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The case for another interest rate hike

Mains Paper: 3 | Economics 
Prelims level: Monetary policy committee
Mains level: Conservative policy stance will serve India better at this stage.

Context 

• The macroeconomic outlook has changed considerably since the last meeting of the monetary policy committee (MPC) of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), and so have expectations in financial markets. 
• The majority of analysts now expect the rate-setting committee to raise policy rates largely due to developments on the external front.

Observations made by RBI 

• The MPC is driven by the inflation targeting mandate, renewed weakness in the rupee will affect inflation and inflationary expectations. 
• The crude prices have risen over 12% since the last meeting and are expected to remain elevated in the coming months.
• New forecasts suggest that crude prices could actually rise above $100 per barrel in the foreseeable future. 
• The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries is unwilling to increase production and sanctions on Iran is affecting supplies. 
• Apart from pushing inflation, higher crude prices would further increase the current account deficit (CAD) and put more pressure on the currency.
• Financing the CAD would not be easy in the current global environment. 
• Though the US Federal Reserve is raising rates along expected lines, continued tightening will affect capital flows to emerging market economies. 
• The US central bank is expected to raise interest rates once more this year, followed by three rate hikes next year. 
• Foreign investors have sold Indian assets worth over $11 billion so far this year.

Steps taken by government 

• Several steps taken in recent weeks to attract capital flows and reduce “non-essential” imports.
• It encouraging short-term debt inflows and arbitrarily raising import duty can do more harm than good in the medium term. 
• It is important to highlight that there are no easy short-term solutions to reduce pressure on the external account. 
• The government should focus on removing impediments for reviving exports.
• The depreciation in rupee should help exporters here—but only to an extent given that the data shows that this relationship is somewhat weak in India.
• Further, the newly constituted high-level advisory group would do well to suggest exact policy measures that will help boost exports.
• Higher crude prices will also increase fiscal risks.
• The government has done well to resist the pressure to reduce taxes on fuel products. 
• The central bank should be prepared for possible fiscal slippage. 
• Higher crude prices have complicated India’s macroeconomic management. 
• Also, it comes at a time of tightening global financial conditions.
• The inflation forecast is likely to go up on the back of higher crude prices and a weaker currency.
• A rate hike at this stage would be a prudent response and give confidence to financial markets that the central bank is willing to sacrifice some growth to maintain price and macro stability.
• The increase in CAD and sustained higher core inflation suggest that there is a case for some moderation in demand and, in an election year, monetary policy will have to do a balancing act. 
• This will also help ease pressure on the currency. 

Conclusion 

• A pause at this stage could confuse the market and may lead to greater volatility, particularly in the currency market. 
• Yields on 10-year government bonds have gone up by over 30 basis points since the last policy review. 
• Also, if the MPC decides not to act now, it will have to wait till December to make the next policy move. 
• This could lead to greater uncertainty in the market. Apart from the policy action, financial markets will also closely watch the tone of the policy statement.
• It will be interesting to see if the MPC throws more light on the inflationary impact of currency movement.

Online Coaching for UPSC PRE Exam

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UPSC Prelims Questions: 

Q.1) Which of the following statements is/are correct with respect to Monetary Policy Committee (MPC)?
1. It is constituted by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
2. It sets the inflation target to be achieved by RBI.
Select the correct answer using the code given below.
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2
Answer:  D

UPSC Mains Questions:
Q.1) Conservative policy stance will serve India better at this stage. Critically examine the statement. 

Time to review India’s reservation policies

Mains Paper: 2 | Polity 
Prelims level: United Nations Development Programme
Mains level: The challenge for India is that while many sections of the society remain disadvantaged (STs, for one), political action has shifted to relative discrimination within reserved groups

Context 

• A report by the United Nations Development Programme titled Human Development for Everyone sets out in elegant prose the meaning and purpose of human development. 
• It says “human development is all about human freedom: Freedom to realize the full potential of every human life, not just for a few, nor of most, but of all lives in every corner of the world—now and in the future”. 

Historical context of reservation 

• The major category of policies used in removing restrictions on freedoms is affirmative action or positive discrimination i.e., called reservation.
• The first such policy in independent India dates to 1950. 
• Part XVI of the Indian Constitution deals with reservation for scheduled castes (SC) and scheduled tribes (ST) in federal and state legislatures, as well as with the constitutional authority of the president to establish commissions to examine and recommend remedies for the welfare of SC and ST groups. 
• This reservations in politics has been extended to employment (Article 16) and to higher education. It was expanded to include other backward classes (OBC) in later decades. 

Features of reservation system in India 

• India is unique in the world in that reservation policies address historically disadvantaged groups, defined primarily by a caste system (most other countries base it on ethnicity, religion, language, gender or sexual preference). 
• In most large states have about 60 subcastes, each defined as SC and ST. It is further complicated by the fact that it is implemented at both the federal and the state levels, and sometimes in combination with religion, economic and gender classifications. 
• There is reservation in some contexts for backward class Muslims (a compound of economic and religious groups) and there is much controversy about whether Dalit Christians (a compound of caste and religion) groups retain their affirmative rights. 
• The extension of the reservation system to OBCs has triggered further reaction; those not defined as OBC want in. 

Present status 

• The passage of a long period of time since independence and reservation has also now ensured that the previously advantaged castes, such as Brahmins, Rajputs and Chettiars, have begun to feel severely disadvantaged.
• They want to include the economically disadvantaged among them in the reserved groupings. 
• India will once again see affirmative action-related rioting like it did in 2006, when reservation for OBCs in education,
• In accordance with the 93rd amendment it was significantly expanded in government institutions, and the idea of it being extended to private institutions was given legislative sanction. 

Challenges for Indian Society 

• The challenge for India is that while many sections of the society remain disadvantaged (STs, for one).
• The political action has shifted to relative discrimination within reserved groups. 
• As the reservation pie grows larger, in effect, it becomes a method of exclusion rather than inclusion. 
• The Supreme Court ruled that it was not mandatory for the government to give reservation for job promotions, but removed a requirement that asked for data to support disadvantage.
• Paradoxically, it appears this judgment has handed the power back to the executive to create laws that would do just such a thing. 

Conclusion  

• India made a critical assessment of its affirmative action programmes. 
• Simplification, legislative sunsets and periodic reviews should be important principles in the redesign. 
• It is a touchy, volatile subject but the time has come. 
• It necessitates getting out of the old habit of reservations and particular privileges being given to this caste or that group.

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UPSC Prelims Questions: 

Q.1) Which of the following provisions of the Constitution reveal the secular character of the Indian State?
1. All persons are equally entitled to freedom of conscience.
2. All minorities shall have right to establish and administer educational institute of their choice.
3. The state shall endeavor to secure for all the citizen Uniform Civil Code.
Select the correct answer using the code given below.
(a) 1 only
(b) 1 and 2 only
(c) 2 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3
Answer:  D

UPSC Mains Questions:
Q.1) The challenge for India is that while many sections of the society remain disadvantaged (STs, for one), political action has shifted to relative discrimination within reserved groups. Give your arguments from the above statement.
 

Public Administration Mains 2017 : Solved Paper Question Paper-1 (Question-3)

(VIDEO) Maldives Votes for Change : Rajya Sabha TV Big Picture Debate

Topic of Discussion: Maldives Votes for Change : Rajya Sabha TV Big Picture Debate

Growing threats in the global economy

Mains Paper: 3 | Economy
Prelims level: Footloose finance
Mains level: Footloose finance plus unequal trade plus unaccountable corporations are posing challenges for policy makers everywhere.

Context 

• Since 2008, leading central banks have pumped trillions of dollars into the global economy.
• The big commercial banks at the centre of the crisis have recapitalized and financial markets have rebounded; government spending.
• In which initially it helped stabilize the global economy after the crisis.
• It has been squeezed; and wages have stagnated. 
• This economic mix has failed to generate robust recoveries in advanced economies, and with debt levels higher than ever and income gaps widening.
• The arc of politics has bent accordingly.

Threats to the emerging economy 

• Emerging economies were also hit by financial shockwaves but recovered more quickly, declaring themselves decoupled from the problems of the advanced world.
• In reality, much of their recovery was dependent on the liquidity splurge in advanced economies, triggering a borrowing spree, particularly by the corporate sector, as investors sacrificed caution in search of yield. 
• Though advanced economies have not done enough individually or together to rebalance the global economy, the worry now is that normalizing monetary policy could send shockwaves through capital and currency markets in developing countries.
• The damage is already apparent in some emerging economies but there are many others in a vulnerable position. Mitigating the problem is likely to be all the more difficult given the failure of post-crisis reforms.
• Way out 
• With big multinationals skimming the economic cream, many developing countries are putting their faith in disruptive digital technologies.
• It also hoping that widespread use of data intelligence will strengthen development prospects. 
• However, monopolization is, if anything, an even bigger threat in the digital economy than in the analogue economy. 
• The super platforms have been able, through strengthened intellectual property rights, first-move advantages and sheer market power.
• It has to establish a monopolistic hold over data that allows them to create super profits and to close down the possibility of newcomers entering the field.
• Developing countries are particularly vulnerable on both fronts.
• Active policy initiatives combining targeted industrial policies, tailored financing mechanisms and regulatory measures, including support for data localization.
• It will be essential along with south-south cooperation to ensure international agreements preserve policy space.
• The uncomfortable truth of our hyperglobalized world is that footloose finance plus unequal trade plus unaccountable corporations are posing challenges for policy makers everywhere. 
• But neither a retreat to nostalgic nationalism nor a doubling down on support for “free trade” provide the right response. 

Conclusion 

• In this world, deploying the big tariff guns will do little to correct the macroeconomic imbalances that lie behind the heightened anxiety of depressed northern communities or to break the Medici vicious circle of corporate political capture and rent-seeking behaviour.
• Calls for extending free trade will simply provide ideological cover for a world dominated by large, footloose corporations, where free trade agreements, while promising a level playing field and more inclusive outcomes.
• They  have curtailed policy space for developing countries and cut away protections for working people and small businesses, even as they have carved out more space for predatory international firms to boost their profits.
• Reviving multilateralism will only happen if trust can be restored to the system. 
• That will require rules for managing trade that can support commitments to full employment and rising wages, regulations for curtailing predatory corporate behaviour and guarantees of sufficient policy space to ensure countries can integrate into the global economy without compromising sustainable development goals.
• It’s too much of the talk about reforming the system is moving in the wrong direction.

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General Studies Pre. Cum Mains Study Materials

UPSC Prelims Questions: 

Q.1)  The policy of Import Substitution refers:
(a) Importing goods from a nation which has a comparative advantage in world economy.
(b) Importing of manufactured products to substitute the import of primary products.
(c) Substituting imports with domestic production.
(d) Increasing exports to have a favorable balance of trade.
Answer:  C

UPSC Mains Questions:
Q.1)  What are the threats to the emerging economy? How it can resolve? 
 

Dumping an archaic law 

Mains Paper: 2 | Polity
Prelims level: archaic law
Mains level: The Supreme Court decision to decriminalise adultery is a step in the right direction 

Introduction 

• India was one of the few countries in the world that still considered adultery an offence. It decriminalised the offence of adultery by holding Section 497 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) unconstitutional.
• The appalling attribute of the Indian definition of this crime was that it did not punish the erring spouses, but instead punished the adultering man, or rather ‘the outsider’, for having extra-marital relations with a woman who he knows to be married.
• It was only an offence if the husband had not consented to this relation, implicitly suggesting that the wife was the property of her husband.
• Hence, the husband was considered to be the “victim” of adultery and could file a case. The same recourse was, however, not available to the wife.

Moral wrong as crime

• The main argument for retaining the criminal provision was that the outsider should be punished for breaching the matrimonial unit and that the law should mandate punishment for such a moral wrong. 
• This violation was seen as a crime against the institution of marriage, thus justifying it to be a breach of security and well-being of society. 
• So, this argument was unanimously dismissed by the bench. 
• The court observed that the issue of adultery between spouses was a private matter, and could be a ground for divorce under civil law.
• It did not warrant the use of criminal sanction against any party involved.
• Moreover, no justification can be given by the state for penalising people with imprisonment for making intimate and personal choices.

Adultery Provision and Challenges 

• The adultery provision also violated the right to equality guaranteed under Article 14. The court observed that women were treated as passive entities, and possessions of their husband. 
• The fact that the commission of the offence would have been in the absence of the husband’s consent proved the inequality between the spouses. 
• Section 497 consumed the identity of a wife, as an individual with rights as an equal partner to the marriage, tipping the scales to favour the husband. 
• The court further explained: “Marriage in a constitutional regime is founded on the equality of and between spouses. 
• Each of them is entitled to the same liberty which Part III [of the Constitution] guarantees.” 
• Therefore, not affording both parties to a marriage equal rights and opportunities would be discriminatory and a violation of their right to equality.
• Previous challenges to this provision claimed that exempting women under Section 497 from prosecution and being prosecuted was ‘protecting’ them.
• But it was in consonance with Article 15(3) of the Constitution that allowed the state to make laws for the benefit of women and children. 
• This provision was made when bigamy was prevalent and Lord Macaulay, the drafter of the IPC, did not find it fair to punish one inconsistency of the wife when the husband was allowed to marry many others.
• However, a fallacy in this reasoning was pointed out by the court.
• The law that takes away the right of women to prosecute, just as her husband had the right to proceed against the other man, could not be considered ‘beneficial’ and was, in fact, discriminatory.

Conclusion 

• It is surprising to see that even after the verdict many have opposed this decision of the Supreme Court.
• In most countries around the world have done away with this practice. 
• While the struggle for equality in many other spheres still continues.
• And the decision to scrap this archaic law is definitely a step in the right direction.

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UPSC Prelims Questions: 

Q.1)  The term ‘Equality’ in the preamble is supplemented by which provisions in the constitution?
1. Elections to the LokSabha and the state assemblies to be on the basis of adult suffrage (Article 326).
2. Abolition of untouchability (Article 17).
3. Abolition of titles (Article 18)
Select the correct answer using the code given below.
(a) 1 only
(b) 1 and 2 only
(c) 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3
Answer:  D

UPSC Mains Questions:
Q.1)  The Supreme Court decision to decriminalise adultery is a step in the right direction. Critically examine the statement.  
 

Opening the gates

Mains Paper: 2 | Polity
Prelims level: Sabarimala temple issue 
Mains level: The verdict allowing women devotees to enter Sabarimala is a powerful message for gender equality, constitutional morality. 

Introduction

• The Supreme Court, in a 4:1 judgment, has ruled that women of all ages should be allowed the visit the Sabarimala shrine and stuck down the Kerala Hindu Places of Public Worship (Authorisation of Entry) Rules 1965.
• In which prohibited entry of women aged between 10 and 50 in Sabarimala, as unconstitutional. 

Concurring opinions 

• The three concurring opinions that form the majority have demolished the principal defences of the practices.
• The Sabarimala devotees have constitutionally protected denominational rights.
• They are entitled to prevent the entry of women to preserve the strict celibate nature of the deity.
• And also that they are allowing women would interfere with an essential religious practice.

Other opinions 

• The majority held that devotees of Lord Ayyappa do not constitute a separate religious denomination and that the prohibition on women is not an essential part of Hindu religion.
• In a dissenting opinion, Justice Indu Malhotra chose not to review the religious practice on the touchstone of gender equality or individual freedom. 
• Beyond the legality of the practice, which could have been addressed solely as an issue of discrimination or a tussle between two aspects of religious freedom.
• The court has also sought to grapple with the stigmatisation of women devotees based on a medieval view of menstruation as symbolising impurity and pollution. 

Way forward

• Justice Malhotra, who had recently ruled against Section 377 and the adultery law. 
• Accordingly, “constitutional morality in a secular polity would imply the harmonisation of the fundamental rights, which include the right of every individual, religious denomination, or sect, to practise their faith and belief in accordance with the tenets of their religion, irrespective of whether the practise is rational or logical”.
• At a time when the Supreme Court, by its own admission, is underlining the very importance of constitutional morality.
• Justice Malhotra’s words are a cautionary reminder that it may need more than a judicial pronouncement to enable social reform.

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UPSC Prelims Questions: 

Q.1)  Mahamaham is a major festival celebrated every 12 years in the South Indian town of

a) Puttaparthi, Andhra Pradesh
b) Kumbakonam, Tamil Nadu
c) Sabarimala, Kerala
d) Tirumala, Andhra Pradesh
Answer:  B

UPSC Mains Questions:
Q.1)  How the Sabarimala Verdict is important for Indian political ststem?

(VIDEO) Flight from Sikkim to Northeast (सिक्किम से पूर्वोत्तर की उड़ान)- Lok Sabha TV Insight Discussion

Topic of Discussion: Flight from Sikkim to Northeast (सिक्किम से पूर्वोत्तर की उड़ान)- Lok Sabha TV Insight Discussion

(VIDEO) Sabarimala: Women Of All Ages Allowed : Rajya Sabha TV Big Picture Debate

Topic of Discussion: Sabarimala: Women Of All Ages Allowed : Rajya Sabha TV Big Picture Debate

A fraught timeline: on Ayodhya title suit 

Mains Paper: 2 | Polity
Prelims level: Ayodhya dispute 
Mains level: The stage is set for a final hearing on the title suit to the disputed site in Ayodhya 

Introduction 

• The Supreme Court’s refusal to refer some questions of law in the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute.
• The seven-judge Bench has one immediate consequence: it could expedite the final hearing in the appeals against the Allahabad High Court’s compromise judgment of 2010 in the main title suit.
• The two-judge majority opinion has fixed the date for the hearing as October 29, a development that may mean that a final verdict is not far off and it could have a bearing on political events in the run-up to the general election due next summer.
• The final hearing ought to have begun a year ago, but was delayed because some parties wanted the reference to a larger Bench so that certain observations in a Constitution Bench decision in Ismail Faruqui (1994) could be reconsidered.
• The apprehension was that remarks to the effect that “a mosque is not an essential part of the practice of Islam” and that namaz can be offered anywhere, even in the open, would influence the outcome of the appeal. 
• Justice Ashok Bhushan’s main opinion has sought to give a quietus to the controversy by declaring that “the questionable observations” were to be treated only as observations made in the context of whether land on which a mosque stood can be acquired by the government.
• It should not be taken into account while deciding suits and appeals. 
• It is a fact that the respective claims of the U.P. Sunni Central Wakf Board, Nirmohi Akhara and Ram Lalla.
• The deity, can only be tested against evidence adduced during trial and not by pronouncements on the significance of places of worship or practices in a particular religion.

Important highlights of the HC judgment 

• Justice Abdul Nazeer notes that its observations have permeated the High Court judgment.
• Ismail Faruqui was a ruling on petitions challenging the validity of a Central law that acquired the land on which the Babri Masjid stood before it was razed by a frenzied and fanatical mob on December 6, 1992. 
• The judgment was notable for upholding the rule of law by restoring the title suits that had been declared as having “abated” in the Act.
• It also declined to answer a Presidential reference on whether a Hindu temple stood on the disputed site before the mosque was built. 
• Any observation made in the course of such a decision is bound to have a profound impact on the courts below.

Way forward  

• It is easy to contend that courts should work to their own timelines and not be influenced by such things as election season.
• The Ayodhya dispute has gone through dark political phases and been more than a mere legal issue. 
• The onus is on the apex court to dispose of the appeals at its convenience without giving any scope for the exploitation of religious sentiments.

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UPSC Prelims Questions: 

Q.1)  The President of India referred the Ayodhya issue to the Supreme Court of India under which article?
1.    135
2.    136
3.    147
4.    143
Answer:  D

UPSC Mains Questions:
Q.1)  The stage is set for a final hearing on the title suit to the disputed site in Ayodhya. Discuss the recent development of this dispute.  

Not a crime: on Supreme Court's adultery ruling 

Mains Paper: 2 | Polity
Prelims level: adultery law
Mains level: By decriminalising adultery, the Supreme Court strikes a blow for individual rights 

Introduction

• The Supreme Court finally striking down a colonial-era law that made adultery punishable with a jail term and a fine. 
• A five-judge Bench headed by the Chief Justice of India, Dipak Misra, finally transported India into the company of countries that no longer consider adultery an offence, only a ground for divorce. 
• They have removed provisions related to adultery in the Indian Penal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure. 

Constitutional Provision 

• According to Section 497 of the IPC, which now stands struck down, a man had the right to initiate criminal proceedings against his wife’s lover.
• In treating women as their husband’s property, as individuals bereft of agency, the law was blatantly gender-discriminatory. 
• The Court also struck down Section 198(2) of the CrPC under which which the husband alone could complain against adultery. 
• Till now, only an adulterous woman’s husband could prosecute her lover, though she could not be punished; an adulterous man’s wife had no such right. 
• In a further comment on her lack of sexual freedom and her commodification under the 158-year-old law, her affair with another would not amount to adultery if it had the consent of her husband. 
• The history of Section 497 reveals that the law on adultery was for the benefit of the husband, for him to secure ownership over the sexuality of his wife.
• Justice D.Y. Chandrachud wrote. “It was aimed at preventing the woman from exercising her sexual agency.”

Challenges for government  

• The court was not to equalise the right to file a criminal complaint, by allowing a woman to act against her husband’s lover. 
• It gave the IPC and the CrPC a good dusting, to rid it of Victorian-era morality. 
• It is only in a progressive legal landscape that individual rights flourish and with the decriminalisation of adultery India has taken another step towards rights-based social relations, instead of a state-imposed moral order. 
• That the decriminalisation of adultery comes soon after the Supreme Court judgment that read down Section 377 of the IPC to decriminalise homosexuality, thereby enabling diverse gender identities to be unafraid of the law, is heartening. 
• The statute books is being left to the judiciary, without any proactive role of Parliament in amending regressive laws.
• The provisions such as Section 497 or 377 remained so long in the IPC, it is also that Parliament failed in its legislative responsibility to address them.

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UPSC Prelims Questions: 

Q.1)  Consider the following statements regarding the Section 497:
1.    Section 497 of the IPC mandates that “Whoever has sexual intercourse with a person who is and whom he knows or has reason to believe to be the wife of another man, without the consent or connivance of that man, such sexual intercourse not amounting the offence of rape, is guilty of the offence of adultery and shall be punished.”
2.    Section 497 is a kind of “romantic paternalism,” which stemmed from the assumption that women, like chattels, are the property of men.
3.    Section 497 gave husbands the exclusive right as an aggrieved party to prosecute the adulterer in a case involving his wife, a similar right has not been conferred on a wife to prosecute the woman with whom her husband has committed adultery
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 2 only
(c) 1, 2 and 3
(d) 2 and 3 only
Answer:  C

UPSC Mains Questions:
Q.1)  By decriminalising adultery, the Supreme Court strikes a blow for individual rights. Critically examine the statement. 
 

Verdict as first word

Mains Paper: 2 | Polity  
Prelims level: Aadhaar Act
Mains level: Important points about the recent judgments of Aadhaar act

Introduction :

• Aadhaar is safe, cannot be used for surveillance, and does not have error rates that warrant concern.
• Section 57 of the Aadhaar Act, the underlying debates that precipitated this case will reappear in different forms.
• There is good reason to think that this judgment may be the first rather than the last word on the matter.

Supreme Court gives Aadhaar some privacy

• The majority judgment upheld the validity of Aadhaar but limited its use. 
• But it has not provided a consistent framework by which future legitimate uses can be ascertained. 
• The rationale for linking some rights and services provided by the state, and not others is not entirely clear. 
• The general presumption seems to be that the use of Aadhaar for commercial exploitation of data is impermissible.
• The majority claims that Aadhaar is not a tool for surveillance, without doing much to reassure on that count. 
• While the majority provided data protection in many forms, especially by preventing private sector use, the basic question of who can use the data which is linked to Aadhaar and for what purposes is not entirely clear. 
• The court has allowed linking PAN cards to Aadhaar, thereby indirectly linking bank accounts to Aadhaar, even though formally Aadhaar is not required for bank accounts. We still do not have a clear account of who can use this kind of linking and for what purposes?

Other important key points 

• The UPA was cavalier in doing something like Aadhaar without a covering legislation for years; the NDA brought in legislation through patently unconstitutional means.
• The Court’s job is to protect us from arbitrary use of state power.
• But the choice argument and the multiplicity of identification arguments may prove too much. They may allow Aadhaar greater back door entry.
• With the clamour for extending the NRC increasing, you will have to prove that you are a citizen rather than the state having to disprove that you are not.

Conclusion 

• It is also being presumed that the state has the right to seek more and more information on the presumption that you might be guilty of anything from money laundering to terrorism. 
• So the scepticism of Aadhaar on these grounds was well founded.
• But on the question of the poor, in the name of whose empowerment both sides of the debate speak.
• It still looks like both sides have presumed to speak on what will enable the empowerment of the poor, without really knowing what actually will.

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General Studies Pre. Cum Mains Study Materials

UPSC Prelims Questions: 

Q.1)  Consider the following statements regarding the Unique Identification Authority of India:
1. It is a non-statutory body established by a resolution of the Central government.
2. It works under the aegis of the Ministry of Electronics and Information technology.
3. It is responsible for enrolment, authentication and development of policy related to Aadhaar.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 2 only
(c) 1, 2 and 3
(d) 2 and 3 only
Answer:  D

UPSC Mains Questions:
Q.1)  Discuss the important points about the recent judgments of Aadhaar act as given by Sc?

Public Administration Mains 2017 : Solved Paper Question Paper-1 (Question-1)

(Section A)

Q1) Answer the following questions in about 150 words each:

(a)Even after 130 years of its publication, Woodrow Wilson’s essay “The Study of Administration” continues to have great relevance even today.” Comment (10 marks) (Introduction)

ANSWER: Woodrow Wilson’s essay ‘The Study of Administration’ covers three broad topics,

(1) It is a review of the history of the study of public administration.

(2) It is the subject-matter, more specifically public administration

(3) He seeks to determine the best methods to develop public administration, both as a science and as a useful tool within the structure of the American democracy.

The Theory of Administration is first theoretical piece on public administration , its influence was on later theory rather than contemporary practice. Despite its undoubted importance, the essay is remarkable for its ambiguity , particularly in regard to his instance on the politics- administration dichotomy. The essay for the first time expressed the need for a scientific and systematic study of administration.

Wilson’s essay stands as a major early effort at articulating the essential ideation and dominant paradigm for the profession. Though the essay was not read and cited until it was reprinted in 1941, it serves as a benchmark in the development of the field of public administration.

(b) “What is distinctive about the Classical and Human Relations Schools of thought administration is their complementarity to each other “. Analyse (10 marks) (Administrative Thought)

ANSWER:  The Human Relations theory is called the ‘neo-classical theory’ because it, like the classical theory , accepts efficiency and productivity as the legitimate values of the organization, although it relies on a different set of techniques to achieve these values. Both the classical and human relations theories are alike in their objectives but differ in the methods adopted to accomplish those objectives. The human relationists seek to maximize the values of efficiency and productivity by eliminating the dysfunctions caused by overspecialization , alienating hierarchical arrangements and general dehumanization of classical approach.

Classical theory is based on the assumption that people are driven by purely economic motives. Human relations theory assumes that workers need to feel that their work has value (beyond the purely economic) and that the workplace should be a space where positive social interactions led to increased productivity. In reality , an organization is both a formal structure and informal relations , these two aspects of an organization are not contradictory but allied to each other.

(c) “Conflict is the appearance of differences –the difference of opinions and of interest”. (Mary Parker Follet). Comment(10 marks) (Administrative Thought)

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(VIDEO) Everyone's health with everyone (सबका साथ सबका स्वास्थ्य)- Lok Sabha TV Insight Discussion

Topic of Discussion: Everyone's health with everyone (सबका साथ सबका स्वास्थ्य )- Lok Sabha TV Insight Discussion

(VIDEO) Verdict on Adultery : Rajya Sabha TV Big Picture Debate

Topic of Discussion: Verdict on Adultery : Rajya Sabha TV Big Picture Debate

Biofuels are a sensible option for India

Mains Paper: 3 | Science & Technology 
Prelims level: Biofuels 
Mains level: They are practical, given India’s agricultural scenario, efficient in terms of cost and good for the environment

Introduction

• The Indian government has set a target to increase energy efficiency in transport and, at the same time, abating the impact of energy on the environment.
• This is an objective shared by many other countries around the world. 
• The first Global Mobility Summit held in New Delhi during the first week of September, discussions concentrated on the best ways to achieve this goal.

Importance of using biofuels 

• The logical and immediate solution was to invest intensively in mass public transport, shared vehicles and general habit changes.
• Beyond that, it was widely recognized by the scientific community that electrification was the way forward to reach higher efficiency levels.
• However, there are at least three forms of electrification: 
• With electric power stored in batteries, 
• With hydrogen, and
• With high-density, low-carbon liquid fuels. 
• Batteries have an intrinsic limitation related to their low energy density, currently less than 200 Wh per kg. 
• The industry goal is to reach 330 Wh, and in the future, with new material, it is believed that it could reach 700-800 Wh.
• The low energy density restrains the range and determines the cost of this option. 
• Batteries require the use of power, and are environmentally sound only if the source of power is clean. 
• There is still the issue of availability and sourcing of metals used in their manufacturing, their limited lifespan, and the economic and environmental costs of discard. 
• A new infrastructure for power distribution is also needed and India must make massive investments in new forms of power generation, as 75.1% of its current generation is derived from coal, and another 4.2% from other fossil-based fuels such as gas and diesel.
• Electrification with hydrogen is costly and risky to produce, store and distribute.
• Electrification with low-carbon liquid and gaseous fuels, such as bioethanol and bio-CNG (compressed natural gas), takes advantage of their high energy density, 6,200 Wh per kg in the case of ethanol. 
• Biofuels must be perceived as high-density solar energy, or hydrogen, captured, stored and distributed in an efficient, economical and reliable manner. 

Importance of using ethanol 

• The advantages of this route are the possibility of its immediate implementation as a blend component to petrol using the current distribution infrastructure.
• It provides a sizeable positive impact on agriculture, increasing farm income, providing diversification and greater price stability.
• Brazil has saved more than 700 million tonnes of CO2 emissions from ethanol used and over $420 billion in avoided petrol imports.
• Ethanol and bio-CNG can be the source of energy for electrification adopted in hybrid, e-electric and fuel cell vehicles.
• In urban areas, ethanol reduces emissions of carbon monoxide, reactive hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxides, formaldehydes and particulate matter. 
• It greatly contributes to reduction of cancer-related toxic emissions. 
• On a global scale, it’s very low carbon intensity provides a very efficient solution to mitigate global warming. 

Conclusion

• By 2030, India’s urban population will grow to more than 600 million people. 
• Urgent policies must be implemented now to increase the efficiency of energy in transport, mitigate environmental impact at local and global scale, and control migration to large cities with a sensible farming strategy.
• India has enormous potential for electricity generation with bioethanol and biogas.
• The same holds true when it comes to bio-CNG or biomethane from farming and agrindustrial residues for substitution of diesel fuel. 
• It is a natural solution for India to produce and use more ethanol as the economy continues to grow 7% a year. In addition to affecting the economy, air pollution remains on the rise.
• Electrification with biofuels is the sensible, modern and long-term strategy for India and many other countries in similar circumstances.

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General Studies Pre. Cum Mains Study Materials

UPSCPrelims Questions: 

Q.1) With reference to sources of energy, the term 2nd generation biofuel usually refers to the biofuels
(a) which are made from non food feedstocks.
(b) which are made from feedstocks used for human consumption.
(c) where algae is used as primary energy source for its production.
(d) which are designed to capture large amounts of carbon, with genetically synthesized microbes.
Answer:A

UPSC Mains Questions:
Q.1)  Is biofuels are optimal solutions for India’s fuels requirement?
 

Opacity in the name of privacy

Mains Paper: 2 | Polity 
Prelims level: Personal Data Protection Bill
Mains level: The draft Personal Data Protection Bill poses a danger to the hard-won right to information

Introduction

• The Supreme Court declared the right to privacy a fundamental right, a ruling widely welcomed.
• But many transparency advocates also felt apprehension, fearing that the right to privacy.
• It meant to protect citizens from arbitrary state and corporate surveillance. 
• It might be deployed first and foremost to shield authorities from scrutiny by citizens.

Issue of accountability

• The Personal Data Protection Bill, 2018, drafted by the Srikrishna Committee.
• The Bill identifies “personal data” as any data that directly or indirectly identifies a person.
• It calls for amending clause 8.1.j of the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005. 
• The clause currently exempts the following from disclosure: “information which relates to personal information, the disclosure of which has no relationship to any public activity or interest, or which would cause unwarranted invasion of the privacy of the individual unless the Public Information Officer.
• It is also satisfied that the larger public interest justifies the disclosure. 
• Provided that the information which cannot be denied to the Parliament or a State Legislature shall not be denied to any person.
• The Srikrishna Committee suggests amending this clause to authorise public information officers, or PIOs, to deny information containing ‘personal data’, if they feel that such disclosure is likely to cause harm to ‘the data principal’, and if such harm outweighs public interest.
• The Bill defines ‘data principal’ as whoever the data relates to. 
• This amendment may seem reasonable on first reading, but for the practical experiences of RTI users in the past years.

Existing RTI Act and it adheres to 

• The RTI Act’s core aim is to bring accountability by making available public records that disclose the actions and decisions of specific, identifiable members of the political class and the bureaucracy.
• The Data Protection Bill extends the cloak of ‘personal data’ over all such information.
• It asks PIOs (now overwhelmingly appointed at junior levels) to weigh public interest against the potential for harm to those identifiable in public documents. 
• The Bill defines harm expansively to include everything from blackmail and bodily injury to loss of reputation, humiliation and “mental injury”. 
• The Bill ignores that another key aim of the RTI Act is “containing corruption”. 
• By bringing corruption to light, dogged RTI users have served public interest and caused ‘harm’, in terms of the Bill, to those exposed.

A ‘powerful proviso’

• In most public records identify one or more persons. For instance, file notings identify bureaucrats making decisions by their posts, or even initials/names; public records, such as contracts awarded or clearances issued, identify specific private actors. 
• Under the proposed amendment, PIOs will be forced to test public interest versus potential for harm to multiple “data principals” in just about every request that they handle, and this is a responsibility they will be reluctant to take on.
• The nine judges of the Supreme Courtare unable to frame the bounds of privacy.
• So can we expect PIOs to assess which information is private, and then weigh the potential harm to individuals due to disclosure, guided all the while by public interest and the cause of accountability?
• The amended clause will chill the RTI Act, as PIOs will now have a strong legal ground to play safe, and toss out RTI requests deploying an amended clause 8.1.j.
• The Supreme Court has perhaps inadvertently mangled the privacy safeguard provided in the existing Section 8.1.j. 
• The RTI Act currently provides an acid test to help PIOs respond to requests: “Provided that the information which cannot be denied to the Parliament or a State Legislature shall not be denied to any person.” 
• This is a powerful proviso, also retained in the proposed amendment. 
• It implies that PIOs can deny only that information to applicants which they would deny to Parliament or State legislatures.

Way forward

• The government should be addressing these alarms raised by the Central Information Commission, the RTI’s apex watchdog. 
• The precedent created by Deshpande and its widespread abuse by PIOs need to be corrected, to reaffirm the fundamental right to information. 
• Instead, the government is embarking on a project to legalise such ‘abuse’, by diluting transparency in the guise of an amendment furthering privacy.
• If the Bill is passed as is, and the RTI Act amended, it will deal a body blow to India’s hard-won right to information.
• The Ministry of Information Technology is accepting public feedback on the Data Privacy Bill until the end of September. 
• Citizens should use this window to urge the government not to amend the RTI Act.

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UPSC Prelims Questions: 

Q.1) The recently appointed B.N.Srikrishna committee is associated with
(a) reform of Public Sector Banks
(b) data protection laws
(c) Cauvery water dispute
(d) strengthening mechanism for defence procurement
Answer:B

UPSC Mains Questions:
Q.1)  The draft Personal Data Protection Bill poses a danger to the hard-won right to information. Critically examine the statement 
 

Aadhaar survives 

Mains Paper: 2 | Constitution 
Prelims level: Aadhaar 
Mains level: The Supreme Court finds a pragmatic middle path between the Aadhaar scheme’s excesses and its benefits to the marginalised

Introduction

• Anine-judge Bench ruled unanimously last year that privacy is a fundamental right, opinion began to gain ground that the unique identification programme was vulnerable in the face of judicial scrutiny. 
• It was projected by sceptics, detractors and activists as an intrusion on citizens’ privacy, a byword for a purported surveillance system, a grand project to harvest personal data for commercial exploitation by private parties and profiling by the state. 
• The government has staved off the challenge by successfully arguing that it is essentially a transformative scheme primarily aimed at reaching benefits and subsidies to the poor and the marginalised.
• Four of the five judges on a Constitution Bench ruled that the law enabling the implementation of the programme does not violate the right to privacy of citizens; instead, the project empowers marginalised sections and procures dignity for them along with services, benefits and subsidies by leveraging the power of technology.

Constitutionalvalidity of Aadhaar

• The constitutional validity of Aadhaar are upholding and clarifying areas in which it cannot be made mandatory.
• The Supreme Court has restored the original intent of the programme: to plug leakages in subsidy schemes and to have better targeting of welfare benefits.
• Aadhaar came to mean much more than this in the lives of ordinary people, acquiring the shape of a basic identity document that was required to access more and more services, such as birth and death certificates, SIM cards, school admissions, property registrations and vehicle purchases. 
• A unique identity number, that could be availed on a voluntary basis and was conceived to eliminate the rampant fraud in the distribution of benefits, had threatened to morph — with the Centre’s tacit acceptance — into something that was mandatory for various aspects of life. 
• The judgment narrows the scope of Aadhaar but provides a framework within which it can work. 
• The majority opinion has sought to limit the import of the scheme to aspects directly related to welfare benefits, subsidies and money spent from the Consolidated Fund of India. 
• Thus, the controversial circulars and rules making it mandatory to link mobile phone numbers and bank accounts to Aadhaar numbers have been declared unconstitutional.
• Section 57 of the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery Of Financial And Other Subsidies, Benefits And Services) Act, 2016, has been struck down to the extent that it authorised body corporates and individuals to use the Aadhaar number to establish someone’s identity.
• Schools have been barred from making the submission of the Aadhaar number mandatory to enrol children. 
• A few other provisions have been read down or clarified.

Aadhaar: Where's it required and where's it not?

• Aadhaar, the majority opinion was not oblivious to the impact of disbanding a project that has already completed much ground. For instance, 
• It’s relying on official statistics, the majority favoured the scheme’s continuance for the sake of the 99.76% of people included under it, rather than fret over the 0.24% who were excluded because of authentication failure.
• With enrolment saturation reaching 1.2 billion people, the programme had acquired a scale and momentum that was irreversible. 
• It was perhaps this pragmatic imperative that led the majority to conclude that the government was justified in the passage of the Aadhaar Act as a ‘money bill’.
• It even though under a strict interpretation this is a difficult position to defend, the Centre’s objective being to bypass the Rajya Sabha, where it did not have a majority. 
• The Court has addressed this issue by accepting the government’s argument that Section 7, which enables the use of Aadhaar to avail of any government subsidy, benefit or service for which expenditure is incurred out of the Consolidated Fund of India, is the core provision in the law, and that this makes it a ‘money bill’.
• The technical arguments on the safety of the Aadhaar architecture and the end-to-end encryption that underlies the transmission of captured biometric data to the Unique Identification Authority of India. 
• The majority opinion has looked at the larger picture beyond the merits or demerits of the Aadhaarprogramme and the arguments for and against it. 

Way forward 

• It held that the Aadhaar Act passes the “triple test” laid down in the ‘Privacy’ judgment under which there ought to be a law.
• It is a legitimate state interest and an element of proportionality in any law that seeks to abridge the right of privacy.
• Justice D.Y. Chandrachud argued that the Rajya Sabha’s authority has been superseded and that this “constitutes a fraud on the Constitution” — a position that is impossible to fault if one adopts a strict interpretation of what a money bill is.
• He also expressed his displeasure at the government passing a series of orders making Aadhaar compulsory for various reasons, in defiance of interim orders from the Supreme Court. 
• He highlighted the biometric authentication failures that have led to denial of rights and legal entitlements, and located the reason for such failures in the project’s inability to account for and remedy flaws in its network and design.
• He ruled that denial of benefits arising out of any social security rights is “violative of human dignity and impermissible under our constitutional scheme”. 
• Few would disagree with him in that “dignity and rights of individuals cannot be made to depend on algorithms and probabilities”. 
• Finally, it was the arguments in favour of benefits to the poor and the practical consequences of abandoning the scheme that won the day. Aadhaar possibly was simply too big to fail.

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UPSC Prelims Questions: 

Q.1) With reference to UdhyogAadhar scheme, consider the following statements:
1. It is a facility by which any unregistered company gets a 12 digit unique ID to become a legal entity.
2. The scheme was notified by the Ministry of Industry and Commerce.
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)  In the question of constitutional validity about Aadhaarwhere's it is required and where's it’s not?