Daily Prelims Notes 20 September 2020

September 20, 2020
Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
Category: DPN

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Table Of Contents

1. Labour code reforms

Subject: Economy

Context:

Government has introduced three Labour Codes in the Lok Sabha heralding the path of game changing labour welfare reforms in the country.
These bills are (i) Industrial Relations Code, 2020, (ii) Code on Occupational Safety, Health & Working Conditions Bill, 2020 (iii) Social Security Code, 2020.
It was mentioned that the Code on Wages has already been approved by Parliament in the month of August, 2019 and has already become the law of the land.

Concept:

i) Social Security Code, 2020

Labour falls under the Concurrent List of the Constitution. Therefore, both Parliament and state legislatures can make laws regulating labour.
Currently, there are over 100 state and 40 central laws regulating various aspects of labour such as resolution of industrial disputes, working conditions, social security and wages.
Social security refers to protection measures provided to workers to ensure healthcare and income security in case of certain contingencies such as old age, maternity, or accidents.
In India, social security schemes under different laws are designed on the basis of size of establishment, nature of employment, income of worker, or income status of the worker’s household.
These schemes are administered through a combination of contribution-based schemes (funded by the government, employer, or employee), state-funded social assistance programmes, or, employer-liability schemes

Features:

The Bill replaces nine laws related to social security. These include the Employees’ Provident Fund Act, 1952, the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961, and the Unorganised Workers’ Social Security Act, 2008.
Establishments above a certain specified size have to provide benefits (such as provident fund and insurance). These are mandatory for employees above a wage level which will be notified. For other workers, the government may frame social security schemes.
The Bill provides for the establishment of several bodies to administer the social security schemes. These include: (i) a Central Board of Trustees, headed by the Central Provident Fund Commissioner, to administer the EPF, EPS and EDLI Schemes, (ii) an Employees State Insurance Corporation, headed by a Chairperson appointed by the central government, to administer the ESI Scheme, (iii) national and state-level Social Security Boards, headed by the central and state Ministers for Labour and Employment, respectively, to administer schemes for unorganised workers, and (iv) state-level Building Workers’ Welfare Boards, headed by a Chairperson nominated by the state government, to administer schemes for building workers.
All eligible establishments are required to register under the Bill. All employees and unorganised workers have to provide their Aadhaar number to receive social security benefits. Employers may be required to report vacancies to career centres.
The Bill specifies penalties for various offences, such as failure to pay contributions and falsification of reports. Offences which are not punishable with imprisonment can be compounded (i.e., settled) by payment of up to 50% of the maximum fine applicable.

ii) Industrial Relations Code, 2020

Features

The Code provides for the recognition of trade unions, notice periods for strikes and lock-outs, standing orders, and resolution of industrial disputes. It subsumes and replaces three labour laws: the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947; the Trade Unions Act, 1926; and the Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act, 1946.
Trade unions that have a membership of at least 10% of the workers or 100 workers will be registered. The union with 75% of workers in an establishment will be the sole negotiating union. Otherwise, a negotiating council of unions will be formed.
An employee cannot go on strike unless he gives notice for a strike within six weeks before striking, and within 14 days of giving such notice. Similar provisions exist for lock-out of workers.
Industrial establishments with 100 workers must prepare standing orders on matters listed in a Schedule and have them certified
Factories, mines or plantations in which 100 or more workers are employed are required to take prior permission of the central or state government before laying off or retrenching their workers
The Code provides for the constitution of Industrial Tribunals for the settlement of industrial disputes. Each Industrial Tribunal will consist of a Judicial member and an Administrative member.

iii) Code on Occupational Safety, Health & Working Conditions Bill, 2020

The Code consolidates 13 labour laws relating to safety, health and working conditions. These include the Factories Act, 1948, the Mines Act, 1952, and the Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970.

Features

The Code seeks to regulate health and safety conditions of workers in establishments with 10 or more workers, and in all mines and docks.
Establishments covered by the Code are required to register with registering officers, appointed by the central or state governments.
Welfare facilities, working conditions and work hours for different types of establishments and workers will be prescribed by the central or state governments through rules.
The Code sets up occupational safety boards at the national and state level to advise the central and state governments on the standards, rules, and regulations to be framed under the Code.
The Code creates special provisions for certain classes of establishments such as factories, mines, dock workers, and constructions workers. These include separate provisions on licenses, safety regulations, and duties of employers.

2. CRISPR test

Subject: Science and tech

Context:

The Tata CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) test, powered by CSIR-IGIB(Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology) FELUDA, received regulatory approvals from the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) for commercial launch.
The Tata CRISPR test is the world’s first diagnostic test to deploy a specially adapted Cas9 protein to successfully detect the virus causing Covid-19.
The Tata CRISPR test achieves accuracy levels of traditional RT-PCR tests, with quicker turnaround time, less expensive equipment, and better ease of use. Moreover, CRISPR is a futuristic technology that can also be configured for detection of multiple other pathogens in the future.

Concept:

CRISPR-cas9 gene

CRISPR technology is a simple yet powerful tool for editing genomes.
It allows researchers to easily alter DNA sequences and modify gene function. Its many potential applications include correcting genetic defects, treating and preventing the spread of diseases and improving crops. However, its promise also raises ethical concerns.
CRISPRs are specialized stretches of DNA.
The protein Cas9 is an enzyme that acts like a pair of molecular scissors, capable of cutting strands of DNA.

CRISPR technology was adapted from the natural defense mechanisms of bacteria and archaea. These organisms use CRISPR-derived RNA and various Cas proteins, including Cas9, to foil attacks by viruses and other foreign bodies. They do so primarily by chopping up and destroying the DNA of a foreign invader.
When these components are transferred into other, more complex, organisms, it allows for the manipulation of genes, or “editing.”

3. External debt

Subject: Economy

Context:

India’s total external debt increased by 2.8 per cent to USD 558.5 billion at the end of March mainly on account of a rise in commercial borrowings, according to a report released by the Finance Ministry.

Findings:

External debt as a ratio to GDP rose marginally to 20.6%, from 19.8 %, ‘India’s External Debt: A Status Report: 2019-2020’ showed.
Sovereign debt shrank 3% to $100.9 billion, this decrease was primarily due to a fall in FII investment in G-Secs — the second-largest constituent — by 23.3% to $21.6 billion, from $28.3 billion in 2019.
Loans from multilateral and bilateral sources under external assistance — the largest constituent of sovereign debt — grew 4.9% to $87.2 billion.
Non-sovereign debt, on the other hand, rose 4.2% to $457.7 billion mainly due to an increase in commercial borrowings — the largest constituent — by 6.7% to $220.3 billion.
Outstanding NRI deposits — the second-largest constituent — at $130.6 billion was almost equal to the level a year earlier.
The ratio of foreign currency reserves to external debt stood at 85.5% as at end-March, compared to 76% in 2019 March.

Concept:

It refers to money borrowed from a source outside the country. External debt has to be paid back in the currency in which it is borrowed.
External debt can be obtained from foreign commercial banks, international financial institutions like IMF, World Bank, ADB etc and from the government of foreign nations.
Normally these types of debts are in the form of tied loans, meaning that these have to be used for a predefined purpose as determined by a consensus of the borrower and the lender.
Sovereign debt is a central government’s debt. It is debt issued by the national government in a foreign currency in order to finance the issuing country’s growth and development.

4. World’s worst food crisis

Subject: IR

Context:

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) was facing the world’s largest food crisis, with around 21.8 million of its people being food insecure primarily due to the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, a report released by the Global Network Against Food Crises alliance of humanitarian agencies said.

Concept:

The indirect impact of COVID‑19 on livelihoods and economic activities, as well as pre‑existing macro‑economic challenges, significantly reduced the purchasing power of vulnerable households in 2020, particularly in urban areas.
Burkina Faso had also been suffering from an acute food crisis besides the DRC, the report said. The country witnessed a nearly 300 per cent uptick in the overall number of people experiencing acute hunger since the start of 2020.
Acute food insecurity was also being reported from northern Nigeria (73 per cent increase), Somalia (67 per cent increase) and Sudan (64 per cent increase).
The current food crisis was the biggest the world had seen for 50 years.
The report emphasised that addressing the urgent issues arising from the COVID-19 pandemic in food crisis contexts was crucial.

5. Arsenic and fluoride pollution

Subject: Environment

Context:

The number of arsenic-affected habitations in the country increased by 145 per cent in the last five years, according to data shared with the Parliament September 18, 2020.

Concept:

Most of the arsenic-affected habitations lie in the Ganga and Brahmaputra alluvial plains; in the states of Assam, Bihar, UP and Bengal. Assam had the highest share of such habitations (1,853), followed by Bengal (1,383).
However, the number of fluoride affected habitations has significantly come down in the last five years — from 12,727 in 2015 to 5,485 as of September 13, 2020. Rajasthan had the highest number of such habitations (2,956), followed by Bihar (861).
Health effects
- Fluorosis: Tooth discoloration and decay and Crippling skeletal damage
- Arsenicosis: Skin pigmentation changes and skin thickening (hyperkeratosis) and Cancer of the skin, lungs, bladder and kidney

6. Schemes to bridge the demand-supply gap of skilled workers

Subject: Schemes

Context:

The Government is implementing various sector/group specific schemes for bridging the gap between demand and supply of skilled workers. Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) has been implementing the following schemes/programmes

Concept:

Pradhan MantriKaushalVikasYojana (PMKVY) imparts short term skill training to youth and recognition of prior learning of informally trained labour in National Skilled Qualification Framework (NSQF) aligned qualifications through the involvement of private training partners.233
Jan ShikshanSansthan (JSS) to provide vocational training to non-literates, neo-literates, school dropouts, etc by identifying the skills relevant in the local market.
Apprenticeship Scheme makes available industry ready workforce by training youth in the industry through apprenticeship. Government of India shares 25% of the stipend paid to the apprentice, limited to Rs 1500/ pm per candidate for apprenticeship.
Craftsmen Training Scheme (CTS) to provide long term training in 137 trades through nearly 15000 Industrial Training Institutes.
Ministry has launched ‘Aatamanirbhar Skilled Employee Employer Mapping (ASEEM)’ portal, which is a directory of all persons who have been formally skilled, and whose details are made available to the industry for meeting their skilled manpower needs anywhere in the country. This portal seeks to bridge the demand- supply gap in the skilled workforce market by providing real-time data about the demand and supply patterns including – industry requirements, demand per district/ state/cluster, key workforce suppliers, etc.

7. Protection against SARS-COV2 short lived

Increasing instances of reinfection has proved that herd immunity through natural infection cannot eliminate SARSCOV 2.The only safe and effective way to achieve herd immunity is through vaccination.

Concept: The immunity derived from infection do not last for life long.

8. Official Secrets Act

Context:

The Delhi police has arrested a under the Official Secrets Act (OSA).

Concept:

OSA has its roots in the British colonial era. The original version was The Indian Official Secrets Act (Act XIV), 1889.

This was brought in with the main objective of muzzling the voice of a large number of newspapers that had come up in several languages, and were opposing the Raj’s policies, building political consciousness and facing police crackdowns and prison terms. It was amended and made more stringent in the form of The Indian Official Secrets Act, 1904, during Lord Curzon’s tenure as Viceroy of India. In 1923, a newer version was notified. The Indian Official Secrets Act (Act No XIX of 1923) was extended to all matters of secrecy and confidentiality in governance in the country.

It broadly deals with two aspects

Section 3 cover spying or espionage, covered
Section 5 covers disclosure of other secret information of the government. Secret information can be any official code, password, sketch, plan, model, article, note, document, or information. Under Section 5, both the person communicating the information and the person receiving the information can be punished

RTI Act vs OSA

Section 22 of the RTI Act provides for its primacy vis-a-vis provisions of other laws, including OSA. Therefore, if there is any inconsistency in OSA with regard to furnishing of information, it will be superseded by the RTI Act.
However, under Sections 8 and 9 of the RTI Act, the government can refuse information. Effectively, if the government classifies a document as “secret” under OSA Clause 6, that document can be kept outside the ambit of the RTI Act, and the government can invoke Sections 8 or 9.

Do we need to reform OSA?

Law Commission report ‘Offences Against National Security’, 1971 observed that “it agrees with the contention” that “merely because a circular is marked secret or confidential, it should not attract the provisions of the Act if the publication thereof is in the interest of the public and no question of national emergency and interest of the State as such arises”. The Law Commission, however, did not recommend any changes to the Act.
Second Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC) recommended that OSA be repealed, and replaced with a chapter in the National Security Act containing provisions relating to official secrets.
In 2015, the government had set up a committee to look into provisions of the OSA in light of the RTI Act. It submitted its report to the Cabinet Secretariat on June 16, 2017, recommending that OSA be made more transparent and in line with the RTI Act.