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Panchayati Raj Institution (PRI)

When the panchayat raj is established, public opinion will do what violence can never do. — Mahatma Gandhi Context Panchayati...

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			'title' => 'Panchayati Raj Institution (PRI)',
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			'desc' => '<p><em>When the panchayat raj is established, public opinion will do what violence can never do.&nbsp; &nbsp;<strong>&mdash; Mahatma Gandhi</strong></em></p>
<h3>Context</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Panchayati Raj Institution (PRI) is a system of <strong>rural local self-government</strong> in India.</li>
<li>Local Self Government is the management of local affairs by such local bodies who have been <strong>elected by the local people</strong>.</li>
<li>PRI was constitutionalized through the <strong>73<sup>rd</sup> Constitutional Amendment Act, 1992</strong> to build democracy at the grass roots level and was entrusted with the task of rural development in the country.</li>
<li>In its present form and structure <strong>PRI has completed 26 years of existence</strong>. However, a lot remains to be done in order to further decentralization and strengthen democracy at the grass root level.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Evolution of Panchayati Raj in India</h3>
<p>The history of Panchayat Raj in India can be divided into the following periods from the analytical point of view:</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Vedic Era:</strong> In the old Sanskrit scriptures, word &lsquo;Panchayatan&rsquo; has been mentioned which means a group of five persons, including a spiritual man.</li>
<li>Gradually the concept of the inclusion of a spiritual man in such groups vanished.</li>
<li>In the Rigveda, there is a mention of <strong>Sabha, Samiti and Vidatha as local self-units</strong>. <br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>These were the democratic bodies at the local level. The king used to get the approval of these bodies regarding certain functions and decisions.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Epic Era</strong> indicates the two great epic periods of India, that is, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata.</li>
<li>The study of Ramayana indicates that the administration was divided into two parts - Pur and Janpad or city and village. <br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>In the whole of the state, there was also a Caste Panchayat and one person elected by the Caste Panchayat was a member of the king's Council of Ministers.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Self-government of a village finds ample expression in the &lsquo;Shanti Parva&rsquo; of the Mahabharata; in the Manu Smriti as well as in Kautilya&rsquo;s Arthashastra.</li>
<li>As per the Mahabharata, over and above the village, there were units of 10, 20, 100, and 1,000 village groups. <br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><strong>&lsquo;Gramik&rsquo;</strong> was the chief official of the village, <strong>&lsquo;Dashap&rsquo;</strong> was the chief of ten villages, <strong>Vinshya Adhipati, Shat Gram Adhyaksha</strong> and <strong>Shat Gram Pati</strong> were the chiefs of 20, 100, and 1,000 villages, respectively.</li>
<li>They collected the local taxes and were responsible for the defense of their villages.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Ancient Period:</strong> There is a mention of village panchayats in Kautilya&rsquo;s Arthashastra.<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>The town was referred to as Pur and its chief was the Nagarik.</li>
<li>Local bodies were free from any royal interference.</li>
<li><strong>During the Mauryan and Post-Mauryan periods too, the headman, assisted by a council of elders, continued to play a prominent role in the village life.</strong></li>
<li>The system <strong>continued through the Gupta period,</strong> though there were certain changes in the nomenclature, as the <strong>district official was known as the vishya pati</strong> and the <strong>village headman was referred to as the grampati</strong>.</li>
<li>Thus, in ancient India, there existed a well established system of local government which was run on a set pattern of traditions and customs.</li>
<li>However, it is significant to note that there is <strong>no reference of women heading the panchayat</strong> or even participating as a member in the panchayat.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Medieval Period:</strong> During the Sultanate period, the Sultans of Delhi divided their kingdom into <strong>provinces called &lsquo;Vilayat&rsquo;</strong>.<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>For the governance of a village, there were three important officials - <strong>Mukkaddam for administration, Patwari for collection of revenues, and Choudhrie for settling disputes with the help of the Panch</strong>.</li>
<li>The villages had sufficient powers as regards self governance in their territory.</li>
<li>Casteism and feudalistic system of governance under the Mughal rule in the medieval period slowly eroded the self-government in villages.</li>
<li>It is again noteworthy to note that even in the medieval period there is no mention of women participation in the local village administration.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>British Period:</strong> Under the British regime, <strong>village panchayats lost their autonomy</strong> and became weak.</li>
<li>It is only from the year 1870 that India saw the dawn of representative local institutions.</li>
<li>The famous <strong>Mayo&rsquo;s resolution of 1870 gave impetus to the development of local institutions</strong> by enlarging their powers and responsibilities.</li>
<li>The year 1870, introduced the concept of elected representatives, in urban municipalities.</li>
<li>The revolt of 1857 had put the imperial finances under considerable strain and it was found necessary to finance local service out of local taxation. Therefore it was out of fiscal compulsion that Lord Mayo&rsquo;s resolution on decentralization came to be adopted.</li>
<li>Following the footsteps of Mayo, <strong>Lord Rippon in 1882 provided the much needed democratic framework to these institutions</strong>. <br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>All boards (then existing) were mandated to have a two-thirds majority of non-officials who had to be elected and the chairman of these bodies had to be from among the elected non-officials.</li>
<li>This is considered to be the <strong>Magna Carta of local democracy in India</strong>.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Local self-government institutions received a boost with the appointment of the <strong>Royal Commission on centralisation in 1907 under the Chairmanship of C.E.H. Hobhouse</strong>. <br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>The commission recognized the importance of panchayats at the village level.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>It is in this backdrop that the <strong>Montagu Chelmsford reforms of 1919</strong> transferred the subject of local government to the domain of the provinces. <br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>The reform also recommended that as far as possible there should be a complete control in local bodies and complete possible independence for them from external control.</li>
<li>These panchayats covered only a limited number of villages with limited functions and due to <strong>organisational and fiscal constraints</strong> they did not become democratic and vibrant institutions of local self government at the village level.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>However, by 1925, eight provinces had passed the Panchayat Acts and by 1926, six native States had also passed panchayat laws. Local bodies were given more powers and functions to impose taxes were reduced. But, the position of the local self-government institutions remained unaffected.</li>
<li><strong>Post&ndash;Independence Period:</strong> After the Constitution came into force, <strong>Article 40</strong> made a mention of panchayats and <strong>Article 246</strong> empowers the state legislature to legislate with respect to any subject relating to local self-government.</li>
<li>However, this inclusion of panchayats into the Constitution was not unanimously agreed upon by the then decision-makers, with the major opposition having come from the framer of the Constitution himself i.e. B.R.Ambedkar. <br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>It was after much discussion among the supporters and opponents of the village panchayat that the panchayats finally got a place for themselves in the Constitution as <strong>Article 40 of the Directive Principles of State Policy</strong>.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Since the Directive Principles are not binding principles, the result was the absence of a uniform structure of these bodies throughout the country.</li>
<li>After independence, as a development initiative, India had implemented the Community Development Programmes (CDP) on the eve of Gandhi Jayanti, the 2nd October, 1952 under the major influence of the <strong>Etawah Project</strong> undertaken by the American expert, Albert Mayer. <br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>It encompassed almost all activities of rural development which were to be implemented with the help of village panchayats along with the participation of people.</li>
<li>In 1953, the <strong>National Extension Service</strong> was also introduced as a prologue to CDP. But the programme did not yield much result.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>There were various reasons for the failure of CDP like bureaucracy and <strong>excessive politics, lack of people participation, lack of trained and qualified staff, and lack of local bodies interest in implementing the CDP</strong> especially the village panchayats.</li>
<li>In 1957, the National Development Council constituted a <strong>committee headed by Balwant Rai Mehta</strong> to look into the working of community development programme.<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>The team observed that the major reason for the failure of the CDP was the <strong>lack of people&rsquo;s participation</strong>.</li>
<li>The committee suggested a three-tier PRIs, namely, Grama Panchayats (GPs) at the village level, Panchayat Samiti (PSs) at the block level, and Zilla Parishad (ZPs) at the district level.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>As a result of this scheme of democratic decentralization was launched in Rajasthan on October 2, 1959.</strong></li>
<li>In Andhra Pradesh, the scheme was introduced on 1st November, 1959. The necessary legislation had also been passed and implemented in Assam, Gujarat, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, and Punjab etc.</li>
<li>The appointment of the <strong>Ashok Mehta Committee in 1977</strong> did bring new thinking in the concepts and practice of the Panchayat Raj. <br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>The committee <strong>recommended a two-tier Panchayat Raj institutional</strong> structure consisting of <strong>Zilla Parishad and Mandal Panchayat</strong>.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>In order to use planning expertise and to secure administrative support, the district was suggested as the first point of decentralization below the state level.</li>
<li>Based on its recommendation, some of the states like Karnataka incorporated them effectively.</li>
<li>In subsequent years in order to revive and give a new lease of life to the panchayats, the Government of India had appointed various committees.</li>
<li>The most important among them are the <strong>Hanumantha Rao Committee (1983), G.V.K. Rao Committee (1985), L.M.Singhvi Committee (1986) and the Sarkaria Commission on Centre-State relations (1988), P.K. Thungan Committee (1989) and Harlal Singh Kharra Committee (1990)</strong>.</li>
<li>The <strong>G.V.K. Rao Committee (1985)</strong> recommended making the <strong>&ldquo;district&rdquo; as the basic unit of planning</strong> and also holding regular elections while the <strong>L.M.Singhvi committee</strong> recommended <strong>providing more financial resources and constitutional status to the panchayats</strong> to strengthen them.</li>
<li>The Amendment phase began with the 64th Amendment Bill (1989) which was introduced by Rajiv Gandhi seeking to strengthen the PRIs but the Bill was not passed in the Rajya Sabha.</li>
<li>The Constitution (74th Amendment) Bill (a combined bill for the PRIs and municipalities) was introduced in 1990, but was never taken up for discussion.</li>
<li>It was during the Prime Ministership of P.V.Narasimha Rao that a comprehensive amendment was introduced in the form of the Constitution 72nd Amendment Bill in September 1991.</li>
<li><strong>73<sup>rd</sup> and 74<sup>th</sup> Constitutional Amendments were passed by Parliament in December, 1992. Through these amendments local self-governance was introduced in rural and urban India.</strong></li>
<li>The Acts came into force as the Constitution (73<sup>rd</sup> Amendment) Act, 1992 on April 24, 1993 and the Constitution (74<sup>th</sup> Amendment) Act, 1992 on June 1, 1993.</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Salient Features of the Constitution 73<sup>rd</sup> and 74<sup>th</sup> Amendments</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>These amendments <strong>added two new parts to the Constitution,</strong> namely, added <strong>Part IX titled &ldquo;The Panchayats&rdquo;</strong> (added by 73rd Amendment) and <strong>Part IXA titled &ldquo;The Municipalities&rdquo;</strong> (added by 74<sup>th</sup> Amendment).</li>
<li>Basic units of democratic system-<strong>Gram Sabhas (villages) and Ward Committees (Municipalities)</strong> comprising all the adult members registered as voters.</li>
<li><strong>Three-tier system</strong> of panchayats at village, intermediate block/taluk/mandal and district levels except in States with population is below 20 lakhs (Article 243B).</li>
<li>Seats at all levels to be filled by direct elections <strong>Article 243C (2)</strong>.</li>
<li>Seats reserved for Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) and the chairpersons of the Panchayats at all levels also shall be reserved for SCs and STs in proportion to their population.</li>
<li>One-third of the total number of seats to be reserved for women.</li>
<li>One third of the seats reserved for SCs and STs also reserved for women.</li>
<li>One-third offices of chairpersons at all levels reserved for women <strong>(Article 243D)</strong>.</li>
<li><strong>Uniform five year term</strong> and elections to constitute new bodies to be completed before the expiry of the term.</li>
<li>In the event of dissolution, elections compulsorily within six months (Article 243E).</li>
<li><strong>Independent Election Commission in each State</strong> for superintendence, direction and control of the electoral rolls (Article 243K).</li>
<li><strong>Panchayats to prepare plans for economic development</strong> and social justice in respect of subjects as devolved by law to the various levels of Panchayats including the subjects as illustrated in Eleventh Schedule (Article 243G).</li>
<li>74th Amendment provides for a <strong>District Planning Committee</strong> to consolidate the plans prepared by Panchayats and Municipalities (Article 243ZD).</li>
<li>Budgetary allocation from State Governments, share of revenue of certain taxes, collection and retention of the revenue it raises, Central Government programmes and grants, Union Finance Commission grants (Article 243H).</li>
<li>Establish a <strong>Finance Commission in each State</strong> to determine the principles on the basis of which adequate financial resources would be ensured for panchayats and municipalities (Article 243I).</li>
<li>The Eleventh Scheduled of the Constitution places as many as 29 functions within the purview of the Panchayati Raj bodies.</li>
</ul>
</div>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The following areas have been exempted from the operation of the Act because of the socio-cultural and administrative considerations: <br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Scheduled <strong>areas listed under the V Schedule</strong> in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa and Rajasthan.</li>
<li>The states of <strong>Nagaland, Meghalaya and Mizoram</strong>.</li>
<li>The hill areas of district of <strong>Darjeeling in the state of West Bengal</strong> for which Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council exists.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>In conformity with provisions in the Constitution Amendment Act, an Act called the <strong>Provisions of Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996</strong> passed by the Government of India.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Evaluating the Panchayati Raj Institutions at 26</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>PRIs has witnessed simultaneously a remarkable success and a staggering failure in the journey of 26 years depending on the goalposts against which they are evaluated.</li>
<li>While the PRI has <strong>succeeded in creating another layer of government and political representation</strong> at the grass-roots level, it has <strong>failed to provide better governance</strong>.</li>
<li>There are about 250,000 PRIs and urban local bodies, and over three million elected local government representatives.</li>
<li>The 73rd and 74th Amendments required that no less than one-third of the total seats in local bodies should be reserved for women. At 1.4 million, India has the most women in elected positions. Seats and sarpanch/pradhan positions were also reserved for SC/ST candidates.</li>
<li>Research using PRIs has shown that having <strong>female political representation in local governments</strong> makes women more likely to come forward and report crimes. <br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>In districts with female sarpanchs, significantly greater investments are made in drinking water, public goods.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Moreover, the states have also provided the <strong>statutory safeguards for many devolution provisions</strong>, which have considerably empowered local governments.</li>
<li>Successive (central) Finance Commissions have, so substantially, <strong>increased fund allocations for local bodies</strong> and also the grants have been increased.</li>
<li>15th Finance Commission is also considering to further increase the allocations for local governments to match the international standards.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Issues</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The grey area is the <strong>lack of adequate funds</strong>. There is a need to enlarge the domain of panchayats to be able to raise their own funds.</li>
<li>The <strong>interference of area MPs and MLAs in the functioning of panchayats</strong> also adversely affected their performance.</li>
<li>The 73rd amendment only mandated the creation of local self-governing bodies, and left the decision to delegate powers, functions, and finances to the state legislatures, therein lies the failure of PRIs.</li>
<li>The transfer of various governance functions&mdash;like the provision of education, health, sanitation, and water was not mandated. Instead the amendment listed the functions that could be transferred, and left it to the state legislature to actually devolve functions.<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>There has been very little devolution of authority and functions in the last 26 years.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Because these functions were never devolved, state executive authorities have proliferated to carry out these functions. The most common example is the terrible state water boards.</li>
<li>The major failure of the Amendment is the <strong>lack of finances for PRIs</strong>. Local governments can either raise their own revenue through local taxes or receive intergovernmental transfers.</li>
<li><strong>The power to tax, even for subjects falling within the purview of PRIs, has to be specifically authorized by the state legislature.</strong> The 73rd Amendment let this be a choice open to the state legislatures&mdash;a choice that most states have not exercised.</li>
<li>A second avenue of revenue generation is <strong>intergovernmental transfers,</strong> where state governments devolve a certain percentage of their revenue to PRIs. The constitutional amendment created provisions for State Finance Commissions to recommend the revenue share between state and local governments. However, these are merely recommendations and the state governments are not bound by them.</li>
<li>Though finance commissions, at every level, have advocated for greater devolution of funds, there has been <strong>little action by states to devolve funds</strong>.</li>
<li>PRIs are reluctant to take on projects that require any meaningful financial outlay, and are often unable to solve even the most basic local governance needs.</li>
<li>PRIs also <strong>suffer from structural deficiencies</strong> i.e. no secretarial support and lower levels of technical knowledge which restricted the aggregation of bottom up planning .</li>
<li>There is a <strong>presence of adhocism</strong> i.e. lack of clear setting of agenda in gram sabha, gram samiti meetings and no proper structure.</li>
<li>Though women and SC/STs has got representation in PRIs through reservation mandated by 73rd amendment but there is a <strong>presence of Panch-Pati and Proxy representation in case of women and SC/STs representatives respectively</strong>.</li>
<li><strong>Accountability arrangements remain very weak</strong> even after 26 years of PRIs constitutional arrangement.</li>
<li>The issue of <strong>ambiguity in the division of functions and funds has allowed concentration of powers with the states</strong> and thereby restraining the elective representatives who are more aware and sensitive to the ground level issues to take control.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Suggestions</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Genuine fiscal federalism</strong> i.e. fiscal autonomy accompanied by fiscal responsibility can provide a long term solution without this PRIs will only be an expensive failure.</li>
<li><strong>6th report of 2nd ARC, &lsquo;Local Governance- An inspiring journey into the future&rsquo;&rsquo;, had recommended that there should be a clear-cut demarcation of functions of each tier of the government.</strong></li>
<li>States should <strong>adopt the concept of &lsquo;activity mapping&rsquo;</strong>, wherein each state clearly delineates the responsibilities and roles for the different tiers of the government in respect to the subjects listed in the Schedule XI.</li>
<li>The subjects should divided and assigned to the different tiers on the basis of accountability to the public.</li>
<li>States like Karnataka and Kerala have taken some steps in this direction but overall progress has been highly uneven.</li>
<li>There is <strong>need for bottom up planning</strong> especially at the district level, based on grassroots inputs received from Gram Sabha.</li>
<li><strong>Karnataka has created a separate bureaucratic cadre for Panchayat</strong>s to get away from the practice of deputation of officials who often overpowered the elected representatives.<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Such practices needs to be replicated in other states for strengthening the true character of local self governance.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>The center also needs to <strong>financially incentivize states</strong> to encourage effective devolution to the panchayats in functions, finances, and functionaries.</li>
<li><strong>Training should be provided to local representatives</strong> to develop expertise so that they contribute more in planning and implementation of policies and programmes.</li>
<li>To solve the problem of proxy representation <strong>social empowerment must precede the political empowerment</strong>.</li>
<li>Recently states like Rajasthan and Haryana have set certain minimum qualification standards for Panchayat elections. Such necessary eligibility can help in improving effectiveness of governance mechanism.</li>
<li>These standards should apply for MLAs and MPs also and in this direction government should speeden up efforts for universal education.</li>
<li>There should be clear mechanisms to ensure that States comply with the constitutional provisions, particularly in the appointment and implementation of the recommendations of the State Finance Commissions (SFCs).</li>
</ul>
<h3>Way Forward</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The need of the hour is to bring about a holistic change in the lives of beneficiaries among the villagers by uplifting their socioeconomic and health status through effective linkages through community, governmental and other developmental agencies.</li>
<li>Government should take remedial action in the interest of democracy, social inclusion and cooperative federalism.</li>
<li>People&rsquo;s demands for the sustainable decentralisation and advocacy should focus on a decentralisation agenda. The framework needs to be evolved to accommodate the demand for decentralisation.</li>
<li>It is important to have <strong>clarity in the assignment of functions</strong> and the local governments should have <strong>clear and independent sources of finance</strong>.</li>
</ul>
<table border="1" style="border-collapse: collapse; background-color: #9becf2; border-style: none;">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width: 899px;">
<p><em>If we would see our dream of Panchayat Raj, i.e., true democracy realized, we would regard the humblest and lowest Indian as being equally the ruler of India with the tallest in the land.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: right;"><em>&mdash; Mahatma Gandhi</em></p>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
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		(int) 1 => [
			'title' => 'LIBRA: Facebook’s Currency',
			'catname' => 'News Editorials',
			'desc' => '<div class="border">
<p>This article is based on the editorial <a href="https://www.livemint.com/opinion/online-views/opinion-why-policymakers-worldwide-should-fear-the-launch-of-libra-1561910021098.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>&ldquo;Why policymakers worldwide should fear the launch of Libra&rdquo;</strong></a> which appeared in Live mint newspaper on 1 July 2019. It talks about the issues pertaining to roll out of Facebook&rsquo;s cryptocurrency: LIBRA</p>
</div>
<p>Facebook on June 18 announced that it will launch a global cryptocurrency called LIBRA in 2020, alongside the underlying blockchain-based network &mdash; a secure, transparent and decentralized digital lender &mdash; that will support it.</p>
<p>In the first quarter of 2019, Facebook had 2.38 billion monthly active users. If even a fraction of them begin to use Libra to carry out financial transactions, buy and sell products, and transfer money, the new currency would quickly gain wide acceptance. This could dramatically change global monetary policymaking, but the policymakers all around the world are quite apprehensive about the role of LIBRA</p>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">What is LIBRA currency?&nbsp;<a href="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/297image1.webp" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="content-img" src="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/297image1.webp" width="336" height="600" caption="false" style="float: right;" /></a></h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Libra is the <a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/cryptocurrencies-will-boost-illegal-transactions-rbi" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>cryptocurrency</strong></a> to be launched by Facebook.
<h3 style="text-align: right;"><a href="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/456image1.webp" target="_blank" rel="noopener"></a></h3>
</li>
<li>Libra framework comprises of the Libra Blockchain, the Libra currency and Calibra(which is a cryptocurrency wallet that lets users send and receive Libra coins)</li>
<li>Calibra is built and maintained by Facebook, and it will be integrated into WhatsApp and Messenger to be managed by the Libra Association.</li>
<li>The Libra Association, a Geneva-based not-for-profit group that will operate the digital currency, counts companies such as Uber, eBay, Lyft, Mastercard and PayPal among its founding members.</li>
<li>Libra project promises to address many of the fundamental barriers that have stopped the widespread adoption of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Libra is designed to hold a stable value. Libra is backed by a financial reserve that mixes the world&rsquo;s major stable currencies. This stability promises to make Libra a stable currency for consumers rather than an attractive gamble for investors like Bitcoin.</li>
<li>Bitcoin and its competitors have market-driven valuations, meaning that the price of a Bitcoin is determined solely by market demand for Bitcoin. This creates a market fueled by speculation and subjects it to enormous volatility</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Libra comes with a new programming language called Move<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>The move is a new language, meaning developers will have to adapt to a new programming environment. Facebook says it's designed with "safety and security&rdquo; as the highest priorities.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<h3>What are the issues emerging out of Libra cryptocurrency?</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Libra, with given active users of Facebook in the world, could become a dominant global currency&mdash;but one run by a corporation, not a central bank.<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Since Libra is not controlled by any central bank, the monetary policymakers may find it much harder to control issues like unemployment and inflation(as when inflation rises, the central banks take action to control it) in a world dominated by global currency like Libra.</li>
<li>That's why French Finance Minister held that Facebook's digital money can never be a sovereign currency.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Mostly all the modes of exchange of money like barter trade, banking, paper money, financial markets etc.&mdash;emerged through slow and evolutionary processes. Deliberate attempts to establish entirely new systems have usually given rise to unanticipated challenges. for example bitcoins.</li>
<li>If Libra becomes popular, people will exchange their national currencies&mdash;dollars, euros, renminbi and rupees&mdash;for the new digital coin in order to buy and sell the many products that will be priced in it. Many users may then choose to keep Libra instead of exchanging it back for their own currencies.</li>
<li>Facebook or the Libra Association will, therefore, continue to hold their national money and earn income on it by investing Libra users&rsquo; money. In this case Facebook will also be tempted to issue extra Libra.</li>
<li>Facebook through Calibra plays a facilitation role in the management of currency, this allows Facebook to penetrate that veil of privacy. While Facebook promises that they won&rsquo;t access information from the currency&rsquo;s digital wallets without customer&rsquo;s consent but there are no technical barriers to stop any such attempt<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Further, the past record of Facebook is poor when it comes to protecting the privacy of individuals: For instance, Cambridge Analytica case</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Cambridge Analytica case</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The Facebook-Cambridge Analytica data scandal was a major political scandal in early 2018 when it was revealed that Cambridge Analytica had harvested the personal data of millions of people's Facebook profiles without their consent and used it for political advertising purposes.</li>
</ul>
</div>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Libra will increase US influence in many parts of the world and it may give rise to a scenario where companies like Tencent/WeChat issue their cryptocurrency, triggering a battle in the crypto-space arena.</li>
<li>Cryptocurrency is a policy-trailing technology(Laws cannot keep pace with the fast changing technology). So it&rsquo;s regulation is not a cake walk.</li>
</ul>
<p>But in spite of all these issues, in a globalized world, a country that rejects Libra can find itself gradually isolated by others who take on. Therefore policymakers must immediately consider what type of world-specific digital money can be created. For that, there is a need for new laws and global treaties to mitigate potential negative fallout and limit the power of the organizations that run these new currencies.</p>
<p>In this scenario, the world&rsquo;s central bankers have begun to discuss the idea of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), and now even the International Monetary Fund is talking openly about the pros and cons of the idea which is a step in the right direction.<br /><br /></p>
<table border="1" style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%;">
<tbody>
<tr style="height: 51px;">
<td style="width: 551.111px; background-color: #faecd4; height: 51px;"><span style="color: #ff0000;"><em><strong>Drishti input<br /></strong></em></span><br />Highlight the issues related to cryptocurrencies like LIBRA and also examine how will it be different from other cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>',
			'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
			'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-editorials/libra-facebook-s-currency'
		],
		(int) 2 => [
			'title' => 'Delhi Butterfly Corridors',
			'catname' => 'News Analysis',
			'desc' => '<p>As per Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) report, the creation of butterfly corridors in Delhi with close to 100 hotspots is underway.</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>At present, there are 17 hotspots where butterfly parks or gardens have been created in the last few years.<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>A variety of host plants will be grown at such parks and gardens in the green corridor to attract more butterflies.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<p><a href="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/515butterfly.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="content-img" src="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/515butterfly.jpg" width="642" height="546" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" caption="false" /></a></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>At most locations there are already some native trees and plant species that are hosts to butterflies, but additional plantation is being undertaken to ensure a diversity of species arrive there.</li>
<li>The closer the green areas, the easier it will be for butterflies to move from one location to another.</li>
<li>A large butterfly garden exists at Asola Bhatti Wildlife Sanctuary and Garden of Five Senses. <br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>There are many parks in the surrounding of these locations attracting more butterflies.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>In September, 2017, the first butterfly month was observed in Delhi by BNHS and Delhi forest department, culminating in a record species count.</li>
<li>In 2018, 75 species were recorded in urban and forested locations. <br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Among the rare species recorded were the common redeye, common short silverline, dingy swift, common blue line, Balkan pierrot and spotted pierrot, among others.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>The survey over the past two years has shown that diversity of butterfly species was very low at new parks that have ornamental and exotic plants.</li>
<li>The diversity is higher at places like the Ridge, which has native species of plants and trees.</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>The Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS)</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The BNHS, a pan-India wildlife research organization, has been promoting the cause of nature conservation since 1883.</li>
<li>BNHS Mission: Conservation of nature, primarily biological diversity through action based on research, education and public awareness</li>
<li>BNHS Vision: Premier independent scientific organization with a broad based constituency, excelling in the conservation of threatened species and habitats.</li>
</ul>
</div>',
			'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
			'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/delhi-butterfly-corridors'
		],
		(int) 3 => [
			'title' => 'Puducherry Water Rich Model',
			'catname' => 'News Analysis',
			'desc' => '<p>It is a model for desilting the urban drains and rural canals with the cooperation of the general public with the Puducherry administration.</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>This model is fulfilling the need of water in rural areas for irrigation and preventing the overflowing of drains in urban areas. <br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Ensuring regular flow prevents the diseases like malaria and dengue.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>The practice of community involvement in desilting of canals and maintaining them goes back centuries in Puducherry, to the reign of the Pallavas. <br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>The Cholas and French also adapted it seriously.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>All contributors under this model were awarded Swachta Hi Sewa Awards by administration.</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Puducherry Water Rich Model</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>It ensures mapping and bring under watch all water bodies and drains by using technology.</li>
<li>To use MNREGA where machinery is not required and human contact is safe. It empowers people and provides livelihood.</li>
<li>Linking the local community for shramdaan and monitoring water bodies. It encourages participation as they are the real stakeholders.</li>
<li>Linking with the nearest donor support &mdash; any industry or institution.</li>
<li>It let the supporter and the service provider decide on the contractual cost. Government officials should only be facilitators, not in any way negotiate or deal with their money.</li>
<li>It allows farmers to take the silt away, as it is their soil which got washed away. It is rich in nutrients. The farmers are not to be charged for it.</li>
<li>Accountability lies with the collectors and municipal commissioners.</li>
</ul>
</div>',
			'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
			'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/puducherry-water-rich-model'
		],
		(int) 4 => [
			'title' => 'Quality of Free Legal Aid',
			'catname' => 'News Analysis',
			'desc' => '<p>The National Law University, Delhi (NLUD) in a report titled <strong>&lsquo;Quality of Legal Representation: An Empirical Analysis of Free Legal Aid Services in India&rsquo;</strong> has revealed that people don&rsquo;t have faith over the services of legal aid counsel (LAC) under the free legal aid services.</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>A majority of the people who are entitled to the free legal aid system see the service as an option only when they cannot afford a private lawyer.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Legal Services Authorities (LSA) Act</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>In 1987, the Legal Services Authorities (LSA) Act was enacted to give free and competent legal services to the poor and paved the way for constitution of <strong><a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/national-legal-services-day" target="_blank" rel="noopener">National Legal Service Authority (NALSA)</a></strong> and other legal service institutions at the State, district and taluka level.</li>
<li>Free legal services under LSA Act are available to a person belonging to <strong>Schedule Tribe and Schedule Caste, woman, child, victim of human trafficking, differently abled person, industrial workman,</strong> and person in custody in a protective home and the poor.</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Facts</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>According to the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative&rsquo;s (CHRI) report:<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>India&rsquo;s per capita lawyer ratio is better than most countries in the world.</li>
<li>There are about 1.8 million lawyers in India which means there is one lawyer for every 736 people.</li>
<li>There are 61,593 panel lawyers in the country, which translates to just one legal aid lawyer per 18,609 population or five legal aid lawyers per 1,00,000 population.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>According to NALSA, about 8.22 lakh people across India benefited through legal aid services from April 2017 to June 2018.</li>
</ul>
</div>
<h3>Key Findings</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>About <strong>75%</strong> of beneficiaries responded that they opted for free legal aid because they had no means and resources to hire a paid private practitioner.<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>They would never have approached for the legal aid services if they had the resources to engage private legal practitioners.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>22.6%</strong> of the beneficiaries responded that they won&rsquo;t opt for free legal aid services for the <strong>second time</strong>.</li>
<li><strong>60% of women,</strong> who were aware of the free legal aid services, chose to opt for the private legal practitioner because they could have better control over their lawyer and they lack faith and confidence over the quality of services offered under the legal aid system.</li>
<li><strong>56% of LAC</strong> (Legal Aid Counsel) spends an average of 1 to 10 hours per week on legal aid cases. <br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>On the contrary, around 58% LAC spend on an average of <strong>20 hours</strong> and above per week on <strong>private cases</strong>.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Around <strong>33%</strong> of the judicial officers claim that complaints were received against LACs for <strong>demanding money</strong> from beneficiaries.</li>
<li>Majority of judicial officers (52%) rated the <strong>overall skill</strong> set of a private legal practitioner as of fairly good quality and that of LAC as of moderately low quality.</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Constitutional Provision</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Article 39A</strong> of the <strong>Constitution</strong> <strong>of India</strong> provides that State shall secure that the operation of the <strong>legal</strong> system promotes justice on a basis of equal opportunity, and shall, in particular, provide <strong>free legal aid,</strong> by suitable legislation or schemes or in any other way, to ensure that opportunities for securing justice are not denied to any citizen by reason of economic or other disability.</li>
<li><strong>Articles 14 and 22(1)</strong> also make it obligatory for the State to ensure equality before the law and a <strong>legal system</strong> which promotes justice on a basis of equal opportunity to all.</li>
</ul>
</div>
<h3>NALSA&rsquo;s Efforts</h3>
<p><strong>Front offices</strong> at the district level are being upgraded to make them one-stop centers for legal aid seekers.</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Updating</strong> the record of legal aided cases.<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>This way, the legal aid seekers are kept updated about the progress of their cases and better monitoring of cases takes place.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>NALSA&rsquo;s outreach programmes (like door to door campaigns) have made people aware of the legal advice and other forms of legal services such as drafting of applications etc.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Way Forward</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Full-time empanelment:</strong> Currently, the engagement of LAC is usually on an ad-hoc basis. <br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Around 45% of the regulators opined that making them full time will definitely improve the level of commitment among the LAC.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Honorarium:</strong> Study recommended that making honorarium (a payment is given for professional services that are rendered nominally without charge) for a legal aided case at par with private cases, will compel LAC to not withdraw or deny aided cases in middle.</li>
<li><strong>Remuneration:</strong> Remuneration towards the empanelled lawyers should be increased every year. <br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>This is important for those who are serving in juvenile courts as they are not allowed to have their own private practice.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>',
			'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
			'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/quality-of-free-legal-aid'
		],
		(int) 5 => [
			'title' => 'Airplane Contrails and Global Warming',
			'catname' => 'News Analysis',
			'desc' => '<p>According to a recent study, the airplanes contrails contribute more to global warming than the CO<sub>2</sub> emitted by an aircraft.</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Moreover, the contrails&rsquo; impact on climate change will triple by 2050 than it was in 2006 because of following reasons: <br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Modern planes flying slightly higher than their predecessors, which is likely to lead to more contrail cloud formation over the tropics.</li>
<li>Increase in air traffic.</li>
<li>Improvements in fuel efficiency.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>The study also suggested that the impact on the atmosphere due to contrail cirrus clouds will be stronger over Northern America and Europe which are the busiest air traffic areas on the globe. <br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>However, the impact will also increase in Asia as the air travel is also growing in the region.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>The warming effect of cirrus clouds is also short-lived, and because it occurs in the upper atmosphere, it&rsquo;s not clear how much of a difference it actually makes for temperatures at Earth&rsquo;s surface.</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Contrails</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The hot, humid exhaust from jet engines mixes with the atmosphere, which at high altitude is of much lower vapor pressure and temperature than the exhaust gas.</li>
<li>The water vapor contained in the jet exhaust condenses and may freeze, and this mixing process forms clouds.</li>
<li>Most of these contrail cirrus clouds dissipate quickly, but under the right conditions they can remain for hours, and when that happens they warm the atmosphere by absorbing thermal radiation emitted by the Earth.</li>
</ul>
</div>
<h3>Impacts</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Jet engine exhaust contains carbon dioxide, oxides of sulfur and nitrogen, unburned fuel, soot and metal particles, as well as water vapor.<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>The soot provides condensation sites for water vapor. Any particles present in the air provide additional sites.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Depending on a plane's altitude, and the temperature and humidity of the atmosphere, contrails may vary in their thickness, extent and duration.</li>
<li>The nature and persistence of jet contrails can be used to predict the weather. <br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>A thin, short-lived contrail indicates low-humidity air at high altitude, a sign of fair weather, whereas a thick, long-lasting contrail reflects humid air at high altitudes and can be an early indicator of a storm.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<h3>Significance</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Aviation already has a sizable influence on the climate. <br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>In 2005, air traffic contributed about 5 percent of humans&rsquo; influence on climate change.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Air traffic roughly doubles every 15 years. And contrails are the aviation industry&rsquo;s biggest climate influencer, even more than CO<sub>2</sub> emissions from planes. <br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>But policies to lower aviation&rsquo;s influence on climate change focus on CO<sub>2</sub> emissions, all but ignoring the impact of contrails.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>The study suggests that contrails are a major factor that climate policies should take into account.<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>It is important to recognise the significant impact of non-CO<sub>2</sub> emissions, such as contrail cirrus, on climate and to take those effects into consideration when setting up emission trading systems or schemes like the <a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/important-facts-for-prelims-25th-january-2019" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CORSIA Agreement</a>.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<h3>Solution</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Cleaner aircraft emissions would solve the issue, as the reduction of the number of soot particles emitted by aircraft engines decreases the number of ice crystals in contrails and that means climate impact of contrail cirrus will also be reduced.<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>However, soot would have to be decreased a lot to have a significant effect&ndash;even if it was reduced by 90 percent, the contrail cirrus clouds will produce more warming in 2050 than they did in 2006.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Therefore, the best option for reducing this effect and aviation&rsquo;s carbon footprint is to fly less.</li>
</ul>',
			'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
			'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/airplane-contrails-and-global-warming'
		],
		(int) 6 => [
			'title' => 'Japanese Encephalitis (JE)',
			'catname' => 'News Analysis',
			'desc' => '<p>The Central government has sent a team to Assam to review the situation after Japanese Encephalitis (JE) cases were reported from the state.</p>
<h3>Japanese Encephalitis (JE)</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Japanese encephalitis is a disease <strong>caused by a flavi virus</strong> that affects the membranes around the brain. Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) is also a major cause of <a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/acute-encephalitis-syndrome" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES)</strong></a> in India.</li>
<li><strong>Transmission:</strong> The disease is transmitted to humans through bites from infected <strong>mosquitoes of the Culex species</strong>. These mosquitoes breed mainly in rice fields and large water bodies rich in aquatic vegetations. Migratory birds along with pigs in the community also play an important role in the transmission of JE from one area to other areas.</li>
<li><strong>Symptoms:</strong> Most people infected with JE do not have symptoms or have only mild symptoms. However, a small percentage of infected people develop inflammation of the brain (encephalitis), with symptoms including sudden onset of headache, high fever, disorientation, coma, tremors and convulsions.</li>
<li><strong>Treatment:</strong> There is <strong>no antiviral treatment</strong> for patients with JE. Treatment, available, is supportive to relieve symptoms and stabilize the patient.</li>
<li><strong>Prevention:</strong> Safe and effective <strong>JE vaccines</strong> are available to prevent the disease.<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><strong>In India,</strong> mass vaccination with JE vaccine was started in a phased manner subsequent to the major outbreak in 2005.</li>
<li>JE vaccination is also <strong>included under the Universal Immunization Program</strong> of the Government of India.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Universal Immunization Program</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Immunization</strong> is the process whereby a person is made immune or resistant to an infectious disease, typically by the administration of a vaccine. Vaccines are substances that stimulate the body&rsquo;s own immune system to protect the person against subsequent infection or disease.</li>
<li>Immunization Programme in India was <strong>introduced in the year 1978</strong> as &lsquo;Expanded Programme of Immunization (EPI)&rsquo; by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.</li>
<li>In the year <strong>1985</strong>, the programme was modified as <strong>&lsquo;Universal Immunization Programme (UIP)&rsquo;</strong>.</li>
<li>Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India provides <strong>several vaccines to infants, children and pregnant women</strong> through the Universal Immunisation Programme.</li>
<li>Through this programme, the government provides several vaccines to infants, children and pregnant women.</li>
<li>Vaccines included in the programme are for diseases including <strong>Tuberculosis, Diphtheria, Pertussis, Tetanus, Polio, Hepatitis B, Pneumonia and Meningitis due to Haemophilus Influenzae type b (Hib), Measles, Rubella, Japanese Encephalitis (JE) and Rotavirus diarrhoea</strong>.</li>
</ul>
</div>',
			'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
			'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/japanese-encephalitis-je'
		],
		(int) 7 => [
			'title' => 'WHO’s Self Care Guidelines',
			'catname' => 'News Analysis',
			'desc' => '<p>The <a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/strategy-against-the-threat-of-influenza" target="_blank" rel="noopener">World Health Organisation (WHO)</a> has launched its first guidelines on self-care interventions for health.</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Self-care intervention guidelines are based on <strong>scientific evidence</strong> for the health benefits of certain interventions that can be done outside the conventional sector.</li>
<li>Self-care intervention guidelines are not intended to replace <strong>high-quality health</strong> services nor are they a shortcut to achieving <a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-editorials/universal-health-coverage" target="_blank" rel="noopener">universal health coverage</a>.</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Self-Care</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>As per WHO &ldquo;the ability of individuals, families, and communities to promote health, prevent disease, maintain health, and cope with illness and disability with or without the support of a health-care provider&rdquo;.</li>
<li>Self-care interventions have a unique potential in reducing <strong>inefficiencies in health expenditure,</strong> improving the <strong>quality</strong> of health coverage and increasing the <strong>agency and autonomy</strong> of even the most vulnerable populations to make informed decisions about their health.</li>
</ul>
</div>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Self Care Intervention Guidelines:</strong> in its first volume, the guidelines focus on <strong>sexual and reproductive health and rights</strong>. some of the interventions include:<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><strong>Self-sampling</strong> for human papillomavirus (HPV) and sexually transmitted infections.</li>
<li><strong>Self-injectable</strong> contraceptives.</li>
<li>Home-based ovulation predictor kits.</li>
<li>Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) <strong>self-testing</strong> and <strong>self-management</strong> of medical abortion.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<h3>Need</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Guidelines are a response to an estimate that by <strong>2035</strong> the world will face a shortage of nearly <strong>13 million healthcare workers</strong> and presently at least <strong>400 million</strong> people worldwide <strong>lack access</strong> to the most essential health services.</li>
<li>According to WHO in the near future, 1 in 5 of the world&rsquo;s population will be living in settings that are experiencing humanitarian crises (series of events that are threatening in terms of health, safety or well being of a community or large group of people) hence self care interventions guidelines will act as the first line of defense and will prevent health crisis.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Significance</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Autonomy and timely intervention:</strong> Self-care interventions represent a significant push towards new and greater self-efficacy, autonomy and engagement in health for self-carers and caregivers.</li>
<li><strong>Accessibility:</strong> It could expand access to health services, including for vulnerable populations.</li>
<li><strong>Right to health:</strong> People will be able to access, control, and have affordable options to manage their health and well-being.</li>
<li><strong>Equality:</strong> Self-care is also a means for people who are negatively affected by <strong>gender, political, cultural and power dynamics,</strong> including those who are forcibly displaced, to have access to sexual and reproductive health services, as many people are unable to make decisions around sexuality and reproduction.</li>
</ul>',
			'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
			'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/whos-self-care-guidelines'
		],
		(int) 8 => [
			'title' => 'INS 'Shivalik' and 'Sindhukirti'',
			'catname' => 'News Analysis',
			'desc' => '<p>Defence Minister visited the Indian Navy's indigenously designed stealth frigate, INS 'Shivalik' and INS 'Sindhukirti'.</p>
<h3>INS 'Shivalik'</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>INS 'Shivalik' is India&rsquo;s <strong>first stealth frigate</strong> in the shivalik series under project 17 with 80% indigenous content.<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Stealth frigates can escape detection by normal radars and surveillance equipment.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>INS 'Shivalik' is armed with missiles, helicopter support, mounted guns and a combat management system that can effectively coordinate all weapons and sensors onboard, giving it the ability to deal with <strong>multiple threats</strong>.</li>
<li>Special aerodynamics, equipment, and materials used in designing and building INS 'Shivalik' makes it very difficult to monitor their movements.</li>
<li>Apart from India, only the US, Russia, UK, France, Sweden, Japan, Italy, and China have the capability to build stealth warships of this size and class.</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Project 17 &ndash; Shivalik class Frigate</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The Shivalik class or Project 17 class is a class of multi-role frigates in service with the Indian Navy.</li>
<li>Stealth Frigates under Shivalik class series namely INS Shivalik, INS Sahyadri, and INS Satpura are first stealth warships built in India (by Mazagon Dock Limited).</li>
</ul>
</div>
<h3>INS Sindhukirti</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The INS Sindhukirti, among the <strong>oldest operational submarines</strong> in the Navy, is <strong>diesel-electric class submarine</strong> that can launch torpedoes, missiles, and even mines.</li>
<li>Acquired in 1990, the submarine still forms a part of the Navy's cutting edge as it's been refitted - virtually rebuilt with <strong>modern sensors weapons</strong> and systems.</li>
</ul>',
			'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
			'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/ins-shivalik-and-sindhukirti'
		],
		(int) 9 => [
			'title' => 'Inter-State River Water Sharing Disputes',
			'catname' => 'Paper 2',
			'desc' => '<h3>Context</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The Inter-State River Water Disputes are one of the <strong>most contentious issues</strong> in the Indian federalism today.</li>
<li>The recent cases of the <strong>Cauvery Water Dispute and the Satluj Yamuna Link Canal</strong> are some examples.</li>
<li>Various <strong>Inter-State Water Disputes Tribunals</strong> have been constituted so far, but they had their own problems.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Constitutional Provisions</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Entry 17 of State List</strong> deals with water i.e. water supply, irrigation, canal, drainage, embankments, water storage and water power.</li>
<li><strong>Entry 56 of Union List empowers</strong> the Union Government for the regulation and development of inter-state rivers and river valleys to the extent declared by Parliament to be expedient in the public interest.</li>
<li><strong>According to Article 262, in case of disputes relating to waters:</strong><br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Parliament may by law provide for the adjudication of any dispute or complaint with respect to the use, distribution or control of the waters of, or in, any inter-State river or river valley.</li>
<li>Parliament may, by law provide that neither the Supreme Court nor any other court shall exercise jurisdiction in respect of any such dispute or complaint as mentioned above.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<table border="1" style="height: 209px; border-collapse: collapse; background-color: #cbecf2; border-color: #0389a3; border-style: solid; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;">
<tbody>
<tr style="height: 19px;">
<td style="width: 73.5094%; height: 19px; text-align: center; background-color: #0389a3;" colspan="2"><span style="color: #ffffff;"><strong>Major Inter-State River Disputes</strong></span></td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 19px;">
<td style="width: 15.786%; height: 19px; background-color: #ceeaf0;"><strong> River (s)</strong></td>
<td style="width: 57.7234%; height: 19px; background-color: #ceeaf0;"><strong>States</strong></td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 19px;">
<td style="width: 15.786%; height: 19px; background-color: #ceeaf0;">Ravi and Beas</td>
<td style="width: 57.7234%; height: 19px; background-color: #ceeaf0;">Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 19px;">
<td style="width: 15.786%; height: 19px; background-color: #ceeaf0;">Narmada</td>
<td style="width: 57.7234%; height: 19px; background-color: #ceeaf0;">Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 19px;">
<td style="width: 15.786%; height: 19px; background-color: #ceeaf0;">Krishna</td>
<td style="width: 57.7234%; height: 19px; background-color: #ceeaf0;">Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Telangana</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 19px;">
<td style="width: 15.786%; height: 19px; background-color: #ceeaf0;">Vamsadhara</td>
<td style="width: 57.7234%; height: 19px; background-color: #ceeaf0;">Andhra Pradesh &amp; Odisha</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 19px;">
<td style="width: 15.786%; height: 19px; background-color: #ceeaf0;">Cauvery</td>
<td style="width: 57.7234%; height: 19px; background-color: #ceeaf0;">Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 19px;">
<td style="width: 15.786%; height: 19px; background-color: #ceeaf0;">Godavari</td>
<td style="width: 57.7234%; height: 19px; background-color: #ceeaf0;">Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 19px;">
<td style="width: 15.786%; height: 19px; background-color: #ceeaf0;">Mahanadi</td>
<td style="width: 57.7234%; height: 19px; background-color: #ceeaf0;">Chhattisgarh, Odisha</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 19px;">
<td style="width: 15.786%; height: 19px; background-color: #ceeaf0;">Mahadayi</td>
<td style="width: 57.7234%; height: 19px; background-color: #ceeaf0;">Goa, Maharashtra, Karnataka</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 19px;">
<td style="width: 15.786%; height: 19px; background-color: #ceeaf0;">Periyar</td>
<td style="width: 57.7234%; height: 19px; background-color: #ceeaf0;">Tamil Nadu, Kerala</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<h3>Mechanism for Inter-State River Water Disputes Resolution</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The resolution of water dispute is governed by the <strong>Inter-State River Water Disputes Act, 1956</strong>.<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>According to its provisions, if a State Government makes a request regarding any water dispute and the Central Government is of opinion that the water dispute cannot be settled by negotiations, then a <strong>Water Disputes Tribunal</strong> is constituted for the adjudication of the water dispute.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>The act was amended in 2002, to include the major recommendations of the Sarkaria Commission.<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>The amendments mandated a one year time frame to setup the water disputes tribunal and also a 3 year time frame to give a decision.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<h3>Active River Water Dispute Tribunals in India</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal II (2004) &ndash; Karnataka, Telangana, Andra Pradesh, Maharashtra</li>
<li>Mahanadi Water Disputes Tribunal (2018) &ndash; Odisha &amp; Chattisgarh</li>
<li>Mahadayi Water Disputes Tribunal (2010) &ndash; Goa,Karnataka, Maharashtra</li>
<li>Ravi &amp; Beas Water Tribunal (1986) &ndash; Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan</li>
<li>Vansadhara Water Disputes Tribunal (2010) &ndash; Andra Pradesh &amp; Odisha.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Issues with Interstate Water Dispute Tribunals</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Protracted proceedings and extreme delays in dispute resolution.</strong><br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>For example, in the case of Godavari water dispute, the request was made in 1962, but the tribunal was constituted in 1968 and the award was given in 1979 which was published in the Gazette in 1980.</li>
<li>The <strong>Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal,</strong> constituted in 1990, gave its final award in 2007.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Opacity in the <strong>institutional framework</strong> and guidelines that define these proceedings; and ensuring <strong>compliance</strong>.</li>
<li>Though award is final and beyond the jurisdiction of Courts, either States can approach Supreme Court under <strong>Article 136</strong> (Special Leave Petition) under <strong>Article 32</strong> linking issue with the violation of Article 21 (Right to Life).</li>
<li>The <strong>composition of the tribunal is not multidisciplinary</strong> and it consists of persons only from the judiciary.</li>
<li>The <strong>absence of authoritative water data</strong> that is acceptable to all parties currently makes it difficult to even set up a baseline for adjudication.</li>
<li>The <strong>shift in tribunals' approach,</strong> from deliberative to adversarial, aids extended litigation and politicisation of water-sharing disputes.</li>
<li>The <strong>growing nexus between water and politics</strong> have transformed the disputes into turfs of vote bank politics. <br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>This politicisation has also led to <strong>increasing defiance by states,</strong> extended litigations and subversion of resolution mechanisms.</li>
<li>For example, the Punjab government played truant in the case of the <strong>Ravi-Beas tribunal</strong>.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Too much discretion at too many stages of the process.</strong><br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Partly because of procedural complexities involving multiple stakeholders across governments and agencies.</li>
<li>India&rsquo;s complicated federal polity and its colonial legacy.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>The Inter-State River Water Disputes (Amendment) Bill, 2017</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>In order to <strong>further streamline the adjudication</strong> of inter-State river water disputes, the Inter-State River Water Disputes (Amendment) Bill, 2017 was introduced in Lok Sabha in March 2017 by amending the existing ISRWD Act, 1956.</li>
<li>The Bill <strong>envisages to constitute a standalone Tribunal with permanent establishment</strong> and permanent office space and infrastructure so as to obviate the need to set up a separate Tribunal for each water dispute which is invariably a time consuming process.</li>
<li>In the proposed Bill, there is a provision for establishment of a <strong>Dispute Resolution Committee (DRC)</strong> by the Central Government for resolving amicably, the inter-State water disputes within a maximum period of <strong>one year and six months</strong>.</li>
<li>Any dispute, which cannot be settled by negotiations shall be referred to the Tribunal for its adjudication.</li>
<li>The dispute so referred to the Tribunal shall be <strong>assigned by the Chairperson</strong> of the Tribunal to a Bench of the Tribunal for adjudication.</li>
<li>Under the Bill, the requirement of <strong>publication of the final decision of tribunal in the official gazette has been removed</strong>.</li>
<li>The Bill adds that the decision of the bench of the tribunal will be <strong>final and binding</strong> on the parties involved in the dispute</li>
<li>The Bill also calls for the <strong>transparent data collection system</strong> at the national level for each river basin and a single agency to maintain data bank and information system.</li>
<li>The proposed amendments in the Bill will <strong>speed up the adjudication</strong> of water disputes referred to it.</li>
<li>The Bill was referred to <strong>Parliamentary Standing Committee</strong> on Water Resources for examination.</li>
<li>The Standing Committee has submitted its recommendation on the Bill, accordingly, the Ministry has prepared draft <strong>Cabinet Note for Official Amendments</strong> to Inter-State River Water Disputes (Amendment) Bill, 2017.</li>
</ul>
</div>
<h3>Conclusion</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The Centre&rsquo;s proposal to set up a single, permanent tribunal to adjudicate on inter-state river water disputes could be a <strong>major step towards streamlining the dispute redressal mechanism</strong>.</li>
<li>However, this <strong>alone will not be able to address</strong> the different kinds of problems&mdash;legal, administrative, constitutional and political&mdash;that plague the overall framework.</li>
<li>Centre&rsquo;s proposal to set up <strong>an agency</strong> alongside the tribunal, <strong>that will collect and process data on river waters</strong> can be a right step in this direction.</li>
<li>To strengthen the <strong>cooperative federalism,</strong> parochial mindset making regional issues superior to national issues should not be allowed.</li>
<li>So disputes must be resolved by <strong>dialogue and talks</strong> and the political opportunism must be avoided.</li>
<li>A <strong>robust and transparent institutional framework</strong> with cooperative approach is need of the hour.</li>
</ul>',
			'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
			'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/to-the-points/Paper2/inter-state-river-water-sharing-disputes'
		],
		(int) 10 => [
			'title' => 'Need to Reform Financial Policy',
			'catname' => 'News Editorials',
			'desc' => '<div class="border">
<p><em>This article is based on the editorial <a href="https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/even-central-banks-need-capital-infusion/article28211410.ece" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>&ldquo;Even central banks need &lsquo;capital&rsquo; infusion&rdquo;</strong></a> that appeared in The Hindu on 29th June 2019. This article critically analyses the Reserve Bank of India&rsquo;s monetary policy that focuses on Inflation targeting.</em></p>
</div>
<p>The central bank of India- <a href="/important-institutions/drishti-specials-important-institutions-national-institutions/important-institutions-national-institution-reserve-bank-of-india" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Reserve Bank of India</strong></a> (RBI) is the main decision maker for the country&rsquo;s financial system and is mandated with ensuring its stability. However, in the era of globalisation, the role of the central bank in the economy must be kept in sync with the changing domestic and global economy. So the economic arrangement should include the dynamism of the current times.</p>
<p>Thus, RBI needs to follow a pragmatic monetary policy and its current policy that largely focuses on <strong>inflation targeting</strong> must be reviewed.</p>
<h3>What is Inflation targeting?</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Inflation targeting involves using monetary policy to keep inflation close to the agreed target.</li>
<li>RBI and Government of India signed a Monetary Policy Framework Agreement in February 2015.<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>As per terms of the agreement, the objective of monetary policy framework would be primarily to maintain price stability (inflation targeting), while keeping in mind the objective of growth.</li>
<li>According to the agreement, RBI would aim to contain consumer price inflation within 4% with a band of (+/-) 2% for all subsequent years.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<h3>Why monetary policy based on Inflation targeting must be reviewed now?</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The government and the RBI, by acting in synergy implemented a deflationary macroeconomic policy via fiscal contraction and monetary tightening respectively.</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Deflationary macroeconomic policy:</strong> It is a set of macroeconomic policies that are designed to combat rising inflation. It can be done by:<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><strong>Fiscal contraction:</strong> It is a monetary measure referring to a reduction in government spending.</li>
<li><strong>Monetary tightening:</strong> It means Central Bank&rsquo;s policy to constrict spending in an economy by reducing the money supply, that is seen to be accelerating too quickly or to curb inflation when it is rising too fast.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The global financial crisis has led to a substantial re-thinking of macroeconomics. The main revisions are that monetary policy defined by inflation targeting can no longer be treated as the centrepiece of macroeconomic policy,<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><strong>Fiscal policy should be used to stabilise the economy when needed and that financial regulation is a must.</strong></li>
<li>The limitation of inflation targeting was understood when the great moderation (an extended period of low inflation in western countries like the US and EU) ended in the financial crisis.</li>
<li>Central Bank&rsquo;s focus on inflation targeting lost sight of the emerging financial instability.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>This has recently been experienced in India in: <br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><strong>The IL&amp;FS crisis:</strong> A major NBFC in India defaulted on its payment obligations jeopardising the interests of hundreds of investors, banks and mutual funds. The IL&amp;FS crisis was touted in intelligentia as India's Lehman brother default.</li>
<li>Also, the Indian banking sector is under crisis due to rising non-performing assets <strong>(NPAs)</strong> of banks even as RBI ensured inflation was abating.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p>Lehman brother default the largest bankruptcy filing in U.S. history started a domino effect that resulted into Global Financial meltdown in 2008-09</p>
</div>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Inflation targeting in India has coincided with a substantial rise in the real policy rate. This has been accompanied by declining borrowing in the formal sector likely affecting investment.</li>
<li>Though many in government appreciate their attainment of macroeconomic stability defined by low inflation, unemployment has been rising in the country (according to NSSO, unemployment in India has been highest in the last 45 years).</li>
<li>Inflation has come down after MOU signed between RBI and Government regarding inflation targeting. However, it is to be considered that-<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Inflation in emerging markets such as India is very sensitive to exogenous shocks like as global oil prices, a weaker rupee and a poor monsoon.</li>
<li>The inflation in most emerging markets came down in recent years because of global factors such as muted oil prices and the deflationary impact of the Chinese export boom.</li>
<li>Food inflation, which impacts the common people the most, is prone to supply-side bottlenecks, which are out of the scope of any remedy under the aegis of monetary policy of RBI.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<p>So RBI not only needs functional independence, but it needs to follow a more pragmatic financial policy. In this scenario, RBI&rsquo;s role must now be redefined through a recalibrated monetary policy, which is in sync with changing economic conditions.</p>
<table border="1" style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 96.2511%;" height="46">
<tbody>
<tr style="border-style: none; border-color: #f78686;">
<td style="width: 100%; background-color: #f2ecb1; border-color: #f5f75c;"><span style="color: #0000ff;"><strong><em>Drishti input</em></strong></span><br />RBI&rsquo;s monetary policy which is based on inflation targeting needs reform. Comment</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p></p>',
			'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
			'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-editorials/need-to-reform-financial-policy'
		],
		(int) 11 => [
			'title' => 'International Seed Testing Association',
			'catname' => 'News Analysis',
			'desc' => '<p>The&nbsp;<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">32<sup>nd&nbsp;</sup></span></span><strong>International Seed Testing Association (ISTA) Congress</strong> is taking place in Hyderabad from 26<sup>th</sup> June to 3<sup>rd</sup> July, 2019. This is the <strong>first congress</strong> that is being held in <strong>Asia</strong>.</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>ITSA was founded in the year <strong>1924</strong> with the aim to develop and publish standard procedures in the field of seed testing.</li>
<li>It produces internationally agreed rules for seed sampling and testing, <strong>accredits laboratories,</strong> promotes research, <strong>provides international seed analysis certificates</strong> and training, and disseminates knowledge in seed science and technology.</li>
<li>ISTA <strong>members are over 85 countries</strong>/distinct economies worldwide and they work together to achieve their vision of 'Uniformity in seed quality evaluation worldwide'. This facilitates seed trading nationally and internationally, and also contributes to food security.</li>
<li>The <strong>headquarters</strong> of the Association is located in <strong>Switzerland.</strong></li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Note</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>National Seed Research and Training Centre (NSRTC), Varanasi</strong> is the apex centre in India to maintain uniformity in seed testing results at national level.</li>
<li>The <strong>Central Seed Testing Laboratory (CSTL),</strong> under the centre, is a member laboratory of International Seed Testing Association (ISTA).</li>
</ul>
</div>',
			'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
			'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/international-seed-testing-association'
		],
		(int) 12 => [
			'title' => 'First Resilient Kerala Program',
			'catname' => 'News Analysis',
			'desc' => '<p>The Government of India, the Government of Kerala and the World Bank have signed a Loan Agreement of USD 250 million for the <strong>First Resilient Kerala Program</strong> to enhance the State's resilience against the impacts of natural disasters and climate change.</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The Resilient Kerala Program will focus on strengthening the State's institutional and financial capacity to protect the assets and livelihoods of poor and vulnerable groups through an inclusive and participatory approach.<a href="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/420image2.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="content-img" src="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/420image2.jpg" width="360" height="328" style="float: right;" caption="false" /></a></li>
<li>The New Program is part of the Government of India&rsquo;s support to Kerala&rsquo;s <strong>&lsquo;Rebuild Kerala Development Programme&rsquo;</strong> aimed at building a green and resilient Kerala. This partnership will identify key areas of policy and institutional strengthening to maximize development impact.</li>
<li>It is the first of two <strong>Development Policy Operations</strong> aiming to mainstream disaster and climate resilience into critical infrastructure and services. <br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>State partnership is a key pillar of the Bank&rsquo;s new <strong>Country Partnership Framework</strong> for India. Through such partnerships, the Bank will support select States striving to bring about systemic improvements in the way development initiatives are planned and executed.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<h3>Objectives of the Program</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>It aims to support the State with:<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Improved river basin planning and water infrastructure operations management, water supply and sanitation services</li>
<li>Resilient and sustainable agriculture, enhanced agriculture risk insurance</li>
<li>Improved resilience of the core road network</li>
<li>Unified and more up-to-date land records in high-risk areas</li>
<li>Risk-based urban planning and strengthened expenditure planning by urban local bodies</li>
<li>Strengthened fiscal and public financial management capacity of the state.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Other initiatives:</strong> The World Bank has been supporting the State through engagements such as the Second Kerala State Transport Project, Dam Rehabilitation and Improvement Project, National Hydrology Project, National Cyclone Risk Mitigation Project Phase 2 and the Kerala Local Government and Service Delivery Project.</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Development Policy Financing (DPF)</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>It is an initiative of World Bank that aims to help the borrowers to achieve <strong>sustainable poverty reduction</strong> through a program of policy and institutional actions, for example, <strong>strengthening public financial management</strong>, <strong>improving the investment climate</strong>, addressing bottlenecks to <strong>improve service delivery</strong>, and <strong>diversifying the economy</strong>.</li>
<li>This represents a shift away from short-term macroeconomic stabilization and trade liberalization reforms of the 1980s-90s towards more medium-term institutional reforms.</li>
<li><strong>This could be a loan, grant or credit</strong> which provides rapidly-disbursing financing to help a borrower address the actual or anticipated development financing requirements and promote policy reform.</li>
</ul>
</div>',
			'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
			'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/first-resilient-kerala-program'
		],
		(int) 13 => [
			'title' => 'Dragonfly Mission',
			'catname' => 'News Analysis',
			'desc' => '<p><strong>The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's</strong> <a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/mars-colonisation-through-sperm-bank" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>(NASA)</strong></a> Dragonfly mission, (which will be launched in 2026 and land in 2034) plans to fly a drone copter to <strong>Saturn&rsquo;s largest moon Titan</strong> in search of the building blocks of life.</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Dragonfly mission will study whether the moon of Saturn (Titan) could now be, or once was, home to life.</li>
<li>Dragonfly will fly to dozens of promising locations on Titan looking for <strong>prebiotic chemical</strong> processes common on both Titan and Earth.</li>
<li>This will be the first time Nasa will fly a <strong>multi-rotor vehicle</strong> for science on other planet.<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Multi-rotor vehicle would have eight rotors (moving component of an electromagnetic system in the electric motor, electric generator, or alternator) and will fly like a large <strong>drone.</strong></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Dragonfly will explore diverse environments from <strong>organic dunes</strong> (hill of loose sand built by the flow of water or air) to the floor of an impact crater where liquid water and complex organic materials (key to life)once existed together (possibly tens of thousands of years).</li>
<li>The craft will land first at the equatorial <strong>&ldquo;Shangri-La&rdquo; dune,</strong> exploring the region in short trips before building up to longer &ldquo;leapfrog&rdquo; flights of five miles (8 kilometers).</li>
<li>It will investigate the Titan&rsquo;s <strong>atmospheric and surface</strong> properties and it's subsurface ocean and liquid reservoirs and will also search for chemical evidence of past life.</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Titan</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Titan is the <strong>largest moon</strong> of Saturn and the second largest moon in our solar system.</li>
<li>It has liquid rivers, lakes, and seas on its surface (though these contain hydrocarbons like methane and ethane, not water).</li>
<li>Titan&rsquo;s atmosphere is made mostly of <strong>nitrogen</strong>, like Earth&rsquo;s, but is four times denser.</li>
<li>Unlike Earth, it has <strong>clouds and rain of methane.</strong></li>
<li>It is 886 million miles (1.4 billion kilometers) away from the Sun, about 10 times farther than Earth.</li>
<li>Because it is so far from the Sun it's <strong>surface temperature</strong> is (-179 degree Celsius).</li>
<li>It's <strong>surface pressure</strong> is also 50% higher than Earth.</li>
</ul>
</div>',
			'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
			'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/dragonfly-mission'
		],
		(int) 14 => [
			'title' => 'Ozone Pollution',
			'catname' => 'News Analysis',
			'desc' => '<p>According to the data presented by the <strong>Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change</strong> in the Lok Sabha, ozone was reported as a prominent pollutant (for 95 days between 2016 and 2018) in Delhi (contributing to rising <a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/air-pollution-in-delhi" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>air pollution in Delhi</strong></a>).</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Delhi has witnessed 122 micrograms per cubic metre (ug/cu m) of ozone pollution which is 1.22 times higher than the eight-hour average standard which is 100 ug/cu m.</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Ozone</strong></p>
<p>Ozone (composed of three atoms of oxygen) occurs both in the Earth's upper atmosphere (stratosphere) and at ground level ( troposphere). It can be good or bad, depending on where it is found:</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Good Ozone:</strong> Ozone occurs naturally in the Earth's upper atmosphere (Stratosphere) where it forms a <strong>protective layer</strong> that shields us from the sun's harmful ultraviolet rays.<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/ozone-depleting-gas" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Ozone depleting gases</strong></a> like chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), HCFCs, halons, destroy this protective shield and causes hole in the ozone.</li>
<li>India had adopted the <a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/ozone-layer-is-recovering-un" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Kigali Amendment</strong></a> (aims to phase-down hydrofluorocarbons).</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Bad Ozone:</strong> In the Earth's lower atmosphere (troposphere) near ground level, ozone is formed when pollutants emitted by cars, power plants, industrial boilers, refineries, chemical plants, and other sources react chemically in the presence of <strong>sunlight.</strong><br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/important-facts-for-prelims-29th-may-2019" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Surface level Ozone</strong></a> is a harmful air pollutant.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
<h3>Impacts of Ozone Pollution&nbsp;<a href="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/704image3.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="content-img" src="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/704image3.jpg" width="428" height="322" style="float: right;" caption="false" /></a></h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Surface level Ozone causes <strong>damage</strong> to <strong>crops</strong> and <strong>forests.</strong></li>
<li>Irritation can occur in the <strong>respiratory system</strong> giving rise to <strong>coughs</strong> and an uncomfortable sensation in the chest.</li>
<li>Ozone worsens bronchitis, emphysema, asthma, etc and increases the risk and susceptibility to pulmonary inflammation like <strong>Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease</strong> (COPD).</li>
<li>It may reduce <strong>lung function</strong> and make breathing difficult.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Government Efforts</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Shifting to <a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/only-bs-vi-vehicles-to-be-sold-from-april-2020" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>BS-VI compliant vehicles from BS-IV.</strong></a></li>
<li>Shutting down of the Badarpur thermal power plant.</li>
<li>Banning of garbage burning.</li>
<li><a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/grap-to-be-enforced-in-delhi-ncr" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Graded Response Action Plan</strong></a> (GRAP).</li>
<li>Launch of the <a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/cpcb-lists-cities-with-no-clean-up-plan" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>National Clean Air Programme</strong></a> (NCAP).</li>
<li>Setting up of a monitoring network for assessment of the ambient air quality at 779 locations, covering 339 cities in 29 states and six Union territories</li>
</ul>',
			'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
			'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/ozone-pollution'
		],
		(int) 15 => [
			'title' => 'Kobe-Ahmedabad Sister Cities',
			'catname' => 'News Analysis',
			'desc' => '<p>A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) of sister-city partnership was signed by Japan and India during the Indian Prime Minister&rsquo;s visit for 2019 <strong><a href="/important-institutions/drishti-specials-important-institutions-international-institution/important-institution-upsc-ias-g20-significance-global-groupings-member-challenges-buenos-aires-gs-mains-paper-ii-2-international-relations" target="_blank" rel="noopener">G20</a></strong> Osaka summit in Japan.</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>It will cultivate, promote and enhance opportunities on the business, academic and cultural front between Kobe in Hyogo, Japan and Ahmedabad in Gujarat, India.</li>
<li>In November 2016, India and Japan signed <strong>a sister-state relationship MoU</strong> for Gujarat and Hyogo prefecture.&nbsp;<a href="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/166image1.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="content-img" src="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/166image1.jpg" width="415" height="294" style="float: right;" caption="false" /></a><br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>The MoU sought to promote mutual cooperation between Gujarat and Hyogo in the fields of academics, business, cultural cooperation, disaster management and environmental protection.</li>
<li>Kobe is the capital city of Hyogo. Indian Prime Minister had visited a bullet train plant in Kobe.</li>
<li>India is building its first bullet train between Mumbai and Ahmedabad with Japan's help.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/architectural-heritage-of-orchha" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>The UNESCO</strong></a> has recognized Ahmedabad as the World Heritage City and Kobe as the Creative Design City, and therefore, both are recognized by the world as cities of repute. <br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>This common thread will help people connect and this is very important for the growth on other fronts.</li>
<li>Kobe already has a large section of Gujarati community.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Sister City</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The concept of sister cities or twin towns is a legal and social agreement between towns, cities, counties, oblasts, prefectures, provinces, regions, states between two separate countries to promote cultural and commercial ties.</li>
<li>The plan was conceived after the end of World War II to promote peaceful coexistence and to encourage trade and tourism.</li>
<li>In diplomacy, this concept is seen as a way to enhance strategic ties between the two nations, both cultural as well as economic.</li>
<li>In 2013, India signed the sister city agreements with China -- the pairs were Delhi-Beijing, Bengaluru-Chengdu and Kolkata-Kunming.</li>
</ul>
</div>',
			'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
			'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/kobe-ahmedabad-sister-cities'
		],
		(int) 16 => [
			'title' => 'Cancer Detection Tool',
			'catname' => 'News Analysis',
			'desc' => '<p>The team at Yale University has developed a tool which can potentially detect triggers in patients with renal as well as brain cancers, a finding that could advance the treatment of cancer by early detection.</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The researchers have found how cancer cells are triggered to spread to other parts of the body (this process of spreading of cancer cells is called <strong>metastasis</strong>).</li>
<li>Finding and treating cancer at an early stage can save lives. However, treatment becomes more difficult, once cancer gets <strong>metastasised or spreads</strong>.</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Metastases</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>It is the plural form of metastasis. It most commonly develops when cancer cells break away from the main tumour and enter the bloodstream or lymphatic system. These systems carry fluids around the body. This means that the cancer cells can travel far from the original tumour and form new tumours when they settle and grow in a different part of the body.</li>
<li>Metastases can also sometimes develop when cancer cells from the main tumour, typically in the belly, or abdominal cavity, break off and grow in nearby areas, such as in the liver, lungs, or bones.</li>
</ul>
</div>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Advantages:</strong> The discovery can potentially be used to develop new prognostic tests and pave the way for more personalised clinical interventions.<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Novel drugs can be developed to target the cells and prevent them from undergoing the change in environment which acts as a trigger to cancer.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>',
			'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
			'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/cancer-detection-tool'
		],
		(int) 17 => [
			'title' => 'The Big Picture: Fighting Drug Menace',
			'catname' => 'Lok Sabha & Rajya Sabha Discussions',
			'desc' => '<p style="text-align: center;"><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/8Vk3Wj-bFbI" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></p>
<p><strong>The International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking is observed annually on June 26.</strong> The decision to mark the day was taken on December 7, 1987, through a resolution of the United Nations General Assembly in order to strengthen global action and cooperation to achieve its aim of making the international society free of drug abuse. The theme for 2019, <strong>&lsquo;Health for Justice, Justice for Health&rsquo;</strong> emphasises that justice and health are two sides of the same coin when it comes to addressing the problems associated with drugs.<br /><strong></strong></p>
<h3>Drug Menace in India</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>In February 2019, AIIMS submitted its report &ldquo;Magnitude of Substance Use in India&rdquo; to the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. Key highlights of the report are:
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><strong>Alcohol is the most abused substance in India.</strong></li>
<li>Around 5 crore Indians reported to have used cannabis and opioids at the time of the survey (conducted in the year 2018).</li>
<li>It has been estimated that there are <strong>about 8.5 lakh people who inject drugs.</strong></li>
<li>Of the total cases estimated by the report, more than half of them are contributed by states like <strong><a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/northern-states-to-fight-drug-menace-jointly" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Punjab</a>, Assam, Delhi, Haryana, Manipur, Mizoram, Sikkim and Uttar Pradesh.</strong></li>
<li>About 60 lakh people are estimated to need help for their opioid use problems.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>More and more children are taking to alcohol consumption and the <strong>highest percentage of children who are addicted to alcohol are in Punjab</strong> followed by West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Reasons</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Stress Buster:</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Sometimes students tend to get into drugs if they are in a technical institute (medical or engineering), because of their <strong>studies or work pressure.</strong> Such students are generally alone and away from homes, therefore to cope up with all the stress around them, they end up using drugs.</li>
<li>Also, students coming from other states find it difficult to cope up in metropolitan cities like Delhi.</li>
<li>It is generally seen that <strong>an unemployed youth</strong>, out of frustration, ends up in taking drugs.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Peer pressure</strong> and other psychological factors can cause teens to engage in risky behaviours, leading to substance abuse.
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Youth can get attracted to the <strong>glamour attached to drug taking.</strong></li>
<li>Sometimes also, <strong>out of fun or in order to experiment,</strong> a youth ends up in taking drugs.</li>
<li>When children see their elder ones consuming drugs, they also try to do the same.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Suffering and deprivation:</strong> People in the lower income group who cannot have an adequate amount of food, take drugs to sleep or relax.</li>
<li><strong>Drug subculture</strong> that is prevalent in the country.</li>
<li><strong>Flaws in the legal system:</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>The cause behind drug menace is the drug cartels, crime syndicates and ultimately the <strong>ISI</strong> which is the <strong>biggest supplier of drugs.</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: disc;">
<li><strong>Rave parties</strong> have been reported in the country where intake of narcotic substances is observed.</li>
<li>These parties are <strong>orchestrated by the drug syndicates</strong> who have their own vested interests.</li>
<li>Social media plays an important role in organising these parties.</li>
<li>The police have not been able to control such parties.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/india-key-hub-for-illicit-drug-trade-unodc" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Smuggling of drugs</strong></a> through the states like Punjab, Assam and Uttar Pradesh which share the border with neighbouring countries.</li>
<li>Normal food products like noodles, pan masala and gutka laced with drugs are sold to school and college students.</li>
<li>The <strong>African as well as the Southasian route being misused</strong> to bring drugs into the country.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<h3>Challenges to Curb the Drug Menace</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Legally available drugs</strong> such as tobacco are a huge problem.
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><strong>Tobacco is usually seen as a gateway drug</strong> which children take just to experiment with, and gradually they progress to alcohol and then cannabis.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Currently, the country has more of the<strong> young population with disposable income</strong> where <strong>willingness to take risk</strong> is high. The <strong>availability of drugs</strong> in the country makes it a lethal mix.</li>
<li><strong>Lack of availability of rehabilitation centres in the country is a big issue.</strong> Also, NGOs operating de-addiction centres in the country, have failed to provide the required kind of treatment and therapy.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Way Forward</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Voluntary process:</strong> It is well within one&rsquo;s mental and spiritual powers to quit addiction. There is a <strong>need to admit that one has a problem of drug addiction</strong> and then s/he needs to look at the lives of such people who had been, once, through the worst period of addiction and have now come out of that.
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>At the same time, help from physicians, psychologists, as well as strong support from family, is required.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Stigma:</strong> Addiction should not be seen as a character flaw, but as an ailment that any other person could be struggling with. Therefore, the stigma associated with drug taking needs to be reduced. <strong>Society needs to understand that drug-addicts are victims and not criminals.</strong></li>
<li>Certain crop drugs which have more than 50% alcohol and opioids need to be contained.</li>
<li><strong>Strict action is required from police officers</strong> at the excise and narcotics department to curb the problem of drug menace in the country.</li>
<li><strong>Radical political decisions like that one of alcohol prohibition in Bihar may be another solution.</strong> When people do not exercise self-control, a state has to step in, <strong>as part of the Directive Principles of State Policy (Article 47).</strong></li>
<li>Education curriculum should include chapters on drug addiction, its impact and also on de-addiction. Proper Counselling is another alternative.</li>
<li>There is a need to <strong>strictly implement the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.</strong></li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Drishti Input</strong></p>
<p><strong>The Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>India is a signatory</strong> to the <strong>UN Single Convention on Narcotics Drugs 1961,</strong> the Convention on <strong>Psychotropic Substances,</strong> 1971 and the Convention on<strong> Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances,</strong> 1988 which prescribe various forms of control aimed to achieve the dual objective of limiting the use of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances for medical and scientific purposes as well as preventing the abuse of the same.</li>
<li>The administrative and legislative setup in the field of Narcotics has been put in place in the country in accordance with the spirit of the UN Conventions. The basic legislative instrument of the Government of India in this regard is the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985.</li>
<li>The Act provides <strong>stringent provisions</strong> for the control and regulation of operations relating to narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances.</li>
<li>It also provides for <strong>forfeiture of property</strong> derived from, or used in, illicit traffic in narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances.</li>
<li>It also provides for <strong>death penalty</strong> in some cases where a person is a repeat offender.</li>
</ul>
</div>',
			'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
			'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/loksabha-rajyasabha-discussions/the-big-picture-fighting-drug-menace'
		],
		(int) 18 => [
			'title' => 'Significance of G-20 amidst a Geo-Economic Flux',
			'catname' => 'News Editorials',
			'desc' => '<div class="border">
<p>This article is based on the editorial <a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/two-and-twenty-at-osaka-g20-summit-india-china-us-japan-5803667/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>&ldquo;Two and twenty at Osaka&rdquo;</strong></a> that appeared in Indian Express on 28th June 2019. It talks about the role that G-20 can play in the weak global economic scenario due to the US &lsquo;s America first policy and other events.</p>
</div>
<p>The economy has no borders-this was well certified when the subprime crisis that started from the USA spread to eurozone leading to eurozone crisis of 2008-09, which eventually culminated into the global financial meltdown of 2009. In the event of tackling this crisis, world leaders gathered in 2008 and reinvented&nbsp;<strong><a href="/important-institutions/drishti-specials-important-institutions-international-institution/important-institution-upsc-ias-g20-significance-global-groupings-member-challenges-buenos-aires-gs-mains-paper-ii-2-international-relations" target="_blank" rel="noopener">G-20</a></strong> (Group of 20) forum.</p>
<p>Eleven years after its inception, the G-20 has emerged as an important forum of most of the world&rsquo;s systemically important economies. But once the global financial system stabilised, the G-20 summits lost steam and focus. Today's world is witnessing a global economic downturn. In this context, joint efforts by major economies should be made to help maintain global growth amid rising uncertainties and that should be the prime focus of G20 summit 2019 in Osaka, Japan.</p>
<h3>Why the global economy is witnessing a Geo-economic flux?</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Today the global economy is increasingly threatened by protectionism, heightening trade tensions worldwide rocking the foundation of the multilateral trading system.</li>
<li>The geo-political phenomenon like US-China trade war, American unilateralism in trade policy(America first policy) and China&rsquo;s opaque trade (Debt-trap diplomacy) and other economic policies have emerged as major threats to global economic growth and stability.</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>What is America First policy?</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>America First is the official foreign policy doctrine of the Trump administration</li>
<li>It refers to a foreign policy in the United States that emphasizes American nationalism and unilateralism.</li>
<li>In pursuance of America first policy, the US has waged a trade war on China and U.S. is increasingly undermining international trade law.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Pillars of America first policy</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Rebalance American trade relationships by supporting National Security.</li>
<li>Re-Negotiation of &ldquo;Outdated and Imbalanced&rdquo; Trade Agreements</li>
<li>Aggressive enforcement of U.S. Trade Law</li>
<li>Defending American interests at the WTO</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>What is Debt Trap diplomacy?</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Debt-trap diplomacy is a type of diplomacy based on debt carried out in the bilateral relations between countries.</li>
<li>It involves one creditor country intentionally extending excessive credit to another debtor country with the alleged intention of extracting economic or political concessions from the debtor country when it becomes unable to honour its debt obligations.</li>
<li>For example, China took Sri Lanka's Hambantota port on a 99-year lease, on account to Sri Lanka's failure to pay Chinese debt.</li>
</ul>
</div>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Today uncertainty is not so much about integration but about disintegration. Multilateralism and free trade have come under pressure and moving towards isolationism and unilateralism which damages the G20 spirit.</li>
<li>This global economic downturn can be reflected in:<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>The latest World Trade Outlook Indicator reading of 96.3 remains at the weakest level since 2010, signalling continued falling trade growth in the first half of 2019, said the World Trade Organization (WTO).</li>
<li>According to a key UN report released earlier in June, global foreign direct investment (FDI) slid to 1.3 trillion dollars in 2018, in its third straight annual decline.</li>
<li>According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Economic prospects are now weaker in nearly all G20 countries than previously anticipated.</li>
<li>Besides, there are other major risks such as geopolitical tensions and climate crises. According to the World Bank, air pollution costs societies more than 5 trillion dollars every year</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<h3>But there are many issues grappling G-20</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Although many G20 economies have repeatedly called for coordination of economic policies over the past few years, the bloc is still divided on certain thorny issues, such as rising protectionism and climate change.</li>
<li>While the G20 has focused on trade policy issues since 2013, the G-20 has not been able to revive the Doha Development Round of multilateral trade negotiations at the World Trade Organisation</li>
<li>Everything from climate change to women&rsquo;s empowerment is now discussed at G-20 summits while the really important business gets done in bilaterals on the sidelines</li>
<li>G-20 meets in the midst of a crisis in world trade. It must not let US-China bilateral overshadow the summit. There is a fear that G-20 may remain focused on G-2(US and China).</li>
</ul>
<h3>Way forward</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Participating countries of the G20 summit should act positively to reach some agreement which would be beneficial to people across the world.</li>
<li>For this to happen, the world's two biggest economies, China and the United States should jointly play a leading role in pushing for positive outcomes at the G20 Osaka summit</li>
<li>Developing countries should take part in the effort to strengthen the role of the UN in world affairs and reform backbones institutions such as the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the WTO</li>
<li>Japan, that is the host country, has laid down three key issues to be discussed at the Osaka Summit i.e. trade policy, environment and the digital economy. In this context it is important for G20 leaders to come up with more transparent rules, especially concerning trade tensions and the digital economy.</li>
</ul>
<p>In the post-war period, the multilateral system has delivered major economic and social progress. Globalization ushered in an unprecedented era of growth, lifting hundreds of millions of people out of poverty. Openness and partnership between countries played a critical part in this success.Thus, G 20 countries must act together to fight this anti-globalisation wave.<br /><br /></p>
<table border="1" style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 100.172%;" height="67">
<tbody>
<tr style="height: 17px; border-style: none; background-color: #ff9e9e;">
<td style="width: 582.222px; height: 17px; background-color: #f1f5b5;"><span style="color: #0000ff;"><em><strong>Drishti input</strong></em></span><br />Discuss the role that global forums like G-20 can play in tackling the global economic downturn that has been caused by events like Trade war, America first policy etc.</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>',
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		(int) 19 => [
			'title' => 'L 98-59b: Tiniest Planet Discovered by TESS',
			'catname' => 'News Analysis',
			'desc' => '<p><strong>The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's</strong> <a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/mars-colonisation-through-sperm-bank" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>(NASA)</strong></a> Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) has discovered the smallest planet called L 98-59b, between the sizes of Mars and Earth orbiting a bright, cool, nearby star.<a href="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/485image4.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="content-img" src="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/485image4.jpg" width="403" height="129" style="float: right;" caption="false" /></a></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>L 98-59b is around <strong>80% of Earth&rsquo;s size</strong> and about 10% smaller than the previous smallest planet discovered by TESS.</li>
<li>The two other planets in the system, <strong>L 98-59c</strong> and <strong>L 98-59d,</strong> are respectively around 1.4 and 1.6 times Earth&rsquo;s size.</li>
<li>L 98-59b&rsquo;s host star, "L 98-59" is an M dwarf ( M dwarfs stars, are much smaller and dimmer than our own sun and aren&rsquo;t bright enough to see with the naked eye. They are also known as red dwarfs, comprising some 70% of all the stars in our galaxy) about one-third the mass of the Sun and lies about 35 light-years away in the southern constellation Volans.
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>None of the planets lies within the star&rsquo;s habitable zone.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>While L 98-59b is a record for TESS, even smaller planets have been discovered in data collected by <a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/important-facts-for-prelims-1st-november-2018" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Kepler satellite,</strong></a> including Kepler-37b, which is only 20% larger than the Moon.</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) Mission</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>NASA Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) mission led by the <strong>Massachusetts Institute of Technology</strong> (with seed funding from Google) will look for planets orbiting the <strong>brightest stars in Earth&rsquo;s sky</strong>.</li>
<li>TESS will survey 200,000 of the brightest stars near the sun to search for transiting exoplanets.</li>
<li>TESS was launched on April 18, 2018, aboard a<a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/spacex-s-falcon-heavy-rocket" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong> SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.</strong></a></li>
<li>TESS employs the <strong>transit method</strong> to detect exoplanets:
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The transit method of detecting exoplanets looks for <strong>dips in the visible light</strong> of stars and requires that planets cross in front of stars along our line of sight to them.</li>
<li>Repetitive, periodic dips reveal a planet or planets orbiting a star.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</div>',
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		'title' => 'Panchayati Raj Institution (PRI)',
		'catname' => 'National Institutions',
		'desc' => '<p><em>When the panchayat raj is established, public opinion will do what violence can never do.&nbsp; &nbsp;<strong>&mdash; Mahatma Gandhi</strong></em></p>
<h3>Context</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Panchayati Raj Institution (PRI) is a system of <strong>rural local self-government</strong> in India.</li>
<li>Local Self Government is the management of local affairs by such local bodies who have been <strong>elected by the local people</strong>.</li>
<li>PRI was constitutionalized through the <strong>73<sup>rd</sup> Constitutional Amendment Act, 1992</strong> to build democracy at the grass roots level and was entrusted with the task of rural development in the country.</li>
<li>In its present form and structure <strong>PRI has completed 26 years of existence</strong>. However, a lot remains to be done in order to further decentralization and strengthen democracy at the grass root level.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Evolution of Panchayati Raj in India</h3>
<p>The history of Panchayat Raj in India can be divided into the following periods from the analytical point of view:</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Vedic Era:</strong> In the old Sanskrit scriptures, word &lsquo;Panchayatan&rsquo; has been mentioned which means a group of five persons, including a spiritual man.</li>
<li>Gradually the concept of the inclusion of a spiritual man in such groups vanished.</li>
<li>In the Rigveda, there is a mention of <strong>Sabha, Samiti and Vidatha as local self-units</strong>. <br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>These were the democratic bodies at the local level. The king used to get the approval of these bodies regarding certain functions and decisions.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Epic Era</strong> indicates the two great epic periods of India, that is, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata.</li>
<li>The study of Ramayana indicates that the administration was divided into two parts - Pur and Janpad or city and village. <br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>In the whole of the state, there was also a Caste Panchayat and one person elected by the Caste Panchayat was a member of the king's Council of Ministers.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Self-government of a village finds ample expression in the &lsquo;Shanti Parva&rsquo; of the Mahabharata; in the Manu Smriti as well as in Kautilya&rsquo;s Arthashastra.</li>
<li>As per the Mahabharata, over and above the village, there were units of 10, 20, 100, and 1,000 village groups. <br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><strong>&lsquo;Gramik&rsquo;</strong> was the chief official of the village, <strong>&lsquo;Dashap&rsquo;</strong> was the chief of ten villages, <strong>Vinshya Adhipati, Shat Gram Adhyaksha</strong> and <strong>Shat Gram Pati</strong> were the chiefs of 20, 100, and 1,000 villages, respectively.</li>
<li>They collected the local taxes and were responsible for the defense of their villages.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Ancient Period:</strong> There is a mention of village panchayats in Kautilya&rsquo;s Arthashastra.<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>The town was referred to as Pur and its chief was the Nagarik.</li>
<li>Local bodies were free from any royal interference.</li>
<li><strong>During the Mauryan and Post-Mauryan periods too, the headman, assisted by a council of elders, continued to play a prominent role in the village life.</strong></li>
<li>The system <strong>continued through the Gupta period,</strong> though there were certain changes in the nomenclature, as the <strong>district official was known as the vishya pati</strong> and the <strong>village headman was referred to as the grampati</strong>.</li>
<li>Thus, in ancient India, there existed a well established system of local government which was run on a set pattern of traditions and customs.</li>
<li>However, it is significant to note that there is <strong>no reference of women heading the panchayat</strong> or even participating as a member in the panchayat.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Medieval Period:</strong> During the Sultanate period, the Sultans of Delhi divided their kingdom into <strong>provinces called &lsquo;Vilayat&rsquo;</strong>.<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>For the governance of a village, there were three important officials - <strong>Mukkaddam for administration, Patwari for collection of revenues, and Choudhrie for settling disputes with the help of the Panch</strong>.</li>
<li>The villages had sufficient powers as regards self governance in their territory.</li>
<li>Casteism and feudalistic system of governance under the Mughal rule in the medieval period slowly eroded the self-government in villages.</li>
<li>It is again noteworthy to note that even in the medieval period there is no mention of women participation in the local village administration.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>British Period:</strong> Under the British regime, <strong>village panchayats lost their autonomy</strong> and became weak.</li>
<li>It is only from the year 1870 that India saw the dawn of representative local institutions.</li>
<li>The famous <strong>Mayo&rsquo;s resolution of 1870 gave impetus to the development of local institutions</strong> by enlarging their powers and responsibilities.</li>
<li>The year 1870, introduced the concept of elected representatives, in urban municipalities.</li>
<li>The revolt of 1857 had put the imperial finances under considerable strain and it was found necessary to finance local service out of local taxation. Therefore it was out of fiscal compulsion that Lord Mayo&rsquo;s resolution on decentralization came to be adopted.</li>
<li>Following the footsteps of Mayo, <strong>Lord Rippon in 1882 provided the much needed democratic framework to these institutions</strong>. <br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>All boards (then existing) were mandated to have a two-thirds majority of non-officials who had to be elected and the chairman of these bodies had to be from among the elected non-officials.</li>
<li>This is considered to be the <strong>Magna Carta of local democracy in India</strong>.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Local self-government institutions received a boost with the appointment of the <strong>Royal Commission on centralisation in 1907 under the Chairmanship of C.E.H. Hobhouse</strong>. <br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>The commission recognized the importance of panchayats at the village level.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>It is in this backdrop that the <strong>Montagu Chelmsford reforms of 1919</strong> transferred the subject of local government to the domain of the provinces. <br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>The reform also recommended that as far as possible there should be a complete control in local bodies and complete possible independence for them from external control.</li>
<li>These panchayats covered only a limited number of villages with limited functions and due to <strong>organisational and fiscal constraints</strong> they did not become democratic and vibrant institutions of local self government at the village level.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>However, by 1925, eight provinces had passed the Panchayat Acts and by 1926, six native States had also passed panchayat laws. Local bodies were given more powers and functions to impose taxes were reduced. But, the position of the local self-government institutions remained unaffected.</li>
<li><strong>Post&ndash;Independence Period:</strong> After the Constitution came into force, <strong>Article 40</strong> made a mention of panchayats and <strong>Article 246</strong> empowers the state legislature to legislate with respect to any subject relating to local self-government.</li>
<li>However, this inclusion of panchayats into the Constitution was not unanimously agreed upon by the then decision-makers, with the major opposition having come from the framer of the Constitution himself i.e. B.R.Ambedkar. <br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>It was after much discussion among the supporters and opponents of the village panchayat that the panchayats finally got a place for themselves in the Constitution as <strong>Article 40 of the Directive Principles of State Policy</strong>.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Since the Directive Principles are not binding principles, the result was the absence of a uniform structure of these bodies throughout the country.</li>
<li>After independence, as a development initiative, India had implemented the Community Development Programmes (CDP) on the eve of Gandhi Jayanti, the 2nd October, 1952 under the major influence of the <strong>Etawah Project</strong> undertaken by the American expert, Albert Mayer. <br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>It encompassed almost all activities of rural development which were to be implemented with the help of village panchayats along with the participation of people.</li>
<li>In 1953, the <strong>National Extension Service</strong> was also introduced as a prologue to CDP. But the programme did not yield much result.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>There were various reasons for the failure of CDP like bureaucracy and <strong>excessive politics, lack of people participation, lack of trained and qualified staff, and lack of local bodies interest in implementing the CDP</strong> especially the village panchayats.</li>
<li>In 1957, the National Development Council constituted a <strong>committee headed by Balwant Rai Mehta</strong> to look into the working of community development programme.<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>The team observed that the major reason for the failure of the CDP was the <strong>lack of people&rsquo;s participation</strong>.</li>
<li>The committee suggested a three-tier PRIs, namely, Grama Panchayats (GPs) at the village level, Panchayat Samiti (PSs) at the block level, and Zilla Parishad (ZPs) at the district level.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>As a result of this scheme of democratic decentralization was launched in Rajasthan on October 2, 1959.</strong></li>
<li>In Andhra Pradesh, the scheme was introduced on 1st November, 1959. The necessary legislation had also been passed and implemented in Assam, Gujarat, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, and Punjab etc.</li>
<li>The appointment of the <strong>Ashok Mehta Committee in 1977</strong> did bring new thinking in the concepts and practice of the Panchayat Raj. <br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>The committee <strong>recommended a two-tier Panchayat Raj institutional</strong> structure consisting of <strong>Zilla Parishad and Mandal Panchayat</strong>.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>In order to use planning expertise and to secure administrative support, the district was suggested as the first point of decentralization below the state level.</li>
<li>Based on its recommendation, some of the states like Karnataka incorporated them effectively.</li>
<li>In subsequent years in order to revive and give a new lease of life to the panchayats, the Government of India had appointed various committees.</li>
<li>The most important among them are the <strong>Hanumantha Rao Committee (1983), G.V.K. Rao Committee (1985), L.M.Singhvi Committee (1986) and the Sarkaria Commission on Centre-State relations (1988), P.K. Thungan Committee (1989) and Harlal Singh Kharra Committee (1990)</strong>.</li>
<li>The <strong>G.V.K. Rao Committee (1985)</strong> recommended making the <strong>&ldquo;district&rdquo; as the basic unit of planning</strong> and also holding regular elections while the <strong>L.M.Singhvi committee</strong> recommended <strong>providing more financial resources and constitutional status to the panchayats</strong> to strengthen them.</li>
<li>The Amendment phase began with the 64th Amendment Bill (1989) which was introduced by Rajiv Gandhi seeking to strengthen the PRIs but the Bill was not passed in the Rajya Sabha.</li>
<li>The Constitution (74th Amendment) Bill (a combined bill for the PRIs and municipalities) was introduced in 1990, but was never taken up for discussion.</li>
<li>It was during the Prime Ministership of P.V.Narasimha Rao that a comprehensive amendment was introduced in the form of the Constitution 72nd Amendment Bill in September 1991.</li>
<li><strong>73<sup>rd</sup> and 74<sup>th</sup> Constitutional Amendments were passed by Parliament in December, 1992. Through these amendments local self-governance was introduced in rural and urban India.</strong></li>
<li>The Acts came into force as the Constitution (73<sup>rd</sup> Amendment) Act, 1992 on April 24, 1993 and the Constitution (74<sup>th</sup> Amendment) Act, 1992 on June 1, 1993.</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Salient Features of the Constitution 73<sup>rd</sup> and 74<sup>th</sup> Amendments</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>These amendments <strong>added two new parts to the Constitution,</strong> namely, added <strong>Part IX titled &ldquo;The Panchayats&rdquo;</strong> (added by 73rd Amendment) and <strong>Part IXA titled &ldquo;The Municipalities&rdquo;</strong> (added by 74<sup>th</sup> Amendment).</li>
<li>Basic units of democratic system-<strong>Gram Sabhas (villages) and Ward Committees (Municipalities)</strong> comprising all the adult members registered as voters.</li>
<li><strong>Three-tier system</strong> of panchayats at village, intermediate block/taluk/mandal and district levels except in States with population is below 20 lakhs (Article 243B).</li>
<li>Seats at all levels to be filled by direct elections <strong>Article 243C (2)</strong>.</li>
<li>Seats reserved for Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) and the chairpersons of the Panchayats at all levels also shall be reserved for SCs and STs in proportion to their population.</li>
<li>One-third of the total number of seats to be reserved for women.</li>
<li>One third of the seats reserved for SCs and STs also reserved for women.</li>
<li>One-third offices of chairpersons at all levels reserved for women <strong>(Article 243D)</strong>.</li>
<li><strong>Uniform five year term</strong> and elections to constitute new bodies to be completed before the expiry of the term.</li>
<li>In the event of dissolution, elections compulsorily within six months (Article 243E).</li>
<li><strong>Independent Election Commission in each State</strong> for superintendence, direction and control of the electoral rolls (Article 243K).</li>
<li><strong>Panchayats to prepare plans for economic development</strong> and social justice in respect of subjects as devolved by law to the various levels of Panchayats including the subjects as illustrated in Eleventh Schedule (Article 243G).</li>
<li>74th Amendment provides for a <strong>District Planning Committee</strong> to consolidate the plans prepared by Panchayats and Municipalities (Article 243ZD).</li>
<li>Budgetary allocation from State Governments, share of revenue of certain taxes, collection and retention of the revenue it raises, Central Government programmes and grants, Union Finance Commission grants (Article 243H).</li>
<li>Establish a <strong>Finance Commission in each State</strong> to determine the principles on the basis of which adequate financial resources would be ensured for panchayats and municipalities (Article 243I).</li>
<li>The Eleventh Scheduled of the Constitution places as many as 29 functions within the purview of the Panchayati Raj bodies.</li>
</ul>
</div>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The following areas have been exempted from the operation of the Act because of the socio-cultural and administrative considerations: <br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Scheduled <strong>areas listed under the V Schedule</strong> in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa and Rajasthan.</li>
<li>The states of <strong>Nagaland, Meghalaya and Mizoram</strong>.</li>
<li>The hill areas of district of <strong>Darjeeling in the state of West Bengal</strong> for which Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council exists.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>In conformity with provisions in the Constitution Amendment Act, an Act called the <strong>Provisions of Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996</strong> passed by the Government of India.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Evaluating the Panchayati Raj Institutions at 26</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>PRIs has witnessed simultaneously a remarkable success and a staggering failure in the journey of 26 years depending on the goalposts against which they are evaluated.</li>
<li>While the PRI has <strong>succeeded in creating another layer of government and political representation</strong> at the grass-roots level, it has <strong>failed to provide better governance</strong>.</li>
<li>There are about 250,000 PRIs and urban local bodies, and over three million elected local government representatives.</li>
<li>The 73rd and 74th Amendments required that no less than one-third of the total seats in local bodies should be reserved for women. At 1.4 million, India has the most women in elected positions. Seats and sarpanch/pradhan positions were also reserved for SC/ST candidates.</li>
<li>Research using PRIs has shown that having <strong>female political representation in local governments</strong> makes women more likely to come forward and report crimes. <br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>In districts with female sarpanchs, significantly greater investments are made in drinking water, public goods.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Moreover, the states have also provided the <strong>statutory safeguards for many devolution provisions</strong>, which have considerably empowered local governments.</li>
<li>Successive (central) Finance Commissions have, so substantially, <strong>increased fund allocations for local bodies</strong> and also the grants have been increased.</li>
<li>15th Finance Commission is also considering to further increase the allocations for local governments to match the international standards.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Issues</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The grey area is the <strong>lack of adequate funds</strong>. There is a need to enlarge the domain of panchayats to be able to raise their own funds.</li>
<li>The <strong>interference of area MPs and MLAs in the functioning of panchayats</strong> also adversely affected their performance.</li>
<li>The 73rd amendment only mandated the creation of local self-governing bodies, and left the decision to delegate powers, functions, and finances to the state legislatures, therein lies the failure of PRIs.</li>
<li>The transfer of various governance functions&mdash;like the provision of education, health, sanitation, and water was not mandated. Instead the amendment listed the functions that could be transferred, and left it to the state legislature to actually devolve functions.<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>There has been very little devolution of authority and functions in the last 26 years.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Because these functions were never devolved, state executive authorities have proliferated to carry out these functions. The most common example is the terrible state water boards.</li>
<li>The major failure of the Amendment is the <strong>lack of finances for PRIs</strong>. Local governments can either raise their own revenue through local taxes or receive intergovernmental transfers.</li>
<li><strong>The power to tax, even for subjects falling within the purview of PRIs, has to be specifically authorized by the state legislature.</strong> The 73rd Amendment let this be a choice open to the state legislatures&mdash;a choice that most states have not exercised.</li>
<li>A second avenue of revenue generation is <strong>intergovernmental transfers,</strong> where state governments devolve a certain percentage of their revenue to PRIs. The constitutional amendment created provisions for State Finance Commissions to recommend the revenue share between state and local governments. However, these are merely recommendations and the state governments are not bound by them.</li>
<li>Though finance commissions, at every level, have advocated for greater devolution of funds, there has been <strong>little action by states to devolve funds</strong>.</li>
<li>PRIs are reluctant to take on projects that require any meaningful financial outlay, and are often unable to solve even the most basic local governance needs.</li>
<li>PRIs also <strong>suffer from structural deficiencies</strong> i.e. no secretarial support and lower levels of technical knowledge which restricted the aggregation of bottom up planning .</li>
<li>There is a <strong>presence of adhocism</strong> i.e. lack of clear setting of agenda in gram sabha, gram samiti meetings and no proper structure.</li>
<li>Though women and SC/STs has got representation in PRIs through reservation mandated by 73rd amendment but there is a <strong>presence of Panch-Pati and Proxy representation in case of women and SC/STs representatives respectively</strong>.</li>
<li><strong>Accountability arrangements remain very weak</strong> even after 26 years of PRIs constitutional arrangement.</li>
<li>The issue of <strong>ambiguity in the division of functions and funds has allowed concentration of powers with the states</strong> and thereby restraining the elective representatives who are more aware and sensitive to the ground level issues to take control.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Suggestions</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Genuine fiscal federalism</strong> i.e. fiscal autonomy accompanied by fiscal responsibility can provide a long term solution without this PRIs will only be an expensive failure.</li>
<li><strong>6th report of 2nd ARC, &lsquo;Local Governance- An inspiring journey into the future&rsquo;&rsquo;, had recommended that there should be a clear-cut demarcation of functions of each tier of the government.</strong></li>
<li>States should <strong>adopt the concept of &lsquo;activity mapping&rsquo;</strong>, wherein each state clearly delineates the responsibilities and roles for the different tiers of the government in respect to the subjects listed in the Schedule XI.</li>
<li>The subjects should divided and assigned to the different tiers on the basis of accountability to the public.</li>
<li>States like Karnataka and Kerala have taken some steps in this direction but overall progress has been highly uneven.</li>
<li>There is <strong>need for bottom up planning</strong> especially at the district level, based on grassroots inputs received from Gram Sabha.</li>
<li><strong>Karnataka has created a separate bureaucratic cadre for Panchayat</strong>s to get away from the practice of deputation of officials who often overpowered the elected representatives.<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Such practices needs to be replicated in other states for strengthening the true character of local self governance.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>The center also needs to <strong>financially incentivize states</strong> to encourage effective devolution to the panchayats in functions, finances, and functionaries.</li>
<li><strong>Training should be provided to local representatives</strong> to develop expertise so that they contribute more in planning and implementation of policies and programmes.</li>
<li>To solve the problem of proxy representation <strong>social empowerment must precede the political empowerment</strong>.</li>
<li>Recently states like Rajasthan and Haryana have set certain minimum qualification standards for Panchayat elections. Such necessary eligibility can help in improving effectiveness of governance mechanism.</li>
<li>These standards should apply for MLAs and MPs also and in this direction government should speeden up efforts for universal education.</li>
<li>There should be clear mechanisms to ensure that States comply with the constitutional provisions, particularly in the appointment and implementation of the recommendations of the State Finance Commissions (SFCs).</li>
</ul>
<h3>Way Forward</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The need of the hour is to bring about a holistic change in the lives of beneficiaries among the villagers by uplifting their socioeconomic and health status through effective linkages through community, governmental and other developmental agencies.</li>
<li>Government should take remedial action in the interest of democracy, social inclusion and cooperative federalism.</li>
<li>People&rsquo;s demands for the sustainable decentralisation and advocacy should focus on a decentralisation agenda. The framework needs to be evolved to accommodate the demand for decentralisation.</li>
<li>It is important to have <strong>clarity in the assignment of functions</strong> and the local governments should have <strong>clear and independent sources of finance</strong>.</li>
</ul>
<table border="1" style="border-collapse: collapse; background-color: #9becf2; border-style: none;">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width: 899px;">
<p><em>If we would see our dream of Panchayat Raj, i.e., true democracy realized, we would regard the humblest and lowest Indian as being equally the ruler of India with the tallest in the land.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: right;"><em>&mdash; Mahatma Gandhi</em></p>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p style="text-align: right;"></p>',
		'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
		'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/important-institutions/drishti-specials-important-institutions-national-institutions/panchayati-raj-institution-pri'
	],
	(int) 1 => [
		'title' => 'LIBRA: Facebook’s Currency',
		'catname' => 'News Editorials',
		'desc' => '<div class="border">
<p>This article is based on the editorial <a href="https://www.livemint.com/opinion/online-views/opinion-why-policymakers-worldwide-should-fear-the-launch-of-libra-1561910021098.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>&ldquo;Why policymakers worldwide should fear the launch of Libra&rdquo;</strong></a> which appeared in Live mint newspaper on 1 July 2019. It talks about the issues pertaining to roll out of Facebook&rsquo;s cryptocurrency: LIBRA</p>
</div>
<p>Facebook on June 18 announced that it will launch a global cryptocurrency called LIBRA in 2020, alongside the underlying blockchain-based network &mdash; a secure, transparent and decentralized digital lender &mdash; that will support it.</p>
<p>In the first quarter of 2019, Facebook had 2.38 billion monthly active users. If even a fraction of them begin to use Libra to carry out financial transactions, buy and sell products, and transfer money, the new currency would quickly gain wide acceptance. This could dramatically change global monetary policymaking, but the policymakers all around the world are quite apprehensive about the role of LIBRA</p>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">What is LIBRA currency?&nbsp;<a href="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/297image1.webp" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="content-img" src="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/297image1.webp" width="336" height="600" caption="false" style="float: right;" /></a></h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Libra is the <a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/cryptocurrencies-will-boost-illegal-transactions-rbi" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>cryptocurrency</strong></a> to be launched by Facebook.
<h3 style="text-align: right;"><a href="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/456image1.webp" target="_blank" rel="noopener"></a></h3>
</li>
<li>Libra framework comprises of the Libra Blockchain, the Libra currency and Calibra(which is a cryptocurrency wallet that lets users send and receive Libra coins)</li>
<li>Calibra is built and maintained by Facebook, and it will be integrated into WhatsApp and Messenger to be managed by the Libra Association.</li>
<li>The Libra Association, a Geneva-based not-for-profit group that will operate the digital currency, counts companies such as Uber, eBay, Lyft, Mastercard and PayPal among its founding members.</li>
<li>Libra project promises to address many of the fundamental barriers that have stopped the widespread adoption of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Libra is designed to hold a stable value. Libra is backed by a financial reserve that mixes the world&rsquo;s major stable currencies. This stability promises to make Libra a stable currency for consumers rather than an attractive gamble for investors like Bitcoin.</li>
<li>Bitcoin and its competitors have market-driven valuations, meaning that the price of a Bitcoin is determined solely by market demand for Bitcoin. This creates a market fueled by speculation and subjects it to enormous volatility</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Libra comes with a new programming language called Move<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>The move is a new language, meaning developers will have to adapt to a new programming environment. Facebook says it's designed with "safety and security&rdquo; as the highest priorities.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<h3>What are the issues emerging out of Libra cryptocurrency?</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Libra, with given active users of Facebook in the world, could become a dominant global currency&mdash;but one run by a corporation, not a central bank.<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Since Libra is not controlled by any central bank, the monetary policymakers may find it much harder to control issues like unemployment and inflation(as when inflation rises, the central banks take action to control it) in a world dominated by global currency like Libra.</li>
<li>That's why French Finance Minister held that Facebook's digital money can never be a sovereign currency.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Mostly all the modes of exchange of money like barter trade, banking, paper money, financial markets etc.&mdash;emerged through slow and evolutionary processes. Deliberate attempts to establish entirely new systems have usually given rise to unanticipated challenges. for example bitcoins.</li>
<li>If Libra becomes popular, people will exchange their national currencies&mdash;dollars, euros, renminbi and rupees&mdash;for the new digital coin in order to buy and sell the many products that will be priced in it. Many users may then choose to keep Libra instead of exchanging it back for their own currencies.</li>
<li>Facebook or the Libra Association will, therefore, continue to hold their national money and earn income on it by investing Libra users&rsquo; money. In this case Facebook will also be tempted to issue extra Libra.</li>
<li>Facebook through Calibra plays a facilitation role in the management of currency, this allows Facebook to penetrate that veil of privacy. While Facebook promises that they won&rsquo;t access information from the currency&rsquo;s digital wallets without customer&rsquo;s consent but there are no technical barriers to stop any such attempt<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Further, the past record of Facebook is poor when it comes to protecting the privacy of individuals: For instance, Cambridge Analytica case</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Cambridge Analytica case</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The Facebook-Cambridge Analytica data scandal was a major political scandal in early 2018 when it was revealed that Cambridge Analytica had harvested the personal data of millions of people's Facebook profiles without their consent and used it for political advertising purposes.</li>
</ul>
</div>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Libra will increase US influence in many parts of the world and it may give rise to a scenario where companies like Tencent/WeChat issue their cryptocurrency, triggering a battle in the crypto-space arena.</li>
<li>Cryptocurrency is a policy-trailing technology(Laws cannot keep pace with the fast changing technology). So it&rsquo;s regulation is not a cake walk.</li>
</ul>
<p>But in spite of all these issues, in a globalized world, a country that rejects Libra can find itself gradually isolated by others who take on. Therefore policymakers must immediately consider what type of world-specific digital money can be created. For that, there is a need for new laws and global treaties to mitigate potential negative fallout and limit the power of the organizations that run these new currencies.</p>
<p>In this scenario, the world&rsquo;s central bankers have begun to discuss the idea of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), and now even the International Monetary Fund is talking openly about the pros and cons of the idea which is a step in the right direction.<br /><br /></p>
<table border="1" style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%;">
<tbody>
<tr style="height: 51px;">
<td style="width: 551.111px; background-color: #faecd4; height: 51px;"><span style="color: #ff0000;"><em><strong>Drishti input<br /></strong></em></span><br />Highlight the issues related to cryptocurrencies like LIBRA and also examine how will it be different from other cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>',
		'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
		'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-editorials/libra-facebook-s-currency'
	],
	(int) 2 => [
		'title' => 'Delhi Butterfly Corridors',
		'catname' => 'News Analysis',
		'desc' => '<p>As per Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) report, the creation of butterfly corridors in Delhi with close to 100 hotspots is underway.</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>At present, there are 17 hotspots where butterfly parks or gardens have been created in the last few years.<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>A variety of host plants will be grown at such parks and gardens in the green corridor to attract more butterflies.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<p><a href="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/515butterfly.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="content-img" src="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/515butterfly.jpg" width="642" height="546" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" caption="false" /></a></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>At most locations there are already some native trees and plant species that are hosts to butterflies, but additional plantation is being undertaken to ensure a diversity of species arrive there.</li>
<li>The closer the green areas, the easier it will be for butterflies to move from one location to another.</li>
<li>A large butterfly garden exists at Asola Bhatti Wildlife Sanctuary and Garden of Five Senses. <br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>There are many parks in the surrounding of these locations attracting more butterflies.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>In September, 2017, the first butterfly month was observed in Delhi by BNHS and Delhi forest department, culminating in a record species count.</li>
<li>In 2018, 75 species were recorded in urban and forested locations. <br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Among the rare species recorded were the common redeye, common short silverline, dingy swift, common blue line, Balkan pierrot and spotted pierrot, among others.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>The survey over the past two years has shown that diversity of butterfly species was very low at new parks that have ornamental and exotic plants.</li>
<li>The diversity is higher at places like the Ridge, which has native species of plants and trees.</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>The Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS)</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The BNHS, a pan-India wildlife research organization, has been promoting the cause of nature conservation since 1883.</li>
<li>BNHS Mission: Conservation of nature, primarily biological diversity through action based on research, education and public awareness</li>
<li>BNHS Vision: Premier independent scientific organization with a broad based constituency, excelling in the conservation of threatened species and habitats.</li>
</ul>
</div>',
		'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
		'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/delhi-butterfly-corridors'
	],
	(int) 3 => [
		'title' => 'Puducherry Water Rich Model',
		'catname' => 'News Analysis',
		'desc' => '<p>It is a model for desilting the urban drains and rural canals with the cooperation of the general public with the Puducherry administration.</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>This model is fulfilling the need of water in rural areas for irrigation and preventing the overflowing of drains in urban areas. <br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Ensuring regular flow prevents the diseases like malaria and dengue.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>The practice of community involvement in desilting of canals and maintaining them goes back centuries in Puducherry, to the reign of the Pallavas. <br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>The Cholas and French also adapted it seriously.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>All contributors under this model were awarded Swachta Hi Sewa Awards by administration.</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Puducherry Water Rich Model</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>It ensures mapping and bring under watch all water bodies and drains by using technology.</li>
<li>To use MNREGA where machinery is not required and human contact is safe. It empowers people and provides livelihood.</li>
<li>Linking the local community for shramdaan and monitoring water bodies. It encourages participation as they are the real stakeholders.</li>
<li>Linking with the nearest donor support &mdash; any industry or institution.</li>
<li>It let the supporter and the service provider decide on the contractual cost. Government officials should only be facilitators, not in any way negotiate or deal with their money.</li>
<li>It allows farmers to take the silt away, as it is their soil which got washed away. It is rich in nutrients. The farmers are not to be charged for it.</li>
<li>Accountability lies with the collectors and municipal commissioners.</li>
</ul>
</div>',
		'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
		'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/puducherry-water-rich-model'
	],
	(int) 4 => [
		'title' => 'Quality of Free Legal Aid',
		'catname' => 'News Analysis',
		'desc' => '<p>The National Law University, Delhi (NLUD) in a report titled <strong>&lsquo;Quality of Legal Representation: An Empirical Analysis of Free Legal Aid Services in India&rsquo;</strong> has revealed that people don&rsquo;t have faith over the services of legal aid counsel (LAC) under the free legal aid services.</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>A majority of the people who are entitled to the free legal aid system see the service as an option only when they cannot afford a private lawyer.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Legal Services Authorities (LSA) Act</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>In 1987, the Legal Services Authorities (LSA) Act was enacted to give free and competent legal services to the poor and paved the way for constitution of <strong><a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/national-legal-services-day" target="_blank" rel="noopener">National Legal Service Authority (NALSA)</a></strong> and other legal service institutions at the State, district and taluka level.</li>
<li>Free legal services under LSA Act are available to a person belonging to <strong>Schedule Tribe and Schedule Caste, woman, child, victim of human trafficking, differently abled person, industrial workman,</strong> and person in custody in a protective home and the poor.</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Facts</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>According to the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative&rsquo;s (CHRI) report:<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>India&rsquo;s per capita lawyer ratio is better than most countries in the world.</li>
<li>There are about 1.8 million lawyers in India which means there is one lawyer for every 736 people.</li>
<li>There are 61,593 panel lawyers in the country, which translates to just one legal aid lawyer per 18,609 population or five legal aid lawyers per 1,00,000 population.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>According to NALSA, about 8.22 lakh people across India benefited through legal aid services from April 2017 to June 2018.</li>
</ul>
</div>
<h3>Key Findings</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>About <strong>75%</strong> of beneficiaries responded that they opted for free legal aid because they had no means and resources to hire a paid private practitioner.<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>They would never have approached for the legal aid services if they had the resources to engage private legal practitioners.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>22.6%</strong> of the beneficiaries responded that they won&rsquo;t opt for free legal aid services for the <strong>second time</strong>.</li>
<li><strong>60% of women,</strong> who were aware of the free legal aid services, chose to opt for the private legal practitioner because they could have better control over their lawyer and they lack faith and confidence over the quality of services offered under the legal aid system.</li>
<li><strong>56% of LAC</strong> (Legal Aid Counsel) spends an average of 1 to 10 hours per week on legal aid cases. <br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>On the contrary, around 58% LAC spend on an average of <strong>20 hours</strong> and above per week on <strong>private cases</strong>.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Around <strong>33%</strong> of the judicial officers claim that complaints were received against LACs for <strong>demanding money</strong> from beneficiaries.</li>
<li>Majority of judicial officers (52%) rated the <strong>overall skill</strong> set of a private legal practitioner as of fairly good quality and that of LAC as of moderately low quality.</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Constitutional Provision</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Article 39A</strong> of the <strong>Constitution</strong> <strong>of India</strong> provides that State shall secure that the operation of the <strong>legal</strong> system promotes justice on a basis of equal opportunity, and shall, in particular, provide <strong>free legal aid,</strong> by suitable legislation or schemes or in any other way, to ensure that opportunities for securing justice are not denied to any citizen by reason of economic or other disability.</li>
<li><strong>Articles 14 and 22(1)</strong> also make it obligatory for the State to ensure equality before the law and a <strong>legal system</strong> which promotes justice on a basis of equal opportunity to all.</li>
</ul>
</div>
<h3>NALSA&rsquo;s Efforts</h3>
<p><strong>Front offices</strong> at the district level are being upgraded to make them one-stop centers for legal aid seekers.</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Updating</strong> the record of legal aided cases.<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>This way, the legal aid seekers are kept updated about the progress of their cases and better monitoring of cases takes place.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>NALSA&rsquo;s outreach programmes (like door to door campaigns) have made people aware of the legal advice and other forms of legal services such as drafting of applications etc.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Way Forward</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Full-time empanelment:</strong> Currently, the engagement of LAC is usually on an ad-hoc basis. <br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Around 45% of the regulators opined that making them full time will definitely improve the level of commitment among the LAC.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Honorarium:</strong> Study recommended that making honorarium (a payment is given for professional services that are rendered nominally without charge) for a legal aided case at par with private cases, will compel LAC to not withdraw or deny aided cases in middle.</li>
<li><strong>Remuneration:</strong> Remuneration towards the empanelled lawyers should be increased every year. <br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>This is important for those who are serving in juvenile courts as they are not allowed to have their own private practice.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>',
		'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
		'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/quality-of-free-legal-aid'
	],
	(int) 5 => [
		'title' => 'Airplane Contrails and Global Warming',
		'catname' => 'News Analysis',
		'desc' => '<p>According to a recent study, the airplanes contrails contribute more to global warming than the CO<sub>2</sub> emitted by an aircraft.</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Moreover, the contrails&rsquo; impact on climate change will triple by 2050 than it was in 2006 because of following reasons: <br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Modern planes flying slightly higher than their predecessors, which is likely to lead to more contrail cloud formation over the tropics.</li>
<li>Increase in air traffic.</li>
<li>Improvements in fuel efficiency.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>The study also suggested that the impact on the atmosphere due to contrail cirrus clouds will be stronger over Northern America and Europe which are the busiest air traffic areas on the globe. <br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>However, the impact will also increase in Asia as the air travel is also growing in the region.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>The warming effect of cirrus clouds is also short-lived, and because it occurs in the upper atmosphere, it&rsquo;s not clear how much of a difference it actually makes for temperatures at Earth&rsquo;s surface.</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Contrails</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The hot, humid exhaust from jet engines mixes with the atmosphere, which at high altitude is of much lower vapor pressure and temperature than the exhaust gas.</li>
<li>The water vapor contained in the jet exhaust condenses and may freeze, and this mixing process forms clouds.</li>
<li>Most of these contrail cirrus clouds dissipate quickly, but under the right conditions they can remain for hours, and when that happens they warm the atmosphere by absorbing thermal radiation emitted by the Earth.</li>
</ul>
</div>
<h3>Impacts</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Jet engine exhaust contains carbon dioxide, oxides of sulfur and nitrogen, unburned fuel, soot and metal particles, as well as water vapor.<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>The soot provides condensation sites for water vapor. Any particles present in the air provide additional sites.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Depending on a plane's altitude, and the temperature and humidity of the atmosphere, contrails may vary in their thickness, extent and duration.</li>
<li>The nature and persistence of jet contrails can be used to predict the weather. <br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>A thin, short-lived contrail indicates low-humidity air at high altitude, a sign of fair weather, whereas a thick, long-lasting contrail reflects humid air at high altitudes and can be an early indicator of a storm.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<h3>Significance</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Aviation already has a sizable influence on the climate. <br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>In 2005, air traffic contributed about 5 percent of humans&rsquo; influence on climate change.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Air traffic roughly doubles every 15 years. And contrails are the aviation industry&rsquo;s biggest climate influencer, even more than CO<sub>2</sub> emissions from planes. <br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>But policies to lower aviation&rsquo;s influence on climate change focus on CO<sub>2</sub> emissions, all but ignoring the impact of contrails.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>The study suggests that contrails are a major factor that climate policies should take into account.<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>It is important to recognise the significant impact of non-CO<sub>2</sub> emissions, such as contrail cirrus, on climate and to take those effects into consideration when setting up emission trading systems or schemes like the <a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/important-facts-for-prelims-25th-january-2019" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CORSIA Agreement</a>.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<h3>Solution</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Cleaner aircraft emissions would solve the issue, as the reduction of the number of soot particles emitted by aircraft engines decreases the number of ice crystals in contrails and that means climate impact of contrail cirrus will also be reduced.<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>However, soot would have to be decreased a lot to have a significant effect&ndash;even if it was reduced by 90 percent, the contrail cirrus clouds will produce more warming in 2050 than they did in 2006.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Therefore, the best option for reducing this effect and aviation&rsquo;s carbon footprint is to fly less.</li>
</ul>',
		'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
		'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/airplane-contrails-and-global-warming'
	],
	(int) 6 => [
		'title' => 'Japanese Encephalitis (JE)',
		'catname' => 'News Analysis',
		'desc' => '<p>The Central government has sent a team to Assam to review the situation after Japanese Encephalitis (JE) cases were reported from the state.</p>
<h3>Japanese Encephalitis (JE)</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Japanese encephalitis is a disease <strong>caused by a flavi virus</strong> that affects the membranes around the brain. Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) is also a major cause of <a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/acute-encephalitis-syndrome" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES)</strong></a> in India.</li>
<li><strong>Transmission:</strong> The disease is transmitted to humans through bites from infected <strong>mosquitoes of the Culex species</strong>. These mosquitoes breed mainly in rice fields and large water bodies rich in aquatic vegetations. Migratory birds along with pigs in the community also play an important role in the transmission of JE from one area to other areas.</li>
<li><strong>Symptoms:</strong> Most people infected with JE do not have symptoms or have only mild symptoms. However, a small percentage of infected people develop inflammation of the brain (encephalitis), with symptoms including sudden onset of headache, high fever, disorientation, coma, tremors and convulsions.</li>
<li><strong>Treatment:</strong> There is <strong>no antiviral treatment</strong> for patients with JE. Treatment, available, is supportive to relieve symptoms and stabilize the patient.</li>
<li><strong>Prevention:</strong> Safe and effective <strong>JE vaccines</strong> are available to prevent the disease.<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><strong>In India,</strong> mass vaccination with JE vaccine was started in a phased manner subsequent to the major outbreak in 2005.</li>
<li>JE vaccination is also <strong>included under the Universal Immunization Program</strong> of the Government of India.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Universal Immunization Program</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Immunization</strong> is the process whereby a person is made immune or resistant to an infectious disease, typically by the administration of a vaccine. Vaccines are substances that stimulate the body&rsquo;s own immune system to protect the person against subsequent infection or disease.</li>
<li>Immunization Programme in India was <strong>introduced in the year 1978</strong> as &lsquo;Expanded Programme of Immunization (EPI)&rsquo; by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.</li>
<li>In the year <strong>1985</strong>, the programme was modified as <strong>&lsquo;Universal Immunization Programme (UIP)&rsquo;</strong>.</li>
<li>Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India provides <strong>several vaccines to infants, children and pregnant women</strong> through the Universal Immunisation Programme.</li>
<li>Through this programme, the government provides several vaccines to infants, children and pregnant women.</li>
<li>Vaccines included in the programme are for diseases including <strong>Tuberculosis, Diphtheria, Pertussis, Tetanus, Polio, Hepatitis B, Pneumonia and Meningitis due to Haemophilus Influenzae type b (Hib), Measles, Rubella, Japanese Encephalitis (JE) and Rotavirus diarrhoea</strong>.</li>
</ul>
</div>',
		'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
		'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/japanese-encephalitis-je'
	],
	(int) 7 => [
		'title' => 'WHO’s Self Care Guidelines',
		'catname' => 'News Analysis',
		'desc' => '<p>The <a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/strategy-against-the-threat-of-influenza" target="_blank" rel="noopener">World Health Organisation (WHO)</a> has launched its first guidelines on self-care interventions for health.</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Self-care intervention guidelines are based on <strong>scientific evidence</strong> for the health benefits of certain interventions that can be done outside the conventional sector.</li>
<li>Self-care intervention guidelines are not intended to replace <strong>high-quality health</strong> services nor are they a shortcut to achieving <a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-editorials/universal-health-coverage" target="_blank" rel="noopener">universal health coverage</a>.</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Self-Care</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>As per WHO &ldquo;the ability of individuals, families, and communities to promote health, prevent disease, maintain health, and cope with illness and disability with or without the support of a health-care provider&rdquo;.</li>
<li>Self-care interventions have a unique potential in reducing <strong>inefficiencies in health expenditure,</strong> improving the <strong>quality</strong> of health coverage and increasing the <strong>agency and autonomy</strong> of even the most vulnerable populations to make informed decisions about their health.</li>
</ul>
</div>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Self Care Intervention Guidelines:</strong> in its first volume, the guidelines focus on <strong>sexual and reproductive health and rights</strong>. some of the interventions include:<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><strong>Self-sampling</strong> for human papillomavirus (HPV) and sexually transmitted infections.</li>
<li><strong>Self-injectable</strong> contraceptives.</li>
<li>Home-based ovulation predictor kits.</li>
<li>Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) <strong>self-testing</strong> and <strong>self-management</strong> of medical abortion.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<h3>Need</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Guidelines are a response to an estimate that by <strong>2035</strong> the world will face a shortage of nearly <strong>13 million healthcare workers</strong> and presently at least <strong>400 million</strong> people worldwide <strong>lack access</strong> to the most essential health services.</li>
<li>According to WHO in the near future, 1 in 5 of the world&rsquo;s population will be living in settings that are experiencing humanitarian crises (series of events that are threatening in terms of health, safety or well being of a community or large group of people) hence self care interventions guidelines will act as the first line of defense and will prevent health crisis.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Significance</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Autonomy and timely intervention:</strong> Self-care interventions represent a significant push towards new and greater self-efficacy, autonomy and engagement in health for self-carers and caregivers.</li>
<li><strong>Accessibility:</strong> It could expand access to health services, including for vulnerable populations.</li>
<li><strong>Right to health:</strong> People will be able to access, control, and have affordable options to manage their health and well-being.</li>
<li><strong>Equality:</strong> Self-care is also a means for people who are negatively affected by <strong>gender, political, cultural and power dynamics,</strong> including those who are forcibly displaced, to have access to sexual and reproductive health services, as many people are unable to make decisions around sexuality and reproduction.</li>
</ul>',
		'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
		'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/whos-self-care-guidelines'
	],
	(int) 8 => [
		'title' => 'INS 'Shivalik' and 'Sindhukirti'',
		'catname' => 'News Analysis',
		'desc' => '<p>Defence Minister visited the Indian Navy's indigenously designed stealth frigate, INS 'Shivalik' and INS 'Sindhukirti'.</p>
<h3>INS 'Shivalik'</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>INS 'Shivalik' is India&rsquo;s <strong>first stealth frigate</strong> in the shivalik series under project 17 with 80% indigenous content.<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Stealth frigates can escape detection by normal radars and surveillance equipment.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>INS 'Shivalik' is armed with missiles, helicopter support, mounted guns and a combat management system that can effectively coordinate all weapons and sensors onboard, giving it the ability to deal with <strong>multiple threats</strong>.</li>
<li>Special aerodynamics, equipment, and materials used in designing and building INS 'Shivalik' makes it very difficult to monitor their movements.</li>
<li>Apart from India, only the US, Russia, UK, France, Sweden, Japan, Italy, and China have the capability to build stealth warships of this size and class.</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Project 17 &ndash; Shivalik class Frigate</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The Shivalik class or Project 17 class is a class of multi-role frigates in service with the Indian Navy.</li>
<li>Stealth Frigates under Shivalik class series namely INS Shivalik, INS Sahyadri, and INS Satpura are first stealth warships built in India (by Mazagon Dock Limited).</li>
</ul>
</div>
<h3>INS Sindhukirti</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The INS Sindhukirti, among the <strong>oldest operational submarines</strong> in the Navy, is <strong>diesel-electric class submarine</strong> that can launch torpedoes, missiles, and even mines.</li>
<li>Acquired in 1990, the submarine still forms a part of the Navy's cutting edge as it's been refitted - virtually rebuilt with <strong>modern sensors weapons</strong> and systems.</li>
</ul>',
		'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
		'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/ins-shivalik-and-sindhukirti'
	],
	(int) 9 => [
		'title' => 'Inter-State River Water Sharing Disputes',
		'catname' => 'Paper 2',
		'desc' => '<h3>Context</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The Inter-State River Water Disputes are one of the <strong>most contentious issues</strong> in the Indian federalism today.</li>
<li>The recent cases of the <strong>Cauvery Water Dispute and the Satluj Yamuna Link Canal</strong> are some examples.</li>
<li>Various <strong>Inter-State Water Disputes Tribunals</strong> have been constituted so far, but they had their own problems.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Constitutional Provisions</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Entry 17 of State List</strong> deals with water i.e. water supply, irrigation, canal, drainage, embankments, water storage and water power.</li>
<li><strong>Entry 56 of Union List empowers</strong> the Union Government for the regulation and development of inter-state rivers and river valleys to the extent declared by Parliament to be expedient in the public interest.</li>
<li><strong>According to Article 262, in case of disputes relating to waters:</strong><br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Parliament may by law provide for the adjudication of any dispute or complaint with respect to the use, distribution or control of the waters of, or in, any inter-State river or river valley.</li>
<li>Parliament may, by law provide that neither the Supreme Court nor any other court shall exercise jurisdiction in respect of any such dispute or complaint as mentioned above.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<table border="1" style="height: 209px; border-collapse: collapse; background-color: #cbecf2; border-color: #0389a3; border-style: solid; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;">
<tbody>
<tr style="height: 19px;">
<td style="width: 73.5094%; height: 19px; text-align: center; background-color: #0389a3;" colspan="2"><span style="color: #ffffff;"><strong>Major Inter-State River Disputes</strong></span></td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 19px;">
<td style="width: 15.786%; height: 19px; background-color: #ceeaf0;"><strong> River (s)</strong></td>
<td style="width: 57.7234%; height: 19px; background-color: #ceeaf0;"><strong>States</strong></td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 19px;">
<td style="width: 15.786%; height: 19px; background-color: #ceeaf0;">Ravi and Beas</td>
<td style="width: 57.7234%; height: 19px; background-color: #ceeaf0;">Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 19px;">
<td style="width: 15.786%; height: 19px; background-color: #ceeaf0;">Narmada</td>
<td style="width: 57.7234%; height: 19px; background-color: #ceeaf0;">Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 19px;">
<td style="width: 15.786%; height: 19px; background-color: #ceeaf0;">Krishna</td>
<td style="width: 57.7234%; height: 19px; background-color: #ceeaf0;">Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Telangana</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 19px;">
<td style="width: 15.786%; height: 19px; background-color: #ceeaf0;">Vamsadhara</td>
<td style="width: 57.7234%; height: 19px; background-color: #ceeaf0;">Andhra Pradesh &amp; Odisha</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 19px;">
<td style="width: 15.786%; height: 19px; background-color: #ceeaf0;">Cauvery</td>
<td style="width: 57.7234%; height: 19px; background-color: #ceeaf0;">Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 19px;">
<td style="width: 15.786%; height: 19px; background-color: #ceeaf0;">Godavari</td>
<td style="width: 57.7234%; height: 19px; background-color: #ceeaf0;">Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 19px;">
<td style="width: 15.786%; height: 19px; background-color: #ceeaf0;">Mahanadi</td>
<td style="width: 57.7234%; height: 19px; background-color: #ceeaf0;">Chhattisgarh, Odisha</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 19px;">
<td style="width: 15.786%; height: 19px; background-color: #ceeaf0;">Mahadayi</td>
<td style="width: 57.7234%; height: 19px; background-color: #ceeaf0;">Goa, Maharashtra, Karnataka</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 19px;">
<td style="width: 15.786%; height: 19px; background-color: #ceeaf0;">Periyar</td>
<td style="width: 57.7234%; height: 19px; background-color: #ceeaf0;">Tamil Nadu, Kerala</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<h3>Mechanism for Inter-State River Water Disputes Resolution</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The resolution of water dispute is governed by the <strong>Inter-State River Water Disputes Act, 1956</strong>.<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>According to its provisions, if a State Government makes a request regarding any water dispute and the Central Government is of opinion that the water dispute cannot be settled by negotiations, then a <strong>Water Disputes Tribunal</strong> is constituted for the adjudication of the water dispute.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>The act was amended in 2002, to include the major recommendations of the Sarkaria Commission.<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>The amendments mandated a one year time frame to setup the water disputes tribunal and also a 3 year time frame to give a decision.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<h3>Active River Water Dispute Tribunals in India</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal II (2004) &ndash; Karnataka, Telangana, Andra Pradesh, Maharashtra</li>
<li>Mahanadi Water Disputes Tribunal (2018) &ndash; Odisha &amp; Chattisgarh</li>
<li>Mahadayi Water Disputes Tribunal (2010) &ndash; Goa,Karnataka, Maharashtra</li>
<li>Ravi &amp; Beas Water Tribunal (1986) &ndash; Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan</li>
<li>Vansadhara Water Disputes Tribunal (2010) &ndash; Andra Pradesh &amp; Odisha.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Issues with Interstate Water Dispute Tribunals</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Protracted proceedings and extreme delays in dispute resolution.</strong><br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>For example, in the case of Godavari water dispute, the request was made in 1962, but the tribunal was constituted in 1968 and the award was given in 1979 which was published in the Gazette in 1980.</li>
<li>The <strong>Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal,</strong> constituted in 1990, gave its final award in 2007.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Opacity in the <strong>institutional framework</strong> and guidelines that define these proceedings; and ensuring <strong>compliance</strong>.</li>
<li>Though award is final and beyond the jurisdiction of Courts, either States can approach Supreme Court under <strong>Article 136</strong> (Special Leave Petition) under <strong>Article 32</strong> linking issue with the violation of Article 21 (Right to Life).</li>
<li>The <strong>composition of the tribunal is not multidisciplinary</strong> and it consists of persons only from the judiciary.</li>
<li>The <strong>absence of authoritative water data</strong> that is acceptable to all parties currently makes it difficult to even set up a baseline for adjudication.</li>
<li>The <strong>shift in tribunals' approach,</strong> from deliberative to adversarial, aids extended litigation and politicisation of water-sharing disputes.</li>
<li>The <strong>growing nexus between water and politics</strong> have transformed the disputes into turfs of vote bank politics. <br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>This politicisation has also led to <strong>increasing defiance by states,</strong> extended litigations and subversion of resolution mechanisms.</li>
<li>For example, the Punjab government played truant in the case of the <strong>Ravi-Beas tribunal</strong>.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Too much discretion at too many stages of the process.</strong><br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Partly because of procedural complexities involving multiple stakeholders across governments and agencies.</li>
<li>India&rsquo;s complicated federal polity and its colonial legacy.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>The Inter-State River Water Disputes (Amendment) Bill, 2017</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>In order to <strong>further streamline the adjudication</strong> of inter-State river water disputes, the Inter-State River Water Disputes (Amendment) Bill, 2017 was introduced in Lok Sabha in March 2017 by amending the existing ISRWD Act, 1956.</li>
<li>The Bill <strong>envisages to constitute a standalone Tribunal with permanent establishment</strong> and permanent office space and infrastructure so as to obviate the need to set up a separate Tribunal for each water dispute which is invariably a time consuming process.</li>
<li>In the proposed Bill, there is a provision for establishment of a <strong>Dispute Resolution Committee (DRC)</strong> by the Central Government for resolving amicably, the inter-State water disputes within a maximum period of <strong>one year and six months</strong>.</li>
<li>Any dispute, which cannot be settled by negotiations shall be referred to the Tribunal for its adjudication.</li>
<li>The dispute so referred to the Tribunal shall be <strong>assigned by the Chairperson</strong> of the Tribunal to a Bench of the Tribunal for adjudication.</li>
<li>Under the Bill, the requirement of <strong>publication of the final decision of tribunal in the official gazette has been removed</strong>.</li>
<li>The Bill adds that the decision of the bench of the tribunal will be <strong>final and binding</strong> on the parties involved in the dispute</li>
<li>The Bill also calls for the <strong>transparent data collection system</strong> at the national level for each river basin and a single agency to maintain data bank and information system.</li>
<li>The proposed amendments in the Bill will <strong>speed up the adjudication</strong> of water disputes referred to it.</li>
<li>The Bill was referred to <strong>Parliamentary Standing Committee</strong> on Water Resources for examination.</li>
<li>The Standing Committee has submitted its recommendation on the Bill, accordingly, the Ministry has prepared draft <strong>Cabinet Note for Official Amendments</strong> to Inter-State River Water Disputes (Amendment) Bill, 2017.</li>
</ul>
</div>
<h3>Conclusion</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The Centre&rsquo;s proposal to set up a single, permanent tribunal to adjudicate on inter-state river water disputes could be a <strong>major step towards streamlining the dispute redressal mechanism</strong>.</li>
<li>However, this <strong>alone will not be able to address</strong> the different kinds of problems&mdash;legal, administrative, constitutional and political&mdash;that plague the overall framework.</li>
<li>Centre&rsquo;s proposal to set up <strong>an agency</strong> alongside the tribunal, <strong>that will collect and process data on river waters</strong> can be a right step in this direction.</li>
<li>To strengthen the <strong>cooperative federalism,</strong> parochial mindset making regional issues superior to national issues should not be allowed.</li>
<li>So disputes must be resolved by <strong>dialogue and talks</strong> and the political opportunism must be avoided.</li>
<li>A <strong>robust and transparent institutional framework</strong> with cooperative approach is need of the hour.</li>
</ul>',
		'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
		'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/to-the-points/Paper2/inter-state-river-water-sharing-disputes'
	],
	(int) 10 => [
		'title' => 'Need to Reform Financial Policy',
		'catname' => 'News Editorials',
		'desc' => '<div class="border">
<p><em>This article is based on the editorial <a href="https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/even-central-banks-need-capital-infusion/article28211410.ece" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>&ldquo;Even central banks need &lsquo;capital&rsquo; infusion&rdquo;</strong></a> that appeared in The Hindu on 29th June 2019. This article critically analyses the Reserve Bank of India&rsquo;s monetary policy that focuses on Inflation targeting.</em></p>
</div>
<p>The central bank of India- <a href="/important-institutions/drishti-specials-important-institutions-national-institutions/important-institutions-national-institution-reserve-bank-of-india" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Reserve Bank of India</strong></a> (RBI) is the main decision maker for the country&rsquo;s financial system and is mandated with ensuring its stability. However, in the era of globalisation, the role of the central bank in the economy must be kept in sync with the changing domestic and global economy. So the economic arrangement should include the dynamism of the current times.</p>
<p>Thus, RBI needs to follow a pragmatic monetary policy and its current policy that largely focuses on <strong>inflation targeting</strong> must be reviewed.</p>
<h3>What is Inflation targeting?</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Inflation targeting involves using monetary policy to keep inflation close to the agreed target.</li>
<li>RBI and Government of India signed a Monetary Policy Framework Agreement in February 2015.<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>As per terms of the agreement, the objective of monetary policy framework would be primarily to maintain price stability (inflation targeting), while keeping in mind the objective of growth.</li>
<li>According to the agreement, RBI would aim to contain consumer price inflation within 4% with a band of (+/-) 2% for all subsequent years.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<h3>Why monetary policy based on Inflation targeting must be reviewed now?</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The government and the RBI, by acting in synergy implemented a deflationary macroeconomic policy via fiscal contraction and monetary tightening respectively.</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Deflationary macroeconomic policy:</strong> It is a set of macroeconomic policies that are designed to combat rising inflation. It can be done by:<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><strong>Fiscal contraction:</strong> It is a monetary measure referring to a reduction in government spending.</li>
<li><strong>Monetary tightening:</strong> It means Central Bank&rsquo;s policy to constrict spending in an economy by reducing the money supply, that is seen to be accelerating too quickly or to curb inflation when it is rising too fast.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The global financial crisis has led to a substantial re-thinking of macroeconomics. The main revisions are that monetary policy defined by inflation targeting can no longer be treated as the centrepiece of macroeconomic policy,<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><strong>Fiscal policy should be used to stabilise the economy when needed and that financial regulation is a must.</strong></li>
<li>The limitation of inflation targeting was understood when the great moderation (an extended period of low inflation in western countries like the US and EU) ended in the financial crisis.</li>
<li>Central Bank&rsquo;s focus on inflation targeting lost sight of the emerging financial instability.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>This has recently been experienced in India in: <br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><strong>The IL&amp;FS crisis:</strong> A major NBFC in India defaulted on its payment obligations jeopardising the interests of hundreds of investors, banks and mutual funds. The IL&amp;FS crisis was touted in intelligentia as India's Lehman brother default.</li>
<li>Also, the Indian banking sector is under crisis due to rising non-performing assets <strong>(NPAs)</strong> of banks even as RBI ensured inflation was abating.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p>Lehman brother default the largest bankruptcy filing in U.S. history started a domino effect that resulted into Global Financial meltdown in 2008-09</p>
</div>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Inflation targeting in India has coincided with a substantial rise in the real policy rate. This has been accompanied by declining borrowing in the formal sector likely affecting investment.</li>
<li>Though many in government appreciate their attainment of macroeconomic stability defined by low inflation, unemployment has been rising in the country (according to NSSO, unemployment in India has been highest in the last 45 years).</li>
<li>Inflation has come down after MOU signed between RBI and Government regarding inflation targeting. However, it is to be considered that-<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Inflation in emerging markets such as India is very sensitive to exogenous shocks like as global oil prices, a weaker rupee and a poor monsoon.</li>
<li>The inflation in most emerging markets came down in recent years because of global factors such as muted oil prices and the deflationary impact of the Chinese export boom.</li>
<li>Food inflation, which impacts the common people the most, is prone to supply-side bottlenecks, which are out of the scope of any remedy under the aegis of monetary policy of RBI.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<p>So RBI not only needs functional independence, but it needs to follow a more pragmatic financial policy. In this scenario, RBI&rsquo;s role must now be redefined through a recalibrated monetary policy, which is in sync with changing economic conditions.</p>
<table border="1" style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 96.2511%;" height="46">
<tbody>
<tr style="border-style: none; border-color: #f78686;">
<td style="width: 100%; background-color: #f2ecb1; border-color: #f5f75c;"><span style="color: #0000ff;"><strong><em>Drishti input</em></strong></span><br />RBI&rsquo;s monetary policy which is based on inflation targeting needs reform. Comment</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p></p>',
		'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
		'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-editorials/need-to-reform-financial-policy'
	],
	(int) 11 => [
		'title' => 'International Seed Testing Association',
		'catname' => 'News Analysis',
		'desc' => '<p>The&nbsp;<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">32<sup>nd&nbsp;</sup></span></span><strong>International Seed Testing Association (ISTA) Congress</strong> is taking place in Hyderabad from 26<sup>th</sup> June to 3<sup>rd</sup> July, 2019. This is the <strong>first congress</strong> that is being held in <strong>Asia</strong>.</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>ITSA was founded in the year <strong>1924</strong> with the aim to develop and publish standard procedures in the field of seed testing.</li>
<li>It produces internationally agreed rules for seed sampling and testing, <strong>accredits laboratories,</strong> promotes research, <strong>provides international seed analysis certificates</strong> and training, and disseminates knowledge in seed science and technology.</li>
<li>ISTA <strong>members are over 85 countries</strong>/distinct economies worldwide and they work together to achieve their vision of 'Uniformity in seed quality evaluation worldwide'. This facilitates seed trading nationally and internationally, and also contributes to food security.</li>
<li>The <strong>headquarters</strong> of the Association is located in <strong>Switzerland.</strong></li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Note</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>National Seed Research and Training Centre (NSRTC), Varanasi</strong> is the apex centre in India to maintain uniformity in seed testing results at national level.</li>
<li>The <strong>Central Seed Testing Laboratory (CSTL),</strong> under the centre, is a member laboratory of International Seed Testing Association (ISTA).</li>
</ul>
</div>',
		'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
		'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/international-seed-testing-association'
	],
	(int) 12 => [
		'title' => 'First Resilient Kerala Program',
		'catname' => 'News Analysis',
		'desc' => '<p>The Government of India, the Government of Kerala and the World Bank have signed a Loan Agreement of USD 250 million for the <strong>First Resilient Kerala Program</strong> to enhance the State's resilience against the impacts of natural disasters and climate change.</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The Resilient Kerala Program will focus on strengthening the State's institutional and financial capacity to protect the assets and livelihoods of poor and vulnerable groups through an inclusive and participatory approach.<a href="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/420image2.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="content-img" src="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/420image2.jpg" width="360" height="328" style="float: right;" caption="false" /></a></li>
<li>The New Program is part of the Government of India&rsquo;s support to Kerala&rsquo;s <strong>&lsquo;Rebuild Kerala Development Programme&rsquo;</strong> aimed at building a green and resilient Kerala. This partnership will identify key areas of policy and institutional strengthening to maximize development impact.</li>
<li>It is the first of two <strong>Development Policy Operations</strong> aiming to mainstream disaster and climate resilience into critical infrastructure and services. <br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>State partnership is a key pillar of the Bank&rsquo;s new <strong>Country Partnership Framework</strong> for India. Through such partnerships, the Bank will support select States striving to bring about systemic improvements in the way development initiatives are planned and executed.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<h3>Objectives of the Program</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>It aims to support the State with:<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Improved river basin planning and water infrastructure operations management, water supply and sanitation services</li>
<li>Resilient and sustainable agriculture, enhanced agriculture risk insurance</li>
<li>Improved resilience of the core road network</li>
<li>Unified and more up-to-date land records in high-risk areas</li>
<li>Risk-based urban planning and strengthened expenditure planning by urban local bodies</li>
<li>Strengthened fiscal and public financial management capacity of the state.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Other initiatives:</strong> The World Bank has been supporting the State through engagements such as the Second Kerala State Transport Project, Dam Rehabilitation and Improvement Project, National Hydrology Project, National Cyclone Risk Mitigation Project Phase 2 and the Kerala Local Government and Service Delivery Project.</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Development Policy Financing (DPF)</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>It is an initiative of World Bank that aims to help the borrowers to achieve <strong>sustainable poverty reduction</strong> through a program of policy and institutional actions, for example, <strong>strengthening public financial management</strong>, <strong>improving the investment climate</strong>, addressing bottlenecks to <strong>improve service delivery</strong>, and <strong>diversifying the economy</strong>.</li>
<li>This represents a shift away from short-term macroeconomic stabilization and trade liberalization reforms of the 1980s-90s towards more medium-term institutional reforms.</li>
<li><strong>This could be a loan, grant or credit</strong> which provides rapidly-disbursing financing to help a borrower address the actual or anticipated development financing requirements and promote policy reform.</li>
</ul>
</div>',
		'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
		'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/first-resilient-kerala-program'
	],
	(int) 13 => [
		'title' => 'Dragonfly Mission',
		'catname' => 'News Analysis',
		'desc' => '<p><strong>The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's</strong> <a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/mars-colonisation-through-sperm-bank" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>(NASA)</strong></a> Dragonfly mission, (which will be launched in 2026 and land in 2034) plans to fly a drone copter to <strong>Saturn&rsquo;s largest moon Titan</strong> in search of the building blocks of life.</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Dragonfly mission will study whether the moon of Saturn (Titan) could now be, or once was, home to life.</li>
<li>Dragonfly will fly to dozens of promising locations on Titan looking for <strong>prebiotic chemical</strong> processes common on both Titan and Earth.</li>
<li>This will be the first time Nasa will fly a <strong>multi-rotor vehicle</strong> for science on other planet.<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Multi-rotor vehicle would have eight rotors (moving component of an electromagnetic system in the electric motor, electric generator, or alternator) and will fly like a large <strong>drone.</strong></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Dragonfly will explore diverse environments from <strong>organic dunes</strong> (hill of loose sand built by the flow of water or air) to the floor of an impact crater where liquid water and complex organic materials (key to life)once existed together (possibly tens of thousands of years).</li>
<li>The craft will land first at the equatorial <strong>&ldquo;Shangri-La&rdquo; dune,</strong> exploring the region in short trips before building up to longer &ldquo;leapfrog&rdquo; flights of five miles (8 kilometers).</li>
<li>It will investigate the Titan&rsquo;s <strong>atmospheric and surface</strong> properties and it's subsurface ocean and liquid reservoirs and will also search for chemical evidence of past life.</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Titan</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Titan is the <strong>largest moon</strong> of Saturn and the second largest moon in our solar system.</li>
<li>It has liquid rivers, lakes, and seas on its surface (though these contain hydrocarbons like methane and ethane, not water).</li>
<li>Titan&rsquo;s atmosphere is made mostly of <strong>nitrogen</strong>, like Earth&rsquo;s, but is four times denser.</li>
<li>Unlike Earth, it has <strong>clouds and rain of methane.</strong></li>
<li>It is 886 million miles (1.4 billion kilometers) away from the Sun, about 10 times farther than Earth.</li>
<li>Because it is so far from the Sun it's <strong>surface temperature</strong> is (-179 degree Celsius).</li>
<li>It's <strong>surface pressure</strong> is also 50% higher than Earth.</li>
</ul>
</div>',
		'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
		'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/dragonfly-mission'
	],
	(int) 14 => [
		'title' => 'Ozone Pollution',
		'catname' => 'News Analysis',
		'desc' => '<p>According to the data presented by the <strong>Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change</strong> in the Lok Sabha, ozone was reported as a prominent pollutant (for 95 days between 2016 and 2018) in Delhi (contributing to rising <a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/air-pollution-in-delhi" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>air pollution in Delhi</strong></a>).</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Delhi has witnessed 122 micrograms per cubic metre (ug/cu m) of ozone pollution which is 1.22 times higher than the eight-hour average standard which is 100 ug/cu m.</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Ozone</strong></p>
<p>Ozone (composed of three atoms of oxygen) occurs both in the Earth's upper atmosphere (stratosphere) and at ground level ( troposphere). It can be good or bad, depending on where it is found:</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Good Ozone:</strong> Ozone occurs naturally in the Earth's upper atmosphere (Stratosphere) where it forms a <strong>protective layer</strong> that shields us from the sun's harmful ultraviolet rays.<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/ozone-depleting-gas" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Ozone depleting gases</strong></a> like chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), HCFCs, halons, destroy this protective shield and causes hole in the ozone.</li>
<li>India had adopted the <a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/ozone-layer-is-recovering-un" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Kigali Amendment</strong></a> (aims to phase-down hydrofluorocarbons).</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Bad Ozone:</strong> In the Earth's lower atmosphere (troposphere) near ground level, ozone is formed when pollutants emitted by cars, power plants, industrial boilers, refineries, chemical plants, and other sources react chemically in the presence of <strong>sunlight.</strong><br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/important-facts-for-prelims-29th-may-2019" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Surface level Ozone</strong></a> is a harmful air pollutant.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
<h3>Impacts of Ozone Pollution&nbsp;<a href="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/704image3.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="content-img" src="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/704image3.jpg" width="428" height="322" style="float: right;" caption="false" /></a></h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Surface level Ozone causes <strong>damage</strong> to <strong>crops</strong> and <strong>forests.</strong></li>
<li>Irritation can occur in the <strong>respiratory system</strong> giving rise to <strong>coughs</strong> and an uncomfortable sensation in the chest.</li>
<li>Ozone worsens bronchitis, emphysema, asthma, etc and increases the risk and susceptibility to pulmonary inflammation like <strong>Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease</strong> (COPD).</li>
<li>It may reduce <strong>lung function</strong> and make breathing difficult.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Government Efforts</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Shifting to <a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/only-bs-vi-vehicles-to-be-sold-from-april-2020" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>BS-VI compliant vehicles from BS-IV.</strong></a></li>
<li>Shutting down of the Badarpur thermal power plant.</li>
<li>Banning of garbage burning.</li>
<li><a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/grap-to-be-enforced-in-delhi-ncr" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Graded Response Action Plan</strong></a> (GRAP).</li>
<li>Launch of the <a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/cpcb-lists-cities-with-no-clean-up-plan" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>National Clean Air Programme</strong></a> (NCAP).</li>
<li>Setting up of a monitoring network for assessment of the ambient air quality at 779 locations, covering 339 cities in 29 states and six Union territories</li>
</ul>',
		'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
		'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/ozone-pollution'
	],
	(int) 15 => [
		'title' => 'Kobe-Ahmedabad Sister Cities',
		'catname' => 'News Analysis',
		'desc' => '<p>A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) of sister-city partnership was signed by Japan and India during the Indian Prime Minister&rsquo;s visit for 2019 <strong><a href="/important-institutions/drishti-specials-important-institutions-international-institution/important-institution-upsc-ias-g20-significance-global-groupings-member-challenges-buenos-aires-gs-mains-paper-ii-2-international-relations" target="_blank" rel="noopener">G20</a></strong> Osaka summit in Japan.</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>It will cultivate, promote and enhance opportunities on the business, academic and cultural front between Kobe in Hyogo, Japan and Ahmedabad in Gujarat, India.</li>
<li>In November 2016, India and Japan signed <strong>a sister-state relationship MoU</strong> for Gujarat and Hyogo prefecture.&nbsp;<a href="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/166image1.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="content-img" src="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/166image1.jpg" width="415" height="294" style="float: right;" caption="false" /></a><br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>The MoU sought to promote mutual cooperation between Gujarat and Hyogo in the fields of academics, business, cultural cooperation, disaster management and environmental protection.</li>
<li>Kobe is the capital city of Hyogo. Indian Prime Minister had visited a bullet train plant in Kobe.</li>
<li>India is building its first bullet train between Mumbai and Ahmedabad with Japan's help.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/architectural-heritage-of-orchha" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>The UNESCO</strong></a> has recognized Ahmedabad as the World Heritage City and Kobe as the Creative Design City, and therefore, both are recognized by the world as cities of repute. <br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>This common thread will help people connect and this is very important for the growth on other fronts.</li>
<li>Kobe already has a large section of Gujarati community.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Sister City</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The concept of sister cities or twin towns is a legal and social agreement between towns, cities, counties, oblasts, prefectures, provinces, regions, states between two separate countries to promote cultural and commercial ties.</li>
<li>The plan was conceived after the end of World War II to promote peaceful coexistence and to encourage trade and tourism.</li>
<li>In diplomacy, this concept is seen as a way to enhance strategic ties between the two nations, both cultural as well as economic.</li>
<li>In 2013, India signed the sister city agreements with China -- the pairs were Delhi-Beijing, Bengaluru-Chengdu and Kolkata-Kunming.</li>
</ul>
</div>',
		'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
		'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/kobe-ahmedabad-sister-cities'
	],
	(int) 16 => [
		'title' => 'Cancer Detection Tool',
		'catname' => 'News Analysis',
		'desc' => '<p>The team at Yale University has developed a tool which can potentially detect triggers in patients with renal as well as brain cancers, a finding that could advance the treatment of cancer by early detection.</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The researchers have found how cancer cells are triggered to spread to other parts of the body (this process of spreading of cancer cells is called <strong>metastasis</strong>).</li>
<li>Finding and treating cancer at an early stage can save lives. However, treatment becomes more difficult, once cancer gets <strong>metastasised or spreads</strong>.</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Metastases</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>It is the plural form of metastasis. It most commonly develops when cancer cells break away from the main tumour and enter the bloodstream or lymphatic system. These systems carry fluids around the body. This means that the cancer cells can travel far from the original tumour and form new tumours when they settle and grow in a different part of the body.</li>
<li>Metastases can also sometimes develop when cancer cells from the main tumour, typically in the belly, or abdominal cavity, break off and grow in nearby areas, such as in the liver, lungs, or bones.</li>
</ul>
</div>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Advantages:</strong> The discovery can potentially be used to develop new prognostic tests and pave the way for more personalised clinical interventions.<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Novel drugs can be developed to target the cells and prevent them from undergoing the change in environment which acts as a trigger to cancer.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>',
		'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
		'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/cancer-detection-tool'
	],
	(int) 17 => [
		'title' => 'The Big Picture: Fighting Drug Menace',
		'catname' => 'Lok Sabha & Rajya Sabha Discussions',
		'desc' => '<p style="text-align: center;"><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/8Vk3Wj-bFbI" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></p>
<p><strong>The International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking is observed annually on June 26.</strong> The decision to mark the day was taken on December 7, 1987, through a resolution of the United Nations General Assembly in order to strengthen global action and cooperation to achieve its aim of making the international society free of drug abuse. The theme for 2019, <strong>&lsquo;Health for Justice, Justice for Health&rsquo;</strong> emphasises that justice and health are two sides of the same coin when it comes to addressing the problems associated with drugs.<br /><strong></strong></p>
<h3>Drug Menace in India</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>In February 2019, AIIMS submitted its report &ldquo;Magnitude of Substance Use in India&rdquo; to the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. Key highlights of the report are:
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><strong>Alcohol is the most abused substance in India.</strong></li>
<li>Around 5 crore Indians reported to have used cannabis and opioids at the time of the survey (conducted in the year 2018).</li>
<li>It has been estimated that there are <strong>about 8.5 lakh people who inject drugs.</strong></li>
<li>Of the total cases estimated by the report, more than half of them are contributed by states like <strong><a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/northern-states-to-fight-drug-menace-jointly" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Punjab</a>, Assam, Delhi, Haryana, Manipur, Mizoram, Sikkim and Uttar Pradesh.</strong></li>
<li>About 60 lakh people are estimated to need help for their opioid use problems.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>More and more children are taking to alcohol consumption and the <strong>highest percentage of children who are addicted to alcohol are in Punjab</strong> followed by West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Reasons</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Stress Buster:</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Sometimes students tend to get into drugs if they are in a technical institute (medical or engineering), because of their <strong>studies or work pressure.</strong> Such students are generally alone and away from homes, therefore to cope up with all the stress around them, they end up using drugs.</li>
<li>Also, students coming from other states find it difficult to cope up in metropolitan cities like Delhi.</li>
<li>It is generally seen that <strong>an unemployed youth</strong>, out of frustration, ends up in taking drugs.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Peer pressure</strong> and other psychological factors can cause teens to engage in risky behaviours, leading to substance abuse.
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Youth can get attracted to the <strong>glamour attached to drug taking.</strong></li>
<li>Sometimes also, <strong>out of fun or in order to experiment,</strong> a youth ends up in taking drugs.</li>
<li>When children see their elder ones consuming drugs, they also try to do the same.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Suffering and deprivation:</strong> People in the lower income group who cannot have an adequate amount of food, take drugs to sleep or relax.</li>
<li><strong>Drug subculture</strong> that is prevalent in the country.</li>
<li><strong>Flaws in the legal system:</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>The cause behind drug menace is the drug cartels, crime syndicates and ultimately the <strong>ISI</strong> which is the <strong>biggest supplier of drugs.</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: disc;">
<li><strong>Rave parties</strong> have been reported in the country where intake of narcotic substances is observed.</li>
<li>These parties are <strong>orchestrated by the drug syndicates</strong> who have their own vested interests.</li>
<li>Social media plays an important role in organising these parties.</li>
<li>The police have not been able to control such parties.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/india-key-hub-for-illicit-drug-trade-unodc" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Smuggling of drugs</strong></a> through the states like Punjab, Assam and Uttar Pradesh which share the border with neighbouring countries.</li>
<li>Normal food products like noodles, pan masala and gutka laced with drugs are sold to school and college students.</li>
<li>The <strong>African as well as the Southasian route being misused</strong> to bring drugs into the country.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<h3>Challenges to Curb the Drug Menace</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Legally available drugs</strong> such as tobacco are a huge problem.
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><strong>Tobacco is usually seen as a gateway drug</strong> which children take just to experiment with, and gradually they progress to alcohol and then cannabis.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Currently, the country has more of the<strong> young population with disposable income</strong> where <strong>willingness to take risk</strong> is high. The <strong>availability of drugs</strong> in the country makes it a lethal mix.</li>
<li><strong>Lack of availability of rehabilitation centres in the country is a big issue.</strong> Also, NGOs operating de-addiction centres in the country, have failed to provide the required kind of treatment and therapy.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Way Forward</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Voluntary process:</strong> It is well within one&rsquo;s mental and spiritual powers to quit addiction. There is a <strong>need to admit that one has a problem of drug addiction</strong> and then s/he needs to look at the lives of such people who had been, once, through the worst period of addiction and have now come out of that.
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>At the same time, help from physicians, psychologists, as well as strong support from family, is required.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Stigma:</strong> Addiction should not be seen as a character flaw, but as an ailment that any other person could be struggling with. Therefore, the stigma associated with drug taking needs to be reduced. <strong>Society needs to understand that drug-addicts are victims and not criminals.</strong></li>
<li>Certain crop drugs which have more than 50% alcohol and opioids need to be contained.</li>
<li><strong>Strict action is required from police officers</strong> at the excise and narcotics department to curb the problem of drug menace in the country.</li>
<li><strong>Radical political decisions like that one of alcohol prohibition in Bihar may be another solution.</strong> When people do not exercise self-control, a state has to step in, <strong>as part of the Directive Principles of State Policy (Article 47).</strong></li>
<li>Education curriculum should include chapters on drug addiction, its impact and also on de-addiction. Proper Counselling is another alternative.</li>
<li>There is a need to <strong>strictly implement the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.</strong></li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Drishti Input</strong></p>
<p><strong>The Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>India is a signatory</strong> to the <strong>UN Single Convention on Narcotics Drugs 1961,</strong> the Convention on <strong>Psychotropic Substances,</strong> 1971 and the Convention on<strong> Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances,</strong> 1988 which prescribe various forms of control aimed to achieve the dual objective of limiting the use of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances for medical and scientific purposes as well as preventing the abuse of the same.</li>
<li>The administrative and legislative setup in the field of Narcotics has been put in place in the country in accordance with the spirit of the UN Conventions. The basic legislative instrument of the Government of India in this regard is the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985.</li>
<li>The Act provides <strong>stringent provisions</strong> for the control and regulation of operations relating to narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances.</li>
<li>It also provides for <strong>forfeiture of property</strong> derived from, or used in, illicit traffic in narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances.</li>
<li>It also provides for <strong>death penalty</strong> in some cases where a person is a repeat offender.</li>
</ul>
</div>',
		'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
		'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/loksabha-rajyasabha-discussions/the-big-picture-fighting-drug-menace'
	],
	(int) 18 => [
		'title' => 'Significance of G-20 amidst a Geo-Economic Flux',
		'catname' => 'News Editorials',
		'desc' => '<div class="border">
<p>This article is based on the editorial <a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/two-and-twenty-at-osaka-g20-summit-india-china-us-japan-5803667/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>&ldquo;Two and twenty at Osaka&rdquo;</strong></a> that appeared in Indian Express on 28th June 2019. It talks about the role that G-20 can play in the weak global economic scenario due to the US &lsquo;s America first policy and other events.</p>
</div>
<p>The economy has no borders-this was well certified when the subprime crisis that started from the USA spread to eurozone leading to eurozone crisis of 2008-09, which eventually culminated into the global financial meltdown of 2009. In the event of tackling this crisis, world leaders gathered in 2008 and reinvented&nbsp;<strong><a href="/important-institutions/drishti-specials-important-institutions-international-institution/important-institution-upsc-ias-g20-significance-global-groupings-member-challenges-buenos-aires-gs-mains-paper-ii-2-international-relations" target="_blank" rel="noopener">G-20</a></strong> (Group of 20) forum.</p>
<p>Eleven years after its inception, the G-20 has emerged as an important forum of most of the world&rsquo;s systemically important economies. But once the global financial system stabilised, the G-20 summits lost steam and focus. Today's world is witnessing a global economic downturn. In this context, joint efforts by major economies should be made to help maintain global growth amid rising uncertainties and that should be the prime focus of G20 summit 2019 in Osaka, Japan.</p>
<h3>Why the global economy is witnessing a Geo-economic flux?</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Today the global economy is increasingly threatened by protectionism, heightening trade tensions worldwide rocking the foundation of the multilateral trading system.</li>
<li>The geo-political phenomenon like US-China trade war, American unilateralism in trade policy(America first policy) and China&rsquo;s opaque trade (Debt-trap diplomacy) and other economic policies have emerged as major threats to global economic growth and stability.</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>What is America First policy?</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>America First is the official foreign policy doctrine of the Trump administration</li>
<li>It refers to a foreign policy in the United States that emphasizes American nationalism and unilateralism.</li>
<li>In pursuance of America first policy, the US has waged a trade war on China and U.S. is increasingly undermining international trade law.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Pillars of America first policy</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Rebalance American trade relationships by supporting National Security.</li>
<li>Re-Negotiation of &ldquo;Outdated and Imbalanced&rdquo; Trade Agreements</li>
<li>Aggressive enforcement of U.S. Trade Law</li>
<li>Defending American interests at the WTO</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>What is Debt Trap diplomacy?</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Debt-trap diplomacy is a type of diplomacy based on debt carried out in the bilateral relations between countries.</li>
<li>It involves one creditor country intentionally extending excessive credit to another debtor country with the alleged intention of extracting economic or political concessions from the debtor country when it becomes unable to honour its debt obligations.</li>
<li>For example, China took Sri Lanka's Hambantota port on a 99-year lease, on account to Sri Lanka's failure to pay Chinese debt.</li>
</ul>
</div>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Today uncertainty is not so much about integration but about disintegration. Multilateralism and free trade have come under pressure and moving towards isolationism and unilateralism which damages the G20 spirit.</li>
<li>This global economic downturn can be reflected in:<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>The latest World Trade Outlook Indicator reading of 96.3 remains at the weakest level since 2010, signalling continued falling trade growth in the first half of 2019, said the World Trade Organization (WTO).</li>
<li>According to a key UN report released earlier in June, global foreign direct investment (FDI) slid to 1.3 trillion dollars in 2018, in its third straight annual decline.</li>
<li>According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Economic prospects are now weaker in nearly all G20 countries than previously anticipated.</li>
<li>Besides, there are other major risks such as geopolitical tensions and climate crises. According to the World Bank, air pollution costs societies more than 5 trillion dollars every year</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<h3>But there are many issues grappling G-20</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Although many G20 economies have repeatedly called for coordination of economic policies over the past few years, the bloc is still divided on certain thorny issues, such as rising protectionism and climate change.</li>
<li>While the G20 has focused on trade policy issues since 2013, the G-20 has not been able to revive the Doha Development Round of multilateral trade negotiations at the World Trade Organisation</li>
<li>Everything from climate change to women&rsquo;s empowerment is now discussed at G-20 summits while the really important business gets done in bilaterals on the sidelines</li>
<li>G-20 meets in the midst of a crisis in world trade. It must not let US-China bilateral overshadow the summit. There is a fear that G-20 may remain focused on G-2(US and China).</li>
</ul>
<h3>Way forward</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Participating countries of the G20 summit should act positively to reach some agreement which would be beneficial to people across the world.</li>
<li>For this to happen, the world's two biggest economies, China and the United States should jointly play a leading role in pushing for positive outcomes at the G20 Osaka summit</li>
<li>Developing countries should take part in the effort to strengthen the role of the UN in world affairs and reform backbones institutions such as the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the WTO</li>
<li>Japan, that is the host country, has laid down three key issues to be discussed at the Osaka Summit i.e. trade policy, environment and the digital economy. In this context it is important for G20 leaders to come up with more transparent rules, especially concerning trade tensions and the digital economy.</li>
</ul>
<p>In the post-war period, the multilateral system has delivered major economic and social progress. Globalization ushered in an unprecedented era of growth, lifting hundreds of millions of people out of poverty. Openness and partnership between countries played a critical part in this success.Thus, G 20 countries must act together to fight this anti-globalisation wave.<br /><br /></p>
<table border="1" style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 100.172%;" height="67">
<tbody>
<tr style="height: 17px; border-style: none; background-color: #ff9e9e;">
<td style="width: 582.222px; height: 17px; background-color: #f1f5b5;"><span style="color: #0000ff;"><em><strong>Drishti input</strong></em></span><br />Discuss the role that global forums like G-20 can play in tackling the global economic downturn that has been caused by events like Trade war, America first policy etc.</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>',
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	(int) 19 => [
		'title' => 'L 98-59b: Tiniest Planet Discovered by TESS',
		'catname' => 'News Analysis',
		'desc' => '<p><strong>The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's</strong> <a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/mars-colonisation-through-sperm-bank" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>(NASA)</strong></a> Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) has discovered the smallest planet called L 98-59b, between the sizes of Mars and Earth orbiting a bright, cool, nearby star.<a href="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/485image4.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="content-img" src="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/485image4.jpg" width="403" height="129" style="float: right;" caption="false" /></a></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>L 98-59b is around <strong>80% of Earth&rsquo;s size</strong> and about 10% smaller than the previous smallest planet discovered by TESS.</li>
<li>The two other planets in the system, <strong>L 98-59c</strong> and <strong>L 98-59d,</strong> are respectively around 1.4 and 1.6 times Earth&rsquo;s size.</li>
<li>L 98-59b&rsquo;s host star, "L 98-59" is an M dwarf ( M dwarfs stars, are much smaller and dimmer than our own sun and aren&rsquo;t bright enough to see with the naked eye. They are also known as red dwarfs, comprising some 70% of all the stars in our galaxy) about one-third the mass of the Sun and lies about 35 light-years away in the southern constellation Volans.
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>None of the planets lies within the star&rsquo;s habitable zone.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>While L 98-59b is a record for TESS, even smaller planets have been discovered in data collected by <a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/important-facts-for-prelims-1st-november-2018" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Kepler satellite,</strong></a> including Kepler-37b, which is only 20% larger than the Moon.</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) Mission</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>NASA Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) mission led by the <strong>Massachusetts Institute of Technology</strong> (with seed funding from Google) will look for planets orbiting the <strong>brightest stars in Earth&rsquo;s sky</strong>.</li>
<li>TESS will survey 200,000 of the brightest stars near the sun to search for transiting exoplanets.</li>
<li>TESS was launched on April 18, 2018, aboard a<a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/spacex-s-falcon-heavy-rocket" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong> SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.</strong></a></li>
<li>TESS employs the <strong>transit method</strong> to detect exoplanets:
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The transit method of detecting exoplanets looks for <strong>dips in the visible light</strong> of stars and requires that planets cross in front of stars along our line of sight to them.</li>
<li>Repetitive, periodic dips reveal a planet or planets orbiting a star.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</div>',
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		'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/l-98-59b-tiniest-planet-discovered-by-tess'
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