Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Bharatiya Poshan Krishi Kosh
Mains level: Paper 2- Despite having many schemes to address the malnutrition the problems still looms large, why?
Context
There are well-equipped schemes to address the malnutrition, plugging the policy gaps is the problem.
Nutrition and hunger in India
- Global Hunger Index rank 102: A few months ago, the Global Hunger Index, reported that India suffers from “serious” hunger, ranked 102 out of 117 countries.
- Only one-tenth of children getting proper diet: Just a tenth of children between six to 23 months are fed a minimum acceptable diet.
- Urgency reflected in the budget: The urgency around nutrition was reflected in the Union Finance Minister’s Budget speech, as she referred to the “unprecedented” scale of developments under the scheme for Holistic Nutrition, or POSHAN Abhiyaan, the National Nutrition Mission with efforts to track the status of 10 crore households.
- The Economic Survey notes that “Food is not just an end in itself but also an essential ingredient in the growth of human capital and therefore important for national wealth creation”.
- How malnutrition affects? Malnutrition affects cognitive ability, workforce days and health, impacting as much as 16% of GDP (World Food Programme and World Bank).
Addressing Nutrition through Agriculture
- Multiple dimension of malnutrition: There are multiple dimensions of malnutrition that include-
- Calorific deficiency.
- Protein hunger.
- Micronutrient deficiency.
- Addressing the issue through Agriculture: An important approach to address nutrition is through agriculture.
- The Bharatiya Poshan Krishi Kosh which was launched in 2019 is a recent attempt to bridge this gap.
- The krishi kosh was launched by Ministry of Women and Child Development along with Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF).
- Existing schemes can well address India’s malnutrition dilemma. Following is the analysis of budgetary allocation and expenditure in the previous year.
First- Calorific deficiency
- The Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) scheme provides a package of services including-
- Supplementary nutrition.
- Nutrition and health education.
- Health check-ups and
- Referral services addressing children, pregnant and lactating mothers and adolescent girls, key groups to address community malnutrition, and which also tackle calorific deficiency and beyond.
- Underutilisation of funds: For 2019-20, the allotment was ₹27,584.37 crore but revised estimates are ₹24,954.50 crore, which points to an underutilisation of resources.
- Which area needs the emphasis: The allocation this year is marginally higher, but clearly, the emphasis needs to be on implementation.
- Mid-Day Meal Scheme: Another pathway to address hunger is the Mid-Day Meal Scheme, to enhance the nutrition of schoolchildren.
- Here too, the issue is not with allocation but with expenditure.
- The 2019-20 Budget allocation was ₹11,000 crore and revised estimates are only ₹9,912 crores.
Second-Protein Hunger
- Contribution of pulses: Pulses are a major contributor to address protein hunger.
- Underutilisation of funds: A scheme for State and Union Territories aims to reach pulses into welfare schemes (Mid-Day Meal, Public Distribution System, ICDS) has revised estimates standing at just ₹370 crores against ₹800 crore allocation in the 2019-20 Budget.
Third-micronutrient deficiency
- Horticulture Mission: The Horticulture Mission can be one of the ways to address micronutrient deficiency effectively, but here too implementation is low.
- Revised estimates for 2019-20 stand at ₹1,583.50 crores against an allocation of ₹2,225 crores.
- National Millet Mission: In 2018-19, the Government of India launched a national millet mission which included renaming millets as “nutri-cereals” also launching a Year of Millets in 2018-19 to promote nutritious cereals in a campaign mode across the country.
- This could have been further emphasised in the Budget as well as in the National Food Security Mission (NFSM) which includes millets.
- Under-utilisation of funds: The NFSM strains to implement the allocation of ₹2,000 crores during 2019-20, as revised expenditures stand at ₹1,776.90 crore.
- Need to sustain the momentum: As millets have the potential to address micronutrient deficiencies, the momentum given to these cereals needs to be sustained.
POSHAN Abhiyan and issues involved
- 72% expenditure on technology: The National Nutrition Mission which is a major initiative to address malnutrition, had 72% of total expenditure going into “Information and Communication Technology.
- Misplaced focus: The focus of the bulk of the funding has been on technology, whereas, actually, it is a convergence that is crucial to address nutrition.
- Under-utilisation of funds: Only 34% of funds released by the Government of India were spent from FY 2017-18 to FY 2019-20 till November 30, 2019.
- Limiting the possibility of an increase in the allocation: With underspending, allocations for subsequent years will also be affected, limiting the possibility of increasing budgets and the focus on nutrition schemes.
Agriculture-nutrition link
- The agriculture-nutrition link is another piece of the puzzle.
- Link not explicitly mentioned: While agriculture dominated the initial Budget speech, the link between agriculture and nutrition was not explicit.
- Why the link is important: The link is important because about three-fifths of rural households are agricultural in India (National Sample Survey Office, 70th round)
- The malnutrition rates, particularly in rural areas are high (National Family Health Survey-4).
- Need for greater emphasis: Agriculture-nutrition linkage schemes have the potential for greater impact and need greater emphasis.
Way forward
- Focus: Focus on nutrition-related interventions, beyond digitisation.
- Bring all departments in one place: Intensify the convergence component of POSHAN Abhiyaan, using the platform to bring all departments in one place to address nutrition.
- Nutrition based activities by farmer-producer: Direct the announcement to form 10,000 farmer producer organisations with an allocation of ₹500 crores to nutrition-based activities.
- Youth schemes: Promotion of youth schemes to be directed to nutrition-agriculture link activities in rural areas.
- Emphasis on fund allocation: Give explicit emphasis and fund allocation to agriculture-nutrition linked schemes.
- Early disbursement and utilisation of funds: Ensure early disbursement of funds and optimum utilisation of schemes linked to nutrition.
Conclusion
Nutrition goes beyond just food, with economic, health, water sanitation, gender perspectives and social norms contributing to better nutrition. This is why the implementation of multiple schemes can contribute to better nutrition.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Medical Devices (Amendment) Rules, 2020
Mains level: Regulation of medical devices in India
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has notified changes in the Medical Devices Rules, 2017 to regulate medical devices on the same lines as drugs under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940.
Medical Devices (Amendment) Rules, 2020
- These rules are applicable to devices intended for internal or external use in the diagnosis, treatment, mitigation or prevention of disease or disorder in human beings or animals” (as notified by the ministry).
- It requires online registration of these devices “with the Central Licensing Authority through an identified online portal established by the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation for this purpose.
- Among the information that the manufacturer has to upload are “name & address of the company or firm or any other entity manufacturing the medical device along with name and address of manufacturing site.
- It also need to upload certificate of compliance with respect to ISO 13485 standard accredited by National Accreditation Board for Certification Bodies or International Accreditation Forum.
- This would mean that every medical device, either manufactured in India or imported, will have to have quality assurance before they can be sold anywhere in the country.
- After furnishing of the above information a registration number will be generated. Manufacturer shall mention the registration number on the label of the medical device.
What are the items covered under the new Rules?
- A large number of commonly used items including hypodermic syringes and needles, cardiac stents, perfusion sets, catheters, orthopaedic implants, bone cements, lenses, sutures, internal prosthetic replacements etc are covered under the new rules.
- For some items such as sphygmomanometers (used to monitor blood pressure), glucometers (to check blood sugar), thermometers, CT scan and MRI equipment, dialysis and X-ray machines, implants etc, different deadlines for compliance have been set.
- For example for the first three, it is January 2021, for the others it is April next year. For ultrasound equipment, it is November 2020.
Is this a sudden move?
- This has been in the offing for some time now.
- In October last year, the ministry had circulated copies of the then proposed notification for public comments following recommendations of the Drugs Technical Advisory Board (DTAB), which is the highest technical body for these decisions and has experts among its members.
- In April last year, the DTAB had recommended that all medical devices should be notified as “drugs” under the drug regulation law to ensure they maintain safety and quality standards.
- The notification makes it clear that the government has issued it in consultation with the DTAB.
Why was the move required?
- For much of the last one year, the health sector has been at the centre of attention following revelations about faulty hip implants marketed by pharma major Johnson & Johnson.
- This has caused major embarrassment to the government, too, as it exposed the lack of regulatory teeth when it came to medical devices.
- The matter dragged on, exposing the regulatory loopholes until finally the company agreed in court to pay Rs 25 lakh each to the 67 people who had had to undergo revision surgeries because the implants were defective.
- That is really where the discussion started about regulation of medical devices.
What are the penal provisions under Indian law?
- There are various penal provisions under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 for various kinds of offences. Manufacture or sale of substandard items is punishable with imprisonment of at least 10 years, which may extend to imprisonment for life.
- There is also a provision for fine that will “not be less than Rs 10 lakh rupees or three times value of the confiscated items”.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: FATF
Mains level: Terror funding
The Lashkar-e-Taiba founder (LeT) and Jamat-ud Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed was convicted by a Pakistan court in two terror-financing cases and sentenced to five-and-a-half years in prison concurrently.
Why such move?
- With pressure from the international community building up, Pakistan has been trying to convince the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to prevent it getting blacklisted.
- Saeed’s conviction is perhaps a reflection of Pakistan’s changing approach towards its treatment of terror groups, given the FATF’s actions and warnings.
Who is Hafiz Saeed?
- Hafiz Saeed is the founder and leader of the fundamentalist terrorist organisation Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), which is a group that follows an extreme interpretation of religious texts.
- It was founded in 1990 and its goals include conducting jihad, preaching the true religion and training the new generation along true religious lines.
- Some of its goals are aligned with that of Pakistan, including the liberation of Kashmir from India.
Why his conviction matters?
- Saeed is also the mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks.
- Other attacks that LeT has been involved in include the 2001 shootout at Parliament House in New Delhi, and, most recently, the 2016 attack on the military headquarters in Uri.
- In 2012, in order to support India in its attempt to extradite Saeed, the US State Department offered a bounty of up to $10 million for information that could lead to his arrest or conviction.
- Moreover, the US Department of the Treasury has marked Saeed as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist since 2012.
- ISI and the Pakistani government too help the LeT bring in funds, and it is believed to have fund-raising offices in Bangladesh, Nepal, Maldives and the Gulf region.
A shield against FATF actions
- The FATF placed Pakistan in the grey list in July 2018 nonetheless.
- Before Saeed’s arrest, the FATF had warned Pakistan to deliver on its commitments to curb terror financing. Pakistan feared being a part of FATF’s “Grey List”.
- Significantly, if Pakistan did not follow up on FATF’s warnings, it could potentially be downgraded to the Black List, which would make things more difficult for the country.
- FATF is de facto run by the US Treasury Department.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NUE
Mains level: Payments regulation measure by RBI
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has proposed to set up a new pan-India new umbrella entity (NUE) or entities focussing on retail payment systems with a minimum paid-up capital of Rs 500 crore.
New Umbrella Entity (NUE)
- The proposed entity will set up, manage and operate new payment systems especially in the retail space.
- It would comprise of but not limited to ATMs, white label PoS, Aadhaar-based payments and remittance services, develop payment methods, standards and technologies, monitor related issues and internationally.
- It would take care of developmental objectives like enhancement of awareness about the payment systems.
- The RBI retains the right to approve the appointment of directors as also to nominate a member on the board of the NUE.
- The NUE should conform to the norms of corporate governance along with ‘fit and proper’ criteria for persons to be appointed on its board.
Functions
It will:
- operate clearing and settlement systems
- identify and manage relevant risks such as settlement, credit, liquidity and operational and preserve the integrity of the system
- monitor retail payment system developments and related issues in the country and internationally to avoid shocks, frauds and contagions that may adversely affect the system and the economy in general
Terms of reference
- The entity eligible to apply as promoter or the promoter group for the NUE should be ‘owned and controlled by residents’ with 3 years’ experience in the payments ecosystem as Payment System Operator (PSO) or Payment Service Provider (PSP) or Technology Service Provider (TSP).
- The shareholding pattern should be diversified.
- Any entity holding more than 25 per cent of the paid-up capital of the NUE will be deemed to be a promoter.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Coronavirus, Pneumonia
Mains level: Threats posed by coronavirus outbreak
The World Health Organization (WHO) gave an official name to the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. The death toll from the virus has now crossed 1,000 and the disease has infected tens of thousands of people, the majority of them in China.
COVID-19
- The disease will be called “COVID-19”; the “CO” stands for coronavirus, “VI” for virus and “D” for disease.
- The coronavirus itself is called “nCoV-2019”.
WHO nomenclature
- The WHO, in consultation with the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), has identified best practices for naming new human diseases.
- These best practices apply to a new disease:
- That is an infection, syndrome, or disease of humans;
- That has never been recognised before in humans;
- That has potential public health impact; and
- Where no disease name is yet established in common usage
- Names that are assigned by the WHO may or may not be approved by the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) at a later stage.
- The ICD, which is also managed by the WHO, provides a final standard name for each human disease according to standard guidelines that are aimed at reducing the negative impact from names while balancing science, communication and policy.
Terms to avoid
- The agreed best practices include advice on what the disease names should not include, such as geographic location (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, Spanish Flu, Japanese encephalitis).
- Disease names should not include people’s names (Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, Chagas disease), the species or class of animal or food (swine flu, monkeypox etc.), cultural or occupational references (miners, butchers, cooks, nurses etc.) and terms that incite “undue fear” such as death, fatal and epidemic.
- The use of names such as “swine flu” and “Middle East Respiratory Syndrome” has had “unintended negative impacts” by stigmatising certain communities and economic sectors.
Terms to include
- The best practices include using generic descriptive terms such as respiratory diseases, hepatitis, neurologic syndrome, watery diarrhoea.
- They include using specific descriptive terms that may indicate the age group of the patients and the time course of the disease, such as progressive, juvenile or severe.
- If the causative pathogen is known, it should be used as part of the disease name with additional descriptors such as the year when the disease was first reported or detected.
- The names should also be short (rabies, malaria, polio) and should be consistent with the guidelines under the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) Content Model Reference Guide.
- As per the WHO, “severe” should be used only for those diseases that have a very high initial case fatality rate. “Novel” can be used to indicate a new pathogen of a previously known type
- In the case of the novel coronavirus, “recognizing that this term will become obsolete if other new pathogens of that type are identified”, the WHO has now changed its name.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: '2 Billion Kilometers to Safety' campaign
Mains level: Refugees issue across the world
The UN Refugee Agency UNHCR has announced a new global campaign urging people worldwide to cover the total distance travelled by refugees each year – 2 billion kilometers – by running, jogging or walking.
About the campaign
- The “2 Billion Kilometers to Safety” campaign vies to encourage people to support refugees by championing individual acts of solidarity.
- The goal is to acknowledge the resilience and strength of refugees.
- It calls on the public to show their solidarity with refugees by running, walking or cycling to collectively cover two billion kilometers.
- Participants can use their fitness apps or the campaign website to log the kilometers and contribute to the global total.
Distance covered by refugees
- UNHCR traced the journeys of refugees around the world and calculated that, collectively, people forced to flee travel approximately two billion kilometers every year to reach the first point of safety.
- This is roughly the distance that separates Earth from somewhere between the planets Saturn and Uranus.
- According to UNHCR estimates, Syrian refugees travelled over 240 kilometers each to reach Turkey.
- South Sudanese refugees travelled more than 640 kilometers to reach Kenya. Rohingya refugees from Myanmar travelled approximately 80 kilometers to reach Bangladesh.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Yaravirus
Mains level: NA
In a lake in Brazil, researchers have discovered a virus that they find unusual and intriguing.
Yaravirus
- The Yaravirus infects amoeba and has genes that have not been described before, something that could challenge how DNA viruses are classified.
- It has a puzzling origin and phylogeny (evolutionary relationship).
- Because of the Yaravirus’s small size, it was unlike other viruses that infect amoeba and they named it as a tribute to Yara, the “mother of waters” in the mythological stories of the Tupi-Guarani indigenous tribes.
- The virus does not infect human cells, according to the researchers.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much.
Mains level: Paper 2- Institution of Lokpal is yet prove its efficacy to deal with the corruption. What are the reasons for not starting function as stated in the law.
Context
More than six years after the Lokpal law received the President’s assent, the institution of the Lokpal is yet to play any significant role in tackling corruption in the country.
Delay in appointment
- Five-year delay in appointment: For more than five years, the chairperson and members of the Lokpal were not appointed.
- LoP issue: The government claimed that since no one could be recognised as the Leader of the Opposition (LoP) after the 2014 general election, the committee responsible for selecting members of the Lokpal could not be constituted.
- This malady could have been easily remedied by either recognising the leader of the single largest party in Opposition in the Lok Sabha as the LoP, or by amendment as was done for the selection committee of the CBI Director.
- However, neither recourse was taken.
Truncated appointment committee
- Special invitee: The leader of the largest Opposition party in the Lok Sabha was invited for meetings of the selection committee as a ‘special invitee’.
- Which he declined on grounds that it was mere tokenism.
Non-starter
- More than 10 months later, however, evidence suggests that the Lokpal is a non-starter.
- No rules prescribing the form: Till date, the government has not made rules prescribing the form for filing complaints to the Lokpal.
- No rules regarding asset disclosure: The Central government has also failed to formulate rules regarding asset disclosure by public servants.
- In order to ensure independent and credible action on allegations of corruption, the Lokpal was empowered under the law to set up its own inquiry wing headed by a Director of Inquiry and its own prosecution wing headed by a Director of Prosecution.
- The Inquiry and prosecution wing not set up yet: The inquiry and prosecution wings of the anti-corruption ombudsman are yet to be set up.
- The Lokpal has also not appointed the Director of Inquiry or Prosecution.
- Regulations for inquiry and investigation not made: Regulations which the Lokpal was obligated to make under the law are yet to be made, including those specifying the manner and procedure of conducting preliminary inquiry and investigation.
- Legal veracity of the decisions uncertain: Since necessary procedures to operationalise the law are yet to be put in place, the legal veracity of the decisions of the Lokpal could potentially be challenged in a court of law.
Conclusion
The failure to operationalise the Lokpal in an effective manner lays bare the lack of will of the government. It took nearly half a century for the Lokpal law to be enacted from the time the need for the oversight institution was first articulated. The government must act to have an effective, independent and empowered Lokpal.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much.
Mains level: Paper 2- Trade deal with the US, issues involved.
Context
When Prime Minister Narendra Modi welcomes U.S. President Donald Trump to India this month the two leaders are expected to sign a first-ever trade agreement.
What will be on the agenda of the trade deal?
- GSP issues: The restoration of India’s Generalised System of Preferences benefits,
- Pricing of medical devices.
- And agriculture trade are all important.
- Incremental outcomes: If the two sides continue efforts to achieve incremental outcomes, the start of negotiations on a comprehensive free trade agreement (FTA) could even be a credible scenario. Presently, this is not the case.
What could be the incremental outcomes?
- The most obvious candidates are-
- Intellectual property rights (IPR).
- IPR has historically been an area of contention between the two, but discussions on IPR have progressed well in recent years.
- Digital trade.
- Both are grappling with the appropriate scope and approach for regulating electronic commerce issues in this digital age.
- Ideally, there should be room to seriously consider better ways to encourage skilled professionals to work in the other’s economy.
- Progress on the investment
There are already some shared interests in the area of investment.
- For example, India invests in the U.S. and continues to seek U.S. investment in India.
- FDI issue: Foreign direct investment (FDI), this is an important moment to do more to encourage it than simply welcoming it.
- Need to negotiate o investment: Ideally, the two sides should move ahead to negotiate an agreement on investment matters that can provide greater transparency, predictability, and regulatory certainty to investors from the other country.
- Negotiation on FDI off the table: It appears that the traditional approach through which countries pursue commitments on FDI, bilateral investment treaties, or ‘BITs’ (bilateral investment treaties) is off the table.
- The Trump administration has put a hold on negotiating additional BITs and appears to be suspicious of how well they balance U.S. interests.
- The Indian government is similarly sceptical of BITs, having cancelled all existing ones soon after it came into office.
Need for the new approach on the investment issues
- Until they resume their work on BITs, the two sides may find common ground in devising a new approach to investment issue.
- What the new approach involve?
- Taking cues from their respective FTAs: A starting point should be to review what they have done in their recent FTAs.
- Abandonment of investor-state dispute settlement: The recently concluded U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement contains a novel approach on investment notably its abandonment of investor-state dispute settlement with respect to the U.S. and Canada.
- Similarly, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, which India had been negotiating with ASEAN, Australia, China, Japan, Korea, and New Zealand, does not include investor-state dispute settlement.
- While India chose not to join the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership when it was concluded at the end of last year, it appears to have been on board with the FTA’s investment provisions.
- Where the agreement focus as of now? For now, however, both countries should focus on what is doable. A U.S.-India investment agreement could focus on-
- Fair treatment for investors from the other country.
- Regulatory transparency and predictability.
- And approaches for resolving concerns short of investor-state dispute settlements.
- At a later stage: At a later stage-
- Most likely when the two are prepared to negotiate a more comprehensive bilateral FTA, they can go further on investment matters.
Conclusion
A new, hybrid approach on investment would be a substantial step in the right direction. It will be critical to sustaining momentum coming out of a first trade deal when the two leaders meet in Delhi. If India and the U.S. fail this test, the trade relationship is more likely to languish than blossom.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much.
Mains level: Paper 3- Why fiscal stimulus is not the elixir as it is made out to be?
Context
In the run-up to the budget, there was enormous pressure on the finance minister to launch a fiscal stimulus so as to pump-prime the economy. That she did not succumb to the temptation is a big relief.
Why fiscal stimulus is unwarranted?
- There is already considerable stimulus in the system.
- Excessive fiscal deficit: To her credit, the finance minister took a step towards transparency by admitting to off-balance-sheet borrowings of 0.8 per cent of GDP for both the current and next fiscal year.
- Acknowledging that the fiscal deficit would actually be higher at 4.6 per cent and 4.3 per cent of GDP respectively. This is already excessive.
- Unrealistic projection of revenue growth: Add to this the unrealistic projections of revenue growth and disinvestment proceeds for next year and we have a potentially unsustainable fiscal situation.
- Any stimulus on top of this would have been clearly
Possibility of undermining the RBI’s efforts
Fiscal pressure could harm the RBI’s efforts to revive the economy in the following ways-
- Harming long term investment rates: Fiscal pressures will undermine the Reserve Bank of India’s struggle to revive investment by bringing down long-term interest rates.
- Rating downgrades: It could result in a sovereign rating downgrade and jeopardise efforts to attract foreign capital.
- Increase in inflationary pressure: It can stoke inflationary pressures, something we cannot afford when inflation is above the RBI’s target rate.
- Pressure on the external sector: And most importantly, it can lead to pressures on the external sector.
- Past experiences: The balance of payments crisis of 1991 and the near crisis of 2013 in the wake of taper tantrums were, at their heart, a consequence of extended fiscal profligacy.
Counter-arguments of the supporters of the stimulus and fallacies in it
- Low Debt-to-GDP ratio: It is argued that our debt-to-GDP ratio is low in international terms.
- Misleading comparison: The data don’t bear this out. In any case, our experience, as well as research, shows that international comparisons of debt-to-GDP ratios, without reference to other parameters, are misleading.
- Debt in domestic currency: It is also argued that we do not need to worry because our debt is mostly in domestic currency unlike that of many emerging economies.
- The fallacy in this argument: Our debt in the domestic market didn’t protect us from previous crises, and there is no reason to believe that it will protect us from the next one, especially as our foreign debt is proportionally higher than before.
- Robust foreign exchange reserves: It is argued that our foreign exchange reserves are robust and a balance of payments crisis is improbable. Such complacency is misplaced.
- Fallacy- No forex is large enough in bad times: We should not forget the lesson that in good times any amount of forex reserves looks like it is too large, but in bad times no amount of reserves is large enough.
Quality of fiscal consolidation
- Quality a cause for concern: As much as the headline fiscal deficit numbers are a cause for concern, the underlying quality of fiscal consolidation is a bigger concern.
- Increasing revenue deficit: Conveniently off the radar, the revenue deficit, far from coming down, is actually going up.
- Two-third borrowing to finance revenue expenditure: This year, more than two-thirds of what the government is borrowing is going to finance current expenditures like salaries, pensions, interest payments and subsidies.
- That ratio will rise to three-quarters next year.
- Crowding out of the expenditure: This debt-financed revenue expenditure is simply unsustainable as it will increasingly crowd out capital expenditure.
- Red flags on the state finances.
- Another dimension of the quality of fiscal consolidation is the combined fiscal position of states which is, in fact, the big elephant in the room.
- Together, states spend one-and-a-half times more than the Centre.
- Larger development impact than Centre: Studies show that how efficiently states spend their money has a much greater development impact as compared to the Centre.
- Red flags by the RBI on states finances: The states are not doing a good job. In its latest annual report on state finances, the RBI raised several red flags on state finances-
- states’ increasing weakness in their own revenue generation.
- Their unsustainable debt burdens.
- And their tendency to retrench capital expenditures in order to accommodate fiscal shocks such as farm loan waivers, power sector loans under UDAY and a host of income transfer schemes.
- Consequences in the market: The market will penalise mismanagement of public finances; it does not care who is responsible — the Centre or states — for an unsustainable fiscal stance.
Conclusion
- The fear of one-off fiscal stimulus becoming permanent: By far the biggest fear about a fiscal stimulus is that it is tempting to plunge into a spending programme saying it is a one-off and will be withdrawn when the pressure eases. Experience shows that it is very difficult to bail out. It is good that the finance minster avoided doing any such thing.
- As Milton Friedman famously said, there is nothing more permanent than a temporary government programme.
- Need to kick-start the private investment: What the economy needs for a sustained turnaround is kick-starting private investment.
- Implementation of reforms: A necessary condition for inspiring investor confidence is the implementation of structural and governance reforms. This will be a long-haul.
- That the budget did not launch the journey is a big disappointment. But, at least, the budget did not make a bad situation worse by embarking on fiscal adventurism.
- It’s better, as Keynes said, to be roughly right than precisely wrong.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not Much
Mains level: Protection of SCs and STs against caste based atrocities
The Supreme Court has upheld the SCs/STs (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Act of 2018, which nullified it’s own controversial March 20, 2018 judgement. Earlier judgment had diluted the original 1989 legislation, saying they were using its provisions to file false criminal complaints against innocent persons.
Why such ruling?
- The 2018 Act had nullified a March 20 judgment of the Supreme Court, which allowed anticipatory bail to those booked for committing atrocities against Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes members.
- The original 1989 Act bars anticipatory bail.
- The Supreme Court verdict saw a huge backlash across the country. Several died in ensuing protests and property worth crores of rupees was destroyed.
- The government reacted by filing a review petition in the Supreme Court and subsequently amended the 1989 Act back into its original form.
- The government had enacted the Amendments, saying the SCs and STs continued to face the same social stigma, poverty and humiliation which they had been subjected to for centuries.
Why was the SC/ST Act enacted?
- Since crimes against SCs and STs are fundamentally hate crimes, the Rajiv Gandhi enacted the Act in 1989.
- It gave furtherance to the provisions for abolition of untouchability (Article 17) and equality (Articles 14, 15).
Why it was amended?
- The Bench reasoned that human failing and not caste is the reason behind the lodging of false criminal complaints.
- The Supreme Court condemned its own earlier judgment, saying it was against “basic human dignity” to treat all SC/ST community members as “a liar or crook.”
- Caste of a person cannot be a cause for lodging a false report, the verdict observed.
- Members of the SCs and STs, due to backwardness, cannot even muster the courage to lodge an FIR, much less, a false one, the judgment noted.
The Subhash Kashinath Mahajan case
- Mahajan was Director of Technical Education in Maharashtra.
- Two non-SC officers had made an adverse entry on the character and integrity of a Dalit employee, whom Mahajan in 2011 denied sanction for prosecution against those officers.
- The denial was challenged on the ground that the state government and not the director was the competent authority.
- The apex Court held that safeguards against blackmail are necessary as by way of rampant misuse, complaints are largely being filed against public servants with oblique motive for the satisfaction of vested interests.
In what manner had the 2018 judgment diluted provisions for arrest?
ANTICIPATORY BAIL
- In section 18 of the Act, Parliament had laid down that the provision of anticipatory bail under Section 438 of the CrPC of 1973 will not be available to an accused under the Act.
- The provision of anticipatory bail was introduced for the first time on the recommendation of 41st Law Commission in 1973.
- It is a statutory right, not part of the right to life and personal liberty under Article 21 of the Constitution, and thus there is no fundamental right to anticipatory bail.
- In the 2018 judgment, the Court laid down safeguards, including provisions for anticipatory bail and a “preliminary enquiry” before registering a case under the Act.
- While review the Bench said Section 18 was enacted to instil a sense of deterrence and relied on Kartar Singh (1994) in which the court had held that denial of anticipatory bail does not violate Article 21.
FIR
- The court had observed that “liberty of one cannot be sacrificed to protect another”, and the “Atrocities Act cannot be converted into charter for exploitation or oppression by unscrupulous persons or by police for extraneous reasons”.
- He ordered that neither is an FIR to be immediately registered nor are arrests to be made without a preliminary inquiry by an SSP.
- An arrest can only be made if there is “credible” information and police officer has “reason to believe” that an offence was committed.
- In the review judgment, Justice Mishra said public servants already have a remedy in false cases under CrPC Section 482 and can get such FIRs quashed by High Courts.
- He rejected the need of an SSP’s approval for arrest.
PERMISSION
- In 2018, the court had said that even if a preliminary inquiry is held and a case registered, arrest is not necessary, and that no public servant is to be arrested without the written permission of the appointing authority.
- The court extended the benefit to other citizens and said they cannot be arrested without the written permission of the SSP of the district.
- In review the court said that the decision on arrest is to be taken by the investigating authority, not the appointing authority.
Were other provisions diluted?
- The court had observed that interpretation of Atrocities Act should promote constitutional values of fraternity and integration of the society.
- This may require ‘check on false implication of innocent citizens on caste lines’.
- Observing that the law should not result in caste hatred, the court overlooked the fact that the Act had to be enacted due to caste hatred.
- The review judgment said that such riders for registering a report are wrong and it would give an advantage to upper castes whose complaints can be registered without any such inquiry.
How frequently do SCs/STs face atrocities?
- A crime is committed against an SC every 15 minutes. Six SC women are raped every day on an average.
- Between 2007 and 2017, there was a 66 per cent growth in crimes against SCs.
- Data from the National Crime Record Bureau, which the 2018 judgment was based on, showed cases of rape of SC women had doubled in 10 years.
Assist this newscard with:
[Burning Issue] SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Private Members Bill
Mains level: Difference between private and government Bills
A member in Rajya Sabha appeared to abandon his plan of introducing a private member’s Bill on the Uniform Civil Code (UCC), a code that would be applicable to all religious communities in personal matters such as marriage, divorce, inheritance and adoption.
Private Member’s Bill
- A private member’s Bill is different from a government Bill and is piloted by an MP who is not a minister. An MP who is not a minister is a private member.
- Individual MPs may introduce private member’s Bill to draw the government’s attention to what they might see as issues requiring legislative intervention.
Difference between private and government Bills
- While both private members and ministers take part in the lawmaking process, Bills introduced by private members are referred to as private member’s Bills and those introduced by ministers are called government Bills.
- Government Bills are backed by the government and also reflect its legislative agenda.
- The admissibility of a Private Bill is decided by the Chairman in the case of the Rajya Sabha and the Speaker in the case of the Lok Sabha.
- Before the Bill can be listed for introduction, the Member must give at least a month’s notice, for the House Secretariat to examine it for compliance with constitutional provisions and rules on legislation.
- While a government Bill can be introduced and discussed on any day, a private member’s bill can only be introduced and discussed on Fridays.
Has a private member’s bill ever become a law?
- No private member’s Bill has been passed by Parliament since 1970.
- To date, Parliament has passed 14 such Bills, six of them in 1956.
- In the 14th Lok Sabha, of the over 300 private member’s Bills introduced, roughly four per cent were discussed, the remaining 96 per cent lapsed without a single dialogue.
- The selection of Bills for discussion is done through a ballot.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Arsenic poisoning and its effects on food chain
Mains level: Groundwater contamination
As the geography of arsenic contamination spreads, there is an urgent need for governments to reorient mitigation measures. That’s because the focus till now has only been on drinking water, but new research says arsenic has contaminated our food chain.
Arsenic contamination of water
- Arsenic contamination in groundwater is one of the most crippling issues in the drinking water scenario of India.
- According to the latest report of the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB), 21 states across the country have pockets with arsenic levels higher than the BIS stipulated permissible limit of 0.01 milligram per litre (mg/l).
- The states along the Ganga-Brahmaputra-Meghna (GBM) river basin — Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Assam — are the worst affected by this human-amplified geogenic occurrence.
- In India, arsenic contamination was first officially confirmed in West Bengal in 1983.
- Close to four decades after its detection, the scenario has worsened.
- About 9.6 million people in West Bengal, 1.6 million in Assam, 1.2 million in Bihar, 0.5 million in Uttar Pradesh and 0.013 million in Jharkhand are at immediate risk from arsenic contamination in groundwater.
Effects of arsenic poisoning
- Long-term exposure to arsenic in drinking water can cause cancer in the skin, lungs, bladder and kidney. It can also cause other skin changes such as thickening and pigmentation.
- The likelihood of effects is related to the level of exposure to arsenic and in areas where drinking water is heavily contaminated, these effects can be seen in many individuals in the population.
- Increased risks of lung and bladder cancer and skin changes have been reported in people ingesting arsenic in drinking water at concentrations of 50 µg/litre, or even lower.
Affecting food
- Recent research says arsenic contamination in groundwater has penetrated the food chain.
- It eventually causes photo-accumulation of arsenic in the food crops, especially in the leaves, can emanate from contaminated water sprayed on them.
- Yet the focus remained on drinking water, and the affected regions became the primary stake-holder in the mitigation approach.
Way forward
- Mitigation measures — that are currently focused on drinking water — must have a more comprehensive approach to ensure arsenic-free water for drinking and agricultural products.
- That means that the government must check for arsenic in water used for agricultural produce.
- Both the Union and state governments must work toward facilitating research that can investigate the accumulation of arsenic in crops and addressing the agricultural concerns of the affected regions.
- They must watch out for arsenic percolation in the food chain and the possibilities of biomagnification.
- The government needs to also conduct a larger study on the arsenic contamination of our food chain and its health impacts to understand its spatial spread through the agricultural supply chain.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Thanatotheristes
Mains level: Not Much
Scientists have found that a dinosaur fossil, found in Alberta in Canada in 2010, belongs to a new species of tyrannosaur. They have named it Thanatotheristes, which means “reaper of death”.
Thanatotheristes
- Tyrannosaurs were one of the largest meat-eating dinosaurs to have ever lived, with very large and high skulls, and the best known among them is the Tyrannosaurus rex, celebrated in the Jurassic Park series.
- The 79-million-year-old fossil that the researchers have found is the oldest tyrannosaur known from northern North America.
- Thanatotheristes preyed on large plant-eating dinosaurs such as the horned xenoceratops and the dome-headed colepiochephale.
- The research suggests that tyrannosaurs did not have one general body type; rather different tyrannosaur species evolved distinct body sizes, skull forms and other such physical features.
- The fossil specimen is important to understand the Late Cretaceous period, which is the period when tyrannosaurs roamed the Earth.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: SuperCam
Mains level: Study of life on Mars
In its mission to Mars this summer, NASA is sending a new laser-toting robot called SuperCam as one of seven instruments aboard the Mars 2020 rover.
SuperCam
- Called SuperCam, the robot is used for studying mineralogy and chemistry from up to about 7 metres away.
- It might help scientists find signs of fossilized microbial life on Mars.
- SuperCam packs what would typically require several sizable pieces of equipment into something no bigger than a cereal box.
- It fires a pulsed laser beam out of the rover’s mast to vaporise small portions of rock from a distance, providing information that will be essential to the mission’s success.
NASA lists five things to know
- From more than 7 m away, SuperCam can fire a laser to study rock targets smaller than a pencil point. That lets the rover study spots it can’t reach with its arm.
- SuperCam looks at rock textures and chemicals to find those that formed or changed in water on Mars long ago.
- SuperCam looks at different rock and “soil” types to find ones that could preserve signs of past microbial life on Mars — if any ever existed.
- For the benefit of future explorers, SuperCam identifies which elements in the Martian dust may be harmful to humans.
- Scientists can learn about how atmospheric molecules, water ice, and dust absorb or reflect solar radiation. This helps predict Martian weather better.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: PSAZ
Mains level: PSAZ and its benefits
The Cauvery delta region in Tamil Nadu will be declared as ‘Protected Special Agricultural Zone’ (PSAZ) by the TN govt.
Cauvery delta PSAZ
- Declaring PSAZ ensures that particular region will not be granted permission for any new projects like those related to hydrocarbons.
- Only Agro based Industries would be given permission to be built.
- The special protection will be bestowed on Cauvery Delta districts such as Thanjavur, Tiruvarur, Nagappattinam, Pudukottai, Cuddalore, Ariyalur, Karur and Tiruchirappalli districts.
Significance of the move
- The Cauvery Delta Region is Tamil Nadu’s rice bowl comprising above eight districts.
- It is just and reasonable that projects like hydrocarbon exploration have raised concerns among farmers and other agriculture-based labourers.
- Drilling for extraction of oil and gas in these regions that hampers agriculture and posing much environmental impact or health hazards will be stopped immediately.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Reservations in jobs flowing from enabling provisions of the Constitution.
Mains level: Paper 2- Provision for the vulnerable section of the society, Role and importance of affirmative action in the development of the weaker section.
Context
The recent Supreme Court judgment, that there is no fundamental right to claim reservation in promotions, has caused some political alarm.
Received wisdom in affirmative action jurisprudence
- Presence of sound legal framework for a reservation: The received wisdom in affirmative action jurisprudence is that a series of Constitution amendments and judgments have created a sound legal framework for reservation in public employment, subject to the fulfilment of certain constitutional requirements.
- Solidification of reservation as an entitlement: It is also accepted that the framework has solidified into an entitlement for the backward classes, including the SCs and STs.
What does the judgement mean?
- Reservations are not rights: The latest judgment is a reminder that affirmative action programmes allowed in the Constitution flow from “enabling provisions” and are not rights as such.
- Not a new legal position: This legal position is not new. Major judgments- these include those by Constitution Benches-note that Article 16(4), on the reservation in posts, is enabling in nature.
- The state is not bound to provide reservation: In other words, the state is not bound to provide reservations. But if the state provides reservations, it must satisfy the following two criteria-
- For the backward class: It must be in favour of sections that are backward.
- Inadequately represented: And inadequately represented in the services based on quantifiable data.
- What happened in the Uttarakhand case? The Court set aside the Uttarakhand High Court order directing data collection on the adequacy or inadequacy of representation of SC/ST candidates in the State’s services.
- What was the reasoning? Its reasoning is that once there is a decision not to extend reservation — in this case, in promotions — to the section, the question whether its representation in the services is inadequate is irrelevant.
Question of government obligation
- The idea in consonance with the Constitution: The idea that reservation is not a right may be in consonance with the Constitution allowing it as an option.
- The larger question of the government obligation: But a larger question looms is there no government obligation to continue with affirmative action if-
- The social situation that keeps some sections backwards.
- And at the receiving end of discrimination persists?
Why reservation matters for equality?
- Reservation as a faced of equality-the SC: Reservation is no more seen by the Supreme Court as an exception to the equality rule; rather, it is a facet of equality.
- Completion of equality norm: The terms “proportionate equality” and “substantive equality” have been used to show that the equality norm acquires completion only when the marginalised are given a legal leg-up.
What may be the consequences of this judgement?
- Possibility of the unequal system: Some may even read into this an inescapable state obligation to extend reservation to those who need it, lest its absence renders the entire system unequal.
- Possibility of perceptible imbalance: For instance, if no quotas are implemented and no study on backwardness and extent of representation is done, it may result in a perceptible imbalance in social representation in public services.
Conclusion
Ensuring adequate representation to disadvantaged sections is a state obligation and the state must play its role in ensuring their representation by appropriate legislation.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much.
Mains level: Paper 2- Will allowing participation of private sector in the public healthcare system beneficial for India?
Context
In India, multiple policy pronouncements over the last few years have expressed an implicit intent to emulate certain features of the U.S. health system which is one of the most prodigal health systems, and it is a well-known reality that it is infamously poor-performing.
Emulating the U.S. health system in India and problems in this approach
- Implicit intent to emulate the U.S. system: In India, multiple policy pronouncements over the last few years have expressed an implicit intent to emulate certain features of the U.S. health system like-
- Enhance private initiative.
- And uphold the insurance route as the way to go for health care.
- AB-NHPS scheme: These are being largely envisaged while riding on the back of the Ayushman Bharat-National Health Protection Scheme (AB-NHPS).
- AB-NHPS aims to provide insurance cover to nearly 50 crores poor Indians.
- The mechanism to check insurance frauds: The AB-NHPS affirmed strong mechanisms to check insurance fraud which was commonplace in its precursor programme, the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY).
- New of fraud in AB-NHPS: Recently, 171 hospitals were reported to have been de-empanelled from the AB-NHPS on charges of fraud.
- How are the frauds in AB-NHPS sought to be tackled? The response to these has been envisaged through an unprecedented bolstering of administratively-heavy and technology-driven mechanisms.
- Anti-fraud units: National- and state anti-fraud units have been established and partnerships with fraud control companies conceived.
- One would ask this question: what is wrong in all of this?
- What is wrong with this approach? Let us return to the U.S. once again.
- Administrative intensive: Multiple layers of complex arrangements and concomitant complex regulatory provisions have made the U.S. system one of the most administratively and technologically intensive systems in the world.
- 50% spending going for the wages: More than 50% of health-care spending in the U.S. in 2010 went into health worker’s wages, with a large chunk of the growth in health-care labour taking place in the form of non-clinical workers.
- Very little going into improving health: What this entails is that for every penny spent on health care, very little goes into actually improving health.
What are the concerns in emulating the U.S. system?
- Sub-satisfactory operations at the large cost: The new system necessitates-
- A battery of new structures.
- Personnel cadres.
- Data systems.
- And working arrangements only in order to sub-satisfactorily operate an insurance scheme that would cover less than half the population.
- Disregarding the death spiral that policy-driven over-reliance on private health care could lead to considerable costs which would not primarily contribute to improving health outcomes.
- Ethical concerns over unnecessary spending: While a besottedness with cutting-edge technology and state-of-the-art systems can help garner eyes and promote businesses, each unnecessary penny incurred this way raises significant ethical concerns.
- Problems of inadequate funding
- Funding sufficient only for a quarter of beneficiary: Gupta and Roy have shown how the allocation for the AB-NHPS for 2019-20 would have covered less than a quarter of the targeted beneficiaries.
- Paltry increase in allocations: For 2020-21, there has been a paltry increase in health-care sector allocation (5.7% above 2019-20 RE), while the allocation for the AB-NHPS is unchanged.
- It is very possible that the AB-NHPS continues to remain insufficiently funded and incapable of extending considerable financial risk protection to the poor.
- Diversion of limited funds to wasteful areas
- Attractive on face: Embracing the complexities associated with robust regulation of the insurance programme and making the requisite technological and administrative investments appear attractive and commendable on the face.
- Diversion of limited fund: However, these complexities entail diverting highly limited resources towards wasteful and dispensable high-end areas.
- These funds could have been set aside for much more pressing and productive domains, such as public hospitals and health centres.
- Improvements in these areas would have strongly reflected in terms of tangibly better health outcomes.
- AB-NHPS reinforcing contradictions: Rather, the AB-NHPS appears attuned to reinforcing a stark contradiction wherein trailblazing but unproductive high-end structures thrive alongside decrepit but potentially fructuos basic structures.
Conclusion
The fanfare with which AB-NHPS was launched, can hide the pressing concerns which lie underneath. The government must ensure that every penny spent on improving healthcare is used in the most optimal way and ensure that India’s AB-NHPS won’t end up the US healthcare way.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- Coronavirus threat and its implications for India and the rest of the world.
Context
The coronavirus epidemic poses a challenge to China’s place in global affairs, its political leadership.
The possible implications of coronavirus crisis
- The Chines leadership might not be able to escape the blame: If the epidemic turns into a pandemic, as some analysts bet, China’s all-powerful leader Xi Jinping might not be able to escape the blame.
- And will likely come under considerable political pressure.
- It could also turn into a systemic threat: Some also speculate that the backlash against the government’s mishandling of the crisis could turn into a systemic threat against the dominance of the Chinese Communist Party.
- Speculations as perennial hope among China’s critics: Sceptics, however, dismiss above speculation as merely reflecting the perennial hope among Beijing’s harshest critics who can’t wait to see a China without the CCP.
- Realist’s stand: Realists point to the massive mobilisation of state power by President Xi in limiting the spread of the virus.
Handling of the crisis by China
- Initial faltering response: To be sure, there were major failures in the initial faltering response to the crisis.
- Cover-up attempts from the lower level: The attempts at the lower levels to cover-up or underplays the crisis and the inadequate appreciation at the higher levels of the potential consequences are common to all large bureaucracies. The party-state in China is not an exception.
- Praise for handling the crisis: China’s handling of the crisis had drawn much respect, grudging or otherwise, from the international community.
- Whether it is the lockdown of Hubei province and its capital Wuhan, from where the virus began to spread.
- Or in deploying thousands of doctors and health workers in the province and building massive hospitals for treating the infected.
- Possibility of some political impact: Yet, there is no question that a crisis of this magnitude -will have some political impact.
- The party-state is certainly having some difficulty in containing the public outrage against the initial failures.
- Efforts to shield top leadership from blame: The CCP, however, is bound to shield the supreme leader from any damaging criticism and in fact, celebrate a triumph in containing the spread through a determined effort.
- Responsibility will be affixed on provincial officials in Hubei and a purge of some kind may have already begun.
Addressing the economic consequences of the crisis
- International dimension: Nearly two decades after the SARS epidemic -China is now a much larger economy and its interdependence with the world has only deepened.
- This interdependence, in turn, lends a strong international dimension to China’s crisis.
- Optimist’s hope of future uptick: Optimists hope that a sharp drop in economic activity in the current quarter will be followed by a steep uptick in growth in the next when the virus is contained and normalcy returns.
- Pessimist’s fear of economic disruption: Pessimists suggest that the economic disruption — in terms of the impact on internal and external trade and the breakdown of the global supply chains- could have lasting effects.
- Reinforcing the disruption: Some suspect that the disruption could reinforce the slowdown driven by a number of other internal and external factors including the trade war with the US.
China’s response to the rest of the world
- Channelling of resentment against the West: Some in the West hope that a prolonged economic crisis might turn the people against the CCP. For now, though, Beijing is channelling the resentment against the West.
- Terming evacuation as an over-reaction: Beijing has criticised the advisories from various countries against travel to China and the cancellation of flights as over-reaction.
- Lukewarm response to evacuation efforts: China has also been lukewarm to efforts of various countries to evacuate their citizens from Wuhan and Hubei.
- India evacuated students: India has managed to convince Beijing to let India airlift its students from Wuhan.
- Pakistan has declared that it will not evacuate its students as a gesture of political solidarity with China in a time of crisis.
- South Asian neighbour’s response: Many of India’s other South Asian neighbours are torn between the reluctance to offend Chinese sentiment and the mounting domestic pressures to bring students back.
- Cooperation with the US: While being critical of the US travel restrictions against China, Beijing has certainly been open to cooperation with the US in dealing with the crisis.
- India’s offer to help other countries in evacuation: The external affairs minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said last week that India has been willing to bring back students from all the neighbouring countries.
- Balancing between Delhi and Beijing: The logic of balancing between Delhi and Beijing has prevented most of the smaller neighbours from requesting Indian assistance.
- The Maldives has been the only exception.
- The response of the East and Southeast Asia: Beyond South Asia, many countries in East and Southeast Asia have been hesitant to be seen as rushing to cut themselves from China.
- What is making these countries hesitant: Deep economic interdependence and massive flows of Chinese tourists led to much dithering among the East Asian countries in their early responses to the crisis.
Conclusion
India must explore all potential cooperative engagement with Beijing as well as its other international partners on pandemics-an important but the under-addressed challenge for national, regional and international security.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Various articles mentioned in the newsward
Mains level: Uniform Civil Code
Last week, while hearing a matter relating to properties of a Goan, the Supreme Court described Goa as a “shining example” with a Uniform Civil Code, observed that the founders of the Constitution had “hoped and expected” a UCC for India but there has been no attempt at framing one.
What is a Uniform Civil Code?
- A UCC is one that would provide for one law for the entire country, applicable to all religious communities in their personal matters such as marriage, divorce, inheritance, adoption etc.
- Article 44 of the Constitution lays down that the state shall endeavour to secure a UCC for the citizens throughout the territory of India.
- Article 44 is one of the directive principles. These, as defined in Article 37, are not justiciable (not enforceable by any court) but the principles laid down therein are fundamental in governance.
- Fundamental rights are enforceable in a court of law. While Article 44 uses the words “state shall endeavour”, other Articles in the ‘Directive Principles’ chapter use words such as “in particular strive”; “shall in particular direct its policy”; “shall be obligation of the state” etc.
- Article 43 mentions “state shall endeavour by suitable legislation” while the phrase “by suitable legislation” is absent in Article 44.
- All this implies that the duty of the state is greater in other directive principles than in Article 44.
What are more important — fundamental rights or directive principles?
- There is no doubt that fundamental rights are more important.
- The Supreme Court held in Minerva Mills (1980): “Indian Constitution is founded on the bed-rock of the balance between Parts III (Fundamental Rights) and IV (Directive Principles).
- To give absolute primacy to one over the other is to disturb the harmony of the Constitution”.
- Article 31C inserted by the 42nd Amendment in 1976, however, lays down that if a law is made to implement any directive principle, it cannot be challenged on the ground of being violative of the fundamental rights under Articles 14 and 19.
Does India not already have a uniform code in civil matters?
- Indian laws do follow a uniform code in most civil matters – Indian Contract Act, Civil Procedure Code, Sale of Goods Act, Transfer of Property Act, Partnership Act, Evidence Act etc.
- States, however, have made hundreds of amendments and therefore in certain matters, there is diversity even under these secular civil laws.
- Recently, several states refused to be governed by the uniform Motor Vehicles Act, 2019.
- If the framers of the Constitution had intended to have a Uniform Civil Code, they would have given exclusive jurisdiction to Parliament in respect of personal laws, by including this subject in the Union List.
- But “personal laws” are mentioned in the Concurrent List. Last year, the Law Commission concluded that a Uniform Civil Code is neither feasible nor desirable.
Is there one common personal law for any religious community governing all its members?
- All Hindus of the country are not governed by one law, nor are all Muslims or all Christians.
- Not only British legal traditions, even those of the Portuguese and the French remain operative in some parts.
- In Jammu and Kashmir until August 5, 2019, local Hindu law statutes differed from central enactments.
- The Shariat Act of 1937 was extended to J&K a few years ago but has now been repealed.
- Muslims of Kashmir were thus governed by a customary law, which in many ways was at variance with Muslim Personal Law in the rest of the country and was, in fact, closer to Hindu law.
- Even on registration of marriage among Muslims, laws differ from place to place. It was compulsory in J&K (1981 Act), and is optional in Bengal, Bihar (both under 1876 Act), Assam (1935 Act) and Odisha (1949 Act).
- In the Northeast, there are more than 200 tribes with their own varied customary laws.
- The Constitution itself protects local customs in Nagaland. Similar protections are enjoyed by Meghalaya and Mizoram. Even reformed Hindu law, in spite of codification, protects customary practices.
How does the idea of a UCC relate to the fundamental right to religion?
- Article 25 lays down an individual’s fundamental right to religion; Article 26(b) upholds the right of each religious denomination or any section thereof to “manage its own affairs in matters of religion”; Article 29 defines the right to conserve distinctive culture.
- An individual’s freedom of religion under Article 25 is subject to “public order, health, morality” and other provisions relating to fundamental rights, but a group’s freedom under Article 26 has not been subjected to other fundamental rights
- In the Constituent Assembly, there was division on the issue of putting Uniform Civil Code in the fundamental rights chapter.
- The matter was settled by a vote. By a 5:4 majority, the fundamental rights sub-committee headed by Sardar Patel held that the provision was outside the scope of fundamental rights and therefore the UCC was made less important than freedom of religion.
What was the view of Muslim members in the Constituent Assembly?
- Some members sought to immunise Muslim Personal Law from state regulation.
- Mohammed Ismail, who thrice tried unsuccessfully to get Muslim Personal Law exempted from Article 44, said a secular state should not interfere with the personal law of people.
- B Pocker Saheb said he had received representations against a common civil code from various organisations, including Hindu organisations.
- Hussain Imam questioned whether there could ever be uniformity of personal laws in a diverse country like India.
- B R Ambedkar said “no government can use its provisions in a way that would force the Muslims to revolt”.
- Alladi Krishnaswami, who was in favour of a Uniform Civil Code, conceded that it would be unwise to enact Uniform Civil Code ignoring strong opposition from any community.
- Gender justice was not mentioned in these debates.
How did the debate on a common code for Hindus play out?
- In June 1948, Rajendra Prasad, President of the Constituent Assembly, warned Jawaharlal Nehru that to introduce “basic changes” in personal law was to impose “progressive ideas” of a “microscopic minority” on the Hindu community as a whole.
- Others opposed to reforms in Hindu law included Sardar Patel, Pattabhi Sitaramayya, M A Ayyangar, M M Malaviya and Kailash Nath Katju.
- When the debate on the Hindu Code Bill took place in December 1949, 23 of 28 speakers opposed it.
- On September 15, 1951, President Prasad threatened to use his powers of returning the Bill to Parliament or vetoing it.
- Ambedkar eventually had to resign. Nehru agreed to trifurcation of the Code into separate Acts and diluted several provisions.
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