Author: CD Staff

The passage of the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill, 2021 (GNCT Bill) sets the stage for a new cycle of confrontation between the Centre and the Delhi government.

The issue, which was at the heart of the ruling governments frequent run-ins with the Centre during much of its first term, was taken up by a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court, which tilted the scales in favour of the elected government through its July 4, 2018 verdict.

Background: Special Status for New Delhi

• Article 239AA of the Constitution of India granted Special Status to Delhi among Union Territories (UTs) in the year 1991 through the 69th constitutional amendment.
• It provided a Legislative Assembly and a Council of Ministers responsible to such Assembly with appropriate powers.
• That’s when Delhi was named as the National Capital Region (NCT) of Delhi.
• As per this article – Public Order, Police & Land in NCT of Delhi fall within the domain and control of Central Government which shall have the power to make laws on these matters.
• For remaining matters of State List or Concurrent List, in so far as any such matter is applicable to UTs, the Legislative Assembly shall have the power to make laws for NCT of Delhi.

The Centre-State Dispute

• Delhi was given a fully elected legislative assembly and a responsible government through an amendment in the constitution in 1991.
• Since 1991, Delhi had been made a UT with an assembly with “limited legislative powers”.
• Cordial relations have prevailed between the Central and Delhi governments since 1996 and all differences have been resolved through discussions – with a few exceptions.

Lt. Governor at the Centrestage

• The Article 239AA while conferring on the assembly the power to legislate on all matters in the state list as well as the concurrent list except land, police and public order – contained one sore point.
• It said that in case of a difference between the L-G and the council of ministers, the matter shall be referred to the president by the LG for his decision and pending such decision the LG can take any action on the matter as he thinks fit.
• It is this issue that the constitution bench of the Supreme Court resolved in 2018, when it said that the government does not have to seek the concurrence of the L-G on its decisions.
• Any differences between them should be resolved to keep in view the constitutional primacy of representative government and co-operative federalism.

It is after this judgement, the Centre brought up this Bill.

NCT of Delhi (Amendment) Bill, 2021

• Among the major proposed amendments, one makes it explicitly clear that the term “government” in any law made by the Legislative Assembly shall mean the L-G.
• This, essentially, gives effect to the former L-G 2015 assertion that “Government means the Lieutenant Governor of the NCT of Delhi appointed by the President under Article 239 and designated as such under Article 239 AA of the Constitution”.
• The Bill adds that the L-G’s opinion shall be obtained before the government takes any executive action based on decisions taken by the Cabinet or any individual minister.

What was the 2018 Supreme Court Verdict?

• In its 2018 verdict, the five-judge Bench had held that the LG’s concurrence is not required on issues other than police, public order and land.
• It had added that decisions of the Council of Ministers will, however, have to be communicated to the LG.
• The L-G was bound by the aid and advice if the council of ministers, it had said.
• The Bench of then CJI status of the LG of Delhi is not that of a Governor of a State, rather he remains an Administrator, in a limited sense, working with the designation of Lieutenant Governor”.
• It had also pointed out that the elected government must keep in mind that Delhi is not a state.

Impact of the Judgement

• Encouraged by the Supreme Court verdict, the elected government had stopped sending files on executive matters to the L-G before the implementation of any decision.
• It has been keeping the L-G abreast of all administrative developments, but not necessarily before implementing or executing any decision.
• But the amendment, if cleared, will force the elected government to take the L-G’s advice before taking any action on any cabinet decision.
• The Bill seeks to bar the Assembly or its committees from making rules to take up matters concerning day-to-day administration, or to conduct inquiries in relation to administrative decisions.

Is the L-G left with no discretionary power?

• The L-G does have the power to refer any matter, over which there is a disagreement with the elected government, to the President under Article 239AA (4).
• The Delhi Law Secretary had in 2019 written in an internal memo that the elected government cannot use the SC verdict to keep the L-G in the dark about its decisions.
• But the SC had also categorically pointed out that the L-G should not act in a mechanical manner without due application of mind so as to refer every decision of the CM to the President.

Issues with the Amendment bill

While the Centre may be well within its right to bring the amendment, the move would not be above judicial scrutiny.

(1) Constitutional morality

• The point is that India is a quasi federal constitution. The Centre does have powers to create states and alter their boundaries.  
• To use legislative power like this, just because the Centre can, also raises questions of constitutional governance and constitutional morality.
• A city of two crore people can’t necessarily be deprived of statehood or be given a rather watered down version of statehood.
• It is alleged that the Centre wants to govern Delhi through backdoor as people chose not to elect them in three consecutive elections.

(2) [Un]Constitutionality

• The fact that the Delhi government draws its authority from Article 239 of the Constitution has been a subject of much controversy.
• There are only three reserve subjects, land, law & order and police. The only power the LG has [on non-reserve subjects] is to refer the decisions to the President.
• The government’s bill goes against the judgment of the constitutional bench and says that every executive decision of the Delhi government has to be ratified by the LG.
• The Parliament does not have the power to change the constitutional mandate given to the elected government of Delhi.

(3) Sparking another power tussle

• From 2015 to 2018, the government was engaged in a constant battle with the Centre over policy decisions and the powers of the L-G with the elected government.
• The SC judgment gave the Delhi govt a freer hand in terms of policy decisions.
• The government insiders have maintained that it was because of the judgment that the government was able to clear policy decisions like giving free power to those using under 200 units, free bus rides for women.
• The amendments will have far-reaching implications — beyond just the tussle between any political parties.

What is Central Government’s argument?

• The centre claims that there is nothing unconstitutional in the law and that it merely seeks to clear the ambiguities that existed in Article 239AA.
• The complex power structure of Delhi where jurisdiction over different subjects is split between the central and the Delhi government is executed through the provisions of Article 239AA, the GNCTD Act 1991 and TBR 1993.
• The Centre has also asserted that the amended GNCTD Act was necessary for proper implementation of the Supreme Court’s 2018 Constitution Bench judgment.

Way forward

Delhi’s governance needs a new re-imagination. Learning from international examples, and conceptualizing a new structure, can be a way forward.

Delhi cannot be unitary

• What distinguishes Delhi from other federal districts is sheer size. Its population would subsume the populations of the above-mentioned cities.
• Its closest peer is Mexico City. In a significant development, Mexico City was upgraded from federal district to the country’s 32nd state in 2016.
• This was driven by the desire to provide more responsive government for residents.

Decentralisation of decision-making is important

• There are alternative ways in which both the central government as well as state authorities can partake jointly in the management of the city.
• This might be achieved by a two-tier metropolitan authority.

Control over police

• Control over policing has been a major point of contention in Delhi.
• With the lone exception of Abuja, in other federal districts, the local governments have jurisdiction over at least some aspects of policing.

Conclusion

• The apex court should intervene now and advantage of the current controversy to permanently settle the jurisdiction. India will only prosper if all of its states do as well.
• The solid foundations of federalism and democracy on which our country has thrived will begin to crumble if there is strife between the Centre and the states.

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References:

National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill, 2021

https://thewire.in/government/lok-sabha-delhi-government-bill-lieutenant-governor

https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/up-front/story/20210412-capital-and-control-1786755-2021-04-03

https://www.outlookindia.com/website/story/web-exclusive-explained-all-about-gnctd-bill-how-it-curtails-elected-delhi-govts-power/378249

https://www.outlookindia.com/website/story/opinion-how-relevant-is-federalism-in-view-of-the-gnctd-bill/378676

Yesterday PM Modi took off for Bangladesh on a two-day trip to mark the centenary celebrations of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the 50th anniversary of Bangladesh’s independence from Pakistan.

This will be PM Modi’s first visit abroad since the coronavirus pandemic and is an example of the importance New Delhi gives to its ties with Dhaka.

Bangladesh @ 50

• As Bangladesh marks the 50th anniversary of its declaration of independence from Pakistan, there is widespread admiration for its remarkably successful economic and social transformation.
• Less noted are the profound geopolitical consequences of Bangladesh’s economic rise, including a shift in South Asia’s centre of economic gravity.
• In seceding from Pakistan only 25 years after the creation of Pakistan in the name of religion, Bangladesh is the biggest testimony to the enduring truth that religion can’t peacefully unify a nation.
• Bangladesh’s special location and political character would not have amounted to much if the nation had not made itself an economic success.

To understand the scale of Bangladesh’s economic transformation relative to Pakistan and India, let us consider two important facts.

1. First, Bangladesh overtook Pakistan in 2019 to become the second-largest economy in the subcontinent—$303 billion to $279 billion in annual GDP.
2. Second, the International Monetary Fund announced last year that Bangladesh’s per capita GDP would overtake that of India by a few dollars in 2020.

Beyond geographical inheritance

It is instructive to see how differently Islamabad and Dhaka have leveraged their geographic inheritance.

• Pakistan’s strategic community has tended to imagine its unique location in geopolitical terms; Bangladesh, in contrast, has focused on leveraging its geography for economic growth.
• To its own detriment, Pakistan insists that commercial links to India must wait until the resolution of the Kashmir question. Bangladesh, on the other hand, has turned its long frontier with India into a source of economic opportunity.

At the same time, it has also made progress in resolving contentious bilateral issues with New Delhi.

India-Bangladesh ties: An organic transformation

• India’s links with Bangladesh are civilization, cultural, social and economic.
• There is much that unites the two countries – a shared history and common heritage, linguistic and cultural ties, passion for music, literature and the arts.
• India was one of the first countries, along with Bhutan, to recognise Bangladesh as a sovereign state on 6 December 1971.
• It is also worth recalling that India shares its longest border of 4,096.7 kilometres with Bangladesh, which is also the fifth-longest border in the contemporary world.
• With the onset of economic liberalization in South Asia, they forged greater bilateral engagement and trade.

What are its various dimensions?

(1) Geopolitics

• From the perspective of India’s Northeast, Bangladesh is India’s most strategic neighbour, whom New Delhi cannot ever afford to ignore.
• India’s dream of ‘Act East Policy’ can only be materialized with the helping hands of Dhaka.
• The bridge ‘Maitri Setu’ has been built over the Feni River which flows between the Indian boundary in Tripura State and Bangladesh.
• It is set to become the ‘Gateway of North East’ with access to Chittagong Port of Bangladesh, which is just 80 kms from Sabroom.

(2) Connectivity

• Perhaps on top of the list is connectivity between India’s mainland and the crucial northeast, which is part of India’s “Look East” Policy.
• The only connection between India’s mainland and the northeast was the Chicken’s Neck – a narrow strip of land that has always been a huge security concern.
• India and Bangladesh have signed several pacts, so India can actually send goods and passengers over land across Bangladesh, connecting Bengal to Tripura.
• In December 2020, Modi met Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina during which both leaders agreed to revive the trans-border railway link connecting India’s Chilahati and Bangladesh’s Haldibari.

(3) Security

• The other big security concern for India is that Bangladesh should not turn into the frontline of radical terror in the southeast.
• Bangladesh could turn into a launchpad for religious radical terror activities in India.
• India’s relationship with Bangladesh is also linked to its relationship with China.
• India did not want Bangladesh to become a pearl in China’s “String of Pearls” strategy to hem in India by using its neighbours.

(4) Trade

• Bangladesh is currently India’s biggest trade partner in the South Asian region.
• To strengthen and encourage Bangladesh’s trade and commerce, India has given several concessions to Dhaka, including duty-free access to Bangladeshi products into the Indian markets.
• New Delhi is also working continually to reduce Non-Tariff Barriers (NTB).
• To encourage trade, India is developing the Integrated Check Post in 10 border crossing points to lower NTBs.

(5) Financial assistance

• India has extended its hand of friendship whenever Bangladesh faced crises.
• India offered lines of credit worth about $10 billion to Bangladesh as part of development assistance, which includes setting up orphanages, cultural centres, and educational institutions.
• India has also simplified the visa process for Bangladeshi tourists and 1.5 million visas were issued in 2019.
• During the coronavirus crisis, India provided medical training to Bangladeshi professionals, test kits and medicines, beside the dispatch of vaccine consignments. 

(6) Security 

• The successful security cooperation between the nations resulted in tackling militancy in Bangladesh.
• India’s efforts to contain the militant group Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh’s activities are an example of engagement on this front. 

(7) Settlement of boundaries

• The resolution of land and maritime boundaries disputes is one of the major highlights of the bilateral ties.
• After a ruling by the United Nations, India agreed to give up around 19,467 km in the Bay of Bengal without challenging the decision, a move that gave great access to Bangladesh to the resource-rich sea. 
• The Land Boundary Agreement (LBA) signed between both nations in 2015 facilitated the transfer of 111 enclaves.
• According to the historic agreement, Bangladesh received more than 17,000 acres from India and gave up over 7,000 acres to India. 

There are few irritants as well…

(1) Illegal migration

• This has always been a primary problem for India since the partition of Bengal.
• In view of this, recently, the Supreme Court asked the Centre complete the fencing of the India-Bangladesh border soon to check illegal immigration from Bangladesh into Assam.

(2) Dragon is the elephant in room

• In 2016 when Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Bangladesh, the smaller country agreed to join the OBOR.
• Bangladesh is increasingly tilting towards China due to the Asian giant’s massive trade, infrastructural and defence investments in these countries.
• In spite of its Neighbourhood First Policy, India has been losing its influence in the region to China.

(3) NRC conundrum

• The National Register of Citizens (NRC) has left out 1.9 million Assamese from the list with a group labelled as “illegal immigrants from Bangladesh” living in Assam post-1971.
• India plans to seek their repatriation to Bangladesh.
• Bangladesh remains firm in its stance that no migrants travelled to Assam illegally during the 1971 war of independence and that the controversial NRC risks hurting relations.

(4) Rohingya Issue

• The Rohingya issue and India’s remarks in 2017 on the issue have been upsetting for Bangladesh which has been facing the challenge of providing shelter to more than a million refugees fleeing persecution.

(5) River disputes

• India and Bangladesh have failed to conclude a framework agreement to optimise the use of waters from six rivers including the Manu, Muhuri, Khowai, Gumti, Dharla and Dudhkumar, which has been discussed for several months.
• No progress was reported on the long-pending Teesta water-sharing agreement either after the recent visit.

Why India still needs Bangladesh?

(1) South Asian geopolitics

• Bangladesh has emerged as one of India’s closest partners and second to Bhutan in South Asia.The role of Bangladesh is critical for India’s Act East Policy.
• India counts on Dhaka’s support in Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal (BBIN) and Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) initiatives.
• These collectively complement New Delhi’s Southeast Asia outreach.

(2) Connectivity

• Bangladesh’s location is a strategic wedge between mainland India and NE seven states. Each of these states is land-locked and has shorter route to the sea through Bangladesh.
• Transit agreement with Bangladesh will spur the socio-economic development of North-East India.

(3) Countering China

• Bangladesh uses China card to supplement its bargaining capacity against India.
• A ‘neutral’ Bangladesh thus ensures containment of an assertive China in this region.

(4) Fight against terror

• Bangladesh has emerged as a key element in sub-regional connectivity initiatives with Pakistan refusing to play ball rendering SAARC ineffective.
• In 2016, when India decided to skip the SAARC Summit in Islamabad following a spike in cross-border terror attacks, Bangladesh and Bhutan wasted no time in joining ranks in solidarity with India.

Way forward

• The future will present itself with an abundance of opportunities to help the two countries to reach a new plane of bilateral relations higher than ever before.
• Both nations should play their diplomatic cards with more maturity and pragmatism, keeping the regional aspirations and nuances of both countries in mind.
• A judicious aggregation of regional expectations on both sides of the border will help in achieving their mutual national objectives.
• To make the recent gains irreversible, both countries need to continue working on the three Cs — cooperation, collaboration, and consolidation.

Conclusion

• The first 50 years have consolidated the foundation of India-Bangladesh relations.
• Both have matured in the last decade with development in many areas of cooperation.
• The shared colonial legacy, history and socio-cultural bonds demand that the political leadership of the two countries inject momentum into India-Bangladesh relations.

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References

https://www.wionews.com/south-asia/india-bangladesh-relations-a-robust-history-and-optimistic-future-372759

https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/50-years-of-india-bangladesh-relations-marking-maturity/

[Burning Issue] India-Bangladesh Relations in recent times

The winds of a tentative peace are once again blowing from Pakistan. India and Pakistan surprised the world last month with a rare joint commitment to respect a 2003 cease-fire agreement.

Background

• Pakistan has been aggressively pushing for ‘peace’ talks with India.
• The selected PM Imran Khan says peace with Pakistan will give India direct access to Central Asia.
• His master General Bajwa wants India to ‘bury the past’.
• Much earlier, Pakistan, in a change, stuck to the topic of the Covid-19 pandemic in a virtual SAARC meeting called by PM Modi.
• Pakistan did not make the usual rhetorical reference to the Kashmir issue at the meet.

The 2003 Ceasefire

• Currently, what stops India and Pakistan from opening fire at each other is a 2003 ‘ceasefire offer’ made by the then PM of Pakistan, Zafarullah Jamali, on 23 November 2003 on the eve of the Eid-al-Fitr holiday.
• The agreement remains a milestone as it brought peace along the LoC until 2006.
• Between 2003 and 2006, not a single bullet was fired by the jawans of India and Pakistan.
• It is this ceasefire agreement that is referred to as having been violated whenever Pakistan fires at Indian posts along the LoC. Not the one made during Kargil War.

To borrow and twist any phrase from the disclaimers in mutual fund advertisements, if the past is the only guide to future performance, there is no point talking about Pakistan. Just buy more sniper rifles and sit on the LoC. So, how do we break the deadlock?

Reason behind Pakistani soft-tone

Pakistan’s call for cooperation has some undeniable and immediate reasons:

(1) FATF sword

• There are very low chances of Pakistan exiting the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) grey list.
• A research paper by an Islamabad-based think tank has revealed that Pakistan sustained a total of $38 billion in economic losses due to FATF’s decision to thrice place the country on its grey list.  
• Pakistan has been on the FATF’s grey list since June 2018 and the government was given a final warning in February 2020 to complete the 27 action points by June in the same year. 

(2) Pariah at OIC

• The OIC statements of 2020 had made no specific mention of Kashmir in the agenda announced in Riyadh.
• Pakistani rhetoric over Kashmir these days is backed only by Turkey as part of Ankara’s strategy to oppose Saudi-UAE dominance in the OIC.
• The Gulf in turns has alienated Pakistan and are recalling their loans.

(3) US resentment over Daniel Pearl case

• US President Joe Biden had said he was “outraged” after Pakistan’s top court upheld the acquittal and ordered the release of Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh.
• This terrorist was convicted of masterminding the 2002 beheading of US journalist Daniel Pearl which was filmed and streamed across the world.
• In 2018, the Pentagon cancelled $300 million in aid to Pakistan because of Islamabad’s inaction against terror groups.

(4) Sovereign insolvency 

• The World Bank has approved a USD 300 million loan to help cash-strapped Pakistan address issues of climate change, health emergency and manage solid waste.
• Pakistan received $500 million from the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank each in June this year to prop up its struggling economy.
• Pakistan’s total public debt, domestic and external, was recorded at Rs36.3 trillion in the financial year 2019-20, up 154 per cent (or Rs22 trillion) since FY13, when it was recorded at Rs 14.3 trillion.

(5) Sinking economy

Pakistan’s economy is in the doldrums, plunging to new lows every day with inflation at an all-time high.

• In January, Pakistan had witnessed 12-year high inflation at 14.6 per cent which is among the highest in the world.
• The East Asia forum calls 2020 a forgettable year for Pakistan’s economy as its GDP fell to -0.4 per cent.
• According to the World Economic Forum, the youth unemployment rate in Pakistan stands at 8.5 per cent in a country where 64 per cent of the population is below the age of 30.

Like anything, Pakistani political elites (preferably the Pak Army and ISI) had to make a call. Either to make peace with India, or continue fighting it and become a military protectorate and economic colony of China; Peace with India is the only way ahead.

How should India react?

The first reaction among informed Indians to Pakistan would be a big yawn.

Wait! India seems resilient …

We saw coordinated statements by the director-general of military operations (DGMOs) on both sides that they had solemnly agreed to once again abide by the 2003 agreement all of sudden. Something has gone on between the two sides for several weeks, if not months, behind the scenes.

• What that means is a stop to those madcap, aimless spells of firing heavy ordnance at each other’s posts and villages. It achieved nothing, except take out some frustration.
• Besides, it made great pictures and TV for commando comic channels on either side, which could then, with the help of angry grey moustaches, declare victory for their respective armies.
• But the armies know the truth. As do their governments. At some point, they knew they needed to move on.

Bombing isn’t the answer and was never

We know that after Kargil, Op Parakram and Pulwama/Balakot.

• In the 20 years since, the US has bombed large parts of Afghanistan to the Stone Age several times over. But it is the Americans who are retreating in defeat.
• Militarily, diplomatically, politically or economically, achieving anything by force is out of the question.
• Former Army chief General V.P. Malik has outrightly said that it isn’t possible today to achieve any of our territorial objectives, PoK or Aksai Chin, by military force.
• Besides the capability question, any such adventure would immediately run into global disapproval and force a ceasefire earlier than you can advance a few miles.
• Especially when we live in a neighbourhood with strong, competing nationalism and robust, nuclear-armed militaries.

We need to think creatively

• In negotiations to end the Cold War, Ronald Reagan had famously used a line with Mikhail Gorbachev: ‘Trust, but verify’.
• While dealing with Pakistan, we could turn it inside out: ‘Distrust, but verify’.
• What that means is, while you view every new move coming from Rawalpindi (preferring this over Islamabad is deliberate) with the highest degree of suspicion, you check it out nevertheless.

That’s why, while we hold our deep scepticism close to our hearts, we apply our CS aspirants minds to read between the lines of Pakistan.

Two things stand out in that written speech-

1. First, a commitment to non-interference in the internal affairs of any country in the neighbourhood or the region
2. Second, they did not leave out the mention of Kashmir. But there was nuance. They said progress in relations of course depends on India creating a ‘conducive environment’ on its side of Kashmir.

What should India consider?

We have enough evidence by now to know that this is not a dispensation that looks forward to any conflict.

In seven years, and across eight budgets, the allocation for defence has remained the same or marginally declined. They are not preparing for war.  Similarly, Pathankot, Uri, Pulwama, Galwan all tell us they are also not about to be knee-jerked into a conflict.

Distrust-but-verify

• India and Pakistan signed a ceasefire agreement in 2003, but it had hardly been followed in letter and spirit over the past several years with more violations than observance of the pact.
• Ties between India and Pakistan nose-dived after a terror attack on the Pathankot Air Force base in 2016 by terror groups based in the neighbouring country.
• Subsequent attacks, including one on the Indian Army camp in Uri, further deteriorated the relationship.
• The ties dipped further after India’s warplanes pounded a Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist training camp deep inside Pakistan on Feb 26, 2019 in response to the Pulwama terror attack in which 40 CRPF jawans were killed.

History tells us that India-Pak peace is littered with many false dawns and this report explores why there is not any guarantee of any amity anytime soon.  This is not the first time India and Pakistan are trying to make peace.  So there is a reason to be skeptical.

What has changed in the last six years is India’s response.

Recent backstabs

• In 2014, the oath taking ceremony of Indian PM had attendance from dignitaries of all SAARC nations, including the then PM of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif.
• This was the first time that a Pakistani leader was attending the oath-taking of an Indian prime minister-designate. There was optimism in the air.
• In 2015, New Delhi returned the courtesy, and in a surprise visit, Modi stopped over in Lahore shortly after his visit to Afghanistan.
• But Pakistan’s army generals were miffed with the growing camaraderie and exactly a year later, the weather changed dramatically.  On January 2, 2016, there was a terror attack in Pathankot.

No reasons to trust

• There’s no guarantee that it would sustain because nothing much has changed materially on the ground.
• On the diplomatic front, the rhetoric hasn’t been toned down either.  Islamabad in collusion with other nations has kept the rhetorical fire on Kashmir alive on global platforms.
• On the security front, Pakistan is openly trying to resurrect the Khalistan movement.
• Pakistan Army’s drones have been seized in Punjab and new terror groups have emerged in Kashmir with more secular names like “The Resistance Front”. 

There is neither any evidence of a fundamental shift in its policy on terror nor on the main bone of contention between the two countries: Kashmir. 

Lessons to India from the Ladakh

• In 2019, the official rhetoric was promising India to retake PoK and putting more military pressure on Pakistan.
• In contrast, the discourse on foreign policy since the Chinese pressure on the LAC has been one of marked sobriety scaling back all expectations of flippant militarism.
• The standoff with China has brought home some stark realities. We can speculate on Chinese motives.
• The LAC standoff considerably released the pressure on Pakistan.
• We were reminded that the LAC and LoC can be linked; that the zone around Kashmir was a trilateral and not a bilateral contest, and that India will need significant resources to deal with China.

Way forward

Nevertheless, India and Pakistan have no other option but to negotiate their disputes sooner or later.

Formalizing the ceasefire agreement

The leadership in both countries must understand that the first point in their agenda during their next meeting must be the formalization of the 2003 ceasefire as it will keep jeopardizing the future of the peace process if left unresolved.

• A durable, guaranteed formal ceasefire must be the first step on the pyramid of peace with Confidence Building Measures (CBMs) being the second and terrorism the final step for peace between the two.
• There is no doubt that Pakistan should ever be given any locus standi on the Indian state of Kashmir.

We cannot change our neighbours

• New Delhi can build on a no-war policy because it is strong enough to do so and Pakistan has no courage to initiate.
• A weaker government would’ve been under much greater pressure in east Ladakh, and earlier with Pakistan, to do something more adventurous.
• Many taunted Indian leadership for not going to war with China, unlike Nehru who “at least fought, even if he lost”.

Conclusion

India should seize the moment and build on the permanent de-escalation at LOC. The pandemic offers an opportunity for greater economic cooperation.

The onus is on Pakistan

• Both countries should go beyond diplomatic spates and media warfare.
• Hence, if the 2003 ceasefire is formalized with clear rules and regulations, demilitarized zones, neutral observers and joint commissions, it should reduce the chances of future ceasefire violations.
• But the success of ceasefires in most of the conflict situations depends heavily on political will much heavily leaning on the other side of LOC.

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References

https://www.wionews.com/south-asia/why-pakistan-is-offering-peace-with-india-371510

https://www.indiatoday.in/news-analysis/story/what-led-to-india-pakistan-ceasefire-at-loc-and-will-it-hold-for-long-1773379-2021-02-26

https://theprint.in/national-interest/why-distrust-but-verify-is-a-prudent-response-to-pakistan-gen-bajwas-call-to-bury-the-past/625108/

Foreign Policy Watch: India-Pakistan

Two weeks back, the Haryana Governor gave his assent to the Bill providing 75% reservation in the private sector to job seekers from the state. And much recently Jharkhand government announced 75% reservation in private sector jobs with a salary of up to Rs 30,000 for locals.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court had sought responses from all states on whether the 50% ceiling limit on reservation needs to be reconsidered.

In this edition of Burning Issues, we shall dive into what and how reservation for Private Sector would be; its repercussions on the principle of equality in our country and ultimately the performance of the private sector.

Reservation: A backgrounder

• Reservations are an affirmative action against social discrimination prevalent in society.
• They have had a place in India for over a century, much before they were written into the Constitution as a leg up for socially and educationally backward sections.

Private Sector: Diluting Reservation to the point of irrelevance

• The issue of extending reservations to the private sector was occasionally mentioned in political circles whenever the issue of inadequate employment opportunities for the unprivileged in the public sector was discussed.
• But it was never seriously debated.
• The issue got trans-formed into demand after the country introduced structural reforms and after the acceptance of the globalisation process.

LPG era concept

• Economic liberalisation brought in its wake a shift in emphasis from the public to the private sector.
• It was decided to prune the size of the public sector by disinvesting capital and allowing not only Indian but also foreign private investors to invest in those areas of economic activity like power generation and distribution which were once reserved exclusively for the public sector.

Why is the demand gaining momentum?

• There is an implicit assumption in this demand that employment opportunities are increasing in the private sector merely because it is expanding.

(1) LPG reforms

• The policy of LPG reduced the number of employment opportunities in the public sector, which, in turn, reduced the job opportunities for backward communities.
• A revelation of the reduction of employment opportunities in the public sector made some political parties and their leaden advance the demand for extending reservations to the expanding private sector.

(2) Populist impulse

• The demand- jobs for locals only are bound to go down well with the electorate.
• The leadership has been supporting the general cause of SC/STs and OBCs have only been repeating their support for the demand for extending reservations to the private sector.
• While the political facet is a purely opportunistic political game plan.

(3) Rising unemployment

• Given India’s population growth, each year there are close to 20 million (or 2 crore) people who enter the working-age population of 15 to 59 years. But not everyone seeks a job.
• Just after last year’s lockdown, the unemployment rate has shot up to more than 30 percent, with 122 million people losing their jobs.

(4) Agrarian stress

• The agrarian sector is under tremendous stress across the country, and young people are desperate to move out of the sector.
• But there is a serious dearth of jobs (private and government).

(5) Inter-state migration

• Every campaign for a sons-of-soil policy, for job reservation, whips up this anti “outsider” sentiment.
• In the case of Haryana, one of the reasons given for justifying reservations was the proliferation of slums, presumably attributed to “outsiders” shifting to the State for work.

(6) Corporate preferences are biased

• The Centre and many state governments probably doubt the robustness in the industry’s efforts when it comes to affirmative action.
• Several reports — for instance, the State of Working India 2018 released by the Centre for Sustainable Employment of the Azim Premji University.
• It has shown that discrimination is one of the reasons for under-representation of Dalits and Muslims in the corporate sector.

(7) Xenophobia

• Another major reason for the appeal of jobs for locals is inherent xenophobia. This is not unique to India or Indian States, but is universal.
• It was spectacularly manifest in the Brexit vote, when Britons thought that foreigners were taking away local jobs, and hence voted to secede from the European Union.
• The actual facts were much less damaging. If anything, the so-called foreign workers contributed to the local economy through their productivity, and by paying both consumption and income taxes.

Why it is a bad idea?

It is worth examining why this idea is ultimately infructuous or irrelevant.

(1) Against Equality as well as meritocracy

• It goes against the Constitution of India.
• In fact, it violates several fundamental rights, such as freedom to move anywhere, the right not to be discriminated on the basis of place of birth, the right to be treated equally before laws and the right to pursue one’s livelihood.
• These are enshrined variously in Articles 14, 15, 16 and 19 of the constitution.

(2) Migration criteria not justified

• The actual data on inter-State migration shows that inter-State migration is relatively low in India.
• While the country may have an estimated 100 million migrants, most of them are intra-state not inter-state. As per 2011 census, India had only 5.6 crore inter-state migrants.
• They often bring skills, motivation, energy which may be in short supply or lacking locally.

(3) Free movement of labour

• A more analytical aspect to highlight is that free movement of labour partly compensates for the uneven economic progress of different States.
• The idea also goes against the established fact that migration of labour is good for the economy.
• Many Indian states, Punjab, Gujarat, and Maharashtra, to name a few, have benefited from migrant labour.

(4) Un-ease of doing business

• Local reservation in the private sector may not be the ideal solution to tackle the unemployment crisis.
• In fact, it can deter the corporate sector from investing in states that come up with such a rule.
• A better way to engage with the private sector would be to make the youth of a state employable with proper investments in education, health and skill development.

(5) Scapegoating the private sector

• What distinguishes the private sector from the public sector is the inherent competition and a hunger for improvement.
• Today, in the post-Covid era, India has a once in a lifetime opportunity to become the next manufacturing hub of the world.
• In such a scenario, chief ministers should do well to engage with the private sector in a much more holistic manner, and not burden it with unfeasible rules.

(6) MSMEs to be hit harder

• MSMEs could be the hardest hit.
• They do not have the necessary capital to relocate and many studies have shown that more than 50 per cent of employees are not residents of the state.
• Entrepreneurs worry that the reservation declared by backward states like Jharkhand could limit the scope of recruitment and have an adverse impact on productivity and competition based on merit.

Arguments in favour of quota in private

• Often the privileged castes (or groups) use nefarious arguments to protect their interests.
• Reservations once accepted in the constitutional framework are not a charity that is to be kept away from the ‘meritocracy’ of ‘private’ operations.
• Like all other constitutional guarantees, one may feel the necessity to get ensured of equal opportunity in all spaces.
• Giving preference and quotas for socially and educationally deprived sections in the private space is, therefore, in keeping with this fundamental tenet.
• As the NCBC argues, with the number of jobs generated in the state sector shrinking steadily, for the promise of quotas in the Constitution to have any real meaning, it may be inevitable to extend it to the private sector.

How have the companies received this move?

• Most companies have slammed the new local job quota law and asked the government to focus on training and skilling local youth.
• Several experts have explained that Haryana is facing immense competition from other states that have now started attracting industrial investment.
• Those states, however, are offering liberal policies and employment-incentive schemes. The new local job law could severely reduce new investments in Haryana.
• Reservation affects productivity and industry competitiveness.

Way forward

The government is not an employment guaranteeing agency rather an authority which should create an environment through its policies which minimizes inequalities in income, status, facilities and opportunities.

• India has already suffered a huge brain drain to the West because professionals do not get the same support here.
• Our dependence on the government for everything and lack of individual self-reliance has promoted incompetent people and strengthened the bureaucracy, which has hurt India immensely in the long-run.
• Recently, with rapid technological innovations taking over, the government has finally understood that they are not made for business and had to embrace private sector with open arms.
• A better way to engage with the private sector would be to make the youth of a state employable with proper investments in education, health and skill development
• States like Kerala have instituted enlightened policies of training migrant workers in the local language and also offering good education for their children.
• In the medium to long term there is no option but for a big national focus on education, skilling, training and enhancement of human capital, which can get us out of this scarcity mindset of rationing jobs for locals.

Conclusion

• The politics of identity and polarization on region/religious lines seems inadequate for the elections.
• The philosophy and pragmatism of universal excellence through equality of opportunity for education and advancement across the nation is part of our founding faith and constitutional creed.
• Clearly, this is not the appropriate domain of being “vocal for local”.
• Although some reservations may still be necessary for the socio-political condition in India, reservation on the basis of domicile or residence within a State would be highly discriminatory.
• It is more likely that such politically motivated steps would be overturned by the judiciary as has been done several times in the past.

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References:

https://www.jstor.org/stable/4416239?seq=1

https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/india/states-rush-in-to-reserve-jobs-for-locals-and-prevent-inter-state-migration-of-labour

https://www.hindustantimes.com/analysis/why-local-quota-in-private-sector-is-not-a-good-idea/story-L4NEcekdviQUw5gZYnxktL.html

https://theprint.in/campus-voice/reservation-in-private-sector-will-barricade-indias-march-into-future/623054/

In a display of multilateral bonhomie, the Quad alliance — India, US, Japan and Australia —have held its first-ever leaders’ summit with an aim to counter China’s growing influence in the Indo-Pacific region.

Quadrilateral Security Dialogue: A Backgrounder

Quadrilateral Security Dialogue or the Quad is an informal strategic forum between the United States, Japan, India and Australia that is maintained by semi-regular summits, information exchanges and military drills between member countries.

• The US, Japan, India and Australia came together in the aftermath of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami to assist the devastated countries.
• Later, officials of the four countries met in 2007 “to look at issues of common interest.” During an India visit, then Japanese PM Shinzo Abe unveiled the idea of “the Confluence of the Two Seas” that gave birth to the concept of the Indo-Pacific.
• A decade later officials of the four countries met in the Philippines in 2017 to talk about an aggressively rising China.
• In 2019, the foreign ministers of the Quad countries met in Washington for the first time.
• In November, the Quad nations came together to participate in a two-phase joint military exercise, Malabar 2020, in the Bay of Bengal and in the Arabian Sea.

Now it is increasingly viewed as ‘Asian NATO’.

Key takeaways from the PM level meet

All the world leaders talked about the cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region and its development.

• PM Modi opined the extension of India’s ancient philosophy of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, which regards the world as one family.
• He said that the countries are united by democratic values and commitment to a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific.
• Biden committed to working with quad countries to achieve stability in the Indo-Pacific.
• He also announced the launch of a new vaccine manufacturing pact, in which he said that the QUAD will be playing an important role.

Focus on Indo-Pacific: For the China-wary world

• The latest meeting of Quad comes at a time when all four countries have either trade or security disputes with China.
• Despite not explicitly mentioning China, Quad has been openly supporting a “free and fair” Indo-Pacific which is seen as a clear message to Beijing that it needs to curb its assertive behaviour.
• The optics were hard to miss when India, the US, Japan and Australia joined their navies for the mega Malabar military exercise late last year, an activity which raised alarm in Beijing.
• This posturing by the Quad nations sent a strong signal to China.

(1) US vs China

• USA had followed a policy to contain China’s increasing influence in East Asia. Therefore, USA sees the coalition as an opportunity to regain its influence in the Indo-Pacific region.
• The US has described China, along with Russia, as a strategic rival in its National Security Strategy, National Defence Strategy and the Pentagon’s report on Indo-Pacific Strategy.
• Both are navigating intense disagreements over trade and human rights in Tibet, Hong Kong and the western Xinjiang region, as well as the coronavirus pandemic and increasing Chinese assertiveness in the South China Sea.

(2) Australia vs China

• Australia is concerned about China’s growing interest in its land, infrastructure and politics, and influence on its universities.
• Ties have been on a downward spiral since 2018 when Australia, accusing China of meddling in its domestic affairs, passed a new law against foreign interference and espionage.
• It also barred Huawei from building the country’s 5G mobile network, among the first countries to do so, citing national security.
•  The atmosphere worsened when  PM Scott Morrison’s government called for an international inquiry into the origins of the coronavirus that causes Covid-19.

(3) Japan vs. China

• Tensions between Japan and China over the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands dispute have recently increased.
• China has relentlessly continued attempts to unilaterally change the status quo by coercion in the sea area around the Senkaku Islands.
• The more salient indicator is the number of Chinese patrols inside the territorial sea of the islands, which Japan sees as an explicit violation of its territorial sovereignty.

(4) India vs. Quad

• India’s strained relations with China needs no explanation. The year long border dispute is the testimony.
• The Quad summit is taking place in the backdrop of an ongoing military disengagement between India and China following their months-long border standoff in eastern Ladakh.
• China is increasing its footprint in our neighborhood through its Belt and Road policy and political coercion following the debt trap are some of the increasing concerns other than economic imbalance.

Opportunities unveiled for India

India’s engagement with the Quad goes back to China’s expanding footprint in South Asia and the Indian Ocean Region over the last few years. India can reap some benefits as discussed below:

 (1) Checkmating the Chinese

• The maritime sphere is wide open to India to undertake coalition building, rule sets, and other forms of strategic exploration than compared to land borders.
• The maritime space is more important to China than engaging in land grab attempts in the Himalayas. A huge chunk of Chinese trade happens via the Indian oceanic routes that pass through maritime chokepoints.

(2) Channelizing geo-politics

• There is a growing great power interest in the maritime sphere, especially with the arrival of the concept of ‘Indo-Pacific’. For instance, many European countries have recently released their Indo-Pacific strategies.
• The most recent was for France to send its warship in the international waters of the South China Sea.

(3) Maritime domain for India

• Above is the backdrop against which one must see the progressive evolution of Exercise “Malabar”,
• In the beginning, it was a bilateral event involving just the Indian and US navies. It became tri-lateral with the inclusion of Japan in 2015.
• And now it has transformed into a four-cornered naval drill that will also include Australia.

(4) Check on China’s India Ocean Ambitions

• The Quad has a valuable role to play as a check on China’s Indian Ocean ambitions.
• India must develop ingrained habits of interoperable cooperation with its Quad partners.
• This interoperable cooperation could pre-emptively dissuade China from mounting a naval challenge in its backyard.

(5) Eccentricity in South Asia

• With India, located right at the centre of the Indo-Pacific geopolitical imagination can realize the vision of a ‘broader Asia’ that can extend its influence away from geographical boundaries.
• Further, India with Quad countries can check the imperialist policies of China in the Indian Ocean region and ensure Security and growth for all in the region.

Issues with Quad

(1) Structural problems

• The Quad has a core structural problem as its objective pivots around the U.S.
• The Quad riles China as a hostile grouping, but hardly serves the security interests of its members.
• Despite rhetoric relating to the promotion of a ‘rules-based’ world order, the Quad neither shares a strategic vision nor is it animated by a shared agenda.

 (2) Nature of alliance

• Alliances involve written commitments to come to the defence of the other against a third party.
• Despite the potential for cooperation, the Quad remains a mechanism without a defined strategic mission.

(3) Economic alliance not feasible

• Quad is neither a military alliance nor an economic partnership.
• Its intention to counter China in the rare-earth sector is logical given the dominant role the country plays in supplying more than half of the world’s such key materials.
• But, for a country like India, the lack of relevant technologies and talent pool could obstruct its progress in building up a supply chain from scratch.

 (4) Overt emphasis on Maritime domain

• The entire focus on the Indo-Pacific makes the Quad a maritime, rather than a land-based grouping, raising questions whether the cooperation extends to the Asia-Pacific and Eurasian regions.
• India’s core concerns with China are primarily undemarcated borders and trade deficit.

 (5) Lack of existence of Indo-Pacific system

• There has never been Indo-Pacific system ever since the rise of the port-based kingdoms of Indochina in the first half of the second millennium.
• There were two Asian systems — an Indian Ocean system and an East Asian system — with intricate sub-regional balances.
• The effort by a U.S. to artificially manufacture to combine the Indo and the Pacific into a unitary system is unlikely to succeed.

(6) Indian borders can go more vulnerable

• A lesson for India is China’s long-held and strategic interest in parts of Jammu and Kashmir.
• It is wrongly argued that it is Pakistan that is the issue in J&K.
• China undoubtedly is as big an issue but has quietly hidden behind Pakistan’s cover.

Challenges: China will retaliate

(1) China’s assertiveness

• China claims that it has historical ownership over nearly the entire region of South China Sea, which gives it the right to manufacture islands.
• However, the International Court of Arbitration rejected the claim in 2016.
• Since then, the incidences of Chinese transgression has only increased making China more assertive for its interest.

(2) Preying small nations

• The ASEAN countries have a well-knit relationship with China. So are other SAARC countries have fallen prey to Chinese debt traps.
• The Regional Cooperation Economic Partnership (RCEP) is a recent example of China’s increasing influence over ASEAN nations to which Australia is even a forerunner.

(3) Chinese monopoly

• Considering the economic might of China and the dependence of Quad nations like Japan and Australia on China, the Quad nations cannot afford to have strained relations with it in the long run.
• India too, is still very heavily dependent on Chinese exports.

Way Forward

• Need for a clearer vision: It is important for members of the Quad not to be reactive. It is also important to exhibit openness, and ensure that all talk of a ‘Free and Open Indo-Pacific’ is more than just a mere slogan.
• Consensus for a common objective: The Quad nations need to better explain the Indo-Pacific Vision in an overarching framework with the objective of advancing everyone’s economic and security interests.
• Setting an agenda: This will reassure the littoral States that the Quad will be a factor for regional benefit, and a far cry from Chinese allegations that it is some sort of a military alliance. Future meetings can be an opportunity to define the idea and chart a future path.
• Expanding Quad: India has many other partners in the Indo-Pacific; therefore India should pitch for countries like Indonesia, Singapore to be invited to join in the future. There is also a vital need to economically expand the Quad.

Conclusion

• The Quad framework derives its geopolitical validation from India’s association and presents a unique opportunity for India to be an active participant in shaping regional security architecture with global undertones.
• India’s moves with the Quad will be closely watched, as they bear more meaning than ever before on the path it will take to realise its strategic future.

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References

https://www.cnbctv18.com/india/with-us-on-quad-table-heres-what-to-expect-from-its-first-online-summit-8567251.htm

https://www.thehindu.com/podcast/what-to-expect-from-the-first-ever-quad-summit-the-hindu-in-focus-podcast/article34046589.ece

https://www.livemint.com/news/india/what-all-to-expect-from-first-official-quad-meet-today-11615484523818.html

https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/india-quadrilateral-cooperation-dialogue-china-japan-us-6106772/

https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/quad-strategic-opportunity-or-quagmire/article34029799.ece

For the first time, the union government, under the ambit of the IT (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021, has brought in detailed guidelines for digital content on both digital media and Over The Top (OTT) platforms.

In this issue of BI, we provide you with an overview of its contents, the “safeguards” it seeks to establish, how they affect your internet usage experience.

Background: Social Media usage in India

• The Digital India programme has now become a movement that is empowering common Indians with the power of technology.
• The extensive spread of mobile phones, the Internet etc. has also enabled many social media platforms to expand their footprints in India.
• Some portals, which publish analysis about social media platforms and which have not been disputed, have reported the following numbers as the user base of major social media platforms in India:
• WhatsApp users: 53 Crore
• YouTube users: 44.8 Crore
• Facebook users: 41 Crore
• Instagram users: 21 Crore
• Twitter users: 1.75 Crore

What are the New Rules?

[A] Guidelines Related to Social Media

Due Diligence To Be Followed By Intermediaries:

• The Rules prescribe due diligence that must be followed by intermediaries, including social media intermediaries.
• In case, due diligence is not followed by the intermediary, safe harbour provisions will not apply to them.

Grievance Redressal Mechanism:

• The Rules seek to empower the users by mandating the intermediaries, including social media intermediaries, to establish a grievance redressal mechanism for receiving resolving complaints from the users or victims.

Ensuring Online Safety and Dignity of Users, Especially Women Users:

• Intermediaries shall remove or disable access within 24 hours of receipt of complaints of contents that erodes individual privacy and dignity.

Enabling Identity of the Originator:

• Significant social media intermediaries providing services primarily in the nature of messaging shall enable identification of the first originator of the information.
• Required only for the purposes of prevention, detection, investigation, prosecution or punishment of an offence related to sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of the State, friendly relations with foreign States, or public order.

Removal of Unlawful Information:

• An intermediary should not host or publish any information which is prohibited under any law in relation to the interest of the sovereignty and integrity of India, public order, friendly relations with foreign countries etc.

[B] Digital Media Ethics Code Relating to Digital Media and OTT Platforms

This Code of Ethics prescribes the guidelines to be followed by OTT platforms and online news and digital media entities.

Self-Classification of Content:

• The OTT platforms, called the publishers of online curated content in the rules, would self-classify the content into five age-based categories– U (Universal), U/A 7+, U/A 13+, U/A 16+, and A (Adult).
• Platforms would be required to implement parental locks for content classified as U/A 13+ or higher and reliable age verification mechanisms for content classified as “A”.
• The publisher of online curated content shall prominently display the classification rating specific to each content or programme together with a content descriptor.

Norms for news:

• Publishers of news on digital media would be required to observe Norms of Journalistic Conduct of the Press Council of India and the Programme Code under the Cable Television Networks Regulation Act.

Self-regulation by the Publisher:

• Publisher shall appoint a Grievance Redressal Officer based in India who shall be responsible for the redressal of grievances received by it.
• The officer shall take a decision on every grievance received it within 15 days.

Self-Regulatory Body:

• There may be one or more self-regulatory bodies of publishers. Such a body shall be headed by a retired judge of the Supreme Court, a High Court or independent eminent person and have not more than six members.
• Such a body will have to register with the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
• This body will oversee the adherence by the publisher to the Code of Ethics and address grievances that have not to be been resolved by the publisher within 15 days.

Oversight Mechanism:

• Ministry of Information and Broadcasting shall formulate an oversight mechanism.
• It shall publish a charter for self-regulating bodies, including Codes of Practices.
• It shall establish an Inter-Departmental Committee for hearing grievances.

Why do OTT services need to be regulated? 

First, an individual’s right to privacy may be endangered by OTT communication services too. Hence, there is a need for state intervention. Second, private entities may act as ‘big brothers’. This could also imply that market forces may not always act in the interests of consumers.

(1) Ambiguous definition of OTT/Social Media

• Earlier, there was no universal definition of what OTT communication services are.
• As a result, the difference between OTT communication and non-communication services becomes thin and blurred.
• The definition of the term “intermediaries” is broad enough to cover all social media / content sharing platforms as per the new rules.

 (2) Issues with content

• The Supreme Court has observed vulgar and harmful content being streamed on over-the-top (OTT) platforms.
• It has observed content that deliberately and maliciously disrespects the nationalist, religious sentiments of our nation.
• There is no dearth of uncertified and sexually explicit content and pornography that is otherwise banned in India.

(3) Data Privacy

• When an individual is using any OTT for communication services, the data gets shared with the parent company.
• This data can be used by the parent company for commercial purposes without explicit consent of the user, thereby affecting the user’s privacy.

(4) Data Sovereignty

• The OTT service providers may store the personal information of the end-users in their data servers located abroad. This may lead to issues relating to data protection and national security.
• Provisions such as the free flow of cross-border data, prohibition on data localisation and source code disclosure intend to curb the policy space available to the government.
• Data of Indian users residing in servers outside India is a serious issue and can endanger the sovereignty and integrity of India.

(5) International Perspective

• The digital economy regulations including OTT services are evolving across the world.
• Countries like Singapore, UK have regulatory bodies to keep a check on the OTT platforms.
• In the UK, the OTT platforms face the same scrutiny as any public service broadcaster.
• Countries like Indonesia, Turkey and Saudi Arabia have strict regulations. They want total control in the hands of the Government. Many OTT platforms including Netflix has been blocked.

What about social media?

(1) Defamation

• The most often documented and observed crimes occurring on social networking sites include people making anonymous threats, bullying, harassing, and stalking others.
• Most of these types of crimes go unpunished and are therefore not treated very seriously.
• Defamation on Social media may be defined as representing someone by hacking their social media accounts and sending indecent or inappropriate messages.

(2) Hate Speech

• Hate speech is described as a speech of aggressive nature containing statements of inferiority and messages expressing prejudice against an individual or community based on certain features.
• These features may include ethnicity, religious affiliation, sexual orientation, caste, national origin, sex, race, gender, and severe disability or illness.

(3) Harassment and cyber stalking

• Online abuse, bullying, and harassment on social networking sites are synonymous with cyber-stalking. It usually includes the conduct of repeated harassment or threats done towards an individual.
• Cyberbullying and harassment can include threatening or harassing email messages, text messages, or uploading information online.
• It aims at a particular individual either through attempting to contact them directly or by distributing their private and sensitive information, to cause distress, fear, and anger.

(4) Privacy breach

• The privacy of an individual is a basic human right, whether it is on social media or in the physical world.
• A false claim about widespread child trafficking and harvesting of fake news widely through WhatsApp resulted in mob violence and more than three dozen deadly lynchings in 2017 and 2018.
• WhatsApp declined the government’s demand to disclose the source of the rumours, stating its pledge of anonymity and privacy towards its users done through end-to-end encryption provided by the application.

Advantages offered by these rules

• Effective checks and balances: These rules will ensure that social media platforms have to keep better checks and balances over their platforms. This will ensure the data is not shared unlawfully. This will ensure adherence to the rule of law.
• Enhanced accountability: The new IT rules enhance government regulation over social and digital media. This will enhance accountability and prevent arbitrary actions by digital platforms like the recent one by Twitter.
• Citizen empowerment: The new IT rules will lead to the empowerment of citizens. Since there is a mechanism for redressal and timely resolution of their grievances.
• Maintenance of public order: Disinformation (Fake and wrong information) of data can be controlled. Since there is proper regulatory mechanism, disinformation can be removed easily. This will reduce instances of fake news incited violence.
• India’s digital imprints: It will strengthen India’s position as a leader in digital policy and technological innovation. For example, China, with its larger digital population, has not been able to provide a fair and open local market for global companies in the digital space due to absence of proper IT Rules and Regulation.

Issues with the new rules

(1) No discussion with stakeholders

• Another similarity between the farm laws and the way the government has approached this process is its unwillingness to engage with the stakeholders that matter.
• The new regulation has come all of sudden in the absence of open and public discussion and without any parliamentary study and scrutiny.

 (3) Concerns over the legal basis

• Questions have been raised about the very validity of the rules on technical grounds.
• The govt has chosen to pass these rules under the requirement to outline the due diligence that Internet intermediaries have to follow in order to be able to claim their qualified legal immunity under Section 79 of the IT Act.
• These rules at the outset appear unlawful even with respect to whether they could have been issued under the Information Technology Act in the manner chosen by the government.

(3) Using rule making power to issue primary legislation

• The ability to issue rules under a statute — i.e. to frame subordinate legislation — is by its nature a limited, constrained power.
• The government has made massive changes to the way the internet will work in India, but without having to take the matter to Parliament at all, by amending the rules under pre-existing sections of the law.
• Critics argue that, with the present Internet content and social media rules, the Union Government has done precisely that.

(4) Data privacy concerns left unaddressed

• In 2019, the government tabled a Personal Data Protection Bill in Parliament. It is yet to be turned into a law.
• The fact that, in 2021, the government is continuing to bring in new regulations regarding the digital space without yet having passed a privacy law reflects its governance priorities.
• With no privacy law insight and new government rules that undermine that fundamental right, citizens ought to be concerned about the way the state is observing all online activity.

Way forward

• The Rules along with the Code of Ethics is the Government’s attempt in regulating the operations and content online. They seek to maintain a balance between self-regulation and government control.
• The intent of the rules appears to be to curtail problematic content, empower viewers to make more informed choices, and create a level playing field for various mediums.
• While this may be an essential step in streamlining the sector, which was until recently, unnoticed, and under-regulated, the efficacy in implementation of these Rules will need to be tested.
• OTT content creators and the platforms themselves will have their hands full with complaints which will largely be based on subjective matters.
• There is no way to objectively judge the efficacy of such rules/legislation since they evolve with time. We can only expect that the law will evolve from more practical learnings in the future.
• As the digital space and technology for the distribution of content evolve, the regulatory framework for the digital industry will also continue to evolve.

In order to ensure fine-tuning of any significant bottlenecks, implementation challenges, and prevent possible misuse of the regulations, policymakers and stakeholders should continue to engage with each other to put in place a regulatory framework that is effective and balanced.

Conclusion

• The public today is looking for content that brings out the truth of the society, deals with socio-political issues, provides us regional varieties and utmost importantly doesn’t hurt the sentiments of a single class of people.
• The OTT platforms in the Indian sub-continent according to various industry experts have given a rise in the creative freedom of content creators and opportunities to many.
• Looking at the present scenario, the need for an unbiased regulation is a must, and the new rules are a step in that direction.
• What some think are going to be regulations, others feel it as a censorship measure in the virtual world.

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References

Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code, 2021

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_Technology_Rules,_2021

https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/opinion/why-ott-services-need-to-be-regulated/article32791521.ece

https://scroll.in/article/988448/four-reasons-to-be-worried-about-indias-new-it-rules-that-are-supposed-to-regulate-big-tech

We are a booming economy and our GDP numbers are a testimony to that fact. But despite this, India, the world’s largest democracy, is failing to ensure basic fundamental rights to its citizens. Most importantly, we have failed to ensure our women’s right against exploitation. We are failing them by the minute. Perhaps, the second.

Tip of an iceberg: Crime against women in India

• Much recently, a man whose daughter was sexually harassed was shot dead, allegedly by the main accused out on bail since 2018 and his associates, in Hathras district of Uttar Pradesh.
• Another video has gone viral on social media where a young woman, can be heard announcing her decision to commit suicide. She committed suicide soon afterwards jumping into the Sabarmati River.
• CJIs’ recent ‘marry the victim’ remark to rape accused has sparked another controversy. It has greatly trivialized sexual violence, denuded survivor of rights and personhood.

Crime against women: What NCRB has to say

• Crime against women increased 7.3 per cent from 2018 to 2019 says the annual National Crime Record Bureau’s “Crime in India” 2019 report.
• Majority of cases under crime against women under IPC were registered under ‘cruelty by husband or his relatives’ (30.9%), followed by ‘assault on women with intent to outrage her modesty’ (21.8%), ‘kidnapping & abduction of women’ (17.9%) and ‘rape’ (7.9%).
• UP reported the highest number of crimes against women (59,853), accounting for 14.7 per cent of such cases across the country.
• It was followed by Rajasthan (41,550 cases; 10.2 per cent) and Maharashtra (37,144 cases; 9.2 per cent).
• The problem of underestimation of the gender-based crime is compounded by failure of the justice system of the country in securing convictions.

Various types of violence against women in India

• The problem of gender-based violence runs very deep in India.
• The rape crisis is just one facet of the multitude of problems that reflect the gender discrimination scenario.
• These prejudicial attitudes are seen right from womb to tomb.

They start with the practice of sex-selective abortion and infanticide, and continue through adolescent and adult life with high levels of female infant mortality, child marriage, teenage pregnancy, lesser wages for women, unsafe workplaces, domestic violence, maternal mortality, sexual assault and neglect of elderly women.

[I] Domestic violence

• Domestic violence is abuse by one partner against another in an intimate relationship such as dating, marriage, cohabitation or a familial relationship.
• It is also categorised as domestic abuse, spousal abuse, battering, family violence, dating abuse and intimate partner violence (IPV).
• It can be physical, emotional, verbal, economic and sexual abuse as well as subtle, coercive or violent.

[II] Killings

(a) Female infanticide and sex-selective abortion

• Female infanticide is the elected killing of a newborn female child or the termination of a female fetus through sex-selective abortion.
• In India, there is incentive to have a son, because they offer security to the family in old age and are able to conduct rituals for deceased parents and ancestors.
• In contrast, daughters are considered to be a social and economic burden

(b) Dowry deaths

• A dowry death is the murder or suicide of a married woman caused by a dispute over her dowry.
• In some cases, husbands and in-laws will attempt to extort a greater dowry through continuous harassment and torture which sometimes results in the wife committing suicide.

(c) Honor killings

• An honor killing is a murder of a family member who has been considered to have brought dishonour and shame upon the family.
• Examples of reasons for honor killings include the refusal to enter an arranged marriage, committing adultery, choosing a partner that the family disapproves of, and becoming a victim of rape.
• Village caste councils or khap panchayats in certain regions of India regularly pass death sentences for persons who do not follow their diktats on caste or gotra.

(d) Witchcraft accusations and related murders

• Witchcraft is the practice of what the practitioner believes to be magical skills and abilities, and activities such as spells, incantations, and magical rituals.
• Murders of women accused of witchcraft still occur in India.  Poor women, widows, and women from lower castes are most at risk of such killings.

[III] Sexual Abuse/ Molestation/ Rape

• Rape is one of the most common crimes in India.
• According to the National Crime Records Bureau, one woman is raped every 20 minutes in India.

[IV] Marital Crimes

(a) Marital rape

• In India, marital rape is not a criminal offense.  
• India is one of fifty countries that have not yet outlawed marital rape.

(b) Forced Marriage

• Girls are vulnerable to being forced into marriage at young ages, suffering from a double vulnerability: both for being a child and for being female.
• Child brides often do not understand the meaning and responsibilities of marriage.

[V] Harassment

(a) Trafficking and forced prostitution

• Human trafficking, especially of girls and women, often leads to forced prostitution and sexual slavery.

(b) Online abuse

• As internet becomes an increasingly important part of human existence to make their voices heard, a woman’s inability to feel safe online is an impediment to her freedom.
• Women are regularly subject to online rape threats, online harassment, cyber-stalking, blackmail, trolling, slut-shaming and more.

(c) Harassment at the workplace

• The #MeToo movement is aimed at demonstrating how many women have survived sexual assault and harassment, especially in the workplace.
• Scores of women, many journalists, came out with accounts of sexual harassment at workplace, mostly comprising of indecent remarks, unwanted touches, demands for sex, and the dissemination of pornography.

Various laws for their protection

Various special laws relating to women include:

• Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005
• Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961
• Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986
• Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013
• Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006

The Government has also taken a number of initiatives for safety of women and girls, which are given below:

• Nirbhaya Fund for projects for the safety and security of women
• One-Stop Centre Scheme to provide integrated support and assistance to women affected by violence, both in private and public spaces under one roof
• Online analytic tool for police called “Investigation Tracking System for Sexual Offences” to monitor and track time-bound investigation in sexual assault cases in accordance with Criminal Law (Amendment) Act 2018.
• National Database on Sexual Offenders (NDSO) to facilitate investigation and tracking of sexual offenders across the country by law enforcement agencies
• In order to coordinate various initiatives for women safety, MHA has set up a Women Safety Division.

MHA has issued advisories to all State Governments/UTs, advising them to ensure thorough investigation, conducting of medical examination of rape victims without delay and for increasing gender sensitivity in Police.

What makes women so vulnerable in India?

[I] Reinforced patriarchy

• The perpetuation of violence against women in India continues as a result of many systems of sexism and Patriarchy in place within Indian culture.
• Beginning in early childhood, young girls are given less access to education than their male counterparts.
• Gender-based inequality is present even before that, however, as it is reported that female children are often fed less and are given less hearty diets that contain little to no butter, milk, or other more hearty foods

[II] Protecting ‘Dignity’

• Women who are put in a situation where they are being subjected to gender-based violence are often victim shamed, being told that their safety is their own responsibility and that whatever may happen to them is their own fault.
• In addition to this, women are very heavily pressured into complicity because of social and cultural beliefs, such as family honour.

[III] Popular culture

• Even when girls are taught about the inequity they will face in life, boys are uneducated on this and are therefore unprepared to treat women and girls as equals.
• Later in life, the social climate continues to reinforce inequality, and consequently, violence against women.
• One popular depiction of this is electronic media such as movies where abuse of women is the most objectified topic.

Why stringent laws have failed?

(1) Stringent penalties aren’t deterrent

• For crimes of different kinds across the world, nobody has been able to conclusively say that the death penalty is an effective deterrent.
• It appears as though the call for the death penalty is more an outcome of outrage than of serious thought on what can change the prevailing situation.
• Governments that want to look like they are ‘tough on crime’ are quick to respond to these calls.

(2) Dreadful trials

• In countries like India, the certainty of punishment is relatively low and legal trials are often harder on victims than on the accused (leading to them withdrawing the case).
• Simply changing the quantum of punishment in a few famous incidents is unlikely to deter others, as most cases either languish in the courts or are dismissed due to lack of evidence.

(3) Delayed Justice

• Consider Nirbhaya’s case when one gets justice after almost 9 years.
• This discourages families to seek justice as the accused gets bail and is freed until proven guilty.

 (4) Reduced reporting

• In a large number of rape cases (94.6% of cases in 2016, for instance, according to the National Crime Records Bureau), the accused is known to the victim.
• Given that scenario – say the accused is an uncle – having the threat of the death penalty looming over the case may make victims less likely to report cases of sexual violence, or even face increased pressure from their families to keep the matter to themselves.

(5) More chances of murder/increased violence

• Once it is clear that the death or any other penalty is highly probable or inevitable in rape cases, it may in fact have the opposite impact – instead of acting as a deterrent.
• It could lead to perpetrators making sure the victims are left dead and body is mutilated or disposed off or in no state to make a complaint or recognise the perpetrators.

(6) Retributive justice

• Retributive justice is a theory of punishment that when an offender breaks the law, justice requires that they suffer in return, and that the response to a crime is proportional to the offence.
•  Some argue that the state has a duty to support society’s retributive rage against those convicted of crimes such as rape.
• This argument is a slippery slope as it leads to a revenge culture.

We prevent our sisters/daughter of late-night outing but do not show the courage to complain against improper lighting in public spaces, unreliable public transport and no visible presence of the guardians of the law during odd hours of the night.

Way forward

• Gender-based violence, an especially violent crime like rape, is a multifaceted problem.
• To address this, it is essential to tackle various other concurrent issues that act as contributing factors and thus play an equally important role.
• Although the incorporation of stringent laws and stricter punishments are important to deter people from committing such crimes, the solution to this is much more than just promulgation.
• It is important to acknowledge that judicial reform is only one aspect; there is a more humane side to this whole issue.

Conclusion

• Every society, when confronted with conscience-jolting reacts with vindictive anger.
• Crimes against women are a blot on our conscience and we must spare no effort to punish the perpetrators of such crimes.
• The protection of women from all forms of abuse and oppression should be a national duty and a priority task.

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References

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.3402/gha.v7.23718

https://www.endvawnow.org/uploads/browser/files/understanding_womens_safety.pdf

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2015/02/11/how-laws-around-the-world-do-and-do-not-protect-women-from-violence/

https://www.dailyo.in/variety/crimes-against-women-violence-against-women-rapes-molestation-thomson-reuters-report/story/1/26019.html

http://www.womenlawsindia.com/legal-awareness/crimes-against-women/

https://thewire.in/women/rape-death-penalty

This year’s Union budget was accompanied by the unveiling of the Fifteenth Finance Commission’s report for the period 2021-22 to 2025-26. This report outlines some crucial recommendations for state governments, covering tax devolution, grants from the Centre, and the guidelines for the borrowings that they are permitted to incur over the medium-term.

Context

• The Finance Commission is a constitutional body formed by the President of India to give suggestions on centre-state financial relations.
• The 15th Finance Commission was required to submit two reports. The commission’s chairman is N. K. Singh, with its full-time members being Ajay Narayan Jha, Ashok Lahiri and Anoop Singh.
• The first report, consisting of recommendations for the financial year 2020-21, was tabled in Parliament on February 1, 2020.

Background

What is the Finance Commission?

• The Finance Commission (FC) was established by the President of India in 1951 under Article 280 of the Indian Constitution.
• It was formed to define the financial relations between the central government of India and the individual state governments.
• The Finance Commission (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1951 additionally defines the terms of qualification, appointment and disqualification, the term, eligibility and powers of the Finance Commission.
• As per the Constitution, the FC is appointed every five years and consists of a chairman and four other members.
• Since the institution of the First FC, stark changes in the macroeconomic situation of the Indian economy have led to major changes in the FC’s recommendations over the years.

Constitutional Provisions

Several provisions to bridge the fiscal gap between the Centre and the States were already enshrined in the Constitution of India, including Article 268, which facilitates levy of duties by the Centre but equips the States to collect and retain the same.

Article 280 of the Indian Constitution defines the scope of the commission:

1. The President will constitute a finance commission within two years from the commencement of the Constitution and thereafter at the end of every fifth year or earlier, as the deemed necessary by him/her, which shall include a chairman and four other members.
2. Parliament may by law determine the requisite qualifications for appointment as members of the commission and the procedure of selection.
3. The commission is constituted to make recommendations to the president about the distribution of the net proceeds of taxes between the Union and States and also the allocation of the same among the States themselves. It is also under the ambit of the finance commission to define the financial relations between the Union and the States. They also deal with the devolution of unplanned revenue resources.

Important functions

• Distribution of net proceeds of taxes between Center and the States, to be divided as per their respective contributions to the taxes.
• Determine factors governing Grants-in-Aid to the states and the magnitude of the same.
• To make recommendations to the president as to the measures needed to augment the Fund of a State to supplement the resources of the panchayats and municipalities in the state on the basis of the recommendations made by the finance commission of the state.
• Any other matter related to it by the president in the interest of sound finance.

Members of the Finance Commission

• The Finance Commission (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1951 was passed to give a structured format to the finance commission and to bring it to par with world standards.
• It laid down rules for the qualification and disqualification of members of the commission, and for their appointment, term, eligibility and powers.
• The Chairman of a finance commission is selected from people with experience of public affairs. The other four members are selected from people who:

1. Are, or have been, or are qualified, as judges of a high court,
2. Have knowledge of government finances or accounts, or
3. Have had experience in administration and financial expertise; or
4. Have special knowledge of economics

Major Highlights of the Report 2021-26

The final report with recommendations for the 2021-26 period was tabled in Parliament on February 1, 2021.  Key recommendations in the report for 2021-26 include:

[A] Share of states in central taxes

• Vertical devolution: The share of states in the central taxes for the 2021-26 period is recommended to be 41%, same as that for 2020-21. 
• This is less than the 42% share recommended by the 14^th Finance Commission for 2015-20 periods. 
• The adjustment of 1% is to provide for the newly formed union territories of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh from the resources of the centre. 

[B] Criteria for devolution

• Table below shows the criteria used by the Commission to determine each state’s share in central taxes, and the weight assigned to each criterion. 
• The criteria for distribution of central taxes among states for 2021-26 period is same as that for 2020-21. 
• However, the reference period for computing income distance and tax efforts are different (2015-18 for 2020-21 and 2016-19 for 2021-26), hence, the individual share of states may still change. 

Table : Criteria for Horizontal Devolution

Criteria	14th FC 2015-20	15th FC 2020-21	15th FC 2021-26
Income Distance	50.0	45.0	45.0
Area	15.0	15.0	15.0
Population (1971)	17.5	–	–
Population (2011)#	10.0	15.0	15.0
Demographic Performance	–	12.5	12.5
Forest Cover	7.5	–	–
Forest and Ecology	–	10.0	10.0
Tax and fiscal efforts*	–	2.5	2.5
Total	100	100	100

• Income distance: Income distance is the distance of a state’s income from the state with the highest income. 
• Demographic performance: The Commission was required to use the population data of 2011 while making recommendations.  The demographic performance criterion has been used to reward efforts made by states in controlling their population.  States with a lower fertility ratio will be scored higher on this criterion. 
• Forest and ecology: This criterion has been arrived at by calculating the share of the dense forest of each state in the total dense forest of all the states.
• Tax and fiscal efforts: This criterion has been used to reward states with higher tax collection efficiency.  It is measured as the ratio of the average per capita own tax revenue and the average per capita state GDP during the three years between 2016-17 and 2018-19.

[C] Grants

Over the 2021-26 periods, the following grants will be provided from the centre’s resources:

(1) Sector-specific grants

• Sector-specific grants of Rs 1.3 lakh crore will be given to states for eight sectors. A portion of these grants will be performance-linked.
• He sectors are: (i) health, (ii) school education, (iii) higher education, (iv) implementation of agricultural reforms, (v) maintenance of PMGSY roads, (vi) judiciary, (vii) statistics, and (viii) aspirational districts and blocks. 

(2) State-specific grants

• The Commission recommended state-specific grants of Rs 49,599 crore. 
• These will be given in the areas of: (i) social needs, (ii) administrative governance and infrastructure, (iii) water and sanitation, (iv) preservation of culture and historical monuments, (v) high-cost physical infrastructure, and (vi) tourism

(3) Grants to local bodies

• Grants to local bodies (other than health grants) will be distributed among states based on population and area, with 90% and 10% weightage, respectively. 
• No grants will be released to local bodies of a state after March 2024 if the state does not constitute State Finance Commission and act upon its recommendations by then.

(4) Disaster risk management

• The Commission recommended retaining the existing cost-sharing patterns between the centre and states for disaster management funds. 
• The cost-sharing pattern between centre and states is: (i) 90:10 for north-eastern and Himalayan states, and (ii) 75:25 for all other states. 
• State disaster management funds will have a corpus of Rs 1.6 lakh crore (centre’s share is Rs 1.2 lakh crore).

[D] Fiscal roadmap

(1) Fiscal deficit and debt levels

• The Commission suggested that the centre bring down fiscal deficit to 4% of GDP by 2025-26. 
• For states, it recommended the fiscal deficit limit (as % of GSDP) of: (i) 4% in 2021-22, (ii) 3.5% in 2022-23, and (iii) 3% during 2023-26. 
• It recommended forming a high-powered inter-governmental group to: (i) review the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act (FRBM), (ii) recommend a new FRBM framework for centre as well as states, and oversee its implementation.

(2) Revenue mobilization

• Income and asset-based taxation should be strengthened, recommended the commission. 
• To reduce excessive dependence on income tax on salaried incomes, the coverage of provisions related to tax deduction and collection at source (TDS/TCS) should be expanded. 
• Stamp duty and registration fees at the state level have large untapped potential. 

(3) GST

• Revenue neutrality of GST rate should be restored which has been compromised by multiple rate structure and several downward adjustments. 
• Rate structure should be rationalized by merging the rates of 12% and 18%. 
• States need to step up field efforts for expanding the GST base and for ensuring compliance.

(4) Financial management practices

• A comprehensive framework for public financial management should be developed. 
• An independent Fiscal Council should be established with powers to assess records from the centre as well as states.
• The Council will only have an advisory role.

[E] Other recommendations

(1) Health

• States should increase spending on health to more than 8% of their budget by 2022. 
• Primary healthcare expenditure should be two-thirds of the total health expenditure by 2022. 
• All India Medical and Health Service should be established.

(2) Defence and internal security

• A dedicated non-lapsable fund called the Modernization Fund for Defence and Internal Security (MFDIS) should be established.
• It will primarily bridge the gap between budgetary requirements and allocation for capital outlay in defence and internal security. 
• The fund will have an estimated corpus of Rs 2.4 lakh crore over the five years (2021-26).   Of this, Rs 1.5 lakh crore will be transferred from the Consolidated Fund of India. 
• Rest of the amount will be generated from measures such as disinvestment of defence public sector enterprises, and monetisation of defence lands.

(3) Centrally sponsored schemes (CSS)

• A threshold should be fixed for annual allocation to CSS below which the funding for a CSS should be stopped (to phase out CSS which outlived its utility or has insignificant outlay). 
• Third-party evaluation of all CSS should be completed within a stipulated timeframe. 
• Funding pattern should be fixed upfront in a transparent manner and be kept stable.

Criticisms of the report

(1) 2011 census population as criteria

• The commission’s proposal to use the 2011 Census figures as the basis to allocated union tax revenues will adversely affect the ability of Tamil Nadu and Kerala to provide an effective welfare state for their residents.
• The basis for this claim is that southern states have (through a combination of improved health and education) reduced birth rates and total fertility rates far more than the northern states,.
• Thus allocation union tax revenues on the basis of population will “punish” the southern states for following sensible policies.

(2) Creating a regional divide

• In spite of this balancing act, however, the South has lost out. This yet again creates a North-South divide.
• Karnataka was the biggest loser, with its share being slashed from 4.71% to 3.65%.
• Of the five biggest losers, four are the southern states of Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

Significance of FC recommendations

• As a federal nation, India suffers from both vertical and horizontal fiscal imbalances.
• Vertical imbalances between the central and state governments result from states incurring expenditures disproportionate to their sources of revenue, in the process of fulfilling their responsibilities.
• However, states are better able to gauge the needs and concerns of their inhabitants and therefore more efficient at addressing them.
• Horizontal imbalances among state governments result from differing historical backgrounds or resource endowments, and can widen over time.

Conclusion

• The positive of India being a political and economic union is what the XVFC tries to convey.
• However, FCs has always struggled in balancing between ensuring equitable fund distribution among regions and fair fiscal federalism.
• The best way forward would be to adhere to the letter and spirit of the constitution by balancing the Union and state’s revenue powers with expenditure responsibilities listed in the 7th schedule.
• The government must appreciate the problems raised by states, and attempt to address the contemporary issues relevant to the terms of reference.

The report starts with the famous quote of Mahatma Gandhi: “The future depends on what we do in the present”. It would be interesting to see the impact of these overarching and revolutionary recommendations in the times ahead.

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References:

https://www.prsindia.org/policy/report-summaries/report-15th-finance-commission-2021-26#.YDTwjXaMaZE.whatsapp

https://fincomindia.nic.in/ShowContentOne.aspx?id=9&Section=1  (Page no. 399 onwards)

https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1693868

https://www.bloombergquint.com/business/15th-finance-commission-report-challenges-and-controversies

https://scroll.in/article/952357/how-15th-finance-commission-is-trying-to-manage-south-indias-anger-over-tax-division-and-failing

India is witnessing a historic mass mobilization of farmers against three new farm laws. The country’s government maintains that these laws are the cure for a longstanding agrarian crisis. While this claim has been analysed from several angles, the environmental angle has often been overlooked. This is no small oversight since the agrarian crisis in India is underpinned by strong environmental vulnerabilities, including those associated with climate change.

India’s Agriculture: A Backgrounder  

Agriculture in India is a livelihood for a majority of the population and can never be underestimated.

Despite the fact that it accounts for as much as a quarter of the Indian economy and employs an estimated 60 per cent of the labour force, it is considered highly inefficient and incapable of solving the hunger and malnutrition problems. Despite progress in this area, these problems have continued to frustrate India for decades.

(1) Legacy issues

• Agriculture is the primary source of livelihood for about 58 per cent of India’s population.
• Most of them have been facing several major constraints such as input supply, credit availability, proper transport, and market facility, etc.

(2) Land Crunch

• India accounts for only 2.4 per cent of the global land.
• The average size of landholding per state is 1.08 hectares, according to the latest agricultural census.
• Farmers in half the Indian states are marginal (with land less than 1 ha); the remaining are small farmers (landholdings of 1-2 ha).

(3) Population explosion

• India’s population touched 1.38 billion in 2020 —17.7 per cent of the world’s population — according to global population data.
• The country’s population has increased 3.35 times since Independence; by 2027, it will surpass China to become the most populated country in the world.

What holds Indian farmers on a backfoot always?

Major constraints in Indian agriculture are:

• Farming for subsistence makes the scale of the economy in question with a majority of smallholdings.
• Low-access of credit and the prominent role of unorganised creditors affecting decisions of farmers in purchasing of inputs and selling of outputs
• Less use of technology, mechanisation and poor productivity for which the first two points are of major concern
• Very less value addition as compared to developed countries and negligible primary-level processing at farmers level.
• Poor infrastructure for farming making more dependence on weather, marketing and supply chain suitable for high-value crops.

Climate Change and Agriculture

• One of the critical challenges for a country’s food security is climate change and its impact in form of extreme weather events.
• The predicted 1-2.5 degrees Celsius temperature rise by 2030 is likely to show serious effects on crop yields.
• High temperatures may reduce crop duration, permit changes in photosynthesis, escalate crop respiration rates and influence pest population.
• Climate change accelerates nutrient mineralization, hampers fertilizer use efficiency (FUE) and hastens the evapotranspiration in soil.

Agri sub-sectors and climate change

(1) Foodgrains

• Cultivation practices are completely based on climatic situations.
• For example, in India, an increase in temperature by 1.5°C and a reduction in the precipitation of 2 mm can reduce the rice yield by 3 to 15 per cent.

(2) Horticulture

• High temperature causes moisture stress situation, directing to sunburn and cracking symptoms in fruit trees like apricot, apples and cherries.
• The temperature increase at the ripening stage causes fruit burning and cracking in litchi plantation.

(3) Animal husbandry

• Dairy breeds are more prone to heat stress than meat breeds.
• An increase in metabolic heat production breeds leads to higher susceptibility to heat stress; while the low milk giving animals are resistant.
• Poultries, no doubt, are severely sensitive to temperature-associated problems, particularly heat stress.

(4) Fisheries

• Increasing environmental temperature may cause seasonal betterment in the growth and development of fishes.
• But it also enhances the dangers to the populations living away from the thermal tolerance zone.

Burden on Agriculture

(1) Food Security

• Nearly 14 per cent of the population (189.2 million) is still undernourished in India, according to the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World, 2020 report.
• The Global Hunger Index 2020 placed India at the 94th position among 107 countries.
• Food production must double by 2050 to match the country’s population and income growth.

(2) Demand for nutrition

• Changing demand due to an increase in incomes, globalisation and health consciousness is affecting and going to affect more the production in future. 
• Demand for fruits and vegetables, dairy products, fish and meat is going to increase in future.

(3) Trend for processed food

• Researches, technology improvements, protected cultivation of high-value greens and other vegetables will be more.
• There will be more demand for processed and affordable quality products.

(4) Technology intensiveness

• More competition will be there among private companies giving innovative products, better seeds, fertilizers, plant protection chemicals, customised farm machinery and feed for animals.
• There would be a requirement of cost-effective ways at competitive prices giving more returns on investment by farmers.

One point solution: Climate-resilient agriculture

What is Climate-Resilient Agriculture?

Climate-resilient agriculture (CRA) is an approach that includes sustainably using existing natural resources through crop and livestock production systems to achieve long-term higher productivity and farm incomes under climate variabilities.

Why CRA?

Most countries have been facing crises due to disasters and conflicts; food security, however, is adversely affected by inadequate food stocks, basic food price fluctuations, high demand for agro-fuels, and abrupt weather changes.

• CRA practice reduces hunger and poverty in the face of climate change for forthcoming generations.
• It can alter the current situation and sustain agricultural production from the local to the global level, especially in a sustainable manner.
• Improved access and utilization of technology, transparent trade regimes, increased use of resources conservation technologies, an increased adaptation of crops and livestock to climatic stress are the outcomes.

Strategies and technologies in CRA

(1) Tolerant crops

• Patterns of drought may need various sets of adaptive forms.
• To reach deficient downpour conditions, early maturing and drought-tolerant cultivars need to be developed.

(2) Tolerant breeds in livestock and poultry

• Local or indigenous breeds have the notion to forage for themselves. Indigenous breeds have unique characters that are adapted to very specific eco-systems across the world.
• They are resistant to droughts, thermo-regulation, ability to walk long distances, fertility and mothering instincts, ability to ingest and digest low-quality feed, and resistance to diseases.
• These breeds may not be highly productive in terms of meat or milk production, but are highly adaptive to the unpredictable nature and have low resource footprints.

(3) Water management

• Water-smart technologies like a furrow-irrigated raised bed, micro-irrigation, rainwater harvesting structure, cover-crop method, greenhouse, etc. can support farmers to decrease the effect of variations of climate.
• Hence, many researches across the world have been focusing their efforts on the design, development of cost-effective and environmentally friendly water-conserving devices to enhance water use efficiency.

(4) Agro-advisory

• Response farming is an integrative approach; it could be called farming with advisories taken from the technocrats depending on local weather information.
• The success of response farming, viz., decreased danger and enhanced productivity has already been taken in Tamil Nadu and many other states.

(5) Soil organic carbon

• Different farm management practices can increase soil carbon stocks and stimulate soil functional stability.
• Conservation agriculture technologies (reduced tillage, crop rotations, and cover crops), soil conservation practices (contour farming) and nutrient recharge strategies can refill soil organic matter by giving a protective soil cover.
• Feeding the soil instead of adding fertilizers to the crop without organic inputs is the key point for the long-term sustainability of Indian agriculture.

GoI moves in this direction

The convergence of various policy programmes and sectoral plans has been undertaken by the GoI to ensure synergy and effective utilization of existing resources.

• The National Mission of Sustainable Agriculture was implemented in 2010 under the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC).
• It aimed to promote the judicious management of available resources and this was one of the eight missions under NAPCC.
• The Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY) was launched in 2015 to address the issues of water resources and provide a permanent solution that envisages Per Drop More Crop.
• The Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana mission was executed to extensively leverage adaptation of climate-smart practices and technologies.
• To protect soil health, GOI has launched the Soil Health Card scheme with the main objective of analysing cluster soil samples and advocating farmers regarding their land fertility status.
• Additionally, Neem-Coated Urea was also introduced to minimise the excess addition of urea fertilizers, thereby protecting soil health and supplying plant nitrogen.
• To encourage farmers with more income benefit and ecosystem protection, programmes such as the National Project on Organic Farming and National Agroforestry Policy was introduced in 2004 and 2014 respectively.

Way forward

• The most important pillar of realizing CRA in India is capacity building at all levels.
• For mobilization and allocation of climate finance, we must follow the principles, such as people’s vulnerability-and livelihood-centred approach, polluter-pays principle and a programmatic approach for implementation of the plans and strategies.
• Though environmental sustainability is typically a public good, public investments alone will not suffice to effectively address climate change.
• Achieving climate resilience will require all kinds of professionals, lower and higher, must undergo basic training on how to tackle climate change, from the perspective of each profession and trade.
• In fact, a whole of society approach is needed—from awareness to education and skill development of all types, with skills, expertise and policy research along with finance, for tackling climate change.

Conclusion

• The increase in agriculture-sector expenditure in recent years has been on account of schemes like PM-KISAN, PMFBY, interest subvention and price support and loan waivers, with a focus on providing direct monetary benefits.
• Apart from efforts aimed at helping the agrarian economy recover, the government should enhance expenditure on agricultural infrastructure.
• A number of reports have highlighted that farm operations suffered due to infrastructure bottlenecks such as supply chain distortions, non-availability of credit, lack of quality inputs and marketing infrastructure.
• Instead of cash-based schemes, India needs expenditure enhancing infrastructure for a climate-resilient future.

References:

https://theconversation.com/india-protests-farmers-could-switch-to-more-climate-resilient-crops-but-they-have-been-given-no-incentive-154700

http://www.fao.org/3/nc938en/nc938en.pdf

https://www.downtoearth.org.in/blog/agriculture/why-india-needs-climate-resilient-agriculture-systems-75381

https://www.downtoearth.org.in/blog/agriculture/climate-resilient-agriculture-systems-the-way-ahead-75385

 

A massive glacier burst at Chamoli in Uttarakhand has yet again brought back our focus to the dangers of climate change. At least 58 people are confirmed to have been killed and more than 150 are missing.

Background

• The flash flood began on 7 February 2021 in the environs of the Nanda Devi National Park in the outer Garhwal Himalayas in Uttarakhand.
• It is believed to have been caused by a landslide, an avalanche or a glacial lake outburst flood.
• It has caused flooding in the Chamoli district, most notably in the Rishiganga River, the Dhauliganga River, and in turn the Alaknanda the major headstream of the Ganges.

What has happened in Chamoli?

• Experts are uncertain about what caused the massive Glacial Lake Outburst Flood at Chamoli in Uttarakhand.
• It is unclear whether there was an avalanche in the area recently or whether the lake breach was the result of construction, anthropological activities, climate change etc.

A GLOF or glacial lake outburst flood is suspected. However, the paradox is that this region of the Himalayas does not have any known glacier lakes. However, if it was indeed a GLOF, the question of where the glacier lake is still holding.

What is Glacial Lake Outburst Flood (GLOF)?

• A GLOF is a type of outburst flood that occurs when the dam containing a glacial lake fails.
• An event similar to a GLOF, where a body of water contained by a glacier melts or overflows the glacier, is called a jökulhlaup.
• The dam can consist of glacier ice or a terminal moraine.
• Failure can happen due to various factors such as:

1. Erosion, a buildup of water pressure
2. Avalanche of rock or heavy snow
3. Earthquake or volcanic eruptions under the ice or
4. Displacement of water in a glacial lake when a large portion of an adjacent glacier collapses into it

Possible causes

(A) Avalanche

• An avalanche is falling masses of snow and ice which gathers pace as it comes down the slope.
• It is often caused by erosion or small tremors of earthquakes.
• But an avalanche is unlikely to result in the rise of water of that magnitude what Chamoli witnessed.

(B) Cloudburst

• What happened in Uttarakhand in 2013 was a multi-day cloudburst.
• It is a sudden, very heavy rainfall accompanies by a thunderstorm. But it generally happens in monsoon.
• In fact, the season in which such a disaster was witnessed has surprised experts as there is no immediate trigger that can be pointed to as the reason why water level rose to that level washing away two hydro projects.

(C) Water pockets

• Satellite images do not show a glacial lake near the region, but there’s a possibility there may be a water pocket in the region.
• Water pockets are lakes inside the glaciers, which may have erupted leading to this event. 

Uttarakhand is the birthplace of India’s environmental consciousness as this is where the women stopped the felling of trees in the Chipko Movement.

Why is Uttarakhand so vulnerable to the disasters?

(A) Mystery lies covered under the glaciers

• There are over 1,000 glaciers in Uttarakhand. Almost all of them are receding. Most of the glaciers also have debris cover.
• When glaciers retreat due to rising temperatures, the snow melts but the debris remains. This debris aids in the formation of lakes.

Cause: Retreat of glaciers

• Glaciers have reduced considerably in mass and surface area since the little ice age period.
• This has led to the formation of a large number of glacial lakes all across the Himalayas.
• Many of these high-altitude lakes are potentially dangerous, because of their potential to cause flash floods in the event of a breach.

(B) Topography

• Uttarakhand is located in the midst of young and unstable mountains and is subject to intense rainfall.
• Over the years, the frequency of formation of these lakes has increased.

(C) Seismic activities

• The Himalayas are the world’s youngest mountain ranges, prone to erosion and landslides and unstable because of high seismic activity.
• The current policy of the government of pursuing hydro-power projects indiscriminately cannot be ignored.
• The entire State of Uttarakhand is categorised as falling in Zone-IV and V of the earthquake risk map of India.

(D) Anthropogenic causes

• There is indiscriminate construction activity and the subsequent ecological destruction in the Himalayan region in the name of urbanization and tourism development.
• Studies have shown that widespread settlements, farming, cattle grazing and other anthropogenic activities have destroyed the natural barriers that control avalanches and floods.

What conspiracy theorists have to say?

• Back in 1964, the Chinese tested their first nuclear weapon and India got worried because it was a next-door neighbour.
• The mishap has led to murmurs that the tragedy could possibly be linked to a nuclear device that was left behind during a joint IB (Intelligence Bureau) and CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) operation.
• Its radiations could have triggered the melting of snow as well as the glacier, argued the theorists, leading to the glacial outburst.

Last words ……

(A) The Himalayas are at the Climate edge

• The recent climate change assessment report for India shows significant melting and decline in glacier mass over the Himalayan region in recent decades due to warmer temperatures. 
• There is no doubt that global warming has resulted in the warming of the region.
• Climate change-driven erratic weather patterns like increased snowfall and rainfall, warmer winters have led to the melting point of a lot of snow.

(B) Obsession with Hydropower has to be limited

• As of today, some 7,000 MW of hydroelectric projects are either operating or being constructed in this fragile region; back to back; with no respect for the river or its need to flow naturally.
• The issue is not about hydropower generation or the need for energy or development.
• It is about the carrying capacity of this fragile region, which is even more at risk because of climate change.

Way forward

We need to urgently rise up to the challenge by applying innovative and inclusive solutions that support nature and communities, to restore and rebuild a resilient future for Uttarakhand. For that, a holistic approach is required, which would work on real-time assessment of the highly vulnerable Himalayan region.

Steps that need to be taken at earliest

1. Investing in resilience planning, especially in flood prevention and rapid response.
2. Climate proofing the infrastructure such as by applying road stabilization technologies for fragile road networks and strengthening existing structures like bridges, culverts and tunnels.
3. Strengthening embankments with adequate scientific know-how
4. Reassessing development of hydropower and other public infrastructure.
5. Investing in robust monitoring and early warning system.
6. Establishing implementable policies and regulatory guidelines to restrict detrimental human activities, including responsible eco- and religious tourism policies.
7. Investing in training and capacity building to educate and empower local communities to prevent and manage risks effectively.

Broader planning and management must include:

(a) Coherent research

• There are a lot more glaciologists and others who are working in the area and generating data.
• Multiple scientific groups and institutions are involved. But there is no coherent output. Lots of data are being generated but not being put to good use.
• There has to be one agency dedicated to the job.

(b) Monitoring

• The first step in tackling the threat from these glacial lakes is to start monitoring them and the glaciers more actively and regularly.
• There is a need to monitor every glacier. Glaciers in one basin do not have remarkably different properties.
• Relying only on satellites and remote sensing is not going to be enough.
• What is required is a consolidated state of glaciers in India, with the ability to zoom in on any of them and track the changes happening year by year.

(c) Planning

• Construction-related activities in the state might not have a direct link to Chamoli incident, but these are not entirely benign.
• The Himalayas are very young mountain systems, and extremely fragile and a minor change in orientation of the rocks can be enough to trigger landslides.
• It is important to include glaciers in any environment impact assessment for major projects such as the construction of dams.
• The entire catchment areas should be made part of the impact assessment.

(d) Mitigation

• If we monitor the glaciers regularly, it would enable us to identify the lakes that need mitigation solutions.
• Several structural and geotechnical measures can be applied, and there are successful examples where the threat from these lakes has been reduced.
• It is possible to construct channels for the gradual and regulated discharge of water from these lakes, which will reduce the pressure on them, and minimise the chances of a breach.
• At the same time, it also reduces the volume of water that goes into the flash flood. Also, alarm systems can be set up at the lakes that will warn the community downstream whenever an overflow happens.

Conclusion

• It is not possible to completely prevent these kinds of incidents. But their potential to cause destruction can certainly be minimized.
• Scientists can find a way to let the lake waters slowly drain at the nearby river at a regulated rate so that there is no flooding, and the pressure on the lake does not become unbearable.
• Such solutions can be applied in Uttarakhand, and some work is being done.

It is said that those who fail to learn from history are doomed to suffer from it repeatedly. It is high time, therefore, for the government to realize that the Himalayan Mountains are fragile and impatient.

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References

https://www.downtoearth.org.in/blog/climate-change/chamoli-glacier-burst-it-is-time-to-learn-from-our-mistakes-75419

Flash floods and their mitigation

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/uttarakhands-chamoli-disaster-what-we-know-so-far/articleshow/80748947.cms