THE CONTEXT: The decennial census of 2021 has been pushed forward again and is unlikely to start at least till September 2023. The Office of the Registrar General of India (ORGI) announced that the date of freezing the administrative boundaries had been extended from December 31, 2022, to July 1, 2023 and as census can only begin three months after the boundaries have been frozen, and the completion of the Census in its two phases takes at least 11 months which meant that the exercise would begin only after that, and can be extended to 2024. In this regard, let’s have a look on the process of census and reasons for the delay and its consequences.

REASONS FOR DELAY IN CENSUS

From the first synchronous census in 1881, the decadal census exercise has never been delayed or postponed but census 2021 has now been postponed more than once and following are the reasons listed for the same:

• Covid 19 pandemic: Centre’s intent to conduct the 2021 Census was notified in the Gazette of India on March 28, 2019 and freeze on administrative boundaries was to be effective from January 1, 2020 to March 31, 2021, before the COVID-19 pandemic. But because of covid 19 pandemic, it got delayed. Though, three countries that also saw severe COVID outbreaks UK, China, and US have since completed their census exercises.
• Extension of freezing of boundaries: In 2020, the census was postponed indefinitely, and several requests were received from States for permission to create new units and the date of freezing of boundaries was first extended till December 31, 2020. It was extended again till December 31, 2021, then June 30, 2022 and further again to December 31, 2022 which led to delay in exercise.
• Administrative difficulties: Administration is not well equipped with all the powers and equipments and is
• Government unwillingness: One of the possible reasons for delay is being cited as government unwillingness as it is possible that the government wants to hold back the census until the general elections are over.
• Not enough data and surveys: As there is lack of data and surveys that are conducted, it is becoming hard to compile the overall data such as data on fertility rates of religious groups might also not be present.

CENSUS: WHAT IS CENSUS, BACKGROUND AND MECHANISM

WHAT IS CENSUS

• Census is a treasure trove of a vast mine of information and it encapsulates everything from literacy levels, education, housing, household amenities, migration, urbanization, fertility and mortality, language, religion, disability, and other socio-cultural and demographic data age, gender and marital status.
•  It is the largest repository of the nation’s people. It is also a source of primary data at the village, town, and ward levels.

BACKGROUND

• India’s first proper or synchronous Census is the one which begins on the same day or year across regions of the country, was carried out in 1881 by the colonial administration and has since happened every 10 years, except the one that was supposed to be carried out in 2021.
• The onus of census exercise falls on the Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner (ORGI), under the Union Ministry of Home Affairs.
• Census Act of 1948 was passed just after Independence and a separate office of Registrar General of India (RGI) was established under the home ministry. However, the Act does not bind the government to conduct the Census on a particular date or to release its data in a notified period.

MACHINERY

Process of census conduction:

• During the census process, workers visit every house and fill up forms, which are transported to data processing centers for digitisation and analysis.
• However, now the workers will go door-to-door with tablets or smartphones and will enter information into a portal directly. It used to take 12 months to complete pre-census activities and census enumeration.

Conduction in two phases: The decennial census is carried out by lakhs of enumerators empanelled and trained by the government in two phases.

• The first phase is the housing Census, where data on housing conditions, household amenities and assets possessed by households are collected .Under houselisting, details of all buildings, permanent or temporary, are noted with their type, amenities, and assets.
• The second phase is where data on population, education, religion, economic activity, Scheduled Castes and Tribes, language, literacy, migration, and fertility are collected. In which. After making a list of all households that are surveyed, population enumeration is carried out. In population enumeration, more detailed information on each individual residing in the country, Indian national or otherwise is to be noted.

Then the actual census takes place, to ensure there’s no double-counting.

Digitally conducted census:

• Upcoming Census will also be the first Census both in digital mode and through paper schedules (questionnaires/forms).
• In 2022, the Union government amended the Census Rules framed in the year 1990 to allow the details to be captured and stored in an electronic form and also make a provision enabling self-enumeration by respondents.
• Home Ministry informed the Parliament in December that mobile and web applications for the collection of data and a portal (CMMS) for management and monitoring of various caste related activities.

SIGNIFICANCE OF DECENNIAL CENSUS

Importance of the Census can be understood from its stature in the Constitution it finds place in the 7th Schedule and the Union list. Few are some significance of census mentioned below:

• Evidence based decision making: Evidence-based decision-making is a universally recognized paradigm of efficient management of economic and social affairs and of overall effective governing of societies and census is very significant regarding this.
• Analyzing society and economy: Census data are also used extensively by researchers, in India and abroad, for analyzing the state of India’s economy and society. For example in the early 1990s, the country woke up to the reality of its adverse sex ratios only through census data. This led to the enactment of legislation criminalising sex selection tests and sex selective abortions.
• Policy making: Economists, sociologists, demographers and public-policy experts delve into the census data to make predictions, garner inferences, and construct policy prescriptions. For example census data contributed to policy formulations, including schemes such as Beti Bachao and Beti Padhao.
• Ensuring Democratic and Political representation: Census data is equally crucial for democratic and political representation. Delimitation, for example, is one way to ensure equal opportunity of representation.
• Smoothening Administrative function: Census data is crucial for various administrative functions, welfare schemes, and other surveys which led to smoothening of administrative function.

CONSEQUENCES OF DELAY IN CARRYING OUT CENSUS

• Hampering policy making: As government institutions depend on census data for policy making so for delaying the census will hamper the entire gamut of government policies. This delay has many important consequences for policy-making, knowledge about the economy, and academic research that informs policy design. For instance, in the absence of up-to-date population figures, it is estimated that around 100 million new people who were supposed to come under the public food distribution system would be left out.
• Deprivation of resource allocation to beneficiaries: Government schemes or programmes are based on census, but if the figures are not updated, there are bound to be many who would be deprived of the benefit. Therefore, the delay in the census impacts actual beneficiaries. For example, around 100 million people are likely being left out of the government’s Public Distribution System (PDS) as the population figures used to calculate beneficiaries are based on the 2011 census.
• Administrative functions: Accuracies of policies that target consumption, income, or wealth creation in specific geographies or particular social groups would be affected too, since all calculations would be based on erroneous numbers and statistics.
• Unreliable Census data: An old census data loses its reliability and any sample selection for surveys on housing, labour or consumption drawn from it gives a misleading conclusion. Therefore there is need to carrying out census on time.

ANALYSIS OF THE ISSUE

WHY CENSUS IS IMPORTANT

Census gives a macro picture, and aggregate data from this gives the larger picture of characteristics. Even though the census is conducted only once in 10 years, it provides the possibility for interpolations, extrapolations, and projections. This was how data was produced for a wider knowledge base. And the census is important in not just the planning and formulation of policies for central and state governments, but also for global agencies, scholars, businesses and others.

COMPARISON WITH OTHER SURVEYS

Census is a unique exercise in the sense that it gives a complete enumeration with no sampling errors. The government does have mechanisms to collect data through surveys like the National Sample Surveys, Periodic Labour Force Surveys, or Health Management Information Systems surveys through which schemes like the public distribution system (PDS) or the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) are implemented. But the census gives a complete picture of the population, and of various categories of the population. Sample surveys and the census complement each other, but sample surveys pretty much rely on census data

USE OF CENSUS DATA

Census data are critical for other sample surveys conducted in the country as they use the Census data as a ‘frame’ or list from which a representative sample of the population is selected for surveys. For example, the latest edition of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5) released last year, it was the 2011 data that served as the sampling frame. These data were used for making budget allocations, resource allocation and political delimitation of constituencies, political representation and planning.

REASONS FOR DELAY

So, what is weighing heavy on the mind of the Union government? Is it Covid or administrative difficulties? Or is it political questions related to caste enumeration that the government doesn’t want to know the answers to? Or is it a populist decision. However, despite difficulties and whatever might be the reason, postponing or scrapping the Census will have implications on government policies and making policies without facts and data can lead to many unforeseen disasters.

GOVERNMENT REACTION

Yet, the government appears unconcerned about this inordinate delay. It would not be surprising if the exercise is delayed beyond the parliamentary elections in 2024. Finally, it is now quite well-known internationally that India has been tardy in publishing official statistics on important measures such as poverty and unemployment. The delay in starting work on the census could be interpreted as being part of a larger strategy of feet-dragging over revealing what might be unpleasant data. India was once known to be a leader in the use of statistical data for national economic planning and policy formulation. India’s official data were never suspect despite the presence of a large informal sector where the reliability of data is usually suspect. If that reputation is tarnished further, it would cause damage to the nation’s image.

INTERNATIONAL BEST PRACTICES IN CONDUCTING CENSUS

In the past, empires and nations often took regular censuses. From Babylon to China to India to Russia, governments needed to tax people and conscript soldiers, so they counted men. The practice of using data from a census to inform and direct policy

• Austria: In 1990s, when census taking became increasingly controversial due to high costs, low frequency, Austria shifted to first register based census using information taken directly from existing administrative registers. This new census compared to traditional census is less expensive and provide data sooner and with higher frequency.
• Japan: Japan collects census every five years and it solicits information on name, sex, relationship to head of household, type and nature dwelling, floor area of dwelling, number of hours worked, employment status and kind of work. Regardless of nationality or legal status all residents in Japan are required to complete the census. All information collected by census is confidential and protected by the Statistics Act.
• Switzerland: In Switzerland, Federal Population Census, carried out every 10 years. Earlier census failed to provide necessary data. From 2010, census is to be conducted through written questionnaires distributed nationwide. Instead, data in existing population registers is used.
• United States of America: From 1950 onwards census forms were mailed to every address on record with United States Postal System and later made illegal. Later, in addition to decennial federal census , local censuses have also been conducted for example in Massachusetts a state wise  census is conducted every five years until 1985. Some states conducted limited censuses for various purposes and these are typically located in state archives.

THE WAY FORWARD

• Operational efficiency: There is need to work on the operational efficiency of the exercise as there are operational problems in conducting the census which is hindering the process.
• Digitisation of census exercise: Census exercise can be fast-tracked through digital census, with a provision for self-enumeration. The amended census rules now allow a person to “fill up, complete and submit the census schedule” themselves. However, there is a need for successful implementation of self-enumeration in terms of data quality and completeness of coverage.
• High internet penetration: Widespread computer literacy and accessibility are also important in the digitally-driven census. As Only 50 crore Indians have access to smartphones and less than 8 in 10 are online, there is a need to increase the penetration as data collection through a mobile app will reduce the overall time taken to process the census data and to publish the results in time. Experts suggest the government can use GPS to mark the enumeration block boundaries, but these technologies are still evolving in India and are very costly.
• NPR should be delinked: Exercise of collecting data for the National Population Register (NPR), which was to happen with the first phase of the Census, should now be delinked, owing to its politically sensitive nature and the urgency of the Census.
• Start Houselisting: Hurrying through the census could be damaging and defeat its purpose. So, we need to start houselisting as early as possible. The enumeration can only be done in 2024 if houselisting starts now. Houselisting poses a challenge for India, because the country does not have a robust address system.
• Need to freeze boundaries: Another challenge is the ever-changing boundaries of districts and tehsils within a state, a practice that must be freezed a year before the census exercise.
• Setting up of separate expert group: Parliamentary standing committee on home affairs has recommended the setting up of a separate expert group by the RGI to examine the census pattern.

THE CONCLUSION: Delaying the census could have a far-reaching impact as without census data, policy formulation can be affected and also the census exercise should not merely be data-oriented but rather provide a perspective of the culture and society. Therefore, there is need to hasten the exercise of conduction census.

MAINS QUESTION

1. Delaying the census exercise will have economic, political and social consequences. Analyse.
2. Census has been pushed many times, Cite the reasons for this delay and what steps should be taken to conduct the census efficiently on time?

[WpProQuiz 446]

1. Nobody is the giver of misery READ MORE
2. Spiritual impulse READ MORE

1. India lost 668,400 ha forests in 5 years, 2nd highest globally: Report READ MORE
2. Why most plastic can’t be recycled READ MORE
3. Kashmir: How Glacier Melt Is Triggering a Change in Land Use Patterns READ MORE
4. Why air pollution in India is a public health crisis and demands urgent action READ MORE

1. Moving forward with a newer concept of Universal Health Care READ MORE   
2. Explained | What is India’s stand on same-sex marriage? READ MORE

1. The Conduct of LS Speaker and the RS Chairman Goes Against the Vision of a Level Playing Field READ MORE
2. As health goes digital in India, where does privacy stand? READ MORE
3. The India Fix: What does Parliament’s disruption by the ruling party say about Indian democracy? READ MORE

(Newspapers, PIB and other important sources)

Prelim and Main

1. Putin makes surprise trip to Mariupol, first to occupied Donbas in Ukraine READ MORE  
2. No antibiotics, plasma therapy to treat adult COVID patients: government READ MORE
3. Modi, Hasina open 131.5-km oil pipeline to Bangladesh READ MORE
4. At a high dose, sucralose impairs mouse immune responses READ MORE
5. Active volcano found on Venus: What a new study says READ MORE
6. Why most plastic can’t be recycled READ MORE
7. What is Generative AI, the technology behind OpenAI’s ChatGPT? READ MORE
8. Earth sciences ministry’s revised budget estimate reduced by 22%, multiple delays cited as reasons READ MORE
9. Green coal: Can it tackle twin challenges of reducing emission, waste management? READ MORE

Main Exam

GS Paper- 1

1. India lost 668,400 ha forests in 5 years, 2nd highest globally: Report READ MORE
2. Swamiji and Tagore READ MORE

GS Paper- 2

POLITY AND GOVERNANCE

1. The Conduct of LS Speaker and the RS Chairman Goes Against the Vision of a Level Playing Field READ MORE
2. As health goes digital in India, where does privacy stand? READ MORE
3. The India Fix: What does Parliament’s disruption by the ruling party say about Indian democracy? READ MORE

SOCIAL ISSUES

1. Moving forward with a newer concept of Universal Health Care READ MORE   
2. Explained | What is India’s stand on same-sex marriage? READ MORE

INTERNATIONAL ISSUES

1. Slow steps to India-China border tranquillity READ MORE   
2. AUKUS | A three-way alliance in the Indo-Pacific READ MORE
3. Japan’s PM Fumio Kishida writes: Japan and India renewing a pledge READ MORE
4. G20 must set up an international panel on technological change READ MORE
5. India, China, and developments in the Persian Gulf READ MORE

GS Paper- 3

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

1. Spectre of stagflation: On the overall macroeconomic outlook READ MORE
2. Explained | Will the SVB collapse impact Indian start-ups? READ MORE
3. Indian economy gets the jobs boost it was lacking READ MORE
4. Many gaps in the PLI scheme READ MORE
5. Worst of inflation behind us: Cautious optimism comes with terse message for banks READ MORE
6. Rupee far from being a global currency READ MORE
7. Rising national income but declining welfare of people READ MORE

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

1. Artificial intelligence may make us work more, not less READ MORE

ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY

1. Why most plastic can’t be recycled READ MORE
2. Kashmir: How Glacier Melt Is Triggering a Change in Land Use Patterns READ MORE
3. Why air pollution in India is a public health crisis and demands urgent action READ MORE

GS Paper- 4

ETHICS EXAMPLES AND CASE STUDY

1. Nobody is the giver of misery READ MORE
2. Spiritual impulse READ MORE

Questions for the MAIN exam

1. The growing presence of China and India in the Persian Gulf indicates the prospects of power relations between regional, continental, and global actors in this region. Analyse the statement in the light of recent developments.
2. The Quad gives India a cushion to develop its capabilities and ramp up its defences, modernise its military, and develop its border infrastructure to be better equipped in the future to thwart China. Comment.
3. The PLI scheme is a classic case of ‘ good intentions but bad approach’. If India wants to fulfil its dream of becoming a global manufacturing hub, the structural problems within the policy design and economic system need to first be addressed. Critically examine.

QUOTATIONS AND CAPTIONS

• You cannot withstand continual setbacks unless you’ve seen a worthwhile vision.
• The Quad gives India a cushion to develop its capabilities and ramp up its defences, modernise its military, and develop its border infrastructure to be better equipped in the future to thwart China.
• We cannot afford to subject future generations to air pollution that will subject them to lifelong medical dependence and reduce their quality of life. So, it’s high time that it is given a prominent seat in the public policy discourse and debate.
• If incomes represent the welfare of an individual, then the average does not reflect the welfare of the people at the bottom of the pyramid of incomes, especially given that a large number of people are at the base of the pyramid.
• Due to huge disparities, per capita income does not capture the welfare of the poor. Not only that, the rising extent of social waste further reduces welfare. Thus, the poor are losing far more than the paltry support they get from the government.
• The growing presence of China and India in the Persian Gulf indicates the prospects of power relations between regional, continental, and global actors in this region.
• It is tragic that presiding officers of both Houses of parliament are acting in a manner that generates an unmistakable impression that the ‘doctrine of differential rights’ governs their conduct vis-à-vis treasury and opposition benches.
• The PLI scheme is a classic case of ‘ good intentions but bad approach’. For the scheme to deliver positive results, the structural problems within the policy design and economic system need to first be addressed. Only then will India fulfil its dream of becoming a global manufacturing hub.
• ailure to engender enduring price stability could lead to stagflation. Unless supply side measures such as GST rationalisation and fuel price cuts are expedited, the overall macroeconomic outlook appears worrying.

50-WORD TALK

• Once again, as in Afghanistan and Iraq, the western gamble seems to have failed. But this time, the consequences of the war may not stay confined to Ukraine; they will affect the prosperous countries of the West, such as Germany and France. In addition to the problems of millions of Ukrainian refugees and the cost of rebuilding the country, western Europe will also face long-term threats to its security, caused by a failed state in Eurasia.
• The Defence Ministry has presented a Bill in Lok Sabha for powering tri-service commanders to undertake disciplinary action, 22 years after the first such Command. What is actually required is Common Military Justice Code with inbuilt provisions for service-specific peculiarities as the Indian military moves towards theatre commands.

Things to Remember:

• For prelims-related news try to understand the context of the news and relate with its concepts so that it will be easier for you to answer (or eliminate) from given options.
• Whenever any international place will be in news, you should do map work (marking those areas in maps and exploring other geographical locations nearby including mountains, rivers, etc. same applies to the national places.)
• For economy-related news (banking, agriculture, etc.) you should focus on terms and how these are related to various economic aspects, for example, if inflation has been mentioned, try to relate with prevailing price rises, shortage of essential supplies, banking rates, etc.
• For main exam-related topics, you should focus on the various dimensions of the given topic, the most important topics which occur frequently and are important from the mains point of view will be covered in ED.
• Try to use the given content in your answer. Regular use of this content will bring more enrichment to your writing.

THE CONTEXT: All India Conference of Director Generals/ Inspector Generals of Police  2022 was organised at the National Agricultural Science Complex, PUSA, New Delhi on 21-22 January 2023. The three-day Conference was held from January 20 to 22, 2023, in a hybrid format. The conference discussed a wide range of issues including Cyber Crime, Technology in Policing, Counter Terrorism challenges, Left Wing Extremism, capacity building, Prison Reforms, among others. The broad consensus was arrived to reform the police system in India.

POLICE IN FEDERAL POLITY IN INDIA

• As per Seventh Schedule, ‘Police’ and ‘Public Order’ are State subjects under the Constitution, and as such the primary responsibility of prevention, detection, registration, investigation and prosecution of crimes, including crimes against SC/ST lies with the State Governments and Union Territory Administrations.

WHAT IS POLICE REFORM IN INDIA?

• Police reform aims to transform the old cultures, policies and practices of police organizations so that Police can perform their duties with respect to democratic values, human rights and the rule of law. Police reform mainly aims to maintain law and order in the state with more accountability and transparency in the work.
• However, before going into details about the need of the police reform , there is a need to discuss the issues in the police system in India.

ISSUES IN THE POLICE SYSTEM

COLONIAL POLICE SYSTEM:

• Britishers formed the Indian Police Act in 1861 and our country still follows the same old laws which were made to favor the rulers and suppress the common Indians.

OVERBURDENED POLICE

• Vacancies have been around 24%-25% in state police forces since 2009. The sanctioned police strength was 181 police per lakh persons in 2016, however, the actual strength was 137 police. It is to be noted that the United Nations recommended 222 police per lakh persons. Global average police population ratios 270/ 1 Lakh people.
• 24% vacancies in state forces; 7% in central forces

Sources: Bureau of Police Research and Development

• 86% of the state police comprises of the constabulary. Constables are typically promoted once during their service, and normally retire as head constables. This could weaken their incentive to perform well.

FUNDING TO THE POLICE

• Expenditure on Police accounts for about 3% of the central and state government budgets.

POLICE ACCOUNTABILITY:

• Police accountability involves holding both individual police officers, as well as law enforcement agencies responsible for effectively delivering basic services of crime control and maintaining order while treating individuals fairly and within the bounds of law.
• However, there are many grievances against the Police such as unlawful arrests, unlawful search, custodial death, torture in custody, corruption issue and misuse of law for personal or political gain.
• Transparency International ranked India at 85 among 180 countries in its Corruption Perception Index report

CUSTODIAL DEATH:

• Custodial death is perhaps one of the worst crimes in a civilized society governed by the Rule of Law. It is a crime against humanity and a violation of human rights, so reforms are needed for much more accountability.
• According to The National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB)  data shows India has in total recorded 88 custodial deaths in the year 2021., Over the last 20 years, 1,888 custodial deaths were reported across the country, 893 cases registered against police personnel and 358 personnel charge-sheeted. But only 26 policemen were convicted in this period, official records show.
• E.g. There are custodial deaths of a father and son in Tamil Nadu who the Police tortured for more than seven hours.

NO LAW ON CUSTODIAL TORTURE

• India is a signatory of the United Nations Convention against torture and other cruel activities since 1997, but it has not ratified it as India doe not have any comprehensive law on torture.

POLITICAL INTERFERENCE:

• Police officers are not able to do their work due to the interference of political leader. Hence its necessary to break political nexuses with Police. We needed reform for fairness and transparency in the system this will help to gain public trust.
• Vohra Committee gave recommendations to reform the criminal justice system By breaking the nexus between politicians and criminals

POOR QUALITY OF INVESTIGATION

• Police are accountable for prevention control reporting and investigation of the crime, so there is a conflict of interest(in preventation and investigation). This decreases the quality of the investigation.
• Crime per lakh population has increased by 28% over the last decade (2005-2015). However, convictions have been low. In 2015, convictions were secured in 47% of the cases registered under the Indian Penal Code, 1860. The Law Commission has observed that one of the reasons behind this is the poor quality of investigations.
• The Police do not have the necessary training or expertise to undertake professional investigations. They also lack legal understanding (on issues such as the admission of evidence), and their forensic and cyberinfrastructure is both weak and antiquated.
• Another reason for the lack of quality in the investigation is the transfer of officers during the investigation which causes delay and the newly appointed officer needs to study the case and restart the investigation process

IMPROPER POLICE INFRASTRUCTURE:

• CAG audits have found shortages in weaponry with state police forces. For example, Rajasthan and West Bengal had shortages of 75% and 71% respectively in required weaponry with the state police.
• Utilisation of funds for modernisation (%)

Sources: Bureau of Police Research and Development

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN POLICE AND THE PUBLIC

• There is insensitivity towards problems faced by people. There is a lack of trust between Police and people. People view the Police as inefficient, corrupt, and violent due to which the relationship between them has a severe lack of confidence. This leads to an automatic problem of less coordination due to which the Police find it improbable to perform their functions.

THESE ISSUES CALL FOR REFORM IN THE POLICE SYSTEM

Expert bodies that have examined police reforms

POLICE ACCOUNTABILITY

There is need to balance accountability and operational freedom of the Police. To allow the Police greater operational freedom while ensuring accountability, various experts have recommended that the political executive’s power of superintendence over police forces be limited.

• Second Administrative Reforms Commission has recommended that this power be limited to promoting professional efficiency and ensuring that Police is acting in accordance with law.
• National Police Commission (1977-81) suggested that superintendence be defined in the law to exclude instructions that interfere with due process of law, or that influence operational decisions, or that unlawfully influence police personnel transfers, recruitments, etc
• Second Administrative Reforms Commission and the Supreme Court have observed that there is a need to have an independent complaints authority to inquire into cases of police misconduct.

POLITICAL INTERFERENCE

In the Prakash Singh case, Supreme Court in its directive held that

• It is to be ensured that the DGP is appointed through merit based transparent process and secure a minimum tenure of two years.
• Also it said to constitute a State Security Commission (SSC) to

○        (i) Ensure that the state government does not exercise unwarranted influence or pressure on the Police

○        (ii) Lay down broad policy guidelines and

○        (iii) Evaluate the performance of the state police

• Constitute a Police Establishment Board in every state that will decide postings, transfers and promotions for officers below the rank of Deputy Superintendent of Police, and make recommendations to the state government for officers of higher ranks.
• Constitute a National Security Commission to shortlist the candidates for appointment as Chiefs of the central armed police forces.

Above all, there is a need for political will to bring reform in the police system.

VACANCIES AND AN OVERBURDENED FORCE

2nd Administrative Reforms Commission has recommended that one way to reduce the burden of the police forces could be to outsource or redistribute some non-core police functions (such as traffic management, disaster rescue and relief, and issuing of court summons) to government departments or private agencies.

CONSTABULARY-RELATED ISSUES

A constable’s responsibilities are wide-ranging, and are not limited to basic tasks. For example, a constable is expected to exercise his judgment in tasks like intelligence gathering and surveillance work and report significant developments to his superior officers. Therefore, a constable is expected to have some analytical and decision-making capabilities.

The Padmanabhaiah Committee and the Second Administrative Reforms Commission recommendations:

• raise the qualification for entry into the civil Police to class 12th or graduation.
• expert bodies, such as the National Police Commission have also emphasised incentive to accept remote postings.

CRIME INVESTIGATION:

Recommendation:

• States must have their own specialized investigation units within the police force that are responsible for crime investigation.
• funds and qualified staffs need to be given to the forensic infrastructure
• Supreme Court said that Separate the investigating Police from the law and order police to ensure speedier investigation, better expertise and improved rapport with the people.

POLICE INFRASTRUCTURE AND TRAINING

• More funds need to be allocated to the modernisation of the Police also there is a need to increase the fund utilisation of the fund allocated.
• There is a need for capacity building and technology to deal with cybercrime.
• Training module of the Police should be improved.

CUSTODIAL DEATH AND TORTURE

• In D.K. Basu case, the Supreme Court laid down elaborate procedures to be followed by the Police and other investigating agencies in cases of arrest, detention and interrogation.

○        The arrestee shall be made aware of his right to get a friend or relative informed about his arrest.

○        The diary entry of the arrest, the person informed of the arrest and particulars of the arrest shall be updated in the station diary.

• Law Commission of India in 2017 has proposed anti-torture law still Government has not taken any action in this regard.

NEED TO STRENGTHEN CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM

• The Malimath Committee submitted its report in April, 2003 which contained 158 recommendations. These pertain to strengthening of training infrastructure, forensic science laboratory and Finger Print Bureau, enactment of new Police Act, setting up of Central Law Enforcement agency to take care of federal crimes, separation of investigation wing from the law and order wing in the police stations, improvement in investigation by creating more posts, establishment of the State Security Commission, etc

POLICE-PUBLIC RELATIONS

• Need to increase the gender sensitivity of the Police.
• One way to improve  police-public relations is to have community policing. Community policing requires the Police to work with the community to prevent and detect crime, maintain public order, and resolve local conflicts, to provide a better quality of life and sense of security.
• Various states have been experimenting with community policing including Kerala through ‘Janamaithri Suraksha Project’, Rajasthan through ‘Joint Patrolling Committees’, Assam through ‘Meira Paibi’, Tamil Nadu through ‘Friends of Police’, West Bengal through the ‘Community Policing Project’, Andhra Pradesh through ‘Maithri and Maharashtra through ‘Mohalla Committees’

THE CONCLUSION: Current dispensation of the government is to build SMART Police which stands for

S stood for strict and sensitive

M for modern and mobile

A for alert and accountable

R for reliable and responsive

T for tech-savvy and trained

Thus. there is a need to reform the Police system to make it more accountable, responsible and transparent to strengthen the Social control between Citizen and State.

Mains Question

1. The police system plays an important role in the criminal justice system, but it has issues. Critically examine.
2. Despite various committees and Supreme Court guidelines for the reform in the Police system, it has not been reformed. Analyse the reasons behind it.

[WpProQuiz 445]

THE CONTEXT: Draft University Grants Commission (Setting up and Operation of Campuses of Foreign Higher Educational Institutions in India) Regulations, 2023’ has been announced by the UGC’s chairperson. It will now allow foreign universities to set up their campuses in India; decide their admission process; fee structure and will also be able to “repatriate” funds to their parent campuses. This editorial will discuss various aspects of its effect on higher education in India.

ISSUES WITH HIGHER EDUCATION

ENROLMENT

• According to the AISHE report 2020-21, in the year 2020-21, Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in higher education for the age group 18-23 years is estimated to be 27.3 which is quite low as compared to the developed as well as, other developing countries.
• With the increase of enrolments at the school level, the supply of higher education institutes is insufficient to meet the growing demand in the country.

STRUCTURE OF HIGHER EDUCATION

• Management of Indian education faces challenges of over-centralisation, bureaucratic structures and lack of accountability, transparency, and professionalism.
• As a result of an increase in the number of affiliated colleges and students, the burden of administrative functions of universities has significantly increased and the core focus on academics and research is diluted.

EQUITY

• There is no equity in GER among different sects of society. According to the AISHE report 2020-21, GER for Scheduled Castes Students is 23.1 and GER for Scheduled Tribes Students is 18.9.
• While the increase in the Scheduled Castes GER is 0.7 in the current and previous years, notably, a significant increase of 1.9 is observed in the Scheduled Tribes GER in 2020-21 over 2019-20, as compared to 0.8 in 2019-20 over 2018-19.

QUALITY

• Quality in higher education is a multi-dimensional, multilevel, and dynamic concept. Ensuring quality in higher education is amongst the foremost challenges being faced in India today. However, Government is continuously focusing on quality education.
• Still, a Large number of colleges and universities in India are unable to meet the minimum requirements laid down by the UGC and our universities are not in a position to mark their place among the top universities of the world.

INFRASTRUCTURE

• Poor infrastructure is another challenge to the higher education system of India particularly the institutes run by the public sector suffer from poor physical facilities and infrastructure.

RESEARCH AND INNOVATION

• there are very nominal scholars in our country whose writing is cited by famous western authors. There is inadequate focus on research in higher education institutes. There are insufficient resources and facilities, as well as, limited numbers of quality faculty to advice students.

POLITICAL INTERFERENCE

• Most of the educational Institutions are owned by the political leaders, who are playing key role in governing bodies of the Universities. They are using the innocent students for their selfish means. Students organise campaigns, forget their own objectives and begin to develop their careers in politics.

BENEFITS OF ALLOWING FOREIGN UNIVERSITIES’ CAMPUSES ON HIGHER EDUCATION

• Competitive educational institutions– There is a huge concern for the absence of Indian universities in the top global rankings. One must also admit that Indian universities must up their standards to compete globally. Allowing Foreign Higher Educational Institutions (FHEIs)n will help in increasing the competitive environment in the Higher education system.
• Quality of education:  It is proposed for only institutions which have secured a place within the top 500 of overall or subject-wise global rankings are eligible to apply. Thus it leads to an increase in the quality of the education with competition.  Foreign Higher Educational Institutions (FHEIs) will need to ensure the quality of education taught at their Indian campuses is on a par with the standard of teaching at their main foreign locations.
• Regulatory ease: It fixed a 90-day limit for approval to overcome the bureaucratic tangles. It is a positive step. The notification states that the approval is valid for ten years but extendable subject to fulfilling the required conditions. Thus it helps in regulatory ease and time bound approacval.
• Autonomy: The institutions will have the autonomy to decide “qualifications, salary structure, and other conditions of service for appointing faculty and staff”. That is, the UGC Regulations on Minimum Qualifications for Appointment of Teachers and Other Academic Staff in Universities and Colleges, which is in force, will not be applicable to them.
• Brain Drain will decrease- Avenues to the Indian students to have educational degrees in the foreign university in India. Thus it will decrease the Brain Drain from the Country.
• In the globalised world, it is inevitable– Setting up of foreign universities here was unavoidable in the age of globalization, and given that the barriers for exchange of goods, services and ideas is happening,it was inevitable that education would be the last frontier, where all barriers would be dismantled.
• Research and Innovation ecosystem: The competition within institution will give the incentive to focus more on research and development. IPR will get boost in the field of Patent filing, designing and research papers publishing.

ISSUES WITH THE ALLOWING FOREIGN UNIVERSITIES’ CAMPUS ON HIGHER EDUCATION

Issue with the equity:

• The policy will harm, dilute and destroy the Indian higher education system, leading to commercialization.
• Reservations will not be applicable for this institution.
• Also, due to the lack of public investment in an affordable, quality higher education system that is accessible to all, often private institutions have been able to only provide services to those who can pay a higher fee.
• Thus, there is higher excludability and rivalry among those who are willing to seek higher education, increasing elitism in its distributional system, and thereby, generating structural equity concerns.

Abdication of social responsibility: There is the abdication of the government’s own social responsibility to build top-class universities/higher education institutions in India. Private institutions are profit-oriented not welfare-oriented.

Lack of structural reform: Top-down approach will not work with India as there are issues with the primary education system. Thus, holistic approach will be needed to reform the educational ecosystem.

Foreign institutions are not willing to invest: Even though private institutions are invited, there will India’s higher education regulatory landscape too has been deeply unreliable. Many so-called greenfield projects announced under the institute of eminence (IOE) push by the government failed to gather any significant attention due to various roadblocks in it.

In the past, some of the best-performing universities in India have tried to establish collaborative arrangements with credible foreign institutions for students and teachers to exchange and promote joint research programmes. Even though UGC supported such collaborations by Indian universities, the Ministries of Home and External Affairs have not encouraged students or faculty exchanges, citing national security concerns.

The proposed guidelines by University Grants Commission (UGC) do not commit to providing physical or financial capital for setting up campuses.

Higher Education in India is not for profit – Supreme Court does not allow the operation of ‘for-profit’ educational institutions. However, foreign investment in HEIs has to be attractive in terms of profit-making for both the country of origin of HEIs and the private investors. Therefore, the government’s approach to inviting foreign HEIs to India without profits is flawed.

Relevance of the foreign Universities- When anyone enrols in a foreign university, the experience of being on a campus overseas, and benefitting from that, is often more important in decision making, Education is more than just classroom teaching and acquiring skill sets to deal with reality. Thus relevance of opening of Foreign Higher Educational Institutions (FHEIs) is being questioned. Many students opt to go abroad for the experience, and for the income opportunity overseas which is not available in India.

THE WAY FORWARD:

• India should be a leader in international education by tapping into its reserves instead of asking foreign universities to raise the bar.
• Instead of enabling the creation of international campuses of universities from developed countries, we need to focus on becoming a global higher education destination in our own right.
• Promoting Collaboration and Partnerships-Instead of allowing foreign universities to establish standalone campuses in India, the government could encourage them to collaborate and partner with existing Indian institutions.
• Restoring the autonomy of Indian public universities: Restore the autonomy to Indian public universities if it can be given to the foreign universities.

THE CONCLUSION: More focus should be on reforming the educational institute from primary to higher education. Without tackling the learning deficit in primary education, the long-term sustainability of the economy will not be possible as there would be inefficient utilisation of the demographic dividend.

Mains Question

1. Analyse the future of the educational ecosystem in the light of allowing the foreign higher education institutions in India.
2. Enumerate the measures to be taken to overhaul the Higher Education Ecosystem in India.

1. The power of being still and silent READ MORE
2. Physics and metaphysics READ MORE

1. Build a new global agency to push climate financing READ MORE
2. Why the ban on plastic is self-defeating READ MORE

1. Are educated women likely to marry later? READ MORE
2. ASER 2022: Mapping School Children on Reading, Arithmetic, Other Learning Abilities READ MORE   

1. State of head: Governors have been seen as partisan for decades. They should be accountable to Centre, state & Rajya Sabha READ MORE
2. Settling the debate on judicial overreach READ MORE
3. Governor’s ambit: Should exercise powers with circumspection, restraint READ MORE
4. Appoint persons of integrity READ MORE
5. Why the Supreme Court’s ECI verdict is jurisprudentially unsound READ MORE

(Newspapers, PIB and other important sources)

Prelim and Main

1. EXERCISE SEA DRAGON 23 READ MORE  
2. Poland to be first NATO member to give MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine READ MORE
3. National Institute of Ocean Technology to set up green, self-powered desalination plant in Lakshadweep READ MORE
4. EC’s proposal on allowing e-postal ballot for overseas Indian voters under discussion: Law Minister tells Rajya Sabha READ MORE
5. Global uncertainty rising, need to maintain margins of safety: CEA READ MORE
6. The Credit Suisse lifeline and its impact READ MORE
7. Japan, South Korea renew ties at Tokyo summit READ MORE
8. What can we expect from the final UN climate report? And what is the IPCC anyway? READ MORE
9. The amateur asteroid hunters giving NASA a run for its money READ MORE  

Main Exam

GS Paper- 1

1. Are educated women likely to marry later? READ MORE

GS Paper- 2

POLITY AND GOVERNANCE

1. State of head: Governors have been seen as partisan for decades. They should be accountable to Centre, state & Rajya Sabha READ MORE
2. Settling the debate on judicial overreach READ MORE
3. Governor’s ambit: Should exercise powers with circumspection, restraint READ MORE
4. Appoint persons of integrity READ MORE
5. Why the Supreme Court’s ECI verdict is jurisprudentially unsound READ MORE

SOCIAL ISSUES

1. ASER 2022: Mapping School Children on Reading, Arithmetic, Other Learning Abilities READ MORE   

INTERNATIONAL ISSUES

1. Iran-Saudi deal: What the gambit can mean for China, West Asia, and India READ MORE   
2. AUKUS may transform the Indo-Pacific sphere READ MORE
3. India’s chance to change the world order READ MORE
4. India-US Strategic Commercial Dialogue READ MORE
5. Asia-Arctic Diplomacy a Decade Later: What Has Changed? READ MORE

 GS Paper- 3

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

1. Will the national champions model of infrastructure development work? READ MORE  
2. Global law, local practice READ MORE
3. Rising National Income But Declining Welfare of People READ MORE

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

1. Artificial intelligence may make us work more, not less READ MORE

ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY

1. Build a new global agency to push climate financing READ MORE
2. Why the ban on plastic is self-defeating READ MORE

SECURITY

1. China-Russia cybersecurity ties taking darker turns. India needs to worry too READ MORE

DISASTER MANAGEMENT

1. Lessons from Turkey: How to make India earthquake prepared READ MORE

GS Paper- 4

ETHICS EXAMPLES AND CASE STUDY

1. The power of being still and silent READ MORE
2. Physics and metaphysics READ MORE

Questions for the MAIN exam

1. Any stimulus for growth should be undertaken while adhering to the fiscal consolidation road map to keep India’s medium-term story intact. Comment on the statement in the light of India’s latest growth prospects and fiscal challenges.
2. The China-brokered deal affirms Beijing’s role in West Asian affairs, posing new challenges for Indian diplomacy in the region. Critically Examine.
3. ‘China’s role in the Iran-Saudi rapprochement raises questions about India’s decision to shed its traditional policy of pursuing strict neutrality and going for bilateralism in West Asia’. Examine.
4. Digital training of healthcare professionals is an important step towards achieving the SDGs.

QUOTATIONS AND CAPTIONS

• It is when passions are most inflamed that fairness is most in jeopardy.
• The Supreme Court’s decision to refer to a Constitution Bench the issue of granting legal recognition to same-sex marriages can be seen as an important step towards ensuring gender equality, despite apprehension that it is encroaching on the legislative domain.
• The China-brokered deal affirms Beijing’s role in West Asian affairs, posing new challenges for Indian diplomacy in the region.
• India will need to engage with China in West Asia where they have a broad gamut of shared interests in energy security, free and open sea lanes, logistical connectivity, and, above all, regional stability. Here, they can work together to further mutual and regional interests.
• A steady growth of 6% to 7% can be ensured over the medium term, only if the fixed capital formation rate is raised by another 2 percentage points. This is notwithstanding the global factors that are not encouraging.
• As our society and nation lurch towards a future in which even the rudimentary semblances of democracy and decency are defied, we are increasingly witness to a shrinking support base of persons who can struggle and assert the need for these indispensable norms.
• In very challenging times, India and Italy intend to give a strong impulse to their relations, united by a millenary tradition of exchanges, linked by the common recognition of the value of true friendship and solidarity.
• The lack of standardized healthcare practices hampers the objective of achieving SDGs which can lead to disparities in care and negative health outcomes.
• Digital training can provide healthcare professionals with a consistent, evidence-based approach to patient care.
• Digital training of healthcare professionals is an important step towards achieving the SDGs.
• Increasing access to quality healthcare education can play a critical role in achieving a more sustainable and equitable world.
• Investing in digital training programs for healthcare professionals can help to ensure that the SDGs are met and we are on track towards achieving our goals.
• A continuous evaluation of banks and other financial institutions would allow the RBI to focus on attaining the objective of price stability.

ESSAY TOPIC

• Women are ready to take charge of this era but they can’t leave their responsibilities behind.

50-WORD TALK

• Led by new boss Zhang Xin, China’s scandal-tainted semiconductor investment fund is set to spend $140 billion in a bid to beat crippling Western sanctions on advanced chips. Past public-sector investments, though, yielded nothing. Xi Jinping’s confrontation with the West has pushed China’s tech sector into a Great Leap nowhere.
• The Defence Ministry has presented a Bill in Lok Sabha for powering tri-service commanders to undertake disciplinary action, 22 years after the first such Command. What is actually required is Common Military Justice Code with inbuilt provisions for service-specific peculiarities as the Indian military moves towards theatre commands.

Things to Remember:

• For prelims-related news try to understand the context of the news and relate with its concepts so that it will be easier for you to answer (or eliminate) from given options.
• Whenever any international place will be in news, you should do map work (marking those areas in maps and exploring other geographical locations nearby including mountains, rivers, etc. same applies to the national places.)
• For economy-related news (banking, agriculture, etc.) you should focus on terms and how these are related to various economic aspects, for example, if inflation has been mentioned, try to relate with prevailing price rises, shortage of essential supplies, banking rates, etc.
• For main exam-related topics, you should focus on the various dimensions of the given topic, the most important topics which occur frequently and are important from the mains point of view will be covered in ED.
• Try to use the given content in your answer. Regular use of this content will bring more enrichment to your writing.

[WpProQuiz 444]

THE CONTEXT: Knowledge is a critical determinant of economic growth, social development, and overall well-being. In today’s global economy, knowledge is a key driver of innovation, competitiveness, and productivity. Access to knowledge, however, is unequally distributed around the world. The gap between developed and developing countries in terms of knowledge resources is vast. Developed countries have well-established educational systems, research institutions, and technological infrastructure that enable them to generate, disseminate, and apply knowledge more effectively. In contrast, developing countries often lack the resources and infrastructure to produce and utilize knowledge effectively, which hinders their economic and social development.

HOW KNOWLEDGE INDUCES INEQUALITY

• Education inequality: Access to quality education is a key factor in reducing global inequality. However, education inequality exists globally, with some populations lacking access to basic education, let alone higher education.
• Digital divide: In the digital age, access to information technology and the internet is crucial for access to knowledge. However, the digital divide remains a significant issue, with many low-income communities lacking access to these resources.
• Language barriers: Knowledge production is often concentrated in English, limiting access to knowledge for non-English speaking populations and perpetuating global inequality.
• Research and development (R&D) inequality: Research and development activities are primarily concentrated in developed countries, creating disparities in the types of knowledge produced and accessible to different populations.
• Scientific infrastructure: The scientific infrastructure necessary for knowledge production is also concentrated in developed countries, creating disparities in access to scientific research and data.
• Patent laws: Patent laws and intellectual property rights can limit access to knowledge and technology, particularly for low-income populations.
• Brain drain: Highly skilled individuals often migrate from low-income countries to high-income countries, creating a brain drain that can limit knowledge production and perpetuate global inequality.
• Knowledge production bias: Knowledge production is often biased towards the interests of developed countries, limiting the types of knowledge produced and accessible to different populations.
• Access to healthcare knowledge: Access to healthcare knowledge is crucial for improving global health outcomes. However, healthcare knowledge is often concentrated in developed countries and limited in availability for low-income populations.
• Cultural barriers: Cultural differences can create barriers to the transfer of knowledge across populations, limiting access to knowledge and perpetuating global inequality.
• Access to financial knowledge: Financial knowledge is critical for economic empowerment and improving global economic outcomes. However, financial knowledge is often limited in availability for low-income populations.
• Access to legal knowledge: Access to legal knowledge is important for promoting human rights and justice. However, legal knowledge is often concentrated in developed countries, limiting access for low-income populations.
• Access to environmental knowledge: Access to environmental knowledge is crucial for promoting sustainability and mitigating the impacts of climate change. However, environmental knowledge is often limited in availability for low-income populations.
• Gender bias: Gender bias in knowledge production and access can limit the participation of women and girls in the global economy, perpetuating global inequality.
• Access to cultural knowledge: Access to cultural knowledge is important for promoting cultural diversity and understanding. However, cultural knowledge is often limited in availability for populations outside of their cultural heritage.

GEOGRAPHY AS DESTINY:  THE DOMINANCE OF GLOBAL NORTH

• The Global North has been able to invest more in research and development (R&D) than the Global South, which has resulted in the creation of new technologies and products that have given them a competitive edge. For example, in 2018, the US spent $581 billion on R&D, while the entire continent of Africa spent only $20.8 billion on R&D.
• The Global North has been able to develop and control essential technologies, such as those related to communication, transportation, and energy, which has given them a significant advantage over the Global South. For instance, the US controls a significant portion of the global internet infrastructure, including key domain name systems and routing technologies, which has enabled them to dominate the digital economy.
• The Global North’s technological superiority has enabled them to dominate global markets and extract resources from the Global South. For instance, many multinational corporations based in the Global North have outsourced production to the Global South, where labor costs are cheaper. This has resulted in the exploitation of workers in the Global South and the extraction of resources from these countries without fair compensation.
• The Global North’s technological superiority has enabled them to maintain their dominance in international institutions such as the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), which have helped to perpetuate global inequality. For example, the TRIPS agreement of the WTO grants monopolies to pharmaceutical companies, making essential medicines unaffordable to many people in the Global South.
• The Global North’s technological superiority has enabled them to maintain their military dominance, which has allowed them to exert political influence and control over the Global South. For instance, the US spends more on defence than the next ten countries combined, which has allowed them to intervene in the affairs of other countries and maintain global hegemony.

TRENDS OF CONVERGENCE AND DIVERGENCE IN GLOBAL ECONOMY AS A RESULT OF KNOWLEDGE

The role of knowledge has been a critical factor in shaping the trends of convergence and divergence in the global economy over time. Knowledge encompasses various aspects, including technological advancements, innovation, education, and human capital development.

CONVERGENCE AND KNOWLEDGE

• The period from 1870 to 1913 saw a trend of convergence in the global economy, and knowledge played a critical role in this process. The spread of knowledge, particularly technological advancements, transportation and communication networks, and education, helped other regions, particularly North America and parts of Europe, to catch up with Western Europe in terms of economic growth and development. “The diffusion of knowledge was a key factor behind convergence, as regions that were able to adopt new technologies and ideas from more advanced regions experienced higher levels of economic growth and development.”
• Similarly, the period from 1945 to 1980 saw another trend of convergence, which was driven by the spread of knowledge, particularly in East Asia. The governments of many East Asian countries invested heavily in education and human capital development, and this helped to build a highly skilled workforce and support the development of new technologies and innovations. As a result, these countries experienced rapid economic growth and development, narrowing the gap with more advanced Western economies.

DIVERGENCE AND KNOWLEDGE

• The period from 1750 to 1870 saw a trend of divergence in the global economy, and the lack of access to knowledge was a critical factor behind this process. Western Europe’s technological advancements and innovations were driven by its scientific and educational institutions, which were more advanced than those in other regions. The lack of access to knowledge and education hindered the growth and development of other regions, particularly Asia and Africa, contributing to the widening economic gap between Europe and the rest of the world.
• Similarly, the period from 1980 to the present day has seen a trend of divergence, which has been driven by the uneven distribution of knowledge. While some regions, particularly in East Asia, have continued to experience rapid economic growth and development, others, particularly in Africa, have lagged behind. The uneven distribution of knowledge and access to technology has contributed to this divergence, as many African countries have struggled to keep up with more advanced economies.

ANALYSIS OF THE ABOVE FACT

The above illustration discusses the historical context of the Great Divergence, where per capita income in China and India fell relative to Western Europe and its offshoots, accompanied by a decline in their share of world manufacturing, while Western Europe’s share increased dramatically. This led to the Great Specialisation, where Europe and its offshoots specialised in manufacturing and the rest of the world in agriculture and primary raw material production.

However, post-1970, there has been some convergence, particularly in East Asia, with countries like China, South Korea, and Japan increasing their per capita GDP in comparison with industrialised countries. East Asia’s share of world manufactured exports also grew significantly during this period. South Asia, on the other hand, saw slower growth in its per capita GDP relative to industrialised countries. Overall, while there has been some convergence, it has not been significant, and there is still a large gap in per capita income between Western Europe and its offshoots and Asia.

MONOPOLY-CUM-MONOPSONY CAPITALISM

• The contemporary structure of capitalism is characterized by monopolies, particularly those based on intellectual property rights (IPR) protection. Monopolies aim to capture profits higher than those available in competitive conditions, leading to increased inequality. This monopolization of knowledge exists alongside commoditized knowledge in the commons of manufacturing or production.
• The global structure of production is reflected in Global Value Chains (GVCs), where there is a separation between conception and execution through outsourcing and offshoring. This leads to a monopsony relationship between lead firms and their suppliers, particularly those in the global South.
• There are different degrees of monopsony power in these relations. Knowledge monopolies, such as technology and healthcare companies, dominate the world economy, with eight of the world’s 10 largest corporations by market capitalization being knowledge-intensive corporations. GVCs and the platform economy are forms of monopoly–monopsony capitalism that dominate international trade and global economic relations.

WHAT WILL BE IMPACT OF MONOPOLY-CUM-MONOPSONY CAPITALISM: A CASE FOR ANALYSIS

What is the consequence of the structure of world trade and the global economy on the distribution of profits between headquarter firms and supplier firms in GVCs? Provide some examples.

• The consequence of the structure of world trade and the global economy on the distribution of profits between headquarter firms and supplier firms in GVCs is that headquarter firms with monopolized knowledge earn a high profit while suppliers with commoditized knowledge secure only competitive profits.
• This is illustrated by the fact that headquarter firms, such as US garment brands (Ralph Lauren and Levi Strauss), electronics enterprises (Apple, Cisco, and Intel), and consultancy leaders (IBM and Accenture), had gross profit margins ranging from 40% to 60%, while suppliers such as Indian garment manufacturers had margins in the range of 10% to 12%.
• Additionally, European headquarter firms, such as Zara, H&M, Adidas, C&A, and L-V, also had gross margins ranging from 50% to 66%.
• In electronics manufacture, contract electronics manufacturers have low margins, at or below 5%. In IT services production, the knowledge requirements are more complex than both of the above types, and those in IT services supply with records of delivering and supporting complex IT services have developed reputational assets that would increase their bargaining power. The 30% gross profit margins of Infosys and TCS are at least somewhat comparable with those in the global North. But overall, based on the Annual Survey of Industries (ASI) data, the gross profit margins of the Indian supplier firms (garments, leather, auto-components, pharmaceuticals, and IT services) range from a low of 6% in garments to 14% in IT services.

THE WAY FORWARD

Reducing global inequality in knowledge and information can be a complex task that involves a combination of various strategies, policies, and actions. Here are some possible ways to address this issue:

• Education: Education is one of the most powerful tools for reducing global inequality. Providing access to quality education and promoting lifelong learning can help to bridge the knowledge gap between different countries and communities.
• Technology: Advancements in technology have made it easier to share information and knowledge globally. Governments, NGOs, and other organizations can leverage technology to provide access to vital information and resources to communities that lack them.
• Open access to information: Ensuring open access to information is essential in reducing global inequality in knowledge. Governments and other stakeholders can promote policies that make information available to everyone.
• Empowering communities: Empowering communities to take charge of their own development can help to reduce global inequality in knowledge. This includes providing resources, tools, and training that enable communities to take advantage of information and knowledge resources.
• Collaboration: Collaboration between governments, NGOs, and other stakeholders can help to reduce global inequality in knowledge. This includes sharing resources, expertise, and knowledge to address the challenges faced by different communities.

THE CONCLUSION: Overall, reducing global inequality in knowledge and information requires a multi-faceted approach that involves various stakeholders working together to provide access to quality education, technology, and open access to information. By addressing these issues, we can create a more equitable and sustainable future for all.

Questions:

1. Discuss the impact of knowledge induced global inequality.
2.  The knowledge divide has created divide historically and it has potential to increase it manyfold. Analyse

1. Jainism’s three keys to transcendence READ MORE
2. Levels of love READ MORE
3. Ethics, yoga are must for holistic growth READ MORE

1. How to climate-proof the agriculture sector READ MORE
2. Death of the Nile? Mega dams have killed the river’s ability to flush carcinogens, slowly killing its delta READ MORE

1. A sustainable model for women’s leadership READ MORE
2. Inaction and intervention: On the handling of social issues READ MORE   
3. Digital training in healthcare is vital READ MORE

1. Governors cannot precipitate the fall of elected governments: Supreme Court READ MORE
2. How to use technology to track crime READ MORE
3. SC’s Election Commission judgment upsets a delicate balance READ MORE
4. Will the Supreme Court be able to legalise same-sex marriage in India? READ MORE
5. Why the Supreme Court’s ECI verdict is jurisprudentially unsound READ MORE

(Newspapers, PIB and other important sources)

Prelim and Main

1. Functioning of Primary Agriculture Credit Societies (PACS) READ MORE  
2. Exports fell 8.8% in February, but trade deficit also shrank over 7% READ MORE
3. Foreign Trade Policy may be finally revised after eight years from April 1 READ MORE
4. NCBC working with chairperson and just one member: govt. in Rajya Sabha READ MORE
5. Foreign lawyers, firms can operate in India: BCI READ MORE
6. What is GPT-4 and how it is different from GPT-3.5, which currently powers ChatGPT READ MORE
7. US Senate resolution for underlining backing India on McMahon Line: What is the McMahon Line? READ MORE
8. Japan-South Korea summit: What has kept the two nations apart and why they must overcome it READ MORE
9. Over a third of forest land in Burhanpur lost to encroachers: Officials READ MORE  
10. Messengers of the gods: 1,400-year religious protection of sika deer in Japan’s Nara have made them genetically unique READ MORE

Main Exam

GS Paper- 1

1. A sustainable model for women’s leadership READ MORE

GS Paper- 2

POLITY AND GOVERNANCE

1. Governors cannot precipitate the fall of elected governments: Supreme Court READ MORE
2. How to use technology to track crime READ MORE
3. SC’s Election Commission judgment upsets a delicate balance READ MORE
4. Will the Supreme Court be able to legalise same-sex marriage in India? READ MORE
5. Why the Supreme Court’s ECI verdict is jurisprudentially unsound READ MORE

SOCIAL ISSUES

1. Inaction and intervention: On the handling of social issues READ MORE   
2. Digital training in healthcare is vital READ MORE

INTERNATIONAL ISSUES

1. Sharp divides: On the implications of the AUKUS trilateral defence pact READ MORE   
2. With Saudi-Iran deal, China emerges as honest broker in a fractured West Asia READ MORE
3. AUKUS may transform the Indo-Pacific sphere READ MORE
4. China’s growing influence: It is playing a notable role in developments across the Indo-Pacific and the Gulf READ MORE
5. Global institutions losing relevance READ MORE
6. A New Era In World Politics, China Scales Up READ MORE

GS Paper- 3

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

1. Monetary, fiscal authorities should focus on inflation READ MORE
2. Making development much more inclusive READ MORE
3. Comprehensive approach: India needs legislation on cryptos READ MORE

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

1. Artificial intelligence may make us work more, not less READ MORE

ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY

1. How to climate-proof the agriculture sector READ MORE
2. Death of the Nile? Mega dams have killed the river’s ability to flush carcinogens, slowly killing its delta READ MORE

SECURITY

1. China-Russia cybersecurity ties taking darker turns. India needs to worry too READ MORE

DISASTER MANAGEMENT

1. Lessons from Turkey: How to make India earthquake prepared READ MORE

GS Paper- 4

ETHICS EXAMPLES AND CASE STUDY

1. Jainism’s three keys to transcendence READ MORE
2. Levels of love READ MORE
3. Ethics, yoga are must for holistic growth READ MORE

Questions for the MAIN exam

1. Any stimulus for growth should be undertaken while adhering to the fiscal consolidation road map to keep India’s medium-term story intact. Comment on the statement in the light of India’s latest growth prospects and fiscal challenges.
2. The China-brokered deal affirms Beijing’s role in West Asian affairs, posing new challenges for Indian diplomacy in the region. Critically Examine.
3. ‘China’s role in the Iran-Saudi rapprochement raises questions about India’s decision to shed its traditional policy of pursuing strict neutrality and going for bilateralism in West Asia’. Examine.
4. Digital training of healthcare professionals is an important step towards achieving the SDGs.

QUOTATIONS AND CAPTIONS

• Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal.
• The Supreme Court’s decision to refer to a Constitution Bench the issue of granting legal recognition to same-sex marriages can be seen as an important step towards ensuring gender equality, despite apprehension that it is encroaching on the legislative domain.
• The China-brokered deal affirms Beijing’s role in West Asian affairs, posing new challenges for Indian diplomacy in the region.
• India will need to engage with China in West Asia where they have a broad gamut of shared interests in energy security, free and open sea lanes, logistical connectivity, and, above all, regional stability. Here, they can work together to further mutual and regional interests.
• A steady growth of 6% to 7% can be ensured over the medium term, only if the fixed capital formation rate is raised by another 2 percentage points. This is notwithstanding the global factors that are not encouraging.
• As our society and nation lurch towards a future in which even the rudimentary semblances of democracy and decency are defied, we are increasingly witness to a shrinking support base of persons who can struggle and assert the need for these indispensable norms.
• In very challenging times, India and Italy intend to give a strong impulse to their relations, united by a millenary tradition of exchanges, linked by the common recognition of the value of true friendship and solidarity.
• The lack of standardized healthcare practices hampers the objective of achieving SDGs which can lead to disparities in care and negative health outcomes.
• Digital training can provide healthcare professionals with a consistent, evidence-based approach to patient care.
• Digital training of healthcare professionals is an important step towards achieving the SDGs.
• Increasing access to quality healthcare education can play a critical role in achieving a more sustainable and equitable world.
• Investing in digital training programs for healthcare professionals can help to ensure that the SDGs are met and we are on track towards achieving our goals.
• A continuous evaluation of banks and other financial institutions would allow the RBI to focus on attaining the objective of price stability.

ESSAY TOPIC

• Women are ready to take charge of this era but they can’t leave their responsibilities behind.

50-WORD TALK

• The ignominious defeat of the Lahore police in the street battles which broke out after its botched attempt to arrest Imran Khan reveals the Pakistani state is fast unravelling. Even if the courts order his arrest, Imran has demonstrated he can paralyse the government. Only early elections can restore stability.

Things to Remember:

• For prelims-related news try to understand the context of the news and relate with its concepts so that it will be easier for you to answer (or eliminate) from given options.
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THE CONTEXT: Automation in this era is critical in understanding inequality dynamics as it affects different sections of society and different parts of the industry differently. In some cases as white collar jobs as designer and engineer have become more productive and sophisticated whereas in other cases automation has led to replacement of workers in blue collar jobs. In this context, let’s analyse the different dynamics of automation and the risk of widening inequality.

AUTOMATION AND ITS EVOLUTION

• Automation is the substitution of machines and algorithms for tasks previously performed by labor and it is nothing new and has often been seen as an engine of economic growth and at the same time debate about workers being replaced by machines is certainly not new.
• It started with the Industrial Revolution but however in the past its effect was counterbalanced by other technologies boosting human productivity and employment opportunities but this is not the case today.
• In fact, next phase of automation, relying on AI and AI-powered machines such as self-driving cars, may be even more disruptive, especially if it is not accompanied by other types of more human-friendly technologies.
• According to the World Bank Development Report, 77 percent of existing jobs in China 47 percent of US jobs, 69 per cent of Indian jobs and an average of 57 per cent of jobs in OECD countries are susceptible to automation and could be replaced by automated processes and robots.
• An MIT economist suggests automation has a bigger impact on the labor market and income inequality than the previous industrial revolution. Research indicates and identifies the year 1987 as a key inflection point in this process, the moment when jobs lost to automation stopped being replaced by an equal number of similar workplace opportunities. Within industries adopting automation, the study shows, the average “displacement” or job loss from 1947-1987 was 17 percent of jobs, while the average “reinstatement” (new opportunities) was 19 percent. But from 1987-2016, displacement was 16 percent, while reinstatement was just 10 percent.

HOW IS AUTOMATION REINFORCING INEQUALITY

NATURE OF ECONOMIC GROWTH

Nature of economic growth has become much less shared since the 1980s which led to wider inequality in much of the industrialized world and has led to disappearance of good, high-paying, secure jobs and decline in the real wages of less-educated workers.

TAKE OVER ROUTINE TASK

Regarding the effects of automation on the composition and nature of work, automation and robotic technologies tend to favour non-routine cognitive tasks while they are reducing demand for manual work. New technologies also have the capability to take over routine tasks, for example manufacturing assembly and back-office work, which fall under the middle-skilled category and thus replaces them.

COULD NOT UTILISE LOW SKILLED WORKERS

Automation increases the productivity and income of high-skilled workers but leaves productivity of low-skilled workers unchanged and redistribute income from poor low-skilled workers to rich high-skilled workers.

DIVERSION OF INVESTMENT

There is a shift in investment to advanced economies and new technology and automation widening the gap between rich and poor countries by shifting more investment to advanced economies where automation is already established. As a result, investment gets diverted from developing countries to finance this capital and robot accumulation in advanced economies, thus resulting in a transitional decline in GDP in the developing country.

NOT QUICK ADOPTION

In more recent years there has been some convergence in how quickly countries worldwide adopt new technologies, but once those technologies have been taken up by a minority of users those referred as ‘early adopters’, there is a divergence in how long they take to become widely used by large numbers of the population who are generally left behind.

LESS OPPORTUNITIES TO ACCESS TECHNOLOGIES

Opportunities to access technologies that address the needs of low-income groups is very less. Technologies available today do not necessarily respond to the needs of low-income and vulnerable groups. They are often developed by profit-seeking firms and naturally respond to the needs of more affluent markets.

REPLACING KNOWLEDGE INTENSIVE JOBS

Advances in automation as machine learning technology, coupled with increasingly available big data, could replace knowledge-intensive roles in sectors such as business and health care in the first half of the twenty-first century. Some estimate that machine learning algorithms could displace 140 million knowledge workers globally , further contributing to a ‘hollowing-out’ of middle-income jobs and to growing polarization of the labor market

LACK OF SKILL AND EDUCATION

Though increase in skill and education helps in growth. However, in a heterogeneous society, not everybody is able or willing to obtain higher education and skill and those who due to ability constraints, do not manage to acquire higher education and skills and are left behind.

EFFECTS OF AUTOMATION ON OTHER INEQUALITIES

GENDER INEQUALITY

• IMF data indicate that female workers are at a significantly higher risk for displacement by automation than male workers, with 11 percent of the female workforce at high risk of being automated given the current state of technology, with significant cross-country heterogeneity.
• Also recent research at the McKinsey Global Institute finds that automation is likely to displace men and women more or less equally over the next decade. But, as a result of that displacement, women will need to make far more significant transitions compared to men and may find it more difficult to capture new opportunities because of the persistent barriers they face.

REGIONAL DISPARITY

• Poorer regions in advanced economies are no longer catching up to the rich as fast as they used to before automation.
• As poorer regions tend to specialize in agriculture and manufacturing industries rather than high productivity service sectors such as information technology and communications and finance.
• Regional disparities has increased in terms of number and quality of new jobs created, unemployment and educational attainment due to automation.
• As new jobs created by new technology will require highly skilled workers which can cause uneven development and exacerbate regional inequalities.

GLOBAL INEQUALITY

• Inequality within countries can also be exacerbated by rapid changes in the nature of work due to automation.
• Developing countries have pursued rapid growth through manufacturing goods for export to rich country consumer markets. Automation will erode this pathway, as low labour costs become less important for manufacturing.
• Increasing automation in textile manufacturing, which has expanded opportunities for women in many developing countries, will have negative impacts on gender equality. And for Africa, with a high youth population, not being able to capitalise on low-cost labour to attract manufacturing investment is particularly concerning.
• Technological advances and automation tend to increase returns to capital (the owners of the machines) and decrease returns to workers. And digital technologies provide a huge boost to highly skilled workers’ productivity in some sectors, leading to lower demand for the less skilled worker leading to global inequality.

RURAL URBAN DIVIDE

• In the long term, the accelerated development of automation is likely to deepen the “digital divide” between urban and rural areas.
• Because of the problems of backward rural economic development and unbalanced urban and rural development there is urban–rural income gap created which is too large.
• It is argued that there are significant urban–rural gaps in network coverage and urban residents have greater employment opportunities than rural residents, leading to an increased urban–rural income gap.
• From an industry chain perspective, the development of smart technologies and automation will result in significantly higher wage growth rates for high-skilled workers in urban areas than low-skilled workers in rural areas.

EDUCATIONAL INEQUALITY

• Education is riddled with inequality as there is wide gap in disparate instructional quality, equipment, and outcomes among different sections and regions. Rather than providing a solution to wealth inequality, education now reinforces it.
• The effectiveness of online and blending learning is limited, yet ed-tech advocates and investors keep pushing the adoption of these technologies in low-income classrooms which tends to be ineffective.
• Without acceptance of these automation technologies it is considered that these styles of learning are flawed and real progress cannot be made. Until these learning methods are proven, their adoption will only help increase inequality, rather than help students.
• Automation is exacerbating the Digital Divide in Classrooms in across the nation as country have been flooded equipped with software, computers and high-speed internet. However, the technological disparity and literacy gap is increasing.

ANALYSIS OF THE ISSUE

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN AUTOMATION AND INEQUALITY IS MULTIFACETED

As on one hand Technologies, notably ICT, have brought improved access to basic services such as finance and education but at the same time it has widened inequality as countries differ in terms of investments, policy support or technological capabilities, or because technology is skill- and capital-biased and enables rent seeking, or because certain conditions need to be in place for vulnerable populations to benefit from technology and access to appropriate technology solutions.

PRESENCE OF DIGITAL DIVIDE

Presence of “digital divide” has amplified the “technology divide” and widened inequalities, across all three of its dimensions, and between subregions, countries and people.

AUTOMATION OF LOW SKILLED JOBS

Trend of automation to replace routine manufacturing tasks and low-skilled jobs looks set to continue, and technological advances are also making it possible to automate a greater number of non-routine tasks.

ROLE OF FRONTIER TECHNOLOGY

Frontier technologies are likely to intensify these impacts because technological capabilities are not equally distributed across countries and people in the region.With Frontier technologies, such as AI, are likely to intensify both the divides and the dividends. New technologies can create and reinforce inequality of outcome and opportunity.

NEED OF REGULATORY FRAMEWORK

Regulatory frameworks for AI and frontier technology also need to be in place before the digital divide becomes unbridgeable. This is important because automation may prove to be a double burden by reducing employment and limiting opportunities.

POSITIVES EFFECTS OF AUTOMATION

Automation though is widening inequality but there are also positive sides of automation which is mentioned below:

• Creation of New jobs: Automation entails not only innovation in the development of existing products, but also the development of entirely new products and ways of working, and thus the creation of new jobs.
• Implementation of SDGs: Automation can be used as a means for implementing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and helps achieve the goals.
• Can even reduce inequality: There is potential in automation to reduce inequality in opportunities but it is not automatic. It largely depends on the capabilities of the poor to access and use technologies and solutions that respond to their needs.
• Economic growth: Automation together with the opportunities provided by trade and investment for capital accumulation and productive transformation can help achieve an unprecedented level of economic growth and enabling several countries to catch up with developed nations.

CHALLENGES RELATED TO AUTOMATION

• Exclusion of low skilled labour: There is low-skilled labor that does not benefit from automation and with the arrival of new machines. Skill-based technological progress induces more high skilled labour and thus a decline of low-skilled labor supply.
• Demographic transition: This is likely going to be much more challenging for developing countries which have hoped for high dividends from a much-anticipated demographic transition. The growing youth population in developing countries was hailed by policymakers as possibly a big chance to benefit from a transition of jobs and automation could risk that.
• Rising unemployment: Rising wage inequality due to automation may also trigger rising unemployment and there can be increasing involuntary unemployment of low-skilled individuals.
• Lack of infrastructure: Reliable and resilient broadband networks are often the foundation for developing and using frontier technologies such as AI. However, the lack of such broadband networks in many parts of the region means that AI uptake is and will continue to be uneven. Frontier technologies are based on huge quantities of real-time data, which are themselves critically dependent on high-speed (broadband) Internet. The existing lack of broadband connectivity is a hindrance.
• Availability, Affordability and Reliability: Extent of technological inequalities among countries broadly depends on three factors: availability, affordability and reliability of the infrastructure and this is a constant issue which is persisting in this era.
• Slowdown in economic growth: Excessive automation may also be a cause of the slowdown in productivity growth. This is because automation decisions are not reducing costs and, even more important, because a singular focus on automation technologies may be causing businesses to miss out on productivity gains from new tasks, new organizational forms, and technological breakthroughs that are more complementary to humans.

If current trends continue, AI and other frontier technologies may further increase income, opportunity and impact inequalities and widen development gaps among countries and people.

THE WAY FORWARD

• Investment in Infrastructure: To address technology-induced inequality in the region, ICT infrastructure, notably broadband networks, must be affordable, reliable and resilient. Where progress has stagnated, such as in many LDCs and countries with special needs, a big investment push is needed. Without this investment in infrastructure there will be no narrowing of the existing digital divide and mitigation of the widening disparities
• Redistribution through progressive income taxation: To maintain income equality redistribution through progressive income taxation by implementation of a robot tax has recently been proposed which can be a game changer.
• Address persistent inequalities in technological capabilities: To catch up with more advanced economies, and thus reduce income inequalities among countries, countries with low technological capabilities should consider strengthening technological learning through public policies that should focus on the adoption, adaptation and diffusion of existing technologies rather than on investing in cutting edge R&D.
• Domestic firms upgradation: Policies should aim to promote greater learning from trade and FDI, increasing productivity in existing productive sectors, and support the formation and growth of domestic firms by absorptive capacity of domestic knowledge systems, productive diversification and export upgrading.
• Skills development: It is important pathway to address growing inequalities, particularly in universities and institutes of higher learning. Skills and knowledge acquired should be able to help address challenges associated with automation.
• Promote regional and international cooperation: Promote regional and international cooperation to exploit technology dividends such as cooperation with States, regional and international partners, including donors, could prioritize funding for trans-border broadband infrastructure.
• Need of government policies: In lower-income countries, governments are advised to give due priority to the building of domestic technological capabilities and, accordingly, allocate the corresponding budget funds. In more advanced economies, there is a need for governance models to integrate and coordinate technological and innovation policies with other economic and social policies and to give voice to a wide range of agents throughout the policies.

THE CONCLUSION: Policymakers should act to mitigate those risks associated with increasing inequality especially in the face of these new technologically-driven pressures. There is a need for a drastic shift to rapidly improve productivity gains and investment in education and skills development that will capitalize on the much-anticipated demographic transition even in this era of automation.

MAINS QUESTIONS

1. How automation is reinforcing already perceived inequalities and discuss the steps needs to be taken to eliminate or reduce inequalities.
2. Role that automation plays in income and wealth inequality is complex and contested. Explain.