📰 UN rights body to move SC on CAA
MEA says world body has no rightto file petition on India’s internal matter
•In an unprecedented and rare move, the Geneva-based Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has announced that it plans to file an application in the Supreme Court, asking to be impleaded in petitions challenging the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA).
•Responding to the announcement, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said the United Nations body had no right to file a petition that will ask the court to appoint the Commissioner for Human Rights as an assistant or amicus curiae in the case.
•The OHCHR plan has been criticised by diplomatic and legal experts here, including one of the 22 petitioners in the case, as an “overreach”.
•“The High Commissioner [Michelle Bachelet] intends to submit an amicus curiae brief shortly on the Citizenship [Amendment] Act [CAA] in the Indian Supreme Court, in accordance with the Court’s established procedures, and she has informed the Indian Permanent Mission in Geneva of her intention,” Rupert Colville, OHCHR spokesperson based in Geneva, confirmed to The Hindu .
•“The amicus curiae will focus on providing an overview of relevant and applicable international human rights standards and norms to support the Court’s deliberations in the context of its review of the CAA,” the spokesperson said.
•Last week, Ms. Bachelet informed the Human Rights Council that the UN body had “great concerns over the CAA”. She had also met with MEA Secretary (West) Vikas Swarup, who had travelled to Geneva to represent India at the 43rd session of the Human Rights Council last Thursday. On Monday, the Indian Mission in Geneva was formally informed of the OHCHR’s plans to file the petition.
•MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said on Tuesday, “The Citizenship (Amendment) Act is an internal matter of India and concerns the sovereign right of the Indian Parliament to make laws. We strongly believe that no foreign party has any locus standi on issues pertaining to India’s sovereignty.”
•“We are confident that our sound and legally sustainable position would be vindicated by the Honourable Supreme Court,” he added.
National Interlinking of Rivers Authority will oversee projects, generate funds
•The Central government is working on the establishment of an exclusive body to implement projects for linking rivers.
•To be called the National Interlinking of Rivers Authority (NIRA), the proposed body is expected to take up both inter-State and intra-State projects. It will also make arrangements for generating up funds, internally and externally.
•An official of the National Water Development Agency (NWDA), which is responsible for the formulation of proposals of the linking of rivers, says an updated draft Cabinet note has been circulated to other ministries in the Central government. On receipt of comments, the note will be finalised by the Ministry of Jal Shakti and sent to the Union Cabinet for approval.
‘No specific timeline’
•The proposal for an apex body on river linking has been under discussion for the last 18 months. However, the official said that as of now, no specific timeline has been determined for the constitution of the Authority. Also, the earlier idea of framing a bill, envisaging the creation of the NIRA, is not being pursued now.
•The subject of establishment of the Authority was discussed at the last meeting of the Special Committee on Inter-Linking of Rivers (ILR) last week in New Delhi. Headed by Union Minister of Jal Shakti Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, the panel includes Irrigation or Water Resources Ministers and Secretaries of States. Since its formation, the Committee has held 17 meetings.
•It is being assisted by a Task Force for ILR, which is a committee of experts essentially drawn from the Jal Shakti Ministry, Central Water Commission and the NWDA.
•A Tamil Nadu government official said the Centre has not yet shared with States details regarding the new body though it has conveyed to them that it is planning to have an implementation agency for ILR projects.
📰 Black carbon levels spike at Himalayan glaciers
The concentration near Gangotri glacier rose 400 times in summer, says study
•Black carbon concentrations near the Gangotri glacier rose 400 times in summer due to forest fires and stubble burning from agricultural waste, and triggered glacial melt, says a study by scientists at the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology (WIHG).
•The team of scientists from WIHG, led by P.S. Negi, measured variations of black carbon concentration at Chirbasa, near the Gangotri glacier in the Indian Himalaya, located at an altitude of 3,600 metres, during the year 2016. “The monthly mean concentration of EBC (equivalent black carbon) was found to be minimum in August and maximum in the month of May. The observed seasonal mean concentrations of EBC indicated a pristine glacial source and an absence of EBC sources in the locality,” a press statement noted.
•Black carbon results from the incomplete combustion of fossil fuels and biomass. The fine particles absorb light and about a million times more energy than carbon dioxide. It is said to be the second largest contributor to climate change after CO2. But unlike CO2, which can stay in the atmosphere for years together, black carbon is short-lived and remains in the atmosphere only for days to weeks, before it descends as rain or snow.
Second largest emitter
•The concentration varied from a minimum of 0.01g/cubic metre in winter to 4.62g/cubic metre during summer.
•India is the second largest emitter of black carbon in the world, with emissions expected to increase dramatically in the coming decades, says an April 2019 study in the journal Atmospheric Research , with the Indo Gangetic plains said to be the largest contributor.
📰 Rupee in free fall on COVID-19 fears; RBI soothes markets
Ready to take action, says central bank
•The rupee fell for the third consecutive session on Tuesday on concerns over the deadly COVID-19 spreading in India amid the central bank stepping in to calm investor sentiment.
•The rupee dropped below the 73-a-dollar level even as the equity markets bounced back, snapping a seven-day losing streak.
•The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) stepped in to issue a statement saying the central bank was closely monitoring the situation and stood ready to take appropriate action.
•The central bank acknowledged that the spillover of the global financial market turmoil in India had been largely contained as there were hopes of coordinated policy action.
Spillover contained
•“Globally, financial markets have been experiencing considerable volatility, with the spread of the coronavirus triggering risk-off sentiments and flights to safe haven. Spillovers to financial markets in India have largely been contained. Growing hopes of coordinated policy action to mitigate a broader fallout to economic activity have boosted market sentiment today,” the RBI said.
•“The Reserve Bank of India is monitoring global and domestic developments closely and continuously and stands ready to take appropriate actions to ensure orderly functioning of financial markets, maintain market confidence and preserve financial stability,” it added.
•The rupee opened stronger at 72.45 a dollar compared to its previous close of 72.76, but weakened after reports of the COVID-19 spreading in India.
•A school in Noida was reportedly shut down after a student’s parent tested positive for COVID-19. The Indian currency ended the day at 73.23, down 0.65% from its previous close — a 16-month low.
•The spread of the virus, the impact of which is expected to be higher than that of the SARS outbreak in 2003, is likely to affect global trade. The IMF has lowered global GDP growth projections by 10 basis points to 3.2% in 2020.
Impact on exports
•Since India and China are major trading partners, a sharp hit to their exports and imports is likely.
•“Slowdown in economic activity in China is likely to weigh on exports from India. China’s economic growth is likely to moderate to below 6% in 2020,” said Abheek Barua, chief economist, HDFC Bank.
•“Export of commodities like ores (India exports 72% of its total ores to China), organic chemicals, cotton, etc. is likely to get hit should the disruption from the COVID-19 continue for an extended period,” Mr. Barua said.
📰 A COVID-19 response that is quick off the blocks
Given that India has a fragile health system, it is critical to plan a coordinated and coherent action plan
•We are now facing the global spread of COVID-19, the new coronavirus disease, with confirmed cases being identified in new countries on an almost daily basis. As of March 2, 2020, according to the World Health Organization, there are around 89,000 confirmed cases from 65 countries; 27 countries have reported local transmission. In addition to China, there are now epidemics in South Korea, Iran, Italy and Japan. India has reported six confirmed cases to date in Kerala, Delhi, Rajasthan and Telangana. High income countries with resources such as the United States, Italy and Germany have reported local transmission clusters. Dr. Nancy Messonnier, U.S. CDC, says: “It’s not so much a question of if this will happen anymore, but rather more a question of exactly when this will happen and how many people in this country will have severe illness.”
Getting the system ready
•In India, we should anticipate the possibility of a rapid viral spread due to its uniqueness of being a respiratory pathogen with capability of community transmission. India needs to be ready to mount a coordinated, coherent and sustained response.
•Even if the disease does not reach epidemic status in India, it behoves us to continue to develop and maintain infrastructure to respond to new novel infectious agents capable of rapid spread. Over the past decade we have already seen outbreaks in India of swine flu and Nipah. As such, outbreak preparedness is an investment which will pay dividends immediately at worst or in the medium to long term at best. Preparedness allows a health system to take proactive steps to mitigate or lessen the adverse impacts of an outbreak and to be in control without being overwhelmed. COVID-19 has given us an opportunity to test our systems and build resilience for the future.
•The objective of the response should be to adapt to the stage of the outbreak. In the initial days when travel-related cases are few and manageable, such as the current status in India (known cases), it makes sense to do extensive screening, testing of all suspected cases and do contact tracing to prevent its spread into the wider community. But once an outbreak takes hold with sustained community-wide local transmission, then testing lessens in significance and may in fact rapidly overwhelm the laboratory capacity. At that point, the response should change from containment to mitigation so that the health system does not crumble. Akin to a team chasing in cricket: with 10 wickets in hand and power play, it can go for big shots to win the game quickly. But if it loses wickets, then taking ones and twos to ensure that the required run rate does not go out of hand makes sense (epidemic peak and surge capacity in outbreak response terms).
Components of a response
•India has a fragile health system which is fragmented. It is critical to mount a coordinated and coherent response. This not only means involvement of both public and private sectors but also allopathic and non-allopathic medical systems, different departments such as police, fire, transportation, tourism, food supplies and other sectors. The response should be proportional and based on scientific principles while ensuring transparency and respecting human rights. The National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC), currently designed to be set up in situations of large natural calamities, should be leveraged; it should coordinate across ministries and departments. It should set up a dedicated web portal which includes a dashboard with key indicators, current case definitions, guidelines, risk communication materials and micro plans. Transparency and fact-based information are hugely important as in moments of crisis, rumours and unsubstantiated claims can rapidly spread. Utilising social media, media outlets effectively is also crucial. An epidemic of fear and misinformation can be damaging, stigmatising and corrosive to public interest.
The Ebola example
•Trust in government, its institutions and fraternity among fellow citizens forms the bulwark of an effective response. An outbreak which is unaddressed will have short- and long-term impacts on health. The 2014-15 West Africa Ebola outbreak overwhelmed local fragile health systems; many front-line health workers and prominent doctors fell victim. The subsequent outbreak response absorbed all available health resources and impacted other programmes such as routine immunisation leading to measles outbreaks in the aftermath. So, a response plan should be able to maintain ongoing regular health programmes while at the same time devoting adequate resources to the response. This in itself would be a delicate balancing act on the part of the NCMC. They, in conjunction with duly constituted State and district-level crisis committees, also have the even more difficult task of determining whether cluster containment measures such as those practised in China are feasible in the Indian context given its diversity and resources, and if so, how effective it would be and when to call it off. The response should be informed by the requirement to balance public health measures and the rights of those impacted.
•With neither a definitive cure nor a vaccine on the immediate horizon (multiple teams are working on this internationally), the response plan undoubtedly relies on basic measures such as risk communication, health education, social distancing, and home isolation to reduce the speed at which the outbreak will spread. Large-scale behaviour change will be the cornerstone of a successful response. It is worthwhile to remember that Ebola was brought under control by people who within a short time changed their long-held traditional burial practices and routines such as hand shaking, and not just by people in hazmat suits treating patients in temporary hospitals. Though media shows people in hazmats more than people washing hands properly, it is the latter which plays an equal if not bigger role.
Risk communication
•In Iran, the Deputy Health Minister is among those infected. So a response plan should ensure that critical personnel (deemed irreplaceable) across sectors such as health, energy, defence, and food supply are identified and protected. Priority also needs to be given to protecting front-line health workers, intensive care unit nursing staff, doctors including specialists such as intensivists, pulmonologists, etc. In India, infection prevention and control practices in health-care facilities are often lenient. The reasons range from non-availability of personal protective equipment to a relaxed attitude towards safety norms, analogous to how seat belt or helmet use is practised in India. Risk communication should address this and make people feel comfortable entering hospitals where all the staff, right from parking attendants, security guards, receptionists, nurses, paramedical workers and doctors, are wearing appropriate personal protective equipment.
•The government should draft and publish clinical guidelines for triage, admission, discharge, ventilator support and other components, as applicable for various levels of the health system. These should be updated on a regular basis, as we learn more about the virus and how to tackle it. There should be strict enforcement to ensure equity and considerations built in so that those vulnerable are protected and get equal access to care.
Across the board
•A simple back of the envelope calculation will show that current health-care resources in themselves will be inadequate for the response — for example, the number of ambulances needed or the number of contact tracers in the Department of Health, etc. As such, resources from other departments and general public, financial, in kind and personnel, need to be pooled and mobilised. They need to be trained on a fast track without making compromises on quality. Preparedness is neither the sole domain nor the prerogative of government; all institutions, entities, firms both private and public and even individuals and households should make contingency and advance preparedness plans.
•Companies need to decide on a nimble basis putting in measures such as work from home, suspension of non-essential travel, and reinforcing workplace hygiene and health information protocols, expansive leave policies for the sick or those under quarantine. Local authorities can make plans for school closure, home isolation and social distancing.
•The unprecedented containment measures taken by China have bought the world some lead time. India has been fortunate to only see limited cases so far, but we must not squander this time window and be ready for a worsening situation. Preparing for the worst case scenario will hold us in good stead.
•Dr. Manjunath Shankar is a Public Health Specialist. He participated in the U.S. CDC Emergency response (Modelling Task Force) to the West African Ebola outbreak in 2014-15. Dr. Anant Bhan is a researcher in global health, bioethics and health policy
📰 A blow against social justice
Denying application of reservation in promotions has largely confined SCs and STs to lower cadre jobs
•The recent verdict of a two-judge Supreme Court Bench on reservations and Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes promotions — “that no individual could claim reservation in promotions and that the court could not issue a mandamus directing State governments to provide reservation” — has mainly raised four constitutional questions: Whether reservation in promotions is a fundamental right or not. Whether a court can direct the state to provide reservations. Whether quantifiable data for inadequate representation is a must for giving reservation in promotions. And whether it is the obligation of the state to give reservation.
•In the first instance, as this case involves multiple constitutional issues, it should have been dealt with by a larger constitutional bench that included a Scheduled Caste (SC) or Scheduled Tribe (ST) judge. So, it is the moral responsibility of the Union Government to appeal this case and request a constitutional bench hearing. It must be noted that in 2018 a five-judge Constitution bench had denied reservation for SCs and STs who belong to the creamy layer; the Central government has asked for a review by a seven-judge Constitutional bench. This verdict on SCs and STs promotions has affected social justice and the advancement of the under-privileged.
•Addressing the first question, the scope for reservation for the Backward Classes is promised in Part III of the Constitution under Fundamental Rights. Articles 16(4) and 16(4A) which empowers the state to provide reservation for SCs and STs are a part of the section, “Equality of opportunity in matters of public employment”. The right to equality is also enshrined in the Preamble of the Constitution. Many construe that the reservation is against Article 16 (Right to equality). But one should understand that the absence of equal opportunities for the Backward Classes due to historic injustice by virtue of birth entails them reservation. In other words, the right to equality is the basis of reservation as there is no level-playing field among castes. Articles 16 (2) and 16(4) are neither contradictory nor mutually exclusive in nature. In fact, they are complementary to each other; even Article 16(4) is not a special provision. Now, another question arises as to whether reservation should be applied in promotions?
Destabilising move
•The answer is yes, because in India, where there is a peculiar hierarchical arrangement of caste, it is conspicuous that SCs and STs are poorly represented in higher posts. Denying application of reservation in promotions has kept SCs and STs largely confined to lower cadre jobs. This is even seen in the higher judiciary. Hence, providing reservation for promotions is even more justified and appropriate to attain equality. The question of law is not about enabling reservations in promotions or not, but this judgment destabilises the very basis of reservation; when there is no direct recruitment in higher posts, the implementation of reservation is justified at every level to get a reasonable representation. It is not correct to subdivide the scope of reservation at the entry level and in promotions; this delineation will only lead to confusion in the implementation of reservation. Now, by declaring that reservation cannot be claimed as a fundamental right is a dangerous precedent in the history of social justice.
•Can a court issue a mandamus to the state for providing reservation? This is inappropriate because when the court is empowered to pass orders to create extra seats every year for forward-caste students who claim to be affected by reservation, why cannot it direct the state to provide reservation in promotions? The Supreme Court has extraordinary powers under Article 142, which empowers the Court to pass any order necessary for doing “complete justice in any cause or matter pending before it”.
•The next question is about the necessity of quantifiable data to show an inadequate representation of reserved category people. This question has been addressed in the Constitution. Article 16(4) reads: “Nothing in this article shall prevent the State from making any provision for the reservation of appointments or posts in favour of any backward class of citizens which, in the opinion of the State, is not adequately represented in the services under the State.”
•Here, “in the opinion of State” should not be construed as the discretion of the state to give the reservation or not; on the contrary, if the state feels that SCs and STs are under-represented, then it is in the domain of the state to provide reservation. In the Indra Sawhney vs Union of India case (Mandal Commission) the idea of quantifiable data on inadequate representation was applied for exceeding the 50% cap for reservation; within 50% where the existing quotas for SCs and STs are accommodated were not affected. The responsibility of collecting data on representation by the Backward Classes lies with the state. Pathetically, the last caste-based census was in 1935, and in the pre-Independence era, by the British government. After Independence, no government has had the inclination to conduct a caste-based census due to political reasons. Even if a caste-based census is collected, the population and proportionate representation of SCs and STs will be low. For this reason alone, a proper caste-based census has not been conducted in independent India. Moreover, Article 16(4) clearly mentions that if the state, in its opinion, feels that SCs and STs are not adequately represented, then it can provide reservation for them. There is no mention of “quantifiable data” in the Constitution. Even after 70 years of SC/ST reservation, their representation is as low as 3%.
•Finally, if the argument is that it is not binding on the state to give reservation, it must be noted that when reservation rights are in Part III as Fundamental Rights, it is the obligation of the state to ensure reservation to the underprivileged. This judgment has interpreted Articles 16 (4) and 16(4A) only as enabling provisions. Enabling provisions mean that these provisions empower the state to intervene; it does not mean the state is not bound to provide it. Interpreting the Constitution by paraphrasing and selective reading is dangerous.
Administrative efficiency
•More importantly, this judgment has raised a new point — that the decision of the State government to provide reservation for SC/STs should not affect the efficiency of administration. This implies that the entry of SC/STs in the job market can reduce the quality of administration; this by itself is discriminatory. There is no evidence that performance in administration is affected on account of caste. There have been many attempts to dilute reservation in the past. But, this judgment appears to be debatable in the larger context and should be challenged in a constitutional bench. In a country of parliamentary democracy, even the Constitution of India can be amended. If the government at the Centre has genuine concern for SC/STs, it can amend the Constitution using its political majority.
