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Type: Op-ed

  • Raising marriage age won’t lead to women’s empowerment

    Context

    The announcement of a cabinet decision to raise the age at marriage for women from 18 to 21 years marks the fruition of a plan that was first revealed almost two years ago when a Task Force was set up for the purpose.

    Why the age of marriage of women matters

    • Age of marriage has bearing on maternal mortality rates, fertility levels, nutrition of mother and child, sex ratios, and, on a different register, education and employment opportunities for women.
    • It is also argued that other factors — such as poverty and health services — were far more effective as levers for improving women’s and children’s health and nutritional status.

    Issues with the decision

    [1] Role of poverty neglected

    •  If women who marry at higher ages seem to have better health and nutrition indicators, this is not caused by their marrying later than others — it is because women from better-off groups tend to marry at higher ages.
    • Conversely, the health indicators of poorer women do not change just because they marry at a higher age.
    • An illustration of this truth is found in the National Family Health Survey (IV) data, which show that levels of anaemia — which is the highest cause of maternal mortality in India and one of our worst statistics — show no change even at ages of marriage up to 25 years, once we control for other factors.
    • World Bank study finds no impact on women: Population control was at the heart of the 1978 amendment to the Sarda Act of 1929.
    • Moreover, reducing fertility rates globally by banning marriage before the age of 18 years is very much on the agenda of international agencies to this very day.
    • A major multi-country study undertaken by the World Bank in 2017 estimated that “savings” of no less than $5 trillion would accrue if marriage before the age of 18 was eliminated.
    • But such savings would be mostly due to reductions in fertility and consequent reductions in public health investments due to fewer births.
    • The same study saw no significant gains from raised age of marriage for women’s decision making, for lowering the levels of violence they face, or helping them find employment.
    • Restriction on the right of an adult woman: Globally, the age of 18 is widely regarded as the age of adulthood.
    • It is also viewed as an upper limit in terms of the physical and reproductive maturity of women, as well as the age of majority by child rights conventions to which India is a signatory.
    • Thus, the proposed move will restrict the rights of already adult women, an issue for legal experts to debate.
    • Law is meant to set minimum age not the right age: Equally important is the crucial slippage in the arguments made on behalf of the government from the minimum age at marriage to the right age at marriage.
    • The minimum age is obviously a floor, not a standard or desirable norm.
    • Laws are meant to set minimum levels, a threshold for triggering legal or penal action, because of the harm that may be done.

    Way forward: Address issues that drive empowerment

    • Going by the NFHS 4 data (2015-16), more than half — 56 per cent — of women in the age group 20-24 years marry before the age of 21 years.
    • The problem is that the real reasons that drive empowerment are not being addressed, at least not adequately.
    • Educational attainments have improved enormously in recent years.
    • But the shocking fact (evident in all major data sets) is that decline in early marriages has been accompanied by a fall in women’s employment rates, that persisted even during the 1990s boom.
    • Paradoxical outcomes: The proportion of women not in paid work increases at higher ages of marriage!
    • Complex paradoxes like these are the hallmark of our society.
    • They cannot be addressed by a legal fix, particularly one that will be very hard to implement.

    Consider the question “How the age of marriage of women is connected with the issue of women empowerment? What are the concerns with increasing it to 21 years? Suggest the way forward.“

    Conclusion

    Instead of criminalising our youth, the government must take concrete steps to really empower women. If they are truly in charge of their own lives — through affordable education, meaningful and decent employment opportunities — they will be able to make better decisions about whether, when and whom to marry.

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  • MSP for all crops is fiscally unfeasible

    Context

    Many political parties are demanding to make the minimum support prices (MSP) a legal instrument.

    Background of MSP

    • MSP regime had its genesis in 1965 when India was hugely short of basic staples and living in a “ship-to-mouth” situation.
    • Indicative price: It was an indicative price (not a legal price) and procurement of rice and wheat was done to support farmers when they were adopting new seeds (HYV technology) and domestic procurement was to feed the PDS.
    • The government declares MSP for 23 crops: Seven cereals (paddy, wheat, maize, bajra, sorghum, ragi and barley), five pulses (tur, moong, chana, urad and masur), seven oilseeds (soybean, groundnut, rapeseed-mustard, sesamum, safflower, sunflower and nigerseed) and four commercial crops (sugarcane, cotton, jute and copra).

    Need to rethink procurement policy

    • But now with granaries overflowing with rice and wheat, there is a need to rethink and redesign the procurement policy.
    • In the crop year 2020-21, about 60 million metric tonnes (MMTs) of rice and 43 MMTs of wheat were procured by the Food Corporation of India (FCI) and NAFED procured about 0.66 MMTs of pulses.

    The increasing cost of PDS

    • The main procurement by the government happens largely for rice and wheat to feed the public distribution system (PDS).
    • The PDS issue prices of rice and wheat are subsidised by more than 90 per cent of their economic cost to the government.
    • In 2020-21, the food subsidy bill was almost 30 per cent of the net tax revenue of the central government, reflecting clearly a huge consumer-bias in the system.
    • Way forward: Unless this PDS is reformed either by restricting this to say the bottom 30 per cent of the population, or raising the issue prices to say half the economic cost of rice and wheat, giving a better deal to farmers is likely to blow up the fiscal position of the central government.

    The cost of legal MSP

    • Assuming that only 10 per cent of the production of remaining crops (excluding sugarcane) is procured, it will cost the government about Rs 5.4 lakh crore annually to procure these other MSP crops.
    • This cost is estimated on the basis of economic costs of operation that are usually about 30 per cent higher than the MSP (in case of rice and wheat it is 40 per cent).
    • But it appears that despite this, market prices may stay below MSP, especially during the harvest time.
    • It also raises the question why only these MSP crops, why not other agri-produce, say milk, the value of which is more than the value of rice, wheat and sugarcane combined.

    Way forward

    • PDP: One may use price deficiency payments (PDP), implying that the government pays to farmers the gap between the market price and MSP, whenever market prices are below MSP.
    • Income support instead of price support: It may be better to use an income policy on a per hectare basis to directly transfer money into farmers’ accounts without distorting markets through higher MSPs or PDPs.

    Consider the question “What are the challenges in providing the legal backing to the Minimum Support Price to the agriculture produce? Suggest the way forward.”

    Conclusion

    There is no easy substitute to “getting the markets right”. Government need to apply an innovative approach to solve the conundrum of the MSP.

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  • Disability in india

    Context

    The Draft Accessibility Standards/Guidelines recently released by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) for built infrastructure under its purview (police stations, prisons and disaster mitigation centres) and services associated with them assume significance.

    What are the provisions under the Standards?

    • Models for police stations: The Standards set out models for building new police stations as well as improving upon existing police stations and prisons that are modern, gender sensitive and accessible.
    • The Standards speak to the need to make the websites and institutional social networks of police stations accessible, ensuring that persons with disabilities accused of committing any crimes are treated appropriately, having disabled-friendly entrances to police stations and disabled-friendly toilets.
    • Inclusive police force: the Standards state that the police staff on civil duty could be persons with disabilities.
    • Equal protection during natural disasters: Acknowledging that persons with disabilities must receive equal protection as others in such situations, the Standards provide direction on disability inclusion in disaster mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery efforts.
    • They also stress on disability inclusive training for persons involved in disaster relief activities, data aggregation, use of information and communication technology (ICT) and enforcing accessible infrastructure models for schools, hospitals and shelters following the principle of universal design.
    • Accessibility norm: The Standards introduce accessibility norms for services associated with police stations and prisons.
    • These norms promote the use of ICTs to facilitate communication, development of police websites, app-based services for filing complaints, making enquiries, etc., as well as encouraging the use of sign language, communication systems such as Braille, images for persons with psycho-social disabilities, and other augmentative and alternative modes of communication.

    Shortcomings of the Standards/norms

    • Accessibility of signage not ensured: The Standards call for the deployment of directional signage regarding accessibility features in the MHA’s physical infrastructure as well as to indicate the location of accessible toilets.
    • However, they do not require that such signage itself be accessible to the visually challenged, such as through auditory means.
    • Certain accommodations merely recommendatory: The Standards characterise several reasonable accommodations that are necessary for the disabled as being merely recommendatory.
    • These include having trained police personnel in every police station to assist persons with disabilities and placing beepers at all entrances to enable the visually challenged/blind to locate themselves.
    • Lack of detail on human assistance: In the case of Patan Jamal Vali, the Court suggested connecting special educators and interpreters with police stations to operationalise the reasonable accommodations embodied in the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013.
    • While the standards do require developing a mechanism to provide human assistance to the disabled such as sign language interpreters, they are short on specifics on this count.
    • Lack of representation: Interestingly, the Standards state that the police staff on civil duty could be persons with disabilities.
    • This is inconsistent with the Office Memorandum issued by the Department of Empowerment for Persons with Disabilities on August 18, 2021, according to which the Centre has exempted posts in the Indian Police Service; the Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshdweep, Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli Police Service; as well as the Indian Railway Protection Force Service from the mandated 4% reservation for persons with disabilities in government jobs.

    Conclusion

    In sum, the Standards, when enacted into law, will mark a huge step forward in making our law enforcement apparatus more disabled-friendly. Bolstering the Standards further, by incorporating the suggestions flowing from well- thought-out public comments, will take us closer to the aim of ensuring that India’s disabled citizens truly have the police they deserve.

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  • Tackling agricultural reforms after farm laws repeal

    Context

    In the run-up to the repeal of the three farm laws, the potential cost of MSP to the taxpayers became a matter of debate.

    Issue of MSP

    • Large variation: Experts and agricultural economists quoted numbers about the cost of MPS.
    • There is a large variation in the quoted numbers.
    • The enormity of the variance in estimates is astounding.
    • No consensus on the number of beneficiaries of MSP: There is also a dissonance between the NSSO data and the administrative data on the number of farmers who enjoy MSP.
    • No consensus on a formula to calculate MSP: Further, there is no consensus on the formulae for the calculation of MSP.

    Suggestions on land reforms

    [1] Reduce high domestic prices

    • That India is an agri-surplus country.
    • That domestic prices of agri-commodities are often higher than in the international market and therefore, there is a need to bring them down.
    • How to achieve cost reduction: Cost reduction can happen either by creating efficiencies by plugging leakages or, by cost-cutting — including reducing farmers’ margins.
    • In the recently-reached understanding with the farmers, the government has agreed to constitute a committee on MSP.
    • Hopefully, a formula can be arrived at by which costs of domestic agricultural produce can be reduced while ensuring a “remunerative price” for the farmers.

    [2] Protecting landholdings

    • There is also a need to protect landholdings.
    • Farmers’ fears in this regard are not exaggerated.
    • Under the erstwhile laws, orders of payment made by an SDM/Collector could be recovered as “arrears of land revenue”.
    • While agricultural lands were protected from such recovery, non-agricultural (immovable and movable) assets appeared to be fair game.
    • Further, circumstances such as sustenance and payment of debts could force a farmer to sell their agricultural landholdings.
    • Large-scale loss of landholdings could lead to their consolidation in the hands of a few.
    • This could have the impact of turning the clock back, reminiscent of the Zamindari system.

    [3] Need to reconsider the dispute resolution mechanism

    • The government should also reconsider the dispute resolution mechanism provided in the erstwhile laws.
    • In an MSP driven regime, the government is likely to be a party in any potential dispute.
    • Conflict of interest: There will be a direct conflict of interest since the SDM/Collector is an arm of the government.
    • Land records are within the jurisdiction of the patwari and tehsildar, who report to the SDM/Collector.
    • Fast track courts: It would be advisable to think in terms of fast-track courts, and remove the provision of recovery through arrears of land revenue.
    • It would also be advisable to have only one dispute resolution mechanism for all farm laws.

    [4] Avoid over-corporatisation without the creation of the requisite efficiencies

    • We should not ask our farmers to brave corporatisation without levelling the playing field and enough jobs in the non-agricultural sector.
    • Over-corporatisation without the creation of the requisite efficiencies could lead us to become heavily import-dependent, killing the benefits of the Green Revolution.

    Conclusion

    Perfunctory reforms and those that don’t work for all constituents — corporates as well as farmers — could have long-term deleterious effects for not only the agricultural sector, but the economy as a whole.

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  • Issues with summoning CEC, EC to PMO

    Context

    The Chief Election Commissioner and two Election Commissioners were summoned by the PMO to attend a meeting with the Principal Secretary to the PM.

    Why the meeting raises questions?

    • The PMO summoning or “inviting” not just the CEC but the full bench is in violation of the Constitution, irrespective of how important or urgent the issue.
    • Violation of the principle of distancing from executive: When a person is appointed as CEC or EC, that person has to resign from his executive post in order to adhere to important constitutional principle of distancing from the executive/government.
    • The executive could appoint a person to these posts but could not order them, or remove me because of the constitutional scheme of things.
    • Violation of independence: An independent ECI is a gift of the Constitution to the nation. Free and fair and credible elections are sine qua non of the EC.
    • The Supreme Court has repeatedly stressed this point, calling it part of the basic structure of the Constitution.
    • Violation of warrant of precedence: The CEC is very high in the warrant of precedence — ninth, while the PS to PM is 23rd.
    • How can such a high constitutional functionary be summoned to attend a meeting with an officer, howsoever high and mighty?
    • It raises suspicions:  A meeting of the PS to the PM, formal or informal, online or in the PMO or ECI, just before elections raises unnecessary suspicions.

    Conclusion

    This incident is a transgression that should not happen again. The distance of an arm’s length in interactions between institutions envisaged in the Constitution is sacrosanct. It should not only be maintained but also “seen” to be maintained.

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  • The WTO’s challenge to MSP

    Context

    Amid the demand for legal backing to MSP, the question remains about whether India can provide a legal guarantee violating its international law obligations enshrined in the Agreement on Agriculture (AoA) of the World Trade Organization (WTO)?

    Classification of subsidies under AoA: Trade distorting and non-trade distorting

    • The objective of AoA: One of the central objectives of the AoA is to cut trade-distorting domestic support.
    • Three categories: In this regard, the domestic subsidies are divided into three categories: ‘green box’, ‘blue box’ and ‘amber box’ measures.
    • Non-trade distorting: ‘Green box’ subsidies (like income support to farmers de-coupled from production) and ‘blue box’ subsidies (like direct payments under production limiting programmes subject to certain conditions) are considered non-trade distorting.
    • Countries can provide unlimited subsidies under these two categories.
    • Trade-distorting subsidies: Price support provided in the form of procurement of crops at MSP is classified as a trade-distorting subsidy and falls under the ‘amber box’ measures, which are subject to certain limits.

    So, how do countries measure ‘amber box’ support?

    • Compute AMS: To measure ‘amber box’ support, WTO member countries are required to compute Aggregate Measurement of Support (AMS).
    • AMS is the total of product-specific support (price support to a particular crop) and non-product-specific support (fertilizer subsidy).

    Understanding the  de minimis limit

    • Under Article 6.4(b) of the AoA, developing countries such as India are allowed to provide a de minimis level of product and non-product domestic subsidy.
    • This de minimis limit is capped at 10% of the total value of production of the product, in case of a product-specific subsidy; and at 10% of the total value of a country’s agricultural production, in case of non-product subsidy.
    • Subsidies breaching the de minimis cap are trade-distorting.

    Possibility of India overshooting the de minimis limit

    • Relation between MSP and AMS: The procurement at MSP, after comparing it with the fixed external reference price (ERP) — an average price based on the base years 1986-88 — has to be included in AMS.
    • Widening gap between ERP and MSP: Since the fixed ERP has not been revised in the last several decades at the WTO, the difference between the MSP and fixed ERP has widened enormously due to inflation.
    • According to the Centre for WTO Studies, India’s ERP for rice, in 1986-88, was $262.51/tonne and the MSP was less than this.
    • However, India’s applied administered price for rice in 2015-16 stood at $323.06/tonne, much more than the 1986-88 ERP.
    • Procuring all the 23 crops at MSP, as against the current practice of procuring largely rice and wheat, will result in India breaching the de minimis limit making it vulnerable to a legal challenge at the WTO.
    • Even if the Government does not procure directly but mandates private parties to acquire at a price determined by the Government, as it happens in the case of sugarcane, the de minimis limit of 10% applies.

    Way forward

    • Peace clause: Although a permanent solution is nowhere in sight, the countries have agreed to a peace clause.
    • The peace clause forbids bringing legal challenges against price support-based procurement for food security purposes even if it breaches the limit on domestic support.
    • The peace clause is applicable only for programmes that were existing as of the date of the decision and are consistent with other requirements.
    • India’s procurement for rice and wheat, even if it violates the de minimis limit, will enjoy legal immunity.
    • However, India will not be able to employ the peace clause to defend procuring those crops that are not part of the food security programme (such as cotton, groundnut, sunflower seed).
    • Move from MSP to income-based support: Arguably, India can move away from price-based support in the form of MSP to income-based support, which will not be trade-distorting under the AoA provided the income support is not linked to production.
    • Supplement price-based support with income-based support: Alternatively, one can supplement price-based support (keeping the de minimis limit in mind) with an income-based support policy.

    Conclusion

    The Government needs to engage with the farmers and create an affable environment to convince them of other effective policy interventions, beyond MSP, that are fiscally prudent and WTO compatible.

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  • How lack of public data on pandemic could harm us

    Context

    Questions are being asked about India’s preparedness as the cases with the Omicron variant of the Coronavirus has been on the rise in the country.

    Where does India stand?

    [1] The Positives

    • Addressing oxygen shortage: The extreme shortages of oxygen that we saw barely six months ago will hopefully not be a feature of a third wave.
    • Vaccinated population: We have now vaccinated more than 50% of the adult population with both doses of vaccine, and approximately 85% have received one or two doses.
    • Ramping up testing to deal with a spike should not require an increase in capacity.
    • More vaccine doses: We have more vaccine doses than in May 2021 and the potential for oral antiviral therapy in the near future.

    [2] The negatives

    • Lack of data: An urgent and important one is the lack of publicly available data on the pandemic from Government sources, particularly in regard to testing, but also in terms of being able to correlate disease severity with age, prior medical conditions, locations and other variables.
    • Data from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), India’s premier medical research agency, remains inaccessible.
    • The National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has not responded.
    • The CoWIN data contains valuable information but it is of little value for future planning and prediction unless it can be tied to testing data and clinical information at the level of individuals.
    • ICMR data not correlated to CoWIN platform data: The Indian Council of Medical Research holds data on every COVID-19 test conducted in India.
    • However, these data are not correlated to the vaccine data in the CoWIN platform.
    • Data with States is inaccessible: Data on hospitalisations, etc. are apparently available at the State level, but seem inaccessible.

    What we can know from the data about pandemic

    • Infer the probability of reinfection: If we knew that a person had tested positive on successive tests separated by, say four months or more, with a negative test in-between, that would suggest a reinfection.
    • We could then infer the probability of such a reinfection.
    • Probability of vaccine breakthrough infection: With information about testing and vaccination status, we could compute the probability of a vaccine breakthrough event.
    • To know the efficacy of single vaccine dose: By checking to see whether the positive test happened after the first but before the second dose of vaccine, or after the second dose, the relative efficacy of such single vaccine doses at preventing disease could be derived.
    • Effect of the vaccine on disease severity: By examining symptoms reported after a vaccine breakthrough event, we could understand the extent to which vaccines reduce disease severity.
    • Impact of new variant: Add to this a layer of sequence information, and we could study the impact of new variants.

    Role of the volunteer organisation

    • The most trustworthy and granular data on cases in India have resulted from the remarkable and public-spirited work of a volunteer organisation, Covid19India.org.
    • Their work has now been taken over by several other voluntary groups, all operating on the same broad principles of data accessibility: covid19bharat.org, incovid19.org and covid19tracker.in.

    Way forward

    • Commitment towards data accessibility: We need to stress on data availability because this is the one area where a swift realignment is possible.
    • The more widely data are shared, the greater the likelihood of integration of the rapidly shifting scientific frontier with clinical practice.
    • Learning from the experience of South Africa: With the advantages of a relatively high-quality surveillance system among low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) countries, bolstered by a commitment towards transparency and data accessibility, South Africa’s rapid sharing allowed the world to prepare swiftly for the appearance of the highly mutated Omicron variant.
    • It is clear that pre-emptive decisions on vaccination and other measures could be made faster and better if more integrated data were available.

    Consider the question “Why availability and accessibility of data is important in dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic? What are the challenges facing health data accessibility in India?”

    Conclusion

    Now, more than ever before is the time for us to urgently reassess our attitude towards data for public health purposes and the role of national health agencies in sharing data, generated with public funds, with scientists in India and across the world.

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  • The price of food must figure in the policy

    Context

    The essential challenge of public policy for agriculture- the high price of food remains unsolved.

    Implications of high food prices

    • Increases poverty: A higher price of food increases poverty, especially as the rice and wheat supplied through the PDS constitute only a part of the total expenditure on food of the average Indian household.
    • Reduces the expenditure on other item: For the household, a high price of food crowds out expenditure on other items ranging from health and education to non-agricultural goods.
    • This prevents the market for non-agricultural goods from expanding.
    • This was one of the first discoveries in economics, made by the English economist David Ricardo about two centuries ago.

    Rising food prices in India

    • An indication of the elevation of the price of food in an economy is the share of food in a household’s budget.
    • In a global comparison we would find that this share is very large for India.
    • Data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (2016) show that this share ranges from over 30% for India to less than 10% for the U.S. and the U.K.
    • This is in line with Ricardo’s understanding of how economies progress i.e., as food gets cheaper, growth in the non-agricultural economy is stimulated.
    • Agricultural policy in India has remained quite unaccountable in the face of a rising relative price of food.
    • Impact on manufacturing sector: Arguably, the high price of food has been a factor in the disappointing lack of expansion of the manufacturing sector in India despite repeated efforts to bring it about.

    Changes needed in agricultural policy

    • Both from the point of view of food security for low-income households and the dynamism of the non-agricultural sector, agricultural policy cannot ignore the price at which food is produced.
    • Focus on improving the yield: The fact of low agricultural yield in India by comparison with the rest of the world has been known for long, and little is done about it.
    • Management of soil nutrients and moisture: A superior management of soil nutrients and moisture, assured water supply and knowledge inputs made available via an extension service would be crucial.
    • Raising yields will ensure profitability without raising producer prices, which will inflate the food subsidy bill.

    How government intervention created problems

    • Given the importance of food for our survival, this justifies public intervention in agriculture.
    • The issue is the design and scale of this intervention.
    • In the mid-sixties, when India was facing food shortage that could not be solved through trade, a concerted effort was made to raise domestic agricultural production.
    • Profitability through MSP: It introduced the strategy of ensuring farm profitability though favourable prices assured by the state.
    • Further, it entrenched the belief that it is the farmer’s right to have the state purchase as much grain as the farmer wishes to sell to the state agency.
    • Created grain stockpile: This has resulted in grain stockpiles far greater than the officially announced buffer-stocking norm.
    • These stocks have often rotted, resulting in deadweight loss, paid for by the public though taxes or public borrowing.
    • Supply more than demand: Finally, with all costs of production reimbursable and all of output finding an assured outlet, supply has outstripped demand. 
    • Damage to natural environment: This has led to unimaginable pressure on the natural environment, especially water supply.

    Consider the question “India faces the challenge of high food prices. Examine the ways in which high food prices affects the overall economy. How far is the India’s agriculture policy responsible for the problem?”

    Conclusion

    India needs an agricultural policy that ensures that farming is profitable but this cannot be at the cost of a high price of food. The ‘food problem’ should no longer be seen only in terms of the availability of food from domestic sources.

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  • Conflation between duties and rights

    Context

    There has been growing advocacy for the integration of duty with rights. On Constitution Day last month, many Union Ministers used the occasion to underline this proposal.

    What do rights come with duty mean?

    • It is a basic proposition that all rights come with duties.
    • But those duties are quite distinct from the meaning ascribed to them in the popular discourse.
    • When a person holds a right, she is owed an obligation by a duty-bearer.
    • For example, when citizens are promised a right against discrimination, the government is obliged to ensure that it treats everybody with equal care and concern.
    • Similarly, the guarantee of a right to freedom of speech enjoins the state to refrain from interfering with that liberty.

    Integrating rights with duties

    • Proponents of integration of duty with rights aim to treat otherwise non-binding obligations — the “fundamental duties” as Article 51A describes them on a par with, if not superior to, the various fundamental rights that the Constitution guarantees.
    • In an inversion of the well-known dictum, they see duties, and not rights, as trumps.
    • On Constitution Day last month, many Union Ministers used the occasion to underline this proposal.
    • The government puts forward an idea that our rights ought to be made conditional on the performance of a set of extraneous obligations.

    Issues with the proposal

    • This suggestion is plainly in the teeth of the Constitution’s text, language, and history.
    • To the framers of the Constitution, the very idea of deliberating over whether these rights ought to be provisional, and on whether these rights ought to be made subject to the performance of some alien duty, was against the republic’s vision.
    • Imposing duties a legislative prerogative: The Constitution’s framers saw the placing of mandates on individual responsibilities as nothing more than a legislative prerogative.
    • For example, the legislature could impose a duty on individuals to pay a tax on their income, and this duty could be enforced in a variety of ways.
    • If the tax imposed and the sanctions prescribed were reasonable, the obligations placed on the citizen will be constitutionally valid.
    • In this manner, Parliament and the State legislatures have imposed a plethora of duties — duties to care for the elderly and for children; duties to pay tolls and levies; duties against causing harm to others; duties to treat the environment with care, the list is endless.
    • Against Constitution: What is critical, though, is that these laws cannot make a person’s fundamental right contingent on the performance of a duty that they impose.
    • A legislation that does so will violate the Constitution.

    Background

    • The fundamental duties that are now contained in Article 51A were introduced through the 42nd constitutional amendment.
    • The Swaran Singh Committee, which was set up during the Emergency, and which recommended the insertion of the clause, also suggested that a failure to comply with a duty ought to result in punishment.
    • Ultimately, the amendment was introduced after the binding nature of the clause was removed.
    • In its finally adopted form, Article 51A encouraged citizens to perform several duties.

    Way forward

    • Know the precise nature of duties the rights create: The philosopher Onora O’Neill has argued with some force that we would do well to discuss the precise nature of duties that rights create.
    • Unless we do so, our charters of human rights may not by themselves be enough.
    • For example, we may want to ask ourselves if the promise of a right to free expression imposes on the state something more than a duty to forebear from making an unwarranted restriction on that liberty.
    •  Does it require the state to also work towards creating an equal society where each person finds herself in a position to express herself freely?

    Consider the question “How fundamental duties are related to the fundamental rights in the context of the Indian Constitution? What are the issues with making the enforcement of rights contingent on adhering to the duties?”

    Conclusion

    When we speak about the importance of obligations, it is these questions that must animate our discussions. Should we instead allow the language of fundamental duties to subsume our political debates, we would only be placing in jeopardy the moral principles at the heart of India’s republic.

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  • Fathoming the new world disorder

    Context

    It may be too early to say how the American withdrawal from Afghanistan would shape regional geopolitics in Asia and the great power contest between the United States and its competitors. But it is certainly one of those developments that will have a far-reaching impact on global politics.

    Two narratives about the US withdrawal from Afghanistan

    • There are two dominant narratives about the American withdrawal.
    • Realignment in foreign policy: The first narrative is that the U.S. exited the country on its own will as it is undertaking a larger realignment in its foreign policy.
    • Failure to win the war: The other one is that the U.S. failed to win the war in Afghanistan and, like in the case of Vietnam, was forced to withdraw from the country.
    • Focus on China: The reorientation that is under way in American foreign policy, focused on China, certainly played a role in the Afghan withdrawal.
    • But that does not obscure the fact that the world’s most powerful military and economic power failed to win the war in Afghanistan against the Taliban even after fighting them for 20 years.

    Erosion of the US’s ability in shaping geopolitical outcomes

    •  The gradual erosion of the U.S.’s ability in shaping geopolitical outcomes in faraway regions has already shaken up the structures of American unipolarity.
    • Withdrawal from Afghanistan is not an isolated incident: The Afghan withdrawal was not an isolated incident.
    • In Iraq and Libya, it failed to establish political stability and order after invasions.
    • It could not stop Russia taking Crimea from Ukraine in 2014. In Syria, it was outmanoeuvred by Vladimir Putin.
    • Finally, the way American troops were withdrawn from Afghanistan and the return of the Taliban to power strengthened this perception of great power fatigue and emboldened America’s rivals to openly challenge the U.S.-centric “rules-based order.”

    Three geopolitical challenges facing the US

    • [1]Aggressive Russia: Russia has amassed about 175,000 troops on its border with Ukraine.
    • Western intelligence agencies claim that Russian President Vladimir Putin could order an invasion of Ukraine.
    • Russian sphere of influence: From the migrant crisis in Belarus to the troop mobilisation in Ukraine, Russia is unmistakably sending a message to the West that the region stretching from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea, the eastern flank of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, is a Russian sphere of influence.
    • [2] Iran issue:  Iran, which has stepped up its nuclear programme after the Trump administration unilaterally withdrew the U.S. from the 2015 nuclear deal, has refused to hold direct talks with the U.S. 
    • Iran insists that the U.S. should first remove the sanctions and give assurance that a future President would not violate the terms of the agreement.
    • [3] Assertive China: China is sending dozens of fighter jets into the so-called Taiwan Air Defence Identification Zone almost on a weekly basis, triggering speculation on whether Beijing was considering taking the self-ruled island by force.
    • As the U.S. is trying to shift its focus to the Indo-Pacific region to tackle China’s rise, China is becoming more and more assertive in its periphery, seeking strategic depth.

    Implications

    • Limited choice: The pivot to Asia has limited America’s options elsewhere. For example, what could the U.S. do to deter Mr. Putin from making the next military move in Europe.
    • With regard to Iran, if the U.S. blinks first and lifts the sanctions, it could be read as another sign of weakness.
    • If it does not and if the Vienna talks collapse, Iran could continue to enrich uranium to a higher purity, attaining a de facto nuclear power status without a bomb (like Japan), which would be against America’s declared goals in West Asia.
    • The Afghan withdrawal and the downsizing in West Asia suggest that America’s strategic focus has shifted towards China.

    Conclusion

    This transition, from American unipolarity into something that is still unknown, has put America in a strategic dilemma: Should it stay focused on China, preparing itself for the next bipolar contest; or continue to act as a global policeman of the liberal order that is under attack from multiple fronts?

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