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  • Judicial Reforms

    Judicial federalism

    3 May 2021 | op-ed snap | Polity
    Mains Paper 2: Executive & Judiciary

    The article discusses the idea of judicial federalism and autonomy of the High Courts.

    Issue of transfer of cases from High Courts to Supreme Court

    • Under Article 139A of the Constitution, the Supreme Court does have the power to transfer cases from the High Courts to itself if cases involve the same questions of law.
    • In Parmanand Katara v. Union of India (1989), the Supreme Court underlined that the right to emergency medical treatment is part of the citizen’s fundamental rights.
    • As such, constitutional courts owe a duty to protect this right.
    • In the face of a de facto COVID-19 health emergency, the High Courts of Delhi, Gujarat, Madras and Bombay, among others, have done exactly that.
    • These High Courts among others have directed the state governments on various issues related to COVID-19 health emergency.
    • However, Supreme Court issued an order asking the State governments and the Union Territories to “show cause why uniform orders” should not be passed by the Supreme Court.
    • Therefore, the Supreme Court indicated the possibility of the transfer of cases to itself.

    Issues with the SC’s move

    • According to the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution, public health and hospitals come under the State List as Item No. 6.
    • There could be related subjects coming under the Union List or Concurrent List.
    • Also, there may be areas of inter-State conflicts.
    • But as of now, the respective High Courts have been dealing with specific challenges at the regional level, the resolution of which does not warrant the top court’s interference.
    • In addition to the geographical reasons, the constitutional scheme of the Indian judiciary is pertinent.
    •  In L. Chandra Kumar v. Union of India (1997), the Supreme Court itself said that the High Courts are “institutions endowed with glorious judicial traditions” since they “had been in existence since the 19th century”.
    • Even otherwise, in a way, the power of the High Court under Article 226 is wider than the Supreme Court’s under Article 32.
    • This position was reiterated by the court soon after its inception in State of Orissa v. Madan Gopal Rungta (1951).
    • Judicial federalism has intrinsic and instrumental benefits which are essentially political.
    • The United States is an illustrative case.
    • The U.S. Supreme Court reviews “only a relative handful of cases from state courts” which ensures “a large measure of autonomy in the application of federal law” for the State courts.
    • The need for a uniform judicial order across India is warranted only when it is unavoidable — for example, in cases of an apparent conflict of laws or judgments on legal interpretation.
    • Otherwise, autonomy, not uniformity, is the rule.
    • Decentralisation, not centrism, is the principle.

    Consider the question “Under Article 139A of the Constitution, the Supreme Court does have the power to transfer cases from the High Courts to itself if cases involve the same questions of law. However, transferring such cases should not impinge on judicial federalism. Comment.”

    Conclusion

    In the COVID-19-related cases, High Courts across the country have acted with an immense sense of judicial responsibility. This is a legal landscape that deserves to be encouraged. To do this, the Supreme Court must simply stay away.

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  • New Species of Plants and Animals Discovered

    Rare white-bellied heron spotted in Arunachal Pradesh

    3 May 2021 | Species | Environment

    About the bird

    • The white-bellied heron is categorised as ‘critically endangered’ in International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red Data Book.
    • It is listed in Schedule IV in the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.
    • It is one of the rarest birds in the world and is found only in Bhutan, Myanmar and the Namdapha Tiger Reserve in Arunachal Pradesh.
    • It had also been recorded in the adjacent Kamlang Tiger Reserve in Lohit district in camera trap images.

    Significance of recent sighting

    • The recent sighting at a height of 1,200 metres above sea level is a first at such a higher elevation in India.
    • The presence of nesting sites within this area is a positive sign for the future habitat as the breeding season of the white-bellied heron starts in February and lasts till June.
    • It is great news that the critically endangered bird is establishing new habitat beyond its traditional range.

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  • Air Pollution

    Delhi’s air quality deteriorates, again

    3 May 2021 | | Environment
    Mains Paper 3: Conservation, Environmental Pollution & Degradation, Eia

    Air quality to oscillate between poor to very poor

    • Delhi’s air quality deteriorated from ‘moderate’ to ‘poor’ and ‘very poor’ on April 29.
    • It will be oscillating between ‘poor’ and ‘very poor’ for the next three days, according to the SAFAR-System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research.
    • Delhi’s air typically worsens in October-November and improves by March-April.

    What is the cause

    • Current weather conditions are not unfavourable, unlike in winter.
    • Hence, apart from local emissions, the deterioration in air quality is being attributed to an increase in fire counts, mostly due to burning of wheat crop stubble in northern India.
    • Deteriorating air quality is worrying amid an increasing number of novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and deaths.

    Quality classification

    • An AQI between 0-50 is considered ‘good.
    • An AQI between 51-100 is considered satisfactory.
    • An AQI between 101-200 is considered moderate.
    • An AQI between 201-300 is considered poor.
    • An AQI between 301-400 is considered very poor.
    • An AQI between 401-500 is considered severe.
    • Above 500 is the ‘severe-plus’ or ‘emergency’ category.

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  • Zoonotic Diseases: Medical Sciences Involved & Preventive Measures

    A WTO waiver on patents won’t help us against covid

    1 May 2021 | op-ed snap | Governance
    Mains Paper 2: Health & Education

    There has been growing clamour across the world for waiver of intellectual property protection for Covid-19 vaccines under TRIPS. The article suggests alternatives to achieve the desired production of vaccines without setting the precedent for a waiver.

    Waiver from TRIPS

    • Last October, India and South Africa moved a motion at the WTO asking its council on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) to provide a waiver on intellectual property protection for pharmaceutical patents.
    • Many developing countries have since supported the joint move.
    • While most advanced countries, home to the world’s major pharmaceutical companies, have opposed it.
    • Nobel economist Joseph Stiglitz, along with activist Lori Wallach, penned an opinion piece making a case for such a waiver.

    Voluntary licensing

    • Alternative to waiver could be voluntary licensing arrangements between pharmaceutical companies and countries that wish to make vaccine doses for their own use.
    • This is exactly what has occurred in India’s case, with a licensing agreement between AstraZeneca and Serum Institute of India.
    • The recent difficulties with this arrangement are a result of India diverting some doses intended for export (or for Covax) to its domestic vaccination drive.
    • But India will soon begin making other important global vaccines under similar licence arrangements, and a waiver would do nothing to speed up this process.

    Compulsory licensing

    • In the event that India needs to ramp up production more than is feasible via licences from global manufacturers, there is another alternative available, which is ‘compulsory licensing’.
    • Such an approach would not permit the export of vaccine doses made under a compulsory licence.
    • This approach should be taken by any developing country, if, for some reason, global pharmaceutical companies are unwilling to license a life-saving vaccine for domestic manufacture and distribution in that nation.

    Why TRIPS waiver won’t help

    • India’s limiting factors are a shortage of raw materials and low production capacity, neither of which would be cured with the supposed magic bullet of a WTO waiver.
    • Not only would a WTO waiver not do anything to address the real bottlenecks that constrain the global production and distribution of vaccines, it would also set a bad precedent.
    • It is true that governments, including the US and others, have significantly subsidized or incentivized in other ways the research and development activities of private pharmaceutical companies that now hold patents for major covid vaccines.
    • Yet, these governments required the ingenuity of private enterprise to invent these vaccines.

    Consider the question “What are the legal provisions to ensure the accessibility of life-saving drugs in the country?”

    Conclusion

    While it may seem appealing, a WTO waiver on intellectual property protection is an inappropriate priority. It’s a distraction from the heavy lifting needed to create the capacity to fight the scourge of covid.

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  • Hottest planet in the known universe discovered

    1 May 2021 | Prelims Only | Science and Technology
    Mains Paper 3: Awareness in various sc and tech fields

    About the plane

    • TOI-1431b, also known as MASCARA-5b, was found 490 light-years from Earth and could be the hottest planet in the known universe.
    • Researchers at the University of Southern Queensland’s Centre for Astrophysics in Toowoomba led the global team that made the discovery.
    • NASA’s Training Exoplanet Survey Satellite first flagged TOI-1431b as a possible planet in late 2019.
    • Dayside temperature reaches approximately 2700 degrees celcius and nightside temperature approaches approximately 2300 degrees celcius – no life could survive in its atmosphere.
    • This temperature is significantly greater than the melting point of most metals, many of which will turn to liquid at under 2000 degrees celcius.
    • Titanium melts at 1670 degrees, platinum at 1770 degrees, and stainless steel at between 1375 and 1530 degrees.

    Planet with a retrograde orbit

    • These types of planets, known as ultra-hot Jupiters, are rarely discovered but this particular one is even more unusual due to its retrograde orbit.
    • In our Solar System, all the planets orbit in the same direction that the Sun rotates and they’re all along the same plane.
    • This new planet’s orbit is tilted so much that it is actually going in the opposite direction to the rotation of its host star.

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  • Foreign Policy Watch: India-Japan

    India-Japan relations

    1 May 2021 | op-ed snap | International Relations
    Mains Paper 2: Bilateral, Regional and Global Groupings and agreements involving India

    The article discusses the areas in which India-Japan are cooperating and also highlight the areas in which both countries can expand cooperation.

    Issues discussed in US-Japan summit

    • The discussion focused on their joint security partnership given the need to address China’s recent belligerence in territorial disputes in the South and East China Seas as well as in the Taiwan Strait.
    • Both sides affirmed the centrality of their treaty alliance, for long a source of stability in East Asia, and pledged to stand up to China in key regional flashpoints such as the disputed Senkaku Islands and Taiwan.
    • Both sides acknowledged the importance of extended deterrence vis-à-vis China through cooperation on cybersecurity and space technology.
    • Discussions also touched upon Chinese ambitions to dominate the development of new age technologies such as 5G and quantum computing.
    • Given China’s recent pledge to invest a mammoth $1.4 trillion in emerging technologies, Washington and Tokyo scrambled to close the gap by announcing a Competitiveness and Resilience Partnership, or CoRe.
    • Both sides have also signalled their intent to pressure on China on violations of intellectual property rights, forced technology transfer, excess capacity issues, and the use of trade-distorting industrial subsidies.
    •  Both powers repeatedly emphasised their vision of a Free and Open Indo-Pacific.

    Issues that need to be discussed in Japan PM’s visit to India

    1) Continuation of balancing security policy

    • First, one can expect a continuation of the balancing security policy against China that began in 2014.
    • Crucially, India’s clashes with China in Galwan have turned public opinion in favour of a more confrontational China policy.
    • In just a decade, New Delhi and Tokyo have expanded high-level ministerial and bureaucratic contacts, conducted joint military exercises and concluded military pacts such as the Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement (ACSA) logistics agreement.
    • Both countries need to affirm support for a Free and Open Indo-Pacific and continued willingness to work with the Quad.
    • Both countries need to take stock of the state of play in the security relationship while also pushing the envelope on the still nascent cooperation on defence technology and exports.

    2) Expanding cooperation in various sectors

    • The two powers will look to expand cooperation in sectors such as cybersecurity and emerging technologies.
    • Digital research and innovation partnership in technologies from AI and 5G to the Internet of Things and space research has increased between the two countries in the recent past.
    • There is a need to deepen cooperation between research institutes and expand funding in light of China’s aforementioned technology investment programme.
    • Issues of India’s insistence on data localisation and reluctance to accede to global cybersecurity agreements such as the Budapest Convention may be discussed in the summit.

    3) Economic ties

    • Economic ties and infrastructure development are likely to be top drawer items on the agendas of New Delhi and Tokyo.
    • Though Japan has poured in around $34 billion in investments into the Indian economy, Japan is only India’s 12th largest trading partner.
    • Trade volumes between the two stand at just a fifth of the value of India-China bilateral trade.
    • India-Japan summit will likely reaffirm Japan’s support for key manufacturing initiatives such as ‘Make in India’ and the Japan Industrial Townships.
    • Further, India will be keen to secure continued infrastructure investments in the strategically vital connectivity projects currently under way in the Northeast and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

    4) Joint strategy toward key third countries

    • In years past, India and Japan have collaborated to build infrastructure in Iran and Africa.
    • Both countries have provided vital aid to Myanmar and Sri Lanka and hammer out a common Association of Southeast Asian Nations outreach policy in an attempt to counter China’s growing influence in these corners of the globe.
    • However, unlike previous summits, the time has come for India and Japan to take a hard look at reports suggesting that joint infrastructure projects in Africa and Iran have stalled with substantial cost overruns.
    •  Tokyo will also likely try to get New Delhi to reverse its decision not to join the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership.

    Consider the question “Changes on the geopolitical horizon offers India-Japan relations multiple avenues to deepen their ties. In light of this, discuss the areas of cooperation and shared concerns for India and Japan.” 

    Conclusion

    Writing in 2006, Shinzo Abe, expressed his hope in his book that “it would not be a surprise if in another 10 years, Japan-India relations overtake Japan-U.S. and Japan-China relations”. Thus far, India has every reason to believe that Japan’s new Prime Minister is willing to make that dream a reality.

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  • Indian Navy Updates

    [pib] Seven Indian Navy Ships Deployed for Op Samudra Setu II

    1 May 2021 | PIB |
    Mains Paper 3: Various Security Forces, Agencies & Their Mandates

    Operation Samudra Setu II

    • In support of the nation’s fight against Covid-19 and as part of operation ‘Samudra Setu II’,  seven Indian Naval ships have been deployed for shipment of liquid medical oxygen-filled cryogenic containers and associated medical equipment from various countries.
    • Indian Navy also has the surge capability, to deploy more ships when the need arises to further nation’s fight against COVID-19.
    • It is pertinent that the ships are combat ready and capable of meeting any contingency in keeping with the attributes of versatility of sea power.

    Operation Samudra Setu I

    • It may be recalled that Operation Samudra Setu was launched last year by the Navy and around 4000 Indian citizens stranded in neighbouring countries, amidst COVID 19 outbreak, were successfully repatriated back to India.

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  • Sri Lanka’s Constitution – Strides in the Right Direction

    No mass nesting of Olive Ridley turtles at Rushikulya in Odisha this year

    1 May 2021 | National Parks/WS | Environment
    Mains Paper 3: Conservation, Environmental Pollution & Degradation, Eia

    No mass nesting this year

    • The annual spectacle of the mass nesting of millions of Olive Ridley sea turtles near the Rushikulya river mouth in Odisha is likely to be missed this year, as the time for it is almost over.
    • It’s been around one month since the mass nesting of last year.
    • If they do skip the beach, this won’t be the first time.
    • In 2002, 2007, 2016 and 2019, the turtles had not shown up at Rushikulya.
    • The Rushikulya river mouth is considered the second-biggest rookery in India after Gahirmatha.
    • Mass nesting in the Gahirmatha marine sanctuary occurred from March 9-23, 2021 and over 349,000 eggs were laid during this period.

    What could explain the miss in mass nesting

    • It is a natural phenomenon. During some years, they did not turn up for mass nesting even though a huge number had congregated in the sea.
    • Beach erosion might be one of the causes for the turtles staying away this year.

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  • Government Budgets

    Don’t worry about the deficit

    30 April 2021 | op-ed snap | Economics
    Mains Paper 3: Government Budgeting

    The devastation caused by the second wave calls for the government to shed its worry over the fiscal deficit. The article deals with this issue.

    Role of fiscal policy to support economy through second wave

    • As India battles to contain the surge in COVID-19 cases, several states have already imposed severe restrictions at the local level.
    • The services sector has been hit the most as a consequence of these lockdowns and it would be difficult for India to deliver on this optimistic growth projection.
    • Against this background, the role fiscal policy can play to support the economy needs consideration.
    • The monetary policy is already accommodative and may not have enough room to further boost the economy.
    • With headline as well as core inflation inching up in recent months, the RBI may not be in a position to further cut the policy rate.
    •  As per the latest Union Budget, the fiscal deficit is estimated to moderate from 9.5 per cent of GDP in FY21 to 6.8 per cent of GDP in FY22.
    • This expected decline in fiscal deficit is not on account of lower fiscal spending but because of expectations of sharper revenue growth.
    • The revenue receipts are estimated to grow by 15 per cent and fiscal spending by 1 per cent this financial year.
    • With the debt to GDP ratio already more than 90 per cent, additional fiscal expansion will not be an easy choice for the government.

    Government need to create fiscal space

    • Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures and the government will have to find ways to create fiscal space.
    • This has become especially important as the economy is yet to shrug off the impact of the previous lockdown.
    • Under these difficult circumstances, immediate measures must aim at providing the requisite social safety net to the poor and the vulnerable.
    • The central government has already announced it will distribute an additional five kg of grain to the 800 million beneficiaries of the National Food Security Act, which is welcome.
    • However, given the unprecedented uncertainty brought about by this COVID wave, the ration support under the PDS should be raised further.
    • The government should also consider transferring cash to the bank accounts of the poor, just as it did last time.
    • This becomes important as MGNREGA  may not provide the safety cushion that it is indeed to as long as lockdown measures remain in place.
    • The best stimulus perhaps would be to provide free vaccinations to the population as the benefits of faster and wider vaccine coverage more than outweighs its monetary cost.
    •  Immunisation is a public good. As we get over this crisis, the government must increase its outlay on physical and human health infrastructure.

    How to finance additional cost?

    •  Part of this additional cost may be financed by reducing non-essential government expenditures and use it for COVID-related expenditure.
    • The government may need to resort to additional borrowings from the market than budgeted earlier.
    • The RBI may allow inflation above the upper bound of 6 per cent only in the short run.
    • The plausible rise in interest rates may also be crucial to prevent capital outflows, given the global “economic outlook” when the US economy adopts an easy monetary policy combined with a huge fiscal stimulus.

    Conclusion

    The government should not be deterred by a worsening fiscal deficit in the short run as the additional growth that it generates may make debt consolidation easier when things normalise.

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  • Zoonotic Diseases: Medical Sciences Involved & Preventive Measures

    Supreme Court must oversee vaccination to protect the right to life

    30 April 2021 | op-ed snap | Governance
    Mains Paper 2: Health & Education

    The article highlights the role the Supre Court can play in universal vaccination in India.

    Why Supreme Court needs to step in

    • Amid raging debate over the vaccination strategy, the role the Supreme Court of India can play to safeguard the right to life guaranteed under Article 21, for which it is duty-bound to exercise jurisdiction under Article 32 needs consideration.
    • In this regard, universal vaccination is a glimmer of hope.
    • The Supreme Court of India can facilitate speed and deeper penetration of universal vaccination, which is now commonly accepted as the only possible solution to the pandemic in the long run.

    Issue of patent of vaccine

    • It is time to question patents claimed by vaccines that have been developed with aid from the state in research and development.
    • These patents, if established, must be immediately acquired with just and adequate compensation and made accessible to all manufacturers.
    • This was done for medicines for AIDS and it can be done again under the Patents Act.
    • The Court can also issue mandamus to undertake this exercise on an emergency basis.
    • Thereafter, all pharmaceutical companies with Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) as per the Drugs and Cosmetics Act must be allowed to manufacture vaccines at a pre-approved price of cost + 6 per cent return on investment.
    • States can also be directed to incentivise the setting up of new manufacturing facilities as a possible third wave, periodic booster doses and the need for ancillary vaccines make it a long-term phenomenon.
    • All this has to be ensured in addition to the free import of vaccines approved by advanced nations.

    Free for all

    • The availability of all the vaccines, whether indigenous or imported, must be free for all the recipients to be paid by GoI.
    • The vaccines can be distributed to states on a pro-rata basis as per population and price adjusted as part of general revenue sharing in GST.

    Vaccine administration

    •  The vaccine administration needs to be ramped up both in state and private facilities.
    • For vaccine hesitancy, we need to incentivise the vaccination through a direct deposit of Rs 500 in Jan Dhan accounts for each vaccinated member of BPL families.
    • This vaccination can be made compulsory for identifiable categories of persons from MGNREGA beneficiaries to Aadhaar Card holders to income-tax payers to bank account holders to driving-licence holders.
    • There must be a strict penalty to be recovered from those who do not get vaccinated without medical reasons.
    • Private efforts can be made eligible for reimbursement of cost.

    Conclusion

    The Supreme Court can steer us, with greater emphasis on the right to life. The pandemic may leave nothing and nobody behind to bicker about.

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