📰 Early menopause results in higher risk of heart disease: study
In such cases 33% heightened risk of cardiovascular disease found
•A recent UK study published in Heart, an international cardiology journal, has indicated that women who start their menstruation cycle at the age of 11 or earlier, or enter menopause before 47, have a higher risk of heart disease and stroke.
•According to the study, some other factors that were associated with elevated odds of heart problems in later years were miscarriage, stillbirth, undergoing a hysterectomy, and bearing children at a young age.
•The findings of the study led by Sanne A E Peters from The George Institute for Global Health, University of Oxford, have suggested that women who had premature reproductive cycles or a history of adverse events should be screened for heart problems.
•In an email interview, Dr. Peters told The Hindu that the study included 2,67,440 women and 2,15,088 men without a history of cardiovascular disease (CVD) at baseline.
•Between 2006 and 2010, the UK Biobank recruited over 5,00,000 participants aged 40–69 years across the UK.
•Participants filled in questionnaires on their lifestyle, environment, and medical history, which included their reproductive history.
•They were monitored up to March 2016 or until they suffered a first heart attack.
•The study found a strong link between women’s reproductive health and her risk of cardiovascular problems.
•Women who began their periods early, or who had pregnancy complications such as stillbirth or who needed a hysterectomy were also more likely to develop heart issues.
•Women who went through menopause before the age of 47 had a 33% heightened risk of cardiovascular disease, rising to 42% for their risk of stroke, according to the study.
•Those who entered puberty before the age of 12 were at 10% greater risk of cardiovascular disease than those who had been 13 or older when they started, the study said.
•Previous miscarriages were associated with a higher risk of heart disease, with each miscarriage increasing the risk by 6%.
•And having a stillbirth was associated with a higher risk of cardiovascular disease in general (22%) and of stroke in particular (44%).
•During 7 years of follow-up, a total of 9,054 incident cases of CVD (34% women), 5,782 cases of coronary heart disease (CHD) (28% women), and 3,489 cases of stroke (43% women) were recorded among the participants.
•“The study was conducted primarily among white British women. Although possible, further studies are needed to establish whether these findings also apply to women in India,” said Dr. Peters.
•The research has suggested that policymakers should consider implementing more frequent screening for cardiovascular disease among women with one or more of the risk factors highlighted here in order to put in place measures that can help delay or prevent the development of heart disease and stroke.
•Cardiovascular disease, a general term for conditions affecting the heart or blood vessels, remains the leading cause of death worldwide.
•Previous research has suggested that the early onset of periods is linked to obesity, a known risk factor for heart disease in later life.
•However the findings of this study showed that the risk of developing cardiovascular disease increased for women even if they had a healthy weight.
•The researchers also ruled out smoking, diabetes and high blood pressure as possible causes.
•Dr. Peters pointed out that we need more research to understand the association between an early first menstrual cycle and a greater risk of heart disease and stroke in later life.
📰 Left behind: on the right to free, compulsory education
The right to free and compulsory education must be extended to the 14-18 age group
•If there is one strong message from the findings of the Annual Status of Education Report (Rural) 2017, it is that the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act should cover the entire spectrum of 18 years, and not confine itself to those aged 6 to 14. Guaranteed inclusion will empower those in the 14-18 age group who are not enrolled anywhere, and help them acquire finishing education that is so vital to their participation in the workforce. The ASER sample study estimates that 14% of this age group — a total of 125 million young Indians in this category — are not enrolled. It is absolutely essential for all of them to get an education that equips them with the skills, especially job-oriented vocational capabilities, if the expectation of a demographic dividend is to be meaningful. Unfortunately, the state of rural elementary education is far from encouraging. To begin with, only 5% of the respondents in the survey, which was aided by the NGO Pratham, reported doing any kind of vocational course, and even among this small minority a third were enrolled for three months or less. Moreover, learning outcomes for those who had progressed to higher levels of schooling were shockingly low: only 43% of the youth could solve an arithmetic problem involving division of a three-digit number by a single digit; among those who were no longer in school, the percentage was sharply lower.
•The insights available from successive studies point to progress being made in raw enrolment of children in school, but miserable failures in achieving learning outcomes. Also, enrolment figures often do not mean high attendance. It is not surprising, therefore, that a significant section of secondary level students find it difficult to read standard texts meant for junior classes or locate their own State on the map. There are also discrete differences among States on the number of youth who are not on the rolls in appropriate levels of schooling, with 29.4% of both boys and girls aged 17-18 not enrolled in a Chhattisgarh district, compared to 4.5% and 3.9%, respectively, in a Kerala district. The ASER data point to a massive digital divide, with 61% of respondents stating they had never used the Internet, and 56% a computer, while mobile telephony was accessible to 73%. Here too, girls were worse off in terms of access to computers and the Internet. Scaling up access to these can be achieved by bringing all children under the umbrella of a school, college or training institution. All expenditure on good education is bound to have a multiplier effect on productivity. What is needed is a vision that will translate the objectives of the RTE Act into a comprehensive guarantee, expanding its scope to cover all levels of education. This will remove the lacuna in policy that awaits remedy seven decades after Independence.
📰 Blue, white, maroon, and now orange: new coloured passports explained
On the new coloured passport for the ECR category
What is an ‘orange’ passport?
•Citizens who fall under the Emigration Check Required (ECR) category will soon have passports with orange jackets, instead of the dark blue that has so far been the colour of all passports under the ECR and non-ECR categories. ECR passports are mainly given to non-matriculate workers who wish to work in the Gulf countries and in Southeast Asia.
Why has this been introduced now?
•The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has been taking measures to improve passport services over the last decade. The previous government prioritised quick passport delivery. The present government, apart from opening new passport centres, is streamlining the process for passport application and delivery. The MEA was also wondering how to make passports more gender-just, especially after a few cases of single mothers applying for their children’s passports came to the Ministry (the address on the last page includes the father’s/ legal guardian’s name). The MEA has done away with the last page to be printed in “due course”. It was while initiating a change in passports that the decision to introduce orange passports for the ECR category was taken.
What is different about the ECR category?
•Passport holders under the ECR category have faced exploitation, especially in West Asia. Protecting their human rights has become a priority, as the government is reaching out to diaspora Indians and Indians working abroad. ECR passport holders are being serviced by the Protector General of Emigrants so that their human rights are safeguarded abroad. It is expected that with an orange passport, ECR passport holders will stand out in difficult situations and their passports will allow for quick processing of their documents. However, critics say this could render migrant workers “second-class citizens”.
When will the new passports be printed?
•When the India Security Press, Nashik, is ready. Till then, blue passports with the last page for both ECR and non-ECR categories will remain in circulation.
Apart from blue and orange, what other colours of passports exist?
•White for government officials and maroon for diplomats.
📰 Long game in Syria
The U.S.’s planned Kurdish-led border force would set the stage for a prolonged presence in the country
•The U.S.’s decision to create a new Kurdish-led border force in northeastern Syria to defend the areas captured from the Islamic State (IS) could open a new phase of conflict in in the country. Swathes of territory on the Syrian-Turkish border, mostly populated by the Kurds, are now controlled by the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a Kurdish-Arab militia that was in the forefront of the land war against the IS. With the planned 30,000-strong border force, which will mostly draw fighters from the SDF, the U.S. is not only institutionalising the militia, but also setting the stage for a prolonged stay in Syria.
•From the outset of the Syrian civil war, the U.S. has been on the losing side. The Obama administration had called for the resignation of President Bashar al-Assad and was supporting anti-Assad rebels as well as running a clandestine CIA-run programme to unseat him. But the 2015 Russian intervention in Syria sabotaged those plans and helped Mr. Assad consolidate power and recapture most of the territory lost to rebels and jihadists. Then the U.S. shifted its focus to defeating the IS and establishing its influence in the country. In that bid, Kurds, who were facing IS advances, proved helpful. At present, the country is divided into three major camps. Most cities and population centres, including the Mediterranean coast, are controlled by the regime, while rebels and al-Qaeda-linked jihadists run Idlib province (which is now under attack by regime-Russian forces). In northeastern Syria, Kurds have carved out a semi-autonomous region. It’s here that the U.S. is cultivating its proxies.
•The U.S.’s plan is to carve out a sphere of influence in the middle of West Asia’s most dangerous conflict and have it guarded by the battle-hardened Kurdish forces. This enclave could help the U.S. in designing future plans in the region. But the move carries great risks. First, Turkey, an American ally and a NATO member, is already angry. Turkey, which fights a Kurdish militancy on its soil, sees any further empowerment of the Syrian Kurds as an immediate threat to security, and has vowed to fight the new “terrorist” army. If Ankara attacks the border force, that would raise tensions between the U.S. and Turkey further.
•Second, throughout the civil war, the Syrian regime and the Kurds maintained a complex relationship. They were hostile to each other, but never fought against each other, barring some isolated incidents. Syrian Kurds, unlike their Iraqi counterparts, do not demand independence. Rather, they emphasise on autonomy and a federated post-war state structure. These are the issues that should be discussed as part of any final settlement between the regime and the Kurds. But the latest U.S. plans pre-empt any such future deal. This will keep Syria divided forever, leaving the Kurds fully dependent on U.S. aid in the wake of increased regional tensions, while the U.S. gets another foothold for its West Asian geopolitical manoeuvring.
📰 No extra year for Maithripala Sirisena
By approaching the court, the Sri Lankan President looked too keen to extend his term
•The Sri Lankan Supreme Court’s ruling that President Maithripala Sirisena’s term will end when he completes five years in office comes as no surprise. What was surprising was how such a doubt had arisen in the first place. Mr. Sirisena, who was elected President in January 2015, had wanted the court to clarify whether he would have a six-year term as the law stood on election day or whether it would be five years in accordance with the 19th constitutional amendment adopted in April 2015. That the Sri Lankan President could suddenly harbour such a doubt is inexplicable given his frequent assertions that he was that rare head of state who had voluntarily agreed to a shortening of his tenure. It is the National Unity government that he heads along with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe that brought in the amendment containing provisions that considerably dilute the powers of the executive presidency. Second, the amendment has a clear, unambiguous transitional provision that the incumbent President and Prime Minister will continue to hold their respective offices “subject to the provisions of the Constitution as amended by this Act”. There appears to be an unfortunate trend in Sri Lanka of presidents using constitutional provisions for political ends. Mr. Sirisena’s predecessor, Mahinda Rajapaksa, had sought the court’s opinion on whether there was any impediment to his contesting a third term. Another former president, Chandrika Kumaratunga, had a ‘secret’ swearing-in one year into her second term, but the court denied her bid for an extra year in office.
•Even though Mr. Sirisena’s supporters say he was exercising his right to approach the Supreme Court for a clarification based on a valid doubt, the rationale behind his reference could only have been political. He was obviously looking for a loophole that would give him another year in office. If he had an extra year, his term would go on till early 2021, and he would still be president at the time of the next parliamentary election, due in 2020. Mr. Sirisena possibly thought he needed more time to consolidate his position in the power-sharing arrangement between his Sri Lanka Freedom Party and Mr. Wickremesinghe’s United National Party, as well as with respect to the joint opposition that backs Mr. Rajapaksa. The developments come at a time when there are signs of a strain in the coalition. The SLFP and UNP are set to contest next month’s local government polls separately. The President recently unveiled the findings of an inquiry into a bond scam that has indicted a UNP minister as well as the Central Bank governor, an appointee of Mr. Wickremesinghe. Far from strengthening his position, Mr. Sirisena has ended up looking desperate to remain in office. He could have done without this setback to his image.
📰 India needs to focus eastward: Ram Madhav
‘American Way’ will no longer be at work in region, says BJP leader Ram Madhav
•India has “realised” that its future lies in Asia, said BJP general secretary Ram Madhav, making a distinction from the “American way” of conducting foreign policy, in comments seen as a rare departure from the government’s traditionally close ties with the U.S. and Western allies.
•“The so-called ‘American Way’ will no longer be at work in the region. It is the play of the civilisations that will be at work. India has to make cultural and civilisational linkages an important part of its diplomacy,” said Mr. Madhav, seen as a key player and track-two negotiator in the NDA government’s foreign policy making structure.
Strategic shift
•“[India] has to completely reorient its strategic mindset. Strategic shift is needed from Westward Ho to Eastward Thinking; from Land-based thinking to Ocean-centric thinking,” he added.
•Mr. Madhav outlined “twelve realisations” about the Indo-Pacific region at the Ministry of External Affairs’ annual conference, the “Raisina Dialogue”, on Wednesday. He was participating in a high-powered panel that included U.S. Deputy Assistant for National Security to President Donald Trump Nadia Schadlow, and Ministers from Australia and Singapore, Christopher Pyne and Maliki Osman respectively.
•Mr. Madhav said the “global power axis” had now moved from the Pacific-Atlantic to the Indo-Pacific with almost half of the world’s population, half the container traffic, 40% of off-shore oil reserves, and most of the world’s defence spending coming from the Asian region.
•The BJP leader also called for support for India’s “proactive role in the region”, saying New Delhi would not be a “spectator” as China pushed its Belt and Road initiative forward. He called the project a “Neo-Marshall plan” in a veiled reference to the carving up of post-war Europe as akin to Chinese infrastructure projects in Asia and Africa.
📰 Bonhomie with China back: Rawat
‘Reduced troops present in Doklam’
•Chinese troops continue to remain in the Northern part of Doklam in reduced numbers and have built temporary infrastructure, Army Chief Bipin Rawat said on Wednesday. However, he said the border mechanisms were working well in resolving issues even as reports surfaced of Chinese military build-up near the Doklam area.
•“As far as Doklam area is concerned, People’s Liberation Army (PLA) troops are there in part of the area, in the North part. Although not in the numbers we saw initially. They have carried out some infrastructure development most of it temporary in nature... We are also present there. In case they come, we will face them,” Gen. Rawat said in a conversation at Raisina Dialogue being jointly organised by the Ministry of External Affairs and Observer Research Foundation.
•He said that while their troops might have returned and infrastructure remained, it was anybody’s guess whether they would come back or because of winter they could not take their equipment away.
•However, Gen. Rawat stressed that the existing border mechanisms were working well in defusing tensions and border personal meetings were being held regularly to sort differences. “Bonhomie has returned which was prior to Doklam. I don’t visualise very serious trouble, but we need to be prepared for anything,” he noted.
•India and China had pulled back troops from the disputed site as part of a mutual withdrawal in August last year ending the standoff at the India-Bhutan-China tri-junction.
•Meanwhile, some reports have mentioned about massive Chinese military build-up including permanent infrastructure and helipads showing maps of the area.
•However, official sources said the development was far from the disputed area and well within the Chinese territory. “It is 40-50 km from Doklam plateau. There is nothing we can do for developments within their area,” one official said.
Collective action
•Calling for collective action against terrorism, Gen. Rawat warned that mass destruction weapons, including nuclear, biological and chemical weapons, falling in the hands of terrorists “would be disastrous for the humanity.”
•“Terrorism is here to stay unless the whole world comes together and works together,” Gen. Rawat said earlier in the day in a panel discussion at Raisina Dialogue.
•Stressing on the urgent need for the world community to come to a consensus on the definition of ‘terrorist’, Gen. Rawat said “We need to disrupt terrorists and their sponsors. We need to identify nations who are sponsors.”
📰 Can govt. mandate sharing of biometric data, asks SC
Court begins hearing on 27 petitions against the Aadhaar project
•The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked whether the state could compel citizens, including children, to part with their biometrics in public interest even as petitioners described the Aadhaar “project” as a “giant electronic leash,” which reduces individuals to mere numbers.
•A five-judge Constitution Bench, led by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, began hearing 27 writ petitions filed by people from all walks of life and across the country.
•Some of the petitions, like the one filed by former Karnataka High Court judge K.S. Puttaswamy, have been pending in the Supreme Court since 2012.
•Senior advocate Shyam Divan, with advocates Vipin Nair and P.B. Suresh, argued that enrolment for Aadhaar went on from 2009 to 2016 — when the Aadhaar Act came into existence — without a statutory regime. The captured personal data of crores of citizens were transferred from private enrolment agencies to the UIDAI without any legal framework, the petitioners contended.
•“There was no free consent. There was no ‘opt-out’ option. Can the state’s right of eminent domain extend to the human body? Can the state encroach on personal body autonomy?” Mr. Divan asked.
📰 MPs panel proposes proxy voting for migrant workers
Meeting headed by Shashi Tharoor deliberates on why electoral provision meant for NRIs should not be extended to others
•If proxy voting is meant to make it easier for NRIs to exercise their franchise and save up on travel costs, then why shouldn’t the same facility be extended to a migrant worker within India? This and many other questions were raised at a meeting of the Parliamentary panel on External Affairs headed by Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Tuesday.
•The committee was briefed on “Voting Rights to NRIs” by MEA Secretary (Economic Relations) Vijay Keshav Gokhale and Secretary, Legislative Department, G. Narayana Raju.
•The Cabinet in August last year had cleared an amendment to the Representation of the People Act, which allows NRIs to vote by proxy, a facility only available till now to armed personnel and certain offices notified by the Election Commission.
•“What is the justification to allow proxy voting for NRIs? The government claims it is too expensive for them to come and vote in India. Going by this very logic what about migrant workers? Where do they find time and money to come back home to vote,” one of the MPs who attended the meeting said. According to him, the government did not have a clear reply. “They simply evaded the question by saying that it does not cost the same to travel within India compared to flying in from abroad. The explanation is not very convincing. Everyone should get an equal opportunity,” the MP added.
Fears of misuse
•According to sources, except for one BJP MP all others on the panel were unanimous in their opinion that proxy voting can be easily misused.
•“Proxy voting is open to manipulation. The government should have explored a technically sounder way to get NRIs to vote. If money can be transferred online then why not votes. They need to find a more robust mechanism,” an opposition MP said.
•The panel members also asked how to have secret ballot in proxy voting. “When the government is promoting e-banking then why not have e-voting. If e-banking is safe then e-voting too should be,” another MP said.
•Data shows that only 10,000 to 12,000 NRIs have voted because they do not want to spend foreign currency to come to India for this purpose.
•Incidentally, the Representation of the People (Amendment) Bill 2017 was not referred to any standing committee.
•It was introduced in the Lok Sabha in the recently concluded winter session and has not yet been debated on.
📰 Four SC judges in talks with colleagues, may meet CJI today
Meeting with CJI Misra likely today
•Even as the second round of talks between Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra and his four senior-most colleagues did not take place on Wednesday, “each of the four judges” — Justices Jasti Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, Madan B. Lokur and Kurian Joseph — is “speaking” to other Supreme Court judges on the issues raised by them in public on January 12.
•Another meeting is likely on Thursday.
•The four judges are talking to their colleagues even as some judges felt that the four should have “taken them into confidence” before going public.
•A source close to the four judges, however, explained that they would “never have been able to act” if they had tried to take all the judges into confidence.
•The source said the judges may have “naturally different ideas” about the issues but they “understand the problem.”
•In fact, the four judges first wanted to take the decisive step in order to place themselves in a position to reach out to the other judges about the issues. One of the issues raised in a letter, circulated at the January 12 meeting, says: “There have been instances where cases having far-reaching consequences for the nation and the institution had been assigned by the Chief Justices of this Court selectively to the Benches of their preference without any rational basis.”
•The four judges stand firm that they will not “agree for a statement that the problem is resolved until something concrete is done, which they can place before their colleagues to show that they have done something good.”
•The source said the decision to go to the press was not taken “casually,” but after much deliberation. “Whether the thought process behind calling a press meet is wrong or not is a matter of opinion,” the source close to the four judges said.
•The Chief Justice took the initiative on January 16 to meet his four colleagues and break the ice. The meeting also coincided with an order passed by a Bench of Justices Arun Mishra and Mohan M. Shantanagoudar to put up two PIL petitions seeking a probe into the death of CBI judge B.H. Loya before an “appropriate Bench.”
•Chief Justice Misra and the four judges met over tea, during which they exchanged mutual concern over the “judicial institution.”
•The second meeting, scheduled for Wednesday, could not take place as Justice Chelameswar was taken ill and took a leave of absence.
•When Chief Justice Misra and judges gathered for their weekly lunch on Wednesday, the day of the week when one among the judges would bring traditional home-cooked food from his or her native State, Justices S.A. Bobde, A.K. Goel and Chelameswar were missing due to ill-health. Justice Gogoi visited Justice Chelameswar at his residence in the evening to enquire about his health.
📰 Talking over a law: the need for public conversation on the judiciary
There should be a frank public conversation on the judiciary — an internal patch-up is not enough
•As the consequences of the historic press conference of the four seniormost judges of the Supreme Court play out, a constant refrain that has been heard is of the need to resolve differences internally. This was always going to be the stock response of dominant sections of a legal and judicial fraternity that constantly speaks truth to government but is uncomfortable when the same standards are applied to them. Such a refrain, at first glance, is curious, as it appears to be an attempt to close the stable doors after the horse has bolted. But in reality it is the carefully calculated response of an entrenched mindset that seeks to maintain public confidence in the judiciary by keeping it insulated from public spotlight, discussion and criticism. It is this mindset that was challenged, in cause and effect, by the press conference.
Lack of transparency
•The immediate trigger for the press conference was the apparent arbitrariness of the Chief Justice of India (CJI) in allocating benches for disposal of cases. Whether indeed there was arbitrariness, and whether such arbitrariness, if any, was purely whimsical or motivated, is impossible for members of the public to ascertain. But if the four seniormost judges, despite their internal meetings with the CJI, resorted to the extreme measure of appealing to the public, their grievances are entitled to a certain degree of credence. Assuming such credence, the question that any well-wisher of the judiciary, whether inside or outside it, must ask is this: What is the institutional design that facilitated such seemingly arbitrary decision-making?
•One possible answer lies in the opaque internal structure of the judiciary founded on a combination of unquestioning trust in the office of the CJI along with an instinctive distaste for any interference by Parliament or government in judicial functioning. So sacrosanct are both these premises today that anything to the contrary appears blasphemous. However, their sanctity is neither natural nor long-held.
•At the time of the formulation of the Constitution, B.R. Ambedkar warned that no matter how upright the CJI might be, like any other mortal he too would have frailties. Thus no absolute power should be vested in him. Admittedly, Ambedkar was speaking about not giving the CJI a veto power in appointing judges; but the same sentiment rings true in case of the convention of allocating benches as well. After all, England, from where the convention of the Chief Justice as the master of the roster emanates, has been witness to several Lord Chancellors constituting partisan benches on matters of great political moment. Consequently, the principle that one should trust one’s Chief Justice, while admittedly a sound principle, cannot be an absolute one. That it has become so is testament to the legal fraternity closing ranks under the ruse of convention.
Fears of politicisation
•The second premise justifying complete judicial insulation that makes arbitrary decision-making in the judiciary possible is the fear of politicisation. This is undoubtedly legitimate — a politicised judiciary might well suffer from a lack of public confidence. But the implementation of this principle is both over-broad and misdirected. In public discourse there is a false conflation of any parliamentary action relating to the judiciary as ipso facto affecting its independence. Whenever any move towards reforming the judiciary is made by politicians, commentators are quick to hark back to the Emergency and the supersession of three judges for the CJI that preceded it. But there is some distance, logically and factually, between superseding the CJI and proposing an accountability law for judges, revising the opaque process of appointment and looking to institute credible alternatives to a broken system of tribunals, as stillborn reform initiatives in the last decade have sought to do. Unfortunately, so deep is judicial memory of the Emergency that it has clouded in distrust many well-meaning attempts at judicial reform by governments and Parliament.
•Equally critically, this fear of politicisation is misdirected, being based on a naïve view that overt parliamentary law is the sole method of interference with the judiciary. What it fails to countenance is that more nefarious methods of political interference in the judiciary exist, and have always done so; moreover, that such methods thrive in opacity, subjectivity and a lack of norms. As Bentham said, a view the Supreme Court itself has endorsed in Mirajkar, “in the darkness of secrecy, sinister interest and evil in every shape, have full swing.” It is this darkness that the press conference of judges has shone a light on. To shut the light out and resolve the matter in darkness through an internal resolution would be exactly contrary to what the situation demands.
Need a ‘Supreme Court Act’
•While internal resolution might be a palliative to tell the world that all is well with the Indian judiciary, it will, at best, be a band-aid solution. Were such a solution genuinely possible, one can safely trust that the four judges would not have resorted to a press conference to make their views clear. The press conference should make it clear to all that the ship of internal resolution has sailed. Instead, what is needed now is a Supreme Court Act to be passed by Parliament after an open public discussion involving all stakeholders — civil society, the judiciary, the Bar and members of all shades of political opinion.
•As a precursor to such reform, it is important to clarify that the Constitution envisages the powers and jurisdiction of the Supreme Court to be the possible subject matter of a parliamentary law. This is clear from Entry 77 of List I of the Seventh Schedule which makes the aforementioned a legitimate subject of law-making. Passage of such a law is critical to rectify the discourse of any parliamentary law relating to the judiciary being anathema.
•The substance of a proposed Supreme Court Act must be the restructuring of the Supreme Court itself. It is vital that a court of 31 judges, if it is to function as an apex court, must develop some degree of institutional coherence. Such coherence is impossible when the court sits in benches of two judges each. Further this structure allows the CJI to become the master of the roster, vested with the absolute discretion of allocating judges to particular cases, leading to crises like the present one. An antidote to both the aforementioned problems is a restructuring of the Supreme Court into three divisions: Admission, Appellate and Constitutional. All special leave petitions under Article 136 ought to be first considered by the Admission division. The division will comprise five randomly selected judges who for one quarter every year will deal only with admission cases.
•Like the Supreme Court of the United States, making this process work by circulation and without oral hearing needs to be strongly considered. The Constitution Division should be a permanent Constitution Bench of the five senior-most justices of the Court. They will hear all matters of constitutional importance and authoritatively pronounce the Court’s views on it. The Appellate division should comprise the remaining 21 judges (on the basis of the sanctioned strength of 31) with seven three-judge benches. They will hear all matters admitted by the Admission Division and any other writs or appeals which lie as a matter of right to the Supreme Court.
•Such restructuring will have three advantages. First, it will yield more coherent jurisprudence, particularly in constitutional matters, taking us closer to certainty and the rule of law. Second, it will allow for more careful contemplation of which matters actually deserve admission to India’s apex court. Third, it will reduce the discretion available to the CJI to select benches, since this will be limited to the appellate division alone. Needless to say, norms for such bench fixation and other matters relating to jurisdiction and powers of the Court may also be a part of the proposed law.
A public conversation
•At this point of time, the proposed law is critical to start a frank public conversation around what the judiciary needs to restore public confidence. Such a public conversation is necessary to underline that the judiciary is part of a republican constitutional framework, not the preserve of lawyers and judges alone. An internal resolution will be its antithesis, which might defuse the present crisis, but will exacerbate the deeper wound.
📰 Terrorism erodes economy: Sushma Swaraj
Sushma calls for greater consensus among countries to devise global strategy
•Hitting out at the sponsors of international terrorism, India on Wednesday urged for greater consensus among countries for devising a global strategy.
•Speaking at the plenary session of the 3rd Raisina Dialogue here, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said terrorism is a major disruptor of the global economy and has delivered a jolt to the process of globalisation.
•“We are all now very clear that terrorism anywhere can threaten societies everywhere. The challenge is even more serious in a digital age, with greater propensity to radicalisation. However, there are still old assumptions and established mindsets in this regard,” Ms. Swaraj said in her remarks opening the annual event which this year has the theme, “Managing Disruptive Transitions: Ideas, Institutions and Idioms.”
•“Terrorism is undeniably the mother of all disruptions today. There was a time when it was also actively utilised as an instrument of statecraft. That time has long gone by,” Ms. Swaraj said, indicating India’s arguments about Pakistan-based terror groups.
•The 3rd annual Raisina Dialogue was launched on Tuesday by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu where he described terrorism as a major threat to the democracies in the twenty-first century. Continuing with the theme of ensuring safety for democracies, Ms Swaraj remarked that security and socio-economic developments, have pushed globalisation into a retreat and said, “…what is even more dangerous is terrorism from governed spaces; in fact, terrorism actively supported and sponsored by states. Ensuring zero-tolerance towards terrorism is the call of the day.”
•The Minister said that while international terrorism by Islamic State, which grew out of ungoverned territories, is dangerous, more dangerous, she said, is terrorism from “governed spaces.”
•Ms Swaraj also pointed out that another emerging disruptor is the concern over maritime movement.
📰 ‘Make-II’ promise for arms firms
Indian industry can suggest projects related to sub-systems for innovation
•Indian industry can suggest projects related to sub-systems for innovation and import substitution under the revised Make-II procedure in the DefenceProcurement Procedure, the Defence Ministry said on Wednesday.
•“The potential ‘Make-II’ projects will be approved by a collegiate comprising the DRDO, Headquarter Integrated Defence Staff and Department of Defence under a committee chaired by Secretary, Defence Production,” the Ministry said in a statement.
Start-ups welcome
•Even start-ups or individuals can propose projects. The Service Headquarters will soon come with a list of projects which can be undertaken under the new procedure. Companies would get design and development time of 12 to 30 weeks to offer prototypes and there is no limit to the number of companies which can respond to the Expression of Interest (EoI).
•Speaking at the ongoing Raisina Dialogue, Secretary, Defence Production Ajay Kumar said that under the new proposal, the time taken to place orders from the proposal stage would be reduced by 50%. After the development period, the Request for Proposal would be issued to all qualifying companies.
•“Once issued, the RFP cannot be retracted. The company which wins the bid, is assured of an order,” a senior official said.
•He stated that even in the case of a single vendor situation, the tender would go through. The estimated time to finish the whole process has come down to 69 to 103 weeks. There would also be no negotiations under the Contract Negotiation Committee (CNC).
•There are are already 40-50 projects which are being looked at including advanced gun barrels for T-72 tanks and chaff and flare systems, the official added.
📰 The price prescription: taxation and policy on tobacco
Post-GST, we need a more targeted taxation and retail policy on tobacco products
•India is the second largest consumer and producer of tobacco-based products — categorised as sin goods or demerit goods — and it has become imperative for policymakers to devise measures to effectively curb their use. Over the years, governments have resorted to a mix of policies which range from monitoring the pricing and taxation regime of these products to the focus gradually shifting towards awareness campaigns highlighting the deadly effects of tobacco use, regulatory control laws pertaining to packaging and labelling as well as shaming and prohibiting its use in public places.
Health comes first
•The Supreme Court recently stayed a Karnataka High Court order setting aside the 2014 amendment rules to the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 2003 that prescribed tobacco packages having pictorial warnings covering 85% of the package space. This is in contrast to the High Court order that viewed the 2014 rules violating constitutional norms as being an “unreasonable restriction” on the right to do business and earn a livelihood. The High Court also held that there seemed to be no connection between the images and the warnings. The Supreme Court observed that the “health of a citizen has primacy”. Though this is one approach to bring about behavioural changes towards tobacco use, placing barriers to its consumption also calls for appropriate pricing policies, for which taxation measures must be at the forefront.
A skewed pattern
•For this, it is necessary to first understand the nature of its product variant structure. The World Health Organisation’s Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS 2016-17) highlights India’s distinct pattern of tobacco consumption in multiple forms such as cigarettes, bidis, chewing tobacco and khaini (smokeless tobacco) — in contrast to the global trend of cigarettes being the primary source of consumption. In India, bidis, chewing tobacco and khaini form 89% of consumption as against 11% for cigarettes.
•What explains such a skewed pattern? If we look at the competitive dynamics and pricing, a key reason for such disparity is because it is based on the unit-level pricing of multiple forms of tobacco. The average unit price of a bidi or smokeless tobacco is significantly lower than of a cigarette. Therefore, the former is a cheaper source for consumers who are mostly from the low-income segment of society.
After GST
•The nationwide implementation of the goods and services tax (GST) has not improved the situation either. All tobacco-related products have been placed in the 28% tax slab. Additionally, a National Calamity Contingent Duty (NCCD) and a cess charge have been imposed on cigarettes and smokeless tobacco. The pre- and post-GST impact on prices of tobacco-related products is useful in the context of pricing multiple forms of tobacco products in India. Except for a price drop in the smallest pack size of bidi, there has only been a marginal rise in the price of bidi for other pack sizes after the roll-out of the GST. Further, the price of an average bidi pack has been increased by 20 paise.
•In comparison, the price rise post-GST is much higher for cigarettes. The average increase in pack price has been the highest for the economy pack followed by the premium and mid-priced packs. If we consider other tobacco-related variants such as smokeless tobacco and pan masala, their pricing trends move in the opposite direction with respect to pack sizes. In the case of smokeless tobacco, the maximum price increase has been in the smallest pouch size category (less than 2 grams) whereas an increase of only 10-20 paise per pack has been observed across other pouch sizes. Pan masala, on the other hand, has shown a decline in post-GST prices for smaller pouch sizes and a rise for larger pouch sizes.
•Therefore, one may be able to postulate that the GST roll-out has not had much of an impact either on the pricing of various tobacco products or in reduction of the vast disparity between its different variants. The impact has been negligible in the case of bidis.
•The revisions in the taxation policy concerning tobacco products should ideally have a mix: of a removal of all excise and other tax exemptions irrespective of the size of the unit, restrictions on sales of loose sticks and raising taxes/duties on bidis and smokeless tobacco by a significantly higher level to narrow the gap between the price of bidis and smokeless tobacco vis-à-vis cigarettes keeping in mind the increased probability of health-related issues among low-income poor households and the health-care burden.
📰 Google to make artificial intelligence accessible to every business
Google said the new platform would help less-skilled engineers build powerful AI systems they previously only “dreamed of”.
•Artificial intelligence is no longer going to remain the secret sauce of giant technology companies.
•Google on Wednesday unveiled ‘Cloud AutoML‘’, which is aimed at helping businesses go beyond limitations of machine-learning expertise and start building their own high-quality custom models using advanced techniques provided by the Internet giant.
•The applications range from automating product attributes like patterns and necklines styles for clothing companies to helping various organisations conserve the world’s wildlife by analysing and tagging millions of images of various animal species.
•“There are bigger, greater opportunities waiting to be unlocked by AI,” said Fei-Fei Li, chief scientist of AI and machine learning at Google Cloud, during a webcast with reporters.
•Google said the new platform would help less-skilled engineers build powerful AI systems they previously only “dreamed of”.
•“AI and machine learning is still a field with high barriers to entry and it requires expertise that [only] a few companies can afford on their own,” said Ms. Li, who is also the director of the Artificial Intelligence and Vision Labs at Stanford University.
•She said there were perhaps a million data scientists worldwide who might be using AI services. However, it is estimated that there are 21 million-plus developers worldwide and the California-based tech firm “want to make AI accessible to these developers”.
Wildlife Conservation
•Google’s first ‘Cloud AutoML’ release will be ‘Cloud AutoML Vision’, a service that makes it faster and easier to create custom machine-learning models for image recognition. Its drag-and-drop interface lets enterprises upload images, train and manage models, and then deploy those trained models directly on Google Cloud. “You can create a simple model in minutes,” said Jia Li, head of research and development at Google Cloud AI.
•For example, Zoological Society of London (ZSL), is collaborating with Google’s CloudML team to cut costs through automation, and expand the deployment of camera traps in the wild that take pictures of passing animals, such as elephants, lions, and giraffes, when triggered by heat or motion. The millions of images captured by these devices are then analysed and annotated according to the species they exhibit, manually. “This is a labour-intensive and expensive process,” said Sophie Maxwell, conservation technology lead at ZSL. The collaboration aims to automate the tagging of these images. ZSL said it is also gaining a deeper understanding of how to conserve the world’s wildlife effectively.
India strategy
•Asked about his firm’s strategy to implement this technology in India, Rajen Sheth, senior director of product management at Google Cloud AI, said the country was “very strategic” and a “priority market” for the firm. He said a lot of firms here were already using machine learning with really interesting applications. “I think we will find a lot of companies in India that would use it,” said Mr. Sheth.
📰 West Bengal rivers are not fit even for bathing, says report
17 of them have high levels of bacteria found mainly in human faeces, it says
•A dip in the Ganges is, generally speaking, synonymous with the idea of purification. But that shall no longer be so in Bengal, where the river is so polluted that it is now officially unfit for bathing.
•According to the latest State of Environment Report, published by the West Bengal Pollution Control Board (WBPCB), in 17 major rivers of the State, including the Ganges, the levels of coliform bacteria (found mainly in human faeces) are much higher than the permissible limit of MPN (most probable number) per 100 ml. The permissible limit as per the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) guideline is 500.
Data collected in 2015
•“Regular monitoring reveals that the rivers are hardly fit for bathing as per the standard fixed by the Government of India,” said the report, based on the data gathered in 2015.
•The report states that several stretches of the Ganges, known as Bhagirathi and Hooghly in the region (two tributaries of the Ganges), have a total coliform count (TCC) much higher than the permissible level of 500. Near Baharampore in Murshidabad district, TCC in the Ganges was 1.10 lakh in October 2015. In Dakhineswar in North 24 Paraganas district, it was 4 lakh, and at Shivpur in Howrah district, 2.80 lakh. At Garden Reach in the southwestern part of Kolkata, the TCC in the Ganges was 2.40 lakh.
•The condition of rivers in north Bengal was not much different. While TCC in the Mahananda river near Siliguri was 14,000, the Teesta recorded a TCC of 7,000 in Siliguri. The Karola river near Jalpaiguri and the Kaljani river at Alipurdar both had a TCC of 14,000 per 100 ml.
Significant increase
•According to the WBPCB, compared with 2014, all the four main rivers of north Bengal recorded a significant increase in TCC, while the ones in south Bengal had TCC levels much higher than the permissible limit. These include the Damodar river at Asansol in Paschim Bardhaman district (90,000), the Barakar river at Tarapith in Birbhum district (17,000 TCC), the Kansai river in Paschim Medinipur district (17,000), and the Dwarka at Tarapith (3,400).
•Anil Gautam, a faculty member at the People’s Science Institute in Dehradun, said one of the reasons for such high TCC was the disposal of “untreated sewage.” However, WBPCB Chairman Kalyan Rudra said: “This was no exception. No part of the Ganga from Haridwar to Gangasagar is fit for bathing.”
