Centre aims for 20% cut in air pollution by 2024

GS PAPER- 03 ENVIRONMENT - Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment

 

Context:

     Union Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Dr Harsh Vardhan just launched the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) that aims to reduce toxic particulate matter by 2024, taking 2017 as the base year.

 

National Clean Air Programme (NCAP):

     ★The National Clean Air Programme is a mid-term, five-year action plan that includes collaborative, multi-scale and cross-sectoral coordination between relevant Central ministries, state governments and local bodies.

    ★According to the plan, the programme will be further extended after looking at mid-term results.

 

Key features of the Programme:

      ★The overall objective of the programme includes comprehensive mitigation actions for prevention, control and abatement of air pollution besides augmenting the air quality monitoring network across the country and strengthening the awareness and capacity building activities

     ★The Environment Ministry has announced a budget of Rs 300 crore for two years to tackle air pollution across 102 cities, which have been identified by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) for not meeting the pollution standards set by the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change.

    ★City-specific action plans are being formulated for 102 non-attainment cities identified for implementing mitigation actions under NCAP.

    ★The Smart Cities programme will be used to launch the NCAP in the 43 smart cities falling in the list of the 102 non-attainment cities.

    ★The programme will be institutionalized by respective ministries and will be organized through inter-sectoral groups, which include, Ministry of Road Transport and Highway, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Ministry of Heavy Industry, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Health, NITI Aayog, CPCB, experts from the industry, academia, and civil society.

    ★Other features of NCAP include the increasing number of monitoring stations in the country including rural monitoring stations, technology support, emphasis on awareness and capacity building initiatives, setting up of certification agencies for monitoring equipment, source apportionment studies, emphasis on enforcement, and specific sectoral interventions.

    ★Sectoral working groups, national level Project Monitoring Unit, Project Implementation Unit, state-level project monitoring unit, city level review committee under the Municipal Commissioner and DM level Committee in the Districts will also be constituted under NCAP for effective implementation and success of the programme.

 

Background:

     ★ India is currently the world's second most polluted country.

     ★The World Health Organisation’s database on air pollution over the years has listed Tier I and Tier II Indian cities as some of the most polluted places in the world.

     ★In 2018, 14 of the world’s 15 most polluted cities were in India. A study in the journal Lancet ranked India as No.1 on premature mortality and deaths from air pollution.

                                                                                                 Source:- The Hindu

Tax, compliance burden eased for small businesses

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

 

 

 Context:

     The GST Council held its 32nd meeting in New Delhi on 10th January, 2019. I the meeting GST council announced changes to the goods and services tax (GST) rules aimed at easing the burden of compliance on Small business and exempted an additional 2 million such businesses from registering with the indirect tax regime.

 

Key highlights:

      ★The changes include raising the turnover limit for eligibility to enter the composition scheme to Rs 1.5 crore from the coming fiscal

      ★Easing compliance for traders opting for the composition scheme and doubling the threshold for exemption from registration and payment of GST to Rs 40 lakh.

     ★A new composition scheme for service providers that allows them to pay a flat levy of 6% and leaves them out of the tax credit chain is fine.

               ☆Taxpayers under composition scheme will now need to file one annual return but payment of taxes would remain quarterly (along with a simple declaration)

     ★There would be two threshold limits for exemption from registration and payment of GST for the suppliers of goods i.e. Rs 40 lakhs and Rs 20 lakhs. States would have an option to decide about one of the limits within a weeks’ time. However, the threshold for registration for service providers would continue to be Rs 20 lakhs and in case of Special category States Rs 10 lakh

     ★GST Council also approved levy of cess on intra State supply of goods and services within the State of Kerala at a rate not exceeding 1% for a period not exceeding 2 years.     

    

GST COuncil:      ★Goods & Services Tax Council is a constitutional body for making recommendations to the Union and State Government on issues related to Goods and Service Tax.     ★Creation of the GST Council as per Article 279A of One Hundred and First Amendment Act.     ★As per Article 279A (1) of the amended Constitution, the GST Council has to be constituted by the President within 60 days of the commencement of Article 279A.    ★As per Article 279A GST Council which will be a joint forum of the Centre and the States, shall consist of the following members            ☆Union Finance Minister - chairman            ☆ Union Minister of State in charge of Revenue or Finance - Member            ☆Minister in charge of Finance or Taxation or any other Minister nominated by each State Government - Member           ☆Article 279A (4) -  Council will make recommendations to the Union and the States on important issues related to GST, like the goods and services that may be subjected or exempted from GST, model GST Laws, principles that govern Place of Supply, threshold limits, GST rates including the floor rates with bands, special rates for raising additional resources during natural calamities/disasters, special provisions for certain States, etc.    ★The Goods and Services Tax Council shall establish a mechanism to adjudicate any dispute              ☆between the Government of India and one or more States; or            ☆between the Government of India and any State or States on one side and one or more other States on the other side; or            ☆between two or more States, arising out of the recommendations of the Council or implementation thereof.

                                                                                              Source:- Economic Times

10% economic quota Bill challenged

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

 

Context:

        ★The petition challenging the quota bill in Supreme Court says the 124th amendment violates several basic features of the Constitution, including the equality code.

        ★The petition challenging the quota bill was filed by Youth for Equality, an organization opposing caste-based reservations.

       ★The amendment, which introduced Articles 15(6) and 16(6) into the Constitution, violates the equality code of the Constitution and was in “breach of the basic structure of the Constitution”, the petition said.

 

More about the news:

   ★The petition  opposed the bill on four grounds:

          ☆The Supreme Court in a 1992 Indira Sawhney vs Union of India case, said economic criteria cannot be the sole basis of reservation and this bill is in violation of the top court’s orders.

         ☆By providing reservation on economic grounds to people only from forward castes, the bill excludes members from other backward classes and the scheduled castes and scheduled tribe communities and thus, violates the “Right to Equality” guaranteed by the Constitution.

         ☆Other cases upholding the 50% limit on quota such as the 2006 judgement in the M. Nagaraj vs Union of India case and the 2018 verdict in the Jarnail Singh vs Lachhmi Narain Gupta case.The breach of the 50 percent cap will be violative of the basic structure of the Constitution and the bill is liable to be struck down.

        ☆The top court in its earlier judgments said “the state’s reservation policy cannot be imposed on unaided educational institutions, and as they are not receiving any aid from the state, they can have their own admissions provided they are fair, transparent, non-exploitative and based on merit”.

                                                                                                                                Source:- Livemint

Bengal to pull out of Centre’s health scheme

GS PAPER - 02 GOVERNANCE - Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources.

 

Context:

      ★West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced that the state has decided to pull out of the Centre's Ayushman Bharat scheme, accusing the Narendra Modi-led NDA government of making "tall claims" under the health coverage programme.

 

Ayushman Bharat scheme:

     ★Prime Minister Narendra Modi on September 23, 2018 launched the flagship scheme 'Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana' (PMJAY), also known as Ayushman Bharat or the National Health Protection Mission (AB-NHPM).

     ★Ayushman Bharat - National Health Protection Mission will subsume the on-going centrally sponsored schemes - Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) and the Senior Citizen Health Insurance Scheme (SCHIS).

 

AIM:

    ★PM-JAY aims to reduce the financial burden on poor and vulnerable groups arising out of catastrophic hospital episodes and ensure their access to quality health services.

    ★PM-JAY is the world’s largest healthcare scheme, and it seeks to accelerate India’s progress towards achievement of Universal Health Coverage (UHC).

 

Key features:

      ★Ayushman Bharat - National Health Protection Mission will have a defined benefit cover of Rs. 5 lakh per family per year.

     ★Benefits of the scheme are portable across the country and a beneficiary covered under the scheme will be allowed to take cashless benefits from any public/private empanelled hospitals across the country.

    ★Poor, deprived rural families and identified occupational category of urban workers’ families as per the latest Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC) 2011 data, both rural and urban will be covered. In addition, all enrolled families under Rashtriya Swasthaya Bima Yojana (RSBY) that do not feature in the targeted groups as per SECC data will be included

    ★No cap on family size and age of members. All members of designated families get coverage; specifically, girl child and senior citizens

    ★Covers secondary and tertiary care hospitalization

     According to a data released by the Kerala State Crime Records Bureau (SCRB), there has been a steady increase in crimes committed against children in Kerala.

 

More about the news:

      ★There has been an increase in offences against children under all categories from 549 in 2008 to 3,278 as of October, 2018

      ★Cases of rape rose from 215 in 2008 to 1,101 in 2017, and 999 as of October 2018

     ★Cases registered under the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act rose from four in 2008 to 17 in 2017 and 15 till October 2018.

     ★Government officials have attributed this rise to increased reporting of crimes because of better awareness.

     ★However, social workers have advocated that crimes against children have indeed increased.

 

 

           

                                                                                                 Source:- The Hindu

Navy shows prowess to airdrop containers

GS PAPER - 03 SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY - indigenization of technology and developing new technology.

 

Context:

      To provide a major boost to India's operational logistic capability in the Indian Ocean Region, the Indian Navy has conducted successful trials of the Sahayak air droppable containers.

 

Sahayak air droppable containers:

         ★The cylindrical containers have been indigenously developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO)

         ★Sahayak Containers will enhance Operational Logistics capability of Indian Navy.

        ★It will provide the wherewithal to supply spares and stores to ships which are deployed more than 2000 Km from coast.

        ★This will reduce the requirement of ships to close coast for collecting spares and stores, thereby increasing the deployment duration.

 

Additional Information:

     The Indian Navy has been enhancing its operational and logistic strength in the Indian Ocean Region by signing pacts with several friendly nations. Since 2016, India has signed logistics pacts with the US, Singapore, France, while similar pacts are expected to soon be signed with Russia and Japan.

                                                                                                     Source:- The Hindu

 A solution in search of a problem: on 10% reservations [ Editorial /Opinion]

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

 

Context:

        ★Recently, Constitution (124th Amendment) Bill, 2019, creating a 10% quota for the economically weaker sections (EWS) has been passed.

        ★Given the deep inequalities prevalent in access to education and jobs based on caste and socio-economic status, affirmative action (or positive discrimination) makes a lot of sense.

       ★The system that was put in place during the early years of the Republic deserves serious re-evaluation in an era when technology has paved the way for deploying a better-equipped arsenal.

 

Excluding no one:

        ★Government has created OBC creamy layer criteria to exclude people who are clearly well off and the EWS quota, in contrast, is expected to focus on the poor, this narrowing income gap, particularly between OBCs and general makes exclusion a problem for the existing quotas.

       ★The Bill promises 10% reservation to individuals classified as economically backward or the people with an annual family income of less than Rs 8 lakh per annum.

       ★The National Sample Survey (NSS) of 2011-12 shows that the annual per capita expenditure for 99% of households falls under this threshold.

       ★Similarly, as per the India Human Development Survey (IHDS), the annual household incomes of 98% of households are less than ₹8 lakhs.

       ★Even if other exclusion criteria such as amount of land owned and size of home if applied the Bill would cover over 95% of the households.

 

Limiting the reservation for other categories:

      ★The benefits of the EWS quota are likely to be minimal, the cost may be higher than one anticipates.

     ★It is important to remember that general category jobs are open to everyone, including Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST) and OBC individuals.

     ★Thus, by removing 10% jobs from the “open” category, it reduces the opportunities for currently reserved groups.

    ★This may be particularly problematic for OBCs since OBC reservation is limited to 27% of the seats whereas the OBC population is at least 40% of the population, possibly more.

    ★This move is almost certain to result in calls for greater OBC reservation, particularly if a constitutional amendment to increase the proportion of reserved seats from 50% to 60% is already being adopted.

 

Getting Caste Certificate:

     ★Few non-SC/ST/OBC individuals have a caste certificate. A large number of SC/ST/OBC households report difficulties in obtaining these certificates which will not be able to avail the reservation benefits.

 

Outpacing deserving candidates:

      ★In an era when skill demands are rapidly outpacing supply of candidates in specialized fields, the EWS quota increases the constraints. Suppose a university advertises for an associate professor for quantum physics under the EWS quota and the only suitable candidate happens to be from an OBC category, she will not get hired.

 

Redesigning reservations:

         ★Experts opinion that, one way is to spread the benefits of reservations within the existing framework and ensure that individuals use their reserved category status only once in their lifetime.

        ★For instance, anyone using reservations to obtain a benefit such as college admission must register his/her Aadhaar number and she would be ineligible to use reservations for another benefit (e.g. a job) in the future. This would require no changes to the basic framework but spread the benefits more broadly within the reserved category

        ★A second strategy might be to recognise that future economic growth in India is going to come from the private sector and entrepreneurship. In order to ensure that all Indians, regardless of caste, class and religion, are able to partake in economic growth, we must focus on basic skills.

       ★Focused on admission to prestigious colleges and government jobs has been done, but little attention is directed to social inequality in the quality of elementary schooling. Basically we need to reduce the inequalities within the primary schools.

      ★The IHDS shows that among children aged 8-11, 68% of the forward caste children can read at Class 1 level while the proportion is far lower for OBCs (56%), SCs (45%) and STs (40%).

                                                                                                             Source:- The Hindu

Indus Food 2019

GS PAPER - 03 AGRICULTURE - Food processing & related industries in India- scope & significance, location, upstream & downstream requirements, supply chain management

 

Context:

        INDUS FOOD-II with the theme of ‘World Food Supermarket’ will be held at India Expo Mart, Greater Noida.

 

Aim:

     ★The event is aimed at promoting India as a strong and reliable exporter of food and beverage products to the world.

     ★INDUS FOOD 2019 will promote value addition to India’s agriculture exports and integrate Indian farmers and agricultural products with global value chains.

 

Impacts:

      ★The event will lead to greater interaction of Indian exporters with global customers leading to enhanced product development and better price realization in international markets.

     ★The mega food event will bring business opportunities to the doorstep of Indian producers and manufacturers and help small exporters, who cannot afford participation in overseas fairs, to have a direct interface with foreign buyers who visit India for this show.

 

INDUS Food 2019:

      ★INDUS FOOD is a global platform where top exporters from Food and Beverage Industry of India will be participating and buyers from across the world have been invited.

      ★It enables B2B engagements of buyers and suppliers, after careful business matchmaking, which takes care of precise business requirements of each participant, and enables him to pick and choose whom to meet.

     ★The event is organized jointly by Trade Promotion Council of India (TPCI) and Department of Commerce.

                                                                                                                           Source:- PIB

Launch of Sino-Indian Digital Collaboration Plaza

GS PAPER - 02 INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS - India and its neighborhood- relations.

 

Context:

     The Sino-Indian Digital Collaboration Plaza (SIDCOP), an initiative to bring Indian IT companies and Chinese enterprises closer to each other on a single AI enabled platform was launched on 10th January 2019.

 

More about the news:

     ★This is a partnership by National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) with Municipal Governments of Guiyang and Dalian.

     ★A Joint Venture comprising of one Indian and Chinese company has been tasked with the running of the platform.

 

Significance:

    ★SIDCOP, which is a boundary-less marketplace offers this opportunity for Chinese enterprises in order to assist them in operational optimization and adopting industry best practices in business solutions.

    ★This platform could be useful to connect with top providers from India and help Chinese enterprises source the right solution providers for their projects.

                                                                                                   Source:- PIB

Cabinet approves Bilateral Swap Arrangement between India and Japan

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

 

Context:

      ★The Union Cabinet on Thursday gave its nod to the $75-billion bilateral currency swap arrangement between India and Japan.

      ★The arrangement is another milestone in mutual economic cooperation and special strategic and global partnership between India and Japan.

 

Salient Features:

      The swap arrangement is an agreement between India and Japan to essentially exchange and re-exchange a maximum amount of USD 75 Billion for domestic currency, for the purpose of maintaining an appropriate level of balance of payments for meeting short-term deficiency in foreign exchange.

 

Benefits:

        ★The BSA is a very good example of mutual cooperation between India and Japan for strategic objective of assisting each other in times of difficulty and for restoring international confidence.

       ★This facility will enable the agreed amount of Capital being available to India on tap for use.

       ★Also, with this arrangement in place, prospects of Indian companies would improve in tapping foreign capital as there would be greater confidence in stability of country’s exchange rate.

      ★Availability of such swap line to tide over difficulties arising out of Balance of Payment (BOP) would deter speculative attacks on the domestic currency and greatly enhance the RBI’s ability to manage exchange rate volatility.

                                                                                                               Source:- PIB

Report of the Committee on Section 126 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 Submitted to The Commission

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

 

Context:

       ★The Committee constituted under the chairmanship of Sr. Deputy Election Commissioner Sh. Umesh Sinha to review and suggest modifications and changes in the provisions of the Section 126 and other sections of the Representation of the People Act 1951, provisions of Model Code of Conduct and any other ECI instruction in this regard has submitted its report to the Commission.

 

Section 126 of the Representation of People Act:

             Section 126 of the Representation of the People, 1951, prohibits displaying any election matter by means, inter alia, of television or similar apparatus, during the period of 48 hours before the hour fixed for conclusion of poll in a constituency.

 

THE COMMITTEE HAD THE FOLLOWING SCOPE OF WORK:

        ★Study and examine the present provisions of the Section 126 and other related Sections of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 and identify difficulties/critical gaps to regulate the violation of the said provisions of the act, particularly during the prohibitory period of 48 hours before the completion of the poll, mentioned in section 126 and suggest necessary amendment/modification.

         ★Examine the type, category or growth of communication technology or media platform in the country and difficulties in regulating these media platforms during multiphase election when prohibitory period of 48 hours are in force.

         ★Impact of new media platforms and social media during the prohibitory period of 48 hours before the close of poll and its implication in view of the provisions of section 126.

        ★Examine the present provisions of Model Code of Conduct (MCC) related to the above issues and suggest modification in this regard.

                                                                                                                              Source:- PIB

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