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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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Spotlight/News Analysis (15, October 2018):

(VIDEO) Saudi-US Tensions : Rajya Sabha TV Big Picture Debate

Topic of Discussion: Saudi-US Tensions : Rajya Sabha TV Big Picture Debate

From food security to nutrition security

Mains Paper: 3 | Agriculture  
Prelims level: Food processing 
Mains level: Issues relating to food processing. 

Introduction 

• October 16 is observed as the World Food Day to mark the creation of the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in 1945.
• The world body envisions a “zero hunger world” by 2030. Nobel Peace laureate Norman E Borlaug, whose “miracle seeds” of wheat saved over a billion people from starvation.
• Borlaug also instituted the World Food Prize in 1986, which is sometimes described as the Nobel Prize in agriculture.
• It’s important to understand the role of science and technology in ushering the Green Revolution, which ensured food security in India.
• Today, similar innovations in biotechnology hold the promise to provide nutrition security.

Historical context of production 

• In 1943, the Bengal Famine claimed 1.5 to 3 million lives. After independence, India faced the challenge of feeding 330 million people.
• The situation became grim when the country was hit by back-to-back droughts in the mid-1960s.
• Grain production plummeted from 89.4 million metric tonnes (MMT) in 1964-65 to 72.4 MMT in 1965-66.
• Self-sufficiency in foodgrains became the country’s top policy priority.
• In the early 1960s, India imported 18,000 tonnes of the semi-dwarf high yielding (HY) wheat variety, Lerma Rojo and Sonora 64.
• Around the same time, the HY miracle rice, IR8 — developed by Peter Jennings and Henry M Beachell of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI)  was imported.
• About a decade later, an improved variety, IR36 — developed by RRI’s Gurdev Khush  made its presence felt in the country’s fields. The breeding programme under the All India Coordinated Research Project (AICRP) produced Padma and Jaya, the first indigenous HY rice varieties.
• These became the centrepiece of India’s rice revolution. Breakthroughs in Basmati rice came with the development of Pusa Basmati 1121 and 1509 from 2005 to 2013.
• These rice varieties were developed by teams led by V P Singh, A K Singh and K V Prabhu at the Indian Agriculture Research Institute. Pusa Basmati gave Indian rice more value with less water and 50 per cent higher yields compared to the traditional basmati.
• V Singh et al estimate that the cumulative earnings through exports of Pusa Basmati 1121 between 2008 and 2016 and the sale of the rice variety in the domestic market in the same period to be about $20.8 billion.

Where does India stand today in terms of wheat and rice?

• While the country’s population has grown by more than four times, from 330 million in 1947 to 1.35 billion in 2018, India’s wheat production has increased by over 15 times in roughly the same period — from about 6.5 MMT in 1950-51 to 99.7 MMT in 2017-18.
• India contributes about 13 per cent of the world wheat production, next only to China whose share is about 17 per cent.
• Rice production has shot up by about 5.5 times — from 20.6 MMT in 1950-51 to 112.9 MMT in 2017-18.
• India has a 23 per cent share in world rice production, next only to China whose share is about 29 per cent.
• India is also the largest exporter of rice in the world with about 12.7 MMT, valued at $7.7 billion (Basmati at $4.17 billion and Non-Basmati at $3.56 billion) during 2017-18.
• Notwithstanding its foodgrain surpluses, the country faces a complex challenge of nutritional security.
• The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World, 2018 estimates that about 15 per cent of the Indian population is undernourished.
• More than 38 per cent of Indian children aged below five years are stunted and 21 per cent suffer from wasting.
• Several factors ranging from poor diet, unsafe drinking water, poor hygiene and sanitation, low levels of immunisation and education, especially that of women, contribute to this dismal situation.
• The latest innovations in biotechnology that fortify  major staples with micro nutrients like vitamin A, zinc and iron can be game changers.
• Globally, the HarvestPlus programme of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) is doing lot of work in this direction.
• In India, the group has released the iron-rich pearl millet.

Way forward 

• The Indian Council of Agricultural Research has independently released zinc and iron rich wheat (WB 02 and HPWB 01), rice (DRR Dhan 45), and pearl millet (HHB 299 and AHB 1200) in 2016-17.
• This could possibly lead to the next breakthrough in staples, making them more nutritious.
• This seems to be the beginning of a new journey, from food security to nutritional security.
• But innovations in biofortified food can alleviate malnutrition only when they are scaled up with supporting policies.
• This would require increasing expenditure on agri-R&D and incentivising farmers by linking their produce to lucrative markets.

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UPSC Prelims Questions: 

Q.1)  With reference to the SAMPADA Scheme, consider the following statements:
1. It aims to restructure the schemes related to food processing in India.
2. It is a centrally sponsored scheme.
3. The loan under the scheme will be treated as Priority Sector Lending (PSL).
Which of the statements given above are correct?
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 1 and 3 only
(c) 2 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3
Answer: B

UPSC Mains Questions:
Q.1) With Successful implementation of Green Revolution, India become self reliant on food but basic issues like stunting, wasting, malnutrition still persist. Can Bio fortification help us to meet our goal, Explain?

Autonomy and Patience

Mains Paper: 2 | Education 
Prelims level: Institute of Eminence  
Mains level: Issues relating development a management Social Sector/Service relating to Health, Education,Human Resources.

Introduction  

• The debate essentially centres around one question: Should institutions of excellence be about good students, with little focus on infrastructure, or should they be about world-class facilities that only a select few can afford? 
• In other words, is education a merit good or should education policies follow the public choice theory?
• Economist Richard Musgrave, the merit goods concept states that policies dealing with services like education and health should focus on people’s needs rather than their ability to pay.

Factors responsible for educational institution development 

• The theory has influenced the privatisation of pension, healthcare and higher education in the US. None of these theories are perfect.
• Most of the English-speaking world has followed in the footsteps of the US, while the non-English part of the developed world has kept the idea of merit goods alive.
• Both schools accept that privately funded education can never become the backbone of a nation’s education system.
• It can  reduce the social burden by providing quality education to a willing few. 
• Such institutions can also provide benchmarks for public sector institutions.
• In the US, for example, Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Yale, Princeton, Brown and other Ivy League colleges set the standards in higher education.
• However, it took Harvard University some 300 years to become what it is today. Stanford University took more than 50 years to establish itself among the top global universities.
• There are no shortcuts towards the creation of world-class universities.

Conclusion

• The pressure of revenue generation, along with the demands of profitability, has pushed many a private sector educational institution from deviating from its original lofty goal.
• We should ask if we are ready to give these institutes the environment, time and resources to work on their original vision.
• Simultaneously, the government needs to ensure that merit goods like quality higher education do not end up at the mercy of public choice theory.
• Philanthropists need to understand the long-term nature of higher education goals.

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UPSC Prelims Questions: 

Q.1) Pradhan Mantri Yuva Yojana (PMYY) is focused towards
a) Entrepreneurship education and training
b) Ensuring cent per cent tertiary education enrolment
c) Promoting sports and physical activity in the youth
d) Countering anti-social elements and activities in the youth
Answer: A

UPSC Mains Questions:
Q.1) Should institutions of excellence be about good students, with little focus on infrastructure, or should they be about world-class facilities?
 

Helping the invisible hands of agriculture 

Mains Paper: 3 | Agriculture  
Prelims level: Women’s Farmer’s Day
Mains level: Role of women in Indian agricultural production  

Introduction 

• October 15 is observed, respectively, as International Day of Rural Women by the United Nations, and National Women’s Farmer’s Day (Rashtriya Mahila Kisan Diwas) in India.
• The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare decided to take the lead in celebrating the event, duly recognising the multidimensional role of women at every stage in agriculture from sowing to planting, drainage, irrigation, fertilizer, plant protection, harvesting, weeding, and storage.
• This year, the Ministry has proposed deliberations to discuss the challenges that women farmers face in crop cultivation, animal husbandry, dairying and fisheries. 
• The aim is to work towards an action plan using better access to credit, skill development and entrepreneurial opportunities.

Data and reality

• The paying lip service to them is not going to alleviate their drudgery and hardships in the fields. 
• According to Oxfam India, women are responsible for about 60-80% of food and 90% of dairy production, respectively.
• The work by women farmers, in crop cultivation, livestock management or at home, often goes unnoticed. 
• The government to impart them training in poultry, apiculture and rural handicrafts is trivial given their large numbers. 
• In order to sustain women’s interest in farming and also their uplift, there must be a vision backed by an appropriate policy and doable action plans.
• The Agriculture Census (2010-11) shows that out of an estimated 118.7 million cultivators, 30.3% were females. 
• Similarly, out of an estimated 144.3 million agricultural labourers, 42.6% were females. In terms of ownership of operational holdings, the latest Agriculture Census (2015-16) is startling. 
• Out of a total 146 million operational holdings, the percentage share of female operational holders is 13.87% (20.25 million), a nearly one percentage increase over five years.
• While the “feminisation of agriculture” is taking place at a fast pace, the government has yet to gear up to address the challenges that women farmers and labourers face.

Issue of land ownership

• The biggest challenge is the powerlessness of women in terms of claiming ownership of the land they have been cultivating.
• In Census 2015, almost 86% of women farmers are devoid of this property right in land perhaps on account of the patriarchal set up in our society. 
• Research worldwide shows that women with access to secure land, formal credit and access to market have greater propensity in making investments in improving harvest, increasing productivity, and improving household food security and nutrition. 
• Provision of credit without collateral under the micro-finance initiative of the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development should be encouraged.
• Better access to credit, technology, and provision of entrepreneurship abilities will further boost women’s confidence and help them gain recognition as farmers. 
• Land holdings have doubled over the years with the result that the average size of farms has shrunk. 
• Therefore, a majority of farmers fall under the small and marginal category, having less than 2 ha of land a category that, undisputedly, includes women farmers. 
• A declining size of land holdings may act as a deterrent due to lower net returns earned and technology adoption. 
• The possibility of collective farming can be encouraged to make women self-reliant. 
• Training and skills imparted to women as has been done by some self-help groups and cooperative-based dairy activities (Saras in Rajasthan and Amul in Gujarat). These can be explored further through farmer producer organisations. 

Gender-friendly machinery

• Female cultivators and labourers generally perform labour-intensive tasks (hoeing, grass cutting, weeding, picking, cotton stick collection, looking after livestock). 
• In addition to working on the farm, they have household and familial responsibilities.
• Despite more work (paid and unpaid) for longer hours when compared to male farmers, women farmers can neither make any claim on output nor ask for a higher wage rate. 
• An increased work burden with lower compensation is a key factor responsible for their marginalisation. It is important to have gender-friendly tools and machinery for various farm operations. 
• Most farm machinery is difficult for women to operate. 
• Farm machinery banks and custom hiring centres promoted by many State governments can be roped in to provide subsidised rental services to women farmers.

Way forward 

• When compared to men, women generally have less access to resources and modern inputs (seeds, fertilizers, pesticides) to make farming more productive. 
• The Food and Agriculture Organisation says that equalising access to productive resources for female and male farmers could increase agricultural output in developing countries by as much as 2.5% to 4%. 
• Krishi Vigyan Kendras in every district can be assigned an additional task to educate and train women farmers about innovative technology along with extension services.
• As more women are getting into farming, the foremost task for their sustenance is to assign property rights in land. 
• Women farmers are listed as primary earners and owners of land assets, acceptance will ensue and their activities will expand to acquiring loans, deciding the crops to be grown using appropriate technology and machines, and disposing of produce to village traders or in wholesale markets.
• It elevating their place as real and visible farmers.

Online Coaching for UPSC PRE Exam

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UPSC Prelims Questions: 

Q.1) Government e-Marketplace (GeM) is an egovernance initiative to facilitate
(a) selling of agriculture products in mandis online
(b) online procurement of common use Goods & Services required by various Government Departments.
(c) online bidding and reverse bidding in power sector
(d) auction of coal through online portal 
Answer: B

UPSC Mains Questions:
Q.1) Discuss the role of Women in Indian Agricultural Productivity?