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GS Paper: GS2

  • Domestic politics and its influence on foreign policy

    The article examines the issue of intervention in domestic politics by the external powers and the practical utilities of principles of non-intervention in the internal matters of neighbouring countries.

    Political turmoil in Nepal and India’s reaction

    • Nepal has been going through political crisis for some days now.
    • India’s reluctance to be drawn into the political turmoil in Kathmandu has drawn much attention.
    • India’s refusal is in contrast to Beijing’s active effort to preserve the unity of the ruling communist party in Kathmandu.

    The principles of sovereignty and non-intervention and its violations

    • India and China always insist that other countries should stop interfering in their respective internal affairs.
    • But big nations always intervene in other nations but fend off potential threats to their own sovereignty.
    • That does not prevent others from messing with India and Beijing.
    • Intervention is part of international life; all powers — big and small — frequently violate the principle of sovereignty.
    • The concept of national sovereignty was never absolute.
    • Big nations tend to intervene more, and the smaller ones find ways to manage this through the politics of balancing against their large neighbours.

    Analysing the causes of external interventions

    • The pressure for external intervention often comes from major domestic constituencies within.
    • For example, the conflict between Sinhala majority and Tamil minority in Sri Lanka produces political pressure on Delhi to intervene in Sri Lanka.
    • The demand sometimes comes from outside.
    • In Nepal, for example, elite competition sees different factions trying to mobilise external powers.
    • In recent years, we have also seen the intense interaction between domestic power struggles and external powers like India and China.
    • The Maldives is one example.

    Factors responsible for intervention

    • Given the nature of South Asia’s political geography, very few problems can be isolated within the territories of nations.
    • There is also the tension between the shared cultural identity in the subcontinent.
    • There is also the determination of the smaller nations to define a contemporary identity independent of India.
    • The bitter legacies of Partition leave the domestic political dynamics of Bangladesh, India and Pakistan tied together.
    • India’s relations with its smaller neighbours are also burdened by the legacy of India’s past hegemony and the emerging challenges to it.

    What should be India’s regional policy?

    • India can neither stand apart nor jump into every domestic conflict within the neighbourhood.
    • It is always about political judgement about specific situations.
    • Active and direct intervention in the domestic politics of neighbours must be a prudent exception rather than the rule in India’s regional diplomacy.

    Conclusion

    The subcontinent has historically been an integrated geopolitical space with a shared civilisational heritage. Equally true is the reality of multiple contemporary sovereignties within South Asia. In dealing with these twin realities, the principles guiding India’s engagement should be based on  “mutual respect and mutual sensitivity”.

  • Explained: India at United Nations Security Council

    India is back as a non-permanent member on the United Nations Security Council.

    Q.What objective India should pursue in its stint at the UNSC? What challenges India will face in achieving these objectives?

    India at the UNSC

    Take a look at its seven previous terms, and what its agenda will be amid events concerning China, Pakistan and the US:

    1. In 1950-51, India, as President of UNSC, presided over the adoption of resolutions calling for the cessation of hostilities during the Korean War and for assistance to the Republic of Korea.
    2. In 1967-68, India co-sponsored Resolution 238 extending mandate of UN mission in Cyprus.
    3. In 1972-73, India pushed strongly for admission of Bangladesh into the UN. The resolution was not adopted because of a veto by a permanent member.
    4. In 1977-78, India was a strong voice for Africa in the UNSC and spoke against apartheid. Then External Affairs Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee spoke in UNSC for Namibia’s independence in 1978.
    5. In 1984-85, India was a leading voice in UNSC for resolution of conflicts in the Middle East, especially Palestine and Lebanon.
    6. In 1991-92, PM P V Narasimha Rao participated in the first-ever summit-level meeting of the UNSC and spoke on its role in the maintenance of peace and security.
    7. In 2011-2012, India was a strong voice for developing world, peacekeeping, counter-terrorism and Africa. The first statement on Syria was during India’s Presidency at the UNSC.

    India’s diverse role-play

    • India played an active role in discussions on all issues related to international peace and security.
    • It included several new challenges which the UNSC was called upon to deal with in Afghanistan, Cote d’Ivoire, Iraq, Libya, South Sudan, Syria and Yemen.
    • In view of the threat posed to international trade and security by piracy off the coast of Somalia, India promoted international cooperation against the pirates.
    • At India’s initiative, the UNSC mandated international cooperation for release of hostages taken by pirates as well as for prosecution of those taking hostages and those aiding and abetting these acts.
    • India also worked for enhancing international cooperation in counter-terrorism, prevention of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction to non-state actors, and the strengthening of UN peacekeeping efforts.

    Issues at UNSC: The politics within

    • The seven previous terms have given Indian diplomats the experience of how diplomacy is conducted at the multilateral setting.
    • There have been instances where permanent members would like the non-permanent members to be “cooperative”, and no stand in the way of major resolutions.
    • Most non-permanent members get influenced by the P-5 members. They did not wish to irritate the permanent members and were keen to be perceived by them as ‘cooperative’.
    • This was precisely how the permanent members would like the non-permanent members to behave.

    Walk-alone moves by India

    • The Indians took P5 work more seriously and consequently had to fight a lonely battle.
    • This was the time when the Gulf War erupted and India voted in favour of the US-sponsored resolution in April 1991.
    • India’s vote was dictated by pragmatic considerations.
    • The US had made it clear to India that failure to support the resolution would make it very difficult for them to help India in the World Bank and the IMF.
    • Back then, India was going through a severe balance-of-payment crisis and needed funds from these organisations.
    • Also, India needed the US on its side, if and when the Kashmir issue came up.

    Twenty years later, when India again became a non-permanent member at the UNSC, it was stronger economically but still had to negotiate politics within the Council.

    Ugly faces of the council

    • Most professional diplomats shed their innocence before they arrive at the horse-shoe table around which the Security Council meets.
    • In the real world of foreign and security policy, decision-makers are invariably confronted by cruel choices that are equally problematic and come in various shades.
    • Practitioners are acutely conscious that it is only diplomacy’s outward packaging that dwells in a commitment to a higher moral purpose.
    • The shameless pursuit of narrowly defined interests is most often the motivation and seldom raises eyebrows in the world of multilateral diplomacy.

    Issues before India

    (A) Long slated UN reforms

    • New Delhi has said it is essential that the Security Council is expanded in both the permanent and non-permanent categories.
    • It says India is eminently suited for permanent UNSC membership by any objective criteria, such as population, territorial size, GDP, economic potential and ongoing contributions to UN activities.

    (B) Terrorism

    • The international effort against terrorism is a key priority for India in the UN.
    • With the objective of providing a comprehensive legal framework to combat terrorism, India took the initiative to pilot a draft Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT) in 1996.
    • A text of the Convention is being negotiated in the 6th Committee of the UN General Assembly.
    • India worked closely to ensure the listing of Pakistan-based terrorist Masood Azhar under the UNSC’s 1267 Sanctions Committee (May 2019) concerning al-Qaida and ISIS terrorists.

    (C) China challenge

    • India is entering the UNSC at a time when Beijing is asserting itself at the global stage much more vigorously than ever.
    • It heads at least six UN organisations — and has challenged the global rules.
    • China’s aggressive behaviour in the Indo-Pacific, as well as the India-China border, has been visible in all of 2020, and New Delhi will have to think on its feet to counter Beijing.
    • At Pakistan’s behest, China has tried to raise the issue of Kashmir at the UNSC — but has not found much support.
    • There is some discussion among the strategic community in New Delhi on raising the issues of Taiwan, Hong Kong and Tibet at the UNSC.

    Conclusion

    • India will weigh the pros and cons with partners on what steps to take in this direction.
    • But, the polarizing politics inside India gives a window of opportunity to its rivals and opens up the possibility of criticism — especially on human rights issues.

    Back2Basics: United Nations Security Council

    • The UNSC is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations and is charged with the maintenance of international peace and security.
    • Its powers include the establishment of peacekeeping operations, the establishment of international sanctions, and the authorization of military action through Security Council resolutions.
    • It is the only UN body with the authority to issue binding resolutions to member states.
    • The Security Council consists of fifteen members. Russia, the United Kingdom, France, China, and the United States—serve as the body’s five permanent members.
    • These permanent members can veto any substantive Security Council resolution, including those on the admission of new member states or candidates for Secretary-General.
    • The Security Council also has 10 non-permanent members, elected on a regional basis to serve two-year terms. The body’s presidency rotates monthly among its members.

  • SC says it intends to stay farm laws

    The Supreme Court has intended to stay the implementation of the controversial agricultural laws while proposing to form an independent committee chaired by a former CJI to resolve the stand-off between the protesting farmers and the Union government.

    Q.The judicial systems in India and the UK seem to be converging as well as diverging in recent times. Highlight the key points of convergence and divergence between the two nations in terms of their judicial practices. (150W, CS Mains 2020)

    Halting the farm laws

    • The Parliament’s power to legislate, drawn from Article 254(1) of the Constitution, can only be restricted if the law violates the Constitution.
    • How the Supreme Court operationalizes its suggestion to stay the operation of the three farm laws and open fresh talks via a committee will be evident.
    • The Supreme Court has previously set up committees, delegating some of its powers to the members to implement or oversee a law or an order of the court.
    • A line of precedents shows that courts have been very cautious while passing interim orders to stay laws passed by the Legislature.

    Narrow grounds

    The implementation of a law can be halted on two narrow grounds:

    • The first ground is legislative competence, that is, if the court finds that the Parliament has no power to legislate on a subject matter.
    • The other two grounds are if the law violates fundamental rights or any other provisions of the Constitution respectively.

    Various precedents

    • In matters involving the constitutionality of any legislation, courts should be extremely loath to pass an interim order,” a Supreme Court bench had said in 2013 ruling on the validity of the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Regulation Act, 2003.
    • At the time of final adjudication, the court can strike down the statute if found ultra vires of the Constitution.
    • Even in 2019, the Supreme Court refused to stay amendments made in 2018 to the SCs and STs Atrocities Prevention Act saying that a law made by Parliament cannot be stayed.
    • The court also refused to stay the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019, which was also challenged after it drew protests across the country.

    NJAC and Aadhaar Case

    • Even strongly contested legislation such as the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) and Aadhaar was not stayed by the Supreme Court.
    • They were, instead, stalled by the government for the duration of the protracted legal battles in court.
    • While the NJAC Act, which contemplated a significant role for the executive in judicial appointments, was struck down as being violative of the basic structure, the SC upheld the Aadhaar Act.

    What are the issues with the suspension?

    • The court’s action, at first sight, is a violation of separation of powers.
    • It also gives the misleading impression that a distributive conflict can be resolved by technical or judicial means.
    • It is also not a court’s job to mediate a political dispute.
    • Its job is to determine unconstitutionality or illegality.
    • Even in suspending laws there needs to be some prima facie case that these lapses might have taken place.
    • It has set a new precedent for putting on hold laws passed by Parliament without substantive hearings on the content of the laws.
    • Also in appointing the committee, the court has violated the first rule of mediation: The mediators must be acceptable to all parties and appointed in consultation with them.

    Conclusion

    The Supreme Court order has given the government a setback while not addressing the concerns of the protesting farmers. The court needs to consider these facts and mend its implications.

  • India’s burden of heart diseases

    According to the Global Burden of Disease, nearly a quarter (24.8 per cent) of all deaths in India is due to cardiovascular diseases (CVDs).

    The fastest-growing economy has some perils. In this newscard, you will get to see how CVDs are a legacy of economic growth.

    Global Burden of Disease (GBD) Report

    • The GBD is a comprehensive regional and global research program of disease burden that assesses mortality and disability from major diseases, injuries, and risk factors.
    • GBD is a collaboration of over 3600 researchers from 145 countries.
    • It is based out of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington and funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

    Indian burden of CVDs

    • About a third of the senior citizens have been diagnosed with hypertension, 5.2% with chronic heart disease and 2.7% with stroke
    • Even an analysis of the medical certification of cause of death (MCCD) reports points to an increase in the proportion of deaths due to CVD. It went from 20.4 per cent in 1990 to 27.1 per cent in 2004.
    • According to MCCD report, 2018, CVDs accounted for more than half (57%) of the total deaths in the age group of 25–69 years.
    • Case fatality due to CVD in low-income countries, including India, appears to be much higher than in middle and high-income countries.
    • In India, for example, the mean age at which people get the first myocardial infarction is 53 years, which is about 10 years earlier than their counterparts in developed countries.
    • About a third (32 per cent) of the senior citizens have been diagnosed with hypertension, 5.2 per cent were diagnosed with chronic heart disease and 2.7 per cent with stroke.

    Women are more vulnerable

    • Numerous studies have also pointed out that CVD remains the number-one threat to women’s health as more women than men die annually due to these diseases.
    • A Harvard study shows low high-density lipoproteins and high triglycerides appear are the main factors that increase the chances of death from cardiovascular disease in women over age 65.
    • As per the LASI report, gender differences were evident in cross-state variations.
    • CVD among men was higher in Kerala (45 per cent), Goa (44 per cent), Andaman and Nicobar (41 per cent) and lower in Chhattisgarh (15 per cent), Meghalaya (16 per cent), Nagaland (17 per cent).

    Why CVDs are prevalent in India?

    • Epidemiological evidence suggests that CVD is associated with behavioural factors such as smoking, alcohol use, low physical activity, and insufficient vegetable and fruit intake.
    • In the Indian context, poverty, maternal malnutrition, and early life changes enhance an individual’s risk of CVDs.
    • Rural to urban migration that happens in distress leads to over-crowded and unclean environments in urban slums.
    • Problems of inadequate housing, indoor pollution, infectious diseases, inappropriate diet, stress and smoking crop up as a result.

    Need of the hour

    • CVD-risk prevention is one of the important priorities among India’s sustainable development goals.
    • In an earlier estimate, WHO had said with India’s present CVD burden, the country would lose $237 billion from the loss of productivity and spending on healthcare over 10 years (2005–2015).
    • This is because the diseases affect the country’s working population.

    Way ahead

    • The government should devise an approach that can improve the efficiency of care and health system preparedness to curb the CVD epidemic currently sweeping India.
    • Attempts in direction to preserve the traditional lifestyle are also necessary.

  • Improving the diet of low income households to address malnutrition

    The article suggests the ways to deal with the menace of malnutrition in the country.

    Findings of the first phase of NFHS-5

    • Recently, the first phase of the NFHS-5 survey was published.
    • The deteriorating nutrition and anaemia indicators, especially among children is a cause for concern.
    • More deterioration in nutrition indicators following the COVID-19 pandemic is feared in the next phase of NFHS-5.
    • This deterioration would be on account of loss of livelihoods, reduced food consumption among the poor and disruption of government nutrition programmes.

    Challenges

    • Unlike a disease outbreak there may not be any popular demand to address malnutrition — the public, by and large, does not have adequate information about the damage malnutrition causes.
    • Hence, in the Indian context, it becomes the responsibility of the government/civil society to first provide information and awareness to the community about malnutrition.

    Steps to be taken

    • The government should examine the current nutrition-related programmes, and analysing why they are not able to reduce malnutrition faster.
    • Additional interventions could be introduced in pockets, identified as high-burden districts.
    • There should be different norms and more intensive interventions within the ICDS for these chronically malnourished pockets.
    • We need to know if the National Nutrition Policy 1993 is still operational.
    • If not, it seems that we are attempting to address this problem without a policy framework or plan of action.

    Addressing the root cause of malnutrition in India

    The following three deficits are the root cause of malnutrition in India.

    1) Dietary deficit

    • There is a large dietary deficit among at least 40 per cent of our population of all age groups, shown in— the National Nutrition Monitoring Bureau’s Third Repeat Survey (2012), NFHS 4, 2015-16, the NNMB Technical Report Number 27, 2017.
    • Our current interventions are not being able to bridge this protein-calorie-micronutrient deficit.
    • The NHHS-4 and NFHS-5 surveys reveal an acute dietary deficit among infants below two years, and considerable stunting and wasting of infants below six months.
    • Unless this maternal/infant dietary deficit is addressed, we will not see rapid improvement in our nutritional indicators.

    2) Information deficit at household level

    • We do not have a national IEC (information, education and communication) programme that reaches targeted households to bring about the required behavioural change regarding some basic but critical facts.
    • For example, IEC tells about the importance of balanced diets in low-income household budgets, proper maternal, child and adolescent nutrition and healthcare.

    3) Inequitable market conditions

    • The largest deficit, which is a major cause of dietary deficiency and India’s chronic malnutrition, pertains to inequitable market conditions.
    • Such market conditions deny affordable and energy-fortified food to children, adolescents and adults in lower-income families.
    • The market has stacks of expensive fortified energy food and beverages for higher income groups, but nothing affordable for low-income groups.

    Conclusion

    Raising the diet of our people from subsistence level to higher levels of nourishment by overcoming the triple deficit is the only way to improve the nutritional indicators of our population — amongst children, adolescents and adults.

  • Social sector: the post-Covid priority

    The article highlights the need for more focus on the social sector in the post-Covid society and suggest ways to do the same.

    Why focus on social sector

    • No country has progressed without investing in the social sector.
    • India is committed to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030, and social sector development is important in reaching them.
    • Progress in this sector has intrinsic (for its own sake) and instrumental (for higher growth) value.
    • It is needed even to build a $5 trillion economy faster.

    India’s social sector expenditure

    • India’s progress in the social sector has been much slower compared to its GDP growth.
    • In the social sector expenditure, the share of education as a percentage of GDP has been stagnant around 2.8-3 per cent during 2014-15 to 2019-20.
    • In the case of health, the expenditure as a percentage of GDP increased from 1.2 per cent to 1.5 per cent.
    • This is lower than the required 2-3 per cent of GDP.
    • An increase in health expenditure is also important to take care of the present and future pandemics.
    • There are supply side problems regarding the health infrastructure.
    • It is essential to have a huge increase in public expenditure on health and provide accessible, affordable and quality health coverage to all.

    Following are some key issues in the social sector India needs to focus on.

    1) The problem of undernutrition

    • The NFHS-5 report shows that malnutrition level has reduced marginally in a few states and has worsened in some other states between 2015-16 and 2019-20.
    • We can’t have a society with 35 per cent of our children suffering from malnutrition.
    • Apart from undernutrition, obesity seems to be increasing in both rural and urban areas.
    • There is a need to raise allocations for ICDS and other nutrition programmes.
    • The determinants of nutrition are agriculture, health, women’s empowerment, including maternal and child practices, social protection, nutrition education, sanitation and drinking water.
    • The Poshan Abhiyan is a good programme, but has to cover all these determinants with a multi-pronged approach to reduce undernutrition.

    2) Quality education

    • Quality education is key for raising human development.
    • The pandemic has enhanced inequalities in education and has revealed the widening digital gap.
    • Equality of opportunity in terms of quality education is the key for raising human development and for reducing inequalities in the labour market.
    • Several committees have recommended that public expenditure on education should be at 6 per cent of GDP.

    3) Social safety nets

    •  It is known that migrant workers were the most affected during the pandemic and that they do not have any safety nets.
    • There is a need to have safety nets like an employment guarantee scheme for the urban poor and facilities for migrants.
    • Similarly in rural areas, allocations to MGNREGA have to be increased because of the reverse migration.

    4) Programs for vulnerable section need to be continued

    • The government has done well in providing cooking gas through Ujjwala Yojana and electricity through Saubhagya Yojana, introducing programmes such as Swachh Bharat Abhiyan and initiatives for housing, financial inclusion and providing loans to the self-employed.
    • These programmes have helped the vulnerable sections, particularly women.
    • Another initiative of the government was to facilitate direct benefit transfers (DBT) for welfare schemes.
    • These initiatives have to be continued.

    Way forward

    • The government should give more focus to the social sector with better policies and implementation.
    • It has to work closely with the states in revitalising the social sector as major expenditures particularly on health and education are met by them.
    • The 15th Finance Commission also seems to have mentioned that health expenditure should be increased to 2.1 per cent of GDP.
    • The Commission may also suggest some incentives for states to increase health expenditure.
    • Both Centre and states should have a five-year vision on the social sector.

    Consider the question “No country has progressed without investing in the social sector. In the post pandemic world India needs to chart the plan to invest more in the sector. In light of this, examine the challenges in the social sector and suggest the ways to deal with them.

    Conclusion

    India, aspiring to be a global power, should have a harmonious and inclusive social sector development. This is also important for achieving the SDGs, reducing inequalities and building a $5 trillion economy faster.

  • Salary to women for domestic work

    Recently, a political party promised salaries to housewives as a part of its electoral campaign in Tamil Nadu. This led to the debate on the issue. The article deals with the issue.

    Salary for housework: Historical background

    • Demand for wages against housework was first raised at the third National Women’s Liberation conference in Manchester, England.
    •  In 2012, the then minister for Women and Child development announced that the government was considering mandating a salary for housework to wives, from husbands.
    •  The purpose, once again, was to empower women financially and help them live with dignity.

    Recognising the value of unpaid domestic work

    • Time-use data from 2019 gathered by the National Sample Survey Organisation revealed that only about a quarter of men and boys above six years engaged in unpaid household chores, compared to over four-fifths of women.
    • Every day, an average Indian male spends 1.5 hours per day in unpaid domestic work, compared to about five hours by a female.
    • Housework demands effort and sacrifice, 365 days a year, 24/7.

    Issues with paying for domestic work

    •  Asking men to pay for wives’ domestic work could further enhance their sense of entitlement.
    • It may also put the additional onus on women to perform.
    • There is a risk of formalising the patriarchal Indian family where the position of men stems from their being “providers” in the relationship.

    Way forward

    • Despite a legal provision, equal inheritance rights continue to be elusive for a majority of women.
    • More than creating a new provision of salary for housework, we need to strengthen awareness, implementation and utilisation of other existing provisions.
    • Starting from the right to reside in the marital home, to streedhan and haq meher, to coparcenary and inheritance rights as daughters and to basic services, free legal aid and maintenance in instances of violence and divorce.
    • Women should be helped to reach their full potential through quality education, access and opportunities of work, gender-sensitive and harassment-free workplaces and attitudinal and behaviour change within families to make household chores more participative.

    Conclusion

    Just like we do not want women to commodify their reproductive services because of their inherently exploitative nature — we have, therefore, banned commercial surrogacy in the country — let us not allow commodification of housework and personal care.

  • Issues with Harsher Punitive measures for the sexual violence

    Harsher punishment for sexual violence

    • Recently, the Maharashtra cabinet approved the Shakti Bill, enlarging the scope of harsher and mandatory sentences — including the death penalty — for non-homicidal rape.
    • The Shakti Bill comes amid the recent legislative trend to invoke the death penalty for sexual offences.
    • In 2020, the Andhra Pradesh government passed the Disha Bill, pending presidential assent, that provides the death penalty for the rape of adult women.

    Issues with the Bills

    1) Focus on reporting of police complaint

    • The most severe gaps in the justice delivery system are related to reporting a police complaint.
    • The focus of the criminal justice system needs to shift from sentencing and punishment to the stages of reporting, investigation and victim-support mechanisms.
    • The bill does not address these concerns.

    2) Impact on rate of conviction

    • Harsh penalties often have the consequence of reducing the rate of conviction for the offence.
    • A study published in the Indian Law Review based on rape judgments in Delhi shows a lower rate of conviction after the removal of judicial discretion in 2013.
    • Introducing harsher penalties does not remove systemic prejudices from the minds of judges and the police.

    3) Harsher punishment would deter complainants

    • Studies on child sexual abuse have shown that in the few cases of convictions, the minimum sentence was the norm and the award of the maximum punishment was an exception.
    • Crime data from the National Crime Records Bureau shows that in 93.6 per cent of these cases, the perpetrators were known to the victims.
    • Introducing capital punishment would deter complainants from registering complaints.
    • The Shakti Bill ignores crucial empirical evidence on these cases.

    4) Moving away from standard of affirmative consent

    • An affirmative standard of consent is rooted in unequivocal voluntary agreement by women through words, gestures or any form of verbal or non-verbal communication.
    • In a sharp departure, the bill stipulates that valid consent can be presumed from the “conduct of the parties” and the “circumstances surrounding it”.
    • The vaguely worded explanation in the bill holds dangerous possibilities of expecting survivors to respond only in a certain manner, thus creating the stereotype of an “ideal” victim.
    • It also overlooks the fact that perpetrators are known to the survivors in nearly 94 per cent of rapes, which often do not involve any brutal violence.

    Conclusion

    Punitive responses to sexual violence need serious rethinking, given the multitude of perverse consequences and their negligible role in addressing the actual needs of rape survivors.

  • How horizontal, vertical quotas work; what Supreme Court said?

    The Supreme Court last month clarified the position of law on the interplay of vertical and horizontal reservations.

    This newscard is useful for GS paper 1 as well as aspirants with sociology optional. Let us know in the comment box if you want to get a deeper insight.

    It perfectly highlights the heart of the debate on “merit versus reservation”, where reservation is sometimes projected as being anti-merit.

    What are vertical and horizontal reservations?

    • Reservation for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Classes is referred to as vertical reservation.
    • It applies separately for each of the groups specified under the law.
    • Horizontal reservation refers to the equal opportunity provided to other categories of beneficiaries such as women, veterans, the transgender community, and individuals with disabilities, cutting through the vertical categories.

    How are the two categories of quotas applied together?

    • The horizontal quota is applied separately to each vertical category, and not across the board.
    • For example, if women have 50% horizontal quota, then half of the selected candidates will have to necessarily be women in each vertical quota category.
    • This means half of all selected SC candidates will have to be women, half of the unreserved or general category will have to be women, and so on.
    • The interlocking of the two types of reservation throws up a host of questions on how certain groups are to be identified.
    • For example, would an SC woman be put in the category of women or SC? Since quotas are fixed in percentages, what percentage of quota would be attributed to each?

    What was the Saurav Yadav case about?

    • The case was on the technicalities that form a substantial question of law.
    • It was this: Two aspirants had secured 276.5949 and 233.1908 marks respectively.
    • They had applied under the categories of OBC-Female and SC-Female respectively. OBC and SC are vertical reservation categories, while Female is a horizontal reservation category.
    • The two candidates did not qualify in their categories.
    • However, in the General-Female (unreserved-female) category, the last qualifying candidate had secured 274.8298 marks, a score that was lower than the two backwards.
    • The question before the court was that if the underlying criterion for making selections is “merit”.

    What did the court decide?

    • The court ruled against the UP government.
    • It observed if a person belonging to an intersection of the vertical-horizontal reserved category had secured scores high enough to qualify without the vertical reservation.
    • It held that the person would be counted as qualifying without the vertical reservation, and cannot be excluded from the horizontal quota in the general category.
    • If a person in the SC category secures a higher score than the cut-off for the general category, the person would be counted as having qualified under the general category instead of the SC quota.

    What was the government’s argument?

    • The government’s policy was to restrict and contain reserved category candidates to their categories, even when they had secured higher grades.
    • The court said this was tantamount to ensuring that the general category was ‘reserved’ for upper castes.

    What was the court’s reasoning?

    • The court did the math by examining a number of hypothetical scenarios.
    • It concluded that if both vertical and horizontal quotas were to be applied together — and consequently, a high-scoring candidate who would otherwise qualify without any reservation.
    • On the other hand, if a high-scoring candidate is allowed to drop one category, the court found that the overall selection would reflect more high-scoring candidates.
    • In other words, the “meritorious” candidates would be selected.

  • Trade Policy Review of India at the WTO

    India’s seventh Trade Policy Review (TPR) has begun at the World Trade Organization in Geneva.

    Q.In the wake of the global economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, discuss the challenges ahead of WTO.

    Trade Policy Review (TPR)

    • The TPR is an important mechanism under the WTO’s monitoring function and involves a comprehensive peer-review of the Member’s national trade policies.
    • India’s last TPR took place in 2015.

    Why need a TPR?

    • To increase the transparency and understanding of countries’ trade policies and practices, through regular monitoring
    • To improve the quality of public and intergovernmental debate on the issues
    • To enable a multilateral assessment of the effects of policies on the world trading system

    India’s progress

    • Since previous TPR, India has worked diligently to reform and transform the entire economic eco-system to meet the socio-economic aspirations of a billion-plus Indians.
    • The introduction of the GST, the IBC, labour sector reforms, an enabling and investor-friendly FDI Policy, and various national programmes like Make in India, Digital India, Startup India and Skill were the path-breakers.
    • The improvement in the economic and business environment, on account of the wide-ranging reforms, has enabled India to better its position in the World Bank’s Doing Business ranking from 142 in 2015 to 63 in 2019.
    • This improvement is also endorsed by investors who continue to view India as a desirable investment destination even during the testing time of the pandemic.
    • In 2019-20, India received highest ever FDI inflow of USD 74.39 billion.

    A note of caution

    • India’s trade policy remained largely unchanged since the previous review.
    • India continues to rely on trade policy instruments such as the tariff, export taxes, minimum import prices, import and export restrictions, and licensing, WTO said.
    • These are used to manage domestic demand and supply requirements, protect the economy from wide domestic price fluctuations, and ensure conservation and proper utilization of natural resources.
    • As a result, frequent changes are made to tariff rates and other trade policy instruments, which create uncertainty for traders.