12 Jan 2021: UPSC Exam Comprehensive News Analysis

12 Jan 2021 CNA:- Download PDF Here

TABLE OF CONTENTS

A. GS 1 Related
B. GS 2 Related
POLITY
1. ₹1,364 crore given to wrong beneficiaries of PM-Kisan
2. Govt. defends rules for animal seizure
C. GS 3 Related
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
1. Here comes the ‘smellicopter’
ECONOMY
1. ‘Stretched valuations threaten stability’
D. GS 4 Related
E. Editorials
EDUCATION
1. A safety net
GOVERNANCE
1. Dialogues for democracy, lessons from Rajasthan
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
1. Reframing India’s foreign policy priorities
F. Prelims Facts
G. Tidbits
1. ‘Russian link to hacking in United States’
2. Panel clears Parliament project
3. After 2 weeks, Dzukou Valley wildfire doused
H. UPSC Prelims Practice Questions
I. UPSC Mains Practice Questions

Nothing here for today!!!

Category: POLITY

1. ₹1,364 crore given to wrong beneficiaries of PM-Kisan

Context:

According to a response to an RTI request by the Agriculture Ministry, PM-KISAN payments worth ₹1,364 crore have been wrongly made to more than 20 lakh ineligible beneficiaries and income tax payer farmers.

Exclusions:

The following categories of beneficiaries of higher economic status shall not be eligible for benefit under the scheme.

1. All Institutional Landholders.
2. Farmer families which belong to one or more of the following categories:
   1. Former and present holders of constitutional posts.
   2. Former and present Ministers, Members of Lok Sabha/ Rajya Sabha/ State Legislative Assemblies/ State Legislative Councils, Mayors of Municipal Corporations, Chairpersons of District Panchayats.
   3. All serving or retired officers and employees of Central/ State Government Ministries/ Public Sector Undertakings and Attached offices /Autonomous Institutions under Government as well as regular employees of the Local Bodies.
   4. All superannuated/retired pensioners whose monthly pension is Rs.10,000/- or more.
   5. All Persons who paid Income Tax in the last assessment year.
   6. Professionals like Doctors, Engineers, Lawyers, Chartered Accountants, and Architects registered with Professional bodies and carrying out profession by undertaking practices.

Issue:

• There are 11 crore beneficiaries registered under the scheme.
• Until July 2020, 20.5 lakh people who should have been excluded had wrongly received PM-Kisan payouts.
• 56% of these undeserving persons belonged to the “income tax payee” category, while the remainder belong to the “ineligible farmers” category.
  • However, 72% of the payout amount was paid to the income tax payees, indicating that this category continued to receive money for multiple instalments before their ineligible status was discovered and they were weeded out of the scheme’s beneficiary database.
• Punjab tops the list of States, accounting for 23% of those who wrongly received the money.
• Maharashtra and Assam also saw a large number of such payments.

Way forward:

• A number of State Agriculture Departments have now been tasked with recovering the money wrongly paid.

2. Govt. defends rules for animal seizure

Context:

The Central government defended the law to deprive owners possession of their animals, including cattle, on the suspicion that they are being subject to cruelty or illegally transported for slaughter.

Background:

The Supreme Court had asked the Centre to “delete” the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Care and Maintenance of Case Property Animals) Rules, 2017. The rules were framed under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960.

This topic has been covered in 5^th January 2021 Comprehensive News Analysis.

Details:

• The Centre dismissed the argument that taking the animals from their owners divested them of their livelihood even before they were found guilty of cruelty by a court of law.
• The Centre said that the argument was not sustainable and that the animal owners have no right to do their business illegally adding that they have to transport the animals as per the requirements of the Transport of Animals Rules of 1978.
• The affidavit by the Centre stated that Article 51A (g) of the Constitution enjoins upon every citizen to have compassion for living animals.

Category: ECONOMY

1. ‘Stretched valuations threaten stability’

Context:

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor warned that the ‘stretched valuations of financial assets’ threaten overall financial stability and poses risk to the financial system.

Details:

• In RBI’s biannual Financial Stability Report (FSR) the Governor wrote: “The disconnect between certain segments of financial markets and the real economy has been accentuating in recent times, both globally and in India”.
• Pointing to the interconnected nature of the financial system, the RBI Governor urged banks and financial intermediaries to be aware of the risk.

Concerns:

• He cautioned that stretched valuations of financial assets pose risks to financial stability.
• The RBI governor also reiterated that banks could be faced with balance sheet impairment and capital shortfalls once regulatory reliefs get rolled back.
• Banks and shadow lenders in India were hit hard by the pandemic, impacting the ability of borrowers to repay and demand loans.
• As per the FSR, the gross non-performing assets (GNPA) and net NPA (NNPA) ratios of banks fell to 7.5% and 2.1%, respectively, by September 2020.
• However, RBI warned that the withdrawal of pandemic-triggered reliefs could see a jump in bad loans at lenders.

Way forward:

• He suggested that banks should focus on raising capital and also look at alterations in business models to meet the emerging challenges for future expansion.
• He asserted that the projections are indicative of the possible economic impairment latent in banks’ portfolios.
• Consequently, maintaining the health of the banking sector remains a policy priority and preservation of the stability of the financial system is an overarching goal.

Category: GOVERNANCE

1. Dialogues for democracy, lessons from Rajasthan

Context:

• The farm laws and their protests have highlighted the drawbacks of the legislative process followed whilst drafting legislations.
• The farm laws were pushed through with an alarming urgency bereft of deliberation in the parliament or consultation with the various stakeholders.
• Consultations are very critical for sound policymaking, it provides for an opportunity to ascertain the needs and aspirations of the target sections or intended beneficiaries. However, despite their importance, they are conveniently bypassed.
• The initial consultation will not just give way to a sound policy but will ensure smoother implementation; particularly the redistributive, people-facing welfare policies need constant feedback.

A case study of MGNREGA in Rajasthan

• An illustration of the implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in Rajasthan will provide adequate insights.
• Rajasthan has a history of consulting with worker groups and civil society organisations beginning from the initial stage of policy formulation to its field-level implementation.
• The feedback mechanism has been well established, this provides for continuous feedback from the field and help carry out periodic midway course corrections, if any.
• Case in point being the MGNREGA implementation. Engagement with civil society organisations had been institutionalised in the MGNREGA samvads some of which were attended by the Chief Minister of Rajasthan.
• MGNREGA wages are now directly credited from the central government to a worker’s bank account. While there is a case to be made for direct transfers, this system is not without its pitfalls.
• An overreliance on the technical architecture of MGNREGA has subverted workers’ rights. The troubles are compounded when things go wrong as workers run from pillar to post knocking on the doors of various government officials, banks, payment disbursement agencies, panchayat officials, etc.

Issue of payment rejections

• The payment rejections have been a bane, they are similar to bounced cheques. These occur when the government initiates the payment, but money owing to technical issues does not get credited to the concerned bank account.
• The reasons for rejection are plenty and their resolutions require a detailed understanding of the complex payment architecture involving various line departments and the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).
• Workers who are dependent on wages for their day to day living have to go without it for no fault of theirs, thus there is a need to address the core underlying problems.
• Two of the most common grounds for rejection are when the block-level data entry operators make errors in entering the account or Aadhaar details of workers and the other one is when the banks consider accounts as ‘dormant’ when the accounts are not used for some time.

Software flaws

• The software issue is more difficult to tackle, this is seen when the rejection is based on the grounds of ‘Inactive Aadhaar’.
• This occurs when the linkage of the worker’s Aadhaar and their bank account is broken in the software maintained by the NPCI, at times. This issue hasn’t been understood or resolved even by the government officials and bank officials.
• Short-staffed and overcrowded banks further compound the issue, thus making the workers make multiple visits to banks only to be told rudely that their ‘payments have not come’.
• Field officials too haven’t actively worked towards finding a sustainable solution that will prevent hardships to the workers.
• The workers are rarely told what the issue is and why is that they are not able to draw their own wage money, this confusion and chaos only contributes towards more anxiety and stress.
• From the perspective of the administration, it is difficult to look into each payment, understand the reasons for rejection and help the worker take action on an individual basis.

Guidelines after a workshop

• The problem of payment rejections had to be sorted, thus the Department of Rural Development of the Government of Rajasthan conducted numerous discussions.
• The discussions had participation from worker groups and civil society organisations who interacted directly with the aggrieved workers, administrative officers from the village level to the State level, and bankers.
• The discussions gave way to detailed guidelines, which were issued along with well-defined responsibility, clear timelines, and monitoring and protocols to be followed by officials.
• Astonishingly, the well laid down guidelines, delineated responsibilities contributed towards a significant reduction in payment rejections in Rajasthan.
• Data suggests that, in a time interval of one year from the discussions, the Rajasthan government was able to clear ₹380 crore worth of payments to workers that were earlier stuck due to rejections.
• Currently, only 2.7% payments are pending regeneration from the State government, and 12.3% are under process by the banks; the goal is to ensure that every person who has worked, gets their full payment on time.

A model to be emulated

• A two-way communication channel and an eagerness to work with worker groups have benefited thousands of MGNREGA workers in Rajasthan.
• The above model of addressing the payment issues in MGNREGA can be emulated country-wide as the problem of delayed or rejected MGNREGA payments is not confined to Rajasthan.
• The Right to Information (RTI) Act, too had its genesis in people’s movements in Rajasthan, mandated proactive disclosure of information.
• However, the implementation of RTI is not without any loopholes. Programme information on several occasions are inaccessible and, when available, some are in ill-defined formats. This issue was taken up proactively in Rajasthan and this led to the birth of the Jan Soochna Portal, in 2019.
• The Jan Soochna Portal is a single platform in the public domain providing information across 60 departments of over 104 schemes. The design and format of each scheme have been painstakingly arrived at through a ‘digital dialogue’ involving government officials and numerous civil society organisations.

Way Forward

• Deliberation and debate are intrinsic parts of a democratic country, policies will have to be debated and deliberated on the floors of the parliament. It not only leads to refinement of the policy but also derives legitimacy in the eyes of the people for having gone through the rigours of the legislative process.
• Attempts at passing legislation without adequate consultation with respective stakeholders is a path to failure.
• Federalism and good governance require constant constructive engagement between people and officials, efforts have to be expended to narrow down the gap in communication between the two.
• The farm laws agitation may have been avoided had the government held rounds of discussions with the farmers before passing it.

Category: INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

1. Reframing India’s foreign policy priorities

Context:

• The global affairs in the year will be closely watched, as it is the post-COVID-19 era and there are significant changes happening around the world, like the change in guard in the USA presidency, the BREXIT becoming operational, China’s ever-growing revisionist tendencies, and the resurgence of Russia.
• India too will have to address its foreign policy changes and will have to bring about some course corrections going forward.

A stronger China

• The tail-end of 2019 saw the outbreak of coronavirus in Wuhan. It was gloomy times for China, fast forward to the year 2021, there appears to be a more optimistic picture of the future.
• China is the lone economy to have enjoyed a positive rate of growth at the end of 2020 and is expected to grow at an even healthier rate in the upcoming year.
• Militaristic ambitions of the country did not take a back seat even when it was under the pandemic, the Galwan valley standoff with India showcased its expansionist tendencies.
• The announcement of its third aircraft carrier in 2021 has signalled its intentions to wrest its initiative in the Indo-Pacific ocean. China has been quite tactful in strengthening its military coordination with Russia.
• China doesn’t appear to back down from its claims in issues such as Hong Kong and Uighur.
• The political leadership under President Xi is likely to extend his tenure as Party leader and as President during 2021. 

Economy first for Europe

• The strong authoritarian leaders like Xi Jinping in China, Vladimir Putin in Russia, and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Turkey are expected to remain in power and exert considerable influence on international politics.
• Any counterclaims of the emergence of a stronger Compact of Democracy would be best avoided.
• Europe is expected to undergo a few changes of its own like the BREXIT and the retirement of Germany’s Angela Merkel, but these changes are not going to change the conduct of global affairs.
• The 21^st century is largely a pragmatist one, this can be witnessed in the China-EU Investment Treaty which saw Europe wilting under China’s brandishments, a clear indication that Europe values its economy more than its politics.
• There are some major changes brewing in Eurasia and West Asia which could possibly pave the way to significant shifts. It has been observed that Russia has been paying considerable attention to the affairs of countries in its immediate and extended neighbourhood.
• Russia strengthening ties with China and reaching an entente with Turkey, could be a hint at the future, a future that will have less interest devoted to certain countries, including India.
• The Abraham Accords in West Asia with all the hype around it has not reduced the risk of a confrontation between Iran and Israel, deepening the faultlines between the Saudi Bloc and Iran-Turkey.
  • Abraham Accords Peace Agreement refers to a Treaty of Peace, Diplomatic Relations and Full Normalization Between the United Arab Emirates and the State of Israel.
• India will have to carefully balance its interests in the region since both the parties have relations with India.
• China has not shied away from expressing its interests towards playing a major role in the region, including contemplating a 25-year strategic cooperation agreement with Iran.
• Saudi Arabia could find the going difficult in 2021, with a Biden Administration taking charge in Washington. The healing of wounds among the Sunni Arab states in the region should be viewed as a pyrrhic victory at best for Saudi Arabia.
• One by-product of this could be a sharpening of hostilities between the Sunni and Shia camps. Given the strategic flux in the region, Iran could well be tempted to use its nuclear capability to enhance its position, confident that the West may be unwilling to challenge it at this juncture.

India isolated

China

• The beginning of 2021 gives an indication that India has been reduced to the role of a bystander.
• The stalemate with Beijing on the border issue, the skirmishes on the Line of Actual Control that follow appear to be taking the major attention of the Indian security establishment.

West Asia

• West Asia is a part of India’s extended neighbourhood and an area that is important to India’s economy and the security calculus.
• India’s West Asia relationship is on the interplay among the three poles of the region, those are Iran, Saudi Arabia and Palestine.
• India-Iran relations of today lack warmth, with India, cutting its crude oil supplies from Iran, and Tehran leaning towards Beijing.

Afghanistan

• Afghanistan is one country in the neighbourhood that India managed to garner goodwill through its initiatives, when the world chose to put soldiers, militaries in Afghanistan, India chose to focus on building infrastructural projects like Salma dam, Afghan Parliament and several schools. But, of late India has been marginalized as far as the peace process is concerned.

Pakistan

• While India’s charges against Pakistan of sponsoring terror have had some impact globally, it has further aggravated tensions between the two neighbours, and in the process, also helped Pakistan to cement its relations with China.

Nepal

• India-Nepal relations have hit the nadir, the relationship has been plunging to greater depths with each passing year, the fall aggravated with incidents like negativity around India’s relief operations during the Nepal Earthquake, Madhesi revolt, border issues at Kalapani, etc.

Other South Asian neighbours

• Through a series of diplomatic visits, India has made valiant efforts to improve relations with some of its neighbours such as Bangladesh, Myanmar and Sri Lanka, but as of now worthwhile results are not evident.
• A sea of change has been observed in the attitude of India’s neighbours, with India-China relations deteriorating, India’s neighbours are not unwilling to taking sides, increasing India’s isolation in the region.
• Many countries will now find themselves scrambling for cover. India which has greatly curtailed its relations with China since April 2020, (in the wake of Chinese aggression in Eastern Ladakh) will find itself ‘out on a limb’, with many countries likely to seek closer economic relations with China now.
• India aims to utilize its foreign policy to achieve objectives like widening its sphere of influence, strengthening its role across nations, and making its presence felt like an emerging power in an increasingly disruptive global system. However, it is open to debate to see if the objectives are achieved.
• India’s ascent to the United Nations Security Council as a non-permanent member will give an opportunity to play a more pronounced role in the conduct of global affairs.
• India will serve as the president of the powerful UN Security Council for the month of August 2021, this should be seen as a platform to bring in impact, an attempt to push for the association’s reforms and solidify its image as a major power.

Diplomacy and perceptions

• The situation that India finds itself in is due to a number of factors. Many explanations could be available for this state of affairs.
• Many foreign policy experts believe that India’s foreign policy suffers from an ideational vacuum, it is this area that needs focus and attention.
• The factors like poor performance on the economic front, the havoc created by the COVID-19 pandemic, or the growing polarisation in values across nations and societies have contributed to the failure of achieving foreign policy objectives.
• However, it is India’s inability in the ideational realm that lies at the root of our foreign policy inadequacies.

More misses than hits

• The present situation sees India maintaining distance from two important supranational bodies of which it used to be a founding member, viz., the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) and the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC).
• NAM and SAARC have become dormant, while NAM represented a foreign policy direction, SAARC represents India’s regional outreach.
• Though there have been considerable efforts put to make newer institutions such as the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC), BBIN in the region has not so far yielded desired results.
• India chose to stay out of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) (a majority of Asian countries are members), and failed to take advantage of the RIC, or the Russia, India and China grouping, even as relations with Russia and China have deteriorated.
• India’s foreign policy shortcomings have been conspicuous in the immediate neighbourhood and the extended neighbourhood.
• The actions of India seem to stem from a combination of misplaced confidence like the stand-off with Nepal and a lack of understanding of the sensitivities of neighbours such as Bangladesh and long-time friends (such as Vietnam and Iran).
• The foreign policymakers have been accused of cosying up and placing excessive importance to the policy needs and pressures of nations such as the U.S.

Conclusion:

• The need for an ideational restructuring of India’s foreign policy is imminent, the renewed foreign policy must exhibit competent statecraft, adoption of prudent policies, the pursuit of realistically achievable objectives, and a demonstration of continuity of policy, irrespective of changes in the nature of the administration.
• Bringing about such reforms cannot happen in a short span of time, it will be time-consuming, but will pave the path for attaining foreign policy objectives in the near future.

Nothing here for today!!!

1. ‘Russian link to hacking in United States’

What’s in News?

Researchers have said that the group behind a global cyber-espionage campaign discovered in December 2020 deployed malicious computer code with links to spying tools previously used by suspected Russian hackers.

• Investigators at Moscow-based cybersecurity firm Kaspersky said the “backdoor” used to compromise up to 18,000 customers of SolarWinds resembled malware tied to the hacking group “Turla”.
• Estonian authorities have said Turla operates on behalf of Russia’s FSB security service.
• The findings are the first publicly-available evidence to support assertions by the United States that Russia orchestrated the hack.
• However, Russia has repeatedly denied the allegations.
• The cyberattack compromised a raft of sensitive federal agencies.

Read more on this issue covered in 15^th December 2020 Comprehensive News Analysis.

2. Panel clears Parliament project

What’s in News?

The Union government’s proposal to construct a new Parliament building was approved by the Heritage Conservation Committee (HCC), whose clearance was mandated by the Supreme Court in its judgment allowing the project.

• The court had ordered that the permission of the HCC which is headed by an Additional Secretary of the Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry and includes government officials primarily, should be obtained before any work starts on the ground.
• The panel looked at the preservation of heritage as per the Unified Building Bylaws, 2016 before granting approval.

3. After 2 weeks, Dzukou Valley wildfire doused

What’s in News?

The wildfire at Dzukou Valley, straddling the Manipur-Nagaland border, has been doused after it raged for two weeks.

Dzukou Valley:

• The Dzukou Valley, situated at an average altitude of 2,452 metres, is a popular trekking destination known for its exotic flowers.
• It is located at the borders of the states of Nagaland and Manipur in Northeast India.

Details:

• Indian Air Force helicopters were deployed for dousing the fire.
• The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams were also engaged in fighting the wildfire.

Q1. Abraham Accords were signed between which of the following countries?

Q2. Which of the following categorie/s of farmers is/are excluded from the list of 
beneficiaries of PM-Kisan?

Q3. Consider the following statements with respect to Prime Minister’s National 
Relief Fund (PMNRF):

Q4. Dzukou Valley is located at the borders of which of the following states?

1. Nagaland and Manipur
2. Manipur and Mizoram
3. Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh
4. Assam and Meghalaya

Read previous CNA here.

12 Jan 2021 CNA:- Download PDF Here