Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Critical Information Infrastructure (CIC)
Mains level: Read the attached story
The Union Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) has declared IT resources of ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and UPI managing entity NPCI as ‘critical information infrastructure’.
Try this PYQ:
In India, the term “Public Key Infrastructure” is used in the context of
(a) Digital security infrastructure
(b) Food security infrastructure
(c) Health care and education infrastructure
(d) Telecommunication and transportation infrastructure
Post your answers here.
What is Critical Information Infrastructure (CIC)?
- The Information Technology Act, 2000 explicitly gives definition of CIC.
- It defines CIC as a computer resource, the incapacitation or destruction of which shall have debilitating impact on national security, economy, public health or safety.
- It basically aims to protect the digital assets.
- The government, under the Act, has the power to declare any data, database, IT network or communications infrastructure as CII.
- Any person who secures access or attempts to secure access to a protected system in violation of the law can be punished with a jail term of up to 10 years.
Why is CII classification and protection necessary?
- IT resources form the backbone of countless critical operations in a country’s infrastructure.
- Given their interconnectedness, disruptions can have a cascading effect across sectors.
What led to the classification of CICs?
- In 2007, a wave of denial-of-service attacks, allegedly from Russian IP addresses, hit major Estonian banks, government bodies – ministries and parliament, and media outlets.
- It was cyber aggression of the kind that the world had not seen before.
- The attacks played havoc in one of the most networked countries in the world for almost three weeks.
Recent incidents of CIC incapacitation
- In October, 2020 as India battled the pandemic, the electric grid supply to Mumbai suddenly stopped.
- It hit the mega city’s hospitals, trains and businesses.
- Later, a study by a US firm claimed that this power outage could have been a cyber-attack, allegedly from a China-linked group.
- The government, however, was quick to deny any cyber-attack in Mumbai. But prospects cannot be denied.
- The incident underlined the possibility of hostile state and non-state actors probing internet-dependent critical systems in other countries, and the necessity to fortify such assets.
How are CIIs protected in India?
- Created in January 2014, the National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre (NCIIPC) is the nodal agency.
- It takes all measures to protect the nation’s critical information infrastructure.
- It is mandated to guard CIIs from “unauthorized access, modification, use, disclosure, disruption, incapacitation or distraction”.
- NCIIPC monitors and forecasts national-level threats to CII for policy guidance, expertise sharing and situational awareness for early warning or alerts.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Abraham Accord, I2U2
Mains level: Read the attached story
The US administration has named the new grouping as “I2U2” — “I” for India and Israel and “U” for the US and UAE. This was earlier referred as West Asian Quad.
What is the news?
- US President Joe Biden will host a virtual summit with PM Modi, Israel PM Naftali Bennett and UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan during his visit to West Asia from July 13 to 16.
I2U2 Initiative
- Following the Abraham Accords between Israel and the UAE, I2U2 was founded in October 2021 to address marine security, infrastructure, and transportation challenges in the region.
- It was known as the ‘International Forum for Economic Cooperation’at the time.
- At that time, UAE had referred to the new grouping as the ‘West Asian Quad’.
What makes this deal outstanding?
- UAE forming sharing desk with Israel is no easy deal. Arab sentiments against Israel and their proposition for Anti-Semitism are well known.
Significance of the initiative
- I2U2 seeks to empower the partners and encourages them to collaborate more closely, resulting in a more stable region.
- India is seen as a large consumer market as well as a large producer of high-tech and highly sought-after items in the United States.
- This has led India to enhance its relationship with Israel without jeopardising its ties with the UAE and other Arab states.
Back2Basics: Abraham Accords
- The Israel–UAE normalization agreement is officially called the Abraham Accords Peace Agreement.
- It was initially agreed to in a joint statement by the United States, Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on August 13, 2020.
- The UAE thus became the third Arab country, after Egypt in 1979 and Jordan in 1994, to agree to formally normalize its relationship with Israel as well as the first Persian Gulf country to do so.
- Concurrently, Israel agreed to suspend plans for annexing parts of the West Bank. The agreement normalized what had long been informal but robust foreign relations between the two countries.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Marine Heatwaves
Mains level: Climate Change
The super-cyclone Amphan is said to have been triggered by Marine Heatwaves.
What is the news?
- A study has found the presence of a strong MHW beneath the track of the cyclone with an extremely high anomalous sea surface temperature of more than 2.5°C.
- This coincided with the cyclone track and facilitated its rapid intensification in a short period.
What are Marine Heatwaves?
- We know that heatwaves occur in the atmosphere. We are all familiar with these extended periods of excessively hot weather.
- However, heatwaves can also occur in the ocean and these are known as marine heatwaves, or MHWs.
- These marine heatwaves, when ocean temperatures are extremely warm for an extended period of time can have significant impacts on marine ecosystems and industries.
When do they occur?
- Heatwaves can happen in summer and also in winter, where they are known as “winter warm-spells”.
- These winter events can have important impacts, such as in the southeast of Australia where the spiny sea urchin can only colonize further south when winter temperatures are above 12 °C.
What causes marine heatwaves?
- Marine heatwaves can be caused by a whole range of factors, and not all factors are important for each event.
- The most common drivers of marine heatwaves include ocean currents which can build up areas of warm water and air-sea heat flux, or warming through the ocean surface from the atmosphere.
- Winds can enhance or suppress the warming in a marine heatwave, and climate modes like El Niño can change the likelihood of events occurring in certain regions.
- MHWs can be caused due to large-scale drivers of the Earth’s climate like the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO).
Impacts of the MHWs
- Marine heatwaves affect ecosystem structure, by supporting certain species and suppressing others.
- For example, after the 2011 marine heatwave in Western Australia, the fish communities had a much more “tropical” nature than previously and switched from kelp forests to seaweed turfs.
- Marine heatwaves can cause economic losses through impacts on fisheries and aquaculture.
- Temperature-sensitive species such as corals are especially vulnerable to MHWs. In 2016, marine heatwaves across northern Australia led to severe bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef.
How do we measure marine heatwaves?
- A marine heatwave occurs when seawater temperatures exceed a seasonally-varying threshold (usually the 90th percentile) for at least 5 consecutive days.
- Successive heatwaves with gaps of 2 days or less are considered part of the same event.
Why study MHWs?
- MHWs are increasing in frequency due to climate change. MHWs increased by 54 per cent in the last 30 years.
- MHW has severe socio-economic consequences such as fish mortality, and coral bleaching, and also has the potential to interact and modify other extreme events such as tropical cyclones.
Way Forward
- Marine heatwaves clearly have the potential to devastate marine ecosystems and cause economic losses in fisheries, aquaculture, and ecotourism industries.
- However, their effects are often hidden from view under the waves until it is too late.
- By raising general awareness of these phenomena, and by improving our scientific understanding of their physical properties and ecological impacts, we can better predict future conditions and protect vulnerable marine habitats and resources.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Private Captive Networks
Mains level: 5G Rollout
The Cellular Operators’ Association of India (COAI) wrote a letter urging the government against allotting 5G spectrum to private captive networks, claiming that it will diminish their revenue to the point where offering 5G will pointless.
What is a Private Captive 5G Network?
- A private captive 5G network is basically a network set up by a private entity for the use of just one organisation.
- It is similar to a captive coal mine in that the 5G service offered by this captive network will only be utilised by the enterprise concerned, and no one else.
Why are telecom providers against it?
- The COAI’s argument is that enterprises are the biggest users of 5G networks.
- If private entities are allowed to offer captive networks to enterprises, the TSPs (telecom service providers) retail revenues will fall.
- COAI implied that there is no great demand for 5G right now as “the needs of voice and data of the entire nation is being adequately met by the TSPs through their 4G networks today”.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 3- Self reliance in edible oil through oil palm
Context
Supply disruptions during the pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war have led many nations to think about “self-sufficiency” in critical food items or at least reduce their “excessive dependence” on imports of essential food products.
Challenges facing global trade
- The World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) recently concluded12th Ministerial Conference in Geneva, struggled to find answers to some of the complex questions pertaining to global trade.
- The Ministerial Conference is the top decision-making body of the agency whose basic goal is to ensure that trade flows as smoothly, predictably and freely.
- Trading rules for dire situations: As far as agriculture, trade and food security are concerned, the challenge is to figure out the most appropriate trading rules in dire situations like pandemics, wars, social/political disruptions or natural disasters.
- Export bans: Recent examples include Russia’s export ban on wheat and sunflower oil, Ukraine’s ban on exports of food staples, Indonesia’s ban on palm oil exports, Argentina’s ban on beef exports, Turkey, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan’s ban on a variety of grain products, and India’s wheat export ban.
- Sudden actions such as these exacerbate the pressure on global trade leading to a spike in the prices.
India’s import dependence for edible oil
- India imports 55 to 60 per cent of its edible oil requirements.
- India’s edible oil import bill in 2021-22 (FY22) crossed $19 billion (for more than 14 MMT of imports) (see figure).
- Palm oil comprises more than 50 per cent of India’s edible oil imports, followed by soybean and sunflower.
- Atmanirbharta in edible oil: The “excessive dependence” on imports has raised the pitch for “atmanirbharta” in edible oil.
- The Prime Minister launched the National Edible Oil Mission-Oil Palm (NEOM-OP) in 2021.
Self-reliance Vs Self-sufficiency
- “Self-sufficiency” and “self-reliance” are two different concepts with very different policy implications.
- What is self-sufficiency? Self-sufficiency would imply replacing all imports of a commodity (say edible oils in India’s case) at any cost (thus raising import duties exorbitantly).
- What is self-reliance? Self-reliance would continue to embed the principle of “comparative advantage” in the endeavour to reduce dependence on imports.
- Case of India’s agriculture: The country’s agri-exports in FY22 touched $ 50.3 billion against its agri-imports of $ 32.4 billion.
- This means that Indian agriculture is largely globally competitive.
- But its biggest agri-import item, edible oil, accounts for 59 per cent of India’s agri-import basket.
Way forward
- 1] Develop oil palm: Given the way international prices of edible oils have surged in the last year or so (by more than 70 per cent), it may be time for India to ramp up its efforts in developing oil palm.
- Why oil palm? The Prime Minister launched the National Edible Oil Mission-Oil Palm (NEOM-OP) in 2021.
- Challenges in traditional oilseed: Achieving atmanirbharta in edible oils through traditional oilseeds such as mustard, groundnuts and soya would require an additional area of about 39 million hectares under oilseeds.
- Danger to food security: Such a large tract of land will not be available without cutting down the area under key staples (cereals) – this could endanger the country’s food security even more.
- So, a rational policy option to reduce import dependence in edible oils is to develop oil palm at home and ensure that it gives productivity comparable to that in Indonesia and Malaysia — about four tonnes of oil per hectare, which is more than 10 times mustard can give at existing yields.
- India has identified 2.8 million hectares of area where oil palm can be grown suitably.
- So far the objective of NEOM-OP is to bring in at least 1 million hectare under oil palm by 2025-26.
- 2] Declare oil palm as a plantation crop: The other option is to declare oil palm as a plantation crop and allow the corporate players to own/lease land on a long-term basis to develop their own plantations and processing units.
- This does not seem plausible in the current socio-political context.
Challenges
- Long gestation period: It takes four to six years to come to maturity; during this period, smallholders need to be fully supported.
- The support (subsidy) could be the opportunity cost of their lands, say profits from paddy cultivation, which is largely the crop oil palm will replace in coastal and upland areas of Andhra, Telangana and Northeast India.
- Pricing formula: Further, the pricing formula of fresh fruit bunches (FFB) for farmers has to be dovetailed with a likely long-run average landed price of crude palm oil with due flexibility in the import duty structure.
- Appropriate import duty: One needs to identify trigger points when import duties need to be raised as global prices come down, and when to reduce these duties in case of rising global prices.
- Oil recovery: Besides this, the processing industry needs to ensure an oil recovery of at least 18 to 20 per cent – that must be built into the pricing formula.
Conclusion
Overall, unless India thinks holistically and adopts a long-term vision, the chances of reducing India’s imports of edible oils from 14MMT in FY22 to 7MMT by FY27 look bleak.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 3- Cyber warfare threats and challenges
Context
After 100 days of Ukraine crisis, Russia is yet to achieve what can be termed as a decisive victory in any sector of the current conflict.
Reasons for the lacklustre performance of Russia
- Several reasons have been adduced by experts in the West for the lacklustre performance of the Russian army.
- Lack of motivation: There is a lack of motivation and the poor morale of the Russian forces sent to Ukraine.
- Outdated weaponry: Russian weaponry being outdated and ineffective to fight an informationalised war under modern conditions.
- Leadership issue: Russian commanders have also proved inept in devising plans and taking appropriate decisions in battlefield conditions against a determined enemy.
Important role of cyber warfare
- Given that cyber is often touted as the Fifth Dimension of warfare, it may be worthwhile to examine whether this indeed is the first major conflict in which ‘cyber’ is playing a crucial role, allowing a weaker nation with cyber capabilities to use it to its advantage.
- A former Chief of the National Security Agency of the U.S., in his memoirs had said that although cyberspace is a man-made domain, it had become critical to military operations on land, sea, air and in space.
- A former U.S. Secretary of Defence a few years ago,, even talked of a possible ‘cyber Pearl Harbour to paralyze nations and create a profound sense of vulnerability’.
- The Russian military oligarchy is indeed among the world leaders in digital disruption and cyber-methodology.
- One could have reasonably presumed that even before the conflict commenced, Russia would have swamped Ukraine with an avalanche of digital attacks.
- Ukraine, for its part, has its own digital army, including a corps of digital weapons.
Limits of cyber warfare
- There are several publicised instances earlier, of alleged Russian operatives waging a cyberwar against Ukraine.
- Both sides now possess and use malware such as data-wipers which have proved highly effective.
- On the day the Russian invasion of Ukraine began, Russian cyber units are believed to have successfully deployed destructive malware against several Ukrainian military targets.
- A series of distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks against Ukrainian banking and defence websites occurred simultaneously.
- As far as the conduct of the war is concerned, the string of small-scale cyberattacks cannot be said to have had any material impact on the conduct or outcome of the conflict.
- Hence, the cardinal question is why given that Ukraine has put up such a heroic defence — and to a considerable extent stalled the Russian offensive — Russia has not embarked on a massive all-out cyber-offensive.
- If that be the case, then much of the speculation that cyberattacks in the event of a war provide a perpetrator the capability to enact another ‘Pearl Harbour’ seems highly unrealistic.
Conclusion
It is very likely, and possibly a fact, that there are major difficulties in planning and executing massive cyberattacks on a short timeline to ensure higher efficacy of kinetic attacks.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 3- Agnipath scheme
Context
Recently, the Agnipath scheme for recruitment of short-term contracted soldiers was announced.
About Agnipath Scheme
- This will be the only form of recruitment of soldiers into the three defence services from now.
- The scheme aims at strengthening national security and for providing an opportunity to the youth to serve in the armed forces.
- Recruits under the scheme will be known as ‘Agniveers’.
- After completing the four-year service, they can apply for regular employment in the armed forces.
- They may be given priority over others for various jobs in other government departments.
- The move is expected to decrease the average age profile of armed forces personnel from the current 32 to 24-26 years over a period of time.
Benefits of the Agnipath Scheme
- Lower the average age: The average age in the forces is 32 years today, which will go down to 26 in six to seven years, the scheme envisions.
- Youthful armed forces will allow them to be easily trained for new technologies.
- Employment opportunities: It will increase employment opportunities and because of the skills and experience acquired during the four-year service such soldiers will get employment in various fields.
- High-skilled workforce: The scheme will also lead to the availability of a higher-skilled workforce to the economy which will be helpful in productivity gain and overall GDP growth
Financial constraints and challenges
- Directing funds towards modernisation: It has been argued that the savings in the pensions bill — which will show up on the books only after a couple of decades — would be directed towards the modernisation of defence forces.
- The armed forces do not have that kind of time available to them to postpone their already long-delayed modernisation.
- Shortage: The Indian Air Force is already down to 30 squadrons of fighter jets against the 42 squadrons it needs, and the Indian Navy is at 130 ships when its vision was to be a 200-ship navy; the Indian Army is already short of 1,00,000 soldiers.
- Instead of expanding the economy to support the military, the Government has resorted to shrinking the military.
Issues with the short-term recruitment
- No theoretical modelling: As the short-term recruitment policy has neither been theoretically modelled nor tried out as a pilot project, the exact consequences of the move will only be known as they play out.
- Adverse effect on professional capabilities: But its adverse effect on the professional capabilities of the armed forces is certain.
- It starts with the very high turnover of young soldiers, the increase in training capacities and infrastructure and the augmentation of the administrative setup for greater recruitment, release, and retention of soldiers.
- An armed forces boasting of a poor teeth-to-tail ratio is further increasing the tail.
- Impact on operational capabilities: The tooth-to-tail ratio (T3R), in military jargon, is the amount of military personnel it takes to supply and support (“tail”) each combat soldier (“tooth”).
- The Indian Air Force and the Indian Navy employ their airmen and sailors in very specialised roles, which require technical skills, and a high degree of training and experience.
- Because the short-term contractual soldier model (the Agniveer scheme) is going to take a few years to fully play out at an organisational level, the actual degradation of operational capability will only be known then.
- Class-based recruitment abolished: In the Agnipath proposal, the class-based recruitment has been replaced with an all-India all-class recruitment.
- It will strike at the core of the organisational management, leadership structures and operating philosophy of the Indian Army.
- Even though the soldiers in the Indian Army are professionally trained, they also draw their motivation from their social identity — where each soldier cares for his reputation among the peers in his caste group or his village or his social setting.
- To replace that with a pure professional identity of a soldier will bring its own challenges in a tradition-bound army.
- Training challenges: There will be major problems in training, integrating and deploying soldiers with different levels of experience and motivations.
- An organisation which depends on trust, camaraderie and esprit de corps could end up grappling with rivalries and jealousies amongst winners and losers, especially in their final year of contract.
- Legal challenges: Even though the Government has kept the contract at four years to deny the Agniveer gratuity and is not counting the contractual period towards regular service, these provisions are bound to be challenged legally.
- Over time, this will lead to the salary and pension budget creeping back up again.
- Political imbalance: The Agnipath scheme also does away with the idea of a State-wise quota for recruitment into the Army, based on the Recruitable Male Population of that State which was implemented from 1966.
- This prevented an imbalanced army.
- Academic research shows that the high level of ethnic imbalance has been associated with severe problems of democracy and an increased likelihood of civil war.
- Impact on motivation: A short-term contractual soldier, without earning pension, will be seen as doing jobs after his military service that are not seen to be commensurate in status and prestige with the profession of honour.
- Impact on motivation: It will reduce the motivation of those joining on short-term contracts while diminishing the “honour” of a profession which places extraordinary demands on young men.
- Social unrest: There are numerous examples of demobilised soldiers leading to increased violence against minorities.
- This could happen in India as the youth who are not given regular recruitment after four year’s service would turn to violence.
Conclusion
The Government’s yearning for financial savings runs the risk of reducing the honour of a profession, the stability of a society and the safety of a country.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Enemy Property
Mains level: Not Much
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered some cases on allegations that huge losses to the exchequer was caused by leasing out prime-value land under the Custodian of Enemy Property for India (CEPI) on forged documents.
Why in news?
- Hectares of commercial land located in Uttar Pradesh were leased out at nominal rates in favour of the lessees through manipulation.
What is “Enemy Property”?
- In the wake of the India-Pakistan wars of 1965 and 1971, there was the migration of people from India to Pakistan.
- Under the Defence of India Rules framed under The Defence of India Act, 1962, the Government of India took over the properties and companies of those who took Pakistani nationality.
- These “enemy properties” were vested by the central government in the Custodian of Enemy Property for India.
- The same was done for property left behind by those who went to China after the 1962 Sino-Indian war.
- The Tashkent Declaration of January 10, 1966 included a clause that said India and Pakistan would discuss the return of the property and assets taken over by either side in connection with the conflict.
- However, the Government of Pakistan disposed of all such properties in their country in the year 1971 itself.
Dealing with enemy property
- The Enemy Property Act, enacted in 1968, provided for the continuous vesting of enemy property in the Custodian of Enemy Property for India (CEPI).
- The central government, through the Custodian, is in possession of enemy properties spread across many states in the country.
- Some movable properties too, are categorised as enemy properties.
- In 2017, Parliament passed The Enemy Property (Amendment and Validation) Bill, 2016, which amended The Enemy Property Act, 1968, and The Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Act, 1971.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- Making the Parliament inclusive
Context
Due to systemic issues, Parliament continues to alienate women. The number of women representatives is still considerably small, but even more subtly, Parliament as a workspace continues to be built exclusively for men.
Women’s participation in the initial years
- In 1952, when the Indian Republic held its first Parliamentary session, there were 39 strong, intelligent, and passionate women as its member.
- Leading in the world in inclusiveness: At a time when women formed only 1.7% of the total members of the United States Congress and 1.1% of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, India was leading the way in the fight towards more inclusive world democracies with 5.5% women representation.
- Women played an important role in India’s struggle for independence and that contribution was reflected in their presence in the parliament.
- What happened in 1952 was a highly progressive step, but 70 years hence, it seems we have strayed from that path.
Electoral representation of women in India: Current scenario
- 14.6 per cent in current Lock Sabha: In India, women currently make up 14.6 per cent of MPs (78 MPs) in the Lok Sabha, which is a historic high.
- Although the percentage is modest, it is remarkable because women barely made up 9 per cent of the overall candidates in 2019.
- In electoral representation, has fallen several places in the Inter-Parliamentary Union’s global ranking of women’s parliamentary presence, from 117 after the 2014 election to 143 as of January 2020.
- In terms of electoral quotas, there were two outstanding exceptions in the 2019 general elections.
- Voluntary parliamentary quota: West Bengal under Mamata Banerjee and Odisha under Naveen Patnaik opted for voluntary parliamentary quotas, fielding 40 per cent and 33 per cent women candidates, respectively.
- Women reservation bill: The bill to reserve 33 per cent seats for women in Parliament and state legislatures was passed in the Rajya Sabha in 2010, but it was never introduced in the Lok Sabha.
- India ranks a dismal 146th in women’s representation in the national Parliament.
- At the turn of the century, it ranked 66th.
- The decline has come because progress has been piecemeal — several other countries have improved their share of women in Parliament far more rapidly.
Struggle for inclusivity
- Despite a good start in the past, our struggle with inclusivity has not eased.
- Due to systemic issues, Parliament continues to alienate women.
- The number of women representatives is still considerably small, but even more subtly, Parliament as a workspace continues to be built exclusively for men.
Lack of inclusivity in the Parliament
- Absence of gender-neutral language: A closer look at our parliamentary discourse and communication reveals a concerning and disconcerting absence of gender-neutral language.
- After 75 years of Independence, Parliament often refers to women in leadership positions as Chairmen and party men.
- In the Rajya Sabha, the Rules of Procedure continue to refer to the Vice-President of India as the ex-officio Chairman, stemming from the lack of gender-neutral language in the Constitution of India.
- The alarming degree of usage of masculine pronouns assumes a power structure biased towards men.
- Lack of gender-neutral Acts: The issue further extends to law-making.
- In the last decade, there have hardly been any gender-neutral Acts.
- Acts have made references to women not as leaders or professionals (such as policemen), but usually as victims of crimes.
- The root of such instances lies with a gender-conforming Constitution.
- In its present state, the Constitution reinforces historical stereotypes that women and transgender people cannot be in leadership positions, such as the President and the Vice-President of India.
- This represents the failure of the many Union Governments which did not take the initiative of amending it.
- In the past, amendments have been brought about to make documents gender neutral.
- In 2014, under the leadership of the then Speaker of the Lok Sabha, Meira Kumar, the Rules of Procedure of the Lok Sabha were made entirely gender neutral.
Way forward
- Correcting the language: Internationally, even mature democracies that legalised universal suffrage after India, such as Canada (1960 for Aboriginal women), Australia (1962 for Indigenous women), and the United States (1965 for women of African-American descent), have now taken concrete measures towards gender-inclusive legislation and communication..
- Amendments: India can and must begin with an amendment to the Constitution and the entire reservoir of laws.
- Focus on the deeper issues of aspiration: Once the language is corrected, the entire country, including Parliament, can focus on the deeper issues of the aspirations and growth of its woman workforce.
- Women staff in Parliament: Women are not adequately represented in Parliament staff,.
- We need a single, transparent appointment and promotion process for women staff in Parliament.
- We need to make sure that their professional growth is not being hindered by other issues such as harassment and domestic responsibilities.
Conclusion
In the 21st century, when people of all genders are leading the world with compassion, strength and ambitions, the Indian Parliament needs to reflect on its standing.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Aspirational Districts Programme (ADP)
Mains level: Not Much
The PM has hoped to extend the Aspirational District Programme (ADP) to block and city levels.
Aspirational Districts Programme (ADP)
- Launched in January 2018, the ‘Transformation of Aspirational Districts’ initiative aims to remove this heterogeneity through a mass movement to quickly and effectively transform these districts.
- The broad contours of the program are Convergence (of Central & State Schemes), Collaboration (of Central, State level ‘Prabhari’ Officers & District Collectors), and Competition among districts driven by a spirit of mass Movement.
- With States as the main drivers, this program will focus on the strength of each district, identify low-hanging fruits for immediate improvement, measure progress, and rank districts.
Behind the name
- PM then negated the idea of naming any scheme based on their backwardness.
- Rather the name ‘Aspirational’ presents a more affirmative action-based execution of the scheme.
Selection of districts
- A total of 117 Aspirational districts have been identified by NITI Aayog based upon composite indicators.
- The objective of the program is to monitor the real-time progress of aspirational districts based on 49 indicators (81 data points) from the 5 identified thematic areas.
Weightage has been accorded to these districts as below:
- Health & Nutrition (30%)
- Education (30%)
- Agriculture & Water Resources (20%)
- Financial Inclusion & Skill Development (10%)
- Basic Infrastructure (10%)
Strategy of the ADP
The core Strategy of the program may be summarized as follows.
- Making development a mass movement in these districts
- Identify low hanging fruits and the strength of each district, to act as a catalyst
- for development.
- Measure progress and rank districts to spur a sense of competition.
- Districts shall aspire to become State’s best to Nation’s best.
Features of the ADP
- It has transformed into a Jan Andolan.
- The ADP is different in trying to monitor the improvement of these districts through real-time data tracking.
- The programme seeks to develop convergence between selected existing central and state government programmes.
- District performance in the public domain and experience building of the district bureaucracy is another notable feature.
- The programme is targeted, not towards any single group of beneficiaries, but rather towards the population of the district as a whole.
What makes this program special?
The program reflects what has become of the development project in India under neoliberalism, especially after the end of planning.
- Long overdue sectors have been given more emphasis.
- It is not a tailor-made program with one-size-fit strategy. More onus has been laid on the districts. It has a district-intervention strategy.
- It works on the principle of SWOT (strength, weakness, opportunity and threats) model and comparison with national best parameters for effective resource management.
- It is the most reviewed programme by the Prime Minister.
- A general idea behind the idea is that a good work never goes un-noticed. It is duly appreciated on social media as well as by the officials.
Programmatic Strengths
- A key strength of the ADP is the collection of baseline data and follow-ups at regular intervals.
- Sustaining this effort would create a robust compilation of statistics for use by both researchers and policy-makers.
- In doing this, the government also brings much-needed attention to human development and a willingness to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
- Incremental progress being made in the chosen districts as reflected in the rankings.
- The programme also claims to be “non-partisan and unbiased” and geared towards all-India growth.
- The selection of districts indeed suggests that the programme has not favored any bias either regional, political or any other.
- The programme seeks convergence of central and state schemes anchored around specific activities.
Issues with the programme
- Using the case of Bihar, they argue that the programmes selection of districts itself is problematic.
- In fact, it actually excludes the most backward districts because per capita income, the most basic measure of development, has not been considered.
- There seems to be some ambiguity around the issue of whether the programme is concerned only with improved access or also with the quality of service provided.
- The indicators used are not defined relationally, rather they are static human development indicators that do not see people mired in dynamic social relations.
- It is also accused that the state is not making any new or focused public investment (except for possible use of Flexi-funds) into these districts, on the other hand, it is moralizing about their inability to improve (through rankings).
- The programme is carrying the burden of proving the government’s “developmental” work without addressing any of the fundamental issues around achieving equitable development.
- Yet, the NITI Aayog justifies the overall approach as capitalizing on “low-hanging fruit.”
Way forward
- The program has been able to make difference in the lives of citizens of India, in education, health, nutrition, financial inclusion, skill development and this has made a difference to some most backward and most geographically far-flung districts of the nation.
- ADP is ‘aligned to the principle of “leave no one behind—the vital core of the SDGs. Political commitment at the highest level has resulted in the rapid success of the program the report said.
- UNDP has recommended revising a few indicators that are slightly close to reaching their saturation or met by most districts like ‘electrification of households’ as an indicator of basic infrastructure.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Inter-State Council
Mains level: Not Much
Tamil Nadu CM M K Stalin wrote to PM asking that at least three meetings of the Inter-State Council should be held every year to “strengthen the spirit of cooperative federalism”.
What is the news?
- TN CM suggested that bills of national importance should be placed before the Council before being tabled in Parliament.
- He said this was because there is no “effective and interactive communication” between the states and the Centre on issues of common interest.
What is the Inter-State Council?
- The Inter-State Council is a mechanism that was constituted “to support Centre-State and Inter-State coordination and cooperation in India”.
- It was established under Article 263 of the Constitution, which states that the President may constitute such a body if a need is felt for it.
- The Council is basically meant to serve as a forum for discussions among various state governments.
Its establishment
- In 1988, the Sarkaria Commission suggested the Council should exist as a permanent body, and in 1990 it came into existence through a Presidential Order.
Functions of the Inter-State Council
- The main functions of the Council are:
- Inquiring into and advising on disputes between states
- Investigating and discussing subjects in which two states or states and the Union have a common interest
- Making recommendations for the better coordination of policy and action
Its composition
- The Prime Minister is the chairman of the Council, whose members include the Chief Ministers of all states and UTs with legislative assemblies, and Administrators of other UTs.
- Six Ministers of Cabinet rank in the Centre’s Council of Ministers, nominated by the Prime Minister, are also its members.
- Its procedure states that the council should meet at least three times a year.
What issues has TN CM raised?
- The leader has flagged the lack of regular meetings.
- The Council has met only once in the last six years — and that there has been no meeting since July 2016.
- Since its constitution in 1990, the body has met only 11 times,
Recent development: Reconstitution of the Council
- The CM appreciated the reconstitution of the Council, carried out last month.
- The body will now have 10 Union Ministers as permanent invitees, and the standing committee of the Council has been reconstituted with Home Minister Amit Shah as Chairman.
- Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and the Chief Ministers of Maharashtra, UP, and Gujarat are some of the other standing committee members.
Why did TN raise this issue?
- Many CM frequently disagreed with the central government’s policies on matters of taxation, on the medical examination NEET, and often talked about the rights of states.
- What could be settled amicably among the executive branches is often taken to the doorsteps of the judicial branch.
Role of TN in the Council’s formation
Tamil Nadu has long advocated the need for a Council.
- In 1969, late leader M Karunanidhi, spoke about setting up an expert committee to study Centre-state relations.
- Months later, his government appointed a committee headed by P V Rajamannar, a former Madras High Court Chief Justice, which submitted a report in 1971.
- It then recommended “the Inter-State Council should be constituted immediately”.
What happened in the last meeting of the Inter State Council?
- In 2016, the meeting included consideration of the Punchhi Commission’s recommendations on Centre-State Relations that were published in 2010.
- At the time, M Karunanidhi had criticised then CM J Jayalalithaa for not personally attending the meeting.
- The meeting saw detailed discussion on the recommendations.
- States asked for maintaining the federal structure amid growing “centralisation”.
- Imposition of Article 356 of the Constitution, which deals with the imposition of President’s Rule in states, was a matter of concern.
- Bihar Chief Minister demanded that the post of Governor should be abolished!
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: FATF
Mains level: Terror financing and money laundering
Pakistan got a reprieve from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) as it announced that the country could be removed from the “grey list” after a visit by a fact-finding team.
What is the news?
- FATF noted Pakistan’s constructive claims of actions to curb terror funding.
- It would formally be taken off the “grey list” in October.
- China is working relentlessly to get Pakistan off FATF ‘grey list’.
India’s stance
- New Delhi has been sceptical of Pakistan’s commitment to completely end terror safe havens in the country.
- Infiltration in J&K continues and small arms and IEDs are being habitually pushed across the LoC.
What is the FATF?
- The FATF is an international watchdog for financial crimes such as money laundering and terror financing.
- It was established at the G7 Summit of 1989 in Paris to address loopholes in the global financial system after member countries raised concerns about growing money laundering activities.
- In the aftermath of the 9/11 terror attack on the US, FATF also added terror financing as a main focus area.
- This was later broadened to include restricting the funding of weapons of mass destruction.
- The FATF currently has 39 members.
Working of FATF
- The decision-making body of the FATF, known as its plenary, meets thrice a year.
- Its meetings are attended by 206 countries of the global network.
- It includes members, and observer organisations, such as the World Bank, some offices of the UN, and regional development banks.
Functions of FATF
- The FATF sets standards or recommendations for countries to achieve in order to plug the holes in their financial systems and make them less vulnerable to illegal financial activities.
- It conducts regular peer-reviewed evaluations called Mutual Evaluations (ME) of countries to check their performance on standards prescribed by it.
- The reviews are carried out by FATF and FATF-Style Regional Bodies (FSRBs), which then release Mutual Evaluation Reports (MERs).
- For the countries that don’t perform well on certain standards, time-bound action plans are drawn up.
- Recommendations for countries range from assessing risks of crimes to setting up legislative, investigative and judicial mechanisms to pursue cases of money laundering and terror funding.
What are the Black List and the Grey List?
- The words ‘grey’ and ‘black’ list do not exist in the official FATF lexicon.
- They however designate countries that need to work on complying with FATF directives and those who are non-compliant.
- Black List: The blacklist, now called the “Call for action” was the common shorthand description for the FATF list of “Non-Cooperative Countries or Territories” (NCCTs).
- Grey List: Countries that are considered safe haven for supporting terror funding and money laundering are put in the FATF grey list. This inclusion serves as a warning to the country that it may enter the blacklist.
Consequences of being:
(1) In the grey list:
- Economic sanctions from IMF, World Bank, ADB
- Problem in getting loans from IMF, World Bank, ADB and other countries
- Reduction in international trade
- International boycott
(2) In the black list:
- High-risk jurisdictions subject to call for action
- Countries have considerable deficiencies in their AML/CFT (anti-money laundering and counter terrorist financing) regimens
- Enhanced due diligence
- Members are told to apply counter-measures such as sanctions on the listed countries
Note: Currently, North Korea and Iran are on the black list.
Pakistan and FATF
- Pakistan, which continues to remain on the “grey list” of FATF, had earlier been given the deadline till the June to ensure compliance with the 27-point action plan against terror funding networks.
- It has been under the FATF’s scanner since June 2018, when it was put on the Grey List for terror financing and money laundering risks.
- FATF and its partners such as the Asia Pacific Group (APG) are reviewing Pakistan’s processes, systems, and weaknesses on the basis of a standard matrix for anti-money laundering (AML) and combating the financing of terrorism (CFT) regime.
Why is Pakistan on the grey list?
- Pakistan has found itself on the grey list frequently since 2008, for weaknesses in fighting terror financing and money laundering.
- It never addressed concerns on the front of terror financing investigations and prosecutions targeting senior leaders and commanders of UN-designated terrorist groups.
- However, now steps had been taken in this direction such as the sentencing of terror outfit chief Hafiz Saeed, prosecution of Masood Azhar and seizure of their properties.
- India meanwhile, a member of FATF, suspects the efficacy and permanence of Pakistani actions.
How FATF impacts Pakistan?
- The FATF grey list made it more difficult for Pakistan to get financial aid from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank, Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the European Union (EU).
- This will further create an economic crisis for Pakistan which is already struggling to control its financial position.
- Bearing the cost of global politics the impact of FATF grey-listing on Pakistan’s economy has claimed that FATF’s decision has led to a loss of USD 38 billion for Pakistan so far.
Steps taken by Pakistan
- Pakistan is currently banking on its potential exclusion from the grey list to help improve the status of tough negotiations with the International Monetary Fund to get bailout money.
- Pakistan is now making a high-level political commitment to the FATF and APG to address its strategic AML/CFT deficiencies.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: IS 17693: 2022
Mains level: NA
Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), the National Standards Body of India, has developed an Indian Standard, IS 17693: 2022 for ‘non-electric cooling cabinet made of clay’.
IS 17693: 2022
- BIS standard specifies the construction and performance requirements of a cooling cabinet made out of clay, which operates on the principle of evaporative cooling.
- These cabinets may be used to store perishable foodstuff without the need of electricity.
- This standard helps BIS in fulfilling 6 out of 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) like No poverty, Zero hunger, Gender equality, Affordable and clean energy, Industry, innovation, and infrastructure, and Responsible consumption and production.
Why such move?
- Named as ‘Mitticool refrigerator’, Mansukh Bhai Prajapati from Gujarat is the innovator behind the refrigerator which projects an eco-friendly technology.
- It is a natural refrigerator made primarily from clay to store vegetables, fruits, milk, and also for cooling water.
- It provides natural coolness to foodstuffs stored in it without requiring any electricity.
- Fruits, vegetables, and milk can be stored reasonably fresh without deteriorating their quality.
Back2Basics: Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS)
- BIS is the National Standards Body of India working under the aegis of the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution.
- It is established by the Bureau of Indian Standards Act, 1986 which came into effect on 23 December 1986.
- The organization was formerly the Indian Standards Institution (ISI), set up under the Resolution of the Department of Industries and Supplies in September 1946.
- The ISI was registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860.
- A new Bureau of Indian standard (BIS) Act 2016 has been brought into force with effect from 12 October 2017.
- The Act establishes the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) as the National Standards Body of India.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Agnipath Scheme
Mains level: Issues with Agnipath Scheme
Massive protests are occurring against the Agnipath scheme all across the nation.
What is the Agnipath Scheme?
- This will be the only form of recruitment of soldiers into the three defence services from now.
- The scheme aims at strengthening national security and for providing an opportunity to the youth to serve in the armed forces.
- Recruits under the scheme will be known as ‘Agniveers’.
- After completing the four-year service, they can apply for regular employment in the armed forces.
- They may be given priority over others for various jobs in other government departments.
- The move is expected to decrease the average age profile of armed forces personnel from the current 32 to 24-26 years over a period of time.
Why are aspirants protesting?
- Contractualisation of armed forces: The foundation of this scheme is a four-year contract.
- Jobs for the majority: States such as Bihar, Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Rajasthan, are where the bulk of the Army recruitment takes place.
- Perks and benefits: Many of these people value job stability, which includes retirement benefits and pensions over competitive salaries.
- Uncertainty after end of commission: Most of them will be forced to leave the job within four years, which doesn’t fit into their hopes and aspirations.
- Casualization of Training: It reportedly takes two to three years to train a member of the army, but as a part of the Agnipath, soldiers will only be trained for six months.
- Threats to national security: Defence analysts have allegedly pointed out that the Russian soldiers who were trained for a limited amount of time before they went to war have performed disastrously.
- Conflicts of interest: Apprehensions have been voiced against how the new recruits will be adjusted in the existing system under which most of the Army units are region, caste or class based.
Reasons behind aspirants’ frustration
- Unemployment: Analysts always cite the crunch of gazetted officers in the Armed forces and there has been no recruitment for the last two years.
- Pandemic impact: Many aspirants lost their chance to join the Armed forces as they are now overage.’
- Unanticipated reforms: In guise of a push for “major defence policy reform”, the scheme is a fuss.
What is the official explanation?
- Once retired, aspirants will be free to pursue other careers, with several departments and governments.
- Aspirants will get preference, educational credits, skill certificates, to help them rehabilitate in other fields.
- Those wishing to be entrepreneurs will get a financial package and bank loans and those wishing to study further will be given 12 class equivalent certificate.
- For job-seekers, the government has already said they will get priority in the Central Armed Police Forces.
Way forward
- The modalities of how this will happen are still being worked out.
- But one thing is very clear, poorly crafted schemes are on the rise.
- For making any scheme a success, pre-legislative consultation and discussion in the public domain is a must.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Stagflation
Mains level: Read the attached story
India’s economy is better placed than many other countries to avoid the risk of potential stagflation worldwide, said the Reserve Bank of India Deputy Governor.
Why in news?
- Stagflation remains a risk to the US economy, and there are similarities between the situation in the 1970s and today, a/c to World Bank.
- Surging prices for oil and food are pushing up the cost of living, and business executives are voicing concerns about the outlook for the economy.
What is Stagflation?
- Stagflation is a stagnant growth and persistently high inflation. It, thus, describes a rather rare and curious condition of an economy.
- Iain Macleod, a Conservative Party MP in the United Kingdom, is known to have coined the phrase during his speech on the UK economy in November 1965.
What happens in Stagflation?
- Typically, rising inflation happens when an economy is booming — people are earning lots of money, demanding lots of goods and services and as a result, prices keep going up.
- When the demand is down and the economy is in the doldrums, by the reverse logic, prices tend to stagnate (or even fall).
- But stagflation is a condition where an economy experiences the worst of both worlds — the growth rate is largely stagnant (along with rising unemployment) and inflation is not only high but persistently so.
Possible reasons behind
- Volatility due to war: Global economic conditions continued to deteriorate as commodity prices and financial market volatility have led to heightened uncertainty.
- Monetary tightening: In advanced economies, the war against inflation would entail significant monetary tightening, complicating the growth-inflation outlook.
- Global slowdown: Emerging market economies grapple with the global trade slowdown, capital outflows and imported inflation.
Why is it so unpopular?
- The combination of slow growth and inflation is unusual, because inflation typically rises and falls with the pace of growth.
- The high inflation leaves less scope for policymakers to address growth shortfalls with lower interest rates and higher public spending.
Back2Basics: Inflation and its impact
- Depression: It is Economic depression is a sustained, long-term downturn in economic
- Deflation: It is the general fall in the price level over a period of time.
- Disinflation: It is the fall in the rate of inflation or a slower rate of inflation. Example: a fall in the inflation rate from 8% to 6%.
- Reflation: It is the act of stimulating the economy by increasing the money supply or by reducing taxes, seeking to bring the economy back up to the long-term trend, following a dip in the business cycle. It is the opposite of disinflation.
- Skewflation: It is the skewed rise in the price of some items while remaining item prices remain the same. E.g. Seasonal rise in the price of onions.
- Stagflation: The situation of rising prices along with falling growth and employment, is called stagflation. Inflation is accompanied by an economic recession.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Theri Desert in Tamil Nadu
Mains level: Desertification of land and preventive measures
Most of us may not know the small desert situated in the state of Tamil Nadu. It consists of red sand dunes and is confined to the Thoothukudi district.
Theri Desert
- The red dunes are called theri in Tamil.
- They consist of sediments dating back to the Quaternary Period and are made of marine deposits.
- They have very low water and nutrient retention capacity.
- The dunes are susceptible to aerodynamic lift.
- This is the push that lets something move up. It is the force that is the opposite of weight.
Mineral composition of Theris
- The analysis of the red sand dunes reveal the presence of heavy and light minerals.
- These include Ilmenite, Magnetit, Rutile, Garnet, Zircon, Diopside, Tourmaline, Hematite, Goethite, Kyanite, Quartz, Feldspar, Biotite.
- The iron-rich heavy minerals like ilmenite, magnetite, garnet, hypersthene and rutile present in the soil had undergone leaching by surface water.
- They were then oxidised because of the favourable semi-arid climatic conditions.
How did they form?
- Theris appear as gentle, undulating terrain.
- The lithology of the area shows that the area might have been a paleo (ancient) coast in the past.
- The presence of limestone in many places indicates marine transgression.
- The present-day theris might have been formed by the confinement of beach sand locally, after regression of the sea.
- When high velocity winds from the Western Ghats blew east, they induced migration of sand grains and accumulation of dunes.
Another story of their formation
- Another view is that these are geological formations that appeared in a period of a few hundred years.
- The red sand is brought from the surface of a broad belt of red loam in the plains of the Nanguneri region (about 57 kilometres) by south west monsoon winds during May-September.
- The winds after draining the moisture behind the Mahendragiri hill and the Aralvaimozhi gap of the Western Ghats become dry and strike the plains in the foothills, where vegetation is sparse.
- Deforestation and the absence of vegetative cover in the Aralvaimozhi gap and the Nanguneri plains are considered to be the major causes of wind erosion.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Black Death
Mains level: NA
In a study published in the Science journal, researchers have claimed that the bubonic plague was originated in modern day northern Kyrgyzstan around 1338-1339 – nearly 7-8 years before it ravaged large parts of the world.
What is Black Death?
- The term Black Death refers to the bubonic plague that spread across Western Asia, Northern Africa, Middle East and Europe in 1346-53.
- Most scholars agree that the Black Death, which killed millions, was caused by bacterium Yersinia pestis and was spread by fleas that were carried by rodent hosts.
- The microorganism Y. pestis spread to human populations, who at some point transmitted it to others either through the vector of a human flea or directly through the respiratory system.
Why this plague was called the Black Death?
- It is commonly believed that the term Black Death gets its name from the black marks that appeared on some of the plague victims’ bodies.
- In the 14th century, the epidemic was referred to as the ‘great pestilence’ or ‘great death’, due to the demographic havoc that it caused.
- The world black also carried a dark, gloomy emotional tone, due to the sheer amount of deaths generated by the plague.
Why is the new discovery significant?
- The geographical origin point of the plague has been debated for centuries.
- Some historians have argued that the plague originated in China, and spread across Europe by Italian merchants who first entered the continent in trading caravans through Crimea.
- Another story argues that Mongol army hurled plague-infested bodies into the city during the siege of Caffa (Crimea) and led to the spread of the disease.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- Plugging the gaps in death penalty sentencing
Context
In a judgment delivered last month, the Supreme Court, in Manoj & others v. State of MP, embarked on a significant attempt to reform the administration of the death penalty.
Background: Crisis in the death penalty sentencing
- There has long been a judicial crisis in death penalty sentencing on account of unprincipled sentencing, arbitrariness and worrying levels of subjectivity.
- The crisis has been acknowledged by the Supreme Court, the Law Commission of India, research scholars and civil society groups.
- Crime-centric nature: Death penalty sentencing has been, by and large, crime-centric.
- This approach goes against the requirements imposed on sentencing judges by the Supreme Court in Bachan Singh (1980).
The framework laid down in the Bachan Singh case
- Take into account factors relating to crime and the accused: This framework made it binding for the sentencing judges to take into account factors relating to both the crime and accused and assign them appropriate weight.
- Judges couldn’t decide to impose the death penalty only on the basis of the crime.
- The background of the accused, the personal circumstances, mental health and age were considerations a sentencing judge had to account for.
- Judges were required to weigh “mitigating” and “aggravating” factors to ascertain if a case was fit for the death sentence and also determine if the option of life imprisonment was “unquestionably foreclosed”.
Why there is a crisis in death penalty sentencing?
- The four decades since Bachan Singh have shown us that this framework has been followed more in breach.
- There is utter confusion across all levels of the judiciary on the requirements of the framework laid down in the Bachan Singh case and its implementation.
- Nature of crime a dominant consideration: An important reason for the breakdown is that factors relating to the crime — the nature of the crime and its brutality — are often dominant considerations, and there is barely any consideration of mitigating factors.
- Little discussion on mitigating factors: There has been very little discussion on bringing the socioeconomic profile of death row prisoners as a mitigating factor into the courtroom.
Significance of the SC judgment in Manoj & others v. State of MP
- Efforts to plug the gap: The judgement identifies the lacuna as an explicit concern, states the consequences that flow from such a vital gap, and suggests measures to plug it.
- Recognising reformation: A striking part of the judgment is its commitment to recognising reformation as integral to the Indian criminal justice system, especially death penalty sentencing.
- Procedural threshold: The judgment is clear that certain procedural thresholds must be met for sentencing to be fair and explicitly rejects (once again) the idea that death sentences can be determined solely on crime-based considerations.
- The verdict recognises that aspects of the accused’s life, both pre-offence and post-offence in prison, are relevant.
- As practical steps in this process, the judgment asks courts to call for reports from the probation officer as well as prison and independent mental health experts.
- Right of the accused to present mitigating factors: The right of the accused to present mitigating factors and rebut the state, if necessary, is also recognised.
- Psychological and philosophical aspect taken into account: There is now overwhelming evidence from psychology that criminality cannot just be reduced to terrible decisions by individuals in the exercise of their free will.
- All our actions are a result of a complex web of biological, psychological, and social factors and that understanding has a very significant bearing on discussions on criminality and punishment.
Challenges
- Implementation issue: Apart from this issue of implementation, even if detailed and high-quality sentencing information is to come into our courtrooms, a bigger challenge awaits.
- The judicial treatment of sentencing information is a Pandora’s box that will inevitably have to be opened.
- Requirement for normative basis: The Supreme Court will have to provide a rigorous normative basis for consideration of these factors.
- In the absence of such foundations, death penalty sentencing will continue to be unprincipled and sentencing judges are not going to understand the need for this wide range of sentencing information.
Conclusion
The significance of last month’s judgment, authored by Justice Ravindra Bhat, is that it takes this problem head-on. It identifies the lacuna as an explicit concern, states the consequences that flow from such a vital gap, and suggests measures to plug it.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: INSTC
Mains level: Paper 2- India-Iran relations
Context
Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian’s three-day visit to India, last week, was the first ministerial-level visit from Iran since Ebrahim Raisi assumed the Iranian presidency in August last year.
Background
- Bilateral relations between India and Iran span millennia marked by meaningful interactions.
- Both countries shared borders until 1947 and share several common features in their language, culture and traditions.
- The diplomatic links were established on 15th March 1950, when both countries signed a Treaty of Friendship and Perpetual Peace.
- However, Iran’s joining of Baghdad pact in 1954 and the Cold War politics prevented both countries from having closer relations until the 1990s.
- Islamic Revolution of 1979, hostage of US diplomats, Iran-Iraq War and Tehran’s support for Hezbollah and Hamas among others resulted in a range of political and economic sanctions, leading to Iran being isolated at a global level
- In the 1990s, both countries’ interests converged around energy, Central Asia and security, mostly around the Pakistan-Afghan region.
- This resulted in the signing of ‘The Delhi Declaration’, which provided the vision of the countries’ defence and strategic partnership and “Tehran Declaration”, which set forth the areas of possible cooperation
India-Iran relations: A shared vision for equitable, pluralistic and co-operative international order
- The “Tehran Declaration” signed during former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s visit to Iran affirmed the shared vision of the two countries for an “equitable, pluralistic and co-operative international order”.
- It recognised then Iranian President Mohammad Khatami’s vision of a “dialogue among civilisations” as a paradigm of international relations based on principles of tolerance, pluralism and respect for diversity.
- Advancing the standing in global order: Two decades later, as India strengthens new partnerships within its regional vision centred on the Indo-Pacific, both countries remain driven by the goals of advancing their standing at the regional and global level.
- Both are keen to project themselves as independent strategic actors determined to play a role in shaping a new multipolar order in their shared Eurasian neighbourhood and also at the global level.
Why does India need Iran?
- Energy security: Conventionally, for energy security
- Iran is amongst India’s top oil suppliers
- Strategic importance: Since the 1990s, Iran’s importance has become ‘strategic’
- Security reasons: Iran’s cooperation is critical for India’s security given that
- Pak supports terrorism in India
- Influence in Afghanistan: India’s influence in Afghanistan is marginal.
- Countering Pakistan: India needs Iran to moderate Pak’s influence in West Asia
- Iran is a leader in the Muslim world.
- Access to Afghanistan and Central Asia
Significance of Iran for India
- Geopolitical logic in relations: The sanctions imposed by the US on Iran after it withdrew from the nuclear deal in 2018 may have virtually destroyed India-Iran trade, especially India’s energy imports from Iran, but the geopolitical logic underpinning relations between the two countries remains firm.
- Land bridge to Central Asia and Eurasia: Iran has sought to leverage its crossroad geographical location straddling the Persian Gulf and the Caspian Sea, India has come to see it as its land bridge to Central Asia and Eurasia.
- INSTC: Despite the difficulties posed by decades of American sanctions, Iran has, along with India, Russia and a few other countries in the Eurasian region, continued to work on the multi-modal International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC).
- During Raisi’s visit to Moscow, the two sides had pledged to redouble their efforts to build the railway line between Iran’s Caspian port of Rasht and Astara on the Iran-Azerbaijan border.
- Alternative Caspian Sea Route: The activation of an alternative Caspian Sea route speaks volumes about the positive outlook of Iran, India and Russia on this corridor despite a variety of geopolitical challenges.
- Iran’s Chabahar port, where India is developing two berths that it will lease for commercial operations for 10 years, is also a story of perseverance in the ties between the two countries.
Irritants in Indo-Iran ties
- India’s relations with Saudi Arabia, US and Israel: Growing Saudi-India-US-Israel relations have irked Iran.
- In retaliation, Iran, for the first time, has linked the plight of Muslims in Gaza, Yemen, and Bahrain, with those in Kashmir
- Iran-Pak-China ties: Warming Iran-Pak-China ties have annoyed India.
- Sluggish Chabahar port development: Slow Chabahar port development has annoyed Iran.
- China-Iran strategic partnership:
- An economic and security partnership deal between Iran and China was recently made public, creating a global alarm, especially for India and the US.
- The foundation for this deal was laid during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Iran in 2016
- The draft agreement involves Chinese investments worth $400 billion into the Iranian economy over 25 years.
- Of this, $280 billion will be allocated for the oil and gas sector and the remaining funding will be for other core sectors like banking, telecommunications, ports and railways.
- In return, China would get a steady supply of Iranian oil at a heavily discounted rate during the same period.
- This deal creates a win-win situation for both countries.
- It lifts Iran’s sanction-hit economy and helps China set a firm foothold in the Middle East.
US sanctions:
- Iran’s aim to develop nuclear weapons has come under strong criticism from Trump Administration since the beginning.
- Thus, the US has withdrawn from the Iran nuclear deal in 2018 after it was signed in 2015 and imposed unilateral sanctions on Iran.
- The US’ sanctions and aggressive policies have created a situation of economic and geostrategic uncertainty.
- Indian investors are wary of having businesses in Iran for the fear of the US.
- Also, India deviated from the policy of not abiding by unilateral sanctions by ceasing to purchase Iranian oil.
- Due to this, Iran did not back India’s bid to mobilise international support against Beijing’s aggression in the Ladakh.
Other issues:
- Iran is against India’s decision to abrogate Article 370 and 35A.
- It has called on India and Pakistan to show restraint and prevent the killing of innocent Kashmiris, revealing possible close ties between Pakistan and Iran.
- Iran also voiced against “extremist Hindus and their parties” during the 2020 Delhi riots.
- Apart from these issues, Iran also sidelined India’s ONGC from exploration rights at its Farzad B Gas field, stating that it will engage the company at a later date.
Way forward
- As India is treading a fine line in balancing relations with the US, China and Iran while striving to augment its political influence in West Asia, embracing one country over the other is not an option for India.
- Therefore, a multilateral foreign policy is a way forward.
- India must retain its involvement in the Chabahar port development because of the geostrategic significance.
- In the immediate term, India should improve its multi-alignment credentials to absorb investments into the port projects from the public and private sector, boost maritime cooperation among littoral countries to enhance the transit of goods, and foster regional partnership for the Chabahar port development.
- Based on the mutual geostrategic and energy interests, India could collaborate with Japan under the Asia-Africa Growth Corridor.
- Japan’s participation would enhance the multilateral characteristics of the transit hub in the region, unlike the China-owned Gwadar port. This will further enhance multilateral investments to solidify regional economic partnerships that enable the sustainability of the port.
- Also, India needs to evolve a better strategy on Iran beyond waiting to see how the US may react, beyond having to issue a clarification in response to Iran’s sudden provocations and beyond allowing voids of partnerships that China may fill.
- In order to do so, India must create a new alliance of countries having similar geostrategic interests, which are also facing issues with US’ unrealistic and aggressive foreign policy strategy and China’s expansionistic policies.
Conclusion
While the revival of the nuclear deal could give a fillip to India’s economic ties with Iran, India’s interests in continental Asia will be served well by heeding to the calls for developing a long-term roadmap for bilateral relations.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Long term capital gain
Mains level: Paper 3- Rising inequality in India
Context
This upsurge of inflation is affecting the poor more than any other social group because some of the commodities whose prices are increasing the most (like petrol and certain food items) represent a larger fraction of the budget of the most vulnerable sections of society.
Factors fueling inflation in India
- The Wholesale Price Index (WPI) and the Consumer Price Index (CPI) show an upward rising trend, annually, at 13.11 per cent and 6.07 per cent respectively.
- Falling rupee: Inflation is here to stay because it has much to do with the decline in value of the rupee that has fallen to its lowest, which makes imports of oil and gas more expensive.
- Ukraine crisis: The war in Ukraine has the same effect and pushes the price of some food items upward.
Rising inequality
- Impact on the poor: This upsurge of inflation is affecting the poor more because some of the commodities whose prices are increasing the most represent a larger fraction of the budget of the most vulnerable sections of society.
- Rising inequality: As a result, inequalities — which were already on the rise — are increasing further.
- Recently, the State of Inequality in India report showed that an Indian making Rs 3 lakh a year belonged to the top 10 per cent of the country’s wage earners.
- Inequalities are also increasing among salaried people, who are privileged compared to those of the informal sector: The bottom 50 per cent account for only 22 per cent of the total salary income.
- The situation of the lower-middle class and poor is deteriorating.
- The Reserve Bank of India shows slow farm wage growth in nominal terms: From an average of 6.6 per cent in fiscal 2021 to 5.7 per cent in fiscal 2022 (April-November average). This is below the inflation rate.
Inequality in healthcare
- India’s spending on healthcare is among the lowest in the world.
- A decent level of healthcare is available only to the ones who can afford it because of increasing out-of-pocket expenditure — the payment made directly by individuals for the health service, not covered under any financial protection scheme.
- Overall, these out-of-pocket expenses on healthcare are 60 per cent of the total expenditure on public health in India, which is one of the highest in the world.
How policies are contributing to the increasing inequality?
- High indirect taxes: The share of indirect taxes in the state’s fiscal resources has increased from 2014 to 2019 to reach 50 per cent of the total taxes in 2019.
- Higher indirect taxes are the most unfair as it affects everyone, irrespective of their income.
- Taxes on alcohol and petroleum products are cases in point.
- In contrast, the big companies are flourishing, again, partly because of certain fiscal policies.
- Low corporate taxes: The government’s budget in 2015 substantially lowered the corporate tax.
- Withdrawal of enhanced surcharge: In addition to these tax cuts, the government withdrew the enhanced surcharge on long- and short-term capital gains for foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) as well as domestic portfolio investors.
- These government policies are clearly promoting the supply side at the expense of demand.
- The central bank has raised interest rates and CRR in an attempt to curb demand, but demand in the country is already choking.
Way forward
- Higher allocation for MGNREGA: A higher allocation of funds for MGNREGS in rural areas, as well as the introduction of similar employment generation schemes in urban areas, should, therefore, be a priority.
- Municipal bonds at state level: At the state level, the development of municipal bond markets could be a plausible alternative.
- Reduction on excise duty on fuel: A reduction in the excise duty on fuel prices and easing the fuel tax burden could also supplement the disposable income and reduce the input cost burden for producers.
Conclusion
Though the government is opting for market-based economics, currently, India needs a mixed solution that comprises price stability via government channels and subsidies.
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Back2Basics: Long and short-term capital gain
- When you buy and sell assets, the profit that you earn is called a Capital Gain.
- Long Term Capital Gains are those that you earn when you sell an asset after 36 months (3 years) from the date on which you acquired the asset.
- Short Term Capital Gains are those that you earn when you sell an asset in under 36 months (3 years) from the date on which you acquired the asset.
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