At OIC meet, India flays terror funding                                                                                                    

Order on surveillance meant to protect privacy, govt. tells SC                                                            

The 7th (RCEP) Intersessional Ministerial Meeting                                                                               

Deendayal Disabled Rehabilitation Scheme                                                                                           

Government to celebrate ‘Poshan Pakhwada’                                                                                        

Scam-hit Punjab National Bank tops among PSBs in implementing banking reforms                     

 

At OIC meet, India flays terror funding

GS PAPER - 02 INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS - Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India's interests

Context :

     ★ External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj attended the inaugural plenary of the foreign ministers' conclave of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) as the guest of honour.

     ★ It is for the first time that India has been invited to a meeting of the OIC, which is an influential grouping of 57 Islamic countries.

     ★ India was invited to attend the OIC meeting in 1969 but Pakistan prevailed upon and got the invite withdrawn.

Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC ) :

     ★ The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) is the second largest inter-governmental organization after the United Nations with a membership of 57 states spread over four continents.

     ★ The Organization is the collective voice of the Muslim world. It endeavors to safeguard and protect the interests of the Muslim world in the spirit of promoting international peace and harmony among various people of the world.

     ★ The Organization was established upon a decision of the historical summit which took place in Rabat, Kingdom of Morocco on 12th Rajab 1389 Hijra (September 25, 1969).In 1970, the first-ever meeting of the Islamic Conference of Foreign Minister (ICFM) was held in Jeddah, which decided to establish a permanent secretariat.

    ★ The secretariat comprises a secretary-general who is the Chief Administrative Officer of the organisation.

    ★ The first OIC charter was adopted by the 3rd ICFM session held in 1972, which laid down the objectives and principles of the organization and fundamental purposes to strengthen the solidarity and cooperation among the member states.

    ★ Over the last 40 years, the membership has grown from its founding members of 30 to 57 states.

    ★ The charter was amended to keep pace with the developments that have unraveled across the world. The present charter of the OIC was adopted by the 11th Islamic Summit held in Dakar in March 2008.

    ★ The member states of the OIC face many challenges in the 21st century and to address those challenges, the third session of the Islamic Summit held in Makkah in December 2005, laid down the blueprint called the Ten-Year Program of Action.

     ★ It successfully concluded with the close of 2015. A successor programme for the next decade (2016-2025) has since then been adopted.

     ★ The new programme OIC-2025 focuses on 18 priority areas with 107 goals. The priority areas include issues of

                      ★ Peace and Security

                      ★ Palestine and Al-Quds (Jerusalem)

                      ★ Poverty Alleviation

                      ★ Counter-terrorism

                      ★ Investment and Finance

                      ★ Food Security

                      ★ Science and Technology

                      ★ Climate Change and Sustainability

                      ★ Moderation

                      ★ Culture and Interfaith Harmony

                      ★ Empowerment of Women

                     ★ Joint Islamic Humanitarian Action

                     ★ Human Rights and Good Governance

                                                                                                                  Source :- The Hindu

Order on surveillance meant to protect privacy, govt. tells SC

GS PAPER - 02 GOVERNANCE - Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.

Context :

     ★ The Centre to a PIL filed by advocate M.L. Sharma, challenging the December 20  notification allowing 10 central agencies to snoop on people-  as a violation of the fundamental right to privacy, The Government  told the Supreme Court that its December 20, 2018 notification is in fact a measure to protect citizens’ privacy.

Background :

     ★ The government in December 20, 2018 notification has authorised 10 police and intelligence agencies to "intercept, monitor and decrypt" all information on any computer device in the country.

     ★ This has been issued under sub-section 1 of section 69 of the Information Technology Act, 2000.

Government Response :        

          

     ★ The order was intended to prevent unauthorised interception and protect privacy of citizens

     ★ Snooping will be done only as a last resort if other options aren’t available, the government claimed, at the instance of the head of the authorised security agency or law enforcement agency.

     ★ The very purpose of the December 20 order is to ensure that surveillance is done as per due process of law

Surveillance by Authorised Agencies :

     ★ Any interception, monitoring, decryption of computer resource is done only by authorised agencies and with approval of competent authority; to prevent unauthorised use of these powers by any agency, individual or intermediary so that the right to privacy of citizen is not violated

Interest of Sovereignty and Integrity of India :

     ★ Surveillance is done only in the defence of India, to maintain public order, etc.

     ★ The government also claimed that the order was issued to ensure that all safeguards were followed in interception and every case must be placed before a high-level review committee headed by the Cabinet Secretary at the Centre and the chief secretary in the states.

Review Panel :

     ★ The review committee will review every such authorisation order within 60 days and order destruction of the copies of the intercepted messages if it doesn’t fulfil the procedural safeguards. The affidavit filed by the Home Ministry claimed that the order narrowed, not widened, the scope of surveillance.

     ★ The order only restricted the exercise of such powers removing a possible vagueness and specifying the agencies which would have the power to do it. It streamlines and restricts use of Section 69 of the IT Act, 2000, to cases of “legitimate state interest”.

                                                                                                                                                    Source :- The Hindu

The 7th (RCEP) Intersessional Ministerial Meeting

GS PAPER - 02 INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS - Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India's interests

Context :

     ★ 7^th RCEP Intersessional Ministerial Meeting held in Cambodia .

RCEP :

     ★ The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is a so-called mega-regional economic agreement being negotiated since 2012 between the 10 ASEAN (Association of South-East Asian Nations) governments and their six FTA partners: Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea.

Importance :

     ★ The RCEP, when realized will become the largest trade bloc in terms of population with nearly 3.5 billion people.

     ★ It will also have an estimated 40% of world’s GDP and dominating 30% of global trade.

     ★ A unique importance of the ambitious RCEP formation is that it contains the three biggest economies of Asia – China, India and Japan. The trade arrangement has big future potential as it holds the two of the fastest growing largest economies – China and India.

Objective :

     ★ Objective of RCEP negotiations is to “achieve a modern, comprehensive, high-quality and mutually beneficial economic partnership agreement among the ASEAN Member States and ASEAN’s FTA Partners.

    ★ RCEP will cover trade in goods, trade in services, investment, economic and technical cooperation, intellectual property, competition, dispute settlement and other issues.” (from the Guiding Principles and Objectives for Negotiating the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership).

India’s Concern :

     ★ Greater access to Chinese goods may have impact on the Indian manufacturing sector. India has got massive trade deficit with China. Under these circumstances, India proposed differential market access strategy for China.

     ★ There are demands by other RCEP countries for lowering customs duties on a number of products and greater access to the market than India has been willing to provide.

                                                                                                                                               Source :- PIB

Deendayal Disabled Rehabilitation Scheme

GS PAPER - 02 GOVERNANCE - Welfare schemes for vulnerable sections of the population by the Centre and States and the performance of these schemes

Context :

     ★ A National Conference on “Deendayal Disabled Rehabilitation Scheme (DDRS)” was recently inaugurated at New Delhi.

More about the conference :

     ★ The Conference was organised by the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPwD), Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.

     ★ The objective of the conference was to sensitize the stakeholders of the scheme i.e. Programme Implementing Agencies (PIAs), District level officers & State Government officers.

Deendayal Disabled Rehabilitation Scheme (DDRS) :

     ★ The umbrella Central Sector Scheme –  called “Scheme to Promote Voluntary Action for Persons with Disabilities” was revised and was renamed as the “Deendayal Disabled Rehabilitation Scheme (DDRS)” in 2003.

Objective :

     ★ To create an enabling environment to ensure equal opportunities, equity, social justice and empowerment of persons with disabilities.

     ★ To encourage voluntary action for ensuring effective implementation of the People with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities and Protection of Rights) Act of 1995.

Approach and Strategy :

     ★ The approach of this Scheme is to provide financial assistance to voluntary organizations to make available the whole range of services necessary for rehabilitation of persons with disabilities including early intervention, development of daily living skills, education, skill-development oriented towards employability, training and awareness generation.

     ★ With a view to inclusion of persons with disabilities in the mainstream of society and actualizing their potential, the thrust would be on education and training programmes.

                                                                                                                 Source :- PIB

Government to celebrate ‘Poshan Pakhwada’

GS PAPER - 02 GOVERNANCE - Welfare schemes for vulnerable sections of the population by the Centre and States and the performance of these schemes

Context :

     ★ The Minister for Women and Child Development announced that the Government will celebrate the first anniversary of POSHAN Abhiyaan on 8th March, 2019 by organising Poshan Pakhwada across the Country.

     ★ WCD Minister said that Poshan Pakhwada will be celebrated as part of Jan Andolan under POSHAN Abhiyaan

POSHAN Abhiyan :

     ★ POSHAN Abhiyaan is a multi-ministerial convergence mission with the vision to ensure attainment of malnutrition free India by 2022.

     ★ The objective of POSHAN Abhiyaan to reduce stunting in identified Districts of India with the highest malnutrition burden by improving utilization of key Anganwadi Services and improving the quality of Anganwadi Services delivery.

     ★ It aims to ensure holistic development and adequate nutrition for pregnant women, mothers and children.          

     ★ There are a number of schemes directly/indirectly affecting the nutritional status of children (0-6 year’s age) and pregnant women and lactating mothers. In spite of these, level of malnutrition and related problems in the country is high. There is no dearth of schemes but lack of creating synergy and linking the schemes with each other to achieve common goal. POSHAN Abhiyaan through robust convergence mechanism and other components would strive to create the synergy.

Targets under the Scheme :

     ★ It targets to reduce level of under-nutrition and other related problems by ensuring convergence of various nutrition related schemes.

     ★ It also targets stunting, under-nutrition, anaemia (among young children, women and adolescent girls) and low birth rate.

     ★ It will monitor and review implementation of all such schemes and utilize existing structural arrangements of line ministries wherever available.

     ★ Its large component involves gradual scaling-up of interventions supported by on-going World Bank assisted Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) Systems Strengthening and Nutrition Improvement Project (ISSNIP) to all districts in the country by 2022.

                                                                                                                                                    Source :- PIB

Scam-hit Punjab National Bank tops among PSBs in implementing banking reforms

GS PAPER - 02 GOVERNANCE - Important aspects of governance, transparency and accountability, e-governance- applications, models, successes, limitations, and potential; citizens charters, transparency & accountability and institutional and other measures.

Context :

     ★ Union Minister of Finance & Corporate Affairs Shri Arun Jaitley released the first report on EASE Reforms Index that independently measures progress on the Public Sector Banks (PSB) Reforms Agenda

EASE Reform Index :

     ★ EASE index is prepared by the Indian Banking Association (IBA) and Boston Consulting Group.

     ★ It is commissioned by the Finance Ministry.

     ★ It is a framework that was adopted last year to strengthen public sector banks, and rank them on metrics such as responsible banking, financial inclusion, credit offtake and digitisation.

     ★ The Index measures performance of each PSB on 140 objective metrics across 6 themes and provides all PSBs a comparative evaluation showing where banks stand vis-à-vis benchmarks and peers on the Reforms Agenda.

     ★ The Index follows a fully transparent scoring methodology, which enables banks to identify precisely their strengths as well as areas for improvement.

Key Findings of the Report :

     ★ Punjab National Bank has topped the list. It is followed by Bank of Baroda, State Bank of India (SBI), and Oriental Bank of Commerce.

     ★ The EASE Index report also noted PSU banks’ strengthening of the bad-loan recovery process, pointing to the success of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) in fast-tracking the resolution process.

Significance of Report :

     ★ The index and report unveiled provides insights into how public sector banks are effectively addressing NPA problem.

     ★ The report shows visible progress made on each of 4 elements of Government’s 4R’s strategy including recognition, recovery, recapitalisation and reforms.

                                                                                                                          Source :- Indian Express

Ensure a minimum income for all [ Editorial / Opinion ]

GS PAPER - 03 ECONOMY -  Inclusive growth & issues arising from it.

Context :

     ★ The idea of a universal basic income (UBI) is gaining ground globally.

     ★ It has supporters among the political left and right, and among proponents as well as opponents of the free-market economy.

Universal Basic Income :

     ★ A UBI requires the government to pay every citizen a fixed amount of money on a regular basis and without any conditionalities.

     ★ Crucial to the appeal for such a demand — for a UBI — is that millions of people remain unemployed and are extremely poor, despite rapid economic growth in the last three decades.

     ★ Recently, the present has already unfolded a limited version of the UBI in the form of the Pradhanmantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana (PM-KISAN) which promises Rs 6,000 per annum to farmers who own less than 2 hectares of land.

Working of the UBI :

     ★ The UBI is neither an antidote to the vagaries of market forces nor a substitute for basic public services, especially health and education.

     ★ Besides, there is no need to transfer money to middle- and high-income earners as well as large landowners.

     ★ However, there is a strong case for direct income transfers to some groups: landless labourers, agricultural workers and marginal farmers who suffer from multi-dimensional poverty.

     ★ These groups have not benefited from economic growth.

     ★ They were and still are the poorest Indians. Various welfare schemes have also failed to bring them out of penury.

Need of UBI :

     ★ A case in point is the access to institutional credit issued by banks and cooperative societies. According to National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) data from the 70th round, institutional credits account for less than 15% of the total borrowing by landless agricultural workers; the figure for marginal and small farmers is only 30%.

     ★ These groups have to borrow from moneylenders and adhatiyas at exorbitant interest rates ranging from 24 to 60%.

     ★ As a result, they do not stand to benefit much from the interest rate subsidy for the agriculture sector.

     ★ Likewise, the benefits of subsidised fertilizers and power are enjoyed largely by big farmers.

     ★ In urban areas, contract workers and those in the informal sector face a similar problem.

     ★ The rapid pace of automation of low-skill jobs and formalisation of the retail sector mean the prospects of these groups are even bleaker.

How UBI will work ?

     ★ An income support of, say, Rs 15,000 per annum can be a good supplement to their livelihoods — an amount worth more than a third of the average consumption of the poorest 25% households, and more than a fourth of the annual income of marginal farmers.

     ★ This additional income can reduce the incidence of indebtedness among marginal farmers, thereby helping them escape moneylenders and adhatiyas.

     ★ Besides, it can go a long way in helping the poor to make ends meet.

     ★ Several studies have shown that at high levels of impoverishment, even a small income supplement can improve nutrient intake, and increase enrolment and school attendance for students coming from poor households.

Better Productivity :

     ★ In other words, income transfers to the poor will lead to improved health and educational outcomes, which in turn would lead to a more productive workforce.

     ★ It seems to be a good idea to transfer the money into the bank accounts of women of the beneficiary households.

     ★ Women tend to spend more of their income on health and the education of children.

     ★ The effect of an income transfer scheme on unemployment is a moot point. In principle, cash transfers can result in withdrawal of beneficiaries from the labour force.

Effects on Employment :

     ★ The effect of an income transfer scheme on unemployment is a moot point. In principle, cash transfers can result in withdrawal of beneficiaries from the labour force.

     ★ However, the income support suggested above is not too large to discourage beneficiaries from seeking work.

     ★ In fact, it can promote employment and economic activities. For instance, income receipts can come in handy as interest-free working capital for several categories of beneficiaries (fruit and vegetable vendors and small artisans), thereby promoting their business and employment in the process.

3 Immediate Benefits :

     ★ It will help bring a large number of households out of the poverty trap or prevent them from falling into it in the event of exigencies such as illness.

     ★ It will reduce income inequalities.

     ★ Since the poor spend most of their income, a boost in their income will increase demand and promote economic activities in rural areas.

Income transfer : Better alternative ?

     ★ Nonetheless, an income transfer scheme cannot be a substitute for universal basic services.

     ★ The direct income support to the poor will deliver the benefits mentioned only if it comes on top of public services such as primary health and education.

     ★ This means that direct transfers should not be at the expense of public services for primary health and education.

     ★ If anything, budgetary allocation for these services should be raised significantly.

     ★ Programmes such as the MGNREGS should also stay. With direct income support, the demand for the programmes will come down naturally.

     ★ However, in the interim, it will serve to screen the poorest in the country and give them a crucial safety net.

Using Data Sheets :

      ★ If basic public services are maintained, there is limited fiscal space for direct income support. It will have to be restricted to the poorest of poor households.

      ★ The Socio-Economic and Caste Census (SECC) 2011 can be used to identify the neediest. Groups suffering from multidimensional poverty such as the destitute, the shelter-less, manual scavengers, tribal groups, and former bonded labourers are automatically included.

      ★ The dataset includes more than six crore landless labourers.

      ★ It also includes many small farmers who face deprivation criteria such as families without any bread-earning adult member, and those without a pucca house.

      ★ The other needy group, small farmers, missing from the SECC can be identified using the dataset from the Agriculture Census of 2015-16.

      ★ Together, these two datasets can help identify the poorest Indians, especially in rural India.

      ★ However, many households such as marginal farmers belong to both datasets. The Aadhaar identity can be used to rule out duplications and update the list of eligible households.

Conclusion :

     ★ As an approximation, experts opine that the number of eligible households is 10 crore.

     ★ That is, even in its basic form, the scheme will require approximately ₹1.5 lakh crore per annum.

     ★ The PM-KISAN Yojana can be aligned to meet a part of the cost. Moreover, the tax kitty can be expanded by reintroducing wealth tax.

     ★ Nonetheless, the required amount is beyond the Centre’s fiscal capacity at the moment.

     ★ Therefore, the cost will have to be shared by States. States such as Telangana and Odisha are already providing direct income support to their farmers. These States can extend their schemes to include the ‘non-farmer poor’. The other States too should join in.

     ★ The income transfer scheme is costly. However, the cost of persistent poverty is much higher.

                                                                                                                                                        Source :- The Hindu

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