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News Analysis 24 Sept, 2022

HEALTH ECONOMY GOVERNMENT POLICIES
24 Sep, 2022

NEWS HIGHLIGHTS

1. Shrinking Jurisdiction of CBI
2. Protectionism & Globalization
3. Strategy on Mental Health

1. Shrinking Jurisdiction of CBI.

Theme : Government Policies & Interventions

Related Paper : GS - 2

TABLE OF CONTENT

  1. Context
  2. Establishment of CBI in India
  3. Major Functions
  4. Issues 
  5. Efforts to tackle the Situation
  6. Suggestions

Context :
As of now, 9 Indian states have withdrawn consent to the CBI for prosecution in their respective jurisdictions. Distrust in CBI by a third of India’s states underlines the weakening spirit of cooperative federalism.

 Establishment of CBI in India :

  • It is the premier investigating police agency in India. 

  • It was set up by a resolution of the Ministry of Home Affairs in 1963 after Santhanam committee recommendation.

    • It functions under the Department  of Personnel, Ministry of Personnel, Pension & Public Grievances, Government of India.

  • Functioning: The CBI's functioning is governed by the Delhi Special Police Establishment (DSPE) Act, 1946, and therefore it must mandatorily obtain the consent of the State government concerned before beginning investigations into a crime in any other State. The consent of the State government can be either case-specific or general.

  • Conviction rate : CBI recorded a conviction rate of 67.56% in 2021, compared to 69.83% in 2020, according to the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) annual report.

Major Functions :

  • Investigating cases of corruption, bribery and misconduct of Central government employees under the Prevention of Corruption Act against Indian public officials, public sector undertakings.
  • Investigating cases relating to infringement of fiscal and economic laws, that is, breach of laws concerning export and import control, customs and central excise, income tax foreign exchange regulations.
  • Taking up, on the request of a state government, any case of public importance for investigation. Whereas, it can suo-moto take up investigation of offenses in the Union Territories.

Issues  :

  • In May 2013, as multiple corruption scandals dogged the UPA government, the Supreme Court made an observation about the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) that has stuck to the agency ever since.

    •  A Bench headed by Justice R M Lodha described the CBI as “a caged parrot speaking in its master’s voice”

    • The observation was made in the context of government interference in the functioning of the CBI in its investigation of the coal blocks allocation cases. 

  • Doubts over credibility: Delivering the D P Kohli Memorial Lecture at the CBI in  April 2022, then Chief Justice of India (CJI) N V Ramana lamented that the agency had gone from being the people’s most trusted to the subject of deep public scrutiny.

  • Political tug-of-war: The work of the agency has been constrained by the increasingly hostile relations between the Centre and the state governments. 

    • As many as nine states have withdrawn general consent to the CBI. Most of these are Opposition-ruled states, which have alleged that the CBI is being used by the Centre to target the Opposition.

  • Structurally constrained: The CBI has been stymied both by the legal structure within which it functions, and by the changes made by governments in the Rules governing it. 

Efforts to tackle the Situation :

  • The Supreme Court fixed the tenure of the CBI Director at two years, gave statutory status to the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC), and stipulated that a panel headed by the CVC and including top secretaries to the Union government would draw up a panel from which the Director of the ED would be selected.
  • The Lokpal Act, 2013, laid down that the CBI Director should be chosen, unanimously or by majority vote, by a search committee headed by the Prime Minister and also comprising the Leader of Opposition and the CJI or his representative, from a list of candidates drawn up by the Home Ministry and examined by the Department of Personnel and Training.

Suggestions :

  • The CVC should constitute an advisory committee of at least 11 members drawn from criminologists and forensic science experts. 

    • This will augment the professional input in its functioning. Further, to reduce the burden on the CVC, it should be given the power to go to any expert or professional to assist it in screening complaints.

  • The CVC should have an adequately experienced team to technically examine and assess the gravity of a complaint, which can then be assigned to the CBI for investigation or can be investigated by this team. 

  • In the cases assigned to it by the CVC, the CBI should be made functionally and financially independent of the controls of any government ministry/department.

2. Protectionism & Globalization.

Theme : Mobilization of resources, LPG reforms, protectionism etc

Related Paper : GS - 3

TABLE OF CONTENT

  1. Context
  2. Globalization
  3. Pros & Cons of Globalization
  4. Protectionism
  5. Global Protectionism
  6. Protectionism in India
  7. Positives & Negatives of Protectionism
  8. Road Ahead

Context :
Economists Arvind Subramanian and Shoumitro Chatterjee said, India has raised import tariffs on over 3200 goods from most favored nations, which signals a protectionist stance to shield domestic industries.

Globalization :

  • Globalization envisages a borderless world or seeks a world as a global village.
  • Origin of Modern Globalization: What today is referred to as globalization, started with the end of the Cold war and the disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1991.
  • Driving Factors: Globalization was the offshoot of two systems — democracy and capitalism — that emerged victorious at the end of the Cold War.
  • Dimensions of Globalization: It may be attributed to accelerated flow of goods, people, capital, information, and energy across borders, often enabled by technological developments.

 

 

Pros & Cons of Globalization :

Pros of Globalization:

  • Access to Goods and Services: Globalization results in increased trade and standard of living.It heightens competition within the domestic product, capital, and labor markets, as well as among countries adopting different trade and investment strategies.
  • Vehicle of Social Justice: The proponents say globalization represents free trade which promotes global economic growth, creates jobs, makes companies more competitive, and lowers prices for consumers.
  • Increases Cultural Awareness: By reducing cross-border distances, globalization has increased cross-cultural understanding and sharing.
  • Sharing Technology and Values: It also provides poor countries, through infusions of foreign capital and technology, with the chance to develop economically and by spreading prosperity.

Cons of Globalization:

  • Rise of Global Problems: Globalization has been criticised on account of exacerbating global disparities, spread of international terrorism and cross-border organised crime, and allow for the rapid spread of disease like Covid-19.
  • Backlash of Nationalism: Despite the economic aspect of globalization, it has resulted in National competition, advancement of national ambitions.
  • Moving Towards Cultural Homogeneity: Globalization promotes people’s tastes to converge which may lead to more cultural homogeneity.
  • Due to this, there is a danger of losing precious cultural practices and languages.
  • Also, there are threats of cultural invasion of one country over another.

Protectionism :

  • Protectionism refers to government policies that restrict international trade to help domestic industries.
  • Tariffs, import quotas, product standards, and subsidies are some of the primary policy tools a government can use in enacting protectionist policies.

Global Protectionism :

  • Globalization had already begun to plateau or stagnate since the 2008-09 global financial crisis (GFC).
  • This is reflected in Brexit and the US’ America First Policy.
  • Further, trade wars and the halting of WTO talks is another recognition of the retreat of globalization.
  • These trends pave the way for an anti-globalization or protectionism sentiment, which may further amplify due to the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Protectionism in India :

  •  This can be depicted in the following instances:

    • Not opening up for imports, particularly after the Indian Government failed to agree on terms for a mini trade deal with the US.

    • India walked out of the 15-nation Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership(RCEP) of Asian countries.

    • The “Atma Nirbhar Bharat (Self-Reliance) initiative”, launched in May 2020, after the beginning of the pandemic, was also perceived internationally as a protectionist move.

Positives & Negatives of Protectionism :

Positives :

  • National security: The argument pertains to the risk of dependency upon other nations for economic sustainability.
  • Infant industry: It is argued that protectionist policies are required to protect industries in their initial stages. As if the market is kept open, global established companies can capture the market. This can lead to the end of domestic players in the new industry.
  • Dumping: Many countries dump their goods (sell them at lower price than their cost of production or their cost in the local market) in other countries.
  • Saving jobs: It is argued that buying more domestically will drive up national production, and that this increased production will in turn result in a healthier domestic job market.
  • Outsourcing: it is common practice for companies to identify countries having cheaper labor and easier systems of governance and outsource their job work.
  • Intellectual Property Protection: Patents, in a domestic system, protect the innovators. On a global scale, however, it is quite common for developing nations to copy new technologies via reverse engineering.

Negatives :

  • Trade Agreements: India has benefited immensely from international trade agreements.

    • As per the Commerce Ministry data, India has entered into Free Trade Agreements (FTA) with about 54 individual countries.

  • Against WTO Regulations: India has been a member of WTO since its inception. WTO’s regulations prohibit imposing restrictions on imports from other countries.

  • Inflationary in Nature: Protectionist policies by restricting imports, can lead to rising prices in the domestic market. Thus, hurting the interest of the consumers directly.

  • Uncompetitive Domestic Industries: By protecting the local industries, they have no incentive to innovate or spend resources on research and development (R&D) of new products.

Road Ahead :

  • Improving Ease of Doing Business:Though progress has been made, India still lags behind many larger nations in critical metrics such as starting a business, enforcing contracts and registering property.

  • Boosting Private investment: It will, in turn, boost up Growth, Jobs, Exports and Demand.

  • Predictable and transparent Trade Policy: It will allow Indian firms to plan their capacity and finances in advance.

    • They will be able to allocate their resources for expansion and R&D.

    • This will allow them to be competitive in the international market

  • Balance between domestic industry and multinational firms: India needs to draw a fine balance between the interests of domestic industry and giving trade concessions to multinationals to attract foreign investment in the form of FDI.

    • The goal of a $5 trillion economy by 2025 needs comprehensive, multidimensional and multi-sectoral efforts to achieve it.

3. Strategy on Mental Health.

Theme : Health

Related Paper : GS - 2

TABLE OF CONTENT

  1. Context
  2. Mental Health in India
  3. Indicators through Various Reports
  4. Measures to be taken by India

Context :
ccording to the World Health Organization (WHO), there is a 10-25-year life expectancy reduction in patients with severe mental disorders.

 

Mental Health in India :

  • Recent reports published in Lancet revealed that one in seven people in India had a mental disorder ranging from mild to severe in 2017.
  • Also, the proportional contribution of mental disorders to the total disease burden had doubled between 1990 and 2017.
  • Mental disorders include depressive and anxiety disorders, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
  • This situation was generally worse in the southern States compared to the northern States due to the nature of development, modernisation, urbanization and other factors not understood yet.
  • Depressive disorders were more prevalent among females than males which could be due to sexual abuse, gender discrimination, stress due to antenatal and postnatal issues and other reasons.

Indicators through Various Reports :

  • Studies in The Lancet Public Health (2019) revealed that median mental health spending across the world was around 2% of the total government health expenditure in 2015.
  • In the case of low-income countries, it was around 0.5% of their health budget; for lower-middle-income countries, it was 1.9%; for upper-middle-income countries, 2.4%; and for high-income countries, 5.1%.
  • Government expenditure on hospitals dealing with mental health issues as a percentage of total government expenditure on mental health is 3% in India; in developed countries, it ranges from 3% to 15%.
  • In India, the share of mental hospitals per 1,00,000 population is as low as 0.01 in line with developing countries, according to the WHO.
  • This may possibly be due to the lack of focussed attention given to mental health compared to other major diseases in India.

Measures to be taken by India :

  • In order to further address mental health issues,

    • India could reduce the treatment gap for mental disorders,

    • Increase the number of personnel in the mental health sector,

    • Work towards reducing discriminatory attitudes, and

    • Devise an integrated approach for detecting, treating, and managing patient needs.

  • More counseling facilities, especially in rural areas, with special support for women through the provision of women doctors are needed.

  • More telemedicine, telephone-based helpline numbers, and mental health apps could help.

  • Communities and families have an important role in this regard and so do community-based programmes.

  • School-based programmes on mental health can improve the mental health of children.

  • More fund allocation for treatment of mental health, especially to those States in need of funds, could do wonders.

  • Residential mental health services, particularly community ones, are an important component for good quality mental health care.

  • In most industrialized economies, there has been a growth of community healthcare facilities in line with the increase in patients with mental health issues.