THE INDIAN POLITY AND GOVERNANCE

1. GOVERNOR’S POWERS, FRICTION WITH STATES, AND WHY THIS HAPPENS OFTEN

THE CONTEXT: In recent years, the bitterness between states and Governors have been largely about the selection of the party to form a government, deadline for proving majority, sitting on Bills, and passing negative remarks on the state administration.

RECENT CASES:

1. In February, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee blocked Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Twitter. She said she was “forced” to do so because of his “unethical and unconstitutional” statements and accused him of treating government officials like “his servants”. Dhankhar responded with a series of tweets on the “essence and spirit of democracy” and saying the CM’s move was “against constitutional norms”.
2. In the same month,, the Tamil Nadu government had taken exception to Governor R N Ravi’s Republic Day speech articulating the benefits of NEET, the medical entrance exam. Tamil Nadu has passed a Bill to exempt the state from NEET Ravi has sent it back to the state.

WHAT IS THE LAW ON GOVERNOR-STATE RELATIONS ?

• Although envisaged as an apolitical head who must act on the advice of the council of ministers, the Governor enjoys certain powers granted under the Constitution, such as giving or withholding assent to a Bill passed by the state legislature, or determining the time needed for a party to prove its majority, or which party must be called first do so, generally after a hung verdict in an election.
• There are, however, no provisions laid down for the manner in which the Governor and the state must engage publicly when there is a difference of opinion. The management of differences has traditionally been guided by respect for each other’s boundaries.

WHAT REFORMS HAVE BEEN SUGGESTED ?

• From the Administrative Reforms Commission of 1968 to Sarkaria Commission of 1988 and the one mentioned above, several panels have recommended reforms, such as selection of the Governor through a panel comprising the PM, Home Minister, Lok Sabha Speaker and the CM, apart from fixing his tenure for five years.
• Recommendations have also been made for a provision to impeach the Governor by the Assembly No government has implemented any of these recommendations.

2. NUMBER OF BENEFICIARIES ENROLLED FOR MATERNITY BENEFIT PLAN EXCEEDED TARGET BY GOVERNMENT

THE CONTEXT: The number of beneficiaries who enrolled for the maternity benefit programme, called Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY), exceeded the Government’s target of 51.7 lakh per year in each of the last three years.

THE EXPLANATION:

‘The total number of beneficiaries enrolled during each of the last three financial years under the PMMVY is more than the indicative target,’ the Minister said in the Rajya Sabha. The reply did not provide the exact number of enrollments. The PMMVY scheme was estimated to cover 51.70 lakhs beneficiaries annually

3 Instalments –

1. The scheme was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a televised address to the nation on December 31, 2016. It provides a benefit of ₹5,000 in three instalments to a woman for her first living child upon meeting certain conditions. This is meant as partial compensation for loss of wage during her pregnancy so that she can get proper nutrition. The scheme is only for those women who are not employed by the Central or State governments or a Public Sector Undertaking and don’t receive similar benefits under any law. It is clubbed with the Janani Suraksha Yojana scheme which provides nearly ₹1,000 for institutional births so that altogether mothers get ₹6,000 in maternity benefit.
2. In response to a question on whether the Government had carried out an assessment to know the total number of beneficiaries of the scheme, the Minister said that as per the Sample Registration System Statistical Report (SRS) 2018, the percentage of first order births in India was 49.5 of the total live births.
3. According to the Health Ministry’s Health Management Information System, total live births in 2019-2020 were at 2.71 crores and, therefore, first order births were at 1.34 crore. The scheme has been criticised for under-funding and failing to cater to all targeted beneficiaries. Activists also call the scheme illegal as it violates the National Food Security Act, 2013 under which all mothers, and not just mothers of the first living child, should get a maternity benefit of ₹6,000.

No Commensurate Increase –

• The benefit would be extended for the birth of the second child when the second child is a girl; the Budget for financial year 2022-2023 has not seen a commensurate increase.
• The allocation for the scheme in 2019-2020 was ₹2,522 crore. In 2020-2021, the scheme was clubbed with several other programmes under the Samarthya scheme and altogether ₹2,500 crore was allocated. For financial year 2022-2023, the combined allocation for the Samarthya scheme is at ₹2,622 crore.
• According to an analysis by the Centre for Policy Research’s Accountability Initiative and IFPRI, the PMMVY scheme in 2019-2020 required a budget of ₹6,636 crores to cover all targeted beneficiaries.

 THE INTERNATIONAL ISSUES

3. EU JOINS CHIPS RACE WITH €43-BILLION BID TO RIVAL ASIA

THE CONTEXT: The EU unveiled a plan to quadruple the supply of semiconductors in Europe by 2030, hoping to limit the bloc’s dependence on Asia for a key component used in electric cars and smart phones.

THE EXPLANATION:

• The production of chips has become a strategic priority in Europe as well as the United States, after the shock of the pandemic choked off supply, bringing factories to a standstill and emptying stores of products.
• The manufacturing of semiconductors overwhelmingly takes place in Taiwan, China and South Korea and the European Union wants factories and companies inside the bloc to take on a bigger role.

Chips Act –

• The highly anticipated EU Chips Act will ‘mobilise more than €43 billion ($49.1 billion) of public and private investments’ and ‘enable the EU to reach its ambition to double its current market share to 20% in 2030’, the European Commission said.
• If it is approved, the EU plans could generate a total of €43 billion via existing EU budget money as well as by loosening existing rules on public subsidy from member states.

Approval of members –

• The proposal will need the approval of the EU member states and European Parliament, where opinions will vary between the ambitions of industrial heavyweights such as Germany, France and Italy and those of smaller states that are worried about closing off valuable supply chains with Asia.
• Some member states, led by the Netherlands and Nordic nations, will also resist any plan to widen the scope for state aid, with the commission planning to make it easier for EU governments to pump money to chip-makers.

THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

4. RBI MONETARY POLICY: REPO RATE UNCHANGED AT 4% FOR TENTH CONSECUTIVE TIME

THE CONTEXT: The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) kept the repo rate unchanged at 4 per cent for the tenth consecutive time while maintaining an ‘accommodative stance’ as long as necessary.

THE EXPLANATION:

• The central bank governor said that the MPC had voted unanimously 5:1 to maintain the accommodative stance and added that the reverse repo rate too was kept unchanged at 3.35 per cent.
• The Marginal Standing Facility (MSF)rate and bank rate also remained unchanged at 4.25 percent.
• The central bank had last revised its policy repo rate or the short-term lending rate on May 22, 2020, in an off-policy cycle to perk up demand by cutting the interest rate to a historic low.
• During the speech on the RBI’s key decisions, Das said that India is charting a different course of recovery from rest of the world and the country is poised to grow at fastest pace year-on-year among major economies as per projections by IMF. This recovery is supported by large scale vaccination and sustained fiscal and monetary support.
• Speaking on the GDP, Das said that the real GDP growth is projected at 7.8 per cent for the next financial year 2022-23 (FY23). The RBI governor said that real GDP growth of 9.2 per cent in the current fiscal (FY22) will take the economy above the pre-pandemic level.
• The bi-monthly policy comes against the backdrop of the Budget wherein a nominal GDP of 11.1 per cent has been estimated for FY23. The bi-monthly policy comes against the backdrop of the Budget wherein a nominal gross GDP of 11.1 per cent has been estimated for 2022-23.
• Speaking about inflation, the RBI governor said that the CPI inflation projection for the current financial year 2021-22 (FY22) is retained at 5.3 per cent while the retail inflation for the next fiscal (FY23) is projected at 4.5 per cent. The RBI forecasts Q1 FY23 CPI at 4.9 per cent, Q2 at 5 per cent, Q3 at 4 per cent and Q4 at 4.2 per cent. He said that the CPI is in-line with expectations and the food prices easing will add to the optimism, however, hardening crude oil prices is a key upside risk.

 

THE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

5. SCIENTISTS SET NEW RECORD IN CREATING ENERGY FROM NUCLEAR FUSION

THE CONTEXT: A team at the Joint European Torus facility near Oxford generated 59 mega joules of sustained energy. Scientists in the United Kingdom said they have achieved a new milestone in producing nuclear fusion energy, or imitating the way energy is produced in the Sun. Energy by nuclear fusion is one of mankind’s long standing quests as it promises to be low carbon, safer than how nuclear energy is now produced and, with an efficiency that can technically exceed a 100%.

THE EXPLANATION:

• A team at the Joint European Torus (JET) facility near Oxford in central England generated 59 mega joules of sustained energy during an experiment in December, more than doubling a 1997 record, the UK Atomic Energy Authority said in a statement on Monday. A kg of fusion fuel contains about 10 million times as much energy as a kg of coal, oil or gas.
• The energy was produced in a machine called a tokamak, a doughnut-shaped apparatus, and the JET site is the largest operational one of its kind in the world. Deuterium and tritium, which are isotopes of hydrogen, are heated to temperatures 10 times hotter than the centre of the sun to create plasma. This is held in place using superconductor electromagnets as it spins around, fuses and releases tremendous energy as heat.
• The record and scientific data from these crucial experiments are a major boost for ITER, the larger and more advanced version of the JET. ITER is a fusion research mega-project supported by seven members – China, the European Union, India, Japan, South Korea, Russia and the USA – based in the south of France, to further demonstrate the scientific and technological feasibility of fusion energy.
• Ian Chapman, CEO, UK Atomic Energy Authority, said in a statement: ‘These landmark results have taken us a huge step closer to conquering one of the biggest scientific and engineering challenges of them all. It is reward for over 20 years of research and experiments with our partners from across Europe… It’s clear we must make significant changes to address the effects of climate change, and fusion offers so much potential. We’re building the knowledge and developing the new technology required to deliver a low carbon, sustainable source of base load energy that helps protect the planet for future generations. Our world needs fusion energy.’
• Last August, scientists at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in the U.S. reported generating 1.3 mega joules in 100 trillionths of a second from fusion in an alternative approach to a tokomak by focussing 192 giant lasers onto a pea-size pellet of hydrogen.

6. ISRO TO LAUNCH NEW SATELLITE ON FEB. 14 – EARTH OBSERVATION SATELLITE

THE CONTEXT: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is all set for its first launch of 2022 in February.

THE EXPLANATION:

• ISRO plans to place, into orbit, an Earth Observation Satellite (EOS-04) on board PSLV C-52 on February 14.
• According to ISRO, the PSLV C-52 is scheduled to launch at 5.59 a.m. from the first launch pad of the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota.
• ISRO plans to place the 1,170 kg EOS-04 in a sun synchronous polar orbit of 529 km.
• EOS-04 is a radar-imaging satellite, designed to provide high-quality images under all weather conditions for applications such as agriculture, forestry & plantations, soil moisture and hydrology, and flood mapping.
• The mission will also carry two small satellites as co-passengers — a student satellite, INSPIREsat-1, from the Indian Institute of Space Science & Technology (IIST) in association with the Laboratory of Atmospheric & Space Physics at the University of Colorado, Boulder and a technology demonstrator satellite, INS-2TD from ISRO.

 

THE PRELIMS PRACTICE QUESTIONS

QUESTIONS OF THE DAY 10TH FEB 2022

Q1. Consider the following statements about Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana:

1. It provides a benefit of ₹5,000 in three installments to a woman for her first living child upon meeting certain conditions.
2. It is meant as partial compensation for loss of wage during pregnancy so that she can get proper nutrition.
3. It is only for those women who are not employed by the Central or State governments or a Public Sector Undertaking.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

a) 1 only

b) 1 and 2 only

c) 2 and 3 only

d) 1, 2 and 3

 ANSWER FOR 9^TH FEB 2022

Answer: D

Explanation:

• Statement 1 is incorrect: There is no time frame fixed in the Constitution for Governor to act on State bills.

Statement 1 is incorrect: When the governor reserves a bill for the consideration of the President, he will not have any further role in the enactment of the bill. If the bill is returned by the President for the reconsideration of the House or Houses and is passed again, the bill must be presented again for the presidential assent only. If the President gives his assent to the bill, it becomes an act. This means that the assent of the Governor is no longer required.

Spread the Word