UPSC Daily Current Affairs- 12th October 2022 | Current Affairs & Hindu Analysis: Daily, Weekly & Monthly PDF Download

GS-I

Context

In his Independence Day address, Prime Minister of India  exhorted the country to pursue Atmanirbharta in energy by focusing on clean energy technologies. Concerns over the pricing and availability of oil and gas in the wake of the Ukraine crisis continue to fuel global policy debates on energy security.

• However, the fragility of clean energy supply chains obscures pathways for countries to reduce dependence on fossil fuels. Securing access to key minerals such as lithium, cobalt, nickel and rare earth metals is critical for building resilient and indigenous supply chains for clean energy technologies.

About Rare Earth Metals:

• They are a set of 17 metallic elements including the fifteen lanthanides plus scandium and yttrium that show similar physical and chemical properties to the lanthanides.
• They are called ‘rare earth’ because earlier it was difficult to extract them from their oxides forms technologically. They occur in many minerals but typically in low concentrations to be refined in an economical manner.
• The 17 Rare Earth Metals are cerium (Ce), dysprosium (Dy), erbium (Er), europium (Eu), gadolinium (Gd), holmium (Ho), lanthanum (La), lutetium (Lu), neodymium (Nd), praseodymium (Pr), promethium (Pm), samarium (Sm), scandium (Sc), terbium (Tb), thulium (Tm), ytterbium (Yb), and yttrium (Y).
• These minerals have unique magnetic, luminescent, and electrochemical properties and thus are used in many modern technologies, including consumer electronics, computers and networks, communications, health care, national defense, etc.

A Challenging task ahead:

• Imported inflationary pressures through exposure to volatile oil and gas markets also pose risks to macroeconomic growth and stability, particularly for India, import-dependent for around 85% of its oil and half of its gas needs.
• We face several challenges in being self-reliant on key minerals and REM:
• Reserves are often concentrated in regions that are geopolitically sensitive or fare poorly from an ease of doing business perspective.
• A portion of existing production is controlled by geostrategic competitors.
• For example, China wields considerable influence in cobalt mining in the Democratic Republic of Congo through direct equity investments and its Belt and Road Initiative.
• Future mine production is often tied up in offtake agreements, in advance, by buyers from other countries to cater to upcoming demand.
• As a first step towards the sourcing of strategic minerals, the Indian government established Khanij Bidesh India Limited (KABIL) in 2019 with the mandate to secure mineral supply for the domestic market.
• Based on a CEEW study, here are suggestions that policymakers could consider to further this objective.

Future Prospects:

• First, figure out the mineral requirements of the domestic industry.
• This could best be accomplished by a task force which includes the ministries of power, new and renewable energy, heavy industry, and science and technology.
• Further, assess the technology mix that would support this deployment. On this basis, determine the quantities of minerals necessary to support indigenous manufacturing.
• Second, coordinate with the domestic industry to determine where strategic interventions by the government would be necessary for the purpose.
• KABIL could collaborate with industry to bolster its market intelligence capabilities for tracking global supply-side developments.
• Third, if conducive investments opportunities don’t exist, KABIL should pre-emptively sign offtake agreements with global mineral suppliers to secure future production.
• It could aggregate a reliable supply of minerals for domestic requirements and sign back-to-back sales agreements with the domestic industry.
• Fourth, the government should jointly invest in mining assets with geostrategic partners. KABIL should make equity investments in mining jurisdictions that private sector investors may deem too risky.
• It should leverage government-to-government partnerships to mitigate investment risks. This could be done through joint investments with sovereign entities from geostrategic partners or private sector entities with expertise in specific geographies.
• The External Affairs Ministry could initiate conversations with partner countries. Establishing resilient clean energy supply chains is a priority for the Quad, for instance.
• Fifth, support technologies that utilise domestically available materials. The deployment of technologies such as sodium-ion batteries could reduce requirements for sourcing minerals from beyond India’s borders.
• While the current performance-linked incentive scheme on batteries is technologically agnostic, India could consider creating a tranche of capital to incentivise investments in technologies that rely on local raw materials.

Way Forward:

• Apart from above suggestions, developing policies on urban mining aimed at recycling mineral inputs from deployments that have completed their useful life could help further reduce dependence on international sourcing.
• Besides Ukraine, other potential geopolitical flashpoints also exist against a backdrop of dwindling multilateral cooperation. India must act immediately and decisively to mitigate these risks to its energy security.

GS-II

Context 

Israel has reached a US-brokered agreement with Lebanon to settle their long-disputed maritime border. This has been seen as a historic deal.

Israel-Lebanon Boundary Issue

• The draft agreement aims to settle Israel and Lebanon’s competing claims over offshore gas fields in the region.
• A major source of friction was the Karish gas field, which Israel insisted fell entirely within its waters and was not a subject of negotiation.
• The issue is a little over a decade old, after the two countries declared overlapping boundaries in 2011 in the Mediterranean Sea.
• Since both countries have been technically at war, the United Nations was asked to mediate.
• The issue gained significance after Israel discovered two gas fields off its coast a decade ago, which experts had believed could help turn it into an energy exporter.

Key terms of the Agreement

• The agreement seeks to resolve a territorial dispute in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, in an area that Lebanon wants to explore for natural gas.
• The gas field in question is located on the maritime boundary between the two countries and this agreement would allow both countries to get royalties from the gas.
• It also sets a border between the maritime waters of Lebanon and Israel for the first time.

Why is this agreement signed?

• Averting terror threats: The agreement is expected to avert the immediate threat of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah militants in Lebanon, after fears of escalation if negotiations fell apart.
• Energy exploitation: The agreement will create new sources of energy and income for both countries, particularly important for Lebanon, which is facing a crippling energy and financial crises.
• Alternative energy for Europe: It could also have a potentially wider impact: it would likely provide Europe with a potential new source of gas amid energy shortages caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

What the agreement does not address?

Blue Line Issue

• The agreement does not touch on the shared land border between Israel and Lebanon, which is still disputed, but where both countries are committed to a ceasefire.
• This border is also called the Blue Line, a boundary that was drawn up by the UN after Israel withdrew from southern Lebanon in 2000.
• This land border is currently patrolled by the United Nations forces.

Context

Every year, Indian Foreign Service (IFS) Day is celebrated on 9th October.

Why is Indian Foreign Service (IFS) Day Celebrated?

About:

• Indian Foreign Service Day is celebrated to commemorate the day the Indian Cabinet created the Foreign Service.

Origin:

• The Indian government established the Indian Foreign Service for India's diplomatic, consular and commercial representation overseas on 9th October 1946.
• With independence, there was a near-complete transition of the Foreign and Political Department into what then became the new Ministry of External Affairs.
• The origin of the Indian Foreign Service can be traced back to British rule when the Foreign Department was created to conduct business with the "Foreign European Powers".

Offices under IFS:

• Ambassador, High Commissioner, Consul General, Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations and Foreign Secretary are some of the offices held by the members of the Indian Foreign Service.

How do Foreign Service Officers Contribute to the Country?

• As a career diplomat, the Foreign Service Officer is required to project India’s interests, both at home and abroad on a wide variety of issues.
• These include bilateral political and economic cooperation, trade and investment promotion, cultural interaction, press and media liaison as well as a whole host of multilateral issues.
• During the Russia-Ukraine war, the splendid manner in which officers rose to the challenges of Operation Ganga was recognised by the entire nation.
• Operation Ganga was an evacuation operation by India to evacuate the Indian citizens amidst the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, who had crossed over to neighboring countries.
• Under the Vande Bharat Mission, lakhs of Indians have been brought back by air, sea and land across multiple borders.
• Over the years IFS has produced President and Vice President of India, Speaker of Lok Sabha, Ministers, Parliamentarians, noted authors, scholars, historians and international public servants from its ranks.

Context

It has been almost 30 years since the 73rd and 74th constitutional amendment Acts were passed to facilitate democratic decentralisation in India, but very little and actual progress has been made in this direction.

What is Democratic Decentralisation?

• About:
  • Democratic decentralization is the process of devolving the functions and resources of the state from the Centre to the elected representatives at the lower levels so as to facilitate greater direct participation of citizens in governance.
  • Devolution, envisioned by the Indian Constitution, is not mere delegation.
  • It implies that precisely defined governance functions are formally assigned by law to local governments, backed by adequate transfer of a basket of financial grants and tax handles, and they are given staff so that they have the necessary wherewithal to carry out their responsibilities.
• Related Constitutional Provisions:
  • Local government, including panchayats, is a state subject in the Constitution, and consequently, the devolution of power and authority to panchayats has been left to the discretion of states.
  • The Constitution mandates that panchayats and municipalities shall be elected every five years and enjoins States to devolve functions and responsibilities to them through law.
  • The 73rd and 74th Amendments, by constitutionally establishing Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) in India, mandated the establishment of panchayats and municipalities as elected local governments.

What are the Major Achievements of the Local Bodies?

• Rising Women Representation:
  • The proportion of elected women representatives has been steadily rising since the enactment of the 73rd Amendment Act.
  • Currently, India has 260,512 Panchayats with 3.1 million elected representatives, of which a record 1.3 million are women.
  • While there is merely 7–8% representation in Parliament and State Assemblies for women, an astounding 49% of elected local representatives (in states like Odisha it has crossed 50%) are women.
• Created Healthy Competition among Various States:
  • The passage of the 73rd and 74th Amendments has created healthy competition among various states regarding devolution (the 3Fs: funds, functions, and functionaries).
  • For instance:
    • Kerala has devolved 29 of its functions to Panchayats.
    • Rajasthan took the inspiration from Kerala to devolve many key departments such as health, education, women, and agriculture to PRIs.
    • Similarly, Bihar came out with the idea of “Panchayat Sarkar” and states such as Odisha have increased 50% seats for women

What are the Issues with Local Governments in India?

• Insufficient Funding: The money given to the local governments is inadequate to meet their basic requirements.
  • A number of conditions constrain the use of money, including inflexibility in spending the allocated budget.
  • There is little investment in enabling and strengthening local governments to raise their own taxes and user charges.
• Infrastructural Challenges:
  • Some of the Gram Panchayats (GPs) do not have their own building and they share space with schools, Anganwadi centres and other places.
  • Some have their own building but without basic facilities like toilets, drinking water, and electricity connection.
  • While GPs have internet connections, they are not functional in many cases. For any data entry purposes, panchayat officials have to visit Block Development offices which delay the work.
• Lack of Staff:
  • Local governments do not have the staff to perform even basic tasks.
  • Furthermore, as most staff are hired by higher level departments and placed with local governments on deputation, they do not feel responsible to the latter; they function as part of a vertically integrated departmental system.
• Untimely and Delayed Elections:
  • States often postpone the elections and violate the constitutional mandate of five yearly elections to local governments.
• Downgraded Role of Local Government:
  • Local governments are merely acting as an implementation machinery rather than a policy-making body for local development. Technology-enabled schemes have further downgraded their role.
• Corruption:
  • Criminal elements and contractors are attracted to local government elections, tempted by the large sums of money now flowing to them. Thus, forming a market chain of corruption operates, involving a partnership between elected representatives and officials at all levels.
  • However, there is no evidence to show that corruption has increased due to decentralisation.

Way Forward

• Revitalisation of Gram Sabhas:
  • Gram Sabhas and wards committees in urban areas have to be revitalised to achieve the objective of people’s participation in real terms.
• Strengthening Organisational Structure:
  • Local government organisational structures have to be strengthened with sufficient manpower.
  • Serious efforts should be made towards recruitment and appointment of support and technical staff to ensure the smooth functioning of panchayats.
• Comprehensive Mechanism for Taxation:
  • Devise a comprehensive mechanism for taxation at the local levels. Without local taxation, Gram Panchayats cannot be held accountable.
• Funding:
  • The Ministry of Panchayati Raj should monitor the release and expenditure of Finance Commission grants to ensure that there is no delay in their release.
  • It should also be ensured that grants are utilised in a proper and effective manner.
  • Panchayats should also be encouraged to carry out local audits regularly so that Finance Commission grants are not delayed.

GS-III

Context

World Space Week this year is themed around ‘Space and Sustainability’. Among other things, the 2022 theme seeks to specifically inspire focus on the challenges the world faces to keep space safe and sustainable.

What is mean by Space?

• Space is an almost perfect vacuum, nearly void of matter and with extremely low pressure. In space, sound doesn’t carry because there aren’t molecules close enough together to transmit sound between them. Not quite empty, bits of gas, dust and other matter floats around “emptier” areas of the universe, while more crowded regions can host planets, stars and galaxies.
• From our Earth-bound perspective, outer space is most often thought to begin about 62 miles (100 kilometers) above sea level at what is known as the Kármán line. This is an imaginary boundary at an altitude where there is no appreciable air to breathe or scatter light. Passing this altitude, blue starts to give way to black because oxygen molecules are not in enough abundance to make the sky blue.

What is mean by Space sustainability?

• Space sustainability is ensuring that all humanity can continue to use outer space for peaceful purposes and socioeconomic benefit now and in the long term. This will require international cooperation, discussion, and agreements designed to ensure that outer space is safe, secure, and peaceful.

What necessitate the sustainable space technology debate?

• Mounting challenge of Space debris: Challenges are endless in both quantitative and qualitative terms, i.e., they are several and severe, ranging from satellite crowding and collision risk to space debris in the Low Earth Orbit (LEO).
• Ever increasing satellites: The sense of urgency around space sustainability is already skyrocketing—more than 80 countries currently contribute to the over 6,800 active satellites in orbit, of which many are used for both civilian and military purposes, as well as over 30,000 pieces of orbital debris.
• Militarization of space: Given the development of new and emerging space technologies, the rapid militarisation and securitisation of space, and the growing distrust amongst nations in the domain, space activity is only set to increase and acquire a more national security-oriented focus.
• Large scale Development of ASAT: This is already visible in several countries around the world. There has been a recent uptick in the development and testing of destructive anti-satellite (ASAT) weapons, with 26 tests in the past two decades conducted by the four countries that have access to these weapons (US, Russia, China, and India).
• Massive investment into military space capability: France, which is currently leading the European Council, has also invested several billion euros into military space capabilities, and regularly emphasises the security importance of space for other EU countries.
• Increasing Defence space commands: Australia set up its Defence Space Command in early 2022 to increase its strategic potential in space, and South Korea deployed a spy satellite to better monitor North Korea in June 2022, giving its military space plan a huge push. However, none of these countries have a sustainability provision in their defence space operations or programmes.

What are the challenges of Security and sustainability of Space?

• Dichotomy in Security and sustainability: Sustainability and security are two sides of the same coin, but as a result of this inherent dichotomy, they are often juxtaposed against each other.
• Keeping Security is the priority: The contrast between highly motivated and funded national security efforts and the relatively non-prioritised international engagements around space sustainability is an example of a larger trend of indifference towards sustainable development in favour of higher military spending.
• SDG on backburner: To substantiate this point, funding for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) was adversely affected due to COVID-19 in 2021, and this reportedly dramatically pushed back progress on the SDGs, but the global military expenditure has consistently been on an upward incline and crossed the US$2 trillion mark for the first time in the same year.
• Securitization of space: The trade-off between security and sustainability can jeopardise sustainable development within a plethora of issue domains, thus, increasing the likelihood of exhausting limited resources. This in turn could exacerbate the risk of conflict due to the resulting scarce resources, ultimately creating a vicious cycle of securitisation and conflict.
• Rat race in Space : As a case in point, the incumbent space race has always been marked by competing security and commercial interests, which has resulted in a constant escalation of global government spending on space programmes to its record value of US$98 billion in 2021. Space sustainability, on the other hand, has only seen activity recently, and primarily in an international and voluntary set-up.

What regulations are needed for Sustainable Space?

• Prioritising peaceful use of space: A Working Group on the Long-term Sustainability of Outer Space Activities was set up by the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) in 2010, which has 95 UN member states taking part in it. The Group adopted a set of guidelines by consensus in 2019, although it failed to make these guidelines or any other regulations legally binding. It agreed to work over it for 5 years from 2022 onwards, but since the Group uses a consensus-based approach to reach agreements, it is difficult to expect more stringent or extensive regulatory frameworks to emerge from it.
• Consensus is difficult but necessary: Consensus-based approaches in multilateral forums, especially related to arms or other security objectives, often contrast with individual national security interests of its member states and have been criticised for their slow or ineffective progress.
• Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons: Another example of this is the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons’ (CCW) Group of Government Experts (GGE) meetings on lethal autonomous weapons systems (LAWS), which have only produced a set of 11 non-binding guiding principles since deliberations around LAWS began in 2014.
• Space sustainable ratings should be developed: The World Economic Forum, for instance, introduced a new standard called the Space Sustainability Rating (SSR), in 2022, which aims to recognise, reward, and encourage space actors to design and implement sustainable and responsible space missions. It remains to be seen whether countries will respond favourably to tools like the SSR, which are based on a positive reinforcement model, to be more space sustainability-conscious.

Conclusion

space sustainability is only at the cusp of becoming actionable. When space experts, intergovernmental organisations, or countries themselves conclude that sustainability should be a part of their space mandate, and when they devise possible methods to help achieve this, they cannot do so in a vacuum. Space sustainability should not become the political football like climate change.

Context

The government’s proposal to bring a “holistic decriminalisation” bill in the Winter Session of Parliament, If gets enacted into law, it will be one of India’s greatest reforms since 1991. One of the objectives of this proposed law is to “end harassment and reduce compliance burden on businesses.

 What is Holistic decriminalisation Bill?

• A new holistic decriminalisation bill is set to amend burdensome provisions in laws related to businesses.
• Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Piyush Goyal said that the Decriminalising sections of various laws will end the harassment faced by businesses and reduce compliance burden. Seeking quick industry feedback on problematic areas that can be covered in the proposed Bill.

What is the status of existing laws in India?

• Burden of Imprisonment clauses: Business regulatory universe comprises 1,536 laws, of which more than half, or 843 laws, carry imprisonment clauses. Under these laws, there are 69,233 compliances businesses face as an aggregate, of which almost two out of five, or 26,134, carry imprisonment clauses.
• Union and state legislations on the compliance: Of the 843 laws with imprisonment clauses, 28.9 percent, or 244 laws, have been enacted by Parliament; the rest by State legislatures and rules. Of the 26,134 compliances that carry imprisonment clauses, a fifth, or 5,239 clauses are situated in Union laws.
• No institutional support for informal sector: Of the 69 million enterprises in India, only 1 million are formal employers; as a result, the remaining informal enterprises get no access to institutional capital, talent, or supply chains.
• Smaller the better attitude: India’s predatory and rent-seeking policy infrastructure ensures that businesses choose to remain under the regulatory radar—small may not be beautiful but it is certainly safe. For instance, a small business with 150 employees or more has to deal with 500 to 900 compliances a year, on which it can end up spending up to INR 12-18 lakhs by hiring consultants to be compliant with labour laws, taxes, factories, and so on.
• Burden of compliance is cost-effective: Creating a regulatory bias against small businesses once a line of scale is crossed, managing a compliance department becomes cost-effective; until then, for the small business owner-manager, compliances becomes a risk-management strategy, almost an economic activity.

Why such reforms in business laws are necessary?

• To attract more investment: When viewed through the lens of the government’s intention to make India an investment destination for global and domestic capital, it would be a reform that should end the endemic of harassment, corruption, and rent-seeking by officials of the Union government.
• To end corruption at state level: Corruption by officials of state governments will end when criminal provisions in State laws and rules get similarly rationalised; some of these will get rationalised with amendments to Union laws that are enforced by state governments.
• Encouraging the entrepreneurial spirit: Regulatory framework is cumulative policy actions of the three arms of the State the executive, the legislature, and the judiciary using instruments of legislations, rules, regulations, or orders, to create or raise barriers to a smooth flow of ideas, organisation, money, and, most importantly, the flow of the entrepreneurial spirit.

Why such reforms in business laws are necessary?

• To attract more investment: When viewed through the lens of the government’s intention to make India an investment destination for global and domestic capital, it would be a reform that should end the endemic of harassment, corruption, and rent-seeking by officials of the Union government.
• To end corruption at state level: Corruption by officials of state governments will end when criminal provisions in State laws and rules get similarly rationalised; some of these will get rationalised with amendments to Union laws that are enforced by state governments.
• Encouraging the entrepreneurial spirit: Regulatory framework is cumulative policy actions of the three arms of the State the executive, the legislature, and the judiciary using instruments of legislations, rules, regulations, or orders, to create or raise barriers to a smooth flow of ideas, organisation, money, and, most importantly, the flow of the entrepreneurial spirit.

Conclusion

The country is getting ready for third-generation reforms. Among them are reforms that rationalise compliances and imprisonment clauses—retain a handful, reduce or remove most, compound the rest and turn physical imprisonment into financial penalties. The Inspector Raj, expressed through the colonial, corrupt, and rent-seeking policy infrastructure, must be disassembled and jobs, wealth, and large enterprises created.

Context

India has received the fourth set of Swiss Bank account details of its nationals and organizations as part of annual information exchange, under which Switzerland has shared particulars of nearly 34 lakh financial accounts with 101 countries.

How India gets such information?

Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI) Agreement

• In an effort to bring in transparency and restrict money laundering, the Swiss Federal Office gives a detailed account of the massive AEOI exchange.
• This is the fourth tranche of information that India has received from Switzerland since the two countries entered into an Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI) agreement in January 2018.
• The first such exchange with India took place in 2019.
• Some countries which have been added to the Swiss AEOI list for the first time are Turkey, Peru and Nigeria.
• The Swiss Federal Tax Administration office has also informed that with 74 of these 101 countries, the information exchange was reciprocal.

What is the volume, nature of data?

• In 2019, prior to India receiving its first batch of banking information via the AEOI, India would be among 73 countries that would be receiving the data.
• In India’s case “several dispatches” would be required, giving an indication of the large volume of account holders.

Guidelines for exchange of such sensitive banking information

• The guidelines and parameters for the AEOI are set by the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), the Paris-based international body.
• The annual exercise of AEOI exchange, such as the current Swiss bonanza of banking details, is strictly meant for “tax only” purposes and in India.
• This data is kept in the custody of and for action by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT).
• Under the OECD’s guidelines, details of the quantum of funds or the names of account holders cannot be publicised.

What is the scope of India’s AEOI network?

• Under the OECD umbrella of AEOI, India presently shares bulk financial and banking information with 78 countries.
• It receives the same from 107 countries, with Switzerland known to be sharing some of the most voluminous data.

Institutional mechanism in India

• Primarily to the large volume of FI data coming in from now a 100 countries, the CBDT last year set up a network of Foreign Asset Investigation Units (FAIUs) in 14 of its investigation wings.
• The information of a region which has reached India via the AEOI route is transmitted in a secure manner.
• It is the FAIUs that do the follow-up probe of the such data, and to begin with, investigate whether the taxpayer has declared the foreign bank account/s in tax returns or not.

Why do people park their money in Swiss Banks?

• As wealth became easily mobile across international borders, the safety and stability of Swiss banks, located in a peaceful country presented an irresistible attraction for the super-rich.
• Switzerland itself is a politically neutral country.
• Swiss bank accounts are attractive to depositors because they combine low levels of risk with very high levels of privacy.
• The Swiss economy is extremely stable, and the banks are run at very high levels of professionalism.
• Opening an account is not difficult, and requires not much more than basic KYC, including a proof of identity such as a passport.

Question of Black Money

• “Black money” allegedly stashed away by Indians in Swiss banks is a political issue in India.
• Leaders and political functionaries have often made promises to “bring it back” and credit 15 Lakh Rupees in every Indian’s account.
• Swiss authorities have maintained that they cooperate with the Indian government to fight tax evasion and fraud.