Oct 28, 2020 TLP Mains 2020

SYNOPSIS [27th OCTOBER,2020] Day 14: IASbaba’s TLP (Phase 2): UPSC Mains Answer Writing (General Studies)

For Previous TLP (ARCHIVES) - CLICK HERE SYNOPSIS [27th OCTOBER,2020] Day 14: IASbaba’s TLP (Phase 2): UPSC Mains Answer Writing (General Studies)   1. Explain the concept of gender budgeting? Why is it significant? Explain with the help of suitable examples. Approach: It is straightforward question. It expects student to write - in first part about gender budgeting - in second part write its significance with suitable example Introduction: Gender budgeting means preparing budgets from a gender perspective. It aims at dealing with budgetary gender inequality issues, including gender hierarchies and the gender pay gap. Gender budgeting allows governments to promote equality through fiscal policies by setting goals or targets for equality and allocating funds to support those goals. Body: Concept of gender budgeting: Gender Budget Statement (GBS) was first introduced in the Indian Budget in 2005-06. This GB Statement comprises two parts– Part A reflects Women Specific Schemes, i.e. those which have 100% allocation for women. Part B reflects Pro Women Schemes, i.e. those where at least 30% of the allocation is for women. India’s gender budgeting efforts stand out globally because they have not only influenced expenditure but also revenue policies (like differential rates for men and women in property tax rates and reconsideration of income tax structure) and have extended to state government levels. Gender budgeting efforts in India have encompassed four sequential phases: (i) knowledge building and networking, (ii) institutionalizing the process, (iii) capacity building, and (iv) enhancing accountability. Gender budgeting in India is not confined to an accounting exercise. The gender budgeting framework has helped the gender-neutral ministries to design new programs for women. Gender Budgeting Cells (GBC) as an institutional mechanism have been mandated to be set up in all Ministries/Departments. GBCs conduct gender based impact analysis, beneficiary needs assessment and beneficiary incidence analysis to identify scope for re-prioritization of public expenditure and improve implementation etc. Significance of gender budgeting: It acts as a powerful tool for achieving gender mainstreaming so as to ensure that benefits of development reach women as much as men. It recognise the need of an affirmative action to address specific needs of women. It sensitise government and society towards discrimination and gaps among women and men in a given sector. Gender responsive budgets policies can contribute to achieve the objectives of gender equality, human development and economic efficiency. Gender budgeting at department/ministry lead to more focus on issues of women’s inequality and empowerment and thereby led to more specific allocation on such schemes. It put pressure and focus on gender sensitive programme formulation and implementation. Therefore, it mainstream gender concerns in public expenditure and policy. It leads to women empowerment by increasing and improving the social, economic, and political situation of the women, and ensure equal rights to women. It helps women to control and benefit from resources, assets and income, as well as the enable them to manage risks and take decisions good for them. It ensures that benefits of development reach each women as much as it benefit men. E.g. Schemes like Sukanya Samridhi Yojana enhance economic status of girls. It leads to increased focus on education, health, and safety of women. E.g. Beti bachao, beti padhao has resulted in increased child sex ratio in vulnerable areas. It ensures women’s health through policies and schemes. E.g Janani suraksha yojana, Maternity Benefit Act 2016 ensure good health of women. Poor socio-economic indicator of women –  Literacy –  female ~ 65%; male ~ 80% (2011 census) Males get more medical care compared to girls Son meta preference (less opportunity to come to the world) Child marriage ~ 27% (UNICEF) Female labour force participation rate ~ 26% (Niti Aayog) Gender pay gap ~ 34% (ILO) Glass ceiling Feminization of informal sector and de-feminization of formal sector.    female representation in Parliament ~ 99th in the world Lok Sabha ~ 12%; Rajya Sabha ~ 11%. Global Gender Gap report 2020 ranked India 112 in terms of inequality in economy, education, health and political representation. Conclusion: Women warrant special attention due to their vulnerability and lack of access to resources. The way Government budgets allocate resources has the potential to transform gender inequalities. In view of this, Gender Budgeting, as a tool for achieving gender mainstreaming can be extremely useful. Gender-targeted spending creates a virtuous cycle and has a multiplier effort on women’s living standards, and overall growth and development.  2. The goal of sustainable and inclusive economic growth can’t be achieved without empowering women entrepreneurs. Do you agree? Substantiate your views Approach: As the directive in the question is to substantiate, we need to provide relative facts, figures, and examples for our arguments. In introduction, one can start by defining what is sustainable and inclusive economic growth. In the first half of main body part, candidate may elaborate more on what is sustainable and inclusive economic growth and then explain what are the tools through which sustainable and inclusive growth can be achieved. As a bridging paragraph one can show, how empowering women entrepreneurs is one of the core pillars of the sustainable and inclusive economic growth. In the second half candidate can show, how empowering women entrepreneurs will support sustainable and inclusive economic growth. In conclusion, candidate can show how it will boost overall development of economy and conclude accordingly. To fetch more marks value addition is necessary, candidate can show Government initiatives, examples, facts and figures regarding women entrepreneurship which have helped sustainable and inclusive economic growth.  Introduction: Goal 8 of Sustainable Development Goals specifically aims to promote Sustainable and inclusive economic growth. Sustainable and Inclusive economic growth is a concept that advances equitable opportunities for economic participants during economic growth with benefits incurred by every section of society and creates opportunities for all, especially the most disadvantaged, and distributes the gains from prosperity more equally over a sustaining period of time which ensures availability of resources for upcoming generations too.  Body: Importance of Goal of sustainable and inclusive economic growth:  According to the Tendulkar committee report, poverty in India is at 22%. Low agriculture growth, low-quality employment growth, low human development, rural-urban divides, gender and social inequalities, and regional disparities etc. are the problems for the nation. Access to education and health is not the same for all sections of the population. Females are treated to be subordinate to males and are dependent on their families in all spheres. Inclusive growth is hence the key to women empowerment. Natural ecosystems are under stress and decline across most of the country; some 10 per cent of the country’s wildlife is threatened with extinction; agricultural biodiversity has declined by over 90 per cent in many regions.  India with its population of 139 crores is the second most populous Nation in the world. Meanwhile, it is going to overtake China by 2027 to be the most populous country in the world.  The multitude effect of these problems can be seen as a big problem for the larger section of vulnerable and marginalised section of population and for upcoming generations of India. The reason is fast pace of population growth and industrial development and their explosive negative effects and parallel slow pace of natural growth and development of Natural resources.  The sheer scale and impact of these things on the vulnerable and marginalised sections of population is noteworthy. However, the scale of effect on women is relatively more as their vulnerability is affected my many factors. Hence, it becomes of critical importance that for sustainable and inclusive economic growth empowerment of women entrepreneurs should takes place.  Need of empowerment of women entrepreneurs to achieve inclusive and sustainable economic growth:  Three core elements of sustainable development are economic growth, social inclusion and environmental protection. When it comes to social inclusion women's inclusion in development and growth amounts to a larger and critical extent as they constitute nearly 50% of population.  The end of poverty can only be achieved with the end of gender-based discrimination. Women make significant contributions every day from bringing an income to her household as an employed wage earner, to creating jobs as an entrepreneur. Women can start a new business that caters to a different market or niche than their male counterparts. Enabling women benefits future generations because women tend to spend more time on their children’s education and family member’s health, which in turn boosts productivity of not just their work but also the productivity of other family members also. Women entrepreneurs inspire other women to start business leading to job creation for women, which ultimately helps in bridging the gender pay gap in the workforce. Narrowing the gender pay gap in employment will increase global income.  Once the gender pay gap is narrowed down, it helps to spend more money for the education, health etc. i.e.  all-inclusive development of family members.  Creating and preserving a strong positive company culture is a pre-requisite for the growth and long term success of any company. Studies show that a women-led company tend to have a better company culture, high values and transparency.  For instance, Ameera Shah is an Indian entrepreneur and the Managing Director of Metropolis Healthcare, a multinational chain of pathology centers based in Mumbai, with presence in seven countries. The success of Metropolis health care is synonymous with her name.  Only about 16 percent of Indian women own or run businesses, according to the Economic Census conducted by IMF. More than 90 percent of companies run by women are microenterprises, and about 79 percent are self-financed. At present, women’s entrepreneurial role is limited in the large-scale industries and technology-based businesses. But even in small scale industries, the women’s participation is very low. As per the third all India census of Small-Scale Industries, only 10.11% of the micro and small enterprises were owned by women, and only 9.46% of them were managed by women The participation of women has increased in the past decade. Yet, women constitute only one third of the economic enterprises.  The government has introduced schemes like Skill India Mission, Stand Up India, Mudra scheme etc., which have helped Indian women to start their own business. Despite these government initiative to promote women entrepreneurship, India was ranked 16th/17 countries only above Uganda. Countries like Turkey, Morocco and Egypt has outperformed India, in a survey conducted by Dell and Global Entrepreneurship and Development Institute (GEDI). Looking into the state level distribution of women-owned enterprises, we will find that there is a variation in the distribution of women-owned enterprises across India at state level, suggesting diversity in the enabling environments for women entrepreneurship. The largest share in the number of establishments under women entrepreneurs are clustered in the southern states of India. In terms of female owned proprietary establishments, out of the top ten states, six states are from North East India. The 6th economic census, we will find that 13.76 percent of MSME's are women owned i.e. approximately 8.05 million out of 58.5 million businesses. The World Bank Enterprise Survey Data, an internationally comparative data set, suggests that 10.7 percent of MSMEs have female participation in ownership.  In India, there are also urban/rural differences in rates of women’s entrepreneurship, with more women’s enterprises based in rural areas (22.24 per cent of all rural enterprises), compared to urban areas (18.42 per cent of all urban enterprises) according to Ministry of MSME Annual Report as shown in Table 1 Percentage distribution of male and female owned enterprises in Rural and Urban areas. Women's enterprises are also mainly micro sized or proprietary and the majority are informal.  SECTOR/GENDER Male Female  All  Rural  77.76 22.24 100 Urban 81.52 18.42 100 All  79.63 20.37 100           Table 1: Percentage distribution of male and female owned enterprises in Rural and Urban areas Economic development of the today’s woman is crucial for economic development of any country specially a country like India. Government Initiatives have created many entrepreneurial opportunities for women entrepreneurs that they can utilize to enhance their social standing and reputation, however, their development and growth needs to be ensured for the broader objective of sustainable and inclusive development would not get hampered. It can be done in following ways: Increasing awareness among parents is shattering the patriarchal mindset and stereotyping within the families and hence women are seen as potential resources to do business. Increasing Urban population has shattered the patriarchal mindset about women which has increased opportunity for women. E.g. the incidents of dowry have come down and marriage of women is not a liability and hence provide additional capital for ventures. Hence, there arises the need to increase minimum marriage age for women from 18 to 21.  Government promotion to women entrepreneurship through various schemes by providing capital and infrastructural support. For instance, Mahila E-HAAT is a bilingual direct online marketing platform leveraging technology for supporting women entrepreneurs and Self-Help Groups for showcasing their products and services. It was adjudged as one of the top 100 projects in India during 2016. Also, Stand Up India was launched in 2016 for providing bank loans to woman borrowers for setting up a Greenfield enterprise. International recognition of women entrepreneurial potential and increasing international support. Recently NITI Aayog organized Women Entrepreneur Summit with Ivanka Trump as chief guest which saw numerous investment support. Increasing Literacy and skill levels of the present generation women which has provided an opportunity to involve in business activities. For instance, Mahila Shakti Kendra is an initiative that supports establishment of Women Empowerment Centres at the village-level. The Centres aim to converge action in several areas including skill development, employment, digital literacy, health and nutrition to provide a comprehensive package of services. Promotion to traditional crafts through various government schemes like Tribes India etc., has increased the self-help groups which are mainly driven by women. For instance, Women Transforming India is an online contest launched by NITI Aayog, in partnership with United Nations, India and MyGov for crowd sourcing stories of women who are making a difference in their respective fields. The best stories are awarded. Conclusion: When women move forward, the family moves, the village moves and then ultimately the Nation moves forward. The glass ceilings are shattered and women are found indulged in every line of entrepreneurship. There is a need for more Awareness programme, training Programmes, skill development, loans and subsidies, grievance forums etc., for promoting women entrepreneurship which will ensure a more sustainable inclusive economic growth thereby supporting 'Sabka Sath, Sabka Vikas' in turn making Indian economy and women entrepreneurs more self-reliant i.e. 'Aatm Nirbhar'. 3. Why is regional imbalance a grave threat in the Indian context? Examine. Can the creation of infrastructure alone ensure inclusive growth and reduce the feeling of alienation? Critically comment. Approach – You need to examine the issue of regional imbalance in context of India and the threats arising out of it. Further in the 2nd part, you need to focus on critically commenting on creation of infrastructure as sole tool towards ensuring inclusive growth and reducing the feeling of alienation in people.  Introduction    Regional disparities are an alarming issue in India, and it has been widening in spite of various policy initiatives by the government to develop backward areas. The fruit of high growth have not been distributed fairly across India's different regions and have given rise to the threat of regional inequality. Body     Regional imbalance is the disparity in the economic and social development of two regions. Regional imbalances mean wide differences in per capita income, literacy rates, health and education services, levels of industrialization between different regions. Disparities in social and economic development, employment, and infrastructure amenities across the regions and within regions have been a major challenge to policy makers and economists. Consequently, regional imbalance is considered a grave threat in Indian context due to the following factors: Inter - States and Intra State Agitations - Uneven regional development or regional imbalances lead to several agitations with in a State or between the States. The erstwhile combined State of Andhra Pradesh can be sited as the best example of the consequences of intra - state regional imbalance in terms of development. Migration - Migration takes from backward areas to the developed areas in search livelihood. For example, migration from rural to urban. Because, urban areas will provide better quality of life and more job opportunities when compared to rural. This leads to tremendous pressure on urban areas in terms of planning and resources. Social Unrest - Differences in prosperity and development leads to friction between different sections of the society causing social unrest. For example Naxalism. Naxalites in India function in areas which have been neglected for long time for want of development and economic prosperity. Housing, Water Problem - Establishment of several industries at one place leads to shortage of houses as a result rental charges will increase abnormally. For example, Mumbai, New Delhi, Chennai and Hyderabad and over population leads to water crisis. Aggregation of the imbalance - Once an area is prosperous, more investments pour-in neglecting the less developed regions. For examples, the rate of growth of the metropolitan cities like Mumbai, Delhi, etc. is higher compared to other metro cities of India. Under – Developed Infrastructure - Rural and backward areas do not have 24 hours power, proper houses, safe drinking water, sanitation, hospitals, doctors, telephone and internet facilities Here, the creation of infrastructure alone can ensure inclusive growth and reduce the feeling of alienation due to the following factors: Availability of adequate infrastructure especially the physical infrastructure facilities is the pre-condition for sustainable economic and social development. Non-availability or inadequate availability of infrastructure poses a serious threat to growth. The social infrastructure broadly includes health, education and sanitation. It is well recognised that the literacy of any region or area has a positive relation to the overall development. Regional disparity can also be observed from the gap in literacy level in different states in India. The physical infrastructure includes transport, communication, electricity etc. India suffers from inadequate availability of physical infrastructure, as measured by any accepted indicator. Not only is infrastructure inadequate and weak, it varies from interstate to intra state. At the same time, for overcoming any problem, a balanced approach is necessary where tackling regional imbalance would require a host of other measures along with infrastructure development like: The most important factors driving growth come from the health, education, transport, agriculture, and energy sectors, which are used to construct composite infrastructure index.  Efficient investment in all these sectors would provide the much-needed boost required for economic and human development, which would ultimately result in sustainable and satisfactory economic growth which is broad based. Investment in agriculture needs to be stepped up especially in the lagging regions. Since agricultural growth is found to be different in different regions, steps to equalise it will certainly reduce the regional imbalances. Conclusion Regional imbalance is a threat to the goal of inclusive growth and reduction of poverty. Ultimately, the key to balanced regional development lies not merely in increasing resource flows to backward regions but in creating an enabling environment to attract more resources, using them properly and assuring a fair deal to investors and also ensuring the ideal path of ‘economic growth with integrity’. 4. Examine the factors that have led to India’s lower tax to GDP ratio. What are its implications for the economy? Analyse.  Approach: Students are expected to examine those factors, which led to India’s lower tax to GDP ratio in first part, and analyse its implications on economy in second part.  Introduction: Tax revenue is income collected by governments through taxation. The tax-to-GDP ratio is used to measure how much a government controls its economic resources. The low ratio represents that the government won’t be able to finance its expenditure and hence increases government's dependence on borrowings. Although India has improved its tax-to-GDP ratio in the last six years, it is still far lower than the average OECD ratio, which is 34 per cent. Body India despite seeing higher growth rates, has struggled to widen the tax base. Factors that have led to India’s lower tax to GDP ratio:  Low per capita income keeps tax collections low: Low average incomes and a high poverty rate result in a very small portion of the labour force being eligible to pay personal income taxes. As per OECD report, income taxes accounted for a lower proportion around 16% of the general government’s revenue.  A large proportion of economic activity generated by SME: Although SMEs have enjoyed strong profitability growth over the past decade, the government has not captured their earnings in tax revenues due to a variety of exemptions and compliance issues.  Tax Exemptions to Start- ups: Start-ups with turnover up to Rs. 25 crores are allowed deduction of 100% of its profits for three consecutive assessment years. Indeed, it boost the economic activity and entrepreneurship, a large proportion of income government missed to capture here.   Tax exemptions on agriculture related activity: The incomes of the small and marginal farmers are far below the minimum threshold limit of personal income taxation. Wealthy farmers are reportedly misusing this benefit to evade taxes. The proportion of agricultural households holding 4-10 hectares of land is just 3.7% and 0.4% over 10 hectares. Just by taxing the incomes of the top 4.1% of agricultural households, at an average of 30%, as much as Rs 25,000 crore could be collected as agricultural tax.  Low service tax net: Although it has been progressively expanded to include a greater number of services each year, and service tax revenue has grown the fastest of all revenue sources. Yet, service taxes constitute merely 5 per cent of total general government revenues, although they comprise about 60 per cent of GDP.  Tax exemptions to SEZ: According to the sunset clause, there is 100 per cent income tax exemption on export income for SEZ units for the first five years, 50 per cent for next five years and 50 per cent of the ploughed back export profit for subsequent five years.  Drop in corporate tax revenue: Surprise cut in corporate tax rate last year aimed at wooing manufacturers and boosting investment in Asia’s third-biggest economy is another key reason behind the sluggish tax collections.  Lower tax-to-GDP ratio constrains the government to spend on infrastructure and puts pressure on the government to meet its fiscal deficit targets. Implications of lower tax to GDP ratio on economy: It lowers the GDP: One of the reasons for lower tax to GDP is due to pervasive structure of exemptions, which indirectly affects the GDP growth, as it is a vicious cycle that means low tax produces less revenue resources with the state. It results in less public investment and lower job opportunities, thus lower economic progress.  Lesser spending on health and education also disturbs Socio-Economical structure: Lower revenue means lesser spending on Important social sectors such as Health and Education, which are key sectors for developing country. As it diminishes the welfare measures provided by the state, ultimately it affects the social structure and develop further inequality. Affects government policy: It creates political incentives for successive governments to ignore some eligible sections of society for vote-bank politics, rather than building an effective tax system that will spur economic growth.  High Government Borrowing: It also increases government borrowing. To stimulate the economic activity in the country government is forced to borrow from, within and outside the country and thus it becomes difficult to manage fiscal deficits.  Low spending on national security: Even though the actual amount of defence expenditure is seen to be increased in each budget, the defence expenditure percentage to GDP is reduced almost every year since last decade. Burden on few sectors: Some economists argue that as high productive sectors are taxed it is incentivizing the low productivity sectors not to come into formal tax system. Parallel economy: Low taxation means most of the money in economy goes unaccounted and hence will encourage parallel economy. Although there are numerous implications of Low ratio, India's number does not look that bad given the significant difference in per capita income of the developed country. Therefore, it does have some positive implications. Positive implications of low tax to GDP ratio: Tax cuts increases demand: Tax cut also stimulate the economic activity by increasing workers’ take-home pay. Tax cuts can also boost business demand by increasing firms’ after-tax cash flow, which can be used to pay dividends and expand activity, and by making hiring and investing more attractive. Low tax Attracts Investment: The government always hopes that, lower tax rates will attract more investments into the country and help revive the domestic manufacturing sector, which has seen lacklustre growth. So there is constant pressure on governments across the world to offer the lowest tax rates in order to attract investors. OECD, group of developed nations: Out of 36 member countries of OECD, most of them from the developed world. Such high average tax-GDP ratio in OECD could be attributed to some of the European countries like France, Denmark etc. hence its generalised numbers are not exactly relevant to Indian economy.  Conclusion: Continues efforts government putting in the form of various schemes to generate more tax and to increase revenue collection. To avoid tax disputes government announced various schemes like “vivad se vishwas” scheme and “sabaka vishwas” scheme. The Central Government also introduced the “Faceless Assessment Scheme” to provide greater transparency, efficiency and accountability in Income Tax assessments. Rationalisation of GST and moving towards a two-rate structure can also help in increasing compliance and putting an end to tax evasion. While measures to improve tax compliance and widen the tax base will yield higher tax revenue, the importance of higher economic growth cannot be ignored.  5. What do you understand by public debt? What are its components? Discuss. Also, comment on India’s current public debt scenario. Approach: It is straightforward question, where it expects student to write - in first part about public debt - in second part write about components of public debt - in third part write about India’s current public debt scenario . Introduction: The public debt is how much a country owes to lenders outside of itself. These can include individuals, businesses, and even other governments. The term "public debt" is often used interchangeably with the term sovereign debt. Public debt usually only refers to national debt. Body: Public debt:  In the Indian context, public debt includes the total liabilities of the Union government that have to be paid from the Consolidated Fund of India. Sometimes, the term is also used to refer to the overall liabilities of the central and state governments.  However, the Union government clearly distinguishes its debt liabilities from those of the states. It calls overall liabilities of both the Union government and states as General Government Debt (GGD) or Consolidated General Government Debt. Since the Union government relies heavily on market borrowing to meet its operational and developmental expenditure, the study of public debt becomes key to understand the financial health of the government.  The study of public debt involves the study of various factors such as debt-to-GDP ratio, and sustainability and sources of government debt. The fact that almost a fourth of the government expenditure goes into interest payment explains the magnitude of the liabilities of the Union government. The Union government broadly classifies its liabilities into two broad categories. The debt contracted against the Consolidated Fund of India is defined as public debt and includes all other funds received outside Consolidated Fund of India under Article 266 (2) of the Constitution, where the government merely acts as a banker or custodian. The second type of liabilities is called public account. Components of public debt: These are listed as follows: Dated government securities or G-secs. Treasury Bills or T-bills External Assistance Short term borrowings Public Debt definition by Union Government The Union government describes those of its liabilities as public debt, which are contracted against the Consolidated Fund of India. This is as per Article 292 of the Constitution. India’s current public debt scenario: As per the International Monetary Fund (IMF), India’s public debt ratio is projected to jump by 17 percentage points to almost 90% because of an increase in public spending due to Covid-19. Increase in Public Debt Ratio:  The increase in public spending, in response to Covid-19, and the fall in tax revenue and economic activity, will make the public debt ratio jump by 17 percentage points. The ratio is projected to stabilise in 2021, before slowly declining up to the end of the projection period, in 2025. The pattern of public debt in India is close to the norm around the world. This debt-to-GDP ratio is the metric comparing a country's public debt to its Gross Domestic Product (GDP). It is often expressed as a percentage. By comparing what a country owes (debt) with what it produces (GDP), the debt-to-GDP ratio reliably indicates a particular country’s ability to pay back its debts. A country with a high debt-to-GDP ratio typically has trouble paying off public debts. Assessment of Fiscal situation (relating to taxation, public spending, or public debt): India has been an important source of growth in the world since the 1991 economic liberalisation reforms. Real GDP growth averaged 6.5% between 1991 to 2019, and real GDP per capita was multiplied by four over that period. Real GDP is calculated in a way such that the goods and services are evaluated at some constant set of prices. Nominal GDP, on the other hand, is simply the value of GDP at the current prevailing prices. This impressive growth performance helped lift millions of people out of extreme poverty. The extreme poverty rate, measured as the proportion of people whose income is less than $1.90 a day at purchasing power parity (the international poverty line), fell from 45% in 1993 to 13% by 2015. India achieved the millennium development goal of halving poverty by 2015 (from its 1990 level). India has made astonishing progress in other areas. Education enrolment is nearly universal for primary school. Infant mortality rates have been halved since 2000. Access to water and sanitation, electricity, and roads has been greatly improved. Conclusion: In the near-term, additional fiscal action should be deployed as needed to support the poor and the vulnerable. This should be accompanied by a credible medium-term fiscal consolidation plan that can reinforce market confidence and structural reforms that boost India's growth potential. The effects of Covid-19 on health, education, poverty and nutrition render progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals even more urgent. Macroeconomic and financial stability are important necessary conditions for sustainable development. TLP HOT Synopsis Day 14 PDF

Oct 28, 2020 Daily Prelims CA Quiz

UPSC Quiz - 2020 : IASbaba's Daily Current Affairs Quiz 28th Oct 2020

For Previous Daily Quiz (ARCHIVES) - CLICK HERE The Current Affairs questions are based on sources like ‘The Hindu’, ‘Indian Express’ and ‘PIB’, which are very important sources for UPSC Prelims Exam. The questions are focused on both the concepts and facts. The topics covered here are generally different from what is being covered under ‘Daily Current Affairs/Daily News Analysis (DNA) and Daily Static Quiz’ to avoid duplication. The questions would be published from Monday to Saturday before 2 PM. One should not spend more than 10 minutes on this initiative. This is a part of our recently launched, NEW INITIATIVE IASbaba’s INTEGRATED REVISION PLAN (IRP) 2020 – Road Map for the next 100 Days! FREE INITIATIVE! We will make sure, in the next 4 months not a single day is wasted. All your energies are channelized in the right direction. Trust us! This will make a huge difference in your results this time, provided that you follow this plan sincerely every day without fail. Gear up and Make the Best Use of this initiative. Do remember that, “the difference between Ordinary and EXTRA-Ordinary is PRACTICE!!” To Know More about the Initiative -> CLICK HERE SCHEDULE/DETAILED PLAN – > CLICK HERE Important Note: Don't forget to post your marks in the comment section. Also, let us know if you enjoyed today's test :) After completing the 5 questions, click on 'View Questions' to check your score, time taken and solutions.   To take the Test - Click Here

Oct 28, 2020 TLP Mains 2020

IASbaba’s TLP (Phase 2 - ENGLISH & हिंदी): UPSC Mains Answer Writing - General Studies Paper 3 Questions[28th OCTOBER,2020] - Day 15

For Previous TLP (ARCHIVES) - CLICK HERE Hello Friends, Welcome to IASbaba’s TLP (Phase 2 - ENGLISH & हिंदी): UPSC Mains Answer Writing - General Studies Paper 3 Questions[28th OCTOBER,2020] - Day 15   We will make sure, in the next 3 months not a single day is wasted. All your energies are channelized in the right direction. Trust us! This will make a huge difference in your results this time, provided that you follow this plan sincerely every day without fail. Gear up and Make the Best Use of this initiative. We are giving 5 Mains Questions on Daily basis so that every student can actively participate and keep your preparation focused. Do remember that, “the difference between Ordinary and EXTRA-Ordinary is PRACTICE!!” To Know More about the Initiative -> CLICK HERE SCHEDULE/DETAILED PLAN – > CLICK HERE   Note: Click on Each Question (Link), it will open in a new tab and then Answer respective questions! 1. While economic liberalisation has done well to untie the manufacturing and service sectors, the agricultural sector hasn’t yet been liberalised in the true sense. Do you agree? Critically examine.  जबकि आर्थिक उदारीकरण ने विनिर्माण और सेवा क्षेत्रों को एकजुट करने का अच्छा कार्य किया है, कृषि क्षेत्र अभी तक सही अर्थों में उदारीकृत नहीं हुआ है। क्या आप सहमत हैं? समालोचनात्मक जांच करें। 2. What measures would you suggest to address the regional imbalance with respect to land under irrigation? What role can technology play in this regard? Explain.  सिंचाई के अंतर्गत भूमि के संबंध में क्षेत्रीय असंतुलन को दूर करने के लिए आप क्या उपाय सुझाएंगे? इस संबंध में प्रौद्योगिकी की क्या भूमिका हो सकती है? स्पष्ट करें। 3. In India, organic farming has got huge export potential. Do you agree? Comment. In this regard, examine the challenges that need to be overcome.  भारत में, जैविक खेती से निर्यात की बड़ी संभावनाएं पैदा हुई हैं। क्या आप सहमत हैं? टिप्पणी करें। इस संबंध में, उन चुनौतियों की जांच करें जिन्हें दूर करने की आवश्यकता है। 4. Discuss the recent measures taken to upgrade the storage and transportation infrastructure for agricultural produce. Also, comment on its backward and forward linkage potential.  कृषि उपज के लिए भंडारण और परिवहन बुनियादी ढांचे को उन्नत करने के लिए हाल ही में किए गए उपायों पर चर्चा करें। इसके अलावा, इसके पिछड़े और आगे लिंकेज क्षमता पर टिप्पणी करें। 5. Critically evaluate the performance of support instruments like subsidies and MSP for the farm sector. What have been the negative fallouts of these instruments.  कृषि क्षेत्र के लिए सब्सिडी और एमएसपी जैसे सहायक उपकरणों के प्रदर्शन का समालोचनात्मक मूल्यांकन करें। इन उपकरणों के नकारात्मक प्रभाव क्या रहे हैं। P.S: The review from IASbaba will happen from the time the question is posted till 10 pm everyday. We would also encourage peer reviews. So friends get actively involved and start reviewing each others answers. This will keep the entire community motivated. All the Best :)

Oct 27, 2020 IASbaba's Daily Current Affairs

DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS IAS | UPSC Prelims and Mains Exam – 27th October 2020

Archives (PRELIMS + MAINS FOCUS) South Asian Flash Flood Guidance System Part of: GS Prelims and GS-I – Natural disasters & GS-III - Science and Technology  In news Recently, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has launched the South Asian Flash Flood Guidance System (FFGS).  Aim: To help disaster management teams and governments make timely evacuation plans ahead of the actual event of flooding. Key takeaways  A dedicated FFGS centre will be established in New Delhi.  Weather modelling and analysis of rainfall data observations from member countries will be done there. Developed by: US-based Hydrologic Research Centre  Based on the rainfall and potential flooding scenario, flash flood warnings will be issued to respective nations. Flash flood threat warning will be issued six hours in advance.  Flood risk warning will be issued 24 hours in advance.  Warnings about watershed level will be issued 12 hours in advance. Important value additions  Flash Floods These are sudden surges in water levels during or following an intense spell of rain. These are localised events of short duration.  The peak is usually very high.  The duration is less than six hours between the occurrence of the rainfall and peak flood. The flood situation worsens if the drainage lines are choked or the natural flow of water is obstructed. Restoration process of Seagrass taken up Part of: GS Prelims and GS-III – Biodiversity; Environment  In news Recently, the restoration process of seagrasses is taken up by Tamil Nadu in the Gulf of Mannar. Important value additions  Seagrasses These are flowering plants that grow submerged in shallow marine waters like bays and lagoons. These have tiny flowers and strap-like or oval leaves. Seagrasses evolved from terrestrial plants that recolonised the ocean around 70-100 million years ago. Seagrasses also produce food by photosynthesis.  They reproduce sexually as well as asexually. Some of the important seagrasses: (1) Sea Cow Grass (Cymodocea serrulata); (2) Thready Seagrass (Cymodocea rotundata); (3) Needle Seagrass (Syringodium isoetifolium); (4) Flat-tipped Seagrass (Halodule uninervis), etc. Location: These are found in muddy and sandy substrates. These also occur along the coastal areas of India. These are abundant in the Palk Strait and Gulf of Mannar.  Significance: (1) They provide many ecosystem services; (2) These are also called ‘the lungs of the sea’ because they release oxygen into the water through photosynthesis; (3) Sequesters up to 11% of the organic carbon buried in the ocean; (4) Absorb carbon from the atmosphere. They can capture carbon from the atmosphere up to 35 times faster than tropical rainforests; (5) Help maintain water quality; (6) Filter nutrients released from land-based industries; (7) Prevent soil erosion; (8) Provide food as well as habitat for fishes, octopuses, shrimp, blue crabs, oysters, etc.  Seagrass beds are facing decline all over the world at the rate of 2-5% annually. Threats: Grazing, storms, ice-scouring (abrasion and erosion of seabeds by glaciers), desiccation, eutrophication, mechanical destruction of habitat, overfishing, coastal engineering construction, etc.  India assumes Chairmanship of ILO Governing Body Part of: GS Prelims and GS-II – Important Organisations In news After 35 years, India has assumed the Chairmanship of the Governing Body of International Labour Organization (ILO). Labour & Employment Secretary Apurva Chandra has been elected as the Chairperson for the period October 2020-June 2021. Key takeaways  The Governing Body (GB) is the apex executive body of the ILO. It meets thrice a year.  Functions: (1) It takes decisions on ILO policy; (2) It decides the agenda of the International Labour Conference (ILC); (3) It adopts the draft programme and budget; (4) It elects the Director-General. Important value additions  International Labour Organization (ILO)  It is an agency of United Nations (UN) since 1919.  Functions: (1) Sets labour standards; (2) Develops policies; (3) Devises programmes promoting decent work for all women and men. It became the first specialized agency of the UN in 1946. ILO's recommendations are non-binding.  It has also received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1969. It releases the annual World Employment and Social Outlook (WESO) Trends report. India is a Founding Member of the ILO. It has been a permanent member of the ILO Governing Body since 1922.  Two New Ramsar Sites in India Part of: GS Prelims and GS-III – Biodiversity; Ecology; Environment  In news Recently, Kabartal Wetland (Bihar) and Asan Conservation Reserve (Uttrakhand) have been designated as Ramsar sites.  Now, the total number of Ramsar sites in India is 39, the highest in South Asia. Important value additions  Kabartal Wetland It is also known as Kanwar Jheel.  Location: Begusarai, Bihar. It acts as a vital flood buffer for the region.  It also provides livelihood opportunities to local communities. It has significant biodiversity with 165 plant species, 394 animal species and 50 fish species.  58 migratory waterbirds use it to rest.  Five critically endangered species inhabit the site: (1) Red-headed vulture; (2) White-rumped vulture; (3) Indian vulture; (4) Sociable lapwing; (5) Baer’s pochard Asan Conservation Reserve (ACR)  ACR is formed by the Asan River running down to its confluence with the Yamuna River in Dehradun, Uttarakhand.  It is Uttarakhand's first Ramsar Site. These habitats support 330 bird species including the critically endangered red-headed vulture, white-rumped vulture and Baer’s pochard (Aythya baeri). 49 fish species are also found including the endangered Putitora mahseer (Tor putitora).  Ramsar Site Ramsar Convention on Wetlands is an intergovernmental treaty adopted in 1971 in Ramsar, Iran. Those wetlands which are of international importance are declared as Ramsar sites. Mission: Conservation and wise use of all wetlands through local and national actions and international cooperation, as a contribution towards achieving sustainable development throughout the world. The Montreux Record is a register of wetland sites on the List of Wetlands of International Importance where changes in ecological character have occurred, are occurring, or are likely to occur as a result of technological developments, pollution or other human interference.  It is maintained as part of the Ramsar List. At present, two wetlands of India are in Montreux Record: Keoladeo National Park (Rajasthan) and Loktak Lake (Manipur). Chilika Lake (Odisha) was placed in the record but later removed from it. (MAINS FOCUS) ECONOMY/ GOVERNANCE Topic: General Studies 2,3: Awareness in the fields of IT Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation. Designing a new digital governance framework Context: India’s digital markets have witnessed three paradigm shifts this year How had India’s digital market changed in 2020? COVID-19 crisis turned into opportunity: There has been rapid digitalisation of traditional sectors, as a response to Covid-19, leading to the phenomenal growth of markets such as edtech, healthtech, telemedicine and digital on-boarding.  Ban on Chinese apps: 200 applications, which originated in China, including popular communications and entertainment platforms, have been banned due to security considerations.  Growing Opposition to US Tech Dominance: Finally, a growing set of voices advocate less dependence on American platforms such as Google that can single-handedly determine the market potential for digital start-ups Do You Know? In 2000, India had no digital unicorns, no platforms and less than one per cent of its citizens had access to the internet.  Today in India, there are 700 million broadband subscribers and sees over 400 million unique site/app visits every month, 97% of which are directed at data and content-driven entertainment Seven of the top eight global firms in terms of market capitalisation use data-centric business models, and are either American or Chinese. Why US and China dominate the digital market? Presence of Platformisation: The US and China dominate because their market conditions are conducive for “platformisation” — stacking multiple services into single catch-all applications such as Facebook or WeChat.  Network Effect of Platformisation: The combination of organised datasets and compelling content unlocks network effects that help digital businesses achieve scale. Datasets allow companies to anticipate market dynamics, tailor custom offerings, minimise transaction costs and maximise enterprise efficiency.  Virtuous Cycle aided by government: Content precipitates a virtuous cycle of consumption and production, and links digitalisation to the knowledge economy that is aided by Policy impetus provided by US & Chinese governments. Where does India lag in terms of evolving Digital Market? Intense Competition: There are five Chinese and 13 American counterparts for every digital business in India that generates over a billion dollar in annual revenues. Outdated Policy: India’s Information Technology (IT) Act, 2000, a 20-year-old law, theoretically governs all digital applications. There is a need for legal reform because our digital ecosystem has developed beyond recognition.  The modernisation of the legal framework for IT offers an unparalleled chance to generate economic gains from fast growing digital market in India (Domestic digital transactions grew at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 29.4% between FY 2018-FY 2020) What should be the guiding principle for modernisation of legal framework for IT? Traditional legal-regulatory constructs, based on licences and controls, are rule-based legal framework that allows for easier enforcement but is rigid and prevents innovation. The present times call for new legal framework that has the agility and leeway to accommodate the pace of technological change in the digital economy. Thus, there we need a new regulatory constructs to deal with digital market. One such regulatory regime is Value-based Legal framework that is more resilient to changes in technology and business models but requires thoughtful calibration and state capacity for enforcement. Such a policy design will provide legal certainty and also supports innovation.  India’s position on network neutrality (that has been repealed in USA) is an example of values-based regulatory framework Future principles could include constructs such as “platform neutrality” to ensure that large platforms do not become gatekeepers in digital markets, combined with the wider use of “fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory” terms to govern business conduct Way Ahead India can compete effectively in the global digital economy if following steps are taken Promote Paltformisation: Product businesses must become platforms, single utility platforms must transition to multi-utility ones, and these must achieve global scale.  Leverage the export orientation of IT sector: India has a strong IT base, which is already export-oriented, and new platforms can ride on its coattails to access global markets. Principles-led approach to digital governance: India will have to prioritise bold new principles over prescriptive rules and build new capacities for associated regulatory oversight. ECONOMY/ GOVERNANCE/ Topic: General Studies 2,3: Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Education, Human Resources  Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation NEP: Higher Education Institutions and Board Exams Context:  When Delhi University announced the first list of admission into undergraduate programmes in its 90 colleges this year, the cut-offs reached 100 per cent mark in some courses offered by a few colleges. Do You Know? India has nearly 1,000 universities and almost 40,000 colleges spread across the country. Many of the universities affiliate more than 1,000 colleges. However, 16.3 per cent of the colleges have an enrolment of fewer than 100 students and Only 4 per cent colleges have an enrolment over 3,000. How Gross Enrollment Ratio(GER) in Delhi is leading to high Cut-offs? According to the most recent All India Survey of Higher Education (AISHE 2018-19), Delhi’s GER is 46.3 per cent (the national GER is 26.3 per cent). This means that almost every second youth in Delhi between the age of 18 and 23 is enrolled in a higher education programme.  But the aspirations of Delhi’s youth are not met by adequate high-quality Higher Education Institutions (HEIs, including universities and standalone institutions), leading to unreasonably high cut-offs. In few other states, where the GER is close to 50 per cent, the situation is similar to that of Delhi. How NEP targets impact Higher Education Institutions? School Targets Impacting Demand for HEI: NEP 2020 aims for 100 per cent enrollment across our school stages, from pre-primary to the secondary stage. As we move towards this target, there will be a further rise in applications for higher education programmes.  Additional Seats needed in next decade: NEP 2020 has also set a target of 50 per cent enrolment in Higher Education by 2035.This would mean an additional 35 million seats to be created in HEIs across the country.  Potential for Social Crisis: Unless something transformative is done, India is headed towards a rise in the number of unemployed graduates (due to poor quality education) and a generation of disenchanted youth (due to the systemic failure in equipping them with required skill sets). How does NEP2020 tries to plug this supply gap in HEIs? Improve Accessibility: NEP 2020 recommends moving into a higher education ecosystem that consists of large multi-disciplinary HEIs, offering undergraduate and graduate programmes, one in every, or nearly every district, in the country.  Moving towards autonomy to take advantage of local needs: The HEIs will be multi-disciplinary universities and colleges; with the latter moving away from affiliation into a degree-granting HEI or a constituent college of the university. Each such institute will aim to have 3,000 or more students.  Private and Foreign Participation: The regulatory framework envisaged under NEP 2020 is light and leaning more towards self-regulation. It also allows foreign Universities to open campuses in India. All there is expected to increase the private sector’s participation in providing High Education. How should one deal with unreasonable cut-offs that will persist despite increase in HEIs? For the problem of unreasonable cut-offs to be rooted out, the assessment reforms that NEP envisages, for both school-leaving and higher education entrance, is critical. Both of these reforms have to take place simultaneously. Using school-leaving marks to create cut-offs is a lazy option employed by the HEIs to reduce the number of applicants, before launching their admission process School percentages are not good markers of an individual’s readiness to do higher education given the serious drawbacks of standardised assessments in our board exams Broader Assessment: Instead, school-leaving certificates will have to be based on an array of assessments, including a student’s performance across the secondary level — Classes IX to XII. They will factor in class assignments and tests, leading to the development of students’ portfolios. HEIs may use the portfolio of school assessments as the base, but the admission process ought to assess whether the prospective student has developed the attributes for pursuing higher education. Way Ahead If assessment system of HEI are not reformed, the country is at the risk of generating graduates in tens of millions, who will neither have the capacity to generate employment for themselves nor the capability to be employed anywhere. Connecting the dots: New Education policy 2020 Right to Education Act (TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE) Model questions: (You can now post your answers in comment section) Note:  Correct answers of today’s questions will be provided in next day’s DNA section. Kindly refer to it and update your answers.  Comments Up-voted by IASbaba are also the “correct answers”. Q.1 Which of the following is correct regarding flash floods: Flash floods are localised events of short duration Flash floods are localised events of long duration. Flash floods are generalised events of short duration Flash floods are generalised events of long duration.  Q.2 Consider the following statements regarding South Asian Flash Flood Guidance System (FFGS): A dedicated FFGS centre will be established in New Delhi.  It is developed by ISRO.  Which of the above is/are correct?  1 only  2 only  Both 1 and 2  Neither 1 nor 2  Q.3 The palk strait lies between: Bay of Bengal and Gulf of Mannar Andaman and Nicobar islands Rann of Kutch and Gulf of Khambhat Lakshadweep and Maldives ANSWERS FOR 26th October 2020 TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE (TYK) 1 A 2 D Must Read About Trump’s criticism of India’s Air Quality: The Hindu About India-USA 2+2 dialogue: The Indian Express About Political ferment in Pakistan: The Indian Express

Oct 27, 2020 RSTV Video

Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2020 – The Big Picture – RSTV IAS UPSC

Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2020 Archives Topic: General Studies 2, 3: Role of civil Society in a democracy. Formal/informal associations and their role in the Polity. Important International institutions, agencies and fora- their structure, mandate. In news: Parliament has passed Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Bill 2020 in the recently concluded Monsoon Session.  Key Provision of FCRA Bill, 2020 are: Aadhaar has been made mandatory identification document for all the office bearers of an NGO or an association seeking foreign donations. Foreign contribution can now be received only in an account designated by the bank as “FCRA account” in a branch of the State Bank of India, New Delhi (as notified by the central government). No funds other than the foreign contribution should be received or deposited in this account. Limiting administrative expenses drawn from foreign donations to 20% as against the current 50% The amended Bill includes “public servant” and “corporation owned or controlled by the Government” among the list of entities not eligible to receive foreign donations How else can one receive foreign funding? The other way to receive foreign contributions is by applying for prior permission. It is granted for receipt of a specific amount from a specific donor for carrying out specific activities or projects. But the association should be registered under statutes such as the Societies Registration Act, 1860, the Indian Trusts Act, 1882, or Section 25 of the Companies Act, 1956. A letter of commitment from the foreign donor specifying the amount and purpose is also required.  When is a registration suspended or cancelled? Financial Irregularities of NGO: The MHA on inspection of accounts and on receiving any adverse input against the functioning of an association can suspend the FCRA registration initially for 180 days.  Restriction on Functioning of NGO: Until a decision is taken, the association cannot receive any fresh donation and cannot utilise more than 25% of the amount available in the designated bank account without permission of the MHA Public Interest Violation: The government can refuse permission if it believes that the donation to the NGO will adversely affect “public interest” or the “economic interest of the state”. Recent Example: In 2017, the MHA suspended the FCRA of the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI), one of India’s largest public health advocacy groups, on grounds of using “foreign funds” to lobby with parliamentarians on tobacco control activities.  After several representations by the PHFI to the government, it was placed in the ‘prior permission’ category. Criticism of the FCRA Bill, 2020 The legislation may be used to target political opponents and religious minorities. Affects Fundamental Rights: The FCRA restrictions have serious consequences on both the rights to free speech and freedom of association under Articles 19(1)(a) and 19(1)(c) of the Constitution. Cripples NGO Functioning: Due to the 20% cap, many NGOs will shut shop and many people will become jobless. Double Standards: On one hand the government invites foreign funds, but when such funds come for educational and charitable purposes, it is prevented. Licence-Raj on NGOs: The Bill assumes that all NGOs receiving foreign grants are guilty and thus makes Aadhar of office bearers as mandatory requirement.  Open the doors for Bureaucratic Harassment: There is a thin line between enforcing transparency and using rules to allow official interference and harassment in the sector. Much of the present bill crosses that line and introduces a questionable degree of micro-management. Democratic Functioning: NGOs perform vital role of interest aggregation and interest articulation in Democratic process. Disproportionately restricting their functioning will hamper Democracy in long run. Liable to misuse due to Vagueness in law: The Act gave the government the power to frame rules whereby an organisation can be declared to have political objectives — without defining what a ‘political objective’ is. Significance of NGOs Interest Aggregators and Interest Articulators: Non-profit organisations play vital role in mobilizing public attention to societal problems and needs. They are the principal vehicle through which communities can give voice to their concerns. Complements Government Machinery: NGOs implement and monitor the government’s welfare policies, operating at the grassroots level where the official apparatus is often non-existent. Hold Government Accountable: NGOs broaden government’s accountability by ensuring government is responsive to citizens at large rather than to narrow sectarian interests. Constructive conflict resolution: In the international arena Track II diplomacy (involving non-governmental bodies) plays a crucial role in creating an environment of trust and confidence. Acts as Safety Valve: NGOs also provide a voice for marginal groups and social movements, offering a safety valve that prevents the country’s millions of local mutinies from becoming uprisings. Enriches Democratic Functioning: NGOs foster pluralism, diversity and freedom. They also perform the role of Capacity Builders – providing education, training and spreading awareness. What is the FCRA? Objective: First enacted in 1976 FCRA regulates foreign donations and ensures that such contributions do not adversely affect internal security. Applicability: The FCRA is applicable to all associations, groups and NGOs which intend to receive foreign donations. It is mandatory for all such NGOs to register themselves under the FCRA Accountability: Registered associations can receive foreign contribution for social, educational, religious, economic and cultural purposes. Filing of annual returns, on the lines of Income Tax, is compulsory. Modified rules in 2015: New rules by Ministry of Home Affairs said all such NGOs would have to operate accounts in either nationalised or private banks which have core banking facilities to allow security agencies access on a real time basis. Connecting the Dots: India’s non-profit sector Examine the key amendments and its implications of the recently passed FCRA bill. Restraining non-profit organisations is equal to restraining democracy itself. Discuss.

Oct 27, 2020 PIB

PRESS INFORMATION BUREAU (PIB) IAS UPSC – 19th October to 25th October – 2020

PRESS INFORMATION BUREAU (PIB) IAS UPSC – 19th October to 25th October – 2020 ARCHIVES GS-2 Preparation framework for Block and District development plans (Topic: Cooperative Federalism) The preparation framework for Block and District development plans has been unveiled. This framework is a step-by-step guide for Block and District Panchayats to formulate plans and will assist planners, concerned stakeholders at appropriate level. Promote inclusive development at the block and district levels by focusing on locally available resources, local people's aspirations and priority areas Serve as an important tool for all resource persons, stakeholders associated with decentralized planning in intermediate / block and district panchayats Play an important role in transforming rural India by providing accelerated, participatory and inclusive growth The 73rd amendment to the Constitution of India formalized the three-tier Panchayati Raj system – Gram Panchayat at village level Intermediate Panchayat at Block 7a / taluka / mandapal level District Panchayat at district level. The grants of the 15th Finance Commission are also being distributed to Intermediate and District Panchayats from 2020-21.  A total of Rs 60750 crore is to be distributed to the Panchayats in the year 2020-21.  Out of which Rs 45774.20 crore is for Gram Panchayats, Rs 8750.95 crore for intermediate Panchayats and Rs 6224.85 crore for District Panchayats.  These institutions need to be assisted to in formulation of comprehensive Block Development and District Development Plans for rural areas. National Deworming Day (Topic: Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health) According to the World Health Organisation, about 241 million children in India in the ages of 1-14 years are at a risk of parasitic intestinal worms or STH. This means, India accounts for approximately 28 per cent of the total number of children globally estimated to be at-risk of STH infections. National Deworming Day The objective of the National Deworming Day is at eradicating intestinal worms also known as Soil-Transmitted Helminths (STH), among preschool and school-age children (enrolled and non-enrolled) between the ages of 1-19 years through the platform of schools and anganwadi centers in order to improve their overall health, nutritional status, access to education and quality of life, reads the operational guidelines issued for NDD by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The deworming activity is carried out in all government and government aided schools and anganwadi centers.  On this day, Albendazole tablet (deworming drug) is administered to children. The day is followed by a Mop-Up Day (MUD) with the intent of deworming children who missed the dose on the NDD. According to the government data, in the first round of deworming, 8.9 crore children (1-19 years) were covered. With each round, the coverage of NDD has increased and in February 2019, the programme reached out to 22.12 crore children. The Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India is the nodal agency for providing all States/UTs with guidelines related to National Deworming Day (NDD) implementation at all levels. The programme is being implemented through the combined efforts of Department of School Education and Literacy under Ministry of Human Resource and Development, Ministry of Women and Child Development and Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation. Ministry of Panchayati Raj, Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Ministry of Rural Development, Ministry of Urban Development, and Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) also provide support to deworming program. What Are Intestinal Worms? Intestinal worms are parasites that live in the human intestines and consume nutrients and vitamins that a child consumes. There are three main types of STH that infect people Roundworm (Ascaris lumbricoides) Whipworm (Trichuris trichiura) Hookworms (Necator americanus and Ancylostoma duodenale) These worms depend on the human body for their food and survival and while being there, they lay thousands of eggs each day. STH transmission: Soil-transmitted helminths are transmitted by eggs that are passed in the faeces of infected people. Adult worms live in the intestine where they produce thousands of eggs each day. In areas that lack adequate sanitation, these eggs contaminate the soil. This can happen in several ways: Eggs that are attached to vegetables are ingested when the vegetables are not carefully cooked, washed or peeled; Eggs are ingested from contaminated water sources; Eggs are ingested by children who play in the contaminated soil and then put their hands in their mouths without washing them. In addition, hookworm eggs hatch in the soil, releasing larvae that mature into a form that can actively penetrate the skin. People become infected with hookworm primarily by walking barefoot on the contaminated soil. There is no direct person-to-person transmission, or infection from fresh faeces, because eggs passed in faeces need about 3 weeks to mature in the soil before they become infective. Since these worms do not multiply in the human host, re-infection occurs only as a result of contact with infective stages in the environment. The Symptoms Some of the common and visible signs of intestinal worm infection include unexplained weight loss, fatigue, abdominal pain, diarrhoea, and dysentery. Also, heavy infections often make children too sick or too tired to concentrate at or even attend school. If untreated or undiagnosed, worms can have a long term effect on a child’s health and development. What is the impact? Often children consume enough calories but they still suffer from undernutrition largely because their diets are deficient in the essential vitamins and minerals necessary for proper physical and mental development.  In addition to this, suffering from intestinal worms’ infection aggravate and intensify the loss of nutrients, especially vitamin A and Iron. This co-existence of micronutrient deficiencies and worm infestation result in impaired growth and development of our young ones. Soil-transmitted helminths impair the nutritional status of the people they infect in multiple ways. The worms feed on host tissues, including blood, which leads to a loss of iron and protein. Hookworms in addition cause chronic intestinal blood loss that can result in anaemia. The worms increase malabsorption of nutrients. In addition, roundworm may possibly compete for vitamin A in the intestine. Some soil-transmitted helminths also cause loss of appetite and, therefore, a reduction of nutritional intake and physical fitness. In particular, T. trichiura can cause diarrhoea and dysentery. Morbidity is related to the number of worms harboured. People with infections of light intensity (few worms) usually do not suffer from the infection. Heavier infections can cause a range of symptoms including intestinal manifestations (diarrhoea and abdominal pain), malnutrition, general malaise and weakness, and impaired growth and physical development. Infections of very high intensity can cause intestinal obstruction that should be treated surgically. The Treatment Albendazole tablet is the suggested deworming drug and its dosage depends on how young a child is. According to experts, Albendazole is an effective drug and doesn’t have any significant adverse effects. Prevention is better than Cure Two main areas for prevention of worm infestation include  Ensuring improved access to clean water, sanitation, and hygiene and overall clean surroundings to children so that chances of any infection are minimised Improving the quality of food consumed (by optimal processing and cooking techniques like washing raw fruits and vegetables with clean water) To not let the worms breathe  Promote the integration of deworming activities within existing public health programs and inter-sectoral platforms in order to optimise coverage Plan optimal delivery strategies for deworming activities that are responsive to local conditions Cabinet approves  Memorandum of Understanding between India and Nigeria on Cooperation in the Exploration and uses of outer space for peaceful purposes The MoU has been signed between Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) of India and by National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA) of Nigeria at Abuja. Enable potential interest areas of cooperation such as, Remote sensing of the earth; Satellite communication and satellite-based navigation; Space science end planetary exploration; Use of spacecraft, launch vehicles, space systems and ground systems; Practical applications of space technology including geospatial tools and techniques This MoU would lead to set up a Joint Working Group, drawing members from Department of Space (DOS)/ISRO and National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA) of Nigeria, which will further work out the plan of action including the time-frame and the means of implementation. MoU between ICAI, India and CPA, Papua New Guinea To hold and conduct technical events, seminars and conferences in PNG, Establishing possible cooperation and collaboration in areas of Corporate Governance, technical research and advice, quality assurance, forensic accounting, Continuing Professional Development (CPD) and other subjects of mutual interest. Share available unrestricted information concerning the accountancy profession in India and PNG and internationally when required, develop the modules for specific subjects for CPA, PNG Examination. To have students and faculty exchange programs. Offer short term professional courses in the domain of accounting, finance and audit in PNG. ADB, India sign $177 million loan for state road improvements in Maharashtra (Topic: India and international forums and agreements) Will improve connectivity between rural areas and urban centres in the state enabling rural communities to better access markets, employment opportunities and services. Improved mobility will expand development and livelihood opportunities outside of the state’s major urban centers to second-tier cities and towns thus reducing income disparities. Will also strengthen road safety measures by developing a road safety audit framework that will protect vulnerable groups such as the elderly, women, and children, following the international best practice.  Update road maintenance system by encouraging 5-year performance-based maintenance obligations to contractors to sustain asset quality and service levels. Focus on training the Maharashtra Public Works Department project staff to build their capacity in climate change adaptation and disaster resilient features in road design, road maintenance planning and road safety. World Bank- IMF annual meeting 2020 (Topic: India and international forums and agreements) Theme 1: “Unleashing the South Asian Century through Human Capital for All “ and “Investing in Covid-19 Vaccines and Primary Healthcare Delivery System” India has been following a pre-emptive, proactive, and graded response characterised by a “Whole of Society, Whole of Government” approach to manage the challenges posed by the global pandemic. Innovation, ability and agility of the private sector has supported the efforts to fight COVID in a big way. PPEs, N95 masks, Oxygen, ventilators and diagnostic tests kits were developed at a jet pace to ensure self-sufficiency.  Medical infrastructure saw an exponential growth, from having one lab in March, 2020 to around 2000 laboratories as on date with nearly half of the labs from the private sector. The same is true for dedicated ICU facilities and isolation centers. India is making use of Information Technology in virtually every aspect of COVID management- AarogyaSetu app and ITIHAS, a cellular based tracking technology has been used for surveillance and identification of potential clusters, RT-PCR app for testing, facility app for managing information on admitted patients, all integrated with a single COVID portal. Rolled out a special economic and comprehensive package of 272 US Billion Dollars - equivalent to 10% of India’s GDP under Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan (Self Reliance India Programme) which includes a component of increasing investments in public health and health reforms to prepare India for future pandemics. 1st ever Ministerial Meeting of G-20 Anti-Corruption Working Group (Topic: India and international forums and agreements) India is committed to the policy of zero tolerance against corruption and unaccounted money The India’s Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 got amended after 30 years in 2018 to introduce a number of new provisions including criminalizing the act of giving bribe also in addition to taking bribe and at the same time putting in place an effective deterrence for such actions by individuals as well as corporate entities. It aims at checking corruption in big places and striking hard against corporate bribery. It seeks to establish a vicarious liability so that the actual bribe giver is also exposed. The aim is to bring in more transparency, more citizen centricity and more accountability in governance and is indicated by its decisive initiatives to operationalize the institution of the Lokpal in the country to check corruption at high places. The world is presently combating serious emerging challenges of Fugitive Economic Offenders and Assets which flee across national jurisdiction. India’s Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, 2018 empowers authorities for non-conviction based attachments and confiscation of proceeds of crime and properties as well as assets of a Fugitive Economic Offender. India has ceased the issue of the accused taking shelter in the foreign country and concealing the proceeds of crime. After 35 years, India assumes the Chairmanship of the Governing Body of International Labour Organization (Topic: India and international forums and agreements) After 35 years, India has assumed the Chairmanship of the Governing Body of International Labour Organization,  marking a new chapter in the 100 years of productive relationship between India and ILO. The Governing Body (GB) is the apex executive body of the ILO which decides policies, programmes, agenda, budget and elects the Director-General. At present ILO has 187 members. It will also provide a platform to appraise participants of the transformational initiatives taken by Government in removing the rigidities of labour market besides makingits  intention clear about universalization of social security to all workers whether in organised or unorganised sector. GS-3 Final trial of anti-tank guided missile 'Nag' successful, ready for induction in Army (Topic: Defence) In a major boost for the indigenisation in defence sector, India today successfully carried out the final trial of the Nag anti-tank guided missile after which the weapon system is now ready for induction into the Indian Army. Indian Army has been looking for such a missile system to take down the enemy tanks and other armoured vehicles. The Nag Missile system fired from a Nag Missile Carrier (NAMICA) can take our targets at ranges of 4 to 7 kilometres and is fitted with an advanced seeker to home on to its target. Details A third-generation anti-tank guided missile, which has top attack capabilities that can effectively engage and destroy all known enemy tanks during day and night The Army needs third-generation ATGMs with a strike range of over 2.5km with fire and forget capabilities. It needs them to equip its mechanised infantry units to carry them on their Russian BMP vehicles. The army is currently using second-generation Milan 2T and Konkur ATGMs and has been looking for about third-generation missiles, which are important for stopping advancing enemy tanks. The Defence Ministry in 2018 had cleared the acquisition of 300 Nag missiles and 25 NAMICAs for the Indian Army. India’s first Multi-modal Logistic Park (Topic: Transport) Location: At Jogighopa in Assam The Rs 693.97 crore park will provide direct air, road, rail and waterways connectivity to the people.  It will be developed under the ambitious Bharatmala Pariyojana of the Government of India Cost effective mode of transport will be cheaper option for trade, business and transportation and will boost the trade across the borders especially with our eastern neighbours by leaps and bounds Bharatmala Pariyojana It is an umbrella program for the highways sector. Initiated by: Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. Status:  A total of 322 projects in a length of 12,413 km have been awarded and 2921 km has been constructed under Bharatmala Pariyojana till August 2020. Phase-I of Bharatmala Pariyojana: Implementation of 34,800 km of national highways in 5 years (from 2017 to 2022) has been approved (Rs. 5,35,000 crore). Phase-II: Around 48,000 km of road network across India by 2024. Objectives: To optimise the efficiency of freight and passenger movement across India by bridging critical infrastructure gaps through effective interventions To generate a large number of direct and indirect employment opportunities in the construction and infrastructure sector To connect 550 districts in the country through national highway linkages. Effective measures: Development of economic corridors, inter corridors and feeder routes, national corridor efficiency improvement, border and international connectivity roads, coastal and port connectivity roads and Greenfield expressways.  Features:  (1) Improvement in the efficiency of existing corridors through the development of Multimodal Logistics Parks and elimination of chokepoint (2) Improving connectivity in North East and increasing harmony with Inland Waterways (3) Emphasis on the use of scientific and technological planning (4) Satellite mapping of corridor (5) Delegation of powers for successful completion of Phase I by 2022. Do you know? Economic Corridors: These are integrated networks of infrastructure within a geographical area designed to stimulate economic development. Greenfield Projects: They lack constraints imposed by prior work on the site. Typically, it entails development on a completely vacant site and architects start completely from scratch. Brownfield Projects: They carry constraints related to the current state of the site and might be contaminated or have existing structures that architects have to tear down or modify in some way before the project can move forward. Multimodal Logistics Parks: These are a key policy initiative of the Government of India to improve the country’s logistics sector by lowering overall freight costs, reducing vehicular pollution and congestion, and cutting warehousing costs. Chokepoint: It is a single point through which all incoming and outgoing network traffic is funnelled and hence, leads to congestion and traffic. Development of Indigenous Software solution for VTS and VTMS (Topic: Technology) Vessel traffic services (VTS) and Vessels Traffic Monitoring Systems (VTMS) is a software for determining vessel positions, position of other traffic or meteorological hazard warnings and extensively manages the traffic within a port or waterway. Vessel Traffic Services (VTS) contribute to safety of life at sea, safety and efficiency of navigation and protection of the marine environment, adjacent shore areas, work sites and offshore installations from possible adverse effects of maritime traffic.  Vessels Traffic Management Systems are installed in some of the busiest waters in the world, and are making valuable contribution to safer navigation, more efficient traffic flow, and protection of the environment.  Traffic flow in busy approach routes, access channels, and harbours can be coordinated safely, in the best interest of port and its users. Incidents and emergency situations can be dealt with quickly.  Data from traffic movements can be stored and used as reference information for port administration, port authorities, coastguards and search and rescue services. Development of the indigenous VTS software will reduce the expenditure of foreign exchange on this issue and also minimize the dependence on foreign support for VTS software. Accordingly, indigenous development of VTS software will benefit with respect to: Saving of foreign exchange for various VTSs in India VTS Software can be provided to Indian trade friendly nations viz. Maldives, Mauritius, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Mauritius, Bangladesh and Gulf countries. Will also minimize the cost for future upgradations of software. Shall be easier to interconnect with MIS/ERP softwares of ports. Availability of Indian VTS software shall make Indian companies to be competitive commercially in global bids. Government committed to landscape restoration for snow leopard habitat conservation (Topic: Animal Conservation; Environment and Biodiversity) International Snow Leopard Day is observed on 23rd October.  International Snow Leopard Day came into being on 23rd October, 2013 when Bishkek Declaration was adopted by 12 countries on the conservation of snow leopards. The 12 countries included: India, Nepal, Bhutan, China, Mongolia, Russia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. Government of India has been conserving snow leopard and its habitat through the Project Snow Leopard (PSL). The PSL was launched in 2009. India has identified three large landscapes, namely,  Hemis-Spiti across Ladakh and Himachal Pradesh Nanda Devi – Gangotri in Uttarakhand Khangchendzonga – Tawang across Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh In India, their geographical range encompasses a large part of the western Himalayas including the states and UTs of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh.  Protecting the snow leopard and its habitat ensures protection of the major Himalayan rivers that support the teeming millions downstream. It also ensures that the ecological balance is maintained in these fragile ecosystems. India is also party to the Global Snow Leopard and Ecosystem Protection (GSLEP) Programme since 2013. India has also launched a community volunteer programme “HimalSanrakshak”  The Government of India has identified the snow leopard as a flagship species for the high-altitude Himalayas. Snow Leopard is in the list of 21 critically endangered species for the recovery programme of the Ministry of Environment Forest & Climate Change. SECURE Himalaya: Global Environment Facility (GEF)-UNDP funded project on conservation of high altitude biodiversity “New Delhi Statement” of strengthening the resolve of the snow leopard range countries towards conservation of the mountain ecosystems of Central and South Asia. First National Protocol was also launched last year on Snow Leopard Population Assessment which has been very useful for monitoring populations. In line with other projects, this initiative exclusively focuses on developing landscape-based management plans, habitat restoration plans, livelihoods improvement, mitigation of wildlife crime and illegal trade in wildlife, human-wildlife conflict mitigation strategies, improving awareness and communications strategies. The project also encourages the States and UTs to adopt innovative strategies to resolve issues related to multi-stakeholder landscape management, human-wildlife conflicts, wildlife crime and trade in wildlife parts and products, capacity building, climate-smart energy solutions etc. Global Snow Leopard and Ecosystem Protection (GSLEP) Programme: This multi-lateral programme comprises of 12 snow leopard range countries and they have developed national priorities and identified large landscapes to support viable populations of snow leopards.  Snow Leopard  It is also known as Ghost of the mountains.  They are positioned as the top predator in the food web. It acts as an indicator of the health of the mountain ecosystem in which they live.  Habitat: Higher Himalayan and trans-Himalayan landscape in  J&K;, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim, and Arunachal Pradesh. India is home to 5 big cats: Snow Leopard, Lion, Tiger, Common Leopard, and Clouded Leopard. Snow Leopard capital of the world: Hemis, Ladakh. Threat: Reduction in prey populations, illegal poaching and increased human population infiltration into the species habitat and illegal trade of wildlife parts and products  IUCN Red List: Vulnerable CITES: Appendix I Convention on Migratory Species (CMS): Appendix I Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972: Schedule I Hemis National Park is the biggest national park of India and also has a good presence of Snow Leopard. Waste Management in India (Topic: Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation) Years of neglect, lack of foresight and complete absence of urban planning has left India with mountains of waste-landfills, waste-choked drains, water bodies and rivers. This is called “legacy waste”, a cumulative consequence of decades of neglect and lack of foresight. India faces a challenge of treating and getting rid of the legacy waste, with simultaneous and continuous accumulation of fresh everyday waste.  How staggering is the issue? India generates the most waste globally, about 275 million tonnes of waste per year.  With current waste treatment rates of about 20-25%, the majority of waste remains untreated, in a heap, on landfills, and an equal amount in drains and river bodies. Drains and water bodies, emptying out into Indian rivers, also carry with them an unimaginable amount of waste. The Ganga is among the top 10 polluted rivers in the world, together accounting for 90% of the total ocean plastic pollution. Central, state, city and municipal governments, over decades, have not been able to prevent the situation, nor deal with its scale.  Out of a total 92 large WTE(Waste-to-Energy) plants only a small fraction is operational. The plants that are operational, run at suboptimal capacity.  Suggested solutions: India needs affordable, decentralised, customised solutions: Municipalities need to have access to affordable technology.  Local situations needs local solutions: Today most of the technology/equipment needed for waste management is imported, expensive and often not suited in our varied local situations.Amphibian equipment to clean water bodies is imported and can work well for large water bodies. Indigenisation of design and manufacturing of such equipment for smaller drains and water bodies is essential.  Atmanirbhar Bharat (self-reliant India) needs to kick in immediately.  Ease of procurement of technology and equipment:  Evolving a less cumbersome process for the procurement of technology and equipment is imperative. State governments are hit by a double whammy due to lack of technology and a rigid procurement system.  Policy change: Policy which provides a direction to accelerate the removal of waste exponentially is needed.  One way, used internationally, is to unlock the land value under landfills. Allowing agencies, companies or industry that clear waste, to own the land can fund the clean-up.  Development of skilled and trained professional personnel to operate and maintain the waste management chain, right from collection, operation and maintenance of waste-handling plants. Moving to a zero-waste society.  Central, and integral to success, is design. Design in the collection, of centralised and decentralised waste treatment plants, and of the equipment used. Design of waste management should be the bedrock of a well-planned smart city, town or village. What are the sustainable strategies to address the problem of solid waste? A multi-pronged approach, including Technical, organisational and financial strategies for sustainable waste and resource management, is required. Waste-to-energy technologies In recent years, waste disposal companies have increasingly been offering partners in developing and emerging countries technologies for recovering energy from waste, based in part on their potential for climate change mitigation. Avoidance of marine litter Various national policy instruments are being examined to determine their effectiveness in reducing marine litter; models are generated to demonstrate their economic, environmental and social impact. Electronic waste Extended Producer Responsibility and “Reduce, Re-use and Recycle” are the best of available sustainable strategies for handling of Electronic waste. Economic instruments For local and national administrations, the costs associated with waste management are considerable. In addition to the traditional approaches to financing, economic incentive systems can be developed to avoid or recycle waste. The focus here is on concepts such as product taxation, deposit systems or user charges. India’s Solid waste management rules, 2016 and E-waste management rules, 2016 are good examples of sustainable strategies to problems of waste management. Solid Waste treatment and disposal utilizing plasma arc gasification process is an option for eco-friendly solid waste management in which large volume reduction of waste up to 95% is possible. The plasma gasification process uses electricity to generate high temperature plasma arc (above 3000°C) inside the plasma reactor which converts the waste into syngas. The produced syngas when passed through a series of gas purification system comprising of catalytic converter, redox reactor, cyclone separator, scrubber and condenser is ready for use in gas engines for generation of electricity.The residual ash can bemixed with cement for preparation of recycled bricks for usage in construction. Thus, Science helps in the creation of ‘Wealth from Waste’. Some of the salient features of SWM Rules, 2016 include: – The source segregation of waste and Responsibilities of Generators has been mandated. Integration of waste pickers/ rag-pickers and waste dealers/ Kabadiwalas in the formal system Generator will have to pay ‘User Fee’ to waste collector and for ‘Spot Fine’ for Littering and Non-segregation New townships and Group Housing Societies have been made responsible to develop in-house waste handling, and processing arrangements for bio-degradable waste. Problems of construction and demolition waste, horticulture waste and garden waste and strategies to resolve them are also mentioned briefly in rules. Some of the salient features of the E-waste (Management) Amendment Rules, 2018 are as follows: Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), which put the onus on the producer for the management of the final stages of the life of its product, in an eco-friendly way. The Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) is the global best practice to ensure the take-back of the end-of-life products. A new arrangement entitled, ‘Producer Responsibility Organisation’ (PRO) has been introduced to strengthen EPR further. Prelims-oriented News Malabar 2020 Naval Exercise: A bilateral Indian Navy-US Navy exercise Highest number of COVID- 19 recoveries: India Introducing asafoetida (Heeng) cultivation in Indian Himalayan region Farmers of the remote Lahaul valley in Himachal Pradesh takes up cultivation of asafoetida (Heeng) to utilize vast expanses of waste land in the cold desert conditions of the region Asafoetida is one of the top condiments and is a high value spice crop in India.  India imports about 1200 tonnes of raw asafoetida annually from Afghanistan, Iran and Uzbekistan and spends approximately 100 million USD per year.  Lack of planting material of Ferula assa-foetida plants in India was a major bottleneck in cultivation of this crop. Raw asafoetida is extracted from the fleshy roots of Ferula assa-foetida as an oleo-gum resin. Although, there are about 130 species of Ferula found in the world, but only Ferula assa-foetidais the economically important species used for the production of asafoetida.  In India, we do not have Ferula assa-foetida, but other species Ferula jaeschkeana is reported from the western Himalaya (Chamba, HP), and Ferula narthex from Kashmir and Ladakh, which are not the species that yield asafoetida. Ayushman Sahakar Fund: For creation of healthcare infrastructure by cooperatives Cooperatives utilizing the scheme would be able to bring revolution in comprehensive health care services in rural areas Formulated by the apex autonomous development finance institution under the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, the National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) NCDC’s scheme aligns itself with the focus of the National Health Policy, 2017, covering the health systems in all their dimensions- investments in health, organization of healthcare services, access to technologies, development of human resources, encouragement of medical pluralism, affordable health care to farmers etc. It has a comprehensive approach-hospitals, healthcare, medical education, nursing education, paramedical education, health insurance and holistic health systems such as AYUSH. Ayushman Sahakar scheme fund would also assist cooperative hospitals take up medical / Ayush education. The scheme also provides working capital and margin money to meet operational requirements. The scheme provides interest subvention of one percent to women majority cooperatives. Navy Operationalizes First Batch of Women Pilots: The first batch of women pilots of Indian Navy have been operationalized on Dornier Aircraft by the Southern Naval Command (SNC) at Kochi. The three women pilots were part of the six pilots of the 27th Dornier Operational Flying Training  (DOFT) Course, who graduated as ‘Fully operational Maritime Reconnaissance (MR) Pilots’ at a passing out ceremony held at INS Garuda, Kochi in 2020.

Oct 27, 2020 TLP Mains 2020

SYNOPSIS [26th OCTOBER,2020] Day 13: IASbaba’s TLP (Phase 2): UPSC Mains Answer Writing (General Studies)

For Previous TLP (ARCHIVES) - CLICK HERE   SYNOPSIS [26th OCTOBER,2020] Day 13: IASbaba’s TLP (Phase 2): UPSC Mains Answer Writing (General Studies) 1.How sustainable is the vision of export led economic growth in the current changing global order? Critically examine. Approach:  It expects student to write about - in first part write about positive aspects of export led economic growth - in second part mention why it is not sustainable for economy - in third part write way forward/suggestions. Introduction: Export led growth is where a significant part of the expansion of real GDP, jobs and per capita incomes flows from the successful exporting of goods and services from one country to another. As the global supply chains look to diversify their sources, amid Covid-19 pandemic, India hopes to become one of the replacements for China. Moreover, the idea of turning the Indian economy into an export-led economy is not new. Body: Export-led growth sustainable due to: Exports of goods and services are an injection into the circular flow of income leading to a rise in aggregate demand and an expansion of output. This helps to raise per capita incomes and reduce extreme poverty especially in developing/emerging economies. Growing export sales provide revenues and profits for businesses which can then feed through to an increase in capital investment spending through the accelerator effect. Higher investment increases a country’s productive capacity which then increases the potential for exports. Many industries help facilitate trade such as trade insurance, logistics and port facilities. Countries with fast-growing export sectors are likely to see increased investment and employment in these related industries. A good example is the importance of trade to countries such as the Netherlands (including the port of Rotterdam), and Singapore and Hong Kong both of which have developed in globally-scaled hubs for trade. India’s big, unexploited opportunities are in unskilled labour exports. India is vastly under-exporting relative to its labour force. Because China’s wages are rising as it has become richer, it has vacated about $140 billion in exports in unskilled-labour intensive sectors. Post-COVID, the move of investors away from China will probably accelerate to hedge against supply chain disruptions. As India contemplates atmanirbharta, two deeper advantages of export orientation are always worth remembering. 1) Foreign demand will always be bigger than domestic demand for any country. 2) If domestic producers are competitive internationally, they will be competitive domestically and domestic consumers and firms will also benefit. However, there are potential risks and drawbacks from export-led growth: Focusing on exporting might lead to over-dependence on the economic cycles of trade partner countries and vulnerability to external economic and political shocks. Running persistent trade surpluses might incite a protectionist response from other nations who feel that the benefits of trade have been unequally skewed in favour of exporting countries. Huge trade imbalances remain a big concern in the global economic system. Production capacity allocated to supply goods and services for export cannot be put to use meeting domestic needs and wants. There might be a consequent dip in domestic living standards unless the country is also prepared to import goods and services using the revenue generated from exporting. Rapid export-led growth might lead to demand pull inflation and higher interest rates. High relative inflation might then have the effect of making export industries less competitive in overseas markets and domestic producers less price competitive against imports. Export-led growth might be unsustainable if it contributes extraction of natural resources beyond what is required for long term balanced growth to be maintained. Consider for example the impact of deforestation and over-fishing and degradation of land by industrial-scale farming. Way Forward: Building Domestic Demand: No matter how bleak the global demand remains in the present times, a robust industrial architecture is crucial for a country to become self-sufficient. Thus, there is a need to build strong domestic demand, to sustain industrial activity in India. Focus on Knowledge Power: As the population in the majority of the developed world is ageing, India can leverage its demographic dividend and export its human resource to the world. For this, India needs to invest in its education, research & innovation capabilities and turn into a Knowledge superpower. Addressing Structural Issues: All countries that promoted export-led growth invested heavily in human capital and ensured very good infrastructure with ports, roads, airports and railways. Thus, India needs to: Invest in its labour force and provide them with regular, affordable food supply and housing. Build a well- functioning infrastructure and take various trade facilitation measures like easier customs clearances, less paperwork. Economic Decentralisation: There is also the need for economic planning to be devolved lower and lower down all levels of government so that people are empowered to take up an economic activity that suits them and develop the resilience needed to respond to new opportunities and threats. Providing Easy Credit: Providing easy credit remains a critical aspect of mobilising investment. Hence, India also needs cleaning up of the Non-Performing Assets. In this context, the privatisation of banks will be a step in the right direction. Conclusion: The idea of the export-led economy has been very successful for many East-Asian countries (also called East-Asian Miracle). In the 1960s and 70s, these countries transformed their economies rapidly from developing countries to become middle-income countries through high export. However, the viability of a new export-based economy, that India aspires to be, depends on policy restructuring, reaping demographic dividend and leveraging its domestic market. 2. Why is India grappling with the challenge of unemployment? Discuss. Examine the sectors that have high potential for creating jobs for the youth. Approach: As the question has two directives it is better to answer straightforwardly. The core of the question lies in unemployment and creating jobs for the youth. Hence, one can start by introducing some facts or stats regarding unemployment besides quoting any report regarding unemployment. In main body part, it is necessary to divide the question in two parts. For the first half of the answer, candidate needs to write the reasons due to which India is grappling with the challenge of unemployment. As a bridging gap between first half and second half, candidate may show which sectors have high potential for creating jobs for youth. In the second half, directive is examine, here a candidate is expected to investigate and establish the key facts and issues related to those specific sectors which have the high potential for creating jobs for the youth in India.  For value addition, one can show a graph regarding unemployment, mentioning sector specific unemployment in table format, one can also mention current government schemes/programmes which works with objective of creating employment.  Introduction: Unemployment occurs when a person who is actively searching for employment is unable to find work. As per the report of Centre For Monitoring Indian Economy(CMEI), unemployment rate in India fell to 7% in September 2020 from 3.37% of July 2017. As unemployment indicates the health of the economy and has subsequent critical domino effects on economy, it becomes essential to look at the reasons due to which India is grappling with the challenge of unemployment.  Body: Reasons for grappling challenge of  unemployment in India: Most of the decline in employment has happened due to the fall in the number of workers in agriculture and a sharp fall in the absolute number of female workers. Roughly 37 million workers left agriculture in the last six years. During the same time, 25 million women workers were out of the workforce. However, The low productivity in the agriculture sector plus the lack of alternative opportunities for agricultural workers makes transition among the three sectors difficult. Surprising trend is of declining women workers, which has absolutely no parallel in any developing or developed country of similar per capita income. In most East Asian countries, the period of rapid growth was also accompanied by a rising number of women workers. Along with the fact that the number of people aged 25-64 years increased by around 47 million during the six-year period, it also means that the economy should have created at least 83 million jobs between 2012 and 2018 to accommodate those who have entered the labour force and those forced out of agriculture.  The unemployment in India is not due to single reason, but it is due to multitude of reasons. For instance, disguised unemployment, structural unemployment, seasonal unemployment, vulnerable unemployment, technological unemployment, cyclical unemployment, and cyclical unemployment. Hence, it becomes a multi-fold crisis for India as economy is interdependent.  Inadequate skills: Lack of vocational skills, skill gap of the working population posed one of the biggest sector specific challenge of unemployment. For instance, According to the Developer Skills report of an online learning platform, there is a strong mismatch between the frameworks/ skills required by the corporate world and the ones being learned by students. Close to 80% of the engineers blamed a lack of focus and hands-on coding experience for this situation.  In the past few years, India’s GDP grew at about 7-8%, but growth does not translated into creating more employment opportunities for the labour force of the country. For instance, the number of salaried jobs contracted by 1.8% in 2019-20. So, even before Covid kicked in, we were struggling to create salaried jobs.  Legal complexities, Inadequate state support, low infrastructural, financial and market linkages to small businesses making such enterprises unviable with cost and compliance overruns. For instance, despite the fact that attempt were made to lure foreign investors to set up their manufacturing plants in India under Make in India initiative. Very less investors are attracted to set up their manufacturing plants in India, just like Apple manufacturing plant set up issue.  Also figures can be cited that in 2014, the share of manufacturing in India's GDP was 15%, However, in 2019 it contracted by 1% reaching to 14%.  Inadequate growth of infrastructure and low investments in the manufacturing sector, hence restricting the employment potential of the secondary sector. For  instance, despite being an emerging field in the economy, electric vehicles market is failing to create more job opportunities in 2nd and 3rd tier cities. The huge workforce of the country is associated with the informal sector because of a lack of required education or skills, and this data is not captured in employment statistics.  The core cause of structural unemployment lies in  the education we provide and how we provide it. For instance, the system of rote learning and targeting marks as an indicator of merit led to loss of true potential of child's intellect, like Indian middle class aspiration of making their son engineer and daughter.  Gender based selection of jobs is also one of the factors which is affecting the job availability. For instance, a day time job is considered as safe and secure job for woman. Which contradicts job choices for woman.  As per CMEI report, even before Covid-19, job opportunities were low for Indian youth. For instance, in November 2019, Unemployment rate in India fell to 7.48% which is evident in Graph 1. Graph 1: Unemployment Rate in India (November 2019) Unemployment affects the economy of the country as the workforce that could have been gainfully employed to generate resources actually gets dependent on the remaining working population, thus escalating socio-economic costs for the state. For instance, a 1 % increase in unemployment reduces the GDP by 2 %. Hence, creation of job opportunities becomes of critical importance. Meanwhile, manufacturing sector in the economy holds the key to create more jobs in India due to its forward and backward linkages.  There are number of labour intensive manufacturing sectors in India such as food processing, leather and footwear, wood manufacturers and furniture, textiles and apparel and garments. Special packages, individually designed for each industry are needed to create jobs. The share of manufacturing in the Indian economy has varied between 14.7% of gross domestic product (GDP) and 16.7% of the GDP, between FY05 and FY20. Manufacturing activity leads to the creation of large employment in several service sector areas for instance, consider industry of readymade garments where backward linkages will provide job opportunities for youth in the rural areas for raw materials production, transport and for the youth in urban area with subsequent industrial and market development. Of course, just manufacturing cannot create enough jobs for the 10-12 million individuals who enter the workforce every year in India. In stark contrast, between 2004-05 and 2019-20, the share of services in the economy has gradually increased from 43.5% of the GDP to 50.4%. As per the study conducted by Climate Policy Initiative and Indian School of Business, India’s renewable energy sector, including the solar and wind power generation segments, could create new job opportunities between 2 million and 4.5 million over the next 25 years. Besides tourism industry has more potential to generate more jobs. For instance, tourism Council calculated that tourism generated 8.31 lakh crore (US$120 billion) or 6.3% of the nation's GDP in 2015 and supported 37.315 million jobs, 8.7% of its total employment. The sector is predicted to grow at an average annual rate of 7.5%. Credit facilities have not been penetrated in to rural areas. The current grants to Microcredit institutes and small scale banks holds the key potential to create more jobs. For instance, network of Garmeen bank in Bangladesh.  It  not only holds the potential to generate jobs in banking sector, but also in other sectors too such as a loan granted to one organisation will create other jobs due to its forward and backward linkages. By improving the infrastructure and building post-harvest storage & processing units, and improving transportation facilities to distribute and sell the produce can create a large number of employment opportunities. Raising farmers’ income is very important to boost the agricultural sector. For that, Minimum Support Price should be increased. Taking steps to boost Agri exports can also create number of jobs. Approximately 51% of MSMEs are in rural India. Strengthening them and providing the necessary tools & technologies to MSMEs can create multiple job opportunities. Also new fields like Artificial intelligence and Machine Learning hold the potential to create more jobs. According to accountancy firm PwC, over 7 million jobs will be displaced by AI between 2017 and 2037. However, it will also lead to the generation of 7.2 million jobs, which is a net gain of 200,000 jobs in India. For sector specific job creation opportunities, Government of India launched following schemes to ensure creation of job opportunities. For instance, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act launched in 2005 providing the right to work to people. An employment scheme of MGNREGA aimed to provide social security by guaranteeing a minimum of 100 days paid work per year to all the families whose adult members opt for unskilled labour-intensive work. However, recently Azim Premji Foundation suggested increasing MGNREGA workdays from 100 to 200 to compensate for the lack of employment opportunities in rural areas. Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana was launched in 2015. The objective of PMKVY was to enable the youth of the country to take up industry-relevant skill training in order to acquire a secured better livelihood. The government launched the Start-Up India Scheme in 2016. The aim of Startup India programmes was to develop an ecosystem that nurtures and promotes entrepreneurship across the nation. Besides, Stand Up India Scheme also launched in 2016 aimed to facilitate bank loans to women and SC/ST borrowers between Rs 10 lakh and Rs. 1 crore for setting up a greenfield enterprise.  National Skill Development Mission was set up in November 2014 to drive the ‘Skill India’ agenda in a ‘Mission Mode’ in order to converge the existing skill training initiatives and combine scale and quality of skilling efforts, with speed. Conclusion: India has the opportunity to build a productive and inclusive workforce in the near future due to its advantage of demographic dividend. However, necessary cautions have to be addressed. It will not only help to create more jobs and reduction of unemployment in near future but  it will help to ensure realising the dream of 'Aatm Nirbhar Bharat'.  3. The continuance of retrospective amendments to taxation laws hurts investor sentiments and is detrimental to India’s economic aspirations. Do you agree? Substantiate your views. Approach – You need to enumerate various recent retrospective amendments to taxation laws and show its effect on investor sentiments as well as India’s economic aspirations in both positive and negative forms while also mentioning the side you agree with. Proper substantiation of points is necessary. Introduction      India, one of the fastest growing economies of the world with an exemplary rate of GDP, has tax as the main source of Government revenue, which contributes approximately 18% revenue to the GDP, and has always been a very sensitive issue taking into consideration the economic condition of population at large which have led to issues like retrospective amendments to taxations laws. Body    Retrospective taxation allows a country to pass a rule on taxing certain products, items or services and deals and charge companies from a time behind the date on which the law is passed. Consequently, the retrospective amendments to taxation laws can be seen to have the following benefits:     From the ancient time, retrospective law or ex post facto law has been a part of standard jurisprudence. It is neither an Indian creation, nor it is being used exclusively in India. Some retrospective amendments are always required either to prevent the misuse of law or to harmonize various decisions of honourable courts with the statutes. Further, many experts opine that such amendments are sometimes required to correct the “aberrations” that had come in by decisions of the quasi-judicial bodies, which went against the legislative intent. Many consider this instrument as a platform of a great instrument to finance State welfare and achieve the much desired dream of egalitarianism. Apart from India, many countries including the US, the UK, the Netherlands, Canada, Belgium, Australia and Italy have retrospectively taxed companies, which had taken the benefit of loopholes in the previous law. At the same time, continuance of retrospective amendments to taxation laws can be seen as hurting investor sentiments and detrimental to India’s economic aspirations due to the following points: Introducing a retrospective taxation amendment into a present taxation system is hard on both ends i.e. for the government to implement and for the people to accept. The increased money flow towards the government results in lack of credit in the hands of the public and they are left helpless with a heavy tax burden on their heads. A company’s business decisions are based upon the tax situation that exists today. It is very difficult to organize its activities today based on a future law that will be made applicable from today. An ideal tax system should be predictable certain and stable. Hence retrospective implementation is considered a bad move. Hurts Investor Confidence: The amendments are criticised by investors globally, who said the change in law was “perverse” in nature. This impacts the market sentiment and the flow of foreign funds to India. Hurts Companies: While governments often use a retrospective amendment to taxation laws to “clarify” existing laws, it ends up hurting companies that had knowingly or unknowingly interpreted the tax rules differently. As a retrospective amendment affects ongoing contracts too, it is very difficult for the contracting parties to accommodate a new levy against their private interest agreeable to both ends at once. In addition to domestic issues, international transactions also suffer a heavy blow and will certainly affect the foreign investment and faith, triggering financial crunches. The legislature in recent times has perverted its power to enact retrospective changes in taxing statutes. One major instance would be of the Finance Act, 2009, which exemplifies several retrospective alterations in the Income Tax Act. For example – the Vodafone case. Way Forward -  Reducing scope of litigation by signing Advance-pricing Agreements (APA’s) to avoid Transfer pricing disputes. Need to Bring More Clarity on Tax laws: India has already rolled out Anti-tax avoidance regulations i.e. the General Anti-Avoidance Rules (GAAR) from assessment year 2018-19. Indian Finance Code for simplification of taxation laws in India. In this context there is a need to implement recommendations of the Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission. Implementing Shome Committee recommendations: which recommended that any taxation involving indirect transfer of assets located in India should be prospective and not retrospective. Conclusion It can thus be concluded that retrospective application of tax law should occur in exceptional or rarest of rare cases, and with particular objectives. Moreover, retrospective application of a tax law should occur only after exhaustive and transparent consultations with stakeholders who would be affected which would be help in improving India’s ease of doing business and overall business environment. 4. Explain the phenomenon of jobless growth in the Indian context. Why does it occur? Is there a way to address it? Discuss. Approach: It is straightforward question, it expects student to give explanation about jobless growth in India context, reason behind it and in end mention measures to address it. Introduction: The World Bank, in its publication, “South Asia Economic Focus, Spring: Jobless Growth?”, says that over the long-term, India has been creating 7,50,000 new jobs for everyone per cent rise in gross domestic product (GDP), at an average of 7% growth, India should be creating at least 5.25 million jobs, if not more. Body: Jobless growth in India: In a jobless growth economy, unemployment remains stubbornly high even as the economy grows. This tends to happen when a relatively large number of people have lost their jobs, and the ensuing recovery is insufficient to absorb the unemployed, under-employed, and those first entering the workforce. During the last decade (2001-11), the growth rate of the labour force (2.23 per cent) was significantly higher than the growth rate of employment (1.4 per cent), which itself was several-fold less than the growth rate of the economy. According to Census 2011, the average growth rate of the economy was 7.7 per cent per annum, when it was only 1.8 per cent for employment. 66th round of the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) data on employment in 2011 revealed that between 2004-05 and 2009-10, only 1 million jobs were added per year; in a period when the economy averaged a record 8.43% growth annually. An Indian Labour Bureau survey of 2015 showed that 2,000 companies in eight sampled industries generated all of one lakh jobs, a fall from the four lakh generated in 2014, even though growth in 2014 was lower than in 2015. A HDFC Bank report on India’s tapering jobs growth says that “employment elasticity” in the economy is now close to zero – for every one-point rise in GDP, jobs grow only 0.15. Fifteen years ago, it was 0.39 Reasons behind the Jobless growth In India, growth is attributed to service sector, whereby both employment and wages have seen a rise. But as figures say, the biggest employing sector in India is the Agriculture sector, employing 45% of the population but contributing 15% to the GDP, whereas Service sector is the biggest contributor to the GDP but employs less than 30%. IT and Financial services are drivers of service sector growth in last 2 decades however both of these sector are not employment intensive. Thus contributing to jobless growth in India. Labour –intensive manufacturing sector did not become the engine of growth in India. In fact, it was the knowledge-intensive services sector which along with some segments of capital intensive manufacturing was the engines of growth in India. But these sectors by their nature were not employment-intensive. Stagnation in manufacturing output and employment and contraction of labour-intensive segment of the formal manufacturing sector. Therefore, the nature of the trade regime in India is still biased towards capital-intensive manufacturing. The nature of Indian manufacturing is not employment-friendly. Most of them are automated and any employment is highly skilled. Thus they Have contributed to growth, but not necessarily to employment. The labour intensity of MSME is four times higher than that of large firms. - but they are not treated well in India they have poor access to credit and they are plagued by many serious problems which has limited their growth potential. Impediments to entrepreneurial growth in small firms (such as high costs of formalisation) along with a long history of small scale reservation policy which has prohibited the entry of large scale units in labour intensive industries. The tax incentives, subsidies, depreciation allowance all are solely linked to the amount invested and not to the number of jobs created. Sluggish process in education and skill levels of workers. However, following measures can be taken to address problem of Jobless growth: Improving the labour market information system where emerging demand for skills are spotted quickly and the necessary training and certifications for the same are created. Quick improvements in public-private partnership in capturing demand for skills and following through with quick investments in skill-building to match demand with supply. Jobs and skills planning should be decentralized and it has to be done at state and district levels, where there is granular information on education, skills and job options. Implementing a new model of manufacturing which is high-skilled, and where high-end cottage manufacturing can create employment at the small scale level. If urbanization is good and well planned, then job growth will be positive. Government should concentrate on the development of towns and narrow areas and service it with good infrastructure to generate employment alongside development. If government starts spending on public goods (schools, hospitals, dams, roads etc.) instead of spending on freebies (deep subsidies on food, farm loan waivers etc.) the capacity of government to create employment increases. Conclusion: India needs a new strategy to counter the phenomena of jobless growth. This requires manufacturing sector to play a dominant role. “MAKE IN INDIA” initiative a great step forward which will boost the manufacturing. Complementary schemes like Skill India, Start-up India etc. can enhance the skillsets and employment generation. 5. Do you think the inability of the Indian subcontinent to forge long lasting economic alliances, unlike its western and eastern counterparts, has hurt it badly? Critically examine. Approach: It expects student to write about - in first part write about how inability of the Indian subcontinent to forge long lasting economic alliances hurt it badly - while in second part write about how it doesn't hurt - in third part write way forward. Introduction: Despite geographical proximity and the existence of bilateral and multilateral free trade agreements (FTAs), South Asia is one of the least economically integrated regions in the world. Owing to protectionist policies, high logistics cost, lack of political will and a broader trust deficit, intra-regional trade in South Asia remains well below its potential at 5% of the region’s global trade. Body: Impact of least economic integration: On east side ASEAN and on west Gulf cooperation council and European union helped member countries to achieve rapid economic growth. India achieve high growth rate but external trade potential not harnessed to its capacity majorly due to less economic integration in neighbourhood. Countries like Sri-lanka, Maldives, Nepal became too dependent on external debt for their development created debt-crisis and interference from big power like China. Failure of SAARC and spoiler role of Pakistan could not generate economic alliance which reduced growth pace in Nepal and Bangladesh. Till recently India's north-east remained underdeveloped due to lack of geographic connectivity which was possible through Bangladesh even before. Eg: Chittagong port, Kolkata-Pabna-Agartala train etc. India and other South Asian nations, collectively forecast to grow by 7.3% in 2017, can integrate their dynamic economies into the rest of Asia. Removing obstacles to trade and investment between South Asia, Southeast Asia and other parts of Asia is the key to erase extreme poverty in the region. If South Asia and Southeast Asia each cut non-tariff barriers by 50% and trade costs by 15%, will lead to gains of 8.9% of GDP in South Asia and 6.4% of GDP in Southeast Asia. Sub-regions of Asia have their respective weaknesses. So the Asia’s growth spurt can be achieved from integrating these regions. However, despite of lack of economic alliance: India and Bangladesh achieved high GDP growth rates. India-Srilanka free trade agreement increased trade volume between two countries. India-Bhutan share special relationship and with Maldives also. India's initiatives of 'non-reciprocity' in neighbourhood, 'Neighbourhood first' policy increased economic alliance. Way forward: As always, the problems are not economic but political and geopolitical. The drive for regional integration can only come from India. Political volatility in the other countries has further dimmed the prospects of economic integration. South-East Asian economies grew quickly even after the global financial crisis through new trade agreements, highways, shipping routes, communications and cross-border logistics. This should be replicated in Indian subcontinent. Indian subcontinent lacks the institutional framework provided by ASEAN, which has galvanized the above mentioned economic integration. SAARC should be strengthened on these lines. The trilateral highway connecting India, Myanmar and Thailand will deliver physical connectivity. More robust value chains should be developed with Southeast Asia and East Asia to make such movement of goods efficient. Market and institutional links are also to be strengthened. A host of new economic corridors, like Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar (BCIM), are another key to connecting Asia’s fastest growing countries. Conclusion: Making long lasting economic alliances a reality is everyone’s business. While the challenges may be large, the rewards of a more integrated region can be even larger for all the countries of the region. The time to act is now. TLP HOT Synopsis Day 13 PDF

Oct 27, 2020 Daily Prelims CA Quiz

UPSC Quiz - 2020 : IASbaba's Daily Current Affairs Quiz 27th Oct 2020

For Previous Daily Quiz (ARCHIVES) - CLICK HERE The Current Affairs questions are based on sources like ‘The Hindu’, ‘Indian Express’ and ‘PIB’, which are very important sources for UPSC Prelims Exam. The questions are focused on both the concepts and facts. The topics covered here are generally different from what is being covered under ‘Daily Current Affairs/Daily News Analysis (DNA) and Daily Static Quiz’ to avoid duplication. The questions would be published from Monday to Saturday before 2 PM. One should not spend more than 10 minutes on this initiative. This is a part of our recently launched, NEW INITIATIVE IASbaba’s INTEGRATED REVISION PLAN (IRP) 2020 – Road Map for the next 100 Days! FREE INITIATIVE! We will make sure, in the next 4 months not a single day is wasted. All your energies are channelized in the right direction. Trust us! This will make a huge difference in your results this time, provided that you follow this plan sincerely every day without fail. Gear up and Make the Best Use of this initiative. Do remember that, “the difference between Ordinary and EXTRA-Ordinary is PRACTICE!!” To Know More about the Initiative -> CLICK HERE SCHEDULE/DETAILED PLAN – > CLICK HERE Important Note: Don't forget to post your marks in the comment section. Also, let us know if you enjoyed today's test :) After completing the 5 questions, click on 'View Questions' to check your score, time taken and solutions. To take the Test - Click Here

Oct 27, 2020 TLP Mains 2020

IASbaba’s TLP (Phase 2 - ENGLISH & हिंदी): UPSC Mains Answer Writing - General Studies Paper 3 Questions[27th OCTOBER,2020] - Day 14

For Previous TLP (ARCHIVES) - CLICK HERE Hello Friends, Welcome to IASbaba’s TLP (Phase 2 - ENGLISH & हिंदी): UPSC Mains Answer Writing - General Studies Paper 3 Questions[27th OCTOBER,2020] - Day 14   We will make sure, in the next 3 months not a single day is wasted. All your energies are channelized in the right direction. Trust us! This will make a huge difference in your results this time, provided that you follow this plan sincerely every day without fail. Gear up and Make the Best Use of this initiative. We are giving 5 Mains Questions on Daily basis so that every student can actively participate and keep your preparation focused. Do remember that, “the difference between Ordinary and EXTRA-Ordinary is PRACTICE!!” To Know More about the Initiative -> CLICK HERE SCHEDULE/DETAILED PLAN – > CLICK HERE   Note: Click on Each Question (Link), it will open in a new tab and then Answer respective questions! 1. Explain the concept of gender budgeting? Why is it significant? Explain with the help of suitable examples.  जेंडर बजटिंग की अवधारणा को समझाइए? यह महत्वपूर्ण क्यों है? उपयुक्त उदाहरणों की सहायता से समझाएँ। 2. The goal of sustainable and inclusive economic growth can’t be achieved without empowering women entrepreneurs. Do you agree? Substantiate your views  महिला उद्यमियों को सशक्त किए बिना स्थायी और समावेशी आर्थिक विकास का लक्ष्य हासिल नहीं किया जा सकता है। क्या आप सहमत हैं? अपने विचारों की पुष्टि करें। 3. Why is regional imbalance a grave threat in the Indian context? Examine. Can the creation of infrastructure alone ensure inclusive growth and reduce the feeling of alienation? Critically comment.   भारतीय संदर्भ में क्षेत्रीय असंतुलन एक गंभीर खतरा क्यों है? जांच करें। क्या मात्र बुनियादी ढांचे का निर्माण समावेशी विकास सुनिश्चित और अलगाव की भावना को कम कर सकता है? समालोचनात्मक टिप्पणी करें। 4. Examine the factors that have led to India’s lower tax to GDP ratio. What are its implications for the economy? Analyse.  उन कारकों की जांच करें जिनके कारण भारत का कर एवं सकल घरेलू उत्पाद का अनुपात कम है। अर्थव्यवस्था के लिए इसके निहितार्थ क्या हैं? विश्लेषण करें। 5. What do you understand by public debt? What are its components? Discuss. Also, comment on India’s current public debt scenario. सार्वजनिक ऋण से आप क्या समझते हैं? इसके घटक क्या हैं? चर्चा करें। साथ ही, भारत के वर्तमान सार्वजनिक ऋण परिदृश्य पर टिप्पणी करें। P.S: The review from IASbaba will happen from the time the question is posted till 10 pm everyday. We would also encourage peer reviews. So friends get actively involved and start reviewing each others answers. This will keep the entire community motivated. All the Best :)

Oct 26, 2020 IASbaba's Daily Current Affairs

DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS IAS | UPSC Prelims and Mains Exam – 26th October 2020

Archives (PRELIMS + MAINS FOCUS) Financial Action Task Force (FATF) decides to keep Pakistan on its grey list Part of: GS Prelims and GS-II – International Relations  In news The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) decided to keep Pakistan on its "grey list".  According to FATF, Pakistan has failed to act on six key mandates.  It urged Pakistan to complete an internationally agreed action plan by February 2021. Important value additions  Financial Action Task Force (FATF) The FATF is a global watchdog.  It was founded to tackle money laundering initially but its role became prominent after the 9/11 terror attacks. It expanded its operations and included terror financing under its purview after 9/11. Its membership includes 39 jurisdictions. It maintains two lists – a blacklist and a grey list.  Countries on its blacklist are those that FATF deems non-cooperative in the global effort to curb money laundering and terror-financing. The grey list is officially referred to as ‘Jurisdictions under Increased Monitoring.’ It constitutes those nations that present significant risks of money laundering and terror-financing but which have committed to working closely with the FATF in the development and implementation of action plans that address their deficiencies. If the country is not actively tackling money laundering or terror funding, it is then blacklisted.  So far, only two countries have been blacklisted - Iran and North Korea. North Korea warns its citizens of Yellow Dust Part of: GS Prelims and GS-II - International Relations; Health & GS-III – Environment  In news North Korea has urged its citizens to remain indoors to avoid contact with a mysterious cloud of ‘yellow dust’ which is blowing in from China.  This cloud could bring Covid-19 with it. Important value additions  Asian Dust  It is also known as yellow dust, yellow sand, yellow wind or China dust storms.  It is actually sand from deserts in China and Mongolia that high speed surface winds carry into both North and South Korea during specific periods every year. The sand particles tend to mix with other toxic substances such as industrial pollutants.  Thus, it is known to cause a number of respiratory ailments. Industry 4.0 Technology jointly developed by IIT Kharagpur and TCS  Part of: GS Prelims and GS-III – Industry; Innovation; Science and Technology  In news IIT Kharagpur and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) have jointly developed a novel Industry 4.0 Technology.  It is developed for remotely controlled factory operations and real-time quality correction during industrial production so as to deliver quality output at low costs. Important value additions  Industrial Revolution 4.0 Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman of the Geneva-based WEF, published a book in 2016 titled “The Fourth Industrial Revolution” and coined the term at the Davos meeting in the same year. It refers to how technologies like artificial intelligence, autonomous vehicles and the internet of things are merging with humans’ physical lives. Examples: Voice-activated assistants, facial ID recognition or digital health-care sensors. There is a common theme among each of the industrial revolutions: the invention of a specific technology that changed society fundamentally. Major invention of The First Industrial Revolution: The steam engine. The steam engine enabled new manufacturing processes, leading to the creation of factories. Major inventions of the Second Industrial Revolution: Light bulb, telephone and internal combustion engine  Major inventions of the Third Industrial Revolution: The semiconductor, personal computer and the Internet. This is also referred to as the “Digital Revolution.” The Fourth Industrial Revolution is different from the third for two reasons: the gap between the digital, physical and biological worlds is shrinking, and technology is changing faster than ever. Kisan Suryodaya Yojana launched Part of: GS Prelims and GS-II – Policies and interventions In news Indian Prime Minister launched the Kisan Suryodaya Yojana in Gujarat.  Under the scheme, 16 hours of power supply shall be provided to farmers. Key takeaways  Objective: To provide day-time power supply for irrigation.  Under this scheme, farmers will be able to avail power supply from 5 AM to 9 PM. The state government has allocated a budget of Rs.3500 crore for installing transmission infrastructure under this scheme by 2023. 234 ‘66-Kilowatt’ transmission lines will be established under the project, in addition to 220 KV substations. Districts to be covered in initial phase: Dahod, Patan, Mahisagar, Panchmahal, Chhota Udepur, Kheda, Tapi, Valsad, Anand and Gir-Somnath have been  The remaining districts will be covered in a phase-wise manner by 2022-23. Hong Kong BNO Passports not to be considered by China as valid travel documents  Part of: GS Prelims and GS-II – International Relations  In news Chinese foreign ministry said that it will consider not recognizing Hong Kong British national overseas (BNO) passports as valid travel documents.  Recently, the British government had announced new visa rules for British National Overseas citizens in HK. Key takeaways  New visa rules Britain will start to process BNO visa applications for residents in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) from January 31, 2021. As per new visa rule, BNO Visa holders will have the right to work and study in the UK for a period of five years. They can apply for citizenship after the sixth year. Important value additions  BNO Passport The British National (Overseas) passport, commonly referred to as the BN(O) passport, is a British passport for persons with British National (Overseas) (BN(O)) status. The passport was first issued in 1987 after the Hong Kong Act 1985 from which this new class of British nationality was created. Holders of BN(O) passports are permanent residents of Hong Kong who were British Dependent Territories citizens until 30 June 1997 and had registered as BN(O)s. Historic ceasefire announced in LIBYA Part of: GS Prelims and GS-II – International Relations  In news Rival parties in Libya announced a historic ceasefire followed by five days of the 5+5 Libyan Joint Military Commission (JMC) talks in Geneva.  This gives way to the possibility that the long-drawn conflict might be coming to an end. Key takeaways  New Ceasefire Agreement As per this new agreement facilitated by the UN, all foreign mercenaries and armed forces will have to withdraw within the next 90 days.  The parties also agreed that any violations in the ceasefire will be dealt by a joint military force, which will be under a unified command. The agreement has also established a Joint Police Operations room that will implement and propose special arrangements to secure the areas that are cleared of military units and armed groups. Further, the 5+5 have also agreed to open the land and air routes that connect the regions and cities of Libya. Khadi being manufactured in the region of Oaxaca Part of: GS Prelims and GS-II – International Relations  In news Indian Prime Minister made a reference to the region of Oaxaca (pronounced O-aa-ha-ka) in Mexico where Khadi was being manufactured.  Key takeaways  Khadi Oaxaca is a farm-to-garment collective which comprises around 400 families.  They live and work on traditional farms and homesteads in the Oaxaca region of southern Mexico It uses cotton produced and cultivated on the Oaxaca coast, and produces chemical-free clothing, relying on locally harvested plant-based dyes. International Snow Leopard Day Part of: GS Prelims and GS-III – Biodiversity  In news International Snow Leopard Day is observed on 23rd October.  Key takeaways  Aim: To raise awareness on conservation and protection of snow leopards. International Snow Leopard Day came into being on 23rd October, 2013 when Bishkek Declaration was adopted by 12 countries on the conservation of snow leopards. The 12 countries included: India, Nepal, Bhutan, China, Mongolia, Russia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. Important value additions  Snow Leopard  It is also known as Ghost of the mountains.  They are positioned as the top predator in the food web. It acts as an indicator of the health of the mountain ecosystem in which they live.  Habitat: Higher Himalayan and trans-Himalayan landscape in  J&K;, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim, and Arunachal Pradesh. India is home to 5 big cats: Snow Leopard, Lion, Tiger, Common Leopard, and Clouded Leopard. Snow Leopard capital of the world: Hemis, Ladakh. Threat: Reduction in prey populations, illegal poaching and increased human population infiltration into the species habitat and illegal trade of wildlife parts and products  IUCN Red List: Vulnerable CITES: Appendix I Convention on Migratory Species (CMS): Appendix I Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972: Schedule I Conservation Efforts by India: (1) HimalSanrakshak: It is a community volunteer programme, to protect snow leopards, launched on 23rd October 2020; (2) In 2019, First National Protocol was also launched on Snow Leopard Population Assessment; (3) SECURE Himalaya: Global Environment Facility (GEF)-UNDP funded project on conservation of high altitude biodiversity; (4) Project Snow Leopard  launched in 2009; (5) Snow Leopard is in the list of 21 critically endangered species for the recovery programme of the Ministry of Environment Forest & Climate Change. Do you know?  Hemis National Park is the biggest national park of India and also has a good presence of Snow Leopard. Miscellaneous Girnar Ropeway Indian Prime Minister recently launched the world's longest temple ropeway project at Girnar in Junagadh. Girnar ropeway project consists of a total of 25 cabins.  It operates at a capacity of 800 passengers per hour and 8000 per day. It will attract more tourists and pilgrims to this historical place which will boost employment opportunities. Mount Girnar is a major igneous plutonic complex which intruded into the basalts towards the close of the Deccan Trap period. Dhammachakra Pravartan Day Dhammachakra Pravartan Day (DhammaChakra Anupravartan Din) is a day to celebrate the Buddhist conversion of B. R. Ambedkar and approximately 600,000 followers in October 1956 at Deekshabhoomi on the occasion of Vijayadashami. It is primarily celebrated at Deeksha Bhoomi every year. Deekshabhoomi is a sacred monument of Navayana Buddhism located at Nagpur city in Maharashtra where B. R. Ambedkar embraced Buddhism. (MAINS FOCUS) SOCIETY/ GOVERNANCE Topic: General Studies 1,2: Issues relating to poverty and hunger.  Mechanisms, laws, institutions and Bodies constituted for the protection and betterment of these vulnerable sections.  Global Hunger Index Context: India has been ranked 94 on the 2020 Global Hunger Index (GHI), lower than neighbours like Bangladesh and Pakistan. The number of young children in India who are very short and thin, reflecting severe undernutrition, puts it alongside the poorest African nation What is the Global Hunger Index, and what determines its ranking? The GHI is an annual peer-reviewed publication by Concern Worldwide and Welthungerhilfe.  It aims to track hunger at global, regional and national levels. It uses four parameters to calculate its scores. One third of the score comes from the level of undernourishment in a country, which is the share of the population with insufficient caloric intake, and uses Food and Agriculture Organization data.  A third of the score comes from child mortality rate (under the age of five years), which often reflects the fatal mix of inadequate nutrition and unhealthy environments.  The remaining third of the score is based on child wasting, which is the share of children who have low weight for their height, reflecting acute undernutrition, and child stunting, which is the share of children who have low height for their age, reflecting chronic undernutrition. What data is used for calculating the Index? The above parameters use information from the World Health Organization, the World Bank and the United Nations All these international organisations draw from national data, which, in India’s case, includes the National Family Health Surveys (NFHS).  There is always a time lag in such data, so the 2020 scores are based on data from 2015-19. This results in a 100-point scale, with zero meaning no hunger at all. How does India fare on the different parameters in comparison to other countries? In 2020, India falls in the ‘serious’ category on the Index, with a total score of 27.2.  India is tied at the 94th rank out of 107 countries, sharing the rank with Sudan. This is a definite improvement from the situation two decades ago, when it scored 38.9 and fell into the ‘alarming’ category.  China and Brazil both scored under five, and are considered to have very low levels of hunger. South Africa is ranked 60 with a score of 13.5, indicating moderate levels of hunger. Overall undernourishment, 14% of India’s population does not get enough calories, an improvement from almost 20% in 2005-07.  Child mortality rate is 3.7%, a significant drop from 9.2% in 2000. Child Stunting: Almost 35% of Indian children are stunted, and although this is much better than the 54.2% rate of 2000. Child Wasting: 17.3% of Indian children under five are wasted, which is the highest prevalence of child wasting in the world. There is no change from two decades ago, when it was 17.1%. What is the main cause for such high levels of child stunting and wasting in India? African babies are usually healthy at birth, but as they grow up into their toddler years, undernourishment starts to kick in.  In contrast, South Asian babies show very high levels of wasting during early years of lives, particularly during the first six months This is because of poor maternal health in South Asian countries like India. Mothers are too thin, too short and too undernourished themselves before they become pregnant and this affects new-born’s health aspects as well. Almost 42% of adolescent girls aged 15 to 19 have a low body mass index (BMI), while 54% have anaemia Social Factors like Early Marriage: Many women in India and South Asian Countries start their pregnancies in their late teens which impacts not only their health but also that of child born Poor sanitation, leading to diarrhoea, is another major cause of child wasting and stunting. Only 36% of households disposed of children’s stools in a safe manner. One in 10 children under the age of five suffer from diarrhoea. How do different Indian States compare? Almost one in three children in Jharkhand show acute undernutrition, with a 29% rate of wasting Other large States such as Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Karnataka have one in five children who are wasted.  Interestingly, other States that usually fare poorly on development indices, such as Bihar, Rajasthan and Odisha, actually do better than the national average, with 13-14% rates of wasting.  Uttarakhand and Punjab, along with several north-eastern States, have levels of child wasting below 10%. In terms of stunting, Bihar performs the worst, with 42% of children too short for their age.  At the national level, among social groups, the prevalence of stunting is highest amongst children from the Scheduled Tribes (43.6 percent), followed by Scheduled Castes (42.5 percent) and Other Backwards Castes (38.6 percent). What needs to be done? Although India has overall food security with record levels of foodgrain production in recent years, access to healthy food is still difficult for poor households. Food insecurity, poor sanitation, inadequate housing, limited access to healthcare — all result in maternal distress that leads to the kind of slow, chronic wasting seen in Indian children. All these needs to be addressed for improving the malnutrition among Children. Every kind of household deprivation that makes life difficult for women needs to be dealt with. The focus needs to be on healthy mothers. (TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE) Model questions: (You can now post your answers in comment section) Note:  Correct answers of today’s questions will be provided in next day’s DNA section. Kindly refer to it and update your answers.  Comments Up-voted by IASbaba are also the “correct answers”. Q.1 Which of the following countries are blacklisted by Financial Action Task Force (FATF)? North Korea Iran Iraq Pakistan Select the correct code: 1 and 2 only 1 and 4 only 3 and 4 only 1 and 3 only Q.2 Consider the following statements regarding Kisan Suryodaya Yojana: It was launched in Rajasthan. Under the scheme, 24 hours of power supply shall be provided to the farmers. Which of the above is/are correct? 1 only 2 only Both 1 and 2 Neither 1 nor 2 ANSWERS FOR 24th October 2020 TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE (TYK) 1 D 2 B 3 D 4 D Must Read About interpretation of residence rights for women in Domestic Violence Act: The Hindustan times About gender gap in unpaid domestic maintenance and care work: The Indian Express