Tag: Government of India

Right to Information

The Right to Information Act 2005 requires prompt responses to citizens’ requests for government information. This is an initiative of the Department of Personnel and Training of the Ministry of Personnel, Public Claims and Pensions to provide an RTI portal for citizens to quickly find information on the details of welfare agencies. magistrates, PIOs, etc. in addition to accessing RTI/disclosure related information posted on the web by various public authorities under Government of India as well as State Government.

It includes permissions –
I. check work, documents, records.

ii. notes, extracts or certified copies of documents
or recordings.

iii. certified material sampling.

iv. get information in the form of hard copies, discs,
disc, tape, video tape or anything else
electronic or print.

Purpose of the Right to Information Act:

The fundamental purpose of the Right to Information Act is to empower citizens, promote transparency and accountability in government operations, curb corruption, and make our democracy real. effective for the people. It goes without saying that a well-informed citizenry is better equipped to ensure the necessary vigilance over governance tools and to make government more accountable to those under control. . The law is a big step forward in providing information to the people about government activities.

The RTI Bill was passed by the Indian Parliament on June 15, 2005 and came into force on October 12, 2005. On average more than 4,800 RTI applications are filed each day. In the first ten years of the law’s entry into force, more than 17,500,000 applications were filed.
Although the right to information is not considered a fundamental right in the Constitution of India, it protects the fundamental rights of freedom of speech and expression under Article 19(1)(a) and the right to life and individual liberties under Article 21 are guaranteed by the Constitution. Authorities under the RTI Act 2005 are known as public authorities. The Public Information Officer (PIO) or first appellate body in public agencies performs the quasi-judicial function of adjudicating petitions and appeals, respectively. This law was enacted to strengthen the fundamental right in the Indian constitution of “freedom of speech”. Since RTI is implied in the right to freedom of speech and expression under Section 19 of the Constitution of India, it is an implied fundamental right.

When it comes to RTI, there are watchdogs at many levels to ensure that the law is followed in spirit and in writing. The law adopts a “do or cancel” approach, in addition to setting out a mechanism for disseminating information. Every government organization must appoint a staff member as a Public Information Officer (PIO). When a department receives an RTI request, the PIO is responsible for providing the information to the requester within 30 days. Failure to do so may mean that the PIO may be fined. The longer a PIO causes an applicant to wait, the greater the penalty imposed on them. There have been cases where PIOs were asked to deduct an amount of thousands of rupees as a penalty. Each state has an information committee, consisting of a chief information officer and several information commissioners. Former judges, IAS, IPS officials with unverifiable backgrounds are appointed to these positions. Above them hierarchically are the Central Information Commission and below them are the first and second appeals agencies to ensure that applicants get the RTI information they have requested.

AGNIPATH SCHEME

On 14 June 2022, the central government launched the Agnipath scheme which is a recruitment of soldiers below the rank of commissioned officers into the three services of the armed forces. With this scheme, the central government hopes to fulfill the dream of an individual to join the armed forces and serve the nation. Various other reasons for the government to start this scheme were to reduce salaries and defence pension bill, to increase employment opportunities and higher skilled work force and to provide a youthful profile to the armed forces. One of the important reasons was also to have a large number of military trained and disciplined people in the society. The soldiers recruited through this scheme will be known as ‘AGNIVEERS’.

Under this scheme 45,000 to 50,000 youth aged between 17.5 to 21 years will be recruited annually for 4 years in the Navy, Air force & Armed forces. Enrollment will be based on an ‘All India All Class’ basis. The enrolment of the Agniveers to all the three services will be through a centralized online system, with special rallies and campus interviews at recognized technical institutes such as the National skills Qualifications framework, Industrial Training Institutes. In each batch, 25% of Engineers will be chosen for the permanent cadre in the armed services. The remaining 75% of Agniveers will receive an amount of Rs. 11.71 lakh as Seva Nidhi Package.

The salary per month of the Agniveers is Rs. 30,000 in 1st year, Rs. 33,00 in 2nd year, Rs. 36,500 in 3rd year and Rs. 40,000 in 4th year but the Agniveers contribution to Seva Nidhi will be 30% which means 30% will be deducted from the initial salary which means in hand they will receive 21,000 in first year, 23,100 in second year, 25,580 in third year and 28,000 in fourth year.

The Agniveers will also receive a non-contributory insurance cover of Rs. 48 lakh during the period.

Every demolished AGNIVEER will have a 10% reservation in CAPFs, Assam Rifle recruitment. They are also provided with the Upper age relaxation beyond the prescribed age limit for AGNIVEERS in CAPF & Assam Rifles. Other benefits include:

  • Priority in bank loan schemes in case they want to be entrepreneurs.
  • Many other states including Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh have stated that agniveers will be given priority in the recruitment of state police officers.
  • Some major companies and sectors like IT, Engineering Security, etc. have also announced that they will prefer hiring skilled, trained, and disciplined Agniveers.
  • It also stated that all those wishing to study further class 12 equivalent certificate and Bridging Course of choice for further studies.

The Upper age limit for recruitment has also increased only for 2022 under the Agnipath scheme to 23 years from 21 years for the first year of the scheme for enrolment of soldiers into the Army, Navy and Air Force.

AIM OF THE SCHEME

  • One of the important aims of the scheme is to make the army a future-ready fighting force with the youth of the nation capable of meeting multiple challenges.
  • To strengthen the national security
  • To provide the youth of the nation to serve the country.
  • To cut down salary and pension bills.
  • To harness the youth potential and make them future ready soldiers.
  • They will be provided with certificates and bridge courses that will help in creating future entrepreneurs.

CRITICISM OF THE SCHEMES

After the announcement of this scheme, there were several protests held throughout the country in several states. Students from throughout the country held riots, burned trains, and caused severe damage to the public as well as private properties. This scheme is criticized on a number of basis such as:

  • The service period that is 4 years is very less and it will provide employment for just 4 years. T
  • he real skills cannot be acquired in such a short period and what about those who want to serve the nation for longer terms.
  • only 25% of the candidates will be taken permanently and the rest 75% will again be unemployed.
  • No pension will be given to these candidates that will be appointed during this scheme.
  • The candidates that will be selected will only be selected for non-commissioned ranks like Naik, Sepoy, and Lance Naik.
  • The recruitment is only for candidates of 17.5 – 23 years of age.
  • After 4 years is over, there will be no job security.
  • Unlike other governments’ jobs no extra basic benefits will be provided to the candidates.
  • The salary will also be deducted for the Seva Nidhi contribution.

With the provided advantages and disadvantages of this AGNIPATH scheme it is way forward for a reform in the Defence policy. This schemes aims to increase employment opportunities with skills and training, to give a better opportunity to the youth who choose to serve the nation and it hopes to have a positive impact on the human resouces management of armed forces and for the country’s development.

Sources: https://byjus.com/free-ias-prep/agnipath-defence-policy-reforms/

What is MSP?

India is an agriculture dominated country. More than 50% of Indian workforce is employed by the agriculture. Farmers strive hard to produce high yield and quality products but their income is less than expenses. Market price is determined by supply and income demand. When there is large supply of crops but less demand , there is sharp fall in farm prices affecting farmers drastically. There is always price fluctuations in agricultural products while farmers get a decent return when there is shortage of supply,the same products fetch them poor price during bumper harvest season.
The government of India has introduced MSP (Minimum Support Price ) to protect producers against excessive fall in farm prices leading heavy loss suffered by the farmers.MSP is the minimum price a farmer must be paid for their agricultural produce as guaranteed by the government of India. If the market price falls below MSP, the government procures that crop from the farmers at MSP. MSP is announced for  22 major crops along with a Fair Remunerative Prices (FRP) for sugarcane. MSP is recommended by Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) but the final decision is taken by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs(CCEA) of union government.

MSP ensures profit of atleast 50% over the cost of production for the farmers.It includes cost of production, domestic and international prices, demand-supply conditions, inter-crop price parity and the terms of trade between agricultural and non-agricultural sectors.
Farmers are free to sell their products to any non-governmental parties, if they get favorable terms to sell their products or better than MSP. The government mainly buys rice and wheat at guaranteed price.

Benefits of MSP:
• It acts as a surety to farmers so that their crops get the fair amount for their produce and helps them sustain their losses and does not affect them drastically
• It helps to keep a floor price which does not let the prices fall below a certain point.
• The government can use these crops to be sold at government fair price shops at a price lower than market rate that will also help the government recover some amount and reduce the losses of the government.
• It safeguard the interest of the consumer by ensuring supplies at a reasonable price.
• Government manages food scarcity by distribution of stored grains at affordable prices.

Drawback of MSP :
• It doesn’t increase in proportion to the increase in cost of production.
• There are a lot of farmers who don’t have adequate information about MSP and are exploited by middlemen.
• There are several regions in the country where farmers can’t access to the benefits through MSP.
• Open market workings , which works on supply and demand relations is detrimental for farmers , is disrupted by government intervention.
• Maintenance cost of procuring grains is raised by MSP which affects the investment in agri-infrastructure.

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