Syllabus subtopic: Government Policies and Interventions for Development in various sectors and Issues arising out of their Design and Implementation.

Prelims and Mains focus: about the key features of the bill and its significance

News: The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister approved the Assisted Reproductive Technology Regulation Bill, 2020 to monitor medical procedures used to assist people to achieve pregnancy.

Background

India has one of the highest growths in the number ART centres and ART cycles performed every year. India has become one of the major centres of this global fertility industry, with reproductive medical tourism becoming a significant activity. This has also introduced a plethora of legal, ethical and social issues; yet, there is no standardisation of protocols and reporting is still very inadequate.

Key features of the Bill

• The Bill provides for a national Board which will lay down a code of conduct to be observed by those operating clinics.

• It will also formulate minimum standards for laboratory and diagnostic equipment and practices to be followed by human resources employed by clinics and banks.

• The States and Union Territories will also have to form State Boards and State authorities within three months of the notification of the proposed legislation.

• Under the proposed law, a national registry and registration authority will maintain a database to assist the national Board to perform its functions.

• The Bill also proposes stringent punishment for those who practise sex selection, indulge in sale of human embryos or gametes and those who operate rackets.

• The Bill will also ensure confidentiality of intending couples and protect the rights of the child.

Note: In the Surrogacy Regulation Bill 2020, the government is planning to restrict the maximum age of surrogates from “above the marriageable age” to 50 years.

Syllabus subtopic: Structure, Organization and Functioning of the Executive and the Judiciary

Prelims and Mains focus: about the commission: composition and functions

News: The Union Cabinet gave its approval to set up the 22nd Law Commission. The Law Ministry will now notify the new panel, which will have a three-year term.

Background

• In 2015, a proposal was mooted to make the law panel into a permanent body either through an Act of Parliament or an executive order (resolution of the Union Cabinet).

• The move was shelved after the Prime Minister’s Office preferred the existing system to continue. In 2010, the then UPA government had prepared a draft Cabinet note to give statutory status to the commission but the idea did not take off.

About Law Commission of India

• Law Commission of India is a non-statutory body constituted by the Government from time to time.

• Originally formed in 1955, the commission is reconstituted every three years and so far, 277 reports have been submitted to the government. The tenure of the twenty-first Law Commission ended in August 2018.

Composition:

• Chairperson: A retired Supreme Court judge or Chief Justice of a High Court.

• Apart from a full-time chairperson, the commission will have four full-time members, including a member-secretary.

• The Law and Legislative Secretaries in the Law Ministry will be ex-officio members of the commission.

• It will also have not more than five part-time members.

Functions

• The Law Commission advises the government on complex legal issues.

• The Law Commission shall, on a reference made to it by the Central Government or suo motu, undertake research in law and review of existing laws in India for making reforms and enacting new legislation.

• It shall also undertake studies and research for bringing reforms in the justice delivery systems for elimination of delay in procedures, speedy disposal of cases, reduction in cost of litigation, etc..

21^st Law Commission

• The previous Law Commission, under Justice B.S. Chauhan (retd.), had submitted reports and working papers on key issues such as simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and the Assemblies and a uniform civil code.

• While it supported simultaneous elections, the commission had said the time for a common code was not yet ripe.

Syllabus subtopic: Structure, Organization and Functioning of the Executive and the Judiciary

Prelims and Mains focus: about the group: its mandate and significance

News: The Union Cabinet has approved the setting up of an empowered technology group to help address issues such as “sub-optimal industrial development”.

About the group

• The 12-member panel will be headed by the Principal Scientific Adviser (PSA).

• The decision to set up such a group was based on recommendations of a committee led by the Principal Scientific Adviser.

• The Principal Scientific Adviser (PSA) chairs the Prime Minister’s Science, Technology and Innovation Advisory Council (PM-STIAC), which includes industrialists, scientists and technocrats and is tasked with recommending policy action on science and technology as well as coordinating between different Ministries.

Mandate

• Among the key issues, the group will address is “dual-use technologies not being optimally commercialised”. Dual-use technologies have civilian and military applications.

• The group is expected to develop in-house expertise in aspects of policy and use of emerging technologies, and ensure sustainability of technology being developed at public sector organisations.

• The group would also work to

1. ensure that India had an updated map of technology and technology products available and being developed;
2. develop an “indigenisation road map” for selected key technologies;
3. encourage Union Ministries and departments and State governments to develop in-house expertise in policy; and
4. use aspects of emerging technologies.

• The group will also facilitate cross-sector collaborations and research alliances with universities and private companies and formulate “standards and a common vocabulary” to screen proposals for research and development.

Significance of the move

• Today, all the Ministries procure their own technology, but they don’t know if it’s the latest. This group will give advice to all ministries, agencies and PSUs.

• The move would be useful to coordinate research.

Syllabus subtopic: Welfare Schemes for Vulnerable Sections of the population by the Centre and States and the Performance of these Schemes

Prelims and Mains focus: about the second phase and its implementation: about Swachh Bharat Mission and its significance

News: The Centre approved the second phase of Swachh Bharat Mission (Rural), PM Modi’s pet project focussed on sustainability of ODF (Open defecation free) and management of solid and liquid waste.

Background

The rural sanitation programme was started on October 2, 2014, when the sanitation coverage in the country was reported at 38.7 per cent. More than 10 crore individual toilets have been constructed since the launch of the mission and as a result, rural areas in all states have declared themselves open defecation free (ODF) as on October 2, 2019.

Implementation of second phase

• The second phase will be implemented on a mission mode between 2020-21 and 2024-25 with an estimated central and state budget of Rs 52,497 crore.

• The second phase will focus on Open Defecation Free Plus (ODF Plus), which includes ODF sustainability and solid and liquid waste management (SLWM).

• The ODF Plus programme will converge with MGNREGA, especially for grey water management, and will complement the newly launched Jal Jeevan Mission.

• The programme will also work towards ensuring that no one is left behind and everyone uses a toilet.

• The 15th Finance Commission has proposed earmarking Rs 30,375 crores for rural water supply and sanitation to be implemented by rural local bodies for the upcoming financial year.

• The Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation (DDWS) under the Ministry of Jal Shakti has, however, advised all the states to reconfirm that there are no rural households that still don't have access to a toilet.

• The department has also said that to provide the necessary support to any such identified households to build individual household toilets in order to ensure that no one is left behind under the programme.

• The fund sharing pattern between the Centre and States will be

1. 90:10 for North-Eastern States and Himalayan States and UT of J&K;
2. 60:40 for other States; and
3. 100:0 for other Union Territories, for all the components.

• The Jal Shakti ministry said the Swachh Bharat Mission-Grameen continue to generate employment and provide impetus to the rural economy through construction of household toilets and community toilets, as well as infrastructure for waste management such as compost pits, soak pits, waste stabilisation ponds, material recovery facilities, etc.

About Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM)

• SBM (1^st phase) was a nation-wide campaign in India for the period 2014 to 2019 that aims to clean up the street, roads and infrastructure of cities towns, urban and rural cities and area in India.

• The objectives of Swachh Bharat include eliminating open defecation through the construction of household-owned and community-owned toilets and establishing an accountable mechanism of monitoring toilet use.

• Run by the Government of India, the mission aims to achieve an "open-defecation free" (ODF) India by 2 October 2019, the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, by constructing 100 million toilets in rural India at a projected cost of Rs.1.96 lakh crore (US$28 billion).

• The mission will also contribute to India reaching Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG 6), established by the UN in 2015.

• The campaign was officially launched on 2 October 2014 at Rajghat, New Delhi by PM Modi. It is India's largest cleanliness drive to date with three million government employees and students from all parts of India participating in 4,043 cities, towns, and rural communities. PM Modi has called the campaign Satyagrah se Swachhagrah in reference to Gandhi's Champaran Satyagraha launched on 10 April 1916.

• The mission has two thrusts:

1. Swachh Bharat Abhiyan ("gramin" or "rural"), which operates under the Ministry of Jal Shakti; and
2. Swachh Bharat Abhiyan ("urban"), which operates under the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.

• As part of the campaign, volunteers, known as Swachhagrahis, or "Ambassadors of cleanliness", have promoted indoor plumbing and community approaches to sanitation (CAS) at the village level. Other non-governmental activities include national real-time monitoring and updates from non-governmental organizations (NGOs) such as The Ugly Indian, Waste Warriors, and SWaCH Pune (Solid Waste Collection and Handling) that are working towards its ideas of Swachh Bharat.

• The government has constructed 11 million toilets since 2014. Many people continue to not use toilets despite having them. The campaign has been criticized for using coercive approaches to force people to use toilets. Many households have been threatened with a loss of benefits such as access to electricity or food entitlements through the public distribution system. However, a report by UNICEF shows promising improvements with sanitation coverage reaching 90 percent.

Syllabus subtopic: Welfare Schemes for Vulnerable Sections of the population by the Centre and States and the Performance of these Schemes

Prelims and Mains focus: about the move; about PMFBY: objectives and criticisms

News: The Union Cabinet approved the revamp of the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) and the Restructured Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme at its meeting.

Key highlights of the meeting

• The Centre has almost halved its contribution to its own flagship crop insurance schemes, slashing its share of the premium subsidy from the current 50% to just 25% in irrigated areas and 30% for unirrigated areas from the kharif season of 2020.

• In another significant step, enrolment in the two schemes has also been made voluntary for all farmers, including those with existing crop loans. When the PMFBY was launched in 2016, it was made mandatory for all farmers with crop loans to enrol for insurance cover under the scheme.

• 58% of farmers enrolled in the schemes are loanees who will no longer have to compulsorily take insurance cover. The numbers of enrolled farmers may go down in the first year, but it will pick up again after that. The Centre would launch an awareness campaign to encourage farmers to voluntarily sign up for crop insurance policies. Coverage under the scheme is now 30% of cropped area, according to government data.

Criticism of PMFBY

PMFBY has come in from flak from a wide variety of stakeholders.

• Farmers groups and opposition politicians have claimed that private insurance companies have made windfall gains on the scheme.

• Several major insurers, including ICICI Lombard and Tata AIG, have opted out of the scheme in 2019-20, reportedly due to losses because of high claims ratios. Several States, including Punjab and West Bengal, have refused to participate in the scheme as well.

Revamping PMFBY

• The Centre has made changes to the scheme based on consultations with States and inputs from all stakeholders.

• Farmers pay a fixed share of the premium: 2% of the sum insured for kharif crops, 1.5% for rabi crops and 5% for cash crops.

• Currently, the Centre and State split the balance of the premium equally. However, the revamp now reduces the burden on the Centre and increases the share of States.

About PMFBY

• In April, 2016, the government of India had launched Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) after rolling back the earlier insurance schemes viz. National Agriculture Insurance Scheme (NAIS), Weather-based Crop Insurance scheme and Modified National Agricultural Insurance Scheme (MNAIS).

• It envisages a uniform premium of only 2% to be paid by farmers for Kharif crops, and 1.5% for Rabi crops. The premium for annual commercial and horticultural crops will be 5%.

• The scheme is mandatory for farmers who have taken institutional loans from banks. It’s optional for farmers who have not taken institutional credit.

Objectives:

1. Providing financial support to farmers suffering crop loss/damage arising out of unforeseen events.
2. Stabilizing the income of farmers to ensure their continuance in farming.
3. Encouraging farmers to adopt innovative and modern agricultural practices.
4. Ensuring flow of credit to the agriculture sector which contributes to food security, crop diversification and enhancing growth and competitiveness of agriculture sector besides protecting farmers from production risks.

Syllabus subtopic: Welfare Schemes for Vulnerable Sections of the population by the Centre and States and the Performance of these Schemes

Prelims and Mains focus: about the key features of the event; about smart city mission and its objectives

News: Organised by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), the 100-day sister cities challenge will commence on 20^th February.

What is it?

• The challenge pairs the 20 best performing Smart Cities with the 20 bottom ones in implementing projects under the Smart City mission.

• The program of pairing the best performing smart cities to poorly performing smart cities as 'sister cities' is being called 20-20 formula. Sister Cities will sign a memorandum agreement on February 20 under this program.

About the event

• The cities have been paired based on a certain criteria; for instance, coastal towns, state capitals, industrial hubs, hilly terrain or educational destinations are paired up with each other.

• PM Modi’s Varanasi constituency, currently ranked 14th, will be paired up with Amritsar as both attract religious tourists.

• The sister cities will have a joint meeting once every 30 days (via video conferencing), and at least once in the 100-day period “the teams of sister cities would visit the city and understand the Smart Cities projects under implementation and completion.” Technical drawings and financial studies including DPRs, feasibility reports and impact assessment reports will be shared amongst the two cities.

• The internal rankings of the cities is drawn up every Friday in the Ministry based on performance (80 per cent) and utilisation of funds (20 per cent).”

About Smart City Mission

• The Smart City Mission focuses on the most relevant and greater opportunities to improve lives in India. The objective of this project is to provide a clean and sustainable environment for smart solutions.

• The project includes core infrastructure elements like proper sanitation, adequate water supply, robust IT connectivity, sustainable environment, safety and security of citizens, education, and health, etc.

• The government of India has been distributed to 100 smart cities among the total number of states and UTs.