#25 India ink
“Democracy Dies in Darkness”
Constitution, Polity & Governance
SC mulls limit to role as policy watchdog : Courts cannot be “silent spectators when constitutional rights of citizens are infringed by executive policies”. Justice Chandrachud said that a public health crisis like COVID-19 does not mean the Constitution should be “kept away and forgotten” by the government.
While separation of powers is a healthy practice in a democracy, we usually focus on judicial activism and overreach, but we don't expect or have high standards from executive and legislatures to upheld constitutional morality.
Surely elections every 5 years cannot be the only parameter or check on executive. We should also keep the limited states capacity before being harsh in criticism.
The Bombay High Court said, “speedy trial is a fundamental right”, highlighting the issue of people languishing in prisons waiting for the trial to begin. In sort of irony SC, in its judgment, confirmed the guilt and sentencing of eight men accused of using violence to snatch the voters slips and to cast bogus voting in an election in Bihar in 1989 in which it mentioned secrecy of vote a must in any election,
“An election is a mechanism which ultimately represents the will of the people. The essence of the electoral system should be to ensure freedom of voters to exercise their free choice,”.
What are the steps taken in India to provide speedy justice, what is the role of technology in this?
Political parties facing contempt for defying a Supreme Court judgment to declare or publicize the criminal antecedents of their candidates before elections may run the risk of derecognition or a time-bound forfeiture of their election symbols. Despite civil society activism and supreme court judgments, criminalization of politics has gone up! What more should we do to reduce this menace.
The Supreme Court said that no political party was interested in framing a law to decriminalise politics by banning candidates against whom grave charges have been framed by the courts, adding that the legislative wing of the government has not been keen on taking a step in this direction.
Winnability is more important than the moral character of the individuals who are representing the parties, why is society ignoring this moral issue? Leaders and leadership is an important determinant of morals in a society?
How is lack of public service related to criminalization of politics?
SC annuls parts of co-op amendment Part IXB, introduced in the Constitution through the 97th Amendment of 2012, dictated the terms for running cooperative societies. The provisions in the amendment, passed by Parliament without getting them ratified by State legislatures as required by the Constitution, went to the extent of determining the number of directors a society should have or their length of tenure and even the necessary expertise. The Ministry of Cooperation formed recently, apparently with a view to giving a fillip to the cooperative movement and reforming the functioning of cooperative societies.
Prelims: under what situations and circumstances we need more than half state legislature ratification of constitutional amendments.
‘Farmers’ Parliament’ a stone’s throw from Parliament Just like Parliament, the Farmers’ Parliament also had a speaker and a deputy speaker who conducted ‘Parliament’, in which 45 speakers made their point.
There is a long-standing demand that a special session to be conducted just for framer and farmer related issues, we have heard about shadow cabinet, now shadow parliament?
Should we consider this as opposition failure or lack of accommodation from government on farmers issue.
Justice Rekha Palli also issued notices to Google, Press Council of India and Electronic Media Monitoring Centre on Mr. Kaushik’s plea in which he invoked the “right to privacy” and the “right to be forgotten”. Justice B.N. Srikrishna Committee, which drafted Personal Data Protection Bill, 2018, introduced a new right called the ‘right to be forgotten’.
What are the pitfalls of right to be forgotten argument?
The Delhi Rozi Roti Adhikaar Abhiyaan (DRRAA) held a public hearing on hunger and food insecurity in the Capital. Several people from different parts of the city shared their experiences on how during the pandemic and economic distress, they were unable to get ration from the government designated centres.
The Rozi Roti Adhikar Abhiyan, Delhi is a network for about thirty organizations working on issues related to food security, especially through the Public Distribution System (PDS), in the State of Delhi.
How are civil societies making governments more accountable? Moral pressure works in today’s world?
More than two years after the Lokpal came into being, the Centre is yet to appoint a director of inquiry for conducting preliminary inquiry into graft complaints sent by the anti-corruption ombudsman.
According to the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013, there shall be a director of inquiry, not below the rank of Joint Secretary to the Government of India, who shall be appointed by the Central government for conducting preliminary inquiries referred to the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) by the Lokpal.
Anti-corruption ombudsman Lokpal has received 12 complaints of corruption, including eight against senior government officials, between April and June this year, according to the latest official data. As many as 110 complaints, including four against Members of Parliament (MPs), were received by the Lokpal during 2020-21, registering over 92 per cent decline from 1,427 plaints received in 2019-20.
Should we have deadlines for everything from appointments to framing rules? SOP’s to be created for the welfare of the institutions?
The draft anti-trafficking Bill, 2021,expands the scope of the powers of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and goes on to add transgender persons to the list of trafficked persons apart from women and children.
NIA also has international jurisdiction. Making an amendment to their Act and adding trafficking under its ambit is a big step. It will keep traffickers from taking advantage of the gaps in the system.
Moreover, cases such as forced labour, in which people lured with jobs end up in other countries where their passports and documentation is taken away, and they are made to work, will also be covered by this new law.
Important issue for mains, keep an eye.
Formalising live-streaming of court proceedings is crucial for dissemination of information. The spread of information is sacrosanct to free speech, Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana.
Efforts by institutions to reinforce faith and trust on the system, more power to RTI and judiciary under it ? NJAC bill also may be? Greedy people, that is why systems prefer status quo.
Society & Social issues
As many as 1.19 lakh children in India lost their primary caregivers (one or both parents or one or both custodial grandparents) to COVID-19, Central government have launched a portal for children orphaned by COVID-19.
What are the steps taken by Indian government and various state governments.
What role can caregivers and adoptions play in this scenario?
A 22-year-old Dalit man was allegedly killed in a village in Aligarh by three upper caste men on suspicion of stealing a bag of wheat. The police have registered a case of murder and invoked relevant sections of the SC/ST Act against the three accused named by the family of the victim.
Taking law in the hands is one thing, lacking humanity is another thing, incidents like these reinforce caste or existing casteism lays foundation for this barbarism?
In a bid to prevent suicides triggered by mental health issues in prisons across the country, the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS), has recommended the “Gatekeeper Model” where selected inmates, trained to identify prisoners at risk of suicide, would refer them to treatment or supportive services.
“A society should be judged not by the way it treats its outstanding citizens, but by the way it treats its criminals.”
Children of Odisha village cross State border chasing Internet, Sony Sanjukta Dung Dung, a geographical border does not mean all that much. Though she stays in a remote Odisha village, on most days she leads a group of students to Jharkhand so that they all can study.
Digital inequalities and unsung heroes.
Girls who had access to free lunches provided at government schools had children with a higher height-to-age ratio than those who did not, said a new study on the inter-generational benefits of the midday meal scheme.
MDM supports intergenerational improvements in child growth and Intergenerational nutrition benefits.
What is the role of midday meal scheme in providing food and nutritional security.
2019 article, India’s midday meal programme has helped improve learning outcomes, a new study has found.
Odisha government came up with an advertisement last month to appoint transgender persons as sub-inspectors of police, the community considered it an opportunity to change the societal perception about them.
Healthcare in India: rarely an election issue, despite limited access The absence of a positive experience with public healthcare not only pushes people towards private healthcare facilities, but also pushes the issue of health out of public political considerations. In the serval rounds of post-election studies (national and state) by Lokniti-CSDS, less than 1% of voters have said health was their consideration while voting.
As long as people don’t vote on development agendas, our priority of reaping demographic dividend, will take a back seat, investment in the human capital development is the need of the hour.
A scheme “SMILE - Support for Marginalized Individuals for Livelihood and Enterprise” formulated which includes sub scheme — ‘Central Sector Scheme for Comprehensive Rehabilitation of persons engaged in the act of Begging’. Focus of the scheme is on rehabilitation, provision of medical facilities, counselling, basic documentation, education, skill development, economic linkages etc.
International relations & Institutions
China’s President Xi Jinping became the first Chinese leader in many years to visit Tibet as well as its southeastern border region with India, as he inspected a newly opened and strategically important railway line. He said the Communist Party would “actively guide the development of Tibetan Buddhism”, part of a broader effort to promote what the Party calls the “Sinicisation” of TibetanBuddhism with an emphasis on patriotism and ensuring Beijing’s authority on the appointment of lamas and key religious figures.
Geo-economics inevitably impacts geopolitics. China’s Belt and Road Initiative is an example. Climate, health security and digital technologies are becoming aspects of geopolitical contestation of different kinds. Our willingness to encompass areas, which we previously considered beyond the pale of our foreign policy posture, will be key to our ability to navigate the coming wave of global changes.
Economy
The Reserve Bank of India is likely to soon kick off pilot projects to assess the viability of using digital currency to make wholesale and retail payments to help calibrate its strategy for introducing a full-scale central bank digital currency (CBDC).
Uberisation and Mechanisation of farming, A scheme launched by Rajasthan government, for providing agricultural equipment, including tractors and seed sowing machines rent free to small and marginal farmers has turned out to be successful. Over 25,000 farmers have benefited from the scheme during the ongoing kharif crop season.
The country’s foreign exchange reserves increased by $1.883 billion to touch a record high of $611.895 billion in the week ended July 9, data released by the RBI showed.
Bank nationalisation: 52 years and ticking Fourteen banks with deposits of at least Rs 50 crore each were nationalised on the midnight of July 19, 1969, hours after Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s address to the nation regarding this. A second round of nationalisation of six more commercial banks — with deposits of more than Rs 200 crore each — followed in 1980.
Since then, the banking industry has grown. In June 1969, there were 73 commercial banks; now there are 94, including small finance banks and payments banks but excluding regional rural banks and local area banks.In June 1969, the deposit portfolio of banks was Rs 4,646 crore and the loan book, Rs 3,599 crore. By June 2021, the deposit portfolio has grown close to Rs 153 trillion and the loan book, around Rs 108.5 trillion.
Nationalisation has served its purpose. It’s time to move ahead, keeping majority ownership of the government in a few banks to serve people.
The Union Cabinet on Thursday approved Rs 6,322 crore production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for speciality steel. Speciality steel can be used in various strategic applications like defence, space, power, automobile sector, specialised capital goods, among others. [Prelims]
SEZs set up under SEZ law have largely or generally met their objectives. SEZs have touched new heights in terms of performance in Exports, Investment and Employment viz. Exports of Rs. 22,840 Crore in 2005-06 has increased to Rs. 7,59,524 Crore in 2020-21; Investment of Rs. 4,035.51 Crore in 2005-06 has increased to Rs. 6,17,499 Crore (cumulative basis) by 2020-21 and Employment provided to 1,34,704 persons in 2005-06 has increased to 23,58,136 persons (cumulative basis) in 2020-21.
According to an RBI report on ‘Monetary transmission in India’, legacy of internal benchmark linked loans (BPLR, base rate and MCLR) together comprised 71.5 per cent of outstanding floating rate rupee loans as at end March 2021, impeding the transmission.
The share of loans linked to MCLR stood at 62.9 per cent as of March 2021. Only 8.6 per cent of floating rate rupee loans were still linked to the BPLR and base rate even though the Reserve Bank had moved to MCLR based regime over five years ago.
[Prelims: MCLR + BPLR]
Public sector banks have written off a massive Rs 8 trillion worth of loans during the last 7 years of Narendra Modi government, which is more than double than the amount of capital infused by the government during the period.
Between 2014-15 and 2020-21, the government infused Rs 3.37 trillion into public sector banks.
On the other hand, between 2014-2021, government-owned banks wrote-off loans worth Rs 8.07 trillion.
Security
Pegasus is India’s Watergate moment We need reforms in India, which are aimed at professionalizing intelligence gathering, bringing intelligence agencies under parliamentary oversight, making them non-partisan, and ensuring that civil liberties and rule of law are protected. This is India’s Watergate moment, and the Supreme Court and Parliament should seize it. What do Indian laws outline? Communication surveillance in India takes place primarily under two laws — the Telegraph Act, 1885 and the Information Technology Act, 2000.
How can we balance civil liberties, rule of law and national security? With evolving technologies and spyware we have to be able to manage them both from state and non-state actors.
Justice Chandrachud said that “any semblance of authoritarianism, clampdown on civil liberties, sexism, casteism, otherization on account of religion or region is upsetting a sacred promise that was made to our ancestors who accepted India as their constitutional republic”.
A drone with explosives was shot down in Jammu, The drone is an assembled one, with its parts manufactured in Taiwan and Hong Kong. Around 16 AK-47 rifles, three M-4 rifles, 34 pistols, 15 grenades, 18 IEDs and Rs. 4 lakh cash have been ferried using drones in the last one and a half years in Jammu. The Army is procuring jammers in large numbers and expanding the range of the existing ones to protect large military bases in forward areas from drone attacks.
The Budget allocation for the National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS) increased 10 times from Rs. 33.17 crore in 2016-17 to Rs. 333.58 crore in 2017-18.
Role and importance of NSCS
India has signed 26 bilateral pacts, 15 memoranda of understanding and two agreements on security cooperation with different countries for combating illicit trafficking of narcotic, drugs and psychotropic substances, besides chemical precursors, according to a Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) reply in the Lok Sabha.
Science and Technology
USA and Western allies formally blamed China for a massive hack of Microsoft Exchange email server software and accused Beijing of working with criminal hackers in ransomware attacks and other cyber operations.
Very significant development for state actors working with non-state actors issue.
How strong is Indian state capacity to face a cyberattack when targeted by a powerful state like China or Russia?
China unveils 600 kph superfast maglev train
Geography, Environment, Biodiversity, and Disaster Management
Climate change has added over 1,000 lakes in Swiss Alps , Glaciers there lost a full 2% of their volume last year alone.
Need more examples for climate change ?
Record-breaking rainfall — 640mm in three days left at least 33 people dead in central China, even as hundreds were rescued from flooded tunnels in Henan province.
Mumbai’s Santacruz and Colaba recorded extremely heavy rainfall--23.4 cm and 19.68 cm rain respectively, Such short bursts of intense rain bear a climate change signature and as these effects become more pronounced. Extreme rainfall events are on the rise across the globe not just over the west coast. We saw it happening in Germany last week.
A 52% increase was noticed in the frequency of cyclones over the Arabian Sea between 2001 and 2019 , and an 8% decrease over the Bay of Bengal, compared to the 19-year period between 1982 and 2002, according to a new study by scientists of the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) under the Union ministry of earth sciences.
An analysis of the stretches of the river Ganga by a Delhi-based environment NGO, Toxics Link, has revealed pollution by microplastics, defined as synthetic solid particles sized ranging from 1 micrometre to 5 millimetre (mm), which are insoluble in water.
Microplastics, recorded in recent times in the remotest of places — Mount Everest, Arctic snow, Icelandic glaciers, the French Pyrenees, and the depths of the Mariana Trench, among others — pose a hazard as plastics production outpaces the ability of governments to collect and manage waste.
The Supreme Court dismissed a challenge to a National Green Tribunal (NGT) ban on the sale and use of firecrackers during the COVID-19 pandemic in the National Capital Region (NCR) and all cities and towns where the ambient air quality is in the poor or above categories.
Priority to right to life.
In protecting the birds, the Court has affirmed and emphasised the biocentric values of eco-preservation. The philosophy of biocentrism holds that the natural environment has its own set of rights, which is independent of its ability to be exploited by or to be useful to humans.
Biocentrism often comes into conflict with its contrarian philosophy, namely anthropocentrism. Anthropocentrism argues that of all the species on earth humans are the most significant and that all other resources on earth may be justifiably exploited for the benefit of human beings.
Expressions of such line of thought date back many centuries and find mention in Politics , a well-known work of Aristotle, as also the moral philosophy of Immanuel Kant amongst many others.
Prelims: Great India Bustard.
Communication turns out to be a major challenge during the cyclones and particularly in the Sunderbans with more than 50 inhabited islands located in remote areas — some of them at the mouth of the Bay of Bengal. The administrations of other coastal districts like the North 24 Parganas and Purba Medinipur are also in talks with HAM Radio operators to train youth.
Importance of local communities and communication in disaster management.
At the conclusion of the G20 climate meet, India said that pledges by some countries to achieve Net Zero GHG emissions or ‘carbon neutrality’ by mid-century were inadequate, when considering the rights of developing countries to economic growth.
As per the NDCs submitted to UNFCCC under Paris Agreement, the pledge of the United States falls short of their fair share by 12 tons of CO2/capita, of UK by 14.1 tones CO2/capita, of China by 0.2 tons CO2/capita, and of India by 0.4 tons CO2/capita, according to Council on Energy Environment and Water, think-tank.
What is moon wobble? The wobble is nothing new. It is a regular oscillation that humans have known about for centuries, and it is one of many factors that can either exacerbate rising sea levels or counteract them, alongside other variables like weather and geography.
15,000-year-old viruses discovered in Tibetan glacier ice Most of the viruses were previously unknown to humans, study finds.
History, Indian Heritage and Culture
Lord Buddha is all the more relevant in today’s times of corona pandemic.
“Rather, enmity is calmed with love and by a big heart. In times of tragedy, the world has experienced this power of love and harmony,”.
What are the lessons we can learn from Buddha in today’s world, can you think of any personal lessons, inspiration from his life?
Ethics Integrity and Aptitude
U.S.-based ice cream brand Ben & Jerry’s decision to stop selling its products to the Jewish settlements in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories of East Jerusalem and West Bank has triggered an uproar in Israel, Ben and Jerry’s, known for taking up progressive causes such as Black Lives Matter, said the sales of its products in the occupied Palestinian territories was “inconsistent with our values”.
A Film About Anthony Bourdain used AI to clone Bourdain’s voice. The documentary is narrated by the late chef himself, a feat that was achieved by stitching together audio clips of Bourdain from various sources, and director Morgan Neville has stated that the only faked bits are three lines from a letter he once wrote to a friend. This revelation has made many uncomfortable. Some have expressed discomfort over Bourdain’s voice being faked because there’s no way of knowing if he would have consented to being deep faked if he had been alive.
Imagine the political fallouts and issues that will be created using deepfakes.
Biocon controversy: Sebi's insider trading laws may need an overhaul ,
Sebi regulations define “insider” as a company associate who is trading in the company’s shares based on unpublished price sensitive information (UPSI) to make a quick buck. As the price sensitive information is not released to the rest of the investors, this gives an edge to the insider and is punishable.
The “insider” can be anyone who was associated with the company six months prior to the insider trade and who can be a company’s director or employee/close relative, or a legal counsel/banker/valuer to the company and so on.
Miscellaneous
Man cannot live by the Internet alone there are countless such people across India in myriad fields farmers, teachers, doctors, writers, journalists, masons, carpenters, blacksmiths, mechanics, artists, artisans, grocers and vendors, who serve their communities and provide jobs, livelihoods and security. They make this a wonderful world. Man cannot live by the Internet alone.
A good essay on present times and how not everything is about internet and scaling.
Olympic cauldron to be powered by hydrogen. Unlike propane, hydrogen does not produce carbon dioxide when combusted Inspired by the sun, the Tokyo Olympic cauldron is designed to be better for the planet.
It was an incredible Saturday for India at the Tokyo Olympics as Mirabai Chanu won a silver in the 49 kg weightlifting category.
How Perumkulam became Kerala’s first village of books In India's second village of books, a library started in memory of Mahatma Gandhi is fostering readers and building the community.
Perumkulam is the second Indian village, after Maharashtra’s “Pustakanch Gaav” Bhilar in 2017, to be declared a “village of books”.
Living up to its name, the library puts to practise the Gandhian principle of sarvodaya (community building). It runs coaching classes to prepare students for civil services exams.
Why we want more people to read books, how will this lead to betterment of society.
Image credit: BS and KBK respectively.
Quotes:
Inside every cynical person, there is a disappointed idealist. — George Carlin
“The world changes according to the way people see it, and if you can alter, even by a millimeter, the way people look at reality, then you can change the world.” (James Baldwin)
"Arguing that you don't care about the right to privacy because you have nothing to hide is no different than saying you don't care about free speech because you have nothing to say." - Edward Snowden
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