22 Jun 2020: UPSC Exam Comprehensive News Analysis

B. GS 2 Related

Category: POLITY AND GOVERNANCE

1. Secrecy of ballot is key to free and fair elections: SC

Context:

• Supreme Court judgment on rule of secrecy of ballot.

Background:

The case details:

• During the voting of a no-confidence motion in the zila panchayat of the Panchayat Adhyaksha in Uttar Pradesh in 2018, it was found that some of the panchayat members had violated the rule of secrecy of ballot. The Panchayat members had either displayed the ballot papers or by their conduct revealed the manner in which they had voted.
• This was challenged in the Allahabad High Court, which had annulled the vote of no confidence. This judgment of the Allahabad High Court was challenged in the Supreme Court.

Details:

• The Supreme Court has ordered a re-vote of the motion within the next two months to be conducted by the secret ballot system. It ordered the Allahabad District Judge or his nominee to act as the presiding officer.
• The Supreme Court referred to Section 28(8) of the Uttar Pradesh Kshettra Panchayat and Zila Panchayat Adhiniyam, 1961. This provision states that a motion of no confidence shall be put to vote in the prescribed manner by secret ballot.
• Section 94 of the Representation of the People Act also upholds the privilege of the voter to maintain confidentiality about her choice of vote.

Important observations:

• In its judgment, the Supreme Court has made some important observations.

Free and fair elections:

• The Court noted that even a remote or distinct possibility that a voter can be forced to disclose for whom she has voted would act as a positive constraint and a check on the freedom to exercise of franchise.
• The Court held that the choice of a voter should be free and the secret ballot system in a democracy ensures it. It held the secrecy of ballot as the cornerstone of free and fair elections and the principle of secrecy of ballots as an important postulate of constitutional democracy.

Voters’ privilege:

• The Supreme Court judgment notes that a voter can also voluntarily waive the privilege of non-disclosure. The privilege of secrecy ends when the voter decides to waive the privilege and instead volunteers to disclose as to whom she had voted. No one can prevent a voter from doing so. Nor can a complaint be entertained on this disclosure.

E. Editorials

Category: INTERNAL SECURITY

1. India’s continuing two-front conundrum

Context:

• The author analyzes the threat of two-front war for India and examines the past precedents for India.

Background:

• Whenever India has forgotten that it has two geopolitical antagonists and let its guard down, it has paid dearly for it. Conversely, whenever India has accounted for the prospect of a possible threat from both quarters, it has done well. The two obvious examples are the 1962 and 1971 wars.

1962 war:

• In the India-China interactions leading up to the 1962 China-India war, India had demonstrated friendliness without reciprocity and firmness without force.
• In 1962, India’s Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Defence Minister V.K. Krishna Menon had both believed that the threat to India’s security came principally from Pakistan. Despite deteriorating India-China relations in the late-1950s, neither Nehru nor Krishna Menon had contemplated a war between the two countries. And there were no moves to prepare for such a scenario.
• Despite warnings from top military officers regarding the under preparedness of the Indian army, no steps were taken to strengthen it.
• Even despite the deterioration of ties before the 1962 war, there was this immutable belief in the top leadership that Pakistan was the threat, not China.
• India’s complacency and misjudgment in 1962 were not for want of warning signs from China. Indian leaders had apparently convinced themselves that the Chinese would not attack.
• On October 20, 1962, the People’s Liberation Army struck simultaneously, all along the India-China frontier, a move which highlighted the long preparation for the attack. The Chinese had overwhelmed the ill-prepared Indian forces.

1971 war:

• In 1971, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi took account of a possible Chinese move in support of Pakistan. India, therefore, took out an insurance policy in the form of the Treaty of Peace, Friendship and Cooperation between the Government of India and the Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

Details:

Current situation:

• There has been an obsession concerning the threat from Pakistan, together with a degree of complacency vis-à-vis China, in part because the recent stand-offs in Depsang, Chumar, and Doklam were defused.
• The interactions between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping at Wuhan and Mamallapuram further blind-sided those involved in foreign and security policy planning in New Delhi regarding the current move by the Chinese.

China’s strategic objectives:

• India seems to have failed to fully comprehend China’s fundamental strategic objectives regarding India. These strategic goals include:
  • To drive home the point that India is not in the same league as China through localised assaults across the Line of Actual Control (LAC) when India tries to assume a position of equality.
  • Warning India not to actively oppose Chinese designs to dominate the Indo-Pacific region by aligning with the U.S. and its allies — Japan and Australia.
  • To keep India preoccupied with problems in its immediate neighbourhood so that it cannot act as an alternative pole of power to China in the broader Asian region.
  • Supporting Pakistan economically and militarily, including the sharing of nuclear weapons designs, to neutralise India’s conventional power superiority vis-à-vis that country.
• China’s aim, as in 1962, is not primarily to acquire territory, but the real aim seems to force on India a political settlement which will involve India re-orienting its policies to suit the pattern of Chinese global policies.

Conclusion:

Preparing for a two-front war:

• The mistake in 1962 is instructive today — an obsession about Pakistan and a degree of complacency about China. Although circumstances are different today from those in 1962, India continues to face the two-front conundrum.
• China is undoubtedly India’s principal long-term adversary.
• India has to plan to cover all contingencies and remain alive to a “two-front” war.

Well planned policies:

• India must assess its options in a balanced way. While remaining clear-eyed about Chinese intentions, India needs a long-term vision, executed with patience and perseverance.
• An understanding of the Chinese objectives is essential to fashioning a realistic Indian response to China’s aggressive policies in Ladakh and elsewhere along the LAC.
• India’s main strategic goal should be the adoption of carefully calculated policies that neutralise China’s diplomatic and military clout in the Asia-Pacific region without making India appear as a surrogate for other powers and without sacrificing India’s autonomy of decision-making in foreign policy.

Category: SOCIAL ISSUES

1. Fighting a double pandemic

Context:

• There has been a rising tide of gender-based violence during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Details:

• As economies, institutions and social welfare sectors continue to buckle under the strain of the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic crisis, there is a dangerous escalation in the risk millions face from domestic and gender-based violence.
• There has been a surge in numbers of emergency calls to helplines, dramatic increase in Internet searches for support for those affected by domestic violence, and higher numbers of domestic homicides.

Concerns:

• The pandemic crisis has led to an alarming escalation of violence in the home, with women bearing the brunt of the frustration and anger. Women and girls are being abused and isolated.
• A recent study has indicated that around 86% of women who experience domestic violence do not seek help in India. Among the victims who sought help, only very few reached out to relevant authorities like the police, doctors, lawyers or social service organizations. This points towards gross under-reporting.
• Children living in violent homes not only witness violence but may themselves suffer abuse. Violence in the home is one of the most pervasive human rights challenges of our time.
• There is also a strong economic case for addressing gender-based violence given the significant economic costs if we fail to act. Research from the Commonwealth project, ‘The Economic Cost of Violence against Women and Girls’ shows that gender-based violence leads to estimated costs of 4.625% of GDP.

Specific challenges during the pandemic:

• Women often tend to be at a disadvantage during crises.
  • In West Africa, 60% of total deaths in the 2014 Ebola virus outbreak were women. Following the Canterbury earthquake in New Zealand, there was a 53% rise in domestic violence.
• Gender roles and harmful practices including customs such as early and forced marriage limit women’s access to health services.
• Women make up 70% of workers in the health and social care sectors. This makes them vulnerable to COVID infection.
• During the present COVID-19 pandemic, mass school closures are tending to entrench learning gaps between girls and boys, and putting many more girls at risk of sexual exploitation, early pregnancy and early or forced marriage.
• The lockdown has also meant that children are unable to report abuse to a trusted teacher.
• And with restrictions on home visits by police and health workers, violence shelters being converted into health facilities, and courts being forced to close, many victims may find themselves trapped and feeling abandoned.

Way forward:

Policy measures:

• Mitigating the devastating impacts of this hidden pandemic of domestic violence requires strong and concerted action.
• There is a need to ensure that women are at the centre of post-COVID-19 recovery planning. There is the proposal for a UN Declaration on Women and COVID-19 which needs to be supported and passed at the earliest.

Health systems link:

• An important priority must be the provision of basic health care to all individuals and communities free of charge at the point of delivery. All evidence points to a clear link between weak health systems and vulnerabilities to domestic violence.
• Urgent action needs to be taken to ensure that during this COVID-19 pandemic, victims of abuse are able to access the health care they need, including mental health services.

Financial independence:

• The post COVID-19 strategies must include dedicated funding and support for micro, small and medium sized businesses and the informal sector which is predominantly led by women — many of whom need the assurance of financial independence to escape from dangerous domestic situations.

Support mechanism:

• There is a need to implement policy responses and interventions to safeguard victims and those at risk.
• Governments must provide additional resourcing and funding to organisations supporting victims, so they can upscale operations and continue providing services in a safe manner.
• Useful innovations such as virtual hearings and legal advice would allow survivors’ access to justice.

For more information on this issue, refer to:

CNA dated 21 April, 2020

CNA dated 9 April, 2020