20 Nov 2018: UPSC Exam Comprehensive News Analysis

A. GS1 Related

B. GS2 Related

Context

• The Delhi High Court on Monday granted four more weeks to the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) to file its response on a plea raising concerns about the security of Aadhaar data, in the wake of a reported leak of personal information from the UIDAI’s database.
• A bench of justices S. Ravindra Bhat and Prateek Jalan listed the matter for further hearing on February 14 next year after giving more time to UIDAI to respond.PTI

What is Aadhaar?

• The UIDAI allots a unique identifier (Aadhaar Number) to each citizen and deposits their biometric and demographic data in a Central Identities Data Repository (CIDR).
• Aadhaar or Unique Identification Number (UID) is a 12-digit number that serves as a unique identifier for Indian citizens.
• Aadhaar’s database has the records of over 1.12 billion registered users and is rapidly becoming the government’s base for public welfare and citizen services scheme.
• Aadhaar authentication process validates an identity with a ‘yes’ or ‘no’, using one of the six demographic fields (name, date of birth, gender, address, mobile or email) along with either biometrics or One Time Password (OTP).
• The process is designed in such a way that neither the purpose of the transaction nor any other context is known to the Aadhaar system in order to ensure the safety of any transaction.

Security Challenges

• As Aadhaar gained the currency of “proof of identity”, most checkpoints like railways, airports and even protected areas have started using it as a source of identity.
• But in reality, Aadhaar in its physical form is just a plain card and can be downloaded from anywhere or a coloured printout that can be printed and may look as good as the original.
• It does not have a hologram or digital signature but rather a QR (Quick Response) code, which is just an image representation of a text and not a security feature.
• Another flaw in Aadhaar’s security came to the limelight when a random blogger talked about how easy it is to access Aadhaar information with just a basic Google search.
• With the exponential growth in cybercrime, this centralised database may provide valuable information to criminals.
• This might lead to either illegal tracking of individuals or identification without consent.
• Such records may also aid in providing data on the precise location, time and context of the services availed by that individual.
• Moreover, sensitive financial information of individuals and companies may also be exposed through breaches of the UID database or internal collusion.
• In a report by an investigative website, those associated with the Aadhaar project “agreed to make Aadhaar Cards for applicants without any proof of identification or address” for charges ranging from Rs 500 to 2500. The website asserted that almost anyone, “be it Indian or an illegal immigrant can get an Aadhaar Card made without any proof of identity. More importantly, they get an Indian identity.”

• The Supreme Court on Monday said it would hear on November 26 the plea of Zakia Jafri challenging the clean chit given by a Special Investigating Team to Narendra Modi, who was then Gujarat Chief Minister, pertaining to the “larger conspiracy” behind the 2002 post-Godhra riots.
• Jafri, the wife of slain ex-MP Ehsan Jafri, has challenged the October 5, 2017 verdict of the Gujarat High Court dismissing her plea challenging the SIT’s closure report.

Godhra incident of 2002

• According to Hindu mythology, Ayodhya is the birthplace of Lord Rama and therefore it is a sacred place for Hindu religion.
• But in medieval period Mughal general Mir Baqi, built a mosque, named after Mughal ruler Babur. There were disputes since then and riots also took place.
• But in 1990, due to some political mobilisation, there was an atmosphere of protest by Hindu religious groups and in large-scale “Kar Sevaks” visited Ayodhya from all parts of India, in support of demolishing Babri Masjid and building Ram temple there.
• These movements caused a huge amount of bloodshed and since then it is a disputed matter.
• After this, violence was followed by the Godhra incident in 2002, when “Kar Sevaks” returning from Ayodhya in a Sabarmati Express were killed by fire in the coaches of train.
• This act was followed by the extended communal violence in Gujarat. That violence is like black spot in the history of the Gujarat and nation too, as people were killed without any mercy. Hindu and Muslim community became antagonist to each other.

Context

• The Supreme Court on Monday declined to entertain two petitions seeking to take cognisance of statements of sexual harassment made during the #MeToo campaign and prosecution of the accused.
• A Bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices S.K. Kaul and K.M. Joseph said that if there was any cognisable offence, there was a procedure to be followed under the law.
• “The issues highlighted would be considered by the court in the event an aggrieved person moves the court. The writ petition is, therefore, not entertained on the aforesaid ground. The same is, accordingly, dismissed,” the Bench said.

#MeToo movement

• The Me Too movement (or #MeToo movement), with many local and international alternatives, is a movement against sexual harassment and sexual assault.
• #MeToo spread virally in October 2017 as a hashtag used on social media in an attempt to demonstrate the widespread prevalence of sexual assault and harassment, especially in the workplace.
• It followed soon after the sexual misconduct allegations against Harvey Weinstein.
• Tarana Burke, an American social activist and community organizer, began using the phrase “Me Too” as early as 2006, and the phrase was later popularized by American actress Alyssa Milano, on Twitter in 2017.
• Milano encouraged victims of sexual harassment to tweet about it and “give people a sense of the magnitude of the problem”.
• This was met with success that included but was not limited to high-profile posts from several American celebrities, including Gwyneth Paltrow, Ashley Judd, Jennifer Lawrence, and Uma Thurman.

C. GS3 Related

Context

• The tension between the government and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) appeared to have defused for the time being with both agreeing to settle for a middle ground at the end of an over nine-hour board meeting on Monday.
• The most contentious issue between the central bank and the Finance Ministry was the RBI’s capital. Now, while the RBI has agreed to set up an expert committee on the economic capital framework (ECF), its mandate is restricted to future earnings and not the existing reserves.
• “The board decided to constitute an expert committee to examine the ECF, the membership and terms of reference of which will be jointly determined by the Government of India and the RBI,” the central bank said in a statement.
• Sources indicate there were detailed presentations by the RBI on economic capital as well as other issues such as the prompt corrective action (PCA) framework.
• On the PCA, the Board for Financial Supervision (BFS) of the RBI will review the norms and take a call if some of the parameters like net non-performing asset (NPA) ratio could be relaxed so that some of the banks come out of the PCA. There are 11 public sector banks out of 21 that are on the PCA.
• The BFS consists of the Governor, four Deputy Governors and a few other board members. Another significant decision was relief to micro, small and medium enterprises — the sector which is badly hit by the twin blows of demonetisation and patchy implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST).

Economic capital framework

• The concept of economic capital has gained significance especially after the global financial crisis in 2008.
• The crisis exposed many central banks in the world to multiple risks, which forced many of them US Federal Reserve, Bank of England and European Central Bank besides sovereign governments to pump in liquidity, buy securities and expand their balance sheets to boost confidence in the financial system and to ensure that critical institutions did not collapse.
• Economic capital framework refers to the risk capital required by the central bank while taking into account different risks.
• The economic capital framework reflects the capital that an institution requires or needs to hold as a counter against unforeseen risks or events or losses in the future.
• The framework the government is talking about is basically about how much capital RBI needs for its operations and how much of the surplus it should pass on to the government.

Prompt Corrective Action (PCA) framework

• PCA is a process or mechanism to ensure that banks don’t go bust.
• Under it, RBI has put in place some trigger points to assess, monitor, control and take corrective actions on banks which are weak and troubled.
• It was first introduced after global economy incurred huge losses due to failure of financial institutions during 1980s-90s.
• According to latest PCA framework, banks to be placed under it are assessed on three parameters viz. Capital ratios, Asset Quality and Profitability.
• Indicators to be tracked for these three parameters are CRAR (Capital to Risk weighted Assets Ratio)/Common Equity Tier I ratio, Net NPA (non-performing assets) ratio and Return on Assets (RoA) respectively.
• If banks breach of any risk threshold mentioned above, it results in invocation of PCA against them.
• RBI enforces these guidelines to ensure banks do not go bust and follow prompt measures to put their house in order.
• It had tightened its PCA framework in April 2017 to turn around lenders with weak operational and financial metrics,
• Depending on the risk thresholds set in PCA rules, banks placed under it are restricted from expanding number of branches, staff recruitment and increasing size of their loan book.
• Other restrictions include higher provisions for bad loans and disbursal only to those companies whose borrowing is above investment grades.

Non Performing Assets (NPA)

• The assets of the banks which don’t perform (that is – don’t bring any return) are called Non Performing Assets (NPA) or bad loans. Bank’s assets are the loans and advances given to customers. If customers don’t pay either interest or part of principal or both, the loan turns into a bad loan.
• According to RBI, terms loans on which interest or installment of principal remains overdue for a period of more than 90 days from the end of a particular quarter is called a Non-performing Asset.
• However, in terms of Agriculture / Farm Loans; the NPA is defined as – For short duration crop agriculture loans such as paddy, Jowar, Bajra etc. if the loan (installment/interest) is not paid for 2 crop seasons, it would be termed as an NPA. For Long Duration Crops, the above would be 1 Crop season from the due date.

Context

• The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has asked the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) to consider declaring all elephant corridors in India as eco-sensitive zones.
• Following a plea that sought legal recognition for elephant reserves and corridors in the State of Assam, a Bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel said, “After hearing the matter for some time, it was noted by us that the issue of elephant corridors has been raised by different applicants and various judgments have also been passed by the Tribunal. Therefore, we direct the MoEF&CC to look into this aspect in a broader perspective and also to have a permanent solution.”
• The NGT was hearing a plea moved by Assam resident Pradip Kumar Bhuyan on the increasing number of unnatural elephant deaths taking place in the State.

National Green Tribunal

• The National Green Tribunal has been established in 2010 under the National Green Tribunal Act 2010.
• It draws inspiration from India’s constitutional provision of Article 21, which assures the citizens of India the right to a healthy environment.
• It aims for effective and expeditious disposal of cases relating to environmental protection and conservation of forests and other natural resources including enforcement of any legal right relating to the environment and giving relief and compensation for damages to persons and property and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.
• It has Original Jurisdiction on matters of “substantial question relating to environment” and & “damage to the environment due to specific activity” (such as pollution).

Principles of Justice adopted by NGT

• The NGT is not bound by the procedure laid down under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, but shall be guided by principles of natural justice.
• NGT is also not bound by the rules of evidence as enshrined in the Indian Evidence Act, 1872. Thus, it will be relatively easier for conservation groups to present facts and issues before the NGT, including pointing out technical flaws in a project, or proposing alternatives that could minimize environmental damage but which have not been considered.
• While passing Orders/decisions/awards, the NGT will apply the principles of sustainable development, the precautionary principle and the polluter pays principles.

D. GS4 Related

E. Editorials

What’s in the news?

This opinion section focuses on the point that a  discussion on the kind of judges that India needs should animate our public debates.

Historical Background:

• • In the year 1973, at the peak of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s move towards securing a “committed judiciary”, the then Minister of Steel and Mines, S. Mohan Kumaramangalam, offered a defence of the government.
  • S. Mohan Kumaramangalam had made speeches both in Parliament and outside. He had also published a number of writings.
  • Through this, Kumaramangalam asserted the virtues of what he thought was a legitimate policy.

• He wrote, invoking the words of the great U.S. judge Benjamin Cardozo, for any government, “to examine the ‘philosophy’, the ‘outlook on life’, and the ‘conception of social needs’ of a proposed appointee” to the higher judiciary.

• In choosing persons for the Supreme Court, in particular, he believed, it was necessary to assess a judge’s outlook on “broad matters of the State,” and “on the crucial socio-economic matters” that concerned the nation.
• Nani Palkhivala’s observations are also important to take note of.
• Nani Palkhivala described it, the policy was really an effort at creating a judiciary that would be “made to measure”, that would bend to accommodate the government’s whims and caprices.  

Editorial Analysis:

• • It is important to note that the Constitution of India provides, in broad terms, that judges to the Supreme Court would be appointed by the President in consultation with the Chief Justice of India (CJI) and such other judges that he deems fit.

• However, through a series of rulings the Supreme Court replaced the consultative method prescribed by the Constitution with one that gave the CJI and his four senior-most colleagues (the “Collegium”) primacy in selecting candidates.

• But this system has proven to be opaque.

A note on what the critics say:

• Critics point out that the procedure adopted in appointing judges is seen as entirely divorced from the ordinary constraints of a democracy.
• They add that this wasn’t quite how the Constituent Assembly saw things. The framers believed that the judiciary was integral to the social revolution that the Constitution was meant to usher in.
• They, therefore, as Granville Austin wrote, “went to great lengths to ensure that the courts would be independent, devoting more hours of debate to this subject than to almost any other aspect of the provisions.”

A Look at Constitutional Safeguards towards the Judiciary:

• The Constitution comprises a number of special clauses.
  It provides for, among other things,

1. a fixed tenure for judges of the Supreme Court and the High Courts;
2. ensures that salaries and allowances of judges are charged directly to the Consolidated Fund of India;
3. confers powers on the courts to punish for contempt of themselves;
4. and, importantly, ensures that judges can only be removed through a process of parliamentary impeachment.

However, much as these provisions aim to ensure that the judiciary remains ensconced from governmental interference, the framers always believed that the power to appoint judges must vest with the executive.

Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record Association v. Union of India (2015):

• It is important to note what the Supreme Court had observed in the Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record Association v. Union of India (2015).

• The primacy enjoyed by the collegium in making appointments to the higher judiciary, the court declared, was a part of the Constitution’s basic structure.

• Also, in this case, the court struck down the 99th constitutional amendment.

Situation Post the Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record Association v. Union of India (2015):

• Even after the Court’s ruling in the Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record Association v. Union of India (2015) case,  the court nonetheless promised to look into the prevailing system and reform it from within.
• However, experts point out that even three years later, we’ve seen little in the way of tangible change.
• They point out that the problems inherent in the present system are evident even from a bare reading of the collegium’s decision, published on October 30, 2018.
• The collegium’s decision endorses the new designees to the Supreme Court. This reads as follows:

“While recommending the name of Mr. Justices Hemant Gupta, R. Subhash Reddy, Mukeshkumar Rasikbhai Shah, and Ajay Rastogi, the Collegium has taken into consideration combined seniority on all-India basis of Chief Justices and senior puisne Judges of High Courts, apart from their merit and integrity. The Collegium has also kept in mind, while recommending the above names, that the High Courts of Punjab & Haryana, Gujarat and Rajasthan have remained unrepresented in the Supreme Court since long.”

A Critical Look:

• • The report does state the candidates’ merit was also considered.
  • However, given that the criteria for selection is entirely unknown, what ‘merit’ means remains ambiguous, at best.
  • In any event, the general constitutional values of a nominee have never been seen as a benchmark to review merit.

• Such discussions, on the other hand, are seen as offensive to judicial integrity, as a yardstick that ought to be extraneous to any selection made.

• All of this still begs the question: even assuming the collegium did, in fact, discuss the constitutional philosophies of the various choices before it, ought we to leave it to our judges to select their own colleagues and successors?

• Should not a discussion on the kind of judges that India needs animate our public and political debates?

Concluding Remarks:

• • In conclusion, the NJAC may well have been hastily pushed through.
  • However, critics point out that if the publication of the collegium’s decisions has shown us anything, it is this: that the collegium’s workings are mysterious and undemocratic.
  • Experts argue that what we need today is a more sustained discussion on the nature and workings of a body that can potentially replace the collegium.
  • Such a body must be independent from the executive, but, at the same time, must be subject to greater transparency and accountability.

• This commission must also partake within it a facility for its members to have forthright discussions over the constitutional philosophies that a judge must possess.

• Finally, if we fail to bring these issues to the forefront, the rigours of democracy will never permeate into the judiciary, and we will only be further undermining public trust in the credibility of judicial review.
• It is also important to note that judicial review gains its legitimacy from the Constitution. But given that judges are unelected officials, won’t its continuing legitimacy be at stake if we deem it undemocratic to so much as wonder what the constitutional philosophy of a nominee might be? Should we dismiss all claims for democratic accountability in the appointment process by harking back to the dark days of the Emergency?

Category: INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

1. Maldivian reprieve (India- Maldives Relations; India and her Neighbourhood)

Question 1. The Government enacted the Panchayat Extension to Scheduled Areas (PESA) Act in 1996.
Which one of the following is not identified as its objective?

Question 2. Which of the following is/are incorrect regarding the Swadesh Darshan Scheme?

Question 3. Consider the following statements with reference to Financial Stability and
Development Council (FSDC):