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  • Foreign Policy Watch: India-China

    China’s new Border Law and India

    IOCR | International Relations | Mains Paper 2: India & Its Neighborhood – Relations

    China’s new law on land borders has come into effect on January 1.

    Key takeaways of the Border Law

    China passed the law for the “protection and exploitation of the country’s land border areas”.

    • Sacrosanct nature of Borders: Under the law, “the sovereignty and territorial integrity of China are sacred and inviolable”.
    • Border defense: It mandates the state to take measures “to strengthen border defense, support economic and social development as well as opening-up in border areas.
    • Habitation near borders: It seeks to improve public services and infrastructure in such areas, encourage and support people’s life and work there.
    • Consultations with neighbors: The law asks the state to follow the principles of equality, mutual trust, and friendly consultation, handle land border related-affairs with neighboring countries.

    Why did China bring it?

    Several factors may have led to China’s move.

    • Aggressive actions: The new law is a tool the Chinese government will use if it wants, as its actions have been aggressive even before this law.
    • Maritime assertion: This law reflects Beijing’s renewed concerns over the security of its land border while it confronts a slew of unsettled disputes on its maritime front (in the South China Sea).
    • Land boundary issues: The confrontations on the Sino-Indian borders in recent years may have reminded Beijing about this law.
    • Fear of radicalization: Afghanistan under the Taliban may become a hotbed for terrorism and extremism that could spread to Xinjiang amongst Uyghurs.
    • One-China Policy: China officially (constitutionally) claims mainland China and Taiwan as part of their respective territories. It has similar assertions for Hong Kong.

    Does it concern India?

    • No specific mention: Although the law is not meant specifically for India, it is bound to have some impact.
    • May hamper disengagement:  The date for the round meeting is still awaited, amid concerns that the Chinese delegation can use the new law to try to bolster their existing positions.
    • Possible misadventures: The new law provides for the construction of permanent infrastructure close to the border. This has been observed in Arunachal Pradesh.

    What impact can it have on India-China relations?

    • Onus on China: The view is still divided. Much depends on China’s actions, regardless of the new law.
    • Unilateral action: The new law might be the latest attempt by China to unilaterally delineate and demarcate territorial boundaries with India and Bhutan.
    • Maintain status-quo: The new law will make China dig its heels in, on the ongoing standoff as well as for the resolution of the larger boundary issue.
    • Permanent demarcation of borders: There is also a possibility that Beijing appears to be signaling a determination to resolve the border disputes on its preferred terms.

    Recent mis-adventures

    • China has been building “well-off” border defense villages across the LAC in all sectors, which the new law encourages.
    • President Xi visited a village in Tibet near the border with Arunachal Pradesh followed by renamings.
    • China has constructed a bridge in Eastern Ladakh connecting the North and South Banks of Pangong Tso.

    Conclusion

    • The law only “states the obvious” as “every country is in the business of protecting its territorial integrity.
    • The big question is what your territory is, and there we don’t agree with each other.

     

    [RSTV Archive] India-China Ties Post-Galwan

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  • Foreign Policy Watch: India-SAARC Nations

    Pakistan ready to host SAARC Summit

    IOCR | International Relations | Mains Paper 2: Bilateral, Regional and Global Groupings and agreements involving India

    Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah has said that his country was ready to host the 19th SAARC Summit and invited India to join it virtually if it is not willing to visit Islamabad.

    About SAARC

    • The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is the regional intergovernmental organization and geopolitical union of states in South Asia.
    • Members: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
    • It was established in Dhaka on 8 December 1985. Its secretariat is based in Kathmandu, Nepal.
    • The organization promotes the development of economic and regional integration.
    • It maintains permanent diplomatic relations at the United Nations as an observer and has developed links with multilateral entities, including the European Union.

    Formation of SAARC

    • After the USSR invaded Afghanistan in 1979, the security situation in South Asia rapidly deteriorated.
    • In response, the foreign ministers of the initial seven members met in Colombo in 1981.
    • At the meeting, Bangladesh proposed forming a regional association that would meet to discuss matters such as security and trade.
    • While most of the countries present were in favour of the proposal, India and Pakistan were skeptical.
    • Eventually, both countries relented and in 1983 in Dhaka, joined the other five nations in signing the Declaration.

    Economic significance of SAARC

    • The SAARC comprises 3% of the world’s area, 21% of the world’s population and 4.21% (US$3.67 trillion) of the global economy, as of 2019.
    • It launched the South Asian Free Trade Area in 2006.

    Major accomplishments

    • Forum for discussions: It has provided a platform for representatives from member countries to meet and discuss important issues, something that may have been challenging through bilateral discussions.
    • Diplomatic tool: India and Pakistan for example would struggle to publicly justify a meeting when tensions between the two are particularly high, but both countries often come together under the banner of SAARC.
    • Crisis management: The bloc has also made some headway in signing agreements related to climate change, food security and combating the Covid-19 crisis.
    • Technology: It has been another avenue of cooperation marked by the launch of South Asia Satellite by India.

    Limitations to SAARC

    • Small scale: Despite its lofty ambitions, SAARC has not become a regional association in the mould of the European Union or the African Union.
    • Internal divisions: Its member states are plagued by internal divisions, most notably the conflict between India and Pakistan.
    • Trade disputes: This in turn has hampered its ability to form comprehensive trade agreements or to meaningfully collaborate on areas such as security, energy and infrastructure.
    • Terrorism: The last SAARC summit to be held in Pakistan has been cancelled several times due to many nations pulling out of the summit citing fears of regional insecurity.

    Why must India rethink on SAARC?

    • Extended diplomacy: India continued to attend Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meetings along with their Pakistani counterparts.
    • Pandemic mitigation: Reviving SAARC is crucial to countering the common challenges brought about by the pandemic.
    • Economic cooperation: Apart from the overall GDP slowdown, global job cuts has led to fall in revenue for migrant labour and expatriates from South Asian countries.
    • Countering China: While dealing with China, a unified South Asian platform is a crucial countermeasure for India.

     

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  • ISRO Missions and Discoveries

    Gaganyaan and other new Missions in 2022

    Prelims Only | Science Tech | Mains Paper 3: Achievements Of Indians In S&T

    After a rather muted 2021 in terms of satellite launches, Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) is gearing up for a number of missions in 2022 including the launch of the first unmanned mission of Gaganyaan.

    Gaganyaan Mission

    • Gaganyaan is crewed orbital spacecraft intended to be the formative spacecraft of the Indian Human Spaceflight Programme (IHSP).
    • The IHSP was initiated in 2007 by ISRO to develop the technology needed to launch crewed orbital spacecraft into low Earth orbit.
    • The first uncrewed flight, named Gaganyaan 1, is scheduled to launch no earlier than June 2022 on a GSLV Mark III rocket.
    • ISRO had been working on related technologies and it performed a Crew Module Atmospheric Re-entry Experiment and a Pad Abort Test for the mission.
    • If completed in meantime, India will become the fourth nation to conduct independent human spaceflight after the Russia, US and China.

    Details of the project

    • The spacecraft is being designed to carry three people, and a planned upgraded version will be equipped with rendezvous and docking capability.
    • In its maiden crewed mission, this capsule will orbit the Earth at 400 km altitude for up to seven days with a two or three-person crew on board.
    • This Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) manufactured crew module had its first un-crewed experimental flight in 2014.
    • DRDO will provide support for critical human-centric systems and technologies like space-grade food, crew healthcare, radiation measurement and protection, parachutes for the safe recovery of the crew module and fire suppression system.

    Other missions this year

    • Earth Observation Satellites: EOS-4 and EOS-6
    • Flights for Crew Escape System of Gaganyaan
    • Chandrayaan-03
    • Aditya Ll
    • XpoSat

    New projects

    • Venus mission
    • DISHA –a twin aeronomy satellite mission
    • TRISHNA, an ISRO-CNES [Centre national d’études spatiales] mission

     

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  • RBI Notifications

    RBI approves Offline E-Payments

    Prelims Only | Economics | Mains Paper 3: Indian Economy

    The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has come out with the framework for facilitating small-value digital payments in offline mode, a move that would promote digital payments in semi-urban and rural areas.

    Offline E-payments

    • Offline digital payment does not require Internet or telecom connectivity.
    • Such payments can be carried out face-to-face (proximity mode) using any channel or instrument like cards, wallets and mobile devices.
    • Such transactions would not require an Additional Factor of Authentication.
    • Since the transactions are offline, alerts (by way of SMS and/or e-mail) will be received by the customer after a time lag.
    • There is a limit of ₹200 per transaction and an overall limit of ₹2,000 until the balance in the account is replenished.

    Conditions applied

    • Payment instruments shall be enabled for offline transactions only after the explicit consent of the customer.
    • That apart, these transactions using cards will be allowed without a requirement to turn on the contactless transaction channel.
    • The customers shall have recourse to the Reserve Bank – Integrated Ombudsman Scheme, as applicable, for grievance redressal.
    • RBI retains the right to stop or modify the operations of any such payment solution that enables small value digital payments in offline mode.

     

    Answer this PYQ in the comment box:

    Q. With reference to digital payments, consider the following statements:

    1. BHIM app allows the user to transfer money to anyone with a UPI-enabled bank account.
    2. While a chip-pin debit card has four factors of authentication, BHIM app has only two factors of authentication.

    Which of the statements given above is/ are correct? (CSP 2018)

    (a) 1 only

    (b) 2 only

    (c) Both 1 and 2

    (d) Neither 1 nor 2

     

    Post your answers here.

     

     

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  • Modern Indian History-Events and Personalities

    Who was Rani Velu Nachiyar?

    Prelims Only | | Mains Paper 1: Modern Indian History

    The Prime Minister has paid tributes to Rani Velu Nachiyar on her birth anniversary.

    Velu Nachiyar (1730-1796)

    • Rani Velu Nachiyar was a queen of Sivaganga estate from c. 1780–1790.
    • She was the first Indian queen to wage war with the East India Company in India.
    • She is widely known as Veeramangai (“brave woman”).

    Her legend

    [A] Early life

    • Velu Nachiyar was the princess of Ramanathapuram and the only child of King Chellamuthu Vijayaragunatha Sethupathy and Queen Sakandhimuthathal of the Ramnad kingdom.
    • Nachiyar was trained in many methods of combat, including war match weapons usage, martial arts like Valari, Silambam, horse riding, and archery.
    • She was a scholar in many languages and was proficient in languages like French, English and Urdu.

    [B] Battles fought

    • During this period, she formed an army and sought an alliance with Hyder Ali with the aim of launching a campaign against the East India Company in 1780.
    • When her husband, Muthu Vaduganatha Periyavudaya Thevar was killed in a battle with EIC soldiers, she was drawn into the conflict.
    • When Velu Nachiyar found the place where the EIC stored some of their ammunition, she arranged a suicide attack on the location, blowing it up.

     

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  • Selective alignment to universal engagement of Indian diplomacy

    op-ed snap | International Relations | Mains Paper 2: Bilateral, Regional and Global Groupings and agreements involving India

    Context

    In 2021, Indian diplomacy was characterised by a readiness to deal with friends and foes alike.

    Challenges faced by India diplomacy in 2021

    • The US leadership change: Coping with the change from President Donald Trump to President Joe Biden and the consequent changes in U.S. policy were big enough to keep the world leaders on tenterhooks.
    • Pandemic:  With the increased onslaught of the pandemic, India suddenly became the epicentre of the tragedy.
    • The exposure of the inefficiency of India’s health system and put the country in the defensive and weakened its credibility as it tried to contribute to the resolution of global issues.
    • Aggression by China: For India, the biggest preoccupation of 2021 was the effort to get China to disengage in areas in Ladakh.
    • Dialogue, military preparedness and economic pressure met with limited success.
    • Afghanistan crisis: Afghanistan turned out to be a bigger crisis than expected, with the Taliban’s walkover in Kabul.
    • Bringing some civility to the Taliban in Kabul became a high priority in the face of a Pakistan-China-Taliban axis with some support from Russia and Iran.
    • Issue of permanent membership of the UN Security Council: Unprecedented in the history of the UN, an event at the Security Council was chaired by the Prime Minister.
    • Significant inputs were provided during discussions on issues like maritime security, peacekeeping and anti-terrorism for active consideration in the future.
    • Although it is illusory to believe that the way has been cleared for India’s permanent membership of the Security Council, India’s diplomatic capabilities and its commitment to the UN have demonstrated yet again.

    What marks the change in the style of Indian diplomacy?

    • From selective alignment, India moved to universal engagement, even to the extent of convening meetings with antagonists.
    • Engagements with the U.S. went beyond familiarisation with the new government to increased commitment to Quad and acceptance of AUKUS and formation of the ‘western Quad’, with the U.S., Israel and the UAE.
    • Engagement with Russia: Major agreements were signed with Russia, despite the American threat of CAATSA against S-400 missiles and the Russian inclination to align with China in the days to come.
    • The engagement with China at the level of commanders and diplomats was intense, and ministerial interaction continued even when China tore up many fundamental agreements that sustained the dialogue for many years.
    • Patience, diligence and firmness: India attended a Shanghai Cooperation Organisation meeting, where a sub-group led by China took its own decisions on Afghanistan.
    • We also attended a meeting of Russia, China and India.
    • Perhaps because of the unique geopolitical situation, India gave particular importance to its presidency of the UN Security Council in August 2021.
    • Engagement with Myanmar: The Foreign Secretary’s visit to Myanmar to engage the military junta at a time when opposition leaders are in prison may raise eyebrows in many countries, but this is another instance of India’s readiness to engage those in power to explore possibilities of friendship and co-operation.
    •  The intention is to prevent China from having a field day in Myanmar.

    Conclusion

    Sadly, the extraordinary efforts made by India have not been fruitful in the cases of China and Afghanistan.  But India’s new style of diplomacy will have an impact in shaping the world of the future.

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  • Renewable Energy – Wind, Tidal, Geothermal, etc.

    Preparing for a green energy shift in 2022

    op-ed snap | Economics | Mains Paper 3: Infrastructure: Energy, Ports, Roads, Airports, Railways Etc.

    Context

    Political leaders find themselves currently amid a messy reality. The seemingly “irresistible force” for clean energy has met, it would appear, the “immovable object” of an embedded fossil fuel energy system.

    Changes in the energy sector in 2021

    • Commitment to Net-zero: One hundred and thirty-three countries pledged to a “net-zero carbon emissions date” and most governments, corporates and civic entities have shown determination to “phase down” and eventually phase out fossil fuels from their energy basket.
    • Price volatility: The petroleum market seesawed and was expectedly volatile.
    • High price: Natural gas prices reached stratospheric levels as demand exceeded supplies and geopolitics compounded the imbalance. 

    Five trends that will shape the emergent energy landscape

    [1] Transition to clean energy will be long and expensive

    • Redesign and rebuilding: The fossil fuel-based economic system will have to be redesigned and, in parts, rebuilt for clean energy to achieve scale.
    • The process will take decades and require massive capital infusion.
    • No country or multilateral institution can finance this transition individually.
    • The world needs to collaborate: The world will have to collaborate and if it fails to do so, the financing deficit will push back the transition even further.

    [2] Fossil fuels will dominate the energy basket during the transition

    • Fossil fuels will dominate the energy basket during this transition phase.
    • Contributing factors: As has been the case so far, its market will be defined by the “fundamentals” of demand, supply and geopolitics and the “non-fundamentals” of exchange rates and speculative trade.
    • The price movements will be sharp, volatile and unexpected.

    [3] The resurgence of market influence of OPEC plus after private companies move beyond fossil fuel

    • The “ OPEC plus” will resurge in market influence.
    • The low-cost, high resource petrostates (Saudi Arabia, the Gulf nations, Iraq, Iran, Russia) will, in particular, gain greater control over the petroleum market as private companies move beyond fossils under pressure from shareholders and regulators.

    [4] Transition will create new centres of energy power

    • The Democratic Republic of Congo controls, more than 50 per cent of the global supply of cobalt; Australia holds a comparably large share of the lithium market; and China controls the mining, processing and refining of rare earth minerals.
    • It is difficult to tell how and when these countries will exercise their market power but it is clear that the “green transition” will create new centres of energy power.

    [5] Nationalism and political opportunism will influence energy policy

    • The US and China are currently embroiled in a “Cold War” over technology, trade, cyber issues and the South China Sea.
    • The US and China appear to be in a similar face-off. But that has not come in the way of their energy relations.
    • A few weeks ago, the two countries decided to coordinate the release of oil stocks from their strategic reserves to cool off the oil market.
    • The underlying reality is that national self-interest and short-term political ambition will be the defining determinant of future energy supply relations cutting across values and rhetoric.

    Suggestions for India

    • Nurture relations with traditional suppliers: India must assiduously nurture relations with our traditional suppliers of oil and gas.
    • It must not assume their role in the energy market will diminish.
    • Increase storage capacity of strategic reserves: It should accelerate the build-up of the storage capacity for oil and gas; the latter to hold strategic oil reserves, the former to store gas for inter alia conversion to blue hydrogen.
    • Ecosystem for search and development of minerals required for clean energy: It must create a facilitative ecosystem for the search and development of the minerals and metals required for clean energy.
    • Clean energy supply chain: It should create a “clean energy aatmanirbhar supply chain”.

    Conclusion

    The green transition must not lead to import dependency on raw minerals and manufactured inputs, especially from China. The current policy to incentivise the manufacture of semiconductors is a step in the right direction.

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  • Electoral Reforms In India

    Why EC can’t delay upcoming polls

    op-ed snap | Polity | Mains Paper 2: Constitutional Bodies

    Context

    Ever since the Allahabad High Court urged the Election Commission of India to consider banning all political rallies or postponing the upcoming Assembly elections due to the increasing threat of Omicron, the focus of debate has shifted to the EC.

    Why and when does the Election Commission clubs the elections?

    • To avoid the influence of result: As per practice, the EC clubs all elections that are so close to each other to ensure that the results in one state do not influence the voters in the state going to the polls soon after.
    • Earliest date: The earliest due date of a state determines the poll dates for all the clubbed states.
    • No delay allowed: The EC cannot delay an election even by a day, although it can advance it by up to six months.
    • The Assembly elections of five states are due in the early months of 2022, four of these in March itself — Goa (by March 15), Manipur (March 19), Uttarakhand (March 23) and Punjab (March 27).
    • The fifth — UP — is due by May 14.
    • Goa being the earliest, we must have all five elections completed before March 15.

    Why EC cannot postpone the elections?

    • Violation of Constitution: Postponing elections is not in the Election Commission’s hands at all and would be a violation of the constitutional mandate that gives every Vidhan Sabha a fixed term.
    • As soon as the term is over, the House stands dissolved automatically.
    • The term of the House cannot be extended except in an emergency declared by Parliament, which the Constitution restricts to only two situations — war and breakdown of law and order.
    • In the seven decades of our electoral history, this has happened only three times — in Assam, Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir — in insurgency situations.

    Way forward: Strict enforcement of guidelines

    • Before the Bihar elections of 2020, the EC had issued detailed guidelines based on its observation of other countries that conducted elections that year, like South Korea and Sri Lanka.
    • Reduction of the number of electors: These guidelines included the reduction of the number of electors per polling booth from 1,500 to 1,000, to prevent over-crowding, which required the addition of 33,797 auxiliary polling stations.
    • Covid-sensitive capacity building: The guidelines also included Covid-sensitive capacity-building of election officials.
    • Postal ballot option: The ECI also extended the postal ballot option to senior citizens over the age of 80, Covid-positive patients, persons with disabilities and voters in essential services.
    • Virtual campaigning: Virtual campaigning was also encouraged to stop election rallies contributing to Covid.
    • Besides the standard social distancing and sanitising norms, voters were provided with gloves to touch the EVMs.
    • To avoid crowding at the counting centres, the counting tables were reduced from 14 to seven per assembly constituency.

    Consider the question “What are the challenges in postponing the Assembly elections beyond the fixed terms of the Assembly? Suggest the way forward.”

    Conclusion

    This election is an opportunity for the EC to redeem its image. More importantly, it must guard itself against the trap of postponing the polls under any persuasion.

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  • Minority Issues – SC, ST, Dalits, OBC, Reservations, etc.

    ₹8 lakh income ‘reasonable’ cap for EWS quota, Centre tells SC

    | Polity | Mains Paper 2: Indian Constitution – historical underpinnings, evolution, features, amendments, significant provisions and basic structure

    A government committee report in the Supreme Court has said that “income” is a “feasible criterion” for defining the “Economically Weaker Sections” (EWS) in society, and the annual family income of ₹8 lakh is a “reasonable” threshold to determine EWS.

    Centre’s Argument: Strict criteria for EWS

    • The income criterion for EWS was “more stringent” than the one for the OBC creamy layer.
    • EWS’s criteria relates to the financial year prior to the year of application.
    • On the other side, income criterion for the creamy layer in OBC category is applicable to gross annual income for three consecutive years.

    EWS Quota: A backgrounder

    • The 10% reservation was introduced through the 103rd Constitution Amendment and enforced in January 2019.
    • It added Clause (6) to Article 15 to empower the Government to introduce special provisions for the EWS among citizens except those in the classes that already enjoy reservation.
    • It allows reservation in educational institutions, both public and private, whether aided or unaided, excluding those run by minority institutions, up to a maximum of 10%.
    • It also added Clause (6) to Article 16 to facilitate reservation in employment.
    • The new clauses make it clear that the EWS reservation will be in addition to the existing reservation.

    Significance of the quota

    • The Constitution initially allowed special provisions only for the socially and educationally backward classes.
    • The Government introduced the concept of EWS for a new class of affirmative action program for those not covered by or eligible for the community-based quotas.

    What are the criteria to identify the section?

    • The main criterion is that those above an annual income limit of ₹8 lakh are excluded.
    • It accounts income from all sources such as salary, business, agriculture and profession for the financial year prior to the application of the family, applicants, their parents, siblings and minor children.
    • Possession of any of these assets, too, can take a person outside the EWS pool:
    1. Five or more acres of agricultural land
    2. A residential flat of 1,000 sq.ft. and above
    3. A residential plot of 100 square yards and above in notified municipalities, and
    4. A residential plot of 200 square yards and above in other areas

    What are the court’s questions about the criteria?

    • Reduction within general category: The EWS quota remains a controversy as its critics say it reduces the size of the open category, besides breaching the 50% limit on the total reservation.
    • Arbitrariness over income limit: The court has been intrigued by the income limit being fixed at ₹8 lakh per year. It is the same figure for excluding the ‘creamy layer’ from OBC reservation benefits.
    • Socio-economic backwardness: A crucial difference is that those in the general category, to whom the EWS quota is applicable, do not suffer from social or educational backwardness, unlike those classified as the OBC.
    • Metropolitan criteria: There are other questions as to whether any exercise was undertaken to derive the exceptions such as why the flat criterion does not differentiate between metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas.
    • OBC like criteria: The question the court has raised is that when the OBC category is socially and educationally backward and, therefore, has additional impediments to overcome.
    • Not based on relevant data: In line with the Supreme Court’s known position that any reservation or norms for exclusion should be based on relevant data.
    • Breaches reservation cap: There is a cap of 50% on the reservation as ruled in the Indira Sawhney Case. The principle of balancing equality ordains reservation.

    What is the current status of the EWS quota?

    • The reservation for the EWS is being implemented by the Union Government for the second year now.
    • Recruitment test results show that the category has a lower cut-off mark than the OBC, a point that has upset the traditional beneficiaries of reservation based on caste.
    • The explanation is that only a small number of people are currently applying under the EWS category — one has to get an income certificate from the revenue authorities — and therefore the cut-off is low.
    • However, when the number picks up over time, the cut-off marks are expected to rise.

    Practical issues with EWS Quota

    The EWS quota will come in for judicial scrutiny soon. But it’s not only a matter for the judiciary, India’s Parliament should revisit the law too.

    • Hasty legislation: This law was passed in haste. It was passed in both the houses within 48 hours, and got presidential approval the next day.
    • Minority appeasement: It is widely argued that the law was passed to appease a certain section of upper-caste society and to suppress the demands for minority reservations.
    • Morality put to question: Imagine! A constitutional amendment has been made with few hours of deliberation and without consultation of the targeted group. This is certainly against constitutional morality and propriety.
    • Substantial backing is missing: This amendment is based on a wrong or unverified premise. This is at best a wild guess or a supposition because the government has not produced any data to back this point.
    • Under-reservation of Backward Classes: The assertion is based on the fact that we have different data to prove the under-representation of SC, ST, OBCs. That implies that ‘upper’ castes are over-represented (with 100 minus reservation).
    • Rationale of 10%: There is one more problem in this regard. The SC and ST quota is based on their total population. But the rationale for the 10 per cent quota was never discussed.
    • Principle of Equality: Economic backwardness is quite a fluid identity. It has nothing to do with historic wrongdoings and liabilities caused to the Backward Classes.

    Way forward

    • Preserving the merit: We cannot rule out the sorry state of economic backwardness hampering merit in our country .
    • Rational critera: There has to be collective wisdom to define and measure the economic weakness of certain sections of the society in order to shape the concept of economic justice.
    • Judicial guidance: Judicial interpretation will pave the wave forward for deciding the criterion for EWS Quota.
    • Targetted beneficiaries. The centre needs to resort to more rational criteria for deciding the targeted beneficiary of this reservation system. Caste Census data can be useful in this regard.
    • Income study: The per capita income or GDP or the difference in purchasing power in the rural and urban areas, should be taken into account while a single income limit was formulated for the whole country.

     

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  • Freedom of Speech – Defamation, Sedition, etc.

    Punishing Hate Speech

    | Polity | Mains Paper 2: Indian Constitution – historical underpinnings, evolution, features, amendments, significant provisions and basic structure

    A recent religious conclave has witnessed inflammatory and provocative speeches by some religious proponents hinting at a Myanmar-type ‘minority cleansing campaign’.

    What is ‘Hate Speech’?

    • There is no specific legal definition of ‘hate speech’.
    • The Law Commission of India, in its 267th Report, says: “Hate speech generally is an incitement to hatred primarily against a group of persons defined in terms of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief and the like …
    • Thus, hate speech is any word written or spoken, signs, visible representations within the hearing or sight of a person with the intention to cause fear or alarm, or incitement to violence.”
    • In general, hate speech is considered a limitation on free speech that seeks to prevent or bar speech that exposes a person or a group or section of society to hate, violence, ridicule or indignity.

    How is it treated in Indian law?

    • Provisions in law criminalize speeches, writings, actions, signs and representations that foment violence and spread disharmony between communities and groups and these are understood to refer to ‘hate speech’.
    • Sections 153A and 505 of the Indian Penal Code are generally taken to be the main penal provisions that deal with inflammatory speeches and expressions that seek to punish ‘hate speech’.

    [I] Section 153A:

    • Promotion of enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony’, is an offence punishable with three years’ imprisonment.

    [II] Section 505:

    505(1): Statements conducing to public mischief

    • The statement, publication, report or rumour that is penalized under Section 505(1) should be one that promotes mutiny by the armed forces, or causes such fear or alarm that people are induced to commit an offence against the state or public tranquility.
    • This attracts a jail term of up to three years.

    505(2): It is an offence to make statements creating or promoting enmity, hatred or ill-will between classes.

    505(3): Same offence will attract up to a five-year jail term if it takes place in a place of worship, or in any assembly engaged in religious worship or religious ceremonies.

    What has the Law Commission proposed?

    The Law Commission has proposed that separate offences be added to the IPC to criminalize hate speech quite specifically instead of being subsumed in the existing sections concerning inflammatory acts and speeches.

    [A] Inserting two sections

    • It has proposed that two new sections, Section 153C and Section 505A, be added.

    Section 153C

    It is an offence if anyone-

    • Uses gravely threatening words, spoken or written or signs or visible representations, with the intention to cause fear or alarm OR
    • Advocates hatred that causes incitement to violence, on grounds of religion, race, caste or community, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, place of birth, residence, language, disability or tribe

    Section 505A

    • It proposes to criminalize words, or display of writing or signs that are gravely threatening or derogatory, within the hearing or sight of a person, causing fear or alarm or, with intent to provoke the use of unlawful violence against that person or another”.

    [B] Imprisonment

    • Section 153C: two-year jail term for this and/or a fine of ₹5,000 or both
    • Section 505A: prison term of up to one year and/or a fine up to ₹5,000

    Other committees’ recommendations

    • Similar proposals to add sections to the IPC to punish acts and statements that promote racial discrimination or amount to hate speech have been made by the M.P. Bezbaruah Committee and the T.K. Viswanathan Committee.
    • At present, the Committee for Reforms in Criminal Laws, which is considering more comprehensive changes to criminal law, is examining the issue of having specific provisions to tackle hate speech.

    Why regulate hate speech?

    • Creates social divide: Individuals believe in stereotypes that are ingrained in their minds and these stereotypes lead them to believe that a class or group of persons are inferior to them and as such cannot have the same rights as them.
    • Threat to peaceful co-existence: The stubbornness to stick to a particular ideology without caring for the right to co-exist peacefully adds further fuel to the fire of hate speech.

    Issues in regulating hate speech

    • Powers to State: Almost every regulation of speech, no matter how well-intentioned, increases the power of the state.
    • Hate speeches are Political: The issue is fundamentally political and we should not pretend that fine legal distinctions will solve the issue.
    • Legal complications: An over-reliance on legal instruments to solve fundamentally social and political problems often backfires.

    What lies ahead?

    • Subjects like hate speeches become a complex issue to deal with, in a country like India which is very diverse, as it was very difficult to differentiate between free and hate speech.
    • There are many factors that should be considered while restraining speeches like strong opinions, offensive comments towards certain communities, the effect on values like dignity, liberty and equality.
    • We all have to work together and communicate efficiently for our country to be a healthy place to live in.

     

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