The Hindu Editorial Analysis- 20th January, 2022 | Current Affairs: Daily, Weekly & Monthly - CLAT PDF Download

1. Technology Tangle: The Roll-Out of 5G Services Near Airports is Posing a Challenge to Airlines

Page 6/Editorial
GS 3- Technology

Context:  the much-awaited introduction of 5G services in the US hit a major snag this week after the country’s leading airlines warned of massive flight disruptions if the wireless technology was put into operation, especially around the nation’s airports.

• An year ago the United States’ leading telecommunications companies won bids for $81 billion worth of C-band radio spectrum to roll out 5G services.
• In a compromise on the eve of the planned roll-out on January 19, AT&T and Verizon agreed to delay introduction of the new wireless service near key airports.
• Nonetheless, several domestic and international airlines flying to the U.S. have announced major rescheduling as well as the possibility of cancellation of flights to several destinations citing warnings from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

Problems of 5G/Important for Implementation of 5G in India

• Aircraft makers have flagged that accurate functioning of radar altimeters in some aircraft may be affected by the 5G radio frequencies.
  • The altimeters provide information on an aircraft’s altitude and are a crucial part of flight operations for pilots, particularly while seeking to make low-visibility landings in inclement weather.
• Both the 5G services and some flight equipment operate on the same C-band radio spectrum, with only the frequencies varying.
• The FAA has said it is working with altimeter manufacturers to evaluate data from the wireless companies to determine how robust each model is, and, if required, have the devices retrofitted or replaced.
• This points to the peculiar problems of the U.S. market, including the particular frequencies allotted there for 5G.

Other Countries do not Find too Many Problems

• South Korea, China and Japan and several European nations have already successfully rolled out 5G services and the U.S. telcos have cited the lack of problems in these jurisdictions as evidence that the FAA and airlines need to do more to find solutions to the deployment of the wireless technology near airports.
• The aviation regulator contends planned buffer zones for U.S. airports only protect the last 20 seconds of flight, while in France the last 96 seconds of flight are protected from any interruption from 5G signals.
• U.S. President Joe Biden and his administration will have their task cut out in pushing to hammer out a long-term solution to this impasse so as to minimise any further disruption to the already pandemic-hit global travel and trade sectors.
• The FAA on its website has pointed to the specifics of the proposed 5G roll-out in the U.S. with a comparison to the situation in France and asserted that some key differences pose challenges.

Lessons for India

• Careful selection of the spectrum: It must not interfere with the frequencies used for Air-services communication or defence communication.
• Careful regulation of power levels for the spectrum: 5G power levels are lower in France, with even the planned temporary nationwide lower power levels in the U.S. still expected to be 2.5 times more powerful. This is one of the reasons for the interference.

2. Democratise and Empower City Governments: The General Approach Towards Urban Empowerment, Including Financial Capabilities, has Remained Piecemeal in India

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GS 1- Urbanization

Context:  The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) released a report, “State Finances, Study of Budgets of 2021-22”, released in November 2021.

Findings in the Report

• Severe strain on states' finances: “With the third-tier governments in India playing a frontline role in combating the pandemic by implementing containment strategies, healthcare,... their finances have come under severe strain, forcing them to cut down expenditures and mobilise funding from various sources.”
• Functional autonomy of civic bodies: It must increase and their governance structure strengthened. This could happen by ‘empowering them financially through higher resource availability’.
  • It echoed the recommendations of the 15th Finance Commission report on local bodies that emphasised city governance structures and financial empowerment.
• It mentioned the objective reality from during the novel coronavirus pandemic — which continues even now.
• Draining of resources of civic bodies: An RBI survey of 221 municipal corporations (2020-21) revealed that more than 70% saw a decline in revenues; in contrast, their expenditure rose by almost 71.2%.
• Limited coverage of property tax and its failure in shoring up municipal corporation revenues.
  • OECD data show that India has the lowest property tax collection rate in the world — i.e., property tax to GDP ratio. But this explains only one part of the story.

A Deeper Problem - Not Covered in RBI Report

• Old approach of treating cities as adjuncts of State governments : During the pandemic, while leaders from the Prime Minister to Chief Ministers to District Magistrate were seen taking a call on disaster mitigation strategies, city mayors were found missing. This is because under the disaster management plan of action, cities are at the forefront to fight the pandemic; however, the elected leadership finds no place in them. It is not just in disaster mitigation.

Approach to Urban Empowerment

• Urban development is a state subject, which is more linked to political and democratic movements in States.
• The first intervention to understand ‘the urban’ (though there are references in the Five Year plans) and plan with a pan-Indian vision took place in the 1980s when the National Commission On Urbanisation was formed with Charles Correa as its chairperson.
• Next, in 1992 with the Constitution 73rd and 74th Amendments — empowering urban local bodies to perform 18 functions listed in the 12th Schedule.
  • But this was also the period of neo-liberal reforms, so the generation of own resources and a slow withdrawal of the state could be witnessed.
  • There was, however, no mention of financial empowerment. It was linked more to the idea of “competitive cites” to attract investments in the urban centres by making their structures and land laws flexible, which never happened.
  • Poor augmentation by states: The only exception to the rule has been the people’s plan model of Kerala where 40% of the State’s plan budget was for local bodies (directly) with a transfer of important subjects such as planning, etc. 
  • Drying up of Octroi: Before GST, Octroi tax was one of the major sources of cities' incomes. Pimpri-Chinchwad and Pune are examples of two very high revenue-earning municipalities dependent on octroi. But this is taken away by the State and the central governments.
• Insufficiency of Grants: The finance commissions recommended grants to urban local bodies based on a formula of demographic profile.
  • Previously, while almost 55% of the total revenue expenditure of urban centres was met by octroi (e.g., Shimla), now, the grant covers only 15% of expenditure.
  • In such a situation, it is difficult for the towns to sustain their ability to perform their bare minimum functions, especially with the latest Pay Commission recommendations.
  • This has resulted in a vicious circle of burdening people more with taxes and further privatisation/outsourcing of the services of the municipalities.

Importance of Functional Autonomy

• The RBI report has been right in highlighting that functional autonomy of city governments must be allowed.
• But this should happen with three F’s: the transfer of ‘functions, finances and functionaries’ to city governments.
• Without these, functional autonomy would be empty rhetoric.
• Importance of cities:
  • There are nearly 5,000 statutory towns and an equal number of census towns in India.
  • Nearly 35% of the population lives in urban centres.
  • And, nearly two-thirds of the country’s GDP stems from cities and almost 90% of government revenue flows from urban centres.
• International cities: The often-cited example is how cities in the Scandinavian countries manage their functions well — from city planning to mobility to waste management. But there, a chunk of the income-tax from citizens is given to city governments.

Way Forward

• Devolution of tax resources up to the cities: A committee formed under the UPA, under the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development to review the 74th constitutional amendment, recommended that 10% of income-tax collected from the cities was to be given back to them as a direct revenue grant from the central government.
• Cities must be treated as important centres of governance, where democratic decentralisation can bring in amazing results (as seen in Kerala). There will be transparency and adequate participation of the people.
• Cities should not be considered as entrepreneurship spaces where the sole driving force is to make them competitive to attract investments. We have seen how fallacious this argument is. They must be considered as spaces for planned development by giving adequate attention to resources.
• Our cities are hardly prepared for the impact of climate change; nor do they have adaptive strategies. The resources required for quantitative and qualitative data must be immediately provided to the cities to ensure a disaster risk reduction plan keeping vulnerable communities in mind.
• Nothing ‘smart’ in smart cities without fund: This approach further widens the gap between different sets of people. Rather, the grants from the Centre must be enhanced and cities asked to draw up their plans themselves based on priority seeking from city residents. Cities are people, as they say, and people must be a part of the decision-making process.
• Leadership in the cities must be elected for a term of five years. In some cities, the term of the mayor is for a year! Likewise, the third F, i.e., functionaries, must be transferred to the cities with a permanent cadre.

Conclusion
Thus, in this exercise by the RBI, the good part is that there has least been a mention of cities, with local bodies as important centres of governance.