Interesting Findings from Economic Survey

Economic Survey 2016 finds out that malnutrition among rural women can be attributed to two factors:
The norm of eating last in the family that leaves them with lesser food to feed themselves.
Further, in the absence of toilet facilities, women deliberately cut down intake of water and food so as to reduce the need of going out for relieving themselves, fearing snake bites and breach of privacy.

However there is a brighter side to this story. Women are more likely to utilize the toilet facilities being built under Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. They nudge their male counterparts for the same, Hence they are serving as ambassadors in real sense.
India's growth story puzzles me. On one hand, our country is the fastest growing economy of the world. On the other hand, are its social indicators like health and education, which actually leave a lot to worry about. The global indices may have a lot of inherent biases. But that does not take away the fact that we Indians actually have a lot of ground to cover.

IPR

National IPR Policy calls for stronger IP regime. It envisions IP-led entrepreneurship.
Will benefit big corporations. BUT THERE IS NO CONCLUSIVE EVIDENCE THAT STRONGER IP REGIME RESULTS IN MORE INNOVATION.
Makes life difficult for startups.
Most of the patents filed by CSIR is lying idle with no profits coming out of it. Waste of public money.
Green revolution succeded without a strong IP regime. So did Generic Industry.
Compulsory licensing seems to be given a go-by which will upset the generic drug industry. Consumers have to pay twice, first for funding ICAR, CSIR and then for royalty which pushes up the price.
Intellectual property must maximise dissemination, access to knowledge, and public interest.

ISRO's RLV

ISRO has taken a baby step in building a RLV (Reusable Launch Vehicle) that can be reused multiple times to launch satellites into orbit. Building a fully and rapidly reusable launch vehicle will play a pivotal role in cutting down by as much as 80 per cent the cost of launching satellites into orbit. In fact, ISRO is already well-known for launching satellites at a far cheaper cost than other space agencies. Currently, the bulk of the launch cost comes from building the rocket, which can be used just once, as the rockets get burnt on re-entry into the atmosphere. No other space agency has reusable launch vehicles in operation.

Learning from the mistakes of the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in its space shuttle programme, ISRO will not use the same reusable vehicle to launch satellites and carry astronauts as it drastically reduces the payload capacity and thereby increases the cost per kg. 

Coal industry, Fisheries and Interlinking of Rivers

Coal Industry issues and concerns in India-

Environmental consequence-Coal mines especially the open cast mines create the problem of coal dust. Chemicals used in the dynamite find their way into the surface water and ground water, thus polluting the sources.

Coal theft-Mostly in washery. The Parliamentary standing committee on coal & steel highlighted in 2012 that actual production of coal is 20% more than what is reported to the government.

Low productivity of labour-due to lack of training and inefficient mining technique and equipments.The productivity of Indian coal mines especially underground mines is very low.It is 0.8 tonnes  per man-shift where the world average is 8 tonnes per man-shift.CIL has 60% of its workforce, engaged in underground mining operation that gives only 10% of the output. In case of open cast mines, the productivity stands around 10 tonnes per man-shift which is no way comparable to productivity in countries like USA where it is 69 tonnes per man-shift.

Obsolete mining method-  The mining technique used in India is Room and Pillar method. It involves extracting ore from rooms within a mine, leaving behind supportive pillars that may contain valuable ores. It has to be replaced by Longwall mining method through which we can extract valuable coal even from pillars, it requires fewer miners inside the actual mine, it also reduces  the chances of injury.

Poor labour safety and labour health- The CAG in 2010 reported that only 8% of the workers are given health check ups as against mandated 100% . The problem is more acute in case of illegal mines. Substandard safety equipments are given to coal miners due to which they suffer from respiratory diseases.

Poor quality of Coal availabile to us- The Gondwana coal is not a high grade coal because of lesser amount of carbon and presence of volatile matter. Also coal washing which is a necessary exercise is not always done because of inadequate number of coal washeries.

Inability to tap coal bed methane- This not only lead to a loss of valuable energy resource. But also may be the cause of accidental fires as we can witness in Jharia coal mines.

Not following the norms while Mine Closure-There are some standard operating procedures that has to be followed before a mine is shut down viz. land filling in case of open cast mines and sand filling in case of underground mines. These procedures have been violated in many cases.

Inability to stop Rat hole mining-It leads to landslides beacuse it is done in an unscientific way. It is illegal. Many people's livelihood are dependent on it, rehabilitating them would be difficult, hence government are reluctant to curb it with heavy hands.

Fishing industry issues and concerns-

It is an allied agricultural activity.

Fishing is a very important activity in temperate areas. Though tropical countries like China, India, Indonesia are the larger producers, but per capita fish catch is very high for the temperate regions. The reasons are-

-Temperate areas have cooler water which is suitable for the growth of Planktons.

-Many of the temperate countries don't have climate  fit for agriculture throughout the year, i.e growing season is very short. In this case fishing emerges as an important economic activity.

-In cooler climate, fishes stay fresh for a longer period of time.

-The temperate areas have softwood trees which are important for lumbering . The softwood trees are used for construction of fishing vessels.

Note- Planktons grow well where cold and warm currents meet. Up welling systems—where cold, nutrient-rich water from the ocean’s depth rise and mix with warm surface water — is the most conducive place for plankton growth.

Consequences of fisheries industry- (BCDG)

Bottom Trawling- An industrial method in which enormous nets are dragged along the sea floor, decimating everything in their path from fish to marine mammals to coral reefs.

Bycatch- refers to all the forms of marine life caught unintentionally while catching other fish.

Cyanide fishing- is a method of collecting live fish mainly for use in aquariums or selling it fresh, which involves spraying a sodium cyanide mixture into the desired fish's habitat in order to stun the fish. The practice hurts not only the target population, but also many other marine organisms, including coral reefs.

Dynamite fishing- In coral reefs, reconstruction of the damaged habitats can take decades.

Ghost fishing- is the result of nets and other fishing materials that are accidentally abandoned in the sea. These nets continue to senselessly trap fish and other aquatic organisms which die of suffocation after struggling to get to the surface to breathe.

Interlinking of rivers-

Pros-

-Irrigation facilities can be improved and dependence on monsoon could be decreased.

-Control of floods and droughts.

-Hydroelectricity

-Water navigation.

Cons-

-Affect the ecological health of the region.  There would be a decrease in downstream flows resulting in reduction of fresh water inflows into the seas seriously jeopardizing aquatic life. Freshwater supply inflows is also necessary for the protection of the mangrove wetland ecosystems in the Sundarban. 

-Large scale submergence of forests.

-The project would lead to displacement of large number of people, rehabilitating whom will be a major concern.

-Inter-state water dispute.

-It would impact our relationship with Bangladesh as Bangladesh being a lower riparian state would never agree for this project.

-Creation of large storage system can also lead to Reservoir-Induced Seismicity.

Solution-

Instead of creating large storage systems, it would be better to create storage systems at the decentralised level, which would not only be cheaper, but the locals would have greater authority over its functioning. Traditional systems like 'Johads' , 'Surangams', 'Kundis' etc can be created.

Marathwada and Latur Water Crisis

Rational pricing of water for irrigation and not banning new sugar mills is what Marathwada needs.
The right way is ending the regime of subsidies on canal irrigation as well as electricity for pumpsets. If water is properly metered and priced to reflect its scarcity value, farmers may well choose to reduce the area under cane and plant more pulses, oilseeds. Alternatively they may continue to grow sugarcane, but by employing drip irrigation.
Sugarcane also produces green fodder and doesn't need electricity from outside.

The Panama Papers

In India, tax rates are higher, the system is complicated and capital controls restrict foreign financial transactions.
The difference between tax evasion and tax avoidance is a thin line.
An agreement on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (Beps) aims to prevent companies from choosing low-tax jurisdictions to book profits in. The Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI) framework will facilitate information flows among signatories.
In addition to tax avoidance, as tax havens have laws to ensure greater confidentiality of companies and banking secrecy legislation, the companies may be used for money laundering.
Hedge funds that manage money in multiple countries often use tax havens to reduce compliance costs arising from different tax treaties among jurisdictions.

The capital gains tax makes financial transactions even more unattractive.
As a member of the Financial Action Task Force, India works with other member countries to prevent the use of the proceeds of crime.
There are cases of tax evasion: A person does not declare to the tax authorities in her home country her income, which is paid into a bank account of her company in Panama, and no taxes are paid. Here, a distinction between tax evasion and avoidance is relevant. If taxes have been paid in the tax haven at its lower tax rate, then there may be no illegality. When India introduces the General Anti-Avoidance Rule (Gaar), some of these activities may become illegal.

Under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS), every Indian resident is allowed to invest $2,50,000 abroad every year. In 2004, the limit was one-tenth of this. Money remitted abroad is from income on which tax has already been paid. If the amount invested abroad exceeds the amount allowed by the RBI, it is a violation of the law. Fourth, the illegality may be the non-declaration of assets held abroad. A provision in the Finance Bill introduced in 2015 made it criminal not to declare foreign assets in annual tax returns. If the assets held in tax havens have been declared, then it is not illegal to hold them.

In India, it is not just entities engaging in crime and tax evasion that have offshore companies. Many Indian technology start-ups are moving their headquarters to offshore locations due to our complexities.

Cyber Security

India is a net information exporter. Its information highways point west, carrying with them the data of millions of Indians. There are different types of cyber threats like espionage, cyber crime, cyber frauds, Denial of Service Attacks.  
Permanent and semi-permanent staff that is technically proficient in cyber operations, both defensive and offensive. 
Lay out Cyber Security Doctrine.
National Cyber Security Agency (NCSA).
India should not hesitate to build its offensive cyber capabilities. 
Nevertheless, a cyber arsenal serves the key function of strategic deterrence.
If India’s cyberspace has built-in vulnerabilities, it also has a highly skilled IT workforce, which should be harnessed by the government for strategic use.
At international fora, India should encourage nation-states to restrain from deploying cyber weapons.