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  • What is Federated Learning?

    An improvement in a Machine Learning (ML) model, called ‘federated learning’, is said to enable companies to develop new ways of collecting anonymous data without compromising their privacy.

    Data privacy is the right of a citizen to have control over how personal information is collected and used. Data protection is a subset Right of Privacy under Article 21 of the Indian Constitution.

    What is ‘federated learning’?

    • Federated learning is an ML method used to train an algorithm across multiple decentralised devices or servers holding data samples.
    • It doesn’t exchange data with the devices, meaning there is no central dataset or server that stores the information.
    • Standard ML models require all data to be centralised in a single server. Implementation of federated learning eliminates the need for maintaining a storage hub.
    • The term was first introduced in a 2016 Google study titled ‘Communication-efficient learning of deep networks from decentralized data.’
    • Google emphasised mobile phones and tablets, stating that modern devices contain special features like speech recognition and image models that can store large amounts of data.
    • Since then, Google has used the technique is various products, including Gboard, which provides text and phrase suggestions to the keyboard.

    How this works

    • Federated learning aims to train an algorithm, like deep neural networks, on multiple local datasets contained in local nodes, without explicitly exchanging data.
    • The general principle involves simply exchanging parameters between these nodes. Parameters include a number of federated learning rounds, the total number of nodes, and learning rate.
    • The distinct advantage of the model is its ability to reduce privacy and security risks by limiting the attack surface to only the device, rather than the device and the cloud, Google stated in the study.

    Why need such technology?

    • Smart home devices like speakers and smartwatches collect and share data with other devices and systems over the network.
    • These Internet of Things (IoT) devices are equipped with sensors and software that store a user’s private information like body measurements and location.
    • This large chunk of stored data is used by the device makers to improve their products and services.

    Applications

    • Federated learning is said to have application in healthcare, where hospitals and pharmaceutical companies can exchange data for treating diseases without sharing private clinical information.

  • Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT)

    The Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) has been selected as a ‘Milestone’ facility by the U.S.-based Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).

    Note: GMRT is not an ISRO mission.

    About GMRT

    • The GMRT located near Pune is an array of thirty fully steerable parabolic radio telescopes of 45-metre diameter, observing at metre wavelengths.
    • It is operated by the National Centre for Radio Astrophysics (NCRA), a part of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai.
    • It was conceived and built under the direction of Late Prof. Govind Swarup from 1984 to 1996.
    • At the time it was built, it was the world’s largest interferometric array offering a baseline of up to 25 kilometres (16 mi).
    • Astronomers from all over the world regularly use this telescope to observe many different astronomical objects such as HII regions (interstellar atomic hydrogen that is ionized), galaxies, pulsars, supernovae, and Sun and solar winds.

    A significant feat

    • IEEE is the world’s largest technical professional organisation dedicated to advancing technology in all areas related to electrical and electronics engineering.
    • The IEEE Milestones programme honours significant technical achievements which have a global or regional impact. This is only the third such IEEE ‘Milestone’ recognition for an Indian contribution.
    • The previous two Indian IEEE Milestones were for the pioneering work done by Sir J.C. Bose to demonstrate the generation and reception of radio waves in 1895 (recognised in 2012), and for the Nobel Prize-winning (in 1930) ‘scattering of light’ phenomenon observed by Sir C.V. Raman in 1928.

  • Peatlands and their importance

    Sustainably managing peatlands — peat-swamp forests found around the tropics — can protect humans from future pandemics, according to a new study.

    What are Peatlands?

    • Peatlands are terrestrial wetland ecosystems in which waterlogged conditions prevent plant material from fully decomposing.
    • Consequently, the production of organic matter exceeds its decomposition, which results in a net accumulation of peat.
    • Over millennia this material builds up and becomes several metres thick.
    • They occur in almost every country on Earth, currently covering 3% of the global land surface.
    • Peatland landscapes are varied – from blanket bog landscapes with open, treeless vegetation in the Flow Country of Scotland – a tentative World Heritage site – to swamp forests in Southeast Asia.

    Their importance

    • Peatlands are the largest natural terrestrial carbon store. This area sequesters 0.37 gigatonnes of CO2 a year.
    • In their natural, wet state peatlands provide vital ecosystem services.
    • By regulating water flows, they help minimise the risk of flooding and drought and prevent seawater intrusion.
    • In many parts of the world, peatlands supply food, fibre and other local products that sustain local economies.
    • They also preserve important ecological and archaeological information such as pollen records and human artefacts.

    Try this PYQ now:

    In the context of mitigating the impending global warming due to anthropogenic emission of carbon dioxide, which of the following can be the potential sites for carbon sequestration?

    1. Abandoned and Uneconomic coal seams
    2. Depleted oil and gas reservoirs
    3. Subterranean deep saline formations

    Select the correct answer using the code given below:

    (a) 1 and 2 only

    (b) 1 and 3 only

    (c) 3 only

    (d) 1, 2 and 3

    Why conserve peatlands?

    • The protection and restoration of peatlands are vital in the transition towards a low-carbon and circular economy.
    • Damaged peatlands contribute about 10% of greenhouse gas emissions from the land-use sector.
    • CO2 emissions from drained peatlands are estimated at 1.3 gigatonnes of CO2 annually.
    • This is equivalent to 5.6% of global anthropogenic CO2 emissions.
    • Draining peatlands reduces the quality of drinking water due to pollution from dissolved compounds.

    What is the new study?

    • Peatlands were rich in biodiversity, including many potential vertebrate and invertebrate vectors, or carriers of disease, the study said.
    • These included numerous vertebrates known to represent a risk of spreading zoonotic diseases, such as bats, rodents, pangolins and primates.
    • These areas also faced high levels of habitat disruption such as wild or human-made fires and wildlife harvesting that was perfect conditions for potential emerging zoonotic diseases.
    • The first reported case of Ebola in 1976 was from a peatland area.
    • The cradle of the HIV/AIDS pandemic was believed to be around Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, another area with extensive peatlands.

  • [Burning Issue] Kerala’s Gagging Law

    India is one of such paradises on earth where you can speak your heart out without the fear of someone gunning you down for that, or, it has been until now. Even if the situation of Indians is a lot better than that of their fellow citizens of other nations, the picture is not really soothing or mesmerizing for Indians any more. This observation is being made with regard to the exercise of the right of freedom of speech and expression in the context of social media and the hurdles placed on that by the arbitrary use of the so-called cyber laws of the nation.

    The Kerala government withdrew its controversial ordinance allowing police to arrest individuals for social media posts just two days after it had been introduced.  It had introduced Section 118A in the Kerala Police Act, to penalise ‘offensive,’ ‘abusive,’ and ‘threatening’ social media posts. The amendment had triggered off a public outcry leading to its hasty withdrawal.

    Before delving into the issue in details, we should first understand the case of Kerala and its relation with the erstwhile Section 66A of the IT Act.

    What was Kerala’s Law?

    • Section 118A criminalized the communication of abusive, defamatory and intimidating speech.
    • It says that any expression, publication or dissemination of threatening, abusive, defamatory or humiliating content made through any mode of communication punishable if the person does it knowing it to be false and damaging to reputation or mind of another person.
    • A person, if convicted for the offence, could be punished with imprisonment of upto 3 years or fine of Rs. 10,000 or both.
    • This is not just for writing or creating such a post, but those who share that post or opinion will also face the same kind of punishment.

    Ambiguity over the Law

    • The terms like “threatening, abusing, humiliating or defaming” were not defined in Section 118A of the Kerala Police Act.
    • The outlawed sections spoke of vague notions like ‘annoyance’ and ‘inconvenience’, which are not defined in law anywhere.
    • But Section 2 of the same Act states that the words and expressions not defined under the said law shall have the meanings as defined in the Indian Penal Code (IPC) or Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).
    • Out of four actions criminalized under the latest amendment by Kerala, only defamation is clearly defined in the IPC.

    Section 66A in a new bottle

    Section 66A of the IT Act dealt with information related crimes in which sending information, by means of a computer resource or a communication device, which is inter alia offensive, derogatory and menacing is made a punishable offence.

    The entire provision was struck down by the Supreme Court in the Shreya Singhal judgement.

    • In judgement, the Court had found that Section 66A was contrary to both Articles 19 (free speech) and 21 (right to life) of the Constitution.
    • It lay in the fact that it had created an offence on the basis of undefined actions: such as causing “inconvenience, danger, obstruction and insult”.
    • These did not fall among the exceptions granted under Article 19 of the Constitution, which guarantees the freedom of speech.

    In addition, the court had noted that Section 66A did not have procedural safeguards like other sections of the law with similar aims, such as:

    1. The need to obtain the concurrence of the Centre before action can be taken.
    2. Police authorities could proceed autonomously, literally on the whim of their political masters.

    Criticisms of the Keralan law

    It needs no explanation that the law had the potential for great abuse against lay people and the media alike. It gives enormous, unbridled powers to the police. Anybody could be accused of humiliating someone and prosecuted.

    • Terming the law draconian, experts has said that the new law was another affront on free speech and its wide and vague ambit left it vulnerable to rampant misuse.
    • The law was no way related to women’s safety or anything that the government had earlier said.
    • The law would have been misused by people who may want to sue over the smallest disagreements and by those who are already misusing defamation laws.
    • Its misuse would not have been restricted to political criticism or religious opinion formation but “all ‘likes’, blogs, ‘unfriending’ now will be settled at police stations,” he says.
    • It mentioned “class of persons” in the law which could even mean deities, any group, organisation, brand or company.
    • It will effectively be a DDOS attack (denial-of-service attack) on the police functioning on the state, as well as on the police. There will be a huge rush of FIRs filed against all kind of issues between people.
    • Another aspect of worry was that it gave power to the police to file suo-motu cases against anyone.

    Bigger Picture: Freedom of Speech on Social Media

    • The Internet and Social Media has become a vital communications tool through which individuals can exercise their right to freedom of expression and exchange information and ideas.
    • In the past year or so, a growing movement of people around the world has been witnessed who are advocating for change, justice, equality, accountability of the powerful and respect for human rights.
    • In such movements, the Internet and Social Media has often played a key role by enabling people to connect and exchange information instantly and by creating a sense of solidarity.
    • And in the light of the growing use of the internet and social media as a medium of exercising this right, access to this medium has also been recognized as a fundamental human right.

    Hate Mongering: A new cool

    Social media today is a hotbed of toxic and hateful conversations. Curbing hate speech and fake news has emerged as a critical challenge for governments globally.

    • Unregulated social media promotes misinformation, hate speech, defamation, and threats to public order, terrorist incitement, bullying, and anti-national activities.
    • Abusive posts do promote violence against or threaten people based on their race, national origin, sexual orientation, gender and religious affiliation.
    • On grim situations, they include death threats and rape threats to women.
    • Also, the fake news panacea is not a new phenomenon linked to the rise of social media. Fake news has even lead to lynchings.

    Why controlling social media expressions is a difficult task?

    It is undeniable that the consequences of the narrative that takes shape on online platforms, more often than not, have real life implications.

    • The number of users on social media is ever-increasing and the volume of traffic is too huge to monitor.
    • The social media platforms are least bothered about public normalcy and social order.
    • They even with public policy departments seem to neglect their role in curbing hate- content and misinformation.
    • If over-regulated, the platforms would become ripe for the state’s control over the public perception through state-promoted posts.

    Limited cyber safeguards

    • There is no specific legislation in India which deals with social media except The Information Technology Act, 2000.
    • There are several provisions in it which can be used to seek redress in case of violation of any rights in the cyberspace, internet and social media.

    Other provisions are:

    Some of the safeguards include Section 67 IT Act (punishment for publishing or transmitting obscene material in electronic form); Section 506 IPC (punishment for criminal intimidation); Section 509 IPC (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman); Section 500 IPC (punishment for defamation).

    Way forward

    • The regulations to deal with such issues in India are insufficient and are also scattered across multiple acts and rules under the IPC, the IT Act and CrPC.
    • The need is to harmonize and unify the existing laws.
    • Moreover, there is a need to amend the draft intermediary guidelines rules to tackle modern forms of hate content that proliferate on the Internet.
    • Therefore, it is imperative for the government to recognize the menace of hate speech and ensure that there is proper regulation in place to tackle the issue.

    Keeping all this in mind, the Government should consult technical experts to look into all the possible facets of the use and misuse of social media and recommend a suitable manner in which it can be regulated without hindering the civil rights of citizens.

    Conclusion

    There is no doubt that we require some legal provisions to protect persons from cyber bullying. But the amendment brought in by Kerala provided ample scope for gross misuse.

    • It is clearly evident that social media is a very powerful means of exercising one’s freedom of speech and expression.
    • However, it is also been increasingly used for illegal acts which has given force to the Governments attempts at censoring social media.
    • Where on the one hand, the misuse of social media entails the need for legal censorship, on the other hand, there are legitimate fears of violation of civil rights of people.
    •  What is therefore desirable is regulation of social media, not its censorship.

    References

    https://thewire.in/government/kerala-free-speech-law-constitution

    https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/as-kerala-brings-new-gag-law-recalling-sc-rap-on-another-5-years-ago-7061423/

    https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/keralas-new-118a-law-is-section-66a-new-bottle-138185

    http://www.legalserviceindia.com/legal/article-426-social-media-and-freedom-of-speech-and-expression.html

    https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/thiruvananthapuram/government-decides-to-backtrack-from-implementing-kerala-police-act-amendment/articleshow/79365385.cms

    https://www.oneindia.com/explained-what-is-118a-of-the-kerala-police-act-cs-3180068.html

  • vaccine nationalism

    Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the weaknesses in the multilateralism which is best exemplified by the race among countries for getting access to the vaccine.

    Business out of pandemic

    • It is a crime against humanity to make a profit during any human tragedy.
    • The COVID-19 pandemic is also a human tragedy and needs global solidarity.
    • However, in a liberalised economy, there is a shocking silence in the global market trying to do business out of human suffering
    • This is where organisations of the United Nations and global networks for people should come together in one voice.
    • WHO’s idea of a “voluntary pool to collect patent rights, regulatory test data for developing COVID-19 therapies, vaccines, and diagnostics” was met with criticism.

    How to ensure equitable access to vaccine

    • The advance purchase agreements that some countries have negotiated with pharmaceutical companies exemplify the rich grabbing everything first trends.
    • Such vaccine nationalism undermines equitable access to vaccines. 
    • There has to be prioritisation for high-risk groups in all countries.
    • That framework has to be accepted by the global community without dispute.
    • In this, the COVAX partnership is a mechanism for ensuring that.
    • GAVI, or the Global Alliance for Vaccine Initiative, was in existence during the pre-COVID-19 period to ensure the pooled procurement and equitable supply of life-saving vaccines to low- and middle-income countries.
    • It has been roped in for the COVID-19 vaccine too.

    Role of the governments

    • World Health Organization Director-General exhorted member countries to treat COVID-19 technologies as a “public good”.
    • If it is a public good, governments must step in to regulate its development, innovation, manufacture, sale, and supply ultimately to the public.
    • If such an idealistic outcome does not materialise based on basic human rights then some regulation mandated by the UN General Assembly must be thought of.
    • Through the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) and the Doha Ministerial Conference declaration 2001, the WTO made provisions for compulsory licensing. 

    Consider the question “Vaccine nationalism has consequences for cooperation on the global problem. Examine the issue of vaccine nationalism and suggest ways to ensure equitable distribution”

    Way forward

    • Compulsory licensing is an extreme step available with India if rich countries go for advance purchase and hoarding of a COVID-19 vaccine produced in India by multinational pharma companies and deny India’s supply needs.
    • COVID-19 vaccine candidates are still in Phase 3 trials; the compulsory licence clause cannot be applied.
    • So, coercion to issue “voluntary licensing” to subsidiary companies in many developing countries such as India, Egypt, Thailand and Brazil by the patent holder is another option.
    • India and South Africa jointly sent out a communication, to the IPR Council of the WTO for a waiver of the protection of copyright, design, trademarks and patent on COVID-19 related technologies including vaccines.
    • If this is decided favourably as a special case considering the unprecedented impact of the pandemic, it will set a precedent.
    • Global campaigns through the media and civil society organisations can garner enough momentum to exert pressure on TRIPS.

    Conclusion

    Having nothing less than vaccines and life-saving medicines being treated as a public good must definitely be the long-term goal.

  • Putting India-U.S. trade ties on new footing

    After tumultuous years of Trump administration in trade policies, the article examines the new possibilities under the next U.S. President in trade ties with India.

    Approach towards WTO and India

    • The new U.S. administration will have more constructive stance on multilateral issues in the World Trade Organization (WTO).
    • The Trump administration went out of its way in seriously undermining WTO institutions when the organisation was already in need of reform and new direction.
    • The Biden administration is less likely to engage in unilateral tariff increases and more likely to pursue remedies in the WTO.
    • In case of India, the Trump administration it pursued an aggressive approach to resolve market access concerns through threats to eliminate India’s benefits under the Generalized System of Preferences programme.
    • However, the follow-through was weak.
    • The administration was on the brink of concluding a historic bilateral trade deal, yet it lost focus.

    5 likely developements

    • 1) It is clear that Mr. Biden plans to focus on domestic concerns first.
    • There may be trade aspects to some of these efforts, but they may have limited early relevance for a future U.S.-India trade policy.
    • 2) Two, as it turns to trade policy, the Biden administration is not likely to place India among its top few priorities.
    • Among top priorities will include formulating its approach with China, such as finding alternatives to the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership to set new global standards that address China’s practices.
    • That said, India should be among the priorities at the next level down.
    • 3) The trade deal still pending with the Trump administration remains compelling.
    • There could be an early opportunity to conclude these negotiations and for the Biden administration to get credit.
    • A bilateral deal will not lead to serious consideration of FTA negotiations any time soon.
    • But this first trade agreement could pave the way for later additional small agreements.
    • 4) The existing Trade Policy Forum (TPF) met only once over the last four years.
    • It seems likely that the Biden administration will see the TPF’s value as a venue for more regular discussions on a range of trade issues.
    • 5) A reinvigorated TPF will present new opportunities for the two countries to take up a range of cutting-edge trade issues that will be critical in determining whether the U.S. and India can converge more over time or will drift further apart.
    • These include digital trade issues, intellectual property rights and approaches to nurturing innovation, better health sector alignment, and more regular regulatory work on science-based agricultural policies.

    Conclusion

    The future looks bright for U.S.-India trade under a Biden administration, but that does not mean it will be any easier. It will be critical for leadership on both sides to commit to strong efforts to put the trade relationship on a new footing, which will have to involve a ‘can-do’ attitude to solving problems.

    Back2Basics: Trade Policy Forum

    • It was established in 2005.
    • The Forum is part of the overall United States-India Economic Dialogue, replacing the Trade Policy Working Group pillar.
    • It  convenes on a regular basis.
    • The Forum provides an opportunity to work together to expand trade between the two countries.
    • The agenda could cover the following subjects: tariff and non-tariff trade barriers; foreign direct investment; subsidies; customs procedures; standards, testing, labeling and certification intellectual property rights protection; sanitary and phytosanitary measures; government procurement; and services.

  • Mistake in allowing industrial houses to own banks

    The article analyses the risks involved in allowing the corporate houses to own and operate the banks.

    Context

    • An internal working group of the RBI has recently made a recommendation to permit industrial houses to own and control banks.

    Encourage bank but not owned by banks

    • According to the report, the main benefit is that industry-owned banks would increase the supply of credit, which is low and growing slowly.
    • Credit constraints are indeed a real problem, and creating more banks is certainly one way of addressing the issue.
    • But this is an argument for encouraging more banks but it is not an argument for creating banks specifically owned by industry.
    • The other powerful way to promote more good quality credit is to undertake serious reforms of the public sector banks.

    Problems in allowing industrial houses in banking

    • The problem with banks owned by corporate houses is that they tend to engage in connected lending.
    • This can lead to three main adverse outcomes:

    1) Over-financing of risky activities

    • Lending to firms that are part of the corporate group allows them to undertake risky activities that are not easily financeable through regular channels.
    • Precisely because these activities are risky, they often do not work out.
    • And when that happens, it is typically taxpayers who end up footing the bill.
    • In principle, connected lending can be contained by the regulatory authority.
    • However, experiences in other nations show that regulating connected lending is impossible convincing most advanced countries that regulating connected lending is impossible.
    • Indonesia tried to regulate the practice: It banned the practice.
    • The only solution is to ban corporate-owned banks.
    • Regulation and supervision need to be strengthened considerably to deal with the current problems in the banking system before they are burdened with new regulatory tasks.

    2) Lack of exit

    • The economic landscape is littered with failed firms, kept alive on life support, making it impossible for more efficient firms to grow and replace them.
    • While some progress was initially made under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), this had stalled even before the pandemic, largely because existing promoters and owners mounted a stiff resistance.
    • If industrial houses get direct access to financial resources, their capacity to delay or prevent exit altogether will only increase.

    3) Increasing dominance

    • The Indian economy already suffers from over-concentration.
    • We not only have concentration within industries, but in some cases the dominance of a few industrial houses spans multiple sectors.
    • If large industrial houses get banking licences, they will become even more powerful, not just relative to other firms in one industry, but firms in another industry.

    Impact on regulator and government

    • The power acquired by getting banking licences will not just make them stronger than commercial rivals, but even relative to the regulators and government itself.
    • This will aggravate imbalances, leading to a vicious cycle of dominance breeding more dominance.

    Impact on quality of credit

    • Indian financial sector reforms have aimed at improving not just the quantity, but also the quality of credit.
    • The goal has been to ensure that credit flows to the most economically efficient users, since this is the key to securing rapid growth.
    • If India now starts granting banking licences to powerful, politically connected industrial houses we will effectively be abandoning that long-held objective.

    Impact on economy and democracy

    • Indian capitalism has suffered because of the murky two-way relationship between the state and industrial capital.
    • If the line between industrial and financial capital is erased, this stigma will only become worse.
    • Corporate houses that are already big will be enabled to become even bigger allowing them to dominate the economic and political landscape.
    • A rules-based, well-regulated market economy, as well as democracy itself — will be undermined, perhaps critically.

    Consider the question “What are the challenges and opportunities in allowing the industrial houses to own and operate the banks.”

    Conclusion

    The conclusion is clear. Mixing industry and finance will set us on a road full of dangers — for growth, public finances, and the future of the country itself.

  • One nation One election

    Prime Minister once again raised the pitch for “One Nation, One Election” and a single voter list for all to prevent the impact of the model code of conduct on development works due to frequent elections.

    Try this question:

    Q.Discuss how a common electoral roll and simultaneous elections are ways to save the enormous amount of effort and expenditure on Elections in India. Also discuss the centralizing tendency behind the idea.

    Elections in India

    • Currently, elections to the state assemblies and the Lok Sabha are held separately — that is whenever the incumbent government’s five-year term ends or whenever it is dissolved due to various reasons.
    • This applies to both the state legislatures and the Lok Sabha. The terms of Legislative Assemblies and the Lok Sabha may not synchronize with one another.
    • For instance, Rajasthan faced elections in late 2018, whereas Tamil Nadu will go to elections only in 2021.

    Simultaneous Elections

    • But the idea of “One Nation, One Election” envisages a system where elections to all states and the Lok Sabha will have to be held simultaneously.
    • This will involve the restructuring of the Indian election cycle in a manner that elections to the states and the centre synchronize.
    • This would mean that the voters will cast their vote for electing members of the LS and the state assemblies on a single day, at the same time (or in a phased manner as the case may be).

    Birth of the Idea: A backgrounder

    • Simultaneous elections are not new to India. They were the norm until 1967.
    • But following dissolution of some Legislative Assemblies in 1968 and 1969 and that of the Lok Sabha in December 1970, elections to State Assemblies and Parliament have been held separately.
    • The idea of reverting to simultaneous polls was mooted in the annual report of the Election Commission in 1983.
    • The Law Commission’s Report also referred to it in 1999.
    • After PM floated the idea once again in 2016, the NITI Aayog prepared a working paper on the subject in January 2017.

    What are the proposals under it?

    There were two proposals to conduct elections synchronization in two batches.

    • One proposal was to make the shift to simultaneous polls in a phased manner, where general elections, of few States and UT may be synchronised in 2019.
    • For such a synchronization to happen, besides political consensus and extension of term up to six months in some states, amendments to the Constitution have to be made.
    • Elections to the remaining States and UTs with will be synchronised by the end of 2021.
    • Thereafter, elections to the Lok Sabha, all the State Legislative Assemblies and Union Territories (with legislatures) will be held simultaneously from 2024.

    Advantages of simultaneous elections

    • Reduce cost: The cost of an election has two components – one, expenditure incurred by the Election Commission and two, expenditure incurred by the political parties. A large number of government employees and public buildings are diverted from their regular responsibilities for election duties. Supporters of the simultaneous elections argue that it will reduce election expenditure in terms of finance and reduce diversion of human resources for election duties.
    • Reduce disruption due to MCC: Model Code of Conduct (MCC) comes into operation during election season. MCC is seen as an obstacle to the government service delivery mechanism. Simultaneous elections may reduce such disruption.
    • Reduce populism: During elections, political convenience takes precedence over public interest. To lure voters, political parties concede to popular demands without any consideration to public interest. Simultaneous elections reduce such opportunity for political parties.
    • National prespective: Simultaneous election promotes national perspective over the regional perspective. This is important for the unity of the country.
    • Strengthen National parties: Since it promotes national perspective, simultaneous elections strengthen national parties. This reduces mushrooming growth of political parties based on narrow vote bank politics.
    • Strengthens federalism: Simultaneous elections bring States on par with the Center. If the elections are to be held simultaneously once in five years, the elected state governments cannot be dismissed easily. This reduces the anomalies created by the Article 356 (President’s Rule) of the Indian constitution and hence, it strengthens federalism.
    • Stability: The simultaneous election once in five years provides stability to the governments. It allows the government to take difficult and harsh decision in larger public interest.

    Arguments against simultaneous elections

    • No guarantee that expenditure of the political parties will reduce: Simultaneous elections may reduce the expenditure incurred by the Election Commission. But there is no guarantee that expenditure of the political parties will reduce. Political parties may spend entire fund at once rather than in phases.
    • Reduce importance of state elections: Center and States are equal and sovereign within their jurisdiction. Simultaneous elections may reduce the importance of state elections. Thus it affects the concept of federalism.
    • Violates Article 83(2) and Article 172 : Article 83(2) and Article 172 of the Constitution requires that the Lok Sabha and State legislatures be in existence for five years from the date of its first meeting, “unless dissolved earlier”. Simultaneous elections ignore this phrase, as there would be no opportunity to dissolve Lok Sabha or State Assemblies.
    • Negates NCM: A government can be in power as long as it enjoys the confidence of Parliament. Simultaneous elections can work only if governments last for a fixed tenure of five years regardless of confidence of Parliament. It negates the concept of ‘no confidence motion’ – an important tool for legislative control over the executive.
    • Keep Government on toes: Elections are an important part of representative democracy. Simultaneous elections with fixed tenure of five years curtail people’s right to express their confidence or displeasure on the government.
    • Ignores diversity: Simultaneous elections will relegate local issues or issues of state importance to the background. This completely ignores the diversity of the country.
    • Logistical challenge: Holding simultaneous election once in five years may also face logistical challenges. For the free and fair conduct of the elections, security forces need to be deployed in large numbers. Given the current strength of security personnel, this may be a challenging task.

    Way forward

    • There needs to be a consensus and all hands on the deck to see whether the country suits for simultaneous elections.
    • All political parties should at least cooperate in debating this issue, once the debate starts, the public opinion can be taken into consideration.
    • India being a mature democracy, can then follows the outcome of the deliberation.

    Shekhawat solution

    • The former vice-president Bhairon Singh Shekhawat proposed a solution. He called for a review of provisions of the no-confidence motion.
    • He suggested that no-confidence motion must mandatorily be accompanied by an alternative government formation plan. This prevents premature dissolution of Lok Sabha on account of political instability.
    • But critics point out that, this solution will take away people’s right to elect or dismiss a government.

    Conclusion

    • The constitution of India has essentially prescribed a federal structure of state governance.
    • As we are aware that there are several levels of government such as Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha besides, state governments, Municipal Corporations and the Panchayats, which are forms of local governance.
    • As a result the entire power is not concentrated with one government.
    • But One Nation, One Election can lead to such concentration of power in a single hand.
    • So the new government needs to ensure such vast power is not gathered by a single domain through One Nation, One Election.

  • What is J&K Roshni Act?

    The J&K High Court has declared Roshni Act “illegal, unconstitutional and unsustainable” and a CBI probe has been ordered into the allotment of land under this law.

    Must read:

    [Burning Issue] One Year since the Repeal of Art. 370

    What is the Roshni Act?

    • The J&K State Lands (Vesting of Ownership to the Occupants) Act, 2001 is popularly known as the Roshni Act.
    • It envisaged the transfer of ownership rights of state land to its occupants, subject to the payment of a cost, as determined by the government.
    • It set 1990 as the cutoff for encroachment on state land.
    • The government’s target was to earn Rs 25,000 crore by transferring 20 lakh kanals (one-eighth of an acre) of state land to existing occupants against payment at market rates.
    • The government said the revenue generated would be spent on commissioning hydroelectric power projects, hence the name “Roshni”.

    What is the recent controversy?

    • In October this year, the High Court held the Roshni Act as ‘unconstitutional’.
    • The court also directed the UT government to make public names of those who grabbed the land under the scheme.
    • Last week, the UT government began publishing the names of beneficiaries on its websites.
    • The first set of names included prominent politicians and their relatives, hotels, and a trust connected each to the dominant parties of the Gupkar declaration.

    A scam being busted

    • Investigations into the land transfers subsequently found that land in Gulmarg had been given over to ineligible beneficiaries.
    • However several government officials illegally possessed and vested ownership of state land to occupants who did not satisfy criteria under the Roshni Act.
    • A report by the CAG estimated that against the targeted Rs 25,000 crore, only Rs 76 crore had been realized from the transfer of land between 2007 and 2013, thus defeating the purpose.
    • The report blamed irregularities including arbitrary reduction in prices fixed by a standing committee, and said this was done to benefit politicians and affluent people.

  • UP Law against Forceful Inter-Faith Marriage and Conversions

    The UP Cabinet has cleared a draft ordinance against forceful inter-faith conversions for marriage, amid similar steps by other states.

    Try this question:

    Q. In a world where religiosity is rising, the contemporary liberal ideas seem outdated and incapable of handling dangerous issues of religious bigotry. Critically comment.

    What is the proposed UP law on ‘love jihad’?

    • The proposed law defines punishment and fine for three different cases.
    1. Conversion done though “misrepresentation, force, undue influence, coercion, allurement or by any fraudulent means” would face jail term of one to 5 years, and a minimum fine of Rs 15,000.
    2. Conversion of a minor, a woman from the SC or ST would have to face a jail term from three to 10 years, with a minimum fine of Rs 25,000.
    3. If such conversion is found at the mass level, then those guilty would face jail term from three to 10 years, with a minimum fine of Rs 50,000.
    • It proposes among other things that a marriage will be declared “shunya” (null and void) if the “sole intention” of the same is to “change a girl’s religion”.

    Who can convert and how can they do it under the proposed law?

    • Under the new proposed law, anyone wanting to convert into another religion would have to give it in writing to the District Magistrate at least two months in advance.
    • The government is supposed to prepare a format for the application and the individual has to fill the application for conversion in that format.
    • However, under the new law, it would be the responsibility of the one going for the religious conversion to prove that it is not taking place forcefully or with any fraudulent means.
    • In case, any violation is found under this provision, then one faces a jail term from 6 months to 3 years and fine of minimum Rs 10,000.

    Need for such law

    • The state of UP is witnessing rising incidents of forced religious conversions or conversions through fraudulent ways.
    • The extreme right wing politicians in the state were quiet vocal against alleged religious conversions.
    • There are cases of being allegedly lured and honey-trapped by men and those girls now seeking their help to free themselves.

    Interfaith marriages and the Constitution

    • The right to marry a person of one’s choice is a guarantee under Article 21.
    • At the same time, freedom of conscience, the practice and propagation of a religion of one’s choice, including not following any religion, are guaranteed under Article 25.
    • One set of rights cannot invalidate the other.

    What do critics say?

    • Such law to regulate matrimonial relationships between two consenting adults is simply against the constitutional guarantees.
    • The right to marry a person of one’s choice flows from the freedom of individuality, naturally available to any individual.
    • Hence, interfaith marriages and religious conversions should not be the matter of concern for social watchdogs.
    • Hence, the mere statement of two consenting adults about the existence of their matrimonial relation is sufficient.

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