Daily Current Affairs 3 September 2020 | UPSC Current Affairs 2020

Current Affairs Of Today Are

1) Mission Karmayogi

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi has approved the launching of a National Programme for Civil Services Capacity Building (NPCSCB)with the following institutional framework:-

Prime Minister's Public Human Resources (HR) Council,
Capacity Building Commission.
Special Purpose Vehicle for owning and operating the digital assets
and the technological platform for online training,
Coordination Unit headed by the Cabinet Secretary.

Salient Features

NPCSCB has been carefully designed to lay the foundations for capacity building for Civil Servants so that they remain entrenched in Indian Culture and sensibilities and remain connected, with their roots, while they learn from the best institutions and practices across the world. The Programme will be delivered by setting up an Integrated Government Online Training-iGOT-KarmayogiPlatform. The core guiding principles of the Programme will be:

Supporting Transition from 'Rules-based' to 'Roles based* HR Management. Aligning work allocation of civil servants by matching their competencies to the requirements of the post.
To emphasize on 'on-site learning' to complement the ‘off-site’ learning,
To create an ecosystem of shared training infrastructure including that of learning materials, institutions, and personnel,
To calibrate all Civil Service positions to a Framework of Roles, Activities, and Competencies (FRACs) approach and to create and deliver learning content relevant to the identified FRACs in every Government entity,
To make available to all civil servants, an opportunity to continuously build and strengthen their Behavioral, Functional, and Domain Competencies in their self-driven and mandated learning paths.
To enable all the Central Ministries and Departments and their Organizations to directly invest their resources towards co-creation and sharing the collaborative and common ecosystem of learning through an annual financial subscription for every employee,
To encourage and partner with the best-in-class learning content creators including public training institutions, universities, start-tips, and individual experts,
To undertake data analytics in respect of data emit provided by iGOT- Karmayogi pertaining to various aspects of capacity building, content creation, user feedback, and mapping of competencies and identify areas for policy reforms.

Objectives

It is also proposed to set up a Capacity Building Commission, with a view to ensuring a uniform approach in managing and regulating the capacity building ecosystem on a collaborative and co-sharing basis.
The role of Commission will be as under-

To assist the PM Public Human Resources Council in approving the Annual Capacity Building Plans.
To exercise functional supervision over all Central Training Institutions dealing with civil services capacity building.
To create shared learning resources, including internal and external faculty and resource centers.
To coordinate and supervise the implementation of the Capacity Building Plans with the stakeholder Departments.
To make recommendations on standardization of training and capacity building, pedagogy and methodology
To set norms for common mid-career training programs across all civil services.
To suggest policy interventions required in the areas of HR Management and Capacity Building to the Government.

The iGOT-Karmayogi platform brings the scale and state-of-the-art infrastructure to augment the capacities of over two crore officials in India. The platform is expected to evolve into a vibrant and world-class market place for content were carefully curated and vetted digital e-learning material will be made available. Besides capacity building, service matters like confirmation after probation period, deployment, work assignment, and notification of vacancies, etc. would eventually be integrated with the proposed competency framework.
Mission Karmayogi aims to prepare the Indian Civil Servant for the future by making him more creative, constructive, imaginative, innovative, proactive, professional, progressive, energetic, enabling, transparent, and technology-enabled. Empowered with specific role-competencies, the civil servant will be able to ensure efficient service delivery of the highest quality standards.

Financial implications

To cover around 46 lakh, Central employees, a sum of Rs.510.86 crore will be spent over a period of 5 years from 2020-21 to 2024-25. The expenditure is partly funded by multilateral assistance to the tune of USD 50 million. A wholly owned Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) for NPCSCB will be set up under Section 8 of the Companies Act, 2013. The SPV will be a "not-for-profit" company and will own and manage the iGOT-Karmayogi platform. The SPV will create and operationalize the content, market place and manage key business services ofiGOT-Karmayogi platform, relating to content validation, independent proctored assessments, and telemetry data availability. The SPV will own all Intellectual Property Rights on behalf of the Government of India. An appropriate monitoring and evaluation framework will also be put in place for performance evaluation of all users of the iGOT-Karmayogi platform so as to generate a dashboard view of Key Performance Indicators.

Background

The capacity of Civil Services plays a vital role in rendering a wide variety of services, implementing welfare programs, and performing core governance functions. A transformational change in Civil Service Capacity is proposed to be affected by organically linking the transformation of work culture, strengthening public institutions, and adopting modern technology to build civil service capacity with the overall aim of ensuring efficient delivery of services to citizens.
A Public Human Resources Council comprising of select Union Ministers, Chief Ministers, eminent public HR practitioners, thinkers, global thought leaders, and Public Service functionaries under the Chairmanship of Hon'ble Prime Minister will serve as the apex body for providing strategic direction to the task of Civil Services Reform and capacity building.

Source: PIB

2) NPAs in SHG loans

The Union Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) has asked states to monitor the status of Non Performing Assets (NPAs) district-wise and take corrective measures to recover overdue/outstanding dues from Self-Help Groups (SHGs).
The issue was raised in the review meeting of the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihoods Mission.
A Non-Performing Asset (NPA) is a loan or advance for which the principal or interest payment remained overdue for a period of 90 days.

Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana - National Livelihoods Mission

It was launched by the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD), Government of India in 2011.
NRLM set out with an agenda to cover 7 Crore rural poor households, across 600 districts, 6000 blocks, 2.5 lakh Gram Panchayats and 6 lakh villages in the country through SHGs and federated institutions and support them for livelihoods collectives in a period of 8-10 years.
The Mission aims at creating efficient and effective institutional platforms for the rural poor enabling them to increase household income through sustainable livelihood enhancements and improved access to financial services.

SHG Loans as NPAs:

About Rs. 91,130 crore has been given to about 54.57 lakh SHGs across the country by the end of March 2020 as loans.
Around 2.37% or Rs. 2,168 crore of this total outstanding bank loans turned out to be NPAs.
The proportion of NPAs in bank loans given to SHGs has significantly increased over the last decade from 2.90% in 2008 to 6.12% in 2018.
There has been a rise of 0.19% in overall NPAs in SHG loans in 2019-20 compared to the financial year 2018-19.

State Wise Distribution:

Uttar Pradesh, which has 71,907 SHGs, reported that 36.02% of the loans taken by the groups were NPAs at the end of March 2020, as compared to 22.16% in 2018-19.
In Arunachal Pradesh, the NPA proportion stood at an alarming 43%, though the number of SHGs there is just 209.

Directions:

The State Rural Livelihood Missions (SRLMs) were directed by the MoRD to monitor the status of NPA district wise and take immediate corrective actions wherever instances of NPA or overdue were found.
A mechanism under which representatives are drawn from SHGs monitored loans had proved critical in ensuring timely repayment and therefore, it should be institutionalized in all bank branches.

Reasons:

In 2019, the National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj (NIRDPR) has conducted a research study on NPAs by SHGs.
It found that poor economic conditions, non-cooperation, lack-of training, expenses towards marriages and social ceremonies, and medical emergencies are the main reasons for the non-payment of loans by SHGs.
Expectations of loan waivers from the government were also found to be a major reason for the poor financial health of SHGs.
The role played by banks in handholding, timely opening accounts, monitoring, and follow-up were not as per the expectation.

Initiatives by Central Government to promote SHGs

Agriculture Infrastructure Fund
PM Formalization of Micro Food Processing Enterprises (PM FME) Scheme
Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY)
Ambedkar Hastshilp Vikas Yojana (AHVY)
North East Rural Livelihood Project
Economic Stimulus-III

National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj

It is an autonomous organization under the Union Ministry of Rural Development.
It is a premier national center of excellence in rural development and Panchayati Raj.
It has been recognized internationally as one of the UN-ESCAP Centres of Excellence.
It builds capacities of rural development functionaries, elected representatives of Panchayati Raj Institutions, bankers, Non-Governmental Organizations, and other stakeholders through interrelated activities of training, research, and consultancy.
The Institute is located in Hyderabad (Telangana).

Suggestions

Training SHGs and providing them market linkages for the products/services so that they use the funds for income-generating activity and have no problem in paying back the loan amount should be done by the government. In addition, providing group health and life insurance clubbed with loans at low cost will help as members spend a significant portion of the loan on events like ill-health, ceremonies, etc.
It needs to be ensured that the grading of SHGs needs to be done properly and loans should be issued only if it is found suitable for lending. Follow-ups and constant monitoring is a must.
The Quantum of loans should be high as it is a major limiting factor, one-time lending not only impedes the process of business expansion but also wastes the money lent so far. Banks need to be sensitized to lend multiple doses of credit, for well-performing SHGs.

Way Forward

Though NPAs by SHGs are a major concern, it must not deter the government from supporting SHGs. Post lockdown, there is an imperative need for economic revival and reconstruction. Each SHG loan sanctioned or enhanced, will either facilitate spending or investment- the twin engines for driving an economy.
Women members of SHGs across the country from NRLM have also contributed to contain the spread of Covid-19.

Source: Indian Express

3) Adjusted Gross Revenue to be Paid in 10 Years

Recently, the Supreme Court of India allowed telecom companies (telcos) 10 years’ time to pay their Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) dues to the government.

Adjusted Gross Revenue

AGR is a fee-sharing mechanism between the government and the telcos who shifted to the 'revenue-sharing fee' model in 1999, from the 'fixed license fee' model.
In this course, telcos are supposed to share a percentage of AGR with the government.

Background:

The telecom sector was liberalized under the National Telecom Policy, 1994 after which licenses were issued to companies in return for a fixed license fee.
To provide relief from the steep fixed license fee, the government in 1999 gave an option to the licensees to migrate to the revenue sharing fee model.
Under this, mobile telephone operators were required to share a percentage of their AGR with the government as annual license fee (LF) and spectrum usage charges (SUC).
License agreements between the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and the telecom companies define the gross revenues of the latter.
The definition of AGR has been under litigation for 14 years. In 2005, the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) challenged the government’s definition for AGR calculation.
However, DoT argued that AGR includes all revenues from both telecom and non-telecom services.
The companies claimed that AGR should comprise just the revenue accrued from core services and not dividend, interest income, or profit on the sale of any investment or fixed assets.
In 2015, the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) stayed the case in favor of telecom companies and held that AGR includes all receipts except capital receipts and revenue from non-core sources such as rent, profit on the sale of fixed assets, dividend, interest and miscellaneous income.
However, setting aside TDSAT’s order, the Supreme Court upheld the definition of AGR as stipulated by the DoT in October 2019.
As per the government definition, AGR includes rental receipts, dividend income, and income from any other-activity arising out of the telecom license the company has.
Later on, the Court rejected a 20-year payment timeline proposed by the central government and supported by telecom companies. Instead, it has given 10 years’ time to repay the AGR dues.

Directions Issued by Court:

The telecom operators would make the payment of 10% of the total dues as demanded by the Department of Telecom by 31st March 2021.
The yearly installments would commence from 1st April 2021 up to 31st March 2031. The installments would be paid by 31st March every year.
In the event of any default in making payment of annual installments, interest would be levied as per the agreement along with penalty and interest on penalty automatically without reference to the court.
Besides, it would be punishable for contempt of court.
Compliance with the court order should be reported by the telcos and the telecom department every year on 7th April.
The sale of the spectrum by telcos facing insolvency proceedings shall be decided by the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT).

Issues Involved:

The definition of AGR has been such a contentious issue because it has huge financial implications for both telcos and the government.
It was estimated, after the SC’s 2019 judgment, that the telecom operators owe the government about Rs. 92,000 crore in bank charges, interest, and penalties on license fee alone.
The October 2019 judgment had pushed many telcos on the verge of bankruptcy.
While the government has been deprived of the extra revenue, the financial implications for telecom companies — who now have to pay overdue amounts piled up for years — are serious too.
Especially at the current juncture, when profits for telcos are under pressure from severe competition and the falling average revenue per user.

Way Forward

To enhance the growth of the telecom sector, improve the quality of service, and generate resources for the telcos, a new infrastructural policy is the need of the hour.
The government needs to provide an enabling environment for telecom operators. In order to achieve that, a long-term vision plan must be made accordingly.
Enhanced accessibility of the broadband services will enable the digital empowerment of India, hence adequate steps must be taken by the government to strengthen the overall telecom sector.

Source: The Hindu

4) Eighth East Asia Summit Economic Ministers’ Meeting

Daily Current Affairs 3 September 2020 | UPSC Current Affairs 2020

Recently, the 8th East Asia Summit Economic Ministers’ Meeting (EAS-EMM) was held virtually and attended by 10 ASEAN members and eight other nations, including India, the USA, and China.
The meeting highlighted the importance of strengthening regional supply chains to make them resilient in times of heightened challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic and to spur economic growth.
Recently, Japan has mooted the Supply Chain Resilience Initiative (SCRI) as a trilateral approach to trade, with India and Australia as the key-partners.

Features of the Joint Statement:

Any trade-restrictive emergency measures put in place to address the impact of Covid-19 must be targeted, proportionate, transparent, temporary, consistent with the World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules and do not create unnecessary barriers to trade or disruption of global and regional supply chains.
Support for the necessary reforms in the WTO and pledge to continue to work together to realize a free, fair, transparent, non-discriminatory, predictable, and stable trade environment.
Facilitating the essential movement of people across borders, without undermining each country’s efforts to prevent the spread of the virus and to stabilize the trade and investment.
Commitment to facilitate supply chain connectivity, including for essential goods such as medical supplies, medicines, including vaccines, food, commodities, and other essential supplies and services in the region.
Harness the opportunities of the digital economy to overcome the challenges posed by restricted movement.

India’s Stand:

India highlighted its Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan which is about upscaling the growth of the Indian industry, its skills, and capabilities to make them resilient and less vulnerable to shocks and integrating Indian industries with the global supply chains.

Significance of the Meeting:

The meeting comes at a critical juncture when the pandemic has not just posed an unprecedented health crisis but also caused a sharp contraction in economic activities, disrupting trade, and investments.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has predicted a 4.9% contraction for the 2020 global Gross Domestic Product (GDP), warning that the Covid-19 outbreak has plunged the global economy into its worst recession since the Great Depression in the 1930s.
In April, the WTO also warned that global trade volume growth could crash by 13-32% in 2020.

Source: The Hindu

5) Compatibility of the Contempt of Court with International Standards

The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) has urged for a review of criminal contempt laws in India, expressing its concerns over the Supreme Court's decision to convict Advocate Prashant Bhushan for criminal contempt.

The Supreme Court's Decision:

The Court found Prashant Bhushan guilty of ‘scandalizing the court’ on a suo-motu consideration of his two tweets. It has fined him with Rs. 1.
It held that tweets on its “role” in the “last six years” and a photograph of the Chief Justice of India on a motorbike undermines its dignity and the office of the Chief Justice of India (CJI) in the public eye.
Contempt of Court:

Constitutional Provisions: Article 129 and 215 of the Constitution of India empowers the Supreme Court (SC) and High Court respectively to punish people for their respective contempt.
Article 142 of the Indian Constitution also empowers the SC to punish for its contempt. However, what is contempt of court per se has not been defined by the Indian Constitution.
Statutory Provisions: The Contempt of Court Act, 1971 elaborately deals with the concept of contempt of court.
The Act divides contempt into civil and criminal contempt.

International Commission of Jurists’ Views:

For the ICJ, the conviction appears to be inconsistent with international standards on freedom of expression and the role of lawyers.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights: The judgment goes against the general protection of free speech and expression in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The Declaration was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948. For the first time, fundamental human rights were made universally applicable and protected.
It states that ‘All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.’
The International Covenant on Civil & Political Rights: The judgment is inconsistent with the freedom of expression law guaranteed by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
The ICCPR is a key international human rights treaty, providing a range of protections for civil and political rights.
The Covenant compels governments to take administrative, judicial, and legislative measures in order to protect the rights enshrined in the treaty and to provide an effective remedy.
The Covenant was adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1966 and came into force in 1976. 173 countries including India have ratified the Covenant.
The United Nations’ Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers: The judgment goes against the principles enshrined under the UN Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers.
Principle 23: Lawyers “shall have the right to take part in public discussion of matters concerning the law, the administration of justice, and the promotion and protection of human rights”.
These Principles were adopted by the 8th United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders, Cuba in 1990.
The Bar Association of India also highlighted that “the exercise of contempt jurisdiction by the Court in this manner has potential for more self-harm than the avowed purpose of safeguarding the prestige of the institution”.

International Commission of Jurists

Since 1952, the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) has performed a unique and prominent role as a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) defending human rights and the rule of law worldwide.
It is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland.

Source: The Hindu

6) Global Innovation Index (GII)

India has been ranked 48th in the Global Innovation Index (GII) 2020 as per the GII 2020 Report jointly published by Cornell, INSEAD, and World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). Switzerland has got the 1st rank and China 14th.
The India Innovation Index is released by NITI Aayog in which it ranks States and UTs. As per the 2019 report, Karnataka was ranked 1st.

7) Manufacturing Improved: PMI

As per the latest Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) data, India’s manufacturing sector activity has started to show signs of growth in August, driven mainly by a pick-up in production along with improvement in customer demand.

Purchasing Managers' Index

Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) is an indicator of business activity - both in the manufacturing and services sectors.
It is calculated separately for the manufacturing and services sectors and then a composite index is also constructed.
The PMI summarizes whether market conditions as viewed by purchasing managers are expanding, neutral, or contracting.
The purpose of the PMI is to provide information about current and future business conditions to company decision-makers, analysts, and investors.

The PMI is a number from 0 to 100.
PMI above 50 represents an expansion when compared to the previous month;
PMI under 50 represents a contraction, and
A reading at 50 indicates no change.

The PMI is usually released at the start of every month. It is, therefore, considered a good leading indicator of economic activity.
The Index (PMI) is compiled by IHS Markit for more than 40 economies worldwide. IHS Markit is a global leader in information, analytics, and solutions for the major industries and markets that drive economies worldwide.

PMI Data:

The Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) rose from 46 in July to 52 in August.
In PMI parlance, a value above 50 means expansion, while a score below that denotes contraction.
In April, the index had slipped into contraction mode, after remaining in the growth territory for 32 consecutive months.

Positive Highlights:

New business received by Indian manufacturers expanded at the fastest pace since February.
Higher levels of production supported a modest rise in the number of purchases during August.
Goods and Services Tax Collection: GST collections in August stood at— 88% of the august 2019-20 level.
Collections in July were marginally higher but at 85.6% of the year earlier.
Infrastructure: The contraction in India’s infrastructure sector slowed to 9.6% in July compared with 12.9% shrinkage in June.
Mobility: The Google Mobility index, which measures visits to different locations such as retail shops, workplaces, parks, and transport hubs, showed a 2% rise in trends for places such as supermarkets, food warehouses, farmers’ markets, specialty food shops, and pharmacies.
E-way bills, another widely followed indicator of business activity, reached 99.8% of last year’s level in August.
Petrol consumption: Petrol consumption rose by about 2% in the first fortnight of August from the corresponding period in July.

Reasons:

The pick-up in demand from domestic markets gave rise to upturns in production and input buying.
Gradually, unlocking after lockdown has increased the pace of mobilization of economic resources.
Exports are also on marginal improvement. When compared to imports, the rate of export demand is on the higher side due to strict slash on imports.

Concerns:

Unemployment: Despite an expansion in new orders, job shedding continued in the Indian manufacturing sector.
The relocation of employees following the Covid-19 pandemic is linked to the reduction in staffing numbers.
Inflation: Reports of higher raw material costs due to supplier shortages and transportation delays stemming from the Covid-19 pandemic, resulted in rising input prices during August.
Exports: The decline in foreign exports weighed slightly on overall new orders as firms cited subdued demand conditions from abroad.

Suggestions

Focusing on Atmanirbhar Bharat: The government announced an economic stimulus package of Rs. 20 lakh crore and big-bang systemic reforms under the Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan (self-reliant India). The intended objective of this plan is two-fold.
First, interim measures such as liquidity infusion and direct cash transfers for the poor will work as shock absorbers for those in acute stress.
The second, long-term reforms in growth-critical sectors to make them globally competitive and attractive.
Increasing the MGNREGA Funding and Expanding to Urban Areas: The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005 (MGNREGA) program has proved to be a bedrock of support in the normal times and during times of difficulty (like Covid-19) and it will be a good idea to expand the scheme to urban areas.
Transfer of Cash Benefits: Money in the hands of people can provide an immediate sense of security and confidence, which is the cornerstone to restoring economic normalcy.
It will raise the consumption and demand of the economy and can bring back the virtuous cycle of demand and supply in play.
Issues with the Banking System: Covid-19 assistance measures undertaken by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the government such as interest rate reductions, credit guarantee, and liquidity enhancement schemes are welcome steps.
Although banks have largely failed to take initiatives as they are not confident of lending.
The RBI should consider a Single One Time Window for restructuring business loans, as required, by all banks.
Tax Incentivization: Big business houses and the MSME sector should be supported by the government through tax incentivization to reopen their operations.
This will energize consumer demand and boost the functioning of the vendor or ancillary industry in the MSME sector (which has huge potential for job creation).
Calibrating Make in India: The ongoing distrust of Chinese manufacturing amid the USA-China spat can be very well garnered by India.
Making India a global trading hub – devise an incentive regime for companies setting up global trading operations from India.
Promoting Sunrise Sectors: It should also encourage sunrise sectors as part of re-imagining the Indian economy such as battery manufacturing (storage systems)/ solar panel manufacturing.
The government can also consider giving impetus to “Deep Tech”-leveraged businesses - blockchain, robotics, AI, machine learning, etc.
Auto-sector Reforms: The auto industry which contributes significantly to GDP (nearly 9%) deserves special treatment.
In addition to reducing the GST rate, old vehicle scrap policy with tax incentives for creating a demand for new vehicles may be formulated.
Labour Law Reforms: Focus should be given to strictly enforce discipline within the factory premises and demand higher productivity. The moves by U.P., M.P., and Gujarat are welcome signals.
labor laws must be motivated by concerns of sustainability. Minimum wages, a written job contract that specifies terms and conditions of working, social security provisions, etc. increase costs in the short run but augment economic optimization in the long run by enhancing the productivity of the workforce.
The government has come out with four labor codes as long term reforms.
The government should provide health insurance for migrant laborers as experimented by certain States.

Source: The Hindu

8) Special Frontier Force: Vikas Battalion

The Special Frontier Force (SFF) unit, referred to as Vikas Battalion, had been said to be instrumental in preventing Chinese occupation on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh.

History:

SFF was established on 14th November 1962 in the immediate aftermath of the 1962 Sino-India war.
After the 1962 war, the Central Intelligence agency (CIA) and Intelligence Bureau (IB) decided to train a 5,000-strong force of Tibetans for possible missions against China.
The CIA had been involved in a covert program to train Tibetan guerrillas to fight the Chinese forces in Tibet since the 1950s.
The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States of America.
During the 1950s, the CIA and IB established Mustang Base in Mustang in Nepal, which trained Tibetans in guerilla warfare. The Mustang rebels brought the 14th Dalai Lama to India during the 1959 Tibetan Uprising.
The recruits initially consisted of Tibetan refugees hailing from the Khampa community (now it has a mixture of Tibetans and Gorkhas).
It was previously named Establishment-22 as it was raised by Major General Sujan Singh Uban, an Artillery officer who had commanded 22 Mountain Regiment.

About

SFF falls under the purview of the Cabinet Secretariat where it is headed by an Inspector General who is an Army officer of the rank of Major General.
The units that comprise the SFF are known as Vikas battalions.
They are highly trained special forces personnel who can undertake a variety of tasks that would normally be performed by any special forces unit.
Women soldiers, too, form a part of SFF units and perform specialized tasks.

Link with Army:

The SFF units are not part of the Army but they function under the operational control of the Army.
The units have their own rank structures which have equivalent status with Army ranks.
They have their own training establishment where the recruits to SFF are imparted special forces training.

Major Operations:

Operation Eagle (1971 war with Pakistan), Operation Bluestar (clearing Amritsar’s Golden Temple in 1984), Operation Meghdoot (securing the Siachen glacier in 1984), and Operation Vijay (war with Pakistan at Kargil in 1999) and many counter-insurgency operations in the country.
Operation Eagle: In 1971, the SFF operated in the Chittagong hill tracts in East Pakistan (later Bangladesh) to neutralize Pakistan Army positions and help the Indian Army advance ahead.

Criticism:

Special Frontier Force was involved in a joint operation with the CIA in 1965 to place a nuclear-powered device on Mount Nanda Devi (Uttarakhand) to monitor China's nuclear weapons tests. However, the mission had to be abandoned and the nuclear-powered device was lost on the mountain.
The loss of the nuclear-powered sensor was reported by Indian media outlets in 1978, prompting a response from the then Prime Minister on Indian involvement in the mission.

Source: Indian Express