 Good evening aspirants, I welcome you all to the Hindu Daily News Analysis brought to you by Shankaray's Academy for the newspaper dated 2nd of February 2023. We all know that the budget was presented in the parliament yesterday. So today's newspaper is flooded with articles covering the various aspects of the budget. Displayed here are the list of articles that we will take up for discussion today. So without much delay, we will start with the discussion. First, we will start by seeing some highlights of the budget that was presented yesterday. Now, many of you must be new to the UPSC preparation and you may wonder what firstly is a budget. See, these basic questions will also be answered in the course of the discussion today. But first, we will see the highlights and some key data points from the budget. Before that, the syllabus relevant to this discussion is highlighted here. You can go through it. So what are the major highlights of the budget that was presented yesterday? Firstly, the budget says that India's vision for Amritkal includes three elements. They are opportunities for citizens with focus on youth growth and job creation, strong and stable macroeconomic environment. Secondly, budget concentrates on seven priorities which is called as the Saptarishi. They include inclusive development, reaching their last mile, infrastructure and investment, unleashing the potential, green growth, youth power and financial sector. Thirdly, many schemes are introduced in the budget. It includes Atman Herber Clean Plant Program. This is to be launched to boost availability of disease-free quality planting material for high-value horticultural crops. Then, agricultural accelerator fund is to be set up to encourage agree startups by young entrepreneurs in the rural areas. These are schemes related to agricultural sector. Then, there is something called as the Entity Digilocker which is to be set up for the use by MSME's large businesses and charitable trusts to store and share documents online securely. Then, Pradhan Mandri Kaushal Vikas Yojna 4.0 to be launched to skill lakhs of youths within next three years. It covers new age courses for industry 4.0 like coding, AI, robotics, mechatronics, IOT, Internet of Things, 3D printing, drones and many other soft skills. All these schemes aim to push forward the vision of digital India. For the push of ecological conservation, several schemes are introduced. They include MISTI, Mangru initiative for shoreline habitats and tangible incomes. So, this is a new program that will facilitate mangrove plantation along India's coastline and on salt-pan lands. Then, there is PM Prenum which stands for Prime Minister Program for Restoration, Awareness, Narration and Amelioration of Mother Earth. This particular program will seek to incentivize states and union territories promoting alternative fertilizers and balanced use of chemical fertilizers. Then, there is Bharadhyaprakriti Kethi Bio-Input Resource Centers. To further facilitate the adoption of natural farming, 10,000 bio-input resource centers will be set up. This would create a national-level distributed micro-fertilizer and pesticide manufacturing network. Then, there is something called as the Amrit Darohar. This is a scheme that will be implemented over the next three years to encourage optimal use of wetlands and enhance biodiversity, carbon stock, ecotourism opportunities and income generation for local communities. Like this, many more schemes are introduced sector-wise. We will see all the other schemes in the coming days. Now, we will understand the contents of this particular figure given here. Look at this image shows the expenditure figures of the budget. If the square is bigger, then it means the expenditure is large in that particular sector. Look at this chart to know where the funds come from. This means the resits for the budget. As you can see in this chart, the resits come from income tax, excise duties, corporate tax, GST, custom duties, non-dead capital resits, non-tax resits and finally borrowing and other liabilities. Now, we will see where these resits go to. That is, what are all the expenditures that we will have to incur. The expenditures will be made on interest payments which comprises the highest percentage. See here, interest means the interest that we have to pay for the loans that we have got from World Bank and other financial institutions. The second largest share goes to states' share of tax and duties. According to article 270 of the constitution, all central taxes and duties except surcharges and cesses levied for specified purposes shall be distributed between the union and the states. Thirdly, a major portion goes to central sector schemes. Central sector schemes are 100% funded by union government and they are implemented by the central government missionaries itself. Then this share goes to centrally sponsored schemes. In centrally sponsored schemes, a certain percentage of the funding is born by the states and the implementation is done by the state governments. After that, finance commission transfers. Know that other than tax devolution, finance commission recommends certain grants and other such proceeds to states and union territories. Finally, some other expenditures includes expenditure made on defense subsidies, pensions, etc. So far, we have seen the category-wise distribution of the resits. Now, look at this budget breakup here. Let us see the sector or ministry-wise distribution of resits plus some other general categories also. This particular breakup shows allocations to interest transport sector, defense, food subsidy, tax, administration, fertilizer subsidy, transfer to states, agriculture, home affairs, education, others, rural development, energy, health, social sector, pension, IT and telecom, urban development, UTs, science, external affairs, commerce and finance. Now, if you may wonder why the breakup is given in different shades of colour. Know that if a particular sector is in any shade of green colour, then it means that that particular sector has got increased allocation compared to previous year. Likewise, if it is in any shade of red colour, then the sector has got decreased allocation compared to the previous year. For example, defense sector allocation decreased by 0.17%. At the same time, transport sector allocation increased by 2.16%. Likewise, you can observe for all categories. So, in this particular discussion, we saw some highlights of the budget and we also tried to understand what are all the sources of resits and what are the expense that we will make this year. Now, we will move on to the next article discussion. More than just understanding the raw data, what UPSA expects of us is how we infer the data. So, it's important to understand what are the positive and negative aspects of the budget and we must also have an overall understanding about the government's economic performance. In this particular editorial, the author highlights the various positives of the 2023-24 budget. So, through this discussion, we will cover the basics about budget. We will also learn few other basic concepts associated with the points mentioned by the author. Here, I have highlighted the syllabus regarding this discussion. You can go through it. Now, let us start by understanding what a budget is. See, budget in simple terms is a summary of estimated or anticipated revenue and expenditure of any organization. In our case, it is country for the upcoming financial year. Now, why does our country need a budget? The first and foremost reason is limited resources. In India, the resources are limited and the needs are ever increasing. In such a situation, a budget is very necessary. By framing a budget, our government can rationalize its spending and ensure that the resources are allocated efficiently. The second reason is approval by legislature. In our parliamentary democracy, the government cannot spend money without the approval of people. This is because the government's expenditure is made possible only by the taxes that are collected from the people. So, the government or the executive must seek the approval for its expenditure from the legislators who are none other than the representatives of the people. But, if the government had to seek approval from the legislature every time it tried to spend, then the process would be very cumbersome. So, what the government does is it will prepare the annual financial statement containing the estimated expenditure and revenue for the forthcoming financial year and then it will seek the approval from the legislature for that particular document. This will ensure the legislature's control on the government spending and the process will become less cumbersome for the government. The last reason is that our constitution says so. So, now let us see some important constitutional provisions that are related to budget. The word budget is not mentioned in our constitution. Instead, the word annual financial statement is given. Article 112 says that the president of India shall lay before the parliament the annual financial statement every financial year. Article 112 to 117 deals with the procedure concerning the union budget. In the case of states, we have article 202. Article 202 says that the governor shall lay before the state legislature the annual financial statement every financial year. Article 202 to 207 deals with the procedures concerning the state budget. With these basics about budget, now let us get into the important points mentioned in the editorial. The economic survey stated that India has achieved full recovery and has achieved pre-pandemic level of GDP. This is despite various hurdles that economy has faced in the past couple of years. The first major hurdle is the Russia-Ukraine war and its impacts. The West imposed sanctions on Russia post the Russian invasion of Ukraine. This resulted in the increase in global oil prices. The increase in global oil prices resulted in a steep increase in our countries importable. The war also resulted in global food inflation and an increase in the price of vegetable oil. This is the first major hurdle that India witnessed. The second hurdle is the early signs of global recession. India exports services mainly to the US and European market. Due to the slowdown in these countries, India's export also started declining. Then the next one is capital outflow. Due to inflation in the US, the US Federal Reserve decided to increase its policy interest rate. This resulted in foreign investors pulling out of the Indian stock market. This particular phenomenon coupled with increasing import bills and declining exports resulted in volatility in India exchange rate. The Indian rupee started to depreciate rapidly. The decline stopped only after the intervention of the RBA. This is the third major hurdle. The last one is inflation. India has also been witnessing inflation for some time now. To curb inflation, the RBA increased the report rate. This has resulted in credit becoming costlier in India. This therefore affected the economic growth. Despite all these hurdles, the Indian economy has somehow fully recovered. This, according to the author, is a significant achievement. Now, how did the Indian economy manage to recover fully despite the hurdles? See, Indian economic recovery was fuelled by public investment. That is, an increase in investment expenditure by the government. Although public investment helped the Indian economy to recover, it came with some cost. The cost is a fiscal deficit. Here, fiscal deficit is the difference between the total expenditure of the government and the total receipts of the government excluding borrowings. Despite the increase in public investment, the government somehow managed to keep the fiscal deficit at 6.4% of GDP. Now, how did the government manage to achieve that? First one is higher tax. Government revenue from taxes increased. So, even though the government expenditure increased, the increase in government tax collection compensated for it. The second is an increase in GDP. So, how does an increase in GDP help contain the fiscal deficit? Note that the fiscal deficit is mentioned as a percentage of GDP. For example, country A has a fiscal deficit of 5 lakh crore and a GDP of 100 lakh crore. So, the fiscal deficit of country A is 5 divided by 100 into 100 which comes around to 5% of GDP. Now, consider country B with a fiscal deficit of 8 lakh crore but it has a GDP of 200 lakh crore. Now, the fiscal deficit of country B is 8 lakh crore divided by 200 lakh crore into 100 which comes out to be 4% of its GDP. From this, we can understand that even though the fiscal deficit increases with increasing GDP, the fiscal deficit as a percentage of GDP can be brought down. India managed to maintain the fiscal deficit at 6.4% by increasing its GDP. So, now in the 2023 to 2024 budget, India plans to bring down the fiscal deficit further down to 5.9% of GDP. India is planning to achieve this through fiscal consolidation. In this, the government is planning to bring down food subsidies by 90,000 crore from the present rupees 2.97 lakh crore to rupees 1.87 lakh crore. Then, the government has also decided to scrap the Pradhan Mandiri Garip Kalyan Yojna. This will help reduce government expenditure by some amount. The government has also decided to cut down the fertilizer expenditure. Then, in case of centrally sponsored scheme, the government has decided to cut down its expenditure in by 20,000 crore. All these would bring down the revenue expenditure of the government. The government has instead decided to focus on capital expenditure which has long-term benefits for the economy. In the 2023 to 24 budget, the government allocated rupees 10 lakh crore for infrastructure spending. This is almost a 37% increase compared to last year. Infrastructure spending by the government is actually a very good thing. This has a multiplier effect associated with it. Here, fiscal multiplier is the ratio of increase in national income that occurs due to increase in government spending. So, government expenditure in infrastructure will help fuel economic growth which will in turn help to bring down the fiscal deficit as a percentage of GDP. In addition to this, to nudge the states into making productive capital expenditure, the government has decided to offer a 50-year interest-free loans. Here, the government has decided to offer 50-year interest-free loans. Here, the fund allocation will be performance-based. This will help improve capital expenditure by the state governments. So, the government by reducing wasteful revenue expenditure and pushing for useful capital expenditure is now on the path of fiscal consolidation. So, as I already mentioned, the government aims to bring down the fiscal deficit to 5.9% of GDP. The government is also aiming to bring down the fiscal deficit to 4.5% of GDP by the financial year 2025-26. This will help India in the long run and will help to spur the growth in economy. These are some of the positive aspects of the budget mentioned in the editorial. The author levelled one criticism against this budget. The author of the editorial feels that with the general election that is to happen next year and state elections in card, the government's aim of limiting fiscal deficit to 4.5% of GDP by 2025-26 is quite lofty. This could only be achieved if the government plans to implement the budget in letter and spirit. So, in this article discussion, we saw what is budget and we also discussed some positive aspects about the 2023-24 budget. This is all regarding this news article discussion. Now, we will move on to the next article discussion. See, this year budget has evoked mixed responses. This is because things are often compared to the past. Is there any increase in fund or is there any decrease in fund? If there is an increase in fund, then it is perceived as a positive notion and taken to be the main area of focus that year. Similarly, when funds are decreased, we believe that the area is receiving less government attention, right? So, these charts here portray the trend in government spending or government expenditure in certain areas, particularly in the social sector. So, in our discussion today, let us analyze these charts. This discussion is very important from a brilliant perspective because UPSE might ask about the trends in government spending. For example, there might be a statement like, government allocation for MGNREGA has been declining for the past 5 years. Now, is this statement right or wrong? We will see. First, take a look at this graph. This graph shows that the trend in government allocation for MGNREGA from 2017 till today. From this graph, we can see that the allocation for MGNREGA has remained almost stable from 2017 to 2020. In 2021, there was an increase in allocation. This was due to the COVID-19 pandemic and associated lockdowns. After that, since 2022, the allocation for MGNREGA has been on decline. So, the statement, government allocation for MGNREGA has been declining for the past 5 years is wrong as there was an increase in allocation in 2021 due to COVID-induced lockdown. Now, look at this second graph. This graph is about the budgetary allocation for rural development. Now, what are the things that we can infer from this graph? First one is that there was an increase in budgetary allocation for rural development between 2017 and 2018. After that, the allocation for rural development has been on decline until 2020. Similar to the allocation for MGNREGA, the allocation for rural development also saw a steep rise in the year 2021. And since 2021, again the fund allocation for the rural development has been on decline. Now, we will move on to see the next graph. So, this particular graph is about the government allocation to higher education. As the title here says, the government allocation for higher education has remained around 1% of the total budgetary allocation. There was a slight increase in the allocation between the years 2017 and 2018. Then the allocation for higher education was declining from 2018 onwards. After 2020, there was a small increase in spending. Finally, the allocation for higher education remained constant at 1% of total allocation in the current and upcoming budgets. These are some information we can derive from this particular graph. Now, moving on to the next graph. This graph is about the government budgetary allocation to the school education. From this graph, we can say that the government allocation for school education was on a steep decline from financial year 2017 to 2022. From 2022 onwards, the allocation for school education has been increasing. Also, we can infer that though the government allocation for school education has been increasing since financial year 2020, it has not reached the pre-pandemic level of allocation. Now, the information said we can infer from this particular graph. Now, this graph talks about the budget allocation for social welfare. Firstly, we can see that there was an increase in budgetary allocation for social welfare from financial year 2017 to 2019. Then there was a steep fall in allocation for social welfare from the years 2019 to 2021. Finally, from 2021, the budgetary allocation for social welfare has been witnessing a very slow increase. These are some points that we can observe from this particular graph. So, this is all regarding this news article. Similar to this, make note of the other trends that you can observe in the budget. This will be very helpful from your prelims perspective. Now, we will move on to the next article discussion. Now, this has been the talk of the town since the budget was announced yesterday. New versus old tax regime, which one should you go for and all that. So, these tables here also talk about the same. That is, the personal income tax levels in India. So, in this discussion, let's clarify ourselves on these aspects. See, India follows two different personal taxation systems. One is the old system and the other one is the new regime. This year budget has made many changes in the new taxation regime. Before seeing about the changes introduced in the new taxation regime, we will first understand about income tax in general. See, income tax is a type of direct tax which is levied on all individuals whose income exceeds the minimum threshold level set by the government. Here, note that they are subject to slap system of taxation. That is, different tax rates are set for different categories of income. So, if a taxpayer's income goes up, so does his or her tax. If your income is 4 lakh per annum, you pay 5% of it as tax. And if your income is 9 lakhs, you pay 15% of it as tax. See, this type of taxation is an example of progressive taxation system. More your income, more the tax you pay. See, in India, taxpayers have the discretion to opt for any of the two personal taxation systems, that is the old system or the new taxation system. Now let's briefly understand about these two tax systems. As you see from the table provided here, both the personal tax systems have different slaps and different tax rates associated with them. If you closely look at the numbers provided here, you can see that the new tax regime has the lowest rate of taxation levels when compared with its old counterpart. So which taxation system do you think many will take? New taxation regime, right? But the real scenario is the exact opposite. The new taxation system had very few takers when compared with the old regime. The reason for this is that the old taxation regime had several exceptions associated with it. For example, take the case of section ATC of the Income Tax Act. This particular section allowed taxpayers to reduce their taxable income. Taxpayers under the old regime can make use of this particular section by making tax-saving investments. Example, they can opt for life insurance or they can incur eligible expenses which are exempt from the taxable income levels. Certain allowance is like house rent allowance which are partially or fully exempted. Further, section ATCCC and section ATD were the other sections which were used by taxpayers under the old tax regime to reduce the income tax paid by them. Here note that no such exemption can be climbed by those who are opting for the new taxation regime. This is the reason why income taxpayers didn't opt for the new taxation regime even when it offered comparatively less taxation rates when compared with the old regime. So to make the new taxation regime appealing to the tax-paying population of India, this year budget brought in many changes to the new taxation regime. There is a considerable increase in the income threshold for taxation. From now on, persons who earn income up to 7 lakhs can climb a rebate from the government under the new regime. See, the earlier limit was only 5 lakhs. Now, what is this tax rebate? Basically, a tax rebate is a refund that you get in case you have paid certain amount of tax which exceeds your tax liability. See, I have provided here the comparison of new tax regime before and after the changes were made to it by our finance minister yesterday. The black-alert bar graph indicates the amount which can be saved by the newly introduced changes to the new regime. See, this is a very good news for middle class as the tax burden on them has been considerably reduced in this new regime. Note one important fact here. No changes were made to the old system of taxation. This has been done to make income tax payers to move from the old system to the new system of income taxation. So these are the contents from this table. Now, your job is to look at what are the new changes introduced to the tax rates in the new taxation regime. With this, we have come to the end of this discussion. Through this discussion, we came to know about the term income tax and the two types of tax regimes associated with it. And finally, we also saw about the changes introduced to the new tax regime. Now, we will move on to the next article discussion. Take a look at this article. It reports about the new scrappage policy introduced by the union government. The article says that the union budget for the year 2023-24 has allocated the necessary funds to replace vehicles that have been in use for over 15 years. This is the crux of the article given here. In this context, let's learn about the vehicle scrappage policy in India. See, according to the present vehicle scrappage policy of India, every vehicle registered in India has to obtain a fitness certificate. If the registered owner has not been able to obtain the certificate, then according to the rules, the vehicle must be scrapped. The vehicle owners whose vehicle is going to get scrapped will get a scrappage certificate. This particular scrappage certificate can be used by the vehicle owner to get a certain amount of discount when he or she buys a new vehicle. Further, as a part of the vehicle scrappage policy of 2022, the centre and the state governments will provide a 25% rebate on road tax for vehicles purchased to replace the old ones. Registration fees are also waived off for the new vehicles if the scrappage certificate is produced. So, this is about the scrappage policy of India. Now, let's see some important points given in the article. Yesterday, while presenting the budget, our finance minister said all vehicles owned by the union and state governments that have been on road for over 15 years will be scrapped. Vehicles of the various public sector undertakings are also included in this. The set policy will provide the necessary impetus for the population to buy new vehicles which will ultimately reduce the carbon emitted by the old vehicles. Other than this, electric vehicles can also be pushed into the market by using this opportunity. Through this discussion, we came to know about the new initiatives brought out by the union government to replace the old vehicles in India. With these points in mind, we'll move on to the next article discussion. Take a look at this article. It talks about the increase in allocation of funds to the PM Aava Seyoshina. This particular housing scheme has been allocated over 79,000 crores this fiscal as compared to the last year's 48,000 crores. Other than this, the finance minister also announced the creation of a new fund called as the Urban Infrastructure Development Fund. From the name itself, we can say that it is directed towards the urban infrastructure development. Here you should note that the managing authority for the fund will be the National Housing Bank. So what is this fund used for? It is used by the public agencies to create urban infrastructure in the tier 2 and tier 3 cities. Now, the union government has allocated rupees 10,000 crore per year for the fund. You should also note that there is a similar fund for development of infrastructure in the rural areas which is called as the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund. Now, let me tell you how the fund receives money. As I already said, the Urban Infrastructure Development Fund has been allocated rupees 10,000 crore from the budget. Other than this, banks can lend money to the fund whenever they fall short of the priority sector target. See, the scheduled banks in India are mandated to encourage the growth of some sectors with adequate and timely credit. These sectors are identified by the government which need to be provided with the loans. This is called as the priority sector lending. As per the priority sector lending guidelines, banks are mandated to provide a certain amount of their loans to identified sectors. But in practice, if you see, banks generally fall behind the target set by the RBA in this regard. Now, whenever the banks fall behind their target, they can choose to credit the shortfall towards the Urban Infrastructure Development Fund. Now, we will understand about the PM Avas Yojna. See, the PM Avas Yojna is a housing scheme launched by the union government in the year 2015. The scheme was launched with an objective of providing housing for all. The scheme is basically divided into two. One is the PM Avas Yojna Urban, while the other is PM Avas Yojna Gramin. In the first case, the nodal ministry is the ministry of housing and urban affairs. In the second case, it is the ministry of rural development. So, it is basically a credit link subsidy scheme that gives the beneficiaries an interest subsidy to take loans to purchase or build a house. It thereby addresses the urban and rural housing shortage among the low and middle income groups. It also helps economically weaker sections to have a house of their own. With this, we have come to the end of this discussion. So, through this discussion, we came to know about the newly launched Urban Infrastructure Development Fund and also about the PM Avas Yojna. Now, we will move on to the next article discussion. As we saw the various aspects of the budget, we also have to understand how experts in various fields feel about the budget. Have a look at this viewpoint here. It was provided by Sanjeev Bajaj who is the president of the Confederation of Indian Industry. He has given his view on the 2024 budget. So, in this discussion, we will understand the points provided in this viewpoint. First of all, the author describes the union budget proposal as a brilliant balancing act. He said the 2023-24 budget aims to move forward on the path of fiscal consolidation while also delivering high growth and inclusion. As I discussed previously, fiscal consolidation is a set of policies undertaken by the government so as to reduce the government deficit and debt accumulation. So, according to the author, the budget is trying to augment fiscal consolidation along with the aim of high growth and inclusion. The author has appreciated the government's continued emphasis on capital expenditure-led growth strategy. See, the boost in capital expenditure during the last year has impacted the gross fixed capital formation positively. Know that gross fixed capital formation refers to the net increase in physical assets in the country. As I said earlier, last year there was a positive gross fixed capital formation. Now, the budget estimates for this year is expecting a 11.5 percentage increase in the gross fixed capital formation. So, this will boost economic productivity which in turn unlocks India's growth potential. The author further says that the multiplayer impact of CAPEX will also boost demand and it will encourage private investments. Apart from this, the public CAPEX and associated infrastructure push and the fund for agriculture startups will also encourage private investments. Here, he also talks about the allocations for skill development. The author points out that the budget is giving more emphasis on skilling the youth. The author has quoted some programs that are aiming to enhance the employability of the youth like the Kaushal Vikas Yojana 4.0. So, according to the author, these programs will enhance the employability of the youth and it will help them to prepare for industry 4.0. Now, coming to the fiscal deficit target, he says that the fiscal deficit target for financial year 2023-24 is 5.9 percentage which is pretty much in line with the 6 percentage as suggested by the confederation of Indian industry. Now, talking about the support for the states, the author highlighted that the budget also continues the focus on cooperative federalism and reform push. The budget aims to support states in the form of 50 year interest-free loans as we saw earlier in the discussion. Then, there is incentives for undertaking power reforms, then encouragement for urban reforms and also there is extension of the state support mission of Nitya Ayok for another 3 years. The author is of the opinion that these supports will further strengthen the idea of cooperative federalism. Overall, the author said that the growth oriented and balanced budget is aiming to strengthen the foundation of the Indian economy. There are many expert opinions in the newspaper today. For more clarity, you can go through those articles also. Now, with these points in mind, we will move on to the next article discussion. Now, have a look at this article from the text and context page. This particular article is talking about judicial majoritarianism. So, why is this in news now? Recently, the Supreme Court has passed a verdict on the demonetization of currency notes of Rs. Rs. 500 and Rs. 1000. The verdict has upheld the 2016 demonetization scheme of the central government in a 4-to-1 majority. This was done by a 5-judge constitution bench. This majority judgment of the Supreme Court on demonetization has come under criticism. The majority judgment by 4 senior judges upheld both the actions of the RBA and the government. It basically upheld the move of implementing the decision to withdraw all the then existing notes of Rs. Rs. 500 and Rs. 1000 and ending their status as legal tenders. This majority judgment is being criticized by many people. They are of the opinion that demonetization has caused the government's hardship to people and it has disrupted small businesses and hit the country's economic growth very hardly. But the stand taken by Justice Nagaratna on demonetization is being held even though it was a minority judgment and expressed her descending view. She held that although the government's demonetization exercise was well-intentioned and thought through, it was unlawful on legal grounds. This view was appreciated by majority of the people. See, this difference in opinion of the people is the exact reason why judicial majoritarianism made it to news today. So in this discussion, we will understand about judicial majoritarianism then we will see what are the concerns surrounding judicial majoritarianism. The syllabus relevant to this discussion is highlighted here. You can go through it. See, in the Supreme Court the standard matters are usually heard by division benches which usually consists of two judges. But for the cases which involve a substantial interpretation of constitutional provisions, numerical majorities play an important role. In such cases constitutional benches consisting of five or more judges are set up in consonance with article 145-3 of the constitution. Know that such constitutional benches usually consist of five, seven, nine, eleven or even thirteen judges. This is done to facilitate decision making by ensuring numerical majorities in judicial outcomes. This is what is termed as judicial majoritarianism. Know that the requirement for majority consensus flows from article 145-5 of the constitution. This particular article states that no judgment in such cases can be delivered except with a concurrence of a majority of the judges. But here the judges are free to deliver dissenting judgments or opinions. In simpler terms, the judgments by the constitutional benches should be delivered with a concurrence of majority of judges. Therefore, we can say that the concept of judicial majoritarianism is provided in the constitution itself. With this understanding, now we will move on to see what are all the concerns that are associated with judicial majoritarianism. As we all know, the judges are experts of law. So, they are basically aware of the arguments that is, they are aware of far and against opinions about the matter challenged in the court. All judges on a particular bench give their rulings on the same set of arguments and written submissions. In the light same, any differences in judicial decisions can be attributed as a difference. This difference mainly lies in the methodology that is being adopted by the judge and the logic that is applied by the judge. In such circumstances it is entirely possible that the majority may fall into methodological fallacies and errors. So, in such situations a meritorious minority decision receives light weightage in terms of its outcomes. For an example we can quote the recent verdict on demonetization. The majority judgment by four judges came under criticism while the minority judgment by Justice Nagaratna is being hailed for her descending view. Moreover, the rate of dissent itself is subject to influences. A study which was conducted in 2016 found that the rate of judicial dissent at the rate of emergency in 1976 was only 1.27% This is supposed to 10.52% in 1980. The study also found that the rate of dissent where the Chief Justice was a part of the bench was lower than in those cases where the Chief Justice was not on the bench. So, such situations put a question on the efficiency and desirability of the concept of majority opinion while delivering a verdict. This is all about the concerns that are associated with judicial majoritarianism. See, the absence of a critical discourse or a descending view represents fundamental gaps in our knowledge regarding the functioning of our Supreme Court. So, whenever pending constitutional cases are listed for hearing, we must reflect upon the arguments of judicial majoritarianism and the questions of which these cases are to be decided. So, with this we have come to the end of this discussion. Now, we will move on to the next part of our discussion which is practice questions. First, we will take up the prelims practice questions. See, here there are five questions. Four questions will be discussed by me and the remaining one question will be the quiz question for the day. Question number one with respect to the vehicle scrappage policy of India consider the following statements. Statement number one, fitness certificates for personal vehicles need to be obtained after a period of 20 years from the registration date of the vehicle. Statement number two, scrappage certificates are mandatory for climbing benefits associated with the scrappage policy of vehicles in India. Which of the statements given above is RR correct? See here, statement number one is incorrect. In case of private or personal vehicles the fitness certificates need to be obtained after a period of 15 years. In the case of commercial vehicles, the fitness certificate is issued for new vehicle for two years and subsequently renewed for one year thereafter. For some commercial vehicles, two years renewable can be done for a period of eight years from the date of registration. After that, fitness certificate renewal interval changes to one year. Here statement number two is correct. In the discussion itself, we saw that scrappage certificates are mandatory for climbing benefits associated with the scrappage policy of vehicles. So here, the correct answer for this question is option B2 only. Question number two, with respect to the income tax regimes present in India, consider the following statements. Statement number one, default income tax system in India is based on the new income tax regime. Statement number two, tax rebate has been extended for individuals who earn until 7 lakhs per annum under both the old and new income tax regimes in India. Which of the statements given about SRR correct? Here statement number one is correct. The finance minister in the budget speech announced that default income tax system in India will be based on the new tax regime. Here statement number two is incorrect. Tax rebate until 7 lakhs will only be given to individuals under the new tax regime. As I discussed previously, this has been done to make income taxpayers to adopt the new tax regime. So the correct answer for this question is option A1 only. Question number three, with respect to Pradhan Mandiri Avas Yojana, consider the following statements. Statement number one, all citizens of India are eligible to obtain house loans under this scheme. Statement number two, it is intended to provide housing for all by the year 2022. Which of the statements given about SRR correct? Here statement one is incorrect. Only the economically weaker session, low and middle income groups are eligible to get loans under the Pradhan Mandiri Avas Yojana. Here statement number two is correct. It is the aim of the Pradhan Mandiri Avas Yojana, which was introduced in the year 2015. So here, the correct answer is option B2 only. Question number four, with reference to Pradhan Mandiri Kaushal Vikas Yojana 4.0, consider the following statements. Statement number one, it is the flagship scheme of the Ministry of Labour and Employment. Statement number two, the scheme will emphasise on on-job training, industry partnership and alignment of courses within needs of industry. Statement number three, the scheme will cover new age courses for industry 4.0 like artificial intelligence, robotics, internet of things, 3D printing and drones. Which of the statements given about SRR correct? Here statement one is incorrect. It is the flagship scheme of the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship and it is implemented by the National Skill Development Corporation. Here statements two and three are correct. Here the question is asking for the correct statement. So, the correct statement for the question is option C2 and 3 only. Question number five, this is the quiz question for the day. Read the question carefully and post the answers in the comment box below. Displayed here are the main questions. Interested aspirants can write the answer and post it in the comment box below. If you have found a video to be useful, like the video, subscribe to the channel, happy learning.