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A few weeks ago, Balineni Tirupati, an up-sarpanch in Telangana’s Jayashankar Bhupalpally district, committed suicide due to indebtedness. He had taken out a loan to undertake development works in the village and was unable to bear the burden after the State government’s inordinate delay in releasing bill payments.
A few days before the incident, a few sarpanchs from the incumbent Bharatiya Rashtra Samiti (BRS) — Telangana’s ruling Telangana Rashtra Samiti now renamed as the BRS — resigned from office and voiced their anger at not receiving government funds for nearly a year.
Sarpanchs alleged that the failure of the State government to release funds in time has forced them to utilise either private resources or borrow large amounts to complete panchayat activities and meet various targets.
More than three decades after the 73rd and 74th Amendment Acts, which gave constitutional status to local governments, State governments, through the local bureaucracy, continue to exercise considerable discretionary authority and influence over panchayats.
In India, the powers of local elected officials (such as these sarpanchs in Telangana) remain seriously circumscribed by State governments and local bureaucrats in multiple ways, thereby diluting the spirit of the constitutional amendments seeking to empower locally elected officials.
We analysed statutory provisions of Panchayat Acts in various States and spoke to several sarpanchs and local bureaucrats to assess the extent of decentralisation of powers to panchayats.
It quickly became very clear to us that sarpanchs need to have administrative or financial autonomy for meaningful decentralisation.
Gram panchayats remain fiscally dependent on grants (both discretionary and non-discretionary grants) from the State and the Centre for everyday activities.
Broadly, panchayats have three main sources of funds — their own sources of revenue (local taxes, revenue from common property resources, etc.), grants in aid from the Centre and State governments, and discretionary or scheme-based funds.
Their own sources of revenue (both tax and non-tax) constitute a tiny proportion of overall panchayat funds. For instance, in Telangana, less than a quarter of a panchayat’s revenue comes from its own sources of revenue.
A G20 presidency to amplify South Asia’s voice (Page no. 6)
(GS Paper 2, International Relations)
At a time of both potential and peril, India has taken over the G20 presidency. The global food, energy, and financial crises have been exacerbated by the climatic crisis and India has a unique opportunity to lead from the front of one of the most influential global platforms.
India has identified several priorities, i.e. green development, climate finance and LiFE (lifestyle for environment); accelerated, inclusive and resilient growth; accelerating progress on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); technological transformation and digital public infrastructure; multilateral reforms; and women-led development.
Given that the priorities are global, the motto “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam”, or “One Earth, One Family, One Future”, underscores how interconnected our world is.
The majority of problems that South Asian countries face are global in nature, transcend national borders, and necessitate group effort. The economic forecast for South Asia is bleak for the coming year.
In August 2022, inflation in Sri Lanka reached an all-time high of 64.3% as food prices rose by 84.6% compared to a year ago. Damage caused by floods and economic losses in Pakistan amount to more than $30 billion with an estimated restoration cost of more than $16 billion.
As global fossil fuel prices have increased, the Government of Bangladesh hiked fuel prices by more than 50% that triggered inflation of 7.5% in September, 2022.
India needs to promote collective action at the G20 that results in economic stability and peace in the region. Providing a common regional voice is not an easy undertaking at a time when economies in the region are under considerable stress and there are emerging geopolitical polarisations on the horizon.
Rising debt burdens of South Asian economies represent a potential crisis that require urgent attention. India has an opportunity to effectively voice the socio-economic aspirations of South Asia’s 1.8 billion people, representing one-third of the global poor and as also one of the world’s fastest growing markets.
As South Asia’s largest country with the largest economy and significant global clout, India is well poised to represent the subcontinent at these international fora.
In addition, three G20 emerging economies — India, Indonesia, and Brazil — collectively make up the G20 troika to be followed by another important G20 developing member, i.e. South Africa, the G20 President for 2025.
Ground zero
On the shifting banks of the Ganga (Page no. 7)
(GS Paper 1, Geography)
A few weeks after several structures, including houses and a crematorium with a Kali temple, were washed away by the river Ganga, villagers at Pratapganj and Mahestola in Murshidabad’s Shamsherganj block organised an elaborate puja but to a deity they had never seen or worshipped in the past — a goddess dressed in all-white, seated on a gharial and fish.
This is Goddess Ganga. The people here are desperate and are trying everything to stop the erosion,” says Satyam Sarkar, a member of Bogdadnagar panchayatsamiti.
Several houses have been reduced to rubble, and many others are poised precariously on the eroding banks of the vast flowing river along this stretch bordering Dhuliyan municipality.
The extent of erosion is such that thousands of people from nearby and far-off areas started coming here every day, Sarkar, a local Trinamool Congressleader, says. “It was like a mela (fair), they were coming to see the erosion. We had to put up barricades to prevent people from coming.”
Four months after the massive erosion in September 2022 left hundreds of people homeless, Pratapganj andMahestolaare pictures of devastation. Elaborately built two-storied houses on the edge of the river lie vacant.
A part of a road running parallel to the river has caved in, and thousands of sand bags have been placed along the river to prevent further erosion.Now, in the winter, the river flows calmly with several small fishing boats flying Indian flags out in the water.
Delawar Hossain, a friend of Sarkar, says that only a few hundred metres downstream, a burial ground at Sadikpara was swept away this monsoon.
At Kamalpur, my village, which is about 3 km downstream, a masjid, a health centre and a primary school are hanging on the edge and can fall into the river any day.
A primary school and an anganwadi centre at Pratapganj tell the story of sufferings. One room at the anganwadi now serves as home to four families.
On a Sunday afternoon, Menaka Ravidas is busy cooking lunch for her family as she narrates how her home was washed away: It was at about 9 a.m. on September 6, the river was in full spate and in minutes took away our house. Since it was morning and not night, we could somehow escape.
Outside the anganwadi centre, there are few cabins made of jute sticks where families displaced by the Ganga have found shelter.Several families are taking shelter at Pratapganj Primary School after their homes were washed away.
Five-six families are huddled in every classroom. Clothes are left to dry across the school compound and children play in the classrooms.For more than two dozen families, there are only two toilets and two bathrooms.
News
India can lead efforts to find new TB vaccine, says former WHO scientist (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 2, Health)
Raising the need to develop a new vaccine for tuberculosis, Soumya Swaminathan, former chief scientist at the World Health Organization (WHO), said India, considering its accelerated timeline for TB elimination, should be in the lead. She also called on scientists and researchers around the country as well as globally to come together to develop a better vaccine.
We need a new vaccine, better diagnostics and point of care. Why can’t we have a rapid test for TB like we have for COVID-19. The technology, science, researchers and companies are there. I think what is needed is a call, a mission to come together.
For diseases, which have good vaccines available, there is hope that they could be controlled or even eliminated at some point, she said, adding:
There has to be a global call. We now have genetic sequencing. There are new platforms — the mRNA platform, viral vector, DNA, protein subunit and the traditional vaccines. All of these platforms were used for COVID-19. We should be testing all of them for TB also.
Noting that developing a TB vaccine was not going to be easy, she said with the right investment and collaboration, it was possible to make progress. Dr. Swaminathan earlier pointed out that the BCG vaccine was 100 years old.
She said that findings of the National TB prevalence survey — conducted by Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and WHO — were worrying.
Considering the country’s goal of achieving TB elimination by 2025, the prevalence was 300 per 1,00,000, bacteriologically confirmed TB cases.
The prevalence was the same when I joined the Tuberculosis Research Centre as a young doctor in 1991. That has to make us think why we are not making a dent though there are national programmes and global funding.
Still our prevalence is very high, and Tamil Nadu’s prevalence is 322 per 1,00,000 for all forms of TB. The death rate is around 4%-5%, while it is 6% in T.N. Diabetes, alcohol and TB are very high in T.N. compared to the national average.
In India, the main risk factor for TB is undernutrition. “This is why TB incidence is higher in lower economic groups, especially in tribal and remote rural areas and in the urban poor.
Outlining learnings from the prevalence survey, she said, “First, we can start a massive active case finding programme using X-ray. Second, we need to use more molecular tests.
New guidelines to regulate promotions on social media (Page no. 9)
(GS Paper 2, Government Policies and Interventions)
The Centre released the endorsement guidelines for celebrities and social media influencers, mandating compulsory disclosure of monitory or material benefits of a product or a brand they are promoting through social media platforms. Failing to do so will attract a penalty of up to ₹50 lakh.
Releasing the guidelines, Union Consumer Affairs Secretary Rohit Kumar Singh said the disclosures must be prominently and clearly displayed in the endorsement and terms such as ‘advertisement’, ‘sponsored’ or ‘paid promotion’ should be used for all sort of endorsements.
The step, he said, is after considering the increased use of social media for promotional activities that go beyond advertisements or advertorials in print or electronic media.
The guide ‘Endorsements Know-hows!’, created for celebrities, influencers and virtual influencers on social media platforms, aims to ensure that individuals do not mislead their audiences when endorsing products or services and that they are in compliance with the Consumer Protection Act.
With the increasing reach of digital platforms and social media, such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, there has been a rise in the influence of virtual influencers, in addition to celebrities and social media influencers.
This has led to an increased risk of consumers being misled by advertisements and unfair trade practices by these individuals on social media platforms.
The guidelines specify that disclosures must be prominently and clearly displayed in the endorsement, making them “extremely hard to miss”.
Benefits and incentives, and monetary or other compensation, trips or hotel stay, media barters, coverage and awards, free products with or without conditions, discounts, gifts and any family or personal or employment relationship come under material benefits according to the guidelines.
Govt. policy muddle is stalling production of biodegradable plastic (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 3, Environment)
Is ‘biodegradable’ plastic made in India actually biodegradable? Eight months after the Centre banned single-use plastic and paved the way for the use of biodegradable plastic, a lack of coordination among multiple ministries has led to the question remaining unanswered.
A consequence of this is that many, who are now unable to manufacture single-use plastic goods and invested in making biodegradable alternatives, are unable to produce them and stare at an uncertain future.
“The BIS has established a provisional protocol of testing biodegradable plastic that says 90% biodegradation should be achieved to pass the test which may take upto two years, CEO, Symphony Environmental India, which offers additive technologies that when added to regular single-use plastic makes them biodegradable.
Mr. Panwar’s and a few other firms have supplied this to small-scale plastic manufacturers in India. However they say they have run into a problem.
Because it will take a minimum of two years to check if the plastics are 90% biodegradable, the Environment Ministry in its notification of July 2022 banning single-use plastic allowed manufacturers to get a ‘provisional certificate’ valid till June 2023 from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) allowing them to make biodegradable plastic goods.
When I submitted an interim test report to the CPCB for a licence, it was rejected because they insisted that they would only consider a test that showed 90% degradation as valid.
This is unfair as nowhere in the rules does it say that ‘interim’ means 90% [degradation],” Divesh, proprietor, Siddhivinayak Polymers, Ahmedabad.
An official affiliated to the Environment Ministry, who declined to be identified, told The Hindu that the agency’s hands were tied.
The CPCB doesn’t create the standards or the rules. As long as the CIPET can say that the tested product is biodegradable, it can give the certificate. But if the CIPET says that a product has degraded 5% or 10%, in a certain period, the CPCB can’t assume it will disintegrate entirely.