Whatsapp 93125-11015 For Details
The Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar–led Mahagathbandhan government won the floor test in the State Assembly to prove majority while Opposition BJP legislators walked out of the session. Mr. Kumar proved his majority first by voice vote and then by counting of votes.
Earlier, Speaker Vijay Kumar Sinha resigned from his post saying he would have resigned earlier but he wanted to respond allegations of being a dictator, to do things on his own etc. made against him. Later, Deputy Speaker MaheshwarHazari conducted House proceedings and adjourned it till August 25.
When Deputy Speaker MaheshwarHazari announced that the trust vote has been passed by voice vote, former Speaker and State Parliamentary Affairs Minister Vijay Kumar Choudhury requested him for counting of votes which was promptly accepted by Mr. Hazari.
But the Opposition BJP legislators who, earlier, had walked out from the House during Chief Minister Kumar’s speech on debate of the trust vote, suddenly re-entered the House and opposed the move for counting of votes as the “result of voice vote has already been announced” and staged a walkout from the House again. Later, a total 160 MLAs voted in favour of the trust vote while no Opposition votes were counted.
Deputy Speaker Hazari who was in chair after Speaker Vijay Sinha had resigned from his post, earlier had allowed a two-hour debate over the trust vote sought by the new Mahagathbandhan government.
Former Deputy Chief Minister and senior State BJP leader Tarkishore Prasad attacked the Chief Minister for his regular flip-flops “to remain in the chair of CM” and also alleged that 75% of Ministers in the Mahagathbandhan government are tainted.
“He (Mr. Kumar) is a habitual turncoat as earlier he had politically sacrificed leaders like George Fernandes and Sharad Yadav. In 2013 he betrayed us only to join us again in 2017 and then again betrayed us.
Supreme Court Bench to revisit 2013 verdict on poll promises (Page no. 1)
(GS Paper 2, Polity and Governance)
The Supreme Court on Wednesday said it will constitute a three-judge Bench to re-consider a 2013 judgment which held that pre-poll promises made by a political party cannot constitute a corrupt practice under the Representation of the People (RP) Act.
The S. SubramaniamBalaji versus Government of Tamil Nadu judgment, based on DMK’s pre-election promise to distribute colour TVs to poor households in Tamil Nadu, said only an individual candidate, not his party, can commit a ‘corrupt practice’ under the RP Act by promising free gifts.
The Balaji judgment, by a two-judge Bench of the apex court, came under the spotlight after nine years when Chief Justice N. V. Ramana’s Bench was told that there cannot be a dichotomy between a political party and its candidate. What the candidate promises is what his party wants him to promise. The party cannot escape liability.
A candidate makes a promise with the backing of his party. There cannot be a dichotomy between a candidate and his party, who was also a lawyer in the Balaji case, submitted before the Chief Justice Ramana’s Bench during a hearing on ways to rein in irrational freebies.
During the hearing, Mr. Datar referred to Section 123 of the Act which deals with ‘corrupt practices’. The provision says it is ‘bribery’ and thus deemed a corrupt practice if any gift, offer or promise of gratification is made to voters directly or indirectly by a candidate or his agent or any other person acting on their consent.
Senior advocate Vikas Singh also urged the court to re-examine the Balaji judgment, saying it was wrong in several aspects.
The judgment by a Bench of Justices P. Sathasivam and RanjanGogoi (both retired) had clearly drawn a distinction between an individual candidate put up by a political party and the political party itself.
“The provisions of the Act prohibit an individual candidate from resorting to promises, which constitute a corrupt practice within the meaning of Section 123 of the RP Act.
The provisions of the Act place no fetter on the power of the political parties to make promises in the election manifesto,” the court had held in July 2013.
The lawyers on Wednesday also questioned the rationale of the judgment which had held that it was directly part of the Directive Principles of State Policy for a State to distribute “largesse in the form of distribution of colour TVs, laptops, etc., to eligible and deserving persons.
States
‘Gandhi’s work gave voice to peasants’ (Page no. 3)
(GS Paper 1, History)
Shahid Amin, former professor of history at Delhi University and A.M. Khwaja Chair (JamiaMilliaIslamia) on delivered the second Mushirul Hasan Memorial Lecture on ‘Gandhi and Peasants: A re-look at Champaran, 1917’.
In his lecture, Mr. Amin said that it is rare that thousands of peasants in Champaran sought out a Mahatma in the making to recount the onerous conditions under which they toiled for their indigo masters.
Mahatma Gandhi asked lawyers to act as mere transcribers of the spoken word, registering what peasants were facing that led to eight volumes of handwritten testimonies without the luxury of rewriting. It is this huge volume of testimonies that give us an insight into the world of indigo farmers and their troubles.
Calling it a radical move by Mahatma Gandhi to encourage peasants to speak out their grievances, Mr. Amin said that it is difficult to capture the voices of peasants from a colonial and pre-colonial past as peasants of those times did not write but were written about.
Voices of ordinary folk usually did not make their way into historical records. The conduits through which their voices made their way into record in those days, he said were through petitions and memorials framed by scribes, confessions in police lock-ups or through depositions uttered nervously before the magistrate.
Mahatma Gandhi’s work, along with his team of lawyers, that has been archived and therefore enables us to visualise the peasants working in the indigo fields beaten into submission.
The peasant archive provides us with tremendous power and richness. For when the peasant speaks, the whole world speaks. One has to incline to one side to hear the small voice of history.
Researchers want Odisha’s Angul to plan transition to green energy, economy (Page no. 5)
(GS Paper 3, Environment/Economy)
Researchers have urged policymakers to switch to green energy and economy in Odisha’s Angul, one of India’s largest coal producing districts, before power grade coal reserves are exhausted.
The International Forum for Environment, Sustainability and Technology (iFOREST), Delhi-based environmental pressure group released a report as to how Angul, Odisha’s biggest coal producing and key industrial district, can plan a just energy transition and build a green economy in the coming years.
According to iFOREST, Angul currently accounts for 12% of India’s and 56% of Odisha’s coal production. The coal production in Angulis expected to increase nearly by three times in the next 10 years, reaching over 300 million metric tonnes (MMT) by 2033. The sector has given direct employment to 1,68,000 - nearly 69% of them are informal.
“Coal production is expected to grow threefold over next 10 years in Angul, from 96.7 million metric tonne currently to 308.8 MMT by 2033.
Mine closure will start after 2040 and the last mine will close by 2070, considering a full operational life. However, an accelerated and ambitious climate action to meet 1.5°C climate goals, requires coal production to be phased out by 2050 through strategic planning,” says the iForest’s analysis.
Chandra Bhushan, president and CEO of iFOREST, said, “While coal will dominate the district’s economy for the next 10-15 years, districts like Angul need to start planning for a just energy transition to support climate change mitigation, as Odisha is highly vulnerable to climate change impacts.
After 2035, the district should move to green energy and industries, based on growth of the renewable energy sector and technology advancements and viability, the organisation says listing out alternatives such as renewable-based electricity, hydrogen-based steel and urea production, production of green aluminium using renewable energy, and enforcing circular economy practices.
Theatre group to cut short Yakshagana shows (Page no. 5)
(GS Paper 1, Art and Culture)
The all-night Yakshagana performances by more than a century-old Yakshagana theatre troupe KateelDurgaparameshwariPrasaditaYakshaganaMandali will soon be history as the group has decided to switch over to short duration shows from November.
The managing committee of the temple took the decision on Tuesday in view of the government circular issued in May, 2022, which does not allow use of loudspeakers between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. except on closed premises for communication within, like auditoria, conference rooms, community halls, or during a public emergency.
With this decision, the mandali founded in the mid-19th century and popularly called KateelMela will become the second Yakshagana theatre troupe with the record of over a century to break away from its tradition to adapt to changing times.
Now, it has decided to perform from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Over a century-old DharmasthalaYakshaganaMela (DharmasthalaManjunatheswaraKrupaposhitaYakshaganaMandali) has been performing in the truncated form from 2015-16 touring season.
The KateelMela, having six performing troupes, is attached to the MuzraiDepartment which managed Durgaparameshwari Temple at Kateel in Dakshina Kannada.
HarinarayanadasaAsranna, a hereditary archak at the temple who is closely associated with the management of the mela, told The Hindu that since the troupes performed in grounds or other open places, it will not be possible to adhere to the guidelines of the circular.
Loudspeakers have become an integral part of Yakshagana performance without which the present generation audience cannot be reached. In addition, the police have issued notices to all temples to adhere to the guidelines of the government.
ISRO veterans challenge Nambi Narayanan’s claims (Page no. 5)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Technology)
Several Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) veterans, including A. E. Muthunayagam, former director, Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC), have challenged claims reportedly made by S. Nambi Narayanan, the former scientist who was implicated in the ISRO espionage case, and the Madhavan-starrer biopic Rocketry: The Nambi Effectregarding his contributions to the Indian space programme, especially those related to cryogenic propulsion.
Many of the claims in the movie and those made by Mr. Narayanan in various forums are baseless and tend to mislead the public, the former scientists, which included D. Sasikumaran who also had been implicated in the spy case, told a meet-the-press programmeorganised by the Thiruvananthapuram Press Club.
While they bore no personal enmity or ill will towards Mr. Narayanan, they wished to present the facts before the public, they said. ISRO's successes are the products of teamwork and any one individual cannot claim sole credit.
Major developments in cryogenic propulsion took place in ISRO after Mr. Narayanan left the LPSC in 1994., according to Dr. Muthunayagam and E.V.S. Namboothiri, who chaired the project management board on cryogenic upper stage (CUS) project
Mr. Narayanan was neither a member of the study project which, in the mid-eighties, recommended the development of cryogenic propulsion systems, nor did he make any contributions to it.
He was also not in the Cryogenic Propulsion Development Group formed by Dr. Muthunayagam in 1987 with Mr. Namboothiri as Group Director, Dr. Muthunayagam said.
Recently, Mr. Narayanan claimed that he had good knowledge on cryogenic propulsion systems from his Russian friend during his MS program at Princeton University.
Editorial
Heading the G20 and New Delhi’s choices (Page no. 6)
(GS Paper 2, International Relations)
The clock is ticking. In about three months, India will assume for the first time the Group of 20 (G20) year-long presidency from December 1, 2022 to November 30, 2023, culminating with the G20 Summit in India in 2023.
The subsequent months will witness India hosting over 200 meetings with hundreds of ministers, officials, diplomats, businessmen, non-governmental organisations, working groups, and engagement groups of the G20 composed of 19 powerful economies and the European Union (EU).
India has hosted large international conferences such as the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit in 1983 and the Third India-Africa Forum summit in 2015.
But nothing compares with hosting the G20. It is the world’s informal steering directorate on global economic issues; it entails the responsibility of shaping decision-making on key challenges facing the world today; and its summit is preceded by a large quantum of preparatory deliberations that feed into the final outcome.It is essential to neither overstress nor underestimate the significance of the G20’s work.
The G20 membership represents nearly 90% of the world’s GDP, 80% of global trade, and 67% of the planet’s population. It is an advisory body, not a treaty-based forum and, therefore, its decisions are recommendations to its own members.
The weight of this powerful membership carries enormous political and economic influence. The representation of the United Nations, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the World Trade Organization, the World Health Organization, and other multilateral institutions in it makes the G20 an incomparable body.
The G20 has played a vital role in addressing financial and economic challenges such as the global financial crisis of 2008-09 and the Eurozone crisis of 2010.
Making out a case for the other UBI in India (Page no. 6)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
It took the COVID-19 pandemic to expose the precariousness of human society across the world. As the importance of social security came into focus after the major waves of the pandemic, the debate on universal basic income (UBI) began to resurface in policy circles across the globe.
However, there is another UBI that needs to be examined in the Indian context, i.e., universal basic insurance. Before discussing the second UBI, or insurance, it is worthwhile looking at the design options for social security.
Income shocks result in a free fall of those living on the line of basic living wages (say line 1) down towards the critical survival line (say line 2).
In any case, a fall that is further below line 2 needs to be prevented as it can be catastrophic — a household can end up facing a poverty trap. Social security systems are like a safety net placed at line 2.
These social security nets can be of three types. The first is a passive safety net which catches those falling from line 1 and prevents a fall below line 2.
The second is an active safety net which works like a trampoline so that those who fall on it are able to bounce back to line 1. The third is a proactive safety net which acts like a launchpad so that those who fall on it will not only bounce back but will also move up beyond line 1.
The first type of safety net is basically a social assistance programme meant for the most income-deprived sections of society. The second type of safety net is a scheme with a higher outlay.
The third type of social security net is the most desirable option but requires immense resources and institutional capacity. For social security, people on the south end of the income line need social assistance schemes. Those on the north end of the income line should have voluntary insurance.
Social security mainly encompasses food security, health security and income security. India operates the widest spectrum of social security schemes which cater to the largest number of people than any other country.
The sheer scale of Indian social security programmes delivered to millions of households spread over a vast geography is mind-boggling.
The Indian food security programme, for example, has over 800 million beneficiaries being provided heavily subsidised food grain under the National Food Security Act (NFSA).
Keep it simple (Page no. 6)
(GS Paper 2, Polity and Governance)
One of the clear successes of Indian democracy has been the regular conduct of elections and the relatively high participation of electors in the voting process compared to other countries.
Besides the fact that the process is relatively simple with the use of the electronic voting machine, high voter turnout has also been possible due to registration drives by the Election Commission of India (ECI).
Periodically, the ECI does face the issue of a cleaning up of electoral rolls due to increases in migrant populations in urban sprawls, demographic changes due to the entry of more eligible voters, besides deaths of older people.
But repeated cycles of elections have allowed for a cohesion in this process with voters allowed to register based on proofs of their age and current place of residence.
With the increase in the school-educated population, and most Indian citizens living in houses whose addresses are to be mentioned in several identity documents, registering to vote is a relatively easy process.
This begs the question as to why election authorities are coercing citizens to mandatorily link registration in voter rolls with their Aadhaar number, as recent reports have indicated.
In December 2021, the Lok Sabha passed the Election Laws (Amendment) Bill seeking to link the voter identity card with the Aadhaar number in order to avoid errors such as voter duplication on the electoral roll. But the Government and later, ECI authorities, have insisted that this process would be voluntary.
The Aadhaar number is not a proof of citizenship and is meant to be issued to residents, while only adult citizens who are resident in India are eligible to vote.
Instrumentally speaking, matching the Aadhaar number to the electoral roll in order to perform verifications is not a foolproof process.
The Internet Freedom Foundation has cited data to show that self-reported errors in the Aadhaar database are higher than those in the electoral database.
Text & Context
The Competition (Amendment) Bill, 2022 (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 2, Polity and Governance)
The Indian Competition Act was passed in 2002, but it came into effect only seven years later. The Competition Commission primarily pursues three issues of anti-competitive practices in the market: anti-competitive agreements, abuse of dominance and combinations.
As the dynamics of the market changes rapidly due to technological advancements, artificial intelligence, and the increasing importance of factors other than price, amendments became necessary to sustain and promote market competition.
Therefore, a review committee was established in 2019 which proposed several major amendments. The long-awaited Bill to amend the Competition Act, 2002, was finally tabled in the Lok Sabha recently.
Any acquisition, merger or amalgamation may constitute a combination. Section 5 currently says parties indulging in merger, acquisition, or amalgamation need to notify the Commission of the combination only on the basis of ‘asset’ or ‘turnover’.
The new Bill proposes to add a ‘deal value’ threshold. It will be mandatory to notify the Commission of any transaction with a deal value in excess of ₹2,000 crore and if either of the parties has ‘substantial business operations in India’.
The Commission shall frame regulations to prescribe the requirements for assessing whether an enterprise has ‘substantial business operations in India’.
This change will strengthen the Commission’s review mechanism, particularly in the digital and infrastructure space, a majority of which were not reported earlier, as the asset or turnover values did not meet the jurisdictional thresholds.
When business entities are willing to execute a combination, they must inform the Commission. The Commission may approve or disapprove the combination, keeping in mind the appreciable adverse effect on competition that is likely to be caused.
The ‘tomato flu’ outbreak and the Centre’s advisory (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 2, Health)
Days after a paper in The Lancet journal raised concerns over the rise in cases of the “new virus known as tomato flu” among children in India, the Union Health Ministry on Tuesday issued an advisory, asking the States to take measures to prevent its spread.
In a set of guidelines, the Centre referred to the disease as a probable variant of the hand, foot and mouth Disease, or HFMD, which commonly occurs in children under 10 years of age and can also infect adults.
As per theLancet paper, India recorded around 100 cases of ‘tomato flu’ in children below nine years of age in less than three months.
The transmission of the “highly contagious” yet “non-life threatening virus” could lead to serious consequences by spreading to adults as well, it adds.
In the article ‘Tomato flu outbreak in India’, published in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine journal on August 17, the authors define the infection as a “new virus” that has emerged in Kerala in children younger than five years. The report, however, also claims it to be in an endemic state.
Epidemiologists use the term endemic to refer to a disease which has spread in a limited area but has been around for some time.
The report attempts to trace the history of the infection and claims that ‘tomato flu’ was first identified in the Kollam district of Kerala on May 6 this year.
However, a study published by the U.S. National Library of Medicine in its Immunity, Inflammation and Disease journal in July says that cases of ‘tomato fever’ have been reported in the past in 2007.
The authors do not mention a specific origin, type or cause of the infection. . They suggest that it may be an after-effect of chikungunya or dengue fever in children rather than a viral infection, or that the virus could also be a new variant of the HFMD — a common viral infection affecting young children that appears with fever, rashes or blisters on the skin and mouth sores.
News
Idol Wing submits papers to bring back 6Chola-era idols (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 1, History)
The Idol Wing-CID has submitted documents to U.S. officials through the Central government to retrieve six exquisite Chola-era bronze idols that went missing from the Veeracholapuram temple in Kallakurichi district in the 1960s. They were spotted at the Cleveland museum and Christie's auction house in the U.S.
In 2018, Elephant G. Rajendran, an advocate, filed a complaint with a special unit of the police that the metal idols of Tripurantaka, Thiripurasundari and a few other idols were stolen from the Nareeswara Sivan Temple at Veeracholapuram in the then Villupuram District (now Kallakurichi district) by unknown persons 30 years ago. Based on his complaint, the Idol Wing took up the investigation.
The temple was constructed 900 years ago by Chola king Rajendra Chola. The French Institute of Puducherry (IFP) also provided the photographs of the idols taken in 1956 to the Idol Wing to pursue its investigation.
As the investigation progressed, the Idol Wing began looking for the idols with assistance from S. Vijay Kumar, a heritage enthusiast and co-founder of India Pride, in the catalogues of art collectors, museums and auction houses.
The investigators stumbled upon the images of sculptures of Saint Sundarar and his wife ParavaiNatchiyaar, two of the antiquities stolen from the temple, on the official website of Freer Sackler Museum of Art.
Investigation revealed that the Christies Auctions and Private Sale had auctioned the panchaloha idol of Nataraja in 2003 for $231,500 and a panchaloha idol of VeenadharaDakshinamurthy for $1,203,750 in 2013.
The idols of Tripuranthaka and Thiripurasundariwere found on the official website of Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio.
All the images were sent for comparison to the Director and Chemical Examiner, Forensic Sciences Department, through the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Court, Kumbakonam.
Centre voices support for Russia-Ukraine talks (Page no. 11)
(GS Paper 2, International Relations)
Expressing India’s concern on the situation in Ukraine, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said on Wednesday that New Delhi supports talks between Russia and Ukraine to resolve the crisis.
The day marks six months of the launch of the Russian offensive and the war in Ukraine. He also called for strengthening of ties with the member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) bilaterally and within the framework of the organisation.
India is concerned about the humanitarian crisis in and around Ukraine. We have extended our support to the efforts of the UN Secretary General, UN agencies and International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to provide humanitarian assistance,” he said addressing the annual SCO Defence Ministers’ meeting in Tashkent.
During the exchange of pleasantries with Russian Defence Minister Sergey Shoigu in the morning, Mr. Singh conveyed his “deep appreciation and thanks” for arresting in Moscow a terrorist who was planning attacks in India.
Calling on the SCO to unitedly fight against terrorism, Mr. Singh stressed that terrorism in any form, including cross-border terrorism, committed by anyone and for whatever purpose, is a crime against humanity.
“Terrorism is one of the most serious challenges to global peace and security. India reiterates its resolve to fight all forms of terrorism and make the region peaceful, secure and stable.
We seek to develop joint institutional capabilities with the SCO member states, which, while respecting the sensitivities of each country, create the spirit of cooperation among individuals, societies and nations.
Mr. Singh proposed to host a workshop in India in 2023 on the theme ‘Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief – risk mitigation and disaster resilient infrastructure’ for the Defence Ministries of SCO member states and also suggested an annual seminar on ‘Topic of Interest’ among the defence think tanks of SCO countries. “We propose to organise the first such defence think tank seminar in India in 2023,” he said.
On Afghanistan, Mr. Singh voiced India’s full support to a peaceful, secure and stable Afghanistan, while emphasising the need to respect its sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity, national unity and non-interference in internal affairs.
SC asks Centre to expand food security coverage (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
The Supreme Court has directed the Centre to increase coverage under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) so that “more and more needy persons and citizens get the benefit” under the 2013 law which entitles rural and urban poor to receive subsidised food grains under the Targeted Public Distribution System.
The coverage under the NFSA is still as per the population figures of 2011 census.In an eight-page order, a Bench of Justices M. R. Shah and B. V. Nagarathna ordered the Union government to re-determine the NFSA coverage in States and Union Territories after taking into consideration the population increase between 2011-2021 so that benefits are not restricted to beneficiaries identified way back in 2011.
Right to Food is a fundamental right available under Article 21 of the Constitution.The Union, in its affidavit, had stated in court that the Act required coverage to be updated as per latest published census figures.
However, the NFSA coverage cannot be determined as the 2021 census has been postponed indefinitely and no date has been notified.
Advocate Prashant Bhushan, for petitioners Anjali Bhardwaj, Harsh Mander and JagdeepChhokar, had pointed out that due to the absence of the latest population figures, over 10 crore people were left outside the food security law’s protective umbrella without even ration cards.
Mr. Bhushan had urged the court to direct the government to use the official population projections published by the Health Ministry to expand the coverage.
The court found the petitioners’ concerns “genuine and justified”. It has now directed the government to “look into the same and come out with a formula and/or appropriate policy/scheme, if any, so that the benefits under the NFSA are not restricted as per the census 2011”.
Meanwhile, the Union submitted that it has enabled the facility of ‘One Nation One Ration Card’ in all the States/Union Territories covering about 80-crore NFSA beneficiaries.
In the order, the court also directed States which were not able to register unorganised workers, including migrant labourers, in the eShram portal to do so within six weeks.
Regional language important in early learning: UGC Chairman (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 2, Education)
Early initiation of learning a mother tongue is important for a child’s creative thinking, while English can be learnt at any time in life for use as a communication tool, according to University Grants Commission (UGC) Chairman M. Jagadesh Kumar.
The teaching of regional languages, however, could not be done at the cost of English in a globalised world.“Suppose I give you a task and say you have to reach a destination, but you don’t know how to reach there. I give you a cycle to reach the destination, but you don’t know how to cycle. Now, you have to do two tasks — you have to learn how to cycle as well as ask people for directions to reach the destination.
On which will you focus in order to be a good learner? That is the dilemma a child faces? We want to remove that dilemma and let the child think naturally in their own mother tongue, forget about English. You can learn it at any time,” Mr. Kumar told The Hindu in an interview.
There is a misunderstanding that needs to be removed that when we talk of Indian languages it is at the cost of English.
Today, we are a globally connected community and if we want to communicate with the rest of the world, it is a practice we have to [continue] and our students need to be trained to become proficient in using English as a communication tool.
But one of the challenges was “our colonial mindset” and there was a need to change our attitudes so that when someone asked a question in a class in a regional language they should not feel inferior.
The UGC was in talks with various regulatory bodies such as Bar Council of India for promotion of vernacular languages and a committee had been formed under former Chief Justice of India S.A. Bobde which would look into how institutions could provide legal education in local languages. The All India Council of Technical Education too had introduced courses in regional languages in 10 colleges.
It was also working with the High-Powered Committee on Indian Language Development established by the Ministry of Education to identify experts as well as 10-12 disciplines so that books could either be translated or written afresh.
The UGC Chairman said that the regulatory body was aiming at preparing 1,500 books in regional languages in the next one year across different disciplines.
‘Wind project addition to peak by 2024’ (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 3, Environment)
Annual installation of new wind power projects in India will peak by 2024 and likely decline thereafter, according to a report released on Wednesday by the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) and MEC+, a consulting firm that specialises in renewable energy.
As part of its transition away from fossil fuels, India has committed to sourcing half its electricity in 2030 from non-fossil fuel sources and installing 60 gigawatt (GW, or 1000 MW) of wind power by 2022.
So far, only 40 GW of wind power capacity has been established.Wind industry installations have been slowing down in India since 2017.
Only 1.45 GW of wind projects were installed in 2021 with many delayed due to the second wave of COVID-19 and supply chain-related disruptions.
To compensate, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) granted a blanket timeline extension for seven and a half months after the scheduled commissioning date (SCD) for projects with power purchase agreements (PPAs) signed before June 2021, which pushed the SCD of 0.7 GW projects to 2022.
The trigger for the slowdown, according to the report, was the advent of the auction regime in 2017 to award tenders.
The new scheme led to large orders but highly competitive bids.
Subsequently, the market has concentrated wind projects around a few substations of Gujarat and Tamil Nadu, which were home to the strongest resource potential and lowest cost of land. This created bottlenecks and slowed down project activity and made it costlier than solar power.
Conservatively, India is expected to add 3.2 GW in 2022, 4.1 GW in 2023 peaking to 4.6 GW in 2024, thereafter declining to 4 GW and 3.5 GW in the next two years, respectively, according to the report.
India currently has 13.4 GW of prospective projects in wind energy, which are expected to drive installations until 2024 in the market.
After 2024, fresh projects are likely to be wind-solar hybrid projects (where both systems are installed on a piece of land to generate power through the day). “The linking of utility-scale wind and solar technology will be a crucial lever for volumes in 2024-25.
Business
Corporate bond market grew fourfold in a decade (Page no. 14)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
Illiquidity in the secondary corporate debt market is a global issue and so focus should be on further deepening the primary market that had grown almost fourfold in a decade to ₹40 lakh crore.
Addressing a Bombay Chamber of Commerce & Industry event on Wednesday, Reserve Bank Deputy Governor Rabi Sankar said concerted efforts by regulators and the government had seen corporate bond outstanding crossing ₹40 lakh crore as of March 2022, from ₹10.4 lakh crore in March 2012, while annual issuances rose to ₹6 lakh crore from under ₹4 lakh crore during this period.
During the same period, the secondary market volume spiked from ₹4.4 lakh crore to ₹14 lakh crore.Only the U.S. has a very liquid secondary corporate bond market and India has the second best, which is very low, though the turnover ratio is 69 here.
The U.S. market is very deep because it is led by corporates and municipalities. But corporate bond market as percentage of GDP is also the highest at 120 in the U.S., while in India, it is only 18% as against 80% in Korea and 36% in China.
Lack of secondary market liquidity is global and not just specific to India, of course barring the U.S. "Our turnover ratio is 69, which is only second to the U.S.; given this we need to relook our approach to secondary market instead of focussing on the secondary market liquidity. This is primarily because of the small size of issuances which is only ₹130 crore.
Compared with the government bond market, which has an outstanding of ₹80 lakh crore across 100 issues (though only 10 are actively traded), there is a large number of corporate bonds issuers of about 5,400. Such large primary issuances naturally dry up the secondary market, he explained.
On the rating profile of the issuers, he said, about 20% issuers are AAA rated, about 78% are AA-rated and just 1.5% are junk-rated.
Mr. Sankar blamed the large number of privately-placed issues for the skewed incentive structure towards the public issues which also get a wider investor base.
So the way forward is not to excessively worry about market liquidity but to widen the investor base and also there is a need to temper our expectations from the bond market."
GST kitty for top States could rise 20% in FY23, says Crisil (Page no. 14)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
India’s top 17 States’ overall revenues were expected to grow at a moderate 7%-9% rate this year from about 25% in 2021-22, but their Goods and Services Tax (GST) collections would likely increase by about 20%, Crisil Ratings said on Wednesday.
Aggregate State GST collections, which had already rebounded by about 29% last year, would provide the biggest impetus to the revenue growth for these States which account for 85%-90% of aggregate Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP).
“We expect this momentum to sustain and collections to further increase about 20% this fiscal, supported by better compliance levels, higher inflationary environment and steady economic growth,” said Anuj Seth, senior director at Crisil Ratings.
India’s overall GST collections in the first four months of FY23 stood at ₹6.02 lakh crore, rising 34.8% from a year earlier. However, GST revenues had slipped below the ₹1-lakh crore mark in May and June 2021 amid the second COVID-19 wave.
With GST compensation payments, which accounted for 7%-9% of States’ revenue in the past two years, coming to an end from July 1 this year, the uptick in GST revenues would help State finances, Crisil reckoned.
“Healthy tax buoyancy will support revenue growth, with GST collections and devolutions from the Centre — together comprising 43-45% of States’ revenue — expected to show robust double-digit growth.