THE INDIAN POLITY AND GOVERNANCE

1.EXPLAINED: THE PROCESS OF ELECTING INDIA’S PRESIDENT

THE CONTEXT: The tenure of the current President of India is set to end in July this year(2022), which is also when the 16th Indian Presidential election will be held to elect his successor. The Voting for the presidential election in which NDA candidate Droupadi Murmu is pitted against joint Opposition pick Yashwant Sinha began on July 18.

THE EXPLANATION:
How is the President elected?
• The Indian President is elected through an electoral college system, wherein the votes are cast by national and State-level lawmakers. The elections are conducted and overseen by the Election Commission (EC) of India.
• The electoral college is made up of all the elected members of the Upper and Lower Houses of Parliament (Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha MPs), and the elected members of the Legislative Assemblies of States and Union Territories (MLAs).
• This means, in the upcoming polls, the number of electors will be 4,896 — 543 Lok Sabha MPs, 233 MPs of the Rajya Sabha, and 4,120 MLAs of all States, including the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi and Union Territory of Puducherry.
• Before the voting, comes the nomination stage, where the candidate intends to stand in the election, and files the nomination along with a signed list of 50 proposers and 50 seconders. These proposers and seconders can be anyone from a total of 4,896 members of the electoral college from the State and national levels.

What is required to secure a victory?
• A nominated candidate does not secure victory based on a simple majority but through a system of bagging a specific quota of votes. While counting, the EC totals up all the valid votes cast by the electoral college through paper ballots and to win, the candidate must secure 50% of the total votes cast + 1.
• Unlike general elections, where electors vote for a single party’s candidate, the voters of the electoral college write the names of candidates on the ballot paper in the order of preference.

What is the value of each vote and how is it calculated?

A vote cast by each MP or MLA is not calculated as one vote. There is a larger vote value attached to it.

The fixed value of each vote by an MP of the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha is 708. Meanwhile, the vote value of each MLA differs from State to State based on a calculation that factors in its population vis-a-vis the number of members in its Legislative Assembly. As per the Constitution (Eighty-fourth Amendment) Act 2001, currently, the population of States is taken from the figures of the 1971 Census. This will change when the figures of the Census taken after the year 2026 are published.

THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTS

2.WILL RBI MOVE HELP GREATER TRADE IN RUPEE?

THE CONTEXT:The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issued a circular that detailed ‘additional arrangement’ for invoicing, payment, and settlement of exports and imports in Indian rupees.
THE EXPLANATION:
Under this mechanism, Indian importers could make payment in rupees to the Special Vostro account of the correspondent bank of the partner country, against invoices for the supply of goods or services from the overseas seller. Indian exporters shall be paid proceeds in rupees from the balances in the designated vostro account of the correspondent bank of the partner country.

How does this change the status quo?
• Vostro accounts have been around for a while. They were likely not widely used because exporters in any country typically prefer settlements in a strong and stable currency.
• Also, there are at least three new aspects to the newly-issued circular. First, the RBI has explicitly said that exchange of messages in a safe, secure and efficient way may be agreed upon mutually between the banks of partner countries. SWIFT system was seen as an acceptable standard for international transactions.”
• It may be recalled that soon after Russia invaded Ukraine, the Belgium-based SWIFT, or Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, a system that allows instant messaging among banks, began excluding Russian banks from transacting through this channel.
• The aim was to make it difficult and tedious for Russian entities to transact with the rest of the world. The RBI’s circular could be taken to mean that partnering banks may use any messaging system they deem fit and not confine themselves to the SWIFT platform.

How does the new mechanism help India?

• For India, doing business with Russia using rupees would mean there is no hard currency outflow in such transactions. The impact on the rupee market is that foreign currency outflow would be lesser by $3 billion every month. Technically, it would ease the downward pressure on the rupee, which has been sliding to fresh record lows frequently in the recent past.
• However, the arrest in the rupee’s fall would be seen only in the medium to long term because in the current scenario, payments to Russia have anyway not been going through and a credit system has helped continuity of trade.
• If other countries too begin showing interest in using the facility, then a strengthening impact may be seen more quickly for the rupee. According to experts, “Amid ongoing rupee weakness, the RBI’s steps appear to be aimed at reducing demand for foreign exchange… While incremental for now, we see these measures as useful long-term steps, which can enable greater use of the rupee in foreign trade.”

NABARD PLANS FARMER DISTRESS INDEX
THE CONTEXT: With small and marginal farmers getting a raw deal in farm loan waivers, National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) is planning to formulate a farmer distress index (FDI) to track, identify and support the real needy and distressed farmers.
THE EXPLANATION:
• According to a study jointly conducted by NABARD and Bharat Krishak Samaj (BKS), a farmers producers’ organization, in Punjab, more than 60 per cent of the ‘very high’ and ‘high’ distress small and marginal farmers (SMFs) did not receive farm loan waiver (FLW) benefits. The exclusion rate was also 60 per cent for the medium distress category SMFs.
• In Maharashtra, SMFs that were relatively better off as they were categorized as ‘low’ distress received the maximum FLW benefits. Close to 42 per cent of the SMF whose distress category was ‘very high’ did not receive FLW benefits.
• In UP, 47 per cent of the ‘very high distress’ category, and 45 per cent of the ‘high distress’ category SMF did not receive FLW benefits. In the three states together, more than 40 per cent of the ‘very high distress’ farmers did not receive any FLW benefits.
• NABARD study says this farmer distress index can integrate the available high-frequency data on key agricultural variables like deviation of monsoon rains, excessive rainfall, drought and dry spells, variations in temperature and soil moisture, the yield of major crops in the district, the proportion of area under irrigation, depth of underground water, unusual frost, marketing opportunities available to the farmer that may include the proportion of wheat, paddy, chana, tur, groundnut, soybean etc. produced and procured at MSP.
• NABARD also noted that the “Use of weather data derived from remote sensing technology, automatic weather stations, mobile telephony and artificial intelligence can help in identifying the distressed villages”.
• “Use of data of claims received for crop insurance is also likely to help in identification of distressed regions. These can be tracked on a real-time basis and be used to monitor and predict the level of farmer distress,” the study said.
• Technology breakthroughs like the use of space technology, AI and blockchain in agriculture can be harnessed to bring dynamism and credibility to the system.
• Further, depending on the kind and severity of distress, the support can be given as a combination of unconditional grants, loan restructuring and/or a complete debt waiver. The assistance to individual farmers can be based on a combination of district index and individual farmers’ distress captured via irrigation status of his land, income from crops grown by him, the average productivity of the district and the average price in APMC markets of this district as compared to the average price of the state.

VALUE ADDITION:
National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD)
• NABARD is a development bank focusing primarily on the rural sector of the country. It is the apex banking institution to provides finance for Agriculture and rural development. Its headquarter is located in Mumbai, the country’s financial capital.
• It is responsible for the development of small industries, cottage industries, and any other such village or rural projects.
• It is a statutory body established in 1982 under Parliamentary act-National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development Act, 1981.

NABARD and RBI
• Reserve Bank of India is the central bank of the country with the sole right to regulate the banking industry and supervise the various institutions/banks
• This also includes NABARD defined under the Banking Regulation Act of 1949.
• RBI provides 3 directors to NABARD’s Board of Directors.
• NABARD provides recommendations to the Reserve Bank of India on the issue of licenses to Cooperative Banks, and the opening of new branches by State Cooperative Banks and Regional Rural Banks (RRBs).

THE AGRICULTURE

3.EXPLAINED: IS THERE A CRISIS IN RICE?

THE CONTEXT:The southwest monsoon’s revival this month has resulted in the total area sown under kharif crops not only recovering, but even surpassing last year’s coverage for the same period from June to mid-July. However, paddy (rice) acreage, at 128.50 lakh hectares (lh) as of July 15, was 17.4% down from last year’s 155.53 lh.
THE EXPLANATION:
Should that be cause for worry?
• On the face of it, not much, as government godowns had over 47.2 million tonnes (mt) of rice on July 1. These were nearly three-and-a-half times the minimum level of stocks, to meet both “operational” (public distribution system) and “strategic reserve” (exigency) requirements for the quarter. Rice stocks are still close to their peaks scaled last year.
• That comfort doesn’t extend, though, to wheat – where public stocks have plunged from all-time highs to 14-year lows within the space of a year (see table). Inflation-haunted policymakers would dread the wheat story getting repeated in rice. In wheat, it was a single bad crop — the one singed by the March-April 2022 heat wave — that did all the damage and brought down stocks to just above the minimum buffer.
• In rice, the stakes are higher: It is India’s largest agricultural crop (accounting for over 40% of the total foodgrain output), with the country also being the world’s biggest exporter (a record 21.21 mt valued at $9.66 billion got shipped out during the fiscal ended March 2022). Unlike with wheat, the options for import in rice — due to any production shortfall — are limited, when India’s own share in the global trade of the cereal is more than 40%.

Why has acreage fallen?
• Farmers first sow paddy seeds in nurseries, where they are raised into young plants. These seedlings are then uprooted and replanted 25-35 days later in the main field that is usually 10 times the size of the nursery seed bed.
• Nursery sowing generally happens before the monsoon rains. Farmers wait for their arrival to undertake transplantation, which requires the field to be “puddled” or tilled in standing water. For the first three weeks or so after transplanting, the water depth has to be maintained at 4-5 cm, in order to control weed growth in the early stage of the crop.
All this isn’t possible without the monsoon, which has overall been good this time. The country has received 353.7 mm of rainfall during June 1 to July 17, 12.7% more than the “normal” historical average for this period.

How serious is the situation?
• In UP — where the western and eastern subdivisions have so far recorded a mere 90 mm and 79.6 mm of rainfall, respectively — it certainly seems so.
• According to a farmer from Emiliya village in Chandauli district of eastern UP bordering Bihar, said paddy nursery sowing in his area is normally done from June 1 to June 10 and transplanting from July 1 to July 10. This time, there was some rain towards June-end, but hardly any thereafter. “The seedlings should leave the nurseries in 25-35 days, beyond which they will age and not have enough time to grow in the main field.

So, is there a crisis ahead in rice?
• To start with, the India Meteorological Department has forecast that the current monsoon trough, which is active and south of its normal position, is “very likely to shift gradually northwards from tonight (Sunday)”. That should, hopefully, provide much-needed relief to farmers in the Gangetic plains within the next few days.
• Secondly, paddy cultivation takes place across a wider geography, unlike wheat that is grown only in a few states north of the Vindhyas. Also, rice is both a kharif (monsoon) and rabi (winter-spring) season crop. So, the losses in one area or season can potentially be recouped from the other. In wheat, everyone — from farmers and traders to policymakers — was caught off-guard by the sudden surge in temperatures after mid-March that cut grain yields by a fifth or more. Rice is less likely to throw up huge negative surprises. And with the present stocks, it should be manageable.

THE GOVERNMENT SCHEMES IN NEWS

4.A NOD TO EXTEND GRAM SWARAJ SCHEME

THE CONTEXT: The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved a proposal to continue the Rashtriya Gram Swaraj Abhiyan (RGSA), a scheme for improving the governance capabilities of Panchayati raj institutions, till 2025-2026.
THE EXPLANATION:
• The CCEA, at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister, approved the extension of the scheme that ended on March 31, 2022, at a total financial outlay of ₹5,911 crores, of which ₹3,700 crores would be the Centre’s share and ₹2,211 crore the States’ share.
• “The approved scheme of RGSA will help more than 2.78 lakh rural local bodies…to develop governance capabilities to deliver on SDGs [Sustainable Development Goals] through inclusive local governance with a focus on optimum utilisation of available resources”.
• The scheme would work towards “poverty-free and enhanced livelihood in villages; healthy village, child-friendly village; water sufficient village; clean and green village; self-sufficient infrastructure in the village; socially secured village; village with good governance; engendered development in the village”.

Strengthening the panchayats
• The government said panchayats would be strengthened and a spirit of healthy competition inculcated. No permanent posts would be created under the scheme but “need-based contractual human resources may be provisioned for overseeing the implementation of the scheme and providing technical support to States/UTs”.

VALUE ADDITION:
About Gram Swaraj Abhiyan
• In continuation of “Gram Swaraj Abhiyan”, which started on the occasion of Ambedkar Jayanti, Govt. of India has extended it to 117 Aspirational Districts identified by the NITI Aayog.
• This campaign which, was undertaken under “Sabka Sath, Sabka Gaon, Sabka Vikas”, is to promote social harmony, spread awareness about pro-poor initiatives of the government, reach out to poor households to enrol them and also obtain their feedback on various welfare programmes.
• During this Abhiyan, the saturation of eligible households/persons would be made under seven flagship pro-poor programmes namely, Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana, Saubhagya, Ujala scheme, Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana and Mission Indradhanush. In addition, 5 priority are related activities under Education, Health, Nutrition, Skills and Agriculture have also been identified as per the district plan.

THE PRELIMS PRACTICE QUESTIONS

QUESTION OF THE DAY

Q.Consider the following statements with respect to election to the office of the President

1. all the elected members of the Upper and Lower Houses of Parliament participate in the election
2. a vote cast by each MP or MLA calculated as one vote.
Which of the above statements is/are incorrect?
a) 1 only
b) 2 only
c) Both 1 and 2
d) Neither 1 nor 2

ANSWER FOR 16TH JULY 2022

ANSWER: A
EXPLANATION:
Statement 1 is incorrect. The United Nations Credentials Committee is a committee of the United Nations General Assembly.
Statement 2 is incorrect. A Credentials Committee is appointed at the beginning of each regular session of the General Assembly. It consists of nine members, who are appointed by the General Assembly on the proposal of the President.
Statement 3 is correct. The Committee reports to the Assembly on the credentials of representatives. The Committee is mandated to examine the credentials of representatives of Member States and to report to the General Assembly thereon (Rule 28 of the Rules of Procedure of the General Assembly).
The credentials of representatives and the names of members of the delegation of each Member State are submitted to the Secretary-General and are issued either by the Head of the State or Government or by the Minister for Foreign Affairs (Rule 27 of the Rules of Procedure of the General Assembly).

1. Footprints on sand READ MORE
2. What makes a ‘hero’? Is it personality, psychology or evolution? READ MORE

1. Waterlogging in Malwa: Rainwater drainage needs improvement READ MORE
2. Saving life on Earth in times of climate change READ MORE
3. Why we need to factor ecosystem services into economic development planning READ MORE

1. Why is gender gap widening in India? READ MORE
2. Institute ranking system: Doesn’t serve purpose of improving standards of learning READ MORE

1. DBT schemes need a digital grievance redressal system READ MORE
2. Sedition law: Why India should break from Britain’s abusive legacy READ MORE
3. Making Private Members’ Bills Work READ MORE

(Newspapers, PIB and other important sources)

Prelim and Main

1. On World Snake Day, call to develop effective antivenom READ MORE
2. Forest fires rage in scorching southwest Europe READ MORE
3. Explained | Will RBI move help greater trade in rupee? READ MORE
4. Commodity prices’ fall can help India escape global inflation trap READ MORE
5. Explained: Kala Azar or Black fever disease detected in West Bengal READ MORE
6. India crosses 200 crore Covid-19 vaccinations: Day to remember forever, says Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya READ MORE
7. New Tardigrade Species Discovered in Kyrgyzstan READ MORE

Main Exam

GS Paper- 1

1. Why is gender gap widening in India? READ MORE
2. Waterlogging in Malwa: Rainwater drainage needs improvement READ MORE

GS Paper- 2

POLITY AND GOVERNANCE

1. DBT schemes need a digital grievance redressal system READ MORE
2. Sedition law: Why India should break from Britain’s abusive legacy READ MORE
3. Making Private Members’ Bills Work READ MORE

SOCIAL ISSUES

1. Institute ranking system: Doesn’t serve purpose of improving standards of learning READ MORE

INTERNATIONAL ISSUES

1. Biden in West Asia: Neither the Palestine question nor the Iran deal appear to be the U.S.’s priorities READ MORE
2. The internal coherence of India’s seemingly contradictory stance on Russia READ MORE
3. Questions about I2U2: Iran and the China factor will need addressing READ MORE

GS Paper- 3

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

1. With India set to become most populous nation, a prosperity lesson READ MORE
2. We need an orderly transition from coal to renewables READ MORE
3. Government must act: If the rupee keeps falling against the dollar the country’s economy would be hit badly READ MORE
4. Why more women joining the Indian workforce is not necessarily a good thing READ MORE

ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY

1. Saving life on Earth in times of climate change READ MORE
2. Why we need to factor ecosystem services into economic development planning READ MORE

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

1. Time for vigilance: Increased testing and building awareness, not stigmatisation, can stop spread of monkeypox READ MORE

GS Paper- 4

ETHICS EXAMPLES AND CASE STUDY

1. Footprints on sand READ MORE
2. What makes a ‘hero’? Is it personality, psychology or evolution? READ MORE

Questions for the MAIN exam

1. ‘In the current era of more flexible partnerships, I2U2 could emerge as a platform for shaping responses to global challenges’. Critically examine.
2. With the help of the relevant examples discuss how India shed its Cold War mindset of non-alignment in recent times?

QUOTATIONS AND CAPTIONS

• The important thing is not to stop questioning.
• Our inbuilt Parliamentary mechanisms, as well as minor modifications and adjustments, can help revitalise Private Members’ Bills.
• The multiplier effects of healthy forest cover are enormous regarding economic and social development objectives.
• Democracy is the basic feature of the Constitution. Parliamentary democracy does not envisage a condition where a one party-government becomes permanent.
• Without an effective Opposition, democracy will become dull, and the legislature will become submissive.
• Our constitutional goal was to establish a sovereign, democratic republic.
• A government which does not like opposition and always wants to be in power is not a patriotic but a traitor government.
• Improvement of the country’s human development index hinges on providing quality education to the girl child.
• Looking at coal from a singular focus on GHG emissions will give a myopic view of energy requirements for a growing economy like India. The path to achieving 500 GW of renewables needs to be gradual.
• WEF’s recent report paints a gloomy picture of gender equality in India.
• DBT schemes are meant to ride on digital rails to facilitate smooth direct cash transfers. However, transfers are not always smooth.
• In a vibrant democracy, it is not possible, as in China, to dragoon people into moving to new locations and settling there.
• Though the nature of I2U2 is different from the overt military collaboration of the Quad, it is worth recalling that the latter started as a joint response to the devastation in the region caused by the Tsunami in 2004.
• Economic distress, desperation and poor household incomes are driving women to low-paying jobs.

50 WORD TALK

• Any government initiative should aim to reduce inequalities in access to health services. Providing the Covid-19 vaccine precaution shot on payment was leading to the creation of bigger financial and geographical barriers; easier availability for the rich and urban population was widening inequities. This is contrary to the principles of equity in India’s National Health Policy, 2017.

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.) 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.

[WpProQuiz 290]

THE CONTEXT:On May 18, the Supreme Court invoked its extraordinary powers to do complete justice under Article 142 of the Constitution and ordered the release of A.G. Perarivalan, a convict in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. The Court took this step owing to the delay in deciding the clemency petition and reference of the same to the President by the Governor of Tamilnadu. In this article, we will analyze this issue in detail.

A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF THE JUDGMENT OF THE SUPREME COURT

The Court was answering two questions essentially:

1. Whether the Governor can make such a reference to the President?
2. Whether the primacy accorded to the Centre’s opinion under the CrPC can be extended even to remission that may be granted by the Governor under Article 161.

The Court answered these questions in the following way, which are explained in the table below:

BINDING NATURE OF ADVICE

• The law laid down by a series of judgments of the Court is well-settled that the advice of the State Cabinet is binding on the Governor in the exercise of his powers under Article 161 of the Constitution.

SCOPE OF JUDICIAL REVIEW

• Non-exercise of the power under Article 161 or inexplicable delay in exercise of such power not attributable to the prisoner is subject to judicial review by this Court.

PRESIDENTIAL REFERENCE UNCONSTITUTIONAL

• The reference of the recommendation of the Tamil Nadu Cabinet by the Governor to the President of India two and a half years after such a recommendation had been made is without any constitutional backing.
• It is inimical to the scheme of our Constitution, whereby “the Governor is but a shorthand expression for the State Government”, as observed by this Court in Maruram Vs UoI 1980.

UNION HAS NO EXECUTIVE POWER

• No express executive power has been conferred on the Centre either under the Constitution or law made by the Parliament in relation to Section 302.
• In the absence of such specific conferment, it is the executive power of the State that extends with respect to Section 302, assuming that the subject matter of Section 302 is covered by Entry 1 of List III.

FIT CASE FOR ARTICLE 142

• The Court has considered the appellant’s prolonged period of incarceration etc., and the pendency of his petition under Article 161 for two and a half years after the recommendation of the State Cabinet.
• Hence, in the exercise of its power under Article 142 of the Constitution, the Court directed that the appellant is deemed to have served a sentence in connection with the crime and set him free.

BACK TO BASICS-THE CLEMENCY POWER OF THE PRESIDENT AND THE GOVERNOR

THE PRESIDENT

•  Article 72 deals with the clemency power of the President of India. This power extends to:

in all cases where the punishment or sentence is by a Court Martial;

in all cases where the punishment or sentence is for an offence against any law relating to a matter to which the executive power of the Union extends;

in all cases where the sentence is a sentence of death.

• This power should be exercised on the advice tendered by the executive to the President, who, subject to the provisions of Article 74(1), must act in accordance with such advice.
• In several cases, the Supreme Court (SC) has ruled that when deciding mercy petitions, the President must follow the advice of the Council of Ministers. Maru Ram vs Union of India in 1980 and Dhananjoy Chatterjee vs State of West Bengal in 1994 are two examples.
• Relevant materials must be placed by the State before the Governor so that he can make a decision.

THE GOVERNOR

• Under Article 161, the Governor has the power to grant clemency to anyone convicted under any law on a matter which comes under the State’s executive power.
• This power is to be exercised by the Governor as per the advice of the CoM.
• The power to pardon in all cases where the sentence is death, the power lies within President as per Art 72.
• The Supreme Court has held in Maru Ram and Kehar Singh that the power under Articles 72 and 161 of the Constitution are to be exercised by the Central and the State Governments and not by the President or Governor on their own.
• In AG Perarivalan Vs State of TN, 2022, the SC held that the Governor could not refer the mercy petition to the President as it would be against federalism.
• In a 2021 judgement of the SC relating to the remission policies in Haryana, the Court held that the Governor is bound by the advice of the CoM. In fact, the Court noted that the sovereign power of a governor related to clemency to a prisoner under Article 161 is actually exercised by the State government and not the Governor on his own.

KEY TERMS-AN EXPLAINER

• Pardon: It absolves the convict of all sentences, punishments, and disqualifications by removing both the sentence and the conviction. A pardon may be absolute or conditional. It may be exercised at any time, either before legal proceedings are taken or during their pendency or after conviction. The rejection of one clemency petition does not exhaust the pardoning power of the President.
• Commutation: The substitution of one form of punishment for a less severe form. A death sentence, for example, may be commuted to rigorous imprisonment, which may then be commuted to simple imprisonment.
• Remission: It refers to reducing the length of a sentence without changing its nature. A sentence of rigorous imprisonment for two years, for example, may be reduced to rigorous imprisonment for one year.
• Respite: It refers to the imposition of a lesser sentence in place of one that was originally imposed due to a unique circumstance, such as a convict’s physical disability or a woman offender’s pregnancy.
• Reprieve:It denotes a temporary stay of execution of a sentence (especially one of death). Its purpose is to give the convict enough time to petition the President for a pardon or commutation.

CLEMENCY POWER OF THE GOVERNMENTS UNDER THE CODE OF CRIMINAL PROCEDURE(Cr.PC), 1973

• The Cr.PC provides for the clemency power of ” appropriate governments” under some conditions, which are enunciated in Sections 432, 433 and 435.
• Under Section 432, the ‘appropriate government’ may suspend or remit a sentence, in whole or in part, with or without conditions. Under Section 433, any sentence may be commuted to a lesser one by the appropriate government.
• Section 432 explains that which government has the authority to decide on clemency (Union or State) will depend on which government enjoy the executive power in enforcing the law against which the offence is committed.
• Section 435 says that if the prisoner had been sentenced in a case investigated by the CBI, or any agency that probed the offence under a Central Act, the State government could order such release only in consultation with the Central government.
• In the case of death sentences, the Central government may also concurrently exercise the same power as the State government to remit or suspend the sentence.
• In Maru Ram etc. vs Union of India (1980), the Supreme Court said: “Section 432 and Section 433 of the Code are not a manifestation of Articles 72 and 161 of the Constitution but a separate, though similar, power.”

A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF CLEMENCY POWER

UNITED KINGDOM

• At present, the monarch exercises power on the advice of the departmental minister, the Home Secretary.
• The Home Secretary’s decision can, in some situations, be challenged by judicial review.
• All in all, it may be concluded that in the UK, judicial review of the power of pardon is extremely restricted in scope.
• The British constitutional structure recognizes the supremacy of Parliament and provides an altogether narrower scope for judicial review than the Indian Constitution, which tends towards the separation of powers.
• Thus, British precedent in this area has limited application to India.

THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

• Article II of the US Constitution grants the President of the United States the “Power to Grant Reprieves and Pardons for offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.”
• The Court has been cautious in its interpretation of the pardoning power of the President except in very limited areas. However, apart from judicial scrutiny in these areas, the power of pardon has been allowed to be exercised freely.
• Governors (and, many would contend, Presidents) have regularly exercised the clemency power in ways that are clearly at odds with society’s interests, including granting or denying pardons to convicted murderers solely because of campaign promises made to supporters.
• One Governor was even impeached and removed for particularly blatant abuses of the pardoning power.

 A TIMELINE OF THE EVENTS LEADING TO THE SC JUDGMENT

• May 21, 1991:Former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi is assassinated in Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu by a suicide bomber belonging to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
• June 11, 1991:19-year-old A G Perarivalan was arrested by CBI and booked under TADA along with other accused in the case.
• January 12, 1998: After a prolonged trial, the TADA court sentenced 26 accused to death, including Nalini and Perarivalan.
• May 11, 1999: Supreme Court upholds the death sentence of four, including Murugan, Santhan, Perarivalan and Nalini, sentenced three others to life sentences and frees 19 other death convicts.
• April 2000: Nalini’s death penalty is commuted to life by the then Tamil Nadu governor on the basis of a recommendation of the state cabinet and a public appeal made by Sonia Gandhi.
• 2001:Three death convicts, including Santhan, Murugan and Perarivalan, submit their mercy pleas to the President of India.
• August 11, 2011: Pratibha Patil, the then President, rejects their mercy petitions after 11 years.
• Aug 2011: Madras HC orders stay on the execution of three death convicts ahead of their scheduled hanging on September 9, 2011. A resolution is passed by the then chief minister J Jayalalithaa, seeking commutation of the death sentence.
• Nov 2013:Former CBI SP V Thiagarajan, who had taken the confession of Perarivalan in TADA custody, reveals that he altered it to qualify as a confession statement.
• January 21, 2014: SC commutes death penalty of three Rajiv Gandhi case convicts, along with 12 others, including aides of forest brigand Veerappan, into life imprisonment. The Court cited the inordinate delay in deciding the mercy petition by the President to commute the sentence of death.
• 2015:Perarivalan submits a mercy petition to the Tamil Nadu governor seeking release under Article 161 of the Constitution. Later, he moves Supreme Court after getting no reply from the Governor.
• Aug 2017: Tamil Nadu government grants parole to Perarivalan, the first after his arrest in 1991.
• September 9, 2018: Tamil Nadu Cabinet, headed by the chief minister, recommends the release of all seven convicts.
• Jan 2021: As the Governor continues to sit on the cabinet recommendation, SC orders to take a decision and warns that the Court will be forced to release them, citing the inordinate delay.
• May 2021:Perarivalan is out on parole. The new DMK government kept extending the parole.
• March 9, 2022:The Supreme Court grants bail to Perarivalan.
• May 11, 2022:The Supreme Court concludes the hearing in the case.
• May 18, 2022:Supreme Court orders release of Perarivalan from jail.

AN OVERVIEW OF THE ARGUMENTS AND COUNTER-ARGUMENTS GIVEN BY THE PARTIES

THE UNION GOVERNMENT

• In cases where the sentence is for an offence against any law relating to a matter to which the Union’s executive power extends, the Central Government is the appropriate government to consider pleas of remission.
• To demonstrate the scope of the Union’s executive power, the Union cited Article 73 of the Constitution, which states that such powers would extend to all matters over which Parliament has legislative authority.
• It indicated that the Indian Penal Code is a law enacted by Parliament and hence the remission requests for offences under the code would be considered by the President.
• The IPC is on the concurrent list, and under the principles outlined in Articles 246 to 245 when both the Union Government and the State Government have executive power, the Union Government would take precedence.

THE STATE OF TAMILNADU

• The Governor’s reference to the mercy petition to the President is an absolute derogation of the federal structure envisaged in the Constitution.
• The sentence for offences under the Central Act had already been undergone by the prisoner, and the only offence for which Perarivalan is now serving a sentence is punishable under Section 302 IPC.
• The proviso to Article 73 of the Constitution makes it clear that the Union Government’s executive power would not extend to matters over which the State Legislature also has legislative authority unless explicitly mentioned in the Constitution or any Central Law.
• Because neither the IPC nor the CrPC contains a saving clause that reserves power for the Union Government, the Union Government’s executive power would not extend to matters within the purview of the State executive.
• The IPC is not a Parliamentary enactment but rather an existing law that the Parliament has amended from time to time. The IPC is a collection of penal laws that deal with a wide range of offences that are referenced in various lists of Schedule 7 of the Constitution.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE JUDGMENT?

• First, the judgement holds that the Governor’s duty while performing his functions, including the power to remit, suspend, or commute sentences under Article 161, is to follow the recommendations of the State Cabinet.
• Second, an important finding is that the Governor was not required to refer the case to the President.
• Third, Governors must exercise their authority on time.
• Fourth, the judgement acknowledges the State’s power in matters of remission, commutation, and so on.
• Fifth, the verdict upholds prisoners’ human rights.

WHETHER INVOCATION OF ARTICLE 142 IS JUSTIFIED?

The use of Article 142 is justified by the case’s unusual facts, which are almost unique. The Governor’s delay in accepting the State Cabinet decision was enormous. It had an impact on a person’s liberty who was legally and constitutionally entitled to be released. For decades, the case was fought. The Centre’s usual litigation strategies contributed to the delay. The Court may have been aware of the procedural injustice meted out to Perarivalan and concluded that the only way to correct it was to invoke Article 142 and release the prisoner. A return to the Governor of the petition would have prolonged the litigation, which had already exceeded all reasonable bounds. Thus, the argument that this violates the separation of power doctrine does not hold much conviction, although this power being extraordinary, needs to be used very sparingly when either of the other two organs fails to act.

 THE WAY FORWARD:

ROLE OF GOVERNOR

• The Governor’s role has been seriously questioned due to the constitutional impropriety displayed by politically partisan governors.
• The inordinate delay in deciding the clemency petition needs to be seen in the context of changing the role of the Governor from “purely being an agent of centre”.
• Hence, governors should strictly follow their constitutional dharma.

CHANGING FEDERAL EQUATIONS

• The federal equations between the Centre and states have reached new lows in recent times, which open new fault lines in federal dynamics. This clemency controversy is another such instance, and hence a better Centre-state relationship must be developed.

NEED FOR CHANGE IN PARDON POWER

• A wide public debate needs to be initiated on the whole issue of pardoning power, its mechanism and employment.

FAULTY AND MOTIVATED INVESTIGATION

• All the limbs of the criminal justice system need to work towards securing justice for all, including the accused.
• In this instant case, it was seen that forced confession was extracted from the appellant and such motivated and faulty investigation strikes at the very roots of the justice system.

POLITICIZATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS

• The human rights of individuals should not be made to suffer at the altar of political manipulations and machinations.

A TIME LIMIT FOR EXERCISING PARDON POWER

• In Perarivalan vs Union of India. 2014, the SC held that “apex constitutional authorities” like the President and the Governor must exercise their clemency powers under Articles 72 and 161, respectively, within the “bounds of constitutional discipline” and in an “expeditious manner”.
• The fact that no time limit is prescribed to the President/Governor for disposal of the mercy petition should compel the government to work in a more systematized manner to repose the confidence of the people in the institution of democracy.

REVISIT THE NEED FOR CAPITAL PUNISHMENT

• The entire saga of cases related to Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination once again generated a debate on the need for capital punishment in Indian Statute books, especially in the context of decision/non-decision/rejection of mercy petitions.
• As it is not possible to know the reason behind this act of the President/Governor, and subjective factors might influence decisions, a moratorium on capital sentence need to be enforced in the shorter term,

THE CONCLUSION: The SC judgement has provided clarity as to the nature of the relation between the governor and the state government vis a vis the clemency power. However, it would be naïve to think that such instances would not recur in future unless the governors display political sagacity. It is in the interest of justice, public cause and human rights that Centre-state relations should improve, for which the role of the Governor is very important while the scope of judicial review is minimum.

Questions:

1. What was held by the Supreme Court in AG Perarivalan Vs State, 2022? Do you think that this judgement has provided clarity with respect to the exercise of the clemency power by the Governor? Explain.
2. “Constitutional clemency differs from statutory clemency”. Comment.
3. “When politics determines justice, human rights become a causality” Elaborate in the context of the SC judgment on the clemency power of the Governor in the Perarivalan case 2022.