UPSC Interview | Important Notes & Study Material -

Table of Contents

Notes By-

Tushar Gupta

Cleared UPSC 2017 with AIR-113 in his first attempt.

(B.Tech- IIT Hyderabad)

Radhahswami

Name —
- Radha – Gopi – for soul
- Soami – Name for krishna – lord
- Radha Soami – Lord of the soul
Sant Dayal singh ji – 1818
Different from Hinduism and Sikhs
- No sacred scriptures
- Necessity of a Living guru for guided spiritual life
- Forbid the caste system and social equality
  - Strict vegetarians
  - No alcohol
  - No drugs
- Charitable work – Sewa
- Satnsang every morning
- Inner liberation is possible with the guidance of the guru
Maharaj Gurinder Singh – Babaji

Mainstream
U are part of India
Security issue – alienated – to reduce security threat from Borders

Girija Devi

Laughing Gas – Nitrous Oxide

Mainstream Media vs Social Media

Difference on 2 points
- Censorship
  - The MSM – often shows favouritism towards certain political parties and people
  - They often try to hold the narrative in a particular way by reporting it in a particular way
  - Views of the ordinary people are also seldom published
- Social media – closely scrutinises the MSM on each and every thing
  - It has made the process much more democratic
  - Acts as informal watchdog of the MSM
However
- As the recent US elections – Social media – fake news propagate

Self regulation has not worked
- PCI
- ASCI
- NBA

MII

APPLE
Lexus
Textile and leather sectors

Its too early- its a long term plan

FATF

Will be place on the Grey-list in June ( Not now )

SriRam IAS

FCRA

Was recently used to cancel the licenses of 20,000 NGOs for violations
Seeks to regulate Foreign Contributions to Indian organisations to protect National interests
Under Home Min (and not RBI)
It was enacted during Emergency as it was seen that Voluntary Organisations advocating Pol rights with help of Foreign Donors were trying to overthrow govt (1976)
It was to protect India from interventionist policies of USA and USSR

Companies with 50% shareholding are considered Foreign
They had to take MHA permission to give donations to give to various organisations – but not political parties
Now these companies can give CSR money to political parties and candidates contesting elections

FCRA 1976 vs FCRA 2010

License for 5 years as compared to earlier one (- permanent)
Directing the usage of administrative expenses of NGOs
From Pol parties ( main aim of 1976) to Organisations of Political nature – to target NGOs, CSOs, Student Unions, Trade Unions,etc

2014 – Delhi HC – Found them guilty and instructed the govt to punish both the parties – From Vedanta
HC directed ECI to punish the parties within 6 months of the order
ECI cannot take action under FCRA so it wrote to Home Min to Take action

They went to SC – if found guilty – the person who facilitated funds – 5 year Jail
FCRA has been amended in retrospection from 2010 to better deal with the case pending in SC
It allows all parties to accept foreign donations till the time they are routed through Indian Subsidiaries

Amended in 2016 through Finance Bill 2016
Make way for pol parties to receive donations from foreign companies such as Vedanta as Indian sourcedespite being foreign
HC said that since donation were taken b/w 2004-2010 — The case still stands

Finance Bill 2018 – Aim to amend the Repealed FCRA 1976 retrospectively
RPA (Section 29B) and FCRA both bar political parties from taking foreign funds

Implications

It opens floodgates for foreign funding
Caps for Corporate donations to political parties also been removed
Electoral Bonds also help maintain anonymity
Will help BJP and Congress protect against the Court Cases

Is it Fair?

No sir i dont think it is fair to pass such an amendment through a finance bill without adequate debate on the topic
Moreover it seems that the action is being taken to undermine the HC judgement and as an attempt to evade justice

Role of ECI

Appeals were dismissed by the SC in 2016
Which meant that HC order had to be implemented
Despite having clear instructions from HC, ECI has not taken any action as of yet despite the fact that there was no stay put on it by the SC

Is retrospective amendment Ethical

No sir the amendment is not ethical as it is not being done to improve governance in any way but rather to subvert Rule of law by changing the law itself.

FRDI Bill

Recommended by Jus BN SriKrishna
Financial Resolution and Deposit Insurance Bill – August 2017
- It has been created to limit the failure of financial institutions like Banks, Insurance companies, NBFCs
- It is also to insure the bank depositors money in case of liquidation of the bank
Bill Currently pending before a Joint standing Committee of the parliament

Need

2008 Financial Crisis – Large scale bankruptcies
IBC – For ailing companies – similarly FRDI for ailing Banks

Provisions

Resolution Corporation
- Replace the Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation (DICGC) Act1961
Tasks
- Monitoring the financial firms
- Anticipating risks for future
- Taking corrective action
- Resolving them in case of failure
- Classify Financial Firms on risk of Failure
  - Low, Moderate, Material, Imminent, Critical
  - RC will take over management once Financial Firm is classified as Critical
- Has been powers to initiate a Bail In
- RC will provide insurance on deposits so that they can get their money back

Bail Out : Use of public money to inject capital into an ailing company

Bail In : Allow Depositor money to be used by financial firms to stay afloat

By cancelling bank’s liabilities
Converting to other forms – like Equity

Implications

Could decrease the trust of depositors in banks – will effect the economy negatively

But the entire idea is that if the bank fails, how to save it
If the bak survives, the non-insured money could get their money back
If Bail in clause is used- govt says that RC will ensure that the amount depositors get will not be less than what they would get if the bank was liquidated
Bail In clause can be invoked only if depositor has given his consent
Implicit Guarantee of govt to support PSBs is always there

The risk is no more or no less
DICGC – Provides insurance of 1lakh in case of failure – amt set in 1993
Rest is forfeited in case of Bank Failure
FRDI not specified the insured amount yet
Fin Min – has said that the objective is to protect interests of Financial Institutions and Depositors

Currently with RBI

RBI has exclusive powers to determine financial health of a bank and take corrective actions under PCA
Last bank Failure in 2004- Global Trust Bank
RBI has done a very good job of protecting the stability of the financial system
- Basel 3 norms
- Pushing for recognition of Stressed Assets
But FRDI provides institutional framework for helping deal with such situations
- FSDC
- MPC
RC – will take over these powers
- Representatives from
  - RBI
  - SEBI
  - IRDA
  - Fin Min

Electoral Bonds

Specifications
- 2019 se start
- 15 days validity
- Multiples of 1000, 10,000, 10,00,000, I cr
- Through SBI branches
  - Names not public but KYC norms to be done
  - Bond will not have the name of Payee
  - Payment from bank account
- Encashed only through designated bank accounts of political parties
  - Political parties who got 1% votes in LS or SLAs
- Returns have to be filed – meant to be transparent
- Still collect 2000 in cash
- ECI ko declared
But donations can still be payed through Cash
Expenditure – Way forward
- Lok Sabha Ex – 40 lakhs
- More realistic picture
- State funding of elections
Advantages
- Revealing names could lead to victimisation and the companies going for the anonymous cash route
- 69% of political finding is through unaccounted route
- This could help bridge that
Challenges
- Though it was introduced to improve transparency, but the buyer remains anonymous – goes against transparency
- The limit on donations has also been removed and they are no longer required to inform shareholders who they are donating to
We have to wait and watch as how the whole thing plays out

3% of Education cess ==> 4% Health and Education Cess

Team India – States and centre – on Coop Federalism

Most imp fn of NITI Aayog – being to promote Federalism
Team India as a combination of
- PM
- Union Council of Mins
- CM
- Bureaucracy at Centre and State

15th FC

NK Singh as the chairman

NK Singh

Also the FRBM Committee
Report to be submitted by Oct 2019
- Special Focus on Impact of GST on C&S

Under Art 280
- Decides the devolution of funds from Centre to states
- Grants in Aids
- PRI support system
- Any other issue as directed by the President

Main challenges
- Fiscal Discipline of states
- Working under a new tax regime
- Adoption of DBT
- Shifting the basis to 2011 Census
  - South states will be sore as they have been more successful in controlling pop growth
- Strengthen Coop Federalism
- New performance based incentives
  - Proximity to Replacent rate
  - States efforts in GST
  - Implementation of GoI flagship schemes
  - EODB
  - Efforts towards ODF

Currency Manipulation

IMF
- Can take actions against Currency Manipulation but they can be stalled and are being stalled.

Vote on Acct and Interim Budget

Taken only for 2months
Amount equal to 1/6th of the total expenditure
To keep the govt running while the budget is being passed

Vote on Acct : deals only with expenditure

Interim Budget : Deals with both Expenditure and Receipts

Is it still in use ?

Recapitalisation Bonds

2.11 Lakh infusion into PSBs
- Budgetary Support + Equity – 76k cr
  - Budget = 18k cr
  - Equity = 58k cr
- Recapitalisation Bonds – 1.35 lakh Cr
NPA = 7.33 Lakh Cr
Recap bonds
- Govt will issue bonds
- Banks will buy them from excess Deposits lying free
- Will use this capital to buy Equity in the banks

SC proceedings be televised

Yes
- Justice should not only be done, But it should also seen to be done
- It will bring more transparency
- The organisation is run with Tax payers money who have a right to know how it proceeds
- Court participants would act in a more professional manner
- It could help educate the general public with respect to judicial proceedings
- Canada SC, ICJ
No
- It could make SC a platform for political grandstanding by the justices and lawyers
- The primary audience would shift from case at hand to external public
- Witnesses who are already under significant pressure would be further stressed
- It could increase cases of media trials and sensationalisation of cases
- The court would become more politicised, which would harm its institutional integrity
- Under the Camera natural behaviour of judges would also be effected
- Judges are not accountable to the people but rather to the Rule of Law and the constitution
Way Forward
- Recording of cases rather than live streaming could be a way out – which could be kept for later references in case review is required

Office of Profit

Art 102 of Const – bars legislators from holding Office of profit
Section 9 RPA 1951 also bars office of profit
It has not been clearly defined but SC has given some conditions
- Whether the appointment has been made by govt
- Whether govt can remove the officials
- Whether Govt pays any renumeration
- Whether the holder performs any functions for the govt
The decision for disqualification rests with ECI
To maintain separation of powers
Cases
- Jaya Bacchan case
- Sonia Gandhi
- Delhi MLAs – 21 – Parliamentary secretaries
WAY FORWARD
- Status of alter offices must be defined by the ECI
- Creation of any new office should already declare whether it is an office of profit or not

Malimath Committee

CJS reforms
Victim Compensation – implemented
Controversial reco
- Confessions to senior officials be admissible as evidence
- Increasing police custody from 15—30 days
Witness protection – not yet implemented
Beyond reasonable doubt — Clear and Convincing
- Lowering the burden of proof
- If the Court is convinced that something is true
- There is a perception – justice delayed is justice denied, Police-poltiician nexus, low conviction rates
- But still if move to C&C – it will reduce the faith in the judicial system

Prevention of damage to Public properties act (PDPP Act)

Justice Thomas Committee
- Video proof can be utilised
- Organisers of the protests to be penalised as well
Ram Rahim case

Xi Jinping Continuation

Strategic posturing in the neighbourhood
Face-off of China with India – Doklam
Aggressive and pro-active wooing of India’s neighbours
Aggressive posturing in the South China Sea
Aggressive posture in domestic policy as well – less checks on unriddled power of Jinping could be worrying sign for India

Such policies are expected to continue.