Archives: News

Electoral Reforms In India

Political parties to publish the entire criminal history of their candidates

SC Judgements | Polity | Mains Paper 2: Representation Of People’s Act
- The Supreme Court has strictly ordered political parties to publish the entire criminal history of their candidates for Assembly and Lok Sabha elections along with the reasons that goaded them to field suspected criminals over decent people.
SC’s deadline
- It ordered political parties to submit compliance reports with the Election Commission of India within 72 hours or risk contempt of court action.
- The information should be published in a local as well as a national newspaper as well as the parties’ social media handles.
- It should mandatorily be published either within 48 hours of the selection of candidates or less than two weeks before the first date for filing of nominations, whichever is earlier.
- The judgment is applicable to parties both at Central and State levels.
Information should be detailed
- The published information on the criminal antecedents of a candidate should be detailed and include the nature of their offences, charges framed against him, the court concerned, case number, etc.
- A political party should explain to the public through their published material how the “qualifications or achievements or merit” of a candidate, charged with a crime, impressed it enough to cast aside the smear of his criminal background.
- A party would have to give reasons to the voter that it was not the candidate’s “mere winnability at the polls” which guided its decision to give him a ticket to contest elections.
Why such a move?
- It appeared from the last four general elections that there has been an alarming increase in the incidence of criminals in politics.
- In 2004, 24% of the MPs had criminal cases pending against them; in 2009, that went up to 30%; in 2014 to 34%; and in 2019 as many as 43% of MPs had criminal cases pending against them, SC observed.
- The judgment was based on a contempt petition about the general disregard shown by political parties to a 2018 Constitution Bench judgment (Public Interest Foundation v. Union of India).
- In this judgment (2018), this court was cognizant of the increasing criminalisation of politics in India and the lack of information about such criminalisation among the citizenry”, SC observed.
Immediate Reason
- The immediate provocation is the finding that 46% of MPs have criminal records.
- The number might be inflated as many politicians tend to be charged with relatively minor offences —“unlawful assembly” and “defamation”.
- The real worry is that the current cohort of Lok Sabha MPs has the highest (29%) proportion of those with serious declared criminal cases compared to its recent predecessors.
Why are such tainted candidates inducted by political parties?
- Such candidates with serious records seem to do well despite their public image, largely due to their ability to finance their own elections and bring substantive resources to their respective parties.
- Some voters tend to view such candidates through a narrow prism: of being able to represent their interests by hook or by crook.
- Others do not seek to punish these candidates in instances where they are in contest with other candidates with similar records.
Significance of the move
- Either way, these unhealthy tendencies in the democratic system reflect a poor image of the nature of India’s state institutions and the quality of its elected representatives.
- The move signified the court’s alarm at the unimpeded rise of criminals, often facing heinous charges like rape and murder, encroaching into the country’s political and electoral scenes.
Way Forward
- While formally, the institutions of the state are present and subject to the electoral will of the people, substantively, they are still relatively weak and lackadaisical in governance and delivery of public goods.
- This has allowed cynical voters to elect candidates despite their dubious credentials and for their ability to work on a patronage system.
- While judicial pronouncements on making it difficult for criminal candidates to contest are necessary, only enhanced awareness and increased democratic participation could create the right conditions for the decriminalization of politics.
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Minority Issues – SC, ST, Dalits, OBC, Reservations, etc.

Ninth Schedule of the Indian Constitution

| Polity | Mains Paper 2: Indian Constitution – historical underpinnings, evolution, features, amendments, significant provisions and basic structure
A parliamentarian has said in an interview that reservation should be put under the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution. His comments came days after the Supreme Court ruled that reservation in the matter of promotions in public posts was not a fundamental right and that a state cannot be compelled to offer quota if it chooses not to.

What is the Ninth Schedule?
- The Ninth Schedule contains a list of central and state laws which cannot be challenged in courts.
- Currently, 284 such laws are shielded from judicial review.
- The Schedule became a part of the Constitution in 1951, when the document was amended for the first time.
- It was created by the new Article 31B, which along with 31A was brought in by the government to protect laws related to agrarian reform and for abolishing the Zamindari system.
- While most of the laws protected under the Schedule concern agriculture/land issues, the list includes other subjects, such as reservation.
- A Tamil Nadu law that provides 69 per cent reservation in the state is part of the Schedule.
Article 31A and 31 B
- While Article 31A extends protection to ‘classes’ of laws, A. 31B shields specific laws or enactments.
- Article 31B also has retrospective operation: meaning if laws are inserted in the Ninth Schedule after they are declared unconstitutional, they are considered to have been in the Schedule since their commencement, and thus valid.
- Although Article 31B excludes judicial review, the apex court has said in the past that even laws under the Ninth Schedule would be open to scrutiny if they violated fundamental rights or the basic structure of the Constitution.
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Foreign Policy Watch: India-United States

USTR takes India off developing country list

| International Relations | Mains Paper 2: Effect Of Policies & Politics Of World On India’S Interests
The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) has published a notice, amending lists of developing and least-developed countries that are eligible for preferential treatment with respect to countervailing duties (CVD) investigations.

New classification by US
- To harmonise U.S. law with the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Subsidies and Countervailing Measures (SCM) Agreement, the USTR had, in 1998, come up with lists of countries classified as per their level of development.
- These lists were used to determine whether they were potentially subject to U.S. countervailing duties. The 1998 rule is now “obsolete” as per the USTR notice.
- Countries not given special consideration have lower levels of protection against a CVD investigation.
- A CVD investigation must be terminated if the offending subsidy is de minimis (too small to warrant concern) or if import volumes are negligible.
- The de minimis thresholds and import volume allowance are more relaxed for developing and least-developed countries.
Criteria set by US
- The USTR used the following criteria to determine whether a country was eligible for the 2% de minimise standard:
(1) Per capita Gross National Income or GNI

(2) share of world trade

(3) other factors such as Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) membership or application for membership, EU membership, and Group of Twenty (G20) membership.

Delisting India
- India was, until February 10, on the developing country list and therefore eligible for these more relaxed standards. It has now been taken off of that list.
- India, along with Brazil, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam were taken off the list since they each have at least a 0.5% share of the global trade, despite having less than $12, 375 GNI (the World Bank threshold separating high-income countries from others).
- India was taken off the list also because — like Argentina, Brazil, Indonesia and South Africa — it is part of the G20.
- Given the global economic significance of the G20, and the collective economic weight of its membership (which accounts for large shares of global economic output and trade), G20 membership indicates that a country is developed a/c to USTR.
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Modern Indian History-Events and Personalities

Conservation plan for Konark Sun Temple

| History | Mains Paper 1: Arts & Culture
A plan to restore and preserve the nearly 800-year-old Konark Sun Temple in Odisha would be drawn up soon. Among the potential choices before the government would be to fill in more sand or to remove all the sand andput in place alternate support.

Konark Sun Temple
- Konark Sun Temple is a 13th-century CE Sun temple at Konark about 36 kilometres northeast from Puri on the coastline of Odisha, India.
- The temple is attributed to king Narasinga Deva I of the Eastern Ganga Dynasty about 1250 CE.
- Dedicated to the Hindu Sun God Surya, what remains of the temple complex has the appearance of a 100-foot (30 m) high chariot with immense wheels and horses, all carved from stone.
- Once over 200 feet (61 m) high, much of the temple is now in ruins, in particular the large shikara tower over the sanctuary; at one time this rose much higher than the mandapa that remains.
- The structures and elements that have survived are famed for their intricate artwork, iconography, and themes, including erotic kama and mithuna scenes.
- Also called the Surya Devalaya, it is a classic illustration of the Odisha style of Architecture or Kalinga Architecture.
- Declared a UNESCO world heritage site in 1984 it remains a major pilgrimage site for Hindus, who gather here every year for the Chandrabhaga Mela around the month of February.
Earlier restoration efforts
- It had been filled with sand and sealed by the British authorities in 1903 in order to stabilize the structure, a/c to ASI.
- A scientific study was carried out by the Roorkee-based Central Building Research Institute from 2013 till 2018 to ascertain the temple’s structural stability as well as the status of the filled-in sand.
- The sand filled in over 100 years ago had settled, leading to a gap of about 17 feet. However the structure was found to be stable.
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Climate Change Impact on India and World – International Reports, Key Observations, etc.

‘Future of Earth, 2020’ Report

DOMR | Enviro & Biodiversity | Mains Paper 1: Important Geophysical Phenomena
The “The Future of Earth, 2020” Report was recently released.

About the report
- The report is released by the South Asia Future Earth Regional Office, Divecha Centre for Climate Change, Indian Institute of Science.
- The report was prepared with the aim of reducing carbon footprint and halting global warming below 2 degree Celsius by 2050.
Highlights of the report
- Five global risks that have the potential to impact and amplify one another in ways that may cascade to create global systemic crisis have been listed by report.
- It listed the following as five global risks:
1. failure of climate change mitigation and adaptation
2. extreme weather events
3. major biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse
4. food crises; and
5. water crises
- Offering examples of how the interrelation of risk factors play a role, scientists say extreme heatwaves can accelerate global warming by releasing large amounts of stored carbon from affected ecosystems, and at the same time intensify water crises and/ or food scarcity.
- The loss of biodiversity also weakens the capacity of natural and agricultural systems to cope with climate extremes, increasing our vulnerability to food crises, they point out.
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Parliament – Sessions, Procedures, Motions, Committees etc

In news: Two-child Norm

Bills/Act/Laws | Governance | Mains Paper 1: Population & Associated Issues
A Rajya Sabha MP has introduced a Private Member’s Bill on two-child norms.

Key propositions of the Bill
- Essentially, the Bill aims to amend the Constitution in order to incentivise limiting families to two children by offering tax concessions, priority in social benefit schemes and school admissions, among other things.
- It proposes incentives in taxation, education and employment for people who limit their family size to two children.
Article 47A
- The Bill has sought the incorporation of a new provision, Article 47A in Part IV of the Constitution, to withdraw all concessions from people who fail to adhere to the “small-family” norm.
- Article 47A says the following:
“47A. The State shall promote small family norms by offering incentives in taxes, employment, education etc. to its people who keep their family limited to two children and shall withdraw every concession from and deprive such incentives to those not adhering to small family norm, to keep the growing population under control.”

Note: Article 47 of the Indian Constitution is one of the DPSP which directs the State to raise the level of nutrition and the standard of living and to improve public health as among its primary duties and, in particular, the State shall endeavour to bring about prohibition of intoxicating drinks and drugs which are injurious to health.

Why such Bill?
- The Bill’s Statement of Object and Reasons states that the fact that India’s population has already crossed 125 crore is “really frightening”.
- It goes on to say that India’s population has doubled in the last 40 years and that it is expected to unseat China as the world’s most populous nation in the next couple of decades.
- Despite the fact that we have framed a National Population Control Policy, we are the second most populous country in the world.
- Further, the population explosion will cause “many problems” for our future generations.
- The Bill also makes a reference to “overburdened” natural resources that are overexploited because of overpopulation.
Statewide policies relating to two-child norms

Assam Cabinet has recently decided that those with more than two children will be ineligible for government jobs from 2021. Other states with similar norms:

Rajasthan: For government jobs, candidates who have more than two children are not eligible for appointment.

Madhya Pradesh: The state follows the two-child norm since 2001. Under Madhya Pradesh Civil Services (General Condition of Services) Rules, if the third child was born on or after January 26, 2001, one becomes ineligible for government service. The rule also applies to higher judicial services.

Telangana: Under Section 19 (3) read with Sections 156 (2) and 184 (2) of Telangana Panchayat Raj Act, 1994, a person with more than two children shall be disqualified from contesting election. However, if a person had more than two children before May 30, 1994, he or she will not be disqualified. The same sections in the Andhra Pradesh: AP Panchayat Raj Act, 1994, apply to Andhra Pradesh, where a person having more than two children shall be disqualified from contesting election.

Gujarat: In 2005, the government amended the Gujarat Local Authorities Act. The amendment disqualifies anyone with more than two children from contesting elections for bodies of local self-governance — panchayats, municipalities and municipal corporations.

Maharashtra: The Maharashtra Zilla Parishads And Panchayat Samitis Act disqualifies people who have more than two children from contesting local body elections (gram panchayats to municipal corporations). The Maharashtra Civil Services Rules, 2005 states that a person having more than two children is disqualified from holding a post in the state government. Women with more than two children are also not allowed to benefit from the Public Distribution System.

Karnataka: The Karnataka (Gram Swaraj and Panchayat Raj) Act, 1993 does not bar individuals with more than two children from contesting elections to local bodies like the gram panchayat. The law, however, says that a person is ineligible to contest “if he does not have a sanitary latrine for the use of the members of his family”.

Odisha: The Odisha Zilla Parishad Act bars those individuals with more than two children from contesting.
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Air Pollution

Global cost of air pollution from fossil fuels

IOCR | Enviro & Biodiversity | Mains Paper 3: Conservation, Environmental Pollution & Degradation, Eia
A new Greenpeace report has estimated the global cost of air pollution from fossil fuels at around $2.9 trillion per year, or $8 billion per day — 3.3% of the world’s GDP.

Cost of air pollution

India is estimated to bear a cost of $150 billion, or 5.4% of the country’s GDP, which is the third-highest absolute cost from fossil fuel air pollution worldwide.

China and the US are estimated to bear the highest absolute costs from fossil fuel air pollution, respectively at $900 billion and $600 billion.

Loss of lives
- Globally, air pollution is estimated to cause 4.5 million premature deaths each year.
- This includes 3 million deaths attributable globally to PM2.5, which is one of the principal pollutants in northern Indian cities including Delhi.
- Globally, PM2.5 is also estimated to cause the loss of 62.7 million years of life, 2.7 million emergency room visits due to asthma, 2 million preterm births and 1.75 billion work absences.
- The 2 million preterm births include 981,000 in India and over 350,000 in China.
Economic cost

In India, exposure to fossil fuels also leads to a loss of around 490 million workdays, the report said.
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Animal Husbandry, Dairy & Fisheries Sector – Pashudhan Sanjivani, E- Pashudhan Haat, etc

[pib] ‘Apiary on Wheels’ Initiative

PIB | Agriculture | Mains Paper 3: Economics Of Animal-Rearing
‘Apiary on Wheels’ was recently flagged off today by the Union Minister of MSME.

‘Apiary on Wheels’
- It is a unique concept designed by KVIC for the easy upkeep and migration of Bee Boxes having live Bee colonies.
- It is a platform which can carry 20 Bee Boxes from one place to another without any difficulty.
- It is like an attachment which can be easily connected with a Tractor or a Trolley and may be pulled to any suitable destination.
- Specially, in summers, the beekeepers usually adopted crude methods to feed the bees and many bees used to die in the process.
- This concept of migration, cooling with the help of solar panels and sugar drips with zero risk to the lives of bees, will prevent any damages to the bee boxes or bee colonies and help produce quality honey.
How it works?
- Two large wheels on either side of the Apiary and 4 separate compartments with independent doors, having 5 bee boxes each help the platform to remain intact without disturbing the live bee colonies.
- It is also connected with a solar panel system which automatically triggers a fan inside the compartment as soon as the temperature reaches 35 degree centigrade or above.
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Telecom and Postal Sector – Spectrum Allocation, Call Drops, Predatory Pricing, etc

Missed call

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

As the dust settles after the Union budget and the Supreme Court’s decision to not provide relief to telcos from their licence fee liabilities, it is an appropriate moment to step back and examine how we got here.

The issue over the definition of AGR (Aggregate Gross Revenue)
- What is AGR issue: Since the New Telecom Policy of 1999 (NTP 1999), operators were required to pay a percentage of their AGR to the government as licence fees instead of a one-time licence fee.
  - License fee based on earnings: This was done in exchange for moving operators from fixed licence fee-based on irrationally exuberant bids they had made in the mid-nineties-to a regime that determined licence fee based on revenue earned, thereby de-risking the obligation.
  - Why it matters? What constitutes AGR is important for the purpose of the computing licence fee and thousands of crore are dependent on this.
- Consequences of ambiguity over the definition of AGR: Bundling – a pervasive phenomenon in most telecom markets have not taken off in India.
  - What is bundling? Product bundling is a marketing strategy that involves offering several products and/or services for sale as one combined product.
  - The fear is that handset sales will also come under the purview of AGR. Handsets, it could still be argued are part of the service offering.
  - Dividend on earning is considered as the part of AGR: Interest and dividend earnings on investments have also been included in AGR.
Unfair practices and cancellation of licences by the court
- Controversy over conversion charges: In 2003, “limited” mobility service was converted into a fully mobile service with a one-time payment of Rs 1,658 crore as “conversion” charges, generating controversy. It was labelled as a “back door entry” to full mobility.
- Disguising international calls as domestic: Around the same time, the DoT used to levy a fee of Rs 4.75 per minute on international calls known as “access deficit charge” (ADC) to fund universal coverage. It is well known that an operator disguised international calls as domestic to bypass ADC.
- Showing call revenue as internet services revenue: For some time, internet services attracted lower or no licence fee and it became expedient for operators to indulge in license fee “arbitrage” by showing more revenue from internet services.
- Inflating subscriber numbers: Another manoeuvre was to inflate subscriber numbers to gain access to scarce spectrum in the days when fresh spectrum was administratively assigned based on subscriber numbers.
- First come first serve policy: Finally, the shameful spectacle was the battle fought by operators to jump the queue to deposit earnest money for gaining rights over the spectrum that was oddly sought to be assigned by a method called “first come first served” and whose definition itself was quite elastic.
- Cancellation of licence by the Court: Thereafter, in the litigation that inevitably followed, the Court cancelled 122 telecom licences and mandated allocation of spectrum by auction.
Conclusion
- Erosion of trust between the public and private sector in general and in the telecom sector, in particular, has been a negative externality of the reform process.
- Restoration of trust between public and private sector is necessary: In this context, the appeal made by the finance minister during her budget speech for the restoration of “vishwaas” between the public and private sectors and between citizens and government is critical
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Digital India Initiatives

Riding on data for mobility

op-ed snap | Governance | Mains Paper 2: E-Governance
Context

Data-based governance can assist in reducing traffic congestion, as illustrated by a pilot study in Hyderabad.

How the Digital revolution is transforming lives
- Seamless and efficient interaction: The digital revolution has made interactions between humans and machines, and among citizens, governments and businesses, seamless and efficient.
- Helping efficient delivery of services: Today, e-governance enables and empowers citizens to directly engage with the state, thereby eliminating barriers in the delivery of public services.
- The next wave of transformation: The next wave of transformation in digital governance is at the intersection of data and the public good.
  - Data as a strategic asset: The key to this transformation lies in incorporating data as a strategic asset in all aspects of-
  - Policy.
  - Planning.
  - Service delivery and-
  - Operations of the government.
Transportation system improvement by leveraging Digital revolution
- Loss caused by the congestion
  - Congestion caused an estimated $24 billion to the four metro cities in India in 2018.
  - Given the limited land resources available, the key to solving congestion lies in improving the efficiency of existing transportation systems.
- How can Digital revolution help tackle the problem?
  - An efficient transportation system would help ease congestion, reduce travel time and cost, and provide greater convenience.
  - How it will work? Data from multiple sources such as-
  - CCTV cameras.
  - Automatic traffic
  - Map services and-
  - Transportation service providers could be used.
- Results of the previous studies
  - London example: A study by Transport for London estimates that its open data initiative on sharing of real-time transit data has helped add £130 million a year to London’s economy by improving productivity and efficiency.
  - Results from China: In China, an artificial intelligence-based traffic management platform developed by Alibaba has helped improve average speeds by 15%.
Hyderabad Open Transit Data portal
- Hyderabad Open Transit Data, launched by Open Data Telangana, is the country’s first data portal.
  - What does it do? It publishes datasets on bus stops, bus routes, metro routes, metro stations, schedules, fares, and frequency of public transit services.
- The objective of the portal: The objective is to empower start-ups and developers to create useful mobility applications.
  - The datasets were built after an intensive exercise carried out by the Open Data Team and Telangana State Road Transport Corporation to collect, verify and digitise the data.
- Collaboration with the private sector: Hyderabad has also begun collaborating with the private sector to improve traffic infrastructure.
  - MoU with Ola Mobility Institute: One such partnership followed a Memorandum of Understanding signed between the Telangana government and Ola Mobility Institute.
  - Monitoring the quality of roads in the city: Under this collaboration, Ola has developed a tool, Ola City Sense, to provide data-based insights that can monitor the quality of Hyderabad’s roads and identify bad quality patches.
  - Other areas in which the data is used: The information thus given is useful not only for carrying out road repairs, it also helps officials take initiatives to improve road safety, monitor quality of construction, and study the role of bad roads in causing congestion.
- A pilot project to prioritisation of repairs: A pilot was implemented in a municipal zone to gauge the efficacy of the data in supporting road monitoring and prioritisation of repairs.
  - The early results of this pilot project were encouraging. The dashboard helped city officials plan the pre-monsoon repair work and budget for repairs last year.
Conclusion
- The willingness of the government to apply data-based insights: The Hyderabad project and the pilot demonstrated the willingness of government departments to apply data-based insights for better decision making.
  - This could also serve as a model for other cities to emulate.
- Making the departments data-centric: The Hyderabad example also shows that governments can make their departments data-centric by-
  - Institutionalising data collection.
  - Building technology platforms.
  - And helping the departments develop the capacity to handle the insights generated from the data.
  - Smart cities as a starting point: Command and control centres under the ‘smart cities’ initiative can be an ideal starting point.
  - Data security and privacy: Such interventions, however, also need to address genuine concerns around data security and privacy.
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