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Type: Op-ed

  • Marital Rape

    Context

    On May 10, 2022, a two-judge bench of the Delhi High Court gave a split ruling on marital rape, thus ensuring a future hearing in the Supreme Court.

    Why rape and marriage were seen as mutually exclusive

    • The concepts of rape and marriage were seen as mutually exclusive – they could not be brought together.
    • Across the world, and till very recently, marriage has been explicitly treated as being outside the purview of rape.
    • Even in the Western countries that we associate with the more “advanced” practices of gender equality, marital rape was treated as an exception to the crime of rape till the early 1990s.
    • In the absence of a universal definition, several scholars take marriage to be an institution where a man and a woman live together, have sexual relations and engage in cooperative economic activity.
    • Link between marriage and property: Others have emphasised the link between marriage and property.
    • The dominant form of marriage in the modern West became quite distinctly patriarchal, visible in late 18th-century British law, for instance, whereby a wife became the property of her husband upon marriage.
    • Husbands, therefore, had the right to access their wives sexually, without the question of coercion or consent being on the horizon in the first place.
    • As property, wives had to be protected from the (illegal) sexual access of other men, and here too, their consent was irrelevant.

    Introduction of marital rape

    • If what distinguishes the relationship of husband and wife from other relations between men and women is the legitimate expectation of sexual relations, then the introduction of marital rape signals the entry of a new and equally legitimate expectation: A wife’s consent to sexual relations is essential, and in this, she is no different from other women.
    • Husbands no longer enjoy unquestioned rights over the bodies of their wives — this is what it means for a wife to be a person with bodily integrity.

    Conclusion

    It is strange, indeed, that most parts of the world, India included, became modern while continuing to believe that wives are the property of husbands.

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  • Power crisis in India

    Context

    The power crisis has taken us by surprise. The question in everyone’s mind is: where did we go wrong? And who slipped up?

    Responsibilities in supply chain

    • Under the Electricity Act, it is the responsibility of the Distribution Licensee/Company (Discom) to provide reliable quality and round-the-clock electricity to all consumers to meet full demand.
    • To do so, they enter into contracts with a number of generating companies in order to ensure adequate supply.
    • These Discoms work under the oversight of the State Electricity Regulatory Commissions.

    Suggestions

    1] Dealing with the challenge of demand prediction

    • Qualitative transformation in demand: With higher incomes and the consequent increase in the use of air-conditioners and other electrical appliances, the nature of electricity demand is undergoing a qualitative transformation with rising daily and seasonal peaks, and spikes on very hot or cold days.
    • While demand prediction is inherently uncertain, the questions to ask are whether Discoms have been making and updating their demand growth projections and scenarios over the medium term with adequate supply arrangements in a robust manner.
    • This needs to become central to the regulatory process.
    • Ensuring reliable supply to meet unanticipated peaks, as have occurred now, requires making supply arrangements with reserve margins that are adequate.
    • The Regulatory Commissions need to provide for such expensive peaking power arrangements in the tariffs they approve.
    • It is also time to move towards separate peaking power procurement contracts in addition to the present system of long-term thermal power contracts.

    2] Demand-based time of day rates of electricity

    • A transition to demand-based time of day rates of electricity for generators as well as consumers would help.
    • These should be brought in by the Regulatory Commissions.
    • Flattening of demand curve: Peak demand moderation and flattening of the demand curve through a change in consumer behaviour is feasible with smart meters.
    • But this would take place only with a strong price signal, a large differential in peak and off-peak rates.

    3] Subsidies and politics

    • Free supply of electricity to farmers and households up to a specified level is not a problem as long as State governments pay for it as provided in the Act, and the Regulatory Commissions do not at the same time act from a political point of view and shy away from determining cost-reflective tariffs.
    • While the problem of delayed payments by Discoms is getting highlighted and needs to be resolved with a sense of urgency, the coal supply problem is not due to this.
    • Coal India needs to create capacities to rapidly ramp up production; and the Railways need to carry larger quantities of coal when demand surges, as has happened now.
    • Imported coal and gas generated electricity: There is idle but expensive generating capacity available — about 15-20 GW of gas-based power plants which can run on imported liquefied natural gas, and 6 GW-8 GW of thermal plants which can run on imported coal.
    • Consumers who are willing to pay more could be kept free of power cuts with purchase and supply of more expensive electricity generated from imported coal and gas.
    • To improve reliability, Discoms, with the approval of the Regulatory Commissions, need to go in for bids for storage.

    Conclusion

    A lesson is that demand growth projections and supply arrangements need to become central to the regulatory process.

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  • Control inflation by acting on liquidity

    Context

    The recent action of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to raise the repo rate by 40 basis points and cash reserve ratio (CRR) by 50 basis points is a recognition of the serious situation with respect to inflation in our country and the resolve to tackle inflation.

    Inflation in India and role of government expenditure

    • India’s CPI inflation has been fluctuating around a high level.
    • As early as October 2020, it had hit a peak of 7.61%.
    • It had remained at a high level of over 6% since April 2020.
    • It did come down after December 2020 but has started rising significantly from January 2022.
    • On the other hand, the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) inflation had remained in double digits since April 2021. The GDP implicit price deflator-based inflation rate for 2021-22 is 9.6%.
    • Even though the RBI’s mandate is with respect to CPI inflation, policymakers cannot ignore the behaviour of other price indices.
    • After the advent of COVID-19, the major concern of policymakers all over the world was to revive demand.
    • Keynesian prescription: This was sought to be achieved by raising government expenditure.
    • Thus, the expansion in government expenditure did not immediately result in increased production in countries where the lockdown was taken seriously.
    • However, the Keynesian multiplier does not work when there are supply constraints as in developing countries.
    • That is why the multiplier operates in nominal terms rather than in real terms in such countries.
    • Something similar has happened in the present case where the supply constraint came from a non-mobility of factors of production.
    • Nevertheless, the prescription of enhanced government expenditure is still valid under the present circumstances.
    • Perhaps the increase in output could happen with a lag and also with the relaxation of restrictions.

    Role of monetary policy

    • Why lover money multiplier rate? Initially, the focus of monetary policy in India has been to keep the interest rate low and increase the availability of liquidity through various channels, some of which have been newly introduced.
    • However, the growth rate of money was below the growth rate in reserve money.
    • This is because of lower credit growth which also depends on business sentiment and investment climate.
    • Thus the money multiplier is lower than usual.
    • The Government’s borrowing programme which was larger went through smoothly, thanks to abundant liquidity.
    • Even as the economy picked up steam in 2021-22, inflation also became an issue, this is a worldwide phenomenon.
    • In India too there is a shift in monetary policy.

    Analysing the cause of inflation

    • While discussing inflation, analysts focus almost exclusively on the increases in the prices of individual commodities such as crude oil as the primary cause of inflation.
    • General price level: Supply disruptions due to domestic or external factors may explain the behaviour of individual prices but not the general price level which is what inflation is about.
    • Given a budget constraint, there will only be an adjustment of relative prices.
    • Besides the fact that any cost-push increase in one commodity may get generalised, it is the adjustment that happens at the macro level which becomes critical.
    • It is the adjustment in the macro level of liquidity that sustains inflation.

    Inflation and growth

    • The possible trade-off between inflation and growth has a long history in economic literature.
    • The Phillip’s curve has been analysed theoretically and empirically.
    • Tobin called the Phillip’s curve a ‘cruel dilemma’ because it suggested that full employment was not compatible with price stability. 
    • The critical question flowing from these discussions on trade-off is whether cost-push factors can by themselves generate inflation.
    • In the current situation, it is sometimes argued that inflation will come down, if some part of the increase in crude prices is absorbed by the government. 
    • If the additional burden borne by the government (through loss of revenue) is not offset by expenditures, the overall deficit will widen.
    • The borrowing programme will increase and additional liquidity support may be required.

    Concomitant decisions on CRR and repo rate

    • These are concomitant decisions. Central banks cannot order interest rates.
    • For a rise in the interest rate to stick, appropriate actions must be taken to contract liquidity.
    • That is what the rise in CRR will do.
    • In the absence of a rise in CRR, liquidity will have to be sucked by open market operations.

    Conclusion

    Beyond a point, inflation itself can hinder growth. Negative real rates of interest on savings are not conducive to growth. If we want to control inflation, action on liquidity is very much needed with a concomitant rise in the interest rate on deposits and loans.

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  • Literacy and delivery of services, not religion, influences fertility

    Context

    The National Family Health Survey (NFHS) 5 report that was awaited for nearly six months is finally out. And it provides a heartening outlook.

    About NHFS

    • Started in 1992-93, it has culminated in the fifth round 2019-21.
    • The NFHS is a large, multi-round survey that, inter alia, provides information on fertility, infant and child mortality, the practice of family planning, reproductive health, nutrition, anaemia, quality and utilisation of health and family planning services.
    • The surveys provide essential data needed by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and other agencies for policy and programme purposes.
    • The Ministry assigned the nodal responsibility for the task to the International Institute for Population Sciences(IIPS), Mumbai.
    • Several international agencies are involved in providing technical and financial assistance, mainly USAID, DFID, UNICEF, and UNFPA.

    Replacement rate achieved

    • Replacement rate achieved: The report shows that India has finally achieved the replacement rate of 2.1TFR (Total Fertility Rate is the total number of children a woman will bear in her lifetime).
    • In fact, it has gone below the mark to 2.0.
    • There are, of course, large interstate variations.
    • The lagging states are UP, Bihar, Jharkhand, Manipur and Meghalaya.
    • Significantly, there were four states which were keeping the figures poor, namely, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.
    • Two states, Rajasthan and MP, have struggled to get out of this group, while Jharkhand and the two northeastern states have replaced them.
    • UP and Bihar because of their sheer size are pulling down the national average.
    • Rajasthan and MP have reached the TFR of 2, which shows the success of their efforts.

    Influencing factors

    • It is not religion as commonly propounded but literacy, especially of girls, income and delivery of family planning, and health services.
    • 1] Delivery of services: The figures would have been even better if all those who have been made aware of the benefits of family planning had received the services they desire.
    • Making people informed of the need and methods of family planning and motivating them to adopt family planning is difficult enough.
    •  Having achieved the difficult task, we are not able to provide the services communities need — the “unmet need” — which is still very high at 9.4 per cent.
    • If we focus on this issue in a mission mode, the family planning performance will dramatically improve.
    • 2] Male attitude towards family planning: They tend to put the onus for birth control on women.
    • As many as 35 per cent men believe that using contraceptives is a woman’s responsibility. They ignore the fact that male vasectomy is a much simpler procedure than female tubectomy.
    • 3] Acceptance of family planning:  Muslim acceptance of family planning has continued through the five surveys spread over three decades at a rate faster than all other communities.
    • Though birth control practice among Muslims is still the least – 47.4 per cent (up from 45 per cent in NFHS-4).
    • Other communities — for example, Hindus — are not far behind with 58 per cent (up from 56 per cent).
    • This means that 42 per cent of the 80 per cent of the population are not practising family planning.
    • Education:  Women who have not attended school have 2.8 TFR as against 1.8 for those who have completed class XII.
    • Poverty: Similar gap of figure one is visible in the context of poverty with the poorest segment having higher TFR than the richest.

    Conclusion

    The time has come to leave politics behind and work together for achieving the goals set by National Population Policy 2000. Instead of misleading narratives, we need to address the real determinants of fertility behaviour – literacy, income generation and improvement of health and family planning services.

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  • Ukraine conflict won’t make the US abandon Indo-Pacific strategy

    Context

    When Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine at the end of February, it was widely asked in Delhi if the new challenges of European security would result in a dilution of the US’s strategic commitment to the Indo-Pacific.

    The Challenge of balancing China and Russia

    • There are two parts of Biden’s answer to the Europe-Asia or Russia-China question.
    • 1] Engagement with allies: When Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine at the end of February, it was widely asked in Delhi if the new challenges of European security would result in a dilution of the US’s strategic commitment to the Indo-Pacific.
    • Biden came to power with a determination to make the Indo-Pacific the highest priority of his foreign policy.
    • He is not going to abandon that objective in dealing with the unexpected crisis in Europe.
    • The assumption that China was the principal challenge and Russia was less of a threat led Biden to meet Putin in June 2021 to offer prospects for a reasonable relationship with Russia in order to devote US energies to the China question.
    • But Putin’s calculations led him towards a deeper strategic partnership with China
    • But America’s assessment of the Russian and Chinese threats has not changed since the war began in Ukraine.
    • The idea that China will gain from the Russian war in Ukraine has also proven to be false.
    • Expectations that Russia’s triumph in Ukraine will be followed by a successful Chinese invasion of Taiwan have begun to dissipate.
    • Meanwhile, China is reeling under self-inflicted problems, most notably Xi Jinping’s zero Covid strategy and his crackdown on the large internet companies.
    • The costly foreign policy of China: Beijing’s prospects look a lot less rosy than before as the Chinese economy slows down and XI’s foreign policy turns out to be quite costly for China.
    • The muscular approach of China: In Asia, China’s muscular approach to disputes with its neighbours has helped strengthen the US alliances, create new forums like the AUKUS, elevate old ones like the Quad to a higher level, and consolidate the strategic conception of the Indo-Pacific.
    • 2] Coordination with allies and partners: Biden’s lemma to the theorem on a two-front strategy is a simple one — that Washington will address the simultaneous challenge in Europe and Asia not by acting alone but in coordination with allies and partners. 
    • The idea was rooted in the recognition that alliances and partnerships are America’s greatest strength and most important advantage over Russia and China.

    Engagement with Asia

    • ASEAN: This week’s summit level engagement with the ASEAN comes after sustained high-level US outreach to the region since the Biden Administration took charge.
    • In northeast Asia, the election of Yoon Suk-yeol as the president of South Korea has tilted the scales slightly towards the US in the continuing battle for influence between Beijing and Washington.
    • The US is also actively trying to reduce the differences between its two treaty allies in the region — South Korea and Japan.
    • Asia’s new coalitions are a response to Xi Jinping’s unilateralism and his quest for regional hegemony.
    • India’s enthusiasm for the Quad can be directly correlated to Xi’s military coercion on the disputed frontiers with India.

    Implications for India

    • The two parts of Biden’s answer to the Europe-Asia or Russia-China question have worked well for India.
    • Tolerance toward India-Russia engagement: For one, the US’s emphasis on the long-term challenge from China has meant that Washington is willing to tolerate India’s engagement with Russia.
    • Time for the diversification of defence ties: This gives India time to diversify its defence ties that have been heavily dependent on Russia.
    • The US emphasis on partnerships rather than unilateralism in dealing with the China challenge means India’s agency in the region can only grow.
    • The Quad allows Delhi to carve out a larger role for itself in Asia and the Indo-Pacific in collaboration with the US and its allies.

    Conclusion

    Contrary to the initial assumptions that America is on the retreat and the West is in disarray, it is Moscow and Beijing that are on the defensive as the war in Ukraine completes three months.

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  • The importance of emigrants

    Context

    Though the phenomenon of Indian-origin executives becoming CEOs of top U.S. companies highlights the contribution of Indian talent to the U.S. economy, the role played by Indian semi-skilled migrant labour in the global economy is no less illustrious.

    Destinations of Indian migrants

    • Every year, about 2.5 million workers from India move to different parts of the world on employment visas
    • According to the Ministry of External Affairs, there are over 13.4 million Non-Resident Indians worldwide.
    • Significance of GCC: Of them, 64% live in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, the highest being in the United Arab Emirates, followed by Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.
    • Low and semi-skilled: Almost 90% of the Indian migrants who live in GCC countries are low- and semi-skilled workers, as per International Labour Organization estimates.
    • Other significant countries of destination for overseas Indians are the U.S., the U.K., Australia, and Canada.

    Contribution of Indian migrant workers

    • Besides being involved in nation-building of their destination countries, Indian migrant workers also contribute to the homeland’s socioeconomic development, through remittances.
    • Highest remittances: As per a World Bank Group report (2021), annual remittances transferred to India are estimated to be $87 billion, which is the highest in the world, followed by China ($53 billion), Mexico ($53 billion), the Philippines ($36 billion) and Egypt ($33 billion).
    •  Remittances in India have been substantially higher than even Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and the flow of remittances is much less fluctuating than that of FDI.
    • Still, remittances’ contribution of 3% in GDP is lower than that of countries such as Nepal (24.8%), Pakistan (12.6%), Sri Lanka (8.3%) and Bangladesh (6.5%), as per a World Bank report.
    • Hedging strategy against risk: Besides being a win-win situation for both the destination and source country, labour migration is good hedging strategy against unsystematic risks for any economy.

    Way forward

    • Human capital should also be invested in a diversified portfolio akin to financial capital.
    • Promoting labour mobility: For many countries, remittances have been of vital support to the domestic economy after a shock.
    • India should aim to increase remittances to say 10% of GDP.
    • The Philippines’ model of promoting labour mobility be replicated in India.
    • Reducing the costs involved: Both the cost of recruitment of such workers and the cost of sending remittances back to India should come down.
    • Skilling: The number of migrant workers need not go up for remittances to increase if the skill sets of workers are improved.
    • Regulation of recruitment agencies: Recruitment agencies should also be regulated by leveraging information technology for ensuring protection of migrant workers leaving India.
    • An integrated grievance redressal portal, ‘Madad’, was launched by the government in 2015.
    • Proposed Emigration Bill 2021: The Indian government proposed a new Emigration Bill in 2021 which aims to integrate emigration management and streamline the welfare of emigrant workers.
    • It proposes to modify the system of Emigration Check Required (ECR) category of workers applying for migration to 18 notified countries.
    • The Bill makes it mandatory for all categories of workers to register before departure to any country in the world to ensure better protection for them, support and safeguard in case of vulnerabilities.
    • The proposed Emigration Management Authority will be the overarching authority to provide policy guidance.
    • Besides workers, as about 0.5 million students also migrate for education from India every year, the Bill also covers such students.

    Conclusion

    For India to increase remittances’ contribution to GDP, it doesn’t need more workers but skilling and better management.

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  • India’s judiciary and the slackening cog of trust

    Context

    Departures from substantive and procedural justice need deep scrutiny as the fallout could severely imperil governance.

    Judicial corruption in India in lower judiciary

    • According to Transparency International (TI 2011), 45% of people who had come in contact with the judiciary between July 2009 and July 2010 had paid a bribe to the judiciary.
    • The most common reason for paying the bribes was to “speed things up”.
    • The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) (April 2013) estimates that for every ₹2 in official court fees, at least ₹ 1,000 is spent in bribes in bringing a petition to the court.
    • Freedom House’s ‘Freedom in the World 2016 report for India’ states that “the lower levels of the judiciary in particular have been rife with corruption” (Freedom House 2016).
    • Allegations of corruption against High Court judges abound.
    • Worse, there are glaring examples of anti-Muslim bias, often followed by extra-judicial killings by the police.
    • Anti-Muslim bias alone may not result in erosion of trust but if combined with unprovoked and brutal violence against them (e.g., lynching of innocent cattle traders) is bound to.

    Forms of judicial corruption

    • Pressure and bribery: Judicial corruption takes two forms: political interference in the judicial process by the legislative or executive branch, and bribery.
    • Despite the accumulation of evidence on corrupt practices, the pressure to rule in favour of political interests remains intense.
    • Court officials coax bribes for free services, and lawyers charge additional “fees” to expedite or delay cases.

    Case pendency

    • According to the National Judicial Data Grid, as of April 12, 2017, there are 24,186,566 pending cases in India’s district courts, of which 2,317,448 (9.58%) have been pending for over 10 years, and 3,975,717 (16.44%) have been pending for between five and 10 years.
    • Vacancies: As of December 31, 2015, there were 4,432 vacancies in the posts of [subordinate court] judicial officers, representing about 22% of the sanctioned strength.
    • In the case of the High Courts, 458 of the 1,079 posts, representing 42% of the sanctioned strength, were vacant as of June 2016.
    • Thus, severe backlogging and understaffing persisted, as also archaic and complex procedures of delivery of justice.

    Understanding the substantive and procedural justice

    • Substantive justice is associated with whether the statutes, case law and unwritten legal principles are morally justified e.g., freedom to pursue any religion,
    • Procedural justice is associated with fair and impartial decision procedures.
    • Outdated laws: Many outdated/dysfunctional laws or statutes have not been repealed because of the tardiness of legal reform both at the Union and State government levels.
    • Worse, there have been blatant violations of constitutional provisions.
    • The Citizenship (Amendment) Act (December 2019) provides citizenship to — except Muslims — Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, Jains, Parsis and Christians who came to India from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan on or before December 31, 2014.
    • But this goes against secularism and is thus a violation of substantive justice.
    • Alongside procedural delays, endemic corruption and mounting shares of under-trial inmates with durations of three to five years point to stark failures of procedural justice and to some extent of substantive justice.

    Conclusion

    Exercise of extra-constitutional authority by the central and State governments, weakening of accountability mechanisms, widespread corruption in the lower judiciary and the police, with likely collusion between them, the perverted beliefs of the latter towards Muslims, other minorities and lower caste Hindus, a proclivity to deliver instant justice, extra-judicial killings, filing FIRs against innocent victims of mob lynching have left deep scars on the national psyche.

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  • Extreme Poverty down in India

    Context

    A recent World Bank Report has shown that extreme poverty in India more than halved between 2011 and 2019 – from 22.5 per cent to 10.2 per cent.  The reduction was higher in rural areas, from 26.3 per cent to 11.6 per cent.

    What explains the reduction in poverty?

    • Poverty has reduced significantly because of the government’s thrust on improving the ease of living of ordinary Indians through schemes.
    • These schemes include the Ujjwala Yojana, PM Awas Yojana, Swachh Bharat Mission, Jan Dhan and Mission Indradhanush in addition to the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihood Mission and improved coverage under the National Food Security Act.
    • It is important to understand how poverty in rural areas was reduced at a faster pace.
    • Much of the success can be credited to all government departments, especially their janbhagidari-based thrust on pro-poor public welfare.

    Contributing factors

    1] Identification of beneficiaries through SECC 2011

    • The identification of deprived households on the basis of the Socioeconomic and Caste Census (SECC) 2011 across welfare programmes helped in creating a constituency for the well-being of the poor, irrespective of caste, creed or religion.
    • Deprivation criterion: Since deprivation was the key criterion in identifying beneficiaries, SC and ST communities got higher coverage and the erstwhile backward regions in Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Assam, Rajasthan and rural Maharashtra got a larger share of the benefits.
    • Gram Sabha Validation: Social groups that often used to be left out of government programmes were included and gram sabha validation was taken to ensure that the project reached these groups.

    2] Widened coverage of women

    • The coverage of women under the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana and Self Help Groups (SHG) increased from 2.5 crore in 2014 to over 8 crore in 2018 as a result of more than 75 lakh SHGs working closely with over 31 lakh elected panchayati raj representatives, 40 per cent of whom are women.
    • This provided a robust framework to connect with communities and created a social capital that helped every programme.
    • The PRI-SHG partnership catalysed changes that increased the pace of poverty reduction and the use of Aadhaar cleaned up corruption at several levels and ensured that the funds reached those whom it was meant for.

    3] Creation of basic infrastructure

    • Finance Commission transfers were made directly to gram panchayats leading to the creation of basic infrastructure like pucca village roads and drains at a much faster pace in rural areas.
    • The high speed of road construction under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadhak Yojana created greater opportunities for employment in nearby larger villages/census towns/kasbas by improving connectivity and enhancing mobility.

    4] Availability of credit through SHGs

    • The social capital of SHGs ensured the availability of credit through banks, micro-finance institutions and MUDRA loans.
    • Livelihood diversification: The NRLM prioritised livelihood diversification and implemented detailed plans for credit disbursement.

    5]  Implementation of social sector schemes

    • In the two phases of the Gram Swaraj Abhiyan in 2018, benefits such as gas and electricity connections, LED bulbs, accident insurance, life insurance, bank accounts and immunisation were provided to 63974 villages that were selected because of their high SC and ST populations.
    • The performance of line departments went up manifold due to community-led action.
    • The gains are reflected in the findings of the National Family Health Survey V, 2019-2021.

    6] Universal coverage schemes

    • The thrust on universal coverage for individual household latrines, LPG connections and pucca houses for those who lived in kuccha houses ensured that no one was left behind. This created the Labarthi Varg.

    7] Increase in fund transfer to rural area

    • Seventh, this was also a period in which a high amount of public funds were transferred to rural areas, including from the share of states and, in some programmes, through extra-budgetary resources.

    8] Community participation

    • The thrust on a people’s plan campaign, “Sabki Yojana Sabka Vikas” for preparing the Gram Panchayat Development Plans and for ranking villages and panchayats on human development, economic activity and infrastructure, from 2017-18 onwards, laid the foundation for robust community participation involving panchayats and SHGs, especially in ensuring accountability.

    9] Social and concurrent audit

    • Through processes like social and concurrent audits, efforts were made to ensure that resources were fully utilised.
    • Several changes were brought about in programmes like the MGNREGS to create durable and productive assets.

    10] Focus of states on improving livelihood diversification

    • The competition among states to improve performance on rural development helped.
    • Irrespective of the party in power, nearly all states and UTs focussed on improving livelihood diversification in rural areas and on improving infrastructure significantly.

    Conclusion

    All these factors contributed to improved ease of living of deprived households and improving their asset base. A lot has been achieved, much remains to be done.

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  • A new track for capital punishment jurisprudence

    Context

    A recent trend in the evolution of jurisprudence around the death penalty in India may reset judicial thinking around sentencing and have long-term ramifications in the awarding of capital punishment.

    New thinking in the jurisprudence around capital punishment

    • Capital punishment once delivered by the court of sessions (“sentencing court”) is required under law, specifically Chapter 28 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, to be confirmed by the jurisdictional High Court (“confirming court”).
    • Over the last six months or so, while dealing with appeals against confirmation of the death sentence, the Supreme Court of India has examined sentencing methodology from the perspective of mitigating circumstances more closely.
    • The Court has also initiated a suo motu writ petition (criminal) to delve deep into these issues on key aspects surrounding our understanding of death penalty sentencing.
    • Bachan Singh vs State of Punjab (1980), the leading case on this point, calls for mitigating and aggravating circumstances to be balanced against each other and laid down the principle that the death penalty ought not to be awarded unless the alternative of life imprisonment is “unquestionably foreclosed”.
    • It is also an equally well-established legal principle that in a sentencing hearing, the accused must necessarily be provided with sufficient opportunity to produce any material that may have bearing on the sentencing exercise.
    • When read in conjunction with the ratio decidendi of the Bachan Singh case, it is incumbent upon the sentencing court and the confirming court to ensure that the question of reform and rehabilitation of a convicted person has been examined in detail for these courts to come to a definitive conclusion that all such options are unquestionably foreclosed.

    Lack of judicial uniformity

    •  A report by the National Law University Delhi’s Project 39A (earlier known as the “Centre on the Death Penalty”) titled ‘Matters of Judgment’ found that there is no judicial uniformity or consistency when it comes to awarding the death sentence.
    •  In the report titled ‘Death Penalty Sentencing in Trial Courts’ (also authored by Project 39A), findings reported from a study of cases involving death sentencing between 2000 and 2015 in Delhi, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh have showed that courts have been lax in assessing the aspect of reformation while undertaking the sentencing exercise.
    • The Court, in Mofil Khan vs State of Jharkhand (2021), held that the “the State is under a duty to procure evidence to establish that there is no possibility of reformation and rehabilitation of the accused.
    • Undoubtedly, the onus has been placed on the State to lead evidence to show that no reformation is possible and for the sentencing courts to be satisfied that a thorough mitigation analysis was done before the death sentence is awarded.

    Mitigation investigation

    • For a complete mitigation investigation, professionals trained in psychology, sociology and criminology are required in addition to legal professionals.
    • Taking cognisance of the value of a holistic approach to mitigation investigation, the Court in Manoj & Ors vs State of Madhya Pradesh (2022) issued directions to the State to place before the court all “report(s) of all the probation officer(s)” relating to the accused and reports “about their conduct and nature of the work done by them” while in prison.
    •  The order also directs that a trained psychiatrist and a local professor of psychology conduct a psychiatric and psychological evaluation of the convict.

    Conclusion

    The intervention of the Supreme Court of India in, hopefully, framing guidelines around incorporation of a mitigation analysis and consideration of psycho-social reports of the prisoner at the time of sentencing is timely and necessary.

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  • India must seize the trade opportunity opening now

    Context

    Slower global growth, an adverse geopolitical environment, the shadow of recurring waves of the pandemic and prolonged supply chain issues are likely to weigh on export growth this year.

    Trade growth in 2021 and uncertainties in 2022

    • The year 2021 was a record one for trade despite the pandemic.
    • In terms of volumes, merchandise trade rose 9.8 per cent, while in dollar terms, it grew 26 per cent.
    • The value of commercial services trade was also up 15 per cent.
    • India has had a good export run in line with global trends, witnessing record goods exports of $419 billion, while touching $250 billion in services exports.
    • However, global growth forecasts have now been pared down.
    • Slower global growth, an adverse geopolitical environment, the shadow of recurring waves of the pandemic and prolonged supply chain issues are likely to weigh on export growth this year.

    Taping into opportunities

    • Ukraine and Sri Lanka are major exporters of agricultural products and the vacuum created by their limited presence in global trade will open up agricultural export opportunities for India.
    • This will not only spur overall exports but will also help to support the recovery of the agrarian economy through higher realisations.
    • Tea and wheat: As many as 25 African countries import more than one-third of their wheat from Russia and Ukraine and for 15 of them, the share exceeds 50 per cent.
    • Sri Lanka is also a major player in the global tea market and produces around 300 million kg annually.
    • Almost 98 per cent of its annual production is exported.
    • India, the second-largest producer of tea with an annual production of 900 million kg, is in a good position to exploit the opportunity and fill the gap.
    • Textile: Apart from tea and wheat, newer export opportunities have arisen for textiles.
    • Sri Lanka exports $5.42 billion worth of garments and prolonged power cuts in the island nation will hurt its production and export capacity.

    Suggestions

    • 1] Work on non-tariff barriers: One, work on non-tariff barriers for agricultural trade with a special focus on harmonising the sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) requirements.
    • 2] Autonomy in tea sector: To support tea exports, traditional tea boards are seeking a greater role and autonomy for optimising the development, promotion, and research in the sector.
    • Quicker implementation of the proposed Tea Promotion and Development Act is of utmost importance.
    • 3] Integration with global supply chains: India must double down on its integration with global supply chains.The commerce ministry has negotiated a slew of trade deals.
    • 4] Reduce tariff rates for intermediate inputs: Tariff rates for intermediate inputs should be reduced to either zero or should be negligible for India to become an attractive location for assembly activities.
    • 5] Realignment of specialisation patterns: India must persist with the creation of an enabling ecosystem that realigns its specialisation patterns towards labour-intensive processes and product lines.
    • The labour market reforms must be taken to their logical conclusion.
    • 6] Pro-active FDI policy: A continuous and pro-active FDI policy is also critical as foreign capital and technology are key enablers for entry into global production networks even as local firms play a role as subcontractors and suppliers of intermediate inputs to MNEs.
    • 7]Power supply and logistical bottlenecks: Lastly, exports could suffer if basic issues such as availability of power and logistical bottlenecks keep rearing their ugly heads.
    • The Economic Survey 2019 had recommended that low levels of service link costs (costs related to transportation, communication, and other tasks involved in coordinating the activity etc) are prerequisites to strengthen their participation in GVCs.
    • This should not be neglected.

    Conclusion

    If India were to tap export opportunities in developed markets, it must act on the suggestions above.

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