CNA 8 Feb 2020:- Download PDF Here
TABLE OF CONTENTS
A. GS 1 Related SOCIAL ISSUES 1. Include gender bias in scope of law to curb sexual harassment B. GS 2 Related INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS 1. Trade deal before Trump visit not a given C. GS 3 Related ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY 1. Habitat loss felled leopards 2. Meghalaya to conduct special programme for granting coal mining licence INTERNAL SECURITY 1. Credit, debit card details of 4 lakh Indians up for sale ECONOMY 1. Govt. mulls enhancing audit independence, accountability D. GS 4 Related E. Editorials POLITY 1. ‘Unparliamentary’ — What MPs cannot say in the House 2. Upholding the fairness of the sentencing process 3. Extended folly: On invocation of PSA against Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti ECONOMY 1. The high cost of raising trade walls F. Tidbits 1. Tribal traditions should continue, says Tamilisai 2. Tourists shun S-E Asia as nCoV spreads G. Prelims Facts 1. Upgraded 155mm artillery gun handed over to Army 2. Green light for HAL copter H. UPSC Prelims Practice Questions I. UPSC Mains Practice Questions
A. GS 1 Related
1. Include gender bias in scope of law to curb sexual harassment
Context:
Rajya Sabha proceedings.
Background:
- The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) 2013 Act provides a mechanism for protection against sexual harassment in the workplace and for the redressal of complaints of sexual harassment in private institutions and government organizations.
- However, there is no legislation that explicitly prevents or helps redress gender bias, harassment and discrimination.
- The Economic Survey of 2020 has noted with concern that the female labour force’s participation in India has dropped from 33% in 2011-12 to 25.3% in 2017-18. A possible cause of this low participation might be attributed to the difficulties faced by women in work environments.
Details:
- There has been a notable suggestion during the ongoing session of the Rajya Sabha with respect to women in workplaces.
- The suggestion is with regard to widening of the scope of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act to include gender bias.
- Gender bias refers to discriminatory acts against women that may not be of a sexual nature.
- Gender bias can take the form of humiliation, exclusion from important tasks, removal of responsibilities and withholding of resources through which their promotions are prevented.
- The suggestion calls for the Ministry of Women and Child Development to include a new provision in the Act to help prevent harassment and discrimination stemming from gender bias.
- Another important improvement can be the inclusion of an NGO member in the Internal Complaint Committees (ICC) and ensuring that half the members of ICC are women.
B. GS 2 Related
Category: INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
1. Trade deal before Trump visit not a given
Context:
Trade deal negotiations between India and the U.S.
Background:
U.S. concerns:
- The U.S. industry lobbies and officials have repeatedly complained about high tariffs in India.
- The U.S. wants India to remove price caps on medical devices and wants a deal on dairy products and the elimination of tariffs on ICT products.
Indian concerns:
- The U.S. had revoked India’s Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) benefits in June 2019, on grounds of inadequate market access for U.S. based goods in India.
- As part of a comprehensive trade deal, India and the U.S. have been engaged in talks over restoring India’s benefits under the U.S.’s preferential trade system, the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP).
India’s Union budget:
- The U.S. negotiators are said to be disappointed about the tariffs announced in the Union Budget, particularly the import cess on medical devices.
- Currently, duties on medical devices are in the 0-7.5% range. The budget has proposed a health cess of 5% on medical devices (except those exempt from basic customs duty).
- The health cess is aimed to help local manufacturers by providing pricing advantage as compared to imported goods.
- The health cess will provide a source of funds to help finance health infrastructure, which is said to be facing a shortage of funds.
- The budget has also announced a customs duty increase on a number of agricultural goods, including walnuts (kernels) and some dairy products like cheese and butter, which constitute a major share of U.S. exports to India.
- The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is said to be concerned about the new tariffs, fees and cesses introduced in the Indian budget.
- These new tariffs cover a wide variety of agricultural goods, medical devices, automobile parts, electronics, and electric vehicles.
- The U.S.-India Business Council (USIBC) and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce have long argued that tariffs raise prices for consumers and create friction with trade partners, ultimately inhibiting economic growth for both economies.
Details:
- The U.S. President is expected to visit India in late February 2020.
- With gaps remaining between the positions of India and the U.S. in talks over a trade deal, there are growing doubts on whether a deal can be reached prior to the U.S. President’s visit to India.
C. GS 3 Related
Category: ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY
1. Habitat loss felled leopards
Context:
Scientific study on Leopards.
Details:
- A scientific study on the genetic analysis of leopards (Panthera pardus fusca) across the Indian subcontinent was conducted by scientists from the Centre for Wildlife Studies (CWS India) and the Wildlife Institute of India (WII).
- The genetic data from leopards were used to investigate population structure and patterns of decline.
- Genetic analyses showed four sub-populations — Western Ghats, Deccan Plateau-Semi Arid, Shivalik and Terai region with high genetic variation.
- The study involved a probe into the demographic history of each sub-population and compared the genetic decline analysis with countrywide local extinction probabilities.
Concerns:
- Worryingly, the leopard population, perceived to be stable due to broad geographic distribution, may have suffered a possibly human-induced population decline of 75% to 90% in the last 120 to 200 years. This decline marks a catastrophic decline.
- The major factors that have contributed to this decline are mostly due to human activities:
- Conflicts with humans
- Habitat loss and the subsequent decline in the availability of prey.
- Poaching
Way forward:
- The population decline in a species seen as wide-ranging and locally abundant suggests that leopards and their conservation efforts need urgent attention. An initiative similar to ‘Project Tiger’ is required for leopards also.
2. Meghalaya to conduct special programme for granting coal mining licence
Context:
Meghalaya’s Directorate of Mineral Resources granting coal mining licence.
Background:
- The National Green Tribunal had banned ecologically unsafe and hazardous rat-hole coal mining in Meghalaya.
- However, mine owners continued extracting coal illegally until a mishap in one of these mines killed at least 17 people in December 2018.
- According to the government’s claims, Meghalaya used to earn an average of Rs.600 crores from coal trade annually before the ban was imposed. The ban had led to economic losses for the state and had an adverse impact on the local population’s employment opportunities.
- The state government has been seeking resumption of mining in a “scientific manner”, which would ensure ecological sustainability.
- The Supreme Court through its order had asked the state government to facilitate systematic, safe, scientific and planned utilization of mineral resources and to streamline mineral-based development of the State.
Details:
- In pursuance of the SC order, Meghalaya’s Directorate of Mineral Resources would be conducting an orientation and sensitization programme for all coal mine owners in East Jaintia Hills district.
- This programme would involve granting of prospecting licence, preparation of a geological report and feasibility study on resuming mining in the state.
- The granting of the mining lease would be under scientific coal mining plan according to the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957, and the Mineral Concession Rules, 1960.
1. Credit, debit card details of 4 lakh Indians up for sale
Context:
Revelations by the Singapore-based cybersecurity company, Group-IB.
Details:
- A total of 4,61,976 card payment details has been put up for sale on Joker’s Stash, one of the most secretive portals on the darknet for buying such information.
- 98% of this sensitive credit and debit card details are of Indian customers.
Modus operandi:
- The data is suspected to have been collected from phishing rackets, which are on the rise in India over the last few years. Apart from phishing, malware or JavaScript sniffers could also have been used to amass the bank card data.
- Phishing is a fraudulent attempt to obtain sensitive information such as usernames, passwords, and credit card details by disguising oneself as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication.
- Malware is any software, intentionally designed to cause damage to a computer, server, client, or computer network. A type of these malware includes spyware which is a software that aims to gather information about a person or organization, without their knowledge and sends such information to another entity without the consumer’s consent.
- JavaScript or JS-Sniffers are programmes used for stealing credit and debit card information from e-commerce websites.
Concerns:
Growing sophistication:
- Previously, the type of information leak included information contained in the card’s magnetic stripe often referred to as card dumps, which generally used to be stolen through the compromise of offline POS terminals.
- The new leaked details are comprehensive in nature and include card numbers, expiration dates, CVV/CVC codes and, in this case, some additional information such as cardholders’ full names, their emails, phone numbers and addresses. This is referred to as fullz.
Increasing frequency:
- The recent revelation is the second major leak of cards relating to Indian banks detected by Group-IB Threat Intelligence team in the past several months.
- In October 2019, Group-IB Threat Intelligence team had detected the first such database of over 1.3 million credit and debit card records, mostly of Indian customers.
Way forward:
Short term measures:
- With the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) having been alerted about the stolen data being offered for sale on the darknet, there is the need for necessary steps to prevent misuse of the data.
- The administration is likely to issue an advisory in this regard.
Long term measures:
- With increasing digitization and the growing frequency, sophistication, and threat of cybersecurity, there is a need for some long term measures.
- This should include deterrent legislation, user training, better public awareness, and technical security measures that frequently exploit weaknesses in current web security.
1. Govt. mulls enhancing audit independence, accountability
Context:
- Government’s consultation paper on proposed legal changes and amendments to existing regulations to enhance independence and accountability of auditors.
Background:
- Lately, there have been many instances of auditors and auditing entities coming under the regulatory lens for alleged misdoings and going against the provisions of the companies act.
- The Corporate Affairs Ministry is responsible for implementing the Companies Act.
Details:
- The government has come out with a consultation paper on proposed legal changes regarding auditing in India. It has called for suggestions on the major issues relevant to auditing in India.
- The major aspects discussed in the paper involve the following:
Independence of auditors:
- The paper has suggestions for curbing five “threats” for the independence of auditors. The threats pertain to self-interest, self-review, advocacy, familiarity, and intimidation.
Curbing economic concentration of the “Big Four” audit firms :
- PWC, Deloitte, EY, and KPMG are generally referred to as the ‘Big Four’, which operate in India through a network of local chartered accountants firms.
- There is a need to review whether the number of audits under one audit firm or auditor needs to be reduced. This would limit the concentration of business in the hands of a few firms and help create a level playing field.
Homegrown Indian firms:
- The paper discusses the need to build the capacity of home-grown Indian firms that will be at par with global organizations in terms of audit procedures and manpower capacity.
Other suggestions:
- Inspection of audit engagements would help increase transparency in the domain of auditing.
- The development of a ‘Composite Audit Quality Index’ would help improve the accountability of auditors and audit firms.
D. GS 4 Related
Nothing here for today!!!
E. Editorials
1. ‘Unparliamentary’ — What MPs cannot say in the House
Context
- Parliament has witnessed heated arguments. This has brought back questions of what is “unparliamentary” speech and conduct.
What is Unparliamentary language?
Debates and discussions are the essence of Parliamentary democracy. The Members of Parliament (MPs) and the Members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs) have the right to put across their views with respect to a law or a policy. But there are rules that are laid to prevent Legislator from using offensive and aggressive words.
Words and statements that are contrary to rules, regulations placed by the Parliament and the state Legislature that are deemed inappropriate are called “Unparliamentary Language”.
- The Presiding Officers — Speaker of Lok Sabha and Chairperson of Rajya Sabha — have the job of keeping these bad words out of Parliament’s records.
Example
The Lok Sabha Secretariat has brought out report titled ‘Unparliamentary Expressions’. The list contains several words and expressions that would probably be considered rude or offensive in most cultures; however, it also has stuff that is likely to be thought of as being fairly harmless or innocuous.
The state legislatures too are guided mainly by the same book, which also draws heavily from unparliamentary words and phrases used in the Vidhan Sabhas and Vidhan Parishads of India.
- If the Presiding Officer is a “lady”, no MP can address her as “beloved Chairperson”.
- Among the words and phrases that have been deemed unparliamentary are “scumbag”, “shit”, “badmashi”, “bad” (as in “An MP is a bad man”), and “bandicoot”.
- The government or another MP cannot be accused of “bluffing”, “bribe”, “blackmail”, “bribery”; “thief”, “thieves”, “dacoits”, “bucket of shit”, “damn”, “deceive”, “degrade”, and “darling”, are all unparliamentary.
- The government can’t be called “andhi-goongi”, or one of “Ali Baba aur 40 chor”. An illiterate MP can’t be called “angootha chhaap”, and it is unparliamentary to suggest that a member should be sent to the “ajayabghar” (museum).
Constitutional Angle
Article 105 (2) of the Constitution of India provides that no member of Parliament shall be liable to any proceedings in any court in respect of anything said by the member in the Parliament or any committee thereof. What they say is subject only to the discipline of the Rules of Parliament, the good sense of the members and the control of proceedings by the Speaker.
- Freedom of speech enjoyed by members in Parliament may thus be said to be absolute; however, it does not give unrestricted freedom to a member to say anything against any individual or to use defamatory or indecent or undignified or unparliamentary words.
Power to expunge defamatory, indecent or unparliamentary words
- Under Rule 380 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Lok Sabha, the Speaker is vested with the power to order expunction of words which, in the opinion of the Speaker, are defamatory or indecent or unparliamentary or undignified from the proceedings of the House.
- Similarly, the Speaker may order expunction of words which are defamatory or insinuator in nature or levels allegation against a high dignitary or authority or organization.
Why are these rules important?
- It is required so as maintain decency and dignity of the house
- It helps one to focus on real issues at hand and not target other legislators personally leading to ruckus in the house, disrupting the functioning of the house.
- Offensive, provocative or threatening language in the House could be strictly forbidden
Conclusion
- Words which may seem unparliamentary today may not be considered so in the near future. Codification thus may prove impractical as this has to be decided on a case to case basis depending on the context.
- If the presiding officer decides that words are indeed offensive suitable action as prescribed by law has to be initiated.
2. Upholding the fairness of the sentencing process
Introduction
- This article discusses the manner in which public opinion and “society’s cry for justice” have played a huge role in the sentencing process at the trial as well as appellate levels of the judiciary, and the implications of this on the fair trial rights of the convicts.
Bachan Singh v/s State of Punjab
- A Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court in Bachan Singh v/s State of Punjab (1980) said, while imposing Capital Punishment on the offender the courts should consider the aggravating and mitigating circumstances of the offence and the offender when deciding the question of punishment.
- Aggravating circumstances refers to factors that increases the severity or culpability of a criminal act.
- Heinous nature of Crime, brutal Killing of people, prior convictions of the accused, pre-planned cold blood murder.
- A mitigating factor is the opposite of an aggravating circumstance, as a mitigating factor provides reasons as to why punishment for a criminal act’s ought to be lessened.
- Not a pre-planned murder, act of crime committed in sudden rage and no criminal past of the accused.
- Death penalty could be imposed as a last option only when the court feels it would be travesty of Justice if death penalty is not awarded.
- The death sentence can only be imposed in exceptional cases involving extreme culpability.
- Aggravating circumstances refers to factors that increases the severity or culpability of a criminal act.
Trail and High court Judgment in Nirbhaya case
- The trial court commented upon the “extreme mental perversion of the accused”, which was “not worthy of human condonation” and also reiterated elements of the crime to highlight their “beastly behaviour”.
- The High Court elaborately discussed the exceptional nature of this case given the brutality involved to conclude that expecting society to demand anything other than the death penalty for the convicts would be “unnatural and ludicrous”.
- A plain reading of the sentencing orders makes it very clear that the public clamour for “hanging the rapists” made its way into the judicial decision-making.
Irrespective of the brutal nature of the crime, the circumstances of the convicts are crucial to the sentencing exercise and have to inform the punitive outcome. Recognising these deficiencies in the sentencing hearings by lower courts, the Supreme Court took it upon itself to appreciate mitigating evidence.
- The Court allowed defence counsels access to the convicts and directed the defence counsel to file “necessary separate affidavits and documents on mitigating circumstances”.
- The evidence on mitigation that was presented before the Court in the form of affidavits included material on the socio-economic circumstances of the convicts, their family background and some information on their previous occupation.
- The uncanny similarity between the mitigation affidavits of the defendants is itself a matter of concern, as it does not meaningfully present individual circumstances of the convicts, raising questions about the quality of legal representation.
- However, of graver concern is the manner in which the court dismissed these circumstances as irrelevant, given the circumstances of the crime in the case.
Why life imprisonment as an option was not considered?
- Confirming the death sentences for all, two concurring opinions remarked that the crime was bound to “shock the collective conscience” and any punishment lesser than the death penalty would “shake the confidence of the public” in the criminal justice system.
- After an unreasoned dismissal of individual circumstances of the convicts, the Supreme Court also failed to sufficiently answer why life imprisonment was unquestionably foreclosed.
- The Court failed to discharge any of these burdens.
- At its core, imposition of death sentence to satisfy “collective conscience” is vengeance couched as retributive justice, captured by the phrase “an eye for an eye”.
- Modern penal systems consider this an outmoded concept, and even Bachan Singh had observed that retributive justice means punishment based on blameworthiness of the convict, and cannot be equated to “vindictiveness” (revenge).
- However, the judgments in this case indicate a strong influence of collective conscience on the outcome.
- In fact, the Supreme Court’s approach suggests that society’s cry for the death penalty justifies the imposition of the death penalty, without adequately dealing with the question of life imprisonment.
Conclusion
- The execution of the four convicts after exhaustion of their legal remedies may give their case a semblance of due process.
- While the public has very little patience to appreciate such nuances of the law, courts are duty-bound to maintain a high degree of fidelity to these processes.
3. Extended folly: On invocation of PSA against Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti
This topic has been covered in 17th September 2019 Comprehensive News Analysis. Click here to read.
1. The high cost of raising trade walls
Introduction
India has recently sent out two indications which reflects, it turning inward and becoming protectionist.
- One, recent steps taken in the Budget
- The Finance Minister spoke about the problems with Free Trade Agreements and Preferential Trade Agreements (FTAs and PTAs).
- Tariffs on the import of more than 50 items were raised, and the Customs Act provisions were suitably amended to penalize imports suspected to originate from third countries.
- The decision was taken to keep a check on growing imports which would have negative impact on Indian domestic Sector.
- The Government through this move intends to devise stringent checks on the import.
- Two, India did not attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-led Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) trade agreement meeting held at Bali.
- The government says it will now review all those agreements, in particular Trade Agreements (TAs) signed with the 10-nation ASEAN grouping, Japan (Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, or CEPA) and South Korea (CEPA), and wants to “correct asymmetry” in negotiations with new partners.
Bilateral and multilateral Agreements
- With India’s absence in the Bali meeting, it has sent a clear signal that it does not want to engage on the multilateral front but deal with countries bilaterally.
- But for other countries, since they are part of multilateral grouping, any bilateral meeting with India could take place only after the multilateral process is completed. This also means that the other countries may not offer anything substantial on the bilateral level to India as they would be bound by multilateral RCEP agreement.
- India and Australia began Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) talks in 2011 but negotiations since then has not reached any consensus.
- India-United Kingdom have initiated the FTA talks too. However, it is unlikely that the U.K. will actually be able to proceed with a dialog until U.K.’s full withdrawal from the European Union (EU) is completed.
- India’s talks with the EU for a Bilateral Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA) is unlikely to make much headway.
The motive may be to protect Indian markets from dumping but the consequence of the changes will put Indian importers on notice and discourage imports in general.
Should Government reconsider its decision?
- The government has invoked the massive $57-billion trade deficit with China to explain protectionist measures, but it forgets its own trade surpluses with smaller economies, particularly in the neighbourhood, where Indian exports form more than 80% of total trade with Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Sri Lanka, respectively.
- The world is now divided into regional FTAs, including
- the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) for North America,
- the Southern Common Market (MERCOSUR for its Spanish initials) for South America,
- the Eurasian Economic Union (Russia and neighbours), the EU,
- the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA),
- the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) FTA in West Asia, and
- The biggest of them all, RCEP, which minus India, represents a third of the world’s population and just under a third of its GDP.
- With the door to RCEP all but closed, and the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) virtually abandoned, India is not a part of any regional FTA.
- The trend across the world does not favor trade in services the way it does in goods, as most countries have turned migration-averse. India’s strength in the services sector and its demand for more mobility for Indian employees, is thus becoming another sticky point in FTA negotiations.
- The debate over trade is as much about India’s leadership ambitions in the world, and the factors that could inhibit its rise. It would be hard to argue that India can rise in Asia without closer trade links with the East or the backing of South Asia.
Conclusion
- India’s demographic might is certainly attractive for international investors, but only if that vast market has purchasing power and is not riven by social unrest and instability.
- Historically, the decline of colonial powers and more ancient empires can be traced to times when they turned inward and disengaged from foreign trade.
- Therefore in this modern, economically interconnected and technologically inseparable world, India should have an open mind on trade.
F. Tidbits
1. Tribal traditions should continue, says Tamilisai
- Medaram village in Telangana is hosting the Sammakka-Sarakka Jatara, which is essentially a tribal festival.
- The festival is being attended by lakhs of devotees from Telangana and other States, including Chattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, and Maharashtra.
2. Tourists shun S-E Asia as nCoV spreads
- The novel coronavirus (nCoV) outbreak and its rapid spread to different countries has resulted in a close to 50% fall in travel demand to South-East Asia from India as well as in-bound visitors to Kerala. Passengers seem to be shifting to alternate international destinations.
- Inbound tourism has also taken a hit as India has cancelled visas of all Chinese nationals as well as other foreigners planning a trip from China.
G. Prelims Facts
1. Upgraded 155mm artillery gun handed over to Army
- The Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) has handed over Sharang, the first 130mm M-46 artillery gun upgraded to 155mm to the Indian Army. The gun’s range has now increased from 27km to over 36km with the upgrade.
- The Army inducted its first modern artillery guns system in November 2018.
- M-777 Ultra-Light Howitzers (ULH) from the U.S.
- K9 Vajra-T self-propelled artillery guns.
- The Army has also in service Bofors 155mm guns.
- The 155mm Dhanush towed gun system, developed based on the Bofors guns, is under induction.
- The indigenous Light Utility Helicopter (LUH) being developed by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) has received the Initial Operational Clearance (IOC).
- The LUH is a 3-ton class helicopter is meant for reconnaissance and surveillance roles.
- The choppers will replace the aging Cheetah and Chetak helicopters along with the Russian Ka-226T helicopters.
- The Defexpo 2020 has witnessed the signing of about 200 Memoranda of Understanding, technology transfer agreements and product launches.
H. UPSC Prelims Practice Questions
Q1. Which of the following statement/s is/are correct?
- M-STrIPES is a software- based monitoring system launched by The National Tiger Conservation Authority.
- The National Tiger Conservation Authority is set up under the Chairmanship of the Minister for Environment and Forests.
Options:
a. 1 only
b. 2 only
c. Both 1 and 2
d. Neither 1 nor 2
Q2. Which of the following statement/s is/are correct?
- The Mines and Minerals (Regulation and Development) Act (1957) is applicable to all minerals except minor minerals and atomic minerals.
- Mining of minor minerals comes under the purview of the State Governments.
Options:
a. 1 only
b. 2 only
c. Both 1 and 2
d. Neither 1 nor 2
See
Q3. Which of the following is not a part of the artillery unit of the Indian Army?
a. Sharang
b. K9- Vajra
c. Dhanush
d. Rustom
See
Q4. Sammakka-Saralamma Jatara is held in which of the following states?
a. Telangana
b. Andhra Pradesh
c. Karnataka
d. Chattisgarh
See
I. UPSC Mains Practice Questions
- Discuss India’s cyber security challenges and the salient features of the National Cyber Security Policy, 2013. (10 marks, 150 words)
- In the backdrop of U.S. – India Trade deal negotiations, discuss the major concerns of the two countries. Analyze the potential of a U.S. – India trade deal. (10 marks, 150 words)
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CNA 8 Feb 2020:- Download PDF Here
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