The death of a 12-year-old girl in Pathanamthitta has sharpened the focus on the rising number of rabies cases and the growing population of stray dogs in Kerala
What is rabies?
The rabies virus attacks the central nervous system of the host, and in humans, it can cause a range of debilitating symptoms including states of anxiety and confusion, partial paralysis, agitation, hallucinations, and, in its final phases, a symptom called “hydrophobia,” or a fear of water.
What are rabies caused by?
Rabies is a preventable viral disease most often transmitted through the bite of a rabid animal. The rabies virus infects the central nervous system of mammals, ultimately causing disease in the brain and death.
Can rabies person survive?
Once clinical signs of rabies appear, the disease is nearly always fatal, and treatment is typically supportive. Less than 20 cases of human survival from clinical rabies have been documented.
How long can a human live with rabies?
Death usually occurs 2 to 10 days after first symptoms. Survival is almost unknown once symptoms have presented, even with intensive care.
Facts on rabies
What animal has the most rabies?
Bats
Wild animals accounted for 92.7% of reported cases of rabies in 2018. Bats were the most frequently reported rabid wildlife species (33% of all animal cases during 2018), followed by raccoons (30.3%), skunks (20.3%), and foxes (7.2%).
What is the issue?
There is a blame game over the rising rabies cases: With the rabies deaths causing panic and reports of residents killing stray dogs through poisoning and strangulation, there is a blame game over the rising canine population and rabies cases. Some legal experts blame it on conflicts in the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960 and the Animal Birth Control (Dogs) Rules, 2001; others point to the flawed implementation of birth control measures.
Legal battle over the issue in the Supreme Court: Canine culling campaigners and advocates of animal rights are also engaged in a protracted legal battle over the issue in the Supreme Court. V.K. Biju, a lawyer of the Supreme Court, who brought the issue of the “stray dog menace” before the apex court, contends that the root cause is the enactment of the Rules, which according to him, were passed in contravention of the parent Act, the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act.
Existence of stray dogs has adversely affected the fundamental rights of citizens: Biju says that while the Act stands for the “destruction” of stray dogs, the rules are against the “destruction” of stray dogs, including the rabies affected ones, besides providing specific protection of stray dogs. In his submission before the Supreme Court, he argues that the existence of stray dogs has adversely affected the fundamental rights of citizens, i.e. the right to life and free movement.
The quashing of the Rules to make India free of stray dogs: In his writ petition filed before the apex court, Biju has sought orders for the strict implementation of the Act and the quashing of the Rules to make India free of stray dogs.
Animal rights campaigners are apprehensive: In the light of this, animal rights campaigners are apprehensive over the campaign to cull dogs to check rabies.
How can we prevent rabies in animals?
First, visit your veterinarian with your pet on a regular basis and keep rabies vaccinations up-to-date for all cats, ferrets, and dogs.
Second, maintain control of your pets by keeping cats and ferrets indoors and keeping dogs under direct supervision.
Third, spay or neuter your pets to help reduce the number of unwanted pets that may not be properly cared for or vaccinated regularly.
Finally, call animal control to remove all stray animals from your neighbourhood since these animals may be unvaccinated or ill.
How can we prevent rabies in humans?
Leave all wildlife alone.
Know the risk: contact with infected bats is the leading cause of rabies deaths in people followed by exposure to rabid dogs while traveling internationally.
Wash animal bites or scratches immediately with soap and water.
If you are bitten, scratched, or unsure, talk to a healthcare provider about whether you need postexposure prophylaxis. Rabies in people is 100% preventable through prompt appropriate medical care.
Vaccinate your pets to protect them and your family.
National Rabies Control Programme: This programme is being restructured as Integrated National Rabies Control Programme under ‘One Health Approach’, with a aim to provide vaccination to stray dogs and free vaccines through Government hospitals.
Way forward
Think globally, act locally. Study and adopt global ‘best-practices’ after customising them to local needs.
Apply integrated approach. Follow a holistic strategy.
Ensure efficient and effective collaboration across various government departments.
Partner with Civil Society Organisations (especially with WASH – Water, Sanitation and Hygiene – sector) for ground-level implementation and monitoring.
Mains question
Q. What is rabies? What ethical challenges are involved in culling of stray dogs? Explain the control measures for the same.
India is witnessing the spread of the Lumpy Skin Disease infection which has killed nearly 75,000 cattle in India and spread to more than 10 States and UTs.
The scale of deaths and spatial spread of the viral infection is important for the nation as India has the largest number of cattle in the world and is also the largest milk producer.
At the same time, India also hosted the World Dairy Summit 2022 after a gap of 48 years. In both these contexts, this edition of the burning issue will deal with the Indian Dairy Sector, its contribution to the nation, its challenges and the way forward.
Indian Dairy Sector: An Overview
India ranks 1st in milk production and contributes 23 % of global milk production. Milk production in the country has grown at a compound annual growth rate of about 6.2 % to reach 210 million tonnes in 2020-21 from 146.31 million tonnes in 2014-15.
The top 5 milk-producing states are: Uttar Pradesh (14.9%, 31.4 MMT), Rajasthan (14.6%, 30.7 MMT), Madhya Pradesh (8.6%, 18.0 MMT), Gujarat (7.6%, 15.9 MMT) and Andhra Pradesh (7.0%, 14.7 MMT).
Dairy is the single largest agricultural commodity contributing 5% of the national economy, witnessing 6.4% (CAGR) in the past 5 years.
Approximately 80 million people are employed in the dairy industry directly or indirectly.
Significance of the Indian dairy sector
Acts as a buffer: Milk animals act as a buffer for farmers during droughts and flood conditions. Also, milk animals are more evenly distributed among farmers than on agricultural land.
Not a seasonal occupation: Dairying is not a seasonal occupation like farming as milk and milk products can be produced throughout the year thus leading to the year generation of income.
Highly nutritious: Milk is considered a ‘Whole meal’. Dairy products are highly nutritious with high amounts of proteins and calcium, thus helping tackle malnutrition in India. For this reason, several state governments are trying to add Milk to their school’s Mid-day meal scheme.
Huge Employment Generation: the dairy sector employs around 80 million people from milk-producing farmers in rural areas to milk distributors in urban areas.
Promotes women empowerment: most of the milking work in rural areas is done by women. They also work as collectors and suppliers of milk to village milk collection centres. This, helps rural women earn some income and automatically promotes women empowerment.
Boosting other sectors: the dairy sector promotes the growth of multiple other sectors like fodder industries, organic manure manufacturing, and food processing industries like Curd, cheese, paneer manufacturing.
Challenges being faced by the sector
Low productivity of Indian dairy animals: Improving the productivity of farm animals is one of the major challenges. The average annual milk yield of Indian cattle is 1172 kg which is only about 50% of the global average.
Disease outbreaks: The Frequent outbreaks of diseases like Food and Mouth Diseases, Black Quarter infection, Influenza etc. continue to affect Livestock health and lowers productivity.
Limited success in cross-breeding: Crossbreeding of indigenous species with exotic stocks to enhance the genetic potential of different species has been successful only to a limited extent.
Supply Chain issues: which include collection, pasteurisation and transportation of milk in a safe environment. Since 60% of the dairy industry lies in informal dairy, it becomes difficult to ensure regular flow and quality of milk. That is why the adulteration of milk remains a perennial issue in India.
Unorganised Nature: The unorganised nature of the dairy farming industry has resulted in minimal penetration of technological progress within the sector. This has further led to consistently high wastage as well as a lack of standardisation in terms of quality and quantity.
Data Deficiency: Informality of the sector also leads to a lack of data regarding total milk production, wastage of milk, and financial flows in the sector which further inhibits the formalisation of the sector.
Low returns: there have been perennial complaints from milk farmers about low milk purchase prices paid to them by milk companies as compared to the final milk price in the market. This leads to the cornering of profits by companies while actual producers get poor returns.
Latest Challenge to Indian Dairy Sector- Lumpy Skin Disease
Lumpy skin disease is caused by the lumpy skin disease virus (LSDV), which belongs to the genus capripoxvirus, a part of the poxviridae family (smallpox and monkeypox viruses are also a part of the same family).
It is not a zoonotic virus, meaning the disease cannot spread to humans. It is a contagious vector-borne disease spread by vectors like mosquitoes, some biting flies, and ticks and usually affects host animals like cows and water buffaloes.
The disease was first observed in Zambia in 1929, subsequently spreading to most African countries extensively, followed by West Asia, South-eastern Europe, and Central Asia, and more recently spreading to South Asia and China in 2019.
There is a vaccine against viral infection. Indian scientists have developed an indigenous vaccine. The ICAR-National Research Centre on Equines (ICAR-NRCE) in collaboration with ICAR-Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI) has developed a vaccine against Lumpy Skin Disease called ‘Lumpi-ProVacInd’
Economic implications of Lumpy on the Dairy Sector
Milk reduction: Lumpy leads to reduced milk production as the animal becomes weak and also loses appetite due to mouth ulceration. Milk collection across Rajasthan is estimated to have been reduced by 3 to 4 lakh litres per day after the onset of lumpy skin disease.
Animal wasting: The income losses can also be due to poor growth, reduced draught power capacity and reproductive problems associated with abortions, infertility and lack of semen for artificial insemination.
Impact of trade ban: Movement and trade bans after infection also put an economic strain on the whole value chain.
Steps needed to improve the Indian dairy sector
(A) Steps regarding animals:
Improving artificial insemination: to improve cow breeds and thus better milk yield per animal.
Improving animal fodder: designing animal fodder on scientific lines rather than old dry grass-based fodder.
Improving Vaccination coverage: of milch animals against several diseases to prevent the frequent disease outbreak in an animal thus maintaining a sustained and healthy supply of milk.
(B) Steps related to dairy farmers:
Ensuring more prices to farmers: as they are the actual producers of the milk. For this, rather than giving more weightage to fat percentage in milk as a determinant of milk price, more quantity and quality to taken as parameters.
Price support: to farmers to improve animal fodders, ensure vaccination and afford veterinary services on time. This ensures animal health and productivity and thus farmers’ prosperity.
More cooperatives: Forming new cooperatives of farmers to more formalization of the dairy sector and thus better milk quality and quantity in the market. It will also generate more data that can be used in further planning in the dairy sector and hence better resource mobilization.
(C) Dairy sector logistics
Improve cold storage and transportation: more refrigerated trucks must be employed for a faster and fresh delivery of dairy products.
More dairy sector-related research: should be promoted from production to logistics. Production data analysis and demand analysis should be done to cater better to the needs of the producers and consumers.
Promote more start-ups: and new private dairies in the dairy industry like Country Delight, fresh to home, big basket etc. This will help increase competition in the market and thus break the monopolies of a few big names and bring down prices.
Case Study: AMUL: ‘Unity in Strength’ based Cooperative Model
Anand Milk Union Limited or AMUL has created its name and reputation over the years delivering quality milk products to the entire country and now the world.
Amul’s story started in 1946 with inspiration from Sardar Patel, when farmers established a cooperative named ‘Kaira District Co-operative Milk Producers Union Limited’ (KDCMPUL) in a village called Anand.
Amul has a three-tiered structure. First, every milk producer in the village is a member of the Village Dairy Cooperative Society. These members elect their representatives. These representatives together manage District Milk Unions, which form the second tier.
These district milk unions take care of milk and milk products and their processing. They sell these products to the State Milk Federation which forms the third tier. State Milk Federation then acts as the distributor that sells or facilitates the selling of the products in the market. The revenue gets shared downwards in a similar fashion.
The dairy is in control of the villagers themselves. Farmer organizations come together under one umbrella of Amul and directly sell products to consumers through the state milk federation.
This elimination of intermediaries could ensure a good quality product at a competitive price. This provided a stable income for marginal farmers in lean seasons as well because there are no intermediaries to take the chunk.
This model has become a case study in business schools. It showed the success of cooperatives. It showed how the benefits trickle down from the market to the producer at the bottom of the pyramid. Recently, Union Cooperative minister Amit Shah commented that the Amul model can go beyond the milk and dairy sector and produce great results in other sectors also.
How are Indian startups changing the dairy sector?
Several startups are working in the dairy sector to provide solutions to several problems in this sector. Prompt Equipment is one such organisation that provides livestock management solutions. The firm teamed up with the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Mumbai to design the ‘BovSmart’ wearable belt. The belt uses AI and IoT for tracking livestock breeding and delivering timely information to farmers.
Another business, Stellapps Technologies (Stellapps), offers a similar solution, which uses a wearable gadget for cattle and a mobile application to deliver recommendations to improve herd performance. According to Stellapps, using this approach, milk yield can be raised by 20% and calf health costs can be decreased by up to 50 per cent. The Stellapps technology is currently being used to track around 4.5 lakh livestock.
Stellapps, Mr. MilkMan, as well as Trinetra Wireless are three Indian start-ups among several others that are digitalising the dairy supply chain.
With start-ups entering the industry and addressing gaps in livestock management and supply chain, the situation is beginning to change, ushering in a new era of growth for the industry, rooted in digitalisation.
Government schemes related to the Dairy sector
Dairy Processing and Infrastructure Development Fund: The scheme aims to provide a subsidized loan of @6.5% to capital-stressed milk cooperatives for primarily replacing their decades-old chilling and processing plants and addition of value-added product plants.
Animal Husbandry infrastructure development fund: This scheme aims to help to increase meat processing capacity and product diversification thereby providing greater access for unorganized Dairy producers to organise the Dairy market.
National Programme for Dairy Development: The objective of the scheme is to create and strengthen dairy infrastructure for procurement, processing and marketing of milk and milk products by the State Implementing Agencies (SIAs) i.e. State Cooperative Dairy Federations/ District Cooperative Milk Producers’ Union.
Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana: PM Kisan SAMPADA Yojana is a comprehensive package which will result in the creation of modern infrastructure with efficient supply chain management from farm gate to retail outlet.
Kisan Credit Cards (KCC) to Livestock Farmers: The Kisan Credit Card scheme aims at providing adequate and timely credit support from the banking system under a single window with flexible and simplified procedures to the animal husbandry and fisheries farmers for their working capital requirements.
Conclusion
The dairy sector in India has performed well in the past but still faces several challenges.
The need of the hour is to address these challenges holistically to usher in ‘White Revolution 2.0’ in India and achieve the target of the government of a liquid milk production capacity of 255 MMT by 2022.
Nepal is in a constitutional crisis with major organs of the state confronting each other as the Chief Justice is under undeclared house arrest and the PM openly criticizing the President.
Nepal polity in turmoil
Prime Minister who is backed by the chiefs of four major coalition partners, is at loggerheads with President.
The President might seek to rule as an extra-constitutional authority beyond the sanction and imagination of the Constitution that completed six years last week.
Genesis of the crisis: Row over Citizenship
The current crisis began after President refused to ratify Nepal’s citizenship bill, which was sent to her twice after it was passed by both Houses of Parliament over the span of a month.
The bill seeks to give citizenship by birth and by descent to an estimated 500,000 individuals.
It was also sought to provide non-voting citizenship to non-resident Nepalis living in non-SAARC countries.
Constitutional crisis in Nepal: A backgrounder
Nepal transitioned into a democracy beginning with the fall of the monarchy in 2006 and the subsequent election of the Maoist government in 2008.
The emergence of the multiparty system was followed by the adoption of a constitution on September 20, 2015.
All Nepalese citizens born before this date got naturalised citizenship.
But their children remained without citizenship as that was to be guided by a federal law which has not yet been framed.
This amendment Act was expected to pave the way to citizenship for many such stateless youth as well as their parents.
What are the issues with the Act?
Ans. Gender bias
The main criticism against the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2006 is that it goes against established parameters of gender justice.
According to Article 11(2b), a person born to a father or a mother with Nepalese citizenship can get citizenship by descent.
Another article says a person who is born to a Nepalese mother (who has lived in the country) and an unidentified father will also get citizenship by descent.
But this section appears humiliating for a mother as she has to declare that her husband is unidentified for the child to be eligible for citizenship.
In case of a Nepalese father, such declarations are not required.
Why has the President refused to sign the Act?
Bhandari is the first female President of Nepal.
Her refusal to sign the Act has drawn attention to certain sections in the constitution that thrusts greater responsibility on women.
For example, Article 11 (5) says that a person who is born to a Nepalese mother and an unidentified father can be granted citizenship by descent.
Next, it says that in case the unidentified father turns out to be a foreigner, the citizenship by descent would be converted to naturalised citizenship.
Furthermore, it supports punitive action against the mother if the father is found later.
Indian connection to the issue
There is an unarticulated concern in the orthodox sections that Nepalese men, particularly from the Terai region, continue to marry women from northern India.
These people feel that Nepalese identity would be undermined.
Because of this “Beti-Roti” (Nepalese men marrying Indian women) issue, many women could not become citizens of Nepal.
They were subjected to the infamous seven-year cooling off period before they could apply for citizenship in Nepal.
As such women were stateless, children of such families were also often found to be without Nepalese citizenship.
However, the new amendments have done away with the cooling off period for these stateless women.
From mines to ports and logistics, the Adani conglomerate has been expanding across sectors, regions. This has gone hand in hand with India’s diplomatic and strategic outreach towards infrastructure diplomacy.
What is infrastructure?
Infrastructure is the set of facilities and systems that serve a country, city, or other area, and encompasses the services and facilities necessary for its economy, households and firms to function.
Power and the source of its production such as coal and oil;
Roads and road transport;
Railways;
Communication, especially telecommunication;
Ports and airports; and.
For agriculture, irrigation constitutes the important infrastructure.
What is infrastructure diplomacy?
Infrastructure diplomacy is to promote infrastructure cooperation and economic ties overseas through political means and to enhance political trust between countries via collaboration in infrastructure development.
Why in news?
“Several foreign governments are now approaching us to work in their geographies and help build their infrastructure. Therefore, in 2022, we also laid the foundation to seek a broader expansion beyond India’s boundaries,” chairman and founder of the Adani group Gautam Adani,now the world’s third-richest person.
Background
Foreign presence much earlier: In fact, the Adani group had been scouting abroad much earlier. Since 2010, the Adani group has been in Australia, developing the Carmichael coal mine in Queensland.
A greenfield multi-purpose port: In 2017, Adani Ports and Special Economic Zones (Ltd) signed an MoU for a greenfield multi-purpose port for handling containers at Carey Island in Selangor state, about 50 km southwest of Kuala Lumpur.
What is situation now?
Company pursue international infrastructure projects aggressively: The last two years, however, have seen the company pursue international infrastructure projects aggressively. In May 2022, APSEZ made a winning bid of $1.18 billion for Israeli state-owned Haifa Port, jointly with Israeli chemicals and logistics firm Gadot.
Strategic joint investments: In August this year, APSEZ and Abu Dhabi’s AD Ports Group signed MoU for “strategic joint investments” in Tanzania. The new ASEZ-AD MoU will look at a bouquet of infrastructure projects besides Bagamoyo in the East African Indian Ocean nation — rail, maritime services, digital services and industrial zones.
India’s strategic objectives than has been possible so far: Is it just a coincidence that Adani’s global expansion closely shadows the Chinese footprint along its Belt and Road Initiative? Or is it that as Delhicompetes with China for influence in the neighbourhood and beyond, the Adani group’s size, resources and capacity are seen as a key element in achieving India’s strategic objectives than has been possible so far.
India’s infrastructure diplomacy: Is now becoming identified the world over with one company.
Public and private investment to bridge gaps: For the Adani group, described as India’s biggest ports and logistics company, there couldn’t be a better time. As the Quad grouping of Australia, India, Japan, and the US, competes with China in the Indo-Pacific, it has committed “to catalyse infrastructure delivery” by putting more than $50 billion on the table for “assistance and investment” in the Indo-Pacific over the next five years and “drive public and private investment to bridge gaps”.
Implications of infrastructure diplomacy
Win-Win deal: Adani’s new “no-hands” model of doing business with neighbours a power plant in Jharkhand, exporting all its output to Bangladesh has been seen as a “win-win” deal.
Economic interests lie at the heart of geopolitics: The link between diplomacy and commercial interests has generated its share of debate, especially in the US, where its diplomats, intelligence agencies and military interventions abroad have actively pushed the interests of big business first the hunt for cheaper raw materials, then for markets abroad, then to shift industry where manpower was cheaper. As seen in the new age trading blocs the US-led IPEF, and the Chinese dominated RCEP economic interests lie at the heart of geopolitics.
Conclusion
At a time when global rivalries are growing sharper in the shadow of the war in Europe, and as India looks out for its own interests, pushing powerful corporates to the centre-stage of its diplomacy, whether it is to build ports, buy or sell weapons or make chips, is inevitable.
Mains question
Q. Economic interests lie at the heart of geopolitics. Analyse this statement in context of India’s active push for infrastructure diplomacy by including private conglomerates like Adani in it.
The G4 nations have said that the Intergovernmental Negotiations on UN Security Council reform are constrained by a lack of openness and transparency.
Who are the G4 Countries?
The G4 nations, comprising Brazil, Germany, India, and Japan are four countries which support each other’s bids for permanent seats on the United Nations Security Council.
Their primary aim is the permanent member seats on the Security Council.
Each of these four countries have figured among the elected non-permanent members of the council since the UN’s establishment.
Their economic and political influence has grown significantly in the last decades, reaching a scope comparable to the permanent members (P5).
Deterrent in their cause
The UK and France have backed the G4’s bid for permanent seats.
All the permanent members of P5 have supported India’s bids for permanent seat.
However, China has previously implied that it is only ready to support India if it does not associate its bid with Japan.
The US has sent strong indications to Brazil that it is willing to support its membership; albeit, without a veto.
What holds them back?
There has been discontent among the present permanent members regarding the inclusion of controversial nations or countries not supported by them.
For instance, Japan’s bid is heavily opposed by China, North Korea, Russia and South Korea who think that Japan needs to make sincere reparations for war crimes committed during World War II.
Under the leadership of Italy, countries that strongly oppose the G4 countries’ bids have formed the Uniting for Consensus movement, also called as Coffee Club.
In Asia, Pakistan opposes India’s bid.
Why India deserves a permanent seat?
India has been part of UN since inception.
It has the world’s second-largest population and is the world’s largest democracy suited to represent South Asia.
It has contributed maximum peacekeepers to UN so far.
Why reform UNSC?
Non-representative nature: UNSC in current form is not representative of developing world and global needs, with primacy of policy being political tool in hands of P5, is well recognised globally.
Contention over Veto and Technical Holds:Veto power with P5 enables any one of them to prevent the adoption of any “substantive” draft Council resolution, regardless of its level of international support.
Divided institution: UNSC has become an organisation, which can pass strong resolutions against weak countries, weak resolutions against strong countries and no resolution against P5 countries.
Conclusion
There is a possibility that if UN doesn’t reform itself, it may lose relevance and alternate global and regional groupings may assume greater importance.
More global pressure from middle powers like G4 may force an expansion of UNSC as a possibility, but abolition of veto power in current set up is unlikely
Back2Basics: United Nations Security Council (UNSC)
The UNSC is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations and is charged with the maintenance of international peace and security.
Its powers include the establishment of peacekeeping operations, the establishment of international sanctions, and the authorization of military action through Security Council resolutions.
It is the only UN body with the authority to issue binding resolutions to member states.
The Security Council consists of fifteen members. Russia, the United Kingdom, France, China, and the United States—serve as the body’s five permanent members.
These permanent members can veto any substantive Security Council resolution, including those on the admission of new member states or candidates for Secretary-General.
The Security Council also has 10 non-permanent members, elected on a regional basis to serve two-year terms. The body’s presidency rotates monthly among its members.
The International Argo Program system to observe carbon concentration in the world’s oceans is extremely inadequate to meet the growing and urgent need for information on oceanic carbon, says a report.
What is Argo?
Argo is an international program that uses profiling floats to observe temperature, salinity, currents, and, recently, bio-optical properties in the Earth’s oceans; it has been operational since the early 2000s.
The real-time data it provides is used in climate and oceanographic research.
A special research interest is to quantify the ocean heat content (OHC).
Each instrument (float) spends almost all its life below the surface.
The name Argo was chosen because the array of floats works in partnership with the Jason earth observing satellites that measure the shape of the ocean surface.
In Greek mythology Jason sailed on his ship the Argo in search of the Golden Fleece.
What are its aims?
The data that Argo collects describes the temperature and salinity of the water and some of the floats measure other properties that describe the biology/chemistry of the ocean.
The main reason for collecting these data is to help us understand the oceans’ role in earth’s climate.
For example, the changes in sea level (once the tides are averaged out) depend partly on the melting of icecaps and partly on the amount of heat stored in the oceans.
Argo’s temperature measurements allow us to calculate how much heat is stored and to monitor from year to year how the distribution of heat changes with depth and from area to area.
As ocean heat content increases, sea level rises, just like the mercury in a thermometer.
How does it work?
Each Argo float (costing between $20,000 and $150,000 depending on the individual float’s technical specification) is launched from a ship.
The float’s weight is carefully adjusted so that, as it sinks, it eventually stabilizes at a pre-set level, usually 1 km.
Ten days later, an internal battery-driven pump transfers oil between a reservoir inside the float and an external bladder.
This makes the float first descend to 2km and then return to the surface measuring ocean properties as it rises.
The data and the float position are relayed to satellites and then on to receiving stations on shore.
The float then sinks again to repeat the 10 day cycle until its batteries are exhausted.
The Central government has announced a special tourist circuit encompassing five key sites associated with Dr. B.R. Ambedkar.
Why in news?
Activists have urged that Mahad, located in Raigad District of Maharashtra, famous for Mahad Lake Satyagraha should also be included in the proposed circuit.
Ambedkar Circuit
The five cities in the tourist circuit as announced are Mhow (his birthplace), London (where he resided and studied), Nagpur (also studied here), Delhi (where he passed away) and finally Mumbai (where he was cremated).
With a special AC train, the government is looking to trace the footsteps of Ambedkar in India by giving better connectivity to four of these spots.
The idea is to attract tourists beyond the Dalit community, who mostly visit these places as a pilgrimage.
The journey will include meals, ground transportation, and entry to the sites.
About the sites
Janma Bhoomi– Ambedkar’s birthplace in Madhya Pradesh’s Mhow
Shiksha Bhoomi– the place in London where he stayed while studying in the UK
Deeksha Bhoomi– the place in Nagpur where he embraced Buddhism
Mahaparinirvan Bhoomi- the place of his demise in Delhi and
Chaitya Bhoomi- the place of his cremation in Mumbai
Back2Basics: Tourism Circuits
The government had identified 15 tourist circuits under the Swadesh Darshan Scheme in 2014-15.
Besides the Ramayana and Buddhist Circuits, others include Coastal Circuit, Desert Circuit, Eco Circuit, Heritage, North East, Himalayan, Sufi, Krishna, Rural, Tribal, and Tirthankar Circuits.
In terms of train collaboration, the Ramayana, Buddhist, and North East Circuits are already active, while Ambedkar will be fourth.
Congress party has issued a notification for the party’s presidential election hinting towards intra party election.
As per the official notification, party leaders can file nominations from 24 September to 30 September. The voting will be held on 17 October and the results will be declared on 19 October.
What are the elections?
An election is a way people can choose their representatives of their preferences in a representative democracy. Elections enable people to judge the performance of the government.
Why they are important?
Elections give people a chance to evaluate their leaders, chance to change the government.
Elections help the people in the selection of their representatives and it provides law making power directly to the people.
Elections make a fundamental contribution to democratic governance.
What is mean by Intra party elections?
It is a mechanism to choose the candidates for various posts of the political through a democratic process, it’s a mandate given by the members of the party itself.
The intra-party election is a fundamental indicator to explore the authenticity of democratization and decentralization of political parties.
Why elections are necessary within the political parties?
Internal debates: During intra party elections there would be contests between leaders. There will be debate, discussions some criticism, and differences of opinion. There should be a dialogue between the leaders, members and volunteers
Democratic culture: Political parties don’t have to be homogeneous in terms of both ideas and leadership. Political parties are aggregations of interests yet Party workers should not feel they are being ignored, that their efforts are not appreciated or not going in vain under the shadow of a leader came from the family lines.
Political career: Having these internal elections, meetings and contests of ideas is important. Internal election is a key for upward mobility. It gives better understanding of the party’s idea, culture and the work process.
High command culture: High command culture is what we are witnessing today in India and South Asia is problematic for democracy, where all political parties are centralized. The few members at the helm are controlling even the smallest decisions about what party should do. Members are not able to express freely their personal views.
Feudalism: They are family-controlled parties, and dynastic politics has become a norm. Won’t be able to name more than three or four political parties which have survived 30 years in Indian politics and are today not controlled by apolitical family.
Favoritism: where you can only rise up the ranks in the system depending on the relationship you share with the first family of that party. Irrespective of difference of opinions with the top leaders of the party, the upward mobility majorly depends on the relationship.
What is a Legal framework for election?
There is no law for intra-party elections as of now.
Seshan effect: When T.N. Seshan was at the helm of the Election Commission of India (ECI); by an executive order political parties were ordered to conduct intra party elections. And because Seshan was a much respected and feared person, political parties complied with it. Since then, elections are held periodically in every recognized party.
What Constitution says: Article 324 says free and fair elections to parliament, state assemblies, president and vice-president. It doesn’t say anything about political party or election within.
What Courts argue: The courts have made an observation that nothing in Article 324 of the Constitution, or Section 29A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 tells us that the ECI can actually regulate internal structures, organizations or elections of the party. Which is why parties, on the left or right, have not been conducting internal elections as we want them to conduct them
Worldwide practice
USA: In the U.S. election, the selection of the candidate to be the presidential nominee is done via debate, in which the contenders condemn and criticize each other.
UK: In the U.K. Democracy should be at every level, and political parties are an essential pillar of democracy. Intra party election happens to choose the leader of party.
What is state funding of election?
It is an idea where state or Government of India provides funding to political parties according to their electoral performance.
As of today, state does provide land at concessional rate, free air time on national television but today political parties do not come under RTI. Hence some suggest state funding of elections to regulate the behavior of political parties.
What is the Role of Election Commission in organizational election of political parties?
The ECI does insist on organizational elections, but only gently. They do go through the process.
Election can happen only if there are two or more candidates in the fray. Getting elected unopposed is also a valid election. It is not just within the political parties, we have
Seen it in panchayat elections and sometimes even in Lok Sabha and State Assembly elections that candidates have got elected unopposed.
How to fix the accountability of the political parties?
ECI re-interpreting the existing laws, as happened in the 1990s. ECI has to imagine its role as a regulator of these political parties and in some ways. They have to try out milder options.
Political parties are required to hold organizational elections regularly. The parties are required to inform the ECI about changes in their office-bearers.
They are required to submit a document of expenditure incurred during elections and in the non-election periods. But there is no cost attached to non-compliance.
Expert suggests state funding of election would ensure the accountability of parties as it will bring parties under ambit of RTI and voters can seek the expenditure report from parties. Election commission can also penalize party for non-compliance.
Conclusion
Election for a gram panchayat or presidential it is always a booster for democracy. Intraparty elections are beneficial for party, contesting individual and country at large, it culminates into emergence of quality leadership which in turn a boon for good governance.
Mains Question
Q. Intra party elections are essential feature of healthy democracy. Discuss the role of election commission, the courts and the political parties for the healthy functioning of intra party democracy.
Despite several observations made by the Supreme Court of India (SC) against the inefficient functioning of the CBI nothing has happened to improve the situation.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is in the news now and often.
Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)
The Bureau of Investigation traces its origins to the Delhi Special Police Establishment, a Central Government Police force, which was set up in 1941 by the Government of India.
It then aimed to investigate bribery and corruption in transactions with the War and Supply Department of India.
It then had its headquarters in Lahore.
After the end of the war, there was a continued need for a central governmental agency to investigate bribery and corruption by central-government employees.
The DSPE acquired its popular current name, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), through a Home Ministry resolution dated in 1963.
Mandate of the CBI
The CBI is the main investigating agency of the GoI.
It is not a statutory body; it derives its powers from the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, 1946.
Its important role is to prevent corruption and maintain integrity in administration.
It works under the supervision of the CVC (Central Vigilance Commission) in matters pertaining to the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.
The CBI is also India’s official representative with theINTERPOL.
Cases to investigate
Cases connected to infringement of economic and fiscal laws
Crimes of a serious nature that have national and international ramifications
Coordination with the activities of the various state police forces and anti-corruption agencies.
It can also take up any case of public importance and investigate it
Maintaining crime statistics and disseminating criminal information.
Notable cases cracked by CBI
Bhanwri Devi missing case: Jat leader and former Rajasthan minister Mahipal Maderna, Congress MLA Malkhan Singh and Bhanwari’s husband Amarchand were all part of the conspiracy to abduct and eliminate Bhanwari. Bhanwari had threatened to expose Malkhan’s relationship with her at the Bishnoi mahapanchayat. Maderna, Malkhan, the three kidnappers and Sahiram along with Amarchand were arrested by the CBI.
Noida double murder case: In May 2008, the nation was shocked with the sensational double murders in Noida. The victims were Arushi Talwar and Hemraj Banjade. Initially, there was no clarity about the motive or the perpetrator of this ghastly crime. After a lengthy investigation which spanned close to 6 years, the CBI based on circumstantial evidence established that the parents of Aarushi Talwar, Rajesh Talwar and Nupur Talwar were the perpetrators of this crime.
The Satyam Case: B Ramalinga Raju, the disgraced chairman of Satyam Computers Services Ltd, along with 13 individuals and entities including Chintalapati Srinivasa Raju of iLabs, made Rs 2,000 crore in illegal wealth in the Satyam scam. The CBI constituted a Multi-Disciplinary Investigation Team (MDIT) to investigate the case. The team worked hard, burnt midnight oil and achieved success in a record time of 45 days when it filed its first chargesheet against the accused for offences of criminal conspiracy, cheating, forgery and falsification of accounts.
Issues with CBI
Caged parrot: The Supreme Court has criticized the CBI by calling it a “caged parrot speaking in its master’s voice”.
Political interference: It has often been used by the government of the day to cover up wrongdoing, keep coalition allies in line and political opponents at bay.
Investigation delay: It has been accused of enormous delays in concluding investigations due to political inertia.
Loss of Credibility: CBI has been criticised for its mismanagement of several cases involving prominent politicians and mishandling of several sensitive cases like Bofors scandal, Bhopal gas tragedy.
Lack of Accountability: CBI is exempted from the provisions of the Right to Information Act, thus, lacking public accountability.
Acute shortage of personnel: A major cause of the shortfall is the government’s sheer mismanagement of CBI’s workforce.
Limited Powers: The powers and jurisdiction of members of the CBI for investigation are subject to the consent of the State Govt., thus limiting the extent of investigation by CBI.
Restricted Access: Prior approval of Central Government to conduct inquiry or investigation on the employees of the Central Government is a big obstacle in combating corruption at higher levels of bureaucracy.
Why was it called caged carrot by the Supreme Court?
Politicisation of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has been a work in progress for years.
Corruption and Politically biased nature, This was highlighted in Supreme Court criticism for being a caged parrot speaking in its master’s voice.
CBI has been accused of becoming ‘handmaiden’ to the party in power; as a result high profile cases are not treated seriously.
Since CBI is run by central police officials on deputation hence chances of getting influenced by government was visible in the hope of better future postings.
Suggestions for the improvement of the functioning of the CBI under the supervision of the CVC
One, the CVC Act should be amended, providing for a five/seven member Central Vigilance Commission, which could broadly assume the role visualised for the Lokpal. The selection process of the CVC members should be more broad based to prevent favouritism or from controversial persons being appointed.
Two, the CVC should constitute an advisory committee of at least 11 members drawn from criminologists and forensic science experts. This will augment the professional input in its functioning. Further, to reduce the burden on the CVC, it should be given the power to go to any expert or professional to assist it in screening complaints.
Three, the jurisdiction of CVC, which presently covers all employees of the central government and the CPSUs, should remain unchanged. There is already an administrative arrangement to delegate the vigilance administration over class II and lower formations to the ministries/departments concerned. However, if the lower formations are involved with the class I officers in a composite case, the CVC exercises a natural jurisdiction over all of them. To make this arrangement more effective, it would be important that the CVC exercises complete control over the selection, appointment and functioning of the CVOs.
Four, the CVC should have an adequately experienced team to technically examine and assess the gravity of a complaint, which can then be assigned to the CBI for investigation or can be investigated by this team. After assessing a complaint by this broad-based CVC, there should be no need to seek prior permission from the government.
Five, in the cases assigned to it by the CVC, the CBI should be made functionally and financially independent of the controls of any government ministry/department. The professional supervision over the investigations of the CBI should rest only with the CVC.
Six, the manner of the appointment of the CBI Director should be broad based as in the case of the CVC members, whereas the other inductions/appointments in the CBI should be brought under the overarching supervision of the CVC.
Seven, to achieve better synergy between anti-corruption laws and grievance handling, the laws relating to the whistle blowers and grievance redressal should be placed within the jurisdiction of the CVC.
Eight, effective administration of anti-corruption laws at the grass roots is the key to responsible governance. The state and their anti-corruption agencies would, therefore, need to be equally insulated from the state government’s interference on similar lines.
Reforming CBI
Need for autonomy: As long as the government of the day has the power to transfer and post officials of its choice in the CBI, the investigating agency will not enjoy autonomy and will be unable to investigate cases freely.
Selection of director/ Officers: To ensure that the CBI is a robust, independent and credible investigation agency, there is an urgent need to work out a much more transparent mechanism for selection and induction of officers on deputation.
Lokpal scrutiny: The Lokpal Act already calls for a three-member committee made up of the PM, the leader of the opposition and the CJI to select the director.
Bifurcation of Cadre: CBI should be bifurcated into an Anti-Corruption Body and a National Crime Bureau.
Develop own cadre: One of the demands that have been before Supreme Court, and in line with international best practices, is for the CBI to develop its own dedicated cadre of officers.
Annual social audit should be carried out by ten reputed, knowledgeable persons with background of law, justice, public affairs and administration and the audit report should be placed before the parliament.
About Enforcement Directorate (ED)
It goes back to May 1, 1956, when an ‘Enforcement Unit’ was formed in the Department of Economic Affairs.
It then aimed for handling Exchange Control Laws violations under the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act (FERA).
The ED today is a multi-dimensional organisation investigating economic offences under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, Foreign Exchange Management Act and FERA.
From where does the ED get its powers?
When proceeds of crime (property/money) are generated, the best way to save that money is by parking it somewhere, so one is not answerable to anyone in the country.
Therefore, there was a need to control and prevent the laundering of money.
The PMLA was brought in for this exact reason in 2002, but was enacted only in 2005.
The objective was to prevent parking of the money outside India and to trace out the layering and the trail of money.
So as per the Act, the ED got its power to investigate under Sections 48 (authorities under act) and 49 (appointment and powers of authorities and other officers).
At what stage does the ED step in when a crime is committed?
Whenever any offence is registered by a local police station, which has generated proceeds of crime over and above ₹1 crore, the investigating police officer forwards the details to the ED.
Alternately, if the offence comes under the knowledge of the Central agency, they can then call for the First Information Report (FIR) or the chargesheet if it has been filed directly by police officials.
This will be done to find out if any laundering has taken place.
What differentiates the probe between the local police and officers of the ED?
Case study:
If a theft has been committed in a nationalised bank, the local police station will first investigate the crime.
If it is learnt that the founder of the bank took all the money and kept it in his house, without being spent or used, then the crime is only theft and the ED won’t interfere because the amount has already been seized.
But if the amount which has been stolen is used after four years to purchase some properties, then the ill-gotten money is brought back in the market.
Or if the money is given to someone else to buy properties in different parts of the country, then there is ‘laundering’ of money.
Hence the ED will need to step in and look into the layering and attachment of properties to recover the money.
If jewellery costing ₹1 crore is stolen, police officers will investigate the theft. The ED, however, will attach assets of the accused to recover the amount of ₹1 crore.
What are the other roles and functions of the ED?
The ED carries out search (property) and seizure (money/documents) after it has decided that the money has been laundered, under Section 16 (power of survey) and Section 17 (search and seizure) of the PMLA.
On the basis of that, the authorities will decide if arrest is needed as per Section 19 (power of arrest).
Under Section 50, the ED can also directly carry out search and seizure without calling the person for questioning.
It is not necessary to summon the person first and then start with the search and seizure.
If the person is arrested, the ED gets 60 days to file the prosecutioncomplaint (chargesheet) as the punishment under PMLA doesn’t go beyond seven years.
If no one is arrested and only the property is attached, then the prosecution complaint along with attachment order is to be submitted before the adjudicating authority within 60 days.
Can the ED investigate cases of money laundering retrospectively?
If an ill-gotten property is acquired before the year 2005 (when the law was brought in) and disposed off, then there is no case under PMLA.
But if proceeds of the crime were possessed before 2005, kept in storage, and used after 2005 by buying properties, the colour of the money is still black and the person is liable to be prosecuted under PMLA.
Under Section 3 of PMLA, a person shall be guilty of money-laundering, if such person is found to have directly or indirectly attempted to indulge or knowingly assist a party involved in one or more of the following activities:
Concealment; possession; acquisition; use; or projecting as untainted property; or claiming as untainted property in any manner etc.
Allegations against ED
Huge discretions: The ED is the only Central agency in the country that does not require permission from the government to summon or prosecute politicians or government functionaries for committing economic offences like money laundering.
Used for petty crimes: PMLA is pulled into the investigation of even “ordinary” crimes and assets of genuine victims have been attached.
Actual purpose denigrated: PMLA was a comprehensive penal statute to counter the threat of money laundering, specifically stemming from the trade in narcotics.
Violations of Rights: PMLA was enacted in response to India’s global commitment to combat the menace of money laundering. Instead, rights have been “cribbed, cabined and confined”.
Functional opacity: There is also a lack of clarity about ED’s selection of cases to investigate. We often see ED raiding houses of opposition parties suddenly.
Poor rate of conviction: We have hardly read the conclusion of cases by ED. Meantime media-trial tears off the accused person’s credibility which is the most desired intent.
Under-trials and slower prosecution: ED has been focusing on keeping the accused in custody rather than actually proving the charges against them.
Challenges to ED
ED being dragged to court: The petitions against the ED had the effect of slowing down the investigations, as officers have to defend themselves in court.
Foul crying politicians: There are attempts to cover up unexplained, high-value transactions that fall within the PMLA’s ambit
Investigation of foreign transactions: Getting information on accounts and money stashed abroad to establish a trail is the biggest challenge they face.
Way forward
The fight against corruption is intimately linked with the reform of the investigations.
Therefore the adjudicating authorities must work in cooperation and ensure the highest standards of transparency and fairness.
ED has been walking a tightrope to safeguard its integrity by speeding up investigations and court procedures.
The need of the hour could be systemic fixes—and not shrill calls to throw the baby out with the bathwater.
It is unlikely that corruption can be substantially reduced without modifying the way government agencies operate.
Conclusion
It is for the nation to demand that the country’s premier investigating agencies like the CBI, income tax authorities and the ED are not used as instruments of blackmail and intimidation by the government of the day. Rather they should work with complete objectivity and in the interest of the nation.
Mains question
Q. CBI and ED was called caged carrot by the Supreme Court. Do you agree with this? What issues are being faced by these premier agencies? Suggest some dynamic solutions to overcome these issues.
Context
Facts on rabies 
What is the issue? 
How can we prevent rabies in animals?
Context 
What is infrastructure diplomacy?
Background 
Implications of infrastructure diplomacy
Context
What is mean by Intra party elections?
What is a Legal framework for election?
How to fix the accountability of the political parties?
Context 
Cases to investigate
From where does the ED get its powers?
What differentiates the probe between the local police and officers of the ED?
What are the other roles and functions of the ED?