DAILY NEWS ANALYSIS 05 JULY
Economic Survey sets out blueprint for $5 economy
News important for: GS paper-3 I Indian economy and issues related to planning.
Context
The ministry of finance has released the economic survey 2019.
Analysis of the economic survey 2019:
- It focuses on a shift towards a “virtuous cycle” of savings, investments and exports.
- It aims to transform India into a $5 trillion economy in the coming five years.
- India’s GDP is expected to expand by 7% in fiscal 2019-20, which is higher than the 6.8% in 2018-19.
- Blue cover shows an unfettered approach to thinking about the appropriate economic model for India.
- It highlights the fact that private investment plays an important role for demand, capacity, labour productivity, new technology adoption, and for job creation.
- It committed to a fiscal deficit of 3.4% of GDP in 2019-20, and 3% each in the subsequent two years.
- Adoption of certain practices and norms on data, legal reforms and policy certainty, and some micro-economic aspects such as boosting MSMEs and reducing the cost of capital will shift the economy towards a virtuous cycle.
- It highlights that data must be considered as a public good and legal intervention is required to protect it.
- It asks to merge different datasets of government into one single dataset for higher productivity.
- Another key area of focus for the Survey was the MSME sector and how to make it grow so as to boost profit creation, job creation, and enhance productivity.
- It highlighted that dwarf firms are 50% of total organised firms but they account for only 14% of employment and 8% of productivity were as large firms are mere 15% of the organised firms and they account for 75% of employment and 90% of productivity.
- It gives an example of Chinese economy as how a country with highest investment rates created more jobs proving the fact that a higher investment fosters labour.
- It raised concerns about labour reforms to be flexible for higher productivity.
Source link:
Biodiversity Park for Sirumalai
News important for: GS paper-3 I biodiversity
Context
A biodiversity park for Sirumalai has been announced to come up in 3 years announced by Tamil Nadu government.
About
- It aims to protect the endangered flora of Sirumalai .
- Sirumalai has a mix of vegetation with dry deciduous at lower elevation and evergreen forests at higher elevations.
- Thus protecting its native flora also blooms tourism of the place.
Source link:
https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Madurai/biodiversity-park-for-sirumalai/article28285952.ece
Penalty, jail term to private entities storing Aadhaar data
News important for: GS paper-2 I power of parliament and state legislature and issues arising out of it.
Context:
The Aadhar and other laws (amendment) bill 2019, has been passed by lok sabha.
Analysis
- The bill provides a stiff penalty of 1 crore and a fixed jail term for private entities for storing data.
- The Aadhar card will be voluntary for opening bank accounts, securing a mobile phone connection and getting treatment in the hospital.
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Needed: a well-designed minimum wage system
News important for: GS paper-2 I government schemes, economy and planning
Context
The economic survey released talks about a well-designed minimum wage system to reduce wage inequality in the country.
Suggestions of the survey:
- To decide minimum wages on the basis of skills and split across geographical regions.
- The survey suggests the notification of “national floor minimum wage” across five regions. So that States can fix their own minimum wages, but not lower than the floor wage.
- It would bring uniformity and make States “almost equally attractive from the point of view of labour cost for investment as well as reduce distress migration. The floor wage is currently non-statutory.
- The Code on Wages Bill should consider deciding minimum wages based on skill, with different wages for unskilled, semi-skilled, skilled and highly skilled, and on the region.
- It should extend applicability of minimum wages to all employments/workers in all sectors and should cover both the organized as well as the unorganized sector.
- Mechanism for regular adjustment of minimum wages should be developed, with a national-level dashboard at the Centre that States can access and update.
Analysis:
- Currently the minimum wage system of the country is in accordance to minimum wage act, 1948.
- One in every 3 workers in India is not protected by minimum wage law.
- In 2018 India Wage Report, the ILO showed that 66% of wage workers in scheduled employment were covered under the minimum wage system.
- Domestic workers were covered under minimum wage laws in only 18 States and union territories.
- Women dominate in the category of domestic workers while men dominate in the category of security guards and the minimum wage rate for domestic workers within a State is consistently lower than that for the minimum wage rates for security guard.
- The government is about to bring the Code on Wages Bill in Parliament.
- It will bring together the Minimum Wages Act, 1948, the Payment of Wages Act, 1936, the Payment of Bonus Act, 1965 and the Equal Remuneration Act, 1976 into a single legislation.
Source link
Private funds needed for Swachh Bharat
News important for: GS paper-2 I Government initiatives and planning
Context
The economic survey 2019 highlights the need for corporate funding, private partnerships and innovative financing mechanisms along with government allocations for Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan.
Analysis
- As the phase one which focused on cleanliness and removal of open defecation and created a positive impact.
- Scientific management of waste should be phase 2 of the swachh Bharat Abhiyaan.
- Some of the areas to be dealt in the next phase are sewer construction and water availability, scientific techniques for waste disposal, treatment of industrial effluent, drain bio-remediation, river surface cleaning, sustained rural sanitation and monitoring of villages.
- To achieve the above targets source of funding should be vast and in innovative capacity.
- Mindset change is another aspect which was again highlighted by the survey.
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Survey calls for tax cuts, space for hotels in infra boost to tourism
News important for: GS paper-3 I Indian economy and planning and issues arising out of it.
Context
Economic survey suggested brief measures to revive the tourism industry which showed a sharp slowdown in past years.
Recommendations of the survey:
- To increased budgetary allocation for infrastructure development, making land available for hotels, and tax reductions.
- To strengthen the coordination mechanism of various Ministries and stakeholders.
- Land should be made available for hotels and reserve land for hotels in all new townships under planning.
- Fast-track clearances for hotel projects.
- Increase skill development efforts to train more persons.
- Make the taxation regime on the hospitality industry globally competitive.
Analysis
- The survey highlighted the fact that foreign tourist arrivals (FTAs) in 2018-19 stood at 10.6 million compared with 10.4 million in 2017-18.
- In terms of growth, the growth rate of FTAs declined from 14.2% in 2017-18 to 2.1% in 2018-19.
- The FDI in hotel and tourism has also declined.
Source link:
Scientists find new gene linked to schizophrenia
News important for: GS paper-3 I Science and technology and its effect in everyday life.
Context
The Collaboration between Indian and Australian scientists has found an innovative approach to this mental illness.
About
- Scientists from the University of Queensland in Australia and a team of Indian researchers searched the genomes of over 3,000 individuals.
- They discovered that those with schizophrenia were more likely to have a particular genetic variation.
- This study identified a gene called NAPRT1 that encodes an enzyme involved in vitamin B3 metabolism was found in large number of patients of schizophrenia.
Source link:
Arctic mission to ‘trap’ researchers in ice to study climate
News important for: GS paper-3 I Science and technology and issues arising out of it.
Context
Scientists from 17 nations will engage in a mission in the arctic to understand the impact of climate change on arctic and how it will affect the rest of the world.
Analysis
- Scientists plan to sail a ship into the Arctic Ocean, anchor it to a large piece of sea ice and allow the water to freeze around them, effectively trapping themselves in the vast sheet of white that forms over the North Pole each winter.
- As the temperature drops and the days get shorter, they’ll built temporary winter research camps on the ice.
- Scientists from the United States, China, Russia and other countries will be rotating every two months as other icebreakers bring fresh supplies.
- They will combine the measurements on the ice with data collected from satellites to upgrade computer models for weather and climate predictions.
- The mission has received funding from U.S. institutions such as the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and NASA.
- The research will be done on a German ship called icebreaker RV Polarstern.
- This mission is called MOSAiC mission, which stands for Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate.
- It comes after 125 years of Norwegian explorer Fridtj of Nansen which first managed to seal his wooden expedition ship, Fram, into the ice during a three-year expedition to the North Pole.
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