18 Jan 2020: UPSC Exam Comprehensive News Analysis

E. Editorials

Category: INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

1. Quiet, for now

Context:

The signing of phase one trade deal between the U.S. and China.

Details:

• China will boost purchases of the U.S. goods and services by $200 billion over two years in exchange for the rolling back of some tariffs, under an initial trade deal signed by the world’s two largest economies, defusing an 18-month row that has hit global growth.

Concerns:

• The phase one trade deal is only a temporary truce that leaves the key issues of the trade dispute unresolved.
  • The pact still leaves intact nearly three-fourths of punitive tariffs slapped on China since the onset of the trade rift in 2017.
  • Agricultural exports which have been an important area of concern for the American farming community forms the smallest proportion of the latest offers relative to manufactured goods and services.
  • Washington still remains wary of Chinese guarantees on the contentious aspects of the trade dispute involving Intellectual Property (IP) protection and alleged forced technology transfers.
  • Questions over government control of China’s state-owned firms and industrial subsidies which remain the core bilateral dispute are yet to be resolved.
• Under the deal, China is to buy $200-billion in goods and services from the U.S. in the coming two years, which marks an unprecedented increase. This has caused speculation on the impact these steep targets could have on China’s other trading partners. Countries previously exporting to China would be losing their market to the U.S. now.

Significance:

• The phase one trade deal sets the political stage for further bilateral negotiations between the two countries. Officials have stated that the negotiations on a phase two agreement would begin immediately.
• The deal could help stem a further deterioration in the global growth scenario and boost the global growth prospects.
• The deal gains prominence in the backdrop of Washington’s decision to withdraw the tag of a “currency manipulator” upon Beijing. There could also be a possible revival of an erstwhile Obama-era mechanism for economic dialogue that was abandoned under the present administration.
• The new forum could set the tone to address sensitive issues that have dogged Beijing’s relations with the U.S.

For more information on this topic refer:

17th January 2020 CNA 

Category: POLITY AND GOVERNANCE

1. One government proposes, the next disposes

Context:

The trend of incumbent governments cancelling the projects and proposals of precedent governments.

Background:

Andhra Pradesh:

• After coming to power, the new government in Andhra Pradesh has cancelled or put on hold a number of high-profile State contracts and projects, many involving foreign partners. Most notably in the case of planning for the proposed city of Amaravati.
• In addition, the incumbent government has made other reversals, including challenging the contracts awarded towards the massive Polavaram dam project, sacking a large number of State bureaucrats, and restricting liquor licences and sales.
• There have been attempts to renegotiate existing power purchase agreements and other high-value tenders.

Maharashtra:

• The new State government of Maharashtra is considering cancelling public work commitments made by their predecessors like the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project and the Mumbai-Pune hyperloop project.

Similar instances have been noted in states which have witnessed changes in the government.

Incumbent Government’s arguments:

• Reviewing commitments made by the previous government will help increase accountability and possibly decrease corruption in the State.

Increasing accountability:

• The review exercise may help verify if any project has been awarded at allegedly uncompetitive pricing to favour any particular person or group.

Changed circumstances:

• The review might help ascertain the viability of the project or contract in changed circumstances. For example, the attempts to renegotiate existing power purchase agreements make sense in the light of falling power prices and consumption.

The case of Amaravati:

• Going by facts and figures, some of the Andhra Pradesh government’s actions have merit, most notably in the case of planning for Amaravati, the proposed new State capital city.
• There were recommendations from a Central government expert committee to expand an existing city in the State, instead of choosing a reportedly flood-prone area.
• Funding was never assured for Amaravati, even with Central government money, private bonds, and loan pledges by the World Bank.
• The new government also faces external hurdles to attract investment.
  • The Central government has reneged on a previous promise to grant Andhra Pradesh “Special Category Status”, which would have enabled the State to provide tax holidays to new investors.
  • The neighbouring, business-friendly Hyderabad with the infrastructure and resources already in place has attracted many investors.
  • Many investments announced during the previous government have failed to materialize.

Concerns:

Favouritism:

• There are concerns that the major intention behind reviews is to refashion deals to benefit new government officials and their supporters.

Affecting Genuine Investors:

• Genuine investors face a lot of difficulties in the wake of reviews. The subsequent delays lead to huge losses for them.
• Cancellations expose the State and also the genuine investors to potentially costly and damaging legal challenges.

Attracting Investors:

• The constant reviews risk alienating potential investors. The relative lack of information about how the reviews are being made, and whether stakeholders have a real voice in the outcome, will be a major concern to the investors.
• It will become extremely hard for the States to attract foreign investors in the future.
• In the case of Andhra Pradesh, potentially at risk is the reputation of what has been considered one of the most business-friendly states in India. It might come across as a less transparent, less predictable and less open economy.
• Given the increasing competitive federalism, there have been increased numbers of potential Indian business destinations which means that investors can look elsewhere if things in any State get tough.

Affecting Development:

• Without investments, it will be harder for the State to raise the revenue it needs for social programmes and economic development.
• Cancelling multiple high-profile public projects may imperil the state’s ability to create new jobs and opportunities and subsequent development.

India’s status:

• If more and more States follow this trend, the dependability of India as a foreign direct investment destination may be negatively affected.

Impact on Indian economy:

• Recent events in two of India’s largest state economies of Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra have chilled investor enthusiasm. In the backdrop of the slowing Indian economy, this is worrisome given that it will lead to a further slowdown of the economy.

Way forward:

• The States should create a set of governing rules and guidelines for future reviews of projects and programmes.
• Establishing procurement regimes that allow for open tendering, stakeholder engagement, and outside audits would reassure domestic and foreign investors that governments are fair and open to all for business.

Newly-elected governments certainly have the right to review potentially unjust or unwarranted deals. However, a State must be careful to provide clear evidence when making its case to trigger such reviews. The review should have the right intentions.

Category: HEALTH

1. A bleak winter for Kota’s children

Context:

• The death of more than a hundred children in a span of one month in Kota, Rajasthan.

Details:

• The deaths of 100 children in the Kota based hospital in December 2019 followed by more deaths in the first week of 2020 has brought a renewed focus on the country’s maternal and child health care system.
• News of the children’s deaths from mostly preventable causes and the bad state of the government hospital has sparked a nationwide furore.
• Though the children’s families have blamed the staff of the hospital for negligence, various studies show that the government hospital is poorly equipped and understaffed.
• The failure of the healthcare system in India as a whole has led to the deaths of children in such large numbers.

Concerns:

The high number of child mortalities:

• Though the infant mortality rates have been decreasing, the number of deaths due to preventable causes is still high.
• Figures from the National Family Health Survey depict a gradual decline in both infant and maternal mortality, but the pace has not been satisfactory.
• In the midst of outrage caused by the death of infants in Kota, disturbing figures of similar deaths emerged from Jodhpur and Bikaner as well as Gujarat’s Rajkot and Ahmedabad.

Poor facilities:

• Most of the government hospitals lack sufficient facilities and beds to cater to the large patient numbers.
• The hospitals lack even basic systems like centralized oxygen system, ventilators, infusion pumps, nebulisers and warmers.
• The medical equipment available is also of inferior quality, which puts the children’s health at risk.

Unhygienic surroundings:

• Extremely unhygienic and filthy surroundings have been reported from the government hospitals which eventually aids disease transmission and further worsens the health conditions of the patients.

Overworked staff:

• The government hospitals face a shortage of staff, and subsequently, the resident staff are generally overworked.

Out of pocket expenditure:

• The lack of a quality health system at government hospitals leads to people inadvertently moving towards private hospitals. This leads to higher out of pocket expenditure and often pushes families into poverty.

Political blame game:

• The Kota episode, followed by deaths reported from elsewhere, has unleashed a political blame game between the ruling government and the Opposition resulting in lack of efforts to correct the underlying causes.

Pressure on tertiary health care:

• It would be wrong to attribute the issue of infant deaths in Kota only to the failure of the tertiary segment. It is, in fact, the manifestation of the collapse of the public health system at all levels.
• Unless maternal health services, child health services and primary health care facilities are strengthened, we cannot expect lives to be saved only through treatment at the tertiary level.
• There is a need to reduce the patient load at the tertiary level. Tertiary health care is catering to a much higher number of patients than what it is meant to cater to, while primary care facilities are grossly underutilised.

Low budget, unutilised funds:

• The infant mortality is a consequence of poor budgetary allocation for medical and public health, combined with the problem of unspent capital funds. This impacts the infrastructure and maintenance of medical equipment in government-run hospitals.

Way forward:

• As a temporary measure, the hospitals should ensure regular visits of paediatricians to the maternity ward and plug the loopholes in the system.
• In the long run, the resources to the health system and infrastructure are to be strengthened.
• There is an urgent need to increase health and nutrition budgets, which are abysmally low, in order to get the mandated outcome from healthcare facilities.
• There is a growing call for revamping the entire public health system from bottom to up to emphasize more on primary health care systems.

Q1. Which of the following statements are correct?

Q2. Which of the following statements are correct?

Q3. Which of the following statements are correct?

Q4. Which of the following statements are correct?