Why the UN’s ‘Health for All’ initiative matters (The hindu)

Mains Paper 2 : Health
Prelims level : antimicrobial resistance
Mains level : Highlights of the health services report published by WHO

TRAI shouldn’t force 4G adoption through regulation (The hindu)

Mains Paper 3 : Economy
Prelims level : interconnect charges
Mains level : Implications of interconnect charges

The nationalist hindrance to climate actions (The Hindu)

Mains Paper 3 : Environment
Prelims level : Not much
Mains level : Global Climate Action Summit key outcomes

India’s campus appeal (The Hindu)

Mains Paper 2 : National
Prelims level : Institute of Eminence
Mains level : India’s education behaviour

Missing the count (Live Mint)

Mains Paper 3 : Environment
Prelims level : National Tiger Conservation Authority
Mains level : Method of tiger census

Making the grand Indian PSB mergers work (Live Mint)

Mains Paper 3 : Economy
Prelims level : Public Sector Banks
Mains level : Key concern about merging the PSBs

Fanning onion price hike (Indian Express)

Mains Paper 3 : Economy
Prelims level : Price Monitoring Cell
Mains level : Commodity price and inflation

A lifeline for India (Indian Express)

Mains Paper 2 : Health
Prelims level : Ayushman Bharat
Mains level : Importance of the Ayushman Bharat

Let prices rise (Indian Express)

Mains Paper 3 : Economics
Prelims level : consumer price index
Mains level : consumer price index inflation levels

India’s opportunity at the UN (The Hindu)

Mains Paper 2 : International Relations
Prelims level : UNGA
Mains level : India’s potential to boosts international public opinion

Seeking to secure: on linking Aadhaar-GST registration (The Hindu)

Mains Paper 2 : Governance
Prelims level : GST council
Mains level : Key recommendations by the GST council

It’s a transformational change, but reforms are a continuous process (Live Mint)

Mains Paper 3 : Economy
Prelims level : Not much
Mains level : Highlights of the amending tax rate for corporate

Being mindful of diversity (The Hindu)

Mains Paper 3 : Economy
Prelims level : Green Bonus
Mains level : Fund allocations and Development projects

Context

• Recently, 11 Himalayan States of India met in Dehradun, Uttarakhand, demanding a “green bonus”, or a payment for environmental services they provide to the nation.
• This has brought to the surface the long-standing problem of integration of the mountain regions with the mainstream India.

What was the demand?

• The Himalayan states stretch from J and K (which was still a State during the meet) to Tripura.
• The ruling government had earlier committed a financial package to address the special developmental needs of the Himalayan States.
• The Himalayan States argued that they paid a developmental price for maintaining forests, rivers, and other environmental goods that help the rest of the country.
• The States, thus, asked for – help to develop hydropower resources, subsidies for their environmental protection measures which deny them normal ‘development models’, recognition of their efforts to meet human development parameters.

What is the larger issue in mountainous regions?

• Both the abrogation of special status to J and K, the following clampdown on civilian life, and the current demand of the Himalayan States highlight a key issue.
• It is the inability of the country to come to terms with the specificity of the Himalayan region, whether political, social, or ecological-economic.
• Various researches have shown how structurally different are Himalayan regions from the Indian mainstream in terms of their social and economic structure.
• Yet, this research has not found place in the political understanding, whether at the level of policy formulation or popular conceptions.

Is this specific to India?

• The problem of integrating the northern mountains to the national mainstream is not specific to India.
• It covers the entire stretch of mountains from Balochistan to Arunachal Pradesh.
• Each of the regions situated here has had problems when it comes to integrating the hilly regions with the nation states that are primarily anchored in the plains.
• Furthermore, this ‘integration problem’ is not just a South Asian phenomenon.
• China is struggling to integrate its mountain people and their homelands with its national mainstream.
• Myanmar and Thailand, besides others, are also facing similar issues.

Legacy of the colonial era

• The colonial force was anchored in the society and political-economy of the plains.
• The colonial times were perhaps the first time the nation state of the plains was able to reach so deep into the Himalayas.
• They controlled the people of the mountains in a way which was historically unprecedented.
• By the end of the 19th century, the mountains were far from the desires of keeping the mountains politically quiet and socially peaceful.
• The postcolonial nation states of Asia (be it India, Pakistan, China or Myanmar) have not been able to change this difficult relation with their mountain regions.
• This is because the independent nation states largely adopted the same approach in the high Himalayas as that of their colonial predecessors.

What are the consequences of this?

• The policies were framed on the social, political and economic specificities of the communities based in the riverine plains, different from that of the mountains.
• It is the village or town of the Ganga plains, or along the Narmada or Krishna and Cauvery rivers that defined what it means to be ‘Indian’.
• The specificities of the mountain regions found no references in- - the norms of what an ‘Indian village’ is how the society is structured, how the economy is designed what ways does political life work.
• In the mainstream thoughts, the mountain regions are at best imagined as calm ‘hill stations’ peopled by ‘noble savages’.
• Otherwise, they are seen as wild regions inhabited by irrational bloodthirsty tribesmen.
• This is not only a social-psychological feature but has direct practical consequences.
• Policies and programmes are devised with the ‘national norm’ in mind, which have unintended consequences on the hilly regions.

Way forward

• In India, there has been a massive expansion of the national economy over the past three decades.
• This, now, allows for commodification of mountain resources (forests, water, labour, tourism, horticulture, even agriculture) in unprecedented ways.
• It has led to changes in the class structure and the emergence of a new middle class.
• The national aspirations now find the geographical specificity of the Himalayas a hindrance and the main commodity of exchanges.

Conclusion

• Thus, the secessionist movements in J and K and Nagaland on the one hand and active integrationist movements in H.P., Arunachal Pardesh and Manipur on the other, expresses the same problem.

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Being mindful of diversity (The Hindu)

Mains Paper 1 : Society
Prelims level : Not much
Mains level : Three-Language Formula implications

Context

• Recently Indian Home Minister’ statement of Hindi being the language to unite India has faced criticism. The statement brings out the debate of the language to be used for unification, the need for a unifying language and the implications of adopting one.
• As per the 2011 Census, 1369 languages are spoken as mother tongues in India and Hindi is only one of them. The Indian Constitution itself has given space for 22 languages in its 8th Schedule and has thus upheld language diversity.
• In this context, it is necessary to understand the arguments in favour and against the statement, 4 implications of language debate in relation to the Three-Language Formula.

Arguments in favour of Hindi as a unifying language:

• For better integration and communication, a single language is needed.
• It helps to lesser conflicts.

Arguments against Hindi as a unifying language:

• The languages which try to expand beyond capacity start being used less and less as has happened Latin, Sanskrit etc and thus if it is opined to preserve Hindi, it is better not to expand it beyond its capacity is suggested.
• The idea of ‘One nation, one language, one culture’ has caused a lot of bloodshed in many nations of the world.
• India is united in its diversity and the options for language should only increase as knowledge of a greater number of languages helps in better communication worldwide and thus making the nations of the world a single integrated pluralistic community.
• A loss of importance of a given language is a loss of economy and not only loss of cultural identity as there is loss of livelihood associated with the communication.
• Repeated dent in emotions of people by invoking division on the basis of opinions can lead to an actual division of state itself as in the 1970s, West and East Pakistan were divided on the basis of language only.
• According to a recent study by IITians using machine-learning, ‘knowledge of English’ and ‘Internet access’ turned out to be the most significant skills required that determine wages in five slums of Bengaluru.

Implications in relation to Three-Language Formula:

• It is suggested that English should be taught in schools as a language and should not be the medium of instruction. Gradually the medium of instruction should be changed from mother tongue to English.
• As part of the three language formula, children of Hindi speaking states were required to learn a non-Hindi language and those of non-Hindi speaking states had to learn Hindi. But it was disagreed from both the sides.
• It is also suggested that a child in her early ages should not be forced to learn many languages as the child at that age is meant to know the world better and learning new languages at middle age help in widening her horizon.

Way forward

• Tribal languages must be prevented from getting extinct by providing livelihood in by the use of those languages.
• To integrate India on the basis of a single language, the language used must gain the status to be accepted equally by North and South India.
• There must be no urge felt for a unifying language as India is unified by a shared history like that of Ashoka etc. and thus the state needs to be mindful of linguistic diversity.

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Booster shot (Indian Express)

Mains Paper 3 : Economy
Prelims level : Not much
Mains level : Impact of reducing corporate tax

Context

• Finance Minister move to slash the corporate tax rate to 22 per cent from 30 per cent is a bold move and marks a departure from the incremental approach to economic reforms the government has pursued until now.
• She has also lowered the tax incidence on new companies that will commence production before March 2023 to 15 per cent, hoping to spur fresh investment.
• With these measures, the government has moved India’s corporate tax rates in line with its regional competitors, increasing the country’s attractiveness as an investment destination.
• This should incentivise firms relocating from China to set up manufacturing units in India. Coupled with the decision to do away with the surcharge on capital gains on listed securities, these measures will go a long way in shoring up sentiment. Indicative of this, the BSE Sensex ended the day 5.32 per cent higher than its previous close.

Measures taken by Government

• The government’s latest measures appear to be designed to push growth through an increase in investment rather than consumption.
• Though the increase in profitability could help existing firms launch fresh investment, increase dividends or deleverage, to the extent that higher tax rates were a deterrent for investment, these cuts could spur fresh investment.
• Also, by providing corporates the option of choosing a lower tax without taking advantage of exemptions and incentives, the government seems to be moving towards a simplified tax architecture which would help reduce tax litigation.
• Bigger firms facing a higher effective tax rates will be more inclined to switch to this simplified structure, while those with lower effective tax rates currently will shift once the sunset clauses for exemptions expire.
• However, lower tax rates for new manufacturing firms will put existing firms at a disadvantage.
• This may incentivise existing firms to set up “new firms” to take advantage of the tax differential. Though this could be kept in check through the General Anti Avoidance Rules (GAAR) provisions, it does open up the possibility of further rate rationalisation in the future.

Way ahead

• The finance minister has stated that the revenue forgone on account of these tax cuts amounts to Rs 1.45 lakh crore.
• And though the government is hopeful that lower rates will increase compliance, offsetting some of the revenue loss, meeting the fiscal deficit target will be a tall order.
• The advance tax figures aren’t encouraging. Both direct and indirect tax collections are well short of expectations.
• Bond yields surged 15 basis points in anticipation of an increase in government borrowing to finance the higher deficit.

Conclusion

• To plug the widening gap, the government must opt for a more aggressive disinvestment programme.

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Forging trade alliances (Indian Express)

Mains Paper 2 : International Relations
Prelims level : Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership
Mains level : Significance of Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership joining

Context

• The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) aims to bring the 10 countries of ASEAN with Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, India, China and Japan to create the world’s largest trading block.
• If it comes into being, RCEP will constitute more than 40 per cent of the global population and almost half of world’s economy.
• It consists of three of the six largest economies of the world, especially, the two fastest growing large economies — India and China.
• Out of the top 16 countries with the largest GDP, six belong to the proposed RCEP.

Tussle over joining RCEP

• There is a huge debate in India over joining RCEP.
• India’s allies in Southeast Asia, as well as Australia, want India to join it to balance China.
• On the other hand, many in India feel that RCEP will aggravate India’s burgeoning trade deficit with China.
• The Indian industry feels that China does not provide a level playing field for items that they could export, especially in fields like pharmaceuticals, information technology, films, indigenous medicines, wellness and yoga.
• Some of these are founded on opacity that surrounds the Chinese government’s decision making.

Seeking protection

• There is a tendency in Indian industry to seek protection, whenever any steps towards globalisation are taken.
• The “Bombay Club” long used for protectionism, protested when liberalisation was introduced and tried to prevent imports for as long as they could.
• However, it is an acknowledged fact that globalisation did benefit the Indian economy, it brought in newer technology and made Indian industry far more competitive.
• RCEP does provide Indian industry a huge market to grow and expand, provided it transforms and the government frees it from bureaucratic controls that have been stifling growth.

To undermine the entrepreneurial skills of Indians

• When import access was given to Chinese goods, it did not eliminate Indian industry.
• Of course, some industries which are uneconomical, have not modernised and imbibed new technologies will fall by the way side.
• More significantly, opening up markets and reducing tariffs will benefit consumers.
• The automobile, telecom and even IT boom would not have been feasible without liberalisation.
• Similarly, the recent spurt in solar power generation is directly a result of the availability of cheap imported solar films.
• The apprehensions about China’s non-tariff barriers are not unfounded. But, China’s track record shows that it has scrupulously followed multilateral arrangements.
• By entering RCEP, India may be able to get greater market access to even China as it is vulnerable due to its ongoing trade war with the US.
• More significantly, with China facing the demographic crunch, India could easily edge it out, if we go for economies of scale, made feasible by a large trading block like RCEP.

Key benefits after joining

• India’s presence in this trading block could lead to a large number of multinationals shifting their production facilities from China to India.
• As RCEP became effective it would enable them to access Chinese markets, without being present there, to comply with US sanctions.
• This could also bring in huge investments from many companies in the West.
• With the Trans-Pacific Partnership having unraveled, it is quite feasible that a post-Trump US administration may join RCEP if it takes off.

Natural follow up India’s Act East policy

• RCEP is nothing but a natural follow up of India’s Act East policy. India’s main strength lies in the services sector and it must therefore, ensure that RCEP includes unbridled access for Indian service providers as well as a liberalised visa regime for people working in these fields.
• The protection will need to be ensured for some sensitive industries crucial for national security. Some temporary protection may be required for certain sectors of agriculture, crucial for food security.
• RCEP is one sure shot way of forcing China to provide a level playing field. India has the largest arable land and one of the largest pool of scientists, engineers, technicians, so there is no reason for India to be concerned.
• This is also one way of controlling China and keeping it in check. In a big grouping like this, China is unlikely to have its way, nor is it going to antagonise everyone.

Conclusion

• India’s absence from RCEP will virtually handover this significant grouping to China, which is certainly not in India’s interest. RCEP is a huge opportunity which India should not miss.

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On the Eastward course (Indian Express)

Mains Paper 3 : Economy
Prelims level : SAARC
Mains level : Rationale behind Marginalising SAARC

Shaking the foundation of fake news (The Hindu)

Mains Paper 2 : Polity
Prelims level : Rebuttal
Mains level : Combating fake news

Pipe dreams, ground reality (The Hindu)

Mains Paper 2 : Governance
Prelims level : Jal Jeevan Mission

The future of food is animal-friendly (The Hindu)

Mains Paper 3 : Environment
Prelims level : Not much
Mains level : Rising of heat related problem with meat consumption