The Hindu Editorial Analysis- 14th January, 2022 | Current Affairs: Daily, Weekly & Monthly - CLAT PDF Download

1. Liberal Economics Creates illiberal Societies: A New Form of ‘Gandhian’ Democratic Socialism Powered by Cooperative Economic Enterprises is Required

Page 6/Editorial

GS 1- Society

Context: A surging tide of nationalism and authoritarianism has imperiled democracy globally, and within presumptively democratic nations — the United States, India, the United Kingdom, and the European Union — too.

Political, Economic Symptoms

• Economies are not doing well: The benefits of growth are being sucked up to the 1% on the top; ‘trickle down’ to those below has diminished. With every global crisis the rich get richer while millions at the bottom fall off the ladder. India too is becoming one of the world’s most unequal countries.
• Political symptoms: the weakening of democracy and secularism.
• The socio-political and economic pathologies are inter-related: Economic despair is feeding the rise of authoritarianism, nationalism, and identity politics. Liberals who continue to advocate for more liberal economics must understand how their ideas have caused the rise of anti-liberal societies and governments which they lament. They can no longer have their cake and eat it too.

The Ideological Precedence in the Recent Past

• Opening national borders to free trade became an ideology in economics in the last 30 years. The ideological justification was that the animal spirits of ‘wealth creators’ must not be dampened. Otherwise, the pie will not grow and there will not be enough to share.
  • Lower taxes on income and wealth: With higher taxes until the 1970s, the U.S. and many countries in Europe had built up their public health and education infrastructure and strengthened social security systems. The rich are now being taxed much less than they were. The pie has grown larger but the richest few have been eating, and hoarding, most of it themselves.
• ‘privatisation’: Governments are hamstrung without resources to provide public goods. ‘Privatisation’ of everything became another ideological imperative in economics by the turn of the century.
  • Selling off public enterprises raises resources for funds-starved governments.
  • It brings efficiency in delivery of services.
  • However, When ‘public’ is converted to ‘private’, rich people can buy what they need. In fact,  even if the services become more expensive — better health care as well as better education for their children at the world’s best schools could be bought. They have greater access to opportunities in the future.
• Collapse of Communism/Authoritarianism: Soviet Union collapsed. With it, he suggested, the idea of totalitarian governments as saviors of the people had been debunked; and the idea of public ownership of property, which the communists had taken to an extreme by abolishing all private property, had failed.
  • The socialist era ended with the collapse of communism and the resurgence of neoliberal economics around the world afterwards.
  • Communism’s solution to the “property” question — that there should be no private property — was a failure.
  • It deprived people of personal liberties.
• Capitalism’s solution to the property problem — replacing all publicly owned enterprises with privately owned ones (and reducing taxes on wealth and high incomes) has not worked either. It has denied many of their basic human needs of health, education and social security, and equal opportunities for their children.
  • The private property solution has also harmed the natural environment. The belief that private owners will husband natural resources sustainably for all has proven false.
  • knowledge converted into “intellectual property”: corporates use them for the purpose for which a business corporation is created — which is to increase the wealth of its owners. The ecological commons are harmed, and social equity suffers.

Failure of Ideologies

• Authoritarian governments are now being democratically elected by people seeking a way out of the morass. Further, Socialism seems to be back in U.S. politics now with Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and young Democrats.
• Worries within liberals: Liberal economists, promoting free markets, free trade, and privatisation, are worried by nationalism and authoritarian governments. They rail against “populist” policies of governments that subsidise the poor and adopt industrial strategies for self-reliance and jobs for their citizens.
• Democratic and capitalist principles were becoming reconciled with “socialist” ideas in Europe and the U.S. after the World Wars, and in developing countries such as India after the collapse of colonialism.
• Climate change and political rumblings around the world are both warnings that capitalism needs reform.

Conclusion: Communism and proprietarian capitalism carried too far have both failed.

• Thus, Economic policies must be based on new ideas.
• Liberals must re-examine their ideas of economics, to understand their own culpability in creating authoritarian and identitarian politics.
• Principles of human rights must not be overpowered by property rights.
• A new form of “Gandhian” democratic socialism, powered by cooperative economic enterprises, is required in the 21st century, to create wealth at the bottom, not only at the top, and save humanity and the planet.

2. The controversy Over Inclusion of the mmWave band in 5G auctions: Should India Fragment the mmWave band? Can Providing Excess Spectrum Pose a Downside Risk of the Bands Going Unsold or Underutilised?

Text and Context - I

GS 3- Science & Tech.

News: Before the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) submits 5G pricing recommendations to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) in March, the regulator had sought industries’ views (till January 11) on topics related to quantum of spectrum to be auctioned off.

• It had also asked for views on band plan, block size, and conditions for auction of spectrum in new bands, which includes millimetre (mm) Wave band of 24.25-28.5 GHz. 
• Satcom Industry Association-India (SIA), an industry body that represents interests of the communication satellite ecosystem in India has voiced concerns over the Government’s plan to include the mmWave bands in the spectrum auction, which is slated for later this year. 

Industry Association’s Concerns

• Inclusion of mmWave spectrum: The SIA, in its submission to TRAI, has urged the regulator to limit the inclusion of mmWave spectrum in the 5G auction as 27.5-31 GHz and 17.7-21.2 GHz bands have been preserved for satellite-based broadband services as per the decision taken by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).
• Reasons:
  • International practice: The industry body pointed to Europe’s “5G Roadmap”, which is built on the ITU’s decision to hold these bands for satellite-based broadband services. 
  • It would divert spectrum from advance satellite broadband services: The SIA also noted that offering excessive spectrum resources in the upcoming 5G auction will result in Indian citizens being denied the benefits of high-demand, advanced satellite broadband services.
  • Massive FDI loss: In addition to this, it will result in a massive loss to the Indian economy of up to $184.6 billion by 2030, along with the loss of foreign direct investment (FDI) and employment generation benefits.

About millimeter Wave Band

• Millimetre Wave band or mmWave is a particular segment of radio frequency spectrum that range between 24 GHz and 100 GHz. This spectrum, as the name suggests, has a short wavelength, and is apt to deliver greater speeds and lower latencies.
• Higher efficiency: This in turn makes data transfer efficient and seamless as the current available networks work optimally only on lower frequency bandwidths. 
• Shortcomings of lower wavelengths: when it comes to data speeds, these bands fail to hit peak potential needed for a true 5G experience. So, mmWave is that quintessential piece in the 5G jigsaw puzzle for mobile service providers. 
  • Although, 5G services can be deployed using lower frequency bands. They can cover greater distances and are proven to work efficiently even in urban environments, which are prone to interference.

How Could this Disrupt the Satellite Communication industry?

• Satellite-based communication service providers - a new breed of internet providers. For example, SpaceX’s Starlink and Bharti Airtel’s OneWeb are some of the players in this market.
• Mechanism: This segment uses Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites to provide broadband to both urban and rural users. Their service could also be used for weather predictions.

The Compromise

• According to an IEEE Wireless Communications paper on Spectrum Policy, “the 24.25-27.5 GHz band had been the subject of controversy due to out-of-band emissions into the passive satellite band used for weather satellites at 23.6-24 GHz.” This issue was later resolved by setting a limit for base station emissions into the satellite band.
• The limit would become more restrictive in 2027, and any equipment installed prior to that date will be made acceptable. This compromise was reached in the hope that it will allow an immediate rollout of 5G in this band while pressing manufacturers to decrease, in the long term, out-of-band emissions into the nearby passive band where they may impact weather prediction data.
• The satellite communication industry is looking to pre-empt mobile telephony companies’ move by ensuring that the bands don’t go to them in the first place. But, until 2027, these bands can be auctioned off to mobile Internet service providers. 

What Does SIA-India Suggest?

• SIA-India has noted that the 330 MHz of spectrum in the 3.3-3.67 GHz band is enough to satisfy India’s mid-band 5G needs while ensuring a competitive auction.
• India has three private mobile network operators holding 90% of the total market share. These three will be able to secure the available spectrum, roughly 80- 90 MHz each, while leaving the remaining 10% to state-owned enterprises. 
• The industry body also noted that providing excess spectrum could pose a downside risk of the bands going unsold, or even worse, underutilised by terrestrial players at the expense of satellite-based service providers. The allocation of mmWave band is critical to the satellite communication industry, which needs a stronger regulatory support to ensure that 5G operations don’t interfere with their existing operations.