Daily Analysis of 'The Hindu' - 3rd February, 2020 | Additional Study Material for UPSC PDF Download

 Page 1


No room for panic 
?Coronavirus outbreak is declared a ‘public health 
emergency of international concern ’ by WHO 
?First confirmed fatality outside China, with a death in 
the Philippines. 
?Death toll in China: 304 
?Kerala: a second case being detected. 
?There is an urgent need to raise public awareness. 
?Cases have been reported wherein people have not 
exhibited symptoms in spite of being infected. 
 
Page 2


No room for panic 
?Coronavirus outbreak is declared a ‘public health 
emergency of international concern ’ by WHO 
?First confirmed fatality outside China, with a death in 
the Philippines. 
?Death toll in China: 304 
?Kerala: a second case being detected. 
?There is an urgent need to raise public awareness. 
?Cases have been reported wherein people have not 
exhibited symptoms in spite of being infected. 
 
Cognisant of constraints 
?Saturday: interim report of the 15th Finance 
Commission was tabled in Parliament.  
?It has largely preserved the devolution mathematics 
of its predecessor. 
?The commission has recommended a one percentage 
point reduction. 
?A crucial new parameter, demographic performance, 
has been added to the mix. 
?The commission has flagged the issues dogging the 
GST, especially as indirect taxes constitute almost 
half the total tax revenues of the Union. 
Page 3


No room for panic 
?Coronavirus outbreak is declared a ‘public health 
emergency of international concern ’ by WHO 
?First confirmed fatality outside China, with a death in 
the Philippines. 
?Death toll in China: 304 
?Kerala: a second case being detected. 
?There is an urgent need to raise public awareness. 
?Cases have been reported wherein people have not 
exhibited symptoms in spite of being infected. 
 
Cognisant of constraints 
?Saturday: interim report of the 15th Finance 
Commission was tabled in Parliament.  
?It has largely preserved the devolution mathematics 
of its predecessor. 
?The commission has recommended a one percentage 
point reduction. 
?A crucial new parameter, demographic performance, 
has been added to the mix. 
?The commission has flagged the issues dogging the 
GST, especially as indirect taxes constitute almost 
half the total tax revenues of the Union. 
?The new tax has yet to stabilise leaving a majority 
of the States dependent on compensation from 
the Centre. 
?Having been mandated to adopt the population 
data from the 2011 Census, the commission has 
incorporated the additional criterion to ensure 
that States that have done well on demographic 
management are not unfairly disadvantaged.  
?And since the norm also indirectly evaluates 
performance on the human capital outcomes of 
education and health, it has been assigned a 
weight of 12.5%. 
Page 4


No room for panic 
?Coronavirus outbreak is declared a ‘public health 
emergency of international concern ’ by WHO 
?First confirmed fatality outside China, with a death in 
the Philippines. 
?Death toll in China: 304 
?Kerala: a second case being detected. 
?There is an urgent need to raise public awareness. 
?Cases have been reported wherein people have not 
exhibited symptoms in spite of being infected. 
 
Cognisant of constraints 
?Saturday: interim report of the 15th Finance 
Commission was tabled in Parliament.  
?It has largely preserved the devolution mathematics 
of its predecessor. 
?The commission has recommended a one percentage 
point reduction. 
?A crucial new parameter, demographic performance, 
has been added to the mix. 
?The commission has flagged the issues dogging the 
GST, especially as indirect taxes constitute almost 
half the total tax revenues of the Union. 
?The new tax has yet to stabilise leaving a majority 
of the States dependent on compensation from 
the Centre. 
?Having been mandated to adopt the population 
data from the 2011 Census, the commission has 
incorporated the additional criterion to ensure 
that States that have done well on demographic 
management are not unfairly disadvantaged.  
?And since the norm also indirectly evaluates 
performance on the human capital outcomes of 
education and health, it has been assigned a 
weight of 12.5%. 
?Urban local bodies, especially municipalities in 
cities with populations of more than one million, 
are set to get a larger share of the pie. 
?The commission has also been justifiably critical 
of the Union and State g ov e r n m e n t s’ tendency to 
finance spending through off-budget borrowings 
and via parastatals. 
Page 5


No room for panic 
?Coronavirus outbreak is declared a ‘public health 
emergency of international concern ’ by WHO 
?First confirmed fatality outside China, with a death in 
the Philippines. 
?Death toll in China: 304 
?Kerala: a second case being detected. 
?There is an urgent need to raise public awareness. 
?Cases have been reported wherein people have not 
exhibited symptoms in spite of being infected. 
 
Cognisant of constraints 
?Saturday: interim report of the 15th Finance 
Commission was tabled in Parliament.  
?It has largely preserved the devolution mathematics 
of its predecessor. 
?The commission has recommended a one percentage 
point reduction. 
?A crucial new parameter, demographic performance, 
has been added to the mix. 
?The commission has flagged the issues dogging the 
GST, especially as indirect taxes constitute almost 
half the total tax revenues of the Union. 
?The new tax has yet to stabilise leaving a majority 
of the States dependent on compensation from 
the Centre. 
?Having been mandated to adopt the population 
data from the 2011 Census, the commission has 
incorporated the additional criterion to ensure 
that States that have done well on demographic 
management are not unfairly disadvantaged.  
?And since the norm also indirectly evaluates 
performance on the human capital outcomes of 
education and health, it has been assigned a 
weight of 12.5%. 
?Urban local bodies, especially municipalities in 
cities with populations of more than one million, 
are set to get a larger share of the pie. 
?The commission has also been justifiably critical 
of the Union and State g ov e r n m e n t s’ tendency to 
finance spending through off-budget borrowings 
and via parastatals. 
Falling short of aspirations 
?There were many expectations from the Union Budget 
2020: that it would  
?reverse the falling growth rate 
?reduce unemployment  
?rekindle the animal spirits needed to revive private 
investment 
? Budget can be judged in terms of its effect on rural 
demand, investment and private sentiments — all 
critical elements for recovery. 
?Skill development allocation: Finance M i n i st e r ’ s own 
accord, there is a huge, unmet demand for teachers, 
paramedical staff and caregivers, and skilled 
workers.