Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Power of the President to pardon under Article 72
Mains level: Paper 2- Delay in carrying out death penalty and issues associated with it
The article highlights the issue of delay in carrying out the dealth penalty and issues associated with it.
Review of India’s position on the death penalty
- The delay in carrying out the death penalty is one of the reasons to review India’s position on capital punishment.
- The debate on the efficacy of the death penalty in reducing crime has been going on for several decades.
- A few years ago, the issue of abolishing capital punishment was raised in the Rajya Sabha but was rejected by a voice vote.
- The then Minister of State for Home Affairs stated that the government was not contemplating abolition of the death penalty.
- In 2015, the Law Commission of India proposed abolishing the death penalty and sought the comments of States and Union Territories on the subject.
- India figures among the 56 nations in the world that have retained the death penalty.
Issue of delay in carrying out the punishment
- The prolonged detention of death row convicts in prison is not just inhuman but also against the canons of justice.
- The delay coupled with long years of solitary confinement leads to immense psychological trauma.
- It is small wonder that the courts tend to take a lenient view and reduce the sentence when such cases of prolonged years of detention come before them.
- A time frame needs to be fixed for the President to dispose of mercy petitions.
- Delays in investigations, court hearings, and administrative steps to be taken after the final verdict need to be inquired into, and responsibility fixed.
Consider the question “Against the backdrop of delay in carrying out the dealth penalty in India, take the review of India’s position on the abolition of death penalty.”
Conclusion
With the changing time, we must change and so do the way we punish people. Capital punishment should be abolished in the country and until then, the inordinate delays in carrying out punishment should be avoided.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Article 14 and selection of prosecution
Mains level: Paper 2- Selective prosecution and its impact on personal liberty
The article examines the issue of selective prosecution and Indian judiciary’s approach toward it. It also highlights the importance of recent Goswami case.
Selective prosecution: Form of abuse of state power
- Recently the case involving bail application of a T.V. anchor brought to the fore issue of selective prosecution.
- The illegal selection of accused based on grounds prohibited by the Constitution is called “selective prosecution”.
- In case of selective prosecution, the police and enforcement agencies selectively target political and ideological opponents of the ruling dispensation to interrogate, humiliate, harass, arrest, torture and imprison.
- It is one of the oldest, most pernicious and widespread forms of abuse of state power.
How it is illegal: Two independent legal issues
1) Exercise of prosecutorial discretion
- The applicable legal standard is that while the police and prosecutors in common law jurisdictions enjoy vast discretion in deciding who they may pursue and who they may spare.
- However, the choice of accused must not be based on grounds that violate Constitutional rights, including the Article 14 right to equal protection of the law.
- The accused should not be selected, either explicitly or covertly, on constitutionally prohibited grounds.
2) Merit of the case filed
- When the choice of accused runs contrary to the Constitution, the entire criminal proceeding is vitiated, irrespective of the determination of the second issue, viz., whether the accused are convicted or acquitted on the charges brought against them.
- Once the proceedings fail under the first issue, there is no legal basis to proceed to the second issue., i.e., trial on the merits of the case.
- The theory is that the Constitution cannot be violated to uphold the law — such an approach would spell doom for the Constitution.
- The selective prosecution claim must be adjudicated as a threshold issue, with the prosecution being quashed at the outset of the criminal case if the claim is justified.
- In the context of this discussion, the constitutionally prohibited ground we are confronting in India is the political or ideological affiliation of the accused.
- It is an arbitrary ground that violates the Article 14 guarantee of equal protection of the law.
Approach of judiciary
- Our courts have not recognised selective prosecution as an independent claim.
- This is because courts assume that lawfulness of prosecution can only be taken up after the trial, if the accused is acquitted.
- The 2018 Report of the Law Commission on ‘Wrongful Prosecution (Miscarriage of Justice): Legal Remedies’ discusses remedies for wrongful prosecution available only if and after the accused is acquitted.
- Remedy after acquittal comes far too late, well after a brutal and long drawn out criminal justice process that upends the lives of the victims.
- Also, the right against selective prosecution cannot be extinguished by conviction.
- Separate from post-acquittal actions for wrongful prosecution (which will still be available), the claim of selective prosecution is a threshold issue that is required to be adjudicated at the outset of criminal proceedings even during the investigation stage irrespective of the merit of the charges.
Importance of Goswami case
- The case provides a much needed and long awaited legal opening to strengthen the recognition and use of the selective prosecution claim in India to counter politically coloured prosecution.
- The judgment says, “Courts should be alive to the needof ensuring that the law does not become a ruse for targeted harassment ”.
- The Goswami judgment also quotes the 2018 Supreme Court holding in Romila Thapar v. Union of India that, “[T]he basic entitlement of every citizen who is faced with allegations of criminal wrongdoing is that the investigative process should be fair. This is an integral component of the guarantee against arbitrariness under Article 14 and of the right to life and personal liberty under Article 21.”
Consider the question “How selective prosecution could threten the liberty of person? How Indian judiciary approaches the issue of selective prosecution and what are the issue with the approach adopted by the judiciary?”
Conclusion
To strengthen the protection of civil liberty, equality and democracy, it is time our courts — at all levels — recognise selective prosecution as a threshold constitutional defence against the abuse of police and prosecutorial power.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: OECD
Mains level: Paper 3- Issue of negative support given to farmers as per OECD methodoloy
As per the OECD methodology, Indian farmers received negative support of Rs. 1.62-lakh crore in 2019, which implies that the government is taxing the farmers. But there are pitfalls in the methodology. The article explaines them.
The issue of support given to the farmers
- Many media reports, based on data by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), have stated that the support provided to Indian agriculture is extremely low or negative, and, therefore, net taxed.
- The OECD has estimated that Indian farmers received negative support to the extent of minus ₹2.36-lakh crore and minus ₹1.62-lakh crore in 2010 and 2019, respectively.
- Surprisingly, the negative support of minus ₹1.62-lakh crore as estimated by the OECD was higher than the total budgetary allocation of the Ministry of Agriculture at ₹1.09-lakh crore in 2019.
Issues with the OECD estimates
- Expenditure on the PM-KISAN, the National Food Security Mission, crop insurance, input subsidies such as fertilizer and electricity, are some of the measures covered under the 2019 OECD estimates.
- However, the expenditure related to the operation of minimum support price and general services is not covered by it.
- Despite the overall negative support, the expenditure of the Central and State governments on agriculture has increased substantially since 2000.
- This support increased from ₹1.61-lakh crore to ₹3-lakh crore, between 2015 to 2019, registering 85% growth.
- The massive negative market price support to the producers of different products has resulted in the total negative producer support, overshadowing the increase in the budgetary support over the years.
Market Price Support as per OECD methodology
- The market price support of a commodity is calculated by multiplying its total production with the gap between the domestic price and international prices in a relevant year.
- This methodology assumes that in case there is no government intervention in the agriculture market, then the domestic and international price of a product will converge, resulting in no gap in prices.
Why there is a focus on the price gap in OECD methodology
- The OECD assumes government interventions lead to a gap between the international and domestic prices.
- However, even if the government does not implement any program, the gap can still arise due to domestic and international factors.
- Changes in supply and demand conditions in the domestic and international market due to shocks, depressed international prices due to subsidies given by other countries, among other factors, can generate a gap.
3 Consequence of OECD’s Market Price Support methodology
- 1) If the domestic price for a product is less than its international price, then support for that product would be negative.
- 2) A negative market price support for a product in one year can turn into huge positive support in another year on account of the relative movement of domestic and international prices.
- 3) Even if in a particular year, the government does not provide any additional support compared to a previous year, the level of support calculated by the OECD can change.
- This will arise if there is a change in either the gap between the domestic price and international price for a commodity, or its production, in the two years.
- Given the unpredictability in the inherent data, the total support can move from huge negative to huge positive.
Concerns for India
- For India, the negative support as a percentage of the total value of agriculture production has substantially reduced in recent years.
- It is possible that support to Indian farmers in the near future becomes one of the highest in the world due to pitfalls in the OECD methodology.
- This might set alarm bells ringing, particularly in the developed countries, which may aggressively question India’s support measures.
Consider the question “As per the OECD methodology, net support provided by Indian government to its farmers is negative for the year 2019. However, India’s expenditure on agriculture is consistently rising. What explains this conundrum? What are the concerns for India in the price support method of OECD?”
Conclusion
Rather than being swayed by the OECD numbers suggesting negative support, farmers, policymakers, and other stakeholders need to understand the pitfalls and limitations in the underlying methodology. This will help in providing a more correct perception of the level of support to agriculture in India.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Pardoning powers of Governor and President
Mains level: Capital punishment
Tamil Nadu Governor would take a decision as per the Constitution in the next three or four days on the plea for release filed by A.G. Perarivalan, who is undergoing life imprisonment for the assassination of former PM Rajiv Gandhi in 1991.
Give your personal views in favour and against Capital Punishment in the comment box.
What is the news?
- The court noted in its short order that the Solicitor General submitted that the application filed by the petitioner Perarivalan under Article 161 of the Constitution.
- The TN State Cabinet had earlier made the recommendation to remit the life sentences of seven convicts, including Perarivalan in September 2018.
- The new turn of events when the Additional Solicitor General for the Centre, had argued recently that the pleas for pardon and release should go to the President instead of the Governor.
What does Pardon mean?
- A pardon is a government/executive decision to allow a person to be absolved of guilt for an alleged crime or other legal offense as if the act never occurred.
Why need a Pardon?
- Pardons can be granted when individuals are deemed to have demonstrated that they have “paid their debt to society”, or are otherwise considered to be deserving of them.
- Pardons are sometimes offered to persons who were either wrongfully convicted or who claim that they were wrongfully convicted.
- Pardons are sometimes seen as a mechanism for combating corruption, allowing a particular authority to circumvent a flawed judicial process to free someone that is seen as wrongly convicted.
What does Article 161 say?
- Article 161 of the Constitution provides the Governor with the power to remit or commute the sentence of any prisoner.
- The Governor’s decision will be subject to judicial review by the constitutional courts.
Supreme court’s observations
- The Constitution Bench in 2015, in a majority decision, had held that the States cannot unilaterally remit the sentences of life convicts in cases investigated by a Central agency under a Central law.
- The assassination case was probed by the CBI.
- In compliance with the 2015 verdict, the Tamil Nadu government wrote to the Centre in 2016, proposing the grant of remission to the convicts. The State wanted the Centre to concur.
- After a wait of over two years, the Centre rejected the State’s proposal, saying this was an unparalleled act in the annals of crimes committed in this country.
Arguments in Perarivalan’s petition seeking pardon
- Perarivalan had been pleading for release citing that he was 19 when he was arrested.
- He was the only male child of his parents, there were no records of criminal antecedents, and that he had excellent conduct in his entire prison life.
- His petition also cited UG and PG degrees, and that he was the university topper, Gold medalist in diploma in DTP, and that he completed more than eight diploma and certificate courses during his prison term.
- His probation officer gave a report about lapses in recording his confession statement that handed out maximum punishment in his case.
Basis of his innocence
- Perarivalan cannot be called innocent before the law as he continues to be a convicted prisoner serving imprisonment.
- He was accused of having bought two battery cells for Sivarasan, the LTTE man who masterminded the conspiracy.
- He was sentenced to death based on this crucial confession statement.
Significance of the convicts’ release
- The release of seven convicts is a demand raised by not only the ruling party of TN but the main opposition too.
- All TN politicians voiced that the judiciary should be able to reform and let them live as good citizens to uphold the high values of reformatory justice and restitution.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: McMahon Line
Mains level: India-China border tensions
Satellite images show that China has constructed a new village in Arunachal Pradesh, around 4.5 kilometres inside of the de facto border on the Indian side.
Indian and Chinese soldiers have confronted each other in their deadliest clash in decades in Ladakh last year and the earlier one in Doklam. Now another front has been opened up by China in Arunachal.
This year could face another ugliest standoffs and skirmishes.
Location of the village
- The village, located on the banks of the River Tsari Chu, lies in the Upper Subansiri district.
- It is an area that has been long disputed by India and China and has been marked by armed conflict.
- Sources in the defense ministry have said that Beijing has, for years, maintained an army post on this territory, and the various constructions by the Chinese have not happened suddenly.
Background of the story
- China’s June 1959 operation known as the Longju incident reportedly accused Indian troops of occupying some places in Tibet and colluding with Tibetan rebels.
- In August same year, the PLA clashed with the Indian personnel of the 9 Assam Rifles.
- Two Indian soldiers were killed in action and the issue was finally resolved through diplomatic channels. Both sides withdrew from the area on August 20, 1960.
- And the Assam Rifles then did not re-occupy the post.
- In the late 1990s however, China established a company level post 3 kilometers inside the Indian Territory. Since then, the area remains contested to this day.
India and Arunachal
- Arunachal Pradesh (called South Tibet in China) is a full-fledged state of India.
- India’s sovereignty over the area is internationally recognized and its residents have not shown any inclination to leave India.
- The majority of the international maps acknowledge the area to be an Indian Territory.
- China has some (pre-) historical claims through its ownership of Tibet, but the people and geography primarily favor India.
Back2Basics: Chinese claim over Arunachal Pradesh
- When the new Peoples Republic of China was formed in February 1912 after the abdication of the Qing emperor, the Tibetans asserted their independence.
- They forced the Chinese troops based in Lhasa to return to the mainland-via India. A year later, Tibet declared independence from China.
- In order to ensure that the unrest did not spread to India and assert their boundaries, the ruling British convened a tripartite meeting at Shimla with Tibetan and Chinese delegates to define the border.
- The meeting gave China suzerainty over most of Tibet, and the boundary defined in this treaty was later known as the McMohan line.
Chinese reluctance
- The essential dispute is over China’s refusal to acknowledge the McMohan Line as the border between the two nations, and staking claim to large tracts of land as a contiguous part of Tibet.
- However, it laid claim to the entire state of Arunachal Pradesh.
- In the 16th century, the most important heritage of the state – Tawang Monastery was built. This is one of the most important sites for Tibetan Buddhists.
- China never recognized Tibet’s independence nor the 1914 Simla convention.
- In 1950 China completely took over Tibet. Thus, according to their version, the Tawang region belongs to them.
- It especially wants to hold on to the monastery as that is a leading center of Tibetan Buddhism in India.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NUE, Nitrogen's GHG potential
Mains level: Nitrogen pollution
A group of Indian scientists have found a way to improve crops by reducing wastage of nitrogen fertilizers applied to them.
Try this PYQ:
Q.Which of the following adds/add nitrogen to the soil?
- Excretion of Urea by animals
- Burning of coal by man
- Death of vegetation
Select the correct answer using the code given below:
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 and 3 only
(c) 1 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2, and 3
Nitrogen-Use Efficiency
- NUE is calculated as a ratio between nitrogen used and harvest: A higher number denotes low wastage.
- With the efficiency on the decline, farmers use more fertiliser in the hope of raising yield. This in turn worsens NUE.
- Crops generally use up 30 per cent of nitrogen fertilizer applied; the rest seeps into the environment, harming health and adding to climate change.
- Researchers were able to identify phenotypes or visibly identifiable features that determine the efficiency with which cultivated rice varieties (cultivars) use nitrogen.
- This efficiency is known as nitrogen-use efficiency (NUE).
- Cereals consume over 69 per cent of nitrogen fertilizers in India; rice tops the list with 37 per cent, followed by wheat (24 per cent).
Nitrogen Pollution: the reason behind
- Agriculture leads to 70 per cent of nitrous oxide emissions in India.
- Of this, 77 per cent is contributed by fertilizers, mostly urea, according to the Indian Nitrogen Assessment published in 2017.
- This greenhouse gas (GHG) is 300 times more potent than carbon dioxide.
- It has replaced methane as the second-largest component of GHG emissions from Indian agriculture in the past 15 years.
Must read:
[Burning Issue] Nitrogen Pollution in India
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Exercise Kavach
Mains level: NA
A large scale all-services exercise ‘Exercise Kavach’ will be conducted next week under the aegis of the Andaman and Nicobar Command (ANC), the only Joint Forces Command of the country.
All-time generic question seeking ‘match the pairs’ can be asked from the news as such. Click here for more exercises.
Exercise Kavach
- The tri-services exercise aims to fine-tune joint war-fighting capabilities and SOPs towards enhancing operational synergy in the Andaman Sea and Bay of Bengal.
- This exercise would involve assets of Indian Army, Indian Navy, Indian Air Force and Indian Coast Guard.
- The exercise involves synergized application of maritime surveillance assets, coordinated air and maritime strikes, air defence, submarine and landing operations.
- Concurrently Joint Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) exercise involving various technical, electronic and human intelligence from three services will be conducted.
- The ISR exercise will validate the capabilities of intelligence gathering from space, air, land and sea-based assets/ sensors, its analysis and sharing to achieve battlefield transparency.
- It would carry out amphibious landing operations, air landed operation, helicopters-borne insertion of Special Forces from sea culminating in tactical follow-on operations on land.
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