📰 50% VVPAT verification will delay Lok Sabha election results by 6 days, ECI tells SC
Any increase in the sample size of verification of VVPAT slips would only lead to a “very negligible gain in the confidence level”.
•The Lok Sabha poll results will be delayed by six whole days if the Opposition parties’ demand to increase VVPAT (Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail) slips counting by 50% became a reality, the Election Commission of India (ECI) indicated to the Supreme Court on Friday.
•“The 50% Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail slip verification in each Assembly segment of a Parliamentary Constituency or Assembly Constituency on an average shall enlarge the time required for counting to about six days,” the ECI said in a 50-page affidavit.
•The current confidence level in the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM)-VVPAT accuracy was 99.9936%. Any increase in the sample size of verification of VVPAT slips would only lead to a “very negligible gain in the confidence level,” it said.
•The adoption of a particular percentage as a sample for VVPAT slip verification was devoid of scientific logic or statistical basis. In fact, it was rather otiose, it noted.
•The Supreme Court recently made strong observations in favour of an increase in the sample VVPAT slip counting for the coming elections.
•With this, the ECI has also chosen to stand firm against a plea by 21 Opposition parties, who jointly moved the apex court challenging the poll body’s guideline that VVPAT slips' counting would take place only in one polling station in an Assembly constituency or each Assembly segment in case of parliamentary elections.
•The ECI banks on a March 22, 2019 report of the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) to buttress its case against increasing the VVPAT slips’ counting.
•The ISI report recommends that a sample verification of 479 EVMs and VVPATs out of a total 10.35 lakh machines would lift the confidence to 99.9936%. But Deputy Election Commissioner Sudeep Jain, who has authored the affidavit, said the ECI’s sample verification for the April-May Lok Sabha polls would cover 4,125 EVMs and VVPATs. “This is 8.6 times the sample size recommended in the Indian Statistical Institute report,” the ECI said.
"Extensive training required"
•The Commission, represented by senior advocate Aryama Sundaram and advocate Amit Sharma, submitted that no mismatch had been detected in mock polls or in the verification of VVPAT slips carried out at 1,500 polling stations till date.
•The affidavit said increased VVPAT slips counting would require extensive training and capacity building of election officials in the field. VVPAT slips counting takes place in specially erected VVPAT counting booths under the close monitoring of the returning officer and direct oversight of the observer.
•The ECI said its confidence in EVM-VVPATs was sourced from their secure designs, elaborate procedural safeguards adopted for their usage, and finally the fact that there had been zero errors in sample verifications so far.
•The ECI said its undertook a three-level check on EVM-VVPATs prior to elections.
Three mock polls
•“Each and every EVM and VVPAT is checked once by slip verification during the first level check. Thereafter, 5% of the EVMs are selected at random and subjected to higher scrutiny through a mock poll, along with slip verification of 1,200 votes for 1%, 1000 votes for 2% and 500 votes for 2% percent of the EVMs,” the affidavit said.
•The checks are done in the presence of the representatives of political parties and candidates.
•EVMs and VVPATs are subjected to a second mock poll along with verification of slips during the setting of candidates on the EVMs in the presence of candidates or their representatives.
•A third mock poll is undertaken with slips verification of at least 50 votes on EVMs and VVPATs on the day of election in the presence of polling agents.
•Thus, in the coming Lok Sabha elections, over 1.6 lakh EVMs and VVPATs would undergo VVPAT slips verification of 500 to 1,200 votes before the actual polls.
•“This will be conducted in the presence of the representatives of political parties/candidates in absolute transparency,” the ECI said.
Prime Minister’s political spokesman says the smaller margin of defeat shows that things are moving in the right direction
•British Prime Minister Theresa May will press on with talks to secure support for her Brexit deal, her spokesman said on Friday, just minutes after Parliament rejected it for a third time.
•Britain is now due to leave the EU on April 12, but her political spokesman said the smaller margin of defeat showed that things were moving in the right direction and that a number of senior Conservatives had voted with the government.
•“Clearly it wasn’t the result we wanted,” the spokesman told reporters. “But, that said, we have had a number of senior Conservative colleagues who have felt able to vote with the government today... clearly there’s also more work to do but in point of fact, we are at least going in the right direction.”
•After a special sitting of Parliament, lawmakers voted 344-286 against Ms. May’s 585-page EU Withdrawal Agreement, agreed after two years of tortuous negotiations with the bloc.
•The defeat means that Britain now has until April 12 to convince the 27 capitals of the EU that it has an alternative path out of the impasse, or see itself cast out of the bloc from that date with no deal on post-Brexit ties.
Last opportunity
•Ms. May had told Parliament the vote was the last opportunity to ensure Brexit would take place. She cautioned that if the deal failed, then any further delay to Brexit would probably be a long one beyond April 12.
•“I fear we are reaching the limits of this process in this House,” Ms. May told Parliament after the defeat. “The implications of the House’s decision are grave... The legal default now is that the United Kingdom is due to leave the European Union on 12th April,” she said.
•It was a third failure for Ms. May, who had offered on Wednesday to resign if the deal passed, in a bid to win over eurosceptic rebels in her Conservative Party who support a more decisive break with the EU than the divorce her deal offers.
•It leaves Ms. May’s Brexit strategy in tatters. With no majority in Parliament for any Brexit option so far, it is unclear what Ms. May will now do. Options include asking the EU for a long delay, Parliament forcing an election, or a “no-deal” exit.
•The failure by Parliament to agree the terms of Brexit has left businesses unable to plan even a few weeks ahead. “We are running out of words to express how sick business leaders are of being stuck in this spirit-sapping limbo,” said Edwin Morgan, interim chief of the Institute of Directors.
•Ms. May has blamed MPs, but they say it is her refusal to change course that is blocking any solution. “It is clear that this House does not support the deal... and if the Prime Minister can’t accept that, then she must go,” Opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said. Tired of waiting, MPs this week gave themselves unprecedented powers to vote on various options for Britain’s future relationship with the EU.
EU’s planning
•French President Emmanuel Macron, speaking as Parliament voted, said the EU needed to accelerate no-deal planning. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte told reporters: “One of the two routes to an orderly Brexit seems now to be closed. This leaves only the other route, which is for the British to make clear what they want before April 12... The risk of a no-deal Brexit is very real.”
•Ms. May’s deal had twice been rejected by huge margins this year and, although she was able to win over many Conservative rebels, a hard core of eurosceptics and the Northern Irish Democratic Unionist Party, which props up her minority government, refused to back it. Next Monday, lawmakers who have tried to grab control of the process will attempt to agree on an alternative Brexit plan that could command majority cross-party support in Parliament, something largely unheard-of in Britain's political system. Many eurosceptics see a no-deal exit as their preferred option but businesses say it would cause huge damage not only to the world’s fifth-biggest economy, but also to that of neighbouring Ireland.
•However, any further extension would not only require Britain to take part in European Parliament elections in May, but also bring months of fresh uncertainty.
Call for snap election
•A second referendum could then be in play, although many lawmakers believe the most likely outcome and only way to solve the crisis will be a snap election.
•The 2016 referendum vote to leave the EU revealed a United Kingdom divided over many more issues, and has provoked impassioned debate about everything from secession and immigration to capitalism, empire and what it means to be British.
•Meanwhile the uncertainty around Brexit has left allies and investors aghast.
•Opponents fear Brexit will make Britain poorer and divide the West as it grapples with both the unconventional U.S. presidency of Donald Trump and growing assertiveness from Russia and China.
•Supporters say that, while the divorce might bring some short-term instability, in the longer term it will allow the United Kingdom to thrive if cut free from what they cast as a doomed attempt to forge European unity.
📰 PM’s speech didn’t violate the code of conduct: EC
CPI(M) had raised issue with the panel
•The Election Commission said on Friday that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s address to the nation on the successful demonstration of the anti-satellite missile capability on Wednesday did not violate the model code of conduct.
•It arrived at the decision on the basis of a report submitted by a committee of officers.
•In a letter to the CPI(M), which had raised the issue, the EC said the committee had written to Doordarshan and All India Radio (AIR) to find out the source of feed of the speech. Doordarshan (News) Director-General Mayank Kumar Aggarwal informed the EC that Mr. Modi’s message was telecast from the feed provided by ANI.
•At the second meeting of the committee, some senior AIR officials were summoned to understand the technical aspects of feeding and broadcast through AIR or DD.
•“After having consultation with the technical experts of AIR and detailed discussions among the members, the committee decided to enquire from DD and AIR whether the PM’s address was telecast/broadcast live and what was the source...,” said the EC.
•The committee then held the third meeting with the Directors-General of Doordarshan and AIR on Friday morning. As it turned out, the source of feed was a video received from ANI.
•The Prime Minsiter’s message was telecast on more than 60 news channels in addition to Doordarshan.
📰 Government sets up group to monitor terror sympathisers
TMG to take coordinated action in all registered cases that relate to terror financing and terror-related activities
•To take action against “hard core sympathisers among government employees, including teachers, who are providing covert or overt support” to terror-related activities, the Ministry of Home Affairs has formed a Terror Monitoring Group (TMG). The Friday’s order by T. Sreekanth, Director of Jammu and Kashmir Department in MHA, says that in order to ensure synergised and concerted action against terror financing and other related activities in Jammu and Kashmir, a multi-disciplinary monitoring group comprising eight members has been constituted.
•The TMG has to take coordinated action in all registered cases that relate to terror financing and terror-related activities and bring them to a logical conclusion.
Concerted action
•It will identify all key persons, including leaders of the organisation(s), who are involved in supporting terrorism in any form and take concerted action against them.
•The TMG will “investigate the networks of various channels being used to fund terror and terror activities and take coordinated action to stop flow of such funds,” the order reads. The group will meet on a weekly basis and submit action-taken report regularly to the MHA.
•The TMG will be chaired by Additional Director General of Police, CID of J&K Police, and include Inspector General of Police of J&K and Additional Director of Intelligence Bureau, J&K, as members. It will alsol have representatives from the Central Bureau of Investigation, National Investigation Agency, Central Board of Direct Taxes and Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs.
📰 A reality check: on U.S. draft resolution to blacklist Masood Azhar
The move on Azhar in the UNSC is welcome, but India must continue to engage with China
•The U.S. move to take a listing request for Jaish-e-Mohammad founder Masood Azhar directly to the UN Security Council is an indicator of the frustration of a majority of the Council’s permanent members with China’s refusal to budge on the issue. The many obvious reasons to ban Azhar have been repeated often: the JeM was banned in 2001 with a listing at the UNSC that names Azhar as its founder and financier; he was accused of working with al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden; and he was seen by the entire world on TV screens as he was exchanged for hostages at Kandahar following the 1999 Indian Airlines hijack, after being released from an Indian prison where he was held on charges of terrorism. Since 2001, the JeM and Azhar have claimed responsibility for several terror attacks that resulted in the deaths of dozens of innocent persons, including, most recently, the February 14 attack on a CRPF convoy in Pulwama. Even so, China has used its veto on Azhar’s listing at the 1267 UNSC Sanctions Committee four times in the past decade, evidently to protect Pakistan. Its stand on Azhar is at variance with the otherwise tough stand on terror in Xinjiang province. Also, it has allowed terrorists and groups based in Pakistan to be listed at the UNSC since 2001 and agreed to “grey list” Pakistan at the Financial Action Task Force for terror financing. Just on Thursday, it joined other UNSC members in passing a resolution against terror financing.
•With the latest proposal, the U.S. plans to “shame” China by bringing the Azhar listing to a public debate at the UNSC. And if that fails, it is reportedly considering a UN General Assembly statement condemning Azhar. The listing of Azhar is an unfinished task India is justified in pursuing. However, the latest U.S. move comes with some concerns. To begin with, there is no indication that China is ready to change its stand, particularly in the face of coercion or threat from the U.S., and it could veto this proposal as well. There appears to be little to be gained at present by forcing China further into Pakistan’s corner, especially as New Delhi has said it would pursue the Azhar listing with China with “patience and persistence”, in keeping with its desire not to sacrifice the bilateral relationship over the issue. It is equally unlikely that a world power like China would be moved by the threat of public humiliation. New Delhi must applaud the strong support the U.S. and the other UNSC members have provided on the issue of cross-border terror threats, and on the vexed issue of Azhar’s listing. But it must be careful not to stake too much on an immediate win at the UNSC vis-a-vis China, and keep its expectations realistic.
📰 The irrelevance of secularism
The formula that the state must remain equidistant from all religions is proving to be unworkable
•A debate has flared up, especially after the Supreme Court’s Sabarimala judgment, on whether the state should leave religion alone. I believe in the Indian context, it is more pertinent to ask whether religion can leave the state alone. The relevance of this question is underscored by the unique definition of secularism espoused by the founding fathers of the Constitution, namely that the Indian state must be equidistant from all religions while allowing religions equal space in the public sphere.
Question of definition
•For several reasons this definition of secularism has created a lot of confusion as to what the term stands for. First, the formulation was impractical, given the huge numerical disparity in the religious composition of the Indian nation. This demographic inequality paved the way for the intrusion, and now proliferation, of majoritarian religious symbols, idioms and practices in the state’s domain.
•Second, given the congenitally religious nature of Indian society and the consequent political import of identity based on religion, political parties, almost without exception, found it convenient to use religious sectarianism to advance their fortunes. The success of the Muslim League in hiving off Muslim majority areas from the rest of the country in 1947 on the basis of a religio-sectarian agenda gave a major fillip to Hindu nationalist organisations, such as the Hindu Mahasabha and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). Thee parties were already active in the pre-Partition political arena but were of marginal importance during the freedom movement. The demographic transformation of independent India, as a consequence of Partition, into a Hindu majority of around 80% paved the way for the emergence of Hindu nationalist parties spawned by the RSS — first the Jan Sangh and then the BJP — as major political players in the country.
•The Congress itself had a Hindu nationalist component that had been overshadowed by the ideology of composite nationalism because of the towering personality of its leading exponent, Jawaharlal Nehru. This ideology began to decline from the early 1960s with the deterioration in Nehru’s health. The decline was temporarily halted in the late 1960s during the first few years of Indira Gandhi’s tenure as Prime Minister by the influence on her of her mentor, P.N. Haksar, an uncompromising secularist. But it became clear that she was not above playing the religio-sectarian card. She did so successfully in order to return to power in 1980.
•Rajiv Gandhi continued in his mother’s footsteps in the aftermath of her assassination by giving a free hand to marauding mobs that massacred thousands of Sikhs in Delhi. He subsequently followed a policy of dual appeasement: first getting Parliament to overturn the Supreme Court’s ruling in the Shah Bano case and then by opening the Babri Masjid, which had remained closed since 1949, to allow Hindu religious rites to be conducted in its premises.
•Nonetheless, despite the demolition of the Babri Masjid in 1992 and the Atal Bihari Vajpayee interregnum that saw the Gujarat massacre of 2002 (in picture), the fiction of the secular state was maintained as long as the Congress remained in power in New Delhi. The accession to power on its own steam of the BJP in 2014 removed the secular veneer almost totally. The intrusion of religion into the state’s arena in the form of donning of religious garb by state functionaries while carrying out state duties and participation in religious rites while acting in their official capacity has now become common. The proliferation of cow vigilantism and the anti-Muslim rhetoric of some of the BJP’s leading lights provide further evidence of this trend.
Blatant appeals now
•The appeal to religious identity, always a part of India’s political landscape, has now become much more blatant. The Congress, impressed by the electoral success of the BJP apparently based on its Hindu nationalist agenda, has become the B-team of the latter by embracing soft Hindutva as compared to the BJP’s hard Hindutva. Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s flaunting of his caste and religious affiliation while visiting dozens of temples in States where elections were held recently are indications of how far the Congress has changed from its heyday under his grandfather.
•One cannot blame politicians of either the BJP or the Congress for taking recourse to majoritarian nationalism for this is what currently sells in the electoral market. Politicians are, above all, interested in attaining power and the route to power today seems to lie through Hindu nationalism, whether hard or soft. If one needs someone or something to blame, it is the definition of secularism, or lack of it, adopted at the time of Independence.
•The framers of the Constitution, Nehru and B.R. Ambedkar included, failed to erect an unbreachable firewall between state and religion that would clearly prevent the intrusion of religious idioms, practices and agendas into the political arena and insulate the state from the religious sphere. One can understand why they failed to do so. The innate religious nature of Indian society and the after-effects of Partition on religious grounds precluded this option. However, in this context, to call the ideological foundation of the Constitution secularism, although the term was not explicitly included in the document until 1976, has done great harm to the concept. It has done even greater disservice to the country by thoroughly confusing the public as to what the term denotes.
•The formula that the state must remain equidistant from all religions, the unique Indian definition of secularism, is clearly unworkable. The sooner we realise this reality the easier it will be for all concerned to come to terms with the current trajectory of Indian politics. It is time to jettison the use of the term rather than confound the Indian public even further as to what ‘secularism’ really means.
📰 Earth Day award for Nagaland forest guard
•The services of Alemba Yimchunger, a forest guard at the Fakim Wildlife Sanctuary in Nagaland’s Kiphire district, have been recognised with Earth Day Network Star, an award by a U.S.-based international environment organisation that engages with green groups in 195 countries.
•“In his 30 years of service, Mr. Yimchunger has played a major role in protection of forests and wild animals in and around Fakim sanctuary,” said M. Lokeswara Rao, director of the Network’s species protection campaign.
📰 Debris from anti-satellite test to disintegrate in 45 days: official
U.S. confirms that the 270 pieces don’t pose threat to International Space Station
•The satellite targeted with an Anti-Satellite (ASAT) missile under Mission Shakti has broken up into at least 270 pieces, most of which are expected to disintegrate within 45 days, Defence sources said on Friday.
•“The satellite has disintegrated into at least 270 pieces which has also been confirmed by the North American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD). One of them is a large piece that has been deorbited and is estimated to be completely degraded by April 5,” the official said. The rest of the pieces are estimated to disintegrate in less than 45 days, he stated.
•Being in the Low Earth Orbit, the debris would fall towards earth and burn up as soon as they enter the atmosphere.
Imaging satellite
•Officials identified the targeted satellite as Microsat-R, an imaging satellite that was launched by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on January 24 using a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle. The satellite, weighing 740 kg, was placed in an orbit of 274 km above earth.
•On Wednesday, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) shot down Microsat-R with a modified exo-atmospheric missile of the ballistic missile defence at an altitude of 300 km.
Being monitored
•The ASAT test was tracked by sensors of various agencies. Upon impact, data transmission from the satellite stopped and electro-optic systems confirmed an explosion, the official said.
•Other ISRO satellites and systems too noticed the breakup of Microsat-R, another official said, adding that the debris was being monitored.
•Separately, U.S. officials in Washington have confirmed the test and the debris generated. Lt. Gen. David Thompson, vice-commander of the U.S. Air Force Space Command, said in a hearing before a subcommittee of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee on Wednesday that soon after the test, their agencies began collecting information about the break-up of the vehicle and are “tracking about 270 different objects in the debris field.”
•“Likely, that number is going to grow as the debris field spreads out and we collect more sensor information,” he informed the committee and added that the debris posed no immediate threat to the International Space Station or most other satellites in Low Earth Orbit.
•Debris pose significant risk to satellites and other systems launched into orbit as they last for a long time especially in higher orbits. For instance, China’s 2007 ASAT test in an orbit of around 800 km created around 3,000 pieces of debris, of which 616 have decayed. The rest are still in orbit.
📰 Pathways to an income guarantee
There is a compelling case for spending ₹3.6 lakh crore on the poor, but it must be done carefully
•The idea of a minimum income guarantee (MIG) has caught up with political parties. A MIG requires the government to pay the targeted set of citizens a fixed amount of money on a regular basis. With the promise of the Nyuntam Aay Yojana (NYAY) by the Congress party, it is clear that the MIG is going to be a major political issue for the coming general election. A limited version of the MIG in the form of the PM KISAN Yojana is already being implemented by the NDA government at the Centre. State governments in Odisha and Telangana have their own versions of the MIG.
•NYAY is the most ambitious of these MIG schemes. It promises annual income transfers of ₹72,000 to each of the poorest five crore families comprising approximately 25 crore individuals. If implemented, it will cost the exchequer ₹3.6 lakh crore per annum.
Important questions
•Several questions arise. Is there a case for additional spending of such a large sum on the poor? The answer is yes. Can government finances afford it? No. Even if the government can mobilise the required sum, is the scheme a good way of spending money on the poor? No.
•Many landless labourers, agricultural workers and marginal farmers suffer from multi-dimensional poverty. Benefits of high economic growth during the last three decades have not percolated to these groups. Welfare schemes have also failed to bring them out of destitution. They have remained the poorest of Indians. Contract and informal sector workers in urban areas face a similar problem. Due to rapid mechanisation of low-skill jobs in the construction and retail sectors, employment prospects for them appear increasingly dismal.
•These groups are forced to borrow from moneylenders and adhatiyas (middlemen) at usurious rates of 24-60% per annum. For instance, for marginal and small farmers, institutional lending accounts for only about 30% of their total borrowing. The corresponding figure for landless agricultural workers is even worse at 15%. There is a strong case for direct income transfers to these groups. The additional income can reduce their indebtedness and help them get by without falling into the clutches of the moneylender.
•However, the fiscal space is limited. The Congress’s scheme will cost about 1.92% of the GDP. No government can afford it unless several existing welfare schemes are converted into direct income transfers, or the fiscal deficit is allowed to shoot up way above its existing level, 3.4% the GDP.
Shape of the scheme
•The welfare of the poor and downtrodden trumps concerns over the fiscal burden. Nonetheless, the form of an income transfer scheme should be decided carefully. We know very little about the aggregate effects of unconditional cash transfers at the large scale conceived under NYAY.
•On the one hand, income transfers will surely reduce income inequalities and help bring a large number of households out of the poverty trap or prevent them from falling into it in the event of shocks such as illness or death of an earner. The poor spend most of their income, and a boost in their income will provide a boost to economic activities by increasing overall demand. On the other hand, large income transfers can be inflationary, which will hurt the poor more than the rich.
•The effect of cash transfers on the workforce is also a moot point. In principle, the income supplement can come in handy as interest-free working capital for several categories of beneficiaries such as fruit and vegetable vendors and small artisans, and promote their businesses and employment. At the same time, large cash transfers can result in withdrawal of beneficiaries from the labour force. A MIG can also provide legitimacy to the state’s withdrawal of provisions of the basic services.
•There are very few studies on these issues. Existing studies have dealt with limited income transfers to only a small set of the poor. In the absence of empirical evidence regarding the aggregate effects of large income transfers, it will be irresponsible to dismiss the concern over such issues as elitist.
•For one, the scheme should be launched in incremental steps. An income support of, say, ₹15,000 per annum can be a good start. This amount equals 30% of the annual income of marginal farmers; and more than one-fourth of the average consumption of the poorest 40% of households. Studies show that even a small income supplement can improve nutrient intake at high levels of impoverishment. Besides, it can increase school attendance for students coming from poor households. This would mean improved health and educational outcomes, which in turn will make the working population more productive. Moreover, with a modest income support the risk of beneficiaries opting out of the workforce will also be small.
•Besides, a moderate income support can be extended to a larger set of poor households. For the lowest 40% (about 10 crore households), income is less than their consumption expenditure. In other words, on an average these households have to borrow to meet their expenses. These people can surely do with additional income support.
Identifying beneficiaries
•According to the Socio-Economic and Caste Census (SECC) 2011, around six crore households suffer from multidimensional poverty. These include the homeless, tribal groups, the landless, families without an adult bread-earner or a pucca house. Within this group it is almost impossible to exactly identify the poorest five crore households to be covered under the NYAY.
•However, the SECC along with the Agriculture Census of 2015-16 can help identify a larger set of poor based on verifiable criteria; namely, multidimensional poverty, landlessness and the marginal farmer. Together, these criteria cover the bottom 40%, approximately 10 crore households. Drawing upon the experiences with the poor-centric welfare schemes such as MNREGA, Saubhagya and Ujjwala and PM-KISAN, datasets can be prepared and used to update the list of needy households.
•For these 10 crore households, to start with, the scheme will require ₹1.5 lakh crore per annum. The PM KISAN Yojana can be aligned to meet a part of the outlay. Moreover, the tax collection would need to be increased by reintroducing the tax for the super-rich. Nonetheless, the required amount is beyond the Centre’s fiscal capacity at the moment. Therefore, the cost will have to be shared by the States. Still the scheme would have to be rolled out in phases, as was done for MGNREGA.
Not a substitute for services
•All considered, no income transfer scheme can be a substitute for universal basic services. The direct income support to the poor can deliver the intended benefits only if it comes as a supplement to the public services such as primary health and education. This means that direct transfers should not be at the expense of public services for primary health and education. Moreover, universal health and life insurance are equally important, and so is the case with crop insurance. Each year, medical shocks and crop failures push many families into the poverty trap. The scope of Ayushman Bharat needs to be expanded to include outdoor patient treatments. The PM Fasal Bima Yojana can be made more comprehensive by providing free and wider insurance coverage.
📰 A stop sign: on India's growing carbon emissions
India must raise its ambition on reduction in carbon emissions
•It is no surprise that the International Energy Agency found that India’s carbon emissions grew by 4.8% during 2018, in spite of the national focus on climate change in energy policy. There is wide recognition of the fact that Indians are not historically responsible for the problem, and it is the rich nations led by the U.S. that have pumped in the stock of carbon dioxide linked to extreme climate impacts being witnessed around the globe. As the IEA points out, India’s emissions have grown, but per capita they remain less than 40% of the global average. Equity among nations is therefore at the centre of the discussion on energy emissions, and the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities is central to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Reassuring as this may be, the universal challenge of climate change has grown to such proportions that urgent action to sharply cut carbon emissions is crucial, and all countries, including India, must act quickly. Intensive measures in key sectors — scaling up renewables to raise their share in the energy mix, greening transport, updating building codes and raising energy efficiency — will help meet the national pledge under the Paris Agreement to cut energy intensity of GDP by 33-35% by 2030, over 2005 levels.
•At the global level, renewable sources of energy grew by 7% during 2018, but that pace is grossly insufficient, considering the rise in demand. Moreover, it was China and Europe that contributed the bulk of those savings, in large measure from solar and wind power, indicating that India needs to ramp up its capacity in this area. In fact, as the founder of the International Solar Alliance, India should lead the renewables effort. Yet, in spite of falling prices and rising efficiency, the potential of rooftop solar photovoltaics remains poorly utilised. It is time State power utilities are made responsible for defined rates of growth in the installation of rooftop systems. A second priority area is the cleaning up of coal power plants, some of which are young and have decades of use ahead. This process should be aided by the UNFCCC, which can help transfer the best technologies for carbon capture, use and storage, and provide financial linkage from the $100 billion annual climate fund proposed for 2020. India’s record in promoting green transport has been uninspiring, and emissions from fossil fuels and the resulting pollution are rising rapidly. The Centre’s plan to expand electric mobility through financial incentives for buses, taxis and two-wheelers needs to be pursued vigorously, especially in the large cities. Inevitably, India will have to raise its ambition on emissions reduction, and participate in the global stocktaking of country-level action in 2023. It has the rare opportunity to choose green growth, shunning fossil fuels for future energy pathways and infrastructure.
