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GS Paper: GS2

  • Undoing the right to housing

    The article analyses the implications of recent Supreme Court order regarding the removal of encroachment along the railway line. 

    Context

    •  In short order, the Supreme Court of India on August 31 ordered the removal of about 48,000 slum dwellings situated along the railway tracks in Delhi.
    • The order raises several legal questions, which are discussed below.

    1) Violation of the principle of natural justice

    • The order violates principles of natural justice and due process because it was delivered without hearing the affected party, the jhuggi dwellers.
    • The order was passed in the long-running case on the piling up of garbage along railway tracks.
    • However, neither this case nor the report concerns itself with the legality of informal settlements.
    • Still, the Court made an unconvincing connection between the piling of garbage and the presence of slums.

    2) Ignoring the right to livelihood

    • In this order, the Court ignored its long-standing jurisprudence on the right to livelihood.
    • In the landmark decision concerning pavement-dwellers, a five-judge Bench of the Supreme Court in Olga Tellis & Ors vs. Bombay Municipal Corporation & Ors. (1985) held that the right to life also includes the “right to livelihood”.
    • Further, in Chameli Singh vs. the State Of U.P. (1995), the Supreme Court recognised the “right to shelter” as a component of the right to life under Article 21 and freedom of movement under Article 19(1)(e).

    3) Failure to consider policies and case laws

    •  High Court of Delhi has held that prior to any eviction, a survey must be conducted.
    • The procedure laid down in this judgment formed the basis for the Delhi Slum and JJ Rehabilitation and Relocation Policy, 2015.
    • In Ajay Maken & Ors. vs Union Of India & Ors. (2019), the Delhi High Court invoked the idea of the “Right to the City” to uphold the housing rights of slum dwellers.
    • This case led to the framing of a Draft Protocol for the 2015 Policy on how meaningful engagement with residents should be conducted.

    Conclusion

    The Courts need to strike the balance between the rights of the slum dweller and those affected by the encroachment.

  • Neither war nor peace between India and China

    The article analyses the challenges in the India-China border dispute and the recent events of Chinese aggression.

    Trust deficit

    • The recent Chinese actions have set back trust between the two countries by decades.
    • Trust made sense when both sides could assume that the other side either did not have the capacity or would not rapidly deploy troops in strategic positions at the border.
    • With the building of infrastructure on both sides, this trust was bound to break.
    • Even after temporary disengagement, both sides will now have distrust about the deployment of the other side.
    • An infrastructure-thick environment will require a permanent presence and closer deployments.

    Challenges

    •  At the level of the army, India seems to have consistently misread the PLA’s intentions.
    •  The closer the armies get, the greater the risks.
    • There is a political logic that does not bode well. There is still speculation on why the Chinese are taking an aggressive posture.
    • The very fact that we are not sure of Chinese motives means it is hard to know their endgame.

    Chinese fears

    • At a basic level, they will want to secure their interests in CPEC.
    • Tibet issue has also been a sensitive issue for China.
    •  Chinese interest in Nepal is less to encircle India. It is to ensure Nepal is not used as a staging ground of resistance in Tibet.

    Tibet issues in India-China relations

    • On Tibet issue India is in an awkward situation.
    • Due to the presence of the Dalai Lama in India, China will see it as a potential threat to its cultural hegemony in Tibet.
    • Ladakh and Tawang are also important pieces in that cultural consolidation.
    • The Sino-India peaceful relations were premised on keeping the Tibet issue in check.
    • But just as we are not sure of Chinese motives, they may not be sure of our motives either.

    New paradigm in India’s foreign policy

    • India growing power means it needs a new paradigm of foreign policy.
    • This policy will supposedly safeguard India’s interests more assertively.
    • If diplomatically not well managed, this change also causes great uncertainty in the international system.
    • India’s Pakistan policy is premised entirely on keeping them guessing on what we might do, including possible military options and altering the territorial status quo.
    • Our domestic ideological articulation of India’s position ranges from reclaiming PoK to Aksai Chin.
    • We cannot abandon Tibetans.
    • This underscores a narrative of uncertainty over our intentions.

    Conclusion

    Our own trumpeted departure from the past, without either the diplomatic preparation, domestic political discipline, and full anticipation of military eventualities, does not make it easy for others to understand our endgame.

  • ‘Streets for People’ Challenge

    The Union Housing and Urban Affairs has launched the initiative ‘Streets for People’ for making cities more pedestrian-friendly.

    Streets for People

    • The Challenge builds on the advisory issued by MoHUA for the holistic planning for pedestrian-friendly market spaces, earlier this year.
    • It will support cities across the country to develop a unified vision of streets for people in consultation with stakeholders and citizens.
    • Adopting a participatory approach, cities will be guided to launch their own design competitions to gather innovative ideas from professionals for quick, innovative, and low-cost tactical solutions.
    • ​It aims to inspire cities to create walking-friendly and vibrant streets through quick, innovative, and low-cost measures.
    • All cities participating in the challenge shall be encouraged to use the ‘test-learn-scale’ approach to initiate both, flagship and neighbourhood walking interventions.
    • The interventions can include inter alia creating pedestrian-friendly streets in high footfall areas, re-imagining under-flyover spaces, re-vitalizing dead neighbourhood spaces, and creating walking links through parks and institutional areas.

    Various stakeholders

    • Fit India Mission, under Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, along with the India program of the Institute for Transport Development and Policy (ITDP) has partnered with the Smart Cities Mission to support the challenge.

  • What constitutes a breach of the legislature’s privilege?

    A motion for breach of privilege was moved in the Maharashtra Assembly against a news channel’s editor-in-chief. A similar motion was moved in the Maharashtra Legislative Council against an actor.

    Try this PYQ:

    Q.With reference to the Parliament of India, which of the following Parliamentary Committees scrutinizes and reports to the House whether the powers to make regulations, rules, sub-rules, by-laws etc. conferred by the constitution of delegated by the Parliament are being properly exercised by the Executive within the scope of such delegation?

    (a) Committee on Government Assurances

    (b) Committee on Subordinate Legislation

    (c) Rules Committee

    (d) Business Advisory Committee

    Provisions to protect the privileges of the legislature

    • The powers, privileges and immunities of either House of the Indian Parliament and of its Members and committees are laid down in Article 105 of the Constitution.
    • Article 194 deals with the powers, privileges and immunities of the State Legislatures, their Members and their committees.
    • Parliamentary privilege refers to the right and immunity enjoyed by legislatures, in which legislators are granted protection against civil or criminal liability for actions done or statements made in the course of their legislative duties.

    What constitutes a breach of this privilege?

    • While the Constitution has accorded special privileges and powers to parliamentarians and legislators to maintain the dignity and authority of the Houses, these powers and privileges are not codified.
    • Thus, there are no clear, notified rules to decide what constitutes a breach of privilege, and the punishment it attracts.
    • Any act that obstructs or impedes either House of the state legislature in performing its functions, or which obstructs or impedes any Member or Officer of such House in the discharge of his duty, or has a tendency, directly or indirectly, to produce such results is treated as a breach of privilege.
    • It is a breach of privilege and contempt to print or publish libel reflecting on the character or proceedings of the House or its Committees or on any member of the House for or relating to his character or conduct as a legislator.

    Procedure followed in cases of an alleged breach

    • The Legislative Assembly Speaker or Legislative Council Chairman constitutes a Privileges Committee consisting of 15 members in the Assembly and 11 members in the Council.
    • The members to the committee which has quasi-judicial powers are nominated based on the party strength in the Houses.
    • The Speaker or Chairman first decides on the motions.
    • If the privilege and contempt are found prima facie, then the Speaker or Chairman will forward it to the Privileges Committee by following the due procedure.
    • At present, there is no Privileges Committee in either House of the state legislature.
    • The Committee will seek an explanation from all the concerned, will conduct an inquiry and will make a recommendation based on the findings to the state legislature for its consideration.

    What is the punishment for this?

    • If the Committee finds the offender guilty of breach of privilege and contempt, it can recommend the punishment.
    • The punishment can include communicating the displeasure of the state legislature to the offender, summoning the offender before the House and giving a warning, and even sending the offender to jail.
    • In the case of the media, press facilities of the state legislature may be withdrawn, and a public apology may be sought.

  • [pib] Five Star Village Scheme

    The Department of Posts has launched a scheme called Five Star Villages, to ensure universal coverage of flagship postal schemes in rural areas of the country.

    The Five Star Villages Scheme sounds typically among the most commons types say, Swachh Bharat, Financial Inclusion and Literacy or Infrastructure amenities. Here is the caution for preventing a blunder.

    Five Star Villages Scheme

    • The scheme seeks to bridge the gaps in public awareness and reach of postal products and services, especially in interior villages.
    • The initiatives covered under the scheme include:
    1. Savings Bank accounts, Recurrent Deposit Accounts, NSC / KVP certificates,
    2. Sukanya Samridhi Accounts/ PPF Accounts,
    3. Funded Post Office Savings Account linked India Post Payments Bank Accounts,
    4. Postal Life Insurance Policy/Rural Postal Life Insurance Policy and
    5. Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana Account / Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana Account.
    • If a village attains universal coverage for four schemes from the above list, then that village gets four-star status; if a village completes three schemes, then that village gets three-star status and so on.

    Its implementation

    • The scheme will be implemented by a team of five Gramin Dak Sevaks who will be assigned a village for the marketing of all products, savings and insurance schemes of the Department of Posts.
    • This team will be headed by the Branch Post Master of the concerned Branch Office. Mail overseer will keep personal watch on the progress of the team on daily basis.
    • The teams will be led and monitored by concerned Divisional Head, Assistant Superintendents Posts and Inspector Posts.

  • Explained: Maratha quota — the agitation, the politics

    The Supreme Court has referred to a Constitution Bench the question of whether states can exceed the 50% limit on quotas that were set by a nine-judge Bench in the landmark Indra Sawhney vs Union of India (1992) case.

    Practice question for mains:

    Q.The quota policy for OBCs needs an urgent revisit. Comment.

    Marathas and their ‘backwardness’

    • The Marathas are a politically dominant community who make up 32% of Maharashtra’s population.
    • They have historically been identified as a ‘warrior’ caste with large landholdings. Eleven of the state’s 19 chief ministers so far have been Marathas.
    • While the division of land and agrarian problems over the years have led to a decline of prosperity among middle- and lower-middle-class Marathas, the community still plays an important role in the rural economy.
    • The discontent in the community was a spillover into protests and unrest until the quota was announced.
    • The second phase of the protest saw a spate of suicides. The backward Marathwada region was the worst affected by the protests.

    What was the case?

    • A Bench of the SC heard a batch of petitions challenging reservations for Marathas in education and jobs in Maharashtra.
    • The petitions appealed a 2019 Bombay High Court decision that upheld the constitutional validity of the Maratha quota under the Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEBC) Act, 2018.
    • The Bench also heard a petition challenging admission to postgraduate medical and dental courses under the quota in the state.

    Earlier Bombay HC ruling

    • The Bombay HC ruled last year that the 16% quota granted by the state was not “justifiable”, and reduced it to 12% in education and 13% in government jobs, as recommended by the Maharashtra State Backward Class Commission (MSBCC).
    • The Bench ruled that the limit of the reservation should not exceed 50%.
    • However, in exceptional circumstances and extraordinary situations, this limit can be crossed subject to availability of quantifiable and contemporaneous data reflecting backwardness, the inadequacy of representation and without affecting the efficiency in administration.
    • The court relied heavily on the findings of the 11-member MSBCC, which submitted in November 2018 that the Maratha community is socially, economically and educationally backwards.

    Existing reservation

    • Following the 2001 State Reservation Act, the total reservation in Maharashtra was 52%: SCs (13%), STs (7%), OBCs (19%), Special Backward Class (2%), Vimukta Jati (3%), Nomadic Tribe B (2.5%), Nomadic Tribe C (3.5%) and Nomadic Tribe D (2%).
    • The quotas for Nomadic Tribes and Special Backward Classes have been carved out of the total OBC quota.
    • With the addition of 12-13% Maratha quota, the total reservation in the state went up to 64-65%.
    • The 10% quota for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) announced by the Centre last year is also effective in the state.

  • Finding alternative to non-alignment

    The article analyses role of non-alignment in India’s foreign policy and India’s struggle to find the alternative to the non-alignment.

    Background

    • Non-alignment was a policy fashioned during the Cold War, to retain the autonomy of policy between two politico-military blocs.
    • The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) provided a platform for newly independent developing nations to join together to protect this autonomy.
    • NAM campaigned for de-colonisation, universal nuclear disarmament and against apartheid.
    • After the end of the Cold War, the NAM countries were able to diversify their network of relationships across the erstwhile east-west divide.

    Non-alignment and India’s foreign policy in the present context

    • For a few years now, non-alignment has not been projected by our policymakers as a tenet of India’s foreign policy.
    • India has not yet found a universally accepted alternative to the non-alignment yet.
    • “Strategic autonomy” as an alternative soon acquired a connotation similar to non-alignment, with an anti-U.S. tint.
    •  Multi-alignment has not found universal favour, since it may convey the impression of opportunism, whereas we seek strategic convergences.
    • Seeking issue-based partnerships or coalitions is a description that has not stuck.
    • “Advancing prosperity and influence” was a description External Affairs minister settled for, to describe the aspirations that our network of international partnerships seeks to further.

    Role of geography and politics

    • Two major imperatives flow from India’s geography-1) economic and security interests in the Indo-Pacific space. 2) the strategic importance of the continental landmass to its north and west.
    • The Indo-Pacific has inspired the Act East policy of bilateral and multilateral engagements in Southeast Asia and East Asia and the Pacific.
    • Shared India-U.S. interests in dealing with the challenge from China in the maritime domain have been a strategic underpinning of the bilateral partnership since the early 2000s.

    Issues in India’s engagement with the U.S.

    • In the immediate-term, Indian and U.S. perspectives are less convergent in India’s continental neighbourhood.
    • Connectivity and cooperation with Afghanistan and Central Asia need engagement with Iran and Russia, as well as with the Russia-China dynamics in the region.
    • Russia extends to the Eurasian landmass bordering India’s near and extended neighbourhood.
    • A close Russia-China partnership should move India to broad-base relations with Russia.
    • A strong stake in relations with India could reinforce Russia’s reluctance to be a junior partner of China.
    • As the U.S. confronts the challenge to its dominance from China, classical balance of power considerations would dictate accommodation with Russia.
    •  U.S. should see ties with India as a joint venture not an alliance in which they could pursue shared objectives to mutual benefit and accept that differences of perspectives will have to be addressed.
    • This template could have wider applicability for bilateral relations in today’s world order, which former could be described as militarily unipolar, economically multipolar and politically confused. 
    • The U.S. could acknowledge that India’s development of trade routes through Iran which could provide it route to Afghanistan and Central Asia, bypassing Pakistan and Russia, respectively.

    Consider the question “India has not been able to find an alternative to NAM which has been described as the basic tenet of India’s foreign policy. Discuss.”

    Conclusion

    India should find the alternative to the non-alignment which accommodate its interest in relations with the U.S. at the same time allow it “strategic autonomy”.

  • Making the local governance strong

    The article analyses the issues faced by democracy in India and suggests the way out in the form of strong local governments.

    Issues being faced by Indian democracy

    1. Issue of use of money power

    • Around the world, electoral democracies face the issues of funding political parties and elections.
    • Money is required to win elections legitimately, even when people are not bribed to vote, which is illegitimate.
    • Communications with citizens can be very expensive.
    • Advertisements have to be paid for as well as teams of professionals for managing social media.
    • The race to raise more money for legitimate electioneering purposes can corrupt the process of funding parties and elections.
    • Solutions are not easy because the right to free speech cannot be denied.

    2.Issues with deliberations by the representatives

    • Debates within India’s Parliament hardly inspire citizens’ confidence in their representatives’ ability to govern the country.
    • The problem in electoral democracies is also in the conduct of their deliberations when they come together.
    • This problem is not due to the quality of the individuals, it is inherent in the design of the process for electing representatives.
    • Representatives of the people must be chosen by smaller electorates within geographical constituencies.
    • But when they meet together in the national chamber, they are expected to govern the whole country.
    • They must shed the interest of their constituency and consider what will be best for the whole country.
    • Constituency favouring leads to challenges for equitable solutions for sharing of river waters, and to railway stations.
    • Electing good representatives to Assemblies is not enough to ensure good decisions will be made.

    3.Role of political parties: Lack of inner democracies

    • Function of parties: Political parties in electoral democracies provide a solution to the problem of creating an alignment of views among representatives from hundreds of constituencies around the country.
    • A party’s point of view on fundamental matters can unite many.
    •  However, when there are too many parties and too many contradictory points of view to be accommodated within a coalition, governance can break down.
    • Therefore, political parties are not evil.
    • However, when political parties are not internally democratic, they become a source to amass power and wealth, and democratic nations suffer.

    So, should we adopt direct form of democracy

    • For the reason stated above, it has become very difficult in representative democracies to arrive at good and fair decisions for the governance of a large state or country.
    • New Internet technologies make adoption of direct form of democracy possible.
    • But, if all voters have not understood what is at stake, they cannot decide well this is what happened in hasty Brexit referendum.

    Way Forward

    1.Need for the strong local governance

    • Complex issues, where many interests collide, must be resolved by reason, not settled by the numbers.
    •  Hence there is no alternative to good local governance, wherein citizens manage their local affairs democratically.
    • One-size solutions devised by experts at the centre cannot fit all.
    • Local systems solutions are essential to solve global systemic problems of environmental sustainability and inclusive growth.

    2.Funding and Intra-Party Democracy related reforms

    • Electoral funding must be cleaned up, and democracy within political parties improved to make representative democracy work better.
    • This will require big changes to entrenched systems.
    • Citizens must appreciate that they have to be the source of solutions, and not become only the source of problems.
    • Citizens must learn to listen to each other’s perspectives in their villages and in their urban neighbourhoods.

    What are the challenges the electoral process in India faces? Suggest the solution to the issues democracy in India faces.

    Conclusion

    Since India’s Independence 73 years ago when the power of government was transferred from a centre in London to a centre in Delhi, strong local governance remains the unfinished agenda to make India’s democracy strong and deep.

  • [pib] Global Indices to Drive Reforms and Growth (GIRG) Exercise

    NITI Aayog as the nodal agency has been assigned the responsibility of leveraging the monitoring mechanism of the Global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) to drive reforms.

    Try this PYQ:

    Q.In a given year in India, official poverty lines are higher in some states than in others because (CSP 2019):

    (a) Poverty rates vary from State to State

    (b) Price levels vary from State to State

    (c) Gross State Product varies from State to State

    (d) Quality of public distribution varies from State to State

    GIRG Exercise

    • Global MPI is part of GoI’s decision to monitor the performance of the country in 29 select Global Indices.
    • The objective of the exercise is to fulfil the need to measure and monitor India’s performance on various important social and economic parameters.
    • It would enable the utilization of these Indices as tools for self-improvement; bring about reforms in policies, while improving last-mile implementation of government schemes.
    • As the Nodal agency for the MPI, NITI Aayog has constituted a Multidimensional Poverty Index Coordination Committee (MPICC).

    About Global MPI

    • Global MPI is an international measure of multidimensional poverty covering 107 developing countries.
    • It was first developed in 2010 by Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) and the UN Development Programme (UNDP) for UNDP’s Human Development Reports.
    • It is computed by scoring each surveyed household on 10 parameters based on -nutrition, child mortality, and years of schooling, school attendance, cooking fuel, sanitation, drinking water, electricity, housing and household assets.
    • It utilizes the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) which is conducted under the aegis of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) and International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS).

  • Financing economic recovery

    The article analyses the issue of socioeconomic disruption caused by the pandemic and response by regionally coordinated response to it.

    Context

    • With continued lockdown measures and restricted borders, countries in Asia and the Pacific have been experiencing sharp drops in foreign exchange inflows due to declines in export earnings, remittances, tourism and FDI.

    Financing 3 key areas by the U.N.

    • The United Nations is contributing through a global initiative, Financing for Development in the Era of COVID-19 and Beyond.
    • The initiative aims at comprehensive financing strategy to safeguard the Sustainable Development Goals.
    • Governments are united to ensure that adequate financial resources are available to steer an inclusive, sustainable and resilient post-COVID-19 recovery.
    • In the Asia-Pacific region, several countries have already adopted financing plans in following three key areas.
    • 1) To address the challenge of diminished fiscal space and debt vulnerability 2) To ensure sustainable recovery, consistent with the ambitions of the Paris Agreement and the 2030 Agenda 3) To harness the potential of regional cooperation in support of financing for development.

    Regional Conversation series by ESCAP

    • The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) has recently launched its first-ever Regional Conversation Series on Building Back Better.
    • In this series ministers, decision-makers, private sectors and heads of international agencies participate.
    • Their participation results in sharing of collective insights on sharing pathways to resilient recovery from health pandemic and economic collapse.

    Debt Service Suspension initiative

    • To manage high levels of debt distress global initiatives like the Debt Service Suspension initiative is timely.
    • Central banks can continue to keep the balance of supporting the economy and maintaining financial stability.
    • This further involves enhancing tax reforms and improving debt management capacities, while using limited fiscal space to invest in priority sectors.
    • Exploring sustainability-oriented bonds and innovative financing instruments options such as debt swaps for SDG investment should be explored further.
    • Policy paradigm must mainstream affordable, accessible and green infrastructure standards.
    • We should also scale up the use of digital technology and innovative applications.
    • The financing support of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises must go hand in hand with these national job-rich recovery strategies.

    Role of regional cooperation

    • Regionally coordinated financing policies can restart trade, reorganise supply chains and revitalise sustainable tourism in a safe manner.
    • Across Asia and the Pacific, governments must pool financial resources to create regional investment funds.
    • Role of egional cooperation platforms to ensure  all countries receive an equitable number of doses of the vaccine is essential.

    Conclusion

    Through ESCAP, we can scale these efforts across the region, working closely with our member states, the private sector and innovators to build a collective financing response to mobilise the necessary additional resources.