Gist of EPW February Week 4, 2023

The Economic and Political Weekly (EPW) is an important source of study material for IAS, especially for the current affairs segment. In this section, we give you the gist of the EPW magazine every week. The important topics covered in the weekly are analysed and explained in a simple language, all from a UPSC perspective.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. The Land–Sea Conundrum
2. The Dam Safety Act, 2021
3. Making Election Manifestos Legally Binding
4. EWS Reservation and Principle of Social Justice
5. Urban Waste Management

1. The Land–Sea Conundrum

What is an international supply chain? 

• It is the worldwide system that a business uses to produce products or services. In other words, it refers to the cross-border organisation of the activities required to produce goods or services and bring them to consumers through inputs and various phases of development, production and delivery.
• Benefits of the global supply chain
  • It reduces the cost of production and transportation of goods and services. 
  • A global supply chain can make it easier to sell to customers around the world.

Historical instances of the creation of physical infrastructure to enhance the supply chain: 

• The Berlin Baghdad Railway Line
  • By the late 19th century, railroads had become attractive to the great powers as a tool to extend imperial reach and control. The Ottoman Empire was in decline and the race among imperial powers to establish spheres of influence in the region intensified.
  • The BBR offered an alternative land-based route that would have reduced the significance of the Suez Canal in the conduct of international trade.
  • But, the BBR projects had failed to take off completely due to mutual tussle among the great powers then. 

Present context: 

• The vast space from Eastern Europe to Central and East Asia and from the Baltic Sea to the Indian Ocean is now a crucial geopolitical chessboard. The five continental powers, China, Russia, Germany, France and India are leading the revival of modern transcontinental connectivity networks. 

India’s connectivity insight: 

• India’s postcolonial strategy has lar­gely been focused on ensuring that free trade flows through the oceans and not across borders. Until lately, connectivity with Central Asia and Eurasia was neglected.
• But, there has been a shift in the policy initiatives and the Indian government is tilting in favour of the Indo–Pacific alliance but it requires engaging with Russia and reaching out to Eurasia as it is an important element in its strategy to balance China’s hegemony in the region. 
  • India in collaboration with Tehran and Moscow has operationalised the International North–South Transport Corridor (INSTC), a 7,200 km long multi-modal route, linking the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf to the Caspian Sea. 
  • The transportation of goods through INSTC takes considerably less time than the traditional route via the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean Sea. 
  • India is pushing the idea for optimum use of Chabahar Port, during its presidency of the SCO in 2023.
• Additionally, on various occasions, India had expressed disappointment with respect to Pakistan’s refusal to give India transit trade access by land to Afghanistan and Central Asia. 
  • Better regional connectivity is only possible if members grant each other full transit rights.

Why is land-based transportation the need of the hour? 

• Land-based transportation technologies are likely to outpace the new ones being developed in the marine sector. For example, Hyperloop is one such technology which is most suitable for online markets that seek faster transportation means to reach out to their customers.
• Decarbonised transport through greater use of high-speed electric trains is making the railroads more attractive than sea-based transportation.

The international supply chain must be diverse and participative. Excessive reliance on one mode of transportation could render us helpless on some occasions like the Suez canal blockage issue in 2021, where a ship was stuck and transportation was affected for many days.

2. The Dam Safety Act, 2021

Stats related to dams: 

• After China and the USA, India is the 3rd largest dam-owning nation in the world. There are around 5,700 large dams in the country, of which about 80% are already over 25 years old. Nearly 227 dams that are over 100 years old are still functional.

Dam Safety Act, 2021

• The Dam Safety Bill provides for adequate surveillance, inspection, operation, and maintenance of all the large dams in the country so as to prevent dam failure-related disasters. 
• The Bill provides for an institutional mechanism at both Central and State levels to address structural and non-structural measures required for ensuring the safe functioning of dams.
• A National Committee on Dam Safety (NCDS) will be constituted to help evolve uniform dam safety policies, protocols, and procedures.
• The Dam Safety Bill also addresses, in a comprehensive manner, critical concerns related to dam safety on account of emerging climate change-related challenges. This Bill provides for regular inspection and hazard classification of dams.
• There is provision for an emergency flood warning system to address the safety concerns of downstream inhabitants.

Centralised feature of the bill

• The provisions on the establishment of the National Dam Safety Authority (NCDS) reflect the unilateral decision-making authority of the union government.
• The provisions give the authority to the union government to constitute a national committee, nominate all its members, reconstitute the national committee every three years, disseminate the inf­ormation collected and knowledge generated, prepare expenditure outline incurred on the national committee as well as have the representative of the concerned dam, etc. 
  • Chapter 3 of the act has assigned the union government with sweeping authority. 
  • The government would appoint the head of the National Dam Safety Authority (NDSA).
  • Direct and discharge functions, ­including inspection, surveillance along with safeguarding of particular dams.
• The act added that every decision of the NDSA shall be binding upon all the parties to the issue. 
  • It loads the union government with additional power to appoint such a number of empl­oyees and officers that it may consider necessary. 
  • The act solely relies on the union government to recruit expertise in the field of dam safety, including hydro-mechanical engineering, dam design, hydrology, instrumentation, geotechnical investigation, and dam rehabilitation. 
• The act mandates the union government to disqualify any agency for taking up investigation, construction or alteration, and design of the specified dams. This particular provision can be seen as auth­o­ritarian as it empowers the union gove­rnment to muzzle the media and civil society’s freedom to report environment-related issues to the public.

Impact on interstate relations: 

• The establishment of the NCDS and NDSA may badly affect the interstate rel­ations and “federal consensus” in India, particularly in the context of the Cauvery river dispute between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. 
  • It is to be added here that Kerala and TN have been trading charges against each other over the safety, operation and maintenance of the Mullaperiyar dam.
  • The National Centre for Earth Science Studies (NCESS) and the Central Water Commission (CWC) reported that the water storage lake behind the Mullaperiyar dam had developed several cracks and could breach, which would result in massive floods that could inundate many acres of land leading to major disasters downstream. 
• In an environment where conflict over water allocation and utilisation ­issues is almost inevitable, assigning unilateral powers to the union government to take a final decision would invite more political discontent and dissent. 
• In India, dam construction, maintenance, interstate rivers, and water sha­ring are already becoming sites of confrontations and contestations bet­ween states, fuel­led by flawed economic ins­truments for food security and conflicting views of property rights. 

The Dam Safely bill, 2021 rests enormous power on the central government and thus paves the way for conflicts in the federal structure of the country. The bill must be reoriented to meet the demand of the federal structure so as to reduce conflict between the centre and the state.

3. Making Election Manifestos Legally Binding

What is an electoral manifesto?

• A manifesto is generally defined as a published declaration of the intentions, motives or views of an individual, group, political party or government whosoever issues it. 
• The Election Manifestos are generally drafted by the Political Parties keeping an eye on forthcoming elections and are generally published and well-publicised.
• By comparing the ideologies, policies and programmes of the political parties, the electors can decide which party they should vote for to meet their expectations and aspirations.

Legal status of electoral manifesto in India: 

• Manifestos normally indicate broad policies/programmes of a political party/candidate on political, economic and social matters. Even though the manifesto is issued by the political parties, it cannot be legally enforced. 
  • In 2013, the Supreme Court in the case of S Subramaniam Balaji v Government of Tamil Nadu held that the manifesto promises were not leg­ally enforceable. 
  • It, therefore, directed the Election Commission to frame guidelines on the election manifesto after consulting with all the recognised political parties. 
• In other words, no remedies lie with the voters if the political parties do not fulfil any promises made in the manifesto. The only remedy that exists is in the form of answerability of the parties in the next election. 

International Manifesto Practices

• In the United States of America, policies affecting large populations are discussed broadly on topics such as economic policy, foreign policy, healthcare, governance reform, environmental issues, and immigration to name a few. No specific benefits are discussed.
• Western Europe is more concrete in terms of its manifestos where financial paragraphs are added which can be audited to calculate how realistic the promise is.

Making Manifestos Legally Binding: Alternative Options and Necessity

• Civil society organisations must act as a watchdog for tracking the implementation of the manifesto promises and building pressure on the ruling political party to implement its manifesto promises.
  • For example: The public campaign by civil society activists played a significant role in ensuring that the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 was passed by Parliament.
• The promises made before the election, and upon achieving power, have a moral duty to be fulfilled. It may fructify such an offer by any democratic strategy or means available in line with socio-welfare ideas for the masses.
• It will prevent the parties from giving election promises, which they are not capable of performing, as that would be misleading. 
• Making a manifesto legally binding would rest more power in the hands of the citizens to hold the parties responsible for the promises that they have made. 

Manifesto lies at the centre of the electoral process. Therefore, the manifesto must not be a tool for the parties to mislead people rather it should serve as an instrument for the citizens to hold the parties accountable to their promises.

4. EWS Reservation and Principle of Social Justice

Details

• India is in the third decade of post-liberalization policies.
• The liberalized market has introduced an upward-mobile professional elite class in India. However, a large section of people still lives in precarious socio-economic conditions.
• The vulnerability of weaker sections of society has further increased due to multiple factors like poverty, rising inflation, lack of employment, demonetization, and the COVID-19 pandemic.
• It is also argued that the increasing economic depravity has also impacted the social elites and made them a part of the poor mass.
• The government adopted a welfarist approach and announced multiple policies for the poor. It also extended the reservation policy for the Economically Weaker Section (EWS).

Also read: Who is eligible for EWS Certificate for UPSC?

Reservation for Economically Weaker Section

• Extension of reservation for EWS acknowledges the fact that a significant section of social elites lives in poor conditions.
• It aims to provide institutional support and bring some solace to the upper-caste downtrodden. 
• It should be noted that still government jobs and admission in the institutions of higher education are symbols of middle-class status and the lower classes look upon these sectors with great aspirations.
• Doubts were raised on the legal validity of the reservation, but the Supreme Court endorsed the amendment.

For more details, read here: EWS Quota: Sansad TV Perspective

Reservation Policy in India

The three major guidelines and historical background that led to reservation policy in India are:

• It acknowledges that the social history of caste relationships in India has resulted in perpetually burdening some sections of society. 
  • They suffered from subhuman social practices like disallowing access to basic human entitlements like potable water and education.
  • Multiple constitutional safeguards and laws were introduced in independent India to include the worst-off social groups in the nation-building process.
• The Indian constitution also directs that public institutions should display social plurality thereby making them inclusive and responsible toward the vulnerable sections of society.
• During the formation of the reservation policy (particularly for OBC), the state clarified that backward caste identity can be based on multiple criteria of deprivations like identity, economic, and educational backwardness.
  • The Supreme Court in the Indra Sawhney case notified that caste and class inequalities overlapped and resulted in backwardness and vulnerability.
  • However, the concept of the “creamy layer” was applied.

Counter arguments or EWS Reservation

• The EWS case is different from the socio-historic exigencies of other vulnerable sections as they did not face historic disadvantages or discrimination.
• Notably, there was negligible public pressure, or social movements demanding reservations for the upper-caste poor.
• The section did not face any exclusion from the job market.
• It is argued that their vulnerability could have been addressed by free education, health facilities, housing facilities, etc.

Associated Concerns

• The reservation highlights that the social justice agenda and principles of reservation policy will undergo a dramatic change.
• It will also have implications for the existing reservation policy for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribe.
• Some critics of the reservation policy argue to introduce the concept of creamy layer in reservation for SCs and STs. This has the potential to overlook caste-based social inequalities.
• It is also seen that the rich dominant sections in SCs and STs exploit social justice policies.
• There is a growing demand that Muslim minorities shall be made beneficiaries of the reservation policy. Moreover, various other communities like Jain and Christians might claim their share. For instance,
  • The Dalit Christians are demanding special social status and separate quotas highlighting that they suffered identical social exclusions to Hindu Dalits.
• It is suggested that EWS might expand the domination of social elites in state institutions.

Conclusion

The introduction of the Economically Weaker Section has introduced economic backwardness as the criterion to avail the benefits of the reservation policy in India.

5. Urban Waste Management

Details: 

Technology plays a very important role in the delivery of public services and in improving the quality of these services. With the proliferation of affordable smartphones and an increase in internet use, websites/applications for interpersonal communication and sharing commonly known as social media have tremendously incre­ased.

Technology and waste management: 

• Social media platforms like WhatsApp are increasingly ­being used by governments to “invite” public participation, including information sharing, awareness generation, grievance redressal and feedback. 
• These technologies are the preferred mode of communication since they are deeply penetrated into society and widely used by human beings with convenience. 

Use of WhatsApp in Mumbai’s waste collection: 

• Solid waste management (SWM) in Mumbai has historically been a centralised process: waste collected through vehicles from across the city is transported to dumpsites in its peripheries.
  • Further, there was no formal regulation of the sector until the Municipal Solid Wastes (Management and Handling) Rules, 2000, which prescribed collection, segregation, and scientific disposal of waste. 
• Under the latest arrangement, resident groups referred to as Adv­anced Locality Management (ALM) are responsible for monitoring the collection and segregation of waste in a locality, and are encouraged to compost biodegradable waste.
• National-level changes brought about city-level transformations in the nature of participation, also paving the way for use of communications technology like WhatsApp. 
  • WhatsApp, thus, acted as a tool to expand the geographical ambit of the ALM through virtual means, gradually forming non-governmental organisations (NGOs), and enabling ALM leaders to act as mediators to solve personal, civic, and criminal issues in their locality.
• These changes led to greater micro-monitoring of Adv­anced Locality Management (ALM) by Municipal Corporations. 
• Complaints lodging and monitoring: The residents of a region can lodge complaints regarding the non-collection of waste in their vicinity in the group which would immediately alert the person responsible for such waste management. 
  • The ALM WhatsApp groups were primarily used for complaint-making by residents, who shared photos/videos, locations, and nature of the complaint, for example, a clogged drain, a pothole, and un-lifted garbage.
• It is also used for the generation of awareness among the citizens in the locality. With the help of WhatsApp, citizens are motivated to segregate the waste into biodegradable and non-biodegradable formats thus making the work of others in the chain easy. 
• Through apps, the accountability of the person responsible for the performance of work can be fixed.  
• This is also used for giving ratings to the areas based on service delivery. Thereby, it promotes the spirit of competitiveness among the service providers to perform more. 
• Through WhatsApp group members, the administration is informed of the problems across their jurisdiction, in a continuous and regular manner, which is otherwise not possible through field inspections

Limitations of these technologies: 

• The group administrator can remove the members from the group with whom he does not gel well. 
• Service delivery depends upon the prior relationship of the person to the area. This limits the effectiveness of the technology and promotes exclusion.  
• Waste workers, who otherwise had no protective equipment, were given gloves and coats while posing for photos, and one compost pit was clicked from several angles using different banners to report as multiple pits.

Involving citizens in governance is considered to make it more accountable and transparent, and improve representativeness and inclusivity, thereby, promoting democracy. Technology has the capacity to make administration more citizen-friendly and citizen-oriented. Therefore, technology should be kept at the centre of the administration.

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