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A day after 78 Opposition MPs were suspended from Parliament in the highest single-day suspensions so far, another 49 Lok Sabha members were suspended for the rest of the session, taking the total to 141 – 95 from Lok Sabha and 46 from Rajya Sabha.
The latest suspensions left the Opposition benches almost empty in Lok Sabha on a day that it took up important legislation seeking to overhaul criminal laws – the Bharatiya Sakshya Bill, 2023, Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, and Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, to replace the Indian Evidence Act, Indian Penal Code, and Code of Criminal Procedure respectively.
The Opposition INDIA bloc has now lost more than two-thirds of its strength for the duration of the Winter Session. Of its 138 members in Lok Sabha, the bloc is down to 43.
The Opposition accused the government of trying to “demolish democracy” and bulldoze key legislation in an “Opposition-less” Parliament. Justifying the suspensions, the government said the Opposition parties were “frustrated” over the recent Assembly poll results and had “insulted” the House.
Gyanvapi: HC orders speedy trial says 1991 suit not barred by law (Page no. 1)
(GS Paper 2, Judiciary)
Setting a six-month deadline for completion of proceedings before a Varanasi court in a 1991 suit by Hindu plaintiffs seeking possession of the Gyanvapi mosque complex, the Allahabad High Court has dismissed five petitions by the UP Sunni Central Waqf Board and the mosque committee, saying the 1991 original suit is not barred by provisions of The Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991.
In his order Tuesday, Justice Rohit Ranjan Agarwal said the suits related to the Gyanvapi dispute are of “national importance” and affect “two major communities of the country”.
The 1991 suit is separate from the one filed by Rakhi Singh and others who have sought the right to worship at Maa Shringar Gauri Sthal on the outer wall of the Gyanvapi mosque complex. The Archaeological Survey of India submitted a report on the survey of the mosque complex to the Varanasi district court.
Express Network
WHO tags JN1 strain as variant of interest as COVID cases rise (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 2, Health)
With cases of the Covid-19 sub-variant JN.1 on the rise across several countries, the World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday designated it as a “variant of interest” separate from its ancestor BA.2.86 that is commonly referred to as Pirola.
Due to its rapidly increasing spread, WHO is classifying the variant JN.1 as a separate variant of interest (VOI) from the parent lineage BA.2.86,” said a statement from the inter-government body. It was previously considered to be a VOI as a part of Pirola sub-lineages.
WHO maintained that there was no evidence to suggest any additional public health risk posed by the variant. “Despite this, with the onset of winter in the Northern Hemisphere, JN.1 could increase the burden of respiratory infections in many countries,” the statement said. It also said that the current vaccines continue to protect against severe disease and death due to JN.1.
Editorial
Let them speak (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 2, Polity and Constitution)
The absence of procedural mechanisms for deliberating on contentious issues is at the heart of parliamentary dysfunction.
It has led to the current impasse between the government and the Opposition and the resulting unprecedented situation.
Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha suspended 141 Opposition Members of Parliament (MPs) for disrupting its proceedings in the ongoing winter session of Parliament.
The Opposition parties have insisted that the Home Minister make a statement addressing the security breach. The government’s stand is that the security of Parliament is a sensitive matter.
It comes within the purview of the Lok Sabha secretariat, and the government will follow the directions of the Speaker, Om Birla, in this regard.
The Speaker has informed the House that a high-level committee is investigating the matter. And some of the suggestions provided at an all-party meeting have been implemented.
The standoff in Parliament is not new. Irrespective of a political party/ alliance’s role in our national legislature, a familiar story has played out over the years.
The Opposition demands a debate on a pressing issue, and the government shies away. The disruptions and the disciplinary responses we see today result from years of procedural stagnation in our parliamentary system.
Ideas Page
A climate paradox (Page no. 11)
(GS Paper 3, Environment)
The 28th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) in Dubai brought global attention to the need for urgent action against global warming, with India positioning itself as a leader of the Global South.
Climate justice has been India’s position at COP meetings over the years. In his address, Prime Minister Narendra Modi highlighted the inequity of climate impact.
While the conference’s final text stopped short of explicitly calling for a phase-out of fossil fuels, the historic agreement on transitioning away from fossil fuels hinted at the potential “beginning of the end” for the fossil fuel era.
India’s role at the conference was, however, noted for its absence in signing crucial decarbonisation pledges, including the Global Renewables and Energy Efficiency Pledge aimed at tripling renewable energy capacity by 2030.
Saving Punjab from Paddy (Page no. 11)
(GS Paper 3, Environment)
Punjab is no longer viewed as the Promised Land. Despondency continues to consume the youth. In the past few years, especially since the agitation against the well-intentioned, ill-conceived farm laws, rural Punjab feels short-changed while others feel that the state is being overly pampered.
The gap between perceptions has magnified due to the censuring on social media of those agitating against the farm laws.
This renders difficult solutions to the inseparably intertwined issues of Punjab’s ecological sustainability and India’s food security.
The cultivation of paddy in Punjab is depleting aquifers and is a leading cause of biodiversity loss. Climate change-induced erratic weather, rising temperatures and receding glaciers are precipitating the existential threat.
Man-days of work created on a paddy field is less than half that of other crops; this precipitates a socio-economic nightmare.
The writing has been on the wall for a long time — to prosper, Punjab needs more economic complexity. Experts constantly propagate that minimum support prices (MSP) for other crops will be incentive enough for farmers to diversify away from paddy cultivation.
But simple logic shows that returns on paddy far outweigh returns on other crops. Paddy is also less prone to weather-related production risk.
Explained
Telecom Bill: What it says, what concerns it raises (Page no. 13)
(GS Paper 2, Governance)
The Centre introduced the Telecommunications Bill, 2023, in Parliament. The proposed law attempts to bring in a slew of structural changes to current regulatory mechanisms in the sector, ranging from simplification of the licensing regime, clarity on spectrum assignment, and a stringent requirement of user verification, among other things.
The Bill seeks to replace the Indian Telegraph Act (1885), the Wireless Telegraphy Act (1933), and the Telegraph Wires (Unlawful Possession) Act (1950), which the government sees as colonial-era archaic laws that need reforms, given that the telecom sector has changed significantly in the last few years.
There are some concerns too, primarily surrounding interception requirements for communication over telecom networks, and whether or not the Bill conclusively excludes Internet-based communication platforms like WhatsApp, Signal and Telegram from its ambit.
The Bill seeks to simplify the current licensing regime for telecom networks by moving towards an authorisation system.
Currently, the telecom department issues more than 100 types of licences, registrations, and permissions, and the Bill seeks to club many of those in a single authorisation process.
Gyanvapi mosque case: What is the 1991 suit, why it was revived (Page no. 13)
(GS Paper 2, Judiciary)
The Allahabad High Court dismissed five petitions by the UP Sunni Central Waqf Board and the Gyanvapi mosque committee, holding that a suit filed in 1991 over the Varanasi mosque is not barred under provisions of the Places of Worship Act.
The case will now be heard by the Varanasi Civil Judge’s court, which has been directed “to proceed with the matter expeditiously and conclude the proceedings” within six months. The Gyanvapi mosque abuts the Kashi Vishwanath temple.
The Waqf Board and the Gyanvapi mosque committee had challenged the maintainability of the original suit — Ancient Idol of Swayambhu Lord Vishweshwar and others vs. Anjuman Intezamia Masajid and another — filed in 1991, saying it was barred by the Places of Worship Act.
This suit is different from the case filed by Rakhi Singh and others, in which the Archaeological Survey of India on Monday submitted a 1500-page report to the Varanasi district court.
Economy
Exchange rate flexibility is a key shock absorber for India (Page no. 19)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
At a time when capital inflows have started rising and the economy is revving up, the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) directors have agreed that India’s exchange rate flexibility should remain the first line of defense in absorbing external shocks, with foreign exchange interventions limited to addressing disorderly market conditions, the IMF said.
On IMF staff’s recent reclassification of India’s de facto exchange rate regime for the period December 2022 to October 2023, IMF said many of its executive directors noted the “divergence of authorities’ views” with that of staff and encouraged continued staff engagement on this issue, with a few Directors encouraging staff and the authorities to resolve these differences.
The IMF has reclassified India’s “de facto” exchange rate regime to “stabilized arrangement” from “floating” for December 2022 to October 2023 following an article IV review of the country’s policies. The rupee has moved between 80.8 and 83.4 range during the period.
A few directors explicitly supported the (Indian) authorities’ view that exchange rate stability reflects improvements in India’s external position and that foreign exchange interventions have been used to avoid excessive volatility not warranted by fundamentals.
RBI tightens norms for lenders investing in AIFs (Page no. 19)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
In a move aimed at curbing evergreening of stressed loans, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) directed banks, non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) and other lenders not to invest in any scheme of alternative investment funds (AIFs) which has downstream investments in a debtor company.
An AIF means any fund established or incorporated in India which is a privately pooled investment vehicle, and which collects funds from sophisticated investors, whether Indian or foreign, for investing it in accordance with a defined investment policy for the benefit of its investors. Regulated entities (REs) make investments in units of AIFs as part of their regular investment operations. RBI, however, said that certain transactions of REs involving AIFs raise regulatory concerns.
“These transactions entail substitution of direct loan exposure of REs to borrowers, with indirect exposure through investments in units of AIFs,” the RBI said in a notification. Evergreening of loans is a process whereby a lender tries to revive a loan that is on the verge of default or in default by extending more loans to the same borrower. The process of evergreening of loans is typically a temporary fix for a bank.