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Type: Op-ed

  • India should walk the talk on TRIPS waiver

    The article highlights the variance in India’s stand on intellectual property rights waiver for Covid related drugs on the international level and domestic level. 

    Removing the IPR barrier

    • When the pandemic hit the globe, India and South Africa piloted the proposal to waive key provisions of the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement on COVID-19 vaccines, drugs, therapeutics, and related technologies.
    • The core idea is that IPRs such as patents should not become barriers in scaling up production of medical products essential to combat COVID-19.
    • The TRIPS waiver proposal, now backed by the U.S. would give immunity to member countries from a legal challenge at the WTO if their domestic IPR laws suspend or do not enforce IP protection on COVID-19 medical products.
    • Member countries of the World Trade Organization (WTO) are under an obligation to ensure that their domestic intellectual property rights (IPR) laws conform to the requirements of the TRIPS agreement.

    No use of compulsory licencing in India

    • The existing flexibilities under the Patents Act of 1970, such as compulsory licences, which are consistent with the TRIPS agreement, can be used to increase the supply of COVID-19 medical products.
    • However, despite the nudging by the judiciary and others, the government inexplicably hasn’t made use of compulsory licences in the pandemic.
    • While issuing compulsory licences for COVID-19 vaccines in the absence of technology transfer is easier said than done, they can be used to augment the supply of drugs and other therapeutics.
    • For instance, there are demands that compulsory licences be issued for drugs such as Remdesivir to augment supply.
    • Natco, an Indian pharmaceutical company, has requested a compulsory licence under Section 92 of the Patents Act for Baricitinib, a COVID-19 drug.
    • This is ironic because India has historically played a leading role in mainstreaming TRIPS flexibilities like the compulsory licence at the WTO.
    • The Central government, in an affidavit filed before the Supreme Court, states that the main constraint in boosting the production of drugs like Remdesivir is the unavailability of raw materials and essential inputs.
    • The affidavit further states, “it is presumptuous to assume that the patent holder will not agree to more voluntary licences”.

    Issues with the government’s stand

    •  If that is the real bottleneck, and not IPR-related legal hurdles, why is India pushing for a TRIPS waiver at the WTO?
    • The first step in advocating for the removal of IPR-related impediments at the WTO is to make use of the existing lawful means.
    • Therefore, the government’s stand before the Supreme Court is not only contradictory with India’s position at the WTO but also severely undermines it.

    Way forward

    • To make its TRIPS waiver stand convincing, the government needs to make aggressive use of Sections 92 and 100 of the Patents Act to license all patents necessary to make COVID-19 medical products.
    • The government should not only transfer Covaxin’s technology to domestic pharmaceutical companies, to boost national supplies, but also offer it to foreign corporations. 
    •  By unlocking its vaccine technical know-how to the world, India would demonstrate its resolve to walk the talk on the TRIPS waiver.

    Conclusion

    India must take a consistent stand on IPRs on COVID-19 medical products internationally and domestically.

  • Socio-Economic Impact of Pandemic on Women

    The article highlights the disproportionate impact of the pandemic on women and suggests measures to soften the impact.

    Widening gender employment gap

    • Even prior to 2020, the gender employment gap was large.
    • Only 18% of working-age women were employed as compared to 75% of men.
    • Reasons include a lack of good jobs, restrictive social norms, and the burden of household work.
    • The nationwide lockdown hit women much harder than men.
    • Data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy Pvt. Ltd. show that 61% of male workers were unaffected during the lockdown while only 19% of women experienced this kind of security.
    • Men who did lose work were able to regain it, even if it was at the cost of increased precarity or lower earnings, because they had the option of moving into fallback employment arrangements.
    • Even as new entrants to the workforce, women workers had poorer options compared to men.
    • Women were more likely to enter as daily wage workers while men found avenues for self-employment.
    •  So, not only did women enter into more precarious work, it was also likely to be at very low earnings compared to men.

    Growing domestic work

    • With schools closed and almost everyone limited to the confines of their homes, household responsibilities increased for women.
    • The India Working Survey 2020 found that among employed men, the number of hours spent on paid work remained more or less unchanged after the pandemic.
    • But for women, the number of hours spent in domestic work increased manifold.
    • This increase in hours came without any accompanying relief in the hours spent on paid work.

    Way forward

    • The following measures are needed now:
    • The National Employment Policy, currently in the works, should systematically address the constraints around the participation of the women’s workforce.
    • Expansion of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) and the introduction of an urban employment guarantee targeted to women as soon as the most severe forms of mobility restrictions are lifted.
    • There is a need for coordinated efforts by States to facilitate the employment of women while also addressing immediate needs through the setting up of community kitchens, the opening of schools and anganwadi centres, and engagement with self-help groups for the production of personal protective equipment kits.
    • Further, a COVID-19 hardship allowance of at least ₹5,000 per month for six months should be announced for 2.5 million accredited social health activists and Anganwadi workers, most of whom are women.
    • The pandemic has shown the necessity of adequate public investment in social infrastructure.
    • The time is right to imagine a bold universal basic services programme that not only fills existing vacancies in the social sector but also expands public investments in health, education, child and elderly care, and so on, to be prepared for future shocks.

    Consider the question “Examine the impact of the pandemic on women. Suggest the measures to mitigate the impact.”

    Conclusion

    As the country meets the challenge of the second wave of the pandemic, it is crucial to learn lessons from the first wave to chart the policy path ahead.

  • RBI should return to its dharma of taming inflation

    The article highlights the need for the RBI to focus on inflation instead of pursuing elusive growth.

    Is inflation at a level to be concerned about?

    • Due to the devastation caused by the pandemic, MPC kept its stance to ‘look through’ the sustained rise in prices through much of last year.
    • The release of the consumer-price inflation number for April 2021 (4.3%) might seem to validate their decision.
    • But there are many reasons why the MPC should be concerned.
    • To start with, the April print carries little validity since the base for comparison (April 2020) has been rubbished by RBI in the past on the grounds that it relates to the first month of the lockdown.

    Inflation comes down but after causing devastation

    • Through a combination of the base effect (high level of inflation in the previous comparable period), belated but inevitable monetary policy action and a fall in demand that more than offsets the disruption in supply, inflation will come down.
    • However, before inflation comes down, it brings untold misery to the public at large.
    •  In a country where close to 20% of the population lives below the poverty line and food is a major item of their consumption basket, any rise in inflation, especially food inflation, hurts the poor disproportionately.
    • Add to that the distress caused by job losses on account of the pandemic, and this time round, the pain is likely to be magnified many times over.

    What is causing inflation?

    • Monetary policy acts with long and indeterminate lags.
    • Far from spurring credit offtake through low interest rates excess liquidity has spilled over into price pressures in India.
    • Wholesale price inflation at 7.4% (March 2021) was the highest in 8 years, while it would be naïve to take any solace from the latest consumer price index number.
    • The RBI needs to be appreciated for doing its bit to keep the wheels of our economy moving during the pandemic.
    • However, its failure to shift gear in the face of mounting evidence of inflation cannot be neglected.
    • When inflation was breaching the upper end of RBI’s target band for months on end, the message should have been clear.

    US recovery and its impact on Indian economy

    • Globally, commodity prices are already on the rise.
    • Not without reason, it would seem, as borne out by 12 May’s inflation print of 4.2%, America’s highest in 12 years
    • Part of the reason is the excessive easing of US monetary and fiscal policies.
    • Rising US inflation has huge implications for countries like India that are at the receiving end of US policies.
    • As the US economy recovers, the dollar strengthens and US interest rates rise, the rupee is bound to weaken in response, adding to inflationary pressures here.

    Consider the question “What are the factors stoking inflation in the pandemic? How far the monetary policies pursued by the central bank is responsible for it?”

    Conclusion

    When the MPC meets next in early June, it must re-order its priorities. Instead of chasing elusive growth, it must revert to its swadharma, own dharma, and focus instead on inflation.

  • It is time to set up a National Tribunals Commission

    Context

    • The Centre has abolished several appellate tribunals and authorities and transferred their jurisdiction to other existing judicial bodies through the Tribunals Reforms (Rationalisation and Conditions of Service) Ordinance 2021.

    Issues with the abolitions of tribunals

    • The Ordinance has met with sharp criticism for not bypassing the usual legislative process.
    • Several tribunals such as the Film Certification Appellate Tribunal were abolished without any stakeholder consultation. 
    • Despite the Supreme Court’s direction in Rojer Mathew v. South Indian Bank (2019), no judicial impact assessment was conducted prior to abolishing the tribunals through this Ordinance.
    • While the Ordinance has incorporated the suggestions made in Madras Bar Association v. Union of India (2020) on the composition of a search-cum-selection committee.
    • But it has disregarded the court’s direction in Madras Bar Association v. Union of India (2020) for fixing a five-year term.

    No NCT constituted

    • Further, the Centre is yet to constitute a National Tribunals Commission (NTC), an independent umbrella body to supervise the functioning of tribunals, appointment of and disciplinary proceedings against members, and to take care of administrative and infrastructural needs of the tribunals.
    • The idea of an NTC was first mooted in L. Chandra Kumar v. Union of India (1997).
    • Developing an independent oversight body for accountable governance requires a legal framework that protects its independence and impartiality.
    • Therefore, the NTC must be established vide a constitutional amendment or be backed by a statute that guarantees it functional, operational and financial independence.
    • As the Finance Ministry has been vested with the responsibility for tribunals until the NTC is constituted, it should come up with a transition plan. 

    Advantages of NTC

    • The NTC would ideally take on some duties relating to administration and oversight.
    • It could set performance standards for the efficiency of tribunals and their own administrative processes.
    • It could function as an independent recruitment body to develop and operationalise the procedure for disciplinary proceedings and appointment of tribunal members.
    • Giving the NTC the authority to set members’ salaries, allowances, and other service conditions, subject to regulations, would help maintain tribunals’ independence.

    Consider the question “What are the issues with Tribunals Reforms (Rationalisation and Conditions of Service) Ordinance 2021? How the constitution of the National Tribunals Commission would help to improve the role played by tribunals?” 

    Conclusion

    The way to reform the tribunal system is to look at solutions from a systemic perspective supported by evidence. Establishing the NTC will definitely entail a radical restructuring of the present tribunals system.

  • Lend a helping hand to children the right way

    The article highlights the need to be aware of the legal provisions while helping a orphan child.

    Helping orphaned children

    • Social media is flooded with requests to adopt children who have lost their parents in the pandemic.
    • However, before handing over an orphan child to any agency, family or person, it is important to be aware of the laws.
    • If an orphan child is kept by someone without lawful authority, he or she may land themselves in trouble.
    • According to the Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act, 1956, the father, and in his absence the mother, is the natural guardian.
    • Not even a close relative can look after the child without authorisation.

    What are the options to help

    • First option is any individual who finds an orphan child or even any child who needs care and protection under the circumstances, should immediately call the toll free Childline number 1098.
    • It is an emergency phone outreach service managed by the Women and Child Development department’s nodal agency, the Childline India Foundation.
    • The second option is to intimate the district protection officer concerned whose contact details can be found on the National Tracking System for Missing and Vulnerable Children portal.
    • The third alternative is to approach the nearest police station or its child welfare police officer who is specially trained to exclusively deal with children.
    •  jOne can always dial the Emergency Response Support System (ERSS) which is a pan-India single number (112) based emergency response system for citizens in emergencies and seek the necessary help.
    • The non-reporting of such children is also a punishable offence under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 (JJA).

    Procedure after a child reaches outreach agency

    • Once an orphan child is recovered by the outreach agency, it is the duty of the said agency to produce the child within 24 hours before the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) of the district.
    • The CWC, after an inquiry, decides whether to send the child to a children’s home or a fit facility or fit person.
    • If the child is below six years, he or she shall be placed in a specialised adoption agency.
    • The State thus takes care of all such children who are in need of care and protection, till they turn 18 years.
    • In Sampurna Behrua vs Union of India (2018), the Supreme Court of India directed States and Union Territories to ensure that all child care institutions are registered.

    Procedure for adoption

    • Once a child is declared legally free for adoption by the CWC, adoption can be done either by Indian prospective adoptive parents or non-resident Indians or foreigners, in that order.
    • Another important feature of the JJA is that it is secular in nature and simple in procedure.
    • While the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956 is religion specific but also relatively cumbersome in procedure.
    • Second, the procedure of adoption is totally transparent and its progress can be monitored from the portal of the statutory body, the Central Adoption Resource Authority.

    Directives to the police

    • The Supreme Court in Bachpan Bachao Andolan vs Union of India directed all Directors General of Police, in May 2013, to register a first information report as a case of trafficking or abduction in every case of a missing child.
    • At least one police officer not below the rank of assistant sub-inspector in each police station is mandatorily required to undergo training to deal with children in conflict with the law and in need of care and protection.
    • They are not required to wear a uniform and need to be child-friendly.
    • Similarly, each district is supposed to have its special juvenile police unit, headed by an officer not below the rank of a Deputy Superintendent of Police.
    • The Supreme Court in Re: Exploitation of children in Orphanages in the State of Tamil Nadu (2017) inter alia, specifically asked the National Police Academy, Hyderabad and police training academies in every State to prepare training courses on the JJA and provide regular training to police officers in terms of sensitisation.
    • The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) recently wrote to the Chief Secretaries of all States and Union Territories on the issue of children orphaned due to COVID-19.

    Conclusion

    Following the Covid surge and subsequent increase in request for adoption of children, the laws and procedure for the protection of children must be noted.

  • NITI Aayog’s proposal of allowing private entities to take over district hospitals

    The article highlights the issue of shortage of doctors in India and issues with the involvement of private sector in it.

    Government approach

    • Market-oriented approach towards medical education: NITI Aayog’s proposal of allowing private entities to take over district hospitals for converting them into teaching hospitals with at least 150 MBBS seats.

  • The world cannot ignore the Palestinian question

    The article discusses the types of response the recent violence in the Israel-Palestine conflict would invoke across the world and also explains the perils of ignoring the conflict.

    Three types of responses

    • The deadly riots in Israel and the war in Gaza, is likely to evoke three kinds of responses: The indifferent, the imperial, the humanitarian.

    1) Moral indifference

    •  Instead of becoming the symbol of the unfinished tasks of decolonisation, and a human rights catastrophe, the Palestinian question is now mostly an occasion to vent cynicism.
    • The moral questions the oppression of Palestinians poses is avoided by claiming that in this conflict we can assigning rights and wrongs equally to both sides.
    • There is the spectacle of civilians on both sides living in terror.
    • There is the fanaticism of the right-wing in Israel and there is the fanaticism of Hamas and Fatah.
    • Blaming both sides also whitewashes the fact that there is a monumental injustice to the Palestinians at the heart of the problem.

    2) The imperial response

    • The events leading up to the recent clashes at the Al-Aqsa Mosque can be seen as part of a long pattern of pushing out Palestinians from territory Israel wants to claim.
    • American administration has not been able to significantly roll back this project of pushing the Palestinians out.
    • Palestine will once again be the site where the Biden administration’s liberal internationalism will face challenge.

    3) Humanitarian response

    • This third response is to dig beneath the politics and find bridges in shared humanity and suffering.
    • This is also the tack of the peace movements that use culture and a history of shared suffering to build bridges.
    •  They emphasise that dispossession and exile is something both communities share; they, of all the people, should be able to understand each other.
    •  Humanity and culture, even when deeply internalised, collapse quickly when subject to fear.
    • And they always fall short of acknowledging the core issue at stake: Political equality between two peoples.

    Geopolitical implications of conflict

    • The violence of Israel will beget more terrorist violence of Hamas and Fatah, with every world power from Russia to Iran influencing the chaos.
    • Israel needs to be reminded of the blowback of imperial politics: The ultimate consequence of trying to dominate a people is that you end up destroying the moral legitimacy of your own claims.
    • No amount of military capacity can compensate for the images of lynching, rioting, and provocations that we have seen this week.

    Conclusion

    We continually risk conflict if the Palestinian question is simply treated as an object of geo-political opportunism, not as a question of basic dignity and justice.

  • Black marketing during the pandemic

    The article highlights the issue of black-marketing of drugs during the pandemic and the factors responsible for it.

    Problem of fake and sub-standard drugs

    • There have been reports of fake remdesivir amid the Covid pandemic.
    • It is difficult to quantify the morbidity and mortality effects of fake or sub-standard drugs, but they are substantial.
    • Legally, the Drugs and Cosmetics Act (DCA) has different categories of misbranded, adulterated and spurious drugs.
    • In 2003 Mashelkar Committee noted that although the Drugs and Cosmetics Act has been in force for the past 56 years, but the level of enforcement in many States has been far from satisfactory.
    • The committee also noted that the problems in the regulatory system in the country were primarily due to inadequate or weak drug control infrastructure at the State and Central level.

    Steps taken to deal with the issue

    • Assistance has also been provided under the World Bank assisted Capacity Building Project to upgrade testing facilities and to establish new drug testing laboratories.
    • The Drugs & Cosmetics Act, 1940 has recently been amended in 2008 for providing more stringent penalties to those involved in the trade of spurious drugs.
    • There are specially designated courts and regulatory infrastructure has been strengthened.
    •  There is also a whistle-blower scheme.

    Distinction between hoarding and black-marketing

    • A hoarder is anyone who stocks up items.
    • The crime isn’t hoarding per se but of selling a drug without a licence.
    • Data on prosecutions, and convictions when prosecuted, of crimes under Drugs and Cosmetics Act, are not encouraging.
    • Incidentally, courts have ruled police officers can’t register FIRs, arrest and prosecute (for cognisable crimes) under this law.
    • That’s the job of drugs inspectors.
    • The notion of a black market is different, though the two can be related.
    • In this context, it means charging a premium when there is a shortage.
    • A black market occurs when the price at which a product is sold is higher than an administratively determined price.

    Conclusion

    Action not taken in the best of times now strikes back at us in the worst of times.

  • EdTech needs an ethics policy

    The article highlights the privacy concerns associated with EdTech apps in the absence of a regulatory framework.

    Privacy risks associated with EdTechs

    • Since the onset of the pandemic, online education has replaced conventional classroom instruction.
    • This has given rise to several EdTech apps which have become popular.
    • To perform the process of learning customisation, the apps collect large quantities of data from the learners through the gadgets that the students use.
    • These data are analysed in minute detail to customise learning and design future versions of the app.
    • The latest mobile phones and hand-held devices have a range of sensors like GPS, gyroscope, accelerometer, magnetometer and biometric sensors apart from the camera and microphones.
    • These provide data about the learner’s surroundings along with intimate data like the emotions and attitudes experienced and expressed via facial expressions and body temperature changes.
    • In short, the app and device have access to the private spaces of the learner that one would not normally have access to.

    Informed consent in research

    • Researchers dealing with human subjects need to comply with ethics rules along with global standards.
    • One of the cardinal rules that should never be broken is informed consent.
    • Before any research on human subjects is undertaken, researchers have to submit detailed proposals to their respective ethics committees and obtain their permissions.
    • Further, a researcher working with children, for example, would also have to convince schoolteachers, parents, and school managements about the nature of the research to be undertaken, type of data to be collected, method of storage, the potential harmful effects of such data, etc.

    Minimal safeguards in EdTech

    • The safeguards that traditional researchers are subject to are either missing or minimal in research that the EdTech industry promotes.
    • The concept of informed consent is not meaningful since there are no proper primers to explain to stakeholders the intricacies in layperson terms.
    • Since India does not have protection equivalent to the GDPR, private data collected by an EdTech company can be misused or sold to other companies with no oversight or protection.

    Way forward

    • Given these realities, it is necessary to formulate an ethics policy for EdTech companies.
    • Such a policy draft should be circulated both online and offline for discussions and criticism.
    • Issues of fairness, safety, confidentiality and anonymity of the user would have to be dealt with.
    • EdTech companies would have to be encouraged to comply in the interest of a healthier learning ecosystem.

    Consider the question “What are the challenges associated with the adoption of online education mode? Suggest the ways to deal with these challenges.”

    Conclusion

    The lack of a regulatory framework in India along the lines of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in Europe could impinge on the privacy of students. What we need is ethics policy in online education space.

  • Evaluate the Ladakh crisis

    The article highlights the need for a critical assessment of the stand-off with China last year and offers key lessons in managing the strategic competition with China.

    Year after stand-off

    • After over a year, the stand-off between Indian and Chinese troops in eastern Ladakh shows no signs of resolution.
    • More broadly, the India-China bilateral relationship has ruptured.
    • Reversing a long-held policy, India will no longer overlook the problematic border dispute for the sake of a potentially lucrative wider relationship.
    • Even if disengagement continues, the relationship will remain vulnerable to destabilising disruptions.
    • Therefore, the Ladakh crisis offers India three key lessons in managing the intensifying strategic competition with China.

    Three key lessons

    1) Military strategy based on denial are more useful

    •  Military strategies based on denial are more useful than strategies based on punishment.
    •  The Indian military’s standing doctrine calls for deterring adversaries with the threat of massive punitive retaliation for any aggression, capturing enemy territory as bargaining leverage in post-war talks.
    • But this did not deter China from launching unprecedented incursions in May 2020.
    • In contrast, the Indian military’s high-water mark in the crisis was an act of denial — its occupation of the heights on the Kailash Range on its side of the LAC in late August.
    • This action served to deny that key terrain to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA), and gave the Indian Army a stronger defensive position.
    • A doctrinal focus on denial will give the Indian military greater capacity to thwart future land grabs across the LAC.
    • Over time, improved denial capabilities may allow India to reduce the resource drain of the increased militarisation of the LAC.

    2) Political cost matters more

    • China is more likely to be deterred or coerced with the threat of political costs, rather than material costs.
    • The material burden of the crisis would not disrupt its existing priorities.
    • In contrast, India successfully raised the risks of the crisis for China through its threat of a political rupture, not military punishment.
    • A permanently hostile India or an accidental escalation to conflict were risks that China, having achieved its tactical goals in the crisis, assessed were an unnecessary additional burden.
    • The corollary lesson is that individual powers, even large powers such as India, will probably struggle to shift Beijing’s calculus alone.
    • Against the rising behemoth, only coordinated or collective action is likely to be effective.

    3) India should accept more risk on LAC

    • India should consider accepting more risk on the LAC in exchange for long-term leverage and influence in the Indian Ocean Region.
    • From the perspective of long-term strategic competition, the future of the Indian Ocean Region is more consequential and more uncertain than the Himalayan frontier.
    • At the land border, the difficult terrain and more even balance of military force means that each side could only eke out minor, strategically modest gains at best.
    • In contrast, India has traditionally been the dominant power in the Indian Ocean Region and stands to cede significant political influence and security if it fails to answer the rapid expansion of Chinese military power.

    Conclusion

    As these three lessons show, the future of the strategic competition is not yet written. If India’s leaders honestly and critically evaluate the crisis, it may yet help to actually brace India’s long-term position against China.