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Topics Included:

1. Non-Performing Assets (NPA): How serious is India’s bad loan problem?

2. Is the media of today upholding good journalistic standards?
3. Mob Lynching
4. Statue of Unity : Is it required ?
5. The mega challenge of job creation
6. Secularism in India
7. DIGITAL INDIA
8. Artificial Intelligence in India
9. Why the Indian Rupee is depreciating and measures to control it
10. Aadhaar Trap
11. Merger of Banks: Need & Challenges
12. FARMER SUICIDES IN INDIA
13. The CBI Fued:
14. Why India’s air pollution is so horrendous
15. #metoo Movement
16. The law of happiness
17. We live in deeds not in years
18. Great Minds Think Alike...And That Is Exactly The Problem

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Topic 01: Non-Performing Assets (NPA): How serious is India’s bad loan
problem?

A ‘bad bank’ is not a magic bullet; tackling NPAs requires other

structural reforms as well
 When the borrower stops paying interest or principal on a loan, the lender
will lose money. Such a loan is known as Non-Performing Asset (NPA).
Generally, that specified period of time is 90 days in most of the countries
and across the various lending institutions. However, it is not a thumb rule
and it may vary with the terms and conditions agreed upon by the financial
institution and the borrower.
Indian Banking industry is seriously affected by Non-Performing Assets.
NPAs definition by Reserve Bank of India (RBI)
 An asset, including a leased asset, becomes nonperforming when it ceases
to generate income for the bank.
Technical definition by RBI on NPA on different cases
NPA is a loan or an advance where…

 Interest and/ or installment of principal remain overdue for a period of

more than 90 days in respect of a term loan.
 The account remains ‘out of order’ in respect of an Overdraft/Cash Credit
(OD/CC).
 The bill remains overdue for a period of more than 90 days in the case of
bills purchased and discounted.

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 The installment of principal or interest thereon remains overdue for two

crop seasons for short duration crops.
 The installment of principal or interest thereon remains overdue for one
crop season for long duration crops.
 The amount of liquidity facility remains outstanding for more than 90 days,
in respect of a securitisation transaction undertaken in terms of guidelines
on securitisation dated February 1, 2006.
 In respect of derivative transactions, the overdue receivables representing
positive mark-to-market value of a derivative contract, if these remain
unpaid for a period of 90 days from the specified due date for payment.

Categories of Non-Performing Assets (NPAs)

Based upon the period to which a loan has remained as NPA, it is classified into
3 types:

Categories of NPAs Criteria

· Substandard An asset which remains as NPAs for less than or equal to 12
Assets months.
· Doubtful An asset which remained in the above category for 12
Assets months.
· Loss Assets Asset where loss has been identified by the bank or the RBI,
however, there may be some value remaining in it. Therefore
loan has not been not completely written off.

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How serious is India’s NPA issue?

 More than Rs. 7 lakh crore worth loans are classified as Non-Performing
Loans in India. This is a huge amount.
 The figure roughly translates to near 10% of all loans given.
 This means that about 10% of loans are never paid back, resulting in
substantial loss of money to the banks.
 When restructured and unrecognised assets are added the total stress
would be 15-20% of total loans.
 NPA crisis in India is set to worsen.
 Restructuring norms are being misused.
 This bad performance is not a good sign and can result in crashing of banks
as happened in the sub-prime crisis of 2008 in the United States of
America.
 Also, the NPA problem in India is worst when comparing other emerging
economies in BRICS.


What can be the possible reasons for NPAs?

 Diversification of funds to unrelated business/fraud.
 Lapses due to diligence.
 Busines losses due to changes in business/regulatory environment.
 Lack of morale, particularly after government schemes which had written
off loans.

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 Global, regional or national financial crisis which results in erosion of

margins and profits of companies, therefore, stressing their balance sheet
which finally results into non-servicing of interest and loan payments. (For
example, the 2008 global financial crisis).
 The general slowdown of entire economy for example after 2011 there was a
slowdown in the Indian economy which resulted in the faster growth of
NPAs.
 The slowdown in a specific industrial segment, therefore, companies in that
area bear the heat and some may become NPAs.
 Unplanned expansion of corporate houses during boom period and loan
taken at low rates later being serviced at high rates, therefore, resulting
into NPAs.
 Due to mal-administration by the corporates, for example, willful
defaulters.
 Due to mis-governance and policy paralysis which hampers the timeline and
speed of projects, therefore, loans become NPAs. For example
Infrastructure Sector.
 Severe competition in any particular market segment. For example Telecom
sector in India.
 Delay in land acquisition due to social, political, cultural and environmental
reasons.
 A bad lending practice which is a non-transparent way of giving loans.
 Due to natural reasons such as floods, droughts, disease outbreak,
earthquakes, tsunami etc.

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 Cheap import due to dumping leads to business loss of domestic companies.

For example Steel sector in India.

What is the impact of NPAs?

 Lenders suffer lowering of profit margins.
 Stress in banking sector causes less money available to fund other

projects, therefore, negative impact on the larger national economy.

 Higher interest rates by the banks to maintain the profit margin.

 Redirecting funds from the good projects to the bad ones.

 As investments got stuck, it may result in it may result in unemployment.

 In the case of public sector banks, the bad health of banks means a bad

return for a shareholder which means that government of India gets less
money as a dividend. Therefore it may impact easy deployment of money
for social and infrastructure development and results in social and political
cost.
 Investors do not get rightful returns.

 Balance sheet syndrome of Indian characteristics that is both the banks

and the corporate sector have stressed balance sheet and causes halting
of the investment-led development process.
 NPAs related cases add more pressure to already pending cases with the

judiciary.
What are the various steps taken to tackle NPAs?
NPAs story is not new in India and there have been several steps taken by the
GOI on legal, financial, policy level reforms. In the year 1991, Narsimham

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committee recommended many reforms to tackle NPAs. Some of them were

implemented.
The Debt Recovery Tribunals (DRTs) – 1993
To decrease the time required for settling cases. They are governed by the
provisions of the Recovery of Debt Due to Banks and Financial Institutions Act,
1993.However, their number is not sufficient therefore they also suffer from
time lag and cases are pending for more than 2-3 years in many areas.

Credit Information Bureau – 2000

A good information system is required to prevent loan falling into bad hands
and therefore prevention of NPAs. It helps banks by maintaining and sharing
data of individual defaulters and willful defaulters.

Lok Adalats – 2001

They are helpful in tackling and recovery of small loans however they are
limited up to 5 lakh rupees loans only by the RBI guidelines issued in 2001. They
are positive in the sense that they avoid more cases into the legal system.

Compromise Settlement – 2001

It provides a simple mechanism for recovery of NPA for the advances below
Rs. 10 Crores. It covers lawsuits with courts and DRTs (Debt Recovery
Tribunals) however willful default and fraud cases are excluded.

SARFAESI Act – 2002

The Securitization and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of
Security Interest (SARFAESI) Act, 2002 – The Act permits Banks / Financial
Institutions to recover their NPAs without the involvement of the Court,

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through acquiring and disposing of the secured assets in NPA accounts with an
outstanding amount of Rs. 1 lakh and above. The banks have to first issue a
notice. Then, on the borrower’s failure to repay, they can:

1. Take ownership of security and/or

2. Control over the management of the borrowing concern.
3. Appoint a person to manage the concern.
Further, this act has been amended last year to make its enforcement faster.

ARC (Asset Reconstruction Companies)

The RBI gave license to 14 new ARCs recently after the amendment of the
SARFAESI Act of 2002. These companies are created to unlock value from
stressed loans. Before this law came, lenders could enforce their security
interests only through courts, which was a time-consuming process.

Corporate Debt Restructuring – 2005

It is for reducing the burden of the debts on the company by decreasing the
rates paid and increasing the time the company has to pay the obligation back.
5:25 rule – 2014
Also known as, Flexible Structuring of Long Term Project Loans to
Infrastructure and Core Industries. It was proposed to maintain the cash flow
of such companies since the project timeline is long and they do not get the
money back into their books for a long time, therefore, the requirement of
loans at every 5-7 years and thus refinancing for long term projects.
Joint Lenders Forum – 2014
It was created by the inclusion of all PSBs whose loans have become stressed.
It is present so as to avoid loan to same individual or company from different

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banks. It is formulated to prevent the instances where one person takes a loan
from one bank to give a loan of the other bank.

Strategic debt restructuring (SDR) – 2015

Under this scheme banks who have given loans to a corporate borrower gets
the right to convert the complete or part of their loans into equity shares in
the loan taken company. Its basic purpose is to ensure that more stake of
promoters in reviving stressed accounts and providing banks with enhanced
capabilities for initiating a change of ownership in appropriate cases.

Asset Quality Review – 2015

Classify stressed assets and provisioning for them so as the secure the future
of the banks and further early identification of the assets and prevent them
from becoming stressed by appropriate action.

Sustainable structuring of stressed assets (S4A) – 2016

It has been formulated as an optional framework for the resolution of largely
stressed accounts. It involves the determination of sustainable debt level for a
stressed borrower and bifurcation of the outstanding debt into sustainable
debt and equity/quasi-equity instruments which are expected to provide
upside to the lenders when the borrower turns around.
Insolvency and Bankruptcy code Act-2016
It has been formulated to tackle the Chakravyuaha Challenge (Economic
Survey) of the exit problem in India. The aim of this law is to promote
entrepreneurship, availability of credit, and balance the interests of all
stakeholders by consolidating and amending the laws relating to reorganization
and insolvency resolution of corporate persons, partnership firms and

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individuals in a time bound manner and for maximization of value of assets of

such persons and matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.
Pubic ARC vs. Private ARC – 2017
This debate is recently in the news which is about the idea of a Public Asset
Reconstruction Companies (ARC) fully funded and administered by the
government as mooted by this year’s Economic Survey Vs. the private ARC as
advocated by the deputy governor of RBI Mr. Viral Acharya. Economic survey
calls it as PARA (Public Asset Rehabilitation Agency) and the recommendation
is based on the similar agency being used during the East Asian crisis of 1997
which was a success.

Bad Banks – 2017

Economic survey 16-17, also talks about the formation of a bad bank which will
take all the stressed loans and it will tackle it according to flexible rules and
mechanism. It will ease the balance sheet of PSBs giving them the space to
fund new projects and continue the funding of development projects.

Summary
The need of the hour to tackle NPAs is some urgent remedial measures. This
should include:

 Technology and data analytics to identify the early warning signals.

 Mechanism to identify the hidden NPAs.
 Development of internal skills for credit assessment.
 Forensic audits to understand the intent of the borrower.

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More about this : https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/editorial/no-easy-

solutions/article24130615.ece

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Topic 02 : Is the media of today upholding good journalistic standards?

By giving us the opinions of the uneducated, journalism keeps us in touch with

the ignorance of the community.”
― Oscar Wilde
It is said that media is the fourth pillar of the democracy, because it keeps the
people aware about the political turmoil on one hand, and it pressurize the
political leaders to show accountability to the people on the other. Today, in India
the face of media has changed a lot and in-fact many times it has proved its
efficiency. The media is actively involved in the national level affairs relating to
the social justice, law and order, constitution and many other things.
Many times the media has played an extremely positive role by creating a public
opinion towards a thing. For example in the campaign of social activist Anna
Hazaray, media played a big part in making the campaign a success. There are
many other examples when the media played a great role in providing justice to
the people as like in the case of Jessica Lal murder, if the media had not given

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the case so much of hype there were hardly any chances that the culprits would
have got the sentence of life. Moreover many times certain scams were
uncovered by medic through sting channel operations, although the legality of
these operations might be altogether different debate but still they did some
social good by it.
But only on these facts we can't conclude that the media of our nation has
touched the height of high journalism. Media of nation can only be said to be of
high standard when it is aware of its societal responsibilities and it is actively
involved in it. But in this regard I would rather say with great sorrow that media
of our nation has failed in its duty towards the country. It is correct that the
media has been successful in giving itself a professional touch according to the
changing conditions of globalization, but on the other hands it could not maintain
a fair functioning of its duties towards nation at large.
The truth is that even when the hype of media results in positive yields, those
incidents are not a product of the consciousness of media for the society at
large but instead a part of their strategy to create reputation and money. As like
the case of the death of Jessica Lal was given so much hype by the government,
but in rural areas everyday thousands of people are killed , many types entire
families are killed but our media hardly take those incidents with that
seriousness with which it takes the case of Jessica and alike. In several states
many people are dying because of hunger and malnutrition, but such things
never get enough attention from the fourth pillar of our democracy. One the one
hand at regional level many agitations are taking place, which are even continued
from years but they got never justice from the side of media as like Sharmila is

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agitating from years to improve the plight of the people of North-East, but the
media never give it enough attention.
Although in today's time media needs to be professional, because fund raising is
very necessary for it to function properly but with the professional touch it has
to focus on social issues even if they are not so profitable. In rural India many
NGOs are working for the welfare for poor, removal of literacy and many other
social causes, and if they would be help through media in their campaign then it
can bring drastic change in the plight of the people. When the big projects are
created and people are replaced without adequate compensation, media should
be actively involved in showing the plight of those people to the public, but it
hardly happens. Because ultimately the true goal of the journalism to make good
to people, and media should always keep this point in mind.
In this regard there is also a responsibility on the government that it should not
unnecessarily interfere in the working of the media. The independence of media
is a very necessary aspect of its fair functioning, and moreover it is guaranteed
under ar. 19 of the Constitution of India, which ensures freedom to speech and
expression. In the past many time the political leader had pressurized the media
to achieve their own political ends, and hindered the emergence of high level
journalism. Political leader are required to understand the importance of
reporting by media, and they must give the journalists and editors sufficient
safeguards against the criminal and unsocial elements.
In conclusion I would rather say that to achieve the high level of journalism the
media is required to be oriented towards the problems of the people. It is
required to impartial and independent in the reporting of political incidents. It is
required to be more concentrated on social issues as like suicide by farmers,

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rural development, social movement, displacement, land acquisition etc. After

shameful incidents of bribing in Parliament people are losing faith in the
democratic structure of nation, and media can play a great role in bringing back
this trust.

More here : https://www.business-standard.com/article/current-

affairs/fake-news-and-its-deadly-consequences-how-social-media-aides-it-
117052600147_1.html

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Topic 03 : Mob Lynching

What is mob lynching?

 Mob Lynching means killing of someone by a mob for an alleged offence
without following any principles of jurisprudence or due process of law.
 A lynching is a majority way of telling a minority population that the law
cannot protect it.
 Lynching served the broad social purpose of maintaining superiority in
economic, social, cultural and political sphere.
Reasons

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1. With modernity, there is growth of individualism and an erosion of

associational life
 Associations encourage us to appreciate others culture and moderate
our aggressive instincts.
2. Mob has no face. This impunity leads mob to take extreme steps
3. Weakening of civil society organizations and other organic institutional
links.
4. A culture of political mobilization that uses violence as a tool of politics.
5. Indifferent attitude towards other cultures and religions.
6. Indifferent attitude of Police leads people to take law in their own hands
(e.g. Tamil Nadu Lynching)
 In 21% of the cases, the police filed cases against the victims/survivors.
(India spend report)
7. Rise in penetration of Social media and its usage to spread rumors and
hatred (Bangalore Exodus of North east people)
8. Growing Prevalence of Fake news and Hate News (Dadri Lynching). There
are instances of organized hate campaigns as well.
 According to ‘India spend’ 52% of attacks in last 8 years is based on
rumors.
9. The silence of political class. They are ineffective to create deterrence
through strong law.
10.Ineffective and delayed justice (Assam Lynching of rape accused).

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11. High Unemployment rates leave millions of youth unengaged.

(ManesarMaruti Plant Incident)
Impact
State
 It is against the values upheld in constitution of India.
 Every individual have certain fundamental rightsany violence would be
curtailment of this right.
 No regard to law and order in society.
 This may lead to growth of feeling of sub-nationalism.
 Radical and extremists organisations such as ISIS etc could take leverage
of atmosphere created by such incidents

Society
 This impact solidarity of society and idea of Unity in diversity
 This create an atmosphere of majority v/s minority
 It could aggravate caste, class and communal hatred.
 This may increase the extent of domestic conflict and subsequent
militarization.

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 Such acts shows loss of tolerance in the society and people are being
swayed by emotions,prejudices etc.
Economy
 This impacts both foreign and domestic investment thereby adversely
affecting sovereign ratings. Many International agencies warned India
against mob lynching incidents.
 It directly hampers internal migration which in turn affects economy.
 Large resources deployed to tackle such menaces induces extra burden
on state-exchequer.
 These incidents would led to selective distribution of investment which
may impact regional balance.
Steps taken so far
 Government Launched Ek bharat shreshta bharat for sustained and
structured cultural connect between citizens of different regions
 Civil society Launched ‘NOT IN MY NAME’ campaign: to protest against the
cow vigilantism.
 Civil society also lunched National Campaign Against Mob Lynching
(NCAML). It also known as ‘Masuka’, short for ManavSurakshaKanoon (law
to protect humans).
 A draft of the proposed legislation is currently up on the Internet,
awaiting suggestions from the public.

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What needs to be done

 Government should criminalizes the act of mob violence.
 Awarding of penalties on public servants for failing to investigate
properly due to malafide intentions or wilful neglect of their duties.
 Establishment of Special Courts for the trial of mob violence.
 Empowering local law enforcement officials to take pre-emptive action.
 There needs to be continued responsiveness on part of the local
administration in dealing with anxiety and suspicion in local communities.
 Create a mechanism to insulate investigations of communal violence from
political interference.
 Community Sensitisation and awareness through multi-media
campaigns.Counter-information campaign to check fear-mongering and
fake news.
 Strengthen civil society Organisation. This helps to nurture solidarity.
 Re-orient values and traditional principles towards enhancing
compassion, empathy and fraternity among people.

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 Find productive engagement avenues for large unemployed or under-

employed youths.
 A targeted region specific approach is need of the hour as reasons for
such acts vary widely across space.
 Police reforms are vital along with sensitization drive to make
transformational changes in their behavioural and attitudinal approach
towards tackling of crime.
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Topic 04 : Statue of Unity : Is it required ?
Some views here : https://www.dailyo.in/politics/sardar-patel-statue-of-
unity-partition-india-narendra-modi/story/1/27526.html
All about the Statue : https://www.outlookindia.com/website/story/statue-of-
unity-inauguration-live-pm-modi-to-unveil-worlds-tallest-statue-in-gujarat-
today/319325
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Topic 05 : The mega challenge of job creation
Summary:
While on one side the challenge of creating jobs has occupied the centre stage
world over, on the other side the latest NSSO report notes that unemployment
rate was only 2.2% of the labour force in India. This makes it difficult to
measure the scale of problem.

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What’s the real scenario?

The data released by the NSSO are misleading because many of those shown as
employed in the survey are actually engaged in low-paid jobs that they take up
only because there is no alternative. Economists call this “disguised
unemployment” or “underemployment”. Besides, many applications to any
government job doesn’t mean that unemployment rate is high. Since
government jobs at the lower levels pay much better than the market rate,
those employed in the private sector want to switch to government jobs if they
can.
A recent survey of youth unemployment shows that educated youth face
greater problems. The unemployment rate for 18-29-year-olds as a group is
10.2%, but for illiterates it is only 2.2%, rising to 18.4% for graduates. As more
and more educated youth enter the workforce in future, we can be sure that
unless the quality of jobs available for them improves dramatically,
dissatisfaction will mount.

What structural changes are needed to address these problems?

 The workforce employed in agriculture must decline. For the agricultural

sector to be productive, it should not be overburdened with the increased

labour. This places a huge burden of on non-agricultural employment, which
will have to expend sufficiently to absorb the shift out of agriculture plus
the normal increase in the total workforce.
 Expectation from manufacturing as a provider of non-agricultural jobs

should be reduced. Faster growth in manufacturing has long been central to

our economic strategy and must remain so. However, we have to recognize

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that technological change is likely to make manufacturing less employment

generating than in the past.
 Another structural change needed is a shift from informal sector
employment to formal sector employment. The NSS data for 2011-12 showed
about 243 million people employed in the non-agricultural sector, and as
many as 85% of these were in the “informal sector”, including both self-
employment and wage employment. However, much of the demand for “high
quality” employment opportunities today is a demand for jobs in the
formal/organized sector. A shift away from the unorganized/informal
sector to the organized/formal sector is desperately needed if we want to
meet the expectations of the young.

Creation of more jobs:

 The biggest opportunity for generating more employment in manufacturing

lies in exporting simpler consumer goods to the world market, an area

which China has long dominated, but which it is now likely to exit, as its
wages rise. How well we can do this depends upon our ability to compete
with others such as Bangladesh, Vietnam.
 Becoming competitive would involve faster modernization of these

industries, which will involve a shift away from labour intensity, but if it
allows an increase in the scale of operations, total employment could
increase.
 Small and medium enterprises generate much more employment than large

capital-intensive enterprises but we have not done enough to encourage

this segment. There are too few middle-sized firms, employing between 100

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and say 1,000 workers, and it is these firms that can upgrade technology,
increase productivity, and demonstrate competitiveness in world markets.
The policies needed to develop this middle group include lowering of
corporate tax rates and abolition of incentives that favour more capital-
intensive units, better public infrastructure and better access to finance.
 Start-ups are a new phenomenon and India has made a good beginning in
this area. Technically skilled and business-oriented youth should be
encouraged to explore the entrepreneurship option, and create jobs, rather
than looking for secure wage employment.

Conclusion:
It is obvious that no single policy initiative can achieve all the structural
changes listed above. Multiple interventions are needed at different levels.
Job-creation needs to be an essential axis along which economic and social
policies are formulated.
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Topic 06 : Secularism in India
In the words of Nehru:
“In a country like India, which has many faiths and religious, no real
nationalism can be built up except on the basis of secularity”.
Secularism, like many other concepts, political and social has come to India
from the west. Secularism is it is understood and practiced in the western
societies indeed. It is the aloofness of state from any particular religion or a

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state which does not patronise any one or particular religion. One of the
principal features of secular state was totally unknown to India.
The 42nd Constitution Amendments of 1976 has added words, socialist, secular
and integrity of the nation. The idea of secularism goes beyond the ambit of
religious rights guaranteed in article 25 28. It implies full freedom and equal
respect for all religion. In Indian Politics, there is a hold of religion on Indian
masses. This implies that in such cases the use of politics for religious purpose
and control over religious institution and organisation and even funds collected
for religious purposes in the furtherance of their political needs will have to be
conceded.
But even if an institutionalised combination of religion and politics does not
form a major part of our political behaviour pattern. The use of the religious
factor by practically all political parties and groups with only a few exceptions
has become a normal and regular feature of Indian politics since Independence.
Political parties rely on and exploit religious sentiments of the electorate in
mobilizing political support for their candidate. The choice of candidate is also
made in view of the religious and communal character of the electorate. In a few
cases, religious issues have received an unprecedented priority over secular and
socio-economic ones.
The secular political system has completed over three decades. The overall
experience has neither been full satisfactory nor worth repetition in future without
blaming the legal system. It is the social forces and manner in which they have
been exploited in the working of our political processes that has placed secularism
in our society in an unhealthy state.

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Topic 07 : DIGITAL INDIA

Digital India is a campaign launched by the Government of India on 1st of July,
2015 in order to transform India into a complete digital country. It is an
initiative planned to digitally empower Indian society by integrating the
government departments and leading companies (national or international
level). The main purpose of digitizing this country is to make available all the
government services at easy reach to the citizens of India. There are three key
vision areas of this programme which are:
 Digital infrastructure all through the country is like a utility to the Indian
people as it will make available high speed internet delivering all the
government services with ease and fast. It will provide lifelong, unique, online
and authenticable digital identity to the citizens. It will make easy access to any
online services like handling bank account, financial management, safe and
secure cyber-space, education, distance learning, etc.
 High demand of good governance and online services will make available all the
services in real time through digitization. Digitally transformed services will
also promote people for doing online business by making financial transactions
easy, electronic and cashless.
 Digital empowerment of Indian people will really make possible of digital
literacy through universally accessible digital resources. It will enable people
to submit required documents or certificates online and not physically in the
schools, colleges, offices or any organization.
Digital India programme has been implemented by the government of India to
ensure following aims of this initiative:
 To ensure the broadband highways.

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 To ensure the universal access to mobile phones.

 To facilitate people with high speed internet.
 To bring e-Governance by reforming government through digitization.
 To bring e-Kranti through electronic delivery of services.
 To make available online information for all.
 To ensure more IT jobs.

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Topic 08 : Artificial Intelligence in India

NITI Aayog has joined hands with Google to promote the growth of artificial
intelligence and a machine learning ecosystem in India. Artificial intelligence is
a fascinating concept of science using which scientists have now been able to
develop computer systems that can perform human-like tasks. These tasks
include speech recognition, translation into different languages, visual
perception and even decision.

 From the early days of human civilization efforts have been made to replace
human hands with machines to make lives easier.

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 Human beings then started looking beyond machines, developing robots and
other advanced technologies that could just read the human mind and do
the required work.
 Intelligence is the ability to take variables from our senses and to process

certain decisions using the brain. Artificial intelligence helps a machine in

doing the same. Such a system has a receptor, sensors (to pick data from
environment), a memory (that tells what to do depending on what signal it
gets), and then it takes a decision that will communicate to another device.
 Examples/Applications of Artificial Intelligence:

1. Autonomous vehicles like drones and self-driving cars

2. Robotics, widely used in modern factories.
 Search engines like Google search

1. Online assistants like Siri in Apple mobile phones and Alexa

2. Image recognition in photographs
3. Posting of stories and advertisements on social media sites like Facebook.
 Artificial Intelligence includes Machine Learning and other technologies.

For example:
Natural Language Processing gives machines the ability to read and
understand human language.
Machine perception is the ability to use inputs from sensors (cameras,
microphones, etc) to deduce aspects of the world. This helps in speech, facial
and object recognition.
 The term Artificial Intelligence was first coined by American scientist John

McCarthy in 1955. Over the years improvement in technology, algorithms,

computing power and storage power has made the concept realistic.

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 This can be termed as the fourth Industrial Revolution. Each cycle of the
Industrial Revolution changes the lives of the common man in unpredictable
ways. This has already helped in improvements like in healthcare making
surgeries of eye easier, predicting floods and droughts, etc.

 Types of Artificial Intelligence:

1. Reactive Machine AI: Cannot use past experiences to decide future actions.
2. Limited Memory AI: They have a limited memory and work on both pre-
programmed knowledge and past experiences.

Theory of Mind AI: The machine itself is capable of interpreting the

world around it. Information can be reproduced when needed based on
observation made.
1. Self-Awareness: It is the most advanced form of Artificial Intelligence,
which is not developed yet. These machines can interpret the world around
them and also possess consciousness, feelings and emotions.
 In Indian Context:

The partnership between think tank in India NITI Aayog (National Institute for
Transforming India) with Google to develop India’s artificial intelligence
ecosystem will help to improve healthcare, education, agriculture,
transportation, develop innovative governance systems and improve
overall economic productivity. This will also help in
promoting entrepreneurs associated with it, research in the field in premier
institutions like IITs and providing crash course to students across India.

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Disadvantages: Development in such advanced technologies affects

employment opportunities also as machines can do the work of many
labours. Whether they can compete with a human brain is also a question.

Conclusion:
India is already making progress in computing technologies with its Digital
India campaign in the recent past. Now taking a step towards Artificial
Intelligence brings with it various new applications. But the drawbacks of using
them are also predicted and how it will design our future is to be seen.

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Topic : 09 : Why the Indian Rupee is depreciating and measures to control it

There are three questions that needs answer; 1. Why is the Rupee depreciating?
2. What does it means common man? 3. What should be done about it?
Depreciation is used to describe 'a decrease in a currency's value (relative to
other major currency benchmarks) due to market forces, not government or
central bank policy actions'. In other words, when we say that the rupee is
depreciating, it means that if at some time in the past, we could have bought one
dollar (or one euro, dirham, pound…) for say 55 rupees, we would now have to
pay more. (At last count, this figure had 'breached' the Rs 60 mark), with the
change having resulted due to 'market forces' and not government actions.
So what are these market forces and how can they cause depreciation (or
appreciation). 'Market forces' are the twin forces of demand and supply, and as

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economics tells us, if the demand of any good or services is higher relative to
its supply, it becomes dearer or costly. Exactly the same holds true for inter-
nation currencies as well. Exchange rates are expressed as a comparison of two
currencies and it is always relative.
The recent past has seen a number of market events, which have weakened the
position of the rupee relative to the dollar and other benchmark currencies.
Some of the most prominent among these are:
1. The Euro zone crisis
Sovereign defaults by nations such as Greece, the underperforming
international market and increased speculation in the market, has created an
atmosphere of doubt and sowed the seeds of negativity in the minds of the
investor. As a result, the investors feel it is safer to buy dollars rather than any
other assets, this has pushed up the demand for dollars and thus its price; i.e.
its value in rupees, has gone up.
2. The rise in current account deficit or CAD
The CAD is the difference between dollar outflow from exports and dollar inflow
from imports. A rise in CAD means that we are absorbing more in imports than
we are earning from exports, which has led us to paying more dollars than we
earn, and thus depleted our foreign exchange reserves. As a result, to pay our
import bills, we have to buy dollars, which drives up the demand for dollars and
consequently, lowers the value of the Rupee.
3. Economic stimulus measures by US Federal Reserve
Due to the economic slowdown, the US Federal Reserve (the American equivalent
of our RBI), has announced a number of measures to 'stimulate' the American

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economy, which are aimed at ensuring (mostly through lowering of interest

rates) that large sums of money is made available to banks for lending to
American investors. This has resulted in the strengthening of the dollar and
consequently, the weakening of the rupee and other emerging currencies.
What effect does the weakening rupee have on common Indians?
1. Rise in prices
India imports all manner of commodities, the most prominent among these being
oil and gold (and weapons, but that doesn't count, of course) to the more
nondescript foodgrain. The falling rupee has pushed up the prices of these
commodities, which means that 'people like us' will probably have to cut back on
spending, postpone the purchases of jewellery, or a new car. For the poor man
eking out a living on the street it will mean more misery, more hunger, and more
pain.
2. Widening of the Fiscal Deficit
At last count, the fiscal deficit was somewhere near the Rs 5 lakh crore mark. A
weakening rupee will further widen this already colossal chasm between the
government's revenue and expenditure as the government will have to pay a
higher amount (in rupees), to repay its debt (in dollars). India's fiscal deficit is
already termed as 'unsustainable' (interestingly, so is America's), and a further
rise not only raises serious questions about the government's financial
management capabilities but also contributes to rising inflation and damages the
state's ability to support growth in case of a slump in industry. This puts
thousands of businesses and millions of jobs at risk.

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3. Reduction in growth rate

In the present deplorable condition of the rupee, it is fairly obvious that not only
are foreign investors collectively scoffing at the idea of earning in rupees, but
even Indian businessmen, who are after all, businessmen, are saving their
patriotism for cricket and promptly moving their investments overseas. This is
affecting the growth rate adversely.
How to control it?
We have already observed that depreciation is caused by market forces, which
are global in nature and extremely difficult to control. However, certain
measures can and should be taken to arrest this rather drastic fall, some are
suggested below:
1. Improving the climate for foreign investors
The most obvious way to offset distribution is to increase growth and bring more
dollars into the system, thus reducing the CAD. Relaxing of norms for FII
investments is one of the more obvious ways to do it. Providing infrastructure
and local support to the investors is another, admittedly more difficult avenue
that can be explored in this regard.
2. Making government bonds available to a wider investor base
Making government bonds available to non-resident investors will also increase
the inflow of dollars in to the country and help contain the CAD, and in turn, the
depreciation of rupee.
3. Measures by RBI to strengthen the rupee

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The Reserve Bank, in its capacity as India's central banking institution and
monetary policymaker, has, at its disposal a number of instruments with the
capability to arrest depreciation. Some examples of such measures are:
Deregulation of interest rates on deposits from non-resident Indians,
introducing measures to curb speculative trading and sale of dollars from forex
reserves.
In today's day and age, when financial networks span continents and financial
decisions and measures are made keeping in mind a global outlook, linking
nationalism and economics is a colossal mistake. Although some measures are
necessary to protect people against the adverse effects of drastic depreciation,
drastic measures such as curbing imports should be avoided as they may create
more problems than they solve. Nations and governments should realize that
depreciation and appreciation are phenomena created by the immense
interconnected ecology of the global free market and stick to policies that do
the simple thing: create infrastructure and promote inclusive growth

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Topic 10 : Aadhaar Trap
Details here : https://qz.com/india/1351263/supreme-court-verdict-how-
indias-aadhaar-id-became-mandatory/

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Topic 11: Merger of Banks: Need & Challenges

Background
1. The various committees appointed by the Government of India have advocated
consolidation They argue that we need to have three to four large nationalized
banks in order to improve the operational efficiency and distribution
efficiency. The Narsimhan committee ii has specifically emphasized the need to
have Indian Banks which are comparable in size with global leading banks.. The
Narsimhan committee proposed a three-tier banking structure in India with
around 3-4 large banks to take a stand in global scenario,8-10 banks to provide
national coverage and rest to take care of local coverage.
2. Most of the mergers in the pre-reform period have been forced ones. The
post-reform era has witnessed both forced and voluntary mergers. The forced
mergers have been caused by the financial ill health of the acquired banks.
Banks witnessing erosion in net worth, huge NPAs and decline in capital
adequacy ratio have been forced by the regulatory authority to undergo
merger. Oriental Bank of Commerce’s acquisition of Global Trust Bank is an
example of forced merger. Voluntary mergers have expansion, diversification
and growth as the main motives. HDFC’s acquisition of Times Bank and ICICI’s
acquisition of Madura Bank are a few examples of voluntary mergers. India has
also witnessed cross- border acquisitions in the recent past. SBI’s acquisition
of a Mauritian bank is one such example.

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What is bank consolidation?

1. Bank consolidation occurs when two or more banks become one bank. Bank
consolidation can lead to expansion for the newly merged institution. Banks
consolidate for multiple reasons, including to mitigate competition, gain capital
power both domestically and internationally, to compete with larger banking
institutions or to expand the services that the newly merged bank can provide
both internally and geographically by decreasing overall operating costs.
Why do we need Consolidation of Banks?
1. Economies of scale: Assocham Survey has found that size of Indian banks in
terms of their assets stands very small to make optimal use of their capacities
to raise funds at internationally competitive rates. Combined assets of top ten
banks constitute less than 60 per cent of the GDP unlike the banking system of
European economies, where even after the global financial turmoil, assets of
only top five banks has grown to four times of GDP.
2. Indian Banks are too small: Even as India is the second largest growth market
for banking services after China in terms of the number of wealthy households,
the ASSOCHAM Chief said, only two Indian banks, State Bank of India at the 64th
position and ICICI Bank Ltd at 81st, figure among the global top 100 by tier I
capital – a core measure of a bank’s financial strength that consists largely of
shareholders’ capital.
3. Similarly, in terms of assets, India’s largest bank, SBI is now the world’s 70th
largest bank. On the other hand, ICICI Bank Ltd, the largest private sector
lender has attained the 148th position. None of the other Indian banks features
among the top 200 banks in the world-in terms of size of assets.

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4. Many experts in Banking field feels that hampered by the fragmented nature of
the banking industry, Indian banks are not able to compete globally in terms of
fund mobilisation, credit disbursal, investment and rendering of financial
services. The balance sheets of top 10 Indian banks suggest the greater scope
of consolidation to reap the benefits of large sized globally competitive Indian
banks
5. Merger will increase Capital efficiency: Consolidation will also increase capital
efficiency. Merged entity will have more leg room to raise capital.
6. Would decrease NPA: At a time when NPAs are high, and banks are putting
more effort in recovery, the ability to recover by smaller number of banks will
be higher though a individual bank’s exposure may go up. This is because there
are smaller number of voices … in the joint lenders’ forum today there are too
many voices and each lender has a differential right with the borrower and
they often not agree to a common recovery programme. With consolidation the
recovery will be far more focused. Thus consolidation could decrease NPA in
India.
Advantages of merger of SBI with associate banks
1. SBI will have global presence among top 50 Banks, bringing confidence,
investment and greater lending.
2. SBI can become one of the anchor banks to finance large infrastructure
projects like dedicated freight corridor, solar energy, Sagarmala etc.
3. It will increase networking of SBI all over India, thus better services of SBI
compared to its associate branches will be able to reach remote locations.
4. It will reduce duplication as SBI and its associates target the same clients with
similar products.

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5. It will consolidate resources and infrastructure, reducing the cost on

operations, human resource and technological solutions, overlapping bank
branches, reduce inter-bank transaction cost etc.
Disadvantages of merger
1. Presently these banks have huge NPAs thus merger should be planned after
sufficient capital is injected.
2. Banking competition may be affected, as SBI is likely to be five times larger
than its nearest competitor.
3. RBI has declared SBI as Domestic Systemically Important Bank (D-SIBs) and its
failure can shock other parts of financial system.
4. Past example of large banks and their failure with financial crisis in Japan,
USA, etc.
5. Workers resistance from associations like AIBEA calling for strikes
6. India has poor financial inclusion, thus needs variety of banks and
differentiated services.
Suggestions

1. The govt should not rush through the process – all stakeholders must be involved in the
process
2. In the event of further divestment, the govt. share shall not fall below 51% in any case
3. Acquiring bank shall not dominate the smaller ones- good practices of both should be
combined; conscious and organized efforts to synthesize the differences must be made.

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Topic 12: FARMER SUICIDES IN INDIA

It is highly unfortunate that in a country like India where approximately 70% of

the total population is directly or indirectly dependent on agriculture, the
cases of farmer suicides are increasing by the day. 11.2% of the total suicides
in the country are farmer suicides. Several factors contribute towards farmer
suicides in India and though the government has taken quite a few measures to
control the problem, the initiatives taken do not seem effective enough. The
solutions suggested here should help in bringing down the cases of farmer
suicides in India.

Agricultural Issues in India

The government has been taking initiatives to support the farmers financially
by reducing the interest rates on loans and even waving off agricultural loans.
However, these haven’t helped much. It is time for the government to
recognize the root cause of the problem and work towards eliminating it in
order to control the cases of farmer suicides. Here are some of the issues
that need immediate attention:

 Agricultural activities in the country must be organized. Proper planning must

be done for cultivation, irrigation and harvesting of crops.
 The government must see to it that the farmers get the fixed purchase price.
 Exploitation of farmers by the middlemen must be stopped. The government
must make provisions for the farmers to sell their products directly in the
market.

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 The government must ensure that the subsidies and schemes launched reach
the farmers.
 Selling of fertile land to real estate owners must be stopped.
Measures to Control Farmer Suicides in India
Here are some initiatives that the government must take proactively to control
the issue of farmer suicides in India:

1. The government must set up exclusive agricultural zones where only

agricultural activities should be allowed.
2. Initiative must be taken to teach modern farming techniques to the farmers to
help them increase farm productivity.
3. Irrigation facilities must be improved.
4. National weather risk management system must be put in place to alert
farmers about the extreme weather conditions.
5. Genuine crop insurance policies must be launched.
6. Farmers must be encouraged to go for alternative sources of income.
Government should help them acquire the new skills.
Conclusion
It is high time the government of India starts taking the grave issue of farmer
suicides more seriously. The initiatives taken until now have not been able to
bring down these cases. This means the strategies being followed need to be
re-evaluated and implemented.

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Topic 13: The CBI Fued:

Context:
The recent happenings at the CBI are unprecedented. Never has the premier
investigating agency of the country been in similar crisis. These events will
have ramifications on the dignity, discipline and image of CBI.
The question that should be troubling us is how are things so opaque within our
investigative agency?
With serious charges and counter-charges flying thick and fast, the ordinary
citizen may be left wondering as to what really goes on behind closed doors at
the CBI.

About CBI:
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is the premier investigating
agency of India. Operating under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Personnel,
Public Grievances and Pensions, the CBI is headed by the Director. The agency
has been known to investigate several economic crimes, special crimes, cases
of corruption and other high-profile cases.
India’s first agency to investigate corruption, the Special Police Establishment,
was set up in 1941, six years before independence from British rule to probe
bribery and corruption in the country during World War II.
In 1946, it was brought under the Home Department and its remit was
expanded to investigate corruptionin central and state governments under
the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act.

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The special police force became the Central Bureau of Investigation after the
Home Ministry, which is in charge of domestic security, decided to expand its
powers and change its name in 1963.

The CBI is subject to three ministries of the Government of India and Two
Constitutional bodies:-
 Ministry of Home Affairs: Cadre Clearance

 DoPT: Administration, Budget and Induction of non IPS officers

 Union Public Service Commission: Officers of and above the rank of Deputy

SPECIES
 Law and Justice Ministry: Public prosecutors

 Central Vigilance Commission: Anti-corruption cases.

Present Issue went to SC: Supreme court orders CVC To Enquire Against Alok
Verma:
The Supreme Court ordered Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) to complete
its ongoing inquiry against exiled CBI Director AlokVerma in two weeks.
The CVC inquiry will be conducted under the supervision of Former Apex Court
judge, Justice A.K.Patnaik.
Mr.Nageswara Rao will take care of only routine tasks to keep the CBI
functioning. He is barred from taking any major or policy decisions.
All the decisions taken by Mr. Rao (as a Director of CBI) “from October 23 up
to this hour” have come under scanner of the Supreme Court. The Court asked
the list of all decisions taken by Mr. Rao to be placed before the Bench on
November 12 in a sealed cover.

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The Crisis Is Not About CBI, It’s About the Rule of Law:
It is perhaps futile to lament that the politicisation of the Central Bureau of
Investigation (CBI) has been a work in progress for years and that the
midnight coup was only its latest manifestation
But this is not about two IPS officers; it is not even about the CBI or its
presumed image or its subverted autonomy, It is about the future of the rule of
law.
Its played a pivotal role in criminal justice delivery as highlighted in tough
cases like Satyam scam investigation , Bhanvari Devi Murder etc. However
myriad of responsibilities over categories like Corruption & fraud , economic
crimes , special crimes including terrorist attacks has overburdened it and
reduced its efficiency.

Various recommendation has been made in the regard of reforming CBI but
none of them have implemented so far such as:
L.P singh committee has recommended the enactment of comprehensive
central legislation for self sufficient statutory charter of duties and functions.
Parliamentary standing committee (2007) recommended that a separate act
should be promulgated in tune with requirement with time to ensure credibility
and impartiality.

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What will be the Way Forward?

Rule of law is much more than a set of interlocking procedures and principles; it is a
sense of shared confidence among citizens and other constitutional stakeholders that
values of justness and fairness are not subject to the whims and fancies of the rulers of
the day.
 The first reform is to ensure that CBI operates under a formal, modern legal

framework that has been written for a contemporary investigative agency.

 A new CBI Act should be promulgated that ensures the autonomy of CBI while at the

same time improving the quality of supervision.

 The Lokpal Act already calls for a three-member committee made up of the prime
minister, the leader of the opposition and the chief justice of the Supreme Court to
select the director. However, not enough has been done to administratively protect
CBI from political interference. For this to happen, the new Act must specify
criminal culpability for government interference.

 One of the demands that has been before Supreme Court, and in line
with international best practices, is for the CBI to develop its own dedicated cadre
of officers who are not bothered about deputation and abrupt transfers.
 The CBI did recruit some officers in the past to its cadre, but that effort has gone
nowhere, and all senior posts in the CBI are now held by Indian Police Service (IPS)
officers.

 It is also possible to consider granting the CBI and other federal investigation
agencies the kind of autonomy that the Comptroller and Auditor General enjoys as
he is only accountable to Parliament.

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 A more efficient parliamentary oversight over the federal criminal and intelligence
agencies could be a way forward to ensure better accountability, despite concerns
regarding political misuse of the oversight.
The CBI is not really popular among the youth who are looking for Central government
employment through the Union Public Service Commission examination route, other
than those appearing for the All India Services, including the Indian Police Service. This
makes a case for a fresh look at the service conditions for direct recruitment to the
CBI.
Conclusion:
A comprehensive act of Parliament setting out the autonomy, powers, etc. is the first
step towards improving the CBI’s autonomy.
CBI is an agency of Central Government that has wide range of investigating areas and
powers. It was formed with a goal to check corruption and other crimes in the nation
and so it shall maintain a clean image of itself.
The goal of reforms should be to make CBI more autonomous in nature by seeing
examples of exceptional well run agencies like CIA ,FBI in USA. Greater Political will is
required to achieve it which should also keep in mind that it will not deprive them (CBI)
of accountability.
Video : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Vlh0vfBfHo

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Topic 14: Why India’s air pollution is so horrendous
Best Article : https://www.vox.com/2018/5/8/17316978/india-pollution-levels-air-
delhi-health
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Topic 15: #MeToo Movement :

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Context:
Accusations of sexual assault have spread across India’s social media as
the #MeToo movement took aim at prominent journalists, writers, editors and
a comedian.
Scores of women, many journalists, came out this week with accounts of
sexual harassment from colleagues and editors, accusing them of indecent
remarks, unwanted touches, demands for sex, and the dissemination of
pornography.
Many personal stories of anger and guilt, buried under years of silence,
emerged out to public media because of this recent campaign.
The last couple of years have seen a tidal wave of sexual
allegations and accusations against men in professionally powerful positions
across the globe, and it seems that finally, this wave has now reached Indian
shores.

Indian Protection Act: Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention,

Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013: Origin from Vishaka guidelines:
Supreme Court in a judgment in 1997 laid the Vishaka guidelines, which
are legally binding, defined sexual harassment and imposed three key
parameters on the institutions i.e., prohibition, prevention and redressal.
The Supreme Court directed that they establish a Complaints Committee, to
look into the harassment at the workplace.
Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition And
Redressal) Act, 2013 defines sexual harassment:

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 It includes “any one or more” of the following “unwelcome acts or

behaviour” committed directly or by implication:

 Physical contact and advances, Sexually coloured remarks, Showing

pornography, A demand or request for sexual favours, Any other
unwelcome physical, verbal or non-verbal conduct of sexual nature.
This Act lays down the procedures for a complaint and inquiry and the action to
be taken.
It mandates that every employer constitute an Internal Complaints Committee
(ICC) at each office or branch with 10 or more employees.
It lays down the procedures and defines various aspects of sexual harassment.
A woman can be of any age, whether employed or not, who “alleges to have
been subjected to any act of sexual harassment”, that means the rights of all
the women working or visiting any workplace, in any capacity, are protected
under the Act.

Internal Complaints Committee have Powers similar to Civil Court:

ICC has similar powers to those of a civil court, in respect of the following
matters:
 Summoning and examining any person on oath.

 Requiring the discovery and production of documents.

While the inquiry is going on, if the woman makes a written request, ICC “may”
recommend her transfer, leave for three months, or any other relief as may
be prescribed.

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When the inquiry is completed, ICC is to provide a report of the findings to the
employer within 10 days. The report is made available to both the parties.
If the allegations are proved, ICC recommends that the employer take action
for sexual harassment in accordance with the provisions of the service rules.
These vary from company to company.
It also recommends that the company deduct from the salary of the person
found guilty,
Compensation is based on: Suffering and emotional distress caused to the
woman, Loss in career opportunity, Her medical expenses, Income and
financial status of the respondent, Feasibility of such payment.
After the recommendations, the aggrieved woman can appeal in Court within
90 days.
If the complaint is found to be false then,
Section 14 of the Act deals with punishment for false or malicious complaints
and false evidence.
In such case, ICC “may recommend” to the employer to take action against the
woman, or the person who made the complaint, in accordance with the
provisions of the service rules.

Conclusion:
Women can experience lingering health problems years after workplace sexual
harassment or sexual assault even by words also, a new study finds.
These health problems can include high blood pressure, poor-quality sleep,
anxiety and symptoms of depression, the researchers found after doing
medical exams of about 300 women.

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The findings are timely given the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements, in which a
growing number of women are talking about their sexual harassment and
assault experiences, according to a statement about the research, which was
published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine.
This has to be analysed from global perspective in addition to Indian protection
laws. (more articles in coming days)

Way Forward:
Union Minister for Women and Child Development said they would set up a
panel of legal experts to look into the #MeToo allegations.
Civil Society and NGOs are trying to see how the movement can be taken
beyond its current confines of urban centres. The hope now is that sexual
harassment at workplace will cease to be condoned or brushed under the
carpet.
SDG 5 is about gender equality and Sustainable Development Goals are the
blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all.
They address global challenges, including those related to poverty, inequality,
climate, environmental degradation, prosperity, and peace and justice.
The Goals interconnect and in order to leave no one behind, the target is to
achieve them by 2030.
Sexual harassment and the #MeToo movement resonated at the opening
plenary session of the fifth Global Symposium on Health Systems
Research with speakers highlighting how this is just the “tip of the
iceberg” and there is a long road ahead in achieving sustainable development
goals with leaders sometimes being sexual harassers.

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The #MeToo movement has shown us that even the most privileged among
women have not been spared from cultures of sexual harassment and
exploitation.

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Topic 16 : The law of happiness

Introduction:
Happiness has come to be accepted as a goal of public policy. And this
discourse has given a fillip to a new narrative where the interconnections
between law, governance and happiness are being searched.

Interconnections between law, governance and happiness: Why do these

connections matter?
Experiences from several nations confirm that the countries with higher GDP
and higher per capita incomeare not necessarily the happiest countries and
there exists a link between the state of happiness and rule of law.
The World Happiness Report calculated each country’s ranking on the basis of
six variables: GDP per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom
to make life choices, generosity, and freedom from corruption.

World Happiness Report (WHR) 2018: By UN Sustainable Development Solutions

Network:

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The World Happiness Report (WHR) 2018, which ranked 156 countries,
placed India at the 133rd place on the index of global happiness.
The top three countries are Finland, Norway and Denmark. It is released by
the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network.
It is based on income, healthy life expectancy, social support, freedom, trust
and generosity.
While India’s performance on this can be attributed to several factors, there is
an fact that there is an intrinsic relationship between law and people’s
happiness.

The WHRs, over the years, confirmed that people tend to have:
 Poor mental health,

 A low score of subjective well-being and

 Poor perception about the governance and law and order, despite high

income levels.

How the law is linked with happiness?

In an environment in which laws are gradually becoming reactive, regulatory
and penalising, this question needs some probing.

Jeremy Bentham (founder of modern Utilitarianism) said the objective of the

law should be the maximum happiness of the maximum number.
For Instance, we can see an example of pending Court cases:

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 Laws and legal regimes are the distributors of unhappiness in many ways.
We have about 3.3 crore cases pending in various courts in the country.
 Each case is not a mere number. It involves tension, anxiety and
deprivation to all those associated with it.

 A group of people family members, relatives, friends and others of the

parties involved are necessarily affected because of such cases.
 If we presume that there are about 20 persons in each case belonging to
one or the other parties, we get a number of about 64 crore.

 Interestingly, none of them would be in a state of happiness on account of

being linked to the case.
 Inevitably, the criminal justice administration for these people is a source
of unhappiness.

Moreover, not more than 30 per cent people approach the courts in
India. There is a visible decline in civil litigation, which suggests that a large
number of people in the country are living with unresolved conflicts.
Criminal justice has far-reaching consequences for the lives of people as it
brings difficulties when it does not act, it causes turbulence when it does.
Millions of accused, victims, suspects, witnesses and others have poignant
tales about the actions and inactions of the criminal justice administration.
The satisfaction level of people is far too low in this country when it comes to
the police and courts.

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Gross National Happiness (GNH) by Bhutan:

The relationship between crime and happiness offers some interesting
insights.
The connection between crime and happiness is understandable from
the experience of Bhutan, which introduced Gross National Happiness (GNH) as
a measure of good governance.
The data show that a great majority of the Bhutanese population are happy (of
whom 41 per cent are extremely happy), and only 4 per cent reported being
victimised by crime over the last 12 months.
Further, the crime rate in Bhutan is extremely low. A negative
correlation between crime/victimisation and happiness is observed.

The World Reports on Happiness in selected countries and their crime and
victimisation data present remarkable trends.
The impact of criminal victimisation on happiness is often negative.
Analysis from six nations, namely, Finland, Denmark, Philippines, South Africa,
India and Sri Lanka shows that at least one of the four crime variables share
an inverse relation with the happiness score of the respective nation.
This leads to the conclusion that individuals living in nations with high crime
rates are less happy and satisfied than individuals living in nations with a
comparatively lower crime rate.

Does rule of law make you happy?

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The countries scoring high on the Rule of Law Index, a measure used by
the World Justice Project, are those who are higher on the index of happiness
as well.
Among these countries are Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway, the
Netherlands and Austria.
The fact that happiness ought to be part of the agenda to improve rule of law,
and vice versa, is a new thrust in the emerging policy discourse in many
countries and local jurisdictions.
The institutionalisation of a happiness framework as a measure of achievement
for policy goals is now being debated.
Madhya Pradesh has set up a Happiness Department to achieve such
objectives.

Conclusion:
Mahatma Gandhi once said, “Happiness is when what you think, what you say,
and what you do are in harmony.”
The ideologies promoted by the government also have an effect on the overall
satisfaction of the people.
Besides poverty, unemployment and other issues of sustenance, the outlook of
the government on religion, gender, sexuality, etc. also determine the
contentment of the governed.
For example, in India, increasing incidents of cow vigilantism, communal and
gender bigotry, ultimately make the society intolerant and dissatisfied.

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It is probably time to shift the discourse of policy making towards the larger
satisfaction of the people with the public institutions they have to regularly
approach for various purposes.
It is, perhaps, time to turn the narrative of law, policy and development,
towards building a happier society.

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Topic 17: We live in deeds not in years

The aim of the proverb, ‘We live in deeds, not in years’, is to remind every man
that human life has a great purpose, and is not to be wasted idly or vicariously.
Some men live a very long life, some again die rather young. But the real worth
of a man is not measured in terms of his longevity.

A man who has lived for eighty years, and has simply passed his years eating,
walking, chatting and sleeping, may be dismissed as a man who has not lived a
proper life at all. If one does even a single noble deed or makes a personal
sacrifice to set a great example, his life’s worth is justified

On the other hand, a man likes Swami Vivekananda, who lived only thirty-nine
years, but left a tremendous mark in religious and social lives as well as in
literature, is worth a hundred lives. He will remain immortal forever, as a living
inspiration to all men urging them to do their best for the poor and the
suffering.

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Similarly, the poet, John Keats, died at the early age of twenty-five, but within a
brief poetic career of five years he has created enough poetic gems to give
generations of readers’ joy and hope and consolation. So, he is still alive in his
deed.

In sharp contrast, people who go on gathering wealth and power, and selfishly
exploit human beings, do not live at all the life of man. During their existence on
earth, they are continually hated, and after their physical destruction, their
memory is almost lost. However, very bad deeds and inhuman cruelties are not
forgotten. These haunt us like nightmares.

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Topic 17: Great Minds Think Alike...And That Is Exactly The Problem
Details :
https://www.forbes.com/sites/actiontrumpseverything/2013/08/10/great-
minds-think-alike-and-that-is-exactly-the-problem/#3baffab94a91

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