Mains

It will allow 181 seats of the 543 in the Lok Sabha to be reserved for them, apart from 1,370 seats out of a total of 4,109 in 28 state assemblies.

• On the effectiveness of affirmative actions
• Any form of affirmative action must have two essential characteristics for it to be effective: one, it must not kill the incentive to excel among the beneficiaries, and two, it must not reinforce perceptions of inferiority.
• When competition among the beneficiaries of reservation is intense, the incentive to excel is retained. However, outright reservations fail the second test and are, therefore, an imperfect tool of empowerment.
• Yet, an imperfect design is better than no form of affirmative action at all.

• The three challenges identified by the finance minister in his recent budget
• The first, widely noted and much applauded by corporate India, concerned finding means to cross the ‘double-digit growth barrier’. The second, less glamorous and hence less discussed, is in harnessing economic growth to make development more inclusive. The third, which attracted little notice and comment, relates to ‘weaknesses in government systems, structures and institutions’ that he recognised as a ‘bottleneck of our public delivery mechanisms’.
• Environment
  
  • What is wrong with India's stand on emission reductions?
  • India has consistently maintained that per capita emission principle is the basis for an equitable burden sharing. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh made an international commitment that India’s per capita emission would never exceed that of the developed countries.
  • At present, India’s per-capita emission is at 1.2 to 1.4 MT.
  • The per capita emission approach does present some problems. It helps countries leverage on their large populations, as is the case with India and China, allowing for the rich in these countries to hide behind its poor. The per capita emission principle does not address the development concerns.
  • What makes it imperative for India to look beyond this principle is the limited support it has garnered worldwide. As of now, only Germany and, to some extent, France have expressed support for it.

• TFC's recommendations on debt to GDP ratio
• The thirteenth finance commission has suggested the reduction of the consolidated debt of the Centre and states to 68% of the GDP by 2014-15 from the estimated 82% in 2009-10. It has also recommended a steady reduction of Centre’s debt stock to 45% of GDP by 2014-15 and that of the states to less than 25% by the same year.
• As per the budget estimates, the estimated debt to GDP ratio for central government would be 51.5% in 2009-10 and 51.1% in 2010-11, after factoring in adjustments.
• With the projected level of fiscal deficit of 4.8% of GDP in 2011-12 and 4.1% in 2012-13, the estimated debt to GDP ratio would be 50.0% and 48.2% respectively.