UPSC Daily Current Affairs- 9th October 2022 | Current Affairs & Hindu Analysis: Daily, Weekly & Monthly PDF Download

GS-II

Context

Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and Textiles, recently asked the Quality Council of India (QCI) to strive to bring about convergence of all the various quality and standards organizations in the country.

About Quality Council of India:

• Quality Council of India (QCI) was established as a National body for Accreditation on recommendations of Expert Mission of EU through a Cabinet decision in 1996.
• Accordingly, QCI was set up through a PPP(Public-Private partnership) model as an independent autonomous organization with the support of Government of India and the Indian Industry represented by the three premier industry associations:
  • Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM),
  • Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and
  • Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).
• QCI is a non-profit organization registered under the Societies Registration Act XXI of 1860.
• The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, Ministry of Commerce and Industry was designated as the nodal point for all matters connected with quality and QCI to structure and help implementation of the Cabinet decision.
• QCI has been established to create a mechanism for independent third party assessment of products, services and processes.

Governance Structure of QCI:

The various bodies of QCI which makes Governance Structure are:

• The Governing Council (GC)
• The Governing Body (GB)
• Finance Committee (FC)
• Accreditation Boards (ABs) and Quality Promotion Board

Key Objectives:

• QCI has been established to create a mechanism for independent third party assessment of products, services and processes.
• It plays a pivotal role at the national level in propagating, adoption and adherence to quality standards in all important spheres of activities including education, healthcare, environment protection, governance, social sectors, infrastructure sector and such other areas of organized activities that have significant bearing in improving the quality of life and wellbeing of the citizens of India.

Additional Information:

Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC):

• ONDC is in an early stage of formation that been incorporated as a Section 8 company in December 2021 with the Quality Council of India and Protean eGov Technologies Limited as initial promoters.
• ONDC is an initiative aiming at promoting open networks for all aspects of exchange of goods and services over digital or electronic networks.
• The foundations of ONDC are to be open protocols for all aspects in the entire chain of activities in exchange of goods and services, similar to hypertext transfer protocol for information exchange over internet, simple mail transfer protocol for exchange of emails and unified payments interface for payments.

About Food Corporation of India (FCI)

• The Food Corporation of India was setup under the Food Corporation’s Act 1964 , in order to fulfil following objectives of the Food Policy:
  • Effective price support operations for safeguarding the interests of the farmers.
  • Distribution of foodgrains throughout the country for public distribution system.
  • Maintaining satisfactory level of operational and buffer stocks of foodgrains to ensure National Food Security
  • Since its inception, FCI has played a significant role in India’s success in transforming the crisis management oriented food security into a stable security system.

Objectives of FCI:

• In its 50 years of service to the nation, FCI has played a significant role in India’s success in transforming the crisis management-oriented food security into a stable security system. FCI’s Objectives are:
  • To provide farmers with remunerative prices
  • To make food grains available at reasonable prices, particularly to vulnerable section of the society
  • To maintain buffer stocks as measure of Food Security
  • To intervene in market for price stabilization

Context

The No Oil Producing and Exporting Cartels (NOPEC) bill, which passed a Senate committee recently, is intended to protect U.S. consumers and businesses from engineered oil spikes.

About NOPEC bill:

• The bipartisan NOPEC bill would tweak U.S. antitrust law to revoke the sovereign immunity that has protected OPEC+ members and their national oil companies from lawsuits.
• If signed into law, the U.S. attorney general would gain the option to sue the oil cartel or its members, such as Saudi Arabia, in federal court.
• It is unclear exactly how a federal court could enforce judicial antitrust decisions against a foreign nation.
• Previous versions of the NOPEC bill have failed amid resistance by oil industry groups, including the top U.S. oil lobby group, the American Petroleum Institute (API).

Concerns about the bill:

• One industry concern is that NOPEC legislation could ultimately lead to overproduction by OPEC, bringing prices so low that U.S. energy companies have difficulty boosting output.
• Saudi Arabia and other OPEC countries have some of the world’s cheapest and easiest reserves to produce.
• A wave of oil from OPEC producers, even at a time of concerns about Russian supply could chill U.S. drillers, some of which are already reluctant to boost output despite the cut.
• Some analysts have said that NOPEC could lead to unintended blowback, including the possibility that other countries could take similar action on the United States for withholding agricultural output to support domestic farming, for example.
• OPEC nations could also strike back in other ways.
• In 2019, for example, Saudi Arabia threatened to sell its oil in currencies other than the dollar if Washington passed a version of the NOPEC bill.
• Doing so would undermine the dollar’s status as the world’s main reserve currency, reduce Washington’s clout in global trade, and weaken its ability to enforce sanctions on nation-states.
• The kingdom could also decide to buy at least some weapons from countries other than the United States, hitting a lucrative business for U.S. defense contractors.
• The kingdom and other oil producers could limit U.S. investments in their countries or simply raise their prices for oil sold into the United States – undermining the basic aim of the bill.

Context

The debate that began with an RBI 2022 report on state finances followed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s comment on revdi culture aka freebies, has garnered substantial attention so much so that the Supreme Court is hearing on this issue. Freebies have now assumed more importance than ever.

What are freebies?

• Freebies could be defined as non-merit subsidies. The term Freebies is not new; rather it is a prevalent culture in Indian politics (in the name of socialism).
• The political parties are always trying to outdo each other in luring the Indian voters with freebies.

What are Subsidies?

• Subsidies are money transfers (implicit or explicit) by the government in an attempt to drive prices artificially below market prices.
• As a National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP) study by Sudipto Mundle and Satadru Sirkar puts it, budget subsidies, in particular, are defined as the unrecovered cost of economic and social services.
• However, all subsidies cannot be easily classified into merit or non-merit.

What are the objectives behind providing freebies?

• Welfare state: It could be said that providing freebies empowers the state to, first, deliver welfare as a welfare state should, by providing subsidised merit goods like health and education;
• Combating poverty: To help households combat poverty (especially in economically stressed times characterised by fewer job opportunities, lower incomes, high inflation, etc.) by providing subsidised public goods like food, electricity, etc.
• Populist spending: To appeal to the electorate through outright populist spending.

Question of classification between a merit and a non-merit freebies?

• Blur Boundary: The boundaries between the aforementioned objectives begin to blur when it comes to classifying one form of freebie as a merit or a non-merit subsidy.
  • Few examples: Are corporate tax cuts non-merit subsidies or a measure to boost investment? 2. Is making bus rides free for women in the national capital a non-merit subsidy or a way to boost women’s mobility and labour-force participation? 3. Are free laptops to students in Tamil Nadu not a way to bridge the digital divide in education?
• Varying definition: The existing arguments develop an understanding that freebies cannot be defined in a finite context, and that the definition varies across space and economic conditions.

How freebies impact revenue of the state?

• Adverse impact on revenues: Regardless of which one gets classified as good or bad, freebies are simply expenditures or foregone revenues. Any freebie-induced debt burden could have an adverse effect on the state finances if, one, it hasn’t been properly accounted for through transparent budgeting procedures (including off-budget borrowings in debt calculations)
• Increase in Fiscal deficit: Either way, they lead to an increase in fiscal deficit whose financing could necessitate taking on debt. It threatens fiscal sustainability, i e, it limits the state’s ability to service its debt-related commitments without making an unrealistic fiscal adjustment.
• Lack of data leading to leakages: The targeting of beneficiaries to ease the burden on the exchequer is one way to check these expenditures but lack of data has forced a situation wherein leakages and duplication of beneficiaries is commonplace.
• Jeopardises long-term growth and development: In the absence of adequate avenues of revenue mobilisation, any fiscal adjustment achieved by contracting critical expenditures on the social sector and capital formation further jeopardises long-term growth and development. The emanating risk of fiscal sustainability means a “revdi” today would take a toll on tomorrow’s generation.

What could be the solution?

• Setting up an independent fiscal council: Setting up an independent fiscal council that has been recommended by the FRBM Review Committee (2017), and recently constituted Finance Commissions too, including the 15th Finance Commission.
• Providing information and advisory: FRBM report says, the council will serve both an ex-ante role providing independent forecasts on key macro variables like real and nominal GDP growth, tax buoyancy, commodity prices as well as an ex-post monitoring role, and also serve as the institution to advise on triggering the escape clause and also specify a path of return.
• Monitoring finance: Such a council should work for the union as well as the states. Monitoring of finances and fiscal rules could also help ensure that states comply with a medium-term fiscal policy framework, which has been long argued for by economists.

Conclusion

Freebies cannot be defined easily, and constitutionally, any state government should be empowered to spend the way it wants, provided the fiscal policy is sustainable. The message from the freebies debate is to make informed economic decisions whilst attending to key development objectives.

GS-III

Context

Cotton, one of the most important crops, has a strategic role in India’s international agriculture play. India is the world’s third-largest exporter of cotton and the second-largest exporter of textiles, therefore, also contributing significantly to the country’s economy.

All you need to know about the Cotton crop

• Rainfall and Temperature: Sensitive to timing of rainfall and rainfall during harvest might lead to crop failure. Temperature required is around 20-30 degree c., while rainfall is about 75-100cm.
• Soil: Black soil ideally suited for cotton cultivation as it is rich in lime.cotton is vulnerable to pest attack.
• Humidity: Cotton cultivation requires more than 200 frost free days. Humidity during harvest is harmful.
• Oilcake: The cotton seeds are crushed for oil and the oilcake is an important animal fodder and also used as farm manure.

What is the Present status of cotton in India?

• India holds a 4% share of the U.S.$840 billion global textile and apparel market
• India has been successful in developing backward links, with the aid of the Technical Upgradation Fund Scheme (TUFS), in the cotton and technical textiles industry.
• However, India is yet to move into man-made fibres as factories still operate in a seasonal fashion.
• Areas of cotton cultivation are Gujrat, Maharashtra, Telangana, Punjab, etc.

What are the voluntary sustainable standards (VSS) in cotton?

• Voluntary Sustainability Standards (VSS):  Voluntary Sustainability Standards (VSS), which encapsulate certification schemes, labelling programmes, and private standards. The major VSS that are dominant in the sustainable cotton value chain today include Better Cotton Initiative (BCI), Organic Cotton, Fair trade Cotton, and Cotton Made in Africa.
• To achieve sustainable Goal: The global textile supply chain is undergoing a paradigm shift; it is pursuing environmental and social upgradation to meet the sustainability requirements imposed by global textile and home furnishing retailers, so as to mitigate the adverse impacts of climate change on cotton farmers and cotton cultivation.

What are the benefits for India?

• Enhance position in global cotton supply: Adapting to VSS is clearly beneficial for India. On the one hand, it will help it remain globally competitive in the cotton supply chain and strengthen its position in the export market, while on the other, it will help meet India’s SDG commitments.
• Takes India a step closer towards sustainable farming: India has made considerable progress in its transition towards a more sustainable cotton farming ecosystem. The total cotton area under VSS has reached 1.5 million hectares, contributing to 24 percent of the global VSS cotton area.
• Increases organic production of cotton: With approximately 0.2 million hectares of area for production, it is the largest producer of organic cotton, accounting for 50 percent of global organic cotton production, and the second-largest producer of ‘Better Cotton’, accounting for 16.5 percent of total Better Cotton production covering an area of 1.5 million hectares.
• Higher yield: According to the BCI’s 2020 Impact Report for India, Better Cotton farmers have 9 percent higher yields and 18 percent higher profit than conventional farmers.
• Eco friendly production: The Thinkstep report 2018 on the Life Cycle Assessment of VSS Cotton conducted in Madhya Pradesh revealed a reduction of 50 percent in climate change impact, 59 percent in blue water consumption, 84 percent in ecotoxicity, and 100 percent eutrophication in organic over conventional cotton.
• To achieveSDG Targets: The VSS cotton growth story in India has already demonstrated its contribution towards the achievement of SDG targets for Zero Hunger (Goal 2), Clean Water and Sanitation (Goal 6), Responsible Consumption and Production (Goal 12), Life on Land (Goal 15), and Climate Action (Goal 16).
• NITI Aayog’s Assessment: VSS cotton delivers real, measurable outcomes according to priority indicators as outlined by NITI Aayog which maps India’s SDG goals. These indicators include changes in the extent of water bodies, improving groundwater withdrawal against availability, and rationalising nitrogen fertiliser.

Conclusion

India must scale up the VSS while aligning it with its SDG commitments since VSS in cotton ensures a better production system, sourcing methods, and consumption patterns while also influencing the lives of hundreds of millions.

Context

Moonlighting has been a controversial topic in recent months after a few companies sacked their employees citing it as a reason.

What is Moonlighting?

• Moonlighting — or employees working for remuneration with entities other than their employers.
• Moonlighting is neither new nor unusual.
• The practice has been around for a while with scores of professionals such as doctors, teachers, and consultants, routinely doing so for years.

Reasons for surge in Moonlighting in recent years:

• Upcoming work structure:
  • In the last few years, the prevalence of remote working, and hybrid work structures made it more mainstream in certain industries.
• Pandemic changing the work dynamic:
  • During the pandemic, those with desk jobs had more time on their hands and thus it was easier to take on a few projects outside of work.
  • A private study said that at least 60% of 400 employees surveyed said they themselves had or knew someone who had engaged in moonlighting.
• The superfluous employers:
  • The dispensable attitude that many employers demonstrated during COVID-19 has led to an erosion of job loyalty among employees.
  • Now more than ever, people are aware that organisations can give up on them, and that they must safeguard their own interests.
• Skill enhancement:
  • For a lot of professionals, moonlighting has also become a way to upskill, learn new things, and ensure they don’t become redundant in their careers.

Indian companies reacting to moonlighting:

• Wipro sacked 300 employees following the discovery that they were working for rival firms on the side, leading to a conflict of interest.
• Infosys has warned staff against moonlighting, saying it could lead to termination.
• On the contrary, a few other companies like for example Swiggy announced a ‘moonlighting policy’ that allows employees “to pursue their passion for economic interests alongside their full-time employment.”

Associated Issues:

• Moonlighting in turn has raised larger questions about issues related to job loyalty, employee satisfaction, employer-employee dynamics, and the future of work in a post-pandemic world.

Legalities concerning Moonlighting

• Statute:
  • Moonlighting is not defined in any of the statutes in India.
  • However, there are enactments that deal with double employment.
• Factories Act on double employment:
  • Factories Act deals with restriction on double employment stating that “No adult worker shall be required or allowed to work in any factory on any day on which he has already been working in any other factory, save in such circumstances as may be prescribed”.
  • However, this enactment is applicable only to employees working in factories.
• Court judgments:
  • Moonlighting is subject to the law of the land.
  • The sphere of employment cannot be extended by the employer beyond working hours and outside his place of employment, which is the principle laid down in the Supreme Court judgment.
  • In other words, the employee can choose to arrange his affairs as he pleases beyond the working hours of the employer.
• Punitive action against moonlighting:
  • Unless an employer is able to prove that an employee acted against the interest of the company, Courts may not uphold severe punishment of termination of employment.

Way Forward:

• The court jurisdiction:
  • The Courts of law in India dealing with employment are Writ Courts and Labour Courts.
  • These Courts exercise jurisdiction based on equity or fairness.
  • The Courts may lean in favour of the employee unless the contravention of the employee has led to serious prejudice and loss to the employer.
• For employers:
  • Eventually, organisations need to understand that they don’t own all of their employees’ time, nor should they expect to.
  • What they pay for are fixed work hours defined by targets, set out in contracts.
• Call for side gig:
  • Delineating clearly between side gigs for gainful employment versus projects that require data confidentiality, an ethical moonlighting policy could be an effective way for both employees and employers to meet midway.

Context

Recently, the World Health Organisation (WHO) issued an alert about four Indian-manufactured cough syrups, which are said to be linked to acute kidney injury in children and 66 deaths in the small West African nation of The Gambia.

• The WHO analysis of samples of each of these products had confirmed the presence of “unacceptable amounts of diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol as contaminants”. These ingredients are not allowed in food or drugs, as they can cause abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhoea, headache, severe renal injury and neurological toxicity.
• The company said these were not sold in India and are only for export markets already approved by the DGCI.

What are the Related Regulations in India?

• The Drugs and Cosmetics Act:
  • The Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 and Rules 1945 have entrusted various responsibilities to central and state regulators for regulation of drugs and cosmetics.
  • It provides the regulatory guidelines for issuing licenses to manufacture Ayurvedic, Siddha, Unani medicines.
  • It is mandatory for the manufacturers to adhere to the prescribed requirements for licensing of manufacturing units & medicines including proof of safety & effectiveness, compliance with the Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP).
• Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation(CDSCO):
  • Prescribes standards and measures for ensuring the safety, efficacy and quality of drugs, cosmetics, diagnostics and devices in the country.
  • Regulates the market authorization of new drugs and clinical trials standards.
  • Supervises drug imports and approves licences to manufacture the above-mentioned products.
  • CDSCO regulates export of drugs in India, any manufacturer with the certification from CDSCO can export drugs outside India.
• Drugs Controller General of India:
  • DCGI is the head of department of the CDSCO of the Government of India responsible for approval of licences of specified categories of drugs such as blood and blood products, IV fluids, vaccines and sera in India.
  • DCGI also sets standards for manufacturing, sales, import, and distribution of drugs in India.