📰 It is CJI’s right to allot cases: SC
‘He is an institution in himself’
•A Supreme Court Bench led by Chief Justice Dipak Misra on Wednesday declared the Chief Justice of India as an “institution in himself” with “exclusive prerogative” to constitute Benches and allocate cases.
•The three-judge Bench, in a 16-page judgment, held there is no room for any “presumption of mistrust” against the high constitutional functionary, who helms the country's most powerful court.
Second instance
•This is the second time that the Supreme Court has, within six months, reiterated the Chief Justice of India’s “exclusive duty and authority” as ‘master of roster’ to constitute Benches and allocate cases.
•In November 2017, a Constitution Bench led by Chief Justice Misra had declared the Chief Justice of India as ‘master of roster.’
•Subsequent to this judgment, four judges of the SC — Justices Jasti Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, Madan B. Lokur and Kurian Joseph — held their historic press conference on January 12, revealing how the CJI selectively allocates cases to “preferred Benches.”
•The fears expressed in the press conference find no mention in Wednesday’s judgment. Instead, the November 2017 Constitution Bench verdict provided the foundation for dismissing the petition filed by advocate Asok Pande, who highlighted the need for a “set procedure” to constitute Benches and allocate cases in the SC and the HCs.
•Mr. Pande’s petition was reserved for orders by CJI Misra’s Bench on April 9. Just two days before that, Justice Chelameswar, during a public discussion, said allocation of cases, if not made transparent, would lead to suspicion. “And suspicion is detrimental to the institution,” he had said.
📰 Centre for relook at Haj bar on disabled
Panel told to re-examine criteria for applying for pilgrimage
•The Centre told the Delhi High Court on Wednesday that it has advised the Haj Committee of India to examine the “sensitive” provision that bars differently-abled persons from applying for the Haj pilgrimage.
•The Ministry of Minority Affairs’ submission before the High Court came in response to a petition filed in public interest challenging a provision in the new Haj policy, which debars persons with disabilities from applying for the pilgrimage to Mecca.
•“In the new Haj policy for 2018-22, there was no change with regard to the eligibility criteria for pilgrimage of Indian Muslims and the exact wordings about persons with disability used in the previous policy for Haj 2013-17 were retained,” the affidavit said.
•The Ministry added that the Haj Policy Review Committee has not dealt with this issue in particular.
•Last year, the total quota allocated to India was 1,70,025, out of which 1,25,025 was allocated to the Haj Committee and 45,000 to private tour operators.
New Haj policy
•According to the petition, the new Haj policy, issued in November last year, debars “persons suffering from polio, tuberculosis, congestive and respiratory ailment, acute coronary insufficiency, coronary thrombosis, mental disorder, infectious leprosy, AIDS or any other communicable disability or handicap” from applying for the pilgrimage.
•The petition said the new policy is against the various provisions of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, the Mental Health Act, and the National Mental Health Policy, which has equality and non-discrimination as its guiding principles.
Necessary corrections
•“As per prevailing practice for more than 30 years, persons suffering from physical disabilities or suffering from specified diseases have been debarred from applying for Haj pilgrimage through the Haj Committee,” the Ministry said.
•However, it said it has asked for this to be reviewed in terms of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 so that necessary rections or amendments can be made in the Haj policy.
•The Ministry further added, “There is fear of stampede or mishaps. And in such gruelling situation, it is only the pilgrims with physical disabilities who are likely to suffer the most.”
📰 Heed the federal framework
The Finance Commission must respect principles of equity and fairness in allocating resources between Centre, States
•Most federations in the world have arrangements for the mobilisation and devolution of resources. In India, the Constitution provides for the appointment of a Finance Commission every five years to recommend methodology to share resources such that the fiscal space of the constituents, especially the States, is well protected.
•The terms of reference of the 15th Finance Commission are thus a matter of utmost importance to the resources available to the States of India. The terms of reference of this Commission have created apprehension among States about principles of fairness and equity in the distribution of public resources for development. This article deals with some general matters of principle in this regard.
Vital for unity
•First, Article 1 of the Constitution of India recognises India as a Union of States. The unity of India can be preserved only if there is real fairness and equity in the matter of devolution of powers and resources to the States by the Central government. The foremost objective of the Finance Commission is an equitable distribution of financial resources between the two units of the Union.
•Even a cursory glance at the State List in the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution shows that in the allocation of duties between the Centre and the States, fundamental tasks of enhancing human development, income growth, livelihoods, and protecting and sustaining the environment are entrusted to the States. However, although these major tasks of nation-building are the duty of the States, the resources to finance them are substantially controlled by the Centre.
•I emphasise this point: the States in India today neither have the resources to fulfil their tasks as laid down in the Constitution, nor do they have the right to raise such resources. The present situation is not because of the action or inaction of the States but is directly the consequence of Central government policy.
•There is thus a great asymmetry in India’s federal system. The Centre’s capacity to mobilise resources is far greater than that of the States, but the latter are required to undertake development expenditures that far exceed their revenue generating capabilities. The Constitution of India entrusts the Finance Commission with the responsibility of addressing this anomaly. So the basic mandate of the Finance Commission should be seen as that of deciding an appropriate quantum of unconditional devolution of resources from the Centre to the States, combined with more specific grants.
•The devolution of resources by the 15th Finance Commission assumes further significance in the current environment, in which the finances of States have received a double blow in the form of demonetisation and the Goods and Services Tax (GST). The freedom of States to raise resources has been restricted by the introduction of the GST. They now have hardly any major tax left with them to make a difference to State resources.
Demographic differences
•Second, using the population data of 2011 as the base for tax devolution should not reduce the allocation of resources to States that have successfully reduced their rate of population growth. These States have incurred huge fiscal costs in order to achieve a lower population growth and healthy demographic indicators. They have made substantial investments on education, health and directly on family welfare programmes. Bringing down the rate of growth of population does not mean less expenditure for States. On the contrary, it creates new commitments by the States to those in the labour force and to senior citizens.
•Many States of India today have achieved a replacement rate of growth of population or have gone below that rate in a short span of time. An immediate effect of this is a sharp rise in the proportion of elderly in the population. The care of the elderly is the responsibility of State governments. The enhanced costs of such care must be considered by the Commission in making its awards and in deciding the population criterion to be used.
•Third, the current terms of reference go far beyond the constitutional mandate of the Finance Commission. Indeed, they intensify efforts to use the Finance Commission as an instrument of fiscal consolidation and to impose the ideological and economic agenda of the Central government on the States. It is not the task of a Finance Commission to recommend “road maps for fiscal management” or to impose its perception of what policies are good for the people of the States. That is for democratically elected State governments to decide.
•Fourth, this blatant interventionism finds further and dangerous expression in a statement that should not find a place in any list of terms of reference, that is: “the Commission may also examine whether revenue deficit grants be provided at all.” Revenue deficits are offshoots of the path of development followed by States and cannot be brought down in the short term. For instance, Kerala’s human development achievements are built on its investments in the people – in social sectors, health and education in particular. Public expenditure on them is a large part of the government spending and it has not been easy to bring down revenue deficits despite higher tax efforts. To discontinue post-tax devolution of revenue deficit grants would go against the principle of cooperative federalism.
•Fifth, the terms of reference explicitly privilege the “committed expenditures” of the Centre. We should request the Commission to affirm its constitutional status and responsibility by upholding federalism and fiscal autonomy of the States. The Finance Commission should not take a “residual approach” to the question of vertical devolution. The approach should not be that of distributing what is left over after providing for the requirements of the Centre.
Ideological agenda
•Sixth, the terms of reference are unprecedented in asking the 15th Finance Commission to consider proposing performance-based incentives beyond those relating to fiscal responsibility, population and devolution to local bodies. This reflects the viewpoint and ideological inclinations of the Central government and is an attempt to micro-manage the fiscal domain of the State governments. Let us not forget that in many spheres of activity, States have set the agenda for development. These sectors include health, education, forest management, public distribution of food, agricultural production — the list goes on. Such development was not because the concerned States received Central incentives. Best practices were created on their own initiative.
•Thus, for the Finance Commission to propose “measurable performance-based-incentives” is nothing short of an attack on the federal structure mandated by the Constitution. It is not the duty of the Finance Commission to venture into the realm of day-to-day governance. The elected governments of States will decide what policies are appropriate for our people.
•It is also not for the Finance Commission to declare this or that policy as “populist”. Any measure, from welfare pensions for the poor and weaker sections of the society to food assistance, can be termed as “populist” and recommended to be curtailed. This strikes at the root of a democratic polity in which State governments are free to implement welfare measures, albeit within conditions of fiscal responsibility.
The fiscal argument
•Seventh, it is not correct that the fiscal space available to the Centre has shrunk following the 14th Finance Commission recommendations. The argument today that an increase in devolution from 32% to 42% led to a reduction of the fiscal space available to the Union government is not borne out by the evidence. In practice, when implementing the award of the 14th Finance Commission, the Union government cut allocations to several Centrally Sponsored Schemes in 2015-16. The cutback was almost equal to the amount received by the States as a whole on account of the rise in share of taxes and duties. Thus, there was no squeeze of the fiscal space available to the Union government, because it had protected itself. In fact, the total resources devolved from the Union to all States put together has been declining as a share of GDP for some years now. There is no ground for reducing the share of States in the vertical devolution. The presumption now appears to be that the relative responsibility for development is shifting from the States to the Centre. Such a presumption, if accepted by the Commission, would shrink the fiscal space of the States and expand that of the Union government.
•India’s great wealth rests in its diversity. To recognise this diversity is also to recognise that States will follow diverse paths of development. The Finance Commission must facilitate diversity and a democratic path of development by respecting principles of equity and fairness in allocating resources between the Centre and States in India.
📰 A promise falls short
Four years after a landmark verdict, it is time to push for reforms to give transgender persons their rights
•On April 15, 2014, the Supreme Court passed the judgment in NALSA v. Union of India . It was a judgment that came out of the blue, like a thunderbolt when no one was expecting it. It was in the background of Suresh Koushal v. Union of Indiawhere the Supreme Court held that Section 377 could not be read down and it was for Parliament to decide on decriminalisation of homosexuality.
•All of a sudden came NALSA , in which Justices K.S. Radhakrishnan and A.K. Sikri held that the right to gender identity is inherent in one’s right to life, autonomy and dignity. They held that transgender persons have the right to identify their gender as male, female or transgender irrespective of medical sex reassignment and the right to expression of their chosen gender identity.
A fresh momentum
•NALSA brought with it great excitement and gave momentum to the trans rights movement in India. Transgender persons have been criminalised, discriminated against, deprived of access to education and employment, they have faced sexual and physical violence, even been killed due to their gender choices. NALSA for the first time gave public recognition to the violence and discrimination that the trans community faces in India and declared unequivocally their entitlement to constitutional fundamental rights. With the fourth anniversary of NALSA coming up, it is time we ask whether its promises are being fulfilled? Are there positive changes on the ground?
•The apex court directed the Central and State governments to grant legal recognition of gender identity of male, female or transgender; to provide reservations to transgender persons in admission in educational institutions and in public appointments; to provide medical care to transgender persons in hospitals and provide them separate public toilets and other facilities; to frame social welfare schemes for their uplift; and to create public awareness.
•These directions are far from being implemented. The proposed Transgender Persons Bill, 2016 was extremely problematic as it failed to even define transgender persons adequately and was rejected by the trans community. Government forms have included the ‘TG’ option in the gender category, but till date there is no law in place providing for a change in one’s name and gender identity.
On identity
•One of the biggest challenges that the transgender community faces is for recognition of their chosen names and gender. Getting their changed names and gender markers in their birth certificates, educational certificates, PAN cards, passports and identity documents is an uphill battle with no norms or guidelines laid down for such change of legal identity. While NALSA mandates the right to identify one’s gender even without medical intervention, government authorities do not allow change of name and gender identity unless medical certificates show that the person has undergone sex reassignment surgery, thus completely nullifying what the Supreme Court aimed to protect.
•While Kerala and Karnataka have introduced State Policies for Transgender Persons, there are no schemes for reservation of transgender/intersex persons in educational institutions and public employment. They are not included in any of the reserved categories, making education and public employment out of bounds for them due to their transgender and gender non-conforming status. Even within schools, universities and public institutions there are no gender neutral public toilets.
•It is time to push purposefully for these reforms. Justice Chandrachud reiterated the stand of the Supreme Court in the privacy judgment, reaffirming that the right to sexual orientation and gender identity are some of our most intimate life decisions and need to be protected. It is time that these exciting proclamations of constitutional rights are translated into realities on the ground. We need a Gender Identity Law, that would provide for a person to change name and gender, and take inspiration from Argentina, which introduced a law based on self-determination and provides full recognition of a person’s self-defined gender identity. Such a law needs to hold clearly that transgender persons will not need to prove they have had surgical procedures, hormonal therapy or other psychological treatment and should clearly separate medical interventions from legal recognition of their chosen name and gender.
•The list of legal reforms that are needed to truly capture the letter and spirit ofNALSA is long. The Supreme Court has been constantly reiterating its stand on transgender rights, and it is time that governments work towards the realisation of these rights.
📰 End to cattle curbs
The withdrawal of ill-conceived restrictionson livestock trade is welcome
•Good sense appears to have prevailed at last. With a fresh set of draft rules to replace last year’s poorly conceived ones, the Centre has sought to withdraw the ban on sale of cattle for slaughter in animal markets. The draft rules are now open for comments and suggestions. When the Union Ministry for Environment, Forests and Climate Change notified the rules under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act on May 23, 2017, there was concern that in the name of preventing cruelty to animals and regulating livestock markets the government was surreptitiously throttling the cattle trade and furthering the BJP’s cow protection agenda. The rules were criticised for restricting legitimate animal trade and interfering with dietary habits. The new draft makes a welcome departure from the earlier rules, seeking to provide great relief to buyers of animals from cumbersome paperwork and procedural requirements. Some distance-specific conditions to curb inter-State and cross-border movement of animals are to be dropped, as also rules barring animal markets within 25 km of a State border and 50 km of the international boundary. The definition of ‘animal markets’ will no more include any lairage adjoining a slaughter-house, thereby removing curbs on the sale of animals in a resting place in the vicinity of a market. The draft retains good provisions in the earlier notification barring cruelty in the treatment and transport of animals.
•The notification had set off a storm last year, with some Chief Ministers stridently opposing it on the ground that regulating livestock trade was essentially a State subject. Even assuming that the Centre had jurisdiction under the law against animal cruelty to notify the rules, it was obvious that only the States could enforce them. With the Supreme Court expanding a stay granted by the Madras High Court into a nation-wide bar on the rules, and some States taking a clear stand that they would not implement the regulations, the notification was a non-starter. There was further concern whether the regulations would adversely impact poor villagers, as animal markets are predominantly in the countryside. There was an impression that under the guise of stiff regulations, the Centre was making it impossible for cattle, a term that covers cows, buffalo, bulls and camels, to be slaughtered even for food, despite the PCA Act recognising explicitly that animals can be food for humans. The meat trade, valued at thousands of crores of rupees, would have suffered a serious setback had the rules been implemented. Any transformation from a tendency to advance pet causes to an approach based on economic and legal considerations would be a welcome change. Good governance is not only about regulating human and economic activities, but also about avoiding perceptions of sectarianism.
📰 ‘99% of MGNREGA wages remain unpaid’
•Ninety-nine per cent of MGNREGA wages have remained unpaid in April 2018, as per the findings of the NREGA Sangharsh Morcha that tracks the implementation of the rural employment guarantee law.
•“Stagnant wage rates are not the only rude shock that workers of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act received this month. Most of them also remain unpaid for the work done by them in the past few months,” said a release of the organisation. “Ninety-nine per cent of the Fund Transfer Orders for MGNREGA wage payments sent to the Public Finance Management in April 2018 remain unprocessed.”
•The release added: “The bulk of FTOs of the last two months are also yet to be processed – 86 % of the FTOs of March and 64 %of the FTOs of February.”
•It claimed that while the Centre introduced the National Electronic Fund Management System in January 2016 purportedly to streamline the process of MGNREGA payments, the system has only “tightened the (Rural Development) Ministry’s leash over funds”.
Revolving funds
•“Now it routinely withholds the processing of FTOs. Also, in NEFMS, States are no longer able to make payments to workers from their revolving funds to tide over delays in release of funds by the Ministry,” the release added.
•The release contended that in 2017, the government froze the processing of FTOs worth over Rs. 3,000 crore due to lack of MGNREGA funds.
•The release added, “The situation of long and unpredictable delays in MGNREGA wage payments continues despite the ongoing public interest litigation filed by Swaraj Abhiyan in which the Supreme Court has instructed the government to ensure that workers are paid within 15 days of doing work.”
📰 Aadhaar linkage will protect people: UIDAI
Denies charge that it stigmatises public
•The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) told the Supreme Court on Wednesday that Aadhaar linkage seeks to protect people from crime.
•Appearing before a Constitution Bench led by Chief Justice Dipak Misra, the UIDAI countered the allegation raised by petitioners, and later taken up by the court, that insistence on Aadhaar for all stigmatises people. It creates a feeling among the public that all are under the government’s scanner for financial fraud, terrorism and tax evasion, the petitioners had said.
•“We travel by air and all passengers are frisked. This does not mean that all of us are hijackers. It is done to protect us from hijacking,” Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, for UIDAI, explained.
•But Justice A.K. Sikri countered that frisking is done only for those who “choose to travel.”
•“You cannot compare it with the Aadhaar situation where 128 crore people are mandatorily asked to link their mobile SIMs, bank accounts and PAN cards with their Aadhaar cards,” Justice Sikri said.
•To this, Mr. Mehta replied that he only wanted to convey to the court that “when a measure is uniformly applied, it does not mean that everyone is guilty... administrative measures do not mean individualised suspicion.”
•“There is no presumption of guilt on everyone,” Mr. Mehta submitted.
•Justice D.Y. Chandrachud questioned the “proportionality” of subjecting the entire population to the “level of intrusion” caused by Aadhaar linkage.
‘Intrusion of privacy’
•He said such levels of intrusion may be justified in combating terrorism or in a case of national security, but asked why the public should be subjected to such intrusion of their privacy only to prevent any chances of tax evasion.
•Mr. Mehta responded that the court was right in thinking why the government should “intrude into the privacy of the entire population merely to weed out a few crores... but when tax evasions amount to Rs. 33,000 crore, it is a serious problem which Aadhaar linkage may curb.”
•Mr. Mehta said the government was conscious of the criticism that the entire population was stigmatised as tax evaders and money launderers, but as a welfare state, the “gravity of public concern” against corruption, black money and money laundering also had to be taken into consideration.
•Mr. Mehta said provisions like Section 139AA of the Income Tax Act, which mandates the linking of Aadhaar with PAN, is an effort to “bridge the growing gap between the rich and the poor.”
📰 Facing the future of development
Farmers’ protests interrogate the reigning development model. Alternatives do exist
•The recent spate of peasant protests across wide swathes of the country points sharply to the unjust folly and sheer unviability of the path of development that India has embraced, especially in the reform era since the late 1980s.
•Even, say, a modest food critic in metropolitan India collects an immodest annual pay package which can easily go into seven figures. Such compensation is not even a dream for any small or marginal food-grower in the country, someone who works much harder and who is immeasurably more significant for the food security of India. It is such daylight disparity between the lives of villagers and city-dwellers which constitutes the background to an increasingly simmering discontent amongst the poor in India’s villages and cities. Last month’s farmers’ protest in Mumbai is one of many where the simmer boils over to more overt expressions.
Many asymmetries
•As a recent petition to the National Green Tribunal makes plain, the same brutal asymmetry is evident when one notices the difference in access to water between rural-agricultural and cricket-crazy metropolitan India. And similar stories can be told when it comes to other requirements of agriculture, from electricity to fair prices for produce and inputs to loans and loan waivers. Food supplies are so taken for granted that agriculture is simply absent from the everyday cognitive radar of metropolitan policy-elites. A recent study showed that agriculture takes up less than 5% of coverage in mainstream media. Farming as an occupation is seen as a thing of the past, as if India — never mind the more than 700 million people still directly dependent on it — is meant to follow blindly in the footsteps of the industrialised world.
•Time will prove that this is an impossible, irrational dream suffering profoundly from what philosophers call a ‘fallacy of composition’. Far from everyone, not even a majority of the present rural population of India can be offered employment in non-agricultural economic activities, even if this was considered desirable. Unless the present plank of developmental policies is set aside in favour of a radically different approach, deprivation from basic needs will continue for hundreds of millions of people, as will gross inequalities.
•The respective fortunes of the small, marginal farmers as much as those of metropolitan elites seem to have been pre-calibrated by the path of ‘development’ India has embraced since the reform era began in 1991, if not since 1947 itself. Let us honestly think through the assumptions of such a vision as our political, commercial and policy-elites continue to impose on the country, quite regardless of the dispensation in office in New Delhi. The vision is imitative. It assumes that India is pre-destined to follow the path of industrialisation that the Western world and East Asia have taken. The once-implicit and now explicitly stated goal is to ensure that only a tiny fraction of India’s work force remains in agriculture.
The numbers challenge
•How likely is this? In a generation, India’s population is likely to be around 1.6 billion. Even if just two-thirds of this population is to find its livelihood outside the villages (a modest version of every Finance Minister’s dream), 1 billion people will be living in cities, compared to the present 400 million. This would mean that some 200 million more jobs will have to be created in the next quarter century, at the rate of 8 million new jobs every year. In recent years of the reform era, the net rate of job generation in the organised sector, relying on the government’s own data, is under 0.5 million per year. Pertinent here is the fact that this is the era of disruptive robotisation across all industries: governments boast of jobs that get created, not of jobs lost to automation.
•The reigning vision also implies that our cities will be able to provide the enormous infrastructure — of clean air and water, sanitation and power, roads and communication, housing and social security — for some 600 million more people!
How will 1.6 billion people be fed?
•In the countryside, if villagers (especially young ones) have been successfully dissuaded from agriculture, it will constitute a historic epistemic break from India’s long past: a whole generation of young Indians would have grown up without any knowledge of manual agriculture. This has far-reaching implications.
•It casually assumes that agriculture would be virtually fully mechanised, as in the ‘developed’ world. Running agricultural machinery would require huge energy resources. Even if only half the energy is drawn from fossil fuels, it would make crushing demands on the world’s remaining oil and coal reserves, in a cruelly scarce era. Where will these fossil fuels come from? A large proportion will have to be imported with increasingly scarce foreign exchange reserves — provided energy-surplus countries are still willing to sell these fuels.
•It could be argued that India will import food. It is worth keeping in view that India has had only two years of trade surplus during the last four decades. One must also reckon with the prospect of bartering away the foundations of our food security. Even if India finds the foreign exchange, will there be countries left which will be in a position to supply food for, possibly, over half a billion people? Is there an agro-ecological substitute for the Indo-Gangetic plains on Earth?
•Finally, one would have to consider the fact that such a fossil-fuel-driven agriculture would make extraordinary demands on climate space precisely at a time when the latter will be shrinking every month.
Let’s introspect
•In light of such an alarming outlook, those currently in the corridors of political power need to take a long, hard look at the path they are asking the country to walk. A minority of Indians enjoy First World affluence, while the rest are sold the dream that they too can reach there, in the hope that they will not protest the unjust deprivations they suffer — 1% of India’s rich own as much wealth as 70% of its population, and the gap is steadily rising. As a very large chunk of the 70% who are collateral damage of accelerated ‘development’, farmers have lost not only the viability of their livelihoods, but much self-respect, committing suicides in the hundreds of thousands over the last few decades.
•The growing protests of farmers around the country is not just a claim for dignity. Even more portentously, it calls into question the paradigmatic rationality of the reigning development model. Alternatives do exist, practised and conceived of at hundreds of sites in India: from the achievement of complete food security by Dalit women farmers of Deccan Development Society and small peasants of Timbaktu Collective in Andhra-Telangana (both in dryland conditions), to the generation of decent livelihoods through crafts, small-scale manufacturing, community-based tourism, traditional health services by Jharcraft, Kudumbashree, Maati, Khamir, SRUJAN, Qasab, and others. These initiatives have stayed or even reversed rural-urban migration, created rural prosperity, attempted gender and caste justice, without trashing the environment.
📰 Building India’s talent base
With limited resources and time, it is crucial for States to assess which skills policies will make the biggest impact
•When India found itself at the 103rd position in the recent World Economic Forum ranking of 130 nations on the preparedness of talent, it was just another indication of the skills challenge. In just five years, the government’s skill gap analysis report estimates that an extra 40 crore workers need to be skilled, reskilled or upskilled. The current official estimate is that slightly more than half a crore people are being trained annually.
Measuring policy impact
•Policymakers are responding swiftly. But with limited resources and time, which skills policies will make the biggest impact? New research commissioned by Tata Trusts and the Copenhagen Consensus Center for the India Consensus projects, ‘Andhra Pradesh Priorities’ and ‘Rajasthan Priorities’, helps answer that question for the two States.
•No State has the resources to do everything. It is crucial to identify where decision makers can achieve the most good. The Copenhagen Consensus has worked with hundreds of stakeholders to identify the best policies in more than 40 different areas for each State, ranging from education and child marriage to agricultural performance and disaster management. Economists from India and around the globe are now analysing the costs, benefits and impacts of these policies.
•In its totality, the new research will highlight for each State which policies can make the biggest difference for every rupee spent. But already the research casts a bright light on what can be done within a specific policy area. For example, three authors from the Sunay Policy Advisory have undertaken an analysis of three skills policies.
•In Andhra Pradesh, the skills challenge is clear: more than 97% of the 21 lakh individuals expected to join the workforce between now and 2022 will be totally or partially unskilled according to the National Skill Development Corporation. To meet demand, Andhra Pradesh needs to skill about half its workforce (or 10.5 lakh people) entering the labour market by 2022. Andhra Pradesh has also undertaken an integrated skilling initiative, and the Andhra Pradesh State Skill Development Corporation (APSSDC) has been established as a public-private partnership with the hope of skilling two crore people in 15 years.
•The new research can help policymakers by focussing on one important question: What is achieved with each additional rupee spent by A.P. on each skills policy?
SME loans
•The first policy examined is the provision of loan assistance to small- and medium-enterprises (SMEs) to encourage expansion and job creation. This may seem a roundabout route to up-skilling, but as a powerhouse of SMEs (like many Indian States), Andhra Pradesh can create jobs by supporting their growth and development.
•Research suggests that every rupee of loan will increase SME profit by about Rs. 0.89. Factoring borrowing costs, administration fees and default rates, it costs Rs. 16 for every Rs. 100 loaned. The researchers conclude that each rupee would generate benefits to the economy worth Rs. 5.6 — a solid return on investment.
•But to compete on a global stage, Andhra Pradesh needs direct upskilling policies. One approach studied is apprenticeship schemes that combine vocational education with work-based learning. For the employer, the cost is Rs. 1.5 lakh, including salary, supervision, training and administration. The government spends another Rs. 0.2 lakh reimbursing employers and on marketing. The individual misses out on about Rs. 0.16 lakh in income during the apprenticeship. The total cost to everyone involved for one apprenticeship is approximately Rs. 1.9 lakh.
•The employee receives a substantial income increase over her working life, worth about Rs. 11.2 lakh. The employer benefits to the tune of Rs. 2.2 lakh, by having a more productive and job-ready workforce, increased revenue, and savings from having to recruit. Total benefits are Rs. 13.4 lakh. Therefore, every rupee spent on a year-long apprenticeship programme is worth Rs. 7.2 to the A.P. economy. This is even stronger than supporting SMEs in generating societal benefits.
•Finally, the authors look at expanding the current vocational training programme to incentivise more people to join. This is job-specific, technical and hands-on. A similar analysis is undertaken: this time, the cost for each apprenticeship, both public and private, is about Rs. 0.46 lakh.
•The results are marked: an individual will earn Rs. 7.2 lakh more over her lifetime. This accounts for expected income growth as well as changing workforce participation and unemployment. The analysis reveals that benefits to society are 16 times higher than the costs. Spending Rs. 1 to generate Rs. 16 in benefits to society is a very compelling investment.
•Demographics and economic realities differ for each State in India: research conducted for Rajasthan found that while skilling is broadly a good investment, the pay-offs are different. Vocational training, for example, has less of an impact than in A.P.
•This research highlights the strong case for A.P. to invest more in expanding access vocational training programmes and the need to study the costs and benefits of skills policy options across India.
📰 The rise and fall of bitcoin
How have crypto-currencies fared in 2018?
•Cryptocurrencies have witnessed a massive fall in prices since they hit a peak in December last year. Bitcoin, by far the most popular cryptocurrency on the planet, is currently trading below $7,000 as compared to its peak price of over $19,000 — a loss of two-thirds of its value from the peak. Other cryptocurrencies have witnessed a similar steep fall in their prices over the last quarter as investors have pulled out of the market. Remarkably, the present crash follows a year of extraordinary returns when cryptocurrencies saw their prices rise multifold owing to investors’ expectations over their future prospects.
What’s behind the crash?
•Many have viewed the rise of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as a massive bubble similar to the dotcom and other bubbles in history which saw asset prices increase without any fundamental reason. Goldman Sachs, for instance, warned investors in February that most cryptocurrency prices are headed to zero as they lack intrinsic value. So, to sceptics, the crash now will likely vindicate a belief that markets eventually mark down the prices of assets that have no real value, to zero. Cryptocurrency enthusiasts, on the other hand, view the crash as just another healthy correction that is part of any asset’s rise over the long run. In fact, they point to similar steep crashes in the price of cryptocurrencies in the past that turned out to be short-lived. Thus they see the present crash as a good chance to buy cryptocurrencies cheaply before their prices begin to rise again.
What’s the future of cryptocurrencies?
•Technically, cryptocurrencies are still trapped in a downtrend which began in mid-December amid increasing fears of a regulatory crackdown by governments. Though unlikely, this downtrend may come to an end if investor sentiments suddenly change in favour of cryptocurrencies once again.
•Many believe that the biggest hurdle facing cryptocurrencies is their poor fundamentals. None of the cryptocurrencies, for instance, has yet proved its fundamental value as a currency that will be readily accepted by a huge population as a medium of exchange. This is in contrast to national currencies such as the U.S. dollar which are widely accepted by people as money. So cryptocurrencies, in essence, continue to be viewed as a gamble by most. Governments across the world have also not been too keen on allowing cryptocurrencies to be used as alternative money as they view private currencies as a threat to their sovereignty.
📰 ‘Petroleum, Finance Ministers can award hydrocarbon blocks’
Cabinet move will expedite decision-making process relating to HELP
•The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved a proposal to delegate the power to award hydrocarbon blocks to successful bidders under the Hydrocarbon Exploration and Licensing Policy (HELP) to Petroleum and and Finance Ministers.
•“In line with the government initiative of ease of doing business, the Union Cabinet has given its approval for delegating the powers to Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas and Finance Minister to award the blocks/contract areas to successful bidders under Hydrocarbon Exploration and Licensing Policy (HELP) after International Competitive Bidding (ICB) based on the recommendations of Empowered Committee of Secretaries (ECS),” the government said in a statement.
•Under HELP, blocks are to be awarded twice in a year. Delegating powers would expedite the decision-making process in awarding the blocks, according to the statement. “Under the New Exploration Licensing Policy [which was in place before HELP was implemented in 2016], ECS considers the bid evaluation criteria (BEC), conducts negotiations with the bidders wherever necessary, and makes recommendations to CCEA on award of blocks,” the statement said. “The CCEA approves the award of blocks. The entire process, including Inter Ministerial Consultations (IMC), is quite lengthy and time consuming.”
•In a separate decision, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved the issuance of a notification that would allow Coal India Limited (CIL) and its subsidiaries to extract coal bed methane (CBM) in their coal bearing areas without applying for a licence or lease under the Petroleum & Natural Gas Rules, 1959.
Exploration of CBM
•“The decision will expedite the exploration and exploitation of CBM, enhance the availability of natural gas and reduce the gap in demand and supply of natural gas,” the government said in a separate statement.
•“The increased development activities for exploration and exploitation of CBM gas reserves in and around the block will generate economic activities which, in turn, has potential to create employment opportunities in CBM operations and in the industries,” it said.
📰 Olive ridleys start hatching at Rushikulya
No tourist or outsider would be allowed to step into the mass nesting coast in Odisha’s Ganjam district
•Sporadic hatching of olive ridley eggs has started at the mass nesting site at Rushikulya rookery coast in Ganjam district of Odisha.
•According to forest officials, hatching of eggs occurred at around 100 olive ridley nests during Monday and Sunday night. On an average around 80 to 100 hatchlings came out of these nests. Hatching also begun at four artificial hatcheries in the region. Eggs from areas beyond the mass nesting site were collected and incubated at these hatcheries.
•This year 4,45,091 mother olive ridleys laid their eggs during this seven-day-long mass nesting that ended on February 27 night. It was expected that mass hatching of eggs will start on the night of April 7 or 8. But it was delayed due to summer drizzles during the past few days which lengthened the incubation period from the usual 45 days. Buried under the sand, the eggs use ambient heat of the beach for incubation. Rainfall reduced the temperature of the eggs in the nests, explained Bivash Pandav, a scientist of Wildlife Institute of India.
CCTVs installed
•As mass hatching is again expected to start in the next few days, the forest department has begun the process to document the phenomenon by opening a centre at Gokhakuda, said Berhampur Divisional Forest Officer Ashis Behera. CCTVs have been installed to check human intervention during the hatching process.
•This year, no tourist or outsider would be allowed to step into the six to seven kilometre long mass nesting coast. Three special barricaded zones have been constructed for visitors at Bateswar, Podampeta and Gokhakuda.Visitors can watch the mass hatching process from a distance. Use of mobile phones by visitors has also been banned.
