Reversal To OPS: Potential Impact

The NDA government’s 2003–2004 implementation of the New Pension Scheme (NPS) was a foresightful reform that paved the way for a viable contributory pension scheme. However, some state governments have gone back to the monetarily burdensome and fiscally unviable Old Pension Scheme after implementing the pension change. (OPS).

Describe pension.

A pension is a retirement programme that gives people a regular revenue stream once they leave their jobs or professions. It is intended to provide a consistent income throughout retirement and may be supported by companies, governmental bodies, or unions.

Describe OPS.

The OPS, also referred to as the Defined Benefit Pension System, is a retirement programme offered by the Indian government to its staff members.

Under the OPS, retired government employees receive a fixed monthly pension based on their last drawn salary and years of service.

This pension is funded by the government and paid out of its current revenues, leading to increased pension liabilities.

What is NPS?

NPS is a market-linked, defined contribution pension system introduced in India in 2004 as a replacement for the Old Pension Scheme (OPS).

NPS is designed to provide retirement income to all Indian citizens, including government employees, private sector workers, and self-employed individuals.

Negative impacts of the reversal to OPS

The reversal to OPS would have negative impacts, especially on the poor and vulnerable population, including women and children. Here are some potential impacts:

Reallocation of resources: The reversal to OPS would lead to a reallocation of resources away from the state’s development expenditure, which benefits the poor, and towards a much smaller group of people who have benefited from a secured and privileged job throughout their working life. It could worsen inequality and lower economic growth in the states.

Reduction in productivity: Going back to OPS would reduce the productivity of the poor, further diminishing their future economic prospects. Economic services such as infrastructure and rural and urban development would be affected more severely than social services.

Fiscal burden: The old pension scheme (OPS) was financially burdensome and fiscally non-viable. As public employees’ life expectancy increased, the state’s fiscal burden under the OPS began to rise exponentially, necessitating pension reforms. Reversing to OPS would put the fiscal burden back on the government, which could have negative impacts on the state’s finances.

Tradeoff between pensions and development expenditure: Pension reforms were a watershed moment for the states, and reversing to OPS would result in a tradeoff between pension and development expenditure of the states. The pension reforms aimed to finance the increased non-development expenditure related to pensions through taxes or borrowing. However, our analysis revealed that from 1990 to 2004, the states’ revenues did not match the state’s increased expenditure, resulting in a higher fiscal deficit.

Current Paradigm of Economics In India Is Inadequate

The three main economic problems that India is currently confronting cannot be solved using the economics paradigm that is currently in place. The study of complex self-adaptive systems needs to be studied by economists in order to break out of their self-referential bubble.

The Poly-crisis faced by India

Three fiscal issues are being faced concurrently by the Indian government:

1. Management of inflation,
2. Trade agreements, and
3. Employment

Economists do not have a systemic solution for this poly-crisis. Consensus among them has broken down even about solutions to its separate parts.

Lessons from China and Vietnam

Foreign investment in China: China and India opened their economies to global trade around the same time, some 35 years ago. Since then, China attracted foreign investment that was many times more than in India, and the incomes of its citizens increased five times faster.

Vietnam emerging as more attractive destination: To attract investors, India must compete with other countries. Vietnam is often cited as a country that is proving to be more attractive than India to western and Japanese investors. However, when looking into Vietnam, they rediscover what was learned from China.

High levels of human development: When both countries opened to foreign investors China before Vietnam, they had already attained high levels of human development, with universal education and good public health systems.

The Problem with the Current Paradigm

There are some fundamental flaws in the current paradigm of economics.

Economists often cite Tinbergen’s theory, which states that the number of policy instruments must equal the number of policy goals. This is a mechanical and linear view of how a complex system works.

In complex organic systems, root causes contribute to many outcomes. The behaviour of the system cannot be explained by linear causes and effects. The causes interact with each other, and effects also become causes.

Crises and the Inadequacy of the System

Policies that fit one country may not fit the needs of others: Macro-economists search for global solutions, but trade and monetary policies that fit one country may not fit the needs of others. Their needs have emerged from their own histories.

Emphasis on data trends: Economists arrive at solutions by comparing data trends of different countries, and in their models, people are numbers. Economists do not listen to real people, whereas politicians try to at least.

For instance: The inadequacy of the current paradigm was revealed by several crises in this millennium, the 2008 global financial crisis, inequitable management of the global COVID-19 pandemic, and the looming global climate crisis.

China issues ‘official’ names for some places in Arunachal Pradesh

The names of 11 locations in Arunachal Pradesh will be “standardized,” according to the Chinese administration.

MEA explanation

The Chinese “invention” has been rejected by the Ministry of External Affairs.

According to MEA, Arunachal Pradesh has always been and will always be a crucial component of India.

Why do China-named locations exist in India?

Arunachal Pradesh is part of China’s 90,000 sq km of claimed land.

The region is referred to as “Zangnan” in the Chinese tongue, and “South Tibet” is frequently mentioned.

Arunachal Pradesh is depicted as being a component of China on Chinese maps, and is occasionally referred to as “so-called Arunachal Pradesh” in brackets.

China periodically makes an attempt to emphasise this one-sided claim to Indian territory.

China makes periodic efforts to underline this unilateral claim to Indian territory.

Giving Chinese names to places in Arunachal Pradesh is part of that effort.

Earlier unilateral renaming

This is the third lot of “standardized” names of places in Arunachal Pradesh that China has announced.

Earlier in 2017, it had issued “official” Chinese names for six places spanning the breadth of Arunachal Pradesh

What is China’s argument for claiming these areas?

The PRC disputes the legal status of the McMahon Line, the official boundary under the ‘Convention between Great Britain, China, and Tibet’ — of 1914 (Simla Convention).

China was represented at the Simla Convention by a plenipotentiary of the Republic of China, which had been declared in 1912 after the Qing dynasty was overthrown.

The present communist government came to power only in 1949, when the People’s Republic was proclaimed.

The Chinese representative did not consent to the Simla Convention, saying Tibet had no independent authority to enter into international agreements.

What is the McMohan Line?

The McMohan Line, named after Henry McMahon, the chief British negotiator at Shimla, was drawn from the eastern border of Bhutan to the Isu Razi pass on the China-Myanmar border.

China claims territory to the south of the McMahon Line, lying in Arunachal Pradesh.

China also bases its claims on the historical ties that have existed between the monasteries in Tawang and Lhasa.

Intention behind these renamings

This renaming is a part of the Chinese strategy to assert its territorial claims over Indian territory.

As part of this strategy, China routinely issues statements of outrage whenever an Indian dignitary visits Arunachal Pradesh.

Beijing keeps harping on its “consistent” and “clear” position that the Indian possession of Arunachal Pradesh.

These claims have been firmly established and recognized by the world, as “illegal”.

Arunachal not all-alone

Laying aggressive claims to territories on the basis of alleged historical injustices done to China is a part of Beijing’s foreign policy playbook.

The claim on Taiwan is one such example, as are the consistent efforts to change the “facts on the ground” in several disputed islands in the South China Sea.

The aggression is at all times backed in overt and covert ways by the use of China’s economic and military muscle.

UN Water Conference and Key Takeaways

New York hosted the UN 2023 Water Conference from March 22–24.

This type of gathering on water hadn’t occurred in 46 years.

In order to accelerate and scale up change in the water sector, the conference sought to find ideas that would change the game and offer advice to decision-makers.

What is the UN Conference on Water?

An international conference called the UN Water Conference seeks to better coordinate government, business, nonprofit, and funding initiatives around a few key water sector challenges.

It provides a platform for nations to engage, transfer technology, and learn from the mistakes of others.

In 1977, the last UN Water Conference took place.

It resulted in the first global ‘Action Plan’ recognizing that all people have the right to access safe drinking water and sanitation.

This led to several decades of global funding and concerted effort to provide drinking water and sanitation for all.

Themes of the conference

The Conference has five themes that support the SDG 6 Global Acceleration Framework:

Water for Health: Access to ‘WASH’ (Global Water, Sanitation, & Hygiene) including the Human Rights to Safe Drinking Water and Sanitation

Water for Sustainable Development: Valuing water, the water-energy-food nexus and sustainable economic and urban development.

Water for Climate, Resilience and Environment: Source to sea, biodiversity, climate, resilience and disaster risk reduction.

Water for Cooperation: Transboundary and international water cooperation, cross sectoral cooperation and water across the 2030 Agenda.

Water Action Decade: Accelerating the implementation of the objectives of the Decade for Action, including through the UN Secretary-General’s Action Plan.

Purpose of the conference

International conferences on water aim to better align activities by governments, companies, NGOs, and funders around a few grand challenges.

They help countries learn from the experiences of others, transfer technology, and invest.

Water problems tend to be local and need local solutions, so there is a challenge of mobilizing globally to solve local water problems.

Water challenges discussed

While access to safe drinking water and sanitation is challenging, extending services to underserved populations is relatively uncontroversial.

However, improving access to water and sanitation no longer translates directly to sustained access.

The water problem is no longer about access to water and sanitation; the remaining SDG 6 targets address the need to sustain agriculture, industry, and natural ecosystems.

Outcomes of the 2023 Conference

The conference’s proceedings resulted in a lot of talk, fragmented discussions, and no binding commitments.

There were 713 diverse voluntary commitments by philanthropic donors, governments, corporations, and NGOs, with 120 relevant to India.

Commitments included a $50-billion commitment from the Indian government to improve rural drinking water services under its Jal Jeevan Mission.

Examples of Commitments

Technology: Specific innovations in wastewater treatment or solar treatment of water in remote areas, and a number of proposals for incubation platforms.

Data and Models: Cost-effective approaches to data-generation included sensors and satellite data. Other efforts offered data analysis tools.

Knowledge Sharing: One useful tool was the W12+ Blueprint, a UNESCO platform that hosts city profiles and case studies of programs, technologies, policies that addresses common water security challenges.

Capacity Building: Efforts offered to help marginalized communities and women understand how to exercise their rights.

Civil Society: Platforms for collective action by civil society groups lobbying for changes in regulations.

Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance: The conference concluded that effective water governance hinges on these broad areas, and weaving them into the Water Action Agenda is a step.

Performer’s Rights

This article discusses a recent case involving Bollywood actor and producer, in which the Bombay High Court ruled that sales tax cannot be levied on the transfer of copyright.

The ruling has implications for the entertainment industry, particularly in terms of taxation and copyright protection as well as performer’s rights.

What are Performer’s Rights?

It refer to the legal rights granted to performing artists or performers in relation to their performances.

These rights generally include the right to control and protect their performances from unauthorized use, reproduction, distribution, and public performance.

Performer’s rights may include the right to control the following:

Recording: Performers have the right to prevent others from recording their live performances without their consent.

Broadcasting and Communication to the Public: Performers have the right to control the broadcasting, communication, and distribution of their performances to the public, including radio, television, and online streaming platforms.

Reproduction: Performers have the right to control the reproduction of their performances in any media format.

Adaptation: Performers have the right to control the adaptation of their performances into other forms, such as musicals or films.

Attribution: Performers have the right to be identified as the performers of their works, and to prevent others from falsely claiming authorship of their performances.

Legal protection of performer’s right

Legal protection of performers’ rights has evolved over time through international treaties and national laws.

The Rome Convention in 1961 was the first significant development in the protection of performers’ rights.

Performers’ rights are protected under various international treaties such as the Rome Convention and the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty.

In 1996, WIPO Performance and Phonogram Treaty (WPPT) recognized the moral rights of performers for the first time in any international treaty.

In India, performer rights were recognized under the Copyright Act of 1957 in 1994.

The Copyright Act is in conformity with the WIPO Copyright Treaty (WCT) and the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty (WPPT), both concluded in 1996.

The protection of performers’ rights in India lasts for 50 years from the end of the year in which the performance was fixed or took place.