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With its registration under the FCRA (Foreign Contribution Regulation Act) under “suspension” for the past three years, the country’s richest religious Trust, the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), faces an unprecedented situation: a mounting stockpile of foreign currency in cash anonymously dropped as “hundi” collections which cannot be deposited in its designated bank account.
The TTD, headquartered in Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh, which manages the Tirumala Venkateswara temple and 70 other shrines, has sought the Government’s intervention but has been sent a penalty notice as a reply.
The State Bank of India (SBI) has forbidden the Trust from depositing any foreign contributions — described as “hundi’’ donations — into its designated account.
Result: Foreign currency donations adding up to Rs 26.86 crore have piled up in over a year. The TTD recently sent the Home Ministry the break-up (see box) that includes US Dollars worth Rs 11.50 crore; Malaysian Ringgits Rs 5.93 crore and Singapore Dollars Rs 4.06 crore.
Govt & Politics
Vedic Heritage Portal with 550 hours of audio-visual content launched (Page no. 11)
(GS Paper 1, Art and Culture)
The Vedic Heritage Portal of the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) has been launched finally.
Seven years in the making, at an estimated cost of Rs 5 crore, the portal is a repository of vedic knowledge and traditions from across the country.
The portal is an effort to map the vedic heritage of the country. It is a one-stop solution for researchers and others who would like to search any information regarding the Vedic heritage, adding that the it gives detailed information about oral traditions, textual tradition in form of published books/manuscripts, or implements (yajna-related objects).
Earlier this week, the portal was launched by Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Union Culture Minister G Kishan Reddy.
Shah said that the Narendra Modi government was securing the knowledge of India’s ancient scriptures and manuscripts for the future generations through technology.
The younger generation will be able to carry forward the knowledge and tradition of Vedas and Upanishads, the world will be facilitated to know the rich history of India’s glorious culture.
Over 550 hours of audio-visual content of more than 18,000 Vedic mantras have been uploaded on the website, prepared in conjunction with people who know Vedas, Vedic research institutes, Vedapathi families and experts from all over the world, according to the IGNCA, which functions under the Ministry of Culture.
Editorial
A test of democracy (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 2, Polity and Governance)
With Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification from Parliament, many questions pertaining both to its legal and political ramifications have been doing the rounds.
I intend here to both clarify many questions being raised and also raise new and significant ones which are consequential not only to the present case but more broadly, to the fate of our parliamentary democracy.
On March 23, the chief judicial magistrate, Surat, sentenced Congress MP Rahul Gandhi to two years imprisonment and also imposed a fine of Rs 15,000 after convicting him for the offence of criminal defamation under Sections 499 and 500 of the Indian Penal Code.
The court suspended his sentence for 30 days and granted him bail to enable him to file an appeal in a higher court against its verdict. Following this, the very next day, the Lok Sabha Secretariat issued Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification notification.
Congress workers rushed to the streets in many parts of the country, instead of his lawyers rushing to the court in appeal. The solution only lies in the courts.
The disqualification can only be reversed if a higher court grants a stay on the conviction or reverses the conviction. After the Lily Thomas judgment of the Supreme Court in 2013, disqualification comes into immediate effect.
On October 1, 2013, Rasheed Masood became the first MP to lose his membership of Parliament upon his conviction in a criminal case. After that, over 20 other legislators, including Lalu Prasad, have been disqualified under the same provision.
Did the Lok Sabha secretariat act in undue haste as alleged by some? A former Attorney General pointed out that the secretariat has no option.
He clarified that as soon as the judge signs the conviction order, disqualification kicks in. He, however, did not mention a violation of this principle that has happened in a similar case from Lakshadweep.
Ideas Page
Masking cruelty (Page no. 13)
(GS Paper 2, Polity and Governance)
Even though the constitutional validity of the death penalty has been upheld by the Supreme Court, there have been persistent constitutional concerns with various aspects of the administration of the death penalty.
Recent proceedings in the Supreme Court have, after nearly four decades, put the spotlight on the mode of execution in death penalty cases.
It is inevitable that the Supreme Court will move towards the realisation that the concerns with the mode of execution to kill prisoners on death row raise insurmountable constitutional concerns.
Death row prisoners in India are executed by hanging and the constitutional validity of hanging was last considered and upheld by the Supreme Court nearly four decades ago in September 1983 (Deena v. Union of India).
The Law Commission of India in October 2003 (187th Report) recognised the constitutional impermissibility of death by hanging and recommended that India consider using lethal injections instead.
However, the two decades since the 187th LCI Report have seen a series of botched up executions in the US involving lethal injections.
Earlier this week, the Supreme Court was called upon to reconsider its September 1983 decision on whether India could continue using hanging for executions.
While the petitioner’s claim was that we must move to lethal injection as a humane method of execution, the proceedings raise some fundamental constitutional questions for the administration of the death penalty.
The most immediate question is whether there exists any mode of execution that can meet constitutional requirements. It obviously cannot be the position that merely because the death penalty is currently permissible it is then open to the state to use any method of execution.
Any mode of execution that the state adopts must be capable of meeting constitutional requirements and that is a burden for the state to discharge.
Dousing a crisis (Page no. 13)
(GS Paper 3, Conservation)
India announced its “Water Vision” as a part of the prime minister’s “Vision India @ 2047” plan. This comes at a momentous time — the recent 2023 Synthesis Report finalised by the IPCC for the Sixth Assessment Report confirms the adverse impacts of human-caused climate change on water availability, and the UN 2023 Water Conference is taking place this week after a gap of 46 years.
Further, India is leading the G20 Presidency where water is part of the Environment and Climate Sustainability Working Group.
The 2023 IPCC Synthesis Report points to the disproportionate impact of reduced water security on vulnerable regions and populations.
The report calls for sustained and accelerated climate action to improve access to water services, water-use efficiency, and water resource management for the attainment of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
These issues are also being discussed at the UN Water Conference, the key outcome of which will be a global water action agenda with clear commitments and pledges by countries for accelerating SDG 6, which is about clean water and sanitation for all. India’s G20 presidency can set an example for other countries to prioritise water action and achieve SDG 6 by 2030.
We discuss the most important water-related challenges in India, interventions being currently undertaken to address them, and recommend ways to ensure the sustainability of such actions so that they can be a model for other countries.
Express Network
ISRO’s LVM-3 launches 36 satellites, completing OneWeb constellation (Page no. 14)
(GS Paper 3, Space)
Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) LVM-3, in its second commercial launch on Sunday, placed 36 OneWeb satellites in orbit, completing the first-generation constellation enabling the UK-based company to initiate global coverage this year. Sunday’s was the sixth launch for India’s heaviest rocket LVM-3 – which includes the launch of Chandrayaan-2 in 2019 – and the second one where it demonstrated the capability of launching multiple satellites in low earth orbit.
The 36 satellites were placed in orbits in nine batches of four satellites each. The satellites in total weighed 5,805 kg.
After the burn of all three stages of the rocket, taking the satellites to around 450-km circular orbit, the first batch of satellites was injected into orbit just over 19 minutes after lift-off.
The fourth batch was placed in orbit at around 33 minutes after lift-off.
The other five batches were injected into orbit when Indian ground stations did not have their eyes on the craft. The launch of all the satellites was later confirmed when on-board data was received by the ground-stations after a 43-minute black-out period.
The satellites were also placed at a lower 450-km circular orbit in the current mission, as against the 600-km orbit during previous missions.
Consequently, the satellites were at a higher velocity at launch. This is a challenge for the mission as the separation has to be sequenced in such a way that the satellites do not crash into each other.
Explained
Marburg virus disease (Page no. 16)
(GS Paper 2, Health)
Five people have died and three others are infected with the Marburg virus – a highly infectious, Ebola-like disease – in Tanzania’s north-west Kagera region, authorities said earlier this week.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), around 161 people have been identified as at risk of infection through contact tracing and are currently being monitored.
An emergency response team has been deployed in the area and no other cases of the virus have been reported in the country outside Kagera.
The efforts by Tanzania’s health authorities to establish the cause of the disease is a clear indication of the determination to effectively respond to the outbreak.
We are working with the government to rapidly scale up control measures to halt the spread of the virus and end the outbreak as soon as possible,” said Dr Matshidiso Moeti.
The cases in Tanzania have come just over a month after another African country, Equatorial Guinea, reported its first case of the Marburg virus disease. Local authorities have confirmed seven deaths out of nine cases since February 13.
These emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases are a sign that the health security of the continent needs to be strengthened to cope with the disease threats, the director of Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC).
We urge members of the public to continue sharing information in a timely manner with the authorities to enable a most effective response.