Panel for Denotified, Semi-Nomadic, Nomadic Tribes

The NITI Aayog has backed a proposal by Ministry of Social justice and Empowerment to set up a permanent commission for Denotified (DNT), Semi Nomadic (SNT), and Nomadic Tribes (NT). The commission will be set up on the lines of similar commissions for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Classes.

• In May 2018, the Ministry of Social justice and Empowerment had written to the NITI Aayog, asking for its stand on the report of the Bhiku Ramji Idate Commission on DNT, SNT, and NT communities.
• In response to this NITI Aayog has offered to set up a working group to come up with policy suggestions on issues related to the most deprived communities.
• It supports the suggestion by Bhiku Ramji Idate Commission to form a dedicated National Finance Development Corporation for DNT, SNT and NTs.
• It also supports the suggestion lowering tuition fees and relaxing admission conditions for children from the communities, and easy allotment of land and housing for members of the community in which 90% or more are landless.

Background

• The DNT, NT, SNT communities have been identified as the most marginalised by several commissions set up since Independence.
• The community has for long not been enumerated in the Census data. The Renke Commission report of 2008 had roughly estimated their population to be between 10-12 crore however none of its recommendations were implemented.

Denotified Tribes

• Denotified tribes are those that were notified under the Criminal Tribes Acts enforced during British Rule, whereby entire populations were branded criminals by birth. In 1952, the Act was repealed and the communities were de-notified.
• The Nomadic tribes maintain constant geographical mobility while semi-nomads are those who are on the move but return to a fixed habitations once a year, mainly for occupational reasons.

Bhiku Ramji Idate Commission

• The Idate Commission submitted its report in January 2018. It mentioned that a permanent commission for Denotified, Semi Nomadic, and Nomadic Tribes should have a prominent community leader as its chairperson, and a senior Union government bureaucrat, an anthropologist, and a sociologist as members.
• Some of the major recommendations of the panel include granting Constitutional protection to these communities under a separate third schedule after Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, making them eligible for reservation, and extending the protective cover of Prevention of Atrocities Act to them.
• Some of the issues raised by the report involve the repealing of the Habitual Offenders Act, provision of Public Distribution System (PDS) cards, special housing schemes for the largely landless community, establishment of a separate academy to preserve their art and culture, special education and health schemes.
• The Commission noted that post-independence policies for these communities have been mostly symbolic reparations, with post-liberalisation policies alienating them further from their land and occupations.
• The Ministry had also written to the NITI Aayog, asking whether it would set up a Working Group for framing Vision 2030 for development of these communities as per the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Index to Determine the Value of Coal Blocks

Recently, the high-powered committee, set up in 2017 to review the current process of the coal block auction system, has suggested major changes.

• These suggestions coincide with the opening up of the coal sector for commercial mining.

Recommendation

• The recommendations are based on four tenets:

1. ensuring transparency and fairness,
2. equity,
3. early development of coal blocks and
4. Simplicity of implementation of the recommendations.

• Introducing flexibility in the number of bidders, penalties for defaulting on milestones (and revoking bank guarantees), project execution, and relaxation to captive miners to sell some of the coal in the market.
• A default in achieving critical milestones should attract penalty against the earlier penalty for each default. (The number of milestones are now eight versus 20 earlier)
• The panel has recommended developing a Coal Index for determining the value of blocks and a revenue-sharing model with the States. The valuation is on the basis of the notified price of Coal India Ltd.
• The committee has suggested that a single-bid should be accepted if biddings failed to find eligible bidders, provided the offered price is benchmarked to the reserve price.

Need for Changes

• After the initial intense competition since the introduction of auctioning the mineral blocks, the e-auctions failed to sustain interest after several blocks were taken at high prices.
• Companies which bought the blocks found it cheaper to import coal to meet their requirements rather than developing the mines.
• Production from the captive mines which were auctioned had remained lower than their pre-auction output.
• Aggressive bids by bidders during auctions, the subsequent decline in coal prices in international markets as well as in e-auctions, and weak financial health of some of the coal-block winning companies were other reasons for slower production.

India to Overtake US by 2030

• 10 Asian economies including India will overtake the US in terms of GDP by 2030, according to a report by global financial services major DBS.
• These economies are expected to see robust growth and will cross $28 trillion mark in real GDP terms on aggregate, more than that of the U.S., whose economy will amount to $22.33 trillion by 2030.
• The Asia-10 include China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand.
• However, this is neither a sufficient nor a necessary condition to invest in Asia, as investing cannot be based on a single indicator, especially when it comes to a long-term horizon.

• Apart from above three, these economies also face some common issues like climate change, rising inequality, worsening environment for trade, and technological disruption.

UN Model for Cross-Border Norms

Recently, the government is looking at the possibility of adopting a United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) model for cross-border insolvency cases as it works on strengthening the insolvency resolution framework.

Background

• The existing Code in The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) provides for two sections i.e. 234 and 235 — relating to cross-border insolvency, which allows the Centre to enter into an agreement with a foreign country for enforcing the provisions of the Code, which is considered insufficient and time-taking.
• Moreover, these sections are yet to be made operational.
• In case the UN model is adopted for cross-border insolvency matters, then sections 234 and 235 could be dropped from the Code as they pertain to only bilateral pacts.
• The inclusion of cross-border insolvency framework will further enhance ease of doing business, provide a mechanism of cooperation between India and other countries in the area of insolvency resolution, and protect creditors in the global scenario.

Important Facts for Prelims (23rd July, 2018)

Public Affairs Index

• Public Affairs Index is an index on the quality of governance, released by Bengaluru-based think tank Public Affairs Centre, that is based on 10 themes, 30 focus subjects and 100 indicators.
• The themes include essential infrastructure; support to human development; social protection; Women and Children; Crime, law & order; Delivery of Justice, Environment, Transparency and accountability, Fiscal Management and Economic Freedom.
• Kerala has topped the PAI for 2018 as the best-governed state for the third consecutive year since 2016 among large states.
• Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Karnataka and Gujarat followed Kerala among the top five states delivering good governance.
• Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand and Bihar ranked the lowest on the Index, indicating higher social and economic inequalities in the States.
• Among smaller states (with a population less than two crores), Himachal Pradesh topped the list, followed by Goa, Mizoram, Sikkim and Tripura which figured among the top five states with good governance.
• Nagaland, Manipur and Meghalaya were ranked at the bottom of the index among small states.
• A separate index on the children of India, giving a measure of how child-friendly each of the states is.

Salicornia

• Salicornia is a plant that grows in salt marshes in the mangrove wetlands. It is considered a substitute for salt with low sodium content.
• State governments have intensified the efforts to tap commercial benefits from this plant through cultivation.
• Salicornia is being imported from Israel and Scandinavian countries in the wake of growing demand for it in Indian cities.
• The patients suffering from hypertension, diabetes and gastric related ailments prefer the Salicornia salad and salt.

What is the GDP deflator?

• It is the ratio of the value of goods and services an economy produces in a particular year at current prices to that of prices that prevailed during the base year.
• This ratio helps show the extent to which the increase in gross domestic product has happened on account of higher prices rather than increase in output.
• It is a more comprehensive measure of inflation because the deflator covers the entire range of goods and services produced in the economy — as against the limited commodity baskets for the wholesale or consumer price indices.
• GDP price deflator measures the difference between real GDP and nominal GDP.
• GDP price deflator = (nominal GDP ÷ real GDP) x 100
• The GDP deflator reflects up-to-date expenditure patterns since changes in consumption patterns or introduction of goods and services are automatically reflected in the GDP deflator.
• GDP deflator is available only on a quarterly basis along with GDP estimates, whereas CPI and WPI data are released every month.