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Estimates

Prominent themes of the Budget 2020

 

 

Agriculture

• A budget allocation of ₹2.83 lakh crore for the sector comprising agriculture and allied activities.
• Doubling farmers incomes by 2022.
• Agri-credit availability set at ₹15 lakh crore for 2020-21.
• Comprehensive measures for 100 water stressed districts.
• Provide 20 lakh farmers to set up standalone solar pumps. Help another 15 lakh farmers to solarise their power grid.
• Village storage scheme proposed to be run by women SHGs.
• Indian Railways to have refrigerated coaches capability in ‘kisan trains’ to carry perishables and milk.
• Krishi UDAN on international and national routes.

Health and Sanitation

• An allocation of ₹69,000 crore for the health sector.
• ₹12,300 crore for Swachh Bharat this year.
• Proposal to set up hospitals in Tier-II and Tier-III cities with the private sector using PPP.
• Expand Jan Aushadhi scheme to provide for all hospitals under Ayushman Bharat by 2025.

Education

• ₹99,300 crore for education sector in 2021 and about ₹3,000 crore for skill development.
• Urban local bodies to provide internship to young engineers for a year.
• Degree-level full fledged online education programmes by institutions ranked in top 100 in NIRF rankings, especially to benefit underprivileged students.
• A national police university and a national forensic science university is proposed to be setup.
• IND SAT exam for students of Asia and Africa to promote “study in India” programme.

Infrastructure

• Budget proposes to provide ₹1.7 lakh crore for transport infrastructure in 2021
• National Logistics Policy to be released soon.
• Chennai-Bengaluru Expressway to be started.
• Aim to achieve electrification of 27,000 km of lines.
• Plan to have a large solar power capacity for Indian Railways.
• The government also proposes a Bengaluru suburban rail project at a cost of ₹18,600 crore.
• Govt to monetise 12 lots of national highways by 2024.
• 100 more airports will be developed by 2024 to support UDAN.

Culture and Tourism

• Indian Institute of Heritage and Conservation has been proposed under the Ministry of Culture. This will be given a status of deemed university.
• 5 sites will be developed as iconic sites with on-site museums

1. Rakhigarhi (Haryana)
2. Hastinapur (Uttar Pradesh)
3. Shivsagar (Assam)
4. Dholavira (Gujarat)
5. Adichanallur (Tamil Nadu)

• Maritime museum to be set up at Lothal- the Harappan age maritime site near Ahmedabad, by Ministry of Shipping.

Tax

• A new tax regime has been announced. Those who want to be in the old regime with exemptions, can continue to pay at the old rates.

Income	Tax
Between ₹5 lakh and ₹7.5 lakh	Reduced to 10% from the current 20%
Between ₹7.5 lakh to ₹10 lakh	Reduced to 15% from the current 20%
Between ₹10 lakh to ₹12.5 lakh	Reduced to 20% from the current 30%
Between ₹12.5 lakh to ₹15 lakh	Reduced to 25% from the current 30%
Above ₹15 lakh	Continue at 30%, but without exemptions

• Over 70 deductions have been removed.
• Companies will no longer be required to pay Dividend Distribution Tax (DDT).
• Aadhaar-based verification for GST compliance to be introduced.

Also read:

Government Budgeting

 

Context

• Finance Minister has said that the government will sell a part of its holding in Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) through an initial public offering (IPO).
• The government owns 100 per cent of LIC. The government’s move is a part of efforts to push through an aggressive disinvestment and asset monetisation programme.
• Some are calling it India’s Saudi Aramco, a listing on Indian stock exchanges like none other.

Background

Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC)

• LIC is an Indian state-owned insurance group and investment corporation owned by the Government of India.
• It was founded in 1956 when the Parliament of India passed the Life Insurance of India Act that nationalized the insurance industry in India.
• Over 245 insurance companies and provident societies were merged to create the state-owned LIC.

Beginning of life insurance in India

• The Oriental Life Insurance Company, the first company in India offering life insurance coverage, was established in Kolkata in 1818.
• Its primary target market was the Europeans based in India, and it charged Indians heftier premiums.
• Surendranath Tagore had founded Hindusthan Insurance Society, which later became Life Insurance Corporation.
• The Bombay Mutual Life Assurance Society, formed in 1870, was the first native insurance provider.

Nationalization in 1956

• In 1955, parliamentarian Feroze Gandhi raised the matter of insurance fraud by owners of private insurance agencies.
• The Parliament passed the Life Insurance of India Act on 19 June 1956 creating the LIC which started operating in September of that year.
• It consolidated the business of 245 private life insurers and other entities offering life insurance services; this consisted of 154 life insurance companies, 16 foreign companies and 75 provident companies.
• The nationalization of the life insurance business in India was a result of the Industrial Policy Resolution of 1956, which had created a policy framework for extending state control over at least 17 sectors of the economy, including life insurance.

Present capital base

LIC is India’s largest financial institution, and if LIC shares are listed on stock exchanges, it could easily emerge as the country’s top listed company in terms of market valuation, overtaking current leaders Reliance and TCS.

The corporation, which started its business with around 300 offices, 5.7 million policies and a corpus of INR 45.9 crores (US$92 million as per the 1959 exchange rate of roughly ₹5 for US$1), had grown to 25,000 servicing around 350 million policies and a corpus of over ₹800,000 crore by the end of the 20th century.

• From its creation, LIC, which commanded a monopoly of soliciting and selling life insurance in India, created huge surpluses and by 2006 was contributing around 7% of India’s GDP.
• As of 2019, LIC had toa tal life fund of ₹28.3 trillion.
• The total value of sold policies in the year 2018-19 is ₹21.4 million.
• LIC settled 26 million claims in 2018-19. It has 290 million policyholders.

LIC: A milch cow for government

• Governments have long shied away from considering listing India’s top insurer, given the institution’s perceived role in supporting the markets by buying shares during major sell-offs and also shares of state-owned companies during divestment and when investor participation has been weak.
• The corporation had invested heavily in IPOs and follow-on offers of companies such as ONGC.
• It is also the largest investor in government securities and stock markets every year. On an average, LIC invests Rs 55,000 crore to Rs 65,000 crore in stock markets every year and emerges as the largest investor in Indian stocks.
• LIC also has huge investments in debentures and bonds besides providing funding for many infrastructure projects according to its Annual Report for 2017-18.

Initial Public Offerings (IPO) of LIC

A big-bang announcement

• The government could start by initially selling a small tranche of the government controlled institution through an IPO, and subsequently dilute the government’s holdings.
• The IPO is likely to fetch a huge premium as LIC currently has a small equity base.
• In the Budget of July 2019, the government had announced a proposal to make minimum public holding of 35 per cent for listed companies.
• The government had listed the shares of General Insurance Corporation and New India Assurance through IPOs three years ago.
• Public listing of LIC will lead to more disclosures of investment and loan portfolios and better governance, with greater transparency and accountability.

How will the IPO go?

• The government will have to amend the LIC Act first before taking the Corporation public.
• LIC is currently under the supervisory oversight of the Insurance Regulatory Development Authority of India (IRDAI), but it is governed by The LIC Act of 1956,
• The act enables it to obtain a special dispensation in several areas including higher stakes in companies beyond the limit set by the IRDAI.
• Under Section 37 of The LIC Act, the government has guaranteed the sum assured with bonus in all LIC policies to ensure the availability of financial security to the family of the deceased.

Implications

• It seems like the government is trying to make the most of the brand value of LIC, given that it is one of the few remaining profit-making entities owned by the state.
• Will the listing of LIC, which is the country’s largest financial institution with assets under management of close to ₹30 trillion, do any good to its policyholders?

Let’s have a look:

1) Listing will boost LIC’s efficiency and thereby policy returns

• The listing of LIC will be a positive move for policyholders. The benefit will, however, be indirect.
• As a 100% government-owned entity, LIC’s financial health is largely outside the scrutiny of the financial markets.
• Investment returns for traditional policies are dependent on the insurer’s performance. Such plans form a big portion of LIC’s book.
• Unlike unit-linked insurance plan investors, who have a clear visibility on the daily performance of underlying funds, the endowment policyholders’ visibility is limited to annually declared bonuses.
• Listing will allow analysts to monitor LIC’s governance. LIC will come under Sebi’s direct watch and will have to comply with the requirements meant for other listed firms.
• Such compliance is likely to strengthen its overall corporate governance, financial and investment discipline. Over time, this will increase its efficiency and it may deliver higher returns to policyholders.

2) Peers will be under pressure to improve pricing and features

• Any company going public is good news for stakeholders since it ensures higher transparency, better governance, more disclosures and scrutiny from the investors.
• However, LIC is not a typical company. LIC has in the past invested in the equity markets to stem its fall.
• After being listed, LIC will be answerable to public shareholders and, hence, will be a prudent investment decision, which is good for policyholders.
• LIC will also become more competitive. This will put pressure on its peers to innovate, benefitting policyholders in terms of pricing, product features and services.
• LIC policyholders enjoy a sovereign guarantee on the sum assured and the bonus declared. This has been one of the main selling points for LIC policies.
• The proposed “partial” divestment, in all likelihood, will ensure that the majority stake is still with the government, thereby continuing the sovereign guarantee.

3) Less govt interference will be a positive for LIC’s financial health

• For LIC, it will be a significant task to enhance the quality of asset management given that the government sometimes is reliant on it to bail out PSUs, without delving deep into the fiscal prudence of these assets.
• Being under scrutiny, the quality of asset management by LIC will be enhanced as the government’s influence on its asset management will reduce.
• Further, LIC services a few state-sponsored schemes which have underwriting challenges on the commercial front. With the IPO, these services might fall into place, improving the overall stability of LIC.
• In a nutshell, with less federal interference, LIC will be more accountable with strong governance protocols, which will be a positive for its financial health.
• However, the sovereign guarantee element currently enjoyed by each LIC policyholder might cease to exit after the IPO. Some policyholders may then find it hard to trust LIC.

4) If sovereign guarantee continues, policyholders won’t perceive risk

• So far, LIC has operated almost like a mutual insurance company by passing on most of the earnings to the policyholders and keeping very little as profits, despite having a massive operation.
• The listing of LIC is a positive move which will result in transparency of the corporation in public view, sparking renewed interest in the insurance industry in international markets.
• Government-owned General Insurance Co. of India is already listed, so the process and transparency will not be any different.
• As long as sovereign guarantee over the maturity proceeds and sum assured continue, policyholders won’t perceive any risk.
• The return on policies may have to be moderated to boost profitability and technical reserves in the face of shareholder and analyst scrutiny.
• It is not clear how much of the company will be diluted. So, the opportunity for the general public to pick up equity in LIC in the IPO may be limited.

Challenges

Structural challenges

• LIC can even evolve into a bank like many of its global peers like Axa, Berkshire, and Munich Re.
• But even after the listing, the LIC stock will still be controlled by the Indian government.
• And, it will continue to exercise some amount of control.
• So, investors in LIC might face what those of PSU banks do – be a part of poor governance, bad decisions — despite controlling 70% of the country’s banking system.

Market hurdles

• LIC’s own issues are not the only challenge the company would face in going public. It also remains to be seen if the Indian share market is ready to absorb such a large public issue.
• Whilst it will definitely help deepen the markets, given that SEBI regulations need a minimum dilution of 10 per cent to the public, it is unclear if there is enough liquidity for such a large sized IPO.
• Additionally, LIC has been a port of call for various PSU fund raises in the past.
• Once a behemoth the size of LIC goes for listing, it will be interesting to see if other private life insurance companies will still be able to attract funds at expected valuation.

Impact on growth

• The size of the IPO will determine the extent of liquidity it will suck out, but Indian markets do not have depth to take the issue of a very size.
• Critics argue that it’s too early for LIC to go public. LIC could see plenty of high growth despite the ongoing slowdown in the economy.

Fears of disclosure

• The company’s books and operations have been opaque for far too long but it is trusted by 250 million policyholders.
• It could have been the saviour for many more listed state-owned companies, but the government has decided to sell the golden goose itself.
• LIC is also famous for investing millions whenever stock market tanks, just to prop it up.
• But once it is listed in the market, these tricks will be impossible to execute. The disclosures will lead to a lot of discontents due to NPAs.

Investors trust

• Being one of the biggest financial institutions of the country, the move to privatise LIC will shake the confidence of the common man and will be an affront to our financial sovereignty.
• The very purpose of LIC to provide insurance coverage to socially and economically backward class at a reasonable cost will be defeated and motto will change from service to profit.

 

Way Forward

• LIC is all set to see significant disruption. The scale of that disruption would be unprecedented within the organisation and outside.
• Over the years, LIC has become ‘the lender of last resort’ to the Government of India.
• Confronted with an unprecedented fiscal deficit and worried by an economy in crisis, the government has to find resources.
• This disinvestment is also a preferred option for ideological and practical reasons.
• The government could utilize the money gained by selling off its stakes to improve services in public goods like infrastructure, health and education.
• However, listing LIC wouldn’t be an easy task and calls for a political will.
• Private insurers in India like HDFC Life, SBI Life and ICICI Pru Life are growing faster than LIC due to their small size.
• In the new avatar, LIC would have to benchmark itself against private insurers and global insurance giants like

 

Also read

Disinvestment Policy in India.

 

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References

https://www.livemint.com/money/personal-finance/what-does-partial-divestment-in-lic-mean-for-its-policyholders-11580664343791.html

https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/moneycontrol-research/listing-lic-a-big-reform-4893191.html

https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/life-insurance-corporation-lic-ipo-explained-6245933/

https://www.businesstoday.in/markets/ipo-corner/lic-ipo-nirmala-sitharaman-budget-lic-npas-reliance-industries-tcs-hdfc-bank-stocks/story/395342.html

https://www.firstpost.com/business/lic-ipo-about-1-lakh-employees-stage-walk-out-across-country-against-proposed-stake-sale-future-course-of-action-to-be-decided-next-month-8005191.html

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Context

• With West Asia Peace plan the US plans to revive the stalled two-state talks between the Israelis and the Palestinians.
• Israel has consistently been encroaching more and more in the West Bank through its settlements.
• Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, who had earlier spoken against the two-state solution, has accepted the Trump plan.

Background

• After World War I, both West Bank and the Gaza Strip became part of British-mandated Palestine.
• But by the end of World War II, there was a strong demand from Jews fleeing Nazi Europe for a homeland within Palestine, an Arab-dominated region.
• It also had to do with Jerusalem, considered a holy city by the Jews, which was inside British-mandated Palestine.
• When the British mandate ended in 1947, the UN proposed an Arab-Jewish partition of Palestine — between Palestine and the new state of Israel.
• This partition plan mandated 53 per cent of the land to the Jewish-majority state (Israel) and 47 per cent to the Palestinian-majority state (Palestine).

Birth of Israel

• The idea of creating a new-Jewish majority state didn’t bode well for the Arab countries in the Middle East.
• Jewish paramilitary groups, however, formed the state of Israel by force in 1948.

Shrinking of Palestine

• This prompted a deadly war with its Arab neighbours — Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan in 1948. This was the first Arab-Israeli war.
• Israel won this war and ended up occupying more land than previously envisaged in the 1947 UN partition plan.
• By the end of the war in 1949, Israel had taken up 78 per cent of what was supposed to be original Palestine. The Palestinian territory shrank to 22 per cent of what it had earlier been.
• Meanwhile, the West Bank and East Jerusalem came under Jordan’s rule while West Jerusalem went to Israel. The Gaza Strip was under Egyptian military rule after the 1949 war.

Six-Day War of 1967

• In 1967, the Arab countries again refused to recognise Israel as a state, which led to another war — known as the Six-Day War.
• Israel won this war too and occupied even more parts of Palestine.
• The West Bank, the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem — which houses the holy Old City — came under Israel’s control. It also occupied Syrian Golan Heights and Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.
• With the exception of the Sinai Peninsula, all other parts remain occupied by Israel till date.
• Since 1967, a large part of the Palestinian population had been living under Israeli-occupied territories in both West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

The core of the dispute: West Bank & Gaza Strip

 

West Bank

• The West Bank is located to the west of the Jordan River.
• It is a landlocked territory, bordered by Jordan to the east and Israel to the south, west and north.
• Following the Oslo Accords between the Israeli government and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) during the 1990s, part of the West Bank came under the control of the Palestinian Authority.
• With varying levels of autonomy, the Palestinian Authority controls close to 40 per cent of West Bank today, while the rest is controlled by Israel.

Gaza Strip

• The Gaza Strip is a small boot-shaped territory along the Mediterranean coast between Egypt and Israel.
• A couple of years later in 2007, Hamas, an anti-Israel military group, took over Gaza Strip. The militia group is often involved in violent clashes with the Israeli Defence Forces.
• While Palestine has staked claim to both territories — West Bank and Gaza Strip — Israel’s objective has been to keep expanding Jewish settlements in these regions.

Both the West Bank and Gaza Strip are home to a large number of Palestinian populations. There are approximately 2 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and 3 million in the West Bank, according to the Palestinian Authority’s Population Registry.

The West Asia Peace Plan

• The plan unveiled by Trump seeks to give the Israelis what they have long wanted — an expansive state with Jerusalem as its “undivided capital” and tight security control over a future Palestinian state.
• The Trump Plan is a 180-page document called “Peace for Prosperity”.
• The plan seeks to address most of the contentious issues in the conflict such as the border of Israel, the status of Palestinian refugees, Jewish settlements on the West Bank, land swap between Israel and Palestine, Israel’s security concerns and the status of the city of Jerusalem.

Takeaways of the Plan

The creation of a “Palestinian state” must meet a set of basic conditions where Palestinian leaders must:

• accept peace by recognizing Israel as a Jewish national state
• thus, Arabs with Israeli citizenship will receive the status of a national minority in Palestine, in their homeland
• reject “terrorism” in all its forms (“In order to achieve a comprehensive peace, the Palestinian people must clearly state that they reject the ideology of destruction, terror and conflict”)
• reach agreements that relate to the “vital” needs of Israel and the region
• create effective institutions and choose pragmatic solutions; “pragmatic decisions” refers primarily to peace with Israel under Israeli conditions

1) Jerusalem: The undivided Capital

• Jerusalem, perhaps the most contentious issue, would be “the undivided capital” of Israel, with Palestine gaining its capital in the east of the city — beyond the security border Israel has already built.
• In return, Israel would freeze further settlement activities on the West Bank for four years — the time for negotiations.

2) Land Swap

• According to the Oslo Accords, the West Bank was divided into three areas and only one of them is under the direct control of the Palestinian Authority.
• The plan proposes some land swap for the Israeli annexation of the West Bank Jewish settlements.
• It seeks to enlarge Gaza and connect the strip with the West Bank through a tunnel.
• The Arab towns in the southeast of Israel, which are close to Gaza, could become part of a future Palestinian state.

3) Curb on Hamas

• During this period, the Palestinian Authority should dismiss its current complaints at the International Criminal Court against Israel and refrain itself from taking further actions.
• It should also crackdown on “terrorist” groups such as Hamas and the Islamic Jihad.

4) Investment Plans

• The US has also proposed $50 billion in investment over 10 years should Palestine accept the proposals.
• In the final settlement, Palestine would get control over more land than what it currently controls.

5) Security restrictions

• Following the signing of the agreement, the State of Israel will maintain responsibility for Palestinian security.
• The State of Israel will be responsible for the security of all international crossings of the Palestinian State.
• The Palestinian state must be completely demilitarized.
• A Palestinian state will be prohibited from entering into military, intelligence or security agreements with any state or organization that the State of Israel views negatively in terms of its security.

End of the Palestinian aspirations

• The US has proposed to almost all of these issues favour the Israeli positions.
• For example, Israel would be allowed to annex the Jewish settlements on the West Bank as well as the Jordan Valley.
• The Palestinian refugees, who were forced out from their homes during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war that followed the declaration of the state of Israel in historic Palestine, would not be allowed to return.
• They could move to the future Palestinian state, be integrated into the host countries or settled in other regional countries.

Implications for Palestine

• The Palestine position is backed by most of the world powers is the formation of an independent, sovereign Palestinian state based on the 1967 border.
• But the US has effectively rejected the Palestinian claims outright and asked them to make more compromises.
• And for this, the Palestinians should take action against militant groups, stop supporting Palestinian families of those jailed or killed by Israel and refrain it from questioning the occupation in international fora.
• As a result, from all of the above, it is clear why the Palestinians are not ready to accept such a “limited sovereignty” version of the Palestinian state.

India’s stance

• India has since long been maintaining that Israel-Palestine conflict should be resolved through negotiation resulting in sovereign, independent, viable and united State of Palestine, with East Jerusalem as its capital.
• India has urged both countries to “engage with each other, including on the recent proposals put forward by the United States, and find an acceptable two-state solution for peaceful coexistence”.

Conclusion

• The plan re-iterates the ideals of US fondness of Israel. It is no way a negotiation but a dictation of the vested US interest to control the Arab region.
• The consequences of America’s poor understanding of West Asia geopolitics are there to see in Iraq and Libya, among other states in the region.
• Netanyahu needs the plan now because the one-sided, all-out-for-Israel US vision will divert attention from a corruption indictment that was filed against him in court a few days ago.
• Call upon the international community to divest from, boycott and sanction Israel in order to stop the “ongoing catastrophe”. 

Way Forward

• The situation in Palestine is not a conflict but a struggle against settler colonialism. Not unlike the struggle against Apartheid South Africa.
• It is a travesty of truth that the influential and all-pervasive pro-Israel lobby has stayed silent on this plan of U.S.
• Land grabbing with force has been a fundamental element of Israel’s approach towards the Palestinians.
• It is time for international actors who care about the situation of the Palestinians and start pushing for the latter solution.
• The world at large needs to come together for a peaceful resolution to ensure a viable and long-lasting solution to solve this issue.
• However, with the reluctance of the Israeli government and the US involved in this issue, it may not be possible in the near future.
• Pressure from the outside, a continued popular struggle from the inside and a clear Palestinian vision for the future can turn this vision into reality.

 

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References

https://www.civilsdaily.com/news/explained-west-asia-peace-plan/

https://eurasiantimes.com/why-palestine-has-rejected-the-trump-peace-plan-to-resolve-israel-palestine-conflict/

https://www.deccanherald.com/national/national-politics/india-keeps-mum-on-east-jerusalem-reacts-cautiously-on-us-president-donald-trumps-west-asia-peace-plan-799417.html

 

• The MHA, the Assam government and the Bodo groups have signed an agreement to redraw and rename the Bodoland Territorial Area District (BTAD) in Assam, currently spread over four districts of Kokrajhar, Chirang, Baksa and Udalguri.
• Several Bodo groups led have been demanding a separate land for the ethnic community since 1972, a movement that has claimed nearly 4,000 lives.

Who are the Bodos?

• Bodos are the single largest tribal community in Assam, making up over 5-6 per cent of the state’s population. They have controlled large parts of Assam in the past.
• The four districts in Assam — Kokrajhar, Baksa, Udalguri and Chirang — that constitute the Bodo Territorial Area District (BTAD), are home to several ethnic groups.

What was the dispute?

• The Bodos have had a long history of separatist demands, marked by armed struggle.
• In 1966-67, the demand for a separate state called Bodoland was raised under the banner of the Plains Tribals Council of Assam (PTCA), a political outfit.
• In 1987, the All Bodo Students Union (ABSU) renewed the demand. “Divide Assam fifty-fifty”, was a call given by the ABSU’s then leader, Upendra Nath Brahma.
• The unrest was a fallout of the Assam Movement (1979-85), whose culmination — the Assam Accord — addressed the demands of protection and safeguards for the “Assamese people”, leading the Bodos to launch a movement to protect their own identity.
• In December 2014, separatists killed more than 30 people in Kokrajhar and Sonitpur. In the 2012 Bodo-Muslim riots, hundreds were killed and almost 5 lakh were displaced.

Reasons behind separatist tendencies

• For centuries, Bodos survived Sanskritisation without giving up their original ethnic identity.
• However, in the 20th century, they had to tackle a series of issues such as illegal immigration, the encroachment of their lands, forced assimilation, loss of language and culture.
• The 20th century also witnessed the emergence of Bodos as a leading tribe in Assam which pioneered the movements for safeguarding the rights of the tribal communities in the area.
• From then on, they have been consistently deprived of the political and socio-economic rights by successive state and central governments.
• The Bodos have not only become an ethnic minority in their own ancestral land but have also been struggling for their existence and status as an ethnic community.

Background of the accord

• The first Bodo accord was signed with the ABSU in 1993, leading to the creation of a Bodoland Autonomous Council with limited political powers.
• The recent Bodo Accord was signed in 2003 which resulted in the establishment of an autonomous administrative unit- Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) under Sixth Schedule of the Constitution of India.
• The BTC has been divided into four districts viz. Kokrajhar, Chirang, Baska, and Udalguri.
• The BTAD and other areas mentioned under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution have been exempted from the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019.

Highlights of the 2020 Agreement

The Bodoland Territorial Council, All Bodo Students Union (ABSU), various factions of National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) — Gobindo Basumatary faction, Dhirendra Bodo faction, RanjanDaymari faction and Saoraigwra faction and the United Bodo Peoples Organization (UBPO) are party to the agreement with the Centre and the Assam government.

• As per the agreement, villages dominated by Bodos that were present outside the BTAD would be included and those with non-Bodo population would be excluded.
• Bodos living in the hills would be conferred a Scheduled Hill Tribe status.
• The BTAD is to be renamed as the Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR).

I. Rehabilitation and relief

• The criminal cases registered against members of the NDFB factions for “non-heinous” crimes shall be withdrawn by the Assam government and in cases of heinous crimes it will be reviewed.
• A Special Development Package of Rs. 1500 Crore would be given by the Centre to undertake specific projects for the development of Bodo areas.

II. A separate Commission

• It proposes to set up a commission under Section 14 of the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution which will recommend the inclusion or exclusion of tribal population residing in villages adjoining BTAD areas.
• In this commission, besides State government, there will be representatives from ABSU and BTC. It will submit its recommendation within six months.

III. Changes in Legislature

• The total number of Assembly seats will go up to 60, from the existing 40.
• The present settlement has a proposal to give more legislative, executive, administrative and financial powers to BTC.

IV. Bodo as an official language

• The Assam government will also notify Bodo language as an associate official language in the state and will set up a separate directorate for Bodo medium schools.
• Bodo with Devnagri script would be the associate official language for the entire Assam.

Significance of the agreement

 

I. Satisfying identity aspiration

• The signing of the agreement would end the 50-year-old crisis and violent struggle.
• The renaming is designed to satisfy the identity and aspirations of the Bodo people.

II. Not ceding territory solved tricky matter

• Renaming also solved the politically tricky matter of ceding territory for the government of Assam.
• Ceding territory would also have fuelled similar demands from the other parts of the state like- Karbi Anglong, Dima Hasao and Cachar, which also have homelands of non-Ahom ethnicities.

III. Avoiding similar demand from other states

• Indeed, it could have affected the ongoing Naga peace process, leading Naga rebels to demand territorial and administrative autonomy in Naga homelands in Manipur.

IV. End of militancy

• Around 1500 cadres of BODO militant factions will be rehabilitated by Centre and Assam Government.

Way Forward

• The Government of Assam needs to ensure that the pact signed changes the situation on the ground and leads to a development on the ground.
• The state also needs to allay the fears in the Bengali-speaking minority.
• Moreover, true autonomy, true peace, and true development are always worth more than the paper on which they are promised.

Conclusion

• The accord aims to bring together the leading stakeholders under one framework i.e. those who were previously associated with armed resistance groups.
• The accord will end violence pertaining to Bodoland and help those associated with armed struggle enter the mainstream.
• The Accord will further protect and popularize the unique culture of the Bodo people. They will get access to a wide range of development-oriented initiatives.

 

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References

https://www.civilsdaily.com/news/comprehensive-bodo-settlement-agreement/

https://www.civilsdaily.com/news/explained-the-bodoland-dispute/

https://www.civilsdaily.com/news/op-ed-snap-optimal-delivery-or-mere-optics-in-bodo-peace-deal/

 

• An outbreak of a new Coronavirus that began in the Chinese city of Wuhan has already killed at least 106 people in China.
• Infections have been confirmed in many other countries. But of the 4,500 people who have so far contracted the virus, the vast majority live in China.
• With crumbling health infrastructure due to an overburden of diseases in the country, India’s preparedness for handling epidemics such as novel coronavirus (nCoV) becomes a major challenge.
• The World Health Organisation has warned that due to human to human transmission, the virus can fast spread in other countries also.

A world pandemic begins with ignorance

• Chinese officials underestimated the severity of the outbreak, even downplaying the mode of infection, and this attitude had an important role in the rapid spread of the disease in the country.
• As India prepares itself against the virus, a similar denial or underplaying of the crisis can have equally serious consequences.

What is the Novel Coronavirus (nCoV?)

• Coronaviruses are large family of viruses, which cause illnesses to people and also circulate in animals including camels, cats and bats.
• They cause illness ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).
• 2019-nCoV is a new strain that has not been previously identified in humans.
• Human to human transmission has been recently confirmed. However the source remains unknown.

How does it spread?

• Coronaviruses are zoonotic, meaning they are transmitted between animals and people.  
• Detailed investigations found that SARS-CoV was transmitted from civet cats to humans and MERS-CoV from dromedary camels to humans.
• Several known coronaviruses are circulating in animals that have not yet infected humans.

Signs and symptoms of Coronavirus

1. Coughing
2. Fever
3. Pneumonia
4. Shortness of breath
5. Vomiting
6. Diarrhea
7. In advanced cases, the patient can have very serious complications, which can lead to death, such as: Sever pneumonia, Renal (Kidney) failure

Its’ prevention

• Standard recommendations to prevent infection spread include regular hand washing, covering mouth and nose when coughing and sneezing, thoroughly cooking meat and eggs.
• Avoid close contact with anyone showing symptoms of respiratory illness such as coughing and sneezing.
• WHO also advises that people should avoid close contact with anyone showing symptoms of respiratory illness such as coughing and sneezing.

Why such major outbreaks occur in China only?

• Several deadly new viruses in recent years have emerged in China — Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), bird flu, and now the novel Coronavirus (nCOV).
• The reason could lie in the busy food markets dotting cities across the country — where fruits, vegetables, hairy crabs and butchered meat are often sold next to bamboo rats, snakes, turtles, and palm civets.
• Closely packed stalls in busy marketplaces, the Chinese taste for exotic meats, and the high population density of cities create the conditions for the spread of zoonotic infections.

Impacts of Coronavirus

• For starters, when we have a disease outbreak, the government has to spend a lot of money on diagnosing and treating patients.
• It’s also imperative that it invest in preventive measures i.e. setting up protocols to screen people in high-risk areas, commission studies to understand the virus/epidemic better, coordinate with other countries to contain the outbreak.

Human cost of the outbreak

• When the healthcare infrastructure in your country can’t deal with the crisis effectively, mortality rates shoot up.
• Think, Ebola. Over 11,000 people died in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. But that’s not all.
• Because the response team was so ill-equipped, over 150 health care workers perished in the process.
• As the WHO notes — “Every single loss of a doctor or nurse diminishes response capacity significantly” And this further aggravates the crisis.

Skewed production

• China is now one of the largest producers and consumers of a wide range of commodities, including oil, steel, copper, corn, wheat and soybean.
• But considering the country is now in lockdown, there isn’t a whole lot of activity going on here.
• When workers don’t go back to work, you have to leave the smelters and the refineries as is. Productivity suffers, output declines and supply industries are hit hard.
• Countries dependant on China for commodities also take a hit.

Impact on Economy

• When there are such devastating human costs involved, you will see a material impact on the economy almost immediately.
• These are people who participate in the labour force i.e. people who work, earn and spend.
• The eventual loss in productivity because of a sudden collapse of the nation’s workforce doesn’t bode well for anybody.
• All the people desist from visiting public places, the movies, trains etc. The fear of a widespread epidemic can manifest in ways that further erodes confidence in an economy and hurt it in perpetuity.
• We are talking about cancelled tourist trips, a decline in retail trade and an overall sense of doom and gloom surrounding the country.
• Past evidence has shown that consumer spending also goes down dramatically when news of an outbreak spreads.

India steps up vigil

• Thermal screening is being done at seven designated airports—New Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Kochi.
• The government has set up a 24×7 helpline number to attend to queries about the coronavirus as number of cases rose across the world.
• Anyone seeking information can call on the number 011-23978046,” the Union ministry of health said in a tweet.
• Indian authorities are prepared to evacuate citizens from Hubei Province, China.

India’s limits

• India’s ability to contain an epidemic is far less than that of China.
• Its scientific infrastructure is less advanced and extensive, its ability to quarantine a large number of people non-existent, its hospitals ill-equipped to treat large armies of sick people.
• The only advantage is the knowledge of the Chinese experience, which India can use to limit the spread of the disease.
• If this is true, there may be a large number of infected people spread widely in the Chinese population, and it makes controlling the epidemic far more difficult.
• India’s scientific expertise, despite its depth in pockets, is not broad enough to respond quickly in such situations.
• As the director of the National Institute of Virology said recently, India needs 20 times as many virologists as it has at the moment.
• For a country of 1.3 billion people, India has too few scientists and healthcare professionals to deal with such emergencies.

Is India prepared to face this havoc?

• Current health infrastructure in India paints a dismal picture of healthcare delivery system in the country. Health Infrastructure has been described as the basic support for the delivery of public health activities.
• Public health experts believe that India is ill-equipped to handle such emergencies. It is not prepared to tackle health epidemics, particularly given its urban congestion.
• In fact given the city structure and the way the settlements have grown epidemics once occurs will spread at a galloping rate.
• The slum clusters all around the cities and the unhygienic growth, poor waste disposal system will only aggravate the situation.

Way Forward

• The aerial spread of the newly detected coronavirus poses a threat of rapid dissemination but it can still be contained with an efficient response which combines effective public health, microbiological, clinical and communication responses.
• While our laboratory network has improved after the H1N1 scare, much needs to be done to improve the community facing primary health services and risk communication to the public.
• In general, hospital services can quickly gear up to treat severe cases in urban areas but rural healthcare needs a step up.
• Kerala’s success in responding swiftly and smartly to the Nipah outbreak should be a role model to other states.
• Effective risk communication to the general public needs to be circulated to prevent panic and provide advice on precautionary measures.
• Central and state health agencies must act in tandem. The media too must helping in increasing awareness without triggering panic.

Conclusion

• Capacity to contain a virus outbreak depends on the ability to identify cases and contacts in the community on clinical criteria while ensuring smart surveillance on inward travellers; isolate and identify the causative virus; treat severe cases while counselling mild cases.
• India’s healthcare system is too small for such a large population.
• Dealing with pandemics would require a multi-pronged approach, ranging from mathematical analysis to the ability to rapidly develop drugs and vaccines.

 

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References

https://www.civilsdaily.com/news/pib-novel-corona-virus-ncov/

https://www.civilsdaily.com/news/why-china-has-emerged-as-the-epicentre-of-global-outbreaks-of-disease/

https://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/limited-expertise-may-hurt-india-s-ability-to-contain-coronavirus-outbreak-120012800181_1.html

https://www.livemint.com/news/india/is-india-equipped-to-handle-health-epidemics-like-coronavirus-11580199650282.html

 

Context

• The recently released ASER (Annual Status of Education Report) is an annual survey released by NGO Pratham.
• It aims to provide reliable annual estimates of children’s schooling status and basic learning levels for each state and rural district in India.
• It is the largest citizen-led survey in India and is also the only annual source of information on children’s learning outcomes available in India today.

Key highlights of the report

 

• Only 16% of children in Class 1 in 26 surveyed rural districts can read text at the prescribed level, while almost 40% cannot even recognise letters, according to
• Only 41% of these children could recognise two-digit numbers.

Private schools on progress

• Of six-year-olds in Class 1, 41.5% of those in private schools could read words in comparison to only 19% from government schools.
• Similarly, 28% of those in government schools could do simple addition as against 47% in private schools.
• This gap is further exacerbated by a gender divide: only 39% of girls aged 6-8 are enrolled in private schools in comparison to almost 48% of boys.
• The report also found that a classroom could include students from a range of age-groups, skewing towards younger children in government schools.

Role of Mothers

• Among the key findings of ASER 2019 is that the mother’s education often determines the kind of pre-schooling or schooling that the child gets.
• The report says that among children in the early years (ages 0-8), those with mothers who had completed eight or fewer years of schooling are more likely to be attending anganwadis or government pre-primary classes.
• With 75% of women in the productive age group not in the workforce, they can be better engaged in their children’s development, learning and school readiness.

Determinants of poor outcomes

• The ASER report shows that a large number of factors determine the quality of education received at this stage, including the child’s home background, especially the mother’s education level; the type of school, whether anganwadis, government schools or private pre-schools; and the child’s age in Class 1.
• More than a quarter of Class 1 students in government schools are only 4 or 5 years old, younger than the recommended age.
• The ASER data shows that these younger children struggle more than others in all skills.
• Permitting underage children into primary grades puts them at a learning disadvantage which is difficult to overcome,” said the report.

Why are children entering school before 6?

• This is partly due to the lack of affordable and accessible options for pre-schooling. Therefore, too many children go to Std I with limited exposure to early childhood education. 
• Children from poor families have a double disadvantage — lack of healthcare and nutrition on one side and the absence of a supportive learning environment on the other. 
• Although the Anganwadi network across India is huge, by and large, school readiness or early childhood development and education activities have not had a high priority in the ICDS system.

Key suggestions made by the report

• ASER found that the solution is not to spend long hours teaching children the 3Rs.
• Counter-intuitively, the report argues that a focus on cognitive skills rather than subject learning in the early years can make a big difference to basic literacy and numeracy abilities.
• The survey shows that among Class 1 children who could correctly do none or only one of the tasks requiring cognitive skills, about 14% could read words, while 19% could do single-digit addition.
• However, of those children who could correctly do all three cognitive tasks, 52% could read words, and 63% could solve the addition problem.

Why is learning level in schools important?

• The quality of the learning level bears directly on India’s future workforce, its competitiveness and the economy.
• India’s demographic dividend depends on the learning level of students. Thus quality of education has a direct bearing on any economy.
• With some 240 million students or nearly 20% of the Indian population in school, their quality of learning or lack of it assumes significance for the competitiveness of the country.
•  It has an impact on the quality of life, efficiency at the workplace, and labour productivity issues.

Policies under suspicion

• Access to elementary (classes I-VIII) schooling is almost universal and the number of children out of schools is below 4%, but a quality deficit, that too for more than a decade, raises questions about the priorities of governments at the central and state levels.
• This poor learning outcome in India is despite the Right to Education (RTE) Act has been in force since April 2010 making eight years of education compulsory for children and the Centre floating schemes such as “Padhe Bharat Badhe Bharat”, apart from states’ efforts.

What needs to be done?

• Setting up a Review mechanism: Now that the ASER measure is available for 10 years, the Centre should institute a review mechanism involving all States for both government and private institutions, covering elementary education and middle school.
• Shifting focus on outcome-based learning: A public consultation on activity-based learning outcomes, deficits in early childhood education, and innovations in better performing States can help.
• Improve the quality of education: At present, children start learning in a variety of environments: from poorly equipped Anganwadi centres to private nurseries. Therefore, any policy framework should also consider this aspect.

Focus on productive learning

• ASER data shows that children’s performance on tasks requiring cognitive skills is strongly related to their ability to do early language and numeracy tasks,” says the report.
• This suggests that focussing on play-based activities that build memory; reasoning and problem-solving abilities are more productive than an early focus on content knowledge.
• Global research shows that 90% of brain growth occurs by age 5, meaning that the quality of early childhood education has a crucial impact on the development and long-term schooling of a child.

Need for expanding Anganwadi outreach

• There is considerable scope for expanding Anganwadi outreach for three and four-year-old children.
• All-India data from 2018 shows that slightly less than 30 per cent children at age three and 15.6 per cent of children at age four are not enrolled anywhere.
• Expanding access to anganwadis is an important incremental step.
• Strengthening the early childhood components in the ICDS system would help greatly in raising school readiness among young children.

Need to extend RTE age limit

• The Right to Education Act refers to free and compulsory education for the age group six to 14.
• It is commonly assumed that children enter Standard I at age six and that they proceed year by year from Std I to Std VIII, reaching the end of elementary school by age 14.
• However, the practice on the ground is quite different. ASER 2018 data show that 27.6 per cent of all children in Std I are under age six.

Considering age implications for children’s learning

• The gap between policy and practice is also very visible in what happens inside preschools and pre-primary grades.
• Data from ASER 2019 indicate that in Std I, the ability to do cognitive activities among seven-eight-year olds can be 20 percentage points higher than their friends who are five years old but in the same class.
• In terms of reading levels in Std I, 37.1 per cent children who are under six can recognise letters whereas 76 per cent of those who are seven or eight can do the same.
• Many believe that more years of schooling is better than less and that the sooner the child enters “school” the faster she or he will learn and be ready for future learning.

Conclusion

• The latest ASER assessment of how children are faring in schools in rural areas indicates there has been no dramatic improvement in learning outcomes.
• There is concern that curricular expectations on literacy and numeracy have become too ambitious, requiring reform.
• The enactment of the Right to Education Act was followed by a welcome rise in enrolment, which now touches 96% as per ASER data.
• Empowering as it is, the law needs a supportive framework to cater to learners from different backgrounds that often cannot rely on parental support or coaching.

Way Forward

• It is a long time to have only awareness, and a quantum jump in the education sector is the need of the hour.
• Simultaneously we need to focus on three aspects—bigger spending on education (upto 6% of GDP instead of the present 2.7%), political willingness to improve education, and a drastic change in the quality of teacher education.
• There is a need to leverage the existing network of Anganwadi centres to implement school readiness.
• The year 2020 marks the 10th anniversary of the RTE Act.
• This is the best moment to focus on the youngest cohorts before and during their entry to formal schooling and ensure that 10 years later they complete secondary school as well-equipped and well-rounded citizens of India.

 

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References

https://www.civilsdaily.com/news/annual-status-of-education-report-rural-2019/

https://www.livemint.com/Opinion/ulDY2PQfNpsrha1Lr5Oe2N/Opinion–Indiaseducationsector-needs-a-quantum-shift.html

https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/education-policy-india-schooling-6216711/

• The Ministry of Home Affairs has presided over the signing of an agreement between Union Government, Governments of Tripura and Mizoram and Bru-Reang representatives to end the 23-year old Bru-Reang refugee crisis.
• 37,000 people of the Bru (or Reang) community were forced to flee their homes to neighbouring Tripura due to severe ethnic clashes in Mizoram.

Bru Community: Refugees at home

• The Bru or Reang is a community indigenous to Northeast India, living mostly in Tripura, Mizoram, and Assam.
• In Tripura, they are recognised as a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG).
• Over two decades ago, they were targeted by the Mizo groups who demanded that the Bru be excluded from electoral rolls in the state.
• In October 1997, following ethnic clashes, nearly 37,000 Bru fled Mizoram’s Mamit, Kolasib, and Lunglei districts to Tripura, where they were sheltered in relief camps.
• Since then, over 5,000 have returned to Mizoram in nine phases of repatriation, while 32,000 people from 5,400 families still live in six relief camps in North Tripura.

Miseries of the Bru

• Under a relief package announced by the Centre, a daily ration of 600 gm rice was provided to every adult Bru migrant and 300 g to every minor. Some salt was also given to each family.
• Every adult received a daily cash dole of Rs 5; every minor Rs 2.50.
• Meagre allocations were made from time to time for essentials such as soap, slippers, and mosquito nets.
• Most migrants sold a part of their rice and used the money to buy supplies, including medicines.
• They depended on the wild for vegetables, and some of them have been practising slash-and-burn (jhum) cultivation in the forests.
• They live in makeshift bamboo thatched huts, without permanent power supply and safe drinking water, with no access to proper healthcare services or schools.

How did the agreement come about?

• In June 2018, Bru leaders signed an agreement in Delhi with the Centre and the two-state governments, providing for repatriation to Mizoram.
• Most residents of the camps, however, rejected the “insufficient” terms of the agreement.
• The camp residents said the package did not guarantee their safety in Mizoram, and that they feared a repeat of the violence that had forced them to flee.
• On November 16, 2019, Pradyot Kishore Debbarma, scion of Tripura’s erstwhile royal family, wrote to Home Minister seeking the resettlement of the Bru in the state.

Highlights of the Quadripartite Agreement

• All Bru tribals currently living in temporary relief camps in Tripura will be settled in the state if they want to stay on.
• The Bru who returned to Mizoram in the eight phases of repatriation since 2009, cannot come back to Tripura.
• Each resettled family will get 03 acre (1.5 ganda) of land for building a home, Rs 1.5 lakh as housing assistance, and Rs 4 lakh as a one-time cash benefit for sustenance.
• They will also receive a monthly allowance of Rs 5,000, and free rations for two years from the date of resettlement.
• All cash assistance will be through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT), and the state government will expedite the opening of bank accounts and the issuance of Aadhaar, permanent residence certificates, ST certificates, and voter identity cards to the beneficiaries.

Where will they be resettled?

• Revenue experts reckon 162 acres required for the rehabilitation.
• The move will require khash or government land, but since Tripura is a small state (only 10,491 sq km) the state authorities would explore the possibility of diverting forest lands.
• Diverting forest land for human settlements will, however, need clearance from the MoEFCC which is likely to take at least three months.

When will the resettlement take place?

• Physical verification to identify beneficiaries will be carried out within 15 days of the signing of the deal.
• The land for resettlement will be identified within 60 days, and the land for allotment will be identified within 150 days.
• The beneficiaries will get housing assistance, but the state government will build their homes and hand over possession.
• They will be moved to resettlement locations in four clusters, paving the way for the closure of the temporary camps within 180 days of the signing of the agreement.
• All dwelling houses will be constructed and payments completed within 270 days.

Issues With The Agreement

• The agreement to settle some 35,000 Bru tribal people in Tripura and not in Mizoram from where they were displaced, could encourage the creation of ethnocentric States in the northeast, rights activists have said.
• Activists argue that the  “solution” has the potential of creating conflicts between the Brus and indigenous communities of Tripura, but addresses the insecurities of a tribe that survived and fled violence.
• The northeast has had a history of ethnic conflicts — not only between the “indigenous” and “settlers” but inter-tribe too — and issues could also arise within smaller sub-groups within the same tribe.
• Decision could also throw up questions of citizenship, specifically in Assam where a process is on to define who is indigenous and who is not.
• Assam-based activists said the move on the Brus legitimises the settlement of foreigners under Citizenship (Amendment) Act too, creating conflicts with the indigenous people as well as communities that settled earlier.

Conclusion

• Despite the issues flagged by various stakeholders in the region, the agreement has provided the Brus with a solution.
• Various Mizo organizations have reassured they have welcomed those who came back.
• According to these organizations, they have no issues with those identified by the government as Mizoram inhabitants even if they return now in spite of the Tripura rehabilitation offer.
• The Brus cannot live in transit camps forever.

 

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References

https://www.civilsdaily.com/news/agreement-to-end-the-bru-reang-refugee-crisis/

https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/understanding-the-bru-refugees-settlement-mizoram-tripura-6224956/

https://indianexpress.com/article/north-east-india/tripura/bru-migrants-mizoram-tripura-home-ministry-package-6220039/

 

• Nowadays, India is widely considered to be a world leader in cutting off access to the Net.
• Yet, there are no detailed official data on Internet shutdowns in India.
• Taking a serious note of the situation, the Supreme Court has for the first time set the stage for challenging such suspension orders before courts.
• It has directed the government to mandatorily publish all orders permitting Internet shutdowns. It has opened such decisions amenable to judicial review.

Internet shutdowns in India

 

• The cutting off internet access to control restive populations is an increasing trend around the world with India at the lead.
• Of the 196 shutdowns in 25 countries documented by Access Now in 2018, as many as 134 were in India, followed by Pakistan (12).

Legal mechanisms allowing shut-downs

• Home Departments in the states are mostly the authorities that enforce shutdowns, drawing powers from The Temporary Suspension of Telecom Services (Public Emergency or Public Safety) Rules, 2017.
• The decisions are reviewed by a state government review committee. The central government also has powers under this law, but has not used it.
• Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure has enabled many of the shutdowns in the recent past, especially until the time the telecom suspension Rules came into force in 2017.
• Less frequently used is The Indian Telegraph Act, 1885, whose Section 5(2) allows central and state governments to prevent the transmission of messaging during a public emergency or in the interest of public safety or in the interests of the sovereignty and integrity of India etc.

Who can pass the orders of Internet Shutdowns?

• The Rules, issued under the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885, stipulate that only the Home Secretary of the Union or a state can pass an order, and that the order must include the reasons for the decision.
• The order should be forwarded to a review committee the day after it is issued, and must be reviewed by the committee within five days to assess its compliance with Section 5(2) of The Telegraph Act.
• Under this the government has the power to block the transmission of messages during a public emergency or for public safety.
• In the case of the central government, the review committee comprises the Cabinet Secretary and the Secretaries of the Departments of Legal Affairs and Telecommunications.
• In the case of states, the committee comprises the Chief Secretary, Secretary, Law or Legal Remembrancer In-Charge, Legal Affairs, and a Secretary to the state government (other than the Home Secretary).

Who else can issue such orders?

• In “unavoidable circumstances”, the order can be issued by an officer of the rank of Joint Secretary or above, authorised by the Centre or the state Home Secretary.
• Telecom service providers must designate nodal officers to handle such requests.

What laws governed this area before the 2017 Rules were notified?

• Internet shutdowns were ordered under Section 144 of the CrPC, which gives District Magistrates broad powers during dangerous situations.
• Even after 2017, many local shutdowns are issued under this law. Section 69(A) of the IT (Amendment) Act, 2008 gives the government powers to block particular websites, not the Internet as a whole.

Why such shut-downs?

• Worldwide, Internet shutdowns are typically used when there is civil unrest, in order to block the flow of information about government actions or to end communication among activists and prevent the spread of rumours and fake news.
• Internet serves as a medium for the transmission of information through pictures, videos and text that have the potential to cause civil unrest and exacerbate the law and order
• Check Fake News: Internet shutdowns are typically used when there is civil unrest, in order to block the flow of information about government actions or to end communication among activists and prevent the spread of rumours and fake news.
• Shutdown helps prevent the “spreading of rumours and misinformation using social media platforms which can hinder peace and law and order”.
• Preventive Response: Cutting off the Internet is both an early and preventive response to block restive groups to organise riots against the Government.
• National Interest: The Internet cannot be independent of national sovereignty. Therefore, the necessary regulation of the internet is a reasonable choice of sovereign countries based on national interests.

Kashmir deprived of Internet

• The Centre has never ordered a nationwide Internet shutdown. Still, India tops the list of Internet shutdowns globally.
• According to Software Freedom Law Center’s tracker, there have been 381 shutdowns since 2012, 106 of which were in 2019.
• The ongoing shutdown in Kashmir is the longest ever in any democratic country.
• The erstwhile state has seen 180 Internet shutdowns since 2012, according to SFLC.
• The most commonly offered reasons for cutting access have been “encounter between security forces and militants”, “massive search operations”, “gunfights”, and “attack on CRPF men”.

Issues with the Kashmir Shutdown

• The Internet shutdown in Kashmir was not compliant with the Rules.
• The Rules require the suspension to be temporary; also, the orders did not provide reasons for the restrictions.
• The petitioner contended that the order claims a law-and-order danger, as opposed to a public order danger specified in the Rules.

Justifying the Kashmir situation

• Lastly, the court-mandated that all orders regarding the Kashmir case be made public, and to provide essential services such as e-banking and hospitals immediately.
• What the centre was arguing, in this case, was that this is a matter of national security given that it pertains to Kashmir with a history of militancy.

Supreme Court Judgement on Internet Shutdowns

What did the court say?

The court ordered the government to review its order, ruling that the freedom of speech and trade on the Internet is a fundamental right.

• The court said that because the Rules require the order to be in accordance with Section 5(2) of The Telegraph Act, the order must be during a “public emergency” or in the “interest of public safety”.
• Also, the suspension must be “necessary” and “unavoidable”.
• In furtherance of the same, the State must assess the existence of an alternate less intrusive remedy,” the court said.
• The Bench also said that the State should make the orders freely available, even though the Suspension Rules do not specify this.
• The Rules also don’t specify a time limitation for the shutdown, the use of “Temporary” in the title notwithstanding. The Bench decided that an indefinite suspension is “impermissible”.

The prime mover for the Judgment

• The Temporary Suspension of Telecom Services (Public Emergency or Public Service) Rules, 2017 issued under the Telegraph Act deals with restricting Internet access.
• It does not provide for publication or notification of the order suspending Internet, the apex court-mandated that such orders must be made available to the public.
• The court declared that it is a “settled principle of law, and of natural justice” that requires publication of such orders, “particularly one that affects lives, liberty and property of people”.
• This allows individuals to now challenge the orders before courts in J&K and rest of India.

Internet suspension orders are subjected to Judicial Review

• In the wake of protests against the new citizenship law, Internet services were suspended temporarily in parts of Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Karnataka.
• There should not be an excessive burden on free speech even if complete prohibition is imposed, and the government has to justify the imposition of such prohibition and explain why lesser alternatives were inadequate, the bench stated.
• It ruled that Restrictions are to be imposed in an emergency. Hence they must be proportionate to the concern. Their objective must be legitimate rather than cavalier.
• Authorities must necessarily consider an alternative and least restrictive mechanism before opting to restrict rights. Every decision to impose restriction should be backed by sufficient material and amenable to judicial review.

Pacing up with technology

• The bench also noted that the law needs to keep pace with technological development:
• We need to note that the law should imbibe the technological development and accordingly mould its rules so as to cater to the needs of society.
• Non-recognition of technology within the sphere of law is only a disservice to the inevitable.

Internet as a necessity

Lifeline for people

• While the Internet is certainly the main source of information and communication and access to social media, it is so much more than that.
• People working in the technology-based gig economy — like the thousands of delivery workers for Swiggy, Dunzo and Amazon and the cab drivers of Uber and Ola — depend on the Internet for their livelihoods.
• It is a mode of access to education for students who do courses and take exams online. Access to the Internet is important to facilitate the promotion and enjoyment of the right to education.
• It is also a mode to access to health care for those who avail of health services online. 
• It is a means for business and occupation for thousands of small and individual-owned enterprises that sell their products and services online.

Legal basis for Right to Internet

• The access to the Internet is a right very similar to what the Supreme Court held with respect to the right to privacy in Justice K.S. Puttaswamy
• The Human Rights Council of the United Nations Resolution dated July 2, 2018, on the promotion, protection and enjoyment of human rights on the Internet, made important declarations.
• It noted with concern the various forms of undue restriction on freedom of opinion and expression online, including where countries have manipulated or suppressed online expression in violation of international law.
• It said that the same rights that people have offline must also be protected online, in particular freedom of expression, which is applicable regardless of frontiers and through any media of one’s choice.

The Kerala case

• The High Court of Kerala made a start to the domestic recognition of the right to Internet access.
• The judgment in Faheema Shirin R.K. v. State of Kerala & Others holds that “…a rule or instruction which impairs the right of the students cannot be permitted to stand in the eye of the law.” 
• It notes that mobile and broadband Internet shutdowns impact women, girls, and marginalized communities more disproportionately than others.

Trauma of shutdowns

 

Economic impact

• While there is no proven benefit of closing down the internet, there are serious economic repercussions.
• A report by the Brookings Institute adjudged India to have topped the list by incurring losses to the tune of $968 million in 2016 itself.
• Over the past five years, some 16,000 hours of Internet shutdowns cost the economy a little over $3 billion, according to estimates in a report by the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER).

Governance hurdles

• In Sept. 2018, the Dept. of Telecommunication had acknowledged the adverse impact of a rising number of internet shutdowns that State governments are ordering.
• The Govt. has embarked upon a programme to deliver services through mobile and internet apart from promoting a cashless economy.
• Neither banking transactions using credit and debit cards nor internet banking can be done, which leads to hardships to common citizens.

No permanent solution

• The practice of shutting down the internet not just disrupts the smooth functioning of the state at large but is also not in line with the fundamentals of democracy.
• Internet shutdown cannot be a solution to a larger governance problem.
• Shutting down the internet may result in information blackout that can also create hysteria, panic.

Conclusion

• It is time that we recognise that the right to access to the Internet is indeed a fundamental right within our constitutional guarantees.

• The Internet is pretty much a basic human right, even if not legally defined as such, for most parts of the world — without access to the virtual world, a very large number of vital human activities simply stops.
• Internet shutdowns leave people without access to information and other services that could be the difference between life and death.
• It is in recognition of the Internet as a human right that the UN in 2016 passed a non-binding resolution condemning countries that disrupt Internet access to its citizens.

 Way Forward

• There exists no qualitative or quantitative evidence to show that internet shutdowns are effective tools to restore normalcy.
• In fact, the internet itself can be used to resolve the problem. For example, the Government can have verified sources to spread legitimate information across various mediums stating areas that are safe/affected the updated status of the situation, etc.
• State interests like security are important because they are the prerequisites for us to exercise our freedoms. However, in pursuing this, the freedoms themselves cannot be suspended.
• Therefore, the government needs to clearly lay down a comprehensive framework, stating the conditions behind such Internet shutdowns.

 

 

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References

https://www.civilsdaily.com/news/internet-shutdowns-in-india/

https://www.civilsdaily.com/news/sc-order-on-internet-shutdowns/

https://www.civilsdaily.com/news/op-ed-snap-guarantee-internet-rights/

https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/specials/india-file/the-trauma-of-internet-shutdown/article30560717.ece

Context

• In an attempt to attract investments in coal mining, the Union Cabinet approved the promulgation of Mineral Laws (Amendment) Ordinance 2020.
• With this India has opened up the coal sector completely for commercial mining for all local and global firms after easing restrictions on end-use and prior experience in auctions.
• The move is sought to bring an end to state-run Coal India Ltd’s (CIL) monopoly.

Background: India’s Coal Sector

• Coal is the most important and abundant fossil fuel in India. It accounts for 55% of the country’s energy need.
• India has the fifth-largest coal reserves in the world producing 662.79 million metric tons (730.60 million short tons) in 2016–17.
• The Coal resources of India are available in older Gondwana Formations of peninsular India and younger Tertiary formations of north-eastern region.
• Due to high demand and poor average quality, India is forced to import high quality coal to meet the requirements of steel plants.

Types of Coal found in India

• Anthracite: It is the highest grade of coal containing a high percentage of fixed carbon. It is hard, brittle, black and lustrous. It is found in smaller quantity in regions of Jammu and Kashmir.
• Bituminous: It is a medium grade of coal having high heating capacity. It is the most commonly used type of coal for electricity generation in India. Most of bituminous coal is found in Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, and Madhya Pradesh.
• Subbituminous: It is black in colour, dull (not shiny) and has a higher heating value than lignite.
• Lignite: It is the lowest grade coal with the least carbon content. It is found in the regions of Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, and Jammu & Kashmir.

About the Ordinance

• The Union Cabinet approved promulgation of Mineral Laws (Amendment) Ordinance 2020 to amend the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Act, 2015, as well as the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957.

Key Provisions

• The ordinance democratizes the coal industry and makes it attractive for merchant mining companies, including multinationals to look at India.
• The ordinance allows any India-registered company to bid and develop coal blocks.
• It would allow any companies that do not have coal mine operations in India to also participate in coal block auctions.
• The end-use restrictions – meaning coal produced from them could be used only for the designated captive purpose only and not traded in the market has now been lifted.
• The central government can auction coal and lignite mining licences only to companies engaged in iron and steel, power and coal washing sectors.
• The companies also needed prior experience of mining in India to bid for the blocks.

How it worked earlier?

• Until now there were restrictions on who could bid for coal mines.
• Only those in power, iron and steel, and coal washery business could bid for mines and the bidders needed prior experience of mining in India.
• This effectively limited the potential bidders to a select circle of players and thus limited the value that the government could extract from the bidding.

Other provisions of the Ordinance

• The Centre has set a mining target of 1.5 billion tonnes of coal by 2020.
• Of this, 1 billion tonnes were to be from CIL and 500 million tonnes from non-CIL sources, in line with the government’s push to raise natural resources production to kickstart economic growth.
• This has now been revised down to 1 billion tonnes of coal by 2023-24.

Why was such Ordinance promulgated?

Attracting FDIs

• The government plans to promote FDI in the coal sector by removing restrictions and eligibility criteria for participation in coal block auctions.

Curbing import

• Despite having the world’s fourth-largest coal reserves, India imported 235 million tonnes (mt) of coal last in 2019 of which 135mt valued at ₹171,000 crore.
• With these amendments the government aims to curb imports of coal through and encourage the use of the country’s coal reserves, which had earlier been available only for the captive use of the steel and power industry.

Boosting economic growth

• Till now, FDI was only allowed in coal mines allotted for captive use, meaning for use by the companies themselves.
• But now with the slowing economy the centre New is trying to attract foreign investment to get economic growth back on track.

Benefits of the move

• The move will help India gain access to sophisticated technology for underground mining used by global miners.
• It will ease rules for auctioning coal mines to open up to all sectors.
• Large investment in mining will create jobs and set off demand in critical sectors such as mining equipment and heavy commercial vehicles.

Consequences on CIL

• Coal India Limited (CIL) is a Maharatna PSU and tremendous public resources have been invested in the company over the years. It contributes to around 82% of the coal production in India.
• The company employs about 3 lakh people and is a national asset. Opening up of coal mining effectively ends CIL’s monopoly status.
• However CIL will be “supported and strengthened” and adequate blocks will be allocated to it to meet the target of producing 1 billion tonnes of coal by 2023.

 Conclusion

• The move comes at a time when the window for fossil fuels is rapidly closing, and the global energy landscape evolving, with fundamental changes to the investment culture amid growing climate concerns.
• As a responsible global player, India must put in place stringent norms to limit pollution and carbon emissions, even if fresh coal is being mined.
• Getting access to new and environment-friendly technologies could be a precondition to allowing foreign players in mining coal.

 

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References

https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/editorial/mining-deep/article30526562.ece

https://www.livemint.com/industry/energy/india-opens-up-coal-mining-further-11578477090179.html

https://indianexpress.com/article/business/cabinet-clears-ordinance-to-remove-restrictions-on-coal-block-bidding-6206950/

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/indl-goods/svs/metals-mining/govt-approves-ordinance-to-auction-coal-mines/articleshow/73153778.cms?from=mdr

http://www.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/content/466643/mineral-laws-amendment-ordinance-2020/

Context

• Freedom of religion in India is a fundamental right guaranteed by Article 25-28 of the Constitution of India.
• The Supreme Court in a recent judgement has held that the state is well within its rights to introduce a regulatory regime in the “national interest” to provide minority educational institutions with well-qualified teachers in order for them to “achieve excellence in education.”
• The judgment came in connection with a case that concerned the validity of the West Bengal Madrasah Service Commission Act 2008, which had constituted a commission to appoint teachers in madrasas.

What did the Supreme Court rule?

• Upholding the validity of the 2008 Act, the apex court held that the commission was made up of persons with knowledge of Islamic culture and theology and that the provisions of the Act were “specially designed” for madrasas.
• The court held that the Act was “not violative of the rights of the minority educational institutions on any count”.
• The court held that minority institutions cannot ignore such a legal regime on the grounds that it is their fundamental right under Article 30 of the constitution to establish and administer their educational institutions.

What is Article 30 all about?

Article 30 upholds the right of the minorities “to establish and administer educational institutions. It reads:

• Article 30(1) says that all minorities, whether based on religion or language, shall have the right to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice.
• Article 30(1A) deals with the fixation of the amount for acquisition of property of any educational institution established by minority groups.
• Article 30(2) states that the government should not discriminate against any educational institution on the ground that it is under the management of a minority, whether based on religion or language while giving aid.

Why minorities need special rights?

• The idea to make the provision for minorities to protect their educational right is not inequality towards the privileged classes but it definitely gives the sense of security to the minority class people.
• It is clear from the census that the minorities in India are not well-off when compared with the privileged class.
• Therefore, it is important to give the minorities certain legal rights, thus helping them uplifting their position in society.

Classification of Minorities under Article 30

I. Religious Minorities

• The six community groups existing in India are Muslims, Buddhists, Sikhs, Jains, Christians and Zoroastrians.
• These communities have been nominated as minorities by the union government. India is a multi-religious country.
• Out of these communities, some of the community groups are greater in number and they are stated as majority communities.
• The basic ground for a community to be nominated as a religious minority is the numerical strength of the community.
• For example, in India, Hindus are the majority community. As India is a multi-religious country, it becomes important for the government to conserve and protect the religious minorities of the country.
• The National Commission for Minorities (NCM) was established by the government in 1992 to protect the rights and interests of the minority groups.

II. Linguistic Minorities

• Class or group of people whose mother language or mother tongue is different from that of the majority groups is known as the linguistic minorities.
• The Constitution of India protects the interest of these linguistic minorities.

Article 30 is not absolute

• The verdict said that Article 30(1) (right of minorities to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice) was neither absolute nor above the law.
• The regulatory law should, however, balance the dual objectives of ensuring standard of excellence as well as preserving the right of the minorities to establish and administer their educational institutions.
• Regulations that embrace and reconcile the two objectives should be reasonable.
• The managements of minority institutions cannot ignore such a legal regime by saying that it is their fundamental right under Article 30.

Is Article 30 diluted now?

• To achieve a balance between the twin objectives of ensuring excellence in education and preserving the right of minorities, the court said, it divides education into two categories.
• They are the secular education and education “directly aimed at or dealing with preservation and protection of the heritage, culture, script and special characteristics of a religious or a linguistic minority.”
• On the latter, the court advocated that “maximum latitude” be given to the management to appoint teachers.
• The court also holds that only “teachers who believe in the religious ideology or in the special characteristics of the concerned minority would alone be able to imbibe in the students admitted in such educational institutions, what the minorities would like to preserve, profess and propagate.
• However, when it comes to the second category, the governing criteria must be to see to it that the most conducive atmosphere is put in place where the institution achieves excellence and imparts best possible education.
• If the subjects in the curriculum are purely secular in character, that is to say, subjects like Arithmetic, Algebra, Physics, Chemistry or Geography, the intent must be to impart education availing the best possible teachers,” the bench said.
• Where the curriculum was “purely secular”, the intent must be to impart education by availing the best teachers.

Significance of the Judgement

Besides safeguarding the rights of religious and linguistic minorities to establish educational institutions of their choice, the Article categorically directs the government to ensure that the minority rights do not get abrogated in case of compulsory acquisition of educational institutions run by minorities.

• The clause (1A) was inserted in the Article during the 44th amendment of the Indian Constitution in 1978.
• The primary objective behind including this clause was to make sure that the acquisition of minority institution should be followed by ‘conformable compensation.’
• The clause (2) of Article 30 further creates a level playing field for the minority institutions.
• It states that the government shall not discriminate against any educational institution run by a religious or linguistic minority while granting aid.

Serving the national interest

• A regulation framed in the national interest must necessarily apply to all institutions regardless whether they are run by majority or minority as the essence of Article 30(1) is to ensure equal treatment between the majority and minority institutions.
• An objection can certainly be raised if an unfavourable treatment is meted out to an educational institution established and administered by minority.
• But if ensuring of excellence in educational institutions is the underlying principle behind a regulatory regime and the mechanism of selection of teachers is so designed to achieve excellence in institutions, the matter may stand on a completely different footing.

Way Forward

• The court explains how to strike a “balance” between the two objectives of excellence in education and the preservation of the minorities’ right to run their educational institutions.
• For this, the court broadly divides education into two categories – secular education and education “directly aimed at or dealing with preservation and protection of the heritage, culture, script and special characteristics of a religious or a linguistic minority.”
• When it comes to the latter, the court advocated “maximum latitude” to be given to the management to appoint teachers.
• The court reasons that only “teachers who believe in the religious ideology or in the special characteristics of the concerned minority would alone be able to imbibe in the students admitted in such educational institutions, what the minorities would like to preserve, profess and propagate.”
• However, minority institutions where the curriculum was “purely secular”, the intent must be to impart education availing the best possible teachers.

 

 

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References

https://www.civilsdaily.com/news/state-can-regulate-minority-institutions-says-supreme-court/

http://www.legalserviceindia.com/legal/article-230-educational-rights-of-minorities-under-article-30-a-prime-source-of-inequality.html

https://thewire.in/law/supreme-court-minority-institutions