GS Paper - II Model Answers (2019) - 1 | UPSC Mains Answer Writing: Practice PDF Download

Q1: Do you think that constitution of India doesn't accept principle of strict separation of powers rather it is based on the principle of checks and balances? (UPSC GS2 2019)

Introduction: It is a doctrine of constitutional law under which the three branches, the executive, legislative & judicial, are kept separate, each with separate and independent powers and responsibility so that the powers of one branch are not in conflict with the powers associated with the other branches.
On the other hand, doctrine of Checks and balances describe the powers each branch has to “check” the other branches and ensure a balance of power. With checks and balances, each of three branches can limit the powers of the others, and this way; no branch can becomes too powerful.
How Indian constitution doesn’t accept principle of strict separation of powers? 

• Art 50 of Constitution of India is a directive principle of state policy. It gives a direction to the State to keep Judiciary independent of the Executive, particularly in judicial appointments. 
• Indian Constitution adopted procedure established by law and it gives supremacy to parliamentary role (also called as political wisdom). 
• Article 13 (2) and Article 32 of Indian constitution gives power to Judiciary to declare any law null and void if it infringes with Fundamental rights guaranteed by Indian Constitution. Even administrative function of Supreme Court is controlled by Supreme Court. 
• Though Indian President being executive head can also make law under Article 123 (ordinance). 
• If studied carefully, it is clear that doctrine of separation of powers has not been accepted in India in its strict sense. The executive is a part of the legislature. It is responsible to the legislature for its actions and also it derives its authority from legislature. 
• In India, since it is a parliamentary form of government, therefore it is based upon intimate contact and close co-ordination among the legislative and executive wings. However, the executive power vests in the President but, in reality he is only a formal head and, the Real head is the Prime minister along with his Council of Ministers.The reading of Art. 74(1) makes it clear that the executive head has to act in accordance with the aid and advice given by the cabinet. 
• It’s quite evident from the constitutional provisions themselves that India, being a parliamentary democracy, does not follow an absolute separation and is, rather based upon fusion of powers, where a close co-ordination amongst the principal organs is unavoidable and the constitutional scheme itself mentions it. 
• The doctrine has, thus, not been awarded a Constitutional status. Thus, every organ of the government is required to perform all the three types of functions. Also, each organ is, in some form or the other, dependant on the other organ which checks and balances it. 
• This system of checks and balances undoubtedly prevents the centralization of powers and monopoly of one branch of the government and contributes to effective functioning of democratic parliamentary form of polity and makes sure that the power is balanced between the three organs of government but on the other hand it also makes the decision making more complex and time consuming. 

Examples justifying the above concept 

• • For example, The legislative branch has the power to make laws, but the executive branch has the power to check the legislative branch by interdicting the laws, the judiciary on the other hand can declare the presidential orders and other laws and acts made as unconstitutional and the executive has a say in appointment of judges and the power to pardon. 
• There have been many such examples, firstly the second ARC has recommended the abolition of the Member of Parliament Local Area development schemes MPLADS & MLALADS on the grounds that these schemes seriously erode the notion of separation of powers, as the legislator directly becomes the executive. 
• We also have got to see how Judiciary oversteps the powers given to it and interferes with the proper functioning of legislative or executive organs of the government and results into what is being called as judicial activism or judicial overreach. For e.g.: striking the NJAC bill and the 99th constitutional amendment bill and order passed by Allahabad court for the bureaucrats to send their children to government school. 

Trends related to separation of power in India 

• Our Constitution thus places the supremacy at the hands of the Legislature as much as that is possible within the bounds of a written Constitution. But, the balance between Parliamentary Sovereignty and Judicial Review was seriously disturbed, and a drift towards the former was made, by the Constitution (42nd Amendment) Act, 1976, by inserting some new provisions, e.g., Arts. 31D, 32A, 131A, 144A, 226A, 228A, 323A-B, 329A. 
• The Janata Government, coming to powers in 1977, restored the pre1976 position, to a substantial extent, through the 43rd and 44th Amendments, 1977-78, by repealing the following Articles which had been inserted by the 42nd Amendment— 31D, 32A, l3lA, 144A, 226A, 228A, 329A; and by restoring Art. 226 to its original form (substantially). 
• On the other hand, the Judiciary has gained ground by itself declaring that ‘judicial review’ is a ‘basic feature’ of our Constitution, so that so long as the Supreme Court itself does not revise its opinion in this behalf, any amendment of the Constitution to take away judicial review of legislation on the ground of contravention of any provision of the Constitution shall itself be liable to be invalidated by the Court. 
• Justice Mahajan took note of this point and stated in the famous case of Re Delhi Laws Act, That: “It does not admit of serious dispute that the doctrine of separation of powers has, strictly speaking, no place in the system of government that India has, at present under our Constitution. Unlike the American and Australian Constitution the Indian Constitution does not expressly vest thedifferent sets of powers in different organs of the State. 
• Our Constitution though federal in form is modeled on the British Parliamentary system, the essential feature of which is the responsibility of the executive of the Legislature……” Conclusion It is evident from the above examples that the reason for the interdependence is accorded to the parliamentary form of governance followed in our country. 
• But, this doesn’t mean that the doctrine of separation of power is not followed in India at all. Except where the constitution has vested power in a body, the principle that one organ should not perform functions which essentially belong to others is followed however, no constitution can survive without a conscious adherence to its fine check and balance. 
• The principle of Separation of Power is a principle of restraint which has in it the precept, innate in the prudence of self-preservation, that discretion is the better part of valour.

Q2: The Central Administration Tribunal which was established for redressal of grievances and complaints by or against central government employees nowadays is exercising its powers as an independent judicial authority." Explain.

Introduction 
‘Tribunal ‘is an administrative body established for the purpose of discharging quasi-judicial duties. An Administrative Tribunal is neither a Court nor an executive body. It stands somewhere midway between a Court and an administrative body. 

• Article 323-A, which came by way of 42nd constitutional amendment in 1976, enabled the Centre to enact The Administrative Tribunals Act, 1985 for setting-up the Tribunals for adjudication over “disputes and complaints with respect to recruitment and conditions of service of persons”. 
• Thus Administrative Tribunals Act, 1985 provides for the establishment of Central Administrative Tribunal and State Administrative Tribunals. The delay in justice administration is one of the biggest obstacles which have been tackled with the establishment of Tribunals. 

Composition 

• The CAT is a multi-member body consisting of a Chairman and members. 
• With the amendment in Administrative Tribunals Act, 1985 in 2006, the members have been given the status of judges of High Courts 
• In 2013, the sanctioned strength of the Chairman is one and sanctioned strength of the Members is 65 
• They are drawn from both judicial and administrative streams and are appointed by the President. 
• They hold office for a term office years or until they attain the age of 65 years, in case of Chairman and 62 years in case of members, whichever is earlier. 

Specific powers of Central

Administrative tribunal 

• CAT exercises original jurisdiction in relation to recruitment and conditions of service of persons appointed to public services.. Flexibility: Administrative Tribunals created under Article 323A have been freed from technical rules of Indian Evidence Act, 1872 and procedural shackles of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 but, at the same time, they have been vested with the powers of Civil Court in respect of some matters including the review of their own decisions and are bound by the principle of natural justice. 
• Relief to Courts: The system also gives the much-needed relief to ordinary courts of law, which are already overburdened with numerous suits. Initially the decision of Tribunal can be challenged only before Supreme courts by filing Special leave petition, however after Chandra Kumar case; the orders of CAT are now being challenged by way of writ petition u/a 226/227 of the Constitution before respective High courts. 
• It lay down that appeals against the orders of the CAT shall lie before the division bench of the concerned High Court. 

Conclusion 
The above powers of CAT show that in certain spheres like recruitment and conditions of service of persons appointed to public services and cases related to civil service rule where supreme Court refrain itself and denied accepting the cases so that purpose of CAT could not get defeated shows that they are exercising their power as an independent Judicial Authority as judgments are more circumstances based and situational.
For example NATIONAL GREEN TRIBUNAL. However, in India Common Law System is followed in which a bench mark is set and final interpretation is subjected to Independent judicial system also CAT Functions on the principle of Natural Justice as they are not bound by the Rule of Procedures. Thus, after Chandra Kumar case it can be entertain by the High court & Supreme Court therefore on this basis we cannot accept that they work as a independent judiciary.

Q3: What are the methods used by the Farmers organizations to influence the policymakers in India and how effective are these methods?

Introduction
Farmers organizations are groups of rural producers, coming together based on the principle of membership, to pursue specific common interests of their members and developing technical and economical activities that benefit the members.
Earlier, Farmers movement were led by communist leadership, But later Farmers organizations such as Bhartiya Kisan Union led by Mahendra Singh Tickait in Northern India and Shetkari Sanghthan led by Sharad Joshi group in Maharashtra used to provide leadership in their respective regions. 

Changing issues with change in time: 

• Earlier Farmers movements for agrarian reforms in India have been centered on the issue of land ownership and land distribution, but with the success of Green revolution, new issues and organizations came into the limelight. Post Green Revolution, agriculture production increased but farm incomes didn’t rise due to low market prices of produce and high cost of farm inputs. 
• Thus these organizations raised specific demands of their self interest like rise in MSP, free electricity, water, subsidized fertilizers and waiver of farm loans etc.

Another accusation that these organizations make is that the government in its bid to keep food supply cheaper in urban areas, has deliberately lowered the prices Major issues: 

• Lack of implementation of land reforms. 
• Green revolution and the rising disparities Demand for MSP, free Water and electricity 
• Non access to institutional credit 
• Drought, dependency on rain and lack of irrigation facilities 
• Lack of social security 
• Issue of land acquisition 
• Issues such as globalization, retail FDI, contract farming and GM seeds also finds pace among these groups. 
• Ignorance of demands of Labourers and poor peasants: It has been alleged that Interest of poor peasants and Labourers are grossly ignored by these organizations. Labourers demand for higher wages are often ignored and sometimes it is also met with violence. 
• Crisis like Starvation deaths and farmers suicides have also emerged in recent times. Recent protests in vidarbha region can be linked with increase in farmer’s suicide and persistent drought in the region. 
• Evenlackofunityandabsenceofstrongleadershiparealsomajorconstraintsinfulfilling their objectives. Most of the farmer’s organizations raise issues of local importance which restrict development of unity and consensus at national level. 
• Methods: Apart from physical mobilization, such organizations and associations are now acting as pressure groups also. Their influence has ranged from organizing demonstration to withholding crops from the market to refusal to pay outstanding utility bills and loans. Farmers organizations are also able to keep their methods of protest largely non violent. They have also started using social media to bargain with the government. 
• Mahindra Singh Tickait used methods such as dharna, Gherao and satyagrah during 1988 agitations. 
• Indian Farmers Fertilizer Cooperative Limited (IFFCO) is one of India’s largest cooperative societies with an amalgamation of over 36,000 Indian cooperatives with diversified business interests. 
• Turmeric farmers in Sangli district, Maharashtra were probably the first in India to use social media to enhance their bargaining power for their products in 2010-11. When prices crashed in the local market, they connected with other turmeric farmers across the country to know about the existing prices and decided to avoid the local auction. 
• While organizing all the farmers in the district generally took months, about 25,000 farmers came together in just 10 days through Facebook. The farmers protest has helped them to get a reasonable for their turmeric product. 
• Farmers in North Karnataka region have organized themselves and have found solutions together in overcoming crop failures. Their initiative in including medicinal herbs in their cropping systems is paying rich dividends. They tried including Ashwagandha, a medicinal crop, in their cropping system owing to its hardiness requiring less moisture and the absence of threat from deer as they are not preferred as feed. 
• The members of the group are supported with a financial assistance from the Department of Horticulture under National Medicinal Plants Mission. Impact: Their impact can be gauged from the fact that in 2008, Government has waived the farm loan all over the country. These organizations also played a key role in the overthrow of the incumbent government in the 1989 elections. 
• Even recent announcement of schemes such as Kisansamman Yojana, New land acquisition policy, hike in MSP of certain crops can be linked with the success of Farmers struggles. Even These organizations have also mobilized support against wider issues like retail FDI, Contract farming, and GM seeds etc and forced government to withhold decisions on these issues. Conclusion Thus to deal with the above issues Indian farmers needs stronger farmers organization which not only focuses upon raising farmers voice but can also assist farmers in providing technical knowledge and facilitate access to markets etc.

Q4:  From the resolution of contentious issues regarding distribution of legislative powers by the courts, ‘Principle of Federal Supremacy’ and ‘Harmonious Construction’ have emerged. Explain. 
Ans: Constitution has provided for division of legislative powers between the Centre and state in the seventh schedule under union list, state list, concurrent list. However, this division cannot be watertight and rigid. This has led to frequent conflicts between Centre and states regarding their legislative powers. Principle of federal supremacy refers to the principle wherein the Centre will have predominance in legislative powers and even if there is any conflict between them central law will prevail.

• Constitution itself has provided for it: 
• Central law vs State law: central law will prevail  Conflict on a concurrent subject between union and state law, union law will prevail.

 Unitary nature of Indian constitution provides for such principle. Even Supreme Court has upheld it many times.

Principle of harmonious construction  
According to this principle, the provision of a statute should not be interpreted in isolation but as a whole in order to remove any inconsistency or repugnancy. The Supreme Court laid down five principles of rule of Harmonious Construction in the landmark case of CIT v Hindustan Bulk Carriers: 

• The courts must avoid a head on clash of seemingly contradicting provisions and they must construe the contradictory provisions so as to harmonize them.  
• The provision of one section cannot be used to defeat the provision contained in another unless the court, despite all its effort, is unable to find a way to reconcile their differences.  When it is impossible to completely reconcile the differences in contradictory provisions, the courts must interpret them in such as way so that effect is given to both the provisions as much as possible.  
• Courts must also keep in mind that interpretation that reduces one provision to a useless number or dead is not harmonious construction. 

Supreme Court has invoked this principle in various cases to resolve legislative disputes like in Venkataramana Devaru v. State of Mysore, Calcutta Gas Company Pvt. Limited v State of West Bengal etc. Hence, Supreme Court by evolving these doctrines has ensured that federal coordination has prevailed between centre and state.

Q4: What can France learn from the Indian Constitution's approach towards to secularism?

Introduction
Secularism is the constitutional principle of separation of the state from religious institutions. Secularism forms the core element of the basic structure of the Indian constitution. And even France is an indivisible, secular democratic social Republic guaranteeing that all their citizens regardless of their origin, race or religion are treated as equals before the law and respecting all religious beliefs.
France approach towards secularism 

• The French state does not favor any one religion & guarantees their peaceful coexistence in respect of laws and principles of the Republic. 
• The idea of secularism envisaged in India is different from that of France. 
• The paradigms of republicanism, as practiced in France or multiculturalism as implemented in a number of Western democracies, such as the UK and the US, or indeed employment-based integration models of Sweden or Germany, are all in crisis. 
• French secularist objects Islamic clothing, kosher or halal meals and “burkinis”France was a largely homogeneous Catholic country, where the clergy had an unduly high degree of influence over the state’s apparatus. 
• In France people are not supposed to wear any religious signs in the public institutions like Schools. 
• Any act which shows signs of preaching one’s religion, get ultimately banned in the France. 

How France can learn from Indian constitution 

• Secularism in France does not allow religion into public space, Indian secularism on the other hand is based on equal treatment to all religions and maintaining principle distance from all religious. 
• Indian Secularism deals not only with religious freedom of individuals but also with religious freedom of minority communities. 
• Only separation of state and religion isn’t sufficient for the existence of a secular state. On this line Indian model of secularism is different, the idea of inter religious equality is crucial to the Indian conception. It equally opposed oppression of Dalits and women within Hinduism, discrimination against women within Islam or Christianity. 
• In India – state provides Hajj subsidy to Muslims, administrative support for Amaranth Yatra to the pilgrimages, and allows Sikhs to carry Kripans along with them. 
• Indian deals not only with religious freedom of individuals but also with religious freedom of minority communities. Article 29 and 30 is the constitutional tool to acquire it. Within a particular religion, an individual has the right to profess the religion of his or her choice. 
• The Supreme Court of India progressively elaborated the “Essential practice of religion” doctrine to ascertain which elements are fundamental for a religious practice and which may be purged, considered as mere superstition by the intervention of state without infringing the principle of state neutrality in religious affairs. 
• Article 25 provides for freedom of conscience and free profession, practice and propagates religion; Article 25(2) of Indian constitution creates a further exception to the right. It accords to the state a power to make legislation in the interests of social welfare and reform, throwing up Hindu religious institutions of public character to all classes and sections of Hindus. 
• A good example here would be of recent Sabarimala case where the verdict allowed women of all ages in the Ayyappan temple and declared the banning of entry of women as gender discrimination, the dissent judgment of the view that it is not for courts to determine which religious practices are to be struck down except in issues of social evil like ‘sati’. 

Conclusion
So, while concluding we can say that complex religiously diverse societies are not to be ruled by over simplistic and uniform laws. Secularism is not an opinion among others, rather the freedom to have an opinion. It’s not a belief, rather principle authorizing all beliefs.

Q6: Despite Consistence experience of High growth, India still goes with the lowest indicators of human development. Examine the issues that make balanced and inclusive development elusive. 
Ans: India has consistently experienced high economic growth, but the country still struggles with low indicators of human development.

Issues that make balanced and inclusive development elusive:

• Inequality: India is grappling with a growing disparity in income between the affluent and the less privileged, resulting in an unequal allocation of resources and opportunities.
• Poverty: A considerable segment of the populace continues to exist below the poverty threshold, lacking essential necessities like sustenance, clean water, and healthcare.
• Lack of Education: Despite advancements in the field of education, the nation continues to grapple with low literacy rates and an inadequate number of high-quality educational establishments.
• Health Challenges: India is grappling with numerous health issues such as malnutrition, poor hygiene, and inadequate healthcare infrastructure.
• Infrastructure Deficiencies: India is confronted with a deficiency in fundamental infrastructure amenities like roads, power, and transportation, which impede its advancement in human development.
• Corruption: Corruption is a pervasive issue in India, influencing the allocation of resources and opportunities, resulting in a lack of confidence in government and institutions.

In conclusion, India’s quest for balanced and inclusive development is hampered by numerous issues such as inequality, poverty, lack of education, health challenges, and infrastructure deficiencies. Addressing these issues is crucial for India to achieve sustainable human development in the long run.

Q7: There is a growing divergence in the relationship between poverty and hunger in India. The shrinking of social expenditure by the government is forcing the poor to spend more on Non- Food essential items squeezing their food – budget.- Elucidate. 
Ans: During the last decade and more, even though India has become the highest growing economy in the world after China, it has continued to outnumber Sub-Saharan Africa in terms of the absolute number of hungry people. The government of India claims a substantial reduction in the prevalence of poverty in the country, but evidence suggests a startling divergence between the real per capita expenditure and the per capita calorie intake, which underlies the divergence between the decline in poverty and hunger.

The growing divergence between poverty and hunger and the reason behind it:

• Contrary to the popularly held belief that food insecurity is a symptom of poverty, there is a growing divergence in the relationship between poverty and hunger in India. 
• India is currently experiencing a “food-budget squeeze” owing to shrinking social expenditure by the government. 
• This makes the urban and rural poor dependent on private entities for essential services like education and transportation, which are likely to be more expensive. 
• Consequently, the portion of income that can be spent on food also shrinks.
• Rather than being a matter of choice, the poor have been increasingly forced to spend more on non-food essential items such as education, healthcare, transportation, fuel, and lighting. 
• The share of monthly expenditure devoted to these items has increased at such a pace that it has absorbed all the increase in real income over the past three decades. 
• This has led to a “food budget squeeze”, which has meant relatively stagnant real food expenditure over the last two decades.

Several factors have led to or compounded the effects of the food budget squeeze.

• Primitive accumulation of capital has led to increasing displacement and dispossession of farmers, destruction of rural livelihoods and loss of access to common property resources like forests, ponds, grazing lands, and rivers. Along with the growth of landlessness, shrinking access to common property resources have led to sharp declines in access to non-market sources of food.
• Second, the structure of the occupation has been undergoing rapid change. 
• Rural working people are migrating in large numbers to urban centers or other rural areas in search of work. Most of such migration is temporary and seasonal in character and involves traveling relatively large distances. This large circulation of labor will have substantial impacts on the expenditure patterns of households. 
• For instance, an increasingly footloose labor force means that a large section of the working poor has to bear higher costs of transportation, maintain communication with the sites of work (much of which is seasonal in character), and are deprived of traditional non-market sources of food when away from home. 
• Most important, shrinking social expenditure by the government is rendering the urban and rural poor dependent on market prices of non-food essential items, which are typically high. 
• Contrary to what is commonly believed by pro-reform economists and commentators, economic reforms initiated in the mid-1980s did not increase efficiency and reduce the relative price of essential services like healthcare, education, transportation. In fact, the price of food relative to miscellaneous components – education, healthcare, conveyance, and consumer services – of the consumer price index for agricultural laborers (CPIAL) has slightly declined between 1983 and 2017.
• It is the resulting squeeze on food budgets that have led to calorie intake declining even as per capita consumption expenditure has risen.

Way Forward

• Despite the fact that the rate of global food production has been consistently higher than the rate of population growth, there is a persistent and pervasive crisis when it comes to food security. Therefore, hunger can only be dealt with by, carrying out the policies of income redistribution, which respond to objectives of social justice rather than economic efficiency as perceived by neo-liberalism.
• Scholars have argued that a substantial push in public provisioning towards social protection might go a long way in ensuring food security.
• In most developing countries, one of the biggest issues, with respect to public provisioning towards social protection, to address hunger and food insecurity is organically connected with that of adequate fiscal or ‘expenditure space. 
• Contrary to the view that countries with low GDP cannot create such a space, even at low levels of income, it is possible to mobilize adequate resources for the provisioning of social protection.
• Neither conceptually nor historically, there is no reason to believe that a country needs to wait to reach relatively high levels of per capita income before it can make adequate progress in this regard, even though the higher income, of course, helps in doing so.

When the public distribution system (PDS) is absent or out of reach, people have to rely on nutritious food on the market, where prices for such food items are typically high. The result is calorie deprivation. In such a scenario, a way out is to make nutritious food available through the PDS at a price that is much lower than the less calorific, tasty food, so that the price difference between the two becomes an incentive to stick to nutritious food. But, to ensure that this mechanism is effective, we need to move towards a robust, universal PDS, and not the limited one as visualized in the National Food Security Act.

Q8:  Implementation of information and Communication Technology (ICT) based Projects / Programmes usually suffers in terms of certain vital factors. Identify these factors, and suggest measures for their effective implementation. 
Ans: The “e” in e-Governance stands for ‘electronic’. Thus, e-Governance is basically associated with carrying out the functions and achieving the results of governance through the utilization of ICT (Information and Communications Technology). In the last couple of decades, there has been tremendous growth in the usage of ICT for various sectors, schemes, and programs. Digital India and DBTs are the latest examples.

Some of the ICT Based projects:

• My Gov.in
• Universal Access to Mobile Connectivity
• Digital locker
• e-Governance: Reforming Government through Technology
• e-Kranti – Electronic Delivery of Services
• Information for All
• Electronics Manufacturing
• IT for Jobs and
• Early Harvest Programmes

While they hold significant advantages for all the stakeholders, but ICTs bring some challenges too with them, during the implementations of programs. 

Issues with ICT based programs and projects:

• No person to person interaction:  The main disadvantage of an ICT based project is to move the essential public services into an electronic-based system. This system loses the person to person interaction which is valued by a lot of people.
• Easy to make excuse: It is often easy to make the excuse (e.g. the server has gone down) that problems with the service provided are because of the technology.
• Literacy of the users and the ability to use the computer, users who do not know how to read and write would need assistance. An example would be senior citizens. In general, senior citizens do not have much computer education and they would have to approach a customer service officer for assistance. And also in the case of rural people, it gives scope for middle man, who distorts the information.
• The resistance to change phenomenon can explain much of the hesitation that occurs on the part of constituents in moving from a paper-based to an ICT based system for interacting with government.
• Rural areas are still underserved in terms of ICTs infrastructure and capacity building. As a result, ICTs have not been able to play their expected role in the development of rural areas.
• The limited supply of electricity restrains stakeholders to fully utilize ICTs applications especially at the village and Tier 3 cities level. 
• Issue of training: If villagers (especially farmers, youth, and beneficiaries) are willing to utilize ICTs based applications then who will regularly train them to acquire the desired knowledge and skills is a major concern.
• Lack of internet penetration: The ICTs based applications need uninterrupted services of telecommunication and the internet. Presently, there are many patches in India where the reach of mobile telephony along with the internet is still not up to the mark.
• Lack of content: The content part plays a dominant role, especially for rural farmers, artisans, and poor beneficiaries. The content creation (In local language) needs to be addressed altogether in a different manner to have a balance between rural and urban contexts.
• With India carving a niche for itself in the IT sector, dependence on technology is also increasing. With Indians using the internet for all their needs, ranging from shopping to banking, studying to storing data, cyber-crimes have also increased in proportion to usage.

Measures for ICT based projects’ effective implementation:

• The country should recognize the potential ICT has for its communities residing in rural areas and tier 2 and 3 cities. 
• The policies, schemes, etc. should be equipped with the ICTs enabled the plan to avail the benefits of the latest technologies. 
• To formalize the concept of Digital India for various sectors, we should have a clear cut e-plan or e-policy that guides the government priorities to adopt ICTs for inclusive development. 
• It demands a proper understanding of the social and development priorities of various regions. 
• It also requires a vision and leadership of the highest levels of the government along with a political will. 
• It requires rationalizing how every ICT objective needs to be carried out both in terms of responsibilities assigned to government agencies as well as the continuous financial support. 
• Access to ICTs should not be restricted only to the upper strata of the society but should also flow freely even to the lower strata of the society.
• Government should set up Multifunctional Converged Applications Community Centres (MCACs) at panchayat and block levels to derive benefits from services like Tele-education, telemedicine, internet access, etc.
• Today, Societies are transforming to information-societies by adopting a cashless economy, social network, and other communication mechanisms. Recognizing the present needs of promoting ICTs applications and cashless economy, people should be empowered by capacity building programs.
• There should be an increased partnership between the government and private sector since the majority of the country’s cyber resources are controlled by entities outside of the government.
• More investment in this field in terms of finance, skill training, and manpower is required. 
• Explicit privacy laws in the country must be enacted addressing the concerns regarding encroachment on citizens’ privacy and civil liberties.

Information and Communication Technology has changed the world as never before. It has enhanced the human ability to communicate more efficiently and easily. It has changed the lives of individuals, groups, and entities around the World. The emerging challenges due to ICT need to be tackled properly to ensure that its benefits become inclusive for all and losses are greatly reduced to the minimum. The contribution of all the stakeholders including the service providers, users, and the government is necessary to achieve this goal.

Q9: 'The time has come for India and Japan to build a strong contemporary relationship, one involving global and strategic partnership that will have a great significance for Asia and the world as a whole.' Comment. (UPSC GS2 2019)
Ans: India’s influence on East and Southeast Asia, as well as some of the Asia-Pacific region, has been extensive. Buddhism also travelled into Japan from India (or Tenjiku, as it was called in Japan) as a gift from the king of Korea in AD 552. Indo-Japanese commercial activities were initiated in the late nineteenth century, with a number of Indians immigrating to Japan as temporary servants of the trading relationship.
Post-independence engagements: 

• India’s interest in Southeast Asia also largely evaporated due to challenges closer to home—the traumatic border war with China in 1962 and conflicts with Pakistan in 1965and 1971. In the aftermath of the oil shock of the 1970s, India became more concerned about its energy security and consequently West Asia became more of a priority. 
• Japan, a close ally of the USA during the Cold War, also kept some distance from India beyond its budding commercial opportunities as of the 1980s. Post-cold war fresh starts: 
• Soon after P. V. Narasimha Rao became Prime Minister, he launched the ‘Look East’ policy (LEP) in 1992. Its implementation during the 1990s focused particularly on engagement with Southeast Asia and ASEAN (although Prime Minister Rao articulated a broader LEP implicitly in Singapore in 1994). 
• Alongside its new efforts to capitalize on Southeast Asia’s economic success, India now sought politico-military engagement with the region, in part impelled by the need for new friends and partners after the loss of its superpower patron in 1991, and probably also worrying about China’s fast-growing links across Asia. 
• The broad objectives of the LEP during the 1990s were to institutionalize linkages with ASEAN, with its member states, and to prevent Southeast Asia falling under the influence of any one major power. 
• Although Japan was one of the top investors in India during the 1990s, ranking fourth behind the UK, USA, and Mauritius, its performance paled in comparison to that elsewhere in Asia: 
• Japan’s direct investment in India in1998 was one-thirteenth of its direct investment in China. Some of the disincentives to greater Japanese investment in India have included the infrastructure deficit in India, high tariffs, and labour problems. 
• Japanese FDI in India is continuing to expand and is expected to reach US$5.5 billion by2010. The number of Japanese business establishments operating in India has increased from 231 in August 2003 to 475 in February 2007. 

Recent move towards strategic partnership: 

• After 9/11 when U.S started defense strategic relation with India, it pave the way for Japan India relation. 
• Bilateral trade ties between India and Japan got a big strategic push in 2011 when they signed the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA). The CEPA envisages abolition of tariffs on over 94 per cent of items traded over a period of 10 years. The CEPA also covers services, movement of natural persons, investments, IPR, customs procedures and other trade related issues. 
• The Joint Statement signed by then Prime Ministers Manmohan Singh and Shinzo Abe in 2006 factored in the new challenges, and bilateral relationship was upgraded to a Global and Strategic Partnership with the provision of annual Prime Ministerial Summits. Japanese Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko travelled to India in 2013 and visited Delhi and Chennai giving a further boost to diplomatic ties. Abe was the Chief Guest at the Republic Day parade in New Delhi in January 2014. 
• The BJP-led government, under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has also been contributing in strengthening ties. During the 9th Annual Summit in Japan in August-September 2014, Abe and Modi, apart from further upgrading bilateral relations, also agreed to establish the ‘India-Japan Investment Promotion Partnership’. Abe, during his India visit in December 2015, signed 16 agreements/MoUs/ MoCs/ LoIs. India also announced “visa on arrival” scheme for all Japanese travelers, including for business purposes, from March 1, 2016. During Modi’s recent visit to Japan, both countries signed six agreements, including on a high speed rail project and naval cooperation. 

Factors that leads to bring a strong relationship? 

• Assertion of china in Indo-Pacific region and growing boundary disputes with Japan laid down the basis for Indo-Japan. 
• Converging interests of both the countries like Maritime Security, secure Sea lines of Communication etc. 
• Two Major Powers of Asia and at the same time they are facing similar challenges from the neighborhood. 
• For Japan, expanding partnership with India serves as a hedge against China acting to challenge the existing post-World War II, rules-based, international and regional order. India is one of the few countries which have the capacity to act as a net security provider in the region. 
• Rising significance of the Indo- Pacific region, in which there is an attempt from china to establish china-centric based order with geo-politics shifting towards the Asian subcontinent. Thus IndoJapan being the two important democracies with the track record of peace building and human rights are looking forward for equitable order & multipolar order. 
• Uncertainty on the role of United States of America’s commitment to peace in the region Moving towards a contemporary relationship: 
• In the recent past, there has been a remarkable transformation in the bilateral relationship and the two countries have emerged as genuine strategic partners in the Indo-Pacific. Sometimes, the concept ‘strategic partnership’ is casually deployed to define any and every relationship. 
• However, a relationship in international politics becomes ‘strategic’ when it has an impact on the overall balance-of-power in a region. This balance-of-power is often impacted by the changes in the capabilities of nation-states. The India-Japan strategic partnership is playing out in conceptual, strategic and in economic realms. 
• Defense: Both countries are part of QUAD grouping which was created to counter the rising aggression of China. 
• The Foreign and Defense Ministerial Two-Plus-Two Dialogues reflects the growing special relationship between the two countries. 
• Both countries were successful in pushing the spatial constructs such as the ‘Indo-Pacific’ into the discourses on international politics. There may be quibbles on the boundaries of the Indo-Pacific, but it appears that geographic construct is here to stay. 
• Cultural Cooperation: Cultural exchanges between India and Japan began early in 6th century with the introduction of Buddhism to Japan from India. 
• Tokyo and Delhi also share similar strategic objectives, which include the creation of a robust multipower Asian order and thriving open sea lanes of communication in the region. Consequently, the maritime cooperation between the two countries is gaining momentum. 
• Focus is on Sustainable development through the platform of Asia – Africa Growth Corridor and both countries will work towards bringing reforms in United Nations Security Council apart from focusing on areas like Climate Change, disaster risk management etc. 
• Nuclear Cooperation: Historic Indo-Japan nuclear deal was concluded in 2017. This was the first time that Japan signed such a deal with a non-signatory of Non-Proliferation Treaty Challenges: Certain challenges have to be addressed if the relationship has to reach its potential. 
• Languishing trade should be improved. While bilateral trade between India – Japan is $15 billion, it is around $300 b between Japan and China. 
• Apart from that both countries should strengthen and deepen their defense cooperation. 

Conclusion 
An important challenge for India-Japan strategic partnership is less than satisfactory cooperation in defense equipment and technology segment. Japan historically followed a very restrictive defense export policy. However India and Japan, two powerful democratic forces in Asia should join hands to establish peace and order not only in Asia but in the entire world.

Q10: 'Too little cash, too much politics, leaves UNESCO fighting for life.' Discuss the statement in the light of US' withdrawal and its accusation of the cultural body as being 'anti Israel bias'. (UPSC GS2 2019)
Ans: UNESCO is the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. It seeks to build peace through international cooperation in Education, the Sciences and Culture.
Function of UNESCO 

• Its declared purpose is to contribute to peace and security by promoting international collaboration through educational, scientific, and cultural reforms in order to increase universal respect for justice, the rule of law, and human rights along with fundamental freedom proclaimed in the United Nations Charter. 
• UNESCO pursues its objectives through five major programs: education, natural sciences, social/ human sciences, culture and communication/information. 
• UNESCO’s aim is “to contribute to the building of peace, the eradication of poverty, sustainable development and intercultural dialogue through education, the sciences, culture, communication and information”. 
• Other priorities of the organization include attaining quality Education For All and lifelong learning, addressing emerging social and ethical challenges, fostering cultural diversity, a culture of peace and building inclusive knowledge societies through information and communication. 

Challenges faced by UNESCO

• Globalization has had contrasting effects on UNESCO. On the one hand, the cultural planetary landscape in which the Organization operates, once shaped primarily by State policies, is now structured by markets and networks, entities that are not known for the transparency of their operations nor their concern for general interests. Shoestring budget: United States has been withholding its contribution to punish the global body for admitting Palestine as its 195th Member State. 
• One-dimensional hyper politicization: Increasingly obvious attempt by certain States to take it hostage and divert it into the field of politics. Staff demoralization: there was a time when quintessential UNESCO officials were distinguishable from their peers in the United Nations system by certain characteristics. 
• Highly specialized expertise in their chosen fields, which was taken for granted, was allied with sound general knowledge in the international sphere as well as a strong sense of ethics, an acute awareness of the state of the world and its suffering and commitment to doing something about it. It is sad to see that UNESCO is losing this type of official by the day. 
• The situation is explained in large part by the surreptitious recruitment of nationals of “rich” countries for more than one decade and a failure to respect – if not systematically violate – the principle of geographical distribution, as well as favoritism and inconsistencies in the promotion policy.

The US and Israel angle

• The US has long used UNESCO as a stage for political gestures: In 1984, the Ronald Reagan withdrew the US from UNESCO, accusing it of being pro-Soviet, anti-Israel, and anti-free market. In 2002, George W Bush joined UNESCO again, and in 2011, Barack Obama cut most US funding to UNESCO due to the organization’s recognition of Palestine. The US has not paid its dues to the organization since then, raking up a bill of over $500 million in debt to the organization. In 2013, the US lost voting power due to its non-payment. 
• Low finance base and high political angle will impact UNESCO The US withdrawal will weaken its finances and central policy focus. The impact of future cultural interventions by the US in other countries may also be weakened, and it will open itself to criticism that they are merely exercises in American soft power. 
• Since 2011 when both Israel and the U.S. stopped paying dues after Palestine was voted in as a member state. Officials estimate that the U.S. which accounted for around 22 percent of the total budget has accrued $600 million in unpaid dues, which was one of the reasons for President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw. Israel owes an estimated $10 million. 
• When 37 nations created UNESCO as a human rights organization promoting education, science and cultural causes in November 1945, “it was essentially a western entity, dominated by western funding, But, as more members joined the group — about 160 members by July 1983 — U.S. policy makers grew worried their voices would be drowned out. The newest members were “largely the decolonized new independent states of Africa and Asia who tended to be less supportive of American policies, and more supportive of the Soviet bloc’s position.
• The first real scuffle came in 1974, when UNESCO voted to exclude Israel from a regional working group because it allegedly altered “the historical features of Jerusalem” during archaeological excavations and “brainwashed” Arabs in the occupied territories. Congress promptly suspended UNESCO‘s appropriations, which forced the agency to soften its sanctions. In 1976 Israel was readmitted; in 1977 U.S. funding resumed. 
• In 1980, at the UNESCO general conference in Belgrade, a majority of Communist and Third World nations called for a “new world information order” to compensate for the alleged pro Western bias of global news organizations. The goals were the licensing of journalists, an international code of press ethics and increased government control over media content. 
• Although UNESCO backed off under pressure from the West, it still allocated $16 million for a two-year program to study “media reforms. 

Conclusion

• Despite its limits, UNESCO has demonstrated throughout its history a real capacity to adapt and to bring creative responses to the challenges of its time. The example of world heritage, an acknowledged flagship activity, is a convincing illustration of this synthesis of conceptual development and application in the field. 
• Let us also remember the importance of the Organization’s standard-setting work over the last 15 years, in particular the adoption of the Universal Declaration on the Human Genome and Human Rights in 1997, the UNESCO Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity in 2001, then the Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions in 2005, and the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2003. 
• UNESCO must also resist the temptation to have its finger in too many pies and instead concentrate on what is essential. It should stop accumulating micro-programmes to satisfy immediate needs, to the detriment of the long term. Choosing priorities means being able to intervene in key areas, which determine the evolution of the world. It means applying one’s strength where there is the best chance of obtaining a tangible result.