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Ahead of the special session of Parliament next week, there is disquiet in a section of the establishment, including the Election Commission (EC), over a provision in a Bill — listed for discussion and passage — that seeks to downgrade the service conditions of the three election commissioners and, consequently, threatens to erode their authority.
The Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Bill, 2023, which was introduced in Rajya Sabha on August 10 and is listed for discussion in the special session starting September 18, proposes to revise the salary, allowance and service conditions of the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and the two Election Commissioners, aligning them with those of a Cabinet Secretary. As of today, it is aligned to that of a Supreme Court Judge.
This change doesn’t have significant financial implications, as the basic salary of an apex court judge and the Cabinet Secretary is nearly identical – Supreme Court Judges are entitled to more post-retirement benefits, including lifetime provision of drivers and domestic help.
The disquiet, however, stems from concerns about how aligning Election Commissioners with the bureaucracy could potentially tie their hands and erode their perceived authority.
“Being seen as the equal of a Cabinet Secretary means you’re even below an MoS (Minister of State) in stature. How do you think that will play out when the Commission tries to discipline a Union minister for violations during an election,” said a source.
Govt & Politics
SC data now onboard National Judicial Data Grid portal: CJI (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 2, Judiciary)
Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud announced that the Supreme Court is now “onboard” the National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG) portal, a national repository of data relating to cases instituted, pending and disposed of by courts across the country.
Terming it a “historic” development, the CJI said, “Onboarding of Supreme Court data on NJDG portal under the open data policy is a step on our part to bring transparency and accountability in the judicial domain.”
He pointed out that it is a flagship project of the e-Courts initiative and that with the availability of SC data on it, “completes the full circle” since now “we have all three tiers of Indian judiciary on NJDG portal”.
It is also recognised as a significant innovation under the Centre’s ease of doing business initiative, an official statement said.
The CJI said NJDG has been developed by the National Informatics Centre (NIC) in close coordination with the in-house software development team of the SC Registry’s computer cell with an interactive interface and analytics dashboard. The entire database will be periodically updated on the NJDG portal on a real-time basis, he said.
The CJI said that one can now access case-related information, statistics such as institution, pendency and disposal of cases, case types and year-wise break-up of the SC at the click of a button.
Express Network
Lakshadweep: SC junks plea against removal of meat from mid-day meals (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 2, Judiciary)
The Supreme Court junked an appeal challenging the Lakshadweep administration’s 2021 decision to drop meat from mid-day meal menu in schools in the Union Territory.
A Bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Bela M Trivedi said the appellant had not pointed out breach of any legal provision.
Terming it a “policy decision” which “would not come within scope of judicial review”, the court said “it is not within” its “domain to decide as to what would be the choice of food for children of a particular region”.
The Kerala High Court had in September 2021 dismissed the PIL by Ajmal Ahmad R, a Kavaratti-based lawyer, challenging the decision of the UT administration to drop chicken and other meat from the school meals as well as its decision to close down dairy farms run by the animal husbandry department in the UT.
Amid rise in wheat prices, Centre curbs stock limit to 2000MT (Page no. 11)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
In a move aimed at curbing rising retail and wholesale prices of wheat and atta (wheat flour), the Centre reduced the wheat stock limit from 3,000 metric tonnes (MT) to 2,000 MT for traders, wholesalers, and big chain retailers.
To soften prices of wheat, which are showing an increasing trend, Central Government has decided to revise the wheat stock limit from 3000 MT to 2000 MT with respect to traders/wholesalers and big chain.
Giving a break-up of the stock limit, the ministry said it will be 2,000 MT for traders/wholesalers; 10 MT for each big chain retailer outlet; and 2,000 MT at “all their depots”.
“For other categories, there is no change in stock limits,” according to the statement. “All wheat stocking entities are required to register on the wheat stock limit portal and update the stock position.
Any entity which is found to have not registered on the portal or violates the stock limits will be subject to suitable punitive action under Section 6 & 7 of Essential Commodities Act,1955.”
Editorial
Invent in India (Page no. 12)
Bharat is now the world’s fifth largest economy and will make it to the third spot soon, but it lags behind on most benchmarks concerning innovation, science and technology. One of the main reasons for this deficit has been Indian academia and industry failing to ramp up its contribution to the national R&D effort. Manufacturing in key sectors has been hobbled by straitjackets in fundamental factor markets of land, labour and capital, as well as faulty trade policies.
Many of these errors have now been corrected, and while much remains to be done, the Make in India momentum is unmistakable with India’s share of global merchandise exports registering fresh highs. Alongside the Make in India push, the government has recognised that the infrastructure to generate patents required an overhaul, and there is a strong effort underway to make it easier and faster to file for and obtain patents for inventions. Recent bilateral agreements in science and technology, especially with the United States, show that the government is correctly identifying strategic priorities in this vital sector, and appreciates that Invent in India has to complement Make in India.
Ideas Page
Striking a green balance (Page no. 13)
(GS Paper 3, Environment)
As India develops its economy to meet the growing needs of its people, the country will confront serious challenges due to climate change consequences and the allied necessity to curb carbon emissions.
With the impact of global warming becoming more severe, there is immense urgency to embrace practices that mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
A vibrant carbon trading network is among the numerous solutions that are being adopted or considered to tackle the emergency.
One can think of carbon credits as a temporary “licence” for an organisation to emit a specific quantity of CO2 that year. This mechanism allows a company with low or no emissions to sell credits in the market via a carbon trading framework or carbon exchange. This offsets the emissions of another entity willing to pay for the credits.
With global temperatures and GHG emissions rising annually, not only governments but investors, consumers and other stakeholders have become conscious of their overall carbon footprint, and the need to control it.
However, decarbonisation avenues are extremely limited for some industrial companies and hard-to-abate segments such as cement, chemicals, iron and steel production and non-ferrous metals.
They are also a costly proposition for them compared to transport, power generation and some other industries.
Nevertheless, as some of the biggest contributors to universal GHG emissions, these industrial firms are mandated to meet emission reduction goals, either because of local laws or their in-house policies.
Express Network
Centre sends Nipah antibody, BSL – 3 labs to test contacts (Page no. 14)
(GS Paper 2, Health)
A team of experts reached the affected region in Kerala’s Kozhikode district, where cases of the deadly viral infection Nipah have been reported from, with mobile units equipped with bio-safety level 3 (BSL-3) laboratory to help on-ground testing for contacts of those who have tested positive and symptomatic patients.
Samples of the first four cases were sent to the National Institute of Virology-Pune for confirmatory testing.
The six-member Central team sent to Kerala includes epidemiologists, microbiologists, neurologists, and a wildlife officer to help prevent the spread of the infection. The team is headed by Dr Mala Chhabra, microbiologist from Dr Ram Manohar Lohia hospital in Delhi.
Meanwhile, Kerala government on Thursday said the monoclonal antibody required for treatment of those infected by Nipah virus has arrived in the state, PTI reported from Thiruvananthapuram.
Explained
Why Saudi Arabia matters (Page no. 15)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
It may indeed, seem odd that Prime Minister Narendra Modi should hug the Crown Prince on the red carpet when he had just committed to massive investments in Pakistan, and Riyadh and Islamabad had issued a joint statement that not only praised each other “for the achievements and sacrifices made… in the war against terrorism” but also “underlined the need for avoiding politicisation of UN listing regime” — a thinly veiled swipe at India’s attempts to get the Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorist Masood Azhar sanctioned under UN Security Council Resolution 1267.
However, no wise country plays zero sum games in foreign policy, especially where powerful players are involved. India has always kept its relationship with Saudi Arabia separate from that country’s relations with Pakistan, and it is, in the long term, much bigger than individual terrorist attacks.
The visit by Crown Prince Mohammed, or MBS as he is known, was part of his long-scheduled three-nation tour, he arrived in Beijing, and was expected to meet with President Xi Jinping during his two-day visit.
The tour has been seen as an effort by MBS to repair his image that has been dented badly by the gruesome October 2018 murder of the dissident Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the kingdom’s consulate in Ankara.
The Prince, who has been directly linked to the murder, is currently not welcome in any western country. MBS has projected his Pakistan-India-China trip as part of his Vision 2030, which includes a “strategic partnership council” of Saudi Arabia and eight other countries, including India.
SC is now part of India’s judicial data grid: What is it and how it helps (Page no. 15)
(GS Paper 2, Judiciary)
The Supreme Court (September 14) on boarded its case data on the National Judicial Data Grid. The NJDG portal is a national repository of data relating to cases instituted, pending and disposed of by the courts across the country.
Terming it a “historic” development, Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud said, “Onboarding of Supreme Court data on NJDG portal under the open data policy is a step on our part to bring transparency and accountability in the judicial domain.”
NJDG is a database of orders, judgments and case details of 18,735 District and subordinate Courts and High Courts created as an online platform under the eCourts Project. Its key feature is that the data is updated in real-time and has granular data up to the Taluka level.
The NJDG was built as part of Phase II of the e-Courts project, which is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme. With over 18,735 courts computerised across the country, the data is integrated with the NJDG.
The platform has been developed by the National Informatics Centre (NIC) in close coordination with the in-house software development team of the Computer Cell, Registry of the Supreme Court with an interactive interface and analytics dashboard.
Economy
WPI inflation in negative zone for 5th month in Aug (Page no. 21)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
Wholesale price-based inflation remained in the negative territory for the fifth straight month in August at (-) 0.52 per cent, but prices of food articles and fuel showed an uptick.
The wholesale price index (WPI) based inflation rate has been in the negative since April and was (-) 1.36 per cent in July. In August last year it was 12.48 per cent.
Inflation in food articles remained in double digit at 10.60 per cent in August, lower than 14.25 per cent in July.
The negative rate of inflation in August 2023 is primarily due to fall in prices of mineral oils, basic metals, chemical & chemical products, textiles and food products as compared to the corresponding month of previous year.
Fuel and power basket inflation was at (-) 6.03 per cent in August, against (-) 12.79 per cent in July. In manufactured products, inflation rate was (-) 2.37 per cent, as against (-)2.51 per cent in July.
The RBI last month kept key interest rate unchanged at 6.5 per cent for the third straight meeting but signalled tighter policy if food prices drive inflation higher.
World
Putin accepts Kim’s invite to N Korea; Russia tells US to not lecture over ties
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
Russian President Vladimir Putin accepted Kim Jong Un’s invitation to visit North Korea, stoking U.S. concerns that a revived Moscow-Pyongyang axis could bolster Russia’s military in Ukraine and provide Kim sensitive missile technology.
The invite was made during a summit in eastern Russia at which they discussed military matters, the war in Ukraine and helping North Korea’s satellite programme.
Calling each other “comrades”, the two leaders toasted their friendship on Wednesday with Russian wine after the 70-year-old Putin showed Kim, 39, around Russia’s most modern space launch facility and they held talks alongside their defence ministers.
At the end of the reception, Kim Jong Un courteously invited Putin to visit the DPRK at a convenient time,” KCNA said, referring to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, North Korea’s formal name.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Putin “gratefully” accepted the invite and that Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov would travel to Pyongyang in October. Since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Putin has rarely travelled abroad.
For the United States and allies, the burgeoning friendship between Kim and Putin is a concern. Washington has accused North Korea of providing arms to Russia, but it is unclear whether any deliveries have been made.
Both Russia and North Korea have denied those claims, but promised to deepen defence cooperation. During a visit to North Korea in July, Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu was shown banned ballistic missiles by Kim.