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Saying that a Chief Election Commissioner should be someone “with character” who “does not allow himself to be bulldozed”, and a person like former CEC, the late T N Seshan, “happens once in a while”, the Supreme Court on Tuesday mooted the idea of including the Chief Justice of India in the appointment committee to ensure “neutrality”.
Hearing petitions seeking reforms in the system of appointing the election commissioners, a five-judge Constitution bench comprising Justices K M Joseph, Ajay Rastogi, Aniruddha Bose, Hrishikesh Roy and C T Ravikumar, said the Constitution has vested vast powers on the “fragile shoulders” of the CEC and the two election commissioners.
“Apart from competence, what is important is that you need someone with character, someone who does not allow himself to be bulldozed. So the question is who will appoint this person?
The least intrusive will be a system when there is a presence of the Chief Justice in the appointment committee. We feel his very presence will be a message that no mess-up will happen. We need the best man.
And there shouldn’t be any disagreement on that. Even judges have prejudices. But at least you can expect that there will be neutrality,” said Justice Joseph.
“There have been numerous CECs and T N Seshan happens once in a while,” said the bench. Seshan, former cabinet secretary, was appointed to the poll panel on December 12, 1990 with a tenure till December 11, 1996. He died on November 10, 2019.
The SC said that although the CEC’s tenure is six years under ‘The Chief Election Commissioner And Other Election Commissioners (Conditions Of Service) Act, 1991’, no CEC has completed his tenure since 2004.
It pointed out provisions which state that if the CEC attains 65 years of age, he will retire before the completion of the six-year tenure.
Express Network
Jaishankar, UAE counterpart review progress in relations (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 2, International Relations)
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar met with his UAE counterpart, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and noted that bilateral trade has shown appreciable growth under the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), which came into force on May 1, 2022.
They discussed cooperation in the areas of energy, food security, trade and defence, besides exchanging views on various “regional hotspots”.
Jaishankar and Sheikh Abdullah, who is on a two-day visit to India accompanied by a high-level delegation, reviewed the continuous progress in bilateral relations across different domains, since the 14th Joint Commission meeting held by them in September 2022.
The two leaders appreciated the progress in bilateral relationship, especially in trade, investment, consular matters, education and food security, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a statement.
India’s exports to the UAE between April and September this year were about $16 billion, an increase of 24 per cent year-on-year, while India’s imports increased 38 per cent to reach $28.4 billion in the same period.
Exchanged views on the global situation and various regional hotspots. The rich conversation reflected the substance and closeness of our partnership.”
Indian wildlife biologist gets UN's highest environmental award (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 3, Environment)
Indian wildlife biologist Dr Purnima Devi Barman is among the honourees of this year's Champions of the Earth award, the UN's highest environmental honour, accorded for their transformative action to prevent, halt and reverse ecosystem degradation.
Barman has been honoured with the UN Environment Programme's (UNEP) 2022 Champions of the Earth award in the Entrepreneurial Vision category.
A wildlife biologist, Barman leads the "Hargila Army", an all-female grassroots conservation movement dedicated to protecting the Greater Adjutant Stork from extinction.
The women create and sell textiles with motifs of the bird, helping to raise awareness about the species while building their own financial independence.
The UNEP website said that at the age of five, Barman was sent to live with her grandmother on the banks of the Brahmaputra River in Assam.
Separated from her parents and siblings, the girl became inconsolable. To distract her, Barman's grandmother, a farmer, started taking her to nearby paddy fields and wetlands to teach her about the birds there. I saw storks and many other species. She taught me bird songs.
She asked me to sing for the egrets and the storks. I fell in love with the birds," said Barman, who has devoted much of her career to saving the endangered greater adjutant stork, the second-rarest stork species in the world.
Express Network
Uttarakhand HC: Stop construction works on bed of Sukhatal near Naini Lake (Page no. 9)
(GS Paper 1, Geography)
Hearing a suo motu Public Interest Litigation (PIL) on preservation of Sukhatal Lake in Nainital, the Uttarakhand High Court on Tuesday directed the State to stop all construction activities on the lakebed and posted the matter for further hearing on December 20.
The division bench of Chief Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice J R C Khulbe asked the state authorities to remove all encroachments in the area, and noted that the administration would have removed the encroachments by now had they been from the poorer sections of the society.
In December last year, 104 signatories — local activists and citizens — had sent a letter to the Uttarakhand HC Chief Justice, who took suo motu cognizance of the matter and converted the letter into a PIL. The court appointed an amicus curiae to look into the matter.
“We find a very serious question to be answered in this case…. Since the matter is very urgent, it shall be listed on each date of listing of PILs, as a fresh admission matter,” the court had said in its order on March 2.
The letter was signed after the Nainital administration planned to redevelop Sukhatal, a catchment area less than 1 km from the renowned Naini Lake in the hill town. The local administration planned to turn it into an artificial waterbody by making the lakebed impermeable.
The Ideas Page
The overburdened court (Page no. 11)
(GS Paper 2, Judiciary)
Hearing a suo motu Public Interest Litigation (PIL) on preservation of Sukhatal Lake in Nainital, the Uttarakhand High Court on Tuesday directed the State to stop all construction activities on the lakebed and posted the matter for further hearing on December 20.
The division bench of Chief Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice J R C Khulbe asked the state authorities to remove all encroachments in the area, and noted that the administration would have removed the encroachments by now had they been from the poorer sections of the society.
In December last year, 104 signatories — local activists and citizens — had sent a letter to the Uttarakhand HC Chief Justice, who took suo motu cognizance of the matter and converted the letter into a PIL. The court appointed an amicus curiae to look into the matter.
The letter was signed after the Nainital administration planned to redevelop Sukhatal, a catchment area less than 1 km from the renowned Naini Lake in the hill town. The local administration planned to turn it into an artificial waterbody by making the lakebed impermeable.
It is believed that Sukhatal is a feeder lake for Naini Lake, as it acts as upstream storage for Naini Lake during monsoon by holding the runoff from catchment of water that would have otherwise flown out, thereby increasing erosion and silt deposition in Naini Lake.
Studies show encroachment and dumping of construction and other waste have led to unprecedented deterioration of Sukhatal lakebed and its ability to recharge Naini Lake. Since 2000, Naini Lake has reached zero level —minimum water level to be maintained — on at least 10 occasions.
Explained
India’s unusual abstention in CITES vote on reopening ivory trade (Page no. 13)
(GS Paper 3, Environment)
Although increasingly squeezed for space and support in a crowded land, the elephant remains one of India’s most powerful cultural and religious symbols.
A pioneer in banning even the domestic trade in ivory in 1986, India has always been at the forefront of global elephant conservation initiatives.
That is why India’s decision not to vote against a proposal to re-open the international trade in ivory at the ongoing conference of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) surprised many.
That proposal, to allow a regular form of controlled trade in ivory from Namibia, Botswana, South Africa, and Zimbabwe, was defeated 83-15 in Panama City on Friday.
CITES is an international agreement between governments — 184 at present — to ensure that international trade in wild animals and plants does not threaten the survival of the species.
The convention entered into force in 1975 and India became the 25th party — a state that voluntarily agrees to be bound by the Convention — in 1976.
CITES Appendix I lists species threatened with extinction — import or export permits for these are issued rarely and only if the purpose is not primarily commercial. CITES Appendix II includes species not necessarily threatened with extinction but in which trade must be strictly regulated.
Every two years, the Conference of the Parties (CoP), the supreme decision-making body of CITES, applies a set of biological and trade criteria to evaluate proposals from parties to decide if a species should be in Appendix I or II.
The international ivory trade was globally banned in 1989 when all African elephant populations were put in CITES Appendix I.
However, the populations of Namibia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe were transferred to Appendix II in 1997, and South Africa’s in 2000 to allow two “one-off sales” in 1999 and 2008 of ivory stockpiled from natural elephant deaths and seizures from poachers.
At COP27, one hit and many misses (Page no. 13)
(GS Paper 3, Environment)
The Sharm el-Sheikh climate meeting will probably always be remembered for its decision to set up a loss and damage fund. This decision has earned it a place among the major milestones in the global response to climate change.
But on most other parameters, the Sharm el-Sheikh meeting — the 27th session of the Conference of Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, or COP27 — proved to be an underachiever.
The meeting was built up as the ‘implementation COP’ or the meeting that would accelerate the actions being taken on climate change. The final agreement had little to justify that expectation.
Going into the conference, it was expected that COP27 would respond to the growing urgency for greater emission cuts. Most scientific estimates now suggest that the 1.5 degree Celsius target for temperature rise is likely to be breached within a decade. With current efforts to reduce emissions, the world is headed to a temperature rise of about 3 degree Celsius from pre-industrial times by the end of this century.
There were different ways in which COP27 was expected to respond to this. One of the ideas, floated by the European Union, was to ask every country to strengthen their respective climate actions every year from now to 2030, a radical suggestion that was unlikely to have met with approval from most countries. As of now, the countries have to upgrade their climate actions every five years. The latest upgrade was just this year.
Another idea was to call for a phase-down of all fossil fuel use. This was unlikely to have done much to reduce emissions in the short term, but would still have been meaningful towards the larger objective of curbing the use of the main causes of global warming.
The idea, proposed by India, was initially expected to be opposed by developed countries, especially since their dependence on oil and gas has increased in the last one year. However, after initial hesitation, both the EU as well as the United States backed the proposal.
The opposition came from within the ranks of the developing countries, especially from the oil-producing Gulf nations. The matter was not pushed.
Air Suvidha is scrapped: relief and positive signal on covid (Page no. 13)
(Miscellaneous)
Starting Tuesday (November 22), passengers travelling to India no longer need to fill forms and upload negative RT-PCR tests on the government’s Air Suvidha portal.
The doing away of this pre-embarkation requirement is likely to come as a relief for international fliers. It is in sync with the times, as Covid-19 has entered an endemic stage mainly on the back of vaccination coverage.
The Air Suvidha portal was launched in August 2020 through which international passengers had to mandatority submit details of their journey and Covid vaccination or testing status.
The pre-arrival self-registration portal also enabled authorities to ascertain whether a person was arriving from a high-risk region.
Late last year, as the Omicron variant of Covid-19 spread, the Union Health Ministry mandated submitting details on the portal, including passengers’ 14 day travel history and negative RT-PCR test reports to map if the traveller was arriving from an ‘at-risk’ country.
There was no pushback when Covid infections were rising, international passenger numbers were low, and there was a risk of India importing a new variant of the virus from abroad.
However, when the number of international passengers started to increase after India lifted its two-year ban on regular international flights on March 27, 2022, the travel requirement was seen as an impediment by many.
A part of the reason was that the system was not able to cope with the increased number of international passengers after regular international flights were restored.
Travellers complained of not being able to upload Covid negative certificates, and that it took hours for passengers to get an Air Suvidha acknowledgment certificate, which was mandated for travel. Systems were updated but that was not enough to ease the pain of fliers.
Adivasi and Vanvasi: History and Context of RSS term for RSS (Page no. 13)
(GS Paper 1, Society)
Campaigning for the Gujarat Assembly elections, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi Monday questioned the term ‘Vanvasi’, used by the BJP and its ideologue RSS for the tribal community, contrasting it with ‘Adivasi’, which the Congress uses for them.
“The people of BJP don’t call you Adivasi. What do they call you? Vanvasi. They don’t tell you that you are the first owners of Hindustan.
They tell you that you live in the jungles, meaning they don’t wish that you live in cities, that your children become engineers, doctors, fly planes, speak in English…,” Gandhi said at a rally in the tribal-dominated reserved constituency of Mahuva.
The Constitution of India uses the term Scheduled Tribes or “AnusuchitJanjati” to describe tribes. Many tribal people choose to refer to themselves as ‘Adivasi’, which means ‘first inhabitants’. It is used in public discourse, in documents, text books and in media.
‘Vanvasi’, which means forest dwellers, is a term used by the Sangh Parivar, which works extensively in tribal areas “to protect them from the clutches of Christian Missionaries”.
With the marginalised tribal community traditionally treated as a unit outside the main caste structure, the term ‘Vanvasi’ was used to convey their distinct identity.
Alarmed by the changing culture of the tribal communities and their distancing from the Hindu religion, Ramakant Keshav Deshpande, in consultation with M S Golwalkar, the second Sarsanghchalak, had set up the Akhil BharatiyaVanvasi Kalyan Ashram (ABVKA) on December 26, 1952 in Jashpur, Chhattisgarh. Although the primary focus was on ‘Hinduisation’ of the tribals – which the Sangh said was necessary for national integration – and protecting their identity and culture, the Sangh’s activities among the community have always helped the BJP secure electoral gains.
Economy
Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh farmers lowest paid; Kerala, J&K at the top (Page no. 15)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
Agricultural workers in the states of Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh get the lowest daily wages in the country at a time when inflation is at an elevated level and interest rates are on the rise.
According to data compiled by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), in Madhya Pradesh, male agricultural workers in rural areas got a daily wage of just Rs 217.8 while in Gujarat, it worked out to Rs 220.3 in the year ended March 2022. Significantly, daily wages in both the states are below the national average of Rs 323.2.
If a rural farm worker gets work for 25 days in a month in Gujarat, his monthly earning will be around Rs 5,500 per month which may not be sufficient to meet the expenses of a family of four or five people.
However, a rural farm worker in Kerala, which pays the highest wage among states, gets an average of Rs 18,170 for 25 days work in a month.
The financial year 2021-22 was bad for the rural economy with the Covid pandemic hitting the jobs and income levels. In the case of MP, the monthly wage for a farm worker would have been around Rs 5,445.
Among other poorly paid states, in Uttar Pradesh, rural farm workers got an average daily wage of Rs 270, Maharashtra Rs 284.2 and Odisha Rs 269.5 in 2021-22.
Kerala leads in highly paid agricultural workers with an average wage of Rs 726.8 per worker. The high wages in Kerala have attracted farm workers from other poorly paid states with around 25 lakh migrant workers reportedly living in the state.
In Jammu & Kashmir, farm workers get an average wage of Rs 524.6, Himachal Pradesh Rs 457.6 and Tamil Nadu Rs 445.6 per person.
According to the RBI data, in the case of male non-agricultural workers, the lowest wage was in MP with an average wage of Rs 230.3 while Gujarat workers got a daily wage of Rs 252.5 and Tripura Rs 250 — all below the national average of Rs 326.6.
On the other hand, Kerala again leads in non-agricultural workers’ wages with Rs 681.8 wage per person. Kerala was followed by J&K with Rs 500.8, Tamil Nadu Rs 462.3 and Haryana Rs 409.3 for the year ended March 2022.
Australian parliament clears FTA with India (Page no. 15)
(GS Paper 2, International Relations)
India and Australia would now implement the free trade agreement on a mutually agreed date as the Australian Parliament on Tuesday approved the pact between the two countries.
Our Free Trade Agreement with India has passed through parliament,” Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said in a tweet.
The India-Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (AI-ECTA) needed ratification by the Australian parliament before its implementation. In India, such pacts are approved by the Union Cabinet.
Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal said in a tweet: “Delighted that India-Australia Economic Cooperation & Trade Agreement has been passed by the Australian Parliament.
A result of our deep friendship, it sets the stage for us to unleash the full potential of our trade ties & spur massive economic growth.”
Speaking at a function here on Tuesday, Goyal said that now the Australian government will take approval from their executive council and the ministry from the Union Cabinet here.
Goyal added that after then there will be harmonisation of codes and customs regime so that “we can enter into force at an early date”.
The minister asked the steel industry to take benefit of zero duty in the Australian market and push their exports.
Last week, the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties of Australia recommended the Australian government to ratify the pact.
After the ratification, both sides will decide a date to implement the pact and customs authorities will also issue a notification a day before the implementation.
Meanwhile, Australian trade minister in a statement said that the ECTA will enter into force 30 days (or another mutually agreed time) after the respective parties have confirmed in writing that they have completed their domestic requirements.