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World’s Longest Salt Cave

Israeli researchers have claimed that they have discovered the world’s longest salt cave near the dead sea. The cave named Malham, stretching...

29 Mar 2019 News Analysis
Important Facts For Prelims (29th March 2019)

Odissi It is one of the pre-eminent classical dance forms of India which originated in the Hindu temples of the eastern coastal state of Odisha in...

29 Mar 2019 News Analysis
Globalization 4.0

Why in News Globalization 4.0 was the theme for World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2019 held in Davos, Switzerland in January 2019. Under the...

29 Mar 2019 Paper 3
A Cop Out

(This editorial is based on the article 'A Cop Out' which appeared in ‘The Indian Express’ on 28th March, 2019. The article talks about...

28 Mar 2019 News Editorials
European Parliament Bans Single-Use Plastics

The European Union Parliament has voted to ban single-use plastic cutlery, cotton buds, straws and stirrers as part of a sweeping law against plastic...

28 Mar 2019 News Analysis
President’s Visit To Croatia

During the first leg of his three-nation tour to Croatia, Bolivia, and Chile, President of India completed his visit to Croatia. In Croatia,...

28 Mar 2019 News Analysis
Important Facts For Prelims (28th March 2019)

Turing Award, 2018 The 2018 Turing Award has been given to a trio of researchers who laid the foundations for the current boom in Artificial...

28 Mar 2019 News Analysis
Mission Shakti

India has tested the Anti-Satellite System(A-SAT) from Dr A P J Abdul Kalam Island, formerly known as Wheeler Island, an island off the coast of...

28 Mar 2019 News Analysis
A Bridge to Nowhere

(This editorial is based on the article 'A Bridge to Nowhere' which appeared in ‘The Hindu’ on 27th March, 2019. The article talks...

27 Mar 2019 News Editorials
Important Facts For Prelims (27th March 2019)

Mountaineering Expedition to Mt. Makalu Indian Army has launched its maiden expedition to Mount Makalu in Mar-May 2019. Mt Makalu is considered...

27 Mar 2019 News Analysis
NITI Aayog : Digital Payments Trends, Issues and Opportunities

A Committee on Digital Payments was constituted by Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance in August 2016 under Chairmanship of Ratan P....

27 Mar 2019 Summary of Important Reports
Energy Transition Report

World Economic Forum has recently published Fostering Effective Energy Transition 2019 The report contains the Energy Transition Index (ETI),...

27 Mar 2019 News Analysis
New island rules: IPZ 2019

The Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has notified Island Protection Zone (IPZ) 2019 for Andaman and...

27 Mar 2019 News Analysis
Inequality in India

27 Mar 2019 Paper 2
Inequality in India

Why in News Oxfam International released its annual inequality report, 2019 report titled “Public good or Private Wealth?” highlighted...

27 Mar 2019 Paper 2
Paradigm Shift for TB Control

(This editorial is based on the article 'Paradigm Shift for TB Control' which appeared in ‘The Hindu’ on 26th March, 2019. The article...

26 Mar 2019 News Editorials
Important Facts For Prelims (26th March 2019)

Trade Receivables e-Discounting System (TReDS) In the recently concluded FinTech Conclave-2019, the Reserve Bank of India Governor termed Invoice...

26 Mar 2019 News Analysis
Italy Joins Belt & Road Initiative

Italy has become the first G7 country to join China’s Belt & Road Initiative (previously known as One Belt One Road (OBOR)...

26 Mar 2019 News Analysis
No clinical trials in India for new drugs

Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has allowed waivers on conducting trials for new drugs in India in case the drug is approved and...

26 Mar 2019 News Analysis
Another Look At Fiscal Transfers

(This editorial is based on the article 'Another Look At Fiscal Transfers' which appeared in ‘The Hindu’ on 25th March, 2019. The...

25 Mar 2019 News Editorials

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			'title' => 'World’s Longest Salt Cave',
			'catname' => 'News Analysis',
			'desc' => '<p>Israeli researchers have claimed that they have discovered the<strong> world&rsquo;s longest salt cave near the dead sea.<a href="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/911Israel%20(Mount Sodom).jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="content-img" src="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/911Israel (Mount Sodom).jpg" width="297" height="209" style="float: right;" caption="false" /></a></strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>The cave named Malham, stretching over 10 kilometers (6.25 miles) runs through Mount Sodom, Israel's largest mountain, and spills out to the southwest corner of the adjacent Dead Sea.</strong></li>
<li>In the cave,<strong> thousands of salt stalactites hang from the ceilings, and some of the walls have salt crystals.</strong></li>
<li>These were formed by the dissolution of the overhead rock by rainwater. The water percolates through cracks and deposits salt on the cave&rsquo;s ceiling.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Formation of Caves</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>In areas where there are alternating beds of rocks (shales, sandstones, quartzites) with limestones or dolomites in between or in areas where limestones are dense, massive and occurring as thick beds, cave formation is prominent.</strong></li>
<li><strong>Water percolates down either through the materials or through cracks and joints and moves horizontally along bedding planes.</strong></li>
<li>It is along these bedding planes that the limestone dissolves and long and narrow to wide gaps called caves result.</li>
<li>There can be a maze of caves at different elevations depending upon the limestone beds and intervening rocks. Caves having openings at both the ends are called tunnels.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Depositional Landforms in the Caves<a href="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/182Cave%20in Section.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="content-img" src="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/182Cave in Section.jpg" width="446" height="292" style="float: right;" caption="false" /></a></h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Many depositional forms develop within the caves. The chief chemical in limestone is calcium carbonate which is easily soluble in carbonated water (carbon dioxide absorbed rainwater).</li>
<li><strong>This calcium carbonate is deposited when the water carrying it in solution evaporates or loses its carbon dioxide as it trickles over rough rock surfaces.</strong></li>
<li><strong>Stalactites, Stalagmites, and Pillars</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><strong>Stalactites hang as icicles</strong> of different diameters. Normally they are broad at their bases and taper towards the free ends showing up in a variety of forms.</li>
<li><strong>Stalagmites rise up from the floor of the caves.</strong> In fact, stalagmites form due to dripping water from the surface or through the thin pipe, of the stalactite, immediately below it.</li>
<li>The stalagmite and stalactites eventually<strong> fuse to give rise to columns and pillars of different diameters.</strong></li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>',
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		(int) 1 => [
			'title' => 'Important Facts For Prelims (29th March 2019)',
			'catname' => 'News Analysis',
			'desc' => '<h3>Odissi<a href="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/1577340679_image20.png" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="content-img" src="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/1577340679_image20.png" style="float: right;" width="203" caption="false" /></a></h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>It is one of the pre-eminent <strong>classical dance forms of India which originated in the Hindu temples of the eastern coastal state of Odisha in India.</strong></li>
<li>It is a dance of love and passion touching on the divine and the human, the sublime and the mundane.</li>
<li><strong>Odhra Magadha,</strong> mentioned in <strong>Natya Shastra</strong> can be identified as the earliest precursor of present day Odissi dance.</li>
<li>The techniques of dance movement are built around the<strong> two basic postures of the Chowk and the Tribhanga.</strong></li>
<li>The chowk is a position imitating a square - a <strong>very masculine stance with the weight of the body equally balanced.</strong></li>
<li>The <strong>tribhanga is a very feminine stance</strong> where the body is deflected at the <strong>neck, torso and the knees.</strong></li>
<li>An Odissi orchestra essentially <strong>consists of a pakhawaj player (usually the Guru himself), a singer, a flutist, a sitar or violin player and a manjira player.</strong></li>
</ul>
<h3>Mankading</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Recently, in a cricket match of the Indian Premier League 2019 (IPL-2019) a batsman was <strong>dismissed in a run out</strong> popularly called <strong>&lsquo;Mankading&rsquo;.</strong></li>
<li>Mankading&rsquo; is a method of run out where a <strong>bowler dismisses a non-striker by hitting the bails</strong> before bowling when the latter is outside the crease.</li>
<li>It is named after an <strong>Indian bowler Vinoo Mankad (awarded Padma Bhushan in 1973).</strong> Vinoo Mankad, in the India's tour of <strong>Australia in 1947/48 ran out Bill Brown not once but twice.</strong></li>
<li>This infuriated the Australian media, and running someone out in this way is now referred to around the world as "Mankading&rdquo;.</li>
<li>While perfectly legal, some contend that by convention, a bowler should at least warn a batsman who persists in backing up too far before dismissing him in that fashion.</li>
<li>According to rules of Cricket:
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Non-striker leaving his/her ground early: If the non-striker is out of his/her ground from the moment the ball comes into play to the instant when the bowler would normally have been expected to release the ball, the <strong>bowler is permitted to attempt to run him/her out.</strong></li>
<li>Whether the attempt is successful or not, the <strong>ball shall not count as one in the over.</strong></li>
<li>The Laws of Cricket were amended several times after this incident, but it was decided to retain this form of run out to disallow batsmen from stealing runs.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>There<strong> have been instances</strong> where the bowlers refrained from using this method, like<strong> the 1987 World Cup match between Pakistan and West Indies.</strong></li>
</ul>',
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		(int) 2 => [
			'title' => 'Globalization 4.0',
			'catname' => 'Paper 3',
			'desc' => '<h3>Why in News</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Globalization 4.0 was the theme for <strong>World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2019</strong> held in Davos, Switzerland in January 2019.</li>
<li>Under the rubric of <strong>Globalization 4.0,</strong> a series of <strong>"Global Dialogues"</strong> in Davos focused on the interrelated areas namely geopolitics, future of global economy, global dialogue on industry systems etc.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Globalization 4.0</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Globalization is a phenomenon <strong>driven by technology</strong> and the movement of ideas, people, and goods.</li>
<li>Globalization 4.0 is latest stage of globalization which involves cutting-edge new technologies like artificial intelligence that powers forward with the explosion of information technology.</li>
<li>These technologies shrink distances, open up borders and minds and bring people all across the globe closer together.</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Timeline: Earlier Waves of Globalization</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Globalization 1.0</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>It was pre-World War I globalization, which was launched by a historic drop in trade costs.</li>
<li>This globalization came with almost no government support.</li>
<li>There was no global governance.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Globalization 2.0</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>It is the post-World War II phase where trade in goods was combined with complimentary domestic policies.</li>
<li>The market was in charge of efficiency while the government was in charge of justice.</li>
<li>It saw the establishment of institute-based, rule-based international governance, specifically the UN, IMF, World Bank, GATT/WTO, International Labor Organization etc.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Globalization 3.0</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>It created a new world of manufacturing in which high-tech was combined with low wages.</li>
<li>This was achieved through establishment of global supply chains as factories crossed international borders.</li>
<li>It was variously called New Globalization, Hyper globalization, Global value chain evolution.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
<h3>Characteristics of 4.0</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Major turbulence for Service Sector:</strong> While Globalization 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0 were mainly a concern of people who made/manufactured products for a living (since globalization focused on things that we made), Globalization 4.0 is going to hit people in the service sector.</li>
<li><strong>Closely integrated with Industry 4.0:</strong> Ever-faster data connection speeds and new artificial intelligence tools like machine translation, big data are opening up services jobs in rich countries like architecture, accounting, and web design to competition from practitioners in emerging economies.</li>
<li><strong>Newer modes of Migration:</strong> Due to faster data connection as well as nature of work which may involve no physical presence there may be a global tele-migration in which the skilled migrants never have to leave home.</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Industry 4.0</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Building on the foundation given by the Third Industrial Revolution, Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0) is moving from an electronic based industry to a process which is the combination of human beings and electronics.</li>
<li>It includes cyber-physical systems, the Internet of things, big data analytics, cloud computing, cognitive computing, artificial intelligence, 3-D printing, and autonomous vehicles etc.</li>
</ul>
</div>
<h3>Challenges of Globalization 4.0</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Political crisis and Global level conflict:</strong> Globalization 4.0 could, like preceding waves of globalization, have mixed results e.g. even though countries are globally connected political crisis and global level conflict have also increased.</li>
<li><strong>Economic exclusion:</strong> Economic opportunities will be uncertain, many may not have the skills needed for the jobs of the future. If countries and communities are not fully prepared for Globalization 4.0, problems may exacerbate.</li>
<li><strong>Income Inequality:</strong> Negative effects of globalization have a disproportionate impact on already marginalized populations. Globalization 4.0 may increase income inequality even if it can create more wealth.</li>
<li><strong>Human Resource:</strong> Countries like India, if do not step up to meet the skill requirements of globalisation 4.0, may already be staring at demographic disaster, given its huge population and low employment generation.</li>
<li><strong>Unintended consequences:</strong> Globalization 4.0 in conjunction with Industry 4.0 will produce many unintended consequences which may not be foreseeable for now and for which world is vastly unprepared the ethical, legal, environmental concerns are yet to be seen for which no framework has been laid out.</li>
<li><strong>Infrastructural challenges:</strong> Apart from skilling, India also needs to set up required infrastructure and technology to harness the advantages of globalization 4.0.</li>
<li><strong>Challenges for Developing countries:</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>The European continent, North America and some Asian countries have been able to take advantage of the industrial revolution and globalization, while many African, Latin American and some Asian countries failed to benefit as much.</li>
<li>Globalization 4.0 will create additional challenges many African and Asian nations which were already excluded from the benefits of earlier waves of globalization.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<h3>Way Forward</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Invest in strengthening local and regional economies:</strong> We should proactively build resilient local and regional systems that can participate in the next wave of globalization, making sure regions have the right mix of education, employment and infrastructure to create and sustain jobs locally.</li>
<li><strong>Prioritizing sustainability and Inclusiveness:</strong> The need of the hour is to design a blueprint from the ground up that can capitalize on new opportunities while prioritizing sustainability and inclusiveness more than ever before.</li>
<li><strong>Focus on the most vulnerable populations:</strong> Global and local institutions need to advance both universal and targeted strategies to improve outcomes for everyone ensuring vulnerable population is not left out.</li>
<li><strong>Stop climate change:</strong> The challenges of Globalization 4.0 will be compounded if resources that could be put towards strengthening local economies and education are diverted to mitigate climate change. Thus climate change needs to be dealt at global level.</li>
<li><strong>Promote Innovation in educational institution and education curriculum:</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>By 2022, at least 54% of employees globally will require re- and up-skilling.</li>
<li>Not only do we need to support people in getting the training they need for jobs in the next five years, but we need to prepare young students with the skills to adapt to the types of jobs we will need in the next 20 years.</li>
<li>New Zealand is implementing a national technology curriculum to teach students to be digital creators, as well as consumers.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Engagement and imagination:</strong> The task of dealing with challenges of Globalization 4.0 requires two things of the international community: wider engagement, participation and heightened imagination.</li>
</ul>',
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		(int) 3 => [
			'title' => 'A Cop Out',
			'catname' => 'News Editorials',
			'desc' => '<div class="border">
<p>(This editorial is based on the article <a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/police-reform-narendra-modi-5646097/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">'A Cop Out'</a> which appeared in &lsquo;The Indian Express&rsquo; on 28th March, 2019. The article talks about the problems miring the police department and lack of political will in bringing police reforms.)</p>
</div>
<p>Our newspapers are ripe from success story of our nation, each day a scheme is launched to uplift the standard of living, bring social equality, a scientific leap, transform India into a cleaner, healthier and resurgent nation. Even if we make allowance for an element of exaggeration, these initiatives have been laudable and the progress impressive.</p>
<p>It is disappointing; however, that there remains an area left completely untouched where nothing significant has been achieved. Police department even after 70 years of independence reminds of a colonial structure.</p>
<p>Even after one and half decade later, the historic judgment of Supreme Court in 2006 directing states and centre to bring police reforms remain largely in the corridors of SC with little changing on ground.</p>
<h3>First Line of Defence</h3>
<p>Police forces are responsible for maintaining law and order and investigating crimes, central forces assist them with intelligence and internal security challenges (e.g., insurgencies).</p>
<p>With the advancement in technology, newer versions of threats are continuously arising in the form of cyber-attacks, bank frauds, and organised crimes, just to name a few, which need to be tackled in a more specialised manner.</p>
<p>These have often been called &lsquo;fourth generation war&rsquo;; a warfare with an invisible army which cannot be won by the armies. This is the war of a policeman and if they win, the country wins and if they lose then the country loses.</p>
<p>Against all these security threats, the first line of defence is the police system. Internal security is very much a prerogative of police and efficient policing is needed in order to tackle these threats. But for that, the police system needs to be efficient, effective and technologically sound.</p>
<p>However our police system suffers from myriad deficiencies. From problems relating to police organisation, infrastructure and environment to obsolete weaponry and intelligence gathering techniques to shortage of manpower to corruption, police force in the country is not in a good shape.</p>
<h3>Challenges Grappling the System</h3>
<p>The superintendence and control of the police remains a contentious issue as both the Central and State police forces come under the superintendence and control of political executives. It has resulted in the lack of democratic functioning and appropriate direction.</p>
<p>The existing police infrastructure is also inadequate to cater to the needs of the police force. There is a huge manpower shortage in the police department. It stands at 192 policemen per lakh population against the recommended 222 policemen per lakh population by UN.</p>
<p>Overburdening of work not only reduces the effectiveness and efficiency of the police personnel but also leads to psychological distress which contributes to various crimes committed by the policemen.</p>
<p>The recruitment process of police personnel, especially from lowest constabulary level to Sub-Inspector level, is medieval. The overall focus remains on enhancing the physical strength and other essential skills like forensics, law, cyber-crime, financial frauds are either ignored or put on the back burner.</p>
<p>Several commissions have looked into the reform processes which include the Gore Committee on Police Training (1971-73), the Ribeiro Committee on Police Reforms (1998), the Padmanabhaiah Committee on Police Reforms (2000), the Group of Ministers on National Security (2000-01), and the Malimath Committee on Reforms of Criminal Justice System (2001-03).</p>
<p>Despite recommendations from these committees, no substantial changes have been seen. Several state governments are yet to implement these recommendations or bring in any reforms.</p>
<p>In the absence of any initiative by the Centre, the states have gone amok with their separate police Acts. It is ironical that while the British India had one police Act for the entire country, we are confronted with a situation where every state has a different Act with sharp differences in essential features.</p>
<h3>Saving the Saviours</h3>
<p>States should comply with the Supreme Court&rsquo;s directives given (in Prakash Singh vs. Union of India case) in 2006 in order to tackle systemic problems in policing. The states can enact a model based on the Model Police Act in 2006 prepared by The Police Act Drafting Committee headed by Soli Sorabjee.</p>
<p><strong>SMART police should be created which is Sensitive, Mobile, Accountable, Responsive and Techno-Savvy.</strong> Concrete steps should be taken to augment the manpower and infrastructure of the forces.</p>
<p>A Police Welfare Board must also be set up to administer and monitor welfare measures for police, including medical assistance, group housing, and legal aid for officers facing court proceedings.</p>
<p>Police Accountability Commissions should be set up by states to address complaints of police misconduct. However key police functionaries should have a minimum tenure of two years unless they have been convicted by a court, or suspended from service, etc making them free of political coercion.</p>
<p>The commitment, devotion and accountability of the police should only be towards the rule of law and the supervision and control has to be such that it ensures that the police serve the people without bias, pressure, or fear.</p>
<h3>Way Forward</h3>
<p>A healthy democracy needs a healthy police which is able to enforce the rule of law and can take actions without fear, favour of political dispensation.</p>
<p>Dilapidated condition of the police system can negatively impact upon the security and integrity of the nation. It is time that we freed the police from political interference and transforms it from &lsquo;Ruler&rsquo;s Police&rsquo; to &lsquo;People&rsquo;s Police.</p>',
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		(int) 4 => [
			'title' => 'European Parliament Bans Single-Use Plastics',
			'catname' => 'News Analysis',
			'desc' => '<p>The European Union Parliament has <strong>voted to ban single-use plastic cutlery,</strong> cotton buds, straws and stirrers as part of a sweeping law against plastic waste that despoils beaches and pollutes oceans.</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The directive will now pass through formalities before it is published in the EU rulebook. After that, EU member states <strong>will have two years to implement the directive, i.e. the ban will come into force by 2021 in all EU member states.</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>The United Kingdom too will have to follow the rules if it took part in and extended the Brexit transition period.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>By<strong> 2025, plastic bottles should be made of 25% recycled content, and by 2029, 90% of them should be recycled.</strong></li>
<li>The ban <strong>targets the top 10 disposable plastic products</strong> including plates, balloon sticks, food and beverage containers made of expanded polystyrene and all products made of oxo-degradable plastic.</li>
<li><strong>Tobacco companies will be required to cover the costs</strong> for public collection of cigarette stubs, which are the second most littered single-use plastic item.</li>
<li>Apart from the ban, the EU will also encourage member states to <strong>reduce the use of plastic packaging and introduce stricter labelling rules.</strong></li>
</ul>
<h3>Single-Use Plastics</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Single-use plastics, or disposable plastics, are <strong>used only once before</strong> they are thrown away or recycled.</li>
<li>These items are things like plastic bags, straws, coffee stirrers, soda and water bottles and most food packaging.
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>The single-use plastic products <strong>also prevent the spread of infection.</strong> Instruments such as syringes, applicators, drug tests, bandages and wraps are often made to be disposable.</li>
<li>Also, single-use plastic products have been <strong>enlisted in the fight against food waste,</strong> keeping food and water fresher for longer and reducing the potential for contamination.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>However, there <strong>can be challenges when it comes to disposing of some single-use products.</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Petroleum based plastic is<strong> not biodegradable and usually goes into a landfill</strong> where it is buried or it gets into the water and finds its way into the ocean.</li>
<li>In the process of breaking down, it r<strong>eleases toxic chemicals (additives that were used to shape and harden the plastic)</strong> which make their way into our food and water supply.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>The ultimate goal is that all these products can be <strong>collected and converted into energy or recycled.</strong></li>
</ul>
<h3>Background</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Europe is <strong>not the worst source of plastic pollution,</strong> but this measure could<strong> serve as an example to the world</strong>, i.e EU&rsquo;s change of the economic model has a global impact</li>
<li><strong>Other reasons</strong> which prompted the EU to ban single use plastics are:
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>EU <strong>recycles only 25% of the 25 million tonnes of plastics waste</strong> it produces every year.</li>
<li>Growing concerns about plastic pollution in oceans and stories of dead whales with plastic in their stomachs.<strong> Marine litter</strong> has come under the spotlight because 85% of it is plastic. E.g.: <a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/important-facts-for-prelims-25-august-2018" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Great Pacific Grabage Patch</strong></a></li>
<li><strong>China's decision to stop processing waste</strong> have prompted the bloc to take more drastic steps to tackle the issue.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>European Parliament</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The European Parliament is the <strong>only parliamentary institution of the European Union (EU)</strong> that is <strong>directly elected</strong> by EU <strong>citizens aged 18 or older every five years since 1979.</strong></li>
<li>It has 751 Members of elected directly from the <strong>28 Member States of EU.</strong></li>
</ul>
</div>
<h3>Way Forward</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Although a welcome step, specially when environment has taken backstage with respect to economic growth globally. Without a <strong>proper waste management infrastructure</strong> and <strong>sufficient recycling facilities</strong>, it is difficult to achieve a <a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/national-productivity-council" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>circular economy</strong></a> or the objectives of this directive.</li>
</ul>',
			'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
			'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/european-parliament-bans-single-use-plastics'
		],
		(int) 5 => [
			'title' => 'President’s Visit To Croatia',
			'catname' => 'News Analysis',
			'desc' => '<p>During the first leg of his three-nation tour to Croatia, Bolivia, and Chile, <strong>President of India completed his visit to Croatia.</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>In Croatia, President had meetings with the Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović and the Prime Minister Andrej Plenković.</li>
</ul>
<h3><g class="gr_ gr_55 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Grammar only-ins doubleReplace replaceWithoutSep" id="55" data-gr-id="55">Outcome</g> of the Visit<a href="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/1577339922_image47.png" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="content-img" src="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/1577339922_image47.png" width="350" caption="false" style="float: right;" /></a></h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>During the visit, India and Croatia signed<strong> four Memorandum of Understandings: two in culture, one each in tourism, and sports.</strong></li>
<li>President of India was also conferred with <strong>Croatia's highest civilian award - the Grand Order of the King of Tomislav.</strong></li>
<li>The two countries also agreed to work together to develop a<strong> strong global response to defeat terrorism</strong> in all its forms and manifestations.</li>
</ul>
<h3>India-Croatia Relations</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Relations between India and Croatia have been friendly since the days of the former Yugoslavia.
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>The Breakup of Yugoslavia occurred as a result of a series of political upheavals and conflicts during the early 1990s.</li>
<li>Disintegration gave birth to six new countries namely:<strong> Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia.&nbsp;</strong></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Josip Broz Tito who was president of Yugoslavia for more than three decades maintained close relations with the then Indian leadership.</li>
<li><strong>Indian PM Jawaharlal Nehru and Tito were also pioneers of the Non-Aligned Movement.</strong></li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Non-Aligned Movement</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The Non-Aligned Movement was formed during the Cold War as an organization of States that <strong>did not seek to formally align themselves with either the two superpower blocs United States or the Soviet Union</strong> but sought to <strong>remain independent or neutral.</strong></li>
<li>Key role in this process was played by:
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><strong>Gamal Abdel Nasser,</strong> Head of&nbsp;State of Egypt</li>
<li><strong>Kwame Nkrumah,</strong> President of Ghana,</li>
<li><strong>Jawaharlal Nehru,</strong> Prime Minister of India,</li>
<li><strong>Ahmed Sukarno</strong>, President of Indonesia</li>
<li><strong>Josip Broz Tito,</strong> President of Yugoslavia,</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>These leaders later became the founding fathers of the movement.</li>
<li>The basic concept for the group originated in 1955 during discussions that took place at the Asia-Africa Bandung Conference held in Indonesia.</li>
</ul>
</div>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Croatia is an<strong> important Central European country from the point of view of its geo-strategic location,</strong> membership of the <strong>European Union and the NATO,</strong> as well as being a significant <strong>Gateway to Europe through the Adriatic coastline.</strong></li>
<li>India-Croatian relations are characterized by historical connections links between India and Croatia dating back to the 16th century.</li>
<li>Croatian people have a deep interest in India. The Indology department in the University of Zagreb has existed for over six decades and an Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) Hindi chair was set up there a decade ago.</li>
<li>The bilateral trade relations between India and Croatia are modest at around 200 million US Dollars in 2017.</li>
<li>But there is a good scope for trade in sectors like textile, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, engineering goods, food processing among others.</li>
<li>Croatia has a sound scientific and technological base in niche sectors, such as shipbuilding, vaccines, renewable energy, and defense.</li>
</ul>',
			'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
			'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/presidents-visit-to-croatia'
		],
		(int) 6 => [
			'title' => 'Important Facts For Prelims (28th March 2019)',
			'catname' => 'News Analysis',
			'desc' => '<h3>Turing Award, 2018</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>The 2018 Turing Award has been given to a trio of researchers who laid the foundations for the current boom in Artificial Intelligence (AI).</strong></li>
<li><strong>Yoshua Bengio, Geoffrey Hinton, and Yann LeCun &mdash;</strong> sometimes called the &lsquo;Godfathers of AI&rsquo; &mdash; have been recognized with the annual prize <strong>for their work developing the AI subfield of deep learning.</strong></li>
<li>Turing Award (A.M. Turing Award) is an annual award given by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) to one or more individuals &ldquo;selected for contributions of a technical nature made to the computing community.&rdquo;</li>
<li>The award is <strong>jointly funded by the Intel Corporation and Google Inc.</strong></li>
<li>The Turing Award is often referred to as the <strong>computer science equivalent of the Nobel Prize.</strong></li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Deep Learning</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Deep learning is a machine learning technique that <strong>teaches computers to do what comes naturally to humans: learn by example.</strong></li>
<li>Deep learning is a key technology behind <strong>driverless cars, enabling them to recognize a stop sign or to distinguish a pedestrian from a lamppost.</strong> It is the key to voice control in<strong> consumer devices like phones, tablets, TVs, and hands-free speakers.</strong></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), an international organization for computer science and information technology professionals</strong> and, since <strong>1960, institutions associated with the field.</strong></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Dr. A.M. Turing</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Alan Mathison Turing (1912-1954) was a <strong>British mathematician and logician, who made major contributions to mathematics, cryptanalysis, logic, philosophy, and mathematical biology</strong> and also to the new areas later named computer science, cognitive science, artificial intelligence, and artificial life.</li>
</ul>
</div>
<h3>Rupee Interest Rate Derivatives</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The Reserve Bank has <strong>allowed non-residents to participate in the rupee interest rate derivatives</strong> segment with a view to <strong>deepen the rupee interest rate swap (IRS) market.</strong></li>
<li>The non-residents can undertake rupee interest rate derivative transactions on recognised stock exchanges, electronic trading platforms and over the counter markets.</li>
<li>A non-resident will be allowed to undertake transactions in the rupee interest rate derivatives markets to<strong> hedge an exposure to rupee interest rate risk and other specified purposes.</strong></li>
<li>The exercise is aimed at<strong> increasing participation of non-residents in the domestic market.</strong> This will also <strong>stabilise Indian Rupee against Dollar.</strong></li>
<li>An interest-rate derivative is a financial instrument with a value that <strong>increases and decreases based on movements in interest rates.</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Interest-rate derivatives are <strong>often used as hedges by institutional investors, banks, companies and individuals to protect themselves against changes in market interest rates</strong></li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>',
			'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
			'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/important-facts-for-prelims-28th-march-2019'
		],
		(int) 7 => [
			'title' => 'Mission Shakti',
			'catname' => 'News Analysis',
			'desc' => '<p>India has tested the Anti-Satellite System(A-SAT) from<strong> Dr A P J Abdul Kalam Island</strong>, formerly known as Wheeler Island, an island off the coast of Odisha.<a href="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/1577340433_image33.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="content-img" src="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/1577340433_image33.jpg" style="float: right;" width="582" caption="false" /></a></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The test was <strong>named as Mission Shakti</strong>.</li>
<li>It has successfully destroyed a live satellite in the Low Earth Orbit(an altitude of 300 km).</li>
<li>With this test India is now in the league of three countries after the U.S., Russia, and China to have such technology.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Anti-satellite (ASAT) System</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>It is <strong>missile-based system</strong> to attack moving satellites.</li>
<li>It is of 2 kinds&mdash; based on launching from the ground or from planes.</li>
<li>Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has -developed Anti-satellite (ASAT)completely indigenously.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Significance</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>A large number of crucial applications are now satellite-based. These include navigation systems, communication networks, broadcasting, banking systems, stock markets, weather forecasting, disaster management, land and ocean mapping and monitoring tools, and military applications.</li>
<li>Destroying a satellite would render these applications useless. I<strong>t can cripple enemy infrastructure</strong>, and without causing any threat to human lives.</li>
<li>It was aimed at strengthening the capability to safeguard space assets and India&rsquo;s overall security.</li>
</ul>
<h3>International Reactions on ASAT Test</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>China</strong> has said that it hopes that all countries would <strong>uphold peace and tranquillity in the outer-space</strong>.</li>
<li><strong>Pakistan</strong> has said that Space is the common heritage of mankind and every nation has the responsibility to avoid actions which <strong>can lead to the militarization of this arena</strong>.</li>
<li><strong>US</strong> has said that it will continue to pursue shared interests in space and scientific and technical cooperation with India, including collaboration on safety and security in space. However, it <strong>expressed concern over the issue of space debris</strong>.</li>
<li>India&rsquo;s Stand:
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Ministry of External Affairs has stated that India is against the weaponization of Outer Space and supports international efforts <strong>to reinforce the safety and security of space based assets</strong>.</li>
<li>India has always maintained that space must be used only for peaceful purposes.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<h3>International treaties Regarding Outer Space</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>UN Outer Space Treaty 1967</strong>: It prohibits only weapons of mass destruction in outer space, not ordinary weapons. India ratified it in 1982.</li>
<li><strong>UN Transparency and Confidence Building Measures(TCBMs)</strong>-It includes registering space objects with the UN register, pre-launch notifications etc. India is sharing these details with UN.</li>
<li><strong>Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee (IADC)</strong> is an international governmental forum for the worldwide coordination of activities related to the issues of man-made and natural debris in space.
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>India participates in IADC-activities with regard to space debris management, undertaking SOPA (Space Object Proximity Awareness and COLA (Collision Avoidance) Analysis.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>India has supported UN resolution on <strong>No First Placement of Weapons on Outer Space</strong>.</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Low Earth orbit</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>A Low Earth Orbit is an Earth-centered orbit with an altitude of 2,000 km or less.</li>
<li>Most of the manmade objects in space are in LEO.</li>
</ul>
</div>',
			'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
			'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/mission-shakti'
		],
		(int) 8 => [
			'title' => 'A Bridge to Nowhere',
			'catname' => 'News Editorials',
			'desc' => '<div class="border">
<p>(This editorial is based on the article <a href="https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/a-bridge-to-nowhere/article26646131.ece" target="_blank" rel="noopener">'A Bridge to Nowhere'</a> which appeared in &lsquo;The Hindu&rsquo; on 27th March, 2019. The article talks about the faulty method of providing Direct Benefit Transfer to beneficiaries and the issues in (APBS) Aadhaar Payment Bridge System).</p>
</div>
<p>Instances of &ldquo;Diverted Payment&rdquo; are not a new phenomenon whereby bank payments are redirected to wrong accounts, without the recipient&rsquo;s consent or knowledge. One cannot forget the mass diversion of LPG subsidies to Airtel wallets that came to light in 2017.</p>
<p>While the issue got resolved swiftly with money being returned and Airtel penalised, what has escaped attention is that diverted payments have become a widespread problem in recent years.</p>
<p>The problem is not as huge for middle class as it is for powerless people such as old-age pensioners and Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) workers. The main culprit to be blamed is the Aadhaar Payment Bridge System (APBS).</p>
<h3>Aadhaar Payment Bridge System (APBS)</h3>
<p>APBS is a gateway created by National Payments Corporation of India to enable departments and agencies administering government schemes to transfer funds to Aadhaar-enabled bank accounts of beneficiaries.</p>
<p>The basic idea of the APBS comes from the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI); it acts on the principle that a person&rsquo;s Aadhaar number becomes their financial address. Instead of providing multiple account details to receive a bank transfer, one only has to provide their Aadhaar number which significantly eases out the entire process.</p>
<p>Induction of a bank account into APBS involves two distinct steps, both of which are meant to be based on informed consent. First, the account must be linked or &lsquo;Seeded&rsquo; with the customer&rsquo;s Aadhaar number.</p>
<p>Second, it must be connected to the NPCI mapper, which serves as a repository of Aadhaar numbers linked with particular bank and used for the purpose of routing the Aadhaar based payment transactions to the destination banks. This step is known as &ldquo;mapping&rdquo;.</p>
<p>In cases of multiple accounts for the same person, the APBS automatically sends money to the latest-mapped account.</p>
<h3>Benefits of APBS</h3>
<p><strong>It sub-serves the goal of financial inclusion and provides an opportunity to the government to attempt financial re-engineering of its subsidy management program.</strong> The implementation of ABP System has also led to <strong>electronification of a large number of retail payment transaction</strong> which were predominantly either in cash or cheque.</p>
<p><strong>It eliminates inordinate delays, multiple channels &amp; paper-work</strong> involved in the existing system making the process <strong>less cumbersome and eco-friendly</strong> and transfers benefits &amp; subsidies in a seamless &amp; timely manner and directly into the Aadhaar Enabled Bank Account.</p>
<p>Customers are not required to open multiple bank accounts for receiving benefits and subsidies of various social welfare schemes &ndash; customers just need to open one account and seed his/her Aadhaar number in the bank account to start receiving benefits and subsidies directly into his/her Aadhaar Enabled Bank Account.</p>
<p>APBS transfers are seen to be effective in removing fake beneficiaries and duplicates and thus minimise leakage of funds to unintended beneficiaries.</p>
<p>However the system is affected by many problems which instead of smoothening transactional process have increased the woes of poor and destitute. The most affected remain the old age people who are helpless and suffer the most.</p>
<h3>Haphazard Implementation</h3>
<p>In the backdrop of launching Jan Dhan Yojana, millions of bank accounts were opened and seeded with Aadhaar in a hasty manner, while some accounts certainly served a purpose; many others were superfluous and created a confusing multiplicity of accounts. More importantly many a times Aadhaar numbers were linked with these accounts without proper verification.</p>
<p>With multiple government schemes such as pensions, scholarships, subsidies, MGNREGA wages, and so on &mdash; under the Aadhaar payments umbrella, due verification once again took the back seat.</p>
<p>To counter the menace of faulty verification, banks made e-KYC (electronically Knowing Your Costumer) compulsory which turned out as a nightmare for poor people, for a number of reasons such as problems of biometric authentication, inconsistencies between the Aadhaar database and the bank database etc.</p>
<h3>Institutional Challenges</h3>
<p>Diverted payments are not the only problem associated with the APBS. There are others, discussed elsewhere, such as rejected payments &mdash; another nightmare for powerless DBT recipients.</p>
<p>Biggest challenge surrounding the system however is forcing it on millions of poor and underprivileged without consent.</p>
<p>The induction of an Aadhaar-seeded account into the APBS should be based on an explicit request from the customer according to NCPI and UIDAI guidelines which gives a measure of protection to educated middle-class customers.</p>
<p>For poor people, however, consent is fiction as there have been multiple cases where bank accounts have been mass-mapped onto the APBS without any semblance of consent, with or without e-KYC being completed &mdash; in other words, without necessarily verifying that an account has been correctly seeded with Aadhaar.</p>
<p>The two steps of seeding and mapping are essentially confused with same thing, based on default options and symbolic consent, this premature and coercive imposition of the APBS has resulted in a serious problem of transferring subsidies or pensions in accounts to which beneficiary is completely unrelated.</p>
<p>Instances of elderly people dying of hunger after their pensions were diverted by the APBS to someone else&rsquo;s account have surfaced in great numbers, particularly in Jharkhand.</p>
<p>The system suffers from pervasive lack of accountability making it a very opaque payment system and few people have a clear understanding of it. People usually have no recourse and are left peddling in various offices.</p>
<p>Even with the best of intentions, bank managers are not able to help them in the absence of guidelines for resolving payment problems. Most importantly nothing seems to disturb the agencies that are promoting the APBS and related financial technologies and continue to exhibit lackadaisical attitude in resolving these issues.</p>
<h3>Way Forward</h3>
<p>Responsibilities should be clearly assigned in enforcing the consent norms and other guidelines issued by the NPCI.</p>
<p>The RBI may be the nominal regulator, but the real action is at the NPCI, the UIDAI and other strongholds of the Aadhaar lobby and accordingly accountability should be assigned where any negligence should not go unnoticed.</p>
<p>Supreme Court&rsquo;s recent judgement in the Aadhaar case makes Aadhaar mandatory for availing facilities of welfare schemes and government subsidies as it empowers the poor and marginalised.</p>
<p><em><strong>However, the pathologies of the APBS continue to cause havoc on the ground and there&rsquo;s a need to make this system foolproof without which it will continue to haunt the poor and elderly- the target beneficiaries.</strong></em></p>',
			'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
			'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-editorials/a-bridge-to-nowhere'
		],
		(int) 9 => [
			'title' => 'Important Facts For Prelims (27th March 2019)',
			'catname' => 'News Analysis',
			'desc' => '<h3>Mountaineering Expedition to Mt. Makalu</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Indian Army has launched</strong> its maiden expedition to Mount Makalu in <span>Mar-May 2019</span>.</li>
<li>Mt Makalu is considered amongst the most dangerous peaks and summiting the peak is considered extremely challenging due to inclement weather conditions and freezing temperatures.</li>
<li>As a precursor to it, an expedition to Mount Kamet (7756m), Joshimath District Chamoli, Uttarakhand was conducted under the aegis of Army Adventure Wing in August-September 2018.</li>
<li>Mt. Makalu is fifth highest Peak on the Earth with its height 8,463m. <strong>Mt. Makalu</strong> resides in the eastern Himalayas range just 19 Km southeast of the giant Mt. Everest <strong>on the border of Nepal and China</strong>.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Poverty in India</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>India reduced its poverty rate sharply<strong> from 55% to 28% in ten years between 2005-06 and 2015-16</strong>, according to the <a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/multidimensional-poverty-index-by-undp-and-ophi" target="_blank" rel="noopener">global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI)</a>. In absolute terms, a total of 271 million (27.10 crores) people moved out of poverty during these ten years.</li>
<li>The traditionally disadvantaged sub-groups such as rural dwellers, lower castes and tribes, Muslims and young children are still the poorest in 2015-16.</li>
<li>However, these groups had the biggest reductions between 2005-06 and 2015-16, showing that they have been &ldquo;catching up&rdquo;.</li>
<li>Significantly, this trend marks a <strong>reversal from that observed from 1998-99 to 2005-06</strong>. During 1998-99 to 2005-06, these groups had the slowest progress and were left behind.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Employee Stock Purchase Scheme</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Recently the Public Sector Banks have raised or are in the process of <strong>raising around Rs 5,000 crore from employees</strong> through the employee stock purchase scheme (ESPS).</li>
<li>An employee stock purchase scheme (ESPS) is a company-run program in which participating employees can purchase company shares at a discounted price.</li>
<li>Companies often reward their employees with their stock, either in the form of employee stock option plans (Esops) or employee stock purchase schemes (ESPSs).</li>
<li>Esops are stock options granted to employees over a vesting period, where the employee is given the right to purchase the company&rsquo;s shares at a predetermined price or the exercise price.</li>
<li><strong>ESPSs allow employees to use their salary to purchase the stock</strong> of the company, usually at a discounted price. Unlike Esops, ESPS holders do not have any <g class="gr_ gr_55 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Punctuation only-del replaceWithoutSep" id="55" data-gr-id="55">option,</g> but are mandated to pay the exercise price usually by way of monthly deductions from their salary.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Asia-Pacific Group on Money Laundering</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>After Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey-listed Pakistan, Asia-Pacific Group on Money Laundering is also<strong> considering grey-listing Pakistan</strong>.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Asia-Pacific Group(APG)</strong></p>
<div class="bg-border">
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The<strong> APG is the FATF-style regional body for the Asia-Pacific region</strong>. It is an inter-governmental organization founded in 1997.</li>
<li>The Asia/Pacific Group consists of 41 members including India, focused on ensuring that its members effectively implement the international standards against money laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation financing related to weapons of mass destruction.</li>
<li>APG was founded in the Bangkok, Thailand on February 1997 as an autonomous regional anti-money laundering body by unanimous agreement among 13 original founding members.</li>
</ul>
<p></p>
</div>',
			'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
			'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/important-facts-for-prelims-27th-march-2019'
		],
		(int) 10 => [
			'title' => 'NITI Aayog : Digital Payments Trends, Issues and Opportunities',
			'catname' => 'Summary of Important Reports',
			'desc' => '<p>A Committee on Digital Payments was constituted by Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance in August 2016 under Chairmanship of <strong>Ratan P. Watal</strong> to inter-alia recommend medium term measures of promotion of Digital Payments Ecosystem in the country. It submitted its final report to Finance Minister in December 2016.</p>
<h3>Digital Payments</h3>
<p>The Payment and Settlement Act, 2007 has defined Digital Payments, as any "electronic funds transfer" that is any transfer of funds which is initiated by a person by way of instruction, authorization or order to a bank to debit or credit an account maintained with that bank through electronic means and includes point of sale transfers; automated teller machine transactions, direct deposits or withdrawal of funds, transfers initiated by telephone, internet and, card payment.</p>
<h3>Segments of Payment Systems</h3>
<p>The payment system could be bifurcated into two main segments.</p>
<ol>
<li>Instruments which are covered under Systemically Important Financial Market Infrastructure (SIFMIs),</li>
<li>Retail Payments.</li>
</ol>
<p><strong>Systemically Important Financial Market Infrastructure (SI-FMI)</strong></p>
<p><strong>Financial Market Infrastructure (FMI):</strong> It is defined as a multilateral system among participating institutions, including the operator of the system, used for the purposes of clearing, settling, or recording payments, securities, derivatives, or other financial transactions.</p>
<p><strong>Under SIFMI,</strong> new standards (called principles) are designed to ensure that the essential financial market infrastructure(FMI) supporting global financial markets is even more robust and thus even better placed to withstand financial shocks than at present.</p>
<p>Under this segment (SIFMI) there are <strong>four instruments of payments</strong>:</p>
<ol>
<li><strong>RTGS:</strong> Real Time Gross Settlement is defined as the continuous (real-time) settlement of fund transfers individually on an order by order basis (without netting). 'Real Time' means the processing of instructions at the time they are received rather than at some later time; 'Gross Settlement' means the settlement of fund transfer instructions occurs individually (on an instruction by instruction basis). This system is primarily meant for large value transactions. The minimum amount to be remitted through RTGS is ` 2 lakh. For inter-bank fund transfer there is no floor.</li>
<li><strong>CBLO:</strong> Collateralized Borrowing and Lending Obligation (CBLO) is a money market instrument developed by Clearing Corporation of India Ltd. (CCIL), introduced in 2003. This represents an obligation between a borrower and a lender to the terms and conditions of a loan. It also does not entail physical transfer of respective securities from borrower to lender or vice versa.</li>
<li><strong>Government Securities:</strong> A Government Security (G-Sec) is a tradeable instrument issued by the Central Government or the State Governments.</li>
<li><strong>Forex Clearing:</strong> The term &lsquo;Forex&rsquo; stands for Foreign Exchange. In simple terms it is the trading in currencies from different countries against each other. In India the settlement of Forex transactions is done by CCIL which was started in 2002.</li>
</ol>
<p><strong>Retail Payments</strong></p>
<p>Under the Retail Payments segment which has a large user base, there are <strong>three broad categories</strong> of instruments. They are <strong>(1) Paper Clearing, (2) Retail Electronic Clearing, (3) and Card Payments</strong>. The instruments under these three categories are discussed below:</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Cheque Truncation System (CTS):</strong> CTS or online image-based cheque clearing system is a cheque clearing system undertaken by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for faster clearing of cheques. It eliminates the associated cost of movement of physical cheques.</li>
<li><strong>Non-MICR:</strong> The Non-MICR clearing refers to the process of manual clearing of cheques where the cheque is physically moved between the bank branches/banks for clearing. MICR (magnetic ink character recognition) is a technology used to verify the legitimacy or originality of paper documents, especially checks.</li>
<li><strong>ECS DR/CR:</strong> ECS (Electronic Clearing System) is an electronic mode of payment / receipt for transactions that are repetitive and periodic in nature. DR/CR is &lsquo;Debit Record or Credit Record&rsquo;. ECS facilitates bulk transfer of monies from one bank account to many bank accounts or vice versa. ECS includes transactions processed under National Automated Clearing House (NACH) operated by National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).</li>
<li><strong>NEFT:</strong> National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT) is a nation-wide payment system facilitating one-to-one funds transfer. Under this scheme, individuals, firms and corporates can electronically transfer funds from any bank branch to any individual, firm or corporate having an account with any other bank branch in the country participating in the scheme.</li>
<li><strong>IMPS:</strong> Immediate Payment Service (IMPS) offers an instant 24X7 interbank electronic fund transfer service through mobile phones. IMPS is an emphatic tool to transfer money instantly within banks across India <strong>through mobile, internet and ATM</strong>. It is offered by National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).</li>
<li><strong>UPI:</strong> Unified Payments Interface (UPI) is a system that powers multiple bank accounts into a single mobile application (of any participating bank), merging several banking features, seamless fund routing &amp; merchant payments into one hood.</li>
<li><strong>*99#:</strong> USSD based mobile banking service of NPCI was initially launched in November 2012. The service had limited reach and only two TSPs (Telecom Service Provider) were offering this service i.e. MTNL &amp; BSNL. Understanding the importance of mobile banking in financial inclusion, *99# was dedicated to the nation by Hon&rsquo;ble Prime minister on 28th August 2014, as part of &lsquo;Pradhan Manti Jan Dhan Yojna&rsquo;.</li>
<li><strong>USSD</strong> (Unstructured Supplementary Service Data) is a Global System for Mobile (GSM) communication technology that is used to send text between a mobile phone and an application program in the network.</li>
<li><strong>NACH:</strong> &ldquo;National Automated Clearing House (NACH)&rdquo; is a service offered by NPCI to banks which aims at facilitating interbank high volume, low value debit/credit transactions, which are repetitive and electronic in nature. It allows participating banks for <strong>centralized posting</strong> of inward debit/credit transactions and is run by NPCI.</li>
<li><strong>Credit Card:</strong> A credit card is a card issued by a financial company which enables the cardholder to borrow funds. The issuer pre-sets borrowing limits which have a basis on the individual's credit rating. These cards can be used domestically and internationally and can also be used to withdraw cash from an ATM and for transferring funds to bank accounts, debit cards and prepaid cards within the country.</li>
<li><strong>Debit Cards:</strong> A debit card is a <strong>payment card</strong> that deducts money directly from a consumer&rsquo;s bank account to pay for a purchase and eliminate the need to carry cash or physical checks to make purchases. In addition, they offer the convenience of credit cards for small negative balances that might be incurred if the account holder has signed up for overdraft coverage. However, debit cards usually have daily purchase limits.</li>
<li><strong>Pre-Paid Instruments (PPIs):</strong> PPIs are <strong>payment</strong> instruments that facilitate purchase of goods and services, including financial services, remittance facilities, etc., <strong>against the value stored on such instruments</strong>. PPIs are classified under three types:
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><strong>Closed System PPIs:</strong> These PPIs are issued by an entity for facilitating the purchase of goods and <strong>services from that entity only</strong> and <strong>do not permit cash withdrawal</strong>.</li>
<li><strong>Semi-closed System PPIs:</strong> These PPIs are used for purchase of goods and services, including financial services, remittance facilities, etc., at a group of clearly identified merchant locations/establishments which have a specific contract with the issuer (or contract through a payment aggregator/payment gateway) to accept the PPIs as payment instruments. These instruments <strong>do not permit cash withdrawal</strong>.</li>
<li><strong>Open System PPIs:</strong> These PPIs are issued only by banks and are used at any merchant for purchase of goods and services, including financial services, remittance facilities, etc. Banks issuing such PPIs shall <strong>also facilitate cash withdrawal</strong> at ATMs/Point of Sale (PoS)/Business Correspondents (BCs).</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<h3>Evolution of Digital Payments in India</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>India&rsquo;s digital payments system - has been evolving robustly over the past many years, spurred by <strong>developments in information and communication technology,</strong> and fostered in consonance with the <strong>path envisioned by the Reserve Bank of India</strong>.</li>
<li><strong>National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI)</strong> was established in 2008&ndash;has been spearheading the development of the <strong>retail payments system</strong>.</li>
<li>Important milestones attained in process of development of the payments system include:
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Introduction of <strong>MICR clearing</strong> in the early 1980s. It is online image-based cheque clearing system where cheque images and magnetic ink character recognition (MICR) data are captured at the collecting bank branch and transmitted electronically.</li>
<li>Electronic Clearing Service and Electronic Funds Transfer in the 1990s.</li>
<li>Issuance of credit and debit cards by banks in the 1990s.</li>
<li>National Financial Switch in 2003 that brought about interconnectivity of ATMs across the country.</li>
<li>RTGS and NEFT in 2004.</li>
<li>Cheque Truncation System (CTS) in 2008. Cheque Truncation System (CTS) or Image-based Clearing System (ICS) is for faster clearing of cheques. Cheque truncation means <strong>stopping the flow of the physical cheques</strong> issued by a drawer to the drawee branch.</li>
<li>'Card not present' transaction in 2009. It is most commonly used for <strong>payments made over Internet,</strong> but also mail-order transactions by mail or fax, or over the telephone.</li>
<li>New RTGS with enhanced features in 2013 that required banks to adopt ISO 20022 standard messaging formats. The objective of <strong>introducing ISO 20022 standard message format</strong> for payment system is to bring about standardisation in the messaging formats for various payment systems in the country and to conform to international standard.</li>
<li><strong>Non-bank entities</strong> have been introduced in the issuance of pre-paid instruments (PPI), including mobile and digital wallets. <strong>BHIM</strong> (Bharat Interface for Money) is a <strong>mobile payment App</strong> developed by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), based on the Unified Payments Interface (UPI).</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>These developments capture the evolution of the Digital Payments ecosystem in the country. It resulted in setting up <strong>Committee of Digital Payments</strong> in 2016 under the Chairmanship of Shri. Ratan P. Watal, Principal Adviser, NITI Aayog.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Trends during 2016-17 and 2017-18</h3>
<p>The demonetization in early November 2016 and other series of measures announced by the Government and the RBI to promote the movement from cash to non-cash modes of transactions impacted the volume and value of payments systems.</p>
<p><strong>Volume: Instrument Wise Growth Trends (Data source &ndash; RBI)</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Transactions relating to <strong>IMPS, PPI and Debit card</strong> had exhibited growth rates in triple digits in the year 2016-17. This growth trend however has slowed down in 2017-18 and all these instruments exhibited double digit growth.</li>
<li><strong>UPI</strong> has grown multi-fold in the year 2017-18 and touched 915.2 mn transactions in 2017-18. This instrument had minimal presence in year 2016-17.</li>
<li><strong>The volume of paper clearing</strong> had been persistently showing <strong>negative growth</strong> throughout the year 2017-18 compared to the positive growth in 2016-17.</li>
<li><strong>NEFT</strong> volumes had showed an impressive increase in 2016-17. It continued to grow in 2017-18 albeit a slower pace.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>New Modes of Digital Payments</strong></p>
<p>In addition to UPI which was introduced recently, several other modes have been introduced by NPCI.</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS):</strong> Bharat Bill Payment System is a tiered structure for operating a <strong>unified bill payment system</strong>. NPCI functions as the authorised Bharat Bill Payment Central Unit <strong>(BBPCU),</strong> which is responsible for setting business standards, rules and procedures for technical and business requirements for all the participants. Under BBPS the Bharat Bill Payment Operating Units <strong>(BBPOUs)</strong> will function as entities facilitating collection of repetitive payments for everyday utility services, <strong>such as, electricity, water, gas, telephone and Direct-to-Home (DTH)</strong>.</li>
<li><strong>Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM):</strong> Bharat Interface for Money is a mobile application that enables simple, easy and quick payment transactions using Unified Payments Interface (UPI). Instant bank-to-bank payments and Pay and Collect Options are facilitated using just Mobile number and Virtual Payment Address (VPA). The application was launched by NPCI.</li>
<li><strong>Bharat Quick Response Code Solution (Bharat QR):</strong> An interoperable solution for QR code, developed by NPCI, MasterCard and Visa. Merchants can display these QR codes at their premises and customers can pay through linked account by scanning these QR codes via Bharat QR enabled application in an interoperable environment.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Growth Drivers for Digital Payments</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>In 2017-18, the <strong>Volume segment</strong> in Digital Payments is <strong>dominated by Debit Cards, PPIs and IMPS</strong>. These, together constitute close to 50 % of the total volume of Digital Payments. Their combined share in 2011-12 was about 14%.</li>
<li>In 2017-18, Value segment is <strong>dominated by RTGS and NEFT</strong>. These together constitute about 53 % of the total value of Digital Payments, which is almost same as in 2011-12.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Authorized Payment Service Providers</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Reserve Bank of India under the <strong>Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007</strong> issues Certificates of Authorization for Setting up and Operating <strong>Payment System</strong> in India.</li>
<li>Regulations for Authorisation process:
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Board for Regulation and Supervision of Payment and Settlement Systems Regulations, 2008.</li>
<li>Payment and Settlement Systems Regulations, 2008.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>The 58 banks permitted to issue pre-paid cards in India as on 22nd June 2018.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Digital Payments Service Charges</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>RTGS Service Charges:</strong> These charges would consist of monthly membership fee and processing charges per transaction.</li>
<li><strong>NEFT Service Charges:</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><strong>Inward transactions</strong> at destination bank branches (for credit to beneficiary accounts) &ndash; Free, no charges to be levied on beneficiaries.</li>
<li><strong>Outward transactions</strong> at originating bank branches &ndash; charges applicable for the remitter. Originating banks are required to pay a nominal charge of 25 paise each per transaction to the clearing house as well as destination bank as service charge. However, these charges cannot be passed on to the customers by the banks.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>PPI/Mobile Banking/IMPS/USSD:</strong> No charges are prescribed by RBI and the charges are determined by the entity. As a temporary measure, it was decided that all participating banks and Prepaid Instrument (PPI) issuers would not levy any charges on customers for transactions up to Rs. 1000 settled on the Immediate Payment Service (IMPS). Also, <strong>no charges are levied on USSD-based *99#</strong> and Unified Payment Interface (UPI) systems.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Policy Initiatives</h3>
<p>In <strong>Union Budget 2017-18, major policy announcements</strong> were made by the Finance Minister for promoting Digital Payments.</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Amendment of <strong>Payment and Settlement Systems (PSS) Act, 2007</strong> for structural reforms in the payment ecosystem is under process.</li>
<li>BHIM:
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>For promotion of the BHIM app, the Government has approved two promotional schemes namely &lsquo;Referral Bonus scheme for individuals&rsquo; and &lsquo;Cash-back scheme for merchants&rsquo;.</li>
<li>For promotion of BHIM Aadhaar, a promotional scheme with total outlay of Rs 395 under the name &lsquo;DIGIDHAN MISSION&rsquo; has been established.</li>
<li><strong>BHIM Aadhaar Pay</strong> was launched by government of India on 14th April, 2017 as a merchant based mobile application for accepting payments from customers.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Financial Inclusion Fund:
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>3 BHIM schemes i.e. &lsquo;BHIM Referral Bonus scheme for individuals&rsquo;, &lsquo;BHIM Cashback scheme for merchants&rsquo; and &lsquo;BHIM Aadhaar Merchant Incentive scheme&rsquo;.</li>
<li>Financial Inclusion Fund of NABARD is proposed to be augmented with Rs. 439.202 crore.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Major policy initiatives have been taken by RBI</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>NEFT system &ndash; Settlement at half-hourly intervals</strong> instead of hourly from 8:00 am to 7:00 pm on all working days.</li>
<li><strong>Master Directions on Prepaid Payment Instruments (PPIs):</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>RBI had issued guidelines for issuance and operations of prepaid payment instruments (PPIs) in 2009 in order to foster an orderly development of the PPI ecosystem.</li>
<li>Based on past experience, Master Directions on the subject was placed in the public domain for comments on March 20, 2017 and decided to rationalize the operational guidelines to encourage competition and innovation, and strengthening safety and security of operations, besides improving customer grievance redressal mechanisms.</li>
<li>Revised framework will pave the way for bringing inter-operability amongst KYC compliant PPIs.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Rationalisation of Merchant Discount Rate (MDR):</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>MDR applicable on debit card transactions has been rationalized based on the category of merchants with effect from July 2011.
<ul style="list-style-type: disc;">
<li>Small Merchants (with turnover up to Rs. 20 lakh last financial year), MDR Not exceeding 0.40% (MDR cap of rupees Rs. 200 per transaction).</li>
<li>Other Merchants (with turnover more than Rs. 20 lakh last financial year), MDR Not exceeding 0.90% (MDR cap of rupees Rs. 1000 per transaction).</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>The revised MDR aims at achieving the twin objectives of increased usage of debit cards and ensuring sustainability of the business for the entities involved.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Storage of Payment System Data:</strong> With considerable growth in the payment ecosystem and also highly technological dependency, it necessitates the adoption of safety and security measures.
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>All system providers shall ensure that the entire data relating to payment systems operated by them are stored in a system only in India.</li>
<li>System providers shall submit the <strong>System Audit Report (SAR)</strong> conducted by <strong>CERT-IN</strong> (The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team) to RBI.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<h3>Emerging Global Trends</h3>
<p>As per the report of Capgemini on <strong>&lsquo;Trends in Payments 2018&rsquo;</strong>, the Top 5 trends in Digital Payments across the world are as follows:</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Alternate payment channels such as contactless payments fulfill customer demands for convenience and speed and could soon become main-stream.
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><strong>Contactless payments</strong> enable consumers to make everyday purchases quickly and safely especially for low-value transactions. (Contactless payment is a secure method for consumers to purchase products or services via debit, credit or smartcards (also known as chip cards). To make a contactless payment, a person simply needs to tap their card near a point-of-sale terminal &amp; <strong>do not require a signature or a PIN, transactions sizes on cards are limited)</strong>.</li>
<li><strong>Augmented Reality (AR)-integrated payment gateway</strong> delivers a superior customer experience. Mastercard now allows customers to log in to the <strong>mobile payment app Masterpass</strong> by scanning their iris (one of the safest means of facial recognition).</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Banks and Fin-Tech (Financial Technology) companies explore distributed ledger technology to transform cross-border payments.
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>The current cross-border payments model lacks an international clearinghouse and relies on correspondent banks, which causes inefficiency, slow speed, and high cost. As a result, corporate customers are demanding transformation.</li>
<li><strong>A distributed ledger-based cross-border payments model</strong> is expected to result in improved efficiency, enhanced security, and lower costs.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Instant payments &lsquo;new normal&rsquo; for corporate</strong> treasurers, industry: Banks are leveraging instant payments platform to connect with third parties to deliver better digital customer experience and provide innovative products and services to both retail and corporate customers.</li>
<li>As global cyber-attacks rise, regulators focus on data-privacy law compliance:
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Based on estimates, cyber-attacks cost the global economy <strong>1% of annual GDP</strong>.</li>
<li><strong>The cyber insurance industry</strong> grew 35% in 2016 to $1.35 billion in terms of direct written premium, which shows that corporates are looking to protect themselves from liabilities related to cyber-security laws.</li>
<li>Lack of harmonization in cyber-security laws in different countries is a challenge for multinational companies operating across the globe.</li>
<li>Regulators across the world are bringing in new cyber-security regulations and standards which could impose heavy fines, injunctions, audits, even criminal liability on firms for a data breach.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Payments Infrastructure rationalization</strong> is likely through <strong>mergers and acquisitions</strong> to expand the reach of the payments firms, increase their value proposition to meet changing customer expectations, and create customized solutions.</li>
</ul>
<p>(<strong>Capgemini:</strong> A global leader in consulting, technology services and digital transformation, Capgemini is at the forefront of innovation to address the entire breadth of clients&rsquo; opportunities in the evolving world of cloud, digital and platforms.)</p>
<h3>Opportunities</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Mobile payments are expected to grow from US$10 billion in FY18E to US$190 billion by FY23E.</li>
<li>The Digital Payment ecosystem in India is undergoing a transformation with the entry of global tech giants like <strong>Google&rsquo;s payments app</strong> that are acting as aggregators for retail transactions.</li>
<li><strong>Paytm</strong> &ndash; which has 7 million merchants &ndash; now becoming a bank and post the launch of <strong>Google Tez</strong> and <strong>PhonePe</strong>, which are also focusing on merchant payments, <strong>a steep rise in digital payments could be expected</strong>.</li>
<li>While the number of PoS (Point of Sale) terminals has doubled since demonetization, the <strong>merchant acquisition infrastructure</strong> (is a mechanism of providing necessary infrastructure and facilitating payment for goods and services purchased through medium of a card) in India remains weak, as banks have not been able to drive adoption. This sector presents immense opportunities for digital players.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Way Forward</h3>
<p>The different components of Digital Payments have to be comprehensively studied with respect to global best practices and the list of indicators which are universally acceptable and relevant in the current context may be considered by RBI.</p>',
			'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
			'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/summary-of-important-reports/niti-aayog-digital-payments-trends-issues-and-opportunities'
		],
		(int) 11 => [
			'title' => 'Energy Transition Report',
			'catname' => 'News Analysis',
			'desc' => '<p><strong>World Economic Forum</strong> has recently published <strong>Fostering Effective Energy Transition 2019</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The report contains the <strong>Energy Transition Index (ETI),</strong> which compares the energy sectors of 115 countries and analyses their readiness for energy transition.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Report Findings</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Global</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Energy systems have globally become less affordable and less environmentally sustainable than they were five years ago.</li>
<li><strong>Access to energy has improved and currently, less than 1 billion people are living without access to electricity. On average, 135 million people gained access to electricity each year between 2014 and 2016.</strong></li>
<li>The biggest challenge facing attempts to future proof global energy demands is the<strong> lack of readiness among the world&rsquo;s largest emitters.</strong></li>
<li>In 2017, global CO2 emissions grew after remaining stagnant for three years. CO2 emissions from fuel combustion grew in more than half of the countries as demand increased from the residential and transportation sectors.</li>
<li><strong>Coal consumption increased in 2018,</strong> after declining for three years along with an increase in commodity prices and slower-than-needed improvements in energy intensity this has contributed to the slowdown in Energy Transition.</li>
<li><strong>Fossil fuels&rsquo; share of total primary energy supply at 81 percent is constant over the past three decades.</strong></li>
<li>Environmental sustainability of energy production has improved marginally, indicating a general lack of substantive progress.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>India</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><strong>India is amongst the countries with high pollution levels and has a relatively high CO2 emission intensity in its energy system.</strong></li>
<li>Despite this, India has made significant progress in improving energy access in recent years.</li>
<li><strong>India has made fast progress towards universal electrification due to strong political commitment, a stable policy regime, use of grid expansion and decentralized generation sources, and a supportive environment for investment in infrastructure.</strong></li>
<li><strong>Global coal consumption grew in 2017 due to an increase in demand in the Asia-Pacific region, including in India and China.</strong></li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<h3>Energy Transition Index</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Energy transition index ranks countries on how well they are able to balance energy security and access with environmental sustainability and affordability.</strong></li>
<li>ETI has ranked<strong> 115 economies covering 40 indicators</strong>.</li>
<li><strong>Sweden is at the top</strong> followed by Switzerland and Norway in the top three.</li>
<li>Among major economies, the United Kingdom (UK) is ranked seventh. Singapore has been ranked thirteenth, while Germany, Japan, and the US have bagged the seventeenth, eighteenth and the twenty-seventh place respectively.</li>
<li><strong>India has moved up two places from last year to rank 76th on a global energy transition index.</strong></li>
<li>China is ranked lower than India <g class="gr_ gr_56 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Grammar multiReplace" id="56" data-gr-id="56">at</g> the 82nd position.</li>
<li><strong>India is the second best in the BRICS bloc</strong> of emerging economies, with Brazil being the best at 46th place globally.</li>
<li><strong>However, India is the only amongst the five economies to improve its rank since last year.</strong></li>
</ul>',
			'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
			'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/energy-transition-report'
		],
		(int) 12 => [
			'title' => 'New island rules: IPZ 2019',
			'catname' => 'News Analysis',
			'desc' => '<p>The Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has notified Island Protection Zone (IPZ) 2019 for Andaman and Nicobar.</p>
<h3>Purpose</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Changes in the IPZ are aligned with the Niti Aayog's proposal for holistic development in the Islands.</li>
<li>The government&rsquo;s planning to open up the <a href="/to-the-points/paper3/blue-economy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">blue economy</a> and sustainable harnessing of ocean resources.</li>
</ul>
<h3>IPZ 2019</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>It <strong>allows eco-tourism projects 20 meters from the high tide line (HTL)</strong> in smaller islands like Baratang, Havelock, and Car Nicobar.</li>
<li>In case of <strong>larger islands, 50 meters</strong> from the HTL is permitted.</li>
<li>It allows for eco-tourism activities like mangrove walks, tree huts and nature trails in <strong>island coastal regulation zone(ICRZ) IA</strong> (ICRZ 2018: ICRZ IA, provides areas classified as the most eco-sensitive region of the islands which includes turtle nesting grounds, marshes, coral reefs etc)</li>
<li>The notification also allows for construction of roads, roads on stilts by reclaiming land in exceptional cases for defense installations, public utilities or strategic purposes in eco-sensitive zones.</li>
<li>In case construction of such roads pass through mangroves, a minimum three times the mangrove area destroyed during the construction process shall be taken up for c<strong>ompensatory plantation of mangroves</strong> elsewhere.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Concerns over IPZ 2019</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>It brings the norms for Andaman and Nicobar at par with <a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/coastal-regulation-zone-crz-notification-2018" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) 2018</a> norms for other islands close to the mainland and backwater islands where a No Development Zone (NDZ)is only 20 meters from HTL.</li>
<li>Previously, IPZ 2011 stipulated <strong>an NDZ of 200 meters</strong> from the HTL for all islands.</li>
<li><strong>Only pipelines, transmission lines</strong>, trans-harbor links to be laid in the eco-sensitive zone were permitted. <strong>Now road construction is allowed</strong>.</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Note:</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>High tide line (HTL)</strong> is defined as <g class="gr_ gr_39 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Grammar only-ins replaceWithoutSep" id="39" data-gr-id="39">line</g> up to which highest high tide reaches in spring tides.</li>
<li>It is delineated by walking over or remote sensing data or by helicopter survey.</li>
<li>The<strong> Low Tide Line(LTL)</strong> is the limit up to which the lowest low tide recedes during spring tide.</li>
</ul>
</div>',
			'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
			'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/new-island-rules-ipz-2019'
		],
		(int) 13 => [
			'title' => 'Inequality in India',
			'catname' => 'Paper 2',
			'desc' => '<p><a href="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/401Drishti_ias_Inequality.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="content-img" src="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/401Drishti_ias_Inequality.jpg" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" /></a></p>',
			'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
			'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/mind-map/gs-paper2/inequality-in-india-mindmap'
		],
		(int) 14 => [
			'title' => 'Inequality in India',
			'catname' => 'Paper 2',
			'desc' => '<h3>Why in News</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Oxfam International</strong> released its annual inequality report, 2019 report titled <strong>&ldquo;Public good or Private Wealth?&rdquo;</strong> highlighted the stark Income inequality existing in India.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Inequality</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The United Nations describes inequality as &ldquo;the state of not being equal, especially in status, rights and opportunities&rdquo;.</li>
<li>Inequality can be broadly classified in to:
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><strong>Economic inequality:</strong> Economic inequality is the unequal distribution of income and opportunity between individuals or different groups in society.</li>
<li><strong>Social inequality:</strong> It occurs when resources in a given society are distributed unevenly based on norms of a society that creates specific patterns along lines of socially defined categories e.g. religion, kinship, prestige, race, caste, ethnicity, gender etc. have different access to resources of power, prestige and wealth depending on the norms of a society.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Both these categories are deeply intertwined and inequality of one type affects the inequality in another e.g. Social Inequality due to gender have large impact on income of women. In patriarchal societies large gender wage gap tends to exist.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Dimensions of Inequality in India</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>In India, following are distinctive forms of social inequality:</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Gender</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The <strong>Global Gender Gap Report, 2018,</strong> ranks India at <strong>142</strong> among 149 countries.</li>
<li>Four parameters for measuring gender inequality are economic participation and opportunity, health and survival, educational attainment and political empowerment.</li>
<li>Gender wage gap is highest in India according International Labor Organization women are <strong>paid 34% less than men</strong>.</li>
<li>Women comprise over 42 per cent of the agricultural labour force in the country, yet they <strong>own less than 2 percent of its farm land</strong> according to the India Human Development Survey (IHDS).</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Caste</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Caste is significant factor for determining access to resources like education, income, health valued by individuals.</li>
<li>India&rsquo;s upper caste households earned nearly 47% more than the national average annual household income, the top 10% within these castes owned 60% of the wealth within the group in 2012, as per the World Inequality Database.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Religion</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Religious identities are significant for an individual&rsquo;s ability to mobilize resources.</li>
<li>Religious identities can cause prejudices which may lead to economic exclusion and other forms of discrimination which can impact jobs and livelihood opportunities.</li>
<li>While minorities such as Christians, Parsis and Jains have a larger share of income/consumption than their population share, Muslim and Buddhist populations have significantly lower access to economic resources.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Ethnicity</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Tribal communities in India have been identified as ethnic group on the basis of their unique culture, language, dialect, geographical location, customs etc.</li>
<li>The National Family Health Survey 2015-16 (NFHS-4) showed that 45.9% of ST population were in the lowest wealth bracket as compared to 26.6% of SC population, 18.3% of OBCs, 9.7% of other castes.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Economic Inequality</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The 2019 report by Oxfam, titled "Public good or Private Wealth?" showed that India&rsquo;s top 10% holds 77.4% of the total national wealth, while the top 1% holds 51.53% of the wealth.</li>
<li>The bottom 60% population holds only 4.8% of the national wealth.</li>
<li>13.6 crore Indians, who make up the poorest 10% of the country, have continued to remain in debt for the past 15 years.</li>
<li>The Gini coefficient of wealth in India in 2017 is at 0.83, which puts India among the countries with highest inequality countries.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Consequences of Inequalities</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Inequalities tend to <strong>produce social conflict</strong> among the social groups e.g. caste groups like Jaats, Maratha, Patels are demanding reservations but this demand is opposed by caste groups already claiming the benefits of reservations, such clash of interest due to perceived inequality tend to produce violent conflicts between opposing caste groups.</li>
<li>Inequalities among ethnic groups have led to various <strong>ethnic movements</strong> demanding separate states or autonomous regions or even outright secession from India. North East has been rocked by numerous such ethnic movement e.g. by Nagas for greater Nagalim etc.</li>
<li>Religious inequality tends to generate <strong>feeling of exclusion among religious minority groups</strong>. This reduces their participation in mainstream, in India religious minorities have large population their economic exclusion compromises the GDP growth of nation as whole.</li>
<li>Poor development indicators like IMR, MMR, low per capita income, lower education and learning outcomes at schools, high rate of population growth can be traced to existing socio-economic inequalities.</li>
<li>High economic inequality is <strong>detrimental to public healthcare and education</strong>. Upper and Middle classes do not have vested interest in well functioning public healthcare and education as they have means to access private healthcare and education.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Measures to Deal with Inequalities</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Constitutional Provision</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Enforcement of Constitutional Guarantee of equality as enshrined in fundamental rights. <strong>Articles 14, 15 and 16</strong> form part of a scheme of the Constitutional Right to Equality. Article 15 and 16 are incidents of guarantees of Equality, and gives effect to Article 14.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Promoting Civil Society</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Provide a greater voice to traditionally oppressed and suppressed groups, including by enabling civil society groups like unions and association with in these groups.</li>
<li>Scheduled castes and Scheduled tribes should be motivated to become entrepreneurs, schemes like Stand up India need to be expanded to widen its reach by increasing funding.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Women Empowerment</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>For gender equality policies like affirmative action by reserving seats in legislatures, increasing reservation at Local self government both at Urban and village level to 50% in all states, strict implementation of The Equal Remuneration act,1976 to remove wage gap, making education curriculum gender sensitive, raising awareness about women right, changing social norms through schemes like Beti Bachao Beti Padhao etc.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Inclusion of Religious Minorities</strong></li>
<li style="list-style-type: none;">
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Religious minority groups need special attention through representation in government jobs, provision of institutional credit, improvement of their education access, protection of their human rights by empowering National commission for Minority, strengthening rule of law etc.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Progressive Taxes</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Additional public resources for public services by progressive taxes on wealthy more and by increasing the effective taxation on corporations, more importantly broadening the tax base through better monitoring of financial transactions.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Economic Policies</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>By ensuring universal access to public funded high quality services like Public health and education, social security benefits, employment guarantee schemes; inequality can be reduced to great extent.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Employment Generation</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>The failure to grow manufacturing sectors like Textile, Clothing, automobiles, consumer goods etc. is the important reason of rising inequalities.</li>
<li>The Labor-intensive manufacturing has the potential to absorb millions of people who are leaving farming while service sector tend to benefit majorly urban middle class.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<h3>Conclusion</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>India has committed to attaining the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, and to end extreme poverty by that year.</li>
<li>According to Oxfam if India stops inequality from rising further, it could end extreme poverty for 90 million people by 2019. If it goes further and reduces inequality by 36%, it could virtually eliminate extreme poverty.</li>
</ul>
<p><a href="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/622Drishti_ias_Inequality.png" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="content-img" src="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/622Drishti_ias_Inequality.png" /></a></p>',
			'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
			'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/to-the-points/Paper2/inequality-in-india'
		],
		(int) 15 => [
			'title' => 'Paradigm Shift for TB Control',
			'catname' => 'News Editorials',
			'desc' => '<div class="border">
<p>(This editorial is based on the article <a href="https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/paradigm-shift-for-tb-control/article26636685.ece" target="_blank" rel="noopener">'Paradigm Shift for TB Control'</a> which appeared in &lsquo;The Hindu&rsquo; on 26th March, 2019. The article talks about the burden of TB on public health and the shortcomings of various health programs. It also talks about the potential attitudinal change required to combat the disease.)</p>
</div>
<p>World TB Day marks the global resolve in eradicating tuberculosis (TB). While many countries have successfully defeated the disease, it remains the biggest killer in India, outnumbering all other infectious diseases put together &mdash; this despite our battle against it from 1962, when the National TB Programme (NTP) was launched.</p>
<p>In 1978, the Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) began, giving Bacillus Calmette Guerin (BCG) to all babies soon after birth and achieving more than 90% coverage. Yet, when evaluated in 1990, the NTP and the EPI had not reduced India&rsquo;s TB burden.</p>
<p>In 1993, the Revised National TB Control Programme (RNTCP) was launched, offering free diagnosis and treatment for patients, rescuing them from otherwise sure death. However, <strong>treatment is not prevention</strong>. <strong>Prevention is essential for control</strong>.</p>
<h3>The Killer Disease</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>India accounts for about a quarter of the global TB burden. Worldwide India is the country with the highest burden of both TB and Multi Drug Resistance (MDR)TB. There are an estimated 79,000 multi-drug resistant TB patients among the notified cases of pulmonary TB each year.</li>
<li>India has consistently failed in manning the two of the primary routes required to reduce TB incidence and death that are diagnosis and treatment, areas where "large and persistent" gaps remain.</li>
<li>Early symptoms of TB are non-specific, and quite similar to more commonly occurring conditions, such as secondary infections resulting from seasonal flu. Private practitioners rule out other ailments through antibiotic treatment before ordering TB tests. <strong>Delayed TB diagnosis is the biggest risk factor for transmission.</strong></li>
<li>Half of the estimated patients are either unaware that they have TB, or are unreported in the government&rsquo;s e-registry for TB, Nikshay. Infected patients infect others in the community while undiagnosed. TB transmission can&rsquo;t be ended until they are cured.</li>
<li>Non-specific antibiotic courses, multiply the risk manifold, causing the infection to become antibiotic-resistant.</li>
<li>Shortfalls in TB funding are one of the main reasons why progress is not fast enough to be on track to reach the end TB targets</li>
<li>Even when tests and treatment are available for free across all public health centres, and patients can claim a nutritional incentive of ₹500 per month until fully cured, the current decline rate of TB in India is a worrying 1-2%.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Loopholes in National Programs</h3>
<p>Despite starting early with National TB Program and Expanded Program on Immunization in 1960s, the state failed to check the growth of incidence of TB. The main cause of NTP failing was complacency and lack of resources, especially financial.</p>
<p>The Revised National TB Control Program (RNTCP) which has been successful in curing pulmonary TB too falls short of controlling the spread of TB.</p>
<p>In countries with 5-10 cases in a lakh people annually, curing TB sustains the low disease burden. In India, with 200-300 cases in a lakh in a year, curing TB is essential to reduce mortality, but is not sufficient to prevent transmission.</p>
<p>From a time a person becomes infectious to when she/he turns non-infectious by treatment, there is a gap of several weeks during which the infection saturates contacts in the vicinity making more people vulnerable to disease.</p>
<p>It is not possible to diagnose everyone as the disease exhibits common symptoms such as those of cough and flu and sometimes infection also remains silent making the control even more cumbersome.</p>
<p>Rapid expansion of RNTCP has outpaced the capacity of national and state health authorities to supervise the programme and to maintain high quality which has led to decline in case detection and cure rate in some areas. Country also suffers from acute shortage of accredited laboratories.</p>
<p>The program also lacks public participation and fails in allaying superstition and the appalling ignorance in the society about the disease, its spread and causation.</p>
<h3>Way Forward</h3>
<p>TB control requires the slowing down of infection, progression and transmission. Pulmonary TB causes transmission, resulting in infection which leads to progression as TB disease. To transform this vicious cycle into a virtuous cycle of TB control, spiralling down TB prevalence continuously, transmission, infection and progression must be addressed simultaneously.</p>
<p>There is a need to bring change in the health etiquettes in the society through public education for behaviour modification, starting in all schools and continuing through to adults.</p>
<p>One must reduce chances of transmission by insisting that the TB affected should cover their mouth and nose while coughing and sneezing and not to spit in open spaces which are only possible with enhanced Information Education Communication (IEC) activities by providing pamphlets, booklets in simple language to every general patient and public.</p>
<p>Cohorts of schoolchildren (5, 10 and 15 years) can be tested and those Tuberculin Skin Test (TST) positive given preventive treatment. It achieves three results at one go &mdash; an infected child gets preventive treatment and points to adults with undiagnosed TB in the household. Finally, the annual TST positive rate provides an objective measure of annual infection frequency for plotting the control trajectory.</p>
<p>To defeat TB and achieve Indian goal of eradicating TB by 2025, both rigorous and persistent efforts are required. There is a need to develop a strong political will for TB control as <strong>rhetoric and declarations cannot control TB; a strategy of simultaneously using all biomedical and socio-behavioural interventions can</strong>.</p>',
			'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
			'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-editorials/paradigm-shift-for-tb-control'
		],
		(int) 16 => [
			'title' => 'Important Facts For Prelims (26th March 2019)',
			'catname' => 'News Analysis',
			'desc' => '<h3>Trade Receivables e-Discounting System (<g class="gr_ gr_59 gr-alert gr_spell gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim ContextualSpelling ins-del multiReplace" id="59" data-gr-id="59">TReDS</g>)</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>In the recently concluded<a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/fintech-conclave-2019" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong> FinTech Conclave-2019,</strong></a> the Reserve Bank of India Governor termed Invoice trading as another nascent area of <g class="gr_ gr_60 gr-alert gr_spell gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim ContextualSpelling" id="60" data-gr-id="60">fintech</g> application in India.</li>
<li>The RBI has set up the <strong>Trade Receivables Discounting System (TReDs)</strong>, a financing arrangement where technology is leveraged for discounting bills and invoices which<a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/support-and-outreach-initiative-for-msme-sector" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong> assists Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs)</strong></a> to deal with working capital and cash flow problems due to delayed payments.</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Trade Receivables Discounting System (TReDs)</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>It is an institutional setup for facilitating the <strong>financing of trade receivables of MSMEs</strong> from corporate and other buyers, including Government Departments and Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs), through multiple financiers.</li>
<li>It has been set up under the <strong>regulatory framework set up by RBI</strong> under <strong><g class="gr_ gr_45 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Grammar only-ins replaceWithoutSep" id="45" data-gr-id="45">Payment</g> and Settlement Systems Act 2007.</strong></li>
</ul>
</div>
<h3>AUSINDEX- 2019</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>India and Australia will participate in the <strong>third edition of the biennial "AUSINDEX"</strong> exercise that will be held from April 2 to 16 off the coast of <strong>Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh.</strong></li>
<li><g class="gr_ gr_52 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Grammar only-ins doubleReplace replaceWithoutSep" id="52" data-gr-id="52">Focus</g> of the AUSINDEX exercise will be<strong> &ldquo;anti-submarine warfare&rdquo;.</strong> This will be <strong>Australia&rsquo;s largest display of its <g class="gr_ gr_56 gr-alert gr_spell gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim ContextualSpelling multiReplace" id="56" data-gr-id="56">defence</g> assets</strong> since 1947.</li>
<li>Another interesting feature of the exercise will be the <strong>deployment of Australian personnel on Indian ships and vice versa.</strong></li>
<li>The AUSINDEX-2019 will be held as a part of<strong> Australia&rsquo;s Indo-Pacific Endeavour 2019</strong> which will see Australia conducting naval exercises with <strong>7 countries in south and southeast Asia</strong> apparently to increase its profile as a <strong>security provider in the Indian Ocean.</strong></li>
<li>The<strong> first edition of AUSINDEX was held in 2015 off the eastern coast of India</strong>, while the <strong>second edition was conducted off the Western coast of Australia in the year 2017.</strong></li>
</ul>
<h3>GRAPES-3</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>GRAPES-3 muon telescope</strong> has measured the electrical potential, size and height of a thundercloud that passed overhead on December 1, 2014.</li>
<li><strong>GRAPES-3</strong> (<strong>G</strong>amma<strong> R</strong>ay <strong>A</strong>stronomy <strong>P</strong>eV <strong>E</strong>nergieS phase-<strong>3</strong>) is designed to study cosmic rays with an array of <strong>air shower detectors and a large area muon detector.</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong><g class="gr_ gr_63 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Grammar only-ins doubleReplace replaceWithoutSep" id="63" data-gr-id="63">Muon</g></strong> is an elementary particle <strong>similar to the electron,</strong> with an <strong>electric charge of &minus;1 e</strong> and a <strong>spin of 1/2,</strong> but with a much greater mass.<strong></strong></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>The GRAPES-3 experiment <strong>located at Ooty in India</strong> started as a collaboration of the <strong>Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, India</strong> and the <strong>Osaka City University, Osaka, Japan.</strong></li>
</ul>
<h3>Chinook Helicopter</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Indian Air Force <strong>formally inducted the CH 47 F(I)- Chinook <g class="gr_ gr_47 gr-alert gr_spell gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim ContextualSpelling ins-del multiReplace" id="47" data-gr-id="47">heavy lift</g> helicopters into its inventory.</strong></li>
<li>IAF had signed a <strong>contract with M/s Boeing</strong> Ltd in September 2015 for<strong> 15 Chinook helicopters.</strong> These helicopters will be deployed in the Northern and Eastern regions of India.</li>
<li>The addition of heavy-lift CH 47 F(I) helicopter is a significant step towards modernization of Indian Air Force&rsquo;s helicopter fleet.</li>
<li>The helicopter has been customized to suit IAF&rsquo;s future requirements and capability roadmap. The helicopter has a fully integrated digital cockpit management system, advanced cargo handling capabilities and electronic warfare suite that complement the aircraft&rsquo;s performance.</li>
<li>The helicopter is capable of <strong>airlifting diverse military and nonmilitary loads into remote locations.</strong></li>
</ul>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: center;"><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/TTZZgLfF800" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></p>',
			'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
			'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/important-facts-for-prelims-26th-march-2019'
		],
		(int) 17 => [
			'title' => 'Italy Joins Belt & Road Initiative',
			'catname' => 'News Analysis',
			'desc' => '<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Italy has become the <strong>first G7 country to join China&rsquo;s Belt &amp; Road Initiative</strong> (previously known as One Belt One Road (OBOR) Initiative).</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>G7</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The Group of Seven is a group consisting of <strong>Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States.</strong></li>
<li>These countries, with the seven largest International Monetary Fund (<g class="gr_ gr_56 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Punctuation only-ins replaceWithoutSep" id="56" data-gr-id="56">IMF)</g>-described advanced economies in the world, represent 58% of the global net wealth.</li>
</ul>
</div>
<h3>Belt &amp; Road Initiative (BRI)</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Belt &amp; Road Initiative (BRI) is an ambitious project that focuses on connectivity and cooperation among multiple countries spread across the continents of Asia, Africa, and Europe.</strong>&nbsp; BRI spans about 150 countries (China&rsquo;s Claim).</li>
<li>Initially announced in the year 2013, the project involves b<strong>uilding networks of roadways, railways, maritime ports, power grids, oil and gas pipelines,</strong> and associated infrastructure projects.</li>
<li>The project covers two parts.
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><strong>Silk Road Economic Belt:</strong> It is land-based and is expected to connect China with Central Asia, Eastern Europe, and Western Europe.</li>
<li><strong>21st Century Maritime Silk Road:</strong> It is sea-based and is expected to connect China&rsquo;s southern coast to the Mediterranean, Africa, South-East Asia, and Central Asia.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<h3><g class="gr_ gr_62 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Grammar only-ins replaceWithoutSep" id="62" data-gr-id="62">Significance</g> of BRI For China</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is the most emblematic of<strong> China&rsquo;s economic and industrial might, as of its ambitions for global, political and strategic influence.</strong></li>
<li>As infrastructure spending at home became less sustainable, <strong>China has shifted the emphasis to boost the global competitiveness of domestic businesses.</strong></li>
<li>The large infrastructure investments in the least developed and developing countries have <strong>enabled China to leverage its influence around the world,</strong> potentially altering the established rules of the global order and challenging western powers.</li>
<li>BRI will <strong>strengthen China&rsquo;s presence in the Eurasian region</strong> and puts it in a commanding position over Asia&rsquo;s heartland.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Criticism of BRI</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Western critics have attacked the initiative as<strong> new colonialism, or Marshal Plan for the 21st century.&nbsp;</strong></li>
<li>BRI is also being seen as a part of <strong>China&rsquo;s debt trap policy,</strong> wherein China intentionally extends excessive credit to another country with the intention of extracting economic or political concessions from the debtor country.</li>
</ul>
<h3><g class="gr_ gr_65 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Grammar only-ins replaceWithoutSep" id="65" data-gr-id="65">Significance</g> of Italy joining BRI</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Italy&rsquo;s <strong>endorsement of the BRI is a potential game changer</strong> as it is one of the major economies in the world.</li>
<li><strong>Other major economies may follow Italy&rsquo;s lead</strong> in joining BRI.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Why India has not joined?</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC)</strong> is one of the flagship projects of BRI which is seen by <strong>India as infringing its sovereignty.</strong></li>
<li>China is building roads and infrastructure in the<strong> disputed territory of Gilgit-Baltistan,</strong> which is under Pakistan&rsquo;s control but which India claims as a part of Jammu and Kashmir.</li>
<li>If the CPEC project gets implemented successfully, this would<strong> hamper India&rsquo;s strategic interests in the South Asian region.</strong> It will serve Beijing's strategic ambition to encircle India.</li>
<li><strong>CPEC can aid Pakistan&rsquo;s legitimacy in the Kashmir dispute.</strong></li>
<li>China&rsquo;s increasing <strong>footprints in the South Asian region is detrimental to India&rsquo;s strategic hold e.g. construction of the Hambantota Port in Sri Lanka</strong> provided China critical strategic location in the Indian Ocean.</li>
</ul>',
			'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
			'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/italy-joins-belt-road-initiative'
		],
		(int) 18 => [
			'title' => 'No clinical trials in India for new drugs ',
			'catname' => 'News Analysis',
			'desc' => '<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has allowed waivers on conducting trials for new drugs in India in case the drug is approved and marketed in countries specified by &mdash; the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO).</li>
</ul>
<h3>Regulation</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>New drugs approved for use in select developed markets will be automatically allowed in India provided global trials included Indian patients.</li>
<li>This waiver would <strong>also extend to drugs</strong> that receive these marketing approvals even <strong>while a trial is underway in India</strong>.</li>
<li><strong>Data generated(clinical trial) outside the country will be acceptable</strong>.</li>
<li>Providing post-trial access of the drugs to the patients that require it have been defined for the first time.</li>
<li>It removed a clause in the clinical trials that mandated the sponsor (the entity initiating the trial) to pay 60% of compensation upfront in case of death or permanent disability of a patient.</li>
<li>Now companies will pay the total amount once it is proven that the injury occurred because of the trial.</li>
<li>Compensations in cases of death and permanent disability, or &ldquo;other&rdquo; injuries to a trial participant will be decided by Drug Controller General of India(DCGI).</li>
<li>It removed regulations on tests conducted on animals in case of drugs approved and marketed for more than two years in well-regulated overseas drug markets.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Significance of New Rules</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>It will<strong> end the unnecessary repetition of trials</strong> and speed up the availability of new drugs in the country.</li>
<li>It will <strong>lower the cost of drugs</strong>.</li>
<li>It will improve the ease of doing business for drug makers.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Criticism of new regulations</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>India is a country of <strong>vast ethnic diversity</strong> and most of the trials are done in the West. There is need of bridging trials for ethnically diverse populations to check drug suitability population.</li>
<li>Waiver should be only for drugs required<strong> urgently for national emergency</strong>.</li>
<li>Proving injury due to the trial is problematic and it is prone to manipulation.</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO)</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The CDSCO is the Central Drug Authority for discharging functions assigned to the Central Government under the <strong>Drugs and Cosmetics Act</strong>.</li>
<li>Major Functions:
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Regulatory control over the import of drugs, <strong>approval of new drugs and clinical trials</strong>.</li>
<li>Approval of certain licences as Central Licence Approving Authority</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Drug Controller General of India(DCGI)</strong></li>
<li>DCGI is responsible for <strong>approval of licences of specified categories of drugs</strong> such as blood and blood products, IV fluids, vaccines and sera in India.</li>
<li>It comes under the Ministry of Health &amp; Family Welfare.</li>
</ul>
</div>',
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		(int) 19 => [
			'title' => 'Another Look At Fiscal Transfers',
			'catname' => 'News Editorials',
			'desc' => '<div class="border">
<p>(This editorial is based on the article <a href="https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/another-look-at-fiscal-transfers/article26626986.ece" target="_blank" rel="noopener">'Another Look At Fiscal Transfers'</a> which appeared in &lsquo;The Hindu&rsquo; on 25th March, 2019. The article talks about the fiscal relationship shared by state and the centre and the challenges associated with it.)</p>
</div>
<p>Federalism is not an alien concept in political lexicon of nations and is relatively an old concept. It is a system of government in which entities such as states or provinces share power with a national government.</p>
<p>It is well known that the efficiency of a government depends on its structure; in large countries like ours federal structure can efficiently meet the requirements of people from different regions as preferences vary across regions and can best be addressed through local leadership.</p>
<p>However, after Independence several compulsions led to a scheme of federalism in which the Centre assumed greater importance. The process of centralisation in economic sphere has resulted in reduced fiscal autonomy for states.</p>
<p>Economic planning at a nation-wide level has resulted in the vertical fiscal imbalance between the federation and the provinces.</p>
<h3>Breaking The Term: Fiscal Federalism</h3>
<p>Fiscal federalism can best be understood as the economic counterpart to political federalism. It is concerned with assigning functions to different levels of government, and providing appropriate fiscal instruments for carrying out these functions.</p>
<p>It is generally believed that the Central government should provide national public goods that render services to the entire population while sub-national governments are expected to provide goods and services whose consumption is limited to their own jurisdictions.</p>
<p>Governments often find it difficult to determine the specific fiscal instruments that enable the different levels of government to carry out their functions.</p>
<p>However Indian Constitution lays down the functions as well as taxing powers of the Centre and States providing clarity in financial relations shared by state and the centre.</p>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Centre State Financial Relations</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Indian Constitution has made elaborate provisions, relating to the distribution of taxes as well as non-tax revenues and the power of borrowing, supplemented by provisions for grants-in-aid by the Union to the States.</li>
<li>Article 268 to 293 deals with the provisions of financial relations between Centre and States.</li>
</ul>
<p>The Constitution divides the taxing powers between the Centre and the States as follows:</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The Parliament has exclusive power to levy taxes on subjects enumerated in the Union List,</li>
<li>The state legislature has exclusive power to levy taxes on subjects enumerated in the State List,</li>
<li>Both can levy taxes on the subjects enumerated in Concurrent List whereas residuary power of taxation lies with Parliament only.</li>
</ul>
</div>
<h3>Evolution of Fiscal Relationship</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>In India, substantial sources of revenue remains with the centre and major expenditure obligations lies with the states, creating vertical fiscal imbalance between the federation and the provinces.</strong></li>
<li>This economic relationship can best be attributed to colonial legacy of centralisation under the British. The imperial government had all the powers related to revenue and ordered discontinuation of the assignment of expenditure and revenue functions to the provinces. It was in this situation that the provinces had to give away a portion of their surplus to the imperial government to finance the deficits of the latter.</li>
<li>A clear delineation of powers between the centre and the provinces was attempted through the Government of India Act, 1935. It had a substantial centralising tilt with discretionary powers for the governor general and governors, and the retaining of major revenue sources with the imperial government.</li>
<li>Later, when the Constitution was framed under extraordinary circumstances after partition, most of the fiscal provisions of the Government of India Act, 1935, found a place in it without any changes. This is the basic reason for the strong centralising trends in Indian polity, including in the fiscal division of powers and intergovernmental fiscal transfers.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Tussle Between The State and The Centre</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Overtime, the non-shareable revenue of centre such as surcharges and cesses has increased which has made states demanding for more fiscal powers and share of all taxes collected by the centre from time to time.</strong></li>
<li>With respect to their own tax revenue, states have substantially lost the power to fix tax rates of items, de facto after value added tax (VAT) was implemented on intra-state trade of goods, and de jure when goods and services tax (GST) got introduced.</li>
<li>On the expenditure side, rise in the share of conditional and tied grants that essentially deal with items in the state list of the seventh schedule of the Constitution has restricted the freedom of the states in spending according to their priorities that takes into account the local specifications.</li>
<li>Challenges also arise from <strong>Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM)</strong> acts, which lay down uniform targets across states ignoring the different fiscal needs.</li>
<li>In short, the domain of the states, which should be given due autonomy in so far as their constitutional assignment is concerned; it is being restricted in more than one way.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Recent Developments</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Central governments have tried to address these issues of vertical and horizontal imbalances through various Finance Commissions, taking into account the prevailing set of circumstances.</li>
<li>The Fourteenth Finance Commission has broken new ground in terms of allocation of resources. It has recommended increasing the share of tax devolution to 42% of the divisible pool.</li>
<li>It does not necessarily affect the overall transfers but only enhances the share of unconditional transfers as it looks to address the increasing central encroachment in states through conditional and centrally sponsored schemes.</li>
<li>Increased allocation in unconditional transfers however suffers from two challenges; firstly the total transfers that need to be made to the states, secondly who will be suggesting all the transfers.</li>
<li>Replacement of Planning Commission (entrusted to allocate resources to states) with NITI Aayog, which is simply a think-tank with no powers of resource allocation makes the process all the more difficult.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Harmonising The Relation</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The proportion of shareable taxes that go to the States should be fixed at the desired level. The shareable tax pool must also include cesses and surcharges as these have sharply increased in recent years.</li>
<li>Another possible route can be to follow the practice in the U.S. and Canada: of allowing the States to levy tax on personal income, with some limitations, which is as of now collected by Centre.</li>
<li>Any reform aimed at rationalising the sharing of taxes between state and centre should also address issues related to horizontal distribution and should take into consideration the question of equity amongst states as states often feel &lsquo;cheated&rsquo; because of the overuse of the equity criterion.</li>
</ul>
<p><em><strong>It is time that the nation arrived at an appropriate solution giving effect to fiscal federalism so that the provincial aspirations are taken care of, meanwhile extending the provincial autonomy that our constitution talks about.</strong></em></p>
<div class="border-bg">
<p>To correct the horizontal fiscal imbalance between the States and bring more equity, Finance Commission undertakes few steps while horizontally distributing revenue.</p>
<p>The criteria used by the Finance Commissions can be broadly grouped under:</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Factors reflecting needs, such as population and income measured either as distance from the highest income or as inverse.</li>
<li>Cost disability indicators, such as area and infrastructure distance.</li>
<li>Fiscal efficiency indicators, such as tax effort and fiscal discipline.</li>
</ul>
<p>While the weightage assigned to population has declined considerably, weightage assigned to income distance and efficiency factors has increased considerably in recent years.</p>
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	(int) 0 => [
		'title' => 'World’s Longest Salt Cave',
		'catname' => 'News Analysis',
		'desc' => '<p>Israeli researchers have claimed that they have discovered the<strong> world&rsquo;s longest salt cave near the dead sea.<a href="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/911Israel%20(Mount Sodom).jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="content-img" src="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/911Israel (Mount Sodom).jpg" width="297" height="209" style="float: right;" caption="false" /></a></strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>The cave named Malham, stretching over 10 kilometers (6.25 miles) runs through Mount Sodom, Israel's largest mountain, and spills out to the southwest corner of the adjacent Dead Sea.</strong></li>
<li>In the cave,<strong> thousands of salt stalactites hang from the ceilings, and some of the walls have salt crystals.</strong></li>
<li>These were formed by the dissolution of the overhead rock by rainwater. The water percolates through cracks and deposits salt on the cave&rsquo;s ceiling.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Formation of Caves</h3>
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<li><strong>In areas where there are alternating beds of rocks (shales, sandstones, quartzites) with limestones or dolomites in between or in areas where limestones are dense, massive and occurring as thick beds, cave formation is prominent.</strong></li>
<li><strong>Water percolates down either through the materials or through cracks and joints and moves horizontally along bedding planes.</strong></li>
<li>It is along these bedding planes that the limestone dissolves and long and narrow to wide gaps called caves result.</li>
<li>There can be a maze of caves at different elevations depending upon the limestone beds and intervening rocks. Caves having openings at both the ends are called tunnels.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Depositional Landforms in the Caves<a href="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/182Cave%20in Section.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="content-img" src="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/182Cave in Section.jpg" width="446" height="292" style="float: right;" caption="false" /></a></h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Many depositional forms develop within the caves. The chief chemical in limestone is calcium carbonate which is easily soluble in carbonated water (carbon dioxide absorbed rainwater).</li>
<li><strong>This calcium carbonate is deposited when the water carrying it in solution evaporates or loses its carbon dioxide as it trickles over rough rock surfaces.</strong></li>
<li><strong>Stalactites, Stalagmites, and Pillars</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><strong>Stalactites hang as icicles</strong> of different diameters. Normally they are broad at their bases and taper towards the free ends showing up in a variety of forms.</li>
<li><strong>Stalagmites rise up from the floor of the caves.</strong> In fact, stalagmites form due to dripping water from the surface or through the thin pipe, of the stalactite, immediately below it.</li>
<li>The stalagmite and stalactites eventually<strong> fuse to give rise to columns and pillars of different diameters.</strong></li>
</ul>
</li>
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		'title' => 'Important Facts For Prelims (29th March 2019)',
		'catname' => 'News Analysis',
		'desc' => '<h3>Odissi<a href="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/1577340679_image20.png" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="content-img" src="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/1577340679_image20.png" style="float: right;" width="203" caption="false" /></a></h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>It is one of the pre-eminent <strong>classical dance forms of India which originated in the Hindu temples of the eastern coastal state of Odisha in India.</strong></li>
<li>It is a dance of love and passion touching on the divine and the human, the sublime and the mundane.</li>
<li><strong>Odhra Magadha,</strong> mentioned in <strong>Natya Shastra</strong> can be identified as the earliest precursor of present day Odissi dance.</li>
<li>The techniques of dance movement are built around the<strong> two basic postures of the Chowk and the Tribhanga.</strong></li>
<li>The chowk is a position imitating a square - a <strong>very masculine stance with the weight of the body equally balanced.</strong></li>
<li>The <strong>tribhanga is a very feminine stance</strong> where the body is deflected at the <strong>neck, torso and the knees.</strong></li>
<li>An Odissi orchestra essentially <strong>consists of a pakhawaj player (usually the Guru himself), a singer, a flutist, a sitar or violin player and a manjira player.</strong></li>
</ul>
<h3>Mankading</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Recently, in a cricket match of the Indian Premier League 2019 (IPL-2019) a batsman was <strong>dismissed in a run out</strong> popularly called <strong>&lsquo;Mankading&rsquo;.</strong></li>
<li>Mankading&rsquo; is a method of run out where a <strong>bowler dismisses a non-striker by hitting the bails</strong> before bowling when the latter is outside the crease.</li>
<li>It is named after an <strong>Indian bowler Vinoo Mankad (awarded Padma Bhushan in 1973).</strong> Vinoo Mankad, in the India's tour of <strong>Australia in 1947/48 ran out Bill Brown not once but twice.</strong></li>
<li>This infuriated the Australian media, and running someone out in this way is now referred to around the world as "Mankading&rdquo;.</li>
<li>While perfectly legal, some contend that by convention, a bowler should at least warn a batsman who persists in backing up too far before dismissing him in that fashion.</li>
<li>According to rules of Cricket:
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Non-striker leaving his/her ground early: If the non-striker is out of his/her ground from the moment the ball comes into play to the instant when the bowler would normally have been expected to release the ball, the <strong>bowler is permitted to attempt to run him/her out.</strong></li>
<li>Whether the attempt is successful or not, the <strong>ball shall not count as one in the over.</strong></li>
<li>The Laws of Cricket were amended several times after this incident, but it was decided to retain this form of run out to disallow batsmen from stealing runs.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>There<strong> have been instances</strong> where the bowlers refrained from using this method, like<strong> the 1987 World Cup match between Pakistan and West Indies.</strong></li>
</ul>',
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	(int) 2 => [
		'title' => 'Globalization 4.0',
		'catname' => 'Paper 3',
		'desc' => '<h3>Why in News</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Globalization 4.0 was the theme for <strong>World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2019</strong> held in Davos, Switzerland in January 2019.</li>
<li>Under the rubric of <strong>Globalization 4.0,</strong> a series of <strong>"Global Dialogues"</strong> in Davos focused on the interrelated areas namely geopolitics, future of global economy, global dialogue on industry systems etc.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Globalization 4.0</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Globalization is a phenomenon <strong>driven by technology</strong> and the movement of ideas, people, and goods.</li>
<li>Globalization 4.0 is latest stage of globalization which involves cutting-edge new technologies like artificial intelligence that powers forward with the explosion of information technology.</li>
<li>These technologies shrink distances, open up borders and minds and bring people all across the globe closer together.</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Timeline: Earlier Waves of Globalization</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Globalization 1.0</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>It was pre-World War I globalization, which was launched by a historic drop in trade costs.</li>
<li>This globalization came with almost no government support.</li>
<li>There was no global governance.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Globalization 2.0</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>It is the post-World War II phase where trade in goods was combined with complimentary domestic policies.</li>
<li>The market was in charge of efficiency while the government was in charge of justice.</li>
<li>It saw the establishment of institute-based, rule-based international governance, specifically the UN, IMF, World Bank, GATT/WTO, International Labor Organization etc.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Globalization 3.0</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>It created a new world of manufacturing in which high-tech was combined with low wages.</li>
<li>This was achieved through establishment of global supply chains as factories crossed international borders.</li>
<li>It was variously called New Globalization, Hyper globalization, Global value chain evolution.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
<h3>Characteristics of 4.0</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Major turbulence for Service Sector:</strong> While Globalization 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0 were mainly a concern of people who made/manufactured products for a living (since globalization focused on things that we made), Globalization 4.0 is going to hit people in the service sector.</li>
<li><strong>Closely integrated with Industry 4.0:</strong> Ever-faster data connection speeds and new artificial intelligence tools like machine translation, big data are opening up services jobs in rich countries like architecture, accounting, and web design to competition from practitioners in emerging economies.</li>
<li><strong>Newer modes of Migration:</strong> Due to faster data connection as well as nature of work which may involve no physical presence there may be a global tele-migration in which the skilled migrants never have to leave home.</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Industry 4.0</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Building on the foundation given by the Third Industrial Revolution, Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0) is moving from an electronic based industry to a process which is the combination of human beings and electronics.</li>
<li>It includes cyber-physical systems, the Internet of things, big data analytics, cloud computing, cognitive computing, artificial intelligence, 3-D printing, and autonomous vehicles etc.</li>
</ul>
</div>
<h3>Challenges of Globalization 4.0</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Political crisis and Global level conflict:</strong> Globalization 4.0 could, like preceding waves of globalization, have mixed results e.g. even though countries are globally connected political crisis and global level conflict have also increased.</li>
<li><strong>Economic exclusion:</strong> Economic opportunities will be uncertain, many may not have the skills needed for the jobs of the future. If countries and communities are not fully prepared for Globalization 4.0, problems may exacerbate.</li>
<li><strong>Income Inequality:</strong> Negative effects of globalization have a disproportionate impact on already marginalized populations. Globalization 4.0 may increase income inequality even if it can create more wealth.</li>
<li><strong>Human Resource:</strong> Countries like India, if do not step up to meet the skill requirements of globalisation 4.0, may already be staring at demographic disaster, given its huge population and low employment generation.</li>
<li><strong>Unintended consequences:</strong> Globalization 4.0 in conjunction with Industry 4.0 will produce many unintended consequences which may not be foreseeable for now and for which world is vastly unprepared the ethical, legal, environmental concerns are yet to be seen for which no framework has been laid out.</li>
<li><strong>Infrastructural challenges:</strong> Apart from skilling, India also needs to set up required infrastructure and technology to harness the advantages of globalization 4.0.</li>
<li><strong>Challenges for Developing countries:</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>The European continent, North America and some Asian countries have been able to take advantage of the industrial revolution and globalization, while many African, Latin American and some Asian countries failed to benefit as much.</li>
<li>Globalization 4.0 will create additional challenges many African and Asian nations which were already excluded from the benefits of earlier waves of globalization.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<h3>Way Forward</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Invest in strengthening local and regional economies:</strong> We should proactively build resilient local and regional systems that can participate in the next wave of globalization, making sure regions have the right mix of education, employment and infrastructure to create and sustain jobs locally.</li>
<li><strong>Prioritizing sustainability and Inclusiveness:</strong> The need of the hour is to design a blueprint from the ground up that can capitalize on new opportunities while prioritizing sustainability and inclusiveness more than ever before.</li>
<li><strong>Focus on the most vulnerable populations:</strong> Global and local institutions need to advance both universal and targeted strategies to improve outcomes for everyone ensuring vulnerable population is not left out.</li>
<li><strong>Stop climate change:</strong> The challenges of Globalization 4.0 will be compounded if resources that could be put towards strengthening local economies and education are diverted to mitigate climate change. Thus climate change needs to be dealt at global level.</li>
<li><strong>Promote Innovation in educational institution and education curriculum:</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>By 2022, at least 54% of employees globally will require re- and up-skilling.</li>
<li>Not only do we need to support people in getting the training they need for jobs in the next five years, but we need to prepare young students with the skills to adapt to the types of jobs we will need in the next 20 years.</li>
<li>New Zealand is implementing a national technology curriculum to teach students to be digital creators, as well as consumers.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Engagement and imagination:</strong> The task of dealing with challenges of Globalization 4.0 requires two things of the international community: wider engagement, participation and heightened imagination.</li>
</ul>',
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	(int) 3 => [
		'title' => 'A Cop Out',
		'catname' => 'News Editorials',
		'desc' => '<div class="border">
<p>(This editorial is based on the article <a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/police-reform-narendra-modi-5646097/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">'A Cop Out'</a> which appeared in &lsquo;The Indian Express&rsquo; on 28th March, 2019. The article talks about the problems miring the police department and lack of political will in bringing police reforms.)</p>
</div>
<p>Our newspapers are ripe from success story of our nation, each day a scheme is launched to uplift the standard of living, bring social equality, a scientific leap, transform India into a cleaner, healthier and resurgent nation. Even if we make allowance for an element of exaggeration, these initiatives have been laudable and the progress impressive.</p>
<p>It is disappointing; however, that there remains an area left completely untouched where nothing significant has been achieved. Police department even after 70 years of independence reminds of a colonial structure.</p>
<p>Even after one and half decade later, the historic judgment of Supreme Court in 2006 directing states and centre to bring police reforms remain largely in the corridors of SC with little changing on ground.</p>
<h3>First Line of Defence</h3>
<p>Police forces are responsible for maintaining law and order and investigating crimes, central forces assist them with intelligence and internal security challenges (e.g., insurgencies).</p>
<p>With the advancement in technology, newer versions of threats are continuously arising in the form of cyber-attacks, bank frauds, and organised crimes, just to name a few, which need to be tackled in a more specialised manner.</p>
<p>These have often been called &lsquo;fourth generation war&rsquo;; a warfare with an invisible army which cannot be won by the armies. This is the war of a policeman and if they win, the country wins and if they lose then the country loses.</p>
<p>Against all these security threats, the first line of defence is the police system. Internal security is very much a prerogative of police and efficient policing is needed in order to tackle these threats. But for that, the police system needs to be efficient, effective and technologically sound.</p>
<p>However our police system suffers from myriad deficiencies. From problems relating to police organisation, infrastructure and environment to obsolete weaponry and intelligence gathering techniques to shortage of manpower to corruption, police force in the country is not in a good shape.</p>
<h3>Challenges Grappling the System</h3>
<p>The superintendence and control of the police remains a contentious issue as both the Central and State police forces come under the superintendence and control of political executives. It has resulted in the lack of democratic functioning and appropriate direction.</p>
<p>The existing police infrastructure is also inadequate to cater to the needs of the police force. There is a huge manpower shortage in the police department. It stands at 192 policemen per lakh population against the recommended 222 policemen per lakh population by UN.</p>
<p>Overburdening of work not only reduces the effectiveness and efficiency of the police personnel but also leads to psychological distress which contributes to various crimes committed by the policemen.</p>
<p>The recruitment process of police personnel, especially from lowest constabulary level to Sub-Inspector level, is medieval. The overall focus remains on enhancing the physical strength and other essential skills like forensics, law, cyber-crime, financial frauds are either ignored or put on the back burner.</p>
<p>Several commissions have looked into the reform processes which include the Gore Committee on Police Training (1971-73), the Ribeiro Committee on Police Reforms (1998), the Padmanabhaiah Committee on Police Reforms (2000), the Group of Ministers on National Security (2000-01), and the Malimath Committee on Reforms of Criminal Justice System (2001-03).</p>
<p>Despite recommendations from these committees, no substantial changes have been seen. Several state governments are yet to implement these recommendations or bring in any reforms.</p>
<p>In the absence of any initiative by the Centre, the states have gone amok with their separate police Acts. It is ironical that while the British India had one police Act for the entire country, we are confronted with a situation where every state has a different Act with sharp differences in essential features.</p>
<h3>Saving the Saviours</h3>
<p>States should comply with the Supreme Court&rsquo;s directives given (in Prakash Singh vs. Union of India case) in 2006 in order to tackle systemic problems in policing. The states can enact a model based on the Model Police Act in 2006 prepared by The Police Act Drafting Committee headed by Soli Sorabjee.</p>
<p><strong>SMART police should be created which is Sensitive, Mobile, Accountable, Responsive and Techno-Savvy.</strong> Concrete steps should be taken to augment the manpower and infrastructure of the forces.</p>
<p>A Police Welfare Board must also be set up to administer and monitor welfare measures for police, including medical assistance, group housing, and legal aid for officers facing court proceedings.</p>
<p>Police Accountability Commissions should be set up by states to address complaints of police misconduct. However key police functionaries should have a minimum tenure of two years unless they have been convicted by a court, or suspended from service, etc making them free of political coercion.</p>
<p>The commitment, devotion and accountability of the police should only be towards the rule of law and the supervision and control has to be such that it ensures that the police serve the people without bias, pressure, or fear.</p>
<h3>Way Forward</h3>
<p>A healthy democracy needs a healthy police which is able to enforce the rule of law and can take actions without fear, favour of political dispensation.</p>
<p>Dilapidated condition of the police system can negatively impact upon the security and integrity of the nation. It is time that we freed the police from political interference and transforms it from &lsquo;Ruler&rsquo;s Police&rsquo; to &lsquo;People&rsquo;s Police.</p>',
		'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
		'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-editorials/a-cop-out'
	],
	(int) 4 => [
		'title' => 'European Parliament Bans Single-Use Plastics',
		'catname' => 'News Analysis',
		'desc' => '<p>The European Union Parliament has <strong>voted to ban single-use plastic cutlery,</strong> cotton buds, straws and stirrers as part of a sweeping law against plastic waste that despoils beaches and pollutes oceans.</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The directive will now pass through formalities before it is published in the EU rulebook. After that, EU member states <strong>will have two years to implement the directive, i.e. the ban will come into force by 2021 in all EU member states.</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>The United Kingdom too will have to follow the rules if it took part in and extended the Brexit transition period.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>By<strong> 2025, plastic bottles should be made of 25% recycled content, and by 2029, 90% of them should be recycled.</strong></li>
<li>The ban <strong>targets the top 10 disposable plastic products</strong> including plates, balloon sticks, food and beverage containers made of expanded polystyrene and all products made of oxo-degradable plastic.</li>
<li><strong>Tobacco companies will be required to cover the costs</strong> for public collection of cigarette stubs, which are the second most littered single-use plastic item.</li>
<li>Apart from the ban, the EU will also encourage member states to <strong>reduce the use of plastic packaging and introduce stricter labelling rules.</strong></li>
</ul>
<h3>Single-Use Plastics</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Single-use plastics, or disposable plastics, are <strong>used only once before</strong> they are thrown away or recycled.</li>
<li>These items are things like plastic bags, straws, coffee stirrers, soda and water bottles and most food packaging.
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>The single-use plastic products <strong>also prevent the spread of infection.</strong> Instruments such as syringes, applicators, drug tests, bandages and wraps are often made to be disposable.</li>
<li>Also, single-use plastic products have been <strong>enlisted in the fight against food waste,</strong> keeping food and water fresher for longer and reducing the potential for contamination.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>However, there <strong>can be challenges when it comes to disposing of some single-use products.</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Petroleum based plastic is<strong> not biodegradable and usually goes into a landfill</strong> where it is buried or it gets into the water and finds its way into the ocean.</li>
<li>In the process of breaking down, it r<strong>eleases toxic chemicals (additives that were used to shape and harden the plastic)</strong> which make their way into our food and water supply.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>The ultimate goal is that all these products can be <strong>collected and converted into energy or recycled.</strong></li>
</ul>
<h3>Background</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Europe is <strong>not the worst source of plastic pollution,</strong> but this measure could<strong> serve as an example to the world</strong>, i.e EU&rsquo;s change of the economic model has a global impact</li>
<li><strong>Other reasons</strong> which prompted the EU to ban single use plastics are:
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>EU <strong>recycles only 25% of the 25 million tonnes of plastics waste</strong> it produces every year.</li>
<li>Growing concerns about plastic pollution in oceans and stories of dead whales with plastic in their stomachs.<strong> Marine litter</strong> has come under the spotlight because 85% of it is plastic. E.g.: <a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/important-facts-for-prelims-25-august-2018" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Great Pacific Grabage Patch</strong></a></li>
<li><strong>China's decision to stop processing waste</strong> have prompted the bloc to take more drastic steps to tackle the issue.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>European Parliament</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The European Parliament is the <strong>only parliamentary institution of the European Union (EU)</strong> that is <strong>directly elected</strong> by EU <strong>citizens aged 18 or older every five years since 1979.</strong></li>
<li>It has 751 Members of elected directly from the <strong>28 Member States of EU.</strong></li>
</ul>
</div>
<h3>Way Forward</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Although a welcome step, specially when environment has taken backstage with respect to economic growth globally. Without a <strong>proper waste management infrastructure</strong> and <strong>sufficient recycling facilities</strong>, it is difficult to achieve a <a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/national-productivity-council" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>circular economy</strong></a> or the objectives of this directive.</li>
</ul>',
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		'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/european-parliament-bans-single-use-plastics'
	],
	(int) 5 => [
		'title' => 'President’s Visit To Croatia',
		'catname' => 'News Analysis',
		'desc' => '<p>During the first leg of his three-nation tour to Croatia, Bolivia, and Chile, <strong>President of India completed his visit to Croatia.</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>In Croatia, President had meetings with the Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović and the Prime Minister Andrej Plenković.</li>
</ul>
<h3><g class="gr_ gr_55 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Grammar only-ins doubleReplace replaceWithoutSep" id="55" data-gr-id="55">Outcome</g> of the Visit<a href="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/1577339922_image47.png" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="content-img" src="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/1577339922_image47.png" width="350" caption="false" style="float: right;" /></a></h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>During the visit, India and Croatia signed<strong> four Memorandum of Understandings: two in culture, one each in tourism, and sports.</strong></li>
<li>President of India was also conferred with <strong>Croatia's highest civilian award - the Grand Order of the King of Tomislav.</strong></li>
<li>The two countries also agreed to work together to develop a<strong> strong global response to defeat terrorism</strong> in all its forms and manifestations.</li>
</ul>
<h3>India-Croatia Relations</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Relations between India and Croatia have been friendly since the days of the former Yugoslavia.
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>The Breakup of Yugoslavia occurred as a result of a series of political upheavals and conflicts during the early 1990s.</li>
<li>Disintegration gave birth to six new countries namely:<strong> Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia.&nbsp;</strong></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Josip Broz Tito who was president of Yugoslavia for more than three decades maintained close relations with the then Indian leadership.</li>
<li><strong>Indian PM Jawaharlal Nehru and Tito were also pioneers of the Non-Aligned Movement.</strong></li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Non-Aligned Movement</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The Non-Aligned Movement was formed during the Cold War as an organization of States that <strong>did not seek to formally align themselves with either the two superpower blocs United States or the Soviet Union</strong> but sought to <strong>remain independent or neutral.</strong></li>
<li>Key role in this process was played by:
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><strong>Gamal Abdel Nasser,</strong> Head of&nbsp;State of Egypt</li>
<li><strong>Kwame Nkrumah,</strong> President of Ghana,</li>
<li><strong>Jawaharlal Nehru,</strong> Prime Minister of India,</li>
<li><strong>Ahmed Sukarno</strong>, President of Indonesia</li>
<li><strong>Josip Broz Tito,</strong> President of Yugoslavia,</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>These leaders later became the founding fathers of the movement.</li>
<li>The basic concept for the group originated in 1955 during discussions that took place at the Asia-Africa Bandung Conference held in Indonesia.</li>
</ul>
</div>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Croatia is an<strong> important Central European country from the point of view of its geo-strategic location,</strong> membership of the <strong>European Union and the NATO,</strong> as well as being a significant <strong>Gateway to Europe through the Adriatic coastline.</strong></li>
<li>India-Croatian relations are characterized by historical connections links between India and Croatia dating back to the 16th century.</li>
<li>Croatian people have a deep interest in India. The Indology department in the University of Zagreb has existed for over six decades and an Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) Hindi chair was set up there a decade ago.</li>
<li>The bilateral trade relations between India and Croatia are modest at around 200 million US Dollars in 2017.</li>
<li>But there is a good scope for trade in sectors like textile, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, engineering goods, food processing among others.</li>
<li>Croatia has a sound scientific and technological base in niche sectors, such as shipbuilding, vaccines, renewable energy, and defense.</li>
</ul>',
		'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
		'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/presidents-visit-to-croatia'
	],
	(int) 6 => [
		'title' => 'Important Facts For Prelims (28th March 2019)',
		'catname' => 'News Analysis',
		'desc' => '<h3>Turing Award, 2018</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>The 2018 Turing Award has been given to a trio of researchers who laid the foundations for the current boom in Artificial Intelligence (AI).</strong></li>
<li><strong>Yoshua Bengio, Geoffrey Hinton, and Yann LeCun &mdash;</strong> sometimes called the &lsquo;Godfathers of AI&rsquo; &mdash; have been recognized with the annual prize <strong>for their work developing the AI subfield of deep learning.</strong></li>
<li>Turing Award (A.M. Turing Award) is an annual award given by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) to one or more individuals &ldquo;selected for contributions of a technical nature made to the computing community.&rdquo;</li>
<li>The award is <strong>jointly funded by the Intel Corporation and Google Inc.</strong></li>
<li>The Turing Award is often referred to as the <strong>computer science equivalent of the Nobel Prize.</strong></li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Deep Learning</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Deep learning is a machine learning technique that <strong>teaches computers to do what comes naturally to humans: learn by example.</strong></li>
<li>Deep learning is a key technology behind <strong>driverless cars, enabling them to recognize a stop sign or to distinguish a pedestrian from a lamppost.</strong> It is the key to voice control in<strong> consumer devices like phones, tablets, TVs, and hands-free speakers.</strong></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), an international organization for computer science and information technology professionals</strong> and, since <strong>1960, institutions associated with the field.</strong></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Dr. A.M. Turing</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Alan Mathison Turing (1912-1954) was a <strong>British mathematician and logician, who made major contributions to mathematics, cryptanalysis, logic, philosophy, and mathematical biology</strong> and also to the new areas later named computer science, cognitive science, artificial intelligence, and artificial life.</li>
</ul>
</div>
<h3>Rupee Interest Rate Derivatives</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The Reserve Bank has <strong>allowed non-residents to participate in the rupee interest rate derivatives</strong> segment with a view to <strong>deepen the rupee interest rate swap (IRS) market.</strong></li>
<li>The non-residents can undertake rupee interest rate derivative transactions on recognised stock exchanges, electronic trading platforms and over the counter markets.</li>
<li>A non-resident will be allowed to undertake transactions in the rupee interest rate derivatives markets to<strong> hedge an exposure to rupee interest rate risk and other specified purposes.</strong></li>
<li>The exercise is aimed at<strong> increasing participation of non-residents in the domestic market.</strong> This will also <strong>stabilise Indian Rupee against Dollar.</strong></li>
<li>An interest-rate derivative is a financial instrument with a value that <strong>increases and decreases based on movements in interest rates.</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Interest-rate derivatives are <strong>often used as hedges by institutional investors, banks, companies and individuals to protect themselves against changes in market interest rates</strong></li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>',
		'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
		'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/important-facts-for-prelims-28th-march-2019'
	],
	(int) 7 => [
		'title' => 'Mission Shakti',
		'catname' => 'News Analysis',
		'desc' => '<p>India has tested the Anti-Satellite System(A-SAT) from<strong> Dr A P J Abdul Kalam Island</strong>, formerly known as Wheeler Island, an island off the coast of Odisha.<a href="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/1577340433_image33.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="content-img" src="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/1577340433_image33.jpg" style="float: right;" width="582" caption="false" /></a></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The test was <strong>named as Mission Shakti</strong>.</li>
<li>It has successfully destroyed a live satellite in the Low Earth Orbit(an altitude of 300 km).</li>
<li>With this test India is now in the league of three countries after the U.S., Russia, and China to have such technology.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Anti-satellite (ASAT) System</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>It is <strong>missile-based system</strong> to attack moving satellites.</li>
<li>It is of 2 kinds&mdash; based on launching from the ground or from planes.</li>
<li>Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has -developed Anti-satellite (ASAT)completely indigenously.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Significance</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>A large number of crucial applications are now satellite-based. These include navigation systems, communication networks, broadcasting, banking systems, stock markets, weather forecasting, disaster management, land and ocean mapping and monitoring tools, and military applications.</li>
<li>Destroying a satellite would render these applications useless. I<strong>t can cripple enemy infrastructure</strong>, and without causing any threat to human lives.</li>
<li>It was aimed at strengthening the capability to safeguard space assets and India&rsquo;s overall security.</li>
</ul>
<h3>International Reactions on ASAT Test</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>China</strong> has said that it hopes that all countries would <strong>uphold peace and tranquillity in the outer-space</strong>.</li>
<li><strong>Pakistan</strong> has said that Space is the common heritage of mankind and every nation has the responsibility to avoid actions which <strong>can lead to the militarization of this arena</strong>.</li>
<li><strong>US</strong> has said that it will continue to pursue shared interests in space and scientific and technical cooperation with India, including collaboration on safety and security in space. However, it <strong>expressed concern over the issue of space debris</strong>.</li>
<li>India&rsquo;s Stand:
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Ministry of External Affairs has stated that India is against the weaponization of Outer Space and supports international efforts <strong>to reinforce the safety and security of space based assets</strong>.</li>
<li>India has always maintained that space must be used only for peaceful purposes.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<h3>International treaties Regarding Outer Space</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>UN Outer Space Treaty 1967</strong>: It prohibits only weapons of mass destruction in outer space, not ordinary weapons. India ratified it in 1982.</li>
<li><strong>UN Transparency and Confidence Building Measures(TCBMs)</strong>-It includes registering space objects with the UN register, pre-launch notifications etc. India is sharing these details with UN.</li>
<li><strong>Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee (IADC)</strong> is an international governmental forum for the worldwide coordination of activities related to the issues of man-made and natural debris in space.
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>India participates in IADC-activities with regard to space debris management, undertaking SOPA (Space Object Proximity Awareness and COLA (Collision Avoidance) Analysis.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>India has supported UN resolution on <strong>No First Placement of Weapons on Outer Space</strong>.</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Low Earth orbit</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>A Low Earth Orbit is an Earth-centered orbit with an altitude of 2,000 km or less.</li>
<li>Most of the manmade objects in space are in LEO.</li>
</ul>
</div>',
		'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
		'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/mission-shakti'
	],
	(int) 8 => [
		'title' => 'A Bridge to Nowhere',
		'catname' => 'News Editorials',
		'desc' => '<div class="border">
<p>(This editorial is based on the article <a href="https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/a-bridge-to-nowhere/article26646131.ece" target="_blank" rel="noopener">'A Bridge to Nowhere'</a> which appeared in &lsquo;The Hindu&rsquo; on 27th March, 2019. The article talks about the faulty method of providing Direct Benefit Transfer to beneficiaries and the issues in (APBS) Aadhaar Payment Bridge System).</p>
</div>
<p>Instances of &ldquo;Diverted Payment&rdquo; are not a new phenomenon whereby bank payments are redirected to wrong accounts, without the recipient&rsquo;s consent or knowledge. One cannot forget the mass diversion of LPG subsidies to Airtel wallets that came to light in 2017.</p>
<p>While the issue got resolved swiftly with money being returned and Airtel penalised, what has escaped attention is that diverted payments have become a widespread problem in recent years.</p>
<p>The problem is not as huge for middle class as it is for powerless people such as old-age pensioners and Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) workers. The main culprit to be blamed is the Aadhaar Payment Bridge System (APBS).</p>
<h3>Aadhaar Payment Bridge System (APBS)</h3>
<p>APBS is a gateway created by National Payments Corporation of India to enable departments and agencies administering government schemes to transfer funds to Aadhaar-enabled bank accounts of beneficiaries.</p>
<p>The basic idea of the APBS comes from the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI); it acts on the principle that a person&rsquo;s Aadhaar number becomes their financial address. Instead of providing multiple account details to receive a bank transfer, one only has to provide their Aadhaar number which significantly eases out the entire process.</p>
<p>Induction of a bank account into APBS involves two distinct steps, both of which are meant to be based on informed consent. First, the account must be linked or &lsquo;Seeded&rsquo; with the customer&rsquo;s Aadhaar number.</p>
<p>Second, it must be connected to the NPCI mapper, which serves as a repository of Aadhaar numbers linked with particular bank and used for the purpose of routing the Aadhaar based payment transactions to the destination banks. This step is known as &ldquo;mapping&rdquo;.</p>
<p>In cases of multiple accounts for the same person, the APBS automatically sends money to the latest-mapped account.</p>
<h3>Benefits of APBS</h3>
<p><strong>It sub-serves the goal of financial inclusion and provides an opportunity to the government to attempt financial re-engineering of its subsidy management program.</strong> The implementation of ABP System has also led to <strong>electronification of a large number of retail payment transaction</strong> which were predominantly either in cash or cheque.</p>
<p><strong>It eliminates inordinate delays, multiple channels &amp; paper-work</strong> involved in the existing system making the process <strong>less cumbersome and eco-friendly</strong> and transfers benefits &amp; subsidies in a seamless &amp; timely manner and directly into the Aadhaar Enabled Bank Account.</p>
<p>Customers are not required to open multiple bank accounts for receiving benefits and subsidies of various social welfare schemes &ndash; customers just need to open one account and seed his/her Aadhaar number in the bank account to start receiving benefits and subsidies directly into his/her Aadhaar Enabled Bank Account.</p>
<p>APBS transfers are seen to be effective in removing fake beneficiaries and duplicates and thus minimise leakage of funds to unintended beneficiaries.</p>
<p>However the system is affected by many problems which instead of smoothening transactional process have increased the woes of poor and destitute. The most affected remain the old age people who are helpless and suffer the most.</p>
<h3>Haphazard Implementation</h3>
<p>In the backdrop of launching Jan Dhan Yojana, millions of bank accounts were opened and seeded with Aadhaar in a hasty manner, while some accounts certainly served a purpose; many others were superfluous and created a confusing multiplicity of accounts. More importantly many a times Aadhaar numbers were linked with these accounts without proper verification.</p>
<p>With multiple government schemes such as pensions, scholarships, subsidies, MGNREGA wages, and so on &mdash; under the Aadhaar payments umbrella, due verification once again took the back seat.</p>
<p>To counter the menace of faulty verification, banks made e-KYC (electronically Knowing Your Costumer) compulsory which turned out as a nightmare for poor people, for a number of reasons such as problems of biometric authentication, inconsistencies between the Aadhaar database and the bank database etc.</p>
<h3>Institutional Challenges</h3>
<p>Diverted payments are not the only problem associated with the APBS. There are others, discussed elsewhere, such as rejected payments &mdash; another nightmare for powerless DBT recipients.</p>
<p>Biggest challenge surrounding the system however is forcing it on millions of poor and underprivileged without consent.</p>
<p>The induction of an Aadhaar-seeded account into the APBS should be based on an explicit request from the customer according to NCPI and UIDAI guidelines which gives a measure of protection to educated middle-class customers.</p>
<p>For poor people, however, consent is fiction as there have been multiple cases where bank accounts have been mass-mapped onto the APBS without any semblance of consent, with or without e-KYC being completed &mdash; in other words, without necessarily verifying that an account has been correctly seeded with Aadhaar.</p>
<p>The two steps of seeding and mapping are essentially confused with same thing, based on default options and symbolic consent, this premature and coercive imposition of the APBS has resulted in a serious problem of transferring subsidies or pensions in accounts to which beneficiary is completely unrelated.</p>
<p>Instances of elderly people dying of hunger after their pensions were diverted by the APBS to someone else&rsquo;s account have surfaced in great numbers, particularly in Jharkhand.</p>
<p>The system suffers from pervasive lack of accountability making it a very opaque payment system and few people have a clear understanding of it. People usually have no recourse and are left peddling in various offices.</p>
<p>Even with the best of intentions, bank managers are not able to help them in the absence of guidelines for resolving payment problems. Most importantly nothing seems to disturb the agencies that are promoting the APBS and related financial technologies and continue to exhibit lackadaisical attitude in resolving these issues.</p>
<h3>Way Forward</h3>
<p>Responsibilities should be clearly assigned in enforcing the consent norms and other guidelines issued by the NPCI.</p>
<p>The RBI may be the nominal regulator, but the real action is at the NPCI, the UIDAI and other strongholds of the Aadhaar lobby and accordingly accountability should be assigned where any negligence should not go unnoticed.</p>
<p>Supreme Court&rsquo;s recent judgement in the Aadhaar case makes Aadhaar mandatory for availing facilities of welfare schemes and government subsidies as it empowers the poor and marginalised.</p>
<p><em><strong>However, the pathologies of the APBS continue to cause havoc on the ground and there&rsquo;s a need to make this system foolproof without which it will continue to haunt the poor and elderly- the target beneficiaries.</strong></em></p>',
		'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
		'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-editorials/a-bridge-to-nowhere'
	],
	(int) 9 => [
		'title' => 'Important Facts For Prelims (27th March 2019)',
		'catname' => 'News Analysis',
		'desc' => '<h3>Mountaineering Expedition to Mt. Makalu</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Indian Army has launched</strong> its maiden expedition to Mount Makalu in <span>Mar-May 2019</span>.</li>
<li>Mt Makalu is considered amongst the most dangerous peaks and summiting the peak is considered extremely challenging due to inclement weather conditions and freezing temperatures.</li>
<li>As a precursor to it, an expedition to Mount Kamet (7756m), Joshimath District Chamoli, Uttarakhand was conducted under the aegis of Army Adventure Wing in August-September 2018.</li>
<li>Mt. Makalu is fifth highest Peak on the Earth with its height 8,463m. <strong>Mt. Makalu</strong> resides in the eastern Himalayas range just 19 Km southeast of the giant Mt. Everest <strong>on the border of Nepal and China</strong>.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Poverty in India</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>India reduced its poverty rate sharply<strong> from 55% to 28% in ten years between 2005-06 and 2015-16</strong>, according to the <a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/multidimensional-poverty-index-by-undp-and-ophi" target="_blank" rel="noopener">global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI)</a>. In absolute terms, a total of 271 million (27.10 crores) people moved out of poverty during these ten years.</li>
<li>The traditionally disadvantaged sub-groups such as rural dwellers, lower castes and tribes, Muslims and young children are still the poorest in 2015-16.</li>
<li>However, these groups had the biggest reductions between 2005-06 and 2015-16, showing that they have been &ldquo;catching up&rdquo;.</li>
<li>Significantly, this trend marks a <strong>reversal from that observed from 1998-99 to 2005-06</strong>. During 1998-99 to 2005-06, these groups had the slowest progress and were left behind.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Employee Stock Purchase Scheme</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Recently the Public Sector Banks have raised or are in the process of <strong>raising around Rs 5,000 crore from employees</strong> through the employee stock purchase scheme (ESPS).</li>
<li>An employee stock purchase scheme (ESPS) is a company-run program in which participating employees can purchase company shares at a discounted price.</li>
<li>Companies often reward their employees with their stock, either in the form of employee stock option plans (Esops) or employee stock purchase schemes (ESPSs).</li>
<li>Esops are stock options granted to employees over a vesting period, where the employee is given the right to purchase the company&rsquo;s shares at a predetermined price or the exercise price.</li>
<li><strong>ESPSs allow employees to use their salary to purchase the stock</strong> of the company, usually at a discounted price. Unlike Esops, ESPS holders do not have any <g class="gr_ gr_55 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Punctuation only-del replaceWithoutSep" id="55" data-gr-id="55">option,</g> but are mandated to pay the exercise price usually by way of monthly deductions from their salary.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Asia-Pacific Group on Money Laundering</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>After Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey-listed Pakistan, Asia-Pacific Group on Money Laundering is also<strong> considering grey-listing Pakistan</strong>.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Asia-Pacific Group(APG)</strong></p>
<div class="bg-border">
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The<strong> APG is the FATF-style regional body for the Asia-Pacific region</strong>. It is an inter-governmental organization founded in 1997.</li>
<li>The Asia/Pacific Group consists of 41 members including India, focused on ensuring that its members effectively implement the international standards against money laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation financing related to weapons of mass destruction.</li>
<li>APG was founded in the Bangkok, Thailand on February 1997 as an autonomous regional anti-money laundering body by unanimous agreement among 13 original founding members.</li>
</ul>
<p></p>
</div>',
		'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
		'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/important-facts-for-prelims-27th-march-2019'
	],
	(int) 10 => [
		'title' => 'NITI Aayog : Digital Payments Trends, Issues and Opportunities',
		'catname' => 'Summary of Important Reports',
		'desc' => '<p>A Committee on Digital Payments was constituted by Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance in August 2016 under Chairmanship of <strong>Ratan P. Watal</strong> to inter-alia recommend medium term measures of promotion of Digital Payments Ecosystem in the country. It submitted its final report to Finance Minister in December 2016.</p>
<h3>Digital Payments</h3>
<p>The Payment and Settlement Act, 2007 has defined Digital Payments, as any "electronic funds transfer" that is any transfer of funds which is initiated by a person by way of instruction, authorization or order to a bank to debit or credit an account maintained with that bank through electronic means and includes point of sale transfers; automated teller machine transactions, direct deposits or withdrawal of funds, transfers initiated by telephone, internet and, card payment.</p>
<h3>Segments of Payment Systems</h3>
<p>The payment system could be bifurcated into two main segments.</p>
<ol>
<li>Instruments which are covered under Systemically Important Financial Market Infrastructure (SIFMIs),</li>
<li>Retail Payments.</li>
</ol>
<p><strong>Systemically Important Financial Market Infrastructure (SI-FMI)</strong></p>
<p><strong>Financial Market Infrastructure (FMI):</strong> It is defined as a multilateral system among participating institutions, including the operator of the system, used for the purposes of clearing, settling, or recording payments, securities, derivatives, or other financial transactions.</p>
<p><strong>Under SIFMI,</strong> new standards (called principles) are designed to ensure that the essential financial market infrastructure(FMI) supporting global financial markets is even more robust and thus even better placed to withstand financial shocks than at present.</p>
<p>Under this segment (SIFMI) there are <strong>four instruments of payments</strong>:</p>
<ol>
<li><strong>RTGS:</strong> Real Time Gross Settlement is defined as the continuous (real-time) settlement of fund transfers individually on an order by order basis (without netting). 'Real Time' means the processing of instructions at the time they are received rather than at some later time; 'Gross Settlement' means the settlement of fund transfer instructions occurs individually (on an instruction by instruction basis). This system is primarily meant for large value transactions. The minimum amount to be remitted through RTGS is ` 2 lakh. For inter-bank fund transfer there is no floor.</li>
<li><strong>CBLO:</strong> Collateralized Borrowing and Lending Obligation (CBLO) is a money market instrument developed by Clearing Corporation of India Ltd. (CCIL), introduced in 2003. This represents an obligation between a borrower and a lender to the terms and conditions of a loan. It also does not entail physical transfer of respective securities from borrower to lender or vice versa.</li>
<li><strong>Government Securities:</strong> A Government Security (G-Sec) is a tradeable instrument issued by the Central Government or the State Governments.</li>
<li><strong>Forex Clearing:</strong> The term &lsquo;Forex&rsquo; stands for Foreign Exchange. In simple terms it is the trading in currencies from different countries against each other. In India the settlement of Forex transactions is done by CCIL which was started in 2002.</li>
</ol>
<p><strong>Retail Payments</strong></p>
<p>Under the Retail Payments segment which has a large user base, there are <strong>three broad categories</strong> of instruments. They are <strong>(1) Paper Clearing, (2) Retail Electronic Clearing, (3) and Card Payments</strong>. The instruments under these three categories are discussed below:</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Cheque Truncation System (CTS):</strong> CTS or online image-based cheque clearing system is a cheque clearing system undertaken by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for faster clearing of cheques. It eliminates the associated cost of movement of physical cheques.</li>
<li><strong>Non-MICR:</strong> The Non-MICR clearing refers to the process of manual clearing of cheques where the cheque is physically moved between the bank branches/banks for clearing. MICR (magnetic ink character recognition) is a technology used to verify the legitimacy or originality of paper documents, especially checks.</li>
<li><strong>ECS DR/CR:</strong> ECS (Electronic Clearing System) is an electronic mode of payment / receipt for transactions that are repetitive and periodic in nature. DR/CR is &lsquo;Debit Record or Credit Record&rsquo;. ECS facilitates bulk transfer of monies from one bank account to many bank accounts or vice versa. ECS includes transactions processed under National Automated Clearing House (NACH) operated by National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).</li>
<li><strong>NEFT:</strong> National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT) is a nation-wide payment system facilitating one-to-one funds transfer. Under this scheme, individuals, firms and corporates can electronically transfer funds from any bank branch to any individual, firm or corporate having an account with any other bank branch in the country participating in the scheme.</li>
<li><strong>IMPS:</strong> Immediate Payment Service (IMPS) offers an instant 24X7 interbank electronic fund transfer service through mobile phones. IMPS is an emphatic tool to transfer money instantly within banks across India <strong>through mobile, internet and ATM</strong>. It is offered by National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).</li>
<li><strong>UPI:</strong> Unified Payments Interface (UPI) is a system that powers multiple bank accounts into a single mobile application (of any participating bank), merging several banking features, seamless fund routing &amp; merchant payments into one hood.</li>
<li><strong>*99#:</strong> USSD based mobile banking service of NPCI was initially launched in November 2012. The service had limited reach and only two TSPs (Telecom Service Provider) were offering this service i.e. MTNL &amp; BSNL. Understanding the importance of mobile banking in financial inclusion, *99# was dedicated to the nation by Hon&rsquo;ble Prime minister on 28th August 2014, as part of &lsquo;Pradhan Manti Jan Dhan Yojna&rsquo;.</li>
<li><strong>USSD</strong> (Unstructured Supplementary Service Data) is a Global System for Mobile (GSM) communication technology that is used to send text between a mobile phone and an application program in the network.</li>
<li><strong>NACH:</strong> &ldquo;National Automated Clearing House (NACH)&rdquo; is a service offered by NPCI to banks which aims at facilitating interbank high volume, low value debit/credit transactions, which are repetitive and electronic in nature. It allows participating banks for <strong>centralized posting</strong> of inward debit/credit transactions and is run by NPCI.</li>
<li><strong>Credit Card:</strong> A credit card is a card issued by a financial company which enables the cardholder to borrow funds. The issuer pre-sets borrowing limits which have a basis on the individual's credit rating. These cards can be used domestically and internationally and can also be used to withdraw cash from an ATM and for transferring funds to bank accounts, debit cards and prepaid cards within the country.</li>
<li><strong>Debit Cards:</strong> A debit card is a <strong>payment card</strong> that deducts money directly from a consumer&rsquo;s bank account to pay for a purchase and eliminate the need to carry cash or physical checks to make purchases. In addition, they offer the convenience of credit cards for small negative balances that might be incurred if the account holder has signed up for overdraft coverage. However, debit cards usually have daily purchase limits.</li>
<li><strong>Pre-Paid Instruments (PPIs):</strong> PPIs are <strong>payment</strong> instruments that facilitate purchase of goods and services, including financial services, remittance facilities, etc., <strong>against the value stored on such instruments</strong>. PPIs are classified under three types:
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><strong>Closed System PPIs:</strong> These PPIs are issued by an entity for facilitating the purchase of goods and <strong>services from that entity only</strong> and <strong>do not permit cash withdrawal</strong>.</li>
<li><strong>Semi-closed System PPIs:</strong> These PPIs are used for purchase of goods and services, including financial services, remittance facilities, etc., at a group of clearly identified merchant locations/establishments which have a specific contract with the issuer (or contract through a payment aggregator/payment gateway) to accept the PPIs as payment instruments. These instruments <strong>do not permit cash withdrawal</strong>.</li>
<li><strong>Open System PPIs:</strong> These PPIs are issued only by banks and are used at any merchant for purchase of goods and services, including financial services, remittance facilities, etc. Banks issuing such PPIs shall <strong>also facilitate cash withdrawal</strong> at ATMs/Point of Sale (PoS)/Business Correspondents (BCs).</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<h3>Evolution of Digital Payments in India</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>India&rsquo;s digital payments system - has been evolving robustly over the past many years, spurred by <strong>developments in information and communication technology,</strong> and fostered in consonance with the <strong>path envisioned by the Reserve Bank of India</strong>.</li>
<li><strong>National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI)</strong> was established in 2008&ndash;has been spearheading the development of the <strong>retail payments system</strong>.</li>
<li>Important milestones attained in process of development of the payments system include:
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Introduction of <strong>MICR clearing</strong> in the early 1980s. It is online image-based cheque clearing system where cheque images and magnetic ink character recognition (MICR) data are captured at the collecting bank branch and transmitted electronically.</li>
<li>Electronic Clearing Service and Electronic Funds Transfer in the 1990s.</li>
<li>Issuance of credit and debit cards by banks in the 1990s.</li>
<li>National Financial Switch in 2003 that brought about interconnectivity of ATMs across the country.</li>
<li>RTGS and NEFT in 2004.</li>
<li>Cheque Truncation System (CTS) in 2008. Cheque Truncation System (CTS) or Image-based Clearing System (ICS) is for faster clearing of cheques. Cheque truncation means <strong>stopping the flow of the physical cheques</strong> issued by a drawer to the drawee branch.</li>
<li>'Card not present' transaction in 2009. It is most commonly used for <strong>payments made over Internet,</strong> but also mail-order transactions by mail or fax, or over the telephone.</li>
<li>New RTGS with enhanced features in 2013 that required banks to adopt ISO 20022 standard messaging formats. The objective of <strong>introducing ISO 20022 standard message format</strong> for payment system is to bring about standardisation in the messaging formats for various payment systems in the country and to conform to international standard.</li>
<li><strong>Non-bank entities</strong> have been introduced in the issuance of pre-paid instruments (PPI), including mobile and digital wallets. <strong>BHIM</strong> (Bharat Interface for Money) is a <strong>mobile payment App</strong> developed by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), based on the Unified Payments Interface (UPI).</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>These developments capture the evolution of the Digital Payments ecosystem in the country. It resulted in setting up <strong>Committee of Digital Payments</strong> in 2016 under the Chairmanship of Shri. Ratan P. Watal, Principal Adviser, NITI Aayog.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Trends during 2016-17 and 2017-18</h3>
<p>The demonetization in early November 2016 and other series of measures announced by the Government and the RBI to promote the movement from cash to non-cash modes of transactions impacted the volume and value of payments systems.</p>
<p><strong>Volume: Instrument Wise Growth Trends (Data source &ndash; RBI)</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Transactions relating to <strong>IMPS, PPI and Debit card</strong> had exhibited growth rates in triple digits in the year 2016-17. This growth trend however has slowed down in 2017-18 and all these instruments exhibited double digit growth.</li>
<li><strong>UPI</strong> has grown multi-fold in the year 2017-18 and touched 915.2 mn transactions in 2017-18. This instrument had minimal presence in year 2016-17.</li>
<li><strong>The volume of paper clearing</strong> had been persistently showing <strong>negative growth</strong> throughout the year 2017-18 compared to the positive growth in 2016-17.</li>
<li><strong>NEFT</strong> volumes had showed an impressive increase in 2016-17. It continued to grow in 2017-18 albeit a slower pace.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>New Modes of Digital Payments</strong></p>
<p>In addition to UPI which was introduced recently, several other modes have been introduced by NPCI.</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS):</strong> Bharat Bill Payment System is a tiered structure for operating a <strong>unified bill payment system</strong>. NPCI functions as the authorised Bharat Bill Payment Central Unit <strong>(BBPCU),</strong> which is responsible for setting business standards, rules and procedures for technical and business requirements for all the participants. Under BBPS the Bharat Bill Payment Operating Units <strong>(BBPOUs)</strong> will function as entities facilitating collection of repetitive payments for everyday utility services, <strong>such as, electricity, water, gas, telephone and Direct-to-Home (DTH)</strong>.</li>
<li><strong>Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM):</strong> Bharat Interface for Money is a mobile application that enables simple, easy and quick payment transactions using Unified Payments Interface (UPI). Instant bank-to-bank payments and Pay and Collect Options are facilitated using just Mobile number and Virtual Payment Address (VPA). The application was launched by NPCI.</li>
<li><strong>Bharat Quick Response Code Solution (Bharat QR):</strong> An interoperable solution for QR code, developed by NPCI, MasterCard and Visa. Merchants can display these QR codes at their premises and customers can pay through linked account by scanning these QR codes via Bharat QR enabled application in an interoperable environment.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Growth Drivers for Digital Payments</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>In 2017-18, the <strong>Volume segment</strong> in Digital Payments is <strong>dominated by Debit Cards, PPIs and IMPS</strong>. These, together constitute close to 50 % of the total volume of Digital Payments. Their combined share in 2011-12 was about 14%.</li>
<li>In 2017-18, Value segment is <strong>dominated by RTGS and NEFT</strong>. These together constitute about 53 % of the total value of Digital Payments, which is almost same as in 2011-12.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Authorized Payment Service Providers</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Reserve Bank of India under the <strong>Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007</strong> issues Certificates of Authorization for Setting up and Operating <strong>Payment System</strong> in India.</li>
<li>Regulations for Authorisation process:
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Board for Regulation and Supervision of Payment and Settlement Systems Regulations, 2008.</li>
<li>Payment and Settlement Systems Regulations, 2008.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>The 58 banks permitted to issue pre-paid cards in India as on 22nd June 2018.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Digital Payments Service Charges</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>RTGS Service Charges:</strong> These charges would consist of monthly membership fee and processing charges per transaction.</li>
<li><strong>NEFT Service Charges:</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><strong>Inward transactions</strong> at destination bank branches (for credit to beneficiary accounts) &ndash; Free, no charges to be levied on beneficiaries.</li>
<li><strong>Outward transactions</strong> at originating bank branches &ndash; charges applicable for the remitter. Originating banks are required to pay a nominal charge of 25 paise each per transaction to the clearing house as well as destination bank as service charge. However, these charges cannot be passed on to the customers by the banks.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>PPI/Mobile Banking/IMPS/USSD:</strong> No charges are prescribed by RBI and the charges are determined by the entity. As a temporary measure, it was decided that all participating banks and Prepaid Instrument (PPI) issuers would not levy any charges on customers for transactions up to Rs. 1000 settled on the Immediate Payment Service (IMPS). Also, <strong>no charges are levied on USSD-based *99#</strong> and Unified Payment Interface (UPI) systems.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Policy Initiatives</h3>
<p>In <strong>Union Budget 2017-18, major policy announcements</strong> were made by the Finance Minister for promoting Digital Payments.</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Amendment of <strong>Payment and Settlement Systems (PSS) Act, 2007</strong> for structural reforms in the payment ecosystem is under process.</li>
<li>BHIM:
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>For promotion of the BHIM app, the Government has approved two promotional schemes namely &lsquo;Referral Bonus scheme for individuals&rsquo; and &lsquo;Cash-back scheme for merchants&rsquo;.</li>
<li>For promotion of BHIM Aadhaar, a promotional scheme with total outlay of Rs 395 under the name &lsquo;DIGIDHAN MISSION&rsquo; has been established.</li>
<li><strong>BHIM Aadhaar Pay</strong> was launched by government of India on 14th April, 2017 as a merchant based mobile application for accepting payments from customers.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Financial Inclusion Fund:
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>3 BHIM schemes i.e. &lsquo;BHIM Referral Bonus scheme for individuals&rsquo;, &lsquo;BHIM Cashback scheme for merchants&rsquo; and &lsquo;BHIM Aadhaar Merchant Incentive scheme&rsquo;.</li>
<li>Financial Inclusion Fund of NABARD is proposed to be augmented with Rs. 439.202 crore.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Major policy initiatives have been taken by RBI</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>NEFT system &ndash; Settlement at half-hourly intervals</strong> instead of hourly from 8:00 am to 7:00 pm on all working days.</li>
<li><strong>Master Directions on Prepaid Payment Instruments (PPIs):</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>RBI had issued guidelines for issuance and operations of prepaid payment instruments (PPIs) in 2009 in order to foster an orderly development of the PPI ecosystem.</li>
<li>Based on past experience, Master Directions on the subject was placed in the public domain for comments on March 20, 2017 and decided to rationalize the operational guidelines to encourage competition and innovation, and strengthening safety and security of operations, besides improving customer grievance redressal mechanisms.</li>
<li>Revised framework will pave the way for bringing inter-operability amongst KYC compliant PPIs.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Rationalisation of Merchant Discount Rate (MDR):</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>MDR applicable on debit card transactions has been rationalized based on the category of merchants with effect from July 2011.
<ul style="list-style-type: disc;">
<li>Small Merchants (with turnover up to Rs. 20 lakh last financial year), MDR Not exceeding 0.40% (MDR cap of rupees Rs. 200 per transaction).</li>
<li>Other Merchants (with turnover more than Rs. 20 lakh last financial year), MDR Not exceeding 0.90% (MDR cap of rupees Rs. 1000 per transaction).</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>The revised MDR aims at achieving the twin objectives of increased usage of debit cards and ensuring sustainability of the business for the entities involved.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Storage of Payment System Data:</strong> With considerable growth in the payment ecosystem and also highly technological dependency, it necessitates the adoption of safety and security measures.
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>All system providers shall ensure that the entire data relating to payment systems operated by them are stored in a system only in India.</li>
<li>System providers shall submit the <strong>System Audit Report (SAR)</strong> conducted by <strong>CERT-IN</strong> (The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team) to RBI.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<h3>Emerging Global Trends</h3>
<p>As per the report of Capgemini on <strong>&lsquo;Trends in Payments 2018&rsquo;</strong>, the Top 5 trends in Digital Payments across the world are as follows:</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Alternate payment channels such as contactless payments fulfill customer demands for convenience and speed and could soon become main-stream.
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><strong>Contactless payments</strong> enable consumers to make everyday purchases quickly and safely especially for low-value transactions. (Contactless payment is a secure method for consumers to purchase products or services via debit, credit or smartcards (also known as chip cards). To make a contactless payment, a person simply needs to tap their card near a point-of-sale terminal &amp; <strong>do not require a signature or a PIN, transactions sizes on cards are limited)</strong>.</li>
<li><strong>Augmented Reality (AR)-integrated payment gateway</strong> delivers a superior customer experience. Mastercard now allows customers to log in to the <strong>mobile payment app Masterpass</strong> by scanning their iris (one of the safest means of facial recognition).</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Banks and Fin-Tech (Financial Technology) companies explore distributed ledger technology to transform cross-border payments.
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>The current cross-border payments model lacks an international clearinghouse and relies on correspondent banks, which causes inefficiency, slow speed, and high cost. As a result, corporate customers are demanding transformation.</li>
<li><strong>A distributed ledger-based cross-border payments model</strong> is expected to result in improved efficiency, enhanced security, and lower costs.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Instant payments &lsquo;new normal&rsquo; for corporate</strong> treasurers, industry: Banks are leveraging instant payments platform to connect with third parties to deliver better digital customer experience and provide innovative products and services to both retail and corporate customers.</li>
<li>As global cyber-attacks rise, regulators focus on data-privacy law compliance:
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Based on estimates, cyber-attacks cost the global economy <strong>1% of annual GDP</strong>.</li>
<li><strong>The cyber insurance industry</strong> grew 35% in 2016 to $1.35 billion in terms of direct written premium, which shows that corporates are looking to protect themselves from liabilities related to cyber-security laws.</li>
<li>Lack of harmonization in cyber-security laws in different countries is a challenge for multinational companies operating across the globe.</li>
<li>Regulators across the world are bringing in new cyber-security regulations and standards which could impose heavy fines, injunctions, audits, even criminal liability on firms for a data breach.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Payments Infrastructure rationalization</strong> is likely through <strong>mergers and acquisitions</strong> to expand the reach of the payments firms, increase their value proposition to meet changing customer expectations, and create customized solutions.</li>
</ul>
<p>(<strong>Capgemini:</strong> A global leader in consulting, technology services and digital transformation, Capgemini is at the forefront of innovation to address the entire breadth of clients&rsquo; opportunities in the evolving world of cloud, digital and platforms.)</p>
<h3>Opportunities</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Mobile payments are expected to grow from US$10 billion in FY18E to US$190 billion by FY23E.</li>
<li>The Digital Payment ecosystem in India is undergoing a transformation with the entry of global tech giants like <strong>Google&rsquo;s payments app</strong> that are acting as aggregators for retail transactions.</li>
<li><strong>Paytm</strong> &ndash; which has 7 million merchants &ndash; now becoming a bank and post the launch of <strong>Google Tez</strong> and <strong>PhonePe</strong>, which are also focusing on merchant payments, <strong>a steep rise in digital payments could be expected</strong>.</li>
<li>While the number of PoS (Point of Sale) terminals has doubled since demonetization, the <strong>merchant acquisition infrastructure</strong> (is a mechanism of providing necessary infrastructure and facilitating payment for goods and services purchased through medium of a card) in India remains weak, as banks have not been able to drive adoption. This sector presents immense opportunities for digital players.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Way Forward</h3>
<p>The different components of Digital Payments have to be comprehensively studied with respect to global best practices and the list of indicators which are universally acceptable and relevant in the current context may be considered by RBI.</p>',
		'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
		'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/summary-of-important-reports/niti-aayog-digital-payments-trends-issues-and-opportunities'
	],
	(int) 11 => [
		'title' => 'Energy Transition Report',
		'catname' => 'News Analysis',
		'desc' => '<p><strong>World Economic Forum</strong> has recently published <strong>Fostering Effective Energy Transition 2019</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The report contains the <strong>Energy Transition Index (ETI),</strong> which compares the energy sectors of 115 countries and analyses their readiness for energy transition.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Report Findings</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Global</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Energy systems have globally become less affordable and less environmentally sustainable than they were five years ago.</li>
<li><strong>Access to energy has improved and currently, less than 1 billion people are living without access to electricity. On average, 135 million people gained access to electricity each year between 2014 and 2016.</strong></li>
<li>The biggest challenge facing attempts to future proof global energy demands is the<strong> lack of readiness among the world&rsquo;s largest emitters.</strong></li>
<li>In 2017, global CO2 emissions grew after remaining stagnant for three years. CO2 emissions from fuel combustion grew in more than half of the countries as demand increased from the residential and transportation sectors.</li>
<li><strong>Coal consumption increased in 2018,</strong> after declining for three years along with an increase in commodity prices and slower-than-needed improvements in energy intensity this has contributed to the slowdown in Energy Transition.</li>
<li><strong>Fossil fuels&rsquo; share of total primary energy supply at 81 percent is constant over the past three decades.</strong></li>
<li>Environmental sustainability of energy production has improved marginally, indicating a general lack of substantive progress.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>India</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><strong>India is amongst the countries with high pollution levels and has a relatively high CO2 emission intensity in its energy system.</strong></li>
<li>Despite this, India has made significant progress in improving energy access in recent years.</li>
<li><strong>India has made fast progress towards universal electrification due to strong political commitment, a stable policy regime, use of grid expansion and decentralized generation sources, and a supportive environment for investment in infrastructure.</strong></li>
<li><strong>Global coal consumption grew in 2017 due to an increase in demand in the Asia-Pacific region, including in India and China.</strong></li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<h3>Energy Transition Index</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Energy transition index ranks countries on how well they are able to balance energy security and access with environmental sustainability and affordability.</strong></li>
<li>ETI has ranked<strong> 115 economies covering 40 indicators</strong>.</li>
<li><strong>Sweden is at the top</strong> followed by Switzerland and Norway in the top three.</li>
<li>Among major economies, the United Kingdom (UK) is ranked seventh. Singapore has been ranked thirteenth, while Germany, Japan, and the US have bagged the seventeenth, eighteenth and the twenty-seventh place respectively.</li>
<li><strong>India has moved up two places from last year to rank 76th on a global energy transition index.</strong></li>
<li>China is ranked lower than India <g class="gr_ gr_56 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Grammar multiReplace" id="56" data-gr-id="56">at</g> the 82nd position.</li>
<li><strong>India is the second best in the BRICS bloc</strong> of emerging economies, with Brazil being the best at 46th place globally.</li>
<li><strong>However, India is the only amongst the five economies to improve its rank since last year.</strong></li>
</ul>',
		'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
		'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/energy-transition-report'
	],
	(int) 12 => [
		'title' => 'New island rules: IPZ 2019',
		'catname' => 'News Analysis',
		'desc' => '<p>The Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has notified Island Protection Zone (IPZ) 2019 for Andaman and Nicobar.</p>
<h3>Purpose</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Changes in the IPZ are aligned with the Niti Aayog's proposal for holistic development in the Islands.</li>
<li>The government&rsquo;s planning to open up the <a href="/to-the-points/paper3/blue-economy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">blue economy</a> and sustainable harnessing of ocean resources.</li>
</ul>
<h3>IPZ 2019</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>It <strong>allows eco-tourism projects 20 meters from the high tide line (HTL)</strong> in smaller islands like Baratang, Havelock, and Car Nicobar.</li>
<li>In case of <strong>larger islands, 50 meters</strong> from the HTL is permitted.</li>
<li>It allows for eco-tourism activities like mangrove walks, tree huts and nature trails in <strong>island coastal regulation zone(ICRZ) IA</strong> (ICRZ 2018: ICRZ IA, provides areas classified as the most eco-sensitive region of the islands which includes turtle nesting grounds, marshes, coral reefs etc)</li>
<li>The notification also allows for construction of roads, roads on stilts by reclaiming land in exceptional cases for defense installations, public utilities or strategic purposes in eco-sensitive zones.</li>
<li>In case construction of such roads pass through mangroves, a minimum three times the mangrove area destroyed during the construction process shall be taken up for c<strong>ompensatory plantation of mangroves</strong> elsewhere.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Concerns over IPZ 2019</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>It brings the norms for Andaman and Nicobar at par with <a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/coastal-regulation-zone-crz-notification-2018" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) 2018</a> norms for other islands close to the mainland and backwater islands where a No Development Zone (NDZ)is only 20 meters from HTL.</li>
<li>Previously, IPZ 2011 stipulated <strong>an NDZ of 200 meters</strong> from the HTL for all islands.</li>
<li><strong>Only pipelines, transmission lines</strong>, trans-harbor links to be laid in the eco-sensitive zone were permitted. <strong>Now road construction is allowed</strong>.</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Note:</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>High tide line (HTL)</strong> is defined as <g class="gr_ gr_39 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Grammar only-ins replaceWithoutSep" id="39" data-gr-id="39">line</g> up to which highest high tide reaches in spring tides.</li>
<li>It is delineated by walking over or remote sensing data or by helicopter survey.</li>
<li>The<strong> Low Tide Line(LTL)</strong> is the limit up to which the lowest low tide recedes during spring tide.</li>
</ul>
</div>',
		'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
		'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/new-island-rules-ipz-2019'
	],
	(int) 13 => [
		'title' => 'Inequality in India',
		'catname' => 'Paper 2',
		'desc' => '<p><a href="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/401Drishti_ias_Inequality.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="content-img" src="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/401Drishti_ias_Inequality.jpg" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" /></a></p>',
		'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
		'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/mind-map/gs-paper2/inequality-in-india-mindmap'
	],
	(int) 14 => [
		'title' => 'Inequality in India',
		'catname' => 'Paper 2',
		'desc' => '<h3>Why in News</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Oxfam International</strong> released its annual inequality report, 2019 report titled <strong>&ldquo;Public good or Private Wealth?&rdquo;</strong> highlighted the stark Income inequality existing in India.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Inequality</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The United Nations describes inequality as &ldquo;the state of not being equal, especially in status, rights and opportunities&rdquo;.</li>
<li>Inequality can be broadly classified in to:
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><strong>Economic inequality:</strong> Economic inequality is the unequal distribution of income and opportunity between individuals or different groups in society.</li>
<li><strong>Social inequality:</strong> It occurs when resources in a given society are distributed unevenly based on norms of a society that creates specific patterns along lines of socially defined categories e.g. religion, kinship, prestige, race, caste, ethnicity, gender etc. have different access to resources of power, prestige and wealth depending on the norms of a society.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Both these categories are deeply intertwined and inequality of one type affects the inequality in another e.g. Social Inequality due to gender have large impact on income of women. In patriarchal societies large gender wage gap tends to exist.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Dimensions of Inequality in India</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>In India, following are distinctive forms of social inequality:</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Gender</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The <strong>Global Gender Gap Report, 2018,</strong> ranks India at <strong>142</strong> among 149 countries.</li>
<li>Four parameters for measuring gender inequality are economic participation and opportunity, health and survival, educational attainment and political empowerment.</li>
<li>Gender wage gap is highest in India according International Labor Organization women are <strong>paid 34% less than men</strong>.</li>
<li>Women comprise over 42 per cent of the agricultural labour force in the country, yet they <strong>own less than 2 percent of its farm land</strong> according to the India Human Development Survey (IHDS).</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Caste</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Caste is significant factor for determining access to resources like education, income, health valued by individuals.</li>
<li>India&rsquo;s upper caste households earned nearly 47% more than the national average annual household income, the top 10% within these castes owned 60% of the wealth within the group in 2012, as per the World Inequality Database.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Religion</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Religious identities are significant for an individual&rsquo;s ability to mobilize resources.</li>
<li>Religious identities can cause prejudices which may lead to economic exclusion and other forms of discrimination which can impact jobs and livelihood opportunities.</li>
<li>While minorities such as Christians, Parsis and Jains have a larger share of income/consumption than their population share, Muslim and Buddhist populations have significantly lower access to economic resources.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Ethnicity</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Tribal communities in India have been identified as ethnic group on the basis of their unique culture, language, dialect, geographical location, customs etc.</li>
<li>The National Family Health Survey 2015-16 (NFHS-4) showed that 45.9% of ST population were in the lowest wealth bracket as compared to 26.6% of SC population, 18.3% of OBCs, 9.7% of other castes.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Economic Inequality</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The 2019 report by Oxfam, titled "Public good or Private Wealth?" showed that India&rsquo;s top 10% holds 77.4% of the total national wealth, while the top 1% holds 51.53% of the wealth.</li>
<li>The bottom 60% population holds only 4.8% of the national wealth.</li>
<li>13.6 crore Indians, who make up the poorest 10% of the country, have continued to remain in debt for the past 15 years.</li>
<li>The Gini coefficient of wealth in India in 2017 is at 0.83, which puts India among the countries with highest inequality countries.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Consequences of Inequalities</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Inequalities tend to <strong>produce social conflict</strong> among the social groups e.g. caste groups like Jaats, Maratha, Patels are demanding reservations but this demand is opposed by caste groups already claiming the benefits of reservations, such clash of interest due to perceived inequality tend to produce violent conflicts between opposing caste groups.</li>
<li>Inequalities among ethnic groups have led to various <strong>ethnic movements</strong> demanding separate states or autonomous regions or even outright secession from India. North East has been rocked by numerous such ethnic movement e.g. by Nagas for greater Nagalim etc.</li>
<li>Religious inequality tends to generate <strong>feeling of exclusion among religious minority groups</strong>. This reduces their participation in mainstream, in India religious minorities have large population their economic exclusion compromises the GDP growth of nation as whole.</li>
<li>Poor development indicators like IMR, MMR, low per capita income, lower education and learning outcomes at schools, high rate of population growth can be traced to existing socio-economic inequalities.</li>
<li>High economic inequality is <strong>detrimental to public healthcare and education</strong>. Upper and Middle classes do not have vested interest in well functioning public healthcare and education as they have means to access private healthcare and education.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Measures to Deal with Inequalities</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Constitutional Provision</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Enforcement of Constitutional Guarantee of equality as enshrined in fundamental rights. <strong>Articles 14, 15 and 16</strong> form part of a scheme of the Constitutional Right to Equality. Article 15 and 16 are incidents of guarantees of Equality, and gives effect to Article 14.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Promoting Civil Society</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Provide a greater voice to traditionally oppressed and suppressed groups, including by enabling civil society groups like unions and association with in these groups.</li>
<li>Scheduled castes and Scheduled tribes should be motivated to become entrepreneurs, schemes like Stand up India need to be expanded to widen its reach by increasing funding.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Women Empowerment</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>For gender equality policies like affirmative action by reserving seats in legislatures, increasing reservation at Local self government both at Urban and village level to 50% in all states, strict implementation of The Equal Remuneration act,1976 to remove wage gap, making education curriculum gender sensitive, raising awareness about women right, changing social norms through schemes like Beti Bachao Beti Padhao etc.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Inclusion of Religious Minorities</strong></li>
<li style="list-style-type: none;">
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Religious minority groups need special attention through representation in government jobs, provision of institutional credit, improvement of their education access, protection of their human rights by empowering National commission for Minority, strengthening rule of law etc.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Progressive Taxes</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Additional public resources for public services by progressive taxes on wealthy more and by increasing the effective taxation on corporations, more importantly broadening the tax base through better monitoring of financial transactions.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Economic Policies</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>By ensuring universal access to public funded high quality services like Public health and education, social security benefits, employment guarantee schemes; inequality can be reduced to great extent.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Employment Generation</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>The failure to grow manufacturing sectors like Textile, Clothing, automobiles, consumer goods etc. is the important reason of rising inequalities.</li>
<li>The Labor-intensive manufacturing has the potential to absorb millions of people who are leaving farming while service sector tend to benefit majorly urban middle class.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<h3>Conclusion</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>India has committed to attaining the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, and to end extreme poverty by that year.</li>
<li>According to Oxfam if India stops inequality from rising further, it could end extreme poverty for 90 million people by 2019. If it goes further and reduces inequality by 36%, it could virtually eliminate extreme poverty.</li>
</ul>
<p><a href="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/622Drishti_ias_Inequality.png" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="content-img" src="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/622Drishti_ias_Inequality.png" /></a></p>',
		'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
		'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/to-the-points/Paper2/inequality-in-india'
	],
	(int) 15 => [
		'title' => 'Paradigm Shift for TB Control',
		'catname' => 'News Editorials',
		'desc' => '<div class="border">
<p>(This editorial is based on the article <a href="https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/paradigm-shift-for-tb-control/article26636685.ece" target="_blank" rel="noopener">'Paradigm Shift for TB Control'</a> which appeared in &lsquo;The Hindu&rsquo; on 26th March, 2019. The article talks about the burden of TB on public health and the shortcomings of various health programs. It also talks about the potential attitudinal change required to combat the disease.)</p>
</div>
<p>World TB Day marks the global resolve in eradicating tuberculosis (TB). While many countries have successfully defeated the disease, it remains the biggest killer in India, outnumbering all other infectious diseases put together &mdash; this despite our battle against it from 1962, when the National TB Programme (NTP) was launched.</p>
<p>In 1978, the Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) began, giving Bacillus Calmette Guerin (BCG) to all babies soon after birth and achieving more than 90% coverage. Yet, when evaluated in 1990, the NTP and the EPI had not reduced India&rsquo;s TB burden.</p>
<p>In 1993, the Revised National TB Control Programme (RNTCP) was launched, offering free diagnosis and treatment for patients, rescuing them from otherwise sure death. However, <strong>treatment is not prevention</strong>. <strong>Prevention is essential for control</strong>.</p>
<h3>The Killer Disease</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>India accounts for about a quarter of the global TB burden. Worldwide India is the country with the highest burden of both TB and Multi Drug Resistance (MDR)TB. There are an estimated 79,000 multi-drug resistant TB patients among the notified cases of pulmonary TB each year.</li>
<li>India has consistently failed in manning the two of the primary routes required to reduce TB incidence and death that are diagnosis and treatment, areas where "large and persistent" gaps remain.</li>
<li>Early symptoms of TB are non-specific, and quite similar to more commonly occurring conditions, such as secondary infections resulting from seasonal flu. Private practitioners rule out other ailments through antibiotic treatment before ordering TB tests. <strong>Delayed TB diagnosis is the biggest risk factor for transmission.</strong></li>
<li>Half of the estimated patients are either unaware that they have TB, or are unreported in the government&rsquo;s e-registry for TB, Nikshay. Infected patients infect others in the community while undiagnosed. TB transmission can&rsquo;t be ended until they are cured.</li>
<li>Non-specific antibiotic courses, multiply the risk manifold, causing the infection to become antibiotic-resistant.</li>
<li>Shortfalls in TB funding are one of the main reasons why progress is not fast enough to be on track to reach the end TB targets</li>
<li>Even when tests and treatment are available for free across all public health centres, and patients can claim a nutritional incentive of ₹500 per month until fully cured, the current decline rate of TB in India is a worrying 1-2%.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Loopholes in National Programs</h3>
<p>Despite starting early with National TB Program and Expanded Program on Immunization in 1960s, the state failed to check the growth of incidence of TB. The main cause of NTP failing was complacency and lack of resources, especially financial.</p>
<p>The Revised National TB Control Program (RNTCP) which has been successful in curing pulmonary TB too falls short of controlling the spread of TB.</p>
<p>In countries with 5-10 cases in a lakh people annually, curing TB sustains the low disease burden. In India, with 200-300 cases in a lakh in a year, curing TB is essential to reduce mortality, but is not sufficient to prevent transmission.</p>
<p>From a time a person becomes infectious to when she/he turns non-infectious by treatment, there is a gap of several weeks during which the infection saturates contacts in the vicinity making more people vulnerable to disease.</p>
<p>It is not possible to diagnose everyone as the disease exhibits common symptoms such as those of cough and flu and sometimes infection also remains silent making the control even more cumbersome.</p>
<p>Rapid expansion of RNTCP has outpaced the capacity of national and state health authorities to supervise the programme and to maintain high quality which has led to decline in case detection and cure rate in some areas. Country also suffers from acute shortage of accredited laboratories.</p>
<p>The program also lacks public participation and fails in allaying superstition and the appalling ignorance in the society about the disease, its spread and causation.</p>
<h3>Way Forward</h3>
<p>TB control requires the slowing down of infection, progression and transmission. Pulmonary TB causes transmission, resulting in infection which leads to progression as TB disease. To transform this vicious cycle into a virtuous cycle of TB control, spiralling down TB prevalence continuously, transmission, infection and progression must be addressed simultaneously.</p>
<p>There is a need to bring change in the health etiquettes in the society through public education for behaviour modification, starting in all schools and continuing through to adults.</p>
<p>One must reduce chances of transmission by insisting that the TB affected should cover their mouth and nose while coughing and sneezing and not to spit in open spaces which are only possible with enhanced Information Education Communication (IEC) activities by providing pamphlets, booklets in simple language to every general patient and public.</p>
<p>Cohorts of schoolchildren (5, 10 and 15 years) can be tested and those Tuberculin Skin Test (TST) positive given preventive treatment. It achieves three results at one go &mdash; an infected child gets preventive treatment and points to adults with undiagnosed TB in the household. Finally, the annual TST positive rate provides an objective measure of annual infection frequency for plotting the control trajectory.</p>
<p>To defeat TB and achieve Indian goal of eradicating TB by 2025, both rigorous and persistent efforts are required. There is a need to develop a strong political will for TB control as <strong>rhetoric and declarations cannot control TB; a strategy of simultaneously using all biomedical and socio-behavioural interventions can</strong>.</p>',
		'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
		'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-editorials/paradigm-shift-for-tb-control'
	],
	(int) 16 => [
		'title' => 'Important Facts For Prelims (26th March 2019)',
		'catname' => 'News Analysis',
		'desc' => '<h3>Trade Receivables e-Discounting System (<g class="gr_ gr_59 gr-alert gr_spell gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim ContextualSpelling ins-del multiReplace" id="59" data-gr-id="59">TReDS</g>)</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>In the recently concluded<a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/fintech-conclave-2019" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong> FinTech Conclave-2019,</strong></a> the Reserve Bank of India Governor termed Invoice trading as another nascent area of <g class="gr_ gr_60 gr-alert gr_spell gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim ContextualSpelling" id="60" data-gr-id="60">fintech</g> application in India.</li>
<li>The RBI has set up the <strong>Trade Receivables Discounting System (TReDs)</strong>, a financing arrangement where technology is leveraged for discounting bills and invoices which<a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/support-and-outreach-initiative-for-msme-sector" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong> assists Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs)</strong></a> to deal with working capital and cash flow problems due to delayed payments.</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Trade Receivables Discounting System (TReDs)</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>It is an institutional setup for facilitating the <strong>financing of trade receivables of MSMEs</strong> from corporate and other buyers, including Government Departments and Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs), through multiple financiers.</li>
<li>It has been set up under the <strong>regulatory framework set up by RBI</strong> under <strong><g class="gr_ gr_45 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Grammar only-ins replaceWithoutSep" id="45" data-gr-id="45">Payment</g> and Settlement Systems Act 2007.</strong></li>
</ul>
</div>
<h3>AUSINDEX- 2019</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>India and Australia will participate in the <strong>third edition of the biennial "AUSINDEX"</strong> exercise that will be held from April 2 to 16 off the coast of <strong>Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh.</strong></li>
<li><g class="gr_ gr_52 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Grammar only-ins doubleReplace replaceWithoutSep" id="52" data-gr-id="52">Focus</g> of the AUSINDEX exercise will be<strong> &ldquo;anti-submarine warfare&rdquo;.</strong> This will be <strong>Australia&rsquo;s largest display of its <g class="gr_ gr_56 gr-alert gr_spell gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim ContextualSpelling multiReplace" id="56" data-gr-id="56">defence</g> assets</strong> since 1947.</li>
<li>Another interesting feature of the exercise will be the <strong>deployment of Australian personnel on Indian ships and vice versa.</strong></li>
<li>The AUSINDEX-2019 will be held as a part of<strong> Australia&rsquo;s Indo-Pacific Endeavour 2019</strong> which will see Australia conducting naval exercises with <strong>7 countries in south and southeast Asia</strong> apparently to increase its profile as a <strong>security provider in the Indian Ocean.</strong></li>
<li>The<strong> first edition of AUSINDEX was held in 2015 off the eastern coast of India</strong>, while the <strong>second edition was conducted off the Western coast of Australia in the year 2017.</strong></li>
</ul>
<h3>GRAPES-3</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>GRAPES-3 muon telescope</strong> has measured the electrical potential, size and height of a thundercloud that passed overhead on December 1, 2014.</li>
<li><strong>GRAPES-3</strong> (<strong>G</strong>amma<strong> R</strong>ay <strong>A</strong>stronomy <strong>P</strong>eV <strong>E</strong>nergieS phase-<strong>3</strong>) is designed to study cosmic rays with an array of <strong>air shower detectors and a large area muon detector.</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong><g class="gr_ gr_63 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Grammar only-ins doubleReplace replaceWithoutSep" id="63" data-gr-id="63">Muon</g></strong> is an elementary particle <strong>similar to the electron,</strong> with an <strong>electric charge of &minus;1 e</strong> and a <strong>spin of 1/2,</strong> but with a much greater mass.<strong></strong></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>The GRAPES-3 experiment <strong>located at Ooty in India</strong> started as a collaboration of the <strong>Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, India</strong> and the <strong>Osaka City University, Osaka, Japan.</strong></li>
</ul>
<h3>Chinook Helicopter</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Indian Air Force <strong>formally inducted the CH 47 F(I)- Chinook <g class="gr_ gr_47 gr-alert gr_spell gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim ContextualSpelling ins-del multiReplace" id="47" data-gr-id="47">heavy lift</g> helicopters into its inventory.</strong></li>
<li>IAF had signed a <strong>contract with M/s Boeing</strong> Ltd in September 2015 for<strong> 15 Chinook helicopters.</strong> These helicopters will be deployed in the Northern and Eastern regions of India.</li>
<li>The addition of heavy-lift CH 47 F(I) helicopter is a significant step towards modernization of Indian Air Force&rsquo;s helicopter fleet.</li>
<li>The helicopter has been customized to suit IAF&rsquo;s future requirements and capability roadmap. The helicopter has a fully integrated digital cockpit management system, advanced cargo handling capabilities and electronic warfare suite that complement the aircraft&rsquo;s performance.</li>
<li>The helicopter is capable of <strong>airlifting diverse military and nonmilitary loads into remote locations.</strong></li>
</ul>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: center;"><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/TTZZgLfF800" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></p>',
		'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
		'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/important-facts-for-prelims-26th-march-2019'
	],
	(int) 17 => [
		'title' => 'Italy Joins Belt & Road Initiative',
		'catname' => 'News Analysis',
		'desc' => '<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Italy has become the <strong>first G7 country to join China&rsquo;s Belt &amp; Road Initiative</strong> (previously known as One Belt One Road (OBOR) Initiative).</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>G7</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The Group of Seven is a group consisting of <strong>Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States.</strong></li>
<li>These countries, with the seven largest International Monetary Fund (<g class="gr_ gr_56 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Punctuation only-ins replaceWithoutSep" id="56" data-gr-id="56">IMF)</g>-described advanced economies in the world, represent 58% of the global net wealth.</li>
</ul>
</div>
<h3>Belt &amp; Road Initiative (BRI)</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Belt &amp; Road Initiative (BRI) is an ambitious project that focuses on connectivity and cooperation among multiple countries spread across the continents of Asia, Africa, and Europe.</strong>&nbsp; BRI spans about 150 countries (China&rsquo;s Claim).</li>
<li>Initially announced in the year 2013, the project involves b<strong>uilding networks of roadways, railways, maritime ports, power grids, oil and gas pipelines,</strong> and associated infrastructure projects.</li>
<li>The project covers two parts.
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><strong>Silk Road Economic Belt:</strong> It is land-based and is expected to connect China with Central Asia, Eastern Europe, and Western Europe.</li>
<li><strong>21st Century Maritime Silk Road:</strong> It is sea-based and is expected to connect China&rsquo;s southern coast to the Mediterranean, Africa, South-East Asia, and Central Asia.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<h3><g class="gr_ gr_62 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Grammar only-ins replaceWithoutSep" id="62" data-gr-id="62">Significance</g> of BRI For China</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is the most emblematic of<strong> China&rsquo;s economic and industrial might, as of its ambitions for global, political and strategic influence.</strong></li>
<li>As infrastructure spending at home became less sustainable, <strong>China has shifted the emphasis to boost the global competitiveness of domestic businesses.</strong></li>
<li>The large infrastructure investments in the least developed and developing countries have <strong>enabled China to leverage its influence around the world,</strong> potentially altering the established rules of the global order and challenging western powers.</li>
<li>BRI will <strong>strengthen China&rsquo;s presence in the Eurasian region</strong> and puts it in a commanding position over Asia&rsquo;s heartland.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Criticism of BRI</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Western critics have attacked the initiative as<strong> new colonialism, or Marshal Plan for the 21st century.&nbsp;</strong></li>
<li>BRI is also being seen as a part of <strong>China&rsquo;s debt trap policy,</strong> wherein China intentionally extends excessive credit to another country with the intention of extracting economic or political concessions from the debtor country.</li>
</ul>
<h3><g class="gr_ gr_65 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Grammar only-ins replaceWithoutSep" id="65" data-gr-id="65">Significance</g> of Italy joining BRI</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Italy&rsquo;s <strong>endorsement of the BRI is a potential game changer</strong> as it is one of the major economies in the world.</li>
<li><strong>Other major economies may follow Italy&rsquo;s lead</strong> in joining BRI.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Why India has not joined?</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC)</strong> is one of the flagship projects of BRI which is seen by <strong>India as infringing its sovereignty.</strong></li>
<li>China is building roads and infrastructure in the<strong> disputed territory of Gilgit-Baltistan,</strong> which is under Pakistan&rsquo;s control but which India claims as a part of Jammu and Kashmir.</li>
<li>If the CPEC project gets implemented successfully, this would<strong> hamper India&rsquo;s strategic interests in the South Asian region.</strong> It will serve Beijing's strategic ambition to encircle India.</li>
<li><strong>CPEC can aid Pakistan&rsquo;s legitimacy in the Kashmir dispute.</strong></li>
<li>China&rsquo;s increasing <strong>footprints in the South Asian region is detrimental to India&rsquo;s strategic hold e.g. construction of the Hambantota Port in Sri Lanka</strong> provided China critical strategic location in the Indian Ocean.</li>
</ul>',
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	(int) 18 => [
		'title' => 'No clinical trials in India for new drugs ',
		'catname' => 'News Analysis',
		'desc' => '<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has allowed waivers on conducting trials for new drugs in India in case the drug is approved and marketed in countries specified by &mdash; the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO).</li>
</ul>
<h3>Regulation</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>New drugs approved for use in select developed markets will be automatically allowed in India provided global trials included Indian patients.</li>
<li>This waiver would <strong>also extend to drugs</strong> that receive these marketing approvals even <strong>while a trial is underway in India</strong>.</li>
<li><strong>Data generated(clinical trial) outside the country will be acceptable</strong>.</li>
<li>Providing post-trial access of the drugs to the patients that require it have been defined for the first time.</li>
<li>It removed a clause in the clinical trials that mandated the sponsor (the entity initiating the trial) to pay 60% of compensation upfront in case of death or permanent disability of a patient.</li>
<li>Now companies will pay the total amount once it is proven that the injury occurred because of the trial.</li>
<li>Compensations in cases of death and permanent disability, or &ldquo;other&rdquo; injuries to a trial participant will be decided by Drug Controller General of India(DCGI).</li>
<li>It removed regulations on tests conducted on animals in case of drugs approved and marketed for more than two years in well-regulated overseas drug markets.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Significance of New Rules</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>It will<strong> end the unnecessary repetition of trials</strong> and speed up the availability of new drugs in the country.</li>
<li>It will <strong>lower the cost of drugs</strong>.</li>
<li>It will improve the ease of doing business for drug makers.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Criticism of new regulations</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>India is a country of <strong>vast ethnic diversity</strong> and most of the trials are done in the West. There is need of bridging trials for ethnically diverse populations to check drug suitability population.</li>
<li>Waiver should be only for drugs required<strong> urgently for national emergency</strong>.</li>
<li>Proving injury due to the trial is problematic and it is prone to manipulation.</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO)</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The CDSCO is the Central Drug Authority for discharging functions assigned to the Central Government under the <strong>Drugs and Cosmetics Act</strong>.</li>
<li>Major Functions:
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Regulatory control over the import of drugs, <strong>approval of new drugs and clinical trials</strong>.</li>
<li>Approval of certain licences as Central Licence Approving Authority</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Drug Controller General of India(DCGI)</strong></li>
<li>DCGI is responsible for <strong>approval of licences of specified categories of drugs</strong> such as blood and blood products, IV fluids, vaccines and sera in India.</li>
<li>It comes under the Ministry of Health &amp; Family Welfare.</li>
</ul>
</div>',
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	(int) 19 => [
		'title' => 'Another Look At Fiscal Transfers',
		'catname' => 'News Editorials',
		'desc' => '<div class="border">
<p>(This editorial is based on the article <a href="https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/another-look-at-fiscal-transfers/article26626986.ece" target="_blank" rel="noopener">'Another Look At Fiscal Transfers'</a> which appeared in &lsquo;The Hindu&rsquo; on 25th March, 2019. The article talks about the fiscal relationship shared by state and the centre and the challenges associated with it.)</p>
</div>
<p>Federalism is not an alien concept in political lexicon of nations and is relatively an old concept. It is a system of government in which entities such as states or provinces share power with a national government.</p>
<p>It is well known that the efficiency of a government depends on its structure; in large countries like ours federal structure can efficiently meet the requirements of people from different regions as preferences vary across regions and can best be addressed through local leadership.</p>
<p>However, after Independence several compulsions led to a scheme of federalism in which the Centre assumed greater importance. The process of centralisation in economic sphere has resulted in reduced fiscal autonomy for states.</p>
<p>Economic planning at a nation-wide level has resulted in the vertical fiscal imbalance between the federation and the provinces.</p>
<h3>Breaking The Term: Fiscal Federalism</h3>
<p>Fiscal federalism can best be understood as the economic counterpart to political federalism. It is concerned with assigning functions to different levels of government, and providing appropriate fiscal instruments for carrying out these functions.</p>
<p>It is generally believed that the Central government should provide national public goods that render services to the entire population while sub-national governments are expected to provide goods and services whose consumption is limited to their own jurisdictions.</p>
<p>Governments often find it difficult to determine the specific fiscal instruments that enable the different levels of government to carry out their functions.</p>
<p>However Indian Constitution lays down the functions as well as taxing powers of the Centre and States providing clarity in financial relations shared by state and the centre.</p>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Centre State Financial Relations</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Indian Constitution has made elaborate provisions, relating to the distribution of taxes as well as non-tax revenues and the power of borrowing, supplemented by provisions for grants-in-aid by the Union to the States.</li>
<li>Article 268 to 293 deals with the provisions of financial relations between Centre and States.</li>
</ul>
<p>The Constitution divides the taxing powers between the Centre and the States as follows:</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The Parliament has exclusive power to levy taxes on subjects enumerated in the Union List,</li>
<li>The state legislature has exclusive power to levy taxes on subjects enumerated in the State List,</li>
<li>Both can levy taxes on the subjects enumerated in Concurrent List whereas residuary power of taxation lies with Parliament only.</li>
</ul>
</div>
<h3>Evolution of Fiscal Relationship</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>In India, substantial sources of revenue remains with the centre and major expenditure obligations lies with the states, creating vertical fiscal imbalance between the federation and the provinces.</strong></li>
<li>This economic relationship can best be attributed to colonial legacy of centralisation under the British. The imperial government had all the powers related to revenue and ordered discontinuation of the assignment of expenditure and revenue functions to the provinces. It was in this situation that the provinces had to give away a portion of their surplus to the imperial government to finance the deficits of the latter.</li>
<li>A clear delineation of powers between the centre and the provinces was attempted through the Government of India Act, 1935. It had a substantial centralising tilt with discretionary powers for the governor general and governors, and the retaining of major revenue sources with the imperial government.</li>
<li>Later, when the Constitution was framed under extraordinary circumstances after partition, most of the fiscal provisions of the Government of India Act, 1935, found a place in it without any changes. This is the basic reason for the strong centralising trends in Indian polity, including in the fiscal division of powers and intergovernmental fiscal transfers.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Tussle Between The State and The Centre</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Overtime, the non-shareable revenue of centre such as surcharges and cesses has increased which has made states demanding for more fiscal powers and share of all taxes collected by the centre from time to time.</strong></li>
<li>With respect to their own tax revenue, states have substantially lost the power to fix tax rates of items, de facto after value added tax (VAT) was implemented on intra-state trade of goods, and de jure when goods and services tax (GST) got introduced.</li>
<li>On the expenditure side, rise in the share of conditional and tied grants that essentially deal with items in the state list of the seventh schedule of the Constitution has restricted the freedom of the states in spending according to their priorities that takes into account the local specifications.</li>
<li>Challenges also arise from <strong>Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM)</strong> acts, which lay down uniform targets across states ignoring the different fiscal needs.</li>
<li>In short, the domain of the states, which should be given due autonomy in so far as their constitutional assignment is concerned; it is being restricted in more than one way.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Recent Developments</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Central governments have tried to address these issues of vertical and horizontal imbalances through various Finance Commissions, taking into account the prevailing set of circumstances.</li>
<li>The Fourteenth Finance Commission has broken new ground in terms of allocation of resources. It has recommended increasing the share of tax devolution to 42% of the divisible pool.</li>
<li>It does not necessarily affect the overall transfers but only enhances the share of unconditional transfers as it looks to address the increasing central encroachment in states through conditional and centrally sponsored schemes.</li>
<li>Increased allocation in unconditional transfers however suffers from two challenges; firstly the total transfers that need to be made to the states, secondly who will be suggesting all the transfers.</li>
<li>Replacement of Planning Commission (entrusted to allocate resources to states) with NITI Aayog, which is simply a think-tank with no powers of resource allocation makes the process all the more difficult.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Harmonising The Relation</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The proportion of shareable taxes that go to the States should be fixed at the desired level. The shareable tax pool must also include cesses and surcharges as these have sharply increased in recent years.</li>
<li>Another possible route can be to follow the practice in the U.S. and Canada: of allowing the States to levy tax on personal income, with some limitations, which is as of now collected by Centre.</li>
<li>Any reform aimed at rationalising the sharing of taxes between state and centre should also address issues related to horizontal distribution and should take into consideration the question of equity amongst states as states often feel &lsquo;cheated&rsquo; because of the overuse of the equity criterion.</li>
</ul>
<p><em><strong>It is time that the nation arrived at an appropriate solution giving effect to fiscal federalism so that the provincial aspirations are taken care of, meanwhile extending the provincial autonomy that our constitution talks about.</strong></em></p>
<div class="border-bg">
<p>To correct the horizontal fiscal imbalance between the States and bring more equity, Finance Commission undertakes few steps while horizontally distributing revenue.</p>
<p>The criteria used by the Finance Commissions can be broadly grouped under:</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Factors reflecting needs, such as population and income measured either as distance from the highest income or as inverse.</li>
<li>Cost disability indicators, such as area and infrastructure distance.</li>
<li>Fiscal efficiency indicators, such as tax effort and fiscal discipline.</li>
</ul>
<p>While the weightage assigned to population has declined considerably, weightage assigned to income distance and efficiency factors has increased considerably in recent years.</p>
</div>',
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