[Mission 2023] INSIGHTS DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS + PIB SUMMARY 19 July 2022

GS Paper 2

Syllabus: Mechanism, laws, institutions and Bodies constituted for the protection and betterment of vulnerable sections of society, minority status etc

Source: The Hindu

Context:

• Every person in India can be a minority in one State or the other. The minority status of religious and linguistic communities is “State-dependent”, the Supreme Court said.
• The court was hearing a petition filed by a Mathura resident, Devkinandan Thakur, complaining that followers of Judaism, Bahaism and Hinduism, who are the real minorities in Ladakh, Mizoram, Lakshadweep, Kashmir, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Punjab and Manipur cannot establish and administer educational institutions of their choice because of non-identification of ‘minority’ at State level, thus jeopardizing their basic rights guaranteed under Articles 29 and 30.

Key Highlights:

• Minorities can claim protection under Articles 29 and 30: The court indicated that a religious or linguistic community which is a minority in a particular State can inherently claim protection and the right to administer and run its own educational institutions under Articles 29 and 30 of the Constitution.
• Hindus minorities in many states: He pointed out that Hindus were a mere 1% in Ladakh, 2.75% in Mizoram, 2.77% in Lakshadweep, 4% in Kashmir, 8.74% in Nagaland, 11.52% in Meghalaya, 29% in Arunachal Pradesh, 38.49% in Punjab and 41.29% in Manipur.
• Power of the centre to notify minorities: Mr Datar challenged Section 2(c) of the National Commission for Minorities (NCM) Act 1992, which gave “unbridled power” to the Centre to notify minorities.

TMA Pai Case:

The SC had said that for the purposes of Article 30 which deals with the rights of minorities to establish and administer educational institutions, religious and linguistic minorities have to be considered state-wise.

Insta Links:

National Commission for Minorities(NCM)

Practice Questions:

Q. Do the government’s schemes for uplifting vulnerable and backward communities by protecting required social resources for them, lead to their exclusion in establishing businesses in urban economies? (UPSC 2014)

GS Paper 2

Syllabus: Laws, institutions and bodies for betterment and protection of vulnerable sections of society, Tele-Law etc

Source: PIB

Context:

• From this year, Tele-Law service is being made free of cost for citizens in the country,” Minister of Law and Justice at the 18th All India Legal Services Meet at Jaipur.
• The Department of Justice, Ministry of Law & Justice and National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) exchanged a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Integrated Delivery of Legal Services.
• During last year a total of 21,148 meetings of the UnderTrial Review Committee(UTRCs) were held resulting in the release of 31,605 undertrial inmates.

Key Highlights:

• Legal aid to marginalized: Tele–Law mainstreams legal aid to the marginalized seeking legal help by connecting them with the Panel Lawyers through the tele/video-conferencing infrastructure available at Common Service Centers (CSCs) across 1 lakh Gram Panchayats.
• Tele Law application: For easy and direct access Tele- Law Mobile Application (both Android and IoS) has also been launched in 2021 and it is presently available in 22 scheduled languages.
• Widening of service to beneficiaries: Benefitting from this digital revolution, Tele-Law has widened the outreach of legal services to 20 Lakh + beneficiaries in just five years.
• NALSA to provide lawyers: Under the provision of the MoU, NALSA would provide the services of 700 lawyers, in each district exclusively for the Tele-Law program.
  • These empanelled lawyers would now also act as referral lawyers and also assist in strengthening the mechanism for dispute avoidance and dispute resolution at the pre-litigation stage.

Insta Links:

NALSA

CSCs

Practice Questions:

Q. Performance of welfare schemes that are implemented for vulnerable sections is not so effective due to the absence of their awareness and active involvement at all stages of the policy process – Discuss. (UPSC 2019)

GS Paper 2

Syllabus: Issues related to the social sector involving healthcare, schemes for vulnerable sections of society, medical devices etc

Source: Indian express

Context:

• The Union Health Ministry last week released a draft of a proposed Drugs, Medical Devices and Cosmetics Bill, 2022 to replace the existing Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940, and several sets of Rules by which the industry is currently run.
• The draft focuses on regulating medical devices as a separate entity, makes provision for fines and imprisonment for injury and death related to clinical trials or investigations, and seeks to regulate e-pharmacies.

Key Provisions:

• Online pharmacies: No provisions to regulate online pharmacies exist in the 1940 law or any of the Rules.
  • No person shall himself or by any other person on his behalf sell, stock or exhibit or offer for sale, or distribute, any drug by online mode except under and in accordance with a license or permission issued in such manner as may be prescribed.
• Clinical trials and investigations: The draft Bill makes provisions for compensation to participants or their legal heirs for injury or death suffered in clinical trials and investigations for drugs and medical devices.
  • The draft also lays the onus on providing medical management for any injury arising due to the trial of the investigators.
• Imprisonment and fine: It amounts to double the compensation amount if the compensation is not paid.
  • If the draft Bill becomes law, these provisions will be part of it, and will not be restricted to just clinical trial Rules.
• Prohibits clinical trials: The draft Bill prohibits clinical trials or clinical investigations of drugs and medical devices without permission from the central licensing authority.
  • While companies have to seek permission from the regulator to conduct trials even now, this is not specifically mentioned in the existing law.
• Medical devices: Under the ambit of medical devices defined by the draft Bill are diagnostic equipment, their software, implants, devices for assistance with disabilities, life support, instruments used for disinfection, and reagents or kits.
  • The 1940 Act has medical devices as one of four categories of “drugs”.
• Medical Devices Technical Advisory Board: To make decisions on regulating medical devices, the draft Bill provides for creating a Medical Devices Technical Advisory Board on the lines of the existing drugs technical advisory board, with people who have technical knowledge of the engineering of these devices, and members of the industry.
  • Other than officials of the Health Ministry, the board will have officials from:
    • Department of Atomic Energy
    • Department of Science and Technology
    • Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology
    • Defense Research and Development Organization
    • Experts from the fields of biomedical technology, biomaterials, and polymer technology
  • Imprisonment or fines for adulterated or spurious medical devices: It defines provisions for imprisonment or fines for “adulterated” or “spurious” medical devices.
    • The draft states that a medical device will be considered to be adulterated if it is rusted, corroded, filthy, putrid, decomposed, packed or stored in unsanitary conditions, contains harmful or toxic substances, or has any component or software removed making it unsafe.
  • Medical devices to be spurious: The draft Bill deems a medical device to be spurious if it carries the label of a fictitious company or is purported to be of a manufacturer that has not manufactured it.

Insta Links:

Drugs and Cosmetic Rules, 1945

Practice Questions:

Q. Critically analyze the provisions of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 and discuss the key changes suggested in the Drugs, Medical Devices and Cosmetics Bill, 2022.

GS Paper 3

Syllabus: Economy

Source: Indian Express

Context: US’ inflation rate was at 9.1% in June, the highest in 40 years, and FED action to increase the interest rate has led to few terms coming up in focus.

Bond yield curve inversion

• Bonds are essentially an instrument through which governments (and also corporations) raise money from people. Typically government bond yields are a good way to understand the risk-free interest rate in that economy.
• The yield curve is the graphical representation of yields (profit) from bonds. E.g. If one was to take the Indian government bonds of different tenures and plot them according to the yields they provide, one would get the yield curve.

• Under normal circumstances: any economy would have an upward sloping yield curve (meaning normal profit from investment in the bond).
• Inverted Bond yield curve: As one buys bonds of longer tenure — one gets higher yields. This is logical. If one is parting with money for a longer duration, the return should be higher.
  • However, An inversion of the yield curve essentially suggests that investors expect future growth to be weak.
  • For instance, bonds with a tenure of 2 years end up paying out higher yields (returns/ interest rate) than bonds with a 10-year tenure.

Over the years, inversion of the bond yield curve has become a strong predictor of recessions. In the current instance, the US Fed (their central bank) has been raising short-term interest rates, which further bumps up the short-end of the yield curve while dampening economic activity.

Soft-landing

When a central bank is successful in slowing down the economy without bringing about a recession, it is called a soft-landing — that is, no one gets hurt. But when the actions of the central bank bring about a recession, it is called hard-landing.

• Given the massive gap between the current US inflation rate — over 9%— and the Fed’s target inflation rate — 2% — most observers expect that the Fed would have to resort to such aggressive monetary tightening that the US economy will end up having a hard landing.

Reverse Currency War

As the US FED rate increases, the investor finds it more attractive and less risky. So, more and more investors are rushing to invest money in the US. This, in turn, has made the dollar become stronger than all the other currencies.

• The relative weakness of their local currency against the dollar makes their exports more competitive. This can be good for economies.
• However, today, every central bank is trying to counter the US Fed and raise interest rates themselves in order to ensure their currency doesn’t lose too much value against the dollar. This has been termed ‘reverse currency war’. E.g. India being import dependent, a weaker currency would mean a higher import bill and therefore RBI is trying to defend Indian Rupee against Dollar.

Insta Links

US FED raises rate by 75 basis point

Practice Questions

Q. Discuss the trends of recession faced by India in the past. Will the recent action by US Central Bank induce a risk of recession for other economies such as India? Analyze. (15M)

GS Paper 3

Syllabus: Issues related to direct and indirect farm subsidies and minimum support prices

Source: The Hindu

Context: The government constituted a committee headed by former Union Agriculture Secretary Sanjay Agrawal to look into the issues of minimum support price (MSP)

• Background: The government had announced the decision to repeal the three farm laws and said it will constitute a  committee to promote zero budget-based farming, change crop patterns keeping in mind the changing needs of the country and make MSP more effective and transparent.
• Members: Committee will consist of representatives of the Central and State governments, farmers, agricultural scientists and agricultural economists.

Objectives of the committee:

• On agricultural marketing system: It will work for Agri marketing as per the changing requirements of the country to ensure higher value to the farmers through remunerative prices of their produce by taking advantage of the domestic output and export.
• On natural farming: It will suggest programmes and schemes for value chain development, protocol validation and research for future needs and support for area expansion under the Indian Natural Farming System.
• On crop diversification: It will look into the mapping of existing cropping patterns of agro-ecological zones of producer and consumer States.
• Review and suggestion on micro irrigation scheme

Evolution of MSP regime in India:

Need for MSP:

• Support farmers from distress sales.
• To procure food grains for public distribution
• To safeguard farmers from market price fluctuations.
• Maintain a healthy supply of food grains in the market thereby helping in the fight against hunger.
• Theguaranteed price for the crops and assured markets encourage higher investment and adoption of modern farming practices. 

Related News

As per a study by the State Bank of India, only 50% of the intended beneficiaries of the farm loan waivers announced since 2014 have received actual debt write-off benefits.

• • Reasons for low reach: Rejection of claims by the state government, change in policies and government
  • The average income of farmers grew only by 1.3-1.7 times during 2017-18 and 2021-22.
  • Kisan Credit card and MSP have been instrumental in benefiting farmers.
  • SHG have around 10% NPA across India.

Insta Links

On-farm laws repeal

Practice Questions

Q. Tracing the evolution of the Minimum Support Price regime in India, discuss how MSP has caused – Concentration of markets, Negative externalities, and High transaction costs. What steps can be taken to address these to ensure better remuneration to farmers and stimulate the rural economy? (15M)

GS Paper 3

Syllabus: Disaster Management

Source: UNDRR

Context: Indigenous peoples’ understanding of disaster risk uses an enormous dataset – traditional knowledge and folklore reaching back many generations. It was highlighted in the recently concluded Global Platform For Disaster Risk Reduction 2022 (GP2022) in Bali.

These indigenous practices have used traditional knowledge, alongside modern techniques, to help manage disaster risk: 

• Cultural burning ( Ancient Australian technique to reduce bushfire):  Controlled fires in small areas burn, reducing undergrowth and dead wood while preserving larger trees and allowing wildlife to escape
• Natural flood management(age-old traditional forecasting and flood-prevention methods to limit the risks of seasonal flooding in Nepal and the Tibetan Plateau):
  • These include planting flood-resistant crops and digging drainage ditches and moats.
  • Community-based early warning systems using environmental indicators: Observations of changes in cloud shapes, rainfall patterns, fauna activity, wind velocity, star positions and temperatures help anticipate floods and trigger preparations to minimize their impacts.
  • Traditional remedies after flooding – like using green coconut milk to treat diarrhoea, cholera and dysentery – help with recovery, alongside any modern medical treatments that might be available.
• Safe areas(In Sulawesi, Indonesia, the Kailli communities have passed on historical knowledge of natural hazards):  Folksongs recount past experiences of disasters and pass on lessons learnt from predecessors about a range of hazards and their causes: tsunamis, earthquakes, and ground liquefaction resulting from earthquakes.
  • The villages include safe areas, known as ‘Kinta’, which have always been used as refuges during seismic events.

Inta Links

United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR)

Practice Question:

Q. Discuss the need for Disaster risk reduction in India. What are the challenges involved and explain the global efforts in this direction? (250 words) 

GS Paper 4

Kautilya in the ancient treatise “Arthashastra” writes:

“The happiness of the people is the happiness of the king; Their good alone is his, his personal good is not his true good; the only true good being that of his people: Therefore let the King be active in working for the prosperity and welfare of his people”

Pranab Mukherjee’s speeches on the occasion of the fourth UPSC foundation day lecture on “Governance and Public Service” and as a guest faculty for the “Public Policy for Inclusive Development of India” course at IIM-Ahmedabad in 2018 are value-loaded urges for good governance and spoke of the hurdles in bureaucracy that need to be rectified.

Importance of civil services in India’s development:

• Reinforcing our democratic values.
• Instrument of economic growth and social change.
• Assists the government in formulating and implementing policies for national development.
• Nation-building require close interaction and cooperation between the civil servants and the people

What are some best examples, which display the efficiency in governance?

• The Right to Information Act
• The Direct Benefits Transfer Scheme
• The Right of Citizens for Time Bound Delivery of Goods and Services and Redressal of their Grievances Bill, 2011 envisages the citizens to receive time-bound services

What has been the biggest challenge in governances and bureaucracy despite success?

• Corruption
• “Isolationism” –inculcated the habit of thinking in silos.