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General Studies – 2
Reference: Economic Times
Introduction
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is the premier investigating agency of India. Operating under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, the CBI is headed by the Director.
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Why CBI was called as caged parrot?
- Politicisationof the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)has been a work in progress for years.
- It has often been used by the government of the day to cover up wrongdoing, keep coalition allies in line and political opponents at bay.
- Corruption and politically biased: This was highlighted in Supreme Court criticism for being a caged parrot speaking in its master’s voice.
- CBI has been accused of becoming ‘handmaiden’ to the party in power, as a result high profile cases are not treated seriously.
- Since CBI is run by central police officials on deputation hence chances of getting influenced by governmentwas visible in the hope of better future postings.
Criticism against CBI
- The agency is dependent on the home ministryfor staffing, since many of its investigators come from the Indian Police Service.
- The agency depends on the law ministryfor lawyers and also lacks functional autonomy to some extent.
- The CBI, run by IPS officers on deputation, is also susceptible to the government’s ability to manipulate the senior officers, because they are dependent on the Central government for future postings.
- Another great constraint on the CBI is its dependence on State governmentsfor invoking its authority to investigate cases in a State, even when such investigation targets a Central government employee.
- Since police is a State subjectunder the Constitution, and the CBI acts as per the procedure prescribed by the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), which makes it a police agency, the CBI needs the consent of the State government in question before it can make its presence in that State. This is a cumbersome procedure and has led to some ridiculous situations.
- It has been accused of enormous delays in concluding investigations – For example, the inertia in its probe against the high dignitaries in Jain hawala diaries case of the 1990s.
- Improving the image of the agency is one of the biggest challenges till now as the agency has been criticised for its mismanagement of several cases involving prominent politicians and mishandling of several sensitive cases like Bofors scandal; Hawala scandal, Sant Singh Chatwal case, Bhopal gas tragedy, 2008 Noida double murder case of Aarushi Talwar.
- CBI is exempted from the provisions of the Right to Information Act, thus, lacking public accountability.
- A major cause of the shortfall is the government’s sheer mismanagement of CBI’s workforce, through a system of inefficient, and inexplicably biased, recruitment policies – used to bring in favoured officers, possibly to the detriment of the organisation.
- The powers and jurisdiction of members of the CBI for investigation are subject to the consent of the State Govt., thus limiting the extent of investigation by CBI.
- Prior approval of Central Government to conduct inquiry or investigation on the employees of the Central Government, of the level of Joint Secretary and above is a big obstacle in combating corruption at higher levels of bureaucracy.
Reforms needed
- Ensure that CBI operates under a formal, modern legal framework that has been written for a contemporary investigative agency.
- The Second Administrative Reforms Commission (2007) suggested that a new law should be enacted to govern the working of the CBI.
- Parliamentary standing committee (2007) recommended that a separate act should be promulgated in tune with requirement with time to ensure credibility and impartiality.
- The 19th and 24th reports of the parliamentary standing committees (2007 and 2008)recommended that the need of the hour is to strengthen the CBI in terms of legal mandate, infrastructure and resources.
- It is high time that the CBI is vested with the required legal mandate and is given pan-India jurisdiction. It must have inherent powers to investigate corruption cases against officers of All India Services irrespective of the assignments they are holding or the state they are serving in.
- Besides appointing the head of the CBI through a collegium, as recommended by the Lokpal Act, the government must ensure financial autonomy for the outfit.
- It is also possible to consider granting the CBI and other federal investigation agencies the kind of autonomy that the Comptroller and Auditor General enjoysas he is only accountable to Parliament.
- A new CBI Actshould be promulgated that ensures the autonomy of CBI while at the same time improving the quality of supervision. The new Act must specify criminal culpability for government interference.
- One of the demands that has been before Supreme Court, and in line with international best practices, is for the CBI to develop its own dedicated cadre of officers who are not bothered about deputation and abrupt transfers.
- A more efficient parliamentary oversight overthe federal criminal and intelligence agencies could be a way forward to ensure better accountability, despite concerns regarding political misuse of the oversight.
Conclusion
Delink the CBI from the administrative control of the government – As long as the government of the day has the power to transfer and post officials of its choice in the CBI, the investigating agency will not enjoy autonomy and will be unable to investigate cases freely. Providing statutory status through legislation equivalent to that provided to the Comptroller & Auditor General and the Election Commission will help maintain the independence of the institution.
Reference: Indian Express , The Hindu
Introduction
The Islamist rebel group Taliban who took control of Kabul after a lightning sweep across the country controlling almost 90% of territory are yet to announce a government. Afghanistan today is in a condition that is far worse than what existed when the Russians withdrew in the 1990s.
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Concerns with the current situation
- Some political commentators seem to believe that after the initial success of the Taliban and the collapse of the Afghan state, the natural political dynamicsof the region would assert itself.
- After two decades of active involvement in the affairs of Afghanistan, and spending over a trillion dollarsin the process to defeat terrorism and the al Qaeda, the U.S. has left Afghanistan in a worse situation than when it entered.
- It is not possible to discern any reduction in terrorism or the demise of any of the better known terror groups, such as the al Qaeda and the Islamic State (IS), or for that matter, of lesser known terror outfits.
- As a matter of fact, there has been a resurgence in al Qaeda activitiesThe IS, after some earlier setbacks, is again regrouping and currently poses a real threat to areas abutting, and including, Afghanistan.
- Radicalised Islamist terrorand the forces of ‘doctrinaire theocracy’ have, if anything, thus become stronger. The collapse of the Afghan state will ignite many old threats.
- Compared to the situation when the U.S. left Vietnam in 1975, which was also seen by many as a kind of ‘retreat’, the Afghan ‘misadventure’ has been a disaster.
- Under the leadership of the Communist Party, Vietnam was able to emerge as a vibrant nation with a thriving economy.
- Under the Taliban regime, Afghanistan cannot hope for any such outcome. It would remain the ‘sick man of Asia’ for generations to come, a standing folly to perils of outside intervention in the affairs of another nation.
What the Taliban Takeover means for India?
- The Taliban takeover of Afghanistan has significant ramifications for South Asia, beginning with the rush of refugees Pakistan may soon see at its western borders.
- But few countries in the region have as much at stake in Afghanistan’s future as India, its fifth-largest aid donor and one of the most effective.
- India now finds many of its critical investments in human and physical infrastructurein Afghanistan in jeopardy as the Taliban take control.
- Worse still, the crisis following the U.S. withdrawal leaves India’s foreign-policy and security interests at considerable risk on two fronts.
- A new Taliban government will likely foster safe havens for anti-Indian terrorist organizations and other groups that could sow chaos in Indian-administered Kashmir.
- Meanwhile, China’s willingness to work with the Taliban could expand its footprint in the region.
- In the last two decades, India had become one of Afghanistan’s most significant donors,providing scholarships to Afghan students, offering food assistance, and helping restore the country’s war-ravaged power grid.
- But based on its past experience with a Taliban government, India’s security establishment now faces serious fears about its interestsin the country.
- Despite the Taliban’s public assurances, Afghanistan could once again emerge as a regional terrorist haven.
- When they previously held power, the Taliban gave free rein to a host of anti-Indian terrorist organizations within Afghanistan, most notably Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and Lashkar-e-Taiba.
- Safe havensallowed these organizations to regroup, train, and then wreak havoc in Indian-administered Kashmir, the site of a long-running insurgency.
Situation not in favour of India
- India may be the outlier among Afghanistan’s neighbours for a variety of reasons, including its warm relations with the Karzai and the Ghani regimes in the past two decades.
- For India, the virtual retreat of the U.S. from this part of Asia; the growing China-Russia-Pakistan nexus across the region; and an Iran under a hardliner like Ebrahim Raisi, all work to its disadvantage.
India’s Stand
- With the Taliban now in control in Kabul, External Affairs Minister said that New Delhi is “very carefully” following the developments in Afghanistan and India’s focus is on ensuring the security and safe return of Indian nationals still in the war-torn country.
- External Affairs Ministry, while addressing reporters at the UN Security Council stakeout after chairing an open-debate on peacekeeping underIndia’s current UNSC Presidency, said, “that (situation in Afghanistan) is really what has been very much the focus of own engagements here.
- At the moment we are, like everybody else, very carefully following developments in Afghanistan.
- India’s focus is on ensuring the security in Afghanistan and the safe return of Indian nationals who are there.
Way forward
- India could implement the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 to protect the minorities in Afghanistan.
- As and when the situation stabilises medical visas, visas for students who have already secured admission can be considered.
Conclusion
If the 21st century was expected to become the century of progress, the situation in Afghanistan represents a severe setback to all such hopes and expectations. The aftershock of the takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban can be expected to continue for long.
Reference: Live Mint
Introduction
On November 25, 1949, Dr. B. R. Ambedkar in his last constituent assembly speech, he spoke of the need to give up the grammar of anarchy, to avoid hero-worship, and to work towards a social – not just a political – democracy. At the time of freedom struggle and aftermath the leaders of India’s freedom struggle had some vision of what democracy was supposed to achieve: freedom, equality, dignity and justice.
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The ‘democracy’ that a major part of our world swears by comprises free and fair, multi-party, fixed-term elections based on universal adult franchise in its ideal state. A contestant party winning the majority of votes represents the will of the electorate and gets to form the government; others sit in the opposition until the next election.
Our constitution guarantees every citizen to enjoy the right without any discrimination on the basis of caste, creed, colour, gender, Religious intolerance or education. The word ‘democratic’ not only refer to political but also to social & economic democracy.
Political democracy:
- Political Democracy is a means for the people to choose their leaders and to hold their leaders accountable for their policies and their conduct in office.
- The people decide who will represent them in parliament, and who will head the government at the national and local levels.
Social democracy:
- Social democracy on the other hand is a political, social and economic ideology that supports economic and social interventions to promote socialism within a democratic framework.
- Social democracy thus aims to create the conditions for capitalism to lead to greater democratic, egalitarian outcomes.
- Here the government takes responsibility of providing social services without eliminating the role of market.
Economic democracy:
- Economic democracyis a socioeconomic philosophy that proposes to shift decision-making power from corporate managers and corporate shareholders to a larger group of public stakeholders that includes workers, customers, suppliers, neighbours and the broader public.
In practice, social democrats have historically settled for large government social welfare programs, like universal health care, free education, pension plans, unemployment insurance, guaranteed minimum income, etc. In India, government is working towards the social democracy by making basic needs as rights like: Right to work (MGNREGA), Right to food, Right to Information and Right to education.
Constitution provisions to achieve political and social democracy: Constitution of India has provided mainly through Preamble, Fundamental rights and DPSP. On the one hand political democracy is promoted through FR’s such as:
- Equality before law,
- Abolition of untouchability,
- Prohibition of discrimination establishes equality of all Indians irrespective of caste, religion or sex, which is most important to establish political democracy in India, similarly
- Right to freedom,
- Right against exploitation and cultural and religious freedom
Which ensures the liberty of Individual which is another important pillar to establish political democracy to its citizens.
On the other hand, social and economic democracy through DPSPs by promoting:
- Equal justice,
- Organisation of village panchayats,
- Promoting interest of schedule castes, schedule tribes, OBCs and workers participation it tries to secure social order for the promotion of welfare of the people, also promoting
- Right to work, living wage, organising agriculture and animal husbandry and cottage industries it tries to secure economic interest of the people to establish social democracy.
- Equal pay for equal work
- Preventing concentration of wealth
- Providing adequate means of livelihood and living wage for workers
To achieve the ideals of social and economic welfare the state is required to involve in different social welfare schemes as like reservation for SC/ST/OBCs, MGREGA, Mid-Day Meal Scheme, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, 73rd and 74th Amendment acts, etc.
Problems specific to Indian democracy
- Polarisation:The enactment of Citizenship (Amendment) Act and the National Register of Citizens have created a deep religious divide among its citizens.
- Challenges to Internal security: With growing tensions in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), Pakistan’s efforts to push terrorists in larger numbers is leading to large scale casualties especially among the Indian Army and security forces personnel.
- Failure of India’s bargaining strategy: India has been left out of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), world’s biggest trade bloc which covers almost a third of the world’s economy.
- International isolation: Provocation by Pakistan by holding of Assembly elections in Gilgit-Baltistan and India’s steady marginalization in Afghanistan where the control of the Taliban is increasing confirms India’s isolation in international arena.
- Menace of Fake news: Manipulation of grievances by using psychometric techniques and use of ‘deep fakes’ made possible through Artificial Intelligence, further enhances the threat to current notions of democracy.
Despite these concerns, India has made tremendous social and economic progress in the past 74 years. Despite covid, the world believes that we will join the club of the top three economic superpowers, if not today then tomorrow. This year, the gross domestic product growth is estimated at 9.5% and the literacy rate has reached 78%. The infant mortality rate has dropped to 28 per thousand and life expectancy is now around 70 years; Enhancing protection under IT rules to Prevent the spread of fake news and many more
Conclusion
All these provisions in the constitution as well as the government policies are right steps towards the Dr. B. R. Ambedkar’s and many more leaders dream of achieving not only political democracy but also social democracy in which giving voice to the voiceless society.
General Studies – 3
Reference: Indian Express
Introduction
The ‘polluter pay’ principle essentially holds the polluter liable for the pollution caused to the environment. Under 1972 and 1974 OECD Recommendations, the measures to be taken by the polluter for controlling the pollution is decided by public authorities so that the environment is in an acceptable state post the industry operation. Therefore, the polluter bears the cost of health hazard caused to the public as well as the cost of restoration of the environment.
In other words, the costs of the measures should reflect on the cost of the goods and services, the production and/or consumption of which led to pollution. The cost of the measures should not be accompanied by the subsidies as it would lead to distortion in international trade and investment.
The polluter pays principle is part of a set of broader principles to guide sustainable development worldwide. The ‘polluter pay’ principle forms a part of the environmental law of India.
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Need for polluter pays principle to be implemented in true letter and spirit in India:
- According to WHO, of the 20 most polluted cities in the world, the top 14 are Indian cities. These include Kanpur, Faridabad, Varanasi, Delhi, etc.
- The Environmental Performance Index, released by World Economic Forum ranked India 178th out of 180 countries in terms of air quality.
- According to Central Pollution Control Board data, 11 most polluted cities in country are from Uttar Pradesh. Ghaziabad is the most polluted city in the country followed by Gurugram.
- In a few months from now, around Diwali, the burning of rice crop residue in northern India will create an air pollution
Flaws in the polluter pays principle:
- Air pollution due to the vehicular emission clearly exceeds the air pollution due to industrial emission. Yet the main focus of this article is on industrial pollution. As compensation for industrial pollution is primarily emphasized in the ‘polluter pays principle’. Is it the owner of the vehicle or the manufacturer who is to be punished for the vehicular emission? Unfortunately, there is no clear mention in the ‘polluter pays principle’ as to who is to be made liable for the vehicular emission.
- The scope of the laws governing air pollution must be immediately expanded to the entire country as air pollution is not a localized phenomenon.
- Environmental pollution is not always easy to narrow down to a single source which can be strictly punished. Thus, identifying a perpetrator is both difficult and, in some cases, technically not feasible.
- There is no clarity on how exactly the damages should be calculated. This means that a polluter may be asked to pay for the actual costs of clean-up, the damage caused to the victims of environmental damage, a fine or a penalty based on their ability to pay, a general levy aimed at a clean-up of the problem as a whole, or all of the above.
- Deciding the compensation and identifying the affected are very difficult tasks.
- Polluter may not be able to pay high compensations due to poor his/her financial background.
- Common people will not be ready to sue big multinational companies.
Way forward:
- Imposing a cost on emissions of Greenhouse Gases.
- Financial incentive to small and marginal industries to reduce their emissions
- A fund can be created like the CAMPA from the penalties, to compensate victims and restore the environment.
- Carbon Price is a good strategy to implement the Polluters Pay Principle.
- Carbon Price should be uniform across the countries and there should not be any ‘Carbon Havens’.
- Penalties should be increased in their degrees over the time.
Conclusion
It is good that India that imbibed the Polluter Pays Principle (PPP) in their Law of land. And, it also had actually helped in imposing damages on the polluter but still the problem with this principle is that it hasn’t been implemented properly. This principle needs a strict interpretation from our judiciary with immediate effect and we just can’t afford any sort of delay in its proper implementation in developing country, like India.
Extra information:
View of the Indian Judiciary
The Indian Judiciary has incorporated the Polluter Pays Principle as being a part of the Environmental Law regime is evident from the judgments passed.
- Indian Council for Enviro-Legal Action vs. Union of India1996
The Supreme Court held that once the activity carried on is hazardous or inherently dangerous, the person carrying on such activity is liable to make good the loss caused to any other person by his activity irrespective of the fact whether he took reasonable care while carrying on his activity. The rule is premised upon the very nature of the activity carried on. - Vellore Citizens’ Welfare Forum vs. Union of India1996
The Supreme Court interpreted the meaning of the Polluter Pays Principle as the absolute liability for harm to the environment extends not only to compensate the victims of the pollution but also the cost of restoring the environmental degradation. Remediation of the damaged environment is part of the process of ‘Sustainable Development’ and as such the polluter is liable to pay the cost to the individual sufferers as well as the cost of reversing the damaged ecology.” - The Oleum Gas Leak case (M.C. Mehta vs. Union of India)1987
The Supreme Court laid down that an enterprise engaged in a hazardous or inherently dangerous industry which poses a potential threat to the health and safety of persons working in the factory and to those residing in the surrounding areas, owes an absolute and non-delegable duty to the community to ensure that no harm results to any one on account of hazardous or inherently dangerous nature of the activity which it has undertaken. The enterprise is absolutely liable to compensate for such harm and irrespective of all reasonable care taken on his account. The larger and more prosperous the enterprise, greater must be the amount of the compensation payable for the harm caused on account of an accident in the carrying on of the hazardous or inherently dangerous activity by the enterprise. - C. Mehta vs Kamal Nath & Ors(1997)
The Supreme Court held that pollution is a civil wrong and is a tort committed against the community as a whole. Thus, any person guilty of causing pollution has to pay damages (compensation) for restoration of the environment and ecology. Under the Polluter Pays Principle, it is not the role of Government to meet the costs involved in either prevention of such damage, or in carrying out remedial action, because the effect of this would be to shift the financial burden of the pollution incident to the taxpayer.
Reference: The Hindu
Introduction
The Indian economy has travelled through an eventful period through the last three decades. In the post-independence economic history of our country, 1991 stands out as a watershed year. This was the year in which the economy was faced with a severe balance of payments crisis. In response, we launched a wide-ranging economic programme, not just to restore the balance of payments but to reform, restructure and modernise the economy. A near tragedy was averted and a new path was laid out before the country.
The COVID Pandemic has again disrupted the Indian economy leading to imbalances in the growth and development of the country.
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Need for Growth and Reforms to go hand in hand:
- Growth requires more than reforms. Reforms are, in the words of economists, only a necessary condition. It is not sufficient.
- In a developing economy, in the final analysis, growth is driven by investment. It is the decline in investment rateof nearly five percentage points since 2010-11 that has led to the progressive decline of the growth rate.
- Reforms normally create a natural climate for investment. But ‘animal spirits’ are also influenced by non-economic factors such as social cohesion.
- Reforms supplemented by a careful nurturing of the investment climateare needed to spur growth again. This should become the sole concern of policy makers.
Priorities looking ahead:
- The economy is clearly recovering from the contraction induced by the pandemic, but how quickly it will recover is uncertain.
- Much depends upon whether we are hit by a third wave, and more importantly on how severe it is. The priority now must be to get the vaccination coverage expanded as soon as possible.
- This will create conditions conducive to a return to normalcy. The government has set an ambitious target of covering the entire adult population by end-December.
- Achieving this target or getting as close to it as possible will make the best contribution possible for a quick recovery.
- Global supply/production chainsnot only destroyed the manufacturing base in developed and developing countries; they also resulted in loss of jobs and poor working conditions in these sectors.
- Developing countries were asked to ease their labour protection lawsto facilitate global production and supply chains popularly known as global value chains.
- As a result, people were forced to work in precarious working conditions without any social security net.
- This created an unorganised army of labourersand is preventing many developing country governments from effectively offering relief.
- A virus has made us rethink our obsession with the economic efficiency theory. It implores us to put in place an industrial policy to maintain core capacity in health products so that we can face the next crisis more decisively.
Way Forward: Need for continuity of reforms agenda:
- The reform agenda must continue. It will be incremental in character. It has to be. Policymakers should be clear about the directions in which they should move.
- First of all, there is a need to move in the same directionin which we have been moving in the past three decades.
- Policymakers should identify the sectors which need reformsin terms of creating a competitive environment and improving the performance efficiency.
- From this angle, we need to take a relook at the financial system, power sector and governance. Centre and States must be joint partners in this effort.
- Second, in terms of government performance, there should be increased focus on social sectors such as health and education.
- In terms of the provision of services, the emphasis must be not just on quantitative expansion but also quality.
- To achieve the quality is even more difficult. The advent of COVID-19 has clearly shown our inadequate health facilities and preparedness.
Conclusion:
Reforms are necessary to improve the productivity of the economy and achieve higher growth. But the story does not end there. We cannot ignore equity considerations. Growth and equity must go together. They must not be posed as opposing considerations. They are truly interdependent. It is only in an environment of high growth; equity can be pushed aggressively.
Thus, the crisis was converted into an opportunity to bring about fundamental changes in the approach and conduct of economic policy. The words of Charles Dickens in somewhat reverse order seem appropriate: “It was the worst of times, it was the best of times, it was the winter of despair, it was the spring of hope.”
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