.png)
POLICY HIGHLIGHTS OF 2023
- Ashoka Public Policy Society (APPS)
- Jan 8, 2024
- 9 min read
Updated: Feb 26, 2024
January – National Green Hydrogen Mission
Samhith Shankar
India kicked off the year by approving the National Green Hydrogen Mission, to facilitate production, utilisation and export of Green Hydrogen. The policy presents a perfect combination of large-scale energy production, reduced reliance on non-renewable sources, mass job creation, extensive manufacturing sector investment, and improved environmental outcomes.
By 2030, the government hopes to:
Develop Green Hydrogen production capacity of 5 million metric tonnes (MMT)—a commendable increase, but modest relative to India’s total energy consumption
Create 6 lakh jobs across various levels of Green Hydrogen production
Reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 5o MMT—emissions reach a total of 2700 MMT in 2022, this would mark a decrease of about 2%
The policy is still in the planning stages, and we’re years away from seeing tangible outcomes as a result of it. Nonetheless, it's a step in the direction of a sustainable-energy fuelled future, and an exciting policy to keep an eye on!
February – Aspirational Blocks
Tejas Nageshwaran
February began with the Finance Minister’s Budget Speech in Parliament. Amongst allocations towards infrastructure, railways, education and health, the Minister also announced a sum of 100 crore rupees towards the new Aspirational Blocks Programme. Under this scheme, five hundred blocks across the country have been chosen in relatively underdeveloped areas. The idea is to improve governance and quality of life in these blocks at an accelerated pace, by targeting sectors like education, health and employment. The NITI Ayog monitors progress, releasing quarterly rankings among the blocks - competitive federalism, in some sense. The end goal is to create a Viksit Bhrat (Developed India) by 2047. It’s a tall order, but working at the block level is an important first step.
March – New Trade Policy
Paritosh Purohit
The date is April 1, but the Indian trade directorate is in no mood for a joke. It has adopted a new trade policy, announced the previous day, focused on two things: the promotion of Indian exports, through trade in the local currency, the rupee.
Its targets are ambitious, and represent almost a tripling of Indian exports as they were between 2022 and 2023: from around $770 billion, to around $2 trillion.
This is a target it seeks to achieve in a world keen on pulling back from free trade, and the plan includes an amnesty scheme aimed at a one-time forgiving of debt defaults on export obligations to India; this is meant to allow a quicker resolution of trade disputes, in order for stronger trade links to be established from which for India to benefit.
The Indian Trade Directorate adopted a new trade policy focusing on two things: the promotion of Indian exports, through trade in the local currency, the rupee. Its targets are ambitious, and represent almost a tripling of Indian exports as they were between 2022 and 2023: from around $770 billion, to around $2 trillion.
April – Indian Space Policy
Saairah Mehta
Introduced in the month of April, the Indian Space Policy of 2023 aspires to position India at the global frontier in the space sector. The policy provides a foreground for private entities and corporations to partake in activities that have traditionally been the domain of ISRO. It introduces four new bodies in its effort to increase India’s share in the global space economy: the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre, New Space India Limited (NSIL), and the Department of Space in consultation with the Ministry of External Affairs. Collectively these entities will aid in the implementation of space technologies and further the spirit of space exploration in India by allowing private enterprises to carry out end-to-end activities such as launching rockets and satellites as well as assisting ISRO in its operations. What does it mean for us? For the least part, you can expect the Entrepreneurship department to roll out a course on Space Technology and Entrepreneurship, and for the rest of you Eco-Fin majors, taking that make-your-own-rocket PoS course just got a lot more relevant for y’all.
May – Launch of Central Equipment Identity Register
Vedant Deshmukh
Picture this - you go clubbing in Sonipat on a Thursday night. You party a bit too hard, and wake up the next morning to find that your friends have carried you to a hotel to stay. You can’t remember what exactly happened the night before, so you try to reach out to your phone. That is the moment you realise your phone is nowhere to be seen. You start searching frantically, panicking, thinking you have lost your phone, but then you realise - you've registered it on CEIR.
On May 17, 2023, the central government launched the CEIR (Central Equipment Identity Register), a portal for tracing lost or stolen devices.
Once a device is registered on the portal by revealing its IMEI number, then it can be easily tracked by the authorities, and blocked. The authorities then locate the device based on its IMEI number and return it to their user once found.
Luckily, you do not have to put yourself through this long process, as you get a call from your concerned roommate and realise your phone was under your pillow all along - and that you're late for your 11:50 class.
June – IIPDF Portal
Aditi
IIPDF Portal
We all know the pain of trying to navigate government websites (we see you, Econ term paper data-seekers). On the 14th of June, the Infrastruture Finance Secretariat took note of all our struggles, and revamped their website.
The India Infrastructure Project Development Fund itself was created in 2008, with the central government allocating Rs. 100 crores to projects that can be offered to the private sector – with the aim to encourage collaboration and investment. The portal acts an online application portal for projects to be approved speedily, and tracks them for accountability. Another interesting part of the website is the Best Practices Portal, that contains the best practices in successful implementation of infrastructure projects by the states and central ministries.
So if you’re someone who wants to partner with the government, knowledge about the Fund and the application portal may come in handy – but if you’re an incoming Dev Econ student, you may find some interesting projects to write your term paper about, as well as some help with your policy recommendations!
July – Dearness Allowance
Zaahrah
Dearness Allowance (DA) is a vital financial component for government employees and pensioners in India, designed to cushion against inflation. The Indian Finance Ministry's recent announcement marks a notable increase in DA from 42% to 46% of Basic Pay, effective from July 1, 2023, aligning with the 7th Central Pay Commission's guidelines. This uplift is applicable to civilian employees including healthcare, administrative, and educational workers. This revision signifies the government's responsiveness to economic changes, ensuring public sector salaries are fair and competitive. Separate orders will follow for Armed Forces and Railway personnel since military personnel are not covered in the DA’s domain.
The annual July adjustment of DA is a proactive measure to maintain the equilibrium between salaries and the cost of living. This 4% hike, mirroring the current inflationary trends, is crucial for preserving the purchasing power of government employees and pensioners, thus playing a pivotal role in their financial stability and quality of life. By keeping pace with economic fluctuations, this policy demonstrates the government's commitment to safeguarding the welfare of its workforce in a dynamic economic landscape
August – WHO Global Summit
Kuhuo
WHO Traditional Medicine Global Summit
August saw the World Health Organisation take a step towards embracing a balance between tradition and modernity – they set a global example by creating a framework to look anew at the application of rigorous scientific methods to unlock the vast potential of traditional, complementary and integrative medicine (TCIM) amidst important challenges and opportunities to realise universal health coverage and promote health and well-being for people and the planet.
The first WHO Traditional Medicine Global Summit “Towards health and well-being for all” was held in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, India, on 17-18 August 2023. Based on the research and evidence-informed discussions, the participants endorsed the outcomes of the Summit in a meeting report: the Gujarat Declaration.
It is notable that the declaration facilitates evidence-informed, appropriate integration of TCIM into national health systems using a primary health care approach, and according to country contexts and priorities. Moreover, setting up standardised indicators for TCIM within national health information systems will enable monitoring of the utilisation of TCIM practices, further assessment of their safety and effectiveness within countries, and sharing and comparing of data across countries.
With great healers like Charak, Sushrut and Patanjali, India has been a treasure trove for traditional medicine. The indigenous medicines and procedures have been corrupted by whatsapp-forward home remedies that claim to have a cure for every disease under the sun. WHO’s initiative is a welcome step to avoid the potential harm that unregulated traditional medicines can cause, and to harvest their potential benefits wisely.
September – Women’s Reservation
Having been a topic of discussion since the tenure of Former Prime Minister Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 1996, the Women’s Reservation Bill seeks to address the glaring underrepresentation of women in Indian politics, proposing a 33% reservation of seats for women in the national and state legislatures, aiming to create a more inclusive and representative democracy.
After almost three decades of being tabled by the government and pushed aside, in September of 2023 the Bill was finally passed by both houses of the parliament, ensuring a more representative democracy and inserting the newest Article 330A into the constitution. It marks another milestone in the fight for gender equality and representation.
The implementation of such a bill also faces challenges, including resistance from established political structures, concerns about tokenism, and questions about its actual impact on ground-level empowerment. It remains to be seen how it performs in practice, especially at grassroots level like village panchayats, where it's easier for the provisions of the bill to be used for puppet leadership and manipulating the parties involved.
October – Same-Sex Marriages
Arja
In a much anticipated verdict, the Supreme Court, on October 17, ruled 3:2 against giving constitutional validity to same-sex marriages. It was concluded that the decision for legalising same-sex marriages cannot be made by the Court by reading words into The Special Marriage Act of 1964 to include same-sex couples. The Court ruled that this matter was to be decided through a legislative process by the Parliament. The Centre, for its part, has stated that it will form a committee to look into the concerns of same-sex couples without legally recognizing their relationship as marriage. While this verdict was viewed by many organisations as a setback for the LGBTQIA community in India, the CJI’s judgement also recognised the necessity of granting equal rights and respect to the queer community through active efforts by the government. The recognition of the line between judicial review and overreach is an important event in the current debate surrounding the topic of judicial review.
November – Punjab Pilgrimage Scheme
Nandini
The pilgrimage scheme in Punjab
On the 27th of November, the Punjab government introduced the Mukh Mantri Tirath Yatra Yojana, a free pilgrimage project for the elderly, intending to ease their spiritual journeys and eliminate any financial constraints holding them back. The initiative aims to help more than 50,000 individuals by spending around Rs 40 crore on transport over the next 13-weeks. Every year thousands of pilgrims embark on their journeys to religious places such as Banaras, Mathura, Patna Sahib, and Ajmair Sharif among others. Through this plan the Punjab government aims to promote hasslefree pilgrimages through free trains and buses allowing the devotees to visit sacred places across the country. Thus, the plan aims to promote spiritual fulfilment while highlighting the government's commitment to the welfare of its older citizens by providing financial assistance for pilgrimage expenditures.
December – Ministry of Panchayati Raj Report
Aditi
And finally, as the year draws to a close, we see legislation and policymaking hampered by what appears to be a targetted suspension of MPs and MLAs from their respective assemblies – or perhaps, not hampered enough. While the assemblies remain in this state of flux, the Press Information Bureau released their own version of a 2023 recap, turning to the third level of governance – the Panchayati Raj.
The SVAMITVA Scheme, a property survey scheme, appears to have been a roaring success with over 1.25 crore property cards having been distributed across states. Additionally, drone flying, an important facet of this scheme, has been completed in 2.89 lakh villages.
Several developments were reported along the lines of the Digital India – portals were launched for crop procurement, asset development, and rural development. There is even a portal for Gram Panchayats themselves called eGramSwaraj. Usage of these portals is shown to be on the rise, but these numbers should be taken with a pinch of salt – the intersection of those who need benefits of government schemes the most and those who do not have access to these digital initiatives is quite significant.
The Ministry of Panchayati Raj’s year end review is an important source of information on village-level development, but is a glaring reminder that we must look beyond government-released numbers to understand the true impact of these policies on development.
The Review goes on to talk about renewable energy, and concludes with its commitment to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. However, in order to truly understand the progress made towards “inclusive development and economic growth,” one will have to go beyond the information provided by the Government itself.
Comments