NOTE: Please remember that following ‘answers’ are NOT ‘model answers’. They are NOT synopsis too if we go by definition of the term. What we are providing is content that both meets demand of the question and at the same
General Studies – 1
Topic: Indian culture will cover the salient aspects of Art Forms, literature and Architecture from ancient to modern times.
Difficulty Level: Easy
Reference: Insights on India
Why the question:
The question is part of the static syllabus of General Studies paper – 1.
Key Demand of the question:
To write about the distinguishing features of Carnatic Music.
Directive word:
Discuss – This is an all-encompassing directive – you must debate on paper by going through the details of the issues concerned by examining each one of them. You must give reasons for both for and against arguments.
Structure of the answer:
Introduction:
Introduce Carnatic Music as a classical music tradition originating from South India.
Body:
First write about the features of Carnatic Music – Describe the melodic framework of Carnatic Music, emphasizing the use of raga (melodic scale) as a fundamental element. Discuss the intricate system of ragas and their importance in evoking different emotions and moods.
Next, explain the rhythmic aspect of Carnatic Music, focusing on the tala (rhythmic cycle) system. Discuss the intricate patterns of tala and the use of percussion instruments to create rhythmic variations.
Conclusion:
Conclude by summarising.
Introduction
Music has always been an important part of Indian life. The range of musical phenomenon in India extends from simple melodies to what is one of the most well- developed “systems” of classical music in the world.
Carnatic music owes its name to the Sanskrit term Karnâtaka Sangîtam which denotes “traditional” or “codified” music. Composed of a system of Ragam (Raga) and Thalam (Tala), it has a rich history and tradition. Carnatic Sangeet has developed in the south Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. These states are known for their strong presentation of Dravidian culture.
T.M. Krishna, the stormy petrel of Carnatic music, and this year’s winner of The Music Academy, Madras’s prestigious Sangita Kalanidhi award, is an ardent artiste and an avid activist.
Body
Carnatic music: Features
- It is an indigenously developed style of classical music
- The Melakarta scheme is a highly comprehensive and systematic formula which includes within its fold all the modes used in ancient as well as modern systems of music of the different parts of the world.
- It is strongly Kriti-based
- Unity ofraga, tala and shruti in every piece
- The system gives equal importance to melody and rhythm.
- Mixing the three degrees of speeds
- Fewer instruments are used in Karnataka than in northern Indian music, and there are no exclusively instrumental forms.
- There is an even balance between re-creativity (soulful interpretation of the compositions of great masters) and creativity (on the spot improvisations).
- Some of the important Carnatic music compositions are- Gitam, suladi, svarajati, Jatisvaram, varnam, kritanam, kriti, pada, javali, pallavi etc
Rhythmic Aspect of Carnatic Music
- Tala: The Rhythmic Pulse:
- Definition: Tala refers to a fixed time cycle or meter with a specific number of beats.
- Role: Underpins all compositions and improvisations.
- Tala Cycles: Seven principal talas—Dhruva, Matya, Rupaka, Jhampa, Triputa, Ata, and Eka.
- Structure: Composed of laghus (counts) and drutams (beats).
- Mathematical Precision: Carnatic music thrives on rhythmic complexity.
- Kriyas: Hand gestures and finger counts synchronize with the melody.
- Tala Exploration:
- Eduppu: Starting point of a composition within a tala cycle.
- Nadai: Subdivision of each beat into various rhythmic units.
- Sam: First and most significant beat of the cycle.
- Shifts and Creativity: Musicians navigate the tala system, introducing subtle shifts for fresh perspectives.
- Percussion Instruments:
- Mridangam:
- Double-headed drum.
- Deep bass and loud projection.
- Integral part of Carnatic ensembles.
- Ghatam:
- Clay pot with a narrow mouth.
- Played with various parts of the palm.
- Creates unique sounds in rhythmic patterns.
- Mridangam:
Conclusion
Carnatic music, with its intricate ragas and rhythmic talas, weaves a mesmerizing tapestry of emotions and creativity. Carnatic music has played an important role in uniting Indians by generating the feeling of oneness and nationalism during national movement. Even today it is practiced during festivals, as a stage performance, in cinema’s and bringing fame for Indian culture by reaching wider in western world.
Topic: Salient features of world’s physical geography.
Difficulty level: Moderate
Reference: Insights on India , Insights on India
Why the question:
The question is part of the static syllabus of General studies paper – 1.
Key Demand of the question:
To write about differences between Himalayan drainage system and the Peninsular drainage system as well as their importance.
Directive word:
Examine – When asked to ‘Examine’, we must investigate the topic (content words) in detail, inspect it, investigate it and establish the key facts and issues related to the topic in question. While doing so we should explain why these facts and issues are important and their implications.
Structure of the answer:
Introduction:
Begin by giving a brief about the drainage system of India.
Body:
First, write the differences between the both on the basis of evolution, nature, type of flow etc.
Next, write about how both the river systems contribute to India’s hydrology and socio-economic development. Cite examples to substantiate.
Conclusion:
Conclude by summarising.
Introduction
The flow of water through well-defined channels is known as ‘drainage’ and the network of such channels is called a ‘drainage system’.
Body
The catchment area of large rivers or river system is called a river basin while those of small rivers, a lake, a tank is often referred to as a watershed. There is, however, a slight difference between a river basin and a watershed. Watersheds are small in area, generally less than 1000 ha.
| BASIS FOR COMPARISON | HIMALAYAN RIVERS | PENINSULAR RIVERS |
| Meaning | Himalayan Rivers are the rivers that originate from Himalayan ranges and flows throughout the year. | Peninsular Rivers include those rivers that arises from Western Ghats and receive water only during a particular period. |
| Nature | Perennial | Non-perennial |
| Form | Delta | Some rivers form delta while others form Estuary |
| Shape | Meandering | Straight |
| Rocks | Bed rocks are soft, sedimentary and easily erodible | Bed rocks are hard, resistant and not easily erodible |
| Fed by | Snow and rain | Rain |
| Drainage basin | Large | Small |
| Irrigate | Northern Plains | Deccan Plateau |
| Valley | V-shaped valley is formed | U-shaped valley is formed |
Key Differences Between Himalayan and Peninsular Rivers System
- Himalayan Rivers are the water bodies that emanate from the north of Himalayan mountain ranges. On the other extreme, Peninsular Rivers include those watercourses that arise from, Western Ghats or Central Highlands.
- The Himalayan rivers are perennial, i.e. they have water all around the year. As against, Peninsular rivers are seasonal, in the sense that they have water during a particular period only.
- Big deltas are formed by Himalayan Rivers. On the other extreme, some peninsular rivers like the Mahanadi, the Godavari, the Krishna and the Cauvery form deltas, while the Narmada and the Tapi form estuaries.
- While Himalayan rivers form meanders, there is an absence of meanders in case of Peninsular rivers.
- The bedrocks of Himalayan rivers are soft, sedimentary and easily erodible. Conversely, bedrocks of Peninsular rivers are hard, resistant and not easily erodible.
- Himalayan rivers get water from snow and rain, whereas Peninsular rivers are fed by rain only.
- The drainage basin of Himalayan rivers is comparatively larger than the Peninsular rivers.
- Himalayan rivers water helps in the irrigation of Northern Plains. In contrast, Peninsular rivers irrigate Deccan Plateau.
- Himalayan rivers form a V-shaped valley, while Peninsular watercourses form valley having a U-shape
Conclusion
The channel and valley length of the Himalayan River system is larger in comparison to the Peninsular River system. While in case of Himalayan Rivers, water is added by the underground sources also, but in case of Peninsular rivers due to hard lithology, no underground water is added to the river.
General Studies – 2
Topic: Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources.
Difficulty level: Tough
Reference: The Hindu
Why the question:
The article highlights the need for reforms India’s Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY) health insurance scheme.
Key Demand of the question:
To write about the successes and limitations PM-JAY
Directive word:
Critically examine – When asked to ‘Examine’, we have to look into the topic (content words) in detail, inspect it, investigate it and establish the key facts and issues related to the topic in question. While doing so we should explain why these facts and issues are important and their implications. When ‘critically’ is suffixed or prefixed to a directive, one needs to look at the good and bad of the topic and give a fair judgment.
Structure of the answer:
Introduction:
Begin by citing the aims and objectives Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY).
Body:
First, write about the Salient features of Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY).
Next, write about the successes of the above – Reducing Out-of-Pocket Expenditure, Technology Integration, Coverage etc.
Next, write about the limitations of the same – Non-payment of dues, Misidentification of beneficiaries, leaks, lack of quality treatment etc.
Conclusion:
Conclude by writing a way forward.
Introduction
The Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission touted as “India’s largest scheme to scale-up health infrastructure” was launched by Prime Minister recently. It is aimed at ensuring a robust public health infrastructure in both urban and rural areas, capable of responding to public health emergencies or disease outbreak.
Healthcare provisions in India is grossly inadequate and access to healthcare is highly inequitable. Lack of efficient public healthcare and burden of out-of-pocket health expenditures reduces people’s capacity or disables them from investing in the human capital of their children.
PM-JAY has issued 34.27 crore cards. About 6.5 crore have received treatment and there are over 30,000 empanelled hospitals. However, over the past year, hospitals in some States have reported they are owed hundreds of crores in dues, and some are reportedly turning away or taking in fewer PMJAY patients.
Body
PM-JAY: Features and Significance
- PM-JAY is the world’s largest health insurance/ assurance scheme fully financed by the government.
- Launched in February 2018, it offers a sum insured of5 lakh per family for secondary care (which doesn’t involve a super specialist) as well as tertiary care (which involves a super specialist).
- Under PMJAY, cashless and paperless access to services are provided to the beneficiaries at the point of service, that is, hospital.
- Health Benefit Packages covers surgery, medical and day care treatments, cost of medicines and diagnostics.
- Packaged rates (Rates that include everything so that each product or service is not charged for separately).
- These are flexible but the hospitals can’t charge the beneficiary more once fixed.
- Beneficiaries: It is an entitlement-based scheme that targets the beneficiaries as identified by latest Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC) data.
- Once identified by the database, the beneficiary is considered insured and can walk into any empaneled hospital.
- Funding: The funding for the scheme is shared – 60:40 for all states and UTs with their own legislature, 90:10 in Northeast states and Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal and Uttarakhand and 100% Central funding for UTs without legislature.
- Nodal Agency: The National Health Authority (NHA) has been constituted as an autonomous entity under the Society Registration Act, 1860 for effective implementation of PM-JAY in alliance with state governments.
- The State Health Agency (SHA) is the apex body of the State Government responsible for the implementation of AB PM-JAY in the State.
- Beneficial for Poor: In around the first 200 days of implementation, PM-JAY has benefitted more than 20.8 lakh poor and deprived people who received free treatment worth more than Rs. 5,000 crores.
- During Covid-19: A key design feature of PM-JAY from the beginning of the scheme is portability, which helps to ensure that a PM-JAY-eligible migrant worker can access the scheme’s services in any empanelled hospital across the country, irrespective of their state of residence.
Challenges in healthcare
- Finance: At about 1.3% of the national income, India’s public healthcare spendingbetween 2008 and 2015, has virtually remained stagnant. This is way less than the global average of 6 per cent. It is a herculean task to implement a scheme that could potentially cost Rs 5 lakh per person and benefit 53.7 crore out of India’s 121 crore citizenry, or roughly about 44% of the country’s population. Over 70 per cent of the total healthcare expenditure is accounted for by the private sector.
- Crumbling public health infrastructure:Given the country’s crumbling public healthcare infrastructure, most patients are forced to go to private clinics and hospitals. There is a shortage of PHCs (22%) and sub-health centres (20%), while only 7% sub-health centres and 12% primary health centres meet Indian Public Health Standards (IPHS) norms.
- High Out of Pocket Expenditure: Reports suggest that 70% of the medical spending is from the patient’s pockets leading to huge burden and pushing many into poverty. Most consumers complain of rising costs. Hundred days into the PMJAY, it remains to be seen if private hospitals provide knee replacement at Rs 80,000 (current charges Rs 3.5 lakh) bypass surgery at Rs 1.7 lakh (against Rs 4 lakh).
- Insurance:India has one of the lowest per capita healthcare expenditures in the world. Government contribution to insurance stands at roughly 32 percent, as opposed to 83.5 percent in the UK. The high out-of-pocket expenses in India stem from the fact that 76 percent of Indians do not have health insurance.
- Doctor-Density Ratio: The WHOreports the doctor-density ratio in India at 8 per 10,000 people as against one doctor for a population of 1,000. To achieve such access, merely increasing the number of primary and secondary healthcare centres is not enough.
- Shortage of Medical Personnel:Data by IndiaSpend show that there is a staggering shortage of medical and paramedical staff at all levels of care: 10,907 auxiliary nurse midwives and 3,673 doctors are needed at sub-health and primary health centres, while for community health centres the figure is 18,422 specialists.
- Rural-urban disparity:The rural healthcare infrastructure is three-tiered and includes a sub-center, primary health centre (PHC) and CHC. PHCs are short of more than 3,000 doctors, with the shortage up by 200 per cent over the last 10 years to 27,421. Private hospitals don’t have adequate presence in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities and there is a trend towards super specialisation in Tier-1 cities.
- Social Inequality: The growth of health facilities has been highly imbalanced in India. Rural, hilly and remote areas of the country are under served while in urban areas and cities, health facility is well developed. The SC/ST and the poor people are far away from modern health service.
- Poor healthcare ranking:India ranks as low as 145th among 195 countries in healthcare quality and accessibility, behind even Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
- Commercial motive:lack of transparency and unethical practices in the private sector.
- Lack of level playing field between the public and private hospitals: This has been a major concern as public hospitals would continue receiving budgetary support. This would dissuade the private players from actively participating in the scheme.
- Scheme flaws: The overall situation with the National Health Mission, India’s flagship programme in primary health care, continues to be dismal. The NHM’s share in the health budget fell from 73% in 2006 to 50% in 2019 in the absence of uniform and substantial increases in health spending by States.
Conclusion
Making good use of technology and innovation can further reduce the overall cost of healthcare. AI-powered mobile applications can provide high-quality, low-cost, patient-centric, smart wellness solutions. The scalable and inter-operable IT platform for the Ayushman Bharat is a positive step in this direction.
Topic: Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources.
Difficulty level: Moderate
Reference: Live Mint , Insights on India
Why the question:
In India, the gap between demand for organ donations and their supply is huge.
Key Demand of the question:
To write about progress in organ donations, its need and measures needed to improve organ donation.
Directive word:
Discuss – This is an all-encompassing directive – you must debate on paper by going through the details of the issues concerned by examining each one of them. You must give reasons for both for and against arguments.
Structure of the answer:
Introduction:
Begin by citing statistic related to organ donations in India.
Body:
First, elaborate upon increased trends of organ donations in the country.
Next, discuss the need for more donations as there is severe shortage of organ donors. Cite statistics to substantiate.
Next, suggest various measure that are needed to increase the number of organ donors in the country.
Conclusion:
Conclude by writing a way forward.
Introduction
Organ donation is founded on the pillars of altruism. Despite many obstacles, the era of transplantation has begun and was everywhere hailed as an extraordinary leap in medicine and surgery. Yet, almost immediately, ethical problems are noticed lurking in the miracle.
In India, the gap between demand for organ donations and their supply is huge. The number of deceased donations — organs donated by the kin of those who suffered brain death or cardiac death — has remained lower than the number of donations from living persons, data presented by the government in Parliament show.
Body
State of Organ donation in India
- In India, transplantation of Human Organs Act, 1994 provides various regulations for the removal of human organs and its storage.
- The act also regulates the transplantation of human organs for therapeutic purposes and for the prevention of commercial dealings in human organs.
- The number of donations in 2021 were close to the highest in the last five years (12,746, in 2019) as per the data.
- Organs donated by the kin of those who suffered brain death or cardiac death have remained lower than the number of donations from living persons.
- Organs like kidney and liver donated by living family members are comparatively higher.
- There is also a geographical skew in deceased donations. Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Gujarat, and Karnataka account for more than 85% of the total deceased donations.
- Reason for the geographical skew could be that most organ transplant and harvesting centres are concentrated in these geographies.
Reasons for hesitancy among people regarding organ donation
- There is a gap in the number of organs needed and the number of transplants that happen in the country.
- India conducts the third highest number of transplants in the world in absolute numbers.
- India has an organ donation rate of about 0.52 per million population. In comparison, the organ donation rate in Spain is 49.6 per million population which is the highest in the world.
- Yet, of the estimated 1.5-2 lakh persons who need a kidney transplant every year, only around 8,000 get one. Of the 80,000 persons who require a liver transplant, only 1,800 get one. And of the 10,000 who need a heart transplant, only 200 get it.
- Demand is on the rise because of the increasing prevalence of lifestyle diseases. Organs like heart and lungs can be retrieved only from deceased donors.
- Social values, death taboo, ignorance and procrastination are often issues that can influence the act of organ donation.
- There are lot of myths related to organ donation. Eg.: Doctors will not try to save my life if they know I want to be a donor, People can recover from brain death.
- Illusion of lingering life, protection of the individual’s value, distrust, anxiety and alienation are some other examples of attitudes towards dying and organ donation and transplantation
- Organ trafficking, where Organs are sold illegally with enormous profits, has made people lose confidence about organ donation.
- There has been a false negative perception growing against private hospitals of their nexus related to organ transplant.
- It is a common misconception that organ donation disfigures the deceased donor’s body, which prevents people from enrolling into the donation.
- There are huge scarcity of Organ Transplant and Retrieval Centres in the country.
- A majority of donors are from the lower middle class and below, while the majority of organ recipients are from the small number of persons who can afford transplant surgery and costly lifetime medication thereafter.
- Minorities refuse to donate because organ distribution discriminates by race.
Measures needed
- Transplant coordinators: the larger hospitals that are capable of harvesting organs in India do employ transplant coordinators to explain and guide the families through the process. But still at present, only 2.6 organs from a deceased donor are transplanted against eight organs.
- Harvesting organs from those who have had cardiac death instead of brain death can also increase the numbers.
- But the problem is that the organs must be harvested very quickly after cardiac death because the circulation of blood carrying oxygen to organs stops.
- However, in India, by the time the family members are informed of the death, and they come from different parts of the city it is too late.
- Good transport networks between cities and states can help boost organ donation. The government is working to improve coordination among the Road, Railway, and Aviation Ministries to facilitate the creation of green corridors for faster transportation of organs.
Methods needed to persuade people to donate organs post death
- Awareness should be increased about the benefits of organ donations through the means of mass communication and superstitions among people should be fought by the way of religious injunctions. Enhanced education and better knowledge of the system correlates with increased willingness to donate, greater efforts in education among general public seems an important policy initiative.
- Public communication campaigns should include strategies to provoke interpersonal communication about brain death, organ donation, as a means of creating social representations able to promote behaviours that support organ donation and transplantation.
- A collaborative work with religious leaders regarding organ donation among religious communities and debates to ensure an active commitment with organ donation must be considered at national and local levels.
- Involvement of medical staff with specific professional training, promoting interpersonal communication among community members, campaigns aiming to create a more accurate perception of the entire medical act, the legal and ethical framework are essential elements for a good development of the whole process of organ donation and transplantation.
- Applying ethical principles, transparency, identifying and fighting the main concerns with the utmost professionalism can bring changes in the attitude towards organ donation.
Conclusion
Although organ transplantation helps human beings but there are other issues involved in it. Organ donation can help light up lives of many disadvantaged persons.
General Studies – 3
Topic: Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization, of resources, growth, development and employment.
Difficulty level: Moderate
Reference: The Hindu ,Insights on India
Why the question:
Revenues from the Goods and Services Tax (GST) crossed the ₹2 lakh crore mark for the first time in April.
Key Demand of the question:
To write about various successes and limitations of GST and reforms that are needed in it.
Directive word:
Analyse – When asked to analyse, you must examine methodically the structure or nature of the topic by separating it into component parts and present them in a summary.
Structure of the answer:
Introduction:
Begin by aims and objectives behind the launch of GST.
Body:
First, write about the achievements of GST – simplified tax structure, an increase in the tax base, and a reduction in tax evasion. Substantiate with examples, facts or statistics.
Next, write about the shortcomings of GST – high tax rates, compliance burden, and complexities in the filing process have been faced. Substantiate with examples, facts or statistics.
Next, suggest reforms in GST.
Conclusion:
Conclude with a way forward.
Introduction
The Goods and Services Tax (GST) is one indirect tax for the whole nation, which will make India one unified common market. GST is a single tax on the supply of goods and services, right from the manufacturer to the consumer. Credits of input taxes paid at each stage will be available in the subsequent stage of value addition, which makes GST essentially a tax only on value addition at each stage. The final consumer will thus bear only the GST charged by the last dealer in the supply chain, with set-off benefits at all the previous stages.
GST is an indirect tax system which was rolled out on 1st July 2017.
Body
Performance of the GST regime
- Revenue collection:
- The average growth rate of Gross GST revenue from 2018-19 to 2022-23 stands at 3%, surpassing the nominal GDP growth rate of 9.8%.
- Revenues from the Goods and Services Tax (GST) crossed the ₹2 lakh crore mark for the first time in April 2024.
- This is noteworthy as indirect taxes typically exhibit lower buoyancy– an increase in its revenue rate without increasing the tax rate.
- A seamless market and digitised compliance:
- GST laid the foundation for a seamless national market, reshaping India’s tax landscape and driving economic growth.
- By digitising processes from registration to return filing, the GST portal ensured smoother compliance for businesses, fostering a tech-enabled environment.
- It paved the way for other significant indirect tax reforms, including e-way bills and e-invoicing, promoting transparent data sharing between businesses and the government.
- Empowering the manufacturing sector:GST’s impact on the manufacturing sector was remarkable, as it eliminated the cascading effect of taxes and reduced manufacturing costs.
- Introduced as one of the biggest economic reforms by the incumbent government, the GST kicked off with the promise to streamline taxation and compliance burden.
- Based on the one nation one tax ideology, GST has helped in reducing the cascading effect of tax considerably.
- Also, multiplicity of compliances under various indirect taxes has been reduced.
- Hence, introduction of GST in India has brought in efficiencies in indirect tax compliance, incidence and reduced the number of indirect tax authorities that a taxpayer needed to interact with
- Another positive is the concept of e-invoicing which seeks to ensure greater transparency in supplier-receiver transactions.
- The introduction of e-way bill coupled with the crackdown on fake invoicing has helped in bringing in a substantial portion of GST revenues, which were either being evaded or under-reported, in order.
- Over 53 lakh taxpayers and 67,000 transporters are enrolled on the e-way portal, generating, on average, 7.81 crore e-way bills per month. Since the launch of the system, a total of 292 crore e-way bills have been generated of which 42 per cent are for the inter-state transport of goods.
- GST has eliminated the tax arbitrage that existed among the states under the CST/VAT regime.
- Increase in logistic supply chain: With no such arbitrage under the IGST and with the e-way bills, the logistics supply chain efficiencies have increased manifold.
Various issues with respect to goods and services tax (GST) regime
- The breakdown of trust and cooperative federalism between states and the Union government:
- It turned out to be prescient as GST failed to live up to its economic promises and states’ revenues were protected through this guarantee, despite Finance’s attempt to wriggle out of this commitment during the pandemic under the alibi of an “act of God”.
- The Union government’s proclivity to levy and appropriate cess revenues for itself without sharing them with the states has lent credence to the wisdom of guaranteed compensation for states.
- This guarantee is now set to expire..
- The recent Supreme Court’s judgment highlighting that the GST Council’s recommendations are not binding on the states:
- The SC recently observed that it is in the national interest to have both cooperative and competitive federalism, and hence, the GST Council’s decisions are not binding on the states.
- This means that states had and continue to have the right to either comply fully with the Council’s recommendations or modify them as they deem necessary.
- This has opened the window for states to override the fundamental GST premise of a “one nation one tax”.
- If pushed to a corner, states may now use the SC ruling as a shield.
- Expiry of the revenue guarantee that protected states’ revenues
- GST is too precariously perched to yank away the compensation guarantee for states.
- the Union government is not desirous of extending the compensation guarantee.
- Difficulty in tax administration:
- Goes against the canons of taxation.
- A modern tax system should be fair, uncomplicated, transparent and easy to administer.
- It must yield revenues sufficient to cover the cost of government services and public goods.
- Lack of clarity on many rules is also leading to various litigation and different interpretations (of the same laws) by Advanced Ruling Authorities in different states.
- Complicated taxation structure:
- A World Bank study published in May 2018 said that the Indian GST rate was the second highest among the 115 countries with a national value-added tax.
- It was also the most complicated, with five main tax rates, several exemptions, a cess and a special rate for gold.
- The multilateral lender said that only five countries had four or more non-zero tax rates—India, Italy, Pakistan, Luxembourg and Ghana.
- Falling revenue amid disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic has continuously delayed the reform, leaving a large number of items in high tax slabs.
- High compliance costs:are also arising because the prevalence of multiple tax rates implies a need to classify inputs and outputs based on the applicable tax rate. Along with the need to apply the correct rate, firms are required to match invoices between their outputs and inputs to be eligible for full input tax credit, which increases compliance costs further.
- GST Council meetings: the meetings of the GST Council are not as frequent as they were earlier, if the recent incidents are anything to go by, and it often end up with disagreement, fight and strong letters and statements. States have also accused the Centre of cornering a substantial portion of tax in forms of cess.
- There has been lack of coordination between the Department of Revenue, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs and the GST Network.
Way Forward
- The first target should be to move to at least a three-rate structure, a lower rate for essential goods, a relatively high rate for luxury goods, and a standard rate for the majority of goods and services.
- The next step would be simplifying the tax returns process.
- The scope for lowering the GST rate is umbilically linked to direct tax reform.
- Commence taxation of petroleum crude, high-speed diesel, petrol, natural gas and aviation turbine fuel and similarly, alcohol meant for human consumption;
- Inclusion of other levies such as electricity duty, stamp duty, etc;
- Clarifying taxation of online gaming activities, transactions involving cryptocurrency, etc.
- A better way to make a tax system more just is by lowering regressive indirect tax rates while widening the base for progressive direct taxeson income and corporate profits.
- The government needs to establishGST Tribunals to reduce litigation timelines and the pressure on courts.
- The state authorities for Advance Ruling should ideally also have an independent jurist member, apart from a representative from the tax department.
- Emulating the best practices. The GST in New Zealand, widely regarded as the most efficient in the world, has a single standard rate of 12.5 percent across all industry groups.
- The Fifteenth finance commission, in its latest report, has addressed many issues including large shortfall in collections as compared to original forecast, high volatility in collections, accumulation of large integrated GST credit, glitches in invoice and input tax matching, and delay in refunds.
- The Commission also observed that the continuing dependence of states on compensation from the central government for making up for the shortfall in revenue is a concern.
- While at the same time it suggested that the structural implications of GST for low consumption states need to be considered.
Conclusion
While the GST’s journey has given its stakeholders some causes to celebrate, it has also given moments of worry. But then, no transformation of the scale and complexity can be achieved without its share of hiccups and challenges. The process of evolution will take a few years more for the mammoth structural change to stabilize. The four-year journey of GST has been a roller-coaster ride for all stakeholders with equitable share of hits, misses and expectations. A work-in-progress in its transformational journey, GST suffers from several shortcomings which need to be resolved quickly, but its journey to ‘Good & Simple Tax’ is still quite long.
General Studies – 4
Topic: Citizen’s Charters,
Difficulty level: Moderate
Reference: Ethics, Integrity and Aptitude by Lexicon Publications.
Why the question:
The question is part of the static syllabus of General studies paper – 4 and part of Mission-2024 Secure.
Key Demand of the question:
trace the link between non-partisanship in public administration and equality amongst citizens.
Directive:
Analyse – When asked to analyse, you must examine methodically the structure or nature of the topic by separating it into component parts and present them in a summary.
Structure of the answer:
Introduction:
Begin by defining a citizen charter.
Body:
First, write about the various issues in the functioning of citizen charters
Next, write about the importance of consultation with various stakeholders and improving standards of services to solve various issues with citizen charters.
Conclusion:
Complete the answer by suggesting ways for effective utilisation of charters.
Introduction
A Citizens’ Charter represents the commitment of the Organisation towards standard, quality and time frame of service delivery, grievance redress mechanism, transparency and accountability. The concept of Citizens Charter enshrines the trust between the service provider and its users.
Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances in Government of India (DARPG) initiated the task of coordinating, formulating and operationalising Citizen’s Charters.
Body
The basic objective of the Citizens Charter is to empower the citizen in relation to public service delivery.
Importance of Citizen’s charter in the Governance of developing nation like India:
- To make administration accountable and citizen friendly.
- To ensure transparency.
- To take measures to improve customer service.
- To adopt a stakeholder approach.
- To save time of both Administration and the citizen
Problems faced in implementation of Citizen’s charter:
- One size fits all: Tendency to have a uniform CC for all offices under the parent organization. CC have still not been adopted by all Ministries/Departments. This overlooks local issues.
- Silo operations: Devoid of participative mechanisms in a majority of cases, not formulated through a consultative process with cutting edge staff who will finally implement it.
- Non-Dynamic: Charters are rarely updated making it a one-time exercise, frozen in time.
- Poor design and content: lack of meaningful and succinct CC, absence of critical information that end-users need to hold agencies accountable.
- Lack of public awareness: only a small percentage of end-users are aware of the commitments made in the CC since effective efforts of communicating and educating the public about the standards of delivery promise have not been undertaken.
- Stakeholders not consulted: End-users, Civil society organizations and NGOs are not consulted when CCs are drafted. Since a CC’s primary purpose is to make public service delivery more citizen-centric, consultation with stakeholders is a must.
- Measurable standards of delivery are rarely defined: making it difficult to assess whether the desired level of service has been achieved or not.
- Poor adherence: Little interest shown by the organizations in adhering to their CC. since there is no citizen friendly mechanism to compensate the citizen if the organization defaults.
Way forward:
- Wide consultation process: CC be formulated after extensive consultations within the organization followed by a meaningful dialogue with civil society.
- Participatory process: Include Civil Society in the process: to assist in improvement in the contents of the Charter, its adherence as well as educating the citizens about the importance of this vital mechanism.
- Firm commitments to be made: CC must be precise and make firm commitments of service delivery standards to the citizens/consumers in quantifiable terms wherever possible.
- Redressal mechanism in case of default: clearly lay down the relief which the organization is bound to provide if it has defaulted on the promised standards of delivery.
- One size does not fit all: formulation of CC should be a decentralized activity with the head office providing only broad guidelines.
- Periodic updation of CC: preferably through an external agency.
- Fix responsibility: Hold officers accountable for results: fix specific responsibility in cases where there is a default in adhering to the CC.
Conclusion
Citizen’s Charter is playing a prominent part in ensuring “minimum government & maximum governance”, changing the nature of charters from non-justiciable to justiciable & adopting penalty measures that will make it more efficient & citizen friendly. The Sevottam model proposed by 2nd Administrative Reforms Commission for public Service Delivery can be regarded as a standard model for providing services in citizen centric governance.
Topic: Ethics and Human Interface: Essence, determinants and consequences of Ethics in-human actions; dimensions of ethics; ethics – in private and public relationships.
Difficulty level: Moderate
Why the question:
The question is part of the static syllabus of General studies paper – 4 and part of Mission-2024 Secure.
Key Demand of the question:
To write about the efficacy of being fearlessly morally upright and taking practical decisions.
Directive:
Directive word:
Critically examine – When asked to ‘Examine’, we have to look into the topic (content words) in detail, inspect it, investigate it and establish the key facts and issues related to the topic in question. While doing so we should explain why these facts and issues are important and their implications. When ‘critically’ is suffixed or prefixed to a directive, one needs to look at the good and bad of the topic and give a fair judgment.
Structure of the answer:
Introduction:
Start by writing what you understand by being fearlessly morally upright.
Body:
Write about the various ethical issues involved in being fearlessly morally upright.
Next, analyse the pros and cons of being fearlessly morally upright and how its affects the administration and the civil servant. Substantiate with examples.
Next, write about being practical along with upholding morality.
Conclusion:
Conclude by giving your view being fearlessly morally upright.
Introduction
An individual who has a personal history of honesty, fairness, respect for the rights of others and for the law is considered a person of good moral character. He is someone who possesses good moral virtues, and is ethically admirable. In the immigration context, the Immigration and Nationality Act defines good moral character in the negative. A person is deemed to have a good moral character if he has not committed certain violations of the law or committed certain specified acts.
Body
For a civil servant, being fearlessly morally upright is a delicate balance
- It is the lack of probity in public life that resulted in increasing cases of misallocation of public funds like 2G scam, taking grafts for delivery of public services to citizens, inclusion of fake beneficiaries, use of public power for the personal interest and nepotism.
- There is no recognition of good work in civil services.
- Honest and brave officers are threatened with suspension and humiliation.
- Today, our bureaucracy is twenty times more bureaucratic, our deference to the chain of command more cringing and decorous, our worship of paper more entrenched.
- To quote Hyman Rickover, “If you are going to sin, sin against God, not the bureaucracy. God will forgive you but the bureaucracy won’t.”
- An administration certainly needs guardrails in the form of non-negotiable rules. Without such rails, the system can stray badly. But necessitating a dozen signatures where a few can do, is a criminal surfeit of supervisory controls.
- Similarly, we have a colossal army of paper-pushing subordinates churning out work of frivolous value leading to redtapism.
- Corruption, favouritism, criminalisation of governance, self-centred functionaries etc. are on the rise.
Measures to ensure probity
- Statutory Code of Values and Ethics for Public Services– It should be expressed in simple language, easily understandable and should lay down fundamental values that ought to govern the conduct of public servants. For example, British Civil Services Code.
- Ethical framework –Need for an ethical framework that should provide for prevention and guidance, investigation, disciplinary action, and prosecution.
- Ethical Guidance –It should include training in ethics, awareness and development of essential skill for ethical analysis and moral judgement.
- Sanction and punishment –Violation and breaches of the Code of Ethics should invite sanction and punishment under the disciplinary rules. A simplified disciplinary regime should be put in place which, while following the principle of natural justice, may speedily and summarily decide cases and take punitive action against delinquent employees.
- Independent office of Ethics Commissioner– Need to create such an independent office on the US pattern to provide leadership in ethics and values. Ethics Commissioner should issue and interpret rules which govern standards of conduct and conflict of interest.
Conclusion
Integrity and probity in public life demand that those elected or appointed to public office are themselves imbued with a sense of responsibility to the society that puts them there; that the decisions they take should always be solely in terms of the public interest and not to gain benefits for themselves, family, friends or associates; that they act with honesty and integrity by not allowing their private interests to conflict with their public responsibilities; and that the behaviour must always be able to stand up to the closest public scrutiny. Similarly, civil society and institutions have a crucial role to play by calling to account those who will flout the rules and by refusing to tolerate any but the highest standard of behaviour in those who they elect or appoint to serve the public interest.
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