THE CONTEXT: The Covid-19 pandemic has shown the inadequacies of the healthcare provisions in India which once again created a debate on Universal Health Care (UHC). There are many approaches to providing the UHC to the people of a country and Healthcare as an optional public service (HOPS) is one of them. This article examines the benefits and challenges of HOPS in providing a UHC.

NOTE: For the purpose of our discussion, Universal Health Coverage and Universal Health Care are used interchangeably.

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE?

DEFINITION: 

• According to WHO, Universal Health Coverage means that all people have access to the health services they need, when and where they need them, without financial hardship.
• It includes the full range of essential health services, from health promotion to prevention, treatment, rehabilitation, and palliative care.
• The basic idea of UHC is that no one should be deprived of quality health care for the lack of ability to pay.

NEED:

• Currently, at least half of the people in the world do not receive the health services they need.
• About 100 million people are pushed into extreme poverty each year because of out-of-pocket spending on health.
• This must change.

THE INDIAN SCENARIO:

• India has one-of-the highest levels of Out-Of-Pocket Expenditures (OOPE) contributing directly to the high incidence of catastrophic expenditures and poverty, notes the Economic Survey.
• It suggested an increase in public spending from 1% to 2.5-3% of GDP — as envisaged in the National Health Policy 2017 — can decrease the OOPE from 65% to 30% of overall healthcare spending.
• The Survey observes that the health of a nation depends critically on its citizens having access to an equitable, affordable, and accountable healthcare system.
• Public and private expenditures on healthcare in India do not exceed 5.5% of its GDP.

MODES OF UHC:

• UHC generally relies on one or both of two basic approaches: public service and social insurance. But there is another approach that aims to leverage the strength of both while minimising the limitations. (Read Ahead).

TEN PRINCIPLES OF UHC IN INDIA

THE PREVAILING ROUTES TO THE UHC

PUBLIC SERVICE:

• Health care, like the services of a fire department or a public library, is offered as a free public service.
• Surprisingly, this socialist vision has been successful not only in communist countries like Cuba but also in capitalist ones (well beyond the United Kingdom).
• Britain’s National Health Service (NHS) which is the best example of this genre, is free at the point of use for anyone who is a UK resident.
• Healthcare is provided by a single-payer – the British government – and is funded by the taxpayer although there are multiple providers.
• All appointments and treatments are free to the patient (though paid for through taxes), as are almost all prescription drugs.
• Responsibility for health services is devolved to local boards or trusts.
• These local units directly manage or contract services in their communities. Britain spends 9.9% of its GDP on the NHS.

SOCIAL INSURANCE:

• This method provides for both private and public health care.
• But the expenses are borne mostly by the social insurance fund(s), rather than the patient.
• Everyone has access to high-quality health care.
• A social insurance market is not the same as a private insurance market.
• The most basic version is one in which insurance is mandatory and universal.
• It is funded mostly by general taxation and administered by a single public-interest non-profit organisation.
• That’s how it works in Canada (at least in some provinces) and to varying degrees in other nations with “national health insurance” (e.g., Australia and Taiwan).
• This single-payer system makes it easier for the state to negotiate with healthcare providers for a decent price.
• However, various countries have different social models.

WHAT ARE THE CHALLENGES IN BOTH THE APPROACHES?

PUBLIC SERVICE:

• Providing free public health care to all will put a huge financial burden on the exchequer.
• The capacity of public health infrastructure in the country is hugely inadequate.
• There is a severe shortage of human resources in the health sector including medical, paramedical, and other staff as pointed out by the National Health Policy-2017.
• The profit-private healthcare system is highly developed and too entrenched in India. And hence, it is too costly to displace it.

SOCIAL INSURANCE:

• In the absence of public health centers, there is a danger of patients rushing to expensive hospitals every other day.
• This would make the system wasteful and expensive.
• Containing costs is a major challenge with social insurance because patients and healthcare providers have a joint interest inexpensive care — one to get better, the other to earn.
• Expanding social insurance to commercial healthcare providers is especially dangerous given their power and influence
• Another challenge with social insurance is to regulate for-profit private healthcare providers.

WHAT IS INDIA’S APPROACH TO UHC AS OF NOW?

Ayushman Bharat is National Health Protection Scheme, which covers over 10 crore poor and vulnerable families (approximately 50 crore beneficiaries) providing coverage up to 5 lakh rupees per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalization the most important strategy for a UHC.  Ayushman Bharat – National Health Protection Mission subsumes the ongoing centrally sponsored schemes – Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) and the Senior Citizen Health Insurance Scheme (SCHIS). Benefits of the scheme are portable across the country and a beneficiary covered under the scheme will be allowed to take cashless benefits from any public/private impaneled hospitals across the country. It is an entitlement-based scheme with entitlement decided based on deprivation criteria in the SECC database. Also, there is a Primary Health Infrastructure system in place that caters to a wide range of medical health needs although there is a huge state-wide disparity in its reach and quality. There are also state-level medical insurance schemes and departmental medical facilities including defence, railways, etc.

HEALTHCARE AS AN OPTIONAL PUBLIC SERVICE(HOPS)- THE WAY FORWARD FOR THE UHC IN INDIA

WHAT ARE HOPS?: 

• It is a framework for UHC that is based primarily on health care as a public service, with the potential to eventually converge toward some kind of NHS.
• Everyone would have the legal right to access free, high-quality health care at a public facility if they so desired. It would not restrict someone from seeking private health care on their own expenses.
• The public sector, on the other hand, would provide adequate health care to everyone as a matter of right and at no expense.

HAS IT BEEN PRACTICED IN INDIA?:

• This is something that some Indian states are already attempting. Most ailments can be properly treated in the public sector in Kerala and Tamil Nadu, for example, at a low cost to the patient.
• A vibrant private sector exists as well, which needs better regulation.
• However, as an optional public service, everyone has access to adequate health care.

ARE HOPS TRULY EGALITARIAN?:

• HOPS is not as egalitarian as the NHS and the National Health Insurance model as those with the means can access private healthcare. However, it will still be a big step toward UHC.
• Moreover, as the public sector offers an increasingly wide range of medical services, it can become more egalitarian over time.
• If quality medical care is available free of charge in the public sector, most patients have little reason to rely on the private sector.

ROLE OF SOCIAL INSURANCE IN HOPS: 

• It can cover medical procedures that are not readily available in the public sector and thus can play a limited role in this framework.
• Social insurance needs to be built around public and non-profit private healthcare.

WHAT ARE THE DIFFICULTIES WITH HOPS?:

• Difficult to specify the scope of the proposed healthcare guarantee, including quality standards.
• UHC does not mean unlimited health care: there are always limits to what can be guaranteed to everyone.
• Not only does HOPS need health standards, but it also needs a reliable way to revise those standards over time.
• Some useful items are already available like the Indian Public Health Standards.
• But a major challenge is administrative and operational which do not have easy answers.

RIGHT TO HEALTH BILL- THE TAMIL NADU WAY FOR HOPS

Tamil Nadu is in a good position to achieve HOPS under the proposed Health Rights Bill. Tamil Nadu can already effectively provide most public-sector medical services.

According to the 4th National Family Health Survey, the majority of households in Tamil Nadu are going to the public sector for medical care in the event of illness. The scope and quality of these services have steadily improved over time. The proposed Health law is very supportive of the state’s commitment to quality medical care for all. The Bill seeks to cover all age groups and include people with disabilities and mental illnesses. It enables patients and their families to demand quality service and helps further improve the system. It will serve as a model and inspiration for all Indian states.

THE CONCLUSION: Healthcare provision in India faces many challenges and it requires multiple interventions. A good beginning can be ensuring a legal right to health in the nature of HOPS. Although not devoid of challenges, HOPS can provide “hopes” to the millions who are outside the formal medical care system.

QUESTIONS:

1. What do you understand by Healthcare as an Optional Public Service? Explain.
2. No society can legitimately call itself civilised if a sick person is denied medical aid because of a lack of means. Hence, a fully publicly funded healthcare system is required. Elaborate

THE CONTEXT: The Nepal Prime Minister visited India in the first week of April 2022. After taking charge as a Prime Minister, this was the first bilateral abroad visit by the Prime Minister of Nepal. The outcome of the visit might appear modest but what is significant is that India and Nepal effectively managed to steer clear of divisive issues. This article analyses the recent developments in India- Nepal relations.

THE VISIT

PROJECTS LAUNCHED:

• Launch and operationalization of 35 km long cross border rail link from Jaynagar in Bihar to Kurtha in Nepal.
• Inauguration of the 90 km long 132 KV Solu Corridor transmission line built with Indian Line of Credit for INR 200 crore.
• Launch of RuPay Card in Nepal.
• Witnessing a video clip on the progress in the construction of the 132 Health facilities in Nepal, undertaken with US$ 50 million in post-earthquake reconstruction grant.

DOCUMENTS EXCHANGED:

• International Solar Alliance Framework Agreement handover by Nepal.
• Exchange of MoU on enhancing Technical Cooperation in the Railway Sector.
• Exchange of Agreement on Supply of Petroleum Products between IOC (India Oil Corporation) and NOC (Nepal Oil Corporation).
• Exchange of Agreement for sharing of Technical Expertise between IOC and NOC.

INDIA-NEPAL JOINT VISION STATEMENT ON POWER SECTOR COOPERATION:

• Apart from these, India and Nepal issued a joint vision statement on power sector cooperation. According to the statement:
• Joint development of power generation projects in Nepal.
• Development of cross-border transmission infrastructure.
• Bi-directional power trade with appropriate access to electricity markets in both countries based on mutual benefits, market demand and applicable domestic regulations of each country.
• Coordinated operation of the national grids.
• Institutional cooperation in sharing the latest operational information, technology, and know-how.

IMPORTANCE OF THE VISIT:

• At a time when the Russia-Ukraine war is going on, India is facing west criticism for not condemning Russia. This time India needs to improve its relations with neighbouring countries.
• The relations between India-Nepal are as healthy as expected, so the visit shows hope for enhancing the relations.
• It was his first foreign visit as Prime Minister that abiding interest in strengthening ties with India.
• In the recent past, after strong Indian opposition to the Constitution, many Nepali held India responsible for the three-month-long “great blockade” and Madhesi groups’ protest; the visit was the opportunity to repair the India-Nepal relationship.
• The BIMSTEC summit recently concluded that if India wants to minimize the ongoing war impacts, it should have good ties with neighbouring countries.

SUCCESS OF THE VISIT:

• The visit shows many successes in the different sectors. Moreover, it raised confidence in the relations of both countries.
• Cross border projects like technical cooperation in the railway sector, Nepal’s induction into the International Solar Alliance, and between Indian Oil Corporation, Nepal Oil Corporation on ensuring regular supplies of petroleum products were also signed, and a joint vision statement on power sector cooperation provide opportunities for joint development and cooperation.

THE CHALLENGES FACING INDIA-NEPAL TIES

THE OPEN: An important issue is an open border between two countries.

BORDER ISSUE: The open is used for illegal trafficking to India.

FLOOD DUE TO PLAIN: The Nepal plains suffer from massive floods that have also affected downstream areas across the border.

KOSI BARRAGE: The Kosi Barrage and attendant embankments have the possibility of wreaking havoc because the siltation of six decades has raised the riverbed within the levees far above the outlying tracts. The Indian politician is to demand a high dam in the hills of Nepal even as alternatives are not studied, which effected the waters of the Kosi in Bihar.

IMPORT OF ELECTRICITY FROM NEPAL: Nepal has long planned to sell electricity to India, but the completion of the Dhalkebar-Muzaffarpur transmission line was supposed to facilitate that. Indian government directive that it will not allow the import of electricity other than from power companies with more than 51% Indian equity.

ARBITRARY BLOCKAGES AT BORDER POINTS: The arbitrary blockages and go-slow at Indian Customs at border points, the selective use of quarantine for the export of Nepali agricultural produce, the increasing high-handedness of the Sashastra Seema Bal (India’s frontier force in this sector) in dealing with Nepalis crossing over are some of the challenges on the bilateral plane.

2020 BORDER DISPUTE: The Nepalese government issued a new political map placing the disputed territory of Kalapani within its borders. This came as a response to the inauguration of a Jeep track through Lipu Lek by the Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.

COVID-19: Because of the lock-down in India due to the COVID-19 pandemic, thousands of poor Nepalese migrant labour working in Indian cities returned home in 2020. This caused a massive spread of the pandemic inside Nepal. This created a negative image of India.

MAOIST: India played a valued role in ending the Maoist insurgency in 2006, but the period after that was marked by escalating micro-meddling in Nepal’s internal affairs.

NEW CONSTITUTION: There were attempts to define the new provincial boundaries according to Indian dictates in Constitution-writing. India criticized it for not addressing the concerns of Madheshis and other marginalized sections.

HUMAN RIGHT ISSUE: India criticized Nepal’s human rights record at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, especially in dealing with the Madhesi agitation.

BLOCKADE BY MADHESI: It has halted oil and other essential supplies, which created a humanitarian crisis in Nepal. The Nepal government blames India for this blockade.

RESULT OF THESE ISSUES: CHINESE PRESENCE IN NEPAL

The Great Blockade forced the Kathmandu political leadership to reach out to Beijing, and the result was: 

• India’s relations with Nepal have had both ‘highs’ and ‘lows’ in recent years. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has often spoken of the “neighbourhood first” policy. After that, both countries’ relations took a nosedive, and China made a strong presence in Nepal.
• Nepal is today connected by air to Chinese cities than to India.
• Nepal is also part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
• In 2016, Mr Oli visited Beijing to negotiate an Agreement on Transit Transportation.
• The first-ever visit of the Chinese Defence Minister took place in March 2017, followed by joint military exercises a month later. Three years later, a Protocol was concluded with China providing access to four seaports and three land ports. A military grant of $32 million was also announced.
• Rather than compete with China, India needs to up its own game. China has overtaken India as the largest source of foreign direct investment. In 2019, China’s President Xi Jinping visited Kathmandu. Annual development assistance has been hiked to $120 million. China is also engaged with airport expansion projects at Pokhara and Lumbini.
• The growing Chinese presence means that India cannot afford to let issues linger but reach out actively to find a resolution.

WHAT CAN BE THE IMPACT OF A VISIT?

WHAT SHOULD BE THE WAY FORWARD?

IMPROVE BILATERAL TRADE WITH NEIGHBOURS:

• India will have to focus on connectivity as leverage to increase its strategic influence in the neighbourhood.
• The trilateral India-Nepal-China corridor offers an interesting opportunity for collaboration to test Beijing’s flexibility and, at the same time, get Kathmandu on board.

BALANCE DEALING WITH SMALL NEIGHBOURS: 

• India will have to abandon the archaic principle of the right of first refusal and invest in expanding its capacity of first delivery.
• Delhi will have to get used to Kathmandu’s new “first-come, first-served” principle. Indian delays and low-quality resources will no longer be tolerated.
• By reviving the Gujral doctrine and India’s willingness to provide non-reciprocal, unilateral, and preferential benefits to its smaller neighbours.

TO CURB CHINA IMPACT:

• Beijing’s current promises of support for Nepal will thus also come with a price.
• New Delhi will have to communicate such expectations more clearly.
• History shows that India will often assume that the Nepalese government is deliberately acting against its advice when, in fact, New Delhi never communicated such concerns in the first place or did not articulate them forcefully enough.

CONSTITUTIONAL ISSUE: 

• In 2015, New Delhi may as well have failed on clear communication and used inadequate forms of pressure that were resented in Nepal.
• A permanent bilateral mechanism is required to save the plains population of Nepal from suffering, which can be possible at the present.
•  It has always been our wish to seek peace and prosperity in Nepal because stability in Nepal is in the best interests of India [and] democracy in Nepal is the best guarantee of such stability.

OTHERS: 

• More than defining what Nepal should not do, India will have to grow a thicker skin against Nepalese nationalist rallying cries against India.
• To most Nepalese, the Chinese grass across the Himalayas will naturally look greener than that on India’s Gangetic plains.
• Especially while in opposition, political leaders in Kathmandu will keep tapping into anti-India feelings to mobilize electoral support, a behaviour that India must understand and endure.

CONCLUSION: PM Deuba’s visit has infused new trust and confidence in the relationship and it should be hoped that shared historical, cultural, economic security and other linkages will help the two countries further boost their bilateral ties.

QUESTIONS

1. ‘The Nepal Prime Minister’s visit sparks hope that bilateral ties will find a new equilibrium. Critically discuss.
2. ‘China will emerge as an occasional irritant in Indo-Nepalese relations, tempting Nepal to play the ‘Beijing card’ against India”. In the light of the statement, discuss how India can prevent it?

THE CONTEXT: India and Australia signed an Economic Co-operation and Trade Agreement (ECTA) with an eye on doubling bilateral trade to $50 billion in the next five years and easing the movement of people, goods, and services across borders. The negotiations for India-Australia ECTA were formally re-launched on 30 September 2021 (which were stalled since 2015) and concluded on a fast-track basis by the end of March 2022. This article analyzes different aspects of the deal and the significance of the bilateral trade for both countries.

THE ECONOMIC COOPERATION AND TRADE AGREEMENT (ECTA)

The Agreement encompasses cooperation across the entire gamut of bilateral economic and commercial relations between the two friendly countries and covers areas like:

• Trade-in Goods,
• Rules of Origin,
• Trade in Services,
• Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT),
• Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) measures,
• Dispute Settlement, Movement of Natural Persons,
• Telecom, Customs Procedures,
• Pharmaceutical products, and
• Cooperation in other Areas.

KEY FEATURES OF THE AGREEMENT

PREFERENTIAL MARKET ACCESS:

Australia’s PMA to India: India will benefit from preferential market access provided by Australia on 100% of its tariff lines. This includes all the labour-intensive sectors which are of interest to India such as Gems and Jewellery, Textiles, leather, footwear etc.

India’s PMA to Australia: India will be offering preferential access to Australia on over 70% of its tariff lines. This includes lines of export interest to Australia which are primarily raw materials and intermediaries such as coal, mineral ores and wines, etc.

Both sides have also agreed to a separate Annexure on Pharmaceutical products under this agreement. This will enable fast-track approval for patented, generic, and biosimilar medicines.

SERVICES TRADE:

As regards trade in services, some of the keys offers from Australia in the services space include Quota for chefs and yoga teachers; a Post-study work visa of 2-4 years for Indian students on a reciprocal basis; mutual recognition of Professional Services and Other licensed/regulated Occupations, etc.

India has offered market access to Australia in around 103 sub-sectors and the Most Favored Nation in 31 sub-sectors from the 11 broad service sectors. This includes ‘business services’, ‘communication services’, ‘construction and related engineering services, and so on.

EXCLUDED TARIFF LINES:

India has kept many sensitive products in the exclusion category (29.8% of tariff lines) without offering any concession. These products include milk and dairy, chickpeas, walnut, pistachio nuts, wheat, rice, bajra, apple, sunflowers seed oil, etc.

The agreement also includes strict rules of origin to prevent any routing of products from other countries and provides for a safeguard mechanism to address any sudden surges in imports of a product.

SIGNIFICANCE OF INDIA AUSTRALIA TRADE AGREEMENT

AN ANALYSIS OF THE IND-AUS TRADE AGREEMENT

• Both India and Australia share a vision of a free, open, inclusive, and rules-based Indo-Pacific region, as well as cooperative use of the seas based on international law, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), and peaceful dispute resolution rather than unilateral or coercive actions.
• The India-Australia ECTA will strengthen the two countries’ already deep, close, and strategic relations by significantly increasing bilateral trade in goods and services, creating new job opportunities, raising living standards, and improving the general welfare of the two peoples.
• The India-Australia comprehensive interim free trade agreement is well-timed for both partners and will ensure an uninterrupted supply of key inputs to Indian industries, with Australian businesses gaining access to a more reliable alternative to China, which is resorting to sanctions against the Canberra.
• A special review mechanism is also envisaged for compulsory review after 15 years for certain aspects of the agreement in a time-bound manner. The review, if requested, is compulsory and has to be completed in six months. This is something new in bilateral trade relations which gives confidence in having a long-term cordial and collaborative relations wherein changes can be incorporated on mutually agreeable terms.
• India and Australia are members of the QUAD grouping, which also includes the United States and Japan, and bilateral ties will help strengthen cooperation and develop partnerships on several issues of common strategic concerns.

THE WAY FORWARD

• The government has successfully negotiated an excellent trade deal for businesses. However, Australia has 16 FTAs under operation which means accessing the Australian market wouldn’t be a cakewalk. India would have to work on improving its competitiveness, as in most trade sectors, it would be competing with China, ASEAN, Chile, Japan, Korea, and New Zealand, which have already-functional FTAs with Australia.
• Active diplomatic engagement would be required to make Australia fulfill its promise to amend its domestic tax law in order to stop taxation of the offshore income of Indian firms providing technical services to Australia. Once the amendment is made, the Indian tech companies would no longer be required to pay taxes on offshore revenues in Australia. This would enhance their competitiveness in the international market.
• India signed an FTA with the UAE in February 2022 and now an FTA has been negotiated with Australia. The success shall be used in negotiating its future FTA deals with Israel, Canada, the UK, and the EU.
• The India-Australia trade pact is the second big trade agreement signed by New Delhi in the recent past. It is in sharp contrast to India’s stand at the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), the world’s largest trade agreement involving China and 14 other Asia-Pacific nations where India defended its stand by raising concerns about Chinese goods flooding the Indian market. India will have to forge several similar alliances, like the one with Australia, to make up for not being a part of RCEP. Furthermore, India needs to play this on the front foot and rise above political considerations and think in purely economic terms.

THE CONCLUSION: This agreement opens a big door into the world’s fastest-growing major economy for Australian farmers, manufacturers, producers and so many more. The India-Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA) is a key step in enhancing bilateral economic ties between the two major Indian Ocean littoral states and reflects the growing strategic alignment between New Delhi and Canberra. While India’s strongest ties with Australia had hitherto largely centered around their common colonial legacy of cricket, best exemplified in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, a more contemporary shared vision has emerged around the mutual need to strengthen their strategic and trade engagement.

Mains Practice Questions:

1. Elaborate on how the growing India-Australia economic and commercial relations can contribute to the stability in the Indo-pacific region?
2. India has recently had bilateral trade deals with UAE and Australia and is in talks with other countries also. How will the bilateral trade agreements help India in realizing the $5T economy dream? Substantiate.

ADD TO YOUR KNOWLEDGE

India Australia Bilateral Relations

HISTORICAL TIES:

• India and Australia established diplomatic relations in the pre-Independence period, with the establishment of the India Trade Office in Sydney in 1941.
• India and Australia bilateral relations have undergone transformational evolution in recent years, developing along a positive track, into a friendly partnership.
• This is a special partnership characterised by shared values of pluralistic, parliamentary democracies, Commonwealth traditions, expanding economic engagement, long-standing people-to-people ties and increasing high-level interaction.

STRATEGIC:

• The India-Australia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership initiated during the India-Australia Leaders’ Virtual Summit on 04 June 2020 is the cornerstone of our multifaceted bilateral relations.
• Both countries also held first India-Australia 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue in New Delhi in September 2021 with focus on open, free, prosperous and rules-based Indo-Pacific region.

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL RELATIONS:

• India and Australia have been each other’s, important trading partners and bilateral economic and commercial relations have continued to enhance and deepen over time.
• Growing India-Australia economic and commercial relations contribute to the stability and strength of a rapidly diversifying and deepening bilateral relationship between the two countries.
• Australia is the 17th largest trading partner of India and India is Australia’s 9th largest trading partner.
• India-Australia bilateral trade for both merchandise and services is valued at US$ 27.5 billion in 2021.
• India’s merchandise exports to Australia grew 135% between 2019 and 2021.
• India’s exports consist primarily of a broad-based basket largely of finished products and were US$ 6.9 billion in 2021.
• India’s merchandise imports from Australia were US$ 15.1 billion in 2021, consisting largely of raw materials, minerals and intermediate goods.

DEFENCE:

• In 2014, both sides decided to extend defence cooperation to cover research, development and industry engagement.
• The first-ever Bilateral Maritime Exercise, AUSINDEX, was conducted in Visakhapatnam (Bay of Bengal) in September 2015. The most recent one was conducted in September 2021.
• In 2018, the Indian Air Force participated for the first time in Exercise Pitch Black in Australia.
• INS Sahyadri participated in Kakadu, the biennial exercise of the Australian Navy held in 2018, in which 27 nations participated.
• The 4th edition of AUSTRAHIND (Special Forces of Army Exercise) was held in September 2019.

MULTILATERAL ENGAGEMENT:

• Both countries have close cooperation in multilateral platforms like Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and G20.
• The Quadrilateral Framework (QUAD) of India and Australia along with the US and Japan emphasize the collective resolve to maintain a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific region.
• Australia was also included in Malabar Exercise in 2020, which now is an annual Naval exercise of the QUAD nations.

THE CONTEXT: Sri Lanka is going through an economic meltdown of a scale unseen since the country’s financial crisis of 1948. India also experienced a similar type of crisis in 1990, which it successfully managed. This article will undertake an economic comparison of both countries with special reference to the economic crisis.

WHAT IS THE SRI LANKAN ECONOMIC CRISIS?

The country’s crumbling economy is facing a shortage of foreign currency, which has led to a massive reduction in imports of essential items. Sri Lanka relies heavily on its imports. It imports petroleum, food, paper, sugar, lentils, medicines, and transportation equipment, among other essential items. The lack of foreign currency means the country does not have the money to buy (import) these commodities. Imports are so essential that the government had to cancel examinations for millions of school students because they ran out of printing paper. The situation in Sri Lanka is so critical that the government had to suspend operations at its only fuel refinery because it ran out of crude oil stocks. The economy is plagued by inflation, which hit 15.1 percent. Government data shows that food inflation has risen to 25.7 percent. According to the data available on IMF, Sri Lanka’s gross debt as a percentage of GDP accounted for 79.02% in 2016 and this has risen to 111.42% in 2022. This implies what the country owes is more than what it produces. The twin-deficit problem emerged. There is a continued protest going on in Sri Lanka demanding the resignation of the President and the Prime Minister.

A TIMELINE OF THE SRI LANKAN ECONOMIC CRISIS

NOVEMBER 2019: 

• After winning Sri Lanka’s presidential election and months ahead of a parliamentary ballot, Gotabaya Rajapaksa announced sweeping tax cuts.
• The Cabinet cut the value-added tax to eight percent from 15 percent and also abolished seven other taxes, including a two percent nation-building tax paid by businesses.
• The sweeping tax cuts led to a credit rating downgrade in 2020, leading to Sri Lanka losing access to international financial markets.
• Sri Lanka started dipping into its foreign reserves to meet its debt obligations. This resulted in foreign reserves plummeting from a healthy level of $8,864 million in June 2019 to $2,361 million in January 2022. (See Figure 1)

2020:

• The COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 made the situation worse. Tourist inflows and tourism revenues fell further; exports of tea and rubber declined due to lower demand; and remittances, another booster to the foreign exchange reserves, also fell as Lankans across the globe lost jobs.
• The GDP declined by 3.5 percent, the Current Account Deficit touched 7.9 percent of GDP, and the fiscal deficit climbed to 11.1 percent.

APRIL 2021:

• The Lankan government on 29 April 2021 decided to ban the import of chemical fertilizers and any other agrochemicals to make the Indian Ocean nation the first in the world to practice “organic-only” agriculture. The move was aimed at reducing pressure on forex reserves.
• Agriculture experts strongly criticized the move as “ill-advised” and “unscientific”. The farming community expressed fears that such a drastic policy shift could result in a steep drop in yield.

NOVEMBER 2021:

• Facing protests and seeing a drop in agricultural output, the government said that it would partially lift the ban.
• However, the damage was done. The ban had led to a reduction in yield, which went down by 25 percent.
• Tea cultivation, which is one of the mainstays of the economy, was also badly hit. The output of pepper, cinnamon, and vegetables went down by 30 percent.
• This forced the government to rely on rice and other staples even more from foreign countries.

MARCH 2022:

• The situation became even direr by the end of March as a critical lack of foreign currency left the island nation unable to pay for vital imports, leading to dire shortages in everything from life-saving medicines to cement.
• On 30 March, the island nation announced 13-hour daily power cuts nationwide. The country had been under severe electricity rationing since the start of the month.

APRIL 2022:

• The plunge into darkness and the severe food shortages led to people getting furious and that anger spilled onto the streets on 1 April when demonstrators tried to storm the president’s home.
• The crowd turned violent, setting two military buses, a police jeep, two patrol motorcycles, and a three-wheeler ablaze. They also threw bricks at officers. Following the violence, a 36-hour curfew was imposed.
• A state of emergency was declared, giving security forces sweeping powers.
• The crisis deepened after Sri Lanka’s Cabinet resigned en masse from their positions.
• Trading on Sri Lanka’s stock exchange is being shut down. Additionally, Sri Lanka’s central bank governor announced his resignation.
• The embattled president loses his parliamentary majority as former allies urge him to quit. He lifts the state of emergency.
• The country’s central bank hiked interest rates by a record 700 basis points in a bid to halt the free fall of the Sri Lankan rupee, which has plunged more than 35 percent in a month.
• The country announces it is defaulting on its entire external debt of $51bn as a “last resort” after running out of foreign exchange to import desperately needed goods.

SRI LANKA’S FOREIGN DEBT

AN ANALYSIS OF THE SRI LANKAN ECONOMIC CRISIS?

Sri Lanka has suffered a serious balance of payments (BOP) crisis since early 2020. With the global spread of COVID19, Sri Lanka has lost about US $ 4 billion in annual foreign currency inflows from the tourism industry. Even before it, the Easter Day bombing had already subdued the tourist arrivals. The country’s credit rating is steadily declining due to the negative effects of COVID19 on the economy, reckless changes in economic policies such as tax cuts, and the government’s stubborn stance of not seeking support from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Due to these developments, Sri Lanka was unable to borrow from the international capital markets through the issuance of international government bonds (ISBs). Since April 2019, this country has not issued a single ISB

Sri Lanka’s foreign exchange inflows have declined significantly. In 2020, the government imposed strict import restrictions, including the suspension of car imports, to curb the outflow of foreign currency. The outflow of foreign exchange to imports has decreased, but the obligation to repay external debt remains unchanged. This means that Sri Lanka’s external funding gap (lack of foreign currency inflows to cover foreign currency outflows) continued to widen without the opportunity to issue an ISB. In the absence of sufficient foreign exchange inflows, the government continued to deplete its foreign exchange reserves to pay off existing loans. The Sri Lankan government also tinkered with the exchange rate which led to the black marketing of this scarce resource. The usual response to this kind of serious BOP crisis is to seek the help of the IMF. In fact, the very reason the IMF was created was to help countries deal with the BOP crisis. However, the Sri Lankan government has stubbornly refused to seek the help of the IMF or restructure its debt and instead is looking to China and India. Sri Lanka also announced a default on all of its $51 billion external debt as a last resort.

HOW INDIA HAS RESPONDED TO THE SRI LANKAN ECONOMIC CRISIS?

WHAT WAS INDIA’S BALANCE OF PAYMENT CRISIS?

The BOP problem began to surface in the last years of the Rajiv Gandhi administration, where fiscal expansion led to an increase in the current account deficit. Successive governments could not take decisive actions. The situation was in jeopardy when Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in August 1990 and oil prices soared. The market has lost confidence in the government’s ability to deal with the situation. Foreign banks stopped making new loans while claiming to repay the old ones. The influx of NRI funds has become negative. Negotiations were not very successful, as the IMF lends only to countries that are willing to make the difficult decisions needed to balance the BOP. Foreign exchange reserves were plummeting and India was at risk of defaulting. The inflation was also skyrocketing. The import cover was only sufficient to last for two weeks. The country was going through a twin-deficit crisis.

WHAT WAS INDIA’S RESPONSE TO THE CRISIS?

POLITICAL INITIATIVES:

• A Congress-led coalition under P.V. Narasimha Rao was sworn in and its first priority was to deal with the BOP crisis.
• It took strong action, including devaluation and reducing the fiscal deficit, but did not limit itself to dealing with the BOP. It also took up the other challenge of slow growth.

NEGOTIATION WITH IMF:

• The new government, with Manmohan Singh as finance minister, continued negotiations with the IMF to get loans that would tide over the immediate problem.
• The bank recommended and pushed through reforms focused on five key areas of investment and trade regimes, the financial sector, taxation, and public enterprises.
• They effectively ended four decades of central planning, significantly shifted resource allocation decisions from the public sector to the private sector and markets, and started integrating the country into the world economy.

STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENT:

• It began with a devaluation of the rupee in two stages, on 1 July and 3 July 1991. This was accompanied by a major liberalization of trade policy.
• Almost all intermediate and capital goods, which earlier needed an import licence, were allowed to be freely imported against Exim scrips issued to exporters at 30-40% of export earnings.
• The Exim scrips were freely tradable and the premium on them was an additional incentive for exporters.
• This introduced a market mechanism for limiting imports to a sustainable level.
• Tax reforms covering both direct and indirect taxes laid out by the Chelliah committee were implemented over three years.
• Foreign capital inflows in the form of portfolio flows were liberalized in steps so is the approach toward a floating exchange rate.

A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS BETWEEN SRI LANKAN AND INDIAN ECONOMIC CRISIS

There are many similarities between both countries with respect to the nature and causes of the crisis although they differ in their response mechanisms: Let us discuss them in detail.

IS INDIA LIKELY TO EXPERIENCE A CRISIS SIMILAR TO THAT OF SRI LANKA?

In light of the recent Sri Lankan economic crisis, there are views that India’s debt to GDP ratio figures is in line with that of Sri Lanka and that a similar economic crisis awaits India. Sri Lanka’s total debt to GDP is certainly high, over 100%, but India’s total debt to GDP is not as high as Sri Lanka. From 2016-17 to 2020-21, India’s total public debt accounted for approximately 50% of GDP. The country’s debt position is much lower than Sri Lanka’s. But including all state debt, the debt position does not provide for a rosy picture (See Figure 2). Unlike Sri Lanka, where half of the debt is external, India’s total external debt to GDP is just under 3%, significantly lower than Sri Lanka. Also, the foreign exchange reserve totaling around $600 Billion provides a cushion to external and internal shocks.

DEBT POSITIONS OF INDIA AND SRI LANKA

ARE THERE ANY ECONOMIC LESSONS FOR INDIA FROM THE SRI LANKAN CRISIS?

SRI LANKA AND INDIA COMPARISON

THE WAY FORWARD

THE CONCLUSION: Sri Lanka is encountering an unprecedented economic crisis, and the country’s relations with China and India have also taken an interesting turn. So far, Sri Lanka has been trying to balance both countries and reap benefits from the geopolitical interests of China and India, as both countries have strategic interests in Sri Lanka. This was Sri Lanka’s strategy to avoid seeking IMF assistance and carry out economic reforms. However, this is a dangerous game to play for a country that is facing a severe economic crisis. In situations like these, vulnerable countries, Sri Lanka in this case, do not have much bargaining power. Thus, Lanka can learn from the Indian experience of the 1990s and it needs to approach the IMF for assistance and undertake much-needed economic reforms as India did without sacrificing national interest.

Questions:

1. Critically analyze the ongoing economic crisis in Sri Lanka. What according to you can be the possible strategies to overcome it?
2. “Although there are similarities between the ongoing Sri Lankan economic crisis and the Balance of Payment crisis India experienced in 1990, what differentiates them is the effectiveness of the response mechanisms of both the countries” Explain.

THE CONTEXT: In the first week of April 2022 the appalling spectacle of human beings dying inside sewer lines was repeated on the outskirts of the national Capital after four people died in the area of Delhi. Before it, the Ministry of Social Justice and Women Empowerment said that a total of 971 people lost their lives while cleaning sewers or septic tanks since 1993, the year law prohibiting the employment of manual scavengers was enacted.

THE DEVELOPMENT

• A total of 971 people lost their lives while cleaning sewers or septic tanks since 1993, the year law prohibiting the employment of manual scavengers was enacted
• Tamil Nadu accounted for 214 of the 971 “sewer deaths”, the highest in the country. Gujarat reported 156 such deaths and Uttar Pradesh 106, the data said.
• In 703 cases, ₹10 lakh as compensation had been paid to the families of the victims, and in 136, an amount of less than ₹10 lakh was given.
• However, the Minister said, a total of 161 people died while cleaning sewers and septic tanks in the last three years but there was no death by manual scavenging.

WHAT IS MANUAL SCAVENGING?

• Manual scavenging is a profession which has been in existence since human civilisation. The inhuman practice of manually removing human excrements from dry toilets with bare hands, brooms, or metal scrappers; carrying excrements and baskets to dumping sites for disposal, is not only diabolic but perhaps the highest degree of human rights violation.
• People are made to carry out manual scavenging in two basic forms: the cleaning of dry latrines, and the cleaning of sewers and septic tanks. Both are illegal under the Manual Scavenging Act.
• In the first case, casteist attitudes enforce people into carrying out this labour and then perpetuating their exploitation.
• The second is an urban mess coupled with ignorance, lack of awareness, or deliberate disregard for the law, which makes people carry out this work. This category is often rationalised with the logic of demand and supply.
• Manual Scavengers are usually self-employed or contract employees. “Self-employed” means a person who scavenges a group of households” dry latrines or drains etc. in a particular ward, for payment in cash and/or in-kind, by the house-owners. Contract employees would normally be those who are hired through contractors, by a municipal body or any other organization or a group of house owners, to scavenge individual or community dry latrines and open drains where night soil is disposed.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

• based on census data, Risley, the Commissioner for 1901 Census, classified castes into seven main categories according to their social standing and ranked the Jatis in the local hierarchy and varna affiliation of each.
• The scavenging castes which were known by different names in different States like
• Bhangi, Balmiki, Chuhra, Mehtar, Mazhabi, Lal Begi, Halalkhor etc. in northern India;
• Har, Hadi, Hela, Dom, and Sanei, etc. in eastern India; Mukhiyar, Thoti, Chachati, Pakay, Relli, etc. in Southern India; and
• Mehtar, Bhangias, Halalkhor, Ghasi, Olgana, Zadmalli, Barvashia, Metariya, Jamphoda and Mela etc. in Western and Central India,

 Why is manual scavenging still prevalent in India?

• The lack of enforcement of the Act and exploitation of unskilled labourers are the reasons why the practice is still prevalent in India.
• For example, the Mumbai civic body charges anywhere between Rs 20,000 and Rs 30,000 to clean septic tanks. Meanwhile, unskilled labourers are much cheaper to hire and contractors illegally employ them at a daily wage of Rs 300-500.
• According to a report by Safai Karmachari Andolan, 472 deaths due to manual scavenging had been recorded from 2016 to 2020 in Mumbai alone.

LEGAL / LEGISLATIVE FRAMEWORK AND COMMITTEES/COMMISSIONS FOR MANUAL SCAVENGERS

THE PROTECTION OF CIVIL RIGHTS ACT, 1955: 

• It has been enacted to abolish the practice of untouchability and social disabilities arising out of it against members of the Scheduled Castes.
• Under the revised Act, the practice of untouchability was made both cognizable and non-compoundable offence and stricter punishment was provided for the offenders.

THE SCHEDULED CASTES & SCHEDULED TRIBES (PREVENTION OF ATROCITIES) ACT, 1989:

• The Act, inter alia, specifies some types of offenses as atrocities, provides for the imposition of stricter penalties for the guilty and sets up Special Courts for speedy trial of such cases.

EMPLOYMENT OF MANUAL SCAVENGERS AND CONSTRUCTION OF DRY LATRINES (PROHIBITION) ACT, 1993:

• It provides for the prohibition of employment of manual scavengers as well as construction or continuance of dry latrines and for the regulation of construction and maintenance of water-sealed latrines and matters connected therewith.
• The act made employing a manual scavenger a cognisable offense with imprisonment and a fine.
• The 1993 Act made it the responsibility of citizens, organisations, and the state to maintain sanitary toilets.

THE PROHIBITION OF EMPLOYMENT AS MANUAL SCAVENGERS AND THEIR REHABILITATION ACT, 2013:

• It has widened the definition of manual scavenging and shifted the focus of initiatives to end manual scavenging beyond sanitation to protect the dignity of communities engaged as manual scavengers.
• The 2013 Act prohibits dry latrines and outlaws all manual cleaning of excrement and cleaning gutters, sewers, and septic tanks without protective gear.
• The act says National Commission for SafaiKaramcharis (NCSK) would monitor the Act’s implementation and inquire into complaints regarding contravention of the provisions of the Act.

SCHEMES FOR WELFARE AND REHABILITATION OF MANUAL SCAVENGER

VALMIKI MALIN BASTI AWASYOJNA (VAMBAY): 

• This scheme was launched in 2001 with the aim to provide shelter and upgrade the existing shelter for people living below the poverty line in urban slums which helps in making cities slum-free.
• The scheme is shared on a 50:50 basis with states.

TOTAL SANITATION CAMPAIGN (TSC):

• The Total Sanitation Campaign is a comprehensive programme to ensure sanitation facilities in rural areas with a broader goal to eradicate the practice of open defecation.
• TSC was initiated in 1999 when Central Rural Sanitation Programme was restructured making it demand-driven and people-centered.

NATIONAL SCHEME OF LIBERATION AND REHABILITATION OF SCAVENGERS (NSLRS):

• NSLRS was launched in 1992 to provide alternate employment to the scavengers and their dependents.
• Under NSLRS, the Government of India has formulated and issued guidelines to all States and their Special Central Assistance (SCAs) to form groups of 5 to 25 scavengers and start a production-cum-trading-cum service center for large-scale conversion of dry latrines through Sanitary Marts in which the loan component would be provided by the National SafaiKaramcharis Finance and Development Corporation (NSKFDC).

SELF-EMPLOYMENT SCHEME FOR THE REHABILITATION OF MANUAL SCAVENGERS: The scheme is a successor to NSLRS which provides for: –

• One-time cash assistance of Rs 40,000 each to the identified manual scavengers.
• Loan for undertaking livelihood projects uptoRs 15 lakh at a concessional rate of interest.
• Credit linked capital subsidy up to Rs 3,25,000.
• Skill development training for up to two years with a stipend of Rs 3000 per month.

SWACCH BHARAT ABHIYAAN: Some of the features of the mission that promotes prohibition on manual scavenging are:

• Conversion of insanitary toilets to pour flush toilets,
• Eradication of manual scavenging,
• Spreading awareness among the citizens about sanitation and its linkages with public health.

SOME MAJOR IMPLICATIONS OF MANUAL SCAVENGING

• the Increasing number of waste-pickers is considered a sign of growing poverty. In this way, the Right to life of scavengers remains under consistent threat.
• Right to equality and dignity are violated due to the continuance of such inhuman practice.
• Right of Food or right against Hunger is violated due to the continuance of the evil practice of Scavenging.
• Manual scavengers are exposed to the most virulent forms of viral and bacterial infections that affect their skin, eyes, and limbs, respiratory and gastrointestinal systems. According to the Environmental Sanitation Institute, Gandhi Ashram, the majority of scavengers suffered from anaemia, diarrhea, and vomiting.
• Right to development is also violated.
• Many labourers have died cleaning septic tanks and drains due to poisonous gases as the majority of them are without the necessary safety equipment.
• Social Exclusion experienced by Manual Scavengers by Denying access to places of worship, public sources of water & exclusion from cultural events

WHY MANUAL SCAVENGING STILL PERSISTS?

A plethora of legislation was enacted for ensuring an equitable and casteless society, but the conditions of the scavenging communities have remained deplorable.

Govt apathy:

1. Poor implementation of the MSRA, 2013

• 6 Mn insanitary latrines still exist (NGO Safai Karamchari Andolan, Census 2011 data)
• 72% of these are in Andhra, Assam, J&K, Maha, TN, UP, and WB
• 3 million Dalits (mostly women) make living as manual scavengers (NGO data)

1. 99% reduction (2014 vs. 2017) in budgetary allocations by the center. This is despite GoI’s commitment to sanitation and a dedicated cess.
2. The National Safai Karmachari Commission which was mandated to implement the act has not been functioning properly. Its website has not been updated about recent developments and new initiatives.
3. The States/UTs are slow to identify insanitary latrines and manual scavengers as there is no time-bound plan for identifying insanitary latrines and manual scavengers.

Indian Railways:

• Continues to be the largest employer of Manual Scavengers (no data available about the no. of MS employed)
• Typically employs Manual Scavengers through ‘contractors’

Societal prejudice:

• popular insensitivity towards the issue
• the notion of caste and pollution
• stigmatisation of the dalits

Loopholes in the 2013 Law: 

• The 2013 Prohibition of Employment of Manual Scavengers and Their Rehabilitation Act aimed to introduce safety measures for manual scavengers and encouraged their rehabilitation. Activists and manual scavengers have since criticized the law on the grounds that it does not strictly ban the practice.
• The 2013 Act allows manual scavenging if the employer provides ‘protective gear’; However, the Act does not define what constitutes ‘protective gear,’ creating a possibility for employers to exploit this provision.

Slow & inadequate rehabilitation of manual scavengers:

• Manual scavengers are mostly illiterate and have no exposure to any work, other than sanitation-related work. Many of them are old. They lack confidence for running self-employment projects. Many of them are not willing even to avail any skill development training.
• Banks are hesitant about providing loans to manual scavengers. Even many State Channelizing Agencies, due to the low rate of recovery of loans from safai karamcharis, are not willing to extend loans to manual scavengers.

What should be done?

• Without community participation and awareness this dehumanizing practice cannot be abolished. Government must try to create a favorable environment through community awareness and sensitization of local administration.
• Strict enforcement of criminal penalties of the 2013 act must be undertaken.
• As long as open defecation and dry latrines continue, manual scavenging is not likely to die, thus government must fasten the process of identification of insanitary toilets, their demolition, and rebuilding.
• Build the capacity of the community to promote rehabilitation efforts and self-reliance and also build leadership in the community with a particular focus on Dalit women
• Alternate means of employment should be generated for the impoverished people who are forced to become manual scavengers due to a lack of alternatives means of livelihood.
• Breaking caste barriers through education and economic uplift.
• Compensation sanctioned for the families of those who died in the course of the humiliating and hazardous work should be paid immediately.

TECHNOLOGICAL SOLUTIONS TO ELIMINATE MANUAL SCAVENGING

Despite legislation and widespread campaigning against manual scavenging, the inhuman practice continues in India. But when it comes to solutions, there are practically none. The lack of technological replacement for humans cleaning sewers and septic tanks is the biggest challenge that the country faces. So, how do we end this? Here’s a brief look and what can be done and what needs to be done:

Machines: 

• When it comes to cleaning the drains, jetting and sucking machines can only be used on large roads.
• The government should place orders for small machines to negotiate the smaller lanes.
• Companies can manufacture them according to the customers’ requirements.

Design:

• The government has made it a criminal offense to ask someone to carry out manual scavenging but has not backed it up with redesigning septic tanks.
• Septic tanks here are designed badly. They have engineering defects which means that after a point, a machine cannot clean them.
• Sucking machines suck out liquid waste from septic tanks, but sometimes, fecal matter hardens and solidifies.

Proper waste disposal:

• It doesn’t help that people flush all kinds of things down the toilet with no thought for its repercussions. Improper disposal of condoms, sanitary napkins, and diapers contributes to clogged drains that machines cannot clear. This also creates circumstances forcing people to enter sewers.

Bio-Toilets:

• Indian RAIL has rolled out new coaches with bio-toilets, using the bio-digester concept of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
• In phases, all conventional toilets should be replaced with bio-toilets, and the Southern Railway is looking at having only bio-toilets.

Bandicoot Robot & Sewer Croc:

• Sewer Croc, Bandicoot, and 14 other machines are in various development and deployment stages, with no help from the Centre.
• India’s first ‘manhole cleaning robot’ called Bandicoot.
• The Sewer Croc team came together last year following a spate of deaths of manual scavengers, and after a meeting with SKA’s national convenor, Bezwada Wilson.
• However, there are R&D problems: for instance, manholes are not consistent in shape or size: some are square, some are round; some are cylindrical, some are conical, and their diameters vary.

The WAY FORWARD:

In India in the 21st century, which aspires to be a world power the practice of manual scavenging must be abolished; otherwise, it will remain a blot on India and its value system. An aggressive campaign for this which focus on the attitudinal change in all sections of the society must be followed. The National Commission for SafaiKaramchari must be made responsive and responsible to time needs. Swachh Bharat Mission may be used to actively target the conversion of insanitary latrines on a priority basis. Liberated manual scavengers must be linked to social security and other welfare schemes to ensure that they are not dependent on this inhuman work for their survival. With all these steps if taken seriously the problem of manual scavenging can be eliminated.

THE CONCLUSION: A slew of interventions are needed to end manual scavenging including better methods of sanitation in the railways — were one of the largest sections of manual scavengers are employed to clean tracks — and more efficient machines to empty septic tanks. It is not going to be possible to eliminate manual scavenging unless we create the right technologies.

BEST PRACTICE: MALAYSIA’S TRANSFORMATION

• In Malaysia, for instance, sewerage management has evolved in a phased manner from primitive systems to more mechanical and automated systems since the country’s independence in 1957.
• New and improved equipment has also been continuously introduced due to technological advancements. Over time, this has increased the expectations regarding environmental standards and the skill level in the design, and construction.
• In the 1950s there were instances of Chinese migrants who were made to do manual scavenging.
• It was not an overnight decision. Malaysia started to make this shift to mechanisation not because there was activism in place to eradicate manual scavenging like in India, but because they wanted to promote the country as a tourist destination. There was a big push from the government for this.
• The approach was taken by the Malaysian government, highly subsidised the construction and maintenance of sewage plants. They also carried out surveys and outreach programmes to educate citizens about how often they should get their septic tanks cleaned.

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

HISTORY:

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

DATA:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

WHAT DO THE COURTS SAY?

SUPREME COURT:

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

VARIOUS HIGH COURTS: 

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

OTHER ASPECTS OF THE MEAT BAN

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

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

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

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

THE ANALYSIS OF THE ISSUE

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

THE WAY FORWARD

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

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

MAINS PRACTICE QUESTIONS:

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

THE CONTEXT: The UN Secretary-General on Nelson Mandela’s birthday, 18 July 2020 talked about how we can address the many mutually reinforcing strands and layers of inequality before they destroy our economies and societies. This article analyses the key themes in the speech.

THE KEY FEATURES OF THE SPEECH

INEQUALITY DEFINES OUR TIME: 

• More than 70 per cent of the world’s people are living with rising income and wealth inequality. The 26 richest people in the world hold as much wealth as half the global population.
• But income, pay, and wealth are not the only measures of inequality. People’s chances in life depend on their gender, family and ethnic background, race, whether or not they have a disability, and other factors.

GENERATIONAL INTERSECTION OF INEQUALITY:

• Multiple inequalities intersect and reinforce each other across the generations. The lives and expectations of millions of people are largely determined by their circumstances at birth.
• Hence, birth becomes a determining factor in deciding how much unequal a person is.

MANIFESTATIONS OF INEQUALITY:

• High levels of inequality are associated with economic instability, corruption, financial crises, increased crime, and poor physical and mental health.
• Discrimination, abuse and lack of access to justice define inequality for many, particularly indigenous people, migrants, refugees, and minorities of all kinds. Such inequalities are a direct assault on human rights.

RACIAL INEQUALITY:

• The anti-racism movement that has spread from the United States around the world in the aftermath of George Floyd’s killing is one more sign that people have had enough.
• The world had enough of inequality and discrimination that treats people as criminals on the basis of their skin colour and of the structural racism and systematic injustice that deny people their fundamental human rights on the basis of race.

INSTITUTIONAL INEQUALITY:

• The nations that came out on top more than seven decades ago have refused to contemplate the reforms needed to change power relations in international institutions.
• The composition and voting rights in the United Nations Security Council and the boards of the Bretton Woods system are a case in point.  Inequality starts at the top: in global institutions. Addressing inequality must start by reforming them.

UNEQUAL GLOBAL TRADE:

• There is a new form of colonialism based on trade and economic policies premised on the concept and practice of a market economy.
• Economies that were colonized are at greater risk of getting locked into the production of raw materials and low-tech goods – a new form of colonialism.

GENDER INEQUALITY:

• The world should not forget another great source of inequality in our world: millennia of patriarchy.
• We live in a male-dominated world with a male-dominated culture.
• Everywhere, women are worse off than men, simply because they are women. Inequality and discrimination are the norms. Violence against women, including femicide, is at epidemic levels.
• Globally, women are still excluded from senior positions in governments and on corporate boards. Fewer than one in ten world leaders is a woman.
• Gender inequality harms everyone because it prevents us from benefiting from the intelligence and experience of all of humanity.

DIGITAL DIVIDE AND INEQUALITY:

• Digital divide and climate change are the two new dimensions of the inequality that the world experience today.
• The digital divide reinforces social and economic divides, from literacy to healthcare, from urban to rural, and from kindergarten to college.
• In 2019, some 87 per cent of people in developed countries used the internet, compared with just 19 per cent in the least developed countries.

CLIMATE CHANGE AND INEQUALITY:

• By 2050, accelerating climate change will affect millions of people through malnutrition, malaria, other diseases, migration, and extreme weather events.
• This creates serious threats to inter-generational equality and justice.
• The countries that are most affected by climate disruption did the least to contribute to global heating.
• This is why the call is not only for climate action but climate justice.

THE PANDEMIC AND AN UNEQUAL WORLD

EXPOSED IGNORED RISKS: The pandemic has demonstrated the fragility of the world. It has laid bare risks ignored for decades: inadequate health systems; gaps in social protection; structural inequalities; environmental degradation; the climate crisis.

GAINS MADE BEING LOST: Entire regions that were making progress on eradicating poverty and narrowing inequality have been set back years, in a matter of months. The virus poses the greatest risk to the most vulnerable: those living in poverty, older people, and people with disabilities and pre-existing conditions.

ECONOMIC FALL OUT: The economic fallout of the pandemic is affecting those who work in the informal economy; small and medium-size businesses; and people with caring responsibilities, who are mainly women. In some countries, health inequalities are amplified as not just private hospitals, but businesses and even individuals hoarding precious equipment that is urgently needed for everyone.

EXPOSED LIES AND MYTHS: 

• The lie that free markets can deliver healthcare for all;
• The fiction that unpaid care work does not work;
• The delusion that we live in a post-racist world;
• The myth is that we are all in the same boat.

GLOBALISATION, TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE, AND INEQUALITY-AN ANALYSIS

Globalization and technological change have indeed fuelled enormous gains in income and prosperity. More than a billion people have moved out of extreme poverty. But the expansion of trade and technological progress have also contributed to an unprecedented shift in income distribution. Between 1980 and 2016, the world’s richest 1 per cent captured 27 per cent of the total cumulative growth in income. Low-skilled workers face an onslaught from new technologies, automation, the offshoring of manufacturing, and the demise of labour organizations. Tax concessions, tax avoidance, and tax evasion remain widespread. Corporate tax rates have fallen. This has reduced resources to invest in the very services that can reduce inequality: social protection, education, and healthcare. And a new generation of inequalities goes beyond income and wealth to encompass the knowledge and skills needed to succeed in today’s world.

A NEW SOCIAL CONTRACT AND A NEW DEAL FOR THE WORLD

The response to the pandemic, and to the widespread discontent that preceded it, must be based on a New Social Contract and a New Global Deal that create equal opportunities for all and respect the rights and freedoms of all. This is the only way that we will meet the goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Paris Agreement, and the Addis Ababa Action Agenda – agreements that address precisely the failures that are being exposed and exploited by the pandemic. Education and digital technology must be two great enablers and equalizers. The critical pillars of such a strategy are explained below.

EDUCATION FOR ALL:

• As Nelson Mandela said, “Education is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world.” Governments must prioritize equal access, from early learning to lifelong education.
• Neuroscience tells us that pre-school education changes the lives of individuals and brings enormous benefits to communities and societies. So when the richest children are seven times more likely than the poorest to attend pre-school, it is no surprise that inequality is inter-generational.
• To deliver quality education for all, we need to more than double education spending in low and middle-income countries by 2030 to $3 trillion a year.
• Within a generation, all children in low- and middle-income countries could have access to quality education at all levels.

HARNESSING DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY:

• As technology transforms our world, learning facts and skills is not enough. Governments need to prioritize investment in digital literacy and infrastructure.
• The digital revolution and artificial intelligence will change the nature of work, and the relationship between work, leisure and other activities, some of which we cannot even imagine today.
• The Roadmap for Digital Cooperation, launched at the United Nations, promotes a vision of an inclusive, sustainable digital future by connecting the remaining four billion people to the Internet by 2030.
• The United Nations has also launched ‘Giga’, an ambitious project to get every school in the world online.
• Technology can turbocharge the recovery from COVID-19 and the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.

TRUST BUILDING AMONG PEOPLE, INSTITUTIONS AND LEADERS:

• As there is a very high low level of trust among the people and government, trust-building is very essential.
• People want social and economic systems that work for everyone. They want their human rights and fundamental freedoms to be respected. They want a say in decisions that affect their lives.
• The New Social Contract, between Governments, people, civil society, businesses and more, must integrate employment, sustainable development and social protection, based on equal rights and opportunities for all.

LABOUR RIGHTS AND SOCIAL PROTECTION:

• Labour market policies combined with constructive dialogue between employers and labour representatives, can improve pay and working conditions.
• Labour representation is also critical to managing the challenges posed to jobs by technology and structural transformation – including the transition to a green economy.
• A changing world requires a new generation of social protection policies with new safety nets including Universal Health Coverage and the possibility of a Universal Basic Income.
• Establishing minimum levels of social protection, and reversing chronic underinvestment in public services including education, healthcare, and internet access are essential.

AFFIRMATIVE ACTION PROGRAMMES FUNDED THROUGH CARBON TAX:

• We need affirmative action programmes and targeted policies to address and redress historic inequalities in gender, race or ethnicity that have been reinforced by social norms.
• Taxation has also a role In the New Social Contract. Everyone – individuals and corporations – must pay their fair share.
• In some countries, there is a place for taxes that recognize that the wealthy and well-connected have benefitted enormously from the state, and from their fellow citizens.
• Governments should also shift the tax burden from payrolls to carbon.
• Taxing carbon rather than people will increase output and employment while reducing emissions.

A FAIR GLOBAL ORDER:

• The global political and economic system is not delivering on critical global public goods: public health, climate action, sustainable development, peace.
• The COVID-19 pandemic has brought home the disconnect between self-interest and the common interest; and the huge gaps in governance structures and ethical frameworks.
• To close those gaps, and to make the New Social Contract possible, a New Global Deal to ensure that power, wealth and opportunities are shared more broadly and fairly at the international level.

CHALLENGES IN USHERING IN AN EQUAL WORLD

UNPRECEDENTED LEVEL OF DEBT:

• The response to addressing the existing and pandemic induced inequalities requires loosening the purse strings of the nations. But this may not be possible for under-developed countries which are already suffering from very high levels of debt.
• The result will be the reinforcement of existing socio-economic divides leading to furthering extreme inequality.
• A suspension in debt payment may be supplemented by a partial debt relief programme anchored by G-20 nations as an interim measure.

NATURE OF GLOBAL GOVERNANCE REGIME:

• The central aspect of inequality is the consequence of low levels of investment in public health systems and in other aspects of the welfare state in education, in social security.
• But for the developing countries to do it, they need support, thus need a new global deal at the global level with an effective transfer of resources to the developing world for them to be able to address these issues.
• But the current global governance regime is heavily skewed against any such resource redistribution.

DATA AS THE NEW CAPITAL:

• The two superpowers, the USA and China hold power over most of the data that the people on the planet use and consume.
• Thus, digital technology as an enabler for the new social contract may not work as the power over data may be used to control the access and use of data.
•  This has implications on digital education, economy, security and the like. Hence, we need to address the power and control over data for an equal world.

LESS FOCUS ON PRE-SCHOOL EDUCATION:

• When we talk about education, generally the discourse leave behind the importance of preschool education which is the most important aspect of determining a child’s future learning capabilities and outcomes.
• While the rich can provide for quality pre-school education, the poor are left behind. Thus unless the world community stress and develops pre-school infrastructure for all, the strength of education as an enabler will remain sub-optimal.

SELF-INTEREST OF THE WEALTHY:

• To bring a more egalitarian world order, a fair taxation system need to be built which as of now is lopsided and favours the rich.
• Tax havens are aiding and abetting the rich to hide assets and fleece money from the developing world.
• As long as self-interest drives individuals and nations, the wealthy will become wealthier. Thus, for a fair and equal global order, we need “enlightened –self-interest” which is arguably the lowest in today’s world.

THE WAY FORWARD:

• A New Global Deal, based on fair globalization, on the rights and dignity of every human being, living in balance with nature, taking account of the rights of future generations, and success measured in human rather than economic terms, is the need of the hour.
• The worldwide consultation process around the 75th anniversary of the United Nations has made clear that people want a global governance system that delivers for them.  The developing world must have a far stronger voice in global decision-making.
• We also need a more inclusive and balanced multilateral trading system that enables developing countries to move up global value chains. Illicit financial flows, money laundering and tax evasion must be prevented. A global consensus to end tax havens is essential.
• We must work together to integrate the principles of sustainable development into financial decision-making. Financial markets must be full partners in shifting the flow of resources away from the brown and the grey to the green, the sustainable and the equitable.
• Reform of the debt architecture and access to affordable credit must create fiscal space for countries to move investment in the same direction.

THE CONCLUSION: Inequality exposed and reinforced by the pandemic has posed challenges to the sustainable development goals too. The world needs to take note of the disparity of unequal relationships among nations and people cutting across neatly defined categories. The direction and leadership provided by the UN should encourage all to work towards a fair distribution of resources and opportunities.

 MAINS PRACTICE QUESTIONS:

1. A fair global order requires a new social contract and a new global deal. Elaborate.
2. “The ideal of equality faces challenges from multiple fronts”. Examine the statement in the context of the UN Secretary General’s view on inequality.
3. As the pandemic has deepened and reinforced the already existing inequality in India and in other developing nations, it is necessary to redraw the contours of SDGs. Comment.

THE CONTEXT: The first United Nations Food Systems Summit (UNFSS) was held in September 2021 to find solutions and catalyze momentum to transform the way the world produces, consumes, and thinks about food and help address the rising hunger issues. The transformation of the food system is also considered essential in achieving the sustainable development agenda 2030 as 11 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) out of 17 are directly related to the food system. In this context, it is imperative to learn from the success of India. This article talks about the success of food security in India and how the developing world can learn from India.

WHAT IS A FOOD SYSTEM?

It is a framework that includes every aspect of feeding and nourishing people: from growing, harvesting, and processing to packaging, transporting, marketing, and consuming food. To be sustainable, a food system must provide enough nutritious food for all without compromising on feeding future generations.

WHAT IS FOOD SECURITY?

Food security, as defined by the United Nations’ Committee on World Food Security, means that all people, at all times, have physical, social, and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food that meets their food preferences and dietary needs for an active and healthy life.

Food security is the combination of the following three elements:

FOOD AVAILABILITY: Food must be available in sufficient quantities and on a consistent basis. It considers stock and production in a given area and the capacity to bring in food from elsewhere, through trade or aid.

FOOD ACCESSIBILITY: People must be able to regularly acquire adequate quantities of food, through purchase, home production, barter, gifts, borrowing, or food aid.

FOOD UTILIZATION: Consumed food must have a positive nutritional impact on people. It entails cooking, storage and hygiene practices, individual health, water and sanitation, feeding and sharing practices within the household.

REASONS FOR FOOD INSECURITY

CLIMATE CHANGE: Higher temperatures and unreliable rainfall make farming difficult. Climate change not only impacts crops but also livestock, forestry, fisheries, and aquaculture, and can cause grave social and economic consequences in the form of reduced incomes, eroded livelihoods, trade disruption, and adverse health impacts.

CONFLICT: Food can be used as a weapon, with enemies cutting off food supplies in order to gain ground. Crops can also be destroyed during the conflict.

LACK OF ACCESS TO REMOTE AREAS: For the tribal communities, habitation in remote difficult terrains and the practice of subsistence farming have led to significant economic backwardness.

UNMONITORED NUTRITION PROGRAMMES: 

• Although a number of programmes with improving nutrition as their main component are planned in the country these are not properly implemented.
• Lack of coherent food and nutrition policies along with the absence of intersectoral coordination between various ministries.Inadequate distribution of food through public distribution mechanisms (PDS i.e. Public Distribution System).

SOCIAL ISSUES:

• An increase in rural-to-urban migration, a large proportion of informal workforce resulting in unplanned growth of slums which lack the basic health and hygiene facilities, insufficient housing, and increased food insecurity.
• Overpopulation, poverty, lack of education, and gender inequality.
• Deserving beneficiaries of the subsidy are excluded on the basis of non-ownership of below poverty line (BPL) status, as the criterion for identifying a household as BPL is arbitrary and varies from state to state.

CORRUPTION: Diverting the grains to the open market to get a better margin, selling poor quality grains at ration shops, and irregular opening of the shops add to the issue of food insecurity.

BIOFUELS: The growth of the biofuel market has reduced the land used for growing food crops.

CHALLENGES IN ACHIEVING FOOD SECURITY

CLIMATE CHANGE AND UNSUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE: Climate change and unsustainable use of land and water resources are the most formidable challenges food systems face today. The latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report has set the alarm bells ringing, highlighting the urgency to act now. Dietary diversity, nutrition, and related health outcomes are another area of concern as a focus on rice and wheat have created nutritional challenges of their own.

PREVALENCE OF UNDERNOURISHMENT: It is ironic that despite being a net exporter and food surplus country at the aggregate level, India has a 50% higher prevalence of undernutrition compared to the world average. The high prevalence of undernutrition in the country does not seem to be due to food shortages or the low availability of food. The Government of India and the States are seriously concerned about this paradoxical situation of being a food surplus and at the same time, having 15% of the population undernourished. They are trying to address other possible reasons for low nutrition through several nutritional interventions. As announced recently, the supply of fortified rice in PDS and Poshan Abhiyan is the two steps among many to address the challenge of undernutrition and malnutrition.

REDUCING FOOD WASTAGE: Reducing food wastage or loss of food is a mammoth challenge and is linked to the efficiency of the food supply chain.

FOOD SECURITY IN INDIA

• Food security concerns can be traced back to the experience of the Bengal Famine in 1943 during British colonial rule, during which about 2 million to 3 million people perished due to starvation
• Since independence, an initial rush to industrialize while ignoring agriculture, two successive droughts in the mid-1960s, and dependence on food aid from the United States exposed India’s vulnerability to several shocks in the food security
• The country went through a Green Revolution in the late 1960s and early 1970s, enabling it to overcome productivity stagnation and significantly improve food grain production. Despite its success, the Green Revolution is often criticized for being focused on only two cereals, wheat and rice; being confined to a few resources abundant regions in the north-western and southern parts of the country that benefited mostly rich farmers; and putting too much stress on the ecology of these regions, especially soil and water.

POSITIVE IMPACTS OF THE GREEN REVOLUTION

TREMENDOUS INCREASE IN CROP PRODUCE: It resulted in a grain output of 131 million tonnes in the year 1978-79 and established India as one of the world’s biggest agricultural producers. The crop area under high-yielding varieties of wheat and rice grew considerably during the Green Revolution.

REDUCED IMPORT OF FOOD-GRAINS: India became self-sufficient in food grains and had sufficient stock in the central pool, even, at times; India was in a position to export food grains. The per capita net availability of food grains has also increased.

BENEFITS TO THE FARMERS: The introduction of the Green Revolution helped the farmers in raising their level of income. Farmers plowed back their surplus income for improving agricultural productivity. The big farmers with more than 10 hectares of land particularly benefited from this revolution by investing large amounts of money in various inputs like HYV seeds, fertilizers, machines, etc. It also promoted capitalist farming.

INDUSTRIAL GROWTH: The Revolution brought about large-scale farm mechanization which created a demand for different types of machines like tractors, harvesters, threshers, combines, diesel engines, electric motors, pumping sets, etc. Besides, demand for chemical fertilizers, pesticides, insecticides, weedicides, etc. also increased considerably. Several agricultural products were also used as raw materials in various industries known as agro-based industries.

RURAL EMPLOYMENT: There was an appreciable increase in the demand for the labour force due to multiple cropping and the use of fertilizers. The Green Revolution created plenty of jobs not only for agricultural workers but also for industrial workers by creating related facilities such as factories and hydroelectric power stations.

• The Green Revolution was followed by the White Revolution, which was initiated by Operation Flood during the 1970s and 1980s. This national initiative has revolutionized liquid milk production and marketing in India, making it the largest producer of milk.
• Over the years the country saw many revolutions such as Yellow Revolution for Oilseeds, Silver Revolution for Eggs, and Pink Revolution for Meat production, taking the country one step ahead in ensuring food security.
• In the recent past, the government has adopted an integrated policy framework to facilitate agriculture productivity which;
• Focuses mainly on rationale distribution of cultivable land, improving the size of the farms, and providing security to the tenant cultivators apart from providing the farmers with improved technology for cultivation and improved inputs like irrigation facilities, availability of better quality seeds, fertilizers, and credits at lower interest rates.
• Aeroponics and hydroponics systems allow plants to be grown without soil. Plants were grown in this way taking in water and nutrients efficiently. These methods are used in the areas of poor soil quality and areas prone to soil erosion.
• Adoption of crops and techniques with lower water requirements, such as the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) method of rice production, contributes to resilience by enabling equal or better yields to be achieved with less water withdrawal.
• Crop diversification: Higher profitability and stability in production highlight the importance of crop diversification, e.g. legumes alternative to rice and wheat. The growing of non-cereal crops such as oilseeds, fruits, vegetables, etc needs to be encouraged.
• Strategies for better food storage are also implemented.

INDIA IS A ROLE MODEL FOR OTHER DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

LESSONS FROM INDIA’S TRYST WITH FOOD INSECURITY: The long journey from chronic food shortage to surplus food producer offers several interesting lessons for other developing countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America in the area of land reforms, public investments, institutional infrastructure, new regulatory systems, public support, and intervention in Agri markets and prices and Agri research and extension.

DIVERSIFICATION OF AGRICULTURE: The period between 1991 and 2015, saw the diversification of agriculture beyond field crops and brought greater focus on the horticulture, dairy, animal husbandry, and fishery sectors. The learnings also encompassed elements of nutritional health, food safety and standards, sustainability, deployment of space technology, and the like.

EQUITABLE DISTRIBUTION OF FOOD: One of India’s greatest contributions to equity in food is its National Food Security Act 2013 which anchors the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS), the Mid-Day meals (MDM), and the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS). Today, India’s food safety nets collectively reach over a billion people.

FOOD DISTRIBUTION: Food safety nets and inclusion are linked with public procurement and buffer stock policy. This was visible during the global food crises 2008-2012 and more recently during the COVID-19 pandemic fallout, whereby vulnerable and marginalised families in India continued to be buffered against the food crisis by its robust TPDS and buffer stock of food grains.

GOVERNMENT INITIATIVES

National Food Security Mission

• Increasing production of rice, wheat, pulses, coarse cereals (Maize and Barley), and Nutri-Cereals through area expansion and productivity enhancement in a sustainable manner in the identified districts of the country;
• Restoring soil fertility and productivity at the individual farm level;
• Enhancing farm-level economy (i.e. farm profits) to restore confidence amongst the farmers.

Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY)

• Introduced with an aim to provide support to the agricultural sector in achieving 4% annual agriculture growth. RKVY scheme was launched in the year 2007 and was later rebranded as Remunerative Approaches for Agriculture and Allied sector Rejuvenation (RAFTAAR).

Integrated Schemes on Oilseeds, Pulses, Palm oil, and Maize (ISOPOM)

• During the Tenth and Eleventh Plan, Government of India provided support for oil palm cultivation under the Centrally Sponsored Integrated Scheme of Oilseeds, Pulses, Oil Palm, and Maize.

eNAM: To promote uniformity in agriculture marketing by streamlining procedures across the integrated markets, removing information asymmetry between buyers and sellers, and promoting real-time price discovery based on actual demand and supply.

• The government has also taken significant steps to combat under- and malnutrition over the past two decades, through mid-day meals at schools.
• Anganwadi systems provide rations to pregnant and lactating mothers.
• Subsidised grain for those living below the poverty line through a public distribution system.
• Food fortification etc.

AVAILABILITY:

• AGRI REVOLUTIONS SUCH AS THE GREEN AND YELLOW REVOLUTION.
• BUILDING CAPACITY FOR STOCK THAT MIGHT BE UTILISED AT TIMES OF CRISIS.

ACCESSIBILITY:

• PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION SYSTEMS AND RATION SHOPS
• TARGETED PDS AND MID DAY MEALS
• THE NATIONAL MATERNITY BENEFIT SCHEME
• THE NATIONAL FAMILY BENEFIT SCHEME

AFFORDABILITY:

• PROVIDING SUBSIDIES ON FOOD GRAINS AND GAS CYLINDERS FOR MARGINALISED SECTIONS OF SOCIETY.
• MORE PRODUCTION AND AVAILABILITY OF FOOD GRAINS WILL ALSO RESULT IN EASY AFFORDABILITY.

THE WAY FORWARD

• Sustainable Approaches: We must collaborate to invest, innovate, and create lasting solutions in sustainable agriculture contributing to equitable livelihood, food security, and nutrition which requires reimagining the food system towards the goal of balancing growth and sustainability, mitigating climate change, ensuring healthy, safe, quality, and affordable food, maintaining biodiversity, improving resilience, and offering an attractive income and work environment to smallholders and youth.
• Crop Diversification: Diversification of cropping patterns towards millets, pulses, oilseeds, and horticulture is needed for more equal distribution of water, and sustainable and climate-resilient agriculture.
• Institutional Changes in Agri-Sector: Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) should help get better prices for inputs and outputs for smallholders. E-Choupal is an example of technology benefiting small farmers.
• Women’s empowerment is important, particularly for raising incomes and nutrition. Women’s cooperatives and groups like Kudumbashree in Kerala would be helpful.
• Sustainable Food Systems: Estimates show that the food sector emits around 30% of the world’s greenhouse gases. Sustainability has to be achieved in production, value chains, and consumption.
• Non-Agriculture Sector: The role of non-agriculture is equally important for sustainable food systems. Labour-intensive manufacturing and services can reduce pressure on agriculture as income from agriculture are not sufficient for smallholders and informal workers. Strengthening Rural Micro, Small, and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs) and food processing is part of the solution.

THE CONCLUSION: Food security of a nation is ensured if all of its citizens have enough nutritious food available, all persons have the capacity to buy food of acceptable quality and there is no barrier to access to food. The right to food is a well-established principle of international human rights law. It has evolved to include an obligation for state parties to respect, protect, and fulfill their citizens’ right to food security. Developing Nations need to adopt a policy that brings together diverse issues such as inequality, food diversity, indigenous rights, and environmental justice to ensure sustainable food security.

Over the coming decades, a changing climate, growing global population, rising food prices, and environmental stressors will have significant yet uncertain impacts on food security. Adaptation strategies and policy responses to global change, including options for handling water allocation, land use patterns, food trade, post-harvest food processing, and food prices and safety are urgently needed. Food security includes analysis of cash transfers, promotion of sustainable agricultural technologies, building resilience to shocks, and managing trade-offs in food security, such as balancing the nutritional benefits of meat against the ecological costs of its production.

“Until the day we have a medical vaccine, food is the best vaccine against chaos.”

UN Secretary-General António Guterres in 2020

MAINS PRACTICE QUESTIONS:

1. “Since independence India has traveled a long road to food security, still much needs to be done to ascertain nutritional security.” Elaborate.
2. “With an alarming escalation in global hunger unfolding, reaching the goal of an equitable livelihood is a necessity.” Elaborate.
3. “Food is peace”, highlighted the importance of addressing hunger to prevent conflicts and create stability.
4. “Given the rapidly growing population, resource constraints, and climate change concerns, it is imperative for developing countries to learn from India to make food security a core policy priority.” Elaborate

THE CONTEXT: The fifth summit of the now 25-year-old Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) hosted by Sri Lanka, was held in March 2022 in a hybrid fashion. India’s Prime Minister, who attended the summit virtually, called for unity and cooperation in the region as it faces economic and health challenges. PM also announced the adoption of the organisation’s institutional architecture- the BIMSTEC charter. This article analyses this development in detail.

DETAIL OF THE SUMMIT

• The summit’s theme “Towards a Resilient Region, Prosperous Economies, Healthy People” captures the main current priorities of member states and the efforts by BIMSTEC to develop cooperation activities that support member states’ programmes to deal with the economic and development consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic.
• The main outcome of the summit was the adoption and signing of the BIMSTEC Charter, which formalizes the grouping into an organization made up of member states that are littoral to and dependent upon the Bay of Bengal.
• The summit saw considerable progress being achieved in the BIMSTEC connectivity agenda with adopting the ‘Master Plan for Transport Connectivity’ by Leaders, which lays out a guidance framework for connectivity-related activities in the region in the future.
• The Prime Minister underscored the importance of enhanced BIMSTEC regional connectivity, cooperation, and security, made several suggestions, and called upon fellow leaders to strive to transform the Bay of Bengal into a Bridge of Connectivity, Prosperity, and Security among the BIMSTEC-member countries.
• Three BIMSTEC agreements were signed during the summit
• BIMSTEC Convention on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters.
• BIMSTEC Memorandum of Understanding on Mutual Cooperation in the field of Diplomatic Training.
• Memorandum of Association on Establishment of BIMSTEC Technology Transfer Facility.

BIMSTEC: ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW

THE GROUPING:

• The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) is a multilateral regional organisation established to accelerate shared growth and cooperation between littoral and adjacent countries in the Bay Bengal region.
• It has a total of seven member countries- five from South Asia, including Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka, and two from Southeast Asia, including Myanmar and Thailand.
• It was founded as BIST-EC, in June 1997, with the adoption of the Bangkok Declaration, with Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, and Thailand as members. It became BIMST-EC (Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and Thailand Economic Cooperation) with the entry of Myanmar in late 1997, And eventually, it was named in its current form when Nepal and Bhutan became members in 2004.

THE AIM:

• The aim of setting up the regional grouping was not to create a new region for cooperation but to revive the connectivity and common interests of the Bay of Bengal region members.
• According to the official website of BIMSTEC, “the regional group constitutes a bridge between South and Southeast Asia and represents a reinforcement of relations among these countries.”
• BIMSTEC is different from other regional groupings such as SAARC or ASEAN because it is a sector-driven organisation.

WHAT IS THE WORKING MECHANISM OF BIMSTEC?:

• Until the current summit, BIMSTEC did not have a formal document or organisational architecture, which was adopted this time in the form of the BIMSTEC Charter.
• It did have a working mechanism for policy-making and operational goals. Policymaking would be done through two types of meetings: Summits, which are supposed to be held every two years; and ministerial meetings of Foreign and Commerce Ministers of member countries for deciding on trade and economic affairs, to be held once every year. An operational meeting of senior officials to monitor the activities of the grouping is also supposed to be held twice a year.
• Since its inception, BIMSTEC’s policymaking meetings have not been held as per plan. Just five summits, including the current one, have been held in 25 years.

WHAT IS THE SIGNIFICANCE OF BIMSTEC?:

• The BIMSTEC region hosts 22% of the world population or 1.68 billion people; the member states have a combined GDP of US$3.697 trillion/per year.

IMPORATNCE OF BIMSTEC FOR INDIA

LOOK EAST POLICY:

• It should be seen in the context of India’s heightened interest and commitment to its “Act East” policy.
• Without a strong outreach to BIMSTEC member states, India’s attempts at achieving its Act East policy goals will lack momentum.

SECURITY:

• It could also be seen as aligning with India’s larger goal to gain trade and security prominence in the Indian Ocean region and to cater to the concept of the ‘Indo-Pacific’ region, a major focus of Quad countries.

AN ALTERNATIVE TO SAARC:

• The idea of BIMSTEC also gained prominence after the 2016 Uri attack when India was able to get SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) nations on its side to boycott the organisations’ summit, which was to be held in Islamabad, Pakistan.
• The progress of SAARC has stalled over the years due to Indo-Pak relations and what experts call Pakistan’s obstructionist approach to the organisation.
• BIMSTEC emerged as an alternative platform for cooperation.

CHINA’S INFLUENCE IN THE REGION:

• China’s influence and presence in India’s neighbourhood have grown enormously on account of BRI initiatives.
• Debt burdens have forced India’s neighbours to hand over assets to China.
• India will be hoping that its economic engagement with the Bay of Bengal littoral states will restrict Chinese influence in these countries.

REGIONAL COOPERATION:

• BIMSTEC has gained popularity among South Asian countries as a platform for regional cooperation.
• The organisation is a bridge between South Asia and Southeast Asia.
• BIMSTEC’s major strength is that it includes two influential regional powers: Thailand and India.
• The region has countries with the fastest-growing economies in the world.

FUTURE PERSPECTIVEs:

• India is likely to find that focusing its diplomatic energies on BIMSTEC member states could be rewarding.
• Relationships among BIMSTEC members are generally cordial, unlike the strained India-Pakistan relationship.
• BIMSTEC is not without its share of problems. India will need to convince other BIMSTEC members that its new outreach to them is not a “rebound relationship,” a short-term one to thumb its nose at Pakistan.
• BIMSTEC suffers from a lack of human and financial resources. India needs to allocate more resources to its BIMSTEC budget and should take an informal leadership role to provide BIMSTEC with momentum.

STRATEGIC SHIFT FROM SAARC TO BIMSTEC

THE URI ATTACK AND BOYCOTT OF THE SAARC SUMMIT:

• In September 2016 India saw a deadly attack on the army camp in Uri.
• After that attack, India expressed its inability to participate in the Islamabad SAARC summit due to “prevailing circumstances” and stepped up diplomatic pressure on Pakistan.
• Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Afghanistan followed India’s decision to stay away from the November summit to be held in Islamabad.
• India and other countries cited “cross-border terrorist attacks in the region” as a reason for boycotting the summit.

SHIFT FROM SAARC TO BIMSTEC:

• India invited the BIMSTEC leaders to the BRICS summit at Goa in 2016.
• In doing so it sent out the message that if SAARC wasn’t ready to deliver, India had BIMSTEC to turn to. After that, The Indian prime minister engaged BIMSTEC leaders in bilateral meetings.
• Since 2016 there has been no movement forward on resuming the SAARC summit.
• India is regularly attending the BIMSTEC summit and it had emerged as an alternative regional platform where five SAARC (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka) countries could gather and discuss sub-regional cooperation.
• India chose BIMSTEC over any other regional grouping indicative of India’s importance to the Bay of Bengal region.
• BIMSTEC=SAARC- (Pakistan, Maldives, and Afghanistan) +(Thailand and Myanmar)

WHY IS INDIA’S STRATEGIC FOCUS SHIFTING FROM SAARC TO BIMSTEC?

Apart from the terror issue, there are many other issues which are responsible for India’s strategic shift from SAARC to BIMSTEC. These are

FAILURE OF SAARC:

• SAARC has come under serious scrutiny in the last few years.
• From its very inception, member countries treated it with suspicion and mistrust.
• Even after three decades of its existence, SAARC’s performance has been less than satisfactory, and its role in strengthening regional cooperation is being questioned.
• In the 30 years of its history, annual SAARC summits have been postponed 11 times for political reasons, either bilateral or internal.
• Numerous agreements and institutional mechanisms established under SAARC have not been adequately implemented.

PAKISTAN’S NON-COOPERATION:

• Pakistan’s non-cooperation has stalled some major initiatives under SAARC.
• At the 18th SAARC summit in Kathmandu in 2014, initiatives such as the SAARC–Motor Vehicle Agreement (MVA), could not be signed.
• The SAARC satellite project that India proposed was abandoned following an objection from Pakistan in 2016.
• 19th summit scheduled to be held in Pakistan in 2016 was suspended for an indefinite period, as member countries declined to participate.
• While cross-border terrorism emanating from Pakistan is a major concern for India, Pakistan has failed to address these concerns.

OPPORTUNITIES FOR INDIA IN BIMSTEC

BRIDGE BETWEEN SOUTH ASIA AND SOUTH-EAST ASIA:

• Nearly 1.5 billion people live along its coastline.
• 25% of the world’s traded goods across the Bay of Bengal every year.
• 80% of Chinese, 90% of South Korea’s, and Japan’s energy imports pass through the Bay of Bengal.

MARKET:

• The seven countries (apart from India) have a combined GDP of approximately US$ 2.7 trillion with 5.5% economic growth.

RESOURCES:

• the Bay of Bengal is the world’s largest bay, it is also rich in untapped natural resources, with some of the world’s largest fishing stocks, reserves of gas, and other sea bed minerals.

GEOSTRATEGIC:

• BIMSTEC community gives tacit recognition to India as a major power in Indo-Pacific by facilitating India to take a leading position.

ROLE IN INDO-PACIFIC:

• the Bay of Bengal acts as a funnel to the Strait of Malacca linking the Indian and Pacific oceans. It is a major maritime choke-up point for China, Japan, and most East and Southeast Asian states.

DEVELOPMENT OF COASTAL STATES:

• One-quarter of its population lives in states bordering the Bay of Bengal. Their growth and development are increasingly seen to hinge on the degree of connectivity with the Southeast Asian markets.

WHAT ARE THE CHALLENGES FOR INDIA IN BIMSTEC?

LACK OF HUMAN AND FINANCIAL RESOURCES:

• BIMSTEC suffers from a lack of human and financial resources.
• India needs to allocate more resources to its BIMSTEC budget and should take an informal leadership role to provide BIMSTEC with momentum.
• India is currently the largest contributor to the BIMSTEC secretariat budget.

SUPREMACY:

• India would have to counter the impression that BIMSTEC is an India-dominated bloc; in that context, India can follow the Gujral doctrine that intends to chalk out the effect of transactionary motive in bilateral relations.

CONNECTIVITY:

• Connectivity is a major issue among BIMSTEC nations.
• North-Eastern states are important in deepening connectivity among BIMSTEC nations, but the Siliguri corridor (chicken neck) provides a very narrow passage for movement and obstructs connectivity.
• The underdevelopment of North Eastern states in terms of infrastructure and connectivity will also be a major hurdle.

REGIONAL INSTABILITY:

• Regional instability in the form of the Rohingya crisis and other intra and interstate issues can hamper the efficient and effective functioning of the grouping.

THE LACK OF CRITICAL SUPPORT:

• Strong and clear political commitment, adequate financial resources, full engagement of business and industry, and optimal involvement of civil society has been the principal constraint in BIMSTEC.

BCIM:

• The formation of another sub-regional initiative, the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar (BCIM) Forum, with the proactive membership of China, has created more doubts about the exclusive potential of BIMSTEC.

BIMSTEC VS SAARC: WHICH IS MORE SUITABLE FOR INDIA?

If India wants to prove itself as a regional power, as the largest country in South Asia, India cannot escape its responsibilities under SAARC. The following points explain the differences between SAARC and BIMSTEC. In the end, it can be seen that none of them can substitute for each other. Rather they can complement each other’s roles.

THE WAY FORWARD

• India can’t afford to remain isolated in the light of recent forays by China in South Asia that India exerts as its own sphere of influence. By facilitating trade and economy through BIMSTEC, India can integrate the economies of surrounding countries. For e.g., India can integrate the BIG-B initiative of Bangladesh with its own SAGARMALA project
• To build this as a sustainable platform, India should also focus on maintaining consistency in the frequency of the summits to ensure regularity in decision making;
• It should also fund it more to improve the capacity of the secretariat, both in terms of manpower and funding. In the short term, since India lacks the resources, India should use its clout to derive funds from JICA, World Bank, or ADB.
• Ensuring tangible results/benefits, which will add to the motivation of the countries to concentrate on BIMSTEC
• To prevent this platform fall apart like SAARC, India needs to give teeth to it. This can be done by empowering BIMSTEC to be a platform for dispute resolution among member 24 countries. This will require debates and discussions among the BIMSTEC countries to reach a consensus. India should also go ahead of its reservations on certain issues that neighboring countries opine as big brotherly nature to improve their confidence.

THE Conclusion: Recent summit is a good opportunity for India and other BIMSTEC countries to develop a strong regional group to promote peace, stability, and trade. For India, it is an important platform to counter China in the South Asia region. Apart from it, with the help of BIMSTEC countries, India can develop an effective regional group for trade like ASEAN.

Questions:

1. Discuss the opportunities and challenges for India in the BIMSTEC grouping.
2. How far do you agree with this view that as being the largest country in the South Asia region, India should lead the region in world politics, and for that India should try for the revival of SAARC? Analyse your view.
3. ‘BIMSTEC is an opportunity for India for its Act East Policy, but it cannot be an alternative of SAARC’. Critically Examine.

THE CONTEXT: A new Pew Research Centre Report based on a survey has provided interesting findings on the gender attitude of Indians. This survey, named How Indians View Gender Roles in Families and Society has also been the basis of an earlier report of the same institution titled Religion in India: Tolerance and Segregation (covered already as part of ED). This article examines the survey report in detail.

WHAT IS THE REPORT?

Based on a face-to-face survey of 29,999 Indian adults fielded between late 2019 and early 2020, before the COVID-19 pandemic, the report looks at how Indians view gender roles at home and in society more generally. The survey was also the basis for a 2021 report on religion in India, was conducted by local interviewers in 17 languages, and covered nearly all of India’s states and union territories. The report captures the various aspects of the gender dynamics in India.

KEY FINDINGS FROM THE REPORT

WOMEN AS POLITICAL LEADERS:

• Indians broadly accept women as political leaders. India has a long history of women holding political power, from the 1966 election of Indira Gandhi, one of the world’s first woman prime ministers, to other well-known figures, such as Jayalalitha, Mamata Banerjee , and Sushma Swaraj.
• The survey results reflect this comfort with women in politics.
• Most adults say that women and men make equally good political leaders (55%) or that women generally make better leaders than men (14%).
• Only a quarter of Indian adults take the position that men tend to make better political leaders than women. (SEE FIGURE 1).

SUPPORT FOR TRADITIONAL GENDER ROLES:

• While most Indians say that men and women should share some family responsibilities, many still support traditional gender roles.
• For instance, 62% of adults say both men and women should be responsible for taking care of children, while roughly a third of adults (34%) feel that childcare should be handled primarily by women.
• Similarly, a slim majority (54%) say that both men and women in families should be responsible for earning money, yet many Indians (43%) see this as mainly the obligation of men.
• Nearly nine-in-ten Indians (87%) completely or mostly agree with the notion that “a wife must always obey her husband.

PREFERENCE FOR THE CHILDREN:

• An overwhelming majority of Indian adults say it is very important for families to have both sons and daughters, and a substantial share is accepting of sex-selective abortion.
• Indians are united in the view that a family needs to have at least one son (94%) and, separately, a daughter (90%). Historically, in Indian society, families have tended to place a higher value on their sons than their daughters, a custom broadly referred to as “son preference.”
• One enduring manifestation of son preference has been the illegal practice of sex-selective abortions – using ultrasound or other tests to learn the sex of a foetus and terminating the pregnancy if the foetus is female.
• The survey finds that four-in-ten Indians say it is either “completely acceptable” or “somewhat acceptable” to “get a check-up using modern methods to balance the number of girls and boys in the family,” a euphemism that connotes sex-selective abortion.
• In contrast, roughly half of adults (53%) say that this practice is either somewhat or completely unacceptable.

RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE RELIGIOUS RITES:

• Most Indians (63%) say sons should be primarily responsible for parents’ last rites or burial rituals, although attitudes differ significantly across religious groups.
• Religious funeral practices for loved ones are widely seen as very important in India, and at least according to Hindu tradition, sons must perform the last rites for a parent to ensure freedom for the soul in the afterlife.
• Most Muslims (74%), Jains (67%), and Hindus (63%) say sons should be primarily responsible for funeral rituals, but far fewer Sikhs (29%), Christians (44%), and Buddhists (46%) expect this from sons.
• Instead, Sikhs, Christians, and Buddhists are more likely to say that both sons and daughters should be responsible for their parents’ last rites. Very few Indians, regardless of religion, say daughters should be primarily responsible for funeral rituals.

SUPPORT FOR TRADITIONAL GENDER ROLES:

• Muslims are more likely than other Indians to support traditional gender roles in families, while Sikhs are often the least likely community to hold such views.
• For example, while most Indian Muslims (61%) say that men in a family should be primarily responsible for earning money, just 17% of Sikhs say this.
• And Muslims are more than twice as likely as Sikhs to assign sons the primary responsibility of caring for aging parents (43% vs. 17%).

RESPECT TO WOMEN:

• Indians favour teaching boys to respect women as a way to improve women’s safety. As described in a previous Pew Research Centre report, roughly three-quarters of Indian adults (76%) say violence against women is a “very big problem” in their country.
• About half of Indians (51%) say it is more important to teach boys to respect all women, while roughly a quarter (26%) say it is more important to teach girls to behave appropriately.

FIGURE 1: WOMEN AS POLITICAL LEADERS

FIGURE 2: PREFERENCE FOR CHILDREN

HOW INDIA’S GENDER ATTITUDES COMPARE GLOBALLY

Pew Research Centre has asked a couple of the questions on this survey in many countries around the world, allowing a glimpse of where Indians fit globally when it comes to public opinion on these issues. Across 47 countries and territories, a global median of 70% says it is very important for women to have the same rights as men, according to data from two recent waves of the Centre’s Global Attitudes survey. This is similar to the share of Indians who feel gender equality is very important (72%).
Indians are less likely than people in North America (92% median), Western Europe (90%), and Latin America (82%) to place high importance on women and men having the same rights. But they are more likely than those living in sub-Saharan Africa (48% median) and the Middle East-North Africa region (44%) to say this. Adults in Central and Eastern Europe (69% median) are roughly similar to Indians on this question. Within South Asia, Indians are somewhat more likely than Pakistanis to say it is very important for men and women to have equal rights (72% vs. 64%). Despite broadly aligning with global public opinion on equal rights for women, Indians tend to be more conservative than people in most other countries surveyed when it comes to gender dynamics in the home and the economy.

INDIA’S CHANGING GENDER NORMS: AN ANALYSIS

THE WAY FORWARD:

THE CONCLUSION: Although there may be issues related to the sample size, methodology etc, the Pew survey report provides in-depth analysis on the gender attitude of the Indian people. Designing a lasting change in gender attitudes requires meticulous planning and implementation and the PEW Research Centre survey is a wake-up call to commence that change.

QUESTIONS:

⦁ Discuss the salient features of the Pew Report on gender.

ADD TO YOUR KNOWLEDGE

ABOUT Pew RESEARCH CENTRE

About Pew Research Center Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world. It does not take policy positions. The Center conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, content analysis and other data-driven social science research. It studies U.S. politics and policy; journalism and media; internet, science and technology; religion and public life; Hispanic trends; global attitudes and trends; and U.S. social and demographic trends. All of the Center’s reports are available at www.pewresearch.org. Pew Research Center is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts, its primary funder.

THE CONTEXT: The 14^thannual bilateral summit between India and Japan has held in New Delhi in March 2022. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida participated in the summit. This article analyses the outcomes of the summit and the recent trajectory in India-Japan relations.

THE OUTCOMES OF THE SUMMIT

FOUR-POINT PLAN ON UKRAINE: India and Japan will:

• ‘not tolerate’ any unilateral and forceful change in the status quo of Ukraine or any country in the world,
• continue to push for a peaceful settlement of the conflict,
• jointly address the situation whenever needed, and
• work together in giving humanitarian aid and assistance to Ukraine.

ON INDO-PACIFIC:

• Both countries expressed their commitment to a free and peaceful Indo-Pacific. Moreover, the leaders showed their commitment to promoting peace, security, and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region.

ON QUAD:

• The two PMs affirmed the importance of bilateral and plurilateral partnerships among like-minded countries, including the QUAD grouping between India-Australia-Japan and the United States.

ON CHINA:

• India raises China-LAC standoff with Japan.
• Japan raised the matter of the East China Sea and the South China Sea with regard to China’s growing belligerence there.

ON TERRORISM:

• Both the countries expressed deep concern about the growing threat of terrorism and underlined the need to strengthen international cooperation to combat terrorism comprehensively and sustainably.

ON INVESTMENT:

• Japan’s PMannounced an investment to the tune of $42 billion (JPY 5 trillion) in India over the next five years.

LIST OF AGREEMENTS/MOUs SIGNED

INDIA -JAPAN RELATIONS: A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

• Begun in the 6th century when Buddhism was introduced to Japan.
• After World War II, in 1949, India started relations with Japan warmly.
• Japan and India signed a peace treaty and established diplomatic relations on 28th April 1952. This treaty was one of Japan’s first peace treaties after World War II.
• In the post-World War II period, India’s iron ore helped a great deal in Japan’s recovery from the devastation.
• Japan started providing yen loans to India in 1958, as the first yen loan aid extended by the Japanese government.
• The visit of then Japanese Crown Prince Akihito and Crown Princess Michiko in 1960 elevated the relations to a new level. A test of the reliability of Japan as a friend was witnessed in 1991 when Japan was among the few countries that bailed India out of the balance of payment crisis.

PROGRESS IN THE RECENT PAST

RECENT RELATIONS:

• Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori’s visit to India in 2000 provided momentum to strengthen the Japan-India relationship.
• In 2005, Japan-India annual summit started.
• In December 2006, the relationship was elevated to the “Global and Strategic Partnership”.
• In September 2014, upgrade the bilateral relationship to “Special Strategic and Global Partnership.”
• In 2015 both countries resolved to transform the Japan-India Special Strategic and Global Partnership into a deep, broad-based, action-oriented partnership, reflecting a broad convergence of their long-term political, economic, and strategic goals.
• The announcement “Japan and India Vision 2025 Special Strategic and Global Partnership Working Together for Peace and Prosperity of the Indo-Pacific Region and the World” started a new era in Japan-India relations.
• in October 2018, both countries reiterated their unwavering commitment to working together towards a “Free and Open Indo-Pacific”.
• In September 2021 both countries again concurred to further develop Japan-India relations and work closely toward the realization of a “Free and Open Indo-Pacific”.

COOPERATION IN SECURITY FIELDS:

• In 2008, “the Joint Declaration on Security Cooperation between Japan and India” was issued.
• ‘2+2” meeting, annual Defense Ministerial Dialogue, and Coast Guard-to-Coast Guard dialogue.
• JIMEX, EX DHARMA GUARDIAN, SHINYUU Maitri, and Dharma Guardian are some military exercises between both countries. Apart from these, both countries are participatory in Malabar naval exercises.
• In September 2020, the Agreement concerning Reciprocal Provision of Supplies and Services between the Self-Defense Forces of Japan and the Indian Armed Forces (so-called “Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement” or ACSA) was signed. ACSA came into force on July 11th, 2021

ECONOMIC RELATIONS:

• In recent years, the economic relationship between Japan and India has increased.
• India was the 18th largest trading partner for Japan, and Japan was India’s 12th largest trading partner in 2020.
• Japan was the 4th largest investor for India in FY2020.
• Japanese private-sector’s interest in India is rising, and, currently, about 1,455 Japanese companies have branches in India. Maruti Suzuki, Toyota, Mitsubishi, Honda, and Hitachi are some of the major Japanese companies operating in India.
• Currency Swap Arrangement of USD 75 billion between both countries.

ECONOMIC ASSISTANCE:

• India has been the largest recipient of Japanese (Official Development Assistance) ODA loans for the past decades.
• Delhi Metro is one of the most successful examples of Japanese cooperation.
• Japan continues to cooperate in supporting strategic connectivity linking South Asia to Southeast Asia through the synergy between the ”Act East” policy and ”Partnership for Quality Infrastructure.”
• Besides, Japan and India had committed to building a High-Speed Railway in India by introducing Japan’s Shinkansen System, the flagship project of Japan-India relations.

CULTURAL RELATIONS:

• The year 2022 marked the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Japan and India. Various cultural events took place in Japan and India to promote mutual understanding between the two countries, under the theme of “Resurgent Japan, Vibrant India: New Perspectives, New Exchanges.”

WHAT IS THE IMPORTANCE OF JAPAN TO INDIA?

FINANCIAL:

• Japan has invested in the $90 billion Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (1,483km high-speed rail and road line), which will set up new cities, industrial parks, ports, and airports.
• It is also backing the Ahmedabad-Mumbai bullet train service and has already released the first tranche of 5,500 crore rupees.
• Japan is the third-largest source of FDI ($28.160 billion between2000 June 2018) investment into India after Mauritius and Singapore.
• In Dedicated Freight Corridor, a project of close to Rs 50,000 crore of Japanese assistance has been about Rs 38,000 crore.
• A 75 Billion dollar currency swap agreement between countries is a significant step in enhancing economic ties.

DEFENCE:

• Japan is the most important partner in the Indo-Pacific region. Both countries are the part of QUAD group.
• After the joint army, navy, and air force exercises, the two nations are looking to allow their respective naval forces to use each other’s facilities.
• Both countries have conflicts with China and to counter its behaviour in the Indo-Pacific region, they need to continue helping each other.

TECHNOLOGY:

• The introduction of  Johkasou technology in India by Japanese companies for decentralized wastewater treatment will help in sewage water management.
• The Indian PM and the then PM of Japan Mr. Abe have also announced the launch of a new digital partnership that will cover Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT).
• In 2018, when the Indian PM visited Japan, he made a trip to FANUC Corporation, one of the world’s largest makers of industrial robots.
• FANUC facility is important in the context of India’s move towards Industry 4.0.

INFRASTRUCTURE COOPERATION:

• In 2016, India and Japan announced joint projects in Africa as part of the Asia-Africa Growth Corridor; the main aim of this project is to counter the BRI influence in South Asia and Africa.
• Apart from it, there are many joint ventures between the two countries.

THE AREAS OF CONCERNS

TRADE BETWEEN TWO COUNTRIES:

• Today, India-Japan trade languishes at around $18 billion, while Japan-China trade is around $300 billion.
• India’s major exports to Japan include petroleum products, organic chemicals, fish and aquatic invertebrates, natural or cultured pearls, precious or semi-precious stones, and machinery and mechanical appliances.
• India’s top import items from Japan are machinery and mechanical appliances, followed by electronics, iron and steel, plastics, copper, and its articles.

RELATIONSHIP CENTRED ON COUNTERING CHINA:

• Both countries have border issues with China. So the relations generally target China.
• It is interesting fact, that China is the biggest trading partner of Japan and India.

SECURITY TIES:

• In security ties, the Indo-Japanese relationship has remained below potential, and Japan does not accord due to importance to India in its security calculus.
• Japan has offered neither military hardware nor technology to India. There seems to be a difference in perceptions about China; Japan, while highlighting its own security concerns in the East and South China Seas, is seen to play down the multiple threats that India faces from China.
• Although both countries are members of QUAD and have 2+2 talks, there is a large scope to improve the security relations that are not developed as per the demand of time.

THE UKRAINE CRISIS:

• On the issue of the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, while India took a neutral stance, Japan criticized the attack openly and followed NATO. This shows that despite being the partner of QUAD, both countries follow their independent foreign policy.
• During his visit, Japan’s Prime Minister pushed Narendra Modi to take a clear stance on Russia’s war on Ukraine. This shows a divergence between both countries but later, QUAD itself accepted India’s stand on the Ukraine-Russia war.

THE WAY FORWARD: HOW TO SHAPE THE FUTURE OF INDIA-JAPAN RELATION?

SHOULD GO BEYOND COUNTERING CHINA:

• The Indo-Japan relations are oriented toward countering Chinese Influence in the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea but now both the countries should go beyond.

SHOULD FOCUS ON THE BILATERAL TRADE:

• Both governments should focus on boosting trade which is standing at just $18 billion. It shows that bilateral trade needs to be increased.
• The scope in many areas for improving trade and the fourth industrial revolution can be a landmark in this regard.

LEVERAGE OPPORTUNITIES FOR COOPERATION:

• Japan gives India an opportunity to boost its relations with Indo-Pacific countries.
• There are many other areas providing opportunities such as the African continent through the Asia Africa Growth Corridor(AAGC) whose potential needs to be utilized and scaled up.

NEED STRONG SECURITY TIES:

• India and Japan are the members of Quad and India invited Japan in Malabar Naval Exercise but these are multi-country level ventures. Both counties should focus on their own security setup in their respective regions.
• As a significant naval power with a dominant peninsular location astride shipping lanes, India plays a major role in ensuring maritime security in the Indian Ocean and its environs.
• Close cooperation with a democratic India, located mid-way along trade routes connecting East Asia with the Middle East and Africa, would be advantageous to Japan.
• At the same time, a technologically deficient India has much to gain from a relationship with a country like Japan.

THE CONCLUSION: No doubt, India and Japan are among the most reliable partners in bilateral relations and Japan-India relations have evolved into an inclusive and multi-layered relationship based on cultural bonds, firm friendship, and common universal values. But, there is still scope for improving the bilateral relations which should be the agenda of their future relations.

Questions

1. ‘With strong India-Japan cooperation, 21^st century will be Asia’s century. Analyze the scope for India-Japan relations in changing geopolitical scenarios.
2. Highlight the importance of strong India- Japan relations for a free and secure Indo-Pacific.
3. ‘Without enhancing trade relations, India and Japan would not be able to counter China’s influence in Indo-pacific’. Critically Analyze.

THE CONTEXT: In Feb-March 2022, India and Maldives have dived into a new foray into strategic relations with bilateral meetings on various fronts. There have been high-profile visits of Indian dignitaries to the Maldives. This article analyses regional security and maritime safety issues along with socio-economic development, trade and investment, and tourism at a time when the “India Out” campaign is regaining momentum in the Maldives along with challenges of Chinese influence and others.

MOST RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN INDIA-MALDIVES RELATIONSHIPS

DEFENCE COOPERATION DIALOGUE:

• Defence Secretary of India visited the Maldives on 13-14 Feb 2022, with the primary objective of discussions on the 3rd Defence Cooperation Dialogue(DCD).
• Both sides discussed joint efforts and capacity-building initiatives being taken by both the countries to deter trans-national crimes and bolster national security in the region.
• The Defence Secretary of India also inaugurated the Composite Training Center Phase-I Annex built with Indian grant assistance in the Maldives and handed over the refitted CGS Huravee – a made-in-India patrol vessel.

COLOMBO SECURITY CONCLAVE:

• NSA of India visited the Maldives on 7 March 2022 to attend the 5th NSA level Colombo Security Conclave (CSC) meeting.
• The four pillars of security cooperation (in CSC) include maritime safety and security, human trafficking, counter-terrorism, and cyber security.
• India, the Maldives, and Sri Lanka are the founding members of the Colombo Security Conclave. Mauritius was included as a new member of the conclave during the meeting, which was also attended by Bangladesh and Seychelles as observers in 2022.

CAG LEVEL BILATERAL MEET TO STRENGTHEN PROFESSIONAL CAPABILITIES IN MALDIVES:

• Steps were taken for furthering the cooperation between the two Supreme Audit Institutions (SAI) by operationalizing the MoU to strengthen the professional capacities and improve audit methodology.
• Emphasized the role of technology, in today’s rapidly changing world, which constantly creates fresh avenues for audit and makes audits more efficient. The exchange of knowledge and capacity development initiatives would equip both the SAIs in the use of emerging technologies for auditing.
• The MOU is signed at the most opportune time given the strategic shift towards future relevance which requires both the countries to cater to the demands of the knowledge economy and sustainable development.

VISIT OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS MINISTER TO MALDIVES:

• Inauguration of National College for Policing and Law Enforcement (NCPLE):
• NCPLE is one of India’s largest funded projects in the island nation – in the Maldives’ Addu City
• One of the objectives of this training academy is to address the challenges of violent extremism and prevent radicalisation.
• On the domestic level in the Maldives, the training academy would help strengthen law enforcement abilities and counter drug trafficking, a major concern in the country.
• MoU for Training: A memorandum of understanding was signed by the
• Maldives Police Service and India’s Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy to enhance cooperation in training and capacity building. India has also increased the number of training slots for the Maldives at the police academy to eight.
• Support for Infrastructure: The project for the creation of police infrastructure facilities across the islands of Maldives with over $40 million financing from EXIM Bank of India has also been given necessary approvals.

INDIA OUT CAMPAIGN AND INDIA OUT BILL:

• India Out campaign has cropped up every now and then within the Indian Ocean island nation, mostly on social media. The campaign is led by critics who accuse the present government of allowing Indian boots on the ground and thereby compromising the sovereignty of the island nation. The ruling administration has time and again denied any Indian military presence in the country or a threat to Maldives’s sovereignty.
• India Out Bill is a draft Bill by the present Maldivian government that criminalises public campaigns that apparently harm Maldives’ relations with foreign countries.

AN ANALYSIS OF RECENT VISITS

• The Maldives holds strategic importance for India under the present government’s ‘Neighbourhood First’ policy due to its location in the Indian Ocean. However, the relations between the two countries were strained under the pro-China regime of their former President Abdulla Yameen. This can be reflected in the recent ‘India Out’ campaign led by Abdulla Yameen, against India’s massive developmental funding for creating physical, social, and community infrastructure, and incumbent President Solih’s government retaining two India-gifted helicopters and their operational military personnel.
• For India, the Indian Ocean is of utmost importance. Since 2014, India has taken a proactive approach to cement its role as the leader in the Indian Ocean by according priority maritime diplomacy and initiatives. This comes against the backdrop of rising Chinese assertiveness in the IOR and the growing interest of various powers in the Indian Ocean generally, and the Maldives in particular. As the pre-eminent South-Asian power and net security provider in the Indian Ocean Region, India needs to cooperate in all dimensions with the Maldives. The recent bilateral meetings between India and Maldives will offer India the right opportunity.

AREAS OF ENGAGEMENT INDIA-MALDIVES RELATIONS

GEO-STRATEGIC: The Maldives, a Toll Gate in the Indian Ocean:

• Located in the southern and northern parts of this island chain lies the two important Sea Lanes of Communication (SLOCs). These SLOCs are critical for maritime trade flow between the Gulf of Aden and Gulf of Hormuz in West Asia and the Strait of Malacca in Southeast Asia.
• Nearly 50% of India’s external trade and 80% of its energy imports transit these SLOCs in the Arabian Sea.
• The location of the Maldives, at the intersection of commercial sea lanes running through the Indian Ocean, makes it strategically important for India, particularly in light of China’s growing aggression in the region.

IMPORTANT GROUPINGS:

• Maldives is a member of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and the South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation (SASEC).
• Engagement with QUAD (India, Japan, Australia, and the US)
• Maldivian engagement with the ‘Quad’, has been growing over the last year, especially in the area of defense cooperation.
• The present government signed a ‘Framework for a Defence and Security Relationship’ agreement with the United States. It was welcomed by India.

The South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation (SASEC) program set up in 2001 brings together Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, and Sri Lanka in a project-based partnership that aims to promote regional prosperity, improve economic opportunities, and build a better quality of life for the people of the subregion. SASEC countries share a common vision of boosting intraregional trade and cooperation in South Asia, while also developing connectivity and trade with Southeast Asia through Myanmar, the People’s Republic of China, and the global market.

SECURITY COOPERATION:

• India and Maldives conduct the joint military exercise ‘Ekuverin’ every year since 2009.
• Mauritius was included as a new member of the conclave during the fifth meeting of national security advisers of the Colombo Security Conclave. It is a maritime security grouping of India, Sri Lanka, Maldives, and Mauritius to forge closer cooperation on maritime and security matters among these Indian Ocean countries.
• MILAN, a Multilateral Naval Exercise hosted by India, made a modest beginning in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in 1995 with the participation of four littoral navies. This biennial congregation of friendly navies, over the last two and a half decades, has progressively grown in magnitude with the latest edition in 2022 being attended by 42 countries including the Maldives.
• Maldives is also a member country of the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA). The objectives of IORA are:
• To promote sustainable growth and balanced development of the region and member states
• To focus on those areas of economic cooperation which provide maximum opportunities for development, shared interest, and mutual benefits
• To promote liberalization, remove impediments, and lower barriers towards a freer and enhanced flow of goods, services, investment, and technology within the Indian Ocean rim.

DISASTER MANAGEMENT:

• The Maldives has been one of the biggest beneficiaries of the Covid-19 assistance and vaccines delivered by India among India’s all neighbouring countries. The Maldives was the first beneficiary of India’s Vaccine Maitri initiative.
• When the world supply chains were blocked because of the pandemic, India continued to provide crucial commodities to the Maldives under Mission SAGAR.

ECONOMIC COOPERATION:

• Tourism is the mainstay of the Maldives’ economy. The country is a major tourist destination for some Indians and a job destination for others.
• In August 2021 India signed a contract for the largest-ever infrastructure project in Maldives which is the Greater Male Connectivity Project (GMCP).
• Under the bilateral agreement, India provides essential food items like rice, wheat flour, sugar, dal, onion, potato, and eggs and construction material such as sand and stone aggregates to the Maldives on favourable terms.
• Blue Economy as defined by World Bank is the sustainable use of ocean resources for economic growth, improved livelihoods, and jobs while preserving the health of the ocean ecosystem. The Maldives can play a significant role in India’s Vision of New India by 2030 as the Maldives also aims to achieve a more sustainable development model by making better use of its ocean resources.

DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE PROGRAMME:

India has helped the Maldives in many diverse areas to bolster the development of the Maldives e.g.

• Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital, Maldives Institute of Technical Education (now called the Maldives Polytechnic),
• India-Maldives Faculty of Hospitality & Tourism Studies,
• Technology Adoption Programme in Education Sector in the Maldives,
• a port on Gulhifalhu,
• airport redevelopment at Hanimaadhooand a hospital and a cricket stadium in Hulhumale etc.
• Under the Greater Male Connectivity Project (GMCP) project, a 6.74 km long bridge and causeway link will be built to connect the capital city Male with adjoining islands of Villingli, Gulhifalhu, and Thilafushi.

DIASPORA:

• There is a significant Indian diaspora in the Maldives. Innumerable Indians work across the hospitality, education, and healthcare sectors of the Maldives economy.

IMPORTANCE OF INDIA FOR MALDIVES

FOOD SECURITY: Maldive’s food security depends a lot on imports from India. Food articles such as rice, flour, sugar, chicken, eggs, potatoes, onions, and lentils as among the basic foodstuffs consumed by Maldivians in substantial quantities and supplied by India.

INFRASTRUCTURE: Sand and gravel for construction are also supplied by India.

TOURISM: India is also a major source of the tourism sector for the Maldives, the nation’s economic mainstay.

HEALTH AND EDUCATION: India is also a preferred destination for Maldivians for education, medical treatment, recreation, and business. According to MEA more Maldivians are seeking long-term visas for pursuing higher studies/medical treatment in India.

CURRENT CHALLENGES IN INDIA-MALDIVES RELATION

CHINA’S STRATEGIC FOOTPRINT IN INDIA’S NEIGHBOURHOOD: The Maldives has emerged as an important ‘pearl’ in China’s “String of Pearls” construct in South Asia. Given the uncertain dynamics of Sino-Indian relations, China’s strategic presence in the Maldives remains a concern. Also, the Maldives have started using the China card to bargain with India.

POLITICAL INSTABILITY: India’s major concern has been the impact of political instability in the neighbourhood on its security and development. The consequent political crisis and the “India Out” Campaign have posed a real diplomatic test for India’s neighbourhood policy.

RADICALISATION: Radicalisation is not a new challenge that the Maldives has been tackling, but the bomb attack on former president Mohamed Nasheed in May 2021 has put the issue into sharper focus and has become a pressing concern. The attack clearly indicates that radical groups are actively advancing their position in the Maldives. Radical ideology has strengthened itself in the Maldives and has, in the recent past, been assisted by state institutions.

UTHURU THILA FALHU (UTF) HARBOUR PROJECT: UTF Agreement was signed between India and the Maldives in February 2021. The speculation that the project would be turned into a naval base by India has also been a reason for internal political instability in the Maldives. However, the agreement was to develop a dockyard for Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) and operate a Dornier aircraft for surveillance.

THE WAY FORWARD

• Mobilising ordinary citizens through the ‘India Out’ campaign is a cause for concern for India. India has to work on perception management in the Maldives.
• The potential for both countries to work together on adaptive and mitigating measures against the adverse maritime impacts of climate change is enormous. This potential must be realised through imaginative foreign policy and maritime security initiatives.
• The ‘India-First Policy’ of the Maldives and India’s ‘Neighbourhood First Policy’ are intuitively complementary, implementing these policies with cultural, geo-economics, and geostrategic sensitivity is imperative for both nations.
• India and Maldives have not yet signed a Free Trade Agreement. To reap the benefits of continued efforts in the economic cooperation and infrastructure developmental projects India should think of having an FTA with the Maldives. (Maldives have FTA with China).
• India-Maldives defense cooperation shall be enhanced to monitor Chinese maritime and naval movements along vital sea lanes of communication that run alongside the Maldives.
• Encourage the Indian private sector to deepen its engagement in the Maldivian economy.
• Countries complain that India doesn’t deliver on projects and they tend to make comparisons with China. Delivering projects on time would help India in mitigating some concerns that may exist in the Maldives.

 THE CONCLUSION: While India-Maldives relations have always been close, cordial, and multi-dimensional, recent regime instability in the Maldives has posed some limitations, especially in the political & strategic arena. Therefore, the main challenge to India’s diplomacy is balancing out all these contradictions into harmonious relations.

MAINS PRACTICE QUESTION:

1. “Recent India-First Policy of the Maldives and India’s Neighborhood First Policy are intuitively complementary”. In the light of recent agreements signed between India and Maldives discuss the strategic importance of the Maldives to India.
2. “India’s Vision of New India by 2030 and Maldives aims to achieve a more sustainable development model by making better use of its ocean resources are complementary to each other. “Elaborate in the context of the Blue Economy.

ADD TO YOUR KNOWLEDGE

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 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 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 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 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.

THE CONTEXT: Recently in March 2022, the concerns have been raised that consumers may have to pay more for medicines and medical devices if the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) allows a price hike of over 10% in the drugs and devices listed under the National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM). The following article explains everything about the pricing of essential drugs in India.

WORKING OF PRICING MECHANISM

• All medicines under the NLEM are under price regulation. The NLEM lists drugs used to treat fever, infection, heart disease, hypertension, anemia, etc, and includes commonly used medicines like paracetamol, azithromycin, Cardiac Stents, Knee implants, etc.
• The Health Ministry prepares a list of drugs eligible for price regulation, following which the Department of Pharmaceuticals incorporates them into Schedule 1 of DPCO.
• The Standing Committee on Affordable Medicines and Health Products (SCAMHP) will advise the drug price regulator the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) on vetting the list. The NPPA then fixes the prices of drugs in this Schedule.
• As per the Drugs (Prices) Control Order 2013, scheduled drugs, about 15% of the pharma market, are allowed an increase by the government as per the WPI (Wholesale Price Index) while the rest 85% are allowed an automatic increase of 10% every year.
• The annual change in prices of scheduled drugs is controlled and rarely crosses 5%.
• Under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act 1940, the drugs are classified in schedules, and regulations are laid down for their storage, display, sale, dispensing, leveling, prescribing, etc.

Essential Medicines List:

• As per the World Health Organisation (WHO), Essential Medicines are those that satisfy the priority health care needs of the population. The list is made with consideration of disease prevalence, efficacy, safety, and comparative cost-effectiveness of the medicines.
• Such medicines are intended to be available in adequate amounts, inappropriate dosage forms, and strengths with assured quality. They should be available in such a way that an individual or community can afford them.

National List of Essential Medicines of India:

• The WHO EML is a model list, the decision about which medicines are essential and remains a national responsibility based on the country’s disease burden, priority health concerns, affordability concerns, etc.
• Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India hence prepared and released the first National List of Essential Medicines of India in 1996 consisting of 279 medicines. This list was subsequently revised in 2003, 2011, and 2021.

ABOUT THE NATIONAL PHARMACEUTICAL PRICING AUTHORITY

The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) is a government regulatory agency that controls the prices of pharmaceutical drugs in India. It was constituted by a Government of India Resolution dated 29th August 1997 as an attached office of the Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP), Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers as an independent regulator for pricing of drugs and to ensure availability and accessibility of medicines at affordable prices with Headquarter at New Delhi, India.

Drugs (Prices) Control Order 2013:

• The Drugs Prices Control Order is an order issued by the Government of India under Sec. 3 of Essential Commodities Act, 1955 to regulate the prices of drugs.
• The Order provides the list of price-controlled drugs, procedures for fixation of prices of drugs, method of implementation of prices fixed by Govt., penalties for contravention of provisions, etc.
• For the purpose of implementing provisions of DPCO, powers of Govt. have been vested in NPPA.
• The DPCO 2013 contains more than 600 scheduled drug formulations spread across 27 therapeutic groups. However, the prices of other drugs can be regulated, if warranted in the public interest.

KEY FUNCTIONS OF NPPA

NPPA INITIATIVES

• The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) is headquartered in New Delhi and to increase its reach across the country, NPPA has set up a Price Monitoring and Resource Unit (PMRU) in the various Indian States and Union Territories.
• These PMRUs have been set up under the Consumer Awareness, Publicity, and Price Monitoring (CAPPM) scheme.
• As of March 2022, there are 23 states/UTs with the most recent addition of Himachal Pradesh on 23^rd March 2022 as the 23rd Price Monitoring and Resource Unit (PMRU). The pharmaceutical authority aims to set up a price monitoring unit in each and every state and union territory across India.

SIGNIFICANCE OF NPPA

• It is important to fix the prices of certain important drugs so that they are affordable and accessible to every citizen of the county and the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority ensures the same.
• It mandates that no supplier can sell a drug for more than its Maximum Retail Price (MRP).
• NPPA also played a crucial role during the pandemic time in the country by either fixing or regulating the prices of essential drugs and devices.

 AN ANALYSIS OF THE ISSUE

• The pharma lobby is asking for at least a 10% increase for scheduled drugs too rather than going by the WPI. Over the past few years, input costs have flared up and one of the reasons being 60%-70% of the country’s medical needs, are dependent on China.
• NPPA has been receiving applications for upward price revision under para 19 of DPCO, 2013, for the last two years citing reasons like “increase in Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient – API (key ingredient) cost, increase in the cost of production, exchange rates, etc. resulting in unavailability in sustainable production and marketing of the drugs.
• India is dependent on China for over 60% of its API requirement; higher API costs for price-controlled medicines reduce profits and sometimes even make the production of these drugs unviable in India.

THE WAY FORWARD

• We all are aware of the shortage of Remdevisir injections in May 2021 and black marketing and hoarding which led to skyrocketing prices. In this context, Bombay HC has asked the Centre to include Remdesivir in the list of Scheduled Drugs and regulate its price. Such steps should be proactively taken by the government with the foresight of emerging situations.
• The interests of pharmaceutical companies shall not be put ahead of the lives of ordinary citizens. As of 23^rd March 2022, only 14% of people in low-income countries have received at least one vaccine dose against COVID-19. India and South Africa have thus, taken a firm position that when lives are at stake, such essential products should be treated as global public goods and IPRs under TRIPS Agreement must be waived.
• NPPA shall also revise the list of essential medicines at short and regular intervals to have a positive impact on the availability and rational use of medicines.
• In the longer term, India needs to build capabilities to manufacture the key ingredients for these medicines.

THE CONCLUSION: Having an Essential Medicines List (EML) results in a better quality of medical care, better management of medicines, and cost-effective use of health care resources. This is especially important for a resource-limited country like India. The decision is to ensure, that life-saving essential drugs remain available to the general public at all times. To avoid a situation where drugs become unavailable in the market and the public is forced to switch to costly alternatives this is the first time the NPPA, known to slash prices of essential and life-saving medicines, is increasing prices in the public interest.

MAINS QUESTIONS:

1. Elaborate on the role of the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) in ensuring the availability of life-saving essential drugs to the general public at all times.

THE CONTEXT: The Centre constituted the Ken-Betwa Link Project Authority to implement the first initiative under the national river interlinking policy, which seeks to bring nearly 11 lakh hectares of land under irrigation in the parched Bundelkhand region straddling Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. Earlier, the finance minister allocated Rs 44,605 crore for the implementation of the Ken-Betwa River link project for irrigation of the Bundle Khand region in the Union Budget 2022-23.

KEN BETWA LINK PROJECT: OVERVIEW

• It is a river-interlinking project that aims to transfer surplus water from the Ken river in Madhya Pradesh to Betwa in Uttar Pradesh to irrigate the drought-prone Bundelkhand region. Both Ken and Betwa are the tributaries of the Yamuna.
• It is the first river interlinking project, among the 16 similar projects planned under the Peninsular Rivers Development of the National Perspective Plan (NPP).
• The main objective of the NPP is the transfer of water from river basins with surplus water to those with scarce water, for tackling the problem of water scarcity. The NPP comprises the Himalayan Rivers Development and Peninsular Rivers Development.
• The Ken Betwa River linking project, the construction schedule for which has been planned for eight years, will be executed in two phases:
• Phase-I: In the first phase, the Daudhan dam complex and its appurtenances, such as low-level tunnel, high-level tunnel, 221-kilometre Ken-Betwa link canal, and powerhouses will be completed.
• Phase-II: In the second phase, the Ken Betwa link project development works will be started for the lower Orr dam, Bina complex project, and Kotha barrage.

KEN BETWA RIVER LINKING PROJECT TIMELINE

• August 1980: The National Perspective Plan(NPP) is formulated.
• August 2005: MoU signed by state governments of MP, UP, and the ce
• central government to prepare the DPR for the project.
• April 2010: The National Water Development Agency (NWDA) completes the DPR for phase-I of the KBLP.
• January 2014: The NWDA completes the DPR for phase II of the project.
• September 2014: Special Committee on interlinking of rivers (ILR) was constituted, for implementing the ILR program.
• April 2015: A task force for interlinking of rivers was constituted by MoWR, River Development, and Ganga Rejuvenation.
• March 2021: Governments of UP and MP sign an MoU with the Jal Shakti Ministry for implementing the Ken betwa river linking project.
• February 2022: Government announces budget allocation of Rs 44,605 crore for the project during the Union Budget 2022-23.

KEN BETWA PROJECT COST

• The project will be completed at an estimated cost of around Rs 44,605 crores. The Ken-Betwa Link Project Authority, a special purpose vehicle (SPV) for implementing the project will be formed and the central government will bear 90% of the total project cost, while the states will bear the rest (UP and MP).

A Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) for the project:

• A Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) called Ken-Betwa Link Project Authority (KBLPA) will be set up to implement the project. In fact, the Centre has set in motion the process of creation of the National Interlinking of Rivers Authority (NIRA), an independent, autonomous body for planning, investigation, financing, and implementation of the interlinking of river (ILR) projects in the country.
• The NIRA will have powers to set up SPV for individual link projects.

KEN BETWA RIVER LINKING PROJECT: BENEFITS AND IMPACT

• The government envisions the interlinking of rivers as a top priority towards sustainable development of water resources in India. The Ken Betwa link project has been planned as a multi-purpose project for providing several benefits in terms of better utilisation of water resources and addressing the water scarcity in several parts of the Bundelkhand region.
• The region is prone to recurring drought conditions that have impacted socio-economic development in the area. Moreover, the location is not rich in groundwater due to the hard rock and marginal alluvium terrain. Hence, the project will help in utilising the floodwater during monsoon and stabilise the availability of water during lean months, especially in drought years.
• The Ken and Betwa river project will also provide annual irrigation and hydropower generation. The districts that will benefit from the Ken Betwa link pariyojna include Chhatarpur, Tikamgarh, Sagar, Damoh, Datia, Vidisha, Shivpuri, and Raisen and Panna in Madhya Pradesh and Jhansi, Mahoba, Banda and Lalitpur in Uttar Pradesh. Due to the project, as many as 62 lakh people in the Bundelkhand region will also experience an improved drinking water supply.

SOCIAL, ECONOMIC, AND ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF THE PROJECT

Social Impact: A major goal of the project is to provide irrigation to the water-scarce Bundelkhand region. According to the Water Resources Ministry, a total of 10 villages consisting of 1,585 families are likely to be affected by this project.

• Loss of Land: In all 6422.62 ha of private lands would be lost by the project affected families for the construction of the Daudhan dam and other project components along with the canal network under the project. Besides, as per the project design, about 5339.00 ha of forest lands would also be brought under various project components. This indicates that the landowners would lose their landed properties.
• Loss of Livelihood: About 72 percent of households would become landless, nearly 21 percent would become marginal farmers and almost 7 percent will fall under the small farmer category. As a result of land acquisition, the project affected big farmers who would lose their big farmer status.
• Loss of Employment: Due to land acquisition, several families, who become landless, would lose their total self-employment, who otherwise have been engaged in their farming activity.
• Loss of Income: Project-affected household’s socio-economic environment will affect their family life due to loss of land, livelihood, and employment resulting in reduced family income.

Economic Impact:

• This project will prove several economic benefits like the development of agro-based industries, and transportation and storage facilities.
• Increased farm supplies, production, and consumption of fertilizer, pesticide, farm equipment, and employment generation.
• Economic benefits of irrigation water supply include various benefits on, crop production; recharges groundwater, animal husbandry, farm equipment, and agro-processing.
• Livestock production, especially milk, is a major part of the agricultural economy in the Bundelkhand region. Under the project, a large water body will be coming up by constructing a dam and will certainly recharge and increase the groundwater levels in the project area. This will help the farming community as well as other water users who depended on groundwater facilities.
• The project has good potential, particularly because of the close proximity of the Daudhan dam site to Khajurao for recreation and tourism development.
• Provision for the development of tourist huts, and picnic spots has been made on the periphery of Rangwan reservoir (about 9 km from the Daudhan dam site).
• The negative part of the KBLP project is crop and livestock production loss due to the submergence of the crop area upstream of the reservoir.

Environmental Impact:

• This project would submerge an area of 9,000 hectares. Of which 5,258 hectares are forest land (including 4,141 hectares of Panna Tiger Reserve).
• River diversion would bring drastic changes in the physical and chemical compositions of the sediment load, river morphology, and the shape of the delta formed at the river mouth. All these have serious economic and livelihood implications that are merely ignored by the project.
• The project may also lead to a loss of two million trees.
• The land use land cover and vegetation data show that tree density and diversity are comparatively higher in the submerged area.
• The regeneration pattern also shows that the seedling diversity and richness and sapling density diversity and richness are high in the submerged area.
• Minimum flow in the Ken River is adequate to dilute the untreated sewage. Hence the impact on the surface water quality is negligible, which will still be reduced by sewage treatment measures.
• There are valuable timber trees that are going to be submerged.

WILL THE PROJECT AFFECT THE PANNA TIGER RESERVE?

• Panna Tiger Reserve is one of the country’s important and successful tiger recovery reserves.
• A species recovery plan was developed to reinforce the tiger population, because of which the tiger population has increased from 0 in 2009 to 54 in 2019.
• Panna Tiger Reserve was included in the global network of biosphere reserves by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) in 2020.
• The UNESCO cited PTR as a critical tiger habitat.
• The Project will lead to the submergence of a major portion of the core area of the Panna Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh, triggering a major loss of the tiger and its major prey species such as chital and sambar.
• The project may incur an estimated loss of 58.03 square kilometers (10.07 percent) of critical tiger habitat (CTH) in the reserve.
• There will be an indirect loss of 105.23 sq km of CTH because of habitat fragmentation and loss of connectivity due to submergence.
• The total area submerged would be 86.50 sq km, of which 57.21 sq km lies within Panna Tiger Reserve. This will account for 65.50 percent of total submergence.

THE INTERLINKING OF RIVERS

The National Perspective Plan (NPP) presented the development of water resources through the inter-basin transfer and the transfer of water from water surplus basins to water-deficit basins. The interlinking of rivers is a large-scale civil engineering project that aims to effectively manage water resources in India under the NPP.

Positives of interlinking of rivers for multi-dimensional inter-related problems

Droughts: The drought-prone regions like Vidharbha face perennial droughts. The interlinking of seasonal peninsular rivers with their Himalayan counterparts may be a gamechanger for this region’s agriculture and food security prospects.

Floods: Interlinking of rivers will contribute to flood and drought hazard mitigation for India. It will most likely eradicate the flooding problems which recur in the northeast and the north every year. For example, floodwaters of the Kosi river could be diverted to other east-flowing rivers.

Improve the inland navigation:

• Interlinking of rivers will create a network of navigation channels. Water transport is cheaper, less-polluting compare to road and railways.
• Further, the interlinking of rivers can ease the pressure on railways and roads also.
• More importantly, India has the huge untapped potential of inland water transport, which can be a game-changer in the logistics aspect and, thus, overall costs of goods & services.

Negatives of interlinking of rivers for multi-dimensional inter-related problems:

• Ecological challenges: The ambitious project will divert forest areas and submergence fertile land leading to deforestation and soil- erosion. For example, the Ken-Betwa link projects have reduced 8% of the forest land of Panna National Park. Also, river diversion may bring significant changes in the physical and chemical compositions of the sediment load, river morphology, and the shape of the delta formed in the river basin.
• Social challenges: Reconstruction and rehabilitation of millions of people in and around the river catchments could face significant psychological damage, resulting in social unrest and protests in the initial stages.
• Political challenges: India’s inter-state river doesn’t have a bright history (for example, the Cauvery River dispute). Further, water being a state subject demands sustained inter-state cooperation which may be a challenge given the diversity India offers.

THE WAY FORWARD:

• The interlinking of rivers in India has both pros and cons. Implementing the project in its entirety may be a challenge in present times. Therefore, the government must opt for a decentralized method of implementation instead of a centralized one.
• Inter-linking projects should receive the nod only after appropriate EIA and environmental clearances.
• Further, we must look for alternatives for efficient water use in India. For instance, measures like efficient water use in agriculture (per drop more crop), resourceful rainwater harvesting in drought-prone areas, and so on can be looked upon to liberate India from the persistent water stress.
• Adopt Alternative measures: A case study of Jakhni village of Banda district
• A 2019 NITI Aayog report mentioned Jakhni village of Banda district in Bundelkhand, one of the most water-scarce regions of India. The area witnessed heavy out-migration in search of water and better livelihood opportunities.
• However, through rigorous water conservation efforts such as the construction of farm ponds, restoration of water bodies, collection and utilization of greywater, raising of farm bunds, and intensive plantation of trees since 2014, the water situation has improved. Jakhni village, for example, has become a self-sufficient water village.
• Once a drought-prone village, it now produces nearly 23,000 quintals of basmati rice. The production of other crops has also increased manifold.

THE CONCLUSION: In the era of climate change; river networking is the need of time for development. Successful implementation of the Ken- Betwa link project largely looms upon the timely release of water from the surplus basin to the deficit basin. The problem of providing domestic water supplies in areas away from the rivers will largely remain unsolved. Some of the project’s major criticisms are its socioeconomic viability, environmental impacts, displacement and rehabilitation of affected people, the challenge of resource mobilization, geopolitical constraints, and domestic political dynamics. There is an urgent need to take Socio-environmental concerns related to the link Project so a very detailed hydrological, geological, meteorological, and environmental analysis of the project would be imperative for the benefit of India.

THE CONTEXT: In February 2022, Elon Musk’s Starlink lost dozens of satellites that were caught in a geomagnetic storm a day after they were launched. The loss of over 40 satellites in a single solar event has been described as “unheard of” and “huge”.However, the satellites were designed to burn up on reentry into the Earth’s atmosphere and did not create debris in space. The following article explains the phenomenon of geomagnetic storms from a geographical perspective.

GEOMAGNETIC STORMS

A geomagnetic storm is a major and temporary disturbance of Earth’s magnetosphere. They occur when a surge of the solar wind (charged particles from the sun) interacts with Earth’s magnetic field and generates currents in Earth’s upper atmosphere.

The magnetosphere shields our planet from harmful solar and cosmic particle radiation, Solar Storms occur during the release of magnetic energy associated with sunspots (‘dark’ regions on the Sun that are cooler than the surrounding photosphere – the lowest layer of the solar atmosphere) and can last for a few minutes or hours.

A Solar Storm or a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) as astronomers call it, is an ejection of highly magnetized particles from the sun. These particles can travel several million km per hour and can take about 13 hours to five days to reach Earth.

Earth is surrounded by an immense magnetic field called the magnetosphere. Generated by powerful, dynamic forces at the center of Earth, our magnetosphere shields us from erosion of our atmosphere by the solar wind, erosion and particle radiation from coronal mass ejections, and cosmic rays from deep space. Our magnetosphere plays the role of gatekeeper, repelling this unwanted energy that’s harmful to life on Earth.

• The Bow Shockoccurs when the magnetosphere of an astrophysical object interacts with the nearby flowing ambient plasma such as the solar wind. For Earth and other magnetized planets, it is the boundary at which the speed of the stellar wind abruptly drops as a result of its approach to magnetopause.
• The Polar Cuspsare near-zero magnetic field magnitude and funnel-shaped areas between field lines that map to the dayside and nightside of the magnetopause surface. They are the primary regions for direct entry of magnetosheath/solar wind plasma into the magnetosphere and may create the appearance of beautiful auroras when seen from the arctic regions of the Earth.
• Van Allen radiation belt, doughnut-shaped zones of highly energetic charged particles trapped at high altitudes in Earth’s magnetic field. The belts are most intense over the Equator and are effectively absent above the poles. The Van Allen radiation belt is a zone of energetic charged particles originating from the solar wind. The particles are captured and held around a planet by that planet’s magnetic field. It surrounds Earth, containing a nearly impenetrable barrier that prevents the fastest, most energetic electrons from reaching Earth.

IMPACT OF GEOMAGNETIC STORMS ON EARTH

ON SPACE WEATHER: Not all solar flares reach Earth, but solar flares/storms, Solar Energetic Particles (SEPs), high-speed solar winds, and Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) that come close can impact space weather in near-Earth space and the upper atmosphere.

ON  MAGNETOSPHERE: Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) significantly loaded with matter traveling at millions of miles an hour can potentially create disturbances in the magnetosphere. Geomagnetic storms result in intense currents in the magnetosphere, changes in the radiation belts, and changes in the ionosphere, including heating the ionosphere and the thermosphere.

ON SPACE-DEPENDENT SERVICES: Solar storms can hit operations of space-dependent services like Global Positioning Systems (GPS), radio, and satellite communications. Aircraft flights, power grids, and space exploration programs are also vulnerable to geomagnetic storms.

ON COMMUNICATION: Geomagnetic storms interfere with high-frequency radio communications that rely on the ionosphere for propagation.

ON POWER GRIDS, OIL, AND GAS PIPELINES: When the earth is in the direct path of such solar storms, these magnetized and charged solar particles will interact with the earth’s magnetic field and induce strong electric currents on the earth’s surface that can damage long-distance cables.

ON UNDERSEA INTERNET CABLES: Undersea cables have a higher risk of failure compared to land cables due to their large lengths as current is proportional to the area of the loop formed by the two grounds and the cable.

HEALTH RISKS FOR ASTRONAUTS: Astronauts on spacewalks face health risks from possible exposure to solar radiation outside the Earth’s protective atmosphere.

FORMATION OF AURORAS: These storms can create the appearance of beautiful auroras aurora borealis (the northern lights) and aurora australis (the southern lights.)

LINK BETWEEN SOLAR STORMS AND ANIMAL BEACHINGS: Researchers from a cross-section of fields pooled massive data sets to see if disturbances to the magnetic field around Earth could be what confuses these sea creatures, known as cetaceans. CETACEANS are thought to use Earth’s magnetic field to navigate. Since intense solar storms can disturb the magnetic field, scientists want to determine whether they could, by extension, actually interfere with animals’ internal compasses and lead them astray. However solar storms may not be the primary cause of animal beaching but the research continues.

LINK BETWEEN SOLAR STORMS AND MIGRATORY BIRDS: Birds possess a magnetic sense and rely on the Earth’s magnetic field for orientation during migration. However, the geomagnetic field can be altered by solar activity at relatively unpredictable intervals. How birds cope with the temporal geomagnetic variations caused by solar storms during migration is still unclear.

CONCERNS WITH GEOMAGNETIC STORMS

• The Sun goes through an 11-year cycle – cycles of high and low sunspots activity. It also has a longer 100-year cycle. During the last three decades, when the internet infrastructure was booming, it was a low period. And very soon, either in this cycle or the next cycle, we are going towards the peaks of the 100-year cycle. So it is highly likely that we might see one powerful solar storm during our lifetime
• The rapid development of technology took place in the last three decades when the Sun was in its period of low activity and there are very limited studies on whether our current infrastructure can withstand a powerful solar storm.

GEOMAGNETIC STORMS AND INDIA

• The countries in the lower latitudes are at a much lower risk but there is a need for more studies to fully understand the effects of geomagnetic storms and the regions of lower latitudes.
• Modelled and Simulation Studies to understand how connectivity will be affected on a country-scale, showed that the majority of cables connecting India will be unaffected.
• Even under the high-failure scenario, some international connectivity remains (e.g., India to Singapore, the Middle East, etc.). Unlike in China, the key cities of Mumbai and Chennai do not lose connectivity even with high failures
• Compared to the US, India is less vulnerable, but we still need to know more about the strength of solar storms and whether a powerful one can affect India.

THE WAY FORWARD

• Shutdown Strategy:‘Shutdown Strategy’ can help minimize the connectivity loss during and after a solar storm impact. Similar to how we power off power grids, a temporary internet shutdown can protect our equipment during a solar event and ensure the continuation of services.
• Systematic Protocols:
• We need a more systematic protocol for doing this. Both NASA and the European Space Agency have probes now that can detect a solar storm and can give about 13 hours of warning.
• Experts from different fields need to come together to design protocols for power companies and internet service providers.
• Also, today’s health care system depends on power and the internet and we need to have a fallback strategy.
• With the increasing global dependence on satellites for almost every activity, there is a need for better space weather forecasts and more effective ways to protect satellites.

THE CONCLUSION: Current models are capable of predicting a storm’s time of arrival and its speed. But we are still not able to predict the storm’s structure or orientation. Independent solar observations show that solar superstorms capable of large-scale damage may occur only a few times in a century. Nevertheless, given their potential to cause large-scale disruption to our modern society, research and studies are needed to help us prepare and take steps for reducing their impact.

MAINS QUESTIONS:

1. What are geomagnetic storms? What steps are needed to prepare for any possible cause of a powerful solar storm in the future?
2. Explain the possible consequences of a powerful solar storm on life and property on Earth.

ADDED INFORMATION: 5 categories measure geomagnetic storms given by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, USA (NOAA).

THE CONTEXT: The Russian invasion of Ukraine, which started in February 2021, is the largest conventional military attack seen since World War II and can cause a global economic catastrophe. It has deep implications for the world economy as well as the Indian economy. This article analyses those consequences and suggests the way forward for them.

ECONOMIC IMPACTS ON THE WORLD

ENERGY AND COMMODITIES MARKETS:

• Russia is the world’s 3rd largest oil producer, the 2nd largest natural gas producer, and among the top 5 producers of steel, nickel, and aluminum. It is also the largest wheat exporter globally (almost 20% of global trade).
• On its side, Ukraine is a key producer of corn (6th largest), wheat (7th), and sunflowers (1st), and is amongst the top ten producers of sugar beet, barley, soya, and rapeseed.
• On the day the invasion began, financial markets worldwide fell sharply, and the prices of oil, natural gas, metals, and food commodities surged.
• Brent oil prices breached USD 130 per barrel following the latest developments, while Europe’s TTF gas prices surged at a record EUR 192 on 4th March.
• While high commodity prices were one of the risks already identified as potentially disruptive to the recovery, the escalation of the conflict increases the likelihood that commodity prices will remain higher for much longer. In turn, it intensifies the threat of long-lasting high inflation, thereby increasing the risks of stagflation & social unrest in both advanced & emerging countries.

AUTOMOTIVE, TRANSPORT, CHEMICALS ARE THE MOST VULNERABLE SECTORS:

• The crisis is obviously strongly impacting an already strained automotive sector due to various shortages and high commodity & raw material prices: metals, semiconductors, cobalt, lithium, and magnesium.
• Ukrainian automotive factories supply major carmakers in Western Europe: some announced the stoppage of factories in Europe while other plants around the world are already planning outages due to chip shortages.
• Airlines and maritime freight companies will also suffer from higher fuel prices, airlines being the most at risk.
• First, fuel is estimated to account for about a third of their total costs.
• Second, European countries, the US and Canada, have forbidden access to their territories to Russian airlines and in turn, Russia has banned European and Canadian aircraft from its airspace.
• This means higher costs since airlines will have to take longer routes. Eventually, airlines have little room for rising costs as they continue to face lower revenues due to the impact of the pandemic.
• Rail freight will also be impacted: European companies are forbidden to do business with Russian Railways, which will likely disrupt freight activity between Asia and Europe, transiting through Russia.
• It is expected that feedstock for petrochemicals will be more expensive, and the soaring prices of natural gas will impact the fertilizer markets, hence the whole agri-food industry.

DEEP RECESSION AHEAD FOR THE RUSSIAN ECONOMY:

• The Russian economy will be in great difficulty in 2022, falling into a deep recession. Coface’s updated GDP forecast for 2022 stands at -7.5% after the recovery experienced last year. This has led to a downgrade of the country’s risk assessment from B (fairly high) to D (very high).
• Sanctions notably target major Russian banks, the Russian central bank, the Russian sovereign debt, selected Russian public officials & oligarchs, and the export control of high-tech components to Russia. These measures put considerable downward pressure on the Russian ruble, which has already plummeted and will drive a surge in consumer price inflation.
• Russia has built up relatively strong financials: a low level of public external debt, a recurrent current account surplus, as well as substantial foreign reserves (app. USD 640 bn). However, the freeze imposed by western depositary countries on the latter prevents the Russian central bank from deploying them and reduces the effectiveness of the Russian response.
• The Russian economy could benefit from higher prices for commodities, especially for its energy exports.
• However, EU countries announced their intention to limit their imports from Russia. In the industrial sector, restricted access to Western-produced semiconductors, computers, telecommunications, automation, and information security equipment will be harmful, given the importance of these inputs in the Russian mining and manufacturing sectors.

EUROPEAN ECONOMIES ARE AT A HIGH RISK:

• Because of its dependence on Russian oil & natural gas, Europe appears to be the region most exposed to the consequences of this conflict. Replacing all Russian natural gas supply to Europe is impossible in the short to medium run and current price levels will have a significant effect on inflation.
• While Germany, Italy, and some countries in the Central and Eastern European region are more dependent on Russian natural gas, the trade interdependence of Eurozone countries suggests a general slowdown.
• On top of that, we estimate that a complete cut of Russian natural gas flows to Europe would raise the cost to 4 percentage points in 2022, which would bring annual GDP growth close to zero, more probably in negative territory – depending on demand destruction management.

NO REGION WILL BE SPARED BY IMPORTED INFLATION AND GLOBAL TRADE DISRUPTIONS:

• In the rest of the world, the economic consequences will be felt mainly through the rise in commodity prices, which will fuel already existing inflationary pressures. As always, when commodity prices soar, net importers of energy & food products will be particularly affected, with the specter of major supply disruptions in the event of an even greater escalation of the conflict. The drop in demand from Europe will also hamper global trade.
• In Asia-Pacific, the impact will be felt almost immediately through higher import prices, particularly in energy prices. Many economies in the region are net energy importers, led by China, Japan, India, South Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand.
• As North American trade and financial links with Russia and Ukraine are fairly limited, the impact of the conflict will mainly be felt through the price channel and through the slowdown of European growth.
• Despite the prospect of slower economic growth and higher inflation, the recent geopolitical events are not expected to derail monetary policy in North America at this stage.

IMPACT ON INDIA

Despite India’s limited direct exposure, the combination of supply disruptions and the ongoing terms of trade shock will likely weigh on growth, resulting in a sharper rise in inflation, and (leading to) a wider current account deficit.

India’s trade with Russia and Ukraine

• India runs a trade deficit with Russia, with exports declining while imports are increasing. Oil forms a major part of our import basket from Russia.
• According to the MoF report, 8 percent of our total imports have been imported from Russia in FY22.

Here are the ways India could suffer due to a Russia-Ukraine war even without being part of it.

BAN ON RUSSIA’S CRUDE EXPORTS:

• In reaction to the US’s ban on all oil and gas imports from Russia, Brent crude prices surged to nearly $130 per barrel in the first week of March 2022.
• This is a major setback for global economic growth as Russia is one of the largest exporters of crude oil globally. India’s trade, however, comprises only 1% of oil imports from Russia, but there could be a spillover impact in the form of high inflation and sluggish growth.
• On March 13, Morgan Stanley lowered India’s GDP forecast for the fiscal year 2023 by 50 basis points to 7.9%. After that, the UN report downgraded India’s 2022 GDP to 4.6% due to the war.
• More risks could arise if global growth conditions weaken further, which would hamper India’s export and capital expenditure cycle.

INFLATIONARY CONCERNS:

• India depends on imports to meet up to 85% of its crude oil needs. The surge in international oil prices to a 14-year high will now result in broader price pressures.
• The impact on India’s economy will be felt mostly through higher cost-push inflation weighing in on all economic agents—households, businesses, and government.
• Every 10% rise in crude oil prices leads to a 0.4 percentage point rise in consumer inflation.
• It is estimated that retail inflation at 6% for the fiscal year 2023 is much higher than the RBI’s 4.5%.
• An increase of U.S.$25/bbl. would lead to an estimated reduction in the growth of 0.7% points and an increase in inflation of nearly 1% point. If the prices of other imported commodities also increase, the inflation impact will be higher.
• This has increased the risks of a higher import bill and, in turn, a widening of India’s current account deficit (CAD).
• A study by the RBI in 2019 had estimated an increase in the current account
• deficit (CAD) following a U.S.$10/bbl. increase in global crude price, to be nearly 0.4% points of GDP. Thus, for an increase of U.S.$25/bbl. in global crude prices, the CAD may increase by 1% point of GDP.
• The RBI Professional Forecasters Survey’s median estimate of CAD at 1.9% of GDP for 2022-23 may have to be revised upwards to 2.9%.

INDIA’S DEFENCE SUPPLIES:

• Between 2016 and 2020, India accounted for nearly 25% of Russia’s total arms exports. This explains that the share of defense expenditure in India’s budget every year is not little.
• This time, a key defense contract in question is the delivery of the Russia-developed S-400 air missile system worth $5 billion, which was signed in October 2018.
• Moreover, the Indian Army’s main battle tank force is composed predominantly of Russian T-72 M1 and T-90S, accounting for 66% and 30% of all units, respectively.
• India will continue to rely on Russian weapons systems in the middle term, despite the US’s threat of sanctions over the S-400 purchase looms large over India.

OTHER AREAS:

• POST-COVID DISRUPTION: The geopolitical uncertainty coupled with the likely slowdown in the global economy and high inflation could lead to a major spike in gold prices, as central banks are left with limited legroom to raise interest rates.
• DIGITAL CURRENCIES: Day one of the conflicts also witnessed 8 percent of cryptocurrencies’ market capitalization of $1.59 trillion being wiped out.
• SEMICONDUCTORS: Russia and Ukraine are both suppliers of raw materials used in semiconductor manufacturing. Russia is the leading producer of palladium, essential for memory and sensor chips. And Ukraine is a leading exporter of highly purified neon gas that is used in etching circuit designs into silicon wafers to create chips.
• PHARMA: India exported over $181 million worth of pharmaceutical goods to Ukraine in FY21, growing nearly 44 percent over FY20, while exports to Russia were nearly $591 million in FY21, with YoY growth of 6.95 percent.
• TEA: Russia is one of the biggest importers of Indian tea, with a share of 18 percent in Indian tea exports.
• SUNFLOWER OIL: Indians, as the country depends almost totally on Ukraine and Russia for sunflower oil imports. In 2020-21, India imported 1.9 million tonnes of crude sunflower oil, of which Ukraine accounted for 1.4 million tonnes. The rest came from Russia.
• IMPACT ON PAYMENT SETTLEMENT: Due to the discontinuation of transactions through SWIFT, there would be some disruption in trade to and from Russia and Ukraine.

WHAT ARE THE CHALLENGES FOR RBI AND GOI IN RECENT TIMES?

• Policymakers may have to exercise a critical choice regarding who bears the burden of higher prices of petroleum products in India among consumers and industrial users, oil marketing companies, and the Government.
• If the oil marketing companies are not allowed to raise the prices of petroleum products, the bill for oil sector-linked subsidies would go up.
• If the central and State governments reduce excise duty and value-added tax (VAT) on petroleum products, their tax revenues would be adversely affected.
• If, on the other hand, the burden of higher prices is largely passed on to the consumers and industrial users, the already weak investment and private consumption would suffer further.
• If growth is to be revived, maximum attention should be paid to supporting consumption growth and reducing the cost of industrial inputs to improve capacity utilization.
• If RBI reduces the interest rate, it will further increase the money supply, which will lead to further higher inflation. If the RBI increases the interest rate, it will reduce the money supply in the economy but will impact the economic recovery negatively.

THE WAY FORWARD:

• As a short-term measure, the Rupee-Rouble trade agreement should be finalized as soon as possible.
• Notional policy on semiconductors should be promoted effectively so that India could become self-reliant in semiconductor and chip making.
• RBI should take more liberal steps i.e. accommodative monetary policy. As developed countries are being forced to raise their interest rates and inflationary pressures continue to mount in India and abroad, the RBI may find it advisable to raise the policy rate to stem inflationary pressures and the outward flow of the U.S. dollar even as the growth objective would be served by fiscal policy initiatives.
• For recovery, maximum attention should be paid to supporting consumption growth and reducing the cost of industrial inputs to improve capacity utilization.
• India should increase the capacity of its strategic petroleum reserve so that at the time of a war-like situation, India can manage the impact of hiked crude oil prices, in a long term manner, needs to focus on renewable energy sources.
• To address the shortage of sunflowers oil, the government should take steps to promote domestic cultivation of the oil like the government is doing for palm oil under National Mission on Edible Oils – Oil Palm (NMEO-OP).

THE CONCLUSION: World leaders should come together not for discussing the scale of sanctions but to work out ways to resolve the issue and put an end to the mayhem. Diplomatic channels should be used to have dialogue, negotiate, convince and arrive at amicable solutions to end the conflicts. The increased spate of sanctions on one country is a pain to other dependent countries and it disrupts the world order. Prolonged armed conflicts will worsen the plight of innocent countries and their people.

Economic Impacts of Russia-Ukraine War, Economic Impacts on The World, Recession Ahead for the Russian Economy, European Economies, Inflation & Global Trade Disruptions, India’s Trade with Russia and Ukraine, India’s Defence Supplies, Impact on Payment Settlement

THE CONTEXT: According to a report published in The Lancet (Global burden of Bacterial AMR in 2019: A Systematic Analysis) about 4.95 million deaths in 2019 are associated with AMR and 1.27 million deaths were caused due to AMR. Anti-microbial Resistance is a leading cause of death around the world, with the highest number of deaths occurring in low-resource settings. Everyone is at risk from AMR, but young children are particularly affected. The following article explains the causes of AMR and the challenges involved, from a scientific and public health perspective.

ABOUT AMR

• Antimicrobial resistance is the resistance acquired by any microorganism (bacteria, viruses, fungi, parasites, etc.) against antimicrobial drugs (such as antibiotics, antifungal, and antiviral drugs) that are used to treat infections. As a result, standard treatments become ineffective, infections persist, and may spread to others.
• Resistant microbes are more difficult to treat which necessitates alternative mechanisms or higher doses, both of which are either more toxic or expensive.
• Microorganisms that develop antimicrobial resistance are sometimes referred to as “superbugs”.
• Antimicrobial resistance occurs naturally, but the misuse of antibiotics in humans and animals is accelerating the process. Antimicrobial resistance is now regarded as a major threat to public health across the globe.

Bacterial antimicrobial: resistance occurs when changes in bacteria cause the drugs used to treat the infection to become less effective.

CAUSES OF ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE

OVERUSE:

• Overuse of antibiotics by consuming more antibiotics than prescribed.
• Overuse of antibiotics in livestock and fish farming. Consumption of antibiotically treated livestock such as chicken further increases resistance.
• Using antibiotics in farm animals can promote AMR. Drug-resistant bacteria can be found in meat and food crops that have exposure to fertilizers or contaminated water. The chances of Zoonotic diseases passing on to humans can increase.

MISUSE:

• Misuse by taking a prescribed antibiotic incorrectly or taking antibiotics to treat viral infection. Patients generally do not complete the entire antibiotic course.
• Include self-medication.
• access to antibiotics without prescription.
• Lack of knowledge about when to use antibiotics.

PHARMA WASTE AND DISCHARGE:

• Antibiotics discharge or waste from pharma firms and hospitals. For instance, Hyderabad’s pharmaceutical industry has been pumping massive amounts of antibiotics into local lakes, rivers, and sewers. This has led to an explosion in resistance genes in these water bodies.

HEALTHCARE SETTINGS:

• Poor infection control in healthcare settings.
• Poor hygiene and sanitation.
• A report on hand-washing practices of nurses and doctors found that only 31.8% of them washed hands after contact with patients.

EXCESSIVE USE OF FDC DRUGS:

• Excessive use of Fixed Dose Combinations (FDC) Drugs due to their low price and convenience enables anti-biotic resistance to grow at a significant rate. This may also lead to the emergence of bacterial strains resistant to multiple antibiotics.

WRONG DIAGNOSIS:

• Health professionals sometimes prescribe antimicrobials “just in case,” or they prescribe broad-spectrum antimicrobials when a specific drug could have satisficed. Using medications in such a fashion increases the risk of AMR.

RISING CHALLENGES BECAUSE OF AMR

THREAT TO PREVENTION OF INFECTIONS: Medical procedures such as organ transplantation, cancer chemotherapy, diabetes management and major surgery (for example, cesarean sections or hip replacements) will become very risky.

GLOBAL THREAT: AMR poses a serious threat to global health, food security, and development.

SIDE EFFECTS: Increased side effects from the use of multiple and more powerful medications.

COSTS AND CASUALTIES:

• The danger of antimicrobial resistance is those treatable illnesses like pneumonia, tuberculosis, or minor infections could become incurable. This would put a greater economic and emotional burden on families and on our healthcare system.
• Increased cost and length of treatments and increased deaths.

RISK TO GAINS MADE IN THE PAST:

• Without effective antibiotics for the prevention and treatment of infections, the achievements of modern medicine are put at a risk.
• Antimicrobial resistance is putting the gains of the Millennium Development Goals at risk and endangers the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.

ANTIBIOTIC APOCALYPSE:

• Without urgent positive action, we might be heading to a future without antibiotics, with bacteria becoming completely resistant to treatment and when common infections and minor injuries could even prove fatal.

STEPS TAKEN BY THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANISATION (WHO)

GLOBAL ACTION PLAN:

Global action plan on antimicrobial resistance with 5 strategic objectives:

• To improve awareness and understanding of antimicrobial resistance.
• To strengthen surveillance and research.
• To reduce the incidence of infection.
• To optimize the use of antimicrobial medicines.
• To ensure sustainable investment in countering antimicrobial resistance.

REVISION OF ANTIBIOTICS PROTOCOL:

WHO has revised the antibiotics protocol to curb antibiotic resistance in 2017. This was the biggest revision of the antibiotics section in the essential medicines list (EML) which is being used by countries to develop their own local lists of essential medicine.

• Under this, WHO has divided the drugs into 3 categories viz – access, watch, and reserve.
• The access category includes commonly used antibiotics available at all times for the treatment of a broad range of common infections.
• The watch category covers antibiotics that are recommended as a first or second choice treatment for a small group of infections. Prescription of these drugs should be minimized to avoid further development of resistance.
• The reserved category includes antibiotics that are considered last-resort options and should be used only in the most severe circumstances like life-threatening infections caused by multi-drug resistant (MDR) bacteria.

ANTIMICROBIAL RESISTANCE IN INDIA

• AMR is of particular concern in developing nations, including India, where the burden of infectious disease is high and healthcare spending is low. India is among the nations with the highest burden of bacterial infections and hence the impact of AMR is likely to be higher in the Indian setting.
• India has been referred to as ‘the AMR capital of the world’. While on one hand, the emergence of newer multi-drug resistant (MDR) organisms pose newer diagnostic and therapeutic challenges, on the other hand, India is still striving to combat old enemies such as tuberculosis, malaria, and cholera pathogens, which are becoming more and more drug-resistant.
• Factors such as poverty, illiteracy, overcrowding, and malnutrition further compound the situation. Lack of awareness about infectious diseases in the general masses and inaccessibility to healthcare often preclude them from seeking medical advice.
• According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), antibiotic resistance may cause an increase in the death of Indians to 20 lakhs per year by 2050.
• The National Health Policy 2017 highlights the problem of antimicrobial resistance and calls for effective action to address it.
• MDR-TB and XDR-TB in India: The World Health Organisation estimates approximately 4.1 million people across the world suffer from tuberculosis, but these cases continue to remain undiagnosed and unreported. A total of 1.5 million people died from TB in 2020 making it the second leading infectious killer only after Covid-19.
• MDR-TB: Multidrug Resistant TB
• XDR-TB: Extremely Drug-Resistant TB
• While India is on a mission to become TB free by 2025, the report by Haystack Analytics indicates that the country continues to bear the largest share of TB cases in the world, with 65% of the cases being reported in the most economically productive population segment of 15-45. Not only this can have a detrimental impact on the economy, but the situation can also aggravate considerably, if not addressed in due time.
• XDR-TB has become a new threat to the control of TB in many countries including India. Its prevalence is not known in India as there is no nationwide surveillance. However, there have been some reports from various hospitals in the country

STEPS TAKEN BY INDIA IN FIGHT AGAINST AMR

RED LINE CAMPAIGN:

• It was launched in 2016.
• Under this, Prescription only antibiotics were marked with a red line to curb irrational use.
• The government has also backed it up with an awareness campaign that red-line medicines should not be taken without a prescription.

ANTI-MICROBIAL RESISTANCE FUND:

• India-focused seed fund.
• Investment by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) through the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC).
• It will help groups in India compete for the Longitude prize (for groups that develop effective and affordable diagnostic kits to detect antimicrobial resistance).

AMRRSN:

National Anti-Microbial Resistance Research and Surveillance Network (AMRRSN) was established by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

• To strengthen surveillance of AMR in the country.
• To enable compilation of national data of AMR at various levels of health care.

NATIONAL ACTION PLAN TO COMBAT ANTIMICROBIAL RESISTANCE, 2017:

• Enhancing awareness among the masses and strict adulteration laws.
• Strengthening surveillance.
• Improving the rational use of antibiotics.
• Reducing infections.
• Promoting policies and research in antimicrobial resistance.
• Support neighboring nations in the fight against infectious diseases

AMR RESEARCH & INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATION:

• ICMR has taken measures to develop new drugs /medicines using international collaborations for strengthening medical research in AMR.

INITIATIVES TO CONTROL OVERUSE OR MISUSE OF ANTIBIOTICS:

• ICMR has launched an antibiotic stewardship program (AMSP) on a pilot project basis in twenty tertiary care hospitals across India to check the misuse and overuse of antibiotics in hospital wards and ICUs.
• On the advice of ICMR, DCGI has prohibited 40 fixed-dose combinations (FDCs) which were found inapplicable.
• ICMR collaborated with the Indian Council of Agriculture Research, Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairy and Fisheries, and the DCGI to prohibit the use of Colistin as a growth promoter in animal feed in poultry.
• The government has also capped the maximum levels of drugs that can be used for growth promotion in meat and meat products.

CHALLENGES FOR INDIA IN ITS FIGHT AGAINST AMR

TWIN CHALLENGE:

• India faces a twin challenge of fighting the over consumption of antibiotics while ensuring that the poor and vulnerable have easy access.

LACK OF AWARENESS:

• Lack of awareness among medical practitioners as well as the general public on the rational use of antibiotics further aggravates the problem.

COORDINATION GAP:

• Coordination among various ministries and between the center and state governments.
• A cross-cutting program dealing with antimicrobial resistance across multiple microbes has been lacking.

ABSENCE OF A ONE HEALTH APPROACH:

• One Health Approach to addressing AMR recognizes that human well-being is inextricably tied to the health of animals and the environment.

ABSENCE OF STRINGENT RULES:

• The absence of stringently framed and implemented regulatory frameworks to limit the use of antimicrobials in livestock and food animals, especially for non-therapeutic purposes, has been one of the drivers of antibiotic overuse at the community level.
• The rules and regulations that were taken were not strict enough to prevent pharmaceutical firms to sell last-resort drugs to farmers or discharging waste into water bodies.
• In India, current effluent standards do not include antibiotic residues, and thus they are not monitored in the pharmaceutical industry effluents.

THE WAY FORWARD

• Infection control in healthcare facilities:
• Health professionals prescribe antibiotics only when they are needed.
• Preventing infections by maintaining hygiene.
• Creating awareness about the use and abuse of antibiotics:
• Individuals to use antibiotics only when prescribed.
• Only give antibiotics to animals under veterinary supervision.
• Vaccinate animals to minimize the need for antibiotics.
• Use alternatives to antibiotics when available.
• A robust national action plan to tackle antibiotic resistance.
• Improve surveillance of antibiotic-resistant infections.
• Invest in R&Dfor new antibiotics to keep up with resistant bacteria as well as in new diagnostic tests to track the development of resistance.

THE CONCLUSION: There is a need to urgently address antimicrobial resistance in a holistic way by integrating human, animal and environmental health. All countries need to work together to limit the spread of Antibiotic-Resistant Genes (ARGs). Even though national action plans have been laid down by most countries, these plans have yet to move from paper to the ground as antibiotics continue to be freely used,therefore to contain AMR, there is a need for a One Health Approach through coherent, integrated, multi-sectoral cooperation and actions.

MAINS QUESTIONS:

1. “Addressing AMR requires a multipronged and multisectoral approach. The urgency to develop new drugs should not discourage us from instituting measures to use the existing antimicrobials judiciously.” Comment.
2. “The progress under the National Action Plan for AMR(2017) has been far from satisfactory.” Critically analyze.
3. What do you understand by Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR)? Explain the reasons for the spread of AMR and the challenges involved to control it.

THE CONTEXT: Recently, the Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways said rapid strides in technology and green fuel will reduce the cost of electric automobiles, bringing them at par with petrol-run vehicles in two years. Also, the 2019 Nobel Prize for Chemistry was awarded to John B. Goodenough, M. Stanley Whittingham, and Akira Yoshino for working towards the development of practical lithium-ion batteries.
In this context, this article analyses the scope of the Lithium-Ion Battery Market: Industry Trends, Share, Size, Growth, Opportunity, and the way forward.

THE EXPLANATION

What is a lithium-ion battery and how does it work?

• A lithium-ion battery is a type of rechargeable battery that is charged and discharged by lithium ions moving between the negative (anode) and positive (cathode) electrodes. (Generally, batteries that can be charged and discharged repeatedly are called secondary batteries, whereas disposable batteries are called primary batteries.)
• Because lithium-ion batteries are suitable for storing high-capacity power, they are used in a wide range of applications, including consumer electronics such as smartphones and PCs, industrial robots, production equipment, and automobiles.

Lithium-ion Battery – Applications

⦁ Electronic gadgets
⦁ Tele-communication
⦁ Aerospace
⦁ Industrial applications
⦁ Lithium-ion battery technology has made it the favorite power source for electric and hybrid electric vehicles

SIGNIFICANCE OF LI-ION BATTERIES IN THE CONTEXT OF THE ELECTRONIC MARKET

According to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, India imported lithium cells and batteries – including rechargeable li-ion type devices – worth INR 8,984 crore in the last fiscal year (2020-2021). This figure consisted of INR 173 crore of non-rechargeable lithium devices and INR 8,811 crore of lithium-ion products.
China and Hong Kong were the chief sources of imports with China shipping 72.73% of the lithium-ion products imported by India and 32.05% of the non-rechargeable lithium cell devices. Hong Kong products accounted for 23.48% and 37.32% of those respective markets.
Indian lithium battery demand is expected to surge with the products used in renewable energy storage facilities and electric vehicles as well as data centers and consumer electronics. According to other data, the Indian lithium-ion battery market reached a value of US$ 2.1 Billion in 2021.

THE DOMESTIC PUSH

Recently, the Geological Survey of India has taken up seven other lithium exploration projects in Karnataka, Arunachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Jammu and Kashmir, and Rajasthan.

The reason: The ancient igneous rock deposits in the region (a by-product of large-scale volcanic activity in the Deccan plateau millions of years ago) hold the first traces of Lithium ever to be discovered in India

MAJOR IMPACTS ON E-VEHICLES: A POTENTIAL ALTERNATIVE TO REDUCE THE COAL DEPENDENCY

One of the major factors driving the rising demand for Lithium-Ion batteries is the growing popularity of electric cars. Rising EV sales across the country, particularly in the 2- and 3-wheeler segments, have boosted the demand. Lithium batteries have transformed how they are utilized due to their advantages over lead-acid batteries.

By 2030, the market for electric vehicle 

power packs are expected to reach $300 billion, with a large secondary market of more than 2.5 million e-rickshaws and 4,00,000 lead-acid battery-powered two-wheelers now on the road.

The most expensive component of an electric car is the lithium-ion battery, which accounts for 40-50 percent of the total cost. With the growing use of electric vehicles in our transportation system, the demand for Li-ion batteries for EV applications is expected to soar. Other uses, such as renewable energy integration with the grid, will raise Li-Ion battery demand in addition to electric vehicles.

According to government projections, India would require a minimum of 10 GWh of Li-ion cells by 2022. By 2025, it will be around 60 GWh, and by 2030, it will be around 120 GWh.

Environmental Aspect:

• According to the World Air Quality Report 2021, published by Swiss Organization -IQ Air where it stated “India was home to 11 of the 15 most polluted cities in Central and South Asia in 2021. Delhi saw a 14.6% increase in PM2.5 concentrations in 2021, with levels rising to 96.4 µg/m3 from 84 µg/m3 in 2020.
• It also highlighted that sources of PM2.5 “include internal combustion engines, power generation, industrial processes, agricultural processes, construction, and residential wood and coal burning.
• According to a Government source, by 2030, nearly three-fourths of Indian two-wheelers and all new cars are expected to be EVs (electric vehicles). It will significantly reduce the dependency on coal and reduce pollution significantly.

MERITS OF LI-ION BATTERIES

Compared to their lead-acid counterparts, lithium-ion batteries are much lighter, more efficient, and have more power storage. These batteries are widely used commercially in mobiles, laptops, and other electronic equipment.

High energy density: High energy density is one of the chief advantages of lithium-ion battery technology. With electronic equipment such as mobile phones needing to operate longer between charges while still consuming more power, there is always a need for batteries with a much higher energy density.

For example, NiMH batteries would not be able to provide the charge capacity required for a modern smartphone. Using Nickel Metal Hydride battery technology, a smartphone would not last long enough, especially if the battery needed to keep within the same size constraints.

In addition to this, there are many power applications from power tools to electric vehicles. The much higher power density offered by lithium-ion batteries is a distinct advantage. Electric vehicles also need battery technology that has a high energy density.

Self-discharge: One issue with many rechargeable batteries is the self-discharge rate. The rate of self-discharge of Li-ion cells is much lower than that of other rechargeable cells such as Ni-Cad and NiMH forms. It is typically around 5% in the first 4 hours after being charged but then falls to a figure of around 1 or 2% per month.

Low maintenance: One major lithium-ion battery advantage is that they do not require maintenance to ensure their performance.
Ni-Cad cells required a periodic discharge to ensure that they did not exhibit the memory effect. As this does not affect lithium-ion batteries and cells, this process or other similar maintenance procedures are not required. Likewise, lead-acid cells require maintenance, some needing the battery acid to be topped up periodically.

Cell voltage: The voltage produced by each lithium-ion cell is about 3.6 volts. This has many advantages. Being higher than that of the standard nickel-cadmium, nickel-metal hydride, and even standard alkaline cells at around 1.5 volts and lead-acid at around 2 volts per cell, the voltage of each lithium-ion cell is higher, requiring fewer cells in many battery applications. For smartphones, a single cell is all that is needed and this simplifies the power management.

Variety of types available: There are several types of lithium-ion cells available. This advantage of lithium-ion batteries can mean that the right technology can be used for the application needed. Some forms of lithium-ion battery provide a high current density and are ideal for consumer mobile electronic equipment. Others can provide much higher current levels and are ideal for power tools and electric vehicles.

DEMERITS OF LI-ION BATTERIES

Fire Risk: Lithium-ion batteries, whether they are used in cars or electronic devices, can catch fire if they have been improperly manufactured or damaged, or if the software that operates the battery is not designed correctly.

The major weakness of lithium-ion batteries in electric cars is the use of organic liquid electrolytes, which are volatile and flammable when operating at high temperatures. An external force such as a crash can also lead to chemical leakage.

Protection/battery management system required: Lithium-ion cells and batteries are not as robust as some other rechargeable technologies. They require protection from being overcharged and discharged too far. In addition to this, they need to have the current maintained within safe limits. Accordingly, one lithium-ion battery disadvantage is that they require protection circuitry incorporated to ensure they are kept within their safe operating limits.

Aging: One of the major lithium-ion battery disadvantages for consumer electronics is that lithium-ion batteries suffer from aging. Not only is this time or calendar dependent, but it is also dependent upon the number of charge-discharge cycles that the battery has undergone.

Often batteries will only be able to withstand 500 – 1000 charge-discharge cycles before their capacity falls. With the development of Li-ion technology, this figure is increasing, but after a while, the battery may need replacing and this can be an issue if they are embedded in the equipment.

Cost: A major lithium-ion battery disadvantage is its cost. Typically, they are around 40% more costly to manufacture than Nickel-cadmium cells. This is a major factor when considering their use in mass-produced consumer items where any additional costs are a major issue.

Developing technology: Although lithium-ion batteries have been available for many years, they can still be considered an immature technology by some as it is very much a developing area. This can be a disadvantage in terms of the fact that the technology does not remain constant. However as new lithium-ion technologies are being developed all the time, it can also be an advantage as better solutions are coming available.

GOVERNMENT INITIATIVES TO PROMOTE ELECTRIC VEHICLES

• India is the fourth-largest auto market globally, and some estimates suggest there are close to 170 active investors in the country’s EV start-up ecosystem.
• To promote the adoption of EVs, the Department of Heavy Industry formulated a FAME India Scheme (Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid and) Electric Vehicles in India) in 2015.

The government has launched the following initiatives to Promote Electric Vehicles in India:

• Under the new GST system, GST on EVs is reduced from 12% to 5% against the 28% GST rate with up to 22% for conventional vehicles.
• The government has proposed the exemption of registration fees for battery-operated/electric vehicles to promote eco-friendly vehicles in the country.
• The Ministry of Power has also allowed the sale of electricity as a ‘service’ for electric vehicles’ charging. It will attract investors into the charging infrastructure.
• Also, The government has granted an exemption to battery-operated transport vehicles and vehicles that run on methanol and ethanol fuels from the requirements of the permit.
• The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has allowed 16-18 years to obtain driving licenses to drive e-scooters.
• Lithium wars: Battery makers are also seeking to take advantage of the ₹18,100-crore production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme to manufacture lithium-ion cells within the country. In such a scenario, securing lithium supplies will play a critical role in the pivot towards a greener economy.

THE CONCLUSION: The use of Lithium-ion batteries is the future of a greener and eco-friendly environment. The use of lithium-ion batteries helps in cutting down the pollution level and improving the air quality. Energy storage and mobility are going to be the most popular concept in India as they won’t only save us costs but also have a huge positive impact on climate change. With the introduction of different government initiatives, the Indian Government is also trying to promote the use of batteries for a secure future. Having a manufacturing unit in India will help in cost reduction and increase employment.
Along with the batteries being manufactured, they can be recycled and reused too, decreasing the usage of gas and leading to an increase in pollution levels. For a better future, we need to start working today and have a clear vision toward the goal.

THE MAIN PRACTICE QUESTIONS:

• The Noble Prize in Chemistry of 2019 was jointly awarded to John B. Goodenough, M. Stanley Whittingham, and Akira Yoshino for working towards the development of practical lithium-ion batteries. How has this invention impacted the everyday life of human beings?
• What are the present challenges before the transition of shifting to e-vehicles? How do emerging technologies provide an opportunity for reducing coal dependency?