THE CONTEXT: On 26 February 2022 Ukraine lodged a case against Russia at the ICJ which was centered on the interpretation of a 1948 treaty on the prevention of genocide, signed by both Russia and Ukraine. The court is named in the treaty itself as the forum for resolving disputes related to genocide and Ukraine’s suit argues that Russia has misinterpreted the treaty in several ways. This article explains the whole issue in detail and analyses the efficacy of ICJ in the present times.

WHAT IS THE INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE (ICJ)

ABOUT ICJ:

• The ICJ is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations (UN). The International Court of Justice is also known as the World Court. It was established in June 1945 by the Charter of the United Nations and began work in April 1946.
• The seat of the Court is at the Peace Palace in The Hague (Netherlands). Of the six principal organs of the United Nations, ICJ is the only one not located in New York (United States of America).
• Its official working languages are English and French
• All members of the UN are ipso facto parties to the statute, but this does not automatically give ICJ jurisdiction over disputes involving them. The ICJ gets jurisdiction only on the basis of the consent of both parties. The Charter of the United Nations was signed on 26 June 1945, in San Francisco, at the conclusion of the United Nations Conference on International Organisation and came into force on 24 October 1945. The Statute of the International Court of Justice is an integral part of the Charter.

Figure 1 Charter of the United Nations

ITS ORIGIN:

• The court is the successor to the Permanent Court of International Justice (PCIJ), which was brought into being by the League of Nations, and which held its inaugural sitting at the Peace Palace in The Hague, Netherlands, in February 1922.
• After World War II, the League of Nations and PCIJ were replaced by the United Nations and ICJ respectively.
• The PCIJ was formally dissolved in April 1946, and its last president, Judge José Gustavo Guerrero of El Salvador, became the first president of the ICJ.

ITS COMPOSITION:

• The ICJ consists of a panel of 15 judges elected by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) and United Nations Security Council (UNSC) for nine-year terms. These organs vote simultaneously but separately. In order to be elected, a candidate must receive an absolute majority of the votes in both bodies. The Court does not include more than one national of the same State. Moreover, the Court as a whole represents the main forms of civilization and the principal legal systems of the world.
• One-third of the Court is elected every three years; Judges are eligible for re-election.
• The 15 judges of the Court are distributed in the following regions:
• Three from Africa.
• Two from Latin America and the Caribbean.
• Three from Asia.
• Five from Western Europe and other states.

ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

• The Court settles legal disputes submitted to it by States, in accordance with international law. It also gives advisory opinions on legal questions referred by authorised UN organs and specialised agencies. Judgments in disputes between States are binding.
• The Court decides disputes between countries, based on the voluntary participation of the States concerned. If a State agrees to participate in a proceeding, it is obligated to comply with the Court’s decision.

WORKING OF THE COURT:

• States have no permanent representatives accredited to the Court. They normally communicate with the Registrar through their Minister for Foreign Affairs or their ambassador accredited to the Netherlands.
• The sources of law that the Court must apply are international treaties and conventions in force; international custom; the general principles of law; judicial decisions; and the teachings of the most highly qualified publicists*. Moreover, if the parties agree, the Court can decide a case ex aequo et Bono, i.e., without confining itself to existing rules of international law.

A *publicist is an international law scholar or a scholarly organization (e.g., American Law Institute). However, Article 38 of the ICJ Statute indicates that only teachings (writings) of “the most highly qualified publicists” are considered to be a source of international law. Thus, not every article or book about an international law topic would be considered a source of international law.

A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE FUNCTION AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF ICJ

• The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is the international community’s legal guardian. The ICJ is frequently called upon to defuse crisis situations, help normalize relations between states, and reactivate stalled negotiation processes. It resolves legal disputes submitted to it by States in accordance with international law, as well as provides advisory opinions on legal questions referred to it by authorized United Nations organs and specialized agencies. Within its limited jurisdiction, the ICJ has resolved significant international disputes, thereby contributing to international peace and security.
• In carrying out its mandate, the Court not only contributes to the strengthening of international law’s role in international relations but also to its development and is increasingly being used as a forum for the resolution of environmental disputes, particularly those involving transboundary
• harm, as well as other disagreements affecting the conservation of living resources, environmental protection, or potentially adverse effects on human health.
• Albeit the court cannot enact new laws in the same way that a regulator can, the Court can clarify, refine, and interpret international law rules. In the present scenario of Russia’s military action on Ukraine ICJ’s decision is binding on Russia and constitutes part of its international legal obligations. If Russia continues its military actions, it will be a brazen violation of international law.

DISCOURSE ON UKRAINE’S CASE AGAINST RUSSIA AT ICJ

UKRAINE’S APPLICATION AGAINST RUSSIAN FEDERATION:

• Ukraine contends that Russian Federation has falsely claimed that acts of genocide have been committed in the Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts of Ukraine and based on such claims Russia initiated a special military action and recognized the so-called ‘Donetsk People’s Republic’ and ‘Luhansk People’s Republic’.
• Ukraine “emphatically denies” that such genocide has occurred and states that Russia has no lawful basis to take action in and against Ukraine for the purpose of preventing and punishing any purported genocide.
• Ukraine used the clause of the Genocide Convention of (1948) to get the ICJ to hear the case. The top court of the United Nations has ordered Russia to “immediately suspend” its military operations in Ukraine.
• It is a “provisional measures” order – an emergency ruling made before the court hears the whole case. Provisional measures are binding. It means even if Russia maintains incorrectly that the invasion is legal, it is now breaching international law anyway by failing to comply with the ICJ’s order. However, a binding ruling is not the same as an enforceable one. Just as there is no global government to give the ICJ more power, there is no global police to enforce its decisions.

Article I of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Genocide Convention), 1948 as interpreted by the ICJ in the past makes it an obligation for any state not to commit genocide and also gives an extraterritorial scope to signatory states to prevent genocide. (This became the basis for Russia to initiate a special military action against Ukraine.) Ukraine also contends this interpretation and says that no rule in international law automatically gives one state a right to invade another state to stop genocide.

Article VIII states that any contracting party can unilaterally approach the competent organs of the United Nations in matters related to the acts of genocide.

Article IX states that “Disputes between the Contracting Parties relating to the interpretation, application or fulfillment of the present Convention, including those relating to the responsibility of a State for genocide or for any of the other acts shall be submitted to the International Court of Justice at the request of any of the parties to the dispute.” (This became the basis for Ukraine to unilaterally approach ICJ as both Ukraine and Russia are parties to the Genocide Convention.)

Russia has rejected the order by the ICJ to immediately suspend its military operations in Ukraine by saying that:

• Both sides had to agree to end the hostilities for the ruling to be implemented.
• The ruling was not valid as no consent from both sides can be obtained in this case.
• Though Russia boycotted a hearing on the case but argued in a written filing that the court didn’t have jurisdiction and also said it was acting in self-defense with the invasion.

STANCE OF JUSTICE DALVEER BHANDARI ON THE ISSUE:

• Bhandari was one of the two judges at the world court whose vote is contrary to their respective countries’ stance at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).
• At the United Nations (UN), India’s stand has been that diplomacy and dialogue are the solutions to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. At the UN General Assembly on 2 March 2022, India urged both sides to focus on diplomacy to end the war and abstained from voting on the matter.
• Unlike in the UN, in the ICJ, there is no option of abstention, and ICJ judges vote in their individual capacities, and they vote on the merits of that. A judge’s opinion at the world court is in his or her individual capacity and does not reflect their respective countries’ stand on the issue.

INDIA AND ICJ

ACCEPTING THE JURISDICTION OF ICJ:

• In September 2019 India declared the matters over which it accepts the jurisdiction of the ICJ. This declaration was revoked and replaced the previous declaration made in September 1974 and September 1959.
• Among the matters over which India does not accept ICJ jurisdiction are: “disputes with the government of any State which is or has been a Member of the Commonwealth of Nations”, and “disputes relating to or connected with facts or situations of hostilities, armed conflicts, individual or collective actions taken in self-defense…”
• The declaration, which includes other exceptions as well, has been ratified by Parliament.

PARTY TO A CASE AT ICJ: India has been a party to a case at the ICJ on six occasions, four of which have involved Pakistan. They are:

• Right of Passage over Indian Territory (Portugal v. India, culminated in 1960) – Ruling in India’s favour.
• Appeal Relating to the Jurisdiction of the ICAO Council (India v. Pakistan, culminated 1972) – ICJ rejected Pakistan’s objection.
• Trial of Pakistani Prisoners of War (Pakistan v. India, culminated 1973) – Pakistan choose not to move ahead with the proceedings.
• Aerial Incident of 10 August 1999 (Pakistan v. India, culminated in 2000) – ICJ rejected Pakistan’s contention.
• Obligations concerning Negotiations relating to Cessation of the Nuclear Arms Race and to Nuclear Disarmament (Marshall Islands v. India, culminated 2016) – The court ruled that it does not have any jurisdiction on the issue in the absence of a dispute between the two countries
• Kulbhushan Jadhav (India v. Pakistan, culminated 2019) – The ICJ held that Pakistan was in clear violation of the rights and obligations described under the Vienna Convention on Consular relations 1963 and ruled in favour of India. Jadhav still remains in Pakistan Jail.

INDIANS AS MEMBERS OF ICJ: Four Indians have been members of the ICJ so far:

• Justice Dalveer Bhandari, former judge of the Supreme Court, has been serving at the ICJ since 2012.
• Former Chief Justice of India R S Pathak served from 1989-to 91.
• Former Chief Election Commissioner of India Nagendra Singh from 1973-88. Singh was also president of the court from 1985-to 88 and vice-president from 1976-to 79.
• Sir Benegal Rau, who was an advisor to the Constituent Assembly, was a member of the ICJ from 1952-to 53.

LIMITATIONS ON THE FUNCTIONING OF ICJ

ICJ suffers from certain limitations, these are mainly structural, circumstantial, and related to the material resources made available to the Court.

JURISDICTION TO TRY INDIVIDUALS:

• It has no jurisdiction to try individuals accused of war crimes or crimes against humanity.
• As it is not a criminal court, it does not have a prosecutor able to initiate proceedings.

HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATION ALLEGATIONS FROM INDIVIDUALS: The International Court of Justice differs from other courts such as:

• The Court of Justice of the European Union (Luxembourg), whose role is to interpret European Community legislation uniformly and rule on its validity,
• The European Court of Human Rights (France) and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (Costa Rica), which deal with allegations of violations of the human rights conventions under which they were set up.
• These three courts can entertain applications from individuals as well as from States which is not possible for the International Court of Justice.

NOT A SPECIALIST COURT:

• The jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice in general thereby differs from that of specialist international tribunals, such as the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS).
• ITLOS is an independent judicial body established by UNCLOS to adjudicate disputes arising out of the convention.
• United Nations Convention on the Laws of the Sea (UNCLOS) was adopted in 1982 to establish jurisdictional limits over the ocean areas and regulate activities in international waters, including sea-bed mining and cable laying, etc.

NOT A SUPREME COURT:

• The Court is not a Supreme Court to which national courts can turn; it does not act as a court of last resort for individuals nor is it an appeal court for any international tribunal. It can, however, rule on the validity of arbitral awards.

CANNOT INITIATE PROCEEDING SUO MOTO:

• The Court can only hear a dispute when requested to do so by one or more States.
• It cannot deal with a dispute on its own initiative.
• Neither is it permitted, under its Statute, to investigate and rule on acts of sovereign States as it chooses.

DO NOT HAVE A COMPULSORY JURISDICTION:

• The ICJ only has jurisdiction based on consent, not compulsory jurisdiction.

DO NOT ENJOY FULL POWERS:

• It does not enjoy a full separation of powers, with permanent members of the Security Council being able to veto enforcement of cases, even those to which they consented to be bound.

ABOUT GENOCIDE CONVENTION

• The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Genocide Convention) is an instrument of international law that codified for the first time the crime of genocide. It was the first human rights treaty adopted by the General Assembly of the UN on 9 December 1948.
• It signified the international community’s commitment to ‘never again’ after the atrocities committed during the Second World War and its adoption marked a crucial step towards the development of international human rights and international criminal law as we know it today.
• According to the Genocide Convention, genocide is a crime that can take place both in times of war as well as in the time of peace. The definition of the crime of genocide, as set out in the Convention, has been widely adopted at both national and international levels, including in the 1998 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC).
• Importantly, the Convention establishes on State Parties the obligation to take measures to prevent and punish the crime of genocide, including by enacting relevant legislation and punishing perpetrators, “whether they are constitutionally responsible rulers, public officials or private individuals” (Article IV). Those obligations, in addition to the prohibition not to commit genocide, have been considered norms of international customary law and therefore, binding on all States, whether or not they have ratified the Genocide Convention.
• India is a signatory to this convention.

THE WAY FORWARD

• The ICJ can only hear a dispute when requested to do so by one or more States and cannot deal with a dispute on its own initiative. The power of the court shall be expanded regarding international laws to take Suo moto cognizance and initiate proceedings to maintain international peace and order.
• ICJ shall also be given the power to hear the matters which have already been decided by other international tribunals.
• Though the ICJ can only hear cases by the states it shall also accept applications from individuals as well as international organizations.
• The rulings of the court are binding but not enforceable on states and the onus lies on other UN organs for their implementation. This leads to a lack of confidence in the efficacy of the court. The court shall be given some institutional powers to make it more efficient.

THE CONCLUSION: While the court did not decide on whether Russia has breached the Genocide Convention, as this is a question of merits, it did express doubt over whether a country can unilaterally use force against another country for punishing or preventing an alleged act of genocide. This indicates that Russia’s use of force is difficult to justify under the Genocide Convention. Just because authoritarian populist leaders don’t care for international law does not diminish its significance. International law, even if not sufficient, is necessary to maintain global order. The ICJ decision is an impactful step in that direction.

MAINS PRACTICE QUESTION:

1. “India has accepted the jurisdiction of International Court of Justice on various issues barring a few such as connected with facts or situations of hostilities, armed conflicts, individual or collective actions taken in self-defense.” In the context of changing geopolitical situations elaborate on the given statement.
2. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) suffers from structural, circumstantial, and material limitations. How can the court be made more effective to help in redressing interstate disputes and in maintaining global peace?

ADD TO YOUR KNOWLEDGE

Difference between the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the International Criminal Court(ICC)

THE HEALTH AND EDUCATION

1. NEW RESEARCH: HEART INFLAMMATION RISK AFTER COVID-19 JABS IS VERY LOW, FINDS STUDY

THE CONTEXT: According to the latest study at National University Hospital, Singapore found no statistically significant difference between the incidence of myopericarditis following the Covid-19 vaccination and other vaccinations (56 per million).

THE EXPLANATION:

• The overall risk of heart inflammation (myopericarditis) following Covid-19 vaccination is very low, affecting 18 people per million vaccine doses, a study in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine has found.
• The researchers found no statistically significant difference between the incidence of myopericarditis following the Covid-19 vaccination and other vaccinations (56 per million).
• THE CONDITION: Myopericarditis is a condition that causes inflammation of the heart muscle and, in some cases, severe permanent heart damage. It is most often caused by viruses, but in rare instances can also occur after vaccination.
• DATABASE: The researchers looked at more than 400 million doses from global databses, and analysed more than 20 studies with reported incidences of myopericarditis following any type of vaccination between January 1947 and December 2021.
• Of these, 11 studies looked specifically at Covid-19 vaccinations, covering over 395 million doses – nearly 300 million of which were mRNA vaccines. The rest of the studies covered other vaccinations such as smallpox (2.9 million doses), influenza (1.5 million doses), and others (5.5 million doses).
• FINDINGS: Among COVID-19 vaccinations, the risk of myopericarditis (18 cases per million dases) was higher for those who received mRNA vaccines (22.6 per million) compared to non-mRNA vaccines (7.9 per million). Reported cases were also higher in people below 30 (40.9 per million), males (23 per million), and following the second dose (31.1 per million).
• According to the specialist,“The occurrence of myopericarditis following non-Covid-19 vaccination could suggest that myopericarditis is a side effect of the inflammatory processes induced by any vaccination and is not unique to the SARS-CoV-2 spike proteins in Covid-19 vaccines or infection.

2. UGC ALLOWS ENROLLING FOR TWO DEGREES

THE CONTEXT: According to the new UGC guidelines, from the academic session 2022-23, students will have the option to pursue two academic programmes simultaneously at the higher education level.

THE EXPLANATION:

• It will essentially allow students to simultaneously opt for two programmes at the undergraduate, diploma and postgraduate levels. Both degrees can be in physical mode, or one offline and another online, or both offline. But it will be optional for the universities to adopt these guidelines.

What are the subject combinations that a student will be allowed to take up?

• According to the UGC, the permitted combination of subjects will vary from one institution to another as different institutes set different criteria for admissions. However, it will be possible for a student to pursue a degree in humanities and sciences at once, or two degrees falling in the same stream.
• For instance, if a student is already enrolled in a BSc mathematics degree and also wants to pursue a bachelor’s degree in History, He/She will be allowed to do so. If a university offers an offline BCom programme during the evening shift and a full-time BA programme during the morning shift, a student may enroll in both programmes.

What are the possible combinations in terms of modes of study?

• The move allows a student to pursue two academic programmes, one in full-time physical mode, and another in open and distance learning mode. They can also join a programme in a physical mode in a university, along with another programme in an online mode. The third choice for students is that they can pursue two online degrees simultaneously.
• On the question of attendance, particularly in case of a student choosing the purely offline mode, UGC noted that in such cases, students and colleges will ensure that class timings for one programme do not overlap with that of the other.
• Also, the guidelines will not apply to MPhil and Ph.D. programmes. Students can only pursue a degree or diploma course in distance mode/online mode at institutions that have been approved by the UGC, and concerned bodies of the Government of India.

Will admission eligibility criteria and attendance requirements be revised?

• The eligibility criteria for each of the programmes will remain unchanged and admissions will be conducted based on the existing UGC and university norms. If a student aspires to pursue a specialised degree in any domain but the minimum criteria require her to have basic knowledge of the subject, then she may not be able to enroll in that particular course.
• Since all academic programmes have minimum attendance requirements for students to be able to take the exams, universities may have to devise or revise the attendance criteria for these courses. “UGC does not mandate any attendance requirements and these are the policies of the universities.

 THE ENVIRONMENT, ECOLOGY, AND CLIMATE CHANGE

3. INDIA WILL MISS ITS 2022 SOLAR POWER TARGET: REPORT

THE CONTEXT: A report, jointly prepared by two energy-research firms — JMK Research and Analytics and the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis — says India will likely miss its 2022 target of installing 100 gigawatts (GW) of solar power capacity. This is because rooftop solar lagging behind.

THE EXPLANATION:

What is India’s solar policy?

• Since 2011, India’s solar sector has grown at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of around 59% from 0.5GW in 2011 to 55GW in 2021. The Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM), also known as the National Solar Mission (NSM), which commenced in January 2010, marked the first time the government focussed on promoting and developing solar power in India.
• Under the scheme, the total installed capacity target was set as 20GW by 2022. In 2015, the target was revised to 100GW and in August 2021, the government set a solar target of 300GW by 2030.
• India currently ranks fifth after China, U.S., Japan and Germany in terms of installed solar power capacity. As of December 2021, the cumulative solar installed capacity of India is 55GW, which is roughly half the renewable energy (RE) capacity (excluding large hydropower) and 14% of the overall power generation capacity of India. Within the 55GW, grid-connected utility-scale projects contribute 77% and the rest comes from the grid-connected rooftop and off-grid projects.

What does the report say?

• As of April, 2022 only about 50% of the 100GW target, consisting of 60GW of utility-scale and 40GW of rooftop solar capacity, has been met. Nearly 19 GW of solar capacity is expected to be added in 2022 — 15.8GW from utility-scale and 3.5GW from rooftop solar. Even accounting for this capacity would mean about 27% of India’s 100GW solar target would remain unmet, according to JMK Research.
• A 25GW shortfall in the 40GW rooftop solar target, is expected compared to 1.8GW in the utility-scale solar target by December 2022. Thus, it is in rooftop solar that the challenges of India’s solar-adoption policy stick out.

What are the reasons for rooftop solar adoption not meeting targets?

• In December 2015, the government launched the first phase of the grid-connected rooftop solar programme to incentivise its use in residential, institutional and social areas. The second phase, approved in February 2019, had a target of 40GW of cumulative rooftop solar capacity by 2022, with incentives in the form of central financial assistance (CFA).
• As of November 2021, of the phase 2 target of 4GW set for the residential sector, only 1.1GW had been installed. The disruption in supply chains due to the pandemic was a key impediment to rooftop solar adoption.
• In its early years, India’s rooftop solar market struggled to grow, held back by lack of consumer awareness, inconsistent policy frameworks of the Centre/State governments and financing. Recently, however, there has been a sharp rise in rooftop solar installations thanks to falling technology costs, increasing grid tariffs, rising consumer awareness and the growing need for cutting energy costs.
• These factors are expected to persist giving a much-needed boost to this segment, the report notes. Going ahead, rooftop solar adoption is expected to proportionally increase as land and grid-connectivity for utility solar projects are expected to be hard to come by.

Challenges:

• Factors impeding rooftop-solar installation include pandemic-induced supply chain disruption to policy restrictions, regulatory roadblocks; limits to net-metering (or paying users who give back surplus electricity to the grid); taxes on imported cells and modules, unsigned power supply agreements (PSAs) and banking restrictions; financing issues plus delays in or rejection of open access approval grants; and the unpredictability of future open access charges, the report notes.

How critical is solar power to India’s commitment to mitigate climate change?

• Solar power is a major prong of India’s commitment to address global warming according to the terms of the Paris Agreement, as well as achieving net-zero, or no net carbon emissions, by 2070.
• Prime Minister at the United Nations Conference of Parties meeting in Glasgow, in November 2021, said India would be reaching a non-fossil fuel energy capacity of 500 GW by 2030 and meet half its energy requirements via renewable energy by 2030.
• To boost the renewable energy installation drive in the long term, the Centre in 2020 set a target of 450GW of RE-based installed capacity to be achieved by 2030, within which the target for solar was 300GW.
• Given the challenge of integrating variable renewable energy into the grid, most of the RE capacity installed in the latter half of this decade is likely to be based on wind-solar hybrid (WSH), RE-plus-storage and round-the-clock RE projects rather than traditional solar/wind projects, according to the report. On the current trajectory, the report finds, India’s solar target of 300GW by 2030 will be off the mark by about 86GW, or nearly a third.

The study speculates that the government, in the short term, will aggressively push for expediting solar capacity addition to achieve the 100GW target by 2022 by re-allocating some of the unmet rooftop targets to utility-scale projects.

THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTS

4. INDIA TO GROW AT 8%: WORLD BANK

THE CONTEXT: According to World Bank, India is projected to grow at 8% over the current fiscal year (April 1- March 31), and 7.1% over the next (FY 2023-24) fiscal year.

THE EXPLANATION:

• The country is estimated to have grown at 8.3% in the fiscal year that just passed, following a contraction of 6.6% in the year owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• For the South Asia region, growth is expected to be slower than projected, by 1 percentage point, at 6.6% in 2022 and 6.3% next calendar year.
• This is due to Russia’s war on Ukraine, which has impacted the region, when it was already experiencing “uneven and fragile” growth, rising commodity prices, bottlenecks to supply and financial sector vulnerabilities.

External shocks

• “Given these challenges, governments need to carefully plan monetary and fiscal policies to counter external shocks and protect the vulnerable, while laying the foundation for green, resilient and inclusive growth”.
• It highlighted, that there is limited space for fiscal stimulus and supply bottlenecks are of greater significance than insufficient effective demand.
• The impact of sanctions on Russia would be on the South Asian region, the report noted the impact was indirect, rather than direct, given the relatively low proportion of imports and exports that go to and from Russia and Ukraine. The indirect impact was via the global impact of sanctions on commodity and financial markets.
• All countries in the region will face challenges ahead, despite “solid” GDP growth during recovery, as per the report. In the case of India, household consumption will be constrained due to the incomplete recovery of the labour market and inflationary pressures.

Greener fuels

• The report suggests that countries in the region move towards greener fuels and commodities as a response to rising fuel prices and the introduction of green taxes. This would also be a new source of government revenue. Also, It noted that the green tax recommendation applied to both firms that were polluting as well as energy prices.

THE GOVERNMENT SCHEMES/INITIATIVES IN THE NEWS

5. 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 crore 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 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 village; socially secured village; village with good governance; engendered development in 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 in 117 Aspirational Districts identified by the NITI Aayog.
• This campaign which, undertaken under “SabkaSath, Sabka Gaon, Sabka Vikas”, is to promote social harmony, spread awareness about pro-poor initiatives of the government, and reach out to poor households to enroll them as also to obtain their feedback on various welfare programmes.
• During this Abhiyan, a 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 also been identified as per district plan.

THE PRELIMS PRACTICE QUESTIONS

QUESTION OF THE DAY

Q. Which of the following pairs is/are correctly matched?

1. Bohag Bihu – Sowing festival
2. Kati Bihu – Crop protection
3. Bhogali Bihu – Harvest festival

Select the correct answer using the code given below:

a) 1 only

b) 1 and 2 only

c) 2 and 3 only

d) 1, 2 and 3

ANSWER FOR 13TH APRIL 2022

Answer: C

Explanation:

• The electoral college for the election of President of India 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).

THE CONTEXT: Of late, many reports/indices have downgraded India’s position on various aspects of democracy. There are also allegations that the Indian State has curtailed the freedoms of individuals, the media, and civil society and undermined the independence of accountability institutions. Such developments, along with the results of recently concluded State Assembly elections, have led to a view that India has become an electoral democracy and that the electoral wins have been used to undermine the constitutional democracy. This article examines this claim in detail and suggests a way forward.

A WORKING DEFINITION: ELECTORAL DEMOCRACY AND CONSTITUTIONAL DEMOCRACY

ELECTORAL DEMOCRACY:

• An electoral democracy refers to a polity governed by a democratically elected government.
• In such a system, there are regular free and fair elections based on universal adult franchise, multi-party competition, the peaceful transfer of power, etc.
• Electoral democracy is also known as procedural democracy, formal democracy, etc.
• The electoral process provides legitimacy to governments which can be used for achieving lofty objectives or for other partisan purposes.
• Although electoral democracy is necessary, it is not sufficient for establishing a constitutional democracy.

CONSTITUTIONAL DEMOCRACY:

• In a constitutional democracy, the authority of the majority is limited by legal and institutional means so that the rights of individuals and minorities are respected. Constitutional democracy is the antithesis of arbitrary rule.  It may be also called substantial democracy, liberal democracy, etc.  It is a democracy characterized by:

1. POPULAR SOVEREIGNTY. The people are the ultimate source of the authority of the government, which derives its right to govern from their consent.
2. MAJORITY RULE AND MINORITY RIGHTS. Although “the majority rules,” the fundamental rights of individuals in the minority are protected.
3. LIMITED GOVERNMENT. The powers of government are limited by law and a written or unwritten constitution that those in power obey.
4. INSTITUTIONAL AND PROCEDURAL LIMITATIONS ON POWERS. There are certain institutional and procedural devices that limit the powers of government.

WHAT ARE THE FUNDAMENTAL VALUES OF CONSTITUTIONAL DEMOCRACY?

BASIC RIGHTS:

• Protection of certain basic or fundamental rights is the primary goal of government. These rights may be limited to life, liberty, and property, or they may be extended to include such economic and social rights as employment, health care, and education.
• Documents such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights, the Fundamental Rights, and DPSP of the Indian Constitution enumerate and explain these rights.

FREEDOM OF CONSCIENCE AND EXPRESSION:

• A constitutional democracy includes among its highest purposes the protection of freedom of conscience and freedom of expression.
• These freedoms have value both for the healthy functioning and preservation of constitutional democracy and for the full development of the human personality.

PRIVACY AND CIVIL SOCIETY:

• Constitutional democracies recognize and protect the integrity of a private and social realm comprised of family, personal, religious, and other associations and activities. This space of uncoerced human association is the basis of a civil society free from unfair and unreasonable intrusions by the government.

JUSTICE: A constitutional democracy promotes:

• DISTRIBUTIVE JUSTICE. The fair distribution of the benefits and burdens of society.
• CORRECTIVE JUSTICE. Fair and proper responses to wrongs and injuries.
• PROCEDURAL JUSTICE. The use of fair procedures in the gathering of information and the making of decisions by all agencies of government and, most particularly, by law enforcement agencies and the courts.

EQUALITY: A constitutional democracy promotes:

• POLITICAL EQUALITY. All citizens are equally entitled to participate in the political system.
• EQUALITY BEFORE THE LAW. The law does not discriminate based on unreasonable and unfair criteria such as gender, age, race, ethnicity, religious or political beliefs, affiliations, class, or economic status. The law applies to the governors as well as the governed.
• ECONOMIC EQUALITY. Constitutional democracies have differing conceptions of the meaning and importance of economic equality. At the very least, they agree that all citizens should have the right to an equal opportunity to improve their material well-being. Some constitutional democracies also attempt to eliminate gross disparities in wealth through such means as progressive taxation and social welfare programs.

OPENNESS:

• Constitutional democracies are based on a political philosophy of openness or the free marketplace of ideas, the availability of information through a free press and free expression in all fields of human endeavor.

ELECTORAL DEMOCRACY VS CONSTITUTIONAL DEMOCRACY-AN ANALYSIS

In a large part of the world, the electoral aspects of democracy are being used to undermine the non-electoral dimensions of democracy. This process can be called the battle between electoral democracy and constitutional democracy. Democracies don’t normally die as a result of military or executive coups these days. Processes internal to the democratic system can severely weaken democracy itself, even causing its collapse. Today, such contradictions exist in Turkey, Poland, Hungary, and Russia, to name just a few countries. Donald Trump also attempted something similar in the US. It is also alleged that such a process is underway in India.

OTHERING THE OTHERS: ILLUSTRATIONS FROM THE ASIAN REGION

As early as the 1950s, Sri Lanka imposed a “Sinhala only” policy on the Tamil minority of the country. By the 1960 and 1970s, the Sinhalese majority gradually established its hegemony via electoral means, completely marginalizing the Tamils. In the 1980s, a civil war was born as a consequence. In Malaysia, following roughly similar policies, the Malay majority side-lined the Chinese minority. Internal tensions and aggravations rose, but, unlike Sri Lanka, a civil war did not. The minorities pursued their interests by entering into coalitions with political parties within the larger parameters of the polity.

HOW IS ELECTORAL DEMOCRACY USED TO UNDERMINE CONSTITUTIONAL DEMOCRACY?

MIS USE OF ELECTORAL SUCCESS:

• Electoral win provides authority to the elected government to frame laws and policies to implement its ideological agenda.
• Although nothing is wrong in this as long the government acts within the bounds of the constitutional limitations, serious problems emerge once this is breached.
• The triumph in elections can be used in three ways — in executive decrees, in legislative chambers to formulate laws, and on the street via vigilante forces.

SECTARIAN LEGAL AND POLICY ACTIONS:

• The government will simply claim that as it has won the “free and fair elections” it must be free to govern as it pleases without any boundation.
• In other words, electoral success means approval and legitimization of the parties’ agenda, policy choices, and manifesto. I say, a party that is known for its illiberal and communal outlook comes to power with a brute majority, which means the people’s acceptance of what the party stands for.
• This majority is then used by the party to frame legislation and public policies to further the illiberal and communal agenda.

FREE VOTE BUT PROGRESSIVE UNFREEDOMS:

• Differently labelled as right-wing populism, majoritarianism, or illiberal democracy, the core of this politics consists of: –
• Using election win to attack – via legislation — the idea of minority rights and undermine – also via legislation — standard democratic freedoms such as the freedom of expression, freedom of association, and freedom of religious or cultural practice.
• A freely conducted vote can thus be used to cripple the other freedoms that modern democracies also value and the electoral democracy essentially degenerates into an electoral autocracy.

THE REASONS FOR INDIA BEING CALLED AS AN ELECTORAL DEMOCRACY

POTENTIAL MISUSE OF WINS IN ELECTIONS:

• The campaign for the UP election by the incumbent party has a fair share of communal attacks on the minorities.
• It is held that the five-year rule of the party also saw discriminatory legal and administrative actions against the minority community, mob lynching, attacks, and arrest of human rights activists and journalists, custodial deaths, illegal encounters, poor Covid management, mounting unemployment, etc.
• Yet a victorious plurality of UP’s electorate was willing to ignore the incumbent party’s failures and transgressions and returned the same party to power.
• Though minority rights are enshrined in India’s Constitution, election victories can now be used to create laws or government policies that begin to precisely attack those rights.
• Fake news, misinformation, post-truth, and hate speeches have taken the political and social discourse to a new low in India.
• Electoral win is one of the means by which electoral democracy can be a vehicle for an assault on constitutional democracy.

WEAKENING OF THE GUARDIAN OF THE CONSTITUTION:

• Generally speaking, the courts are the final custodian of constitutional proprieties in a democracy and can frustrate a legislative or executive attack on the Constitution.
• But that depends on whether the judiciary is willing to play its constitutionally assigned role. Judicial interpretation can go either way – in favour of the government or against it.
• India’s judiciary has of late — and earlier as well — been an unreliable defender of the Constitution and citizens’ rights. For instance, an erstwhile CJI has given a free pass to the executive through ” sealed cover jurisprudence”, and a former Judge of the SC has been alleged to be always favouring the government.
• A cursory glance of the major Constitutional cases like revocation of Art 370, CAA 2019, etc pending in the SC for a couple of years, points out the unwillingness of the SC to scrutinize executive actions.
• The selective appointment and transfer of judges of the higher judiciary also shows the lack of judicial independence.

THE FALLING RANKS IN GLOBAL INDICES:

• For a couple of years, India’s standing in almost all the indices/reports dealing with democracy and its features has been consistently falling. For instance, in the recently released freedom in the World 2022report by the American non-profit organization Freedom House, India was described as ‘partly free’ and given a ‘Global Freedom Score’ of 66 out of 100, the same as Malawi and Bolivia. India was assigned a score of 33 out of 40 on the criterion of ‘Political Rights’, and 33 out of 60 on that of ‘Civil Liberties’.
• In V-Dem Institute’s latest Democracy Report 2022, India continues to be categorized as an ‘electoral autocracy’, a status to which it had been downgraded for the first time in last year’s Democracy Report. Last year’s report, however, had expressly stated that India could belong to the higher category of ‘electoral democracy’ by designating it as ‘EA+’. However, in this year’s report, it has been designated ‘EA’, indicating that there is no uncertainty about its status. In previous years’ reports, India had been classified as an electoral democracy.

HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS AND MEDIA FREEDOM:

• Human rights violations are also on the rise, especially among minorities, human rights defenders, activists, etc. For instance, an octogenarian under trial prisoner suffering from Parkinson’s disease and other complications was denied even medical bail, and he died in judicial custody.
• The encounter policy of a state in India is infamous for providing what they call instant justice as also for its “ freedom of religion law” that has set off a culture of “ mob-vigilantism”.
• In another state, the controversy over the wearing of a particular type of dress by the students of a community has been used to further polarising society and polity.
• The media is being harassed and victimized by foisting sedition charges, raids by investigative agencies, and even by stopping transmission of a TV news channel allegedly on the ground of national security violation.
• The controversial IT Rules, 2021 are also held to be another attempt at media censorship by the executive.

ATTACKS ON THE CIVIL SOCIETY:

• Civil Society repression has also significantly increased in India not least by the FCRA amendment. Amnesty International had to shut down its operations due to repeated harassment by the government. Recently, the NSA, Mr. Ajith Doval, has characterized civil society as the “fourth frontier of war”. The space for civil society activism and action has been declining substantially in India.

CONCENTRATION OF WEALTH AND INEQUALITY:

• Constitutional democracy is also social and economic democracy. But in India, the wealth, opportunities, and life changes seem to concentrate on a chosen few.
• As per the Oxfam Inequality report 2021, the collective wealth of India’s 100 richest people hit a record high of Rs 57.3 lakh crore (USD 775 billion). In the same year, the share of the bottom 50 percent of the population in national wealth was a mere 6 percent.
• What is particularly worrying in India’s case is that economic inequality is being added to a society that is already fractured along the lines of caste, religion, region, and gender.

ARBITRARY USE OF CRIMINAL AND PENAL PROVISIONS:

• The special criminal laws dealing with terrorism, drug trafficking, money laundering, national security, etc, are being liberally used and misused.
• Section 124A, UAPA, NSA, and PMLA have been held to be applied for offenses not actually attracting the rigours of these laws.
• With their stringent bail conditions, the accused suffers from prolonged incarceration and the process itself becomes the punishment.

VIOLATION OF FEDERAL PROVISIONS OF THE CONSTITUTION:

• The federal relation between the Union and the States has been severely strained in recent times. It is alleged that the Union is trying to undermine the federal provisions of the Constitution.
• By intruding into the State’s sphere of competence, exploiting the positions of the governors, amending the All-India Service rules, delaying financial compensation, deploying central agencies against opposition leaders, etc the Union is trying to make states its appendages, it is alleged.

HOW JUSTIFIED IS THE DICHOTOMY OF ELECTED AND CONSTITUTIONAL DEMOCRACY IN THE INDIAN CONTEXT?

INDEPENDENCE OF ACCOUNTABILITY INSTITUTIONS:

• In India, the accountability enforcing institutions have been functioning independently. There are legislative constraints on executive aggrandizement through motions, debates, votes, committees, etc. The bulwarks of the Constitution, like the ECI, CAG, UPSC, etc, have carried out their constitutional mandate without executive interference.
•  India also has the mechanism of Social Accountability through Social Audit, Citizen Charter, RTI, etc, which are effective tools at the hands of the general public and the civil society to demand executive answerability.

JUDICIAL REVIEW AND ITS IMPACT:

• As judicial review is an essential aspect of constitutional democracy, the higher courts in India have reviewed the legislation and executive actions.
• For instance, in 2021, the SC has read down part of Part IXB of the Constitution due to the lack of legislative competence of the Union. In the case of Pegasus, the SC has established a committee of inquiry to uncover the truth.
• In Covid-19, the HCs and the SC have been consistently taking the executive to task for ineffective management of the pandemic.

A VIBRANT CIVIL SOCIETY AND MEDIA:

• India has the largest civil society ecosystem working in multiple areas free from any illegal constraints.
• The media is also thriving in India and the print, visual and social media have been growing in the country.
• The government does not regulate the media, which is essentially self-regulated and enjoys freedom from governmental interference.

MAJORITY VS MINORITY BINARY IS NOT APPROPRIATE:

• The majority vs minority dichotomy is not an appropriate description of Indian society that is known for multiculturalism.
• The Constitution itself provides specific fundamental rights to the minorities, both linguistic and religious, and the government has taken steps to promote the welfare and development of minorities.
• For instance, the Prime Minister’s New 15 Point Programme for the welfare of Minority Communities, etc. have been implemented by the Union government for their educational and economic empowerment.

BIASNESS IN GLOBAL RANKINGS:

• The global rankings have a western bias, as articulated by the External Affairs Minister and their methodology is highly suspect.
• These indices fail to capture the Indian way of democracy and hence do not provide an accurate picture of the country.

THE WAY FORWARD

BUILD A GENUINE ELECTORAL DEMOCRACY:

• The weakening of other democratic forums and procedures has made elections crucial to the well-being of India’s democracy. This explains the need for a heightened focus on the electoral system, party system, and electoral politics.
• Thus, there should be studies and research on the Election Commission, electoral laws, reforms, legislations, and judicial decisions pertaining to elections. Genuine electoral democracy is a must for constitutional democracy.

INSTITUTIONAL IDENTITY OF THE LEGISLATURE:

• In Indian Parliamentary democracy, the legislature has not been truly independent of the executive in that the executive control of the legislature is a feature of Indian democracy. Thus, in effect, law-making becomes the function of the executive.
•  But, to exercise legislative control over the executive, the Parliament should reinvent its institutional integrity, which is a step towards strengthening constitutional democracy.

DEVELOP CIVIC CITIZENSHIP:

• There is a difference between being a citizen in a constitutional democracy and being a subject in an authoritarian or totalitarian regime. In a democracy, each citizen is a full and equal member of a self-governing community endowed with certain fundamental rights, as well as certain responsibilities.
• Constitutional democracy requires informed and effective participation by citizens who understand and have a reasoned commitment to its fundamental principles and values, as well as a familiarity with its political processes.
• Competent and responsible citizenship require not only knowledge and understanding but the development of intellectual and participatory skills essential to civic life.

TOLERATION OF DIVERSITY:

• The State and the society should respect the right of others to differ in ideas, ways of life, customs, and beliefs.
• Citizens should appreciate the benefits of having people of diverse beliefs and ethnic and racial backgrounds as a part of their community, as well as an understanding of how and why diversity can exacerbate tensions.

NEED AN ETHICAL ADMINISTRATION:

• The administrative apparatus has a duty to uphold constitutional principles and should not act as a regime force of the executive.
• The administrative leadership needs to show the way so that the rights and freedoms of people are not sacrificed for personnel aggrandizement.

THE CONCLUSION: Although it may be true that India has seen some slide in aspects of democracy, it would not be right to hold the Union government alone responsible for it. The decline in democracy has been a worldwide phenomenon, as documented by reputed institutions. However, given India’s strong democratic foundations, independent institutions, vibrant political culture, and media landscape, India can address the problems. Constitutional democracy is a work in progress and hence a systemic approach should be initiated by keeping the Constitution at the center. The judiciary, legislature, and the citizens have a solemn duty to speed up this process.

Questions:

1. Distinguish between electoral democracy and constitutional democracy. Do you think that India has become an electoral democracy? Argue.
2. “Constitutional democracy is hollow without electoral democracy” Comment.
3. How does electoral democracy undermine constitutional democracy? Explain with examples.

THE INDIAN POLITY

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 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 intending to stand in the election, files the nomination along with a signed list of 50 proposers and 50 seconders. These proposers and seconders can be anyone from the 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 WORLD GEOGRAPHY: CLIMATOLOGY

2. NO EL NINO EXPECTED, IT WILL BE A ‘NORMAL’ MONSOON, SAYS SKYMET

THE CONTEXT: According to Skymet, the southwest monsoon 2022 will likely be “normal”, though rainfall in August, the second rainiest month, will likely be subdued.

THE EXPLANATION:

• “Normal”, according to Skymet, is 98% of the historical average of 88 cm for the four-month stretch from June-September. Rajasthan, Gujarat, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura are likely to be rain deficit throughout the season. The northeastern states have a high base level of rainfall.
• In the South, Kerala and north interior of Karnataka would see subdued rainfall in the core monsoon months of July and August. On the other hand, Punjab, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh — key Kharif crop regions — and rainfed areas of Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh would witness “above normal”’ rainfall, the agency stated.
• The El Nino, characterized by a warming of temperatures in the Central Pacific and associated with drying up rainfall over India, wasn’t expected to surface this year. Its converse, or a La Nina, had helped with two years of above-normal rainfall in 2019, 2020 and “normal” rain in 2021.
• “The last two monsoon seasons have been driven by back-to-back La Nina events…the occurrence of El Nino, which normally corrupts the monsoon, is ruled out.

Indian Ocean dipole

• Another factor that influences monsoon was the Indian Ocean dipole, whose “positive” phase corresponded to good rains and “negative” the opposite. “The Indian Ocean Dipole is neutral, albeit having a propensity of negative inclination… Monsoon will have to ride over ENSO — neutral conditions, while battling resistance from IOD, especially during the 2nd half of the season. This possibly can lead to extreme variability in the monthly rainfall distribution,” the agency said.
• The first half of the monsoon — June and July — was expected to be better than the second. June was expected to get 7% more rain than what’s usual, July 100%, August 95% and September, when the monsoon starts to wane, 90%. The last few years, however, have seen unusually high rains in September.
• The India Meteorological Department (IMD), which issues the official forecast, is expected to announce its first forecast for the season later this week. The agency follows a multiple-stage forecast system with an update in June.

VALUE ADDITION

1. El Niño:  A warming of the ocean surface, or above-average sea surface temperatures (SST), in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean.  Over Indonesia, rainfall tends to become reduced while rainfall increases over the tropical Pacific Ocean.  The low-level surface winds, which normally blow from east to west along the equator (“easterly winds”), instead of weakening or, in some cases, start blowing the other direction (from west to east or “westerly winds”).
2. La Niña: A cooling of the ocean surface, or below-average sea surface temperatures (SST), in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean.  Over Indonesia, rainfall tends to increase while rainfall decreases over the central tropical Pacific Ocean.  The normal easterly winds along the equator become even stronger.
3. Neutral:  Neither El Niño or La Niña. Often tropical Pacific SSTs are generally close to average.  However, there are some instances when the ocean can look like it is in an El Niño or La Niña state, but the atmosphere is not playing along (or vice versa).

THE SOCIAL ISSUES AND SOCIAL JUSTICE

3. EXPLAINED: MIDDAY MEAL AND SUPPLEMENTS

THE CONTEXT: From the next academic session, Karnataka is likely to become the 13th state to provide eggs under the midday meal scheme, which is among the largest initiatives in the world to enhance the nutrition levels of school-going children through hot cooked meals.

THE EXPLANATION:

• The proposal, which faces opposition and awaits the Karnataka government’s final stamp of approval, comes on the back of successive surveys pointing out the high prevalence of malnutrition, anemia and low immunity among children in many parts of the state, where the National Family Health Survey-V found 35% children under five stunted, and around 20% wasted.
• The current version of the programme, renamed PM Poshan Shakti Nirman or PM Poshan in 2021, traces its roots to 1995; it was launched as a centrally sponsored scheme on August 15 that year across 2,408 blocks for students up to Class 5. In 2007, the UPA government expanded it to Class 8.
• However, the first initiative to provide meals to children had been taken by the erstwhile Madras Municipal Corporation around 1920. In post-Independence India, Tamil Nadu was again the pioneer, with Chief Minister K Kamaraj rolling out a school feeding scheme in 1956. Kerala had a school lunch scheme run by a humanitarian agency since 1961. The state government officially took over the initiative on December 1, 1984, making Kerala the second state in the country to have a school lunch programme. Over the next few years, many other states launched their own versions of the scheme, and finally, in 1995, the Centre stepped in.

What is the scale of the scheme today?

• The scheme covers 11.80 crore children across Classes 1 to 8 (age group 6 to 14) in11.20 lakh government and government-aided schools and those run by local bodies such as the municipal corporations in Delhi under the provisions of the National Food Security Act, 2013 (NFSA).
• In the Budget for 2022-23, the Centre has earmarked Rs 10,233 crore for the scheme, while the states are expected to spend Rs 6,277 crore. It is not just a scheme, but a legal entitlement of all school-going children in primary and upper primary classes, through the National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013, as well as the Supreme Court’s ruling in the People’s Union of Civil Liberties vs Union of India and Others (2001).

Do the Centre and states run the scheme jointly?

• Under the rules, the allocation of Rs 4.97 per child per day (primary classes) and Rs 7.45 (upper primary) are shared in a 60:40 ratio with states and UTs with a legislature, and 90:10 with the Northeastern states, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, while the Centre bears 100% of the costs in UTs without legislature.
• But the states and UTs that supplement the meals with additional items such as milk and eggs contribute more. Components such as payments to cooks and workers are also split in the same ratio between the Centre and states. However, the Centre bears the entire cost of foodgrains and their transportation and also handles the expenditure on management, monitoring and evaluation of the scheme.

THE INDIAN ECONOMY

4. EXPLAINED: HOW WILL THE CARDLESS CASH WITHDRAWAL SYSTEM AT ATMS WORK?

THE CONTEXT: India’s central bank announced cardless cash withdrawals at ATMs in the country. The feature will let consumers use the Unified Payment Interface (UPI) on their smartphones to withdraw cash from ATMs.

THE EXPLANATION:

How will this system work?

• Cardless cash withdrawals are to be authenticated via UPI. So, ATMs are expected to show an option for withdrawing cash using UPI. Once a user selects this option, they can input the amount to be withdrawn. A QR code will be generated on the ATM.
• Users will then need to scan that code via their UPI app and enter the password to withdraw cash from the ATM. Until now, only fund transfers between accounts were enabled via UPI. With this option, consumers can take cash out from ATMs without a card.

What issues does this tech solve?

• According to the RBI Governor, cardless cash withdrawals will enhance the security of cash withdrawal transactions. Besides, it would help prevent frauds like card skimming and card cloning.
• Currently, only existing customers of a few banks are allowed to withdraw cash without cards, and from specific bank’s ATM networks. However, RBI’s move to allow interoperability in cardless withdrawals will enable users to take cash from any all bank’s ATM.
• RBI’s move will invite more players into the payment ecosystem in India to innovate and solve further problems of customers.

What is card skimming?

• Criminals steal data from credit or debit cards by tracking a card swiped at ATMs. They pick this information using a skimming device that reads the card’s magnetic strip. These devices are surreptitiously installed on ATMs. And once the device picks up the data, it can be used to gain unauthorized access to the user’s banking records.
• The stolen information can be coded onto a new card, a process called cloning, and be used to make payments and transact with other bank accounts. Problematic ATMs that function intermittently and the ones located in isolated areas are often used to install such skimming devices.
• Fraudsters also install scanning devices on point of sale machines. These devices can stealthily scan a card before it is swiped at the payment counter at a departmental store. This is especially tough to spot if the billing counter is not in the line of sight of the card owner.
• These devices are difficult to identify as they appear to be a legitimate part of an existing ATM, or like a regular in-store card reader. It is skillfully fitted to the payment machines.

What is the future of debit cards?

• According to the statement, Issuing cards will not be stopped, as they have several other utilities beyond cash withdrawals. They can be used at a restaurant, shop, or for payments in a foreign country.
• The debit card is a very evolved financial product and has already gone through a lot of iterations to its perfection. In its further evolution, we are seeing new use cases for debit cards like having standing instructions or EMI payments.

THE ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY

5. ODISHA’S BARBARA FOREST SET FOR ECOTOURISM PUSH

THE CONTEXT: According to the state forest officials, the Odisha’s Barbara forest is set to open for the public from the next tourist season in September 2022.

THE EXPLANATION:

• Odisha’s Barbara Forestdubbed as Asia’s largest teak and sal forest, the Barbara forest in Odisha was perhaps the only forest in India guarded by the jawans of the Central Reserve Police Force (for protecting forest resources).
• Spread over 870-sq km, the forest touches three districts Khordha, Nayagarh and Ganjam of Odisha and, as per legend, is named after a British forest officer’s wife, who was killed in a tiger attack in the area, 100-odd years ago.
• The dense teak forest, about 150 km from Bhubaneswar, lent to a flourishing timber market in Bhubaneswar, Berhampur, Cuttack and Nayagarh. It is said the timber mafia worked in tandem with the locals, prompting former Chief Minister Biju Patnaik to seek deployment of CRPF in 1994-95 to check tree felling and protect the forest.
• “The CRPF presence had instilled fear in the mind of timber smugglers and the immediate destruction of precious teak treasure was contained.
• Though the CRPF deployment in Barbara was initially for three years but given the continued threat from the timber mafia, the State Government kept extending the date. According to sources, the CRPF wanted to withdraw from Barbara forest due to its commitment in other parts of the State, where Maoist violence was on the rise. However, a non-government organization moved to Orissa High Court seeking to retain CRPF deployment. The Orissa High Court stayed CRPF’s withdrawal.
• Once the State government deployed Odisha Special Striking Force (OSSF), the CRPF withdrew in 2016. According to reports, about 1,000 timber smugglers were arrested and sawmills around the forest area were shut down during the first decade of CRPF deployment.

VALUE ADDITION:

About Barbara Forest:

• It is nature’s best-kept secret near Chilika Lake in coastal Odisha.
• It is named after a British woman, Barbara who had been killed by a tiger in the late 19th century while she was with her husband on a hunting expedition.
• The Barbara landscape is an enriched area that boasts several century-old plants sown by the British back in 1910.
• Giant squirrels are found in great numbers in the thick forests of Barbara, making it a major contender to become a sanctuary for giant squirrels.
• Barbara was once historically famous for its tigers, now one can find sambar, deer, mouse deer and bison.

THE PRELIMS PRACTICE QUESTIONS

QUESTION OF THE DAY

Q. Which of the following is not a part of the electoral college for the election of the President of India?

a) Elected members of the State Assembly

b) Elected members of Lok Sabha

c) Nominated members of Rajya Sabha

d) Elected Members of Rajya Sabha

ANSWER FOR 12TH APRIL 2022

Answer: D

Explanation:

• Gujarat has topped the list for larger States in the NITI Aayog’s State Energy and ClimateIndex–Round 1 that has ranked States and Union Territories (UTs) on six parameters.
• States have been categorized based on size and geographical differences as larger and smaller States and UTs.The index is based on 2019-20 data.
• Gujarat, Kerala and Punjab have been ranked as the top three performers in the category of larger States, while Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh were the bottom threeStates.
• Goa emerged as the top performer in the smaller States category followed by Tripura and Manipur. Among UTs, Chandigarh, Delhi and Daman & Diu/Da- dra& Nagar Haveli are the top performers. The SECI developed by NITI Aayog which includes 27 indicators under 6 parameters is expected to play a crucial role in pushing the states to adopt best practices and move the needle on clean energy transition.

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(Newspapers, PIB and other important sources)

Prelim and Main

1. ‘SVANidhi se Samriddhi’ launched in additional 126 cities; READ MORE
2. The process of electing India’s President READ MORE
3. Explained | How will cardless cash withdrawal system at ATMs work? READ MORE
4. No El Nino expected, it will be a ‘normal’ monsoon, says Skymet READ MORE
5. Explained: Midday meal and supplements READ MORE
6. India Will Miss Its 2022 Solar Power Target: Report READ MORE
7. New WHO report highlights collaborative action to reduce antimicrobial resistance READ MORE
8. Neptune’s summer temperature drops dramatically. What may have caused this? READ MORE

Main Exam

GS Paper- 1

1. Monsoon 2022 will be ‘normal’ but highly erratic month-to-month: Skymet READ MORE  
2. Architectural conservation – An Indian perspective READ MORE
3. Many Women in India Quitting Jobs due to Lack of Flexibility, Says Report READ MORE
4. Indian Society and Ways of Living READ MORE

GS Paper- 2

POLITY AND GOVERNANCE

1. How to safeguard the open justice principle READ MORE
2. One pension for MLAs: Punjab has shown the way, Haryana needs to follow suit READ MORE
3. Reforms that India Needs to Fulfil its Constitutional Goals READ MORE
4. Big Tech’s privacy promise to consumers could be good news — and also bad news READ MORE

SOCIAL JUSTICE

1. HOPS as a route to universal health care READ MORE
2. With CUET will come more pressure, not less READ MORE

INTERNATIONAL ISSUES

1. India, U.S hold broad 2+2 discussions, with Ukraine looming over talks READ MORE
2. 2+2 = Counter China: Moscow is a point of difference, but New Delhi, Washington both know the bigger threat is Beijing READ MORE
3. View: The India-US relationship is deepening, despite major differences over Russia READ MORE
4. India-US dialogue: Both nations maintain focus on strategic cooperation READ MORE

GS Paper- 3

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

1. Rural economy reaps rich gains from war READ MORE
2. Temperature, labour reallocation, and industrial production READ MORE
3. Integrated agriculture key to farmers’ uplift READ MORE
4. Quarter-billion people face extreme poverty in 2022 as the rich get richer: Oxfam READ MORE

ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY 

1. Tackling extreme heat risks in India READ MORE  
2. Wildlife Protection Amendment Bill 2021 misses the target despite good intentions READ MORE

GS Paper- 4

ETHICS EXAMPLES AND CASE STUDY

1. Mahavir’s core message is ‘Live and let live’ READ MORE
2. Medical profession deserves dignity, fair play READ MORE
3. The tragedy of Dr Archana Sharma is the failure of Indian society READ MORE

Questions for the MAIN exam

1. ‘Temples of south India have been a true repository of religious, art and cultural glory’. Justify the statement with the help of relevant examples.
2. Russia’s actions in Ukraine have ensured that Moscow will be Beijing’s junior partner for the foreseeable future and in tis situation, India and the US have no choice but to work together. Do you agree with this view? Analyse your view.

QUOTATIONS AND CAPTIONS

• In the practice of tolerance, one’s enemy is the best teacher.
• In the absence of public health centres, dedicated not only to primary health care but also to preventive work, there is a danger of patients rushing to expensive hospitals every other day.
• The use of privacy as a tool for market development, therefore, has to tread this tightrope between enabling and stifling competition.
• The impact of the Common University Entrance Test is likely to be harsher on disadvantaged sections of the society for whom access to higher education is seen as the only route to upward mobility.
• India and the US have no choice but to work together. Russia’s actions in Ukraine have not only put India in a tight spot but also ensured that Moscow will be Beijing’s junior partner for the foreseeable future.
• The Russia-Ukraine war has given an opportunity for India to step up wheat exports, benefitting our farmers.
• In a trias political (separation of powers) model, open justice is a key source of public information about, and a check on, legislative and executive actions.
• As the climate crisis heightens extreme heat risks in India, authorities must work to further strengthen these plans and adapt them in consultation with local communities.
• Food and nutritional needs of a more health-conscious population entails a diversification of farming from staples towards high-value crops, such as fruit and vegetables.
• The inclusion of health services in the Consumer Protection Act has not helped society but only created mistrust in the doctor-patient relation.
• Temples of south India have been a true repository of religious, art and cultural glory.
• The future of Indian democracy will be greatly dependent on the effective countercheck on the actions of the executive and Parliament exercised by the judiciary.
• Suicides which happen due to coercion and threat of violence are not truly suicides, they are murders committed by all of us.
• The absence of justice is not only complemented by the ruling class but a sense of impunity is also sown in the minds of the masses.

ESSAY TOPIC

• In the midst of every crisis lies great opportunity.

50-WORD TALK

• “Kashmiris’ blood is flowing on the roads,” new Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said in his first speech—dispelling hopes he’d push for trade and a reset of India-Pakistan ties. Facing unpopular economic decisions, Sharif won’t risk being soft on India. New Delhi should ignore his words, and watch his actions.
• That India and the US were able to focus on their bilateral relationship despite not being on the same page on Russia demonstrates the strength and depth of this strategic partnership. Non-alignment may be dead but diplomacy isn’t a zero sum game. Modi government has played this well so far.

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.

[WpProQuiz 200]

THE CONTEXT: The Delhi Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2022, was introduced and passed in the Lok Sabha on March 25, 2022, for the unification of the three municipal bodies in the capital. The Bill seeks to amend the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, 1957, passed by Parliament. The Central Government claims that this move will improve municipal governance, but there is a contrarian view. This article analyses this issue in detail.

THE SALIENT FEATURES OF THE DELHI MUNICIPAL CORPORATION (AMENDMENT) BILL, 2022

UNIFICATION OF MUNICIPAL CORPORATIONS: The Bill replaces the three municipal corporations of North, South, and East Delhi under the Act with one Corporation named the Municipal Corporation of Delhi.

POWERS OF THE CENTRAL GOVERNMENT:

The Bill empowers the Central government to decide various matters including:

1. total number of seats of councilors and number of seats reserved for members of the Scheduled Castes,
2. division of the area of corporations into zones and wards etc.

NUMBER OF COUNCILLORS: The Bill states that the total number of seats in the new corporation should not be more than 250 while the earlier number was 272.

REMOVAL OF DIRECTOR OF LOCAL BODIES: The Act provides for a Director of Local Bodies to assist the Delhi government and discharge certain functions, but the Bill omits the provision for a Director of Local Bodies.

SPECIAL OFFICER TO BE APPOINTED BY THE CENTRAL GOVERNMENT: The Bill provides that the central government may appoint a Special Officer to exercise powers of the Corporation until the first meeting of the Corporation is held after the commencement of the Bill.

E-GOVERNANCE SYSTEM FOR CITIZENS: The Bill adds that obligatory functions of the new corporation will include establishing an e-governance system for citizen services on an anytime-anywhere basis for a better, accountable, and transparent administration.

DO YOU KNOW?

The Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, 1957 was enacted to consolidate and amend the law relating to the Municipal Government of Delhi. A Corporation charged with the Municipal Government of Delhi was established under the said Act as the Municipal Corporation of Delhi. In 2011, the said Act was amended by the Legislative Assembly of the National Capital Territory of Delhi vide the Delhi Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Act, 2011 leading to the trifurcation of the said corporation into three separate Corporations.

THE RATIONALE FOR THE UNIFICATION OF THE MUNICIPAL CORPORATIONS

NON FULFILLMENT OF MAIN OBJECTIVE:

• The main objective of the trifurcation of the erstwhile Municipal Corporation of Delhi was to provide more efficient civic services to the public.
• Due to inadequacies in resources and uncertainty in fund allocation and release, the three corporations have been facing huge financial hardships, making it difficult to maintain the civic services in Delhi at the desired levels.

ADMINISTRATIVE CHALLENGES:

• The trifurcation was also uneven in terms of territorial divisions and revenue-generating potential.
• As a result, there was a huge gap in the resources available to the three corporations compared to their obligations.

DELAYED PAYMENTS AND EMPLOYEE STRIKES:

• Due to poor financial conditions, payment of salaries and retirement benefits to their employees was delayed.
• This has resulted in frequent strikes by the municipal employees, which have not only affected civic services but also created concomitant problems of cleanliness and sanitization.

INTEGRATED PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT:

• A single, integrated, and well-equipped entity will ensure a robust mechanism for synergized and strategic planning and optimal utilization of resources and will bring about greater transparency, improved governance, and more efficient delivery of civic service.

REDUCING ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES:

• There are three mayors, three commissioners, and 12 additional commissioners. Even different MCDs have different committees. This has increased the expenses manifold and is one of the major contributors to the financial crisis of the MCDs.
•  Unification will definitely curtail the office and meeting expenses along with the expenses which are being done by the leaders and officers.

CITY-LEVEL POLITICAL LEADERSHIP:

• When the MCD was unified, the mayor was treated as the First Citizen of Delhi, and the post used to carry a lot of weight.
• Mayor has to be called for most of the ceremonial events. Even foreign dignitaries used to meet the mayor of Delhi.
• Once unified, not just in the post of mayor but as an institution, MCD will have a larger say in the policymaking of the capital and the mayor will provide a single political leadership at the municipal level.

CRITICISM OF THE UNIFICATION OF THE CORPORATIONS OF DELHI

LACK OF LEGISLATIVE COMPETENCE:

• Many Members of Parliament argue that Parliament was overreaching its legislative authority to amend the Bill.
• Since the Act for trifurcation was passed by the Delhi Assembly, therefore Parliament cannot pass a law to merge the three civic bodies. The Constitution has given powers to the states to constitute municipal corporations.

POSTPONEMENT OF ELECTIONS:

• The municipal corporation elections were scheduled to be held in April. However, on March 9, the State Election Commission (SEC) deferred the polling indefinitely, citing a communication from the Lieutenant Governor, an appointee of the Central Government.
• It is alleged that the party ruling the MCDs sensed a strong anti-incumbency and hence used the “unification” strategy to defer the polls.

POLITICAL REASONS:

• The unification of municipal corporations could have been done in the last few years, as the same party has been in power in the Centre since 2014.
•  The real purpose of the unification is not the efficiency of municipal governance but the creation of a parallel system of governance to compete with the “Delhi Model” and to reap political dividends.

NO REAL REFORMS:

• The Bill doesn’t bring any substantive governance, administrative or financial reforms to the MCD.
• It does not mention the governance structure of the unified MCD and the status of the Mayor and the Council members vis a vis the administration.
• The Bill also missed an opportunity to establish a unified administrative and governance system by bringing the parastatals and the Special Purpose vehicles under the control of the Municipal Corporation.

QUESTION MARK ON INDEPENDENCE OF SEC:

• The postponement of the election also raises a question about the agency of an autonomous body such as the State Election Commission, whose prima facie job is to ensure free and fair elections in the country.
• The body seems to have succumbed to pressure from the central government.

AN ALL-POWERFUL CENTRAL GOVERNMENT: The Bill provides for overarching powers for the Central Government like:

• naming or resizing any zone or ward,
• listing out the obligatory functions of the MCD,
• rules on declaring assets of councilors,
• the appointment and pay scale of the commissioner,
• approvals for loans and action against any councilor or MCD official etc.

This is not in sync with the idea and practice of democratic decentralization and the spirit of the 74^th Constitutional Amendment.

SKEWED REPRESENTATION: 

• The total number of municipality wards will be reduced from 272 to 250, which goes against logic as the population of Delhi has increased from the last delimitation.

BUREAUCRATIC DOMINANCE:

• The reduction in the number of municipality wards will necessitate a delimitation exercise.
• Due to delimitation, the election will be delayed by one or two years. The Bill is silent on the “Census” based on which the delimitation will take place.
• All these mean that the special officer appointed by the Centre will be the overlord of the MCD.

A STRONG BUREAUCRACY AND A WEAK DEMOCRACY: A CASE STUDY OF MCD

• Delhi Municipal Corporation faces a unique kind of tussle between the elected and administrative wings. While the mayor has mostly ceremonial rights, the administrative decisions are being taken by the commissioner and his team.
• The IAS officers come on deputation to serve their MCD tenure, and the political wing claims that they are the real reason behind the mismanagement of financial and even administrative situations of Delhi Municipal Corporation.
• It was a long-pending demand to provide more powers to elected representatives, including the mayor, the standing committee chairperson, and heads of different committees.
• A change in the system in the favour of elected representatives by bringing the mayor into the council which will provide more administrative powers to the mayor needs to be established. This long-pending demand needs to be looked into the new amendment, which is based on the Kolkata Municipal Corporation.

THE WAY FORWARD

SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS TO GOVERNANCE PROBLEMS OF DELHI:

• Multiple power centers are operating in Delhi, and the tussle between the Centre and the NCT government has been a recurrent phenomenon.
• What is required is to iron out the differences, reform the Constitutional and legal provisions and bring about a clear demarcation of roles and responsibilities of the political and administrative institutions.

PROVIDE SCOPE FOR OWN REVENUE GENERATION:

• Even before the trifurcation, the MCD has taken loans from the then Delhi government to pay salaries to the staffers.
• Without addressing the issues in revenue generation and other core issues, the civic body will find itself in financial troubles again and will have to depend on the government for funds.

REFORMS IN MUNICIPAL GOVERNANCE:

• Under the present system, mayors and other appointments are made for a year and by the time a person starts understanding the mechanism, the tenure gets over.
• Thus, the new amendment should bring reforms like the direct election of the mayor, his / her tenure being increased to at least two-and-half years instead of the existing one year, and provisions for allocation of funds directly from the Centre.

REFORMS IN TAXATION:

• In Delhi, the house tax rates have not been increased since 2004, and the MCD continues to collect taxes based on the same rates, which is basically loss-making. So, with the unification must come hardline taxation reforms to address these issues.

DECENTRALIZE POLITICAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE POWER:

• Growing population and vast geographical spread were cited among the reasons for the trifurcation, which was to lead to decentralization of administration for better delivery and governance with each commissioner overseeing services for a smaller area.
• With unification, there may be the problem of centralization of authority which needs to be addressed by empowering political and administrative leadership at zonal and ward levels.

AUTONOMY OF SEC AND CONDUCT OF ELECTIONS:

• That the SEC is and should be independent of the government is a maxim often stated. But how the SEC acted in the current context seems to undermine the exalted position of this constitutional authority.
• Also, the amendment and associated processes should not come in the way of citizens of Delhi exercising their legitimate democratic rights of choosing their own local representatives.

THE CONCLUSION: While the reunification will help save on expenditure and bring parity, making the civic body self-reliant will have to be the primary target. Whatever money is saved will not be enough to make the municipal institutions self-governing and deliver quality civic services. The major issue that needs resolution is the power tussle among the Centre, the Delhi government, and the municipal bodies, without which the unification exercise will not provide optimal results. Another crucial reform required is in the area of “City Governance” and Delhi must be developed as a model for other Indian cities.

QUESTIONS:

1. Critically analyse the features of the Delhi Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2022.
2. The unification of the municipal corporations of Delhi, although maybe a right step toward administrative efficiency, will not be sufficient to ensure the quality delivery of public services. Examine.
3. The Delhi Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2022, is all politics, less economics, and no governance. Critically Examine.
4. Without comprehensive constitutional, legal and financial reforms concerning municipal governance, Adhoc administrative reform measures will not bring good governance at the city level. Illustrate and Comment.

THE PARLIAMENTARY PROCEEDINGS: BUDGET SESSION 2022

1. THE WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION AND THEIR DELIVERY SYSTEMS (PROHIBITION OF UNLAWFUL ACTIVITIES) AMENDMENT BILL, 2022

THE CONTEXT: During the 2022 Budget session of the Parliament, the Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) and their Delivery Systems (Prohibition of Unlawful Activities) Amendment Bill, 2022 was introduced in the Lok Sabha.

THE EXPLANATION:

The Bill amends the WMD and their Delivery Systems (Prohibition of Unlawful Activities) Act, 2005 which prohibits the unlawful manufacture, transport, or transfer of WMD (chemical, biological and nuclear weapons) and their means of delivery. It is popularly referred to as the WMD Act. The recent amendment extends the scope of banned activities to include financing of already prohibited activities.

What was the purpose of the original WMD Act?

The WMD and their Delivery Systems (Prohibition of Unlawful Activities) Act came into being in July 2005. Its primary objective was to provide an integrated and overarching legislation on prohibiting unlawful activities in relation to all three types of WMD, their delivery systems and related materials, equipment and technologies. It instituted penalties for contravention of these provisions such as imprisonment for a term not less than five years (extendable for life) as well as fines. The Act was passed to meet an international obligation enforced by the UN Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1540 of 2004.

What is the UNSCR 1540?

• In April 2004 the UN Security Council adopted resolution 1540 to address the growing threat of non-state actors gaining access to WMD material, equipment or technology to undertake acts of terrorism. In order to address this challenge to international peace and security, UNSCR 1540 established binding obligations on all UN member states under Chapter VII of the UN Charter. Nations were mandated to take and enforce effective measures against proliferation of WMD, their means of delivery and related materials to non-state actors.
• UNSCR 1540 enforced three primary obligations upon nation states — to not provide any form of support to non-state actors seeking to acquire WMD, related materials, or their means of delivery; to adopt and enforce laws criminalising the possession and acquisition of such items by non-state actors; to adopt and enforce domestic controls over relevant materials, in order to prevent their proliferation.
• It was to meet these obligations that enactment and enforcement of legislations to punish the unlawful and unauthorised manufacture, acquisition, possession, development and transport of WMD became necessary.

 What has the Amendment added to the existing Act?

• The Amendment expands the scope to include prohibition of financing of any activity related to WMD and their delivery systems. To prevent such financing, the Central government shall have the power to freeze, seize or attach funds, financial assets, or economic resources of suspected individuals (whether owned, held, or controlled directly or indirectly). It also prohibits persons from making finances or related services available for other persons indulging in such activity.

Why was this Amendment necessary?

• UNSCR 1540 undergoes periodic reviews to determine the success of its implementation and to identify gaps in enforcement. In one such review undertaken in 2016, it was concluded that the risk of proliferation to non-state actors is increasing due to rapid advances in science, technology, and international commerce.
• The statement of objects and reasons of the Bill presented in India echoes these developments for having made the Amendment necessary. Two specific gaps are being addressed — first, as the relevant organisations at the international level, such as the Financial Action Task Force have expanded the scope of targeted financial sanctions and demand tighter controls on the financing of WMD activities, India’s own legislation has been harmonised to align with international benchmarks.
• Secondly, with advancements in technologies, new kinds of threats have emerged that were not sufficiently catered for in the existing legislation. These notably include developments in the field of drones or unauthorised work in biomedical labs that could maliciously be used for terrorist activity. Therefore, the Amendment keeps pace with evolving threats. In fact, domestic legislations and international measures that address issues of WMD security cannot afford to become fossilised. They must be agile and amenable to modifications in keeping with the changing tactics of non-state actors.

What more should India do?

• India’s responsible behaviour and actions on non-proliferation are well recognised. It has a strong statutory national export control system and is committed to preventing proliferation of WMD. This includes transit and trans-shipment controls, retransfer control, technology transfer controls, brokering controls and end-use based controls. Every time India takes additional steps to fulfil new obligations, it must showcase its legislative, regulatory and enforcement frameworks to the international community.
• At the domestic level, this Amendment will have to be enforced through proper outreach measures to industry and other stakeholders to make them realise their obligations under the new provisions. India’s outreach efforts with respect to the WMD Act have straddled both region-specific and sector-specific issues. Similar efforts will be necessary to explain the new aspects of the law.
• It is also necessary that India keeps WMD security in international focus. There is no room for complacency. Even countries which do not have WMD technology have to be sensitised to their role in the control framework to prevent weak links in the global control system. India can offer help to other countries on developing national legislation, institutions and regulatory framework through the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) or on bilateral basis.

What is the international significance of these legislation? What is in it for India?

• Preventing acts of terrorism that involve WMD or their delivery systems requires building a network of national and international measures in which all nation states are equally invested. Such actions are necessary to strengthen global enforcement of standards relating to the export of sensitive items and to prohibit even the financing of such activities to ensure that non-state actors, including terrorist and black-market networks, do not gain access to such materials. Sharing of best practices on legislations and their implementation can enable harmonisation of global WMD controls.
• India initially had reservations on enacting laws mandated by the UNSCR. This is not seen by India as an appropriate body for making such a demand. However, given the danger of WMD terrorism that India faces in view of the difficult neighbourhood that it inhabits, the country supported the Resolution and has fulfilled its requirements.
• It is in India’s interest to facilitate highest controls at the international level and adopt them at the domestic level. Having now updated its own legislation, India can demand the same of others, especially from those in its neighbourhood that have a history of proliferation and of supporting terrorist organisations.

THE INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENTS

2. PAKISTANI LAWMAKERS ELECT SHEHBAZ SHARIF AS THE NEW PRIME MINISTER

THE CONTEXT: The Pakistan parliament elected Shehbaz Sharif as the 23rd Prime Minister of the country.

THE EXPLANATION:

• While interacting with journalists then, Shehbaz had said that “war is not an option”, and had pitched for the resumption of “peaceful dialogue” on all issues including “Sir Creek, Siachen, water and Kashmir”.
• The Indian Prime Minister congratulated him on his election and said India desired peace and stability in a region free of terrorism.
• Emerging from the shadow of his elder brother Nawaz Sharif, Shehbaz is known to be close to the Pakistan Army — he was chief minister of Pakistan’s Punjab province.

Expecting a good ties,

• The Sharif family has always been an advocate of better ties with India. Shehbaz’s last India visit was in December 2013 when he met then Prime Minister and Commerce Minister, visited Metro stations and solid waste management plants in Delhi, and a power plant in Haryana. He also visited Punjab and held meetings with then Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, where he worked on a roadmap for cooperation between the two Punjabs.
• Officials pointed out that the core concerns of the two countries remain the same over the last decade, and Shehbaz is well placed to take forward the bilateral conversation.
• Better trade ties with India could provide a much-needed boost to Pakistan’s economy. Known to be focussed on infrastructure projects — he is credited for many roads, bridges, flyovers and transport projects in Pakistan’s Punjab province — Shehbaz is keen to deliver before the next elections in 2023.

THE ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY

3. MICROPLASTICS DETECTED IN FISH SAMPLES FROM CAUVERY

THE CONTEXT: A new study by researchers at the Bengaluru-based Indian Institute of Science (IISc) has found microplastics in fish, causing growth defects, including skeletal deformities, in River Cauvery in south India.

THE EXPLANATION:

• The study was conducted at the Krishnaraja Sagar dam, located below the confluence of river Cauvery with its tributaries Hemavati and Lakshmana Tirtha, in the Mandya district of Karnataka.
• The researchers collected water samples from three different locations with varying water flow speeds – fast-flowing, slow-flowing and stagnant – since water speed is known to affect the concentration of pollutants.
• In the first part of the study, the team analysed the physical and chemical parameters of the water samples. All but one of them fell within the prescribed limits. The exception was dissolved oxygen, which was deficient in samples collected from the slow-flowing and static sites. Water from these sites also had microbes such as Cyclops, Daphnia, Spirogyra, Spirochaeta, and E coli, well-known bio-indicators of water contamination.

The researchers conducted further studies. Using a technique called Raman spectroscopy, they detected microplastics — minute pieces of plastic often invisible to the naked eye — and some toxic chemicals.

• In the second part of the study, the team investigated the effect of the pollutants in water on fish. They treated zebrafish embryos, a well-known model organism, with water samples collected from the three sites, and found that those exposed to water from the slow-flowing and stagnant sites experienced skeletal deformities, DNA damage, early cell death, heart damage, and increased mortality. These defects were seen even after the microbes were filtered out, suggesting that microplastics and toxic chemicals were also causing problems on their own.
• The findings assume importance in the context of a recent study from the Netherlands, which has shown that microplastics can enter the bloodstream of humans. The researchers noted that the concentrations of the pollutants they have reported in the fish may not be alarming yet for humans. Still, long-term effects can’t be ruled out.

VALUE ADDITION:

What are microplastics?

• Microplastics are tiny bits of various types of plastic found in the environment. The name is used to differentiate them from “macroplastics” such as bottles and bags made of plastic.
• There is no universal agreement on the size that fits this bill — the U.S. NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) and the European Chemical Agency define microplastic as less than 5mm in length. However, for the purposes of this study, since the authors were interested in measuring the quantities of plastic that can cross the membranes and diffuse into the body via the blood stream, the authors have an upper limit on the size of the particles as 0.0007 millimetre.

THE SECURITY AFFAIRS

4. ANTI-TANK GUIDED MISSILE ‘HELINA’ SUCCESSFULLY FLIGHT TESTED

THE CONTEXT: Indigenously developed helicopter launched Anti-Tank Guided Missile ‘HELINA’ was successfully flight tested on April 11, 2022 at high-altitude ranges as part of user validation trials.

THE EXPLANATION:

• The flight-test was jointly conducted by the teams of scientists from Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Indian Army and Indian Air Force (IAF).
• The flight trials were conducted from an Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) and the missile was fired successfully engaging simulated tank target. The missile is guided by an Imaging Infra-Red (IIR) Seeker operating in the Lock on Before Launch mode. It is one of the most advanced anti-tank weapons in the world.
• In continuation to validation trials conducted at Pokhran in Rajasthan, proof of efficacy at high altitudes paves the way for its integration on the ALH. The trials were witnessed by senior Army commanders and senior scientists of the DRDO.

VALUE ADDITION:

• HELINA (Helicopter based NAG) is a third generation fire and forget class anti-tank guided missile (ATGM) system mounted on the Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH). The system has all weather day and night capability and can defeat battle tanks with conventional armour as well as explosive reactive armour.
• The HELINA missile can engage targets both in direct hit mode as well as top attack mode. HELINA Weapon Systems is being inducted into the Indian Army (IA). A variant of HELINA Weapon System called DHRUVASTRA is being inducted into the Indian Air Force (IAF).

THE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

5. INDIA HAS 217 SPACE OBJECTS ORBITING EARTH: REPORT

THE CONTEXT: India has 103 active or defunct spacecraft and 114 objects categorised as ‘space debris’ in orbit and it has embarked on research to reduce such fragments from outer space.

THE EXPLANATION:

• According to the Department of Science and Technology, “Presently, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has taken up research activities to study the feasibility and technologies required to undertake active debris removal (ADR).
• According to Orbital Debris Quarterly News issued in March 2022 by NASA, India had 103 spacecraft, including active and defunct satellites, and 114 space debris objects, including spent rocket bodies orbiting the earth. So, the country has a total of 217 space objects orbiting the earth.
• Also, the department noted, Active Debris Removal (ADR) was one of the active methods suggested by the Space Debris Research Community to contain the growth of space debris objects. “ADR is a very complex technology and involves policy and legal issues. Technology demonstration studies have been taken up by many countries, including India. Developmental studies for finalising necessary technologies are initiated to demonstrate ADR.
• According to the Orbital Debris Quarterly News, the U.S. has 4,144 spacecraft (active and defunct), and 5,126 objects that can be categorised as space debris in the earth’s orbit.
• China has 517 spacecraft, active and defunct, and 3,854 objects, including spent rocket bodies, orbiting the earth.

Directorate Space Situational Awareness and Management Centre

• DoS highlighted that ISRO has also set up the Directorate Space Situational Awareness and Management at its headquarters to deal with issues related to space debris.
• A dedicated Space Situational Awareness Control Centre is set up in Bengaluru to coordinate all space debris related activities within ISRO and to safeguard Indian operational space assets from collision threats, he said.
• The minister added that ISRO was also planning to have its own observational facilities to track and catalogue the space objects.
• Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has taken up research activities to study the feasibility and technologies required to undertake active debris removal.
• Active Debris Removal (ADR) is a very complex technology and involves policy and legal issues. Technology demonstration studies have been taken up by many countries, including India.
• A dedicated Space Situational Awareness Control Centre is set up in Bengaluru to coordinate all space debris related activities within ISRO and to safeguard Indian operational space assets from collision threats.

THE PRELIMS PRACTICE QUESTIONS

QUESTION OF THE DAY

Q. State Energy and Climate Index is released by –

a) Ministry of Power

b) Ministry of New & Renewable Energy

c) Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change

d) NITI Aayog

ANSWER FOR 11TH APRIL 2022

Answer: B

Explanation:

• Bengaluru has become the first Indian city to get into the global network of silk cities.
• The network now has nine countries and 13 cities.
• The network helps artisans and craftsmen to exchange knowledge, build trade relations and under- stand various craftsmanship techniques.

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(Newspapers, PIB and other important sources)

Prelim and Main

1. Anti-Tank Guided Missile ‘HELINA’ successfully flight tested READ MORE
2. Ukraine dominates Modi-Biden talks READ MORE
3. Gujarat, Kerala, Punjab top NITI Aayog’s State Energy and Climate Index list READ MORE
4. Microplastics in Cauvery River may be harming fish: IISc. Study READ MORE
5. Pakistani lawmakers elect Shehbaz Sharif as new Prime Minister READ MORE
6. Explained: What is the ‘2+2’ format of dialogue between India and the US? READ MORE
7. India has 217 space objects orbiting earth; working towards reducing space debris: Report READ MORE

Main Exam

GS Paper- 1

1. It is time to let sleeping dogmas lie READ MORE
2. Why India’s road to becoming a civilised and free society is long and tough READ MORE

GS Paper- 2

POLITY AND GOVERNANCE

1. Delivering justice calls for fair investigation READ MORE
2. Criminal Identification Bill Follows Similar Unsuccessful, Discriminatory Laws Elsewhere READ MORE
3. Explained: Amendments to FCRA Law That the Supreme Court Has Upheld READ MORE
4. Cost of disharmony: Diverse India can’t afford imposition of one group’s ideas on others. Neither can its economy READ MORE

INTERNATIONAL ISSUES

1. India and the U.K.: Crafting a new legacy- Despite the challenge posed by the war, the India-U.K. relationship has been on an upward trajectory READ MORE
2. Our geo-economic interests lie with the West as well as the rest READ MORE
3. India-US forging tech alliance since long. Now use 2+2 dialogue to push it further READ MORE
4. The Security Council might have been ineffective in Ukraine, but the United Nations hasn’t READ MORE
5. Towards a new equilibrium in Eurasia: A possibility of a win-win scenario for India READ MORE

GS Paper- 3

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

1. RBI is right to prioritise inflation management. But it won’t be easy READ MORE
2. Repo, reverse repo rates still relevant? READ MORE
3. Causes of Sri Lankan Economic Crisis READ MORE

ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY 

1. IPCC Says Large-Scale CO2 Removal ‘Essential’ To Meet Climate Targets READ MORE
2. Climate disasters are becoming more frequent in west, central Asia than other regions: IMF READ MORE

DISASTER MANAGEMENT

1. A forest fire is raging in Chhattisgarh at a time when those who can control it are on strike READ MORE

GS Paper- 4

ETHICS EXAMPLES AND CASE STUDY

1. To evolve, boundlessness and infinity are key READ MORE
2. Think clearly about peace READ MORE

Questions for the MAIN exam

1. ‘Despite a greater deal of interest in the Indo-Pacific region, India can be a counter-balance and has a great opportunity to even more enhance its role in Eurasia’. Examine the statement in the context of current geopolitical scenario.
2. ‘Care work should be viewed as a collective responsibility and public good.’ In the light of this statement, discuss the challenges faced by workers in care economy in India and suggest measures to address them.

QUOTATIONS AND CAPTIONS

• Defeat has its lessons as well as victory.
• Despite the challenge posed by the Ukraine crisis, the India-U.K. relationship has been on an upward trajectory, exemplified by the conclusion of a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership on May 4, 2021.
• As India seeks to carve out a new role for itself in the evolving global order as a ‘leading power’ and the U.K. recalibrates its strategic outlook post-Brexit, this is a unique moment in India-U.K. ties.
• New geopolitical realities demand a new strategic vision from London and New Delhi.
• The RBI has rightly decided to place top priority on inflation management. This will help in maintaining the credibility of the inflation targeting framework.
• Poverty, inequality and a deeper understanding of what works for poverty reduction is not just an academic exercise but is crucial for designing policies and programmes that work.
• The Indian Constitution is an instrument to seek modus vivendi.
• At the fourth edition of India-US 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue, first under Biden administration, the two sides will likely focus on strengthening partnership in emerging tech.
• Data is power in digitised societies, and while the CPI Bill purports to facilitate identification, in reality, it sweeps in a far greater scope of personal biometrics than required for that purpose.
• Data is power in digitised societies, and while the CPI Bill purports to facilitate identification, in reality, it sweeps in a far greater scope of personal biometrics than required for that purpose (or even what is required for Aadhaar).
• The government has used the FCRA as an instrument for harassment of political rivals or activist organisations such as Amnesty International.

50-WORD TALK

• Communal violence during Ram Navami processions in four states is shocking. Clashes over food choice in JNU is another marker of things getting worse. It sullies India’s image and has grave implications for its socio-economic stability. Karnataka government’s action against Sri Ram Sene would mean little if it’s mere tokenism.

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: The legislative bodies in India require expert secretarial assistance for carrying out their multiple responsibilities. However, the current legislative personnel administration suffers from many weaknesses. Hence, it is suggested that an Indian Legislative Service is needed. This article examines this issue in detail.

THE INDIAN LEGISLATIVE SERVICE(ILS): AN OVERVIEW

The ILS can be another All-India Service similar to the IAS, IPS, etc, that is centrally recruited, trained, and assigned to the legislative bodies, especially at the Union and State levels. The ILS can be the backbone of the legislative bodies equipping them to carry out the mandated functions. The idea of ILS became vogue in the backdrop of the appointment and abrupt removal of a Secretary-General (SG) of the Rajya Sabha in whose place a retired Indian Revenue Service official assumed charge. This has generated a debate on the need for an independent legislative service that will cater to the needs of all the legislative institutions in the country, including at the local level.

WHY DO WE NEED AN ILS?

TO FULFILL THE CONSTITUTIONAL MANDATE:

• Article 98 of the Constitution provides for the scope of separate secretariats for the two Houses of Parliament. The same goes true for the state legislatures too. This means that the secretariats should be independent of the executive government.
• However, sourcing manpower from the executive branch may lead to the violation of the concept of independence and conflict of interests. It breaches the principle of separation of power.

UPHOLDING EXECUTIVE ACCOUNTABILITY:

• A separate secretariat marks a feature of a functioning parliamentary democracy. In a parliamentary system, the Parliament must watch over the executive, both political and permanent.
• Thus, the Parliament should have the technical and human resource capacity to be an effective body for providing meaningful scrutiny and enforcing accountability.

EXPERTISE IN PARLIAMENTARY PROCEDURES:

• Serving/retired civil servants appointed to the higher posts suffer from a lack of exposure and poor knowledge of Parliamentary procedures.
• Expertise in Parliamentary functioning is not only a product of domain competency but also of experience. A dedicated service like the ILS can address this problem.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE POST OF THE SECRETARIES-GENERAL:

• The Secretaries-General of both the Houses are mandated with many Parliamentary and administrative responsibilities.
• One of the prerequisites that demand the post of the Secretary-General is unfailing knowledge and vast experience of parliamentary procedures, practices, and precedents. Most civil servants precisely lack this aspect of expertise.
• A dedicated ILS will provide a wider talent pool of qualified, experienced, reliable, and autonomous human resources for selection to man the crucial post of SG.

GROWTH OF LEGISLATIVE INSTITUTIONS:

• With the 73^rd and 74^th Constitutional Amendments, thousands of legislative bodies have come up at the local level in India.
• Although the local self-government institutions may not be comparable to those at Union and State levels, still they have significant roles and functions in the democratic setup.
• An ILS will prove to be the vital missing link that enables these bodies to act as institutions of “self-government” in the true sense.

VERTICAL INTEGRATION OF LEGISLATIVE INSTITUTIONS:

• There is hardly any mechanism for a continuous interaction or sharing of knowledge resources among the legislative institutions. The annual Presiding Officers’ conference cannot fulfill this need for continuous administrative engagement.
• By providing a common pool of dedicated human resources to these bodies will bring vertical linkage among them, which will be beneficial for learning about best practices, legislative businesses, and Parliamentary innovations, among others.

CHALLENGES OF MODERN GOVERNANCE:

• The growth of modern government and expansion of governmental activities require a matching development and laborious legislative exercise. The legislators being laypersons, need expert assistance so that they can discharge their functions effectively.
• For the government, the bureaucracy acts as the think tank and thus, the Parliament also needs a think tank and the ILS is the best bet in this regard.

HOW IS THE SECRETARIAT ORGANIZED AT VARIOUS LEVELS?

In general, the personnel of the Parliament is recruited by the respective Houses themselves. For instance, the Rajya Sabha Secretariat conducts open competitive examinations for filling up vacancies in specified posts. Other modes of recruitment are a deputation from Central/State governments and legislature secretariats, promotion from existing secretariat services, lateral entry, and appointment of serving/retired civil servants, especially in higher-level positions. A similar arrangement exists at the State level, although variations may be there. At the local level, the practice of Parliamentary form is still in the nascent stage; the practices considerably vary across states. Here a uniform pattern is not visible, and the administrative personnel generally are state government employees.

FORMER CBDT CHAIRMAN PC MODY REPLACES PPK RAMACHARYULU AS SECRETARY-GENERAL OF RAJYA SABHA

Less than three months after being appointed as the Secretary-General of the Rajya Sabha, PPK Ramacharyulu has been replaced with former Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) chairman PC Mody. Mody has been appointed as the new Secretary-General of the Rajya Sabha just weeks before the commencement of the Winter Session of Parliament, which is expected to start on 29 November. Mody, a former chairman of CBDT, will be the new Secretary-General of the Upper House of Parliament. Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu has signed an order to this effect.

Mody, a 1982-batch Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer, being appointed as the Secretary-General of the Upper House marks a rare occasion when an IRS officer has held the post. Most of the time, the post is traditionally held by an IAS officer. Ramacharyulu has now been appointed as an advisor in the Rajya Sabha Secretariat. Ramacharyulu was appointed as the Secretary-General of the Rajya Sabha on 1 September.2021. No reason has been given for his replacement.

According to reports, Ramacharyulu goes down in history for having the second shortest stint as Secretary-General. Mody is a 1982 IRS officer who was given three extensions as CBDT chairman since August 2019. The Secretary-General heads the Secretariat of the House and is seen as the eyes and ears of the Rajya Sabha chairman when it comes to matters of rules and procedures. The position of SG is a crucial one in the Parliamentary system.

According to the Rajya Sabha website, the SG is the parliamentary adviser to the RS chairman and through him to the House. The SG is also the administrative head of the RS Secretariat and, overall, in charge of all administrative and executive functions on behalf of, and in the name of, the Chairman. There are no recruitment rules for appointing SG to LS or RS. It is completely the discretion of the Speaker, in the case of Lok Sabha and Chairman in the case of Rajya Sabha, to appoint whoever they think is suitable for the post.

SOURCE: THE FIRSTPOST.COM

PROBLEMS IN THE IDEA OF INDIAN LEGISLATIVE SERVICE?

VIOLATION OF THE CONSTITUTION:

• Article 98 of the Constitution gives power to the Houses to deal with all the aspects of secretariat personnel administration. Recruitment and appointment done by another agency will be deemed as going against this provision.

INHERENT ISSUES IN AIS:

• AIS has been severely criticized by many states as going against the federal provisions of the polity, and a new AIS is likely to add fuel to the fire.
• Also, it is highly doubtful if this new AIS will have the proposed efficiency given the less-than-optimal efficiency of other All-India Services.

IMPACT ON CAREER ADVANCEMENT OF EXISTING CADRE:

• Appointees to the Secretariat from the ILS will be holding middle to senior-level posts which will adversely impact the career advancement opportunities of the existing cadre of employees and officers.

NO EMPIRICAL DATA:

• Hardly any study is conducted that shows that the ILS is the solution for the present problems faced by legislative institutions.

STRUCTURAL CONSTRAINTS OF LEGISLATURES:

• The legislatures’ functions, including law-making, suffer from multiple structural constraints, including poor productivity, lack of consensus on crucial issues, criminalization of politics, etc.
• An ILS is not going to be the solution to the problems of legislatures in India.

PRACTICAL DIFFICULTIES:

• The idea of an ILS seems to be naïve as the supporters have not bothered to find out the practical difficulties in implementation, including the huge financial burden on the exchequer.

POSITIONS OF THE LOCAL BODIES:

• The positions of the local self-government institutions in India are not one of a legislative body and the structure and practice of the parliamentary system hardly exist at this third tier.
•  There exists a lot of confusion about the actual role of PRI/ULB in Indian governance. An ILS is deemed to be a misfit and results in a waste of resources in such a context.

THE CLERK OF THE HOUSE- THE PARLIAMENT OF THE UNITED KINGDOM

The Clerk of the House is the principal constitutional adviser to the House and adviser on all its procedure and business, including Parliamentary privilege, and frequently appears before Select and Joint Committees examining constitutional and Parliamentary matters. As with all the members of the House Service, he is politically entirely impartial and is not a civil servant.

THE WAY FORWARD

• The legislative institutions have to be equipped to carry out their responsibilities efficiently and effectively which requires a competent human resource-based secretariat system. The Parliament and state legislatures may bring laws to provide for a streamlined personnel system independent of the executive.
• The idea of an ILS may be worth trying, provided a political consensus is reached on its modalities of establishment and other details, but whose appointment needs to take care of the current nature of Indian polity.
• It is not advisable due to efficiency, impartiality, and moral considerations to appoint serving/retired Civil Servants to the higher-level positions and it is necessary to have a select pool of officers from the inside cadre who should be trained and groomed.
• To ensure effective parliamentary control over the executive and to provide for efficient Parliamentary functioning, the structural constraints faced by the institutions need to be addressed.
• Parliamentary Research and Training Institute for Democracies (PRIDE) is an integral part of the Lok Sabha Secretariat to provide parliamentarians, staff, and others with institutionalized opportunities for systematic training in the various disciplines of parliamentary institutions, processes, and procedures. Another such platform is PRISM (Parliamentary Research and Information Support for Members of Parliament). These platforms need to be utilized for enhancing the human resource competency of the personnel, and a similar setup must be established at the state level.

THE CONCLUSION: Every time inefficiency and poor standard of the administration is debated, the ready-made solution seems to be a new AIS be it in areas like environment, health, education, judiciary, or others. This purported solution is oblivious to the inefficiencies and poor standards in the existing AIS as often brought out by many committees and commissions. Thus, bringing another AIS in the form of ILS is not the panacea for the ills of the Indian Parliamentary system. The legislative institutions at the Union and the State level need to develop into independent institutions in the truest sense like that of developed nations and not become vulnerable to executive interference.

QUESTIONS:

1. “An efficient secretariat system is a sine qua non for an efficient Parliament”. How far do you think that an Indian Legislative Service will contribute towards enhancing the productivity of the Parliament?
2. A strong Parliament means a more answerable executive. Thus, an Indian Legislative Service is the need of the hour. Comment.
3. The proposal for setting up an Indian Legislative Service suffers from constitutional, political, administrative, and pragmatic challenges. Examine.
4. “The Secretary-General of the Rajya Sabha is the principal Parliamentary advisor to the Chairman of the Council of the States”. Discuss.

ADD TO YOUR KNOWLEDGE

THE SERVICES OF THE LOK SABHA SECRETARIAT

(I)Legislative, Financial Committee, Executive and Administrative Service (LAFEAS)

(II) Library, Reference, Research, Documentation, and Information Service (LARRDIS)

(Ill) Verbatim Reporting Service (VRS)

(IV) Private Secretaries and Stenographic Service (PSSS)

(V) Simultaneous Interpretation Service (SIS)

(VI) Printing & Publications Service (P&PS)

(VII) Editorial and Translation Service (E& T)

(VIII) Parliament Security Service (PSS)

(IX) Drivers and Despatch Riders Service

(X) Messengers Service

(XI) Parliament Museum Service (PMS)

THE FUNCTIONS OF THE RAJYA SABHA SECRETARIAT

The Rajya Sabha Secretariat functions under the overall guidance and control of the Chairman, Rajya Sabha. The main activities of the Secretariat inter alia include the following:-

1. providing secretarial assistance and support to the effective functioning of the Council of States (Rajya Sabha);
2. the payment of salary and other allowances to the Members of Rajya Sabha;
3. providing amenities as admissible to Members of Rajya Sabha;
4. servicing the various Parliamentary Committees;
5. preparing research and reference material and bringing out various publications;
6. recruitment of manpower in the Rajya Sabha Secretariat and attending to personnel matters; and
7. preparing and publishing a record of the day-to-day proceedings of the Rajya Sabha and bringing out such other publications as may be required concerning the functioning of the Rajya Sabha and its Committees.

In the discharge of his constitutional and statutory responsibilities, the Chairman, Rajya Sabha, is assisted by the Secretary-General, who holds the rank of the Cabinet Secretary to the Government of India. The Secretary-General, in turn, is assisted by senior functionaries at the level of Secretary, Additional Secretary, Joint Secretary, and other officers and staff of the Secretariat. Based on the recommendations of the Parliamentary Pay Committee way back in 1974, the Secretariat was restructured on a functional basis into the following Services, which cater to the specific needs of the House and its Committees.

1. The Legislative, Financial, Executive, and Administrative (LAFEA) Service
2. The Library, Reference, Research, Documentation, and Information (LARRDI) Service
3. The Verbatim Reporting Service
4. The Simultaneous Interpretation Service
5. The Editorial and Translation Service
6. The Private Secretaries and Stenographic (PSS) Service
7. The Printing and Publications (P&P) Service
8. The Watch & Ward, Door Keeping, and Sanitation Service
9. The Drivers and Despatch Riders Service
10. The Messenger Service

THE ART AND CULTURE

1. SANGEET NATAK, LALIT KALA AKADEMI AWARDS GIVEN

THE CONTEXT: Forty-three artists were presented Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship and Sangeet Natak Awards for 2018, while Lalit Kala Akademi’s Fellowship and National Awards for 2021 were given to 23 by Vice-President.

THE EXPLANATION:

• The Sangeet Natak Akademi Awards are national honours bestowed by the government on performing artists and teachers and scholars in the field of performing arts. The awards were given in the categories of music, dance, and theatre. In addition, one category was reserved for traditional, folk, and tribal dance, music, theatre and puppetry.

About Sangeet NatakAkademi:

• It was the first national academy of arts set up by the Government of India in 1952. It is registered as a society under the Societies Registration Act, 1986.
• It functions as the apex body of the performing arts in the country, preserving and promoting the vast intangible heritage of India’s diverse culture expressed in the forms of music, dance and drama.
• It also collaborates with an international organization like UNESCO to save the cultural heritage of the country.

About Lalit Kala Akademi:

• It is an autonomous organization under the Ministry of Culture, established in 1954, by the then Minister for Education, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad. It is fully funded by the Ministry of Culture.
• It is the Government’s apex cultural body in the field of visual arts in India.
• It has headquarters at New Delhi and regional centers at Bhubaneswar, Chennai, Garhi (Delhi), Kolkata, Lucknow and Shimla.

THE GEOGRAPHY AND ENVIRONMENT

2. BENGAL COAST FACES THE MOST EROSION

THE CONTEXT: The Ministry of Earth Sciences, in a response to a question, informed the Lok Sabha earlier this week that of the 6,907.18-km-long coastline of the Indian mainland, about 34% is under varying degrees of erosion, while 26% is of an accretional nature and the remaining 40% is in a stable state.

THE EXPLANATION

• The National Centre for Coastal Research (NCCR), Chennai, an attached office of the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), is monitoring shoreline erosion since 1990 using remote sensing data and GIS mapping techniques.
• In terms of percentage, West Bengal, located on the eastern coast of the country, with a 534.35-km-long coastline, suffered erosion along about 60.5% of the coast (323.07 km) over the period from 1990 to 2018. This is followed by Kerala on the west coast, which has 592.96 km of coastline and 46.4% of it (275.33 km) faced erosion.
• Another organisation under the Ministry, the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) has prepared and published an atlas of Coastal Vulnerability Index (CVI) maps for the entire coastline of India at a 1:100000 scale.

3. RHINO POPULATION UP BY 200 IN KAZIRANGA

THE CONTEXT: The population of the greater one-horned or Indian rhinoceros in the Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve has increased by 200 in four years to 2613, the latest census of the World Heritage Site’s flagship animal has revealed.

THE EXPLANATION:

• The last rhino census conducted in 2018 had put the number at 2,413.
• This year’s census had a first — the use of drones for the recheck of 26 park compartments where the sample survey was done.

INDIAN RHINO VISION 2020 (IRV 2020)

• Launched in 2005.
• Initiative led by Forest Department, Government of Assam, in partnership with WWF India, International Rhino Foundation, and several other organizations.
• Goal of IRV2020 was to increase the rhino population in Assam to 3,000 by establishing populations in new areas.
• Rhinos are now found in four Protected Areas in Assam: Pabitora Wildlife Reserve, Rajiv Gandhi Orang National Park, Kaziranga National Park, and Manas National Park.

ABOUT ONE-HORNED RHINOS

• Only the Great One-Horned Rhino is found in India.
• Also known as Indian rhino, it is the largest of the rhino species.
• It is identified by a single black horn and grey-brown hide with skin folds.
• They primarily graze, with a diet consisting almost entirely of grasses as well as leaves, branches of shrubs and trees, fruit, and aquatic plants.

CONSERVATION STATUS:

• IUCN Red List: Vulnerable.
• CITES: Appendix I
• Wildlife Protection Act, 1972: Schedule I.

FIVE SPECIES OF RHINO IN THE WORLD:

1. Sumatran Rhino: The Sumatran rhino has been on earth longer than any other living mammal. IUCN status- Critically endangered.
2. Javan Rhino: The Javan rhino is possibly the rarest large mammal on earth. IUCN status- Critically endangered.
3. Black Rhino: Black rhinos are the smaller of the two African species.
4. Greater one-horned Rhino: Greater one-horned rhinos are semi-aquatic and often take up residence in swamps, forests and riversides. IUCN status- Vulnerable
5. White Rhino: The White rhino is also known as the Square-lipped rhino. There are two subspecies of White rhino:

• Southern: Ceratotheriumsimumsimum approximately between 19,666 and 21,085 individuals exist. The Southern white rhino can be found mostly in South Africa, with smaller translocated populations found in Kenya, Namibia and Zimbabwe.
• Northern: Ceratotheriumsimumcottoni (only two animals remain). The Northern White Rhino is critically endangered. The sub-species was declared extinct in the wild in 2008, and there are only two individuals remaining in Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya.

THE INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENTS

4. MODI, BIDEN TO DISCUSS BILATERAL TIES AT SUMMIT

THE CONTEXT: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and U.S. President Joseph Biden will hold a virtual meeting prior to the “2+2” Foreign and Defence ministerial meeting in Washington on 11th April 2022, to discuss bilateral relations and cooperation in the Indo-Pacific, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and the U.S. White House announced.

THE EXPLANATION:

• India and the U.S. will hold their fourth annual “2+2” Defence and Foreign Ministry dialogue in Washington on 11^th April 2022, with the Russian invasion of Ukraine looming over the discussions and occupying a prominent place on the agenda. The last meeting in this format was in October 2020.
• The two sides will discuss defence, science and technology (particularly emerging technology), climate and public health (particularly cooperation on managing the COVID-19 pandemic), fortifying and building supply chains, as well as people-to-people ties, as per the readouts of the talks from the U.S. State and Defence Departments.
• India has raised the issue of commodity price impacts of the war, including at the United Nations. It has also purchased oil at a discounted price from Moscow — a move that has ruffled feathers in the Biden administration. The U.S. has said it is willing to help provide alternatives to India’s sourcing of oil from Moscow — which accounts for 1–2% of its energy imports.
• Several big-ticket defence deals are in the pipeline, especially for the Navy. The purchase of 30 Predator armed drones for the three Services is in advanced stages but has been delayed pending approval from the Defence Acquisition Council.
• Another major deal is a Navy tender for around 26 deck-based fighter aircraft for its existing INS Vikramaditya and the indigenous aircraft carrier Vikrant, which is scheduled to be commissioned in August.

ABOUT 2+2 DIALOGUE

·         The 2+2 dialogue is held between the foreign and defence ministers of two countries and is generally seen to be aimed at creating a mechanism under which the bilateral relationship takes a decisive strategic turn with greater integration of defence, security and intelligence apparatus.

·         A 2+2 ministerial dialogue enables both sides to understand each other’s strategic sensitivities more deeply, while taking into account the political nuances of the relationship, and also enabling the building of a more strategic grouping in a rapidly changing global environment, diplomatic and strategic.

• India has 2+2 dialogue with USA, Japan, Australia and Russia.

THE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

5. IMPROVED GSLV TO BE READY BY THIS YEAR

THE CONTEXT: The Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) with improvements added to its cryogenic upper stage (CUS) is expected to be ready in the second half of this year.

THE EXPLANATION:

• A high-level panel that examined last year’s failed GSLV-F10/EOS-03 mission had recommended measures for making the CUS more robust. Indian Space Research Organisation’s Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC) is tasked with making the required modifications to the cryogenic engine-powered upper stage of the GSLV Mk II rocket.
• The GSLV-F10 mission on August 12, 2021, was designed to place the earth observation satellite EOS-03 in a geosynchronous transfer orbit, but the upper stage of the rocket malfunctioned, forcing the space agency to abort the mission. A national-level Failure Analysis Committee (FAC) later concluded that a leak in a Vent and Relief Valve (VRV) had led to a lower build-up of pressure in the Liquid Hydrogen (LH2) propellant tank, leading to a failed mission.
• Modifications planned to include a mechanism to ensure sufficient pressure in the tank before the engine burns and strengthening of the VRV to avoid leaks.

WHAT IS A GEOSYNCHRONOUS SATELLITE LAUNCH VEHICLE (GSLV)?

• Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) is an expendable space launch vehicle designed, developed, and operated by the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) to launch satellites and other space objects into Geosynchronous Transfer Orbits. GSLV is 49.13 m tall and the tallest among all other vehicles of Isro. It is a three-stage vehicle with a lift-off mass of 420 tonnes.

STAGES IN GSLV

• The first stage comprises S139 solid booster with 138-tonne propellant and four liquid strap-on motors, with 40-tonne propellant. The second stage is a liquid engine carrying 40-tonne of liquid propellant. The third stage is the indigenously built Cryogenic Upper Stage (CUS) carrying 15-tonne of cryogenic propellants.
• GSLV rockets using the Russian Cryogenic Stage (CS) are designated as the GSLV Mk I while versions using the indigenous Cryogenic Upper Stage (CUS) are designated the GSLV Mk II. All GSLV launches have been conducted from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.

 Difference between PSLV and GSLV

• GSLV has the capability to put a heavier payload in the orbit than the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV). PSLV can carry satellites up to a total weight of 2000 kg into space and reach up to an altitude of 600-900 km. GSLV can carry weight up to 5,000 kg and reach up to 36,000 km.
• PSLV is designed mainly to deliver earth observation or remote sensing satellites, whereas, GSLV has been designed for launching communication satellites. GSLV delivers satellites into a higher elliptical orbit, Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO) and Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO).

 GSLV Launches

• Isro first launched GSLV on April 18, 2001 and has made 13 launches since then. The GSLV has had 8 launches successfully reaching its planned orbits, three outright failures and two partial failure, yielding a success rate for GSLV Mk I at 29% and 86% for Mk II. All launches have taken place from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, known before 2002 as the Sriharikota Range (SHAR).

THE PRELIMS PRACTICE QUESTIONS

QUESTION OF THE DAY

Q. Which of the following animals in India receive the same level of protection as the tiger under Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972?

1. Lion-tailed maquaque
2. One-horned rhinoceros
3. Spotted Dear
4. Andaman Wild Pig

Select the correct answer using the code given below:

a) 1 only

b) 1 and 2 only

c) 2, 3 and 4 only

d) All of them

ANSWER FOR 9TH APRIL 2022

Answer: C

Explanation:

• Statement 1 is incorrect: The standing deposit facility (SDF) is the basic tool available with RBI to absorb excess liquidity.
• The SDF has its origins in a 2018 amendment to the RBI Act and is an additional tool for absorbing liquidity without collateral.
• The Reserve Bank on 8th April 2022, took steps towards normalization of liquidity management to pre-pandemic levels, with the introduction of the standing deposit facility (SDF) as the basic tool to absorb excess liquidity.
• Statement 2 is incorrect: The SDF would be at 3.75%, i.e., 0.25% below the repo rate and 0.5% lower than the marginal standing facility (MSF) which helps the banks with funds when required.
• At both ends of the LAF corridor, there will be standing facilities – one to absorb and the other to inject liquidity. Accordingly, access to SDF and MSF will be at the discretion of banks, unlike repo/reverse repo, OMO and CRR which are available at the discretion of the Reserve Bank.

THE CONTEXT: The SilverLine project – a semi high-speed rail corridor that connects one end of Kerala to the other – has been mired in controversy. The project, which has been in the making for the past 12 years, has drawn flak from activists, engineers, and the people who will be displaced by land acquisition. But the state government seems to be determined to proceed with the project. This article analyses this issue in detail.

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE SILVERLINE PROJECT

WHAT IS SILVERLINE?:

• The SilverLine is proposed as a stand-alone, standard gauge, electric, fully fenced rail line corridor.
• The proposed 529.45-km line will link Thiruvananthapuram in the south to Kasaragod in the north, covering 11 districts through 11 stations.
• The deadline for the completion of the project is given as 2025.

TECHNICAL FEATURES:

• When the project is completed, one can travel from Kasaragod to Thiruvananthapuram in less than four hours at 200 km/hr. On the existing Indian Railways network, it now takes 12 hours.
• The project will have electric multiple unit (EMU) trains, each with preferably nine cars extendable to 12.
• A nine-car rake can seat a maximum of 675 passengers in business and standard class settings.

IMPLEMENTING AGENCY:

• Kerala Rail Development Corporation Limited (KRDCL) or K-Rail, a joint venture between the Kerala government and the Union Ministry of Railways created to execute big railway projects, is the project’s proponent.

FINANCIAL REQUIREMENT:

• The corridor is projected to be built at the cost of Rs 63,941 crore.
• The line is expected to be constructed using equity funds from the Kerala government, the Centre, and loans from multilateral lending agencies.

CURRENT STATUS OF THE PROJECT:

• The Centre has only given in-principle approval to the project but the state government has begun the process of land acquisition.
• Out of 1,383 hectares needed to be acquired, 1,198 hectares will be private land.
• As part of the first acquisition stage, local revenue and K-Rail officials are on the ground, demarcating land and placing boundary stones that have faced strong public opposition.

SILVERLINE: THE REQUIREMENT OF THE TIME FOR THE PEOPLE OF KERALA

Even though known to be a linear state with a population of only 3.45 crores, Kerala is commonly divided and called Southern Kerala, Central Kerala, and Northern Kerala. The Highways are choked with the rush of vehicles. The existence of residential and commercial establishments along the major highways makes road development a dream that will not happen shortly. With road development at standstill, new vehicles are entering the roads of Kerala at the rate of 1 million per year.

Considering the capacity of traffic served by the rail corridor and the comparatively fewer resources required for realizing rail projects, a rail corridor connecting the North and south ends of Kerala seems ideal for the state. Since the existing rail corridor is serving the trains to travel at a low speed of 45km/hour only, the Government of Kerala in association with the Ministry of Railways has decided to construct a Semi high-speed rail corridor of 529.45 km length from Thiruvananthapuram to Kasaragod which will take only 4 hours to travel between the two cities by traversing at a dream speed of 200 km/h. This project is known to be “Silverline”.

POTENTIAL BENEFITS OF THE SILVERLINE PROJECT

FULFILLS THE TRANSPORT DEMAND:

• The existing railway infrastructure in the state cannot meet the demands of the future. The government claims the project can take a significant load of traffic off the existing railway stretch and make travel easier and faster for commuters.
• This will in turn reduce the congestion on roads and help reduce accidents and fatalities.

INDUSTRIAL AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT:

• The project estimates that 2,80,000 hrs worth of human time and effort could be saved and directed towards other constructive purposes. It will lead to a significant increase in human productivity and efficiency.
• It will help in the expansion of Ro-Ro services, produce employment opportunities, integrate airports and IT corridors, and faster development of cities it passes through.
• The improved connectivity will increase business opportunities, ease of doing business, and industrial development.

ENVIRONMENTAL BENEFITS:

• Building capacities today to achieve a carbon net neutral world over the next three to four decades is the core aspect of the national strategy of all countries.
• High-speed rail systems leave a smaller carbon footprint than other modes of transport.

INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE:

• Japan’s high-speed rail system was developed and implemented by that country’s national railways when it was under immense financial stress due to borrowings. High-speed railways are also one of the factors that have spurred development in China.
• When the London underground railway was conceived, it was considered financially unviable. But today, the city of London’s economic activities would be inconceivable without it.

DEVELOPMENT OF TOURISM:

• SilverLine can provide easy, safe, and fast transportation facilities from the southern tip to its northern frontier. This would promote tourists to choose multi-destination tourism packages. It will create large opportunities for the tourism sector of Kerala.
• The SilverLine project will provide a huge growth potential in the tourism sector, which contributes to 10% of the domestic production of the state.

PUMP PRIMING THE ECONOMY:

• A major way to tackle the economic slowdown is to spend money on infrastructure development. Spending money on developing infrastructure will only do good, whatever the economic scenario.
• Infrastructure development will ultimately provide a huge boost to the employment/business market. These kinds of infrastructure projects are even more important in the current situation where the economic scenario is deteriorating due to Covid-19.

ATMA NIRBHAR BHARAT AND MAKE IN INDIA: 

• The technology and manufacturing companies required for the project are available in India itself. Rolling stock (train) can be manufactured in India by including it in the ‘Make in India’ scheme.
•  Several international manufacturers of trains have their units in India. The Silverline project has been developed in line with the public procurement policy of the Central government and the Atmanirbhar Bharat Scheme.

CRITICISMS OF THE SILVERLINE PROJECT

ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGES:

• There has been significant opposition by environmentalists citing potential damage to the ecosystem. They fear the irreversible impact on the state’s rivers, paddy fields, and wetlands. This could trigger floods and landslides in the future, they say.
• The Kerala Paristhithi Aikya Vedi, a forum of eco-experts and activists, has called on the government to abandon the project and explore sustainable solutions.

FLAWED EIA PROCESS:

• A Thiruvananthapuram-based research institute, the Centre for Environment and Development (CED) completed a Rapid Environmental Impact Assessment (REIA) on the project. The research institute was not an authorized agency for doing Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA).
• A Comprehensive Environmental Impact Assessment (CEIA) is necessary to cover all the seasons in a year, not a REIA done through just one season.
• The report submitted focused on the project’s positive aspects while ignoring the major negative aspects and fails to suggest plans to mitigate them.

HUGE POPULATION DISPLACEMENT:

• K-Rail estimates that 9,314 buildings would have to be demolished. It is known that at least 10,000 families may have to be relocated. Once the Environment Management Plan (EMP) is complete, this number could be double the estimate.
•  The state has already been under the onslaught of two disastrous floods in recent times that displaced thousands who are still not rehabilitated so are the evictees of several land acquisitions.

THE METROMAN’S OPINION:

• Mr. Sridharan, the Metro Man says that the rail runs parallel to the existing railway line, which isn’t advisable as it would interfere with the future quadrupling of this stretch.
• He adds that SilverLine should be away from the existing line, either elevated or underground. Nowhere in the world high-speed or semi high-speed lines are planned at the ground level.
• According to him, no final location survey has been done on the ground for the Silver Line. Finalizing a railway alignment based on Google Maps or Lidar survey is not acceptable, particularly when land acquisition is being pursued with undue haste. When a final location survey is done, there will be a lot of changes and half the land acquisition will be a waste.

HUGE PUBLIC OPPOSITION:

• A group called Anti-K-rail Janakeeya Samithi(Peoples Committee), formed by those against the project, has also been continuously protesting against its implementation for more than a year.
• The face-off between the people and the police and K-Rail officials has become a regular feature in Kerala with the protestors accusing the police of high-handedness.
• The Chief Minister of Kerala has characterized those opposing the project as anti-development, which has further enraged the people and the opposition parties.

POOR TRANSPARENCY:

• The main project document, the Detailed Project Report or DPR, is still not public. It is also speculated that K-Rail has not yet finalized the DPR.
• It is inconceivable to witness such secrecy and lack of accountability from a state used to top governance rankings.
• Meanwhile, K-Rail has made the alignment (the route) of the corridor public, leading to speculations by people who may lose their land and those who are moving in to grab prime land around the project.

PARTITIONING THE STATE:

• A major part of the Silver Line is designed as a fully fenced large bund, called embankments. Embankments in the project are mud-rock-concrete structures with concrete retaining walls, with a width of 15 to 30 m. These embankments would have a height of 1 to 8 meters above the maximum flood line (MFL). This forms 55% of the total distance of the alignment, which is 292.73 km.
• The project will look like a fort that separates the east and the west of Kerala. Bridges would be provided for people to cross over and drains for water to flow.
• While people may eventually get used to such impediments to their free movement, it will be difficult to stop water overflow, especially the torrential rains and floods that are an annual feature now.

POOR KNOWLEDGE OF LOCAL ECOLOGY:

• An analysis of the REIA shows that literally a watershed in the vicinity of the project in Kerala’s landscape. The rail corridor can block rainwater drainage and aggravate the impact of floods. The report also talks about the project affecting paddy fields and flood plains. The corridor also cuts through the mangrove forests of north Kerala.
• But the report suggests reducing the environmental impact by planting new mangroves after the construction. Neither the project proponents nor the scientists seem to be knowledgeable on matters related to landscape, ecology, and ecosystems.

DETRIMENTAL LAND-USE CHANGES:

• There will be a change in land use in the project area, around 500 meters towards each side of the rail corridor. This means the area and people living 500 meters on both sides of the corridor would be directly affected through mobility, access to resources, and even livelihood.
• Ironically, Kerala does not even have a land-use policy, and the draft of such a policy that was first presented in 2010 is still gathering dust in the Revenue Department.

NO SCOPE FOR INTEGRATION:

• The rail line is a stand-alone standard gauge project, with no integration possible with the present railway projects, which are all broad gauge rail systems. The Silver Line railway stations are away from present railway stations and road or rail networks, making it costly to build new last-mile connectivity.
• K-Rail proposes to raise loans to spend on this project alone. But the corridor would be viable only with such last-mile connectivity in place.

DOUBTFUL FINANCIAL VIABILITY:

• The Centre has also taken a firm stand against the project, stating a small state like Kerala cannot withstand such a huge financial liability.
• The Kerala government was expecting assistance of Rs 2,150 crore from the Centre. But the Centre has rejected the state’s request for a standing guarantee for a foreign loan. Allotment from the central fund is also uncertain.
• More than half the total amount to be spent on the project is expected to come from foreign institutions, but as of now, the Union government has not given its support.
• Independent experts suggest that the project will overshoot the present estimate and run into Rs 2 lakh crore, adding to the already precarious state finances and public debt.

NO SILVERLINE IN KERALA’S SILVERLINE FOR ECOLOGY

Kerala’s Silver Line project, a semi high-speed railway line that proposes to connect the north and south of the coastal state, could be unimaginably disastrous to the region’s fragile ecology. For instance, the Madayipara Biodiversity heritage site in North Kerala’s Kannur district is a laterite hillock surrounded by Kuppam, Ramapuram, and Peruvamba rivers and the ecologically fragile Kavvayi backwaters. The hillock is home to 657 plants, 142 butterfly species, 186 bird species, and 60 species of odonates. It also has 24 species of reptiles, and 19 species of amphibians, which are rare and endangered ones. Though the hillock represents less than 0.01% of Kannur, it harbours 58.75% of the flora in the district.

About 132 km south of Madayipara is the Kadalundi bird sanctuary and its estuarine ecosystem. A little away from Kadalundi, the highly ecologically sensitive Ponnani-Thrissur Kole wetlands remain spread over 13,632 ha, which is considered the third largest of their kind in entire India, after Chilika Lake (Odisha) and Amipur Tank (Gujarat), in terms of the number of birds it supports. Ornithologists note that 241 species of birds, including passerines, have been recorded in these wetlands, of which 30% are migrants.

Close to Ponanni lies Thirunavaya, a village with numerous ponds, lakes, and wetlands. Here, over 30 families meticulously tend lotus flowers to supply to different temples in the state, including the famous Sri Krishna Temple in Guruvayur. Experts observe that the environmental, social, and financial equilibriums of Madayipara, Kadalundi, Ponnani, and Thirunavaya would be badly affected along with numerous other villages between Kasargod in north and Thiruvananthapuram in the far south if the project goes through.

KERALA MODEL OF INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT- A POLITICO-BUREAUCRATIC ENTERPRISE?

Kerala seems to be in the habit of bulldozing through technically unviable, financially intensive, and ecologically destructive projects. The Vizhinjam International Port is a classical case study. The project has unleashed an environmental disaster and is also facing a financial breakdown. Many scientists, environmental groups, and fisherfolk had voiced their opposition to this project right from the beginning and were characteristically ignored by the political parties and bureaucrats. The arguments of the public ran the same narrative as in the case of the Silver Line. In the last five years, hills have been quarried for rocks to be deposited into the sea to build the sea wall for the port. But every time the coast is hit by a cyclone or high tidal waves, the walls collapse, wasting precious resources. Only a quarter of the sea wall has been built, and the project has already shot its timeline by nearly two years. It has also eroded the fishing and tourist beaches, including Kovalam and Shankhumukham. Hundreds of fisher families have lost their homes to the sea. The Vizhinjam project, which was hyped to make Thiruvananthapuram a paradise, has now become a center point of disaster.

THE WAY FORWARD:

ADDRESS THE CONCERNS OF ALL THE STAKEHOLDERS:

• Considering Kerala’s fragile landscape and social conditions and the magnitude of the project, a CEIA is imperative. The government has initiated the process for a detailed EIA and also a Social Impact Assessment (SIA).
• Meanwhile, the land acquisition and evictions shouldn’t be going ahead without completing the EIA and SIA and placing them along with the DPR for public consultations.
• People and experts have demanded that all project activities should be stopped till the DPR and EIA are done and made public and all alternatives evaluated.

DEVELOP A COMPREHENSIVE TRANSPORT POLICY:

• Several groups have demanded a comprehensive transport policy in the state instead of the expensive Silverline project.
• This will provide a road map and vision for the development of transport infrastructure in the state based on long-term planning multi-modal integration and can have general public support.

SPEED UP RAILWAY INFRA PROJECTS:

• Kerala must speed up all the ongoing rail projects to allow the lines to run Vistadome coaches and high-speed trains like the Gatimaan Express that continue to use the broad gauge track. The standard gauge track without any future or expandability seems not a good idea.
• The Indian Railways plans to increase the speed of a few trains to 160 km per hour. If this is possible in the existing railway line in Kerala, it would have a transport system whose environmental cost is already paid.

AN HONEST ASSESSMENT OF THE FINANCIAL VIABILITY:

• The capital-intense nature of the project and the impact on Kerala’s finances need independent evaluation as the K-Rail estimates seem to underestimate the project costs.
• Also a debate should be there on the necessity to change the current Centre-State fiscal regime to ensure that States can indeed invest in projects of infrastructural importance.

DECENTRALIZE DEVELOPMENTAL OPPORTUNITIES: 

• The state needs to promote decentralized development, including access to socio-economic infrastructure and employment.
• This will reduce the pressure on existing transport infrastructure, address the problem of climate change and promote environmental sustainability.

LEARNING THE LESSONS FROM THE PAST:

• Kerala needs to learn from the huge destruction that nature unleashed on its people due to its obsession with “development”.
• The politico-bureaucratic elites need to come out of the notion that development means dams, bridges, high-speed rail, multiplexes, etc. only.
• They must also need to base sustainable development policies and practices on developmental discourse and practices.

A FEASIBLE LAND ACQUISITION POLICY:

• The government’s land acquisition policy needs to be tailored so that the pain of displacement and relocation is minimized.

THE CONCLUSION:  A project of this size and complexity will involve issues of implementation, resource mobilization, the important task of measuring the local environmental impact, specific alignment of tracks, and humane compensation policy. All of these can and must be addressed and till then the state government needs to slow down a bit. And if after all the evaluations, the project is found to be unviable, then it is better to look for alternatives.

QUESTIONS:

1. Explaining the salient features of the SilverLine project of the state of Kerala, comment on its social, economic, and environmental implications.
2. “A top-down approach to infrastructural development is not in tune with the idea of sustainable development”. Examine the statement in the light of the Silverline project of the state of Kerala.
3. Democratic decentralization sans developmental decentralization can have major socio-economic and environmental consequences. Illustrate.