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Type: op-ed snap

  • Foreign Policy Watch: India-Afghanistan

    Regional powers and the Afghanistan question

    op-ed snap | International Relations | Mains Paper 2: Bilateral, Regional and Global Groupings and agreements involving India

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: SCO members

    Mains level: Paper 2- Afghanistan after the US withdrawal

    Context

    A regional conclave of foreign ministers taking place in Dushanbe this week under the banner of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) should give us a sense of the unfolding regional dynamic on Afghanistan.

    SCO addressing challenges in Afghanistan

    • Geography, membership and capabilities make the SCO an important forum to address the post-American challenges in Afghanistan.
    • The SCO was launched 20 years ago by China and Russia to promote inner Asia stability. 
    • The current members of the SCO are China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, and India.
    • The SCO has four observer states — Iran, Afghanistan, Mongolia and Belarus.
    • The idea of a regional solution to Afghanistan has always had much political appeal.
    • But divergent regional strategic perspectives limit the prospects for a sustainable consensus on Afghanistan.

    Implications of the US exit for the region

    • The quiet satisfaction in Moscow, Beijing, Tehran and Rawalpindi at the US’s exit from Afghanistan, however, is tinged by worries about the long-term implications of Washington’s retreat
    • Regional players have to cope with the consequences of the US withdrawal and the resurgence of the Taliban.
    • Neither Moscow nor Beijing would want to see Afghanistan becoming the hub of international terror again under the Taliban.
    • For China, potential Taliban support to the Xinjiang separatist groups is a major concern.
    • Iran can’t ignore the Sunni extremism of the Taliban and its oppressive record in dealing with the Shia, and Persian-speaking minorities.
    • Pakistan worries about the danger of the conflict spilling over to the east of the Durand Line, and hostile groups gaining sanctuaries in Afghanistan.

    Three factors that drive India’s Afghan policy

    • The US exit means a new constraint on Delhi’s ability to operate inside Afghanistan.
    • There is also the danger that Afghanistan under the Taliban could also begin to nurture anti-India terror groups.
    • If India remains active but patient, many opportunities could open up in the new Afghan phase.
    • Three structural conditions will continue to shape India’s Afghan policy.
    • One is India’s lack of direct physical access to Afghanistan.
    • This underlines the importance of India having effective regional partners.
    • Second, it remains to be seen if Pakistan’s partnership with China and the extension of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor into Afghanistan can address Pakistan’s inability to construct a stable and legitimate order in Afghanistan.
    • Third, the contradiction between the interests of Afghanistan and Pakistan is an enduring one.
    • While many in Pakistan would like to turn Afghanistan into a protectorate, Afghans deeply value their independence.
    • All Afghan sovereigns, including the Taliban, will inevitably look for partners to balance Pakistan.

    Way forward for India

    • India must actively contribute to the SCO deliberations on Afghanistan, but must temper its hopes for a collective regional solution.
    • At the same time, Delhi should focus on intensifying its engagement with various Afghan groups, including the Taliban, and finding effective regional partners to secure its interests in a changing Afghanistan.

    Conclusion

    India should pursue the regional solution to Afghanistan challenge after the US exit while increasing the engagement with the various players in Afghanistan including the Taliban.

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  • Foreign Policy Watch: India-Japan

    Strategic cooperation between India, Italy and Japan can ensure a free Indo-Pacific

    op-ed snap | International Relations | Mains Paper 2: Bilateral, Regional and Global Groupings and agreements involving India

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: Not much

    Mains level: Paper 2- India-Japan-Italy partnership

    Context

    Recently, Mr. Draghi, Italy’s Prime Minister described Chinese competitive practices as “unfair” and invited the EU to be franker and more courageous in confronting Beijing on various issues. Against this backdrop, a trilateral partnership between India-Japan-Italy could play important role in the Indo-Pacific region.

    India’s growing centrality in Indo-Pacific strategic architecture

    • Countries that share similar values and face similar challenges are coming together to create purpose-oriented partnerships.
    • In the context of the Indo-Pacific, the challenges posed by China’s assertive initiatives clash with a region lacking multilateral organisations capable of solving problems effectively.
    • But as a new pushback against China takes shape and as Indian foreign policy becomes strategically clearer, there is new momentum to initiatives such as the Quad.

    India-Italy-Japan trilateral partnership

    • Recently, Italy has also begun to signal its intention to enter the Indo-Pacific geography.
    • It has done so by seeking to join India and Japan in a trilateral partnership.
    • Italy has become more vocal on the risks emanating from China’s strategic competitive initiatives.
    • On the Indian side, there is great interest in forging new partnerships with like-minded countries interested in preserving peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific.
    • The responsibility of keeping the Indo-Pacific free and open, and working for the welfare of its inhabitants falls on like-minded countries within and beyond the region.

    Potential of trilateral partnership

    • Their compatible economic systems can contribute to the reorganisation of the global supply chains that is now being reviewed by many players as a natural result of the Chinese mismanagement of the COVID-19 pandemic.
    •  At the security level, the well-defined India-Japan Indo-Pacific partnership can easily be complemented by Italy.
    • At the multilateral level, the three countries share the same values and the same rules-based world view.

    The way forward for trilateral cooperation

    • The Italian government must formulate a clear Indo-Pacific strategy that must indicate its objectives.
    • But Rome must go beyond that in defining and implementing, at the margins of the EU’s common initiatives, its own policy with respect to the Indo-Pacific.
    • The India, Italy and Japan trilateral initiative can be a forum to foster and consolidate a strategic relationship between these three countries, and specifically expand India-Italy bilateral relations.
    • A trilateral cooperation can be the right forum for India and Italy to learn more from each other’s practices and interests and consolidate a strategic dialogue that should include the economic, the security and the political dimensions.
    •  To consolidate the trilateral cooperation in this field, the three countries need to define a common economic and strategic agenda.

    Conclusion

    A clear political will is needed from all sides, and Italy, in particular, should recognise its interests in playing a larger role towards the maintenance of a free and open Indo-Pacific. Robust India-Italy strategic ties can be the first step towards the realisation of this goal.

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  • Alternative Dispute Resolution Mechanism – NCA, Lok Adalats, etc.

    Arbitration in India: Issues

    op-ed snap | Governance | Mains Paper 2: Governance, Transparency & Accountability, Citizens Charters

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: Not much

    Mains level: Paper 2- Arbitrations and issues with it in India

    Context

    Plagued by delays and rising costs, arbitration in India needs urgent attention. The pandemic has only worsened the situation.

    Issues with arbitrations process in India

    • Arbitrations in India suffers from rising costs and sluggish proceedings.
    • Arbitration proceedings are often dragged on by lawyers on either side filing misconceived applications at various stages of the proceedings.
    • Litigants, too, at times contribute to this delay with their stubbornness in not conceding a loss or defeat.
    • The courts have narrowed down the scope of judicial interference under Section 34 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act.
    • The very limited recourse for setting aside an arbitral award under the Act invariably means that it will be upheld, even if it appears unfair or illogical.
    • The aggrieved party may well be stuck with the award and precluded forever from challenging it.
    • Arbitration hearings are generally held in camera, and decisions are usually not publicly accessible, giving rise to doubts about impartiality and fairness.
    • Arbitration proceedings have become more complex with time.
    • The Supreme Court, in Guru Nanak Foundation v. Rattan Singh and Sons, had expressed disappointment against the procedural delays and tardiness in the resolution of disputes through arbitration.
    • Even the clauses providing for fees of the arbitrators and fixed timelines for disposal are often disregarded by the players
    • The inevitable consequence of these drawbacks is a slow departure of the biggest litigant, the government, from the arbitration spectrum.
    • A sector that is dominated by approvals, protocols and scrutiny, uncertainty about the budget outlay towards arbitrations and unexpected delays in disposal does not inspire confidence and detracts from the sanctity of the process.

    Way forward

    • Arbitrators have endeavoured to simplify the proceedings by limiting the pleadings, insisting on written arguments, reducing the number of sittings and laying down a schedule for various milestones.
    • Some restraint is needed from all quarters to bring its wheels back on the tracks. These are:
    • A small check on the arbitral fees and timelines.
    • Careful drafting of arbitration clauses.
    • Stringent procedural safeguards to curb delays.
    • Expeditious disposal of the court proceedings and legislative intent towards all of the above.

    Consider the question “What are the issues faced by the arbitration in India? Suggest the measures to deal with these issues.” 

    Conclusion

    Arbitration still has the inherent potential and characteristics to outperform other modes of dispute resolution, but for that to happen, some changes are a must.

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  • New Ministry of Cooperation should enable people to leverage community networks

    op-ed snap | Economics | Mains Paper 3: Indian Economy

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: Farmer Producer Companies

    Mains level: Paper 3- Cooperatives in India and challenges

    Context

    India now has a Ministry of Cooperation that aims to strengthen the country’s cooperative movement. This is an opportune moment to look at the movement’s history, examine the potential of cooperatives and analyse the challenges they face.

    Development of Farmer Producer Companies in India

    • India’s significant tryst with dairy cooperatives began in the 1950s with the success of what we know today as Amul.
    • The nation took note of this initiative and the National Dairy Development Board was set up in 1965.
    • However, the expansion wasn’t working the way it had been envisaged.
    • The need for a new model was felt soon as cooperatives outside Anand were not holding regular and proper elections.
    • Their accounts were not audited.
    • As a result, a committee was set up in the Company Affairs Ministry to allow farmers to set up companies.
    • The Farmer Producer Companies (FPCs) would run on the principle of “one share one vote” and the essence of cooperatives would not be diluted.
    • The Parliamentary Committee looked into the Bill to give legal backing to FPCs, with this, the Companies Act (Second Amendment), 2002 became law.

    Funding the FPCs

    • The existing funding vehicles were designed to cater to cooperatives, not FPCs
    •  Around 2010, the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) had been commissioned to develop a plan for restructuring NABARD.
    • As a result, the restructured NABARD had a special window for FPCs.

    Community-based cooperatives

    •  The Cheliya community set up a chain of Hearty Mart “cooperative” supermarkets in villages in Gujrat using the franchise model.
    •  Just as the network of Charotar Patels that Kurien relied on in the case of Amul —Cheliya community have played a key role in the spread of the model.
    • The idea of leveraging the community network was tried in some parts of the country in the context of re-imagining economic infrastructure.
    • To deal with the electricity board failures, a distribution company was run on a community basis.
    • This model has, in fact, worked in places like Kanpur, even Kerala.

    Social cooperatives

    • The concept of social cooperatives builds on the idea of communities creating infrastructure by using local material and family labour.
    • These can be the village tank, paving the village road — with or without MGNREGA — finishing the last-mile construction of a canal network or even keeping watch on the contractor.
    • The pandemic seems to have increased the significance of community effort.
    • Reducing vaccine hesitancy, providing food to those waiting outside hospitals and, most importantly, looking after orphaned children are imperatives crying out for the cooperative model.

    Way forward for new Ministry of Cooperatives

    •  Keeping in mind social needs while using resources is a large part of the solution to our current predicament.
    • The pandemic will not follow the laws of corporate finance, cooperation has a lot to speak for itself, the new ministry should take this message.
    • The new work-from-home model will create several problems as well as offer opportunities.
    • The new ministry is a recognition of the needs of our times.
    • But it should not be just about pumping in money. 

    Conclusion

    This is the time to design models that help those who help themselves. We will wait expectantly to see how the new ministry works.

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  • Higher Education – RUSA, NIRF, HEFA, etc.

    Issues with school enrolment in India

    op-ed snap | Governance | Mains Paper 2: Health & Education

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: Not much

    Mains level: Paper 2- Issues with school education in India

    Context

    Proportion of children attending the government schools has been on the decline. This has several implications.

    Issues with school education in India

    • A quality, free and regular school education represents our most potent infrastructure of opportunity, a fundamental duty of the state.
    • Meritocracy represents the idea that people should advance based on their talents and efforts.
    • But India’s meritocracy is sabotaged by flailing government schools.
    • The proportion of India’s children attending a government school has now declined to 45 per cent.
    • This number is 85 per cent in America, 90 per cent in England, and 95 per cent in Japan.
    • India’s 100 per cent plus school enrolment masks challenges; a huge dropout ratio and poor learning outcomes.
    • We have too many schools and 4 lakh have less than 50 students (70 per cent of schools in Rajasthan, Karnataka, J&K, and Uttarakhand).
    • China has similar total student numbers with 30 per cent of our school numbers.

    It is not Government Vs. Private schools

    • Demand for better government schools is not an argument against private schools.
    • Because, without this market response to demand, the post-1947 policy errors in primary education would have been catastrophic for India’s human capital.

    Way forward

    • We need the difficult reforms of governance, performance management, and English instruction.
    • Governance must shift from control of resources to learning outcomes; learning design, responsiveness, teacher management, community relationships, integrity, fair decision making, and financial sustainability.
    • Performance management, currently equated with teacher attendance, needs evaluation of scores, skills, competence and classroom management. Scores need continuous assessments or end-of-year exams.
    • The new world of work redefines employability to include the 3Rs of reading, writing, and arithmetic and a fourth R of relationships.
    • India’s farm to non-farm transition is not happening to factories but to sales and customer services which need 4R competency and English awareness.
    • English instruction is about bilingualism, higher education pathways, and employability.
    • Employment outcomes are 50 per cent higher for kids with English familiarity because of higher geographic mobility, sector mobility, role eligibility, and entrance exam ease.
    • India’s constitution wrote Education Policy into Lists I (Centre), II (State), and III (concurrent jurisdiction); this fragmentation needs revisiting because it tends to concentrate decisions that should be made locally in Delhi or state capitals.

    Conclusion

    Government needs urgent measure to addreess the issues which has bearing on its future.

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  • Need for coordinated database for tracking fugitives

    op-ed snap | Security Issues | Mains Paper 3: External State & Non-State Actors: Challenges To Internal Security.

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems and the National Intelligence Grid

    Mains level: Paper 2- Need for a coordinated database of fugitives

    Context

    India lacks a domestic tracking system for fugitives. That makes it easier for them to evade the criminal justice system.

    Challenges at investigation and prosecution level

    • Central agencies have developed reasonable expertise in investigation and prosecution because they are focussed only on investigation and prosecution work.
    • On the other hand, State police forces (except specialised wings) are engaged in law-and-order work as well as investigations.
    • The bulk of the investigation and prosecution work happens at police stations in the States.
    • There is a tendency to close investigations once the accused have absconded.
    • Some police stations do initiate proceedings for attachment of property and declaration of the accused as proclaimed offenders, but the number of cases where coordinated efforts are made to pursue fugitives – domestically or internationally – are hardly documented.

    No system for tracking criminals domestically

    • Through Interpol Notices and the sharing of immigration databases of different countries, there exists a system of tracking criminals worldwide.
    • However, there is no coordinated system or database for tracking criminals or wanted persons domestically in India.
    • In the absence of such a system, it is relatively easy for criminals from one police station/jurisdiction to melt into the population in any other area, almost undetected.

    Way forward

    • The creation of a nationwide database of wanted persons, which could be accessible for police agencies, the public and others is needed.
    • A nation-wide system of ‘Wanted Persons Notices’, similar to Interpol Notices, is required, to help track fugitives domestically.
    • The Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems and the National Intelligence Grid are efforts in the right direction/
    • Countries like the U.S. have functional inter-State extradition and fugitive tracking systems.
    • India needs to set up such dedicated ‘fugitive tracking units’.
    • There needs to be enhanced integration between immigration agencies, State police agencies, Interpol-New Delhi, the External Affairs Ministry and Home Ministry and central investigation agencies.
    • Sharing India’s ‘wanted’ database or providing access to it to foreign embassies on a reciprocal basis or through treaties or arrangements would also be helpful.
    • Signing of more bilateral and multilateral conventions on criminal matters would help plug legal infirmities.
    • Signing bilateral agreements on cooperation in policing matters would also help.
    • All relevant legal processes and requirements should be incorporated into one consolidated law on international cooperation.
    • The entire gamut of activities pertaining to fugitives, from investigation to extradition, needs to be incorporated into a specialised set-up.

    Conclusion

    In the absence of a coordinated database, criminals can go undetected. What we need is a watertight system that would deter criminals from hoodwinking the law.

    Back2Basics: Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS)

    • CCTNS aims at creating a comprehensive and integrated system for enhancing the efficiency and effective policing at all levels and especially at the Police Station level.
    • It aism at adoption of principles of e-Governance, and creation of a nationwide networked infrastructure for evolution of IT-enabled state of- the-art tracking system around “investigation of crime and detection of criminals” in real time.
    • It is is a critical requirement in the context of the present day internal security scenario.
    • The scope of CCTNS spans all 35 States and Union Territories and covers all Police Stations (15,000+ in number) and all Higher Police Offices (6,000+ in number) in the country.
    • The CCTNS project includes vertical connectivity of police units (linking police units at various levels within the States – police stations, district police offices, state headquarters, SCRB and other police formations – and States, through state headquarters and SCRB, to NCRB at GOI level) as well as horizontal connectivity, linking police functions at State and Central level to external entities.

    National Intelligence Grid (NATGRID)

    • First conceptualised in 2009, NATGRID seeks to become the one-stop destination for security and intelligence agencies to access database related to immigration entry and exit, banking and telephone details of a suspect on a “secured platform”.
    • All State police are mandated to file First Information Reports (FIR) in the CCTNS.
    • It is only a repository and the data pertaining to FIRs of a particular police station are a State subject.

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  • Judicial Reforms

    Collegium system’s role in protecting democracy

    op-ed snap | Polity | Mains Paper 2: Executive & Judiciary

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: Article 124 and Article 214

    Mains level: Paper 2- Collegium system

    Context

    Judiciary is being challenged, from within and outside. It must shield itself from further erosion of its independence and competence by scrupulously following the law, as declared by the Supreme Court (SC) itself.

    How the Collegium helped to secure the independence of judiciary

    • In 1993, the SC held the following:
    • The process of appointment of Judges to the Supreme Court and the High Courts is an integrated ‘participatory consultative process’.
    • The process aims at selecting the best and most suitable persons available for appointment.
    • The Collegium consists of the CJI and the four senior-most judges of the SC and high courts.
    • It was devised to ensure that the opinion of the Chief Justice of India is not merely his individual opinion, but an opinion formed collectively by a body of men at the apex level in the judiciary.
    • By judicial interpretation, the Supreme Court re-interpreting Article 124 and 214 of the Constitution empowered the judiciary to make appointments to the higher judiciary to secure the rule of law.

    Threat to the judicial independence

    • The framers of the Constitution were alive to the likely erosion of judicial independence.
    • On May 23, 1949, K T Shah stated that the Judiciary, which is the main bulwark of civil liberties, should be completely separate from and independent of the Executive, whether by direct or by indirect influence.
    • In  2016, the Supreme Court struck down a constitutional amendment for creating the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC).
    • The SC strongly disapproved of any role for the political executive in the final selection and appointment of judges.
    • The SC said that “reciprocity and feelings of payback to the political executive” would be disastrous to the independence of the judiciary.

    Consider the question “How the Collegium system helped the Judiciary secure its independence? What are the issues with it?”

    Conclusion

    The selection of deserving judges is essential to ensure the independence of the judiciary. The Collegium must do its best in this task.

    Back2Basics: About the National Judicial Appointments Commission

    • The NJAC or National Judicial Appointments Commission sought to change the system, where judges would have been appointed by a commission where the legislative and the executive would have had a role.
    • The NJAC was supposed to comprise of the Chief Justice of India (Chairperson, ex-officio), two other senior judges of the Supreme Court, The Union Minister of Law and Justice, ex-officio and two eminent persons, to be appointed by the Chief Justice of India, Prime Minister of India, and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha.
    • The bill was passed by the Lok Sabha on 13 August 2014 and by the Rajya Sabha on 14 August 2014, and became an Act.
    • The NJAC replaced the collegium system for the appointment of judges.
    • The NJAC Bill and the Constitutional Amendment Bill, was ratified by 16 of the state legislatures in India, and the President gave his assent on 31 December 2014.
    • The NJAC Act became effective from April 13, 2015.
    • The NJAC enjoyed support from the Supreme Court Bar Association and many legal luminaries but was also challenged by some lawyer associations and groups before the Supreme Court of India through Writ Petitions.
    • A three-judge bench of the Supreme Court referred the matter to a Constitution Bench that heard different arguments for over a month.
    •  Finally, on October 16, a five-judge bench of the Supreme Court declared the 99th Constitutional Amendment Act and the NJAC Act 2014 “unconstitutional and void”.

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  • Centre must step up cash flow to states

    op-ed snap | | Mains Paper 3: Indian Economy

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: State Development Loans

    Mains level: Paper 3- Centre needs to help states to tide over the uncertain year

    Context

    The states are borrowing less than expected in the first quarter of FY 2021-22 despite the negative impact of state-level restrictions, amidst the second Covid wave, on economic activity.

    An overview of borrowing by States

    • In 2020-21, the gross amount raised through state development loans (SDLs) or bonds had jumped to Rs 8 trillion, up from Rs 6.3 trillion in the previous year.
    • The increase was a fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic on state finances.
    • In the first quarter of the current financial year i.e. 2021-22, gross issuances of bonds stood at Rs 1.4 trillion.
    • This amount is 14 per cent lower than the bonds issued last year (Rs 1.7 trillion).
    • This is also around 20 per cent lower than what states had initially indicated they would borrow (Rs 1.8 trillion) through the indicative calendar of market borrowings released by the RBI.
    • As a result, state bond issuances have undershot expectations in the first quarter.

    Factor’s responsible for lower state borrowing

    •  Lower state borrowings were a consequence of three major factors.
    • First, an additional tax devolution of Rs 450 billion from the Centre in late March.
    • This amount was in excess of the Rs 5.5 trillion tax devolution that had been included in the revised estimates for 2020-21.
    • Second, record-high GST collections in April which doubled to Rs 1.3 trillion in the first quarter of this year, up from Rs 0.6 trillion in the same period last year.
    • Third, receipt of substantial grants from the Centre adding up to Rs 436 billion in April-May related to the recommendations of the Fifteenth Finance Commission.

    Factors that could influence the borrowing pattern in the next three quarters

    • First, the varying pace of unlocking and the consequent economic revival in states from June onwards may crucially affect state borrowings in the second quarter.
    • A faster ramp-up of vaccine administration may help some states, reducing the need to borrow.
    • Second, the eventual calendar for raising back-to-back loans by the GoI to compensate states for the loss in their GST revenues could also result in a change in the states’ borrowing schedule.
    • Third, the quantum, and timing of tax devolution will also play a role.

    Why timing of the Central tax devolution matters for States

    • Central tax devolution forms a quarter of states’ combined revenue receipts.
    • This revenue stream has contracted by 15 per cent in the first two months of the year, falling to Rs 392 billion each in April-May this year, from Rs 460 billion last year.
    • If the Centre continues to devolve to states this amount till February 2022, then a massive Rs 2.4 trillion (36 per cent of the budgeted amount) will be left for devolution in March 2022 — assuming that the devolution for the full year is not revised below the budgeted level.
    • From the states’ point of view, this would be rather inefficient from a cash flow perspective.

    Conclusion

    An early step-up in tax devolution by the central government may provide comfort to the states to accelerate expenditure during another uncertain year, without borrowings being pushed up in the next two quarters.

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  • Important Judgements In News

    Issues with the UAPA and role of judiciary

    op-ed snap | Polity | Mains Paper 2: Executive & Judiciary

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: UAPA

    Mains level: Paper 2- Misuse of UAPA and role of judiciary

    Context

    Father Stan Swamy passed away at a private hospital in Mumbai on July 5. Fr. Swamy was arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).

    How Supreme Court judgment leaves the scope for misuse of UAPA

    • The Supreme Court’s April 2019 decision in National Investigation Agency vs Zahoor Ahmad Shah Watali on the interpretation of the UAPA has affected all downstream decisions involving the statute.
    • This decision has created a new doctrine.
    • According to the decision, in considering bail applications under the UAPA, courts must presume every allegation made in the First Information Report to be correct.
    • Further, bail can now be obtained only if the accused produces material to contradict the prosecution.
    • In other words, the burden rests on the accused to disprove the allegations, which is virtually impossible in most cases.
    • The decision has essentially excluded the admissibility of evidence at the stage of bail.
    • By doing so, it has effectively excluded the Evidence Act itself, which arguably makes the decision unconstitutional.
    • Due to the Supreme Court judgment, High Courts have their hands tied, and must perforce refuse bail, as disproving the case is virtually impossible.
    • The Delhi High Court recently granted bail to three young activists arrested under UAPA in a conspiracy relating to the 2020 riots in Delhi.
    • The Supreme Court reportedly expressed surprise and gave the direction that the decision will “not to be treated as precedent by any court” to give similar reliefs.

    Misuse of the UAPA

    • With such high barriers of proof, it is now impossible for an accused to obtain bail, and is in fact a convenient tool to put a person behind bars indefinitely.
    • This is being abused by the government, police and prosecution liberally: now, all dissenters are routinely implicated under charges of sedition or criminal conspiracy and under the UAPA.
    •  In multiple instances, evidence is untenable, sometimes even arguably planted, and generally weak overall.
    • But as a consequence of UAPA being applied, the accused cannot even get bail.

    Way forward

    • If we want to prevent the misuse, the decision in the Watali case must be urgently reversed or diluted, otherwise, we run the risk of personal liberties being compromised very easily.

    Conclusion

    The provision of the act leaves the scope for misuse and therefore judiciary and legislature need to take steps to provide safeguards to prevent the misuse.

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  • Coronavirus – Health and Governance Issues

    Guidelines by the Supreme Court in the migrant labourers case

    op-ed snap | Governance | Mains Paper 2: Governance, Transparency & Accountability, Citizens Charters

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: One nation, one ration card scheme

    Mains level: Paper 2- Guidelines for providing relief to migrant workers

    Context

    The Supreme Court on June 29 pronounced its judgment in the migrant labourers case. The case was initiated last year after the national lockdown was announced on March 24.

    Guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court

    • Two of the most important components to protect the migrants during this time were the food and travel arrangements insisted on by the court.
    • In the orders pronounced in May this year, it laid down that dry ration be provided to migrants who want to return to their homes.
    • Further, the court said that identity proof should not be insisted upon by the governments since the labourers might not be able to furnish it.
    • Secondly, the court called upon the State governments to arrange transportation for workers who need to return to their homes.
    • The Supreme Court fixed July 31 as the deadline for the States to implement the ‘One nation One Ration Card’ scheme.
    • Apart from dry ration, the top court also directed the State governments to run community kitchens for migrant workers.
    • In the order passed on June 29, the court affirmed the Right to Food under Article 21 of the Constitution.
    • In furtherance of this, the court asked the States to formulate their own schemes and issue food grains to migrants.
    • The top court recognised the need for direct cash benefit transfer to workers in the unorganised sector.
    • But it did not issue any guidelines for the same.

    Challenges

    • The Supreme Court has given a purposive declaration in the case but the bulk of the judgment seems declaratory rather than mandatory. 
    • Under the ‘One nation One Ration Card’ scheme, the States are to complete the registration of migrant workers in order to provide dry ration to them.
    • But it is unlikely that a standardised system can be developed within the deadline prescribed by the court.
    • There are administrative problems in running community kitchens for migrant workers.
    • First, migrant workers keep moving in search of employment and it is difficult to cover them all under the scheme.
    • Second, many States do not have the necessary infrastructure to run and maintain community kitchens on such a large scale.
    • The court asked the States to formulate their own schemes and issue food grains to migrants, but there are no normative data that would allow the States to identify eligible migrants.

    Conclusion

    In order to efficaciously implement the orders of the court, the State governments need to work with the Centre closely. It is imperative to ensure that government machinery works to its full potential and robust systems are developed to withstand the challenges of the looming third covid wave.

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