The article suggests the ways to make the most of the data collected through Census and the SECC.
Census and issues with it
The synchronous decennial Census has evolved over time and has been used by the government, policymakers, academics, and others.
Though Census is both a data collection effort and a technique of governance, it is criticized for not being useful enough for a detailed and comprehensive understanding of a complex society.
There is a lack of depth in the Census where some issues are concerned.
The debate around full-scale Caste Census
Since Independence, aggregated Census data on the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes on certain parameters such as education have been collected.
There is a growing demand for a full-scale caste census to capture contemporary Indian society and to understand and remedy inequalities.
While others believe that this large administrative exercise of capturing caste and its complexities is not only difficult but also socially untenable.
There have been concerns that counting caste may help solidify or harden identities, or that caste may be context-specific, and thus difficult to measure.
The other concern is whether an institution such as a caste can even be captured completely by the Census.
Socio-Economic Caste Census: how it is different from Census
Following debate over full-scale caste census, the Socio-Economic and Caste Census (SECC) was conducted in 2011.
The SECC, which collected the first figures on caste in Census operations since 1931, is the largest exercise of the enumeration of caste.
Questions remain on whether the SECC is able to cover the effects of caste as an aspect of Indian social structure.
This was a distinct exercise from the Census of 2011.
The Census and the SECC have different purposes.
Since the Census falls under the Census Act of 1948, all data are considered confidential, whereas the SECC data is open for use by Government departments to grant and/or restrict benefits to households.
The Census thus provides a portrait of the Indian population, while the SECC is a tool to identify beneficiaries of state support.
Way forward
What is needed is a discussion on the caste data that already exists, how it has been used and understood by the government.
Linking and syncing aggregated Census data to other large datasets such as the National Sample Surveys or the National Family Health Surveys that cover issues that the Census exercises do not, such as maternal health, would be significant for a more comprehensive analysis.
This linking of the Census with the National Sample Survey data has been suggested in the past by scholars such as Mamta Murthi and colleagues.
Census operations across the world are going through significant changes, employing methods that are precise, faster, and cost-effective, involving coordination between different data sources.
Care must however be taken to ensure that digital alternatives and linking of data sources involving Census operations are inclusive and non-discriminatory, especially given the sensitive nature of the data being collected.
Delay in the release of data needs to be reduced.
There needs to be a closer and continuous engagement between functionaries of the Census and SECC, along with academics and other stakeholders concerned.
Consider the question “How Socio-Economic and Caste Census is different from the Census? How linking and syncing of these data with other databases could help in the governance?”
Conclusion
Data collected through both the exercises serve an important purpose in the governance of the country, however, there is scope to widen the use of data if the steps suggested here are implemented.
In the ongoing stalemate between protesting farmers and the Centre, the government has repeated its offer of keeping the three contentious farm laws on hold for one to one-and-a-half years.
Bringing/removing a law
Parliament has the power to make a law and to remove it from the statute books (a law can be struck down by the judiciary if it is unconstitutional).
But the passing of a Bill does not mean that it will start working from the next day.
There are three more steps for it to become a functioning law.
Try this PYQ:
Q.Who/Which of the following is the custodian of the Constitution of India?
(a) The President of India
(b) The Prime Minister of India
(c) The Lok Sabha Secretariat
(d) The Supreme Court of India
Making a law operational
The first step is the President giving his or her assent to the Bill.
Then the law comes into effect from a particular date. President Kovind signed the three farm Bills into law within a week of their passing in September 2020.
And finally, the government frames the rules and regulations to make the law operational on the ground.
The completion of these steps determines when the law becomes functional.
Presidents’ actions
Article 111 of the Constitution specifies that the President can either sign off on the Bill or withhold his consent.
The President rarely withholds their assent to a Bill.
The last time it happened was in 2006 when President APJ Abdul Kalam refused to sign a Bill protecting MPs from disqualification for holding an office of profit.
A Bill is sent to Parliament for reconsideration if the President withholds his or her assent on it.
And if Parliament sends it back to the President, he or he has no choice but to approve it.
A curious case of date of effect
The next step is deciding the date on which the law comes into effect.
In many cases, Parliament delegates to the government the power to determine this date.
The Bill states that the law “shall come into force on such date as the Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint and different dates may be appointed for different provisions of this Act”.
Example: Parliament passed the Recycling of Ships Act in December 2019. In October 2020, the government brought Section 3 of the law into force. This section empowers the government to designate an officer to supervise all ship recycling activities in India.
Giving effect to the implementation
There are also instances when the government does not bring a law into force for many years.
Two examples are the National Environment Tribunal Act and the Delhi Rent Control Act, which Parliament passed during PM P V Narasimha Rao’s tenure.
The government never brought these laws into force, which were passed in 1995 and cleared by the President.
The NGT Act finally repealed the environmental tribunal law in 2010. And a Bill to repeal the Delhi Rent Control Act introduced in 2013 is still pending in Rajya Sabha
Rules & regulations to be made
For the law to start working on the ground, individuals need to be recruited or given the power, to administer it.
The implementing ministry also needs to finalise forms to gather information and provide benefits or services.
These day-to-day operational details are called rules and regulations. And Parliament gives the government the responsibility of making them. These regulations are critical for the functioning of law.
If the government does not make rules and regulations, law or parts of it will not get implemented.
Example: The Benami Transactions Act of 1988 is an example of a complete law remaining unimplemented. For 25 years, such properties were immune from seizure in the absence of framing relevant government rules. The law was finally repealed in 2016 and replaced with a new one.
A final word on implementation
Parliament has recommended that the government make rules within six months of passing a law.
But parliamentary committees have observed that this recommendation is being followed in breach by various ministries.
The government not only has the power to make rules but can also suppress rules made by it earlier.
The row over legally guaranteed MSP doesn’t seem to be settled down in near terms.
Farmers’ demand
Farmer unions protesting are raising two fundamental demands.
The first is for repealing the three agricultural reform laws enacted by the Centre.
The second is to provide a legal guarantee for the minimum support prices (MSPs) that the Centre declares for various crops every year.
Currently, there is no statutory backing for these prices or any law mandating their implementation.
Note: The MSP is now applicable on 23 farm commodities: 7 cereals (paddy, wheat, maize, bajra, jowar, ragi and barley), 5 pulses (chana, arhar, moong, urad and masur), 7 oilseeds (groundnut, soyabean, rapeseed-mustard, sesamum, sunflower, nigerseed and safflower) and 4 commercial crops (sugarcane, cotton, copra and raw jute).
Can MSP be made legally binding?
Yes. There are two ways it can be done.
(1) To force private buyers to pay it
In this case, no crop can be purchased below the MSP, which would also act as the floor price for bidding in mandi auctions.
There’s already a precedent: In sugarcane, mills are required by law to pay growers the Centre’s “fair and remunerative price” – UP and Haryana fix even higher “state advised prices” – within 14 days of supply.
In no other crop is the compulsion to pay the government-announced MSP thrust on the private trade/industry.
(2) The government itself buying the entire crop that farmers offer at the MSP
Various govt agencies such as the Food Corporation of India, the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India, and the Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) do procure a large chunk of commodities on MSP.
But how much produce can the government procure at MSP?
The MSP value of the total production of the 23 crops worked out to around Rs 10.78 lakh crore in 2019-20.
Not all this produce, however, is marketed. Farmers retain part of it for self-consumption, the seed for the next season’s sowing, and also for feeding their animals.
The marketed surplus ratio for different crops is estimated to range differently for various crops.
It ranges from below 50% for ragi and 65-70% for bajra (pearl millet) and jawar (sorghum) to 75% for wheat, 80% for paddy, 85% for sugarcane, 90% for most pulses, and 95%-plus for cotton, soyabean etc.
Taking an average of 75% would yield a number of just over Rs 8 lakh crore.
This is the MSP value of production that is the marketable surplus — which farmers actually sell.
So, is this MSP money paid out of the government’s pocket?
Not really!
To start with, one must exclude sugarcane from the calculations. The onus for paying cane MSP, as earlier pointed out, lies on sugar mills and not the government.
Secondly, the government is already procuring many crops – especially paddy, wheat, cotton, and also pulses and oilseeds.
Thirdly, government agencies don’t have to buy every single grain that comes to the market. Mopping up even a quarter or third of the market arrivals is usually enough to lift prices.
Fourth, the crop bought on government account also gets sold. While such sales in wheat and paddy – which are distributed at super-subsidized rates under the National Food Security Act.
This entails heavy losses, but those are far less in the remaining MSP crops. The revenues realized from sales would partly offset the expenditures from MSP procurement.
All in all, the additional fiscal outgo, from the government undertaking the maximum required procurement for guaranteeing MSP to farmers, may not be more than Rs 1-1.5 lakh crore per year.
So, is the MSP system all okay?
Nope!
The government undertaking to buy at MSP is definitely better than forcing private players. Their going out of business would ultimately hurt farmers most.
However, even assured government MSP-based procurement is fraught with problems.
The coverage of MSPs today does not extend to fruits, vegetables, and livestock products that together have a 45% share in the gross value of the output of India’s agriculture, forestry, and fishing sector.
The value of milk and milk products alone is more than that of all cereals and pulses combined.
Limitations for govt.
Extending MSP to all farm produce and guaranteeing it through law is hugely challenging, fiscally and otherwise.
It also explains why economists increasingly are in favor of guaranteeing minimum “incomes” rather than “prices” to farmers.
One way to achieve that is via direct cash transfers either on a flat per-acre (as in the Telangana government’s Rythu Bandhu scheme) or per-farm household (the Centre’s PM Kisan Samman Nidhi) basis.
Back2Basics:
(1) Rythu Bandhu Scheme
Under Rythu Bandhu, the Telangana government gives every beneficiary farmer Rs 4,000 per acre as “investment support” before every crop season.
The objective is to help the farmer meet a major part of his expenses on seed, fertilizer, pesticide, and field preparation.
The scheme covers 1.42 crore acres in the 31 districts of the state, and every farmer owning land is eligible.
(2) Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi
Under this program, vulnerable landholding farmer families, having cultivable land up to 2 hectares, will be provided direct income support at the rate of Rs. 6,000 per year.
This income support will be transferred directly into the bank accounts of beneficiary farmers, in three equal installments of Rs. 2,000 each.
Around 12 crore small and marginal farmer families are expected to benefit from this.
India has unveiled a new draft ‘Arctic’ policy that and is committed to expanding scientific research, “sustainable tourism” and mineral oil and gas exploration in the Arctic region.
Note: Five Arctic littoral states — Canada, Denmark (Greenland), Norway, Russia and the USA (Alaska) — and three other Arctic nations — Finland, Sweden and Iceland — form the Arctic Council (estd. 1996).
Try mapping them.
Caution: India became an Observer in the Arctic Council for the first time in 2013. And, India isn’t a full-time observer.
India at the Arctic
India launched its first scientific expedition to the Arctic in 2007 and set up a research station ‘Himadri’ in the international Arctic research base at Ny-Ålesund in Spitsbergen, Svalbard, Norway.
It has two other observatories in Kongsforden and Gruvebadet. Himadri is manned for about 180 days a year.
Since its establishment, over 300 Indian researchers have worked in the station. India has sent 13 expeditions to the Arctic since 2007 and runs 23 active projects.
Draft ‘Arctic’ policy
The draft policy discusses the importance of understanding the impact of climate change in the Arctic region and its connection with India’s monsoon, which is crucial for its economy.
India also proposes to focus on vast resources of the Arctic region including hydrocarbons, minerals and renewable power to ensure its energy security.
The policy is cautious in framing its involvement in the Arctic as “common heritage of mankind” but its priorities are similar to that of other non-Arctic states.
This policy roadmap draft rides on five pillars:
Science and research activities,
Economic and human development cooperation,
Transportation and connectivity,
Governance and international cooperation, and
National capacity building.
Nodal bodies
The Goa-based National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research to lead scientific research and act as a nodal body.
It would thus coordinate among various scientific bodies to promote domestic scientific research capacities by expanding earth sciences, biological sciences, climate change and space-related programmes, dove-tailed with Arctic imperatives.
Why study arctic?
The Arctic is home to almost four million inhabitants, of which approximately one-tenth are considered as indigenous people.
Climate change has meant that seasons in the Arctic influence tropical weather.
The Arctic influences atmospheric, oceanographic and biogeochemical cycles of the earth’s ecosystem.
The loss of sea ice, ice caps, and warming of the ocean and atmosphere would lower salinity in the global oceans.
This could increase the temperature differential between land and oceans in the tropical regions, dry subtropical areas and increase precipitation at higher latitudes.
Arctic research will help India’s scientific community to study melting rates of the third pole — the Himalayan glaciers.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has suggested a tougher regulatory framework for the non-banking finance companies’ (NBFC) sector to prevent the recurrence of any systemic risk to the country’s financial system.
Try this PYQ:
Which of the following can be said to be essentially the parts of Inclusive Governance?
Permitting the Non-Banking Financial Companies to do banking
Establishing effective District Planning Committees in all the districts
Increasing government spending on public health
Strengthening the Mid-day Meal Scheme
Select the correct answer using the codes given below:
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 3 and 4 only
(c) 2, 3 and 4 only
(d) 1, 2, 3 and 4
What are NBFCs?
Nonbank financial companies (NBFCs) are financial institutions that offer various banking services but do not have a banking license.
An NBFC in India is a company registered under the Companies Act, 1956 engaged in the business of loans and advances, acquisition of shares/stocks/bonds/debentures/securities issued by a government or local authority, or other marketable securities.
A non-banking institution that is a company and has principal business of receiving deposits under any scheme or arrangement in one lump sum or in installments is also an NBFC.
What is the difference between banks & NBFCs?
NBFCs lend and make investments and hence their activities are akin to that of banks; however, there are a few differences as given below:
NBFC cannot accept demand deposits
NBFCs do not form part of the payment and settlement system and cannot issue cheques drawn on itself
The deposit insurance facility of Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation is not available to depositors of NBFCs, unlike in the case of banks
What are the new RBI regulations?
The regulatory and supervisory framework of NBFCs will be based on a four-layered structure — the base layer (NBFC-BL), middle layer (NBFC-ML), the upper layer (NBFC-UL), and the top layer.
If the framework is visualized as a pyramid, at the bottom of the pyramid will be those where least regulatory intervention is warranted.
It can consist of NBFCs currently classified as non-systemically important NBFCs.
Moving up, the next layer may comprise NBFCs currently classified as systemically important NBFCs (NBFC-ND-SI), deposit-taking NBFCs (NBFC-D), HFCs, IFCs, IDFs, SPDs, and CICs.
The regulatory regime for this layer shall be stricter compared to the base layer.
The next layer may consist of NBFCs identified as ‘systemically significant’.
This layer will be populated by NBFCs having a large potential of systemic spill-over of risks and the ability to impact financial stability.
The Union Minister of Tribal Affairs has launched the “ShramShakti” Portal.
Earlier we had ONORC move, now a repository for migrant workers. Keep a tab on all such updates for the welfare of migrant workers.
Shramshakti Portal
It is a National Migration Support Portal.
It will record various data including demographic profile, livelihood options, skill mapping, and migration pattern.
It would effectively help in the smooth formulation of state and national level programs for migrant workers.
Why need such a portal?
Migrants all over the country had to face after the lockdown was announced due to the pandemic caused by a coronavirus.
The migration of the tribal population is distress-driven and the migrants are exposed to difficult and unsafe conditions.
Sometimes they face trafficking or wage harassment issues including many occupational hazards at the workplace.
The lack of real-time data of migrants was the biggest challenge for governments in formulating effective strategies and policy decisions for the welfare of migrant workers at both source and destination states.
Benefits of the portal
The tribal migration repository would be able to successfully address the data gap and empower migrant workers who generally migrate in search of employment and income generation.
It would also help the government for linking the migrant population with the existing Welfare Scheme- under Aatmanirbhar Bharat.
A move for tribals
Tribal migrant workers often have low awareness about their rights and entitlements and ways to access services and social security in source and destination areas.
With this, they will be able to demand and access services, rights, and entitlements related to livelihood and social security at their village before migration, as well after migration at destination towns and cities.
The second Decimate Prelims Open(free) Test 2021 will be live tomorrow. – 24th Jan.
To help you understand your current preparation level before the start of our DECIMATE PRELIMS 2021 program three Free prelims tests were scheduled on 17th Jan, 24th Jan, and 31st Jan 2021.
If you hvaent attempted the first test yet, attempt it. Take some rest. Test solutions and explanations will be emailed to you as soon as you submit the test. Check your All India Ranking.
Quickly go through the solutions. Join us on this (click) Habitat group for the discussions and for doubts. We’ll discuss on how to proceed from there.
3rd Free Decimate Prelims Open Test will be held on 31st Jan 2021. Register for free below.
Decimate Prelims 2021 @ Habitat is a three-phased program that ensures full coverage of current affairs syllabus, related static parts, tests, intensive discussions, and revision.
We’re going more intensive and comprehensive to make sure that you comfortably go beyond 130+ marks and literally decimate prelims.
UPSC is evolving, are you? Bury the old ways of IAS Prelims preparation
As the world’s economy transitions into one where economic value is created by bringing about disruption, and consequently behavioural change, governments know they have to create ample runway space for startups to take off.
With that in mind, five years ago, the central government took this into consideration and launched the Startup India Scheme on January 16, 2016, to give new firms, particularly in the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector a boost.
What are Startups?
A startup or start-up is a company or project undertaken by an entrepreneur to seek, develop, and validate a scalable economic model.
While entrepreneurship refers to all new businesses, including self-employment and businesses that never intend to become registered, startups refer to new businesses that intend to grow large beyond the solo founder.
At the beginning, startups face high uncertainty and have high rates of failure, but a minority of them does go on to be successful and influential. Some startups become unicorns.
Why do we need start-ups?
Start-ups make an indispensable contribution in the economic growth of a nation.
(1) Employment Generation
Entrepreneurship creates more avenues for new job in the economy. This would help harness the readily available employment in our country. This mission will reduce the burden from service and agricultural sector and enables condition of balance in economy.
(2) Creation of Wealth
Since entrepreneurs are attracting investors by investing their own resources, the people of the nation would get benefit when startups grow. Since the money is sharing with the society, wealth is creating within the nation.
(3) Better standard of living
Startups can implement innovations and technologies to improve the living of people. There are many startups who are working for rural areas to develop the community.
(4) Economic growth
GDP plays a vital role in enhancing the economic growth of a country. By supporting and encouraging more startups, it is possible to generate more revenue domestically and consumer’s capital will also flow around the Indian economy.
(5) Source for FDI
It has been noted that in recent years, the volume of foreign investments made in the Indian startup is quite huge. The foreign investments in the startups act as an easy capital raise and technological investment for the startups which makes them readily accept the investments coming towards them.
(6) Culture of Entrepreneurship
Startups encourage a culture of entrepreneurship and innovation which leads to create new job opportunities and provide support to the economy. Success stories motivate talented youth to start their own ventures and help them to become a job provider instead of a job seeker.
(7) Advancement in technology
Startups are more focused on new technologies and cutting-edge innovation. Free from a multilayered corporate bureaucracy, startups are more agile and able to build an idea into a product and improve it upon consumer demand with faster decision-making communications.
Startup India Scheme
Startup India is an initiative of the Government of India.
The campaign was first announced by PM Modi during his speech on 15 August 2015 address from the Red Fort.
The action plan for this initiative is focusing on three areas:
Simplification and Handholding.
Funding Support and Incentives.
Industry-Academia Partnership and Incubation.
An additional area relating to this initiative is to discard restrictive States Government policies within this domain, such as License Raj, Land Permissions, Foreign Investment Proposals, and Environmental Clearances.
It was organized by the Department for promotion of industry and internal trade (DPI&IT).
An evaluation of the Scheme
(A) Successes
Investment: $63 Bn has been invested in Indian startups in the last five years. The Indian tech startups rose about $13.5 Bn in funding across 885 deals in 2017, which is the peak year in terms of funding in the past five years.
Growth: From 29K startups in 2014, the numbers grew exponentially from 2015-2018 to touch 55K in 2020. Between 2016 and August 2020, Startup India programme says it has recognised over 34.8K startups.
IPRs: Among these, 8.3K startups received intellectual property rights (IPR) fee benefits, while over 2.6 lakh people enrolled in the entrepreneurship-focused learning courses.
Gender inclusion: In terms of gender diversity across workspaces in India, just 9% of the board members of the top 20 unicorn startups in India are women.
(B) Failures
Clearances: The Startup India scheme had received around 1368 applications by mid-December last year out of which DPIIT has only accepted 502 application forms and recognized them as ‘startups’.
Delay: The delay and lack of efficiency is a cause for the startup plan to fail in some cases.
Funding: The concerns of domestic angel and VCs on capital gains tax remain largely unaddressed.
EODB issues: Venture capital firms and angel investors are more cautious while investing in Indian startups. It is because the conditions, the ease of capital flow and doing business are not stable enough.
Some lacunae of the scheme
Definitional issues: The scheme is criticized by professionals because of the definition of Start-up provided in the scheme. The definition states that a mere act of developing products or services that do not have the potential for commercialization or have no or limited incremental value for customers would not be a start-up.
Test of ‘Innovation’: Each startup is scrutinized by an Inter-Ministerial Board (IMB) to see if the startup is ‘innovative’ – i.e. if it is unique or a world first. Most of the start-ups would lie outside the purview of this definition.
Red tapism: Further eligibility of start-up, lies under definition or not, shall be approved or certified by an inter-ministerial board which is a retrograde step and against the government policy of ‘Min Government Max Governance’.
Taxation mirage: A tax break of three years has been given in the scheme. Anyone who has business sense knows that only a few of start-ups will be profitable in the first three years and so this handful can avail them of the tax break.
Patenting terms: The other option for startups to get tax benefits is to get a patent. And we all know that it takes several years to register a patent in India, and if royalty profits accrue before then, the tax benefits will be denied.
Inherent challenges to Start-ups in India
Financial scarcity: Availability of finance is critical for the startups and is always a problem to get sufficient amounts.
Lack of Infrastructure: There is a lack of support mechanisms that play a significant role in the lifecycle of startups which include incubators, science and technology parks, business development centers etc.
Regulatory bottlenecks: Starting and exiting a business requires a number of permissions from government agencies. Although there is a perceptible change, it is still a challenge to register a company and exiting it.
Compliance hurdles: For example earlier Angel tax, which stands removed no, falls under corruption and bureaucratic inefficiencies as it takes the focus of entrepreneurs away from building a product or service to responding to tax notices and filing appeals.
Low success rate: Several startups fail due to poor revenue generation as the business grows. As the operations increase, expenses grow with reduced revenues forcing startups to concentrate on the funding aspect, thus, diluting the focus on the fundamentals of business.
Lack of an Innovative Business Model: To be successful a startup must be innovative. Unfortunately, Indian startups are less innovative than startups elsewhere. Many Indian startups don’t have an original business idea that is disruptive and by which consumers will be provided with better service.
Non-competitive Indian Markets: Too many startups serving too few consumers are saturating the Indian market. Most startups serve the fraction of Indians who live in urban India. The majority of Indians who live in rural areas and small towns remain untouched by most startups.
Various initiatives by the Govt.
There are numerous government initiatives to assist start-ups,
MUDRA Scheme: Through this scheme, start-ups get loans from the banks to set up, grow and stabilize their businesses.
SETU (Self-Employment and Talent Utilization) Fund: Government has allotted Rs 1,000 Cr in order to create opportunities for self-employment and new jobs mainly in technology-driven domains.
E-Biz Portal: Government launched e-biz portal, India’s first government to business portal that integrates 14 regulatory permissions and licenses at one source to enable faster clearances and improve the ease of doing business in India.
Credit Guarantee Fund: launched by the GoI to make available collateral-free credit to the micro and small enterprise sector. Both the existing and the new enterprises are eligible to be covered under the scheme.
Fund of Funds for Start-ups (FFS): 10,000 Rs corpus fund established in line with the Start-up India action plan under Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) for extending support to Start-ups.
Tax Sops: Tax exemption on Capital gain tax, Removal of Angel tax, Tax exemption for 3 years and Tax exemption in investment above Fair Market Value.
Entrepreneurship today is ‘survival driven’ self-employment, formed out of necessity, as well as opportunity motivated, largely because poverty and lack of formal employment opportunities rear its ugly head in striving economies.
Way Forward
The best of the Indian startup ecosystem still lies ahead.
There is a need for policies and progressive strategies from governments to encourage startups and provide access and assistance in key areas including tax clarity, incubation, affordability and licensing.
In any case, governments should be well prepared and dedicated to creating a culture of startups to impact the entrepreneurial ecosystem in their cities, countries and citizens.
Innovation and economic growth depend on being able to produce excellent individuals with the right skills and attitudes to be entrepreneurial in their professional lives.
It is critical, therefore, that nations set out to develop entrepreneurial skills, attitudes and behaviour in the school systems at all levels as a part of the lifelong learning process.
To produce effective entrepreneurs who can initiate change, governments need to cut ‘red tape’ and streamline regulations.
Funding, another daunting and difficult challenge, has to be resolved at earliest with liberal funding mechanisms.
Apart from all these concerns, Start-up India has potential to solve India’s problems and create jobs. Nonetheless, the challenges and changes are not to be dreaded but defeated.
Conclusion
The current economic scenario in India is in expansion mode. Indian Startups are now spread across the length and breadth of the entire country.
The Indian government’s policies like Make in India, Digital India, Atmanirbhar etc. shows the enthusiasm of centre to imbibe reforms.
With the government going full hog on Startups, it could arrest the brain drain.
Efforts are being made by diverse stakeholders in the Indian startup ecosystem to elevate domestic policies in concurrence with global trends.
The article highlights the issue of delay in carrying out the dealth penalty and issues associated with it.
Review of India’s position on the death penalty
The delay in carrying out the death penalty is one of the reasons to review India’s position on capital punishment.
The debate on the efficacy of the death penalty in reducing crime has been going on for several decades.
A few years ago, the issue of abolishing capital punishment was raised in the Rajya Sabha but was rejected by a voice vote.
The then Minister of State for Home Affairs stated that the government was not contemplating abolition of the death penalty.
In 2015, the Law Commission of India proposed abolishing the death penalty and sought the comments of States and Union Territories on the subject.
India figures among the 56 nations in the world that have retained the death penalty.
Issue of delay in carrying out the punishment
The prolonged detention of death row convicts in prison is not just inhuman but also against the canons of justice.
The delay coupled with long years of solitary confinement leads to immense psychological trauma.
It is small wonder that the courts tend to take a lenient view and reduce the sentence when such cases of prolonged years of detention come before them.
A time frame needs to be fixed for the President to dispose of mercy petitions.
Delays in investigations, court hearings, and administrative steps to be taken after the final verdict need to be inquired into, and responsibility fixed.
Consider the question “Against the backdrop of delay in carrying out the dealth penalty in India, take the review of India’s position on the abolition of death penalty.”
Conclusion
With the changing time, we must change and so do the way we punish people. Capital punishment should be abolished in the country and until then, the inordinate delays in carrying out punishment should be avoided.
The article examines the issue of selective prosecution and Indian judiciary’s approach toward it. It also highlights the importance of recent Goswami case.
Selective prosecution: Form of abuse of state power
Recently the case involving bail application of a T.V. anchor brought to the fore issue of selective prosecution.
The illegal selection of accused based on grounds prohibited by the Constitution is called “selective prosecution”.
In case of selective prosecution, the police and enforcement agencies selectively target political and ideological opponents of the ruling dispensation to interrogate, humiliate, harass, arrest, torture and imprison.
It is one of the oldest, most pernicious and widespread forms of abuse of state power.
How it is illegal: Two independent legal issues
1) Exercise of prosecutorial discretion
The applicable legal standard is that while the police and prosecutors in common law jurisdictions enjoy vast discretion in deciding who they may pursue and who they may spare.
However, the choice of accused must not be based on grounds that violate Constitutional rights, including the Article 14 right to equal protection of the law.
The accused should not be selected, either explicitly or covertly, on constitutionally prohibited grounds.
2) Merit of the case filed
When the choice of accused runs contrary to the Constitution, the entire criminal proceeding is vitiated, irrespective of the determination of the second issue, viz., whether the accused are convicted or acquitted on the charges brought against them.
Once the proceedings fail under the first issue, there is no legal basis to proceed to the second issue., i.e., trial on the merits of the case.
The theory is that the Constitution cannot be violated to uphold the law — such an approach would spell doom for the Constitution.
The selective prosecution claim must be adjudicated as a threshold issue, with the prosecution being quashed at the outset of the criminal case if the claim is justified.
In the context of this discussion, the constitutionally prohibited ground we are confronting in India is the political or ideological affiliation of the accused.
It is an arbitrary ground that violates the Article 14 guarantee of equal protection of the law.
Approach of judiciary
Our courts have not recognised selective prosecution as an independent claim.
This is because courts assume that lawfulness of prosecution can only be taken up after the trial, if the accused is acquitted.
The 2018 Report of the Law Commission on ‘Wrongful Prosecution (Miscarriage of Justice): Legal Remedies’ discusses remedies for wrongful prosecution available only if and after the accused is acquitted.
Remedy after acquittal comes far too late, well after a brutal and long drawn out criminal justice process that upends the lives of the victims.
Also, the right against selective prosecution cannot be extinguished by conviction.
Separate from post-acquittal actions for wrongful prosecution (which will still be available), the claim of selective prosecution is a threshold issue that is required to be adjudicated at the outset of criminal proceedings even during the investigation stage irrespective of the merit of the charges.
Importance of Goswami case
The case provides a much needed and long awaited legal opening to strengthen the recognition and use of the selective prosecution claim in India to counter politically coloured prosecution.
The judgment says, “Courts should be alive to the needof ensuring that the law does not become a ruse for targeted harassment ”.
The Goswami judgment also quotes the 2018 Supreme Court holding in Romila Thapar v. Union of India that, “[T]he basic entitlement of every citizen who is faced with allegations of criminal wrongdoing is that the investigative process should be fair. This is an integral component of the guarantee against arbitrariness under Article 14 and of the right to life and personal liberty under Article 21.”
Consider the question “How selective prosecution could threten the liberty of person? How Indian judiciary approaches the issue of selective prosecution and what are the issue with the approach adopted by the judiciary?”
Conclusion
To strengthen the protection of civil liberty, equality and democracy, it is time our courts — at all levels — recognise selective prosecution as a threshold constitutional defence against the abuse of police and prosecutorial power.
