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With differences persisting in the Supreme Court Collegium over the method of finalising four names—three high court judges and a senior advocate—for elevation to the top court and the Centre in the meanwhile asking Chief Justice of India U ULalit to name his successor, the Collegium has decided to “close” further steps in regard to the “unfinished” elevation move.
The statement signed by the five members of the Collegium—CJI Lalit and Justices D Y Chandrachud, S K Kaul, S Abdul Nazeer, and K M Joseph—detailed what had transpired so far. In a statement, the Collegium said the proposal met with dissent from two judges.
The proposal initiated by the CJI had concurrence from Hon’ble Mr. Justice Sanjay KishanKaul and Hon’ble Mr. Justice K.M. Joseph. Hon’ble Dr. Justice D.Y. Chandrachud and Hon’ble Mr. Justice S. Abdul Nazeer had objected to the process of selection and appointing judges by circulation. The matter was, therefore, ideally suited to have a discussion across the table amongst the Judges forming the Collegium.
In the circumstances, no further steps need be taken and the unfinished work in the meeting called for September 30, 2022 is closed without there being any further deliberation. The meeting dated September 30, 2022 stands discharged.
With less than a month left for the retirement of CJI U ULalit, Monday’s statement effectively marks the end of the SC Collegium headed by him.
All further decisions of the Collegium, including the appointment of new judges to the SC, will have to await the appointment of the next CJI.
On October 8, the Union Government initiated the process of appointing the next CJI, writing to CJI Lalit to name his successor. Conventionally, once the CJI names his successor, the collegium he heads does not make any new recommendations.
In the meantime, a letter dated October 7, 2022 has been received from the Hon’ble Union Law Minister requesting the CJI to nominate his successor to take over the office of CJI w.e.f. November 9, 2022.
The Supreme Court reconvened Monday after a week-long Dussehra break and September 30, its last working day would have been the last opportunity for holding a Collegium meeting to make recommendations.
Idea Page
Pakistan -US :TheBajwa reset (Page no. 13)
(GS Paper 2, International Relations)
For an Army Chief who says he is retiring next month, Pakistan’s General QamarJavedBajwa has been getting a lot of attention. He recently spent nearly a week doing the rounds in Washington and meeting the top echelons of the US establishment.
Three factors might explain the renewed American engagement with Pakistan. For one, Pakistan’s army chief never really went out of reckoning in Western capitals.
Bajwa was visiting the US after a long time. However, the visit was planned much earlier and had to be rescheduled because of the Covid-19 restrictions.
Bajwa has also been a very frequent visitor to the UK, where he has always been welcome. London has long been a consistent friend of Pakistan and has often acted as its interlocutor in Washington, whose interest in Rawalpindi could be intense and instrumental but also episodic.
Bajwa, whether formally in charge or not, is the de facto CEO of the world’s fifth-most populous state. Even more important, Pakistan occupies a vital piece of real estate that sits between the Subcontinent, Iran, Arabia, Central Asia, Russia and China.
The Army Chief is the arbiter of Pakistan’s domestic politics, sets the goals for Pakistan’s international relations, and controls the main directions of its diplomacy. Bajwa leads one of the world’s largest armies and has a nuclear button under his thumb.
Rawalpindi’s support for international terrorism continues to give much leverage — both negative and positive — to Pakistan.
Whether it is promoting jihad against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s or in countering international terrorism during 2001-21, the Pak Army’s cooperation was seen as vital in Washington. Recently, Pakistan’s support was said to be critical in the killing of al Qaeda leader Ayman al Zawahiri in a Kabul neighbourhood by a US drone strike in July.
Second, the deepening conflict between Washington and Beijing has generally increased the strategic significance of all countries on China’s periphery — including India — to the US and the West.
For decades now, Pakistan enjoyed productive relations with both the US and China as Washington and Beijing were valued strategic economic partners for Rawalpindi.
Pakistan has been a “major non-NATO ally” of the US. At the same time, China and Pakistan have long proclaimed their “all-weather relationship” as “higher than Himalayas, deeper than the Indian Ocean, and sweeter than honey”.
But as the Sino-US relationship headed south in recent years, the triangular relationship with Pakistan has become more complicated. China has been nudging Pakistan into the anti-American coalition led by Beijing and Moscow.
Prime Minister Imran Khan’s decision to show up in Moscow and meet Vladimir Putin as he was launching the aggression against Ukraine on February 24, according to some reports, was at Beijing’s encouragement.
It might be recalled, China had unveiled a sweeping partnership with Russia — without limits and no forbidden areas — on February 4, barely three weeks before Putin’s invasion.
Express Network
Hate speeches sullying nation’s atmosphere: Supreme Court (Page no. 14)
(GS Paper 2, Polity and Governance)
The Supreme Court told a PIL petitioner who raised the issue of “governmental inaction” over “hate speeches” that she may be right in saying that hate speeches are sullying the country’s atmosphere and need to be curbed.
The remarks came from Chief Justice of India U ULalit while hearing the plea alleging that hate speeches were being made against the minority community “to win the majority Hindu votes, to grab power at all posts, to commit genocide and make India a Hindu Rashtra before 2024 elections” and that several crimes were committed on this account.
Presiding over a two-judge bench also comprising Justice S Ravindra Bhat, the CJI , however, said that the plea lacked specifics or detailed information and had only “vague” assertions.
We don’t even know what are the details of those particular crimes, what is the status, what is your say, who are the persons involved, whether any crime was registered, not registered, etc.
You may be right, perhaps, in saying that the entire atmosphere is being sullied as a result of hate speeches. Perhaps you have every justifiable grounds to say that this needs to be curbed, but this kind of ominous petition under Article 32 cannot be,” CJI Lalit said wondering if petitioner would need assistance of an amicus curiae.
Petitioner HarpreetMansukhani told the Bench that “hate speech has been turned into a profitable business”. Mansukhani claimed she had proof that a political party had funded Hindi movie ‘The Kashmir Files’, depicting the forced exodus of Kashmiri Pandits that has been accused of fanning the anti-Muslim hatred.
At the outset, the Bench observed that in incidents of hate speech, normal proceedings under criminal law will have to be initiated on a case-to-case basis. We have to see who is involved and who is not.
The petitioner, however, maintained it was too late to stop such incidents and that directions from the court were necessary. “Every time a hate speech is given,” she said, “it is like an arrow which never returns”.
Stating that a court of law needs factual background if it has to take cognisance, the Bench asked for some “immediate instances” to which the petitioner said she will be file an affidavit laying out specific instances. The court will hear the PIL on November 1.
Meanwhile, in a related matter, a bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and HimaKohli asked the governments of Delhi and Uttarakhand to file affidavits on the action taken in ‘DharamSansad’ events where alleged hate speeches were delivered.
Insurance for space activities,Lenient Bill needed for space sector growth: ISpA D-G (Page no. 14)
(GS Paper 3, Space)
A new space Bill, a legal framework for commercial use of space, will be “completely different” from the proposed Bill released in 2017, doing away with provisions for imprisonment, according to Lt Gen AK Bhatt, director general of Indian Space Association (ISpA)
“That (previous Bill) was a little harsh. Imprisonment will be a very major disincentive for the industry, so the government will remove it. They have taken note of it and that will not be a part of it,” Bhatt said on the sidelines of Indian Space Conclave, organised to celebrate the one-year anniversary of the organisation.
The 2017 Bill provides for imprisonment of up to three years and fine of over Rs 1 crore if any activity is undertaken without prior licensing, if false information is furnished, or if it pollutes earth, airspace, outer space or celestial bodies.
Other than a leniency when it comes to criminal charges, the Bill will also create mechanisms for insurance damages. The cost of insurance (for space activities) is very high. Today, ISRO does not pay for it because it is a government commitment, but when a private player is there, they will need insurance.
According to Bhatt, it could be tackled in one of two ways: either a corpus fund is created that can pay for the damages, or the government needs to set a cut-off. “They (government) need to come up with a cut-off. Say, tillRs 300 crore the companies will pay insurance premiums; beyond that it becomes a sovereign responsibility.
The previous Bill also states that rules may be laid out for insurance or financial guarantee by the Centre for space activities by private companies.
Marking the shift towards the private sector, India’s heaviest rocket, GSLV Mk III, will launch 36 satellites OneWeb global communication satellite constellation. This is the first commercial launch by the vehicle, so far having carried two ISRO communication satellites for two of its development flights and the Chandrayaan-2 for its first operational flight.
The launch will take place on October 21 from the second launch pad at the country’s only spaceport at Sriharikota.While ISpA has grown from seven members to more than 50 members in a year, the number of space sector start-ups in the country has also boomed from just a handful two years ago, before the space sector was opened up, to over a hundred now.
PM Modi to launch MahakalLok Corridor today (Page no. 16)
(GS Paper 1, Art and Culture)
Elaborate arrangements have been made for the inauguration of the first phase of Ujjain’s Mahakaleshwar temple expansion — MahakalLok Corridor — by Prime Minister Narendra Modi .
From large TV screens for the live telecast of the event to oil lamps across the railings of the 600-metre-long Hari Phatakbridge that leads to the Mahakaleshwar temple, Ujjain is all decked up for the big event. Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has called for Diwali-like celebrations across the state to mark the occasion.
The project — MahakalMaharajMandirParisarVistarYojna — is a comprehensive development plan for expansion, beautification and decongestion of the temple premises.
The first phase of the project entails development of MahakalLok Corridor with a visitor plaza having two entrances — Nandi Dwaar and PinakiDwaar. Facilities like ticketing kiosks will be there at the plaza, while a 900-metre-long pedestrian corridor has been built connecting Mahakal temple to 108 murals and 93 statues of Lord Shiva along the way.
The PM is expected to land in Indore at 5.30pm and then reach Ujjain in another helicopter where he will take part in the ‘sandhyaaarti’ before inaugurating the corridor. After the unveiling, he, along with CM, will address an ‘aamsabha’ at nearby Karthikey ground.
Explained Page
Banks role in financial crisis (Page no. 18)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
The SverigesRiksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel for 2022 — popularly called the Nobel prize for economics — has been awarded to three US-based economists: Ben S Bernanke (former Chair of the US Federal Reserve and currently associated with the Brookings Institution in Washington DC), Douglas W Diamond (University of Chicago) and Philip H Dybvig (Washington University in St. Louis). The award carries a prize money of 10 million Swedish kronor (roughly Rs 7.31 crore), to be shared equally between the laureates.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, which adjudicates the award, stated that this year’s laureates “have significantly improved our understanding of the role of banks in the economy, particularly during financial crises. An important finding in their research is why avoiding bank collapses is vital.”
The work for which Bernanke is being recognised was formulated in an article in 1983, which analysed the Great Depression of the 1930s.
Between January 1930 and March 1933, US industrial production fell by 46 per cent and unemployment rose to 25 per cent.
The crisis spread like wildfire, resulting in a deep downturn in much of the world: from Great Britain, where unemployment increased to 25 per cent, and Germany and Australia, where almost one-third of the workforce was out of jobs, to Chile, where national income fell by 33 per cent between 1929 and 1932.
Everywhere, banks collapsed, people were forced to leave their homes and widespread starvation occurred even in relatively rich countries.
Until Bernanke’s paper, bank failures were seen as a “consequence” of the financial crisis. But Bernanke’s 1983 paper proved it was exactly the opposite— bank failures were the “cause” of the financial crisis.
Using a combination of historical sources and statistical methods, his analysis showed which factors were important in the drop in GDP. He found that factors that were directly linked to failing banks accounted for the lion’s share of the downturn,” states the Academy.
Bernanke zeroed in on bank runs as the key reason why a fairly normal recession spiralled into the greatest economic crisis in modern history.
Bank runs happen when depositors become worried about the bank’s survival, and rush to withdraw their savings. If enough people do this simultaneously, the bank’s reserves cannot cover all the withdrawals, and it is driven to bankruptcy. Thanks to bank runs, the recession of 1929 had turned into a full-fledged banking crisis by 1930 as half the banks went bankrupt.
How China beats extreme poverty and what lessons it hold for India (Page no. 18)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
Last week, the World Bank released its latest report on global poverty. It stated that “economic upheavals brought on by Covid-19 and later the war in Ukraine” had produced “an outright reversal” in poverty reduction across the planet. The pace of poverty reduction had been slowing down anyway since 2015, thanks to a slowdown in growth rates but the pandemic and war have caused an outright reversal. So much so that the “world is unlikely to meet the goal of ending extreme poverty by 2030”.
The World Bank (WB) defines extreme poverty by particular consumption level. This is called the poverty line and it is pegged at US$2.15.
In other words, anyone living on less than $2.15 a day is considered to be living in extreme poverty. About 648 million people globally were in this situation in 2019.
But if you did a mental calculation — multiplying 2.15 by the rupee’s current market exchange rate with the US dollar (around 82) — and arrived at Rs 176 a day as the Indian equivalent of the international poverty line, you’d be wrong.
That’s because this $2.15 level is based on purchasing power parity (PPP). Simply put, the PPP equivalent of $2.15 is the number of Indian rupees an Indian would need to buy the same basket of goods in India that an American can buy with $2.15 in the US. That equivalent in India is Rs 46, not Rs 176.
This difference happens because the price of the same goods is different in different countries and it is quite likely that a dollar in India buys far more of the same commodity (say, an egg or banana) or service (say, a haircut) that it buys in the US.
So, the international poverty line of $2.15 implies that any Indian who spends less than Rs 46 a day — in total — is considered to be living in extreme poverty.
Try to recall the last time when your daily expenditure was that low and you’d understand why this is called the poverty line for abject or extreme poverty.
This international poverty line is revised periodically to account for rising prices of goods and services over time. The very first international poverty line — a dollar a day — was constructed in 1990 using the 1985 prices.
It was then raised to $1.08 a day in 1993, $1.25 a day in 2005 and $1.90 a day in 2011. The $2.15 one is based on 2017 prices.
According to the WB, India is the country with the highest number of poor people.According to the report, the number of people living in abject poverty increased by 56 million (5.6 crore) in 2020.
What’s worse, when the World Bank used the data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), it found that the number of people living in abject poverty increased by 56 million (5.6 crore) in 2020.
That’s almost 80% of the total 70 million the world over that the World Bank estimates to have been pushed into poverty in 2020. In other words, according to this estimate, 8 out of every 10 people in the world who were pushed into poverty during Covid were in India.