Economi c Dev el opment

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Inclusive Growth
PPP - Issues & Recommendations
1. Centre - State coordination
1. The Centre and the State have different levels of jurisdiction in different things needed for
the success of PPP projects. Land acquisition, power, water supply is the responsibility
of the State Government without which no project can function. Similarly the ability of the
State Government to develop a port can be substantially jeopardized by ineffective
decision making regarding security or custom arrangements at the Central level.
2. Obtaining of clearances related to defence, airspace and environment.
2. Enhancing viability of the projects
1. VGF from government.
2. Structuring them to make them bankable.
3. Deepening of the debt market and facilitating long term debt.
3. Selection of land, acquisition thereof and resettlement and rehabilitation of displaced persons
1. Creation of land pools/land banks. The States should identify the lands available for
infrastructure development. All such identified land could be pooled together and offered to
prospective project developers. The creation of such land pools would significantly reduce
the cost of acquisition and also lead to faster implementation of the projects.
2. Displaced people must get a meaningful share of the rise in land prices due to
development.
4. Capacity building at various levels
1. Proper structuring of PPPs contracts and documentation is essential.
2. Establishment of SPV for project execution.

Inclusive Growth
Need
1. Sustainable growth requires high human capital. It needs skilled, educated, healthy workers.
2. Politically and socially non inclusive growth is not sustainable. LWE, terrorism, communalism,
caste wars can be the issues. So inclusive growth flows directly from the Preamble, DPSP.
3. Moral considerations.
4. Human rights considerations.
Challenges
1. Political commitment is lacking.
2. Laws and policies need to be aligned.
3. Governance challenges.

4. Crony capitalism.
5. Physical and social infrastructure needs to be built up.
6. Inequality.
Amritsar-Delhi-Kolk ata Industrial Corridor (ADKIC) Project
1. Set on of DMIC, the ADKIC will boost industrial development along the Eastern Dedicated
Freight Corridor (DFC) that connects Ludhiana in Punjab with Dankuni near Kolkata.
2. The ADKIC not only has a wider spread but also touches the more densely populated and less
developed States like UP, Uttarakhand, Bihar and Jharkhand.
3. The region accounts for about 40 per cent of the countrys population and has been crying for
development.
4. The eastern industrial corridor will also enhance the importance of the inland waterway system
by navigating the Ganga.

Q. Manishank ar Aiyyar Report on PRIs

1. Direct transfers to PRIs.
2. Untied grants.
3. Grants to go into capacity building of PRIs.
Q. BRGF
Q. Higher Education Cooperation Initiative Between India and US
Q. Good economics, bad politics etc. explore all combinations.
Investment Models for Funding Infrastructure in 12th Plan
FIPB vs CCEA vs CCI
1. If project worth is < Rs. 1200 crore, FIPB approval is sufficient. If project is worth more, then after
FIPB approval, CCEA approval is also needed. CCI is a high level coordinating body.
SEZ
1. This year in the Public Trade Policy, the minimum land requirement for multi product SEZs has
been reduced to 500 ha (from 1000 ha), single product SEZ to 50 ha and no minimum limit for IT
based SEZs.
2. MAT and dividend distribution tax will be levied back on SEZ.
NIMZ vs SEZ
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Minimum size is 5000 ha.

No tax benefits in NIMZ except SMEs.
Focus is manufacturing in NIMZ, focus is exports in SEZ.
NIMZ has a separate municipal setup of its own.
NIMZ is executive decision, SEZ has statutory backing.

Q Since 1991 what is the relevance of land reforms / New dimensions of land reforms?
1. Focus of 12th FYP is on tenancy reforms and group farming.
2. Pool land and then lease it out to small and marginal farmer, women.

3. Kerela model: make SHGs of poor farmers and then lease.

Issues Arising

Special Category States

Criteria for Special Category Status
1. The rationale for special status is that certain states, because of inherent features, have a low
resource base and cannot mobilize resources for development.
2. Some of the features required for special status are:
1. Hilly and difficult terrain.
2. Low population density or sizeable share of tribal population.
3. Strategic location along borders.
4. Economic and infrastructural backwardness.
5. Non-viable nature of state finances.
Benefits of Special Category Status
1. PC allocates funds to states through central assistance for state plans. Central assistance can
be broadly split into three components:
1. Normal Central Assistance (NCA) ~ 20% of total central plan assistance to states i.e. 56% of the total transfers.
2. Additional Central Assistance (ACA).
3. Special Central Assistance.
2. NCA, the main assistance for state plans, is split to favor special category states: the 11 states
get 30% of the total assistance while the other states share the remaining 70%. It is split into
90% grants and 10% loans for special category states, while the ratio between grants and loans
is 30:70 for other states.
3. For allocation among special category states, there are no explicit criteria for distribution and
funds are allocated on the basis of the states plan size and previous plan expenditures.
Allocation between non special category states is determined by the Gadgil-Mukherjee formula
which gives weight to population (60%), per capita income (25%), fiscal performance (7.5%) and
special problems (7.5%).

1. But what benefits would Bihar actually get if it is made into a special category state? During the
Eleventh Plan, under the Gadgil-Mukherjee formula, the Bihars share in total NPA was 11%, 2nd

highest among all non-special category states.

2. Besides the higher assistance to special category states, tax breaks for excise duty as well as
income tax exemptions are also available for setting up of industries within their territories.
3. Even though the number of special category states has increased from only three to 11 between
1969 and now, the kitty of 30% of the central Plan funds has remained unchanged. As a result,
the share of individual states within the category had declined.
4. As per the 2013-14 budget, the total central assistance to states is Rs 1.3 lakh crore, of which
the NPA is only Rs 27,636 crore, and about a third of this money would only go to the special
category states.
Raghuram Rajan Committee to Determine Back wardness.Criteria
1. Chidambaram argued for inclusion of HDI indicators in determining whether a state is backward or
not.
2. Backward states will also benefit from BRGF.

Employment
Planning
Growth and Development
Effect of Liberalization
Industrial Policy
Investment Models
Mobilization of Resources
FDI Restrictiveness Index (FRI)
1. Despite successive moves to liberalize the FDI regime, India is ranked fourth on FRI compiled by
OECD.
2. FRI gauges the restrictiveness of a country's FDI rules by looking at the four main types of
restrictions:
1. Foreign equity limitations.
2. Screening or approval mechanism.
3. Restrictions on the employment of foreigners as key personnel.
4. Operational restrictions.
3. A score of 1 indicates a closed economy and 0 indicates openness. FRI for India in 2012 was
0.273 (it was 0.450 in 2006 and 0.297 in 2010) as against OECD average of 0.081.
4. China is the most restrictive country as it is ranked number one with the score of 0.407 in 2012
indicating that it has more restriction than India.

Government Budgeting
Budgeting Techniques

The Line Item Budget

1. Here individual items are grouped by cost centers or departments.
2. It also shows the comparison between the data for the past budgeting periods and estimated
figures for the current period.
3. These line items include detailed ceilings on the amount a unit would spend on salaries,
traveling allowances, office expenses, etc. The focus is on ensuring that the agencies or units do
not exceed the ceilings prescribed.
4. A central authority or the Ministry of Finance keeps a watch on the spending of various units to
ensure that the ceilings are not violated.
Performance Budgeting
1. Concept
1. A Performance Budget gives an indication of how the funds spent are expected to give
outputs and ultimately the outcomes.
2. A performance budget reflects the goals of the organization and spells out performance
targets.
3. These targets are sought to be achieved through a strategy(s).
4. Unit costs are associated with the strategy and allocations are accordingly made.
2. Issues in implementation
1. It is difficult to arrive at the unit costs while relating them to the objective in social
programmes.
2. Its scope is limited to plan programmes and hence utility severely curtailed.
3. Performance budgets were presented on a supplementary basis. The departments
continued the practice of preparing performance budgets annually in addition to their
regular budget. The preparation of performance budget has become a routine affair without
any discernible influence on expenditure management.
4. It is not sufficient to have the performance budget document as a supplementary one, as
in that case it will not have any impact whatsoever on the existing system. For one, the
performance budget is being evolved to overcome the deficiencies in the existing
budgetary process. The idea of a supplementary document would inevitably mean the
continuation of the existing process.
Zero-based Budgeting (ZBB)
1. Concept
1. Unlike the earlier systems where only incremental changes were made in the allocation,
under zero-based budgeting every activity is evaluated each time a budget is made and
only if it is established that the activity is necessary, are funds allocated to it.
2. The basic purpose of ZBB is phasing out of programmes/ activities which do not have
relevance anymore.
2. Issues in implementation
1. Because of the efforts involved in preparing a zero-based budget and institutional
resistance related to personnel issues, no government ever implemented a full zero-based
budget.
2. Ideally, prioritisation should be done among all items of expenditure whether on-going or
new, Non-Plan or Plan. But the system in which Plan and Non-Plan expenditure are
treated differently and assigned varying priorities, ZBB would have to be applied
separately to Plan and Non-Plan expenditures and hence efficacy limited.
Outcome Budget
1. Performance budgets lack of clear estimation of unit costs and inadequate target-setting. Hence

there was a need for tracking outcomes and not the outputs.
2. However, the outcome budget experience shows that in many cases the measurement of
outputs and outcomes seems to have been mixed up. Measuring outcomes is difficult given the
fact that they could be influenced by many other extraneous factors.
3. It is also seen that in some cases Departments have merely reproduced the outputs targets as
outcomes and, in many other places, general intents of the programmes are described as
outcomes.
4. Outcome Budget cannot be prepared for all Ministries/Departments simply by way of
declaration.
Programme Budgeting and Result Oriented Budgets
1. The basic building block of the system was classification of expenditure into programmes.
Programmes with common objectives are considered together.
2. The question is how well have the reforms worked in introducing result-orientation into the
budgeting process? Not well for the following three reasons:
1. Firstly, even though performance targets are being developed, they are actually kept
separate from the budget.
2. When they are included in the budget, often outputs are confused with inputs and
outcomes remain unconsidered. Targets / objectives are not identified effectively.
3. Thirdly, and the most important point is that even when effective targets are provided, the
budgets fail to specify who should be accountable for the results.
3. So programme budgeting by itself may not bring the outcome orientation. Unless there are
institutional reforms, like bringing in the agency concept, where the heads of the agencies are
made accountable for delivery of services in an efficient and effective manner, the reform in
budgeting process would be difficult to implement.
Top-down budgeting techniques
1. Bottom up budgeting
1. Budgeting has traditionally operated on a bottom-up principle. This means that all
agencies and all ministries send requests for funding to the finance ministry.
2. These requests greatly exceed what they realistically believe they will get.
3. Budgeting then consists of the Finance Ministry negotiating with these ministries and
agencies until some common point is found.
2. Disadvantages of bottom up budgeting
1. It is very time consuming and it is essentially a game; all participants know that the initial
requests are not realistic.
2. This process has an inherent bias for increasing expenditures; all new programmes or
expansions are financed by new requests; there is no system for reallocation within
spending ministries.
3. Difficult to reflect political priorities in this system as the budget emerges from the
bottom at the end of this process.
3. Top down budgeting
1. This has been of great assistance in achieving fiscal consolidation.
2. The starting point is the government making a binding political decision as to the total
level of expenditure and then dividing them among individual spending ministries.
3. This decision is made possible by the medium-term expenditure frameworks which
contain baseline expenditure information, i.e. what the budget would look like if no new
policy decisions were made.
4. The political decision is whether to increase expenditures for a high-priority area, for
example education, and to reduce expenditures, for example defence programs.
5. Once this decision is taken, the Finance Ministry largely withdraws from the details of
budgetary allocations for each ministry. The Finance Ministry concerns itself only with the

level of aggregate expenditure for each ministry; not the internal allocations.
6. Each minister becomes his own Finance Minister. Each ministry has a total amount and
it can freely reallocate that money among its various programmes.
7. Advantages
1. It serves to hamper creeping increases in expenditures as new policies are funded
by reallocations within the ministry.
2. It creates ownership in the respective ministries.
3. Decisions are also better informed as spending ministries are in the best position
to judge the relative merits of their programmes.

Budgeting Reforms
Medium-Term Framework Statements
1. They clearly state the governments medium term fiscal objectives in terms of high-level targets
such as the level of aggregate revenue, expenditure, deficit/surplus, and debt.
2. They then operationalize these high-level targets by establishing hard budget constraints for
individual ministries and programmes over a number of years.
3. They contain baseline expenditure information, i.e. what the budget would look like if no new
policy decisions were made.
4. Utility / need: Budgets are however enacted for a time period of one year, and are notorious for
their short-term focus. This short-term time horizon is often criticised for ineffective expenditure
management; decisions on resource allocation are said to be made on an ad hoc basis.
Medium-term budget frameworks bridge this gap.
5. They generally mirror the format of the budget. These are rolling frameworks that are presented
with the budget each year-3 is added.
6. These frameworks are not, however, enacted into legislation; they are planning documents that
reflect the political commitment to fiscal discipline.
Prudent Economic Assumptions
1. Deviations from the forecast of the key economic assumptions are a key fiscal risk.
2. Sensitivity analysis should be made.
3. A comparison should be made between the economic assumptions used in the budget and what
private sector forecasters are applying for the same time period where practicable.
4. The establishment of an independent body to recommend the economic assumptions to be used
in the budget may be considered as well.
Top-Down Budgeting Techniques
1. This has been of great assistance in achieving fiscal consolidation.
2. The starting point is the government making a binding political decision as to the total level of
expenditure and then dividing them among individual spending ministries.
3. This decision is made possible by the medium-term expenditure frameworks which contain
baseline expenditure information, i.e. what the budget would look like if no new policy decisions
were made.
4. The political decision is whether to increase expenditures for a high-priority area, for example
education, and to reduce expenditures, for example defence programs.
5. Once this decision is taken, the Finance Ministry largely withdraws from the details of budgetary

allocations for each ministry. The Finance Ministry concerns itself only with the level of
aggregate expenditure for each ministry; not the internal allocations.
6. Each minister becomes his own Finance Minister. Each ministry has a total amount and it can
freely reallocate that money among its various programmes.
7. Advantages
1. It serves to hamper creeping increases in expenditures as new policies are funded by
reallocations within the ministry.
2. It creates ownership in the respective ministries.
3. Decisions are also better informed as spending ministries are in the best position to judge
the relative merits of their programmes.
Relaxing Central Input Controls
1. This is based on the premise that the heads of individual agencies are in the best position to
choose the most efficient mix of inputs to carry out the agencys activities.
2. The end-result is that an agency can produce the same services at less cost, or more services
at the same cost. This greatly facilitates fiscal consolidation.
3. It operates at 3 levels:
1. First, the consolidation of various budget lines into a single appropriation for all operating
costs (salaries, travel, supplies, etc.).
2. Second, the decentralisation of the personnel management function. The above may not
enough to generate managerial flexibility as various central management rules inhibit this
flexibility. It is in the area of human resource management where most of the central
management rules exist.
3. Third, the decentralisation of other common service provisions, notably accommodations
(buildings).
An Increased Focus on Results
1. An increased focus on results is a direct quid pro quo for relaxing input controls as described
above. Accountability in the public sector has traditionally been based on compliance with rules
and procedures. A new results-based system is needed to hold managers accountable.
2. This is a fundamental change: holding managers accountable for what they do, not how they do
it.
3. Difficulties in implementation
1. Results measurement may be much more difficult in some activities than in others.
Various social services are the outstanding example.
2. From an accountability point of view, the question arises whether you hold managers
responsible for outputs or outcomes. An example highlights this.
A government may wish to reduce the number of fatalities on highways caused by
drunk drivers. This would be the outcome. In order to achieve this, it may launch a
series of advertisements which is the output.
Lets, however, assume that at the same time the number of fatalities went up, not
down. The link between the advertisements and this outcome is very unclear,
since many other factors than the advertisements would impact on the outcome.
Alternatively, do we want an accountability regime based on outputs even though
the outputs may not be contributing to the desired outcome?
Finding the right balance between the outputs and outcomes is a difficult choice to
implement.
Budget Transparency & Citizen Participation
1. When the governments need to institute large fiscal consolidation programmes, it is often painful
and getting the publics understanding of the problems is necessary. The most effective manner

for achieving that was simply to throw open the books and say to the public: Look, things are
really as bad as we told you, were not hiding anything.
2. This is also in consonance with the principles of good governance.
3. The steps involve:
1. The first is the release of budget data - systematic and timely release of all relevant fiscal
information.
2. The second element is an effective role for the legislature. It must scrutinize the budget
reports and independently review them. It must debate and influence policy and effectively
hold the government to account.
3. The third element is an effective role for civil society, through the media and NGOs.
Citizens must be in a position to influence budget policy and must be in a position to hold
the government to account.
Modern Financial Management Practices
1. Accrual based budgeting
1. Drawbacks of Cash Accounting
1. Cash accounting does not provide a full picture of the governments financial
position at any given point and the changes that take place over time as a result of
government policy.
2. It fails to reflect accrued liabilities.
3. It is unable to track current assets as well as capital assets. It does not provide
information on the assets held by the government at all.
4. It provides room for fiscal opportunism, as tax revenues can be collected in excess
during a period followed by high incidence of refunds, payments can easily be
deferred. It takes no note of state guarantees.
2. Issues in Implementation of Accrual Accounting
1. There is a high cost of transition from cash to accrual accounting as it requires
higher training, identification and evaluation of assets and setting up the
technological infrastructure.
2. The transition period takes a fairly long time to settle, sometimes even more than
a decade.
3. A number of activities associated with the accrual-based accounting system
involve high level of subjectivity for example valuations and risk assessment.
4. Many countries have attempted to move towards accrual accounting but success
has not been widespread.
5. Even in countries where it has been implemented, it is not being used in decision
making.
6. A gradual approach is thus recommended. Focus could be first on implementing
methods to better recognize financial liabilities and assets and their capital costs.
1. Capital charges
1. Capital has tended to be viewed as a free good in the public sector. This involves putting a
cost on the balance sheet.
2. The government decides to levy a charge on the cost of capital tied up in all assets in an
agency. For example, if an agency has $10 million in assets, the government will levy a
charge (often equivalent to the long-term government bond rate), of 10%. This means that
the agency will have to pay the finance ministry 1 million dollars annually.
3. When the system is first introduced, the appropriations to all agencies will be increased
by the amount of their capital charge, so theres no net impact on agencies. However,
agencies will in future be allowed to dispose of the assets and thus relieving themselves
of the capital charge.
4. This saves a lot of government balance sheet.
2. Carry-overs

1. Currently all appropriations lapse at the end of the fiscal year. This creates a great and
irrational rush to spend moneys before the end of the fiscal year.
2. Not only because they would otherwise lose the money this year, but also because future
years appropriations would take account of this underspending as well.
3. Hence the need of carryovers. Only in cases where an agency continuously, year after
year, builds up carry-overs does the Ministry of Finance intervene.
3. Interest-bearing accounts
1. This means that the appropriation of an agency is divided into twelfths (representing each
month) and deposited into an agencys account. If an agency spends at less than this
rate, they will receive interest on the difference. If they spend at a faster rate, they will pay
interest on the difference.
2. This makes them much more aware of cash management practices.

Budgetary Process
Preparation of the Budget
1. It follows both the top-down and bottom-up approaches. While guidelines and instructions are
issued by the Ministry of Finance and Planning Commission, the spending
Ministries/Departments make requests for budgetary allocations based on their own estimates.
2. The Ministry of Finance issues a Budget Circular which contains the guidelines and instructions
in the month of September.
3. This Circular is issued for the guidance of Ministries/Departments in framing the Revised
Estimates for the current year and the Budget Estimates for the ensuing year.
4. The departmental estimates are examined and analyzed by the Financial Adviser and then
forwarded to the Budget Division in the Finance Ministry. This is followed by pre-budget meetings
with the Secretary (Expenditure).
5. Once this stage is over, the expenditure ceilings are communicated (which include ceilings on
both revenue and capital expenditure). The Departments then prepare the Statement of Budget
Estimates (Final).
Issues in Budgetary Process and Recommendations
1. Emphasis on expenditure targets, not results
1. At present, government departments often measure their performance in relation to the
expenditure targets laid down in the budget without adequate regard to outputs and even
less to outcomes.
2. Unrealistic budget estimates
1. Weakness in preparing proper estimates leads to frequent revisions and supplementaries.
2. Despite having such an elaborate and time consuming system of making budgetary
estimates, large amounts of unspent money have been surrendered every year. This
indicates lack of efficiency in estimation at the departmental level. It shows that proper
forecasting methods are not used to estimate expenditure. The concerned
Ministries/Departments have not made any serious attempts to apply effective corrective
measures as per PAC.
3. The root cause of the problem lies in the prevalent method of formulation of the annual
budget by getting details from different organizations and fitting them into a predetermined aggregate amount. This method should be given up along with the method of

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

budgeting on the basis of analysis of trends. Top-down budgeting techniques along with
a medium-term expenditure framework should be followed.
4. Budget Estimates and Revised Estimates should be prepared with reference to the
measurable commitments made in the Outcome Budget.
5. Ministries/Departments may review each major scheme at regular intervals and apply the
result at the time of budget formulation.
Delay in Implementation of Projects
1. In many cases, such delays are due to token provisions made on account of poorly
conceived projects. Not only this, they also tie down resources and hence delay other
good projects as well.
2. Budgetary provisions should be made only when administrative and technical sanctions
have been obtained and a detailed feasibility report and cost-benefit analysis have been
made.
Skewed Expenditure Pattern
1. The major portion is spent in the last quarter of the financial year, especially in the last
month.
2. A Monthly Expenditure Plan should be worked out for each Demand for Grant. Savings
should not be available for automatic carry forward to the next quarter.
Inadequate Adherence to the Multi-year Perspective and Missing Line of Sight between Plan and
Budget
1. Ad hoc deviations distort the long-term plan objectives. Major projects and schemes are
launched by government which are not provided for in the plan.
2. Another weakness of the current budget exercise is the absence of a clear link between
the plan and the budget. While preparing the budget estimates, the allocations indicated
by the Planning Commission get dispersed over various heads and sub-heads of
expenditure. Further, while the plans are formulated scheme-wise and sector-wise, the
budgets are formulated under different heads and sub-heads. Thus a clear line of sight is
not present.
3. Consequently, even the final accounts reflect the expenditure only under various heads.
This makes it difficult to link the expenditure under various heads to the objectives sought
to be achieved by the different developmental schemes/projects. Thereby the accounting
process loses its potential as a measuring tool for achievement of objectives.
No Correlation between Expenditure and Actual Implementation
1. The expenditure figures do not reflect actual expenditure. At present, the release of funds
from any head of account is deemed as an expenditure. In a large number of cases,
especially in CSS, such releases cannot be construed as expenditure because funds lie
in the pipeline.
2. The present system of release of funds to project authorities outside the government often
leads to parking of funds which is often resorted to in order to prevent lapsing of funds.
This leads to idle funds being maintained outside government accounts and thus portrays
an incorrect picture of government funds besides causing loss of interest to government.
Irrational Plan Non-Plan Distinction
1. It has led to ever increasing tendency to start new schemes/projects to the utter neglect
of existing ones.
2. The distinction also often leads to the misperception that non-plan expenditure is
inherently wasteful and should be avoided.
3. The problem is assuming greater significance with higher priority to social sectors where
salary constitutes an important element of the programme. The embargo imposed on
recruitment for nonplan posts have caused serious problems of service delivery in health
and education sectors.

S ecur i ty and R i sk s
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Disaster Management
Uttarakhand Failure
Violation of Nature as the Cause
1. There is ample scientific evidence that the Himalayan watersheds have witnessed unprecedented
deforestation. Vegetative cover slows the speed of falling rain and prevents soil erosion and gully
formation. Besides forests and soil soak water from the rain, release it slowly and prevent water
flowing as run-off.
2. There is mounting evidence that global warming is fast catching up with the Himalaya.
3. While it is important to appreciate the aspirations of locals and economic activities, there cannot
be a lack of enforcement of land use laws. Such laws were violated with impunity in Uttarakhand
as construction activity came up on the river banks.
4. Hydel activities cause slope weakening and destabilisation. Similarly sand mining and stone
industries also weaken the river system.
Role of Ecological Neglect by the State
1. It is not as if the state government wasn't unaware of the looming threat. Government reports had
warned of the unchecked dangers of urbanisation and from hydel projects. The authorities have
always treated environment with scant regard.
2. The Centre had declared a stretch of 100 km between Gomukh and Uttarkashi along the
Bhagirathi river as an eco-sensitive zone. However, the state government is opposing the move,
saying this would adversely affect the development in the region.
3. The fact is that the dams, barrages and embankments on one hand, magnify the enormity of high
floods when they come and on the other, instil a false sense of security in minds of those who
come to occupy the erstwhile k hadar lands that all is well. The truth is the opposite. Only normal
and periodic climatic events have been converted into man-made disasters, with man coming to
colonise k hadar land.
Role of Dams
1. Big dams, like the one at Tehri, disturb the highly fragile Himalayan tectonic system.
2. But this time the dam managed to protect big towns like Rishikesh and Haridwar through
regulation of the Bhagirathi river waters, most of which were held back in the 42-km long reservoir.
Experts have now recommended a big dam across the Alaknanda river also to further manage the
flow of water.
3. Being a hill state, Uttarakhand is ecologically sensitive but its two main sources of income are
tourism and hydel energy. The state cannot look away from these two sources.
4. Construction of hydel dams require rivers to be diverted through tunnels to generate power. The
construction of these tunnels unsettles the mountainous terrain and contributes to a greater

quantity of rocks and sediment crashing down.

CAG Report on Uttarak hand's Preparedness
1. It pointed out that the SDMA had remained virtually non-functional.
2. The state had also failed to incorporate disaster prevention into the development planning.
1. No thought was given to the fragile ecosystem of the state in the developmental planning
process.
2. Buildings were permitted on floodplains of the rivers.
3. Such unsafe construction is linked to the religious tourism. Why can't we adopt policies of
Bhutan where tourism is regulated to bring it in harmony with the environment?
4. Construction of hydel dams require rivers to be diverted through tunnels to generate power.
The construction of these tunnels unsettles the mountainous terrain and contributes to a
greater quantity of rocks and sediment crashing down.
3. Vulnerability assessment at local level and identification of necessary mitigative action had not
been done. Buildings were permitted on floodplains of the rivers.
4. The disaster management plan was in place but its implementation was absolutely poor.
1. The communication system was also inadequate, with the delay in sharing of disaster
information.
2. Absence of any guidelines meant the preparedness was almost nil. The disaster struck on
June 16 and rescue and relief operations could begin only on June 24 when the Army was
called in.
3. Until then the government had no clue. It had no idea about the magnitude of what had
struck the state.
5. Restoration work undertaken under the Calamity Relief Fund were delayed and violated the
guidelines.
6. Some warning system had been in place, such as radars and climate prediction.
1. The reports of IMD have always been very imprecise like "heave to very heavy rainfall in
some areas in Uttarakhand". No one has any idea of what heavy to very heavy means.
2. The prediction accuracy and forewarning capabilities of IMD need to be increased. Apart
from quantifying the amount of rainfall, spatial distribution information should also be given.
3. World over such systems are in place and even in our country such systems are in place
for cyclones.
National Oil Spill Contingency Plan (NOSDCP)
The idea is to mitigate the impact of all oil spills on the environment by Setting specific standards for oil spill equipment stockpiles
Establishing time frames for oil spill response
Increasing collaboration among partner agencies.
Types of Crises
1. Crises caused by acts of nature. These can further be divided into the following sub-categories:
1. Climatic events: cyclones and storms (associated sea erosion), floods and drought
2. Geological events: earthquakes, tsunamis, landslides and avalanches;
2. Crises caused by environmental degradation and disturbance of the ecological balance;
3. Crises caused by accidents. These, again, can be further classified into: industrial and nuclear
mishaps and fire related accidents;
4. Crises caused by biological activities: public health crises, epidemics etc;

5. Crises caused by hostile elements: war, terrorism, extremism, insurgency etc;

6. Crises caused by disruption/failure of major infrastructure facilities including communication
systems, large-scale strikes etc; and
7. Crises caused by large crowds getting out of control.
Life Cycle Approach to Crisis Management
1. A crisis does not emerge suddenly; it has a life cycle, which may take days, months or even
decades to develop. A crisis, therefore, needs to be examined in terms of its management cycle.
This life cycle of crisis management may be divided broadly in three phases - pre-crisis, during
crisis and post crisis.
World Conference on Natural Disaster Reduction, Yokohama, 1994
1. Risk assessment is an important initial step.
2. Disaster prevention and preparedness are next important steps and should be included at the
planning level itself.
3. Capacity development is next important step.
4. Early warning systems should be installed and steps taken for fast and wide warning information
dissemination.
5. Local community involvement is important.
6. Education and training to the whole community is important.
7. International sharing of technology is important.
8. Environmental protection is important and poverty alleviation is imperative.
9. Needs of developing countries should be kept in mind in disaster management efforts.
Yogyakarta Declaration
1. Hoyogo Framework for Action: This is the agreement reached in 2005 between countries on
disaster management. It runs form 2005 to 2015. It was a roadmap for the government and other
players.
2. Yogyakarta declaration includes calls to integrated local knowledge and climate change into
disaster management plans, political commitment, accountability, awareness and education, and
to build local capacity.
Disaster Risk Reduction Framework
1. A policy framework has to be drawn up backed by the legal and institutional mechanisms that
focuses on risk reduction as the major priority in disaster management .
2. Assessment of risk including hazard analysis and community vulnerability.
3. Risk Awareness and Preparation of Plans for Risk Mitigation.
4. Implementation of the Plan.
5. Early Warning Systems.
6. Development of systems for processing and sharing of disaster related information.
INDIAS KEY HAZARDS, VULNERABILITIES AND THE CRISIS RESPONSE MECHANISM
1. Almost 85% of the country is vulnerable to single or multiple disasters and about 57% of its area
lies in high seismic zones. Approximately 40 million hectares of the countrys land area is prone
to flood, about 8% of the total land mass is vulnerable to cyclone and 68% of the area is
susceptible to drought.
2. There is no reason why so much loss happens in India whereas earthquakes of similar
measurements in USA or Japan have had relatively little impact.
3. Post monsoon cyclones are usually more intense both in numbers and intensity.

Cyclone Shelters
1. In densely populated coastal areas, where large scale evacuations are not always feasible, public
buildings can be used as cyclone shelters.
2. These buildings can be so designed, so as to provide a blank face with a minimum number of
apertures in the direction of the prevailing winds. The shorter side of the building should face the
storm, so as to impart least wind resistance.
3. Green belts can be used in front of these buildings to reduce the impact of the storm.
Traditional Knowledge for Disaster Management
1. If tribals in the Andamans could survive the tsunami, it was because their existing warning
systems worked well in comparison to our non-existent modern systems.
2. The fact that traditional houses of wood and stone survived the Uttarkashi earthquake not so long
ago while modern buildings collapsed offered a similar lesson.
3. In the flood-prone rural North-East, one can find houses on bamboo stilts that allow flood waters to
flow under them rather than through or over!
Flood Control and Management
1. There should be a master plan for flood control and management for each flood prone basin.
2. Adequate flood-cushion should be provided in water storage projects. In highly flood prone areas,
flood control should be given overriding consideration in reservoir policy even at the cost of
sacrificing some irrigation or power benefits.
3. While physical flood protection works like embankments and dykes will continue to be necessary,
increased emphasis should be laid on non-structural measures such as flood forecasting, flood
plain zoning and flood proofing.
4. There should be strict regulation of settlements in the flood plain zones along with flood proofing.
Landslides and Avalanches
1. The Himalayas comprise of tectonically unstable younger formations and often the slides are
huge, and in most cases, the overburden along with the underlying lithology is displaced during
sliding. In contrast, the Western Ghats are geologically stable and the slides are usually confined
to the over burden without affecting the bedrock beneath.
2. Structural measures:
1. Planting (Avalanche Prevention Forest)
2. Stepped Terraces
3. Avalanche Control Fence
4. Other protection structures
3. Non-structural measures - removing snow deposits on slopes by blasting, predicting avalanches
and evacuating people from vulnerable areas.
Industrial Disasters
1. In the pre-Bhopal Gas Tragedy era, industrial safety was governed by legislations like the
Factories Act, 1948 and the Explosives Act, 1884. These laws proved to be inadequate to provide
safety to workers as well as to the people living in the surrounding areas. After the Bhopal Gas
Tragedy, a new chapter was inserted in the Factories Act, 1948 dealing with hazardous
processes. The Environment Protection Act, 1986 was enacted. More importantly, several Rules
were promulgated under the Act.
Rail Disaster Management
It is an integral part of railway safety. However, earlier the disaster management was confined to reacting

to the railway accidents. After the NDMA, 2005 the Railway ministry has developed an integrated
disaster management plan. As per this plan,
1. The railway zones and railway divisions have been made the nodal agencies for planning,
mitigation and relief within their zones.
2. The Plan is not focused towards reacting to the accidents only, but it also includes,
terrorist attacks, natural disasters affecting the railways, crowd management during
festivals or natural calamities. It heavily relies on modern technology like CCTVs, ACDs,
satellite communications, upgraded signaling systems, self propelled accident relief vans,
modern cranes, luggage scanners.
3. It emphasizes in relief during golden hours (first hour of the accident) i.e. reach the spot
within 1 hour. Training is done at Bangalore in the disaster relief operations.
4. The Railway Protection Force is developing a rapid action team to be trained by NSG to
respond to the terrorist attacks on railway trains and assets.
5. Railway officials to maintain contact with the general administrative authorities in their
areas for prompt relief in case of the disasters.
Creeping Emergencies
1. Disasters can also be classified as slow onset disasters and rapid onset disasters.
Earthquakes, cyclones, floods, tsunamis would fall under the category of rapid onset disasters;
climate change (global warming), desertification, soil degradation, and droughts, would fall under
the category of slow onset disasters. Slow onset disasters are also termed as Creeping
Emergencies.
Sea Erosion
1. The landward displacement of the shoreline caused by the forces of waves and currents is termed
as erosion.
2. The impact of the event is not always seen immediately, but it is equally important when we
consider loss of property that it causes. It takes months or years to note the impact. So, this is
generally classified as a long term coastal hazard.
3. Anthropological effects that trigger beach erosion are: construction of artificial structures, mining
of beach sand, offshore dredging, or building of dams.
Traditional Disaster Management Architecture in India
The Response Mechanism
1. Field level response
1. The community is the first responder in a disaster. Field level response in rural areas is by
the nearest police station and the revenue functionary; in urban areas the response is by
agencies like the civic authorities, the fire brigade and the local police station.
2. At present, panchayats do not have the capacity to react in any effective manner and it is
the district administration with the Collector playing a pivotal role. He has the authority to
mobilize the response machinery and has been given financial powers to draw money.
3. All departments including the police, fire services, public works, irrigation etc. work under
the leadership of the Collector during a disaster, except in metropolitan areas where the
municipal body plays a major role.
4. The District Collector also enjoys the authority to request for assistance from the Armed
Forces if circumstances so demand.
2. Role of state government
1. The basic responsibility to undertake response measures rests with the State
Governments.
2. The entire structure of crisis administration in the State Governments has been oriented

towards post disaster relief and rehabilitation.

3. Most of the states have Relief Commissioners. The Relief Commissionerate is usually an
adjunct of the Revenue Department. In some states, the Revenue Secretary is also the exofficio Relief Commissioner.
4. This has the advantage of providing a direct chain of command to the district Collectors and
the Tehsildars, but the focus on crisis prevention and mitigation or even of preparedness is
missing.
5. Every state has a Crisis Management Committee under the Chief Secretary, consisting of
secretaries of concerned departments, which reviews crisis situations on a day-to-day
basis, coordinates the activities of all departments and provides support to the district
administration.
6. At the ministers level, a Cabinet Committee on Natural Calamities under the Chief Minister
takes stock of situations and is responsible for all important policy decisions.
3. Role of Union Government
1. It plays a key supportive role with resources and providing complementary measures such
as early warning and co-ordination of efforts of all Union ministries, departments and
organizations.
2. At the apex level, a Cabinet Committee on Natural Calamities reviews the crisis situations.
3. A High Level Committee of Ministers under the chairmanship of Minister of Agriculture
deals with the issue of financial support to be provided to the State Governments.
4. Matters relating to nuclear, biological and chemical emergencies are looked after by the
Cabinet Committee on Security.
5. The Cabinet Secretary heads the National Crisis Management Committee. Secretaries of
ministries and departments concerned and heads of other organizations are members,
which reviews and monitors crisis situations on a regular basis and gives directions to the
Crisis Management Group.
6. The Central Relief Commissioner in the Ministry of Home Affairs is the Chairman of the
Crisis Management Group (CMG) consisting of nodal officers from various concerned
ministries. The CMGs functions are to review annual contingency plans formulated by
various ministries, measures required for dealing with a natural disaster, coordinate the
activities of the Union Ministries and State Governments. In the event of a disaster, the
CMG meets frequently to review relief operations and extends assistance required by the
affected states.
The Finance Mechanism
1. Schemes for financing expenditure on disaster management are governed by the
recommendations of the Finance Commission.
2. Under the existing scheme, each state has a Calamity Relief Fund (CRF) administered by the
Chief Secretary. The size of the corpus is determined with reference to the expenditure normally
incurred by the state on relief and rehabilitation over the past ten years.
3. In case the funds under CRF are not sufficient, State Governments can seek assistance from the
National Calamity Contingency Fund (NCCF) - the approval for which is granted by the High Level
Committee of Ministers.
4. Both these funds, as the names suggest, are meant for relief and rehabilitation and do not cover
either mitigation or reconstruction works, which have to be funded separately.
Evolution of Disaster Management Architecture
Following the Gujarat earthquake, the Government of India took important policy steps for revamping the
disaster management system in the country. These
1. Disaster management with reference to rapid onset disasters was moved from the purview of the
Ministry of Agriculture to the Ministry of Home Affairs. The Ministry of Agriculture retains the

responsibility for droughts, pest attacks and hailstorms.

2. State Governments were advised to reorganize their Relief & Rehabilitation Department into a
separate Disaster Management Department.
3. State Governments were further advised to constitute State Disaster Management Authority under
the Chairmanship of State Chief Ministers and the District Disaster Management Committee
under the Chairmanship of District Collectors.
4. National Disaster Response Force to be constituted.
5. A fail-proof disaster communication network to be set up.
6. The National Institute of Disaster Management was set up for training, capacity building, research
and documentation.
7. Disaster management to be included in education system at all levels starting from schools.
The Disaster Management Act, 2005
The National Disaster Management Authority (PM Level Body)
1. To lay down policies on disaster management.
2. Lay down guidelines to be followed by the states in drawing up the State Plan and the union
ministries to draw up their plans.
3. Approve the National Plan and plans prepared by various union ministries.
4. Coordinate the implementation of the plans for disaster management.
5. Recommend provision of funds for the purpose of mitigation.
6. Provide support to other countries.
7. Lay down broad policies and guidelines for the functioning of the National Institute of Disaster
Management.
The National Executive Committee (Secretary Level Body)
1. Act as the national level coordinating and monitoring body for disaster management.
2. Prepare the National Plan to be approved by the NDMA.
3. Monitor and evaluate the preparedness level, the implementation of the national policy, guidelines
laid down by NDMA, national plan, plans of various union ministries.
4. Provide necessary technical assistance to the states for preparing their disaster management
plans and carry out other functions under this Act.
5. Promote general education and organize special training programmes in relation to disaster
management.
6. Coordinate response in the event of any disaster. Require any department or agency to make
available men or material resources for emergency response.
7. Lay down guidelines for, or give directions to union ministries and states regarding measures to
be taken by them in response to any threatening disaster situation or disaster.
The State Disaster Management Authority (CM Level Body)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Lay down the State disaster management policy.

Lay down guidelines to be followed by the state ministries.
Approve the State Plan and plans prepared by various state ministries.
Coordinate the implementation of the state plan and other state ministries' plans.
Recommend provision of funds for mitigation and preparedness measures.

The State Executive Committee (Chief Secretary Level Body)

1. Lay down guidelines for preparation of plans by the various state ministries and the DDMAs.
2. Monitor the implementation of the national policy, the national plan, the state plan and the plans
prepared by various state ministries and the DDMAs. Also monitor the implementation of
guidelines laid down by the SDMA and evaluate the level of preparedness.

3. Provide necessary technical assistance or give advice to DDMAs and state ministries.
4. Coordinate response in the event of any disaster. Give directions to any Department or agency
regarding response actions to be taken.
5. Promote general education and community training.
6. Advise the State Government regarding all financial matters in relation to disaster management.
7. Examine the vulnerability of different parts of the state and specify measures to be taken.
8. Examine the construction in any area and if it is of the opinion that the standards for the
prevention of disaster have not been followed, may direct the DDMA to take needed action.
9. Ensure that communication systems are in order and the disaster management drills are carried
out periodically.
The District Disaster Management Authority (Collector Level Body)
1. Collector as ex officio Chairperson, elected representative of the local authority as the ex officio
co-Chairperson, the Superintendent of Police, Chief Medical Officer and maximum two other
district level officers to be appointed by the State Government, as members.
2. It acts as the district planning, coordinating and implementing body for disaster management and
takes all measures according to the guidelines laid down by the NDMA and the SDMA.
The National Disaster Management Plan (Prepared by NEC and approved by NDMA)
1.
2.
3.
4.

Measures to be taken for the prevention and mitigation.

Measures to be taken for integration of mitigation measures in the development plans.
Measures to be taken for preparedness and capacity building to effectively respond.
Roles and responsibilities of different ministries.

The State Disaster Management Plan (Prepared by SEC and approved by SDMA)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

The vulnerability of different parts of the State to different forms of disasters.

The measures to be adopted for prevention and mitigation of disasters.
Measures to be taken for integration of mitigation measures in the development plans.
Measures to be taken for preparedness and capacity building to effectively respond.
The roles and responsibilities of different state ministries.

The District Disaster Management Plan (Prepared by DDMA)

1. Every office of the government having office at district level shall prepare a disaster management
plan in accordance with the district plan and submit a copy of the plan to the DDMA.
2. The areas in the district vulnerable to different forms of disasters.
3. The measures to be taken, for prevention and mitigation of disaster.
4. The capacity-building and preparedness measures to effectively respond.
5. The response plans and procedures, in the event of a disaster, providing for1. Allocation of responsibilities to the departments and the local authorities in the district.
2. Prompt response to disaster and relief.
3. Procurement of essential resources.
4. Establishment of communication links.
5. Dissemination of information to the public.
The National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM)
1.
2.
3.
4.

It
It
It
It

will
will
will
will

function within the broad policies and guidelines laid down by the NDMA.
be responsible for promoting research in the area of disaster management.
be responsible for documentation of the disasters and their management cases.
be responsible for the development of a national level information base.

The National Disaster Response Force

1. The general superintendence, direction and control of the Force shall vest in the NDMA
The National Disaster Response Fund & The National Disaster Mitigation Fund
1. The response fund will be made available to the NEC and the mitigation fund to the NDMA.
2. Besides, every ministry shall make provisions in its annual budget, for funds for actions set out in
its disaster management plans.
Other Salient Features of the Act
1. The Central Government can issue directions to any authority (union or state) to assist in disaster
management.
2. Any officer or authority shall have to make available such manpower as requested by NEC, SEC
or DDMA.
3. If it appears to the NEC, SEC or DDMA that provisions of any rule regulation etc. need to be made
or amended for purposes of prevention and mitigation of disasters, it may require to do so.
4. The NDMA, the SDMA or a DDMA may recommend to the Government to give direction to any
person in control of any media or means of communication to carry out any warnings or advisories
regarding disasters.
5. The NDMA shall prepare an annual report to the Central Government which shall cause it to be
laid before Parliament.
6. Actions taken under this law will be immune from court challenges.
India's Disaster Preparedness

Analytical Issues in Disaster Management in India

Constitutional Provision - is there need for a separate entry for Disaster Management in the 3 Lists?
1. Disaster management doesn't figure in any of the 3 lists. So the parliament has the competence
to legislate on this subject. However, by practice and convention the primary responsibility for
managing disasters rests with the State Governments
2. The Disaster Management Act, 2005 was enacted by invoking entry 23 namely Social security
and social insurance, employment and unemployment in the Concurrent List even though all
aspects of crisis management cannot be said to be covered by this entry.
3. There are already various entries in the three lists, which deal with some aspect or other of
disaster management. Public order finds a place in the State List, as does Public Health. Entries
14 and 17 in the State List deal with Agriculture and Water respectively. Environment and Social
Security are included in the Concurrent List. Atomic energy and Railways are part of the Union
List.
4. Due to the cross cutting nature of activities that constitute disaster management and linkages
required which involve coordination between the Union, State and local governments on the one
hand and a host of government departments and agencies on the other; setting up of a broadly
uniform institutional framework at all levels is of paramount importance.
5. There is need to ensure congruence and coherence with regard to the division of labor among the
agencies at the Union, State and other levels. This could best be achieved if the subject of
Disaster Management is placed in the Concurrent List of the Constitution.
What should a law on crisis management provide?
1. Centralization versus decentralization
1. A totally centralized or totally decentralized mechanism would be ineffective because while
the response should be made from the local level, the level of coordination required
necessitates involvement of the central government. It is best if certain functions of disaster
management are centralized while others are decentralized down to the lowest level.
2. Immediate rescue, relief and then rehabilitation should be the responsibility of the level of
government closest to the affected population. This logically has to be the district
administration and the local self-governments.
3. The district administration is part of the State Government and the primary responsibility for
managing any disaster is with the State Governments.
4. The resources of states being limited they seek and get assistance from the Union
Government. This arrangement of bottom-up responsibilities regarding implementation is
appropriate and has worked well in the past and should not be disturbed.
5. On the other hand, disaster management planning requires wider perspective and
expertise. Developments in science and technology, specialized manpower and
equipment, repository of best practices, early warning systems, standard capacity building
and awareness generation programmes call for an agency to coordinate efforts at the state
and the national levels.
6. Thus, the legislation needs to create agencies at all levels. The responsibility and the
authority assigned to each one of these have to be distinct. National level planning,
research, analysis and adoption of best practices, development of standard operating
procedures (national level), development of training and capacity building programmes,
administration of early warning systems and formulating policy on disaster management
are best entrusted to a national body. Local planning and the actual work of

implementation are better left with State Governments, local governments and the district
administration with support from the Union Governments implementing agencies.
2. Mobilization of resources: The law needs to empower authorities handling disasters to requisition
such resources for specified periods and the issue of compensation should not be a hindrance in
crisis management efforts.
3. Information dissemination: Even with good early warning technologies, the human element
involved in the transmission process is crucial. Prompt transmission of information should be
made a statutory duty of each concerned functionary and SoPs devised. Responsibilities of
citizens should also be defined in the process.
4. Misutilization of funds: Funds meant for disaster relief often tend to get misused as normal
procedures are not followed because of urgency. While enforcing stringent procurement
procedures may become a hurdle in the disaster management effort, the penalty for misutilization
of funds meant for disaster relief should be stringent and could form part of the law itself.

Analysis of the Disaster Management Act, 2005

1. It defines disaster as natural or man made event that causes substantial loss to life, property and
environment. The scope of this definition does not cover a variety of other crisis situations that
may or may not culminate in a disaster.
2. It concentrates very comprehensive powers at the national level for dealing with disasters.
1. The NDMA as well as the NEC have been given the role not just of planning, coordinating,
monitoring and providing assistance during a disaster but also executive functions related
to implementation of the emergency relief and disaster response.
2. What, in fact, is however needed is further empowerment and delegation to the front-end
functionaries. In any crisis situation the field functionaries and the State Governments
being aware of the field situation would be in the best position to provide timely and
effective response.
3. International practices also do not normally involve setting up centralized authorities with
command and control functions to deal with disasters.
3. The integration of the institutional structure prescribed under the Act with the existing
administrative framework of the country may pose several problems.
1. The NDMA and the NEC will also lay down guidelines for the state authorities, coordinate
the enforcement and implementation of these policies and ensure timely response.
2. All these functions traditionally have been performed by State Governments.
4. Cabinet Secretary at the union level is more appropriate authority for the coordination of disaster
management efforts rather than the NEC under department secretary.
Recommendations on the DMA, 2005
1. Disaster Management should continue to be the primary responsibility of the State Governments
and the Union Government should play a supportive role.
1. The functions of the NDMA should be: to recommend policies, to lay down guidelines, to
promote research, to advise on parameters of categorization of disasters, documentation
and dissemination of knowledge, capacity building, early warning systems, to deploy
resources in support of local/State Governments, and to give recommendations to the
government.
2. The task of implementation of mitigation/prevention and response measures may be left to
the State Governments and the district and local authorities with the line ministries of the
union playing a supportive role.
3. The role of the local governments should be brought to the forefront for disaster
management.
2. The Act should provide categorization of disasters (say, local, district, state or national level). This
categorization along with intensity of each type of disaster will help in determining the level of

authority primarily responsible for dealing with the disaster as well as the scale of response.
3. The law should cast a duty on every public functionary, to promptly inform the concerned authority
about any crisis.
4. The law should make provisions for stringent punishment for misutilization of funds meant for
disaster management.
5. The NEC as stipulated under the Disaster Management Act need not be constituted, and the
NCMC should continue to be the apex coordination body. At the state level, the existing
coordination mechanism under the Chief Secretary should continue.
Is There a Case for a Separate Ministry/Department of Disaster/Crisis Management?
1. The functions expected of the ministry were networking and coordination of national resources
while the concerned functional ministries would continue to discharge their responsibilities and
functions in accordance with their respective disaster management plans.
2. Given the multi-disciplinary nature of activities in crisis management, creation of a separate
ministry is likely to lead to conflict and delays rather than coordination. For planning, research,
capacity building and coordination of national resources; such a coordination mechanism is now
available with the formation of the NDMA. And for the purposes of implementation, a coordination
mechanism headed by the Cabinet Secretary would be more effective.
NCMC vs NEC
1. The National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC) headed by the Cabinet Secretary
coordinates and guides the work of different departments of Government of India in times of crisis.
The NEC would be duplicating the role of NCMC to a great extent.
2. The NCMC has inherent advantages of ensuring quick decisions and immediate implementation. If
parallel bodies are created the possibility of the pre-existing and newly formed committees
trespassing on each other and creating confusion cannot be ruled out.
NDRF vs Army
1. NDRF would be a highly trained quick response agency to respond to the needs of disaster
response. To a large extent, this role has been filled by the Army.
2. The lessons learnt from the devastating disasters around the world is that extraordinarily severe
disasters could overwhelm specialized agencies and that in such situations the Armed Forces
remain the measure of last resort.
3. It is imperative that even after the NDRF becomes fully functional, the enabling role of the Armed
Forces in assisting the civil authorities be retained and the Armed Forces continue to maintain
capabilities.
Role of Local Self-Governments
1. Local bodies are closest to the people but too small in their reach and capabilities to lead the
response operations on their own. They thus need to play an important role in crisis management
under the overall leadership of the District Administration.
2. State Governments may examine the need to incorporate provisions in the state disaster
management law and also the state laws governing local bodies to provide for a well defined role
to the PRIs.
3. In major cities, Municipal Corporations have a large administrative system including departments
like engineering, public health and revenue, and sometimes fire services. These should provide a
good response.
Need for Holistic Water Management to Reduce Water Disasters
1. Water related disasters can't be addressed unless larger issues like water management through a

National Water Policy are properly addressed.

2. Central Water Commission
1. A major impediment is the segmented policy attention from a number of departments and
there are multiple union departments involved with different aspects of water management.
This leads to time-consuming repeated consultations, constant inter-departmental
references and meetings and weak coordination and lack of a holistic approach.
2. So the CWC should be restructured into a statutory autonomous inter-disciplinary
Commission, with maximum powers, in order to deal with policy and reforms, center - state
and inter-state issues.
3. Using powers under Entry 56 in the Union List, a Law may be enacted to set up mechanisms for
collection of data, managing flow in rivers and release of water from reservoirs, so as to prevent
disasters, with interstate ramifications.
Steps to Improve Education and Awareness in Disaster Management
1. Strengthening of National Institute of Disaster Management.
2. Disaster Management should be introduced as a subject in Management and Public
Administration.
3. Professionalisation of disaster management is a desirable objective.
Improving Disaster Management Plans by Better Information and Practices
1. It has been noticed that the district plans are usually not based on proper hazard and vulnerability
analysis of the district.
2. Preparing Seismic Micro Maps
1. The seismic zone based categorization of the entire country on 1:1.25 million scale is a
good indication of the seismic hazards at a macro level, but is inadequate for undertaking
seismic activities at the city level. This requires advanced micro maps in 1:1000 scale,
based on local geological, soil and ground water surveys.
2. The preparation of such maps was taken up on a pilot basis for the selected cities, but
none of the studies has been completed with common standards and protocols that can be
accepted at national level.
3. Use of GIS and GPS: It is also possible to use GIS tools to integrate various spatial data such as
topography, hydrology, land use, land cover, settlement pattern, built up structures etc and nonspatial data such as demography, socio-economic conditions and infrastructure like road, rail
network, communication system, hospital etc. on a common platform. This can be further
integrated with GPS for real time monitoring of crisis.
4. Enforcement of Plans
1. Normally, it is understood that plans incorporate only developmental measures such as
construction of shelters, construction of embankments etc.
2. But disaster mitigation plans should also incorporate a schedule of enforcement
measures and the functionaries who will be held responsible for these.
3. Such enforcement measures being unpleasant and unpopular are very often not
contemplated leave aside acted upon.
4. These measures could include enforcement of building regulations in urban areas, removal
of encroachments from natural watercourses or environmentally fragile areas, and strict
enforcement of environmental, safety and public health regulations.
5. Integration of Disaster and Developmental Planning
1. The activities in the disaster management plans should be included in the development
plans of the line agencies and local bodies.
2. The supervisory level of each agency should ensure that the annual plan of that agency
incorporates the activities listed out in the disaster management plan.
3. Incorporation of disaster mitigation plans into the development plans should be specially
monitored at the five year and annual plan discussions at State and Planning Commission

levels.
6. Environment management should be made an integral part of all plans.
7. National Building Code of India 2005

1.

2.

3.

4.
5.

1. Its guidelines are seldom used. The main reason for this is ignorance about them and
escalation of the costs if they are followed.
2. A balance has to be struck between safety and cost.
3. As a pre-requisite, it should be in public domain and freely available on Internet.
4. Simplified versions should be made available. The BIS should convert the norms (at least
for small dwelling units) into commonly understood principles, which could be followed and
enforced even by village panchayats.
The approach of drafting model rules and circulating them to the states for incorporation by the
local bodies has not produced the desired results. Adoption of these model regulations would
require periodic monitoring. Targets should be fixed each year and financial incentives should be
used.
For retrofitting old buildings, a suitable financial package may be worked out by the state
governments along with banks and insurance agencies. Even non-financial incentives like
relaxation on extent of built up areas could act as an incentive to motivate private owners to take
up retrofitting.
Zoning regulations
1. They could be used to prevent settlements in hazard prone areas like the riverbanks or
areas near coasts or ecologically sensitive areas. They could also be used to spread out
the population so that impact of any hazard is limited.
2. However, at present zoning regulations exist only in big cities. In small towns and rural
areas the concept of zoning regulations is almost non-existent.
3. Even in bigger cities, they are often not prepared with an intention to mitigate hazards.
4. Another weakness of these zoning regulations is their poor enforcement.
Communications networks, with sufficient redundancies should be established.
Undertaking location specific training programmes for the community should be a part of the
disaster management plan right from the PRI level.

Emergency Plan at the District Level

1. Emergency Response Plans should be up-to-date and should lay down the trigger points in
unambiguous terms.
2. The district emergency response plan should be prepared in consultation with all concerned. The
plan should be known and accepted by all the role players.
3. SoPs should be developed. Handbooks, checklists, manuals etc should be developed and
disseminated.
4. Unity of command should be the underlying principle.
5. Mock drills and capability building efforts must be regularly carried out.
6. It must be remembered that plans are no substitute for sound judgement at the time of crisis.
7. Handling of crisis should be made a parameter for evaluating the performance of officers.
8. Institutions such as civil defense, home guards must be revived and integrated with disaster
response at field level.
Gender Issues in Disaster Management
1. More women are affected in disasters they have little say in decision making, are comparatively
less literate, have lesser mobility and are dependent on men folk. This disadvantaged situation
obviously gets aggravated in crisis situation. So the special needs and concerns of women need
to be kept in mind.
2. The vulnerability analysis should bring out the specific vulnerabilities of women and these should
be addressed in any mitigation effort. Disaster mitigation plans should be prepared, in

consultation with womens groups.

3. Rescue and relief operations should focus on the most vulnerable groups - women, children, the
elderly and the physically challenged.
4. In the recovery phase, efforts should focus on making women economically independent.
5. Camp managing committees should have adequate number of women representatives.
Epidemics
1. The complex nature of control of epidemics is evident from the fact that in the Constitution of India
all the three legislative lists of the Seventh Schedule enumerate some aspects of the matter as
follows: List-I; entry 28 quarantine and entry 81 inter-State quarantine; List-II; entry 6 Public
health and sanitation; List-III; entry 29 prevention of the extension from one State to another of
infectious or contagious diseases.
2. The Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897 continues to deal with management of epidemic related
diseases. It is an omnibus legislation which essentially supercedes all laws in force in the event of
outbreak or a threatened outbreak of a dangerous epidemic disease and authorizes the Union
and State Governments (when authorized by the Union), to resort to all necessary measures to
deal with the emergency. The Act also empowers search of vessels and other means of transport
and detention and segregation of any persons suspected to be suffering from an epidemic
disease.
3. The Public Health Emergency Bill
1. It enables the Union or State Governments to declare a particular area as epidemic or bioterrorism affected.
2. Upon such declaration, action can be initiated which apart from measures like inspection
and quarantine etc., also empowers government to prohibit activities which lead to or are
likely to lead to epidemics or bio-terrorism.
4. The manner in which the Disaster Management Act, 2005 defines the term disaster leaves no
doubt that an epidemic of extraordinary severity spreading rapidly is covered by it. The Act also
overrides the provision of any other law (Section 72). As such, it is clear that management of
epidemics-related crisis would also fall within the jurisdiction of the NDMA. NDRF needs to be
equipped to handle the cases of bio-terrorism.
Civil Defence in Disaster Management
Civil Defence (Amendment) Act, 2010
1. It was amended to cater to the needs of disaster management so as to utilize the Civil Defence
volunteers effectively for greater public participation in disaster management related activities.
2. The CD organisation is raised only in such areas which are considered vulnerable. This is
reviewed periodically.
3. CD Setup at national level: Three tier structure as given below has been created to formulate
and implement CD policy.
1. Civil Defence Advisory Committee under the Chairmanship of Union Home Minister.
2. Civil Defence Committee under the Chairmanship of Home Secretary.
3. Civil Defence Joint Planning Staff Committee under the Chairmanship of Director General
Civil Defence.
4. Civil Defence Setup in the States: The state government appoints a Director of Civil Defence
and also may constitute, for any area within the state a body of a person to be called the Civil
Defence Corps.
1. However, often such organizations remain deactivated. Out of 225 towns from 35 states
notified as CD towns, currently the CD organisations at only 130 towns have been
activated.
5. Civil defence setup at district level: Each town has nucleus of four Permanent Staff along with
400 CD Volunteers for a two lakh population.

1. But current strength is < 50% of the target.

6. CD Training: It is expected that each state will have one CD Training Institute.
Home Guard
1. Role: The role of Home Guards is to serve as an auxiliary to the police in the maintenance of law
and order, internal security and help the community in any kind of emergency.
2. Statutory Mechanisms and Service Condition: They are recruited from a cross section of the
population such as doctors, engineers, lawyers, private sector organisations, college and
university students, agricultural and industrial workers, etc. Home Guards are provided free
uniform, duty allowances and awards for gallantry, distinguished and meritorious services.
Members of Home Guards with three year service in the organisation are trained to assist police.
National Cyclone Risk Mitigation Project (NCRMP)ox 4.2: National Cyclone Risk Mitigation Project
Aim: The scheme aims to upgrade cyclone forecasting, tracking and warning systems, build capacity in multihazard risk management and to construct major infrastructures including multi-purpose cyclone shelters and
embankments.
Execution Authority: The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has been designated the
implementing agency. The scheme is regularly monitored by NDMA and MHA.
Principal Components: The major components under the scheme are as follows;
Community mobilisation and training,
Cyclone Risk Mitigation Infrastructure (construction of cyclone shelters, roads/missing links and
construction/repair of Saline Embankments etc.),
Technical assistance for capacity building on Disaster Risk Management (risk assessment, damage and
need assessment),
Capacity Building and knowledge creation along with project management and implementation support.

Security Challenges - Role of Media

Security Challenges - Role of Social Media
Mumbai Police's Social Media Laboratory
1. In December 2012, as television sets beamed images of outrage from the streets of Delhi, one
could see that the crowd was young, the emotions displayed were "real", and, most importantly,
the police couldn't control the crowd. The crowd had first gathered on the social media. They
came to the streets much later.
2. The youth of the country are not reading the papers or watching the panel discussions on
television. They are on the Internetreading, forming opinions, tweeting, sharing. A tweet is open
to the whole world.
3. Special Branch officers trawl through social media sites, looking for hints of trouble. An officer
begins with surfing for important news feeds and coding the reactions into positive, negative and
neutral. On days the intelligence officers fear that a particular subject that is trending on a social
media site could lead to public tension, the tweets are saved and revisited to track the number of
times these have traveled and places where the information has reached. Data mining techniques
are used and concern is just with numbers.
4. Apart from traditional intelligence briefs, a new file now reaches the table of the Police
Commissioner, revealing the day's top five trends on social media. On crucial days, the file is
updated every two hours.
5. This does not intrude upon people's privacy. Activities include "befriending" rogue elements
through social networks and routinely looking for those who boast online after an episode. Tools
like geotagging are used to understand the geographical location of online troublemakers.
Security Challenges - Role of Communication Networks
PRISM

1. NSA has obtained direct access to the systems of Google, Facebook, Apple and other U.S.
internet giants. The NSA access is part a programme called PRISM, which allows officials to
collect material including search history, the content of emails, file transfers and live chats. Unlike
the collection of those call records, this surveillance can include the content of communications
and not just the metadata.
2. The NSA access was enabled by a US surveillance law which allows for the targeting of any
customers of participating firms who live outside the US, or those Americans whose
communications include people outside the US. The law indemnifies internet companies against
any actions arising as a result of cooperating with authorities requests.
3. The PRISM programme allows the NSA to obtain targeted communications without having to
request them from the service providers and without having to obtain individual court orders.
4. US has a home-field advantage due to housing much of the internets architecture.
5. Iran was where the highest amount of data was gathered and India was fifth in the leaked list.
6. Metadata is enough to construct behavioral and interest patterns among internet users, so claims
that the metadata does not carry much informational value are spurious. Unlike in the telephone
era, meta-data in the Internet age makes it possible to construct a detailed profile of a person,
including not only information on their network of contacts and details on the length of their
conversations or their locations during those conversations, but also, for example, their sexual
orientation, medical history or information that might be relevant to insurance claims
7. The claims that the programme has been used only for surveillance of foreign subjects makes a
mockery of the trust shown by consumers across the world who sign up for services offered by
the internet companies (which claim to operate on the basis of elaborate privacy policies) and
shows scant regard for the sovereignty of foreign nations.

Central Monitoring System (CMS)

1. It is an Indian government move to implement blanket eavesdropping of online activities,
telephone calls and text messages. The Central Monitoring System is a so-called single
window allowing Indian state bodies to monitor communications.
2. In April 2013, the India began rolling out the CMS which will enable the government to monitor all
phone and the internet communications. The CMS will facilitate direct monitoring of phone calls,
text messages, and the internet use by government agencies, bypassing service providers.
3. It draws its legislative backing from the IT (Amendment) Act, 2008 which allows the government
to snoop any information in the interest of "sovereignty or integrity of India, defence of India,
security of the state, friendly relations with foreign states, or public order or for preventing
incitement to the commission of any cognizable offence or for investigation of any offence.
National Cyber Coordination Centre (NCCC)
1. It would carry out real-time assessment of cyber security threats and generate actionable
reports for proactive actions by law enforcement agencies. This will give law enforcement
agencies direct access to all Internet accounts.

Principles Guiding Surveillance in a Democracy

1. Surveillance should be targeted as narrowly as possible and only carried out if it is both
necessary and proportionate to the crime under investigation.
2. The surveillance regime should be transparent. This does not mean that every order should be
made public the moment it is issued. However, it does mean that there should be basic clarity,
no arbitrariness and that decisions are made public as soon as circumstances allow, so that
they can be subject to public scrutiny.
3. An appropriate system of checks and balances is in place to avoid misuse of surveillance
powers. A strong privacy bill is not in place. In addition, intelligence agencies in India are not
under parliamentary oversight.

International Internet Governance

Current Governing Structure
1. Currently it is done by a US NGO called ICANN. The 2 main resources of internet control are
root zone servers and DNS servers. ICANN controls both and is governed by US law.
2. All important databases and servers are in USA.
3. All nations use the same internet but its service is monopolized by USA only.
4. Barriers to entry and exit in using the internet are very low. Language is no barrier.
India's Proposal
1. India has proposed creation of a UN Committee on Internet Related Policies (CIRP) accountable
to the General Assembly to govern internet.
Weak nesses in Current Governing Structure
1. Issues of unilateral control and accountability
1. Unilateral control of the root zone systems and lack of accountability of root zone
operators.
2. Inconsistent application of privacy and data-protection rights and freedom of expression.
3. Lack of multilateral mechanisms.
2. Issues of intellectual property
1. Concerns over allocation policies for IP addresses and domain names.
2. Confusion about application of intellectual property rights in cyberspace.

3. Developing countries
1. Substantially higher connectivity costs in developing countries.
2. Insufficient capacity building efforts in such countries.
3. Insufficient progress towards multilingualism.
4. Consumer rights
1. Absence of global standards for consumer rights.
Indian Interests
1. India is asked to ratify the Budapest Convention on Cybercrime, in the negotiation of which India
played no part, in order for us to be eligible to be qualified as a data-secure country.
2. Warning that Indian IT companies are heavily dependent on global internet majors and that they
will suffer by Indias championing of the cause of democratisation of internet governance.
However this fear is misleading for the following reasons:
1. First, there has been no evidence of any such impact.
2. Second, independent of Indias proposal, Indian IT companies have more or less reached
the maximum of the current models of their growth.
3. Third, we need next generation of googles and facebooks from India which cannot come
under the present architecture.
International Telecommunications Union (ITU) Conference in Dubai
1. It has been called to decide on internet governance issues. US doesn't want to give it any extra
authority.
2. Another issue is whether the telecom companies (the ISPs) should be able to charge some
users differentially (so as to get a share of the huge profits made by leading web firms). If they
don't pay up, their access can be slowed down.

Security Challenges - Cyber Security Basics

Role of the IT Act in Cyber Security
Weak nesses of the IT Act
1. Most of the cyber crimes have been made bailable offences which make the law weak.
2. The implementation of the Act is feeble in tier-two cities as awareness of the law by enforcement
agencies remains a big challenge
3. Controversies surrounding Section 66A.
Strengthening the IT Act
1. The 2008 amendments reduced the quantum of punishment for a majority of cyber crimes. This
needs to be rectified. More cyber crimes need to be made non-bailable offences.
2. Cyber war needs to be made an offence under the Act.
3. The Act does not cover a majority of crimes committed through mobiles. This needs to be rectified.
4. The Act should have a comprehensive data protection regime defined in it.
5. The Act should have a comprehensive privacy regime defined in it.
6. Section 66A should be amended to bring it in consonance with the reasonable restrictions mentioned
in the Constitution.

IT Guidelines, 2011
1. IT (Amendment) Act provides immunity to intermediaries for the content they provide because it
recognizes that they don't have editorial power over it. However such an immunity is subject to
due diligence and observing government guidelines. Intermediaries are ISPs, search engines,
DNS providers, facebook, twitter etc.
2. As per new guidelines, once the intermediary has knowledge that a content it hosts violates the
guidelines it has to remove it within 36 hours. The aggrieved person will not be heard and this
gives the power of a court to the ISP.
3. The guidelines have ambiguous terms like "grossly harmful" and "blasphemous" to include acts
of violation.
IT Act Section 66A
1. It provides for imprisonment and a fine, for any person who sends information that is offensive,

has a menacing character or causes annoyance, inconvenience, insults or promotes hatred or

ill-will.
2. Critics argue this Section is beyond the scope of reasonable restrictions on the exercise of free
speech, provided under Article 19(2).

3. Another criticism is that it criminalises conduct, in excess of what constitutes an offence under the
Indian Penal Code. It's argued that a verbal insult or annoyance is not an offence, then why should the
same thing, if done using an electronic medium, be deemed a crime?
4. Actions such as spreading blasphemous content is not a crime in print media. Then why internet?

National Cyber Security Policy, 2013

Salient Features
1. It ropes in the private sector and envisages an investment of $1 billion from it. Their help will be
sought in research and training of manpower.
2. It will also lay grounds for international cooperation with countries such as the US and Israel.
3. It clarifies the role of various government agencies engaged in cyber security. CERT-In will
function as an umbrella organization.
4. The policy proposes an agency and a contingency plan to handle cyber attacks on vital
installations and critical infrastructure.
5. It provides for government monitoring of internet communications.
6. It calls to promote awareness, information sharing and capacity building.
7. Cyber security policy 2013 sets up National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Agency.

Weaknesses in India's Cyber Security Architecture

1. Lack of Human Resources
1. India's trained manpower involved in cyber security is a minuscule 500 compared to over 1
lakh in countries such as China and USA.
2. The biggest reason for this is non involvement of private sector in the government's cyber
security architecture.
3. The National Cyber Security Policy, 2013 aims to increase private sector participation
and thus address this.
4. Special courses need to be included in the university curriculum as well.

Security Challenges - Money Laundering

Money Laundering vs Terror Funding
1. 2 features distinguish money laundering from terror funding. These are:
1. In money laundering, the activity begins with the generation of proceeds from unlawful
activities and ends with conversion into legal assets. On the other hand, terror funding
could be from legal or illegal funds and it culminates when it reaches the perpetrators of a
terrorist act. Even if it involves money laundering in between, the money trail has to
continue to its final destination. This widens the scope of investigation in cases involving
terrorist finance.
2. In the case of money laundering, even if the proceeds of unlawful activities get laundered,

enforcement authorities could undo the effect on the basis of post-facto investigation. In
case of terrorist finance, once the finance chain is completed and an act of terrorism has
taken place, post facto investigation is limited; loss of life and damage to property and
public confidence is already done.
2. It follows from the above that the law enforcement and investigation regime has to be wider in
scope while dealing with terrorist finance as compared to money laundering operations. Further, in
terror funding, the emphasis has to be more on obstructing such activities while in progress.
Prevention of Money-Laundering (Amendment) Bill, 2011
1. It links the provisions of Indian law with the laws of foreign countries and provides for harsher
punishment.
2. It expands the definition of offence under money laundering to include activities like concealment,
acquisition, possession and use of proceeds of crime.
3. It provides for attachment and confiscation of property for a period not exceeding 180 days if the
authority has reason to believe that the offense of money laundering has taken place.
4. It proposes to confer powers upon the directors of financial intermediaries to call for records of
transactions or any additional information.
5. It seeks to make the financial intermediary, its designated directors and employees responsible
for omissions or commissions in relation to the reporting obligations.
6. In the proceedings relating to money laundering, the funds shall be presumed to be involved in the
offence, unless proven otherwise.
7. It provides for appeal against the orders of the Appellate Tribunal directly to the Supreme Court.
Security - Role of External States and Non State Actors
Emerging Threats
1. Global cooperation amongst terrorist networks
1. Terrorist networks have taken advantage of the communications revolution to develop
transnational links, making terrorism a global threat.
2. Al Quaeda is a global terror network which is a loose federation of terror-cells spread
across the world but operating autonomously with very little operational linkages among
them other than adherence to a particular form of extremist ideology.
3. Another feature is the ability of many terrorist outfits to cooperate with each other and build
operational links in the form of supply of arms, logistical and even operational support
without necessarily sharing ideological bonds.
4. Such networks are also able to obtain support from organized crime outfits to further their
destructive objective.
2. The existence of a large migrant population and porous borders in an increasingly multi-cultural
world has increased sleeper cells.
3. Terrorists are using money laundering and banking networks for movement of money across
borders fund their activities easily.
4. Piracy threat from non state actors.
5. Tribal chiefs in Pakistan and Afghanistan posing a threat.
6. Crime syndicates like Dawood also pose a threat.
United Jehad Council
1. It is an umbrella organisation of 14 militant groups led by the Hizbul Mujahideen along with the
Lashkar-e-Tayyaba and the Jaish-e-Mohammed.
Strategy to Counter Terrorism

1. Socio-economic development: Much of the discourse has been based on the premise that
security can be achieved by ensuring protection of life and property for all. However, it needs to be
understood that socio-economic development has to go hand-in hand. So eradication of poverty is
essential for tackling terrorism. Vulnerable sections should not fall prey to the propaganda of
terrorists.
2. Political consensus: Political parties must arrive at a national consensus on the need for the
broad contours of the anti-terror strategy. Parties should rise above their sectarian and petty
electoral compulsions.
3. Respect for rule of law: Governmental agencies must not be allowed to transgress law even in
dealing with critical situations since it only creates more ill will.
4. Countering the subversive activities of terrorists: The emphasis should be on civil as opposed to
military measures to counter terrorism and insurgency. Psychological warfare or management of
information services and the media, in conjunction with the intelligence wing of the police, can
play an important role in achieving this objective.
5. Providing the appropriate legal framework: Terrorism is an extraordinary crime. The ordinary laws
of the land may not be adequate to book a terrorist. This may require special laws and effective
enforcement mechanisms, but with sufficient safeguards to prevent its misuse.
6. Building capacity: The capacity building exercise should extend to the intelligence gathering
machinery, security agencies, civil administration and the society at large.
7. Proactive approach: Any form of extremism with faith in a dogma ending in violence has the
potential of escalating from hate campaign, violent hooliganism and murders of perceived enemies
to terrorist activities.
Definition
1. While the laws of other countries speak of the intention behind the terrorist act being for the
purpose of advancing a political, religious or ideological cause, the Indian laws have avoided any
such intention or purpose being incorporated to define or describe a terrorist act.
Balancing Counter-Terrorism Efforts and Human Rights
1. The conflict stems from entrusting the law-enforcement agencies with extraordinary powers to
meet an extraordinary situation.
2. The irony is that the first and foremost impact of such measures is felt by law-abiding citizens on
account of inroads they make into individual liberties.
3. But human rights violation cannot be tolerated because such a violation by security forces
reduces the public support for the state and leads to more terrorism.
Role of Civil Society in Combatting Terrorism
1. NGOs have been instrumental highlighting the human rights violations by the security forces. But
this should not be seen as adversary because rights violations by security forces cannot be
allowed and will only fuel terrorism in the first place.
2. Given the proximity of these groups to the grassroots, they could also be used in providing local
intelligence, fostering social inclusion (to undercut the roots of terrorism), act as interlocutors,
spreading awareness of the basic precautions to be taken and being the first responders in any
crisis.
Role of Media in Combatting Terrorism
1. Misuse of media by terrorists
1. Terrorists want to use media to spread their propaganda. Terrorists thrive on publicity. The
media does not intend to promote terrorism, but it can be exploited by the terrorists as the
news coverage may serve the expectations of the terrorists.
2. Government wants the media to depend on the official version. In fact, when it comes to

acts of terrorism, both the media and the government have a common interest. Therefore
government should work towards harnessing the power of the media as a part of its
strategy to defeat terrorism.
3. Induction of media professionals from outside and imparting of media education should
should be encouraged through the governmental apparatus.
2. Reporting without verification of facts.
3. Reporting in a manner which hampers counter terrorist operations.
National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC)
Provisions
1. Its aim will be to collect, analyze and disseminate intelligence data, coordinate between various
national and state counter terrorism bodies, to plan and carry out counter terrorist operations. It
can search, seize property, arrest, demand information from any other agency while carrying out
its tasks. The legal basis for its powers is UAPA provision where the central government can
permit an officer to make arrest etc. if he has got a "reason to believe" that a person committed
an unlawful activity.
New Consensus
1. DGPs of states to be on NCTC board.
2. Arrest / search / seizure to be done by state police only except in exceptional circumstances with
approval of director. Thus effectively, the operations part has been taken out of NCTC.
3. NCTC will not be located under IB.
Advantages
1. Currently India has RAW, IB, NTRO, Defence Research Agency and Aviation Research Centre
etc. working on terrorism. There is no coordination between them.
2. NCTC is unavoidable because, at present, the Union Government cannot deploy its military and
para-military forces suo motu to deal with internal security problems in the States and often the
States are unwilling to accept these Central forces due to dubious political compulsions.
3. State police forces are not professional and lack capabilities to deal with terror. State forces are
also used to serve political ends. Unfortunately, the record of the Union Government is equally
questionable.
Limitations
1. Unlike the American NCTC which deals only with planning and integration of intelligence without
any operational involvement, the Indian agency will have not only intelligence functions but also
powers to conduct operations. It is this concentration of powers that has had the states objecting
to the NCTC .
2. Current agencies are not willing to submit their autonomy. Different agencies also report to
different ministries which are not willing to part with them.
3. NCTC is also an arm of IB which doesn't have arrest / search powers right now. But NCTC has
been given such powers.
1. Being an IB wing, there is a likelihood of these powers being misused for political gains.
Also with such powers, IB would be busy defending its arrests in courts and this would
compromise its efficacy.
2. NCTC would also get embroiled in IBs running battle with the Research and Analysis Wing
(R&AW), which is responsible for external intelligence. Terrorism has both international and
national aspects; hence, the NCTC must be separated from the IB to maintain
equidistance from the IB and the R&AW.
4. Instead of NCTC, the law and order machinery in the States should be fully assisted by the Centre
with equipment, technology and training. This would be more relevant to meeting the threat since

they have local knowledge of the terrain, language and culture.

5. Inadequate consultations with the states and a top-heavy attitude of the central government is
what brought about its downfall. It tried to put it under IB, outside parliamentary oversight. It also
was trying to create NCTC via an executive order and not a legislation.
Multi Agency Centre
1. Its the nodal centre in IB for all intelligence activities related to terrorism. It collects, analyses and
then disseminates such information to all parties including state administrations. Subsidiaries of
MAC (S-MACs) are established in every state capital.
2. It was setup on the recommendations of the GoM after the Kargil War (same GoM also suggested
NatGrid and National Memory Bank).
NatGrid
1. NatGrid links databases from 21 departments and ministries like registration of records, bank
transactions, insurance, tax, driver license, internet and phone logs etc. This way security
agencies can have virtually all information about any person in India.
2. This project was put on hold due to privacy issues but with CCS approval in place, it would be
established by 2014.
National Investigation Agency (NIA)
1. It is the agency setup after the Mumbai terror attacks to probe and investigate forensics of terror
attacks without taking state permission.
2. Apart from terror strikes, it is empowered to investigate hijacking, attack on nuclear installation,
weapon of mass destruction attacks, organized crime, human trafficking etc.
3. The staff would be derived from existing local staff on permanent deputation.
4. But so far it has played second fiddle to local police forces in terror case investigations. It has
never directly investigated a case, it gets cases only by referral from state police and then too it
assists only in an informal way. NIA is suffering from massive staff shortage and hence is unable
to discharge its duties properly.
Issues Surrounding an Anti Terrorist Legislation
Need for a Comprehensive Anti Terrorist Legislation
1. Law Commission of India had recommended in 2000 a separate legislation to deal with the
menace of terrorism. The draft bill as recommended by the Law Commission of India included
provisions such as definition of terrorist acts, enhanced punishment for such acts, possession of
certain unauthorized arms, special powers of investigating officers regarding seizure and
attachment of property representing proceeds of terrorism, constitution of special courts,
protection of witnesses, confessions made to police officers to be taken into consideration,
enhanced police custody, constitution of review committees, protection of action taken in good
faith.
2. The IPC was not designed to fight or to check organised crime of the nature we are faced with
now. It is difficult to get any witnesses because people are afraid of their own safety and safety of
their families. It is well known that during the worst days in Punjab, even the judges and
prosecutors were gripped with such fear and terror that they were not prepared to try or prosecute
the cases against the terrorists. There is enormous delay in going on with the trials against the
terrorists.
3. In such a situation, insisting upon independent evidence or applying the normal peace-time
standards of criminal prosecution, may be impracticable. It is necessary to have a special law to
deal with a special situation.
4. It is one thing to say that we must create and provide internal structures and safeguards against

possible abuse and misuse of the Act and altogether a different thing to say that because the law
is liable to be misused, we should not have such an Act at all. The Supreme Court has repeatedly
held that mere possibility of abuse cannot be a ground for denying the vesting of powers or for
declaring a statute unconstitutional.
Which is a Better Place for the Anti Terror Law - UAPA or National Security Act, 1980?
1. The UAPA deals primarily with the prevention of certain unlawful activities of individuals and
associations, whereas the National Security Act deals with prevention of those activities which are
prejudicial to national security and also contains provisions for preventive detention which do not
find place in normal laws. Hence the National Security Act is a more appropriate place.
Bail Provisions
1. Pro-bail lobbies have argued that even in the most heinous cases, the general position is bail but
not jail, which should also be the case in terrorism related matters. POTA had the stipulation that
the court has to be satisfied that the accused has not committed any offence before granting the
bail. One of the main reasons cited for the repeal of POTA was the prolonged periods of detention
as the accused were not able to get bail.
2. Investigation agencies have put forward the argument that persons accused of terrorism are not
ordinary criminals and witnesses are afraid to depose against such persons. Therefore gathering
evidence against them is difficult and time consuming, and if such persons are let out on bail they
are bound to adversely influence the investigation.
3. A pragmatic approach would be to classify the cases on the basis of the gravity of the involvement
of the undertrial, nature of case against him and the period already served in jail.
Confession before a Police Officer
1. All confessions made to a police officer are inadmissible in a court of law.
2. Law Commission recommended that confessions made before the police could be admissible in
case of grave offences like terrorism. The inadmissibility of evidence of a confession made to a
police officer remains a weak link, the logic being that given the widespread reluctance of
witnesses to tender evidence in terrorist cases, this will remain a major handicap for the
prosecution.
3. Those opposing the admissibility of confessions before the police have argued that if an accused
is willing to make a voluntary confession, then he could easily be produced before a Magistrate
rather than being produced before a senior police officer. It is also argued that police may resort to
coercive methods in order to extract confessions.
4. Confessions made before the police should be admissible. All such statements should be videorecorded and the tapes produced before the court. The witness/accused should be warned on
video tape that any statement he makes is liable to be used against him in a court of law, and he
is entitled to the presence of his lawyer or a family member while making such a statement.
5. The accused should be produced before a magistrate immediately thereafter, who shall confirm by
examining the accused whether the confession was obtained voluntarily or under duress.
6. Such statements can be made admissible if proper police reforms are carried out and an
independent complaints authority against the police is setup.
Presumptions under the Law
1. According to one school of thought, shifting the burden of proof to the accused is violative of the
basic principles of jurisprudence. Another viewpoint is that there are certain facts which are only
within the knowledge of the accused and establishing such facts by the prosecution becomes
difficult and the benefit generally passes on to the accused.
2. But because of the nature of the crime and the potential it has to threaten the security and
integrity of the country, it is necessary that the person who has indulged in the terrorist act is not

able to make use of the protection which is provided to an accused person under the normal laws.
Witness Protection
1. Implementing a US type witness protection program in India may not be feasible because an
individual Indians identity is so inextricably linked with his social milieu and place of origin that it
may be practically impossible to extricate him from the same and relocate him with a fresh
identity somewhere else in the country. It is also extremely costly. It can be made available if the
witness himself requests for it.
2. Measures such as holding of proceedings in camera, empowering the Court to take appropriate
measures for keeping the identity of the witness secret, disallowing the accused to see and cross
examine the witness (the court can itself cross examine the witness on the request of the
accused instead of allowing him to directly do so) can still go a long way in witness protection.
Unlawful Activities (Prevention) (Amendment) Bill, 2011
1. This Bill has been brought to comply with the requirements of India signing FATF (against money
laundering and terrorism finance activities) and to strengthen anti terror provisions.
2. Definition of terror
1. It includes terrorist acts to include counterfeit currency, demanding bombs and other
weapons, violent acts with the intention of compelling the government.
3. Terror property
1. It also clarifies that the proceeds of terrorism include property intended to be used for
terrorism (even if derived from legitimate sources) and by an individual terrorist as well
(earlier it had only gangs and organizations).
2. Under the Bill, raising funds likely to be used (in full or in part) to commit a terrorist act or
for the benefit of terrorists shall be punishable irrespective of whether the funds have been
raised from legitimate or illegitimate sources.
3. It also states that participating, organising or directing fund raising activities shall
constitute an offence.
4. The property of the accused can be attached merely on suspicion. If the person "dies" at
any stage before trial is over (including custodial death), the property will be permanently
confiscated.
4. Scope of legislation
1. The earlier Act was applicable against individuals and group associations, the Bill is
applicable against NGOs, HUF, companies also.
5. The sweep of the Bill criminalizes association with suspected organization. In case of
association, the burden of proof for showing "innocence / lack of knowledge" falls on the accused.
He can be arrested for 180 days merely on suspicion. To seek extension of the arrest period, the
police merely needs to show that investigation is proceeding as against showing evidence against
the accused.
6. It extends the period of banning organizations from 2 to 5 years before a judicial review.
1. Even those organizations working lawfully for human rights can be labeled as Naxalites by
the government and banned for 5 years.
Security Challenges - Management in Border Areas
1. International border is a line which separates two sovereign nations and both the nations have
agreed that this is the line separating them. Maps are exchanged and features are marked on
the ground.
2. The rule is that no armed forces shall be posted on the international borders. So the police
forces from either sides are posted. Police forces come under MIA and thus maintaining the
tranquility along the international borders is the sole responsibility of MIA and not MoD.

Complexity in Indian Borders

1. China: We don't have an international border but a LAC. The central zone has been recognized
by China but not ratified by them.
1. LAC
Johnson line is the line which was marked as the boundary between the kingdom
of J&K and Tibet. Indian maps show Johnson line.
McCartney & McDonald line was drawn between the British and Tibet passing
through the Aksai Chin region. After acquisition of Tibet, China constructed a road
connecting Xinjiang to Tibet towards the right of this line.
India wants this line to be the international borders (the road will remain in China).
But China doesn't agree to the sanctity of this line since Tibet had no authority to
draw any international line (it was never a free country). China wants the entire
Aksai Chin plateau.
Line of Actual Control is towards the left of McCartney line and gives most of the
Aksai Chin plateau to the Chinese.
In 1996 it was agreed that none sides will cross the LAC. In 2005, it was reiterated
that both the sides will maintain peace and tranquility along the LAC. If the two
patrols meet, they will avoid confrontation.
LAC is maintained jointly by the army and ITBP (doesn't work under army). ITBP is
under MIA and it refused to hand over the control to the army. If we keep ITBP at
the border, we send a signal to China that we are willing to accept it as an
international border because ITBP is a police force. A police force mans only
internationally agreed borders. Also army is better equipped to maintain the
border. China's border police is also there but functions under the Chinese army
command. So ITBP can be maintained there but command given under army.
2. McMahon Line
Runs from Bhutan to end of Arunachal Pradesh (Siang).
Concept of watershed: The watershed area serves as the border i.e. drainage
system on either side of the watershed flows to either directions. This concept is
used in the hilly areas to draw the international boundaries between the two
nations.
However McMahon line doesn't really follow the watershed concept. It also doesn't
define very clearly the geographical locations through which it passes. GoI's stand
is that McMahon line is the guiding principle to draw the international border. The
vaguely drawn line needs to be correctly drawn. India considers the watershed line
to be the LAC.
Chinese stand is entire Arunachal Pradesh as its own (extension and part of
Tibet). China considers that culturally as well Arunachal Pradesh is Tibetan. India
believes culture alone cannot be the reason for drawing international boundaries.
China also cites old historical ties with the Arunachal to claim it. India's views is
old historical claims cannot be the guiding factor in drawing international lines.
Asoka and Cholas cannot be used to draw international boundaries today. Finally
China doesn't have any written document to support its historical claims.
3. Sikkhim Border
When Sikkhim joined India, China didn't recognize it. In 2003, it de facto (not de
jure) recognized Sikkhim as a part of India. So Sikkhim is an international border
now. But it is still manned by the army.
To defend the Sikkhim border, the Cabinet Committee on Security, has approved
to raise a force called Sikkhim Scouts. They will guard the Sikkhim - China border.
It will be under the army and will be trained and equipped in mountain warfare.

4. Some border agreements with China

Panchsheel.
Sino-Indian Agreement, 1993: Calls for both armies to maintain peace and
tranquility at the border.
Sino-Indian Agreement, 1996: Confidence building measures were instituted along
LAC - to maintain pace, promote border openings at 2 points (Nathula in Sikkhim
and Chusul in Laddakh) for people to people contact and periodical meetings at
senior army level.
Sino-Indian Agreement, 2005: Maintaining restraint along the LAC.
Border Defence Cooperation Agreement: Recently India and China have started
exchanging documents for border cooperation. Aim is to develop a new
mechanism for border security.
Hand in Hand Agreement: This is for jointly countering terrorism.
Currently there are plans to increase the person to person contact at 2 more
points @ Lipulekh and Manna in Uttarakhand.
2. Pakistan: Sir Creek is disputed. From there till Jammu we have an international border. From
Jammu to NJ9842 is the LoC. From NJ9842 to Sia Chin is the Actual Position Line.
1. Sir Creek
East portion of Sir Creek is called the Green line. Pakistan considers this line to
be the international border. Red line is the western border of the Creek and India
claims it to be the international border (?).
India and Pakistan have carried out many joint surveys of the Sir Creek area.
These surveys were carried out by the surveyor generals of both nations. The
countries also have a Joint Working Commission on the issue and already have
had 4 rounds of talks on it.
At one stage, an agreement appeared imminent when India agreed to the use of
the Thalweg Doctrine. Thalweg Doctrine is an internationally recognized procedure
for the demarcation of international borders where a line is drawn through the
greatest depth of the water. One of its biggest shortfalls is that water bodies may
change their course. Also the deepest portion may not be the central portion.
Later on India went back and opposed Thalweg Doctrine as it is applicable to water
bodies having a flow. India says it is closed from one end and doesn't have a flow.
So Thalweg Doctrine is not applicable.
This area is infested by illegal arms dealers, smugglers and drug traffickers. If
given to Pakistan, it may give easy access to India to such elements from
Pakistan. Pressure of smugglers is higher in this area as the international border
has been fenced and lighted.
Another importance is the potential oil and gas reserves in the vast additional EEZ
as per the UNCLOS if Sir Creek comes to either nation.
Responsibility of defending Rann of Kutch goes to BSF and not the army although
it is not an international border. Responsibility to safeguard the waters along the
coast goes to the Coast Guard. Currently BSF is holding complete Sir Creek.
2. International border
This border is also looked after by the BSF and BSF mans all the border outposts
along the international border. Army is positioned in cantonments at least 50 km
away from the borders. Border fencing has already been done. Fencing is done
150 meters away from the border.
Drug trafficking through the international crossings is a major issue.
3. LoC
Since it is not an international border, it is controlled by the army. Major portion
has got fencing, lighting, thermo imaging instruments, high powered telescopes
and electronic surveillance.
Currently the status between the two countries is that of a ceasefire. Both have to

3.

4.

5.

6.

maintain tranquility and not open fire.

Major issue here is terrorist infiltration.
4. Sia Chin glacier
Its strategic importance is that it goes up to the Karakoram pas and thus
overlooks the Karakoram highway.
Bangladesh
1. The major issue is the porosity of the border and the associated illegal migration into
India. Other issues are smuggling, cross border crimes, terror sanctuaries on the other
side of the border, drug trafficking.
2. Both countries have come up with a Border Management Plan.
As per this plan, the BSF and the Border Guards of Bangladesh agreed to reduce
the killing of people crossing the border.
They have agreed to refrain from firing at civilians. Troops will not fire at each other.
Both sides will periodically exchange information. A Joint Consultation
Commission has been formed to increase the cooperation.
In vulnerable points, coordinated patrolling will be carried out.
3. Recently both countries have agreed to develop the following on the border:
1. Land customs stations.
2. Land ports.
3. Integrated check posts.
Bhutan
1. It has been a peaceful and open border. There is a Joint Group to assess the threats to
Bhutan and India from various organizations. It also discusses ways and means to
maintain security of the open border. To achieve this, the local officials on both the sides
have been directed to conduct regular meetings.
2. The threat is that because the border is open and the topography of Bhutan is difficult, it
was a safe hideout for terrorists. This threat has reduced considerably after the
Bhutanese army with the help of the Indian Army cleared out the terrorist camps in
Bhutan (Operation All Clear).
3. This border is maintained by Sashakt Seema Border (along with Indo-Nepal border).
Myanmar
1. This is a completely porous border. The tribes are on both sides of the border like the
Nagas, the Mizos, the Kukis. This is also a hilly and thickly forested area.
2. Assam Rifles does the policing of the border. However the policing is not as effective as
the other borders. This is so because of a strong opposition from all tribal groups in the
region on both sides. The policing from the Myanmar side too is very weak. Crime
flourishes all along this border including smuggling, counterfeit currency notes, drug
trafficking, insurgency. Although the government has approved border fencing, but
because of the objection from the locals, fencing operations have not made much
headway. The opposition is so much that even the border pillars have been removed by
the tribals. But currently some fencing near Moreh and Zawkhatar is coming up.
3. India and Myanmar have a border trade agreement. There are border haats at 2 points Moreh in Manipur and Zawkhatar in Mizoram. There is also a border trade committee to
facilitate the trade.
4. Because the same tribes stay on both sides, there is an understanding between the two
governments to facilitate the movement of such tribes. This understanding features a
permit system instead of the normal visa route and a person with the permit can come up
to 16 km inside the other country's territory and can stay for up to 3 days.
Nepal
1. It is an open border. People can cross the border without permit. Nepal became a hub of
anti-Indian activities by proxy mainly encouraged by ISI. It also serves as a transit point
for such people. Terrorists, arms, drugs and counterfeit currency notes are smuggled from
Nepal into India through this open border.

2. So to police the border, both countries have developed a joint mechanism which includes
meetings up to the home secretary level. There is also a Border District Coordination
Committee which is a coordination mechanism between the district administrations on
both sides.
Reasons for Complexity of Indian Borders
1. Past history: Historical colonial era treaties.
2. Geography: Sir Creek issue, Palk Straits with Sri Lanka.
3. Ethnic / cultural relations with our neighbors: People speak speak same language, of same
ethnic origins across the borders. There is no well demarcated distinct cultures across the two
sides of the border.
4. Overpopulation near the border: This creates pressures and complications in the border
demarcation process. It makes the borders porous.
Challenges in Indian Maritime Security
1. We have unresolved maritime borders with our neighbors. This leads to issues like fishermen
getting imprisoned and clash over fishing rights.
2. Sometimes spies and terrorists cross the boundaries in the guise of fishermen. Fishing is
mostly unorganized and so surveillance becomes very difficult.
3. Counter the growing influence of radical elements, foreign powers in the other island states like
Maldives.
4. Extra-regional powers like US, Russia, China, France have their naval presence here.
5. Piracy, terrorism, smuggling, narcotics, human trafficking, unregulated sea traffic. The non state
actors acting in the Arabian Sea are technologically advanced making it an even bigger
challenge.
Changes Post 26/11 in Maritime Security
1. Overall responsibility of securing Indian coasts lies with Navy. Before 26/11, coast guard, navy
and police were independent of each other and coordination was poor. Post 26/11 a coherent
organizational structure was built. The apex body is navy and all other come under it.
2. Maritime police
1. Territorial waters are to be secured by the maritime police. Maritime police is a new
concept post 26/11. Coastal police stations would be setup.
2. The overall work was scheduled to be completed in 2 phases. Phase 1 includes raising
the coastal police and setting up 73 coastal police stations.
3. The coastal police stations are a part of the maritime police (which comes under the state
police) and their task has been well defined to include protection of coastal regions. They
are trained by the coast guards.
3. Coast Guard
1. EEZ is to be secured by the coast guard.
4. Sagar Prahri Bal
1. It is a fighting force which has been constituted to look after physical coastal security.
2. All its members come from the navy.
5. Electronic tier
1. The 4th tier of coastal security is the electronic security. This includes the use of
satellites such as RISAT, OceanSat 1 and 2, coastal radars.
2. All data from all radars will be processed centrally on a real time basis. These radars can
pick up boats 30 - 50 nautical miles away.
3. All merchant ships arriving in Indian waters must give mandatory 96 hours of notice before
entering Indian waters.
4. AIDs will be installed even on fishing boats (merchant ships already have them). If any

vessel's Automatic Identification System doesn't get triggered then the vessel will be
intercepted by the security forces.
6. Local community involvement
1. Fishermen will be sensitized towards coastal security.
2. Their boats will be equipped with electronic identification systems and they themselves
will be given biometric identity cards.
7. The mandate of the department of border management has been extended to include all coastal
border regions as well.
8. Phase 2
1. This includes installation of coastal radars, other electronic surveillance systems, setting
up of new coast guard stations, creation of NSG hubs in the coastal metros.
Weak nesses in Current Maritime Security Architecture
1. No port in India has the Container Security Initiative compliance i.e. to see what is there in the
container since it is impractical to open all containers and look in manually. When the
containers are transferred from the ship to the port, the CSI system scans them immediately
before they are placed on the inland transport. This is a very big threat to our security.
2. We don't have strict laws to deal with some illegal activities in Indian waters. For instance, India
is a big destination of dismantling of old ships - a ship drifted on to the Juhu beach recently.
3. Currently we don't have procedure to electronically identify every ship.
4. The real time coordination between the navy, the coast guard and the marine police is still weak.

Role of Interlocutors
1. They are people who have no formal position in the government or any formal authority to speak
on behalf of the government. Whatever they speak are their personal views. However,
communications via interlocutors are very useful in conveying information and ideas. They
generally don't include active politicians or serving government servants.
2. They try to find out what are the views of the other parties and gives the feedback to the
government. Such a feedback is not binding on the government, it is only an additional
information in the decision making.
3. They are people generally on who both the parties have confidence.
4. They are different from the negotiators in the sense that the negotiators have more powers and
official backing to make concessions and convey the official line.

Border Area Development Programme

Evolution
1. It was launched in 1988 initially for the Pakistan border areas. Its aim is integrated development
of the border areas. It falls under the Department of Border management (check website) under
the MIA.
2. It includes developing schools, water supply, health, sports. It is 100% centrally funded.
3. If there are any remote border locations and they have any specific needs, then to address
those.
4. Funds are provided to the States for development of border areas on the basis of (i) length of
international border (ii) population of border blocks and (iii) area of border blocks. Weightage of
15% over and above the total allocation is also given to States having hilly/desert/Kutchh areas.

The border block will be the spatial unit within which the State
Government shall arrange to utilize the BADP funds only in those villages of
the blocks, which are located within 0-10 km from the international border.
Those villages, which are located nearer to the international border will get first
priority. After saturating these villages with basic infrastructure, the next set of
villages located within 0-15 km and 0-20 km need to be taken up.
Planning and
1
implementation of BADP schemes should be on participatory and decentralized
basis thorough the Panchayati Raj Institutions/Autonomous Councils/Other
Local Bodies/Councils. Projects not
exceeding Rs.5.00 lakh should strictly be implemented through local bodies
such as village committees/panchayats only.
The State Governments may consider creating/nominating a Nodal
Department/Cell with in the existing administrative arrangement for
implementation of the Border Area Development Programme (BADP). The
Nodal Department dealing with the BADP in the State shall hold individual
meetings with line departments of the States such as Power, Rural Development,
Electricity, Roads & Buildings, Water Supply, Social Welfare, Public
Distribution, Civil Supplies etc. in order to ensure the implementation of the
respective State/Central schemes in the identified border blocks. Utilization of
funds under the Centrally Sponsored Schemes/Flagship Schemes of Govt. of
India and the State plan schemes to the maximum possible extent in the border
blocks should be ensured.
A baseline survey shall be carried out in border villages in order to assess
the gaps in basic physical and social infrastructure
State Governments, may keep a provision not exceeding 15% of the
allocation made to the State for the maintenance of assets created under the
BADP subject to the condition that such expenditure can be made only after
three (3) years from the date of issue of completion certificate in respect of the
asset.
The State Governments can reserve 1.5% (one and half percent) of the
2
allocation made to the State subject to a maximum of Rs. 40 lakh for the
purpose of monitoring, training of staff at block level and for the evaluation of
the BADP, administrative expenditure for preparing the perspective plans, if
any, survey, logistic support (excluding purchase of vehicles), media publicity
etc.
The policy matters such as the guidelines of BADP, the geographical
areas within which the BADP is implemented, allocation of funds, modalities of
execution of schemes etc. will be laid down by an Empowered Committee
constituted under the Chairmanship of the Secretary (Border Management) in
the Ministry of Home Affairs.

schemes for each State will be approved by a State

Level Screening Committee chaired by the Chief Secretary of the State.
Each border block should be assigned
to a high-ranking State Government Nodal Officer who should regularly visit
the block and take responsibility for BADP schemes.

Land Ports Authority of India (LPAI) Act

Aims
1. To establish check points in the designated entry and exit points on the international borders.
2. To provide the customs, immigration etc. with infrastructure at these designated points.
Provisions
1. Land Port is a designated entry/exit point located on land borders.
2. Private sector can be hired by LPAI to perform the non-sovereign functions of maintenance and
management.
3. The Integrated Check Post will be developed as a sanitized zone with state of art facilities to
handle the flow of goods.

The 6th Schedule

Legislative Powers of District and Regional Councils
1. With the assent of the Governor, they can make laws with respect to:
1. Use of land other than a reserved forest.
2. Management of any forest not being a reserved forest.
3. Use of water resources for irrigation.
4. Regulation of shifting cultivation.
5. Establishment of village or town committees or councils and their powers.
6. Any other matter relating to village or town administration, including village or town police
and public health and sanitation.
7. Appointment or succession of Chiefs or Headmen.
8. Inheritance of property.
9. Marriage and divorce.
10. Social customs.
11. Control of money-lending and trading by non-tribals.
12. The governor can vest them with additional criminal powers.
13. Any act of state legislature in matters pertaining to councils' affairs will have no effect
unless assented to by the councils.
The Governor's and the President's Additional Powers
1. The Governor may declare that a state law is not applicable (or applicable in a modified form) to a
tribal area in affairs not under tribal councils' domain.
2. The president may declare that a central law is not applicable (or applicable in a modified form) to

a tribal area in affairs not under tribal councils' domain.

Judicial Powers of District and Regional Councils
1. Constitute courts and appoint their personnel for the trial of cases between Scheduled Tribes
within such areas.
2. The Regional and District Councils are also empowered to act as Courts of Appeal.
Financial Powers of District and Regional Councils
1. Constitution of District and Regional Funds
1. Each council will have its own fund. All moneys due to such councils from various sources
including the state and the central governments shall be credited to these funds to be used
by the councils at their discretion.
2. Estimated receipts and expenditure pertaining to the council by the state shall be first
placed before the Council for discussion and then shown separately in the budget of the
state.
3. The accounts are to be maintained as prescribed by the CAG, who is also entrusted with
their audit.
2. Powers to Collect Taxes and Fees
1. Councils can collect land revenue and impose taxes within their jurisdictions such as on
lands and buildings, on professions, trades, callings and employments, animals, vehicles
and boats, on the entry of goods into a market, tolls on passengers and goods carried in
ferries and for the maintenance of schools, dispensaries or roads.
2. They are entitled to royalties from the extraction of minerals from their area.
Issues with the 6th Schedule (Art 244)
Vesting the Councils with the Executive Powers
1. Due to historical reasons and lack of proper understanding, a notion prevails that the role of the
Councils is confined to passing laws, establishing and administering justice through local courts
and generally taking up a few regulatory functions. They are not expected to have any role in
development matters.
2. Even though some subjects stand formally transferred to the Councils under the Sixth Schedule,
the State Governments have been slow in transferring related executive powers and control over
the corresponding departments to them.
3. The State Governments have continued to retain parallel development and administrative
apparatus under their own command. This has led to functional overlap and conflicts between the
States and the District Councils.
4. The Indian Constitution provides that the executive power of the Union extends to matters with
respect to which Parliament has power to make laws and states have the executive powers in the
matters where their legislatures are competent to make laws. The powers given to Autonomous
Councils also need to be interpreted in the same light: the legislative powers of the Councils
should also be their executive powers.
Issue of Village Self Governance in the Sixth Schedule Areas
1. When the 6th Schedule was formulated, tribal customs reigned supreme and thus there was no
thought of elections at the village level. So the 6th Schedule doesn't pay any attention to the
village self governance.
2. The idea of a two / three tier elected panchayat structure came only with the Mehta Committee
Report in 1957. With various rural development schemes and programmes becoming village
centric and with Panchayats increasingly becoming involved in implementation of such
programmes, the issue of village governance in scheduled areas came to the fore.

3. All the Councils should now pass legislation for establishing village self governance with well
defined powers and allocate them resources preferably like the State Finance Commission. Such
village self governments should be empowered to implement the various developmental schemes
and also local planning.
4. In this they can be encouraged by tying the additional funding with the level of empowerment they
do of the village self governance bodies.
5. Apart from the elected members, the traditional village functionaries will also need to be included
in these Village self governments as ex-officio members. However, it needs to be ensured that the
majority of the members and the head are elected.
Part IX and 6th Schedule of the Constitution
1. The Councils are at the mercy of the State Governments for budgetary support and elections and
are not covered by the State Finance Commissions and the State Election Commissions. This
anomaly needs to be corrected and appropriate parts of the Part IX should be extended to the
Schedule 6 areas also. Currently the part 9 explicitly is not applicable at all to the 6th Schedule
areas.
2. Apart from SFC, the release of the council funds should be single window, untied and hassle free.
Governor's Special Powers - Discretion vs Advise of CoM
1. The idea of 6th Schedule was to protect the autonomy of the tribal areas and to save them from
the decisions of the overwhelming majority of the state.
2. The Governor enjoys these special powers as a custodian of tribal interests and hence he needs
to exercise these on his discretion and not on the advise of the state council of minister.
Conditions in North East
Poor Economic Conditions
1. Per capita income is increasingly falling significantly behind the rest of the country. At the time of
Independence per capita income in the undivided State of Assam was higher than the national
average while today it is lower by almost 40% in Assam. With the economic reforms, the
difference in the growth rates increased still further.
2. Much of the income generated is on account of government spending. The share of income
generated by public administration is 10.6% and significantly higher than in the rest of the
country. This underlines the overwhelming dependence of the population on the government and a
lack of productive economic activities.
Issues in Assam
1. Migration
1. Its population more than doubled in the first half of the last century largely due to
migrations.
2. Land pressure
1. The dependence of the State on agriculture is given from the fact that the rate of
urbanization is way below the national average and even below rest of NE.
3. Minorities
1. The situation is further compounded by a significant presence of religious and linguistic
minorities, approximately 18% and 30% respectively.
4. Rivalry among the 6th Schedule Councils
1. Bodoland Territorial Council has been given greater administrative and financial powers
compared to the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council (KAAC) and the North Cachar Hills
Autonomous Council (NHAC).
2. Its funds are significantly larger than those available to the other councils. Control of line

departments in the area have also been transferred to the Council.

3. However, it is the only Council with a few seats exclusively reserved for non-tribals. Also, it
is the only Sixth Schedule Council which does not have judicial powers. The judiciary as
existent in other parts of the country was fully functional in these areas by the time the
BTC was born.
4. There is a growing demand that there should be full parity among the three Councils in
terms of legislative and executive powers.
5. 6 Tribe Specific Councils (created under State enactment spread over 12 districts)
1. These have fragmented the state administration and also given rise to other issues.
2. In order to cover the largest possible numbers of the relevant tribe, a further innovation has
been made to identify satellite areas i.e. isolated pockets with significant population of the
target group.
3. Such areas are kept within the purview of the Council despite the fact that they are cut off
from the core areas and may be in other districts.
4. Such districts may be under the purview of the 73rd Constitutional amendment with the
regular Panchayat institutions and thus a clash with the Tribal council.
5. The Constitutional pattern needs to be respected and Panchayats be strengthened in
these areas, rather than to create councils on the basis of ethnic identity.
Issues with North East Council
1. In the wake of the reorganization of the States of the region in 1972, the North East Council was
set up to provide a forum for inter-state coordination, regional planning and integrated
development.
2. The Council is chaired by the Union Minister for the Department of North-East with the Governors
and Chief Ministers of North-East States and Sikkim as its Members.
3. The Council has not been able to live up to its expectations. The most important reasons are
inadequate availability of funds and absence of professional planning and implementation
capacity.
4. Also, the increasing State Plan outlays along with enhanced central allocations through CSS and
ad hoc allocations have resulted in a shift of attention from the Council to the Planning
Commission.
Issues with North East Ministry
1. Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region coordinates with various Ministries/Department
primarily. But the respective Ministries/Departments are responsible in respect of subjects
allocated to them.
2. The formation of the DONER Ministry has added to the confusion. Ironically, therefore, a region
which requires a focused attention on many key issues has been made the responsibility of
several organizations with blurred responsibilities.
Linkages Between Development and Extremism
6th schedule and 5th schedule
Moving governance of tribal areas in central India from the Fifth to the Sixth Schedule will help address
the demand for autonomy
Bastar district in Chhattisgarh is governed by the Fifth Schedule, but it wants to move into the Sixth
Schedule. The Fifth Schedule on the other hand fails because it has never been applied.
PESA was considered the most logical step in the Fifth Schedule areas to ensure tribal welfare and
accountability. But, alas, it has not been properly implemented.

Tribal communities have progressively been denied self-government and rights to their communities
natural resources that should have been provided under the legislation.
In its 1997 Samat ha decision, the Supreme Court ruled that the Fifth Schedule enjoined Governors to
bar purchase of tribal land for mining activity by any entity that was not state-owned. This judgment
however, led to an opposite reaction from the Ministry of Mines, and subsequent appeals from the
Andhra Pradesh government claiming that Samatha would have an adverse effect not only on the
mining sector but also on non-agricultural activities especially industrial activity and hence would impact
the economic development throughout the country. In response, the Governors were then given
unfettered authority in the transfer of Scheduled Tribe land to the government and allotment to nontribals, altering the balance of power and undermining the stated goal of tribal autonomy.
Other examples abound, including the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Rights Act of
December 2006, which ostensibly recognises the right of communities to protect and manage their
forests (as does PESA), but only if the state decides whether a certain region is denoted as Village
Forest or Reserved Forest. In this process, many communities are evicted without a proper channel of
rehabilitation.

Evolution and Current Status of LWE

1. Various groups of Naxalites started resurfacing in various parts of India during the early 1980s.
The naxalites of Andhra Pradesh regrouped as the CPI-ML (Peoples War Group/ PWG); likewise

the Bihar Naxalites rechristened themselves as the Maoist Communist Centre (MCC).
2. PWG of Andhra Pradesh
1. It turned out to be the most active not only in Andhra Pradesh but also in Orissa, in the
tribal belt (Bastar-Dandakaranya) of Madhya Pradesh (now mostly in the State of
Chhattisgarh) and Maharashtra, causing considerable violence in these States.
2. It succeeded in mobilising a fairly large section of the rural population in the outlying
districts and also in the urban areas. It also succeeded in enlisting the support of a vocal
section of the civil society. It openly started holding Praja Courts in which complaints
against land-owners, money-lenders and even against government officials were being
entertained and swift justice meted out. Even elected representatives were being given
directives by such courts, which were generally obeyed.
3. When police action started, it created a sense of insecurity among sections of the Maoist
cadres which prompted them to resort to brutal murders and tortures of villagers on the
slightest suspicion of being police informers. This created alienation among the local
villagers.
4. At a later stage, Greyhounds operations were launched and PWG pushed out of Andhra.
3. Chattisgarh
1. Here they developed expertise in the use of landmines and IEDs which caused significant
casualties.
2. Another significant development was the creation of Salwa Judum and its subsequent
dismantling.
4. MCC of Bihar
1. Here the naxalites found that their greatest adversary was not so much the administration
and the police but the armed gangs (senas ) of the landlord class - the Ranbir Sena. Here
instead of assuming the characteristics of class struggle as propagated by Maoist
ideologues, the skirmishes took the shape of caste warfare.
5. West Bengal
1. Here the Naxalites seem to be repeating some of their tactics of the 1969-72 period. Thus
they have started targeting specific CPM party functionaries at local levels. Their targets
are not confined to the known Naxalite affected districts of West Midnapore, Purulia and
Bankura only. A number of CPM party functionaries have been attacked and killed in the
districts of Nadia, Burdwan, Birbhum, Murshidabad etc.
6. Consolidation
1. It was completed with the formation of the CPI (Maoist) on 21 September 2004. This was
followed by their increasing militarisation and acquisition of sophisticated firearms and
ammunitions.
2. Their arsenal now boasts of self loading rifles (SLRs), AK series of rifles and INSAS rifles.
It is believed that currently the Maoists have also gained access to the technology of
fabricating rockets and rocket launchers. The threat from the Maoists has increased on
account of their developing expertise in fabricating and detonating Improvised Explosive
Devices (IEDs). Unlike in J&K where landmines are detonated with remote-controlled
device, the Naxalites so far have been using wire-controlled detonations which cannot be
neutralised electronically.
Recent Strategy Decisions to Counter Naxalism
1. Security response
1. To enhance the level of central forces and focus on surgical operations to take out the top
leadership. State police to continue taking the lead role.
2. Good thing is that LWE is gaining importance in the policy circles and recent years have
witnessed more than tripling of the numbers in central forces deployed in the naxalite

areas.
3. To follow the Andhra Pradesh model.
4. To increase inter state cooperation and conduct cross-border raids.
2. Administrative response
1. Development funds are often diverted to the Naxalites. The political parties/ political
leaderships too pay protection money to the Naxalites. Poor governance has led to
increase in Naxalite activities. The states delivery mechanism has to be revamped. The
state has to penetrate into remote tribal areas.
2. The only way forward is to build infrastructure and add to the manpower. Teachers, nurses,
doctors should want to go there.
The Andhra Model
1. Security response
1. Use of specialized and dedicated police force called the Greyhounds.
2. Strengthening the intelligence gathering and intelligence based operations.
3. Enhancing the role of local police stations in operations.
4. Making efforts to infiltrate the Maoist hierarchy.
5. Effective surrender and rehabilitation policy.
6. Victim reassurance policy including civil and police rehabilitation.
2. Political response
1. The political leadership was initially not sensitive enough to the impending Naxalite
challenge. This changed and a consensus had emerged among the political formations by
about 1996-97 that the rebels had to be taken headlong, in all possible ways.
2. Thus a consensus was evolved over the counter naxalism strategy.
3. Developmental response
1. Twice development programmes have been launched in the State with the particular
objective of bringing in rapid socio-economic development in Naxalite-affected areas. The
first initiative was known as Remote Areas Development Programme; and the second is
known as Remote and Interior Areas Development Programme.
The Greyhounds
1. They are an elite commando force in Andhra Pradesh created to combat left wing extremists.
Only the best policemen make it to the Greyhound squad, which is one of the highest paid in the
country.
2. The force, which numbers around 2,000 in the state, moves around in small bands of 15-25
commandos. They are specially trained for deep forest pursuit and combat.
3. Greyhounds is maintained as a youthful force by drawing personnel from various departments of
AP police for a fixed tenure
Roshni
1. A new skill development scheme for rural youth from 24 most critical LWE affected districts. It
aims at skilling and placement of 50,000 youth from these districts. It will be implemented at a
cost of Rs 100 crore over the next three years. At least 50% of the candidates shall be women
and special efforts will be made to proactively cover tribals.
2. Projects shall be funded jointly by the central and state governments in the ratio of 75:25.
Training will be imparted through public-private and public-public partnerships.
3. National level agencies shall be designated to act as monitoring and coordinating agencies.

Factors Behind Worsening of the Situation

1. Fear instilled by Naxalite violence
1. They want to make security situation bad so that no developmental activity takes place, no
teacher or doctor works in that area and the villagers will continue to remain backward.
They are not interested in improving the situation as it suits their ends. They will blame
their backwardness on the government and get popular sympathy.
2. They are driving the political parties out. They kill the government officials and politicians.
They did it in AP and are doing it in Chattisgarh, Jharkhand and Odisha.
3. They also kill the tribals on the presumption they were police informers. Thus a situation
has emerged that people dont come out against them out of fear of being killed and
intelligence gathering suffers.
2. Harassment of tribals by the state
1. Issue of land rights and forest rights of the tribals. It is very important to properly implement
PESA in tribal areas. They must be given rights over minor forest produce.
2. The retaliatory cases registered by the forest department and the police against the tribals
to harass them. Orders passed from the top to drop such cases are not implemented.
3. Groups such as Salwa Judum.
3. Policing and Security challenges
1. Originally, the Bastar district was much larger than Kerala and still had only 1,000 odd
policemen. Even today entire Chattisgarh has only 48,000 policemen compared to Delhi's
95,000. The silver lining is the rapid increase in the deployment of central forces in LWE
areas. It takes a lot of time (over a decade) and money to raise and train a large police
force.
2. Whatever little police presence is there is demoralized. In other parts of the country, the
role of the beat constable is to look into petty crimes. However, the policemen in places
like Bastar are required to be like commandos.
Genuine Grievances of Tribals
Land Related Factors
1. Evasion of land ceiling laws.
2. Existence of special land tenures (enjoying exemptions under ceiling laws).
3. Encroachment and occupation of Government and Community lands (even the water-bodies) by
powerful sections of society.
4. Lack of title to public land cultivated by the landless poor.
5. Poor implementation of laws prohibiting transfer of tribal land to non-tribals in the Fifth Schedule
areas.
6. Non-regularization of traditional land rights.
Displacement and Forced Evictions
1. The Forest Act, 1927 and the Forest Conservation Act, 1980 along with stringent Supreme Court
orders have turned forests into prohibited areas for the tribals.
2. Eviction from lands traditionally used by tribals.
3. Displacements caused by irrigation and power projects without adequate arrangements for
rehabilitation.
4. Large scale land acquisition for public purposes without appropriate compensation or

rehabilitation. Compensation, if paid, is a pity as the 'official' land values are hopelessly out of
touch with reality.
Livelihood Related Causes
1. Lack of food security corruption in the Public Distribution System (which are often nonfunctional).
2. Disruption of traditional occupations and lack of alternative work opportunities.
3. Deprivation of traditional rights in common property resources.
Social Exclusion
1. Denial of dignity.
2. Continued practice, in some areas, of untouchability in various forms.
3. Poor implementation of special laws on prevention of atrocities, protection of civil rights and
abolition of bonded labor.
Governance Related Factors
1. Corruption and poor provision/non-provision of essential public services including primary health
care and education.
2. Incompetent, ill trained and poorly motivated public personnel who are mostly absent from their
place of posting.
3. Misuse of powers by the police and violations of the norms of law.
4. Perversion of electoral politics and unsatisfactory working of local government institutions.
What Needs to be Done
1. Police action vs Negotiations
1. They are alienated sections of society rather than perpetrators of high treason they have
to be treated as such.
2. Police action over a long period is counter-productive.
3. Negotiations have a definite positive role, this is the experience the world over.
4. But negotiations alone can't succeed. Negotiations are likely to succeed when the good
intentions of the State are visible along with its will to restore order. Thus security forces
have an essential role in handling the situation.
5. Security forces also have a role in protecting the development infrastructure in these areas.
2. Police action vs Human Rights
1. Even in the most difficult situations, the operation of security forces must be strictly within
the framework of the law. It is necessary that SoPs and protocols are laid down in specific
terms and detail.
2. Training including sensitizing police and paramilitary personnel to the root causes are
needed.
3. Police force comprising primarily of local people is of inestimable value. Local police forces
have a huge advantage in intelligence gathering capacity. Local police force is far more
cost effective and more viable in the long run than inducting central forces. Scrupulously
enforcing the prescribed reservations from the relevant areas, launching special recruitment
drives and raising tribal battalions of the Police are some of the measures that require
urgent attention.
3. Developmental Response
1. Faithful, fair and just implementation of laws and programmes for social justice like
MGNREGS.
2. Sustained, professionally sound and sincere development initiatives suitable to local
conditions along with democratic methods are needed.
3. Personal safety of senior functionalities needs to be assured so that they can go into the

disturbed areas and government machinery returns.

Role of Civil Society
1. Opinions vary about the role of civil society organisations in cases of left extremism because
many such organisations are alleged to have a leftist ideological orientation and, in some cases,
the NGO may even be a front for the extremists themselves.
2. Votaries of the law and order approach hold that such associations are no better than proxies for
militant extremists with demoralisation of security forces as their primary aim and that they shift
the focus from the violence, killing and extortion by the extremists by highlighting the police
violence only.
3. On the other hand, there is a growing realisation that such organisations have a major role to play
as interlocutors, and act as a bulwark against abuse of power by the police and other state
functionaries in other words their activities strengthen the rule of law.
4. While there may be some black sheep among these organisations, there is little doubt that they
have the potential to act as a bridge and in educating the people and preventing aggravation of the
situation by ventilating public grievances within the legal-democratic framework.
Cutting the Source of Finances for Naxalites
1. One way to ensure that development funds do not reach the extremists is by entrusting
developmental works temporarily to organisations like BRO and other governmental agencies
which can execute these works directly instead of going via contractors who then pay extortion
money to the naxalites.
2. Activities such as illegal mining and collection of forest produce yield a huge volume of funds for
the extremists. This needs to be checked.
The 5th Schedule (Art 244)
SC/ST schedules
1. He may amend the schedules of notified STs in union or any state. If the state list is amended, he
has to consult the governor of the state.
Administration
1. Presidential powers: He can declare / modify / delete the list of scheduled areas (5th schedule)
subject to laws made by parliament. He can give directions to the respective states regarding the
administration of scheduled areas. All regulations made by the governor of state for the scheduled
areas have to be submitted to the president and failing his assent shall not have any effect. He
may ask the governor to submit an annual report on the administration of scheduled areas and
instruct him on administrative manners.
2. Governor's powers: Tribal advisory councils may be constituted by him in scheduled areas to give
advice to the governor on such manners as may be referred to them by the governor. The governor
can direct that a particular act (central or state) or a part thereof is not applicable to the scheduled
area or only applicable with certain modifications. The governor can also regulate the transfer of
land by or among STs and regulate the business of money lending in scheduled areas.
3. Parliament's powers: Parliament can amend any provisions in schedule 5 with an ordinary
majority.

The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006
1. It vests land rights to each tribal family provided they have been the user of forest land for 3
generations or 75 years. This right is heritable but not alienable and transferable. Vested land can

be used only for livelihood purposes.

2. Rights under this also include access to minor forest produce, community rights to intellectual
property and traditional knowledge related to forest biodiversity and cultural diversity.
3. The dwellers are duty bound to protect the forests, biodiversity and wildlife in the area.
The Act holds promise of realising claims of tribal and other forest dwellers2 over the dwelling and
cultivation lands under their occupation. They are also to benefit from complete ownership rights on nontimber forest produce (NTFP)/minor forest produce (MFP), and management and protection rights over
forest resources, including community rights.
Implementation Process
The process of implementation of this Act begins right from the gram sabha (GS) level, where Forest
Rights Committees (FRCs)3 are constituted and authorised to assist the GS collate, verify and approve
claims to rights as required. As per the Act, the GS in the scheduled areas (SAs)4 must be convened at
the hamlet level, while in the traditional villages it has to be at the village level. As per the Act, the FDs
have only a negligent role in the implementation process of the FRA. They are required merely to be
present with the FRCs during the verification stage. Even this presence is not mandatory according to
the rules, and will not imply on the decision of the FRC.

However, in total disregard to the Act, the FD is seen to be functioning as veto in denying rights to the
people, and by rejecting their claims at the screening stage itself (CSD 2010; GoI 2010; Writ Petition
2011). Hence, it could be said that though, ostensibly, this Act appears to be people-oriented, the final
shots are called by committees of bureaucrats, elected representatives, and the FD, which incidentally
was never in favour of this Act.
With regard to representation of women in the FRCs, there appears to be complete overlooking of their
share in most of the states, the usual story being inadequate or complete absence of women. Moreover,
the GSs are also being convened without their attendance (GoI 2010). All this is happening when the fact
is now well-established that women (about 60-70% (Gera 2002)) are the main contributors to the tribal
economy through MFP collection and sale

Community rights were expected to be equally in demand as individual rights because these rights would
provide secure livelihood avenues to the FDP through forest resources (Kothari 2011). However, the
ground reports suggest otherwise because people failed to take advantage of this provision to the fullest,
besides their fallacy of seeing land first before other rights. he reasons for the poor implementation
were: the FD threatened the communities with losing out on Joint Forest Management (JFM) funds if
they claimed rights on forest resources; the FDs indifferent approach in facilitating community claims.
More glaringly, the community also appeared to not own the responsibility for community resources
because, in many cases, they have open access to it. Moreover, they saw management of community
resources as the governments responsibility and not theirs
The laws most often overlap with the objectives of the FRA when the national and the state governments
use their authority to issue lands for development projects, overlooking the possible claims on such
lands (Kothari 2011). Such overriding authority gains strength because the Act remains subject to the
states eminent domain in the acquisition of lands in the name of development projects (Bose 2010).
Lack of awareness among the main stakeholders of the FRA is now a well-acknowledged fact, especially
in the wildlife protection areas where the extremely poor implementation was obvious because of the

vulnerability and poor awareness levels, .

In the case of Other Traditional Forest Dwellers, having to prove their residency for three generations, or
their using the forest for 75 years, appears to discourage them from their rights through this pungent
criterion.

Amendment to ST (Recognition of Rights) Rules, 2012

1. Lay down a procedure for identification or hamlets or settlements and process of consolidation of
their lists.
2. Increase the mandatory tribal membership of Forest Rights Committees from the present onethirds to two-thirds.
3. Reduce the present requirement of quorum of two-thirds in the gram sabha meetings to one-half.
4. Clarify that the term sustenance includes fulfillment of livelihood needs of self and family,
including the sale of any produce.
5. Allow transportation of minor forest produce within and outside forest area.
6. Lay down process for recognition of rights, including community rights.
Niyamgiri
Affirming the decision-making power of the village councils of Rayagada and Kalahandi under the Forest
Rights Act (FRA), the court directed these gram sabhas to take a decision...within three months on
any claims of cultural, religious, community and individual rights that the forest dwellers of the region
may have. the question whether STs [Scheduled Tribes] and other TFDs [traditional forest dwellers], like
Dongria Kondh, Kutia Kandha and others, have got any religious rights i.e. rights of worship over the
Niyamgiri hills, known as Nimagiri, near Hundaljali, which is the hill top known as Niyam-Raja, have to be
considered by the Gram Sabha,. Gram Sabha can also examine whether the proposed mining area
Niyama Danger, 10 km away from the peak, would in any way affect the abode of Niyam-Raja. Needless
to say, if the BMP [bauxite mining project], in any way, affects their religious rights...that right has to be
preserved and protected. Once the gram sabhas have made their decision, the court gave the Ministry of
Environment and Forests (MoEF) a further two months to take a final decision on granting a forest
clearance for the bauxite mining project.
In particular, by sending the matter back to the gram sabha because a key matter has not been placed
before it for its active consideration the court is treating the gram sabha as a statutory, legal authority at
the same rank as, say, the forest advisory committee or MoEF. The Bench also made it clear that the
FRA protects a wide range of rights of forest dwellers and STs including the customary rights to use
forest land as a community forest resource and not restricted merely to property rights or to areas of
habitation.
The Supreme Court's decision to let gram sabhas decide the fate of Vedanta's Niyamgiri mining project
will make it difficult for the government to divert forest land for industry without the consent of tribals and
local population. The apex court's ruling on Thursday puts gram sabhas or village assemblies virtually at
par with statutory and regulatory bodies, and gives a broader prism of rights to indigenous communities
by defining the Forest Rights Act as more than just heritable property rights.
This will make it difficult for the government to move ahead with its plans to limit the say of gram sabhas
in diversion of forestland for industrial use. In an effort to speed up industrial projects, a panel headed by
the Prime Minister's Office in December last year had recommended that the rights of gram sabhas
under the Forest Rights Act, making their prior consent mandatory, should be watered down to operate
only in cases of exception.
The ruling linked the constitutional provision for the protection of Scheduled Tribes as enshrined in Article
224 with protection of religious rights under Articles 25 and 26 and the Forest Rights Act.

The Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Area) Act, 1996

1. It is very important because it seeks to strengthen local self-governing institutions. It brings the
Gram Sabha at the centre-stage.
2. Gram Sabha has the power to manage community assets like water bodies, wastelands, and
minor forest produce.
3. It vests with the Gram Sabha the power to approve implementation of development plans and to
verify their implementation. It gives the Gram Sabhas the power to ratify the decisions of the
Panchayats. The Gram Sabha will have control over institutions and functionaries connected with
local area planning.
4. The Gram Sabha is made the custodian of traditions, culture,identity and customary mode of
dispute resolution.
5. Reservation for the STs shall not be less than 50% and that all seats of Chairpersons of
Panchayats at all levels will be reserved.
6. The powers of the Gram Sabha could be divided into the following three categories:1. Functions and responsibilities where the approval of the Village Gram Sabha is
compulsory: (i) Approval of plans, programmes and projects for social and economic
development (before they are taken up for implementation). (ii) Identification/selection of
beneficiaries under anti-poverty/other programmes. (iii) Grant of certification of utilization of
funds to Panchayats.
2. Functions and responsibilities which require compulsory consultation with the Gram
Sabha: (i) acquisition of land for development projects, (ii) resettlement/rehabilitation of
displaced persons.
3. Functions where prior recommendation of the Gram Sabha is necessary: (i) grant of
exploration license and mining lease for minor minerals, (ii) grant of concession for the
exploitation of minor minerals by auction.
7. Gram Sabha has powers with regard to enforcement of prohibition, ownership of minor forest
produce, preventing land alienation, management of village markets, money lending.
8. Provision of any law relating to Panchayats which is inconsistent with PESA will cease to operate
after one year of its enactment.
9. The higher level Panchayats in Scheduled Areas in no case should marginalize the Gram Sabhas
by assuming their power and authority
Issues with PESA
1. PESA is an indicative legislation.
1. It lays down certain guidelines whose implementation depends on the States which has
been generally tardy.
2. The provisions of PESA have been highly diluted in the process of ratification by the States
and most of the powers of the Gram Sabha have been given to the district administration or
to the Zilla Parishad.
3. It may be useful to link performance in this regard with allocation of untied grants to the
states.
4. If any State does not implement the provisions of PESA in letter and spirit, the GoI should
issue specific directions to it under the constitution.
2. Poor awareness.
1. The tribal population is not aware of the provisions of the Act. If they are made aware of the
provisions of PESA, it would result in greater participation.
3. Land related provisions.
1. PESA had specifically provided for prevention of alienation of land. It asked the State
Legislatures not to make any law which is inconsistent with the objective of preventing
alienation of tribal land.
2. It had empowered every Gram Sabha to prevent alienation of land in the Scheduled Areas

and to take appropriate action to restore any unlawfully alienated land of the Scheduled
Tribe.
3. Paradoxically it has been indiscriminately used to promote industrial development at the
expense of tribals via fraudulent gram sabha hearings and manipulation by local power
lobbies.
4. A forum should be established at the central level to monitor its implementation at the
ground level.
4. The 5th Schedule requires the Governor of every State to send an annual report, but this
requirement is not being met regularly. This should be given due importance. Such reports should
be published and placed in the public domain.
5. PESA required all conflicting laws to become invalid after 1 year of its notification. But in practice
these laws are being still followed by the state government machinery. Similarly there are large
number of union legislations and schemes which need to be harmonised with the provision of
PESA.
6. In tribal areas, though, the society and economy is closely woven around womenfolk, their
involvement at the Gram Sabha level is minimal. There is need to make suitable provisions in the
Rules making it mandatory that the quorum of a Gram Sabha meeting would be acceptable only
when out of the members present, at least 33% are women.
The Tribal Sub-plan (TSP)
1. TSP has been around for many decades but its planning and implementation have been weak.
2. A major reason is that qualified personnel are reluctant to work in tribal areas. For government
employees, a posting in these areas is considered to be a punishment.
3. The situation is further compounded by lack of data; there has been little attempt in the past to
have an impact assessment made.
4. Then there is the issue of extremism.
Rehabilitation Issues
New National Rehabilitation and Resettlement (R&R) Policy, 2007
1. Land-for-land, to the extent Government land would be available in the resettlement areas.
Preference in land-for-land for STs followed by SCs.
2. Preference for employment in the project to at least one person from each nuclear family, subject
to the availability of vacancies and suitability of the affected persons.
3. Training and capacity building for self-employment.
4. Scholarships for education of eligible persons.
5. Preference to groups of the affected persons in the allotment of contracts and other economic
opportunities in or around the project site.
6. Wage employment to the willing in the construction work in the project.
7. Housing benefits.
8. Tribal Development Plan will include a programme for development for alternate fuel and also for
minor forest produce resources.
9. Consultations with Gram Sabhas and Tribal Councils.
10. A grievance redressal mechanism to be established.
11. Land acquired for a public purpose cannot be transferred to any other purpose but a public
purpose.
Recommendations for Improvement in Rehabilitation in India
1. There is a need to introduce the concept of benefit-sharing in India.
2. The Land Acquisition Act is still based on the concept of cash compensation. The old concept of
paying compensation based on the market value of land should be replaced with assessing the

true value of land for all those who depend on it and then compensating them adequately.
3. A new legislation must be brought that apart from laying down norms of fair compensation also
incorporates the principles of income-sharing and creation of a resettlement development fund.
4. Compensation should not be confined only to the title holders of land but should include all those
who derived sustenance from the land.
Special Economic Zones
1. SEZs are land grabs only.
1. SEZ policy in India has led to displacement, loss of agricultural land and real estate
speculation. It has led to a scramble among developers to grab cheap agricultural land and
little attention has been paid to achieving the real objective of promoting industrial activities.
2. While China had permitted a limited number of very large sized SEZs, in India hundreds of
SEZs have been approved including some that are only 10 hectares in size. These are
essentially for real estate speculation only.
3. The 25% requirement on processing activity in SEZs has also been criticised as too little
since it would lead to speculative real estate activity rather than job creating manufacturing
activities.
4. The tax breaks in SEZs which can continue for 15 years will lead to revenue loss and not
create much extra capacity as the existing industries will simply relocate to the SEZs.
5. Acquiring land for SEZs cannot be termed as a public purpose.
6. Compensation must follow income sharing approach.
Linkages Between Organized Crime and Terrorism
Various Security Forces and Agencies
The Defence Procurement Policy, 2013
1. Lays down the preferred order for defence procurement
1. Buy (Indian): The buy (Indian) mode is the one in which procurement is done directly
from a domestic firm and is expected to boost local production.
2. Buy and make (Indian): Make means making in the public sector. Its procedures have
been simplified and cases would be cleared quickly.
3. Make.
4. Buy, make with transfer of technology.
5. Buy (global): This is the hitherto prevalent mode and means purchasing in entirety from a
global original equipment manufacturer. It would now be the least preferred.
2. Level playing field between DPSUs and the private defense companies
1. An advantage that DPSUs have over private sector has been the MoDs nomination of
selected DPSUs as the recipients of Maintenance Transfer of Technology from foreign
vendors in major acquisitions.
2. Now this system of nomination will be done away with and the winning vendor will have a
free choice to tie up with a firm of its own choice private or public for the MToT.
3. Clear definition of Indigenous Content: The Indigenous Content has now been defined in more
specific terms, providing requisite clarity. Self certification by vendors will be accepted.
4. Expediting defence procurements: The proposed amendments now stipulate that the SQR will
be frozen before the AON has been granted the stage at which the government gives a service
the go ahead to start a procurement project. Further, the validity period of AON has also been

reduced from two years to one year. This has been done to reduce the time gap that large
defense procurements generally suffer from. Together, these measures are expected to expedite
the acquisition process and increase transparency.
5. Enhanced delegation of financial powers: The financial powers of the service chiefs and the
defence procurement board have been increased.
6. Advance consultations with the industry: Indian defense companies will get access to the
militarys long-term equipment road map, providing them with the time needed for developing the
equipment that the military needs in the future. Militarys 15-year Long-Term Integrated
Perspective Plan (LTIPP) will be shared with them.
7. It explicitly defines items which need a defense items. Dual use items will not require license.
SWOT Analysis for Indian Private Sector
The Indian private sector needs to work a lot to achieve the desirable quality and scale. But there exist
many obstacles for it.
1. Adverse policy and regulatory environment.
2. Lack of level playing field with DPSUs.
3. Lack of a manufacturing ecosystem.
4. Distorted monopsonistic defence market.
5. An ambiguous defence offset policy.
6. Poor investment in R&D.
7. Large capex requirements coupled with long gestation periods.

A positive for the private sector is the large market size available to it.
Next Steps for Government
1. Encouraging defence production ecosystems within the upcoming NIMZ, especially for dual use
technologies.
2. Using the defence offset policy to encourage joint ventures by offering additional multipliers on
their discharge of offset obligations.

FDI in Defence
1. Opposing the FDI
1. Defence sector must be the monopoly of the defence public sector undertakings.
2. Relaxing the ceiling would make the Indian defence sector hostage to foreign companies,
jeopardising our national security.
2. Supporting the FDI

1. No large nation is so dependent on imports as India is. The so called indigenous defence
industry is non existent, has been non existent for the past 60 years. Any continuation of
the same policies based on above arguments given by FDI opposition will keep our
country perpetually dependent on imports.
2. Higher imports hurt our security more than higher foreign equity of some defence
companies may.
3. To develop even the indigenous private sector capabilities an ecosystem needs to be
created. The technology and competition accompanying the higher FDI will only help in
creating such ecosystem. The JVs will give requisite experience to the domestic players
to develop their own capabilities as well. Brazil has done this successfully through
liberalization of its defence sector.
4. 26% FDI is too small to attract major players. 26% equity holding only lets them block
special resolutions. It does not give them the freedom to appoint directors. It also limits
the profit of such companies. Why then should a company transfer technology and create
competition for the parent companies?
3. What needs to be done?
1. Have no limit on FDI. Vary the limit on a case-to-case basis depending on what a
company may be proposing to establish in India. If the technology is necessary to fill
critical gaps in Indian technology, allow even 100% and impose conditions such as the
hiring of Indian engineers and sourcing components indigenously. This would help the
development of ancillary industries.
2. Assure continuing orders for a decade or so in the form of repeat orders. Impose
conditions necessitating technology upgradation when they are available with the parent
company.
3. Encourage the firms to gradually transfer their holdings to Indian firms.

Aircraft Carriers Launch Technologies

Short Tak e Off and Vertical Landing (STOVL)
1. It uses aircrafts which are capable of landing and taking off just like helicopters. Currently being
used in INS Virat and an old technology.
Short Tak e Off But Arrested Recovery (STOBAR)
1. Used in Admiral Gorshkov and INS Vikrant (planned 1st indigenous aircraft carrier). Aircrafts will
fly off an inclined ramp and land with the help of arrester wires like a hook on the fighters tail.
Catapult Assisted Tak e Off But Arrested Recovery (CATOBAR)
1. To be used in INS Vishal (which will follow the Vikrant). This has a steam-driven piston system
catapulting the aircraft to get airborne. With greater steam pressure, significantly heavier aircraft
can be launched.

Electro-Magnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS)

1. It uses a new-generation catapult which has a powerful electro-magnetic field instead of steam. It
can launch still heavier aircrafts, AEWs and drones. EMALS causes less wear and tear on
carrier-launched aircraft since electric power can be delivered more accurately than steam.
2. It also launches aircraft quicker; requires less personnel to operate; and its high acceleration
allows launches in still conditions, when STOBAR aircraft carriers must sail at 20-30 knots to
generate wind-over-deck, needed to create the lift required for take off.

Cabinet Committee on Security

1. It is chaired by the PM and the members are ministers of defence, home, finance and external
affairs.
National Security Council (created in 1998)
1. It is the highest body that deals with country's political, economic, energy and strategic security.
2. It has the National Security Advisor (NSA) who is its functional head. He directly reports to the
PM and advises on internal and external security issues.
3. RAW and IB give their reports to the NSA who then briefs the PM.
4. Its other members are defence minister, external affairs minister, internal affairs minister, finance
minister, deputy chairman of PC and any other minister as per the requirement is called.
5. It is divided into 3 parts
1. Strategic Policy Group: It has a large number of members and is the main nucleus of
those who deliberate and develop the policies on security matters. Cabinet Secretary,
Chairman of CBDT, chief of the 3 forces, home secretary, defence secretary, governor
RBI, heads of all intelligence agencies are all members of it.
2. National Security Advisory Board: These are the people who are experts in various fields.
They may not be government servants but can analyze various threats and provide input
to the NSA.
3. Joint Intelligence Committee: It receives all information inputs from IB, RAW and the 3
armed forces intelligence.
Army Structure
1. Command (based on geographical regions) --> Corps --> Division --> Brigade --> Battalion -->
Company --> Platoon (30 soldiers) --> Sections.
Naval Structure
1. Vizag is an important naval base because our submarines are located there.
Strategic Force Command
1. Nuclear assets and delivery mechanisms are managed by the Nuclear Command Authority under
which the Strategic Force Command comes under.
2. Nuclear Command Authority is the policy directive arm (civil authorities) of the SFC.
3. SFC is headed by an Airforce officer but may come under rotation system.
Space Command
Cyber Command

Special Force Command

Civilian Control on Defence Forces
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Top structure is civilian.

All the ordnance depots are manned and controlled by the civilians.
DRDO is controlled by civilians.
Defence production is also headed by civilian authorities.
Defence budget is also decided by the civilian authorities. Defence accounts are also headed by the
civilian authorities. Defence land is also controlled by the civilian authorities (Defence Forces
Estates Services). Armed Forces Headquarters Service is also a civilian bureaucracy.
6. The highest level where the 3 defence chiefs meet without any civilian representation is the CoSC
level. Beyond this all committees have civilian representation.
7. Power of the civil authorities to call defence forces for help under certain circumstances.
Role of Defence Forces in Aid to Civil Power
1. This is a statutory power given to civilian authorities (to call defence forces for help). But once
called in, all operations are commanded by the defence forces only.
2. Civilian authority can seek any help from the troops under following circumstances:
1. To maintain law and order.
2. To maintain essential services.
3. To assist the civilian authority during natural calamities.
4. Any other assistance that may be asked for by the competent civilian authority.
3. Principles governing calling the defence forces by the civilian authorities:
1. Principle of necessity. The necessity should be such that it demands calling of the armed
forces.
2. Principle of minimal force. In case there is a threat and a force has to be applied, then
minimum sufficient force should be used.
3. Principle of impartiality. When the troops are called in, they shall function in an impartial
manner. Can't be called to quell political protests as the Egyptian army demonstrated.
4. Principle of good faith. No malafide intention in calling the defence forces.
Role of Defence Forces in UN Peace Keeping Force
Role of Defence Forces in Internal Security
AFSPA, 1958
Provisions
1. AFSPA provides armed forces extensive powers including:
1. Shooting to kill merely on grounds of suspicion and search and arrest without warrant on
suspicion only.
2. Destroying the arms stores, hideouts, shelters, training camps on suspicion only.
3. Any person arrested and taken into custody shall be handed over to the officer in-charge of
the nearest police station at the soonest.
2. It was intended to give immunity to armed forces during their operations against any genuine
mistakes. However it has been misused extensively in Kashmir even outside their duty.
3. Criminal proceedings against Armed Forces personnel can only be carried out on the permission of
Defence Ministry and that against the para-military personnel can be carried out on the permission
of the Home Ministry.
Disturbed Areas Act (DAA)
1. Only the parliament has the power to declare any territory as "disturbed" though in Kashmir both
the Governor and the President have this power. The constitutionality of the act was challenged

before the SC in a Nagaland case. SC rejected the contention of arbitrariness by saying that for
declaring any area as "disturbed area", there must exist a grave situation of law and order. The
other conditions under which it is invoked are:
1. The scale of unrest is to big and the local administration and the police force must have
failed to tackle the issue.
2. A withdrawal of the central forces from the disturbed area will lead to the return of the
miscreants.
2. Disturbed Areas Act (DAA) was enacted in 1990 was initially extended to Kashmir valley. AFSPA
was also extended to fight militancy. Later various districts of Jammu were brought under it too.
3. The extension of this Act is subject to judicial review. But the acts done by Army under the AFSPA
remain immune even if DAA is revoked.
Proposed Amendments
1. Establishing a proper grievance redressal mechanism to investigate genuine complaints.
2. Power to arrest without warrant to be taken away.
3. Immunity can't be invoked if death was due to armed forces opening fire first.
SC Judgement on AFSPA
1. It addressed the issue of need for sanction to prosecute Army officers under AFSPA. CBI claimed
that the people who were killed were indeed victims of fake encounters. The CBI moved the court
to initiate prosecution against the accused Army officers. The officers claimed that they could only
be prosecuted with the prior sanction (permission) of the central government. It must be noted
that Army officers can be tried either before criminal courts or through court-martial. The Army
officers had appealed that both procedures require prior sanction of the government.
2. The judgment reiterated an earlier ruling. It held that sanction would not be required in all cases
to prosecute an official. The officer only enjoys immunity from prosecution in cases when he has
acted in exercise of powers conferred under the Act. There should be reasonable nexus
between the action and the duties of the official. The Court cited the following example to highlight
this point: If in a raid, an officer is attacked and he retaliates, his actions can be linked to a lawful
discharge of duty. Even if there were some miscalculations in the retaliation, his actions cannot
be labeled to have some personal motive. The Court held that the AFSPA empowers the central
government to ascertain if an action is reasonably connected with the discharge of official duty
and is not a misuse of authority.
3. At what stage is sanction required? The Court ruled that under the AFSPA sanction is mandatory.
But, the need to seek sanction would only arise at the time of cognizance of the offence.
Cognizance is the stage when the prosecution begins. Sanction is therefore not required during
investigation.
4. The Court ruled that there is no requirement of sanction for court-martial. If the Army decides on
proceedings before the criminal court, the government will have three months to determine to
grant or withhold sanction.
Para-military Forces
The Assam Rifles
1. It is under the MoIA but functionally it is under the Indian Army. Its headquarters is in Shillong.
2. Their mandate is to manage the border in Myanmar, anti - drug trafficking and intelligence
gathering.
Special Frontier Force

1. It was created after the Chinese aggression in 1962. It is a special force based in Uttarakhand
(HQ at Chakrata). It was earlier under IB and later on shifted under RAW. For day to day
functioning, it is a part of the army.
2. The complete SFF is specialized in para-trooping activities. Their area of specialization is
parachutes, jungle warfare, unconventional warfare, mountain and arctic warfare, amphibious
warfare. The entire force is airborne.
3. Its mandate is:
1. Spatial reconnaissance i.e. going deep behind the enemy lines to gather intelligence.
2. They can fight directly against aggression.
3. They are trained in rescue operations and hostage situations.
4. Counter terrorism.
Indian Coast Guard
1. Although it falls under MIA, it functions under the Indian Navy. It is tasked with safety of the
coasts, guarding our EEZ, controlling marine pollution, illegal immigration, human and narcotics
trafficking, controlling illegal movement of foreign vessels. It is commanded by a naval officer.
Central Police Forces
NSA
Few Terms
Few Current Topics
Mandate
Issues

Gov er nance and P ol i ty

No t e b o o k:
Cre at e d :

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URL:

file:///

Separation of Powers Between Various Organs

Up d at e d :

5/12/2014 2:57 PM

Electoral Reforms
Party Funding
1. Allow open contributions to individual candidates. Currently, our laws allow people to contribute
to parties and not individual candidates. This only results in centralising the control of party funds
and weakening the connection between citizen and candidate.
2. Low limits ignore the numerous legitimate expenses associated with campaigning.
1. In the private sector, a marketing campaign aiming to reach 20 lakh people may cost at
least Rs 100 per person. But to reach 20 lakh voters, politicians cannot spend more than
Rs 2 per voter!
2. Therefore, across the board, parties have tried to cope by favouring candidates with black
money and the networks and capability to expend those resources.

CBI Autonomy Affidavit

1. Executive interference
1. Accountability Commission: A 3-member Accountability Commission of retired Supreme
Court judges to act as an independent ombudsman to examine complaints against it.
CVC will be its ex-officio member. It will insulate the CBIs probe from external influence
and may also oversee its investigation in certain circumstances. It will be mandated to
inquire into allegations of misbehavior, impropriety against CBI officers including the
director.
2. Director of Prosecution: The director of prosecution, who reports to the law minister, will
continue to have the powers to scrutinize CBI chargesheet once the investigation is over.
He will be responsible for prosecution of CBI cases and will continue to be appointed by
the Centre on the recommendation of a selection committee headed by the CVC. The
other members of the committee will be the DoPT secretary, home secretary and law
secretary. The CBI director will be the member-convener of the committee.
3. CVC would have the power of superintendence and administration over the CBI for cases
to be probed under the PoCA. The Centre would be vested with the power in other
matters.
2. Sanction
1. Proposal
1. It would be examined only by a committee of secretaries, including Secretary
(Personnel), CVC, Secretary of the ministry concerned. It will give a decision
within 90 days post which sanction would be deemed given.
2. The order regarding sanction would also contain in detail the reasons behind the
decision as well.
2. Current practice
1. The matter is first examined by the minister concerned and, after his refusal,
comes to the committee of secretaries (not including the CVC). Now ministers will
be kept out of it.
2. There is no time limit for the grant / rejection of sanctions.
3. CBI director
1. Proposal
1. He would be appointed through a collegium consisting of the Prime Minister, the
Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and the Chief Justice of India.
2. His tenure would be a minimum of 2 years and he will not be transfered without the
consent of this collegium.
3. Only the President would have the authority to remove or suspend the director, on
a reference by the CVC for misbehavior or incapacity.
2. Current practice
1. A committee comprising the CVC, VCs, MIA secretary, and Public Grievances
secretary takes into consideration the views of the outgoing director and then
recommends a panel of eligible IPS officers. The centre then picks one of the
names.
4. Financial powers of the CBI Director
1. They would be increased at par with those of the head of the CRPF director general.

Separation of Powers: Legislature vs Executive

Office of Profit

1. Constitutional scheme
1. Legislators can't hold any office of profit under the government other than an office
declared by the legislature by law not to disqualify its holder.
2. The underlying idea was to obviate a conflict of interest between executive duties and
legislative functions. The principle is that such a person cannot exercise his functions
independently of the executive.
2. Misuse in India
1. In countries like Britain, such fusion of executive and legislature is not, by and large,
leading to corruption or patronage. That is because such a political culture has been
evolved there.
2. In our case, public office is perceived to be an extension of ones property. That is why,
sometimes, public offices are a source of huge corruption and a means of extending
patronage.
3. Constitutional provisions relating to office of profit have been violated in spirit over the
years even when the letter is adhered to. Legislatures kept on expanding the list of
exemptions from disqualification only to protect holders of certain offices from time to
time.
3. Recommendations
1. Often, the crude criterion applied is whether or not the office carries a remuneration. But
the real criteria should be whether executive authority is exercised by the office or not.
2. Committees of a purely advisory nature can be constituted with legislators irrespective of
the remuneration and perks associated with such an office.
3. But appointment in statutory or non-statutory executive authorities including positions on
the governing boards of public undertakings with direct decision making powers
undoubtedly violate separation of powers.
4. If a serving Minister, by virtue of office, is a member of certain organizations like the
Planning Commission, where close coordination and integration with the executive is vital,
it shall not be treated as office of profit.
MPLADS Scheme
1. The argument advanced that legislators do not directly handle public funds under these
schemes, as these are under the control of the District Magistrate is flawed. In fact, no Minister
directly handles public money. Even the officials do not personally handle cash, except the
treasury officials and disbursing officers.
2. Making day-to-day decisions on expenditure after the legislature has approved the budget, is a
key executive function.
3. These funds should have actually gone to the PRIs.

Dispute Resolution Mechanisms and Instiutions

Judiciar y
Structure and Organization
Functioning

Judicial Reforms
Audio Recording of Court Proceedings
1. Argument is it could lead to swifter dispensation of justice.
2. If the government is able to provide the necessary infrastructure, then there is no problem. But

doing so would be a big challenge.

3. Sometimes arguments in a single case go on for days. Recording such lengthy arguments, will
it help?
4. Quality of audio recording is also an issue. So perhaps it should serve as a secondary tool and
primary should remain the stenos.
Gag on Judges' Observations in the Judicial (Standards and Accountability) Bill
1. Sometimes, in order to elicit a good answer from the counsel, the judge may pose several
questions. That does not mean that the judge is casting aspersions. The effort is only to get the
correct answer from the counsel.
2. The SC is trying to convey to the subordinate judiciary that the judge has to be interactive. Such
a gag order goes against the spirit.
3. Unless a judge expresses his views, how will the arguing counsel know whether or not the judge
is accepting his arguments.
4. The interaction between the judge and the counsel is not the decision of the judge. There is no
need to flash news on the basis of what the judge observes in court. What is needed is media
code of conduct.
Issue of Judicial Overreach
1. When Parliament passes a law, somebody may approach a court and then the court has to see
if the law is constitutional.
2. If there is no legislation on a particular subject, the court can suggest certain guidelines (for
example, Vishakha guidelines).
3. This perception is growing because of the cases of alleged scams that are coming before the
courts.
On the Collegium
1. Names of kith and kin of sitting and retired judges are routinely recommended.
1. Once the collegium makes its recommendation, the matter goes to the government,
which can question any name and seek reconsideration. The only thing is such objection
must not be due to politics.
2. Extraneous considerations such as caste, religion, political considerations, personal quid pro
quo have crept into the system.
3. The system is opaque, no one outside knows what criteria are there for selection.
4. The real issue is not who appoints the judges but how they are appointed. Irrespective of whether
it is the executive, the judiciary or a commission, as long as the process is opaque and
appointments are made on personal considerations, we will continue to have variations of the
same problems. The crucial need is to evolve objective criteria and usher in transparency in the
process.
5. Data relating to members of the judiciary seeking elevation to higher judiciary should be available
online, available to the public.
6. We can follow a version of the UK system where all assessment criteria are well defined and
assessment is evidence based. If there is not enough evidence to support a person's
candidature, he/she is not considered.
The Judicial Appointments Commission Bill, 2013
Establishment and composition of Commission
1. The Commission shall be chaired by the CJI and shall comprise of two other senior most Judges
of the Supreme Court, the Union Minister for Law, and two eminent persons to be nominated by

the collegium.
2. The collegium comprises the Prime Minister, the CJI and Leader of Opposition of the Lok Sabha.
The eminent members will retain membership for a three year period and are not eligible for re
nomination.
Functions of Commission
1. Its mandate includes recommending persons for appointment as Chief Justice of India and
transfers of all judges.
2. The procedure for recommendation with respect to appointment of High Court Judges includes
eliciting views of the Governor, Chief Minister and Chief Justice of High Court of the concerned
state, in writing.
Reference to Commission for filling up of vacancies
1. Upon the arising of a vacancy in the High Court and Supreme Court, references to the
Commission shall be made by the Central Government.
1. In the case of vacancy due to the completion of term, reference shall be made two
months prior to the date of occurrence of vacancy.
2. In the case of vacancy due to the death, resignation, reference shall be made within a
period of two months from the date of occurrence of vacancy.
The Constitution (One Hundred and Twentieth
Amendment) Bill, 2013
1. The Bill seeks to enable equal participation of Judiciary and Executive, make the appointment
process more accountable and ensure greater transparency and objectivity in the appointments
to the higher judiciary.
2. Amendment of 124 (2)
1. Providing for appointment of Judges to the higher judiciary, by the President, after
consultation with Judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts in the states.
3. Insertion of new article 124A to provide for
1. Parliament to make a law that provides the manner of appointment to higher judiciary.
2. Judicial Appointments Commission to be setup.
3. JAC law to lay down the following features of the Commission: (i) the composition, (ii) the
appointment, qualifications, conditions of service and tenure of the Chairperson and
Members, (iii) the functions, (iv) procedure to be followed, (v) other necessary matters.

Ministries and Departments of Government

Structure and Organization
Governance Reforms
Strengths of the Existing System
1. Time tested system: Adherence to rules and established norms, well developed institutions.
2. Stability: Permanent civil service has provided continuity and stability during the transfer of power
from one elected government to the other. This has contributed to the maturing of our
democracy.
3. Political neutrality: Many important institutions which are politically neutral have evolved.
4. National integration: Public servants working in Government of India as well as its attached and

subordinate offices have developed a national outlook transcending parochial boundaries. This
has contributed to strengthening national integration.
Weak nesses of the Existing System
1. Undue emphasis on routine functions: The Ministries are often unable to focus on their policy
analysis and policy making functions due to the large volume of routine work. This leads to
national priorities not receiving due attention.
2. Procedures and not outcomes are important.
3. Lack of separation of policy making, implementation and regulatory functions.
4. Proliferation of Ministries/Departments: The creation of a large number of Ministries and
Departments has led to illogical division of work and lack of an integrated approach even on
closely related subjects. Ministries often carve out exclusive turfs and tend to work in isolated
silos.
5. An extended hierarchy with too many levels: It leads to examination of issues at many levels
causing delays, corruption and lack of accountability.
6. Risk avoidance.
7. Absence of coordination.
8. Fragmentation of functions: There has been a general trend to divide and subdivide functions
making delivery of services inefficient and time-consuming.
Core Principles of Reforming Government Structure
1. Government should only focus on its core areas.
2. Decentralization based on the principle of subsidiarity.
3. Integration of functions and subjects. Subjects which are closely inter related should be dealt
with together.
4. Separation of policy making from implementation: Ministries should concentrate on policy
making while delegating the implementation to specialized agencies.
5. Agency based system: Improved coordination. Agency based system should be created.
6. Reducing hierarchies. This will improve efficiency and accountability.
7. Flatter organizational structure for enhanced team work.
8. Increasing inter-ministerial coordination: It would also be unrealistic to expect for curtailment in
the size of the Council of Ministers in an era of coalition politics. Instead, a more pragmatic
approach would be to retain the existing size but increase the level of coordination among the
departments by providing for a senior Cabinet Minister to head each of the 20-25 closely related
Departments. Individual departments or any combination of these could be headed as required
by the Coordinating/First Minister, other Cabinet Minister(s)/Minister(s) of State.

Functioning
Pressure Groups and Formal / Informal Associations
Their Role in Polity
Media Reforms
TRAI Regulations
1. It plans to recommend the creation of an institutional buffer between corporate owners and
newspaper management. This is to ensure that corporate ownership of media must be
separated from editorial management as the media serves public interest. There is no problem
with corporates investing in or owning media houses for profits. But the problem arises when the
corporate wants to abuse the media it controls to project a colored point of view for vested

interests. There is conflict of interest here.

2. TRAI will also suggest ways to restrict cross-media ownership in line with practices in most
other democracies. Certain media houses have interests in all forms television, print, and
radio which led to horizontal integration. TRAI is contemplating a two out of three rule,
whereby a media house could have interests in two of three mediums among print, TV or radio.

Statutory Bodies
Issues With Functioning of Statutory Commissions
Should Different Commissions be Merged with NHRC?
1. Idea is to merge all Commissions into a comprehensive Human Rights Commission with
separate Divisions for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Women and Children. Chairpersons
of the NCM, NCSC, NCST and NCW are members of NHRC for the discharge of various
functions except inquiring into a complaint.
2. Yes - merge them
1. Overlapping jurisdictions and duplication
Multiplicity of commissions leads problems of overlapping jurisdictions and even
duplication of efforts in dealing with complaints. Sometimes different commissions
may even contradict each other. Example is the clash between NCM and NHRC
on Assam riots.
To prevent overlapping jurisdictions and duplication, laws are there. For example,
NHRC cannot inquire into any matter which is pending before a State Commission
or any other Commission duly constituted under any law for the time being in
force.
But in the absence of networking and regular interaction between different
commissions, implementation of the law is difficult and duplication exists
especially at the preliminary stage.
There is a need to provide a more meaningful and continuous mode of interaction
between the various commissions - both at the national and the state levels.
Common electronic databases and networks should be created. Common
standards need to be defined.
3. No - don't merge
1. The existence of a different dedicated Commissions should enable each one of them to
look into specific complaints and areas thereby ensuring speedy action.
2. Merger in larger States and at the national level is impracticable and would fail to
adequately address the special problems of different disadvantaged groups. However,
such a merger may be possible in case of some of the smaller States.
Limited Capacity of the Commissions
1. These institutions are handicapped because they receive a very large number of complaints
while their capacity to deal with them is very limited.
2. These commissions have to depend upon the government to provide them with staff and funds.
The secretariat of these commissions is not under their control but under the executive's.
3. These commissions do not have adequate field staff, and mainly depends on temporary hires on
contract basis for their work.
Lack of Institutionalization

1. The chairpersons role has been crucial in deciding the focus of each successive commission.
Their functioning reflects the perception of the chairperson about their role.
2. No mechanisms have been developed to institutionalise the body and each successive
commission seems to be working more or less independent of the previous one.
1. For example, in NCW the work on the Domestic Violence Bill was started in 1992-93;
nothing was heard of it till the Annual Report of 1999-2000, which demanded a
comprehensive legislation on domestic violence without reference to earlier processes.
3. Their recommendations have been more protective and rehabilitative in nature with little
emphasis on the structural aspects. Any analysis of budgetary allocations has been sadly
lacking.
Process of Appointment
1. Clear and objective criteria are not laid down for the appointments to these commissions. Also
the appointments are solely the prerogative of the executive (except for NHRC and CVC where a
selection committee is there but it is dominated by the executive) with nobody outside knowing
on what basis such appointments were made.
2. Over time, it has been observed that most of the appointments are politically motivated. There
have also been issues like appointments of people with serious corruption allegations against
them. Activists with long track record of social work are not appointed while active politicians
are. This compromises on the autonomy.
Lack of Adequate Followup Mechanism on Recommendations
1. Lack of implementation powers
1. These Commissions can only make recommendations in their reports which are to be laid
before Parliament.
2. Naturally their effectiveness depends on the action taken on such recommendations.
2. Long delays in laying down the reports in the parliament
1. The recommendations of the report are circulated to the concerned offices by the nodal
ministry of the commission.
2. The comments furnished by them are included in the Action Taken Report, which is
placed before the Parliament indicating whether the recommendation is accepted or not
accepted and, if accepted, what action is being taken. If no final decision has been taken
on a particular recommendation, the comment inserted is that it is under consideration.
3. Thus there is time lag between submission of the reports by the Commissions and their
placement before the Parliament and quite sometime is taken in collecting comments of
concerned government agencies. The time lag in case of National Commission for SCs
and STs is as long as three years.
3. Government apathy towards the recommendations
1. Usually on the recommendations radically divergent from status quo, the bureaucratic
tendency is to deflect or reject it. They don't even mention the grounds for rejection in
detail.
4. Parliamentary apathy towards the reports
1. By getting the reports laid down in the parliament, the idea was that during the discussion
on the report, some MPs may raise the question of non-acceptance of important
recommendations. The matter may even be picked up by the Media or civil society which
may also build up public opinion for its acceptance.
2. But the reality is that reports do not come up for discussion at all. This is partly because
by the time reports are submitted with ATRs, they are dated and at times lose their
contextual relevance.
3. There is need for creating a separate Parliamentary Standing Committee for deliberating
on the reports of these Commissions.

The National Human Rights Commission

Powers & Functions
1. Inquiry powers
1. To inquire, suo motu or on the basis of a petition or on a direction of a court, into a
complaint of human rights violation.
2. With regard to inquiries into complaints, it has similar powers of a civil court i.e. summon
attendance, require production of any document and ask for oaths. Proceedings before it
are deemed to be judicial proceedings.
3. Additionally, it can require any person to furnish information in relation to the inquiry.
4. It has search and seizure powers.
5. It can take aid of any government agency for its investigations upon their concurrence.
6. As an outcome of its investigation, it can recommend to the concerned government to pay
compensation to the victim and/or to initiate prosecution proceedings against the offender.
2. To intervene in any human rights case pending before a court. It may also approach the SC and
the HCs for relief.
3. To visit any jail or any other state institutions to see the living conditions of the inmates and make
recommendations.
4. To review the constitutional and legal safeguards for human rights and make recommendations.
5. To review the factors that inhibit human rights and make recommendations.
6. To study international treaties on human rights and make recommendations.
7. To promote human rights research.
8. To spread human rights awareness.
9. To encourage NGOs working for human rights.
Composition
1. The members are selected by a selection committee comprising of PM, speaker and deputy
chairman, home minister, leaders of opposition in HoP and CoS.
2. It consists of a retired CJI as chairman, a serving or retired judge of SC as member, one serving or
retired chief justice of a high court, 2 eminent people having knowledge and experience in human
rights, chairpersons of minorities commission, SC commission, ST commission and women
commission.
3. A NHRC chairman or a member can't be removed unless the president dismisses them on
grounds of proved misbehavior ascertained by SC after the president asks it to conduct an
enquiry.
Positive Points of NHRC
1. Easy accessibility to the Commission. Anyone can approach NHRC through telephone, letter,
application, mobile phone or internet. All the documents, reports, newsletters, speeches, etc. of
the Commission are also available on this website.
2. NHRC has worked immensely to create awareness among public through seminars, workshops,
lectures, literature, NGOs. The rising number of complaints on human rights violations only proves
the fact that awareness is growing about NHRC.
3. The Commission has succeeded in getting the human rights education included in the curriculum.
4. Many recommendations made by NHRC have been implemented by the public authorities. These
include bonded and child labor, narco analysis, mental health, manual scavenging, endosulfan,
rights of physically challenged etc.

5. The Commission has been instrumental in persuading states to set up Human Rights
Commissions and twenty states have set up the State Human Rights Commissions.
Negative Points of NHRC (UN Panel)
1. The lack of pluralism in its composition: There is dominance of the judiciary in its composition.
The UN panel rejected the suggestion that such restrictions were justified because of the quasi
judicial functions performed by the NHRC. Pointing out that this is "but one of the 10 functions"
enumerated in the NHRC law.
2. Lack of independent investigation: 2 key posts in the NHRC secretary general and director
general of investigations would have to be filled by those who come on deputation from within
the government. Complaints given to the NHRC were entrusted to the police which either didn't
investigate at all or investigated after substantial delay and in a biased manner.
3. Little engagement with human rights defenders.
4. Lack of independence: The NHRC is currently required to report to the Ministry of Home Affairs.
There are serious question marks over the selection process.
The National Minorities Commission
Composition
1. It consists of a Chairperson, a Vice Chairperson and five Members to be nominated by the Central
Government from amongst persons of eminence; provided that five Members including the
Chairperson shall be from amongst the minority communities.
Powers and Functions
1. To review the constitutional and legal safeguards for minorities and make recommendations.
2. Inquiry powers
1. To inquire, suo motu or on the basis of a petition or on a direction of a court, into a
complaint of human rights violation.
2. With regard to inquiries into complaints, it has similar powers of a civil court i.e. summon
attendance, require production of any document and ask for oaths. Proceedings before it
are deemed to be judicial proceedings.
3. Additionally, it can require any person to furnish information in relation to the inquiry.
4. It has search and seizure powers.
5. It can take aid of any government agency for its investigations upon their concurrence.
6. As an outcome of its investigation, it can recommend to the concerned government to pay
compensation to the victim and/or to initiate prosecution proceedings against the offender.
Specific Constitutional Safeguards for Minorities
1. Art 29 (1): Right of any section of the citizens to conserve its distinct language, script or culture.
2. Art 29 (2): Restriction on denial of admission to any citizen, to any educational institution
maintained or aided by the State, on grounds only of religion, race, caste, language or any of
them.
3. Art 30 (1): Right of all minorities, whether based on religion or language, to establish and
administer educational institutions of their choice.
1. They are exempted from the admission policies of the state even if aided.
2. They are exempted from RTE.
4. Art 30 (2): Freedom from discrimination on the ground that any educational institution is under the
management of a minority, in the matter of receiving aid from the State.
5. Art 31: If any land is taken from a minority institution, then full compensation is payable.
6. Art 347: Special provision relating to the language spoken by a section of the population of any

State.
7. Art 350 A: Provision for facilities for instruction in the mother-tongue at primary stage.
8. Art 350 B: Special Officer for Linguistic Minorities.
National Commission for Women
Composition
1. It consists of a chairperson and 5 members of eminence (all appointed by government) and at
least one will be from SC and one from ST.
Powers & Functions
1. It monitors working of safeguards and laws for women and make recommendations.
2. It investigates complaints (including suo moto). While investigating it has all the powers of a civil
court i.e. summoning presence, requiring production of evidence, ask for oaths and affidavits.
3. It inspects jail and other state institutions to see the condition of women inmates and make
recommendations.
4. It funds litigation in issues involving large number of women.
5. Its reports are laid down before parliament (state legislature if a state is concerned) along with
explanation on action taken and reasons of non-acceptance.
6. To promote awareness on women issues.
7. To promote research on women issues.
8. To encourage NGOs working on women issues.
9. The NCW is to be consulted by the government on all important policy issues concerning women.
It is to participate and advise in the planning process on issues concerning women.
Report Card of NCW Functioning (apart from the common issues)
1.
2.
3.
4.

The denial of the scale and nature of sexual violence in Gujarat 2002.
The statement of a member of the commission on the Mangalore pub attack case.
The statement that being called sexy should be taken as a compliment.
The statement asking girls not to ape the west blindly after a girl was publicly molested in
Guwahati.
5. On AFSPA and police violence, all commissions have been sadly silent.
CIC

Issues with CIC

1. A high number of cases are pending before the CIC. Information sought through RTI applications is
often most relevant at a particular time. If an appeal before the CIC routinely takes more than a
year to be heard, citizens may not find it imperative to turn to it.
2. Another problem is the CICs inability to ensure compliance with its orders. The CIC does not have
contempt powers and the only way in which it can ensure compliance is to use its power to
impose a penalty.

Bringing Political Parties Under RTI

The Order
1.
2.
3.
4.

It ruled that political parties are public authorities under RTI.

The national parties should appoint mandatory information authorities.
They should also disclose information under relevant sections of RTI.
The decision would definitely have been encouraged by the trust deficit the general public has
with politicians and the political parties.

The Rationale Behind the Order

1. Political parties perform public duty.
2. Public funding
1. The act states that a non-government organisation substantially financed, directly or
indirectly by funds provided by the appropriate government, is also included in the
definition of a public authority.
2. They receive substantial public funding in the form of subsidised land and building,
income tax exemptions, free airtime on radio and TV.
3. Established by Election Commission
1. The Act of states that any institution can be declared a public authority if it is established
through the Constitution, legislative action or by notification by an appropriate
government.
2. CIC interpreted the term appropriate government as the Election Commission whose
registration is needed for a political party to be recognized as such.
Order is Good
1. Transparency will increase the confidence of the people in public institutions. Citizens should
have a right to know about the political parties which run their government.
2. It will also strengthen intra party democracy.
3. It has been argued that political parties will now have to be accountable to the commission. The
RTI is a citizen empowerment tool, not a commission empowerment one.
Order is Bad
1. Issues in enforcement
1. There is limited scope for the enforcement of the penalty clauses.
2. The person who would be appointed as PIO would hardly be dependent upon monthly
salary and his work as PIO will not determine his career progression in politics.
3. Therefore, a maximum penalty of Rs 25,000 would hardly act as a deterrent. Nor will there
be any fear of jeopardising his career in politics.
4. If persons with criminal records are appointed PIOs, who will dare approach them for
accessing information.
2. Counter action by parliament
1. Parties may bring an ordinance or pass an act to overturn this order.

3. Impractical
1. RTI makes extensive demands on public authorities for not just financial transparency but
also transparency of decision-making and exercise of authority. In the case of political
parties, financial transparency must be separated from decision-making and other
processes of a political party.
2. RTI, without accompanying electoral reforms, will adversely affect cash contributions or
will further discourage parties from reporting them.
RTI Ruling as a Window of Opportunity for Electoral Reforms
1. RTI, without accompanying electoral reforms, will adversely affect cash contributions or will
further discourage parties from reporting them.
2. If political parties are so vital to India's democratic functioning that they can be considered public
authorities, then it is only logical that the state should fund them in a befitting manner.
3. State funding will strengthen less wealthy but more worthy activists when they demand party
tickets.
4. With regards to costs, state funding cost estimates have ranged from only Rs. 5,000 crores to
Rs. 10,000 crores.
5. Further, parties should only be able to receive state funding if they meet some criteria of
transparency and accountability this will spur them to improve their internal processes
including record-keeping and disclosure.
6. Germany provides parties matching grants, to the extent of the amount they raise from private
sources. It does not limit contributions or expenditure, and requires disclosure of only large
donors. Over time, this has resulted in parties raising private funds mostly through small
contributions and membership dues.

National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (2007)

Functions and Powers
1. To review the safeguards for protection of children and make recommendations.
2. To inquire into complaints (suo moto also) and make recommendations.
3. To visit any juvenile home or other state / NGO institutions meant for children to see the condition
of inmates and make recommendations.
4. Its other powers are same as NCW.
National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission
CVC
Appointment
1. The selection committee consists of the Prime Minister, the Home Minister and the Leader of the
Opposition in the Lok Sabha.
Power, Functions and Responsibilities
1. The CVC advises the union government on all matters pertaining to the maintenance of integrity in
administration.
2. It exercises superintendence over the working of the CBI in cases referred to it.
Regulatory Bodies
Indian Medical Council

Appointment
Power, Functions and Responsibilities
Quasi-Judicial Bodies
The Press Council of India functions under
the Press Council Act, 1978. It is a statutory, quasi-judicial body
Appointment
Power, Functions and Responsibilities
Impor t ant A spect s of Gov er nance
Transparency and Accountability
Citizen Charters

E-Governance
m-Governance

Applications
E-Governance is Not About 'e', its About Governance
Computerisation of Land Records
Land Records

This issue is back on the agenda now because of two main reasons. First, land markets in several parts
of the country have exploded. Land prices in these regional markets all of urban India and large rural
areas like Punjab and Haryana are the highest in the world. Generating revenue from this market is
now a serious concern again. Second, the old process of land acquisition has broken down. The state
has been forced to develop a new land acquisition bill (circulating for two years now). Private sector
players are demanding ever larger quantities of land for purchase or acquisition. The entire process of
land conversion from agricultural to other use is held up if land titles are unclear or disputed.
There is a real possibility that a process that tries to formalise land title claims may unleash disputes
and litigation on a massive scale. Many conflicting claims of land ownership remain simmering. Rivals
often work out informal arrangements, avoiding full-scale legal disputes. But if the situation changes
if the claims have to be settled one way or another because they have to be inscribed for good on maps
and cadastres that represent finality, a permanent settlement so to speak, then every simmering and
"adjusted" dispute has to come out in the open. Because anyone who does not stake a claim then will
for ever lose her claim.

1. Project
1. Torrens system is based on 4 principles:
1. Principle of a single window to handle land records.
2. The mirror principle, which states that, at any given time, land records mirror the
ground reality.
3. The curtain principle, which refers to the fact that the record of title is a true
depiction of the ownership status, mutation is automatic following registration and
title is a conclusive proof of ownership.
4. Principle of title insurance - the title is guaranteed for its correctness and the party
concerned is indemnified against any loss arising because of inaccuracy in this
regard.
2. The aim was complete digitization with extensive surveys by the end of 12th FYP and
Torrens system by the end of 13th FYP.
2. 2 major problems remain. Firstly, the maps in use are totally outdated and secondly, the titles
indicated in relation to the land are not up-to-date.
3. Several departments are involved in managing land records in most of the States, and the citizen
has to approach more than one agency for complete land records, e.g., Revenue Department for
textual records and mutations; Survey & Settlement (or Consolidation) Department for the maps;
Registration Department for verification of encumbrances and registration of transfer, mortgage,
etc. These departments work in a stand-alone manner, and updating of records by any one of
them makes the records of the others outdated.
4. The programme includes two CSS:
1. Strengthening of Revenue Administration & Updating of Land Records
2. Computerization of Land Records.
3. The major components of the programme are computerization of all land records including
textual and spatial records and mutations, survey/re-survey and updation of all survey &
settlement records.
Status
1. In most States, land record computerization has been limited to the issue of Records of
Rights (RoR). Mutation, which is a more complex process, has been computerized in
only a handful of states. No State in India has reached a stage which integrates the
functioning of the 3 departments.
2. Outdated records were being computerized and scanned.
3. Even basic computerized delivery has not reached the entire population. It is restricted to

taluka level and many districts continue in manual mode.

Analysis of failure
1. The scheme failed to address the main problem in case of land records i.e. the land
records do not reflect the factual ground reality.
2. The most important activity for updation of land records, i.e., survey was neglected by
most of the States.
3. Modern technology can be of assistance in quickly carrying out the measurements of
land. But, unless mechanisms are put in place to ensure that any change in titles is
quickly captured by the land records, any amount of ICT would not provide optimal
solutions. Therefore, the existing mechanism for updating land records which includes
multiplicity of departments and obsolete processes would need to be reformed.
4. There are bound to be disputes where land titles are concerned. All state land records
laws provide for a dispute resolution mechanism the revenue courts. Over time, the
functioning of this mechanism has left much to be desired. There is urgent need to build
the capability of this mechanism.
5. In many cases, even basic process reforms like simplification and rationalizing of forms,
and putting in place an appointment and queue management system have not been
undertaken.
6. Computerisation of existing land records without corroborating it with the actual field
position only led to perpetuation of existing loopholes and errors and hence more
litigation. So the scheme failed to even take off.
7. Funds were thinly spread.
8. There was no time frame to finish the scheme.
9. System of monitoring and evaluation was not provided for.
10. In case of urban lands, the situation is graver as records are virtually non-existent. The
NLRMP does not cover urban lands. Growth in urbanization would result in continuous
conversion of rural land into urban land. Thus, there cannot be two systems for
management of rural and urban lands.
Passport & Visa MMP
1. In the case of passports, the reduction in the waiting time is very marginal as only
submission of application was partially computerized leaving most of the back-end
process in their old inefficient form.
2. Passport Seva Project: It contracts private service providers for digitisation of the entire
passport services. It is expected that the process for issue of a new passport would be
expedited to three working days subject to police verification. Passports applied under
the tatk al scheme would be dispatched the same day, subject to address and police
verification. While the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) would continue to perform the
sovereign function such as verification and grant of passport, all peripheral activities would
be done by the private service provider.
National E-Governance Plan
1. Role of local governments
1. There is no role for the local governments in the implementation of the plan and not
even at kiosk level.
2. Monitoring bodies of elected local body representatives should be set up to
monitor the implementation of the plan.
3. PRIs should also spread awareness among the people about the services being
offered and encourage them to utilize them.
2. Business process restructuring and capacity building issues
1. The MMPs have the potential of creating a direct impact on citizens since they
provide high volume G2C services. Unfortunately, these are the very sectors where
progress in implementation is lagging.
2. The most critical bottleneck is delay in business process restructuring and
insufficient capacity building.

3. The large scale of the transactions involved, prevalence of outdated and

cumbersome procedures, inertia and resistance to change, the overhang of old and
outdated records are other issues.
3. Project management issues
1. There is lack of clear demarcation of responsibility among the project authorities
2. Most of the State level e-Governance projects are still at the conceptual stage.
1. Many of the projects have pre-maturely gone ahead with the ICT component
without first prioritizing the governance reforms that are a pre-requisite. This
would result in automation of the existing inefficiencies in the system .

Core Principles for a Successful E-Governance Project

1. Public trust
1. Clarity of Purpose
It should be based on what citizens need rather than what the technology can
achieve.
2. It must deliver substantial visible benefits, specially single window grievance redressal as
in LokVani in UP, Gyandoot in MP or single window facility to pay taxes and bills, to the
end users.
3. Benchmarks for service delivery need to be created and communicated to the users.
4. It must have mechanisms to win public trust like giving them a chance to review the
computerized records, having a screen facing them, use of local language.
2. Accountability
1. People must be held accountable for their actions.
2. Proper security mechanisms, including digital signature, biometrics as in the Bhoomi
Project in Karnataka, should be there at each layer so as to fix accountability.
3. Scope of the project
1. Fearing that new systems may not deliver, managers tend to continue manual systems in
parallel, and thus there is no incentive for staff to switch over to the new system. But it
must not run as a secondary system, along with the paper based system. Rather focus
must be to make it the only system as soon as possible.
2. Scaling up should be attempted only after the success of pilot projects. Systems should
have the flexibility to incorporate changes mid-way
3. The user charges should not be high so as to deter the users. Still self-sustainable
projects have a higher chance of success.
4. Project management
1. Implementation
The project management team must have an empowered leader with a dedicated
team. Such a team must be given sufficient time to finish its work.
2. Planning
E-preparedness of the organization must be kept in mind while planning for
projects and fixing time frames.
Reinventing the wheel should be prevented. Projects must learn from the success
and failures of the previous e-governance processes.
At present various projects are ad hoc and unrelated to each other. Many are
vendor driven and not scalable. So common standards and platforms should be
evolved.
3. Evaluation
There should be a precise definition of the parameters against which any future
evaluation would be done.
Periodic evaluations against such parameters should be conducted.

5. Process re-engineering
1. Environment building
Assessment of changes to be made in the legal framework needs to be done in
advance.
As the task involves redesigning of governmental processes at various levels, it
would require strong political support at all levels.
Government personnel would have to be incentivised to change old habits and
acquire new skills. Ownership by the staff is essential and adequate stress should
be laid on generating interest among the staff members.
Organizational capacity building is absolutely essential. It includes reforms in
recruitment and personnel policies, out-sourcing, re-engineering internal
processes, delegation of authority, creation of enabling legal framework,
developing MIS and proper incentive systems.
In the public, awareness needs to be created so that there is a constant demand
for reforms.
Effective grievance redressal mechanism needs to be built in the process.
2. There should be end to end computerization. But in projects such as payment of bills,
filing of returns, e-procurement, waiting for computerization in government departments
is not needed to start the project.
3. G2B projects
Entire e-procurement processes must be designed to avoid human interface i.e.,
supplier and buyer interaction.
They must provide anonymity and level playing field to all vendors.
There should be automatic bid evaluation based on the evaluation parameters
given to the system to eliminate subjectivity.
Tender documents containing all details are hosted on the website and be freely
downloadable by all.
They don't require extensive back end computerization and hence can be easily
taken up.
6. Supporting infrastructure
1. Power supply, literacy, connectivity, and backend support are the essential pre-requisites.
2. Adequate redundancy and backups should be provided specially to meet with disaster
challenges.
Personnel Issues in Implementation of E-Governance Projects
1. Threats of job losses increase resistance.
2. Employees resist retraining.
3. Government staff may resent external staff. It helps a great deal if external staff have the time
and patience to talk to employees.
4. High level support doesn't ensure staff buy in. Staff can come in only when they see benefits
from moving to a new system.
5. Staff are unenthusiastic when credit is not shared: A common perception is that an egovernment project is an IT department project and if the project is successful, the IT department
will get all the credit.
6. Fearing that new systems may not deliver, managers tend to continue manual systems in
parallel, and thus there is no incentive for staff to switch over to the new system.

E-Mitra Project in Rajasthan

1. There are two major components back office processing and service counters. Back office

processing includes computerization of participating departments and establishing a mini data

centre at the district level. Private partners (Local Service Providers) run the kiosks/ service
counters.
2. It is in PPP mode. In case of collection of bills, the Local Service Provider does not charge the
citizen, but gets reimbursement from the concerned organization.

National e-Governance Plan

Project
1. It comprises of 31 Mission Mode Projects (MMPs) and 10 components. Various MMPs are
owned and spearheaded by the concerned ministries.
2. Physical Architecture
1. Data Centers
2. NoFN - 2Mbps network connectivity to each Panchayat.
3. Kiosks at the front end. 1 for each 6 village cluster following honey comb structure.
Kiosks to have a PC along with basic support equipment like printer, scanner and UPS.
3. G2C Services to be Offered
1. Land records
2. Registration of vehicles
3. Issue of certificates
4. Employment exchange
5. Ration cards
6. Electoral services
7. Pension schemes
8. Issue of licenses
9. Public grievance
10. Payment of bills
Mission Mode Projects
1. MCA 21: The MMP is in its post-implementation stage and is providing electronic services to the
Companies for their related activities such as allocation and change of name, incorporation,
online payment of registration charges, change in address of registered office, viewing of public
records and other related services. It also makes public the company related data.
2. Pension: A website provides updated information on government pension rules and regulations;
helps facilitating registration of grievances; enables monitoring timely sanction of pension;
maintains a database of pensioners.
3. Income Tax: It offers services including facility for downloading of various forms, online
submission of applications for PAN, tracking the applications, e-filing of Income Tax Returns, efiling of TDS returns, online payment of taxes, issue of refunds.
4. Passport, Visa and Immigration: The e-services being offered under the MMP include re-issue of
Passport, issue of duplicate Passport, issue of Tatkal Passport, change in name, address,
ECNR/ ECR suspensions, passport status enquiry etc.
5. Central Excise: The important e-services being offered include e-filing of Import and Export
documentation, electronic processing of declarations, facilities for e-filing of Central Excise and
Service Tax returns, e-registration services, digital signatures, e-payment of Customs Duties.
6. Banking: It includes Electronic Central Registry and One India One Account for Public Sector
Banks.
7. UID.
8. e-Office: The functioning of government offices would be computerized.

9. Insurance: The MMP is an industry initiative (by public sector insurance companies). The MMP
aims at facilitating customer services, automating grievance redressal mechanism and, creating
a database.
Integrated MMPs
1. e-Courts: The first phase includes building computer infrastructure in the lower courts and
upgrading it at High Courts and the Supreme Court. The second phase of the MMP includes
providing services like availability of copies of judgments, e-filing of cases, video conferencing of
outstation witnesses, issue of notices to clients through e-mail.
2. Electronic Data Interchange/e-Trade (EDI): It aims at facilitating electronic data interchange
amongst various agencies involved in the process of imports and exports. It offers services like
electronic filing and clearance of EXIM documents and e-Payments of duties.
3. India Portal: It provides a single window access to information about governments at all levels, in
a multilingual form.
4. e-Procurement: This MMP of the Ministry of Commerce aims at rolling-out IT-enabled
procurement by government departments.
5. Road Transport: This MMP proposes to offer many e-Services like vehicle registration, driving
licenses and Smart Card based registration certificates to citizens.
6. Agriculture: The MMP aims at providing information regarding farm practices, market trends,
agricultural and technical know-how. It has two components i.e. AGRISNET and AGMARKNET.
AGMARKNET aims at creating an information network which will capture/update information at
various mandis. AGRISNET aims at back-end computerization of State Agriculture departments
7. e-District: This MMP aims at delivery of high volume, citizen-centric services through kiosks.
These would primarily be services not covered by other specific MMPs. A minimum of 7 services
will be delivered in every State.
Analysis of NeGP
1. The Institutional Structure
1. It has become essential to ensure that the numerous projects being implemented by the
different governments and departments are consistent with a broad policy and adhere to
common standards.
2. This requires empowered institutional arrangements to oversee the projects.
2. Role of local governments
1. There is no role for the local governments in the implementation of the plan and not even
at kiosk level.
2. Monitoring bodies of elected local body representatives should be set up to monitor the
implementation of the plan.
3. PRIs should also spread awareness among the people about the services being offered
and encourage them to utilize them.
3. Business process restructuring and capacity building issues
1. The MMPs have the potential of creating a direct impact on citizens since they provide
high volume G2C services. Unfortunately, these are the very sectors where progress in
implementation is lagging.
2. The most critical bottleneck is delay in business process restructuring and insufficient
capacity building.
3. The large scale of the transactions involved, prevalence of outdated and cumbersome
procedures, inertia and resistance to change, the overhang of old and outdated records
are other issues.
4. Project management issues
1. There is lack of clear demarcation of responsibility among the project authorities
2. Most of the State level e-Governance projects are still at the conceptual stage.
3. Many of the projects have pre-maturely gone ahead with the ICT component without first

prioritizing the governance reforms that are a pre-requisite. This would result in
automation of the existing inefficiencies in the system .
Status of Implementation
1. Status of MMPs: Out of the 31 MMPs, 14 MMPs are delivering the full range of services while 9
have started delivering some services to the citizens.
2. e-TAAL: It is a web portal which aggregates and analyses the statistics of e-governance projects
including MMPs on a real time basis. It is expected to enhance the outcome focus of eGovernance programs.
3. Mobile Seva: It is a unique countrywide initiative on mobile governance to provide public services
to the citizens through mobile phones. As on date, 444 departments are on it offering over 200
services. A mobile AppStore has also been launched with 153 applications.
4. NoFN: Pilot has been conducted and rollout is in progress.
5. e-Gov AppStore: It will host successful e-governance applications which can be replicated by all
government departments intending to implement e-Gov initiatives, thereby saving immense time
and costs.
6. e-Procurement: All departments have been directed to switch over to it.
7. Meghraj: This is the new Government of India cloud (GI Cloud) computing environment to be
created at the national level. It will bring the benefits of cloud computing.
8. National e-Governance Academy: To promote research, documentation, training, this academy
will be opened.

Models
Successes, Potential and Limitations
Civil Services
Role in a Democracy

PRA KA SH SINGH CA SE

Relationship with the Political Leadership

Constitutionally Envisioned Scheme
1. The secretary has to advise the minister impartially and fearlessly and tell him about the legality
of his orders and suggest that either such orders not be given or that they be suitably modified.
2. The minister may have the mandate of the people to govern, but the secretary has an equivalent
constitutional mandate to advise the Minister.
3. Once his advice has been suitably considered, unless the minister passes an illegal order, the
secretary is bound to implement it without bias and fear or favor. The minister, on his part, is
required to support the secretary who is implementing his order.
Status
1. Loss of political neutrality
1. In the initial years after Independence, relations between Ministers and civil servants were
characterized by mutual respect and understanding of each others respective roles, with
neither encroaching upon the others domain.
2. However, in subsequent years, matters started changing for the worse. While some civil
servants did not render objective and impartial advice to their Ministers, often some
Ministers began to resent advice that did not fit in with short-term political interests.

3. There was also a tendency for some Ministers to focus more on routine administrative
matters such as transfers in preference to policy making.
4. As a result, political neutrality which was the hallmark of the civil service in the preIndependence era as well as in the period right after Independence, was gradually eroded.
2. Discharge of delegated functions
1. There is an increasing tendency in government departments to centralize authority and
also after having first delegated authority downwards, to interfere in decision making of the
subordinate functionaries.
2. There is a perception that downward delegation of responsibilities will lead to abuse and
more corruption. But the correct way is to institute mechanisms to prevent that.
Challenges
1. Defining accountability
1. Civil servants in India are accountable to the ministers, but in practice, the accountability
is vague and of a generalised nature. Since there is no system of ex ante specification of
accountability, the relationship between the minister and the civil servants is essentially
issue-sensitive and civil servants deal with the ministers as the issues present
themselves.
2. The accountability relationship can be anything from all pervasive to minimalistic and it is
left to the incumbent minister to interpret it in a manner that is most convenient to
him/her. This leads to either collusive relationship or to discord, both of which can
adversely affect the administration.
3. Thus there is an urgent need to codify this relationship preferably by enacting a law.
4. Accountability can be defined in the relationship only in an output - outcome framework.
Outputs are specific services that the civil servants deliver, and therefore, the civil
servants should be held accountable for the delivery of key results, which becomes the
basis for evaluation of their performance. This can be achieved through agreements with
the minister specifying the performance targets. These performance agreements should
be put in the public domain. They should have clearly spelt out objective and measurable
goals.
5. Outcome is the success in achieving social goals and the political executive decides
what outputs should be included so that the desired outcomes can be achieved. In such a
scheme, the political executive becomes accountable to the people for the outcome.
2. Transfers and postings
1. Arbitrary transfers and postings of civil servants by the ministers in utter disregard of the
tenure policies, concern about disruption of public services delivery, concern about
implementation of developmental programmes. Such transfers are made on the basis of
caste, religion, money, favoritism. This leads to splitting up of bureaucracy and its
demoralization.
2. Transfer and tenure policies must be developed in an independent manner and any
premature transfer should be based on publicly disclosed sound administrative grounds
which should be spelt out in the transfer order itself.
3. An officer should be given a fixed tenure of at least three years and given annual
performance targets.
4. Civil Services Authorities should be made statutory and autonomous. If the government
does not agree with the recommendations of the Authority, he will have to record his
reasons in writing.
5. An officer transferred before his normal tenure can agitate the matter before an
Ombudsman.
3. Ministerial interference in operations
1. Ministers issue instructions, formal or informal, to influence the decisions of the
bureaucracy often intruding in their domains.

2. It has also been observed that officers, instead of taking decisions on their own, look up
to the ministers for informal instructions.
3. Several states have created an institution of District Incharge Minister to review the
development activities in the district who routinely exceed their mandate intrude in the
officers domain. These practices are unhealthy.
1. Appointments/Recruitment to the Civil Services
1. While the UPSC enjoys an untarnished reputation for having developed a fair and
transparent recruitment system, the same cannot be said for most of the SPSCs.
2. In addition, large number of recruitments is done by departments under their control of the
government directly. It is essential to lay down certain principles/norms for such
recruitments.
Advantages of a Permanent Civil Service
1. The spoils system has the propensity to degenerate into a system of patronage, nepotism and
corruption.
2. Public policy is a complex exercise requiring in-depth knowledge and expertise in public affairs.
A permanent civil service develops expertise as well as institutional memory for effective policy
making.
3. A permanent and impartial civil service is more likely to assess the long-term social payoffs of
any policy.
4. A permanent civil service helps to ensure uniformity in public administration and also acts as a
unifying force particularly in vast and culturally diverse nations.

Prosecution of Civil Servants

Article 311
1. No civil servant shall be dismissed by an authority subordinate to that by which he was
appointed.
2. No such person shall be dismissed or removed or reduced in rank except after an inquiry in
which he has been informed of the charges against him and given a reasonable opportunity of
being heard.
3. Provided further that this clause shall not apply
1. where a person is dismissed or removed or reduced in rank on the ground of conduct
which has led to his conviction on a criminal charge; or
2. where the authority empowered is satisfied that for some reason, to be recorded by that
authority in writing, it is not reasonably practicable to hold such inquiry; or
3. where the President or the Governor, as the case may be, is satisfied that in the interest
of the security of the State, it is not expedient to hold such inquiry.
Art 309 and Art 310
1. Article 309: Legislature may regulate the recruitment and conditions of service of civil services.
2. Article 310: Civil servants hold office during the pleasure of the President / Governor.
Other Protections
1. CBI can not conduct any investigation except with the previous approval of the Central
Government where such allegation relates to the employees of the Central Government of the
level of Joint Secretary and above or equivalent position in CPSUs.
2. Sanction for prosecution of a public servant is required from an authority not lower than that

competent to remove him.

3. A case under the PoCA can only be registered by the CBI or the anti-corruption agency of a
state and not by the civil police.
4. Only a special judge is competent to take cognizance of an offence of corruption.
Debate - Remove Art 311
1. Complicated procedures have arisen out of this article which have in practice shielded the guilty.
These complicated safeguards also lead to inordinate delays and render even most well meant
legislations and institutions like CVC ineffective.
2. Judicial decisions too have crowded out the real intent of Article 311 and shielded the guilty.
Procedure has become more important than the substance. Removing the article would render
such judgments void.
3. Such a provision is not available in any of the democratic countries including the UK.
4. This article was drafted at a time when due to post-colonial administrative upheavals, it was felt
necessary to prescribe certain guarantees to the bureaucracy. In the present scenario, this is
not necessary. Government is no longer the only significant source of employment. Indeed, in
the present debate of even providing outcome oriented contractual appointments puts a question
mark on the desirability of the permanency in the civil services. The role of Government as a
model employer cannot override public good.
5. When Sardar Patel argued for protection of civil servants, the intention was clearly to embolden
senior civil servants to render impartial and frank advice to the political executive without fear of
retribution. But the compulsions of equal treatment of all public servants and judicial
pronouncements have made such a protection applicable to everybody and this has crated a
climate of excessive security hampering efficiency and work culture.
Debate - Do not Remove Art 311
1. It subjects the doctrine of pleasure contained in the preceding Article 310 to certain safeguards
and checks arbitrary action on executive's part. India doesn't have a spoils system.
2. Safeguard of an opportunity of being heard has been held to be a fundamental principle of natural
justice. It is argued that even if Art 311 is not there, natural justice cannot be compromised and
the aggrieved party can get relief from the courts. But experience of past 6 decades shows that
executive has scant regard for the spirit of the law and inordinate delays and large number of
cases may arise out of the confusing situation.
3. The requirement that only an authority which is the appointing authority or superior can impose a
punishment also appears reasonable as the government follows a hierarchical structure.
4. It is the rules governing disciplinary enquiries, and not Article 311 itself, that are responsible for
the delays.
The Balanced Approach
1. Article 311 of the Constitution should be repealed. Simultaneously, Article 310 of the
Constitution should also be repealed. Suitable legislation to protect civil servants from arbitrary
actions of the executive should be provided under Article 309.
Debate - Need for Sanctions
1. Officers at senior levels have important decision making roles. While taking these decisions they
should be able to do so without any fear. Exposing them could have a demoralizing effect and
encourage them most of the time to be risk averse.
2. It can be argued that if at all the sanction protection is to be given, the power should vest with an
independent body like the CVC, which can take an objective stand. So the government has
decided to create a committee of secretaries involving the CVC to grant sanctions within 90 days
beyond which the sanction would be deemed to have been granted.

Removal from Service: Criminality vs Incompetence

1. The standard for probity in public life should be not only conviction in a criminal court but
propriety as determined by suitable independent institutions specifically constituted for the
purpose .
2. It may not always be possible to establish the criminal offence in a court (for lowering service
delivery standards in return of personal favors) but the government servant can still be removed
from service on grounds of incompetence.
Removal from Service: Criminality vs Administrative Action
1. Criminal conviction requires "beyond reasonable doubt". Administrative action does not require
'beyond reasonable doubt'. It requires "the preponderance of probability." (A fair probability of
corruption by the official is sufficient.)
Disciplinary Proceedings
1. Issues
1. "Inquiry" as prescribed under Article 311 which often tends to become like a full fledged
court proceeding should be replaced by a meeting or interview to discuss the charges
made out against him.
2. Minor penalty can be imposed after calling for and considering the explanation of the
accused employee. Major Penalties can be imposed only after a detailed inquiry.
2. Recommendations
1. The new Civil Services Law should set out only the minimum statutary disciplinary and
dismissal procedures required to satisfy the criteria of natural justice leaving the details of
the procedure to be followed to the respective departments.
2. The penalty of dismissal or removal of a public servant should only be imposed by an
authority three levels higher than the present post held by that public servant whereas all
other penalties may be imposed by an authority who is two levels higher.
3. The charges against the government servant should be communicated to him in writing.
4. The inquiry process should be based to the maximum extent possible on documentary
rather than oral evidence.
5. Fixed and brief time limits should be prescribed for admission and denial of documents
from both sides followed by a meeting / interview to give the government servant a chance
to respond to the charges.
6. Preponderance of probabilities rather than beyond reasonable doubt would be the
standard of evidence required for the inquiry authority to reach his/her conclusions.
7. Imposition of major penalties should be recommended by a committee in order to ensure
objectivity.

Issues in Civil Services Reforms

Attitudinal Issues
1. Issues
1. Civil servants still believe in the Hegelian prescription that they represent the universal
interest of the society. Hegel argued that the most important institution in the state was
the bureaucracy which represented the absolutely universal interests of the state. The
exercise of power by the bureaucracy was a mission sanctioned by God.
2. It believes that its authority is derived not from the mandate of the people but from an
immutable corpus of rules that it has prescribed for itself. It has no need to give due

regards to the aspirations of the people and rule of law.

3. With reforms, the role of private sector and civil society has increased immensely. So the
civil servants need to view them as partners instead of asserting their own pre-eminence.
Result Orientation
1. Issues
1. Civil Service in India is more concerned with the internal processes than with results.
2. There is too much focus on amount of inputs used - whether the full budget is used or not.
As a result outcomes get neglected and civil servants are not held accountable for the
results.
3. The structures are based on hierarchies and there are a large number of veto points.
4. To compound it, the size and the number of ministries and departments have proliferated
and diminished the capacities of the individual civil servants to fulfill their responsibilities.
2. Recommendations
1. Devolution: Achievement of results would require substantial devolution of managerial
authority to the implementing levels. This would require giving civil servants in the
implementing agencies greater flexibility and incentives to achieve results as well as
relaxing the existing central controls.
2. Accountability: The counterpart of devolution should be more accountability. This can be
achieved through agreements with the minister specifying the performance targets. These
performance agreements should be put in the public domain. They should have clearly
spelt out objective and measurable goals.
Resistance to Change
1. Issues
1. The perception is that they resist change as they are wedded to their privileges and
prospects. Thus they have prevented us from realizing the full benefits of the 73rd and 74th
Amendments since it clashes with their own authority.
2. They also resist simplification of procedures which is a pre-requisite for introduction of egovernance since it would undermine their importance.
Accountability
1. Accountability mechanisms can be horizontal which refer to those located within the government
and vertical which are those outside it and include the media, civil society and citizens.
2. Disciplinary action against non performing officers is a rarity and is a long process.
3. The life-long job security further leads to distorted incentive structure.
4. While the performance of government organizations and their sub-units are periodically subjected
to in-depth reviews, seldom are efforts made to link organizational performance to the performance
of an individual civil servant.
Exit Mechanisms
1. Issues
1. At present, rarely does a civil servant get dismissed from service or is punished on grounds
of incompetence.
2. Recommendations
1. It is necessary that all civil servants undergo a rigorous assessment of performance, at
regular intervals, and on the basis of such evaluation a civil servant can be retired
compulsorily. The compulsory retirement can happen say after 20 years.
2. New appointments should be made only for a fixed period, say 20 years, after which if the
performance is not satisfactory, he can be removed. Such provisions are there in armed
forces.

Separation of Policy Mak ing and Implementation Task s

1. Issues
1. The policy formulation function of senior civil servants needs to be distinguished from the
policy implementation function. Currently due to diverse workload, their most important
function, of tendering policy advice to the ministers, often gets neglected.
2. Recommendations
1. There is a need for a separation of policy formulation and implementation responsibilities
by extensive restructuring.
2. Flatter structures and outcome oriented agencies need to be created and powers
delegated downwards.
Field Postings of Officers during the Initial Part of Their Career
1. There have been instances where state governments have posted the officers during his early
career to the S ecretariat instead of the field. This is not in the public interest since it is necessary
for an officer to have adequate experience in the field. So no secretariat postings should be given
for first 10 years at least.
Domain Competency
1. Issues
1. The increasingly complexity of challenges today demand higher levels of knowledge and
deeper insights from public servants. This would mean that civil servants - especially in
policy making positions - should possesses in-depth knowledge of the sector.
2. Domain competence is distinct from specialised technical knowledge in that it refers to a
broad understanding of the relevant field and more importantly managerial abilities derived
from practical experience in that field.
3. There is considerable confusion about the concept of domain competence. It is generally
discussed in the context of the ministry an officer may be best suited for. Domain
competence actually refers to functions and not Ministries.
2. Recommendations
1. Assigning specific domains to civil servants early in their career and retaining them in the
assigned domain is an important reform.
2. Steps need to be taken to assign civil servants at the start of their mid-career to specific
domains. Domain assignment at this stage of the career would also be appropriate
because when the officer is eligible to be at the level of Joint Secretary he/she would have
had at least three to four years exposure to a domain.
3. These domains should strike a right balance between flexibility and needs for specialized
expertise and need to be defined suitably. Some domains could be: general administration,
urban development, rural development, security, financial management, infrastructure,
human resource development, natural resource management.
Deputation of Public Servants Into Private Sector
1. Conflict of interest possible even after retirement.
2. Quid pro quo assignments in private sector mean only a small number of civil servants holding
assignments in certain sought after sectors will benefit. A vast majority of civil servants,
especially those working in the social sector and sectors like rural development, will perhaps not
be affected by such a policy. This could result in an increasing reluctance by government servants
to work in these crucial social sectors.
3. In India, civil servants have created a number of post-retirement jobs, including those in regulators,
which they can conveniently latch on to once they retire from their jobs. This seems preferable to
civil servants moving into the private sector.

Motivating Civil Servants

1. Issues
1. Civil servants today adopt a minimalist approach in their functioning, and confine their
work to disposing of files making no special effort at resolving problems. They rarely walk
that extra mile.
2. There is hardly any performance for pay incentive available to them. Natural increases in
salary are very much guaranteed to government employees. This leads to a situation where
employees do not exert themselves.
3. There is no external motivation for risk-taking and delivering a higher level of performance,
because though the risk-taking is punished if things go wrong, it is not rewarded if things
improve.
4. Poor working conditions.
5. Unfair personnel policies.
6. Excess supervision.
7. Absence of fair-play and transparency in the government system.
8. Lack of opportunity for self-expression.
9. Political interference into officers' jurisdiction.
2. Recommendations
1. Performance based monetary incentives.
2. Recognition: Though national awards are given to those civil servants who have made
outstanding contributions to public service but the criteria and process are opaque and
frequently misused. Padma awards should be given more frequently to serving civil
servants. Selection for such awards is made through an objective and transparent
mechanism because the value of such awards should not get compromised by either
subjectivity or lack of transparency. Other awards should be instituted.
3. Job enrichment: Delegation should be made a part of the performance appraisal at each
suitable level.
4. Linking career prospects with performance: Arbitrary political actions must stop.

Civil Services Bill

Draft Public Services Bill, 2007
1. Appointment to public services to be based on the principle of merit.
2. Transfers before the specified tenure should be for valid reasons to be recorded in writing. The
normal tenure of all public servants shall not be less than two years.
3. It proposes the constitution of a Civil Services Authority.
1. It shall aid and advise the Central Government in all matters concerning the management
of civil servants.
2. Review the adoption, adherence to and implementation of the Civil Service Values and
send reports to the Central Government.
3. Assign domains to all officers of the All India Services and the Central Civil Services on
completion of 13 years of service.
4. Formulate norms and guidelines for appointments at Senior Management Level in
Government of India.
5. Evaluate and recommend names of officers for posting at the Senior Management Level
in Government of India.
6. Identify the posts at Senior Management Level in Government of India which could be
thrown open for recruitment from all sources.
7. Fix the tenure for posts at the Senior Management Level in Government of India.
8. Submit an annual report to Parliament.
4. It includes public service values and the Code of Ethics.

5. The Bill enjoins government to prepare a Public Service Management Code with the aim to
develop civil services into a professional, merit-based institution, maintain high levels of
excellence. It provides for ACRs to be made public. It provides for periodic pay and incentives
review, training, guidelines for promotions.
6. It enjoins the government to define the relationship between the political executive and civil
services.
Desired Qualities of a Civil Services Bill
1. It acts as a legal basis for the legislature to express the important values and culture it wants in
the civil service.
2. It has a mechanism by which government decisions can be implemented.
3. It has a framework for setting out the role and powers of the heads of the agencies and
departments.
4. It spells out the relationship between civil services and political leadership in a clear and
transparent way.
5. It lets civil servants know clearly what is expected of them.
6. It deals with important aspects like transfers, performance management, civil services authority,
postings, entry to senior executive service.
7. It contains public service standards and ethical values and how they should be applied.
Analysis of the Draft Public Services Bill, 2007
1. Name: The term public servant has a much wider connotation. So the name of the Bill should be
changed to Civil Services Bill.
2. Appointment to Public Services: It makes the principle of merit (subject to reservations), fair and
transparent competition as the guiding principles for appointments. It would be better to
prescribe that all appointments including in PSUs, various boards, whether permanent or shortterm or contractual should be made on this basis.
3. Public service values and Code: The Bill can list down an exhaustive set of values clearly,
currently it doesn't.
4. Performance management system: The Bill can lay down the guidelines and principles to be
followed while devising performance management systems.
5. Functions of the Central Civil Services Authority: Its recommendations should be made binding.
If the government rejects it, written reasons should be given and made public.
6. Creation of executive agencies in government: Government should be authorized to create
executive agencies. The role of the ministries should primarily be on policy formulation while
implementation should be left to the executive agencies.
Civil Services Authority
1. There should be an independent authority to deal with matters of assignment of domains,
empanelment of officers, fixing tenures for various posts, appointments and transfers, deciding
on posts which could be advertised for lateral entry.
2. It should be given a statutory backing and clear objective criterion should be laid down for its
membership. Serving government servants or politicians should not be appointed to it.
3. The members should be appointed by a collegium in a transparent manner.
4. The authority should be given personnel and financial autonomy as well.

Placement at the Top Management Level

Senior Executive Service

1. It comprises of a group of civil servants who are appointed to top-level positions across
ministries, departments and agencies.
2. It usually occupies policy-making positions or heads major operating agencies or line
departments.
3. It works closely with the political executive.
4. It constitutes a very small fraction of the civil service.
5. It is bound by a distinctive set of ethical standards such as values and code of conduct.
Position Based SES
1. The position-based SES as in Australia, New Zealand, UK is more open because appointments
to senior positions are made from a wider pool comprising all civil servants as well as those
applicants from the private sector. Its openness is its basic strength.
SES in India
1. Present system
1. India has a career-based SES system where SES consists solely of civil servants. At the
early middle stage of their careers, the appointments to the level of Joint Secretary in GoI
are made based on the process of empanelment.
2. Weaknesses in the present system
1. It depends solely on the ACRs of the officers. It is widely known that there is a tendency
for the reporting officers to adopt a soft approach in their assessments with the
deficiencies often going unreported.
2. By relying only on the ACRs, it overlooks the future potential of an officer.
3. Selection is made without either interviewing the officers or testing them formally.
4. Those who are not empanelled are not given any reasons and have no right of formal
appeal.
5. An officer not empanelled as Joint Secretary normally spends the rest of his/her career in
the state government and is not usually empanelled later for Additional Secretary or a
Secretary in the Government of India. By implication, the process suggests that officers
who are not considered suitable for working in senior positions in Government of India are
considered good enough to work in the state governments. Promotions to senior positions
in the state governments are largely on the basis of seniority, and there is often
insufficient consideration of merit or performance.
3. Advantages of a career based system in general
1. Its closed nature develops a common value system and camaraderie which facilitates
excellent communication across the governmental spectrum.
2. Senior positions require a unique mix of specialized knowledge, general administration
and field level experience in implementation. While making policies, their implementation
issues must be kept in mind. Career based SES provides this unique mix.
4. Weaknesses of a career based system in general
1. The assurance of a secure career path has been held to be the career-based systems
biggest lacuna.
2. It has discouraged initiative by reducing competition in the higher echelons of government.
5. Reforms suggested
1. It has been argued that lateral entry from the market should also be encouraged at the
higher management levels as this would bring in corporate exposure as well as
specialized knowledge which may not always be available with career civil servants.
2. Domain competence should also be considered for postings at the joint secretary level.
6. Weaknesses of a progress based SES in general
1. Lack of sufficient and suitable talent in the private sector.
2. Operational difficulties of fresh recruitment for SES and consequent demoralization of the
civil services.

3. Potential conflict of interest between the private sector and the public sector.

Performance Management System

Present System of Performance Management in Government
1. Focus on inputs
1. Systems in government are oriented towards input usage- how much resources, staff and
facilities are deployed and whether such deployment is in accordance with rules and
regulations. The main performance measure thus is the amount of money spent and the
success of the schemes, programmes and projects is generally evaluated in terms of the
inputs consumed.
2. This fails to take into account the results obtained. Civil servants are rarely held
accountable for the outcomes.
2. Conventional closed system of ACR
1. The significant feature of this method is the complete secrecy of the exercise, both in
process and results and only adverse remarks are communicated to the officer.
2. It lacks in quantification of targets and evaluation against achievement of targets.
3. Unclear performance standards, possible bias, political influence mean a state of
confusion. Performance appraisal forms are generic.
4. It becomes meaningless in cases where postings are decided on other factors and there
are frequent transfers.
5. No attempt is made to align personal goals with the departmental goals.
6. Large span of supervision of government officers means writing the ACRs of so many
officers who they may not even personally recognize.
7. Since the present system shares only an adverse grading, a civil servant remains
unaware about how he/she is rated in his/her work.
8. Many reporting officers pay little attention to distinguish good and average workers while
grading them. Consequently, most Government officials end up getting very
good/outstanding grading which is considered good for promotion and hence there is no
motivation for real performers.
9. The system of deciding on representations against an adverse entry sometimes take so
long that reporting officers avoid giving an adverse entry. Many a time, for want of
evidence against the reported civil servant, the reporting officer is in a defensive position
and thus unable to justify his/her adverse remarks.
Reforming the Existing Personnel Performance Appraisal System
1. Making appraisal more consultative and transparent.
1. Consultations while goal setting in the beginning of the year.
2. Quarterly / mid year reviews and path correction.
3. Full annual performance appraisal report including the overall grade and assessment of
integrity should be disclosed.
2. Performance appraisal formats to be job specific
1. The performance appraisal format should have three sections - (i) a generic section that
meets the requirements of a particular service to which the officer belongs, (ii) another
section based on the requirements of the department in which he is working, and (iii) a
final section which captures the specific requirements and targets relating to the post that
the officer is holding.
3. Formulating guidelines for assigning numerical rating
1. The present system follows a grading system that rated officers in categories ranging

from average, good and very good to outstanding.

2. The new PAR format for All India Service Officers replaces this with an improved rating
system wherein officers are assigned a numerical grade from 0 to 10 for different
parameters.
3. While this is an improvement on the old system, the numerical gradings secured by the
officers still depend on the subjective evaluation made by the reporting and reviewing
officers. It is quite possible that officers of similar competence and performance may be
assigned different numerical grades depending on the reporting officer.
4. DoPT should formulate detailed guidelines to guide assigning numerical ratings process.
Necessary training should be given to the reporting officers.
4. 360 degree evaluation
1. This should be incorporated in the performance management system.

District Administration
Current Mandate
1. Head of Land and Revenue Administration, including responsibility for district finance.
2. Overall supervision of law and order and security and some say in the police matters.
3. Licensing and Regulatory Authority in respect of the various special laws such as Arms in the
district.
4. Conduct of elections for Parliament, State Legislature and Local Bodies.
5. Officer-in-charge of Disaster Management.
6. Chief Information and Grievance Redressal Officer of the district.
7. Guardian of public lands with the responsibility to prevent and remove encroachments.
8. Public service delivery by acting as Chairman for parastatals and various standing and interdepartmental committees.
9. Facilitation of interaction between civil society and the State Government;
10. Handling issues of local cadre management such as recruitment, in-service training and
promotion.
11. Institution used by the state governments to control the PRIs.
View: Restrict the Role of Collector
1. With the establishment of PRIs and Municipal bodies it is imperative that the devolution of
decision making to local levels should be carried out in true spirit. The collector should be
ultimately made responsible to the local bodies.
2. Strong traditions linked with this institution and its recognition in the public mind as the prime
mover of governance at the district level would tend to impede growth of any other authority at
that level.
3. The office currently has widespread functions without well defined roles. This results in lack of
clarity and diffusion of the Collectors responsibilities.
4. There is no need to assign any role to the Collector in respect of activities which are transferred
to the PRIs.
View: Preserving the Role of Collector
1. It is equally imperative that the unique administrative experience, expertise and credibility of the
office of the District Collector built up over a period of two hundred years is properly utilized.
Recommendations
1. There is a need to redefine clearly his job. It should consist of:

2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

1. A well defined set of exclusive activities as a functionary of the State Government.

2. The general work of coordination with various departments / agencies of the State and the
Union Governments at the district level.
3. In the interim period till the time the local elected Institutions mature - as the CEO of the
proposed District Council. Each district would ultimately have a District Council
comprising of representatives of both rural and urban bodies. The District Collector-cumChief Officer would have dual responsibility and would be fully accountable to the elected
District Government on all local matters, and to the State Government on all regulatory
matters not delegated to the District Government.
Grievance redressal, vigilance and implementation of citizen charters should be his
responsibility. He should be given strong MIS and IT based tools for monitoring various
programmes.
E-governance initiatives in the district should be his responsibility.
Tour inspection notes and district gazetteers should be his responsibility.
Interaction with the civil society groups should be his responsibility.
Disaster response should be his responsibility.
Line departments which don't fall under the domain of PRIs should be his responsibility.

Public Order in a Democracy

Established Order vs Public Order
1. In a liberal democracy every citizen has a right to dissent and the expression of such dissent
need not in itself breach public order.
2. In a democratic society, a situation viewed as a public disorder by one stakeholder may not be
disorder for another stakeholder. For example, if a dominant section of society indulges in
degrading forms of exploitation of the underprivileged sections, the resultant protests by the
latter are often perceived by law enforcement agencies as public disorder.
3. This brings us to the distinction between established order and public order. Established order
may not always be as per the tenets of the rule of law. Perpetuating established order does not
necessarily constitute public order in a society governed by democratic norms and the rule of
law.
4. The law enforcement machinery often tends to concentrate on maintaining status quo, since, for
them, public order means absence of any disturbance.
Law and Order vs Public Order vs Security of State Issues
1. Every situation in which the security of the State is threatened is a public order problem.
Similarly, all situations which lead to public disorder, are necessarily law and order problems
also. But all law and order problems are not public order problems.
2. Thus, petty clashes between two individual are minor in nature with no impact on public order.
But widespread violent clashes between two or more groups, such as communal riots, would
pose grave threats to public order. A major terrorist activity could be classified as a public order
problem impinging on the security of the State.
Tolerance to Breach of Laws
1. When it comes to ending a practice such as, say, animal sacrifice, persuasion and education
and not use of force against strong public sentiment, are called for.
2. The problem in such cases is where to draw the line. If a law is violated with impunity, even if it
is a minor law, should the State remain a mute spectator and condone violations promoting a
culture of lawlessness? Or, should the State risk triggering a major public order crisis in its effort

to enforce a law whose gains are minimal and risks are huge?
3. The answer lies in two broad approaches.
1. First, the State should resist the temptation to over-legislate except in crucial areas
which constitute the essenc e of constitutional values or prevent significant public loss or
promote vital public good. Persuasion, public education and social movements are the
desirable routes to social change in such cases.
2. Second, if such laws do exist, effective enforcement on case-to-case basis through
prosecution of offenders is the better route and not the thoughtless precipitation of a
public confrontation. If indeed a confrontation is called for, there must be adequate
preparation, sufficient deployment of security forces, massive public campaign and
preventive action in order to avert major rioting and loss of life.

History of IPS
1. IPS was earlier called Indian Imperial Police.

Issues in implementing Prakash Singh Reforms

1. Appointment of DGP
1. Implementation of the Directive to involve UPSC in the empanelment process (for the post
of DGP) is beyond the scope and authority of the state governments.
2. Fixed tenor for DGP
1. Regarding the direction to provide a minimum tenure of two years to DGP, irrespective of
the date of superannuation, the state governments projected their inability in its
implementation on the ground that the said subject belongs to the domain of the All India
Service Rules, which are framed by the Union Government.

3. Police Complaints Authority

1. Practical difficulties were expressed by some of the states of smaller size for establishing
separate district level Police Complaints Authorities.
2. Some States, particularly Uttar Pradesh, put forward the view that the existing multiplicity
of authorities for Police accountability (such as National Human Rights Commission, State
Human Rights Commission, SC/ST Commission, Womens Commission and Minorities
Commission etc.) obviates the necessity of having one more separate mechanism for
police accountability, in the form of Police Complaints Authority.
3. The civil society representatives, on the other hand, expressed the view that all those
multiple authorities did not have binding powers and also that there was need to have a
body solely focusing on police misconduct, as envisaged in the Supreme Court directive.

State

State
DGP Selection
Security
and Tenure
Commission

Tenure Separation Police

Police
of Other of Law and Establishment Complaint
Officers Order and
Board
Authority
Investigation

Supreme 1. Binding.
Court
2. Headed by
Guidelines CM/HM, DGP
secretary,
other
members
independent.
3. Lay down
broad
guidelines.
4. Evaluate
police
performance.
5. Prepare
report to be
laid down in
Legass.
5. Idea is to
prevent
unwarranted
political
interference.

1. From amongst 3
seniormost officers
empaneled by
UPSC.
2. Min tenor of 2
years irrespective
of retirement.
3. To be removed
before period only
upon consultation
with SSC and on
certain clearly
defined grounds
only.

1.
Separation of
Minimum the two.
2 years
tenor.

Rajasthan Constituted,
(Act)
but only
advisory.

Done, but
Done.
1. No UPSC.
2. No need to
consult SSC before
removing.

Special
Investigation
units to be
created at PS
level.

1. PEB to
decide on
transfers /
postings /
service matters
of DySP and
below.
2. Recommend
for SP and
above.
3.
Departmental
body only with
DGP and four
other
seniormost
officers.
4. Govt. to
normally
accept recos.
else explain in
writing.
5. To act as
appeal against
arbitrary
transfers.
6. Review
police
functioning.

1. Setup at
district level
and state
level.
2. Headed by
judges whose
name would
be forwarded
by CJ.

Constitued, but Created, but

1. Can only
no
form guidelines independence.
for DySP and
below.
2. Nothing for

SP and above.
3. No appeals.

2nd ARC Police Recommendations

1. Too many functions assigned
1. One of the major problems is clubbing a variety of disparate functions in a single police
force and concentrating all authority at one level. A single, monolithic force now discharges
several functions.
2. As a result, the core functions are often neglected. Second, accountability is greatly
diluted. Third, the skills and resources required for each function are unique and a
combination of often unrelated functions undermines both morale and professional
competence.
2. Self-esteem of Policemen
1. A constable can generally expect only one promotion in a life time and normally retires as
a head constable. Constables have become machines carrying out the directions of their
superiors with little application of mind or initiative. Constant political interference in
transfers, placements and crime investigation, long and difficult working hours, the menial
duties they are often forced to perform as orderlies to senior officers.
2. Recruitment in most states is at several levels constabulary, sub-inspector, deputy
superintendent of police, and the Indian Police Service. Several tiers of recruitment have
diminished opportunities for promotion.
3. Further, the removal of the orderly system would also help the constabulary focus on their
prime duty, policing. The orderly system should also be immediately abolished.
3. State Security Commission
1. Constitution of a statutory Commission in each state to be called the State Security
Commission. This Commission was to lay down broad policy guidelines, evaluate
performance of state police and function as a forum for appeal from police officers and also
review the functioning of the police in the state

L ocal Gov er nance

No t e b o o k:

Paper 2

Cre at e d :

5/30/2013 1:15 PM

Up d at e d :

7/30/2013 11:37 PM

Evolution of Local Governance

Before the Amendments
1. Second Five Year Plan
1. It recommended that the Village Panchayats should be organically linked with popular
organisations at higher levels and in stages the democratic body should take over the
entire general administration.
2. Balwant Rai Mehta Committee
1. To operationalize this initiative, Government appointed a committee under the Mehta
Committee in 1957.
2. It offered two broad directional thrusts:
1. There should be administrative decentralisation for effective implementation of the
development programmes and the decentralised administrative system should be
placed under the control of local bodies.
2. It recommended that the CD blocks should be designed as administrative units
with an elected Panchayat.
3. This Panchayat would need guidance of technical personnel in many matters; hence it
should have line department officers of suitable competence under its control.
4. The Panchayat Samiti was also to be equipped with sources of income.
5. Certain powers of control were retained by the government; like supersession of
Panchayat Samiti in public interest, suspension of a resolution of a Panchayat Samiti by
the Collector.
6. The recommendations also suggested reservation for SC/ST and women.
7. It also recommended formation of a Zila Parishad at the district level consisting of all the
Presidents of the Panchayat Samitis, MLAs and MP with district level officers of some
line departments as members and the Collector as the chairman. It should just as an
advisory body for the Panchayats.
3. Followup to Mehta Committee
1. Although a number of Panchayats were set up in different States, they had limited powers
and resources and the essential idea that all developmental activity should flow only
through the Panchayat Samitis lost ground.
2. Subsequently Panchayati Raj elections were postponed indefinitely and flow of funds for
Block Development were reduced to a trickle. By the 1970s, these bodies remained in
existence without adequate functions and authority.
3. The position of these institutions was further weakened due to the creation of a large
number of parastatals, which were assigned many of the functions legitimately envisaged
in the domain of PRIs, for example water supply, slum improvement boards, etc. on the
perception that these functions were too complex and resource dependent to be handled
by local governments.
4. 1st ARC
1. It recommended that the main executive organ of the Panchayati Raj system should be
located at the district level in the form of Zila Parishad and not at the Block level as
Panchayat Samiti. It was of the view that the Zila Parishad would be in a better position to
take a composite view and be able to formulate a plan for the area.
2. It also believed that due to paucity of resources, it was difficult to sustain a well equipped

administrative and development machinery at the level of a Block.

5. Ashok Mehta Committee
1. It chose the district as the first point of decentralisation below the State level.
2. The next level was the Mandal Panchayat which was to cover a population of around
10,000 to 15,000.
3. As an ad hoc arrangement, the Committee recommended continuation of the Panchayat
Samiti at the Block level, not as a unit of self government but as a nominated middle level
support body working as an executing arm of the Zila Parishad.
4. Similarly, at the village level it thought of a nominated village level committee consisting of
local member elected to Mandal Panchayat, local member elected to the Zila Parishad
and a representative of small and marginal farmers.
5. The Zila Parishad was recommended to take up planning for the district and to coordinate
and guide the lower PRI tiers.
6. It also called for creation of a body of professionally qualified experts for drawing up the
district plan. The plan thus prepared had to be placed before the Zila Parishad.
7. It called for transfer of all development functions and related government staff to the
control of the Zila Parishad.
8. To assist the Zila Parishad, it recommended creating a senior post known as the CEO
manned by an officer senior in rank to the Collector.
9. It recommended a constitutional backing for PRIs.

Core Principles for Local Governance Reforms

Democratic Decentralisation
1. Local democracy vs decentralization
1. Local democracy is sometimes treated as synonymous with decentralisation, but the
two are in fact quite distinct. Sometimes decentralisation may not be conducive to local
democracy.
2. In situations of sharp local inequalities, decentralisation sometimes heightens the
concentration of power, and discourages rather than fosters participation among the
underprivileged. To illustrate, in some tribal areas where upper caste landlords and traders
dominate village affairs, the devolution of power associated has consolidated their hold.
2. Advantages
1. Decentralisation tends to promote fiscal responsibility when there is a clear link between
resource generation and outcomes. People will be encouraged to raise more resources
only when there is a greater link between the taxes and user fees levied and the services
that are delivered to them.
2. In centralised structures, citizen participation and ownership are illusory despite national
citizen sovereignty.
Principle of Subsidiarity
1. Definition
1. It means that what can best be done at the lower levels of government should not be
centralised at higher levels. It is based on the idea that citizens are sovereigns and the
final decision makers.
2. The citizen must exercise as much authority as practicable, and delegate upward the rest
of the functions which require economies of scale and can be done more efficiently at a
higher level only.

2. Advantages
1. Local decision-making improves efficiency, promotes self-reliance, encourages
competition and nurtures innovation.
2. There will also be greater ownership by the local communities.
3. Democracy is based on the fundamental assumptions that citizen is the ultimate
sovereign and has the capacity to decide what is in his best interest. Subsidiarity is the
concrete expression of this assumption.
4. Once decision-making is delegated lower, people can better appreciate that hard choices
need to be made.
Clear Delineation of Functions vis-a-vis State Governments and Among Different Tiers of Local
Governments
1. PRIs vs State Governments
1. Since all local government subjects by definition are also state subjects, there should be
clear delineation of roles of the two otherwise needless confusion and undue interference
by the state will be inevitable.
2. An activity mapping must be done. For instance, while managing local schools should be
a subject of PRIs, the framing of the curriculum, setting of standards and conduct of
common examinations should fall within the states purview. Similarly, in healthcare,
development of protocol, accreditation of hospitals and enforcing professional standards
should necessarily fall within the States purview.
2. Intra-PRI Delineation
1. Within the local governments there is a need for clear functional delineation amongst the
various tiers. Here again an activity mapping is essential.
2. For example, while school management can be entrusted to the Panchayat, most
academic matters would fall within the purview of the higher tiers of local government.
Similarly, while a health sub-centre may be looked after by the Village Panchayat, the
Primary Health Centre should be managed by the Intermediate Panchayat, and the
Community Health Centres and hospitals by the District Panchayat.
Effective Devolution in Financial and Personnel Terms Accompanied by Capacity Building and
Accountability
1. Even legislated empowerment remains illusory unless public servants entrusted with the
discharge of responsibilities under the local governments sphere are fully under local government
control.
2. The principles behind fiscal devolution should be:
1. PRIs must be able to effectively fulfill its obligation.
2. There must be sufficient room for flexibility through untied resources.
3. There must be both opportunity and incentive to mobilize local resources.
3. The Upper House functions as the voice of constituent states. On similar grounds, Legislative
Councils should be created in all states to be elected by the PRIs exclusively.
4. Equally important is the building of capacity. Revision of all laws impeding their functioning,
bringing all institutions like parastatals and line department which are necessary for their
functioning under their control, strengthening management capacity, training, ability to attract
expertise available outside government are needed.
Integrated View of Local Services and Development Through Convergence of Programmes and
Agencies
1. Rural-Urban Divide
1. The rural urban divide in the higher tiers of local governments is a colonial legacy.
2. At the primary level the needs of the rural population and the approaches required are

different from those of urban people. So it makes sense to have Panchayats for rural
areas and municipal bodies for urban areas at the lowest level.
3. However, with rapid urbanisation and peri-urban areas, such a distinction at higher level is
artificial. Instead of a Zila Parishad, we should have a District Council for the integrated
development of the district.
2. Integrating parastatals
1. The local functions of all the parastatals need to devolve on local governments, even as
institutional mechanisms need to be devised to benefit from expert guidance.
3. Stakeholders vs Local Bodies
1. Wherever a group of stake-holders can be clearly identified, for instance, the parents of
children of a school, they should be directly empowered to the extent possible.
2. However, stake-holder empowerment should not be seen as antithetical to local
government empowerment. Just as the tiers of local government have to function in close
coordination, local government and empowered stake-holders groups should work in
concert.
Citizen Centric Governance
1. The citizen must be enabled to interact with all service providers through a single window.
2. Mechanisms should be there to measure citizens satisfaction. Citizen report cards, feedback at
delivery and service counters, call centres needs to be institutionalised.
3. In addition, social audit and strong grievance redressal system should be there.

Structure of PRIs
Number of Tiers
1. Article 243 B makes it mandatory for every State with a population exceeding 20 lakhs to have
three tiers of Panchayats at the Village, Intermediate and District levels.
2. In a vast and complex country, it is not feasible to prescribe nationally any specific pattern of
local governments. In Kerala, there are only about 999 Village Panchayats in 14 districts. Clearly
a mandatory intermediate tier Panchayat would be redundant in Kerala. Even larger States, with
generally smaller habitats mostly want to treat a group of villages as the unit of local
government. In such a case again, Intermediate Panchayats may be redundant.
3. Also, the states should have freedom to experiment and improve the design from time to time.
4. If the States wish to have three tiers, they should be free to adopt them. So the tiers of local
government should be left for the State legislature to decide.
Inclusion of MPs and MLAs in Local Bodies
1. Article 243 C stipulates that the State Legislature may by law provide for the representation of
the MPs and MLAs at local government levels other than the village level.
2. But the imposing presence of MPs and MLAs in the Panchayats would subdue the emergence
of local leadership. So they should not become members of local bodies.
District Council
1. The sheer accident of elected urban local governments coming into being first during the colonial
era led to parallel and disjointed development of panchayats and municipalities.
2. Its negatives are as follows:
1. There is an artificial divide between the rural and urban populations even in matters

relating to common needs and aspirations. For instance, health care and education. A
district hospital does not cater to only the urban population in the district town.
2. In a rapidly urbanising society, the boundaries between rural and urban territories keep
shifting. It is absurd in an expanding city to have the peripheral areas managed by
Panchayats. The need for coordination between rural and urban local governments at the
district level gave rise to institutions like DPCs. But they have proved to be too weak and
non-starters in many states.
3. Finally, in the public eye there is no single, undivided local government at the district
level. Not surprisingly, the office of collector continues to remain the real symbol of
authority in the district. But this is not healthy for the growth of local self government
bodies.
3. Planning is an essential function of government. Creating a separate authority in the form of DPC
with no governmental authority has no logic.
4. So there must be a single elected District Council with representatives from all rural and urban
areas, that will function as a true local government for the entire district.
Size of the Gram Panchayat
1. The Constitution does not stipulate any size for Panchayats, either in terms of population or in
area. Larger panchayats mean greater efficiency of scale in delivery of services. Their negative is
lower citizen participation in the Gram Sabhas.
2. There is a historical idealised notion that there should be one Panchayat for each village. But
this leaves many Gram Panchayats too small to function meaningfully.
3. Option of ward sabhas can be explored.
Ward Sabha in Rural Areas
1. Larger panchayats mean lower citizen participation. Hence the creation of an intermediate bodyWard Sabha - is desirable as it would facilitate greater people participation and at the same time
ensure administrative viability of the Gram Panchayat. It already exists in Karnataka.
2. A Ward Sabha should articulate the needs of the ward as a whole. They should be assigned the
function of identification of beneficiaries. The list thus prepared should be placed before the Gram
Sabha for its approval. They should also be given a role in prioritisation of schemes pertaining to
their area.
Structure of Urban Bodies
Ward Sabhas in Urban Areas
1. Issues
1. In rural areas, the proximity and small size of the Village Panchayat facilitates greater
participation by the citizens, whereas in urban areas, such participation becomes difficult.
2. The Constitution makes creation of such Ward Committees mandatory in all cities
exceeding a population of 3 lakhs. Still they have not yet been constituted in some
States.
3. In most States, the membership of the Ward Committee is by nomination. This is partly
because of the propensity of the State Government to gain partisan advantage in
nomination, and partly because of the genuine difficulty in identifying legitimate citizen
representatives within the ward.
4. They have an ambiguous mandate. No clear activities have been devolved on them. This
further limits citizen participation.
5. In many large cities, there are Ward Committees combining several wards leading to
each ward sabha covering a large population exceeding 5 lakhs in some cases. This
undermines the very intent behind creating the Ward Committees.

2. Recommendations
1. The three tiers of urban local body governance should be as follows:
1. Municipal Council/Corporation (by whatever name it is called).
2. Ward Committees.
3. Area Committees or Sabhas.
2. Ward Sabhas should be constituted by the chairpersons of the Area Sabhas. There
should be direct election of the Ward Councilor who would be the Chairperson of the
Ward Committee who would represent the ward in the municipal body.
3. In smaller towns also, with populations of less than 3 lakhs, we should have the above
structure of Area Sabhas and Ward Sabhas.
4. Ward Sabhas must be given legitimate functions in clear terms like street lighting,
sanitation, water supply, drainage, road maintenance, maintenance of school buildings,
maintenance of local hospitals/dispensaries, local markets, parks, playgrounds.
5. It should have supervision over the employees involved in the functions entrusted to it. It
should be able to determine the salaries of all such people on the basis of their
performance.
6. It should have separate funds allocated to it. Its budget should be taken into account
while formulating the overall municipal budget.
7. Meetings of Ward Sabhas must be regular.
8. Because non residential stakeholders like business are also interested in an area, they
should be given some representation in the Ward Sabha preferably through their business
associations.
Area Sabhas
1. An Area Sabha would preferably not cover more than, say, 2500 voters.
2. Role of the Area Sabhas: It should be the functional equivalent of the Gram Sabha in villages. It
should not be merely a political space for opinion formation. It should be a formal space, and
given explicitly defined functions like prioritising developmental activities and identifying
beneficiaries under various schemes. It should have separate budget for the discharge of its
functions and meet regularly.
3. Members of the Area Sabha:
Each Area Sabha should elect a small Committee of
Representatives. The Committee of Representatives would elect one person who would chair the
meetings of the Area Sabha and would represent the Area Sabha in the relevant Ward
Committee. The election of the Committee of Representatives should be held by the SEC.
Office of the Mayor
1. Mayor vs state government
1. In most states, the Commissioner, appointed by the State Government, has all the
executive powers. This leads to a dilution in the role of the elected Mayor and is violative
of the spirit of self-governance and local empowerment.
2. Directly elected mayor
1. One concern in such a case is that abuse of authority by the Mayor with a fixed tenure
cannot be easily checked. However, in such a case, the council, public opinion and
media will act as a check. An independent local body Ombudsman will always act as an
effective check against abuse of authority at all levels.
2. When a Mayor is elected by popular vote and the Council members are elected by a
separate ballot, it is possible that the Mayor and a majority in the Council may belong to
two different parties. This may lead to problems. However a clean separation of powers
will prevent such tensions. On the other hand, it may improve accountability as each acts
as a check against the other, but cannot stop legitimate exercise of power.
3. When a Councillor elected to represent a ward is elected as the Mayor indirectly, often it
is difficult to enlarge his/her vision for the whole city.

4. Also, the direct popular mandate gives the Mayor the legitimacy to represent and speak
for the whole city.
5. If the Mayor is directly elected, the party will have to put up its best candidate in the city
from that category and there is likely to be better leadership that emerges.
6. Role of the Mayor
1. Should there be a separate Chairperson to chair the meetings of the Council and a
Mayor to head the executive branch of the city government?
This is in keeping with separation of powers and is somewhat similar to the
way our National and State Legislatures have their own presiding officers,
while the executive government is headed by the Prime Minister/ Chief
Minister.
However, such separation of the functions of Chairperson and Mayor at the
local level is unnecessary and cumbersome. In all rural local governments,
the Chairperson is also the executive authority.
2. Who should be the Chief Executive - the elected Mayor or the appointed
Commissioner?
Clearly the elected Mayor because basic democratic legitimacy demands
that power is exercised by the elected executive.
3. In large cities, how should the Mayors executive authority be exercised?
As cities grow larger, the Mayor needs the support and help of a group of
persons to exercise executive authority under his overall control and
direction. Therefore, some form of cabinet system is desirable.
In systems where the chief executive is directly elected, and separation of
powers is practised, the cabinet is often drawn from outside the legislature.
But in a city government, the imperatives of separation of powers should be
tempered by the need for greater harmony between the elected council and
the Mayor. It is therefore desirable to draw the Mayors cabinet or
committee to discharge executive functions from the elected council.

Other Issues with PRIs

Revision of 11th and 12th Schedules
1. Subjects like non-conventional energy, poverty alleviation programmes, education including
primary and secondary education, adult education, technical training and vocational education,
women and child welfare, family welfare, the public distribution system, libraries, cultural
activities which figure in the 11th schedule but not in the 12th can surely be functions for
municipalities too.
2. Maybe the two schedules need not be revised, but that the fact that they are not exhaustive and
are only illustrative should be recognised.
Strengthening the Voice of Local Bodies
1. Apart from constituting Legislative Councils (where they do not exist), the existing Legislative
Councils may be recast as a council for local governments.
Growth of parastatals
1. They are the development authorities, housing boards, slum development agencies and water
and sanitation boards. This has also led to a fragmented approach, with a large number of
bodies working in isolation.

2. For example,
1. The most important parastatal at the district level is the District Rural Development
Authority (DRDA). The funds for most of the CSS are routed through it. There is no
justification for having DRDA.
2. A district also has a District Health Society (DHS) to look after the programmes of the
NRHM. DHS has to be responsible to the PRIs. However, management of district hospitals
and regulation of private nursing homes are some of the functions which need high level
professional and technical competence. To that extent, the DHS will need functional
autonomy.
Capacity Building in Local Bodies
1. Capacity building doesn't mean only training. It also includes organizational development. It
means development of supportive institutional and legal framework. It also includes designing
appropriate structures, re-engineering internal processes, developing MIS, developing suitable
incentive systems and adopting sound HR practices.
2. There is a strong case to indicate separate training funds in various schemes to be implemented
by the PRIs.
Accountability and Transparency in PRIs
1. Audit is essential for accountability but it is not sufficient because of the large time lag between
the decision making and its scrutiny by audit. Also a large number of audit observations remain
unattended due to lack of proper monitoring and follow up.
2. PRIs should be accountable to the state legislature and a separate Committee on Local Bodies
can be formed just like the PAC.
3. There should be a local body Ombudsman (independent etc.) functioning under the overall
guidance and superintendence of the Lokayukta.
4. Other usual methods are citizen report cards, grievance redressal mechanism, social audits.
Space Technology in PRIs
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.

Creating resource centres.

Tele-education.
Tele-medicine.
Single window delivery mechanism for a variety of space-enabled services and products, such as
education, vocational training, skill development.
Weather and Climate.
Disaster management: During the period of natural disasters, it facilitates video- conferencing
and real-time information exchange. Space technology is also utilised in flood mapping and
damage assessment.
Natural resources management: The areas of importance are rural land management, rural
infrastructure, conservation of water bodies, groundwater mapping and providing drinking water,
wasteland mapping, watershed development.
Urban land use data: Remote sensing has provided an important source of data for urban land
use mapping. ISROs CARTOSAT-2 satellite has the capacity to provide imagery with one metre
spatial resolution.
National Urban Information System: The Ministry of Urban Development (MUD) has taken
initiative to establish a National Urban Information System (NUIS). The major objectives of NUIS
are to: (a) develop attribute as well as spatial information database for urban planning; (b)
develop standards; (c) develop urban indices to determine and monitor the health of the towns
and cities.

Resource Centre at the Village Level

1. It will contain information about local resources and local traditional knowledge and will be ICT
and Space technology based.
2. It should utilize the potential of educated local youths in documenting and mapping local
resources; soil types; drainage pattern; cropping and animal husbandry practices; water
resources; land and farm holding; susceptibility to natural disasters, infrastructure. Then it could
be suitably incorporated in the national plans.
3. They should also document local traditional knowledge, especially about medicine, natural
resource management and agricultural practices; local arts and crafts; folk memories.

Issues With Local Body Elections

Delimitation of Constituencies
1. Article 243 C of the Constitution provides that the ratio between the population of the territorial
area of a Panchayat at any level and the number of seats in such Panchayat to be filled by
election shall be the same throughout the State.
2. While such an explicit provision has not been made in respect of municipalities, basic principles
of equity and democratic participation demand that a similar practice should be followed in urban
local governments.
3. But in many States, the powers of delimitation of local government constituencies have been
retained by the Governments.
4. As a result, in many cases, particularly in urban areas, the SECs have to wait until a
delimitation exercise is completed by the State Governments. He is helpless when the
delimitation exercise is not completed in time and so the elections are delayed.
Rotation of Reserved Constituencies
1. Rotation Necessary
1. Given the complexity of reservations in local government and the high proportion of seats
reserved (70% and more in certain states), periodic rotation of seats becomes necessary.
2. Rotation not Necessary
1. Frequent rotation denies to the elected representatives, an opportunity to gain experience
and grow in stature.
2. This is particularly damaging for disadvantaged sections of voters. As a result, while
reservations lead to numerical representation, empowerment is sometimes illusory
because very often, entrenched local elites tend to nominate proxy candidates in reserved
seats in anticipation of its rotation after a term.
3. Balanced Approach
1. The rotation can be after at least two terms of five years so that there is possibility of
longevity of leadership and nurturing of constituencies. However, with multiple reservations
this may lead to large sections being denied the opportunity of reservation for a long time.
2. Second, instead of single-member constituencies, elections can be held to multi-member
constituencies. Several seats can be combined in a territorial constituency in a manner
that the number of seats allocation for each disadvantaged section remains the same in
each election in that constituency.
4. Delays in Reservation Exercise
1. Many States undertake the exercise of enumeration of OBCs in the eleventh hour,
delaying reservation and therefore the conduct of elections. So the reservation of
constituencies should also be entrusted to SECs.
Separate Electoral Rolls for PRI Elections

1. Preparation of separate electoral rolls for local governments is redundant and can only lead to
confusion.
2. Electoral rolls prepared by the Election Commission of India should be adopted for elections to
local governments also.
Bringing SECs under ECI
1. Yes - Bring It
1. Bringing SEC under the control of ECI will give it the required independence from state
governments.
2. This would also ensure a commonality of approach in the electoral process.
2. No - Repeal Art 243K and Amend Art 324
1. However, one independent constitutional authority cannot function under another
constitutional authority.
2. The only alternative would be to repeal Article 243K and amend Article 324 entrusting
local elections to the Election Commission of India.
3. Article 324 provides for appointment of Regional Election Commissioners. A Regional
Commissioner could then be appointed for each State under this provision and it could
function as the SEC for local elections.
3. No - Only Strengthen SEC
1. Against this it has also been argued that, as the number of local bodies is so large, the
ECI would hardly have the time to attend to election related matters in respect of local
governments.
2. Now that every State has constituted its SEC, repealing Article 243K and abolishing
these offices would be impractical.
3. So the focus should be on strengthening the independence of the SEC.
SEC should be appointed by a collegium comprising the Chief Minister, the Chief
Justice of the High Court and the Leader of Opposition.
Serving officers should not be appointed. Uniform criteria need to be evolved and
institutionalised regarding the qualifications, tenure and age of retirement. Post
retirement jobs should not be allowed.
SECs should be accorded the status of a Judge of a High Court in the same
manner as ECs in the Election Commission of India are accorded the status of
Judge of the Supreme Court.

Devolution of Powers
Constitutional Scheme for Devolution
1. The Constitution provides for devolution for the twin purposes of:
1. Making plans for economic development and social justice.
2. Implementing programmes of economic development and social justice.
Current Issues in Devolution
1. Constitution and elections
1. Despite the mandatory constitutional injunctions, it took years, and in some cases a
decade, to even constitute local governments and hold elections.
2. Even when local governments are constituted and elections are held, states often
postponed or distorted the subsequent elections on some pretext or other. Recent West
Bengal issue is there.

2. Devolution of functions
1. State governments and civil servants are in general reluctant to effectively empower local
governments. Only the bare minimum required to implement the strict letter of the
Constitution prevails in many States and the spirit is ignored.
2. Only minor civic functions have been exclusively assigned to the local self government
bodies. All the other so-called development functions assigned to the different tiers of
Panchayats are actually dealt with by the line departments of State Governments or
parastatals.
3. Resources as well as staff also remain under the control of the State Government.
4. Even mandatory provisions like the constitution of DPCs and MPCs have been ignored in
many States.
5. Progress in delineation of functions of the different tiers of local governments in a given
subject matter has been very slow.
6. The exercise of activity mapping continues to be partial and delayed. State governments
have generally not approved the activity mapping lists.
7. Even where activity mapping has been approved, parallel action to enable local
governments to exercise the functions has not been taken.
8. The existing government departments and parastatals prevent the local governments from
exercising the so called transferred functions.
9. All laws which are inconsistent with the provisions of PRIs have to be suitably amended
to bring them in conformity with the PRI system or repealed or will expire after one year
from the 73rd and 74th Amendments. Despite the passage of 15 years since then, most
States have not even identified such laws.
3. Interference of state governments
1. State governments retain their right to supersede a PRI or to veto its resolutions.
2. Almost all the States have chosen to assign functions to the PRI not through statute, but
by delegated legislation in the form of rules or executive orders.
3. Political interference in intervening in transfers, sanctioning of local bodies contracts and
tenders.
Recommendations for Devolution
1. While devolution must eventually comprise the entire range of subjects, States may plan their
own devolution programme keeping in mind the ground realities.
2. Identification of activities via activity mapping is essential and each activity needs to be assigned
at appropriate level in the PRI system.
3. Principle of subsidiarity should be strictly followed in the activity mapping process.
4. Devolution must be by legislative action and not statutory.
Devolving Regulatory Functions to the Panchayats
1. There are many areas where the rationale for devolving regulatory powers to the local
governments is very strong. To begin with tasks like issuing birth, death, caste and residence
certificates, enforcing building regulations, issuing of voter identity cards would be better
performed by local governments.
2. The Gram Panchayats can play an effective role in community policing. In most of the developed
countries, policing is a municipal job and there is no reason why it should not be so in India.
PRIs and the State Government
1. In most states, the state governments retain significant control over PRIs. This includes:
1. power to suspend a resolution.
2. Power to inquire into the affairs of the Panchayat.
3. Power to remove elected Panchayat representatives.

2.
3.

4.

5.
6.

4. Power to inspect and issue directives.

5. Withdrawal of powers from the Panchayat.
6. Approval of the budget of a Panchayat.
In some States the higher tier of Panchayat is given the authority to exercise control over the
lower tier. This is inappropriate because all the tiers of Panchayats are institutions of self
government and there cannot be any hierarchic relationship between them.
Maladministration, irregularities, abuse of power are some of the situations which may warrant
action against the PRIs. The state government needs such powers in these cases to ensure PRI
administration is carried out within the contours of the law. But it is also necessary to ensure
that this responsibility does not translate into micromanagement of PRIs.
So to prevent actions motivated by narrow political considerations, the State Government should
place the case before the local bodies Ombudsman and take action based on his
recommendations only. If it decides otherwise, all the reasons must be given in writing and made
public.
The provisions in some State Acts regarding approval of the budget of a Panchayat by the higher
tier or any other State authority should be abolished.
Election related complaints should only be decided upon by the SEC.

Need for a Constitutional Directive for Effective Empowerment of PRIs

1. Needed
1. When it comes to actual devolution, most states have been reluctant. Given this
backdrop a strong constitutional provision seems necessary.
2. The use of the phrase shall by law vest as against the existing may by law endow by a
constitution amendment.
2. Not Needed
1. The autonomy of states must be respected.
2. The situation varies from state to state and the uniform approach [one size fits all] could
be detrimental.
3. The matters listed in the Eleventh and Twelfth Schedules could not be fully handled by
the local governments and activity mapping is needed because there are several activities
in these subjects which are more appropriately done at the state level than the local level.
Such detailed prescription is not possible in the Constitution and the states must have
the freedom in devolving specific functions to local governments.
3. Balanced Approach
1. While the constitutional provisions need to be strengthened, it is desirable to lay down
general principles of empowerment without unduly restricting the states freedom of
action.
2. These principles can be principle of subsidiarity and activity mapping.
Devolution or Delegation?
1. Delegation is the transfer of power for specifically defined functions, without ceding the authority
and responsibility in respect of that function. There is discretion on the part of the transferor
government in deciding whether or not to delegate power, which powers to delegate, to curtail or
withdraw it later. Devolution is the full and permanent transfer of power.
2. If Art 243G and 243W are read to mean delegation, there would be no difference between the
pre-amendment and post-amendment position. Such an interpretation defeats the whole purpose
of the constitutional amendments.
3. PRIs are defined as 'institutions of self-government', and their constitution is made mandatory. A
self government must derive powers from its own authority and the principle of subsidiarity.
4. 'Self Government' and Art 243G and 243W
1. The term 'self-government' is not defined or explained in the Constitution. States have
exploited this constitutional silence, and the use of the word 'may' in Articles 243G and

243W to grant themselves discretion.

2. These articles are made "subject to the provisions of the Constitution", which could be
read to imply that
1. It cannot be used to curtail the authority of the State to legislate on matters within
its competence. But it also means states cannot use their power to erode the
purpose of Article 243G/ 243W, namely devolution.
3. One possible way could be to use the expression "as may be necessary to enable them
[Panchayats/Municipalities] to function as institutions of self-government".
Union Oversight Over PRIs
1. Increase Union Oversight
1. Many activities of a large municipal body today impact the nation as a whole and may
even have international ramifications, such as with international airports.
2. Funding for district development comes largely from the Centre due to states lack of
resources. CSS have made PRIs even more dependent upon center.
3. One approach could be that the subject of local governments or certain functions which
are directly relevant to all three tiers of government be placed in the Concurrent List.
4. Indian Constitution vs SAF Constitution on Local Bodies in Concurrent List:
1. In South Africa, functions listed for concurrent legislation include a vast part of
municipal governance matters whereas in the Indian Constitution, this is
specifically a State subject.
2. The South African Parliament can pass a framework law in any matter to provide
for structures and institutions of local government system.
2. Don't Place Local Bodies Under Concurrent List
1. Constitution places all activities related to PRIs within states' domain. The governance of
local bodies cannot be controlled by the Union.
2. A Framework Law may be passed by Parliament under Article 252 (power of Parliament
to legislate for two or more States by consent and adoption of such legislation by other
States).
3. The remaining States may then be persuaded to adopt this law.
4. This Law should lay down the broad principles of devolution of powers, responsibilities
and functions to the local governments and communities, based on the following:
1. Principle of Subsidiarity.
2. Democratic Decentralisation.
3. Delineation of Functions.
4. Devolution in Real Terms.
5. Convergence.
6. Citizen Centricity.

Issues With Local Body Finances

FC 13 on Local Bodies
1. As the Constitutional provisions do not permit sharing of the divisible pool with the local bodies,
FC-XIII recommended grants equivalent to a percentage share of the divisible pool (under Art
275). It has supported local bodies through a predictable and buoyant source of revenue by
giving them a share in the divisible pool. The Commission has recommended grants equivalent to
2.28% of the divisible pool or Rs. 87, 500 crore. For the first time, FC-XIII has linked grants to
local bodies to the divisible pool of Central taxes.

2. The grant recommended by FC-XIII has two components - a basic component and a performance
based component.
1. The basic grant which is equivalent to 1.50% of the pool is available to all the States put
together without any conditions.
2. The performance grant effective from 2011-12 will be 0.50% of the divisible pool for the
year 2011-12 and 1% thereafter. The main stipulations are, putting in place a supplement
to budget documents listing out the budget allocations separately for local bodies, audit
system for local bodies, appointment of an independent ombudsman for local bodies,
prescribing through an Act qualification of persons eligible for appointment to SFCs and
enabling all local bodies to levy property tax.

Tax Base
1. Issues
1. PRIs lack elastic revenue sources and their taxation bases are meager.
2. So they are heavily dependent on grants from Union and State Governments. A major
portion of the grants both from Union as well as the State Governments is scheme
specific.

3. In view of their own tight fiscal position, State Governments are not keen to devolve funds
to Panchayats.
2. Recommendations
1. In recent years, PPP infrastructure projects have gone up significantly. PRIs should be
given a share out of the collections from such projects.
2. They should also get a share in the minerals royalty. Because in both the cases, local
communities are the ones who contribute the most.
3. CFC and SFC grants should be based on their own revenue generation efforts so that
PRIs are incentivised to generate their own revenue.
State's Control over PRI Funding
1. Issues
1. States retain discretionary control over PRI budgets and often ignore SFC
recommendations.
2. Transfer of funds to PRIs is made under a number of budget heads, often in packets of
small allotments. Such a complicated procedure for allocation leads to delays and makes
the accounting confusing. This should be simplified.
3. The state governments do not adhere to a time frame for release of funds to PRIs. Often
the allotment is released towards the close of the financial year, leaving very little time to
the local bodies to carry out actual work. As a result, often the funds remain undrawn
which leads to smaller allocations in subsequent years.
2. Recommendations
1. The approximate quantum of funds to be transferred for a block of five years should be
indicated to the local bodies in advance so that the Panchayats plan accordingly. States
should follow SFC recommendations. Funding should be made as rule based as possible.
2. PRIs should also be allowed to borrow funds.
The State Finance Commission (SFC)
1. Issues
1. Lack of clarity on SFC's part in respect of role of the local bodies.
2. Absence of uniform standards and format in various SFC reports.
3. Absence of a time frame within which the state governments are required to take action
on the recommendations of the SFCs.
4. State governments cherry pick from the SFC's recommendations and don't accept the
inconvenient ones.
5. While estimating the resource gap, SFCs normally just make forecasts based on the
historical trends.
6. Serious issues with SFC composition.
2. Recommendations
1. SFCs should be constituted at least 2 years before the required date of submission of
their recommendations, and the deadline should be so decided as to allow the State
Government at least 6 months time for tabling the ATR. SFC reports should be readily
available to the CFC when the latter is constituted so that an assessment of the States
need could be made.
2. The healthy precedent established by the Union Government in generally accepting the
devolution proposals made by the CFC should also be followed by the State Government.
3. The SFCs follow the procedures and guidelines adopted by the CFC.
4. SFCs should follow a normative approach in estimating resource gaps. They should link
the devolution of funds to the level/quality of civic amenities that the citizens could expect
consistent with some uniform standards of service delivery.
5. SFCs should have people of eminence and competence.They should follow the
requirements as for the CFC. Serving bureaucrats should not be appointed.

6. There should be a permanent SFC cell in the finance department.

Back ward Regions Grant Fund
1. It covers 250 backward districts. The fund is intended to provide financial resources for (i) filling of
critical gaps as identified by local bodies, (ii) capacity building of PRIs, and (iii) for enlisting
professional support by the local bodies.
2. The Panchayats have flexibility in selection of programmes, identification of beneficiaries and
monitoring. In all these activities, the Gram Sabha has to be fully involved.
Urban Finances
Property Tax Reforms
1. Issues in Coverage: Only a fraction of the properties in urban areas are assessed for this tax.
1. The main reason is that the boundaries of municipal bodies are not expanded to keep
pace with the urban sprawl.
2. State laws often provide for exemption to a number of categories of buildings.
3. Unauthorised settlements are not normally taxed by the municipal authorities for fear that
levy of property tax would strengthen the demand for regularisation.
4. A large number of properties belonging to the Union and State Governments are not
taxed. Local Governments provide services to the occupants of such properties and there
are costs. Therefore, they should be empowered to collect service charges from such
properties.
5. Similarly, properties belonging to the municipal government which have been given on
lease are not taxed.
6. Records of title of property lead to poor tax collection.
2. Issues in Assessment
1. Collusion between the assessing authorities and property owners.
2. Annual Rental Value (ARV) method was used for this tax. It had many drawbacks the
manner of assessment was opaque and gave a lot of discretion to assessing officials.
3. Another major drawback of ARV was that it was non-buoyant. The tax fixed for a property
would remain unchanged till such time an overall revision in the property tax was
undertaken. Such revisions did not take place for decades.
4. Now the municipal bodies are switching over from the traditional ARV based assessment
to the Unit area or the Capital value methods. The Unit Area Method overcomes
buoyancy problem to some extent as the various parameters for assessment can be
changed periodically.
5. Property tax based on capital value are supposed to overcome this problem totally, as
taxes are self-assessed by the property owner every year and while doing so the market
value prescribed for that year are taken into account. This is a fraud in India for obvious
reasons.
User Charges
1. Issues
1. There has been a tendency to charge for various services at rates that are much lower
than the actual cost. This is because of the reluctance to charge fair rates for fear of
becoming unpopular.
2. Lack of availability of required expertise at the local level prevents them from arriving at
correct rates for the utilities.
3. The power to impose fines is not given to the municipal authorities and proceedings in the
court have to be instituted. Thus even for imposition of a small fine, prosecution has to be
launched in a criminal court.

4. Another reason for poor compliance of civic laws is the relatively non-deterrent nature of
penalties prescribed.
2. Recommendations
1. State Finance Commissions should link the grants to the user charges efforts of the
municipal bodies. They can also lay down guidelines to arrive at the optimum tariff rates.
2. Technology must be used to avoid theft and pilferage. Bill payments must be enabled
online.
Leveraging Land as a Resource
1. Sale of public urban land is dominated by development authorities. Proceeds from the sale of
such land must be given to the municipal bodies as done in Rajasthan where 15% share is given
to the municipal bodies.
2. But proceeds from land sales must not be used for covering their recurring costs (and delaying
politically difficult decisions on users charges). They must use the proceeds of land sales
mainly to finance investment and capital works.
3. Most municipal bodies have a large number of properties given on rents or lease. However, the
earnings out of these properties are quite low due to obvious reasons.

Issues in Decentralised Planning

1. Issues
1. Decentralised planning has not been institutionalized yet.
1. A big reason is that many state acts do not contain provisions for preparing
development plans at the panchayat level.
2. Even in States which have such provision, the task is not taken seriously because of the
following reasons:
1. Real devolution of functions has not taken place. In the absence of meaningful
devolution, the local bodies cannot be expected to be motivated to take up
planning seriously for they would not have control over the implementation.
2. Lack of untied funds means panchayats have very little money left for their own
activities which they may want to include in the plan.
3. Even the PC had not taken much interest in PRI level planning. The State Planning
Boards also failed to encourage it.
3. Currently, separate district plans are required to be prepared for each of the major CSS.
2. Recommendations
1. Effective devolution.
2. Increasing untied funds and reducing tied funds in CSS.
3. Some CSS are sector specific, such as health or education. It should be made
mandatory to include sectoral plans into overall development planning at the local level.
Role of the District Planning Committee
1. Issues
1. One type of confusion relates to its nature: is it a collection of the Panchayat and
Municipal plans? Or a macro-view for realizing synergies is needed? What are the
activities which require a macro perspective?
2. The other type of confusion relates to the domain of planning. Will the district plans
consist of only those functions which have been devolved to the local bodies? How should
planning be made for the CSS encroaching upon their domain?
3. Planning is an essential function of government. Creating a separate authority with no

governmental authority has no logic.

4. DPC has up to one-fifth of the total members can be nominated. A nominated member
can also be the Chairperson of the DPC. Nomination could be used as a convenient tool
available to the ruling party for narrow political considerations. Some States have the
system of nominating a minister as head of the Committee, thus converting the DPC into
a power centre. This renders DPC weak.
2. Recommendations
1. Currently, separate district plans are required to be prepared for each of the major CSS.
CSS guidelines that entrust the task of district level of planning to parastatals need to be
modified to include DPC.
2. The PC should inform the states that the DPC will be the sole body to plan at the district
level. A time frame must be specified for this transition.
3. Professional support from parastatals, line departments, expert support from outside
should be provided to the DPC.
4. System of nomination in DPCs should be done away with.
MPC vs DPC
1. Metro areas are under MPCs but also include many areas under DPCs. The peri-urban areas
under the DPCs are all likely to be urbanised in few years and become closely integrated with
the metro area.
2. There are also issues of externalities. Some of the urban facilities have a larger clientele outside
its area or a source which is outside its jurisdiction. For example, transportation, source of water
supply, areas of landfills.
3. One solution could be that all urban / peri-urban regions falling within metro area would come
under one MPC and no DPC for such districts/portions of districts would be constituted. It may
also be necessary to have Chairpersons of Panchayats and of the local bodies in the MPCs.
Urban Planning
Specific Issues in Urban Planning
1. Outdated laws: Laws should not be static and must be updated keeping in mind the current
realities. So the restrictive laws need to be done away with so that new lands can come on the
market at rates commensurate with demand. Currently, outdated and complex laws restrict
rather than encourage new land to come under development. This leads to prolification of
unauthorized colonies and illegal construction.
2. Issue of parastatals: Parastatals should be merged into local governments eliminating the
present conflict between them and local bodies.
3. Lack of plan enforcement: Town Planning is a holistic concept. But in most cities town planning
ends with preparation of zoning regulations. The enforcement of these regulations is ignored
completely.
4. Corruption: Changes to and waivers from the city development plan are rampant due to
corruption. Once the plan is finalised, no authority should have any discretion to grant any
exemption or waiver. It should have a thirty-year perspective to be revised after every ten years
through a participative and transparent process.
Peri-urban Areas
1. They are the outskirts of a large urban area, more accurately areas which are outside urban
jurisdiction but are in the process of urbanisation and have certain characteristics of urban areas.
2. Such areas are created partly by the influx from the deeper countryside, but also from those in
the cities seeking to move out some migrating from congested areas to larger residences or
new industries and some shifting away from expensive city living.
3. Their issues are:

1. Land use change, from agricultural to residential or industrial.

2. Changes in the use of natural resources such as water and forestry.
3. New forms of pollution and waste management.
4. Creation of infrastructure.
5. Managing a new cultural ethos.
4. Further, to be able to control untidy sprawls, it is necessary to ensure, that the planning laws
applicable to a present city area are also applicable to future areas of the city. It cannot be that
a village Panchayat gives permission for a certain type of land use which a few years later would
go against the citys land use when that area is absorbed into the city.
Regional Planning Focussing on Corridors and not Cities
1. Corridor based development should be followed to improve access to arterial transport systems,
and promote balanced urbanisation and development. DMIC is an example.