THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTS

1. INDIA’S TRADE DEFICIT WITH CHINA HIT A RECORD $77 BN IN FY22

THE CONTEXT: China’s General Administration of Customs (GACC) data showed that India’s exports to China stood at $26.46 billion while its imports from China stood at $103.47 for April 2021 to March 2022.

THE EXPLANATION:

• Despite the government’s ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ push and attempts to reduce the nation’s dependence on goods manufactured in China, India’s trade deficit with the neighbouring country hit a record $77 billion from April 2021 to March 2022.
• Electrical and electronic goods, machinery and fertilizers are the main drivers of India’s imports from China, according to the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO), the apex trade promotion body under India’s commerce ministry.

• Unlike the GACC, which has provided data for the month of March 2022 the Indian commerce ministry has only furnished figures up to February this year (2022). From the Indian side, the trade deficit so far stands at approximately $65.34 billion from April 2021 to February 2022.
• According to commerce ministry data, this is still far higher than what was recorded in previous years – the trade deficit stood at $53.57 billion in 2018-19, $48.65 billion in 2019-20 and $44.02 billion in 2020-21.
• In fact, the trade deficit breached the $60 billion-mark was in 2017-2018 at $63 billion. Reports at the time attributed this to the significant decline in India’s exports of ores and cotton to China.

POINTS TO REMEMBER:

India’s total trade with China was $125.7 billion in 2021. The sharp uptick in imports has pushed India’s trade deficit with China to $69.4 billion in 2021, up from $45.9 billion in 2020 and $56.8 billion in 2019.

2. INDIA’S OIL IMPORT BILL DOUBLES TO USD 119 BN IN FY22

THE CONTEXT: According to data from the oil ministry’s Petroleum Planning & Analysis Cell (India, the world’s third-biggest oil consuming and importing nation, spent USD 119.2 billion in 2021-22 (April 2021 to March 2022), up from USD 62.2 billion in the previous fiscal year PPAC).

THE EXPLANATION:

• India’s crude oil import bill nearly doubled to USD 119 billion in the fiscal year that ended on March 31 2022, as energy prices soared globally following the return of demand and war in Ukraine.
• According to PPAC, India imported 212.2 million tonnes of crude oil in 2021-22, up from 196.5 million tonnes in the previous year. This was, however, lower than pre-pandemic imports of 227 million tonnes in 2019-20. The spending on oil imports in 2019-20 was USD 101.4 billion
• India, which is 5 percent dependent on imports to meet crude oil needs, has a surplus refining capacity and it exports some petroleum products but is short on the production of cooking gas LPG, which is imported from nations like Saudi Arabia.
• Import of petroleum products in the 2021-22 fiscal was 40.2 million tonnes worth USD 24.2 billion. On the other hand, 61.8 million tonnes of petroleum products were also exported for USD 42.3 billion.
• Besides, India also spent USD 11.9 billion on the import of 32 billion cubic meters of LNG in 2021-22. This compared to USD 7.9 billion spent on the import of 33 bcm of gas in the previous fiscal and USD 9.5 billion on the import of 33.9 bcm in 2019-20.
• India had spent USD 62.2 billion on the import of 196.5 million tonnes of crude oil in the previous 2020-21 fiscal when global oil prices remained subdued in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. A higher crude oil import bill is expected to dent the macroeconomic parameters.
• The country’s import dependence has increased owing to a steady decline in domestic output. The nation produced 32.2 million tonnes of crude oil in 2019-20, which fell to 30.5 million tonnes in the following year and to 29.7 million tonnes in FY22, the PPAC data showed.
• According to PPAC, India’s oil import dependence was 85 percent in 2019-20, which declined marginally to 84.4 percent in the following year before climbing to 85.5 percent in 2021-22.

QUICK FACTS

Where does India import oil?

India imports most of its oil from the Middle East, with Iraq and Saudi Arabia being primary.

India‘s crude oil imports according to regions

1. Middle East: 52.7 %
2. Africa: Africa:15%
3. United States: 14%

Top Five countries  where India imports most of its crude oil from:

1. Iraq
2. United States
3. Nigeria
4. Saudi Arabia
5. UAE

THE ENVIRONMENT, ECOLOGY, AND CLIMATE CHANGE

3. PALLI IN JAMMU BECOMES INDIA’S FIRST CARBON-NEUTRAL PANCHAYAT

THE CONTEXT: Palli village in Jammu’s Samba district has become the country’s first panchayat to become carbon neutral, fully powered by solar energy, and with all its records digitized and saturation of benefits of all the Central schemes.

THE EXPLANATION:

• Inaugurating the 500 KW solar plant at the country’s first carbon-neutral panchayat, Prime Minister it would take three weeks to move a ‘Sarkari’ file from Delhi to Jammu and Kashmir but this project with the help of villagers was completed in a record time of three weeks.
• All 1,500 solar panels put up in a total area of 6,408 square metres, as per the officials, will provide clean electricity to 340 houses in the model panchayat under the Centre’s ‘Gram Urja Swaraj’ programme.

VALUE ADDITION:

• Carbon neutrality means every ton of anthropogenic CO2 emitted is compensated with an equivalent amount of CO2 removed, according to the World Resources Institute.
• In order to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, carbon neutrality by the mid-21st century is essential. This target is also laid down in the Paris agreement signed by 195 countries, including the EU.
• Carbon sink is any system that absorbs more carbon than it emits.
• The main natural carbon sinks are soil, forests and oceans.
• To date, no artificial carbon sinks are able to remove carbon from the atmosphere on the necessary scale to fight global warming.
• The carbon stored in natural sinks such as forests is released into the atmosphere through forest fires, changes in land use, or logging.
• Another way to reduce emissions and pursue carbon neutrality is to offset emissions made in one sector by reducing them somewhere else. This can be done through investment in renewable energy, energy efficiency or other clean, low-carbon technologies.

4. AIR POLLUTANTS IMPACT IMMUNE CELLS IN CAUSING CANCER

THE CONTEXT: According to the latest research by Zhenzhen Wang of Nanjing University, China, experts believe that the new findings may lead to new approaches for treating the initial lung changes that eventually progress to cancer.

THE EXPLANATION:

• Air pollutants have many forms. Apart from gaseous chemical components like carbon, nitrogen, sulphur, etc., some tiny powdery particles also contribute to air pollution. These inhalable fine particulate matter (FPM) that circulate in the air have already been recognized as carcinogens. These particulate matters are now considered a substantial threat to global health. Although their role in the genesis of cancer is widely acknowledged, the mechanism through which they develop the disease remains largely enigmatic.
• In this context, it is worth mentioning that the highly complex cancer disease also involves cells from our immune system (our body’s defence mechanism).
• Some immune cells play a crucial role in preventing cancer progression by destroying the cells where cancer has been initiated.

According to the study,

• To explore the indirect way through which the FPMs can exert their impact on cancer progression, the researchers first collected samples of FPM from seven locations in China. The team then attempted to analyze their effects on a particular kind of immune cell called the cytotoxic T cells (CTL).
• The CTLs play a crucial role in defending the growth of tumours. The researchers first administered lung cancer cells in mice not exposed to FPM. In these mice, induced with lung cancer cells but unexposed to FPM, the important immune cells were recruited to the lung to destroy the tumour cells. On the other hand, the researchers conducted the same experiment with mice administered with lung cancer cells and exposed to FPMs.
• They found that in the second set of mice, the movement of CTLs was delayed, which concomitantly allowed the tumour cells to grow and establish in the lung tissue.
• The FPM exposed lung tissues got dramatically compressed up to the level where the space between the lung tissue and the space where CTLs move became congested. In addition, the researchers found that there was a high level of collagen.

• The CTLs struggled to move into the FPM exposed lung tissues where tumour formation had started.
• They further analyzed the lung tissues and found that they showed structural changes because of an increase in a particular type of collagen known as collagen IV. However, the team could not find any clue how FPM triggered this. Nevertheless, they found another hint. The enzymes, known as peroxidasin, make the collagen drive a specific type of situation, leading to the collagen formation becoming absurd.

PLACES IN NEWS

5. FALKLAND ISLANDS

THE CONTEXT: The Government of Argentina will launch a campaign in India demanding negotiation with the United Kingdom to settle the territorial dispute over the Islas Malvinas that are known as the Falkland Islands in the UK.

THE EXPLANATION:

The initiative, which comes two days after the visit of UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, coincides with the 40th anniversary of the conflict between the UK and Argentina, which ended with the re-establishment of British control over the archipelago.

ABOUT FALKLAND ISLAND:

• The Falkland Islands are an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf.
• As a British overseas territory, the Falklands have internal self-governance, and the United Kingdom takes responsibility for their defence and foreign affairs. The capital and largest settlement is Stanley on East Falkland.
• Argentina has maintained that the Falklands were illegally taken from it in 1833 and invaded the British colony in 1982. That incident resulted in what later came to be known as the Falklands War which lasted a little over three months, ending in victory for the United Kingdom.

THE MISCELLANEOUS

6. WORLD MALARIA DAY

THE CONTEXT: On April 25, 2022, the Union Health Ministry organized Malaria awareness campaigns and events across the nation on the occasion of World Malaria Day.

THE EXPLANATION:

• World Malaria Day 2022 will be marked under the theme “Harness innovation to reduce the malaria disease burden and save lives.” No single tool that is available today will solve the problem of malaria.
• WHO is calling for investments and innovation that bring new vector control approaches, diagnostics, antimalarial medicines and other tools to speed the pace of progress against malaria.
• The Global technical strategy for malaria 2016–2030 was adopted by the World Health Assembly in May 2015. It provides a comprehensive framework to guide countries in their efforts to accelerate progress towards malaria elimination. The strategy sets the target of reducing global malaria incidence and mortality rates by at least 90% by 2030.

Status:

• According to World Health Organization (WHO) has launched the World Malaria Report 2021, highlighting the havoc malaria continues to wreck on the world’s poorest and most vulnerable.
• An estimated 14 million more cases and 69,000 more deaths were caused by malaria in 2020 compared to 2019. India was the only high burden country to record progress by sustaining a reduction in malaria burden between 2019 and 2020. However, the rate of decline was slower than before the pandemic, the WHO report stated, with the country still sharing over 80 percent of the malaria burden of South-East Asia.
• The WHO report also highlighted sizable gaps in malaria funding, as the demand to sustain progress increased to a year to $6.8 billion with only a tiny increase in malaria funding. In the South-East Asia region, the malaria funding per person at risk in India has been slower than the neighboring countries, stated the report.

THE PRELIMS PRACTICE QUESTIONS

QUESTION OF THE DAY

1. Which of the following carries out an all-India survey on household consumption expenditure?

a) Labour Bureau

b) Union Ministry of Finance

c) Union Ministry of Home Affairs

d) National Statistical Office

ANSWER FOR 23RD APRIL 2022

Answer: B

Explanation:

1. Hate speech is violent in itself and must be called out READ MORE
2. Plant the right seedREAD MORE

1. Saving Mangroves READ MORE
2. Agrarian Distress in Kuttanad a Wake-Up Call For Urgent Climate Adaptation READ MORE
3. World’s poorest countries need $6 billion a year for water, sanitation in healthcare centres: WaterAid READ MORE

1. Face the facts on communal violence in India READ MORE
2. The primacy of ‘Inclusion’ in Indian Thought READ MORE

1. Understanding the Olga Tellis judgment READ MORE
2. Towards a resolution of the Arunachal-Assam border dispute READ MORE
3. Reforming the higher education system READ MORE
4. Police must be part of the reform agenda READ MORE

(Newspapers, PIB and other important sources)

Prelim and Main

1. PM Modi receives Lata Mangeshkar Award READ MORE
2. Palli in Jammu becomes India’s first carbon-neutral panchayat READ MORE
3. Air Pollutants Impact Immune Cells in Causing Cancer READ MORE
4. The long road to Atmanirbhar Bharat: India’s trade deficit with China hit record $77 bn in FY22 READ MORE
5. French president Emmanuel Macron wins re-election: a victory with deep challenges READ MORE
6. How to read IMF’s latest GDP forecast for India READ MORE
7. India’s oil import bill doubles to USD 119 bn in FY22 READ MORE

Main Exam

GS Paper- 1

1. Face the facts on communal violence in India READ MORE
2. The primacy of ‘Inclusion’ in Indian Thought READ MORE

GS Paper- 2

POLITY AND GOVERNANCE

1. Understanding the Olga Tellis judgment READ MORE
2. Towards a resolution of the Arunachal-Assam border dispute READ MORE
3. Reforming the higher education system READ MORE
4. Police must be part of the reform agenda READ MORE

SOCIAL JUSTICE AND SOCIAL ISSUES

1. What Happens to the Right to Education, Online? READ MORE

INTERNATIONAL ISSUES

1. Side-stepping irritants: India and the U.K. chose to keep the big picture in mind and work on long-term goals READ MORE
2. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and India’s opportunity READ MORE
3. Ukraine: Opportunities for India in a new world order READ MORE
4. Don’t lose sight of the neighourhood READ MORE

GS Paper- 3

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

1. Why reforming the system of free food is necessary READ MORE
2. Can technology help provide easier access to finance? READ MORE
3. Bitcoin as next-generation money READ MORE
4. Limiting currency supply to bring down inflation is outdated. Inflation was never about money READ MORE
5. 2 Crore Women in India Quit Workforce in 2017-22 READ MORE

ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY 

1. Saving Mangroves READ MORE
2. Agrarian Distress in Kuttanad a Wake-Up Call For Urgent Climate Adaptation READ MORE
3. World’s poorest countries need $6 billion a year for water, sanitation in healthcare centres: WaterAid READ MORE

GS Paper- 4

ETHICS EXAMPLES AND CASE STUDY

1. Hate speech is violent in itself and must be called out READ MORE
2. Plant the right seedREAD MORE

Questions for the MAIN exam

1. ‘The challenge for Indian foreign policy lies in creating effective and enduring incentives for our neighbours to remain sensitive to India’s interests’. In the light of the statement why can’t India lose sight of the neighourhood?
2. ‘India has maintained its strategic autonomy on critical issues and increased its leverage vis-a-vis the other essential powers’. Analyse the statement in the light of recent developments in international politics.

QUOTATIONS AND CAPTIONS

• A diplomat is a man who thinks twice before he says nothing.
• India and the U.K. chose to keep the big picture in mind and work on long-term goals.
• Religious consciousness is one degree of God consciousness. The lesser the connection we feel between ourselves and another, the lesser we are religious or spiritual. Total independence or non-connection with objects outside is opposite to religious consciousness.
• Inefficient implementation is the reason for the poor delivery of programmes. At times, the implementing agencies’ commitments are not in sync with the government’s vision.
• The challenge for Indian foreign policy lies in creating effective and enduring incentives for our neighbours to remain sensitive to India’s interests.
• A nationwide audit is needed to pinpoint the lapses in the implementation of the 2013 Act and prepare an actionable road map for complete mechanisation of sewer-cleaning operations.
• Economic prosperity of the country cannot be impacted by levying new taxes to fund the Robin Hood image of politicians.
• India has maintained its strategic autonomy on critical issues and increased its leverage vis-a-vis the other essential powers.
• The current foreign policy is a blend of multi-alignment and multilateralism, which is strongly tied to the commitment of Atmanirbhar Bharat to the defence sector and hence requires a strong support.
• There are three principal concerns in online education: digital divide, privacy, and access. All of these emerge from contexts in which cultural practices, of which education is one, have run into rough weather in terms of rights.

50-WORD TALK

• A multilateral approach, either through the BRICS or Asia Africa Growth Corridor (AAGC), will ensure intentions being translated into confidence that can result in India’s favourable position as far as the reforms of the UNSC are considered. One can recall that in 2010, despite the best attempts, India was unable to get even a two-thirds majority of UN members for the purpose mentioned above.

Things to Remember:

• For prelims-related news try to understand the context of the news and relate with its concepts so that it will be easier for you to answer (or eliminate) from given options.
• Whenever any international place will be in news, you should do map work (marking those areas in maps and exploring other geographical locations nearby including mountains, rivers, etc. same applies to the national places.)
• For economy-related news (banking, agriculture, etc.) you should focus on terms and how these are related to various economic aspects, for example, if inflation has been mentioned, try to relate with prevailing price rises, shortage of essential supplies, banking rates, etc.
• For main exam-related topics, you should focus on the various dimensions of the given topic, the most important topics which occur frequently and are important from the mains point of view will be covered in ED.
• Try to use the given content in your answer. Regular use of this content will bring more enrichment to your writing.

THE CONTEXT: On 4 April 2022 South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) Mayor wrote a letter to the SDMC commissioner to ensure all meat shops in the SDMC limits remain closed till 11 April 2022 “keeping in view the sentiments and feelings of the general public” during the festival of Navratri. Though a legally enforceable order to that effect is yet to be issued, the Mayor’s appeal has created enough confusion and controversy. This article analyzes the constitutional validity of imposing such meat bans citing the religious sentiments of a section of a population. Let us first understand the history, data, and lived experience of Indian society and its meat-eating habits.

HISTORY:

• Indian traditions present a far more complex picture than just being a vegetarian society. India has very old meat-eating as well as very deep vegetarian societies which often inappropriately compel or necessitate people to take a position or to defend one over the other.
• History suggests that meat was consumed widely in ancient India as far back as the Indus valley civilisation. Animal sacrifices were common in the Vedic era, between 1500 and 500BC – the meat was offered to the gods and then consumed at feasts. Over centuries meat disappeared from the diet of some communities for varied reasons but religion was not the only driver of such changes.
• Colonialism ( late 19^th century), which altered land use, agricultural patterns and trade, and even famines played a big role in making the modern Indian diet – a predominance of rice, wheat, and dals.

DATA:

• Meat consumption among Indians is growing, propelled by factory-farmed chicken. The most-ordered dish on the Indian food delivery platform Swiggy last year (2021) was chicken biryani. Indians ordered two plates every second.
• It’s hard to pin down exactly how much meat Indians consume. When asked if they are vegetarian, 39% said yes to a Pew survey and 81% said they eat meat, but with restrictions – either they don’t eat certain meats or avoid meat on certain days of the week.
• The term non-vegetarian for meat-eating is reflective of the popular perception that vegetarian food is the norm and meat-eating is the aberration. Let us see the constitutional reasonableness of such calls for a blanket ban on meat citing religious reasons.

ARTICLE 19(1)(g): The Constitution grants the fundamental right to carry out trade under Article 19(1)(g). The only permissible limitation of this fundamental right is through imposing reasonable restrictions under Article 19(2)-(6). However, any reasonable restriction under Article 19(2)-(6) must only be through a statutory ‘law’ as held in Bijoe Emmanuel & Ors. v. State of Kerala (1986). The orders by Mayors are executive orders and are not sufficient to restrict the freedom of trade. The existence of law is a necessary requirement.

GOLDEN TRIANGLE: Even if these bans were backed by statutory authorities, it has to pass the tests of the golden triangle (Article 14, 19, and 21). To pass the test of Article 14, the law has to be tested through the parameters of reasonableness since the guarantee of equality is a guarantee against arbitrariness. Any law which is disproportionate or excessive would be manifestly arbitrary as held in Sharaya Bano v. UOI (2017).

ARTICLE 21: It violates the right to freedom of choice of individuals under Article 21. The right to food as reiterated recently in Re: Problems and Miseries of Migrant Labourers (2021) and the right to choose as observed in Soni Gerry v. Gerry Douglas (2018), is an intrinsic part of Article 21. Thus, it is understandable that the freedom to choose a particular food of choice would also be a matter of personal liberty and individual autonomy.

ARTICLE 51(A)(e): Article 51(A)(e) of the Fundamental Duties promotes harmony and a spirit of common brotherhood amongst all the people of India transcending religious, linguistic, and regional or sectional diversities.

ARTICLE 25: According to the Census of India, apart from the majority religions, more than 6 million people profess other religions and faith. Every religion and faith has its own custom and practice. An attempt to give these orders any legislative colour would infringe upon the secular feature of the Constitution because then it would lead to floodgates of different claims from different religious communities, shaking the very essence of Article 25.

In a series of rulings, courts have held that the right to choose one’s food is an intrinsic part of the right to privacy and personal liberty. In the landmark Puttaswamy ruling in 2017, upholding the right to privacy as a fundamental right, the Supreme Court held that “the choice of food habits” is an aspect of privacy that must be protected. The nine-judge bench of the Supreme Court in the Puttaswamy case, unanimously declared privacy to be a fundamental right and held that “it is a fundamental and inalienable right and attaches to the person covering all information about that person and the choices that he/she makes. It protects an individual from the scrutiny of the State in their home, of their movements, and over their reproductive choices, choice of partners, food habits, etc.

The bans must pass the test of proportionality and reasonableness evolved by the supreme court in the Puttaswamy judgement. The right to food has now been recognized as part of one’s fundamental right to privacy under Article 21.

WHAT DO THE COURTS SAY?

SUPREME COURT:

• In 2008, while deciding the constitutional validity of closing a slaughterhouse for 9-days during a Jain festival in Ahmedabad, the 2-judge bench of the Court held that “a large number of people are non-vegetarian and they cannot be compelled to become vegetarian for a long period. What one eats is one’s personal affair and it is a part of his right to privacy which is included in Article 21 of our Constitution”. However, the Court upheld the 9-day ban. Interestingly, after retirement, Justice Markandeya Katju, who authored the judgment, said that he had doubts about the correctness of that verdict.
• In 2015, the Supreme Court while refusing to interfere with the Bombay High Court decision staying the order prohibiting the sale of meat during a Jain festival remarked that the meat ban cannot be forced down people’s throats and that such matters must be handled with tolerance and compassion.
• In 2018, the Supreme Court in a PIL seeking a ban on the export of meat, orally remarked “Do you want everybody in this country to be vegetarian? We can’t issue an order that everyone should be vegetarian.“
• Similarly, in 2020, the Supreme Court commented while hearing a plea to ban Halal meat “Tomorrow you will say nobody should eat meat? We cannot determine who should be a vegetarian and who should be a non-vegetarian“.

VARIOUS HIGH COURTS: 

• In 2016, the Bombay High Court struck down certain amendments to the Maharashtra Animal Preservation Act 1976 relating to the beef ban
• In 2017, the Allahabad High Court held that the right to choice of food falls within the fundamental right to food, and eating food of choice, be it meat, is an aspect of the Right to Food.
• In 2011, the Uttarakhand High Court orally observed that the matter of banning meat concerns the fundamental rights of the citizen and that India is a country where 70% of the population eats non-vegetarian food hence meat ban is not a majority vs. Minority issue.

OTHER ASPECTS OF THE MEAT BAN

FOOD CULTURE AND NUTRITION: The lives and diets of poor people who cannot afford the amount of milk, dry fruits, and different pulses that the rich eat at every meal on a daily basis. The poor can only get their protein from meat, which is cheaper when compared with other meats, as well as vegetarian components.

IMPACT ON RURAL ECONOMY: Cattle that have outlived their utility for a farmer are usually sold in local cattle fairs and eventually find their way to slaughterhouses. The modest proceeds from such sales help the farmer in times of distress.

IMPACT ON LIVELIHOODS: The livelihoods of the butcher community in the urban centers solely revolve around the meat trade and imposing a blanket ban can have adverse effects.

IMPACT ON ECONOMY: India’s thriving leather Industry is valued at the US $ 17.8 billion, generating 95% of India’s footwear needs, and its offals are used widely in the pharmaceutical and manufacturing industries. The economic value of an animal, despite it not being purchased by another farmer, exists because of all post-farm downstream economic values of the cattle economy after slaughter (including exports) which will be negatively impacted.

THE ANALYSIS OF THE ISSUE

• There cannot be 99 percent of people at any point in time, not consuming onion and garlic when we have meat-eaters on any given day. The state intervention in people’s eating habits is a dangerous step. The law prohibiting animal slaughter was a first, but now the flames are inching toward other non-vegetarian products. This must ring bells for a protein-deficient country where half the kids are suffering from anemia and malnutrition. In fact, you don’t even need to look that far. According to a 2017 study by research firm IMRB, close to 60 percent of Delhi’s population suffered from protein deficiency.
• It is evident that the clamour for a meat ban is aimed at making political gains by triggering religious sentiments. A ban on meat shops does not serve any larger public purpose other than catering to the sentiments of a section, which will amount to forcing all sections of society to follow the beliefs and observances of a particular group. Such a ban, imposed solely on the ground of religious sentiments and which infringes the fundamental rights under Articles 19 and 21, falls foul of the post-Puttaswamy test of proportionality and reasonableness evolved by the Supreme Court.

THE WAY FORWARD

• Sans legitimacy, these bans only create societal unease leading to communal disharmony. While many communities do observe restraints on eating meat on certain occasions or eating certain types of meat, there is no logical corollary on putting a blanket ban on meat consumption for others when more than 70% of the people in India consume the same.
• Thus, any political overreach, regulating from the choice of clothes to wear to the type of food to consume, is surely unwarranted and constitutionally unsound and the government of the day must refrain from doing so.
• Though the Article 48 of the Indian Constitution guides the states to make efforts for banning the slaughtering of cows and calves, along with other milch and draught cattle; and directs them to organise agriculture and animal husbandry on modern and scientific lines, it should not be the basis for the state to regulate the choices of food that people of India consume.
• As the custodian of citizens’ rights and liberties in a diverse democracy, the court has played a seminal role in expanding the space for freedoms. People in positions themselves should draw the constitutional red line on such freedoms and must refrain from giving unwarranted public opinions.

THE CONCLUSION: Some people do not eat meat during these nine days of Navrati, but at the same time, they do not wish to see others being deprived of their food just because they themselves are participating in customs. That’s how you grow respect for a community, festival, or religion. In the neighbourhood of Ghaziabad, Mayor has rolled back a similar meat ban proposal and presents a good example for others to follow.

MAINS PRACTICE QUESTIONS:

1. “India’s religiously diverse population is composed of religious communities who are not too familiar with each other’s beliefs and practices, yet many Indians take a pluralistic, rather than exclusivist, attitude toward religious beliefs.” Elaborate on how India has sustained over centuries as a peace-loving society.
2. “Regulating from the choice of clothes to wear to the type of food to consume, is surely unwarranted and constitutionally unsound.” Elaborate