September 2018 Issue 01 - Dhyeya IAS

Page created by Rosa Vazquez
 
CONTINUE READING
September 2018 Issue 01 - Dhyeya IAS
September 2018   Issue 01
September 2018 Issue 01 - Dhyeya IAS
September- 2018

                    Contents                                         Issue-1

Seven Important Issues                                               1-23

 Business Conducive Nature of Indian States: N-SIPI
  Military Reforms in India: Steadily Undergoing
  SCO Peace Mission-2018: Countering Terrorism
  Wages Inequality in India: Still Persist
  Burning Disaster is Continued
  Atal Bihari Vajpayee: A Statesman
  National Sports University: A Gateway of Sports' Future

Seven Subjective Questions with Model Answers                        24-28

Seven Important National & International News                        29-34

Seven Brain Boosters & Seven MCQ's Based on Them                     35-43

Seven Important Facts For Prelims                                    44

Seven Important Awards-2018                                          45-46

Seven Practice Questions for Main Exam                               47
September 2018 Issue 01 - Dhyeya IAS
Current Affairs : Perfect 7

              SEVEN IMPORTANT ISSUES

      1. BUSINESS CONDUCIVE NATURE OF INDIAN STATES: N-SIPI

Why in News?
The National Council of Applied
Economic Research (NCAER) has
released its 2018 edition of NCAER
state Investment Potential Index
(N-SIPI). Covering 20 states and Delhi,
this is the third edition of the annual
N-SIPI that ranks India’s states on their
competitiveness in business and their
investment climate.

Introduction
NCAER launched the N-SIPI series in
March 2016 and the second N-SIPI
2017 was released in July 2017. N-SIPI
is a pioneering effort to provide
metrics of economic governance,
competitiveness and growth oppor-
tunities at the state and regional           driven (ranking of business climate          About National Council of Applied
levels. The Index is designed to provide     built on firm surveys) as on a figure.         Economic Research (NCAER)
a systematic and reliable “go-to”            Each of the pillars is, in turn, based on   Established in 1956, NCAER is India’s
reference for policy makers, existing        a number of sub-pillars, ranging from 4     oldest and largest independent, non-
businesses and potential domestic and        in the case of land to 11 in the case of    profit,    economic        policy    research
                                             infrastructure.                             institute. NCAER’s work falls into four
overseas investors.
                                                                                         thematic areas: growth, macro, trade
     Building on the success of N-SIPI         A unique feature of the N-SIPI            and economic policy; investment climate,
2016 and 2017, N-SIPI 2018 ranks the         index is the integration of industry        industry, infrastructure, labour and
competitiveness of Indian states on          perceptions of the investment               urban; agriculture and rural development,
six pillars: land, labour, infrastructure,   potential and business climate of a         natural resources and environment; and
economic climate, political stability &      state along with the fundamentals           poverty, equity, human development and
                                                                                         consumers. The focus of NCAER’s work in
governance and business perceptions.         likely to drive investment decisions
                                                                                         these areas is on generating and analyzing
These six pillars are classified under       in that state. Another unique feature
                                                                                         empirical evidence to support and inform
four broad categories: factor driven         of the 2018 N-SIPI is the inclusion         policy choices. It is also one of a handful of
(land and labour), efficiency driven         of Goods & Service Tax (GST)                think tanks globally that combine rigorous
(infrastructure),      growth       driven   specific questions in the survey            analysis and policy outreach with deep
(economic climate and political stability    questionnaire for the perception            data collection capabilities, especially for
and governance) and perceptions              pillar of the index.                        household surveys.

  1                                                                                                      September 2018      A Issue-1
September 2018 Issue 01 - Dhyeya IAS
Current Affairs : Perfect 7

Key Findings of the 2018                        the percentage of respondents              growth and investment are truly
N-SIPI                                          citing corruption as a constraint to       outstanding.
                                                conducting businesses is declining.        Against the backdrop of the
¡   The key findings of the 2018 N-SIPI                                                ¡

    show that Delhi, Tamil Nadu,            ¡   Getting approvals for starting a           implementation of India’s long-
    Gujarat, Haryana, Maharashtra               business is second most pressing           awaited goods and services tax,
    and Kerala are the top six states for       constraint faced by businesses.            which aims to create an integrated
    business investment potential.          ¡   The 2018 survey shows that the             common market and promote
¡   Although Assam, Jharkhand and               difficulties in obtaining approvals        competitive     and      cooperative
    Bihar are ranked among the least            for land, the quality of skilled           federalism, the focus of many
    favourable states for investment,           labour and access to finance. These        policy reforms is shifting to the
    they are ranked higher under                issues are also the focus areas of         states. Given the growing state-
    individual pillars, with Bihar doing        the present government under the           level investment opportunities,
    better in the labour pillar, Assam in       National Skill Development Mission         N-SIPI 2018 is hence uniquely
    the land pillar and Jharkhand in the        launched in July 2015 and the Jan          positioned to enable decision
    economy pillar.                             Dhan Yojana in August 2014.                makers to assess the business
                                                                                           potential offered by each state and
¡   Delhi tops the rankings under           How 2018 N-SIPI is Beneficial                  develop each state in accordance
    the third and fourth pillars on         for Different Stakeholders?                    with its strengths and limitations.
    infrastructure    and    economic
    conditions in the state.                ¡   Studies like the NCAER State           ¡   NCAER will update this evidence-
                                                Investment       Potential     Index       based index annually. Along with
¡   Tamil Nadu comes in second place
                                                are     critical   to     increasing       Department of Industrial Policy
    and tops the rankings in labour and
                                                competitiveness in the business            and Promotion (DIPP’s) assessment
    governance.
                                                climate of states. What makes              of business reforms and the
¡   Compared to the 2017 ranking,               NCAER’s work unique is the aspect          World Bank’s index on the ease
    West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and                 of reaching out to stakeholders and        of doing business, N-SIPI should
    Punjab have made the most rapid             working on the perception-related          aid governments in policy making
    gains in 2018, moving up by 11, 4           parameters.                                as well as allow both Indian and
    and 4 spots to the 10th, 2nd and 12th   ¡   NCAER index immensely aid state            foreign investors to make informed
    positions, respectively.                    governments by bringing issues             investment decisions.
¡   Bihar and Karnataka face serious            related to business and investment     ¡   The state specific conditions on
    challenges in the procurement of            climate to the forth, forcing              the ground ultimately determine
    land.                                       governments to make it a priority.         success and failure of investment
¡   In terms of labour, Gujarat and         ¡   The studies also support the               projects and, therefore, affect
    Haryana are perceived to be the             bureaucracy in policymaking,               aggregate trends. They also
    best states, whereas Jharkhand,             pooling resources and re-                  determine the geography of
    Karnataka, Assam and Maharashtra            engineering procedures.                    growth, whether growth is likely to
    are lagging behind.                     ¡   The studies are very relevant to           converge or diverge across states
¡   Under      the       survey  pillar,        investors, giving them a good              going forward.
    Uttarakhand and West Bengal saw             understanding on where to invest.
    a massive improvement in industry                                                  Analysis
                                            ¡   India is the fastest growing economy
    perceptions with regard to the              of the world and remains a highly      ¡   The availability of an educated and
    investment potential, but Andhra            desirable investment destination.          appropriately skilled workforce
    Pradesh and Telangana suffered big          The 2018 A. T. Kearney Foreign             and competitive wages are central
    losses in terms of the perceptions          Direct Investment Confidence               to the labour pillar. Interestingly,
    of industrial firms.                        Index ranks India 11th in the world,       there is an inverse relationship
                                                above Singapore, Netherlands,              between the number of technically
Constraints                                                                                educated people in a state and
                                                and Sweden: it is the only lower
¡   Corruption continues to be the              middle-income country in the top           perceptions about the availability
    number one constraint faced by              25 countries ranked by the Index.          of skilled labour, indicating that the
    businesses. But perceptions of              With India being the world’s third         kind of technical education being
    corruption may be changing as               largest market, the prospects for          provided is inappropriate.

September 2018   A Issue-1                                                                                                      2
September 2018 Issue 01 - Dhyeya IAS
Current Affairs : Perfect 7

¡       High dynamism and concentration          year also witnessed significant steps           schemes. Several labour reform
        of industries can generate negative      being undertaken towards resolution             measures including legislative
        externalities of congestion, including   of problems associated with non-                ones, are being implemented
        high rental values and wages,            performing assets of the banks,                 for creation of employment
        overload on the infrastructure           further liberalization of FDI, etc. ,           opportunities and for providing
        and pollution. This can lead to          thus strengthening the momentum of              sustainable livelihoods for the
        de-agglomeration of industries,          reforms. After remaining in negative            population who are largely engaged
        which can force decentralization of      territory for a couple of years, growth         in the informal economy. Bridging
        industries in long run.                  of exports rebounded in positive one            the gender gaps in education,
¡       Gujarat, which has generally been        during 2016-17 and strengthened                 skill development, employment,
        known for its good infrastructure,       further in 2017-18.                             earnings and reducing social
        is no longer among the top 6                  Concerns have been expressed               inequalities prevalent in the
        states. This does not mean that          about growing protectionist tendencies          society have been the underlying
        infrastructure in Gujarat has            in some countries. Additionally,                goals of the development strategy
        deteriorated but that some of the        average crude oil prices have risen             to enhance human capabilities.
        other states have moved ahead            when compared with last year. Some          Revival of Private Investment
        faster since the rankings are            of these factors could have dampening
        relative.                                effect on GDP growth of Indian              ¡   Despite the fact that Indian
                                                 economy. However, with world growth             economy has registered a fairly
¡       Perceptions of surveyed entre-
                                                 likely to witness moderate growth this          robust growth in the 4 years
        preneurs    remained      positive,
                                                 year, expectation of greater stability          between 2014-15 and 2017-18,
        which is in consistent with the
                                                 in GST, likely recovery in investment           story on savings and investment
        macroeconomic assessment of
                                                 levels and ongoing structural reforms,          in the economy has not been so
        Indian economy. Though, the
                                                 among others, should be supporting              heartening. The investment rate
        investment rate is still below its
                                                                                                 (Gross Capital Formation (GCF) as
        past peak, the investment and            higher growth in this financial year.
                                                                                                 a share of GDP) in the economy
        growth cycles are beginning to                                                           declined by nearly 5.6 percentage
                                                 Suggestions
        revive.                                                                                  points from all time high of 39% to
                                                 Despite an uncertain external
¡       The N-SIPI report confirms an                                                            33.3% between 2011-12 and 2015-
                                                 environment and mixed domestic
        emerging pattern of divergence,                                                          16. This was on account of number
                                                 conditions, the Indian economy is
        with some states being left behind,                                                      of factors viz. difficulties in acquiring
                                                 now growing at over 7% per year. But,
        which is a cause for serious                                                             land, delayed and cumbersome
                                                 at the same time 2018 N-SIPI report
        concern.                                                                                 environmental clearances, problems
                                                 has highlighted some risk factors,
                                                                                                 on infrastructure front, etc. The
Overview of India’s Economic                     which should be taken care for growth
                                                                                                 slow growth in fixed investment
Performance                                      momentum to be continued in long
                                                                                                 in the recent years could partly
                                                 run. Some of these measures are
After registering GDP growth of over                                                             be ascribed to twin balance sheet
                                                 following:
7 percent for third year in succession                                                           problem.
in 2016-17, the Indian economy is                Improvement in social
headed towards somewhat slower                                                               Focus on Balanced Regional
                                                 Infrastructure, Employment and              Development
growth, estimated to be 6.5 percent
in 2017-18. Even with this lower                 Human Development
                                                                                             ¡   Balanced regional development
growth for 2017-18, GDP growth has               ¡   To engineer an inclusive and                is an important condition for
averaged 7.3 percent for the period                  sustainable growth for India, the           the harmonious and smooth
from 2014-15 to 2017-18, which is the                social infrastructure like education,       development of a country. It does
highest among major economies of                     health and social protection are            not imply equal development of
the world. That this growth has been                 being given utmost priority by the          all regions of a country. Rather it
achieved in a milieu of lower inflation,             government. The government has              indicates utilization of development
improved current account deficit                     been enhancing the expenditure on           potential of all areas as per its
and notable reduction in the fiscal                  human capital along with adopting           capacity so that the benefit of
deficit to GDP ratio. In addition to the             measures to improve the efficiency          overall economic growth is shared
introduction of GST, previous financial              of expenditure by convergence of            by the inhabitants of all the different

    3                                                                                                        September 2018     A Issue-1
September 2018 Issue 01 - Dhyeya IAS
Current Affairs : Perfect 7

    regions of a country. Regional             such as Hill Area Development          special focus on backward regions like
    balance demands distribution of            Program      (HADP),     Additional    North East of India, plateau interiors,
    investment in such a way so that           Central Assistance (ACA) for           and the hilly, desert and island
    the regional rates of growth in            the Left Wing Effected (LWE)           region with special programs like,
    different parts of the country be          affected districts; improving basic    Backward Region Grant Fund (BRGF),
    equally attained, eliminating the          infrastructure in backward areas       food processing zone and promoting
    regional disparities prevailing in         such as all weather road to all
                                                                                      rural eco-tourism, where farming is
    the country. Thus to attain regional       villages under Pradhan Mantri
                                                                                      unsustainable.
    balance, it is quite important that        Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY), 24*7
    the backward regions should try to         power supply to every household
    attain higher rate of growth than          under Saubhagya scheme; bringing              General Studies Paper- III
    that of developed areas. In view           digital connectivity in rural areas     Topic: Indian Economy and issues
    of this, government has brought            through Bharatnet and so on.            relating to planning, mobilization of
    many policies and programs for                                                     resources, growth, development and
    bridging the growth rate between        Way Forward                                employment.
    developed and developing states         To achieve overall economic growth         Topic: Inclusive growth and issues
    since second five year plan. Some       and development, it is imperative          arising from it.
    of these programs are: Bringing         that all states contribute to the
    Green Revolution in Eastern India       developmental process with their
    (BGREI); area specific programs         optimum performance. It also need a                      mmm

        2. MILITARY REFORMS IN INDIA: STEADILY UNDERGOING

Why in News?                                     The Navy has 26 principal            In recent years, however, there is
                                            surface combatants, including one         a discernable doctrinal shift from
Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman
                                            aircraft carrier; 49 patrol and coastal   attrition to manoeuvre warfare.
has addressed the armed forces on
                                            combatants and 16 submarines. The             The three services are organised
the eve of 72nd Independence Day
                                            naval aviation has 35 combat aircraft     for conducting largely conventional
and highlighted the various initiatives
                                            and 97 helicopters. There is also a       operations, although a very large
taken by the Central government to
                                            coast guard with 52 patrol craft of       component of the army is heavily
reform the Indian Army. She said that
                                            various types                             involved in low intensity conflict
the Ministry has decided to reform the
Indian Army in "planned manner."                The air force fields approximately    operations. In all the three services,
                                            680 combat aircraft, grouped in 32        there has been some infusion of state-
Defence Forces in India                     fighter ground attack and six fighter     of-the-art equipment and armament,
                                            squadrons; 40 armed helicopters           but much less than what is needed.
The strength of the defence forces of       grouped in three squadrons; 12
India on the active list is approximately   transport squadrons; 19 helicopter        Military Reform in Indian
1.3 million, with the Army dominating       squadrons       and      miscellaneous    Context
with nearly 1.1 million personnel. The      squadrons covering tanker, maritime       Military reform is defined in a number
Air Force has strength of 140,000 and       attack, electronic countermeasures,       of ways. In view of the conventional
the Navy fields approximately 55,000        survey, VIP movement, training and so     (state-on-state) and sub-conventional
personnel. There is a territorial army      on.                                       (counterinsurgency and terrorism)
component of approximately 40,000.              The growth of the defence forces      challenges faced by India, it may
    The organizational structure of the     of India in the past has usually been     be best defined as “an attempt at
Army is generally on traditional lines,     as a reaction to contemporary crises.     developing a significantly more
heavily influenced as it has been by the    Resultantly, the defence forces have      effective approach to existing or
erstwhile colonial British military. The    generally remained unchanged, both        future military challenges.” India’s
Indian army is competent in conducting      structurally and in doctrinal terms,      past experiences suggest that changes
both conventional as well as low            except for incremental changes            often witnessed in the conventional
intensity conflict (LIC) operations.        to meet challenges as they arose.         domain have been strategic, aimed at

September 2018   A Issue-1                                                                                                   4
September 2018 Issue 01 - Dhyeya IAS
Current Affairs : Perfect 7

creating major shifts in the military’s          a rise in trans-border terrorism,            Chief’s of Staff Committee are
approach to war fighting. These have             sponsored ethnic strife and low              members of the CCS, although
also manifested in the organisational            intensity conflicts. The impact              service chiefs may be called for
domain in the form of large-scale                of the unilateralism of the sole             consultations, like many others.
structural realignments. An example of           super power, the USA, over events
change in the approach to war fighting           and policies in Asia, must also be       Committees
was the attempt at compellence during            factored in.                             Various committees have been
the mid-eighties after having followed                                                    constituted by government of India
                                             Decreasing Budgetary Allocation
a doctrine of offensive defence in the                                                    from time to time with the objective
seventies. More recently, the strategy       ¡   Since the late 1980’s, availability of   of restructuring of defence forces.
of ‘Cold Start’ or ‘Limited Pre-Emptive          funds has been a major constraint,       Some of these committees are: Kargil
Offensive’ also qualifies as such a              with allocations for defence being
                                                                                          Review Committee, Naresh Chandra
change. Change in the organizational             less than 2.5 per cent of the GDP.
                                                                                          Committee and the most recent one is
domain is best illustrated by the                Today, defence budget is merely 1.7
                                                                                          the DB Shekatkar committee.
structural changes that took place               percent of GDP. Moreover, capital
                                                 expenditure on defence is merely              The Shekatkar committee had
immediately after the failure in the
1962 India-China war. Some of the                30 percent of total budgetary            suggested 99 recommendations for
major steps initiated in this regard             allocation.                              structural changes in the Army and
included an increase in the size of the                                                   out of which the defence ministry has
                                             War Preparedness                             accepted 65 after consultations with
army from 5,50,000 to 8,25,000 as well
as the raising of six mountain divisions     ¡   Large number of vacancies in             all the stakeholders. The first phase
and a new command headquarter. The               defence force along with low teeth       of the reforms involves redeployment
changes based on the 1975 Krishna                to tail ratio has negatively affected    and restructuring of approximately
Rao Committee report, which led to               India’s war preparedness. Further,       57,000 posts of officers/JCOs/ORs and
the mechanisation of the army along              obsolete and outdated war                civilians. Major reforms concerning the
with strategic reorientation, is another         equipments has acutely eroded            following have been approved:-
example that comes to mind. In the               our ability to fight two front war.
                                                                                          ¡   Optimisation        of     signals
sub-conventional domain, the raising         Decision Making Command                          establishments to include radio
of Rashtriya Rifles (RR) is an important                                                      monitoring companies, corps
                                             Structure
and relatively recent example of                                                              air support signal regiments,
organisational change. Each of these         ¡   Our higher defence structure
                                                                                              air formation signal regiments,
examples represents a major military             is perhaps the weakest part of
                                                                                              composite signal regiments and
change. However, that does not imply             the defence forces of India. The
                                                                                              merger of corps operating and
that all these changes were successful           defence forces are not part of the
                                                                                              engineering signal regiments.
innovative steps or even an example of           government of India, but are an
                                                 attached “office”. This arrangement      ¡   Restructuring of repair echelons
evolutionary adaptation.
                                                 effectively keeps them outside the           in the Army to include base
Why Needed?                                      policy formulation loop. No doubt,           workshops,      advance      base
                                                 the service headquarters are                 workshops and static / station
Strategic Challenges                             consulted on security issues, but            workshops in the field Army.
¡       The security environment in              that is no substitute for being part     ¡   Redeployment       of     ordnance
        South Asia continues to be               of formulating policy. The highest           echelons to include vehicle depots,
        influenced by historical disputes;       policy formulation body in the               ordnance depots and central
        nuclearisation; paucity of energy        country is the Cabinet Committee             ordnance depots apart from
        sources; inadequate harnessing           on Security (CCS). It gets its inputs        streamlining inventory control
        of the abundant water resources;         from a variety of sources, viz. the          mechanisms.
        the growing potential of China;          National Security Council (NSC),
                                                 the Cabinet Secretariat, different       ¡   Better utilization of supply and
        the war on terrorism; the spread
        of fundamentalism; and the               ministries, intelligence agencies            transport echelons and animal
        social upheaval in practically           and so on. The inputs from the               transport units.
        all countries, due to the rising         services are channeled through the       ¡   Closure of military farms and Army
        expectations of their people. The        Ministry of Defence; neither the             postal establishments in peace
        scenario is further complicated by       service chiefs nor the Chairman              locations.

    5                                                                                                   September 2018   A Issue-1
September 2018 Issue 01 - Dhyeya IAS
Current Affairs : Perfect 7

¡   Enhancement in standards for               that the Army’s task is in the            ¡   Past experience with defence
    recruitment of clerical staff and          mountains, both against China and             reforms has clearly indicated that
    drivers in the Army.                       against Pakistan. Asking the country          success has only been achieved
¡   Improving the efficiency of the            to be prepared to fight “a two-and-           when reforms benefit from the
    National Cadet Corps (NCC).                a-half front war” — Pakistan, China           professional advice of the services
                                               and internal security.                        and are backed by the willingness
   Some other important reco-
                                               The report has asked for the                  of the political establishment to
mmendations which are suggested by         ¡
                                               threshold of the annual defence               enforce implementation.
Shekatkar committee are:
                                               budget to be raised to 2.5-3 per          ¡   The success of defence reforms
¡   Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) be
                                               cent of GDP from the current level            hinges on the availability of
    made single point military adviser
                                               of 1.7 per cent of GDP.                       financial resources. Unlike the
    to Defence Minister on military
                                                                                             enhanced        resources      made
    matters. CDS, the four-star post, is   Lesson from Past
                                                                                             available for reforms after the 1962
    essential for smooth functioning of
                                           ¡   Even as the enhancement of the                war and while implementing the
    the armed forces in the prevailing
                                               teeth to tail ratio remains critical,         1975 committee recommendations
    security environment but it cannot
                                               its    implementation          without        through the eighties, the allocation
    be based on the US model. Seeking
                                               addressing the simultaneous                   is likely to remain around the
    more discussion on the need for
                                               challenge of services functioning in          existing levels. Therefore, the
    integrated theatre commands, the
                                               silos will yield only limited benefits.       scope and size of reforms must be
    expert committee says that while
                                               The decision to cut down numbers              tailored to the needs of specific
    the US is an expeditionary power,
                                               must be linked with synergised                modernization targets, even if
    India has to fight its wars on its
                                               efficiencies amongst the Ministry             these are achieved sequentially
    own soil. India’s armed forces have
                                               of Defence (MoD), affiliated                  rather than concurrently.
    to defend the nation and stabilize
                                               Public       Sector      Undertakings
    the neighbourhood.                                                                   Conclusion
                                               (PSUs), Defence Research and
¡   A performance audit of the role            Development Organisation (DRDO)           Defence Reforms need not be a long
    of non-combat organisations                and the three services.                   drawn out process in view of the fact
    under the Defence Ministry. The        ¡   The streamlining of logistics             that a large number of committees
    organisations include those dealing        initiated will remain sub-optimal         have debated these and given their
    with defence estates and accounts,         unless the exercise is undertaken         recommendations.       Besides,      we
    the Director- General of Quality           as a tri-service, ordnance factory        can draw upon the experiences of
    Assurance, the Ordnance Factory            and quality assurance related             other democratic countries to avoid
    Board, the Defence Research and            endeavour.                                prolonged experimentation. Many of
    Development Organisation and the                                                     the recommendations of the Group of
                                           ¡   The ongoing reforms cannot be
    NCC. The committee has suggested                                                     Ministers (GoM) and other committees
                                               limited to the three services alone.
    downsizing or rationalisation of                                                     require decisions at the political level
                                               It must also include the Ministry of
    manpower in these organisations,                                                     since the inertia and entrenched
                                               Defence (MoD) as well as the entire
    which can lead to significant                                                        parochial interests within the services
                                               national security architecture with
    savings.                                                                             and the bureaucracy will have to be
                                               a view to building an overarching
¡   The setting up of a joint services         organisation that can cohesively          overcome. Thus, there is an urgent
    war college for training middle-           address the challenge of hybrid           need for undertaking defence reforms
    level officers.                            wars. The emergence of threats in         to ensure better preparedness and
¡   A roll-on defence budget to                cyber and space, should therefore         capability development, given the
    have enough capital expenditure            become the basis for creation of a        nature of security challenges faced by
    available for modernisation as             cyber and space commands, with            the nation.
    against the present practice of            a capability of both defensive and
    surrendering unspent capital               offensive actions.
    budget at the end of each financial    ¡   Reforms must be holistic and                    General Studies Paper- III
    year.                                      homogenous. Any attempt at                 Topic: Various Security forces and
¡   The committee has dismissed the            piecemeal implementation is                agencies and their mandate.
    idea of reducing the manpower of           unlikely to yield the desired
    the 11.8 lakh strong Army, stating         benefits and dividends.                                   mmm

September 2018   A Issue-1                                                                                                       6
September 2018 Issue 01 - Dhyeya IAS
Current Affairs : Perfect 7

            3. SCO PEACE MISSION-2018: COUNTERING TERRORISM

Why in News?                                     In this context, India and Pakistan    share high value information mainly
                                            will have to act in strict accordance       because of the closed nature of the
India and Pakistan defence forces are
                                            with the SCO Charter which states that      various intelligence services and
taking part in an anti-terrorism drill
                                            “the main SCO goals and tasks shall be:     the mutual suspicion that generally
for the first time, organized by the
                                            strengthening mutual trust, friendship      exists between China and its Central
Shanghai Cooperation Organisation
                                            and good-neighbourliness between            Asian neighbours. It is even harder to
(SCO) in Russia. The aim of the drill
                                            the member States; development              imagine RATS sharing hard inputs on
is to strengthen ties and cooperation
                                            of multifaceted cooperation in the          terrorist hideouts, say in FATA region
between member countries to deal                                                        when Pakistan is also a member.
                                            maintenance       and      strengthening
with growing terrorism. As part of
                                            of peace, security and stability in              The SCO has certainly emerged as
Shanghai Cooperation Organization           the region and promotion of a new           the most important regional grouping
(SCO) initiatives, SCO peace mission        democratic, fair and rational political     in the Eurasian region. India joining the
exercise is conducted biennially for        and economic international order; joint     SCO has largely a symbolic meaning.
SCO member states. The joint exercise       combating terrorism, separatism and         As of now, there is lack of clarity about
for the year 2018 was be conducted by       extremism in all their manifestations,      what it means for India in terms of
Central Military Commission of Russia       fighting against illicit narcotics and      any specific function and benefits. Yet,
from 22 August to 29 August 2018 at         arms trafficking and other types of         India cannot afford to be left behind
Chebarkul, Chelyabinsk, Russia.             transnational criminal activity, and also   in the strategic Eurasian region where
                                            illegal migration”.                         only SCO has emerged as an important
Introduction
                                                 Interestingly, Uzbekistan will be      geopolitical pole. Therefore, logic
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization                                                   demanded that India better be in than
                                            participating in its first Peace Mission
(SCO) has made outstanding achieve-                                                     out of the SCO. But to be sure, multiple
                                            exercise since 2010. The speculative
ments in combating the three evil                                                       conflicting interests would intersect at
                                            reasons for this sudden return to
forces of terrorism, separatism and         active participation are numerous. One      the SCO forum, ranging from regional
extremism. Terrorism threatens to           likely explanation is that Uzbekistan       and global issues to combating
derail our developmental aspirations        is becoming increasingly concerned          terrorism.
and create sustained instability both       with the rise of domestic extremism              The SCO could become a new
within our countries and across             as large numbers of Uzbek foreign           frontier for India, but the Pakistan
national borders. India has always          fighters return home from conflict          factor could put a spanner in India’s
stressed for enhanced cooperation           zones like Syria and Iraq. As a result,     goals. The SCO sees ISIS rather than
between India and the SCO in                the government may want to bolster          Taliban as a serious threat to regional
countering these evils in the region. In    its anti-terrorism capabilities and         security. Moreover, Russia and China
order to provide the legal support for      rebuild regional connections. After         seemingly recognise Pakistan’s role
its counterterrorist activities and to      President Trump proposed reducing           in counter-terrorism. Clearly, India’s
implement the Shanghai Convention,          the majority of the United States           positions may be at odds there. Yet,
the SCO established the Regional Anti-      assistance programs to the region in        it could be used as a neutral forum to
Terrorist Structure (RATS) in 2002. The     2017, Uzbekistan may feel like it has       discuss terrorism in a broader context
Executive Committee of the RATS is the      nowhere else to turn for help enhancing     as a leverage to obtain Beijing’s
permanent body of the SCO based in          its antiterrorism capabilities.             cooperation on curbing Pakistan-
Tashkent. It is noteworthy that the SCO                                                 sponsored terrorism or at least not to
countries established the practice of       India’s Perspective                         unduly favour Pakistan. As it is, China’s
conducting joint antiterrorist exercises.   From India’s perspective, RATS is           concerns about the threat of terrorism
Regular participation in the meetings       important for gaining information           are growing and, as the Belt and Road
of Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure        on extremist movements from SCO             Initiative (BRI) moves ahead, Chinese
(RATS) and joint military exercises may     States to Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, and     nationals are getting exposed to a
provide the new level of intelligence       Pakistan. It also collects information      greater threat from terrorist groups.
sharing and it also enhances counter-       on the Taliban’s activities, but it is         But mainly, India’s journey in the
terrorism strategies to fight terror.       hard to imagine how all sides would         SCO would depend mostly on how

  7                                                                                                    September 2018   A Issue-1
Current Affairs : Perfect 7

India and China weigh ties on security      the manifestation of the worst forms                  Shanghai Cooperation
and economic calculations. Of course,       of extremism, including terrorism,                     Organization (SCO)
it will also depend on other factors,       especially among young people. SCO is         The Shanghai Cooperation Organization
especially the future trajectory of Indo-   taking steps to prevent religious, ethnic,    (SCO) is an intergovernmental organization
US relations. It would be wise on the       ideological and political extremism,          founded in Shanghai on 15 June 2001
part of India and Pakistan to maintain      ethnic and racial intolerance and             by six countries, People’s Republic of
a low profile and not act as spoilers.      xenophobia. Along with cooperation            China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic,
They will have to respect the 38            between law enforcement authorities           Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. With
                                                                                          assistance from the Asian Development
parameters of the SCO, which, among         and judicial bodies, special emphasis
                                                                                          Bank and the United Nations Economic
other things, oblige member states          will be placed upon strengthening the         and Social Commission for Asia and the
to “avoid active military conflict” and     leading role of states in combating           Pacific, SCO members have developed
strictly adhere to maintain long-term       terrorism, separatism and extremism,          an intergovernmental agreement on
good-neighbourliness, friendship and        as well as on the potential for voluntary     facilitating international road transport.
cooperation. For India, the existing        and responsible contributions from            It is important to know that, the SCO does
bilateral-level defence cooperation         civil society, including traditional          not deal with resolving bilateral disputes,
with individual states should provide       religious organizations, educational          be it border disputes, water disputes or
further impetus for enlarging engage-       and research institutions, mass media         any other matters in relations between
                                                                                          certain member states. This is also true
ment in the SCO.                            and non-governmental organizations
                                                                                          of the Indian-Pakistani problem. Both
                                            operating in SCO member states in             countries were aware of that even before
SCO Convention on                           accordance with their respective              applying for membership; however, they
Countering Extremism                        national legislation.                         were interested in joining the "SCO family."
The SCO common response to the                  Adhering to the provisions of the         This approach indicated that, when both
steadily growing threat of extremism        2006 agreement on cooperation in              countries applied for membership, they
is the SCO Convention on Countering                                                       were pursuing more fundamental, unifying
                                            identifying and blocking the channels
Extremism, adopted at the summit in                                                       and long-term interests which relate
                                            of penetration on the territory of SCO        not only to their neighbours, but also to
Astana. This document will strengthen       member states of individuals involved         the region and the world in general. This
the international legal framework for       in terrorist, separatist and extremist        unifying approach and the principle of
countering emerging challenges and          activities, as well as the 2015 agreement     voluntary participation are the key success
threats along with the Convention of        on cooperation and interaction of the         and growth factors in the SCO.
the Shanghai Cooperation Organization       SCO member states on border issues,              Its main objectives and functions,
against Terrorism and the 2016-2018         member states will continue their
                                                                                         principles of its constitution and
SCO Member States Programme on              collaboration in preventing malicious
                                                                                         financing, as well as its rules of
cooperation in combating terrorism,         activities and movement of foreign
separatism and extremism, as well as                                                     procedure shall be governed by
                                            terrorists, militants and terrorist groups
core United Nations instruments, such                                                    a separate international treaty
                                            by means of effective border control.
as the United Nations Global Counter-                                                    concluded by the member states, and
                                            ¡   An exchange of data regarding
Terrorism Strategy and relevant                                                          other necessary instruments adopted
                                                persons involved in terrorist
United Nations Security Council                                                          by them.
                                                activities, identifying forged or
resolutions. The SCO Convention on              stolen identification documents,             The Executive Committee of the
Countering Extremism is aimed at                as well as conducting joint              Regional    Anti-Terrorist    Structure
advancing security, increasing effective        investigations of transnational          (RATS) of the Shanghai Cooperation
cooperation between authorities and             terrorist crimes.                        Organisation (SCO) is the permanent
improving the legal framework in this                                                    body of the SCO RATS based in
sphere.                              Regional Anti-Terrorist
                                                                                         Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan.
    The spread of extremist ideology Structure
                                                                                         Its main tasks and duties are as follows:
and propaganda, including the public        The SCO Regional Anti-Terrorist
justification of terrorism as a means of    Structure established by the member          1. Maintaining working relations
incitement to committing terrorist acts,    states of the Shanghai Convention               with competent institutions of the
has been particularly dangerous under       to combat terrorism, separatism and             member states and international
the circumstances. In this regard, SCO      extremism of 15 June, 2001, located in          organisations tackling issues of
will enhance joint efforts to counteract    Bishkek, the Kyrgyz Republic, shall be a        fighting terrorism, separatism and
societal radicalization, which results in   standing SCO body.                              extremism;

September 2018   A Issue-1                                                                                                         8
Current Affairs : Perfect 7

2. Assistance in interaction among         Way Ahead                                   early messaging about the event.
   the member states in preparation                                                        Defense and security cooperation
                                           The August 2018 iteration of the
   and staging of counter-terrorism        Shanghai Cooperation Organization’s         has been smooth and effective in recent
   exercises at the request of             (SCO) peace mission anti-terrorism          years. China is willing to continue to
   concerned      member        states,    exercise will provide important insights    engage in exchanges and cooperation
   preparation and conduct of search       into how the organization’s capabilities    in defense and security on basis of
   operations and other activities         and intentions have developed since         mutual trust and benefit and improve
   in the field of fighting terrorism,     2016. Peace mission 2018 will help          capacity to jointly cope with new
   separatism and extremism;               analysts understand how the members         challenges and threats. The effective
3. Joint drafting of international legal   of the SCO see the threat environment       counter-terrorism cooperation among
   documents concerning the fight          and further establish a traceable pattern   SCO countries has greatly undermined
   against terrorism, separatism and       for analysts and policymakers around        terrorist groups in Central Asia in
   extremism;                              the globe. It will also help Russia and     recent years and it's expected that this
                                           China watchers assess the trajectory of     effective cooperation will also boost
4. Gathering and analysis of
                                           their “coopetitive” relationship. While     stability in South Asia, a region facing
   information coming to the RATS
                                           most of the headlines leading up to         a more complicated counter-terrorism
   from the member states, formation
                                           peace mission 2018 have focused on          situation with a variety of active
   and filling of RATS data bank;
                                           the inclusion of India and Pakistan,        terrorist groups.
5. Joint formation of a system of
                                           this emphasis is misplaced. While
   effective response to global            certainly historic, their participation
   challenges and threats;                                                                   General Studies Paper- II
                                           is mostly pageantry and does not
6. Preparation and holding of              add real substance to the exercise.          Topic: Bilateral, regional and global
   scientific   conferences       and      Looking ahead to peace mission 2018,         groupings and agreements involving
   workshops, assistance in sharing        there are three primary topics of that       India and/or affecting India's
   experience in the field of fighting     should be of true interest: the size         interests.
   terrorism,    separatism       and      and scope of peace mission 2018,
   extremism.                              Uzbekistan’s participation and China’s                      mmm

                    4. WAGES INEQUALITY IN INDIA: STILL PERSIST

Why in News?                               economic growth. The Gross Domestic         organized sector has grown, but even
                                           Product (GDP) in India has increased        in this sector many jobs have been
According to the International Labour
                                           at an annual average rate of about          casual or informal.
Organisations 'The India Wage Report',
low pay and wage inequality remain         7 per cent since 1993. This high                 Since the 1990s, the Indian
a serious challenge to India’s path to     rate of economic growth has been            economy has witnessed a sharp rise
achieving decent working conditions        accompanied by a substantial decline        in its GDP. An important question is
and inclusive growth. Over the last two    in India’s poverty rate and changes         whether or not this has led to widening
decades, economic reforms in India         in employment patterns, with a              wage inequality. Growing inequality,
have contributed to strong economic        growing proportion of jobs in services      where income is concentrated in rich
growth, with the country’s gross           and industry and a declining share          households rather than poor ones
domestic product (GDP) increasing at       of employment in agriculture. The           can create downward pressures on
an annual average of about 7%. Overall,    Indian labour market, however,              aggregate demand as richer households
this means that GDP rose more than         remains characterized by high levels        have lower propensity to consume
four-fold since 1993 – but low pay and     of segmentation and informality. Of         compared to poorer households.
wage inequality persists.                  the total employed in 2011–12, more         Inequality is not only a concern in
                                           than half (51.4 per cent, or 206 million    terms of national income but also at
Introduction: Wage Trends in               people) were self-employed and of the       the personal income level. A higher
India                                      195 million wage earners, 62 per cent       concentration of wages in the hands
Over the last two decades, economic        (i.e. 121 million) were employed as         of the top earners creates inequality
reforms have contributed to strong         casual workers. Employment in the           that can affect economic stability. In

  9                                                                                                  September 2018   A Issue-1
Current Affairs : Perfect 7

                                                                                      are paid a lower wage rate than
                                                                                      their male counterparts in each
                                                                                      employment category (casual and
                                                                                      regular/salaried) and location (urban
                                                                                      and rural), although the differences are
                                                                                      smaller – on average – in urban than
                                                                                      in rural areas. The National Sample
                                                                                      Survey Office (NSSO) data show
                                                                                      that the daily wages of women have
                                                                                      increased more rapidly than those of
                                                                                      men, particularly more recently (2004–
                                                                                      05 to 2011–12). The rapid rise in wages
                                                                                      during this period was partly due to the
                                                                                      implementation of MGNREGA, which
                                                                                      ensured employment and minimum
                                                                                      wages for all workers in the programme
                                                                                      and also pushed up the wages in the
                                                                                      agricultural sector, getting them slowly
                                                                                      closer to the minimum wages specified
                                                                                      in MGNREGA. As a consequence, the
                                                                                      raw gender wage gap (the difference in
                                                                                      average pay between men and women,
                                                                                      as a proportion of men’s wages) has
                                                                                      declined over time, falling from 48
addition, it can challenge the notion      growth in wages for urban workers (4.5     per cent in 1993–94 to 34 per cent in
of social justice and undermine social     per cent). In spite of this, daily wages   2011–12.
cohesion.                                  remain more than twice as high in
     The evidence of wage growth for       urban areas (INR 384) as those in rural    Wages in Different Sectors of the
regular and casual workers in rural        areas (INR 175). For the entire country,   Economy
and urban areas has shown a positive       the national average daily wage in             Wage      differentials   between
trend at the aggregate level, but the      2011-12 was estimated at INR 247.          sectors are important drivers of inter-
documented wage growth has been                                                       sectoral movement of workers; away
                                           The Gender Wage Gap
slower in the post-reform period                                                      from agriculture and towards non-
(1993–94 to 2004–05) than in the               Labour markets in India are            agricultural sectors. There is ample
pre-reform period. From 2004–05 to         characterized      by     gender-based     evidence which shows that higher
2011–12, there appears to be a rise        disparities. In general female workers     wages in non-agricultural activities will
in real wages which is higher than the
rise of the previous period, which is as
a result of:
(a) Agricultural growth along with
    periodic revision of support prices.
(b) The implementation of MGNREGA,
    which stipulated minimum wages
    as part of social spending.
(c) The employment dynamics in the
    construction sector.
    Overall,     rural  wages     have
performed better in both periods, with
a significant growth in wages for rural
workers (5.3 per cent) between 2004–
05 and 2011–12 compared to the

September 2018   A Issue-1                                                                                                   10
Current Affairs : Perfect 7

draw excess labour from agriculture.      castes and scheduled tribes, have          the private sector. Nevertheless, in
This process benefits not only those      been historically marginalized with        key industries (banking, ports, oil
who withdraw and shift to other           regard to unequal access to education,     and steel) where public employment
industries but also workers who remain    employment      opportunities     and      predominates, national, industry-wide
in agriculture, where productivity and    opportunities to develop skills in         bargaining continues. Union density,
wages can increase due to a lower         certain sectors, thereby widening          defined broadly in Indian data as the
labour-to-land ratio. The economic        income inequality.                         percentage of members of trade
growth in India was mostly driven by                                                 unions and associations across the
                                          Wages by State                             total workforce, stood at a relatively
an expansion of the service sector and,
to a lesser extent, by industry.              India is a huge and diverse country    low 10.7 per cent in 2011–12,
    The wage growth has accelerated       comprising 29 states and 7 Union           increasing marginally compared to the
in all three sectors of the economy –     Territories (UTs) and there are regional   1993–94 level. Union density among
primary, secondary and tertiary – for     variations in economic development,        female workers was half that of male
both regular and casual wage workers.     demographic characteristics and levels     workers. Among non-agricultural
                                          of welfare.                                workers, union density was 17.7 per
¡    Wages have increased most rapidly
                                          ¡   In urban areas, regular wages are      cent in 2011–12. It is difficult to gauge
     in the primary sector during the
                                              highest in Haryana, followed by        the extent of collective bargaining
     period 2004–05 to 2011– 12.
                                              Assam, Jharkhand, Jammu and            coverage in India, as no reliable
¡    Within the secondary sector, there                                              estimates are available; nevertheless,
                                              Kashmir and Karnataka and the
     is a strong acceleration of wage                                                it would be fair to assume that it is
                                              lowest regular wages across states
     growth in mining, manufacturing                                                 lower than trade union density rates
                                              are found in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil
     and construction.                                                               and concentrated in large enterprises.
                                              Nadu, Punjab, Chhattisgarh and
¡    Wages in the tertiary sector have        Gujarat.                                    These aggregate numbers hide
     increased substantially in trade                                                different trends for different groups.
                                          ¡   In rural areas, the states with
     and to a lesser extent in hotels &                                              Union density        among       salaried
                                              highest and lowest wages for
     restaurants, education and health                                               workers has fallen precipitously since
                                              regular workers are quite different.
     and social work.                         Jharkhand, Jammu and Kashmir,          1993–94, by 17.7 percentage points
    By contrast, wage growth slowed           Uttarakhand, Bihar and Himachal        to 28.8 per cent, while it has increased
down in banking and finance and               Pradesh are amongst the states         for casual workers and among self-
in real estate and business services          with high wages. The lowest-wage       employed workers. There have been
between 2004–05 and 2011–12. It is            states include Andhra Pradesh,         some attempts at unionizing worker
worth noting that casual workers in           Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal,           in the informal economy, especially
some industries of the tertiary sector        Odisha and Karnataka.                  among home-based workers either
have had higher increases in wages                                                   to negotiate for minimum wages or to
than regular workers.                     Wage Policy in India                       demand for better conditions (brick
                                          Wage levels and distribution of wages      workers). India was one of the first
Wages by Level of Education
                                          are, to a large extent, influenced not     developing countries to introduce a
    Education is expected to play         only by skills and productivity levels,    minimum wage policy. The Minimum
a crucial role in determining wages       but also by the role of labour market      Wages Act adopted in 1948, is
of workers in the labour markets.         institutions, particularly minimum         considered to be an important piece of
A number of studies across various        wages and collective bargaining.           labour legislation. It is one of the few
countries as well as in India             India’s industrial relations system        protections afforded to both regular
demonstrate that workers with higher      transitioned from a structure of           and casual workers and to workers in
levels of education and skills earn       centralized bargaining      during the     both the organized and unorganized
higher wages.                             first three decades of planned             sectors. However, the minimum wage
                                          industrialization to decentralized         system is complex, its rates set mainly
Wages by Social Background
                                          bargaining, following the partial          by state governments for employees
    The Indian labour market is           liberalization of the economy in the       working      in selected “scheduled”
segregated on the basis of social         mid-1980s. As a result, enterprise or      employment. This has resulted in an
background, that is, caste. Some          plant-level bargaining has become          estimated 1,709 different rates across
disadvantaged groups, like scheduled      the dominant level of bargaining in        the country, at times set somewhat

    11                                                                                              September 2018   A Issue-1
Current Affairs : Perfect 7

arbitrarily, without full consultation     wage gap is also referred to as the        adopted a call for sustainable wage
with social partners, revised only         raw or unadjusted wage gap, because        policy principles, specifically minimum
about every five years and applicable      it is a simple measure which does          wages and collective bargaining, which
to an estimated 66 per cent of wage        not take into account the differences      ensure that wages grow in tandem with
workers (those working in “scheduled”      between men and women in their             labour productivity and contribute to
employment). In around 40 per              skills, endowments and labour market       reducing inequality and promoting
cent of states, the legal scope of the     characteristics that directly affect the   inclusive growth. The G20 also agreed
application of minimum wages was           level of pay.                              on the objective of effective wage
below 50 per cent of wage workers.              Virtually every industrialized        policies to address gender wage gaps.
                                           country has passed laws mandating          The objectives of decent work for
     A national minimum wage floor
                                           equal treatment of women in the            all, equal pay for work of equal value
was introduced in 1991 and was
                                           labour market. Yet the gender wage         and reduced inequality through fiscal,
progressively increased up to INR
                                           gap, while on the decline in many          wages and other policies are also
176 per day in 2017, but it is not
                                           countries, is a persistent feature of      identified as key objectives of the
legally binding. Moreover, there is a
                                           virtually every nation’s labour market.    United Nations 2030 Agenda for
lack of consensus with regard to the                                                  Sustainable Development.
                                           At the same time, “raw” gender pay
methodology used to determine the
                                           gaps – like all other such pay gaps             Sustainable wage policies that
rate, which has resulted in neither the
                                           which emerge when comparing                promote decent work and inclusive
Central nor state governments using
                                           different groups of workers – are          growth have several advantages.
it as a floor for determining minimum
                                           sometimes difficult to interpret. This     First,    they can contribute to a
wages. Despite this wage floor being
                                           is because the male and female             pattern of sustained and balanced
non-binding, one estimate shows
                                           individuals who are employees may          economic growth, which relies on
that in 2009–10, about 15 per cent of      differ widely in terms of their personal   the progressive increase of domestic
salaried workers and 41 per cent of        characteristics (such as age or level of   consumption by lower- and middle-
casual workers earned less than this       education) and in terms of their labour    income groups as a key factor in
indicative national minimum wage.          market characteristics. Occupational       overall aggregate demand. Second,
Overall, 33 per cent of wage workers       segregation, for example, means that       they can contribute to more social
(i.e. 62 million workers) were paid less   women will tend to be overrepresented      cohesion and social mobility, making
than the indicative national minimum       in particular occupations. Taking all      a broad segment of society feel part
wage and the rate of low pay was           of these factors into consideration,       of the country’s economic success.
higher among women than among              there is a need to understand what lies    Third, with less inequality in the
men.                                       behind “raw” gender pay gaps through       labour market there may also be less
                                           or more sophisticated analysis,            pressure on redistribution through
Gender Pay Gap: A Global
                                           comparing wages of men and women           fiscal measures, which can alleviate
Perspective
                                           with comparable profiles and jobs.         demands on the state budgets.
Gender inequality has a direct
impact on decent work and human            Wage Policies for Decent           Conclusion: Towards More
development. Whether in the form           Work and Inclusive Growth          Effective Wage Policies in
of unequal labour force participation      Ensuring decent work and inclusive India
rates, differences in pay or unequal       growth through sustainable wage            The potential for minimum wages to
opportunities for women, it is a           policies is a widely shared objective      reach low-paid workers depends on
burden on society and a barrier to         across many countries. The Preamble        the level at which the minimum wage is
social justice. Globally, the gender       to the ILO Constitution calls for “the     fixed and the mechanism, the extent of
wage gap has narrowed significantly        provision of an adequate living wage”      coverage of workers; most importantly,
in the last two decades. In 2015 it was    and the ILO Declaration on Social          on whether the enforcement machinery
estimated to be about 23 per cent,         Justice for a Fair Globalization adopted   is in place. Minimum wage legislation
with women earning 77 per cent of          by the International Labour Conference     by itself cannot ensure that minimum
what men receive, on average. This         at its 97th Session in June 2008 calls     wages would reach low-paid workers
gap can be estimated on a monthly or       for wage policies which “ensure a just     and efforts would need to be made to
an hourly basis and the latter removes     share of the fruits of progress to all,    make it effective and put enforcement
the effect on the pay gap of the fact      and a minimum living wage to all in        mechanisms in place. The extent of
that women are engaged more often in       need of such protection”. In 2016, the     minimum wage compliance is quite
part-time work than men. This gender       G20 – of which India is a member – also    varied in developing economies and

September 2018   A Issue-1                                                                                                  12
Current Affairs : Perfect 7

depends to a large extent on the                 occupations and sectors could           ¡   Well - defined responsibilities
institutions.                                    be categorized (e.g. category A,            of relevant authorities: The
     Participants agreed that there              B and C) and a single minimum               responsibilities and roles of
should be clarity on the objectives of           wage would apply to each group              employers, trade unions and
                                                 of occupations in order to simplify         governments should be well-
the minimum wage. It was proposed
                                                 notification    processes     and           defined, and the powers of the
that the objective of minimum wages
                                                 implementation.                             labour inspector to enforce
should be to “eliminate exceptionally
                                                                                             legislation should be strengthened
low wages”, “to fulfil essential needs       ¡   A statutory national floor level            (including power to recover claims
of workers and their families” and to            minimum wage: This proposal                 for workers).
“provide for equity in the distribution of       received some support, though
the fruits of economic development”.             participants from certain states
Participants identified a number of              argued that it should have regional            General Studies Paper- I
practical measures and changes to the            variation in line with the level of      Topic: Role of women and women's
legislation that would enable states to          development and the cost of living       organizations,     Population     and
better achieve the main objective of a           in a particular state.                   associated issues, Poverty and
minimum wage system. These included                                                       developmental issues, Urbanization,
                                             ¡   Measures towards better imple-           their problems and their remedies.
the following:                                   mentation: A range of measures           Topic:    Welfare     schemes      for
¡    Coverage: To ensure equity and              to improve implementation where          vulnerable sections of the population
     essential    needs,    participants         proposed, included more stringent        by the Centre and States and the
     supported the universalization              penal     provisions,    mandatory       performance of these schemes;
     of minimum wages and the                    display of notifications at work         mechanisms, laws, institutions and
     introduction of statutory coverage                                                   Bodies constituted for the protection
                                                 places and greater publicity, a          and betterment of these vulnerable
     of wage workers in all sectors,             national toll free hotline to handle     sections.
     industries and areas of India.              complaints and the use of bank           Topic: Issues relating to poverty and
¡    Simplification of minimum wage              transfers or other measures to            hunger.
     structure: As an intermediate step          improve documentation of wage
     towards universalization, different         payments.                                               mmm

                              5. BURNING DISASTER IS CONTINUED

Why in News?                                 300 million years ago were caused by        as burning tropical grass savannahs
A series of forest fires in Greece, during   lightning or volcanism. Fires in coal       for game and livestock farming, or
the 2018 European heat wave, began           seams and their effects on surrounding      slash-and-burn for shifting cultivation
in the coastal areas of Attica in July       forest landscapes have been verified        agriculture.
2018. As of 14 August, 96 people were        even for prehistoric times.                      Disturbances are a fundamental
confirmed dead. The fires were the                In the earliest civilisations, apart   element of all natural ecosystems.
second-deadliest forest fire in the 21st     from its use in the “household”             Forestry should therefore be able to
century, after the 2009 Black Saturday       (cooking, heating), fire was used for       adapt to incidental natural disturbances
bushfires in Australia that killed 180.      different purposes, for example for         such as forest fires. For this purpose, a
Introduction                                 hunting (driving animals, luring game       distinction has to be made between
                                             onto freshly planted burn areas),           destructive and harmless, or more
The history of forests is a history of
                                             keeping forests and bushlands clear         specifically, harmful or useful forest
fires. The oldest evidence of forest
                                             for safety reasons (from wild animals       fires. Fire may sometimes be necessary
fires has been found inside coal seams,
which consist of charcoal created            or in times of war) and later for slash-    for forest rejuvenation, or it can
during large fires millions of years         and-burn farming and clearing the           specifically benefit local populations.
ago. The burned forests later sank           landscape for pasture farming. In many      In other cases fire destroys forests
into swamps and formed coal beds.            cultures, traditional burn techniques       and has severe ecological, social and
These fires that happened up to over         have been preserved until today, such       economic consequences.

    13                                                                                                  September 2018   A Issue-1
You can also read