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Subject: Governance

Important aspects of Society

  • What is ‘Front-of-Pack Labelling’ (FoPL)?

    The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) will soon start labelling the front of packaged food products with Health Star Rating (HSR).

    What is FoPL?

    • In India, packaged food has had back-of-package (BOP) nutrient information in detail but no FoPL.
    • Counter to this, FoPL can nudge people towards healthy consumption of packaged food.
    • It can also influence purchasing habits.
    • The study endorsed the HSR format, which speaks about the proportions of salt, sugar, and fat in food that is most suited for consumers.
    • Countries such as the UK, Mexico, Chile, Peru, Hungary, and Australia have implemented FoPL systems.

    What warranted such rating in India?

    • Visual bluff: A lot of Indian consumers do not read the information available at the back of the packaged food item.
    • Burden of NCDs: Also, India has a huge burden of non-communicable diseases that contributes to around 5.87 million (60%) of all deaths in a year.
    • Healthy dietary choices: HSR will encourage people to make healthy choices and could bring a transformational change in the society.
    • Supreme court order: A PIL seeking direction to the government to frame guidelines on HSR and impact assessment for food items and beverages was filed in the Supreme Court in June 2021.

    Which category of food item will have HSR?

    • All packaged food items or processed food will have the HSR label.
    • These will include chips, biscuits, namkeen, sweets and chocolates, meat nuggets, and cookies.
    • However, milk and its products such as chenna and ghee are EXEMPTED as per the FSSAI draft notified in 2019.

    Will there be pushback from food industry?

    • Negative warning: Some experts opposed the use of the HSR model in India, suggesting that consumers might tend to take this as an affirmation of the health benefits rather than as a negative warning of ill effects.
    • Lack of awareness: This is significant because there is lack of awareness on star ratings related to consumer products in India.
    • Impact on Sale: Certain organisations fear it might affect the sale of certain food products.

    When will the rating come into force?

    • FSSAI’s scientific panel recommends voluntary implementation of HSR format from 2023 and a transition period of four years for making it mandatory.
    • FSSAI noted that the proposed thresholds are in alignment with the models implemented in other countries and ‘WHO population nutrient intake goals recommendations’.
    • FSSAI will analyse the nutritional information in 100 mg of packaged food.
    • The food safety compliance system licensing application portal will have a module for generating certificates wherein a licensee can enter details of a product.

     

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    Back2Basics: Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI)

    • The FSSAI is an autonomous body established under the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India.
    • It has been established under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 which is a consolidating statute related to food safety and regulation in India.
    • It is responsible for protecting and promoting public health through the regulation and supervision of food safety.
    • It is headed by a non-executive Chairperson, appointed by the Central Government, either holding or has held the position of not below the rank of Secretary to the Government of India.

  • Anti-microbial resistance needs urgent attention

    Context

    Ever since the pandemic struck, concerns have been raised about the improper use of antimicrobials amongst Covid-19 patients.

    Concern over anti-microbial resistance

    • The “Global burden of bacterial antimicrobial resistance in 204 countries and territories in 2019 (GRAM)” report, released last month, 4.95 million people died from drug-resistant bacterial infections in 2019, with 3,89,000 deaths in South Asia alone.
    • AMR directly caused at least 1.27 million of those deaths.
    • Lower respiratory infections accounted for more than 1.5 million deaths associated with resistance in 2019, making it the most burdensome infectious syndrome.
    • Amongst pathogens, E coli was responsible for the most deaths in 2019, followed by K pneumoniae, S aureus, A baumannii, S pneumoniae, and M tuberculosis.

    Concern for India

    • As per the yearly trends reported by the Indian Council of Medical Research since 2015, India reports a high level of resistance in all these pathogens, especially E coli and K pneumoniae.
    • Only a fraction of the Indian data, available through the WHO-GLASS portal, has been included in the GRAM report.
    • India has been reporting high levels of resistance to fluoroquinolones, cephalosporins and carbapenems across the Gram-negative pathogens that cause almost 70 per cent of infections in communities and hospitals.
    • Therefore, the Indian data on the AMR burden may not look very different from the estimates published in the report.
    • Now that we know that AMR’s burden surpasses that of TB and HIV, a sense of urgency in containing such resistance is called for.
    • With no new drugs in the pipeline for drug-resistant infections, time is running out for patients.

    Addressing AMR through a multipronged and multisectoral approach

    • Use existing antimicrobials judiciously: The urgency to develop new drugs should not discourage us from instituting measures to use the existing antimicrobials judiciously.
    • Improved infection control in communities and hospitals, availability and utilisation of quality diagnostics and laboratories and educating people about antimicrobials have proved effective in reducing antimicrobial pressure — a precursor to resistance.
    • The National Action Plan for AMR, approved in 2017, completes its official duration this year. The progress under the plan has been far from satisfactory.
    • There is enough evidence that interventions like infection control, improved diagnosis and antimicrobial stewardship are effective in the containment of AMR.

    Conclusion

    The GRAM report has underlined that postponing action could prove costly.

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  • New Rules for Deputation of DIGs

    After its proposal to amend the All India Service Rules that would allow it to call any IAS, IPS or IFoS officer on central deputation with or without the state’s consent, the Centre has issued another order on central deputation of Deputy Inspector General-level IPS officers.

    What is the order?

    • The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has said that IPS officers coming to the Centre at DIG level would no longer be required to be empanelled at that level with the Union Government.
    • According to existing rules, a DIG-ranked IPS officer with a minimum experience of 14 years could only be deputed to the Centre if the Police Establishment Board empanelled them as DIGs at the Centre.
    • The board chooses the panel on the basis of officers’ career and vigilance records.
    • Only Superintendent of Police-level officers do not require empanelment at the Centre.
    • The new order makes the entire pool of DIG-level officers in a state eligible for central deputation.

    Why has it been issued?

    Ans. Huge Vacancies

    • The move is aimed at increasing the pool of DIG-level IPS officers for central deputation in the backdrop of massive vacancies in central police organisations (CPOs) and the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs).
    • Out of 252 posts reserved for IPS officers at DIG level at the Centre, 118 (almost half) are vacant.
    • IPS officers have a quota of 40% in CPOs and CAPFs.

    How will the move help?

    • The idea is to ease up the process of central deputation as verification of records takes a long time.
    • Also, it increases the size of the pool of officers available to the Centre.

    So why would states have a problem?

    Ans. Relieving the Officers

    • States would have to be willing to relieve these officers.
    • The new order may be seen by many states as the Centre’s attempt at pushing the envelope further on increasing its powers over officers serving in the states.
    • With these orders, the Centre would have powers to demand, within a stipulated time frame, a certain quota of officers from the state for central deputation.
    • It may also call any IAS officer on central deputation in “public interest”.
    • In case the state failed to relieve the officer, he/she would be deemed relieved following the date fixed.

    Why don’t states relieve officers?

    Ans. Vacancy in states

    • There is a serious paucity of officers in the states too.
    • In a cost-cutting move during the Atal Bihari Vajpayee regime, the size of IPS batches among other government staff was reduced even though sizeable vacancies existed even then.
    • From 80-90 officers each, IPS batches were cut to 35-40 officers (in 1999-2002, the average was 36).
    • The average attrition rate of IPS officers due to superannuation is 85 per year.
    • The strength of IAS officers too had been impacted due to low intake during the 1990s.

    How has this impacted the services?

    • The anomaly in IPS recruitment adversely affected cadre management over the years.
    • At some levels, there are fewer officers than sanctioned posts, while at others there is a glut. For example, UP has a shortage of DIGs and IGs, but too many officers at the level of ADGs.

     

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  • Need for integrated approach to power sector

    Context

    Electricity and development sectors need a more integrated approach to achieve the vision set forth in instruments such as the Union Budget that guide policy implementation at other administrative levels.

    Reduction in allocation

    • While the health sector witnessed a 16% increase in estimated Budget allocations from last year, medical and public health spending was reduced by 45% for 2022-23.
    • Budget estimates demonstrate intent, but the proof of the pudding lies in the actual expenditure which reiterates the need for greater attention to be paid to our health and education sectors.
    •  While the health sector was allocated â‚č74,602 crore in 2021-22, the Government exceeded its spending by over â‚č5,000 crore more (â‚č80,026 crore) on health, signalling a spike in demand, likely propelled by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
    • Given this scenario, a less than â‚č1,000 crore increase in the Budget Estimate (â‚č86,606 crore) in 2022-23 when compared with last year’s Revised Estimates (â‚č85,915 crore) appears incongruent with the Government’s aim of providing quality public health care at scale.

    Role of reliable energy

    • It is widely recognised that the availability of reliable electricity supply can improve the delivery of health and education services.
    •  74% of the targets of the Sustainable Development Goals are interlinked with universal access to reliable energy.
    •  Its reliability in terms of the number of hours that electricity is available steadily without any voltage fluctuations also plays a significant role in delivering services.
    •  Sometimes, multiple policies can complement each other to achieve the larger sectoral objectives.
    • For example, in Assam, the Energy Vision document that lays out the electricity and development outcomes is to be applied in tandem with the Solar Energy Policy 2017 that operationalises this vision via an action plan.

    Reasons for lack of integration of electrification in the development sector

    • The lack of integration of electrification requirements in development sector policy documents may be partly due to lack of information about electricity and development linkages, poor coordination mechanisms between the sectors and departments, and poor access to appropriate finance.
    • Even while electricity is considered, it is to the limited extent of being a one-time civil infrastructure activity rather than a continuous feature necessary for the day-to-day operations of these services.

    Way forward

    •  To successfully integrate electricity provisioning and maintenance, policy frameworks should include innovative coordination and financing mechanisms.
    • These mechanisms, while developing clear compliance mandates, must also allow sufficient room for flexibility to respond to local contexts.
    • Providing reliable electricity for health centres and schools should be the responsibility of centralised decision-making entities at the State or national level.
    • As India has witnessed with other cross-sectoral and centralised statistical, planning, and implementation data governance, diverse contexts must support oversight mechanisms that ensure data credibility.
    • Finance is largely unavailable to ensure reliable electricity supply to schools and health facilities.
    • Some directives, such as those governing the use of untied funds, need to be more flexible in allowing these facilities to prioritise providing reliable and sustainable electricity.

    Conclusion

    A successful policy outcome might be dependent on several invisible aspects that do not get the attention and funding necessary to aid in successful policy delivery. Electricity is one of them.

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  • Untangling Kerala’s Lokayukta controversy

    Context

    The controversy surrounding the amendment to the Lokayukta Act of Kerala — effected through an ordinance —has raised the political temperature in the State.

    The background of the Lokayukta

    • The term Lokpal was first used in a report of the Administrative Reforms Commission headed by Morarji Desai as far back as in 1966.
    • The first Bill on Lokpal was introduced in the Lok Sabha in 1968 which lapsed with the dissolution of the House.
    • Finally, after 45 years the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Bill was passed by Parliament in 2013.
    • The Lokpal and Lokayukta Act delegates the power to States to establish by law the Lokayukta to deal with complaints relating to corruption against public functionaries.
    • The Lokpal has jurisdiction to inquire into allegations of corruption against the Prime Minister, Ministers, Members of Parliament, Group A, B, C and D officers and officials of the central government.
    • After the conclusion of the investigation, the Lokpal may file a case in the special court in case the findings disclose the commission of offence under the Prevention of Corruption Act by the Prime Minister, Ministers or Members of Parliament.
    • Some States already have established Lokayuktas. For example, Maharashtra in 1971, and Kerala in 1999.

    How Lokpal is different from other investigative bodies

    • The Lokpal is no ordinary investigative body.
    • Connection with judiciary: It is headed by the incumbent Chief Justice of of India or a retired judge.
    • It has eight members, four of whom are judicial members.
    • The Lokpal has an inquiry wing and a prosecution wing to deal with investigation and prosecution, respectively.
    • The director of prosecution files the case in the special court based on the findings of the Lokpal.

    Issue in Kerala

    • In order to get a clearer perspective on the Kerala Lokayukta controversy, it is necessary to understand the scheme of the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act enacted by Parliament.
    • The long title of the Act says: “An Act to provide for the establishment of a body of Lokpal for the Union and Lokayukta for States to inquire into allegations of corruption against certain public functionaries….”
    • Investigative body: Thus, the Lokpal is conceived of as a body which will inquire into allegations of corruption.
    •  Section 14 of the Lokayukta Act in Kerala which has now been amended said that if  the Lokayukta is satisfied on the complaint against the public servant being substantiated that he should not continue to hold the post held by him.
    • In other words, if the public servant is the Chief Minister or a Minister, he shall forthwith resign his office.
    • It may be noted here that such a provision does not exist in any of the State laws or the Lokpal Act of the Centre.
    •  An investigative body does not have the legal authority to direct the public servant to resign his post on the basis of its findings.
    • The Chief Minister or a Minister holds office during the pleasure of the Governor (Article 164).
    • The Constitution of India does not contemplate any external pressure on the Governor to withdraw his pleasure.
    • The Sarkaria Commission had suggested that the Governor can dismiss a Chief Minister only when he loses his majority in the Assembly and refuses to step down.
    • The Supreme Court has accepted this recommendation of the Sarkaria Commission.
    • No agency created by a law made by the Assembly, particularly an investigative body, can declare that its decision be carried out by the Governor.
    • It would amount to a violation of the Constitution.
    • State law includes the office bearers of political parties within its definition of ‘public servant’. 
    • The Lokayukta law was enacted to inquire into cases of corruption of public functionaries such as Ministers, legislators, etc. who are covered by the Prevention of Corruption Act.
    • This Act does not include office-bearers of political parties in its definition clause.
    • Another problematic provision in this law is the one which deals with the reports of Lokayukta (Section 12).
    • It says that the Lokayukta shall, on the allegation of corruption being substantiated, send the findings along with recommendation of action to the competent authority who is required to take action as recommended by the Lokayukta.
    • It further says that if the Lokayukta is satisfied by the action taken by the competent authority, he shall close the case.
    • There is no provision in the central law under which the Lokpal can close the case before it reaches the court.
    • The Lokayukta not being a court does not have the legal capacity to close the corruption case under any circumstances.

    Conclusion

    The Kerala Lokayukta Act should be re-examined by a committee of the Assembly and should be brought on a par with the Lokpal Act. A legislation which seeks to punish corrupt public functionaries should be placed above controversies.

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  • IT Ministry pitches for Data Monetization Policy

    The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology’s proposal to monetise data collected at the central level has data policy and other experts divided.

    Backgrounder to this policy

    • The idea of monetising citizens’ data for greater public good was first floated by the government in the Economic Survey of 2018-19.
    • It had noted that since such data is generated and belongs to the people, it should be used for the people.
    • The survey had also noted that private sector could be granted access to “select databases” for commercial use.

    India Data Accessibility and Use Policy, 2022

    Key Propositions:

    • Sale of Public Data: The data, which has been collected by the central government and undergone some value addition be allowed to be sold for some price.
    • Identifying value data: The draft of the policy suggests new framework for identifying “high value data-set” on the basis of the data’s degree of importance in the market.
    • Establishment of India Data Office: The draft has also suggested setting up of a central India Data Office will be created under MeitY.
    1. Chief Data Officer: All the central government’s line ministries will have to form their respective Data Management Unit, which will be headed by a Chief Data Officer.
    2. India Data Council: These chief data officers along with the India Data Officer will together form the IDC, which will decide on the policy matters of data accessibility and its usage.
    • Data sharing toolkit: It will be the broad umbrella to help respective central or state government ministries and departments “assess and optimally manage” the risks associated with the release and sharing of such data.

    Significance of the move

    • Non-personal data as national resource: The thought process to consider non personal data as community or national resource, in itself is commendable.
    • Revenue generation: The core problem with the government selling citizens’ data is the revenue generation.
    • Boosting investments: The new policy will encourage data sharing among government departments and potentially help the investor ecosystem.

    Issues flagged with the Policy

    • Individual privacy: Data monetization may happen at cost of individual privacy. The most sought-after datasets are those that contain sensitive personal data of individuals, ex. medical history, financial data.
    • Absence of Data Protection Law: The new draft policy has been announced at a time when the country is yet to finalise the countours of a data protection law.
    • State interference: The policy could also face pushback from big tech companies whose business model is based on the monetisation of large-scale data collection model.
    • Political risks: When the govt starts selling citizen data, even if anonymised, the government gets into business its making money.
    • Un-regulation: Once the govt starts making money, its very hard to reduce that activity or to regulate it in a manner where it is impartial to the public.
    • Anonymisation of data: There is a lack of proper standard and framework on data anonymisation leading to a possible that such data may be “reverse-engineered”.

    Way forward

    • This policy is a good intent in which the government can monetise the wide range of data it currently holds.
    • However it remains to be seen how the pricing mechanism would work.
    • It is important to understand that datasets cannot be priced uniformly, and the value of a particular dataset varies depending on the context in which it is solved.

     

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  • A case for specialists

    Context

    Given the fact that political input in economic policymaking is becoming dominant as regional and state-level issues assume overriding significance, it’s perhaps time to consider sheltering economics from politics and vice versa.

    Continuity in policy

    • The sudden withdrawal of farm laws last year and the repeal of the land acquisition ordinance in 2015 are two examples of policy backsliding in an otherwise decent record of policy continuity since 1991.
    • The overall trajectory of tariffs has been downward and average tariffs are now below 10 percent compared to over 400 percent before 1991.
    • As a favored rule, domestic policy priorities should not be held hostage to external pressures, but they can and ought to be used to push through difficult and desirable domestic reform.

    Challenges in achieving high growth

    • Challenges in reforms: Relying on chance events to drive reform might work in rare circumstances, but not when the aspiration is to become a $10 trillion economy by 2030.
    •  Realizing this target or even coming close to it will require sustained growth of over 15 percent per annum in nominal GDP — that’s no mean task.
    • The golden period of India’s growth fetched an 8.1 percent increase in real GDP between 2004 and 2009.
    • Even during this period, the growth story was cut short by the global financial crisis and devilled intermittently by institutional weaknesses.
    • Failure of institutions: The coal scam and the 2G scam are examples of the inability of institutions to keep pace with rapid growth.
    • As growth occurs, institutions also require sophistication, knowledge, and some (not complete) protection from political interference.

    Need for the fiscal council for budget-making process

    • The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) in 2016, replaced RBI’s internal decision-making driven by the central bank governor to include three external experts to strengthen and bring transparency into monetary policy decisions. 
    • This can be extended to other important government functions, such as the budgetary process
    • Successive finance commissions and the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Review Committee have recommended the creation of a fiscal council that, like the MPC, will bring transparency in the budget-making process.
    • The idea is simple, moderate the influence of the political agenda and powerful interest groups that could, and often do, capture the process.

    Suggestions on policymaking

    • It is art and science: Policymaking is nothing if not art that invokes science when expedient.
    • Domain experts should be an integral part of the formulation process.
    • Implementation, of course, can be left to the executive.
    • When the TRAI was first set up, it had a healthy combination of domain experts and public policy professionals, resembling a specialized regulatory agency that reflected a serious intent to strengthen capacity.
    • Importance of domain experts: Instead of going down the chosen path, TRAI has reversed gear and today resembles a government department.
    • In fact, this is the same affliction with almost all regulatory and policy institutions that are now a feature of India’s increasingly market-based economy.
    • As more sectors (for example, the Gati Shakti initiative) engage the private sector, lessons from the last quarter-century should not be wasted — domain expertise is conspicuous by its absence in regulatory and policy institutions.

    Way forward

    • Create a cadre of professionals: Commissions tend to be made up of retired civil servants or retired judges.
    • This is worrying and, therefore, it is vital to create a cadre of professionals with technical expertise for the complex tasks of managing the policy processes.
    • Distancing politics from the policy: The net needs to be cast wider so that politics and policy are distanced, not completely but certainly more than it is today.

    Consider the question “Politicians and economists have a love-hate relationship; they can’t do without each other. In context of this examine the issues with policymaking in India and why role of the domain expert is important in policymaking today?”

    Conclusion

    India should not be in a situation in which it is in perpetual hostage to vested interests of politics and business.

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  • Tapping technology for multilingual learning

    Context

    As the theme of International Mother Language Day 2022, it has much relevance in reshaping Indian higher education.

    India’s unique cultural and linguistic diversity

    • According to the Language Census in 2018, India is home to 19,500 languages or dialects, of which 121 languages are spoken by 10,000 or more people in our country.
    • For centuries, India has been home to hundreds of languages and thousands of dialects, making its linguistic and cultural diversity the most unique in the world. 
    • Our linguistic diversity is one of the cornerstones of our ancient civilisation.
    • Impact of globalisation: While languages are among the key bridges that ensure cultural and civilisational continuity, globalisation and Westernisation have impacted not just the growth but also the survival of many of our dialects in this rich cultural and linguistic tapestry.
    • Therefore, International Mother Language Day has special significance to the Indian context.

    Endangered languages

    • In November 1999, the UNESCO General Conference approved the declaration of February 21 as International Mother Language Day, in response to the declining state of many languages.
    • According to the UN agency, at least 43% of the estimated 6,000 languages spoken in the world are endangered.
    • UNESCO has been striving to protect the cultural and linguistic diversity of member-states through pro-active international measures.
    • It is our collective responsibility to revive and revitalise the 196 Indian languages which fall under the “endangered” category.

    Role of technology: This year’s theme

    • Globally, the role of technology came to the fore during the COVID-19 pandemic when school shutdowns forced educators and learners to adapt themselves to online education.
    • The theme of International Mother Language Day in 2022 — “Using Technology for Multilingual Learning: Challenges and Opportunities” — is one of special relevance to us.
    • The central idea is to leverage technology to support and enrich the teaching-learning experience on a multi-lingual level.
    •  It also aims at achieving a qualitative, equitable and inclusive educational experience.
    • Inevitably, the widespread use of technology would fast-track development.
    • Multilingual education predicated on the increasing use of one’s mother tongue is a key component of inclusion in education. 
    • Seen in its entirety, this is in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of “sabka saath, sabka vikas, sabka vishwas”.

    Direction of NEP

    • The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 encourages the use of mother tongue as the medium of instruction till at least Class five but preferably till Class eight and beyond.
    • The use of mother tongue in teaching is bound to create a positive impact on learning outcomes, as also the development of the cognitive faculties of students.
    • There is a pressing need to create and improve scientific and technical terminology in Indian languages.
    • We have been able to create a large English-based education system which includes colleges that offer courses in medicine and multiple disciplines of engineering.
    • This impressive system paradoxically excludes a vast majority of learners in our country from accessing higher education.

    Way forward

    • The need to build an effective multilingual education system across diverse streams and disciplines becomes all the more imperative.
    • In this context, the collaboration between the AICTE and IIT Madras to translate some courses on the central government’s e-learning platform, Study Webs of Active Learning for Young Aspiring Minds (SWAYAM) into eight regional languages such as Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, Kannada, Bengali, Marathi, Malayalam and Gujarati, is commendable. Such tech-led initiatives will serve to democratise higher education.
    • At the same time, the decision of the AICTE to permit B. Tech programmes in 11 native languages, in tune with the NEP, is a historic move.
    • Our policy-planners, educators, parents and opinion leaders must bear in mind that when it comes to education in mother tongue and local languages, we can take the cue from European countries as well as Asian powers such as Japan, China and Korea, among others.

    Conclusion

    Co-existing over centuries, borrowing from and nurturing each other, our languages are interwoven with our individual, local and national identity.

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  • What is a First Information Report (FIR)?

    This newscard is an excerpt from the original article published in the IE.

    What is an FIR?

    • The term first information report (FIR) is not defined in the Indian Penal Code (IPC), Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), 1973, or in any other law.
    • However, but in police regulations or rules, information recorded under Section 154 of CrPC is known as FIR.
    • Section 154 (“Information in cognizable cases”) says that every information relating to the commission of a cognizable offence, if given orally to an officer in charge of a police station, shall be recorded in writing.
    • It has to be signed by the person giving it, and the substance thereof shall be entered in a book to be kept by such officer in such form as the State Government may prescribe.

    Important components of FIR

    In essence, then, there are three important elements of an FIR:

    1. the information must relate to the commission of a cognizable offence,
    2. it should be given in writing or orally to the head of the police station and,
    3. it must be written down and signed by the informant, and its key points should be recorded in a daily diary.

    What is a cognizable offence?

    • A cognizable offence/case is one in which a police officer may make an arrest without a warrant.
    • In the First Schedule, “the word ‘cognizable’ stands for ‘a police officer may arrest without warrant’; and the word ‘non-cognizable’ stands for ‘a police officer shall not arrest without warrant’.”

    What is the difference between a complaint and an FIR?

    • The CrPC defines a “complaint” as any allegation made orally or in writing to a Magistrate, that some person, whether known or unknown, has committed an offence, but does not include a police report.
    • However, an FIR is a document that has been prepared by the police after verifying the facts of the complaint.
    • The FIR may contain details of the crime and the alleged criminal.
    • If, on the basis of a complaint, it appears that a cognizable offence has been committed, then an FIR under Section 154 CrPC will be registered, and police will open an investigation.
    • If no offence is found, the police will close the inquiry.

    What in case of non-cognizable offences?

    • In case of non-cognizable offences, an FIR under Section 155 CrPC, commonly called “NCR”, is registered, and the complainant will be asked to approach a court for an order.
    • The court may then direct the police to conduct an investigation on the complaint.

    What is a Zero FIR?

    • When a police station receives a complaint regarding an alleged offence that has been committed in the jurisdiction of another police station, it registers an FIR, and then transfers it to the concerned police station for further investigation.
    • This is called a Zero FIR. No regular FIR number is given.
    • After receiving the Zero FIR, the concerned police station registers a fresh FIR and starts the investigation.

    What if the police refuse to register an FIR?

    • Under Section 154(3) CrPC, if any person is aggrieved by the refusal on the part of the officer in charge of a police station to register an FIR, she can send the complaint to the Superintendent of Police/DCP concerned.
    • If the SP/DCP if satisfied that such information discloses the commission of a cognizable offence, will either investigate the case, or direct an investigation by a subordinate police officer.
    • If no FIR is registered, the aggrieved persons can file a complaint under Section 156(3) CrPC before a concerned court.
    • If the court is satisfied that a cognizable offence is made out from the complaint, will direct the police to register an FIR and conduct an investigation.

    What happens after an FIR is filed?

    • The police will investigate the case and will collect evidence in the form of statements of witnesses or other scientific materials. They can arrest the alleged persons as per law.
    • If there is sufficient evidence to corroborate the allegations of the complainant, then a charge sheet will be filed.
    • Or else, a Final Report mentioning that no evidence was found will be filed in court.
    • If it is found that no offence has been committed, a cancellation report will be filed. If no trace of the accused persons is found, an ‘untraced’ report will be filed.
    • However, if the court does not agree with the investigation report, it can order further investigation.

     

    Try this question from CSP 2021:

    Q.With reference to India, consider the following statements:

    1. Judicial custody means an accused is in the custody of the concerned magistrate and such accused is locked up in police station, not in jail.
    2. During judicial custody, the police officer in charge of the case is not allowed to interrogate the suspect without the approval of the court.

    Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

    (a) 1 only

    (b) 2 only

    (c) Both 1 and 2

    (d) Neither 1 nor 2

     

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  • UGC’s ‘Academic Bank of Credits’ scheme

    Context

    The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 has recommended a revamp of the higher education scene in India. A new initiative stemming from this desire is an ‘Academic Bank of Credits’ (ABC) in higher education idea, which was notified recently by the University Grants Commission (UGC).

    About the Academic Bank of Credits’ (ABC)

    • Any undergraduate or postgraduate student can create an account in the ABC portal and store information of his/her completed courses (i.e., subjects/papers in old terminology) and grades obtained.
    • These grades are stored for a period of five years. 
    • As multiple institutes are connected to the ABC portal, one can be formally enrolled in university ‘A’ but can choose to do some courses from university ‘B’, some more from university ‘C’ and so on and all of these would count towards the student’s degree.
    • Flexible and multidisciplinary: One can enrol in an equivalent course from another college in the same city or join online courses offered by other universities; or can enrol in SWAYAM (a programme initiated by the  Government of India) or the National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL) and add these credits.
    • Thus, education will truly become flexible and interdisciplinary, without forcing any single institute to float an unmanageable number of courses.
    • This flexibility will offer students a chance to enrol in a course and learn from teachers from some of the best institutes such as the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) or the Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research.

    Issues with ABC

    • Limited seats: ABC regulations say that the institute should allow up to 20% supernumerary seats for students enrolling through the ABC scheme.
    • There is no clarity on how the selection of students would be made if there are more than 20% seats.
    • Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) platforms such as SWAYAM and NPTEL are ‘supposedly designed’ for large enrolments.
    • So far we have not found any evidence in the public domain that these MOOC platforms can provide a reliable assessment of learning achievement if there is massive enrolment for a course.
    • Filtering criterion: The ABC portal will accept courses from a large inumber of higher education institutes.
    • The filtering criterion in the original regulation was that higher education institutes should have obtained an ‘A’ grade or higher in the latest round of National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) accreditation.
    • This filtering criterion is not satisfactory.
    • Impact on small colleges: The ABC scheme specifies that students can avail up to 70% of courses from other institutes while being enrolled in a particular college.
    • If students avail these credits outside the parent college, they need not enrol for the corresponding in-house courses.
    • As the number of teaching posts in any higher education institute are calculated on the basis of student enrolment numbers, what happens when a large fraction of students do not enrol for the courses offered by you? 

    Conclusion

    In India, where the quality of education varies drastically from one institute to the next, this can lead to unmanageable academic and administrative issues in higher education institutes with brand names, and lead to a contraction in the number of teaching posts in smaller higher education institutes.

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