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Affirming India’s sovereign rating at ‘Baa3’ with a stable outlook and underlining that it expected the country’s economic growth to outpace all other G20 economies through at least the next two years, Moody’s Investors Service Friday, however, said “the curtailment of civil society and political dissent, compounded by rising sectarian tensions” supported a weaker assessment of political risk and the quality of institutions.
Listing the factors that could lead to a downgrade of the ratings, New York-based Moody’s said: “An escalation of political tensions and/or a further weakening of checks and balances that would undermine India’s long-term growth potential would likely contribute to a downgrade.
In general, durably weaker growth than currently projected would contribute to an ongoing rise in the debt burden, which would weaken the sovereign’s fiscal strength and put downward pressure on the rating.
In addition, a resurgence of financial sector stress that is unlikely to be addressed promptly and effectively would also put downward pressure on the rating.”
The rating agency endorsed the NDA government’s management of the overall fiscal situation, its infrastructure push and the implementation of the digital public infrastructure.
The affirmation and stable outlook are driven by Moody’s view that India’s economy is likely to continue to grow rapidly by international standards, although potential growth has come down in the past 7-10 years.
High GDP growth will contribute to gradually rising income levels and overall economic resilience, which in turn, will support gradual fiscal consolidation and government debt stabilisation, albeit at high levels.
The RBI has projected the country’s real GDP growth at 6.5 per cent in the fiscal 2024. While the Moody’s report highlighted the stronger macro policy effectiveness, it flagged the weakening institutions and rising political tensions.
Govt & Politics
Prepare for next health emergency: PM to G20 (Page no. 6)
(GS Paper 2, International Organisation)
Calling for “equitable availability of technology” to “allow countries in the Global South to close the gap in healthcare delivery”, Prime Minister Narendra Modi told G20 Health Ministers Friday “we must be ready to prevent, prepare and respond to the next health emergency”.
Addressing a meeting of G20 Health Ministers in Gandhinagar via a video link, the Prime Minister said, “The Covid-19 pandemic has reminded us that health should be at the centre of our decisions.
It also showed us the value of international cooperation, whether in medicine and vaccine deliveries, or in bringing home our people.
Under the Vaccine Maitri initiative, India delivered 300 million vaccine doses to more than 100 countries, including many in the Global South.”
“Resilience has turned out to be one of the biggest learnings of this time. Global health systems should also be resilient. We must be ready to prevent, prepare and respond to the next health emergency.
This is especially important in today’s interconnected world. As we saw during the pandemic, health issues in one part of the world can affect all other parts of the world in a very short time.
Digital solutions and innovations are a useful means to make our efforts equitable and inclusive. Patients from far and wide can receive quality care through tele-medicine.
India’s national platform, e-Sanjeevani, has facilitated 140 million tele-health consultations till date. India’s COWIN platform successfully facilitated the largest vaccination drive in human history.
It managed the delivery of more than 2.4 billion vaccine doses, and real-time availability of globally verifiable vaccination certificates.
Express Network
India sets up its first 3D printed post office (Page no. 7)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Technology)
Union Minister for Railways, Communications, Electronics and IT Ashwini Vaishnaw on Friday dedicated to the nation India’s first 3D-printed post office located in Bengaluru’s Cambridge Layout.
The post office, which was virtually inaugurated by the Union minister from the General Post Office building, was completed in just 43 days – two days ahead of its deadline.
Its construction was carried out by Larsen & Toubro Limited with technological support from IIT Madras under the guidance of Professor Manu Santhanam, Building Technology and Construction Management Division, Department of Civil Engineering.
Bengaluru always presents a new picture of India. The new picture that you saw today in terms of this 3D-printed post office building, that’s the spirit of India today. That’s the spirit with which our country is progressing today.
The post office covers a built-up area of 1,021 sq ft. Its construction was carried out using 3D concrete printing technology which is a fully automated building construction technology wherein a robotic printer deposits the concrete layer by layer as per the approved design, and special grade concrete – which hardens quickly – is used to ensure bonding between the layers for the purpose of printing the structure.
George Abraham, head of operations (south and east), L&T, explained, “It is because of the robotic intervention that involves pre-embedded designs, that we were able to complete the entire construction activity in a period of 43 days as compared to about 6-8 months taken by conventional method.
Himachal govt declares entire state as natural calamity affected area (Page no. 7)
(GS Paper 3, Disaster Management)
The Himachal Pradesh government declared the massive damage caused by heavy rains as a state calamity.
The entire hill state has been declared as a “natural calamity affected area” in view of the damage caused to human life and property due to heavy rains, a government notification said even as Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu claimed that they were awaiting a response from the Centre to declare the disaster Himachal Pradesh as a national calamity.
Principal Secretary (Revenue) Onkar Chand Sharma said that after the weather becomes normal and accessibility is improved, a complete assessment of the losses incurred by the hill state would be conducted and the report will be submitted to the Centre for recovery and reconstruction efforts.
With the Opposition seeking to corner him over his “Bihari architects” remarks, Sukhu sought to put the four Lok Sabha MPs from Himachal Pradesh, including three of the BJP and one of the ruling Congress, in the dock asking if they had raised in Delhi the issue of devastation caused by the rains in the hill state.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP president J P Nadda at least called him up and inquired about the situation in the state, Sukhu said. He then pointedly questioned the role of the four MPs from the state, suggesting that they failed to voice the concerns of the people.
SC: What’s violation of privacy in a state where caste is known to neighbour (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 2, Judiciary)
The Supreme Court on Friday asked the petitioners challenging the Bihar caste survey what was the violation of privacy in asking people to disclose their caste after the latter contended that the exercise was clearly in violation of the top court’s nine-judge decision in the privacy case wherein it was held that the state cannot encroach on the privacy of
The Bench commenced hearing a batch of pleas challenging the August 1 decision of the Patna High Court, which gave the go-ahead to the caste survey. Some of these petitions have claimed the exercise was an infringement of the people’s right to privacy.
Senior advocate C S Vaidyanathan, representing NGO Youth for Equality, referred to the Bench, also comprising Justice S V N Bhatti, what Justice D Y Chandrachud (currently Chief Justice of India), while writing for the nine-judge Bench, had said in the August 24, 2017 K S Puttaswamy judgment.
Editorial
A death too many (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 2, Social Justice)
On the night of August 9, a first-year student fell or was pushed to his death from a hostel block at Jadavpur University, Kolkata, probably after being abused by his seniors.
This horrific crime has aroused extraordinary public outrage, directed both at the administrative failure and at the sadistic cruelty masquerading under the obsolete euphemism, “ragging”.
It turns out that more or less everyone in the university community was aware of the bullying and abuse that routinely took place at the men’s hostel.
The victim, a minor, had shared his fears with both family and fellow students, though without making a formal complaint. He received neither counselling nor advice from faculty, departmental seniors, or the university’s student welfare board, and was left to deal with the trauma of his first few days in the hostel alone.
In all these ways, Jadavpur University failed him in its duty of care. This criminal failure indicts an institution that has prided itself on excellent teacher-student relations and community spirit.
It also indicts society’s neglect of a culture of torture and abuse in which its members were complicit, and the normalisation of such behaviour as a university coming-of-age rite.
Fostered by official apathy or patronage, ragging is condoned by the gangland honour code of the student body. Despite official campaigns against the practice, ragging has never been an issue in campus politics.
Far less does it figure in the larger political arena, where ideological debates are similarly oblivious to gender discrimination, rape, domestic abuse, and hate crimes, all generated by the same psychopathology of violence linked to the exercise of power.
Ideas Page
The custody question (Page no. 11)
(GS Paper 2, Governance)
On August 11, the central government introduced three Bills in the Lok Sabha to reform criminal law: The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 to replace the Indian Penal Code, 1860, the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 to replace the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 and the Bharatiya Sakshya Bill, 2023 to replace the Indian Evidence Act, 1872. Sanhita means “code”. The Bills broadly translate to the Indian Justice Code, 2023, the Indian Citizen’s Protection Code, 2023 and the Indian Evidence Bill, 2023.
The three Bills have since been referred to the relevant Parliamentary Standing Committee for review and recommendations.
Much has been already written about the Indian Justice Code, 2023. Therefore, I do not want to repeat those concerns. Instead in this column, I will focus on the Indian Citizen’s Protection Code, 2023, (henceforth Protection Code) that seeks to replace the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.
A substantial part of my law practice constitutes criminal defence, and arguably my favourite piece of law is the Code of Criminal Procedure that I have always thought of as the “Accused’s Constitution”.
You might ask why. When you have been detained, are being questioned and are surrounded by police officers, it’s the Code of Criminal Procedure that protects you, limits your detention period in police custody and enables you to access a lawyer, who in turn can push for bail and even ask for quashing of the FIR or chargesheet against you.
Therefore, I particularly like that the new law is titled the Indian Citizen’s Protection Code, 2023. This reflects the idea of a procedural shield for citizens against the State in the criminal process.
World
US, Japan and S Korea to enter into security pact for the pacific (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
President Joe Biden and the leaders of Japan and South Korea agreed to expand security and economic ties at a historic summit at the U.S. presidential retreat of Camp David, cementing a new agreement with the allies that are on an increasingly tense ledge in relations with China and North Korea.
Biden said the nations would establish a communications hotline to discuss responses to threats. He announced the agreements, including what the leaders termed the “Camp David Principles,” at the close of his talks with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
Our countries are stronger and the world will be safer as we stand together. And I know this is a belief that all three share.
The purpose of our trilateral security cooperation is and will remain to promote and enhance peace and stability throughout the region.
Biden maintained, as have US, South Korean and Japanese officials, that the summit “was not about China” but was focused on broader security issues.
Yet, the leaders in their joint summit concluding statement noted China's “dangerous and aggressive" action in the South China Sea and said they “strongly oppose any unilateral attempts to change the status quo in the waters of the Indo-Pacific.”
Explained
Ancient Fires Drove Large Mammals Extinct, Study Suggests (Page no. 13)
(GS Paper 3, Disaster Management)
As wildfires get increasingly worse, records of the distant past can reveal what once drove increased fire activity and what can happen as a result.
In a new study published on August 17 in Science, palaeontologists analysed fossil records at La Brea Tar Pits in southern California, concluding that the disappearance of sabretooth cats, dire wolves and other large mammals in the regionnearly13,000 years ago was linked to rising temperatures and increased fire activity spurred by people.
We implicate humans as being the primary cause of the tipping point,”Robin O’Keefe, an evolutionary biologist and leader of the research team, said.
La Brea tar pits, filled with bubbling black asphalt, boasts a continuous fossil record of the region stretching as far back as 55,000 years. Analysing fossils for eight large mammal species a long side climate, pollen and fire records in the region as well as continental human population growth of around 13,000 years ago, researchers found that human occupation began to rise rapidly about the same time that Southern California entered a period of severe drought and warming, with extreme fires ensuing
How do 3d printers work where are they used (Page no. 13)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Technology)
India’s first 3D-printed post office was virtually inaugurated by Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw in Bengaluru’s Cambridge Layout (August 18). Its construction was completed in just 43 days — two days ahead of the deadline.
Multinational company Larsen & Toubro Limited built the post office with technological support from IIT Madras under the guidance of Professor Manu Santhanam, Building Technology and Construction Management Division, Department of Civil Engineering.
Invented in the 1980s, 3D printing burst into the mainstream around the 2010s, when many thought it would take over the world. The technology, however, at the time was expensive, slow and prone to making errors. In recent years, some of these flaws have been done away with, making 3D printing more prevalent than ever before. For instance, it’s being used in automotive and aerospace sectors to make parts of cars and rockets respectively.
3D printing, also known as additive manufacturing, is a process that uses computer-created design to make three-dimensional objects layer by layer.
It is an additive process, in which layers of a material like plastic, composites or bio-materials are built up to construct objects that range in shape, size, rigidity and colour.
As Chandrayaan 3 and Luna 25 prepare to land on moon, two questions (Page no. 13)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Technology)
India’s Chandrayaan-3 and Russia’s Luna 25 are both in lunar orbit, preparing for a landing on the Moon next week. Luna 25 is expected to go first, on August 21, while Chandrayaan-3 is likely to touch down two days later, on August 23.
Both missions are aiming to land in a region where no spacecraft has gone before, near the South Pole of the Moon.
Since the landing of the then Soviet Union’s Luna 24 in 1976, only China has been able to land a spacecraft on the Moon — Chang’e 3 and Chang’e 4 in 2013 and 2018 respectively. India and Russia are both trying to make their first soft landing.
Luna 25 rode on a powerful rocket to reach lunar orbit in just six days after launch on August 10. Chandrayaan-3 took 23 days after launching on July 14, because ISRO still does not have a powerful enough rocket to go directly to lunar orbit. Chandrayaan-3’s circuitous route, however, helped save energy and costs.
Now that both spacecraft are in lunar orbit, Luna 25 has no particular advantage over Chandrayaan-3 that facilitates its early landing.
It is not as though Luna 25 can descend to the lunar surface faster than Chandrayaan-3. The choice of the landing date is dictated by other factors.
August 23 is the beginning of daytime on the Moon. One lunar day is equivalent to about 14 days on Earth, when sunlight is continually available.
The instruments on Chandrayaan-3 have a life of just one lunar day, or 14 Earth days. That is because they are solar-powered instruments, and require sunlight to remain operational.
The Moon gets extremely cold during night time, well below minus 100 degree Celsius. Electronics not specifically designed to operate at such low temperatures can freeze and become non-functional.
Economy
At every rate revision, let borrowers pick floating or fixed: RBI to lenders (Page no. 15)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
Home and vehicle loan borrowers will now have more flexibility in managing the fluctuations in interest rates with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) asking all regulated entities (REs), including banks and non-banking finance companies, to give personal loan borrowers an option to switch over from floating rate to a fixed rate regime at the time of resetting interest rates.
The central bank said the borrowers will also be given the choice to opt for enhancement in equated monthly instalments (EMI) or elongation of the tenor, the RBI said in a circular on ‘Reset of floating interest rate on EMI based personal loans’.
At the time of sanctioning loans, lenders will now have to clearly communicate to the borrowers about the possible impact of a change in benchmark interest rate on the loan leading to changes in EMI and/or the tenor of the loan, or both.
Any increase in the EMI or the tenor, or both, will have to be communicated to the borrower “immediately” through appropriate channels.
Personal loans are the loans given to individuals and consist of consumer credit, education loan, loans given for creation or enhancement of immovable assets (such as housing loans), and loans given for investment in financial assets (shares and debentures).
The total outstanding under the personal loan category was Rs 42.60 lakh crore as of June 2023, which is almost 30 per cent of the non-food bank credit.
Why RBI has barred lenders from levying penal interest on default by borrowers (Page no. 15)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) directed lenders to levy penalty for default by borrowers as ‘penal charges’ and not as ‘penal interest’ which is added to the rate of interest charged on the advances.
The quantum of penal charges should be “reasonable” and “commensurate with the non-compliance of loan contract” without being discriminatory within a particular loan/ product category, the RBI said in its guidelines on Penal Charges in Loan Accounts under the Fair Lending Practice.
The norms were released after the RBI found that many regulated entities (REs) — lending institutions regulated by the central bank — were levying penal rates of interest, over and above the applicable interest rates, in case of defaults or non-compliance by the borrower with the terms on which credit facilities were sanctioned.
A penal charge is an additional charge a lender levies on a borrower in case of delay in payment of equated monthly instalments (EMI) or default or non-compliance of payment contracts.
There shall be no capitalisation of penal charges i.e., no further interest computed on such charges. However, this will not affect the normal procedures for compounding of interest in the loan account.
The new guidelines are applicable to banks, including small finance banks, regional rural banks, but excluding payments banks, non-banking financial companies (NBFCs), housing finance companies, primary urban co-operative banks and All India Financial Institutions such as Exim Bank, Nabard, SIDBI and NaBFID.