PERIYAR IAS ACADEMY Current Affairs, 12 Aug 2017
PERIYAR IAS
ACADEMY Current Affairs, 12 Aug 2017
Paper 1:
Topic: Role of women and women’s organization, population and
associated issues, poverty and developmental issues, urbanization, their
problems and their remedies.
Odisha govt and Facebook launches ‘SheMeansBusiness’ programme
Odisha government has
launched ‘She Means Business’ programme of Facebook for women
entrepreneurs. Odisha government’s
partnership with Facebook aimed to reduce the digital divide and
empower nearly 25,000 women entrepreneurs and SHGs.
Highlights of the programme:
§
Under the scheme 25, 000 women entrepreneurs and self-help group
(SHG) members will be given training on digital marketing skills within next
one year.
§
Facebook will also make a database of entrepreneurs in the state
and will monitor their growth, turnover and profit after one year. While
success stories among them will be highlighted to inspire others.
§
Women entrepreneurs will get hands on training on digital
marketing free of cost and they need not create their website to promote their
business. The platform will also facilitate vertical integration.
Background:
As many as 201 million monthly
active people on Facebook in India on their mobile and 57% of people on
Facebook in India are connected to at least one small business. Moreover, 1.99
billion interactions generated between businesses and people in India through
Facebook. Number of new women-owned small and medium business pages on Facebook
in India has increased approximately six-fold in the last four years (between
2012 and 2015).
Sources: et.
Paper 2:
Topic: Statutory, regulatory and
various quasi-judicial bodies.
CBFC Board Reconstituted
In exercise of the powers
conferred by sub-section (1) of section 3 of the Cinematograph Act, 1952 and the Cinematograph (Certification)
Rules, 1983, the Central Government has reconstituted the
existing Central Board of Film Certification for a period of three years or
until further orders, whichever is earlier. The new board will be headed by Sh. Prasoon Joshi.
About CBFC:
Central Board of Film
Certification (CBFC) is a statutory body
under Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, regulating the public
exhibition of films under the provisions of the Cinematograph Act 1952.
§
Films can be publicly exhibited in India only after they have been
certified by the Central Board of Film Certification.
§
The Board consists of non-official members and a Chairman (all of
whom are appointed by Central Government).
Sources: pib.
Topic: Important aspects of
governance, transparency and accountability, e-governance- applications,
models, successes, limitations, and potential; citizens charters, transparency
& accountability and institutional and other measures.
Push for law to ensure transparency rules
The Economic Survey has
proposed Transparency of Rules Act (TORA), a legislation to end any
asymmetry of information regarding rules and regulations faced by an average
citizen.
What you need to know about
TORA?
§
The TORA is an attempt to change in some
ways the relationship between the average normal citizen and the State.
§
TORA will require all departments to mandatorily place all
citizen-facing rules on their website. Officials will not be able to impose any
rule not mentioned beforehand.
§
All laws will have to be updated by the department while providing
access to history of the same webpage.
§
Once a department has shifted to the platform, it can be deemed
“TORA compliant” and citizens can be sure that the information is authentic and
updated.
Need for a law in this regard:
The ‘opaque mesh’ of
regulations prevalent in India not only make life difficult for citizens who
cannot feign ignorance of the rules as a valid defence, but also act as a
magnet for corruption and endless litigation.
Sources: pib.
Topic: Bilateral, regional and
global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s
interests.
BIMSTEC meeting
The 15th ministerial meeting of
the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic
Cooperation concluded recently in Kathmandu, endorsing the memorandum of
understanding for the establishment of BIMSTEC grid interconnection and also
agreed to expedite the negotiations for BIMSTEC Free Trade Area Agreement.
§
The meeting of the BIMSTEC also pledged to deepen cooperation for
shared prosperity in the region. The meeting decided to establish cells focused
on areas, like energy, environment and culture, among others, for effective
cooperation and to elevate BIMSTEC as a vibrant and visible regional
cooperation. The meeting also decided to form an eminent persons’ group to
prepare the future roadmap of BIMSTEC.
What you need to know about
BIMSTEC?
BIMSTEC or the Bay of Bengal
Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation is a regional
organisation which comprises of seven member states which lie near the Bay of
Bengal.
§
This sub-regional organisation was started on June 6, in the year
1997 through a Bangkok Declaration.
§
BIMSTEC consists of seven countries: 5 come from South Asia,
including India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Sri Lanka; and 2 come from
Southeast Asia, which includes Myanmar and Thailand.
§
BIMSTEC headquarters are situated in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
§
The whole region which constitutes the BIMSTEC is home to over 1.5
billion people. The population counts for around 22 percent of the total world
population. These countries have a combined GDP of $2.7 trillion.
Sources: the hindu.
Paper 3:
Topic: Indian Economy and issues
relating to planning, mobilization of resources, growth, development and
employment.
Economic survey on Social Infrastructure, Employment and Human
Development
India, is emerging as a
knowledge based economy, poised for double digit growth, and needs to
strengthen social infrastructure by investing in health and education.
Challenges:
§
The deterioration in quality learning in primary education sector
and achievement of targeted enrolment level in the middle education is a
challenge.
§
Employment in India poses a great challenge in terms of its
structure which is dominated by informal, unorganized and seasonal workers, and
is characterized by high levels of under employment, skill shortages, with the
labour markets impacted by rigid labour laws, and the emergence of contract
labour.
§
The health sector in India faces many challenges in the form of
declining role of public delivery of health services, high Out of Pocket (OoP)
expenses on health and issues of accessibility and affordability of health
services for many.
§
The Government’s Swachh Bharat Mission has had remarkable progress
since its inception. With its focus on cleanliness and Open Defecation Free
(ODF) India, there has been a significant decline in the number of people who
defecate in the open, which is estimated at less than 35 crores.
Reforms:
Education sector: The education policies need to be designed with focus on
learning outcomes and remedial education with interventions which work and
maximize the efficiency of expenditure. There is need for bio-metric attendance
of school staff, independent setting of examination papers, neutral examination
and for DBT for schools. There is need to adopt outcome measures for the
education and skilling activities to ensure improvement in delivery of schemes/
programmes.
Labour reforms: In order to make the labour market system dynamic and
efficient, the government has taken several reforms/initiatives, both
legislative as well as technological such as notification of ‘Ease of
Compliance to maintain Registers under various Laws Rules, 2017’ and
introduction of e-Biz Portal. These registers/forms can also be maintained in a
digitized form.
Health sector: There has to be concerted efforts by the Central and State
governments to reform the health sector, by addressing quality issues,
standardising rates for diagnostic tests, generating awareness about
alternative health systems and introduction of punitive measures like fines on
hospitals and private health providers for false claims through surgery,
medicines etc. For more equitable access to health services, government should
provide health benefits and risk cover to poorer sections of the society.
Social security: Addressing the social security of large number of vulnerable
workers in the informal economy should be prioritized by the Government along
with ensuring the safety and security of women to raise their participation in
economic activities.
Sources: pib.
Topic: Major crops cropping patterns
in various parts of the country, different types of irrigation and irrigation
systems storage, transport and marketing of agricultural produce and issues and
related constraints; e-technology in the aid of farmers.
Economic survey on state of Agriculture and Food Management
The progress in agriculture
needs to be evaluated in terms of outcomes such as catching up with global
yields of various crops as a means to increase incomes of farmers. Managing and
reducing the various risks in agriculture activities can make the sector
resilient, increase profitability and can ensure stable income flows to the
farmers.
Challenges:
Credit: Credit is an important mediating input for agriculture to
improve productivity. The predominance of informal sources of credit for
farmers is a concern. There is regional disparity in the distribution of
agricultural credit which also needs to be addressed.
Post- harvest losses: The key challenge that the horticulture sector faces in
India are post-harvest losses, availability of quality planting material and
lack of market access for horticultural produce of small farmers.
Reforms suggested:
§
To address the price risks in agriculture and allied
sectors, marketing infrastructure along the entire value chain needs to be
built and strengthened.
§
To address production risks, the share of irrigated area
should be expanded by increasing the coverage of water saving irrigation
systems like micro irrigation systems.
§
To increase productivity of crops, standards should be set and
enforced for better quality, pest and disease resistant seeds.
§
Trade and domestic policy changes should be announced well
before sowing and should stay till arrivals and procurement is over.
§
To enhance women’s involvement in the
dairy projects, funds should be earmarked through appropriate mechanisms.
§
Providing timely and affordable formal
and institutional credit to the small and marginal farmers is the key to inclusive
growth.
§
Regime based on timely interventions needs to be adopted.
Sources: pib.
Topic: Major crops cropping patterns
in various parts of the country, different types of irrigation and irrigation
systems storage, transport and marketing of agricultural produce and issues and
related constraints; e-technology in the aid of farmers.
Farm waivers may cut GDP by Rs 1.1L cr
The Economic Survey part 2 has
asked the states to follow UP model, if they are doling out farm
loan waivers. On this basis, an upper bound of loan waivers at the all-India
level would be between Rs 2.2 lakh crore and Rs 2.7 lakh crore.
The survey notes the following
impacts:
§
It could reduce aggregate demand in the economy by as much as
0.7%, shaving off Rs 1.1 lakh crore from GDP. This would impart a significant
deflationary shock to an economy that has yet to gather its full momentum. But
the predicted impact is the upper limit, as the estimate is based on the
assumption that states that have not announced loan waivers will do so. The
actual impact will depend on the number of states that actually decide to grant
waivers, and how they distribute them over time.
§
Farm loan waivers and declining profitability in the power and
telecom sectors would exacerbate the twin balance sheet problem — overleveraged
companies and the pile up of bad debt at banks — and weigh on the economy. A
reduction in private consumption and higher borrowings by states, among others,
could affect aggregate demand. Monetary, fiscal and agricultural policies will
be the key to counter these deflationary impulses in the year ahead.
§
The waivers will affect the aggregate demand in four ways: impact
on private consumption via increases in private sector net wealth, impact on
the public sector via changes in government expenditure or taxes, crowding out
impact via higher borrowings by state governments boand crowding in impact via
higher credit availability as bank NPAs fall.
§
Loan waiver will increase net wealth of farm households. Aggregate
increase in income will be 28%, and 7% in consumption — or Rs 55,000 crore.
§
States with fiscal room for loan waiver will add about Rs 6,350
crore to demand, while those that don’t have the space will reduce demand by
about Rs 1.9 lakh crore. This will result in higher borrowing by states with
fiscal space, which could squeeze out private funding.
§
However, bank balance sheets will improve inasmuch as
non-performing farm loans are taken off their books. So they might be able to
provide additional financial resources to the private sector, leading to
greater spending. It is estimated that these two effects would almost cancel
each other.
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