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GS Paper: GS2

  • Supreme Court directive on Quota in Promotions

    The Supreme Court has asked Attorney General to compile the various issues being raised by States with regard to the 2006 M. Nagaraj case, which had upheld the application of creamy layer principle to members of the SC/ST communities in promotions.

    Must read edition: Reservation not a Fundamental Right

    What is the case about?

    • The Centre’s plea came despite the Supreme Court, in September 2018, in Jarnail Singh case, reiterating the Nagaraj judgment of 2006.
    • The 2006 judgment required the States to show quantifiable data to prove the ‘backwardness’ of a community to provide quota in promotion in public employment,
    • The 2018 judgment, which was authored by Justice Rohinton F. Nariman, had refused the government’s plea to refer the 2006 Nagaraj judgment to a seven-judge Bench.
    • It had while modifying the part of the Nagaraj verdict, rejected the Centre’s argument that Nagaraj misread the creamy layer concept by applying it to SC/ST.

    Nagaraj Case

    • In Jarnail Singh vs Lachhmi Narain Gupta (2018), the court dealt with a batch of appeals on the correctness of the Supreme Court’s judgment in M Nagaraj & Others vs Union of India (2006).
    • The Nagaraj case, in turn, had arisen out of a challenge to the validity of four Constitution amendments, which the court eventually upheld.

    What were the amendments?

    • 77th Amendment: It introduced Clause 4A to the Constitution, empowering the state to make provisions for reservation in matters of promotion to SC/ST employees if the state feels they are not adequately represented.
    • 81st Amendment: It introduced Clause 4B, which says unfilled SC/ST quota of a particular year, when carried forward to the next year, will be treated separately and not clubbed with the regular vacancies of that year to find out whether the total quota has breached the 50% limit set by the Supreme Court.
    • 82nd Amendment: It inserted a proviso at the end of Article 335 to enable the state to make any provision for SC/STs “for relaxation in qualifying marks in any examination or lowering the standards of evaluation, for reservation in matters of promotion to any class or classes of services or posts in connection with the affairs of the Union or of a State”.
    • 85th Amendment: It said reservation in the promotion can be applied with consequential seniority for the SC/ST employee.

    What is Art.335 about?

    • Article 335 of the Constitution relates to claims of SCs and STs to services and posts.
    • It reads: “The claims of the members of the SC’s and ST’s shall be taken into consideration, consistently with the maintenance of efficiency of administration, in the making of appointments to services and posts in connection with the affairs of the Union or of a State.”

  • Can courts stay laws made by the legislature?

    The Supreme Court’s recent order staying the implementation of three farm laws has been criticised and is seen as violative of the doctrine of Separation of Powers.

    Q. Discuss the role of judicial activism in parliamentary democracy in India.

    What is the issue?

    • In particular, many have questioned the suspension of action under the laws as such interim orders are extremely rare.
    • The court did not accept the Attorney General’s argument that laws made by the legislature should not be ordinarily stayed, as there is a presumption of constitutionality in favour of the laws.

    SC’s justification

    • This court cannot be said to be completely powerless to grant stay of any executive action under a statutory enactment, the Bench observed in its order.
    • This means that it was apparently making a distinction between staying a law and staying its implementation or any action under it.
    • Some may argue, however, that the effect remains the same, as the order operates as a stay on the government invoking its provisions.

    Previous such orders

    • The court also cited an order passed by another Bench of the Supreme Court in September 2020 on the Maratha reservation issue.
    • It directed that admissions to educational institutions for 2020-21 and appointments to posts under the government shall be made without reference to the reservation provided under the relevant legislation.

    Farms laws case is different

    • In the Maratha reservation case, the Bench said interim orders could be passed if an enactment is ex facie unconstitutional or contrary to the law laid down by the Supreme Court.
    • It noted that the quota violated the 50% ceiling mentioned in the Indra Sawhney case (1992) and that the Maharashtra government had not shown any extraordinary situation to justify exceeding the limit.
    • Here, the Court observed that a stay on the farm laws’ implementation may assuage the hurt feelings of farmers and encourage them to come to the negotiating table.

    What are the court’s powers in regard to staying enacted law?

    • Under the broad framework of judicial review, the Supreme Court and High Courts have the power to declare any law unconstitutional.
    • This is on grounds if a law is contrary to any provision of the Constitution or it violates any of the fundamental rights.
    • Another ground is invalidity if the law is repugnant to a central law on the same subject or has been enacted without legislative jurisdiction.

    Criticisms of the move

    • The main criticism is that suspending a law made by the legislature goes against the concept of separation of powers.
    • Courts are expected to defer to the legislature’s wisdom at the threshold of a legal challenge to the validity of a law.
    • The validity of law ought to be considered normally only at the time of final adjudication, and not at the initial stage.
    • The second principle is that there is a presumption that every law enacted by any legislature is constitutional and valid.
    • The onus is on those challenging it to prove that it is not. Therefore, courts are circumspect when hearing petitions seeking suspension of law pending a detailed adjudication.

    Various precedents cited by the Court

    • Case law suggests that in some cases, High Courts indeed stayed the operation of some laws. However, the Supreme Court took a dim view.
    • In 1984, the top court set aside an interim stay granted against the operation of a municipal tax (Siliguri Municipality & Others vs Amalendu Das & Others).
    • In 2013, it removed the stay on some provisions of and regulations under the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act, 2003 (Health for Millions Trust vs Union of India).
    • It then held that the rules were ex facie unconstitutional and the factors, like, the balance of convenience, irreparable injury and public interest are in favour of passing an interim order.

    Back2Basics: Judicial Activism

    • The term “Judicial Activism” refers to the court’s decision, based on the wisdom that does not go rigidly within the text of the statute passed by the legislature.
    • It goes in favour of the use of judicial power broadly to provide remedies to the wide range of social wrongs for ensuring proper justice.
    • The judiciary performs an active role to uphold constitutional values and ethics under the constitutional pattern.
    • For addressing civic dilemmas, the judiciary applies its intellect and creativity to fill the gap between the positive and normative aspects of legislations.
    • For this reason, judicial activism has emerged.

  • UK invites India to attend G7 Summit

    The United Kingdom has invited PM Modi to attend the G7 summit that is scheduled to be held in June.

    Note the members of G7 and G20. UPSC may puzzle you asking which G20 nation isn’t a member of G7.

    G7 Countries

    • The G-7 or ‘Group of Seven’ includes Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
    • It is an intergovernmental organisation that was formed in 1975 by the top economies of the time as an informal forum to discuss pressing world issues.
    • Initially, it was formed as an effort by the US and its allies to discuss economic issues.
    • The G-7 forum now discusses several challenges such as oil prices and many pressing issues such as financial crises, terrorism, arms control, and drug trafficking.
    • It does not have a formal constitution or a fixed headquarters. The decisions taken by leaders during annual summits are non-binding.
    • Canada joined the group in 1976, and the European Union began attending in 1977.

    Evolution of the G-7

    • When it started in 1975—with six members, Canada joining a year later—it represented about 70% of the world economy.
    • And it was a cozy club for tackling issues such as the response to oil shocks.
    • Now it accounts for about 40% of global GDP.
    • Since the global financial crisis of 2007-09, it has sometimes been overshadowed by the broader g20.
    • The G-7 became the G-8 in 1997 when Russia was invited to join.
    • In 2014, Russia was debarred after it took over Crimea.

    Significance of G7 for India

    • India will get more voice, more influence, and more power by entering the G7.
    • After the UN Security Council (UNSC), this is the most influential grouping.
    • If the group is expanded it will collectively address the humongous issues created by the Wuhan virus,
    • Diplomatically, a seat at the high table could help India further its security and foreign policy interests, especially at the nuclear club and UN Security Council reform as well as protecting its interests in the Indian Ocean.

    Back2Basics: The G-20

    • The G-20 is a larger group of countries, which also includes G7 members.
    • The G-20 was formed in 1999, in response to a felt need to bring more countries on board to address global economic concerns.
    • Apart from the G-7 countries, the G-20 comprises Argentina, Australia, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, and Turkey.
    • Together, the G-20 countries make up around 80% of the world’s economy.
    • As opposed to the G-7, which discusses a broad range of issues, deliberations at the G-20 are confined to those concerning the global economy and financial markets.
    • India is slated to host a G-20 summit in 2022.

  • Problem of control and governance of knowledge in a globalised world

    The article highlights the issues with the criteria applied by the UGC to evaluate the faculty research.

    Impact of UGC standardisation on social sciences and humanities research

    • UGC has been the regulatory body responsible for maintaining standards in higher education, while addressing challenges of globalisation.
    • Processes of UGC mandated standardisation have in particular impacted social sciences and humanities research in Indian universities.
    • Over the years, UGC has linked institutional funding to ranking and accreditation systems like NAAC and NIRF.
    • In order to evaluate institutions, these bodies have evolved  criteria, which rank universities based on faculty research measured by citations in global journal databases like SCOPUS.
    • In comparison, importance granted to research outputs like books or other forms is declining.

    Issues with the criteria

    • The insistence of publication in journals fails to distinguish between the varied trajectory of disciplines.
    • While in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Management) disciplines, research is often highly objective and quantified.
    • In social sciences and humanities research is subjective, analytical and argumentative.
    • In disciplines like history, sociology, politics, philosophy, psychology and literature, researchers spend years writing books that engage with ideas in complex ways.
    • In devaluing books as authentic forms of research, UGC does major disservice to scholars of social sciences and humanities.
    • Due to emphasis on publication, teachers spend most of their productive time writing articles and getting them published, thereby missing out on quality engagement with pedagogy and research.

    Issues with the process of peer review

    • The process of peer review itself is subjective, and depends upon the knowledge, inclination and availability of time of the particular reviewer.
    • It is often quite challenging for scholars to meet peer-review standards of A-listed journals.
    • This has actually required the UGC to expand its own list, ending up including and subsequently deleting a large number of locally published journals.

    Issue of inaccessibility

    • Publication of research in paywalled journal databases makes research inaccessible for students as universities continue to cut down library budgets.
    • Students and teachers, access articles through pirated sites like Libgen and Scihub, prone to be shut down at any point of time as evident from the litigations.
    • Clearly, access to knowledge is structurally made inequitable in favour of the elite and/or moneyed institutions and their constituents.

    Way forward

    • The above arguments maintain for the possible multiplicity that can emerge as the end-result of research.
    • Interdisciplinary and practice-based research can throw up social and ecological experiments, artworks and performances, and numerous new outcomes yet to be conceived as research outputs.
    • While the UGC hopes to raise the standards to global levels, precarity of employment, longer teaching hours, a dismal student-teacher ratio, lack of sabbaticals, research and travel grants, access to research facilities and office space, adversely impact the research potential of teachers.
    • Regulating research needs to be replaced with facilitating research, allowing minds to think and gestate.
    • Regulations without facilitation will merely bureaucratise the governance of knowledge without generating any pathbreaking insights.

    Conclusion

    The UGC needs to widen its criteria which values publication of a book as much as a research paper in the mandated journal to widen the research in social sciences and humanities.

  • Russia withdraws from Open Skies Treaty

    Russia has announced that it was pulling out of the Open Skies Treaty, saying that the pact had been seriously compromised by the withdrawal of the United States.

    The New START, INF and now the OST …. Be clear about the differences of these treaties. For example- to check if their inception was during cold war era etc.

    Open Skies Treaty (OST)

    • OST is an agreement that allows countries to monitor signatories’ arms development by conducting surveillance flights over each other’s territories.
    • The idea behind the OST was first proposed in the early years of the Cold War by former U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower.
    • It came to existence decades later and was signed in 1992, during the George H.W. Bush presidency and after the Soviet Union had collapsed.
    • The OST came into effect in 2002 under the George W. Bush administration and it allows its 34 signatories to conduct unarmed reconnaissance flights over the territory of treaty countries.

    Issues with the OST

    • The U.S. has used the treaty more intensively than Russia.
    • Between 2002 and 2016, the U.S. flew 196 flights over Russia (in addition to having imagery from other countries) compared to the 71 flights flown by Russia.

  • Nepal once again raises Kalapani Boundary Issue

    Nepal has raised the Kalapani boundary dispute with India during the Joint Commission meeting of the Foreign Ministers.

    Q.The India-Nepal bilateral relations these days are increasingly seen through the lens of China factor. Examine.

    Kalapani Boundary Issue

    • Mapped within Uttarakhand is a 372-sq km area called Kalapani, bordering far-west Nepal and Tibet.
    • A treaty signed between Nepal and British India in 1816 determined the Makhali river, that runs through Kalapani, as the boundary between the two neighbours.
    • The Treaty of Sugauli concluded between British India and the Kingdom of Nepal in the year 1816, maps the Makhali River as the western boundary with India.
    • But different British maps showed the source of the tributary at different places which were mainly due to underdeveloped and less-defined surveying techniques used at that time.
    • However, the river has many tributaries that meet at Kalapani. For this reason, India claims that the river begins at Kalapani but Nepal says that it begins from Lipu Lekh pass, which is the source of most of its tributaries.
    • While the Nepal government and political parties have protested, India has said the new map does not revise the existing boundary with Nepal.
    • India claims that the river begins at Kalapani but Nepal says that it begins from Lipu Lekh pass, which is the source of most of its tributaries.

    Legal Dimension of Issue

    According to International Laws, the principles of avulsion and accretion are applicable in determining the borders when a boundary river changes course.

    • Avulsion: It is the pushing back of the shoreline by sudden, violent action of the elements, perceptible while in progress. Also, it can be defined as the sudden and perceptible change in the land brought about by water, which may result in the addition or removal of land from a bank or shoreline.
    • Accretion: It is the process of growth or enlargement by a gradual buildup. It is the natural, slow and gradual deposit of soil by the water.

    If the change of the river course is rapid – by avulsion – the boundary does not change. But if the river changes course gradually – that is, by accretion – the boundary changes accordingly.

    Since, the Gandak change, of course, has been gradual, India claimed Susta as part of their territory as per international laws.

    • On several occasions, India has tried to resolve the issue through friendly and peaceful negotiations, but the Nepali leadership has always shown hesitation in resolving the issue.
    • In Nepal, the issue has become a tool for arousing strong public sentiment against India. Therefore, resolving the issue may not be in the best interest of Nepal’s domestic politics.

    Significance for India

    • The Lipu Lekh pass serves strategic importance for India as a key point to monitor Chinese troop movement.
    • The link road via Lipulekh Himalayan Pass is also considered one of the shortest and most feasible trade routes between India and China.
    • The Nepalese reaction would probably have triggered in response to Chinese assertion.

    An undefined boundary claimed by Nepal

    • Nepal’s western boundary with India was marked out in the Treaty of Sugauli between the East India Company and Nepal in 1816.
    • Nepali authorities claim that people living in the low-density area were included in the Census of Nepal until 58 years ago.
    • Five years ago, Nepali Foreign Minister had claimed that the late King Mahendra “handed over the territory to India”.
    • By some accounts in Nepal, this allegedly took place in the wake of India-China War of 1962.

    Must read:

    [Burning Issue] India-Nepal Border Row

  • [pib] PMKVY 3.0

    The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) has launched Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) 3.0.

    Note the differences between all three versions of PMKVY.

    PMKVY 3.0

    • PMKVY 3.0 envisages training of eight lakh candidates over the scheme period of 2020-2021.
    • This phase three will focus on new-age and COVID-related skills.
    • The 729 PM Kaushal Kendras (PMKKs), empanelled non-PMKK training centres and more than 200 industrial training institutes under Skill India will be rolling out under it.
    • On the basis of the learning gained from PMKVY 1.0 and PMKVY 2.0, the MSDE has improved the newer version of the scheme to match the current policy doctrine and energize the skilling ecosystem.

    Implementation

    • PMKVY 3.0 will be implemented in a more decentralized structure with greater responsibilities and support from States/UTs and Districts.
    • District Skill Committees (DSCs), under the guidance of State Skill Development Missions (SSDM), shall play a key role in addressing the skill gap and assessing demand at the district level.
    • The new scheme will be more trainee- and learner-centric addressing the ambitions of aspirational Bharat.
    • PMKVY 2.0 broadened the skill development with the inclusion of Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) and focus on training.
    • With the advent of PMKVY 3.0, the focus is on bridging the demand-supply gap by promoting skill development in areas of new-age and Industry 4.0 job roles.

    Back2Basics: PMKVY 1.0

    • PMKVY is a skill development initiative scheme of the Government of India for recognition and standardization of skills launched on16 July 2015;.
    • The aim of the scheme is to encourage aptitude towards employable skills and to increase the working efficiency of probable and existing daily wage earners, by giving monetary awards and rewards and by providing quality training to them.
    • For this qualification plans and quality, plans have been developed by various Sector Skill Councils (SSC) created with the participation of Industries.
    • National Skill Development Council (NSDC) has been made coordinating and driving agency for the same.

  • The ‘Difficult Four’ Countries

    A UK think-tank ‘Royal Institute of International Affairs’ has listed India in ‘Difficult 4’; clubs India with China, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey.

    This newscard helps analyse the Western esp. that of the EU’s perception of India and its global image under the present regime.

    What is the news?

    • A report called ‘Global Britain, Global Broker’ has warned the UK government to consider India as more of a rival that a cooperative partner.
    • It accepts the fact that India is set to be the largest country in the world by population very soon and will have the third-largest economy and defence budget at some point in this decade.
    • But it cautions that gaining direct national benefit from the relationship, whether economically or diplomatically, will be difficult for the UK government.
    • The report also accepts India’s importance to the UK as being “inescapable”.

    The ‘Difficult Four’

    • Clubbing India with China, Saudi Arabia and Turkey as the “difficult four”, the report says the Johnson government should be more realistic about developing deeper ties with India.
    • They may be important to the UK’s commercial interests, but they will be rivals or, at best, awkward counterparts on many of its global goals, the report warns.
    • India is now classed as a country, destined to count among the UK’s “rivals” or “awkward counterparts” as it pursues its global goals.

    India has had bitter (colonial) past

    • The think-tank strikes a note of caution over the two countries’ shared colonial history proving a stumbling block to the promise of a deeper relationship.
    • India has a long and consistent record of resisting being corralled into a ‘Western’ camp.
    • As a result, India is always on the list of countries with which a new UK government commits to engage.
    • But it should be obvious by now that the idea of a deeper relationship with India always promises more than it can deliver.
    • The legacy of British colonial rule consistently curdles the relationship.

    Indian flaws

    • The report points to India’s “complex, fragmented domestic politics”, which make it one of the countries resistant to open trade and foreign investment.
    • It highlights concerns raised by domestic groups as well as the UN over a “crackdown on human rights activists and civil society groups” not being actively challenged by the judiciary.
    • It raises concern over India’s pursuance of extreme right-winged policies. Indian domestic politics also has entered a more ethnic-nationalist phase, the report argues.
    • Against this backdrop, the report reflects on the prospect of including India within any new Democratic 10 or D10 coalition of 10 leading democracies.

    Try this question from 2019 CS Mains:

     

    Q.What are the challenges to our cultural practices in the name of secularism? (150W)

    UK’s resentment

    • In a critique of India’s diplomatic behaviour, the report points out that despite border clashes with China, “India did not join the group of countries that criticized China at the UN in July 2019 over HR violations in Xinjiang.
    • India has also been muted in its criticism of the passage of the new national security law in Hong Kong.

  • Covid-19 vaccine policy

    The article explains the challenge in the vaccination program for the Covid-19 vaccine.

    Issue of lack of data about the vaccine

    • In the COVID vaccine roll out, there is no clear data for either of the two vaccines proposed for use in the programme.
    • We do not know if they provide protection for life, for a year or six months, its efficacy among the elderly or the very sick or in stopping new infections.
    • Getting such data requires at least three years and cannot be obtained in a few months.

    Guidelines for implementing vaccine programme

    • Given these limitations, the government has drawn up strategic guidelines for implementing an vaccine programme covering 30 crore people by July.
    • The guidelines draw upon the knowledge of running national campaigns acquired over three decades of implementing the Universal Immunisation Programme.
    • These guidelines detail the skills, roles and responsibilities of the required human resources, logistics for delivering vaccines at point of use, physical infrastructure, monitoring systems based on digital platforms and feedback systems for reporting adverse events.
    • The approach involves 19 departments, donor organisations and NGOs at the national, state, district and block level.
    • The guidelines also mention the priority criteria — caregivers, front line workers of the departments of health, defence, municipalities and transportation; persons above the age of 50 and those below 50 having diabetes, hypertension, cancers and lung diseases.

    Issues with the guidelines

    • Of the 28,932 cold chain points, half are in the five southern states, Maharashtra and Gujarat.
    • Combined with poor human resources — doctors, nurses, pharmacists — a weak private sector, poor safety and hygiene standards, frequent power outages, poor infrastructure, the capacity to implement with the expected speed, quality and accuracy is daunting.
    • The immunisation can disrupt routine health service delivery — antenatal care, national programmes like those pertaining to TB or other immunisation drives.
    • While data for the above-50-year-olds is available in the electoral rolls, line listing of the under 50s with comorbidities can be challenging.
    • Not only are urban-rural variations substantial, but urban areas have weak public health infrastructure and a multiple number of private providers due to the poor implementation of the Clinical Establishment Act, 2010.
    • Patient tracking can be problematic.
    • The non-availability of efficacy data could also impact the procurement and supply of vaccines, result in huge wastage, and can introduce scope for errors and duplication.

    Way forward

    • Central to the success of the roll out will be the confidence of the people in the vaccines.
    • Coming out of this messy situation is necessary and one option — as adopted for the polio eradication programme — is to establish an independent team of experts under the aegis of the WHO to ensure the safety of the vaccine.
    • This will create confidence in the community and international authorities as well.

    Conclusion

    it is important to understand that vaccination is an incomplete solution to ending the epidemic, since the virus is mutating. Adopting safe behaviour is.

  • Europe’s China gambit will fall short of its stated goals

    Thought the article is not directly related to India, the conclusion of the investment treaty between the EU and China serves as the prelude to the post-pandemic world order which surely matters for India. The article explains the implications of the agreement.

    Investment agreement between EU and China

    • Recently, the EU and China announced the completion of a Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI) between the two.
    • The CAI gives European firms enhanced access to the Chinese market, removes (or relaxes) Chinese government requirements on joint ventures and technology transfer in some sectors.
    • The European Commission has claimed that the CAI allows the EU to maintain its “policy space”, especially in “sensitive” sectors such as energy, infrastructure, agriculture, and public services
    • The deal also promises equal treatment with state enterprises and greater regulatory transparency in China.
    • Moreover, the Chinese government has undertaken some obligations on environmental sustainability and labour rights, notably by agreeing to make “continued and sustained efforts” to ratify the Forced Labour Convention.

    Reaction to the agreement

    • The US reaction ranged from disappointment to outright hostility.
    • The incoming Biden administration would have preferred a unified front against China, by striking an economic deal with Europe first.
    • For others, it was the EU’s apparent misjudgement on China’s human rights promises.

    Post-pandemic world order and role of democracies

    • The Europe-China agreement underscores a fundamental question of the post-pandemic world order: Can democracies remain true to their values while engaging in trade and investment with China?
    • To answer that, we must recognize two facts.
    • First, it is impossible to decouple the economies of the West from the Chinese economy without causing an economic catastrophe.
    • Second, there is little that Western countries can do to reshape China’s state-driven economic model or repressive human- and labour-rights regime.

    What should be the approach in dealing with China

    • The West should pursue more limited, more attainable, and ultimately more defensible goals.
    • Two goals are paramount.
    • First, trade and investment rules should be such that Western firms and consumers are not directly complicit in human-rights abuses in China.
    • Second, such rules should safeguard democratic countries against Chinese practices that could undermine their domestic institutional arrangements on labour, environment, technology, and national security.

    Lack of clarity over arbitration mechanism

    • The agreement contains an arbitration scheme that enables the parties to bring violation complaints against each other.
    • Arbitration scheme could serve as a means for the Chinese government to challenge specific entry barriers against Chinese firms.
    • How much this mechanism will be sensitive towards the issues such as treatment given to workers or the environmental protection is not clear.
    • Similarly, how much deference will panels show to exceptions to market access based on “national security” considerations is not clear.

    Conclusion

    We should not judge the CAI by whether it enables Europe to export its system and values. We should judge it by whether it allows Europe to remain true to its own.