What to read in Indian Express

President Droupadi Murmu (Page no. 1) (GS Paper 2, Polity and Governance)

Describing President-elect Droupadi Murmu’s election as “historic”, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said the BJP has always successfully taken the untrodden path while selecting presidential candidates, naming former Presidents A P J Abdul Kalam and Ram Nath Kovind.

Recently, the polls for electing the President concluded. Droupadi Murmu was elected as the country’s new President with a huge majority.

It is obvious that only one of the two candidates fighting the presidential polls will win but for Droupadi Murmu to attain the post of the President and for Smt Droupadi Murmu to become Her Excellency Droupadi Murmu, it is nothing but a historic event in the last 75 years.

For the first time after independence, a woman from a tribal community – that too among the most backward of tribes, Santhal – became the country’s first citizen.

It is a very big victory for the country’s democracy,” Shah said. Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel and top Gujarat police officials were also present at the event.

Talking about how the BJP has always focused on selecting presidential candidates from weaker sections of the society, the home minister said the BJP has “always successfully attempted to take the untrodden path and Prime Minister Narendra Modi has taken this forward”.

Govt data: FEMA, PMLA cases triple in first 3 yrs of NDA-II versus NDA-I (Page no. 1)

(GS Paper 3, Economy)

The total number of cases registered by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) under the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 (FEMA) and the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA) has jumped almost three times in the first three years of the second term of the BJP-led government (2019-20 to 2021-22) as compared to the corresponding period in its first term (2014-15 to 2016-17).

According to data shared the ED registered 14,143 cases under FEMA and PMLA between 2019-20 and 2021-22, as compared to 4,913 cases in 2014-15 to 2016-17 — an increase of over 187 per cent.

The break-up shows that 11,420 FEMA cases were taken up for investigation in the first three years of the second term, up from 4,424 cases in the first three years of the first term — an increase of over 158 per cent.

The cases registered under PMLA increased by more than five times in this period — from 489 between 2014-15 to 2016-17 to 2,723 in 2019-20 to 2021-22 — a jump of over 456 per cent.

According to the year-wise data, 2021-22 saw the highest number of money laundering and foreign exchange violation cases in the last eight years of the Modi government.

In 2020-21, the ED filed 5,313 cases under FEMA (the previous high was 3,627 cases in 2017-18); and 1,180 under PMLA (up from 981 in 2020-21).

The reply, filed in response to a question asked by JD(U)’s Rajiv Ranjan alias Lalan Singh, states: “During the last 10 years, the Directorate of Enforcement has taken up around 24,893 cases for investigation under the provisions of FEMA and has recorded around 3,985 cases under PMLA.”

But an analysis of the data shows that 22,130 FEMA cases, or 89 per cent of the total cases, were filed in the last eight years. Similarly, 3,555 PMLA cases, or 89 per cent of the 3,985 cases, were filed in the last eight years.

According to the information shared by Chaudhary, till March 31, 2022, the ED had registered a total of 5,422 cases under PMLA ever since the law was enacted, of which 65.66 per cent were filed in the last eight years.

Editorial Page

Asha for Elderly (Page no. 12)

(GS Paper 3, Economy)

The recently published United Nations’ “World Population Prospects” has attracted much media attention because of its projection that India will surpass China as the world’s most populous country next year, much sooner than originally expected.

Amongst the many important perspectives which have been discussed are concerns about how the phase of jobless growth we are currently witnessing threatens to squander the country’s unique demographic dividend.

The report has, once again, shone the spotlight on the importance of investing in women’s education and reproductive rights, rather than coercive population control policies.

Indeed, the continuing growth of the population in the coming decades is now largely driven by increasing life expectancy, rather than babies being born.

I can see the impact of increasing life expectancy from very close quarters: My father is now 89 years old, an age which would have been inconceivable at the time of our Independence when life expectancy was around 30 years.

Certainly, in the highly privileged social class to which my family belongs, such an advanced age is no longer exceptional.

Indeed, as India celebrates her own coming of age, turning 75 this year, the population projections suggest that the country is already home to 30 million persons who are 75 or older. I will reach this milestone in 2039.

By that time, the World Population Prospects estimates there will be nearly 100 million persons older than 75 in India.

This is a staggering number of people who are no longer in the workforce and who are at a much greater risk to be living with and dying from a chronic, often disabling, health condition.

Saving MSME’s (Page no. 12)

(GS Paper 3, Economy)

Over the past few years, the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) sector has been battered by a series of shocks. From demonetisation to the transition to the goods and services tax to the pandemic, MSMEs have borne the brunt of the disruption in economic activities during each of these periods.

While there are indications of this segment of the economy picking up, there are also signs that its financial position remains stretched.

Data from the RBI’s most recent financial stability report showed that while gross non-performing assets of the MSME sector have dipped recently, they remained uncomfortably high.

At the end of March 2022, bad loans in the MSME sector stood at 9.3 per cent. Further, as the report also pointed out, restructured MSME loans, constituting around 2.5 per cent of total advances, remain a source of concern.

During these periods of disruption, the larger firms have benefitted at the expense of MSMEs — as per CRISIL, more than a quarter of the country’s MSMEs have lost market share due to the pandemic.

MSMEs also face another peculiar problem, that of delayed payments. As reported in this paper, delayed payments are a critical issue for the sector, especially for the micro and small enterprises.

The sheer magnitude of the delayed payments, from both private and public sector customers, complicates their cash flow management, increasing their working capital requirements, and impacting their financial position and business prospects.

Among the MSMEs, for the smaller enterprises, delayed payments as a percentage of sales, have seen a sharp rise over the past few years.

This problem is more acute in labour intensive segments such as construction, retail trade and transport. The government has been cognisant of this issue and has urged both central and state departments as well as public sector enterprises to clear their dues to MSMEs within 45 days of receipt of goods. Yet, as reported in this paper, the issue remains.

In recent times, there are signs of a turnaround. Bank credit to MSMEs has picked up pace sharply in the quarter ending March 2022.

But, considering that the government’s relief measures were largely through the formal banking channels — under the widely used emergency credit line guarantee scheme loans worth Rs 3.32 lakh crore were sanctioned till April 2022 — the formal MSMEs are likely to have recovered faster.

Among the informal MSMEs, those who have linkages to the formal parts of the economy would have also recovered quicker — after all, an upsurge in demand would have led to a pick up in ancillary industries and service units.

The informal MSMEs who operate mostly among themselves are likely to have suffered the most. Considering that MSMEs employ a sizable part of India’s labour force, and are also suppliers to the larger economy, their financial distress has far reaching consequences. Appropriate steps should be taken to ease their woes.

Idea Page

The nuclear response (Page no. 13)

(GS Paper 2, Polity and Governance)

Last week’s report on Asian nuclear transitions by Ashley Tellis of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and Japan’s debate on its atomic options underline the shared security challenges for Delhi and Tokyo.

At the root of that common nuclear challenge is the continuing growth in Chinese military power and the rapid modernisation of Beijing’s nuclear arsenal. India and Japan may have had good reasons until now to take a relaxed view of Chinese nuclear weapons.

Both believed China’s modest nuclear arsenal does not pose an existential challenge to either of them. But three factors compel them to rethink this complacent calculus.

First, China is modernising and expanding its nuclear arsenal as part of the general military transformation. Some estimates say China’s arsenal could grow to 1,000 warheads by 2030 from about 350 now.

Second, Xi Jinping’s China has taken a more muscular approach to its territorial disputes, including with India and Japan.

China’s tactics of salami slicing and coercive diplomacy have come into sharp view in the East China Sea that Beijing shares with Japan and the vast Himalayan frontier with India.

Third, the Ukraine crisis has revealed that if a nuclear weapon power invades and seizes the territory of a neighbour, the rest of the world is reluctant to directly confront the aggression for fear of an escalation to the nuclear level.

Russia made this amply clear with its threat to use nuclear weapons if the US and NATO decide to join the war.

While Tokyo has woken up to the full implications of nuclear-armed Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, Delhi’s strategic discourse is yet to dive deep into the emerging challenges of deterring a nuclear China.

One factor seems obvious — India is a nuclear weapon power and Japan is not. But that only presents a partial picture. While Japan does not have nuclear weapons, it relies on the US nuclear umbrella for its security.

Explained Page

5G auctions today: who’s bidding, and what’s at stake for whom (Page no. 15)

(GS Paper 3, Science and Tech)

The country is poised to take a major step towards the 5G era with its biggest-ever spectrum auction beginning Tuesday. A total of 72 GHz of airwaves will be up for bidding, with participation from four entities — Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and Adani Data Networks, a subsidiary of the Adani Group.

They have submitted earnest money deposits (EMDs) — a key marker of bidding intent — to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT). Reliance Jio has put in Rs 14,000 crore, compared to Rs 5,500 crore by Bharti Airtel, Rs 2,200 crore by Vodafone Idea, and Rs 100 crore by the Adani Group.

A total 72,097.85 MHz (72 GHz) of spectrum with a validity period of 20 years will be put on auction from July 26. The auction will be held for spectrum in the frequency bands 600 MHz, 700 MHz, 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1,800 MHz, 2,100 MHz, 2,300 MHz, 3,300 MHz and 26 GHz.

It is expected that the Mid and High band spectrum will be utilised by telecom service providers to roll out 5G technology-based services capable of providing speed and capacities which would be about 10 times higher than what is possible through the current 4G services.

The amount of EMD signals the intent of a company about the amount of spectrum it wishes to buy as it indicates its bidding strategy and spectrum-buying capacity.

An applicant is given eligibility points depending on its EMD, based on which it can target a certain quantum of airwaves in selected spectrum bands. According to analysts, based on the Adani Group’s EMD, it could possibly buy spectrum worth Rs 700 crore.

Toll of human-animal conflict on tigers, elephants and people (Page no. 15)

(GS Paper 3, Environment)

Between 2018-19 and 2020-21, 222 elephants were killed by electrocution across the country, 45 by trains, 29 by poachers and 11 by poisoning.

Among tigers, too, 29 were killed by poaching between 2019 and 2021, while 197 tiger deaths are under scrutiny. These figures emerge after adding up data tabled in Lok Sabha by Ashwini Kumar Choubey, Minister of State for Forest, Environment and Climate Change, in a written response to a question on human-animal conflict raised by S Senthilkumar (DMK).

Among human casualties of conflict with animals, elephants killed 1,579 humans in three years — 585 in 2019-20, 461 in 2020-21, and 533 in 2021-22. Odisha accounted for the highest number of these deaths at 322, followed by Jharkhand at 291 (including 133 in 2021-22 alone), West Bengal at 240, Assam at 229, Chhattisgarh at 183, and Tamil Nadu at 152.

Tigers killed 125 humans in reserves between 2019 and 2021. Maharashtra accounted for nearly half these deaths, at 61. For tiger deaths caused by human activity, the Lok Sabha reply did not provide a state-wise break-up.

Among the 222 elephant deaths caused by electrocution, Odisha accounted for 41, Tamil Nadu for 34 and Assam for 33. Odisha (12 out of 45) also had the highest number of elephant deaths caused by trains, followed by West Bengal (11) and Assam (9).

 Poaching deaths were highest in Meghalaya (12 out of 29) while poisoning deaths were highest in Assam (9 out of 11, including 8 in 2018-19 alone).

As a result of concerted efforts made for protection and conservation of wildlife, the population of several wildlife species like Tigers, Elephants, Asiatic Lion, Rhino etc. in the country has increased.

Economy

Eye on private firms, govt may define ‘ownership’ of non-personal data (Page no. 17)

(GS Paper 2, Governance)

The Government could look at clearly defining “ownership” of non-personal data held by big-tech platforms, such as Google, Meta and Amazon, if they refuse to share such data with a regulator as proposed in the draft National Data Governance Framework.

The draft framework, announced by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY) in May, looks at acquiring non-personal data from the Government and persuading private companies to share this data for the benefit of start-ups in the country.

The draft also proposes the setting up of an India Data Management Office (IDMO), which will be in charge of designing and managing the platform that will process requests and provide access to non-personal datasets for Indian researchers and start-ups, and act as the sector’s regulator.

Asked how the Government will ensure that private companies share non-personal data, given that the provision is non-binding, a senior official said: “Once we have a functional IDMO, the Government will share all the non-personal data in its possession with it.

As a second step, we will request private companies to also share certain datasets with the IDMO. In case they refuse, then the Government might get into the ownership of such data and how private companies can claim exclusive ownership over it.

The idea of harnessing economic benefits from aggregated non-personal datasets was first proposed by a MEITY-appointed committee headed by Infosys co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan.