Daily Current Affairs of 26th August 2020

Current Affairs Of Today Are

• 1) Arunachal Pradesh Government to seek 6th Schedule status
• 2) BRICS innovation base
• 3) KIRAN
• 4) Rotation of Panchayat Seats Between Men and Women
• 5) Credit Guarantee for NBFC-MFIs
• 6) Odisha’s Bonda Tribe
• 7) Agri Profits and Farmers’ Income

1) Arunachal Pradesh Government to seek 6th Schedule status

• The government in Arunachal Pradesh has decided to appeal to the Centre for bringing the State under the purview of the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution towards protecting the rights of its indigenous peoples.
• The decision to approach the Centre was taken at a Cabinet meeting headed by Chief Minister Pema Khandu, Home Minister Bamang Felix
• The Sixth Schedule consists of provisions for the administration of tribal areas in Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, and Mizoram. 
• The Cabinet discussed the report of a consultative meeting held on August 19, following which a consensus decision to reach out to the Centre regarding the inclusion of Arunachal Pradesh under the Sixth Schedule was taken
• A resolution would be moved and discussed in the monsoon session of the Assembly from August 27 and would be submitted to the Centre
• The State government had a fortnight ago formed a Consultative Committee headed by Deputy Chief Minister Chowna Mein to hold a meeting with the community­based organizations for discussing issues related to constitutional safeguards for the indigenous peoples.
• The demand for the creation of two autonomous councils — Mon Autonomous Region in the western part and Patkai Autonomous Council in the eastern part — had led to the creation of the committee.
• The Cabinet discussed the report the committee submitted after a meeting with the CBOs and students’ organizations on August 19.
• No government had sought Sixth Schedule status since Arunachal became a State more than three decades ago. From the suggestions from the Consultative Committee, community leaders and advocates, we have come to understand that we were living under the wrong expression of being protected by the Inner Line Permit
• The ILP, warranted by the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation Act of 1873, is an official travel document issued by the State government concerned to let in an Indian citizen into a protected area for a limited period. 
• The provisions of Article 371(H) for Arunachal Pradesh do not ensure full protection to the State’s people. “We may have our land, air, and water, but we don’t own it.” 

The various features of administration contained in the Sixth Schedule are as follows

• The tribal areas in the four states of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, and Mizoram have been constituted as autonomous districts. But, they do not fall outside the executive authority of the state concerned.
• The governor is empowered to organize and re-organize the autonomous districts. Thus, he can increase or decrease their areas or change their names or define their boundaries, and so on.
• If there are different tribes in an autonomous district, the governor can divide the district into several autonomous regions.
• Each autonomous district has a district council consisting of 30 members, of whom four are nominated by the governor and the remaining 26 are elected based on adult franchise. The elected members hold office for a term of five years (unless the council is dissolved earlier) and nominated members to hold office during the pleasure of the governor. Each autonomous region also has a separate regional council.
• The district and regional councils administer the areas under their jurisdiction. They can make laws on certain specified matters like land, forests, canal water, shifting cultivation, village administration, the inheritance of property, marriage, and divorce, social customs, and so on. But all such laws require the assent of the governor.
• The district and regional councils within their territorial jurisdictions can constitute village councils or courts for trial of suits and cases between the tribes. They hear appeals from them. The jurisdiction of the high court over these suits and cases is specified by the governor.
• The district council can establish, construct, or manage primary schools, dispensaries, markets, ferries, fisheries, roads, and so on in the district. It can also make regulations for the control of money lending and trading by non-tribals. But, such regulations require the assent of the governor.
• The district and regional councils are empowered to assess and collect land revenue and to impose certain specified taxes.
• The acts of Parliament or the state legislature do not apply to autonomous districts and autonomous regions or apply with specified modifications and exceptions.
• The governor can appoint a commission to examine and report on any matter relating to the administration of the autonomous districts or regions. He may dissolve a district or regional council on the recommendation of the commission.

Inner line Permit System

• An Inner Line Permit is a document that allows an Indian citizen to visit or stay in a state that is protected under the ILP system.
• The ILP is obligatory for all those who reside outside the protected states.
• It can be issued for travel purposes solely.
• An ILP is issued by the state government concerned.
• The Inner Line Permit was established by the British government under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation, 1873 to safeguard tribals of the eastern part of Bengal. This 1873 Regulation is also known as ILR or ILP.
• Under Section 2 of the Regulation of 1873, the ILP was only applicable to the three North Eastern States such as Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh, and Nagaland. Recently, on December 11, the President signed the order extending ILP to Manipur, which became the fourth state where the ILP regime is applicable.
• Foreigners need a Protected Area Permit (PAP) to visit tourist places that are different from Inner Line Permits needed by domestic tourists.
• Under the Foreigners (Protected Areas) Order, 1958, all areas falling between the 'Inner line', as defined in the said order, and the International Border of the State have been declared as a Protected Area.
• Currently, Protected Areas are located in the following states:
• The whole of Arunachal Pradesh
• Parts of Himachal Pradesh
• Parts of Jammu & Kashmir
• Whole of Manipur
• Whole of Mizoram
• Whole of Nagaland
• Parts of Rajasthan
• The whole of Sikkim (partly in Protected Area and partly in Restricted Area)
• Parts of Uttarakhand
• A foreign national is not normally allowed to visit a Protected / Restricted Area unless it is established to the satisfaction of the Government that there are extraordinary reasons to justify such a visit.
• Every foreigner, except a citizen of Bhutan, who desires to enter and stay in a Protected or Restricted Area, is required to obtain a special permit from a competent authority delegated with powers to issue such a special permit to a foreigner, on application.

Source: The Hindu

2) BRICS innovation base

• China has proposed the creation of what it calls a ‘BRICS innovation base’ to take forward 5G and Artificial Intelligence (AI) cooperation among the five countries, as their industry ministers met virtually
• The move could pose an awkward question for India, which is the only country in the grouping that is leaning towards excluding Chinese participation in the roll­out of its national 5G network. 
• Russia has said it would work with China on 5G, with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov saying this month they were open to working with Chinese telecommunications firm Huawei, which has been largely banned by the United States.
• In South Africa, Huawei is providing services to three of its telecom operators in the roll­out of their 5G networks. Brazil has allowed participation in trials but is yet to take a final call, although Vice President Hamilton Mourao indicated they would likely allow Huawei to consider that “more than a third” of Brazil’s 4G network operators use Huawei equipment.
• India is unlikely to allow Chinese participation in 5G, particularly in the wake of recent moves to tighten investment from China and to ban 59 Chinese apps, citing national security concerns. The ban, which followed the June clash in Galwan Valley, cited a “threat to the sovereignty and integrity of India” posed by the apps. 
• Indian intelligence assessments have also expressed concerns about the possible direct or indirect links of several Chinese companies, including Huawei, with the Chinese military. 
• India has made clear a return to normalcy cannot be possible while tensions along the Line of Actual Control remain unresolved.

BRICS

• BRICS is an acronym for the grouping of the world’s leading emerging economies, namely Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.
• In 2001, the British Economist Jim O’Neill coined the term BRIC to describe the four emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India, and China.
• The grouping was formalized during the first meeting of BRIC Foreign Ministers in 2006.
• South Africa was invited to join BRIC in December 2010, after which the group adopted the acronym BRICS.
• It comprises 42% of the world's population, has 23% of the global GDP, and around 17% of the world trade.
• The chairmanship of the forum is rotated annually among the members, by the acronym B-R-I-C-S. Brazil is the current chair of the grouping.
• The BRICS Leaders’ Summit has convened annually.
• During the Sixth BRICS Summit in Fortaleza (2014) the leaders signed the Agreement establishing the New Development Bank (NDB). They also signed the BRICS Contingent Reserve Arrangement.

Source: The Hindu

3) KIRAN

• The Union Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment, Shri Thaawar Chand Gehlot will launch “KIRAN” TOLL-FREE Mental Health Rehabilitation Helpline(1800-599-0019)  number on 27-08-2020 through virtual mode. The Helpline, developed by M/o Social Justice & Empowerment along with its partners, aims to provide support for early screening, first-aid, psychological support, distress management, mental wellbeing, preventing deviant behaviors, psychological crisis management, etc; the helpline will offer mental health rehabilitation services. It targets to resolve issues of people across the country experiencing stress, anxiety, depression, panic attack, adjustment disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, substance abuse, suicidal thoughts, pandemic induced psychological issues &mental health emergency. During the virtual inaugural of ‘Kiran’ helpline, its poster, brochure, and resource book will be released.
• The idea was conceived by Smt. Shakuntala D. Gamlin (Secretary, DEPwD), based on the prevalence of mental health issues in India and the need to create access to emergency relief and support to the vulnerable population experiencing psychological issues due to the unprecedented nature of pandemic COVID-19.Dr.Prabodh Seth (Joint Secretary, DEPwD) mentored the helpline project and coordinated with all the National Institutes and Composite Regional Centers across the country for the effective execution of the helpline.
• The Helpline will be supported by 660 volunteer Clinical/Rehabilitation Psychologists and 668 volunteer Psychiatrists, along with 75 experts at 25 helpline centers who will have the capacity of handling 300 clients per hour. There is a three-level mechanism of support, the caller will first be connected to the location-based helpline-center, and then as per need referred to rehabilitation/clinical psychologists/psychiatrists. Follow-up &support will be extended at the third-level. For training of mental health centers, three training programs have been conducted.
• The helpline will offer support in 13 languages for any individual, family, NGOs, DPOs, Parent Associations, Professional Associations, Rehabilitation Institutes, Hospitals, or anyone in need of support across the country including Ladakh, Kashmir, Jammu, 08 North-Eastern States, Andaman & Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep.
• The helpline will be coordinated by the National Institute for the Empowerment of Persons with Multiple Disabilities (NIEPMD, Chennai) and the National Institute of Mental Health Rehabilitation (NIMHR, Sehore). Collaboration for the helpline has been received from the Indian Association of Clinical Psychologists (IACP), Indian Psychiatrists Association (IPA), and Indian Psychiatric Social Workers Association (IPSWA).

Source: PIB

4) Rotation of Panchayat Seats Between Men and Women

• The Haryana government is planning to bring a Bill to provide 50:50 reservation in Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) for men and women candidates, and rotate the seats between male and female representatives after each term.
• Men and women will be able to contest panchayat polls under the odd-even formula. This will be implemented for sarpanches and members of village wards, block samitis and zila parishads.
• Benefit: This will ensure equal opportunities for men and women, and women from all constituencies will have fair share in terms of reservation.
• Limitations: Policy of reservation for only one term and rotation of reserved seats and posts of chairperson can hinder the consolidation of leadership qualities among women representatives as it takes time for them to learn the skills of handling and negotiating various conflicting interests within the panchayat.
• To deal with this issue, some states like Kerala, Himachal Pradesh, Odisha and Karnataka have made provisions for two term reservation of seats at PRIs.
• Haryana previously enacted Haryana Panchayati Raj (Amendment) Act, 2015 laying down eligibility criteria to be able to contest Panchayat elections in the state.
• It included disqualification in case of non-completion of minimum educational criteria (like class X pass for general category and Class 8th for SC), non-payment of arrears and debts to co-operative banks or electricity bills, and not having functional toilets at home.
• The Supreme Court upheld this decision arguing that prescription of an educational qualification is not irrelevant for better administration. Also, the criteria of insolvency and toilets will encourage good practices among legislators.

Constitutional Provisions for Women Representation in PRIs:

• The 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act, 1992 mandates 33.3% reservation for women in PRIs across the country.
• The 73rd Amendment envisages the Gram Sabha as the foundation of the Panchayat Raj System to perform functions and powers entrusted to it by the State Legislatures.
• This has been increased to 50% reservation in several states like Andhra Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Bihar etc.
• Out of the 30.41 lakh elected representatives of PRIs, 13.74 lakh (45.2%) are women.
• Article 15 (3) to the Constitution of India empowers the State to make special provisions for women.
• Article 243D provides that one-third of the total number of seats and offices of the Chairpersons in PRIs at each level shall be reserved for women to be allotted by rotation to different constituencies in a Panchayat.
• Such reservations of seats and offices of the chairpersons for women are also within the reservations for SCs and STs in all three tiers of PRIs.
• In order to bring about 50% reservation for women in Panchayats in all States, the 110th Constitution Amendment Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha in 2009, but it was not passed despite being tabled several times.

Challenges Before Women in PRIs

• Patriarchy: Many women are not allowed to contest elections and many continue to work as proxies for their male family members. Their male co-workers show insensitivity and may refuse to cooperate. Burden of household responsibilities, purdah (veil) system and domestic violence negatively affect their functioning.
• Inadequate Capacities: Majority of women representatives enter into public life for the first time and do not have enough knowledge and skills to handle affairs of panchayats. Training programmes conducted by government training agencies are unable to cover all elected representatives in time.
• Violent Opposition: Women often face more resistance from the community if they want to take bold steps. They are also subjected to violence from powerful elements of the society.
• Two Child Norm: A few States like Odisha and Rajasthan have the two child norm for contesting panchayat elections. In rural areas women hardly have any say in the number of children in the family and such laws restrict their entry into panchayats.
• Caste System: Hierarchical caste system in rural India makes it difficult for women from SC and ST communities to work independently and effectively.
• Lack of Women at Other Levels: Lack of women coworkers and at higher administrative level also hinders the free functioning of women representatives.

Efforts by Government to Promote Women in PRIs

The Ministry of Panchayati Raj (MoPR) has been making continuous efforts by launching and implementing various schemes for capacity building of women representatives in PRIs, like

• Rashtriya Gram Swaraj Abhiyan (RGSA)
• RGSA was launched in 2018 for developing and strengthening the capacities of Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) for rural local governance to become more responsive towards local development needs, preparing the participatory plans that leverage technology, efficient and optimum utilization of available resources for realizing sustainable solutions to local problems linked to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
• It included rewards for ensuring women participation in PRIs
• Gram Panchayat Development Plan (GPDP)
• Some of the key aspects of GPDP guidelines that are relevant to Women Empowerment include proactive participation of women in budgeting, planning, implementation and monitoring of GPDP and convening Mahila Sabhas prior to the general Gram Sabhas and their inclusion in Gram Sabhas and GPDP.
• Panchayat Mahila Evam Yuva Shakti Abhiyan (PMEYSA)
• It was implemented from the year 2007-08 till 2012-13 with the broad objective of empowerment of Elected Women & Youth Representatives of Panchayats.
• Recently, the Ministry of Panchayati Raj has directed all the States and Union Territories to organise Special Gram Sabhas and Mahila Sabhas (Women’s Assemblies) in all Gram Panchayats
  

Way Forward

• The current proposal is a welcome step. However, the government must bear in mind that equality in representation is not enough to ensure socio-political equity among genders, as the relatively disadvantaged position of women must be taken into account.
• Increasing women in PRIs will increase the probability of their better representation in parliament, which as of now is only 14%. To further promote women participation in PRIs, emphasis must be made for gender sensitization of male elected representatives and functionaries of PRIs.
• In capacity building of women representatives, governments must also invite and involve civil society organizations, women’s groups, academic institutions, corporate social responsibility foundations and also international organizations like UNWomen. A multi-stakeholder, collaborative, multi-pronged, systematic effort to enhance the capacities of Elected Women Representatives (EWRs) are required.

Source: Indian Express

5) Credit Guarantee for NBFC-MFIs

• Recently, the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has introduced Partial Credit Guarantee Programme for Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC) - Micro Finance Institutions (MFIs).
• The programme aims to ensure unhindered flow of credit in rural areas hit by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Programme:

• Under the programme, NABARD will provide partial guarantee on pooled loans extended to small and mid-sized MFIs.
• This has come in the backdrop of most MFIs being excluded from the moratorium benefits from banks, creating a dip in collections, resulting in widening asset-liability mismatch, credit downgrades and spike in cost of fresh funding.
• NABARD will facilitate Rs. 2,500 crore funding in the initial phase and will further increase the funding.
• The program is expected to cover over 1 million households across 28 states and 650 districts.

Implementation:

• NABARD has signed agreements with Vivriti Capital and Ujjivan Small Finance Bank to roll out the initiative.
• Vivriti Capital is a non-banking financial corporation.

Benefits:

• The partially guaranteed loan facility will catalyse much-needed financing to millions of households, agricultural and business markets to sustain in the post Covid-19 environment.
• MFIs operate in rural hinterlands and serve farmers, traders, rural businesses and households.

Pooled Loan Issuance (PLI):

• Under a PLI structure, a bank or an NBFC (Principal Lender), provides loans to identified Microfinance Institutions/other NBFCs/corporates (Borrowers).
• Each of these loans are made as per terms agreed upon between the Principal Lender and the Borrowers in keeping with the Principal Lenders underwriting and credit evaluation practices.
• The loans offered are pooled together and credit enhanced by way of a common partial guarantee offered by identified guarantors to the structure.
• The PLI structure provides the lending bank adequate comfort through the guarantor's partial credit protection, it also reduces cost of capital as the rating of the loans get increased and helps lenders meet priority sector goals.

Non-Banking Financial Company-Micro Finance Institution

• The NBFC-MFI is a non-deposit taking financial company.
• Conditions to qualify as NBFC-MFI:
• Minimum Net Owned Funds (NOF) of Rs. 5 crore.
• At least 85% of its Net Assets in the nature of Qualifying Assets.
• The Qualifying Assets are those assets which have a substantial period of time to be ready for its intended use or sale.
• The difference between an NBFC-MFI and other NBFC is that while other NBFCs can operate at a very high level but MFIs cater to only the smaller level of social strata, with need of smaller amounts as loans.

Way Forward

• NBFC-MFI plays a crucial role in sustaining consumption demand as well as capital formation in the smaller level of strata, thus it is essential that they continue to get funding without disruption, and the partial credit guarantee programme is expected to systematically enable the same.

Source: The Hindu

6) Odisha’s Bonda Tribe

• Recently, four people from the Bonda tribal community have tested positive for the Covid-19.
• PVTGs: Bondas are one of the 13 Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) found in Odisha.
• There are a total of 75 PVTGs in India.
• Austroasiatic Tribes: Bondas are members of a group of Austroasiatic tribes, they are believed to be part of the first wave of migration out of Africa about 60,000 years ago. They are the first forest settlers in India.
• Culture: The Bondas have retained their identity and culture despite external interventions over the years.
• Primarily forest dwellers, the Bondas used to hunt and forage for food in the wild.
• Matriarchal society-The women prefer to marry men who are younger by at least 5-10 years, so that the men can earn for them when they grow old.
• Unique dressing style- Women are semi clad and wear various types of rings and necklaces around their bodies, while the men carry lethal bows and arrows.
• Language- They continue to speak in their language, Remo, which comes under the Austroasiatic language belonging to the Mundari group.
• The Mundari group of languages are spoken by Munda people.
• Division: The Bonda tribe is divided into two groups based on their settlement:
• The Upper Bondas living in the inaccessible forests.
• The Lower Bondas in the plains.

Tribes in Odisha:

• Odisha is home to 62 tribal communities — the largest diverse groups of tribal population in India.
• Thirteen of them are PVTGs— Bonda, Birhor, Chuktia Bhunjia, Didayi, Dungaria Kandha, Hill Kharia, Juang, Kutia Kondh, Lanjia Saora, Lodha, Mankirdia, Paudi Bhuyan and Saora.
• Tribal populations are found in the entire seven districts of Kandhamal, Mayurbhanj, Sundargarh, Nabarangpur, Koraput, Malkangiri and Rayagada, and in parts of six other districts.

7) Agri Profits and Farmers’ Income

• A detailed analysis of 25 key field and horticultural crops done by the rating agency Crisil has indicated that per hectare profitability will improve 3-5% year-on-year to Rs. 10,0000 in the Kharif (Summer Crop) Season 2020.
• However, economists say that individual farmers are unlikely to see any hike in their own income.

Profits are Expected in the Agriculture Sector

• Agriculture is one of the few bright spots in an economy ravaged by Covid-19, with good rains expected to boost production and profits, especially in the paddy crop.
• To support farmers in effectively undertaking the post-harvest rabi produce and preparatory work for kharif crops, Rs. 30,000 crore additional emergency working capital fund through NABARD and Rs. 2 lakh crore of concessional credit have been provided by the government.
• The agriculture sector showed growth of 5.9% in the last quarter of 2019-2020.

Impact on the Farmers’ Income

• Some economists have opined that despite a hike in overall profits, per capita (per farmer) income may see a dip.
• Reverse migration due to Covid-19 may have resulted in the number of people employed in the agriculture sector this summer rising by up to 16% over farm employment in 2019.
• As per the data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), the farm sector gained 14.9 million jobs in the April-July 2020 period.

Possible Reasons Behind Reduced Income of Farmers:

• Reverse Migration: Because of the Covid lockdown, large numbers of people have gone back to rural areas, and apart from MGNREGA and agriculture, there is not any significant work.
• Agriculture as an Employment Option: In general, people just migrate out of farming, mostly voluntarily, in search for better paying employment. But, people who can, do migrate into farming when they lose non-farming jobs.
• CMIE data shows that 111.3 million people declared their occupation as farming in 2019-20. By March 2020, this had increased to 117 million, shooting up to 130 million in June.
• Demand for Labour: Till the sowing season ends in August, there will remain demand for farm labour.
• This means, even if there is an increase in farm profits, it will not help in reviving rural demand, as too many people are dependent on farm income this year.
• Rise in Covid-19 cases in Rural India: There could be an adverse impact on harvesting and supply chains.
• Decrease in the Prices of the Produce:
• Whether growth in agricultural output also implies growth in the income of farmers depends on a lot of things. Most importantly, it depends on the prices received by farmers for the produce that they sell.
• While cereal prices continue to show positive inflation, most other food groups, such as fruits and vegetables, eggs, poultry and fish, continue to see prices decline.
• Further, with input prices also rising, most small and marginal farmers are likely to witness a decline in incomes rather than an increase.

Steps Taken by the Government:

• The three ordinances introduced under the Atmanirbhar Bharat scheme in May 2020 - Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Ordinance, Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Ordinance and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Ordinance - will give the farmers the benefit of ‘my crop, my right’ and help them gain higher prices for their produce.
• Launch of Agriculture Infrastructure Fund of Rs.1 lakh crore by the Prime Minister for setting up cold chains, refrigerated transportation, etc. will help farmers command better prices.
• These structural reforms will go a long way in reviving India’s rural ecosystem.

Way Forward

• Initiatives undertaken by MNCs such as ‘e-choupal’ by ITC Limited which enables rural India with technical know-how for an effective agri ecosystem and facilitates transparent mechanism for price discovery should be encouraged.
• Government should consolidate and leverage the CSC (Common Service Center) pan India network. It should also focus on promoting cottage industries, provide better amenities in terms of health care, education, road network, communication and power so that the rural population can also be in a position to access quality life on par with the urban sector. This will also lessen migration towards cities in search of job opportunities.

Source: The Hindu