IASbaba's Daily Current Affairs Analysis

IASbaba’s Daily Current Affairs (Prelims + Mains Focus)- 30th January 2018

(PRELIMS+MAINS FOCUS)

10 ‘champion’ sectors identified to boost job generation

Part of: Mains GS Paper III- Inclusive development

Key pointers:

In an effort to boost job generation to double-digit level, the government has identified 10 ‘champion’ sectors that will drive growth under the ‘Make in India’ version 2.0, as per the Economic Survey 2017-18.
These include capital goods, auto and auto components, defence and aerospace, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals and medical devices, chemicals, electronic system, design and manufacturing (ESDM), leather and footwear, textiles and apparels, food processing, gems and jewellery, new and renewable energy, construction, shipping and railways.
Employment generation, including finding good jobs for the young and burgeoning workforces, especially for women, will be one of the three key areas in the medium-term.
Promoting “inclusive employment” in order to generate jobs for daily wage labourers.
Steps have already been taken in sectors such as steel, apparel, leather and power to address specific challenges associated with each of them.

Article link: Click here

Quota for the disabled

Part of: Mains GS Paper II- Government interventions in important sectors

Key pointers:

People with autism, mental illnesses, intellectual disability and victims of acid attacks will now get quota in central government jobs.
In case of direct recruitment, four per cent of the total number of vacancies, up from the existing three per cent, in groups A, B and C shall be reserved for people with benchmark disabilities.
Benchmark disability means a person with not less than forty per cent of a specified disability.
The move to enhance reservation quota for those with learning disability and acid attack victims comes after passage of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, and the notification of relevant rules in this regard.
Under the new rules, all government organisations have been asked to appoint ‘grievance redressal officers‘ to look into complaints.
Any person aggrieved with any matter relating to discrimination in employment against any person with disability may file a complaint with the grievance redressal officer of the respective government establishment.

Article link: Click here

(MAINS FOCUS)

NATIONAL

TOPIC:

General Studies 1:

Social empowerment

General Studies 2:

Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.

General Studies 3:

Indian economy and issues related to planning, mobilization of resources, growth, development and employment.

Formalization of Indian Economy

Background:

The new Economic Survey written by the team of finance ministry economists led by Arvind Subramanian provides compelling evidence of how the Indian economy is becoming more formalized.
The reason this shift is important is not just because of the possibility of higher tax revenues for the government to spend; it is also about the social contract between citizens and the state.

Key shifts:

There are four key shifts that are mentioned in the Economic Survey 2017-18.

The introduction of the goods and services tax (GST) has brought more firms into the tax net.
The number of enterprises paying indirect taxes has gone up by 3.4 million, an increase of 50%.
Only around a quarter of the 240 million Indian working outside farms file their income tax returns.
Demonetization done in November 2016 seems to have led to a statistically significant increase in the number of new income tax filers.
The Indian workforce is more formalized than most people believed till recently.
Nearly a third of the non-farm Indian workforce of 240 million has some social security coverage.
And more than half of the non-farm workforce is employed in firms that now pay taxes.
Indians are putting a greater proportion of their savings in the formal financial sector.
Bank deposits swelled after November 2016.
The booming stock market has also made financial savings through mutual funds more attractive compared to gold or real estate.

These four shifts—more firms paying indirect taxes, more individual filing income tax returns, a big increase in the proportion of formal jobs and the increase in savings in the formal financial sector—can have profound effects on the Indian economy if they are sustained.

Methodological innovations:

Much of the data offered by the finance ministry comes from the GST system, rather than from surveys. The mining of GST data is part of the welcome introduction of Big Data into Indian policy discourse.
The Economic Survey released a year ago had similarly used Big Data and satellite images to estimate issues as diverse as interstate migration to the extent of Indian urbanization.
The finance ministry economists deserve kudos for their methodological innovations.

What does such an overdue shift to formal economic activity potentially mean?

The Indian nation state sits on a very weak fiscal base. It is neither able to invest in national security or provide public goods or create a social security system without running up destabilizing fiscal deficits.

India has a tax-to-GDP ratio that is broadly similar to what other countries had at a similar stage of development. The question is whether that ratio can be increased as India gets richer, which is difficult unless more economic activity moves into the formal sectors.
This is possible only once the economy is formalised.
More direct tax payments by individuals as well as enterprises will not only create fiscal space for lower GST rates but also provide incentives for citizens to demand better governance.

Conclusion:

The process of formalization needs to be accelerated further.

Connecting the dots:

The Economic Survey highlights how Indian economy is undergoing formalization. Discuss how this change can be acclerated further.

NATIONAL

TOPIC: General Studies 2:

Appointment to various Constitutional posts, powers, functions and responsibilities of various Constitutional Bodies.

Statutory, regulatory and various quasi-judicial bodies

Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.

Section 124-A of IPC: To repeal or no to?

Introduction:

Section 124-A in the Indian Penal Code, named ‘Sedition’, says ‘Whoever, by words, either spoken or written, or by signs, or by visible representation, or otherwise, brings or attempts to bring into hatred or contempt, or excites or attempts to excite disaffection towards the Government established by law in India’ shall be punished with life imprisonment

History of Sedition law:

The law was originally drafted by Thomas Macaulay
It was not a part of IPC in the 1860s and was even dropped from the law. It was introduced in the IPC in the year 1870
Many Indian freedom fighters, including Mahatma Gandhi and Bal Gangadhar Tilak, were charged with sedition during freedom struggle

While the constitution was in making:

Part III of the Constitution guarantees certain fundamental rights to citizens and non-citizens. No fundamental right is absolute.
Freedom of speech and expression guaranteed by Article 19(1)(a) can be reasonably restricted on the grounds specified in Article 19(2).
In the Draft Constitution, one of the heads of the restrictions proposed on freedom of speech and expression was “sedition”.
K M Munshi opposed the inclusion of “sedition” in the Draft Constitution as a restriction on freedom of speech and expression. During the debates in the Constituent Assembly, in view of the bitter experience of the arbitrary application of the sedition law by the colonial regime against nationalist leaders, Jawaharlal Nehru amongst others, agreed with Munshi and deliberately omitted “sedition” as one of the permissible grounds of restriction under Article 19(2).
However, sedition remained a criminal offence in the IPC Section 124-A and provides inter alia for the sentence of life imprisonment and fine upon conviction.

Supreme Court judgements:

Kedernath vs. State of Bihar, 1962-
The Court ruled that mere criticism of the government or comments on the administration — however vigorous, pungent or ill-informed — was not sedition and that incitement to violence is the essential ingredient of that offence.
In 1995-
Certain persons were sought to be prosecuted for sedition for shouting slogans like Khalistan Zindabad and raj karega khalsa.
The SC held that the casual raising of such slogans a couple of times by the individuals did not tantamount to sedition and therefore Section 124-A could not be invoked.
Nazir Khan vs. State of Delhi, 2003-
The SC made the following significant observations: “It is the fundamental right of every citizen to have his own political theories and ideas and to propagate them and work for their establishment so long as he does not seek to do so by force and violence or contravene any provision of law”.

What does this mean?

The legal position which emerges is that merely shouting slogans like Pakistan or Khalistan zindabad, however deplorable, per se would not attract Section 124-A which deals with sedition.
Criticism of the SC judgment upholding the conviction of Afzal Guru also would not attract Section 124-A.
However if a person has said “Hindustan murdabad”, or that the Indian state is tyrannical and it is necessary to overthrow it, that could possibly amount to sedition.

Issue:

Section 124-A has often been misused by ill-informed and over enthusiastic prosecuting agencies who are against any criticism of the government.

Kanhaiya Kumar, Patidar leader Hardik Patel were slapped with sedition charges in past.
In the year 2014, some of the Kashmiri students were charged with sedition for supporting Pakistan in a cricket match between India and Pakistan.

Repeal or not to repeal:

The remedy does not lie in repealing Section 124-A. As there is no statutory provision which cannot be misused.
Misuse of Section 124-A in some cases, however regrettable, is no ground for its deletion.
The provision properly interpreted and correctly applied protects and preserves the integrity of the Indian state and is also a deterrent for persons who are minded to commit acts of incitement to violence and acts which cause disturbance of public order.

Connecting the dots:

Section-124A has been one of the most misused legal provision. Discuss the historical background and issues associate with it. Should t be repealed or not? Analyze.