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DPP 2016

The government has approved major changes to theDefence Procurement Procedure (DPP). Approval in this regard was recently given by theDefence Acquisition Council (DAC) chaired by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar.

Highlights:

  • The DPP 2016 will have a new category,Indigenously Designed, Developed and Manufactured (IDDM) platforms, which will be the priority route for procurements. Within this twosub-categorieshave been created, one with mandatory 40% domestic content for a domestic design and the other mandating 60% local content if the design is not Indian. The domestic companies eligible under this will have majority Indian control and operated by Indian nationals.
  • In addition to building a technology base in the country, the government through the Department of Defence Production will fund private R&D for which various norms have been stipulated.
  • In another significant change, the contentious issue of offsets has been amended from the current Rs. 300 crore to Rs. 2000 crore giving flexibility for foreign companies. Offset clause mandates that a foreign company should invest 30% of the contract value back into the country with a view to bring in technology. Offsets push up cost of contracts by 14-18%.
  • According to the new changes, the definition to be counted as an ‘Indian company’ is acompany that is controlled and operated by Indian nationals.
  • The DPP also sets up anempowered committeeto solve disputes or unforeseen issues. Till now disputes went to DAC.
  • Each of the three Services will have a Major General-rank officer for project management to be run on road map in line with the long-term perspective plan.
  • Given the limited choices in defence equipment technology production, the DPP says bids can be accepted even if there is only one supplier.

Digital India

  • The Digital India programme is a flagship programme of the Government of India with a vision to transform India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy.
  • In order to transform the entire ecosystem of public services through the use of information technology, the Government of India has launched the Digital India programme with the vision to transform India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy.
  • E-governance initiatives in India took a broader dimension in the mid 1990s for wider sectoral applications with emphasis on citizen-centric services.
  • The major ICT initiatives of the Government included, inter alia, some major projects such as railway computerization, land record computerization, etc. which focused mainly on the development of information systems.
  • Later on, many states started ambitious individual e-governance projects aimed at providing electronic services to citizens.
  • Though these e-governance projects were citizen-centric, they could make less than the desired impact due to their limited features. The isolated and less interactive systems revealed major gaps that were thwarting the successful adoption of e-governance along the entire spectrum of governance
  • They clearly pointed towards the need for a more comprehensive planning and implementation for the infrastructure required to be put in place, interoperability issues to be addressed, etc. to establish a more connected government.

The Digital India programme is centred on three key vision areas:

  1. Digital Infrastructure as a Core Utility to Every Citizen
  2. Governance and Services on Demand
  3. Digital Empowerment of Citizens

Approach and Methodology for Digital India Programme are:

  1. Ministries / Departments / States would fully leverage the Common and Support ICT Infrastructure established by GoI. DeitY would also evolve/ lay down standards and policy guidelines, provide technical and handholding support, undertake capacity building, R&D, etc.
  2. The existing/ ongoing e-Governance initiatives would be suitably revamped to align them with the principles of Digital India. Scope enhancement, Process Reengineering, use of integrated & interoperable systems and deployment of emerging technologies like cloud & mobile would be undertaken to enhance the delivery of Government services to citizens.
  3. States would be given flexibility to identify for inclusion additional state-specific projects, which are relevant for their socio-economic needs.
  4. e-Governance would be promoted through a centralised initiative to the extent necessary, to ensure citizen centric service orientation, interoperability of various e-Governance applications and optimal utilisation of ICT infrastructure/ resources, while adopting a decentralised implementation model.
  5. Successes would be identified and their replication promoted proactively with the required productization and customisation wherever needed.
  6. Public Private Partnerships would be preferred wherever feasible to implement e-Governance projects with adequate management and strategic control.
  7. Adoption of Unique ID would be promoted to facilitate identification, authentication and delivery of benefits.
  8. Restructuring of NIC would be undertaken to strengthen the IT support to all government departments at Centre and State levels.
  9. The positions of Chief Information Officers (CIO) would be created in at least 10 key Ministries so that various e-Governance projects could be designed, developed and implemented faster. CIO positions will be at Additional Secretary/Joint Secretary level with over-riding powers on IT in the respective Ministry.

How Digital India will be realized: Pillars of Digital India

  • Digital India is an umbrella programme that covers multiple Government Ministries and Departments. It weaves together a large number of ideas and thoughts into a single, comprehensive vision so that each of them can be implemented as part of a larger goal.
  • Each individual element stands on its own, but is also part of the larger picture. Digital India is to be implemented by the entire Government with overall coordination being done by the Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY)
  • Digital India aims to provide the much needed thrust to the nine pillars of growth areas, namely Broadband Highways, Universal Access to Mobile Connectivity, Public Internet Access Programme, e-Governance: Reforming Government through Technology, e-Kranti - Electronic Delivery of Services, Information for All, Electronics Manufacturing, IT for Jobs and Early Harvest Programmes. Each of these areas is a complex programme in itself and cuts across multiple Ministries and Departments.

National Judicial Appointments Commission

  • The Lok Sabha on 13 August 2014 and the Rajya Sabha on 14 August 2014 passed the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) Bill, 2014 to scrap the collegium system of appointment of Judges.
  • The President of India has given his assent to the National Judicial Appointments Commission Bill, 2014 on 31 December 2014, after which the bill has been renamed as the National Judicial Appointments Commission Act, 2014.

Evolution of Collegium system:

  • The collegium system has its genesis in a series of three judgments that is now clubbed together as the “Three Judges Cases”.
  • The S P Gupta case (1981) is called the “First Judges Case”. It declared that the “primacy” of the CJI’s recommendation to the President can be refused for “cogent reasons”. This brought a paradigm shift in favour of the executive having primacy over the judiciary in judicial appointments for the next 12 years.
  • In 1993, came a nine-judge bench decision in the Supreme Court Advocates-on Record Association vs Union of India case — the “Second Judges Case”.This was what ushered in the collegium system. The majority verdict written by Justice J S Verma said “justiciability” and “primacy” required that the CJI be given the “primal” role in such appointments.
  • It overturned the S P Gupta judgment, saying “the role of the CJI is primal in nature because this being a topic within the judicial family, the executive cannot have an equal say in the matter.
  • Again in 1998, in the “Third judges Case “ 1993 judgement was reiterated giving way for the collegium system.

Collegium system :

  • The collegium system of appointment of judges is popularly referred to as judges-selecting-judges.
  • It is a body of senior apex court judges headed by the Chief Justice of India to select persons and recommended their names for appointment as judges.
  • It also recommends names for appointment and transfer of judges of high courts and the Supreme Court.

A brief outlook into NJAC :

A new article, Article 124A, (which provides for the composition of the NJAC) had been inserted into the Constitution.

Composition

As per the amended provisions of the constitution, the Commission would have consisted of the following six persons:

  1. Chief Justice of India (Chairperson, ex officio).
  2. Two other senior judges of the Supreme Court next to the Chief Justice of India – ex officio.
  3. The Union Minister of Law and Justice, ex-officio.
  4. Two eminent persons.
  5. The two eminent persons would have been nominated by a committee consisting of the Chief Justice of India, Prime Minister of India, and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha or where there is no such Leader of Opposition, then, the Leader of single largest Opposition Party in Lok Sabha), provided that of the two eminent persons, one person would be from the Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes or OBC or minority communities or a woman.

Functions of the Commission:

  1. Recommending persons for appointment as Chief Justice of India, Judges of the Supreme Court, Chief Justices of High Courts and other Judges of High Courts.
  2. Recommending transfer of Chief Justices and other Judges of High Courts from one High Court to any other High Court.
  3. Ensuring that the persons recommended are of ability and integrity.

99th Amendment and NJAC Act quashed by Supreme Court

  • On 16 October 2015, by a majority opinion of 4:1 Supreme Court struck down the constitutional amendment and the NJAC Act restoring the two-decade old collegiums system of judges appointing judges in higher judiciary.
  • Supreme Court declared that NJAC is interfering with the autonomy of the judiciary by the executive which amounts to tampering of the basic structure of the constitution where parliament is not empowered to change the basic structure.
  • However Supreme Court has acknowledged that the collegial system of judges appointing judges is lacking transparency and credibility which would be rectified/improved by the Judiciary.

LabourReforms

Why reforms are required

The Review and updation of labour laws should be a continuous process in order to bring them in tune with the emerging needs of the economy. Some major reasons are –

  1. Benefits limited to Organised Sector only
  • These labour laws apply to organised sector which employs only 8 to 9 percent of workforce leaving vast majority of Indian workforce remain unregulated. The workers under unorganised sector have limited rights and are faced deplorable working conditions.
  1. Multiplicity, Complexity and Rigidities

The multiplicity of labour laws and difficulty in coping with them are the impediment to industrial development in India. Many of the laws are obsolete and are required to be reviewed to align them with current economic situation. Some of such laws and provisions are discussed below:

  • Industrial Disputes Act (IDA). This Act requires firms employing more than 100 workers to seek permission from their respective state governments to retrench or lay off workers. This permission is seldom granted.
  • Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act makes job description modifications and interplant transfers within a firm (with more than 100 workers in some states and more than 50 in others) very difficult and virtually impossible.
  • The Trade Union Act allows formation of trade union in firms having more than any seven workers provides right to strike. The multiplicity of unions becomes a potentially difficult situation for employers to manage.
  • Contract Labour Act regulates and restricts the use of contract labour. It is argued that it limits the substitutability between permanent and contract workers, and thereby restricts an important channel through which, the firms can reduce costs. For certain tasks, the use of contract labour is prohibited
  1. Ease of Doing Business is affected
  • Employers contend that labour laws in India are excessively pro-worker in the organized sector. There is too much of inspection, and industries are looked upon with suspicion when comes to enforcing labour laws.
  • The legal provisions of job security and institutional factors like the pressure of trade unions make adjustment of the workforce of enterprises difficult, and discourage organised sector enterprises from expansion. The small size of labour-intensive firms prevents them from reaping economies of scale, thereby lowering India’s comparative advantage in labour-intensive manufacturing.
  • Studies show states with relatively easier labour regulations have experienced higher growth of labour intensive industries and their overall employment than have other states.
  1. Jobless Growth
  • Several economists, industry associations believe deceleration in employment growth in India is due to inflexibility in the labour market. The existing labour laws designed to protect employment and do not encourage employability. They are a major cause for greater acceptance of capital-intensive methods in the organized sector and affect the sector’s long run demand for labour.
  1. Skill Development
  • The industries play crucial role in skill development. However, these laws discourage firms from employing a large number of permanent workers and steer them towards employing more casual or contract workers. In such temporary workers, firms show no inclination to invest for skill development and training. To encourage apprenticeship in India, labour market need to be reformed legally and institutionally both.
  1. Global Competitiveness
  • The Restrictive labour regulations prevent firms from making the required adjustments to their inputs in response to shocks to demand and technology. It makes them difficult to compete with firms in countries where labour market rigidity is not a problem.
  • These regulations constrain the firms by curtailing their size and depriving them of significant potential economies of scale. Thus, Indian manufacturing firms, especially in labour-intensive industries such as textiles and apparel, are seriously disadvantaged relative to their counterparts in China, Bangladesh, and Vietnam etc. where labour markets are much more flexible.

Recent Steps taken by the Governments

  1. Central Government
  • Dedicated ShramSuvidha Portal: That would allot Labour Identification Number (LIN) to units and allow them to file online compliance for 16 out of 44 labour laws
  • Random Inspection Scheme: To eliminate human discretion in selection of units for Inspection, and uploading of Inspection Reports within 72 hours of inspection mandatory
  • Universal Account Number: Enables 4.17 crore employees to have their Provident Fund account portable, hassle-free and universally accessible
  • Apprentice ProtsahanYojana: Government will support manufacturing units mainly and other establishments by reimbursing 50% of the stipend paid to apprentices during first two years of their training
  • Revamped RashtriyaSwasthyaBimaYojana: Introducing a Smart Card for the workers in the unorganized sector seeded with details of two more social security schemes
  • The National Career Service is being implemented as a mission mode project to provide various job-related services information on skills development courses, internships etc.
  • The Apprentice Act 1961 was amended to make it more responsive to industry and youth
  1. State Governments

Rajasthan State Government

  • Amendment to Industrial Act: Companies can retrench up to 300 employees, up from 100 without seeking government permission.
  • Tougher to register labour unions: Now, it requires membership of 30 per cent of the total workforce for a union to obtain recognition
  • Amendment to Contract Labour Act: The law will now be applicable only to companies that employ more than 50 workers against the previous 20.
  • Amendment to Factories Act: Its applicability has been limited to firms with higher number of workers employed.

1 NammaKPSC in Association with Bangalore School Of Civil Services