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  • Coronavirus – Economic Issues

    What is Vaccine Tourism?

    | Governance | Mains Paper 2: Health & Education

    A couple of days ago, reports emerged of a Dubai-based tour operator offering a 24-day package tour from Delhi to Moscow that has included two shots of the Russian Sputnik-V vaccine.

    What is vaccine tourism?

    • In India, the term “vaccine tourism” became popular late last year when reports emerged of several tour operators offering packages to the US with the additional benefit of a vaccine shot.
    • Meanwhile, South Africans are said to be flying to Zimbabwe, Canadians and South Americans are traveling to the US for jabs, while tour operators in Europe are offering trips to Russia for Sputnik V shots.
    • It is said that Russia and the Maldives are already working on programs to offer people abroad the chance to get vaccinated during a visit; similar offerings are sprouting in the US as well.

    Why is it gaining popularity?

    • In fact, vaccine tourism is an emerging trend in countries where vaccines are in short supply, or where certain groups are still restricted from being inoculated.
    • Still, there are only a few countries in the world (parts of the US, Russia, Slovakia, Zimbabwe, etc) that don’t restrict their vaccination policy to local residents.
    • Currently, it is not illegal to travel to a foreign country to get vaccinated if air travel is allowed.
    • Recently, Seychelles announced that only vaccinated visitors from India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh who have completed two weeks after their second dose are permitted to travel to and enter the island nation, with proof.

    Can Indians go abroad to get vaccinated for Covid-19?

    • There may be no need for anyone from India to go abroad for vaccination since all eligible Indians will be vaccinated in the country by the end of this year – that too, at the most reasonable rates possible.
    • However, the idea of vaccine tourism is gaining momentum in India.
    • Many Indians, who fled to Dubai just before the international flight ban came into effect last month, are said to be availing of the Chinese vaccine Sinopharm shots in the UAE.

    Not to be confused with Vaccine Passport

    • Sometimes, vaccine tourism is confused with vaccine passports, which is a more regulated practice gaining currency around the world.

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  • Forest Conservation Efforts – NFP, Western Ghats, etc.

    Person in news: Sunderlal Bahuguna

    Prelims Only | Enviro & Biodiversity | Mains Paper 3: Conservation, Environmental Pollution & Degradation, Eia

    Veteran environmentalist and architect of the Chipko Movement Sundarlal Bahuguna, 94 has succumbed to COVID.

    Answer this PYQ in the comment box:

    Q.In India, the problem of soil erosion is associated with which of the following?

    1. Terrace cultivation
    2. Deforestation
    3. Tropical climate

    Select the correct answer using the code given below:

    (a) 1 and 2 only

    (b) 2 only

    (c) 1 and 3 only

    (d) 1, 2 and 3

    Sunderlal Bahuguna

    • Bahuguna was one of the leaders of the Chipko movement, fighting for the preservation of forests in the Himalayas.
    • Chipko means ‘embrace’ or ‘tree huggers’ and this vast movement was a decentralized one with many leaders usually being village women.
    • Often, they would chain themselves to trees so that loggers could not cut down forests.
    • These actions slowed down the destruction, but more importantly, they brought deforestation to the public’s attention.

    His contributions

    • From 1981-1983, Sundarlal Bahuguna led a 5,000-kilometre march across the Himalayas, ending with a meeting with late PM Indira Gandhi, to protect some areas of the Himalayan forests from tree-felling.
    • Sundarlal Bahuguna was also a leader in the movement to oppose the Tehri dam project and in defending India’s rivers.
    • He also worked for women’s rights and the rights of the poor.
    • His methods were Gandhian, making use of peaceful resistance and non-violence.
    • The Chipko Movement received the 1987 Right Livelihood Award, also referred to as the Alternative Nobel Prize.

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  • Festivals, Dances, Theatre, Literature, Art in News

    Appointments to the Kalakshetra Foundation

    Prelims Only | Trivia | Mains Paper 1: Arts & Culture

    The Central government has appointed 12 eminent artists and musicians to the board of the prestigious institution.

    Kalakshetra Foundation

    • It is an arts and cultural academy dedicated to the preservation of traditional values in Indian art and crafts, especially in the field of Bharatanatyam dance and Gandharvaveda music.
    • Based in Chennai, India, the academy was founded in January 1936 by Rukmini Devi Arundale and her husband George Arundale.
    • Under Arundale’s guidance, the institution achieved national and international recognition for its unique style and perfectionism.
    • In January 1994, an Act of the Parliament of India recognized the Kalakshetra Foundation as an “Institute of National Importance.”

    Who was Rukmini Devi Arundale?

    • Devi (1904 –1986) was an Indian theosophist, dancer, and choreographer of the Indian classical dance form of Bharatanatyam, and an activist for animal welfare.
    • She was the first woman in Indian history to be nominated a member of the Rajya Sabha.
    • The most important revivalist of Bharatanatyam from its original ‘sadhir’ style prevalent amongst the temple dancers, the Devadasis, she also worked for the re-establishment of traditional Indian arts and crafts.
    • She espoused the cause of Bharata Natyam which was considered a vulgar art.
    • She ‘sanitised’ and removed the inherent eroticism of Sadhir to make it palatable to Victorian British morality and Indian upper-caste elites.

    Back2Basics: Bharatanatyam

    • Bharatanatyam previously called Sadhir Attam is a major form of Indian classical dance that originated in Tamil Nadu.
    • It is one of the oldest classical dance traditions in India.
    • It has been nurtured in the temples and courts of southern India since the ancient era.
    • It is one of eight forms of dance recognized by the Sangeet Natak Akademi (the others being Kathak, Kuchipudi, Odissi, Kathakali, Mohiniyattam, Manipuri, and Sattriya).
    • The word Bharata is a mnemonic, consisting of “bha”–”ra”–”ta”.
    • According to this belief, bha stands for bhava (feelings, emotions), ra stands for raga (melody, framework for musical notes), and ta stands for tala (rhythm).

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  • Important Judgements In News

    Maratha quota judgment could lead to a federal crisis on reservation

    op-ed snap | Governance | Mains Paper 2: Government Scheme/Policies

    The article highlights the issues with the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the 102nd amendment depriving the States of power to identify the SEBCs.

    How 102nd Constitution Amendment was interpreted by the SC?

    • Supreme Court held that the 102nd Constitution Amendment has taken away the power of the states to identify and prepare a list of Socially and Economically Backward Classes (SEBCs).
    • The Supreme Court has interpreted the 102nd constitutional amendment to the effect that only the President can publish a list of backward classes in relation to each state and that only Parliament can make inclusions and exclusions in that list.
    • The Supreme Court has also directed the central government to notify the list of SEBCs for each state and Union Territory.
    • Until such lists are prepared, the court directed that the present state list would continue to be in operation.

    Time-honoured authority of the States

    • The states have been exercising the power to identify the list of SEBCs from the beginning of the 20th century.
    • In states like the Madras Presidency, Mysore, Bombay, Travancore-Cochin, reservation and other benefits to OBCs were in practice since the 1920s.
    • The Constitution (First Amendment) Act, 1951 and the insertion of Article 15(4), empowered the states to make “special provision for the advancement of socially and educationally backward classes of citizens”.
    • In states like Bihar, 26 per cent reservation to OBCs in jobs and educational institutions were provided in 1978 on the recommendations of the Mungeri Lal Commission.
    • Similarly, in more than a dozen states, reservation in jobs and educational institutions were provided on recommendations of the respective state commissions.

      Central list of SEBC after Indra Sawhney judgment

    • Till 1992, there was no central list of SEBCs and no reservation in jobs and educational institutions in the central government.
    • In the Indra Sawhney judgment in 1992, the Supreme Court upheld 27 per cent reservation in central government jobs for SEBCs.
    • After Indra Sawhney, the Union government was authorised to prepare a central list for reservation of SEBCs in central government jobs and take other affirmative actions.
    • Acting on the directions of the Supreme Court in Indra Sawhney, the central and several state governments enacted laws for setting up commissions to ascertain and identify the backward class of citizens.
    • Therefore, after 1992, there was a “central list” for central government services and a “state list” that was prepared by state governments for state-specific jobs.

    Intention of the Union government

    • The intention was not to change the status quo and to take away the power of the state governments to prepare and notify a separate state list of SEBCs.
    • Even during the discussion in the select committee of Parliament on the 102nd Constitution Amendment, the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment clarified that the proposed insertion of Article 342A (1) and (2) did not interfere with the power of state governments to identify SEBCs.
    • In the affidavit filed by the central government before the Supreme Court, it was submitted that the power of Parliament to identify SEBCs lay with reference to the central list and states would have a separate list of SEBCs for reservation.

    Way forward

    • If the review petition fails to convince the Supreme Court, the central government would have to expeditiously bring a constitutional amendment to resolve this crisis.

    Consider the question “Examine the issues with the Supreme Courts interpretation of the 102nd constitutional amendment regarding the States’ right to identify the socially and economically backward class.” 

    Conclusion

    The majority judgement by 3:2 has failed to appreciate that Article 15 empowers the states to identify socially and economically backward classes of citizens and that this power has not been changed by the 102nd Constitution Amendment.

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  • Intellectual Property Rights in India

    How AIDS fight offers a COVID vaccine patent pathway

    op-ed snap | Economics | Mains Paper 3: Intellectual Property Rights

    The possibilities of new strain of Covid-19 emerging from any region of the world could derail the global recovery. To prevent that from happening vaccines need to be made available and affordable to all. This article discusses the ways to ensure that.

    Ensuring affordability and availability of Covid vaccines

    • To achieve global herd immunity and prevent new strains of COVID-19 from emerging, vaccines need to be affordable and available in massive quantities throughout the globe.
    • Following three are the ways to ensure vaccine availability and affordability.
    • 1) Voluntary linceses: This can happen through patent owners voluntarily licensing their products to other companies, especially Indian producers who are experienced at mass-producing low-cost medications.
    • 2) Compulsory licenses: This can also be done by temporarily suspending patent rights for COVID vaccines.
    • 3) COVAX option: Some favour ensuring access to COVID-19 vaccines through the COVAX programme.

    Options to ensure vaccine availability and affordability

    1) Voluntary licencing: Lessons from fight against AIDS

    • Due to anti-TRIPS activism from low-income countries and low profits from low-income markets some manufacturers placed licensing agreements to produce AIDS drugs for which they owned patent rights in the UN-affiliated Medicines Patent Pool.
    • Several India-based companies then used these voluntary licences to manufacture these drugs on a massive scale and sold them at prices they determined.
    • This effort brought down the price of key AIDS medications in these countries.
    • The United Nations’ Medicines Patent Pool and the World Health Organization’s COVID-19 Technology Access Pool are important tools in an effort to promote voluntary licensing for COVID products.
    • Sharing patent rights through voluntary licensing would need to involve India’s large pharmaceutical sector.

    Challenges in voluntary licensing

    • So far, no patent holders have joined the WHO’s COVID-19 Technology Access Pool.
    • This is why India and South Africa called on the WTO to temporarily waive patent protections for COVID-19.
    •  Meanwhile, the UN Medicines Patent Pool stands ready to accept voluntary licences for COVID-19.

    2) Compulsory licenses

    • Compulsory licenses override patent rights to allow local production or import of drugs by generic manufacturers in the event of a public health crisis.
    • Since 2003, this right has been enshrined in the Doha Declaration addendum to the WTO’s TRIPS agreement and this is what India and South Africa are lobbying for.
    • The Doha addendum, Section 5c, offers AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis as examples of what qualifies as a health emergency.
    • By this standard, COVID-19 should easily qualify.

    Issues with compulsory licensing

    • Good will: Manufacturers in India say they prefer to work with voluntary licences because there is more good will between companies while compulsory licences often come with a legal battle brought by the patent holder.
    • Time factor: Voluntary licences also enable production to begin more expeditiously as they usually are accompanied by “technology transfer” meaning that the patent holder reveals to the licensee how to manufacture the medication.
    • No need to reverse engineer: Volunatry licensing spares the licensee the lengthy and costly process of figuring out how to reverse engineer the product.

    3) COVAX option and issues

    • COVAX programme was established to purchase vaccine doses and donate them to low-income countries.
    • It does not involve modifying patent rights.
    • Underfunded: COVAX is also currently underfunded.
    • Delay: The Director-General of WHO warned that people in the lowest-income countries might have to wait until 2022 to get vaccinated through this programme.

    Government aid should entail an obligation

    • The billions of dollars in government aid given to companies to help develop COVID-19 treatments should entail an obligation to enable the mass production of affordable vaccines.
    • Patents are not ironclad ownership rights, they are a temporary contract that balances the public interest with the claims of the innovator. 

    Consider the question “What is the importance of ensuring availability and affordability of Covid-19 vaccine throughout the world? What are the options available to ensure that?”

    Conclusion

    This is not just a question of social justice and ensuring life-saving therapies are available to the world’s poor. It is a necessary step to prevent deadlier, more contagious and possibly vaccine-resistant variants of COVID-19 from proliferating in an under-vaccinated world.

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  • Judicial Reforms

    Pardoning powers of the President

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

    Tamil Nadu CM has written to the President requesting him to accept the State Government’s to remit the life sentences of all the seven convicts in the Ex-PM’s assassination case.

    Story so far

    • Tamil Nadu government had recommended to the state Governor for the remission of the rest of the sentence for all convicts and their early release.
    • The Governor has then decided that the President was the competent authority to decide on the plea of remission of sentence.

    Answer this PYQ in the comment box:

    Q.Which of the following are the discretionary powers given to the Governor of a State?

    1. Sending a report to the President of India for imposing the President’s rule
    2. Appointing the Ministers
    3. Reserving certain bills passed by the State Legislature for consideration of the President of India
    4. Making the rules to conduct the business of the State Government

    Select the correct answer using the code given below:

    (a) 1 and 2 only

    (b) 1 and 3 only

    (c) 2, 3 and 4 only

    (d) 1, 2, 3 and 4

    Pardon

    • A pardon is a government/executive decision to allow a person to be absolved of guilt for an alleged crime or other legal offense as if the act never occurred.

    Why need Pardon?

    • Pardons can be granted when individuals are deemed to have demonstrated that they have “paid their debt to society”, or are otherwise considered to be deserving of them.
    • Pardons are sometimes offered to persons who were either wrongfully convicted or who claim that they were wrongfully convicted.
    • Pardons are sometimes seen as a mechanism for combating corruption, allowing a particular authority to circumvent a flawed judicial process to free someone that is seen as wrongly convicted.

    Pardoning powers in India

    • Under the Constitution of India (Article 72), the President of India can grant a pardon or reduce the sentence of a convicted person, particularly in cases involving capital punishment.
    • A similar and parallel power vests in the governors of each state under Article 161.

    [1] President

    1. Article 72 says that the president shall have the power to grant pardons, reprieves, respites or remissions of punishment or to suspend, remit or commute the sentence of any person convicted of any offense.
    2. The pardoning powers of the Indian President are elucidated in Art 72 of the Indian Constitution. There are five different types of pardoning that are mandated by law.
    • Pardon: means completely absolving the person of the crime and letting him go free. The pardoned criminal will be like a normal citizen.
    • Commutation: means changing the type of punishment given to the guilty into a less harsh one, for example, a death penalty commuted to a life sentence.
    • Reprieve: means a delay allowed in the execution of a sentence, usually a death sentence, for a guilty person to allow him some time to apply for Presidential Pardon or some other legal remedy to prove his innocence or successful rehabilitation.
    • Respite: means reducing the quantum or degree of the punishment to a criminal in view of some special circumstances, like pregnancy, mental condition etc.
    • Remission: means changing the quantum of the punishment without changing its nature, for example reducing twenty year rigorous imprisonment to ten years.

    Cases as specified by art. 72

    • in all cases where the punishment or sentence is by a court martial;
    • in all cases where the punishment or sentence is for an offence against any law relating to a matter to which the executive power of the Union extends;
    • in all cases where the sentence is a sentence of death.

    [2] Governor

    • Similarly, as per article 161: Governor of a State has the power to grant pardons, reprieves, respites or remissions of punishment or to suspend, remit or commute the sentence of any person convicted of any offence against any law.
    • It must be relating to a matter to which the executive power of the state extends.
    • Please note that President can grant pardon to a person awarded death sentence. But a governor of a state does not enjoy this power.

    Nature of the Pardoning Power

    • The question is whether this power to grant pardon is absolute or this power of pardon shall be exercised by the President on the advice of Council of Ministers.
    • The pardoning power of the president is not absolute. It is governed by the advice of the Council of Ministers.
    • This has not been discussed by the constitution but is the practical truth.
    • Further, the constitution does not provide for any mechanism to question the legality of decisions of President or governors exercising mercy jurisdiction.
    • But the SC in Epuru Sudhakar case has given a small window for judicial review of the pardon powers of President and governors for the purpose of ruling out any arbitrariness.
    • The court has earlier held that court has retained the power of judicial review even on a matter which has been vested by the Constitution solely in the Executive.

    Some traditions

    • It is important to note that India has a unitary legal system and there is no separate body of state law.
    • All crimes are crimes against the Union of India.
    • Therefore, a convention has developed that the governor’s powers are exercised for only minor offenses.
    • While requests for pardons and reprieves for major offenses and offenses committed in the UTs are deferred to the President.

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  • Blockchain Technology: Prospects and Challenges

    Explained: Cryptocurrency Market Crash

    | Economics | Mains Paper 3: Effects Of Liberalization On The Economy, Changes In Industrial Policy and their effects on Industrial Growth

    The cryptocurrency market saw a big correction with prices of major currencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, BNB, and others crashing as much as 30% within 24 hours.  This came in the backdrop of Chinese regulators announcing a crackdown on cryptocurrencies.

    Try this question from our AWE initiative:

    What is a cryptocurrency? What benefits and challenges do cryptocurrencies pose? (250 Words)

    Crackdown on Crypto Market

    • China has barred financial institutions and payment companies from providing any services related to cryptocurrency transactions.
    • This means that banks and online payment channels must not offer clients any service involving cryptocurrencies, such as registration, trading, clearing, and settlement.
    • China had issued such a ban in 2017 as well, but compared with the previous ban, the new rules have expanded the scope of prohibited services, and surmise that “virtual currencies are not supported by any real value”.

    Other reason behind this crash: The Tesla story

    • Tesla recently announced that it wouldn’t favor Bitcoin on ‘environmental’ concerns because Bitcoin mining requires electricity which is mostly generated using fossil fuels.
    • However, this seems to be motivated and raises a few questions like – didn’t the Tesla management already know about Bitcoin mining before diversifying into it?

    What does this fall imply?

    • A crackdown by one of the world’s biggest economy notwithstanding, those in the ecosystem has termed this decline as a short-term correction.
    • A nearly 40% dip in the bitcoin price from its all-time high looks dramatic but is normal in many volatile markets, including crypto, especially after such a large rally.
    • Such corrections are mainly due to short-term traders taking profits.
    • Long-term value investors might call these lower prices a buying opportunity.

    Back2Basics: Cryptocurrencies

    • A cryptocurrency is a digital asset designed to work as a medium of exchange wherein individual coin ownership records are stored in a ledger existing in a form of a computerized database.
    • It uses strong cryptography to secure transaction records, control the creation of additional coins, and verify the transfer of coin ownership.
    • It typically does not exist in physical form (like paper money) and is typically not issued by a central authority.
    • Cryptocurrencies typically use decentralized control as opposed to centralized digital currency and central banking systems.

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  • Goods and Services Tax (GST)

    E-way bill integrated with FASTag, RFID

    Prelims Only | Governance | Mains Paper 2: Ministries & Departments Of The Government

    GST officers have been armed with real-time data of commercial vehicle movement on highways with the integration of the e-way bill (EWB) system with FasTag and RFID.

    Why such a move?

    • The integration of e-way bill, RFID, and FASTag will enable tax officers to undertake live vigilance in respect of EWB compliances by businesses and will help curb tax evasion.
    • It will aid in preventing revenue leakage by real-time identification of cases of recycling and/or non-generation of EWBs.

    What are E-way bills (EWB)?

    • Under the GST regime, transporters should carry the eWay Bill when moving goods from one place to another when certain conditions are satisfied.
    • EWBs are mandatory for inter-state transportation of goods valued over Rs 50,000 from April 2018, with the exemption to precious items such as gold
    • In this system, businesses and transporters have to produce before a GST inspector the e-way bill, if asked.
    • On average, 25 lakh goods vehicle movements from more than 800 tolls are reported on a daily basis to the e-way bill system.

    Benefits of the move

    • Tax officers can now access reports on vehicles that have passed the selected tolls without EWBs in the past few minutes.
    • Also, vehicles carrying critical commodities specific to the state and having passed the selected toll can be viewed.
    • Any suspicious vehicles and vehicles of EWBs generated by suspicious taxpayer GSTINs, that have passed the selected toll on a near real-time basis, can also be viewed in this report.
    • The officers can use these reports while conducting vigilance and make the vigilance activity more effective.
    • Also, the officers of the audit and enforcement wing can use these reports to identify fraudulent transactions like bill trading, recycling of EWBs.

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  • Climate Change Impact on India and World – International Reports, Key Observations, etc.

    World’s largest iceberg breaks off from Antarctica

    National Parks/WS | Enviro & Biodiversity | Mains Paper 1: Important Geophysical Phenomena

    A huge ice block has broken off from western Antarctica into the Weddell Sea, becoming the largest iceberg in the world and earning the name A-76.

    Answer this PYQ in the comment box:

    Q.On the planet earth, most of the freshwater exists as ice caps and glaciers. Out of the remaining freshwater, the largest proportion:

    (a) is found in the atmosphere as moisture and clouds

    (b) is found in freshwater lakes and rivers

    (c) exists as groundwater

    (d) exists as soil moisture

    A-76 Iceberg

    • A-76 is the latest in a series of large ice blocks to dislodge in a region acutely vulnerable to climate change, although scientists said in this case it appeared to be part of a natural polar cycle.
    • The iceberg, measuring around 170 km long and 25 km wide, with an area of 4,320 sq km is now floating in the Weddell Sea.
    • Slightly larger than the Spanish island of Majorca, A-76 had been monitored by scientists since it began to separate from the Ronne Ice Shelf.
    • It joins the previous world’s largest title holder A-23A — approximately 3,880 sq. km. in size — which has remained in the same area since 1986.
    • A-76 was originally spotted by the British Antarctic Survey and the calving — the term used when an iceberg breaks off — was confirmed using images from the Copernicus satellite.

    Note: An iceberg is a large piece of freshwater ice that has broken off a glacier or an ice shelf and is floating freely in open water.

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  • Contention over South China Sea

    Places in news: Paracel Islands

    National Parks/WS | International Relations | Mains Paper 2: Effect Of Policies & Politics Of World On India’S Interests

    A United States warship sailed through the Paracel Islands in the disputed South China Sea.

    Paracel Islands

    • The Paracel Islands, also known as the Xisha Islands are a disputed archipelago in the South China Sea.
    • The archipelago includes about 130 small coral islands and reefs, most grouped into the northeast Amphitrite Group or the western Crescent Group.
    • They are distributed over a maritime area of around 15,000 square kilometers with a land area of approximately 7.75 square kilometers.
    • The archipelago includes Dragon Hole, the deepest underwater sinkhole in the world.
    • It is surrounded by productive fishing grounds and a seabed with potential, but as yet unexplored, oil and gas reserves.

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