[Mission 2023] Insights SECURE SYNOPSIS: 25 February 2023

NOTE: Please remember that following ‘answers’ are NOT ‘model answers’. They are NOT synopsis too if we go by definition of the term. What we are providing is content that both meets demand of the question and at the same

Answer the following questions in 150 words:

General Studies – 1

1. What were the contributions of Tipu Sultan to the regional kingdom of Mysore? Examine the reasons for the defeat of Tipu in the Anglo-Mysore wars?

Reference: Indian Express , Insights on India

Introduction

Tipu was an able general and administrator, he retained the loyalty of his Hindu subjects. He was the ruler of Mysore, which had grown in strength under the leadership of powerful rulers like his father Haidar Ali, who ruled from 1761 to 1782 and himself, who ruled from 1782 to 1799.

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Contribution of Tipu Sultan

• He was born in 1750 and, as a 17-year-old, fought in the first Anglo-Mysore War (1767-69) and subsequently, against the Marathas and in the Second Anglo-Mysore War (1780-84). Haider died while this war was on, and Tipu succeeded him in 1782.
• In the wider national narrative, Tipu has so far been seen as a man of imagination and courage, a brilliant military strategist who, in a short reign of 17 years, mounted the most serious challenge the Company faced in India.
• He fought Company forces four times during 1767-99 and gave Governors-General Cornwallis and Wellesley bloody noses before he was killed defending his capital Sriranga patnam in the Fourth Anglo Mysore War.
• With Tipu gone, Wellesley imposed the Subsidiary Alliance on the reinstated Wodeyar king, and Mysore became the Company’s client state.
• Tipu reorganised his army along European lines, using new technology, including what is considered the first war rocket.
• He devised a land revenue system based on detailed surveys and classification, in which the tax was imposed directly on the peasant, and collected through salaried agents in cash, widening the state’s resource base.
• He modernised agriculture, gave tax breaks for developing wasteland, built irrigation infrastructure and repaired old dams, and promoted agricultural manufacturing and sericulture. He built a navy to support trade, and commissioned a “state commercial corporation” to set up factories.
• He also established a close relationship with the French in India, and modernised his army with their help.
  • His hubs took advantage of India’s long tradition of producing and handling ferrous metals like iron and steel to create the predecessor of the modern rocket that was more effective than the “firecracker-like missiles” used by the Chinese.
  • He created iron tubes filled with gunpowder, hoisted them on flags or bamboo poles and mounted them on ramps for better accuracy and range.
• As Mysore traded in sandalwood, silk, spices, rice and sulphur, some 30 trading outposts were established across Tipu’s dominions and overseas.
• Tipu Sultan for long emblematised the valiant struggle of Mysore against the British and was the only one to die on the battlefield. All others were defeated by, collaborated or made their peace with, the emerging British power.

Fall and defeat of Tipu Sultan in fourth Anglo Mysore War

• The siege of Seringapatam (5 April – 4 May 1799) was the final confrontation of the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War between the British East India Company and the Kingdom of Mysore.
• The British, with the allied Nizam Ali Khan, 2nd Nizam of Hyderabad and Marathas, achieved a decisive victory after breaching the walls of the fortress at Seringapatam and storming the citadel.
• The leader of the British troops was Major General David Baird, among the lesser known allies were the Portuguese in Goa and Damaon.
• Tipu Sultan, the de facto ruler after the death of his father, who had usurped the throne of Mysore, was killed in the action.
• The British restored the Wodeyar dynasty back to power after the victory through a treaty of subsidiary alliance, Krishnaraja Wodeyar III was crowned the King of Mysore.
• However, they retained indirect control (British paramountcy) of the kingdom’s external affairs.

Conclusion

He laid the foundations for the construction of the Krishnaraja Sagar dam in Mandya. Tipu’s industrial belt spread across the Mysore State, from Bengaluru to Srirangapatna, so that locals everywhere found employment, and if the British attacked one centre, he still had control over the others. He was hence the one of the greatest enemies of the British.

2. What are the factors that led to the downfall of Napoleon Bonaparte? Evaluate the role of Napoleonic invasion of Russia that served as a major turning point in European history that led to the fall of Napoleon.

Reference: Indian Express

Introduction

Despite Napoleon Bonaparte’s early successes in restoring order to France at the beginning of the 1800s, the ten years after he became Emperor would be mired by failures, eventually leading to his downfall.

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Causes of Napoleon’s downfall

At Tilsit (1807), Napoleon was at the height of his power. But from 1808 to 1814 his power was continuously on the decline. His fall was as rapid as his rise.

• Continental blockade: One of this first moves in attempting to conquer or gain an advantage over much of Europe came with the Continental System. This decree, enacted by Napoleon, was meant to weaken England. In it, he encouraged any countries who were either neutral (meaning they didn’t take sides) or who were allies with France to stop doing business with England. It was his hope that England would suffer economically. The Continental System, however, failed, due in part to the fact that England had natural resources to sustain itself. The country that was weakened, ironically, was France.
• Peninsular war: From 1808 to 1814, France was engaged in the Peninsular War against Spain and Portugal, who were aided in the conflict by Great Britain. Napoleon had set his sights on conquering the Iberian Peninsula and actually succeeded in doing so when he conquered Spain in 1808. He installed his older brother, Joseph as the King of Spain. His short rule lasted from 1808 to 1813.
  • This upset the Spaniards, who had once been allies with France. The Peninsular War turned out to be quite costly, and although the French won against Spain, this was a turning point in Napoleon’s reign: it was a moment in which his previous allies realized how land-greedy he was becoming.
• Russian invasion: On June 24, 1812, the Grande Armée, led by French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, crossed the Neman River, invading Russia from present-day Poland. The result was a disaster for the French.

Russian invasion and consequences

• In 1812, the French under Napoleon embarked on an invasion of Russia. He had hoped to gain political advantage with both Russia and Poland as a result of this invasion, and to defeat Russian troops.
• It was, however, a total disaster.
• Not only was it freezing cold, but the Russians were certainly not open to any engagements with the French.
• They retreated, but not before enacted a “scorched earth” policy, one in which they burned all of the crops as they moved further away from the French.
• This left Napoleon’s troops with little to eat. All totalled, the French army would lose hundreds of thousands of men during the six-month invasion.
• By June of 1815, Napoleon’s list of enemy countries had grown to include Britain, Austria, Prussia, and Russia due to his actions.
• The four countries all braced themselves for what they assumed would be a war with Napoleon’s forces, and when he got wind of this, he thought he might catch them by surprise and try to defeat them.
• He subsequently invaded Belgium, the spark which ignited the Battle of Waterloo. Napoleon and his forces were defeated at this battle, which would mark the final defeat of his reign.

Conclusion

The invasion lasted six months, and the Grande Armée lost more than 300,000 men. Russia lost more than 200,000. A single battle (the Battle of Borodino) resulted in more than 70,000 casualties in one day. The invasion of Russia effectively halted Napoleon’s march across Europe, and resulted in his first exile, to the Mediterranean island of Elba.

General Studies – 2

3. The most pertinent challenges currently facing the Indian human resources sector are skill shortages, labour market rigidities, and gender inequality. Analyse.

Reference: Insights on India , Insights on India

Introduction

According to the OECD, human capital is defined as “the knowledge, skills, competencies and other attributes embodied in individuals or groups of individuals acquired during their life and used to produce goods, services or ideas in market circumstances”. Investment in human capital is needed for technological growth, improving productivity, creating social innovations, etc.

India’s development trajectory is critically linked with investments in healthcare and education. Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is firmly anchored in investing in human capital and inclusive growth. To reap the demographic dividend, the government is committed to improve the outcomes in education and skilling and provide affordable healthcare to all.

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The pandemic has caused disruption in the health, economy, and education of young people and continues to unfold in new psychological and academic trajectories.

Significance of human capital:

• Human capital is central to sustainable growth and poverty reduction.
• Development of human capital enables people to be more productive, flexible, and innovative.
• With rapid technological development, development of human capital has become prerequisite to cater to the changing needs of work.
• With rapid globalization and industrialization, markets demand workforce with higher levels of human capital, especially advanced cognitive and socio-behavioural skills.

India’s human capital status:

• In India, there are over 43 per cent of children under the age of five at risk of not fulfilling their full developmental potential due to poor nutrition, poverty, and lack of early stimulation.
• India ranks 116th amongst 174 countries on the Human Capital Index 2020 based on survival, health, and education, with a slight increase in score to 0.49 from 0.44 in 2018.
• The pandemic has risked the little progress made in building human capital, disrupting health services and pushing more than a billion children out of school.
• The 2019-20 national survey shows worrying trends in malnutrition and reversing progress towards meeting the goal of ending hunger, making efforts for achieving food security due to the pandemic even harder.
• India is home to 3% of the global malaria burden and more than one-fourth of the tuberculosis cases. India’s spending of its GDP on health and education is a mere 1.26 and 3 percent respectively.
• The Economic Survey indicates high out-of-pocket expenditure (OOPE) on health contributing to India’s poverty.
• India’s spending on healthcare is the lowest amongst the BRICS and other developing nations leading to serious supply-side deficits of health facilities and professionals.
• The literacy rate for India is at 78 percent as against global average of 86 percent. It is home to 37 percent of the global total of illiterate adults in the world.
• As per the India Skills Report 2021, there is a decline in percentage of employability score from 46.21 in 2020 to 45.9 in 2021 owing to lack of skill sets.
• The pandemic has led to rise of unemployment, India having the highest unemployed people at 10.4 percent in June 2021 as compared to neighboring Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and, Pakistan at 4.19, 4.20, and 4.45 percent respectively.
• Less than 15 percent rural Indian households have internet access as opposed to 42 percent of their urban counterparts. According to the annual status of education report (rural) 2021, only 18 percent of the rural children attend online classes.
• Reasons for low Human Capital Development in India:
• Health:
  • Healthcare provisions in India is grossly inadequate and access to healthcare is highly inequitable. Lack of efficient public healthcare and burden of out of pocket health expenditures reduces people’s capacity or disables them from investing in the human capital of their children.
  • ineffective functioning (corruption and leakages) of the public distribution system (PDS), growing economic inequalities and lack of nutritional awareness pose challenges in combating malnutrition
• Education:
  • Basic literacy (the ability to read and write) in the overall population has progressed modestly. However, there is persistent gender differentials, and major differentials by caste and religion.
  • The state of functional literacy and professional skills is poor. Indian graduates have low employability and does not meet changing economic structure or support global competitiveness.
• Rising Inequality:
  • In India, a large portion of the population is below the poverty line, therefore, they do not have easy access to primary health and education.
  • There is growing inequality across social groups and income groups which translates itself into poor socio-economic mobility.
  • Lack of socioeconomic mobility hinders human capital development and traps a large section of population to be in the vicious circle of poverty.
• Lack of Skilling:
  • According to the National Sample Survey, out of the 470 million people of working age in India, only 10% receive any kind of training or access to skilled employment opportunities.
  • There’s a huge mismatch between demand and supply when it comes to skilled workforce and employment opportunities, which could place a strain on the economy in the long run
• Inadequate use of knowledge bases from technology developments:
  • There is a disconnect between India’s rate of technological growth and ability to distribute the gains from it by adequately focusing on skilling and health.
  • The use of technical advancements has been concentrated in few sectors and benefits accrued by a few elitist sections of the society.

Way forward:

• To engineer an inclusive and sustainable growth for India, the social infrastructure like education, health and social protection are being given utmost priority by the Government.
• The Government has been enhancing the expenditure on human capital along with adopting measures to improve the efficiency of expenditure by a convergence of schemes.
• Several labour reform measures including legislative ones are being implemented for the creation of employment opportunities and for providing sustainable livelihoods for the population who are largely engaged in the informal economy.
• Bridging the gender gaps in education, skill development, employment, earnings and reducing social inequalities prevalent in the society have been the underlying goals of the development strategy to enhance human capabilities.
• In essence, developing and empowering human capital to be able to shift to the new technology world seamlessly, should be the top priority of governments.
• Integration of higher education with skills and vocational education. Attracting the most credible talent to the teaching profession. Building global recognition to the education system.
• Streamlining regulation to attract credible private sector entities to education are some structural changes which are needed for transforming education.
• Access to high speed internet, multidisciplinary learning, design thinking, data science and information filtration capabilities are typical for making a future ready workforce.

Conclusion:

The gaps in the expenditure on social infrastructure like health and education are evident. There is a need to strengthen the delivery mechanisms of the government initiatives to ensure transparency and accountability. Protecting and investing in people’s health, education, and skilling is vital for reducing income inequality, and sustained inclusive economic growth. A strong social infrastructure is also the key to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. Thus, to reap the benefits of the demographic dividend, proper investments in building the human capital of next generation citizens is the need of the hour.

General Studies – 3

4. What are the objectives of Chandrayaan-3 mission? How is the third lunar mission of ISRO different from Chandrayaan-2?

Reference: The Hindu , en.wikipedia.org

Introduction

Chandrayaan-3 is the successor to the Chandrayaan-2 mission and it will likely attempt another soft-landing on the lunar surface. It will be a mission repeat of Chandrayaan-2 but will only include a lander and rover similar to that of Chandrayaan-2. It will not have an orbiter. As per ISRO, the total cost of Chandrayaan-3 mission will be over Rs 600 crores. In comparison, the total cost of the Chandrayaan-2 mission was Rs 960 crores.

In a boost to India’s moon mission, Chandrayaan-3 successfully underwent EMI/EMC (Electro – Magnetic Interference/ Electro-Magnetic Compatibility) at U R Rao Satellite Centre, Bengaluru.

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Objectives of Chandrayaan – 3 mission

• The mission is aimed at better understanding the Moon’s composition.
• Isro has laid out three main objectives for the mission, which include
• demonstrating a safe and soft landing on the lunar surface
• demonstrating the rover’s roving capabilities on the moon
• performing in-situ scientific observations.

Chandrayaan – 3 vis-à-vis Chandrayaan 2

• Chandrayaan 3 is an ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization) mission with the primary objective of putting a lander and rover in the highlands near the south pole of the Moon in 2023.
• According to ISRO, the Chandrayaan-3 mission will cost more than Rs 600 crores in total. In contrast, the Chandrayaan-2 mission cost a total of Rs 960 crores.
• Chandrayaan-3 will be a mission repeat of Chandrayaan-2 but will only include a lander and rover similar to that of Chandrayaan-2. It will not have an orbiter, but its propulsion module will behave like a communications relay satellite.
• But unlike Chandrayaan-2, this orbiter won’t be equipped with a research payload.
• India aims to examine the Moon’s surface, especially areas that have not been receiving sunlight in some billion years.
• Scientists and astronomers are suspecting the presence of ice and abundant mineral stocks in these darker parts of the lunar surface.
• In addition, this exploration will not limit to the surface but aim to study the sub-surface and exosphere.
• The rover of this spacecraft will communicate to earth via an orbiter taken from Chandrayaan 2.
• It will study the surface by taking images at a distance of 100km from the lunar orbit.

Conclusion

Chandrayaan 3, if successful, will make India the fourth country to soft-land a spacecraft on the Moon after the United States, USSR and China.

5. What are stem cells? Throw light on various types of stem cells and discuss the applications of stem cell technology.

Reference: Indian Express , Insights on India

Introduction

Stem cells are undifferentiated biological cells that can differentiate into specialized cells and can divide to produce more stem cells. They are the body’s raw materials — cells from which all other cells with specialized functions are generated. Treatments or therapies are used stem cells to prevent or treat any disease are known as stem cell therapy. Stem cell therapy promotes the reparative treatment of diseased, dead or injured tissue.

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 Types of Stem Cells

• Embryonic Stem Cells:
  • These are stem cells derived from the blastocyst stage of the embryo.
  • The blastocyst is a pre-implantation stage, formed 4 to 5 days after fertilisation.
  • They are pluripotent in nature and found in the inner cell mass.
  • Totipotent: These stem cells can differentiate into all possible cell types. The first few cells that appear as the zygote starts to divide are totipotent.
  • Pluripotent: These cells can turn into almost any cell. Cells from the early embryo are pluripotent.
  • Multipotent: These cells can differentiate into a closely related family of cells. Adult hematopoietic stem cells, for example, can become red and white blood cells or platelets.
  • Oligopotent: These can differentiate into a few different cell types. Adult lymphoid or myeloid stem cells can do this.
  • Unipotent: These can only produce cells of one kind, which is their own type. However, they are still stem cells because they can renew themselves. Examples include adult muscle stem cells.
• Adult Stem Cells:
  • Adult stem cells or somatic stem cells are found in both adult and juvenile animals, unlike embryonic stem cells.
  • They have the ability to differentiate into any cell of the organ from which they originate.
• Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells:
  • These are stem cells that are derived from somatic cells.
  • It is a pluripotent stem cell generated by introducing ‘reprogramming factors’ called Yamanaka factorsinto mature cells.

Applications of stem cell technology

• Tissue regeneration
  • Tissue regeneration is probably the most important use of stem cells.
  • Until now, a person who needed a new kidney, for example, had to wait for a donor and then undergo a transplant.
  • There is a shortage of donor organs but, by instructing stem cells to differentiate in a certain way, scientists could use them to grow a specific tissue type or organ.
• Cardiovascular disease treatment
  • In 2013, a team of researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital reported in PNAS Early Editionthat they had created blood vessels in laboratory mice, using human stem cells.
  • Within 2 weeks of implanting the stem cells, networks of blood-perfused vessels had formed. The quality of these new blood vessels was as good as the nearby natural ones.
• Brain disease treatment
  • Doctors may one day be able to use replacement cells and tissues to treat brain diseases, such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.
  • In Parkinson’s, for example, damage to brain cells leads to uncontrolled muscle movements. Scientists could use stem cells to replenish the damaged brain tissue.
  • This could bring back the specialized brain cells that stop the uncontrolled muscle movements.
• Cell deficiency therapy
  • Scientists hope one day to be able to develop healthy heart cells in a laboratory that they can transplant into people with heart disease.
  • These new cells could repair heart damage by repopulating the heart with healthy tissue.
  • Similarly, people with type I diabetes could receive pancreatic cells to replace the insulin-producing cells that their own immune systems have lost or destroyed.
• Blood disease treatments
  • Doctors now routinely use adult hematopoietic stem cells to treat diseases, such as leukemia, sickle cell anemia, and other immunodeficiency problems.
  • Hematopoietic stem cells occur in blood and bone marrow and can produce all blood cell types, including red blood cells that carry oxygen and white blood cells that fight disease.

Way forward

• There is a need for implementation of the rules framed by the centre. Despite the existence of regulatory frameworks, scientists, clinics and doctors continue to work with stem cells without proper approval.
• There is a need to encourage reporting of the effects of stem cell therapies’ trials. Evidence-based progress is vital in a dynamic and much-hyped field like stem cell technology.
• There is a need to create awareness about the real benefits and limitations of stem cell therapies to protect patients from unproven therapies offered by profit-driven clinics.
• Regulation of IVF clinics is essential to break the image of India as an ‘embryo supplier’ for dubious research.
• Instead of depending on stem cells derived from embryos, adult stem cells or induced pluripotent stem cells can be worked with to a greater extent.
• Certification of clinics approved for providing stem cell therapy.
• An internationally applicable guideline must be developed by organisations like WHO as this is not an issue to be solved by one country in isolation.

Conclusion

Though advancement in stem cell technology is making strides, there is a need to funnel it through appropriate testing and clinical trials before being used on the general public. For this, a well-functioning regulatory mechanism and responsible research and application are of vital importance.

Answer the following questions in 250 words(15 marks each):

General Studies – 1

6. Creating a safe workplace for women is essential to ensuring that women can work without fear of harassment, discrimination, or violence. However, the progress to create a safe workplace for women has been slow and insufficient. Analyse.

Reference: The Hindu

Introduction

The Union Sports Minister constituted an ‘oversight committee’ headed by a lady Olympic medal holder to investigate the charges leveled against the president of the Wrestling Federation of India. The recent case of allegations of sexual harassment some of India’s sportswomen (wrestling) have faced has once again shown the dangers lurking for women at workplace.

The female labour force participation rate was at 9.4 per cent for the period between September-December 2021, according to the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE).

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Importance of creating a safe workplace for women

• Women are more vulnerable to exploitationby their employer as they can be easily threatened with their job continuity for indecent favors.
• Most womendo not complain of sexual harassment and the current redress mechanism is either non-existent or ineffective.
• The absence of an enabling and safe working environment has led to poor labour force of women (LFPR)
• Women’s contribution remains critical for survival, especially at a time rural household incomes are dwindling.
• Safe workplaces encourage women workers to continue their work, thus increasing equity and in turn help increase the LFPR.
• It helps them to carry out their work efficiently. A woman wants a safe place to work without any unwelcome distractions.
• It helps women to be calmer. Workplace harassment is traumatizing, and leads girls and women to suffer from depression and degrading mental health.
• If coworkers or bosses sexually harass a woman, it can lower productivity and increase absenteeism in the workplace. The employee’s health and well-being are badly harmed.

measures taken for to create safe working place for women

• Legislations in force:
  • Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005
  • Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961
  • Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986
  • Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013
  • Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006
• Government Initiatives: 
  • Nirbhaya Fund for projects for the safety and security of women
    • One-Stop Centre Scheme to provide integrated support and assistance to women affected by violence, both in private and public spaces under one roof
    • the Scheme of ‘Universalisation of Women Helpline’ and
    • the Scheme of ‘Mahila Police Volunteers’
  • Online analytic tool for police called “Investigation Tracking System for Sexual Offences” to monitor and track time-bound investigation in sexual assault cases in accordance with Criminal Law (Amendment) Act 2018.
  • National Database on Sexual Offenders (NDSO) to facilitate investigation and tracking of sexual offenders across the country by law enforcement agencies
• A cyber-crime portal has been launched for citizens 
  • to report obscene content.
  • Cyber Crime Forensic Labs have been set up in several States, and training of over 3,664 personnel, including 410 Public Prosecutors and Judicial Officers in identifying, detecting and resolving cyber-crimes against women and children has been imparted.

Way forward and conclusion

• The numbers matter when it comes to power emanating from the majority.
• One musters courage to voice one’s grievance when there are sufficient numbers in support of the affected person.
• Much would depend on the tooth-to-tail ratioof any organization.
• When the number of women in leadership positions is enough. It generates confidence in subordinate women.
• Unless the mindset of treating men and women as equalsis developed at an early stage of character formation during childhood, the stereotyped power relation between the two would be difficult to change later.
• Theory of criminology known as ‘nature versus nurture: While genes may decide certain features of one’s personality at birth, it is social conditioning and the environment of the family and early schooling which matter the most during the growth of children.
• Unless both parents respect each other and treat their girl and boy child on a par in all respects, they grow up learning this inequality as a normal phenomenon, which may even lead to the development of criminal tendencies in men.
• Unless society as a whole works incessantly to bring about the required changes in the existing socio-cultural and economic structures to eliminate indirect violence, root and branch, the status quo may not change.

General Studies – 2

7. The significance of public health has been widely acknowledged. Despite this recognition, the progress towards establishing a primary healthcare system centred on affordable and accessible public health has been sluggish. Could the fundamental right to healthcare be a solution to this issue? Critically examine.

Reference: Insights on India

Introduction

The right to health, as with other rights, includes both freedoms and entitlements and would be a part of Article 21. Freedoms include the right to control one’s health and body (for example, sexual and reproductive rights) and to be free from interference (for example, free from torture and non-consensual medical treatment and experimentation).

Entitlements include the right to a system of health protection that gives everyone an equal opportunity to enjoy the highest attainable level of health.

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Problems in India’s health sector

• There is a massive shortage of medical staff, infrastructure and last mile connectivity in rural areas. Eg: Doctor : Population 1:1800 and 78% doctors cater to urban India (population of 30%).
• Massive shortages in the supply of services (human resources, hospitals and diagnostic centres in the private/public sector) which are made worse by grossly inequitable availability between and within States.
  • Data from the National Health Profile-2019, the total number of hospital beds in the country was 7,13,986 which translates to 0.55 beds per 1000 population.
  • Furthermore, the study also highlighted that 12 states that account for 70 per cent of India’s 1.3 billion population were found to have hospital beds per 1000 population below the national average of 0.55 beds.
  • For example, even a well-placed State such as Tamil Nadu has an over 30% shortage of medical and non-medical professionals in government facilities.
• Health budget: The health budget has neither increased nor is there any policy to strengthen the public/private sector in deficit areas. While the Ayushmaan Bharat provides portability, one must not forget that it will take time for hospitals to be established in deficit areas.
  • This in turn could cause patients to gravitate toward the southern States that have a comparatively better health infrastructure than the rest of India.
• Infrastructure constraints: There are doubts on the capacity of India’s infrastructure to take on the additional load of patients during pandemics like Covid-19 as seen recently.
  • There is a growing medical tourism (foreign tourists/patients) as a policy being promoted by the government, and also domestic patients, both insured and uninsured.
• Absence of primary care: In the northern States there are hardly any sub-centres and primary health centres are practically non-existent. First mile connectivity to a primary healthcare centre is broken. For eg, in Uttar Pradesh there is one PHC for every 28 villages.
• Out of pocket expenditure high: Even the poor are forced to opt for private healthcare, and, hence, pay from their own pockets. As a result, an estimated 63 million people fall into poverty due to health expenditure, annually.
• Healthcare without holistic approach: There are a lot of determinants for better health like improved drinking water supply and sanitation; better nutritional outcomes, health and education for women and girls; improved air quality and safer roads which are outside the purview of the Health Ministry.

Need for right to health

Impediments to declare it a fundamental right

• The existing public primary health care model in the country is limited in scope.
  • Even where there is a well-functioning public primary health centre, only services related to pregnancy care, limited childcare and certain services related to national health programmes are provided.
• Expenditure on public health funding has been consistently low in India (approximately 1.3% of GDP).
  • As per OECD, India’s total out-of-pocket expenditure is around 2.3% of GDP.
  • The government is committed to spend 2.5% of GDP on health by 2025.
• Sub-optimal health system. Due to this, it is challenging to tackle Non-communicable Diseases, which is all about prevention and early detection.
  • It diminishes preparedness and effective management for new and emerging threats such as pandemic like Covid-19.

Measures needed

• The implication of and central to the success of such a reset lies in creating appropriate cadres.
• More immediately, there must be a public health cadre manning the posts at the PHC and CHCs consisting of sub-specialists in family medicine, public health and public health management.
• Likewise, among nurses, the cadre should comprise two distinct sets of personnel — public health nurses (not ANMs promoted based on seniority) and nurse midwives capable of independently doing all clinical functions for handling pregnancies and women’s health issues except surgical interventions.
• Primary care in India can get traction only if new skills, drastically upgraded competencies and a new mindset are embedded within the vision of a patient, family and community-centred health system.
• There is also a need to declutter policy dialogue and provide clarity to the nomenclatures. Currently, public health, family medicine and public health management are used interchangeably.
• It is time our political systems listen to peoples’ voices for a family doctor to ensure their everyday needs — and not easy options like privatisation, commodification and medicalisation of the system.
• Resetting the system to current day realities requires strong political leadership to go beyond the inertia of the techno-administrative status quoist structures.

Conclusion

The lesson emerging most unequivocally from the pandemic experience is that if India does not want a repeat of the immeasurable suffering and the social and economic loss, we need to make public health a central focus. The virus is still around. We have no option but to live with that reality.

Covid has also shifted the policy dialogue from health budgets and medical colleges towards much-needed and badly-delayed institutional reform. It is heartening to note that the Ministry of Health has issued guidelines to states to establish a public health cadre.

8. The primary objective of the Anti-Defection Law is to promote stability and prevent political defections, which can lead to horse-trading and opportunistic alliances. But the law has been ineffective and at times even counterproductive in preventing defections. Critically examine.

Reference: The Hindu , Insights on India

Introduction

Defection is “desertion by one member of the party of his loyalty towards his political party” or basically it means “When an elected representative joins another party without resigning his present party for benefits”. The institutional malaise is defection and party-hopping is state- neutral, party-neutral, and politics-neutral.

A five-judge Bench of the Supreme Court of India is presently hearing a set of cases popularly known as the “Maharashtra political controversy cases”. These cases arose out of the events in June last year, when the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition (the Shiv Sena, the Nationalist Congress Party and Congress) lost power after an internal splintering of the Shiv Sena party.

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Background

• For a very long time, the Indian political system was impacted by political defections by members of the legislature. This situation brought about greater instability and chaos in the political system.
• Thus, in 1985, to curb the evil of political defections,the 52nd constitution amendment act on Anti-defection law was passed and the 10th Schedule was added in the Indian Constitution.
• The main intent of the law was to combat “the evil of political defections” which may be due to reward of office or other similar considerations.
• The law applies to both Parliament and state assemblies. However, there are several issues in relation to the working of this law.
• 91st Constitution Amendment Act-2003was enacted and was aimed at limiting the size of the Council of Ministers to debar defectors from holding public offices, and to strengthen the anti-defection law.

Flaws of the current Anti-defection law

• Does not prevent Defection: The Anti-defection law has failed to curb “horse trading” and defection, leading to toppling of governments through machinations of corrupt legislators.
  • Eg: The 17-MLA’s of coalition government resigned in Karnataka, leading to change in government. The 17 MLA’s later contested from the party that formed new government.
• Wholesale defection: The law prevents individual defections, but not wholesale defections.
  • Eg: Congress government in Madhya Pradesh lost majority due to resignations of MLA’s.
• Against the true spirit of representative democracy:The anti-defection law seeks to provide a stable government by ensuring the legislators do not switch sides.
  • However, this law also enforces a restriction on legislators from voting in line with their conscience, judgement and interests of his electorate.
• Impedes legislative control on government:The anti-defection law impedes the oversight function of the legislature over the government, by ensuring that members vote based on the decisions taken by the party leadership.
  • In short, if legislators are not able to vote on laws independently, they would not act as an effective check on the government.
  • The Anti-Defection Law, in effect, dilutes the separation of powers between the Executive and the Legislature – and centralises power in the hands of the executives.
• Role of presiding officer of the house:The law lays down that legislators may be disqualified on grounds of defection by the Presiding Officer of a legislature based on a petition by any other member of the House.
  • However, there are many instances when presiding officers play a part with the vested interests of a political party/government in power.
  • Also, the law does not specify a time period for the Presiding Officer to decide on a disqualification plea.
  • The decision thus is sometimes based on the whims and fancies of the presiding officer.
• Affects the debate and discussion:The Anti-Defection Law has created a democracy of parties and numbers in India, rather than a democracy of debate and discussion.
  • In this way, it does not make a differentiation between dissent and defection and weaken the Parliamentary deliberations on any law.

Steps to be taken

• To be used for major decision making: Several experts have suggested that the law should be valid only for those votes that determine the stability of the government. e.g. passage of the annual budget or no-confidence motions as recommended by Dinesh Goswami Committee.
• Non-partisan authority: Various commissions including National Commission to review the working of the constitution (NCRWC) have recommended that rather than the Presiding Officer, the decision to disqualify a member should be made by the President (in case of MPs) or the Governor (in case of MLAs) on the advice of the Election Commission.
• Independent committee for disqualification: Justice Verma in Hollohan judgment said that tenure of the Speaker is dependent on the continuous support of the majority in the House and therefore, he does not satisfy the requirement of such independent adjudicatory authority.
  • Also, his choice as the sole arbiter in the matter violates an essential attribute of the basic feature.
  • Thus, the need for an independent authority to deal with the cases of defection.
• Intra-party democracy: 170^th Law Commission report underscored the importance of intra-party democracy by arguing that a political party cannot be a dictatorship internally and democratic in its functioning outside.
  • Thus, the parties should listen to the opinions of the members and have discussions on the same. This would give the freedom of speech and expression to its members and promote inner-party democracy.
• Limiting Speaker’s discretion: Recent Supreme Court Judgement ruled that Speaker must decide on disqualification within three months of receiving application. It cannot be the discretion of the Speaker to take no action.

Conclusion

There is a need to prevent unholy defections that lead to instability in the governance system of the nation. The current law is clearly flawed and has not effectively curbed defection due to lure of power and money. There is a need for a more rationalised version of anti-defection laws which will help establish a truly representative democracy.

General Studies – 3

9. The establishment of GST Appellate Tribunal to resolve the rising number of disputes is step in the right direction but still there is need for more reforms in the goods and services tax (GST) Critically examine.

Reference: The Hindu , Insights on India

Introduction

The Goods and Services Tax (GST) is an indirect tax system which was rolled out in 2017 with the aim of ‘One Nation, one tax’. The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has pointed out lacunae in the GST regime, saying that system-validated input tax credit through invoice matching is not in place and a non-intrusive e-tax system still remains elusive.

India’s goods and services tax (GST) regime completed five years on July 1, 2022. Meeting in person after nearly eight months, the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council last Saturday reached a broad consensus on establishing GST Appellate Tribunals to resolve disputes under the tax regime launched in July 2017.

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Various issues with respect to goods and services tax (GST) regime

• The breakdown of trust and cooperative federalism between states and the Union government:
  • It turned out to be prescient as GST failed to live up to its economic promises and states’ revenues were protected through this guarantee, despite Finance’s attempt to wriggle out of this commitment during the pandemic under the alibi of an “act of God”.
  • The Union government’s proclivity to levy and appropriate cess revenues for itself without sharing them with the states has lent credence to the wisdom of guaranteed compensation for states.
  • This guarantee is now set to expire..
• The recent Supreme Court’s judgment highlighting that the GST Council’s recommendations are not binding on the states:
  • The SC recently observed that it is in the national interest to have both cooperative and competitive federalism, and hence, the GST Council’s decisions are not binding on the states.
  • This means that states had and continue to have the right to either comply fully with the Council’s recommendations or modify them as they deem necessary.
  • This has opened the window for states to override the fundamental GST premise of a “one nation one tax”.
  • If pushed to a corner, states may now use the SC ruling as a shield.
• Expiry of the revenue guarantee that protected states’ revenues 
  • GST is too precariously perched to yank away the compensation guarantee for states.
  • the Union government is not desirous of extending the compensation guarantee.
• Difficulty in tax administration:
  • Goes against the canons of taxation.
  • A modern tax system should be fair, uncomplicated, transparent and easy to administer.
  • It must yield revenues sufficient to cover the cost of government services and public goods.
  • Lack of clarity on many rules is also leading to various litigation and different interpretations (of the same laws) by Advanced Ruling Authorities in different states.
• Complicated taxation structure:
  • A World Bank study published in May 2018 said that the Indian GST rate was the second highest among the 115 countries with a national value-added tax.
  • It was also the most complicated, with five main tax rates, several exemptions, a cess and a special rate for gold.
  • The multilateral lender said that only five countries had four or more non-zero tax rates—India, Italy, Pakistan, Luxembourg and Ghana.
  • Falling revenue amid disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic has continuously delayed the reform, leaving a large number of items in high tax slabs.
• High compliance costs:are also arising because the prevalence of multiple tax rates implies a need to classify inputs and outputs based on the applicable tax rate. Along with the need to apply the correct rate, firms are required to match invoices between their outputs and inputs to be eligible for full input tax credit, which increases compliance costs further.
• GST Council meetings: the meetings of the GST Council are not as frequent as they were earlier, if the recent incidents are anything to go by, and it often end up with disagreement, fight and strong letters and statements. States have also accused the Centre of cornering a substantial portion of tax in forms of cess.
• There has been lack of coordination between the Department of Revenue, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs and the GST Network.

However, there are gains too from the GST Regime

• Introduced as one of the biggest economic reforms by the incumbent government, the GST kicked off with the promise to streamline taxation and compliance burden.
• Based on the one nation one tax ideology, GST has helped in reducing the cascading effect of tax considerably.
• Also, multiplicity of compliances under various indirect taxes has been reduced.
• Hence, introduction of GST in India has brought in efficiencies in indirect tax compliance, incidence and reduced the number of indirect tax authorities that a taxpayer needed to interact with
• Another positive is the concept of e-invoicing which seeks to ensure greater transparency in supplier-receiver transactions.
• The introduction of e-way bill coupled with the crackdown on fake invoicing has helped in bringing in a substantial portion of GST revenues, which were either being evaded or under-reported, in order.
• The GST Appellate Tribunals will be established soon to resolve disputes leading to quicker disposal of GST disagreements that are adding to courts’ caseloads

Way Forward

• The first target should be to move to at least a three-rate structure, a lower rate for essential goods, a relatively high rate for luxury goods, and a standard rate for the majority of goods and services.
• The next step would be simplifying the tax returns process.
• The scope for lowering the GST rate is umbilically linked to direct tax reform.
• A better way to make a tax system more just is by lowering regressive indirect tax rates while widening the base for progressive direct taxes on income and corporate profits.
• The government needs to establish GST Tribunals to reduce litigation timelines and the pressure on courts.
• The state authorities for Advance Ruling should ideally also have an independent jurist member, apart from a representative from the tax department.
• Many goods are still outside the GST net, which comes in the way of seamless flow of input tax credit. Key items outside its ambit are electricity, alcohol, petroleum goods and real estate. This aspect need to be looked into.
• Emulating the best practices. The GST in New Zealand, widely regarded as the most efficient in the world, has a single standard rate of 12.5 percent across all industry groups.
• The Fifteenth finance commission, in its latest report, has addressed many issues including large shortfall in collections as compared to original forecast, high volatility in collections, accumulation of large integrated GST credit, glitches in invoice and input tax matching, and delay in refunds.
• The Commission also observed that the continuing dependence of states on compensation from the central government for making up for the shortfall in revenue is a concern.
• While at the same time it suggested that the structural implications of GST for low consumption states need to be considered.

Conclusion

While the GST’s journey has given its stakeholders some causes to celebrate, it has also given moments of worry. But then, no transformation of the scale and complexity can be achieved without its share of hiccups and challenges. The process of evolution will take a few years more for the mammoth structural change to stabilize. The four-year journey of GST has been a roller-coaster ride for all stakeholders with equitable share of hits, misses and expectations. A work-in-progress in its transformational journey, GST suffers from several shortcomings which need to be resolved quickly, but its journey to ‘Good & Simple Tax’ is still quite long.

10. What do you understand by emission trading? As a policy tool to control greenhouse gas emissions, the carbon emissions trading scheme can achieve the goal of reducing emissions while minimizing overall emissions reduction costs through market transactions. Examine. (250 words)

Difficulty level: Moderate

Reference: The Hindu , Insights on India

Introduction

Emission trading or Carbon markets allow for buying and selling of carbon emissions with the objective of reducing global emissions. Carbon markets existed under the Kyoto Protocol, which is being replaced by the Paris Agreement in 2020. Carbon Markets can potentially deliver emissions reductions over and above what countries are doing on their own.

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About carbon market

• Carbon Markets and Carbon Credits are components of emissions trading, a market-based approach to to reduce the concentration of Greenhouse gases (GHG) in the atmosphere. It works by providing economic incentives for reducing the emissions of the designated pollutants. A carbon market allows investors and corporations to trade both carbon credits and carbon offsets simultaneously.
• Carbon credits (or allowances) work like permission slips for emissions.
  • When a company buys a carbon credit, they gain permission to generate more CO2 emissions.
  • One tradable carbon credit equals one tonne of carbon dioxide or the equivalent amount of a different greenhouse gas reduced, sequestered or avoided.
• Credits are measured against ‘benchmarks’ or allowed GHG emissions. If emissions are below the allowed limit, the emitter earns carbon credits (reducing 1 tonne of CO2 earns 1 carbon credit).
  • If emissions are above the allowed limit, the emitter must buy carbon credits from those who have excess credits.
  • Thus, crossing the emissions limit imposes a cost (amount spent on purchase of carbon credits) on the emitter. The idea is that this cost will force the emitters to be more efficient and reduce emission.

Potential to have carbon market framework In India

• First, it will help in mitigating the adverse impacts of climate change by reducing the GHG emissions.
• Second, there are multiple co-benefits of offset projects such as: ecosystem management, forest preservation, sustainable agriculture, renewable energy generation in third-world countries, etc.
• Third, the voluntary carbon market for offsets is smaller than the compliance market, but expected to grow much bigger in the coming years. It’s open to individuals, companies, and other organizations that want to reduce or eliminate their carbon footprint, but are not necessarily required to by law.
• Fourth, consumers are increasingly aware of the importance of carbon emissions. Consequently, they’re increasingly critical of companies that don’t take climate change seriously. By contributing to carbon offset projects, companies signal to consumers and investors that they’re paying more than just lip service to combat climate change.
• Fifth, it opens an additional revenue stream for environmentally beneficial businesses. For instance, Tesla, the electric car maker, sold carbon credits to legacy car manufacturers to the tune of $518 million in just the first quarter of 2021.

Challenges with carbon market

• There are concerns regarding the effectiveness of carbon markets in curbing emissions.
  • Some companies simply buy credits without making any effort to reduce emissions themselves. It is cheaper for them to buy carbon credit than to invest in emission reducing technologies
• The issue of old carbon credits (certified carbon emissions, or CERs), issued under — the Clean Development Mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol — are still valid.
  • Counting them as valid would slow down climate action because those who are under commitments to reducing emissions would just buy the CERs and call it a done deal.
  • However, declaring them invalid would disappoint all those entities that were given the credits.
• Phenomenon of ‘double counting’ exists. If an emission reduction takes place in one country and another entity in another country buys the carbon credits, only one of the two countries should be logically allowed to use the activity against its own commitments — not both.
• Issues related to a fee levied on each carbon trading transaction for a fund to help poor countries adapt to the vagaries of the climate change.
• Buying carbon credits can deviate the rich nations from the path of reducing emissions. They can simply continue to emit and buy cheap carbon credits from developing countries.
• It is difficult to establish the amount of carbon reduced by offset projects (like afforestation or wind energy project). The complexity is in establishing baseline emissions (Emissions baseline represents what would happen if your project did not occur i.e., the emissions in the absence of the project).
  • This makes it difficult to verify emission reductions and assigning carbon credits.
• India’s own PAT (Perform, Achieve, Trade) Scheme has failed to achieve meaningful emissions reduction. According to an analysis by the Center for Science and Environment, the emission reduction under the scheme has been only 1.57% and 1.44% over the two cycles.

Conclusion

The establishment of a domestic carbon market is a progressive step. However, the actual benefit will depend upon the effectiveness of the market. For this, the Government must ensure that proper regulations are established. Moreover, there must be periodic assessment of its functioning and corrective steps its necessary. Climate Change is real and imminent, Government must take all possible steps to mitigate the challenges.

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