tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-194130182024-03-16T06:39:53.410+05:30Solutions to ChangeThis is the official blog page of the Centre for Public Policy Research (CPPR India), an independent public policy organization dedicated to in-depth research and scientific analysis with the objective of delivering actionable ideas that could transform society. CPPRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11961394035175144916noreply@blogger.comBlogger255125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19413018.post-32803745284490507112021-01-09T11:57:00.002+05:302021-01-21T14:58:08.411+05:30Vaccine Diplomacy: An Interplay of Global Powers<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Cj2BR5-e8uE/YAkwC5K8vaI/AAAAAAAADe4/LPmUoWJ5n6Iv7nR5ViMYzJo80Q5CNK4BwCLcBGAsYHQ/s259/download.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="194" data-original-width="259" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Cj2BR5-e8uE/YAkwC5K8vaI/AAAAAAAADe4/LPmUoWJ5n6Iv7nR5ViMYzJo80Q5CNK4BwCLcBGAsYHQ/s0/download.jpg" /></a></b></div><b><br /></b><p></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">Sam
Thomas and Gazi Hassan</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">The
year 2020 will go down in history as the year where an invisible virus brought the
world to its knees. It started off with Wuhan gaining international attention
for spreading the COVID-19 pandemic, to banning international flights,
lockdowns of cities and religious institutions and finally ending with the
visuals of the American President and President-elect being vaccinated for the
virus on live television. The discussions over the development of vaccine took
precedence in the latter half of 2020 and so did the nuanced notion of vaccine
diplomacy.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><a name="_d3vkhi2acq0v"></a><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">The conferences on Health and Sanitation were
already underway since the time Cholera and Yellow fever were first known to
mankind. The Oslo Ministerial Declaration in 2007 was the year when global
health became a part of foreign policy of various countries. Global health
diplomacy has since then been categorised as <i>core diplomacy</i>, where negotiations
between nations lead to treaties; a <i>multi-stakeholder diplomacy</i>, when
international organisations have a seat at the negotiation table among nations;
and finally, an <i>informal diplomacy</i>; bringing peer-to-peer scientific
partnerships to the forefront. Depending on the situation, vaccine diplomacy
loosely falls in all three categories.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">The
term Vaccine Diplomacy was first introduced in 2001. It is an aspect of global
health diplomacy that involves the use and/or delivery of vaccines. Vaccine diplomacy
was popularised by International organisations like WHO and UNICEF as a tool
for humanitarian intervention. Historically, vaccine diplomacy is blind to
political ideologies and is focussed on global health; the most popular example
would be when the US and the USSR joined hands in developing an oral polio
vaccine for children in the mid-1950s.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">Years
of research and multiple rounds of testing and trials go into developing a
vaccine. With the coronavirus, labs around the world have access to advanced
technology and years of pre-existing research on viruses that fall within the
same family. That being said, a new vaccine has to jump through the same hoops
as any other vaccine would need to. Vaccines are given their seal of approval
in a long and cumbersome process. There are three broad steps: 1) Laboratory
Testing with animal subjects 2) Clinical Studies with human subjects 3)
Approval and licensure.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">A
vaccine gets approvals with government oversight and standardised procedure in
regulations. Regulations will increase as the vaccine makes its way through the
process. Interestingly, the standard regulation is that a vaccine needs to show
50 per cent efficiency in human trials for any form of approval. With regards
to the coronavirus vaccine, the regulation was amended to add ‘efficiency not
below 30 per cent’ to speed things up.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">Countries
are in a race to develop a vaccine that is ready for mass distribution.
Starting off with </span><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 12pt;">China,
there are a few vaccines in Phase 3 of clinical trials: BBIBP-CorV has been
approved for limited use within China, Bahrain and the UAE and its Phase 3 trials
are underway in Peru, Morocco and the UAE; Convidecia (Ad5-nCoV) developed by
the Chinese military was approved for distribution despite its ongoing trials
in Russia, Mexico, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. The United States of America too
has a handful of vaccines in Phase 3 trials: NVX-CoV2373 of Novavax is being tested
in the UK as well as in the US, and has partnership with the Serum Institute in
India to manufacture it for distribution; mRNA-1273 from Moderna has moved
forward with the approval for mass distribution in Canada and the US. The
United Kingdom’s University of Oxford along with AstraZeneca worked on AZD1222 and
have completed their Phase 3 trials and moved forward for the UK approval with
their published results. The Russia vaccine Sputnik V is moving ahead with its
phase 3 trials, and has also been approved for limited use within Russia. The
German-American initiative by Pfizer and BioNTech has already been approved for
inoculation in many countries including the USA, Canada, the UK, Switzerland,
etc. Indian laboratory Bharat Biotech’s vaccine Covaxin is in Phase 3 of its
trials. So far Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna are the pharmaceuticals that have
got international approval for vaccine production.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">The
United Kingdom has already begun its mass rollout to inoculate millions of its citizens
within months despite the news of a new variant of the virus (70 times more
infectious and contagious) being detected in the country. The United States follows
the UK with two different vaccines ready for distribution. Other countries like
China, Russia, Germany and India are also nearing the finish line with the
logistics of vaccine distribution still a question that needs clear-cut
answers.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">Quite
a few countries have witnessed a sense of vaccine nationalism. Many of the rich
countries like the USA, Germany, the UK, Japan, etc had funded the development
of vaccines and now have pre-ordered millions of doses. This will soon create
an affordability and accessibility issue for the poorer countries of the world.
China and Russia have witnessed a state-led approach in their vaccine
development. They have now extended the olive branch of vaccine diplomacy in an
attempt to strengthen their ties and leverage a better global position.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">China
was the recipient of allegations that went along the lines that the virus was
synthetically created in a lab at Wuhan. In the meantime, China is looking to
restore its ‘image’ and even increase its global influence. A good number of
different vaccines are being developed in China and their trail runs are
happening outside its borders in Pakistan, Indonesia, the UAE, etc. China is
seen to be expanding its geostrategic and economic interests by promising
vaccines for Brazil, the Philippines and other countries in the South China Sea
as well. One thing that is certain is that the Chinese vaccine diplomacy is not
unconditional, its economic clout and coercion go hand in hand. Russia has
similar intentions; it wants the position it once had as a global power.
Venezuela and many other countries are in talks with Russia vis-a-vis the
vaccine (Sputnik V).</span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">India
has put its money on both tables. Reports suggest that India has purchased the
largest number of the COVID-19 vaccine, a whopping 1.6 billion doses. India,
unlike the other high-income countries, used its large manufacturing
infrastructure to push itself higher on the list for pre-orders. Almost 60 per
cent of the global vaccine supply comes from India, making it the world’s
dispensary. <span style="background: white; mso-highlight: white;">Earlier in
August, India too extended its hand in vaccine diplomacy, promising Bangladesh
a priority recipient country.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Promises
have been made to Nepal, Myanmar, Bhutan and Maldives as well as other SAARC
countries. India is keen on ensuring its ontological security by pursuing
‘Neighbourhood First Policy’. The New Year will actually be a testament to who
actually won the diplomatic game. One thing is </span>certain, humanity <span style="background: white; mso-highlight: white;">needs to be victorious no matter
who makes the political gain. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><b><i>Sam Thomas, Research Intern and Gazi Hassan, Senior Research Associate at CPPR. Views expressed by the authors are personal and need not reflect or represent the views of Centre for Public Policy Research.</i></b></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="background: white; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-highlight: white;"><o:p> </o:p></span><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">References</span></b><span lang="EN-GB" style="background: white; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"></p><ul><li><span lang="EN-GB" style="background: white; font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; text-indent: -18pt;">Bagchi, Indrani. 2020. “Vaccine Diplomacy: India says Bangladesh to be Priority
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World News</i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -18pt;">. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-55404087.</span></li><li><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -18pt;">Dasgupta, Debarshi. 2020. “India Initiates Covid-19 Vaccine Diplomacy.” </span><i style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -18pt;">The Straits Times</i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -18pt;">, August 28, 2020.
https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/south-asia/india-initiates-covid-19-vaccine-diplomacy.</span></li><li><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -18pt;">Hotez, Peter J. 2014. ““Vaccine Diplomacy”: Historical Perspectives and
Future Directions.” </span><i style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -18pt;">PLoS Neglected
Tropical Diseases</i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -18pt;"> 8, no. 6 (June). 10.1371/journal.pntd.0002808.</span></li><li><span lang="EN-GB" style="background: white; font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; text-indent: -18pt;">Mohan, Geeta. </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; text-indent: -18pt;">“<span style="color: #111111; letter-spacing: -0.75pt;">India's Vaccine Diplomacy: 64 Foreign Envoys Visit Covid-19
Vaccine Facilities in Hyderabad</span>.” <span style="background: white; mso-highlight: white;">2020. <i>India Today</i>,
December 9, 2020.
https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/the-visit-of-64-foreign-envoys-to-hyderabad-displays-india-s-covid-19-vaccine-diplomacy-1748107-2020-12-09.</span></span></li><li><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -18pt;">Mohan, Rohini. 2020. “India Buys the Largest Number of Covid-19 Vaccine
Doses in the World.” </span><i style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -18pt;">The Straits Times</i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -18pt;">,
December 8, 2020.
https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/south-asia/india-buys-the-largest-number-of-covid-19-vaccine-doses-in-the-world#:~:text=BANGALORE%20%2D%20India%20has%20bought%201.6,according%20to%20a%20global%20analysis.</span></li><li><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -18pt;">Rodgers, Lucy, and Dominic Bailey. 2020. “Covid Vaccine: How will the UK
Jab Millions of People?” </span><i style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -18pt;">BBC News</i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -18pt;">.
https://www.bbc.com/news/health-55274833.</span></li><li><span lang="EN-GB" style="background: white; font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; text-indent: -18pt;">“The Science behind Vaccine Research and Testing.” 2014. New York State
Department of Health. https://www.health.ny.gov/prevention/immunization/vaccine_safety/science.htm.</span></li><li><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -18pt;">Siow, Maria. 2020. “Why China’s Vaccine Diplomacy shouldn’t be A
High-Profile Charm Offensive.” </span><i style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -18pt;">South China
Morning Post</i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -18pt;">, December 14, 2020.
https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3113658/why-chinas-vaccine-diplomacy-shouldnt-be-high-profile-charm.</span></li><li><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -18pt;">Zimmer, Carl, Johnathan Corum, and Sui-Lee Wee. 2020. “Coronavirus
Vaccine Tracker.” </span><i style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -18pt;">The New York Times</i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -18pt;">.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/science/coronavirus-vaccine-tracker.html.</span></li></ul><p></p>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19413018.post-2859312613198699592021-01-08T13:14:00.002+05:302021-01-08T13:16:19.006+05:30What is behind the Recurring Onion Price Spikes?<p><b style="text-align: justify;"></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EVJa_wj-g-M/X_gMwJ0FU3I/AAAAAAAADeM/qGgi1DIjQhMdemmdoqVuKj94Ki77IVcHACLcBGAsYHQ/s1200/onion%2Bprice%2Bhike88.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="675" data-original-width="1200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EVJa_wj-g-M/X_gMwJ0FU3I/AAAAAAAADeM/qGgi1DIjQhMdemmdoqVuKj94Ki77IVcHACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/onion%2Bprice%2Bhike88.jpg" width="320" /></a></b></div><b style="text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></b><p></p><p><b style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Varshini Sridhar</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">To Indians, nothing can bring more tears to the eyes than an onion
price hike. After all, it has led to the fall of governments and inflicted
debilitating losses on farmers in the last few years. But what really baffles
policy analysts is its recurring nature and most importantly, consumer
sensitivity to its price hikes.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><a name="_heading=h.xeed81e3g249"></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Onion, like any other
item, derives </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">its<span> price through market forces</span>. Typically in the event
of a shortage, the increase in demand would be fixed by a rise in price and a
change in consumption patterns. However, in the Indian case, that is not
allowed to happen. Every time when there is a price increase, the government
steps in to distort the market price by imposing stock limits and export bans, <span>thereby preventing t</span>he market from functioning as it
is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The
government’s excessive market intervention creates two types of distortions,
one on the demand side and the other on the supply side. At the demand level,
consumption choices are distorted as the government keeps the price at an
artificially low level as opposed to the demand-supply-driven price. That means
every time when there is a <span>drastic reduction in
supply, </span>consumers never face the actual price. Over time, consumers
become habituated to the artificial price introduced by the government and
react sensitively in the face of a price increase.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In
the long run, supply decisions driven by market price can also be altered as
the government-distorted price discourage<span>s</span>
farmers from producing more. This further<span> makes</span>
agriculture seem less remunerative and unsuitable for investment. So, what
leads the government to consistently pursue such a knee-jerk response? It is
consumer resentment. Politically, controlling food inflation has direct effects
on votes. According to the <span>International Food Policy
Research Institute</span>’s study<span>,</span> <span>while onions’ share in the overall inflation basket and
vegetable basket </span>is<span> 0.6 per cent and 10 per cent
respectively, its contribution to food inflation is around 2 per cent. The </span>government
cannot risk waiting until inflationary pressures hit the average consumer.<span> </span>Keeping the middle-class consumers in mind, it
typically focuses on stabilising consumer prices temporarily and tries to
appease farmers through <span>i</span>ncentives and
subsidies during budget presentations.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But
the onion price paradox<span> is </span>not<span> a simple problem of demand and supply. </span>Behind this,
is a web of interrelated issues, the critical one being storage. Until now, the
Essential Commodities Act (ECA) hampered private investment in cold storage
facilities and warehouses. <span>But what makes storage so
important?</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Onions
are <span>harvested</span> in three seasons, that is, <span>Kharif (October-December), late-Kharif (January-March) and
Rabi (March-May). Seventy per cent of the onion production is contributed by
Rabi season, and making onion available in the market between March and May and
further until October in the form of stored onions. That means any disruptions
in its supply or the lack of adequate storage infrastructure will lead to
shortages and price rise in the critical period between August and October and
well until the next harvest.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Because of onions’ </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">sowing and harvesting seasons<span>,</span>
nearly 30-40 <span>per cent</span> of wastage<span> happens </span>in the absence of post-harvest storage
facilities. Last year, while the government imported 1 lakh metric tonnes of
onions, NAFED wasted more than 30,000 metric tonnes<span>
due to the lack of cold storage. That</span> is equivalent to 50 <span>per cent </span>of its buffer stock<span>.</span>
<span>Moreov</span>e<span>r,</span> 75 <span>per cent</span> of the onion production <span>in India </span>is accounted for by just five states. This
introduces additional challenges in storing, distributing and supplying onions
throughout the country.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Recently,
onion was removed from the purview of the Essential Commodities Act. However,
amendments to the farm bills will not resolve issues like storage until the
government plans for the problems that may arise from the new arrangements. For
instance, Bihar repealed the APMC Act in 2006. But 14 years later, neither has
the storage infrastructure improved nor have farmers been able to realise
better prices. According to NCAER’s study, Bihar’s private warehouses, where
most farmers store their onion and potato produce, burden farmers with higher
rental charges, a consequence of demand and supply mismatch. High operating
costs induced by inadequate infrastructure, outdated technology and inconsistent
power supply are major roadblocks to improving storage facilities. Right
institutional mechanisms ranging from improved infrastructure and favourable
land policy are necessary to create more productive agriculture.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Not
to forget, India is the second largest onion producer in the world, right after
China. Out of the 22.43 million metric tonnes produced annually, only 15.5
million metric tonnes is consumed. That is tantamount to 70 <span>per cent </span>of the total production. The timing of the
late Kharif harvest is advantageous for exports as many countries abroad face a
shortage during this time. But the government’s frequent export bans makes it
hard for farmers to leverage India’s position as an onion producer globally.
Despite the amendment to ECA, the government imposed an export ban in
September.<span> But </span>onion price continued to rise
from Rs 30 per kg to Rs 51 per kg. Ultimately, the government’s short-term
export-import policies for onions benefit neither the consumer nor the farmer.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In
August, while consumers paid more than Rs 20 per kg, onion growers received
merely Rs 6-7 per kg after incurring a cost of Rs 12-13 per kg. To resolve this
paradox of onion price hikes, the government needs to adopt a more long-term
and integrated approach that at no point puts farmers on a lower priority. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><i><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.4px;">Varshini Sridhar is Project Assistant at </span></b><b><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN" style="background: white; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.4px;">CPPR. </span></span><span style="text-align: left;">Views expressed by the author are personal and need not reflect or represent the views of Centre for Public Policy Research.</span></b></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="text-align: left;"><i>Featured Image Source: newsclick.in</i></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19413018.post-53768106920354834242021-01-08T12:50:00.000+05:302021-01-08T12:50:23.276+05:30Erdogan and Turkey’s Quest for Neo-Ottoman Empire<p><b style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OLa0ki2Wb5c/X_gG3PAg1nI/AAAAAAAADd4/tyxKdNQLV8AT10hS5D6AG1E0hrBaUcUywCLcBGAsYHQ/s700/karaveli-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="339" data-original-width="700" height="164" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OLa0ki2Wb5c/X_gG3PAg1nI/AAAAAAAADd4/tyxKdNQLV8AT10hS5D6AG1E0hrBaUcUywCLcBGAsYHQ/w339-h164/karaveli-1.jpg" width="339" /></a></b></div><b style="text-align: justify;"><br /></b><p></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;"><b><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Sakshi
Gemini and Gazi Hassan</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“We
will never bow to banditry on our continental shelf, nor will we pull back in
the face of sanctions and threats,” said Recep Tayyip Erdogan once while
talking about his country. Erdogan, a Turkish politician serving as the current
President of Turkey, has also served as Prime Minister of Turkey from 2003 to
2014 and Mayor of Istanbul from 1994 to 1998. In 1998, he was sentenced to 10
months in prison for instigating hatred and bigotry, after reading out verses
of Ottoman Islamist Poet at a public event. After this event, the
constitutional court of the country suspended his Welfare Party on the grounds
that it was “threatening Turkey’s Kemalist existence”, especially targeting its
secularity. The Kemalist nature of Turkey includes forming a new state with
relatively stable foundations, being perpetually cautious against enemies
inside and outside. Mustafa Kemal Ataturk (the founding father of the Republic
of Turkey) with his party support — aiming for an ideal nation — used to
“other” the Ottomans to construct a new state and nation; but what is happening
now is quite the contrary.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">When
Erdogan came out of jail, he formed the Justice and Development Party (AKP) by mobilising
Islamic conservative supporters. Now, he is in a seat to dismantle the same Kemalist
structure which, less than two decades ago, coerced him to resign as Mayor of Istanbul.
It all started in Ankara where Erdogan rose to power and the local success was gradually
converted into national political success, which can be seen as AKP being in a
dominant role for years.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Erdogan’s
rise can also be assessed with a new referendum that changed some of the
important events in modern Turkey’s history. This included change of the
existing parliamentary system to an executive presidency. Some other milestones
achieved after the passage of this referendum include abolishment of the post
of Prime Minister. The new President would now have the right to elect more
than half of the representatives of the highest judicial body of the country,
to dissolve the national assembly, to enforce a state of emergency and rule
through mandate. The reforms would also guarantee two five-year terms for the President.
The referendum gives immense power to the presidential candidate which could
see Erdogan rule Turkey till 2029 with expansive powers enjoyed once by Mustafa
Kemal Ataturk. All these changes in the Constitution raise the question of whether
Turkish President Erdogan is assuming the role of dictator.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Supporters
of the President believe these changes were necessary for a more united Turkey
and stable government. The referendum was put forward during a time when Turkey
was facing security challenges, multiple terror attacks were being reported,
strained relationships and constant fighting with Kurds. Turkish army waged a
brutal war against the Kurdistan Workers Party in the southeast part of the
nation; this explains why Turkey fought with Kurds in Syria who were fighting
against ISIS. Erdogan believed that a strong leadership can only deal with challenges
and the insecurity rising among the Turks. The decision to implement new
constitutional laws also engages Opposition claiming it as a step towards
dictatorship. With the passage of the referendum, Erdogan can now change the
trajectory of Turkish politics. But there also exists an identity of “Turks”
within the society who sought themselves as liberal and modern. Hence, infusing
the concept of Islamic ideologies into every citizen will be difficult even if
he implements it with the enormous power provided to him.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Erdogan
is considered to be an important global figure. He not only wants to exert his
prominence within Turkey but also the outside world. Turkey’s image, many argue,
is shaped as a protector of the oppressed people. Erdogan has been vocal about
injustice done by the Hindutva forces on Muslims in India, of Kurds in Syria, Palestinian
people and Yemini children. All these issues raised by Erdogan show that Turkey
is an international player and determined in conducting comprehensive
operations against terrorist organisations. Turkey now manufactures military
equipment like tanks, artillery, vessels, aerial vehicles and also exports these
to friendly countries to assist them in fighting terrorist organisations.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Tukey
witnessed strained relations with the EU because of Erdogan’s silencing
dissent, which explains their frosty relations. Erdogan in his public speeches
supported secularism and refuted his image of imposing Muslim values, but the introduction
of “alcohol-free zones” in parts of the country shows his intention of gradually
implementing Islamic values.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">On
the economy front, under Erdogan, Turkey is doing relatively better with an
annual growth rate of 4.5 per cent; it is becoming a manufacturing and export
powerhouse. To improve relations with the EU, the party worked cohesively and
passed reforms to harmonise the justice system and human rights aligning with European
requirements. The country has launched infrastructure movements across the
nation to attract investment. On papers, Turkey sought to address the issues
faced by Kurds and non-Muslims. While one can see Erdogan’s role as a dictator,
his strong personality and ability to implement reforms and to have friendly
relations with neighbours present a much stronger image of Turkey to the
outside world and has garnered him a huge following base. His ideology takes
turns with every challenge that he confronts with. For Turkey to stand strong
in front of the world and to make allies, it has to reform its policies. All these
factors make Erdogan a baffling politician Turkey has ever seen.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">On
the foreign policy front, Turkey’s relations with India are strained after its
support to Pakistan and raising concerns of the people of Kashmir. Erdogan backs
Syrian opposition groups fighting against the Bashar al-Assad government. Turkey
has also strained its relations with the US when it attacked Kurds whom the US
is supporting as they are the forerunners in the fight against ISIS. Turkey
openly supports Azerbaijan as opposed to Armenia, and rising tensions in the Mediterranean
over oil and sea have brought Turkey on brink of the war with Greece.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
various developments happening in Turkey point to the fact that an ambitious
Erdogan is trying to review the lost glory of the Ottoman Empire. The manner in
which it is done clearly corresponds to the fact that a new Muslim power block
is in making which will replace the Saudi dominated Muslim world. The change in
the power equations, alliances and involvement in the major conflicts in the Middle
East are the defining features of Erdogan-led Turkey. Thus, an already existing
power struggle between Iran and Saudi in the Middle East is witnessing the rise
of a new power on its horizon. Turkey along with countries such as Iran,
Pakistan, Malaysia and Indonesia is also building a coalition, a power block,
aimed at countering Islamophobia around the world. Erdogan is gaining more and
more acceptance across the Muslim world. All these along with the voices of
concerns for Muslims in distress across the globe will have a profound impact
on the way Turkey is being looked at in the Muslim world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN" style="line-height: 115%;"><b><i><span lang="EN" style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.4px;">Sakshi Gemini, Research Intern and Gazi Hassan, Senior Research Associate at CPPR</span><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;">. Views expressed by the author are personal and need not reflect or represent the views of Centre for Public Policy Research.</span></i></b></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;"><i><b><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">Featured Image Source: T</span></span><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;">he Cairo Review</span></span></b></i></p>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19413018.post-51023774673958833772021-01-05T17:54:00.000+05:302021-01-05T17:54:23.852+05:30Will the Left Government Create History in Kerala?<p><b></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8nnQD0x8_Mw/X_RVrEW9GdI/AAAAAAAADdg/CbfVvtpBS1Y7gUjrsC06vXI09vJjaEMgACLcBGAsYHQ/s1200/34323-26223705756_b79b01f93e_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="630" data-original-width="1200" height="224" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8nnQD0x8_Mw/X_RVrEW9GdI/AAAAAAAADdg/CbfVvtpBS1Y7gUjrsC06vXI09vJjaEMgACLcBGAsYHQ/w427-h224/34323-26223705756_b79b01f93e_o.jpg" width="427" /></a></b></div><b><br /><span lang="EN" style="background: white; color: #202122; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-highlight: white;"><br /></span></b><p></p><p><b><span lang="EN" style="background: white; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Rebecca
Rose Varghese</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The Communist Party of India-Marxist [CPI(M)]-led Left
Democratic Front’s (LDF) sweeping win in the local body elections this year was
a morale booster for the ruling government, and foretells a clear edge for the
incumbent in the upcoming Assembly elections. If the front could repeat its performance
in the State Assembly elections scheduled to be held in May 2021, it will be a
rare incident in the Kerala election history of a ruling alliance retaining
power despite the conventional tendency of the Kerala voters to bring down an
incumbent government. With the results of the Local Self Government (LSG)
election now out, it is clear that the environment lacks any kind of
anti-incumbency vibes and all that the LDF has to do is to keep up the momentum
till the Assembly elections.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN" style="background: white; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">What led to victory of the Left front in the
LSG election?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN" style="background: white; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">With
an exception in the 2010 local body elections, the LDF has always had an upper
hand in local body elections, especially when it </span><span lang="EN" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">was in <span style="background: white; mso-highlight: white;">the Opposition. Even though the
government was reeling under allegations, the election results point to the
fact that the electorate has given more weightage to the performance of the
government. The relief activities during the 2018 and 2019 floods, COVID-19
containment measures which received global attention, </span>widening the scope
(3.6 million beneficiaries) of the welfare pensions and its timely disbursal
(Kerala Mission 2020<span style="background: white; mso-highlight: white;">),
shelters provided through LIFE mission, provision of free food kits, among
others might have turned the cards in favour of the Left </span>front. Furthermore<span style="background: white; mso-highlight: white;">, the strong cadre system of the
CPI(M), an efficient and strong<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>leadership and the visible </span>upper hand the party enjoys in <span style="background: white; mso-highlight: white;">various social media platforms
including Facebook and Twitter also give the front an advantage over the other
two fronts.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN" style="background: white; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Other
than the aforementioned factors, the inherent weakness of the United Democratic
Front (UDF) has also helped the Left </span><span lang="EN" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">front in <span style="background: white; mso-highlight: white;">its electoral gains. Conflicts and lack of unity within
the UDF, lack of a charismatic leader who could challenge someone like Pinarayi
Vijayan and difference of opinion within the ranks of the Congress party and
its leadership — which was very much visible during the months before the
elections — also helped the LDF register a comfortable victory. Together with
that, the shifting of minority votes, especially Muslim votes to the LDF and
the exit of Kerala Congress (M) (KC(M)) from the UDF have also impacted the
fortunes of the UDF. The move to build an alliance with radical organisations
like the Welfare Party, and the over dependence on the Indian Union Muslim
League (IUML) might have alienated the Christian minority, which is visible
from the inroads the LDF had made in the districts of Kottayam and Ernakulam.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN" style="background: white; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Before
an analysis on the chances of the Left Government winning another term, it is
important to look at few of the similarities the present Left Government and
the 1991 Nayanar Government had, the latter being one of the few Left
governments which was expected to win two consecutive Assembly elections
despite the anti-incumbency factor (Isaac 1991).</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN" style="background: white; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">There
is, at present, an increase in communal politics with the emergence of the
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led NDA, a situation similar to the one that was
present after the BJP-Hindu Munnani had gained prominence during the late
1980s, which led </span><span lang="EN" style="background: white; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-highlight: white;">to the victory of the LDF (Isaac </span><span lang="EN" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">1991, 2691). The <span style="background: white; mso-highlight: white;">conflict of the minority parties
with the Congress-led UDF, due to its ineffective stance on national political
issues like the implementation of the Citizen Amendment Act (CAA), has
similarity with the Ayodhya controversy of the 1980s, when the Congress failed
to take a stand in favour of the minority groups. Many pro-common man policies
and acts like the Kerala Coir workers Welfare Fund Act (1987), the Kerala Khadi
Workers' Welfare Fund Act (1989), The Kerala Abkari Workers Welfare Fund Act
(1989), the Kerala Construction Workers' Welfare Fund Act (1989), etc were
implemented by the government then, similar to the pension schemes and the
welfare schemes implemented by the present LDF Government. And finally, one
could say that despite the plethora of allegations, the present Chief Minister
has managed to gain acceptance among the general public similar to the immense
popularity Nayanar had among the people. Thus, there are quite a few</span>
similarities between<span style="background: white; mso-highlight: white;"> the two
governments, pointing to a favourable atmosphere
for the Left Front in the next Assembly elections.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">What
are the chances <span style="background: white; mso-highlight: white;">of the LDF
winning the 2021 Assembly elections?</span></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN" style="background: white; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Worldwide,
a transition towards a Presidential mode of election is being witnessed where
the electoral process revolves around a strong leader. Thus, without a strong
leader to project as the Chief Ministerial candidate, the contest seems to be
between Pinarayi Vijayan and the rest. With an overwhelming support for his
stern leadership, despite the attack and allegations poured in by the media,
the Opposition and also the Centre led by the BJP government, the chances of
people supporting the Chief Minister seems to be high. And, the possibility of
the voters looking beyond the anti-incumbency factor and supporting a
government that works mainly on welfare schemes is visible from the local
election results.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN" style="background: white; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">From
the prevailing political environment, it is evident that the ruling front has
an edge over the others and could be the first LDF government to retain power,
but one must be cautious before making a conclusion, as there are many other
factors that could impact the course of the State Assembly elections.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN" style="background: white; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">With
the support of over 37 per cent of the total votes polled, the UDF still has a
strong base in the State and if it manages a truce among the alliance partners
and addresses the leadership crisis, it will be in a position to give a tough
competition to the LDF in the coming elections.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN" style="background: white; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Further,
research suggests that the timing of campaigning, propagating one’s agendas and
the issues that take place a few months before the elections have a large
impact in deciding the political behaviour of voters (Panagopoulos 2011). One
of the most important examples for this is the failure of the LDF to win the
1991 Assembly elections despite the overwhelming support it had received in the
district polls only five months before the elections. It was the death of the then
Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and the strategic move by the UDF to use sympathy
over this unfortunate tragedy and the postponement of the election to June 1991
(Isaac 1991, 2700) that played an important role in helping the UDF win the
elections. Thus, as it is difficult to predict the future of the Assembly
elections, it would be interesting to analyse whether the LDF Government would
be able to break the convention.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN" style="background: white; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Rebecca Rose Varghese, Research Intern,
Election Studies, CPPR. </span></i><span style="text-align: left;"><i>Views expressed by the author are personal and need not reflect or represent the views of Centre for Public Policy Research.</i></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="text-align: left;"><i>Featured Image Source: Scroll.in</i></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN" style="background: white;"><b>References</b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"></p><ol><li><span lang="EN" style="background: white; font-size: 11pt; text-indent: -18pt;">T.
M. Thomas Isaac, and S. Mohana Kumar. 1991. “Kerala Elections, 1991: Lessons
and Non Lessons.” <i>Economic and Political Weekly</i> 26, </span><span lang="EN" style="background-color: white; font-size: 11pt; text-indent: -18pt;">no. 47</span><span lang="EN" style="background-color: white; text-indent: -18pt;">: </span><span lang="EN" style="background-color: white; font-size: 11pt; text-indent: -18pt;">2691–2704. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/4398338. Accessed December 22, 2020.</span><span lang="EN" style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-size: 11pt; text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><span lang="EN" style="background-color: white; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-size: 11.0pt;"><a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/4398338">https://www.jstor.org/stable/4398338</a></span></span></li><li><span style="background-color: white; text-indent: -18pt;">Panagopoulos, Costas. 2011.
“Timing Is Everything? Primacy and Recency Effects in Voter Mobilization
Campaigns.” </span><i style="background-color: white; text-indent: -18pt;">Political Behavior</i><span style="background-color: white; text-indent: -18pt;"> 33,
no. 1: 79–93. </span><span style="background-color: white; text-indent: -18pt;">JSTOR,</span><span style="background-color: white; text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/41488275" style="background-color: white; text-indent: -18pt;">www.jstor.org/stable/41488275</a><span style="background-color: white; text-indent: -18pt;">. Accessed
</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; text-indent: -18pt;">December 22, </span><span style="background: white; text-indent: -18pt;">2020. </span><span style="background: white; color: #1155cc; text-indent: -18pt;"><a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/41488275" style="background-color: white; text-indent: -18pt;">https://www.jstor.org/stable/41488275</a></span></li><li><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; text-indent: -18pt;"><a href="https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/cover-story/story/19870415-red-letter-day-in-kerala-congressi-out-of-power-left-democratic-front-forms-govt-799835-1987-04-15" style="background-color: white; text-indent: -18pt;">https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/cover-story/story/19870415-red-letter-day-in-kerala-congressi-out-of-power-left-democratic-front-forms-govt-799835-1987-04-15</a></span></li><li><a href="https://ikm.gov.in/index.php/en/sevana-pension/215#:~:text=Kerala%20has%20the%20most%20comprehensive,benefited%20through%20different%20pension%20schemes" style="background-color: white; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-size: 12.0pt;">https://ikm.gov.in/index.php/en/sevana-pension/215#:~:text=Kerala%20has%20the%20most%20comprehensive,benefited%20through%20different%20pension%20schemes</span></a></li></ol><p></p><h1 style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; page-break-after: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><a name="_wx6beek86l1t"></a></h1>
Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19413018.post-24303557462754725342020-05-28T19:04:00.005+05:302020-12-16T19:02:30.409+05:30Some COVID Thoughts<h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><h2 style="text-align: left;"><b style="font-weight: bold; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8fU5XqQeRJ4/X9oLXBahqrI/AAAAAAAABlU/EJ45wwLSxYo3IdkbWWTfTGjKMDJNN3gfACLcBGAsYHQ/s759/coronavirus-kerala.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="422" data-original-width="759" height="231" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8fU5XqQeRJ4/X9oLXBahqrI/AAAAAAAABlU/EJ45wwLSxYo3IdkbWWTfTGjKMDJNN3gfACLcBGAsYHQ/w416-h231/coronavirus-kerala.jpg" width="416" /></a></div><br /></span></b><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-weight: normal; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="color: #073763; font-size: small;">By D Dhanuraj</span></span></span></div></h2><h2 style="font-weight: bold; text-align: left;"><b style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="color: #073763; font-size: large;">A PDS Discussion (May 23)</span></span></b></h2></span></h2><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="font-family: arial;">One could see long queues these days not only in front of the BEVCO outlets but also in front of the Ration Shops (PDS). As a public policy researcher, I was curious to understand the reasons for such a long tail in front of these shops. I could see people come by car (even in premium cars) and two- wheelers and stand in the line holding an umbrella (it was drizzling at that time). I talked to a few and got a mixed response. Some of them believe that it is their right to buy ration when the provisions are given free by the government; some are not sure about their income in the coming months, hence, storing it in case of adverse situations; some people want to buy these provisions to acknowledge and thank Chief Minister and the Kerala Government for their excellent work; some think it is a superb work of the Prime Minister and the Union Government and so particular not to give room for the State machinery to sell them in the black market later; some others believe that nothing should be wasted when it is offered free. It was not a properly conducted survey but was based on spontaneous conversations. At the outset, these pictures give me some serious questions to ponder over in the next research. Are we stuck in a Paternal State syndrome in Kerala or is the so-called Kerala model a chimera? Is the economy bound to collapse with the growing State dependence?</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><h2 style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="color: #073763; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Public Transport vs Private Vehicles Debate in Kerala (May 22)</span></b></h2><span style="font-family: arial;">
We don't have any data to vet any of these.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><ol style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: arial;">Though we have completed two months of lockdown, there is no study in India/Kerala to understand how the virus transmits through the public transport (PT). At least in the beginning, some cases were reported when the PT was available.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial;">Older adults can be quarantined if we think they would be vulnerable. Even in that case, we should also think about the elderly who depend on a daily wage.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial;">By saying private is the choice over the public, the middle class is trying to secure themselves without realising that the poor and underprivileged are suffering a lot from such discrimination.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial;">In the next few weeks, we can also assess how the virus is spread among the passengers who used trains or flights. There are many incidents of infections among those who arrived in Kerala in the last few days. We need to see what is the rate of infection (R0) in them and how many were infected because they were on board together at least for a few hours. Same could be the case with those who came by ship.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial;">The science behind lockdowns and social distancing (I would rather call it physical distancing) globally. I believe a lot more research needs to be conducted to understand the way the virus spreads.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial;">We follow what the West is trying to do. Unfortunately, they failed miserably, and I don't understand how it could be taken as a model here unless we conduct an in-depth study locally.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial;">The incentive is not something imposed, rather based on the better and efficient utilisation of the resources by the users and producers. Here, I am not sure how much the State can decide and impose it while the cost and price discovery parts are not based on open and transparent information.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial;">Total mortality in Kerala is 4/5 in three months. This shows there are some factors still not understood by us. Empirical evidence is also crucial as epidemiological pieces of evidence.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial;">One of the reasons Kerala is safer so far is that we don&#39;t have cities like Mumbai or Ahmedabad. So naturally, the travel pattern is different here. The urban continuum of Kerala helps a lot in saving travel. So far, the studies were more about Private vs Public. But, the urban continuum has also resulted in less number of people travelling in public transport along with the tech-savvy Internet population and market-friendly service sector-oriented community.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial;">We should trade-off the benefits and merits of the PT with the eco damages by private vehicles. I am sure more than four people are dying in Kerala every month because of respiratory illness.</span></li></ol></div><h2 style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="color: #073763; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Thoughts during Lockdown 4.0 (May 19)</span></b></h2><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="font-family: arial;">When the lockdown (they say there is a considerable relaxation) enters into the 4th stage, these are </span><span style="font-family: arial;">some of my thoughts.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><ol style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: arial;">Many had protested and opposed Aadhaar for its privacy issues. Today, they are asking the government to transfer money to the poor using JAM. They are even fine with the privacy encroachment whether it is geo-tagging or geofencing.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial;">Many had opposed e-commerce and online activities saying that it would kill the Kirana shops and small merchants. Today, they want online to be active, and the government is urging everyone to leverage online platforms.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial;">Many were promoting the use of digital transactions post demonetisation. Many people at that time said that it is a corporate agenda. Today, the same people are asking us to use digital platforms to transact money. I believe those who oppose market innovations become their champions eventually. Of course, it could be a middle-class double standard often seen in the political economy.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial;">How many have been denied access to health care because of coronavirus? How many would have died because of not getting treatment in time or how many patients would have self-administered medicines due to the fear of coronavirus?</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial;">What is the mental distress of the old and young due to the lockdown in India? What are the short- and long-term implications of this mental fatigue on their health? It varies from the upper-middle class to the poorest (remember pictures of the labourers walking to their homes).</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial;">Are we discussing and keeping a vigil on the coronavirus because of the high number of infections among the middle class and upper class in the western world? And, is it because we fear one of us (from the middle class and upper class) will be affected, comparing how other diseases have affected and killed the poor in the past?</span></li></ol>
<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><b><span style="font-family: arial;">Dr D Dhanuraj </span></b><b style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial;"><i>is Chairman, CPPR. Views expressed by the author are personal and need not reflect or represent the views of Centre for Public Policy Research.</i></b></div>
Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19413018.post-41504974274856548572020-04-03T16:01:00.004+05:302020-04-03T16:01:49.047+05:30India’s Lockdown: Partial Success is Total Failure<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i>Image source: </i>vox</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB">Rakesh
Neelakandan<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">Democracy is government by discussion. The India
Government, in announcing the nationwide lockdown in response to the global
coronavirus blitzkrieg, appeared to have rewritten this definition. It now
reads: democracy is government by action. This invariably leads to two
questions: Action as to what end? and Action as to how?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">On March 19, the Prime Minister requested
citizens to observe a day-long nationwide <span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janata_Curfew">janata curfew</a></span> on
March 22</span>, a precursor to the lockdown. He exhorted the citizens to voluntarily
remain indoors for a duration of 14 hours to arrest the spread of the virus.
Evidently, this measure was planned ahead of the curve and it did not jolt the
common man and provided him with time to prepare for a holiday. But it was a
miniature construct of what was to expect and what was to come. On the day of
the curfew, people, especially it being Sunday, adhered to the curfew and made
it a grand success. Meanwhile, on March 19, a total of <a href="https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/situation-reports/20200319-sitrep-59-covid-19.pdf?sfvrsn=c3dcdef9_2"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">151 cases were
reported in India</span></a> with three fatalities. That was in a nation of 1.4
billion people. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">While people stayed indoors obediently,
towards the end of the day they got out of their homes in droves and clanked
utensils together and clapped aloud in a show of tribute and solidarity to the
doctors, nurses and paramedics who are on the frontline of the fight against
the coronavirus pandemic. The Prime Minister himself had asked the citizens to
pay tributes from their balconies and had never asked them to take out
processions. This denoted a fundamental issue with the whole exercise. The key
message was lost in transit and the race was lost in the last lap of the
one-day marathon. The occasion, in typical Indian style, became a cause for
celebration.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">But why did this happen? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB">The
Modi Cult<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a political
celebrity in India. And what do the fans of Modi, unlike followers, do, but
celebrate? The lid was kept like a pressure valve on a pressure cooker for the
whole day, only to be vented towards the end of the curfew. And it spilled over
to the streets accompanied with whistles, clanks and cries. Think of the
worldwide release of superstar Rajnikant’s movie: fans would wait for the
entire eve of the premier of the movie to get into the cinema premises and
celebrate. The same theory applies to Modi’s case. Unfortunately, the Prime
Minister cannot get to script the movie and control its outcome as his silver-screen
is the fabric of the nation itself—the seventh largest in the world in terms of
area and the second biggest in terms of population. The political brand
building forged in stardom will take expectations sky-high for the citizens and
in the event of them not being met can make a flop of his career. But that is
hardly the topic here.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">If the core purpose of the janata curfew
was to prepare the populace for a lockdown, and to instil in them the reason as
to why it should be done, the exercise failed miserably. People should have
confined themselves to balconies and courtyards, but it was automatically
sabotaged.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">With the preparatory lesson botched up, the
real lockdown was announced at short notice. The fact that it came at short
notice, just four hours before the lockdown was to take effect, is indicative
of the hurried nature of decision making.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB">Objective
of the Lockdown and its Implementation<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">In his <a href="https://www.narendramodi.in/text-of-prime-minister-narendra-modi-s-address-to-the-nation-on-vital-aspects-relating-to-the-menace-of-covid-19-548941"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">speech</span></a>
to the nation announcing the countrywide lockdown, Modi stated his objective of
the lockdown thus: “in order to protect the country, and each of its citizens…”.
This being simple, ambitious and noble an objective, it should be welcomed with
open arms. But the question lingers as to how this decision came about. What
was the model being followed? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">Obviously, this was an act from the <a href="https://qz.com/india/1828915/indias-coronavirus-lockdown-harsher-than-china-italy-pakistan/"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">lockdown
playbook of </span></a>the People’s Republic of China. But there is a big
difference. China’s lockdown aimed at confining 760 million people or half of
its population, whereas India’s aim is to fence out the entire population. That
day, did India stand still, and also for the following days? If the rumblings
and long marches of migrant labourers from the biggest cities of India are any
indication, that hardly was/is the case. With 14 days to go before the lockdown
is hopefully lifted, and <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/cabinet-secretary-rajiv-gauba-says-no-plans-to-extend-lockdown-period/articleshow/74882572.cms"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">not extended
as has been said</span></a>, it may be summarised that it could only be a
partial success. And in the times of corona pandemic, partial success is
complete failure. It is like a total, all-out war. Win or lose, there is no
halfway house. Because, even a single carrier of the virus can wreak <span class="MsoHyperlink"><a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-52061915">havoc</a></span>.
Fresh cases are being reported daily. Migrants, poor and famished, in exodus on
foot are also <a href="https://scroll.in/latest/957570/covid-19-lockdown-man-collapses-dies-halfway-while-walking-home-300-km-away-from-delhi"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">dying</span></a>
in one of the hottest seasons in the subcontinent. People still gather around
defying lockdown and curfews. The states are <a href="https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/lathis-time-lockdown-police-excess-rears-its-head-across-south-india-121362"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">deploying
police forces aggressively</span></a> sometimes to detrimental effects. <a href="https://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/covid-19-we-must-think-about-this-unnecessary-lockdown-says-rajiv-bajaj-120033001768_1.html"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Industrialists
are questioning</span></a> the mode of implementation of the lockdown.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">At best, the lockdown has enabled the
government to <a href="https://www.livemint.com/news/india/see-pics-indian-railways-coaches-converted-to-isolation-wards-for-coronavirus-patients-11585573012954.html"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">borrow some
time</span></a> to prepare for a major fallout which is in the offing. It
appears that things may get worse before they can get any better. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">Ultimately, the decision to implement the lockdown
must be appreciated because it indicates that the political leadership is well
aware of <span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/world-news/donald-trump-wont-lock-down-new-york-us-death-toll-crosses-2000/articleshow/74878491.cms">the
cost of not going in for a lockdown</a></span></span>. This trade-off is also a
huge political gamble which the Prime Minister is known to not shy away from.
Even as he <span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><a href="https://theprint.in/india/governance/modi-apologises-for-harsh-steps-to-check-covid-19-with-a-veiled-rebuke-for-violators/390659/">apologised</a></span></span>
for the hardships caused by the lockdown, it must not be forgotten that had a robust
contingency plan been in place for which the PM had got no less than 48 hours, the
odds could have been in his favour by a better degree. Uncertain times obviously
need actions of certainty and thorough planning to pave the path to success.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><b><i>The author was a former Research Intern with CPPR. Views expressed by the author are personal and need not reflect or represent the views of Centre for Public Policy Research.<o:p></o:p></i></b></span></div>
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Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19413018.post-68033184680197320072020-03-23T15:20:00.000+05:302020-03-23T15:20:27.108+05:30Water Conservation and Agricultural Policies<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i>Image source:</i> Forbes India</div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Anandhakrishnan S<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">The
agriculture sector in our nation has always enjoyed the privilege of being a
vital part of our economic structure and with almost 160 million hectare of
land under cultivation, the sector employs the majority of our population.
Though the GDP contribution of agriculture is only 14 per cent, with the sheer
number of people it employs and its importance in maintaining food security and
controlling inflation rate, the sector holds a significant position while
formulating the policies concerning our nation. While talking about the
different elements which control the sector, the availability of water holds
primary position in influencing the outcome and impact concerning agriculture.
It has been estimated that, of the total water used in our nation, more than 80
per cent goes into agricultural activities. Almost 65 per cent of the total
water is drawn from the ground and we are dependent on rainfall and other
sources such as rivers for the rest. The Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) estimates
that almost 1071 blocks in our nation are experiencing a critical decline in
groundwater level. Erratic climate conditions along with deficient rainfall are
setting the path for water shortage in the near future, thus raising a red flag
against our agricultural productivity requirements. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Rice,
wheat, cotton, sugarcane and dairy products are the major agricultural produce
of our country. All of the mentioned crops are water-intensive crops and cover
a huge portion of the total land under cultivation. So, even a slight change in
the availability of water will affect the production of these crops. Replacing
such crops with less water-intensive and more nutrient-rich varieties such as
millet was one of the main objectives when our government declared 2018 as the
year of millet. The degree of effect of that programme is yet to be seen. Also,
increasing the support for these water-intensive crops on one hand, mainly
through minimum support price and subsidy for cultivation, and expecting the
farmers to deviate from these crops on the other hand might not present a
tangible outcome. Provision of subsidised electricity and fuel for extracting
groundwater in a way keeps the farmers away from adopting efficient use of
water in agriculture fields.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">This
situation demands an intervention into the use of water in our agricultural
sector, especially irrigation. This has to be read along with the fact that the
cereal yield of our nation is 2900 kg/ha, which is considerably low compared to
international standards. Thus, it is important to have efficient irrigation
mechanisms to ensure maximum output with minimum use of water. With this aim in
mind, the government has launched many programmes such as Pradhan Mantri
Sinchayi Yojana, Participatory Irrigation Programme, Micro Irrigation Programme,
etc. Though many of these programmes offer huge subsidies for the farmers to
adopt modern micro irrigation techniques, the area coverage brought under these
schemes is significantly low. Though initiatives such as regulating the
irrigation process in an area through “Water Users Groups”—managed by farmers—had
the potential to change the scenario, the method of implementation—which relied
upon the trickle-down theory and policies directed from the top administration
to the grassroots—created many obstacles. Building consensus and designing of
programmes from the ground level should be given importance as this is one of
the effective ways to accommodate the ethnographic and demographic diversity
which shapes the impact of such programmes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">The
policies and practices in the agricultural sector should be mapped in a
systematic way rather than in isolation. Creating provision for the farmers to
extract water from the ground in a cost effective way, such as providing support
to install solar water pumps (as stated in the Union Budget 2020), should be
balanced with incentive mechanisms to ensure judicial and productive use of
water. The claim over water resources resulting in many confrontations between
different states in our nation makes it equally important to establish a
detailed control mechanism which can regulate groundwater and other water
sources between various stakeholders. With the fact that many cities in our
nation are facing severe water crisis, it is time we deviate from the concept
of water as a common good to water as an important commodity, the use of which should
be monitored, controlled and priced. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><b><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Anandhakrishnan S</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"> is Research Intern at CPPR. Views expressed by the author are personal and need not reflect or represent the views of Centre for Public Policy Research.</span></b></i></div>
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Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19413018.post-57727922173406219092020-03-06T13:30:00.000+05:302020-03-06T13:35:28.343+05:30Social Media Shaping Political Opinion and Impacting Poll Campaigns<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Dipika Mohinani,<o:p></o:p></span></b><br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Te-bZrS3ack/XmIEJotObjI/AAAAAAAACqo/ISPB0xaGKbkUF6ph7l5XQuSM5KsDRabEACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/pic_1530794561.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="410" data-original-width="730" height="179" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Te-bZrS3ack/XmIEJotObjI/AAAAAAAACqo/ISPB0xaGKbkUF6ph7l5XQuSM5KsDRabEACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/pic_1530794561.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><i>Image source: Boston University</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Diminishing
readership of the print media and the entry of smartphones have strengthened
social media’s role in shaping political narratives. In a way, it has become a linkage
between the governing body and those who are governed, with people feeling
increasingly that they can connect on an individual basis with their chosen
representatives. In recent years, many politicians have taken to social media
to connect with the general masses. Sites like twitter and Facebook have
managed to change the political culture setting new trends in politics and also
being used as spaces for open debates. Agendas are progressively being
mobilised through tweets, posts and visual effects that are designed
specifically to diverge a person’s attention to a specific narrative. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
activities on social media, despite being engaging and informative, are
unregulated. There is close to negligible surveillance of the information
spread over the internet. The recent trend of generating “fake news” has given
rise to various fact-checking agencies, especially during election campaigns.
Voter behaviour can be manipulated through cyber intervention via social
platforms and messaging applications. Political parties have been criticised
for distributing videos, audios, images, articles, graphics and posts through
means that are unaccounted for by the government. Additionally, specific groups
are easily targeted based on their age, location coupled with a plethora of
available information related to political and religious inclinations,
interests, hobbies, preferences and lifestyle. Even simple daily activities
like purchasing, interests, hobbies and likes can indicate political
inclinations and orientation of a user through data algorithms. Targeted
content or tailor-made messages find acceptance among a group of voters as it
is precisely relevant to their concerns and preferences. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">In
2016, during US President Donald Trump’s campaigning, Cambridge Analytica (a
political campaigning agency) was accused of harnessing information from
Facebook to produce ads targeting voters as part of their campaigns. It came
under criticism as private agencies like Facebook are not allowed to collect
data without the consent of the users although data can be taken from
publically and commercially available sources. Similarly, in India, fake news
was used to grab voters’ attention. Expenses made on digital advertising are not
transparent, making the situation worrisome.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">This
is largely a human vs technology issue and developing a data protection
framework worldwide is a necessity. Security features like end-to-end
encryption in messaging services enhance privacy of the users, nonetheless are
susceptible to misuse according to the government. The other side of the coin
being complete government control over internet usage can be alarming.
Regulating news does not necessarily imply that the interests of an individual will
be served by the governments. Independence of the private sector and free
speech must be preserved. Against the same backdrop, harms caused by “hate
speech” or “fake news” could be dealt in a more systematic manner within the
jurisdiction of the government, making every action accountable. Private firms
must also closely work towards data protection. Extensive awareness among the
masses through education camps is a priority in today’s times. It should not
only be a job of the government or big private corporates, but also of individuals
and communities to safeguard their own rights and duties.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif;"><b><i>Dipika Mohinani is Research Intern at CPPR. Views expressed by the author are personal and need not reflect or represent the views of Centre for Public Policy Research.</i></b></span></span></div>
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Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19413018.post-39937324626238117082020-01-22T13:01:00.000+05:302020-01-22T13:01:00.982+05:30India’s Act East Policy Post RCEP<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b>Manas Kakumanu</b><br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ajZa0xTHWgE/Xif3v--7OiI/AAAAAAAAClQ/Oz8gLweibrUYWnx2j369qcj-K1uWRzXLACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/India_act_east_policy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="428" data-original-width="859" height="159" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ajZa0xTHWgE/Xif3v--7OiI/AAAAAAAAClQ/Oz8gLweibrUYWnx2j369qcj-K1uWRzXLACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/India_act_east_policy.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<i>Image source:</i> newshiksha.com</div>
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The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) has gained a lot of attention because of various ongoing trade wars around the world. The agreement can even bolster ties among the participating nations. So, does India’s withdrawal from the RCEP affect its Act East Policy?</div>
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India’s withdrawal from the RCEP is significant and is based on its national interest. The RCEP agreement certainly raised questions on India’s credibility as a reliable economic and strategic partner. India because of its strategic geographical location, huge market and being one of the largest spenders of defence in the region has been a prominent player in the region. With liberalisation and globalisation, India has emerged as a player with the potential of changing balance of powers in the international system and cannot be ignored by the international conglomerates.</div>
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India’s withdrawal from the RCEP can have overarching impact on its Act East Policy, since the primary objective of the policy is to improve ties with ASEAN and East Asian Nations. Withdrawing from the agreement is deterrent to its core objective and its impact can be seen on various regional organisations.</div>
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India’s trade deficit with ASEAN is gradually increasing annually, standing at $105 billion, which is bad for Indian economy. So, withdrawal from the RCEP is a coherent move. The engagement between the nations will keep on increasing irrespective of the RCEP because of the growing connectivity. The cultural ties between Indian’s North-eastern states and nations in South East Asia under Act East Policy will continue to remain intact. However, India needs to be concerned about China, especially with its ambitious projects such as the Belt Road Initiative (BRI), and North Korea that are terrorising the region in the east.</div>
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The BRI is a mega project undertaken by China in 2013 to construct infrastructural projects and revive old silk trade routes. But critics say Beijing is playing debt trap diplomacy, making countries to fall in debt and gain strategic control over the countries who are part of the BRI. ASEAN countries such as Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore are part of the initiative. With the RCEP and BRI on its hold, China has a better chance to exert influence on these countries and region. North Korea on other hand shares bilateral ties with both ASEAN and India for decades. But its strong ties with China and its nuclear provocation in the region is a concern to India’s Act East Policy.</div>
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In the meantime, New Delhi has shifted its focus from SAARC to BIMSTEC in the last few years. As a result, BIMSTEC has proven to be an important platform under India’s Act East Policy. India is the only nation with huge economic and military prowess and enjoys a significant amount of influence on the forum. BIMSTEC has evolved to be an important bloc and good alternative to SAARC because of the ongoing tensions with Pakistan and other nations and the significant economic potential of member states in BIMSTEC. Modi government figured the potential of BIMSTEC and has spent a huge amount of resources on it in recent years. Some of the mega projects under BIMSTEC are Trilateral Highway connecting India, Myanmar and Thailand, BBIN (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal) Motor Vehicle Agreement and Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport Project that seeks to connect India and Myanmar. Thus, through BIMSTEC India can counter Chinese growing influence in the region.</div>
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Mekong-Ganga Cooperation (MGC) is relatively smaller compared to others but it has its own significance under Act East Policy. MGC is the only platform that involves five ASEAN nations. With changing economic dynamics, India can use MGC as a platform to exert its influence on post-RCEP economic system.</div>
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India has Free trade Agreements (FTA) with almost every participating country in the RCEP except China, New Zealand and Australia. In that way, withdrawing from the RCEP can be seen as a good decision since it basically leave the door open for FTA with China, leading to furthering its trade deficit. India’s withdrawal is based on its interests and past mistakes. Even though it is against Act East Policy, India chose economic and strategic interests which play a dominant role in our future relationship with ASEAN and East Asian nations.</div>
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India after its independence has faced diplomatic crisis with the western nations because of the differences in ideology but that has changed with the collapse of the Soviet Union and has opened the pathway in search of new friends. With India’s economic reforms of 1991, doors were opened for strong bilateral and multilateral engagements with the outside world. Thus, in that way, Act East Policy will act as a medium to further the relationship with ASEAN and East Asian Nations.</div>
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With growing challenges and obstacles, India should act diligently on its internal and external policies. The previous FTAs with other nations did not work exactly as envisioned because of its poor diplomacy. In that way, a withdrawal from the RCEP is not a positive step for India. To be a regional power, India should focus on its domestic competitiveness and its bilateral relationship with the countries in the Southeast and Far East to its advantage.</div>
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<b>Manas Kakumanu is Research Intern at CPPR. Views expressed by the author are personal and need not reflect or represent the views of Centre for Public Policy Research.</b></div>
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Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19413018.post-20051486435528337822020-01-13T13:46:00.001+05:302020-01-13T13:46:56.827+05:30How Does Critical Thinking Promote Creativity?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b>Gazi Hassan</b><br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zvyRS0WAVmE/XhwnERBEjgI/AAAAAAAACkM/t3CF_pI_cCg9bA-Phy0J2qSEg5w3ztA0ACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/mystudentvoices.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="1024" height="160" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zvyRS0WAVmE/XhwnERBEjgI/AAAAAAAACkM/t3CF_pI_cCg9bA-Phy0J2qSEg5w3ztA0ACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/mystudentvoices.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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When one hears the word ‘critical thinking’, the first thing that comes to the mind may be the negative connotations attached to it. This is because the focus is on the word and one assumes that thinking critically must be negative, requiring to criticise or be critical of something one reads, hears or watches. Critical thinking should not be assumed to be synonymous with criticising. Once a person learns to think critically, he/she might criticise an argument or claim but the thinking will be thoughtfully reasoned, considerate, quick and not reflexive.</div>
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The term critical thinking refers to a way of thinking, an analytical stance one takes with regards to assessing claims that he/she has read, heard or seen. It is “the careful application of reason in the determination of whether a claim is true.” “Judicious reasoning about what to believe and therefore, what to do.” It requires a careful intentional thinking using reason and logic and applying that to real-world problems. Its helps in evaluating all parts of a claim and allows to determine whether one agrees or disagrees.</div>
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When we engage in critical thinking, our goal is to determine whether the claim before us is true or not and then use the assessment to decide what action or actions need to be taken. Ultimately, when we are asked to think critically, we are being asked to take a position regarding the truth or acceptability of something we have read, heard or watched. Critical thinking means being creative, and adaptable; evaluating the evidence to decide for yourself what is accurate, what is relevant and do you have the sufficient information to take a decision on a particular topic or issue.</div>
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While assessing any claim we come up with arguments—basically a collection of statements. There is a need to ask what an argument stands for. Making an argument and evaluating it is one of the key functions of critical thinking. Once the arguments are reached to differentiate on merits, one should see whether there is a logical connection between these arguments.</div>
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For this, we need to again go back to the sources and ask various questions. For example, if it is a research, ask questions like when was it written, how was the research funded and what methods were used to find the evidence? The question over the objectivity of the findings needs to be taken care of. Personal bias should be kept aside while assessing a claim. We need to look for more perspectives or views that could be looked upon. With these questions, we analyse the sources, compare them with other sources and on the basis of that reach findings or a conclusion.</div>
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Critical thinking begins with formulating a question or assessing a problem. This is succeeded by gathering information. The information gathered is then applied to the problem and while doing this we need to consider its implication. The concepts, assumptions and interpretations should be taken into consideration and end the analysis with exploring other point of views.</div>
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Thus, critical thinking is crucial for self-reflection and helps to separate facts and opinions. It also enhances an individual’s reasoning ability, analytical skills, creativity, efficiency, decision making, comprehensive skills and problem solving skills.</div>
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<b><i>Gazi Hassan is Senior Research Associate at CPPR-Centre for Strategic Studies. Views expressed by the author are personal and need not reflect or represent the views of Centre for Public Policy Research.</i></b></div>
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Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19413018.post-91835590858566878302020-01-09T12:41:00.003+05:302020-01-09T12:41:31.835+05:30India’s Approach to Rohingya Refugee Crisis<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b>Mona Thakkar</b><br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NYf3AFEzF14/XhbNOCCMB3I/AAAAAAAACjg/jzrEUztS5x8jPW16R6PiJ33OCzlXyYdBgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/article-2529619-1A4C55D600000578-153_634x419.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="419" data-original-width="634" height="211" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NYf3AFEzF14/XhbNOCCMB3I/AAAAAAAACjg/jzrEUztS5x8jPW16R6PiJ33OCzlXyYdBgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/article-2529619-1A4C55D600000578-153_634x419.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<i>Image source:</i> Daily Mail</div>
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In the recent meeting between Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Haseena and Narendra Modi, both the leaders agreed on the need for greater efforts to facilitate the “safe return of Rohingya refugees”. This declaration came even after the UN fact-finding mission reaffirmed that the Tatmadaw has committed genocidal crimes and crimes against humanity and the conditions are not conducive for Rohingya’s safe return.</div>
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Bangladesh, which hosts around 750,000 refugees from Rakhine State, has been complaining about the overwhelming pressure on its resources, environment degradation due to the sprawling camps and Rohingya taking hold of the marginal jobs. It has also been blaming Myanmar for the failure of the recent attempt to repatriate Rohingya refugees, showing its frustration over the lack of resolution of the issue. Instead of backing Bangladesh on the repatriation deal, India has chosen to help by providing financial assistance to Rohingya in Bangladesh’s camps and shield Myanmar at the UN from international sanctions.</div>
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Unlike Bangladesh, the Modi government has paid lip service to the Myanmar’s brutal crackdown on Rohingya and has threatened to expel 40,000 Rohingya migrants, 16,000 registered with the UNHCR, who it says have illegally settled in the country. The government views them not as refugees fleeing a genocidal humanitarian crisis but as infiltrators or terrorists who pose a security threat to the nation and claim to eat up the limited resources available to its citizens. The government has translated this rhetoric into action by deporting the first batch of Rohingya in October and later in January on the guarantee given to the Supreme Court that Myanmar recognises them as citizens. Unease further mounted among Rohingya when the government instructed the states to take prompt actions to identify illegal migrants by taking their biometric details and asking them to fill national reverification forms. </div>
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India, though not a signatory to the UN Refugee convention of 1951, has openly welcomed millions of refugees from Bangladesh during the 1971 War, Buddhist refugees from Tibet and Tamil refugees during the Civil War in Sri Lanka in 1983. In defence of deporting Rohingya, India has said it will not adhere to the principle of non-refoulement as it has not ratified the UN refugee treaty of 1951. Non-refoulement prohibits forced repatriation of a person to his country of origin where he may face persecution. But as India is a party to the UN Convention against Torture and Convention on the Rights of the Child, it is obliged to non-refoulement. Therefore, India’s deportation of Rohingya refugees becomes a violation of the international law.</div>
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Indian Parliament has recently passed the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019, that seeks to grant citizenship to Jain, Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh, Parsi and Christian migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, who have been living in India for the past six years, even if they do not have valid documents. It also implies that the threat the government faces is only from the undocumented Muslim refugees. The Bill goes against the social fabric of the Constitution of India and helps the BJP and its hard-line Hindu organisation RSS to flex their muscles of majoritarian nationalism. The recent hate rhetoric against Rohingya has forced many to flee and go to Bangladesh, raising the prospect of skirmishes between India and Bangladesh as the latter is already finding it difficult to deal with the crisis.</div>
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Further, India’s and even China’s backing to Myanmar on the Rohingya crisis stems from its geopolitical pursuits and India’s Look East policy. India and China have huge projects in Rakhine state of Myanmar—the Indian-funded Kaladan Multi Modal project linking its remote north east through sea, river and land; and China’s Kyaukpyu port project which is the terminal for the oil gas pipeline to its inland western province. Moreover, the threat of terrorism from ARSA spilling over to other parts of Rakhine worries India. Any criticism of Myanmar’s leadership will throw these strategic projects into turmoil and bolster China’s influence in India’s gateway to South East Asia.</div>
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Though realpolitik has to be pursued to deal with war, conflict, occupation and ethnic sectarian tensions, it does not have to be unethical, inhumane and unjust. The crises in Yemen, Syria and Myanmar reflect that the international community follows realpolitik at the expense of human rights because the costs outweigh the benefits. This may result in people, who suffer from conflict, losing faith in the international system.</div>
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<b>Mona Thakkar<span style="text-align: justify;"> is Research Intern at CPPR. Views expressed by the author are personal and need not reflect or represent the views of Centre for Public Policy Research.</span></b></div>
Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19413018.post-45389129745997372492019-12-03T11:52:00.001+05:302019-12-03T11:52:16.182+05:30Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill, 2019<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pJ_CJNDKoGM/XeX-0qFrRiI/AAAAAAAACV0/ELgMtLDE2mYR315GaOxBnp0vc6bKSFeFwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/rainbowcolours%2BHindu%2Bbusinessline.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="271" data-original-width="435" height="199" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pJ_CJNDKoGM/XeX-0qFrRiI/AAAAAAAACV0/ELgMtLDE2mYR315GaOxBnp0vc6bKSFeFwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/rainbowcolours%2BHindu%2Bbusinessline.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Image source:</i> The Hindu Businessline</span></div>
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<b>Gazi Hassan</b></div>
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Tansgender is defined as a person whose gender does not match with the gender assigned to that person at the time of his/her birth. Tansgender includes trans man or trans woman, a person with intersex variations, queer and a person having known by identities such as kinner, hijra and aravani.</div>
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Transgenders have been living in India since time immemorial and exist in the Indian historical records since the 9th century BC. They have held prominent positions in the society like political advisors to King and administrators. However, their status started degrading when the British government, after the fall of the Mughal Empire, passed Criminal Tribes Act in 1871 which targeted them. Although after the independence of India the Act was repealed, the damage it had caused is still visible.</div>
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<b>History of the Bill</b></div>
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The first version of Transgender Rights Bill was introduced in August, 2016. The Bill defined transgender individuals as “neither wholly female nor male”. It criminalised begging, which forms a part of their culture in South Asia and is a mean of survival to the vast majority of transgender people. The Bill also required a certificate as a proof of identity of a transgender person to be issued by the District Magistrate on the recommendation of a Screening Committee. The members of the Screening Committee comprised of a medical officer, a psychologist or psychiatrist, a district welfare officer, a government official and a transgender person. This led to massive public outcry and protests. After this, the Bill was sent to a Standing Committee which submitted its report in July 2017 with various recommendations.</div>
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The Lok Sabha tabled and passed a newer version of the Bill in December 2018. The criminalisation of begging was retained affecting the community who engage in begging for livelihood. The clauses where the District Magistrate was authorised to issue transgender certificates, lesser punishment for crimes against transgender persons and the absence of provisions on reservations for transgender persons were retained. These were contradictory to the judicial mandate of the Supreme Court in 2014 in NALSA v. UOI, thus violating right to equality and other fundamental rights of transgender persons. The members of the opposition parties in the Rajya Sabha stalled the Bill.</div>
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The final draft of Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill, 2019 was passed in the Lok Sabha on August 5, 2019. The Bill prohibits discrimination against a transgender person, including denial of service or unfair treatment in relation to: (i) education (ii) employment (iii) healthcare (iv) access to, or enjoyment of goods, facilities, opportunities available to the public (v) right to movement (vi) right to reside, rent, or otherwise occupy property (vii) opportunity to hold public or private office and (viii) access to a government or private establishment in whose care or custody a transgender person is.</div>
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<b>Why the Bill is Not Acceptable?</b></div>
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The Bill became controversial in many aspects. People opposing the Bill see it inappropriate to include the intersex community in the definition of transgender as all intersex people do not identify themselves as trans people. The requirement of the court order to decide whether a trans child will live with the biological family or the community family (gharana) is also seen as a blatant human rights violation. Also, the provision of penalty for rape of a trans person is just 6 months to 2 years, whereas it is life imprisonment in case of rape of a woman. Endangering the life of transgender is punishable by a maximum of only 2 years in prison.</div>
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Although the Bill discusses right to residence, prohibition of discrimination, inclusive education, livelihood, protection at the workplace and healthcare, it lacks information on how it will ensure all these. The Rajya Sabha has passed the Bill on November 26, 2019 without making suggested revisions. The issues of not excluding intersex people from the definition of trans person, doing away with the medical screening for identification, taking the punishment at par with other genders for crimes against transgenders, etc. will not lead to the intended social, economic and educational empowerment of the community.</div>
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<b><i>Gazi Hassan is Senior Research Associate at CPPR-Centre for Strategic Studies. Views expressed by the author are personal and need not reflect or represent the views of Centre for Public Policy Research.</i></b></div>
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Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19413018.post-81367618401840217772019-11-07T12:27:00.001+05:302019-11-07T12:27:13.515+05:30How is NRC Shaping a New Identity?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i>Image source: The Hindu</i></div>
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<b>Gazi Hassan</b></div>
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The National Register of Citizens (NRC) is a register maintained by the Government of India containing names and relevant information for identification of Indian citizens of the state of Assam. The first NRC was compiled in 1951, after the Census was completed that year. The aim is to identify the so-called “illegal immigrants” believed to have entered Assam after the Bangladesh War of 1971. In 1979, eight years after the war, the State saw an anti-foreigner agitation led by the All Assam Student Union (AASU) and the All Assam Gana Sangram Parishad (AAGSP). In 1985, the anti-foreigner agitation led to the signing of Assam Accord. The accord was signed between the AASU, the AAGSP, the Government of India and the Assam government. Under this accord, those who entered the State between 1966 and 1971 would be deleted from the electoral rolls and lose their voting rights for 10 years, after which their names would be restored to the rolls. Those who entered on or after March 25, 1971 — the eve of the Bangladesh War — would be declared foreigners and deported.</div>
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In May 5, 2005, a tripartite meeting was held in New Delhi between the Centre, Assam government and the AASU. During the meeting, it was decided that the NRC would be updated for Assam. In June 2010, the Assam government started two pilot projects to update the NRC in two blocks in the State&#39;s Kamrup and Barpeta districts. The Supreme Court (SC) in 2013 set a deadline to update and publish a revised NRC which was to be monitored by it. In 2015, NRC application forms were distributed in Assam. The applications stopped getting accepted on August 31, 2015 and the process of verifying the applications began on September 1, 2015.</div>
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The mammoth process went through several phases, the first being data collection. Most individuals applying for inclusion in the NRC had to prove not only that their ancestors had lived in Assam pre-1971 but also their relationship with the ancestor. Then came the verification process, and the documents were sent to the original issuing authorities. In the meantime, NRC officials conducted field verification. Once the data was submitted, the applicant’s blood relations were plotted on a family tree.</div>
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There was no official community-wise or district-wise data. Of the 3.29 crore people who applied, 2.89 crore people made it to the first draft published on July 30, 2018. Over 40.07 lakh were excluded — including army veterans, government employees, families of former Presidents and Assam’s only woman chief minister. </div>
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The publication of the final list was on August 31, 2019. As many as 19 lakh Assam residents are now staring at statelessness. The Assam government has assured people that those who find their names missing from the final NRC will not immediately be termed &quot;foreigners&quot; or illegal immigrants. They will be allowed to register complaints with the Foreigners Tribunals that have been set up to examine the cases. In case they are not satisfied with the response of the Tribunal, they can even approach the Assam High Court or even the SC. The government has also promised legal aid to the poor who find their names missing from the list. Whether they will be detained, deported or allowed to stay on without the rights and privileges of citizenship is still not clear.</div>
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In the past, those deemed to be foreigners were transferred to detention centres carved out of local prisons. Presently, there are six such centres across Assam and a new one, with the capacity to accommodate 3000 people, is being built in Domini (Matia) — a Muslim majority area — in Goalpara district at a cost of Rs 45 crore.</div>
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The Assam NRC is being seen as a precursor to a more general NRC for the entire country. There are concerns and fears that the NRC could end up targeting minorities in the country. It will neither stop the transnational flow of undocumented migrants from Bangladesh, nor reduce the demand of their labour in India’s growing urban construction industry.</div>
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At the very least, the NRC process is likely to cause large-scale and long-term human suffering and leave many stateless. It will alter the fabric of the society in India, fostering a sense of mutual suspicion, intolerance and the hardening of social and cultural boundaries between citizens.</div>
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<b><i>Gazi Hassan is Senior Research Associate at CPPR-Centre for Strategic Studies. Views expressed by the author are personal and need not reflect or represent the views of Centre for Public Policy Research.</i></b></div>
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Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19413018.post-28308362459643405052019-10-30T17:31:00.003+05:302019-10-30T17:31:31.561+05:30How Can Congestion Pricing Solve Traffic Woes?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Vt-lSVJ6fKY/Xbl6W-43i7I/AAAAAAAACM8/Yrb2sWku6XM_C1bLEmKHy_1jw7nLUwdaQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/traffic-kjoD--621x414%2540LiveMint.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="414" data-original-width="621" height="213" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Vt-lSVJ6fKY/Xbl6W-43i7I/AAAAAAAACM8/Yrb2sWku6XM_C1bLEmKHy_1jw7nLUwdaQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/traffic-kjoD--621x414%2540LiveMint.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<i>Image source: </i>LiveMint</div>
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<b>By Devika P V,</b></div>
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The term ‘congestion pricing’ is used to describe a distance, area or cordon-based road user charging policy around congested areas to reduce the use of private vehicles and increase the use of public transportation. Congestion pricing is also known as electronic road pricing. Drivers usually ignore the social costs of using the road and only calculate their benefits which result in traffic congestion and air pollution. Singapore was the first country to implement Congestion pricing in 1975, followed by London in 2003 and Stockholm in 2007. The need for congestion pricing is increasing every year due to many reasons, the main being population growth which affects the number of vehicles on the roads and causes delays, air pollution and increased fuel consumption. While the number of vehicles is increasing, the size of the roads remains the same. As of now, Delhi is considered to be the highly congested state followed by Mumbai, Bangalore and Kolkata. If India tries to adopt congestion pricing, it would help reduce the traffic congestion and pollution level which will in turn improve the quality of the environment. Also, the overuse of the roads will be minimised as drivers will divert to less-travelled routes or change the times they drive to avoid the cost.</div>
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The purpose of implementing congestion pricing is to divert the profits generated into building a robust public transportation system. However, pricing of the charge should be reasonable as people might react negatively to a high price. At the same time, low price might also lead to congestion charge to fail as the number of cars may not decrease. Therefore, a good pricing scheme is needed before implementing congestion pricing.</div>
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In London, cordons tolls are placed in areas where congestion increases during peak hours. The drivers pay the price through TAGS system or automatic vehicle deduction system. Introduction of such a system will have many advantages — it will improve the mobility in urban areas, save time, encourage people to use public transport, lower air pollution, give wider economic benefits and raise revenue, which can be diverted for maintaining public transportation. However, the move is not bereft of challenges. There are also disadvantages like lack of advanced technology, especially in developing countries. Additionally, if there is no sufficient public transport it will cause over- crowding and may become tough to administer, which might result in increased instances of evasions.</div>
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The key to successful implementation of congestion charges is to get public acceptance for the policy. This can be created by making people aware of the benefits of reduced congestion. Rule- based systems for changing prices appear to be more popular than those requiring political discretion. Ancillary benefits, including reduced environmental impacts, can in some cases help in creating acceptance and take decision on how much to charge. Another matter of concern is the cost of implementing congestion pricing. Congestion charges potentially raise substantial amounts of revenue, but at the same time it is costly to run the system. Some studies have suggested revenue neutrality with respect to congestion charges, but emphasising revenue neutrality may reduce policy flexibility. Hence, getting public and political support becomes the key issue in the implementation of congestion charges.</div>
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<b><i>Devika P V is a Research Intern at CPPR. Views expressed by the author are personal and need not reflect or represent the views of Centre for Public Policy Research.</i></b></div>
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Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19413018.post-26643671867217326042019-10-11T15:10:00.000+05:302019-10-11T15:10:09.823+05:30Powering Kerala’s Electric Vehicles<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kgAOjoVWXJA/XaBNt5LBHmI/AAAAAAAAB1o/MUUB0VC8ggw1bpEjI4c5nhayBWM-1-awwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/EV%2Btopgear.com.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="904" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kgAOjoVWXJA/XaBNt5LBHmI/AAAAAAAAB1o/MUUB0VC8ggw1bpEjI4c5nhayBWM-1-awwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/EV%2Btopgear.com.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<i>Image source: </i>topgear.com</div>
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<b><i>By Jacob Thamarappally,</i></b></div>
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India is set to move further towards an automobile industry that is primarily electricity powered. The government has introduced certain initiatives in an effort to reduce the carbon footprint in India’s mobility scenario by 2030 and electric vehicles (EVs) are seen to be pivotal to these plans. With schemes like the National Electric Mobility Mission Plan (NEMMP) and the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles (FAME), the government has set lofty targets that if realised would result in a significant increase in the number of EVs on roads in India. Currently, India is aiming for 30 per cent of all vehicles on the road to be electric by 2030. As reported by Autocar India, in the FY2019, the number of EV sales reached a total of 7,59,600 units. However, this is a small fraction of the more than 252 million registered vehicles on Indian roads as on 2017. And with an annual growth rate of 9.48 per cent (for 2016−17), this number is expected to be significantly larger in 2030, which would require a significant increase in the number of EVs from where it is now in the country. This increase would call for substantial development in both the country’s charging infrastructure and the nation's system for producing and delivering electricity. However, India is still heavily dependent on coal as its primary source of energy. According to the BP Energy Outlook 2019, despite some efforts from the government to promote renewable resources — a plan by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy to install 175 GW of renewable energy by 2022 — India still would depend on coal for almost 50 per cent of its energy requirements. This blog will analyse the feasibility of EVs in India, in particular, the state of Kerala with a focus on the sourcing of the electricity required to power these vehicles.</div>
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The state of Kerala is at the forefront of the nation’s vision of an electric future. It is one of the seven states to be granted the first-mover advantage from the Centre’s push for EV regime in the Budget of 2019. The state government has also announced an ambitious target in its Electric Vehicle Policy — 1 million EVs on the road by 2022. A pilot fleet of 3000 buses, 100 ferries, two lakh two-wheelers, 50,000 three-wheelers and 1000 goods carriers are planned as a part of this. The state generates power from four sources — hydel (2107.96 MW), thermal (718.46 MW), wind (59.27 MW) and solar power (75.42 MW). Hydel and thermal are a considerable majority. Furthermore, the state is heavily dependent on its monsoons to sustain the hydropower base in the state, and a shortage in rainfall usually creates a power crisis. The electricity demand of the state is provided through power generation from Kerala State Electricity Board Ltd (KSEB), Central Generation Station (CGS), Independent Power Producers and Traders. However, according to an economic review conducted by the State Planning Board, domestically produced electricity accounts for only 51.18 per cent of the total electricity consumed in the state. The development of the power grid at the regional and national level has allowed states like Kerala to purchase large amounts of power from sources and producers outside the state. At present, KSEB imports around 57 million units of power in order to meet the daily demand. Out of this, the state gets 29 million units from the centre, and the rest is brought through long, medium and short- term power purchases. As a result of these purchases, the state has suffered a total loss of almost `9000 crore.</div>
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The growth rate of energy consumption in the state has also been steadily increasing every year. The growth rate from 2015−16 to 2016−17 was 5.84 per cent, with the average power consumption in the state reaching almost 64 million units. As per the 19 th Electric Power Survey by the Central Electric Authority, over the next 10 years, there will be an increase of 74 per cent in the commercial consumption and a 60 per cent increase in the domestic consumption of energy in the state. However, if the state were even to come closer to its ambitious target of 1 million EVs by 2022, the extra demand for power would be considerable. These numbers do not take into account the rise in demand that the widespread adoption of EVs would cause.</div>
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An average electric car consumes approximately 0.20 kWh/Km. Most of the Indian drivers drive their vehicles for about 10,000−15,000 kilometres per year. This means that just a single EV would require around 3000 kWh of electricity per year. When we consider the scale of Kerala’s proposed electric policy, the total energy required would seem to be an astronomical number. However, this number might be a little deceptive. On average in 2017, the state of Kerala consumed 64 million kWh of electricity daily. This means that in a year, they would consume 23,360 million kWh of electricity. In the best-case scenario, if the state realises its dream of 1 million electric vehicles, all these vehicles would require 3000 million kWh. This would mean that EVs may take up only 12.84 per cent of the state’s total energy requirements. This number, while not insignificant, is by no means a death blow to the industry, as some people make it out to be. For instance, the extra energy required for EVs would only be half of the energy currently consumed for industrial use (around 20 per cent). This is also not taking into account the fact that the total consumption of electricity will definitely increase by 2022 and similarly, technological advancements in future shall result in more efficient electric vehicles. This will also reduce the amount of power consumed by EVs in relation to the total power consumed. Furthermore, under the Renewable Purchase Obligations (RPO), as part of the Tariff Policy issued by the Ministry of Power, it is mandatory for the states to purchase a certain portion of their electricity needs from solar power plants. This share will keep on increasing on a yearly basis, and will help to provide the excess power required by the EVs.</div>
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Examples of this phenomenon materialising can already be seen in more developed countries where EVs are more widespread. For instance, according to a report by Mckinsey, in Germany, EV growth is not likely to cause large increases in power demand through 2030. As per the report, even with a 25 per cent EV penetration rate, it will only cause a 5 per cent increase in the total amount of electricity consumed, and almost all this new-build capacity will involve renewables including wind and solar power. The bulk of electricity demand will still be from industries and homes. For example, for a typical residential feeder circuit of 150 homes at a 25 per cent EV penetration rate, analysis has indicated that the load would increase only by around 30 per cent. This means at the peak charging times (usually around midnight) the increase in the load would be 30 per cent. While this may seem significant, when we consider the aggregate increase in demand over both residential and non-residential areas (where there are fewer EVs), the effects are not as consequential. Similarly, time of use tariffs can give incentive to EV owners to charge their vehicles after midnight rather than during the peak hours.</div>
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Finally, we must also consider the fact that EVs in the future are going to be more advanced than the ones currently in the market. Battery costs are already on the decline and the range of newer models is getting larger and larger. Similarly, initiatives are being taken on both the state and national level to promote the use of renewable sources of energy. With 40 ongoing projects, generating more than 20 MW of energy, KSEB is taking initial steps to promote the use of solar power in the state. Much needed power reforms are also set to be implemented on a national level with the ‘One nation, one grid’ initiative announced by the finance minister during the 2019 Budget. This scheme, if implemented, would bring electricity to a wider ambit of the population and help increase the popularity of EVs in the more rural areas of the country.</div>
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Once Kerala is able to build ubiquitous charging infrastructure equipped with fast charging facilities and increase the share of renewable energy sources, the EV industry will really take off. And despite global fuel prices expected to decline in the future, the price of electricity is still much lower than the equivalent amount of fuel. Not to mention it is much better for the environment, especially with a greater share of electricity coming from renewable resources.<br />
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<b><i>Jacob Thamarappally</i></b><b><i> is a Research Intern at CPPR. Views expressed by the author are personal and need not reflect or represent the views of Centre for Public Policy Research.</i></b></div>
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<i>References</i></div>
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<li><span><span><span id="docs-internal-guid-41ef33e2-7fff-741d-073c-50c3429e9a5a"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="https://www.ceicdata.com/en/india/number-of-registered-motor-vehicles/registered-motor-vehicles-total" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: blue; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://www.ceicdata.com/en/india/number-of-registered-motor-vehicles/registered-motor-vehicles-total</span></a><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></span></span></span></span></li>
<li><span><span id="docs-internal-guid-9bfeba01-7fff-177e-b254-182950623660"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: blue; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://spb.kerala.gov.in/ER2017/web_e/ch52.php?id=50&ch=52" style="text-decoration-line: none;">http://spb.kerala.gov.in/ER2017/web_e/ch52.php?id=50&ch=52</a></span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></span></span></span></li>
<li><span id="docs-internal-guid-ca447887-7fff-f287-85c5-8e2ebac0d3bc"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: blue; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://energy.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/power/keralas-power-usage-nears-64-mu-per-day/56675124" style="text-decoration-line: none;">https://energy.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/power/keralas-power-usage-nears-64-mu-per-day/56675124</a></span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></span></span></li>
<li>Anilkumar, B.S. 2017. "Kerala's Power Usage Nears 64 MU Per Day”. <span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Etenergyworld.Com</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, January 20, 2017. </span><a href="https://energy.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/power/keralas-power-usage-nears-64-mu-per-day/56675124" style="font-size: 12pt; text-decoration-line: none; white-space: pre;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #0563c1; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://energy.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/power/keralas-power-usage-nears-64-mu-per-day/56675124</span></a><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></li>
<li>Balkrishna and Anand Patel. 2018. "Fact File: This is Why Petrol Is on Fire". <span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">India Today</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, September 11, 2018. </span><a href="https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/this-is-why-petrol-is-on-fire-1338077-2018-09-11" style="font-size: 12pt; text-decoration-line: none; white-space: pre;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #0563c1; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/this-is-why-petrol-is-on-fire-1338077-2018-09-11</span></a><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></li>
<li>"EV Charging 101 - How Much Electricity Does an Electric Car Use?" 2018. <span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Virta.Global</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, September 10, 2018. </span><a href="https://www.virta.global/blog/ev-charging-101-how-much-electricity-does-an-electric-car-use" style="font-size: 12pt; text-decoration-line: none; white-space: pre;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #0563c1; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://www.virta.global/blog/ev-charging-101-how-much-electricity-does-an-electric-car-use</span></a><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></li>
<li><a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/our-people/hauke-engel" style="font-size: 12pt; text-decoration-line: none; white-space: pre;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Hauke Engel,</span></a><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/our-people/russell-hensley" style="font-size: 12pt; text-decoration-line: none; white-space: pre;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Russell Hensley</span></a><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/our-people/stefan-knupfer" style="font-size: 12pt; text-decoration-line: none; white-space: pre;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Stefan Knupfer</span></a><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, and </span><a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/our-people/shivika-sahdev" style="font-size: 12pt; text-decoration-line: none; white-space: pre;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Shivika Sahdev</span></a><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. 2018. </span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"The Potential Impact of Electric Vehicles on Global Energy Systems". </span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Mckinsey& Company</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, August 2018. </span><a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/automotive-and-assembly/our-insights/the-potential-impact-of-electric-vehicles-on-global-energy-systems" style="font-size: 12pt; text-decoration-line: none; white-space: pre;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #0563c1; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/automotive-and-assembly/our-insights/the-potential-impact-of-electric-vehicles-on-global-energy-systems</span></a><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></li>
<li>KSEB. “Generation". <a href="http://www.kseb.in/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=45&Itemid=553&lang=en" style="font-size: 12pt; text-decoration-line: none; white-space: pre;"><span style="color: blue; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">http://www.kseb.in/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=45&Itemid=553&lang=en</span></a><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></li>
<li>"Oil Price Outlook”. 2019. <span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Globalpetrolprices.Com</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, September 2019. </span><a href="https://www.globalpetrolprices.com/articles/3/" style="font-size: 12pt; text-decoration-line: none; white-space: pre;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #0563c1; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://www.globalpetrolprices.com/articles/3/</span></a><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></li>
<li>Sioshansi, Fereidoon. 2018. "The Impact of Electric Vehicles on Electricity Demand - Energy Post". <span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Energy Post</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, November 6, 2018. </span><a href="https://energypost.eu/the-impact-of-electric-vehicles-on-electricity-demand/" style="font-size: 12pt; text-decoration-line: none; white-space: pre;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #0563c1; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://energypost.eu/the-impact-of-electric-vehicles-on-electricity-demand/</span></a><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></li>
<li>State Planning Board. "Economic Review 2016- Infrastructure”. <span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Spb.Kerala.Gov.In</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. </span><a href="http://spb.kerala.gov.in/EconomicReview2016/web/chapter05_09.php" style="font-size: 12pt; text-decoration-line: none; white-space: pre;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #0563c1; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">http://spb.kerala.gov.in/EconomicReview2016/web/chapter05_09.php</span></a><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></li>
<li>State Planning Board. "Economic Review 2017- Energy”. <span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Spb.Kerala.Gov.In</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. </span><a href="http://spb.kerala.gov.in/ER2017/web_e/ch52.php?id=50&ch=52" style="font-size: 12pt; text-decoration-line: none; white-space: pre;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #0563c1; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">http://spb.kerala.gov.in/ER2017/web_e/ch52.php?id=50&ch=52</span></a><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></li>
<li>Todd, F. Davidson, Dave Tuttle, Joshua D. Rhodes, and Kazunori Nagasawa. 2018. <span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"How Future Fleet of Electric Cars could Cause the Power Outages of Tomorrow". </span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Inverse</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. </span><a href="https://www.inverse.com/article/51486-electric-cars-demand-better-infrastructure" style="font-size: 12pt; text-decoration-line: none; white-space: pre;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #0563c1; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://www.inverse.com/article/51486-electric-cars-demand-better-infrastructure</span></a><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></li>
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Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19413018.post-84155776706254407992019-09-25T17:35:00.003+05:302019-09-25T17:35:39.938+05:30Libertarian Principles of Intellectual Property<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b><i>By Saira Banu, </i></b></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Dc8glZ_8CPo/XYtXtKNi5JI/AAAAAAAABzI/3iGJVu_WU_QGiNsBurPXZy96rkhpX3VmwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Intellectual-property-rights-848x350.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="350" data-original-width="848" height="132" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Dc8glZ_8CPo/XYtXtKNi5JI/AAAAAAAABzI/3iGJVu_WU_QGiNsBurPXZy96rkhpX3VmwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Intellectual-property-rights-848x350.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<i>Image source:</i> pmcorporatelaw.com</div>
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Libertarianism as a philosophy emerged in an attempt to cure the unfairness that plagues our world. This blog will attempt to question the basis for its very existence, along with assessing the effect of libertarian principles on intellectual property.</div>
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While it rose from a need to make living fairer, whether this principle is translated into the libertarian view of intellectual property (IP) is explored throughout this blog. Libertarianism assumes the existence of a natural harmony between productive people, and an analysis of how this harmonious existence seeks to protect or prevent intellectual property rights (IPRs) will be done. Essentially a political doctrine, human flourishing and human happiness are seen as the central takeaways of libertarian philosophy. Freedom of speech is celebrated in libertarianism, and the role and power of the government is optimally kept to a minimum to allow humans to exercise their own autonomy. While libertarians advocate “minimal government interference”, they do not prescribe to any sense of lawlessness as the government’s minimal responsibilities include protection against force, fraud and theft, as well as the enforcement of contracts. This is where we first see traces of libertarian principles in IPRs, which also emphasise the maximum freedom of the individual and minimum authority of the government.</div>
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A vital principle of libertarian philosophy is the “Non-aggression principle”. The non-aggression principle (NAP) holds that aggression against a person or property of others is always wrong, where aggression is defined narrowly in terms of the use or threat of physical violence. The NAP is considered the defining principle of the philosophy of Libertarianism and suggests that aggressive behaviour if initiated can be met with reciprocal aggression. The notion of liberty preached by libertarians requires a great sense of restraint, but the only restraint compatible with libertarianism is self-restraint.</div>
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Having established a basic premise of libertarianism and how its principles could or could not be compatible with IPRs, we will now elucidate what comprises IPRs and how it is impacted by the principles of libertarianism.</div>
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Very simply put, IP refers to creations of the mind. It is divided into two categories: (1) Industrial property that comprises inventions, trademarks, industrial designs and geographical indications, (2) Copyrights that comprise literary works, films, music, artistic works and architectural design. IPRs are treated like any other property right as they allow creators, or owners, of patents, trademarks or copyrighted works to benefit from their own work or investment in a creation. In this sense, IPRs embody the very essence of libertarianism as it restores individual agency to these “creations of the mind”, and allow these productive creators or owners to benefit from the fruit of their intellectual labour.</div>
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Several arguments exist supporting the establishment of the protection for IPRs. The WIPO argue that the progress and well-being of humanity rest on its capacity to create and invent new works in the areas of technology and culture. It further argues that the legal protection of new creations encourages the commitment of additional resources for further innovation, and that the protection and promotion of IPRs spurs economic growth, create new jobs and industries, and enhances the quality of life. Through the course of this blog, we will try to ascertain whether these are compatible with the principles of libertarianism.</div>
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Multiple scissions have erupted in the libertarian school of thought concerning the validity of IPRs in Libertarian philosophy. There is a stringent disagreement about the application of the fundamental principles of libertarianism. Two predominant schools of thought exist concerning this. The first school of thought postulates that patents and copyrights are a necessary component of a legal framework that protects open competition and individual rights, while the second school of thought is of the opinion that IP is a form of aggression or coercion, a violation of an individual’s legitimate prerogative.</div>
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IP has a central role in the global economy. Hence, the stakes are high and the public policy implications are far reaching. We will now look at libertarians who share a conflicting barrage of ideas ceding to IPRs. Murray Ruthbard defended a contract theory of copyright, provided that the work was properly contracted, as libertarians uphold the enforceability of legal contracts. He did however distinguish between patents and trademarks as the principle of attaining “copyrights by contract” does not extend to patents as the latter goes beyond the scope of the free market and the “original contract”. Benjamin Tucker, an individual anarchist was of the view that IP constituted protectionist economic privilege. During the course of his lifetime, he instituted a privatised mail delivery enterprise to challenge the US government’s monopoly over the postal system. He considered IPR as averse to individual rights and that it served no higher purpose than the insulation of the powerful against competition. He argued that copyrights and patents replaced the intrinsic worth of labour and provided a profit excess to the amount legitimately earned by them. Ayn Rand is another avid libertarian who vouches for IP, but does not reflect the same in her writings. Her values of libertarianism are enshrined in her acclaimed Atlas Shrugged, which also contributed to the popularisation of libertarianism. Rand argues that a man’s right to the product of his mind is unquestioned, while prescribing to a completely contradictory notion in her novel. What patent and copyright law acknowledges is the paramount role of mental effort in the production of material values. According to Rand, IP is validated by the protection it affords to creators in their fabrication of concrete things that did not previously exist in nature. Certain contemporary libertarian thinkers like Stephen Kinsella argue that IPRs are incompatible with libertarianism as it is nothing more than the redistribution of wealth and hence it becomes un-libertarian and unjustified.</div>
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Hence, there are varied instances to prove that libertarianism has influenced certain aspects of IPRs as illustrated above, but the fragmented ideological perspectives that accompany any school of philosophy exist in this scenario as well, preventing a reader from ascertaining a concrete understanding of the role of libertarianism in IPRs.</div>
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<b><i>Saira Banu is a Research Intern at CPPR-Centre for Strategic Studies. Views expressed by the author are personal and need not reflect or represent the views of Centre for Public Policy Research.</i></b></div>
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Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19413018.post-37712531513185384492019-09-17T17:47:00.001+05:302019-09-17T17:47:54.015+05:30Some Thoughts on National Education Policy Draft<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b><i>By Rajesh K P,</i></b></div>
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The Draft National Education Policy (Committee for DNEP 2019) is a vision document which aims at a major overhaul of our present education system — school as well as higher education. The document is very detailed and gets into every aspect of the education system including governance, regulation and accreditation. With the mention of Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE), there is a significant change in the way we look at foundational education. There is an emphasis on revamping teacher education with higher education reforms providing ways to achieve these goals. Talking of higher education, one could see that the policy document aims at a significant revamp of the higher education system. Two major policy documents with regard to education in recent times were the National Curriculum Framework (NCF) in 2005 and Right To Education (RTE) in 2008. ECCE is expected to make its way into the RTE Act, while NCF could see a significant direction</div>
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change with the new policy.</div>
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The vision looks grant. Capturing what National Education Policy (NEP) sets in motion is an arduous task. However, there are some aspects which call for attention. First one is the incorporation of ECCE into the thinking on education and the potential positive impact it could have on early education. Another is the aspect of regulation, which is repeated in the document as “light, but tight” Committee for DNEP 2019). The institutions which are going to be setup to ensure this lighter version of regulation do not appear to be light in terms of size and powers. This would require a closer look. The third aspect is the question on underrepresented groups (URGs) and how inclusivity is going to be addressed in the new landscape of education, higher education in particular. To conclude, we will also see some interesting use of vocabulary in the policy document. Does it have a political tinge which favours the regime in power?</div>
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Early Childhood Care and Education — a Welcome Beginning</div>
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“Every child in the age range of 3-6 years has access to free, safe, high quality, developmentally appropriate care and education by 2025” (Committee for DNEP 2019). This is how the objective statement on ECCE reads. The significance of this is the acknowledgement that cognitive development in the early ages is fundamental to the outcomes during the latter part of your education. Those who miss out early, tend to miss out altogether. There is an emphasis on improving the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER), which is pretty poor in India compared to developed nations and even BRICS. A high percentage of dropouts is an indication of the problems which exist during the early development of a child and the reasons for this are many. Kids born into less privileged social groups fail to get the necessary attention from their parents, nutritious food in adequate amount and fail to develop the necessary social skills to further help them in education. To ensure that this is available to</div>
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all kids in the country, this policy proposes to include “free and compulsory quality pre- primary education for all 3-6-year old” (Committee for DNEP 2019). This is quite remarkable and could prove to be a major step in ensuring “equality of outcome” when it comes to early education. The restructuring of the school education system to 5+3+3+4 with five years of foundational phase restates the stress given in the policy for the ECCE aspect. The foundational phase will have more activity-based learning and the play school type of curriculum could prove to be innovative enough to achieve the ECCE goals. Improved midday meal scheme could take care of the nutritional aspect of early childhood care. Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) linked with Anganawadi system as had some success in this area and the learnings from the implementation of this could provide valuable guidance on ECCE aspect.</div>
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Light, but Tightly Controlled?</div>
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The idea of ECCE looks significant in terms of vision as well as implementation and it would appear that the concept of “light, but tight” regulation might turn out to be similar — till one tries to go deep into the details. There is an entire chapter dedicated to explaining the structure of Rashtriya Shiksha Aayog (RSA) — a new constitutional body which would be controlling almost all aspects of education including regulatory and governance aspects. Each state will setup its own RSA which would then be controlled by the RSA at the Centre. School education regulation would be with the state education commissions, controlled by the national education commission which is the overarching body. These state education commissions do not appear to be autonomous bodies and are tightly controlled by the RSA. This could prove to be a constitutional hurdle since education appears in the concurrent list with states having significant decision-making powers. The policy document proposes to constitute RSA through an act in Parliament and if RSA is to have the powers mentioned in the document it has to have an impact on the ‘concurrent’ nature of legislation on education. It would also be interesting to see how a centralised governance system could remain light and tight. The proposed regulatory bodies report to the RSA, which also has multiple standing committees, and another Joint Review and Monitoring Board (JRMB).</div>
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Changing(?) Ideas on Affirmative Action?</div>
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Autonomy in higher education is a frequent demand from several quarters. Various groups call for greater autonomy for different reasons. The presence of a large and powerful body under RSA — National Higher Education Regulatory Authority (NHERA) with the sole responsibility of regulating higher education, and National Research Foundation that could potentially call the shots on what to research and what not to — we are looking at a potentially not-so-autonomous higher education. While things appear that way when it comes to day-to-day educational activities, private institutions seem to enjoy autonomy in terms of admission and fee structure. In terms of admission, they are not bound to abide by the existing reservation norms based on caste groups and the only criterion seem to be with respect to the economic status of the family. Private institutions are free to decide their fee</div>
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while providing scholarships based on, again, the income status. With the potential of seeing an increase in participation of the private sector (Shankar 2016) in education, this autonomy could prove detrimental to the caste groups — SCs, STs and OBCs in particular. Given that GER further declines when we consider caste groups, this could have a negative impact on inclusivity and could potentially undo the positives we might achieve as part of ECCE.</div>
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Casteism and Secularism — Glaring Omissions?</div>
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Implicit endorsement of an economic basis for affirmative action is diagonally opposite to what the Constitution envisioned while talking about a social revolution that would bring about an inclusive society. Talking about the Constitution, one cannot ignore the fact that DNEP document does not invoke secularism even while talking about constitutional principles. There is a mention about patriarchy and racism (Committee for DNEP 2019) as social issues which would be discussed in the curriculum, but casteism fails to make an entry into the document. One could argue that these are not intentional and a mention of a broad spectrum of values could cover these; but talking about inclusive education without the mention of caste and religion is as meaningless as it can get, especially in the Indian context. Given the controversies we have had over NCERT text books, specifically in the recent past (TheWire, March18,2019), the apprehensions over certain omissions are justified.</div>
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Great Vision, but…</div>
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The 480-page long document is a significant effort and a lot of suggestions have the potential to transform the education sector for good. However, the power of RSA and the potential it has to encroach on the autonomy of institutions could sound as a warning. On one hand, we talk of autonomy, yet NRF could still dictate terms on research topics. The concept of topics of national interest could be further interpreted by these authorities in a way that suits the aspirations of a political regime. The idea of a liberal education could become real only when educational institutions could enjoy greater autonomy. Breaking down the entry barrier is the way to increase inclusivity, but we cannot get there by ignoring social disparities which are largely at play (Shankar 2016). RSA’s potential to override the federal nature of education- related legislation is also a worrying sign. These sections would require a rethink keeping the constitutional provisions in mind, if we were to achieve the goals stated in this omnibus.</div>
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<b><i>(Rajesh K P was a Research Intern at Centre for Public Policy Research. Views expressed by the author is personal and need not reflect or represent the views of Centre for Public Policy Research)</i></b></div>
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References</div>
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1. Committee for DNEP. 2019. Draft National Education Policy. New Delhi: Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India.</div>
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2. NCERT to drop chapters on caste struggles, colonialism from class 9 history book. 2019. The Wire, 18 March. Accessed on 19 March 2019 at https://thewire.in/education/ncert-history-textbook-caste-struggles-colonialsm.</div>
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3. Shankar, Apoorva. 2016. Role of private sector in higher education. PRS Legislative Research. January. https://www.prsindia.org/policy/discussion-papers/role-private-sector-higher-</div>
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Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19413018.post-25961075480119454352019-09-16T19:12:00.001+05:302019-09-16T19:12:36.347+05:30India and IPRs Laws<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b><i>By Ayush Kukreja,</i></b></div>
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Copyrights, trademarks, patents, etc are terms which are often non-synonymous with economic significance and put away as indifferent to the facets of micro and macro trade. It suffices to attach the notion of ‘proprietorship’ and hence the meaning of ‘intellectual property rights’ is lost. Intellectual property rights (IPRs) basically refer to industrial and copyright laws. Industrial laws can be further broken down into trademarks, patents, industrial designs and geographical indications. While copyright laws are mostly restricted to the entertainment industry, we lay specific significance to industrial laws because they bear the most relevance for the economy.</div>
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Amidst the crippling trade war between the US and China, IPRs should be given more importance now than ever. India seems to be the next target of the US conglomerates, who cannot stand the 5th largest GDP churning country free riding the tariff benefits it enjoys. India stands at 36th rank out of 45 countries when it comes to the protection of IPRs and this explains the lack of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), investments in Research and Development (R&amp;D) or technology transfers into the country. The year 2018 saw India at 43rd position and the renewed ranking seems definitely promising, but it was the result of the delayed effects of the one and only policy on IPRs implemented by the Indian government in 2016. It lays the bare minimum standards for IPRs implementation in India under the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) TRIPS agreement and ensures fast track procedures for startups and legislative issues.</div>
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On the surface, all this promises optimism and reform in the “Ease of doing business” index for India but the country has bigger issues in the field of healthcare to deal with, which is where the IPRs agreements and norms allow “developing countries” like India some leeway for cheaper alternatives. Methods such as ‘compulsory licensing’ and ‘ever greening’ legally allow India to manufacture drugs at highly subsidised costs. This trendsetting activity by India has made several big pharmaceuticals take the matter to the courts where India has always courted the matter in its favour. The recent Pepsico Lays vs Gujarat farmers’ case is not just all about infringement of IPRs on the grounds of genetically modified potato seeds but also casts a moral shadow over the ethics of conducting business and agriculture. Regardless, there remains an unquestionable stance on the lack of public-private partnerships. Government interests never coincide with corporates and nobody seems to be least bothered about investing in India.</div>
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TRIPS Agreement saw the shift in India’s policy from ‘process-patents’ to ‘product-patents’ which was a huge transitional move away from the reverse engineering technique which the Indian manufactures would apply to get to the product without putting brains into it. There seems to be substantial upliftment in the R&amp;D sector, but the lack of other forms of investments has hindered the incentive generation process. Returns on borrowing money from the banks are usually higher and have a short-time window. One dollar invested through venture capital channels certainly bears more outputs than one dollar invested in the R&amp;D sector. Labour, capital and manufacturing are no longer the driving forces of the economy and this is the realisation India needs to have. Innovation and entrepreneurship should be the primary objective initiatives likes ‘Make in India’ and ‘Startup India’ need to devise. Globalisation as a blanket force, undeniably requires a “keeping up with the trends” strategy which Japan’s software industry failed to realise in the 90s and was forced to copy IBM illegally, following which the FBI’s probe sent the Japanese economy for a major setback.</div>
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WTO rules need to be complied with formal measures and India cannot make its membership value vulnerable to threats. US Chamber of Commerce ranks countries taking into account six indicators: patents, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, market access, enforcement and ratification of international treaties. The infrastructure required to enforce all this is already in the pipeline but pragmatic shifts in the nature of bilateral and multilateral agreements made by India in the arena of technology transfers will bear serious answers to the problems we are faced with. A storm of ‘intellectual’ wars awaits if India fails to realise the gravity of the situation.</div>
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<b><i>(Ayush Kukreja was a Research Intern at Centre for Public Policy Research. Views expressed by the author is personal and need not reflect or represent the views of Centre for Public Policy Research)</i></b></div>
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Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19413018.post-82691794833520507032019-09-16T19:06:00.001+05:302019-09-16T19:06:17.741+05:30Green Bonds for Sustainable Development<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b><i>By Puja Meiyammai S,</i></b></div>
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<i>(Image source: </i><span style="text-align: left;"><i>Smart Prosperity Institute)</i></span></div>
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What are green bonds? How can they tackle major environmental issues faced by India and save the environment for the future generation?</div>
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In the early years, institutions like banks and non-banking sectors financed environmental projects. However, a huge investment requirement for these projects made it financially unviable. Thus, the concept of green bonds came into existence to keep these projects on track.</div>
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Green bonds are fixed income financial instruments that are lined up in the process of promoting and implementing climate change and environmental solutions. The funds are raised by issuing bonds to investors who are interested in financing green projects. The green bonds assure the investors of prompt repayment of the amount that is borrowed by remunerating them with either fixed or variable rate of return. Second, they create positive public relations and help in diversification of investors.</div>
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The green bond market in India has been flourishing for the past three years. It came to existence in 2015 when YES Bank issued the bond for solar and wind energy projects with an amount of $1.1 billion. The green bonds issued in India are certified by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Following this, in January 2016 SEBI announced the official green bond requirements for India and made it the second country to establish a national-level guideline plan next to China. Successively, a circular containing disclosure norms was sent out with all the information about the issuance and listing of green bonds in India.</div>
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In the Union Budget session of 2018, it was proposed that only A-rated green bonds are to be accepted for investment and not AAA-rated bonds. This was to help the corporate bond market expand further as green bonds are sub-sets of corporate bonds. As of 2019, India holds 8th position in the green bond market with a market value of $7 billion. India has announced a target of 175 gigawatts of renewable energy capacity that is to be achieved by 2020 and currently we have only 30 gigawatts. In order to achieve this target, India will need a large amount of money. Additionally, since we are a developing economy we need to be careful in selecting investors, especially in the backdrop of the USA recently withdrawing from the UNFCCC Paris agreement. Due to this exit, pressure on the developing economies has increased as now they would not be able to get investors from the USA, which forces them to find more domestic investors to increase the source of funds. In order to be successful in finding domestic investors, India needs to overcome the barriers like lack of proper measures for this nascent financial instrument, consider diversification of sectors and try to include national institutions, as till date only state and state-owned institutions are the issuers of green bonds. Also, it should come up with new ideas to attract more domestic investors. After rectification or overcoming these barriers, India would be able to use these bonds to tap more resources and use them wisely than the other developing economies with properly equipped technologies.</div>
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<b><i>(Puja Meiyammai S was a Research Intern at Centre for Public Policy Research. Views expressed by the author is personal and need not reflect or represent the views of Centre for Public Policy Research)</i></b></div>
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Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19413018.post-52489318608336771102019-08-28T18:19:00.000+05:302019-09-03T18:20:39.209+05:30TRIPS Agreement and Challenges<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i>Image source: ictsd.org</i></div>
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<b><i>By K A Dhananjay,</i></b></div>
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Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement is a framework which brought a unified Intellectual Property standard across the globe. It is a complementary standard to the existing WTO regime, and tries to accommodate GATT principles in its text. Now, what does TRIPS protect? TRIPS protects copyright and related rights (i.e., the rights of performers, producers of sound recordings and broadcasting organisations); trademarks including service marks, Geographical Indication (G.I), industrial designs; patents including the protection of new varieties of plants, layout-designs of integrated circuits, trade secrets and test data.</div>
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When we talk about the legal aspects of TRIPS, it is necessary that we go by the fundamentals. TRIPS has two main pillars — Most Favoured Nation (MFN) principle and National Treatment principle. MFN principle states that there shall be no discrimination and reciprocity shall be binding in trade. It is rather a status given by a country to another country under a condition that the country will provide certain concessions, privileges and immunity in trade agreements. However, it allows for exceptions — preferential trade agreements and regional free trade agreements. On the other hand, National Treatment principle moots no discrimination between foreign and domestic products. It is one of the guiding principles of the TRIPS Agreement and reiterates the position taken by its complementary predecessor, GAAT.</div>
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Legally, there are many challenges to the Agreement. However, four are very pertinent to the current trends in Intellectual Property Law per se. They are: How can intellectual persona be acknowledged as a property? Where does traditional property stand? How can Article 23 (Additional Protection for Geographical Indications for Wines and Spirits) be revamped? and Where does compulsory licensing stand in TRIPS and Is it feasible?</div>
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Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) are a new area of law which is booming across the world. Yet, intellectual property has been a debatable issue in itself. Many scholars believe that manifestations of the brain, and its allied organs though which fruitful inventions unravel, cannot be subject to law. Intellectual capacity of an individual cannot be stored or secured, rather it can only be parted, which again is disputed through IPRs. Even though it incentivises new innovations, intellectual property cannot be ascertained as a ‘property’. Left aligned thinkers and critics of IPRs and subsequently TRIPS, view IPRs as a colonial idea of aggrandising their imperial exploits through their ‘home-grown’ products over indigenous ones and a capitalist measure to outpower substitutes, mainly through excessive lobby. Hence, the very existence of TRIPS itself has a challenge, which is very objective and cannot be easily mitigated.</div>
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Another issue is traditional property. There are two concerns which are mainly debated under this heading and they are inappropriate patenting and biopiracy. Inappropriate patenting has been a real menace to curb. It involves claimed invention that is not new or does not involve an “inventive step”. This leads to complications as to the origin of the invention as well as its holder. On the other hand, biopiracy has been an ‘unequal’ step to degrade traditional indigenous knowledge belonging to certain ethnic communities. Biopiracy includes the unauthorised use of genetic resources or traditional knowledge (as laid down in the international treaty on biodiversity) without the permission of the countries or communities considered to be the rightful owners. This makes the livelihood of many ethnic communities at stake, given the outpowering tenacity of big corporations. This needs to be seriously addressed.</div>
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TRIPS Agreement does not characterise goods and articles in separate concentrations, yet Article 23 is a spot to critique. Article 23 of TRIPS Agreement gives additional protection for GI tag of wines and spirits, but draws flak for not characterising other products and articles. This is discriminating tons of products which are GI protected but do not get sufficient protection as wines and spirits do.</div>
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Next comes the most controversial debate on TRIPS — compulsory licensing. Compulsory licensing happens when the authorities license companies or individuals other than the patent owner to use the rights of the patent — to make, use, sell or import a product under patent without the permission of the patent owner. This has been protected by TRIPS and is mainly discussed in terms of medicine exports. However, compulsory licensing is only applicable to domestic markets and not to international markets. This makes it tough for poorer countries to obtain cheaper generic versions of patented medicines by setting aside a provision of the TRIPS Agreement (Article 31(f)), which could hinder exports of pharmaceuticals manufactured under compulsory licences to countries that are unable to produce them. There were many waivers to this effect, yet nothing was done to amend TRIPS. Even at times of amendment, many developed countries did not agree to it due to the powerful lobby existing in their domestic markets.</div>
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In conclusion, these challenges are very concerning due to the growing aspects of TRIPS and IPRs laws. Traditional knowledge can be protected by amending TRIPS Agreement in such a way that patent applicants are required to disclose the origin of genetic resources and any traditional knowledge used in the inventions. Governments can create a database so that communities will be provided with extra access and protection. Strict domestic laws should also be introduced to address the issue. As to giving separate protection for wines and spirits, Article 23 can be amended and be inclusive in accommodating other products as well. The best way could be to differentiate various products and characterise them with subheadings. In the case of compulsory licensing, an amendment would be a good initiative to end the deadlock — providing countries with better generic medicines at times of epidemic or a spurt in diseases. The members of TRIPS should also stop creating Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreements, which defeat the purpose of TRIPS and rather create a framework within the agreement so that better accountability is achieved. Hence, with the TRIPS Agreement facing these legal challenges, it would be the right time to seek consensus and decide the fate of intellectual property.</div>
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<b><i>(K A Dhananjay was a Research Intern at Centre for Public Policy Research. Views expressed by the author is personal and need not reflect or represent the views of Centre for Public Policy Research)</i></b></div>
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Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19413018.post-27042171746432049602019-08-26T16:24:00.000+05:302019-09-03T16:34:09.629+05:30Refugee Resettlement: Humanitarian Governance vs the Politics of Refugee Protection<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b><i>By Jacob Thamarapally</i></b></div>
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The term ‘Refugee’ is one that is often misrepresented in political discourse. As per the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), a refugee is a person fleeing armed conflict or persecution. The situation in this person’s country of origin is often so perilous and intolerable that they cross national borders to seek safety in nearby countries. These people have a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in a particular group. As per this definition, there are currently more than 21.3 million refugees worldwide. Out of these, more than 1.4 million refugees need resettlement right now. These refugees still in need of resettlement mostly come from Syria. In fact, two-thirds of all refugees come from just five countries: Syria, Afghanistan, South Sudan, Myanmar and Somalia.</div>
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Although all countries are obligated by the UNHCR to take in refugees seeking asylum, in reality, the distribution of refugees is highly skewed. The countries that host the most number of refugees are Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon, Pakistan and Uganda. It is also interesting to note that 80 per cent of all refugees are hosted in developing regions, and a third of all refugees, i.e. 6.7 million people are hosted by the world’s poorest countries. Only 16 per cent of all refugees are settled in Europe. Once a refugee is resettled, the status provided by the resettlement state ensures protection against refoulment and provides a resettled refugee and his or her family with access to civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights similar to those enjoyed by nationals.</div>
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The rights that refugees are entitled to today came about as a result of the 1951 Refugee Convention. The Convention clearly spelt out who a refugee is, and what kind of legal protection and other assistance and social rights he or she should receive from the countries who have signed the document. Initially, it focused mainly on European countries, but the 1967 protocol expanded the scope of the Convention. As of July 2014, there were 145 parties to the Convention and 146 for the Protocol. It should be noted that several groups have built upon the 1951 Convention to create more objective definitions. For instance, the Cartagena Declaration was signed by 14 Latin American countries, which broadened the definition of who a refugee is.</div>
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The equal intake of refugees by different countries is an important part of the refugee resettlement and the resolution of the refugee problem. Common policy in the field of asylum, migration and borders should be based on solidarity and fair sharing of responsibility including its financial implications and closer practical co-operation among member states. According to Astri Suhrke, a researcher at Michelsen Institute, refugee protection has important public good characteristics. A public good is a good that is non-excludable and non-rivalrous; for instance, the air we breathe. She argues that the increased security that comes from refugee resettlement can be regarded as the principal (non-excludable and non-rival benefit), as accommodation of displaced persons can be expected to reduce the risk of them fuelling and spreading the conflict they are fleeing from. However, this makes it possible for free riding to occur; i.e., some countries might benefit from other countries taking in refugees, despite not taking in any themselves.</div>
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However, Suhrke has further expanded the scope of her model arguing that refugee protection provides a spectrum of outputs ranging from purely public to private or country-specific outputs. What is often regarded as a public good has, in fact, excludable (private) benefits to a country. “The joint product model” suggests that a country’s contributions to the provision of refugee protection (with its public and private characteristics) will be positively related to the proportion of excludable benefits occurring to that country. Thus, a market-based sharing mechanism needs to be explored further and that such market-driven policies when combined with policy harmonisation and quota-based initiatives are likely to contribute to a more equitable, efficient and effective refugee burden-sharing system.</div>
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However, with the rise of right-wing populism in many European countries, the unequal intake of refugees from these countries has been especially prominent. While local conflicts involving newly arrived refugees break out in European countries, many commentators jump to a declaration of an existential threat to Europe. This erases the fact that Europe has long been a secular continent and moreover, Europeans in the past have been one of the largest populations of economic migrants.</div>
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<b>(<span style="text-align: left;">Jacob Thamarapally</span> was a Research Intern at Centre for Public Policy Research. Views expressed by the author is personal and need not reflect or represent the views of Centre for Public Policy Research)</b></div>
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Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19413018.post-19971629649750132932019-08-16T14:01:00.000+05:302019-08-16T14:52:56.370+05:30Strengthening India’s Bond Market<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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The bond market in India is still not completely developed, even after several committees being formed throughout the years to augment the bond market. This means that the bond market is unable to share the credit burden that the banking system in India is currently facing. Since there is an absence of a well functioning bond market in the country, it is the banks and the government that take on the task of financing infrastructural projects like roads, airports, bridges and ports. This puts the banks under pressure, since they are buying into long-term assets such as bridges or highways that have a long gestation period, while they entertain short-term liabilities such as deposits of 3–5 years. This invariably creates an asset liability mismatch. This in turn leads to inefficient resource allocations on the banks’ part and ultimately weakens their balance sheet. This pressure, then, is reflected in the increase in bad loans among the banks. This whole scenario is part of the Twin Balance Sheet problem prevailing in the country, where, on one side, the companies are weighed down by high debt, and on the other, the balance sheets of PSU banks are weakened because of alarmingly high bad loans in the form of non-performing assets (NPAs), eventually causing a slowdown in the credit cycle.</div>
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It is not that companies have not tried resorting to non-bank sources of financing such as External Commercial Borrowings (ECBs), Commercial Papers (CPs), and so on. India’s share of non-bank credit to total new debt did rise from around 20 per cent in 2015 to 53 per cent in 2016. Prior to 2012, most of the non-bank credit came from ECBs. But after the rupee depreciated and weakened, the source of financing was shifted to CPs. Commercial Papers are not a long-term source of financing, but rather a short-term source, and so, Corporate Bonds were determined to be the most suitable source of long-term financing for projects with long gestation periods. Therefore, the bond market in India should be strong enough to be a source of long-term financing. But what exactly are corporate bonds? Corporate Bonds are a form of debt financing. They are debt securities issued by both private and public corporations as a major source of capital. But, for a company to be able to issue corporate bond at a reasonable and favourable enough coupon rate, it has to have some sort of consistent earnings potential. Each company has a credit rating attached to it. If a company’s rating is high (BBB or higher), then the bond issued by it is an investment grade corporate bond. These bonds are deemed less likely to default and therefore will fetch the investors a lower interest rate as compared to high yield bonds with lower credit ratings (BB or lower), as they carry a higher risk of defaulting, but have the potential for higher income.</div>
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The Indian corporate bond market has failed to take off due to the fact that, for years, the investor base in the corporate bond market just included banks, insurance companies, pension retirement funds and mutual funds. And most of these investors do not trade in corporate bonds, but rather hold them until maturity resulting in very little liquidity in the market. Also,most of the corporate bonds issued by the companies are issued through the private placement route, which means that they are privately paced with a select few investors rather than through a public issue in India. This is mainly done to save time and because it involves fewer disclosures and low costs of issuance, and is much faster as compared to issuing it publicly. This ultimately does nothing to strengthen the bond market as bonds are being issued through private routes. Several measures have been taken over the years in an attempt to amp up the bond market in India. In 2016, RBI made it mandatory for large companies to raise at least 25 per cent of their fresh borrowings from the bond market and also companies those plan to debt finance over Rs 200 crore to execute it on an electronic platform to ensure transparency. It was also made clear that there is a need for bonds to be acquired easily, either with foreign investors being allowed to trade directly without involving brokers or maybe with retail investors encouraged to trade more in the bond market. Another way to expand the market was to increase the liquidity prevailing in trading in bonds by allowing brokers to take part in the bond repo market. Banks were also encouraged to issue new bonds, such as masala bonds to increase the size of the market and the volume of trading in the market. Banks were also suggested to be roped in to ensure the bonds were made less risky by extending the Partial Credit Enhancement (PCE) scheme which allowed the banks to extend a line of credit along with an issue of a bond, so that companies can meet commitment in case they are not able to meet interest payments. But there are a few conditions set in order to extend this facility, such as the bond rating should already be a BBB minus or better in order to be eligible, and that the total PCE cannot exceed 50 per cent of the issue size of the bond. The</div>
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main aim of PCE is to eventually reduce risk and enhance the overall rating of the corporate bond.</div>
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The 2019 Budget too included mentions about measures to deepen the Indian corporate bond market and to increase the depth of the secondary bond market in order to help it function better. Nirmala Sitharaman has stated that the Central Government would be working with RBI and SEBI to allow AA rated bonds to be eligible to be considered as collateral in the RBI under its Liquidity Adjustment Facility (LAF), a monetary tool, especially overnight operations, as risks would be minimal. This will in turn ensure there is higher liquidity in the market. She also announced that a Credit Guarantee Enhancement Corporation will soon be set up this year to further deepen the bond market. Whether these measures, announced as a part of the current budget, will be different from the ones made in the previous budgets which were consequently faced with lukewarm responses can only be witnessed as the year progresses.</div>
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<b><i>(Pavithra Manoj was a Research Intern at Centre for Public Policy Research. Views expressed by the author is personal and need not reflect or represent the views of Centre for Public Policy Research)</i></b></div>
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Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19413018.post-80514926402507134582019-08-13T13:25:00.001+05:302019-08-13T13:27:34.797+05:30Can Strict Laws Rein in Social Media during Polls?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-x7lw5hJW0uY/XVJsLII6XvI/AAAAAAAABo8/mClr2RLEBIcnakfP-qXLYfHaXT5RDYcPwCLcBGAs/s1600/Social-Media-560x416.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="416" data-original-width="560" height="237" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-x7lw5hJW0uY/XVJsLII6XvI/AAAAAAAABo8/mClr2RLEBIcnakfP-qXLYfHaXT5RDYcPwCLcBGAs/s320/Social-Media-560x416.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<i>(Image Source: </i>theasiadialogue.com)</div>
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<b><i>By Deepit Mudaliar,</i></b></div>
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In India, there are nearly 400 million Internet users who are easily accessible to the political party campaigners through Facebook and WhatsApp. There is a huge potential for social media to alter the course of election campaigns. A sensational content stirs the mind and can help false news spread in no time.</div>
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Even a minor swing of over two per cent is enough to influence the electoral outcome. The recently held general elections were greatly influenced by the use of social media during campaigning. The Election Commission (EC) of India had to dig deep into the existing legislations to provide for adequate measures to control and prevent the misuse of the medium.</div>
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Social media as a tool of empowerment has been used by major political parties who have unleashed media campaigns all over the world. For example, Donald Trump’s controversial but highly effective digital campaign for the 2016 presidential elections. The BJP’s social media election campaign in 2014 swayed the youth, mostly first-time voters in the age group of 18–23 and comprising around 150 million voters. This had a direct effect on nearly 40 per cent of the seats in the 2014 elections and more than 60 per cent in the 2019 elections.</div>
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Social media is extensively used as a hate tool for circulating videos and fake manufactured news items. The Dadri mob lynching in 2015 is a sad example of how social media was used to instigate hate.</div>
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Two international events worth mentioning are the manipulative techniques used through WhatsApp for targeting opponents and supporting the presidential candidate in Brazil and the Russian government interference in the US presidential elections of 2016.</div>
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In India, the EC has certain legislations to curb the ill-effects of social media. The Information Technology Act, 2000 is the primary law dealing with cybercrime and e-commerce. Some controversial sections of the Act, like the Section 66A which prescribes punishment for sending offensive messages, was found to be unconstitutional and repealed in 2016. Section 69 of the Act gave -authorities the power of interception, monitoring or decryption of any information through any computer resource. While this is seen as a violation of the fundamental right to privacy by some, the Ministry of Home Affairs has claimed its validity on the grounds of national security. Implementation aspects of this act are still unclear, especially handling end-to-end encryption and decryption at device level in WhatsApp and Blackberry messages. A draft amendment has been issued by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and is being evaluated.</div>
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The National Cyber Security Policy of 2013 aims at creating a secure computing environment for electronic transactions, for protecting the public and private infrastructure from cyber-attacks and safeguard personal, financial and banking information. It also encourages wider usage of Public Key</div>
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Infrastructure (PKI) for trusted communication and transactions. However, there is no mechanism yet in place for obtaining strategic information regarding threats to the infrastructure. There is no development on public- private partnerships and on greater civil-military cooperation. Cyber security,</div>
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privacy and civil rights are not clearly dealt with within the policy framework. Data collection and processing procedures too are not clearly mentioned. A well-crafted, long-term cyber security policy is a critical part of Indian electioneering.</div>
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The EC should also address the issue of re-designating its election infrastructure to “critical information infrastructure” (CII) under the Information Technology Act, 2000. This will also help enable regular coordination between the national security establishment and the cyber security advisories.</div>
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The poll body did begin well in dealing with the social media at the onset of the Lok Sabha election campaigning. It insisted pre-certification for any political advisory during the campaign duration and published a social media code of ethics in consultation with top social media companies like Google, Facebook and Twitter for the elections. It also launched a smartphone app cVIGIL to capture code of conduct. Yet, major challenges like monitoring fake news in local languages and dealing with the overwhelming number of social media users remain. Even if the EC had taken enough measures to curb social media usage, a sudden burst of inflammatory messages over a matter of a week</div>
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would have been difficult to restrict considering the sheer volume (200 million WhatsApp users).</div>
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The EC as well as other regulatory bodies will have to adopt the use of some superior artificial intelligence-based technology where detection and intervention is much faster and effective. Also, for the proper implementation of the Cyber Security Policy, the gaps should be identified first and filled in a timely manner. The existing Information Technology Act, 2000 and the National Cyber Security Policy, 2013 need to be reviewed for the provisions, their sufficiency and relevance with rapidly changing technology.</div>
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Technology is only set to improve, and along with it come challenges and threats. The need to keep a constant check, proper security measures and strengthening the legislations must be a continuous process for the sake of a healthy democracy and a robust election mechanism.</div>
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<b><i>(Deepit Mudaliar was a Research Intern at Centre for Public Policy Research. Views expressed by the author is personal and need not reflect or represent the views of Centre for Public Policy Research)</i></b></div>
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<b>References</b></div>
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1. Tikku, Aloke. September 2016. SC scrapped it, but thousands held last year under dead cyber law. https://wwww.hindustantimes.com/india- news/despite-sc-order-thousands-booked-under-scrapped-section-66a- of-it-act/.</div>
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2. Patil, Sameer. 18 April2019. The cyber security imperative for India’s elections.https://www.gatewayhouse.in/cyber-security-india-election/.</div>
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3. Nalon, Tai. 1 November 2018. Did WhatsApp help Bolsonaro win the Brazilian presidency?</div>
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/theworldpost/wp/2018/11/01/whatsapp-2/.</div>
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4. Alarming lessons from Facebook&#39;s push to stop fake news in India. May 2019. https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/internet/alarming- lessons-from-facebooks-push-to-stop-fake-news-in-india/.</div>
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5. Comments/suggestions invited on Draft of “The Information Technology [Intermediary Guidelines (Amendment) Rules]. 2018. https://www.meity.gov.in/content/comments-suggestions-invited-draft-</div>
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%E2%80%9C-information-technology-intermediary-guidelines.</div>
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Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19413018.post-10168859366887992142019-07-29T17:33:00.001+05:302019-07-29T17:33:12.917+05:30More Investments the Way Forward for Agriculture?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b><i>By Sivakami Prasanna,</i></b></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-waRbdTyl-Ww/XT7gS0jKTZI/AAAAAAAABlY/AhRoqAJiUgEaf8VTGmRnSx_xaEkHyUZewCLcBGAs/s1600/1490351438_A9JWRh_tractor-shutterstock.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="470" data-original-width="870" height="172" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-waRbdTyl-Ww/XT7gS0jKTZI/AAAAAAAABlY/AhRoqAJiUgEaf8VTGmRnSx_xaEkHyUZewCLcBGAs/s320/1490351438_A9JWRh_tractor-shutterstock.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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(<i>Image source:</i> Business World)</div>
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At the time of India’s independence subsidies were necessary as they were important for the small and marginal farmers to access inputs and to encourage them to adopt new technology. But now subsidies are slowly outliving their utility. Subsidies given to the agricultural sector of India have increased from `50,440 crores in 2000 to `1,08,682 crores in 2010. Total subsidies that were given to the agricultural sector in the year 2018 was `57,600 crores.</div>
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The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare is divided into three departments and in 2018 the grants were divided as following:</div>
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1. Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare: 81 per cent</div>
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2. Agricultural Research and Education: 14 per cent</div>
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3. Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries: 5 per cent</div>
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While 81 per cent of the grants go for providing agricultural subsidies, only 14 per cent are allocated for investments in agricultural research. Subsidies have progressively increased from 2.8 per cent in 1980–81 to 8 per cent in 2014–15. But many times they have not served their purpose; often mistargeted or not implemented properly and biased towards certain crops and regions. They also</div>
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distort trade and damage fiscal budget by pushing up revenue and fiscal deficit.</div>
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Investment in agriculture can come as private investment, public investment and foreign direct investment. While private investment can be done by rich farmers, poor farmers lose out on the benefit of investment which increases the already existing gap between the rich and poor farmers.</div>
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Investments in agriculture have reduced to 2.2 per cent in 2014–15 from 3.9 per cent in 1980–81. The major areas in agriculture where we can increase investment are irrigation, fertilizers, research and development, post-harvest management, rural infrastructure and communication.</div>
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<b>India’s Sugarcane Industry</b></div>
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India produced 32 million tonnes of sugar in the year 2017–18, which was more than the quantity the domestic industry and the foreign market demanded. The industry is provided with transport, export and input subsidies. The minimum support price ensured for sugarcane by India is also higher than the international prices. The transport, freight and handling charges would also be reimbursed.</div>
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The sugarcane industry is a good example of the negative impact of subsidies in the market and government’s inclination to take decisions that are affected by populism rather than the sustainability of these decisions. Our subsidy policies have led to a ‘glut’ in production. While the steps taken by the government might guarantee temporary respite to the sugarcane farmers, it may have</div>
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disastrous consequences in the future.</div>
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<b>Comparative Analysis of Investments and Subsidies</b></div>
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Analysing the following,</div>
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1. The money being progressively spend on investments and subsidies</div>
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2. The impact of these subsidies and investments</div>
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3. A comparison of the returns given by investments and subsidies</div>
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we come to the conclusion that investments are much more effective than subsidies and this is because of the following reasons.</div>
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1. Investments are made directly; this ensures the elimination of any intermediaries. There is a better targeting of the beneficiaries.</div>
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2. Small and marginal farmers who do not have the capital for investment solely depend on government investment. Large scale expenditures on dams and multi-purpose projects are a good example.</div>
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3. Investing in communication, transportation and post-harvest management will ensure a higher profit and lower cost of production.</div>
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4. Investments are a sustainable solution. They are long-term solutions unlike subsidies, which are short term and only a part of the solution.</div>
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Green revolution’s success reflects a period when the government focused on the importance of both subsidies and investments. Green revolution practised selective investment. At the time of green revolution, public expenditure in agricultural research in 1964 was 1.64 billion. There was an average annual growth rate of 5.8 per cent in 1995 prices to 7.1 billion in 1990.</div>
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As a percentage of total agricultural expenditure, agricultural research and development was about 0.21 per cent in 1964 which was increased to 0.50 per cent in 1987.</div>
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The construction of dams, multi-purpose projects and expenditure in rural health, education and infrastructure during the initial years of independence helped India in achieving self-reliance in the production of crops. This was accompanied by high yielding variety seeds, fertilizers and other inputs at a lower price. Minimum support price further increased the farmers’ confidence to cultivate.</div>
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Thus, it can be concluded that the returns from investment in agriculture are much more than the subsidies. Subsidies are necessary in the initial phase of a country’s development and once the targeted growth is achieved, these needs have to be phased out. However, in a country like India subsidy becomes an increasingly politically sensitive issue. The government finds it impossible to</div>
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phase them out. Also, subsidies need to be rationalised and the excess money has to be allocated by the government to investment expenditure within the agricultural sector.</div>
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The government has to start phasing out input subsidies slowly and there should be a blending of both investments and subsidies. They need to balance and complement each other for the best possible returns. Also, the criteria for granting subsidies have to be tightened based on the income group, social group and region.</div>
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The subsidies that remain will have to be targeted properly and the leakages that exist should also be minimised. There is a need to draw a line that separates economic decisions from political decisions. Only then can we focus on policies of investment that are sustainable and effective in the long run.</div>
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<b><i>(</i></b><b><i>Sivakami Prasanna</i></b><b><i> is Research Intern at Centre for Public Policy Research. Views expressed by the author is personal and need not reflect or represent the views of Centre for Public Policy Research)</i></b></div>
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Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19413018.post-14696021370036530252019-07-29T15:36:00.002+05:302019-07-29T16:20:46.513+05:30Promoting Electric Vehicles — Are We Doing Enough?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b><i>by Rajesh K P,</i></b></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lmhVwEO6LNU/XT7EARKphzI/AAAAAAAABlA/R2MT4ZRHBOoUY2365r0UijcSnhHbwhgYgCLcBGAs/s1600/rafbilar002-e1559920967945.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="683" data-original-width="1024" height="213" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lmhVwEO6LNU/XT7EARKphzI/AAAAAAAABlA/R2MT4ZRHBOoUY2365r0UijcSnhHbwhgYgCLcBGAs/s320/rafbilar002-e1559920967945.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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(<i>Image source:</i> icelandreview.com)</div>
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India is home to 14 of the 20 most polluted cities in the world, and given the role of pollution caused by vehicles, there is a greater emphasis on moving to green energy sources. Electric vehicles are seen as a sustainable alternative to the traditional vehicles which rely on fossil fuels. Indian policy on electric vehicles targets the introduction of such vehicles in most commonly used means of transportation. Based on 2016 data, 79 per cent of vehicles on Indian roads are two wheelers (NITI Aayog 2018). Three wheelers, trucks and buses take up another 7 per cent. Most of the advanced technologies in electric vehicles are available in premium cars segment (cars priced over `10 lakhs and above), which is only 2 per cent of the total vehicle population. India’s Electric Vehicle policy aims at developing technology to suit two-wheeler and three-wheeler segments, which addresses a significant portion of India’s transportation needs, so that India could play the role of technology leader in this segment as well as reduce its own emission levels. Government has launched a scheme called FAME (Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles) which promotes purchase of electric vehicles by providing incentives. There is also a proposed import duty on electric vehicles to promote manufacturing these under the “Make in India” programme. There is also a plan to improve the charging infrastructure across the country, the target of that being a charging station every 25 kms.</div>
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Kerala’s electric vehicle policy also aims at providing shared transportation and clean mobility. Kerala State Road Transport Corporation(KSRTC) will start employing electric vehicles in a move to save operational cost besides reducing emissions. There is also a goal of achieving manufacturing capability within the state especially in this segment and a plan of moving the entire fleet of KSRTC to Electric Vehicles by 2025 (Government of Kerala 2017). State is targeting to adopt battery packs that could last 50 kms and is also looking at adopting ‘docker’ charging setup which would recharge the battery automatically, every time a bus returns to the bus station.The state is targeting to have a million electric vehicles by 2022 and is aiming to have a pilot fleet of 200,000 two wheelers by end of 2020. Kerala’s policy also looks at developing centres of excellence in the state which would work on developing technology to cater to the local demands as well as global ones. State is trying to use its startup ecosystem to further boost the skill development. KSRTC has already started the service of electric vehicles on a trial basis as of now. </div>
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National budget for the year 2019–20 comes up with multiple proposals to promote usage of electric vehicles. True to the ‘nudge’ aspect mentioned in economic survey, budget proposes a tax exemption of 1.5 lakhs for individuals on purchasing electric vehicles. This might potentially nullify the emphasis on using public transport. However, the idea of switching over to renewable energy sources is a welcome move. One of the major concerns India has with respect to electric vehicle mobility is the charging infrastructure. Green Energy Corridor scheme is aiming to provide this infrastructure. This scheme was launched by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy in 2015. Budgetary allocation for this scheme has remained static at `500 crore and given the targets we are trying to achieve, this may not be adequate (CBGA 2019).</div>
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Manufacturing electric vehicles was given a push through incentives and subsidies under FAME India. Current market share of electric car stands at 0.06 percentage of the total and this indicates that the scheme has not had the success we expected it to have. Once we move our road transport to predominantly electric vehicles, we should also ensure that adequate amount of power is generated via renewable sources. However, the share of renewables in power generation stands at 7.8 per cent, which is another cause for concern (CBGA 2019). A long-term policy in this regard should be more holistic in its approach. We should put more emphasis on power generation and distribution to ensure mobility, otherwise the nudge for buying electric vehicles need not have the expected impact.</div>
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<b><i>(Rajesh K P is Research Intern at Centre for Public Policy Research. Views expressed by the author is personal and need not reflect or represent the views of Centre for Public Policy Research)</i></b></div>
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<b>References</b></div>
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NITI Aayog. 2018. “Zero Emission Vehicles.” https://niti.gov.in/content/zero-emission-vehicles-zevs-towards-policy-framework-2018.</div>
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Government of Kerala. 2017. Policy on Electric Mobility. Policy Draft, Thiruvananthapuram: Government of Kerala.</div>
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CBGA (Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability). 2019. Promises and Priorities An Analysis of Union Budget 2019-20. New Delhi: Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability.</div>
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Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com1