📰 Curbing the khaps
The Supreme Court guidelines are welcome — but we need a strong law on ‘honour’ crimes
•Many crimes committed in the name of defending the honour of a caste, clan or family may have their origin in India’s abominable caste system, but there are other contributing factors as well. Entrenched social prejudices, feudal structures and patriarchal attitudes are behind what are referred to as ‘honour killings’. While these cannot be eradicated overnight through law or judicial diktat, it is inevitable that a stern law and order approach is adopted as the first step towards curbing groups that seek to enforce such medieval notions of ‘honour’ through murder or the threat of murder, or ostracisation. It is in this context that the Supreme Court’s strident observations against khap panchayats and guidelines to deal with them acquire significance. It is not the first time that the apex court has voiced its strong disapproval of khaps, or village assemblies that assume the authority to discipline what they deem behaviour that offends their notions of honour. Previous judgments have made it clear that the life choices of individual adults, especially with regard to love and marriage, do not brook any sort of interference from any quarter. In the latest judgment, a three-judge Bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra has located the problem as one that violates the liberty and dignity of individuals, and something that requires preventive, remedial and punitive measures.
•The High Courts of Punjab and Haryana and Madras have laid down guidelines to the police on creating special cells and 24-hour helplines to provide assistance and protection to young couples. The Supreme Court has now gone a step further and asked the police to establish safe-houses for couples under threat. The direction asking police officers to try and persuade khaps to desist from making illegal decisions may appear soft. But in the same breath, the court has also empowered the police to prohibit such gatherings and effect preventive arrests. How far it is feasible to videograph the proceedings of such assemblies remains to be seen, but it may be a deterrent against any brazen flouting of the law. The verdict is also notable for dealing with some points made often in defence of khap panchayats, rejecting outright the claims that they were only engaged in raising awareness about permissible marriages, including inter-caste and inter-faith ones, and against sapinda and sagotramarriages. The court has rightly laid down that deciding what is permitted and what is not is the job of civil courts. While these guidelines, if they are adhered to, may have some salutary effect on society, the government should not remain content with asking the States to implement these norms. It should expedite its own efforts to bring in a comprehensive law to curb killings in the name of honour and to prohibit interference in the matrimonial choices of individuals.
📰 Trade on agenda of Tokyo talks
Sushma meets her counterpart, Taro Kono, for India-Japan Strategic Dialogue
•India and Japan will discuss cooperation in the Indo-Pacific in the first high-level meeting since the Quadrilateral and iron out growing worries over bilateral trade as External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj meets Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono in Tokyo on Thursday. The two sides are meeting for the ninth India-Japan Strategic Dialogue, instituted in 2007 as an annual dialogue held alternately in Delhi and Tokyo.
•“We look forward to intensive discussions on a wide range of our cooperation agenda which includes infrastructure, business, security and people to people exchanges. We will also discuss situations surrounding the Indo-Pacific region and global agenda,” Japanese Ambassador to India Kenji Hiramatsu told The Hindu.
•Among the discussions will be the next steps in the Quadrilateral engagement between India-Japan-US-Australia, a project initiated by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in 2007, which was revived in 2017, with a meeting of officials of all four countries. The next meeting is expected this year, ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Japan for the annual summit. Ms. Swaraj and Mr. Kono are expected to discuss actions required to keep a “free and open Indo-Pacific” as well as developing joint connectivity projects in Asia and Africa.
•An External Affairs Ministry statement said India and Japan have stepped up relations with a “fresh impetus” in ties after PM Modi’s visit in 2014. Japan was today one of the largest investors in India, with a growing presence in infrastructure projects.
📰 Govt. implements SC order on seniority list
Sushma meets her counterpart, Taro Kono, for India-Japan Strategic Dialogue
•India and Japan will discuss cooperation in the Indo-Pacific in the first high-level meeting since the Quadrilateral and iron out growing worries over bilateral trade as External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj meets Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono in Tokyo on Thursday. The two sides are meeting for the ninth India-Japan Strategic Dialogue, instituted in 2007 as an annual dialogue held alternately in Delhi and Tokyo.
•“We look forward to intensive discussions on a wide range of our cooperation agenda which includes infrastructure, business, security and people to people exchanges. We will also discuss situations surrounding the Indo-Pacific region and global agenda,” Japanese Ambassador to India Kenji Hiramatsu told The Hindu.
•Among the discussions will be the next steps in the Quadrilateral engagement between India-Japan-US-Australia, a project initiated by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in 2007, which was revived in 2017, with a meeting of officials of all four countries. The next meeting is expected this year, ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Japan for the annual summit. Ms. Swaraj and Mr. Kono are expected to discuss actions required to keep a “free and open Indo-Pacific” as well as developing joint connectivity projects in Asia and Africa.
•An External Affairs Ministry statement said India and Japan have stepped up relations with a “fresh impetus” in ties after PM Modi’s visit in 2014. Japan was today one of the largest investors in India, with a growing presence in infrastructure projects.
📰 Indus Commission talks today
Minister says three dams will be built in Uttarakhand to utilise river’s waters
•India and Pakistan will go ahead with talks on the Indus Waters Treaty on Thursday despite an upsurge in tensions over the LoC crossfire and allegations of harassment of diplomats in Delhi and Islamabad, External Affairs Ministry sources confirmed on Wednesday.
•According to the treaty provisions, the 114th meeting of the Permanent Indus Commission (PIC) will take place in India on March 29 and 30 in New Delhi to hold technical deliberations on various issues, they said.
•India’s Indus Water Commissioner P.K. Saxena, technical experts and a representative of the Ministry will meet a six-member delegation from Pakistan, led by Syed Muhammad Mehar Ali Shah.
•The last meeting was held in Islamabad in March 2017, a significant move at the time as it came after the “surgical strikes” by India across the Line of Control, and the government’s announcement that it would reconsider its position on the 1960 treaty with Pakistan after terrorist attacks in Uri. While the government kept its treaty commitments to meet, it has been exploring ways to utilise its share of the Indus waters more efficiently and to the maximum permissible.
Project reports
•Ahead of the PIC meeting on Thursday, Water Resources Minister Nitin Gadkari announced that three dams would be built in Uttarakhand to further that effort. “Water from our [share of] rivers was going into Pakistan. We are making detailed project reports to stop that from happening and water will be given to Punjab, Rajasthan, Delhi and Haryana,” Mr. Gadkari said in Rohtak.
📰 Centre not for SC/ST creamy layer
Tells apex court that the principle cannot be applied to these communities
•The government on Wednesday opposed the idea of a “creamy layer” within the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes category.
•The government told a Supreme Court Bench led by Chief Justice Dipak Misra that the principle of creamy layer could not be applied to the presidential order on quota for SC/ST groups.
•The court was hearing a petition to exclude the affluent members, or the “creamy layer”, of these communities from accessing reservation benefits.
•Additional Solicitor-General P.S. Narasimha said the government would not do anything to dilute benefits due to them.
•The Bench asked the government to file a categorical affidavit. The petition filed by Samta Andolan Samiti, representing the poor and downtrodden strata of the SC/ST community in Rajasthan, contended that the rich among the SC/ST communities were “snatching away” quota benefits while the deserving and impoverished among them continue to “bite the dust.”
•It is this lack of percolation of reservation benefits down to the poor and really backward among SC/ST communities that has led to social unrest, Naxalite movements and perennial poverty, the petition said.
•This is the first time that a petition has been filed urging the Supreme Court to introduce the “creamy layer” concept to the SC/ST communities.
•In 1992, a nine-judge Bench of the Supreme Court in the Indra Sawhney case or the Mandal case, as it was popularly known, upheld caste-based reservation for OBCs as valid. The apex court had also directed that the creamy layer of OBCs (those earning over a specified income) should not avail reservation facilities.
Mandal judgment
•The Mandal judgment however confined the exclusion of the creamy layer only to the OBCs and not to the SC/STs.
•The Samta Andolan Samiti petition referred to the 2006 Constitution Bench judgment of the Supreme Court in the M. Nagaraj case, which observed that the “means test (a scrutiny of the value and assets of an individual claiming reservation) should be taken into consideration to exclude the creamy layer from the protected group earmarked for reservation.”
•“The uplifted/affluent and advanced sections of the SC/ST communities snatch away the maximum benefit and 95% members of the SC/ST communities are in a disadvantageous position. The affluent among the SC/ST are siphoning off the reservation benefits given to them by the State government as well as the central government,” the plea said.
📰 Steps needed to improve collegium system, says SC
Bench also calls for setting up of an independent secretariat
•Urgent measures are required to improve the collegium system of appointment of judges, including the setting up of an independent secretariat, the Supreme Court highlighted in a judgment on Wednesday.
•The apex court said “corrective measures” needed to be taken against “post-appointment conduct or inadequate performance or failure to uphold righteous conduct” by sitting judges.
•A Bench of Justices A.K. Goel and Rohinton F. Nariman said the improvements contemplated by the five-judge NJAC Bench, in December 2015, in the collegium system had not “seen the light of the day”. The court ordered that the Centre should ensure that the new memorandum of procedure brought about the improvements recommended by the NJAC Bench.
•The apex court highlighted how various High Courts remained without permanent Chief Justices. The Law Ministry website shows that seven High Courts have been making do with Acting Chief Justices for months on end. Justice Goel, who authored the verdict, said Acting Chief Justices were meant only as a temporary measure before a permanent Chief Justice is appointed.
•The judgment points out how High Court Chief Justices are appointed for a few days before they retire, serving no purpose to the cause of justice delivery. The court stressed the need for a “full-time”and independent body of experts to help in the appointment process.
•“A full-time body consistent with independence of judiciary appears to be immediate need for the system. Absence thereof contributes to denial of justice,” the judgment observed.
📰 SC judge questions probe against judge
•The judge in question, district and sessions judge P. Krishna Bhat, was first recommended by the collegium for appointment to the High Court in August 2016. However, the Supreme Court and the Centre received complaints against him from a woman judge, accusing him of “atrocities and abuse of power.”
•The then Chief Justice of India T.S. Thakur had asked Justice Maheshwari’s predecessor, Justice S.K. Mukherjee, to probe the complaint. Justice Mukherjee filed a report in November 2016, concluding that the allegations against Judge Bhat were “incorrect and concocted.” Subsequently, the collegium reiterated its recommendation in April 2017. The government’s letter followed the collegium’s second recommendation. The Memorandum of Procedure for Appointment of Judges makes it imperative for the government to comply if the collegium reiterates its recommendation. The direct communication made by the Law Ministry to the High Court without consulting the Chief Justice was violative of several judgments of the Supreme Court, which hold that “the opinion of the Chief Justice of India should have the greatest weight.”
•The Third Judges Case judgment specifies that the selection of a judge to the high courts and the Supreme Court is a “participatory consultative process” which reduces the “Executive element in the appointment process to the minimum and any political influence is eliminated.”
📰 A solar gear shift
The government needs to tilt its green manufacturing mix in favour of nascent industries of the future
•The Indian government is switching gears on solar energy. The 2018 Economic Survey identifies renewable energy as a champion sector under the Make in India 2.0 programme. India currently meets almost 90% of its annual requirement of solar panels through imports (mainly China), impeding the growth of a nascent domestic solar manufacturing sector. Policy support for the solar sector is increasingly focussed on domestic manufacturing, both in the form of capital subsidies and considerations of trade regulation. However, are these interventions the right signals to send to an already uncertain solar sector? Do they comply with the global trade regime? And will they keep our renewable energy (RE) ambitions on track? These questions warrant examination through four lenses.
•First, implementing trade remedies that have anti-competition implications has become commonplace, with clean energy becoming its newest victim. Two large solar energy markets, India and the United States, have either imposed or are contemplating the imposition of safeguards duty on solar panels. Trade remedies are attractive because they create tangible short-term benefits such as job creation, reduction in trade deficit, and higher local tax collection. However, such a move would also result in higher tariffs and make solar power less attractive for the already financially strained and RE-sceptical utilities. Analysis by the Council on Energy, Environment, and Water (CEEW) suggests that had a safeguard duty of 70% been implemented at the time of the Bhadla bid (Rs. 2.44/kWh), the lowest bid would have been pegged at Rs. 3.46/kWh. The more than 40% spike in solar electricity prices would be accompanied by diplomatic tensions that follow the implementation of such measures, encouraging other major economies to retaliate with their own protectionist measures.
Ensuring compliance
•Second, it is vital that India remains compliant with the global trade regime. Previous measures (for example, the domestic content requirement or DCR scheme) to assuage the concerns of the domestic solar manufacturers were challenged and overturned at the World Trade Organisation (WTO). The DCR scheme did not impose any restrictions on imported sources and only sought to secure an assured market for domestically manufactured panels. Other countries opposed the scheme as it discriminated against foreign solar cell suppliers. A draft policy (2017) aimed at promoting domestic solar manufacturing through a proposed 12,000 MW DCR component may evoke similar opposition at the WTO. CEEW analysis suggests that backing this programme could generate only 31,200 jobs as against one million full-time job opportunities had India followed through in achieving its solar and wind energy targets of 160 GW. Prioritising domestic goals without complying with international trade rules affects the much-needed stakeholder confidence required to achieve India’s clean energy target.
•Third, India’s solar sector is currently caught in inter-ministerial cross-fire. The severity of the issue is evident in the power given to both the Ministry of Finance (MoF) and the Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MoCI) to implement trade remedies (safeguard duties and anti-dumping duties or ADD, respectively). Further, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has been grappling with issues posed by the MoF regarding the re-classification of solar panels as electrical motors (the current classification is photosensitive semiconductor devices), imposing additional duties and cesses on importers. An inter-ministerial committee headed by the MNRE must be constituted to coordinate moves among the MoF, the MoCI, the Ministry of Power, and the Central and State Electricity Regulatory Commissions.
Case for unified voice
•Fourth, developers and manufacturers need to voice their needs clearly and respond to policy implications in an unequivocal manner. The industry needs one unified voice representing the key concerns of each stakeholder-category, without ignoring the broader interests of the sector.
•In supporting the domestic manufacturing industry, the government may be backing a horse which may not run for long. Instead, the government could tilt its green manufacturing mix in favour of nascent industries of the future such as energy storage, electric vehicles, and IT solutions for grid integration. To get ahead in that race, India will need a comprehensive strategy on issues such as effective sourcing of critical minerals, investment in R&D, access to patient venture capital, and fiscal benefits for the industries of the future.
📰 Out of favour
The bond rout is a warning as the Centre looks at ramping up spending ahead of elections
•More people are losing their love for Indian bonds. Foreign investors have been net sellers of over $1 billion in Indian debt this month, almost cancelling out inflows since the beginning of the year. Domestic investors were already spooked by a widening fiscal deficit, so foreign selling now has managed to add pressure on the market. The deserting of the Indian market by foreign investors comes at a time when the Centre is looking at tapping the bond market aggressively to finance its election-year spending. The yield on the benchmark 10-year bond has risen by almost 100 basis points since late-July amid lacklustre investor demand. The rise in yields is due to a variety of reasons that have pushed both foreign and domestic investors to re-price Indian sovereign bonds. For one, the government is expected to step up borrowing ahead of elections; in fact, the fiscal deficit targets for the current as well as the coming fiscal year were revised upwards in the Budget. This has fuelled market fears about a rise in inflation. Further, the public sector banks, typically the biggest lenders to the government, have turned wary of lending. As the losses on their bond portfolios mount, they have turned net sellers of sovereign bonds in 2018. Another tailwind affecting bonds is the prospect of higher interest rates in the West, which has made Indian bonds look a lot less lucrative in the eyes of foreign investors. The weakening rupee, probably a reflection of higher domestic inflation and fund outflows in search of yields, has added to selling pressure.
•Given these pressing concerns, it is no surprise that Indian sovereign bonds have witnessed a relief rally since news broke on March 26 that the Centre will trim its market borrowing during the first half of the coming fiscal year. The yield on the 10-year Indian sovereign bond has dropped by more than 20 basis points since that day. The Centre’s borrowing target for April-September was cut to Rs. 2.88 lakh crore, which is about 48% of the total budgeted borrowing for the year, in contrast to Rs. 3.72 lakh crore in the first half of this year. Interestingly, first-half borrowing was more than 60% of the annual borrowing target in each of the last two years. The government also announced a cut of Rs. 50,000 crore in the total amount of market borrowings for the year, opting instead to dip into the National Small Savings Fund to meet its funding needs. Cutting down on market borrowing is a decision linked to the market’s ‘decision’ to punish the government for profligacy. The bond rout should thus serve as a timely warning as it looks to ramp up spending ahead of elections. Lastly, with the vacuum created by the state-run banks, it may be time for the Reserve Bank of India to re-examine the rule limiting the role of foreign investors in the bond market.
📰 PNB to settle all LoUs it issued to Nirav firms
Lender to take a hit of Rs. 6,500 crore
•Ending the impasse over the liability arising out of the letters of undertaking issued to Nirav Modi firms, Punjab National Bank on Wednesday said it would honour all those LoUs.
•The bank said it would settle 352 LoUs and foreign letter of credit (FLC) with seven banks worth Rs. 6,500 crore by March 31. This would mean the bank would take a hit of the entire amount to its bottomline. According to RBI norms, banks have to make 100% provisioning for the loan exposure if a fraud is reported.
•“The bank will also honour all subsequent maturing LoUs and FLCs as and when they are due,” PNB said in a statement. After the $2 billion LoU scam came to light on February 14, PNB was initially reluctant to repay its dues to the banks and said it would wait till the investigations were over.
•“In essence, PNB stood by its commitment to honour all bonafide LoUs,” said Sunil Mehta, Non-Executive Chairman Punjab National Bank.
‘Compliant with law’
•“This decision of the board sends out a strong message that PNB takes its obligations seriously but does it in a manner that is compliant with the law. PNB board’s decision will help restore confidence and stability in the larger banking system,” Mr. Mehta added.
📰 Fiscal deficit soars to Rs. 7.15 lakh crore
Subdued revenue receipts attributed
•India’s fiscal deficit soared to Rs. 7.15 lakh crore at the end of February, exceeding the revised target of Rs. 5.94 lakh crore for the entire 2017-18 fiscal. As per data released by the Controller General of Accounts (CGA), fiscal deficit for April-February was 120% of the revised estimates on account of increased expenditure and subdued revenue receipts.
•The monthly account till February-end revealed that the government had collected Rs. 12.83 lakh crore revenue, which is 79.09% of revised estimates.
•Of this, more than Rs. 10.35 lakh crore is collected from taxes, while more than Rs. 1.42 lakh crore and Rs. 1.05 lakh crore accrued on account of non-tax revenue and non-debt capital receipts, respectively.
Loan recovery
•Non-debt capital receipts consist of recovery of loans of Rs. 13,301 crore. Besides, Rs. 92,493 crore has been mopped up through PSU disinvestment till February-end. In the revised estimates of 2017-18, the government had raised the disinvestment target to Rs. 1 lakh crore. In 11 months till February, more than Rs. 5.29 lakh crore has been transferred to state governments as devolution of share of taxes by the Centre, which is Rs. 66,039 crore higher than the corresponding period of last year 2016-17.
📰 On the electric highway
Charging infrastructure for vehicles must be scaled up
Does India have a policy to promote electric vehicles?
•The Central government is not pursuing plans for a separate policy on electric vehicles (EVs) although it did think of introducing one. It has now left it to the automotive industry to determine the scale and pace of a transition from fossil fuels to electric motors.
•Union Minister for Road Transport Nitin Gadkari said recently that the move towards EVs would anyway be accelerated by the higher efficiencies and lower cost of EVs compared to those with internal combustion engines. There is no target for a shift to electric vehicles by the year 2030, the Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises clarified on March 8. The government is, however, incentivising purchase of electric vehicles through the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid &) Electric Vehicles in India (FAME) programme, since April 1, 2015, under which end users and consumers pay a reduced price. So far, 1,89,482 electric or hybrid vehicles have been covered by the incentive scheme, which is in force until March 31, 2018. It is expected that the promotion of EVs through policy initiatives will continue beyond that date. Mahindra and Mahindra, Mahindra Reva Electric, Maruti Suzuki, Toyota Kirloskar and Tata Motors are participating in the demand incentive scheme.
How can a shift to EVs help?
•Converting a significant part of the transport fleet, led by public transport, to electric or hybrid vehicles is predicted to sharply cut dependence on imported oil, and reduce carbon emissions. A 2017 report issued jointly by NITI Aayog and the Rocky Mountain Institute in the U.S. projects that, for an oil price benchmark of $52 a barrel, shared, electric, and connected mobility options would help the country save $60 billion (Rs. 3.9 lakh crore) in 2030, besides eliminating cumulative emissions of 1 gigatonne of carbon dioxide.
What are the challenges and benefits?
•One major challenge in scaling up electric mobility is the availability of charging infrastructure across the country. As part of a FAME pilot project, 25 charging stations were created in Bengaluru by one automaker. Since 2015, the Department of Heavy Industry has sanctioned 435 charging stations. Infrastructure is needed to produce, maintain and recycle a large number of batteries as the population of EVs rises. The current economics of EVs favour larger vehicles in the longer term, given the high capital expenditure involved. But it has good cost-benefit outcomes even now for two-wheelers and rickshaws.
📰 Biggest space telescope launch delayed till 2020
NASA says it won’t be ready before May 2020 as the project is undergoing final integration and tests
•NASA has delayed the launch of its much awaited, $8 billion James Webb Space Telescope — set to be the world’s biggest space observatory — until at least May 2020.
•The telescope is currently undergoing final integration and test phases that will require more time to ensure a successful mission, the U.S. space agency said.
•The James Webb Space Telescope will be complementing the scientific discoveries of NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope and other science missions. The observatory will solve mysteries of our solar system, according to NASA.
•After an independent assessment of remaining tasks for the highly complex space observatory, Webb’s previously revised 2019 launch window is now targeted for about May 2020.
‘Given highest priority’
•“Webb is the highest priority project for the agency’s Science Mission Directorate, and the largest international space science project in U.S. history,” said Robert Lightfoot, acting NASA Administrator.
•“All the observatory’s flight hardware is now complete, however, the issues brought to light with the spacecraft element are prompting us to take the necessary steps to refocus our efforts on the completion of this ambitious and complex observatory,” said Mr. Lightfoot.
•Testing the hardware on the observatory’s telescope element and spacecraft element demonstrate that these systems individually meet their requirements.
•However, recent findings from the project’s Standing Review Board indicate more time is needed to test and integrate these components together and then perform environmental testing.
