Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- Separation of role of District Magistrate and Police Commissioner
The article analyses how could the duel role assigned to an official leads to the problems in certain situations and so suggest the separation of the roles.
Context
- Delhi Police, having magisterial powers under the Criminal Procedure Code to take preventive action has been criticised for failing to maintain public order and prevent riots in Delhi.
Issue with delegation: Confusion powers with the role
- The distinction between independent actions, for which no political clearance is needed, by the District Magistrate to maintain public order and by the police to investigate crime and make arrests, was ignored.
- Maintaining public order requires the District Magistrate to make hard choices but there can be no justification for lack of effective police action.
- The District Magistrate is expected to consider protest as legitimate.
- In Delhi, the police did not distinguish between wider political support and violence caused by a few.
Distinction between “law and order” and “public order”
- The Supreme Court has made a distinction between law and order, relating to individual crime, and public order.
- Law and order consists of the analysis made by police of the situation in an area and their commitment to firm action and penalties under criminal law.
- Public order is a duty imposed on the District Magistrate to assess whether it is necessary to rush to the spot where law and order has been breached to prevent violence.
- The District Magistrate’s role is important in exceptional situations — for example, to prevent a breach of peace at a particular place.
- If an official is allotted a dual role, this could lead to the displacement of one goal in favour of the other.
Supreme Court’s guidelines
- The Supreme Court has formulated certain guidelines and rules when it comes to these distinct duties.
- 1) In Ram Manohar Lohia vs. State of Bihar, in 1965, the Supreme Court held that in the case of ‘public order’, the community or the public at large have to be affected by a particular action as it “embraces more of the community than ‘law and order’, which affects only a few individuals”.
- 2) In the Madhu Limaye case, the Bench reiterated that “the emergency must be sudden and the consequences sufficiently grave” for imposition of restrictions.
- 3) In Anuradha Bhasin vs. Union of India, the Supreme Court held that prohibitive orders should not prevent legitimate expression of opinion or grievance or exercise of democratic rights.
- The Supreme Court has also specifically recognised the importance of the assessment of the role of the District Magistrate, distinct from that of the police.
Way forward
- Judicial review of roles and proportionality of decisions for maintaining public order requires a policy rethink.
- Prevention through grievance redress and reliance on the least blunt instruments are critical for legitimacy.
- The National Police Commission also recognises the coordinating role of the District Magistrate, having more leverage than the police.
Conclusion
The role of the District Magistrate needs to be clearly differentiated from the role of the Police Commissioner.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2-Issues with the Code on the Wages
The article discusses the issues in the Code on Wages (yet to be notified) 2019 and how it fails to achieve what it seeks to achieve.
Code on Wages 2019
- The Code on Wages, 2019 seeks to consolidate and simplify four pieces of legislation into a single code. These 4 legislations are-
- 1) Payment of Wages Act, 1936.
- 2) Minimum Wages Act, 1948.
- 3) Payment of Bonus Act, 1965.
- 4) Equal Remuneration Act, 1976.
- Its object and reasons stated that even the Second National Commission on Labour- 2002 suggested consolidating all labour laws into four codes.
Issues with the consolidation
- While the previous four pieces of legislation had a total of 119 sections, the new Code has 69 sections.
- Any consolidation will impact the length of the sections.
- Further, all requirements for enforcing the Act, have been relegated to the Rules.
- As a result, the delegated pieces of legislation (Rules) will be bigger than the Code; this is no way to condense prior pieces of legislation.
- All the four repealed pieces of legislation were enacted historically at different points in time and to deal with different situations.
- The combining of asymmetrical laws into a single code is not an easy task and will only create its own set of new problems.
- The central government will have the power to fix a “floor wage”.
- Once it is fixed, State governments cannot fix any minimum wage less than the “floor wage”.
- The concept should be for a binding minimum wage and not have dual wage rates — a binding floor wage and a non-binding minimum wage.
- Neither the Code nor the Rules (presently, draft Rules) prescribe the qualifications and experience required for appointment of competent authority.
- Anew provision (Section 52) has been introduced where an officer will be notified with power to impose a penalty in the place of a judicial magistrate.
- An essential judicial function is now sought to be vested with the executive in contravention of Article 50 of the Constitution.
Issue of MGNREGA wages
- There were cases as to whether the Minimum Wages Act would have an over-riding effect over the provisions of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), 2005.
- Several High Courts have placed the Minimum Wages Act to override MGNREGA.
- That has been set to rest by excluding MGNREGA from the purview of the Code on Wages.
- That has been set to rest by excluding MGNREGA from the purview of the Code on Wages.
Conclusion
The Code on Wages (yet to be notified) has neither succeeded in consolidation of laws nor will it achieve the expansion of the coverage of workers in all industries in the unorganised sector.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Retrospective legislation
Mains level: Paper 3-Implications of Vodafone tax case ruling
Context
- An Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) tribunal has ruled that India’s imposition of tax liability amounting to ₹22,000 crore on Vodafone is in breach of India-Netherlands bilateral investment treaty obligations.
Background of the case
- This case arose after the Indian Parliament in 2012 amended the Income Tax Act.
- As per the amendment, income deemed to be accruing to non-residents, directly or indirectly, through the transfer of a capital asset situated in India is taxable retrospectively with effect from April 1, 1962.
- This amendment was carried out to override the Supreme Court ruling in favour of Vodafone.
- This amendment dented India’s reputation as a country governed by the rule of law, and shook the faith of foreign investors.
Key lessons from Vodafone case
- 1) All the three organs of the Indian state — Parliament, executive, and the judiciary — need to internalise India’s BIT and other international law obligations.
- These organs need to ensure that they exercise their public powers in a manner consistent with international law, or else their actions could prove costly to the nation.
- 2) India should learn that being a country that values the rule of law is an important quality to win over the confidence of foreign investors and international goodwill.
- 3) It is likely that the government might challenge the award at the seat of arbitration or resist the enforceability of this award in Indian courts alleging that it violates public policy.
- It would mean that India does not honour its international law obligation.
- 4) This ruling might have an impact on the two other ISDS claims that India is involved in with Cairn Energy and Vedanta on the imposition of taxes retrospectively.
- 5) It is quite possible that India might use this award to further harden its antagonistic stand against ISDS and BITs.
- India unilaterally terminated almost all its BITs after foreign investors started suing India for breaching BITs.
- But the fact is that this case and several others are a result of bad state regulation.
- 6) This decision shows the significance of the ISDS regime to hold states accountable under international law when in case of undue expansion of state power.
- The case is a reminder that the ISDS regime, notwithstanding its weaknesses, can play an important role in fostering international rule of law.
Consider the question “What were the issues involved in the Vodafone tax case? What are the implication of Investor-State Dispute Settlement ruling for India?”
Conclusion
If government is serious about wooing foreign investment, India should immediately comply with the decision.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Fifth Schedule
Mains level: Forest dwellers role in its conservation
Maharashtra government has issued a notification modifying the Forest Rights Act (FRA), 2006 that will enable tribals and other traditional forest dwelling families to build houses in the neighbourhood forest areas.
Try this question for mains:
Q.Forest dwellers are integral to the very survival and sustainability of the forest ecosystem. Analyse.
Historical Background
1878: The Forest Act of 1878 was introduced and it truncated the centuries-old traditional use by communities of their forests and secured the colonial governments control over the forestry. The provision of this Act established a virtual State monopoly over the forests in a legal sense on one hand, and attempted to establish, on the other, that the customary use of the forests by the villagers was not a ‘right’, but a ‘privilege’ that could be withdrawn at will.
1927: The Indian Forest Act, 1927. In continuance with the forest use policy of 1878, this landmark law – India’s main forest law, had nothing to do with conservation. It was created to serve the British need for timber. It sought to override customary rights and forest management systems by declaring forests state property and exploiting their timber.
1952: ‘National interests’ overrode all interests and forests were viewed as a national asset. It was made clear that local priorities and interests and claims of the communities around forest areas should be subservient to larger national interests
About the FRA, 2006
- The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, is a key piece of forest legislation in India.
- It has also been called the Forest Rights Act, the Tribal Rights Act, the Tribal Bill, and the Tribal Land Act. In the colonial era, the British diverted abundant forest wealth of the nation to meet their economic needs.
- While the procedure for settlement of rights was provided under statutes such as the Indian Forest Act, 1927, these were hardly followed.
- As a result, tribal and forest-dwelling communities, who had been living within the forests in harmony with the environment and the ecosystem, continued to live inside the forests in tenurial insecurity, a situation which continued even after independence as they were marginalised.
- The symbiotic relationship between forests and forest-dwelling communities found recognition in the National Forest Policy, 1988.
- The FRA, 2006, was enacted to protect the marginalised socio-economic class of citizens and balance the right to the environment with their right to life and livelihood.
What empowers the Governor?
- The notification has been issued by the Governor using his powers under subparagraph (1) of paragraph 5 of the Schedule V of the Constitution, according to a statement issued by Raj Bhavan.
- PESA rules in the State have given recognition to many habitations as villages, but there is no provision for land for house-building.
Significance of the move
- The decision is likely to provide a major relief to Scheduled Tribes and other traditional forest-dwelling families residing in the scheduled areas of the State.
- The urban areas get increased FSI, the rural areas (on revenue lands) get the same too, but tribal villages (on forest lands) have no legal space for building houses.
- The move aims to prevent the migration of forest-dwelling families outside their native villages and provide them with housing areas by extending the village site into forest land in their neighbourhood.
Back2Basics: Fifth Schedule of the Constitution
- It deals with the administration and control of Scheduled Areas as well as of Scheduled Tribes residing in any State other than the States of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram (ATM2).
- In Article 244(1) of the Constitution, expression Scheduled Areas means such areas as the President may by order declare to be Scheduled Areas (SA).
The President may at any time by order-
- direct that the whole or any specified part of SA shall cease to be a SA or a part of such an area;
- increase the area of any SA in a State after consultation with the Governor of that State;
- alter, but only by way of rectification of boundaries, any Scheduled Area;
- on any alteration of the boundaries of a State on the admission into the Union or the establishment of a new State, declare any territory not previously included in any State to be, or to form part of, a SA;
- rescind, in relation to any State of States, any order or orders made under these provisions and in consultation with the Governor of the State concerned, make fresh orders redefining the areas which are to be SA.
- The Governor may, by public notification, direct that any particular Act of Parliament or of the Legislature of the State shall or shall not apply to a SA or any part thereof in the State, subject to such exceptions and modifications, as specified.
- The Governor may make regulations for the peace and good government of any area in the State which is for the time being a SA. Such regulations may
- prohibit or restrict the transfer of land by or among members of the Scheduled Tribes in such area;
- regulate the allotment of land to members of the STs in such area;
- regulate the carrying on of business as money-lender by persons who lend money to members of the STs in such area.
In making such regulations, the Governor may repeal or amend any Act of Parliament or of Legislature of the State or any existing law after obtaining the assent of the President.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Causacus region mapping
Mains level: Usual crisis in the middle east and caucasus region
Fresh clashes erupted on the Armenia-Azerbaijan border, threatening to push the countries back to war 26 years after a ceasefire was reached.
Try this PYQ:
Q.Turkey is located between-
(a) The Black Sea and Caspian Sea
(b) The Black Sea and Mediterranean Sea
(c) Gulf of Suez and the Mediterranean Sea
(d) Gulf of Aqaba and the Dead Sea
The conflict
- The largely mountainous and forested Nagorno-Karabakh, home for some 150,000 people, is at the centre of the conflict.
- Nagorno-Karabakh is located within Azerbaijan but is populated, mostly, by those of Armenian ethnicity (and mostly Christian compared to the Shia Muslim majority Azerbaijan).
- The conflict can be traced back to the pre-Soviet era when the region was at the meeting point of Ottoman, Russian and the Persian empires.
A legacy of soviet era
- Once Azerbaijan and Armenia became Soviet Republics in 1921, Moscow gave Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijan but offered autonomy to the contested region.
- In the 1980s, when the Soviet power was receding, separatist currents picked up in Nagorno-Karabakh.
- In 1988, the national assembly voted to dissolve the region’s autonomous status and join Armenia.
- But Baku suppressed such calls, which led to a military conflict.
- When Armenia and Azerbaijan became independent countries after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the clashes led to an open war in which tens of thousands of people were killed.
- The war lasted till 1994 when both sides reached a ceasefire (they are yet to sign a peace treaty and the border is not clearly demarcated).
Issue over control
- By that time, Armenia had taken control of Nagorno-Karabakh and handed it to Armenian rebels. The rebels have declared independence, but have not won recognition from any country.
- The region is still treated as a part of Azerbaijan by the international community, and Baku wants to take it back.
What is the strategic significance of the region?
- The energy-rich Azerbaijan has built several gas and oil pipelines across the Caucasus (the region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea) to Turkey and Europe.
- This includes the Baku-Tblisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline (with a capacity of transporting 1.2 billion barrels a day), the Western Route Export oil pipeline, the Trans-Anatolian gas pipeline and the South Caucasus gas pipeline.
- Some of these pipelines pass close to the conflict zone (within 16 km of the border). In an open war between the two countries, the pipelines could be targeted, which would impact energy supplies.
What’s Turkey’s role?
- Turkey has historically supported Azerbaijan and has had a troublesome relationship with Armenia.
- In the 1990s, during the war, Turkey closed its border with Armenia and it has no diplomatic relations with the country.
- The main point of contention between the two was Ankara’s refusal to recognise the 1915 Armenian genocide in which the Ottomans killed some 1.5 million Armenians.
- On the other end, the Azeris and Turks share strong cultural and historical links. Azerbaijanis are a Turkic ethnic group and their language is from the Turkic family.
Where does Russia stand?
- Moscow sees the Caucasus and Central Asian region as its backyard. But the current clashes put President Vladimir Putin in a difficult spot.
- Russia enjoys good ties with both Azerbaijan and Armenia and supplies weapons to both.
- But Armenia is more dependent on Russia than the energy-rich, ambitious Azerbaijan. Russia also has a military base in Armenia.
- But Moscow, at least publicly, is trying to strike a balance between the two. Like in the 1990s, its best interest would be in mediating a ceasefire between the warring sides.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Obesity
Mains level: Obesity in India
Adults in urban India consume much more fat than those in rural areas, found the latest survey by the Indian Council of Medical Research and National Institute of Nutrition.
Do you know?
Over-nutrition is also a form of malnutrition.
‘What India Eats’ Survey
- Adults in India’s urban centres consumed 51.6 grammes fat per day per head on an average. The volume was 36 g in rural areas, according to the survey report What India Eats.
- The report categorised fat into two groups:
- Visible or added fat, comprising oils and fat in preparing food, in fried food and those derived from meat and poultry
- Invisible fat, including fat/oils from rice, pulses, nuts and oilseeds
Urban-Rural data
- 84 per cent of the rural population secured their energy (E) per day requirement from total fats/oils, or visible / added fats.
- On the other hand, less than 20 per cent of the urban population derived their E / day from this category.
- In urban areas of the country, northern India had the highest intake of added fat with 45.9 g / day.
- Southern India reported the lowest per capita consumption of added fat/oils with 22.9 g / day in this segment of the population.
- In the urban region of north India, fat intake (67.3 g) was among the highest; and overweight, obesity and abdominal obesity were highest when compared to other regions.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Cat Que Virus
Mains level: Not Much
In a study published in the Indian Journal of Medical Research, scientists have noted the presence of antibodies against the Cat Que virus (CQV) in two human serum samples.
Try this PYQ:
Q.Which one of the following statements is not correct?
(a) Hepatitis B virus is transmitted much like HIV.
(b) Hepatitis B, unlike Hepatitis C, does not have a vaccine.
(c) Globally, the number of people infected with Hepatitis B and C viruses is several times more than those infected with HIV.
(d) Some of those infected with Hepatitis B and C viruses do not show the symptoms for many years.
What is the Cat Que Virus?
- For CQV, domestic pigs are considered to be the primary mammalian hosts.
- Antibodies against the virus indicate that the virus has formed a “natural cycle” in the local area and has the ability to spread in pigs and other animal populations through mosquitoes.
- CQV belongs to the Simbu serogroup and infects both humans and economically important livestock species.
- It was first isolated in 2004 from mosquitoes during the surveillance of arbovirus activity in northern Vietnam.
- In this study, researchers reported a CQV strain (SC0806), which was isolated from mosquito samples collected in China in 2006 and 2008.
Impact on humans
- Humans can get infected through mosquitoes as well.
- In the study, scientists note that because of positivity in human serum samples and the replication capability of CQV in mosquitoes, there is only a “possible disease-causing potential” of CQV in the Indian scenario.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- India and relations with its neighbours
The article analyses the inherent challenges India faces in managing good relations with its neighbours.
Duality challenge
- Even for the Britishers, it was an unceasing struggle to sustain its primacy in the region.
- The notion of regional primacy certainly persisted in the Nehru era.
- Primacy was hard to sustain after Independence even within the immediate neighbourhood.
Five reasons stand out
1) Partition of the subcontinent
- The problems generated by the great division of the Subcontinent on religious lines continue to animate the region.
- Partition created the challenges of settling boundaries, sharing river-waters, protecting the rights of minorities, and easing the flow of goods and people.
- The burden of the Subcontinent’s history is not easily discarded.
2) Unification of China
- The unification of China amidst the Partition of India had profoundly transformed the geopolitical condition of India.
- Beyond the bilateral territorial dispute in the Himalayas, the emergence of a large and purposeful state on India’s frontiers was going to be a problem given the ease with which it could constrain Delhi within the Subcontinent.
3) India’s choice in favour of de-globalisation
- Independent India’s conscious choice in favour of de-globalisation led to a steady dissipation of commercial connectivity with the neighbours.
- India’s economic reorientation since the 1990s and the rediscovery of regionalism did open possibilities for reconnecting with its neighbours.
- Delhi today is acutely aware of the need to revive regional connectivity.
- There is much progress in recent years — note, for example, the recent launch of a ferry service to the Maldives or the reopening of inland waterways with Bangladesh.
- Integrating India’s regional economic and foreign policy remains a major challenge-Consider the recent fiasco of onion exports to Bangladesh.
4) Rise of political agency in the neighbourhood
- India ignores the rise of political agency among neighbourhood elites and mass politics that they need to manage.
- Their imperatives don’t always coincide with those of Delhi.
- It is unlikely that Delhi can completely insure itself against the intra-elite conflicts in the neighbourhood.
5) Influence of domestic politics on foreign policy
- Can India persistently champion Tamil minority rights in Sri Lanka without incurring any costs with the Sinhala majority?
- But asking that question takes us to India’s own domestic politics.
- Can Delhi ignore sentiments in India’s Tamil Nadu in making its Sri Lanka policy?
- Indian Prime Minister did not attend the Colombo Commonwealth Summit in 2013 because of the Tamil minority issue.
- The Teesta Waters agreement was not concluded due to political reasons.
Ways forward
- Timely responses to problems.
- Preventing small issues from becoming big.
- Aligning Delhi’s regional economic policy with India’s natural geographic advantages .
- These are some important elements of any successful management of India’s perennial neighbourhood challenges.
Conclusion
There are no easy answers to the regional difficulties that trouble all governments in Delhi. The source of the problem lies in the deeply interconnected nature of South Asian societies administered by multiple sovereigns.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: U.N. and its organs
Mains level: Paper 2- United Nations and the challenges it faces
As the U.N. enters into 75th year of its existence, it faces several challenges. The article discusses such challenges.
Challenges to the multilateralism
1) Withdrawal of the main stakeholders: U.S. and the U.K.
- The U.S. is withdrawing from multilateralism and so it the U.K.
- Brexit has shown that nationalism remains strong in Europe.
- Nevertheless, the most important development is the position of the U.S.
- The U.S., which created the international system as we know today, is no longer willing to be its “guarantor of last resort”.
- U.S. President Donald Trump stressed “America First” and suggested that others too should put their countries first.
2) China’s reluctance
- China has stepped in to take advantage of the West’s retreat from multilateralism.
- But China is not embracing the idea of multilateralism.
- China’s Belt and Road Initiative consists of a series of bilateral credit agreements with recipient countries with no mechanism for multilateral consultation or oversight.
- The European Union’s and U.S.’s sanctions against Russia have driven it closer to China.
- Work of the UN Security Council has been affected by the lack of consensus between its permanent members.
3) Turkey’s interventions
- Turkey has intervened in Syria, Libya, and the Eastern Mediterranean, which is a breach of international law.
- The last was a reference to Turkey sending a drilling ship in Greek and Cypriot exclusive economic zones.
- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made a detailed reference to the Jammu and Kashmir issue.
- As Turkey has assumed the position of UN General Assembly President, statement and its actions matters.
4) Paucity of resources
- Over 40 UN political missions and peacekeeping operations engage 95,000 troops, police, and civil personnel. it suffers from a paucity of resources.
- The UN peacekeeping budget, a little over $8 billion, is a small fraction of the $1.9 trillion military expenditure governments made in 2019.
- Most of the humanitarian assistance, developmental work, and budgets of the specialised agencies are based on voluntary contributions.
- There are calls for increasing public-private partnerships. This is not a satisfactory arrangement.
- The UN provides ‘public goods’ in terms of peace and development often in remote parts of the world.
- There may not be enough appetite on the part of corporations. The UN remains an inter-governmental body.
5) Climate action
- President Trump mentioned that China’s emissions are nearly twice of those of the U.S.
- Despite its withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, the U.S. has reduced its carbon emissions by more than any country in the world.
- President Xi said that after peaking emissions by 2030, China will achieve carbon neutrality before 2060.
- President Macron said that he was determined to see the EU agree on a target of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050.
Consider the question “As the world is facing the retreat from multilateralism, what are the challenges facing the U.N. in the current global order?”
Conclusion
What does the UN bring to the developing countries? It gives them greater political space. We need to support reform not only to expand the permanent members’ category of the Security Council but also to revitalise the role of the General Assembly. The retreat from multilateralism would undermine the UN’s capacity to face diverse challenges.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Doctrine of colorable legislation
Mains level: Federalism issue raised by the Agricultural Bills
The President has finally given assent to the controversial farm Bills passed by Parliament last week. Amid protests by farmers’ organisations across the country, questions are being raised about the anti-federal nature of these ‘Acts’.
Here we shall only discuss its constitutionality and federal nature. Tap to read more about the theme at:
What is the question over the constitutionality of these laws?
- These are some of the questions that will be raised in the petitions challenging the constitutionality of the Acts.
- As per Union of India v H.S.Dhillon (1972), the constitutionality of parliamentary laws can be challenged only on two grounds — that the subject is in the State List, or that it violates fundamental rights.
- As per Ram Krishna Dalmia v Justice S R Tendolkar (1958) and other judgments, the Supreme Court will begin hearings after presuming the constitutionality of these laws.
- The bills (now Acts as they have got the President’s assent) do not mention, in the Statement of Objects & Reasons, the constitutional provisions under which Parliament has the power to legislate on the subjects covered.
Where does the question of federalism come in?
What is federalism, first?
- Federalism is the system of government in which sovereignty is constitutionally divided between a central governing authority and constituent political units.
- It is based upon democratic rules and institutions in which the power to govern is shared between national and state governments, creating a federation.
- It essentially means both the Centre and states have the freedom to operate in their allotted spheres of power, in coordination with each other.
Try this PYQ:
Q.Which of the following federal principles are not found in Indian federation?
- Bifurcation of the judiciary between the Federal and State Governments
- Equality of representation of the states in the upper house of the Federal Legislature
- The Union cannot be destroyed by any state seceding from the Union at its will
- Federal Government can redraw the map of the Indian Union by forming new States
Select the correct answer using the codes given below:
a) 1, 2 and 3
b) 2, 3 and 4
c) 1 and 2
d) 3 and 4
Federalism in India
- The Seventh Schedule of the Constitution contains three lists that distribute power between the Centre and states.
- There are 97 subjects in the Union List, on which Parliament has exclusive power to legislate (Article 246); the State List has 66 items on which states alone can legislate.
- The Concurrent List has 47 subjects on which both the Centre and states can legislate, but in case of a conflict, the law made by Parliament prevails (Article 254).
- Parliament can legislate on an item in the State List under certain specific circumstances laid down in the Constitution.
Concretization of the idea
- Federalism, like constitutionalism and separation of powers, is not mentioned in the Constitution. But it is the very essence of our constitutional scheme.
- In the State of West Bengal v Union of India (1962), the Supreme Court held that the Indian Constitution is not federal.
- But in SR Bommai v Union of India (1994), a nine-judge Bench held federalism as part of the basic structure of the Constitution.
- Neither the relative importance of the legislative entries in Schedule VII, Lists I and II of the Constitution, nor the fiscal control by the Union per se is decisive to conclude the Constitution is unitary.
- The respective legislative powers are traceable to Articles 245 to 254… The State qua the Constitution is federal in structure and independent in its exercise of legislative and executive power,” it said.
Where is agriculture in the scheme of legislative powers?
Terms relating to agriculture occur at 15 places in the Seventh Schedule.
- Entries 82, 86, 87, and 88 in the Union List mention taxes and duties on income and assets, specifically excluding those in respect of agriculture.
- In the State List, eight entries contain terms relating to agriculture: Entry 14 (agricultural education and research, pests, plant diseases); 18 (rights in or over land, land tenures, rents, transfer agricultural land, agricultural loans, etc.); 28 (markets and fairs); 30 (agricultural indebtedness); 45 (land revenue, land records, etc.); 46 (taxes on agricultural income); 47 (succession of agricultural land); and 48 (estate duty in respect of agricultural land).
- In the Concurrent List, Entry 6 mentions the transfer of property other than agricultural land; 7 is about various contracts not relating to agricultural land; and 41 deals with evacuee property, including agricultural land.
- It is clear that the Union List and Concurrent List put matters relating to agriculture outside Parliament’s jurisdiction, and give state legislatures exclusive power.
- No entry in respect of agriculture in the State List is subject to any entry in the Union or Concurrent Lists.
What about Entry 27 of the State List that is subject to Entry 33 of List III (Concurrent)?
- Entry 33 of the Concurrent List mentions trade and commerce, production, supply and distribution of domestic and imported products of an industry over which Parliament has control in the public interest.
- This includes foodstuffs, including oilseeds and oils; cattle fodder; raw cotton and jute.
- The Centre could, therefore, argue that it is within its powers to pass laws on contract farming and intra- and inter-state trade, and prohibit states from imposing fees/cesses outside APMC areas.
- However, like education, farming is an occupation, not trade or commerce.
- If foodstuffs are considered synonymous with agriculture, then all the powers of states in respect of agriculture, listed so elaborately in the Constitution, shall become redundant.
So what happens in case of legislation that covers entries in two Lists?
- In cases such as State of Rajasthan v G Chawla (1959), courts have used the doctrine of “pith and substance” to determine the character of legislation that overlaps between entries.
- The constitutionality of legislation is upheld if it is largely covered by one list and touches upon the other list only incidentally.
- But the two new farm Acts go beyond that — they impinge on entries in the State List.
- In interpreting the lists, the Supreme Court in State of Bihar v Kameshwar Singh (1952) invoked the doctrine of colourable legislation, which means you cannot do indirectly what you cannot do directly.
What is the Doctrine of Colorable Legislation?
- This doctrine refers to the question of competency of the legislature while enacting a provision of law.
- If a legislature is prohibited from doing something, it may not be permitted to do this under the guise or pretence of doing something while acting within its lawful jurisdiction and this prohibition is an implied result of the maxim “what cannot be done directly, cannot be done indirectly”
- This doctrine is a tool used to determine the legislative competence of laws enacted by various legislatures.
- Therefore, it is a means to implement the separation of powers and impose judicial accountability.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: ESG funds
Mains level: Not Much
ESG funds are witnessing a growing interest in the Indian mutual fund industry these days.
Try this PYQ:
Sustainable development is described as the development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. In this perspective, inherently the concept of sustainable development is intertwined with which of the following concepts?
(a) Social justice and empowerment
(b) Inclusive Growth
(c) Globalization
(d) Carrying capacity
What are the ESG funds?
- ESG means using Environmental, Social and Governance factors to evaluate companies and countries on how far advanced they are with sustainability.
- ESG investing is used synonymously with sustainable investing or socially responsible investing.
- While selecting a stock for investment, the ESG fund shortlists companies that score high on the environment, social responsibility and corporate governance, and then looks into financial factors.
- So, the scheme focuses on companies with environment-friendly practices, ethical business practices and an employee-friendly record.
- They imbibe the environment, social responsibility and corporate governance in their investing process.
Why so much focus on ESG now?
- Modern investors are re-evaluating traditional approaches and look at the impact their investment has on the planet.
- As a result of this paradigm change, asset managers have started incorporating ESG factors into investment practices.
- Companies with good ESG scores tick most of the checkboxes for investing, tend to mitigate environmental and social risks and tends to have stronger cash flows, lower borrowing costs and durable returns.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Chandra Telescope, Chandra X Ray Observatory
Mains level: Not Much
In the cold, dry desert of Ladakh, 4500 meters above the mean sea level, for two decades, the 2-m diameter optical-infrared Himalayan Chandra Telescope (HCT) at the Indian Astronomical Observatory (IAO) has been scanning the night sky for 20 years in search of stellar explosions, comets, asteroids, and exo-planets.
Chandra X-Ray observatory and now, it is Himalayan Chandra Telescope. Do you the key difference? The former is a NASA project while the HCT is the Indian one.
Himalayan Chandra Telescope
- The HCT is a 2.01 meters (6.5 feet) diameter optical-infrared telescope named after India-born Nobel laureate Subrahmanyam Chandrasekhar.
- It contains a modified Ritchey-Chretien system with a primary mirror made of ULE ceramic which is designed to withstand low temperatures it experiences.
- The telescope was manufactured by Electo-Optical System Technologies Inc. at Tucson, Arizona, USA.
- It is mounted with 3 science instruments called Himalaya Faint Object Spectrograph (HFOSC), the near-IR imager and the optical CCD imager.
- It is remotely operated from Hosakote, about 35 km northeast of Bangalore via an INSAT-3B satellite link which allows operation even in sub-zero temperatures in winter.
Significant feats
- The telescope has been used in many coordinated international campaigns to monitor stellar explosions, comets, and exo-planets, and has contributed significantly to these studies.
- Some of the thrust research areas are the study of solar system bodies like; comets, asteroids, the study of star formation processes and young stellar objects, the study of open and globular clusters and variable stars in them.
- It has helped in analysis of elements in the atmosphere of evolved stars, star formation in external galaxies, Active Galactic Nuclei, stellar explosions like novae, supernovae, gamma-ray bursts and so on.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: UVIT
Mains level: Not Much
The satellite that detected the first extreme-UV rays in the Universe from the cosmic noon celebrated its 5th birthday today.
Try this PYQ:
Q.“Event Horizon” is related to:
(a) Telescope
(b) Black hole
(c) Solar glares
(d) None of the above
Ultra-Violet Imaging Telescope (UVIT)
- The UVIT is a remarkable 3-in-1 imaging telescope.
- Weighing all of 230 kg, the UVIT can simultaneously observe in the visible, the near-ultraviolet (NUV) and the far-ultraviolet (FUV).
- UVIT comprises of two separate telescopes. One of them works in the visible (320-550 nm) and the NUV (200-300 nm).
- The second works only in the FUV (130-180 nm).
Its achievement
- It has carried out 1166 observations of 800 unique celestial sources proposed by scientists both from India and abroad.
- It has explored stars, star clusters, mapping of the large and small satellite galaxies nearby to our own Milky Way galaxy called the Magellanic Clouds.
- It is an energetic phenomenon in the Universe such as the ultra-violet counterparts to gamma-ray bursts, supernovae, active galactic nuclei, and so on.
- Its superior spatial resolution capability has enabled astronomers to probe star formation in galaxies as well as resolve the cores of star clusters (3 times better than the last NASA mission, GALEX).
- Observations from UVIT has recently led to the discovery of a galaxy located at a distance of about 10 billion light-years from Earth and emitting extreme ultraviolet radiation that can ionize the intergalactic medium.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 3- Agriculture reforms
The article analyses the regional variation in the problems and issues of the farmer and how it has implications for the reforms in agriculture.
An issue of estimating the number of farmers in India
- Almost 111 million are registered for the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-Kisan).
- Other than some categories being barred from PM-Kisan benefits, not every eligible farmer has necessarily registered for PM-Kisan.
- The last Agriculture Census in 2015-16 gave us 146 million holdings.
- If the agricultural landholding is conditional on being a farmer, apart from a possible further increase since 2015-16, 146 million is possibly the upper bound.
- Every definition of “farmer” is not contingent on the ownership of land.
- The Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Act of 2001 is an example where status as a farmer depends on cultivating land (or supervising cultivation), not owning it.
- That issue was also flagged by the National Commission on Farmers, such as in the Draft National Policy for Farmers (2006), where “farmers” included agricultural labourers, sharecroppers, tenants and so on.
Issues with making landholding prerequisite for being a farmer
- The Committee on State Agrarian Relations and the Unfinished Task in Land Reforms (2009) noted that “the Survey and Settlement Operations in the Permanently Settled Areas have not been taken up and where they have been taken up, for instance in Bihar, they tend to never conclude”
- The last extensive survey and settlement in India was conducted two to three decades prior to Independence.
- Post-Independence, some states have not undertaken a revisional survey and settlement so far.
- There have been improvements since 2009 and the Department of Land Resources has a Digital India Land Records Modernisation Programme (DILRMP).
- Punjab and Haryana rank 16th and 18th respectively in Records and Services Index (LRSI).
- Gujarat, West Bengal and Tripura score high on this Index (over 90 per cent).
Variation across the States
- If land records are in this condition, some farmers will conceivably be excluded from the farmer definition.
- With diverse and heterogenous agriculture, all farmers will not have identical views.
- 2015-16 Agricultural Census tells us that most operational holdings are in UP, Bihar, Maharashtra and MP, in that order.
- The highest operated areas are in Rajasthan, Maharashtra, UP and MP, in that order.
- 86.1 per cent of holdings are small and marginal (less than 2 hectares) and only 0.6 per cent are large (more than 10 hectares).
Conclusion
The face of Indian agriculture has changed and is no longer what it was in the Green Revolution days, centred on Punjab, Haryana and western UP. Farmers, and governments, in Bihar and Kerala, don’t want APMCs, nor do UP, MP, Gujarat and Karnataka. There is no evidence that this has made those farmers worse off.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- Issues with medical education in India
The article discusses the issues with medical education in India and how it affects the principle of equality.
Role of private entities
- Due to demand for high-quality medical care on the one hand and constraints on public resources on the other, private entities have been permitted to establish medical educational institutions to supplement government efforts.
- In the field of health care, there is a continuing shortage of health-care personnel.
- The infrastructure required for high-quality modern medical education is expensive.
- The three stated objectives of medical education has been — providing health-care personnel in all parts of the country, ensuring quality and improving equity.
- None of the three stated objectives of medical education has been achieved by the private sector.
- Though they are supposed to be not-for-profit, taking advantage of the poor regulatory apparatus and the ability to both tweak and create rules, these private entities, with very few exceptions, completely commercialised education.
Demand for regulation and equity
- There have been attempts to regulate fees, sometimes by governments and sometimes by courts.
- These efforts have not been fruitful.
- The executive, primarily the Medical Council of India, has proven unequal to the task of ensuring that private institutions comply with regulations.
- When the courts are approached, which issues are seen as important depends on the Bench.
- It was in this situation that led to the introduction of the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (Undergraduate), or NEET-UG, as a single all-India gateway for admission to medical colleges.
- Challenged in courts, after an initial setback, the NEET scheme has been upheld.
How NEET affected equity
- NEET may have improved the quality of candidates admitted to private institutions to some extent, but it seems to have further worsened equity.
- Under any scheme of admission, the number of students from government schools who are able to get admission to a medical college is very low.
- With NEET, the number has become lower.
- The high fees of private medical colleges have always been an impossible hurdle for students from government schools, whatever the method used for admission.
Way forward
- The basic cause of inequity in admission to higher educational institutions is the absence of a high quality school system accessible to all.
- Allowing government medical colleges to admit students based on marks in Standard XII and using NEET scores for admission to private colleges will be more equitable right now.
Conclusion
Only a resolute government, determined to ensure that economic policy facilitates quality and equity in education, can do it.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Fiscal deficit and government budget
Mains level: Paper 3- Impact of pandemic on Indian economy
The government faces the challenge of high fiscal deficit and declining revenue. This article discusses the challenge and suggests the way forward to deal with the situation.
Dismal growth prospects
- At (-)23.9% contraction for the first quarter of 2020-21, India’s growth showed one of the highest contraction globally.
- What is most surprising in the Q1 data is that the sector ‘Public Administration, Defence and other Services’ contracted at (-) 10.3%.
- This means that there was no fiscal stimulus.
- The 2020-21 real GDP growth for India is forecast in the range of (-) 5.8% (RBI) to (-) 14.8% (Goldman Sachs).
- The OECD in its September 2020 Interim Economic Outlook has projected a contraction of (-) 10.2% in FY21 for India.
Challenge of decline in revenue
- Due to a sharp contraction in nominal GDP growth, central and State tax revenue, both may contract.
- . In the first quarter of 2020-21, the Centre’s gross tax revenues contracted by (-) 32.6%.
- The CAG-based data pertaining to 19 States show a contraction of (-) 45% in their own tax revenues.
- Given the adverse impact of the lockdown, even the budgeted non-tax revenues are not likely to be realised.
- The revenue calculations of the Budget were made on the assumption that the nominal income of the country would grow at 10%.
- Some estimates indicate that the tax and non-tax revenue and non-debt capital receipts in the current fiscal may fall well short of the budget estimates by an amount higher than ₹5-lakh crore.
- The combined fiscal deficit of the Centre and the States will have to make up for the shortfall in tax and non-tax revenues, if the level of budgeted expenditures is to be maintained.
Challenge of widening of fiscal deficit
- In order for the central government to maintain the level of budgeted expenditure and also provide for additional stimulus, its fiscal deficit may have to be increased to close to an estimated 8.8% of GDP.
- If one adds the Centre’s and States’ fiscal deficit, the combined fiscal deficit amounts to 13.8% of GDP.
- If the nominal GDP actually contracts in 2020-21, the fiscal deficit as the percent of GDP would go up further.
Role of the RBI
- The International Monetary Fund, in its June 2020 update of the World Economic Outlook, estimated the fiscal deficit of India and China at 12.1% of GDP.
- India doesn’t have adequate resources to support a fiscal deficit of nearly 14% of GDP.
- All this will therefore require substantial support from the Reserve Bank of India which will have to take on itself, either directly or indirectly, a part of the central government debt.
- In the direct mode, the RBI takes on the debt directly from government at an agreed rate.
- It took India long to move away from the automatic monetisation of debt.
- Even if the RBI wants to support the borrowing programmes, it should not do so directly.
- The indirect method is preferable as the market still sends out the signals on interest rate.
- In both cases, the RBI is the provider of liquidity.
- The question ultimately relates to the extent of debt monetisation that may be undertaken.
- The country has also to guard against high inflation.
Role of government
- The economic situation warrants enhanced government expenditure.
- It appears that governments are withholding expenditure. That is not the right approach.
- At the same time, there is a limit to monetisation of debt.
Conclusion
Perhaps the best course of action would be to keep the combined fiscal deficit at around 14% of GDP in the current year and find ways to finance it. This will have to be brought down gradually. It may take several years of normalisation.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Cess, Office of the CAG
Mains level: Cess deposits
The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India, in its latest audit report of government accounts, has observed that the government withheld in the Consolidated Fund of India (CFI) more than ₹1.1 lakh crore out of the almost ₹2.75 lakh crore collected through various cesses in 2018-19.
Try this PYQ:
Q.Consider the following items:
- Cereal grains hulled
- Chicken eggs cooked
- Fish processed and canned
- Newspapers containing advertising material
Which of the above items is/are exempted under GST (Goods and Services Tax)? (CSP 2018)
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 and 3 only
(c) 1, 2 and 4 only
(d) 1, 2, 3 and 4
Issues with the cess deposits
- The CAG found this objectionable since cess collections are supposed to be transferred to specified Reserve Funds that Parliament has approved for each of these levies.
- The nation’s highest auditor also found that over ₹1.24 lakh crore collected as Cess on Crude Oil over the last decade had not been transferred to the designated Reserve Fund — the Oil Industry Development Board.
- Similarly, the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Compensation Cess was also “short-credited” to the relevant reserve fund.
What is Cess?
- The Union government is empowered to raise revenue through a gamut of levies, including taxes (both direct and indirect), surcharges, fees and cess.
- While direct taxes, including income tax, and indirect taxes such as GST are taxes where the revenue received can be spent by the government for any public purpose in any manner it deems appropriate for the nation’s good, a cess is an earmarked tax that is collected for a specific purpose and ought to be spent only for that.
- Every cess is collected after Parliament has authorised its creation through enabling legislation that specifies the purpose for which the funds are being raised.
- Article 270 of the Constitution allows cess to be excluded from the purview of the divisible pool of taxes that the Union government must share with the States.
How many cesses does government levy?
- A report submitted to the Fifteenth Finance Commission listed 42 cesses that have been levied at various points in time since 1944.
- The very first cess was levied on matches, according to this report.
- Post Independence, the cess taxes were linked initially to the development of a particular industry, including a salt cess and a tea cess in 1953.
- Subsequently, the introduction of cess was motivated by the aim of ensuring labour welfare.
- Some cesses that exemplified this thrust were the iron ore mines labour welfare cess in 1961, the limestone and dolomite mines labour welfare cess of 1972 and the cine workers welfare cess introduced in 1981.
Cesses after GST
- The introduction of the GST in 2017 led to most cesses being done away with and as of August 2018, there were only seven cesses that continued to be levied.
- These were Cess on Exports, Cess on Crude Oil, Health and Education Cess, Road and Infrastructure Cess, Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Cess, National Calamity Contingent Duty on Tobacco and Tobacco Products and the GST Compensation Cess.
- And in February, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman introduced a new cess — a Health Cess of 5% on imported medical devices — in the Finance Bill for 2020-2021.
Why is the issue in the news currently?
- For one, most crucially, the express purpose of this particular cess is to help recompense States for the loss of revenue on account of their having joined the GST regime by voluntarily giving up almost all the power to levy local indirect taxes on goods and services.
- Also, the share of revenue to the Centre’s annual tax kitty from cess had risen to 11.88% of the estimated gross tax receipts in 2018-19, from 6.88% in 2012-13.
- Given that cess does not need to be a part of the divisible pool of resources, this increasing share of cess in the Union government’s tax receipts has a direct impact on fiscal devolution.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: ART
Mains level: ART Regulation Bill, 2020
The Centre moved to standardize protocols of the growing fertility industry and introduced the Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Bill, 2020, in Lok Sabha on the first day of the monsoon session of Parliament.
Try this question for mains:
Q. What is Assisted Reproductive Technology? Discuss the salient features of ART Regulation Bill, 2020?
Features of the ART Regulation Bill, 2020
(1) Defining ART
- The Bill defines ART to include all techniques that seek to obtain a pregnancy by handling the sperm or the oocytes (immature egg cell) outside the human body and transferring the gamete or the embryo into the reproductive system of a woman.
- Examples of ART services include gamete (sperm or oocyte) donation, in-vitro-fertilisation (fertilising an egg in the lab), and gestational surrogacy (the child is not biologically related to surrogate mother).
- ART services will be provided through: (i) ART clinics, which offer ART related treatments and procedures, and (ii) ART banks, which store and supply gametes.
(2) Regulation of ART clinics and banks
- The Bill provides that every ART clinic and the bank must be registered under the National Registry of Banks and Clinics of India.
- The National Registry will be established under the Bill and will act as a central database with details of all ART clinics and banks in the country.
- State governments will appoint registration authorities for facilitating the registration process.
- Clinics and banks will be registered only if they adhere to certain standards (specialised manpower, physical infrastructure, and diagnostic facilities).
- The registration will be valid for five years and can be renewed for a further five years. Registration may be cancelled or suspended if the entity contravenes the provisions of the Bill.
(3) Conditions for gamete donation and supply
- Screening of gamete donors, collection and storage of semen, and provision of oocyte donor can only be done by a registered ART bank.
- A bank can obtain semen from males between 21 and 55 years of age, and oocytes from females between 23 and 35 years of age.
- An oocyte donor should be an ever-married woman having at least one alive child of her own (minimum three years of age).
- The woman can donate oocyte only once in her life and not more than seven oocytes can be retrieved from her.
- A bank cannot supply gamete of a single donor to more than one commissioning couple (couple seeking services).
(4) Conditions for offering ART services
- ART procedures can only be carried out with the written informed consent of both the party seeking ART services as well as the donor.
- The party seeking ART services will be required to provide insurance coverage in the favour of the oocytes donor (for any loss, damage, or death of the donor).
- A clinic is prohibited from offering to provide a child of pre-determined sex. The Bill also requires checking for genetic diseases before the embryo implantation.
(5) Rights of a child born through ART
- A child born through ART will be deemed to be a biological child of the commissioning couple and will be entitled to the rights and privileges available to a natural child of the commissioning couple.
- A donor will not have any parental rights over the child.
(6) National and State Boards
- The Bill provides that the National and State Boards for Surrogacy constituted under the Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, 2019 will act as the National and State Board respectively for the regulation of ART services.
- Key powers and functions of the National Board include:
- advising the central government on ART related policy matters,
- reviewing and monitoring the implementation of the Bill,
- formulating code of conduct and standards for ART clinics and banks, and
- overseeing various bodies to be constituted under the Bill
- The State Boards will coordinate enforcement of the policies and guidelines for ART as per the recommendations, policies, and regulations of the National Board.
(7) Offences and penalties
- Offences under the Bill include:
(i) abandoning, or exploiting children born through ART, (ii) selling, purchasing, trading, or importing human embryos or gametes, (iii) using intermediates to obtain donors, (iv) exploiting commissioning couple, woman, or the gamete donor in any form, and (v) transferring the human embryo into a male or an animal.
- These offences will be punishable with a fine between five and ten lakh rupees for the first contravention.
- For subsequent contraventions, these offences will be punishable with imprisonment for a term between eight and 12 years, and a fine between 10 and 20 lakh rupees.
- Any clinic or bank advertising or offering sex-selective ART will be punishable with imprisonment between five and ten years, or fine between Rs 10 lakh and Rs 25 lakh, or both.
- No court will take cognizance of offences under the Bill, except on a complaint made by the National or State Board or any officer authorised by the Boards.
With inputs from PRS: https://www.prsindia.org/billtrack/assisted-reproductive-technology-regulation-bill-2020
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Gilgit-Baltistan Region, CPEC
Mains level: China's vested interests in the Kashmir Valley
Seven decades after it took control of the region, Pakistan is moving to grant full statehood to Gilgit-Baltistan (GB), which appears as the northernmost part of the country in its official map.
Try this PYQ:
Q. If you travel through the Himalayas, you are likely to see which of the following plants naturally growing there?
- Oak
- Rhododendron
- Sandalwood
Select the correct option using the code given below:
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 3 only
(c) 1 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3
Pak occupation of GB
- During the first Indo-Pak war of October 1947, Pakistan occupied 78,114 sq km of the land of Jammu and Kashmir, including the ‘Northern Areas’.
- The Northern Areas is the other name of Gilgit-Baltistan that Pakistan has used for administrative reasons because it was a disputed territory.
- This November, Pakistan will pave the way for fuller political rights for the roughly 1.2 million residents of the region, which will become the fifth State of Pakistan after Sindh, Punjab, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
GB through history
- One of the most mountainous regions in the world that is rich with mines of gold, emerald and strategically important minerals, GB is known for its extraordinary scenic beauty, diversity and ancient communities and languages.
- The political nature of Gilgit-Baltistan has been directionless from the beginning.
- Pakistan initially governed the region directly from the central authority after it was separated from ‘Azad Jammu and Kashmir’ on April 28, 1949.
- On March 2, 1963, Pakistan gave away 5,180 sq km of the region to China, despite local protests.
- Under Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, the name of the region was changed to the Federally Administered Northern Areas (FANA).
- Pakistan passed the Gilgit-Baltistan Empowerment and Self Governance Order in 2009, which granted “self-rule” to the ‘Northern Areas’.
Sense of alienation
- GB is largely an underdeveloped region.
- One of the main reasons for the rebellion in the region in 1947 was the sense of alienation that the population felt towards the Dogra rulers of Srinagar, who operated under the protection of the British government.
It’s geographical features
- It’s home to K-2, the second tallest mountain in the world.
- Tourism remains restricted by many factors, including military hostility, though the region has some of the ancient Buddhist sculptures and rock edicts.
- It is also home to an old Shia community, which often finds itself subjected to persecution in Pakistan’s urban centres.
- At present, a Governor and an elected Chief Minister rule the region, which is divided into Gilgit, Skardu, Diamer, Astore, Ghanche, Ghizer and Hunza-Nagar.
Indian protest
- Following Pakistan’s announcement of holding the legislative election in Gilgit-Baltistan, India reiterated its territorial sovereignty over the region.
- India has consistently opposed Pakistan’s activities in Gilgit-Baltistan. It also opposed the announcement of the commencement of the Diamer-Bhasha dam in July this year.
- There have been local and international concerns as reports suggest priceless Buddhist heritage will be lost once the dam is built.
- India has objected to the use of Gilgit-Baltistan to build and operate the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
GB resists
- Gilgit-Baltistan in recent years has witnessed sporadic protests against Islamabad.
- The protests were fuelled by the loss of land and livelihood of the locals to mega projects that are being championed by Pakistan and its international partners like China.
- There is a growing feeling that full statehood will help the locals fight their battles inside Pakistan on an equal basis.
- On the other hand, there is a widespread feeling that Pakistan, under pressure from China, is firming up its control over Gilgit-Baltistan, eventually creating conditions for the declaration of the LoC as the International Border.
China’s vested interest
- Gilgit-Baltistan is important for China as it is the gateway for the CPEC.
- Significantly, the ongoing stand-off with China at the LAC in Eastern Ladakh has a Gilgit-Baltistan connection.
- The Darbuk-Shyok-DBO road of India is viewed as a tactical roadway to access the Karakoram Pass, which provides China crucial access to Gilgit-Baltistan and Pakistan.
- Full statehood for the region may give Pakistan a political and legal upper hand and strengthen China’s position in the region.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Eden Gardens
Mains level: NA
This newscard is an excerpt from the original article published in TH.
UPSC may ask a question like this:
Q. In which Governor-General/Viceroy’s term was the famous cricketing ground ‘Eden Gardens’ was built?
Eden Gardens
- The first cricket club outside Britain was the Calcutta Cricket Club founded in 1792, and the first match was played 12 years later between the Etonians, senior civil servants and other company officials.
- In 1825 the club got a plot of land on the ground between Government House and Fort William to be used as a cricket ground.
- In 1841, the club was permitted to enclose the ground with a fence. But the Army at Fort William described the club as an “encroacher”.
- Cricket Club of Calcutta authorities then looked for an alternative ground and at ₹1,000, found a new one, fenced it and made it playable.
- In 1864, the land was laid out for a ground for Calcutta Cricket Club in the extended part of Eden Gardens.
Deriving its name
- Eden Gardens made its first appearance during the time of Governor-General Lord Auckland (1836-42).
- According to the achieves, a local landlord gifted this land to Lord Auckland and his sisters Emily Eden and Fanny Eden helped him save his third daughter from a deadly disease.
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