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GS Paper: GS2

  • Status of China’s Belt and Road Initiative in South Asia

    China has felt a need to re-visit the various projects under the BRI in different South Asian countries.

    Why in news?

    • At the recently concluded summit of G-7 leaders in Germany, US and his allies unveiled their $600 billion plan called the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Intelligence.
    • This is being seen as a counter to China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), valued at a trillion U.S. dollars by some experts.

    What is China’s Belt and Road Initiative?

    • In 2013, Chinese President Xi Jinping, during his visits to Kazakhstan and Indonesia, expressed his vision to build a Silk Road Economic Belt and a 21st Century Maritime Silk Road.
    • He then aimed to break the “bottleneck” in Asian connectivity. This vision led to the birth of the BRI.
    • The initiative envisioned a Chinese-led investment of over $1 trillion in partner countries by 2025.
    • More than 60 countries have now joined BRI agreements with China, with infrastructure projects under the initiative being planned or under construction in Asia, Africa, Europe, and Latin America.

    How does BRI work?

    • To finance BRI projects, China offers huge loans at commercial interest rates that countries have to pay within a fixed number of years.
    • The west has accused China of debt-trapping by extending “predatory loans” that force countries to cede key assets to China.
    • However, research indicates that low and middle-income countries are often the ones to approach China after not being able to secure loans from elsewhere.
    • In recent years, the BRI seems to have experienced a slowing down as annual Chinese lending to countries slimmed from its peak of $125 billion in 2015 to around $50 to 55 billion in 2021.

    What have been the BRI’s investments in Pakistan?

    • On his 2015 visit to Pakistan, Xi unveiled the BRI’s flagship project and its biggest one in a single country — the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
    • The CPEC envisioned multiple projects involving energy, transport and communication systems.
    • At the centre of the CPEC was the $700 million development of the city of Gwadar into a smart port city that would become the “Singapore of Pakistan”.
    • Other major projects are the orange line metro, coal power plants to tackle energy shortages and the Main Line 1 rail project from Peshawar to Karachi.

    Pace of progress in Pakistan

    • Multiple reports have shown that shipping activities at the Gwadar Port is almost negligible so far, with only some trade to Afghanistan.
    • Gwadar residents have also protested against the large security force deployed to protect Chinese nationals involved in projects.
    • Chinese nations has also became the target of multiple deadly attacks by Baloch freedom fighters.
    • Coal plants were set up and managed by Chinese firms to improve the power situation in Pakistan.
    • Chinese power firms closing down their operations as the latter did not pay dues worth 300 billion in Pakistani rupees (approximately $1.5 billion).

    What about Sri Lanka?

    • In Sri Lanka, multiple infrastructure projects that were being financed by China came under the fold of the BRI after it was launched in 2013.
    • In 2021, Colombo ejected India and Japan out of a deal to develop the East Container Terminal at the Colombo port and got China to take up the project.
    • Some BRI projects in Sri Lanka have been described as white elephants — such as the Hambantota port.
    • The port had always been secondary to the busy Colombo port until the latter ran out of capacity.
    • Other key projects under BRI include the development of the Colombo International Container Terminal, the Central Expressway and the Hambantota International Airport among others.

    Projects in Afghanistan

    • Afghanistan has not comprehensively been brought into the BRI, despite a MoU being signed with China in 2016.
    • China had promised investments worth $100 million in Afghanistan which is small in comparison to what it shelled out in other South Asian countries.
    • The projects have not materialised so far and uncertainties have deepened after the Taliban takeover last year.

    Projects in Maldives

    • Situated in the middle of the Indian Ocean, Maldives comprises two hundred islands, and both India and China have strategic interests there.
    • One of the most prominent BRI projects undertaken in the Maldives is the two km long China-Maldives Friendship Bridge — a $200 million four lane bridge.
    • Most of China’s investment in the Maldives happened under former President Abdullah Yameen, seen as pro-China.

    Projects in Bangladesh

    • Bangladesh, which joined the BRI in 2016, has been promised the second-highest investment (about $40 billion) in South Asia after Pakistan.
    • It has been able to benefit from the BRI while maintaining diplomatic and strategic ties with both India and China.
    • It has managed to not upset India by getting India to build infrastructure projects similar to BRI in the country.
    • BRI projects include Friendship Bridges, special economic zones, the $689.35 million-Karnaphuli River tunnel project, upgradation of the Chittagong port, and a rail line between the port and China’s Yunnan province.
    • However, multiple projects have been delayed owing to the slow release of funds by China.

     

     

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  • Malnutrition in India

    Context

    More than seven decades after independence, India still suffers from the public health issues such as child malnutrition attributing to 68.2% of under-five child mortality.

    What is malnutrition?

    • Malnutrition refers to deficiencies, excesses or imbalances in a person’s intake of energy and/or nutrients.
    • The term malnutrition covers 2 broad groups of conditions.
    • One is ‘undernutrition’—which includes stunting (low height for age), wasting (low weight for height), underweight (low weight for age) and micronutrient deficiencies or insufficiencies (a lack of important vitamins and minerals).
    • The other is overweight, obesity and diet-related non-communicable diseases (such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and cancer).

    Marginal improvement on Stunting and Wasting

    • The National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5) has shown marginal improvement in different nutrition indicators, indicating that the pace of progress is slow.
    • This is despite declining rates of poverty, increased self-sufficiency in food production, and the implementation of a range of government programmes.
    • Children in several States are more undernourished now than they were five years ago.
    • Increased stunting in some states: Stunting is defined as low height-for-age.
    • While there was some reduction in stunting rates (35.5% from 38.4% in NFHS-4) 13 States or Union Territories have seen an increase in stunted children since NFHS-4.
    • This includes Gujarat, Maharashtra, West Bengal and Kerala.
    • Wasting remains stagnant: Wasting is defined as low weight-for-height.
    • Malnutrition trends across NFHS surveys show that wasting, the most visible and life-threatening form of malnutrition, has either risen or has remained stagnant over the years.

    National Nutrition Mission (NNM): Focus on essential nutrition interventions

    • Government appears determined to set it right — with an aggressive push to the National Nutrition Mission (NNM), rebranding it the Prime Minister’s Overarching Scheme for Holistic Nutrition, or POSHAN.
    • Window of opportunity: The Ministry of Women and Child (MWCD) continues to be the nodal Ministry implementing the NNM with a vision to align different ministries to work in tandem on the “window of opportunity” of the first 1,000 days in life (270 days of pregnancy and 730 days; 0-24 months).
    • POSHAN Abhiyaan (now referred as POSHAN 2.0) rightly places a special emphasis on selected high impact essential nutrition interventions, combined with nutrition-sensitive interventions, which indirectly impact mother, infant and young child nutrition, such as improving coverage of maternal-child health services, enhancing women empowerment, availability, and access to improved water, sanitation, and hygiene and enhancing homestead food production for a diversified diet.

    Key findings of NHFS-5 data

    • Data from the National Family Health Survey (NFHS)-5 2019-21, as compared to NFHS-4 2015-16, reveals a substantial improvement in a period of four to five years in several proxy indicators of women’s empowerment.
    • No progress on nutritional intervention: Alarmingly, during this period, the country has not progressed well in terms of direct nutrition interventions.
    • Preconception nutrition, maternal nutrition, and appropriate infant and child feeding remain to be effectively addressed.
    • India has 20% to 30% undernutrition even in the first six months of life when exclusive breastfeeding is the only nourishment required.
    • Neither maternal nutrition care interventions nor infant and young child feeding practices have shown the desired improvement.

    Suggestions

    • Child undernutrition in the first three months remains high. Creating awareness on EBF, promoting the technique of appropriate holding, latching and manually emptying the breast are crucial for the optimal transfer of breast milk to a baby.
    • Complementary feeding: NFHS-5 also confirms a gap in another nutrition intervention — complementary feeding practices, i.e., complementing semi-solid feeding with continuation of breast milk from six months onwards.
    • The fact that 20% of children in higher socio- economic groups are also stunted indicates poor knowledge in food selection and feeding practices and a child’s ability to swallow mashed feed.
    • Creating awareness: So, creating awareness at the right time with the right tools and techniques regarding special care in the first 1,000 days deserves very high priority.
    • Revisit nodal system for nutrition program: There is a need to revisit the nodal system for nutrition programme existing since 1975, the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) under the Ministry of Women and Child and examine whether it is the right system for reaching mother-child in the first 1000 days of life.
    • Alternative way to distribute ICDS supplies: There is also a need to explore whether there is an alternative way to distribute the ICDS supplied supplementary nutrition as Take- Home Ration packets through the Public Distribution (PDS) and free the anganwadi workers of the ICDS to undertake timely counselling on appropriate maternal and child feeding practices.

    Conclusion

    It is time to think out of the box, and overcome systemic flaws and our dependence on the antiquated system of the 1970s that is slowing down the processes.

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  • The perils of multilateralism

    Context

    At a time when the world is trying to grapple with the impact of unprecedented problems which arose in the first two decades of the 21st century, the various intergovernmental organisations and groupings, which are undergoing fundamental changes, may not be fertile places for building peace.

    Contradiction in the BRICS

    • The 14th virtual BRICS summit hosted by China (June 23-24) was a clear attempt by China to hijack the grouping, going by a blueprint it has prepared for the new world order.
    • Not a political grouping: BRICS was not meant to be a political grouping when the acronym, BRIC, was coined by Goldman Sachs economist Jim O’Neill in 2001.
    • Economic grouping: Seeing the possibility of developing a non-western global economic system, China welcomed the idea of BRICS as the nucleus of a new economic grouping and invested energy and resources in building it.
    •  Two permanent members of the Security Council together with three aspirants to permanent membership underscored the contradictions in composition.
    • No support for permanent membership: The fundamental question of support for the three countries to secure permanent membership was fossilised on China’s position that the role of the developing countries should be enhanced, implying that there shall be no expansion of the permanent membership of the Security Council.
    • But the grouping focused on possibilities of cooperation among them by developing institutions such as the New Development Bank, the BRICS Contingent Reserve Arrangement and cooperation in certain sectors.
    • India-China relations: The entire fragile framework of limited cooperation was shattered with the bloodshed at Galwan, when China unilaterally sought to alter the situation on the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
    • China showed no enthusiasm to bring India into the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) even after India met the criteria of a liberalised economy.
    • Expansion for friends: The way China brought in 13 like-minded countries through the back door for a high-level dialogue on global development smacked of unfair means to expand the group with their friends.

    What was achieved by India at G7 meeting

    • India’s presence at G7 meetings are not rare and Germany invited the India to attend the G7 summit in Bavaria.
    • The G7 made its own statement on the Ukraine war on expected lines and India was only involved in other issues such as environment, energy, climate, food security, health, gender equality and democracy.
    • Since it was a war summit, it did not produce any results on other major issues.
    • Curtailing energy supplies from Russia would hurt Germany, France, Japan and others, but they could not get any exemption.
    • India’s gain has been the opportunity it got to interact with world leaders, though it was tinged with the disappointment that India, as a Quad member, did not condemn Russia’s action in Ukraine.

    Conclusion

    Multilateral negotiations will be increasingly difficult in the present chaotic global situation. It is only by working bilaterally with potential allies that India can attain the status of a pole in the new world with steadfast friends and followers.

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  • Custodial deaths

    Context

    The recent spate of custodial deaths in Tamil Nadu has yet again highlighted the methods used by the police during interrogation.

    Custodial deaths in India

    • It is not uncommon knowledge that the police, when they grow increasingly frustrated with the trajectory of their interrogation, sometimes resort to torture and violence which could lead to the death of the suspect.
    • Custodial deaths are common despite enormous time and money being spent on training police personnel to embrace scientific methods of investigation.
    • This is because police personnel are humans from different backgrounds and with different perspectives.

    Use of technology by law enforcement agencies

    • There is no doubt that technology can help avert police custodial deaths. For example, body cameras could hold officers liable.
    • Deception detection tests (DDTs), which deploy technologies such as polygraph, narco-analysis and brain mapping, could be valuable in learning information that is known only to a criminal regarding a crime.
    • Among the DDTs, the Brain Fingerprinting System (BFS) is an innovative technology that several police forces contemplate adding to their investigative tools.
    • The technique helps investigative agencies uncover clues in complicated cases.
    • With informed consent, however, any information or material discovered during the BFS tests can be part of the evidence.
    • Police departments are increasingly using robots for surveillance and bomb detection.
    • Many departments now want robotic interrogators for interrogating suspects.
    • Use of robots: Police departments are increasingly using robots for surveillance and bomb detection.
    • Use of robots for interrogation: Many departments now want robotic interrogators for interrogating suspects.
    • Many experts today believe that robots can meet or exceed the capabilities of the human interrogator, partially because humans are inclined to respond to robots in ways that they do to humans.
    • Robots equipped with AI and sensor technology can build a rapport with the suspects, utilise persuasive techniques like flattery, shame and coercion, and strategically use body language.
    • Use of AI/ML: Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) are emerging as tool of interrogations. AI can detect human emotions and predict behaviour.
    • Therefore, these are also options.
    • ML can in real-time alert superiors when police are meting out inhumane treatment to suspects.

    Issues with the use of technologies

    • Informed consent: In 2010, the Supreme Court, in Selvi v. State of Karnataka, rendered the BFS evidence inadmissible.
    • The court observed that the state could not perform narco analysis, polygraph, and brain-mapping tests on any individual without their consent.
    • High cost of technology: As the BFS is high-end technology, it is expensive and unavailable in several States.
    • There is a lot of concern about AI or robot interrogations, both legally and ethically.
    • Risk of bias: There exists the risk of bias, the peril of automated interrogation tactics, the threat of ML algorithms targeting individuals and communities, and the hazard of its misuse for surveillance.

    Way forward

    • Multi-pronged strategy: What we need is the formulation of a multi-pronged strategy by the decision-makers encompassing legal enactments, technology, accountability, training and community relations.
    • Onus of proof on police: The Law Commission of India’s proposition in 2003 to change the Evidence Act to place the onus of proof on the police for not having tortured suspects is important in this regard.
    • Strict implementation of D.K. Basu case guidelines: Besides, stringent action must be taken against personnel who breach the commandments issued by the apex court in D.K. Basu v. State of West Bengal (1997).
    • Law against custodial torture: The draft bill on the Prevention of Torture, 2017, which has not seen the day, needs to be revived.

    Conclusion

    While the technology available to the police and law-enforcement agencies is constantly improving, it is a restricted tool that can’t eradicate custodial deaths. While it might provide comfort and transparency, it can never address the underlying issues that lead to these situations.

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    Back2Basics:  Supreme Court judgement in DK Basu case

    • The DK Basu judgment since 1987 is crucial in dealing with issue of custodial deaths.
    • The judgement has origin from a letter complaint in 1986, which was converted into PIL.
    • 4 crucial and comprehensive judgments — in 1996, twice in 2001 and in 2015 — lay down over 20 commandments, forming the complete structure of this judgement.

    Details of judgment:

    First 11 commandments in 1996, focused on vital processual safeguards:

    • All officials must carry name tags and full identification, arrest memo must be prepared, containing all details regarding time and place of arrest, attested by one family member or respectable member of the locality.
    • The location of arrest must be intimated to one family or next friend, details notified to the nearest legal aid organisation and arrestee must be made known of DK Basu judgement.
    • All such compliances must be recorded in the police register, arrestee must get periodical medical examination, inspection memo must be signed by arrestee also and all such information must be centralised in a central police control room.
    • Breach to be culpable with severe departmental action and additionally contempt also, and this would all be in addition to, not substitution of, any existing remedy.
    • All of the above preventive and punitive measures could go with, and were not alternatives to, full civil monetary damage claims for constitutional tort.

    8 other intermediate orders till 2015:

    • Precise detailed compliance reports of above orders to be submitted by all states and UT and any delayed responses to be  looked into by special sub-committees appointed by state human rights body.
    • Also where no SHRC existed, the chief justice of the high courts to monitor it administratively.
    • It emphasised that existing powers for magisterial inquiries under the CrPC were lackadaisical and must be completed in four months, unless sessions court judges recorded reasons for extension.
    • It also directed SHRCs to be set up expeditiously in each part of India.

    The third and last phase of judgment ended in 2015:

    • Stern directions were given to set up SHRCs and also fill up large vacancies in existing bodies.
    • The power of setting up human rights courts under Section 30 of the NHRC Act was directed to be operationalised.
    • All prisons had to have CCTVs within one year.
    • Non-official visitors would do surprise checks on prisons and police stations.
    • Prosecutions and departmental action to be made unhesitatingly mandated.

  • Strains on India-Russia Defence Cooperation

    As the war in Ukraine stretches over four months with no end in sight, it has given rise to apprehensions on Russia’s ability to adhere to timely deliveries of spares and hardware to India.

    History of the bilateral defence ties

    • India was reliant, almost solely on the British, and other Western nations for its arms imports immediately after Independence.
    • However, this dependence weaned, and by the 1970s India was importing several weapons systems from then USSR, making it the country’s largest defence importer for decades.

    A major chunk of India’s strategic arms

    • Russia has provided some of the most sensitive and important weapons platforms that India has required from time to time including nuclear submarines, aircraft carriers, tanks, guns, fighter jets, and missiles.
    • According to one estimate, the share of Russian-origin weapons and platforms across Indian armed forces is as high as 85%.
    • Russia is the second-largest arms exporter in the world, following only the United States.
    • For Russia, India is the largest importer, and for India, Russia is the largest exporter when it comes to arms transfer.

    What saw the decline?

    • Between 2000 and 2020, Russia accounted for 66.5% of India’s arms imports.
    • Russia’s share in Indian arms imports was down to about 50% between 2016 and 2020, but it still remained the largest single importer.

    Present status of defence cooperation

    • When the war began, Indian armed forces had stocks of spares and supplies for eight to ten months and the expectation was that the war would end quickly.
    • However, as it stretches on with no clear endgame, there are apprehensions on Russia’s ability to adhere to the timelines for both spares as well as new deliveries.
    • Armed forces are looking at certain alternative mitigation measures and identifying alternate sources from friendly foreign countries.
    • However, in the long term, this is also an opportunity for the private industry to step up production and meet the requirements.

    Impact of the war

    • While some timeline lapses and shipping delays were possible, there would not be any dent on the Army’s operational preparedness along the borders.
    • In addition, the armed forces have also made significant emergency procurements since the standoff in Eastern Ladakh and have stocked up on spares and ammunition.
    • However, Russia has assured India that it would adhere to delivery timelines.
    • Since the war sees no end, Russian industry would be caught up in replenishing the inventories of their own armed forces.

    What is the status of deals underway/new deals pending with Russia?

    • The defence trade between India and Russia has crossed $15 billion since 2018, in the backdrop of some big deals including the $5.43 billion S-400 long range air defence systems.
    • Other major contracts currently under implementation are construction of four additional stealth frigates in Russia and India,
    • There is a licensed production of the Mango Armor-piercing fin-stabilised discarding sabot (APFSDS) rounds for the T-90S tanks as also additional T-90S tanks, AK-203 assault rifles among others.

    Deferred deals in downtime

    • There are several big deals deferred by the Defence Ministry as part of the review of all direct import deals.
    • This is in conjunction with efforts to push the ‘Make in India’ scheme in defence.
    • Russian deals have also been deferred including the one for 21 MiG-29 fighter jets for the Indian Air Force (IAF) along with the upgradation of 59 existing Mig-29 jets.
    • This also includes the deferment of the manufacture of 12 SU-30 MKI aircraft by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).

    What is the status of payments?

    • While India continues to remain Russia’s largest arms buyer with a major chunk of legacy hardware from Russia and the Soviet Union, the volume of imports has reduced in the last decade.
    • With Russia being shut out of the global SWIFT system for money transfers, India and Russia have agreed to conduct payments through the Rupee-Rouble arrangement.
    • With several big ticket deals including the S-400 under implementation, there are large volume of payments to be made.

     

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  • Do not weaken the anti-defection law

    Context

    The political developments in Maharashtra throw up troubling questions about how the political class is weakening the anti-defection law.

    Background of the anti-defection law

    •  It was enacted as the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution of India, in 1985, under Rajiv Gandhi’s premiership.
    • The law as it was enacted provided for the disqualification of a legislator belonging to a political party if he voluntarily gave up his membership of his party or if he defied the whip of his party by voting contrary to its directions in the legislative house.
    • Two exceptions: Initially, there were two exceptions provided in the schedule which would exempt a legislator from disqualification.
    • 1] Split: The first exception was a split in their original political party resulting in the formation of a group of legislators.
    • If the group consisted of one third of such legislators of that party, they were exempted from disqualification.
    • This exception was deleted from the schedule through a Constitution Amendment Act of 2003 because of frequent misuse.
    • 2] Merger: The second exception was ‘merger’ which can be invoked when the original political party of a legislator merges with another party and not less than two thirds of its legislators agree to such a merger.

    Interpretation of term ‘merger’ and issues with it

    • It is this second exception contained in paragraph four of the schedule which has been taken recourse to by a large number of legislators across States and even in Parliament to defect to the ruling party.
    • These legislators interpreted for themselves the term ‘merger’ to mean the merger of two thirds of legislators.
    • Now, the same is being repeated in Maharashtra.
    • But there is a little difference here.
    • It appears that the dissidents of Shiv Sena believed that if they get the two third number they can form a separate group and topple the government and then form a government with the help of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
    • The law imposes the condition of merger of the original political party.
    • However, a recent judgment of the Goa Bench of the Bombay High Court ( Girish Chodankar vs The Speaker, Goa State Legislative) that held that the merger of two thirds of Members of the Legislative Assembly is deemed to be the merger of the original party seems to have given them a ray of hope.
    • So, the legal position is if the dissidents do not merge with another party they will be disqualified now or later.

    Question of disqualification

    • Disqualification petitions have been filed by the Shiv Sena against 16 of the dissidents under paragraph 2(1)(a) on the ground that they have voluntarily given up the membership of the party.
    • The question of whether they have voluntarily given up the membership of the party is decided on the basis of the conduct of a member.
    • In Ravi S. Naik vs Union of India (1994), the Supreme Court had said “an inference can be drawn from the conduct of a member that he has voluntarily given up the membership of the party.

    Weakening the anti-defection law

    • Unprincipled defection: The ongoing developments in Maharashtra have once again brought before the country the reality of what the Supreme Court also described as the political evil of unprincipled defection.
    • But the order of the Supreme Court, on June 27, on petitions from the dissidents in the Shiv Sena, gives undue advantage to the dissident legislators.
    • The Court has granted them a longer time to submit replies than the rules mandate.
    • This order is going to set in motion certain political developments which will resurrect in a big way what the Supreme Court characterised as political evil.
    • The intervention by the Supreme Court too has thrown up some crucial question.
    • Kihoto Hollohan case: The first question is whether the Court can intervene at a stage prior to the decision by the Deputy Speaker.
    • A Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court had held in Kihoto Hollohan (1993) that judicial review cannot be available prior to the making of a decision by the Speaker nor at an interlocutory stage of the proceeding.
    •  The notice of no-confidence against the Deputy Speaker has added another piece to the jigsaw puzzle.
    • Nabam Rebia case: The Supreme Court had held in Nabam Rebia (2016) that the Speaker shall not decide the disqualification cases till the no-confidence motion against him is disposed of.
    • The House rules clearly say that the notice of no-confidence against the Speaker/Deputy Speaker needs to be admitted in the first place which is done only by the Speaker.
    • But it is the House which takes the final decision on the motion. If the notice of no-confidence does not contain specific charges, it can be disallowed by the Speaker. 
    • Further, the notice can be given only if the House is summoned.
    • When the notice was given, the Assembly was not convened. So, the notice against the Deputy Speaker can have no validity under the rules.

    Conclusion

    The law, though not perfect, is a serious attempt to strengthen the moral content of democracy. There will be shortcomings in this Bill but as we see and identify those shortcomings we should try to overcome them.

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  • Is India really ahead of the West in terms of reproductive rights?

    Context

    Contrary to the grandstanding since the overturning of the landmark Roe V. Wade judgment, the truth is that India is not ahead of the West in terms of reproductive rights.

    Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act

    • Abortion in India has been a legal right under various circumstances for the last 50 years with the introduction of Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act in 1971.
    • The Act was amended in 2003 to enable women’s accessibility to safe and legal abortion services.
    • Abortion is covered 100% by the government’s public national health insurance funds, Ayushman Bharat and Employees’ State Insurance with the package rate for surgical abortion.

    The idea of terminating your pregnancy cannot originate by choice and is purely circumstantial. There are four situations under which a legal abortion is performed:

    1. If continuation of the pregnancy poses any risks to the life of the mother or mental health
    2. If the foetus has any severe abnormalities
    3. If pregnancy occurred as a result of failure of contraception (but this is only applicable to married women)
    4. If pregnancy is a result of sexual assault or rape

    These are the key changes that the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Act, 2021, has brought in:

    • The gestation limit for abortions has been raised from the earlier ceiling of 20 weeks to 24 weeks, but only for special categories of pregnant women such as rape or incest survivors. But this termination would need the approval of two registered doctors.
    • All pregnancies up to 20 weeks require one doctor’s approval. The earlier law, the MTP Act 1971, required one doctor’s approval for pregnancies upto 12 weeks and two doctors’ for pregnancies between 12 and 20 weeks.
    • Women can now terminate unwanted pregnancies caused by contraceptive failure, regardless of their marital status. Earlier the law specified that only a “married woman and her husband” could do this.
    • There is also no upper gestation limit for abortion in case of foetal disability if so decided by a medical board of specialist doctors, which state governments and union territories’ administrations would set up.

    Issues with legal provisions related to reproductive rights in India

    • Lack of rights based approach: The Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Act 2021 is far from ideal and has been criticised for not taking a rights-based approach.
    • According to the Act, a pregnancy can be terminated on the following conditions: Grave danger to the physical/mental health of the pregnant woman; foetal abnormalities; rape/coercion; and contraceptive failure.
    • A woman’s right to choose to end the pregnancy even in the first few weeks is still not recognised in India.
    • Systemic barriers: It doesn’t give the pregnant person complete autonomy in ending the pregnancy, instead making them go through various systemic barriers.
    • The final decision falls not on the pregnant person, but on registered medical practitioners (RMP).
    • The constitution of a medical board, a requirement by the Act, is considered a barrier by the World Health Organisation.
    • Excludes transgenders and non-binary persons: Additionally, it uses the word “woman”, thereby leaving out pregnant transgender and non-binary persons who are biologically capable of bearing children.
    • It forces them to identify themselves in the gender-binary ignoring their gender identity.

    Social factors and lack of medical facilities

    • It is important to look through an intersectional lens, and factor in class and caste privilege.
    • Abortion facilities in private medical centres are expensive, available only for those who have the resources.
    • Lack of access: Not all public health centres, especially in rural India, provide abortion facilities.
    • Most unmarried women end up resorting to unsafe abortions in illegal clinics or at home.
    • According to the latest National Family Health Survey 2019-2021, 27 percent of the abortions were carried out by the woman herself at home.
    • According to United Nations’ Population Fund’s (UNFPA) State of the World Population Report 2022, around 8 women die each day in India due to unsafe abortions.
    • It also found that between 2007-2011, 67 percent of the abortions were classified as unsafe.
    • Unsafe abortion was one of the top three causes of maternal deaths.

    Discussion on reproductive rights in India are incomplete without mentioning surrogacy.

    Issues in the Surrogacy (Regulation) Act 2021

    • While well-intentioned, leaves much to be desired.
    • The plethora of regulations one must undergo is antithetical to a dignified standard of living.
    • Exclusionary in nature: Experts have pointed out that the Act is exclusionary in nature, disregards privacy, and also exploits women’s reproductive labour.
    • Only a heterosexual married couple (with certain preconditions) can be the intending parents.
    • It strips the reproductive autonomy of LGBTQ+ persons and single, divorced, and widowed intending parents. It can be seen as a violation to the fundamental right to equality.
    • Experts also believe that regulations, rather than a complete ban on commercial surrogacy, should have been the way forward.
    • Violates right to privacy: The Act requires the intending couple to declare their infertility and reveals the identity of the surrogate, both of which violate the right to privacy.
    • The landmark Puttaswamy judgment discusses bodily privacy – the right over one’s body and “the freedom of being able to prevent others from violating one’s body.”
    • The current reproductive rights regulatory framework falls short in guaranteeing bodily privacy.

    Conclusion

    The situation in India is far from perfect and we should take this moment to reflect and learn from progressive practices around the world. We should strive for inclusivity, complete bodily autonomy, and reproductive equity.

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  • Bharat New Car Assessment Programme (BNCAP)

    The government is planning a new car assessment programme (NCAP) in India, to be called the Bharat NCAP or BNCAP.

    What is Bharat NCAP?

    • Bharat NCAP is a new car safety assessment programme which proposes a mechanism of awarding ‘Star Ratings’ to automobiles based upon their performance in crash tests.
    • BNCAP standard is aligned with global benchmarks and it is beyond minimum regulatory requirements.
    • The proposed Bharat NCAP assessment will allocate Star Ratings from 1 to 5 stars.
    • The testing of vehicles for this programme will be carried out at testing agencies, with the necessary infrastructure.

    Its implementation

    • BNCAP will be rolled out from April 1, 2023.
    • It will be applicable on type-approved motor vehicles of category M1 with gross vehicle weight less than 3.5 tonnes, manufactured or imported in the country.
    • M1 category motor vehicles are used for the carriage of passengers, comprising eight seats, in addition to driver’s seat.

    Significance of Bharat NCAP

    • BNCAP rating will provide consumers an indication of the level of protection offered to occupants by evaluating the vehicle in the areas of:
    1. Adult occupant protection
    2. Child occupant protection
    3. Safety assist technologies
    • It will serve as a consumer-centric platform, allowing customers to opt for safer cars based upon their Star-Ratings.
    • It will also promote a healthy competition among original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in India to manufacture safer vehicles.
    • It will ensure structural and passenger safety in cars, along with increasing the export-worthiness of Indian automobiles.
    • It will prove to be a critical instrument in making our automobile industry Aatmanirbhar.

    Why does India need to crash-test vehicles?

    • Indian vehicles have historically not been crash-tested in the country.
    • Despite being home to only 1% of the world’s vehicles, India shoulders 11% of the global road crash fatality burden.

    What about existing testing standards?

    • India’s Central Motor Vehicle Rules (CMVR) mandate a safety and performance assessment, including a basic conformity crash test by agencies like the ARAI and ICAT when vehicles go in for type approvals.
    • However, this does not involve a crash test rating.
    • Many international automakers have been found to sell products in India which score much lower on safety and structural performance parameters.
    • This is done to reduce costs in the price-sensitive Indian market.
    • However, safety is moving up nowadays the list of key purchase criteria in India as well.

    How will a homegrown NCAP help?

    • Global NCAP (GNCAP) crash tests for many best-selling Indian vehicles have dismal ratings, many of them rated zero in a bias.
    • The government hopes that by facilitating these tests by in-house agencies, more automakers will voluntarily undergo safety assessments and build vehicles that hold up to global standards.

    How will it compare with GNCAP?

    • The government wants the two tests to be in congruence with each other.
    • It intends to design the BNCAP to resemble the GNCAP, the global gold standard, as closely as possible, including the speed for crash testing at 64kmph.
    • Central Motor Vehicle rules encompass standards with respect to pedestrian protection and seat belt reminders among others and will be retained in the testing under the BNCAP.
    • The government hopes the move will increase the export-worthiness of Indian automobiles.

     

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  • Road Safety in India

    The United Nations is holding a high-level meeting on Global Road Safety on June 30 and July 1, 2022 to review the progress and challenges.

    Road Accidents in India: A lookover

    • In spite of several years of policymaking to improve road safety, India remains among the worst-performing countries in this area.
    • Total 1,47,913 lives lost to road traffic accidents in 2017 as per Ministry of Road Transport and Highways statistics.
    • The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) figure for the same year is 1,50,093 road accident deaths.

    Why in news?

    • The persistently high annual death toll brings into question the country’s ability to meet Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3.6.
    • This aims to halve the fatalities and injuries from road traffic accidents by 2030.

    Lancet’s findings on road safety

    • A new analytical series on road safety worldwide, published by The Lancet, proposes that India and other countries could cut accident-related deaths by 25 to 40%.
    • This is based on evidence that preventive interventions produce good outcomes when applied to four well-known risk factors:
    1. High speed
    2. Driving under the influence of alcohol
    3. Not using proper helmets
    4. Not wearing seat-belts and not using child restraints

    Issues highlighted in developing countries

    • The structural problems linked to unplanned motorisation and urbanisation remain.
    • In India, speedy highway construction takes place without reconciling fast and slow-moving traffic.
    • There is a rampant presence of ramshackle vehicles, wrong-side driving, absence of adequate traffic police forces etc.

    Why are there so many road fatalities in India alone?

    • Weak enforcement of traffic laws: People hardly oblige to traffic rules and find easier to bribe policemen rather than paying hefty challans.
    • Speeding issue: More accidents on the highways have been attributed to higher vehicle speeds and higher volume of traffic on these roads.
    • Engineering bottlenecks: Issues such as gaps in the median on the national highways, untreated intersections, and missing crash barriers are some of the biggest engineering issues.
    • Behavioural issue: Driver violations such as wrong-side driving, wrong lane usage by heavy vehicles, and mass violation of traffic lights, intoxication are the biggest behavioural issues.
    • Lack of Golden hour treatment: Lack of rapid trauma care on highways leads to such high fatalities.

    Various steps taken by India

    • India amended Motor Vehicles Act in 2019, but its implementation by State governments is not uniform or complete.
    • A National Road Safety Board was constituted under the Act, with advisory powers to reform safety.
    • The World Bank has approved a $250 million loan to support for India State Support Programme for Road Safety.

    Issues with implementation

    • The focus of State governments, however, remains conventional, with an emphasis on user behaviour (drivers and other road users), education and uneven enforcement.
    • Low emphasis is placed on structural change such as raising engineering standards for roads, signages, signals, training for scientific accident investigation, raising policing skills and fixing responsibility on government departments for design, creation and maintenance of road infrastructure.

    What can be done to cut death and injury rates?

    • The ambitious amendments to the Motor Vehicles Act in 2019 (MV Act) have not yielded significant results.
    • Major interventions in India, first suggested by the Sundar Committee (2007) and ordered by the Supreme Court in Rajasekaran vs Union of India have not made a dent in the problem.

    Key findings of Sundar Committee

    • The Sundar Committee pointed out that India lacked a technically competent investigation arm that could determine the cause of accidents.
    • There is little clarity on whether the States have formed such units to aid traffic investigation, or whether the insurance industry has pressed for these to accurately determine fault.
    • In the absence of scientific investigation, perceptions usually guide the fixing of liability.

    Solutions provided by the Lancet

    • The Lancet calculated that 17% of road traffic injury-related deaths could be avoided if trauma care facilities improved.
    • This is significant as several accidents take place in rural areas on highways, and victims are taken to poorly-equipped district hospitals or medical college hospitals.
    • While positive user behaviour — slower travel, wearing of helmets, seat belts and so on — could save thousands of lives.
    • In the short term, slowing down traffic, particularly near habitations, segregating slower vehicles, enforcing seat belt and helmet use and cracking down on drunken drivers could produce measurable gains.

    Imbibing road safety: Way forward

    • Road safety education
    • Better road design, maintenance and warning signage
    • Crackdown on driving under influence of alcohol and drugs
    • Strict enforcement of traffic rules
    • Encouraging better road behaviour
    • Ensuring road worthiness of a vehicle
    • Better first aid and paramedic care

    Do you know?

    The ‘golden hour’ has been defined as ‘the time period lasting one hour following a traumatic injury during which there is the highest likelihood of preventing death by providing prompt medical care.

     

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  • Russia withdraws from Snake Island

    Russian forces abandoned the strategic Black Sea outpost of Snake Island, in a major victory for Ukraine that could loosen the grip of Russia’s blockade on Ukrainian ports.

    I will give you a trick to remember countries bordering Black Sea. It is ‘GURRBUT’.

    Now please take effort to write those names of countries here.

    Snake Island

    • Zmiinyi Island, also known as Snake or Serpent Island, is a small piece of rock less than 700 metres from end to end, that has been described as being “X-shaped”.
    • It is located 35 km from the coast in the Black Sea, to the east of the mouth of the Danube and roughly southwest of the port city of Odessa.
    • The island, which has been known since ancient times and is marked on the map by the tiny village of Bile that is located on it, belongs to Ukraine.

    Why does Russia seek to control the Black Sea?

    • Domination of the Black Sea region is a geostrategic imperative for Moscow.
    • The famed water body is bound by Ukraine to the north and northwest, Russia and Georgia to the east, Turkey to the south, and Bulgaria and Romania to the west.
    • It links to the Sea of Marmara through the Bosporus and then to the Aegean through the Dardanelles.
    • It has traditionally been Russia’s warm water gateway to Europe.
    • For Russia, the Black Sea is both a stepping stone to the Mediterranean as well as a strategic buffer between NATO and itself.
    • Cutting Ukrainian access to the Black Sea will reduce it to a landlocked country and deal a crippling blow to its trade logistics.

     

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