The Hindu Editorial Analysis | 26th August ’20 | PDF Download

Hills Give Life | ToI

• The Aravali hills have shaped the climate of the upper Indo-Gangetic plains for many hundreds of years.
• So it’s no surprise that their rapid man-made degradation in recent decades is proving very consequential, pushing the spread of the Indian desert towards eastern Rajasthan, Haryana and west Uttar Pradesh.
• Yet, despite numerous warning signs, governments have simply not stepped up to protect the Aravalis as they should.

• In 2018 the Supreme Court was informed that one-fourth of these hills in Rajasthan were gone forever.
• This newspaper has reported how after that too the wrecking ball of construction has continued erasing hillocks in Haryana.
• It appears court orders keep getting undermined just like government regulations – this may be the real contempt of court, rather than somebody’s tweet – even as from Himalayas to Western Ghats the local administration mindset is that if they aren’t being used for mining or roads or to house people, the mountains are being wasted.
• In cases like Haryana the state itself can be seen resisting the notification of natural conservation zones, so much so that an exasperated Punjab and Haryana High Court said earlier this year, “If your intention is that you are not going to protect it…. then say so.”
• It’s against the backdrop of such challenges that the draft Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) notification 2020 has been passionately debated.
• Given the rampant non-compliance of existing safeguards as also the mounting costs of land degradation, India needs a regulatory framework that both balances environment  and development imperatives, and is implementable.

Living with the earth in Kerala

• Natural disasters are becoming an every year thing in Kerala.
• In last 2 years: flooding + landslides
• Last year 59 people lost their lives, this year the figure has touched 65. Still, there are few persons missing.
• Add a plance crash to this misery.
• Reminder: further hardship awaits us if we do not jettison the development model that has come to characterise the State.
• The fact that Kerala has received wide acclaim for having achieved social indicators associated with high human development has meant that a crucial underlying dynamic has been ignored.
• This dynamic is natural capital.
• Everywhere in Kerala the earth has been violated.
• The rivers are polluted when they are not dry, the valleys are filled with garbage and the hills gouged out to accommodate residences and religious houses when they have not been dynamited for quarrying.
• Section of the intelligentsia has termed it as the gold standard of development.
• The way we treat the earth matters also for our very security.
• Kerala’s future is inextricably linked to how it conserves its natural capital.
• Politics is central to this issue, not in the sense of what political parties do in the normal course but whether citizens decide to alter the course of development by their action.
• This response cannot end with minimising one’s own consumption but must extend to calling out instances of the depletion of natural capital by vested interests.
• It is difficult to imagine that politics as usual, as defined by the two political fronts that have ruled Kerala for decades by now, will lead the State to a place where conservation of nature will guide our actions.
• Actually, the state of natural capital in the State reflects an absence of governance.
• Ever since the crash of a flight in Mangaluru, an airport with similar characteristics, in 2010, it has been apparent that flights to Kozhikode are vulnerable.
• It is useful to recall the belief that Kerala was named for its geography.
• For centuries, its people demonstrated a genius for conserving natural resources by restraining their consumption.
• Building local infrastructure to support this consumption has become a threat to life.
• For the State to have a future, consumption has to be limited so that the State’s natural capital is not irretrievably lost.

Down, but not out

• The UN counterterrorism chief’s statement to the Security Council on the continuing presence of Islamic State (IS) terrorists in West Asia, Africa and elsewhere should be seen as a serious warning by the countries in these regions.
• Two years after the Sunni jihadist group was declared defeated, more than 10,000 IS fighters remain active in Iraq and Syria, said Vladimir Voronkov.
• IS-driven terror attacks are on the rise.
• The terror outfit has a “province” in West Africa with nearly 3,000 fighters, according to the UN.
• In war-torn Afghanistan, it continues to stage attacks, targeting ethnic and religious minorities.
• Ever since they lost territories, IS fighters withdrew from the front lines and started operating in cells in the deserts, mountains and hinterlands of conflict-ridden countries.
• Iraq and Syria are particularly vulnerable to the IS’s resurgence as these countries are yet to be fully stabilised after the wars.
• In Syria, the Bashar al-Assad government has practically won the civil war.
• While the government controls most of the territories, a coalition of jihadists and rebels is running the Idlib province.
• In the northeast, the Kurdish rebels have declared autonomy.
• On the Syrian-Turkish border, Turkey, backed by pro-Turkish rebels, has carved out a buffer and has been in permanent conflict with the Kurds.
• In Iraq, Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi is torn between the U.S. and Iran. Pro-Iran Shia militias continue to target U.S. troops inside Iraq, which could turn the country into a battlefield between Washington and Tehran.
• The story is not very different in Africa.
• Libya has two governments, which were fighting each other till last week’s ceasefire.
• The Libyan conflict has spilled over into Mali and Burkina Faso, where jihadists have established a solid presence.
• Chaos breeds militancy, and as the main group here is the IS, it would remain active as long as these countries remain unstable.
• The IS has its roots in the U.S. invasion of Iraq. It started growing by exploiting the civil war in Syria.

Magnets for manufacturing

• Many American, Japanese, and South Korean companies based in China have initiated discussions with the Indian government to relocate their plants to India.
  • Realisation that relying heavily on China for building capacities and sourcing manufacturing goods is not an ideal business strategy due to supply chain disruptions in the country caused by COVID-19.
  • The fear of Chinese dominance over the supply of essential industrial goods.
  • The growing risk and uncertainty involved in operating from or dealing with China in the light of geopolitical and trade conflicts between China and other countries, particularly the U.S.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s emphasis on using the COVID-19 crisis as an opportunity to pursue the goal of a self-reliant India must be viewed against this background.
• Can India succeed in attracting manufacturing firms and jobs from China?
• India lags far behind China in manufacturing prowess.
• China ranks first in contribution to world manufacturing output, while India ranks sixth.
• Against India’s target of pulling up the share of manufacturing in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to 25% by 2022, its share stood at 15% in 2018, only half of China’s figure.
• Industry value added grew at an average annual rate of 10.68% since China opened up its economy in 1978.
• In contrast, against the target of 12%, the manufacturing sector has grown at 7% after India opened up its economy.
• Next to the European Union, China was the largest exporter of manufactured goods in 2018, with an 18% world share.
• India is not part of the top 10 exporters who accounted for 83% of world manufacturing exports in 2018.

• We need effective policy coordination between the Centre and the States.
• Currently, manufacturing growth in India has been powered majorly by Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh.
• An important requirement for the development of the manufacturing sector is the availability of land area.
• The reasons for less manufacturing activity in Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan, Telangana, and West Bengal have to be carefully examined.
• State-specific industrialisation strategies need to be devised and implemented in a mission mode with active hand-holding by the Central government.
• In this context, a suggestion put forth by Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad is worth attempting.
• To promote electronic manufacturing, he suggested forming a Strategy Group consisting of representatives from the Central and State governments along with top industry executives.
• The purpose is to instil teamwork and leverage ideas through sharing the best practices of the Centre and States.
• A similar approach is needed for developing the whole manufacturing sector.

Magnets for manufacturing

• Companies are making a massive shifts from desktops to laptops.
• Not just technology companies, but companies across industries are moving to laptops in large numbers to give their employees the flexibility to work from anywhere and deliver business outcomes.
• Large technology companies — among the biggest users of desktops in India — have publicly stated that about two-thirds of their workforce was using desktops before the pandemic.
• Does this massive shift signal the death of desktops?
• Companies will continue to use desktops for a variety of reasons: client mandates, hardware and system dependencies, security considerations, longer shelf life, lower cost of maintenance, larger display, and so on.
• A conservative, back-of-the-envelope calculation indicates that more than a million desktops have already been replaced by laptops in the past few months and the transition is far from over.
• Can India Inc. use this opportunity to “donate” these desktops to schools that cater to the underprivileged sections of society and are struggling to impart basic online education and digital literacy?
• With the New Education Policy outlining the need for using digital channels for increasing equity, quality, and reach of education, this donation can be a big boon for these schools.
• While the pandemic has brought desktops into sharp focus, the initiative can be expanded to donating many other used devices, including tablets, iPads and smartphones, to not just schools, but also shelter homes and orphanages, and that too on an ongoing basis.
• While the typical cycle time for replacing used desktops would be three to four years, it would be much less for smartphones. This means millions of devices can be donated every year.
• Can the best entrepreneurial minds look at building an end-to-end digital platform to bring together all participants in a well-oiled supply chain and convert the idea into a big business opportunity with significant social impact?
• Just like the used car market is bigger than that for new cars, the refurbished smart devices market is getting bigger by the day.
• And if we do not act in unison, these devices with years of useful life ahead of them could get prematurely consigned to bonded warehouses or end up being e-waste.
• That would be a colossal disservice to our dream of a Digital India.

How to reform the IAS | ToI

• One hundred and eighty bright, idealistic young men and women are selected every year in the Indian Administrative Service – arguably the most selective career choice in India.
• The prestige of being selected for IAS is so high that parents even boast of their sons’ and daughters’ mere attempt to appear for the IAS examination as a quality worth announcing with pride in marriage proposals.
• What is so attractive about being an IAS officer?
• It is certainly not the official compensation package. Is it the intrinsic motivation of wanting to ‘make a difference’? Or, is it the power one enjoys? Perhaps it is both.
• Indeed, many officers remain dedicated and true to the mission for their entire lives.
• But many others get disenchanted and falter.
• When IAS officers are appointed they are well-educated, young and idealistic.
• The human capital they begin with is extremely high.
• But unfortunately, in spite of some training opportunities, the human capital begins to depreciate and idealism begins to wane when they face the realities of raising a family, less than ideal working conditions, being subject to the capriciousness of ministers and power brokers.
• This sometimes results in officers becoming corrupt, and the power they command is often misused in obstructing rather than enhancing good ideas.
• Over the years, the bureaucrats may also fall short of skills needed for the job in dynamic, challenging times.
• Lack of competition from talented outsiders exacerbates these problems.
• The system that was instituted by our colonial rulers to rule over us has now shackled us.
• We offer some ideas on how we can reform it by creating the right incentives to (1) enhance human capital; (2) provide an attractive exit path to overcome entrenchment; and (3) compete with talented outsiders.
• We propose that after finishing the year-plus long IAS training, each officer be appointed for a period of seven years.
• At the end of year six, there will be an evaluation after which the officer will be offered three attractive options, two of which would lead to an exit from service.
• Continuation in the service at a prestigious senior position for which the officer may have to compete with other experts from outside the service who could be inducted laterally (something that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has espoused).
• A fully paid scholarship to any PhD, MBA, or other top professional programmes in the world (eg Harvard MBA, Princeton Masters in Public Policy, or a PhD at the University of Chicago) into which the officer can get admission based on his or her merit.
• A Rs 1 crore seed capital from a capital fund run by professional venture capitalists to begin an entrepreneurial startup venture.
• The officer could also choose other paths independently, for example, getting a private sector job.
• Such evaluations could be repeated periodically (say every 7 years) with similar exit paths at the end of each evaluation.
• An exit option of voluntary retirement could also be added.
• Some aspects of these recommendations such as lateral entry of professionals and the opportunity to go for advanced degrees are already in place.
• However, the key aspect we emphasise is a systematic opening of both the entry of professionals and the exit of unsuitable officers in case of a lack of fit.
• The attractive exit options will ensure that the young IAS officers see their IAS journey as dynamic and rewarding, giving them an opportunity to reinvent themselves after experiencing the service.
• They will not feel stuck if after a few years they realise that administrative service is not what they want to do all their lives.
• Moreover, those who continue will still need to compete with qualified outsiders who did not begin as an IAS officer.
• This provides incentives to the officers to keep upgrading their human capital.
• This will also ensure that the country will keep in the administrative service only those who remain fit for those jobs and yet provide an attractive and safe exit option to others who will flourish elsewhere.
• This would enhance the pool of candidates who would want to give administrative services a try without making a lifetime commitment to it.
• We believe that the exit options our proposal offers are so attractive that they will likely be supported even by incumbents whose buy-in would be critical for such a radical reform to succeed.
• In the corporate governance field that we have studied, the entrenched managers are rewarded with attractive severance packages, known as “golden parachutes” that make exits attractive to them.
• There is strong empirical evidence these have worked well.
• This gives us reason to believe that these may work in the IAS reform as well.

NEWS

• JEE-Main, NEET-UG exams to be held as per schedule in September; Number of examination centres increased
• Govt makes use of FASTag mandatory for availing any discount in toll charges
• Average income of MGNREGA workers doubled during Corona virus lockdown in April-July period, CRISIL report says
• UP govt orders complete ban on any cultural and religious meeting till Sept 30
• E-auction portal launched to promote trading of GI-tagged ‘Kashmir Saffron’
• Met dept forecasts very heavy rainfall over east, north & central India during next 5 days
• Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan stresses on need to increase awareness about corneal tissue
• Govt extends last date for receiving EoI in disinvestment case of Air India till Oct 30
• I&B Minister greets women community on occasion of women’s equality day
• MoS for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Dr Jitendra Singh felicitates All India Toppers of CSE 2019
• World Health Organization declares Africa free of polio
• BRICS Industry Ministers attend video meeting to discuss ways to boost cooperation in 5G, AI
• England pacer James Anderson becomes 1st fast bowler in history to take 600 Test wickets

Download Free PDF – Daily Hindu Editorial Analysis

Sharing is caring!