Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- Constitutional battle between governor and the government
Context
The Supreme Court’s action in ordering the release of A G Perarivalan, a convict in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, has resulted in mixed reactions.
Background
- After the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, the assailants were tried under the notorious Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act, 1987 (TADA).
- All 26 accused were given the death sentence by the Special Court for various offences, including under TADA (1998).
- Fortunately, the SC held that the offences under TADA were not made out since there was no case to proceed for acts of terrorism.
- It also modified the death penalty for 22 persons and confirmed the same only for Nalini, Perarivalan, Murugan and Santhan (1999).
- Petition for mercy under Article 161: They petitioned the governor of Tamil Nadu for mercy under Article 161.
- The then governor of Tamil Nadu dismissed their petition without any advice from the cabinet.
- The Madras High Court ruled that the governor cannot exercise the power of pardon without the advice of the council of ministers.
- The cabinet advised the governor to give reprieve only to Nalini Sriharan and rejected the case of the other three, including Perarivalan.
- Perarivalan and the two other convicts appealed to the president with a mercy plea under Article 72.
- Two successive presidents of India – K R Narayanan and APJ Abdul Kalam — did not pass any mercy orders.
- But all of a sudden, their mercy pleas were rejected after a delay of 11 years by President Pratibha Patil.
- When they were about to be executed, the convicts moved the Madras HC challenging the execution of the death warrant issued against them.
- The cases were transferred to the SC, which decided that the president’s action in not considering the mercy plea within a reasonable time was improper and since the three prisoners had been on death row for 11 years, it was a fit case for commuting their sentence to life imprisonment.
- Meanwhile, on February 19, 2014, the TN cabinet advised the governor to grant reprieve to all seven accused.
- Once again, all of them applied for remission from the governor.
- The state cabinet also advised the governor to grant pardon.
- WhenPerarivalan’s mother, filed a case for parole, the court noting the inordinate delay observed: “the Governor of T N, a constitutional authority, cannot sit on the state’s recommendation on the release of all seven life convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case for so long” (July 2020).
- The court was informed that the governor was awaiting the final report of the CBI’s Multi-Disciplinary Monitoring Agency (MDMA).
Role of MDMA
- The role of MDMA itself came up for criticism by the SC in January 2018 and it observed that the agency did not appear to have made “much headway”.
- The court observed that the question of reopening the case against them will not arise as they had been already convicted for murder and conspiracy.
- Article 20(2) of the Constitution guarantees that no person can be prosecuted and punished for the same offence more than once.
Use of powers under Article 142 by the Supreme Court
- Once again, the process of granting mercy to the seven accused began with a resolution passed by the T N Assembly on September 9, 2018.
- On the same day, the state cabinet advised the governor to give reprieve to all seven prisoners.
- On being compelled by the court, the governor stated that the matter was to be dealt with by the President.
- It was at this stage the matter went back to the SC.
- It was finally decided that the authority to grant pardon is with the governor and he is bound by the advice of the state government.
- The court also ruled that the action of the governor in delaying the matter for more than 2.5 years was unacceptable.
- Exercising its power under Article 142 as well as considering all the relevant circumstances, the SC ordered Perarivalan’s release.
Limitations on governor’s power
- Giving reprieve to persons sentenced to the death penalty, even in the exercise of the plenary powers by a governor, has limitations.
- In 1978, Parliament amended the Criminal Procedure Code and introduced Sec 433A by which in such cases, prisoners cannot be released from prison unless they had served a minimum of 14 years in prison.
Reformatory penal system of India
- India’s penal system is undoubtedly reformatory and not retributive.
- The SC ruled on this issue by stating “a barbaric crime does not have to be visited with a barbaric penalty.”
- It is also surprising that the successive governments at the Centre appeared to be guided in this case by geopolitical considerations rather than this country’s laws.
Conclusion
The question now is whether the six other prisoners will receive the same relief or will there be a confrontation between the state government and governor once again. Let us hope that wisdom prevails and the governor’s office is not manipulated for narrow political considerations.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- Public health and management cadre
Context
In April this year, the Union government released a guidance document on the setting up of a ‘public health and management cadre’ (PHMC) as well as revised editions of the Indian Public Health Standards (IPHS) — for ensuring quality health care in government facilities.
Background
- The need for a public health cadre and services in India rarely got any policy attention.
- Limited understanding: The reason was that even among policymakers, there was limited understanding on the roles and the functions of public health specialists and the relevance of such cadres, especially at the district and sub-district levels.
- However, the last decade and a half was eventful.
- The initial threat of avian flu in 2005-06, the Swine flu pandemic of 2009-10; five more public health emergencies of international concern between years 2009-19; the increasing risks and regular emergence and re-emergence of of new viruses and diseases (Zika, Ebola, Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic fever, Nipah viruses, etc.) in animals and humans, resulted in increased attention on public health.
- National Public health Act: In 2017, India’s National Health Policy 2017 proposed the formation of a public health cadre and enacting a National Public Health Act.
- The COVID-19 pandemic changed the status quo.
- In the absence of trained public health professionals at the policy and decision making levels, India’s pandemic response ended up becoming bureaucrat steered and clinician led.
Different cadres and its implications
- Lack of career progression opportunities: At present, most Indian States (with exceptions such as Tamil Nadu and Odisha) have a teaching cadre (of medical college faculty members) and a specialist cadre of doctors involved in clinical services.
- This structure does not provide similar career progression opportunities for professionals trained in public health.
- Limited interest: It is one of the reasons for limited interest by health-care professionals to opt for public health as a career choice.
- The outcome has been costly for society: a perennial shortage of trained public health workforce.
Public health cadre
- The proposed public health cadre and the health management cadre have the potential to address some of these challenges.
- With the release of guidance documents, the States have been advised to formulate an action plan, identify the cadre strengths, and fill up the vacant posts in the next six months to a year.
- A public health workforce has a role even beyond epidemics and pandemics.
- A trained public health workforce ensures that people receive holistic health care, of preventive and promotive services (largely in the domain of public health) as well as curative and diagnostic services (as part of medical care).
Revised version of IPHS and significance
- This is the second revision in the IPHS, which were first released in 2007 and then revised in 2012.
- The regular need for a revision in the IPHS is a recognition of the fact that to be meaningful, quality improvement has to be an ongoing process.
- The development of the IPHS itself was a major step.
- The revised IPHS is an important development but not an end itself.
- In the 15 years since the first release of the IPHS, only a small proportion — around 15% to 20% — of government health-care facilities meets these standards. .
- If the pace of achieving IPHS is any criteria, there is a need for more accelerated interventions.
- Opportunities such as a revision of the IPHS should also be used for an independent assessment on how the IPHS has improved the quality of health services.
Implementation challenges
- The effective part of implementation is interplay: policy formulation, financial allocation, and the availability of a trained workforce.
- In this case, policy has been formulated.
- Financial allocations: Then, though the Government’s spending on health in India is low and has increased only marginally in the last two decades; however, in the last two years, there have been a few additional — small but assured — sources of funding for public health services have become available.
- The Fifteenth Finance Commission grant for the five-year period of 2021- 26 and the Pradhan Mantri Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission (PM-ABHIM) allocations are available for strengthening public health services and could be used as States embark upon implementing the PHMC and a revised IPHS.
- Availability of trained workforce: The third aspect of effective implementation, the availability of trained workforce, is the most critical.
- As States develop plans for setting up the PHMC, all potential challenges in securing a trained workforce should be identified and actions initiated.
Conclusion
The public health and management cadres and the revised IPHS can help India to make progress towards the NHP goal. To ensure that, State governments need to act urgently and immediately.
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Back2Basics: Indian Public Health Standards (IPHS)
- IPHS are a set of uniform standards envisaged to improve the quality of health care delivery in the country.
- The IPHS documents have been revised keeping in view the changing protocols of the existing programmes and introduction of new programmes especially for Non-Communicable Diseases.
- Flexibility is allowed to suit the diverse needs of the States and regions.
- These IPHS guidelines will act as the main driver for continuous improvement in quality and serve as the bench mark for assessing the functional status of health facilities.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- Marital rape issue
Context
On 11 May, two judges of the Delhi High Court handed down separate judgments in RIT Foundation v Union of India.
Background
- Section 375 of the IPC defines “rape” as when a man has sex with a woman without her consent.
- Exception to Section 375 of IPC: An exception to Section 375 provides that it is not rape for a husband to have sex with his wife, regardless of consent.
The two judgements
1] Violation of rights:
- In his judgment, Justice Rajiv Shakdher concluded that the marital rape exception violated the rights to life, equality, non-discrimination, and freedom of speech and expression under the Constitution.
- There is no reasonable basis to distinguish between married and unmarried women.
- Marriage is a relationship of equals, and women do not forfeit their agency and sexual autonomy upon marriage.
2] Issues with Constitutional validity of exception
- Justice C Hari Shankar took a different view, concluding that the marital rape exception is constitutionally valid.
- First, the judge held that it is the wrong starting point to assume that a husband who has sex with his wife without her consent “commits rape”.
- 1] Exclusion from definition argument: The judge noted that the effect of the exception to Section 375 of the IPC is that any sex between a husband and wife, whether or not consensual, is excluded from the definition of rape.
- That analysis does not bear scrutiny.
- It makes little difference whether the starting point is that non-consensual sex within marriage should be characterised as rape or, for example, sexual assault.
- The critical question is whether it is unconstitutional to exclude non-consensual sex from the definition of rape.
- 2] Preservation of marital institution argument: The judge held that the marital rape exception was “aimed at preservation of the marital institution, on which the entire bedrock of society rests”.
- The difficulty with that proposition is obvious — is it the policy of the law that marriage is to be preserved at all costs?
- If so, does that withstand constitutional scrutiny?
- 3] Impact argument: the judge rejected the challenge to the martial rape exception based on the right to equality on the spurious assumption that the impact on a woman who is raped by her husband cannot “be equated with the impact of a woman who is raped by a stranger”.
- No evidence is cited in support of those claims.
- They also defy logic. Being raped by someone in whom you have reposed trust is likely to have an indelible emotional impact.
- 4] Reluctance to file complaint: The judge concluded that, as a practical matter, a “majority of Indian women” would be reluctant to file a complaint of rape against their husbands in any event.
- Even if that were true, it is no reason to disempower, by the operation of the law, women who do have the resolve to make a rape complaint against their husbands from doing so.
- 5] Creation of new offence: Justice Shankar held that it is not within the court’s power to create a new offence, and striking down the marital rape exception would have that effect.
- There is no question of creating a new offence — the court would simply be striking down an exception carved out of an existing offence.
- The only principled basis for the judge’s objection is that it may be unfair to punish someone for rape for conduct that was excluded from the definition of rape when it was undertaken.
- But that is not a reason to avoid striking down the marital rape exception.
- The easy solution is for the court to declare that its judgment will apply only to conduct after the date of the judgment.
Conclusion
Whether the marital rape exception violates fundamental rights under the Constitution is a question that falls within the Court’s core competency. There is only one reasonable answer to that question.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- Abortion rights
Context
The leaked Roe vs Wade draft opinion has been in the news for its possible impact on abortion rights, but it also paves the way for the erosion of gay rights in America.
Background of abortion rights cases in the U.S.
- Almost 50 years earlier, the U.S. Supreme Court held in Roe vs Wade(1973) that it was unconstitutional for states to ban or restrict abortions before fetal viability.
- Later, Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania vs Casey (1992) reaffirmed Roe’s central holding on viability.
- In December 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court concluded oral arguments in Dobbs vs Jackson Women’s Health Organization, an ongoing case that looks at a 2018 Mississippi law (The Gestational Age Act) that bans most abortions after 15 weeks.
- Keeping Roe and Casey in mind, lower courts permanently enjoined the Mississippi law, but the case eventually moved up to the Supreme Court, with the following question: are all pre-viability prohibitions on elective abortions unconstitutional?
- This question (and the court’s acceptance to answer it) is at the heart of Roe and Casey because the Roe court had already decided that answer in the affirmative back in 1973; and this was re-affirmed in 1992 by the Casey court.
- The leaked first draft of the court’s majority decision in Dobbs, however, departs from precedent and signals a completely different turn.
Originalist reading of the US Constitution
- A running theme in this first draft of the Dobbs judgment was the court’s emphasis on originalism.
- The very first page of the draft says that “the constitution makes no mention of abortion”.
- On page 9 it reads “the abortion right, which is not mentioned in the Constitution, is part of a right to privacy, which is also not mentioned.
- An originalist reading of the Constitution and an application of similar reasoning as the one applied in this draft opinion (minus the emphasis on protecting “life or ‘potential life”) could invalidate all rights for gay and lesbian Americans.
Implications for other rights
- Gay rights do not have any place in American history and tradition; it is quite the opposite with American history.
- Simply put, a rollback of Roe and Casey could allow state legislatures across the country to re-instate bans or restrictions on gay rights such as limitations on same-sex couple adoptions or sexuality education in schools.
- Moreover, because the Constitution makes no explicit mention of “privacy”, “sexual orientation”, “gay”, “lesbian”, or “gay rights” anywhere, these rights could be challenged further.
- The constitutional recognition of same-sex marriage is, after all, only a recent phenomenon, both globally and nationally.
- In 1992, the Casey court affirmed what was already decided two decades ago in Roe — namely, that women in America had the “liberty” to an abortion under the Fourteenth Amendment.
- However, the Dobbs draft ruling discards this right to “liberty” just as it does the right to “privacy”.
- By specifically re-defining “liberty” and calling into question its applicability in the case of abortions, the court paves the way for potentially reviewing other “liberty” rights not explicitly mentioned in the Constitution — such as the right to travel ( Kent vs Dulles, 1958), the right to inter-racial marriage ( Loving vs Virginia, 1967), and the right to engage in same-sex activity in private ( Lawrence vs Texas, 2003), among others.
Conclusion
The bottom line is that if 50 year-old constitutionally guaranteed rights could be revoked today, then more recent and similarly, situated rights could also be revoked under an originalist reading of the Constitution.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Delimitation Commission
Mains level: Paper 2- Challenges after delimitation freeze ends
Context
Four years from now, when the delimitation of the constituencies will take place, India’s electoral democracy will stand on an existential crossroads.
Historical background of North-South tension
- There was a time, not all that long ago, when English speakers in the south of India routinely referred to our north as ‘Upper India’.
- The Imperial Legislative Council, with its Central Legislative Assembly as the Lower House and the Council of State as the Upper House, being located in Delhi pushed that upperness further up.
- Later, the Constituent Assembly continued the ‘India’s north as India’s peak’ image.
- Role of Congress: The Indian National Congress was from the very start, aware of the need for India’s regions to be seen as equal, bereft of any asymmetry.
- Its very third session after Bombay (1885) and Calcutta (1886) was held in Madras (1887, and many times later).
- The All India Kisan Sabha, the peasant wing of the Communist Party of India, likewise, which had first met in a ‘founder-conference’ in Lucknow in 1936, met at its fifth session in 1940 in Palasa, Srikakulam.
- These considered arrangements embody the opening Article 1 of our Constitution: India, that is Bharat.
What would be the Impact of delimitation
- A delimitation of the constituencies that will elect Members of the Lok Sabha, following the population figures returned by the next decennial Census, is to take place in 2026.
- Need to increase number of members: We cannot have, should not have, the same number of Members of Parliament — 543 — representing a vastly increased population in the Lok Sabha.
- Mathematically speaking, the higher the number of people per constituency, the lower the impact each voter has on parliamentary representation — clearly an undesirable situation.
- Reduced representation to States that stabilised their population: Re-arranging and standardising the number of people per constituency through the scheduled delimitation exercise will inevitably lead to a reduced representation for States that have managed to stabilise their populations, and to a higher representation for States that have not stabilised their populations.
- Considering the Census data for 2011, almost half (48.6%) of our population (of approximately 1.38 billion) is contributed by the States of Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh.
- Issues with population-based marking: A population-based marking out or re-arrangement of constituencies, as envisaged in Article 82 of the Constitution, will have the effect of giving more MPs to the States and Union Territories that have let their numbers grow, and will give markedly less MPs to those that have held their numbers in some check.
- Realising the anomaly that a delimitation based on Census data would cause, a delimitation freeze was put in position by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi through the 42nd Amendment of the Constitution in 1976.
- This was extended by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee through the 84th Amendment.
- It is this extension that is to end in 2026, placing us at a crossroads.
Way forward
- There are two alternatives before us:
- 1] Onother freeze: One, we go in for another freeze, this time not for any specific period but for until all States have achieved population stabilisation.
- 2] Mathematically equitable formula: Two, we request demographic and statistical experts to devise a mathematical model along the lines of the ‘Cambridge Compromise’ based on a mathematically equitable “formula” for the apportionment of the seats of the European Parliament between the member-states.
Conclusion
The population-stabilising States of India that is Bharat, which include all the southern States, must continue to enrich our legislative and parliamentary processes as they have been doing since the time of the Imperial Legislative Council, with no penalties having to be paid for their sense of responsibility. We need to limit population, not representation.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Gavi
Mains level: Paper 2- Future pandemic preparedness
Context
COVID-19, which disrupted supply chains across countries and in India too, marks an inflection point in the trajectory of immunisation programmes.
UIP: Showcasing India’s strength in managing large scale vaccination
- India’s Universal Immunisation Programme (UIP), launched in 1985 to deliver routine immunisation, showcased its strengths in managing large-scale vaccine delivery.
- This programme targets close to 2.67 crore newborns and 2.9 crore pregnant women annually.
- Full immunisation: To strengthen the programme’s outcomes, in 2014, Mission Indradhanush was introduced to achieve full immunisation coverage of all children and pregnant women at a rapid pace — a commendable initiative.
- India’s UIP comprises upwards of 27,000 functional cold chain points of which 750 (3%) are located at the district level and above; the remaining 95% are located below the district level.
- The COVID-19 vaccination efforts relied on the cold chain infrastructure established under the UIP to cover 87 crore people with two doses of the vaccine and over 100 crore with at least a single dose.
Why strong service delivery network is essential?
- While we have, over the years, set up a strong service delivery network, the pandemic showed us that there were weak links in the chain, especially in the cold chain.
- Nearly half the vaccines distributed around the world go to waste, in large part due to a failure to properly control storage temperatures.
- In India, close to 20% of temperature-sensitive healthcare products arrive damaged or degraded because of broken or insufficient cold chains, including a quarter of vaccines.
- Wastage has cost implications and can delay the achievement of immunisation targets.
Measures and initiatives in strengthening vaccine supply chains
- The Health Ministry has been digitising the vaccine supply chain network in recent years through the use of cloud technology, such as with the Electronic Vaccine Intelligence Network (eVIN).
- Developed with support from Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, and implemented by the UN Development Programme through a smartphone-based app, the platform digitises information on vaccine stocks and temperatures across the country.
- This supports healthcare workers in the last mile in supervising and maintaining the efficiency of the vaccine cold chain.
Way forward
- Electrification: There is a need to improve electrification, especially in the last mile, for which the potential of solar-driven technology must be explored to integrate sustainable development.
- For instance, in Chhattisgarh, 72% of the functioning health centres have been solarised to tackle the issue of regular power outages.
- This has significantly reduced disruption in service provision and increased the uptake of services.
Conclusion
India has pioneered many approaches to ensure access to public health services at a scale never seen before. Robust cold chain systems are an investment in India’s future pandemic preparedness; by taking steps towards actionable policies that improve the cold chain, we have an opportunity to lead the way in building back better and stronger.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- The SC aligning with collective conscience of India
Context
The Supreme Court’s seminal intervention in a batch of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of section 124A of the Indian Penal Code is a watershed moment in the progressive expansion of human rights jurisprudence.
Abuse of sedition law
- The slapping of sedition charges against political opponents and others in Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh have confirmed that the abuse of the sedition law is no longer an aberration.
- It has become a norm that has hollowed out the constitutional guarantee of fundamental rights and exposed individuals to the rigour of draconian laws unjustly invoked, outraging national sensitivities as never before.
Significance of the move
- In what is seen as a first in judicial history, the Supreme Court has virtually rendered redundant the provision of a criminal law without expressly declaring it as unconstitutional.
- In an example of judicial statecraft, the court has shielded individuals against a harsh law without trenching on Parliament’s legislative remit or the executive’s command over policy decisions.
- Plenary jurisdiction: Exercising plenary jurisdiction, the Supreme Court is expected to see through its suggestions/orders to the government, particularly when these concern the non-negotiable fundamental rights of citizens.
- Suggestive jurisdiction: As an organ of the state, the Supreme Court’s suggestive jurisdiction is clearly in accord with its declared law (Nagaraj, 2006) that the state (of which the court is an integral constituent), is under a duty not only to protect individual rights but is also obliged to facilitate the same.
- Validating the nations role: The court-inspired initiatives would also validate the nation’s preeminent role in the shaping of a new world order.
Implications of the law
- Nudging the government towards anti-lynching law: As with the sedition law, it can nudge the government to enact an anti-lynching humanitarian law as suggested by it and a comprehensive law against custodial torture.
- Law against custodial torture: The absence of an anti-custodial torture law, a glaring gap in the architecture of the criminal justice system, is inexplicable considering the command of Article 21, recommendations of the Select Committee of Rajya Sabha (2010), the Law Commission of India (2017) and the Human Rights Commission and the judgments of the Supreme Court (Puttaswamy, 2017; Jeeja Ghosh, 2016; and Shabnam, 2015).
- Implications for the UAPA: It is expected likewise from the court to intervene suitably and read down the UAPA and other criminal laws that have been repeatedly misused to trample upon the civil liberties and rights of the people.
Conclusion
This is indeed the moment to seize, as the government reviews the nation’s legal structures. The initiatives suggested above are in aid of democracy anchored in the inviolability of human rights and would enhance India’s soft power in our engagement with the international community.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Buddhist circuit
Mains level: Paper 2- Regional cooperation
Context
Recent developments — in Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Pakistan — underline the geographic imperative that binds India to its neighbours in the Subcontinent.
Need for intensive regional cooperation for managing the new dangers
- Working with the logic of geography has become an unavoidable necessity amidst the deepening regional and global crises accentuated by Russia’s war in Ukraine.
- As higher oil and food prices trigger inflation and popular unrest across the region, more intensive regional cooperation is one of the tools for managing the new dangers.
Hope for transcending internal divide between India and Sri Lanka
- India’s relations with Sri Lanka underline the importance of continuous tending of political geography.
- Tradition of hosting political exile: India has had a long tradition of hosting political exiles from the region.
- Whether it was the Dalai Lama from Tibet or Prachanda from Nepal, Delhi has welcomed leaders from the neighbourhood taking shelter in India.
- Negative consequences: There is a dangerous flip side to this positive tradition in the Subcontinent.
- India has paid a high price for the decision in the early 1980s to train and arm Sri Lankan Tamil rebels.
- Hope for transcending internal divide: The current crisis in Sri Lanka raised hopes for transcending the internal ethnic divide in the island nation and rebuilding political confidence between Colombo and Delhi.
- Material and financial support to Sri Lanka: Delhi’s unstinting support — both material and financial — for Colombo during this unprecedented economic and political crisis has generated much goodwill in Sri Lanka.
Relations with Nepal and role of cultural ties
- Possibilities in cultural geography: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent visit to Lumbini, the birthplace of Lord Buddha in Nepal, highlights the immense possibilities of cultural geography in reshaping the Subcontinent’s regional relations.
- The idea of a “Buddhist circuit” connecting the various pilgrimage sites across the India-Nepal border has been around for a long time.
- India and Nepal have come together in developing the Buddhist circuit.
- Religion and culture are deeply interconnected in South Asia.
- Developing all religious pilgrimage sites across the region, and improving the transborder access to them could not only improve tourist revenues of all the South Asian nations, but could also have a calming effect on the troubled political relations
- That China has built a new airport near Lumbini and Modi is avoiding it points to the turbulent triangular dynamic between Delhi, Kathmandu, and Beijing.
- Revitalising the shared cultural geography inevitably involves better management of economic geography.
- Infrastructure development on Indian side: The last few years have seen the Indian government step up on infrastructure development on the Indian side and accelerate transborder transport and energy connectivity in the eastern subcontinent.
Recent trends in India-Pakistan relations
- Cultural ties: Despite their frozen bilateral political relationship, Delhi and Islamabad had agreed to open the Kartarpur corridor at the end of 2019 across their militarised Punjab border.
- There is much more to be done on reconnecting the Subcontinent’s sacred geographies — including the Ramayana trail and Sufi shrines.
- While parts of the region are aligning their policies with the geographic imperative, Pakistan would seem to be an exception.
- Ignoring the geographic imperative: Given the depth of its macro economic crisis and massive inflation, one might have thought Pakistan would want to expand trade ties with India in its own economic interest.
- But Pakistan’s politics are hard-wired against the logic of geography.
- Delhi had little reason to believe that Pakistan’s new government can alter its self-defeating policy towards India.
- But it must continue to bet that the geographic imperative will eventually prevail over Islamabad’s policies.
Conclusion
Realists might want to argue that current trends in the Subcontinent point to India’s growing agency in shaping its neighbourhood and that Pakistan will not forever remain an exception. For Delhi, the policy question is whether India can do something to hasten the inevitable change in Pakistan.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Article 19
Mains level: Paper 2- Issues with Section 124A
Context
In a brief order delivered in S.G. Vombatkere vs Union of India, a three-judge Bench of the Supreme Court of India effectively suspended the operation of Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code.
What was the basis for the reconsideration?
- This direction was issued after the Union government filed an affidavit informing the Court that it had decided to re-examine the law.
- The Bench believed that the offer to reconsider the provision, if nothing else, showed that the Government was in broad agreement with the Court’s prima facie opinion on the matter, that the clause as it stands “is not in tune with the current social milieu, and was intended for a time when this country was under the colonial regime”.
Section 125A and issues with it
- Section 124A defines sedition as any action — “whether by words, signs, or visible representation” — which “brings or attempts to bring into hatred or contempt or excites or attempts to excite disaffection towards the Government established by law in India”.
- The word “disaffection”, the provision explains, “includes disloyalty and all feelings of enmity”.
- The adopted Constitution did not permit a restriction on free speech on the grounds of sedition.
- In the 1950s, two different High Courts struck down Section 124A as offensive to freedom.
- But, in 1962, in Kedar Nath Singh vs State of Bihar, a five-judge Bench of the Supreme Court reversed these verdicts.
- The Court paid no heed to the debates that informed the Constituent Assembly.
- Instead, it found that Section 124A was defensible as a valid restriction on free speech on grounds of public order.
- However, while upholding the clause, the Court limited its application to “acts involving intention or tendency to create disorder, or disturbance of law and order, or incitement to violence”.
- Vague terms: The decision failed to recognise that terms such as “disaffection towards the government”, which are fundamentally vague.
- Marginalised sections affected: Since then, in its application by law enforcement, the limitations imposed in Kedar Nath Singh have rarely been observed.
- As is often the case with abuses of this kind, it is the most marginalised sections of society that have faced the brunt of the harm.
- Reading of fundamental rights changed: Since 1962, when the judgment was handed out, the Supreme Court’s reading of fundamental rights has undergone a transformative change.
- Time to reconsider Kedar Nath: This altered landscape meant that when fresh challenges were mounted against Section 124A, the time to reconsider Kedar Nath Singh had clearly arrived.
- In the long run, the decision in Kedar Nath Singh will require a clear disavowal.
- But in nullifying Section 124A, albeit for the present, the Court has provided provisional relief — allowing those accused of the offence to both seek bail in terms of the order, and to have their trials frozen.
Conclusion
To protect our democracy, we must ensure that the constitutional guarantees to personal liberty and freedom do not go in vain. For that, each of our penal laws must be animated by a concern for equality, justice, and fairness.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 3- Inflation challenge
Context
Inflation has now remained above the RBI’s upper tolerance limit of 6 per cent for four months in a row.
Broad based inflation
- The second-order impact of higher fuel prices is also visible as inflation in transport and communication surged to nearly 11 per cent, from 8 per cent in the previous month.
- The latest data also indicates that inflation is becoming broad-based.
- With demand rebounding, the pass-through of higher input costs is also gaining momentum.
- Considering that demand for goods recovered faster than services, goods producers passed on input costs to consumers.
- But as services recover, there will be greater pass-through of prices to consumers in the coming months.
- While there may be a slight moderation, inflation is expected to remain above the RBI’s threshold of 6 per cent in the coming months.
- The Ukraine conflict continues to impact markets for foodgrains and vegetable oils.
- Rising fertiliser prices are likely to push up farmers’ production costs, leading to high food prices.
- While the government has extended price support through higher subsidies, if this will be enough to cool prices needs to be seen.
Inflation targeting by the RBI
- With sticky crude oil prices and continuing supply-side disruptions amplified by the Covid-induced lockdowns in China, the RBI has rightly reverted its focus on inflation targeting.
- This is needed as central banks around the world are pursuing tight monetary policies to counter inflation.
- The US Fed followed its 25 basis points hike by another 50 basis points rise in May.
- These will be followed by hikes of similar magnitude in the coming months.
- In its April policy, the RBI announced the withdrawal of excess liquidity but did not raise the policy rate.
- Rate hikes by RBI: The RBI is now likely to respond with aggressive rate hikes to prevent the price spiral from getting entrenched.
- The continued strength of the dollar index and sharp rupee depreciation in the last few days could impose further pressure on prices through higher imported inflation.
- Withdrawal of liquidity support: In addition to calibrated rate hikes, the RBI needs to fast-track the withdrawal of the ultra-accommodative liquidity support provided during the pandemic.
Implications
- Discretionary spending: Rising inflation will cut back discretionary spending and adversely impact consumption that had only just started picking up.
- Recession concerns: There are concerns about a recession in advanced economies as rising prices have started manifesting in a decline in purchasing power and a fall in consumer sentiments.
- The demand destruction could trigger a moderation in prices.
- Base metals prices have eased from the peak seen in the last few months.
Conclusion
Monetary policy support needs to be accompanied by fiscal support measures. The policy response will have to be tailored to the evolving geopolitical situation and the paths of commodity and food prices while balancing the imperatives of fiscal consolidation.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: CPI
Mains level: Paper 3- Tackling food inflation
Context
Recently, the RBI raised the repo rate by 40 basis points (bps) and the cash reserve ratio (CRR) by 50 bps with a view to tame inflation.
How effective would be the rate hike in taming the inflation?
- High inflation is always an implicit tax on the poor and those who keep their savings in banks.
- Will the increases in the repo rate and CRR control inflation, especially food inflation?
- The RBI has been behind the curve by at least by 4-to 5 months, and its optimism in controlling inflation in the earlier meetings of the Monetary Policy Committee was somewhat misplaced.
- The reason for this is that food prices globally are scaling new peaks as per the FAO’s food price index.
- The disruptions caused by the pandemic and now the Russia-Ukraine war are contributing to this escalation in food prices.
- India cannot remain insulated from this phenomenon.
Opportunities and challenges for India
- Record wheat export: For the first time in the history of Indian agriculture, cereal exports have already crossed a record high of 31 million metric tonnes (MMT) at $13 billion (FY22), and the same cereal wonder may be repeated this fiscal (FY23).
- Among cereals, wheat exports have witnessed an unprecedented growth of more than 273 per cent, jumping nearly fourfold from $0.56 billion (or 2 MMT) in FY21 to $2.1 billion (or 7.8 MMT) in FY22.
- Rice exports have crossed 20 MMT in FY22 in a global market of 50 MMT.
- Some of the concerns on the wheat front are genuine, and we need to realise that climate change is already knocking on our doors.
- With every one degree Celsius rise in temperatures, wheat yields are likely to suffer by about 5 MMT, as per earlier IPCC reports.
- This calls for massive investments in agri-R&D to find heat-resistant varieties of wheat and also create models for “climate-smart” agriculture. We are way behind the curve on this.
Need for rationalising food subsidy
- India distribute free food to 800 million Indians, with a food subsidy bill that is likely to cross Rs 2.8 lakh crore this fiscal out of the Centre’s net tax revenue of about Rs 20 lakh crore in FY23.
- Reducing coverage: What needs to be done targeting only those below the poverty line for free or subsidised food and charging a reasonable price, say 90 per cent of MSP, from those who are above the poverty line.
- Giving an option to beneficiaries to receive cash in their Jan Dhan accounts (equivalent to MSP plus 20 per cent) in lieu of grains can be considered.
- This is permitted under NFSA and by doing so, he can save on the burgeoning food subsidy bill.
Conclusion
Indian farmers need access to global markets to augment their incomes, and the government must facilitate Indian farmers to develop more efficient export value chains by minimising marketing costs and investing in efficient logistics for exports.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- Pubic opinion and jurisprudence
Context
On May 5, 2022, the current affairs site politico.com obtained the draft opinion of Justice Samuel Alito, apparently speaking for the majority of the judges of the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) overruling Roe v Wade (1973) and Planned Parenthood v Casey (1992). These two previously decided cases enable women in the US to access abortions, albeit with some restrictions.
Background of the US Supreme Court
- SCOTUS was established on March 4, 1789.
- The almost 225-year-old court, founded to interpret the American constitution that was adopted in 1789, has a long history of being an ideologically divided court, hearing deeply contentious political issues.
- Within both the polity and law in the US, no issue is as emotive and divisive as matters related to abortion.
- At present there is the 6-3 divide in the SCOTUS, with the conservatives constituting the majority.
- Paying attention to the public opinion: Conservative judges also frame the regulation of abortion as a state legislative rights issue, giving enormous weight to the apparent public opinion within those states.
Paying attention to the public opinion
- In the draft opinion that was leaked, after being circulated to the other eight judges of SCOTUS, Justice Alito writes “We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled,” adding, “it is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives.
- Here is how the issue is initially framed: Legislatures in states must be able to adopt laws on abortion as they see fit.
- The justification offered is in the context of the legitimacy of such laws being made by the will of the people, through their representatives.
- Justice Alito clearly sees this an issue for the legislature to decide based on the will of the voters.
Why public opinion is not a legitimate parameter for adjudicating issues of rights
- Against the separation of power: Across jurisdictions, in the constitutional scheme of separation of powers, the executive, legislature and judiciary are expected to play different roles.
- The executive to govern using the rule of law, the legislature to make law and the judiciary to ensure that those laws are in consonance with constitutional values.
- The introduction of public opinion and deference to the legislature as a valid basis for adjudication by constitutional courts leads to extraordinary conclusions.
- The virtue of constitutional courts is that they are expected to be insulated from public opinion.
- In that regard, they are freed from the vagaries of the will of the voters and enjoy the quiet introspection and justification through legal reasoning that the law creates space for.
Conclusion
The notion that constitutional courts should take the will of voters into account is at odds with the understanding of courts elsewhere, like in India.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- Delimitation for Jammu and Kashmir Assembly
Context
Fresh delimitation was necessary for Jammu and Kashmir since the State had been divided into two Union Territories and elections could only be held under the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019.
Issues with the report of the Delimitation Commission
- The central question of why Jammu has gained six Assembly seats and the Valley only one has been brushed under general remarks on methodology with no explanation of how that methodology was applied.
- Nor does it explain why Jammu’s Muslim-majority seats now comprise less than a quarter of the province’s total seats, though Muslims comprise over a third of the province’s population.
- The commission’s recommendations further complicate the issue.
- They propose that the President nominate Pandit migrants to two Assembly seats — why is there no reference to Pandits who remain in the Valley?
- Indeed, the only overarching guideline which the report does describe in some detail is the commission’s desire to match the boundaries of Assembly and parliamentary constituencies.
- Most of these questions were addressed to the commission during its consultation phase.
- By choosing not to do so they lost a valuable opportunity to display transparency and dispel suspicion of bias.
Way forward
- The only hope for a peace process in Jammu and Kashmir is if there is a clean election, statehood is speedily restored, and the new Assembly determines whether or in which form special status is required.
- The better option is to hold elections for existing constituencies and let the new assembly approve or query the delimitation report.
- In fact, the commission itself proposed that the report be placed before the legislative assembly, a recommendation that makes sense only if new delimitation comes into force after and not before elections.
- Urgent as elections are, attention to fundamental freedoms is even more important.
Conclusion
The peace process in Jammu and Kashmir needs to address the concerns of the people related to the restoration of statehood, and clean elections.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Article 311
Mains level: Paper 2- Civil Service reforms
Context
A letter war between two sets of retired public officials (civil servants, judges and army officers), concerning the prevailing political and social situation in the country, has been widely reported in the media.
Role of civil service
- It is the police and magistracy, judicial courts and other regulatory agencies — not politicians — which have been authorised and empowered by law to take preventive action against potential troublemakers, enforce the laws relating to criminal, economic and other offences, and maintain public order.
- In mature democracies, self-respecting public officials normally discharge their constitutional and legal responsibilities with honesty, integrity and their own conscience, firmly resisting the dictates of the vested interests.
Deterioration in the standard of civil service
- The deterioration in standards was very visible during the National Emergency declared in 1975.
- The civil services, like other institutions including the judiciary, just caved in; the trend might have accelerated over the years.
- Now, no one even talks of civil service neutrality.
- Earlier, during communal or caste riots, the Administration focused on quelling the disturbances and restoring peace in the affected locality, without ever favouring one group over the other.
- Now, there are allegations of local officers taking sides in a conflict.
- A civil servant’s pliant and submissive behaviour means an end to civil service neutrality and the norms and values that this trait demands, does not seem to bother either the political or bureaucratic leadership.
- Despite the protection and safeguards in Article 311 of the Constitution, politicians could have a civil servant placed in an inconvenient position or even punish him.
Norms and values associated with a civil servant
- Norms: The norms that define neutrality are: independence of thought and action; honest and objective advice; candour and ,‘speaking truth to power’.
- Values: Associated with these norms are the personal values that a civil servant cherishes or ought to cherish, namely, self-respect, integrity, professional pride and dignity.
- All these together contribute to the enhancement of the quality of administration that benefits society and the people.
Conclusion
Constitutional morality is not a natural sentiment,” wrote B.R. Ambedkar, the architect of the Constitution and added, “It has to be cultivated. We must realise that our people have yet to learn it. Democracy in India is only a top dressing on an Indian soil which is essentially undemocratic.”
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Article 19
Mains level: Paper 2- Misuse of sedition law
Context
On May 11, the Supreme Court directed the Union government and the states to refrain from using the law of sedition and keep all previous cases under 124A in abeyance till the matter is reconsidered in a comprehensive way.
Data on Section 124A and UAPA about pendency and conviction rates
- The data on draconian laws like 124A or UAPA exposes their untenability.
- According to the National Crime Records Bureau data, a total of 156 cases of sedition were pending in 2017.
- In that year, only 27 cases could be disposed of at the police level by withdrawing the case or submitting a chargesheet.
- In courts, out of the 58 cases on trial, only one conviction could be obtained and the pendency rate for the cases of sedition was close to 90 per cent.
- The number of cases increased in 2020, the year for which the latest NCRB data is available, but with the same results.
- Of the total 230 cases registered, only 23 were chargesheeted.
- Pendency in court reached close to 95 per cent for the sedition cases in 2020.
- The abysmally low rate of conviction and disposal of these cases make it clear that these charges are slapped with very flimsy or no evidence to intimidate or harass those who question the government’s fiat.
- The picture is no different for the UAPA.
- Cases under it have increased by about 75 per cent between 2017-2020.
- A total of 4,827 UAPA cases were pending in 2020 —of them, only 398 could be chargesheeted in that year.
- The pendency rate in court remained 95 per cent, indicating harassment and violation of the right to life and liberty for a great number of people who are suffering because of the diabolical prison conditions in India.
Recommendations and measures
- A consultation paper on sedition circulated by the Law Commission of India on August 30, 2018, found many issues that need addressing around the working of Section 124A.
- Most recently, on May 11, the Supreme Court directed the Union government and the states to refrain from using the law of sedition.
Conclusion
Dissent, criticism and differences of opinion are vital for the functioning of any democracy. The witch-hunting of those who question the government of the day reminds us of medieval times and totalitarian rulers. It is time we usher in an era of free speech. For that, the sedition law must go.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Impact of rate hike on inflation
Mains level: Paper 3- Effectiveness of monetary policy in dealing with the inflation
Context
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) last week raised both policy rates and cut back liquidity in a surprise inter-meeting decision. The forcefulness and urgency of the policy shift have been seen as a signal of the RBI’s renewed commitment to fighting inflation via aggressive monetary tightening in the coming months.
How do higher inflation rates slow inflation?
- It is true that a large swathe of the global economy is in the throes of runaway inflation and that in many of these economies tightening monetary and fiscal policies is the right response.
- Initial conditions: But initial conditions matter as do the specific drivers of inflation.
- There are typically three ways in which higher inflation rate slows inflation.
1] Lowering inflationary expectations
- Suppose one believes that because a central bank has not tightened enough, future inflation will be higher.
- In that case, the obvious response is to bring forward future consumption and investment to the present, thereby adding to demand and fueling current inflation further.
- So, in principle, the central bank by credibly committing to bringing down inflation through aggressive current actions can bring down expectations of future inflation.
- It won’t work in India: This is a very potent conduit of monetary transmission in developed markets, where there is a wide variety of inflation-hedging instruments, as well as in some emerging markets — Brazil, for instance —where inflation-indexation is widespread.
- However, there is little empirical evidence that this channel works in India, even weakly.
2] Exchange rate channel
- Higher interest rates attract foreign capital that appreciates the currency, lowering import prices and, in turn, inflation.
- Again, this is a powerful mechanism in Latin America and Central Europe, where bond flows — that are sensitive to interest rate differential —dominate capital movements and the import content of the consumer basket is large.
- Will it work in India? This is not the case in India and, in any event, for this to work it would require extreme rate hikes in the country, given the anticipated aggressive tightening by the US Fed.
3] Curbing credit growth
- Raising both the cost of borrowing as well as its availability (for example, by increasing the cash reserve ratio) reduces credit growth, lowering demand, GDP growth and, eventually, inflation.
- It works well in India: This is the credit transmission by which higher interest rates dampen inflation and it works well in India.
- How much of today’s price increase is credit-driven? Even a cursory glance at bank balance sheets would suggest that credit growth is just treading water.
- Having recovered from being negative in mid-2021, real credit growth is running just around 2 per cent.
Comparison with inflation-monetary policy dynamics of 2010-11
- Back then, real GDP growth was clocking over 10 per cent per quarter, nominal credit growth 20-25 per cent, and real credit growth over 10 per cent.
- Inflation was unambiguously driven by an overheated economy and fueled by runaway credit.
- In the event, the RBI assessed the drivers of inflation to be originating from the supply side — higher food and commodity prices — and moved at a glacial pace, such that even after 12 rate hikes inflation remained in double digits for much of that period.
- Faced with a potential US Fed tightening in 2013, India found itself in a near-crisis situation.
- Today things are different. Much of the inflation is driven by global food and commodity prices.
- Despite the languishing private demand, core inflation remains high.
- But this has been the case for much of the last two years, strongly suggesting that the domestic supply chain disruptions in manufacturing and services, especially at the informal level, haven’t been repaired fully.
- The reason why firms locate in the informal sector in the first place is because of lower transaction costs, so when parts of the supply chain shift to the higher-cost formal sector, it shows up as inflation during the transition before increased scale of production and efficiency bring down the cost over time.
- None of these factors is affected much by higher lending rates.
- So the burden of taming inflation by tightening monetary policy will fall largely on lower credit.
- There is clearly a case to remove the extraordinary monetary support provided during the pandemic.
Conclusion
The RBI had misread the drivers of inflation badly in 2010-11. Hopefully, it won’t repeat that mistake this time.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Article 351
Mains level: Paper 1- Diversity and complexity of India
Context
Given the diversity and complexity of India, the only constitutionally valid common denominator is citizenship.
Social security
- An eminent sociologist and former president of the International Sociological Association, T.K. Oommen, has written extensively on the concept of social security.
- Evolution of nation: He says the principal challenges to the evolution of a nation lie in minimising disparity, eradicating discrimination, and avoiding alienation.
- Excluded groups in our society: He has listed nine categories of socially and/or politically and/or excluded groups in our society: “Dalits, Adivasis, OBCs, cultural minorities — both religious and linguistic, women, refugees-foreigners-outsiders, people [of] Northeast India, the poor and the disabled”.
- Sources of exclusion in India: He has suggested that “the three sources of exclusion in India — stratification, heterogeneity and hierarchy — create intersectionality.”
- This insecurity manifests itself in genocide, culturocide and ecocide and in its absence, a society may be conceptualised as secure.
- The Indian polity, he says, “has the most elaborate set of identities based on class, religion, gender, caste, region, language and their intersectionalities as well as consequent permutations and combinations.
- Citizenship as a common denominator: Given the diversity and complexity of India, the only constitutionally valid common denominator is citizenship.
- This is the point at which fraternity can and should be practiced among equals.
- Prof. Oommen opines that it is “only through the conflation of state and nation” can our Republic be considered a nation.
Conclusion
Cultural monoism and secularism are insufficient, Prof. Oommen says; instead, “the idea of conceptualizing India as a multicultural polity is more amenable than a secular India.” The sheet anchor of this has to be citizenship.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- Termination of pregnancy as an unconditional right
Context
The issue of abortion is in the news again, internationally.
Criminal law provisions related to termination of pregnancy
- Under the general criminal law of the country, i.e. the Indian Penal Code, voluntarily causing a woman with child to miscarry is an offence attracting a jail term of up to three years or fine or both, unless it was done in good faith where the purpose was to save the life of the pregnant woman.
- A pregnant woman causing herself to miscarry is also an offender under this provision apart from the person causing the miscarriage, which in most cases would be a medical practitioner.
Background of the MTP Act
- In 1971, after a lot of deliberation, the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act was enacted.
- This law is an exception to the IPC provisions above.
- Who, when, where, why and by whom? The law sets out the rules — of when, who, where, why and by whom — for accessing an MTP.
- This law has been amended twice since, the most recent set of amendments being in the year 2021 which has, to some extent, expanded the scope of the law.
- The law does not recognise and/or acknowledge the right of a pregnant person to decide on the discontinuation of a pregnancy.
- The law provides for a set of reasons based on which an MTP can be accessed.
Reasons allowed for MTP
- Reasons: The continuation of the pregnancy would involve a risk to the life of the pregnant woman or result in grave injury to her physical or mental health.
- The law explains that if the pregnancy is as a result of rape or failure of contraceptive used by the pregnant woman or her partner to limit the number of children or to prevent a pregnancy, the anguish caused by the continuation of such a pregnancy would be considered to be a grave injury to the mental health of the pregnant woman.
- The other reason for seeking an MTP is the substantial risk that if the child was born, it would suffer from any serious physical or mental abnormality.
- A pregnant person cannot ask for a termination of pregnancy without fitting in one of the reasons set out in the law.
- Gestational age of pregnancy: The other set of limitations that the law provides is the gestational age of the pregnancy.
- The pregnancy can be terminated for any of the above reasons, on the opinion of a single registered medical practitioner up to 20 weeks of the gestational age.
- From 20 weeks up to 24 weeks, the opinion of two registered medical practitioners is required.
- Any decision for termination of pregnancy beyond 24 weeks gestational age, only on the ground of foetal abnormalities can be taken by a Medical Board as set up in each State, as per the law.
- The law, as an exception to all that is stated above, also provides that where it is immediately necessary to save the life of the pregnant woman, the pregnancy can be terminated at any time by a single registered medical practitioner.
Issues with the MTP Act provisions
- While India legalised access to abortion in certain circumstances much before most of the world did the same, unfortunately, even in 2020 we decided to remain in the logic of 1971.
- Right to health and right to life: By the time the amendments to the MTP Act were tabled before the Lok Sabha in 2020, a number of cases came before the courts.
- In these cases, the courts had articulated the right of a pregnant woman to decide on the continuation of her pregnancy as a part of her right to health and right to life, and therefore non-negotiable.
- Violation of right to privacy: In right to privacy judgment of the Supreme Court of India it was held that the decision making by a pregnant person on whether to continue a pregnancy or not is part of such a person’s right to privacy as well and, therefore, the right to life.
- The standards set out in this judgment were also not incorporated in the amendments being drafted.
- Not in sync with central laws: The new law is not in sync with other central laws such as the laws on persons with disabilities, on mental health and on transgender persons, to name a few.
- In conflict with other laws: The amendments also did not make any attempts to iron out the conflations between the MTP Act and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act or the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, to name a few.
Conclusion
While access to abortion has been available under the legal regime in the country, there is a long road ahead before it is recognised as a right of a person having the capacity to become pregnant to decide, unconditionally, whether a pregnancy is to be continued or not.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- Marital rape
Context
On May 10, 2022, a two-judge bench of the Delhi High Court gave a split ruling on marital rape, thus ensuring a future hearing in the Supreme Court.
Why rape and marriage were seen as mutually exclusive
- The concepts of rape and marriage were seen as mutually exclusive – they could not be brought together.
- Across the world, and till very recently, marriage has been explicitly treated as being outside the purview of rape.
- Even in the Western countries that we associate with the more “advanced” practices of gender equality, marital rape was treated as an exception to the crime of rape till the early 1990s.
- In the absence of a universal definition, several scholars take marriage to be an institution where a man and a woman live together, have sexual relations and engage in cooperative economic activity.
- Link between marriage and property: Others have emphasised the link between marriage and property.
- The dominant form of marriage in the modern West became quite distinctly patriarchal, visible in late 18th-century British law, for instance, whereby a wife became the property of her husband upon marriage.
- Husbands, therefore, had the right to access their wives sexually, without the question of coercion or consent being on the horizon in the first place.
- As property, wives had to be protected from the (illegal) sexual access of other men, and here too, their consent was irrelevant.
Introduction of marital rape
- If what distinguishes the relationship of husband and wife from other relations between men and women is the legitimate expectation of sexual relations, then the introduction of marital rape signals the entry of a new and equally legitimate expectation: A wife’s consent to sexual relations is essential, and in this, she is no different from other women.
- Husbands no longer enjoy unquestioned rights over the bodies of their wives — this is what it means for a wife to be a person with bodily integrity.
Conclusion
It is strange, indeed, that most parts of the world, India included, became modern while continuing to believe that wives are the property of husbands.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 3- Lesson from the power shortage crisis
Context
The power crisis has taken us by surprise. The question in everyone’s mind is: where did we go wrong? And who slipped up?
Responsibilities in supply chain
- Under the Electricity Act, it is the responsibility of the Distribution Licensee/Company (Discom) to provide reliable quality and round-the-clock electricity to all consumers to meet full demand.
- To do so, they enter into contracts with a number of generating companies in order to ensure adequate supply.
- These Discoms work under the oversight of the State Electricity Regulatory Commissions.
Suggestions
1] Dealing with the challenge of demand prediction
- Qualitative transformation in demand: With higher incomes and the consequent increase in the use of air-conditioners and other electrical appliances, the nature of electricity demand is undergoing a qualitative transformation with rising daily and seasonal peaks, and spikes on very hot or cold days.
- While demand prediction is inherently uncertain, the questions to ask are whether Discoms have been making and updating their demand growth projections and scenarios over the medium term with adequate supply arrangements in a robust manner.
- This needs to become central to the regulatory process.
- Ensuring reliable supply to meet unanticipated peaks, as have occurred now, requires making supply arrangements with reserve margins that are adequate.
- The Regulatory Commissions need to provide for such expensive peaking power arrangements in the tariffs they approve.
- It is also time to move towards separate peaking power procurement contracts in addition to the present system of long-term thermal power contracts.
2] Demand-based time of day rates of electricity
- A transition to demand-based time of day rates of electricity for generators as well as consumers would help.
- These should be brought in by the Regulatory Commissions.
- Flattening of demand curve: Peak demand moderation and flattening of the demand curve through a change in consumer behaviour is feasible with smart meters.
- But this would take place only with a strong price signal, a large differential in peak and off-peak rates.
3] Subsidies and politics
- Free supply of electricity to farmers and households up to a specified level is not a problem as long as State governments pay for it as provided in the Act, and the Regulatory Commissions do not at the same time act from a political point of view and shy away from determining cost-reflective tariffs.
- While the problem of delayed payments by Discoms is getting highlighted and needs to be resolved with a sense of urgency, the coal supply problem is not due to this.
- Coal India needs to create capacities to rapidly ramp up production; and the Railways need to carry larger quantities of coal when demand surges, as has happened now.
- Imported coal and gas generated electricity: There is idle but expensive generating capacity available — about 15-20 GW of gas-based power plants which can run on imported liquefied natural gas, and 6 GW-8 GW of thermal plants which can run on imported coal.
- Consumers who are willing to pay more could be kept free of power cuts with purchase and supply of more expensive electricity generated from imported coal and gas.
- To improve reliability, Discoms, with the approval of the Regulatory Commissions, need to go in for bids for storage.
Conclusion
A lesson is that demand growth projections and supply arrangements need to become central to the regulatory process.
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