19 Oct 2020: UPSC Exam Comprehensive News Analysis

B. GS 2 Related

Category: INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

1. Iran hails lifting of UN arms embargo

Context:

• The UN embargo on arms sales to and from the Islamic Republic of Iran expired recently in line with the 2015 nuclear deal (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action).

Background:

• The U.S. withdrew from the nuclear deal with Iran in 2018 and unilaterally began re-imposing sanctions on Iran.
• The US tried to push for an indefinite arms embargo on Iran but failed to win support from the UN Security Council on this issue.

Details:

• Restrictions on the transfer of arms, related activities and financial services to and from the Islamic Republic of Iran would be progressively terminated. This would allow Iran to procure arms and equipment from any source without any legal restrictions.
• The progressive lifting of the embargo on the sale of conventional arms to Iran marks the normalisation of Iran’s defence cooperation with the world.

US reaction:

• The U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has stated that the U.S. would be using its domestic authorities to sanction any individual or entity that materially contributes to the supply, sale, or transfer of conventional arms to or from Iran.

E. Editorials

Category: NUTRITION

1. No great escape

Context:

• The article analyzes the nutrition challenge in India.

Background:

Poor GHI ranking:

• 2020’s Global Hunger Index (GHI) ranks India 94^th among 107 countries while terming the national nutrition situation as “serious”.
  • The GHI is developed around wasting and stunting (under five), the share of the population with insufficient caloric intake, and child mortality.
• India’s score of 27.2 in the GHI is the worst among BRICS countries, and lower than even countries with much lower per capita incomes like Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal.

Study on food affordability in India:

• The recent findings of the International Food Policy Research Institute scholars show that three out of four rural Indians cannot afford a balanced, nutritious diet.

For more information on this issue, refer to:

CNA dated Oct 18, 2020: ‘76% of rural Indians can’t afford nutritious diet’

NFHS-4 findings:

• The NFHS-4 of 2015-16 found that under-five stunting from chronic undernourishment stood at 38%, and wasting as a result of acute lack of nutrition, at 21%.

Concerns:

• The above observations are evidence of the nutrition challenge that India faces.
• Despite some progress, at a drop of about 10 percentage points in child stunting and wasting as compared to a decade earlier, this rate of decline is not commensurate with the economic growth witnessed in India over the years. India’s poor progress on nutritional indices runs contrary to the strong economic growth witnessed in India over the years.
• The existing deprivation has been aggravated by the pandemic, with food inflation putting pressure on depleted incomes or meagre pensions and savings.
• The measures taken by the centre to eliminate leakages and diversion in the PDS system like the insistence on biometric verification to get supplies could deprive the disabled and the elderly of even cereals.

Way forward:

• There is a need for a revamped PDS.

Increasing reach:

• The benefits of the National Food Security Act must reach everyone. The right to food would be meaningless if it leaves a large section of Indians hungry, stunted and wasted.

Diet diversity:

• There is a need to overcome the false equation between energy calories and nourishing diets.
• PDS should not merely focus on hunger mitigation through cereals, but widen its scope to nourishment through a diverse diet that includes fat, protein and micronutrients. There is a need to pay attention to achieving diet diversity through the PDS.

Focus on high impact interventions:

• There is the need for a radical transformation in the delivery of adequate nutrition especially to women and children to address the issue of hunger, wasting and stunting among children.
• Strengthening the PDS, with a focus on women’s health, would lead to healthier pregnancies, and stronger supplemental nutrition under the ICDS scheme would give children a better chance at all-round development.

Category: ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY

1. The hues in the green tribunal’s resilient journey

Context:

• The 10^th anniversary of the National Green Tribunal (NGT).

Background:

• The high number and complexity of cases with respect to subjects dealt with by the Ministry of Environment and Forests and the inability of the judiciary to deal with such litigations in a time-bound manner had resulted in inordinate delays in several processes related to the Environment Ministry.
• This led to the argument that the enforcement, protection, and adjudication of environmental laws required a specialised and dedicated body giving rise to the National Green Tribunal (NGT).

NGT:

• The NGT is a specialised body set up under the National Green Tribunal Act (2010) for effective and expeditious disposal of cases relating to environmental protection and conservation of forests and other natural resources.
• The Principal Bench of the NGT is in New Delhi. It has regional benches in Pune (West), Bhopal (Central), Chennai (South) and Kolkata (East).
• The tribunal is mandated to make and endeavour for disposal of applications or appeals finally within 6 months of the filing of the same.
• The Chairperson of the NGT is a retired Judge of the Supreme Court. Other judicial members are retired Judges of High Courts. Each bench of the NGT will comprise at least one Judicial Member and one Expert Member.
  • Expert members should have a professional qualification and a minimum of 15 years of experience in the field of environment/forest conservation and related subjects.
• It shall be guided by the principles of sustainable development, the precautionary principle and the polluter pays principle.
• An appeal against order/decision/award of the NGT lies to the Supreme Court, generally within ninety days from the date of communication.
• The NGT deals with the following seven laws related to the environment:
  • The Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974,
  • The Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Cess Act, 1977,
  • The Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980,
  • The Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981,
  • The Environment (Protection) Act, 1986,
  • The Public Liability Insurance Act, 1991 and
  • The Biological Diversity Act, 2002.

Significance:

Track record:

• Over 10 years, the NGT has made a difference to environmental protection. Since its inception, the NGT has helped protect vast areas of forest land, halted polluting construction activities in metros and smaller towns.
• It has penalised errant officials who have turned a blind eye towards enforcing the environmental laws, and held large corporate entities accountable for their polluting activities.
  • NGT can provide relief and compensation to the victims of pollution and other environmental damage and also call for restitution of the environment.
• It has protected the rights of tribal communities and ensured the enforcement of the “polluter pays” principle in letter and spirit.

Technical expertise:

• The fact that the NGT is staffed with environmental experts ensured a better understanding of the cases and subsequently improved the quality of the judgments.

Speedy justice:

• The Tribunal’s dedicated jurisdiction in environmental matters shall provide speedy environmental justice.

Reduced burden on judiciary:

• The NGT has helped reduce the burden of litigation in the higher courts.

Concerns:

• The central government’s move to dilute the criteria for appointments to the NGT and other tribunals could impede the effective functioning of the NGT.
• Two important acts – Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 and Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 have been kept out of NGT’s jurisdiction.
• Without clear cut guidelines on the right to appeal against NGT orders, the NGT decisions are being challenged in higher courts, which has led to the dilution of the advantage that the NGT would reduce the burden on the judiciary and also aid in speedy justice.
• The high level of vacancies is a cause of concern which is impeding the NGT’s ability to deal with the cases in a time bound manner.
• The limited number of regional benches is also a concern.

Category: POLITY AND GOVERNANCE

1. Still awaiting police reform

Context:

• The article analyzes the issue of police reforms in India.

Background:

Recent instances of police excesses:

• Cases of police brutality reported from Madhya Pradesh where a Dalit Ahirwar couple was assaulted by the police and the custodial deaths in Thoothukudi district of Tamil Nadu.
• A gangster, Vikas Dubey, was killed by the Uttar Pradesh police in Kanpur when he allegedly tried to flee from custody. The incident had raised serious questions on whether the law had been subverted.

Prakash Singh case, 2006:

• The National Police Commission (NPC) was set up in 1977 to suggest reforms in the police machinery.
• The NPC submitted eight reports to the Ministry of Home Affairs between 1979 and 1981. The report was not acted upon. Prakash Singh, a retired IPS officer, had filed a PIL in the SC in 1996 demanding the implementation of the NPC’s recommendations.

Concerns:

Non-implementation of SC guidelines:

• Despite clear guidelines provided by the SC under the Prakash Singh case of 2006, there has been lackadaisical implementation.
  • Not all states have constituted a State Security Commission (SSC) and of the States that constituted an SSC, only Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka have made SSC recommendations binding on the state government.
  • Only six states have provided a minimum tenure of two years to the Director-General of Police (DGP).
  • Many states have not implemented a single directive of the Supreme Court.

Politicians-criminals-police nexus:

• This lack of political will seems to be indicative of the politicians-criminals-police nexus.
  • Some politicians and even bureaucrats are known to be corrupt and mired in crime. According to a report by the Association for Democratic Reforms (2018), there were 1,580 MPs and MLAs facing criminal charges.

Way forward:

• Given the lack of political will to implement police reforms, it is for the judiciary to step in and enforce the provisions it had passed.
• The Court has to come down heavily on the States and the Centre to ensure that its directives are not dismissed lightly.

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

Q2. Which of the following are parameters considered in the compilation of the Global 
Hunger Index?

Q3. Which of the following laws does not come under the ambit of the National Green 
Tribunal?

Q4. Which of the following statement/s is/are correct with respect to the National 
Food Security Act?

I. UPSC Mains Practice Questions

1. In light of the many indications of poor nutritional status in India, suggest measures required to overcome this nutrition challenge in India. (10 marks, 150 words)(GS Paper 2/Nutrition)
2. Analyze the performance of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) over the years and evaluate its achievements and shortcomings. (10 marks, 150 words)(GS Paper 3/Environment and Ecology)

Read the previous CNA here.