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GS Paper: Government Scheme/Policies

  • India’s refugee Policy & Issues with it

    The article highlights the issue of the lack of refugee protection framework in India and suggests enacting domestic law to deal with the issue. 

    India’s record on refugee protection

    • India, for the most part, has had a stellar record on the issue of refugee protection.
    • But this moral tradition has come under great stress of late.
    • New Delhi has been one of the largest recipients of refugees in the world in spite of not being a party to the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol.

    Confusion in policies for immigrants and refugees

    • Much of the debate in India is about illegal immigrants, not refugees, the two categories tend to get bunched together.
    • Our policies towards illegal immigrants and refugees is confused is because as per Indian law, both categories of people are viewed as one and the same and are covered under the Foreigners Act, 1946.
    • The act offers a simple definition of a foreigner — “foreigner” means “a person who is not a citizen of India”.
    • There are fundamental differences between illegal immigrants and refugees, but India is legally ill-equipped to deal with them separately due to a lack of legal provisions.
    • Also, India is not a party to the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol, the key legal documents pertaining to refugee protection.

    How absence of policy framework creates problems

    • The absence of legal framework for refugees leads to policy ambiguity whereby India’s refugee policy is guided primarily by ad hocism and ‘political utility’.
    • At the same time, the absence of a legal framework increases the possibility of the domestic politicisation of refugee protection and complicates its geopolitical faultlines.
    • The absence of a clearly laid down refugee protection law also opens the door for geopolitical considerations while deciding to admit refugees or not.
    • For example, India’s decision in the recent case of admitting Myanmarese refugees fleeing to India was influence by the possibility of irking the Generals in Naypyitaw.
    • However, hypothetically speaking, if New Delhi had domestic legislation regarding refugees it could have tempered the expectations of the junta to return the fleeing Myanmarese.

    Why India has not signed convention and protocol on refugee protection

    • The definition of refugees in the 1951 convention only pertains to the violation of civil and political rights, but not economic rights, of individuals.
    • If the violation of economic rights were to be included in the definition of a refugee, it would clearly pose a major burden on the developed world.
    • This argument, if used in the South Asian context, could be a problematic proposition for India too.
    • India also need to argue that the North is violating the convention in both letter and spirit, and make its accession conditional on the Western States rolling back the non-entrée (no entry) regime.
    • The non-entrée regime is constituted by a range of legal and administrative measures that include visa restrictions, carrier sanctions, interdictions, third safe-country rule, restrictive interpretations of the definition of ‘refugee’, withdrawal of social welfare benefits to asylum seekers, and widespread practices of detention.”
    • In other words, India must use its exemplary, though less than perfect, history of refugee protection to begin a global conversation on the issue.

    Way forward

    • What other options do we have to respond to the refugee situation we are faced with?
    • The answer perhaps lies in a new domestic law aimed at refugees.
    • The CAA, however, is not the answer to this problem primarily because of its deeply discriminatory nature.
    • What is perhaps equally important is that such a domestic refugee law should allow for temporary shelter and work permit for refugees.
    • India must also make a distinction between temporary migrant workers, illegal immigrants and refugees and deal with each of them differently through proper legal and institutional mechanisms.

    Consider the question “What are the reasons for India’s not singing 1951 Refugee Convention? What are the options India can explore for refugee protection? 

    Conclusion

    Our traditional practice of managing these issues with ambiguity and political expediency has become deeply counterproductive: It neither protects the refugees nor helps stop illegal immigration into the country.

  • Need to remove the secrecy around the electoral bonds

    The article highlights the issues with the electoral bond scheme and suggests an alternatives.

    Secrecy in donations

    • Before the electoral bond scheme, every transaction of more than Rs 20,000 was reported to the Election Commission.
    • Now even Rs 20 crore or Rs 200 crore could be donated anonymously. 
    • Why should donors want secrecy? To hide return favours, like contracts, licences and bank loans.
    • Both the RBI and ECI, standing up to their mandates, had registered their strong protest.

    How electoral bond scheme led to changes in provisions of other Acts

    • To make way for electoral bonds amendments were introduced in the Reserve Bank of India Act, Companies Act, Income Tax Act, Representation of the People Act and Foreign Contribution Regulations Act.
    • There were three serious changes which did not receive the deserved attention.

    1) Limit of 7.5 per cent removed

    • First, the limit of 7.5 per cent of its profits which a company could donate was not just increased but completely done away with by amending section 182 of the Companies Act, 2013.
    • Thus a company could donate 100 per cent of its profits to a political party.
    • Even a loss-making company could make political donations.
    • This is a sure step to legitimise and legalise crony capitalism.

    2) Requirement of resolution removed

    • The requirements for a resolution by the board of directors for a company to make donations to political parties and to declare the political donations in the profit and loss accounts were also removed.
    • This would allow keeping the donations secret not only from the public but the owners of the company, the shareholders — ironically, all in the name of transparency.

    3) Secrecy in contribution from foreign source

    • Section 29B of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 prohibits all political parties from accepting any contribution from a “foreign source.”
    • Section 3 of the 2010 Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act bars candidates, legislative members, political parties and party officeholders from accepting foreign contributions.
    • When the High Court of Delhi in 2014 found Congress and BJP having accepted foreign funds in violation of the FCRA 1976, the government passed a retroactive amendment through a 2016 Finance Bill which repealed the 1976 Act and replaced it with the modified 2010 statute.
    • If any foreign country is financing our elections, it will now be a protected secret.

    Way forward

    • The Supreme Court’s concern about the possibility of misuse of funds is very pertinent.
    • The EC has been demanding that a law be passed to make political parties liable to get their accounts audited by an auditor from a panel suggested by the CAG or EC.
    • If the government don’t want to abolish the electoral bond scheme it should just make changes to it to disclose the donor and the recipient.
    • Another alternative is to do away with private fund collection altogether and replace it with public funding of political parties.
    • This is not likely to be more than Rs 10,000 crore every five years, if we were to go by the entire collection all the parties make together.
    • Another feasible option is to establish a National Election Fund to which all donations could be directed.
    • This would take care of the imaginary fear of political reprisal of the donors. 

    Consider the question “What were the changes introduced in various Acts for the introduction of the electoral bond scheme? What are the issues with these changes?”

    Conclusion

    We must not forget the finance minister’s opening statement in the 2017 Budget speech that “without transparency of political funding, free and fair elections are not possible”.

  • Address the silent crisis of India’s gender deficit

    The recently released Gener Gap Report paints a grim picture for India. The deal with this issue.

    Where India Stands

    • The World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Global Gender Gap Report 2021 was released last week.
    • The report lays bare our silent crisis of gender inequality, aggravated by the covid pandemic.
    • India has slipped 28 places to 140th position among 156 countries on the WEF’s Global Gender Gap Index.
    • The country is now 37.5% short of an ideal situation of equality, by its index, last year it was a 33.2% deficit on the whole.
    • Back in 2006, we were almost 40% short, but even the slight progress made over the past 15 years has been highly uneven.
    • Gains were made on the education and political empowerment of women, we slid sharply on health and economic parameters.

    Factors to consider

    • Though pandemic has been responsible for the decline to a significant extent, many of our deficiencies are pre-covid.
    • Some of the drop in India’s international rank over the past two years, for example, has to do with regression in the field of political power.
    • The proportion of women ministers more than halved to 9.1% of the total, though our count of female Parliamentarians did not budge from its long stagnancy.
    • Our performance over the past decade-and-a-half has been poor on women’s economic opportunities and participation.
    • Indian workforce has been turning more predominantly male.
    • Senior managerial positions in the corporate sector have not seen sufficient female appointees.
    • At the aggregate level, our income disparity is glaring.
    • Women earn only a fifth of men, which puts India among the world’s worst 10 on this indicator.
    • We fare worse on women’s health and survival, with India beaten to the last rank only by China.

    Why proportionally fewer Indian women in jobs?

    • One explanation is that sociocultural attitudes go against women going out to work, unless the family lacks sustenance, and deprivation has been in decline for decades.
    • Another is that families prefer educated mothers to invest time in teaching their kids.
    • Both these motives are said to be influenced by upward income mobility and a quest for better lives.
    • Yet, the covid setback to both family incomes and gender progress would suggest the reasons are mostly attitudinal.

    Way forward

    • If the reasons are attitudinal, tax incentives and other schemes are unlikely to get women taking up more jobs.
    • What we need are new forms of social persuasion, which must go with credible assurances of gender equity in every sphere.

    Conclusion

    A country’s economic progress is inextricably linked to empowered women. So, India needs to act on the silent crisis of India’s gender deficit to move up the economic ladder.

  • A new architecture of economic growth is required

    The article highlights the factors to consider in framing the policies for the well being of the people.

    Increase in inequality

    • According to a report released by the World Bank, while India’s stock markets rose during the pandemic the number of people who are poor in India with incomes of $2 or less a day is estimated to have increased by 75 million.
    • This accounts for nearly 60% of the global increase in poverty, the report says.
    • The old global economy was very good for migrant capital, which could move around the world at will.
    • The pandemic has revealed that the old economy was not good for migrant workers, however.
    • Their “ease of living” was often sacrificed for capital’s “ease of doing business”.

    New strategy for growth

    • India urgently needs a new strategy for growth, founded on new pillars. One is broader progress measures.
    • GDP does not account for vital environmental and social conditions that contribute to human well-being and the sustainability of the planet.
    • According to global assessments, India ranks 120 out of 122 countries in water quality, and 179 out of 180 in air quality.
    • Several frameworks are being developed now to measure what really matters including the health of the environment, and the condition of societies: public services, equal access to opportunities, etc.

    Issues with the present frameworks for measurements

    • Most of these frameworks seek to define universally applicable scorecards.
    • The items measured are given the same weightages in all countries to arrive at a single overall number for each country.
    • This ‘scientific’ approach does enable objective rankings of countries.
    • However, as the Happiness Report explains, this ‘objective’ approach misses the point that happiness and well-being are always ‘subjective’.
    • Therefore, countries in which the spirit of community is high, such as the ‘socialist’ countries of Northern Europe, come on top of well-being rankings even when their per capita incomes are not the highest.

    Solutions for well being

    • The universal solution for improving well-being is for local communities to work together to find their own solutions.
    • Locals know which factors in the 17 Sustainable Development Goals matter the most to them.
    • Standard global solutions will neither make their conditions better nor make them happier.
    • Therefore, communities must be allowed to, and assisted to, find their own solutions to complex problems.
    • The philosopher Michael J. Sandel says that the ideology of ‘individualism’ justifies indifference to the conditions of those less well off.
    • It denies that societal conditions are responsible for the difficulties poor people have.
    • It also conveniently hides that societal conditions have contributed substantially to the wealth of those well-off.

    Consider the question “Rising income inequality in the aftermath of the pandemic points to the need for a new architecture of growth. Discuss.” 

    Conclusion

    When only some shine, India does not shine. Therefore, the government has to pursue the policies that result in the well being of the majority and not a few.

  • Unique Land Parcel Identification Number (ULPIN) Scheme

    The Centre plans to roll out the Unique Land Parcel Identification Number (ULPIN) Scheme.

    ULPIN Scheme

    • The ULPIN scheme has been launched in ten States this year and will be rolled out across the country by March 2022, the Department of Land Resources told the Standing Committee on Rural Development.
    • It would allot a 14-digit identification number to every plot of land in the country within a year’s time.
    • It will subsequently integrate its land records database with revenue court records and bank records, as well as Aadhaar numbers on a voluntary basis.
    • The scheme will enhance the service deliveries to the citizen of the country and will also function as inputs to the schemes of the other sectors like Agriculture, Finance Disaster Management etc.

    “Aadhaar number” for Land

    • Officials described it as “the Aadhaar for land”, a number that would uniquely identify every surveyed parcel of land and prevent land fraud, especially in the hinterlands of rural India, where land records are outdated and often disputed.
    • The identification will be based on the longitude and latitude coordinates of the land parcel and is dependent on detailed surveys and geo-referenced cadastral maps, according to a presentation the Department made to States in September 2020.
    • This is the next step in the Digital India Land Records Modernization Programme (DILRMP), which began in 2008 and has been extended several times as its scope grew.

    Try this PYQ:

    Q.Consider the following statements:

    1. Aadhaar card can be used as proof of citizenship or domicile.
    2. Once issued, the Aadhaar number cannot be deactivated or omitted by the Issuing Authority.

    Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

    (a) 1 only

    (b) 2 only

    (c) Both 1 and 2

    (d) Neither 1 nor 2

    A cost-effective approach

    • Linking Aadhaar with land records through ULPIN would cost ₹3 per record while seeding and authentication of landowner Aadhaar data would cost ₹5 each.
    • It added that the integration of the Aadhaar numbers with the land record database would be done on a voluntary basis.

  • Here is why the electoral bonds scheme must go

    The article highlights the constitutional objections to the electoral bond scheme.

    Context

    • The Supreme Court, after a brief hearing on March 24, reserved orders on the question of whether or not to stay the electoral bond scheme, ahead of the upcoming State elections.

    Issues

    1) Against democracy

    • When citizens cast their votes they have the right to do so on the basis of full and complete information.
    • And there is no piece of information more important than the knowledge of who funds political parties.
    • The Indian Supreme Court has long held — and rightly so — that the “right to know”, especially in the context of elections, is an integral part of the right to freedom of expression under the Indian Constitution.
    • By keeping this knowledge from citizens and voters, the electoral bonds scheme violates fundamental tenets of our democracy.

    2) Aids role of money in influencing politics

    • It is equally important that if a democracy is to thrive, the role of money in influencing politics ought to be limited.
    • In many advanced countries, for example, elections are funded publicly.
    • The purpose of this is to guarantee a somewhat level playing field, so that elections are a battle of ideas and not money.
    • The electoral bonds scheme, however, removes all pre-existing limits on political donations, and effectively allows well-resourced corporations to buy politicians by paying immense sums of money.

    3) Creates asymmetry in donation

    • Electoral bonds allow receiving limitless donation and that too asymmetrically.
    •  Since the donations are routed through the State Bank of India, it is possible for the government to find out who is donating to which party, but not for the political opposition to know.
    • This, in turn, means that every donor is aware that the central government can trace their donations back to them.
    • Statistics bear this out: a vast majority of the immensely vast sums donated through multiple electoral cycles over the last three years, have gone to the ruling party.

    Issues with the government’s defence

    • The government has attempted to justify the electoral bonds scheme by arguing that its purpose is to prevent the flow of black money into elections.
    •  It is entirely unclear what preventing black money has to do with donor anonymity, making donations limitless, and leaving citizens in the dark.
    • Indeed, as the electoral bonds scheme allows even foreign donations to political parties.
    • With this the prospects of institutional corruption including by foreign sources increases with the electoral bonds scheme, instead of decreasing.

    Constitutional objections

    • The objections to the electoral bonds scheme, highlighted above, are not objections rooted in political morality, or in public policy, they are constitutional objections.
    • The right to know has long been enshrined as a part of the right to freedom of expression.
    • Uncapping political donations and introducing a structural bias into the form of the donations violate both the guarantee of equality before law, as well as being manifestly arbitrary.

    Judiciary must act

    • Governments derive their legitimacy from elections.
    • However, for just that reason the process that leads up to the formation of the government should be policed with particular vigilance.
    • In other words, the electoral legitimacy of the government is questionable if the electoral process has become questionable.
    • The courts is the only independent body that can adequately umpire and enforce the ground rules of democracy.

    Consider the question “How electoral bond scheme can play role in preventing black money in elections? What are the issues with the electoral bond scheme? 

    Conclusion

    The government should take into account the distorting effect of the electoral bonds scheme and take measures to remove the provisions in the scheme that leaves the scope for its misuse.

  • New Vehicle Scrappage Policy

    Auto majors have welcomed the new vehicle scrappage policy rolled out by Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, saying it would encourage people to replace old vehicles while boosting the sector.

    Under the policy, those choosing to voluntarily scrap their old vehicles will get financial incentives from the government and the automaker.

    Vehicle Scrappage Policy: Key Highlights

    • Personal vehicles older than 20 years and commercial vehicles older than 15 years will have to undergo a fitness test at the government registered ‘Automated Fitness Centres’.
    • Vehicles that fail to pass the test will be declared as ‘end-of-life vehicles’, which would mean that the vehicle would have to be recycled.
    • This will pave the way for older vehicles to be scrapped.
    • In case, the vehicles pass the test, owners will have to pay a hefty fee for re-registration.
    • According to the new policy, the re-registration fee would be hiked around eight times for personal vehicles, and around 20 times for commercial vehicles.

    What Are Automated Fitness Centres?

    • Every vehicle will have to go under a mandatory fitness test at the automated fitness centres.
    • The government aims to have at least 718 centres across the country.
    • These centres will test the vehicle’s emission, and braking and other safety components as prescribed by Central Motor Vehicle Rules, 1989.
    • Appointments to these centres will have to be booked online and the fitness report will be electronically generated.

    Change in Fee Structure

    • The government has increased the fee for renewal and grant of fitness certificate of older vehicles up to 20 times.
    • Here is the new fee structure for personal vehicles older than 15 years:
    1. Two-wheelers – Rs 1,000
    2. Three-wheeler/quadricycles – Rs 3,500
    3. Cars – Rs 7,500

    (Do not worry about the data. It is the state PSCs which may ask such information)

    For commercial vehicles:

    1. Passenger motor vehicles – Rs 10,000
    2. Heavy goods/large motor vehicles – Rs 12,500

    Benefits for buyers

    • In case you decide to scrap your old vehicle at the registered scrapping centres, you will get approximately 4-6 per cent of the value of the vehicle’s ex-showroom price.
    • The ex-showroom price is the cost of the vehicle, excluding the charges paid for registering the vehicle at RTO and insurance.
    • Moreover, if you buy a new vehicle you will be given a flat 5 per cent discount on presenting a scrapping certificate.
    • Registration fees will also be waived on the purchase of a new vehicle.

    Obtaining a Scrapping Certificate

    • Old vehicle owners will be able to formally scrap their registered vehicles at the automated scrapping centres.
    • These centres will be linked with the Vahan database of the transport ministry.
    • After you scrap your vehicle with the government registered agency, you will be provided with the scrapping certificate.
    • You will then be eligible for the benefits proposed under the scheme.

    Implementation

    Tentative timeline for the new rules:

    • Rules for fitness tests and government scrapping centres to come into effect – 1 October 2021
    • The scrapping of government and PSU vehicles above 15 years of age to start – 1 April 2022
    • Fitness testing for heavy commercial vehicles – 1 April 2023

  • Jharkhand’s SAAMAR campaign to fight malnutrition

    The Jharkhand government has announced the launch of the SAAMAR campaign to tackle malnutrition in the state.

    We can expect an MCQ like:

    Q.SAAMAR campaign sometimes seen in news is related to:

    () Bovine health

    () Mother and Child Health

    () Non-communicable diseases

    () None of these

    SAAMAR

    • SAAMAR is an acronym for Strategic Action for Alleviation of Malnutrition and Anemia Reduction.
    • The campaign aims to identify anaemic women and malnourished children and converge various departments to effectively deal with the problem in a state where malnutrition has been a major problem.
    • Every second child in the state is stunted and underweight and every third child is affected by stunting and every 10th child is affected by severe wasting and around 70% of children are anaemic NFHS-4 data.

    Features of the scheme

    • Although existing schemes are there, seeing the current situation, the intervention was required with a ‘different approach to reduce malnutrition.
    • SAAMAR has been launched with a 1000 days target, under which annual surveys will be conducted to track the progress.
    • It talks of convergence of various departments such as the Rural Development Department and Food and Civil Supplies and engagement with school management committees, gram sabhas among others and making them aware of nutritional behaviour.
    • Most importantly, the campaign, as per the note, also tries to target Primarily Vulnerable Tribal Groups.

    Outlined strategy under the scheme

    • To tackle severe acute malnutrition children, every Anganwadi Centres will be engaged to identify these children and subsequently will be treated at the Malnutrition Treatment Centres.
    • In the same process, the anaemic women will also be listed and will be referred to health centres in serious cases.
    • All of these will be done by measuring Mid-Upper Arm Circumference (MUAC) of women and children through MUAC tapes and Edema levels.
    • Angawadi’s Sahayia and Sevika will take them to the nearest Health Centre where they will be checked again and then registered on the portal of State Nutrition Mission.

    Why need such a scheme?

    • The state government runs various schemes under Child Development Schemes, National Nutrition Mission among others to deal with the situation, but it is not enough.
    • Dealing with malnutrition in the state monitoring has been an important concern due to the lack of doctors or health care workers.

  • Orunudoi Scheme

    Ahead of the Assam Assembly elections, the Orunudoi scheme, with women as its primary target group, is the most popular.

    There can be confusion from the name of the scheme.

    Orunudoi Scheme

    • Through Orunodoi — announced in the 2020-21 Budget — monthly assistance of Rs 830 is transferred to women members of marginalised families of Assam.
    • On account of being a DBT, or a Direct Benefit Transfer scheme, the money is credited directly to the bank account of the woman head of a family because they are primary caretakers of the household.
    • The scheme gives a choice to the poor and needy households on how they want to spend their money.

    Eligibility criteria

    • The applicant, a woman, has to be a permanent resident of Assam, whose composite household income should be less than Rs 2 lakh per annum.
    • Families with specially-abled members and divorced/widowed/separated /unmarried women are prioritized.
    • Poorer families, those without the National Food Security Act (NFSA) or ration cards, are also given priority.

  • The IT Rules 2021 seek regulatory parity, but threaten to curb creative freedom

    The article argues that IT Rules 2021 far exceeds the rulemaking power granted under Section 69A of the IT Act.

    Censoring online video streaming

    • Online video streaming platforms have marked a new dawn for the Indian entertainment industry.
    • The spectre of government regulation and criminalisation haunts this fledgling industry.
    • There have been various efforts to censor online video streaming platforms by petitioning the courts for a long time.
    • At least 23 petitions were being heard by different high courts on the issue of regulation of online video streaming platforms.
    • The grievances range from wounded religious sentiments to moral outrage against depictions of sexuality but the common thread that unites them is a desire to control what other citizens may watch in the privacy of their homes.
    • In addition to petitions seeking heavy-handed regulation, criminal proceedings have been initiated against employees of companies like Netflix and Amazon Prime.
    • While such FIRs may be in the context of specific films or shows, they cause substantial harassment and threaten the personal liberty of content creators and company executives.

    IT Rules 2021 exceeds the rulemaking power under Section 69A of IT Act

    • The imposition of any kind of criminal liability under the IT Rules 2021 would far exceed the central government’s rule-making power under Section 69A of the IT Act.
    • The existing three-tier regulatory mechanism and content classification system prescribed under the rules are also unconstitutional for the same reason.
    • The following three issues need to be considered while considering the IT Rules 2021.
    • First, the powers under Section 69A can be exercised only in the interest of the sovereignty, defence, security of the State, friendly relations with foreign States or public order or for preventing incitement etc.
    • The implication is that the powers under Section 69A cannot be used to regulate online content which may be obscene or sexually explicit.
    • Second, Section 69A states that the central government may direct “any agency of the Government or intermediary” to block access to online content but online video streaming platforms do not fall into either of these two categories.
    • Companies like Netflix and Amazon Prime commission or license the films and shows available on their platforms, and they are not an “intermediary” under the IT Act.
    • Third, Section 69A only grants the central government the power to “block for access by the public or cause to be blocked for access by the public any information generated, transmitted, received, stored or hosted in any computer resource.”
    • However, the range of powers granted under the IT Rules 2021 is much broader and includes requiring an apology or disclaimer, re-classification of content and deletion or modification of content.
    • As a result, the IT Rules 2021 significantly expand the scope of powers available under Section 69A.

    Issues with the three-tier regulatory framework

    • The three-tier regulatory framework created under the rules suffers from the substantive problem of lack of independence.
    • The third tier, which is the Inter-Departmental Committee, comprises entirely of bureaucrats and there is no guaranteed representation from the judiciary or civil society.
    • The Review Committee constituted under Rule 419A of the Indian Telegraph Rules, 1951 also solely consists of officials belonging to the executive branch.

    Way forward

    • The solution is to start afresh with publication of a white paper which clearly outlines the harms that are sought to be addressed through regulation of online video streaming platforms and meaningful public consultation which is not limited to industry representatives.
    • If regulation is still deemed to be necessary, then it must be implemented through legislation that is debated in Parliament instead of relying upon Section 69A of the IT Act.

    Consider the question “The IT Rules 2021 have been criticised for exceeding the rulemaking power under Section 69A of the IT Act. Examine the scope of the criticism.”

    Conclusion

    Many of the changes that the central government seeks to implement through the IT Rules 2021 may be well-intentioned and desirable. However, constitutional due process cannot be sacrificed at the altar of expediency