GS Paper: Governance, Transparency & Accountability, Citizens Charters

Why in the News?

Governments are undermining the RTI Act by delaying the appointment of information commissioners, causing commissions to struggle with increasing backlogs, according to a 2023-24 report of Satark Nagrik Sangathan.

About Satark Nagrik Sangathan (SNS):

• Satark Nagrik Sangathan (SNS) is not a government-based organization; rather, it is a citizens’ organization focused on promoting transparency, accountability, and good governance in India.
• A citizen organization is a non-governmental group formed by individuals who come together to advocate for specific causes, promote social change, or address community issues..

How the Erosion of RTI Undermines Democratic Principles:

• Weakening of Accountability and Transparency: The RTI Act empowers citizens to seek information and hold the government accountable. Erosion of this right leads to reduced government transparency, weakening the democratic process of checks and balances.
• Increased Impunity and Abuse of Power: The failure to impose penalties and enforce accountability fosters a culture where officials can evade scrutiny without facing consequences, allowing for corruption and abuse of power to thrive.
• Diminished Public Participation in Governance: The RTI Act plays a crucial role in empowering citizens to participate in governance by providing access to information. Restrictions on this access limit citizens’ ability to make informed decisions and engage with government policies effectively.
• Chilling Effect on Whistleblowers and Activists: Threats and violence against RTI users deter citizens from using the law to expose wrongdoing, leading to a decrease in transparency and whistleblowing.

Measures to Strengthen the RTI Framework in India: (Way forward)

• Fill Vacancies and Increase Capacity: Appoint information commissioners promptly to reduce backlogs and ensure commissions function efficiently. Strengthen the infrastructure and manpower of commissions to handle increasing workloads.
• Restore Autonomy and Accountability: Reverse regressive amendments and ensure that information commissions operate independently. Implement stricter measures for imposing penalties on officials who violate RTI norms.
• Strengthen Legal Protections for RTI Users: Operationalize the Whistleblowers Protection Act, 2014, to protect those who face retaliation for using the RTI Act. Provide security and legal assistance to activists and whistleblowers.
• Promote Digital Solutions: Enhance the use of digital platforms to file RTI applications and appeals, and improve the efficiency of the information disclosure process. This can help reduce delays and improve transparency.
• Public Awareness and Training Programs: Conduct regular public awareness campaigns to educate citizens about their rights under the RTI Act. Provide training to information officers to improve their understanding of the law and ensure timely and accurate responses.

Mains PYQ:

Q Recent amendments to the Right to Information Act will have a profound impact on the autonomy and independence of the Information Commission”. Discuss. (UPSC IAS/2020)

Why in the News?

The Uttar Pradesh government has mandated that all food establishments display the names and addresses of their owners and employees. In July, the Supreme Court put a hold on similar orders issued by the governments of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

What are the regulations for selling food in India? 

• Licensing and Registration: All food businesses must register with the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) or obtain a license, depending on their scale of operation. Small-scale vendors are classified as “Petty Food Manufacturers” and must register under specific rules.
• Display Requirements: Food business operators are required to prominently display their FSSAI registration certificate or license, including a photo ID, at their premises or vehicles to inform customers about the legitimacy of the food business.
• Compliance and Penalties: Non-compliance with the Food Safety and Standards Act (FSSA) can lead to penalties, including fines up to Rs 5 lakh and imprisonment for up to six months. Violators may also receive an Improvement Notice, which could result in license suspension or cancellation if not addressed.

What powers do states have to make laws in this regard?

• Authority to Make Rules:
  • Under Section 94(1) of the FSSA, state governments can make rules for food safety after obtaining prior approval from the FSSAI.
  • Section 94(2) specifies areas where states can legislate, such as additional functions of the Commissioner of Food Safety and other matters requiring state-level rules.
• Implementation: The Commissioner of Food Safety, appointed by the state government, is responsible for ensuring the efficient implementation of food safety regulations.
• Legislative Approval: Any rules made by the state government must be presented before the state legislature for approval (Section 94(3)).

Can a state government’s directives under FSSA be challenged in court?

• Grounds for Challenge: Previous orders from UP and Uttarakhand were contested on grounds that they discriminated against individuals based on religion or caste, violating constitutional rights under Articles 15(1) and 19(1)(g).
• Judicial Precedent: In July 2023, the Supreme Court ruled that only competent authorities under the FSSA could issue such directives, limiting police powers in this context

Way forward: 

• Strengthening Regulatory Framework: There is a need to enhance the regulatory framework by clarifying the roles and responsibilities of state governments and the FSSAI.
• Engaging Stakeholders and Public Awareness: The government should engage with food business operators, consumers, and public health experts to foster better understanding and compliance with food safety regulations.

Why in the News?

The ghee samples used by ‘Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams’ for ritual offerings and ‘Laddu Prasadam’ were found to contain foreign fats, including fish oil, beef tallow, and lard, as per the NDDB’s analysis report.

What did the ALF of the National Dairy Development Board find in the Tirupati laddus?

• The Centre for Analysis and Learning in Livestock and Food (CALF) of the National Dairy Development Board found that ghee samples supplied to the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) for preparing laddus were adulterated with various fats.

• Adulterants detected included:

• • Plant-based fats: soybean, sunflower oil, rapeseed oil, linseed, wheat germ, maize germ, cotton seed, coconut, and palm kernel fat.
  • Animal-based fats: fish oil, beef tallow, and lard (pig fat).

Why maintaining a good baseline data (specific to Indian conditions) is necessary?

• Biological Variation in Indian Cows: Baseline data specific to Indian cows is needed for accurate results. Indian cows may have different genetic and biochemical profiles compared to European cows, meaning the existing international standards for detecting adulteration (like the ‘s-values’) may not accurately reflect the composition of Indian cow ghee.
• Adulterants Unique to Local Conditions: The types of adulterants commonly used in India, such as certain vegetable oils or animal fats, may differ from those in other regions. Establishing baseline data for Indian adulterants would improve the precision of detecting the specific types of foreign fats used in India.
• Accurate Interpretation of Results: Without specific data on the composition of Indian cow ghee, it becomes difficult to interpret the results from methods like gas chromatography. Customized baseline data ensures that the detection methods yield accurate and meaningful conclusions in the Indian context.

Way forward: 

• Strengthen Enforcement Mechanisms: Increase resources for testing facilities and train personnel to implement FSSAI standards more effectively, ensuring regular checks for sophisticated adulteration.
• Develop India-Specific Testing Protocols: Create testing standards based on baseline data specific to Indian cows and local adulterants to improve accuracy in detecting food adulteration.

Why in the News?

India’s land governance system is a tangled web of laws that have significantly impeded the nation’s economic and social progress for many years.

What are the limitations of digitisation in land law reform?

• Failure to Address Legal Complexities: Digitisation alone does not resolve the underlying conflicts in land laws, such as unclear titles, insecure tenure, and legal ambiguities around land ownership and transfers.
• Outdated Records: Even digitised land records may remain outdated or inaccurate, undermining the reliability of property titles and failing to improve access to formal credit.
• Ineffectiveness in Fragmented Land Markets: Digitisation does not solve the issue of land fragmentation, which reduces agricultural productivity and hampers investment.
• Limited Impact on Tenancy and Leasing Laws: Digitisation does not address restrictions on land leasing or tenancy, leaving land markets inefficient and informal.
• Overreliance on Administrative Procedures: The complexities of legal and administrative frameworks still hinder land ownership, transfers, and use, despite digitisation efforts.
• Political Exemptions from Judicial Review: The exclusion of land laws from judicial scrutiny through the Ninth Schedule limits accountability and the ability to challenge unjust political or administrative actions.

How do socio-political factors influence the effectiveness of digitisation efforts?

• Political Resistance: Local and state-level political interests may resist changes to land laws that could undermine entrenched power structures or vested interests, impeding the effectiveness of digitisation efforts.
• Rent-Seeking Behavior: Complex land laws and administrative procedures encourage rent-seeking, making digitisation ineffective without legal reforms that simplify regulations.
• Cultural Norms and Gender Disparities: Socio-political dynamics, especially regarding gender and caste, influence land ownership patterns, limiting the impact of digitisation in addressing social inequalities.
• State Variability: Differences in state capacity, resources, and political will lead to uneven adoption and success of digitisation efforts across India.
• Lack of Integration in Subsidy Targeting: Social and political factors, such as inefficient targeting of subsidies (e.g., fertiliser subsidies not linked to land records), limit the impact of digitisation on equitable resource distribution.
• Exclusion from Judicial Review: The Ninth Schedule’s protection of land laws from judicial review allows political decisions to go unchallenged, reducing the long-term effectiveness of digitisation reforms.

What additional measures are necessary for effective land law reform? (Way forward)

• Comprehensive Legal Reforms: Overhaul conflicting land laws to ensure clarity, secure property titles, and strengthen property rights.
• Tenancy and Leasing Reforms: Modernise and liberalise tenancy laws to formalise leasing arrangements and reduce the risk of expropriation.
• Land Use Flexibility: Reforms allowing easier conversion of land use between agricultural, industrial, and residential sectors to ensure optimal land utilisation.
• Land Consolidation Policies: Facilitate land consolidation to improve agricultural productivity and attract investment by reducing fragmentation.
• Gender Equality in Land Ownership: Strengthen laws ensuring equal land and property rights for women, addressing gender-based inequalities in land ownership.
• Judicial Oversight: Allow land laws to be subject to judicial review, ensuring fairness and protecting against arbitrary political and administrative decisions.

Why in the News?

• On September 20, the Bombay High Court declared the amended IT Rules, 2021, unconstitutional for empowering the Centre’s Fact Check Unit to flag “fake or misleading” content about the government, citing vagueness.
• Justice Atul Sharachchandra Chandurkar delivered the decisive ruling as the tie-breaker judge, following a split verdict by a division bench of Justices G.S. Patel and Neela Gokhale in January 2024.

Why did the Bombay High Court strike down IT Rules, 2021?

• Violation of Constitutional Rights: Justice Atul Chandurkar ruled that the amended rules violated Articles 14 (right to equality) and 19 (freedom of speech and expression) of the Constitution. He characterized the terms “fake, false, or misleading” as vague and overbroad, which could lead to arbitrary enforcement by the government.
• Censorship Concerns: The court emphasized that the rules amounted to censorship and lacked necessary procedural safeguards. Justice Patel’s earlier opinion highlighted that they effectively made the government a “judge in its own cause,” undermining free speech.
• Chilling Effect on Intermediaries: The requirement for social media intermediaries to act on flagged content within 36 hours to retain their legal protections was seen as creating a chilling effect, discouraging platforms from hosting diverse opinions and criticisms of the government.

What did the amended rules ask of social media intermediaries? 

The amended Rule 3(1)(b)(v) mandated that social media intermediaries must:

• Make “reasonable efforts” to prevent users from uploading content flagged by the FCU as misinformation.
• Remove such flagged content within 36 hours if they wish to maintain their “safe harbour” protection against liability for third-party content.

Supreme Court’s Intervention

• Appointing Justice Chandurkar as a tie-breaker judge to provide a final ruling on the matter after petitions were filed challenging the amended rules.
• Initially dismissing applications for an interim stay on the FCU’s establishment but later staying its operation until a final decision was reached regarding the constitutional validity of the rules.

Way forward: 

• Strengthen Procedural Safeguards: Any fact-checking mechanism should include clear, objective guidelines, and an independent review process to avoid arbitrariness and protect free speech rights under the Constitution.
• Promote Transparency and Oversight: Establish a transparent, multi-stakeholder oversight body that includes civil society, legal experts, and technology professionals to ensure fair implementation and avoid misuse of content regulation powers.

Why in the News?

India is currently experiencing an urban transformation due to significant demographic shifts and increasing infrastructure needs. To effectively address these challenges, it must adopt a holistic urban-rural continuum approach.

Issue of Over-Centralisation of Finances:

• Over Financial Centralisation: Recent times have seen an over-centralization of finances, which has negatively impacted financial decentralization and autonomy for local bodies.
  • The 13th Finance Commission highlighted that local bodies are being “asphyxiated” due to this centralization.
• Tied vs. Untied Grants: Local bodies face financial constraints because grants are often tied to centrally sponsored schemes. 
  • The rise in property tax needs to match the rise in State Goods and Services Tax to avoid losing tied grants, which have increased relative to untied grants over the years.
• Programmatic Limitations: Flagship programmes like the Swachh Bharat Mission and Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) fail to address the urban-rural continuum effectively.
• Urban-Rural Continuum Challenge: Infrastructure funding for areas like sewage treatment plants often excludes contiguous urban villages and census towns, which are integral parts of the broader urban ecosystem.

Governance models needs to be revisited:

• 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendments: District Planning Committees, including Zila Panchayats and urban local bodies, need to be empowered to address the urban-rural continuum effectively.
• Strengthening District Planning Committees: Currently, District Planning Committees are often subordinate to the district bureaucracy. Strengthening these committees can better integrate urban and rural planning and improve governance.
• Integrated Planning: The current approach to separate urban and rural local bodies needs updating. Given India’s rapid urbanisation, there is a need for integrated and joint planning to address the blurring lines between urban and rural areas effectively.
• Collaborative Infrastructure Planning: Solid waste management and other infrastructure projects could benefit from collaborative planning at the district or regional levels, rather than being implemented in a compartmentalised manner.

Way forward: 

• Enhance Financial Decentralisation and Flexibility: Reform financial mechanisms to reduce centralisation, provide greater autonomy to local bodies, and ensure grants are more flexible, allowing for better alignment of local needs with urban-rural continuum challenges.
• Strengthen Integrated Planning Frameworks: Revise governance models to empower District Planning Committees for more cohesive urban-rural planning, and promote collaborative infrastructure development across district and regional levels to address the interconnectedness of urban and rural areas.

Mains PYQ:

Q What are ‘Smart Cities’? examine their relevance for urban development in India. Will it increase rural-urban differences? Give arguments for ‘Smart Villages’ in the light of PURA and RURBAN Mission. (UPSC IAS/2016)

Why in the News?

The Union Ministry dissolved the Standing Committee on Statistics (SCoS) headed by eminent economist and former chief statistician of the country Pronab Sen citing overlapping roles with the Steering Committee.

Why was the SCoS dissolved?

• Overlapping Responsibilities: The primary reason cited for the dissolution of the SCoS was that its functions overlapped with those of the newly formed Steering Committee for National Sample Surveys.
• Concerns Raised by Members: Members of the SCoS had consistently questioned the delay in conducting the census, which has been a critical source of data for policymakers.
• Lack of Communication: Dr. Pronab Sen, the chair of the SCoS, noted that members were not provided with a specific reason for the committee’s dissolution, which raised concerns about transparency in the decision-making process.

What are the main roles of the new Steering Committee?

• Advisory Role: The Steering Committee will advise the Ministry on survey methodologies, including aspects like sampling frames, design, and survey instruments, similar to the SCoS.
• Finalizing Tabulation Plans: This will play a crucial role in finalizing the tabulation plans for various national sample surveys, ensuring that the data collected is organized and presented effectively.
• Reviewing Methodologies: The committee will review subject results, methodologies, and questionnaires related to national sample surveys, maintaining the continuity of statistical rigor established by the SCoS.
• Tenure and Composition: The Steering Committee consists of 17 members, including at least four members retained from the SCoS, and will serve a tenure of two years.

How do the SCoS and the Steering Committee differ?

• Composition: The Steering Committee has a higher number of official members compared to the SCoS, which includes several non-official members. This shift may influence the dynamics and perspectives within the committee.
• Mandate Overlap: While both committees have similar mandates regarding survey methodologies and data collection, the Steering Committee is positioned to focus more on the operational aspects of national sample surveys, potentially leading to a more streamlined approach.
• Response to Criticism: The formation of the Steering Committee appears to be a response to criticisms of the statistical system in India, aiming to address survey-related issues more effectively than the SCoS could.

How does the SCoS’s dissolution impact statistical data quality?

• Delay in Census Data: The dissolution of the SCoS amid ongoing delays in conducting the census raises concerns about the availability of reliable and updated data. The last census was conducted in 2011, and reliance on outdated data can negatively affect policy-making and the distribution of welfare benefits.
• Quality of Administrative Data: Critics argue that administrative data, which the government has been relying on, may not accurately reflect the employment scenario, as it is often threshold-based and susceptible to manipulation. This could lead to a distorted view of the economic situation.
• Need for Comprehensive Data: The census is crucial for providing comprehensive demographic, economic, and social data, which is essential for effective policy formulation. The absence of updated census data can hinder the government’s ability to address issues like employment, poverty, and social welfare effectively.

Way forward: 

• Reinstate Independent Oversight: Establish an independent statistical body with clear roles to ensure transparency, timely data collection, and oversight of key surveys like the census, addressing concerns of data reliability.
• Modernize Data Collection: Leverage technology to streamline and accelerate the census and national surveys, ensuring that updated and accurate data is available for policy-making and welfare distribution.