💥Join UPSC 2027,2028 Mentorship (July Batch) + XFactor Notes & Microthemes PDF
Talk to Mentor

Civilsdaily

Login

Distribution: weekly

  • Species in news: Red Panda

     

     

    According to a report by the TRAFFIC report, there has been a considerable reduction in the poaching of Red Panda (ailurus fulgens). The report also recommended trans-boundary law enforcement co-operation through the use of multi-government platforms like SAWEN (South Asia Wildlife Enforcement Network).

    Red Panda

    IUCN Red List Status: Endangered

    • The red panda (Ailurus fulgens) is a mammal native to the eastern Himalayas and southwestern China.
    • Its wild population is estimated at fewer than 10,000 mature individuals and continues to decline due to habitat loss and fragmentation, poaching, and inbreeding depression.
    • Despite its name, it is not closely related to the giant panda
    • The animal has been hunted for meat and fur, besides illegal capture for the pet trade.
    • An estimated 14,500 animals are left in the wild across Nepal, Bhutan, India, China and Myanmar.
    • About 5,000-6,000 red pandas are estimated to be present in four Indian states – Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Sikkim and West Bengal.
    • The diminishing habitat is a major threat to the species which is a very selective feeder and survives on selected species of bamboos.

    About South Asia Wildlife Enforcement Network (SAWEN)

    • SAWEN is a Regional network is comprised of eight countries in South Asia: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
    • It aims at working as a strong regional intergovernmental body for combating wildlife crime by attempting common goals and approaches for combating illegal trade in the region.
    • The South Asia region is very vulnerable to illegal traffic and wildlife crimes due to the presence of precious biodiversity and large markets as well as traffic routes for wildlife products in the south East Asian region.
    • The collaboration in harmonizing as well as enforcing the wildlife protection in the region is considered very important for effective conservation of such precious biodiversity.
    • India adopted the Statute of the SAWEN and became its formal member in 2016.

    Back2Basics

    TRAFFIC

    • The TRAFFIC, the Wildlife Trade Monitoring Network, is a leading non-governmental organisation working on wildlife trade in the context of both biodiversity conservation and sustainable development.
    • It is a joint program of World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and the IUCN.
    • It aims to ensure that trade in wild plants and animals is not a threat to the conservation of nature.
    • The TRAFFIC is governed by the TRAFFIC Committee, a steering group composed of members of TRAFFIC’s partner organizations, WWF and IUCN.
    • TRAFFIC also works in close co-operation with the Secretariat of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

  • The role of women in developing a knowledge economy

    The role of women in developing a knowledge economy

    Context

    Indian economic success requires scientific skills that can foster a knowledge economy, the emergence of which depends on how gender-balanced the workforce is.

    Half the scientific potential squandered

    • The requirement of the skilled workforce: A rapidly growing India requires a highly skilled technical workforce that is crucial for developing a knowledge economy.
      • Unfortunately, half the scientific potential of India—women in science—is squandered.
      • Women make up only 14% of the 280,000 scientists, engineers, and technologists in research and development institutions across the country, according to a recent study.
    • Several barriers in careers: Today, fewer women apply for or hold key scientific positions as several barriers prevent them from progressing in their careers, in comparison with their male counterparts.

    Several unacknowledged factors that disadvantage women

    • There is widespread frustration experienced by women, who find it difficult if not impossible to fulfil their scientific potential.
      • Even today, several factors that disadvantage women are not acknowledged widely enough.
    • What are the difficulties faced by women: Peer-reviewed research reports have indicated that women-
      • Scientists earn less.
      • Have less prestige within departments.
      • Have less lab space.
      • Are offered inadequate jobs on graduating with science degrees and have more teaching responsibilities.
      • They also face greater difficulty in receiving grants and therefore apply for fewer grants in the first place.
    • Imperative to tackle issues: It is imperative to tackle these issues with vigour if India is to take its rightful place among developed nations.

    Lack of informal networks

    • Women tend to lack access to informal networks that provide opportunities to work in high-profile projects.
      • Which include attending conferences abroad or on-the-job opportunities.
    • How it affects them? They lack the work experience that would enable them to rise up the ranks and provide access to the wide range of developmental models that could build the credibility they need to advance.

    Importance of mentor

    • Performance assessment is now an integral part of an organization’s performance management systems, implemented as companies move away from the age-old concepts of training and skill development.
    • How mentors matters? Mentors often help build confidence as well as professional identity in protégés and offer access to developmental opportunities, allowing individuals to demonstrate their ability and gain trust.
      • Mentors keep information channels open and provide feedback on performance in crucial times.
      • It has been noted that almost every successful woman has had a mentor at some time.

    How organizations work culture matters?

    • Unepathetic culture: Organizations often define success by the willingness of their employee to work for long hours and prioritize work over everything else—a “live to work” ideal, generally regarded as more masculine.
      • Group membership as criteria leads to discrimination: When women feel selected or assessed on the basis of group membership rather than their work record and abilities, they experience gender discrimination.
      • Women feel that an unempathetic culture is one of the most significant barriers to their advancement.
    • Gender bias as a major career obstacle: A study highlighted that only 3% of women surveyed regarded family responsibilities as their most serious career obstacle, while 50% cited gender bias.
      • Only 7% of female employees surveyed reported leaving the organization for family reasons, whereas 73% reported leaving because they saw limited opportunities.
      • Quit rate: The quit rates for women were significantly lower in organizations that provided better training and promotion opportunities.
    • The need for the employee-friendly policies: In recent years, we have witnessed an increase in the number of women with children who participate in the country’s paid workforce.
      • An organization’s culture has a significant impact on those who work within it.
      • Unfortunately, not many organizations have revised their work policies or employee expectations to enable women to strike a balance between their work and family responsibilities.
      • Flexible policies: For instance, the internet and telecom revolutions have enabled organizations to introduce employee-friendly policies such as Flexi-work hours and work-from-home that have significantly transformed workplace practices.

    Way forward

    • Need for the realisation of the full potential of women: Science needs the best scientists, and a knowledge economy needs a gender-balanced workforce. This can only be attained by realizing the full potential of women.
    • Reach out to young girls: Apart from being wasteful and unjust, the under-representation of women in science threatens the goal of achieving excellence in the field. To tackle this, we must set an ambitious target of reaching out to 1 million young girls each year and encourage them to take up science and make a difference.
    • Convention of women: A national convention of women in science must be held annually, with a specific focus on discussing and building general awareness around the major challenges that women face.

    Conclusion

    We must mobilize all our resources if India aims to be a $5 trillion economy. The gender imbalance in science and technology is a looming challenge and threatens to weaken our country’s competitive economic position. By addressing these concerns, we can empower and motivate more women to join scientific fields, unlock India’s full potential, and develop the country to become a knowledge economy.

  • Supreme Court upholds 2018 order on land acquisition

    • The Supreme Court reaffirmed its February 2018 ruling on Section 24 on land acquisition compensation awards given by a three-judge bench led by Justice Arun Mishra in the Indore Development Authority.
    • It also has overruled an earlier co-ordinate Bench ruling in the Pune Municipal Corporation case of 2014 under the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in the Act of 2013.

    What is the provision and why it needed interpretation?

    • The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act 2013 (2013 Act) replaced the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (1894 Act).
    • The new Act provides for higher compensation to those deprived of land by the government for both public and private sector projects.
    • It also mandates consent of a majority of land-owners, and contains provisions for rehabilitation and resettlement.
    • Under Section 24(2) land acquisition made under the old law of 1894 lapses if the award of compensation had been made five years before the new Act came into force, but has not been paid.
    • In such cases, the process will have to be gone through afresh under the new Act, which mandates higher compensation.

    Issue over compensation

    • There are cases in which farmers and other land-owners have refused the compensation, leading to delay in the government taking possession.
    • In this situation, the compensation amount is deposited in the government treasury. According to one interpretation, if this is done, the acquisition process is saved.
    • Then again, others contend that such cases will fall under the new Act because compensation has not been paid to the land-owners, and the lapsing clause in Section 24 should be applied.
    • If, through interpretation, a long-pending land acquisition process is closed under the old law and fresh acquisition proceedings started under the new one, the land-owners stand to benefit, but project proponents will have to pay higher compensation.
    • Therefore, the provision concerned is often a subject of litigation.

    What happened in the case before the Supreme Court?

    • On January 24, 2014 the court ruled that the acquisition of a piece of land had “lapsed” because the compensation awarded had neither been paid to the landowners/persons interested nor deposited in the court.
    • The deposit of the compensation amount in the government treasury was held to be “of no avail” as it was not equivalent to the compensation being “paid”.
    • Based on this judgment, subsequent cases were decided on the same principle: acquisition that had taken place earlier than five years before the new Act commenced would lapse if compensation amount was not paid to the land-owners or, in cases in which the owners refused to accept compensation, deposited in court.

    How was this precedent dealt with in another case in 2018?

    • The same question arose in Indore Development Authority vs. Shailendra. Another Bench did not accept the earlier Bench’s view.
    • On February 8, 2018, the majority, consisting of the first two judges, ruled that the acquisition would not lapse merely because the compensation amount was not deposited in court, but was instead deposited in the treasury.
    • It ruled that the past practice of more than a century, under which the amount was deposited in the treasury, was not taken into account by the earlier Bench.
    • Some provisions and orders that allowed this practice were not placed before that Bench. Further, the land acquisition in that particular case had been quashed by a High Court in 2008.
    • Since it was not a subsisting process, the question under Section 24(2), whether the acquisition lapsed because of non-payment of compensation or non-deposit in the court, did not arise at all.
    • On these grounds, Justice Mishra and Justice Goel overruled the earlier judgment and held that it was per incuriam, that is a verdict passed in disregard of law and, therefore, wrong.

    What does the controversy mean for land-owners and project proponents?

    • A ruling that old acquisitions lapse for non-deposit of compensation will be more beneficial to land-owners and farmers as they stand to get higher compensation and rehabilitation and resettlement measures.
    • On the other hand, project proponents feel such an interpretation would mean that those who refused to take compensation, even after it had been fixed and the money deposited in the government treasury, would be taking advantage of their own wrong.

    Present ruling

    On Acquisition

    • The provision said that in such cases if the physical possession has not been taken “or” the compensation is not paid, the acquisition proceeding is “deemed to have lapsed”.
    • The court held that a land acquisition proceeding under Section 24(2) would only lapse if the authorities have neither taken physical possession nor paid the compensation due to the landowner for five or more years prior to January 1, 2014.
    • For this an “or” in the Section was “interpreted” as an “and”.
    • Further, the Bench held that Section 24(2) of the Act of 2013 does not give rise to a new cause of action to question the legality of concluded proceedings of land acquisition.

    On compensation

    • The government if it so wishes would have to initiate “fresh acquisition proceedings” under the new Act of 2013 which provides for “fair-compensation”.
    • The judgment however said compensation would be considered paid if the amount is put in the Treasury.
    • There was no obligation that the amount should be deposited in the court in order to sustain the land acquisition proceedings under the 2013 Act.
    • Thus there is no lapse if possession has been taken and compensation has not been paid. Similarly, there is no lapse if compensation has been paid and possession not taken of the land.

  • Foreign Funding of Public Organizations

    The Central government cannot brand an organisation ‘political’ and deprive it of its right to receive foreign funds for using “legitimate forms of dissent” like bandh, hartal, road roko or jail ‘bharo’ to aid a public cause, the Supreme Court held.

    Why such Judgement?

    • The verdict came on a petition filed by Indian Social Action Forum challenging certain provisions of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA), 2010 and the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Rules of 2011.
    • Both of these confer the Centre with “unguided and uncanalised power” to brand organisations ‘political’ and shut down their access to foreign funds.
    • The FCRA 2010 prohibited acceptance and utilization of foreign contribution or foreign hospitality for any activities detrimental to the national interest, it the court said.
    • The FCRA and its Rules allowed the government to indulge in its whims and fancies to deprive organisations of their foreign contributions.
    • The terms used in the statute like ‘political objectives’, ‘political activities’, ‘political interests’ and ‘political action’ had no clarity.

    Issues with FCRA

    • The provisions under challenge before the court included Section 5 (1) of the FCRA.
    • This provision allowed the Centre a free hand to decide whether a seemingly non-political organisation was actually political in nature. INSAF argued that Section 5(1) was vague and thus unconstitutional.
    • The Delhi High Court, which INSAF approached first, said the provision was “expansive” and not vague. The Supreme Court agreed with the High Court.
    • The next provision under the microscope was Section 5(4) of the FCRA.
    • INSAF said the provision did not exactly identify the authority before which an organisation could represent its grievance. But the apex court dismissed this contention.
    • INSAF had also challenged the various clauses of Rule 3 of the 2011 Rules. This provision identified the various types of ‘political’ activities for which/organisations whose foreign funding could be stopped by the government.

    Foreign funds are permissible for non-political organizations

    • Any organisation which supports the cause of a group of citizens agitating for their rights without a political goal or objective cannot be penalized by being declared as an organisation of a political nature.
    • But the foreign funding pipeline could be cut if an organisation took recourse to these forms of protest to score a political goal, the court said.
    • It struck a similar balance in the cases of organisations of farmers, workers, students, youth based on caste, community, religion, language, etc.
    • It said their foreign funding could continue as long as these organisations worked for the “social and political welfare of society” and not to further “political interests”.

    What about Political Organizations?

    • The court wholesomely agreed that organisations with avowed political objectives in its memorandum of association or bye laws cannot be permitted access to foreign funds.
    • Such organisations were clearly of a “political nature,” it concluded.

    Why regulate foreign funding?

    • The purpose for which the statute prevents organisations of a political nature from receiving foreign funds is to ensure that the administration is not influenced by foreign funds.
    • Prohibition from receiving foreign aid, either directly or indirectly, by those who are involved in active politics is to ensure that the values of a sovereign democratic republic are protected.
    • On the other hand, such of those voluntary organisations which have absolutely no connection with either party politics or active politics cannot be denied access to foreign contributions.

    Back2Basics

    FCRA

    • Government of India enacted the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA) in the year 1976 with an objective of regulating the acceptance and utilization of foreign contribution.
    • The act was majorly modified in 2010 with several amendments because many NGOs were found using illegal use of foreign funding.
    • It is a consolidating act whose scope is to regulate the acceptance and utilisation of foreign contribution or foreign hospitality by certain individuals or associations or companies.
    • It aims to prohibit funding for any activities detrimental to the national interest and for matters connected therewith.
    • In 2016 license of about 20,000 NGOs were cancelled after reviewing their work.

  • N95 Mask

    In a new mandate to curb unnecessary demand, the Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration said that chemists cannot sell N95 masks without a doctor’s prescription. The FDA also warned that serious action would be taken against those who are found selling masks at high prices or hoarding them.

    Why such a move?

    • Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) kits and N95 masks are being sold at very high prices in medical shops. The State has received many complaints about the same.
    • It has also been found that many are making bulk purchases and hording PPE kits and N95 masks.
    • Since the COVID-19 outbreak in China, shortage of PPE gear and masks has been reported from across the world.
    • While the Indian government has currently banned exports of N95 masks, the manufacturers are focussed on making other surgical marks to get good returns from exports.

    N95 mask

    • A disposable N95 mask (respirator) is a safety device that covers the nose and mouth and helps protect the wearer from breathing in some hazardous substances.
    • An N95 respirator is designed to achieve a very close facial fit and very efficient filtration of airborne particles.
    • The ‘N95’ designation means that when subjected to careful testing, the respirator blocks at least 95 percent of very small (0.3 micron) test particles.
    • If properly fitted, the filtration capabilities of N95 respirators exceed those of face masks. However, even a properly fitted N95 respirator does not completely eliminate the risk of illness or death.

  • Persons in news: Rajkumari Amrit Kaur

     

     

    Former PM Indira Gandhi and freedom fighter Rajkumari Amrit Kaur are mentioned in TIME magazine’s list of the 100 most powerful women who defined the last century in a new project that aims to feature those women who were “often overshadowed”.

    Who was Amrit Kaur?

    • Amrit Kaur was the first woman in independent India who joined the Cabinet as the Health Minister and remained in that position for 10 years.
    • Born into the Kapurthala royal family, she was educated in Oxford and returned to India in 1918, and began to be drawn towards the work and teachings of MK Gandhi.

    Her contributions

    • Before taking up the position of a Health Minister, Kaur was Mahatma Gandhi’s secretary.
    • During these 10 years, she founded the Indian Council for Child Welfare.
    • She also laid the foundation of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and Lady Irwin College in Delhi in the following years.
    • Apart from joining the nationalist freedom struggle, Kaur also began work on a number of other social and political issues such as the purdah system, child marriage and the Devadasi system.
    • She passed away in 1964, at the age of 75.

    Role in the freedom struggle

    • In 1936, hoping that more women would join the freedom struggle, Gandhiji invited her.
    • In the following years, as Kaur started interacting with other freedom fighters such as Gopal Krishna Gokhale and Mahatma Gandhi, she gave up her princely comforts and began to discipline herself by responding to the Gandhian call.
    • When the civil disobedience movement took off in the 1930s, Kaur dedicated her life to it.
    • Kaur was jailed after the Quit India movement and carried to the jail a spinning wheel, the Bhagwat Gita and the Bible.
    • Further, while Kaur advocated for equality, she was not in favour of reservations for women and believed that universal adult franchise would open the doors for women to enter into the legislative and administrative institutions of the country.
    • In light of this, she believed that there was no place left for reservation of seats.

  • [pib] Person in news: Gaura Devi

     

     

    Union HRD Minister along with senior women officers of the Ministry planted a sapling in memory of Gaura Devi, Chipko Activist in New Delhi.

    Gaura Devi

    • Gaura Devi was born in 1925 in a village named Lata in the state of Uttarakhand. She moved to a nearby village named Reni by the Alaknanda River.
    • She was elected to lead the Mahila Mangal Dal (Women’s Welfare Association) in the wake of the Chipko movement. The organization worked on the protection of community forests.

    Her contributions in Chipko Movement

    • Gaura Devi came to notice in 1974 when she was told that local loggers were cutting the trees.
    • The men of Reni village had been tricked out of the village by news that the government was going to pay out compensation for land used by the army.
    • She challenged the men to shoot her instead of cutting down the trees and she described the forest with her maika (mother’s house).
    • They managed to halt their work by hugging the trees despite the abuse of the armed loggers.
    • They kept guard of the trees that night and over the next three or four days other villages and villagers joined the action. The loggers left leaving the trees.

    Impact

    • After this incident, the Uttar Pradesh Government established a committee of experts to investigate the issue of felling of trees, and the lumber company withdrew its men from Reni.
    • The committee stated that the Reni forest was an ecologically sensitive area and that no trees should be felled there.
    • Thereafter the government of Uttar Pradesh placed a 10-year ban on all tree-felling in an area of over 1150 km².

  • An unrest, a slowdown and a health epidemic

    Context

    India faces imminent danger from the trinity of social disharmony, economic slowdown and a global health epidemic.

    Social disharmony

    • Violence in Capital: Delhi has been subjected to extreme violence over the past few weeks. We have lost nearly 50 of our fellow Indians for no reason. Several hundred people have suffered injuries.
      • Communal tensions have been stoked and flames of religious intolerance fanned by unruly sections of our society, including the political class.
    • University campuses, public places and private homes are bearing the brunt of communal outbursts of violence.
    • Institutions of law and order have abandoned their dharma to protect citizens. Institutions of justice and the fourth pillar of democracy, the media, have also failed us.

    Impact of social disharmony on the economy

    • Exacerbating the economy: At a time when our economy is floundering, the impact of such social unrest will only exacerbate the economic slowdown.
    • Lack of investment by the private sector: It is now well accepted that the scourge of India’s economy currently is the lack of new investment by the private sector.
      • Investors, industrialists and entrepreneurs are unwilling to undertake new projects and have lost their risk appetite.
      • Increase in fears and risk aversion: Social disruptions and communal tensions only compound investors’ fears and risk aversion.
      • Social harmony, the bedrock of economic development, is now under peril.
    • When policy tweaks stop to matter: No amount of tweaking of tax rates, showering of corporate incentives or goading will propel Indian or foreign businesses to invest, when the risk of eruption of sudden violence in one’s neighbourhood looms large.
    • How the vicious cycle works: Lack of investment means a lack of jobs and incomes, which, in turn, means a lack of consumption and demand in the economy.
      • A lack of demand will only further suppress private investments. This is the vicious cycle that our economy is stuck in.

    Impact of COVID-19 on the economy

    • Global reactions: Nations across the world have sprung into action to contain the impact of this epidemic. China is walling off major cities and public places. Italy is shutting down schools. America has embarked aggressively both to quarantine people as well as hasten research efforts to find a cure.
      • Many other nations have announced various measures to address this issue.
    • What India can learn? India too must act swiftly and announce a mission-critical team that will be tasked with addressing the issue. There could be some best practices we can adopt from other nations.

    Bringing in reforms to address the problems

    • The government must quickly embark on a three-point plan.
      • First, it should focus all energies and efforts on containing the COVID-19 threat and prepare adequately.
      • Two, it should withdraw or amend the Citizenship Act, end the toxic social climate and foster national unity.
      • Three, it should put together a detailed and meticulous fiscal stimulus plan to boost consumption demand and revive the economy.

    Turning a moment of deep crisis into a moment of great opportunity

    • The past instance of turning crisis into an opportunity: In 1991, India and the world faced a similar grave economic crisis, with a balance of payments crisis in India and a global recession caused by rising oil prices due to the Gulf War.
      • But India was able to successfully turn this into an opportunity to reinvigorate the economy through drastic reforms.
    • Turning the present crisis into an opportunity: Similarly, the virus contagion and the slowing down of China can potentially open up an opportunity for India to unleash second-generation reforms to become a larger player in the global economy and vastly improve prosperity levels for hundreds of millions of Indians.
      • To achieve that, we must first rise above divisive ideology, petty politics and respect institutional salience.

    Conclusion

    The India that we know and cherish is slipping away fast. Wilfully stoked communal tensions, gross economic mismanagement and an external health shock are threatening to derail India’s progress and standing. It is time to confront the harsh reality of the grave risks we face as a nation and address them squarely and sufficiently.

     

     

     

     

     

  • When does Speaker suspend MPs from Lok Sabha?

    Seven MPs of a political party were suspended for unruly behaviour in the Lok Sabha. The motion was passed by a voice vote.

    What is the reason for suspending an MP?

    • The general principle is that it is the role and duty of the Speaker of Lok Sabha to maintain order so that the House can function smoothly.
    • This is a daunting task even at the best of times.
    • In order to ensure that proceedings are conducted in the proper manner, the Speaker is empowered to force a Member to withdraw from the House (for the remaining part of the day), or to place him/her under suspension.

    What are the rules under which the Speaker acts?

    Rule Number 373 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business says:

    • The Speaker, if is of the opinion that the conduct of any Member is grossly disorderly, may direct such Member to withdraw immediately from the House, and any Member so ordered to withdraw shall do so forthwith and shall remain absent during the remainder of the day’s sitting.

    To deal with more recalcitrant Members, the Speaker may take recourse to Rules 374 and 374A. Rule 374 says:

    1. The Speaker may, it deems it necessary, name a Member who disregards the authority of the Chair or abuses the rules of the House by persistently and wilfully obstructing the business thereof.
    2. If a Member is so named by the Speaker, the Speaker shall, on a motion being made forthwith put the question that the Member (naming such Member) be suspended from the service of the House for a period not exceeding the remainder of the session: Provided that the House may, at any time, on a motion being made, resolve that such suspension be terminated.
    3. A member suspended under this rule shall forthwith withdraw from the precincts of the House.

    What is the procedure for revocation of a Member’s suspension?

    • While the Speaker is empowered to place a Member under suspension, the authority for revocation of this order is not vested in her.
    • It is for the House, if it so desires, to resolve on a motion to revoke the suspension.

    What happens in Rajya Sabha?

    • Like the Speaker in Lok Sabha, the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha is empowered under Rule Number 255 of its Rule Book to “direct any Member whose conduct is in his opinion grossly disorderly to withdraw immediately” from the House.
    • Any Member so ordered to withdraw shall do so forthwith and shall absent himself during the remainder of the day’s meeting.
    • The Chairman may name a Member who disregards the authority of the Chair or abuses the rules of the Council by persistently and wilfully obstructing business.
    • In such a situation, the House may adopt a motion suspending the Member from the service of the House for a period not exceeding the remainder of the session.
    • The House may, however, by another motion, terminate the suspension.
    • Unlike the Speaker, however, the Rajya Sabha Chairman does not have the power to suspend a Member.

    Way Forward: Striking a balance

    • There can be no question that the enforcement of the supreme authority of the Speaker is essential for smooth conduct of proceedings. A balance has to be struck.
    • However, it must be remembered that her job is to run the House, not to lord over it.
    • The solution to unruly behaviour has to be long-term and consistent with democratic values.
    • A step in that same direction could be to discontinue the practice of herding people out of the visitors’ gallery when the House witnesses chaos.
    • So, the ruling party of the day invariably insists on the maintenance of discipline, just as the Opposition insists on its right to protest. And their positions change when their roles flip.

  • Freedom in the World 2020

     

    India has become one of the world’s least free democracies, according to a global survey.

    Freedom in the World Report

    • It is a yearly survey and report by the U.S. based non-governmental organization Freedom House.
    • It measures the degree of civil liberties and political rights in every nation and significant related and disputed territories around the world.
    • The report derives its methodology from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1948.
    • It covers 195 countries, awarding scores based on political rights indicators such as the electoral process, political pluralism and participation and government functioning, as well as civil liberties indicators related to freedom of expression and belief associational and organisational rights, the rule of law and personal autonomy and individual rights.

    Highlights of the report

     

     

    Deteriorating freedom in India

    • The report ranks India at the 83rd position, along with Timor-Leste and Senegal.
    • This is near the bottom of the pile among the countries categorised as “Free”.
    • India’s score fell by four points to 71, the worst decline among the world’s 25 largest democracies this year.
    • India scored 34 out of 40 points in the political rights category, but only 37 out of 60 in the civil liberties category, for a total score of 71, a drop from last year’s score of 75.
    • The report treats “Indian Kashmir” as a separate territory, which saw its total score drop precipitously from 49 to 28 this year, moving it from a status of “Partly Free” to “Not Free”.

    Reason for the downfall

    • The annulment of autonomy and the subsequent shutdown of Kashmir, the NRC and the CAA, as well as the crackdown on mass protests, have been listed as the main signs of declining freedom in the report.
    • These three actions have shaken the rule of law in India and threatened the secular and inclusive nature of its political system said the report.
    • The report slammed the internet blackout in Kashmir terming it the longest shutdown ever imposed by democracy.
    • It said freedom of expression was under threat in India, with journalists, academics and others facing harassment and intimidation when addressing politically sensitive topics.
    • It warned that the Indian government’s alarming departures from democratic norms under present govt. could blur the values-based distinction between Beijing and New Delhi.