The Hindu Newspaper Analysis 29 June 2023

The Hindu Newspaper Analysis for UPSC

The Hindu Newspaper Analysis 28 June 2023

• A sharp increase in the retail prices of several crucial food items over the past one month — from the essential vegetables of tomato, onion and potato to the basic cereals of rice and wheat, toor dal, the commonest protein source in vegetarian households, and even loose tea — has left households and small eatery operators scrambling to juggle their budgets.

 The Hindu Editorial Today

How is Inflation measured?

• In India, inflation is primarily measured by two main indices — WPI (Wholesale Price Index) and CPI (Consumer Price Index), which measure wholesale and retail-level price changes, respectively.
• What are WPI and CPI inflation rates?
• Consumer Price Index (CPI)
• It is an index measuring retail inflation in the economy by collecting the change in prices of most common goods and services used by consumers.
• CPI is also called a market basket, it is calculated for a fixed list of items including food, housing, apparel, transportation, electronics, medical care, education, etc.
• The base Year for CPI is 2012.
• What is the Wholesale Price Index (WPI)?
• In India, this is the most widely used method for calculating the inflation rate. The Wholesale Price Index is the index used to calculate wholesale inflation (WPI).
• This rate of inflation is commonly referred to as headline inflation. The Office of Economic Advisor, Ministry of Commerce and Industry publishes the WPI. The base year is aligned with CPI as 2012=100.
• Prior to 2014, the RBI used WPI to make the majority of its policy decisions. However, the WPI-based inflation calculation was not false proof. WPI displays the total price of a commodity basket of 697 items.
• The RBI shifted to CPI for policy decisions beginning in 2014.

• PM PRANAM (Promotion of Alternate Nutrients for Agriculture Management Yojana) Scheme.

To encourage the balanced use of fertilisers in conjunction with biofertilisers and organic fertilisers.

• Aim:
• To bring down the subsidy burden on chemical fertilisers, which is estimated to reach Rs 2.25 lakh crore in 2022-23 — 39% higher than 2021 figure of Rs 1.62 lakh crore.

• Through this ordinance, the central government sought to undo the Court’s judgment: it explicitly deprived the Delhi Legislative Assembly from enacting laws pertaining to services within the NCT, and, instead, set up a parallel body, comprising the Chief Minister and two bureaucrats, who would be responsible for taking service-related decisions with respect to Delhi.
• Article 239 AA was inserted in the Constitution by The Constitution (69th Amendment) Act, 1991 to give Special Status to Delhi following the recommendations of the S Balakrishnan Committee that was set up to look into demands for statehood for Delhi.
• It says that the NCT of Delhi will have an Administrator and a Legislative Assembly.

• Subject to the provisions of the Constitution, the Legislative Assembly “shall have power to make laws for the whole or any part of the NCT with respect to any of the matters in the State List or Concurrent List in so far as any such matter is applicable to Union territories” except on the subject of police, public order, and land.
• Further, the Article 239AA also notes that L-G has to either act on the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers, or he is bound to implement the decision taken by the President on a reference being made by him.
• Also, Article 239AA, empowers the L-G to refer a difference of opinion on ‘any matter’ with the Council of Ministers to the President.

• If policymakers talk of creating work for 5 million-8 million young in India, that will barely scratch India’s unemployment problem.
• The labour force comprises those in the age group of 15-64 (International Labout Organization definition) who are looking for work.
• The organised sector is mechanised and automated and generates few jobs. That is why 94% of the labour force is in the unorganised sector, largely working at low wages. On the e-Shram portal, 28 crore were registered in November 2022 and 94% reported earning less than ₹10,000 per month.

• A majority of the judges in the current Supreme Court Collegium are in line to be Chief Justices of India (CJI), as per the seniority norm, in the next few years.
• The collegium has got two new members in Justices B.R. Gavai and Surya Kant. Justice Sanjeev Khanna is the new number-three judge in the collegium after the Chief Justice and Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul.
• Until recently, the Supreme Court had a six-member collegium instead of the usual five members.
• Justice Khanna was part of the earlier collegium, though not one among the first four puisne judges of the court, as he was expected to succeed Chief Justice Chandrachud in November 2024. The Supreme Court in the Third Judges Case and the Memorandum of Procedure for the appointment of Supreme Court judges had said the successor to the incumbent CJI should have a hand in the selection of judges.
• First Judges Case (1981):
• It declared that the “primacy” of the CJI’s (Chief Justice of India) recommendation on judicial appointments and transfers can be refused for “cogent reasons.”
• The ruling gave the Executive primacy over the Judiciary in judicial appointments for the next 12 years.
• Second Judges Case (1993):
• SC introduced the Collegium system, holding that “consultation” really meant “concurrence”.
• It added that it was not the CJI’s individual opinion, but an institutional opinion formed in consultation with the two senior-most judges in the SC.
• Third Judges Case (1998):
• SC on the President’s reference (Article 143) expanded the Collegium to a five-member body, comprising the CJI and four of his senior-most colleagues.

• The Environment Ministry has issued a draft notification detailing a proposed ‘Green Credit Scheme’ that will incentivise a host of activities including afforestation programmes, water conservation, waste management and remedying air pollution by allowing individuals and organisations to generate ‘green credits”.
• These credits, through a yet-to-be-specified mechanism, can also be traded for money.

• The National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (NOTTO) has issued a warning against private websites and social media posts promoting and offering organs for trade.
• he organisation said the online promotion was in violation of the provisions of the Transplantation of Human Organ and Tissue Act, 1994 and Rules. Such activities were punishable offence under Section 18 of the Act, with fines ranging from ₹20 lakh to ₹1 crore and imprisonment from five to 10 years, it said.
• The NOTTO is mandated to establish a network for organ procurement and distribution and to maintain a national registry on organ donation and transplantation.

• Despite the global economy facing heightened uncertainty, the Indian economy and the domestic financial system remain resilient supported by strong macroeconomic fundamentals, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in its biannual Financial Stability Report (FSR) on Wednesday.
• Scheduled Commercial Banks’ gross non-performing assets ratio continued its downtrend and fell to a 10-year low of 3.9% in March 2023 and the net non-performing assets ratio declined to 1%, it said.

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