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SC’s use of extraordinary powers in the Constitution to allow a divorce

Mains Paper 2 : Polity
Prelims level : Hindu Marriage Act
Mains level : Extraordinary power of Supreme Court

Context:

• The Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, lays down the law for divorce, which applies to Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, and Sikhs.
• The Supreme Court used extraordinary powers under Article 142 of the Constitution to grant divorce in a case of “irretrievable breakdown of marriage”.
• Currently, Hindu marriage law does not include “irretrievable breakdown of marriage” as a ground for divorce. However, the apex court in a number of cases has provided the said relief using its extraordinary powers that allow it to do “complete justice”.

Grounds for divorce under Hindu law:

• The Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, lays down the law for divorce, which applies to Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, and Sikhs.
• Under Section 13 of the Act, the grounds for divorce include: “voluntary sexual intercourse with any person other than his or her spouse”; “cruelty”; desertion “for a continuous period of not less than two years immediately preceding the presentation of the petition”; “ceas(ing) to be a Hindu by conversion to another religion”; and being “incurably of unsound mind”.
• In addition, Section 13B provides for “divorce by mutual consent”.
• Section 27 of The Special Marriage Act, 1954 provides the grounds for grant of divorce in the case of marriages solemnised under that Act.
• However, neither of the two Acts provide for “irretrievable breakdown of marriage” as a ground for divorce.

Irretrievable breakdown of marriage:

• In its order passed on December 17, a Bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and K M Joseph said: “We may note that in a recent judgment of this Court, in ‘R. Srinivas Kumar v. R. Shametha’, to which one of us (Sanjay Kishan Kaul, J.) is a party, divorce was granted on the ground of irretrievable breakdown of marriage, after examining various judicial pronouncements.
• It has been noted that such powers are exercised… in rare cases, in view of the absence of legislation in this behalf, where it is found that a marriage is totally unworkable, emotionally dead, beyond salvage and has broken down irretrievably.”
• In the present case, the court said that it believed that “not only is the continuity of this marriage fruitless, but it is causing further emotional trauma and disturbance to both the parties”, and “the sooner this comes to an end, the better it would be, for both the parties”.
• Article 142, the court said, “provide(s) a unique power to the Supreme Court, to do “complete justice” between the parties, i.e., where at times law or statute may not provide a remedy, the Court can extend itself to put a quietus to a dispute in a manner which would befit the facts of the case.
• It is with this objective that we find it appropriate to take recourse to this provision in the present case.”
• The Bench noted that “there are various judicial pronouncements where this Court, in exercise of its powers under Article 142 of the Constitution, has granted divorce on the ground of irretrievable breakdown of marriage; not only in cases where parties ultimately, before this Court, have agreed to do so but even otherwise.
• There is, thus, recognition of the futility of a completely failed marriage being continued only on paper”.
• In numerous cases, where a marriage is found to be a dead letter, the Court has exercised its extraordinary power under Article 142 of the Constitution of India to bring an end to it.”
• The Law Commission of India has twice recommended that “irretrievable breakdown” of marriage be included as a new ground for granting divorce to Hindus under the provisions of the Hindu Marriage Act and the Special Marriage Act.
• The Commission first suggested an amendment in 1978 in its 71st report, and in 2009 in the 217th report.

Article 142 of the Constitution:

• Under Article 142(1), “The Supreme Court in the exercise of its jurisdiction may pass such decree or make such order as is necessary for doing complete justice in any cause or matter pending before it, and any decree so passed or order so made shall be enforceable throughout the territory of India in such manner as may be prescribed by or under any law made by Parliament and, until provision in that behalf is so made, in such manner as the President may by order prescribe”.

Conclusion:

• The provision vests sweeping powers in the Supreme Court for the end of ensuring “complete justice” and is usually used in cases involving human rights and environmental protection.
• It was also used during the Ayodhya judgment, making the first such case where it was invoked for a civil dispute over an immovable property that involved private parties.

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An agenda for decent jobs in Africa (Mint)

Mains Paper 2 : International
Prelims level : Not much
Mains level : Low paid jobs pose threat in African countries

Context:

• African countries had some of the lowest unemployment rates in 2018. The reality in these countries, however, is that almost everyone must work because governments can’t support social safety nets Unemployment data:
• Africa’s labour markets are the most dynamic in the world.
• Yet, according to the International Labour Organization (ILO), African countries had some of the lowest unemployment rates in 2018.
• They include Niger (0.3%), Rwanda (1%), Burundi (1.5%), Madagascar (1.7%), Togo (1.7%), Ethiopia (1.8%), Tanzania (1.9%), Liberia (2%), Benin (2.1%), and Chad (2.2%).
• The reality in these countries, however, is that almost everyone must work to survive because governments have limited capacity and no fiscal space to support social safety nets.
• At the same time, African economies also have some of the world’s highest underemployment rates, owing to erroneous policy choices, low levels of productivity, and insufficient growth, despite the commitment and hard work of an abundant labour force.

Defining unemployment:

• According to the ILO, an unemployed person is a member of the labour force who was not employed during a specified recent period, and is both available for and seeking work.
• The underemployed comprise the unemployed plus those who are employed part time (less than 30 hours per week) and want to work full time.
• Yet, although most African economists and statisticians accept the official definitions of these terms, policymakers continue to debate their practical significance.
• African per capita gross domestic product growth has been insufficient in recent decades—both in absolute terms and compared to other parts of the developing world—and employment has remained overwhelmingly informal.
• Africa’s rapid population growth poses a further challenge.
• TheUN expects the continent’s working-age population (those aged 15 to 64) to double to 1.5 billion by 2050, and to reach 2.8 billion in 2100.
• Providing decent jobs for this massive labour force is perhaps the biggest challenge facing the world—not just Africa.

Agenda for developing countries:

• Traditionally, developing-country governments have tried to tackle unemployment and underemployment by improving the business environment, typically through reforms aiming to increase labour-market flexibility.
• This means making it easier for firms to hire and fire workers, scaling back employee benefits, reducing the tax wedge (the difference between the cost of employing a worker and his or her take-home pay), weakening trade unions, and pursuing active labour-market policies (including employment subsidies and training).
• Unfortunately, these conventional measures generally are more appropriate for advanced economies with high levels of full-time employment and relatively expensive labour.
• In developing economies with far less full-time employment and persistent labour surpluses, these measures rarely produce the hoped-for results.
• And because traditional policies neglect the most glaring features of low-income countries’ labour markets—an acute shortage of good formal sector jobs and widespread informal employment—empirical evidence of their effectiveness is ambiguous at best.

Study highlights by African Development Bank:

• The developing world neglected the key principle of successful job-creation strategies: ensuring that economies develop in a manner consistent with their comparative advantage and are internationally competitive.
• Instead of focusing on labour-intensive sectors, African governments often tried to replicate the capital- and technology-intensive industries characteristic of high-income countries.
• A misguided “modernization" drive explains why many African economies remain commodity-dependent and job-scarce six decades after independence.

Three policy priorities:

• They need to gear macroeconomic policies toward ensuring external competitiveness—including the adoption of flexible exchange rates to mitigate trade shocks. Economic stability is a precondition for sustained growth and hence the creation of decent jobs, particularly in small developing countries that are most vulnerable to shocks.
• Demand-boosting policies play an important role in combating unemployment, especially in economies with good fundamentals. By using fiscal and monetary policies whenever possible to support economic growth, governments can help to reduce uncertainty.
• The macroeconomic policies specifically geared toward job creation make active labour-market programmes much more likely to succeed.

Labour-market initiatives:

• African governments need to consider a range of labour-market initiatives to help create jobs.
• When fiscal and debt conditions permit, they should accelerate the implementation of carefully designed, labour-intensive public-works programmes.
• Well-targeted public infrastructure projects (whether new investment, repair, or maintenance) provide much-needed incomes, typically to the urban poor, and can help to ease social and political tensions.

Way forward:

• The government-sponsored training programmes that help new and unemployed workers to gain or regain skills could boost productivity if they target the neediest segments of society, such as young people, women, and disadvantaged groups.
• Youth-oriented programmes designed in close collaboration with private firms, academic institutions, and NGOs can yield good results.
• To maximize such initiatives’ impact, policymakers should tailor them to the needs of competitive industries.

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Driverless cars will drive a lot of market disruption in the 2020s (Mint)

Mains Paper 3 : Science and Tech
Prelims level : Light Detection and Ranging
Mains level : Driverless carless pose threat in an economy

Context:

• An auto industry shift will change everything even if we believe we are in an unrelated field.

Crucial highlights:

• Driverless or autonomous cars have been heralded and feared for many years now.
• They perhaps represent the convergence of every technology that we know today.
• They run on artificial intelligence, and machine-learning algorithms power its autonomy.
• Image recognition and Light Detection and Ranging (Lidar) systems on these cars recognize obstacles and measure distances in real time, ensuring that they avert obstacles and recognize road signs.
• Each car is a connected device that uses advanced internet of things (IoT) technologies, and the big data generated is crunched for driving decisions.
• These cars need high-speed continuous connectivity, and this is where 5G plays a crucial role.
• Stuck in traffic, your car could negotiate with other cars to work its way through a snarl, paying them for passage in real time with a crypto currency on a blockchain network.
• Driverless cars will wrought changes beyond the most obvious.
• There will be less accidents, higher efficiency, more comfort. They will change almost every business.

Take insurance:

• Who will insurers insure?
• The driverless car, the absent driver, hapless passengers, or the company that built the soulless AI powering it?
• Auto insurance is a huge revenue stream for insurance companies. What happens to them once it vanishes?
• Perhaps insurers will start designing products that insure users against autonomous cars being hacked.

Impact of Civil aviation:

• Civil aviation will be impacted too. Autonomous cars will increase comfort and decrease travel time between cities.
• Thus, short-haul flights may see a drop in demand.
• Another industry that might get disrupted is hospitality. Perhaps we no longer require overnight-stay hotels on the highway. \
• The car will function as one as we comfortably sleep through long journeys.

Impact of transport:

• Retail might not look the same either. Rather than large, bright, manned stores, perhaps we will need dark stores where we dispatch our cars to pick up stuff we ordered online. Food delivery will be by driverless cars and terrestrial drones.
• The taxi industry will be hit, too. Uber would rather not have human drivers. They are a big expense and have human needs like sleep and rest.
• Driverless taxis will be a boon to app-based taxis, even as they result in millions of drivers losing jobs worldwide.
• The auto industry will, of course, shape-shift completely, with production plants, business models, auto dealerships and fuelling points being radically different than what we have today.

Impact of real estate:

• These vertical autonomous vehicles not only changed the speed of ascent and descent, they transformed real estate.
• Elevators enabled skyscrapers to scrape the skies, skyscrapers built downtown zones, and these allowed clusters of commercial activity in a single part of the city. Real estate prices changed.
• Therefore, roads were built in a certain way, public transport had to adapt, and real estate was never the same again.
• Now, as these vertical autonomous cars turn horizontal, the property market will change again.
• Prices will equalize as suburbs will not be as difficult to get to and cities will spread more horizontally.

Way forward:

• It is these technology-enabled phenomena that will change our lives.
• We may believe we are in an unrelated industry and that an auto industry shift might have nothing to do with us.
• However, it will change everything. The next decade will see several such phenomena—driverless cars, global warming, space travel, and genome splicing.
• New technologies such as AI, blockchain and IoT will take a visibly functional form and disrupt our lives.

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National Population Register (Indian Express)

Mains Paper 2 : Polity
Prelims level : National Population Register
Mains level : Population census and exercises

Context:

• The Union Cabinet approved a proposal to conduct Census 2021 and update the National Population Register (NPR). While the Census will be conducted in 2021, the NPR update will take place from April to September 2020 in all the States/UTs except Assam.
• According to the sources, the Union Cabinet has approved a proposal of the Home Ministry to spend Rs 8,754 crore for the Census 2021 and Rs 3,941 crore for updating the NPR.

What is the National Population Register (NPR)?

• The NPR is a register of usual residents of the country. It is mandatory for every usual resident of India to register in the NPR. It includes both Indian citizens as well as a foreign citizen.
• The objective of the NPR is to create a comprehensive identity database of every usual resident in the country.
• The first National Population Register was prepared in 2010 and updating this data was done during 2015 by conducting door to door survey.
• The next update of the NPR will take place next year from April to September with the Houselisting phase of the Census 2021.
• It is being prepared at the local (Village/sub-Town), sub-District, District, State and National level under provisions of the Citizenship Act 1955 and the Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003.

What is the meaning of usual resident?

• According to the Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003, a usual resident is a person who has resided in a local area for the past 6 months or more or a person who intends to reside in that area for the next 6 months or more.

What is the Census?

• The Census is the enumeration of the population of the country. It is being conducted at an interval of 10 years.
• The Census 2021 will be 16th census in the country since the first census happened in 1872.
• It will be 8th census after the Independence. For the first time, the Census 2021 will use the Mobile App for data collection.
• It will also provide a facility to the public for self-enumeration.

What are the details required for NPR?

• The demographic details of every individual are required for every usual resident on 21 points which includes ‘date and place of birth of parents’, last place of residence, Permanent Account Number (PAN), Aadhar ( on a voluntary basis), Voter ID card number, Driving License Number and Mobile Number.
• In the last NPR done in 2010, the data was collected on the 15 points and it did not include ‘date and place of birth of parents’ and last place of residence.

What is the difference between NPR and NRC?

• The NPR is different from the National Register of Citizens which excludes the foreign citizens.
• According to the Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, notified on December 10, 2003, a Population Register is ‘the register containing details of persons usually residing in a village or rural area or town or ward or demarcated area (demarcated by the Registrar General of Citizen Registration) within a ward in a town or urban area.
• Whereas, the ‘National Register of Indian Citizens’ is a register containing details of Indian Citizens living in India and outside India.
• The rules further say that ‘National Register of Indian Citizens’ shall contain the particulars of every citizen i.e. Name; Father’s name; Mother’s name; Sex; Date of birth; Place of birth; Residential address (present and permanent); Marital status ñ if ever married, name of the spouse; Visible identification mark; Date of registration of Citizen; Serial number of registration; and National Identity Number.

What is the link between NPR and NRC?

• According to the Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, notified on December 10, 2003.
• The Central Government may, by an order issued in this regard, decide a date by which the Population Register shall be prepared by collecting information relating to all persons who are usually residing within the jurisdiction of Local Registrar.
• The Local Register of Indian citizens shall contain details of persons after due verification made from the Population Register.

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Restructuring isn’t always reform (Indian Express)

Mains Paper 3 : Economy
Prelims level : Not much
Mains level : Transforming railway sector

Context:

• The Railway Minister, Piyush Goyal, has recently announced the policy decision of “restructuring” of the organisation.

Aim of restructuring:

• The stated aim is to end “departmentalism” — unification of services will “expedite decision making”, “create a coherent vision” and “promote rational decision-making”.
• It is an unusual admission — that hitherto decision-making in the Railways was incoherent and irrational — and this coming after he has been the minister for over two years.
• Restructuring of the Railways has been on the agenda for decades.
• Committees — Prakash Tandon 1994, Rakesh Mohan 2001, Sam Pitroda 2012 and Bibek Debroy 2015 — have done this exercise in past.
• Is it just the familiar family ghost that visits the corridors of Railway Board with indeterminate periodicity and with the predictable outcome of nothing?

Administrative problem:

• The size of the Railway Board is proposed to be reduced from the present eight to five.
• The decision that posts of some 27 general managers would be raised to the “apex” level (secretary?) and hence at par with the board members is doubly problematic.
• The IAS lobby agree to create so many secretary-level posts for Railway officers — unless they are given the top positions.
• The panel of secretaries may well make such a recommendation, but will the finance ministry should agree.
• It is claimed that Railway officers have welcomed the decision. How could they, when they do not even know what is in store for them? They were certainly not consulted. Of course, that was not even necessary because democracy gives the right to the elected — even to be dictatorial!
• The Railway Board is the governing body and the general managers are subordinate to the board.
• An uncomfortable member can easily be shunted to some remote corner as GM.
• In the present set-up, the minister can do nothing to an unyielding member except to suffer in silence, and at worst, sabotage his foreign trips and post-retirement aspirations.

Abolishing departmentalism:

• However, departmentalism is just a word and means nothing for the rail users, or for the national economy.
• Every large organisation is bound to have many departments. Even after the merging of cadres, departments will continue to exist, they would continue to quarrel, and it is the minister’s job to settle these disputes. He cannot remain a bystander, passing judgements.
• The minister should also understand that the problem is not departments but the composition of the same, and their role in the Railway organisation.

Conclusion:

• This should be seen from the perspective of the national economy rather than as an issue pertaining to the Railways in isolation.
• If the restructuring is done with such national priorities in mind it can be a game changer, not only for the Indian Railways, but for India as a nation.
• Or else, it may only create a bigger mess than it imagines it is solving.

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Endless wait: on Afghanistan Presidential election (The Hindu)

Mains Paper 2 : International Relations
Prelims level : Afghanistan Presidential election
Mains level : Effects of the election on India-Afghanistan relations

Context:

• The announcement of preliminary results for the Afghanistan Presidential election is a significant step for India’s war-torn neighbour.
• The fourth Presidential poll since the Taliban’s fall in 2001, it consolidates the country’s democratic process in the face of odds, including continuing violence and terrorism there.
• According to the Independent Election Commission, President Ashraf Ghani has won 50.64% of the votes counted.

Setting aside the concerns:

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated Mr. Ghani for winning the elections, a gesture which will be noted by Mr. Ghani and Vice President-elect Amrullah Saleh.
• Mr. Modi reaffirmed India’s close and strategic partnership with Afghanistan since 2010.
• The move came in sharp contrast to the rest of world that has chosen to be more cautious at present;
• The U.S. Ambassador has reminded all that “many steps remain” before the final results are certified and declared, and the UN has called for all candidates to “safeguard and complete the election”.

Conclusion:

• It will be in everyone’s interests, particularly the Afghans who braved violent attacks to go out and vote, if the remaining steps of the electoral process are completed at the earliest, and democracy is reaffirmed in Afghanistan.

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The Data Protection Bill only weakens user rights (The Hindu)

Mains Paper 2 : Polity
Prelims level : Data Protection Bill
Mains level : Pros and cons of the Data Protection Bill

Context:

• The Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019, which was introduced in the Lok Sabha this month, is a revolutionary piece of legislation that promises to return power and control to people in our digital society.
• Pending deliberation before a Joint Parliamentary Committee, it is intimately connected to the very same fundamental rights and constitutional principles that are being defended today on the streets and in the fields.
• Before focusing on the nuances and finer details which merit deliberation we must take a step back to look at the broader politics of personal data protection.
• This would help contextualise the legislative proposal and understand the degree of protection which is limited by overboard exceptions in favour of security and revenue interests.

Securitisation and revenue:

• The rise of the national security narrative has not been gone unnoticed by seasoned political observers. What is novel is its intersection with technology.
• This is central to several policy and political pronouncements by the present government.
• This shrugs off any recognition of its contested legality before the Supreme Court which ruled on the fundamental right to privacy.
• Privacy is mentioned just once in this voluminous document 49 mentions of ‘security’ and 56 mentions of ‘technology’.

Principles in conflict:

• The scale of data collection is ambitious and broadly contained in the ‘Digital India’ programme; on its website it says: “to transform the entire ecosystem of public services through the use of information technology…”.
• Here, all elements of a citizen-state interaction are being data-fied.
• In the view of some technologists, this also fulfils geostrategic goals when personal data is viewed as strategic state resource.
• However, this poses grave risks to the right to privacy. These become evident from a casual reading of the national Economic Survey of 2019, which in Chapter 4 devotes an entire chapter on the fiscal approach towards personal data.
• In a “Chapter at a glance” it says: “In thinking about data as a public good, care must also be taken to not impose the elite’s preference of privacy on the poor, who care for a better quality of living the most.”

Operation of this policy framework:

• The first is with respect to the recent sale of vehicular registration data and driving licences by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.
• It’s quite often, the principles of a data protection law would conflict with these uses as it would break the fundamental premise of purpose limitation.
• This principle broadly holds that personal data which is gathered for a specific purpose cannot be put to any other distinct use without consent of the person from whom it was acquired.
• The second is an expert committee (headed by Kris Gopalakrishnan, Chairperson, Infosys) on what is termed “community data”.
• While the definition of such, “community data” is contested, as per the note it is plainly obvious this is again to serve fiscal interests of the state and technology businesses when it states that such data “is critical for economic advantage”.

Muddled formulation:

• The existing draft of the Data Protection Bill is reflective of a political economy that is motivated towards ensuring minimal levels of protection for personal data.
• It has a muddled formulation in terms of its aims and objectives, contains broad exemptions in favour of security and fiscal interests, including elements of data nationalism by requiring the compulsory storage of personal data on servers located within India.
• From its very preamble it seeks to place the privacy interests of individuals on the same footing as those of businesses and the state.
• Here, by placing competing interests on the same plane, two natural consequences visit the drafting choices within it.
• The principle of data protection to actualise the fundamental right to privacy is not fulfilled as a primary goal but is conditioned from the very outset.
• By placing competing goals — which contradict each other — any balancing is clumsy, since no primary objectives are set.
• This results in a muddy articulation that would ultimately ensure a weak data protection law.

Way forward:

• The Data Protection Bill is not a leaky oil barrel with large exceptions, but it is a perfect one.
• It will refine, store and then trade the personal information of Indians without their control; open for sale or open for appropriation to the interests of securitisation or revenue maximisation, with minimal levels of protection.
• For this to change, we have to not only focus on red-lining the finer text of this draft but also reframing large parts of its intents and objectives.

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AUTO FUEL VISION AND POLICY (Indian Express)

Mains Paper 3 : Economy
Prelims level : Not much
Mains level : Highlights of the Auto Fuel Vision and Policy initiatives

Context:

• Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas vide order dated 19.01.2015 has notified for implementation of BS-IV Auto Fuels in the entire country. Accordingly, BS-IV Auto Fuels has been implemented in the entire country w.e.f. 01.04.2017.
• It has also been decided that the country will leapfrog directly from BS-IV to BS-VI fuel standards and BS-VI standards will be implemented in the entire country w.e.f. 01.04.2020.
• Considering the serious pollution levels in Delhi, the Government has already commenced supply of BS-VI in National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi w.e.f. 01.04.2018.
• The Government has also started supply of BS-VI auto fuels in 20 Districts of Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh & Haryana adjoining NCT of Delhi.

Introduction of BS-IV & BS-VI fuels in the Country:

• LIBERALIZATION OF NORMS OF PRIVATE SECTOR PARTICIPATION IN THE RETAIL SECTOR: The Government has approved the guidelines for granting authorization to market transportation fuels i.e. Motor Sprit (MS) / High Speed Diesel (HSD). Necessary notification in this regard has been published in the Gazette of India on 08.11.2019.
• DPIIT’S PUBLIC PROCUREMENT (PREFERENCE TO MAKE IN INDIA) ORDER: Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas has prescribed minimum local content for Petroleum and Natural Gas products under Department of Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade Public Procurement (Preference to Make in India) Order, 2017 on 25th June, 2019. During the current Financial Year, Policy to Provide Purchase Preference (linked with Local Content (PP-LC)) was reviewed by the Steering Committee constituted under the Policy by MoP&NG. As per the recommendation of Steering Committee, Policy has been extended for a further period of one year w.e.f. 1st October, 2019.
• NATIONAL GAS GRID: Government of India has identified the requirement of development of additional 15000 Km of Gas Pipeline and various pipeline sections to complete the Gas Grid. The status of new pipeline projects being implemented by Govt.

PSUs which are part of National Gas Grid are as under:

• Jagdishpur – Haldia&Bokaro – Dhamra Pipeline Project (JHBDPL): The 2655 km. pipeline project is being executed by GAIL at an investment of Rs.12,940 Cr., which includes 40% capital grant (i.e. Rs.5,176 Cr) from the Government of India and the project is scheduled to be completed progressively by December, 2020. JHBDPL will cater to the energy requirements of five states, namely Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha and West Bengal.
• Barauni to Guwahati Pipeline: Pipeline from Barauni to Guwahati is being implemented as an integral part of JHBDPL project to connect North East Region (NER) with the National Gas Grid. The approx. length of the pipeline is 729 km, having capacity of 2 to 2.5 MMSCMD with an estimated project cost of Rs. 3308 crores. Completion of the project is scheduled by December 2021.
• North East Gas Grid: “Hydrocarbon Vision 2030 for North-East India” (Vision Document) released by MoP&NG on 09.2.2016 comprehensively examines the gaps in Natural Gas infrastructure and proposes Natural Gas pipeline grid in North-east region. Thus, a joint venture of five oil and gas CPSEs i.e. GAIL, IOCL, OIL, ONGC and NRL named as “Indradhanush Gas Grid Ltd” (IGGL) has been entrusted for the development of Natural Gas Pipeline Grid in North-East, i.e. North East Gas Grid (NEGG), in all North Eastern States i.e. Assam, Sikkim, Mizoram, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura, Nagaland and Meghalaya, in a phased manner at an estimated project cost of Rs. 9265 crore. Further, a CCEA Note seeking Capital Grant required as Viability Gap Funding (VGF) to Indradhanush Gas Grid Limited (IGGL) for setting up the North East Natural Gas Pipeline Grid (NEGG) is under consideration.
• Kochi-Koottanad- Bangalore-Mangalore (Ph-II) Pipeline Project (KKBMPL): The construction work to develop Kochi-Kottanad-Managlore-Bangalore pipeline (KKBMPL) and Ennore-Thiruvallur-Bengluru-Puducherry-Nagapatinam-Madurai-Tuticorin Pipeline (ETBPNMT) in the southern part of the country is in progress. Efforts are underway for development of these pipeline project and provide accessibility of natural gas sources (domestic and imported both) to southern cities by connecting KKMBPL and ETBPNMT projects with the existing gas grid.

PROMOTION OF LNG / CNG IN VEHICLES:

• As on October, 2019, about 55.17 lakh households are availing the benefit of domestic gas in the form of PNG for cooking purpose. Oil & Gas companies along with its Joint Venture/ subsidiary CGD companies have firmed up plans to expand the coverage of PNG network to achieve additional 1 Crore PNG households by 2024.
• The Government has given priority in allocation of domestic gas (the cheapest gas available in country) for supply to households in the form of Piped Natural Gas (PNG)(Domestic) and Transport segment in the form of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG)(Transport) across the country. City Gas Distribution (CGD) networks have been declared as a "Public utility" under Industrial Dispute Act (IDA) 1947.
• At present (October, 2019), 1838 CNG stations are making available CNG to meet the requirement of 34.54 Lakh CNG vehicles in the country.
• Government is meeting 100% gas requirement of PNG (Domestic) and CNG (Transport) segment of the City Gas Distribution (CGD) networks across the country. 

CITY GAS DISTRIBUTION (CGD) BIDDING:

• Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) formed under the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board Act, 2006, grants authorization for setting up of City Gas Distribution (CGD) network in the cities / geographical areas of the country through open bidding process.
• Supply of domestic PNG to households, setting up of CNG stations for vehicles, providing PNG to small industries and commercial establishments can be carried out only by the
  authorised entity.
• In 9th and 10th CGD Bidding Rounds, 86 and 50 Geographical Areas (GAs) have been authorized respectively. As per the commitment made by the various entities for the 50 GAs during 10thCGD Bidding Round, 2,02,92,760 domestic PNG (piped natural gas) connections and 3,578 CNG (compressed natural gas) stations for transport sector would be installed during a period of 8 years up to 31st March 2029, in addition to 58,177 inch-km of steel pipeline.
• After completion of 10th Round of CGD bidding, CGD would be available in 229 GAs comprising 407 districts spread over 27 States and Union Territories, covering approximately 70 percent of India’s population and 53 percent of its geographical area.

LIQUEFIED NATURAL GAS (LNG) REGASIFICATION:

• At present, the country is having 6 LNG terminals meeting regasification capacity of 39.2 Million Metric Tonne per Annum (MMTPA).
• These 6 terminals are located at Dahej (17.5 MMTPA), Hazira (5 MMTPA), Dabhol (1.7 MMTPA), Kochi (5 MMTPA), Mundra (5 MMTPA) and Ennore (5 MMTPA). Dabhol terminal capacity utilization will also be enhanced to 5 MMTPA with breakwater in coming years.

SWACHH BHARAT ABHIYAN:

• Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas received Swachh Bharat Award under Swachhata Action Plan Category in Swachh Mahotsav 2019, held on 06th September 2019. MoPNG has allocated a budget of Rs 342.50 crore for 2018 -19, but with the help of continuous monitoring through various meetings including apex level review meetings, MoPNG including Oil & Gas CPSEs, has achieved an expenditure figure of around Rs 473 crore, showing an achievement of around 138%.
• Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas (MoPNG), its attached offices, and Oil & Gas CPSEs, under the administrative control of MoPNG, celebrated Swachhta Pakhwada fortnight from 01st July 2019 to 15th July, 2019, with full zeal and enthusiasm. On 16th September 2019, Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas and Steel, Shri Dharmendra Pradhan distributed the Awards to all the winners of the Swachhta Pakhwada 2019, and also to the winners of Inter-refinery Swachhta Ranking 2018-19. As a result of this initiative led by MoPNG, there were more than 60,000 activities undertaken across India and more than 200,000 trees were planted. Various activities were organized as a part of Pakhwada 2019 such as Cleanliness Drives (8450), Awareness Campaigns (5844), Competitions for School Students / Communities (1750) and many more activities. This year, the Swachhta Pakhwada saw an unprecedented public participation of more than 25,00,000 people.
• A “Jan-Andolan” for Swachhata was launched on the theme of “Say No To Single Use Plastic” by the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas from 11th September to 27th October, 2019 to pay homage to Mahatma Gandhi on his 150th birth anniversary. With a collaborative effort, all the CPSEs and other organizations under MoPNG joined hands to make a cleaner and greener India. The valuable contributions made by the Ministry, its attached offices and Oil and Gas CPSEs have gone towards making “Swachhata Hi Seva-2019” Campaign a huge success, and a stepping stone to eradicate Single Use Plastic from every nook and corner of our great nation, thereby making Swachh Bharat a reality.

INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION/ IMPORTANT AGREEMENTS/ CONTRACTS:

• The 13th Edition of India’s flagship hydrocarbon Conference, PETROTECH-2019 was organised in February 2019 in New Delhi. This biennial International Conference presents the Indian hydrocarbon sector prevailing global oil and gas dynamics.
• On 22nd September 2019, Hon’ble PM hosted a roundtable for CEOs of US Energy sector in Houston. During the event, Tellurian and PLL signed an MOU wherein PLL and its affiliates intend to negotiate the purchase of up to 5 MMTPA of LNG from the proposed Driftwood LNG project.
• India co hosted AMER8 (Asian Ministerial Energy Roundtable 8) in Abu Dhabi in September 2019. India will host AMER9 in Indian in 2021.
• On 10th September 2019, Hon’ble PM and H.E. PM of Nepal, jointly inaugurated South Asia’s first cross-border petroleum products pipeline from Motihari in India to Amlekhgunj in Nepal through video conference.
• On 5th October 2019, Hon’ble PM and H.E. Sheikh Hasina, PM of Bangladesh jointly inaugurated the project to Import of Bulk LPG from Bangladesh through video-link.
• On 8-9 Oct 2019, Minister PNG jointly inauguration the completed infrastructure works funded by Mongolia for the Oil Refinery in Shainshand, Mongolia. The refinery project is funded by India under LOC.
• The 3rd meeting of ITT (International Think Tank) was held in New Delhi on 13th October 2019 to discuss the challenges and the way forward for the Indian oil and Gas sector for the future.
• The 3rd Edition of CERAWeek India Energy Forum event held in New Delhi from 14th – 15th October, 2019. During the event, Minister for Petroleum & Natural Gas met with CEOs of global oil and gas majors.
• An MoU signed between Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Limited (ISPRL) and Saudi Aramco for exploring opportunity to fill two caverns in Padur SPRs.
• An MoU was signed between MoPNG and Ministry of Energy of Russia on use of Natural Gas in transportation sector on 05th September 2019.
• A Joint Statement on Cooperation between India and Russia in Hydrocarbon Sector for 2019-2024 was issued in Vladivostok, Russia on 4th September 2019 after Hon’ble PM’s annual bilateral summit with H.E. Russian President. The Joint Statement provides a Roadmap to for India's private and public companies to explore the possibility of collaborating in LNG projects, including in the Arctic.

ETHANOL BLENDED PETROL (EBP) PROGRAMM:

• Ethanol Supply Year (ESY) 2018-19, 188.57 crore litre of Ethanol has been procured by OMCs for blending purpose. For ESY 2019-20, the Government has fixed an enhanced remunerative price for ethanol procurement, based on raw material utilized viz. for C heavy Molasses at Rs. 43.75/- per litre, for B heavy Molasses at Rs. 54.27 per litre, for sugarcane juice/ sugar/ sugar syrup at Rs. 59.48/- per litre and for Damaged Food grains at Rs. 47.63/- per litre.
• Sugar and sugar syrup have been allowed for the first time for ethanol production to support the industry in liquidating their excess stocks. Government has published a long-term ethanol procurement policy so that the industry can take a long-term view on fresh investments in this sector. The amended provisions of Industries (Development & Regulation) Act, giving control on production, movement and storage of ethanol to the Central Government, have now been implemented in 13 States.

BIO-DIESEL PROGRAMME:

• In order to encourage production of biodiesel from Used Cooking Oil (UCO), Oil Marketing Companies have floated Expression of Interest on 10.08.2019, for supply of biodiesel produced from UCO at 100 locations across the country.
• This has been extended to 200 locations on 10.10.2019. The ex-factory UCO based biodiesel price has been fixed for three years. The price for the first year has been fixed at Rs 51/litre, for the second year at Rs 52.7/litre and for the third year at Rs 54.5/litre. GST and transportation shall be payable in addition to this price. MoP&NG has issued Gazette Notification dated 30.4.2019 on the subject ‘Guidelines for sale of Bio-diesel for blending with High Speed Diesel for transportation purposes - 2019’.

2ND GENERATION ETHANOL:

• Subsequent to opening up of alternate route i.e. Second Generation (2G) route for ethanol production, Oil Marketing Companies are in the process of setting up 12 2G bio-refineries with an investment of Rs.14,000 crores. Five 2G bio-refinery projects in Bhatinda, Bargarh, Numaligarh, Panipat and Gorakhpur are in advanced stage of construction.
• In order to encourage setting up of second generation bio-fuels plants, Government has launched a scheme namely i.e. “Pradhan Mantri JI-VAN (Jaiv Indhan- Vatavaran Anukool fasal awashesh Nivaran) Yojana” for providing financial support to integrated bio-ethanol projects, using lignocellulosic biomass and other renewable feedstock. Under this scheme, proposals for assistance have come from IOCL (Panipat plant), BPCL (Bargarh), HPCL (Bhatinda), MRPL (Davangere), and NRL (Numaligarh) apart from IOC R&D for a Demonstration plant at Panipat.

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Year End Review -2019 of Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas

Mains Paper 3 : Economy
Prelims level : Not much
Mains level : Highlights of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas initiatives

Context

• The Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas is concerned with exploration and production of Oil & Natural Gas, refining, distribution and marketing, import, export and conservation of petroleum products.
• Oil and Gas being the important import for our economy, many initiatives have been taken by the Ministry for increasing production and exploitation of all domestic petroleum resources to address the priorities like Energy Access, Energy Efficiency, Energy Sustainability and Energy Security.

Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY):

• With the objective to provide clean cooking fuel to poor households, especially in rural areas ensuring universal coverage of LPG as cooking gas in the country, the Government launched Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) in May 2016, with an initial target of 5 crore.
• It was further revised to providing 8 crore connections to an adult woman of poor households by March, 2020, which has already been achieved on 7th September, 2019 i.e. 7 months ahead of the target.
• Implementation of this scheme enhanced economic productivity and quality of life of women, by removing drudgery associated with collection of wood. The free time, thus, available with them, can be utilized in multi spheres for improving their life standards.

PAHAL:

• The Government, as a measure of Good Governance, has introduced well targeted system of subsidy delivery to LPG consumers through PAHAL. The initiative of the Government was aimed at rationalizing subsidies, based on approach to cut subsidy leakages, but not subsidies themselves.
• PAHAL Scheme was launched on 15th November 2014, initially in 54 districts. It was subsequently extended to rest of the country from 01.01.2015 for providing the direct benefits transfer of LPG subsidy to the bank account of the LPG consumers.
• As on 13th December 2019, 25.84 crore LPG consumers have joined the PAHAL Scheme and Rs. 1,22,666.82 crore have directly been transferred to the bank accounts of LPG consumers.
• PAHAL Scheme has been designed to ensure that the benefit meant for the genuine domestic customer reaches them directly and is not diverted. The scheme has helped in identifying ‘ghost’ connections, multiple connections and inactive connections which in turn has resulted in curbing diversion of subsidized LPG to commercial purposes.

Reforms in Exploration and Licensing Policy:

• The Government notified ‘Reforms in Exploration and Licensing Policy, for enhancing domestic exploration and production of oil and gas’ on 28th February 2019, with the objective to intensify exploration activities, attract foreign and domestic investment and enhance domestic production. The salient features of Policy Reforms are as under:
• Shifting of focus from ‘revenue’ to ‘production maximisation’.
• No Revenue Sharing with Government in Category- II & III sedimentary basins.
• Boost to exploration activities by assigning greater weightage to exploration work programme.
• For unexplored areas in Category I basins, 70% weightage to Minimum Work Programme and 30% weightage to Revenue Sharing with a cap of 50% at Highest Revenue Sharing point (HRP); and
• For Category II and III sedimentary basins, 100% weightage for Minimum Work Programme.
• Shorter exploration period for early development.
• Fiscal concessions for early monetization and commercial production.
• Marketing and Pricing freedom for natural gas.
• The policy envisages bidding out of 66 small and marginal producing nomination fields operated by National Oil Companies (NOCs) to have collaboration with private E&P players for inducting new and innovative technology, infusing fresh investment and best management practices to enhance production of oil and gas by adopting Enhanced Oil Recovery/Improved Oil Recovery (EOR/IOR) methods.
• NIO for bidding out 66 fields has been issued by ONGC and OIL in the last week of June 2019.
• The MoU of ONGC and OIL were restructured with 50% weightage for physical production, Other physical parameters 30%, Financial performance parameters 20%.
• Redefining the Role of DGH by delegation of additional powers and functions to DGH to strengthen the compliance/regulatory, developmental and coordination role of DGH.
• Simplified and investor friendly Model Bid documents, including increasing of bidding cycle frequency from twice to thrice in a year.

Promoting Ease of Doing Business:

• Simplified contractual terms with emphasis on cutting down approvals of Government/DGH/Management Committee and expeditious grant of approvals.
• Setting up of Empowered Coordination Committee (ECC) under the chairmanship of Cabinet Secretary for expediting process of approvals.
• New Dispute Resolution Mechanism for amicable and speedy redressal of contractual dispute.
• Electronic Single Window mechanism based on IT workflow and processes for processing of approvals. Standard Operating procedures (SoPs) for grant of approvals under PSC have also been finalized.
• OPEN ACREAGE LICENSING POLICY (OALP) BIDDING ROUNDS: During the year 2019, 32 blocks covering approximately 59,000 sq.km area have been awarded under OALP bid Rounds II and III and 7 Blocks with an area of approximately 18500 sq.km have been awarded under OALP Bid Round-IV.
• PETROLEUM EXPLORATION LICENSES: Central Government has already granted Petroleum Exploration Licenses (PELs) for all the offshore blocks and also recommended to all the concerned State Governments to grant PELs for all on-land blocks allocated under Hydrocarbon Exploration and Licensing Policy (HELP) regime.
• NATIONAL SEISMIC PROGRAMME: As on 30.11.2019, surface coverage of 41,902 Line Kilo Meter (LKM), out of 48,143 LKM has been achieved under NSP.
• NATIONAL DATA REPOSITORY (NDR): The NDR was established by the Government to assimilate, preserve and upkeep the vast amount of data which could be organized and regulated for use in future exploration and development, besides use by R&D and other educational institutions. The operation of NDR was formally launched on 28th June, 2017 in DGH Office, Noida. Total data uploaded in NDR till 30 November, 2019 is 2.30 million line kilometres of 2D Seismic Data, 0.78 million square kilometres of 3D Seismic data and 17588 exploratory wells. The data availability in NDR will help investors to carve out blocks for submission of expression of interest under OALP.
• MONETIZATION OF NEW EXPLORATION LICENSING POLICY (NELP) DISCOVERIES: 42 (cumulative) NELP discoveries were monetized as on 31st October, 2019.
• REFINERY: Out of the 23 refineries operating in the country, 18 are in public sector, 3 are in private sector and 2 as a joint venture, with a total refining capacity of 249.366 MMTPA. Out of the refining capacity of 249.366MMT, 142.066 MMT is in the public sector, 19.10 MMT in joint venture and the balance 88.20 MMT is in the private sector. The country is not only self-sufficient in the refining capacity for its domestic consumption, but also exports a sufficient quantity of petroleum products.

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U.S. support to Israeli occupation (Indian Express)

Mains Paper 2 : International Relations
Prelims level : US foreign policy
Mains level : Implications on U.S. support to Israeli occupation

Context

• The U.S. administration recently declared that the Israeli settlements on the West Bank are not illegal.

What does this indicate?

• The decision is in line with President Donald Trump’s Israel policy, which has unconditionally favoured the Jewish nation.
• In December 2017, Mr. Trump announced that the U.S. would recognise Jerusalem, a disputed city, as Israel’s capital.
• This ignored the international consensus that the status of Jerusalem should be settled as part of a peace agreement.
• In March 2019, the US administration recognised the Golan Heights.
• Golan Heights was seized from Syria in the 1967 war by Israel which has occupied it ever since, as part of Israel.

What are the implications of the decision?

• The UN General Assembly, the Security Council and the International Court of Justice have all stated that the Israeli settlements on the West Bank are illegal.
• The UN Security Council has asked Israel to stall the settlement activities, but Israel has hardly paid any attention to international opinion.
• Israel’s defiance of international opinion on West Bank settlements is now finding U.S. support.
• The Trump administration’s declaration challenges international laws and consensus on the issue.

Way forward

• With its recognition of the Jewish settlements, US has strengthened Israel’s religious right, which wants the settlements to be annexed.
• It also complicates the already-stalled peace process between the Israelis and the Palestinians.
• If Israel goes ahead with annexation of the settlements, that will nearly put an end to the process towards the two-state solution.

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Shadow bank is too indebted to fail (The Hindu)

Mains Paper 3 : Economy
Prelims level : DHFL’s insolvency resolution
Mains level : Mechanism required to address ILandFS

Context

• India finds itself struggling to plug a hole in its shadow banking industry that gorged on lending to a real estate sector where buyers have turned tail.

Failure of financial corporations:

• The Reserve Bank of India is expected to refer Dewan Housing Finance Corp. Ltd (DHFL) for insolvency proceedings that have been hastily tailored for financial companies.
• India’s bankruptcy mechanism is missing vital components that it had agreed to put in place after the global financial crisis.
• The government last year withdrew the Financial Resolution and Deposit Insurance Bill from Parliament after an outcry over a clause that would have let depositors’ money get converted into equity in the event of a bank or credit company turning insolvent.
• The bill’s timing was unfortunate; it was tabled in the middle of a bad loan clean-up of state-owned banks, and fears of pensioners losing their life savings were easy to whip up.
• Adequate deposit insurance was the solution, and the Centre has finally gotten around to it, now that the collapse of Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative Bank has caused so much distress.

Question around DHFL’s insolvency resolution

• We have a system that can preserve value for creditors who have lent the company ₹84,000 crore.
• India may not have the legislative apparatus in place, but it knows what needs to be done with collapsing financial institutions.
• The Group of 20 financial stability recommendations were based on the premise that the market, not the state, must address stress in the system.
• We may not yet have an overarching body like the US Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., which can identify and resolve financial stress expeditiously, but its toolkit is divided among India’s central bank and other financial sector regulators.

Validity of legal framework

• As for the legal framework, such cases can now be referred to the National Company Law Tribunal for resolution.
• The courts could also back the claims of underinsured depositors. Earlier this month, India’s top court upheld the standard hierarchy of claims (with secured lenders first in line) in bankruptcy proceedings, another issue that had held up the resolution of such firms.

Significant challenges for DHFL

• Its loan book looks largely healthy, especially its mortgage lending section. Buyers have shown interest in these assets and the insolvency process is expected to draw more.
• Bondholders and banks have their credit secured by underlying assets, although charges of fund diversion could diminish recovery.
• KPMG, the audit firm appointed by creditors, has flagged fraudulent transactions that could add up to about half the exposure banks have to DHFL.
• If these charges are substantiated, banks may have to write off their loans to the beleaguered mortgage lender, and it would complicate any resolution plan involving a swap of debt for equity.

Way forward

• DHFL is being investigated by the Enforcement Directorate on charges that, if upheld, could result in the attachment of its assets.
• This would make it tougher for resolution professionals to find buyers for DHFL’s healthy loan portfolio.
• If its insolvency resolution does run aground, India would have no option but to subject its shadow banking industry to the same mechanism until it can put a more robust process in place.
• Credit rating agency Moody’s Investors Service has flagged stress among non-banking financial companies as a key risk to India’s growth outlook.

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Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (Indian Express)

Mains Paper 2 : Economy
Prelims level : Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship
Mains level : Highlights of the work done under Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship

Context:

• The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship is responsible for co-ordination of all skill development efforts across the country, removal of disconnect between demand and supply of skilled manpower, building the vocational and technical training framework, skill up-gradation, building of new skills, and innovative thinking not only for existing jobs but also jobs that are to be created.
• The Ministry aims to Skill on a large Scale with Speed and high Standards in order to achieve its vision of a 'Skilled India'.
• The Ministry has strived towards this vision, by putting special emphasis in 2019 on Convergence, Increased Scale, Meeting Aspiration and Improved Quality. This has led to enhanced skilling opportunities and trained workforce in the country, and also inculcation and support to the entrepreneurial spirit among the people.

The initiatives of the Ministry are as follows:

Convergence:

• National Skill Development Mission (NSDM): Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship (MSDE) formed in 2014 to give a fillip and focus to the skill development and entrepreneurship efforts in the country. Because of the efforts under NSDM, more than One Crore youth are being imparted skills training annually under various programs of the Central Government.
• Skill India Portal: A strong IT Platform, namely Skill India portal launched to converge the skilling data of various Central Ministries, State Governments, Private Training Providers and Corporates on a single platform. This will now enable data driven decision making by the policymakers and help remove information asymmetry in the skilling ecosystem. This will also be single touch point for the citizens of India to access skilling opportunities and seeking related services.

Increased Scale:

• Industrial Training Centres (ITIs): Expanded and modernized the existing Long-Term Training eco-system in India. The total number of Industrial Training Centres (ITIs) increased by 12% from 11964 in 2014 to 14939 in 2018-19. The trainee enrolment has increased by 37% from 16.90 Lakh to 23.08 Lakh during the period.
• Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY): Launched the Flagship Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (1.0 & 2.0) in 2015 to provide free skill training avenues to youths of India. Under the program about 87 Lakhs youth have been trained till date. Under the placement linked program under PMKVY 2016-19, more than 54% have been linked to employment.
• Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Kendra (PMKK): Out of the 812 allocated PMKKs, 681 centres had been established and target to train over 18 Lakh candidates under PMKVY scheme was allotted out of which training has been imparted to 9,89,936 candidates, 8,85,822 Assessed, 7,40,146 certified and 4,35,022 candidates have been placed successfully. 501 centres had been inaugurated by Hon’ble Members of Parliament for the respective parliamentary constituency and/or other representatives for their respective constituency.
• Recognition of Prior Learning: There is the deepening of the Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL). RPL program, under PMKVY 2016-19, was launched to recognize the prior skills acquired by Individuals. Till date, more than 26 lakh people have been oriented under the RPL program of Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY). Under the Best in Class Employer category of RPL, more than 11 lakh employees have been oriented into formal skilling with the assistance of companies.
• RPL in Supreme Court: Under Recognition of Prior Learning Program (RPL) Training in Supreme Court, TATA Strive and Maruti Suzuki have completed training one batch of cooks and drivers respectively of Supreme Court. Training was spread over two days in which safety aspects, personal grooming, soft skills and few technical aspects were covered.
• MoU with India Post Payments Bank: BFSI (Banking, Financial Services & Insurance) Sector Skill Council under MSDE has entered into a MoU with India Post Payments Bank to certify 1,70,000 Grameen Dak Sewaks under RPL Best in Class Employers. As on date, a total of 9,046 candidates have been certified under the same.
• Centre Accreditation: Significant creation of Short-term standardized skilling capacity through Centre Accreditation and Affiliation portal – SMART. 11,977 Centres have been accredited and affiliated till date which has an annual Training capacity of about 50 Lakh/Annum.
• Skill Development in Jammu & Kashmir: A meeting held between officials of MSDE, Govt. of J&K, and State Skill Development Mission (JKSSDM) to discuss ways to ensure 100% coverage of all the eligible beneficiaries from J&K and the steps to be undertaken thereby for this. Officials from various Organisations including NSDC, DJSS and various Sector Skill Councils (SSCs) were also present in the meeting. To promote long term skilling, NSTI Jammu has been made operational. Trainers are being trained to impart NSQF LEVEL-6 training.
• Skill Development in Leh: For better outreach of the skill training to all parts of the country, a NSTI extension centre was opened in Leh. Ministry is taking all possible steps to create a precision trained workforce in the nation.
• SANKALP: A regional workshop on SANKALP was held in Kohima, Nagaland on 3rd–4th September, 2019. Six States namely Nagaland, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Jharkhand, Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim participated in the workshop. Workshops with District Officials and trainers were also held alongside the regional workshop. Apart from it, a workshop was also held in Delhi and Maharashtra under SANKALP. Further, a delegation visit to Seoul, Korea was undertaken which was organized by the World Bank and video conferences were held with States/ UTs for reviewing the status of State Incentive Grant (SIG) baseline and submission of State proposal under SANKALP.
• STRIVE: The main focus of the scheme is to improve the performance of ITIs. Under phase one, 314 ITIs have been selected & 198 Performance Based Grant Agreements have been signed. The scheme also works towards increasing Capacities of State Governments to Support ITIs and Apprenticeship training. Till date, 31 States have signed MoU i.e. Performance Based Funding Agreement (PBFA). To improve Teaching and Learning techniques, NSQF Trainings are being imparted to training officers, Principals and Instructors across the 36 States and UTs for NSQF.
• International Collaboration: Minister of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship met officials from counterparts working in skill development across countries like Singapore, UAE, Japan, Canada, Australia to further build capacity for skilled workforce in the country, jointly work on transnational standards and bridging demand for skilled workforce in these countries by collaborating with them and supplying them with trained professionals.
• PM-YUVA Yojana (Pradhan Mantri Yuva Udyamita Vikas Abhiyan) is implementing a pilot project in 300 institutes (200 Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs)/National Skill Training Institutes (NSTIs), 50 Polytechnics, 25 PMKKs/ PMKVY and 25 Jan Shikshan Sansthan (JSS)), across 12 States and Union Territories (Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Telangana, Kerala, West Bengal, Bihar, Assam, Meghalaya, Uttarakhand, Maharashtra).
• The project aims to promote entrepreneurship as an alternative career choice and enable sustained long-term mentoring support through the journey to potential and early stage entrepreneurs, by imparting entrepreneurship education and mentoring support to trainees/ beneficiaries from skilling ecosystem. The pilot project is expected to reach out to around 70,000 youth through entrepreneurship awareness and education sessions. The project is likely to create 600 new and 1000 scale-up enterprises by March, 2020. The approved budget for the pilot project is Rs 12 crores.
• Collaboration with Reliance Jio: To strengthen the industry connect, DGT and MSDE have collaborated with Reliance Jio to set up training labs at 6 NSTIs for their home connect division. A job mela was organised at 6 locations. i.e. NSTI Chennai, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Hyderabad & Kolkata along with Govt, ITI Pusa New Delhi. 4OO candidates have been selected for this training.
• MoU with Cisco, Quest Alliance & Accenture: Employability skill Labs at 6 NSTIs have been set up under this partnership with the Directorate General of Training (DGT) of the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) and Cisco, Quest Alliance & Accenture. Youth across India enrolled in industrial training institutes(ITIs) will be trained in digital literacy, career readiness, employability skills, and advanced technology skills such as data analytics.

Meeting Aspirations:

• Kaushalyacharya Awards: To recognize and appreciate the good works done by trainers, Kaushalacharya Awards 2019 ceremony was organized on 5th Sept 2019 to felicitate 53 trainers from different sectors for their exceptional contribution towards creating a future-ready and skilled workforce.
• National Entrepreneurship Awards 2019: MSDE conferred NEA 2019 to 30 Young Entrepreneurs and 6 Organizations / Individuals, building Entrepreneurship eco-system in the country. The awards were presented to honor outstanding contributions in entrepreneurship development. The award included a trophy, a certificate and prize money up to Rs 10 lakhs. This is in line with promoting entrepreneurship amongst the youth so as to create more job givers than job seekers in the nation.
• Skill Saathi Counseling Program: MSDE also launched the Skill Saathi program which was aimed to sensitize the youth of the country on various avenues under Skill India Mission and increase the aspiration for skill development. Close to 40 lakh students were counselled under the program.
• Policy action to offer vocational courses: Under this, the MSDE initiated a drive to create a policy action on offering vocational courses in schools and equal weightage to vocational courses for admission in UG courses. The Draft Credit Framework for vertical and horizontal mobility from vocational to general and vice-versa has been developed. The framework is under finalization in consultation with Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD).
• 500 skills hubs in government schools: MSDE has also finalized a plan for setting up 500 skill hubs and labs in government schools. Working closely with CBSE to develop “Hubs of Excellence in Skills” for school students, MSDE will introduce high quality, technology-oriented skill programs to schools. Skill India currently engages with 9100+ schools and has integrated skills from 20 sectors. So far 7.5 lakh students have benefited from it. These initiatives are being planned in conjunction with States.
• Embedded apprenticeship degree program: MSDE and MHRD have together rolled out the SHREYAS program where apprenticeship degree programs in retail, media and logistics are embedded into degree programs such as BA/BSc/BCom (Professional) courses in the higher educational institutions. So far, the program has been included in 25 colleges with 643 students enrolled.
• Catalyzing demand for formal skills by promoting Apprenticeship through Apprenticeship Pakhwada: MSDE held an Apprenticeship Pakhwada which was celebrated across the nation where industries and State Governments committed close to training of 7 lakh apprentices in this current fiscal year, which if converted will almost double the number of apprentices trained over the last amendment made to the Apprenticeship Act of 1961. MSDE is also promoting Third Party Aggregators (TPAs) who will be key catalysts for promoting apprenticeship training which is one of the most sustainable form of skill development.
• India Institute of Skills (IIS): In order to bring a certain standard and stature in terms of quality and quantity to skills, MSDE recently announced setting up of the Indian Institute of Skills (IIS) in Mumbai which would be to the stature and repute of IIMs and IITs of the country. This project is in partnership with the Tata Group, with over 4.5 acres of land provided by the Government. The Tata Group will invest around Rs. 300 crores and on completion, IIS will have a capacity of training 5,000 trainees every year.
• MoU with SBI: MSDE has also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with SBI for engagement of 5000 apprentices as banking front office executive and tele-callers in the current financial year 2019-20, as part of an initiative to launch partnerships for promotion of apprenticeship in the financial sector.
• Skill Vouchers: MSDE is also developing a skill vouchers program for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME), as a provision model to enhance the delivery and quality of the programs. Vouchers are expected to be provided to learners and entrepreneurs towards the training program they see most value in.
• WorldSkills International Kazan 2019: The 22 winners of IndiaSkills 2018 and their experts had represented the country with their outstanding performance at the WorldSkills International 2019 (WSK), held in Kazan, Russia. India won one gold, one silver, two bronze and 15 Medallions of Excellence at the biggest competition for skills. India ranked 13th among 63 countries that participated at WorldSkills International 2019, marking it to be the best finish for the country in the coveted skill championship. They were felicitated with certificates and cash prizes for their remarkable performance.

Improved Quality:

• Reforms to Apprenticeship Act of 1961: The ministry introduced a wide range of reforms to the Apprenticeship Act of 1961, to make it significantly easier for industry to take on much needed apprentices. The comprehensive reforms under Apprenticeship rules 1962 include:
• Increasing upper limit for engaging apprentices from 10% to 15%;
• Decreasing the size limit of an establishment with mandatory obligation to engage apprentices from 40 to 30;
• Payment of stipend for 1st year has been fixed rather than linking it to minimum wages;
• 10% to 15% hike in stipend for 2nd and 3rd year to apprentice;
• Duration of apprenticeship training for optional trade can be from 6 months to 36 months.
• Dual System of Training: The MSDE is also scaling up the ITIs Dual System Training (DST) scheme to at least 1000 ITIs. The DST is a model of training inspired by the German method and provides industry exposure through industry led trainings to students of the various ITIs. In the first 100 days, 40 National Skill Training Institutes (NSTIs) have signed partnership agreements and as many as 739 MoUs have been signed. The duration of the practical training portion of the course has also been made flexible and adaptive to the industry schedule. All the 138 plus courses under CTS have been brought under the ambit of DST, as against only 17 courses earlier. ITIs are exclusively permitted to conduct training under DST with deemed affiliation in the 3rd shift.
• New Age Skills: In a bid to keep up with the times, MSDE has also launched new age courses in 12 NSTIs. These include Internet of Things – Smart Healthcare; Internet of Things – Smart cities; 3D printing; Drone pilots; Solar Technicians and Geo Informatics among many others.
• Formation of District Skill Committees: In order to get to the grass roots of the country with its various reforms and empower every citizen, the ministry has formed District Skill Committees (DSC) in all Districts as part of its Aspirational Skilling Abhiyaan under the Sankalp program, which is funded by World Bank. The MSDE is handholding these District Skill Committees through the Directorate General of Training (DGT) to further identify skill gap at a local level and then strengthen the ecosystem for local market driven skill development opportunities.
• Mahatma Gandhi National Fellowship (MNGF): MSDE has also constituted the Mahatma Gandhi National Fellowship (MNGF) for 75 districts across 6 states. Under these 75 young professionals shall be selected and will be deputed in identified 75 districts for supporting the district officials in district level planning, monitoring of activities related to skilling' management of data/information, coordination among different stakeholders in districts' assistance to District Skill Development Committee.
• Indian Skill Development Services (ISDS): To ensure that the skilling of the country’s youth gets the importance that it deserves, the government has carved out an altogether new administrative service much like the Indian Revenue Service or the Post and Telegraph Service. The Indian Skill Development Services (ISDS) has been created through a notification by the MSDE. This service has been created for the Training Directorate of the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship. ISDS will be a Group ‘A’ service where induction will take place through Indian Engineering Service Examination, conducted by UPSC. The fresh batch of the newest central government services, the Indian Skill Development Services commenced their training program at the Administrative Training Institute (ATI), Mysuru on September 9, 2019. The Indian Skill Development Service (ISDS) has 263 All India posts. The cadre comprises of 3 posts at Senior Administrative Grade, 28 posts at Junior Administrative Grade, 120 posts at Senior Time Scale and 112 posts at Junior Time Scale.
• Community mentors called Business Sakhis: Based on the learnings from various schemes and programmes introduced for women’s entrepreneurship promotion, in 2018, NIESBUD in association with UNDP, NIRDPR and TISS jointly developed a new concept and system that is providing mentorship support services of both psycho-social and business supports through a cadre of community mentors called Business Sakhis (Biz-Sakhis).The curriculum was released on 9th Nov.2019 on the occasion of NEA ceremony. These mentors will provide backward (with financial institutions for example) and forward (with more lucrative business ideas and market) linkages. Moreover, the mentor will provide the aspiring entrepreneur with the much-needed psychological support that a woman will need to face all the obstacles that prevent her from starting or sustaining her own business. They act as community-based business consultants for enterprise development.
• Train the trainer programme: The curriculum for Five days TOT programmes for the faculty of ITI was developed and the Trainers Training programmes on employability, entrepreneurship and life skills are designed and organized for 4068 trainers of PMKVY at pan-India Level. The institute has organized the Entrepreneurship Development programmes for the most-needy skilled unemployed youth from OBC/SC/ST/Manual Scavengers and women.
• Launch of an MIS portal for Jan Shikshan Sansthan: An MIS portal was launched for Jan Shikshan Sansthans (JSS). The benefits from the adoption and implementation of the solution have been enhanced monitoring & management capabilities, along with scaling up scheme operation. The ministry now plans create a JSS setup in every district in the country.
• eSkill India platform: In a technology driven environment, e-learning is pivotal in deepening the reach of skilling opportunities for the Indian youth. NSDC created an e-Skill India, a multilingual e-learning aggregator portal, providing e-skilling opportunities to the Indian youth. eSkill India leverages the skilling opportunities from Indian and global leaders in online learning, by consolidating online courses curated by leading knowledge organizations that share NSDC’s commitment of making India a Skill Capital of the World. eSkill India provides anytime, anywhere skilling —beyond the boundaries of location and time. Today, eSkill India has onboarded organizations such as TCS, BetterU, IBM, SAS, BSE, Apollo Medvarsity, Enguru, Amrita Technologies, iPrimed, Wadhwani Foundation, English Edge, Fair and Lovely, AIFMB, etc. offering high-quality courses in diverse sectors such as Agriculture, Healthcare, Telecom, Employability, Management, Retail, Pharma, Banking and Finance, Data Science, Artificial Intelligence, etc. which enable a one stop shop to the skill seekers via a single learning platform. The courses are available in English, Hindi and 9 regional languages. The learners are guided through self-paced interactive videos and quizzes.

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Pegasus snoopgate (Indian Express)

Mains Paper 3: Science and Tech
Prelims level: Pegasus spyware
Mains level: Provisions required in IT Act to address the spyware problem

Context:

• On November 29, in the Rajya Sabha, the Minister of Electronics and Information Technology was repeatedly asked whether any Indian agency had commissioned the attack vector ‘‘Pegasus” that was used in the attacks from the Israeli firm NSO.
• Where a categorical response would have sufficed, the minister chose to muddy the waters through vague assertions such as “standard operating procedures have been followed”.

Background:

• There are cogent reasons pointing towards an Indian law enforcement agency’s hand in procuring Pegasus.
• NSO maintains that it only sells services and software to state agencies.
• Some of the known Indian targets of the vulnerability are human rights activists. These individuals work on India-specific issues and hardly qualify as serious threats in the eyes of a foreign government.

SEC 69 of IT Act:

• The government derives some of its powers to conduct electronic surveillance from Section 69 of the Information Technology (IT) Act.
• The procedures for such surveillance are defined in the IT (Procedure and Safeguards for Interception, Monitoring and Decryption of Information) Rules, 2009.
• It is these rules, and not the parent Act that define the terms “interception” and “monitoring” as “acquisition of the contents of any information through the use of any means” and “to view or to inspect or listen to or record information”, respectively.
• These all-encompassing definitions seemingly permit authorised law enforcement agencies to use Pegasus-like tools.

Provisions for penalizes:

• The IT Act also penalises unauthorised access to computers without the owner’s permission.
• These provisions, namely section 43 and 66, do not carve out an exception for law enforcement agencies.
• As lawyer Raman Chima highlighted recently, any action explicitly prohibited under the Act cannot be justified by procedures laid out in subordinate legislation.
• Therefore, no law enforcement agency can “hack” devices, though they may “intercept” or “monitor” through other means.
• Additionally, the Supreme Court’s privacy verdict held any invasion of privacy by the state must be based on a law.
• As some of the agencies authorised to conduct surveillance (like the Intelligence Bureau) do not have statutory backing, surveillance by them is unconstitutional.

Victim of Spyware:

• The use of spyware gives the state access to private conversations, including privileged communications with lawyers.
• Such an infringement of rights may be justified for militants suspected of actively planning an armed attack.
• For academicians and human rights activists, the use of broad surveillance without any evidence or anticipation of such activities is unfathomable in a democracy.
• With the popularity of end-to-end encryption, surveillance may require the exploitation of vulnerabilities on end-users’ devices.

Way ahead:

• The Pegasus snoopgate is an opportune moment to revisit the legal framework governing the state surveillance framework.
• It is crucial to dismantle state agencies that run surveillance operations despite lacking statutory authority.
• For other agencies, there is a need to introduce judicial and parliamentary oversight. Depending on the concerns of law enforcement, it may be necessary to enact legislation permitting “hacking” into devices on extremely limited grounds.

Conclusion:

• The government has taken a massive leap backwards by ignoring the standards laid down by the Supreme Court and Justice Srikrishna Committee’s recommendations, and introducing unconstitutional surveillance enablers in the Data Protection Bill.
• Now is the time for Parliament to guarantee the privacy and security of Indians.

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Return to the homeland (The Hindu)

Mains Paper 2: International Relations
Prelims level: Not Much
Mains level: Challenges ahead to address Sri Lankan refugee crisis

Context:

• The Citizenship Amendment Act of 2019 ask why Tamil refugees from Sri Lanka will not be given citizenship under the new law.
• The government’s response to this has not been convincing.
• Both critics and the government seem to have glossed over the long history of voluntary repatriation.

Influx of refugees

• Tamil Nadu began witnessing an influx of refugees from August 1983 following Black July in Sri Lanka, the Indian government has maintained that these refugees should go back on their own.
• India has been following the principle of non-refoulement and favouring voluntary repatriation.
• In October 1983, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi publicly asserted that the country “cannot and will not take millions of Tamil refugees from Sri Lanka”.
• While making this observation, perhaps she had in mind the problems posed by the migration of refugees from Bangladesh (East Pakistan) to India in the early 1970s.
• India received thousands of refugees from Sri Lanka over the years. At one point, Tamil Nadu had 2 lakh refugees.
• Between 1983 and 2013, around 3.04 lakh persons came to the State.
• At the moment, there are 59,714 refugees living in 107 camps and 34,355 persons outside the camps. Since the end of the civil war in May 2009, nearly 14,000 refugees have returned home.

Nature of repatriation

• In the early 1990s, especially after the assassination of Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in May 1991, a controversy erupted over reports of sections of refugees being sent back “forcibly”.
• Consequently, the Indian government and Prime Minister Rao agreed to allow representatives of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to screen refugees to ascertain the voluntary nature of the repatriation. Broadly, there has been no change in this position.
• The UNHCR is also involved in counselling the refugees, helping them obtain necessary documents, paying for their international travel and providing reintegration grants and post-return support.
• The Indian government has been taking steps in its own way to facilitate voluntary repatriation.
• While visa fee is waived and overstay penalty is granted to non-camp refugees on a case-to-case basis, camp refugees are given this benefit as a matter of routine.

The Indo-Sri Lankan Accord

• There is one more reason why the refugees could not have been included in the scope of the Act.
• The 1987 Indo-Sri Lankan Accord talks of repatriation, though much water has flown under the bridge since then.
• The 2011 report of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission, set up by the Mahinda Rajapaksa regime in May 2010, not only called for voluntary repatriation but also stressed the need for creating a conducive environment for the refugees to return to and for initiating a formal bilateral consultation process. 

Conclusion:

• India should resume negotiations with Sri Lanka to give a push to the process of voluntary repatriation.
• But first Colombo should create conditions that will ensure the safety and security of the refugees returning to their homeland.

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New rules, old problems (The Hindu)

Mains Paper 2: Polity
Prelims level: Factories Act
Mains level: Social Justice

Context:

• On November 20, the Karnataka government issued a notification allowing women to work night shifts (7 p.m. to 6 a.m.) in all factories registered under the Factories Act, 1948.

Provisions of this act:

• States that already allow this are Haryana, Rajasthan, Punjab, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Maharashtra.
• In line with the Night Work Convention, 1990 of the International Labour Organization, these States amended the Factories Act to remove both sex-based discrimination in night work and restrictions on the fundamental right to practise any profession, occupation, trade, or business of one’s choice.
• This move has to be read alongside the State’s attempt to improve ease of doing business, investor friendliness, and flexibility in a macroeconomic climate vis-a-vis increasing female work participation rate, which is only 25% in India.
• The industrial bodies and chambers of commerce have said it will benefit the trade and manufacturing sectors, especially the garment industry.

Many concerns

• The amendment suggests that night shifts for women will only be allowed if the employer ensures adequate safeguards concerning occupational safety and health, protection of dignity and honour, and transportation from the factory premises to points nearest to the worker’s residence.
• The amendment stipulates 24 points related to occupational rules and regulations, most of which have been in existence for years.
• The women workers fear that when there is no safety or dignity in the workplace even during daytime, how will employers ensure all this during night shifts?
• Workers remain pessimistic as they are still not given the promised minimum wage.
• They are puzzled that the night shift amendment does not address the issue of pay structure for night work (overtime in the garment sector is only an extension of regular work time with questions on extra payment rarely entertained).

Limitations:

• Though the amendment places the onus on employers to prevent sexual harassment, workers say existing mechanisms aimed at addressing workplace violence, including abuse of workers’ rights and verbal abuse, which are primarily driven by unrealistic production targets, are simply absent or dysfunctional.
• Workers also express scepticism about strengthening the role of inspectors in factories, as past experience shows improperly conducted inspections or negligence towards grave violations. The reality is that workers face the threat of losing their jobs if they report such violations.
• Also, while the amendment has prioritised installation of CCTV cameras, workers point out that there is no guarantee of their operational status, or clarity on who handles the footage.
• The amendment has also failed to address child care, an important concern in a women-dominated sector, especially when paid care is beyond their means.
• Other promises such as 12 consecutive hours of rest between the last shift and the night shift, separate canteens, and more rest rooms also appear unconvincing in a context where even rest room breaks are infrequent due to high production targets.

Conclusion:

• Moreover, it is well-known that in supply chains the brands call the shots. Involving them in discussions on worker dignity and equality is important.
• Omitting workers and trade unions from discussions about the amendment is also seen by the workers as a short-sighted measure.
• Women garment workers are concerned that while the amendment has stipulated many ‘new’ guidelines amidst the plethora of unaddressed concerns, allowing night shifts would only extend daytime exploitation.

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History, technology and the shackles of the present (The Hindu)

Mains Paper 3: Economy
Prelims level: Electric vehicles
Mains level: Promotion of Electric vehicle in transport sector

Context:

• The Narendra Modi government’s ambitious push for electric vehicles (EVs) should ring a bell. After many decades, India is witnessing once again the unseemly fraternisation of high technology and authoritarian governance.
• On the one hand, the government has championed EV, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and packaged sundry technologies into neat acronyms.
• On the other, it has clipped Internet access to towns and villages when confronted with non-violent protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019.

Background:

• In 1976, as India sank deep into the recesses of the Emergency, a group of bureaucrats and scientists sat down to ponder the future of technology in the country.
• The irony of analysing technologies that would unshackle the Indian economy, when basic rights of its citizenry were suppressed, was lost on the establishment.
• In fact, while the Indira Gandhi government built a surveillance state, Silicon Valley saw the birth of “public key cryptography”, used in modern-day encryption.
• India, it seemed, had regressed into the darkest chapter of its political history, just as the world began to use technology to preserve human rights.

Batting for electric vehicles:

• This dissonance did not seem to bother the high-profile group that had been brought together by the National Committee on Science and Technology (NCST).
• Its mandate: “study the outlook for India in 2000 A.D.
• The group, set up in 1973, took seven years to submit their report, publishing an interim document during the Emergency.
• The Indian government’s commissioning a “futures study” was in step with the times. “Futurology” — the use of computer models for forecasting scenarios — became fashionable after the Club of Rome, a group of economists and planners, published its famous “Limits to Growth” report in 1972.
• The report painted a doomsday scenario of acute food and water scarcity in 2000. Unsurprisingly, this period also witnessed the “new wave” of science fiction, set in dystopic lands and featuring post-apocalyptic visions.
• Another kind of dystopia was unfolding in India’s present — while the civil liberties of Indians were cast aside, the government was busy discussing EVs and self-driving cars.
• The Committee on Futurology, as it was known, analysed long-term projections for many sectors, including transportation.
• This sector’s problems were two-fold. To begin with, there were just not enough vehicles for the larger public in India.
• Three decades after Independence, India had only 1,00,000 buses on its roads. (In other words, there was one bus for every 6,500 Indians).
• However, the number of cars and jeeps totalled nearly 750,000. In a still-impoverished country, the wealthy and powerful elite enjoyed vastly better mobility than the majority of the population.

The shadow of the oil crisis:

• The NCST deliberated in the shadow of the oil crisis of 1973, brought on by a crude embargo imposed by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
• Faced with the problem of scarcity and costs, the committee argued India was better served in the long run by developing renewable alternatives to petrol.
• Almost concurrently, western laboratories had begun exploring the development of lithium-ion batteries, critical to EVs.
• The NCST appears to have been mindful of such efforts: “it is imperative that some concentrated R&D is performed in the area of high energy-high power batteries”, it declared.
• The Committee even predicted EVs and self-driving cars - “adaptive, automobile autopilots”, as the report termed it — would be commercially available from the early 1980s.

Much politicking:

• Several autocratic regimes have tread down the same path, using technology as a totem to rally disaffected populations.
• But while the NCST made grand claims about the future, the government was actually clamping down on technology in the present.
• Indira Gandhi’s government, under pressure from labour unions, viewed computers with suspicion, and discouraged PSUs from adopting them.
• The Futurology Committee’s view too was jaundiced by the Emergency.
• Not all technologies were “neutral” and useful to society, the committee declared, citing the TV as an example.
• Meanwhile, Doordarshan had become an instrument of state propaganda.
• Faced with a financial crunch, the government also championed “appropriate technologies” that were small-scale — solar cookers and mechanised bullock carts — but did little to boost productivity.
• The left hand did not know what the right was doing: some sections of the government were trumpeting the arrival of self-driving cars, while others told the public to be wary of computers.

Way forward:

• As C.R. Subramanian has noted, the import of computers tripled during the Emergency.
• The number of automobiles plying on Indian roads in the 1980s increased by a staggering 400% over the previous decade.
• The seeding of doubt against big technology by the government in the minds of citizens did little to improve prospects for scientific breakthroughs.
• If only Indians had the political agency to form their own views of technology, India may well have had a shot at developing EVs.
• One cannot aspire to a ‘Digital India’ if technologies are wantonly used for mass surveillance, or cut off altogether when faced with non-violent, democratic protests.

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Key steps to kick-starting the economy (The Hindu)

Mains Paper 3: Economy
Prelims level: Structural and Cyclical slowdown
Mains level: India’s economic growth and development process

Context:

• From the level of 8.1% in the fourth quarter of 2017-18, quarterly GDP growth fell to 4.5% in the second quarter of 2019-20, a fall of 3.6 percentage points.
• This steady decline must have had an adverse impact on employment and poverty reduction.

Structural or cyclical:

• Analysts debate whether the slowdown is structural or cyclical.
• If it is cyclical, the expectation is that there is a chance for upturn soon.
• If it is purely structural, it will take time until the structural rigidities are removed.
• The slowdown is cyclical if it results from a weakening of demand. There is plenty of evidence on this as far as the current situation is considered.
• Several important sectors such as automobiles, consumer durables and housing (on which data are available with high frequency) do show a slackening of demand. This is also reflected in the low capacity utilisation of several industries.
• On the structural side while the reform agenda has been carried forward, there are segments such as agricultural marketing, land and labour markets which are still waiting for reforms.
• One sector which needs immediate reforms is the financial system — more particularly the banking system and within it the public sector segment.
• Even as the policy makers address the problem of non-performing assets, attention has to be paid to defining the relationship between governments and boards of public sector banks and on their respective roles in management.
• One significant factor in the current scene is the steep fall in investment rate (gross fixed capital formation rate) from 34.3% in 2011-12 to 27.8% in the second quarter of 2019-20.
• This results in a sharp decline in the potential rate of growth by 1.6 percentage points, assuming an incremental capital-output ratio of 4.

Channels of demand

• We address the issue of demand, we need to look at the four-five expenditure categories of national income accounts:
• The private final consumption expenditure,
• The government final consumption expenditure,
• The gross fixed capital formation private,
• The gross fixed capital formation public, and
• Net exports.
• Data definitely show a weakening of private consumption expenditure. But in our efforts to raise demand, it is not autonomous. It is dependent on income.
• The three autonomous elements that can be used as levers to raise demand are government consumption expenditure, government investment and exports.
• Private investment can be treated as autonomous only to a limited extent. However, private foreign investment can be an independent factor which can be leveraged.
• Exports can help to stimulate the economy since exports are influenced by the state of the economy in the rest of the world.
• In the current situation, the rest of the world is also not booming. However, an effort can still be made to get a better export performance.
• This leaves us only with raising government expenditure. This is indeed the standard prescription whenever there is deficient demand.

Monetary policy

• Monetary policy has done its role by reducing the Repo rate by 135 percentage points since February 2019 to date.
• Banks have not followed suit fully due to the high level of non-performing assets. While the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) can play a supportive role in expanding liquidity, we must understand the limitations.
• Monetary policy generally is more effective in controlling inflation than stimulating an economy.
• In the present context of the banking situation, the RBI’s role that is even more important than pure monetary policy will be to quicken the resolution process of bad loans and help banks to move to a more healthy situation. The task is not that easy.

Fiscal policy

• The counter-cyclical fiscal policy is also running into problems. Given the revenue trend, the Central Government may not find it easy to increase its capital expenditures relative to GDP.
• In this context, one critical question that is under debate is whether the present situation warrants a breach in fiscal deficit norms.
• It may be recalled that against the background of the international financial crisis of 2008, the fiscal deficit of the Government of India was raised to 6.0% in 2008-09 and it went up to 6.5% in 2009-10.
• This is not to ignore the concern that the fiscal deficit indicated by the Budget is always lower than the “true” or “actual” fiscal deficit.
• That problem might still continue.
• A focused increase in capital expenditures of the Government and the Central public sector undertakings (PSUs) may help to apply the brakes on the slowdown. It might also help to “crowd in” private investment.

GST reform:

• Reform of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) is very much needed.
• We need a relook at the commodities falling under various slabs.
• Perhaps in an effort to get the GST through, a lot more of commodities were pushed under the lower slabs.
• Detailed data on GST collections are not available in the public domain to be able to take a view on this.
• Reforms in this direction may perhaps have to wait till the economy turns around. The GST has to become more manufacturer and trader friendly.

Banking situation:

• The present economic situation, in a sense, has become more complicated because of the poor health of the financial system.
• An excessive expansion of credit in the earlier years combined with the slowdown have contributed to a rise in non-performing loans in the banking system.
• Had the banking system been healthy, it could have been used as a lever for stimulating the economy.
• On the other hand, the banking system, currently, has become a burden.
• Quickening of the resolution process along with the recapitalisation of public sector banks has to take priority.
• The cleansing of the financial system which also includes finding solutions to the problems of non-banking financial companies will help to push the economy up.

Way forward:

• The reasonably good monsoon may lead to an improvement in agricultural production and rural demand.
• Exports can help a bit if there is strong effort and if the global trade environment improves.
• Increased government expenditure, particularly in capital expenditures, is one intervention which is very much needed.
• Private investment can pick up provided the growth rate begins to look up. \
• Restoring financial institutions — banking and non-banking — to a healthy state when they can begin to lend confidently is the most essential prerequisite for faster growth.

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It’s high time we gave our right to internet access legal sanctity (Mint)

Mains Paper 2: Polity
Prelims level: Right to internet concept
Mains level: Consequences behind the Right to internet concept

Context:

• The international intellectual spectrum began to claim that the “right to internet" is a fundamental human right.

Right to internet concept:

• Finland went a step further by famously legislating a right to broadband, although what it meant, in practice, was a more reasonable universal service obligation requiring all telecommunication companies to provide all residents with a line of at least 1Mbps.
• A number of countries and city governments around the world then started jumping on the “right to internet" bandwagon and began to offer taxpayer-funded Wi-Fi connections.
• In 2017, the Kerala government announced that internet access was a basic right and, this year, announced that it will spend ₹1,548 crore to build a fibre optic network to provide internet access to every household in the state.
• Last week New Delhi became the latest city government to offer “free" Wi-Fi to its residents.
• In these cases, the “right to internet" is being used as an intellectual wrapping to provide subsidized internet connections.
• Since the rights-based discourse is both fashionable and popular, it doesn’t hurt its proponents to declare internet access a fundamental right, especially if it means providing publicly financed freebies to the electorate.

Limitations about the concept:

• They violate contracts and represent unjustified government intervention in competitive markets.
• That these free Wi-Fi services unfairly undercut commercial Wi-Fi and 4G mobile services is conveniently ignored.
• In the series of blows that private telecom operators have received at the hands of the Indian government, this is perhaps one of the smaller ones.

Not count as a fundamental right:

• Free internet access cannot be a fundamental right, any more than food or education.
• These are no doubt basic human needs and a civilized society must ensure that everyone has them. But they are not fundamental rights.
• Fundamental rights are negative rights enforced against the state—the government cannot take away my fundamental right to free speech.
• It costs you nothing. But if internet access were to be a fundamental right, the government would have to pay for my internet connection, and that would come from the taxes you pay.
• Since there is no end to human needs and wants, with sufficiently passionate arguments, you can make a case for just about anything to be a fundamental right.
• The casualty of this flawed conceptualization of the “right to internet" is the idea that free citizens should be protected from arbitrary disconnections by the state.
• Given that internet penetration, dependence on electronic transactions and frequency of shutdowns have all grown since then, we are looking at economic costs that are in the vicinity of a percentage point of gross domestic product.

Matter of individual liberty:

• High as the economic costs are, the most important issue is of individual liberty.
• While no one denies the state its authority to maintain public order, instruments that abridge civil liberties must be used sparingly, limited in time and space and, most importantly, in exceptional circumstances.
• Unfortunately, political leaders and law enforcement authorities frequently use prohibitory orders as instruments of first resort.
• The imposition of prohibitory orders under Section 144 in the physical world, shutting down telephone and internet connections is frequently the first step the administration takes.
• This is an abuse of statutory provisions and an unconscionable abridgement of fundamental rights.
• In Kashmir, it has been 139 days without the internet. Even in sheer utilitarian terms, the collateral damage from cutting off telephone and internet connections even for a few hours almost always outweighs the benefits.

Conclusion:

• It is abundantly clear that the current process by which internet shutdowns are imposed not only has low thresholds and inadequate safeguards, it is insufficiently protective of the fundamental rights of citizens.
• In a more rigorous redefinition of the right to internet access, in 2016, the United Nations amended the definition of freedom of expression in its Universal Declaration of Human Rights to include the freedom to “impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers".

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All you wanted to know about Operation Twist (The Hindu)

Mains Paper 3: Economy
Prelims level: Operation Twist
Mains level: Significance of Operation Twist in Indian economy

Context:

• The Reserve Bank of India decided to conduct its version of ‘Operation Twist’ through simultaneous purchase and sale of government securities under Open Market Operations (OMOs) for Rs 10,000 crore each.

What is Operation Twist?

• Operation Twist is the name given to a US Federal Reserve monetary policy operation.
• It involves the purchase and sale of government securities to boost the economy by bringing down long-term interest rates.
• It normally leads to lower longer-term yields, which will help boost the economy by making loans less expensive for those looking to buy homes, cars and finance projects.
• But saving becomes less desirable because it doesn’t pay as much interest.

What is the US experience?

• In 1961, the John F Kennedy administration proposed a solution to revive the weak economy through lower longer-term interest rates while keeping short-term interest rates unchanged.
• This initiative is now known as ‘Operation Twist’ which was employed by the US Fed.
• The Fed then implemented it again in late 2011 and 2012 to stimulate the economy hit by the global financial crisis.
• In December 2012, the Fed ended the programme and replaced it with another policy of “quantitative easing”.\
• This policy seeks to lower long-term rates by making open-market purchases of longer-dated Treasuries and mortgage-backed securities.

Why Operation Twist now?

• The RBI slashed repo rate by 135 points to 5.15% this year but banks passed on only part of it.
• The one-year median Marginal Cost of funds based Lending Rate (MCLR) has declined only 49 basis points (bps).
• The RBI says the decision follows a review of the current liquidity and market situation and an assessment of the evolving financial conditions.
• It is keen that long-term rates are brought down to kick start investment and revive the economy.\
• The idea is that business investment and housing demand were primarily determined by longer-term interest rates.\

What the RBI plans on December 23, 2019?

• The central bank has decided to purchase Rs 10,000 crore worth of one security - the 6.45% GS 2029. This is a long term 10-year bond.
• When the RBI purchases 6.45% bond on December 23, demand is expected to rise, leading to lower long-term yield.
• On the sell side, it has proposed to sell four short term securities which will mature in 2020for a total of Rs 10,000 crore - 6.65% GS 2020, 7.80% GS 2020, 8.27% GS 2020 and 8.12% GS 2020.
• The sale of short-term securities will push up the short-term rate.
• However, bankers say ‘Operation Twist’ is likely to put an end to the interest rate cut expectations.

About Open Market Operations:

• Open market Operations (OMOs) are the market operations conducted by the RBI by way of sale and purchase of G-Secs to and from the market.
• OMOs are done with an objective to adjust the rupee liquidity conditions in the market on a durable basis.
• With this monetary tool the RBI manages and controls the liquidity, rupee strength and monetary management through purchase and sale of government securities (G-Secs).

Way forward:

• When the RBI feels that there is excess liquidity in the market, it resorts to sale of securities thereby sucking out the rupee liquidity.
• Similarly, when the liquidity conditions are tight, the RBI may buy securities from the market, thereby releasing liquidity into the market.
• On Friday, the yield on 10-year benchmark bonds fell by 13 bps to 6.60%, following the RBI announcement.

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A decision without forethought (The Hindu)

Mains Paper 2: International Relations
Prelims level: Citizenship Amendment Act
Mains level: Impact of Citizenship Amendment Act on India’s foreign policy

Context:

• The Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) of 2019 has had huge consequences on both the domestic and foreign policy front.

Impact on international relations:

• In India, widespread protests that began in the Northeast are now raging across the country.
• On the international front, soon after the protests broke out, two Bangladesh ministers cancelled their visit to India, the Japanese Prime Minister postponed his visit to the country and the annual India-Japan summit was cancelled.
• India’s ambitious development plans and strategic diplomacy, the question that arises is whether the Central government factored in the ramifications of the CAA on India’s Act East Policy and its potential side effects on the country’s relationship with foreign stakeholders heavily invested in the Northeast.

Repercussions on various fronts:

• For India with ASEAN nations, the Northeast is also the springboard for India’s engagement with Southeast Asia.
• This is precisely why New Delhi roped in Tokyo to fulfill its ambitious plan of expanding its global footprints via development in the Northeast.
• As part of its Free and Open Indo-Pacific strategy, Japan has been investing in the Northeast in a big way.
• Tokyo decided to invest ₹13,000 crore in different projects in the Northeast. The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) is actively engaged in building Northeast road network connectivity, water supply projects and economic modernisation of the region.
• It will be financing the construction of India’s longest bridge between Dhubri in Assam and Phulbari in Meghalaya.
• Japan has contributed official development assistance loans for the North East Road Network Connectivity Improvement Project.
• Private Japanese organisations are also financing a host of developmental projects in the region.
• It is but natural that the CAA protests and Internet shutdowns in the region would have come as a huge shock to Japan and its investment plans in the region which hinge on stability and a business-friendly environment conducive.
• The government could have done well to analyse how such a decision would affect the economic development of the Northeast.
• Japan has a rethink on these development projects, will it do so keeping in mind only the Northeast or the rest of India too?
• JICA is involved in various big-ticket infrastructure projects in Himachal Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Odisha, etc.
• The volatility of the Northeast can possibly be a setback to the collaborative efforts between India and Japan in providing an alternative to China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
• As being a development partner, Japan is also a member of the Quad, which came into existence to counter Chinese economic prowess and unlock India’s potential in the Indo-Pacific. \
• Most importantly, when Kashmir is already volatile, for India has difficult to afford to open another frontier of vulnerability in the Northeast.

Viewed with suspicion

• India has been described as the “Internet shutdown capital of the world”.
• Senior political leaders are under detention, Parliament is passing laws to grant religion-based citizenship to migrants of selected countries, and the youth of the country is out on the streets protesting.
• The Indian economy is already going through a rough phase and the loss of investor confidence will only add to our woes.

Conclusion:

• At the global level, India has always been respected for its diversity and inclusive character.
• It is because of parochial decisions like the CAA that India will now join the rank of nations which are viewed with suspicion because of their political and economic climate.
• Instead of being on an expansion mode, thanks to the government India will now be on an explanatory mode.

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