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  • Very few post-vaccine infections

    Breakthrough infection

    • ICMR said that a small fraction of those vaccinated with either Covaxin or Covishield have tested positive (i.e. breakthrough” infections).
    • However, these instances do not undermine the efficacy of the vaccines.
    • The immune response begins to develop usually two weeks after every dose and there are variations within individuals, too.
    • Of the 9.3 million who received the first dose of Covaxin, 4,208 tested positive; and of the 1.7 million who received the second dose, 695 tested positive.
    • For Covishield, of the 100.3 million who received the first dose, 17,145 tested positive; and of the 15 million who got the second dose, 5,014 tested postive.

    What explains infections after vaccination

    • Healthcare and frontline workers, who were among the first to be vaccinated, were as a population far more exposed to the virus and therefore more susceptible.
    • Secondly, the emergence of “the highly transmissible second wave (newer variants) ” may have contributed to instances of infection among those vaccinated.
    • Several variants, which have mutations that have been shown to avoid detection by the immune system, and in some cases reduce the efficacy of vaccines, have been reported globally, including in India.

  • Strengthening the process of choosing the police chief

    The article suggests the need for reforms in the process of appointment to the police chief to ensure the political neutrality of the police.

    Process of appointing and removing police chief

    •  A crucial way in which governments exercise control over the State police is through their unregulated power to decide who the chief will be.
    • There is no independent vetting process to assess the suitability of qualified candidates, and the government’s assessment, if it is done at all, remains opaque and is an exercise behind closed doors.
    •  The moot reform issue is in ensuring the right balance between the government’s legitimate role in appointing or removing the police chief with the need to safeguard the chief’s operational autonomy.

    Need for reforms

    Two elements are vital to reforms in this area.

    1) Shift the responsibility to independent oversight body of which government is one part

    • The National Police Commission (NPC) (1979), and the Supreme Court in its judgment in 2006, in the Prakash Singh case suggested establishing a state-level oversight body with a specified role in the appointment and removal of police chiefs.
    • While the Supreme Court entrusted the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) with a role in shortlisting candidates from which the State government is to appoint the police chief.
    • However, the Model Police Bill, 2015 places the responsibility with a multiparty State Police Board, also referred to as the State Security Commission (SSCs) instead.

    No compliance with SC directive in the formation of SSC

    • While 26 States and the Union Territories have established SSCs, not a single one adheres to the balanced composition suggested by the top court.
    • Some do not include the Leader of the Opposition; others neither include independent members nor follow an independent selection process of the members.
    • In essence, the commissions remain dominated by the political executive.
    • Moreover, in as many as 23 States, governments retain the sole discretion of appointing the police chief. Assam, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Meghalaya and Mizoram are the only States where, on paper, the SSC is given the responsibility of shortlisting candidates.

    2) Need for transparency

    • The second element critical to police reforms is instituting an independent and transparent selection and decision-making process around appointment and removal, against objective criteria.
    •  On appointments, the Court and the Model Police Act require the UPSC/SSC to shortlist candidates on the basis of length of service, service record, and range of experience and a performance appraisal of the candidates over the past 10 years.
    • However, no further guidance has been developed on explaining these terms or specifying their elements.
    • Similarly, no scrutiny process has been prescribed to justify removals from tenure posts.
    • The National Police Commission had required State governments to seek the approval of the State Security Commission before removing the police chief before the end of term.
    • This important check was diluted under the Prakash Singh judgment that only requires governments to consult the SSC.
    • Most States omit even this cursory step.
    • The Supreme Court has rightly emphasised that “prima facie satisfaction of the government” alone is not a sufficient ground to justify removal from a tenure post in government, such as that of the police chief (T.P. Senkumar vs Union of India, 2017).
    • The rule of law requires such decisions be for compelling reasons and based on verifiable material that can be objectively tested.

    Way forward

    • Clear and specific benchmarks need to be integrated into decision-making processes, both on appointments and removals, to prevent politically motivated adverse actions.
    • In improving transparency the United Kingdom provides a useful example by introducing public confirmation hearings as an additional layer of check for the appointment of the heads of their police forces.

    Consider the question “Examine the status of compliance of the states to the directives of the Supreme Court with respect to the constitution of State Security Commission in the Prakash Singh case.”

    Conclusion

    Reforms are needed on urgent to ensure fairness in administrative decisions and to protect the political neutrality of the police. Any further delay in implementing reforms in this area will continue to demoralise the police and cripple the rule of law.

  • Fifth session of Codex Committee on Spices and Culinary Herbs

    Fifth session of Codex Committee on Spices and Culinary Herbs (CCSCH)established under Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) inaugurated virtually on 20th April with a series of virtual sessions.

    • The session will see nearly 300 experts from 50 countries taking part in the deliberations.

    About CCSCH:

    • Codex Committee on Spices and Culinary Herbs was formed in 2013 with support of more than a hundred countries with India as the host country and Spices Board India as the Secretariat for organising the sessions of the committee.
    • The objective was to develop and expand worldwide standards for spices and culinary herbs, and to consult with other international organisations in the standards development process.
    • Since its inception, the Codex Committee on Spices and Culinary Herbs has been successful in developing harmonised global Codex standards for spices and herbs.
    • In its past four sessions, the committee developed and finalized standards for four spices, viz. dried or dehydrated forms of black/white/green pepper, cumin, thyme, and garlic.

    About CAC:

    • The Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) is an intergovernmental body.
    • Set up in 1963.
    • It was established jointly by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the World Health Organisation (WHO), within the framework of the Joint Food Standards Programme to protect the health of consumers and ensure fair practices in the food trade.

  • Employee State Insurance Scheme and Employee Provident Fund

    The idea of welfare state

    • Covid reminds us that a modern state is a welfare state as governments worldwide launched 1,600 plus new social protection programmes in 2020.
    • Sustainable social security lies in raising India’s 138th ranking in country per-capita GDP.
    • However, on the social security schemes, there is a case for three reforms to our biggest health insurance and pension schemes:
    • These schemes are the Employee State Insurance Scheme (ESIS) and Employee Provident Fund (EPF).

    Issues with ESIS

    • The Employee State Insurance Scheme (ESIS) is India’s richest and biggest health insurance scheme with 13 crore people covered and Rs 80,000 crore in cash.
    • Employers with more than 10 employees make a mandatory 4 per cent payroll deduction for employees earning up to Rs 21,000 per month.
    • Despite covering roughly 10 per cent of India’s population, a recent working paper from Dvara Research suggests high dissatisfaction.
    • The constraint is hardly resources: ESIC’s unspent reserves are larger than the Central government’s healthcare budgetary allocation.

    Issues with EPF

    • EPF is India’s biggest pension scheme with a Rs 12 lakh crore corpus and 6.5 crore contributors.
    • Employers with more than 20 employees make mandatory 24 per cent payroll deductions for employees earning up to Rs 15,000 per month.
    • It only covers 10 per cent of India’s labour force and 60 per cent of accounts and 50 per cent of registered employers are inactive.
    • EPF offers poor service and pathetic technology despite employer-funded administrative costs that make it the world’s most expensive government securities mutual fund.

    Updating the risk-sharing frameworks in society

    • In a book titled What We Owe Each Other: A New Social Contract, Nemat Shafik suggests updating the risk-sharing framework in societies.
    • This is because current structures are breaking up under the weight of changes in the role of women, longer careers, technology, globalisation, and much else.
    • She suggests a more nuanced social security redistribution across time (the piggy bank function), incomes (the Robin Hood function), and financial burden-bearing (the state, individuals, or employers).
    • In India, the answer lies in fixing the problems of EPF and ESIS.

    Solution to the EPF and ESIS problems

    • Both suffer from poor coverage, high costs, unsatisfied customers, metrics confused with goals, jail provisions, excessive corruption, low expertise, rude and unaccountable staff with no fear of falling or hope of rising, and no competition.

    Let’s look at possible solutions.

    1) Structure

    • EPF and ESIS combine the roles of policymaker, regulator, and service provider.
    • Splitting roles is a precondition for performance because goals, strategy, and skills are different.
    • An independent policymaker horrified with only 6 lakh of India’s 6.3 crore enterprises covered would create competition.
    • An independent regulator terrified by ESIS overcharging would frown on a claims ratio of less than 75 per cent.
    • An independent service provider would invest heavily in technology, customer service, and human capital.
    • Splitting roles would lead to the following benefits:
    • 1) Competition from NPS for EPF.
    • 2) Ending VIP opt-out by merging CGHS with ESIS,
    • 3) Raising enforceability by making employee provident fund contribution voluntary.
    • 4) Improving portability by de-linking accounts from employers.
    • 5) Targeting universalisation by simultaneously ending minimum employer head-count and employee salary contribution thresholds while introducing absolute contribution caps.
    • The Health and Finance Ministry would be logical homes for ESIS and EPF policy roles.

    2) Governance

    • The governing board of ESIS and EPFO have 59 and 33 members respectively.
    • Such a large group can’t have meaningful discussions, make decisions, and exercise oversight.
    • This governance deficit needs smaller boards (not more than 15), age limits, term limits, expertise, active sub-committees (HR, Investments, and technology) and real powers.

    3) Leadership

    • Health and pensions need complex skills developed over time.
    • Yet, ESIS and EPF are led by generalist bureaucrats.
    • Both organisations need professional chief executives.
    • Philosopher Isaiah Berlin’s framing of the generalist vs specialist debate as hedgehogs (who know one thing) and foxes (who know many things) is important.
    • A less generalist, non-transitory, and non-cadred chief executive would create a new tone-from-the-top around performance management, technology, and service outcomes.

    Conclusion

    Social security — not a borrowing binge that steals from our grandchildren — can blunt structural and COVID inequality when combined with complementary policies like formalisation, financialisation, urbanisation, and better government schools. But a great place to start is three flick-of-pen, non-fiscal reforms at EPF and ESIS.

  • Politics, geography and demography shape Naxal movement

    The article explains the issues with the two common themes adopted for explaining the Naxal movement in India.

    Two approaches to explain Naxal movement

    1) Root cause and alienation approach

    • The recent attack in and around Tekulagudem village in Sukma district demonstrates the threat posed by Maoists.
    • The post-incident analysis of such setbacks comes in two flavours.
    • The most popular theory amongst our intelligentsia and media is the root cause and alienation approach. 
    • This approach states that it is the failure of the Indian state to provide economic development and social justice to the tribals living in these areas that has fuelled the Naxal movement and sustained it for five decades.
    • As a prescription, a development-centric approach and negotiations are suggested as the way forward.

    Issues with root cause and alienation approach

    • There are several problems with this approach.
    • First, it ignores the ideological foundations of the movement, specifically its rejection of India’s Constitution and democracy.
    • Second, it fails to see that social and economic deprivation is not unique to the jungles of Chhattisgarh.
    • Third, it doesn’t account for the possibility that while alienation and deprivation may help in igniting the spark of revolution, once lit the flames draw oxygen from many sources.
    • Fourth, the role of external forces in fomenting and sustaining this movement is deliberately underplayed.
    • Fifth, the grubby ground reality of the praxis of revolution is conveniently swept under the carpet.
    • The organised extortion racket from all economic stakeholders in the Naxal-affected areas by our alienated revolutionaries seldom gets talked about.
    • Sixth, the extensive ideological, financial and logistical ecosystem that provides sustenance to these revolutionaries in the jungle is seldom acknowledged.

    2) Leadership issue

    • According to this view, our tactical failures against the Maoists are entirely due to the poor quality of leadership provided by the Indian Police Service.
    • The when, where, how of a setback simply don’t matter.
    • When in doubt, identify the first IPS officer in the chain of command and hoist him on the petard of tactical incompetence.
    • This view completely ignores the many successes of IPS leadership in counterinsurgency operations in Punjab, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and most recently in Odisha.
    • Even in the Northeast and Jammu and Kashmir, where the Indian Army provides the backbone of the counterinsurgency grid, the police forces of the respective states and their IPS leadership play a crucial role in gathering intelligence and in executing operations.
    • So, the failures and setbacks in the Naxal areas of Chhattisgarh need to be placed in perspective.

    Way forward

    • The fact that the Indian state has adopted a broad policy of economic development, military restraint and gradual attrition and rejected indiscriminate violence in the Naxal theatre is the democratically prudent and morally just course of action.
    • This hasn’t dissuaded Maoist sympathisers from gaining international attention through relentless propaganda against our security forces.
    • However, such attacks also help in exposing their true nature and hardening public resolve against them.
    •  \We have enough examples of successful, police led CI Ops in our country.
    • Why we are not able to replicate these successes in Chhattisgarh is a matter of larger political issues, well beyond the narrow scope of operational tactics and individual lapses of police leadership.
    • Not just the politics, the geography and demography of the Naxal-affected areas, make it an even more complex challenge of internal security.

    Consider the question “What are the factors that make Naxal movement a persistent threat to India’s internal security? ” 

    Conclusion

    Not just the politics, the geography and demography of the Naxal-affected areas, make it an even more complex challenge of internal security.

  • India retains 142 of 180 spot in World Press Freedom index

    Where India stands on freedom of press

    • India is ranked at 142 out of 180 countries on the World Press Freedom Index 2021.
    • India at142th position is same as last year, after it had consistently slid down from 133 in 2016.
    • In the South Asian neighbourhood, Nepal is at 106, Sri Lanka at 127, Myanmar (before the coup) at 140, Pakistan at 145 and Bangladesh at 152.
    • The index is published by the international journalism not-for profit body, Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
    • China is ranked 177, and is only above North Korea at 179 and Turkmenistan at 178.

    What the report said about India

    • The report released on Tuesday stated that India shares the “bad” classification with Brazil, Mexico and Russia.
    • RSF has highlighted that the “campaigns are particularly violent when the targets are women”.
    • Further, it said that criminal prosecutions are meanwhile “often used to gag journalists critical of the authorities” with sections for sedition also used.
    • Speaking about the larger Asia-Pacific region, the report mentioned that “instead of drafting new repressive laws in order to impose censorship, several of the region’s countries have contented themselves with strictly applying existing legislation that was already very draconian – laws on ‘sedition,’ ‘state secrets’ and ‘national security’.”
    • The report has also highlighted throttling of freedom of expression on social media, and specifically mentioned that in India the “arbitrary nature of Twitter’s algorithms also resulted in brutal censorship”

    Measures adopted by India to improve ranking

    • The Indian government has been concerned about its low rankings in such international indices, and had last year started studying them to understand how to improve.
    • Soon after the index was released last year, Union Minister for Information and Broadcast  had tweeted on May 2: “Media in India enjoy absolute freedom.”

  • When Aadhaar-related problems lead to denial of rations and benefits: what the data show

    The Supreme Court recently asked the Centre to respond to allegations made in a Public Interest Litigation with respect to 3 crore ration cards being cancelled in the country because of the insistence on Aadhaar linkage and biometric authentication.

    Key Points

    About Aadhar Card:

    • Aadhar Card is basically a biographic and biometric data of Indian citizens that includes name, date of birth, gender, address, a photograph, and ten fingerprint and two iris scans.
    • It includes a unique 12-digit Aadhaar number.
    • The Aadhar Card is a residential proof and not a citizenship card.

  • Sudarshan Sen Committee

    The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) constituted a committee to evaluate the role of asset reconstruction companies (ARCs) in stressed debt resolution and review their business model.

    About the committee:

    • It is a six-member committee that will be headed by Sudarshan Sen, former executive director, Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

    Mandate:

    • To review the existing legal and regulatory framework and recommend measures to improve the efficacy of ARCs.
    • It will also review their role in stressed asset resolution under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), and suggest means to improve liquidity and trading of security receipts.
    • It has also been asked to review the business models of ARCs.
    • The committee will submit its report within three months from the date of its first meeting.

  • MoEFCC clears rail track in Western Ghats despite red flags

    The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has cleared a rail project in the Western Ghats spread across Goa and Karnataka, which can endanger its wildlife.

    About the project:

    • The project is the doubling the track of Hospet-Hubballi-Londa-Vasco Da Gama railway line by the Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd (RVNL).
    • It involves doubling of the 353-kilometre-long railway track in Karnataka and Goa passing through the Western Ghats.

    Western Ghats:

    • The Western Ghats mountain range runs along the western side of India.
    • The Ghats are older than the Himalayas.
      • The range is known as Sahyadri in Maharashtra and Karnataka.
    • It runs, about 1600 km, North to South, along the western edge of the Deccan Plateau.
    • It originates near the border of Gujarat and Maharashtra, and runs through the states of Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala, finally ending at Kanyakumari.
    • These hills form the catchment area for complex riverine drainage systems that drain almost 40% of India.
    • Height:
      • The average elevation is about 1,200 m.
      • Anaimudi (2695 m), is the highest peak of the Western Ghats, situated in Eravikulam National Park, Kerala.
    • Rocks found:
      • Basalt is the predominant rock found in the hills reaching a thickness of 3 km.
      • Other rocks: Granite gneiss, metamorphic gneisses with detached occurrences of crystalline limestone, iron ore, dolerites and anorthosites.
    • Major gaps in the range:
      • Goa Gap between the Maharashtra and Karnataka sections.
      • Palghat Gap on the Tamil Nadu and Kerala border between Nilgiri Hills and Anaimalai Hills.
    • Recognitions:
      • It is one of the eight hottest hotspots of biological diversity in the world.
      • In 2012, thirty-nine places in the Western Ghats region have been declared as World Heritage Sites by the UNESCO.
    • Flora and Fauna:
      • There are at least 139 mammal species.
      • It includes the critically endangered Malabar large-spotted civet and the endangered lion-tailed macaque.

  • Meghalaya records India’s first bat with sticky disks

    About the species

    • A team of scientists from the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) and a few European natural history museums stumbled upon very specialised small bat with “disk-like pads in the thumb and bright orange colouration”.
    • The flattened skull and sticky pads enabled the bats to roost inside cramped spaces, clinging to smooth surfaces such as bamboo internodes.
    • The disk-footed bat was also found to be genetically very different from all other known bats bearing disk-like pads.

    Significance

    • Meghalaya has yielded India’s first bamboo-dwelling bat with sticky disks, taking the species count of the flying mammal in the country to 130.
    • The disk-footed bat has raised Meghalaya’s bat count to 66, the most for any State in India.
    • It has also helped add a genus and species to the bat fauna of India.
    • There are a couple of other bamboo-dwelling bats in India.
    • But the extent of adaptation for bamboo habitat in this species is not seen in the others.