1) National Press Day and President’s address to Press club : –
Note:- We would not have picked this news , if it was a different year. However the Press itself has been in news for the wrong reasons. The insensitive coverage of Indian Media during Nepal earth quake or Jammu & Kashmir floods has been severely criticized in the social media – such as Twitter , Quora etc. The whole ethics of media is a matter of concern and has been in focus , especially this year .This reflects in the President’s Speech too . He goes great length from evolution of India media , its ingenuity to drawing a word of caution and advising self-restraint to media. Hence , this has a greater significance from examination point of view too.
Evolution of Indian Media :-
- The growth of newspapers and agencies in our country has its roots in our freedom struggle. The press in India has evolved, not through the aegis of the Government but due to the commitment of individuals who used it as a tool to fight the exploitative and oppressive policies of the colonial Government. Newspapers became the platforms for social reform movements across the country. It is a matter of pride that between 1780 until India’s Independence in 1947, more than 120 newspapers and periodicals were launched in almost every Indian language. Each of these publications carried the ideals of freedom to the doorsteps of our people and spread the message of an independent India.
- The first newspaper in India was the ‘Hickey’s Gazette’ or ‘Bengal Gazette’ started on January 29, 1780 by an Irishman, James Augustus Hickey. This weekly political and commercial paper declared itself as ‘‘open to all parties but influenced by none’’ and its content included criticism of the British East India Company.
- James Silk Buckingham, the Editor of the ‘Calcutta Journal’’ established in 1818, was a social reformer and close associate of Raja Ram Mohan Roy.
- Samachar Darpan in Bengali founded in 1818 was the first regional language newspaper. The Times of India was born on November 3, 1838 as ‘‘The Bombay Times and Journal of Commerce. It’s Editor, Robert Knight used to upbraid British officials for their nastiness towards Indians and for doing precious little to eradicate India’s poverty
- The Amrita Bazar Patrika was founded on February 20, 1868 as a Bengali weekly by Sisir Ghosh and Moti Lal Ghosh. It became instantly popular because of its campaign against injustice and inequality. It overnight turned into an English weekly from March 21, 1878 in order to escape the provisions of the oppressive Vernacular Press Act.
- The Hindu was founded in Madras in 1878 by the Triplicane Six – a group of law students and teachers; Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak founded the Kesari in 1881; Dadabhai Naoroji established the Voice of India in 1883.
- Bande Mataram was published in 1906 by Bipan Chandra Pal and edited by Aurobindo Ghose.
- Gopal Krishna Gokhale founded the Hitavadini 1911; Tribune was started by Dayal Singh Majithia in 1881.
- Motilal Nehru started the Independent in 1919 and Mahatma Gandhi, the Indian Opinion in 1904 in South Africa and Navjeevan and Young India in 1919 in India as well as the Harijan in 1932. These trailblazers became the conscience keepers of the country and through their relentless campaigns gave voice to the struggle for independence.
Word of Advise to Media:-
- Today, the influence, credibility and quality of our media is well recognized all over the world. The Indian media has grown in scale, reach and revenues over the years. Its significance has further increased with higher literacy levels and the revolution in communication technologies. New media has brought about a convergence between traditional, audio-visual, digital and social media. It has become a powerful means for shaping the ideas, aspirations and behaviour of our people, even in the remotest corners of our country.
- This entrusts media with an additional responsibility. They must act as a watchdog of public interest and give voice to the marginalized. Journalists must bring to public notice the array of ills and deprivations that continue to beset large number of our people. They must shape and influence public opinion even as they provide objective and balanced coverage of news.
- Gloom and dark alone should not dominate news coverage. A conscious effort should be made to show what is noble and good in the society. It must highlight the positive and inspire change for the better. The power of the media should be used to reset our moral compass and promote liberalism, humanism and decency in public life.
- Emotions should not overrun reason and disagreement should be expressed through debate and discussion. We must, as proud Indians, have confidence in the idea of India and the values and principles enshrined in our Constitution. India has always been able to self-correct whenever such a need has arisen.
- The media has an important role to play in cleansing public life. For that, the conduct of the media itself should be above board. Independence and integrity are two sides of the same coin and it goes for every one of us including the media. Sensationalism should not substitute for objective, accurate and dispassionate reporting. While opinion is free, facts should be sacred.
- Caution should be exercised in passing judgements, especially on matters where the due process of law is yet to be completed. We must never forget that careers and reputations take years to build but only minutes to demolish.
- It is said accusations appear in headlines, denial in small print and contradictions are hidden away amidst cheap advertisements. The media must realise that it remains always accountable to its readers and viewers and through them, to the entire nation.
Conclusion:-
- The media recognized as the fourth estate serves as a facilitator, protector and enabler of democratic institutions and processes. It is an important component in the fabric of a functional democracy. As India marches forward into the 21st century, it is extremely important that the free press of India remains strong and vibrant.
- The media fraternity of India are not only providers of news, but also educators who empower our citizens and strengthen the democratic framework of our country.
2)Doyang Lake in Nagaland : –
- The Centre will develop the Doyang lake in Nagaland – famous for the world’s longest travelling raptors Amur falcons – as an eco-tourism spot.
- Amur falcons come to Doyang every year in millions. They come to roost here during their flight from Mongolia to South Africa, making this beautiful area in India’s northeast a bird-watchers’ paradise
- The lake area had come to limelight when two of three falcons, tagged with satellite device in 2013 to understand their migratory behaviour, had returned to the lake twice after taking rounds from Mongolia to South Africa via Nagaland.
- Trivia – These two falcons – named Naga and Pangti – have once again returned to the lake in Nagaland this year
- The world has recognized Pangti village in Nagaland as the world’s Amur Falcon capital, as more than one million birds can be seen in just 30 minutes. It is a very rare and exciting sight
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According to environment ministry, Naga tribesmen until recently used to hunt thousands of Amur falcons for meat. But last year, after a vigorous campaign by wildlife activists, they pledged to protect the bird and since then, not a single bird has been hunted in the area .
3)Government declares NSCN (K) as terrorist organization under UAPA :-
- The Government has declared the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Khaplang), NSCN (K), all its formations and front organizations as a terrorist organization under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.
NSCN (K) :-
- The Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN) is a Naga nationalist paramilitary group operating mainly in Northeast India, with minor activities in Northwest Myanmar
- The main goal of the organisation is to establish a sovereign state, “Nagalim”
- Nagaland (NSCN) was formed on 31 January 1980 by Isak Chishi Swu, Thuingaleng Muivah and S.S. Khaplang opposing the Shillong Accord signed by the then Naga National Council (NNC) with the Government of India. The name of the Government is called, “The People Republic of Nagaland (Nagalim)”. Later, a disagreement surfaced within the outfit leaders over the issue of commencing dialogue with the Indian Government. On 30 April 1988, the NSCN split into two factions; the NSCN-K led by S S Khaplang, and the NSCN-IM, led by Isak Chishi Swu and Thuingaleng Muivah. The split was accompanied by a spate of violence and clashes between the factions
4) Sector Mentor Committees :-
- In a significant effort to create a unified system for development of curricula and courses for skill development trainings in the country, Union Minister for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Shri Rajiv Pratap Rudy has approved the creation of “Sector Mentor Committees” that would act as integrated committees for creating model curricula for skill training courses, both long-term and short-term, in each sector.
- With the establishment of Sector Mentor Committees, all existing curricula in short-term and long-term skill competency based courses would be aligned with corresponding National Occupation Standards (NOSs), Qualification Packs (QPs) and National Skill Qualification Framework (NSQF). The NOSs define the standards of the particular skill that an individual needs to possess in order to carry out a function in the workplace and a group of such standards makes a QP. The NSQF organizes these qualifications according to series of levels of knowledge, skills and aptitude.
5)AMRUT Action Plans for 81 cities approved with total project outlay of Rs.5,748 cr :-
- 81 cities in Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Odisha and Mizoram will invest Rs.5,748 cr to enhance basic infrastructure including water supply and sewerage connections under AMRUT action plans for the year 2015-16.
AMRUT:-Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation
The Mission focuses on the following Thrust Areas:-
i. Water Supply,
ii. Sewerage facilities and management,
iii. Storm Water drains to reduce flooding,
iv. Pedestrian, non-motorized and public transport facilities, parking spaces, and
v. Enhancing amenity value of cities by creating and upgrading green spaces, parks and recreation centers, especially for children.
P.S. – G20 and Indo-Nepal-China will be covered in upcoming posts.
Recent Posts
Petrol in India is cheaper than in countries like Hong Kong, Germany and the UK but costlier than in China, Brazil, Japan, the US, Russia, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, a Bank of Baroda Economics Research report showed.
Rising fuel prices in India have led to considerable debate on which government, state or central, should be lowering their taxes to keep prices under control.
The rise in fuel prices is mainly due to the global price of crude oil (raw material for making petrol and diesel) going up. Further, a stronger dollar has added to the cost of crude oil.
Amongst comparable countries (per capita wise), prices in India are higher than those in Vietnam, Kenya, Ukraine, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Venezuela. Countries that are major oil producers have much lower prices.
In the report, the Philippines has a comparable petrol price but has a per capita income higher than India by over 50 per cent.
Countries which have a lower per capita income like Kenya, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, and Venezuela have much lower prices of petrol and hence are impacted less than India.
“Therefore there is still a strong case for the government to consider lowering the taxes on fuel to protect the interest of the people,” the report argued.
India is the world’s third-biggest oil consuming and importing nation. It imports 85 per cent of its oil needs and so prices retail fuel at import parity rates.
With the global surge in energy prices, the cost of producing petrol, diesel and other petroleum products also went up for oil companies in India.
They raised petrol and diesel prices by Rs 10 a litre in just over a fortnight beginning March 22 but hit a pause button soon after as the move faced criticism and the opposition parties asked the government to cut taxes instead.
India imports most of its oil from a group of countries called the ‘OPEC +’ (i.e, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Russia, etc), which produces 40% of the world’s crude oil.
As they have the power to dictate fuel supply and prices, their decision of limiting the global supply reduces supply in India, thus raising prices
The government charges about 167% tax (excise) on petrol and 129% on diesel as compared to US (20%), UK (62%), Italy and Germany (65%).
The abominable excise duty is 2/3rd of the cost, and the base price, dealer commission and freight form the rest.
Here is an approximate break-up (in Rs):
a)Base Price | 39 |
b)Freight | 0.34 |
c) Price Charged to Dealers = (a+b) | 39.34 |
d) Excise Duty | 40.17 |
e) Dealer Commission | 4.68 |
f) VAT | 25.35 |
g) Retail Selling Price | 109.54 |
Looked closely, much of the cost of petrol and diesel is due to higher tax rate by govt, specifically excise duty.
So the question is why government is not reducing the prices ?
India, being a developing country, it does require gigantic amount of funding for its infrastructure projects as well as welfare schemes.
However, we as a society is yet to be tax-compliant. Many people evade the direct tax and that’s the reason why govt’s hands are tied. Govt. needs the money to fund various programs and at the same time it is not generating enough revenue from direct taxes.
That’s the reason why, govt is bumping up its revenue through higher indirect taxes such as GST or excise duty as in the case of petrol and diesel.
Direct taxes are progressive as it taxes according to an individuals’ income however indirect tax such as excise duty or GST are regressive in the sense that the poorest of the poor and richest of the rich have to pay the same amount.
Does not matter, if you are an auto-driver or owner of a Mercedes, end of the day both pay the same price for petrol/diesel-that’s why it is regressive in nature.
But unlike direct tax where tax evasion is rampant, indirect tax can not be evaded due to their very nature and as long as huge no of Indians keep evading direct taxes, indirect tax such as excise duty will be difficult for the govt to reduce, because it may reduce the revenue and hamper may programs of the govt.
Globally, around 80% of wastewater flows back into the ecosystem without being treated or reused, according to the United Nations.
This can pose a significant environmental and health threat.
In the absence of cost-effective, sustainable, disruptive water management solutions, about 70% of sewage is discharged untreated into India’s water bodies.
A staggering 21% of diseases are caused by contaminated water in India, according to the World Bank, and one in five children die before their fifth birthday because of poor sanitation and hygiene conditions, according to Startup India.
As we confront these public health challenges emerging out of environmental concerns, expanding the scope of public health/environmental engineering science becomes pivotal.
For India to achieve its sustainable development goals of clean water and sanitation and to address the growing demands for water consumption and preservation of both surface water bodies and groundwater resources, it is essential to find and implement innovative ways of treating wastewater.
It is in this context why the specialised cadre of public health engineers, also known as sanitation engineers or environmental engineers, is best suited to provide the growing urban and rural water supply and to manage solid waste and wastewater.
Traditionally, engineering and public health have been understood as different fields.
Currently in India, civil engineering incorporates a course or two on environmental engineering for students to learn about wastewater management as a part of their pre-service and in-service training.
Most often, civil engineers do not have adequate skills to address public health problems. And public health professionals do not have adequate engineering skills.
India aims to supply 55 litres of water per person per day by 2024 under its Jal Jeevan Mission to install functional household tap connections.
The goal of reaching every rural household with functional tap water can be achieved in a sustainable and resilient manner only if the cadre of public health engineers is expanded and strengthened.
In India, public health engineering is executed by the Public Works Department or by health officials.
This differs from international trends. To manage a wastewater treatment plant in Europe, for example, a candidate must specialise in wastewater engineering.
Furthermore, public health engineering should be developed as an interdisciplinary field. Engineers can significantly contribute to public health in defining what is possible, identifying limitations, and shaping workable solutions with a problem-solving approach.
Similarly, public health professionals can contribute to engineering through well-researched understanding of health issues, measured risks and how course correction can be initiated.
Once both meet, a public health engineer can identify a health risk, work on developing concrete solutions such as new health and safety practices or specialised equipment, in order to correct the safety concern..
There is no doubt that the majority of diseases are water-related, transmitted through consumption of contaminated water, vectors breeding in stagnated water, or lack of adequate quantity of good quality water for proper personal hygiene.
Diseases cannot be contained unless we provide good quality and adequate quantity of water. Most of the world’s diseases can be prevented by considering this.
Training our young minds towards creating sustainable water management systems would be the first step.
Currently, institutions like the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IIT-M) are considering initiating public health engineering as a separate discipline.
To leverage this opportunity even further, India needs to scale up in the same direction.
Consider this hypothetical situation: Rajalakshmi, from a remote Karnataka village spots a business opportunity.
She knows that flowers, discarded in the thousands by temples can be handcrafted into incense sticks.
She wants to find a market for the product and hopefully, employ some people to help her. Soon enough though, she discovers that starting a business is a herculean task for a person like her.
There is a laborious process of rules and regulations to go through, bribes to pay on the way and no actual means to transport her product to its market.
After making her first batch of agarbathis and taking it to Bengaluru by bus, she decides the venture is not easy and gives up.
On the flipside of this is a young entrepreneur in Bengaluru. Let’s call him Deepak. He wants to start an internet-based business selling sustainably made agarbathis.
He has no trouble getting investors and to mobilise supply chains. His paperwork is over in a matter of days and his business is set up quickly and ready to grow.
Never mind that the business is built on aggregation of small sellers who will not see half the profit .
Is this scenario really all that hypothetical or emblematic of how we think about entrepreneurship in India?
Between our national obsession with unicorns on one side and glorifying the person running a pakora stall for survival as an example of viable entrepreneurship on the other, is the middle ground in entrepreneurship—a space that should have seen millions of thriving small and medium businesses, but remains so sparsely occupied that you could almost miss it.
If we are to achieve meaningful economic growth in our country, we need to incorporate, in our national conversation on entrepreneurship, ways of addressing the missing middle.
Spread out across India’s small towns and cities, this is a class of entrepreneurs that have been hit by a triple wave over the last five years, buffeted first by the inadvertent fallout of demonetization, being unprepared for GST, and then by the endless pain of the covid-19 pandemic.
As we finally appear to be reaching some level of normality, now is the opportune time to identify the kind of industries that make up this layer, the opportunities they should be afforded, and the best ways to scale up their functioning in the shortest time frame.
But, why pay so much attention to these industries when we should be celebrating, as we do, our booming startup space?
It is indeed true that India has the third largest number of unicorns in the world now, adding 42 in 2021 alone. Braving all the disruptions of the pandemic, it was a year in which Indian startups raised $24.1 billion in equity investments, according to a NASSCOM-Zinnov report last year.
However, this is a story of lopsided growth.
The cities of Bengaluru, Delhi/NCR, and Mumbai together claim three-fourths of these startup deals while emerging hubs like Ahmedabad, Coimbatore, and Jaipur account for the rest.
This leap in the startup space has created 6.6 lakh direct jobs and a few million indirect jobs. Is that good enough for a country that sends 12 million fresh graduates to its workforce every year?
It doesn’t even make a dent on arguably our biggest unemployment in recent history—in April 2020 when the country shutdown to battle covid-19.
Technology-intensive start-ups are constrained in their ability to create jobs—and hybrid work models and artificial intelligence (AI) have further accelerated unemployment.
What we need to focus on, therefore, is the labour-intensive micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME). Here, we begin to get to a definitional notion of what we called the mundane middle and the problems it currently faces.
India has an estimated 63 million enterprises. But, out of 100 companies, 95 are micro enterprises—employing less than five people, four are small to medium and barely one is large.
The questions to ask are: why are Indian MSMEs failing to grow from micro to small and medium and then be spurred on to make the leap into large companies?
At the Global Alliance for Mass Entrepreneurship (GAME), we have advocated for a National Mission for Mass Entrepreneurship, the need for which is more pronounced now than ever before.
Whenever India has worked to achieve a significant economic milestone in a limited span of time, it has worked best in mission mode. Think of the Green Revolution or Operation Flood.
From across various states, there are enough examples of approaches that work to catalyse mass entrepreneurship.
The introduction of entrepreneurship mindset curriculum (EMC) in schools through alliance mode of working by a number of agencies has shown significant improvement in academic and life outcomes.
Through creative teaching methods, students are encouraged to inculcate 21st century skills like creativity, problem solving, critical thinking and leadership which are not only foundational for entrepreneurship but essential to thrive in our complex world.
Udhyam Learning Foundation has been involved with the Government of Delhi since 2018 to help young people across over 1,000 schools to develop an entrepreneurial mindset.
One pilot programme introduced the concept of ‘seed money’ and saw 41 students turn their ideas into profit-making ventures. Other programmes teach qualities like grit and resourcefulness.
If you think these are isolated examples, consider some larger data trends.
The Observer Research Foundation and The World Economic Forum released the Young India and Work: A Survey of Youth Aspirations in 2018.
When asked which type of work arrangement they prefer, 49% of the youth surveyed said they prefer a job in the public sector.
However, 38% selected self-employment as an entrepreneur as their ideal type of job. The spirit of entrepreneurship is latent and waiting to be unleashed.
The same can be said for building networks of successful women entrepreneurs—so crucial when the participation of women in the Indian economy has declined to an abysmal 20%.
The majority of India’s 63 million firms are informal —fewer than 20% are registered for GST.
Research shows that companies that start out as formal enterprises become two-three times more productive than a similar informal business.
So why do firms prefer to be informal? In most cases, it’s because of the sheer cost and difficulty of complying with the different regulations.
We have academia and non-profits working as ecosystem enablers providing insights and evidence-based models for growth. We have large private corporations and philanthropic and funding agencies ready to invest.
It should be in the scope of a National Mass Entrepreneurship Mission to bring all of them together to work in mission mode so that the gap between thought leadership and action can finally be bridged.