What to read in The Hindu

Supreme Court upholds PMLA, says presuming innocence can be reversed by law (Page no. 5) (GS Paper 3, Internal Security)

Underlining that “the principle of innocence of the accused/offender is regarded as a human right” but “that presumption can be interdicted by a law made by the Parliament/Legislature”, the Supreme Court upheld the constitutional validity of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, as amended from time to time including those dealing with the powers of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) regarding arrest, search, attachment and seizure in money laundering offences.

The Centre had told the Court that “it cannot be said that presumption of innocence is a constitutional guarantee”.

The Court also said an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) cannot be equated with an FIR, that supplying an ECIR in every case to the person concerned is not mandatory and “it is enough if ED, at the time of arrest, discloses the grounds of such arrest.

Ruling on a batch of 242 petitions that raised questions on different provisions of the PMLA including Section 3 which defines what constitutes money laundering, a three-judge bench of Justices A M Khanwilkar, Dinesh Maheshwari and C T Ravikumar, while upholding the provisions, left the question whether some of the amendments could have been brought by way of Finance Acts, to a seven-judge bench which is already seized of a similar question in the matter of some other legislations.

The bench refused to accept the contention that the procedure followed by the ED in registering an ECIR is opaque, arbitrary and violative of the constitutional rights of an accused and that the procedure followed under PMLA is draconian since it violates the basic tenets of the criminal justice system and the rights enshrined in Part III of the Constitution of India, in particular Articles 14, 20 and 21.

Rejecting the argument of the petitioners that it will amount to an offence of money laundering only if the proceeds of crime are projected as untainted property, the bench said, “Section 3 of the 2002 Act has a wider reach and captures every process and activity, direct or indirect, in dealing with the proceeds of crime and is not limited to the happening of the final act of integration of tainted property in the formal economy.”

There are forces in India, US that seek to sow division: USAID chief (Page no. 5)

(GS Paper 2, International Relations)

Observing that “headwinds” against democratic rule are “strong” across the world, USAID Administrator Samantha Power said that there are forces in India and the United States “who seek to sow division… pit ethnicities and religions against one another… bend laws and abuse institutions.

Addressing an event at IIT-Delhi. Power mentioned the Capitol Building attack by rioters on January 6 last year, following the defeat of former US President Donald Trump.

The headwinds against democratic rule are strong the world over. Within the United States and India, there are forces who seek to sow division, who seek to pit ethnicities and religions against one another, who wish to bend laws, abuse institutions and wield violence against those who stand in their way; we saw this, of course, on January 6 in the United States last year.

How the United States and India rise to meet these injustices, how fiercely we protect our hard-won pluralism, how insistently we defend our democracy and individual rights will determine not just our own trajectory, but that of the world that we inhabit,” she said.

Together, we can offer the emerging countries, the emerging economies of the future a new development model, one rooted not in debt traps and dependence but in economic trade and integration, one that supports and celebrates individual and national agency, and one that aspires to see all countries move beyond the need for assistance.

A model predicated on engaging with a country’s citizens and civil society, just as willingly as it does with its government. A model that treats others as equals and collaborates on solutions without preconceptions or stereotypes.

A model that recognises that democracy, inclusivity and pluralism offer the surest path to sustainable progress, where dignity is not reserved for the few but endowed to us all.

In Parliament   

Lok Sabha passes Bill to create statutory framework for doping watchdog (Page no. 10)

(GS Paper 2, Polity and Governance)

The Lok Sabha Wednesday passed a Bill that seeks to create a statutory framework for the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA).

Piloted by the Union Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, the National Anti-Doping Bill, 2021, was first introduced in Lok Sabha in December. It was then scrutinised by a standing committee comprising members of both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.

The Bill was passed after an over 3.5-hour discussion. While it received support from most parties, some voiced concerns with certain parts of the proposed legislation.

TMC member Saugata Roy said the proposed National Anti-Doping Board, which the Bill envisages, may end up becoming “top heavy”.

Roy also proposed that Sports Minister Anurag Thakur hold a meeting with the heads of sports federations to send a stern message to athletes to not indulge in doping.

BJD MP Bhartruhari Mahtab expressed his concern over the Bill empowering NADA officials to “act on their belief to suspect any athlete”.“This creates an unreasonable, arbitrary authority in the hands of agency members to enter athletes’ premises, seize any equipment, device or substance. He also pointed out that the Bill lacks any provision on protection of personal data of athletes who will undergo tests.

TRS MP Bheemrao Baswanthrao Patil said the Bill may not ensure the NADA’s complete independence from the government. “If more autonomy is granted to the watchdog, the Bill will be more effective.

BJP MP Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore said while blaming sportspersons who are detected with having taken performance enhancing drugs, one should keep in mind that athletes can also be framed by rivals. He also proposed perils of doping be incorporated in school curriculum.

In his response, Thakur assured the members that the government is serious about the aspect of data privacy and will abide by protocol followed globally. He also said that all efforts will be made to prevent misuse of power vested on officials.

Express Network

Over 35.5% kids stunted, govt releases target to curb malnutrition (Page no. 12)

(GS Paper 2, Polity and Governance)

Releasing targets for curbing malnutrition in the country, specifically among children, Union Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani on Wednesday said in a written statement tabled in Rajya Sabha said that it aims at reducing stunting and under-nutrition (underweight prevalence) among children under 6 years by 2% per annum.

The ministry stated that it aims to reduce low birth weight by 2% per annum, and anaemia among children between six and 59 months, as well as women and adolescent girls from 15 to 49 years, by 3% per annum.

According to findings of the 2019-21 National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5), nutrition indicators for children under 5 have improved over NFHS-4 (2015-16).

Stunting has reduced from 38.4% to 35.5%, wasting from 21.0% to 19.3% and underweight prevalence is down from 35.8% to 32.1%, according to the data. Women (15-49 years) whose BMI is below normal has reduced from 22.9% in NFHS-4 to 18.7% in NFHS-5. Despite the decrease, nutrition experts have said that India has one of the highest burdens of malnutrition in the world.

According to data released, Meghalaya has the highest number of stunted children (46.5%), followed by Bihar (42.9%). Assam, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh have stunted children higher than the national average of 35.5%.

Puducherry and Sikkim have the lowest percentage of stunted children, data shows. Maharashtra has 25.6% wasted children (weight for height) — the highest — followed by Gujarat (25.1%). Assam, Bihar, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Karnataka and West Bengal have a higher percentage of wasted children than the national average of 19.3%.

Bihar has the highest number of underweight children (41%), followed by Gujarat (39.7%), and Jharkhand at (39.4%).

Assam, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh have a higher percentage of underweight children than the national average of 32.1%.

SCO meet : Ahead of PM visit, Jaishankar goes to Tashkent (Page no. 12)

(GS Paper 2, International Relations)

In a bid to prepare the groundwork for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Uzbekistan in September this year, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar is travelling to Tashkent for two days, beginning Thursday, to attend a foreign ministers’ meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).

China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Russia’s Sergey Lavrov and their Pakistan counterpart, Bilawal Bhutto, are also expected to attend the SCO meet.

There will be a window of opportunity for Jaishankar to hold bilateral meetings with some of his counterparts, including with China’s Wang and Russia’s Lavrov.

With Wang, the meeting is expected to take stock of the situation along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh, and the discussion with Lavrov is expected to revolve around defence and energy imports from Russia in the wake of the Ukraine war.

On Jaishankar’s visit, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) stated that the foreign ministers’ meeting will deliberate on the SCO summit scheduled for September 15-16 in Samarkand. “External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will visit Uzbekistan on July 28-29 at the invitation of Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Vladimir Norov, to take part in the meeting of the SCO Council of Foreign Ministers. The meeting will discuss preparations for the upcoming meeting of the Council of Heads of State on September 15-16 in Samarkand.

The MEA stated that the foreign ministers will review ongoing cooperation in the expansion of the SCO and exchange ideas on regional and global developments of common concern.

Just before the SCO foreign ministers’ meeting, India attended a two-day conference hosted by Uzbekistan at its capital Tashkent to discuss the situation in Afghanistan. Attended by about 20 countries, India was represented at the conference by Joint secretary, MEA (in charge of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran) J P Singh.

Editorial Page

Welfare not freebies (Page no. 14)

(GS Paper 2, Polity and Governance)

In a recent address, the prime minister shared his anguish on what he called the “revdi” or the freebies culture. This comes immediately on the back of widespread concerns among domain economists, including a recent report of the RBI on states’ finances. The report highlighted the perilous condition of states’ finances and enhanced debt stress on account of these flawed policies.

Earlier, speaking at the annual day lecture of the Delhi School of Economics on April 19, I had mentioned that these freebies are “something that is given to you without having to pay for them, especially as a way of attracting your support for or interest in something.”

The PM’s anguish emanates from the serious consequences of this malaise. Nothing undercuts more irresponsibly India’s abiding international and national commitments than the perils of this reckless populism.

First and foremost, is the issue of upsetting India’s quest for sustainable development. The initiatives undertaken at COP21 in Paris, the International Solar Alliance and subsequently at the COP26 in Glasgow represent India’s national consensus to forge a path of growth geared towards intergenerational equity and to exponentially increase development. Our ability to adhere to this commitment inter alia is predicated on two other commitments.

To begin with, an increase in the percentage of renewable energy in our energy consumption. While subsidies are being promised in one form or the other by way of free electricity, the deteriorating health of state distribution companies seriously undercuts their financial viability.

Isn’t it somewhat ironic that while free power sometimes becomes universal, then optional, then a halfway house through surcharges, these promises are only valid till incumbents face fiscal constraints and are forced to withdraw benefits?

The Delhi government’s decision to make the electricity subsidy optional was largely due to rising costs. In Punjab, as pointed out by the RBI, the free power promised undercuts its ability to move to a more sustainable pattern of growth.

Lowering the price for some consumers, offset through overcharging industrial and commercial contracts, reduces competitiveness, ushers slower growth both in incomes and employment.

Idea Page

Digital Pharmacist (Page no. 15)

(GS Paper 2, Polity and Governance)

A draft law to replace the 1940 Drugs and Cosmetics Act with a Drugs, Medical Devices and Cosmetics Bill 2022 was uploaded by the Union health ministry in early July, seeking public comments and objections, within 45 days.

The primary objective of any drug law is to ensure that the medical products sold in a country are safe, effective and conform to prescribed quality standards. This article addresses how the new law could help consumers but what more is required.

The first major feature in the new Bill that affects consumers relates to e-commerce. The regulatory cover will come when the rules are notified but the inclusion of a provision in the Bill is reassuring.

Presently, online sales of medicines account for a fraction of the total pharma sales in India but are forecast to grow exponentially.

The traditional, retail chemist sector has been the mainstay for the population but has generally been unorganised. The sale of substandard, even counterfeit, drugs — particularly in smaller towns and villages — remains widespread.

There are several pros and cons concerning online sales. Like all online shopping, the consumer gets the advantage of discounts and the comfort of shopping from home. During Covid, e-pharmacy platforms were promoted by government digital platforms, so the experience of regulating the sector is available.

 In normal times, e-commerce can surmount three uniquely Indian disadvantages The first relates to climatic conditions, which require medicines to be stored at below 30 degrees Celsius and 70 per cent relative humidity — unattainable in most of India.

It can mandate establishing a back-end brick and mortar store for drug supply having good storage conditions. This is what happens in all countries the world over that allow e-commerce. It can encrypt all transactions otherwise impossible to track.

The second advantage of e-commerce could be fulfilling a legal requirement — providing a bill to the consumer and retaining one copy bearing the batch numbers and expiry dates of the drugs.

In addition, the practice of accessing prescription drugs over-the-counter would abate. There are presently over 540 Schedule H drugs that require a doctor’s prescription and the fact that they can be easily accessed over-the-counter is well known.

In the case of e-commerce, registration of a pharmacy can require enrollment with the central and state drug control organisations and the practice of uploading a prescription from a registered medical practitioner can be enforced. Some Indian e-pharmacy outlets have begun facilitating getting a prescription after tele-consultations.

Defining the issue of our time (Page no. 15)

(GS Paper 3, Environment)

A global biodiversity crisis stares us squarely in the face. Biodiversity, globally, finds itself under an ever-increasing all-round threat as man’s relentless predatory exploitation of natural resources continues unchecked.

Driven by wasteful, unbounded greed, man’s plunder of land and marine resources has led to a situation where about 25 per cent of species face the threat of extinction.

The World Nature Conservation Day, celebrated on July 28, seeks to highlight the need to work for a healthy planet by preserving our environment and protecting our natural resources.

The time to address the factors that cause biodiversity loss is now. If mankind has to survive, we have to recognise the role protection and conservation play in attempting to maintain the pristine nature of biodiverse ecosystems.

Conservation is our only hope for the future of the planet, as also for that of succeeding generations, because it also contributes to sustainable livelihoods, climate change mitigation, food and water security and reduces the threat of natural disasters.

The idea of conservation encompasses various facets of nature including flora and fauna, energy resources, soil, water and air. In this context, it is essential to underscore the critical nature of protected areas and other effective area-based conservation measures as key drivers of biodiversity conservation.

Conservation and ecological balance form the cornerstone of the cosmic vision of Indian civilisation. The Vedas, Upanishads, itihasas and puranas teach us the worship of the divine in the elements — in rivers, mountains, lakes, animals, birds, flora, as also stars and planets.

Our scriptures are replete with references to the manifestation of prana or shakti in all forms of matter. This is seen in our daily practices — be it the worship of fire, water and air as agni, jal and vayu, the sun as Surya deva, earth as Bhu devi, the Himalayas as the abode of the gods and rishis, the Ganga, Yamuna and all other rivers, the Tulasi plant and peepul tree, the cow as gau mata, the elephant as associated with Vinayaka — bowing to mother nature is an expression of our gratitude to her for her bountiful blessings.

Economy Page

Local Partners roped in, google launches street view for India (Page no. 17)

(GS Paper 3, Science and Technology)

A decade after it was prevented from capturing data for its Street View services, Google has launched its 360-degree interactive panorama feature for 10 Indian cities with data from local partners Tech Mahindra and Mumbai-based Genesis International.

This has been made possible by the new National Geospatial Policy, 2021, which lets local companies collect this kind of data and license it to others, making it also the first country where Street View has been enabled primarily by partners.

Called Project Gullify, Street View will initially launch for 10 Indian cities and be rolled out to 50 by end of the year, mapping over 700,000 km in two years.

Miriam Karthika Daniel, VP of Google Maps Experiences, told indianexpress.com that the partners have “fundamental geospatial technologies and experience, as well as logistics experience” and the “ability to scale across a lot of areas simultaneously”.

Daniel explained that the launch has been made possible by the clarity the new Geospatial Policy brought in. “First of all, it requires that local entities be the ones that collect all the data. So the partners are the ones that are collecting and owning the data.

They have to collect it at a certain level of fidelity depending on the type of camera. Even the camera configurations are done by our partners.

The policy, Daniel added, even cites areas where data can be collected data and those where they can’t like government, defence and military areas. “So, our partners know exactly where they can go and collect [data], which is a majority of India.”

After Google paused its Street View efforts in India, following objections raised by the Bengaluru police in 2011, Indian players like Wonobo and later MapMyIndia started offering their own versions of interactive panorama maps.

But Street View, given its integration with Google Maps, is expected to have much more impact, helping users with a better understanding of road conditions and discovery of local businesses.

Explained Page

Lion’s future, cheetah’s past (Page no. 18)

(GS Paper 3, Environment)

The deals have been inked. Starting in August, four male and four female African cheetahs will be imported from Namibia, and another 12 from South Africa, for soft release in a compartmentalised enclosure ready at Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh to establish the cheetah into its “historical range”.

However, as underlined by the Supreme Court, introduction, and not reintroduction, would be the right term for the project since African cheetahs could not have ever roamed Kuno.

Once cheetahs arrive in Kuno, the plan is to keep male coalitions (groups) and individual females in separate but adjoining compartments “so that they are able to know each other” before release.

The enclosure will be stocked with natural prey to ensure that the animals get accustomed to hunting Indian prey species before their release.

Radio-collared male coalitions will be released first after 1-2 months. The presence of females in the enclosure, the project’s Action Plan says, will ensure that the males do not wander too far away “after their exploration instinct is satiated”.

In the next phase, the radio-collared females will be released, 1-4 weeks after the males, depending on how the males settle down in the new environment. If any animal tends to get into an undesirable environment, it will be brought back.

If all goes well, the population should reach its limit of 21 within Kuno in about 15 years. During this period, a few other smaller cheetah reserves will be created in Rajasthan and elsewhere in MP. For at least five years and up to 10 years, fresh supply of cheetahs will continue from Africa.

The hard boundaries of Kuno National Park abutting human habitation will be secured through proper fencing, if needed, at least during the initial years. Once the greater Kuno landscape is secured and restored, the largest population is projected to go up to 36 cheetahs in 30-40 years.