There are ways to defeat virus without adversely affecting a vulnerable economy (Indian Express)

Mains Paper 3: Economy
Prelims level: Seasonal virus

Reform for labour (Indian Express)

Mains Paper 2: Polity
Prelims level: Rationalising labour laws

What’s in a NAM? (Indian Express)

Mains Paper 2: International
Prelims level: Non-aligned movement
Mains level: Reasons behind to renewed the engagement

Context:

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s video address to a summit of the non-aligned nations last week has generated criticism as well as commendation. Both sides, however, miss the recent evolution of the Indian thinking on the NAM.

Renewed interest:

• External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar has spoken frequently about India’s stakes in the so-called “Global South”.
• He was invoking a term that refers to the entire developing world and not just members of the NAM.
• The minister has talked about consolidating long-standing political equities that Delhi had created in the NAM and the Global South over the last many decades.
• The new interest is not a throwback to seeing the NAM as an anti-Western ideological crusade.
• Nor is it a pretence of valuing the movement but treating it as a ritual to be performed every three years.

CLICK HERE FOR FULL EDITORIAL (Only for Course Members)

Attention:

• But why has a routine speech by the PM on promoting global cooperation in combating the coronavirus gotten so much attention?
• One reason is its billing as Modi’s first address ever to the NAM.
• After all, he had skipped the last two NAM summits, at Venezuela in 2016 and Azerbaijan in 2019.
• Critics of the NDA’s foreign policy convinced themselves that Modi had no real attachment for the non-aligned legacy of Jawaharlal Nehru.
• For the traditionalists, Modi’s engagement with the NAM was a welcome return to roots.
• For those who see the NAM as a political dinosaur, Delhi’s renewed enthusiasm for it seems like a regression. But a closer look at the Modi government’s foreign policy actions reveals a three-fold rationale for intensifying engagement with the NAM.

New cold war:

• Those who say the NAM is a relic of the Cold War must also acknowledge that a new Cold War is beginning to unfold, this time between the US and China.
• As the conflict between the world’s two most important powers envelops all dimensions of international society, India has every reason to try and preserve some political space in between the two .
• In the last few years, Delhi paid lip-service to the NAM but devoted a lot of diplomatic energy to forums like BRICS.
• Given the Russian and Chinese leadership of BRICS, Delhi inevitably began to tamely echo the international positions of Moscow and Beijing rather than represent voices of the Global South.

Conclusion:

• Finally, as a nation seeking to become an independent pole in global affairs, India could do more with forums like the NAM in mobilising support on issues of interest to Delhi.
• An independent Indian line backed by strong support within the NAM can make a big difference to the outcomes of the impending contentions at the World Health Assembly later this month on reviewing the WHO’s performance during the COVID crisis.

CLICK HERE FOR FULL EDITORIAL (Only for Course Members)

Online Coaching for UPSC PRE Exam

General Studies Pre. Cum Mains Study Materials

Prelims Questions:

Q1. With reference to the NLC India Limited, consider the following statements:
1. It is a ‘Maharatna’ Public Enterprise under the Ministry of Coal.
2. It was incorporated in 1956 and is headquartered in Neyveli, Tamil Nadu.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2

Answer...................

CLICK HERE FOR FULL EDITORIAL (Only for Course Members)

Mains Questions:
Q1. What is NAM? What are the reasons behind to renewed the engagement with other countries by India?

Coming to terms (The Hindu)

Mains Paper 2: Governance
Prelims level: Sentinel surveillance
Mains level: Responsibilities for Centre and States to enforce virus containment measures

Context:

• As early as March 28, the Health Ministry acknowledged that there was “limited community transmission” of the novel coronavirus in India.
• On April 9, the ICMR and Health Ministry researchers — some of them are national task force members for COVID-19 — in a journal paper, provided evidence suggesting the prevalence of community transmission in 36 districts across 15 States.

Sentinel surveillance:

• The sentinel surveillance for community transmission undertaken by the task force among patients hospitalised for severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) found 40 of the 102 who tested positive for the virus had no travel history or contact with a known positive case, while data on exposure was not available for another 59 SARI patients.
• Yet, the ICMR consistently maintained that the virus had not spread to the community.
• On May 5, even when the total number of nation-wide cases was close to 47,000, the Health Minister said that India’s virus spread had not gone to stage three.

CLICK HERE FOR FULL EDITORIAL (Only for Course Members)

Compulsion to expand testing:

• The reluctance is surprising given that the total cases reported so far has already crossed 63,500, and the nature of spread is through droplet transmission and contact with contaminated surfaces.
• In contrast, is the U.S. On February 26, when the total number of cases was just 60, it confirmed community spread following the detection in California of the first case with no travel history or contact with a known positive case.
• One reason why India refused to confirm community spread early on could be the compulsion to expand testing when the country did not have the capacity to test huge numbers each day. But there is no reason now to continue being in denial, as that erodes public trust in the government.

Reliable rapid antibody test:

• Against this background, the latest decision to initiate a study in 75 hotspot districts to confirm community spread and ascertain the proportion of community already exposed to the virus is encouraging.
• The study had apparently got delayed by about a month due to the non-availability of reliable rapid antibody tests.
• Due to the unreliability of rapid antibody test, the government will instead use the ELISA test to check for infection.
• Since the ELISA test detects antibodies to the virus, the survey will be able to pick previously infected people including those who were asymptomatic for the entire duration of the infection.
• Since it takes one to three weeks for the antibodies to develop, the ELISA test will miss people who have been recently infected.
• The survey, scheduled to begin later this month in collaboration with the States concerned, will randomly test about 30,000 people in the general population.

Conclusion:

• Meanwhile, all States should continue with strict containment and mitigation measures, acting on the assumption that the virus has indeed spread in the community.

CLICK HERE FOR FULL EDITORIAL (Only for Course Members)

Online Coaching for UPSC PRE Exam

General Studies Pre. Cum Mains Study Materials

Prelims Questions:

Q1. With reference to the Permanent Representative to the United Nations, consider the following statements:
1. India has appointed diplomat T S Tirumurti, currently serving as Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs, as its Permanent Representative to the United Nations.
2. India was among the select members of the United Nations that signed the United Nations Declaration at Washington on January 1, 1942.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2

Answer..................

CLICK HERE FOR FULL EDITORIAL (Only for Course Members)

Mains Questions:
Q1. Describe the responsibilities for Centre and States to enforce virus containment measures as well as to assuming the community spread initiatives.

Tragedy on the tracks (The Hindu)

Mains Paper 2: Governance
Prelims level: Migrant labourers
Mains level: Process to end migrant labour crisis

Context:

• The tragedy of 16 strewn bodies on a railway track in Maharashtra on Friday morning has been in the making for weeks now.
• The Centre and several States have been engaged in flip-flops on facilitating the return of migrant workers to their homes.

Centre’s inability:

• In the present instance, the workers at a company in Jalna in Maharashtra were walking on the track to their families in Madhya Pradesh some 800 km away after the national lockdown since March derailed their livelihoods.
• The Centre’s inability to clearly communicate to the public and States the purpose and protocol of the lockdown every step of the way has put people through completely avoidable hardship. This governance failure was aggravated by several States, either due to lack of capacity or incompetence.
• The sight of an endless stream of migrant labourers, some of them carrying toddlers and the infirm, walking towards India’s poorer regions from its economic centres, will remain an indelible memory of this inept and insensitive approach that had not taken their particular circumstances into account.

CLICK HERE FOR FULL EDITORIAL (Only for Course Members)

Unfolding Pestilence:

• Though it did not spare any effort to make spectacles out of an unfolding pestilence, each government announcement about the lockdown threw even the educated public into a tailspin, and required numerous clarifications and amendments.
• To argue that this is a once-in-a-century event that caught even developed countries napping could at best be a tenuous defence. Even after it woke from the slumber and announced special trains to ferry the stranded and starving workforce to their homes, confusion reigned.
• Onerous paper work and huge costs were heaped on these hapless citizens who manage to barely get by even in the best of times.
• States acted arbitrarily; courts intervened thoughtlessly. Hunger, humiliation and fear of the disease made thousands of these migrants so desperate that they ventured to walk thousands of kilometres to get home.

Conclusion:

• All of this could have been managed better had the Centre worked with States to map out a strategy to support those who wanted to stay where they were, and organised the return of those who chose to do so in an orderly manner.
• A huge cost has already been paid in lives and suffering, but even now there can be measures to mitigate the situation.
• It must have a more open and honest communication with State governments, and citizens. Tough measures may be essential but caring ones are just as vital.
• This unfolding tragedy must be stopped in its tracks.

CLICK HERE FOR FULL EDITORIAL (Only for Course Members)

Online Coaching for UPSC PRE Exam

General Studies Pre. Cum Mains Study Materials

• Medium: ENGLISH
• E-BOOK NAME : KUKSHETRA MAGAZINE PDF -MAY 2020
• Total Pages: 52
• PRICE: 49/- FREE/- (only for few days)
• Hosting Charges: NIL
• File Type: PDF File Download Link via Email

Click Here to Download PDF

Related E-Books:

• 'The Gist' of The Hindu, Yojana, PIB Etc PDF
• Download UPSC IAS Syllabus PDF
• IAS Pre GS Paper-1 Previous Years Question Papers
• UPSC MAINS GS Paper(1-4) Question Papers
• MORE E-BOOKS.....

Slow, but steady: On COVID-19 spread in India (The Hindu)

Mains Paper 2: Health 
Prelims level: COVID-19
Mains level: Increasing the testing process of COVID 19

Context:

• With 52,469 confirmed cases and 1,771 fatalities as on May 6, 2020, India entered the list of the top 15 countries with the highest number of people infected by the novel coronavirus. 
• The infection count in India accounted for only 1.41% of the overall COVID-19 cases the world over, but this proportion has increased from 0.13% (536 cases) on March 24, the day when lockdown measures were announced, to 0.58% (11,487 cases) when the lockdown was extended to what it is currently. 

Doubling time for cases:

• The number of infections continues to surge in the U.S., where as on May 6 there were more than 1.2 million cases, nearly a third (32.7%) of the world’s total.
• While severely affected countries such as Italy, Spain, the U.K., France, Germany, Turkey and Iran finally seem to be experiencing a relative slowdown in the growth of new cases, emerging economies such as Brazil and Russia have shown no flattening of the curve as cases continue to exponentially increase in these countries. 
• This is indicated by the doubling time for cases in the last week: seven and nine days, respectively, for these two countries. Brazil has also registered 7,921 deaths due to the virus, much higher than in India (1,771) and Russia (1,451). 

CLICK HERE FOR FULL EDITORIAL (Only for Course Members)

Early contact tracing and testing: 

• The fact that despite two extensions to one of the most stringent lockdowns in the world, India has not managed to flatten the curve suggests that the lockdown might have been necessary but it is not sufficient. 
• The common theme among countries that have substantially arrested the spread of the virus has been early contact tracing and testing during the outbreak. 
• Some countries such as South Korea have managed to flatten the curve simply by community testing and surveillance. 
• It was always going to be difficult to test at such high rates in India, but even within the limited testing protocols, a closely monitored testing and surveillance strategy has paid dividends for States such as Kerala. 

Testing rates across the states: 

• Other States that have registered a sudden increase in COVID-19 cases, such as Tamil Nadu, Punjab and Haryana, must continue to ramp up testing and isolation of positive cases for the lockdown strategy to work. 
• Fortunately, these States have had only a few fatalities unlike Maharashtra, Gujarat (which have tested more samples per day than the national average) and West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh (which continue to test at a rate lower than the national average). 

Conclusion: 

• The country cannot afford to lock down its activities indefinitely. Ramping up testing and public health infrastructure, besides protecting the vulnerable, remains the best way for India.

CLICK HERE FOR FULL EDITORIAL (Only for Course Members)

Online Coaching for UPSC PRE Exam

General Studies Pre. Cum Mains Study Materials

A war-like state and a bond to the rescue (The Hindu)

Mains Paper 3: Economy 
Prelims level: Consol bond
Mains level: Government budgeting system and raising funds 

Context:

• As India’s ominous COVID-19 curve stretches further, urgent attention needs to be paid to an economy that is teetering on the edge. 
• Several economists, former Finance Ministers and central bank Governors have made the clarion call for a large stimulus to pull the economy back from the brink. 
• There are a few who seem to believe that there are ways and means to provide this stimulus without breaking the bank as it were. 
• As we spend more time in a national lockdown or quasi-lockdown situation, we believe that austerity measures and reallocations notwithstanding.
• We will definitely need to go beyond current revenue receipts to fund the complete stimulus.

A gathering financial storm:

• In the Budget before the pandemic, India projected a deficit of ₹7.96-lakh crore. 
• However, even then there were concerns around off balance sheet borrowings of 1% of GDP and an overly excessive target of ₹2.1 lakh crore through disinvestments. 

CLICK HERE FOR FULL EDITORIAL (Only for Course Members)

Need for stimulus package and measures taken by the central bank:

• In addition to the expenditure that was planned, the government has to spend anywhere between ₹5-lakh crore and ₹6-lakh crore as stimulus. 
• The insipid stimulus provided by the government so far and recent announcements by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) only serve to highlight how out of touch with reality they are. 
• All the RBI’s schemes are contingent on the availability of risk capital, the market for which has completely collapsed. 
• The two have tried several times over the last year to nudge banks into lending to below investment grade micro, small and medium enterprises, but have come up short each time. 
• Furthermore, while the 60% increase in ways and means limits for States is a welcome move, many States have already asked for double the limits due to the shortages in indirect taxation collections from Goods and Services Tax, fuel and liquor. 
• The government and the central bank need to understand that half measures will do more harm than good. 
• It will only lull us into a false sense of security, much like a lockdown without adequate testing.

Echo from the past:

• Politicians and epidemiologists across the world have used the word “war” to describe the situation the world is currently in. 
• As we wage a united war against this virus, it would be interesting for us to look at war-time methods of raising financing. 
• One such method that has been used as early as the First World War is the Consol Bond. 
• In 2014, the British government, a century after the start of the First World War, paid out 10% of the total outstanding Consol bond debt. 

What is a consol bond? 

• A perpetual bond, also known as a "consol bond" or "prep," is a fixed income security with no maturity date. 
• This type of bond is often considered a type of equity, rather than debt. One major drawback to these types of bonds is that they are not redeemable. 
• However, the major benefit of them is that they pay a steady stream of interest payments forever.The bonds, which paid out an interest of 5%, were issued in 1917 as the government sought to raise more money to finance the ongoing cost of the First World War. 

Why it is a better option?

• There is no denying the fact that the traditional option of monetising the deficit by having the central bank buy government bonds is one worth pursuing. 
• However, given an as yet hesitant (to raise debt) Prime Minister’s penchant for making citizens active participants to his missions, he might view a Consol Bond as a more compelling alternative. 
• Furthermore, with the fall of real estate and given the lack of safe havens outside of gold, the bond would offer a dual benefit as a risk free investment for retail investors. 
• When instrumented, it would be issued by the central government on a perpetual basis with a right to call it back when it seems fit. 
• An attractive coupon rate for the bond or tax rebates could also be an incentive for investors. 

Conclusion: 

• The government can consider a phased redemption of these bonds after the economy is put back on a path of high growth — a process that might take that much longer for every day we extend this lockdown.

CLICK HERE FOR FULL EDITORIAL (Only for Course Members)

Online Coaching for UPSC PRE Exam

General Studies Pre. Cum Mains Study Materials

An army against COVID-19 (Indian Express)

Mains Paper 3: Science and Tech 
Prelims level: Monoclonal antibody
Mains level: Details about the monoclonal antibody and its application process to combat COVID 19

Context:

• Israel’s new monoclonal antibody against SARS-CoV-2, isolated by the country’s premier public sector biological research organization.
• The Israel Institute of Biological Research (IIBR), joins a line of monoclonal antibodies being proposed against the pathogen. 
• Celltrion, a South Korean pharma company, had announced mid-April that it had identified 14 neutralising monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) in partnership with the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, from a pool of 300 antibodies that bind to SARS-CoV-2’s surface proteins.

Eyeing human trials:

• The company is eyeing human trials in July, and has said that it is also on track for the development of an ‘antibody cocktail’. 
• It is important to mention here that South Korea has a high recovery rate, of 86% as on May 4; such a large pool of recovered people could facilitate a wide assessment of convalescent antibody-led lines of treatment, mAbs trials.

CLICK HERE FOR FULL EDITORIAL (Only for Course Members)

What are the Monoclonal antibodies? 

• Monoclonal antibodies are generated from a single recovered parent-cell in laboratory conditions through the use of genetically modified mice, and are reformatted for use in humans after they show efficacy in beating a pathogen. 
• These are particularly potent, since they target one epitope (site of engagement with the pathogen on its surface) and prevent its entry into a healthy cell. 
• The fact that these engage with a unique epitope means that the pathogen targeted is overwhelmed with very little time for it to develop a mutation against the mAb.

mAb line of therapy:

• The IIBR reports directly to the prime minister—however haven’t shared any scientific literature on the development or information on laboratory evaluation of their isolated mAb. 
• The IIBR researchers are looking to apply for a patent and enter into a commercial partnership with an international pharma company, that will need regulatory approvals for human use after the results of clinical trials are assessed. 
• Human trials will be an important milestone in the progress of an mAb line of therapy, since mAbs, though they mimic antibodies produced by the human body, could have significant side-effects.
• Trials of gimsilumab, an mAb developed by Roivant Sciences, was rolled out on April 16 on Covid-19 patients with lung injury or showing signs of Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome, with the Temple University Hospital in Philadelphia being the primary site of trial. 
• The primary endpoint being considered for the trial is mortality by day 43, with the secondary endpoints being incidence and duration of mechanical ventilation use, number of ICU days and inpatient hospitalisation days.
• Considering the primary endpoint for the trial, the results should be available by the end of this month.
• Researchers at the Utrecht University in the Netherlands have also reported the development of an mAb (named 47D11), in the journal Nature Communications. 
• The mAb neutralised SARS-CoV-2 in in vitro conditions by binding to the Spike surface protein of the virus. 

Way ahead:

• The researchers believe the mAb may also have therapeutic use in another coronavirus (SARS-CoV, the pathogen behind SARS), if it passes the clinical trial stage. This would make the Utrecht mAb a bi-specific one, i.e., with efficacy against two pathogens.
• Apart from these instances of mAb research targeting Covid-19, American biotech major Regeneron Pharmaceuticals and British-Swedish pharma major AstraZeneca are working on mAb solutions, too. 
• The US’s Darpa is also playing a seminal role in mAb research with many partner biotech firms.

CLICK HERE FOR FULL EDITORIAL (Only for Course Members)

Online Coaching for UPSC PRE Exam

General Studies Pre. Cum Mains Study Materials

Online route of justice delivery system (Indian Express)

Mains Paper 2: Polity 
Prelims level: eCourts Project
Mains level: Adoption of technology in Judiciary 

Context:

• The lockdown has generated several webinars on justice delivery, technology and the future. 
• The discussions focus on the way forward in tackling the problem of social distancing with lawyers and litigants crowding the courts even after the lockdown is lifted.

Kinds of courts in our justice delivery system:

• First, conventional courts located in court complexes where judges, lawyers and litigants are physically present. 
• Second, online courts where the judge is physically present in the courtroom but the lawyer or litigant is not. This is the present arrangement, except that now the courtroom is the residential office of the judge, due to the lockdown. 
• Third, virtual courts where there is no judge, lawyer or litigant and a computer takes a decision based on the inputs of the litigant.

Pilot project with Tihar Jail:

• The pilot project for dealing with routine remand cases of prisoners. 
• The procedure postulated prisoners being produced in court, not physically but through video conferencing (VC), hence an online court. 
• The pilot project started tentatively with some hiccups but proved to be a success and now several courts have adopted the online process with varying degrees of commitment.

CLICK HERE FOR FULL EDITORIAL (Only for Course Members)

Adoption of online routes by district and high courts:

• A few intrepid district judges have taken a step forward and recorded the statement of parties in cases of divorce by mutual consent. 
• As of now, several such cases, including those involving NRIs, are dealt with through VC in online courts. 
• Punjab and Haryana judges have gone even further ahead. The online courts record the expert evidence of doctors from PGIMER through VC. 
• This has freed the doctors from time consuming trips to the courts and has resulted in savings of several crores for the exchequer. 
• Similar success stories are available from other district courts, but a determined and concerted effort is necessary to popularise online courts at the district level.
• Some high court judges in Delhi and Punjab and Haryana have completely dispensed with paper — everything is on a soft copy, through e-Filing and scanned documents. 
• Lawyers and judges have made necessary adjustments to the new regime and the cases are conveniently heard and decided in “paperless courts”. 
• A few other high courts initiated similar steps, but have yet to institutionalise “paperless courts”.

Limitations: 

• The online courts is unfamiliarity with the medium of communication. Judges are simply not used to consciously facing a camera generally and in particular while hearing a case.
• Similarly, lawyers find it difficult to comfortably argue while seated. Body language, facial expressions, the tone and tenor, both of the judge and the lawyer, make for important signals and clues which cannot be captured in VC. 
• Some technical problems in conducting online hearings have also surfaced. The bandwidth is not adequate or stable enough. The picture sometimes breaks or gets frozen and the voice often cracks.
• Consultations are also a problem. Lawyers occasionally need to consult their client or the instructing advocate; judges also need to consult each other during a hearing. Attention needs to be paid to these real-time issues otherwise lawyers will harbour misgivings about a fair hearing.
• The chairman of the Bar Council of India has voiced a concern that 90 per cent of the lawyers are not computer literate or tech savvy. 

eCourts Project:

• A virtual court is a unique contribution of the eCourts Project. 
• A pilot virtual court was launched in August 2018 in Delhi for traffic offences and it has been a great success. 
• Virtual courts have been successfully tried out in Delhi, Haryana, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu. 
• A virtual court is a simple programme through which a person can find out if a challan has been issued to him or her through a search facility. 
• If a challan has been issued, the details are available online and the person may plead guilty or not guilty. 
• On a guilty plea, the minimum fine is imposed and on a not-guilty plea, the case is electronically transferred to the traffic court for trial. 
• At the end of the day, a judge reviews the cases and disposes of them electronically depending on the option exercised. 
• One judge is all it takes to manage the virtual court for Delhi or an entire state. 
• With the launch of virtual courts, the daily footfalls to the courts have drastically reduced and thousands have pleaded guilty and paid the fine electronically.

Potential of virtual court system: 

• The virtual court system has the potential of being upscaled and other petty offences attracting a fine such as delayed payments of local taxes or compoundable offences can also be dealt with by virtual courts. This will ease the burden on conventional courts and therefore must be strongly encouraged.

Way ahead: 

• Post lockdown, justice delivery will certainly undergo a transformation and judges, lawyers and litigants will need to adapt to the new normal. 
• Social distancing is here to stay and will bring about profound changes in the way justice is administered and delivered. 
• Open courts will remain as also open justice, but some definitions will change with a more aggressive use of technology, not only in conventional but also online and virtual courts. 

Conclusion: 

• Several countries and courts have made adjustments not only for the period of the pandemic or lockdown, but also for the future. 
• We should certainly not be left behind but must also make a roadmap to meet the challenge. As the Boy Scouts say: Be prepared.

CLICK HERE FOR FULL EDITORIAL (Only for Course Members)

Online Coaching for UPSC PRE Exam

General Studies Pre. Cum Mains Study Materials

Covid constraints on defence expenditure could help transform military culture (Indian Express)

Mains Paper 3: Defense and Security 
Prelims level: Defence forces in India
Mains level: Various security forces, agencies and their mandates 

Context:

• The freezing of fresh capital acquisitions by the defence forces, delays in procurement and induction of existing orders, and austerity measures in the administrative domain, were expected. 

Myopic approach:

• It is easy to approach this problem tactically by issuing directives and guidelines and then seeking periodic feedback from the military on the progress made, targets met, shortfalls and remedial measures instituted. 
• Instead, this should be seen as an opportunity to evolve a transformational culture in the Indian military, based on clear political guidelines driven by existing and futuristic capabilities, expected strategic outcomes and anticipated strategic challenges.

Approaches taken by neighbouring countries:

• Pakistan stagnates in an existential-threat-based and India-centric approach to national security. 
• China’s expansive global strategy and unbridled capability-based development surge have overcome the dangers of direct competition with the US. It has closed the gap through an “indirect approach to international security”, which looks at building on strengths in areas such as cyberspace, non-contact warfare, economic and diplomatic coercion. 

CLICK HERE FOR FULL EDITORIAL (Only for Course Members)

Strategic guidelines for India’s security:

• Strategic guidelines for India’s security managers must shift from a threat-based methodology to a multi-disciplinary capability.
• An outcome-based orientation to fit with the nation’s power aspirations.

Five visible silos most critical to kick-start the transformation:
Creation of indigenous defence capability:

• Doing this without brushing away the short and medium-term requirement of selective imports will be the key to a calibrated march to self-sufficiency. 

Leadership: 

• India’s military leadership is very hierarchical and sequential in its approach. 
• However, this same leadership has superb operational skills and possesses a quick understanding of technology, tactics, techniques and procedures. 
• Consequently, strategic leaders need to be identified and their transition towards becoming more than mere executors of operational plans and campaigns needs to be enabled. 
• Multi-disciplinary thinking, lateral assimilation and a world-view are among the specific skill-sets that need to be nurtured.

Training and education:

• Training and education form the next two silos in the process of transformation. Let us take the developed Western model for example. 
• Several military officers at the colonel level — fresh out of war colleges and the university environment where they spend a year of education (not training) — are posted at the Pentagon and NATO HQ. 
• Here, they work alongside civilians, politicians, lawmakers, not forgetting their own joint leadership. In such an environment, it is not difficult to mark, train and recognise talent in ways that go beyond the mere rank structure. 
• It is high time India goes down that road because even though economic globalisation may be on hold for a while post COVID-19, there is going to be a flattening of the world from a security perspective. 
• There will be common threats that would need to be fought jointly by nations. 
• The three pre-requisites in these silos will be an amalgam of service-centric and joint operations expertise, operational acumen in a global environment, and broad-based education that develops intellectual capital.
• Training in the Indian military is top-notch and needs a little tweaking to help officers and men understand the rules of engagement in a Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous (VUCA) world. It is diversified education at all levels of leadership that is a weak area.

Jointness and integration:

• The silo of jointness and integration without losing identities and compromising competencies is an outcome that needs to be chased down with focus and determination. 
• There will be pain and turfs will be trampled on, but with transformed and intellectually empowered leadership, no bridge will too far to cross for the Indian military.

Way ahead:

• Some have suggested radical ways of selecting future chiefs, suggesting a “deep selection” and a four-year tenure based on several criteria that have been highlighted in this article. 
• They have also highlighted the accompanying risks of such a move.
• Keeping that as an aspirational long-term outcome may be a good idea as the processes needed to incorporate such a radical change are either nascent or absent from the current system.

CLICK HERE FOR FULL EDITORIAL (Only for Course Members)

Online Coaching for UPSC PRE Exam

General Studies Pre. Cum Mains Study Materials

Promise of equity (Indian Express)

Mains Paper 2: Governance 
Prelims level: Direct benefit transfer 
Mains level: Welfare schemes for poor through direct benefit transfer 

Context:

• Recently, the FM announced a fiscal relief package of Rs 1.7 lakh crore to help the poor.
• This package—at 1% of GDP. 
• FM said that the “measures are intended at reaching out to the poorest of the poor, with food and money in hands, so that they do not face difficulties in buying essential supplies and meeting essential needs”.

To scale up the fiscal relief measures:

• With a special emphasis on “Basic Income” the threshold fiscal deficit to GDP ratio, as in the FRBM, may be revised. 
• It is not only the levels, but also the financing pattern, of deficits that need a relook.
• Given the narrative of “whatever it takes” to address “life versus livelihood” crisis and the public health pandemic, we must emphasise the increased monetisation of deficits, along with the bond financing, rather than external financing of debt.

CLICK HERE FOR FULL EDITORIAL (Only for Course Members)

Informal workforce: 

• The Economic Survey 2018-19 points that “almost 93%” of the total workforce is ‘informal’. 
• In a nation, which is under the Great Lockdown, where the daily worker is prevented from earning a fair wage.
• It stands to reason that we exercise the humane quality of being fair and impartial, particularly considering the size of the informal workforce.
• The announcements by the FM, thus, are partial, and there is a need to enhance “basic income” transfers.

Universal Basic Income:

• One of the biggest challenges in providing Universal Basic Income (UBI) to all is that it gets mired in politics—both good and bad. 
• Many questions arise, if the income is considered “universal”, who all benefit from it—why should the rich be included? And, if only the poor are included, does it become an unalienable right? 
• These are technically the Type 1 (inclusion error) and Type 2 (exclusion error) errors in public expenditure management.
• To avoid getting mired in a political discourse, we may term this as Basic Sustenance Income. 

Targeting the underprivileged:

• The proposed Direct Benefit Transfer will be targeting the underprivileged (BPL) for day-to-day sustenance all through the year. 
• The government can scale up the existing fiscal relief package and contribute to individual and household income sustenance in six ways.
• It can strengthen the minimum living sustenance income guarantee, announced in the initial fiscal Covid policy response. 
• The announcement of Rs 500 per head to the women in the care economy per se is insufficient. 
• It is indeed significant to combine food security with basic income. National Food Security Act, 2013 makes the right to food a justiciable right. 
• As on date, a significant part of this is fulfilled by the PDS system. However, many of the intended beneficiaries—such as inter-state migrants—are left out.

Fulfilling calorific requirements:

• The focus of the PDS programme is more on fulfilling calorific requirements rather than nutritional requirements. 
• Moreover, there are several challenges in running such a PDS system efficiently, as a “leak proof” distribution system. 
• What we propose is weekly direct transfer of payments based on market rates for the food grains supplied via PDS throughout the year. 
• Thus, the intended beneficiary decides what food grains (nutrition) to buy and how much to buy. 
• This transfer benefits directly to migrants’ accounts at their place of work. 

CLICK HERE FOR FULL EDITORIAL (Only for Course Members)

Calamity Jane Disaster Support Schemes:

• “Calamity Jane” Disaster Support Schemes need to be designed to support the needy during this period. 
• The beneficiaries could be state/region-specific, or whatever the deserving category as declared by the government. 
• This could be in the form of weekly or one-time lumpsum transfers dependent upon the distress caused to the targeted group. 
• A good example can be the migrants or other deserving poor unable to work owing to the lockdown.

Provisions for PPE during Covid:

• To strengthen social insurance payments for sickness, including provisions for PPE during Covid. 
• The significant issues would be to firm up social security based on contributions.
• The monetary policy has limitations in triggering the economy through credit policy instruments.
• Design appropriate conditional cash transfers, contingent upon citizens fulfilling certain government-targeted social goals such as vaccinations for children, or volunteering during emergencies. 
• This list can be expanded or reduced as per the government’s social goals and availability of funds. 
• The conditional transfers should be given preferably to the female head of households using a “Citizen Card” which operates like a debit card.
• The Brazil’s Bolsa Familia Programme is a significant example of this category DBT. 

Intergovernmental fiscal transfers:

• The 15th Finance Commission can design and integrate such intergovernmental fiscal transfers in their final report, to be submitted on October 2020.
• To strengthen “Payment for Work” programmes, like MGNREGA. When the environment is more conducive, the government can roll out work programmes. 
• In the post-Covid era, the government acting as “employer of last resort” is very relevant. 
• The drastic reduction in budgetary allocation for this scheme is alarming, and the deviation between what is estimated and the actual needs course correction.
• Design “Nudge Payments”, which make it more likely for an individual/family to make benevolent choices or behave in a particular way. 
• An example is rewarding people to follow health guidelines. So, staying indoors gets a small reward. Monitoring is easy with the deployment of Aarogya Setu app or other metrics. 
• In future, this can be extended to other health guidelines.

Conclusion:

• It is vital to strengthen the existing fiscal package, by tweaking existing “means-tested policies” with a more effective exercise of morally required equity. 
• It would be a promise of equity, not equality, a new starting line set above the poverty line. More importantly, it will not be an ad hoc one.

CLICK HERE FOR FULL EDITORIAL (Only for Course Members)

Online Coaching for UPSC PRE Exam

General Studies Pre. Cum Mains Study Materials

Prepare for long haul (Indian Express)

Mains Paper 2: Health 
Prelims level: COVID 19
Mains level: Need a pragmatic approach towards to combat COVID 19

Context:

• The coronavirus pandemic has created an unprecedented crisis. 
• It has spread rapidly, catching governments, local administrations and public health systems unprepared. All countries — rich or poor — have been adversely affected.

For India’s perspective: 

• For India — a country of 1.3 billion with socio-economic disparities, and hundreds of millions of poor, unemployed and underemployed labourers — the virus has posed critical challenges. 
• The country has been under a total lockdown since March 25, which has now been extended to May 17. 
• But the virus is still spreading and the lockdown restrictions have to be extended further. On March 25, India had only 627 confirmed cases spread over 130 districts. 
• On May 3 — the last day of phase II of the lockdown — the number of affected districts stood at 401 with 42,836 confirmed cases, now rising by over 2,000 a day. 

CLICK HERE FOR FULL EDITORIAL (Only for Course Members)

Bipartisan support: 

• India’s lockdown has been arguably the harshest. It was supported by all major political parties, and elected state governments of which 11 are controlled by the opposition.
• This bipartisan consensus was made possible as containment of the virus was considered necessary.
• The lockdown has helped in slowing the spread and flattening the curve. Tracking suspected cases, their contacts and testing them has been relentlessly pursued. 
• This period has also provided space for the Centre and state governments to ramp up testing facilities, and strengthen a fragile public health system for a possible post-lockdown surge.

Burden on government hospital: 

• The pandemic has brought to fore the glaring shortcomings of the public health system and the over-dependence on private hospitals. 
• Over the years, there has been a tendency to favour an insurance-based private hospital model and not opt for increasing government spending to expand public healthcare facilities. 
• Two-thirds of hospital beds in India and almost 80 per cent of available ventilator-equipped ICU beds are in private hospitals. They are handling only 10 per cent of the COVID load. 
• For a country with a large number of poor and socially vulnerable citizens, private healthcare is neither accessible nor affordable. 
• Ironically, in this time of crisis, it is the government hospitals that are taking on the burden.

Resources on public healthcare infrastructure: 

• This pandemic should be a wake-up call for the government to allocate more resources for public healthcare infrastructure. 
• It is persisting with the controversial Central Vista Project which costs Rs 20,000 crore. This will also be a criminal waste of public money when there is already a paucity of resources to fight the pandemic. 
• The government is withholding DA installments and accepting loans from the World Bank to fight the pandemic. 
• India needs well-equipped government hospitals and not grand buildings which will serve no public purpose.

Impact of lockdown: 

• The shutdown of the economy has inflicted unbearable social and economic costs. An estimated 122 million jobs in the formal and informal sectors have been lost. 
• The informal sector which employs 90 per cent of the workforce and the MSME’s are worst hit.
• The lockdown was hastily imposed by the Central government without any advance preparation or coordination. 
• There were no consultations with the state governments. Abrupt cancellations of trains, buses and bans on movement of all vehicles led to confusion and despair. Millions were stranded without food and money. Untold suffering was inflicted on them.
• The fallout on the large number of casual workers and migrant construction and farm labourers has been severe. Migrant labour desperate to return to their native villages were stranded and trapped in harsh conditions. 
• Thousands of migrant workers deprived of their livelihoods were forced to walk back to their villages. 
• The images of men and women — many pregnant, carrying their belongings and children, the elderly and young ones, starving and crying — will remain forever frozen in our memory.

Fundamental questions: 

• The enforcement of the first lockdown without consultation with the states raises fundamental questions.
• India has a federal structure and in the constitutional scheme of things, healthcare is a State subject and contagious diseases is on Concurrent list. 
• Also, trade and commerce within the state and industry are State subjects. But all decisions were arbitrarily taken by the Centre under the National Disaster Management Authority Act of 2005. This approach has long-term implications on Centre-state relations.

Way forward:

• India is staring at a prolonged recession and massive unemployment. The financial package provided by the government is very small to make any meaningful impact. A financial package of 5 per cent of GDP is a must to revive the economy. The government has directed industry to pay full wages to their workers. 
• MSME’s should be given government-guaranteed finance at zero interest to enable them to pay their workers. The fiscal deficit and inflation issues can be put in abeyance until April 2021.
• For the poor — 75 per cent of rural and 50 per cent of urban households — food security has to be guaranteed. Fortunately, the granaries are full with 77.5 million tonnes of buffer food grain stocks.
• A phased exit from the lockdown has started. Industrial activity, movement of cargo and limited retail trade has resumed. 
• This will help to balance the twin objectives of saving lives and livelihoods. 
• It will also save the economy as the collateral damage is bound to be far greater if the lockdown is extended.

Conclusion: 

• The lockdown has definitely slowed the spread of the virus. It will resurface once the restrictions are eased. 
• The virus spread, it appears now is beyond the ability of state to contain by quarantining. 
• Ensuring personal protective equipment for doctors and healthcare workers and providing required resources and logistical support to government hospitals is essential to prepare for the next wave.
• India has to be prepared for a long haul. A pragmatic approach is the need of the hour.

CLICK HERE FOR FULL EDITORIAL (Only for Course Members)

Online Coaching for UPSC PRE Exam

General Studies Pre. Cum Mains Study Materials

Resuscitating multilateralism with India’s help (The Hindu)

Mains Paper 2: International Relations 
Prelims level: Multilateralism
Mains level: Effect of policies and politics of developed and developing countries on India’s interests, Indian diaspora.

Context:

• Even as the coronavirus pandemic unleashes its devastation across the globe, the great and the good have been quick to remind us of the value of multilateralism and the necessity to preserve it. And yes, they are right. 
• To reduce the further spread of the virus, to develop effective medical treatments, and to curtail the worst effects of the inevitable recession that is already in the offing, cooperation among nations will be necessary. 
• But there is a problem: multilateralism is possibly at its weakest today, when the need for it is more dire than ever before. Unless the fundamental problem is addressed, no meaningful fix will be possible. 

Assuming leadership: 

• India may be uniquely positioned to help resuscitate multilateralism. 
• With the United States facing multiple internal challenges including the prospects of a deeply divisive Presidential election in November, New Delhi (together with like-minded partners even beyond the usual suspects) could assume leadership in strengthening constructive transnational cooperation. 
• At a time when China is facing a global crises of credibility, India may even consider a last-ditch attempt at mediation; to temper what is increasingly seen as Beijing’s unilateralist revisionism; revive the promise of the gradual socialisation of China into the international system; and its acceptance of the norms and rules that regulate the principal multilateral institutions. 
• Deepened by the pandemic
• The malaise that afflicts multilateralism is not new. The paralysis of all three functions of the World Trade Organization (WTO) — negotiation, dispute settlement, and transparency — was one sign of that deep-rooted malaise; the severely dented credibility of the World Health Organization (WHO) is just another more recent indicator. 

CLICK HERE FOR FULL EDITORIAL (Only for Course Members)

Weaponized for nationalistic gain:

• The underpinning assumption of the post-war multilateral system was that peace and prosperity went hand in hand. 
• Some like-mindedness and a commonly-held purpose were also assumed among members: increasing economic integration and shared prosperity would help enhance these affinities and contribute to peace. 
• Countries with fundamentally different domestic systems of governance did not form a part of this multilateral order, as was the case with the Soviet bloc in the Cold War years. 
• None of our multilateral institutions was built for a world where the ties of interdependence — which were supposed to enhance the well-being of all — could themselves be “weaponized” for nationalistic gain, at the expense of other players. 
• The misuse of existing rules (or loopholes within the existing rules) by several countries, especially by China (e.g. via forced technology requirements, intellectual property rights violations, and subsidies), to gain an unfair advantage in trade relations was already attracting critique in the last years. But the pandemic has provided us with some even more alarming illustrations of how damaging the weaponisation of global supply chains can be. 

Need for commintment of multilateralism:

• As death tolls rose many countries responded with export restrictions on critical medical supplies. 
• This was far from ideal, but almost inevitable given the absence of adequate stocks within countries, and little in the rules to curb export restraints. 
• Recognising the shortages that countries were facing — masks, personal protective equipment, ventilators and more — to deal with COVID-19, China offered to sell these products to countries in need. 
• When the European Union (EU) put up export restrictions, China stepped in at Serbia’s request. But China’s coronavirus diplomacy did not stop there. 
• When India complained that test kits imported from China were faulty, China slammed it for “irresponsible” behaviour. 
• Australia indicated that it would conduct an independent investigation of China’s early handling of the epidemic, China threatened it with economic consequences. 
• Add to this the dangers of using faulty equipment on critical patients, plus the risks that several actors, including the EU and India, see of predatory takeovers of their companies by China. 
• The pandemic is teaching countries, through bitter experience, that weaponised interdependence is not just a theory but a practice that is rapidly evolving. And it can have life and death consequences.
• Against this background, repeated calls by heads of governments and international organisations urging countries to remain committed to multilateralism ring hollow. 

Reforming multilateralism

• To argue for a multilateral rules-based system will never suffice on its own; one must always address the issue of the goals and values that underpin the rules. The remedies are obvious.
• The need for reassurance and policies that reflect a renewed commitment to the raison d’étre of multilateralism. 
• A “retreating” United States must, of course, demonstrate in word and deed that autarchy is not the way forward (of this global crises) and that it remains committed to strengthening global supply chains which are based on the promise of ensuring global stability and the attendant promise of peace and prosperity.
• There is an urgent need for some strategic decoupling, handled smartly in cooperation with other like-minded countries. 
• This will not happen overnight. And it will undoubtedly cause considerable disruption to existing global value chains. 
• This in turn, will result in a shrinking of the global economic pie. We will be less prosperous. But we will also be more secure. 
• A multilateralism that recognises the need for decoupling will necessitate closer cooperation with some and distancing from others. 
• Membership of such renewed multilateral institutions would not be universal; rather, one would limit deep integration to countries with which one shares first-order values — such as pluralism, democracy, liberalism, animal welfare rights, and more. 

A role for India:

• The current crisis in multilateralism could be a remarkable opportunity for India, a country whose pluralism, democracy, and liberalism have often been underestimated by the West. At an immediate level, the gains are obvious: India has also maintained a consistent reserve about a blanket entrenchment in global value chains. As some constituencies in the West seek a gradual decoupling from China, they would be well served to look toward India. 
• To make use of the opportunities, for itself and for the provision of certain global public goods, India’s cooperation with like-minded actors will be key. 
• India could work closely with the Alliance for Multilateralism (an initiative launched by Germany and France) to shape both the alliance itself and the reform agenda at large. Working together with a group of countries from the developed and developing countries could further amplify India’s voice.
• But beyond these immediate gains could be a greater role for India. Not since Chernobyl has global public opinion lost as much faith in the competence and integrity of a great power as it has in China because of COVID-19 and the apparent malfeasance and the opaqueness with which it has dealt with the crises. 
• While China may recover faster than most economically, and its military might remains intact, its image as a reliable partner has suffered a huge dent. Neither aid diplomacy nor the unleashing of Chinese soft power can easily recover the trust deficit that exists today between China and much of the rest of the world. 

Conclusion: 

• While prudence may demand gradual decoupling, it is critical to not be seen as immediately isolating China; with fewer stakes in world order, Beijing’s turn towards revisionism could be faster than anticipated. 
• Instead, India could lead a coalition to bridge this deficit of trust through a regime of incentives and sanctions that seek to embed Beijing into a much more guided and directed socialisation into the rules of the international system. 
• Clearly, the strategic and economic have, however, to be in consonance with each other. In the longer term then, whether multi-polarity is the only firm guarantor of a sustainable and fairer multilateralism requires further debate among scholars and practitioners alike.

CLICK HERE FOR FULL EDITORIAL (Only for Course Members)

Online Coaching for UPSC PRE Exam

General Studies Pre. Cum Mains Study Materials

Blame game : On Donald Trump’s anti-China rhetoric over COVID-19 (The Hindu)

Mains Paper 2: International Relations 
Prelims level: US China relations 
Mains level: Shaping renewed anti-China rhetoric will leave U.S.-China relations

Context:

• President Donald Trump’s recent attacks on China over the coronavirus outbreak risk further deterioration of already strained ties between the two countries at a time when the global economy is in a precarious situation. 
• Mr. Trump, under fire at home over his handling of the pandemic, seeks to hold China accountable for the infection spread. 
• He has attempted to tie the virus to a virology lab in Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak, endorsing an unproven theory, while his administration officials accuse Beijing of withholding information about the virus. 

Trump claims: 

• Over the past week, the President went so far as to seek compensation, threatening to impose more tariffs on China. 
• This is a U-turn given his initial appreciation of his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping’s handling of the crisis. 
• Stepping up the attacks on China might help Mr. Trump, whose approval ratings are falling, to mobilise his base. 
• The Republican Party has already issued a memo asking candidates to attack China. Mr. Trump echoed the party sentiment when he said last week that China “will do anything” to defeat him in the November election. 

CLICK HERE FOR FULL EDITORIAL (Only for Course Members)

Renewed anti-China rhetoric:

• The question is about what shape this renewed anti-China rhetoric will leave U.S.-China relations; ties have been uneasy since Mr. Trump became President. 
• The trade war by Mr. Trump and the push to weaken Chinese giant Huawei’s global bid to roll out 5G technology had impacted the four decades long partnership. 
• However, both sides agreed to an initial trade agreement in January that cut some U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods in return for China’s pledges to buy more American products. A final trade deal is yet to be reached. 
• If Mr. Trump decides to punish China over the COVID-19 outbreak, it would, in all likelihood, lead to the unravelling of the trade talks during an unfortunate time for the global economy. 

Looking beyond narrow blame game: 

• Also, China, which has brought the virus situation at home under control, has sent economic and medical assistance to the hardest hit countries. 
• Even the U.S. is importing personal protective equipment supplies from China. When Mr. Trump halted funding for the World Health Organization last month, China stepped in with an additional $30 million grant for the agency. Mr. Trump should look beyond his narrow blame game and see the larger picture.

Conclusion:  

• If the goals are to defeat the virus, save lives and rebuild economies and societies, those can be achieved only through global cooperation, not through unsubstantiated accusations, conspiracy theories and threats.

CLICK HERE FOR FULL EDITORIAL (Only for Course Members)

Online Coaching for UPSC PRE Exam

General Studies Pre. Cum Mains Study Materials

Back home: On return of Indian expatriates (The Hindu)

Mains Paper 2: International 
Prelims level: Standard Operating Procedures
Mains level: Indian Diaspora 

Context:

• After nearly two months, stranded Indians across the world will begin their journey home this week as aircraft and naval ships, in a government-coordinated plan, are to bring back about 15,000 nationals from 13 countries in the first week. 
• The mammoth exercise, dubbed the “Vande Bharat” mission by the External Affairs Ministry, is expected to last for weeks, given the numbers of people who have registered with embassies in these countries. 

Prioritising lists:

• The stranded include business travellers and tourists who were unable to return in time; due to the pandemic, the last flights allowed to land with incoming passengers were on March 22. There are also students whose university hostels have shut down. 
• Increasingly, those appealing to be allowed to return have included professionals and labourers who have lost jobs due to the economic impact of global lockdowns. 

CLICK HERE FOR FULL EDITORIAL (Only for Course Members)

Standard Operating Procedures:

• According to the Standard Operating Procedures released by the Home Ministry, only those who have “compelling reasons to return” — people whose visas are expiring, who face deportation, with family emergencies, medical issues including pregnancy, and students who have lost their accommodation — will be allowed to return in the first phase, which is open to only Indian nationals at present. 
• In addition, the government has also laid down stringent conditions which include “mandatory institutional quarantine” for 14 days. 
• All those returning will also bear the costs for travel arrangements and accommodation.

Efforts of diplomats and officials: 

• Despite these, the returnees will no doubt be grateful to the government for its efforts, Indian diplomats who have helped keep them informed, organised food and shelter, and also to airline and naval crews who will carry out these operations despite the risks of infection. 
• The efforts required by unsung diplomats and officials have been made all the more difficult by India’s stringent lockdown and the government’s decision not to allow its own nationals to return, even as about 60,000 foreign nationals were flown out during this period. 

Way forward:

• As the government plans its exit from the lockdown, as well as its repatriation manoeuvres, it is necessary to consider putting in better systems so that it does not have to repeat the trauma of keeping Indian citizens stranded outside the country for extended periods away from their families. 
• It is necessary that quarantine facilities are identified or makeshift centres built to deal with the large numbers of people who may need to return. 
• The government needs to prepare for both a possible second wave of the novel coronavirus as well as a rapid increase in Indian expatriates needing to return given the drop in oil prices in West Asia and the downturn in global economies.

CLICK HERE FOR FULL EDITORIAL (Only for Course Members)

Online Coaching for UPSC PRE Exam

General Studies Pre. Cum Mains Study Materials

• Medium: ENGLISH
• E-BOOK NAME : YOJANA MAGAZINE PDF -MAY 2020
• Total Pages: 54
• PRICE: 49/- FREE/- (only for few days)
• Hosting Charges: NIL
• File Type: PDF File Download Link via Email

Content Table

• Benchmarking Healthcare (Alok Kumar, Sheena Chhabra)
• COVID 19: The Novel Threat (Dr Smita Watwe)
• Yoga for Stress Management (Dr Gangadhar BN and NIMHANS Team)
• Strengthening Health Systems (Kavita Singh)
• Al In Healthcare (Yogesh K Dwivedi and Team)
• IOT In Healthcare (Dr Ashok G Matani)
• Public Health Redesigning (Dr Kelasur Shivanna Rajashekara)
• Resilience and National Spirit (Durga Shanker Mishra)
• Mann Ki Baat 
• COVID India Seva 
• Post-COVID-19 Economy Revival 
• COVID-19 Disinfection Process
• Extraordinary Virtual G20 Leaders' Summit 
• E-Learning Seel Upsurge During COVID-19
• Swasth ke Sipahi 

Click Here to Download PDF

Related E-Books:

• 'The Gist' of The Hindu, Yojana, PIB Etc PDF
• Download UPSC IAS Syllabus PDF
• IAS Pre GS Paper-1 Previous Years Question Papers
• UPSC MAINS GS Paper(1-4) Question Papers
• MORE E-BOOKS.....

Toxic boy talk (The Hindu)

Mains Paper 1: Society 
Prelims level: Locker room
Mains level: Degradations of human behavior and practicing misogyny among teenagers 

Context:

• The outed Instagram “locker room”, where hundreds of teenage boys from Delhi-NCR’s most accomplished schools allegedly shared pictures of girls their age or less, offers a disturbing glimpse into their minds. 

Practicing misogyny:

• But this is not the first inkling society or elite schools have had of how brutally young people practice misogyny and shame culture as they grow into sexual awareness, nor will it be the last.
• For the most part, it is something that is looked away from — perhaps, because even in the “real, grown-up” world, men get away with more serious transgressions, as the #MeToo movement recently uncovered. 
• In this case, too, social media has exposed how talk is not just talk. 
• Language — even if it is below-the-radar gossip, chatter, mockery — can be used to belittle and reduce women to sexualised things, setting them up as targets of “real” violence.

CLICK HERE FOR FULL EDITORIAL (Only for Course Members)

Consequences of their behavior:

• For the ecosystem that surrounds the boys, the challenge is to convince them of the consequences of their behaviour. 
• Parents, schools and other institutions can start by opening a conversation about consent and empathy, about drawing a line between desire and entitlement, and about thinking hard about ways to enforce accountability. 
• This is a hard ask — simply because young people model themselves on behaviour much more than they do on language and sermons.

Grown up with privilege:

• It might be especially hard to come to terms with the insensitivity of a generation that has grown up with privilege, and that is far more relaxed in terms of sexual mores than any other preceding generation.
• But a look at this economy of desire and permissiveness reveals an old problem: Without empathy, curiosity and a respect for the other, what seems like sexual exploration and discovery falls into the old rut of power play. 
• Boys continue to make invisible locker rooms, and girls make lists of predators to share anonymously.

Conclusion:

• It is best to remember that the internet in India is an overwhelmingly male preserve, and that offensive sexual behaviour is likely to push more women off it. 
• For parents of many girls, pragmatism might dictate that they give up their smartphones or go off social media. 
• But this is also a time for the same ecosystem to stand by them, to act as circuit-breakers between their self-expression and the jolts of shame, sexism and humiliation that the internet can inflict.

CLICK HERE FOR FULL EDITORIAL (Only for Course Members)

Online Coaching for UPSC PRE Exam

General Studies Pre. Cum Mains Study Materials

Not at the cost of food security (The Hindu)

Mains Paper 2: Governance 
Prelims level: National Policy on Biofuels 
Mains level: Imperative to food security and food price stability for the welfare of the vulnerable sections of the society 

Context:

• In the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic and a country-wide lockdown came an announcement that was difficult to believe. 
• The press release said the National Biofuel Coordination Committee (NBCC) chaired by the Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas has decided to use “surplus” rice available with the Food Corporation of India (FCI) for conversion to ethanol. 
• This is ostensibly for making alcohol-based hand-sanitisers and for the blending of ethanol with petrol. 
• This decision is not only audacious but also an affront to the millions of people who are deeply affected by food insecurity.

Transfer grain from godowns:

• The images of exhausted migrants with their families trudging back from cities to villages are still vivid. Some have died on the way for the want of food and water. 
• Distribution of food rations and cooked food is still far from adequate. 
• The urgent priority is to transfer grain from godowns to ration shops and NGOs helping in food packet distribution — certainly not diverting rice to ethanol producers.

CLICK HERE FOR FULL EDITORIAL (Only for Course Members)

National Policy on Biofuels 2009:

• Policymakers in India have been acutely aware of the dangers of diverting grain for biofuel production. 
• In 2009, the National Policy on Biofuels stressed on the use of non-food resources to avoid a possible conflict between food and fuel. 
• Contrast this with the thoughtless path taken by the US. In 2007-8, about 25 per cent of the corn produced in the US was used for biofuel production. 
• In addition to cereals, oilseed crops like rapeseed, soyabean and sunflower were used for biofuel production. 
• In 2018-19, an astounding 37.6 per cent of the corn produced in the US was used for making ethanol.

Rise in food prices: 

• Such diversion of food crops to produce biofuel was considered one of the reasons for the rise in food prices globally. 
• Corn and other grain is also used in feedstock for poultry and cattle and is hence part of the food economy. 
• This at a time when India’s position in the Global Hunger Index has slipped nine places. India was placed 102 among the 117 countries ranked in the index in 2019. 
• The National Family Health Survey (NFHS-4) 2015-16, found that 38.4 per cent of children under five years are “stunted” (height for age), and 21 per cent are “wasted” (low weight for height). 
• In fact, over a period of 10 years, wasting has increased from 19.8 per cent in NFHS-3 to 21 per cent in NFHS-4.

National Policy on Biofuels 2018:

• In 2018, the government modified its 2009 policy. The new National Policy on Biofuels had a target of 20 per cent blending of ethanol in petrol and 5 per cent blending of biodiesel in diesel by 2030. 
• This was to be achieved by increasing production using second generation bio-refineries and developing new feedstock for biofuels. 
• It allowed the production of ethanol from damaged food grains like wheat and broken rice, which are unfit for human consumption.
• The new policy allowed the use of excess food grain for ethanol in a bounty crop year, so long as the surplus is endorsed by the Union Ministry of Agriculture. The approval for this is to be given by the National Biofuel Coordination Committee, chaired by the Union Minister Petroleum and Natural Gas. It includes representatives from 14 other central departments.

Possible projections: 

• It is not known if the departments of agriculture and food and public distribution have projected that there will be an excess supply of rice in 2020-21. 
• The quantity of rice from which ethanol will be produced has not been announced, nor do we know the price at which such rice will be sold by the FCI. 
• About 85 per cent of rice is kharif crop, heavily dependent on monsoon. 
• Despite the prediction of a normal monsoon, public interest demands that the basis for the projection of surplus of rice is disclosed. What happens if the monsoon projections go wrong? Will we have to import grain?
• In the past, damaged grain, unfit for human consumption, has been sold by the FCI for cattle feed. 
• Despite the commonly held belief of a lakh of tonnes of rotting grains, the FCI’s storage practices are actually quite good — damaged grains as a percentage of total quantity issued by the FCI has been just about 0.01 per cent to 0.04 per cent in the last five years. 
• On March 1, the FCI had just 984 tonnes of non-issuable rice and 20 tonnes of non-issuable wheat — hardly any ethanol can be made from such a small amount of damaged grains.

Imperative to food security and food price stability:

• Therefore, it seems that the NBCC has decided to use sound quality rice, within FSSAI specifications, for ethanol. 
• It is a bad policy in normal times and particularly unethical during a pandemic. It potentially deprives food to humans as well as livestock. 
• At a time when there are fears of a steep fall in national income, a rise in unemployment, and an increase in food inflation due to supply bottlenecks, it is imperative that food security and food price stability be given the highest priority.
• Ethanol can be produced from other ingredients such as B and C heavy molasses, sugar, sugar syrup, and sugarcane juice.
• Ethanol has also been blessed with a low GST and enjoys relaxed conditions for inter-state movement if used for blending with petrol. 

Conclusion:

• Since the economy faces a bleak prospect due to the impact of COVID-19, the government should first use the food grains to meet the requirement of about 10 to 20 crore people without ration cards. 
• It must provide rice to NGOs at PDS prices, for providing cooked food to migrant labour stuck in cities and it should provide an additional five kg food grains to the poor for six months instead of three months.
• If the Centre still thinks that the country will still have surplus rice, it must facilitate export to friendly countries which are suffering an adverse impact of COVID-19 on their economies.

CLICK HERE FOR FULL EDITORIAL (Only for Course Members)

Online Coaching for UPSC PRE Exam

General Studies Pre. Cum Mains Study Materials