• SC extends time for audit of Padmanabhaswamy temple

Context: The Supreme Court on Monday extended the time for completion of the special audit of 25 years of accounts of Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple and its trusts to August 31, 2022

Highlights: 

• Since 2011, the Temple has been in the news because treasure worth more than Rs. 1 lakh crore was found in its underground vaults.
• According to customary law, the royal family still has shebait rights after the death of the previous king or queen, according to a 2011 ruling by the SC.
  • Shebait rights refers to the authority to oversee a deity’s financial affairs.
  • The old Travancore royal family founded the Padmanabhaswamy Temple Trust.
• To ensure future transparent management of the Temple, the court ordered the formation of an administrative committee with the Thiruvananthapuram District Judge serving as its chairman.
• The trust contends that because it was established (on earlier court orders) to supervise Temple ceremonies and play no part in management, it is a separate legal entity from the temple and was not subject to the audit request.
• The Administrative Committee is requesting an assessment of the temple-related trust run by the Travancore royal family because it claims to be under severe financial strain and that the offerings are insufficient to cover the costs.

Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple:

• Although historians claim that the temple was built in the eighth century, the current building was constructed by the Travancore Maharaja Marthanda Varma in the eighteenth century.
• The temple was first built of wood but was later built with granite.
• The temple is constructed in the distinctive Chera architectural style, and Lord Vishnu (primary deity) is seated atop Adishesha, the serpent monarch, in the Anantha Shayana pose (reclined position of endless yoga).
• It is recognised as one of the 108 sacred Vaishnavite temples in India.

Art and Architecture of Cheras

• Dravidian architecture is referred to as Cheras architecture, and its temples are often octagonal or rectangular in shape and made of granite or sandstone. 
• Four sections are present in each of their temples:
  • The vimanam
  • Mandapams
  • Gopurams, and 
  • Garbhagriha 
• In the villages and cities where they were constructed, the gopurams, an imposing tower over the entryway, were the tallest buildings.
• The gopuram was usually illuminated at night, frequently to aid weary travellers or passersby in finding their way.
• It was not merely a place of worship at the temple. It served as a gathering spot for people to socialise, get education, and celebrate local events like weddings as well as the king’s military successes.
• Many temples also served as hospitals, and the temple was also employed as a form of emergency storage store.
• It was a setting where the arts—including music, dance, theatre, and handicrafts—were promoted and flourished.

Source: TH 

• Panel on MSP, natural farming set up

Context: The Centre has finally constituted a committee headed by former Union Agriculture Secretary Sanjay Agrawal here on Monday to look into the issue of minimum support price (MSP) for agricultural produce, as promised to the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) earlier in January. 

Minimum Support Price (MSP): 

• The MSP  is the rate at which the Government purchases crops from farmers.
• It is based on an estimate of at least 1.5 times the farmers’ production costs.
• A “minimum price” (MSP) is set for any crop the government deems to be profitable for farmers and so deserving of “support.”
• The fair and remunerative price (FRP) for sugarcane and  MSPs for 22 mandatory crops is recommended by the Commission for Agricultural Costs & Prices (CACP).
  • It is a department within the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.
• As of now, CACP recommends MSPs of 23 commodities, which comprise 7 cereals (paddy, wheat, maize, sorghum, pearl millet, barley and ragi), 5 pulses (gram, tur, moong, urad, lentil), 7 oilseeds (groundnut, rapeseed-mustard, soyabean, seasmum, sunflower, safflower, nigerseed), and 4 commercial crops (copra, sugarcane, cotton and raw jute).

Determinants Of MSP

• While recommending price policy of various commodities under its mandate, the Commission keeps in mind the various Terms of Reference (ToR) given to CACP in 2009. 
• Accordingly, it analyzes:
  • demand and supply;
  • cost of production;
  • price trends in the market, both domestic and international;
  • inter-crop price parity;
  • terms of trade between agriculture and non-agriculture;
  • a minimum of 50 percent as the margin over cost of production; and
  • likely implications of MSP on consumers of that product.

It may be noted that cost of production is an important factor that goes as an input in determination of MSP, but it is certainly not the only factor that determines MSP.

Advantages of MSP

• The Minimum Support Price (MSP) system acts as a tool for the government to control a sharp fall and rise in crop prices.
• The concept of the Minimum Support Price (MSP) system acts as a security to farmers so that their crops get the amount for their products and helps them sustain their losses, and does not affect them drastically.
• It Helps the government control the growth of crops that are low in production. 
• The government can offer more price support for these crops so that more and more farmers are tempted to grow these crops with an assurance that they will recover a certain amount from the government guarantee.
• The government can use these crops to be sold at government fair price shops at a price lower than the market rate. 
• That will also help the government make these crops available to the below poverty line people at a lower price.

If there’s No MSP

• If there is no MSP, the farmer can decide their crop by himself according to his production cost and time that he gives to a particular crop.
• He will not be bound to sell the product immediately; he can wait for a little to check better prices in the market.
• The farmer can contact industries for the best price by growing the particular crop of industrialist choice.
• Farmers fear that industries will give less than the product price as there will be no minimum support price declaration by the government.

Source: TH 

Reference: https://cacp.dacnet.nic.in/content.aspx?pid=62 

https://krishijagran.com/blog/msp-why-is-it-necessary-for-farmers-and-common-people/ 

• Crypto law needs global teamwork: FM

Context: The Reserve Bank of India has recommended a ban on cryptocurrencies citing ‘destabilising effects’ for the country’s monetary and fiscal health, but a law to regulate or ban cryptocurrencies can only be effective once there is some form of international agreement in place, the Finance Minister said.

Highlights:

• Cryptocurrencies are borderless and require international collaboration to prevent regulatory arbitrage.
• Any legislation for regulation or for banning can be effective only after significant international collaboration on evaluation of the risks and benefits and evolution of common taxonomy and standards. 
• In view of the concerns expressed by RBI on the destabilising effect of cryptocurrencies, RBI has recommended framing of legislation on this sector. 
• RBI is of the view that cryptocurrencies should be prohibited.
• Subsequently, in May 2021, RBI advised regulated entities to continue to carry out customer due diligence processes for transactions in such currencies, in line with regulations including KYC and Anti-Money Laundering.

Cryptocurrencies:

• A cryptocurrency is a form of digital asset based on a network that is distributed across a large number of computers. 
  • This decentralised structure allows them to exist outside the control of governments and central authorities.
• Experts believe that blockchain and related technology will disrupt many industries, including finance and law.
• The advantages of cryptocurrencies include cheaper and faster money transfers and decentralised systems that do not collapse at a single point of failure.
• The disadvantages of cryptocurrencies include their price volatility, high energy consumption for mining activities, and use in criminal activities.

Source: TH 

Reference https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/cryptocurrency.asp#toc-advantages-and-disadvantages-of-cryptocurrency 

• ‘Govt., RBI measures aid NPA recovery

Context: Concrete steps taken by Mumbai the government and RBI helped banks recover bad loans worth more than ₹8.6 lakh crore in the last eight fiscal years.

Highlights:

• Factors such as macroeconomic conditions, sectoral issues, global business environment and delayed stress recognition by banks, contributed to NPA build-up.

Non performing asset (NPA): 

• • A non performing asset (NPA) is a loan or advance for which the principal or interest payment remained overdue for a period of 90 days.

• Classification of NPAs:

• • Substandard assets: Assets which has remained NPA for a period less than or equal to 12 months.
  • Doubtful assets: An asset would be classified as doubtful if it has remained in the substandard category for a period of 12 months.
  • Loss assets: As per RBI, “Loss asset is considered uncollectible and of such little value that its continuance as a bankable asset is not warranted, although there may be some salvage or recovery value.”

• Types of Non-performing Assets:

• • Term loans, most commonly known non-performing assets:
    • Overdraft and cash credit left out of order for more than 90 days
    • Agricultural advances whose interest or principal instalment payments remain overdue
    • Expected payment that’s overdue for more than 90 days on any type of account 
    • Term loans

• Impacts of NPA:

• • The economy is impacted because banks lack sufficient funding for other development projects.
  • The reduction in new investments could cause unemployment to increase.
  • In order to keep a profit margin, banks are compelled to raise interest rates.

Source: TH 

Reference https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/definition/non-performing-assets 

https://www.moneytap.com/blog/what-is-non-performing-asset/#What_are_the_types_of_Non-performing_Assets 

EDITORIALS:

Sharing power with the next generations

Key Points:

• After the horrific destruction in the 20th century in two World Wars , the second ending with a wanton display of scientific progress and the destruction of thousands of innocent civilians in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the victors of the wars vowed “never again”. 
• A new breed of global institutions was created to prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, rebuild shattered economies, and maintain global peace.
• These were the United Nations headquartered in New York and the Bretton Woods institutions, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington. 
• Power in these institutions was retained by the victors: in the UN in the five member Security Council, and in the World Bank and the IMF by the United States and Europe who appoint their own at the top. 
• The UN General Assembly is theoretically democratic. 
  • But the real power, of guns and money, is controlled by the Security Council and Washington institutions. 
• The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) is back in the picture to keep the centre of gravity of global power in the West.

A fresh concept

• The power struggle has heated up in and around Ukraine, camoufaged as an ideological war between democracies and dictators.
• Institutions of global governance which were supposed to guarantee peace have failed.
  • Clearly, new ideas for global governance are required. 
• A new concept of “intergenerational justice” is gaining traction as a better way of producing a more equitable global order and, hopefully, arresting mankind’s breakneck destruction of the planet despite or because of great advances in technologies.
• Older generations listening to younger generations, rather than younger people following their elders, may be a radical civilisational shift. 
• However, elders listening to youth will not be enough. 
  • Youth must also be given charge of producing the world they want to live in.
• They cannot leave solutions to the older generation whose ways of working have caused these global problems. 
• The problem is that if youth apply the same old ways which are being taught in universities and also learned where they work, they will make global problems worse

Time is running out

• The modern approach to progress, disseminated widely through “STEM” (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Maths) education, is to extract resources from the planet to create new products for human benefit. 
• And then to find new technological approaches to repair the damage caused to the planet by those technologies. 
  • Thus, scientific technology goes round in circles. 
• On each round, owners of technologies become wealthier. 
  • The people suffering the harm from a relentless growth of economies are advised to be patient until the size of the pie produced is large enough to share with them. 
• The climate is heating up, Inequalities are growing, People are losing their patience.
  • New ways must be found to solve complex global problems.

Theory of change

• The prevalent scientific theory of change is both “outside in” and “top down”. 
• Scientific experts try to be “objective” about the systems they study by placing their minds outside the systems. 
• From their supposedly objective perches, they try to map the system’s shapes detachedly. 
  • However, this way cannot work in socio-ecological systems. 
• Because, unlike in machines designed by engineers, social scientists and economists are situated within the systems they wish to observe objectively. 
• Unlike ‘scientific’ design thinkers who try to design systems ‘objectively’, natural systems thinkers learn to live with and within the systems that give them life. 
• The global approach to governance is “outside in” and also “top down”. 
• Many disciplines must be brought together to understand the social, economic, and physical facets of complex issues such as climate change.
  • Therefore, central coordination seems essential for large-scale change. 
• This is the standard model of a hierarchical organisation, which is applied in the corporate sector, in national governments, and in international development organisations too.
• The problem is this is the wrong approach for solving complex global problems.
  • Because experts, remote from the diverse ways in which these complex problems manifest themselves on the ground, are not equipped to find effective solutions for large-scale outcomes. 
• Since standard, “one size”solutions cannot fit all, not only do their solutions not work well but trust also breaks down between the leaders on top of large international organisations (and the experts who advise them) and people on the ground. 
• This is a principal cause of the rise of populism and revolts against “the Establishment” of ideas and institutions governing the world.
• A new configuration, the G7, was formed in the 1970s when the Bretton Woods institutions seemed unable to prevent the global economic crisis caused by large “oil shocks”. 
  • The United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Japan, and Italy formed the G6. 
  • Canada and later the European Union, joined later.
  • Russia was invited later (G8) when the Soviet Union collapsed and was swiftly removed in the Crimean war (2014). 
  • China, now the second largest economy in the world, was never included. 
• The G7 was expanded to the G20 in the 1990s, when China, Russia, India, Indonesia, and other large economies were added.
• And now the G20 is being cracked up because the G7 wants to throw Russia out. 
  • India will be the chair of the G20 this year and must try to keep the group together.
  • Less than 10% of the world’s citizens, and less than 6% of the world’s children below 10 years, are in the G7.
  • Power must shift within economies from older persons to youth.
    • Globally, it must shift from the older, so-called ‘advanced’ countries to younger ‘emerging’ economies.
  • The G7 and the Security Council must invite the rest to find new solutions for global problems.

Recycle this wisdom

• Intergenerational dialogue is imperative. 
• Though all countries are ageing, older persons in economies are not burdens to be cast aside.
  • Older persons are humanity’s fastest growing yet least used resource. 
• While power must shift towards younger generations and emerging economies, all generations and countries must work together. 
• All are stages in a larger process of evolution.
  • All must listen to others’ aspirations and must understand others’ wisdom.
  • Many native communities have not yet lost their wisdom of living within natural systems and living as families and communities. 
  • Such wisdom on the ground needs to be cycled to the top to save the world for everyone.
• The UN’s Sustainable Development Goals list 17 complex global problems.
  • They appear in different forms everywhere in the world.
  • Centrally managed organisations cannot solve such problems. 
  • Local systems solutions, cooperatively implemented within their communities by old and young persons together, are the way to solve these global systemic problems.

Source: TH

Growth and welfare – Populism might mean different things to different people at different times

Key Points:

• The notion that growth is the panacea for all development challenges is viewed with increasing suspicion by voters, though they may not articulate it in those terms. 
• The clamour for more state intervention for redistribution in democracies must be viewed against the backdrop of mounting evidence of inequality on the one side, and the increasing vulnerability being experienced by classes ranging from white collar workers to farmers on the other.
• While the situation requires a cool-headed and rigorous inquiry into the development model that the country pursues, many politicians cutting across party lines have resorted to wide-ranging schemes to calm or enthuse voters.
• Besides the quick political gains that they seek, this also pre-empts any discussion on the existing development paradigm.
• The government would have done better had he opened a debate on the impact of big projects too rather than concluding that they invariably lead to development and social justice.
• India cannot achieve its development goals in education, health or infrastructure without considerable state support. 

Source: TH

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