Editorials/Opinions Analysis For UPSC 14 July 2023
Contents
- Digital Transformation in India: Challenges and Principles
- India’s Outdated CPI and Inflation Calculation: Changing Consumption Patterns
Digital Transformation in India: Challenges and Principles
Context:
India is undergoing a rapid digital revolution, which offers both benefits and difficulties. Although the nation has a sizable online market and a thriving finance industry, it still has access challenges and needs to repair its basic analogue infrastructure. Policymakers must take important ideas into account as India approaches its 100th anniversary of independence in order to create efficient digital plans and policies.
Relevance:
GS Paper 3: Science & Technology – Digitalisation
Mains Question
The digital transformation of India brings both opportunities and difficulties. Talk about the difficulties India has had in closing the digital divide and the significance of analogue foundations for a prosperous digital economy. (150 Words)
Addressing the Digital Divide:
- India’s rapid digitalization has made access to technology more unequal, having an impact on remote employment and education during the pandemic.
- Widening wealth and opportunity gaps, the digitization of social security programmes has brought to light problems including biometric mismatches and insufficient access to smart devices and internet services.
Importance of Analogue Foundations:
The State of India’s Digital Economy Report highlights the significance of strong analogue foundations for the digital economy, which includes physical and social infrastructure, such as a dependable power supply, as well as increased levels of literacy, affordability, and digital skills.
Initiatives by the government:
- By 2024, all unconnected villages in India are expected to have 4G network coverage.
- Training, internship, and apprenticeship programmes are bolstering digital literacy initiatives.
- There are also efforts being made to fight financial fraud and cybersecurity, including educating the public and developing technical security measures.
- The focus should shift from merely increasing the number of users and participants to evaluating the impact on people’s lives, including financial security, health benefits, and general well-being. India has been a trailblazer in deploying technology at scale through initiatives like India Stack, which manages identity verification, payments, and data exchange.
Guidelines for Policymakers:
- Balanced Approach: Not all problems can be solved digitally. Before giving digitization priority, policymakers should thoroughly consider the necessity and purpose. The obsession with “digital-only” methods has to be questioned.
- Consultative Policy establishing: The process of establishing policies should put the interests of the beneficiaries first. It is important to make efforts to improve dialogue and formulate policies from the ground up.
- Adaptive policies and agile regulatory frameworks: To keep up with fast changing technologies and business models, policymakers and regulators need adopt adaptive policies and agile regulatory frameworks. It is important to promote innovative regulatory practises, such as sandboxing and participatory regulation.
- Evidence-based Policy: For thorough analysis and evaluation of the digital economy, adequate data is essential. To promote accountability and long-term sustainability, transparency, frequent monitoring, and impact evaluations should be institutionalised.
Conclusion
India’s digital transformation offers enormous opportunity as well as difficulties. By following these guidelines, policymakers may make sure that digital strategies and policies address inequities, put people’s well-being first, and encourage long-term sustainability in addition to promoting economic growth.
India’s Outdated CPI and Inflation Calculation: Changing Consumption Patterns
Context
To emphasise the effect of out-of-date commodities in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) basket on the computation of inflation, the analogy of an antique store serves as a useful contrast.
Relevance
GS Paper 3 – Economy – Inflation
Mains Question
Describe the difficulties and drawbacks of the existing Consumer Price Index (CPI) and how they affect the ability to measure inflation in India with accuracy. Offer solutions to these problems. (150 words)
The Analogy of the Antique Shop
You can find outdated objects like wooden trunks and radios that were previously state-of-the-art technology in an antique store. The tracking of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and determining inflation in India are metaphorically represented in this image. Torches, radios, tape recorders, CDs, DVDs, and trunks are among the antiquated commodities included in the current CPI basket, which no longer accurately reflects contemporary purchasing trends.
The Faulty CPI Basket: Adaptation is Required
The CPI basket shouldn’t be viewed as a timeless artefact that can never be altered. It ought to change in response to societal shifts in requirements, tastes, and economic circumstances. But the existing CPI weights are outmoded, placing too much emphasis on food while giving non-food products like housing, education, healthcare, and digital services too little weight. This disparity does not account for how people’s spending habits change as their income increases, as seen in Engel’s Law.
Overweight from Cereals and Other Problems
Given the variety of dietary practises and government initiatives that cut back on cereal spending, the current CPI gives cereals an excessively high weight. In addition, the CPI does not sufficiently account for other products like tomatoes, onions, and potatoes, which have a significant impact on inflation. These problems underline the requirement for a more accurate representation of shifting consumption trends.
Reflecting Consumption Patterns: A Challenge
Current consumption expenditure information is necessary to represent changes in inflation indicators effectively. However, difficulties accessing this information prevent the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) from updating the CPI on time. This is something that the continuing Household Consumption Expenditure Survey (CES) seeks to address, but because of the protracted processing timeframes, it is difficult to produce a new CPI using recent data.
The Situation and the Need for Quick Action
As a result, we are forced to use out-of-date inflation measurement metrics. In a quickly changing digital economy, this creates a substantial barrier for accurately estimating the cost of living and economic well-being. The calculation of the poverty line is impacted and our capacity to adequately track inflation is undermined by the lack of updated CES data. To make sure that our instruments for comprehending and controlling our economic reality are sufficient, MoSPI must swiftly fix these deficiencies and give effective data processing top priority.
Adapting to Contemporary Consumption Patterns
It is crucial to modernise the CPI and inflation assessment techniques in order to accurately reflect the realities of contemporary consumption and living. To ensure that our measurements are in line with the changing nature of the economy and consumer behaviour, immediate action is required, including incorporating the CES findings and enhancing data processing. Making educated policy decisions will allow us to better grasp the cost of living and the state of the economy.
