26 Dec 2022: UPSC Exam Comprehensive News Analysis

E. Editorials

Category: POLITY

1. Article 200 of the Indian Constitution

Syllabus: GS-2, Indian Constitution

Mains: Role of Governor in Indian Polity

Context: This article discusses various issues with Article 200 of the Indian Constitution.

What is Article 200:

• Article 200 of the Indian Constitution deals with the powers of the Governor with regard to assent given to bills passed by the State legislature and other powers of the Governor such as reserving the bill for the President’s consideration.
• When a Bill has been passed by the State legislature, it shall be presented to the Governor and the Governor can,
  • Give his assent
  • Withhold his assent
  • Return the bill
  • Reserve the bill for the President’s consideration (In instances where the bill introduced in the state legislature endangers the position of the state High Court.)
• The Governor shall reserve for the consideration of the President, any Bill which in the opinion of the Governor would, if it became law, so derogate from the powers of the High Court as to endanger the position which that Court is by this Constitution designed to fill.

Rationale behind Article 200:

• The real objective behind Article 200 was to let an independent Governor act as a check and balance, to avoid the state-enacted law being repugnant to the Union laws. 
• Some State governments expressed an opinion before the Sarkaria Commission that a “Governor will act as a safety valve against hasty legislations and by their operation enable the State Government and Legislature to have a second look at it”.

Issues with Article 200:

• Article 200 does not prescribe a timeline for the Governor to provide assent to Bills sent by the Legislative Assembly. 
• This has been used to advantage by the Governors of various States to obscure the mandate of democratically elected governments.
  • In Tamil Nadu alone, almost 20 Bills are awaiting assent by the Governor. The situation is no different in Telangana and West Bengal as well.
• When a Governor refuses to sign a bill that has been duly enacted by the legislature, he is directly undermining the federal structure of the Constitution by using unlawful methods.
• Even the President is taking too long to give assent to the bills that the Governor had deferred for the President’s consideration.
  • For Instance, The President has not yet acted on the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET)-exemption Bill passed by the Tamil Nadu Assembly, after it was referred to the President in May 2022. 
• There is no timeline prescribed for the President, under Article 201 of the Constitution, to decide on the outcome of the Bill. 

Several Calls for Reforms:

• In Purushothaman Nambudiri vs State of Kerala (1962), a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court clarified that the Constitution does not impose any time limit within which the Governor should provide assent to Bills. 
• However, the Court has maintained that the Governor must honour the will of the Legislature and that the President or a Governor can act only in harmony with their Council of Ministers. 
• The ‘National Commission to Review the Working of the Constitution’ headed by Justice Venkatachaliah recommended that “there should be a time-limit — say a period of six months — within which the Governor should take a decision whether to grant assent or to reserve a Bill for consideration of the President.” 
• The Sarkaria Commission suggested that delay can be avoided by streamlining the existing procedures thus by making prior consultation with the Governor at the stage of the drafting of the Bill itself, and by prescribing time limits for its disposal.

Way Forward:

• An unreasonable delay in granting administrative sanction would be violative of the rule of law. Therefore, it implies that the Governor will have to grant assent or decline the same within a ‘reasonable time’. 
• The Supreme Court in a case on anti-defection law held that the Speaker must act on disqualification petitions against the defecting MLAs within a ‘reasonable time’. 
  • It clarified in the same judgement that reasonable time is three months in the case of disqualification petitions.
• The Constitution should be read contextually to provide a meaning that the Governor must act on the Bills within a reasonable time- three months, in line with the above judgement.

Nut Graf: Giving assent to a Bill passed by the legislature is a part of the legislative process and not of the executive power.  Article 200 of the Indian Constitution has been used to advantage by the Governors of various States to neutralise the entire legislative exercise which obscures the mandate of democratically elected governments.

Category: GOVERNANCE

1. Menace Of Online Gambling

Syllabus: GS-2, Government Policies & Interventions for Development

Mains: Impact of Online Gambling

Context: The Tamil Nadu government’s ordinance to ban online gambling lapsed on November 27, 2022, as the Governor failed to grant assent to the related bill.

Introduction:

• The Tamil Nadu government’s ordinance to ban online gambling lapsed on November 27, 2022, as the Governor failed to grant assent to the related Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Online Gambling and Regulation of Online Games Bill.
• The Governor’s office raised some doubts regarding the and is seeking opinions from legal experts. 
• The governor also met with representatives of the E-Gaming Federation where they highlighted that the Supreme Court and Madras High Court had identified poker and rummy as games of skill.
• The Bill was passed in the Tamil Nadu Assembly earlier on October 19 2022.
• An explanation was sought from the Governor regarding the delay in giving assent to the Bill, and the state government emphasised the need for a law to ban online gambling in the state. 

Impact of Online Gambling:

• Several online games are addictive in nature and when played with monetary stakes may lead to other issues.
• Addicted to virtual games, losing money and falling into a debt trap have resulted in deaths by suicide.
  • As per an official estimate, in the last one and a half years, 32 persons died by suicide and there was one case of murder in Tamil Nadu.
• There have reportedly been a few incidents where young people have committed other crimes including theft and murder due to mounting debt brought on by losses in online games.
• Some experts think that websites that host online games may manipulate them and that it’s possible that users aren’t playing them against other people at all, but rather against computer programmes known as “bots,” meaning that there is no fair chance for a regular user to win.
• The World Health Organisation (WHO) had announced a plan to include “gaming disorder” as a mental health condition.

Laws related to online gaming in India:

• Indian Constitution has enabled the State governments to formulate their own laws and there exists no uniformity among the state laws and these mostly deal with Physical Gambling while Online gambling remains out of the scope.  
  • Betting and gambling can be found in Part II of the State list.
• Section 67 of the Information Technology Act of 2000 vaguely deals with Online Gambling which prohibits online transmission and publication of material that “corrupts” persons.
• Rummy and horse racing have been classified by the courts as games of skill that do not come under the purview of gaming laws
• Gambling is a non-cognisable and bailable offence in India.

Alternative routes:

• Regulation of online games is better than an outright ban as it is already happening in a massive way.
• Niti Aayog submitted a draft report titled ‘Guiding Principles for the Uniform National-Level Regulation of Online Fantasy Sports Platforms in India’, and recommended the formation of a self-regulatory organisation to govern fantasy gaming.
• Government regulation can help in anti-money laundering processes, and bar minors from accessing real money games.
• Keeping in mind the sensitivity and vulnerability of children to advertisements, an aggrieved person can approach the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) if he or she regards any advertisement on online games as misleading.
  • According to Section 21 of the Consumer Protection Act, the CCPA can impose a penalty of up to ₹10 lakh on manufacturers, advertisers and endorsers for any misleading advertisement.
• The State and Union Governments should collaborate to develop specific guidelines in cooperation with industry stakeholders in order to fully realise the potential of the online gaming business.

Nut Graf: The Indian Constitution has enabled the State governments to formulate their own laws regarding online gambling and there exists no uniformity among the state laws. This poor regulation of online gambling has resulted in the loss of lives and revenue. Thus, policymakers must engage with the stakeholders for better policy design and enforcement.

Category: ENVIRONMENT AND BIODIVERSITY

1. Forest rights and heritage conservation

Syllabus: GS-3, Biodiversity conservation – National Guidelines, Legislations & Other Programmes.

Mains: Issues with Forest Rights Act

Context: This article discusses various issues faced by forest dwellers in protected areas.

Introduction: 

• Before recognising areas as world heritage sites, UNESCO seeks the opinion of the inhabitants on the implication of the possible declaration on their lives and livelihoods.
• A recent interaction with different stakeholders in the gram panchayats located close to the world heritage sites in Karnataka shows that an overwhelming majority of the stakeholders were not aware of the process that leads to the declaration of UNESCO heritage sites.
• The primary stakeholders were Scheduled Tribes (STs). Other traditional forest dwellers include Scheduled Castes (SCs), Other Backward Classes, minorities and the general category. 

Forest Rights Act: 

• The Forest Rights Act or the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act deals with the rights of the communities that dwell in the forests (including Scheduled Tribes), over land and other resources, which have been denied to them over the years because of the continuation of forest laws from the colonial era in the country.

Issues with the Forest Rights Act:

• The majority of the forest dwellers claimed land measuring not more than one acre which is nowhere close to the ceiling of four hectares permitted under the Forest Rights Act (FRA). 
• In the case of the STs, the reasons for the rejection of rights under FRA were,
  • fresh encroachments; 
  • the claimants not living on the lands claimed; 
  • claimed lands being on ‘paisari bhoomis’ (wasteland and forest lands which have not been notified as protected forests or reserved forests) or revenue lands; and
  • multiple applications made in a single family. 
• In the case of other traditional forest dwellers, it was mainly failure to produce evidence of dependency and dwelling on forest land for 75 years.
• Most forest dwellers were deprived of basic facilities and other government benefits extended under various schemes and programmes as they don’t possess the ‘Records of Rights, Tenancy and Crops’ that is required along with the title of the land. 

Issues with Protected Areas:

• The people in the villages falling under eco-sensitive zones are experiencing severe restrictions on their entry into the forest. 
  • Development activities like road repair have been stopped. 
  • Normal Farming is not allowed as the use of fertilisers is banned.
  • The people are prohibited from cutting trees falling on their houses to undertake repair work or move the earth.
• The increasing animal insurgency is causing damage to the crops of the farming forest dwellers. 
• Those who don’t have recognition over their lands are not given compensation for the loss. 
• People refuse to ‘re-locate’ on the grounds of their attachment to the land fearing extinction of their culture and religious roots. 

Way forward:

• The government must bring more clarity to the Forest Rights Act to avoid conflicts between the government agencies conserving biodiversity and the people living in the forest for over decades and centuries.
• Forest dwellers willing to live in the forest must be allowed to stay whereas those wanting to experience the fruits of development must be relocated according to their choice of a new place and a suitable package. 
• Declaration of a ‘protected’ area must be done only after consultations with the local population. 

Nut Graf: Democratic and transparent consultations must be done with the relevant stakeholders of the protected areas before the possible declaration of UNESCO heritage sites to achieve the objectives of ensuring the rights of forest dwellers and fulfilling conservation efforts.

Q1. Consider the following statements with respect to Emperor Penguins:  
(Level-Difficult)

Q2. How many of the following schemes/initiatives are exclusively aimed at addressing 
gender imbalance and encouraging women scientists? (Level-Difficult)

Q3. Consider the following statements: (Level-Medium):

Q4. Consider the following statements with respect to the PRASHAD scheme: 
(Level-Medium)

Q5. Which of the following statements is/are correct regarding Smart India Hackathon 
2017? (CSE-PYQ-2017) (Level-Medium)

I. UPSC Mains Practice Questions

1. The Constitution is silent on a timeframe for gubernatorial assent or rejection of a bill. In the light of the statement, explain the relevant provisions of the Constitution and suggest reforms. (250 words, 15 marks) [GS-2, Polity]
2. Why is the online gaming industry booming in India? Discuss the reasons for Tamil Nadu government banning online gambling. (150 words, 10 marks) [GS-2, Governance]

Read the previous CNA here.