A game theory take on sexual harassment

Mains Paper: 1 | Society 
Prelims level: #MeToo
Mains level: Game theory and behavioural science can provide nuance to the wider discussion on #MeToo and gender roles    

Introduction 

• Over the past year, India has witnessed an upheaval of sexual harassment and assault allegations through social media and anonymous reporting. 
• The women from the media, performing arts and other professions have come forward with accounts of inappropriate conduct and sexual harassment at the hands of ‘powerful’ men. 

From the perspective of game theory 

• Consider a two-person sequential game, where a male in the first stage chooses between two actions: Harass (H), or do not harass (NH) a woman.
• In both cases, the woman has two subsequent choices—report (R), or do not report (NR). 
• To  reporting to be disclosing to the public, which could include posting on social media, filing a formal complaint with officials, or to an internal complaints committee. 
• Now, consider all four combinations: 
• The game terminates in two cases, both when the woman chooses NR.
• The simplest case (intuitively), is the one where the man chooses NH and the woman chooses NR, where they are both neither better nor worse off.
• However, when the man chooses H and the woman chooses NR, she undergoes significant emotional and mental damage, and therefore, a negative payoff.
• The man receives a positive payoff, as he is assumed to derive utility from harassing women. 
• It could be on account of pluralistic ignorance: A woman considering R is deterred because she wrongly believes that all other women also strictly prefer NR to R.

The man will always choose to harass women since the onus is on them to prove the allegations

• When a woman chooses R, preceded by NH (i.e. a false allegation), both face a negative payoff (more so for the man than the woman owing to the reputational damage); but when preceded by H, both face an equally negative payoff. 
• H followed by R damages potential economic opportunities for a man, but also costs the woman who is seen with suspicion, potentially deprived of employment, or stigmatized by reliving the incident ad nauseam. 
• When she chooses R, males can choose two actions: To either Admit (A), or to Fight the allegation (F). 
• The game continues if and only if the man chooses F, following which the game places the responsibility squarely on the woman to either Prove (P) or remain Unproven (UP). 
• Again, consider the two points at which the game terminates: When the male chooses to admit (A). 
• However, if he plays A when the allegations are true, then he faces the same negative payoff as he would if he chose F—i.e. the man is indifferent between fighting and admitting when he has actually harassed the woman.

Effect of the subgame perfect equilibrium

• The subgame perfect equilibrium of this game suggests a solution that resonates with what has been unfolding on social media. 
• For men, action H strictly dominates NH, since he knows that a woman will strictly prefer NR to R.
• Since the game assumes common knowledge, common and perfect information, all players know exactly how the game will play out and, hence, choose their dominant strategy. 
• The man will always choose to harass women because he knows that she knows the onus is on them to prove their allegations, which she will have to do.
• The man always prefers to fight allegations than simply admit to them, regardless of whether he has actually harassed her or not. 

Way forward 

• This analysis is aimed to be a bare-bones attempt at clarifying the gender roles at play while dealing with cases of sexual harassment. 
• Their elegant economic model explains repeat offences and delays in reporting of sexual misconduct. 
• It suggests using a novel online system called ‘Callisto’ to discretely and privately transmit reports of sexual harassment, applied to the case of academic institutions. 
• This must be considered in developing countries like India where stigma still remains the prime hurdle in reporting sexual harassment.

Online Coaching for UPSC PRE Exam

General Studies Pre. Cum Mains Study Materials

UPSC Prelims Questions: 

Q.1) Government of India implements the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) via
a) Anganwadi centres
b) Krishi Kiosks
c) Common Service Centres (CSCs)
d) Single Window Facilitation Centres (SWFCs)

Answer: A

UPSC Mains Questions:
Q.1) How Game theory and behavioural science can provide nuance to the wider discussion on #MeToo and gender roles?

UPSC IAS Mains Previous Years Public Administration Solved Exam Paper (ii) - 2016

Paper-2: Section-A

Q.1) Attempt all of the following questions in about 150 words each:

a) “The Regulating Act of 1773 not only introduced value in administration but also laid the foundation on centralized administration in India.” Explain. (for Answer Join Public Administration Online Coaching)

b) Do you think that some of the ideals enshrined in the Preamble of the Constitution remain only on paper even today? Critically evaluate. (for Answer Join Public Administration Online Coaching)

c) Examine the efficacy of the measures taken to redefine and execute cooperative federalism in India. (for Answer Join Public Administration Online Coaching)

d) Evaluate the performance and efficacy of the Maharatna, navratna and Miniratna type of Public Sector Undertakings in the context of Liberalization, Privatization and Globalization (LPG). (for Answer Join Public Administration Online Coaching)

e) “The growing prominence of NGOs in development areas is strongly related to the declining legitimacy of the State.” Explain. (for Answer Join Public Administration Online Coaching)

Q.2) “In contemporary times, Kautilya’s Arthashstra is relevant more in the field of international relations than in economic affairs.” Analyse the statement. (for Answer Join Public Administration Online Coaching)

b) “Dominant centralized administration is correlated with decisive and authoritative leadership provided by the Prime Minister’s office.” (for Answer Join Public Administration Online Coaching)

c) “A significant legacy of the Mughal rule in India is a well-organized revenue administration at the State and District Levels.” Comment. (for Answer Join Public Administration Online Coaching)

Q.3) a) What factors have led to the expansion of the role of the Ministry of Home Affairs? How can it coordinate its affairs more effectively with the Ministry of Defence? (for Answer Join Public Administration Online Coaching)

b) “Introduction of G.S.T. (Goods and Services Tax) no doubt has economic benefits, but tends to compromise the States’ ” IN this context, comment on the changing nature of Union-State financial relations. (for Answer Join Public Administration Online Coaching)

c) “Planning in India has failed to meet the challenges of economic development and social change.” Discuss the statement in the context of the emergence of NITI Aayog. (for Answer Join Public Administration Online Coaching)

Q.4) a) “The absence of congruence of views on appointments to judiciary between the Supreme Court and the Union Government has had an adverse impact on the judicial system.” In the light of the above statement, examine the proposal to constitute an All India Judicial Service. (AIJS). (for Answer Join Public Administration Online Coaching)

b) “The separation between regulatory and development functions in many development administration.” Critically examine the need to relook at this policy. (for Answer Join Public Administration Online Coaching)

c) “Legislatures have become a place for infighting rather than for proper policy making.” Comment in the context of the working of State Governments.  (for Answer Join Public Administration Online Coaching)

SECTION B

Q.5) Attempt all of the following questions in about 150 words each:

a) “Autonomy granted to higher civil servants tends to increase their creativity and productivity.” Argue the case to make the civil service more accountable as well as innovative. (for Answer Join Public Administration Online Coaching)

b) Justify the budgetary support to nationalized banks to overcome the crisis resulting out of Non-Performing Asserts (NPA). (for Answer Join Public Administration Online Coaching)

c) “National Green Tribunal is viewed by many critics as a hindrance to economic development” Evaluate the statement and give arguments in support of the your answer. (for Answer Join Public Administration Online Coaching)

(VIDEO) Genie of Parali and Pollution (पराली और प्रदूषण का जिन्न) - Lok Sabha TV Insight Discussion

Topic of Discussion: Genie of Parali and Pollution (पराली और प्रदूषण का जिन्न)- Lok Sabha TV Insight Discussion

(VIDEO) New H1B Visa norms : Rajya Sabha TV Big Picture Debate

Topic of Discussion: New H1B Visa norms : Rajya Sabha TV Big Picture Debate

A flawed defence procurement policy

Mains Paper: 3 | Internal Security 
Prelims level: Rafale controversy
Mains level: The Rafale controversy reflects a larger underlying problem in decision-making, transparency and consistency of public policy

Introduction 

• The recent Rafale controversy is the symptom of a larger underlying problem in decision-making, transparency and consistency of public policy. 
• The Defence Procurement Procedure, 2016, (DPP) recognises the need to ensure that procurement is undertaken in a manner that takes India closer to the goal of developing a world-class domestic defence and aerospace industry. 
• However, the offset requirements under the DPP are not helping it achieve this goal. The recent Rafale controversy is the symptom of a larger underlying problem in decision-making, transparency and consistency of public policy. 

Challenges for government 

• Under Indian law, government procurement is treated as distribution of largesse by the state and, hence, must be fair, transparent and equitable.
• There can be no favouritism or nepotism in the award of public contracts. 
• Offsets, however, operate in a strange netherworld.
• On the one hand, they are financed by Indian taxpayers, but on the other, award of contracts by foreign suppliers are not subject to public procurement safeguards. 
• The DPP even seems to indicate that the foreign supplier has complete discretion on choice of the Indian offset partner (IOP). 
• It would result in a moral hazard at the outset and, by extension, would permit the Indian government to avoid public procurement rules when taxpayer money is routed through a foreign supplier towards “offsets”. 
• It would be disingenuous for the government to require foreign suppliers to have IOPs and yet not have a say in the choice of offset partner or its investments. 
• If this were true, the offset regime would be inherently open to abuse by the foreign supplier. 

Government procurement is treated as distribution of largesse by the state and must be fair

• The DPP covers for this by providing the government with extensive control over selection of the offset partner. 
• It has the power to bar any entity from becoming an offset partner.
• The government also retains the power to evaluate offset proposals received in response to procurement tenders and conclude offset contracts.
• The DPP also provides that all offset proposals will be approved by the Union minister of defence, regardless of their value. 
• During the period of the contract, any change in the Indian offset partner also requires government approval. 
• Therefore, it is unlikely that the government of India has nothing to do with the selection of Indian offset partners. 

How DPP can be restructured? 

• The defence procurement should be subject to transparent processes that ensure that Indian companies, big and small, compete on a level playing field. 
• The selection of a large (and failing) conglomerate with no prior experience.
• Rafale would not have been possible if the government had directly procured under a sophisticated award process. 
• If it is not possible or desirable under a direct procurement regime, it is difficult to argue that it is desirable under an offsets regime. 
• The procurement policy recognizes the need for domestic private partnership, it does not mandate a fair and diverse procurement process for offsets. 
• Given the large contract values involved, this makes it likely that foreign suppliers will partner with just one or two large industrial groups to discharge their offset obligations. 
• The definition of IOP is flawed. IOPs are defined as Indian enterprises engaged in making eligible products and/or services. 
• If the objective is to build a domestic defence sector, the focus should instead be on direct investments. 
• In other sectors where India has succeeded, foreign technology and know-how has followed investments, irrespective of ownership. “Indian” ownership does not necessarily contribute to the growth of a sector, as much as investments within Indian shores. 
• Focussing on investments will ensure that companies of all sizes, including foreign companies who wish to manufacture in India, are permitted to grow and flourish. 
• This regulations will restrict foreign investments in the defence sector require a dose of reform. 

Way forward 

• More importantly, transparency is essential in procurement contracts. 
• While national security arguments may withstand scrutiny in outright sales (regarding, say, specifications and customization) or where specific components or technology transfer are involved, they do not stand scrutiny in relation to offsets.
• In the interest of fairness, foreign suppliers should be free to invest in India, yet at the same time, offset investments/procurement must be subject to safeguards along the lines of those that govern public procurement, because after all, they are expending public funds. 
• Without substantive reforms in the DPP, there are likely to be more controversies and perceptions of crony capitalism. 
• The substantial amount of taxpayer’s money is meant for the development of an indigenous defence sector might not find its way back that make worse.

Online Coaching for UPSC PRE Exam

General Studies Pre. Cum Mains Study Materials

UPSC Prelims Questions: 

Q.1) LCA Tejas, recently in news, is a/an indigenously designed
a) Combat aircraft
b) Electric motor vehicle
c) High Performance Diesel
d) Solar Cell
Answer: A

UPSC Mains Questions:
Q.1) If the intention is to create a free, open and competitive market, and yet at the same time, ensure that Indian taxpayers aren’t taken for a ride, are the offset guidelines satisfactory?

Why television has an edge over digital advertising platforms during festive season

Mains Paper: 3 | Science and Technology 
Prelims level: Digital advertising platforms
Mains level: While there is growth in the digital medium, the power of TV is in the high level of granularity of viewership data.

Introduction 

• Homes are gearing up for the festive season and so are brands, which are optimistic about their sales uplift. 
• It have been witnessing an advertising blitzkrieg by brands across all platforms TV, digital, print, radio and out-of-home or OOH advertising. 
• However, television, with a daily tune-in of 613 million individuals, offers the biggest platform to advertisers to get maximum reach. 
• And, if you ask me, while the key to better sales is in promotion, it needs to be on the right platform, and one which can be accurately measured. 
• It comes as no surprise that 42% of annual ad-spend in India ends up on TV.

Analysing the fact 

• Holidays and special programming during festivals, such as Dussehra and Diwali, lead to increased viewership on TV.
• It making it the right time for these advertisers to catch the attention of their target audience. 
• Some recent reports on brand push during festive season got me digging into our three years of advertising data during the festive period.
• Data shows that Dussehra and Diwali weeks see 17% more ads on TV, compared to the weekly average through the year. 
• Not just this, categories, such as TV sets, camera and non-stick cookware, air 60%, 87% and 53%, respectively, of their total ad spots during this season. 
• Other categories such as housing loans, paints and real estate, too, concentrate on this season for better brand push. 
• The appetite for TV in India continues to be on the rise and this has led to new channel launches over the years.
• What this has done is provided advertisers with an opportunity to be available on channels which cater to specific preferences of the audience, thus increasing their opportunity to see.

Why these are happen? 

• Many in the industry have been talking about growth of digital and attractiveness of the medium for advertising. 
• The growth in the medium is that the power of TV in the high level of granularity of viewership data. 
• Advertisers can get to know exactly how many people their campaigns reached, as well as demography, geography and socio-economic profile of the audience they reached. 
• This is gold-dust for planners and marketers.
• Its effective and granular measurement, helps brands plan well towards gaining a better ROI on their ad-spends.
• So what are the categories that up their presence on TV during this festive season? For the past two years, it has been cell phones, two-wheelers, online shopping sites and chocolates.

Data shows the rise of advertisement 

• In 2015, during Dussehra and Diwali, online shopping players upped their advertising by 49%, in 2016 it grew by 86%, and, in 2018.
• The growth of 40%. Two-wheeler advertising, meanwhile, increased by 113% in 2015 and 107% in 2016. 
• In 2017, cell phones upped advertising by 107%, while retail jewellers too hopped on to the TV bandwagon, increasing their advertising by 83% during festive season. 
• Viewers in North and South India behave differently during festivals such as Dussehra and Diwali.
• This reflects in advertising on channels catering to these markets. In the north, for instance, many homes buy a new vehicle. 
• So, we see a rise in advertising of two-wheelers on Hindi language channels. The category pumped in 138% and 229% more advertising on TV in 2015 and 2016, respectively. 
• On channels catering to the five southern states, retail jewellery and ready-made garment sectors see double-digit growth in advertising.
• In 2015, ad spots on TV, in the period post-Diwali, dropped by 13%. In 2016 and 2017 it dropped by 22% and 7% respectively.

Way forward 

• Over the years though, we are seeing that many brands, especially e-commerce and cell phone players, among others, have been effectively using granular insights provided by TV viewership data, and are coming up with focused advertising throughout the year and not just during festive season.
• Looking at the data that tells the economy has moved ahead from the policy impacts of last year. 
• Confidence in the economy and consumer seems to be on a high and advertising on TV looks set to scale another high. 

Online Coaching for UPSC PRE Exam

General Studies Pre. Cum Mains Study Materials

UPSC Prelims Questions: 

Q.1) With reference to the mission eKranti, consider the following statements:
1. It has been envisaged by Department of Telecommunications.
2. It aims to delivering Government services electronically to the citizens through integrated and interoperable systems.
3. It is one of the component of digital India mission.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 only
(b) 1 and 3 only
(c) 2 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3
Answer: C

UPSC Mains Questions:
Q.1) What are the reasons behind in holidays and special programming during festivals lead to increased viewership on TV? 

Labelling, the new illiteracy of our times 

Mains Paper: 1 | Society  
Prelims level: Not so important 
Mains level: Effects of digital technologies on Indian society

Introduction 

• According to the Census, “a person aged seven and above, who can both read and write with understanding in any language, is treated as literate.” 
• We are now seeing a form of illiteracy creeping on those who are literate and this has to do with the term “understanding” in the above definition. 
• Today, under the influence of digital technologies and a dominant visual culture, are we reading (and seeing) with less understanding? 

The art of reading 

• This new form of illiteracy has to do with certain incapacities of reading and writing. 
• Reading is matter of fact and habitual; 
• It has many hidden dimensions to it. Reading is more than seeing words. 
• It is about making sense of words, about discovering and constructing meaning. 
• The meaning of the words we read are not gathered from dictionaries alone. 
• They are also created from our memories and experiences.
• The meaning of every sentence is dependent on the context in which it is used. 

If reading is so complex, how is it that we read so effortlessly? 

• The strategies of reading have to be taught and they become part of our habits of reading.
• We often take for granted the relation between reading and writing, or writing a sentence from left to right (say, in English). 
• Even this simple practice of writing has deep cognitive consequences. 
• When we read from left to right, our experiences of reading are different than when we read from right to left. 
• We also tend to read, like this article, from top to bottom. These practices of writing deeply influence how we make meaning of what we read. Experiments have shown that our notion of time as moving from left to right has a strong correlation with the way we write. People who write from right to left (as in Urdu or Hebrew) tend to understand time as moving from right to left. 
• Reading practices have always been culturally influenced. 
• Every age has had different strategies of reading. 
• Even the pleasure of reading silently, which is so endemic today, was not always the social norm since reading aloud was a common practice in various medieval societies.
• It is said that ancient libraries had people reading out aloud and shouting across tables, which is quite unlike our idea of a library today.

The act of labelling 

• A troubling practice that has crept into our contemporary reading practices is the act of labelling instead of ‘reading’. 
• When we read we discover and/or create meaning of what we read. One easy way of discovering meaning is not to struggle through reading but through the act of labelling. 
• Labelling is a way of saying that the article is about something without even reading it. It is remarkable how so much of our reading gets judged by the act of labelling. 
• Labelling is the new illiteracy of our times. 
• Labelling is an obstacle to really understanding what is being said and how it is being said.
• It is also a lazy and unethical way of reading. 
• The motivation for labelling is not to learn and understand but to attack without justification.
• It is a symptom of how a literate people can become dangerously illiterate when labelling replaces understanding.

Habit of labelling

• It is the spread of labelling as a form of social reading that has also contributed to the spread of hate in our society.
• If you do not want to hear what a woman has to say, all you have to do is to label her as a ‘feminist’.
• Similarly, if you do not want to be persuaded by the reasonable arguments of those who are concerned about so many things going wrong around us, all you have to do is to label them ‘anti-national’. 
• This habit of labelling has become so deep and endemic that we will not read a book or an article if the author is labelled in a particular way.
• Everything in our society today has been reduced to labels: Left, Right, man, woman, Brahmin, Dalit, Hindu, Muslim, and so on.
• Labelling is our new social disease of illiteracy.

The freedom of interpretation

• We are often told that artists, activists and some academics misuse the freedom of expression to say what they want.
• But what about the reader or the spectator? 
• They are also using a ‘freedom of interpretation’ to interpret what they want in the text or the play. What is the responsibility of hearing, reading and seeing? 
• It is ironic that the hooligans as well as the representatives of this government want complete freedom of interpretation, but do not want to allow freedom of expression.
• These acts are unethical because the task of a democratic society is not only to protect freedom of expression, but to also protect and enable the freedom of interpretation.
• Like all freedoms, this freedom has to be used ethically.
• This is exactly what intolerant people as well as the government are not capable of understanding.
• In the case of the play, the few people who are labelling it without reading or watching it are misusing the hard-won freedom of interpretation for their personal ends. 

Way forward 

• The government is behaving in an intolerant manner by passing a rule that the faculty cannot write any critical articles about the government, its actions, its policies. 
• How should the government read these critical pieces? They can be read as being against the government or, equally, they can be interpreted as helping the larger society by pointing out the mistakes in policies or governance.
• The problem is not the articles that are critical about the government; rather, it is about the way those articles are being read by those in the government.
• These authoritarian responses are not just against art in the public domain or university teachers but against the very ethos of literacy itself.

Online Coaching for UPSC PRE Exam

General Studies Pre. Cum Mains Study Materials

UPSC Prelims Questions: 

Q.1) With reference to the constitutional provisions for the budget, consider the following statements.
1. The budget is a statement of both estimated receipts and expenditure of the Government.
2. No demand for a grant shall be made except on the recommendation of the President.
3. The Finance Act completes the process of the enactment of budget.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 2 only
(c) 1 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3
Answer: D

UPSC Mains Questions:
Q.1) In under the influence of digital technologies and a dominant visual culture, are we reading (and seeing) with less understanding? 

Q.2) What really is the dominant practice of reading today? What are the skills of reading that are part of public practices?

Office of Central Information Commission—An Analysis

About CIC:

The Right to Information Act, 2005 provides for establishment of Central and State information commission as a designated authority to receive and inquire into a complaint from any person.
CIC is responsible for implementing RTI at central level. Its strength is 11 information commissioner (IC) including 1 CIC. All are appointed by the President. The tenure of CIC is 5 years and an MP/MLA can't become a CIC or IC.  The person who holds the office of commissioner or IC are of eminence in public life with wide knowledge and experience in law, Science and Technology, social service, management, journalism, mass media or administration and governance. 

Challenges-

• The RTI act did not give adequate authority to IC to enforce their decisions. They can only direct authority to award compensation to an applicant, but no authority if such directions are neglected. 
• Commission can impose a maximum penalty of 25000 Rupees as a deterrent, but it works only when the institution involve in lower level and in ministerial and upper level, even this deterrent may not apply.

Recent Proposals and associated issues-

• The government proposes to end up with the equivalence of CIC with the Election Commission, despite of fact that both are the inevitable part of democratic protection. 
• Government also proposes to replace the 5 years tenure with tenure as may be prescribed by it. This would be detrimental to the independence ad authority of the IC.
• There is also a proposal to not disclosing any personal information if it is not related to any public activity. This may harm the essence of the information as the scope of privacy is too large. 

Bigger Questions-

There are certain inherent problems associated with the CIC. Some of them are-

• Although CIC enjoys complete financial and administrative powers of a Department of Government, they have to dependent upon the government for filling posts and therefore, presently, CIC has been functioning with less than their prescribed strength of 11 members. 
• It eventually leads to the delay in disposal of the cases, that is compounded by the backlogs in the High Courts, where the number of decisions of the commission are challenged.
• The other big issue is the selection procedure of CIC and other IC. President choses them on the recommendations of the committee that includes-- Prime Minister as chairperson, the leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha, a Union Cabinet minister to be nominated by the PM. All the procedure questions the independence of CIC. 

Way forward-

The RTI Act is a gem for a Parliamentary democracy like India. Moreover, it’s a basic human right to get information that affect our life. CIC is an institution that acts like a watchdog in this act. The very purpose of CIC and state information commissions is to have a look whether relevant information are provided to the people. 
For that matter there is a need to empower the institution as it has to deal with all the level of officials in various departments. There is a need to enhance the working efficiency of the institution and make CIC an autonomous and independent commission. 

Multiple Choice Question-

 Q. Which of the following is/are true about Central Information Commission.
1. It was established in 2008.
2. It is an autonomous, but not a constitutional body.
3. President appoint the CIC and other IC are appointed by Chief Justice of India.

a. Only 1 is correct
b. Only 2 is correct
c. Only 1 and 3 are correct
d. All are correct
Answer is : b.

Hint- CIC was established in 2005. All the members are appointed by the honorable President of India.

Mains-

High probability that a direct question might come with CIC in GS 2. The format may be-
 
Q. The office of Chief Information Commission act as a watchdog under RTI Act, 2005. However, the body is suffering from a lot more issues and government interferences. Critically analyze.

Hint-- Try to describe about the commission in introduction part. Then directly comes to the issues and how it affect the rights of a common citizens. I have not given facts in the Article. Try to search by yourself and garnish your answers by including some of them that you think are relevant. End up with positive way forward. 
 

UPSC General Studies PRE Cum MAINS Printed Study Material

Online Crash Course for UPSC PRE Exam

(VIDEO) Sabarimala - Doors Open : Rajya Sabha TV Big Picture Debate

Topic of Discussion: Sabarimala - Doors Open : Rajya Sabha TV Big Picture Debate

Making India open defecation free

Mains Paper: 2 | Governance 
Prelims level: open defecation
Mains level: Importance of sanitation 

Introduction 

• About 2.3 billion people in the world do not have access to clean, safe and reliable toilets. 
• They have to walk for miles every day to reach a safe spot where they can relieve themselves in the open.
• Inadequate sanitation is estimated to cause 280,000 deaths worldwide, annually.

Risk associated with open defecation system 

• In India, about 732 million people do not have access to proper toilets. As much as 90% of the river water is contaminated by faeces. 
• People drink water from the same rivers, bathe and wash their clothes and utensils there, and even cook food with the contaminated water. 
• Pathogens and worms from the faeces spread life-threatening diseases like diarrhoea, cholera, typhoid, schistosomiasis and trachoma.
• Rapes occur when women and young girls are on their way to fields to defecate at night. 
• Each day, they have to suffer humiliation while squatting near gutters or bushes. 
• Most girls drop out of schools at an early age because of the lack of toilets. 

Initiatives taken by government 

• India’s sanitation crisis has, however, started to improve drastically ever since the launch of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Swachh Bharat Abhiyan’. 
• The campaign vowed to combat the sanitation crisis within five years by setting a target of building 110 million toilets nationwide,
• The largest toilet-building programme in the history of mankind. More than 83 million household toilets have already been built in India, and the Indian government must be congratulated for this remarkable feat. 
• The campaign is similar to the one launched in Singapore post-independence, when open defecation was a common sight in the 1950s-60s.
• Even sophisticated urban areas had primitive toilet systems where human waste was collected manually in buckets and disposed directly into nearby waterways.

Lesson from Singapore

• Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore’s first prime minister, wanted to build a strong and prosperous country. 
• He understood the power of sanitation, and knew that a sick nation could not be productive.
• Singapore did not have the time or resources to build an expensive curative health-care system.
• Yew, therefore, invested in toilet hygiene and clean water as a preventive health strategy, which was much cheaper and far more effective. 
• It was an aggressive approach, the Singapore River, which was polluted from heavy boat traffic, and untreated animal and human waste, was cleaned up within 10 years. 
• By focussing on providing clean water and sanitation, Singapore created a healthy and productive workforce, ready for international business and commerce by the 2000s. 
• India can replicate Singapore’s success story. Apart from building more toilets, India needs to address the challenges that prevent it from achieving 100% open defecation free status. 
• The major challenges of sanitation in India arise from puritan religious beliefs. Many people in India view toilets as impure and refrain from installing them within their household premises. 
• Most defecate in the open as it is something they have grown accustomed to since their childhood. 
• In order to make India 100% open defecation free, it is essential to launch a comprehensive behavioural change strategy similar to Singapore that focuses on changing the mindset of people and eradicating the open defecation habit. 

Way out 

• Toilets need to be repositioned as a status symbol that is desired by all. School textbooks should include chapters on sanitation. 
• Both children and adults should be shown films and TV programmes on the subject to help them understand the importance of defecating in toilets.
• Toilets need to be projected as a trend that people can follow, rather than forcing them as a prescription. 
• India needs to move beyond that and take steps towards efficient faecal sludge management for a safer environment which does not pose any threat to the health of its people. 
• Post construction of toilets, the government should establish a monitoring system that makes sure that the latrines are emptied regularly when they fill up and the waste is decomposed safely, and not into nearby rivers or oceans. 
• In rural areas, focus needs to be laid upon panchayati raj institutions, which can be used as a platform to promote sustainable sanitation practices and creation of public-supported frameworks of organic disposal and utilisation of human waste.

Conclusion 

• There is a lot that India can learn from the Singapore sanitation model.
• We see a need to draw inspirational strategies that can contribute towards the successful completion of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.
• Platforms like World Toilet Summit, organized on World Toilet Day in Mumbai, will highlight the importance of faecal sludge management and behavioural change which will help in attracting investments in the sewerage networks that ensure safe transportation of faecal sludge to the treatment units.
• It is only through a holistic sanitation model that we can break the open-defecation-disease-expenditure-poverty cycle and make India a progressive and productive nation.

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UPSC Prelims Questions: 

Q.1) Which of the following states have been declared ‘Open Defecation Free States’?
1. Kerala
2. Sikkim
3. Himachal
4. Odisha
Select the code from below:
a) 1,2 and 3
b) 2,3 and 4
c) 1,3 and 4
d) All of the above
Answer: A

UPSC Mains Questions:
Q.1) No matter how many toilets the government builds, the country will never be able to become open defecation free until people start using them. So, how can this problem be overcome?
 

A security architecture without the mortar 

Mains Paper: 3 | Internal security 
Prelims level: National Security Council
Mains level: India’s national security inadequacies stem from the absence of a national security vision

Introduction 

• The Narendra Modi government set up a Defence Planning Committee (DPC) to assist in the creation of “national security strategy, international defence engagement strategy, roadmap to build (a) defence manufacturing ecosystem, strategy to boost defence exports, and priority capability development plans”. 
• The Strategic Policy Group (SPG) within the overall National Security Council (NSC) system. 
• That the government has set up/revived these committees only in its final year in office goes to show that it is cognisant of the fact that its national security performance has been found severely wanting. 
• The centralisation of national security and defence decision making in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) under the National Security Adviser (NSA), would salvage its national security reputation. 

Deteriorating environment 

• India’s national security environment has steadily deteriorated since 2014. Both the overall violence in Jammu and Kashmir and ceasefire violations on the Line of Control reached a 14-year high in 2017, a trend that refuses to subside in 2018. 
• There are far more attacks on security forces and security installations in J&K, and militant recruitments and violence against civilians in the State than at any time in the past decade-and-a-half. 
• Also the pressure from China is on the rise. 
• The surgical strikes of 2016 gave a befitting response to Pakistan, and the stand-off at Doklam conveyed to China that India is no pushover.
• The reality is that surgical strikes hardly made any significant gains, and the Chinese forces (by all accounts including a report of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs) are back in the Doklam plateau with more force. 
• New Delhi’s neighbourhood policy continues to be in the doldrums and there is a clear absence of vision on how to balance, engage and work with the many great powers in the regional and the broader international scene. The frenzied foreign policy activities we are witnessing today are essentially diplomatic firefighting and damage control of a government in its last lap. 

Absence of defence reforms 

• India spends close to $50 billion annually on defence and yet there are serious concerns about the level of our defence preparedness. 
• Rhetoric can neither make a country secure nor win wars. Even more worryingly, India might be ill-equipped to fight the wars of the modern age. 
• What India requires then is not empty rhetoric but long-term strategic thinking of which there is little in sight. 
• India’s defence policy is on auto-pilot with hardly any political oversight or vision. 
• There is little conversation between the armed forces and the political class, and even lesser conversation among the various arms of the forces.
• This will soon become unsustainable for a country that aspires to be a modern great power. 

In the neighbourhood

• China has progressed a great deal in military jointmanship, and Pakistan is doing a lot better than India.
• In India, talk of appointing a Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) has all but died down. 
• Appointing a CDS, even the key post of military adviser in the National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS) remains vacant. 
• The government seems to mistakenly think that by having the NSA chair, the SPG and DPC will take care of the fundamental problems in the country’s higher defence sector. 

Significance of NSC 

• The post of the NSA is not a legally-mandated one. So one might rightly wonder how an unelected and retired official with no parliamentary accountability has come to occupy such a crucial position in the country’s national security decision making, and whether this is healthy in a parliamentary democracy. 
• The NSC, which replicates the membership of the Cabinet Committee on Security, almost never meets under the new regime, and the National Security Advisory Board, initially set up by the Vajpayee government, to seek ‘outside expertise’ on strategic matters, is today a space for retired officials. 
• There is little fresh thinking within the government or perspective planning on the country’s national security or defence. 
• All that the SPG and DPC would achieve is to further bureaucratise the national security decision making and centralise all national security powers under the PMO.
• There is some hope that these committees would take a close, hard look at the state of modernisation and domestic defence industry in the country, both of which are in a sorry state.
• Under the present system, where the ratio of revenue to capital expenditure in defence is roughly 65:35%, any serious attempt at modernisation would be impossible. 
• While the committees would be cognisant of this, there is precious little they could do now, just months before the government faces a crucial election. 

Way forward 

• India’s national security inadequacies stem from the absence of a national security/ defence vision. 
• Ideally, the country should have an overall national security document from which the various agencies and the arms of the armed forces draw their mandate and create their own respective and joint doctrines which would then translate into operational doctrines for tactical engagement. 
• In the absence of this, as is the case in India today, national strategy is broadly a function of ad hocism and personal preferences. 

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UPSC Prelims Questions: 

Q.1) With reference to the Nuclear Command Authority (NCA), consider the following statements:
1. NCA is responsible for deciding on the deployment of nuclear weapons in India.
2. Its executive council is chaired by the Prime minister of India.
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: A

UPSC Mains Questions:
Q.1) Are these committees indicative of a newfound ‘national security consciousness’ in the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government today? Critically examine. 
 

Slippery slope: on India’s energy needs

Mains Paper: 3 | Economy 
Prelims level: Not so important 
Mains level: India must diversify its energy basket more proactively

Introduction 

• India’s economic fortunes continue to be tied to the sharply fluctuating price of oil. 
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged oil-producing countries to reduce the cost of energy in order to aid the global economy in its path towards recovery. 
• Mr. Modi also called for a review of payment terms, demanding the partial use of the rupee instead of the U.S. dollar to pay for oil, in order to ease the burden on oil-importing countries in the wake of the strengthening of the dollar. 
• India clearly has a lot at stake as oil prices have risen by as much as 70% in rupee terms in the last one year. 
• This is not surprising given the absence of significant rival suppliers in the global oil market willing to help out India.

Resolving the issue 

• India’s policymakers now face the difficult task of safely steering the economy in the midst of multiple external headwinds. 
• The current account deficit widened to 2.4% of gross domestic product in the first quarter of 2018-19 and is expected to reach 3% for the full year.
• The rupee, which is down about 16% since the beginning of the year, doesn’t seem to be showing any signs of recovery either.
• The growth in the sales of petrol and diesel has already been affected adversely as their prices have shot through the roof. 
• All this will likely weigh negatively on the prospects of the Indian economy, the world’s fastest-growing, in the coming quarters. 
• In this scenario, the decision to marginally cut taxes imposed on domestic fuels is unlikely to be of any significant help to consumers. 
• What is required is a steep cut in Central and State taxes for the benefit to carry through to the consumers, which, of course, is unlikely given the government’s fiscal needs. 
• Another long-term solution to the oil problem will be to increasingly tap into domestic sources of energy supply while simultaneously encouraging consumers to switch to green alternatives. 

Way forward 

• This will require a stronger policy framework and implementation.
• In the short term, the government could look to diversifying its international supplier base to manage shocks better. But such a choice carries geopolitical risks, such as in the case of Iran.
• Since it will take a length of time to wean the economy off oil imports, policymakers should also be willing to think beyond just the next election if India’s over-reliance on oil is to come to an end for good.

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UPSC Prelims Questions: 

Q.1) India is world's third largest importer of crude oil after the United States and China. Oil imports in India are high and have soared up in recent years due to which of the following reasons?
a) India does not have sufficient crude oil reserves.
b) Oil Exploration activity in India is sub-optimal and remains much below potential levels.
c) Domestic crude oil production has been falling in recent years.
d) All of the above
Answer: D

UPSC Mains Questions:
Q.1) How India can diversify its own existing policy by not hammering the economic growth?

The great smog of 2018

Mains Paper: 2 | Health 
Prelims level: Air Pollution  
Mains level: Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health

Context 

• After a heavy monsoon season, which dumped over 4,000 billion cubic millimetres of precipitation, civic authorities were severely stretched with treating flood victims and the increased cases of acute gastroenteritis, Japanese encephalitis, dengue and malaria.
• While some parts of the country experienced a bumper harvest, others recorded heavy flooding.
• Several parts in southern India and in the Indo-Gangetic plains saw 500 million people being affected by the floo. 
• Once the flood waters receded, a heart-stopping surprise emerged. Authorities started to detect alarmingly high levels of fluoride, mercury, beta-endosulphan and heptachlor in tap and groundwater across multiple states.

Prediction in October-November 2018

• The winter schedule for crop burning in north India had started and thick plumes of smoke from the burning fields were asphyxiating the skies and descending like dark claws on the population across major northern Indian cities. 
• Given cold temperatures, increased coal and wood burning had also begun. 
• During the daytime, the intense haze cut off sunlight and made breathing difficult. 
• At night, the roads became un-travelable and road accidents piled up unrelentingly. 
• The “Great Smog of London” of 1952 paled in size and diameter compared to the area involved with smog.

Prediction in December 2018 

• Particulate matter recorded in 2018 shot through the roof and was already 10 times higher than the previous all-time high in November 2017. 
• National and international flights were being diverted in a chaotic ensemble that had begun to draw international attention; international businesses began evacuating families of staff; multiple embassies closed to ensure staff safety.

Prediction in January 2019   

• A newly-released report on India’s national cancer statistics projected that the population in the country living with cancer had officially crossed 5 million and was at an inflexion point to take off sharply.
• The “global capital of tuberculosis” that India was with an incidence of 2.2 million tuberculosis cases added each year and which caused the treasury an estimated $340 billion in loss of productivity between 2004 and 2016 now had a far larger and costly health scourge cancer.

Pollution effects on health

• An errant monsoon, unchecked industrialisation which pollutes the food, water and air chain.
• The excessive use of pesticides and reverse boring of farmlands are natural and man-made triggers that can contribute in their own ways to a massive exposure of carcinogens to swathes of human populations rapidly. 
• Carcinogens are cancer-causing factors that induce and initiate the formation of a cancer by damaging the DNA unit in normal body cells.
• National and international experts have agreed that the impact of environmental carcinogens and toxic pollutants from industrial outputs has seeped deep into India’s food, water and air channels and this will impact the cancer census negatively across all age groups, including the young.
• The link between cancer and environmental carcinogens is irrefutably established. Cigarette smoke, a type of man-made environmental insult, has over 200 well-documented carcinogenic agents as does tobacco chewing. 
• Drinking carcinogen-contaminated water or eating food grown with such water or with excessive pesticides or in soil conditions with high levels of lead, nickel and other heavy metals allows these carcinogens to enter the food chain and interact with the approximately 70 trillion cells in the human body of a 70-kilogram person.
• If the DNA protecting mechanisms of the body are not strong this will cause DNA damage setting off a chain reaction that, over time, results in cancer.
• The body’s “normal” cell becomes a mutated monster and an “abnormal” cancer cell and then spreads unchecked.

What is Voc?

• Like water and food-based toxins, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which are emitted into the air after burning crops, are another source of such insults to humans. 
• They add sulphur, nitrous oxide carbon monoxide, methane and other organic compounds to the air. 
• Many of these VOCs are known to cause cancers of the upper aero-digestive tract of humans (meaning cancers of the throat, lungs, food pipes and stomach). 
• Over time and constant exposures, dust and high particulate matter from farm bush, wood and coal fires also have similar physical and chemical damage risks leading to many illnesses including cancer.

Steps taken by the government 

• The GoI has launched several category “A” national intervention strategies to lessen the impact of tobacco-related cancers and cervical cancer in women. 
• It is unclear if the productivity metrics to measure the impact of these programmes have been satisfactorily met.
• The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has also initiated a National Cancer Registry Programme, which is yet to mature in gathering national-level cancer epidemiological data that has received peer and policy recognition. 
• The same is the case for the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) programme in the US or the National Cancer Registration and Analysis Services (NCARS) in the United Kingdom. 
• Thus, several challenges in India’s war against cancer remain even as the problem multiplies in its magnitude.

Way forward  

• India is trying to establish a comprehensive cancer prevention and care policy for its population, which includes the setting up of a National Cancer Institute network. 
• The Government of India (GoI) recognises the loss of upward of $250 billion between 2012 and 2030, estimated by a Harvard task force, to cancer by way of loss of productivity. 
• The exponential rise of cancer drug costs in the most affluent societies becoming a financial calamity for many families, India is unlikely to have the ability to cover these costs for her patient population.
• India’s massive population and competing large-scale environmental challenges from industrialisation will undoubtedly collide. 
• The fallout from this mix on cancer and, indeed, overall health is difficult to calculate, but we may be reaching an inflexion point soon and preparing for measures to save lives, healthcare costs and promote healthcare economics is critically needed.
• The prime minister and president announced on India’s 70th Republic Day that, “the National Health Policy draft of 2015 has received policy implementation status and an Indian-National Institute of Health (I-NIH) has been established whose mandate now covers a nation-wide programme of large-scale civic education on health, environment and medical research that will lead to the prevention and control of infectious and non-infectious chronic illnesses”.

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UPSC Prelims Questions: 

Q.1) A mobile App called ‘Hawabadlo’ has been launched in Delhi to check air pollution. Which of the following statements are correct about the App?
1. It has been launched by EPCA, a Supreme Court appointed pollution watchdog.
2. The app provides a public platform to report the incidents causing air pollution.
3. The complaints will be forwarded by EPCA to the concerned officials.
Select the code from below:
a) 1 and 2
b) 2 and 3
c) 1 and 3
d) All of the above

Answer: D

UPSC Mains Questions:
Q.1) Air pollution felt massive impacts on Indian health sectors as well as on economy. In this context how we can address this problem. Give your arguments. 

A change still to come

Mains Paper: 3 | Internal Security 
Prelims level: The north-eastern region
Mains level: Challenges and their management in border areas

Introduction 

• The north-eastern region (NER) has been placed on a pedestal for the purposes of central assistance, subsidies and exemptions.
• The epithet of “special category states” allows a more liberal resource transfer dispensation for the eight states on account of their historical backwardness, geographical remoteness, sparse population, difficult terrain and strategic location. 
• Income Tax Act exemptions are provided for Scheduled Tribe (ST) residents of Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Tripura, the hill districts of North Cachar, Mikir, Khasi, Garo areas.
• The constitutional principles of affirmative action have afforded greater access to higher education and government jobs to the ST population. 
• The cumulative impact of these interventions has brought about substantial change, though several challenges remain.

Analysing literacy rate 

• The literacy rate of all the states of NER was more than the national average in 2011 census, the highest being Mizoram at 91.3 per cent.
• In 1961, all the states were below the national average, barring Assam, Manipur and Mizoram.
• The sex ratio of the states of the NER was more than the national average in 2011, except Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh. 
• In 1961, only Manipur and Mizoram had a sex ratio higher than the national average.
• The infant mortality in 2016 was well below national average, with Manipur being the lowest at 11 deaths per 1,000 live births. 
• The poverty ratio in NER in 1993-94 was above the national average for six of the eight states. In 2011-12, all the states of the NER had poverty ratio (as per Tendulkar Committee estimates) less than the national average.
• It except Arunachal Pradesh and Assam. These indicators suggest a significant transformation.
• As per U-DISE 2016-17, the drop out rate from primary schools is the highest in NER, the worst in Arunachal Pradesh at 23.6 per cent.
• Drop-out rates at the upper-primary level are equally bad amongst these states, barring Assam.
• The NER has the highest percentage of poor quality rural classrooms in the country.
• The All India Survey of Higher Education report 2017-18 points out that the gross enrollment ratio in higher education for five out of the eight NER states is below the national average of 25.8 per cent.

Performance on health sector 

• In the health sector, NFHS-4 data points out that the percentage of institutional deliveries is the lowest in this region except in Sikkim, Mizoram and Tripura, which are doing fairly well. 
• Let us also not lose sight of the fact that Manipur has the highest adult prevalence of HIV in the country, followed by Mizoram and Nagaland. 
• High tobacco consumption, poor hygiene and dietary habits are the primary cause of cancer the incidence rates being double of national average.
• It making the Northeast the cancer capital of India. 
• The absence of adequate diagnostic and treatment facilities make matters worse, especially for the poor.

Performance on education sector 

• On the employment front, the work participation rate in the NER is higher than the national average of 39.79 per cent.
• Except Assam, which is marginally lower. The female work participation rate of most of the NER is far above the national average.
• However, there is an excessive dependence on government jobs. 
• The tribal societies of the Northeast tend to be closely knit along lines of kinship and ethnicity. 
• The educated youth are do not prefer relocating for jobs. Experiences of racial prejudice and discrimination in other parts of India have made matters worse.

Way forward 

• The bigger challenge lies in harnessing private investment and catalysing home-grown entrepreneurship. 
• The credit-deposit ratio of scheduled commercial banks in the NER is the lowest in the country. 
• This is partly attributable to the complex land laws of the region, which are an overlay of customary rights (of clans and communities) over modern laws (conferring individual rights). 
• In the absence of a clear land title as collateral, banks hesitate to lend and credible investors remain wary. 
• Liberalisation of the regulatory framework around land holdings would help monetise the biggest resource of this region.
• Inner line regulations, based on a British-era law applicable in some hill states, also need to be simplified to make access easier for tourists and investors.

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UPSC Prelims Questions: 

Q.1) Secessionist movements by the resident citizens have been NOT been orchestrated or active in which of these North-eastern states?
a) Assam
b) Nagaland
c) Tripura
d) Arunachal Pradesh
Answer: D

UPSC Mains Questions:
Q.1) Despite of significant development in North east region employment rate is not optimal so far. In this context how it can affect security in these areas. Critically examine. 
 

Not just liquidity: on NBFCs crisis 

Mains Paper: 3 | Economy 
Prelims level: NBFCs crisis
Mains level: Policymakers must address the structural problems behind the NBFCs crisis 

Introduction 

• The default of Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS) on several of its debt obligations over the last couple of months has raised serious questions about how regulators missed the growing debt pile of a systemically important financial institution.
• The IL&FS saga has also exposed the underlying weaknesses in the non-banking financial company (NBFC) sector as a whole which has depended heavily on low-cost, short-term debt financing to sustain its shaky business model. 
• As both international and domestic interest rates continue to rise, the stocks of NBFCs have been punished as investors expect the profit margins of these companies to come under pressure as their borrowing costs rise. 
• NBFCs being unable to roll over their short-term debt in case of a severe credit crunch in the aftermath of the IL&FS saga. 
• It is worth noting that the rise of NBFCs was fuelled primarily by the demise of traditional banks which have been unable to lend as they were bogged down by non-performing loans. 

Analysing the crisis 

• The response of policymakers to the ongoing crisis, which seems warranted if its purpose is to prevent a wider systemic crisis, is fraught with other risks. 
• The Reserve Bank of India, the National Housing Bank and the State Bank of India last week decided to increase the supply of liquidity in the market to keep interest rates under control. 
• The RBI has also urged NBFCs to make use of equity rather than debt to finance their operations. This is apart from the government’s decision to replace IL&FS’s management and commitment to providing the company with sufficient liquidity. 
• While offering easy money may be a welcome measure in the midst of the ongoing liquidity crisis.
• The prolonged supply of low-cost funds to the NBFC sector also creates the risk of building an unsustainable bubble in various sectors of the economy. 

Way forward 

• Defaults associated with any such bubbles will eventually only affect the loan books of lenders.
• State bailouts could also fuel the problem of moral hazard as other financial institutions may expect a similar lifeline in the future. 
• Policymakers should thus try to focus on taking steps to address structural problems that contributed to the crisis. 
• This includes steps necessary to widen the borrower base of NBFCs which have been banned from accepting deposits. 
• This would allow NBFCs to tap into more reliable sources of funding and avoid similar liquidity crises in the future.

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UPSC Prelims Questions: 

Q.1) The often heard term “Shadow Bank” refers to
a) All non-banking financial institutions
b) A banking entity that performs all transactions online without a physical presence
c) Financial institutions that fall outside the purview of regular banking system and skips stern government regulation
d) All financial entities operating in tax havens
Answer: C

UPSC Mains Questions:
Q.1) What is the NBFCs crisis? How it can resolved?  

25 Years of NHRC

National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) is regarded as  a 'watchdog of democracy'. It was established on 12 October, 1993 under the Protection of the Human Rights (PHR) Act, 1993. The Panel constitutes five members and is headed by Chairperson who deliberates upon the cases put before them. 

Programs hosted by NHRC-

1. International conclave on Human Rights
2. Panel  discussion on the role of media in context of human rights.
3. Painting competition and slogans and logo-making contests. 

Functioning of NHRC-

India has a constitution which fully imbibes the spirit of the Universal declaration of Human Rights, proclaimed in United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in Paris in 1948. 
NHRC either takes suo-motu cognizance of the cases through media reports or complaints filed by a victim or any other person or her/his behalf or on the basis of reports received from police department. For example, In August, 2017, based on media reports, the NHRC issued a notice to the MHA over the planned deportation of about 40,000 Rohingya immigrants. 
As time passes, awareness about the NHRC's existence and work increased, so has its reached among people. 

Drawbacks and Challenges-

• It is believed that NHRC is a toothless tiger with no real authority to ensure that its recommendations are implemented. 
• Recommendations of the NHRC are not binding. The NHRC, however, move to Supreme Court if its recommendations are not accepted. 
• NHRC also has limited powers over the defense forces. Although, NHRC has the power of a civil court, so it can conduct investigations into any allegation of human rights violations, summon any person during the course of the investigation and reach conclusion based on it. But this is not true in case of the armed forces, where on receiving a complaint or while taking suo-motu cognizance of a violation, the commission can only ask for a report from the concerned department and make recommendations based on it. 
• This become major handicap for the commission in states under AFSPA-- Jammu and Kashmir and Manipur.
• Real challenge also lies the lack of awareness about the law among, particularly, the lower level of officials, who mostly deal with and have a direct interface with the public.
• A bigger issue, however, is the very nature of formation of the NHRC-- by an Act of parliament and where the chairperson and members  of the commission are appointed by the President, on the recommendations of a committee that includes the PM-- which puts doubts over the independence of NHRC.

Way Forward-

• No doubt, NHRC has to face many constraints, but the provisions of the PHR Act make it an obligation on part of the Center to "provide adequate officers and staff", so that the NHRC can perform its functions efficiently. 
• One of the biggest success for the NHRC in last 25 years has perhaps been its ability to raise awareness about the need for human rights protection in the country. However, before fighting for people's rights, commission may have to fight first for its own rights to protect those of other. 

Multiple Choice Question-

Q. Which among the following is/are true?
1. Only a retired Chief Justice of India can become the chairperson of NHRC.
2. The chairperson can be reappointed.

a. Only 1
b. Only 2
c. Both 1 and 2
d. None
Answer a.

Hint- The chairperson is not allowed to be reappointed. 
 
Mains-

The sample question may be-
Q. The National Human rights Commission is regarded as a watchdog of democracy. Discuss its role in protecting basic human rights along with its limitations and challenges. 
Hint-- Try to start with the basic intent of HNRC and talk about UNGA in Paris in 1948. Then come directly over the positive aspects of NHRC and support the fact that it is a watchdog of democracy. The n come to its limitations and also try to include some examples like Rohingya issue and AFSPA etc. conclude with some suggestions and positive remarks.   

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