Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 3- Tackling inflation
Context
The economy now seems to be largely out of the shadow of Covid-19, and only a notch better than in 2019-20. But the big question remains: can India rein in the raging inflation that is at 7.8 per cent (CPI for April 2022), with food CPI at 8.4 percent, and WPI at more than 15 per cent?
Need for bold steps on three fronts to tackle inflation
- Unless bold and innovative steps are taken at least on three fronts, GDP growth and inflation both are likely to be in the range of 6.5 to 7.5 per cent in 2022-23.
- 1] Tightening of loose monetary policy: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is mandated to keep inflation at 4 per cent, plus-minus 2 per cent.
- The RBI has already started the process of tightening monetary policy by raising the repo rate, albeit a bit late.
- It is expected that by the end of 2022-3, the repo rate will be at least 5.5 per cent, if not more.
- It will still stay below the likely inflation rate and therefore depositors will still lose the real value of their money in banks with negative real interest rates.
- That only reflects an inbuilt bias in the system â in favour of entrepreneurs in the name of growth and against depositors, which ultimately results in increasing inequality in the system.
- 2] Prudent fiscal policy: Fiscal policy has been running loose in the wake of Covid-19 that saw the fiscal deficit of the Union government soar to more than 9 per cent in 2020-21 and 6.7 per cent in 2021-22, but now needs to be tightened.
- Government needs to reduce its fiscal deficit to less than 5 per cent, never mind the FRMB Actâs advice to bring it to 3 per cent of GDP.
- However, it is difficult to achieve when enhanced food and fertiliser subsidies, and cuts in duties of petrol and diesel will cost the government at least Rs 3 trillion more than what was provisioned in the budget.
- 3] Rational trade policy: Export restrictions/bans go beyond agri-commodities, even to iron ore and steel, etc. in the name of taming inflation.
- But abrupt export bans are poor trade policy and reflect only the panic-stricken face of the government.
- A more mature approach to filter exports would be through a gradual process of minimum export prices and transparent export duties for short periods of time, rather than abrupt bans, if at all these are desperately needed to favour consumers.
- Liberal import policy: A prudent solution to moderate inflation at home lies in a liberal import policy, reducing tariffs across board.
Way forward
- If India wants to be atmanirbhar (self-reliant) in critical commodities where import dependence is unduly high, it must focus on two oils â crude oil and edible oils.
- In crude oil, India is almost 80 per cent dependent on imports and in edible oils imports constitute 55 to 60 per cent of our domestic consumption.
- In both cases, agriculture can help.
- Ethanol production: Massive production of ethanol from sugarcane and maize, especially in eastern Uttar Pradesh and north Bihar, where water is abundant and the water table is replenished every second year or so through light floods, is the way to reduce import dependence in crude oil.
- Palm plantation: In the case of edible oils, a large programme of palm plantations in coastal areas and the northeast is the right strategy.
Conclusion
We need to invest in raising productivity, making agri-markets work more efficiently.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: PIL
Mains level: Issues with PIL
A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petitioner in the Supreme Court barely escaped having to pay âš18 lakh for indulging in a âluxury litigationâ.
What is the news?
- A Supreme Court Bench of Justice B.R. Gavai and Hima Kohli initially asked the litigant to pay âš18 lakh, that is, âš1 lakh for every one of the 18 minutes the case took up.
- However, the court later, in its order, slashed the amount to âš2 lakh on the request of the litigantâs counsel.
Why did the apex court got disgusted?
- The bench criticized the highly derogatory practice of filing frivolous petitions encroaching valuable judicial time.
- This time can otherwise be utilised for addressing genuine concerns.
What is Public Interest Litigation (PIL)?
- PIL refers to litigation undertaken to secure public interest and demonstrates the availability of justice to socially-disadvantaged parties.
- It was introduced by Justice P. N. Bhagwati in 1979.
- It is the chief instrument through which judicial activism has flourished in India.
- It is suited to the principles enshrined in Article 39A[a] of the Constitution to protect and deliver prompt social justice with the help of law.
How was it introduced?
- PIL is a relaxation on the traditional rule of locus standi.
- Before 1980s the judiciary and the Supreme Court of India entertained litigation only from parties affected directly or indirectly by the defendant.
- It heard and decided cases only under its original and appellate jurisdictions.
- However, the Supreme Court began permitting cases on the grounds of PIL, which means that even people who are not directly involved in the case may bring matters of public interest to the court.
- It is the court’s privilege to entertain the application for the PIL.
Filing a PIL
Any citizen can file a public case by filing a petition:
- Under Art 32 of the Indian Constitution, in the Supreme Court
- Under Art 226 of the Indian Constitution, in the High Court
- Under 133 of the Criminal Procedure Code, in a Magistrate’s Court
Parties against whom PILs can be filed
- A PIL may be filed against state government, central government, municipal authority, private party.
- Also, private person may be included in PIL as âRespondentâ, after concerned of state authority.
- g. a private factory in Mumbai which is causing pollution then PIL can be filed against the government of Mumbai, state pollution central board including that private factory of Mumbai.
Importance of PIL
- PIL gives a wider description to the fundamental rights to equality, life and personality, which is guaranteed under part III of the Constitution of India.
- It also functions as an effective instrument for changes in the society or social welfare.
- Through PIL, any public or person can seek remedy on behalf of the oppressed class by introducing a PIL.
Issues with PIL
- Off late, PILs have become a tool for publicity.
- People file frivolous petitions which result in the wastage of time of the courts.
- People have used them with a political agenda as well.
- They unnecessarily burden the judiciary.
- Even if the petition is eventually dismissed, the courts spend time and effort on them before dismissing them.
How do frivolous petitions waste time?
- At present, only judges have the power to dismiss a petition.
- The Registry of the SC or HC only ensures that the technical requirements of filing a petition are fulfilled.
- As a result of which petitions are admitted to the court irrespective of the merits of the case.
Way forward: Preventing frivolous PILs
The Supreme Court had issued eight directions in its Balwant Singh Chaufal Judgment to help constitutional courts separate genuine PIL petitions from the barmy ones:
- It had asked every High Court to frame its own rules to encourage bona fide PIL petitions and curb the motivated ones
- Verifying the credentials of the petitioner before entertaining the plea
- Checking the correctness of the contents
- Ensuring the petition involves issues of âlarger public interest, gravity and urgencyâ which requires priority
- Ensuring there is no personal gain, or oblique motive behind the PIL
- Ensuring that it is aimed at redressal of genuine public harm or public injury
Conclusion
- PIL petitions have had a beneficial effect on the Indian jurisprudence and has alleviated the conditions of the citizens in general.
- Such petitions bring justice to people who are handicapped by ignorance, indigence, illiteracy.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR)
Mains level: E-waste management
Attero Recycling, one of Indiaâs largest electronic waste management companies, is set to invest close to $1 billion in expanding their electronic waste recycling facilities in India.
E-waste Management: A tricky task
- E-waste management is a complicated process given the multitude of actors that are involved in the process.
- The major stakeholders in the value chain include importers, producers/manufacturers, retailers (businesses/government/others), consumers (individual households, businesses, government and others), traders, scrap dealers, dissemblers/dismantlers and recyclers.
- To critically assess each in the different stages of processing, it is important to understand the e-waste value chain.
- The process involves four stages: generation, collection, segregation and treatment/disposal.
Indiaâs regulatory ecosystem
- Indian electronics sector boomed in the last decade.
- Increased production and penetration of imported electronics items led to an accelerated e-waste generation that necessitated regulatory control over the sector.
- India has Electronic Waste (Management and Handling) Rules 2011 in place since . Its scope was expanded in 2016 and 2018 through amendments.
Provisions of the 2011 Rules
- To streamline e-waste management, the Government introduced Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) whereby producers were required to collect and recycle electronic items.
- Since manufacturers were incurring the disposal cost, their designs would incorporate less toxic and easily recyclable materials, thereby reducing input material requirements.
Inherent flaws in Implementation
- Recycling: Less than five percent of the waste is treated through formal recycling facilities.
- Informal sector: The rest is handled by the informal sector with very little enforcement of environmental and occupational safety norms.
- Weak Regulations: A deeper analysis revealed that the EPR regulations in India were not quantified through collection or recycling targets as in other countries with better implementation framework and mechanisms.
- Lack of incentivization: In the absence of targets, producers had little incentive to ensure the collection of their used products.
Current scenario and issues in e-waste recycling
- Crude and Scrappage: As of today, some 95% of e-waste is managed by the informal sector which operates under inferior working conditions and relies on crude techniques for dismantling and recycling.
- Infrastructure lacunae: Another important issue is the lack of sufficient metal processing infrastructure which is why recyclers have to export materials to global smelters.
- Price competencies: As aggregators are mostly informal, they demand up-front cash payments.
- Bloomed informal network: The informal network is well-established and rests on social capital ties that PROs have yet to establish and are hence insulated from reaching the viable number of aggregators.
- Policy failure: Policy changes have tried repeatedly to formalize the sector, but issues of implementation persist on the ground.
Way forward
- Effective design: Since India is highly deficient in precious mineral resources, there is a need for a well-designed, robust and regulated e-waste recovery regime that would generate jobs and wealth.
- Consumer responsibility: The consumers must responsibly consume the product for its useful life and then weigh between the chances of repair or disposal with utmost consciousness towards the environment.
- Recyclable products: On the supply side, e-waste can be reduced when producers design electronic products that are safer, and more durable, repairable and recyclable.
- Reuse: Manufacturers must reuse the recyclable materials and not mine rare elements unnecessarily to meet new production.
- Commercial recycling: Rather than hoping that informal recyclers become formal it would be more feasible for companies and the state to design programs ensure e-waste easily makes its way to proper recyclers.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: ESZ
Mains level: Read the attached story
The Supreme Court has directed that every protected forest, national park and wildlife sanctuary across the country should have a mandatory eco-sensitive zone (ESZ) of a minimum one km starting from their demarcated boundaries.
Why such move?
- The purpose of declaring ESZs around national parks, forests and sanctuaries is to create some kind of a âshock absorberâ for the protected areas.
- These zones would act as a transition zone from areas of high protection to those involving lesser protection.
What are the Eco-sensitive Zones (ESZs)?
- Eco-Sensitive Zones (ESZs) or Ecologically Fragile Areas (EFAs) are areas notified by the MoEFCC around Protected Areas, National Parks and Wildlife Sanctuaries.
- The purpose of declaring ESZs is to create some kind of âshock absorbersâ to the protected areas by regulating and managing the activities around such areas.
- They also act as a transition zone from areas of high protection to areas involving lesser protection.
How are they demarcated?
- The Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 does not mention the word âEco-Sensitive Zonesâ.
- However, Section 3(2)(v) of the Act, says that Central Government can restrict areas in which any industries, operations or processes or class of industries, operations or processes shall be carried out or shall not, subject to certain safeguards.
- Besides Rule 5(1) of the Environment (Protection) Rules, 1986 states that central government can prohibit or restrict the location of industries and carrying on certain operations or processes on the basis of certain considerations.
- The same criteria have been used by the government to declare No Development Zones (NDZs).
Defining its boundaries
- An ESZ could go up to 10 kilometres around a protected area as provided in the Wildlife Conservation Strategy, 2002.
- Moreover, in the case where sensitive corridors, connectivity and ecologically important patches, crucial for landscape linkage, are beyond 10 km width, these should be included in the ESZs.
- Further, even in the context of a particular Protected Area, the distribution of an area of ESZ and the extent of regulation may not be uniform all around and it could be of variable width and extent.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: D2M Technology
Mains level: Telecom sector reforms
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and Indiaâs public service broadcaster Prasar Bharati are exploring âdirect-to-mobileâ (D2M) broadcasting.
What is D2M Technology?
- The technology is based on the convergence of broadband and broadcast, using which mobile phones can receive terrestrial digital TV.
- It would be similar to how people listen to FM radio on their phones, where a receiver within the phone can tap into radio frequencies.
- Using D2M, multimedia content can also be beamed to phones directly.
Benefits of D2M
- It allows broadcasting video and other forms of multimedia content directly to mobile phones, without needing an active internet connection.
- It promises to improve consumption of broadband and utilisation of spectrum.
Why need D2M?
- The idea behind the technology is that it can possibly be used to directly broadcast content related to citizen-centric information.
- It can be further used to counter fake news, issue emergency alerts and offer assistance in disaster management, among other things.
- Apart from that, it can be used to broadcast live news, sports etc. on mobile phones.
- More so, the content should stream without any buffering whatsoever while not consuming any internet data.
What could be the consumer and business impact of this?
- For consumers, a technology like this would mean that they would be able to access multimedia content from Video on Demand (VoD) or Over The Top (OTT) content platforms.
- This will be without having to exhaust their mobile data, and more importantly, at a nominal rate.
- The technology will also allow people from rural areas, with limited or no internet access, to watch video content.
- For businesses, one of the key benefits of the technology is that it can enable telecom service providers to offload video traffic from their mobile network onto the broadcast network.
- It thus helps them to decongest valuable mobile spectrum.
- This will also improve usage of mobile spectrum and free up bandwidth which will help reduce call drops, increase data speeds etc.
What is the government doing to facilitate D2M technology?
- The DoT has set up a committee to study the feasibility of a spectrum band for offering broadcast services directly to usersâ smartphones.
- Band 526-582 MHz is envisaged to work in coordination with both mobile and broadcast services.
- DoT has set up a committee to study this band.
- At the moment, this band is used by the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting across the country for TV transmitters.
What are the possible challenges to the technologyâs rollout?
- Bringing key stakeholders like mobile operators onboard will be the biggest challenge in launching D2M technology on a wide scale.
- A mass roll out of the technology will entail changes in infrastructure and some regulatory changes.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Article 279A
Mains level: Paper 3- Fiscal federalism in GST Council
Context
The recent ruling of the Supreme Court held that the states were free to use means of persuasion ranging from collaboration to contestation.
 Simultaneous or concurrent powers under Article 246A
- Article 246A confers simultaneous or concurrent powers on Parliament and the state legislatures to make laws relating to GST.
- This article is in sharp contrast to the constitutional scheme that prevailed till 2017.
- It clearly demarcated taxing powers between the Centre and states with no overlaps.
- After 2017, several central and state levies were subsumed into GST.
- Each state was to have its own GST Act, all of them being almost identical to the Central GST Act.
- Inter-state supplies and imported goods are liable to IGST.
Composition of GST Council
- The GST Council has the Union finance minister as the chairperson and the Union minister of state in charge of revenue or finance as a member.
- Centre has one-third voting power, 31 states (including two Union Territories) share the remaining two-thirds of the vote.
- The GST Council has a total of 33 members.
- Out of a total of 33 votes, 11 belong to the Centre and 22 votes are shared by 31 states/UT, with each state/UT having a 0.709 vote.
- Any decision of the GST Council requires a three-fourth majority or a minimum of 25 votes.
- As the Centre has 11 votes, it requires an additional 14 votes.
- Unlike so many statutes, Article 279A has made no provision to make the decision of the majority binding on the dissenting states.
- Â Paragraph 2.73 of the Select Committee Report on the 122nd Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2014, noted that this voting pattern was to maintain a fine balance as, in a federal constitution, the dominance of one over the other was to be disallowed.
Role of GST Council
- Under Article 279A, the GST Council has to make ârecommendationsâ on various topics including the tax rate and exemptions.
- The Union of India argued that the âconstitutional architectureâ showed that Articles 246A and 279A, when read together, made the GST Council the ultimate policy-making and decision-making body for framing GST laws.
- The GST Council was unique and incomparable to any other constitutional body and its recommendations would override the legislative power of Parliament and state legislatures.
- Neither of them could legislate on GST issues independent of the recommendations of the GST Council.
- The argument went further: On a combined reading of Article 279A, the provisions of the IGST and CGST Acts and the recommendations of the GST Council were transformed into legislation.
- The Supreme Court rightly noted that several sections in the state GST laws, CGST and in IGST, cast a duty even on dissenting states to issue notifications to implement the recommendations of the GST Council.
Observations on federalism
- Delving into legislative history, the court ruled that a draft Article 279B, which provided for a GST Disputes Settlement Authority, was omitted because it would have effectively overridden the sovereignty of Parliament and the state legislatures, and diminished the fiscal autonomy of the states.
- It was desirable, the Court said, to have some level of friction, some amount of state contestation, some deliberation-generating froth in our democratic system.
- Putting to rest any controversy, the court held that the recommendations of the GST Council had only a persuasive value.
- To regard them as binding edicts would disrupt fiscal federalism because both the Union and states were conferred equal power to legislate on GST.
- Rule-making power bound by recommendations of GST Council: The Court held that the state governments and Parliament, while exercising their rule-making powers under the provisions of the State GST Acts, CGST & IGST Acts, are bound by the recommendations of the GST Council.
- States can amend GST laws:Â But even this did not mean that all recommendations of the GST Council are binding on state legislatures or Parliament to enact primary pieces of legislation on GST.
- In effect, states can amend their GST laws if they so choose.
Way forward
- Â If the GST Council meets periodically as mandated and there is active participation of the states in making recommendations, no state will oppose a recommendation that has been carefully deliberated and is in the national interest.
Conclusion
Indeed, there is little chance of cracks developing in the GST edifice as long as the spirit of cooperative and collaborative federalism prevails.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: PIC
Mains level: Indo-Pacific
Wang Yi, the Foreign Minister of China, is currently on an eight-day visit to ten Pacific Island Countries (PICs) after the MoU failed to gain consensus among the PICs.
What are the PICs?
- The Pacific Island Countries are a cluster of 14 states which are located largely in the tropical zone of the Pacific Ocean between Asia, Australia and the Americas.
- They include Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Republic of Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), Nauru, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.
- The islands are divided on the basis of physical and human geography into three distinct parts â Micronesia, Melanesia and Polynesia.
Geo-economics of PICs
- The islands are very small in land area, and are spread wide across the vast equatorial swathe of the Pacific Ocean.
- Even being the smallest and least populated states, they have some of the largest Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs) in the world.
- Large EEZs translate into huge economic potential due to the possibility of utilising the wealth of fisheries, energy, minerals and other marine resources present in such zones.
- Hence, they prefer to be identified as Big Ocean States, rather than Small Island States.
- In fact, Kiribati and FSM, both PICs, having EEZs larger than that of India.
Strategic significance
- PICs have played an important role in major power rivalry as springboards for power projection and laboratories for developing and demonstrating strategic capabilities.
- The major powers of the colonial era competed with each other to gain control over these strategic territories.
- The Pacific islands also acted as one of the major theatres of conflict during the Second World War â between imperial Japan and the US.
- Due to the remoteness of these islands from major population centres of the world, some of the major nuclear weapon test sites of the US, UK and France were located here.
- In addition, the 14 PICs account for as many number of votes in the United Nations, and act as a potential vote bank for major powers to mobilise international opinion.
Chinaâs vested interests in PIC
- China does not have any particular historical linkages to the PICs unlike the Western powers.
- Therefore, its interest in the PICs is of relatively recent origin, and is linked to Chinaâs rise in the past few decades.
- The PICs lie in the natural line of expansion of Chinaâs maritime interest and naval power.
- They are located beyond Chinaâs âFirst Island Chainâ, which represents the countryâs first threshold of maritime expansion.
- The PICs are located geostrategically in what is referred to by China as its âFar Seasâ.
- Their control will make Chinese Blue Water Navy capable, an essential prerequisite, for becoming a superpower in maritime domain.
For the Taiwan narrative
- China is preparing for what seems like an inevitable military invasion of Taiwan, sooner or later.
- In this context, it becomes important to break Western domination of island chains of the Pacific.
- This could otherwise impede reunification.
- Wooing the PICs away from the West and Taiwan will therefore make the goal of Taiwanâs reunification easier for China.
- Currently, only four PICs have recognised Taiwan. They are Tuvalu, Palau, Marshall Islands and Nauru.
What are the implications of Chinaâs latest move?
- China has increasingly started talking about security cooperation in addition to its economic diplomacy towards the PICs.
- In April 2022, China signed a controversial security deal with the Solomon Islands, which raised regional concerns.
- The PICs as a collective did not agree to Chinaâs extensive and ambitious proposals, and therefore China failed to get a consensus on the deal.
Why did the PICs refuted China?
- PICs perceived that they could have negative implications for the sovereignty and unity of PICs and may drag them into major power conflicts in the future.
- Some have argued that China has acted too boldly and has therefore met with such a debacle.
- China might have also miscalculated the regional reaction, perhaps led by a monolithic understanding of the PICs after seeing Solomon Islandsâ positive response earlier this year.
A caution for the world
- China can always come back with improvised plan (rather bigger lollipop) which is more acceptable and use it to further pursue its final objectives incrementally.
- Moreover, this debacle does not stop China from pursuing bilateral deals of similar nature.
Conclusion
- The intensification of Chinaâs diplomacy in PICs have made the powers who have traditionally controlled the regional dynamics like the US and Australia more cautious.
- The US has started revisiting its diplomatic priority for the region ever since the China-Solomon Islands deal.
- The role played by the US in mobilising opposition against Chinaâs proposed deal could not be ruled out.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Unlawful (Activities) Prevention Act (UAPA)
Mains level: Sedition and anti-national activities
The Supreme Court recently put freeze on sedition proceedings under the Section 124A (sedition law) of the IPC for persons who have also been charged under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) of 1967 in the same case or separately.
What is the news?
- This freeze has rejected bails for some journalist and JNU activists who also face charges under the UAPA (for anti-India sloganeering and activites).
- Now they have been accused of making anti-national activities during the Delhi Riots.
Why is UAPA significant?
- An amendment made in 2019 has made the Act even more powerful.
- Now it can designate individuals, and not just associations, as âterroristsâ.
Unlawful (Activities) Prevention Act (UAPA)
- The UAPA is aimed at effective prevention of unlawful activities associations in India.
- Its main objective was to make powers available for dealing with activities directed against the integrity and sovereignty of India
- It is an upgrade on the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act TADA, which was allowed to lapse in 1995 and the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) was repealed in 2004.
- It was originally passed in 1967 under the then Congress government led by former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
- Till 2004, âunlawfulâ activities referred to actions related to secession and cession of territory. Following the 2004 amendment, âterrorist actâ was added to the list of offences.
Major feature: Designation of Terrorists
- The Centre had amended UAPA, 1967, in August 2019 to include the provision of designating an individual as a terrorist.
- Before this amendment, only organisations could be designated as terrorist outfits.
- Section 15 of the UAPA defines a âterrorist actâ as any act committed with intent to threaten or likely to threaten the unity, integrity, security, economic security, or sovereignty of India or with intent to strike terror or likely to strike terror in the people or any section of the people in India or in any foreign country.
- The original Act dealt with âunlawfulâ acts related to secession; anti-terror provisions were introduced in 2004.
Who makes such designation?
- The UAPA (after 2019 amendment)seeks to empower the central government to designate an individual a âterroristâ if they are found committing, preparing for, promoting, or involved in an act of terror.
- A similar provision already exists in Part 4 and 6 of the legislation for organizations that can be designated as a âterrorist organisationsâ.
How individuals are declared terrorists?
- The central government may designate an individual as a terrorist through a notification in the official gazette, and add his name to the schedule supplemented to the UAPA Bill.
- The government is not required to give an individual an opportunity to be heard before such a designation.
- At present, in line with the legal presumption of an individual being innocent until proven guilty, an individual who is convicted in a terror case is legally referred to as a terrorist.
- While those suspected of being involved in terrorist activities are referred to as terror accused.
What happens when an individual is declared a terrorist?
- The designation of an individual as a global terrorist by the United Nations is associated with sanctions including travel bans, freezing of assets and an embargo against procuring arms.
- The UAPA, however, does not provide any such detail.
- It also does not require the filing of cases or arresting individuals while designating them as terrorists.
Removing the terrorist tag
- The UAPA gives the central government the power to remove a name from the schedule when an individual makes an application.
- The procedure for such an application and the process of decision-making will is decided by the central government.
- If an application filed by an individual declared a terrorist is rejected by the government, the UAPA gives him the right to seek a review within one month after the application is rejected.
- The central government will set up the review committee consisting of a chairperson (a retired or sitting judge of a High Court) and three other members.
- The review committee is empowered to order the government to delete the name of the individual from the schedule that lists âterroristsâ if it considers the order to be flawed.
- Apart from these two avenues, the individual can also move the courts to challenge the governmentâs order.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: PM Shri Schools
Mains level: New Education Policy, 2020
Union Education Ministry is planning to set up “PM Shri Schools”.
PM Shri Schools
- PM Shri Schools will be the laboratory of National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
- They will be fully equipped to prepare students for the future.
Likely features of these schools
- It could imbibe 5+3+3+4 (to replace the 10+2 schooling system) approach of NEP covering pre-school to secondary, emphasis on ECCE, teacher training & adult education.
- There will be an integration of skill development with school education and prioritising learning in mother tongue which are steps for preparing global citizens of the 21st century.
- Since the NEP 2020 also increases the span of the Right to Education Act, it will now cover ages 3 to 18.
Explained: 5+3+3+4 Schooling System
- As per the new school education system of 5+3+3+4 outlined in NEP 2020, children will spend 5 years in the Foundational stage, 3 years in the Preparatory stage, 3 years in the Middle stage, and 4 years in the Secondary stage.
- The division of stages has been made in line with the kind of cognitive development stages that a child goes through early childhood, school years, and secondary stage.
- Here is the age-wise breakdown of the different levels of the new school education system:
(1) 5 years of Foundational stage:
For ages: 3 to 8, For classes: Anganwadi/pre-school, class 1, class 2
- The foundational stage of education as per the national education policy will comprise 3 years or preschool or anganwadi education followed by two years of primary classes (classes 1 and 2).
- This stage will focus on teaching in play-based or activity-based methods and on the development of language skills.
(2) 3 years of Preparatory stage:
For ages: 8 to 11, For classes: 3 to 5
- The focus in the preparatory stage will remain on language development and numeracy skills.
- Here, the method of teaching and learning would be play and activity-based, and also include classroom interactions and the element of discovery.
(3) 3 years of Middle stage:
For ages: 11 to 14, For classes: 6 to 8
- As per NEP 2020, this stage of school education will focus on critical learning objectives, which is a big shift from the rote learning methods used in our education system for years.
- This stage will work on experiential learning in the sciences, mathematics, arts, social sciences and humanities.
(4) 4 years of Secondary stage:
For ages: 14 to 18, For classes: 9 to 12
- This stage will cover two phases classes 9 and 10, and classes 11 and 12.
- The main change in these classes is the shift to a multidisciplinary system where students will have access to a variety of subject combinations that they can choose as per their skills and interest areas instead of being strictly divided into Arts, Science and Commerce categories.
- This stage will again push for greater critical thinking and flexibility in the thought process.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: International Liquid Mirror Telescope (ILMT)
Mains level: Not Much
The four-meter International Liquid Mirror Telescope (ILMT) saw the first light recently, gazing out from its vantage on Devasthal, a hill in Uttarakhand.
What is the ILMT?
- The telescope has been built by a collaboration of scientists from Canada, Belgium and India.
- It is located at an altitude of 2,450 metres on the Devasthal Observatory campus of the Aryabhata Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES) in Nainital district.
- A large pool of mercury placed in a vessel is spun around so fast that it curves into a parabolic shape. Since mercury is reflective, this shape helps in focusing the reflected light.
- Nearly 50 litres of mercury, weighing close to 700 kilograms, is spun hard to form a paraboloid mirror of just 4 mm thickness and a diameter of about 4 metres.
- A thin sheet of mylar protects the mercury from the wind.
- Once it starts making observations, the telescope will collect gigabytes of data, which will need to be analysed using artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI and ML) tools.
Itâs utility
- The telescope will make sky surveys possible and obtain images that can help observe transient phenomena.
- It will help analyse events such as supernovae and record the presence of space debris or meteorites â basically, watch the skies.
What is the first image?
- The first image made by the telescope consisted of several stars and a galaxy, NGC 4274, which is 45 million light years away.
- The telescope, having a primary mirror that is liquid, cannot be turned and pointed in any direction.
- It âstaresâ at the zenith and watches the sky as the earth rotates, thereby giving a view of different objects.
- This property can be used to scan and survey the sky, and observe transients and moving objects such as meteorites.
- It will work in tandem with the existing 3.6-metre Devasthal Optical Telescope.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Posidonia Australis
Mains level: Not Much
The worldâs largest plant has recently been discovered off the West Coast of Australia: a seagrass 180 km in length.
Posidonia australis
- The ribbon weed, or Posidonia australis, has been discovered in Shark Bay by a group of researchers from Flinders University and The University of Western Australia.
- These researchers have also found that the plant is 4,500 years old, is sterile, has double the number of chromosomes than other similar plants.
- It has managed to survive the volatile atmosphere of the shallow Shark Bay.
So how remarkable is this plantâs size?
- The ribbon weed covers an area of 20,000 hectares.
- The next on the podium, the second largest plant, is the clonal colony of a quaking Aspen tree in Utah, which covers 43.6 hectares.
- The largest tree in India, the Great Banyan in Howrahâs Botanical Garden, covers 1.41 hectares.
If it is so large, how come it has just been discovered?
- The existence of the seagrass was known, that it is one single plant was not.
- Researchers were interested in what they then thought was a meadow because they wanted to study its genetic diversity, and collect some parts for seagrass restoration.
How did it grow, and survive for, so long?
- Sometime in the Harappan era, a plant took root in the Shark Bay.
- Then it kept spreading through its rhizomes, overcoming everything in its way, and here we are today.
- Ribbon weed rhizomes can usually grow to around 35cm per year, which is how the scientists arrived at its lifespan of 4,5000 years.
- The researchers found that the ribbon weed cannot spread its seeds, something that helps plants overcome environmental threats.
- Also, Shark Bay sees fluctuations in temperature and salinity and gets a lot of light, conditions challenging for any plant.
Ecological significance
- Because seagrass performs a vital role in the environment, and if some of it is hardy, it is good news for everyone in a world threatened by climate change.
- In India, seagrass is found in many coastal areas, most notably in Gulf of Mannar and Palk Strait.
- Apart from being home to a variety of small organisms, seagrass trap sediments and prevent water from getting muddy, absorb carbon from the atmosphere, and prevent coastal erosion.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Eublepharis pictus
Mains level: NA
A gecko found in Visakhapatnam in 2017, then thought to belong to a known species, has now been identified as a member of a new species.
Eublepharis pictus
- The species, Eublepharis pictus, also known as the Painted Leopard Gecko, has been described in the journal Evolutionary Systematics.
- Phylogenetic study and morphological comparisons have distinguished it as a new species.
- It is endemic to the forests of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha.
- The gecko genus Eublepharis now has 7 species.
Conservation status
- The species occurs outside protected areas.
- Most leopard geckos are killed when encountered.
- Activists have called for raising awareness about the fact that the species is actually harmless.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: SVAMITVA Yojana
Mains level: Paper 2- Digital India transformation
Context
Recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a telling observation about his idea of India: â⌠every Indian must have a smartphone in his hand and every field must be covered by a droneâ.
Digital India program and its impact
- Digital India solved some of the most difficult problems the country had been facing for decades.
- The Jan-Dhan-Aadhaar-Mobile (JAM) trinity has ensured that the poorest receive every penny of their entitled benefits.
- Financial benefits worth nearly Rs 23 lakh crore have been transferred using DBT technology in the last eight years.
- This has led to savings of Rs 2.22 lakh crore of public money.
- Leveraging the power of drones and GIS technologies, SVAMITVA Yojana is providing digital land records to the rightful owners
- Digital inclusion: The inclusive character of Digital India not only makes it a unique initiative but also reflects our core philosophy of âSabka Saath, Sabka Vishwasâ.
Digital transformation in India
- India today is home to more than 75 crore smartphones, 133 crore Aadhaar cards, more than 80 crore internet users, has 4G and is now accelerating towards 5G.
- It has among the lowest data tariffs in the world.
- Digital technology must be low-cost, developmental, inclusive, and substantially home-grown and it should bridge the digital divide and usher in digital inclusion.
- The digital ecosystem was also useful in tackling the challenge of the pandemic.
- To provide high-speed broadband to all the villages, optical fibre has been laid in 1.83 lakh gram panchayats under Bharat Net.
- CSCs: There were only 80,000 Common Service Centers (CSCs) in 2014, which is an entity under the Ministry of Electronics and IT headed by Secretary IT, for providing assisted delivery of digital services to common citizens offering only a few services. Today, there are nearly four lakh CSCs.
- Fintech innovation ecosystem: India has emerged as the fastest-growing ecosystem for fintech innovations.Â
- This was made possible due to innovative digital payment products like UPI and Aadhaar-Enabled Payment Systems (AEPS).
- Startup ecosystem: India has more than 61,400 startups as of March 2022, making it the third-largest startup ecosystem after the US and China.
- With nearly 14,000 startups getting recognized during 2021-22, 555 districts of India had at least one new startup as per the Economic Survey 2022.
Atmanirbharta in electronic manufacturing
- With initiatives like Modified Special Incentive Scheme (MSIPS), Electronics Manufacturing Cluster, National Policy on Electronics 2019, Electronics Development Fund, Production Linked Incentive (PLI) and Scheme for Promotion of Electronics Components and Semiconductors (SPECS), India is moving towards self-reliance in the field of electronics manufacturing.
- The value of electronics manufacturing in India has touched $75 billion in 2020-21 from $29 billion in 2014.
- Indian companies have developed their own 4G and 5G technologies.
Conclusion
Digital Indiaâs motto â âPower to Empowerâ â is truly living up to its goals and expectations. The success of Digital India only confirms that it has a robust future in Indiaâs development.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 3- Food security
Context
 India needs to have a strategy of self-reliance in basic foods, including edible oils.
Contrasting cases of Sri Lanka and Saudi Arabia
- Sri Lanka, a country with 21.5 million population imported dairy products valued at $333.8 million in 2020 and $317.7 million in 2021.
- The island nationâs imports of whole milk powder (WMP) alone were 89,000 tonnes and 72,000 tonnes in these two years.
- Â The 89,000 tonnes of powder imported in 2020 would have, thus, âproducedâ almost 2.1 million litres per day (MLPD) equivalent of milk.
- This is as against the 1.3 MLPD that Sri Lanka produces from its own cows and buffaloes.
- It translates into an import dependence of over 60 per cent.
- At the other end, we have Saudi Arabia, home to over 35 million inhabitants (including immigrants) and also the worldâs largest vertically integrated dairy company.
- Almarai Company has six dairy farms producing more than 3.5 MLPD of milk.
- The animals are sourced from the US and Europe.
- The entire feed and also forage given to them are procured from abroad.
- Why is Saudi Arabia taking such pains to produce its own milk?
- The answer is food security.
- The Saudis â other Persian Gulf countries have also copied the Almarai model â are prepared to pay any price when it comes to ensuring the availability of basic food like milk.
Lessons for India: Reducing import dependence on edible oil
- India annually imports 13.5-14.5 million tonnes of vegetable oils, again roughly 60 per cent of its total consumption.
- Â Low international prices meant that the import bill, though high, fell from $9.85 billion in 2012-13 to $9.67 billion in 2019-20.
- However, in the last couple of years, retail prices of most oils more than doubled
- The value of Indiaâs vegetable oil imports surged to a record $19 billion in 2021-22.
Conclusion
As a country with a population many times that of Sri Lanka and Saudi Arabia, India needs to have a strategy of self-reliance in basic foods.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Gig Economy
Mains level: Read the attached story
The Union Labour Ministry is organizing a program aimed at sharing information and good experiences on policies and global practices relating to gig and platform workers and their social security.
What is the Gig Economy?
- In a gig economy, temporary, flexible jobs are commonplace and companies tend toward hiring independent contractors and freelancers instead of full-time employees.
- A gig economy undermines the traditional economy of full-time workers who rarely change positions and instead focus on a lifetime career. e.g Employee models of Uber, Ola, Swiggy etc
- In this economy, tech-enabled platforms connect the consumer to the gig worker to hire services on a short-term basis.
- Gig workers include self-employed, freelancers, independent contributors and part-time workers.
Where does gig culture exist in Indian Economy?
- Sectors such as media, real estate, legal, hospitality, technology-help, management, medicine, allied and education are already operating in gig culture.
- The gig economy can benefit workers, businesses, and consumers by making work more adaptable to the needs of the moment and demand for flexible lifestyles.
Key Drivers for Gig Economy
- Unconventional work approach by millennials: Hectic lifestyles of employees in private sectors have created a negative perception of full-time employment among millennials.
- Emergence of a start-up culture: The start-up ecosystem in India has been developing rapidly. For start-ups, hiring full-time employees leads to high fixed costs and therefore, contractual freelancers are hired for non-core activities.
- MNCs are hiring contractual employees: MNCs are adopting flexi-hiring options, especially for niche projects, to reduce operational expenses after the pandemic.
- Rise in freelancing platforms: Rise in freelancing platforms has also aided in the development of the gig economy.
- Business Models: Gig employees work on various compensation models such as fixed-fee (decided during contract initiation), time & effort, actual unit of work delivered and quality of outcome.
- Impact of Covid-19: Many laid-off employees are focusing on developing skills to avail freelance job opportunities and become a part of this burgeoning economy.
Why is Gig Economy preferred by workers?
- Profit through multiple work: One can work on freelancing as well as work full-time somewhere else.
- Women empowerment: It is very beneficial for womenwho work on this concept when they cannot continue their work or take a break from career due to marriage or child birth.
- Leisure and dependency: Retired peoplecan stay active after retirement as this will keep them engaged away from loneliness and depression and can earn as well on their own.
- Flexibility and diversity to the workers: It offers flexibility when workers can work according to their convenience and schedule rather than routine like in full-time jobs.
- Work from home: The travel costs and energy to travel to the workplace is reduced.
Why is Gig Economy preferred by Employers?
- Efficiency, efficacy and productivity of workers in the gig economy are much more than that of a stable full-time job.
- More rconomical for employers-when employment givers canât afford to hire full-time workers, they hire people for specific projects and pay them.
- Start-up companies and entrepreneurs â who do not have big financial space â can grow only if they can leverage the services of contract employees or freelancers.
- In a gig economy, businesses save resources in terms of benefits, office space and training.
- Competition and efficiency among workers is improved.
Challenges faced in Gig economy
- No perks and benefits: There are no labour welfare emoluments like pension, gratuity, etc. for the workers.
- Job insecurity: Gig workers may face unfair termination. They may also attain minimum wages and less paid leave.
- No legal protection: Workers do not have the bargaining power to negotiate a fair deal with their employers.
- Unionization of workers will be difficult.
- Confidentiality of documents etc. of the workplace is not guaranteed
- Urban nature: The gig economy is not accessible for people in many rural areas where internet connectivity and electricity is unavailable.
Way Forward
- The gig economy has been on the rise and is expected to beat the pre-pandemic estimates due the expected influx of gig workers transitioning from full-time employment.
- While the government has taken the initial steps to ensure social security of gig workers, the âCode on Social Securityâ needs to be fine-tuned.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NA
Mains level: Global sanctions on Russia
As part of the sixth package of sanctions since Russiaâs invasion of Ukraine, the European Union member states reached an agreement to ban 90% of Russian crude oil imports by the end of the year.
Oil embargo on Russia
- The proposal is to completely phase out Russian crude and refined products from EU territory.
- It includes a complete import ban on all Russian oil, seaborne and pipeline crude and refined.
- This however needed the agreement of all the 27 EU member states in order to be implemented.
What was the rationale behind such a move?
- The Russian economy is heavily dependent on energy exports, with the EU paying billions of dollars every month to Russia.
- The EU wants to block this massive revenue inflow.
- This is akin to Europeans bankrolling Russiaâs war.
Why such a move now?
- The EU has been attempting, ever since the Ukraine invasion, to build consensus on ways to hurt Russia economically.
- The most obvious route was to stop buying Russian energy, which isnât easy given European householdsâ dependence on Russian oil and gas.
What are the terms of the âcompromise dealâ that has been agreed upon?
- EU leaders have agreed to ban all seaborne imports of Russian crude, which account for two-thirds of EUâs oil imports from Russia.
- Germany and Poland are pledging to phase out even their pipeline imports from Russia by the end of the year.
- The embargo would eliminate 90% of Russian oil imports.
Special concessions to Hungary
- The remaining 10% thatâs been allowed represents a free pass for Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Bulgaria to continue imports via the Druzhba pipeline, the worldâs largest oil pipeline network.
- Hungary has obtained a guarantee that it could even import seaborne Russian oil in case of a disruption to their pipeline supplies.
- This was deemed a legitimate concession since the pipelines do pass through the war zone in Ukraine.
Why was exemption given for pipeline imports?
- The exemption for pipeline imports was made on the logic that landlocked countries (Hungary, Czech Republic and Slovakia).
- They are heavily dependent on Russian pipeline oil and do not have a ready option to switch to alternative sources in the absence of ports.
How will the sanctions affect Russia?
- Analysts calculate that a two-thirds cut in Europeâs imports might cause Russia an annual loss in revenue of $10 billion.
- Given Russiaâs limited storage infrastructure, the cutback in demand would force Russia to find other markets.
- Since that wonât be easy, Russia might have to cut production by 20-30%.
- So far, Asian importers, especially India, have absorbed some of the excess inventory at discounted prices.
Impact on the ongoing war
- It remains unclear if the embargo would have any impact on Russian military operations in Ukraine.
How will the sanctions affect Europe?
- It is likely to further fuel inflation in Europe, where many countries are already facing a cost-of-living crisis.
- European lifestyles have tended to take cheap Russian energy for granted, and if inflation peaks further, the EU runs the risk of losing public support for harsh sanctions.
What about the import of Russian gas?
- Compared to Russian oil, Europeâs dependence on Russian gas is much greater, and this embargo leaves the import of Russian gas â which accounts of 40% of Europeâs natural gas imports â untouched.
- In other words, Europe will continue to pay Russia for gas imports.
- But since crude is more expensive than natural gas, the oil ban is expected to hurt Russian revenues.
Indian response to these developments
- India ramped up purchases of Russian crude at discounted prices in the months following the Russian invasion, and this policy is expected to continue.
- The announcement of the EU ban caused an immediate surge in oil prices, and as Europe seeks alternate sources â from West Asia, Africa and elsewhere â for its oil needs, prices are expected to stay high.
- In this context, with Russia reportedly offering discounts of $30-35 per barrel, India has found it convenient to make the most of the cheap Russian crude on offer.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Overseas Indians
Mains level: Issues faced by Overseas Indians
A national helpline for women deserted in Non-Resident Indian (NRI) marriages and the need for a dedicated fund to provide assistance to them are among the recommendations made at a consultation organized by the National Commission for Women (NCW).
What are the issues faced by NRI wives?
- Abandon after marriage
- Inconclusive divorces filed abroad
- Child custody disputes
Classification of Overseas Indians
Overseas Indians, officially known as Non-resident Indians (NRIs) or Persons of Indian Origin (PIOs), are people of Indian birth, descent or origin who live outside the Republic of India:
(A) Non-Resident Indian (NRI)
- Strictly asserting non-resident refers only to the tax status of a person who, as per section 6 of the Income-tax Act of 1961, has not resided in India for a specified period for the purposes of the Act.
- The rates of income tax are different for persons who are âresident in Indiaâ and for NRIs.
(B) Person of Indian Origin (PIO)
Person of Indian Origin (PIO) means a foreign citizen (except a national of Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, China, Iran, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and/or Nepal), who:
- at any time held an Indian passport OR
- either of their parents/grandparents/great-grandparents were born and permanently resident in India as defined in GoI Act, 1935 and other territories that became part of India thereafter provided neither was at any time a citizen of any of the aforesaid countries OR
- is a spouse of a citizen of India or a PIO.
(C) Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI)
- After multiple efforts by leaders across the Indian political spectrum, a pseudo-citizenship scheme was established, the âOverseas Citizenship of Indiaâ, commonly referred to as the OCI card.
- The Constitution of India does not permit full dual citizenship.
- The OCI card is effectively a long-term visa, with restrictions on voting rights and government jobs.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Article 142
Mains level: Paper 2- Implications of Perarivalan case for federalism
Context
The recent decision of the Supreme Court of India in the case of A.G. Perarivalan has stirred up a hornetâs nest.
Use of Article 142 to grant pardon
- The Court has treaded the extraordinary constitutional route under Article 142.
- The Bench decided to exercise the power of grant of pardon, remission et al., exclusively conferred on the President of India and State Governors under Articles 72 and 161.
- Against the separation of power: Against the background of separation of powers viz. Parliament/Legislature, Executive and Judiciary, whether the course adopted by the Bench to do expedient justice is constitutional calls for introspection.
Evaluating the constitutionality of decision
- The power under Article 161 is exercisable in relation to matters to which the executive power of the state extends.
- Discretionary power under Article 161: Article 161 consciously provides a âdiscretionâ to the Governor in taking a final call, even if it was not wide enough to overrule the advice, but it certainly provides latitude to send back any resolution for reconsideration, if, in his opinion, the resolution conflicted with constitutional ends.
- In Sriharanâs case (2016 (7) SCC P.1), one of the references placed for consideration was whether the term âconsultationâ stipulated in Section 435 Cr.P.C. implies âconcurrenceâ.
- It was held that the word âconsultationâ means âconcurrenceâ of the Central government.
- The Constitution Bench highlighted that there are situations where consideration of remission would have trans-border ramifications and wherever a central agency was involved, the opinion of the Central government must prevail.
- Basing its conclusion on the legal position that the subject matter (Section 302 in the Indian Penal Code) murder, falls within Lists II and III (State and Concurrent lists) of the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution, the learned judges concluded that the State was fully empowered to take a call and recommend remission in this case.
- If it is a simple case of being a Section 302 crime, the reason for finding fault with the Governorâs decision to forward the recommendation to the President may be constitutionally correct.
- But the larger controversy as to whether the Governor in his exercise of power under Article 161 is competent at all, to grant pardon or remission in respect of the offences committed by the convicts under the Arms Act, 1959, the Explosive Substances Act, 1908, the Passports Act, 1967, the Foreigners Act, 1946, etc., besides Section 302, is not certain.
- According to the decision, it is a simple murder attracting Section 302 of the IPC and therefore the Governorâs decision to forward the recommendation to the President is against the letter and spirit of Article 161 â meaning it is against the spirit of federalism envisaged in the Constitution.
- Constitutionality use of Article 142: There are momentous issues that are flagged on the exercise of the power of remission under Article 142, by the Supreme Court in the present factual context.
- The first is whether Article 142 could be invoked by the Court in the circumstances of the case when the Constitution conferred express power on the Governor alone, for grant of pardon, remission, etc., under Article 161.
Way forward
- Deeper judicial examination: Whether what the State government could not achieve directly by invoking Sections 432 and 433 of Cr.P.C, without concurrence of Centre could be allowed to take a contrived route vide Article 161 and achieve its objectives is a pertinent issue.
- This aspect requires deeper judicial examination for the sake of constitutional clarity.
- Timeframe for the Governor: The Constitution does not lay down any timeframe for the Governor to act on the advice of the Council of Ministers.
- In any event, even if the delay was constitutionally inexcusable or was vulnerable to challenge, the final arbiter of the Constitution (Article 245) could not have trumped Article 161 with Article 142, which is constitutionally jarring.
Conclusion
To portray the remission as to what it was not in the State is a sad fallout the lawlords on the pulpit may not have bargained for. And on the constitutional plane, this verdict deserves a relook, even a review, as it stands on wobbly foundations built with creaky credence.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Section 124A IPC
Mains level: Sedition law and Free speech
The Supreme Court suspended pending criminal trials and court proceedings under Section 124A (sedition) of the Indian Penal Code, while allowing the Union of India to reconsider the British-era law.
What did the SC say?
- All pending trials, appeals and proceedings with respect to the charge framed under Section 124A of the IPC be kept in temporary suspension.
- The court also restrained centre and states from registering FIRs, continuing investigations or take coercive measures under Section 124A.
What is the Sedition Law?
- Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code lays down the punishment for sedition. The IPC was enacted in 1860, under the British Raj.
- The then British government in India feared that religious preachers on the Indian subcontinent would wage a war against the government.
- Particularly after the successful suppression of the Wahabi/Waliullah Movement by the British, the need was felt for such law.
- Throughout the Raj, this section was used to suppress activists in favor of national independence, including Tilak and Mahatma Gandhi, both of whom were found guilty and imprisoned.
Do you know?
Queen-Empress v. Bal Gangadhar Tilak (1897) was the first case in which Section 124A was defined and applied. Again in 1908, when Tilak was tried under same section, then young barrister and a staunch protagonist Mohammed Ali Jinnah defended Tilak.
What is Sedition?
- The Section 124A defines sedition as:
An offence committed when âany person by words, either spoken or written, or by signs, or by visible representation, or otherwise, brings or attempts to bring into hatred or contempt, or excites or attempts to excite disaffection towards the government established by law in Indiaâ.
- Disaffection includes disloyalty and all feelings of enmity.
- However, comments without exciting or attempting to excite hatred, contempt or disaffection, will not constitute an offense.
- Sedition is a non-bailable offense.
- Punishment under Section 124A ranges from imprisonment up to three years to a life term with/without a fine.
Sedition as a cognizable offense
- Sedition was made a cognizable offense for the first time in history in India during the tenure of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1973, that is, arrest without a warrant was now permissible.
- In 1962 the Supreme Court of India interpreted the section to apply only if there is, say, âincitement to violenceâ or âoverthrowing a democratically elected government through violent meansâ.
Is it constitutionally valid?
- Violative of FRs: Two high courts had found it unconstitutional after Independence, as it violated the freedom of speech and expression.
- Reasonable restrictions: The Constitution was amended to include âpublic orderâ as one of the âreasonable restrictionsâ on which free speech could be abridged by law.
- Kedar Nath Case: Thereafter, the Supreme Court, in Kedar Nath Singh v. State of Bihar (1962) upheld its validity.
- Limited use: At the same time, it limited its application to acts that involve âintention or tendency to create disorderâ or incitement to violence.
- Strong criticism doesnât amount to sedition: Thus, even strongly worded remarks, as long as they do not excite disloyalty and enmity, or incite violence, are not an offence under this section.
Why the controversy now?
- Frequent use: In recent times, the resort to this section is seen as disturbingly frequent.
- Curbing dissent: Activists, cartoonists and intellectuals have been arrested under this section, drawing criticism from liberals that it is being used to suppress dissent and silence critics.
- Misuse for propaganda: Authorities and the police who invoke this section defend the measure as a necessary step to prevent public disorder and anti-national activities.
- Irrelevance: Many of them have also been detained under the National Security Act and UAPA.
What is being debated about it?
- Demand for its scrapping: Liberals and rights activists have been demanding the scrapping of Section 124A.
- Provision is outdated: It is argued that the provision is âoverbroadâ, i.e., it defines the offence in wide terms threatening the liberty of citizens.
- Various calls for its reconsideration: The Law Commission has also called for a reconsideration of the section.
- Tyranny of the law: It has pointed that Britain abolished it more than a decade ago and raised the question of whether a provision introduced by the British to put down the freedom struggle should continue to be law in India.
- Doctrine of severability: Some argue that a presumption of constitutionality does not apply to pre-constitutional laws as those laws have been made by foreign legislature or bodies.
Need for such law
- There are some tendencies exist even today who wish to overthrow the state apparatus and constitutional scheme of India.
- It falls on the judiciary to protect Articles 19 and Article 21 of the Constitution.
- Undue exercise of free speech has led to overture of ordinary dissent into an anti-national insurrection or uprising.
- There are areas in the country that face hostile activities and insurgencies created by rebel groups, like the Maoists.
- There must be restrictions on expressing unnecessary contempt or ridiculing of the Government beyond certain limits.
Way forward
- India is the largest democracy in the world and the right to free speech and expression is an essential ingredient of democracy.
- The sedition law should not be abolished as some measures are needed to check communal violence & insurgency activities like Naxals.
- The definition of sedition should be narrowed down, to include only the issues pertaining to the territorial integrity of India as well as the sovereignty of the country.
- Section 124A should not be misused as a tool to curb free speech.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Aadhaar and its minuscles
Mains level: Data Privacy and Aadhaar
Two days after issuing an advisory asking people to refrain from sharing photocopies of their Aadhaar Card, the Unique Identification Development Authority of India (UIDAI) opted to withdraw the notification.
UIDAI Advisory
- The withdrawn notice had suggested holders use a masked Aadhaar card instead of the conventional photocopy.
- It added that the document must not be downloaded from a cybercafe or public computer and if done for some reason, must be permanently deleted from the system.
- Private entities like hotels or film halls cannot collect or keep copies of the identification document.
What is Masked Aadhaar?
- âMasked Aadhaarâ veils the first eight digits of the twelve-digit ID with âXXXXâ characters.
- The notice informed that only entities possessing a âUser Licenceâ are permitted to seek Aadhaar for authentication purposes.
Why in news now?
- In July 2018, Telecom Regulatory of Indiaâs Chairman tweeted his Aadhaar number challenging users to âcause him any harmâ.
- In response, users dug up his mobile number, PAN number, photographs, residential address and date of birth.
- UIDAI dismissed assertions of any data leak, arguing that most of the data was publicly available.
- It did however caution users from publicly sharing their Aadhaar numbers.
Security of Aadhaar: What does the law say?
- The Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies Benefits and Services) Act, 2016 makes it clear.
- Aadhaar authentication is necessary for availing subsidies, benefits and services that are financed from the Consolidated Fund of India.
- In the absence of Aadhaar, the individual is to be offered an alternate and viable means of identification to ensure she/he is not deprived of the same.
- Separately, Aadhaar has been described as a preferred KYC (Know Your Customer) document but not mandatory for opening bank accounts, acquiring a new SIM or school admissions.
- The requesting entity would have to obtain the consent of the individual before collecting his/her identity.
- The entity must ensure that the information is only used for authentication purposes on the Central Identities Data Repository (CIDR).
What is CIDR?
- This centralised database contains all Aadhaar numbers and holderâs corresponding demographic and biometric information.
- UIDAI responds to authentication queries with a âYesâ or âNoâ.
- In some cases, basic KYC details (as name, address, photograph etc.) accompany the verification answer âYesâ.
- The regulator does not receive or collect the holderâs bank, investment or insurance details.
Protection of confidentiality
- The Act makes it clear that confidentiality needs to be maintained and the authenticated information cannot be used for anything other than the specified purpose.
- More importantly, no Aadhaar number (or enclosed personal information) collected from the holder can be published, displayed or posted publicly.
- Identity information or authentication records would only be liable to be produced pursuant to an order of the High Court or Supreme Court, or by someone of the Secretary rank or above in the interest of national security.
Is identity theft via Aadhaar possible?
- As per the National Payment Corporation of Indiaâs (NCPI) data, âš6.48 crore worth of financial frauds through 8,739 transactions involving 2,391 unique users took place in FY 2021-22.
- Since the inception of the UID project, institutions and organisations have endowed greater focus on linking their databases with Aadhaar numbers.
- This include bank accounts especially in light of the compulsory linkage for direct benefit transfer schemes.
Structural problems with UIDAI
- The Aadhaar Data Vault is where all numbers collected by authentication agencies are centrally stored.
- Comptroller and Auditor General of Indiaâs (CAG) latest report stipulated that UIDAI has not specified any encryption algorithm (as of October 2020) to secure the same.
- There is no mechanism to illustrate that the entities were adhering to appropriate procedures.
- Further, UIDAIâs unstable record with biometric authentication has not helped it with de-duplication efforts, the process that ensures that each Aadhaar Number generated is unique.
- The CAGâs reported stated that apart from the issue of multiple Aadhaars to the same resident, there have been instances of the same biometric data being accorded to multiple residents.
Conclusion
- The CAG concluded it was ânot effective enoughâ in detecting the leakages and plugging them.
- Biometric authentications can be a cause of worry, especially for disabled and senior citizens with both the iris and fingerprints dilapidating.
- Though the UIDAI has assured that no one would be deprived of any benefits due to biometric authentication failures.
- The absence of an efficient technology could serve as poignant premise for frauds to make use of their âdatabasesâ.
Try this PYQ:
Q.Consider the following statements:
- Aadhaar metadata cannot be stored for more than three months.
- State cannot enter into any contract with private corporations for sharing of Aadhaar data.
- Aadhaar is mandatory for obtaining insurance products.
- Aadhaar is mandatory for getting benefits funded out of the Consolidated Fund of India.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 and 4 only
(b) 2 and 4 only
(c) 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3 only
Post your answers here.
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