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GS Paper: GS2

  • ‘Advantage New Delhi’ in Sri Lanka’s India lifeline

    Context

    Ranil Wickremesinghe’s election as the President of Sri Lanka in a crucial Parliament vote on July 20, 2022, gives India an opportunity to take the lead in the foreign aid game in its neighbourhood.

    Background of the crisis in Sri Lanka

    • Sri Lanka has been facing economic turbulence since its pre-emptive default on its foreign debt obligations in mid-April this year.
    • Following the debt default and a shortage of dollars, the Sri Lankan economy is experiencing stagflation.
    •  Inflation has spiralled to over 50%, translating into higher food and fuel prices.
    •  Sri Lanka’s worst economic crisis since its independence in 1948 is due to a tepid recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Russia-Ukraine conflict shock and economic mismanagement under the administration of the Rajapaksas.
    • Sri Lanka is also facing challenges in getting foreign aid, as 60% of the world’s poorest countries are also experiencing debt distress.

    Opportunities for India

    •  In the first six months of 2022, Indian aid worth $3.8 billion has flowed to Sri Lanka through loans, swaps and grants.
    • This is India’s largest bilateral aid programme in recent times.
    •  Stabilising Sri Lanka’s economy could prove to be a major win for Indian’s ‘neighbourhood-first’ policy.
    • Moreover, once the Sri Lankan economy stabilises, India can deepen its trade and investment linkages with Sri Lanka, transcending the current humanitarian aid relationship.
    • On the other hand, an unstable Sri Lankan economy could pose security risks to India and lead to a flood of refugees across the Palk Strait.
    • This is an opportunity for India to strengthen bilateral and regional partnerships.
    • Countering Chinese influence: In recent years, China has emerged as a major partner for Sri Lanka, especially for infrastructure projects, many of which are under scrutiny now.
    • This provides an opportunity for India to upscale its aid and cement its first mover advantage over China by leading an aid consortium for Sri Lanka, working closely with other friendly countries such as the United States, Japan and the European Union as well as the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

    Why China is reluctant to help?

    • China worries that unilaterally restructuring Sri Lanka’s debt or giving it moratoria would set a new precedent in its lending practices, leading to a queue of similarly distressed countries seeking debt relief from Beijing.
    • Furthermore, China, which is a G2 economy, and wanting to challenge the U.S., does not want its reputation to be tarnished by bailing out a floundering economy.

    Steps Sri Lanka needs to take

    • Concluding the talks with Sri Lanka: The government must show that it is serious about stabilising the economy by concluding talks on an IMF programme which will increase taxes and utility prices to raise revenue and increase interest rates to control inflation.
    • Economic reforms: It has to implement structural reforms to make the economy more open to trade and investment and allow market forces to determine resource allocation.
    • National consensus on IMF program: It has to build national consensus on implementing the IMF programme and reforms by explaining that this is the only solution to the crisis.
    • Anti-corruption policies: It has to restore the rule of law and enforce strong anti-corruption policies (including asset declarations for all parliamentarians and a strong anti-corruption office supported by the United Nations).
    • Reset foreign policy: It has to reset foreign policy towards a more neutral direction.

    Conclusion

    With political will and the right set of policies, Sri Lanka stands a sporting chance of achieving some economic normalcy within the next three years. India stands to gain by supporting Sri Lanka in its hour of need. A friend in need is a friend indeed.

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  • Need for a debate on freebies

    Context

    Many in India have been lamenting for quite some time the culture of political populism and “freebies”

    Fiscal stress due to subsidies

    • Technically, a subsidy is the unrecovered cost of any service (or good) provided by the government.
    • Freebies such as distribution of televisions, free cycles or laptops are the most highly visible and discussed freebies, but they are fiscally insignificant compared to the much larger subsidies on food, fertiliser and petroleum.
    • Though curbed in recent years, these “visible” subsidies in government budgets remain a major source of fiscal stress.
    • Then there is a range of “invisible” subsidies, especially in state government budgets, not always recognised as such, but which are also very large.
    • The deficit between the receipts and expenditure of a government department in providing a service is the unrecovered cost of providing that service, that is, a subsidy, even if not recognised as such in the budget.
    • Examples include the unrecovered cost of providing public education, healthcare, irrigation, power, water supply and sanitation.

    Some facts about the subsidies

    • Relation with per capita income: The volume of subsidies as a proportion of GDP comes down with rising per capita incomes, but very gradually.
    • The total volume of subsidies came down from 13 per cent of GDP way back in 1987-88 to a little over 10 per cent by 2015-16, almost 30 years later.
    • Contribution of central government: The central government accounts for less than 30 per cent of total subsidies, provided mainly for economic services including food.
    • Merit subsidies: From the total volume there is a very small number of “merit subsidies” which might be warranted in public interest.
    • All governments have provided a food subsidy for poor households by bi-partisan consensus for decades.
    • Then there is basic education and health services which have large benefits for society beyond the benefit accruing to the immediate recipient of the service, what economists call “externalities”.
    • Also in case of expenditure on water supply and sanitation, where again the benefit to society is much larger than that accruing to the immediate recipient of the service — for example, prevention of infectious diseases.
    • These four “merit” subsidies account for only a third of total subsidies.
    • Unwarranted freebies: Thus, two-thirds of total subsidies, about 6 per cent of GDP, are unwarranted freebies which should be eliminated.

    Way forward

    • Phasing out the unwarranted freebies: If central and state governments could step beyond their business as usual budgets and take bold measures to phase out these unwarranted freebies, along with much of the tax exemptions and concessions, which amount to about 5 per cent of GDP, that would free up huge fiscal space.
    • Universal basic income: There is a growing demand in many advanced countries, which already have large social security schemes, to provide a minimum “Universal Basic Income” for all.
    •  Providing a small safety net for the poor in countries like India, which have no social security system, is the least that any caring government can do.
    • MGNREGA is the largest and longest-standing income support programme in India for the unemployed in rural areas.
    • But it is often not regarded as such as it entails payment against performance of work.
    • The usual complaint against such schemes is that they artificially raise rural wages, reduce the incentive to search for work, and that the poor blow up these freebees on liquor etc.
    • Since MGNREGA and similar schemes in the states pay much less than the minimum wage, they obviously cannot raise rural wages beyond what is the legal minimum wage anyway.

    Conclusion

    Phasing out the unwarranted subsidies will enable a massive reduction in the combined fiscal deficit of the Centre and the states, while at the same time stepping up required expenditure on education, health and infrastructure.

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  • Droupadi Murmu elected 15th President of India

    Former Jharkhand Governor Droupadi Murmu was elected the 15th President of India, the first (santhal) tribal woman to be appointed to the position and the youngest as well.

    Here’s a look at some interesting facts about the past Presidents of India:

    * Rajendra Prasad was the first President of India. He is also the only President to have served two consecutive terms.

    * Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan was the second President. He was the first to have served as Vice President before being elected to the top post.

    * Zakir Hussain was the third President of India, and the first Muslim President. He also was the first President to die in office. He was the shortest serving President of India (less than two years).

    * On his election, fourth President V.V. Giri became the first one to have also been an acting President.

    * Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed was the fifth President and the second Muslim to hold the post. The Emergency was declared during his tenure. He is the second President to have died in office.

    * Neelam Sanjiva Reddy was the sixth President. He became the youngest to take the post at the age of 64. He is also the only one to have been elected unopposed.

    * Giani Zail Singh was the seventh President of India and the first Sikh President.

    * Eighth President Ramaswamy Venkataraman was the first President to have worked with four Prime Ministers and appointed three: V. P. Singh, Chandra Shekhar and P. V. Narasimha Rao.

    * Shankar Dayal Sharma was the 9th President. He also worked with four PMs and appointed three of them in his last year: Atal Bihari Vajpayee, H. D. Deve Gowda, I. K. Gujral.

    * Kocheril Raman Narayanan was the 10th President of India and the first Dalit President. At 76 years and 271 days, he was the oldest President to be elected.

    * APJ Abdul Kalam was the 11th President and first Muslim President to serve an entire term.

    * Elected as the 12th President, Pratibha Patil was the first woman President of India.

    * Pranab Mukherjee, the 13th President, was the first Bengali to hold the post.

    * 14th President Ram Nath Kovind was the first BJP candidate to be elected to the post.

    * 11 Presidents have been members of a political party before being elected. 8 were from Congress, 2 from BJP, 1 from Janata Party, and the rest were Independents.

    The President of India

    • The President of India is recognized as the first citizen of the country and the head of the state.
    • The elected President of India is a part of the Union Executive along with several other members of the parliament including the Prime Minister, Attorney-General of India and the Vice – president.

    Electing the President

    • The provisions of the election of the President are laid down in Article 54 of the Constitution of India.
    • The Presidential and Vice-Presidential Election Act 1952 led to the establishment of this Constitutional provision.

    Qualifications to become the President of India

    The qualification of being the President of India are given below:

    • He/ She must be an Indian citizen
    • A person must have completed the age of 35.
    • A person must be qualified for election as a member of the House of the People.
    • Must not hold a government (central or state) office of profit
    • A person is eligible for election as President if he/she is holding the office of President or Vice-President.

    Actual course of election

    • The President of India is elected indirectly by an Electoral College following the system of proportional representation utilizing a single transferable vote system and secret ballots.
    • MPs and MLAs vote based on parity and uniformity values.

    Electoral College composition-

    (1) Legislative Assemblies of the States:

    • According to the provision of Article 333, every state’s Legislative Assembly must consist of not less than 60 members but not more than 500 members.

    (2) Council of States:

    • 12 members are nominated by the President of India based on skills or knowledge in literature, arts, science, and social service to act as the members of the Council of States.
    • In total, 238 represent act as representatives from both the States and Union Territories.

    (2) House of the People:

    • The composition of the House of People consists of 530 members (no exceeding) from the state territorial constituencies.
    • They are elected through direct election.
    • The President further elects 20 more members (no exceeding) from the Union Territories.

    Uniformity in the scale of representation of states

    To maintain the proportionality between the values of the votes, the following formula is used:

    Value of vote of an MLA= total no. of the population of the particular state/ number of elected MLAs of that state divided by 1000.

    Single vote system

    • During the presidential election, one voter can cast only one vote.
    • While the MLAs vote may vary state to state, the MPs vote always remain constant.

    MPs and MLAs vote balance

    • The number of the total value of the MPs votes must equal the total value of the MLAs to maintain the State and the Union balance.

    Quotas:

    • The candidate reaching the winning quota or exceeding it is the winner.
    • The formula sued is ‘Winning quota total number of poll/ no.of seats + 1’.

    Voters’ preference:

    • During the presidential election, the voter casts his vote in favor of his first preferred candidate.
    • However, in case the first preference candidate does not touch the winning quota, the vote automatically goes to the second preference.
    • The first preferred candidate with the lowest vote is eliminated and the votes in his/her favor are transferred to the remaining candidates.

    Why need Proportional representation?

    • The President of India is elected through proportional representation using the means of the single transferable vote (Article 55(3)).
    • It allows the independent candidates and minority parties to have the chance of representation.
    • It allows the practice of coalition with many voters under one government.
    • This system ensures that candidates who are elected don’t represent the majority of the electorate’s opinion.

    Why is President indirectly elected?

    If Presidents were to be elected directly, it would become very complicated.

    • It would, in fact, be a disaster because the public doesn’t have absolute clarity of how the president-ship runs or if the candidate fits the profile of a president.
    • Another reason why the direct election system isn’t favorable is that the candidate running for the president’s profile will have to campaign around the country with the aid of a political party.
    • And, this will result in massive political instability.
    • Moreover, it would be difficult and impossible for the government to hand out election machinery (given the vast population of India).
    • This will cost the government financially and may end up affecting the economy as well.
    • The indirect election system is a respectable system for the First Man of India (rightly deserving).
    • The system/method of indirect electing of the president also allows the states to maintain neutrality and minimize hostility.

     

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  • Women have Right to Safe Abortion: SC

    Denying an unmarried woman the right to a safe abortion violates her personal autonomy and freedom, the Supreme Court held in an order.

    What did the SC say?

    • A woman’s right to reproductive choice is an inseparable part of her personal liberty under Article 21 of the Constitution.
    • She has a sacrosanct right to bodily integrity, the court quoted from precedents.
    • The court said forcing a woman to continue with her pregnancy would not only be a violation of her bodily integrity but also aggravate her mental trauma.

    Indispensable clause of safety

    • The court ordered a medical board to be formed by the AIIMS to check whether it was safe to conduct an abortion on the woman and submit a report in a week.

    What is the case?

    • A Bench led by Justice D.Y. Chandrachud was hearing the appeal of a woman who wanted to abort her 24-week pregnancy after her relationship failed and her partner left her.
    • The lower court had taken an “unduly restrictive view” that her plea for a safe abortion was not covered under the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act.
    • This was since the pregnancy arose from a consensual relationship outside wedlock.

    What was the last amendment?

    • The court noted that an amendment to the Act in 2021 had substituted the term ‘husband’ with ‘partner’, a clear signal that the law covered unmarried women within its ambit.

    Reiterating the live-in recognition

    • Chastising the lower court, the Bench said live-in relationships had already been recognised by the Supreme Court.
    • There were a significant number of people in social mainstream who see no wrong in engaging in pre-marital sex.
    • The law could not be used to quench “notions of social morality” and unduly interfere in their personal autonomy and bodily integrity.

    Back2Basics: Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act

    • Abortion in India has been a legal right under various circumstances for the last 50 years since the introduction of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act in 1971.
    • The Act was amended in 2003 to enable women’s access 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:

    1. 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.
    2. 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.
    3. 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.
    4. 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.

     

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  • Russia resumes gas supplies to Europe via Nord Stream Pipeline

    Russia restored critical gas supplies to Europe through Germany via the Nord Stream pipeline after 10 days of uncertainty in guise of maintenance.

    Nord Stream Pipeline

    • It is a system of offshore natural gas pipelines running under the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany.
    • It includes two active pipelines running from Vyborg to Lubmin near Greifswald forming the original Nord Stream, and two further pipelines under construction running from Ust-Luga to Lubmin termed Nord Stream 2.
    • In Lubmin the lines connect to the OPAL line to Olbernhau on the Czech border and to the NEL line to Rehden near Bremen.
    • The first line Nord Stream-1 was laid and inaugurated in 2011 and the second line in 2012.
    • At 1,222 km in length, Nord Stream is the longest sub-sea pipeline in the world, surpassing the Langeled pipeline.

    Why in news?

    • Germany, which is heavily dependent on Russian gas, had feared that Moscow would not reopen the pipeline after the scheduled work and accused Moscow of using energy as a “weapon”.
    • The showdown came amid the worst tensions in several years over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
    • Germany believes Russia is squeezing supplies in retaliation for Western sanctions over the war.

    Why is Russian gas so important?

    (1) Major chunk of energy

    • Russia supplied some 40% of Europe’s natural gas before the war.
    • That has dropped to around 15%, sending prices through the roof and straining energy-intensive industries.

    (2) Everyday use

    • Gas is used across a range of processes that most people never see – to forge steel to make cars, make glass bottles and pasteurise milk and cheese.
    • Companies warn that they often can’t switch overnight to other energy sources such as fuel oil or electricity to produce heat.

    (3) Fuel inflation

    • High energy prices are already threatening to cause a recession in Europe through record inflation, with consumers having less to spend as costs rise for food, fuel and utilities.
    • A complete cutoff could deal an even heavier blow to an already troubled economy.

    What is visible in Russia’s game plan?

    • Since the invasion, Russia’s revenue from exporting oil and gas to Europe has doubled over the average from recent years, to $95 billion.
    • So Putin has cash in hand and could calculate that painful utility bills and an energy recession could undermine public support for Ukraine in Europe and increase sentiment for a negotiated settlement in his favour.
    • It would be unwise to exclude the possibility that Russia could decide to forgo the revenue it gets from exporting gas to Europe in order to gain political leverage.

    What alternatives does Europe have?

    • The EU has turned to more-expensive liquefied natural gas, or LNG, which comes by ship from places like the US and Qatar.
    • Germany is fast-tracking construction of LNG import terminals on its North Sea coast, but that will take years.
    • But LNG alone can’t make up the gap.
    • Conservation and other energy sources are key.

    Could people freeze this winter?

    • Its unlikely homes, schools and hospitals will lose heat because governments are required to impose rationing first on businesses.
    • The German government also could allow gas suppliers to immediately pass on increases to customers.
    • The choices could include torpedoing industry and/or socking consumers with even higher bills.
    • The IEA recommends that European countries step up campaigns for people to conserve at home and plan to share gas in an emergency.

     

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  • India-Vietnam ties, from strong to stronger

    Context

    India and Vietnam are celebrating the 50th anniversary of their diplomatic relations.

    India-Vietnam relations background

    • Commonalities: India’s relations with Vietnam — some of which is based on a set of historical commonalities — predate any conflict between India and China as well as that between China and Vietnam.
    • Political and security engagement: As India pursues its ‘Act East Policy’, Vietnam has become a valuable partner in India’s political and security engagements in the Indo-Pacific region.

    Growing convergence between India and Vietnam

    • Convergence of strategic and economic interests: Bolstering friendship between the two countries is a natural outcome of a growing convergence of their strategic and economic interests, and also their common vision for peace, prosperity and their people.
    • Shared strategic concerns: The two countries are working to address shared strategic concerns (such as energy security and open and secure sea lines of communication), and make policy choices without undue external interference.
    • Given India’s broadening economic and strategic interests in the region and Vietnam’s desire for strategic autonomy, both countries will benefit from a stronger bilateral relationship.
    • Shared apprehension about China: India and Vietnam face territorial disputes with and shared apprehensions about their common neighbour, China.
    • Vietnam is of great strategic importance because its position enables it to control ‘the South China Sea — a true Mediterranean of the Pacific’.
    • The maritime domain, therefore, has become an essential element of India and Vietnam cooperation.
    • More importantly, India sees an open and stable maritime commons being essential to international trade and prosperity; therefore, it has an interest in protecting the sea lanes.
    • There are some other potential areas for New Delhi and Hanoi to further deepen collaboration, such as meaningful academic and cultural collaborations, shipbuilding, maritime connectivity, maritime education and research, coastal engineering, the blue economy, marine habitat conservation, and advance collaboration between maritime security agencies.

    Four factors responsible for growing maritime engagement with Vietnam

    • 1] Countering China: India’s aspiration to counter an assertive China by strengthening Vietnam’s military power.
    • 2] Security sea lines: With India’s increasing trade with East and Southeast Asia, India has begun to recognise the importance of its sea lines of communication beyond its geographical proximity; the South China Sea occupies a significant geostrategic and geo-economic position, resulting in India’s renewed interests in the South China Sea.
    • 3] Development in maritime domain: India desires to intensify its presence to track potential developments in the maritime domain that could affect its national interests.
    • 4] Naval partnership: The Indian Navy underlines the importance of a forward maritime presence and naval partnership that would be critical to deter potential adversaries.
    • India’s maritime strategic interests in the region are well established, including the fact that almost 55% of India’s trade with the Indo-Pacific region passes through the South China Sea.

    Strategic and defence cooperation

    • Ever since the formal declaration of a strategic partnership in 2007 and Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in 2016, the scope and scale of the India-Vietnam strategic and defence cooperation, particularly in the maritime domain, is deepening with a clear vision, institutional mechanisms.
    • The signing of ‘Joint Vision for Defence Cooperation’ and a memorandum of understanding on mutual logistics support in June 2022 has further strengthened mutual defence cooperation.
    • Enhancing Vietnam’s defence capabilities: While a U.S.$100 million Defence Line of Credit has been implemented, India has also announced early finalisation of another U.S.$500 million Defence Line of Credit to enhance Vietnam’s defence capability.
    • New Delhi has also agreed to expand military training and assist the Vietnam Navy’s strike capabilities.

    Cooperation in Indo-Pacific region

    •  India is willing to take a principled stand on territorial disputes in the hope that it contributes to the stabilisation of the Indo-Pacific.
    • Such positions align closely with Vietnam’s stance on the management of the South China Sea disputes.
    • The two countries are also engaging in wide-ranging practical cooperation in the maritime domain through a maritime security dialogue, naval exercises, ship visits, Coast Guard cooperation, and training and capacity building.
    • Working in various frameworks: Both countries have found mutual convergences on cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region and are synergising their efforts to work in bilateral as well as other sub-regional and multilateral frameworks, such as the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA), the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC), the Mekong-Ganga Cooperation, ADMM-Plus or the ASEAN Defence Ministers Meeting-Plus.
    • Both countries are also looking at collaboration around the seven pillars of the Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative (IPOI).

    Conclusion

    The road map agreed upon by the leaders will be helpful in addressing common challenges and decisively navigating towards making an India-Vietnam partnership that helps in stability in the Indo-Pacific.

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  • Micronesia: the remote Pacific Islands

    The Federated States of Micronesia is one of the latest places on Earth to experience an outbreak of Covid-19, after two and a half years of successfully protecting itself from the virus.

    Where is Micronesia?

    • FSM is located in the Western Pacific, in the Micronesia sub-region of Oceania.
    • It consists of four island states, Yap, Chuuk, Kosrae and Pohnpei (where the capital Palikir is located), all in the Caroline Islands.
    • Also known as the Carolines, it is a scattered archipelago of small islands that are divided between Micronesia and the Republic of Palau.
    • FSM is composed of 607 islands and islets with a total land area of 702 square km.

    Its geography

    • While this area is rather small, the islands stretch across an estimated 2,900 sq. km of sea, giving the nation the 14th largest Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in the world.
    • EEZs grant countries special right over marine resources up to 370 km from their coasts.
    • The Federated States of Micronesia shares its sea borders with other small island nations and territories in the Micronesia region like Guam, the Republic of Marshall Islands, Palau, Kiribati, and the Mariana Islands.
    • Its larger neighbouring states — separated by large swathes of the Pacific Ocean — including the Philippines in the west, Hawaii in the east, Papua New Guinea and Australia to the south, and Japan to the north.

     

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  • No inner-party democracy

    Context

    The ousting of Boris Johnson as leader of the British Conservative Party is the latest in a series of coups periodically mounted by the party’s MPs. What is instructive about this whole process, however, is how much power ordinary MPs have over the Prime Minister.

    Lack of inner-party democracy in India

    • A Prime Minister in UK has to be able to maintain the confidence of his own backbencher MPs at all times or risk political oblivion.
    • If there is a sense that the leader is no longer acceptable to the country, then a well-oiled machine springs into action to protect the party’s electoral gains by providing fresh leadership.
    • In India, PM exercises absolute authority over party MPs, whose ability to even diverge slightly from the official government line on routine policy matters is almost non-existent.
    • Impact of anti-defection law: The Prime Minister’s power is strengthened by India’s unique anti-defection set-up, where recalcitrant MPs who do not manage to carry two-thirds of their colleagues with them can always be disqualified.
    • Lack of autonomy: In effect, MPs do not enjoy any autonomy at all to question and challenge their party leadership.
    • Prime Ministers or Chief Ministers at the State level are chosen by party high command, and then submitted to MPs/MLAs to be rubber stamped.

    Way forward

    • Strengthening local constituency party:  It is time for India to seriously consider empowering its elected representatives, to ensure accountability for party leadership.
    • MPs in the U.K. are able to act boldly because they do not owe their nomination to the party leader, but are selected by the local constituency party.
    • In India, however, it is the party leadership that decides candidates, with an informal consultation with the local party.
    • Amending anti-defection law: Neither do MPs in the U.K. stand a risk of disqualification if they speak out against the leader, a threat perpetuated in India through the anti-defection law.
    • These factors are the biggest stumbling blocks towards ensuring inner-party democracy in India.
    • System on the lines of 1922 Committee in UK: In U.K. where individual Conservative MPs write to the 1922 Committee (which comprises backbench MPs, and looks out for their interests) expressing that they have “no confidence” in their leader.
    • If a numerical or percentage threshold (15% of the party’s MPs in the U.K.) is breached, an automatic leadership vote is triggered, with the party leader forced to seek a fresh mandate from the parliamentary party.
    •  Of course, the only way such a model would work is if an exception is made to the anti-defection law.

    Conclusion

    Inner-party democracy is a essential for keeping the spirit of democracy alive. Westminster model dictates that control over candidates must shift from central party leaders to local party members.

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  • Explained: Weapons of Mass Destruction and their Delivery Systems Amendment Bill, 2022

    External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has introduced The Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) and their Delivery Systems (Prohibition of Unlawful Activities) Amendment Bill, 2022, which will amend the 2005 Act.

    What is the WMD Bill?

    • The Bill amends the WMD and their Delivery Systems (Prohibition of Unlawful Activities) Act, 2005 which prohibits the unlawful manufacture, transport, or transfer of WMD (chemical, biological and nuclear weapons) and their means of delivery.
    • It is popularly referred to as the WMD Act.
    • The recent amendment extends the scope of banned activities to include financing of already prohibited activities.
    • The WMD and their Delivery Systems (Prohibition of Unlawful Activities) Act came into being in July 2005.

    India’s 2005 WMD Act defines-

    1. “Biological Weapons” as “microbial or other biological agents, or toxins…of types and in quantities that have no justification for prophylactic, protective or other peaceful purposes; and weapons, equipment or delivery systems specially designed to use such agents or toxins for hostile purposes or in armed conflict”; and
    2. “Chemical Weapons” as “toxic chemicals and their precursors” except where used for peaceful, protective, and certain specified military and law enforcement purposes; “munitions and devices specifically designed to cause death or other harm through the toxic properties of those toxic chemicals”; and any equipment specifically designed for use in connection with the employment of these munitions and devices.

    What was the purpose of the original WMD Act?

    • Its primary objective was to provide integrated and overarching legislation on prohibiting unlawful activities in relation to all three types of WMD, their delivery systems, and related materials, equipment, and technologies.
    • It instituted penalties for contravention of these provisions such as imprisonment for a term not less than five years (extendable for life) as well as fines.
    • The Act was passed to meet an international obligation enforced by the UN Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1540 of 2004.

    What is the UNSCR 1540?

    • In April 2004 the UN Security Council adopted resolution 1540 to address the growing threat of non-state actors gaining access to WMD material, equipment or technology to undertake acts of terrorism.
    • In order to address this challenge to international peace and security, UNSCR 1540 established binding obligations on all UN member states under Chapter VII of the UN Charter.
    • Nations were mandated to take and enforce effective measures against proliferation of WMD, their means of delivery and related materials to non-state actors.
    • It was to punish the unlawful and unauthorised manufacture, acquisition, possession, development and transport of WMD became necessary.

    UNSCR 1540 enforced three primary obligations upon nation states —

    1. To not provide any form of support to non-state actors seeking to acquire WMD, related materials, or their means of delivery;

    2. To adopt and enforce laws criminalising the possession and acquisition of such items by non-state actors;

    3. To adopt and enforce domestic controls over relevant materials, in order to prevent their proliferation.

    What has the Amendment added to the existing Act?

    • The Amendment expands the scope to include prohibition of financing of any activity related to WMD and their delivery systems.
    • To prevent such financing, the Central government shall have the power to freeze, seize or attach funds, financial assets, or economic resources of suspected individuals (whether owned, held, or controlled directly or indirectly).
    • It also prohibits persons from making finances or related services available for other persons indulging in such activity.

    Why was this Amendment necessary?

    • India echoes these developments for having made the Amendment necessary.
    • Two specific gaps are being addressed-
    1. As the relevant organisations at the international level, such as the Financial Action Task Force have expanded the scope of targeted financial sanctions and India’s own legislation has been harmonised to align with international benchmarks.
    2. With advancements in technologies, new kinds of threats have emerged that were not sufficiently catered for in the existing legislation.
    • These notably include developments in the field of drones or unauthorised work in biomedical labs that could maliciously be used for terrorist activity.
    • Therefore, the Amendment keeps pace with evolving threats.

    What more should India do?

    • India’s responsible behaviour and actions on non-proliferation are well recognised.
    • It has a strong statutory national export control system and is committed to preventing proliferation of WMD.
    • This includes transit and trans-shipment controls, retransfer control, technology transfer controls, brokering controls and end-use based controls.
    • Every time India takes additional steps to fulfil new obligations, it must showcase its legislative, regulatory and enforcement frameworks to the international community.
    • It is also necessary that India keeps WMD security in international focus.

    Setting up a precedence

    • There is no room for complacency.
    • Even countries which do not have WMD technology have to be sensitised to their role in the control framework to prevent weak links in the global control system.
    • India can offer help to other countries on developing national legislation, institutions and regulatory framework through the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) or on bilateral basis.

    Could the Amendment become troublesome to people on account of mistaken identity?

    • In the discussion on the Bill in Parliament, some members expressed concern on whether the new legislation could make existing business entities or people in the specific sector susceptible to a case of mistaken identity.
    • The External Affairs Minister, however, assured the House that such chances were minimal since identification of concerned individuals/entities would be based on a long list of specifics.

    What is the international significance of these legislation?

    • Preventing acts of terrorism that involve WMD or their delivery systems requires building a network of national and international measures in which all nation states are equally invested.
    • Such actions are necessary to strengthen global enforcement of standards relating to the export of sensitive items and to prohibit even the financing of such activities.

    Way forward

    • Sharing of best practices on legislations and their implementation can enable harmonization of global WMD controls.
    • India initially had reservations on enacting laws mandated by the UNSCR.
    • This is not seen by India as an appropriate body for making such a demand.
    • However, given the danger of WMD terrorism that India faces in view of the difficult neighbourhood that it inhabits, the country supported the Resolution and has fulfilled its requirements.

    Conclusion

    • It is in India’s interest to facilitate highest controls at the international level and adopt them at the domestic level.
    • Having now updated its own legislation, India can demand the same of others, especially from those in its neighbourhood that have a history of proliferation and of supporting terrorist organisations.

    Back2Basics:

    Nuclear Security Contact Group

    • The NSCG was established in 2016.
    • The NSCG or “Contact Group” has been established with the aim of facilitating cooperation and sustaining engagement on nuclear security after the conclusion of the Nuclear Security Summit process.
    • The Contact Group is tasked with:
    1. Convening annually on the margins of the General Conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and, as may be useful, in connection with other related meetings
    2. Discussing a broad range of nuclear security-related issues, including identifying emerging trends that may require more focused attention

    Nuclear Suppliers Group

    • NSG is a group of nuclear supplier countries that seeks to contribute to the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons through the implementation of guidelines for nuclear exports and nuclear-related exports.
    • The NSG was set up as a response to India’s nuclear tests conducted in 1974.
    • The aim of the NSG is to ensure that nuclear trade for peaceful purposes does not contribute to the proliferation of nuclear weapons.

    Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty

    • CTBT was negotiated at the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva and adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1996.
    • The Treaty intends to ban all nuclear explosions – everywhere, by everyone.
    • It was opened for signature in 1996 and since then 182 countries have signed the Treaty, most recently Ghana has ratified the treaty in 2011.

    Fissile material cut-off treaty

    • FMCT is a proposed international agreement that would prohibit the production of the two main components of nuclear weapons: highly-enriched uranium (HEU) and plutonium.
    • Discussions on this subject have taken place at the UN Conference on Disarmament (CD), a body of 65 member nations established as the sole multilateral negotiating forum on disarmament.
    • The CD operates by consensus and is often stagnant, impeding progress on an FMCT.
    • Those nations that joined the nuclear NPT as non-weapon states are already prohibited from producing or acquiring fissile material for weapons.
    • An FMCT would provide new restrictions for the five recognized nuclear weapon states (NWS—United States, Russia, United Kingdom, France, and China), and for the four nations that are not NPT members (Israel, India, Pakistan, and North Korea).

     

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  • [pib] NAMASTE scheme

    The Government has formulated a National Action Plan for Mechanized Sanitation Ecosystem- NAMASTE scheme for cleaning of sewers and septic tank.

    NAMASTE Scheme

    • The scheme is a joint venture of Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment and the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.
    • It aims to achieve outcomes like:
    1. Zero fatalities in sanitation work in India
    2. No sanitation workers come in direct contact with human faecal matter
    3. All Sewer and Septic tank sanitation workers have access to alternative livelihoods
    • The Ministry has shortlisted type of machineries and core equipments required for maintenance works, safety gear for Safai Mitras.

    Why such move?

    Ans. Prevalence of manual scavenging in India

    What is Manual Scavenging?

    • Manual scavenging is the practice of removing human excreta by hand from sewers or septic tanks.
    • India banned the practice under the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013 (PEMSR).
    • The Act bans the use of any individual for manually cleaning, carrying, disposing of or otherwise handling in any manner, human excreta till its disposal.
    • In 2013, the definition of manual scavengers was also broadened to include people employed to clean septic tanks, ditches, or railway tracks.
    • The Act recognizes manual scavenging as a “dehumanizing practice,” and cites a need to “correct the historical injustice and indignity suffered by the manual scavengers.”

    Why is it still prevalent in India?

    • Low awareness: Manual scavenging is mostly done by the marginalized section of the society and they are generally not aware about their rights.
    • Enforcement issues: The lack of enforcement of the Act and exploitation of unskilled labourers are the reasons why the practice is still prevalent in India.
    • High cost of automated: The Mumbai civic body charges anywhere between Rs 20,000 and Rs 30,000 to clean septic tanks.
    • Cheaper availability: The unskilled labourers, meanwhile, are much cheaper to hire and contractors illegally employ them at a daily wage of Rs 300-500.
    • Caste dynamics: Caste hierarchy still exists and it reinforces the caste’s relation with occupation. Almost all the manual scavengers belong to lower castes.

    Various policy initiatives

    • Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation (Amendment) Bill, 2020: It proposes to completely mechanise sewer cleaning, introduce ways for ‘on-site’ protection and provide compensation to manual scavengers in case of sewer deaths.
    • Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013: Superseding the 1993 Act, the 2013 Act goes beyond prohibitions on dry latrines, and outlaws all manual excrement cleaning of insanitary latrines, open drains, or pits.
    • Rashtriya Garima Abhiyan: It started national wide march “Maila Mukti Yatra” for total eradication of manual scavenging from 30th November 2012 from Bhopal.
    • Prevention of Atrocities Act: In 1989, the Prevention of Atrocities Act became an integrated guard for sanitation workers since majority of the manual scavengers belonged to the Scheduled Caste.
    • Compensation: As per the Prohibition of Employment of Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation (PEMSR) Act, 2013 and the Supreme Court’s decision in the Safai Karamchari Andolan vs Union of India case, a compensation of Rs 10 lakh is awarded to the victims family.

    Way forward

    • Regular surveys and social audits must be conducted against the involvement of manual scavengers by public and local authorities.
    • There must be proper identification and capacity building of manual scavengers for alternate sources of livelihood.
    • Creating awareness about the legal protection of manual scavengers is necessary.

     

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