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A vast majority of Indians earn the entirety of their incomes through labour as opposed to ownership of capital or land. Further, about 90% of the working Indian population earns its livelihood through informal employment that is characterised by little or no job security, no employment benefits, no social protection, and lower earnings.
The informally employed are primarily concentrated among casual labourers and the self-employed, but exist even in some segments of those who are classified as regular wage or salaried workers.
Therefore, whatever is happening to the GDP growth rate — which tends to occupy the headlines concerning the economy — or how that translates into improvements in the standards of living of the masses, in the end, depends on what is happening to the labour market — are new jobs being created? Are better jobs being created? Are wages going up?
News
Backed by BrahMos, Navy’s Minicoy base to keep watch on Arabian sea (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 3, Defence)
Radars, jetties, airfield and BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles — the Indian Navy’s newest base being established on Minicoy Island in Lakshadweep, INS Jatayu, will have all these and many more.
The upgrade is part of a long-term capability development plan which officials and experts say will shore up India’s security footprint on the islands located very close to critical Sea Lanes of Communication (SLOC).
This is especially significant as Chinese naval footprint, which includes ‘research vessels’, has seen massive expansion in the Indian Ocean. Minicoy is also just a few hundred miles from the Maldives.
In addition to INS Jatayu, new infrastructure and facilities were inaugurated at Karwar naval base in Karnataka by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.
These include two major piers and seven residential towers comprising 320 houses for officers and civilian defence personnel as well as 149 single officers’ accommodation.
“New radar facilities at Minicoy will augment surveillance and coastal batteries of extended range BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles with a range of around 450 km will give huge flexibility in responding to threats.
Two key RTI portals under ‘emergency maintenance’ (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 2, Governance)
For much of this week, the Union government’s RTI Online portal, for filing Right to Information applications to government bodies, has been undergoing “emergency maintenance”, preventing applicants from retrieving their filed applications conveniently.
It has also emerged that the Election Commission(EC), which maintains its own RTI portal, patched a previously unreported vulnerability that exposed RTI applicants’ personal data, a security vulnerability that was disclosed by security researcher Karan Saini to news portal TechCrunch.
The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-in) coordinated with the EC to resolve the vulnerability, it told TechCrunch in a statement, adding that it had fixed the issue since.
This was not the only issue on the EC’s RTI portal, which had been facing issues over accepting payments through its payment gateway.
While the payment gateway is now working and applications are going through, the accepted methods have been limited to Net banking and credit or debit cards, even though Razorpay typically offers most digital payment methods on other sites it serves; at least one major bank, the State Bank of India, is not a listed option for Net banking.
Business
‘India, four-nation EFTA bloc likely to ink FTA on March 10’ (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
India and the four-nation European Free Trade Association (EFTA), which includes Switzerland, Finland, Norway and Liechtenstein, is likely to sign a long-negotiated free trade agreement on March 10, aimed at increasing trade and investment flows, job creation and economic growth, according to multiple sources.
The proposed India-EFTA Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement (TEPA) is expected to lead to investments worth $100 billion from the four-country bloc into India over the next 15 years generating an estimated one million jobs.
The India-EFTA TEPA is expected to be signed on Sunday as government officials and industry representatives from all EFTA countries and India have been informed accordingly.
Trade Ministers from some of the EFTA countries are also likely to be present for the signing of the TEPA, a representative of an EFTA country.
World
UN rights office says Israeli settlements in Palestinian areas amount to a ‘war crime’ (Page no. 14)
(GS Paper 2, International Organisation)
The UN human rights office says in a report published that the establishment and expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem amount to a war crime.
The report covers the one-year period from November 1, 2022, to October 31, 2023, when it says roughly 24,300 housing units in existing settlements in the West Bank were “advanced” — the highest number in a year since monitoring began in 2017. It deplored an increase in the building of new settlement homes in recent months.
The West Bank is already in crisis. Yet, settler violence and settlement-related violations have reached shocking new levels, and risk eliminating any practical possibility of establishing a viable Palestinian state.
Reports this week that Israel plans to build nearly 3,500 settler homes in three areas “fly in the face of international law.
Mr. Türk said the creation and expansion of settlements amount to the transfer by Israel of its own population into territories that it occupies, which amounts to a war crime under international law,” his office said in a statement.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli diplomatic mission in Geneva.
Hong Kong unveils new national security law with tough penalties (Page no. 14)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
Hong Kong introduced the draft Bill of a new national security law that includes life sentences for major offences such as treason and insurrection.
The home-grown legislation is set to become the city’s second national security law, following the one Beijing imposed in 2020 after quashing huge and sometimes violent democracy protests.
The “Safeguarding National Security Bill” was formally introduced at the city’s Opposition-free legislature on Friday morning for vetting.
The Bill lists five new categories of offences — treason, insurrection, espionage and theft of state secrets, sabotaging national security and external interference.