchor of our freedom struggle.
  • It is also the excuse for some very unpalatable efforts to repress us.
  • The concept has been deployed by governments to target minorities and immigrants, to dismiss dissent as sedition, to justify oppression, and to reduce our status from citizens to subjects.
  • Nationalism has legitimised rhetoric and decisions that would have aroused widespread political protest a few years ago.
  • The vulgarities of a nationalism that prevents debate, let alone dissent, bewilders; it saps energies.

The distinction between the two is overstated

  • In 1923, V.D. Savarkar, the prime ideologue of the Hindu right, cast the political category of the Indian nation in the mould of the majority religion.
  • The nation is Hindu because the community has a common history, common heroes, a common literature, a common art, a common law, and a common jurisprudence, common fairs and festivals, rites and rituals, ceremonies and sacraments.
  • Others are outsiders. This was not the kind of nation that India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru conceptualised and dreamt of, democratic, secular and inclusive. In 1933 Nehru wrote in The Bombay Chronicle: “Whither India?
  • Surely to the great human goals of social and economic equality, to the ending of all exploitation of nation by nation, and class by class, to national freedom within the framework of an international cooperative socialist world federation.”

Different notions

  • Within a decade we see two incompatible notions of the nation taking shape and shaping each other. Beneath and around civic nationalism marked by citizenship rights, lurked ethnic nationalism that divided and excluded.
  • Today it is precisely ethnic nationalism that has won the battle. Civic nationalism gasps for breath.
  • History has warned us. The concepts and the theories we explore and expand upon might prove provisional.
  • The days when political philosophers dreamt that they had resolved political dilemmas have gone.
  • Politics, we have learnt is chancy, unpredictable, and contingent. How can our theories be neat, confident, and predictive?

Way forward

  • We no longer know what we speak of when we speak of democracy, or accountability, or the power of citizens to hold their elected government responsible.
  • The terms of the social contract are up for grabs. Life has become much more unpredictable, much more uncertain and much more frightening.
  • Do we have the luxury to conduct intense intellectual debates and charged polemics? We might have to put aside, for the moment at least, some very sophisticated debates that marked academia hardly six years ago.
  • We have to get back to the basics. We have once again to reiterate and defend the basic principles of constitutional democracy.

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(GIST OF YOJANA) Steps Taken to Improve Job Orientation of Higher Education [SEPTEMBER-2019]

(GIST OF YOJANA)  Steps Taken to Improve Job Orientation of Higher Education

[SEPTEMBER-2019]

Steps Taken to Improve Job Orientation of Higher Education

Introduction

  •  Higher education system has many educational streams which are directly job-oriented. In
  •  order to enhance job orientation and employability, the following steps have been taken:
  •  There are 1109 skill-oriented courses being run by the University Grants Commission (UGC) and All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) through 556 institutions (300 B.VoC colleges, 188 Community Colleges and 68 DDU Kaushal Kendra Colleges)
  •  in which 38414 students are receiving skill training with education.
  •  New and updated vocational curricula are being developed in line with industry demand in B.VoC. programmes.
  •  AICTE has launched an Internship portal to facilitate industry internship to students. Internship has been made mandatory for students of engineering colleges.

UPSC Pre General Studies Study Material

  •  Wheebox Employability Skill Test (WEST) for all pre-final and final year graduates of AICTE approved institutions to identify the core strengths of students and certify the same.
  •  Technical Education Quality Improvement Programme (TEQIP) Phase-Ill is under implementation to enhance quality, equity and employability in selected engineering education institutions.
  •  National Career Service (NCS) portal has been launched as a common platform to bring together stakeholders like job seekers, employers, counsellors, local service providers and trainer etc. to facilitate convergence of information and link job seekers with job providers.
  •  MHRD is working in co-operation with Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) and Sector Skill Councils (SSCs) which comprise representatives of Industry and Service Sectors to develop curricula that reflect industry-demanded skills so that higher education can be linked with employment opportunities.

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