In this section, we are presenting our readers/aspirants compilation of selected editorials of national daily viz. The Hindu, The live mint,The Times of India, Hindustan Times, The Economic Times, PIB etc. This section caters the requirement of Civil Services Mains (GS + Essay) , PCS, HAS Mains (GS + Essay) & others essay writing competition.
1.Why the RBI should buy NBFC bonds
Uday Kotak has stated that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) might inevitably have to expand its balance sheet to support the economy amidst the raging pandemic. The central bank does precisely that when it carries out long-term repo operations. However, there is scope for the RBI to provide direct liquidity support to large non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) that play a vital role in meeting the credit requirements of swathes of small and medium industry.
It is true that RBI has shored up liquidity conditions for the banking system in the past one year for onward lending, and is providing further liquidity support this fiscal. Note that the central bank has announced its pathbreaking G-SAP, government securities acquisition programme under which RBI would purchase government paper to the tune of Rs 1 lakh crore in the first quarter of FY22. Further, its targeted long-term repo operations (TLTROs) are meant to provide credit to smaller NBFCs, but, again, via bank funding. But NBFCs do have a critical role in India’s credit system, providing, as they do, credit for largely un-banked segments, and the way forward is for the RBI to directly purchase the paper issued by major league NBFCs. It would rightly and speedily step up credit support across the board.
The central bank is in the process of thoroughly revamping its oversight on NBFCs with a four-layered regulatory structure, based on such parameters as operational size, leverage, interconnectedness and nature of activity. The way ahead is for the largest NBFCs to issue bonds for direct subscription by RBI. The central bank needs to phase in making use of corporate bonds in its liquidity management operations, to boost demand for these bonds.
2.The tweaks vaccine policy cries out for
India’s Covid vaccination drive has expanded eligibility for the jab, even as production is yet to ramp up. This means policy must be finetuned to allocate vaccines to those who need them most. First, instead of leaving allocation of vaccines among the states to vaccine manufacturers, the Indian Council of Medical Research must guide vaccine makers, based on transparent parameters such as vulnerable populations size, rate of vaccination, number of Covid cases, positivity rate and record of vaccine wastage. Vulnerability should be measured in terms of both the current pace of pandemic spread and size of both healthworker/frontline worker groups and the elderly population. States should prioritise vaccine delivery by vulnerability.
Second, ICMR must provide clear information on the minimum and maximum gap between the two doses of vaccines being administered. This will help avoid panic among those who have already taken the first shot but are finding it difficult to get the second. Third, the central government must strengthen and simplify the technological backbone of the vaccination drive, the CoWIN app. It must be easy to access irrespective of technological savvy. The app must be programmed to prioritise those who have had their first dose, so that they can get their second jab within the stipulated time frame. Voluntary organisations should help the digitally non-savvy to get enrolled, till vaccine supplies increase to a level when walk-in registration at vaccination centres becomes feasible. Four, map out delivery centres to maximise access and minimise crowding and infections.
Rather than a few big centres, favoured by some states, the focus should be on many smaller centres—using local primary health centres, community halls and other such facilities to set up vaccination centres. Arrangements must be made to whisk away those who develop allergic reactions to well-equipped intensive care units. It will make it easier for people particularly those who are daily wagers and informal sector workers to get vaccinated.
3. An ambitious climate blueprint
India is willing to take measures to halt the climate crisis and opt for a less-polluting development pathway
India will be “energy independent” in 25 years to mark its 100th year of Independence, Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi said in his Independence Day speech. The government’s roadmap includes a gas-based economy, a Compressed Natural Gas and Piped Natural Gas network, and a 20% ethanol blending target. The plan will help reduce energy import of over ₹12 lakh crore annually. The PM also announced that Indian Railways has targeted becoming a net-zero carbon emitter by 2030; he emphasised that the government is serious about circular economy (eliminating waste and pollution, keeping products and materials in use and regenerating natural systems); and announced a national hydrogen mission to increase the use of green hydrogen as a cleaner alternative fuel.
Two other announcements are significant because they are already in motion. First, the total installed renewable energy (RE) capacity, excluding large hydro, has crossed the milestone of 100 GW out of the target of 450 GW target by 2030. India is fourth in the world in terms of installed RE capacity. Second, the PM spoke of making India plastic-free. On August 13, the government notified Plastic Waste Management Amendment Rules, 2021, prohibiting identified single-use plastic items by 2022.
4.Memories: On remembering Partition
Remembering Partition by involving Pakistan and Bangladesh would have been more apt
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement, followed by a gazette notification, to mark August 14 as “Partition Horrors Remembrance Day” 74 years later has received mixed responses. With about two million killed in the most brutal ways, an estimated 1,00,000 women kidnapped and raped, and more than 15 million men, women and children displaced, Partition, the British Raj’s parting shot to India, left an indelible mark in hearts and memories across the subcontinent. For India in particular, that lost its territory and its people to the west and the east, the decision was a painful cleaving that marred much of the joy felt in gaining Independence. The violence that was unleashed by the decision pitted Indians against Indians, Hindus and Sikhs against Muslims, with the worst of the horrors seen in Punjab and Bengal — States that were partitioned in the most mindless and thoughtless display of colonial insensitivity. These stories have remained in public memory, as India consciously chose to set aside its pain and greet Pakistan on its birth, and attempted to carve out a distinct secular identity as it sought to develop itself. The scars were not forgotten, but borne with fortitude and a desire to move on from them. Along the way, the two-nation theory based on religion alone — that Pakistan’s founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah fought for so bitterly — disintegrated with the creation of Bangladesh in 1971. Other developments have also helped heal the wounds of Partition, not the least, India’s successes over the past three-quarters of a century, including a growing economy, its technological prowess, and as a respected voice on the global stage.
There is no question that a nation cannot know itself without knowing its past, and that the horrors of Partition must be acknowledged, archived, mourned and commemorated. The concern over the naming of the day at this point, however, is that it forces the nation to look back on this traumatic time rather than looking ahead. Given that the trauma was felt not just in India but in three countries, an attempt to mark the day across the subcontinent might have been more inclusive. It is necessary too, to remember not just the violence of 1947 but also the colonial hand that wrought Partition, hold the British Empire to account, and educate successive generations on the perils of imperialism, arbitrary map-making and sowing religious divides in order to rule. The Prime Minister’s reasoning, that the nation must be reminded of the “need to remove the poison of social divisions, disharmony and further strengthen the spirit of oneness, social harmony and human empowerment”, is welcome, but this is an effort to be practised every day, not just one day in the year.
5.Black and white: On the White Paper on Tamil Nadu’s finances
Tamil Nadu needs to combine pragmatism, political vision while working on its financial health
By bringing out a White Paper on Tamil Nadu’s finances, the DMK government has made a good start to right the loss of fiscal discipline. Subsequently, the government, in its maiden Budget, lowered the retail price of petrol by ₹3 a litre. Even though it only partly fulfils one of the DMK’s important poll promises, it deserves praise for being implemented at a time of financial stress. That TN’s fiscal indicators have not been in great shape, post 2013-14, is well known and even indicated in certain documents of the Union and State governments. The State’s perennially loss-making power, water and transport utilities have only aggravated the situation. A serious financial crisis is waiting to unfold unless corrective steps are taken. This is what has been encapsulated in the White Paper, which has rightly identified the decline in the ratios of the State’s Own Tax Revenue (SOTR) to Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) and overall tax-GSDP as two key areas of concern, in view of the SOTR constituting around two-thirds of the State’s total revenue receipts. With ballooning revenue and fiscal deficits, the State has become overreliant on debt, estimated to be ₹2,63,976 per family. The White Paper has cited a lack of proper governance as the reason behind most of the problems.
By highlighting the crisis in the water, power and transport sectors, the document has already triggered a question on whether the government will hike taxes and user charges. As it also talks of “profound structural reforms” and “re-orientation of subsidies”, it has signalled that the government favours a targeted approach in subsidy provision. The Budget echoes this by spelling out that the proposed scheme of ₹1,000 a month to women heads of families is for “the genuinely poor”. But, in a set-up characterised by the tradition of competitive populism and a close relationship between economic decisions and considerations of electoral politics, it remains to be seen how far the new government can pursue such an approach. After having blamed the previous government for the fiscal situation, the government, through the Budget, could have made a beginning in fiscal consolidation. The explanation for not going for it is that the economy is still recovering from the impact of COVID-19. But an increase in a few taxes and expenditure reduction in some areas would have shown that the government means business. As and when the government chooses to increase utility tariffs, it should ensure that such measures are matched by an improvement in service quality and a simplified and reasonable tax structure. This is where Chief Minister M.K. Stalin’s re-assurance, in a recent interview to The Hindu, assumes significance — of not going back on electoral promises for welfare. A rational approach with a human touch would help improve TN’s financial health. The DMK government has time on its side to turn around the fortunes of the State.