Week3 PDF

Table of Content
Table of Content 1
This Week's Hottest Stories 2
Economics 3
[op-ed of the day] Economic reforms are best done brick by boring brick 3
[op-ed of the day] GST may not have been revenue-neutral 5
GST Composition Scheme 6

HSN Code 6
[op-ed snap] Reset and reform 7
Assam Inland Water Transport Project 8
Punjab’s new Right to Business Bill 9
[op-ed snap] The perils of RBI’s fixation on inflation 9
Telecommunication Consumers Education and Protection Fund (TCEPF) 11
APNA UREA – SonaUgle 12
National E-Mobility Mission Plan 2020 13
Women Business and the Law (WBL) Index 2020 14
Merchant Discount rate 15
Governance 16
Integrated Road Accident Database (IRAD) 16
Fastest growing cities in India 17
Commissionerate System 19
Benefits of Commissionerate System 20
BIS Gold Hallmarking 21
Annual Status of Education Report (Rural) 2019 21
National Policy for the treatment of 450 ‘Rare Diseases’ 24
Agreement to end the Bru-Reang Refugee Crisis 25
History 26
Six degrees of Endangerment of a Language 27
Classical languages in India 27
Indian Digital Heritage (IDH) Initiative 28
International Relations 29
Raisina Dialogue 2020 30
[op-ed snap] The world from Raisina 30
Henley Passport Index 2020 32
Ethnic Unity Law in Tibet 33
[op-ed snap] Seize the summit 34
Objectives 35
Polity 37
Article 131, on which Kerala has based its challenge to the CAA 37
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Explained: What is the NIA Act, and why is Chhattisgarh challenging it? 38
Death Penalty in India (Annual Statistics Report 2019) 39
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This Week's Hottest Stories
1. Health Sector – UHC, National Health Policy, Family Planning, Health Insurance, etc.(3 Newscards)
2. Citizenship and Related Issues(3 Newscards)
3. North-East India - Security and Developmental Issues(2 Newscards)
4. Foreign Policy Watch: India-China(2 Newscards)
5. Human Rights Issues(2 Newscards)
6. Police Reforms – SC directives, NPC, other committees reports(2 Newscards)
7. Economic Indicators and Various Reports On It- GDP, FD, EODB, WIR etc(2 Newscards)
8. Coastal Zones Management and Regulations(2 Newscards)
9. Capital Markets: Challenges and Developments(2 Newscards)
10. Primary and Secondary Education – RTE, Education Policy, SEQI, RMSA, Committee Reports, etc.(2 Newscards)
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Economics
[op-ed of the day] Economic reforms are best done brick by boring
brick
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level : Not much.
Mains level : Paper 3- Economic reform-sudden or persistent and incremental, sustainable.
Context
Rather than big bang measures or a stealthy agenda, India can count on small but significant improvements.
Reforms only in crisis or by stealth
The accepted conventional wisdom is that economic reforms in India happen only in a crisis or by stealth.
Reforms in the crisis
● Reforms of 1991 : The big example of the former are the 1991 reforms.
● In 1991 the country faced a huge foreign exchange crisis, resulting partly from the fiscal profligacy of the
previous decade.
● 1999 telecom sector reforms: Another example is from 1999 when the telecom sector was in near
bankruptcy, and that crisis led to the shift away from fixed fee for spectrum to revenue sharing.
● The situation of no other choice: In both cases, there was considerable opposition to those reforms, but they
were pushed through because the crisis left no other choice.
● Reform by stealth(Cautious): Other than a crisis, more often than not, it has been economic reform by
stealth.
In the form of executive orders: These reforms are often in the form of an executive decision rather than legislation.
Following are the examples of it-
● Expansion of the list under licence: The expansion of the list of items under the Open General Licence for
imports,
● The reduction in the set of industries reserved for small-scale businesses.
● Electoral bond introduction: A more recent example of stealth reform was the insertion of an electoral bond
scheme in the Finance Bill of 2018.
Advantages of going stealth:
● Reform by stealth offers the advantage of going in either direction.
● In 2013, faced with a potential currency crisis, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) quietly retracted the limits on the
liberalized remittance scheme (LRS).
Problem with stealth reforms:
● Stealth reforms are introduced stealthily but when they do not yield the desired result they are rolled back
unpredictably, increasing uncertainty in policies of the government.
Persistent, encompassing, creative incrementalism in reforms
● The Economic Survey of 2015 pretty much ruled out Big Bang reforms in India, calling instead for “persistent,
encompassing, creative incrementalism” on them.
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● This is the right mantra.
What does incrementalism(Gradualism) mean?
It implies continuity, not slowness, a sustainable speed that gives reforms predictability and stability. Following are its
examples of it-
i.Reform in food subsidy: Example of incrementalism could be reforms that are being carried out in food subsidies.
● First: Reduce the leakages of the subsidy to non-farmers.
● Thus, when procurement is done, payments go directly to their Aadhaar-linked accounts.
● This will lead to non-farmers getting eliminated,
● Second-Pay subsidy only to the poor: It will lead to subsidy savings, allowing us to limit the subsidy only to
poor farmers.
Case study
Odisha Model
● An online registration system has been implemented, started first by Odisha but now extended to other states.
Then biometric Aadhaar linkage has been made mandatory, to register farmers.
● Thus, when procurement is done, payments go directly to their Aadhaar-linked accounts.
Punjab
● In Punjab, most procurement is done through middlemen, who receive a commission from the government.
● Now the government is insisting on proof that payments have been deposited into beneficiary farmers’
Aadhaar-linked accounts, before commissions are released.
ii.Sovereign gold bond scheme: The use of paper gold greatly reduces imports of the physical metal and outgoes of
foreign exchange.
● The sale of these bonds is being expanded, and they would eventually be everywhere, even at post offices.
iii.Aggregate licence by RBI: The next example is from a new category called account aggregators licensed by RBI.
● It allows users’ control over the digital data trail that their transactions generate, and they can monetize it or use
it to enhance their creditworthiness.
● This is an incremental reform with huge ramifications.
Iv. Income tax notices: An under-appreciated reform, it requires that every notice has a computer generated
document identification number. Without this, you can simply ignore the notice. This lowers harassment-related
corruption.
V. Labour reforms: Gradual increase in the threshold number of employees, below which no permission is needed from
the government for shedding staff.
Conclusion
● The reforms cited above are incremental, not a big bang, persistent but not slow, open and not by stealth, and
finally, imaginative too, since they respond to real needs.
● Effective reforms are those that are done brick by brick, the boring measures that chip away at everything that
constrains high, inclusive and sustainable growth.
Economic Indicators and Various Reports On It- GDP, FD, EODB, WIR etc
[op-ed of the day] GST may not have been revenue-neutral
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Note4Students
Mains level : Paper 3- GST-below expected collection, and problems associated with it.
Context
In theory, the shift to GST made eminent sense, yet in practice, some of these expectations have been belied.
What are revenue neutral rates?
● In context of Goods and Services Tax in India, the Revenue Neutral Rate is a rate of GST at which the amount of
taxes currently collected by the government and the amount expected to be collected after GST remains the
same.
● For example, earlier goods were liable for taxes at various stages, including Excise Duty, VAT, Octroi etc. Some of
these taxes are eligible for credit in the later stages and some are not. Ultimately, when the product reaches the
final consumer, some amount of tax has been collected by the government (net of all the credits).
● The question is, after GST comes - does that amount stay the same, or does it increase or decrease?
● If the total tax collected increases, then the final prices of goods will increase for the consumer. However, if the
total tax collected decreases, then the government may face a problem because then their finances will become
constrained.
● Therefore, the challenge is to set the rate of GST in such a way that the revenue neither increases nor decreases.
This rate is called revenue neutral rate.
Why have GST collections not measured up to expectations?
1.GST should have been revenue-neutral but it is not
● Revenue neutrality Vs. Multiple objectives: The GST council began its deliberations not with the single
objective of revenue neutrality, but with multiple objectives in mind.
● Closeness to existing tax: Council wanted to ensure that rates were close to the existing tax incidence to
ensure minimal impact on inflation.
● Not regressive: The council also wanted the proposed rate structure was not regressive in nature.
● The council wanted that items of mass consumption were not taxed at a higher rate.
● Achieving all these objectives simultaneously proved a difficult task.
2.The issue of tax evasion
● It is difficult to arrive at firm estimates of the scale of the problem but there are some indications of its size.
● In West Bengal, it was estimated that the value of goods (July 2017 to March 2018) entering a state appeared to
be under-reported by around Rs 50,000 crore.
● Rs 60,000 crore in Madhya Pradesh, and Rs 1,50,000 crore in Maharashtra.
● Numerous cases of tax fraud and fake invoice scams have also been detected since then
● Invoice matching: It is argued that invoice matching will help if implemented it from the beginning.
○ It could have helped plug the loopholes.
● Issue of under-reporting: It is debatable whether invoice matching can end under-reporting (collusion) and
fake invoices.
● Limit of state capacity in handling cases: The Central and state administrations can intervene in only about
3 lakh cases in a year.
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○ Their capacity to track lakhs of transactions on a daily basis is questionable.
3.Slowing economy:
● A slowing economy has impacted firm revenues, and thus tax collections.
● Already existing structural issues have been compounded by the slowing economy.
Way forward
● There are certain options available to the government.
● First: Either recalibrate the expectation or carry on the efforts to plug the loopholes and the shortcoming in the
system.
● Second: Lower the cut-off for composition scheme. A higher level simply encourages business “splitting”.
● Third: Reduce exemptions.
● Fourth: The council must deliberate on the rate structure, bringing it in line with pre-GST levels.
B2BASICS
GST Composition Scheme
● Composition Scheme is a simple and easy scheme under GST for taxpayers. Small taxpayers can get rid of
tedious GST formalities and pay GST at a fixed rate of turnover. This scheme can be opted by any taxpayer
whose turnover is less than Rs. 1.5 crore.
Trade Sector Updates – Falling Exports, TIES, MEIS, Foreign Trade Policy, etc.
HSN Code
Note4Students
Prelims level : HSN Code
Mains level : India's Import regulation
No imports will be allowed without HSN code into the country clarified the Union Minister of Commerce & Industry.
What is HSN Code?
● HSN code stands for “Harmonized System of Nomenclature”.
● This system has been introduced for the systematic classification of goods all over the world.
● HSN code is a 6-digit uniform code that classifies 5000+ products and is accepted worldwide.
● It was developed by the World Customs Organization (WCO) and it came into effect from 1988.
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● The main purpose of HSN is to classify goods from all over the World in a systematic and logical manner. This
brings in a uniform classification of goods and facilitates international trade.
Labour, Jobs and Employment – Harmonization of labour laws, gender gap, unemployment, etc.
[op-ed snap] Reset and reform

Note4Students
Mains level : Paper 3- Socio-economic upheaval in Indian economy and its consequences for the Indian economy.
Context
With the Indian economy caught in the middle of a socio-economic upheaval, the government needs to make its focus on
the economy clear and pronounced.
India in the middle of a socio-economic upheaval
● Weakening economy: The economy has been weakening for a couple of years now.
● Social upheaval: The social upheaval is new but its seeds have been fermenting for a while.
● Consequences of the two: The social and economic sides of an economy are not divorced from each other.
○ Each influences the other and the current quagmire threatens to unleash the worst type of feedback
between the two.
Consequences for the employment
● Most severe consequence due to the interaction between the social and economic sides is unemployment.
● Rising unemployment disproportionately affects the young.
● India’s job market: India whose median citizen is in the 30s and which is inducting 10 million new young
people to the job market every year.
● Demographic dividend turning into a curse: This dynamic, popularly hailed as India’s demographic dividend,
can rapidly turn into a demographic curse if the employment situation doesn’t improve.
Falling investment rate, increased risk perception
● Where will the jobs come from? The job creators are entrepreneurs, conglomerates, and multinationals.
○ It is in their nature to take investment risks as long as the returns are high enough.
● Investment rates below 30: In India, investment rate fell well below 30 per cent a while back.
○ Falling returns: The returns on investment were not compensating entrepreneurs for the risk.
○ The recent social upheaval is only adding to the perceived risk.
● Wait and see approach: The more investors adopt a “wait-and-see” approach, the worse the job situation will
become.
Way forward
● Structural reforms: The government needs to announce a clear plan and timeline for structural reforms.
● Prioritising domain competence in staff: The government has to start staffing technical positions by
prioritising domain competence and empowering these hires with policy relevance.
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● Maintaining the integrity of institutions: The government need to maintain the integrity of institutions
tasked with the regulation of corporations and banks, monetary policy management, data collection/dissemination
and law enforcement.
● Accommodate dissent: The government also needs to desist from trying to drown out protesting voices with
state muscle power.
UDAY Scheme for Discoms
Assam Inland Water Transport Project

Note4Students
Prelims level : Assam Inland Water Transport Project
Mains level : Inland water transport in India
India and the World Bank signed a loan agreement of $88 million for the Assam Inland Water Transport Project.
Assam Inland Water Transport Project
● A majority of Assam’s more than 361 ferry routes cross the Brahmaputra or serve its islands, providing a crucial
means of transport to thousands of commuters in both the urban and rural areas of the Brahmaputra Valley.
● The project will draw guidance from ‘working with nature’ principles that aim to design new infrastructure or
rehabilitate existing infrastructure in a way that works with natural river processes.
● The terminals will have better access, lighting and signage while the new vessels will allow for individual seats,
and separate toilets. Moreover, a strengthened regulatory regime will ensure reduction in overloading, adherence
to time schedule and better crew standards.
● The Project will help Assam improve the passenger ferry infrastructure and its services and strengthen the
capacity of the institutions running the inland water transport.
Significance
● Inland Water Transport is also a more sustainable mode of transport. And Assam has the largest network of
navigable waterways in India.
● It provides low-carbon and low-cost options when compared to the cost of constructing and maintaining
flood-resilient roads and bridges across the long stretches of the Brahmaputra river.
● Technically better-designed terminals and energy-efficient vessels (both new and retrofitted) will make the ferry
services more sustainable with least disruption to nature.
Industrial Sector Updates – Industrial Policy, Ease of Doing Business, etc.
Punjab’s new Right to Business Bill

Note4Students
Prelims level : Right to Business
Mains level : Various mover for the MSME sector
The Punjab Cabinet this week gave its approval to a Punjab Right to Business Bill, 2020, a law aimed at ensuring ease of
doing business for the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector.
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Punjab Right to Business Bill, 2020
● Under the law, an MSME unit can be set up after ‘In-Principle’ approval from the District Bureau of Enterprise,
headed by the Deputy Commissioner, working under the guidance of the State Nodal Agency, headed by the
Director, Industries.
● Approval for units in approved Industrial Parks will be given in three working days.
● For new enterprises outside approved Industrial Parks, the decision on the Certificate shall be taken by the
District Level Nodal Agency within 15 working days, as per the recommendations of the Scrutiny Committee.
What is the timeframe for unit owners to comply?
● Unit owners will have three and a half years after setting up the unit to obtain seven approvals from three
departments: the sanction of building plans; issuance of completion/occupation certificate for buildings;
registration of new trade licences.
● The industries involving hazardous processes will have to obtain a Fire NOC and get approval for the factory
building plan before setting up the unit.
● All units will have to get environmental clearance from the Pollution Control Board before hand.
Why was a law needed, rather than an executive order?
● According to the government, the Act will have overriding powers over various Acts of different departments that
make approvals necessary before the setting up of small and medium units.
● This purpose could not have been achieved by an executive order.
● How the law actually works on the ground remains to be seen, however.
Economic Indicators and Various Reports On It- GDP, FD, EODB, WIR etc
[op-ed snap] The perils of RBI’s fixation on inflation

Note4Students
Mains level : Paper 3- Inflation targeting by RBI, and other mandates of RBI.
Context
The RBI’s responsibility to regulate the financial sector may have taken a back seat after the adoption of inflation
targeting as the main objective. Has a fixation with inflation rate made the RBI take its eyes off the loan books of the
banks?
Evolution of the role of the Central Banks
● Maintaining financial stability: The establishment of some of the world’s oldest central banks was inspired by
the goal of maintaining financial stability.
● Harm to the depositors: It was recognised that when private commercial banks fail, whether due to
malfeasance or misjudgement, they harm their trusting depositors.
● Harm to the entire system: But when banks fail they not only harm the depositors they can also take down
with them the rest of the financial system.
● Banks lending to one another: The entire financial system also gets harmed when banks have lent to one
another, which is not uncommon.
● The collapse of credit: In the crisis that ensues, there is a collapse of credit which, in turn, leads to a downturn
in economic activity.
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● Lender of last resort: To avoid this, the central bank was conceived of as the lender of last resort.
○ Prevention of run on the banks: Lender of last resort is the one that could pre-empt a run on banks
and give them time to put their books back in order.
○ Regulation of banks: However, this was to be accompanied by the adoption of a tough regulatory
stance.
○ Whereby the central bank would stay hawk-eyed towards the activities of banks, particularly risky
lending.
Rise of neo-liberalism and change in a role
With the rise of neoliberalism, the central tenet of which is that markets should be given free play, the regulatory role of
central banks took a back seat.
● Inflation control as primary role: The Central banks came to be primarily mandated with inflation control.
Inflation targeting and regulation of the financial market by RBI
● Multiple indicator approach: In India, the RBI had earlier pursued a ‘multiple indicators approach’.
○ What was the multiple indicator approach: The approach involves concern for outcomes other
than inflation, including even the balance of payments.
○ Discouraging the approach: Developments in economic theory discouraged ‘multiple indicators
approach’.
○ It was argued that having economic activity as an objective of monetary policy leads to higher
inflation.
● Favouring low inflation over lower unemployment: Discouraging the ‘multiple indicator approach’
encouraged low inflation over low unemployment.
● Inflation targeting as the sole objective of monetary policy: The Indian government also instituted
inflation targeting as the sole objective of monetary policy.
○ The fixed target for the RBI: The RBI was permitted to exceed or fall short of a targeted inflation
rate of 4% by a margin of 2 percentage points.
But have the RBI’s original mandate as a central bank been met?
● IL&FS crisis: In 2018, within three years of the adoption of inflation targeting goal, a crisis engulfed IL&FS, a
non-banking financial company in the infrastructure space.
● Not a small player: It operated over 100 subsidiaries and was sitting on a debt of ₹94,000 crores.
● Effects of default: Given this, IL&FS default had a chilling effect on the investors, banks and mutual funds
associated with it both directly or indirectly.
● PMC bank crisis: In 2019, a run on the Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative Bank had to be averted by
imposing withdrawal limits.
● Outright fraud in PMC case: While in the case of IL&FS, some part of the problem may have been caused by a
slowing economy, outright fraud underlay the crisis at PMC Bank.
● Raghavendra Sahakara Bank case: In early 2020, curbs have had to be placed on withdrawals from the
Bengaluru-based Sri Guru Raghavendra Sahakara Bank.
Pertinent question
● Regulatory sector at the backseat? It is not too early to ask if the RBI’s responsibility to regulate the
financial sector may have taken a back seat after the adoption of inflation targeting as the main objective.
● Has a fixation with inflation rate made the RBI take its eyes off the loan books of the banks?
The recent rise in inflation and shortfall of currency notes
● Inflation at 7%: At over 7%, the inflation rate in December is the highest in five years.
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● Not cause of concern: This may not be the reason to panic, for the price rise could be seasonal and may well
abate.
● Question on inflation targeting: But it does raise a question on the efficacy of inflation targeting as a means
of inflation control.
● Reason for moderate inflation so far: If the inflation rate was within the intended range so far, that may
have been due to both declining food prices and, for a phase, oil prices.
● The shortfall of notes: The central bank has a monopoly on the issue of notes.
○ There is an absolute shortage of small denomination notes in the bazaars of India.
○ Small-denomination notes are mostly unavailable.
Conclusion
While focusing on inflation, the Central bank also needs to keep the other mandates especially the regulation of the
finance sector in check.
B2BASICS
Neoliberalism
Neoliberalism" is contemporarily used to refer to market-oriented reform policies such as "eliminating
price controls, deregulating capital markets, lowering trade barriers" and reducing state influence in the
economy, especially through privatization and austerity.
Telecom and Postal Sector – Spectrum Allocation, Call Drops, Predatory Pricing, etc
Telecommunication Consumers Education and Protection Fund

(TCEPF)
Note4Students
Prelims level : TCEPF, TRAI
Mains level : Telecom regulation in India
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has informed that telecom service providers will need to deposit all
unclaimed money of consumers, including excess charges and security deposit, in the Telecommunication Consumers
Education and Protection Fund (TCEPF).
Telecommunication Consumers Education and Protection Fund (TCEPF)
● The TCEPF Regulations, 2007 have been amended to provide the basic framework for depositing unclaimed
money of consumers by service providers, maintenance of the TCEPF and other related aspects.
● Any unclaimed / non refundable amount belonging to consumers in the TCEP fund will be utilized for the welfare
measures of the consumers.
● With this amendment, service providers will deposit any unclaimed consumer money of any form such as excess
charges, security deposit, plan charges of failed activations, or any amount belonging to a consumer, which
service providers are unable to refund to consumers.
Why such move?
● The TRAI observed that there is a need to bring clarity among service providers in depositing money which they
are unable to refund to the consumers.
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● While some service providers were depositing money only on account of excess billing revealed in the audit,
others were depositing unclaimed money such as security deposits and plan charges of failed activations.
Fertilizer Sector reforms – NBS, bio-fertilizers, Neem coating, etc.
APNA UREA – SonaUgle

Note4Students
Prelims level : APNA UREA - SonaUgle
Mains level : Not Much
APNA UREA – SonaUgle

● The Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizers launched the “APNA UREA – SonaUgle” brand of Hindustan
Urvarak & Rasayan Limited (HURL).
● HURL is Joint Venture Company promoted by the three Maharatna Companies i.e. Coal India Limited (CIL), NTPC
Limited (NTPC) and Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) as the lead promoters with FCIL and HFCL as other two
partners.
● The commissioning of the HURL’s three Units in the states of UP, Bihar and Jharkhand will open forward and
backward linkages for business activity in the Eastern part of India.
● It will be instrumental in opening new avenues for the generation of income and employment in the Eastern part
of our country.
Electric and Hybrid Cars – FAME, National Electric Mobility Mission, etc.
National E-Mobility Mission Plan 2020

Note4Students
Prelims level : National E-Mobility Mission Plan, 2020
Mains level : FAME Scheme and its progress
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The Supreme Court has sought the response of the government on a petition that alleges the non-implementation of the
National E-Mobility Mission Plan, 2020 (NEMMP), which came out in 2012.
National Electric Mobility Mission Plan (NEMMP) 2020
● The plan was launched by the Government of India in 2013 with the objective of achieving national fuel security
by promoting electric and hybrid vehicles.
● It had set a target of achieving a sale of seven million EVs by 2020 and thereby aimed to cut total carbon dioxide
emissions by three per cent from the ‘do nothing’ scenario.
● The government would provide fiscal and monetary incentives for this industry.
● The plan had made several recommendations for the adoption of electric vehicles (EVs), including
electric-powered government fleets and public transportation and subsidies for those who opt for EVs.
What was the petition about?
● The petition contended that the governmental apathy has violated the fundamental rights of citizens to health
and clean environment guaranteed under Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution.
● The government had failed in its obligation to mitigate the impact of climate change and air pollution partly
attributable to emissions from vehicles that burn fossil fuels.
● Government’s failure to suitably implement these recommendations is the direct cause of air pollution levels that
have turned our cities into virtual ‘gas chambers’.
Banking Sector Reforms
Women Business and the Law (WBL) Index 2020

Note4Students
Prelims level : WBL index
Mains level : India's poor performance and reasons behind
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The Women Business and the Law (WBL) 2020 index to measure the economic empowerment of women was recently
published.
WBL Index
● The WBL report released by the World Bank.
● It is based on the countries’ formal laws and regulations that have a bearing on women’s economic participation,
covering eight areas (eg, parenthood, equality of pay).
● It tracks how laws affect women at different stages in their working lives and focusing on those laws applicable in
the main business city.
India’s poor performance
● India placed 117th among 190 countries on the index.
● India, the world’s most populous democracy scored 74.4 on a par with Benin and Gambia and way below least
developed countries like Rwanda and Lesotho.
● The global average was 75.2 — a slight increase from 73.9 in the previous index released in 2017.
Global Performance
● Only eight economies scored a perfect 100 — Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Latvia, Luxembourg,
and Sweden.
● Those countries have ensured equal legal standing to men and women on all the eight indicators of the index.
● No economy in ‘East Asia and the Pacific’, ‘Europe and Central Asia’, or ‘Latin America and the Caribbean’ were
among top reformers, the report claimed.
● Countries in ‘Middle East and North Africa’ and ‘Sub-Saharan Africa’ accounted for nine of the 10 top progressing
countries on the WBL Index:
1. Saudi Arabia
2. The United Arab Emirates
3. Nepal
4. South Sudan
5. São Tomé and Príncipe
6. Bahrain
7. The Democratic Republic of Congo
8. Djibouti
9. Jordan
10. Tunisia
Significance of the Index
● Legal rights for women are both the right thing to do and good from an economic perspective.
● When women can move more freely, work outside the home and manage assets, they are more likely to join the
workforce and help strengthen their country’s economies.
Health Sector – UHC, National Health Policy, Family Planning, Health Insurance, etc.
Merchant Discount rate
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Note4Students
Mains level : Paper 3-Potentials of UPI in increasing digital payments.
Context
Zero MDR rate
● Recently the finance minister made the announcement of the zero merchant discount rate (MDR) policy for
payments through RuPay debit cards and Unified Payments Interface (UPI) instruments.
What is MDR?
MDR (merchant discount rate) is a fee paid by the merchant to the banks for using its services of P-O-S (Point of sale).
MDR compensates to the bank, which puts swipe machines and network providers i.e. Mastercard, Visa, American
Express, Discovery. Network providers fix their charges with the bank in percentage, and these charges are not high
because of fear of losing its market share but also cannot be very low as it incurs loss to the companies.
What does it mean? This policy dictates that when a consumer pays a merchant using RuPay or UPI, the bank may not
charge the merchant a commission on the sale value that it usually charges a merchant.
Significanc
● The move is expected to boost payments via home-grown real-time payments system
Unified Payments interface (UPI) at merchant locations, along with RuPay debit cards.
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Governance
Integrated Road Accident Database (IRAD)

Note4Students
Prelims level : Integrated Road Accident Database (IRAD)
Mains level : Need to curb Road fatalities in India
The government has launched a central accident database management system that will help in analysing causes of road
crashes and in devising safety interventions to reduce such accidents in the country.
Integrated Road Accident Database (IRAD)
● The IT tool, known as the IRAD has been developed by the IIT-Madras and will be implemented by the National
Informatics Centre.
● The project costs ₹258 crore and is being supported by the World Bank.
● The system will be first piloted in the six States with highest fatalities from road crashes — Karnataka, Madhya
Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh.
● The IRAD will be improved on the basis of the learnings from the trial, following which it will be rolled out across
the country.
How it works
● The IRAD mobile application will enable police personnel to enter details about a road accident, along with photos
and videos, following which a unique ID will be created for the incident.
● Subsequently, an engineer from the Public Works Department or the local body will receive an alert on his mobile
device.
● He or she will then visit the accident site, examine it, and feed the required details, such as the road design.
● Data thus collected will be analysed by a team at IIT-M, which will then suggest if corrective measures in road
design need to be taken.
● Road users will also be able to upload data on road accidents on a separate mobile application, which is expected
to go live.
Why need such a database?
● India sees the largest number of road fatalities in the world.
● More than 1.5 lakh people lost their lives in road crashes in the country in 2018, according to government data.
● Of the total people killed in road crashes in 2018, 48% were between 18 years and 35 years old, and more than
60% of such fatalities were due to overspeeding.
Urban Transformation – Smart Cities, AMRUT, etc.
Fastest growing cities in India

Note4Students
17
Prelims level : Various keywords mentioned
Mains level : Urbanization in India
The Economist has put Malappuram at the top of the “Top ten fastest-growing cities” in the world.
Anomalies in the data
● The total fertility rate (TFR, the number of children a woman is likely to have in the childbearing age of 15-49) in
Kerala is 1.8 as per NITI Aayog data from 2016 — below the replacement rate of 2.1.
● Another Kerala city, Thrissur, is No. 13, and the capital Thiruvananthapuram is No. 33 on the UN list.
● Tiruppur in Tamil Nadu — which has an even lower TFR of 1.6 — is No. 30.
● Surat in Gujarat (TFR of 2.2) is No. 27. There is no representation on the list from high population growth states
like Bihar and UP.
What does “fastest growing” refer to? How is a “city” defined?
● The list based on data from the UN Population Division refers to “urban agglomerations” (UA), which are
extended areas built around an existing town along with its outgrowths — typically villages or other residential
areas or universities, ports, etc., on the outskirts of the town.
● The Census defines a UA as “a continuous urban spread consisting of a town and its adjoining urban outgrowths
or two or more physically contiguous towns together”.
● The NCT of Delhi is a UA that includes the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) and New Delhi Municipal Council
(NDMC) areas, as well as 107 “Census towns” — erstwhile surrounding villages where more than 75% of the
population is now engaged in non-agricultural pursuits.
A pace of urbanization
● The Economist has listed the rate at which the populations of the UAs are expected to increase between 2015
and 2020.
● Since data on India and many other countries were not available for 2015 (the last Census in India was in 2011),
the UN report used projections of UAs’ populations — estimates based on past population growth data.
● The rate of growth between 2015 and 2020 thus calculated provides a measure of the pace of urbanisation.
How does urban population grow?
● Urban populations can grow when the birth rate exceeds the death rate when workers migrate to the city in
search of jobs; when more areas get included within the boundaries of the city; or when existing rural areas are
reclassified as urban.
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● The low fertility rate in Kerala means the increase in the population of Malappuram and other cities is not
because women are having more children; rather it is because more villages are being transformed into towns,
and city borders are expanding.
● According to the Census definition, an urban area is either a census town (CT) or a statutory town (ST). An ST is
any place with a municipal corporation, municipal council, or cantonment board.
● A CT can be a village with “urban characteristics” — a population more than 5,000, population density more than
400 people per sq km, and with more than 75% of the population not engaged in agriculture for their livelihood.
● When a village becomes a CT, its population is included in the urban population of the district.
Could migration have caused the increase?
● Migration can either increase or decrease the population of a town.
● Kerala sees both emigration — migration from the state to other places — and immigration — the migration of
workers to the state.
● Also the remittances that emigrants send allow the residents of villages to move away from agriculture, which
changes the status of a village to census town.
Why is this not seen elsewhere in India?
● In Kerala, urbanisation is driven by a move away from agriculture, which leads to a change in a village’s Census
classification status.
● This is evident from the large number of CTs that were included in the UAs of the state since the last Census. On
the other hand, except Delhi, the more populous cities in the North had fewer CTs in 2011.
● While the pace of urbanisation has been slower in the North, some unnaturally high increases in the population
can be expected after the 2021 Census — because in some cases, villages on the peripheries were brought within
the administrative boundaries of the cities.
Is it good for the economy?
● Urbanisation leads to the growth of cities, which are sites of infrastructure like universities, hospitals, and public
transport facilities.
● There are more opportunities for the youth, which is why they attract young people and entrepreneurs.
● In India, people moving to cities leave behind (to some extent) caste and class divisions that dominate life in the
villages, and can hope to climb up the social ladder.
● However, unplanned urbanisation can be “exclusionary”, making it difficult for migrants to live there given
the high cost.
● Unregulated housing, lack of reliable public transport, and longer commutes within these towns puts a strain on
the meagre resources of migrants.
Police Reforms – SC directives, NPC, other committees reports
Commissionerate System
Note4Students
Prelims level : Police Commissionerate System
Mains level : Read the attached story
The UP Cabinet has approved the Commissionerate system of policing for state capital Lucknow, and Noida.
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The Police Commissionerate System
● The system gives more responsibilities, including magisterial powers, to IPS officers of Inspector General of Police
(IG) rank posted as commissioners.
● Under the 7th Schedule of the Constitution, ‘Police’ is under the State list, meaning individual states typically
legislate and exercise control over this subject.
● In the arrangement in force at the district level, a ‘dual system’ of control exists, in which the Superintendent of
Police (SP) has to work with the District Magistrate (DM) for supervising police administration.
● At the metropolitan level, many states have replaced the dual system with the commissionerate system, as it is
supposed to allow for faster decision-making to solve complex urban-centric issues.
Additional powers to Police
● In the Commissionerate system, the Commissioner of Police (CP) is the head of a unified police command
structure, is responsible for the force in the city, and is accountable to the state government.
● The office also has magisterial powers, including those related to regulation, control, and licensing.
● The CP is drawn from the Deputy Inspector General rank or above, and is assisted by
Special/Joint/Additional/Deputy Commissioners.
Where is the system in force?
● Previously, only four cities had the system: Kolkata, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Chennai.
● However, with rapid urbanisation, states felt an increasing need to replicate the system in more places.
● The sixth National Police Commission report, which was released in 1983, recommended the introduction of a
police Commissionerate system in cities with a population of 5 lakh and above, as well as in places having special
conditions.
● Over the years, it has been extended to numerous cities, including Delhi, Pune, Bangalore and Ahmedabad. By
January 2016, 53 cities had this system, a PRS study said.
● Depending on its success, the policing system may gradually be implemented in other districts as well.
Effect of Commissionerate System on IAS officers:

● As compared to the District where the District Collector is the head of the Administration and also given the
Powers of a Magistrate,In Commissionerates, this Magisterial Power is given to the Police Commissioner. Hence
he has full control on the Law and order of that Area.
● For municipal development, there exists a Municipal Commissioner (if there is a municipality) and he takes care of
the civic development of that area.
● In the end of the day, the Police Commissioner, District Superintendents , Director General of Police will report to
the Additional Chief Secretary (Home Ministry) and in turn to the Chief Secretary
Benefits of Commissionerate System

● Modern policing calls for swift and unified action that does not break either delayed action or a divided
command. This is the rationale for the creation of Commissionerates. It is worth recalling that even under the
British, the Presidency towns of Bombay, Calcutta and Madras had a Commissioner of Police who reported
directly to the government in many matters (circumventing the Inspector-General who headed the force then).
The three cities did not have a Superintendent who would have been accountable to two authorities.
● This arrangement would help quick police operations to tackle really dynamic public safety situations.
● More Responsibility vested with the Specialist (IPS) instead of the Generalist (IAS). A Commissioner of
Police is directly and totally accountable to the Executive for his performance. The buck stops with him. He
cannot shift the blame to a District Magistrate, as some District police chiefs do under trying circumstances.
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Issues with the Commissionerate System
● Abuse of Power.
● Creation of Police- Politician Nexus.
● Lack of accountability to a non police official.
● Though the magisterial powers would be vested with the commissioner, these would actually be exercised by
the lower-rung police officers who would not properly apply their minds or be influenced by other considerations.
● Preventive Sections in the CrPC would be rampantly abused. As of now, such arrests had to be approved by a
magistrate, but under the new dispensation, the commissioner will have this power. A commissioner in all
likelihood will give the green signal for such arrests by his juniors.
● No Separation of Powers.
● Human rights violations by the police could be questioned in the courts but this would take several years and in
most instances, the guilty would go scot-free.
Capital Markets: Challenges and Developments
BIS Gold Hallmarking

Note4Students
Prelims level : BIS Hallmark
Mains level : Ensuring gold purity and standardisation
Gold hallmarking is being made mandatory to ensure consumers are not cheated, are better informed about purity and
corruption is removed.
Gold Hallmarking
● Bureau of Indian Standards (Hallmarking) Regulations, 2018 were notified w.e.f. 14.06.2018. BIS is running a
hallmarking scheme for gold jewelry since April 2000.
● The BIS Act 2016 has enabling provisions under Section 14 & Section 16 for mandatory hallmarking of Gold
jewellery & artefacts by the Central Government.
● This made it compulsory for all the jewelers selling Gold jewellery and artefacts to register with BIS & sell only
hallmarked Gold jewellery & artefacts.
● The caratage is marked on jewelry in addition to fineness for convenience of consumers, e.g. for 22 carat jewelry,
22K will be marked in addition to 916, for 18 carat jewelry, 18K will be marked in addition to 750 and for 14 carat
jewelry, 14K will be marked in addition to 585.
Primary and Secondary Education – RTE, Education Policy, SEQI, RMSA, Committee Reports, etc.
21
Annual Status of Education Report (Rural) 2019
Note4Students
Prelims level : ASER
Mains level : Highlights of ASER 2019
The Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2019 (rural) was recently released by NGO Pratham.
Annual Status of Education Report (ASER)
● ASER surveys use Census 2011 as the sampling frame.
● ASER continues to be an important national source of information about children’s foundational skills across the
country.
● In 2016, ASER switched to an alternate-year cycle where this ‘basic’ ASER is conducted every other year (2016,
2018, and next in 2020); and in alternate years ASER focuses on a different aspect of children’s schooling and
learning.
● In 2017, ASER 'Beyond Basics' focused on the abilities, experiences, and aspirations of youth in the 14-18 age
group.
● In 2018 ASER had data on enrollment patterns in age group 4 to 8.
Highlights of the report
● Only 16% of children in Class 1 in 26 surveyed rural districts can read text at the prescribed level, while almost
40% cannot even recognise letters.
● Only 41% of these children could recognise two digit numbers.
Private schools ahead
● Of six-year olds in Class 1, 41.5% of those in private schools could read words in comparison to only 19% from
government schools.
● Similarly, 28% of those in government schools could do simple addition as against 47% in private schools.
● This gap is further exacerbated by a gender divide: only 39% of girls aged 6-8 are enrolled in private schools in
comparison to almost 48% of boys.
● The report also found that a classroom could include students from a range of age-groups, skewing towards
younger children in government schools.
Determinants of learning outcomes
● The ASER report shows that a large number of factors determine the quality of education received at this stage,
including the child’s home background, especially the mother’s education level; the type of school, whether
anganwadis, government schools or private pre-schools; and the child’s age in Class 1.
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● More than a quarter of Class 1 students in government schools are only 4 or 5 years old, younger than the
recommended age.
● The ASER data shows that these younger children struggle more than others in all skills.
● Permitting underage children into primary grades puts them at a learning disadvantage which is difficult to
overcome,” said the report.
Role of Mothers
● Among the key findings of ASER 2019 is that the mother’s education often determines the kind of pre-schooling
or schooling that the child gets.
● The report says that among children in the early years (ages 0-8), those with mothers who had completed eight
or fewer years of schooling are more likely to be attending anganwadis or government pre-primary classes.
● With 75% women in the productive age group not in the workforce, they can be better engaged in their
children’s development, learning and school readiness.
Key suggestions made by the report
● ASER found that the solution is not to spend longer hours teaching children the 3Rs.
● Counter-intuitively, the report argues that a focus on cognitive skills rather than subject learning in the early
years can make a big difference to basic literacy and numeracy abilities.
● The survey shows that among Class 1 children who could correctly do none or only one of the tasks requiring
cognitive skills, about 14% could read words, while 19% could do single digit addition.
● However, of those children who could correctly do all three cognitive tasks, 52% could read words, and 63%
could solve the addition problem.
● ASER data shows that children’s performance on tasks requiring cognitive skills is strongly related to their ability
to do early language and numeracy tasks,” says the report.
● This suggests that focussing on play-based activities that build memory; reasoning and problem-solving abilities
are more productive than an early focus on content knowledge.
● Global research shows that 90% of brain growth occurs by age 5, meaning that the quality of early childhood
education has a crucial impact on the development and long-term schooling of a child.
Three clear trends in ASER-2019 data
First trend: Scope for expansion of Anganwadi network.
● Expansion network: There is considerable scope for expanding Anganwadi outreach for three and
four-year-old children.
● All-India data from 2018 shows that slightly less than 30 per cent children at age three and 15.6 per cent of
children at age four are not enrolled anywhere.
Second trend: Under 6 students in class I.
● ASER 2018 data show that 27.6 per cent of all children in Std I are under six.
● It is commonly assumed that children enter Standard I at age six and that they proceed year by year from Std I
to Std VIII.
● The Right to Education Act also refers to free and compulsory education for the age group six to 14.
● However, the practice on the ground is quite different.
Third trend: There are important age implications for children’s learning.
● Association with learning output: ASER-2019 indicate the higher learning output associated with age in the
same class.
● In Std. I, the ability to do cognitive activities among seven-eight-year olds can be 20 percentage points higher
than their friends who are five years old but in the same class.
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● In terms of reading levels in Std. I, 37.1 per cent children who are under six can recognise letters whereas 76 per
cent of those who are seven or eight can do the same.
● Age distribution in Std. I vary considerably between government and private schools.
● Private schools in many states have a relatively older age distribution.
Way forward
● Understanding the children: Understanding the challenges that children face when they are young is critical if
we want to solve these problems early in children’s life.
● Providing for developmentally appropriate skill: Instead of focusing on the pre-school years as the
downward extension of school years there is a need for providing developmentally appropriate skill in these
years.
● Pedagogy: On the pedagogy side reworking of curriculum and activity is urgently needed for entire age band of
four to eight.
Health Sector – UHC, National Health Policy, Family Planning, Health Insurance, etc.
National Policy for the treatment of 450 ‘Rare Diseases’

Note4Students
Prelims level : Rare Diseases
Mains level : Highlights of the saif policy for ‘Rare Diseases’
The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has published a national policy for the treatment of 450 ‘rare diseases’.
What are rare diseases?
● Broadly, a ‘rare disease’ is defined as a health condition of low prevalence that affects a small number of people
when compared with other prevalent diseases in the general population. Many cases of rare diseases may be
serious, chronic and life-threatening.
● While a majority of rare diseases are believed to be genetic, many — such as some rare cancers and some
autoimmune diseases — are not inherited, as per the NIH.
● According to the policy, rare diseases include genetic diseases, rare cancers, infectious tropical diseases, and
degenerative diseases.
Definition
● India does not have a definition of rare diseases because there is a lack of epidemiological data on its incidence
and prevalence.
● While there is no universally accepted definition of rare diseases, countries typically arrive at their own
descriptions, taking into consideration disease prevalence, its severity and the existence of alternative therapeutic
options.
● In the US, for instance, a rare disease is defined as a condition that affects fewer than 200,000 people.
● The same definition is used by the National Organisation for Rare Disorders (NORD) in India.
About the Policy
● The Centre first prepared such a policy in 2017 and appointed a committee in 2018 to review it.
● It was created on the direction of the Delhi High Court to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
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● This was in response to writ petitions for free treatment of such diseases, due to their “prohibitively” high cost of
treatment.
● Hence, a policy was deemed necessary to devise a “multi pronged” and “multisectoral” approach to build India’s
capacity for tackling such ailments.
Why need such a policy?
● As per the policy, out of all rare diseases in the world, less than five per cent have therapies available to treat
them.
● In India, roughly 450 rare diseases have been recorded from tertiary hospitals, of which the most common are
Haemophilia, Thalassemia, Sickle-cell anemia, auto-immune diseases, Gaucher’s disease, and cystic fibrosis.
Features of the policy
● While the policy has not yet put down a detailed roadmap of how rare diseases will be treated.
● It has mentioned some measures, which include creating a patient registry for rare diseases, arriving at a
definition for rare diseases that is suited to India, taking legal and other measures to control the prices of their
drugs etc.
● It intends to kickstart a registry of rare diseases, which will be maintained by the Indian Council of Medical
Research (ICMR).
● Under the policy, there are three categories of rare diseases — requiring one-time curative treatment, diseases
that require long-term treatment but where the cost is low, and those needing long-term treatments with high
cost.
● Some of the diseases in the first category include osteopetrosis and immune deficiency disorders, among others.
● As per the policy, the assistance of Rs 15 lakh will be provided to patients suffering from rare diseases that
require a one-time curative treatment under the Rashtriya Arogya Nidhi scheme.
● The treatment will be limited to the beneficiaries of Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana.
Agreement to end the Bru-Reang Refugee Crisis

Note4Students
Prelims level : Bru/Reangs
Mains level : Tribal issues in the NE
The Ministry of Home Affairs has presided over the signing of an agreement between Union Government, Governments of
Tripura and Mizoram and Bru-Reang representatives to end the 23-year old Bru-Reang refugee crisis.
Who are the Brus?
● Reangs or Brus are the second largest ethnic group in Mizoram.
● Their exodus in 1997 was spurred by violent clashes in Mamith subdivision, a Reang-dominated area, when they
demanded creation of an autonomous council that was vehemently opposed by Mizo groups.
● Around 34,000 people were forced to live in sub-human conditions in tents in Tripura. No solution could be
reached all these years.
● These people were housed in temporary camps at Kanchanpur, in North Tripura.
Highlights of the Quadripartite Agreement
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● Under the new agreement around 34,000 Bru refugees will be settled in Tripura and would be given aid from the
Centre to help with their rehabilitation and all round development.
● These people would get all the rights that normal residents of the States get and they would now be able to
enjoy the benefits of social welfare schemes of Centre and State governments.
● Under the new arrangement, each of the displaced families would be given 40×30 sq.ft. residential plots.
● This would be in addition to the aid under earlier agreement of a fixed deposit of Rs. 4 lakhs, Rs. 5,000 cash aid
per month for 2 years, free ration for 2 years and Rs. 1.5 lakhs aid to build their house.
Human Rights Issues
26
History
Six degrees of Endangerment of a Language

Note4Students
Prelims level : Endangered languages
Mains level : Not Much
Recently, The NY Times reported that the “near-extinct” Nepalese language Seke has just 700 speakers around the world.
As per the Endangered Languages Project (ELP), there are roughly 201 endangered languages in India and about 70 in
Nepal.
The last year, 2019, was the International Year of Indigenous Languages, mandated by the UN.
Nepal’s Seke language
● According to the Endangered Language Alliance (ELA), Seke is one of the over 100 indigenous languages of
Nepal.
● The dialects from these villages differ substantially and are believed to have varying degrees of mutual
intelligibility.
● In recent years, Seke has been retreating in the face of Nepali, which is Nepal’s official language and is
considered to be crucial for getting educational and employment opportunities outside villages.
Degrees of endangerment
UNESCO has six degrees of endangerment. These are:
● Safe, which are the languages spoken by all generations and their intergenerational transmission is
uninterrupted;
● Vulnerable languages, which are spoken by most children but may be restricted to certain domains;
● Definitely endangered languages, which are no longer being learnt by children as their mother tongue.
● Severely endangered are languages spoken by grandparents and older generations, and while the parent
generation may understand it, they may not speak it with the children or among themselves.
● Critically endangered languages are those of which the youngest speakers are the grandparents or older
family members who may speak the language partially or infrequently and lastly,
● Extinct languages, of which no speakers are left.
Classical languages in India

Note4Students
Prelims level : Classical languages of India
Mains level : Protection of classical languages
Recently in a Marathi literary festival, a resolution was passed demanding its declaration as a ‘Classical’ language.
‘Classical’ languages in India
27
Currently, six languages enjoy the ‘Classical’ status: Tamil (declared in 2004), Sanskrit (2005), Kannada (2008), Telugu
(2008), Malayalam (2013), and Odia (2014).
How are they classified?
According to information provided by the Ministry of Culture in the Rajya Sabha in February 2014, the guidelines for
declaring a language as ‘Classical’ are:
● High antiquity of its early texts/recorded history over a period of 1500-2000 years;
● A body of ancient literature/texts, which is considered a valuable heritage by generations of speakers;
● The literary tradition be original and not borrowed from another speech community;
● The classical language and literature being distinct from modern, there may also be a discontinuity between the
classical language and its later forms or its offshoots.”
How are the Classical languages promoted?
The HRD Ministry noted the benefits it provides once a language is notified as a Classical language:
● Two major annual international awards for scholars of eminence in classical Indian languages
● A Centre of Excellence for studies in Classical Languages is set up
● The University Grants Commission is requested to create, to start with at least in the Central Universities, a
certain number of Professional Chairs for the Classical Languages so declared.
Tourism Sector
Indian Digital Heritage (IDH) Initiative

Note4Students
Prelims level : IDH
Mains level : Virtual and Augmented Reality, IDH
The Union Ministry of Culture and Tourism launched a month-long special exhibition titled Indian Heritage in Digital
Space. This special exhibition showcases the adaptation and infusion of technologies being developed under the Indian
Digital Heritage (IDH) initiative.
Indian Digital Heritage (IDH)
● This initiative is undertaken by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) in the cultural heritage domain
of the country.
● The exhibition demonstrates the outcome of two flagship projects viz., A digital mini-spectacle to showcase the
glory of Hampi and Augmented Reality based interactions with physical models of monuments.
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● The goals of these projects are to create digital installations using 3D laser scan data, AR, holographic projections
and 3D fabrication,to provide interactive and immersive experiences showcasing the glory of Hampi and five
Indian monuments namely Kashi Vishwanath Temple, Varanasi; TajMahal, Agra; Sun Temple, Konark;
Ramachandra Temple, Hampi ; and RaniKiVav, Patan .
● These projections are driven by cutting-edge technologies such as 3D fabrication, Artificial Intelligence,
Augmented, Virtual and Mixed Reality, Holographic Projections and Projection Mapping etc.
ViRaasat
A special installation named ‘ViRaasat’, consisting of a scaled-down 3D printed replica shall provide a mixed reality
experience to visitors for selected monuments, using laser-scanning, 3D modelling and rendering, 3D printing, computer
vision and spatial AR.
ISRO Missions and Discoveries
29
International Relations
Raisina Dialogue 2020

Note4Students
Prelims level : Raisina Dialogue
Mains level : Raisina Dialogue and its impact on India's global profile
India`s annual global conference on geopolitics and geo-economics, Raisina Dialogue 2020 has began with the
participation of over 100 countries.
Raisina Dialogue
● The Raisina Dialogue is a multilateral conference committed to addressing the most challenging issues facing the
global community.
● It is jointly organised by the Ministry of External Affairs and the Observer Research Foundation.
● Every year, global leaders in policy, business, media and civil society are hosted in New Delhi to discuss
cooperation on a wide range of pertinent international policy matters.
● The Dialogue is structured as a multi-stakeholder, cross-sectoral discussion, involving heads of state, cabinet
ministers and local government officials, as well as major private sector executives, members of the media and
academics.
This years’ agenda
● The fifth edition of the Dialogue 2020 has been India`s contribution to global efforts to discover solutions,
identify opportunities and provide stability to a century that has witnessed an eventful two decades.
● This year`s Dialogue titled `Navigating the Alpha Century` is structured as a multi-stakeholder,
cross-sectoral discussion, involving heads of states, cabinet ministers and local government officials as well as
major private sector executives, members of the media and academics.
Significance of the dialogue
● The Raisina Dialogue has acquired an enviable global profile uniting the best strategic thinkers of the world.
● The synergies and collaborations in the Raisina Dialogue represent India`s deliberative ethos, as well as its
international credibility and convening power.
● The Dialogue has grown along with India`s diplomatic profile and will set the tone for its intensive diplomatic
engagement this year.
Iran’s Nuclear Program & Western Sanctions
[op-ed snap] The world from Raisina

Note4Students
30
Mains level : Paper 2- India's foreign relation with 'Middle Power' countries-Prospects and opportunities.
Context:
As the world is moving from an era of predictability to an era of unpredictability led by the US and China, a new Middle
Power coalition is the need of an hour.
The “Rising India” narrative and challenges
● The narrative was scripted over the two post-Cold War decades, 1991 to 2011.
● Narrative of plural secular democracy: It was based on the improving performance of the economy and
India’s political ability to deal with many longstanding diplomatic challenges within a paradigm of realism.
● Three successive prime ministers – scripted the narrative of India rising as a plural, secular democracy, as
opposed to China’s rise within an authoritarian system.
● Opening of new vistas: India’s improving economic performance had opened up new vistas for cooperation
with major powers and neighbours.
● New challenges to the narrative: Now the economy’s subdued performance and domestic political issues
have created new challenges for Indian foreign policy.
○ The new approach to relations with India adopted by both President Donald Trump and President Xi
Jinping has created a more challenging external environment.
Relations with the US
● New demands from the US: Each time New Delhi has tried to meet a US demand, Washington DC has come
up with new demands.
● US-China dispute resolution and effects for India: Any resolution of US differences with China, can only
reduce whatever little bargaining clout India has.
● Complaint at WTO: The US has, in fact, actively lodged complaints against India at the World Trade
Organisation.
● Geopolitical effects for India: On the geopolitical side, US intervention in West Asia has always imposed an
additional economic burden on India.
Relations with China
● Consistent policy: There has been continuity and consistency in India-China policy over the past two decades,
with some ups and downs.
● Effects of power difference with China: As the bilateral power differential widens, China has little incentive
or compulsion to be accommodative of Indian concerns, much less the interests.
○ China never fails to remind India of the growing power differential between the two.
● Building strength to deal with China: In dealing with China, India will have to, paraphrasing Deng Xiaoping,
“build its strength and bide its time.
Russia’s focus
● It will remain focused on Eurasian geopolitics.
● It will also be concerned with the geo-economics of energy.
● Implications for India: Both these factors define Russia’s relations with China, and increasingly, with Pakistan,
posing a challenge for India.
The Middle Powers and opportunities for India
● What are the middle powers? It is a mix of developed and developing economies, some friends of the US
and other friends of China.
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○ It is an amorphous group but can emerge into a grouping of the like-minded in a world of uncertainty
capable of taming both the US and China.
○ A new Middle Powers coalition may be the need of the year.
● Which countries can be part of it? Germany, France, Japan, Australia, Brazil, Indonesia, Vietnam and
perhaps South Korea. One could include Russia, Nigeria and South Africa also in this group.
● Stakes involved but no influence: Like India, these countries have a stake in what the US and China do, but
little influence over either.
● What India can do? These countries which constitute the part of the Middle Powers should engage the
attention of India’s external affairs minister.
Disruptive policies not an option
● Adoption of disruptive approach: There is a view among some policy analysts that India too can adopt a
“disruptive” approach as a clever tactic in foreign affairs.
○ Disruption is not an end in itself. It has to be a means to an end.
○ Powerful nations can afford disruption as tactics.
● Unchanged strategic elements: The strategic elements defining Indian foreign policy in the post-Cold War era
have not changed.
● Not an option: India cannot risk such tactics without measuring the risk they pose to strategy.
Conclusion
With the changing geopolitical atmosphere particularly with respect to the US and China, India needs to adopt a suitable
approach to its foreign policy especially involving the Middle Powers.
Tourism Sector
Henley Passport Index 2020

Note4Students
Prelims level : About the Index
Mains level : Global visa policies for Indians
The Indian passport is closer to the bottom, ranked 84th in the world, according to the 2020 edition of the Henley
Passport Index.
32
Henley Passport Index
● According to Henley & Partners publishes the ranking and the Index of the world’s passports “according to the
number of destinations their holders can access without a prior visa”.
● The ranking is based on data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA), a trade association of some
290 airlines, including all major carriers.
● The index includes 199 different passports and 227 different travel destinations.
● The data are updated in real time as and when visa policy changes come into effect.
India’s performance
● Since the index began in 2006, the Indian passport has ranked in a band of 71st to 88th. (The number of
passports ranked has, however, varied from year to year.)
● The Indian passport’s 2020 ranking of 84th translates into visa-free access to 58 destinations, including 33 which
give Indians visas on arrival.
● It ranked higher in both 2019 (82, with visa-free access to 59 destinations) and 2018 (81, with visa-free access to
60 destinations).
● Twenty of the 58 visa-free access destinations in the 2020 list are in Africa, and 11 each in Asia and the
Caribbean.
● Serbia is the only European country to which Indian passport holders can travel visa-free. There is no major or
developed country to which Indian passport holders have visa-free access.
Global performance
● The top 10 most powerful passports this year are ranked in this order: Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Germany,
Italy, Finland, Spain, Luxembourg and Denmark.
● Japan has been topping the Index for three straight years; according to the 2020 index, its citizens are able to
access 191 destinations without having to obtain a visa in advance.
● Afghanistan at rank 107 is the weakest.
● Singapore, in second place (same as in 2019), has a visa-free/visa-on-arrival score of 190.
● Germany is No. 3 (same position as in 2019), with access to 189 destinations; it shares this position with South
Korea, which dropped from the second place it held a year ago.
● The US and the UK have been falling consistently over successive Indices.
Foreign Policy Watch: India-China
Ethnic Unity Law in Tibet

Note4Students
Prelims level : Not Much
Mains level : India-China Relations in context of Tibet
The People’s Congress of Tibet passed a law that makes ethnic unity in the region mandatory, reflecting the significant
role that the autonomous Himalayan region plays in its economic and social development.
About the Law
● The law makes it clear that Tibet has been an inalienable part of China since ancient times.
33
● It states that it is the common responsibility of the people of all ethnic groups to safeguard national reunification
and take a clear stand against separatism.
Ethnic Unity in China
● This is not the first time that the phrase ethnic unity has been mentioned by China.
● In October 2019 the Communist Party of China published a guideline for enhancing ethnic unity.
● It stressed on efforts to improve the governance of ethnic affairs, guaranteeing the legal rights and interests of
citizens of ethnic groups.
● It called for cracking down on “criminal acts” that sabotage ethnic unity or cause ethnic separation.
● Before this, in 2016, China began a campaign in the autonomous territory of Xinjiang to promote ethnic unity and
called for people to respect the cultures of the minorities who call the region home.
Why such Law?
● There are more than 40 ethnic minorities in the region, which account for 95 per cent of Tibet’s population of
over three million.
● Like Tibet, Xinjiang is another region of China that houses multiple ethnic minorities.
● A similar legislation was passed there four years ago and in recent times, China has faced criticism for detaining
at least a million Uighur and other Muslims, along with some ethnic Kazakhs and Uzbeks.
● China has began “re-education camps” in Xinjiang, a region that has been claimed by China since 1949.
● China has denied these allegations and maintains that the facilities where the detainees are housed are
vocational training centers.
Citizenship and Related Issues
[op-ed snap] Seize the summit

Note4Students
Prelims level : Not much
Mains level : Paper 2- Relations with Pakistan and need to resume the talks to resolve the issues.
Context
India announced that it will invite all heads of government of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation member countries,
including Pakistan.
What is SCO?
● SCO is a permanent intergovernmental international organisation.
● It’s a Eurasian political, economic and military organisation aiming to maintain peace, security and stability in
the region.
● It was created in 2001.
● The SCO Charter was signed in 2002, and entered into force in 2003.
● It is a statutory document which outlines the organisation's goals and principles, as well as its structure and
core activities.
● The SCO's official languages are Russian and Chinese.
Genesis
34
● Prior to the creation of SCO in 2001, Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan were members of
the Shanghai Five.
● Shanghai Five (1996) emerged from a series of border demarcation and demilitarization talks which the four
former Soviet republics held with China to ensure stability along the borders.
● Following the accession of Uzbekistan to the organisation in 2001, the Shanghai Five was renamed the SCO.
● India and Pakistan became members in 2017.
Membership
● Kazakhstan
● China
● Kyrgyzstan
● Russia
● Tajikistan
● Uzbekistan
● India
● Pakistan
Objectives
● Strengthening mutual trust and neighbourliness among the member states.
● Promoting effective cooperation in -politics, trade & economy, research & technology and culture.
● Enhancing ties in education, energy, transport, tourism, environmental protection, etc.
● Maintain and ensure peace, security and stability in the region.
● Establishment of a democratic, fair and rational new international political & economic order.
Significance of the invitation
● First since 2014: The summit will assume significance should Pakistan Prime Minister accept the invitation.
○ As it will be the first by a head of government or state of that country to India since former Prime
Minister Nawaz Sharif attended the swearing-in ceremony of Prime Minister in 2014.
● Hopes belied: Nothing came from that meeting and hopes created by the invitation were belied.
● Failed attempts to engage: Attempts to engage after that failed, including at a previous SCO summit at Ufa in
2015.
Latest events that further reduced the engagement
● Pulwama attack: First, there was the February 2019 Pulwama attack, India’s Balakot response, and Pakistan’s
counter-response.
● Article 370: After India did away with Jammu & Kashmir’s special status, India and Pakistan have downgraded
even their diplomatic presence in each other’s countries.
● Both the countries withdrew their high commissioners after the Article 370 issue.
● Trade stopped completely: Bilateral trade, which had managed to survive earlier shocks to relations, has
stopped completely.
Opportunities presented by SCO summit
● “Inputs of all stakeholders”: In deciding whether to accept the invitation, the Pakistan PM will have to take
into consideration “inputs of all stakeholders”.
35
● A polite way of saying that the final yes or no will rest with the Pakistan Army.
● A chance for a high-level meeting: Even if Imran Khan stays away and sends a minister instead, it would still
be a chance for a high-level bilateral meeting.
● The world wants India and Pakistan to engage: The world wants India and Pakistan to engage, and this
was evident in the way the UNSC refused to take up the Kashmir issue, saying it was not the forum for it.
● Opportunity for India to make a start: India has declared several times recently that it wants to peel away
from historical foreign policy baggage.
○ India should make a start with Pakistan by making it possible for such a meeting to take place.
● Resuming trade: A start could be made by resuming trade, which has ground to a dead halt
● Sending High Commissioner back: India can start by sending India’s High Commissioner back to his office in
Islamabad.
Conclusion
The SCO summit presents an opportunity for both the countries to end the long hiatus in the relations which is essential
for both the countries to resolve the long-standing issues and progress of both the countries.
36
Polity
Article 131, on which Kerala has based its challenge to the CAA
Note4Students
Prelims level : Art. 131, 32, 226
Mains level : Original Jurisdiction of the Supreme Court and High Courts
● The Kerala government moved the Supreme Court against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act becoming the first
state to challenge the law.
● It filed a petition under Article 131 of the Constitution and asked for the law to be declared unconstitutional and
in violation of Articles 14 (equality before law), 21 (protection of life and personal liberty) and 25 (freedom of
conscience and free profession, practice, and propagation of religion).
What is Article 131 of the Constitution?
● The Article vests the Supreme Court with original jurisdiction over disputes occurring between states or
between states and the Centre.
● The original jurisdiction of a court means the power to hear a case for the first time, as opposed to appellate
jurisdiction, in which the court reviews the decision of a lower court.
● Unlike the original jurisdiction under Article 32 (which gives the top court the power to issue writs, etc.), the
jurisdiction in Article 131 is exclusive, meaning it is only the Supreme Court which has this authority.
● Under Article 226, the High Courts too have the power to issue writs, directions etc.
Original jurisdiction
● Article 131 reads, “Original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court. — Subject to the provisions of this Constitution, the
Supreme Court shall, to the exclusion of any other court, have original jurisdiction in any dispute —
(a) between the Government of India and one or more States; or
(b) between the Government of India and any State or States on one side and one or more other States on the other; or
(c) between two or more States,
if and in so far as the dispute involves any question (whether of law or fact) on which the existence or extent of a legal
right depends:
● The said jurisdiction shall not extend to a dispute arising out of any treaty, agreement, covenant, engagement,
sanad, or other similar instrument which, having been entered into or executed before the commencement of this
Constitution.
● However they continue in operation after such commencement, or which provides, that the said jurisdiction shall
not extend to such a dispute.
What kinds of disputes are covered under Article 131?
● In ‘State of Rajasthan vs Union of India’, 1977, the Supreme Court ruled that the existence or extent of a legal
right is a precursor before a suit under Article 131 is entertained. But mere wrangles between governments have
no place in the scheme of that Article.
● Similarly, in the 1978 case, ‘State of Karnataka vs Union of India’, which involved the Centre’s authority to order
an inquiry into a state Chief Minister’s conduct, jurisdiction under Article 131 was held valid.
37
● In the present case filed by Kerala, central legislation (CAA) is being challenged. In 2011, a two-judge Supreme
Court Bench in ‘Madhya Pradesh v Union of India’ had held such a suit was not maintainable.
● Later in 2013, another two-judge Bench in ‘State of Jharkhand v State of Bihar and Another’ disagreed with the
previous verdict and referred the matter to a larger Bench. Kerala’s plaint relies on the 2013 verdict.
Police Reforms – SC directives, NPC, other committees reports
Explained: What is the NIA Act, and why is Chhattisgarh

challenging it?
Note4Students
Prelims level : NIA Act
Mains level : Policing Issues with NIA
The Chhattisgarh state govt. moved the Supreme Court against the 2008 National Investigative Agency (NIA) Act, stating
it is violative of the Constitution. In its civil suit, the government told the apex court the NIA should have no power over
state policing matters.
What is the NIA Act, 2008?
● The NIA Act, 2008 governs the functioning of India’s premier counter-terror agency.
● It was introduced by then home minister P Chidambaram in the wake of the 26/11 Mumbai terrorist attacks and
was passed in Parliament with very little opposition.
● The Act makes the NIA the only truly federal agency in the country, along the lines of the FBI in the United
States, more powerful than the CBI.
● It gives the NIA powers to take suo motu cognizance of terror activities in any part of India and register a case,
to enter any state without permission from the state government, and to investigate and arrest people.
Objections made by CG
● In its petition, the Chhattisgarh govt. said the Act is “ultra vires the Constitution” and “beyond the legislative
competence of the Parliament”.
● According to the state, the 2008 Act allows the Centre to create an agency for investigation, which is a function
of the state police.
● ‘Police’ is an entry in the State List of the Constitution’s 7th Schedule.
● The petition says the 2008 Act takes away the state’s power of conducting an investigation through the police,
while conferring unfettered, discretionary and arbitrary powers” on the Centre.
● The provisions of the Act leave no room of coordination and pre-condition of consent, in any form whatsoever, by
the Centre from the State govt. which clearly repudiates the idea of state sovereignty as envisaged under the
Constitution.
Changes made to the NIA’s powers last year
● The 2019 NIA Amendment Act expanded the type of offences that the investigative body could investigate and
prosecute.
● The agency can now investigate offences related to human trafficking, counterfeit currency, manufacture or sale
of prohibited arms, cyber-terrorism, and offences under the Explosive Substances Act, 1908.
● The amendment also enables the central government to designate sessions courts as special courts for NIA trials.
● The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment (UAPA), also passed in 2019, allows an NIA officer to conduct
raids, and seize properties that are suspected to be linked to terrorist activities without taking prior permission of
the DG of Police of a state.
38
● The investigating officer only requires sanction from the Director General of NIA.
J&K – The issues around the state
Death Penalty in India (Annual Statistics Report 2019)

Note4Students
Prelims level : Project 39A
Mains level : Capital Punishment and its justification
Trial courts in India delivered 102 death sentences in 2019, over 60% fewer than the 162 death sentences passed in
2018.
Highlights of the Report
● In 2019, fewer death sentences overall were delivered.

● 1 out of 2 sentences for sexual violence-murder; in 3 out of 4 sexual violence-murder death sentences, children
were the killer’s victims.
● The courts were, however, especially unforgiving of murders that involved sexual violence — the proportion of
death sentences imposed for murders involving sexual offences was at a four-year high in 2019 at 52.94%.
● 2019 also saw the highest number of confirmations by High Courts in four years; 17 out of the 26 confirmations
(65.38%) were in offences of murder involving sexual violence.
● The Supreme Court, primarily during the tenure of the previous CJI Gogoi, listed and heard 27 capital cases, the
most in a year since 2001.
Project 39A
● These are the headline findings in the fourth edition of The Death Penalty in India: Annual Statistics, published by
Project 39A at the National Law University (NLU), Delhi.
● Project 39A is a research and litigation initiative focussed on the criminal justice system, and especially issues of
legal aid, torture, death penalty, and mental health in prisons.
● The report tracked news of death sentences awarded by trial courts published online by news organisations in
English and Hindi.
● It checked these numbers against judgments uploaded to websites of High Court and district courts.
39

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Table of Content

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Telecommunication Consumers Education and Protection Fund

APNA UREA – SonaUgle

APNA UREA – SonaUgle

National E-Mobility Mission Plan 2020

Women Business and the Law (WBL) Index 2020

Merchant Discount rate

Integrated Road Accident Database (IRAD)

Fastest growing cities in India

Effect of Commissionerate System on IAS officers:

Benefits of Commissionerate System

BIS Gold Hallmarking

National Policy for the treatment of 450 ‘Rare Diseases’

Agreement to end the Bru-Reang Refugee Crisis

Six degrees of Endangerment of a Language

Classical languages in India

Indian Digital Heritage (IDH) Initiative

Raisina Dialogue 2020

[op-ed snap] The world from Raisina

Henley Passport Index 2020

Ethnic Unity Law in Tibet

[op-ed snap] Seize the summit

Explained: What is the NIA Act, and why is Chhattisgarh

Death Penalty in India (Annual Statistics Report 2019)

● In 2019, fewer death sentences overall were delivered.

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