(GIST OF YOJANA) Improving Governance In Public Systems

[JANUARY-2019]

Improving Governance In Public Systems

Government agencies around the world are constantly innovating new ways of managing operations and rewarding people for innovative work. Put simply, public sector innovation involves creating, developing and implementing practical ideas that achieve a public benefit. These ideas have to be at least in part new and they have to be taken up for implementation rather than remaining simply as ideas. And, most important is that they have to be useful. Innovations are both conceptual and perceptual, and, therefore, the innovators working in various public systems should look out, interact and listen to both the persons who are delivering and receiving the services. There is a need to study the expectations, values and especially the needs of the people to put in practice the innovative practices which have been found useful.

Definition of Innovation

Public systems tend to adopt innovations which enhance service delivery, increase efficiency and ensure cost reduction. An innovation in public systems can be defined as a process/policy intervention that.

• Improves the public service delivery.
• Enhances the efficiency of governance structure i.e. simplifying procedures etc.
• Improves citizen satisfaction promotes transparency and accountability.
• Reduces the time taken for service delivery.
• Reduces the cost without affecting the efficacy and efficiency.
• Leverages the use of technology.

Types Of Innovations

Innovations which exist in the public domain are often overlapping and are not restricted to a particular category. However, for a better understanding, innovations in public systems may be broadly categorized under the following heads: Service innovations- intend to introduce a new service, product or improvement in the quality of an existing service or product. Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM) is a mobile application developed by the national payments Corporation of India (NPCI) which enables e-payments directly through banks.

Service Delivery innovations create a new or improved way of delivering specific public service to the citizens that aim at improving accessibility, targeting user needs more accurately, bringing in simplification of procedures etc.

Common service centers (CSCS) are the access points for delivery of essential public utility services, social welfare schemes, healthcare, financial, education and agriculture services, apart from a host of business to citizen (B2C) services to citizens in rural and remote areas of the country. It is a pan-India network catering to the regional, geographic, linguistic and cultural diversity of the country, thus enabling the Government’s mandate of a socially, financially and digitally inclusive society. Administrative/Organizational Innovations target to change the hierarchical structures and administrative routines in the government Electronic national agriculture market (e-NAM) is a Pan-India electronic trading portal launched in 2016 completely funded by the Ventral Government and implemented by Small Farmers’ Agribusiness Consortium (SFAC). It creates a national network of physical mandis which can be accessed online thus enabling buyers, situate even outside the state, to participate in trading at the local level.

Policy Innovations bring about the systemic culture of nurturing fresh ideas. Best practices that have a proven record of sustainability may be incorporated and be advocated as a policy. Drafting a policy for promotion of innovations  itself is a policy innovations itself is a policy innovation. This may include incentivizing mechanism, identifying and appointing innovation officers in each department etc. among others. National policy on biofuels (2018) was first drafted by the ministry of new and Renewable Energy in 2009 but later was shifted to the ministry of petroleum and natural gas in 2017 and was finally launched in 2018. The policy encourages the use of biofuels by extending appropriate financial incentives under various categories which results in reduced import dependency, a cleaner environment, employment generation etc. the role of twelve ministries has been specified for effective implementation of biofuels program in India.
Systemic Innovations employ new or improved ways of interacting with the citizens and engage them in service design which encourages a participative approach in governance and improves the magnitude of stakeholder consultation in decision making.

India Innovation Growth Program is a public, private partnership of the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India and Lockheed Martin Corporation. This initiative throws open a chance to the public to suggest innovative solutions to major societal problems. Promoting Innovations In Public Systems

Understanding opportunities and Problems

• Begins with a prompt or trigger including problems, failures and complaints which makes innovation either possible or necessary.
• Attune to new trends, customer demands, data or technologies and innovations that are happening elsewhere.
• Emphasise better understanding of how people live their lives, and how services are used to help improve them.
• Find new insights into what people need, to end up with a clearly defined problem.

Generating And Sharing Useful Ideas

• Prioritise the areas of concern (e.g. health, education, infrastructure, water supply, sanitation, PDS etc.) which need to be addressed.
• Identify different types and sources of data, information and knowledge that are relevant.
• Channelize data, information and knowledge into a usable form so that it can be fully exploited to support evidence-based decision making.
• Share information collected with wider sets of actors.

Collaborating With Like-Minded Stakeholders

• Identify and assess the importance of key people, group of people, or institutions.
• Define whom to involve in designing a multi-stakeholder process.
• Understand the role of multiple stakeholders who are likely to be involved in promoting innovation. These include both direct users who take action in implementing the initiative, and other individuals who will need to be involved in supporting initiative implementation (e.g. administrators, specialists, the staff of community agencies etc.)
• Describe the roles and responsibilities of those expected to support the long-term sustainability of innovations.
• Sensitive/build the capacities of relevant stakeholders to develop a culture of ownership and responsibility amongst them.
• Create a knowledge repository that facilitates the availability of information in the public domain.

Documenting Innovations

• While documenting an innovation, the following heads shall be covered.
• Concept and Types of innovations.
• Skills and Tools Involved.
• Learning based Monitoring and Evaluation

System.

• Processes and Linkages for scaling up.
• Change in Practices.
• Use of new knowledge/new use of existing knowledge.

Potential challenges

The following challenges are likely to be encountered while identifying, documenting and replicating innovations:

• Resource mobilization
• Departmental silos and lack of convergence mechanism
• Fading away of the innovations due to a change in the personnel
• Lack of institutional memory
• Transfer of ownership
• Lack of domain expertise
• Internal animosity between different wings of government/ organization

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Innovative Practices: High Potential for Adoption/Replication Ecological Sanitation (ECOSAN)

As the country has set out on the Swachh Bharat Mission, one of the major attributes is to end open defecation. ECOSAN, an initiative that is one of its kind, offers an economical and simple-to-use option in contrast to the conventional waste transfer methods where the human excreta and body wash water do not go waste. The toilet is in daily use and never smells. The urine is collected in a drum/pot outside the toilet for later use, and body wash water is used beneficially by diversion to the trees outside. ECOSAN toilets are much more helpful in flood-prone areas as it is completely scaled and would not result in over flow. And they are highly useful in drought-prone areas for being a remarkable alternative in the sustainable use of water. ECOSAN toilets reduce health risks due to contamination of drinking water by human waste; to prevent ground and surface water pollution, and to reuse the energy content within the human waste.

Use of Plastic waste in road construction

Disposal of plastic waste is a serious concern in India and one technological approach developed by Prof. Rajagopalan Vasudevan has been found to be very useful in utilizing plastic waste on a large scale. The salient feature of the whole process of constructing plastic roads is simple and easy and does not require any new machinery and industrial involvement. The utilization of plastic waste to improve the properties of the bituminous mix offers a very promising alternative with its bulk and eco-friendly usage. The plastic toads ensure enhanced load carrying strength, water resistance, negligible maintenance cost and reduction of bitumen consumption by 1O percent.

Urban Greening Activities By Kochi Metro Rail Limited

Kochi Metro Rail Limited (KMRL) is in the process of adding greenery to the infrastructure being created, thereby contributing to the enhanced green cover in and around Kochi. City dwellers have raised the demand for improving the greenery by the renovation of city parks and open spaces. KMRL, as part of the environmental impact assessment report, has to compensate for the trees removed during the process of project implementation by planting trees in the ratio of 1:1O. This will be complemented by the development of a green belt around the coach maintenance depot at mutton and development of a green ribbon along the 25 Km stretch of the metro. In this way, KMRL will act as a catalyst for urban greening activities to reduce the carbon footprint.

Mother tongue based-multilingual education (MTB-MLE)

MTB-MLE is an approach to address the educational challenges faced by the indigenous population. In this approach, children start learning in their mother tongue in early grades with a gradual transition to a regional language. And an international language. It contributes to
‘quality education’ as it facilitates the learning process, improves the ability to learn other languages and enables to strengthen the process of education by reaching out to grass-root levels. Establishment of Vision Centers Establishment of Vision Centers in rural villages with tele-ophthalmology connectivity with base Hospitals is an effective model to reach patients who otherwise do not have access to quality eye care. Aravind Eye Care System In Madurai (Tamil Nadu) has successfully implemented this model covering a total population of over 3 million. This model makes eye care services available for the rural population at their doorsteps thus leading to a considerable reduction of the burden of cost and in preventing avoidable blindness. Most of the problems are addressed locally at the Vision Centers, and only a minuscule number of them are referred to either a secondary or a tertiary level hospital for further management. This considerably reduces the financial burden of patients by saving their expenditure on travel, food and lost wages.

Conclusion

CIPS, being a national body established by the Government of India in 2010 as an autonomous center at ASCI, Hyderabad with a mandate to promote innovations in public system, is working with Central Ministries, State Governments, Union Territories and Not-for-profit organizations to actively promote and disseminate practices which have resulted in enhanced service delivery, increased efficiency and cost reduction. CIPS also acts as a platform for sharing and disseminating knowledge on themes of critical importance.

It is fair to conclude that innovations in public systems are indispensable and it is both  continuous process as well as a result. It is also a specific area of high importance where tools, methods and approaches are in constant evolution to facilitate identification, documentation and replication of innovations.

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(The Gist of Kurukshetra) Innovative Entrepreneurship Among Rural Youth

[JANUARY-2019]

Innovative Entrepreneurship Among Rural Youth

India has emerged as one of the leading economies of the world with an average growth rate of around 7% per annum in real gross value added at factor cost during the last decade. There has been a good economic progress in the field of manufacturing, construction, transport & communication, real estate, information technology and service sector.

The young generation of the country particularly the rural youth can play an important role in accelerating the process of growth in rural areas and thus bridging the rural-urban economic divide. In fact, youth are more creative, innovative, enthusiastic, vibrant and dynamic in nature. They have strong will-power, passion and motivation to foster economic development. While most of the developed countries of the world face the risk of an ageing workforce, India is having a favorable demographic profile. On the basis of its demographic dividend, India is poised to become  the fourth largest economy in the world after USA, China and Japan.

Government Schemes for Rural Entrepreneurship: Realising the importance of rural youth in the process of economic development, Government of India has taken various steps and launched various schemes to empower them through developing their innovative entrepreneurial skills to achieve the motive of continuous & sustainable income and employment generation in rural India. Education and training is essential and basic requirement for promoting skill- oriented enterprises in rural areas. It is necessary to provide adequate opportunities for rural youth to participate in technology based educational and training programs. In this context, Samagra Shiksha launched by Government of India aims at enhancing the learning outcomes at the school level with the use of technology to empower both taught and teacher. It encompasses previous three schemes Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan and Teacher Education by unifying the learning from pre-school to class XII. It also focuses on promoting vocational education to make it more job-oriented.

Quality of human resources in the form of skill and knowledge is crucial for economic development of a country. In order to coordinate the efforts of all stakeholders in the field of skill development & entrepreneurship, the Government of India formed Department of skill Development & Entrepreneurship on July 31, 2014 which subsequently led to the setting up of Ministry of skill Development & Entrepreneurship on November 10, 2014. In a bid to improve employability of workers, National Skill Development Mission was launched on the occasion of World Youth Skills Day in 2015. This mission aims at consolidating and coordinating the skilling efforts at the national level. The mission aims at providing formal training to nearly 400 million people across the country by 2022. Further, in order to promote employment in agri-based vocational areas in agriculture & allied sector a programme named as Skill Training of Rural Youth has been launched. It offers modular skill training opportunities to rural youths in farm and non-farm activities in accordance with the requirement of local agro-based industries.

A skill training and placement programme of the Government named as Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana was launched 25 September 2014. It occupies a unique position among the skill training programs due to its focus on the rural poor youth in the age group 15-35 years. Under this programme, it is mandatory to give minimum 160 hours of training in soft skills, functional English and computer literacy etc. to transform rural poor youth an economically independent and globally relevant workforce. Additionally, it also emphasizes on the generation of sustainable employment through post-placement tracking, retention and career progression. Presently, DDU-GKY is being implemented in 568 districts of the country. Up to 30 November 2018, over 6.36 Lakh persons have been trained and nearly 3.5 Lakh have been placed in various jobs under this scheme.

Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana was launched by the government of India under the National Skill Development Mission on 15th July 2015. Under this scheme, industry relevant short term skill training is provided to the youth to enable them secure a better livelihood. It is a reward based skill training scheme which provides financial incentive to the youth who successfully complete an approved skill training programme.

Another centrally sponsored project for upgrading skills & Training in Traditional Arts/ crafts for Development, popularly known as Project USTTAD has been launched by Ministry of Minority Affairs. I aim at capacity building and updating the traditional skills of master trainers/artisans belonging to minority communities, BPL families in the traditional  art/craft fields of their choice. The trainees should be between 14 to 45 years of age and at leas class V pass. The project envisages preserving and promoting the rich heritage of traditional arts & crafts like wood & bone carving, zari work, phulkari, tie & dye, gems & jewellery, patch work, embroidery, durry making and so on.

On 7th October 2017, Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Shiksha Abhiyan was launched to impart digital literacy in rural areas with the aim to empower at least one person per rural household with crucial digital literacy skills. Under this Abhiyan, rural people between the age group of 14 to 60 years are being trained without any fees to operate computers, tablet, smart phones, etc and access government e-services, undertake digital payment, compose e-mails through the use of internet. PMGSISHA is expected to make around 40% rural households in country digitally literate by March 2019.

In an endeavour to promote the culture of innovation and entrepreneurship by creating a scientific temper among the youth, Atal Innovation Mission has been set up at NITI Aayog. It aims to improve vision of the students who can enhance their creativity and transform them into innovators of the new technology. Under the mission, selected schools are provided financial aid to establish tinkering laboratories where students from class VI to XII give shape to their innovative ideas and entrepreneurial skills. In the next step, Atal Incubation Centers are established to nurture innovative start-up businesses to become a successful entrepreneur.

Succinctly, it can be concluded that, agriculture & allied sector still continue to occupy a predominant position in providing livelihood to rural population, ensuring food security and providing impetus to the growth of other sectors. Many schemes and programmes have been launched by the Government with special impetus to create scientific temper and foster the spirit of innovation among the rural youth. These schemes through their hand-holding support provide an excellent opportunity to the young rural entrepreneurs to initiate, establish and run their enterprises successfully. To conclude, rural youth are contributing enormously for sustainable development of agriculture and rural economy. With the help of various government initiatives, they will further strengthen rural development efforts of the government.

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(The Gist of Kurukshetra) Government Initiatives for Youth in North-East and J&K

[JANUARY-2019]

Government Initiatives for Youth in North-East and J&K

Government has launched scores of initiatives in the field of education and youth belonging to far flung and remote regions. On one hand, government has expedited the implementation of already available existing schemes in these regions on priority; on the other hand, several innovative measures and interventions have been introduced to meet the specific needs.

North East:

Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region is coordinating central government department’s initiatives for the North East.

The Skill Ministry has planned State Skill Development Mission for few of the North Eastern States under the Chairmanship of the CM along with steering committee with industry representatives. The mission is working to train youth with the help of government it is and private agencies. Additionally State Livelihood Mission as well as NULM schemes are also being deployed to skill the youth. The areas of training identified are as follows:

•  Hospitality
•  Tourism – Tour operators, hotels, home stay, taxis to places of attraction etc.
•  Nursing, Para medics
•  Wellness and Beauty
•  Fashion designing and garments, handloom weaving
•  Essential technicians – Electrician,
• Plumbing, repair of ACs, Fridge, Mobile repair etc
•  Automobile – fitter, turner, mechanics, welding
•  Soft skills for employability in any sector
•  Retail Merchandising
•  Aviation – Cabin Crew, Air Hostess, ground crew etc

Additionally, Department of North East region along with North Eastern Development Finance Corporation Ltd is also setting up a VC fund worth Rs 100 cr to promote startups in the North-Eastern States. Early and growth stage startups in the field of IT, ITES, Food Processing, Healthcare, Tourism, Retail, Aggregation of services would get boost with this fund. Many educational reforms through SSA and RUSA have also been introduced.

DONER Ministry is also offering subsidy incentives in NER for industrial and other units generating employment. To implement the same, DONER’s assistance to North Eastern Development Finance Corporation will have a component of higher interest subsidy for such units which give more employment.

Jammu and Kashmir:

Government of India and the state government have been working together to skill youth and create livelihood opportunities for them. Few of the popular measures are enlisted: UDAAN: The special industry initiative for J&K is funded by Ministry of Home Affairs and implemented by National Skill Development Corporation. It aims to provide corporate exposure to the youth as well as provide corporate India with the talent available in the state. The scheme has received overwhelming response and is making a considerable impact on ground.

Sadbhavna: Another very successful initiative is:

Sadbhavna which is run by the Army. Under Sadbhavna, Army runs several important programmes for the youth of Jammu and Kashmir; Army Goodwill Schools which is an education initiative works to provide middle and high school level education to over one lakh students. Presently, over 14,000 students are undergoing schooling in various army run schools in the state and over 1,000 children from the state are studying in institutions outside the state through scholarship programs facilitated by the army. Army also runs National integration Tour under Sadbhavna where students get to visit other states of the country and get a first hand view of the culture of their fellow citizens. They come back motivated to become productive citizens of the country and actively leverage the growth trajectory for personal development. So far, more than 5000 people have benefited out of the 200 tours conducted under this scheme.
Army also runs vocational training centres and women empowerment centers spread across the state to provide practical skills to interested and deserving candidates. Sourced through Army’s own budget, people friendly projects are executed year after year to ameliorate the conditions of people living in far flung regions of the state. Another important and highly beneficial initiative run in Jammu and Kashmir is by Army only. Army is associated with its training partner Centre for Social Responsibility and learning and Petronet LNG runs Kashmir Super 40 initiative for coaching Jammu and Kashmir Youth for engineering entrance exams. In fact, this year Super 40 broke all previous records when 26 boys and two girls from the state cracked the IIT-JEE Mains exam
2017. Achieving a success rate of 78 percent is the result of army’s Kashmir Super 40 being at par with the best IIT coaching centers in the country. Himayat: Run under Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India’s Deen Dayal Upadhyay Gramin kaushal yojana, the scheme endeavors to train 1.24 lakh local youth of Jammu and Kashmir in job intensive vocational courses.
(The author is currently Executive Head at Rambhau Mhalgi Prabodhini, a United Nations recognized unique training and research institute for elected representative and socio-political activists.
By: Ravi Pokharna

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(GIST OF YOJANA) Contributing to a knowledge based revolution

[JANUARY-2019]

Contributing to a knowledge based revolution

India, over the centuries has never had a dearth of great thinkers, scientists, engineers, innovators, philosophers, and artists. Indian intellectual capabilities are second to none. Our philosophy, culture, fine arts, temples and sculptures over thousands of years also bear testimony to the same.
Whenever Indians go abroad they excel. Many like Sundar Pichai, Satya Nadella and other Indians are leaders in some of the largest and most innovative countries has allowed them to realize their aspirations, convert their dreams into reality, and helped them flower and blossom to their true potential.

With over 1.3 billion people, 1.4 million schools, 10500+ engineering related institutions, 150+ million youth of India entering the workforce, we need to ensure that our youth can also realize their true potential through the creation of a vibrant ecosystem of innovation and entrepreneurship in this country.

A holistic framework

The Atal Innovation Mission has adopted a holistic framework to achieve its objectives. At the school level there is a tremendous need for creation of an innovative, problem solving mindset in the students of the high schools. These students are going to be the future of our country and we need to ensure that thousands of entrepreneurs and innovators blossom from our school educational systems.
At the university and industry levels, there are a growing number of startups thanks to several startup initiatives in the country both from the private sector as well as from the government. But there is a growing need for world class Incubators in various institutions of the country to foster and nurture start-ups enabling their success. Startups need vital access to technology labs, research capital, finance, hiring networks, etc to succeed. Incubators would help in providing this support. With 100+ smart cities identified in the country, we need to ensure world class incubators in all these smart cities.

About Atal Tinkering Labs

The word Tinkering is often associated with a garage where you use hundreds of tools in a garage to repair or fix a vehicle or even experiment with new possibilities. The very environment and atmosphere in a garage makes you apply your theoretical knowledge to practical applications and innovation.
Theoretical classroom based knowledge in the various fields of science, physics, chemistry, maths triggers the spark of curiosity in a child to acquire more of such knowledge.
Practical knowledge, access to tinkering with latest tools and technologies ignites the imagination of children as they learn to apply abstract concepts learnt in the classroom to real world solutions. It triggers a problem solving innovative mindset in the school students. This is very important for the children and youth of our country.

The world is changing at a dizzying pace. Revolutionary technological advancements are transforming the world and giving rise to new  technologies and business innovations at an exponential rate. Electronic miniaturization has enabled a computer the size of out pocket. Convergence of computing, storage and communications at incredibly lower costs has enabled new innovations like the iPhone. Robotics and artificial intelligence are driving next generation productivity and automations. 3D printers are enabling real time conceptualization, design, prototyping and manufacturing. IoT or the Internet of Things are connecting sensor technologies to man, machine, devices, mobile and satellite technologies in every industry enabling precision agriculture, water cleansing and conservation climate change controls, disaster prediction and management, driverless cars and advanced transportation systems. Big data and decision making through advanced easy-to-use tools.

Atal Incubators

The Atal Incubators initiative is to create world class incubators to support the burgeoning number of startups in the burgeoning number of startups in the country.
AIM has already launched 101 incubators to date all of which would be operational by end 2019. These incubators will provide the necessary ecosystem of access to technology labs, hiring, training, mentoring, finance, venture capital networks and corporate networks.

The long term vision is to have world class incubators in the top 10 academic and engineering institutions of every state and in every city identified as a smart city for development.

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Atal Challenges

India is the world’s largest democracy with over a billion people, with each state having different issues and problems to solve both from economic growth as well as societal needs perspectives. It is important to expose the magnitude and impact of these problems to the future innovators of the country so as to enable them to understand the enormous positive impact of solving these problems.
There is, therefore, an urgent need to incentivize relevant problem solving innovations at local, regional and national levels across the country at school, university and industry levels.
The Atal Tinkering Challenges at a school level, the Atal New India Challenges at Industry levels, the Atal Small Business Innovation and Research challenges at a national level will incentivize relevant problem solving.24 Atal New India Challenges stimulating product innovations in five sectors have been launched in areas such as drinking water and sanitation, urban housing and development, climate smart agriculture, rail safety and transportation which can have great benefit for the country. I the recently held Atal Tinkering Marathon over 35000+ students participated creating 6000+ innovations in five challenges launched nationwide. The top 100 innovations from these school students are being considered for possible conversion from prototypes into market ready products.

Long Term Goals

AIM’s future initiatives include establishment and promotion o small business innovation research and development on a national scale for accelerating innovation on a large scale in small businesses/startups/MSME sector. AIM would also collaborate in Science and Technology Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Rejuvenation (AIM STEER) of innovations in major research institutions of the country like Council of Scientific Industrial Research (CSIR), Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR) and Medical Research (UCNR) aligned to national socio-economic needs.
India got left behind in the Industrial Revolution that swept the world in the last century. But India does have a unique opportunity to contribute in the knowledge based revolution that is sweeping the world today. That is why Atal Innovation Mission initiatives are so important and need to  be embraced by all. The children and youth of our country deserve it. We all need to collectively make it happen.

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(GIST OF YOJANA) Capitalizing on Technology for Farmers Welfare

[JANUARY-2019]

Capitalizing on Technology for Farmers Welfare

Farming is both a way of life and means to livelihood for nearly 60 percent of our population, a majority of whom are women and youth. The basic difficulties of farmers can be overcome only if integrated attention is given to pricing, procurement and public distribution. Compounding the difficulties of today, farmers are facing serious problems from climate change. The most unfavourable impact of climate change will be high temperature, wide variation in precipitation and rise in sea level. While looking at the problems of farmers there should be equal attention to the families living and cultivating in the following ecosystems: Arid zone, semi-arid dry farming areas, irrigated areas, groundwater farming and plantation crops in hilly areas. The support extended to farmers should be according to the requirements of those cultivating in above mentioned ecosystems.

The reports of the NCF clear sense of direction to shaping the future of agriculture based on farmers’ welfare. The government of India has already changed on the recommendation of NCF, the name of the Agriculture ministry to Ministry of Agriculture and farmers’ Welfare.

The progress made by our farmers in improving production and productivity is illustrated by the fact that wheat production in India has gone up from 7 million tones in 1947 to over 100 million tones in 2018. Such an impressive progress has been rendered possible due to interaction between technology has been mainly in the field of designing new plant architecture characterized by resistance to lodging and ability to transfer more of the photosynthesis to grain formation. Ever since the publication of Mendel’s Laws of Inheritance in 1865, many innovations have taken place in the effective use of genetic knowledge for improving productivity and profitability of crops. Among the innovations introduced by plant breeders, mention may be made of induced mutation, chromosome doubling through colchicines and genetic medication through the application of the new knowledge in molecular biology. Genetic modification has made it possible to transfer genes across sexual barriers. More recently, gene editing technologies have become available which can help to achieve directed mutagenesis.

Breeding helps to develop strains with a higher yield potential. However, for achieving the higher yield, we need interaction between technology and public policy. New scientific innovations, farmer’s own enthusiasm to take to new technologies are all important for achieving the desired goal of a quantum jump in production.

In more recent years, progress in technological innovation has become more rapid. What is however, important is to understand the risks and benefits associated with new technologies. As early as in 1962, Rachel Carson in her classic book titled silent spring pointed out that  pesticides including DDT can result in long-term harm because of their long residual toxicity. This is why, before taking the new technology to the field, it is important that they are assessed for their positive as potentially negative effects.
New innovations are essential to overcome new challenges like those arising from climate change. More anticipatory research will be needed to ensure that our farmers are able to increase production under conditions of rising temperature and frequent floods.

The uncommon opportunities now available for improving agriculture should be mastered. The future belongs to nations which give importance to grains rather than guns. Let me quote from a recent article by Prof PC Kesavan and me published in Current science:

Genetic engineering technology has opened up new avenues of molecular breeding. However, their potential undesirable impacts will have to be kept in view. What is important is not to condemn or praise any technology, but choose the one which can take us to the desired goal sustainably, safely and economically.

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The National commission on Farmers (NCF) which I chaired made the following goals for ensuring sustainable agriculture and food security:

•  To improve the economic viability of farming by ensuring that farmers earn a “minimum net income”, and ensure that agricultural progress is measured by the advance made in improving that income.
•  To mainstream the human and gender dimension in all farm policies and programs and give explicit attention to sustainable rural livelihoods.
•  To complete the unfinished agenda in land reforms and to initiate comprehensive asset and aquarian reforms.
•  To protect and improve the land, water, biodiversity and climate resources essential for sustained advances in the productivity, profitability and stability of major farming systems by creating an economic stake in conservation.
•  To foster community-centred food, water and energy security systems in rural India and to ensure nutrition security at the level of every child, woman and man.
•  To introduce measures which can help to attract and retain youth in farming by making it both intellectually stimulating and economically rewarding, by conferring the power and economy of scale to small and marginal farmers both in the production and post-harvest phases of farming.
•  To strengthen the biosecurity of crops, farm animals, fish and forest trees for safeguarding both the work and income security of farmer families, and the health and trade security of the nation.
•  To restructure agricultural curriculum and pedagogic methodologies for enabling every farm and home science graduate to become an entrepreneur and to make agricultural education gender sensitive.
•  To make India a global outsourcing hub inputs needed for sustainable agriculture, and products and processes developed through biotechnology and information and communication technology.
•  The NCF report was submitted in 2006. During the last four years, several significant decisions have been taken to improve the status and income of farmers. Some of them are:
•  Designating the Ministry of Agriculture as Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ welfare to stress the importance of keeping farmers’ welfare as the measure of agriculture progress.
•  Issue of Soil Health Cards (SHC) to all farmers to promote the adoption of balanced nutrition. Soil health is basic to human health. Hence the Universal Soil Health Card scheme is a very important one.
•  Allocation of both budgetary and non-budgetary resources for promoting micro-irrigation through the Pradhan Mantra Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY).
•  Conservation and sustainable use of indigenous breeds of cattle through a Rashtriya Gokul Mission. The prime Minister also inaugurated the First International Congress on agro-biodiversity.
•  Promoting online trade through electronic national agriculture market which helps to bring together different agriculture markets. The creation of Gramin Agriculture Markets (GrAMs) will provide scope for direct sales to consumers in both retail and bulk form.
•  Introduction of Agricultural Produce and Livestock Marketing Act, 2017 and Agricultural Produce and Livestock Contract Farming Services Act, 2018 supported by electronic Negotiable Warehouse Receipt (eNWR) system for increased institutional credit to the farm sector.
•  Determination of Minimum Support Price (MSP) based on the recommendation of the NCF. Assured procurement at MSP OF more crops.
•  Integration of protein rich pulses and nutria-rich millets into welfare programs including Public Distribution System (PDS), midday meals, ICDS etc.
•  Increase in the income of farmers through activities like apiculture, mushroom cultivation, bamboo production, agroforestry, vermin-compost and agro-processing for generating additional jobs and income for farm families. Prime Minister has also suggested that we should develop methods by which farmers’ income can be doubled within the next five years.
•  Setting-up several corpus funds to complete ongoing irrigation production, modernised infrastructure in dairy cooperatives and strengthen the adoption of inland and marine aquaculture.
•  Above all, the recent announcement of remunerative price based essentially on the recommendation of NCF is a very important step to ensure the economic viability and attractiveness of farming.
•  While the Government has ensured in its notification that from Kharif 2018 onwards, the MSP of the notified crops would be minimum of 150 to even up to 200 per cent for coarse cereals which will provide an incentive to the farmers in achieving our objective of improving the nutritional intake of our population.

Anticipatory Research in an era of Climate Change. There are several reports in the media about the bioshield function of mangrove forests along coastal areas. Mangroves have helped to save both lives and livelihoods particularly of fisher and coastal communities. The beneficial impact of mangroves has been observed by the local community on several occasions including the recent Gaja in Tamil Nadu. Earlier, the damage caused by Tsunami as well as the super cyclone in Odisha were also considerably less in mangrove rich areas. It is in recognition of the critical role of mangroves in the conservation of coastal ecosystems that the famous temple at chidambaram chose a mangrove plant (Excoecaria agallocha) as a Temple Tree.

When MSSRF was started in 1989-90, the mangrove ecosystem at Pichavaram was taken up for priority attention. Both in the Philippines, where I lived for a few years and in India, the general appreciation of the role mangroves play in both ecological and livelihood security has been little. Mangrove areas were being converted into aquaculture farms and tourist centres. This is why we started a genetic garden of mangroves at Pichavaram near Chidambaram with support from Department of Biotechnology. Considerable amount of work has been done to promote public understanding of the need for protecting the mangrove forests and extending them to all coastal areas. A Charter for Mangroves was prepared and with the help of the Government of

Japan and IITO, an International Society for Mangrove Ecosystems (ISME) was formed in 1990. It is only when natural calamities of the kind induced by cyclones occur that there is more awareness of the need to protect and propagate them. I hope the calamity caused by Gaja can be converted into an opportunity for saving coastal wetlands and more particularly mangroves.
New technologies are the basic raw material for productivity improvement. There are adequate opportunities for anticipatory research involving new technologies. We should capitalize on them to ensure the well being of farmers and farming.

Complete Study Material For UPSC, IAS Exams

PART – I

About Coaching and Guidance Cell (C&GC) in Haj House, Mumbai.

1. Historical Perspective:

A multilingual and multi-religious society like ours can flourish only if all members of the society play an important role in its collective life. But in the last 60 years, our democratic set up has not achieved commendable balance in spite of several Committees & Commissions appointed by the Government. The Sacchar Committee has clearly stated that the economic and educational level of Muslims have deteriorated even below the SC/ST categories in social/educational aspects and their capacity to compete with their educationally advanced fellow citizens has been continuously declining. The Community is caught in a vicious circle of poverty and illiteracy. The Government has been announcing various schemes from time to time for their upliftment, yet in reality without encouraging results.

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2. Historical Decision:

In this backdrop, the Haj Committee of India (HCOI) took a major initiative of training Muslim Graduates for Civil Services examination. The HCOI has in the wider interest of Muslims established a Coaching & Guidance Cell (C&GC) in its Haj House, at Palton Road, CST, Mumbai, in August 2009.

3. Selection Procedure:

Candidates' selection is done strictly on the basis of marks obtained in the entrance test and personal interview. The candidate has to be physically fit. Candidates with Asthma, Sinus and other respiratory diseases are advised not to apply for Haj House as the Mumbai climate would not be suitable to them. It may be noted that the course is residential and the students are not allowed to stay outside.

4. Infrastructure:

The C&GC has Library, separate Study Rooms both for boys & girls, two class rooms for general/subject lectures and room for group discussions. Separate hostels are available for male
and female candidates including a Masjid and a ladies prayers room. The Masjid is on the 3 oor of Haj House. The office, study room and all class rooms are fully air conditioned. The C&GC has all other teaching facilities like Laptops, Projectors, CCTV, Mike System etc.

5. The Director and the Faculty:

The C&GC is administered by a Director, who is entrusted with organizing the lectures and group discussions. Various serving/retired Civil Service Officers are also invited to motivate and inspire the Students. The coaching is imparted by professionally qualified faculties.

6. Facilities and Environment:

Study material, books, newspapers, journals, magazines and books of common and optional subjects are available for the students. The students can use internet facilities at Haj House. The candidates should have their personal copies of all important books including the optional subjects chosen by them.

The Civil Service Examination (CSE) is based basically on SELF STUDY. What is provided in C&GC is guidance and an appropriate environment.

7. Milestones of Success:

(A) Following candidates from C&GC have been successful in the Civil Services Examination of UPSC:

1. Mr. Salman Taj Patil (IPS) from 2011 batch: He is posted as Superintendent of Police, Ghaziabad, in Uttar Pradesh.
2. Mr. Shakeel Mehmood Ansari (IRS) from 2012 batch: He is posted as Assistant Commissioner Income Tax at Kalyan, Maharashtra.
3. Mr. Shakil Sande (IRS) from 2015 batch: He has been selected as Assistant Commissioner Income Tax and is under training.
4. Mr. Juned Ahmed (IRS) from 2018 batch: He is presently undergoing training.
5. Mr. Salman Patel (IRS) from 2018 batch: He is presently undergoing training.

(B) Many candidates of the C&GC have succeeded in other examinations of different departments. Some of these are listed below:

1. Mr. Fasihuddin from 2012 batch: He has been selected as Assistant Provident Commissioner and is presently undergoing training in Chennai.
2. Mr. Tariq Ansari (RBI) from 2013 batch: He has been selected as officer in Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and is presently posted in Mumbai branch of RBI.
3. Mr. Azam Khan: He has qualified the Utter Pradesh Public Service Commission in 2015 and has been offered the post of Assistant Manager (Non Tech) Ministry of Industries, Uttar Pradesh.
4. Mr. Junaid Ahmad Khan from 2013 batch: He has been selected as Inspector in Central Excise Department. Ministry of Finance, Department, of Revenue and is posted at Kolkata.
5. Mr. Attaullah Khatri from 2013 batch: He has been selected as Preventive Officer Customs and posted at Mumbai.
6. Mr. Shahnawaz Ali from 2013 batch: He has been selected as Statistical Investigator and is presently posted in Sikkim.
7. Mr. Aasar Mahal Javed from 2011 batch: He has been selected as Assistant Central Intelligence Officer in (IB) and presently posted in West Bengal.
8. Mr. Attar Ilahi from 2015 batch: He has been selected as Assistant Central Intelligence Officer (ACIO) in Intelligence Bureau (IB) and is posted at Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh.
9. Ms. Ayesha Ayaz Ahmad Qazi from 2011 batch: A student of 2011 batch has been selected as Superintendent (Weaving) Ministry of Textiles and has joined at Ahmadabad, Gujrat.
10. Mr. Sameer Ahmad from 2014 batch: He has been selected as Assistant Engineer NTPC and presently posted at Pune.
11. Mr. Mirza Arshad Baig from 2013 batch): He has been selected as Assistant Engineer in Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Ltd. (KPTCL). He is presently posted at Raichur Distt, Karnataka.
12. Mr. Kelam Wajid Ali from 2012 batch: He has been selected as Assistant Veterinary Officer and is posted in Jammu & Kashmir.
13. Mr. Shaikh Mazhar Ali from 2011 batch: He has joined as Depot Manager, a senior position in State Road Transport Corporation in Andhra Pradesh.
14. Mr. Khan Mohammad Imtiyaz from 2011 batch: He has joined Food Corporation of India.
15. Mr. Mohammad Asif from 2015 batch: He has been selected as Tax Assistant in Customs Department.
16. Mr. Majid Ali from 2013 batch: He has been selected in Indian Navy.

8. Coaching & Guidance:

Those candidates who choose English/Urdu as their medium of answering the question only should apply. Coaching and guidance shall be imparted through English medium. Books, Magazines and study material will be provided in English. However, for candidates choosing Urdu as their medium, enough books and study material are available.

9. Subjects of Coaching & Guidance:

For the Prelims examination, coaching and guidance will be provided for General Studies & CSAT, for the Mains examination coaching & guidance will be provided in General Studies and Essay Writing. Efforts will be made to provide coaching in Optional Subjects of History, Geography, Sociology, Public Administration, Political Science and Urdu Literature (if adequate numbers of candidates opt for it).

10. Fees and deposits:

The entire coaching and guidance is free of cost including Prelims, Mains and Interview. However, each student has to pay a caution money of Rs. 10,000/- (refundable) which will be forfeited against voluntary withdrawal from C&GC. All students will be provided with free accommodation on sharing basis. However, Mess Charges are payable towards catering, on pro rata basis.

11. Discipline:

The students shall have to adhere strictly to the rules and regulations of the hostel. They are expected to maintain a high level of self-discipline. The students shall have to stay in
the hostel for 24 hours throughout the coaching period for about 9/10 months. Visitors/relatives shall not be allowed to stay in the hostel with the students. The students shall not be allowed to pursue any other academic or non-academic job/course/activity. Male candidates must offer Farz prayer in congregation in the Masjid. The female candidates should never come out of their rooms without a Scarf (hijab).

12. Islamic Values:

Since the total objective is to have Muslim officers, it is necessary to inculcate Islamic values in the students. They have not only to be receptive, but also active in learning and practicing Islamic standards. They have to keep in mind that their ultimate aim is to serve the weak and downtrodden sections of the society. They should inculcate in themselves the philosophy of “Saiyyadul Qaumi Khadimahum,” (Hadith) i.e. the head of the Society is their servant. Some lectures/sessions are also organized for instructions on Islam.

CONDITIONS FOR ADMISSION IN C&GC, MUMBAI

13. Entrance Test Procedure:

The entrance test includes a written test based on the syllabus prescribed by UPSC. The test will be held simultaneously at Seven centers namely, Bengaluru, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai, Patna and Srinagar. The Entrance test is likely to be held during the month of June, 2019. Short listed candidates will be called for interview to be held at Mumbai. The date for Personal Interview will be notified later, on the website of the Haj Committee of India.

ENTRANCE TEST

(i) Date of Application: The online application will be the available on website www.hajcommittee.gov.in from 08th of the April, 2019 (Monday) to 07th of May, 2019 (Tuesday).

CANDIDATE HAVE TO APPLY ONLINE ON www.hajcommittee.gov.in to the Director, Coaching and Guidance Cell, Haj House, Mumbai. There is no need to send application/any document by post. A Transaction ID will be allotted which will be used for all future correspondence.

E-Admit Card (hall ticket) will have to be downloaded by the Candidate. Print out of the E-admit card should be taken and produced to the invigilator In-charge of examination on demand.

(ii) Essential qualification: A degree from recognized University/Institute in any subject.

(iii) Age: The lower age limit for UPSC Exam 2020 is 21 years asst on 01 August, 2020, while upper age limit is 32 years. The age relaxation for SC/ST/OBCs will be as per the policy of Government of India.

14. About Entrance Test and Syllabus:

The entrance test will be of three hours consisting of two question papers, namely one objective and one descriptive.

A. First paper: It consists of two sections of objective questions. Section A (General Studies), Section B (Civil Services Aptitude Test i.e. Aptitude).

1. Section A: It consists of General Studies - I for 100 Marks (50 Objective type questions each carrying two marks), related to general understanding and Current Events.
2. Section B: It consists of General Studies - II for 50 Marks [25 questions each carrying 2 marks] related to general understanding of Civil Services Aptitude Test (CSAT). It is of qualifying nature.

b. Second Paper: This paper is descriptive type consisting of two essays (One long essay and one short essay) for 100 Marks. Long essay carries 60 marks and should not exceed 500 words and short essay carries 40 marks and should not exceed 350 words.

15. NEGATIVE MARKING:

It may be noted that each wrong answer in all sections i.e. Section A, Section B of the first paper carries negatives marks (one third marks are deducted for every wrong answer). Total marks obtained in Section A of first paper and second paper will be added for calling for interview.

16. Tentative Schedule of the program is as follows:

17. Personal Interview (20 Marks):

The candidate will be interviewed by a board, who will have before them a record of their career. Interview will be conducted at C&GC, Mumbai. Candidates will be asked questions on matters of general interest. The objective of the interview is to assess the personal suitability of the candidate for a career in public service. In broad terms, this is really an assessment of not only intellectual qualities but also social traits and interest in current affairs. Some of the qualities to be judged are mental alertness, critical powers of assimilation, clear and logical exposition, balance of judgment, variety and depth of interest, ability for social cohesion and leadership, intellectual and moral integrity.

18. Result:

The result of the selected candidates will be informed through e-mail and the selected candidates should report to Director, C&GC, Mumbai. The commencement of classes in Haj
House, Mumbai, will be notified later, on the website of Haj Committee of India. The students will appear in Civil Services Examination in 2020 on the notified date of UPSC.

19. Confirmation:

Candidates should note that their admission to the Coaching & Guidance Cell is provisional and the confirmation of the admission will be subject to the qualification in the evaluation test conducted by C&GC in the first two months.

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VOL. - 218 (05 February 2018 to 11 February 2018)

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• Science and Technology

• Important Article From Various Newspapers

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Weekly Current Affairs Update for IAS Exams Free Sample

VOL. - 217 (29 January 2018 to 04 February 2018)

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• Business And Economy

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• Important Article From Various Newspapers

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A Grand Narrative (The Indian Express)

Mains Paper 1: Indian History
Prelims level: Not Much
Mains level: Freedom struggle movement

Context

•  It is the collective awareness about our accomplishments achieved through the ages that fills us with a will that propels us.
•  Instilling heroes and heroic struggles in anyone’s consciousness is an important way to build a strong society, nation or civilisation.
•  Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been at the forefront of shaping a grand narrative of civilisational awareness within the younger generations.

Can you guess who he remembered on the occasion?

•  In the 38th edition of ‘Mann Ki Baat’, speaking of the glorious history of India as a naval power, he said, “Very few people might be aware that most navies of the world allowed women on warships much later.
•  But in the Chola navy, a large number of women played leading roles and that too about 800-900 years ago.”
•  Today, he is also reviving India as a naval power with the strategic actions around Iran’s Chabahar port and Myanmar’s Sittwe port.
•  Almost every political party has used Ambedkar’s name but a meaningful tribute had always eluded him.
•  It took the Modi government to develop five important places related to Babasaheb’s life as “Panchateerth’.
•  Generations to come will remember that it is Narendra Modi in his capacity both as chief minister of Gujarat initially and then as prime minister who ensured a fitting tribute to the man who unified India Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel with the tallest statue in the world.
•  Through Swachh Bharat, the revival of khadi, setting up of a National Salt Satyagraha Memorial at Dandi, Mahatma Gandhi’s memory and ideals have always remained at the centrestage.

Way forward

•  It is endearing to see the way in which PM Modi claimed the legacy of democracy to India’s credit standing on the soil of London.
•  While unveiling Lord Basaveshwara’s statue there in 2015, he said, “long before the Magna Carta, considered the first charter of democracy, 12th-century Indian philosopher Basaveshwara gave the world the ideals of democracy.”
•  Be it history or culture, PM Modi knows how to take inspiration from the civilisational values that India has in abundance and instil the same spirit in the younger generation.
•  His initiatives to bring back the stolen statues and artefacts of India from various countries and using the power of the Ramayana and Buddha to connect with the other parts of the world indicate a grand narrative of India as a global power not just driven by its present and future but also by its past.

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A national register of exclusion(The Hindu)

Mains Paper 2: Polity
Prelims level: Basic knowledge of the National Register of Citizens.
Mains level: The news-card analyses the issues and concerns with NRC, in a brief manner.

Context

• By requiring long-term residents of Assam to prove their citizenship by negotiating a thicket made up of bewildering and opaque rules and an uncaring bureaucracy.

• The Indian state has for the past two decades unleashed an unrelenting nightmare of wanton injustice on a massive swathe of its most vulnerable people.

Distressing cycle

• The official presumption that they are foreigners has reduced several million of these highly impoverished, mostly rural, powerless and poorly lettered residents to a situation of helplessness and penury.

• It has also caused them abiding anxiety and uncertainty about their futures.

• They are required to persuade a variety of usually hostile officials that they are citizens, based on vintage documents which even urban, educated, middle-class citizens would find hard to muster.

• And even when one set of officials is finally satisfied, another set can question them. And sometimes the same official is free again to send them a notice, starting the frightening cycle afresh.

Tougher on women

• Women are especially in danger of exclusion from the citizenship register. Typically, they have no birth certificates, are not sent to school, and are married before they become adults.

• Therefore, by the time their names first appear in voters’ lists, these are in the villages where they live after marriage, which are different from those of their parents.

• They are told that they have no documents to prove that they are indeed the children of the people they claim are their parents.

• There were cases of being excluded from citizenship on this ground alone.

Temporary measure became permanent

• The power was vested permanently with junior officials who could doubt the citizenship of any person at any time without assigning any reason.

• Those with the dreaded “D” beside their names had no recourse for appeal under the rules, with years passing without any inquiry.

• The “D” also debarred them from being included in the draft NRC.

To identify anyone as ‘foreigner’

• A third process empowers the Assam Police to identify anyone it suspects to be a ‘foreigner’.

• Again, all that the police claim in most cases is that the person was unable to show them documents establishing his or her citizenship.

• People consistently deny that the police even asked them from documents.

The opaque processes and Foreigners’ Tribunals

• All cases referred by the police are heard by Foreigners’ Tribunals (FTs).

• Earlier, retired judges were appointed to these tribunals. The present government has appointed many lawyers who have never been judges.

• There are now FTs in which not a single person has been declared an Indian citizen over several months.

• Many allege that both the police and presiding officers in FTs work to fulfil informal targets to declare people foreigners.

Issues with Foreigners’ Tribunals

• Even if a person finds her name in the NRC, the police can still refer her case to an FT;

• an election official can even deem her to be a “D”-voter. Article 20 of the Constitution includes as a fundamental right that “no person shall be prosecuted and punished for the same offence more than once”. But this principle has been waived for FTs.

• Even after an FT had confirmed a person to be an Indian citizen, another FT and often the same FT can again issue notice to the same person to prove her legitimate citizenship once more.

• A person is never be allowed to feel secure that the state has finally accepted that she is an Indian citizen.

Key Concerns

• No person was given legal aid by the state, which is bound to deploy lawyers paid by the state to fight their cases in the FTs and higher courts.

• People instead spoke of panic spending, of enormous amounts of money to pay lawyers, as well as for costs of travel of witnesses who they bring with them to testify in their favour.

• For this, they have had to sell all their assets or borrow from private moneylenders.

• The large majority of them are poorly educated and very impoverished, doing low-paid work such as drawing rickshaws, or working as domestic work or farm labour.

Conclusion

• With the entire burden of proving citizenship on their shoulders and the arbitrary and opaque multiple forums to which they are summoned, people deprived of both education and resources are caught in a bureaucratic maze from which they find it hard to emerge.

• Trapped at the crossroads of history, their destinies depend on institutions that treat them with undisguised hostility and bias.

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Timely review: On start-up tax (The Hindu)

Mains Paper 3: Economy
Prelims level: Angel Tax
Mains level: Taxations problems and procedures

Context

•  Start-ups troubled by the so-called angel tax may soon receive some concession from the government.
•  The tax, which was first introduced in 2012 to curb money-laundering through the sale of shares of private unlisted companies at bloated prices, has caused a lot of anguish among start-up investors in the country.
•  Start-up owners have complained that income tax officials have asked many start-ups to cough up money when they try to attract capital into their entities by issuing new shares.
  Existing tax base system
•  The IT department fears that start-ups may be used as convenient tools to launder illegally acquired money, so a tax on investments beyond a certain threshold is necessary to deter such shady operations.
•  But while the intent of such an angel tax may be justifiable, the arbitrary nature of it means the cost of unintended consequences could be larger than the supposed benefits.
•  In trying to curb money-laundering, Section 56(2)(viib) of the Indian Income Tax Act, 1961 gives income tax officials a free hand to harass even genuine start-ups looking to raise investments for their growth.
•  Under the Act, the IT department is free to arbitrarily decide the fair value of a company’s share and tax start-ups if the price at which their new shares are sold to investors is higher than the fair value of these shares.
•  The broad-brush tax on all investments means an unnecessary cost is imposed on the wider start-up community simply because of the lack of better means at the government’s disposal to tackle black money.

Key suggestions made by the committee

•  The committee set up by the government will, among other things, consider raising the threshold beyond which new investments into start-ups will be taxed.
•  It is expected that start-ups with aggregate paid-up share capital and share premium of less than ₹25 crore, against the previous threshold of only ₹10 crore, will not be taxed while attracting new investment.

Way forward

•  This would definitely make life easier to a certain extent for angel investors and start-ups.
•  But it will not address the real problem with the angel tax, which has to do with the unbridled power that it vests in the hands of the income tax authorities.
•  Investors, foreign or domestic, may become wary of investing in new ideas when they are taxed while risking money on untested ventures. So the government should look to withdraw the angel tax and focus instead on building the capability to better identify and rein in illegal wealth.
•  Otherwise it risks killing the nascent start-up ecosystem in the country.

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Cracks in the framework (The Hindu)

Mains Paper 1: Economy
Prelims level: NSC
Mains level: Economic growth and employment

Context

•  The Government of India has reportedly suppressed its own data on current employment, or rather job loss, in the country.
•  It has, thereby, compromised the autonomy and the standing of the National Statistical Commission.
•  This is the latest instalment in the rather sordid story of institutional decay in India, overseen by the leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). This is not to suggest that previous governments did not undermine institutions.
•  The internal Emergency imposed on the country from 1975 to 1977 initiated the process. The government tried to tame bureaucrats as well as the highest court in the land. Postings and appointments were manipulated to suit the ruling dispensation.
•  The BJP government has, however, earned the dubious distinction of sabotaging the autonomy of several political institutions in rapid succession.

Necessary checks

•  Institutional decay occasions worry because it affects ordinary citizens in disastrous ways.
•  All governments, even those which have been democratically elected, betray an inexorable will to power.
•  Expectedly, expansion of government power violates constitutional rights to freedom, equality and justice.
•  The only way citizens can be protected against any arbitrary and unlawful exercise of power is by limiting the power of government.
•  Liberal democrats, always sceptical of state power, have tried to contain dramatic surges of power by charting out of constitutions and institutional design.
•  Institutions, as the embodiment of formal and informal rules, assure citizens that the government exercises power according to some norms that enable as well as regulate state capacity.

Rules, not whims

•  In a democracy, individuals are governed by institutions, and not by men.
•  If we do not live in an institutional universe, we will be at the mercy of capricious individuals.
•  Democrats would rather be administered by a system of rules we can scrutinise and evaluate.
•  Of course, rules can be, and are, unfair. But at least we can struggle against rules.
•  We do not have to commit murders to get the ruling dispensation out of power.
•  We might have to carry out a thousand peaceful demonstrations, approach the courts, lobby our legislative representatives, engage in civil disobedience, or withhold our vote.
•  In a world stamped by the decline of institutions and the exercise of arbitrary power, the only way to dislodge a government is through violence.
•  The present government has tampered with institutions by appointing its own people to positions of authority, and by using the Enforcement Directorate, Income Tax authorities, the Central Bureau of Investigation and the police as bulldozers to flatten out any site of opposition.
•  In civil society, human rights organisations have been pulverised by blockage of funds, raids and arrests.
•  The shameful way in which human rights activists have been incarcerated without a shred of evidence testifies to the subversion of the rule of law.
•  The ultimate aim of government action is to dismantle institutions and the delicate relationship of checks and balances among them. This bodes ill for democracy.
•  Today the ruling party wants to legislate a thick conception of the good. We are instructed to worship the nation, respect the cow, glorify the coercive arm of the state, and listen on bended knees to leaders.
•  Frankly the discourse is reminiscent of the naïve, and often crude, nationalist scripts authored and acted out by the film star Manoj Kumar in the 1960s.
•  We can avoid watching his films without fear of harassment, but we cannot defy the government without being abused and subjected to violence of the pen and tongue.

Upending the balance

•  The government arrests civil society activists who engage with policy, and vigilante groups attack individuals who dare transport cattle, legitimately, from one part of India to another.
•  Immediately the sympathies of the police and magistrates, some sections of the media and public opinion swing towards the perpetrator, not the victim.
•  The leaders of our ruling dispensation seem to have no respect for the rule of law, nor for the rules that regulate speech in public spaces.

Conclusion

•  Ultimately institutionalised power that is subject to regulation, and that can withstand the scrutiny of the political public, is meant to protect citizens.
•  Unfortunately, in the India of today institutions are used to protect the ruling class, and its sins of omission and commission.
•  The people who rule us should know that when the relationship between citizens and the state is governed not by institutions but by individuals, politics takes to the streets.
•  And then a thousand revolts happen. We pay heavily for institutional decline.

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Managing the stimulus (The Indian Express)

Mains Paper 3: Economy
Prelims level: Tax Structure
Mains level: India’s economic growth and development

Context

•  In the current financial year, extra-budgetary spending was Rs 1.4 trillion higher than what had been budgeted.
•  Ninety per cent of that amount was from the Food Corporation of India.
•  While higher inventory holding likely explains a large part of this Rs 1.2 trillion increase, one wonders if some unfunded food subsidy may have contributed too.
•  Governments also have this tendency to give aggressive tax collection targets that make the deficit appear low, but then later in the year are forced to make course corrections.

Are the tax targets for the next year too aggressive?

•  The economic growth estimate of 11.5 per cent, taking the GDP to Rs 210 trillion, may be slightly optimistic, given how weak inflation has been in the past several months, even if the government’s consumption stimulus shores up activity levels.
•  Budgeted growth in direct tax collections at 15 per cent appears high, but is lower than what has been achieved over the past two years and thus more credible, given the significant widening of the tax base, and some recovery in corporate earnings.
•  The 18 per cent estimated growth for GST collections seems to assume an improvement in compliance.
•  As government functionaries have frequently stated in the last few quarters, GST collections thus far have been nearly completely voluntary.
•  The highlight of the budget was the Rs 750 billion income transfer scheme for farmers.
•  Even though this was widely anticipated, this is a policy innovation whose impact is hard to model.
•  Most income transfer schemes so far have been experiments on small sets of people in particular villages or townships.
•  The impact of a scheme with 117 million farmland owners is likely to be significantly different.

Will it be inflationary?

•  Theoretically, a sudden rise in demand where supply takes time to respond should create inflation.
•  If for argument’s sake, everyone used these funds to send children to private schools, there could be a shortage of schools and teachers and the price of schooling would rise.
•  But this risk is low: At about a third of a per cent point of GDP, this is small.
•  The diffused nature of this transfer (a small sum to a large number of people), makes it unlikely to cause a demand surge for any particular good or service. Rs 6,000 per year may mean a 30 per cent addition to some households’ income, and 5 per cent to others: This would show up in how they spend these funds as well.
•  Such a scheme would have most likely boosted food demand: This is nearly 60 per cent of the consumption basket of the target population.
•  If you have ever asked how a country with one of the lowest milk consumption per capita can have an oversupply of milk for several years, the answer is that milk at current prices is unaffordable to many. If the demand for milk, meat, fruits and vegetables, that is, more expensive calories, was boosted, the stalled channel of income transfer from the rich to the poor, which is food prices, would have restarted.

Way forward

•  This stimulus should boost growth, which has been fading rapidly in the last several months.
•  Most indicators of economic activity had been showing a steady slowdown in the last several months.
•  There were some measures in the budget to support the real-estate market as well as developers, but we believe that the challenges of the non-banking finance sector are likely to overwhelm any positive impact of the fiscal measures announced.
•  An income transfer scheme was somewhat inevitable, and such a scheme will likely continue for many years.
•  After a certain stage of economic development, it becomes difficult for average per capita agricultural incomes to keep pace with the rest of the economy, as land productivity becomes a limiting factor.
•  Moving workers away from agriculture is the only sustainable solution: In the interim, such schemes can provide temporary relief. But given how little we understand about its potential impact, policy-makers need to be agile in making design changes to maximise the gains without having damaging side-effects.

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Missing the healing touch (The Indian Express)

Mains Paper 2: Governance
Prelims level: NRHM
Mains level: Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources.

Context

•  There is an increase of more than Rs 7,000 from last year’s expenditure on health in this year’s budget from Rs 56,045 crore to Rs 63,298 crore.
•  The country’s primary healthcare system taken a backseat.
•  Allocation under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) which provides funds for rural primary healthcare has been reduced in real terms (accounting for inflation) from 52 per cent in 2015-16 to 41 per cent this year.
•  Within the NRHM, there have been budget cuts for reproductive and child healthcare projects and maintenance of rural healthcare infrastructure.

Allocation for tackling communicable disease

•  The allocation for controlling communicable diseases under the NRHM has been reduced in real terms.
•  Communicable diseases like TB, diarrhoea, pneumonia, hepatitis and other infections are still a major problem for India.
•  The National Urban Health Mission has been allocated only Rs 950 crore estimated Rs 3,391 crore from Central funds.
•  Allocation for tertiary care components the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (a programme for building-AIIMS like institutes), for example has also remained stagnant in real terms.
•  Funds for upgrading district hospitals have been reduced by 39 per cent in real terms.
•  Majority of the increase in the budget’s health component has gone to fund the Rs 6,556-crore Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY).

Highlights of the NSS data

•  The National Sample Survey’s (NSS) health data of 2014 shows that out of an estimated total 24.85 crore families in India, 5.72 crore had to resort to hospitalisation.
•  By that calculation, out of the 10-crore families, there would be roughly 2.3 crore hospitalisations in a year.
•  National Rural Drinking Water Mission and the Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana have utilised only 78 per cent and 50 per cent of the budgeted funds, respectively.
•  The government’s flagship programme, Swachh Bharat Mission (rural), also did mnot fully utilise the Rs 15,343 crore allocated in 2018-19.
•  Its allocation has been further reduced to Rs 10,000 crore for 2019-20.

Conclusion

•  Priority should have been towards improving the worn-out public sector district hospitals, community health centres, primary health centres and subcentres in under-served areas.
•  NSS 2014 data shows that 97 per cent episodes of illnesses in India are treated in out-patient care centres and this accounts for 63 per cent of the overall medical expenditures.
•  Buying healthcare services from the private sector is not pro-poor policy.

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