ANALYST - IAS Score... 2 CurrentANALYST October (1 to 15), 2016 Current With the changing pattern of IAS and preparation methodology, now the aspirant is facing the issue of information

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October (1 to 15), 2016Current ANALYST

Current

With the changing pattern of IAS and preparation methodology,now the aspirant is facing the issue of information overload. Theproper articulation of information is important for penning downone’s thoughts in the Mains answer.

Thus GSSCORE is coming up with “CURRENT ANALYST” – amagazine that provides material on contemporary issues withcomplete analysis.

The material has been designed in lucid and QnA format sothat an aspirant can develop thinking process from Basic toAdvance while reading the topic.

This will enhance the informative and analytical knowledgeof aspirants.

All the best !!!

Objective

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Current ANALYSTOctober (1 to 15), 2016

• Right to Photocopy

• Diseases and Climate Change

• Issues Related to Undertrials in India

• Maternal Health - Janani Suraksha Yojana Pays Dividend

• SAARC and its Relevance

• ETCA: The Strive Towards Rejuvenated Indo-Lanka Trade

• Plan to Widen EPF Coverage

• Analysis of Swachh Bharat Mission

• HIV and AIDS (Prevention and Control) Bill, 2014

• Controversy over Patent Rights of Bt. Cotton

• RBI's new Monetary Policy Committee: To ease ties with Government

• E-Cigarette: Reality of Vaping

• WHO report on TB in India

• National Water Framework Bill, 2016

• Imposing a Trade Embargo on Pakistan

• EU - Google Antitrust Row

• Nobel Prize 2016

ContentsCurrent ANALYST

COVER STORY

5-13SPECIAL ISSUES 14-67

ISRO and its Role inNation Building

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ISRO is acting as one of the pillar of nation building. Further it is acting as theplatform for establishing India's soft power.

ISRO and its Role inNation Building

COVER STORY

Context

ISRO is the space agency of the Government

of Republic of India headquartered in the city of

Bangalore (Karnataka). Its vision is to “harness

space technology for national development”, while

pursuing space science research and planetary

exploration.

The Indian Space Research Organization is

the sixth largest government run space agency in

the world and stands in line with the other leaders

in space research and development such as NASA,

RKA, ESA, CNSA and JAXA.

ISRO has carried out 76 spacecraft missions,

46 launch missions. It has launched 111 satellites

using indigenously developed launch vehicles out

of which 57 are foreign satellites. ISRO has

launched 29 Indian satellites by foreign launch

vehicles too. In October 2015, ISRO had launched

23 foreign satellites from nine different countries

which are: Algeria, Canada, Germany, Indonesia,

Japan, Singapore and the US.

Application of Space for nationaldevelopment

Satellite communication is the use ofartificial satellites to provide communication linksbetween various points on Earth. A satellite isbasically a self-contained communications systemwith the ability to receive signals from Earth andto retransmit those signals back with the use of a

Vikram Sarabhai on ISRO:

Vikram Sarabhai, whose vision drove theIndian Space programme and who is alsoconsidered father of the Indian Spaceprogramme had, said about ISRO in 1969.

“There are some who question the relevanceof space activities in a developing nation. Tous, there is no ambiguity of purpose. We do

not have the fantasy of competing with theeconomically advanced nations in theexploration of the Moon or the planets ormanned space-flight. But we are convincedthat if we are to play a meaningful rolenationally, and in the community of nations,we must be second to none in the applicationof advanced technologies to the real problemsof man and society.”

A P J Abdul Kalam on ISRO:

Former president and scientist A P J AbdulKalam, had this to say about ISRO:

“Many individuals with myopic visionquestioned the relevance of space activities ina newly independent nation, which was findingit difficult to feed its population. Their visionwas clear if Indians were to play meaningfulrole in the community of nations, they mustbe second to none in the application ofadvanced technologies to their real-lifeproblems. They had no intention of using it asa means of displaying our might.”

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transponder—an integrated receiver and transmitterof radio signals.

There are three types of communi-cation services that satellites provide:

Telecommunication services includetelephone calls and services provided totelephone companies, as well as wireless,mobile, and cellular network providers.

Broadcasting services include radio andtelevision delivered directly to the consumer andmobile broadcasting services.

Data communications services involve thetransfer of data from one point to another.

ISRO plays an important role in rural andurban development. The concept of developmentconnotes overall development of the nation with aview to improve the quality of life of people. Inthis sense, it is a comprehensive andmultidimensional concept and encompasses thedevelopment of agriculture and allied activities,village and cottage industries, socio-economicinfrastructure, community services and facilities,and above all the human resources.

Some of the applications are discussedbelow:

Village Resource Centre (VRC)

ISRO has embarked upon VRC programme todisseminate the portfolio of services emanatingfrom the space systems as well as otherInformation Technology (IT) tools, directly down-the-line to the rural communities. VRCs essentiallyhave: digital connectivity (for videoconferencing andinformation transfer) with knowledge centers andspecialty healthcare providers enabled via INSAT;spatial information on natural resources generatedusing IRS data; a host of information pertaining tomanagement of natural resources and socio-economic relevance; and facilities for primaryhealthcare services and distance education.

With the involvement of stakeholders, VRCswill catalyse rural entrepreneurship; and facilitatee-Governance and other services of socialrelevance. ISRO is implementing VRC programmein partnership with reputed NGOs, Trusts and otheragencies including the Governmental ones.

Satellite Communication

Satellite communications has the ability tosimultaneously reach a large population, spreadover vast distances, and inherently is a powerfultool to support development education andtraining.

ISRO had undertaken several projects thatfocused on development of humanity throughsophisticated satellite-based communication. Rightfrom the inception of utilizing space programmesfor development, the experiments like Satellite

ISRO's mega achievements so far

First satellite Aryabhata made by ISROwas launched on 19th of April 1975 bythe then Soviet Union.

The first satellite to be placed in orbit byan India made launch vehicle was Rohini.It was launched in 1980 by SLV-3.

Developed two rockets Polar SatelliteLaunch Vehicle (PSLV) and Geo-synchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle(GSLV). PSLV is to launch satellites intopolar orbits and GSLV is to placesatellites in geostationary orbits. Thesetwo rockets have from then on launchednumerous communication satellites andearth observation satellites.

Satellite navigation systems like GAGANand IRNSS have been deployed by ISRO.

January 2014 marked an importantmilestone in the journey of ISRO as itsuccessfully used an indigenouscryogenic engine in a GSLV-D5launch of the GSAT-14.

ISRO on the 22nd of October 2008 sentone lunar orbiter, Chandrayaan-1.

On the 24th September 2014 ISROlaunched Mars orbiter. Mars OrbiterMission (MOM), which successfullyentered Mars orbit, made India the firstnation to succeed on its first attempt tolaunch a Mars Orbiter.

ISRO became the fourth space agencyin the world as well as the first spaceagency in Asia to successfully reachMars orbit.

Over the last four decades, Indian Spaceprogram has made remarkable progresstowards building the space infrastructure asthe community resource to accelerate variousdevelopmental processes and harness thebenefits of space applications for socio-economic development.

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Instructional Television Experiment (SITE), KhedaCommunications Project (KCP), Jhabua Develop-ment Communications Project (JDCP), Training andDevelopment Communication Channel (TDCC) havebeen carried out.

Example:

ISRO's Gram SAT satellite connects ruraldevelopment ministry with 1100 panchayats. Theexercise was aimed at getting feedback on thevarious rural development schemes underoperation in the state and to gain an insight intothe problems at the field level, on which theministry needed to focus further planning efforts.

The effort was equally aimed at enhancingthe awareness of the beneficiaries on theirentitlement and various processes involved foravailing the benefit of the schemes.

The communication initiative was part of theministry's effort to bring about transparency andefficiency in implementation of its various schemesall over the country, for which it has been initiatingdifferent proactive measures like online monitoringand social auditing, among others.

Gram SAT pilot projects are being run in someselect states of the country and are being utilisedto reach out development messages directly tothe villagers by ensuring community listening,viewing and linking up large body of villagers.

Tele-Education

The tele-education programme launched byISRO, serviced by the exclusive satellite ‘EDUSAT’,is primarily intended for school, college and higherlevels of education to support both curricula basedas well as vocational education. With 5 Ku-bandtransponders providing spot beams, and one Ku-band transponder providing national beam, and 6extended C-band transponders with nationalcoverage beams, EDUSAT is specifically configuredfor audio-visual medium, employing digitalinteractive classroom and multimedia multi-centricsystem. Many important institutions such as theIGNOU, UGC, IITs, and many State EducationDepartments and Universities are making use ofthe EDUSAT network. Presently, more than 34,500classrooms are in the EDUSAT network out of which3,400 are interactive terminals.

Satellites can establish the connectivitybetween urban educational institutions withadequate infrastructure imparting quality educationand the large number of rural and semi-urbaneducational institutions that lack the necessaryinfrastructure. Besides supporting formal education,

a satellite system can facilitate the disseminationof knowledge to the rural and remote populationabout important aspects like health, hygiene andpersonality development and allow professionalsto update their knowledge base as well. Thus, inspite of limited trained and skilled teachers, theaspirations of the growing student population atall levels can be met through the concept of tele-education.

Tele-Medicine

A healthy citizen contributes to make ahealthy nation. The space technology, providestelemedicine facilities to the people.

Telemedicine is a confluence ofCommunication Technology, Information Technology,Biomedical Engineering and Medical Science. TheTelemedicine system consists of customisedhardware and software at both the Patient andSpecialist doctor ends with some of the DiagnosticEquipments like ECG, X-ray and pathologyMicroscope/Camera provided at the patient end.They are connected through a Very Small ApertureTerminal (VSAT) system and controlled by theNetwork Hub Station of ISRO. Through aTelemedicine system consisting of simple computerwith communication systems, the medical imagesand other information pertaining to the patientscan be sent to the specialist doctors, either inadvance or on a real time basis through the satellitelink in the form of Digital Data Packets. Thesepackets are received at the specialist centre.

ISRO’s telemedicine network has enabledmany poor rural villagers hitherto denied with qualitymedical services to get the best of medical servicesavailable in the country. As of now, we have 377tele-medicine nodes consisting of 320 remote/district/ medical college/ mobile hospitalsconnected to 57 super specialty hospitals indifferent cities through ISRO’s satellites. The ISROtelemedicine network is expanding to variousregions in the country and has become one of themost visible and sociological applications in theworld today.

Disaster Management Support (DMS)

India is one of the most disaster pronecountries in the world with increasing vulnerabilityto cyclones, floods, landslides, droughts andearthquakes. The Disaster Management Support(DMS) Programme of ISRO, provides timely supportand services from aero-space systems, bothimaging and communications, towards efficientmanagement of disasters in the country. The DMSprogramme addresses disasters such as flood,

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cyclone, drought, forest fire, landslide andEarthquake. These include creation of digital database for facilitating hazard zonation, damageassessment, etc., monitoring of major naturaldisasters using satellite and aerial data;development of appropriate techniques and toolsfor decision support, establishing satellite basedreliable communication network, deployment ofemergency communication equipments and R&Dtowards early warning of disasters.

To support the total cycle of disaster/emergency management for the country, in nearreal time, the database creation is addressedthrough National Database for EmergencyManagement (NDEM), a GIS based repository ofdata. NDEM is envisaged to have core data, hazard-specific data, and dynamic data in spatial as wellas a spatial form.

Remote Sensing Applications

Remote sensing has enabled mapping,studying, monitoring and management of variousresources like agriculture, forestry, geology, water,ocean etc. It has further enabled monitoring ofenvironment and thereby helping in conservation.In the last four decades it has grown as a majortool for collecting information on almost everyaspect on the earth. With the availability of veryhigh spatial resolution satellites in the recent years,the applications have multiplied. In India remotesensing has been used for various applicationsduring the last four decades and has contributedsignificantly towards development.

India has its own satellites like Indian RemoteSensing Satellite (IRS) series – Resourcesat,Cartosat, Oceansat etc. which provide requireddata for carrying out various projects. Some ofthe important projects carried out in the countryinclude Groundwater Prospects Mapping underDrinking Water Mission, Forecasting Agriculturaloutput using Space, Agro-meteorology and Landbased observations (FASAL), Forest Cover/TypeMapping, Grassland Mapping, BiodiversityCharacterization, Snow & Glacier Studies, LandUse/Cover mapping, Coastal Studies, Coral andMangroves Studies, Wasteland Mapping etc. Theinformation generated by large number of projectshave been used by various departments, industriesand others for different purposes like developmentplanning, monitoring, conservation etc.

Urban Planning

It pertains to a district or an entire city. Highresolution satellite imagery and LiDARincorporated into a GIS (Geographic InformationSystems) and CAD (Computer Aided Drafting) has

gained popularity among Planners, Developers andEngineers for large scale mapping of any regionfor most urban and land development applications.

Information from satellite images whencombined with GIS mapping is used for:

analysis in evaluating construction costs

environmental impact of alternative routes forutility and transport corridors;

land cover and land use classification;

Identifying population groups at risk wherehuman intervention is most needed to limit andprevent hazards during development stages.

Satellite image data is highly useful forcreating or updating base maps and detectingmajor changes in urban land cover and land usedue to their multispectral band combinations, whichallows for frequent coverage and overlaying ofdifferent time sequences to classify soil andvegetation areas for the proposed developmentarea(s).

Other applications include:

Updating information on road networks andother urban infrastructure

Collection and analysis of data on populationdensity, distribution and growth

Preparation of housing typologies

Analysis of watersheds

Space Based Information System forDecentralized Planning (SIS-DP)

Realizing the potential and capability of remotesensing and GIS for providing cost and time-effective resource database, the PlanningCommission, Ministry of Panchayati Raj andMinistry of Rural Development has proposed toprepare District Resource Atlas using remotesensing and GIS techniques to strengthen variousaspects of decentralized district level planningthrough a co-ordinated approach.

The Information Communication Technology(ICT) enabled geospatial platform can beformed using space based Earth Observation(EO) systems and engaging local bodies forplanning and carrying out area developmentalactivities in a decentralized, speedy andtransparent manner.

The major objectives in villagedevelopment are:

Spatial depiction of land & waterresource along with their attribute

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engineering project, e.g., airstrip, bridge, dam,water, power plant, sewer, industrial park, canaland storm utilities, etc.

Geographic Information Systems (GIS), globalpositioning system (GPS) is used in featureextraction, manipulation, and providing accurate andorthorectified geo-referenced satellite image data.

Crime Mapping

GIS (geographic information systems) anddata mapping applications for crime mapping hasbecome a necessary tool in law enforcementagencies worldwide, probably one of the mostvaluable tools available. Crime mapping is a keycomponent of crime analysis.

Satellite images can display importantinformation about criminal activities happeningaround the nation and around the world. The addedfunctionality of satellite imagery and GIS incomputer mapping has increased the capabilitiesof crime fighting due to the efficiency and speedof the analysis.

GIS allows analysts to overlay other datasetssuch as census demographics, locations of stores,banks and schools, etc., to better understand theunderlying causes of crime and help lawenforcement administrators to devise strategies todeal with the problem. GIS is also useful for lawenforcement operations, such as allocating policeofficers and dispatching to emergencies.

Homeland Security Mapping

Every community has facilities that are critical,from emergency response to safety operations.GIS applications such as orthorectified topographicbase maps, remote sensing data, and vector layers(i.e., roads, rivers, buildings) are now the basis forassessing security risks and modeling emergencyscenarios. Satellite imagery and GIS data is criticalto homeland security because it enables managers,supervisors and emergency personnel to integratemultiple information types into a common visualapplication.

Airport Mapping Database

3D airport mapping use high resolution stereosatellite imagery to support airport pre-planningand design, Airport Layout Plans (ALPs), navigationalmapping, airport security and aviation safetyoperations.

3D Digital Surface Models (DSM’s) and DigitalTerrain Model (DTM's) can be created to supportairport and aviation operations to provide detailsand data for the construction of airport runways,airport terminals, airport layout design, airspace

information for preparation of DistrictResource Geospatial Atlas keepingVillage Cadastral data as base onseamless manner for entire country;(States which are already covered maybe brought to uniform standard withrespect to content and accuracies).

Development of software tools andutilities (including web based GISapplications and standalone) for providingmultipurpose user driven applications forspeedy, accurate and transparentdecision making for district planning.

Capacity building in state departmentsalong with training of manpower andcapability for spatial data analysis, whichwill maintain, updates & managedatabase for decentralized planning.

Village cadastral maps will be collected,scanned, vectorised and geo-referenced to beoverlaid onto ortho-rectified imagery. Attributedata from user departments will be convertedinto spatial layer and various customizedinformation system will be developed for usein planning activity. One node for each statewill be created for providing centralized facilityfor archiving, organizing, updating anddissemination of information at grassroots level.

The objective of the Space based InformationSystem for Decentralized Planning mission isto establish and enable the information systemcomprising of spatial natural resources andnon-spatial data towards supporting the districtsfor the decentralized planning. This GISdatabase will be customized to meet therequirements of stake holder departments/concerned in providing the digital resourceatlases and any other requirements of theStates based on their problems/ priority/developmental programme at Village/ Block/Taluka/ District level. The Mission is intendedto be executed and supported by State RemoteSensing Application Centres / Institutes / ITDepartments and Industries and ownership ofthe database and resource information will bewith respective individual stakeholderdepartments.

Engineering and Construction

Satellite images provide an economical,accurate and rapid means of obtaining quickassessment for any significant construction or

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analysis, obstruction surveys, facility mapping,taxiways, aprons/parking areas, 3D flight simulationfor pilot training, aircraft operations, and GISdatabase development.

3D Urban and Terrain Modeling

The DSM's or DEM's are utilized in support ofthe pre-planning and lay-out of corridor surveys,aviation, telecommunication, area developments,engineering, construction activities, environmentaland cadastre applications.

3D visualization models are essential formany applications, such as military operations, flightsimulator development, disaster management,mapping of buildings, updating and keepingcadastral databases current, change detection andvirtual reality.

Satellite Images for EnvironmentalMonitoring

High resolution satellite imagery has facilitatedscientific research activities at landscape andregional scales. Availability of satellite images canprovide spatial resolutions of 0.5m or better foranalysis of urban growth and transportationdevelopment for assessment and monitoring.Multispectral sensors can provide increasedspectral resolution that can be used to furtheranalyze environmental conditions, land cover andchange detection, and how urban growth andassociated transportation development impactthese conditions.

Other applications

ISRO is very helpful in railways for providingthem right direction and make aware aboutfaults in railway lines with the help of its sensingtechnology.

Combining with defence sector it provides helpto army for monitoring at night and also can beused in army's new weapon as technology.

ISRO will be very helpful in mining process, andto stop illegal mining with the help of its monitorsensing system.

With the help of ISRO India will be able to makeits relation with other countries. It will also helpin making economic relation better with thosecountries. For ex.- Indonesia, America andCanada.

ISRO will be very helpful in technologyenhancement, due to which scientific interesthas increase in India and more students go forhigher studies. In INDIA, per 10000 only 1person go in research field while in USA per10000, 5-8 persons go for research field.

Examples:

GAGAN & BHUVAN: They can perform aphenomenon role in monitoring roaddevelopment process under NHAI as well as itsmaintenance by contract organization. It will behelpful in checking road accidents.

DRONES: It can work extensively in providingservices to difficult terrain or during calamity inproviding food, health services to the people

Stop Brain DRAIN: Achievement made byISRO can substantially stop the brain drain ofscience students as they will see opportunitywithin India. It will help in tackling old ageproblems of students who often go to foreigncountries to seek better career prospects.

Astrosat: This is the first space observatorysent by India. It can help in understanding theNeutrinos and can help in finding cures of healthproblems like cancer.

Web Based Crop Insurance System: Withthe success of IRNSS it can help in improvingbetter crop monitoring through satellite andadequate compensation as per crop degradationdue to unseasonal rainfall. It can substantiallyimprove the condition of rural people

Funds: Successful launch satellites of othercountries by ISRO can help in increase in forexof our country. Recently tally goes to 51 andwith complete success it will improve thecredibility of ISRO. That funds could be utilizedfor improving socio economic activities by thegovernment by the time they are surplus.

ISRO can help India gain a scientific andtechnological development which is pro-people

Developing Scientific Temperament: ISROprovides great opportunities in scientificresearch and technological development. Thus,creating awareness about value of scienceamongst Indian people which in future willattract youth in research and scientific activities.

Economic development through Resourcegeneration: ANTRIX the commercial entity ofISRO generates huge profit through utilising thesuccess of our launch vehicle. That income isutilised by ISRO to further do research andreducing the burden on government for itsresearch activities so, that government canutilise its fiscal efficiency for socio development.

Making India Digitally Empowered: DigitalIndia is the new mantra of the socio andeconomic development of the India. For the

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India is particularly well suited to make veryeffective use of space as an instrument ofsoft power for a number of reasons:

As the ISRO Commission on “Smart Power”notes, India is the only global nation, and theexpansion of the human sphere of influenceinto space is indisputably a global undertaking.

The successes and challenges of spaceexploration, from the ‘chandrayan to magalyan’,these missions are dramatic examples of keycharacteristics such as hope, enthusiasm, andoptimism.

Unlike other countries, Indian civilian spaceactivities have always been explicitly kept apartfrom the national security space activities ofthe defense and intelligence communities.

success of the E-governance and the Skilldevelopment and the tele-education likeactivities it is necessary that the remotest ofplace in India must be connected through theInternet, Mobile and broadband communication.It can only happen when there are sufficientSPECTRUM and Bandwidth available for thesekinds of activities.

Resource Mapping and resourcemanagement, Mineral exploration andmanaging the river conservation plansIRS satellite will help in preparing plans for theseactivities. Urban planning, forest management,Thermal imaging in the border areas will alsohelp government in future to manage theplanning and defence activities so that peacefuland democratic development of India will takeplace.

ISRO emerging as a soft power

Soft-Power could be defined as the ability ofa state to get what it wants by attracting andpersuading others to adopt its goals.

India is steadily and quietly expanding itsinfluence over a large part of the developing worldby making available its expertise and services forbuilding and launching satellites. India’s spreadinginfluence (courtesy of space technology) is quiteevident in many third world countries. This is anopportunity that India should not waste. And thisopportunity goes much beyond India’s existingcommercial space policy. A case in point is therecent finding of water on the surface on the moonby Chandrayan 1, which has helped the IndianSpace Research Organization (ISRO) todemonstrate the country’s leadership in the fieldof science and technology.

From the last few years, India is using itsspace industry to extend its Soft-Power. It isestablishing linkages in the space arena withcountries in Africa and South America, includingNigeria, Venezuela, and Brazil. India is alreadyworking with a few international partners likeNASA, but such partnerships are more from thepoint of view of technology collaboration. Suchcollaborations are a must in fields like going to theMoon and Mars.

But at the same time there is a need toengage other countries who are novices in thisfield. Indirectly, this could offer India a form of‘security’ that is beyond tanks, fighter jets andnuclear deterrence. It would help India increaseits influence over other states through non-militarymeans.

Commercial branch of ISRO

The Bangalore based commercial armof the Indian space programme, hasmade modest forays in the global spacemarket for launch services, sale ofsatellite resources data and spacecrafthardware and components in addition tomission support service. Set up in 1992as a Government of India ownedcompany, Antrix has reported a turnoverof Rs. 10, 000-million during 2008-09 andis aiming at an annual growth of 25%.

Antrix’s growth strategy is based onrapidly expanding its business to newgeographical areas and enhancing therange of services offered by it. Inparticular Antrix is looking at nations likeAlgeria, Brazil and Kazakhstan to boostits commercial prospects. MeanwhileIndia is offered to make available Indiansatellite resources data to South EastAsian countries for managing naturaldisasters and also offered Indian help inlaunching small satellites built by them.

Antrix continues to forge ahead with thesale of Indian Remote Sensing Satellite(IRS) imageries over a wide part of theworld through distributors and satelliteimagery marketing outfits. Satellite datasale currently account for around 10 percent Antrix’s turn over. While in Europeand North America there is fairly gooddemand for IRS data. The sale of IRSdata products has been growing in Asiancountries including Nepal, Turkey andJapan.

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Exploration and the civil applications of spaceare obvious, high-profile, high-leveragemechanisms for exercising soft power.

The broad array of civil space applicationsprovides a multitude of options for highly tailoredcooperation. From exploration to remotesensing and climate change to digital economyintegration, the sphere of engagement can betailored to address security concerns or toprovide significant information-gatheringopportunities concerning the capabilities andintentions of other space-faring nations.

India is strategically positioning itself as a focalpoint for all space-related activities, from providingfinancial assistance to manufacturing, and launchingfacilities for states in Asia, Africa and South America.This approach has multiple benefits – an increasein India’s global footprint, flow of benefits to theChinese space industry, experimentation with newtechnologies, and win friends.

A stable balance between the short and longterm and between hard and soft power iscontingent in large measure on increased supportfor civil space operations. International politics ismore than the mere acquisition and use of “Hard-Power”. This is what India needs to work more onthe collaboration in the space arena. India has atechnologically superior and an economicallyaffordable space programme. India should steadilyand subtly use its ‘space acumen’ to extend itsSoft-Power status on earth.

Way forward

The Indian Science and Research Organizationplans to send manned mission to space, takefurther steps at lunar exploration and conductinterplanetary missions, besides indigenouslydeveloping the GSLV.

India has developed a sophisticated spacetechnology system over the past few decades thatplay a significant role in sectors ranging fromagriculture to medicine. Recently India inauguratesthe ‘Chandrayan-2’ mission and it will launchthe ‘MOM-2’ in the very near future.

While Promoting the four-stage spaceworkhorse Polar Satellite LaunchVehicle (PSLV) as a preferred vehiclefor launching small and nano satellitesas piggyback payloads, (PSLV, which isa versatile platform for delivering avariety of satellite payloads into a varietyof orbits), during its September 2009mission launched Indian Ocean watchsatellite Oceansat-11 along with six nanosatellites of international customers aspiggy back payloads in one go. In April2008, PSLV established a new recordby launching as many as 10 satellites inone go. Of these 8 were nano satellitesbuilt by research institutions in Europe,Canada and Japan and launched undera commercial arrangement with Antrix.,a PSLV flight launched Israel’sreconnaissance satellite TECSAR undera commercial deal. Prior to that in April2007, PSLV was deployed to launchItalian research satellite Agile, markinga major step for Antrix in the globallaunch service market.

Of the 39 satellites launched so farby Antrix, 17 have been Indian and therest belong to overseas customers. Antrixnow has the contract for launchingAlgeria’s Alsat-2 satellite, Italy’s IMSATspacecraft as piggy back payloads. Alsoin the line for launch is X-sat microsatellite of Singapore’s NanyangTechnological University (NTU). PSLVhas already launched satellites fromcountries including South Korea,Indonesia, Turkey, Belgium and Germany.

Antrix is also exploring the Africanmarket with a particular focus on Nigeriaand South Africa for promoting its launchservices. Antrix has also reached anunderstanding with the European spacetransportation company “Arianespace”under which small satellites from Europewould be scouted for launch by Indianspace vehicles.

Antrix is hoping to achieve abreakthrough in launch services after thesuccessful commissioning ofGeosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle(GSLV) MK III by the end of thisdecade. The three stages, 629-tonne

GSLV-MK, will enable Antrix to bid fororbiting heavier class commercialcommunications satellites. But then thereare many serious entry barriers thatAntrix will have to overcome before itemerges as a leading player in themultibillion dollar global markets forlaunching satellites.

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How can we increase (ISRO’s) participation?

Need to connect ISRO with digital India programso that more people understand technology.

Need to open small ISRO centre in every smartcity so that more people understand about it.

ISRO need to make some micro smarttechnology for police stations because advanceand modern technical security is the demandof internal security.

Government need to encourage more studentsto go for higher studies and research. Becausedeveloped countries have more research centreand more students working on it.

Conclusion

The current Indian space program is aneconomically and technologically efficientintegrated program, self-reliant and applicationsdriven, preserving critical relations to the usercommunity and committed to the pursuit ofscientific excellence in the peaceful use of spacefor the benefit of the common man. The space

program has proven capabilities in producing worldclass satellites and launch vehicles, and applyingthem in assorted areas pertinent to nationaldevelopment. India is not far from China in termsof technological developments in spacetechnologies. India’s strength in PSLV’s has markedits image at world level. The recent advancementin GSLV and cryogenics and launching of 20satellites at one go, added high value to the nameof India. Further the commercial arm of ISRO,Antrix is collaborating with many foreignstakeholders to further India’s interest.

Citizens of the country must be proud of our

national space organization and its achievements

which have perpetuated socio economic

developments as well. The role played by ISROhas been commendable and the more that

government needs to do is to spend more of its

GDP into R&D as well as to recruit young scientists

and to utilize the young pool of talent which could

harness much out of the less if given adequate

support.

**********

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SPECIAL ISSUES

The Delhi High Court has dismissed thecopyright infringement petition filed by threeinternational publishers against a photocopy shoplocated in the Delhi University premises (TheChancellor, Masters and Scholars of the Universityof Oxford V/S Rameshwari Photocopy Services).

The court ruled that making course packs forsuggested reading for students by photocopyingportions of various prescribed reference booksdoes not violate the copyright of the publishers.The Delhi High Court struck a fine balance betweenthe rights of university students to photocopycourse materials and the copyrights of publishers.

To understand the judgment, we need tounderstand the meaning of copyright and why is itis needed?

What is the meaning of the Copyright?

Copyright is designed to stimulate activity andprogress in the arts for the intellectual enrichmentof the public. Copyright is intended to increaseand not to impede the harvest of knowledge.

Copyright’s basic rationale is that there shouldbe promotion of creativity through sufficientprotection; and at the same time it also caters fordissemination of knowledge and access tocopyright material through the doctrine of fairdealing. This doctrine, is important to creatorslike writers and artists as well as thosesuch as publishers that own rights, as itprovides them with a legal right ofownership of the work that they produce.

This means that creators of an original pieceof work can have some control over how it isused, which is not only fair but necessary for themto make a living from their talent and efforts. Whenthey have the means to make a living from theirwork then they can continue to invest their time,and, in the case of publishers, their money intothe production of new work.

RIGHT TO PHOTOCOPY

Delhi High Court judgment, involving photocopying kiosk, supported the wel-fare angle than the plagiarism and piracy.

Context

Judgment of the Court

However, the Delhi High Court while rejectingthe plea taken by the publishers held, “Copyright,especially in literary works, is not only an inevitable,but divine, or natural right that confers on authorsthe absolute ownership of their creations. It isdesigned rather to stimulate activity and progressin the arts for the intellectual enrichment of thepublic. Copyright is intended to increase and notto impede the harvest of knowledge. It is intendedto motivate the creative activity of authors andinventors in order to benefit the public.”

The court further stated that Photocopyingand creation of course packs to be used in thecourse of education by students is covered underprovisions of the Copyright Act, 1957. Theprovision must be given a wide enoughinterpretation to further a social good such aseducation.

The court has given its verdict on the welfarismangle. It has given paramountancy to the studentinterest. It also recognizes the importance oftechnological advancement, while holding thatthrough photocopying, students can obtainvoluminous course material at a low cost and arenot required to copy each page, which cannot beheld as an offence.

It also stated that the reproduction of a workby a “teacher/pupil in the course of instruction”would not constitute infringement.

Court has supported Right toReproduction

Section 52(1)(i) of the Copyright Act, exemptsthe reproduction of any work in the “course ofinstruction” and the publishers had contendedthat the term extended only to the use ofcopyrighted work in lectures and tutorials whenthe teacher is directly interacting with the pupils.The judge rejected this narrow interpretation.

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Section 14 of the Copyright Act, 1957, grantsa bundle of exclusive rights such as the right toreproduction on copyright owners forcommercial exploitation of the work. Makingphotocopies amounts to reproduction.Photocopies made in violation of Section 14thus constitute infringement unless it is listedunder Section 52 as an act not constitutinginfringement. The judgment holds that if anyprovision of the Act permits any person otherthan the owner to reproduce any work orsubstantial part thereof, such reproduction willnot amount to infringement.

The Indian copyright law uses the term ‘fairdeal’ (where listed purposes are statutorilyembedded) whereas the U.S.’s copyright lawadopts ‘fair use’ (which is merely illustrative).Fair dealing means “the reproduction of anywork:

By a teacher or a pupil in the course ofinstruction; or

As part of the questions to be answered inan exam; or

In answers to such question.

As per Article 13 of the Trade-Related Aspectsof Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS)agreement, these exceptions must confine to“special cases which do not conflict with anormal exploitation of the work and do notunreasonably prejudice the legitimate interestsof the right holder”. Since the term ‘fair dealing’is not defined in the Act, the judiciarydetermines its scope on a case by case basis.

What are the limitations of the judgment?

Determining the broader interpretation of termfair deal is wrong. If the legislature had intendedto give such a wide interpretation to the words“in the course of instruction”, why does it hasadded, “as part of the questions to be answeredin an exam or in answers to such question”which should also be covered automatically.

The Court Commissioner had reported that “8books were found being photocopied cover tocover”.

When the university is entitled to free photocopyof 3,000 pages every month can the possibilityof commercial interest be overruled? In thatcontext, does it comply with Article 13 of TRIPS?

Is it justified to cover the private photocopyshop in the university premises within theexpression “in the course of instruction”?

Doesn’t the judgment provide blanket immunityto the university to meet the demands of allthe students by purchasing a single book?

The judgment places no limitation on photocopyif the material is prescribed in the course ofinstruction. Copyright holders investconsiderably in creating works, this may impactcreativity.

Proposed benefits

It will improve the access to education in adeveloping country like India. When access toeducation itself is a challenge, none of thestudents can be expected to purchase expensivetextbooks, especially when syllabi prescribe certainportions from various books. Universities areexpected to cater to students’ reading requirementwithout prejudicing copyright holders’ legitimateeconomic interests. The students’ demands canbe met reasonably by permitting reproduction ofreasonable excerpts.

In the world of self-publishing, blogs, etc., thepublisher remains relevant because of its role tobe able to provide reliability and authenticity tothe information and knowledge it disseminates.

Conclusion

The Berne Convention and TRIPS, the IPregime ordained by the World Trade Organization,that these pacts gave India the flexibility to includesuch an exception. But even courts in developedcountries such as Canada have exempted the useof course packs from cases of copyrightinfringement. For Indian students, the End lawjudgment is a huge relief. For the rest, it isreassurance that courts are interpreting IP laws inways that reflect our society’s needs.

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DISEASES AND CLIMATE CHANGE

Many prevalent human infections, including malaria, dengue fever, and cholera,are climate sensitive. This article will establish a relation between climatechange and diseases.

Context

Climate change is a global environmentalproblem which has been receiving intense politicalattention both at domestic and international levels.The United Nations Framework Convention onClimate Change (UNFCCC) defines ‘climate change’as a change of climate which is attributed directlyor indirectly to human activity that alters thecomposition of the global atmosphere and whichis in addition to natural climate variability observedover comparable time periods. The majorcharacteristics of climate change include rise inaverage global temperature, ice cap melting,changes in precipitation, and increase in oceantemperature leading to sea level rise.

Today, worldwide, there is an apparentincrease in many infectious diseases, includingsome newly-circulating ones (HIV/AIDS, Hantavirus,hepatitis C, SARS, etc.). This reflects the combinedimpacts of rapid demographic, environmental,social, technological and other changes in our waysof-living. Climate change also affect infectiousdisease occurrence.

Climate change and its Impact on humanhealth

Changes in the greenhouse gasconcentrations and other drivers alter the globalclimate and bring about myriad human healthconsequences. Environmental consequences ofclimate change, such as extreme heat waves, risingsea-levels, changes in precipitation resulting inflooding and droughts, intense hurricanes, anddegraded air quality have impact directly andindirectly on the physical, social, and psychologicalhealth of humans. For instance, changes inprecipitation are creating changes in the availabilityand quantity of water, as well as resulting inextreme weather events such as intensehurricanes and flooding. Climate change can be adriver of disease migration, as well as exacerbatehealth effects resulting from the release of toxicair pollutants in vulnerable populations such aschildren, the elderly, and those with asthma orcardiovascular disease.

There is much evidence of associationsbetween climatic conditions and infectiousdiseases. Malaria is of great public health concern,and seems likely to be the vector-borne diseasemost sensitive to long-term climate change. Malariavaries seasonally in highly endemic areas. The linkbetween malaria and extreme climatic events haslong been studied in India. Early last century, theriver-irrigated Punjab region experienced periodicmalaria epidemics. Excessive monsoon rainfall andhigh humidity was identified early on as a majorinfluence, enhancing mosquito breeding andsurvival. The malaria epidemic risk increases aroundfive-fold in the year after an El Niño event.

Although some evidence indicates thatwarming may be causing malaria, for instance, tospread to higher elevations on mountains in EastAfrica, predicting how climate change will ultimatelyinfluence the incidence of diseases transmitted byinsect’s remains challenging. Consider that malariawas once common over much of Asia, NorthAmerica and Europe in the 19th century but is notroutinely present on either continent today, evenafter the temperature has warmed in theintervening century.

Fig. 1

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In 1999, West Nile virus, which originated inUganda and is spread by mosquitoes, killed sevenin New York City. In 2014, another mosquito-bornevirus has emerged, called Chikungunya (whichmeans “bending over in pain” in the Makondelanguage of East Africa).

Why change in climate increasesdiseases?

Components which are essential for mostinfectious diseases: an agent (or pathogen), a host(or vector) and transmission environment. Somepathogens are carried by vectors or requireintermediate hosts to complete their lifecycle.Appropriate climate and weather conditions arenecessary for the survival, reproduction, distributionand transmission of disease pathogens, vectors,and hosts. Therefore, changes in climate or weatherconditions may impact infectious diseases throughaffecting the pathogens, vectors, hosts and theirliving environment and long-term climate warmingtends to favor the geographic expansion of severalinfectious diseases and that extreme weatherevents may help create the opportunities for moreclustered disease outbreaks or outbreaks at non-traditional places and time. Overall, climateconditions constrain the geographic and seasonaldistributions of infectious diseases, and weatheraffects the timing and intensity of diseaseoutbreaks.

Climate change and Pathogens: Pathogenrefers to a wide range of disease agents,including virus, bacterium, parasite germ, andfungi. The impact of climate change onpathogens can be direct, through influencingthe survival, reproduction, and life cycle ofpathogens, or indirect, through influencing thehabitat, environment, or competitors ofpathogens. As a result, not only the quantitybut also the geographic and seasonaldistributions of pathogens may change. Extendedperiods of hot weather can raise the averagetemperature of water bodies and foodenvironment, which may provide an agreeableenvironment for microorganism reproductioncycles and algal blooms.

Precipitation: Climate change may causeshifts in precipitation, which affects thedissemination of water-borne pathogens. Rainfallplays an important role in the development ofwater-borne disease pathogens. Rainy seasonis related to the increase of fecal pathogens asheavy rain may stir up sediments in water,leading to the accumulation of fecal

microorganisms. However, unusual precipitationafter a long drought can result in an increaseof pathogens, causing a disease outbreak.Droughts/low rainfall lead to low river flows,causing the concentration of effluent water-borne pathogens.

Humidity: Humidity change also impacts thepathogens of infectious diseases. Thepathogens of air-borne infectious disease suchas influenza tend to be responsive to humiditycondition. For example, absolute humidity andtemperature were found to affect influenzavirus transmission and survival proposed thatcold temperature and low relative humidity arefavorable to the spread of influenza virus.

Humidity change also affects the viruses ofwater-borne diseases. For example, the survivalof water-borne viruses near water surface islimited due to the drying effect of surface water.Lastly, virus of vector-borne diseases may beimpacted by humidity change.

Sunshine: Sunshine is one more importantclimate variable that may affect the pathogensof infectious diseases. For example, sunshinehours and temperature act synergistically duringcholera periods to create a favorable conditionfor the multiplication of Vibrio cholerae inaquatic environments.

Wind: Wind is a key factor affecting thepathogens of air-borne diseases. Literaturesuggested a positive correlation between dustparticle association/attachment and virussurvival/transporting. It has been reported thatthe presence of desert dust in the atmosphereduring Asian dust storms (ADSs) is associatedwith increased concentration of cultivablebacteria, cultivable fungi, and found that theconcentration of influenza. A virus wassignificantly higher during the ADS days thannormal days.

Studies further suggested that the viruses ofinfectious diseases be transported across oceanby dust particles which may facilitate thetransmission of viruses between distant hosts.

Climate change and vectors/hosts: Hostsrefer to living animals or plants on or in whichdisease pathogens reside. Vectors areintermediate hosts and they carry and transmitpathogen to living organisms which becomehosts. This review focuses on animal hosts,especially insects. The geographical locationsand population changes of insect vectors areclosely associated with the patterns andchanges of climate.

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Temperature affects the spatial–temporaldistribution of disease vectors. As temperaturecontinues to rise, the insects in low-latituderegions may find new habitats in mid- or high-latitude regions and in areas of high altitude,leading to geographical expansion or shift ofdiseases. Disease vectors/hosts may surviveclimate change by taking shield in small-scaledenvironment where ambient temperaturechange does not prevail. For e.g. the ‘cocoliztli’outbreaks in Mexico proved that rainfall canaffect the outbreaks of rodent-borne diseasesthrough its impact on rodent population. Incholera cases in Matlab, Bangladesh suggestedthat increased temperature and prolongedsunshine are positively related to the monthlycholera occurrences.

Climate change and disease transmission:Depending on the transmission route, diseasetransmission can be direct or indirect. Directtransmission refers to the transmission of adisease from one person to another throughdroplet contact, direct physical contact, indirectphysical contact, air-borne transmission, orfecal–oral transmission. Indirect transmissionrefers to the transmission of a disease tohumans via another organism, a vector, or anintermediate host.

Temperature change alone, or together withother variable changes such as rainfall, may

alter the transmission of diseases. Wind anddust storms affect the transmission of infectiousdiseases. Wind can act as a transportationmeans for pathogen and virus of air-bornediseases. Pathogens can spread from endemicregions to other regions through inter-regionaldust storms. Human influenza virus could betransported from Asia to the Americas in wintermonths by prevailing wind over the Pacific foundthat avian influenza outbreaks tend to occur indownwind regions of ADS (e.g. Japan and SouthKorean) during the dust storm season.

Climate change can affect the transmission ofinfectious diseases through altering the contactpatterns of human–pathogen, human–vector, orhuman–host. An analysis of the de-trended time-series malaria data in Madagascar found thatthe cross-year variation in malaria prevalence canmostly be explained by the minimum temperatureat the start of the transmission season,corresponding to the months when the human–vector contact is the greatest.

Diseases transmitted by rodents sometimesincrease during heavy rainfall and flooding eventsbecause of altered patterns of human–pathogen–rodent contact. For example, duringhazard periods deer mice may enter humandwellings searching for food and therebytransmit Hantavirus to humans, leading toHantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) cases.

Examples of how diverse environmental changes affect the occurrence of variousinfectious diseases in humans:

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A significant and active role by adoptingproactive adaptation measures in orderto control and alleviate the negativehealth impacts of climate change:

The magnitude of changes in climate variablesvaries across the globe, posing more challengesand stresses for some societies than others.Regional specific projection of climate changeinduced health implications on infectiousdiseases is necessary.

Given the same magnitude of climate change,some population groups and areas are morevulnerable to the elevated risks due to theirlack of the ability and resources to effectivelyrespond to the stresses and challenges.Recognizing that infectious diseases do notconfine themselves within a vulnerablepopulation group, developed countries andcapable societies should work together withdeveloping countries and less capable societies

Fig. 2

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to reduce their vulnerability to climate changeinduced health risks.

Human vulnerability to the changing risks for

infectious diseases may be altered through

proper adaptation measures. One example of

such is to continuously improve public health

programs and to timely (re-)allocate financial

and health care resources following scientific

projection of spatial–temporal changes in health

risk for human infectious diseases. Early warning

systems based on such projections have been

proven effective in helping societies take

proactive measures to prevent or alleviate the

possible health impacts.

Climate change will continue to affect the healthrisk for human infectious diseases, limiting somedisease transmission but creating opportunities

for others. Reducing vulnerability throughadopting adaptation measures is among themost effective approaches for human society.

Conclusion

Changes in infectious disease transmissionpatterns are a likely major consequence of climatechange. We need to learn more about theunderlying complex causal relationships, and applythis information to the prediction of future impacts,using more complete, better validated, integrated,Early Warning System (EWS) models underminingthe precautionary measures. Effective earlywarning systems for health effects of climatechange should be established broadly. Related tosuch early warning systems, protocols are neededfor information sharing, public health awarenesscampaign, and resources sharing and relocation.

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ISSUES RELATED TO UNDERTRIALS IN INDIA

The recent data disclosed by Supreme Court states prisons in Delhi and nineStates have an occupancy rate of 150 per cent of their capacity.

Context

It is a shocking reflection on the flaws in ourcriminal justice system that less than one out ofthree people lodged in Indian jails is a convict. Thevast majority of the prison population, as many asabout 2.5 lakhs or 70 per cent, is made up ofundertrials awaiting justice.

Criminal Law of India is a replica of colonialtimes. It is hostile to the poor and the weakersections of society. The law still serves and protectsthe needs of the haves and ignores the have-nots. Such biasness has resulted in rich peopleescaping law and the jail is more often full of theunprivileged class of society. The hierarchy of courtsand with appeals after appeal have led to asituation where the poor cannot reach the templeof justice due to heavy cost of its access. In otherwords one can state that granting justice at ahigher cost indirectly means the denial of justice.Such circumstances lead to a clear violation ofthe Supreme Court judgement which held, legalaid to a poor is a constitutional mandate not onlyby virtue of Article 39A but also Articles 14, 19,21 which cannot be denied by the government.

The Law Commission of India's 78th reporton the “Congestion of undertrial prisoners in jail,”submitted in 1979, also has a topical feel aboutit. The situation today is not unlike what it wasthen - people languish in jail for the want ofresources to seek bail, for the lack of proper legalaid, and the hopelessly sluggish pace at which thejudicial system moves. Coupled with this is thepresence of a police force that seems lessinterested in securing convictions than in makingsummary arrests, effectively using custody as aform of preventive detention. If the problem ofundertrials has proved so intractable, it is becauseit is a manifestation of fundamental and deep-rooted flaws in the criminal justice system.

Prison Statistics India 2015’ report

The ‘Prison Statistics India 2015’ report wasreleased by the National Crime Records Bureau(NCRB).

The highlights of the report are:

The occupancy rate at all India level at the endof 2015 was 114.4 per cent. It results in poorhygiene and lack of sleep among otherproblems.

At 276.7 per cent, Dadra & Nagar Haveli isreported to have most overcrowded prisons,followed by Chhattisgarh (233.9 per cent), Delhi(226.9 per cent), Meghalaya (177.9 per cent)and Uttar Pradesh (168.8 per cent).

Sixty-seven per cent of the people in Indian jailsare undertrials — people not convicted of anycrime and currently on trial in a court of law.

Among the larger States, at 82.4 per cent, Biharhad the highest proportion of undertrials,followed by Jammu & Kashmir (81.5 per cent),Odisha (78.8 per cent), Jharkhand (77.1 percent) and Delhi (76.7 per cent).

Three States from the North-east also had ahigh proportion of undertrials: Meghalaya (91.4per cent), Manipur (81.9 per cent) and Nagaland(79.6 per cent).

Seventy per cent of the convicts are illiterateor have studied only below class tenth.

Fig. 3

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NHRC Report on Undertrials

India's prisons are filled with undertrials,according to the National Human RightsCommission. Statistics compiled by its custodialjustice cell reveal that 2,25,817 of 3,04,893 or74.06 per cent of the total prison population, arethose awaiting trial.

The States and Union Territories that leadthe list are Dadra and Nagar Haveli, whose entireprison population is comprised of undertrials,followed by Meghalaya with 94.66 per centundertrials, Manipur with 92.19 per cent, Jammuand Kashmir with 91.67 per cent, Nagaland 89.87per cent, Uttar Pradesh 87.37 per cent, Bihar 86.27per cent, Jharkhand 83.24 per cent, Mizoram79.14 per cent, Karnataka 79.34 per cent andDelhi 78.52 per cent undertrials.

Andaman and Nicobar and Tamil Nadurecorded the lowest number of undertrials as apercentage of total prison populations with 24.05per cent and 36.16 per cent respectively.

The total jail capacity in India is for 2,32,412prisoners, which makes the total prison population31 per cent higher than capacity. Delhi tops thelist for States with overcrowded prisons with 217per cent more prisoners than it has room for. Theother States that have prisons filled way beyondcapacity are Jharkhand with a 165 per centoverflow, Chhattisgarh 110 per cent, Gujarat andHaryana 100 per cent each, Bihar 74 per cent,Sikkim 72 per cent, Uttar Pradesh 70 per cent,Madhya Pradesh 66 per cent, Orissa 54 per centGoa 39 per cent and Tripura 35 per cent.

The NHRC also found that 10,414 womenwere in jail in India, accounting for 3.42 per centof the jail population. Mizoram leads with 10 percent of prisoners in the State being women. Thisis followed by Tamil Nadu with 6.59 per cent of allprisoners being women and Dadar and NagarHaveli with 6.45 per cent.

The Commission said children younger than5-6 years are allowed to live with their mothers injail, and 1,369 women prisoners had their childrenliving with them. But it does not say how manychildren in total are part of the prison population.

The only let-up in the grim lists of figures isthe fact that in an international comparison of thenumber of prisoners per 100,000 of populationIndia does well. It has 29.69 prisoners per lakh ofpopulation against 700 per lakh in the U.S. 650in Russia, 400 in South Africa, 300 in Thailand,132 in U.K. and 102 in Canada.

The immediate task is to identify those whoare eligible for bail and ensure their release.

Challenges Faced By Under-Trials

Group violence and riots are common.

With hardened criminals being around and inthe absence of scientific classification methodsto separate them from others, contaminationof first time, circumstantial and young offendersinto full-fledged criminals occurs very frequently.

Most of the prisons face problems ofovercrowding and shortage of adequate spaceto lodge prisoners in safe and healthy conditions.Most of the prisoners found in prisons comefrom socio-economically disadvantaged sectionsof the society where disease, malnutrition andabsence of medical services are prevalent.When such people are cramped in with eachother in unhealthy conditions, infectious andcommunicable diseases spread easily.

The Right to Speedy Trial - as recognised by theSupreme Court in Hussainara Khatoon vs. HomeSecretary, Bihar is violated due to protracteddelays. This delay is due to all kinds of reasonssuch as -

Systemic delays.

Grossly inadequate number of judges andprosecutors.

Absence or belated service of summons onwitnesses.

Presiding judges proceeding on leave.

Remands being extended mechanically dueto lack of time and patience with thepresiding judge.

Inadequacy of police personnel and vehicleswhich prevents the production of allprisoners on their due dates.

Many a times, the escorting police personnelmerely produces the remand papers in thecourts instead of actually producing theprisoner in front of the magistrate. Thispractice is widely reported, notwithstandingthe strict requirement of the law in section167(2)(b) of the Criminal Procedure Code,1973 which says that - ‘No Magistrate shallauthorize detention in any custody under thissection unless the accused is producedbefore him.’

Right to bail is denied even in genuine cases.Even in cases where the prisoner was chargedwith bailable offence, they are found to rot inprisons due to exorbitantly high bail amount.

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The police usually pick them up “because thenumber of cases had to be brought up to thespecified figure”. The authorities refuse torelease them without bail whereas the standinglaw on Section 110 says that you cannot askfor bail from such persons, only the history ticketis required.

In the absence of a system, that takes aproactive role in providing legal services toprisoners their right to effective Legal Aid isalso violated due to politicisation of legal aidschemes as many lawyers are hired on politicalconsideration who get a fix salary without thepressure of disposing off cases at the earliest.

Recommendations

The number of judges should be increased to50 judges per one million of population toreduce the burden of the judges.

There should be a separate cell in the police toensure timely service of summons.

Rules can be amended to authorise the serviceof summons through telephone and E-mail inthe modern era of information technology. Evenexamination of witnesses can be conductedthrough video-conferencing.

There should be a minimum fixed tenure forthe investigating officers to ensure timely

completion of investigation and trial as providedin section 15 of the Punjab Police Act 2007.

It is suggested to set up dedicated policesquads in all the districts for production ofundertrials in the courts. Besides this, video-conferencing facility can be started for smoothand speedy trials. Undue adjournments shouldnot be allowed by the trial courts on flimsygrounds.

There should be proper coordination betweenvarious organs of Criminal Justice Administrationlike police, judiciary, prosecution and the prisonofficials.

The police should refrain from vexatious arrests.The definition of cognizable offence should bedelinked from police power of arrest.

The directions of the Supreme Court of India inthe DK Basu case (AIR 1997 SC 610) shouldbe implemented to protect the rights of thearrested persons.

Bail should be granted in non-serious cases andpoor people should be released on personal bond.

Free legal aid should be provided to the needyperson under detention and quality of theservice should be improved.

The concept of plea bargaining should be appliedin letter and spirit to dispose of cases comingunder the purview of this provision.

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MATERNAL HEALTH - JANANI SURAKSHAYOJANA PAYS DIVIDEND

A new study brings in first conclusive evidence of the role played by JananiSuraksha Yojana (JSY) in reducing ‘socio-economic disparities’ existing inmaternal care. The study found that after the implementation of the JSY, “therewas generally a narrowing of the gap between the less educated and moreeducated women and between the poorer and richer women.”

Context

The highest attainable standard of health isa fundamental right of every person. Gender-baseddiscrimination, however, undercuts this right. It canrender women more susceptible to sickness andless likely to obtain care, for reasons ranging fromaffordability to social conventions keeping themat home.

Thus the United Nations Millennium Summithad adopted the Millennium Development Goals(MDGs) as a response to the world's maindevelopment challenges. One of the MDGs (Number5) aims at reducing Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR)by three quarters between 1990 and 2015.

Similarly the new SDG has adopted the goalof reducing the global maternal mortality ratio toless than 70 per 100,000 live births and to ensureuniversal access to sexual and reproductive health-care services, including for family planning,information and education, and the integration ofreproductive health into national strategies andprogrammes by 2030.

The MMR, defined as number of maternaldeaths per 100,000 live births.

Government of India has launched the JananiSuraksha Yojana in 2005 as part of the NationalRural Health Mission (NRHM) to improve maternaland neonatal health by promotion of institutionaldeliveries (childbirth in hospitals).

Why in the news recently?

A new study brings in first conclusive evidenceof the role played by Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY)in reducing ‘socio-economic disparities’ existing inmaternal care. While previous studies had shownthe impact of JSY in reducing maternal mortality,it was not known if it had reduced socio-economicinequalities — differences in access to maternalcare between individual people of higher or lowersocio-economic status.

Maternal Health in Focus (Reduce MMRto 1/1000 live Births)

Globally, about 800 women die every day ofpreventable causes related to pregnancy andchildbirth; 20 per cent of these women are fromIndia.

Annually, it is estimated that 55,000 womendie due to preventable pregnancy-relatedcauses in India.

India’s maternal mortality rate reduced from212 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2007 to178 deaths in 2012. The advance is largelydue to key government interventions such asthe Janani Shishu Suraksha Karyakaram (JSSK)scheme which encompasses free maternityservices for women and children, a nationwidescale-up of emergency referral systems andmaternal death audits, and improvements inthe governance and management of healthservices at all levels.

However, adolescent and illiterate mothers andthose living in hard to reach areas still have amuch greater chance of dying in childbirth.Adolescent girls outside Indian cities areespecially vulnerable as teenage marriage andpregnancies are very high in rural and remoteareas of the country.

What is Janani Suraksha Yojana and whoare the Beneficiaries?

Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) is a safemotherhood intervention under the NationalRural Health Mission (NRHM) being implementedwith the objective of reducing maternal and neo-natal mortality by promoting institutional deliveryamong the poor pregnant women. The Yojana,launched on 12th April 2005, is beingimplemented in all states and UTs with specialfocus on low performing states.

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JSY is a 100% centrally sponsored scheme andit integrates cash assistance with delivery andpost-delivery care.

The Yojana has identified ASHA, the accreditedsocial health activist as an effective link betweenthe Government and the poor pregnant womenin 10 low performing states, namely the 8 EAGstates and Assam and J&K and the remainingNE States. In other eligible states and UTs,wherever, AWW (Anganwadi workers) and TBAsor ASHA like activist has been engaged in thispurpose, she can be associated with this Yojanafor providing the services.

Important Features of JSY

Focus on Poor Pregnant Woman: Thescheme focuses on the poor pregnant womanwith special dispensation for states having lowinstitutional delivery rates namely the states ofUttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Bihar, Jharkhand,Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Assam,Rajasthan, Odisha and Jammu and Kashmir.While these states have been named as LowPerforming States (LPS), the remaining stateshave been named as High performing States(HPS).

Tracking Each Pregnancy: Each beneficiaryregistered under this Yojana should have a JSYcard along with a MCH card. ASHA/AWW/ anyother identified link worker under the overallsupervision of the ANM and the MO, PHC shouldmandatorily prepare a micro-birth plan. This willeffectively help in monitoring Antenatal Check-up, and the post delivery care.

Eligibility for Cash Assistance: BPLCertification – This is required in all HPS states.However, where BPL cards have not yet beenissued or have not been updated, States/UTswould formulate a simple criterion forcertification of poor and needy status of theexpectant mother’s family by empowering thegram pradhan or ward member.

How far is it successful?

As per the new study Janani Suraksha Yojana(JSY) has played important role in reducing ‘socio-economic disparities’ existing in maternal care. Thestudy was conducted by researchers from Delhibased National Council of Applied EconomicResearch. This is for first time study has shown JSYhas reduced socio-economic inequalities in maternalcare compared to earlier studies which showedimpact of JSY in reducing maternal mortality.

Three key services of maternal care were usedfor the analysis:

Full Antenatal Care (full ANC)

Safe delivery

Postnatal care

Highlights of the Report

JSY has led to reduction of prevalentdifferences in access to maternal care betweenindividual people of higher or lower socioe-conomic status.

It has led to enhancement in utilisation of healthservices among all groups especially among thepoorer and underserved sections in the ruralareas.

Utilisation of all three maternal healthcareservices was remarkably higher among illiterateor less educated and poor women.

Usage of all three maternal healthcare servicesby the Dalit, Adivasis, OBC and Muslim womenincreased between the surveys.

However, inequalities still exist in access tomaternal care but JSY has narrowed gap inaccess to healthcare between the marginalisedgroup of women and financially better-off.

Women in their early 20s more likely availmaternal health care services as compared toolder women.

The incidence of women availing maternalhealthcare decreases with the increase in thenumber of children.

Fig. 4

What are the other program targetingpregnant women?

JSSY - Building on the phenomenal progressof the JSY scheme, Janani Shishu SurakshaKaryakram (JSSK) was launched in 2011.

It provides service guarantee in the form ofentitlements to pregnant women, sick newbornsand infants for free delivery including caesareansection and free treatment in public healthinstitutions.

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This includes free to and fro transport betweenhome and institution, diet, diagnostics, drugs,other consumables and blood transfusion ifrequired. The child health programme under theNational Health Mission (NHM) comprehensivelyintegrates interventions that improve childsurvival and addresses factors contributing toinfant and under-five mortality.

Since neonatal deaths are the biggestcontributor to child deaths which isapproximately 57% of the under five deaths,improving child survival hinges on improvingnewborn health.

It is now well recognised that child survivalcannot be addressed in isolation as it isintricately linked to the health of the mother,which is further determined by her health anddevelopment as an adolescent.

Therefore, the concept of Continuum ofCare, which emphasises care during critical lifestages in order to improve child survival, is beingfollowed under the national programme.

What initiatives GOI should take toimprove maternal health?

Increase Public Investment

The government must fulfil its promise of 2-3per cent GDP investment in healthcare. It is clearthat performance on maternal/infant mortalitycannot be improved without certain basic, solid andtargeted investments in infrastructure, i.e. motivatedand well-paid staff, established and integrated auditand regulatory systems, excellent politicalcommunication, with citizens who come to expectwell-performing public services as a right. A holisticapproach to healthcare should consider nutrition,sanitation, access to water, housing, transport,education, immunisation, employment and gender,and this oversight is integral - the World HealthOrganisation has found that environmentalconditions such as diarrhoea and malnutritioncontribute to twenty four percent of mortality indeveloping countries. The relevant Ministries musttherefore integrate their programmes to coordinateefforts and build a collective effort towards reducingmorbidity and mortality.

Public private partnerships should be reviewedto ensure that service delivery is being strengthenedso as to achieve universal access to healthcare.Ultimately, private partnerships cannot be analternative to adequate government investment,and it must remain the obligation of the state toensure access to treatment for every citizen: this isnot something that the market can be relied upon

to provide. In the interim, there is need for certainpreliminary measures before wider implementationof any partnership initiatives - particularly in thepoorest districts where commercial schemes willstruggle to generate profits.

Resource utilization

Resources must be rationally allocated, andtransparency and accountability safeguardsinstalled at all levels in public and private servicedelivery institutions. Stringent measures forfinancial accountability will discourage corruption,particularly demands for informal payments fordelivery of health services. There are already policiesand laws concerning abortion, right to food, rightto information, child marriage etc. In reality, theremust be a set of guidelines, parameters andstandards with clearly defined roles for differentagencies in order to ensure that these areimplemented; the framework provided by theIndian Public Health Standards should be extendedto the private sector, and there must also beeffective audit, review and accreditationprocedures. Accreditation enables all stakeholders– government, private partners, patients - to reacha consensus on appropriate practices within a givenclimate. At present, there is no operationalaccreditation body for medical providers. Thecurrent Medical Council reportedly rarely takes upcases and practitioners are not held to account,and is basically, therefore, non-functioning. Publiclyavailable health impact assessments anddemocratically elected local health councils areeffective methods of enhancing accountability.

Improve Primary Care Infrastructure

In terms of developing state levelinfrastructure (aside from monitoring andaccreditation), there are a number of measuresthat need to be taken at the levels of policy andimplementation. The government must concentrateon ensuring total availability of criticalinfrastructure, staff, equipment and supply inputsat all levels of public health facilities for deliveryand emergency care, especially in remote areas.Priority should be given to poor, underserved andmarginalized communities, providing transport forlogistical access to centres where necessary.Aganwadi centres must be open at hours that suitthe local community: this may often mean outsideof typical working hours for parents who must workto support their families. There is a need foraffirmative action for excluded and vulnerablepopulations such as young people, SC and ST andpeople living with HIV/AIDS - added to which mustbe the ensured accessibility of comprehensive,

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integrated healthcare services, including diversecontraceptive methods and safe abortions.Services have to be available to each member ofthe community and accessible - logistically andfinancially - to the poorest and most marginalised.

Reduce Child Marriage

The Child Marriage Restraint Act, 1976, shouldbe strictly enforced to reduce the number of highrisk teenage pregnancies and increase the potentialfor educated girl citizens. Education and awarenesscampaigns should also be launched, applying notonly to child marriage but also to the issues of sexselection, contraception and safe abortion.

Conclusion

The fact that the number of beneficiariesunder Janani Surakshsa Yojana has increased

manifold i.e. from 7.38 lakh beneficiaries in 2005-06 to 104.38 lakhs in 2014-15, itself is anindicator of high awareness levels and far reachingsuccess among the pregnant women. Also the factthat about 9 lakh ASHA workers get performancebased incentives under JSY for motivating pregnantwomen to give birth in a health facility is anindication of high awareness about the scheme.

Further, out of the total JSY beneficiariesreported in 2014-15, a large majority of (nearly87%) beneficiaries belong to rural areas.

The recent study revealed that JSY has ledto an enhancement in the utilisation of healthservices among all the social groups especiallyamong the OBC, Dalit, Adivasis and Muslim womenincreased considerably, thereby reducing theprevalent disparities in maternal care.

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SAARC AND ITS RELEVANCE

India and few other nations decided to pull out of the SAARC summit in Islamabadand the meeting got postponed for indefinite time.

Context

Introduction

The South Asian Association for RegionalCooperation (SAARC) is the regional inter-governmental organization and geopolitical unionof nations in South Asia. Its member states includeAfghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, theMaldives, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

SAARC comprised of seven unequal states interms of size, population, political system anddevelopment status. On one extreme it has India,the second most populous country in the world(after China), and on the other, the Maldives, witha population of barely 200,000. Similarly, on oneside it has such nuclear powers with large armedforces as India and Pakistan and on the other,small states like Bhutan and the Maldives, thecombined military strength of which would notexceed the police force of New Delhi or Karachi.

Why was it in the news recently?

Recently, India decided to pull out of theSAARC summit in Islamabad, with Afghanistan,Bhutan and Bangladesh deciding to follow suit.Since the previous Nepal summit, Pakistan hasblocked all protocols to better link the region, whileIndia has pursued a “SAARC minus Pakistan” planto push through with agreements it is keen on.Meetings in the run-up to Islamabad have beenovershadowed by ongoing India-Pakistan tensionsfor months now.

Problems Besetting the Organization

When SAARC was conceived as a regionalorganization the vision was clear:

To make the region a thriving example of mutualcooperation, collective self reliance and peacefulcoexistence.

Acceleration of economic growth, the promotionof welfare of people and improvement in theirquality of life has been the central objectives.

Conscious efforts have been made toencourage economic cooperation and to exclude

all contentious and bilateral issues. But the regionis full of contradictions that broadly fall under twoheads:

Divergent security interests

Indo-centric nature of the region.

Major obstacles in function of SAARC

Built in Contradictions: SAARC suffers froma built-in contradiction. India’s disproportionatelylarge size inhibits its neighbor’s participation asequal partners, crucial in any cooperativeendeavor. India accounts for 72 per cent ofthe region's area, 77 per cent of its population,and 78 percent of its GNP. Its armed forcesaccount for about 50 per cent of the region'stotal armed strength and if one excludesPakistan (which accounts for about 25 per cent),the ratio between India and the remaining fivetaken together would be nine to one.

Conflicting Security Perceptions: Thisgross disparity coupled with distrusts emanatingfrom socio-historical reasons gives rise toconflicting security outlooks. Except Pakistan,India perceives no threat from any other countrywithin the region. Threat to its security is actuallyextra-regional and in this context Pakistan'slinkages with China assumes relevance. Forothers in the region (excluding Bhutan, whoseforeign policy is more or less guided by India,and the Maldives, which is too small to protectitself without India's help, as the 1988 coupattempt showed), India itself is a threat, whichcan be faced only through extra-regionalconnections. This dichotomy in the region'sperceptions and corresponding security doctrinescannot augur well for the SAARC.

Problem of Diverse Political Culture: Thediverse political culture of the region is also notconducive to cooperation. From the point ofview of governmental systems operative in theregion, there are four democracies (Bangladesh,India, Nepal and Sri Lanka), one state withmilitary dictatorship background (Pakistan), onemonarchy (Bhutan), and one one-partypresidential system (the Maldives).

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State-religion Relationships: India,notwithstanding its being predominantly Hinduand of late witnessing an unprecedented Hindumilitancy stands for secularism, while all theremaining six avoid declaring themselves assuch. Bangladesh, the Maldives and Pakistanhave an Islamic thrust; Bhutan and Sri Lanka,Buddhist; and Nepal, Hindu.

Global Linkages: With respect to structurallinkages with the global system, which hasindeed undergone massive change of late, therewere two categories, broadly speaking. The first,-in which India was included, had a fairly powerfulcapitalist class which had over the yearsdeveloped stakes in both the world capitalistand socialist systems, though remainingindependent of both. The other had deepstructural linkages with the world capitalistsystem and the bourgeoisie there was largelycomprador. Bangladesh, Maldives, Pakistan,and Sri Lanka belonged to this category.Bhutan's economy is largely Indo-centric. Thatof Nepal is both Indo centric as well asdeveloped market economies oriented.

These systematic diversities led to divergentnation building strategies which tended to thriveat each other's expense rather than contribute toeach other's gain.

Implications of the foundational problems

Absence of Required Political Thrust:The cumulative effect of the existing problemsdiscussed above is the absence of a politicalthrust to make SAARC take bold strides. Byshying away from 'bilateral and contentious'issues the organization deprives itself of theopportunity to deliberate on the most importantquestions that need to be addressed. This lackof confidence in each other has its ownramifications. For example, inter-state trade isstill minuscule. India is a potential supplier ofindustrial goods and services to almost all theSouth Asian states but they prefer to dependon the industrial West, Japan, and even Chinainstead of India.

Problem of Resource Development:Another area in which progress is negligible isresource development. The Indiansubcontinent's river system is such that ifproperly tapped, with the entire region in mind,it would do wonders in terms of development,affording irrigation, power generation, anddrinking water.

How does it affect India’s interests?

India bears the brunt in more than one way.Situated at the core of the region, its boundarytouches that of almost all the countries ofSAARC while no two other members havecommon borders.

As a multi-ethnic, multi-lingual, and multi-religioussociety, India offers all the countries in the regionsome connection to their ethnic, linguistic, orreligious brotherhoods, while no two othercountry have cross national ethnic populationsvisible enough to be of any consequence barringthe notable exception of Bhutan and Sri Lanka.

The ‘Indo-centricity’ of the problem often dragsIndia into the region's ethnic strife, which itseldom relishes. At the same time, however,India has the opportunity to twist the arm of arecalcitrant neighbor to gain strategicconcessions.

Indo-Pak Recent Conflict

Pathankot Attack: Basic courtesies were setaside by both countries after the Pathankotattack. Islamabad dropped any plans to send arepresentative to India to formally extend aninvitation to the summit, as is the custom.

Ministers Visit: Home Minister Rajnath Singhwas given a mixed welcome by his Pakistanihosts during the Home Ministers’ meeting inIslamabad in August, prompting Finance MinisterArun Jaitley to cancel his visit for thesubsequent SAARC Finance Ministers’ meeting.

URI Attack: Uri proved to be the final straw,especially in view of Pakistan’s refusal to evenissue a statement condemning the attack,galvanizing India to reach out to other SAARCmember-countries in an effort to “diplomaticallyisolate” Pakistan. But Sri Lanka and theMaldives, and Nepal, the acting SAARC Chair,have kept out of the boycott.

Pakistan’s line of action: However, Pakistancontinues to receive support from several othercountries outside of the SAARC, most notablyChina, and also has a new relationship withRussia that conducted its first-ever militaryexercises in Pakistan just days after the Uriattack. Iran too sent four naval warships to theKarachi port to participate in a Passage exercise(PASSEX).

SAARC minus Pakistan

India has pursued a “SAARC minus Pakistan”plan to push through with agreements it is keenon.

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Afghanistan and Bangladesh too haddowngraded their participation in these meetingsbecause of their anger with Pakistan on itscontinued support to terror groups in therespective countries.

Conclusion and Future Prospects

With one-fifth of the world’s population, SouthAsia is home to two-fifths of the world’s poor. Ithas abysmally low intra-regional trade. It wasprecisely to work around bilateral tensions in thesubcontinent, especially between its two biggestmembers, and to make space for discussion oncommon issues such as trade, infrastructure,

sustainable development and poverty alleviation,that SAARC was set up.

The founding principle was that together SouthAsia had a better chance of fighting its shared ills,an idea that held the group together for decades inthe face of intermittent regional tensions. This isnot the first time that a SAARC summit has beenpostponed. But given the prevailing environment ofdeep mistrust and tension, it is unlikely that thesummit will be rescheduled to take place in the nearfuture. This is something that will cause seriousdamage to the multilateral process and raise evenmore questions about the future and relevance ofSAARC.

Fig. 5

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ETCA: THE STRIVE TOWARDS REJUVENATEDINDO-LANKA TRADE

India and Sri Lanka has signed an Economic and Technological CooperationAgreement (ETCA).

Context

Introduction

The relationship between India and Sri Lankais more than 2,500 years old. Both countries havea legacy of intellectual, cultural, religious andlinguistic interaction.

In recent years, the relationship has beenmarked by close contacts at all levels. Trade andinvestment have grown and there is cooperationin the fields of development, education, cultureand defence. Both countries share a broadunderstanding on major issues of internationalinterest.

Why was it in news recently?

India-Sri Lanka bilaterally agreed to concludethe proposed ETCA (Economy & Technology Co-operation Framework agreement), in addition tothe existing FTA (Free Trade Agreement) by theend of this year.

Diplomatic Cooperation

During former president's Rajapaksa tenureSL tilted towards China, but in Jan, 2015Sirisena came to Power who has promised

to correct pro-China tilt.

PM of India and SL President have met 3times since 2014 NDA govt. came to power.

Economic and Commercial Relations

Economic relations are strong since FTAcame into force in 2000. India and Sri Lanka

enjoys a robust trade and investmentrelationship. Sri Lanka is India's largest tradepartner in South Asia. India in turn is Sri

Lanka's largest trade partner globally. Tradebetween the two countries grew particularly

rapidly after India-Sri Lanka Free TradeAgreement came in force in March 2000.

Over the next eight years, bilateral trademultiplied nearly five-fold.

According to Sri Lankan Customs data, thebilateral trade amounted to US$ 4.01 billion

in 2012. In recent months, the two countrieshave continued discussion to take theeconomic and commercial engagement to

the next level.

Developmental Cooperation: The conclusion

of the armed conflict saw the emergence of amajor humanitarian challenge, with nearly300,000 Tamil civilians housed in camps asInternally Displaced Persons (IDPs). TheGovernment of India put in place a robust

programme of assistance to help the IDPs returnto normal life as quickly as possible and hasalso consistently advocated the need for themto be resettled to their original habitations asearly as possible. With the shift from relief and

rehabilitation to reconstruction anddevelopment, the Government of India turnedits attention to the housing requirements ofthe IDPs.

Fig. 6

India Sri Lanka Bilateral Relations

Areas of Cooperation

Cultural/Soft power Cooperation

In April 2015, India granted visa-on-arrivalfacilities for Lankans visiting India;

Share religious (Buddhism) and linguistic(Tamil) ties; in April 2015 India announcedRamayana train in SL and Buddhist circuit inIndia; in March 2015, India organized adialogue between Buddhists of Theravadatradition in SL and Nalanda tradition in India.

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Strategic & Defence Cooperation

Nuclear Energy: During Sirisena's visit toIndia, agreement on cooperation in peacefuluses of nuclear energy was signed (involvesexchange of expertise, but excludesconstruction of nuclear reactors).

Defence: Cooperating in a trilateral formaton maritime security between india, SL andMaldives. India and Sri Lanka also enjoy agrowing defence relationship built onextensive training and Service-to-Servicelinkages. The commonality of concerns ofboth countries, including with respect to thesafety and security of their sea lanes ofcommunication, informs their bilateralexchanges in this field.

UNSC: SL supports India’s candidature forUNSC.

Conflict Zones

Peace Process: India has deep interest inpeace and stability in Sri Lnak. Peace in SriLanka can only contribute to the furtherdeepening and expansion of Indo-Sri Lankanties to mutual advantage. The Government ofIndia is committed to the unity, sovereignty andterritorial integrity of Sri Lanka and to therestoration of a lasting peace through apeaceful, negotiated settlement that meets thejust aspirations of all communities.

The Fishermen Issue: Arrest of Indianfishermen on the Sri Lankan side of theInternational Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) inthe Palk Straits and the Gulf of Mannar by SriLankan authorities has been a long-standingproblem. The catch on the Sri Lankan side isbetter both in terms of quality (high-valueprawns) and quantity.

The Kachativu Issue: Kachativu, meaning of‘barren island’ lies about 15 km fromRameswaram and 20 km north of Neduntivuoff the Jaffna peninsula and is just 1.5 kmfrom the International Boundary Line in SriLankan waters after the 1974 agreement. Thewindswept, desolate 112 hectares has very littleplant or animal life. Its only man-made structureis a church, dedicated to St. Antony. TheIsland’s importance stems from the fact thatthe sea around it is rich in white and brownprawns and other varieties of fish. After a goodcatch, fishermen from Rameswaram used torest and dry their nets there. While Sri Lanka(then Ceylon) claimed that Kachativu belongedto it because the Portuguese and later theBritish rulers of Sri Lanka exercised jurisdiction

over it from Colombo, India argued the islandformed part of the zamin of the Raja ofRamanathapuram.

Though the dispute erupted now and then inthe late 1960s, it figured for the first time atthe highest level when Prime Minister,Kumaratunga’s visit to New Delhi on the lastweek of December, 1998. Negotiating teamshad been at work on the pact since the middleof December, without clinching every detail ofit. At one stage External Affairs Minister JaswantSingh urged the teams to go that extra mile touphold the principle of free trade.

What is the status of FTA signed betweenIndia and SriLanka in 1998?

Signatories of FTA (Free Trade Agreement)countries have to reduce trade barriers and tocreate a stable and transparent trading andinvestment environment to make trade easier,something similar to open market.

To facilitate the trade relations between thetwo countries, the India-Sri Lanka FTA was signedin 1998. This FTA is in operation since 2000and is only in goods. As per this agreement,while India provides duty free access to 4227Sri Lankan Products; Sri Lanka provides dutyfree access to 2802 Indian products. The FTAwas significant because it alone multiplied thetrade by 8 times by 2011.

Issues with FTA

In comparison to India, Sri Lanka received morebenefits. While 70% of Sri Lanka’s exports arecovered under FTA, only 30% of India’s exportsto Sri Lanka were covered under thepreferential route of the FTA.

There have been complaints from Sri Lankanside that the existence of non-Tariff barriers(NTBs) for market access has prevented SriLanka to export more to India. Though somebarriers have been removed few others remain.Experts from Indian side have different answerfor this problem.

Apart from this, India and Sri Lanka are alsosignatories of South Asia Free Trade Agreement(SAFTA).

Economic and Technological CooperationAgreement (ETCA)

The two countries were also holding negotiationsto finalize Comprehensive Economic PartnershipAgreement (CEPA). With negotiations draggingfor years on account of opposition from SriLanka’s business communities, CEPA could notbe finalized. CEPA aimed to liberalize trade inservices and investment.

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Both the countries are now negotiating toconclude a new trade pact called the Economicand Technological Cooperation Agreement(ETCA).

ETCA is negotiated as an extension over theexisting FTA and it is expected to be signed bythis year end. It will encompass India’s fivefastest growing southern states which have apopulation of 250 million and a combined GDPof $400 billion and Sri Lanka’s 22 millionpopulation with an US $80 billion economy. Thiswould make the GDP of the sub region to be$500 billion.

ETCA aims to attract investment in this $500billion economy.

Objectives of ETCA

Strengthen and advance the economic, trade,investment and technology cooperation.

Promote further liberalization of trade in goods,trade in services and gradually establishtransparent, fair and facilitative trading,investment and investment protectionmechanisms.

Establish a cooperation mechanism and expandareas of economic cooperation.

Hurdles in ETCA

Conclusion of ETCA with India is opposed bysome interest groups and political parties in SriLanka. The protest against ETCA is based inhuge trade deficit. As per official Sri Lankanfigures, Indian exports to Sri Lanka was US$4,268 million while Sri Lankan exports to Indiawas just US$ 643 million in 2015. This hugetrade deficit is not liked by the businesscommunity in Sri Lanka.

They claim that ETCA is to be largelyadvantageous to India and oppose conclusionof any trade pacts with India. However, Indianofficials and pro-liberalisation advocates in SriLanka have offered different explanations onthe gains of FTA. According to them, high Indianexports were mostly independent of FTA andargue that Sri Lanka got more benefits out ofFTA than India.

Also, Sri Lanka is at present facing a majorbalance of payments (BOP) crisis. At thisjuncture, it would be difficult for the Sri Lankangovernment to push for the economic pact andconvince the opposition parties who believe thateconomic pacts with India are disadvantageousto them.

However, India has helped the Sri Lankangovernment to tackle the BOP problem byboosting the foreign exchange reserves of SriLanka by US $1.1 billion with a Reserve bankof India credit swap for six months followed byanother emergency credit swap in March. CreditSwaps are temporary arrangements to increaseSri Lanka’s foreign exchange reserves until theloans from IMF took effect in June.

Why this meet is important from India’sPerspective and its implications onGeopolitics of South Asia?

India-Sri Lanka meet on ETCA has significantmeaning in strengthening relationship withneighbors as India has a lot of differences withPakistan and China.

Presence of China soured Indo-Sri Lankanrelationship in past due to Chinese investmentin the Colombo Port City Project along with themanagement of the port which makes Indiasuspicious about the military element of China.

Sri Lankan PM clarified earlier that they arenegotiating free trade agreement (FTA) with Chinaunder its “one Belt, One Road” initiative as it isnecessary to make the Chinese investment inthe country realize their full potential.

To strengthen the bilateral relation between Indiaand Sri Lanka, India PM Narendra Modi met SriLankan President Maithripala Sirisena before theBRICS-BIMSTEC Summit 2016 at Goa.

Conclusion

Today the relationship between both thecountries is strong and poised for a quantum jumpby building on the rich legacy of historical linkagesand strong economic development partnershipsthat have been forged in recent years.

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PLAN TO WIDEN EPF COVERAGE

The centre is reconsidering a plan to widen the social security net for workersby bringing more factories under the provident fund coverage.

Context

What is Provident Fund?

Provident Fund is a mandatory, tax-qualified,defined contribution, retiral benefit plan whereinequal contribution at the rate of 12% is made bythe employer and the employee.

It is run by government for the benefit of itscitizens. It is a form of social safety net into whichworkers must contribute a portion of their salariesand employers must contribute on behalf of theirworkers. The money in the fund is then paid outto retirees or in some cases to the disabled whocan not work.

In India EPFO and PFRDA are two leadingsocial security organisations led by Government.

The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation(EPFO), is an Organization tasked to assist theCentral Board of Trustees, a statutory body formedby the Employees' Provident Fund andMiscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952 and is underthe administrative control of the Ministry of Labourand Employment, GoI. It is one of the largest socialsecurity organisations in India in terms of thenumber of covered beneficiaries and the volumeof financial transactions undertaken.

Why recently in news?

In the recent move, the centre is reconsideringa plan to widen the social security net for workersby bringing more factories under the provident fund

Fig. 7

coverage. The Labour Ministry had proposed tobring down the threshold limit for coverage of firmsunder the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) tofactories with at least 10 workers. At present, theEPF Act is applicable to factories with minimum20 workers.

Provisions for Social Security in India

India, being a Welfare State, has taken uponitself the responsibilities of extending variousbenefits of Social Security and Social Assistanceto its citizens. The Social Security legislations inIndia derive their strength and spirit from theDirective Principles of the State Policy as containedin the Constitution of India.

In India, out of an estimated work force of 91percent all should be having the benefit of formalSocial Security protection including the workers whoare in the unorganised sector. Several andsuccessive attempts have been made in the pastto address the multifarious problems faced by theworkers in the unorganised sector through legislativeas well as programme oriented measures.

Even though these measures have notsucceeded in achieving the desired objective partlyon account of the ignorance, illiteracy and lack ofunionisation of workers on the one hand and theresource constraints of the State on the other.Some of the programmes have provided a goodsetting through which the hopes and expectationof the workers in the unorganised sector havebeen considerably aroused.

Article 38 is a mandate to the state to securea social order for the promotion of welfare ofthe people,

Article 39 provides for equal rights to adequatemeans of livelihood to all citizens and distributionof wealth and material resources to subservecommon good and prevention of concentrationof wealth and means of production etc.,

Article 41 provides for right to work, educationand public assistance in certain cases such asunemployment, old age sickness anddisablement.

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Article 42 stands for providing just and human

conditions of work and maternity relief.

Article 43 deals with living wage for workers

and Article 43-A intend to secure workers.

What are the government initiatives so far?

A . Employee’s Provident Fund (EPF)

Employee’s Provident Fund (EPF) is a

retirement benefit scheme that’s available to

all salaried employees. This fund is maintained

and overseen by the Employees Provident Fund

Organisation of India (EPFO) and any company

with over 20 employees is required by law to

register with the EPFO. It’s a savings platform

that helps employees save a fraction of their

salary every month that can be used in the

event that they are rendered unable to work,

or upon retirement.

Tax Benefits: The employer contribution to

EPF is tax-free, and employee’s contribution is

tax-deductible under Section 80C of the Income

Tax Act. The money invested in EPF, the interest

earned and the money eventually withdraw after

the mandatory specified period (5 years) are

exempt from income tax.

The administration of the Act is carried out by

the Central Board of Trustees which comprises

representatives of three parties’ viz. the

government, employers and employees. The

Board is assisted by the Employees’ Provident

Fund Organisation (EPFO) which falls under the

purview of the Government through the Ministry

of Labour and Employment.

The EPFO, therefore, provide services to an

unusually large number of subscribers. This,

coupled with the large number of associated

transactions involved, ranks the EPFO among

the largest organisations, globally. Currently EPFO

provides service to more than 5 crore members.

Under the Act, the EPFO operates three schemes

in all viz.

Employees’ Provident Fund Scheme, 1952

Employees’ Pension Scheme, 1995 (which

replaced the Employees’ Family Pension

Scheme, 1971)

Employees’ Deposit Linked Insurance

Scheme, 1976

Under the Act, member employees are eligible

for provident fund, pension and insurance benefits

as per the above mentioned schemes.

Benefits of the EPF Scheme

The EPF scheme is one of the most importantsavings schemes in India for many reasons. Keyadvantages are highlighted below:

Tax-free earnings: The interest earned onfunds held in an EPF account is tax-free.Withdrawals at maturity / beyond 5 years arealso tax-free (except in case of prematurewithdrawal). This helps optimise growth andreturns on savings. Contributions made towardsEPF are tax deductible under Section 80C ofthe Income Tax Act, 1956.

Financial Security: Funds in the account arenot easy to withdraw and so savings is ensured.

Retirement: Eventually, the amount collectedprovides financial security at time of retirement.

Emergencies: The funds are also useful intimes of emergencies to meet certainrequirements for which premature withdrawalsare allowed in certain cases.

Loss of income: If an employee for somereason cannot work any longer, these fundshelp tide over loss of income.

Resignation: After 2 months of resignationemployees can withdraw accumulated amountsin their PF accounts.

Death: The accumulated amount is passed onto the employee’s nominee providing themfinancial stability.

Disability: If employees cannot work anylonger, EPF balances can be withdrawn to tideone over.

Retrenchment or discharge: This is whereemployees are laid off from work. PF savings

Fig. 8

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can bridge the income gap till another job canbe found.

Long-term savings option: This is a soundsavings option for employees with long-terminvestment goals.

Source of funds: In times of need, EPF fundscan provide an employee much needed liquidity.Funds can be borrowed to meet certain pressingneeds such as medical, housing, marriage andeducation.

Pension: Under the Act, along with providentfunds, an employer also contributes towardsan employee’s pension fund which the employeecan eventually use upon retirement.

Insurance: Under the Act, an employer alsocontributes towards an employee’s life insurancein the absence of a group cover, therebyensuring employees are insured.

Universal access: Employees can transfertheir accounts when they change employers andwith the introduction of the Universal AccountNumber (UAN) they can now access their EPFaccounts through a single-point.

B . Employee Pension Scheme

It is a pension scheme that offers widowpensions, pension on debasement. Under thisscheme, nominees can also receive pensions.Out of the total contribution made by employer,8.335 goes toward EPS account. The amountdeposited towards EPS account is subject to amaximum of Rs. 1250. In order to enjoy thebenefit of this scheme, an employee’s basicsalary needs to be Rs. 6500 per month.

Both Employee Provident Fund and EmployeePension Schemes are pension offered bygovernment of India to help employees securetheir retirement days. The two schemes provideassured returns on investments and theseschemes are particularly designed for salariedemployees.

C . National Pension Scheme by PFRDA

The Pension Fund Regulatory andDevelopment Authority (PFRDA) is a pensionregulatory authority which was established byGovernment of India on August 23, 2003. PFRDAis authorized by Ministry of Finance, Departmentof Financial Services.

PFRDA promotes old age income security byestablishing, developing and regulating pensionfunds and protects the interests of subscribersto schemes of pension funds and relatedmatters.

PFRDA is regulating NPS, subscribed byemployees of Govt. of India, State Governmentsand by employees of private institutions/organizations & unorganized sectors. The PFRDAis ensuring the orderly growth and developmentof pension market.

On 23rd August, 2003, Interim PFRDA wasestablished through a resolution by theGovernment of India to promote, develop andregulate pension sector in India.

The contributory pension system was notifiedby the Government of India on 22nd December,2003, now named the National PensionSystem (NPS) with effect from the 1st January,2004. The NPS was subsequently extended toall citizens of the country w.e.f. 1st May, 2009including self employed professionals and othersin the unorganized sector on a voluntary basis.

What is the present PF coverage in India?

At present, 8.7 crore workers are subscribed toEPFO out of which around 3.77 crore workersmade active contributions to their PF account till2015-16. The proposal to cover factories with atleast 10 workers under the EPF Act was one ofthe recommendations of the 44th Indian LabourConference Session held in 2012.

What is the current issue about wideningthe coverage of EPF?

The centre is reconsidering a plan to widenthe social security net for workers by bringing morefactories under the provident fund coverage. TheLabour Ministry has proposed to bring down thethreshold limit for coverage of firms under theEmployees’ Provident Fund (EPF) to factories withatleast 10 workers.

Currently, the EPF Act is applicable to factorieswith minimum 20 workers only. But there is adebate on the contradictory government stance.On the one hand, there is a proposal to bringlarger number of people under the EPF fold andon other hand, there is another proposal to giveworkers an option to opt out of EPFO and moveto NPS.

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ANALYSIS OF SWACHH BHARAT MISSION

Swachh Bharat Abhiyan day has been celebrated on 2nd October.

Context

The World Health Organization states that:Sanitation generally refers to the provision offacilities and services for the safe disposal ofhuman urine and feces. Inadequate sanitation isa major cause of disease world-wide and improvingsanitation is known to have a significant beneficialimpact on health both in households and acrosscommunities. The word ‘sanitation’ also refers tothe maintenance of hygienic conditions, throughservices such as garbage collection and wastewaterdisposal.

Inadequate sanitation is a major cause ofdisease world-wide and improving sanitation isknown to have a significant beneficial impact onhealth both in households and across communities.

What are the beliefs of the cleanliness?

Indians have deep-seated beliefs aboutcleanliness and waste.

Pure and pristine: Believe in ritual bathsbefore prayers or festivals. Water and the colourwhite symbolize cleanliness and purity.

Ownership: Believe in cleaning ourselves, ourhomes and our immediate surroundings. Throughcleaning, we establish ownership. Not included inthis ownership is the collective notion of commongoods and common spaces. It possibly derives fromour scarcity mindset, developed over centurieswhen it was important to preserve one’s immediatecohort.

Health: Clean signifies germ-free. At thesame time, it is often just a perception cleaning atable with a dirty rag does not really clean.

Shame: While being clean is good, dirt isconsidered impure and the act of cleaning hasstigma associated with it and is often delegatedto someone else job typically based on class, casteand gender codes.

Internal or external: If produce is cleanfrom the outside, assume it is hygienic or healthy.If the visible part of the room is clean, even ifdust is swept under the furniture, it doesn’t botherus. If the syringe that is used is new, the overflowingand unsegregated wastebasket at the clinic doesnot affect us.

These deep-seated beliefs about cleanlinessinfluence the cities, markets, temples and hospitalslook.

Data on sanitation

According to House listing and Housing Census2011, 47% of the households have latrine facilitywithin premises with 36% households have watercloset and 9% households have pit latrine. Thereis an 11% decline in households having no latrinefrom 64% to 53% in 2011. Most of these numbersare made up by people who live in urban slumsand rural areas. A large populace in the rural areasstill defecates in the open. Slum dwellers in majormetropolitan cities, reside along railway tracks andhave no access to toilets or a running supply ofwater.

Thus to improve the sanitation in the nationvarious initiatives have been launched.

Past Initiatives

The central government has beenimplementing schemes to improve access tosanitation in rural areas from the 1st Five YearPlan (1951-56) onwards. Major schemes of thecentral government dealing with rural sanitationare outlined below:

Central Rural Sanitation Programme(CRSP-1986): The Central Rural SanitationProgramme was one of the first schemes ofthe central government which focused solelyon rural sanitation. The programme sought toconstruct household toilets, construct sanitarycomplexes for improving the quality of life ofthe rural people and also to provide privacyand dignity to women.

Total Sanitation Campaign (1999): Tomake greater focus on Information, Educationand Communication (IEC) activities in order tomake the creation of sanitation facilitiesdemand driven rather than supply driven.

Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan (NBA): In 2012,the Total Sanitation Campaign was replaced bythe Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan (NBA). The objectivewas to accelerate the sanitation coverage inthe rural areas.

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About Swatch Bharat Abhiyan

This mission was launched on 2nd of October2014 (145th birth anniversary of Gandhiji) bytargeting its completeness in 2019 on 150th birthanniversary of Gandhiji, under national campaigncovering 4,041 statutory cities and towns, to cleanthe streets, roads and infrastructure of the country.

Under the new programme, NBA will be re-structured into Swachh Bharat Mission with twosub-Missions - Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin)and Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban). The twomissions will fall under the Union Ministry of DrinkingWater and Sanitation (for Rural) and the UnionMinistry of Urban Development (for Urban).

The main objectives are:

To bring about an improvement in thecleanliness, hygiene and eliminating opendefecation and manual scavenging system andto bring behavioral changes among Indianpeople regarding maintenance of personalhygiene and practice.

To accelerate sanitation coverage all over Indiato achieve the vision of Swachh Bharat by 2ndOctober 2019.

To motivate Communities and Panchayati RajInstitutions (PRIs) to adopt sustainable scientificSolid & Liquid Waste Management sanitationpractices and facilities through awarenesscreation and health education.

Funding pattern includes

Budgetary allocations

Funding and technical support from the WorldBank, corporations as part of corporate socialresponsibility (CSR) initiatives, and by stategovernments under the ‘Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan’and ‘Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan’schemes.

Swachh Bharat Kosh (SBK): Swachh Bharatcess is an increase in the service tax by 0.5%on all the services in India.

The funding for 9 crore toilets is expected tocome from 3 primary sources – Ministry ofDrinking Water & Sanitation, Ministry of RuralDevelopment, and the States in the ratio of75:25 between centre and State and 90:10for North Eastern state.

Key challenges

Mindset of People: About 590 million personsin rural areas defecate in the open. The mindsetof a major portion of the population habituatedto open defecation needs to be changed. Many

of them already have a toilet but prefer todefecate in the open.

Scientific Solid & Liquid WasteManagement sanitation practices: Thereis no professional expertise in the MunicipalCorporation to keep the city clean and it remainsunclear how and where the waste will bedisposed and what extent of the responsibilityfor managing waste lies with citizens.

Sustainibilty: The lack of any resources formaintenance of school toilets and communitysanitary complexes could result in rapiddeterioration and subsequent non-usage ofthese over time, severely impacting thesustainability of the programme.

Lack of staff: Inadequate dedicated staff atthe Field Level for implementation of ruralsanitation.

Reframing the problem of waste toreverse belief systems

To change beliefs around dirt and cleanliness,first need to change the popular dialogue aroundthese latent belief systems. It will be more willingto do our part if understand that:

Waste has value that it can be easily sold orconverted into energy or fertilizer.

Waste needs to be feared either throughpunitive measures like fines or through itsnegative impact on the health and well-being ofour families.

The act of cleaning itself is not shameful orderogatory.

Our small steps towards cleaner behaviours arenoticed and appreciated.

Culture-led beliefs are never static. At anygiven time, there are residual and dominant beliefs,but also some new emergent beliefs usually shapedby media, movies, the economy, and political andsocial discourse. Beliefs around cleanliness canbe actively shaped when clean actions are shownin media. Celebrities posing with the humble broomgather sniggers and trolls today. But a repeatedmessage that envelops us across platforms and issubtly embedded in content, especially television,can go a long way in shaping perception.

Creating triggers for Behaviour Change

Adoption of clean infrastructure and cleanhabits would require changes in beliefs and actions.That is tough. Change requires motivation, andmultiple emotions must be invoked to influencebehaviour.

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Pride: Taking pride flag and get offended by aword deemed seditious, but are not concernedabout the street in which we live in. What would ittake to make a country that is more than itssymbols?

Respect: We respect our own property inprivate. We clean our homes and shops and evenleave our shoes outside. Yet the refuse spillingfrom our gates plagues our neighbours, and theopen disposal at our public spaces festers germs.How can respect shift from celebrities and religioussymbols to public health and sanitation?

Competition: In a nation of multitudes, ourneed to stand out is extremely high. How can thiscompetitive streak be harnessed for the urbanand rural commons?

Appreciation: Love for receiving empathyand connect is great, but the ability to expressenthusiasm and appreciation is low. How can it usethe power of appreciation to transform behaviours?

Shame: Personal and communal honour is amatter of pride, and its violation can lead to deepshame. How can it can be extended this to thepublic common space, and leverage the power ofsocial media to ‘shame’ each other into betterbehaviour?

Fear: Could the fear for the health and well-being of loved ones be tapped into?

Addressing Swachh Bharat solutions formultiple stakeholders

Every problem has multiple stakeholders andhence the solutions must address the real, unmetand talent needs of each of these groups. Whenthe obvious solutions fail — in this case, adoptionand behaviour even where infrastructure exists —it need to use innovative solutions and behaviourchange triggers. These solutions will combinetechnology, digital, psychographics and behaviouraleconomics to drive outcomes.

It can define four major stakeholdersegments, and interlinked solutions are neededacross these segments.

A . Government:

There are several layers of governing bodiesfrom the central government which creates thepolicies, to the state government, the urban localbodies and rural development centres.

Also, government is a combination ofindividuals with their own aspirations andcapabilities. How well we integrate solutions to tapthe potential and intent of each person willdetermine the success of the enterprise.

Capacity building: Training workshops andvideo-based lessons for officers and staff memberscan go a long way. Tracking and monitoringmechanisms, aided by technology, can measureprogress.

Inter-departmental cooperation: Onlymunicipal wards are under the ambit of the urbandevelopment ministry. Educational and healthcareinstitutions, monuments, animal and producemarkets, roads, train stations and airports are allgoverned by different ministries. Realizing this, thecentral mission body is creating a compendium ofspecific ideas and tools to cascade to differentministries at central, state and city levels. Thechallenge will lie in last-mile awareness and clarityon leveraging available funds, processes andresources to execute at the local level.

Rewards and incentives: Governmentofficials are individuals vying for rewards and careerprogress. Setting up outcome-based recognitionand rewards frameworks, and linking them withcompetitions (city cleanliness rankings),celebrations (Swacchta Divas, or cleanliness day),champions of the month, and best departmentswill ensure engagement and performance.

Changing laws and practices: Creatingstrong laws around effluents or littering, offeringeasily understood subsidies for waste recycling orconservation initiatives, strengthening the finessystem and linking it with Internet of Things (IoT)-enabled tracking will help better following of rules.Further, linking it with citizen apps and complaintshotlines will improve transparency.

Institutional cleaning staff

Under the governance of the local bodies arethe actual functionaries municipal employees orcontract staffs who do the daily hands-on work.Salary levels are low, and the repetitive workrequires continuous motivation.

Capacity building: Every staff memberneeds to understand and internalize the goals,processes and expected outcomes. Training is notenough. Lack of cleaning supplies and tools causesmotivation levels to slacken and habits to break.Hence enabling staff with knowledge and tools iscrucial. Tracking of work is even more critical. Withradio frequency identification and IoT enablement,some municipalities are trying to trackimplementation. Bins and trucks have embeddeddevices which track the route taken by trucks,number of bins emptied and so on.

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Rewards and incentives: Technology isalso not the final answer. Staff can flummox thebest tracking devices and find loopholes inprocesses. Corporates, sports people and thearmed forces routinely use the power of sharedpurpose and future impact to motivate individuals.Giving meaning to work and recognizing it throughsimple mechanisms like uniforms, badges,employee recognition systems and localcompetitions will allow staff to take their workseriously.

Appreciation: If citizens recognize theefforts of their local cleaners, even through smilesand words of appreciation, it can trigger the limbicbrain that influences emotions and drivessubconscious behaviour.

B . Corporate entities:

Companies are already coming together toadopt the cause of cleanliness, encouragingemployee participation and spreading the message.But they may need to do even more. While industrialwaste, effluents and emissions are not a part ofthe mandate of Swachh Bharat Mission, a largepart of the toxic environment of our cities andtowns comes from unsafe industrial practices andlow-efficiency products. In an integrated manner,through climate control goals, the state is aimingto reduce pollution and improve sanitation.Businesses will need to design better facilities andbetter products.

Reducing waste footprint: At the macrolevel, companies will need to adopt bettermechanisms, technologies and processes for wasteand water management. If hotels, malls, factoriesand offices pledged to improve their swacchtafootprint through grey water recycling, purchasingrecycled products and at-source cleaning, it willreduce the mission’s overall burden. Local non-profits and grassroots businesses are alreadyaligning with urban local bodies in some areas forlast-mile segregated garbage collection.

Waste to value businesses: Youngentrepreneurs are setting up businesses to collectwaste and e-waste, and recycle or up-cycle theseproducts or convert waste to energy. Even in ruralareas, a few entrepreneurs are setting up biogasplants. There is commerce and enterprise in waste,and more localized solutions are needed.

Leverage small business owners:Shopkeepers and stall keepers can significantlycontribute to the face of our streets and markets,even through a simple act of keeping a smallbucket for garbage disposal.

C. Citizens:

This is the toughest pillar. Habits becomebeliefs and beliefs can be held strongly. Citizenswho behave differently when expected to, insideluxury hotels or malls or a regimented officeenvironment, behave in the opposite manner whenunfettered by the propriety of expectations.

Education: Sporadic school-led cleanlinessdrives will not change beliefs. But an integratedsystem of competitions, recognition, streetperformances, experiential and activity-basedinitiatives that are conducted in a tiered mannerfrom local to national levels might help in deeperbelief changes.

Competition: Just like national cleanlinessrankings, cities could compete within themselvesat the locality, street and society level. Using socialmedia to spread the word might possibly inspireothers to contribute to their own communities.Cleanliness ambassadors, students or oldercitizens, can spread the message to localbusinesses and roadside stalls.

Tackling superstition: Media, celebritiesand community influencers can play a huge role indebunking myths around cleanliness and thestigma attached to the act of cleaning whetherinside our homes, our places of work or worshipor our public spaces.

In the end, as much as creating commercialinterests and infrastructure for cleanliness isneeded, Swachh Bharat Mission will succeed—orfail—because of people. Disbelievers can harm theeffort by not participating and even more by beingcynical. If we do not reframe the problem andidentify ways for each set of stakeholders tocontribute, we will not move ahead in this journey.

Way Forward

There is need to strengthening of administrativeinfrastructure at state level, through merging ofdrinking water supply and sanitationdepartments to avoid the unnecessaryduplication and confusion at present. There isalso need to explore Inter PersonalCommunication through NGOs, SHGs, Schoolchildren, local women’s groups etc fordissemination of information and for motivationof the people.

The high degree of policy priority accorded tosanitation with the introduction of Swachh BharatAbhiyan could go a long way in achieving an opendefecation free India in the coming years.

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A package of comprehensive sanitation andhygiene interventions need to be rolled. It canresult in averting 45 percent of adverse healthimpacts, and avoid all the adverse impacts ofinadequate sanitation related to water, welfare,and tourism losses.

Community-led public-private partnershipsneeded to improve access to toilets andawareness campaigns in schools and slums inboth urban and rural sectors.

‘Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan’ is not just about

cleaning surroundings but also seeking the

participation of people in creating trash-free

environment, providing sanitation facilities and

paving a way for Swachh Bharat eventually. This

campaign will not only help citizens adopt good

habits of cleanliness but also boost our image as

a nation, sincerely working towards cleanliness.

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HIV AND AIDS(PREVENTION AND CONTROL) BILL, 2014

The Union Cabinet has given its approval to introduce amendments to the HIVand AIDS (Prevention and Control) Bill, 2014. The Bill seeks to safeguard therights of people living with and affected by HIV.

Context

As per the recently released, India HIVEstimation 2015 report, National adult (15–49years) HIV prevalence in India is estimated at0.26% (0.22%–0.32%) in 2015. In 2015, adultHIV prevalence is estimated at 0.30% amongmales and at 0.22% among Females.

The total number of People Living with HIV(PLHIV) in India is estimated at 21.17 lakhs (17.11lakhs–26.49 lakhs) in 2015 compared with 22.26lakhs (18.00 lakhs-27.85 lakhs) in 2007. Children(<15 years) account for 6.54%.

The prevalence of HIV is decreasing over thelast decade but percentage of PLHIV receiving Anti-Retroviral therapy (ART) treatment are merely28.82% against global percentage of 41%.

Fig. 9

Rights for HIV patient

Union of India has signed various treaties,agreements and declarations relating to HIV/AIDS,the protection of rights of those who are HIVpositive, those who are affected by HIV/AIDS andthose who are most vulnerable to HIV/AIDS in orderto secure their human rights and prevent the spreadof HIV/AIDS. The two conventions that aim at nondiscrimination on the basis of creed, politicalaffiliation, gender, or race are the InternationalCovenant on Civil and Political Rights, the

International Covenant on Economic, Social andCultural Rights. They also cover within their ambitnon-discrimination of the people infected with HIV.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights alsolays down that the principle of non-discrimination isfundamental to human rights law. It equally appliesto people suffering from HIV/AIDS because theyhave to suffer a very high level of stigma anddiscrimination. It lays down certain work relatedprovisions for a HIV/AIDS infected people whichincludes right to life, liberty and security of person,no person should be subjected to forced testingand/or treatment or otherwise cruel or degradingtreatment, all people including HIV+ persons havethe right to work and participate in the cultural lifeof the community, to enjoy the arts and to share inscientific advancement and its benefits and allpersons including the people living with a positive'HIV' diagnosis are equal before the law and areentitled without any discrimination to equalprotection by the law.

People diagnosed with HIV+ are also entitledthe rights enshrined in Art. 25(1) of the Declarationwhich includes the right to adequate standard ofliving, assistance, medical care and necessarysocial services, and the right to security in theevent of unemployment according to their needsand their treatment choices.

The UNAIDS Guidelines, 1996 emphasizes onthe duty of the states to engage in law reform. Italso guides the states to identify legal obstacles soas to form an effective strategy of HIV/AIDSprevention and care. It also lays stress on enactmentof anti-discrimination and other protective laws thatwould protect HIV/AIDS diagnosed people fromdiscrimination in both the public and private sectorswould ensure their privacy, confidentiality and ethicsin research involving human subjects and would layemphasis on education and conciliation and providefor speedy and effective administrative and civilremedies.

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Discrimination faced by the HIV patient

HIV-related stigma and discrimination refersto prejudice, negative attitudes and abuse directedat people living with HIV and AIDS. Time and again,there have been reports of HIV affected childrenbeing discriminated in schools. Additionally, peopleliving with HIV are facing discrimination inemployment because of their HIV status. Womenliving with and affected by HIV are facing increasinglevels of violence within and outside the home.Apart from the fact the State is unable to provideassured Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART) and drugsfor opportunistic infections, PLHIV live the

uncertainty of not being able to access the requiredsecond line, third line and new treatment therapieswhich will assure them a dignified life.

Research by the International Centre forResearch on Women (ICRW) found the possibleconsequences of HIV-related stigma to be:

loss of income and livelihood

loss of marriage and childbearing options

poor care within the health sector

withdrawal of caregiving in the home

loss of hope and feelings of worthlessness

loss of reputation.

Fig. 10

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The Bill seeks to prevent social stigma anddiscrimination against people living with HIV (PLHIV).It also seeks to strengthen legal accountability andestablish formal mechanisms for inquiring intocomplaints and redressing grievances to probediscrimination complaints against those whodiscriminate against PLHIV.

What are the features of the Bill?

The Bill lists the various grounds on whichdiscrimination against HIV positive persons andthose living with them is prohibited. Theseinclude the denial, termination, discontinuationor unfair treatment with regard to:

Employment,

Educational establishments,

Health care services,

Residing or renting property,

Standing for public or private office, and

Provision of insurance (unless based onactuarial studies).

The requirement for HIV testing as a pre-requisite for obtaining employment or accessinghealth care or education is also prohibited.

Every HIV infected or affected person belowthe age of 18 years has the right to reside ina shared household and enjoy the facilities ofthe household. The Bill also prohibits anyindividual from publishing information oradvocating feelings of hatred against HIVpositive persons and those living with them.

The Bill requires that no HIV test, medicaltreatment, or research will be conducted on aperson without his informed consent. No personshall be compelled to disclose his HIV statusexcept with his informed consent, and if requiredby a court order.

Informed consent for an HIV test will not berequired in case of screening by any licensedblood bank, a court order, medical research,and epidemiological purposes where the HIVtest is anonymous and not meant to determinethe HIV status of a person. Establishmentskeeping records of information of HIV positivepersons shall adopt data protection measures.

A person between the age of 12 to 18 years whohas sufficient maturity in understanding andmanaging the affairs of his HIV or AIDS affectedfamily shall be competent to act as a guardian ofanother sibling below 18 years of age. Theguardianship will apply in matters relating toadmission to educational establishments,operating bank accounts, managing property, careand treatment, amongst others.

What is the responsibility of Government?

Union Government has scrapped customsimport duties for drugs and test kits used to treatHuman immunodeficiency virus infection andacquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS).

The Bill requires that "No person shall becompelled to disclose his HIV status except withhis informed consent, and if required by a courtorder". Establishments keeping records ofinformation of HIV positive persons shall adoptdata protection measures. According to the Bill,the Central and State governments shalltake measures to:

Prevent the spread of HIV or AIDS,

Provide anti-retroviral therapy and infectionmanagement for persons with HIV or AIDS,

Facilitate their access to welfare schemesespecially for women and children,

Formulate HIV or AIDS education communicationprogrammes that are age appropriate, gendersensitive, and non-stigmatizing, and

Lay guidelines for the care and treatment ofchildren with HIV or AIDS.

Every person in the care and custody of thestate shall have right to HIV prevention, testing,treatment and counseling services. The Bill suggestthat cases relating to HIV positive persons shallbe disposed' off by the court on a priority basisand duly ensuring the confidentiality. Theombudsman one who is appointed by thegovernment shall submit a report to the stategovernment every 6 months stating the numberand nature of complaints received, the actionstaken and orders passed.

Fig. 11

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Judicial Responsibility and code ofconduct

Cases relating to HIV positive persons shall betaken by the court on a priority basis. In anylegal proceeding, if any PLHIV is a party, thecourt may pass orders that the proceedings beconducted by suppressing the identity of theperson, in camera, and to restrain any personfrom publishing information that discloses theidentity of the applicant.

When passing any order with regard to amaintenance application filed by PLHIV, the courtshall take into account the medical expensesincurred by the applicant.

There are no financial implications of the Bill.

Most of the activities are being already undertaken

or can be integrated within the existing systems of

various Ministries under training, communication

and data management, etc. The Bill makes

provision for appointment of an ombudsman by

State Governments to inquire into complaints

related to the violation of the Act and penal actions

in case of non-compliance. The Ombudsman need

not be a separate entity, but any existing State

Government functionary can be deputed or given

additional charge.

The Bill would provide essential support to

National AIDS Control Programme in arresting new

spread of HIV infections and thereby achieving the

target of “Ending the epidemic by 2030” to

meet goal Sustainable Development Goals.

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CONTROVERSY OVER PATENTRIGHTS OF BT. COTTON

Dispute between Monsanto and Indian seed companies over the patent rights isgoing on.

Context

Seed is the basis of agriculture; the meansof production and the basis of farmers’ livelihoods.The Maharashtra Hybrids Seed Company (Mahyco)jointly with the US seed company Monsanto hasdeveloped the genetically modified Bt Cotton totackle the bollworm problem that had devastatedcotton crops in the past, by introducing into thecotton seed a gene of the common soil microbecalled Bacillus Thuringiensis that encoded aninsecticidal protein lethal to the bollworm (hencethe name Bt. Cotton).

In 2002, Bt Cotton became the first and onlytransgenic crop approved by the GEAC forcommercial cultivation in six States namely, AndhraPradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh,Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu. It has been furtherextended to Punjab and Haryana. The Bt Cottonseeds were marketed by the Monsanto-Mahycojoint venture.

Fig. 12

Reason for dispute

The dispute between Indian seed companiesand Monsanto came up over the questionwhether, Patents Act or the Protection of PlantVarieties and Farmers’ Rights Act applies to Bt-cotton patent.

Monsanto patented Bt cotton. Themicrobiological processes and microorganisms arepatentable under the Indian Patents Act, andMonsanto’s patents cover most of thesecomponents. Using the patented technology,Monsanto created a host of donor Bt cotton seedsand distributed them to seed companies underspecific agreements mandating the payment ofroyalties while seed companies used these donorseeds to introgress the desirable genetic trait intotheir own specific hybrid varieties by backcrossing.

Any seed company that uses this donor seedand creates a new plant variety is entitled toregister such variety under the PPVFRA. This newplant variety registration, however, does notextinguish Monsanto’s upstream patent rights.Neither does the patent right override the plantvariety protection. They co-exist. The seedcompanies cannot commercialise their hybridswithout a patent licence from Monsanto similarly,Monsanto cannot sell or distribute these hybridswithout permission from the seed company.

It is clear if Monsanto refuses to licence theseed companies, they can move for a compulsorylicence (CL) under the Patents Act, provided theysatisfy the terms of Section 84, which states thata CL could be granted if the patented invention isexorbitantly priced or not available in reasonablequantities to the public or is not being worked inthe territory in India. But this licence applicationhas to be under the terms of the Patents Act, andnot the PPVFRA.

The patent by Monsanto createdfollowing controversies:

First are the farmer’s rights to reliableand affordable seed and with it the dutyof the government to protect farmersright to livelihood and right to life. It isthe government’s duty under Art 21 ofthe constitution to protect the life of all

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its citizens. The Cotton Seed Price ControlOrder issued by the Government of Indianeeds to be seen in the context offarmer’s rights.

Second is the issue of IPRs, patents,royalty, technology fees in the context offalse claims and a failing technology, andthe duty of Government to act to revokea patent according to Article 64 andArticle 66 of the Indian Patent Act. Thereis a show cause notice served toMonsanto by the Central Governmentregarding the patent.

The third is the issue of monopoly onseed. The Government has a duty toprevent monopolies being established.

Now the issue is that government is planningto revoke the patent granted to Bt-cotton.

In 2009. Bollgard began to fail as bollwormsbecame resistant to the Cry1Ac gene. The companyrecommended that it would be safer for thefarmers to adopt Bollgard-II instead.

In 2015, it was first reported by the Central

Institute of Cotton Research (CICR) that Bollgard-

II has also started to develop pink bollwormaL.

Surveys have indicated that the damage to the

cotton crop from pink bollworm attacks are

"particularly severe" in Gujarat with an estimated

9 per cent yield loss, and it was found to have

spread to wider areas. Monsanto said that while

results of the CICR study were awaited. Internal

studies indicated resistance by pink bollworm in

some districts of Gujarat to Cry2Ab protein, a key

component of Bollgard II. This has reportedly been

proliferated by improper insect resistance

management practices, absence of refuge (non-Bt

seeds) and spread of illegal seeds.

India’s private seed companies are now

considering production of non-hybrid Bt cotton

seeds.

But the Ministry of Agriculture, suggested (in

an official draft notification) that Monsanto’s

patents over upstream GM technology must

necessarily yield to downstream plant variety rights,

i.e. government supported the rights of Monsanto

over the technology.

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RBI'S NEW MONETARY POLICY COMMITTEE:TO EASE TIES WITH GOVERNMENT

Government created the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) by amending theReserve Bank of India (RBI) Act. The six-member Committee is entrusted withthe task of bringing “value and transparency to monetary policy decisions”.

Context

Introduction

Monetary policy is the (macroeconomic policy)laid down by the central bank. It involvesmanagement of money supply and interest rateand is the demand side economic policy used bythe government of a country to achievemacroeconomic objectives like inflation,consumption, growth and liquidity. It ensures pricestability and general trust in the currency.


Recently the biggest change in the RBI’s eight-decade history has been made to ease out therelationship between the central bank andgovernment on monetary policy decisions.

Government created the Monetary PolicyCommittee (MPC) by amending the Reserve Bankof India (RBI) Act. The six-member Committee isentrusted with the task of bringing “value andtransparency to monetary policy decisions”. Thegovernment announced three candidates to joinan equal number of RBI representatives on a newmonetary policy committee, paving the way forIndia’s first collective interest-rate decision.

Background

In India, monetary policy of the Reserve Bankof India is aimed at managing the quantity ofmoney in order to meet the requirements ofdifferent sectors of the economy and to increasethe pace of economic growth.

The RBI implements the monetary policythrough open market operations, bank rate policy,reserve system, credit control policy, moralpersuasion and through many other instruments.Using any of these instruments will lead to changesin the interest rate, or the money supply in theeconomy. Monetary policy can be expansionary andcontractionary in nature. Increasing money supplyand reducing interest rates indicate an

expansionary policy. The reverse of this is acontractionary monetary policy.

Who recommended the separate MPC foreffective decisions on Interest Rates?

In Jan 2014, the Urjit Patel Committee (UPC)Report recommended the string of institutionalreforms. The merit of the UPC Report to Reviewand Strengthen the Monetary Policy Frameworkwas its analytical rigour and clear recommendationson improving the efficacy of monetary policy.

Key recommendations of the Urjit’sPanel were:

The headline Consumer Price Index(CPI) should be the nominal anchor formonetary policy and the Reserve Bankof India (RBI) should make this thepredominant objective.

The nominal anchor for inflation shouldbe set for a two-year horizon at 4 percent with a band of plus or minus 2 percent. Since the present CPI inflation is10 per cent the Committee recommendsa ‘glide path’ of 8 per cent for January2015 and 6 per cent for January 2016.

The Central Government needs to reducethe fiscal deficit to 3.0 per cent of GDPby 2016-17. Administered prices, wagesand interest rates are impediments totransmission of monetary policy andshould be eliminated.

Monetary policy decisions should bevested in a Monetary Policy Committee(MPC) comprising the Governor, theDeputy Governor and Executive Directorin charge of monetary policy and twoexternal full-time members. The decisionsof the MPC will be by voting. Members

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Government Initiative to Amend RBI Act

The Centre brought the Monetary PolicyCommittee (MPC) one step closer to reality in June2016 by notifying the changes made to theReserve Bank of India (RBI) Act. Through this thestatutory basis of MPC is made effective. The rulesgoverning the procedure for selection of membersof MPC and terms and conditions of theirappointment and factors constituting failure tomeet inflation target under the MPC frameworkhave also been notified.

Composition and Objectives of MPC

It will comprise of six members with threemembers from RBI, including the Governor, whowill be the ex-officio chairperson, a DeputyGovernor and one officer of the central bank.The panel will meet four times a year andpublicise its decisions. The other three memberswill be appointed by the Centre on the

recommendations of a search-cum-selectioncommittee to be headed by the CabinetSecretary. These three members of MPC will beexperts in the field of economics or banking orfinance or monetary policy and will be appointedfor a period of four years and shall not be eligiblefor re-appointment.

will be accountable for failure to attainthe target—failure being defined asinability to attain the target for threesuccessive quarters.

The real policy rate should be positive.In the first phase the weighted averagecall rate would be the operative targetand the repo rate would be the singlepolicy rate. The funds available at therepo rate would be restricted andincreasingly liquidity would be providedat the 14 day term repo; longer-termrepo auctions should be introduced.

In the second phase, the 14-day reporate would be the operative target andrecourse to outright two-way open marketoperations (OMO) would determineliquidity. OMO should not used to manageyields on government securities.

There should be a remunerated standingdeposit facility at the RBI to steriliseexcess liquidity.

With an independent debt managementoffice, the market stabilisation schemeand cash management bills should bephased out.

All sector specific refinance should bephased out as committed to the AsianDevelopment Bank in 1992.

Fig. 13

Objectives and Functions of MonetaryPolicy Committee

The Committee is tasked with bringing “valueand transparency to monetary policy decisions”.

A fix and collective methodology has been setupin monetary policy formulation with the settingup of MPC. Now, MPC will discuss the advice oftechnical advisors for two days and formulatethe policy by voting, tie breaker will be done byRBI governor through casting vote which willkeep more accountability on the RBI’s shoulder.

The mandate of the committee is to keepinflation within the central point of 4% for thenext five years, while keeping growthconsiderations in mind. The tolerance band forinflation is 2% on both sides of the central point.If the targets are not met for three consecutivereadings, the MPC will have to give in writing tothe government why it failed to meet the desiredobjective.

There will be better decision making with theaccountable appointment of experts atexecutive level in the committee.

How will it affect the earlier decisionmaking structure?

The move for MPC frees the RBI Governorfrom facing the brunt of criticism from the

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government, which has historically heldcontradictory demands of lower borrowing costsas well as a tight rein on inflation. Moreover, sincethe panel will be guided by an inflation target, itstechnocrats in Mumbai will be empowered to standup to pressure from the government.

The monetary policy committee was set up inIndia due to the following reasons:

The way of deciding country’s monetary policyby a single person, who is not directlyanswerable to public is likely to fail to fulfillpublic’s desire. As, all tools of monetary policywere controlled by RBI governor on the adviceof technical advisors but it was RBI governor’sprerogative to follow it or not.

RBI governor was not required to give any formalreasons for opting any monetary policy, whetheraccepting or rejecting technical advisors’recommendations, which leads to non-transparency in policy making.

With monetary policy framework agreement thathas set an inflation target of 4 per cent withtolerance band of 2 per cent, it was not possibleto make single person accountable for it.

Both, fiscal and monetary policy is to regulatecountry’s economy. Fiscal policy is formulated

by representatives of citizens of India i.e. uniongovernment. Whereas monetary policy wasdecided by an appointed person, who wasanswerable to standing committee on finance.So, at the time of mismatch between approachof government and RBI governor, there was onlyone option-removal of RBI governor.

It has been observed in past that whenevera dispute arises between union government andRBI governor then it was RBI governor, who had tostep down e.g. Benegal Rama Rao, K. R. Puri,Manmohan Singh etc. (they left the office becauseof differences with the government).

Minutes of the First MPC meeting

The first MPC meeting held on October 3 and4, 2016 at RBI. Minutes of the meeting havebeen released on October 18, 2016. In thismeeting each of the three governmentappointed non RBI members along with two RBImembers have voted for reduction of 25 basispoints from existing repo rate of 6.5 per cent.Unanimous voting of all members set new reporate i.e. 6.25 per cent.

After the first cumulative decision on monetarypolicy by MPC, it’s time to analyze the need ofMPC and what India will gain from it.

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E-CIGARETTE: REALITY OF VAPING

A number of youths several youth have started using the devices to consumedrugs peddled in cartridge. Teachers in Karnataka are discovering that manyschool and college students are switching over to e-cigarettes, which are officiallybanned for sale but available in a variety of shops. The World Health Organisation(WHO) has red flagged the growing market for e-cigarettes in India, underliningthat the use of the devices is no less harmful than traditional cigarettes.

Context

Introduction

Tobacco use especially through cigarettes isa risk factor for many diseases, especially thoseaffecting the heart, liver, and lungs, as well asmany cancers. In 2008, the World HealthOrganization named tobacco as the world's singlegreatest cause of preventable death.

An electronic cigarette or e-cigarette is ahandheld electronic tobacco device that vaporizesa flavored liquid. The user inhales the vapor. Usinge-cigarettes is often called vaping. The fluid in thee-cigarette, called e-liquid, is usually made ofnicotine.

Prolonged use of smokeless tobacco productsalso can lead to serious health issues, such ascancer and heart disease. These products alsocontain numerous substances that increase therisk of cancer of the mouth and throat.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has redflagged the growing market for e-cigarettes in India,underlining that the use of the devices is no lessharmful than traditional cigarettes.

Burden of Tobacco Use (India)

Nearly 8-9 lakh person die in India due totobacco use every year.

30% of cancer deaths, majority of cardio-vascular and lung disorders.

40% of TB and other related diseases areattributed to tobacco consumption.

Over 80% of oral cancers are caused due totobacco use. As per the WHO Global Report on“Tobacco Attributable Mortality” 2012, 7% ofall deaths (for ages 30 and over) in India areattributable to tobacco.

Within non-communicable diseases group, 9%of deaths are attributable to tobacco, of which58% of deaths due to trachea, bronchus, lungcancers caused due to tobacco use.

In addition, 25% of deaths caused by respiratorydiseases and 28% of deaths caused by ChronicObstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) areattributable to tobacco. BURD

Fig. 14


The Karnataka government imposed a ban

on sale (including online) and use of e-cigarettes

in the State, based on the recommendations of

the State high powered committee on tobacco

control. But recently, teachers in Karnataka are

discovering that many school and college studentsare switching over to e-cigarettes, which are

officially banned for sale but available in a variety

of shops.

What are E-cigarettes?

Electronic cigarettes, or e-cigarettes, include

e-pens, e-pipes, e-hookah, and e-cigars are known

collectively as ENDS – electronic nicotine deliverysystems. E-cigarettes are devices that allow users

to inhale aerosol (vapor) containing nicotine or

other substances. Unlike traditional cigarettes, e-

cigarettes are generally battery-operated and use

a heating element to heat e-liquid from a refillable

cartridge, releasing a chemical-filled aerosol.

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Components of E-cigarettes?

The main component of e-cigarettes is the e-liquid contained in cartridges. To create an e-liquid,nicotine is extracted from tobacco and mixed witha base (usually propylene glycol), and may alsoinclude flavorings, colorings and other chemicals.

National Tobacco Control Programme(NTCP)

Cigarettes and other Tobacco Products Act(COTPA) enacted in 2003 Govt. of India ratifiedWHO’s FCTC in 2004

NTCP launched by MOH&FW in 2007-08, withthe following objectives -

To bring about greater awareness about theharmful effects of tobacco use and TobaccoControl Laws.

To facilitate effective implementation of theTobacco Control Laws.

Fig. 15

E-Cigarettes (Electronic-Cigarette) have grownin popularity since they arrived on the market in2007. Marketing campaigns have suggested thate-cigarettes are less hazardous to your health thansmoking cigarettes, but the devices’ long-termeffects on health have not been studied.

Disadvantages of E-Cigarette

There are various disadvantages of E-Cigarettes:

E-Cigarette is endless in nature due to highernumber of puffs per filling, which leads to higherconsumption.

It does not emit tar but metals such as tin,lead, nickel, and chromium have been found ine-cigarette liquids and vapor, which is injuriousto health and have potential to cause cancer.

E-cigarettes deliver high levels of nanoparticles,which can trigger inflammation (asthma), stroke,heart disease, and diabetes.

Cartridge of E-Cigarette contains nicotine (ahighly addictive chemical) and leakage of liquidcan cause toxic exposure to nicotine.

There are several cases of E-Cigarette explosionhave been reported around the world and dueto proximity to human face, it can cause seriousinjuries as in a case of explosion, it burnt corneaof a boy in Florida.

It does not contain tobacco and due to this itdoes not come under the ambit of existing laws.In the absence of legal framework,manufacturers are not accountable and do nothesitate to add inappropriate (toxic) substanceson the name of flavor.

Fig. 16

Fig. 17

WHO Efforts for Tobacco Control

The World Health Organization FrameworkConvention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) is atreaty adopted by the 56th World Health Assemblyin May 2003.

The FCTC, one of the most quickly ratifiedtreaties in United Nations history is a supranationalagreement that seeks "to protect present and

Mouthpiece

Microprocessor

Battery

Heating element/Atomizer heatsthe “juice” to make vapor

Many devices have aswitch to activate theheating element.

C a r t r i d g e(tank) holdsthe liquid“Juice.”

Some devices have a light-emitting diode on theend to simulate the glow of a burning cigarette.

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future generations from the devastating health,social, environmental and economic consequencesof tobacco consumption and exposure to “tobaccosmoke" by enacting a set of universal standardsstating the dangers of tobacco and limiting its usein all forms worldwide.

WHO cautions India over E-Cigarettes

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has redflagged the growing market for e-cigarettes in India,underlining that the use of the devices is no lessharmful than traditional cigarettes.

In the absence of a regulation the use of e-cigarettes has grown; they are easily accessible toeven the non smokers. In many countries these e-cigarettes are available in candy flavors, giving animpression they are not harmful. We have soughta regulation on their use to protect public health.There should be a ban on smoking of e-cigarettesin public as well and a restriction on their use.From the current $ 3 billion, the market for e-cigarettes is expected to grow 17 times by 2013.

The WHO has also expressed concern overthe notion that e-cigarettes aid in kicking the habit;it has cautioned that there is not enough evidenceto conclude that e-cigarettes help users quitsmoking.

Karnataka State Ban on E Cigarettes

After the ban on unapproved sale of E-Cigarette in Punjab, Chandigarh and Maharashtra,Karnataka and Kerala government imposed acomplete ban on any kind of sale of E-Cigaretteincluding online sale.

In June 2016, The Karnataka Stategovernment imposed a ban on sale (includingonline) and use of e-cigarettes in the State, basedon the recommendations of the State highpowered committee on tobacco control. There werenumerous feedbacks that large number ofyoungsters in the state is being addicted to e-cigarettes.

The sale of nicotine, apart from tobaccoproducts under Control of Tobacco Products Act(COTPA), is permitted only for tobacco cessation inaccordance with the Drugs and Cosmetics Act,1940. However, this clause is being misused bycompanies. It is unfortunate that e-cigarettes aresold in medical shops and even online.

However, Imposing ban on E-Cigarette withoutbanning conventional Cigarette raises questionabout the comparative aspects of conventionalcigarette and e-cigarette.

Conclusion

E-cigarettes are a nicotine product. Youth areusing e-cigarettes at increasing and alarming rates.Between 2014 and 2015, studies found e-cigarette use among high school students increasedby 19 percent, with more teens now using e-cigarettes than normal cigarettes.

The tobacco industry aggressively markets e-cigarettes to youth, glamorizing e-cigarette use inadvertisements and offering e-cigarettes in candyflavors like bubble gum and gummy bears. Kidscan also easily buy e-cigarettes online.

Recent Issues of Vaping in Karnataka

Teachers in Karnataka are discovering thatmany school and college students are switchingover to e-cigarettes, which are officiallybanned for sale but available in a variety ofshops.

One teacher from a noted Bengaluru collegewho alerted it found her 18-year-old son alsousing it. The son tried to assure his motherthat it was not harmful because “it was notsmoking but vaping.” Another teacher from aschool found girls in her class vaping duringthe lunch break.

Also the Karnataka State Commission forProtection of Child Rights (KSCPCR) hasdiscovered that teens have turned e-cigarettesinto devices for consuming ‘e-drugs’ such ashashish oil, marijuana wax and cannabisproducts sold by the black trade in cartridges.Nicotine cartridges cost about Rs. 400.

The Committee recently reviewed enforcementon the ban on sale (including online),manufacture, distribution, trade, import andadvertisement of e-cigarettes.

The incidence of high school students usinge-cigarettes to vaporise marijuana and otherdrugs being 27 times higher than the adultrate. This new addiction method helps usersto discretely vape deodorized drugs and itsextracts without the neighbouring personrealising as it does not need to ignite the flame.

While online sales have stopped, e-cigarettesare easily available in petty shops, fancy stores,provision stores and even bakeries.

As per the Indian Medical Association, E-Cigarette is not harmful as conventionalcigarette but not good enough to encourage.

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Basic measures like Ban on tobacco use andsale is must to curb the menace. Accessrestrictions are needed for youth and kids toprotect them from becoming the next generation

hooked on nicotine. Smokers who wish to quitcan learn more about ways that have been provensafe and effective.

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WHO REPORT ON TB IN INDIA

The Global Tuberculosis Report - 2016 released by the World Health Organisationhighlights the problem in India's battle with the disease. The results show thatthe number of TB cases rose largely because researchers found that earlierestimates in India, from 2000-2015, were far too low.

Context

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)for 2030 were adopted by the United Nations in2015. One of the targets is to end the global TBepidemic. The WHO End TB Strategy, approved bythe World Health Assembly in 2014, calls for a90% reduction in TB deaths and an 80% reductionin the TB incidence rate by 2030, compared with2015.

This global TB report is the first to be producedin the era of the SDGs and the End TB Strategy.It provides an assessment of the TB epidemic andprogress in TB diagnosis, treatment and preventionefforts, as well as an overview of TB-specificfinancing and research. It also discusses thebroader agenda of universal health coverage,social protection and other SDGs that have animpact on health. Data were available for 202countries and territories that account for over 99%of the world’s population and TB cases.

Fig. 18

What are the key findings of the report?

The TB epidemic is larger than previouslyestimated, reflecting new surveillance andsurvey data from India. However, the numberof TB deaths and the TB incidence rate continueto fall globally and in India.

These six countries have 60% of the burden:India, Indonesia, China, Nigeria, Pakistan andSouth Africa. Emphasizing that TB cases in Indiaare hugely under-reported, only 56% cases wereofficially reported across the country in 2014and 59% cases in 2015. Global progressdepends on major advances in TB preventionand care in these countries.

India, China and the Russian Federationaccounted for 45% of the combined total of580 000 cases of the multidrug-resistant TB(MDR-TB) and rifampicin-resistant TB (RR-TB) whowere also newly eligible for MDR-TB treatment.

In the context with TB care and protection,notified TB cases increased from 2013–2015,mostly due to a 34% increase in notifications inIndia. However, globally there was a 4.3 milliongap between incident and notified cases, withIndia, Indonesia and Nigeria accounting foralmost half of this gap. Five countries accountedfor more than 60% of the gap: India, China, theRussian Federation, Indonesia and Nigeria.

There were an estimated 1.4 million TB deathsin 2015, and an additional 0.4 million deathsresulting from TB disease among people livingwith HIV. Although the number of TB deaths fellby 22% between 2000 and 2015, TB remainedone of the top 10 causes of death worldwidein 2015.

In 2015, 6.1 million new TB cases were notifiedto national authorities and reported to WHO whilenotified TB cases increased from 2013–2015,mostly due to a 34% increase in notifications inIndia. The aggregate numbers have increasedsince more cases are being reported.

There were an estimated 1.04 crore new(incident) TB cases worldwide in 2015. Therewere an estimated 14 lakh deaths due to TB,and an additional 4 lakh deaths resulting fromTB disease among people living with HIV. TBtreatment averted 4.9 crore deaths globallybetween 2000 and 2015, but importantdiagnostic and treatment gaps persist.

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The proportion of known HIV-positive TB patientson ART was above 90% in India, Kenya, Malawi,Mozambique, Namibia and Swaziland.

In 2015, there were an estimated 10.4 millionnew (incident) TB cases worldwide, of which 5.9million (56 per cent) were among men, 3.5 million(34 per cent) among women and 1.0 million (10per cent) among children while people living withHIV accounted for 1.2 million (11 per cent) of allnew TB cases. The disease claims the lives of1.8 million people worldwide each year.

Highlights of the report in Indian context

India accounts for 27% of the global TB burden.The report revised the estimated number of TBcases in India to 28 lakhs as against 22 lakhsreported in 2015. The revised estimates arebased on data from various sources, includingsub-national prevalence surveys and enhancedTB notification from the private sector.

In India, TB is infected highly and many peopleare unaware of it. This is because of the lackof accurate reporting system in place. HigherTB estimates from India reflect the underlyingreality. “India ignored TB patients for a long timein the private sector, and national prevalenceand drug resistance surveys were not done.

The Indian TB programme is also heavily relianton insensitive diagnostic tools such as sputumsmears that miss many TB cases.” the 'missing'or 'unreported' cases are either not properlydiagnosed or are not notified to the governmentby private sector doctors.

A large section of the population is being treatedin the private sector and these are not notifiedto the government. Absence of qualitysurveillance data on privately-treated patientsand commercial sales of drugs add up to thedisease's burden estimates.

The TB epidemic is larger than previouslyestimated, reflecting new surveillance andsurvey data from India while asserting that thecountry was one of six nations which accountedfor 60 per cent of the new cases in 2015.However, the number of TB deaths and the TBincidence rate continue to fall globally and inIndia. Acknowledge the reality, collect betterdata on the true burden of tuberculosis deathsand drug resistance, and allocate greater fundingto tackle this huge problem.

What is the meaning of TB Mortality?

Deaths from TB among HIV-negative peopleare classified as TB deaths in the most recent

version of the International classification ofdiseases (ICD-10). When an HIV-positive persondies from TB, the underlying cause is classified asHIV. For consistency with these classifications, thissection makes a clear distinction between TBdeaths in HIV negative people and TB deaths inHIV-positive people.

What is ‘the End TB Strategy’?

The vision is to a world free of TB; zero deaths,disease and suffering from TB and to end theglobal TB epidemic.

What are its principals?

Government stewardship and accountability,with monitoring and evaluation

Strong coalition with civil society organizationsand communities

Protection and promotion of human rights, ethicsand equity

Adaptation of the strategy and targets at countrylevel, with global collaboration

What are its pillars and components?

1 . INTEGRATED, PATIENT-CENTRED CAREAND PREVENTION

Early diagnosis of TB including universal drug-susceptibility testing, and systematic screeningof contacts and high-risk groups

Treatment of all people with TB including drug-resistant TB, and patient support

Collaborative TB/HIV activities and managementof co morbidities.

Preventive treatment of persons at high risk,and vaccination against TB

2. BOLD POLICIES AND SUPPORTIVE SYSTEMS A

Political commitment with adequate resourcesfor TB care and prevention

Engagement of communities, civil societyorganizations, and public and private careproviders

Universal health coverage policy and regulatoryframeworks for case notification, vitalregistration, quality and rational use ofmedicines, and infection control.

Social protection, poverty alleviation and actionson other determinants of TB

3 . INTENSIFIED RESEARCH AND INNOVATION

Discovery, development and rapid uptake ofnew tools, interventions and strategies

Research to optimize implementation andimpact, and promote innovations

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Incidence and mortality due toZOONOTIC TB

Mycobacterium bovis is the causal agent ofbovine TB in cattle and zoonotic TB in people.Bovine TB has a major impact on livestockproductivity, and on the livelihoods of poor andmarginalised communities. The most commonroute of transmission to people is through theconsumption of unpasteurized dairy products.

In the context of WHO’s End TB Strategy, whichcalls for diagnosis and treatment of every TB case,zoonotic TB must be better addressed. This requiresa holistic approach that links the human and animalhealth sectors to reduce the risk of TB transmissionat the human–animal interface.

The first pillar of the End TB Strategyis “Integrated, patient-centered care andprevention”. It has four components:

Early diagnosis of TB including universal drugsusceptibility testing (DST), and systematicscreening of contacts and high-risk groups

Treatment of all people with TB including drug-

resistant TB, and patient support;

Collaborative TB/HIV activities, and

management of co-morbidities; and

Preventive treatment of persons at high risk,

and vaccination against TB.

The second pillar of the End TB

Strategy is “bold policies and supportive

systems”. It has four components:

Political commitment with adequate resources

for TB care and prevention;

Engagement of communities, civil society

organizations, and providers of public and private

care;

UHC policy, and regulatory frameworks for case

notification, vital registration, quality and rational

use of medicines, and infection control; and

Social protection, poverty alleviation and actions

on other determinants of TB.

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NATIONAL WATER FRAMEWORK BILL, 2016

The Draft National Water Framework Bill, 2016 provides an overarching nationallegal framework based on principles for protection, conservation, regulation andmanagement of water as a vital and stressed natural resource, under whichlegislation and executive action on water at all levels of governance can take place.

Context

To resolve several inter-state disputes overriver water sharing through model legislation, theCentre has come out with a draft National WaterFramework Bill, 2016, providing for a mechanismto develop and manage river basin in an integratedmanner so that every state gets “equitable” shareof a river's water without violating rights of others.Though this bill is a model law for all the states inthe country, it will not be binding on any state asthe water is in the state list under Article 246of the Indian constitution.

A framework law is a broad set of principleswhich provides a framework to the Centre, Statesand the local government to exercise legislative orexecutive powers.

The laws and the executive actions ofdifferent levels of government institutions will haveto comply with the framework law.

The deviations from the framework law canbe challenged in courts of law.

Why there is need for a Framework?

Under the Indian Constitution water is primarilya State subject, but it is an increasinglyimportant national concern in the context of:

The judicial recognition of the right to wateras a part of the fundamental right to life;

The general perception of an imminent watercrisis, and the dire and urgent need toconserve this scarce and precious resource;

The severe and intractable inter-use andinter-state conflicts;

The pollution of rivers and other watersources, turning rivers into sewers or poisonand contaminating aquifers;

The long-term environmental, ecological andsocial implications of projects to augmentthe availability of water for human use;

The equity implications of the distribution,use and control of water;

The international dimensions of some ofindia’s rivers; and

The emerging concerns about the impact ofclimate change on water and the need forappropriate responses at local, national,regional, and global levels.

Thus responsibilities lie on the Centralgovernment, apart from those of the Stategovernments for proper utilization of water.

Salient features of the bill

Every person has a right to sufficient quantityof safe water for life within easy reach of thehousehold regardless of caste, creed, religion,age, community, class, gender, disability,economic status, land ownership and place ofresidence.

States should recognise the principle that therivers are not owned by the basin-States butare public trustees.

All basin States have equitable rights over ariver water “provided such use does not violatethe right to water for life” of any person in theriver basin.

All the basin States are equal in rights andstatus, and there is no hierarchy of rights amongthem, and further, in this context, equality ofrights means not equal but equitable shares inthe river waters

Bill also mentions that the disputes are becausenone of the states knows his/her contributionto a river’s catchment area. When a State willknow its exact contribution to the catchmentarea, it will know quantum of its rightful share

Bill focuses on right measurement of the waterat basin-level.

It proposes establishing institutionalarrangements at all levels within a State andbeyond up to an inter-State river basin level to“obviate” disputes through negotiations,conciliation or mediation before they become

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acute. i.e. Establishing River Basin Authority(RBA) for each inter-State basin to ensureoptimum and sustainable development of riversand valleys.

Critical Analysis of the Key Features ofthe Bill

The Bill has nine chapters, touching everyaspects related to uses and management of thewater separately. The analysis is as follows:

Right to Water for life: Bill’s foremostfeatures is right to water for life, irrespective ofsocio-economic status of the person. This pointof the Bill further make relevant (State)-government and water providing agenciesaccountable as it defines as their duty to provide‘safe’ water.

This point was quite necessary as it tried toprovide legal teeth to the Article-47 read withSchedule 7 (State List point 17)of IndianConstitution.

Basic Principles: This point of the Bill givespriority to water for life over the other uses ofwater including irrigation and makes everyoneresponsible for water resources. According tothe Bill, Government should behave like aspublic trustee while managing water resourcesand should take care of linkage between flowingriver and aquifers . Government and publicshould work for rejuvenating river system withthe concept of ‘AviralDhara’ (Continuous Flow),‘NirmalDhara’ (Unpolluted Flow) and‘SwachhKinara’ (Clean Riverbank) by communityparticipation.

This portion of the Bill, explicitly defines thestatus of the government over water resourcesand ask them to behave like public trustee butat the same time it is like DPSP (DirectivePrinciple of State Policy) for water. Promisesare there but not the remedies!

Integrated River Basin Development andManagement: This part of the Bill talks aboutthe management of River on the governmentpart. It asks every state to take responsibilityof their rivers/ river basins and Uniongovernment will make ‘River Basin Authority’for each inter-state river basin and states hasto take active participation in their respectiveRiver Basin Authority. Further, it also asks statesto act in the manner through which nationaldevelopment can be achieved without losingthe social and historical importance of the river/river basin.

With the escalating problem of Cavery waterdistribution, concept of River Basin Authority iswelcoming but in the aforesaid Bill there is nostructural definition of the River Basin Authority(RBA). Although it talks about the individualityof each RBA and their five year master plan butdoes not talks about the separation of powersas water is State subject.

Planning for Water Security: Water is basicunit for life and the current water managementapproach is not doing well as it lowered percapita availability to about 1500 liters andpolluted around 80% of available surface water.In this situation the Bill is codifying the rules forconcerned governments (Union & states) tosafeguard available water for normal and crisissituations, even at micro level of administration.

It recommends to switch from water intensiveagriculture to water conserving agriculture forsustainable development such as drip irrigationetc.

Sectoral Use of Water: Management ofbetter utilization of water at different sectorsviz. urban, rural and industrial has been definedin the Bill under this topic. It asks stategovernments to formalize methods to reusewater in flush after the treatment within thehouse and management of waste water in theurban area. For rural areas community formingshould be promoted and for industry,discouragement to the water waste by laws/penalties.

Access to and Transparency of WaterData, Promotion of Innovation andKnowledge Management: This portion ofthe Bill is on the concept of ‘informed citizen isresponsible citizen’ as Bill asks all concernedauthorities to upload data related to waterresources and central government will developIndiaWRIS (India’s Water Resources InformationSystem) and will maintain all relevant data atsingle platform i.e. Geographical InformationSystem.

Through this section government open the doorfor researchers to develop sustainable watermanagement system by providing authenticateddata.

Water Conflicts Prevention andResolution: One of the major aspects relatedto water resources is distribution of wateramongst the sharing states of river basin. WaterDispute Act 1956 was amended in 2002 andthis Bill is an attempt to incorporate otherrelated aspects to water dispute. It clearly

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defines that no state is owner of any river buta trustee and it should act in the same manner.Every state has equal share and equal meansequal rights to have water for life, not equaldivision.

Bill contains the concept of morality while usingrivers and ask upper basin states to act injudicious manner and to inform every lower basinstate before any intervention into the river.

Enforcement and delegated legislation:Further, Bill talks about the enforcement of theBill and executive steps to be taken in case ofviolation of guidelines of the Bill. It also asksstate government to make laws for betterapplication of the Bill.

Water Bill and International Laws

Water Bill has covered aspects of internationallegal recognition of the “doctrine of reasonableuse” for both surface and groundwater. According

to the Article 5 of the 1997 UN WatercoursesConvention states: “Watercourse States shall intheir respective territories utilize an internationalwatercourse in an equitable and reasonablemanner.” And the Article 4 of the InternationalLaw Commission draft articles on groundwater(2008) also states that“Aquifer States shall utilizetrans-boundary aquifers or aquifer systemsaccording to the principle of equitable andreasonable utilization”.

In totality, a cadre of water managementprofessionals, integrated institutions, tariffs andpublic education seem to be needed. The draftlaw touches on these but remains bureaucraticand technocratic details in its approach. With theaccelerating speed of exploitation of naturalresources, it is the time to see the result of theMinistry of Water Resources’ Bill, in which ministryconsidered water as a valuable natural resourceand not just an input to be exploited and priced.

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IMPOSING A TRADE EMBARGO ON PAKISTAN

Amid tensions between the two countries, it has been suggested that India shouldimpose a trade embargo on Pakistan by suspending its most-favored nation (MFN)commitment towards Pakistan in the World Trade Organisation (WTO). WouldIndia be able to justify its MFN violation if Pakistan were to challenge this in theWTO's dispute settlement body (DSB)?

Context

Introduction

The current India-Pakistan tension in the wakeof the Uri attack seems like another round ofhostilities meant to re-define the economic linesbetween the two countries.

With the statement of European Parliament’sVice President Ryszard Czarnecki about thepossibilities of imposing economic and politicalsanctions by European Union on Pakistan in sightof human rights violations in Baluchistan provinceof Pakistan, debate on possibilities of a tradeembargo on Pakistan by India got strength. It hasbeen suggested that India should impose a tradeembargo on Pakistan by suspending its Most-Favored Nation (MFN) commitment towardsPakistan in the World Trade Organisation (WTO).But the issue is whether it would be economicallyand legally feasible?

Indo Pak Trade relations

Relationship between two neighbors wasimproving after the visit of Prime Minister NarendraModi to Pakistan last year but with Uri attack it isdeteriorating day by day. First things comes in themind of general public is to stop any kind ofrelationship with Pakistan viz. sports, entertainment,trade and business. Although, we are watchingintense boycott of Pakistan’s entertainers along withno sports activity except Asian Champions Trophy(Hockey) but at the same time there is no impacton business. It is the time to see feasibilities toimpose a trade embargo on Pakistan.

What is MFN Status?

The MFN provision, given in Article I of theGeneral Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT),1994, puts every WTO member (including India)under an obligation to extend any benefit (say,lowering tariff rates) accorded to one member (say,the U.S.) to all other WTO members (includingPakistan). This core non-discrimination principle isthe cornerstone of the world trading system.

The MFN status was accorded in 1996 asper India’s commitments as a member of the WorldTrade Organisation (WTO).

According to the WTO, though the term MFN“suggests special treatment, it actually means non-discrimination. Pakistan, a founding member of theWTO like India, is yet to grant the MFN tag to India(and Israel).

Fig. 19

What can be the restrictions undercancelling MFN Status?

Arguing for India suspending its MFNcommitment towards Pakistan would mean Indiarestricting imports from Pakistan without restrictingimports of like goods from other countries, or/andIndia restricting exports to Pakistan withoutrestricting the export of like goods to othercountries.

This can be achieved by imposing

Trade quotas

Higher tariffs, taxes,

Even totally banning some or all traded products.

Economic Feasibility

From the Indian perspective, trade from anycountry is beneficial in case of trade surplusi.e. higher exports than the imports. Pakistan isone of the countries from which India has tradesurplus as India’s exports to Pakistan are of

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$2.1 billion whereas imports from Pakistan are$441 million, which is less than 20% of totaltrade. This favorable economical trade situationwith Pakistan does not favor trade embargo.

Bilateral trade between the two nations wasjust $2.6 billion in 2015-16, which representeda minuscule 0.4 per cent of India’s overall goodstrade worth $643.3 billion and around 3.5%per cent of Pakistan’s overall goods trade worth$75 billion in the same year.Therefore, even ifIndia revokes the MFN (Most Favored Nation)status, it would only have a “symbolic” impactand this kind of reactionary action could alsoresult in India losing goodwill in the South Asianregion, where India enjoys a trade surplus andis a party to a free trade pact called SAFTA(South Asian Free Trade Area), which alsoincludes Pakistan.

However, such a situation has not arisen in therecent past, not even after the attack on theIndian Parliament in December 2001, when onlypartial sanctions were imposed and trade wasbanned through the air and land routes (whichis marginal), while it continued through the sea-route.

Even, Pakistan had brought down the numberof banned Indian goods to 1,209 items fromabout 6,000 while India has reduced dutiessharply on a number of Pakistani products.Trade experts say that putting a complete banon trade would not be a judicious decision asthe balance of trade is heavily in India’s favor.

Legal Feasibility

India became signatory/contracting party ofWTO’s General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade(GATT) in year 1996 and with this India becomethe part of MFN principle as well. According tothe MFN principle of the WTO’s GATT each ofthe WTO member countries (including India andPakistan in this case), should “treat all the othermembers equally as ‘most-favored’ tradingpartners.”

If India impose a trade embargo on Pakistanthen by default it will revoke the MFN statusand Pakistan can challenge this in WTO’s disputesettlement body (DSB). This challenge cannotbe justified by India on the pretext that Pakistandoes not honor MFN obligations towards India.The correct recourse to Pakistan’s action is tomount a legal challenge in the WTO and notindulge in tit-for-tat.

If India is able to make case under the GATTnational security exception i.e. Article 21(b)iii.

This article of GATT states that “Nothing in thisAgreement shall be construed to prevent anycontracting party (including India in this case)from taking any action which it considersnecessary for the protection of its essentialsecurity interests taken in time of war or otheremergency in international relations.”

It gives a country very wide discretion tounilaterally decide its national securitymeasures, a certain degree of “judicial review”is still possible. So, at least India has to givereasonable explanation to the DSB as to whyrestricting the export of cotton and tomatoesto Pakistan or/and restricting imports of dates,light oil and port-land cement (thesecommodities constitute almost 50 per cent ofIndia’s imports from Pakistan) is necessary toprotect India’s essential security interests.

National security exception can be invoked onlyif the measure adopted relates to arms andammunitions, or any emergency in internationalrelations (EIR) but it can’t be justified in thepresence of socio-cultural relationship andcontinuation of transport.

Conclusion

There will be minimal impact on Pakistan oftrade embargo by India as it will only result ina very marginal decline of Pakistan’s totalexports and that too assuming that Pakistan isunable to find alternative markets. Evenprohibiting all Indian exports to Pakistan, suchas textiles, chemicals and agricultural products,will also not have any noticeable impact onPakistan because Pakistan can always sourcethese goods from other countries. On thecontrary, restricting India’s exports, which havecontracted considerably in the last 18 months,might hurt India more than Pakistan.

Therefore, given the negligible economic impactand potential legal problems, suspending MFNto impose trade sanctions on Pakistan will onlyescalate tensions without much benefit. Insteadof weakening trade ties, India and Pakistanshould pay heed to this famous claim that ‘whengoods don’t cross borders, soldiers will’.

Free trade connects countries, and thusincentivises peace. Empirically, it has beenshown that higher levels of free trade reducemilitary conflicts. India and Pakistan should boostfree trade amongst themselves, Pakistan shouldhonour its MFN commitment to India in theWTO, and India should use the SAARC platformto push for deeper trade ties.

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EU - GOOGLE ANTITRUST ROW

Tension between the EU (European Union) and technical giant Google have beenrising since April'2015, when EU objected Google's Android OS under EU AntitrustRules. The tussle between them is not new, as both have been engaged in legalwar on tax avoidance also.

Context

Introduction

The EU launched an anti-trust investigationagainst Google in 2010, following complaints byMicrosoft, TripAdvisor and other Internetcompanies that the google search engine givespreference to its own services at the top of searchresult pages, especially when customers want tobuy something.

Further, tensions between the EU (EuropeanUnion) and technical giant Google have beenrising since April’2015, when EU objectedGoogle’s Android Operating System under EUAntitrust Rules.

Also, there were cases about aggressive taxavoidance on Google in May’2013 and Googleagreed to pay £130 million to UK tax authoritiesin January’2016.

In April’2016, EU filed formal charge sheetagainst Google in case of Android OS and inJuly’2016, European commission filed one morecharge sheet under EU antitrust legislation incase of comparison shopping and webscrapping.

Fig. 20

Background of EU Google Row

Google's flagship product is general internetsearch. This provides search results toconsumers, including online ads which respondto search queries. Google generates a significantproportion of its revenue from search ads.Google therefore has an interest to maximise thenumber of users that see the ads it places, eitheron its own websites or those of third parties.

The EU Commission considers that Google hasa dominant position in providing general internetsearch services as well as in placing searchadvertising on third party websites throughoutthe European Economic Area (EEA), with marketshares above 90% and 80%, respectively.Dominance is, as such, not a problem under EUcompetition law. However, dominant companieshave a responsibility not to abuse their powerfulmarket position by restricting competition, eitherin the market where they are dominant or inneighbouring markets.

The Commission had opened proceedings inNovember 2010 on Google's favourabletreatment of its own comparison shopping

EU Antitrust Legislation

Origin: Treaty on the Functioning of theEuropean Union.

What is EU Antitrust Legislation?

Central Rules:

1. Article 101 of the Treaty prohibitsagreements between two or moreindependent market operators whichrestrict competition.

2. Article 102 of the Treaty prohibits firmthat hold a dominant position on a givenmarket to abuse that position, e.g. bycharging unfair prices, by limitingproduction, or by refusing to innovate tothe prejudice of consumers.

Enforcement Authority:

National Competition Authorities(NCAs) under the umbrella of EuropeanCompetition Network (ECN)

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Fig. 21

service as well as restrictions it placed on theability of certain third party websites to displaysearch advertisements from Google'scompetitors. Today's Statements of Objectionsoutline the Commission's preliminary views thatthe way in which Google has sought to maximisetraffic to its own websites and limit the abilityof competitors to place search ads on thirdparty websites is in breach of EU antitrust rules.

The Commission has at the time also opened

proceedings and it will continue to investigate

the favourable treatment by Google in its

general search results of its other specialised

search services, and concerns with regard to

copying of rivals’ web content (known as

'scraping'), and undue restrictions on

advertisers.

What are the charges held against Google

by EU Competition Commission?

Currently, Google has following charges under

the EU Antitrust Legislation/Rules:

Comparison Shopping

Google's basic product is general internet

search. This provides search results to

consumers, including online ads which

respond to search queries. Google generates

a significant proportion of its revenue from

search ads. Google therefore has an interest

to maximize the number of users that seethe ads it places, either on its own websites

or those of third parties.

European Commission charged Google underEU antitrust rule (Article-102) and stated thatGoogle has abused its dominant position bysystematically favoring its own comparisonshopping service in its general search results.Google search engine’s results is based onits traffic (frequency of hit on any site)butGoogle favors its own comparisonshopping service over those of competitors.

The Commission is concerned that users donot necessarily see the most relevant resultsin response to queries - this is to the detrimentof consumers, and stifles innovation.

Dominance of Android OS

For many Android users, one of the fascinatingthings about Google’s mobile OS (operatingsystem) is that it is an open softwareplatform—anyone can install or modify it,since it is open source, and users can runany apps they want, something they can’t doon Apple’s iOS devices. But the EuropeanUnion doesn’t see it that way. To the EU,Android is a just tool that Google uses toexpand its mobile and search monopolies bydefault embedment of Google Search engineand OS through business collaboration withsmartphone manufacturers.

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According to European CommissionDominance of Google’s Android mobile-

operating system by “strong-arming”

smartphone makers and telecom firms into

pre-installing its search engine, Chrome

internet browser and Maps as the default

application on smart phones is violation of

Aticle-101 & 102 of Antitrust Laws.

Advertising case

Restricting third-party websites from

displaying search advertisements fromGoogle's competitors through its "AdSense

for Search" platform. Google places ads on

third party websites such as online retailers,

through AdSense. Google signed deals that

require third parties not to source ads from

Google's competitors, reserve the most

prominent space on customers’ websites for

Google ads, and requiring third parties to

obtain Google's approval before making any

change to display of competing ads.

Local search, Travel/maps Case

Formal investigation is going on the issue

that, whether Google favored its own service

in other specialized areas, like travel and

local search through its services in field of

map and GPS.

Scraping: Scraping or Web scraping is the

process of extracting large amount of

information from a website. Formal investigation

has been launched by EU over Scraping.

Complaints have been made about Google’s

practice of copying content from websites

without payment.

Other Similar Cases

EU Antitrust case against Google is similar tothe U.S. Antitrust case against Microsoft thatwas launched in 1998 and resulted in hugefine and other penalties for Microsoft. Muchlike Google, Microsoft was accused of usingwhat’s called “tied selling” to forcemanufacturers to include specific software suchas Internet Explorer with windows operatingsystem. In this case, Google force smartphonemanufacturer to embed Google search, mapsetc.

Conclusion

EU found that Google pursues an overall strategyon mobile devices to protect and expand itsdominant position in internet search. EU hasaccused Google of skewing the market againstcompetitors with its Android mobile operatingsystem. Conclusively, they filed antitrust Casesagainst Google.

One thing should be noted that if Google isfound guilty then it has to pay huge fines i.e.10% of its revenue for each proven case, similarto Microsoft. But one major difference betweenthe Microsoft and Google case is the nature ofproduct. Windows OS was never free of costwhereas Android OS is an open platform. Byincreasing or decreasing the cost Microsoft couldcontrol market but this is not the case withGoogle Android. In other cases like comparisonmarketing and scraping, matter is different. ForGoogle, EU is second largest market after USand Google didn’t want to lose it but after“Brexit”, equations has changed as one of themost powerful economy left EU.

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NOBEL PRIZE 2016

Nobel Prize has been awarded recently in different fields such as Peace, Physics,Chemistry, Literature and Physiology.

Context

Between 1901 and 2016, the Nobel Prizesand the Prize in Economic Sciences has beenawarded 579 times to 911 people andorganizations. With some receiving the Nobel Prizemore than once, this makes a total of 881individuals and 23 organizations.

Biographical Information of Alfred Nobel

Alfred Nobel (1833-1896) was born inStockholm, Sweden, on October 21, 1833. Hisfamily was descended from Olof Rudbeck, the best-known technical genius in Sweden in the 17thcentury, an era in which Sweden was a great powerin northern Europe. Nobel was fluent in severallanguages, and wrote poetry and drama. Nobelwas also very interested in social and peace-relatedissues, and held views that were considered radicalduring his time. Alfred Nobel's interests arereflected in the prize he established.

What is the Nobel Prize?

The Nobel Prizes, first awarded in 1901, aredecided by members of Swedish learned societiesor, in the case of the peace prize, the NorwegianParliament.

The Nobel Prize is a set of annual internationalawards bestowed in a number of categories bySwedish and Norwegian institutions in recognitionof academic, cultural, and/or scientific advancesAny of six international prizes awarded annuallyfor outstanding work in physics, chemistry,physiology or medicine, literature, economics, andthe promotion of peace.

List of the Nobel Prize 2016

Physics

David J. Thouless, F. Duncan M. Haldane andJ. Michael Kosterlitz- “for theoretical discoveriesof topological phase transitions and topologicalphases of matter”

These theoretical discoveries revealed thepossibility of a bizarre world where matter can takeon different, and strange, states. Using advanced

mathematics, the trio examined weird states ofmatter, such as superfluids, or substances thatbehave like liquids but have zero viscosity orresistance to flow. In superfluids, there is no frictionimpeding the liquid's flow and so its particles actas one super particle. Other exotic states of matterinclude thin magnetic films and superconductors.

Chemistry

Jean-Pierre Sauvage, Sir J. Fraser Stoddartand Bernard L. Feringa- “for the design andsynthesis of molecular machines”

They have developed the world's smallestmachines by linking together molecules into a unitthat, when energy is added, could do some kindof work. These machines, a thousand times thinnerthan a strand of hair, included a tiny lift, mini motorsand artificial muscles.

Physiology or Medicine

Yoshinori Ohsumi- “for his discoveries ofmechanisms for autophagy” in which cells takeunneeded or damaged material, including entireorganelles, and transport them to a recyclingcompartment of sorts — in yeast cells, thiscompartment is called the lisosome, while vacuolesserve a similar purpose in human cells.

The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in EconomicSciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel

Oliver Hart and Bengt Holmström- “for theircontributions to contract theory”

The two economists provided “acomprehensive framework for analysing manydiverse issues in contractual design, likeperformance-based pay for top executives,deductibles and co-pays in insurance, and theprivatisation of public-sector activities.”

It has become especially relevant in the yearsafter the 2008 financial crisis, which was blamedon the short-term risk encouraged by huge cashbonuses paid to investment bankers. It alsotouches on themes of moral hazard, which ariseswhere those that take the risks don't share in thecosts of failure.

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Literature

Bob Dylan- “for having created new poeticexpressions within the great American songtradition”

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Peace Prize

Juan Manuel Santos- “for his resolute effortsto bring the country's more than 50-year-long civilwar to an end”

Documents

ANALYST - IAS Score... 2 CurrentANALYST October (1 to 15), 2016 Current With the changing pattern of IAS and preparation methodology, now the aspirant is facing the issue of information