25 Apr 2020: UPSC Exam Comprehensive News Analysis

A. GS 1 Related
B. GS 2 Related
POLITY AND GOVERNANCE
1. Anonymise data before handover, HC tells Kerala govt.
C. GS 3 Related
ECONOMY
1. No plan to ease fiscal deficit targets
ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY
1. Wildlife Board nod for mining in Assam elephant reserve
D. GS 4 Related
E. Editorials
POLITY AND GOVERNANCE
1. No 100% quota
2. Virtual methods, technologies should become the norm at all levels of judiciary
F. Tidbits
1. 1 lakh cr. fund to repay MSME dues: Gadkari
2. Deposits growth robust, credit growth declines
G. Prelims Facts
1. Nagaland eases curbs with a buzz
2. ‘South Asia needs a humanitarian response to the COVID-19 pandemic’
H. UPSC Prelims Practice Questions
I. UPSC Mains Practice Questions

E. Editorials

Category: POLITY AND GOVERNANCE

1. No 100% quota

Context:

Recently, a five-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court (SC) held it unconstitutional to provide 100% reservation for tribal teachers in schools located in Scheduled Areas across the country.

Judgement:

• The Constitution Bench held that 100% reservation is discriminatory and impermissible.
• It asserted that the opportunity of public employment is not the prerogative of a few.
• A 100% reservation to the Scheduled Tribes has deprived Scheduled Castes and Other Backward Classes also of their due representation. Hence would impinge upon the right of open category.
• The court referred to the Indira Sawhney judgment, which caps reservation at 50%.

Details:

• The Andhra Pradesh (A.P) state government’s original orders of 1986, and thereafter, subsequent orders in 2000, was because of its own rationale. 
  • In January 2000, the then Governor of undivided Andhra Pradesh had passed an order giving 100% quota to ST candidates for teaching posts in scheduled areas.
  • The court therefore held that creation of 100 per cent reservation through the government order was akin to making a new law and Schedule V only allows the Governor to not apply or apply a law to a scheduled area with modifications. It does not allow the Governor to make a new law altogether.
  • The Supreme Court ruled that the Governor’s powers under para 5 of Schedule V are subject to the fundamental rights guaranteed under Part III of the Constitution.

• It found that there was chronic absenteeism among teachers who did not belong to those remote areas where the schools were located. 
• The state government’s solution of drafting only members of the local tribes was not a viable solution.
  • It could have come up with other incentives to ensure the attendance of teachers.
• Andhra Pradesh has a local area system of recruitment to public services. The President, under Article 371D, has issued orders that a resident of a district/zone cannot apply to another district/zone for appointment. 
  • Thus, the 100% quota deprived residents of the Scheduled Areas of any opportunity to apply for teaching posts.
• It is still a matter of debate whether the ceiling has innate sanctity, but it is clear that wherever it is imperative that the 50% cap be breached, a special case must be made for it. 
• However, attention must not be diverted from the fact that there is a continuing need for a significant quota for STs, especially those living in areas under the Fifth Schedule special dispensation.
• In this backdrop, it is somewhat disappointing that courts tend to record obiter dicta advocating a revision of the list of SCs and STs. 
  • An orbiter dictum is a judge’s expression of opinion uttered in court or in a written judgement, but not essential to the decision and therefore not legally binding as a precedent.
• The power to amend the lists notified by the President is not in dispute. However, it is somewhat uncharitable to say that the advanced and affluent sections within SCs and STs are cornering all benefits and do not permit any trickle-down. 

Significance of the Judgement:

• The SC is right in considering cent per cent reservation as anathema to the constitutional scheme of equality even if it is for the objective of providing representation to historically deprived sections. 
• The verdict must not be considered as against affirmative programmes as such, but as a caution against implementing them in a manner detrimental to the rest of society.  
  • 100% reservations is arbitrary and violative of provisions of Articles 14 (equality before law), 15(1) (discrimination against citizens) and 16 (equal opportunity) of the Constitution.
  • Equality of opportunity and pursuit of choice under Article 51A cannot be deprived of unjustly and arbitrarily.

Conclusion:

• Affirmative action loses its meaning if it does not leave the door slightly ajar for open competition. 
• Dr. B.R. Ambedkar observed during the debate in the Constituent Assembly on the equality clause, that any reservation normally ought to be for a minority of seats. This is one of the points often urged in favour of the 50% cap imposed by the Court on total reservation, albeit with some allowance for relaxation in special circumstances. 
• “Citizens have equal rights, and the total exclusion of others by creating an opportunity for one class is not contemplated by the founding fathers of the Constitution of India,” Justice Mishra.

2. Virtual methods, technologies should become the norm at all levels of the judiciary

Note: This editorial is from The Indian Express

Context:

The COVID-19 pandemic presents an opportunity to bring in innovations and new paradigms in the administration of justice in India. 

Details:

Evolving new Protocols:

• It would be naive to assume that post lockdown, the business will resume as usual. Since pre-COVID normalcy is months away, three protocols must be evolved— lockdown, post lockdown pre-normal and normal.
• What is sadly missing is not talent, capacity or funding but attention to detail and a holistic, uniform protocol at each level of the hierarchy.

Making use of technology:

• With the state-of-the-art technology, judges should not be required to meet and endanger themselves, as is currently happening.
• Best equipment, the best technology, must be made operational to enable this.
• It is deplorable that the apex court is not equipped with efficient technology. This would require Rs 100-crore at most and surely the Supreme Court deserves this amount. 
• The judiciary should be the least concerned with issues such as seating arrangements for judges, the number of parties and advocates who can be accommodated and the quality of audio and video. All this should be operationalised by technicians working on government directions. 
• Indian judiciary is inexcusably behind on all this.

Using the existing infrastructure:

• The two largest rooms at the new SC building should be fully equipped to enable a limited number of lawyers, who cannot afford virtual lawyering, to present their arguments from within the court. 
• However, it should be ensured that they maintain strict social distancing. 
• The lawyers who fall in this category or would want to come to court are, of course, a minuscule number. However, they must be facilitated.

Strictly applying test of urgency:

• False urgency claims are the bane of Indian litigation. They clog the legal pipeline while ordinary and poor litigants have to undergo an eternal wait. 
• COVID-19 and its short-term aftermath is the best time to evolve two tracks of litigations. 
  • Judges holding courts that are akin to a vacation bench could deal only with hyper urgent cases — as is currently happening, albeit trebling the current listings. 
  • The bulk of the remaining 35 judges can then take up cases that are going on for 10 years or more. 
• Within a short time span, all the cruel figures which underline the high pendency rate of the SC will vanish.
• This would require a ruthless listing procedure since one party will always be interested in causing delays. 
  • The procedure should also involve careful screening by judicial interns.
  • Advance invitations of five or seven-page written submissions should be issued.
  • Strict time limits, based on such pre-screening must be fixed. 
• All five-judge and higher bench references may be excluded from this list for the time being.

Functioning in the New Normal:

• When full normalcy returns, it must be ensured that these methods are used to conduct a significant proportion, perhaps 33 per cent, of all hearings. 
• In such a scenario, the much-criticised orality of the Indian system would diminish, time limits that have failed implementation for seven decades would become the new normal, and precision, through written submissions, would get a boost. 
• Less crowding, less wastage, less dirt and less transmission of infection can easily become the new normal.

Conclusion:

• These changes can be replicated with appropriate modifications at all levels of the judiciary.
• As the above paradigms extend to lower court hierarchies, virtual lawyering will allow shift systems for courts and make evening and night courts – a routine, without shockingly enhanced strains on the infrastructure.
• Indian Judiciary has nothing to lose except the chains and habits. It should start by utilising the full forthcoming SC vacation to virtually function at full strength.
• The possibilities are limitless.

F. Tidbits

1. 1 lakh cr. fund to repay MSME dues: Gadkari

• The Central government has decided to set up a dedicated fund of ₹1 lakh crore to reimburse outstanding payments owed by Central and State government undertakings as well as major industries to
  Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).
• This fund will help address the issue of delayed payments to MSMEs and will impart relief to the sector to a certain extent.
• The government would be paying the premium to insure this fund. The interest burden would be shared by the stakeholders.

2. Deposits growth robust, credit growth declines

• According to latest data released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Deposits (liabilities of banks) have registered healthy growth in the first fortnight of the current financial year 2020-21, while loans have declined, in a period which is marked by limited economic activity due to the nationwide lockdown.

Financial year 2019-20:

• Credit growth for the financial year 2019-20 was 6.1%, one of the lowest in many years. Credit growth was 13.3% in the 2018-19 fiscal year. 
• Deposit growth for the financial year 2019-20 was 7.9% as compared to 10% in the previous year.

G. Prelims Facts

1. Nagaland eases curbs with a buzz

• Apiculture is honeybee farming.
• Beekeeping is an agro-based activity which is being undertaken by farmers/landless labours in rural area as an integrated farming practice. Beekeeping supplements income & employment generation and nutritional intake of rural population. 
• Apart from the economic value of the honey produced and variety of beehive products, Bees help in pollinating flowering plants and assure setting of seed or fruit. Honey Bees have vital role in sustaining plants bio-diversity resulting in environmental stability. 
• Beekeeping is one of the thrust areas and flagship programmes of Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare. Beekeeping has been included as an activity for promoting cross pollination of Horticultural Crops under National Horticulture Mission since May, 2005, which has been merged with the Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH). 
  • National Horticulture Mission was launched in the country in May 2005 as a centrally sponsored scheme to promote holistic growth of the horticulture sector through an area based regionally differentiated strategies.
• National Bee Board (NBB), one of the National Level Agencies (NLAs) under MIDH promotes scientific beekeeping in the country to increase the productivity of crops through pollination support and production of honey and other beehive products to increase the income of farmers/beekeepers.

2. ‘South Asia needs a humanitarian response to the COVID-19 pandemic’

London Club:

• The London Club is an informal group of private creditors on the international stage, and is similar to the Paris Club of public lenders.
  • The Paris Club is a group of officials from major creditor countries whose role is to find co-ordinated and sustainable solutions to the payment difficulties experienced by debtor countries. 
• The London Club of commercial banks has been responsible for rescheduling countries debt payments to commercial banks.  It is an informal group of commercial banks that renegotiate the debt they hold on sovereign debtors.
• A meeting of the London Club took place in 1976 in response to Zaire’s debt payment problems.

SAARC secretariat:

•  South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is an economic and geopolitical union between the eight South Asian member nations, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
• SAARC Secretariat is based in Kathmandu, Nepal. 
• It coordinates and monitors the implementation of activities, hosts meetings, and serves as a channel of communication between the Association and its member states as well as other regional organizations.

H. UPSC Prelims Practice Questions

Q1.  Which of the following statement/s is/are correct?

1. The National Board for Wildlife is a statutory body under the Environment Protection Act, 1986.
2. The National Board for Wildlife is chaired by the Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
3. No alternation of boundaries in national parks and wildlife sanctuaries can be done without the approval of the NBWL.

Options:

1. 1 and 2
2. 1,2 and 3
3. 2 and 3
4. 3 only

See

Q2. The Tadoba Andhari tiger reserve is located in which of the following states?

1. Maharashtra
2. Madhya Pradesh
3. Chattisgarh
4. Jharkhand

See

Q3. Which of the following pairs is/are correctly matched?

1. Ajrakh textiles: Kutch
2. Sanjhi paper art: Mathura
3. Madhubani art: Bihar

Options:

1. 3 only
2. 2 and 3 only
3. 1,2 and 3
4. 1 and 2 only

See

Q4. Which of the following pairs is/are wrongly matched?

1. Leather footwear industry: Agra and Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh
2. Non-leather footwear industry: Bahadurgarh, Haryana
3. Sports articles and surgical goods: Jalandhar, Punjab

Options:

1. 1 only
2. 1 and 2 only
3. 3 only
4. None of the above

See

I. UPSC Mains Practice Questions

1. The COVID-19 pandemic presents an opportunity to bring in virtual technologies, innovations and new paradigms in the administration of justice in India. Discuss. (15 Marks, 250 Words).
2. For achieving the goals of affirmative action, should economic criteria be introduced in reservations for the SC/ST community and modified from time to time in line with the changing social and economic conditions? Critically Examine. (15 Marks, 250 Words).