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SEPTEMBER 2020
1.An Expert Explains: What’s at stake in the US elections on November 3?
2. Explained: How proctoring keeps a tab on candidates taking online exams
3.Explained: Who is Yatin Oza, and why has the Gujarat High Court held him in contempt?
4. Explained Ideas: A Permission Raj looms over public protests.
5.Manipulation of Television Rating Points: How TRPs work, the scam.
6.Explained: Why does World No. 1 Novak Djokovic want line-umpires to be replaced by technology?
7.Explained: The experimental cocktail President Trump is taking for Covid-
19.
8. Explained Ideas: Why judiciary must intervene in the Hathras case.
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9. Explained | Azerbaijan vs Armenia: An old regional conflict, and interested neighbours.
10. Explained: What are defence offsets? Here’ everything you need to know.
11. Drugs case: When does an statement by an accused become admissible in a trial?
12. Babri Masjid conspiracy case: How the demolition trial progressed over the years.
13. Explained: What is the role of the Artillery in the Indian Army?
14. Explained Ideas: Why farmers are unwilling to trust the central government’s farm reforms.
15. Retrospective taxation: the Vodafone case, and the Hague court ruling.
16. Redefining essential items: Why it was needed, and who it will impact.
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17. Delhi journalist arrested under Official Secrets Act: What is this anti- spying law?
18. Eplained: What discovery of phosphine gas in the atmosphere of Venus means.
19. Explained: Why China harvests India data, why track public figures
20. An Expert Explains: In India-China border row, the state of play in
Ladakh.
21. Explained: What constitutes a breach of legislature’s privilege?
22.Explained: What is the ‘green-blue’ policy proposed by Delhi Master Plan
2041?
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23.Explained: Why Facebook and Google are locked in a standoff with
Australia’s govt.
24. Cisgender, agender, bigender, genderqueer: What are these terms, and why do they matter?
25. An Expert Explains: What are Question Hour and Zero Hour, and why do they matter?
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1. An Expert Explains: What’s at stake in the US elections on
November 3?
Just over three weeks from today, the United States will vote in one of the most consequential and bitterly contested presidential elections in its recent history. What is at stake for Americans as they choose between giving Donald Trump four more years in the White House and replacing him with the Democratic candidate Joe Biden? This is Part 1 of a three-part weekly series explaining the US Presidential Election, 2020, and why it matters to India.
President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden exchange points during their first presidential debate Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2020, at Case Western University and Cleveland Clinic, in Cleveland, Ohio. (AP Photo/Morry Gash, Pool)
Given the manner in which President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden have carried out the campaign, including their sparring during the recent televised debate, is this the most divisive election in current history of the United States?
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In terms of public and even academic memory, this election is as divisive and significant as the 1968 Presidential Election. The 1968 election destroyed the “New Deal” coalition, which had enabled the Democrats to become the natural party of power. The 1968 election was thus a turning point, which made the Republicans the new natural party of power until the early 1990s (with the exception of Jimmy Carter’s one-term Presidency). The 2020 elections may now confirm the domination of the Republican Party, with a Trump re-election; or generate a New Deal 2.0 through the “rainbow” that the Democrats have coalesced. In many ways, this election is a battle for both America’s body and soul.
The similarities between 1968 and 2020 do not end there. America was faced with choices as stark in 1968 as it is faced with today. Not surprisingly, the 1968 presidential election was probably the most bitter in public memory until the present one. It decisively broke the consensus around the series of welfare schemes that were put in place after the Great Depression in the 1930s; but it was marked also with as much turbulence as we are facing today.
Consider the following: in 1968, a sitting President, Lyndon B Johnson, pulled out of the nomination after narrowly winning New Hampshire (facing a serious challenge from Eugene McCarthy), an early barometer of the national mood; a charismatic Democratic hopeful, Senator Robert Kennedy, was assassinated; the greatest American civil rights leader, Martin Luther King Jr, was killed in his hotel balcony in Memphis, Tennessee.
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It was in 1968 that America “lost” the Vietnam War at home. The Americans were able to militarily prevail over the Tet Offensive, but the government lost domestic public support (with the growing number of casualties within the US armed forces), as opposition to the war and to compulsory conscription (“the draft”) reached new heights. Anti-war student protests and acts of violence were witnessed on campuses both on the East and West Coast. One of the centres of the protests was Berkeley, where Kamala Harris’s mother, Shyamala Gopalan, became active in the resistance.
Today too, the electorate is deeply divided, along partisan and racial lines, and the US is faced with severe economic disparity between the rich and the poor. On almost every issue that matters, there is a Manichean divide; between Trump supporters and the rainbow coalition that stands by Biden. There is no military war comparable to Vietnam, but the United States is fighting the Covid pandemic (with over 200,000 lives lost already, compared to just about 50,000 in Vietnam), deep economic precarity, unprecedented levels of racial tension, fundamental differences over health care, concerns over packing the courts (including the Supreme Court) and violence on the streets of many cities including
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Minneapolis (where George Floyd died, and whose “killing” inspired the Black Lives Matter movement), Atlanta, Dallas, Minneapolis, Cleveland, Raleigh, Los Angeles and New York.
Why is there such a great divide between the Republicans and the Democrats, and why has the Republican Party taken an apparent turn towards the extreme right?
The root of the problem lies in the inability of right wing mainstream parties, like the Republican Party, to appeal to sections outside the elite on their agenda of economic conservatism. In order to become electable, they have to widen their constituency by adding a “toxic” emotional content to their political ideology.
As Franklin Foer wrote in The New York Times, in his review of Jacob S. Hacker and Paul Pierson’s brilliant book Let them eat Tweets: How the Right Rules in an Age of Extreme Inequality: “From their 19th-century inception, political parties of the right have faced an electoral disadvantage since, for the most part, they emerged as vessels for the wealthy, a definitionally small coterie. Their growth seemed further constrained by the fact that they could never match their opponents’ enticing promises of government largesse because their wealthy backers steadfastly refused to pay higher taxes…”
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Hacker and Pierson believe that there has been a two-way shift in the Republican Party. On the one hand “is the rise of the plutocracy — a government of, by, and for the rich… increasingly divisive, distant from the centre, and disdainful of democracy”. And on the other is dangerous populism. “From the White House on down, the Republicans now make extreme appeals once associated only with fringe right-wing parties in other rich nations, stoking the fires of white identity and working class outrage.”
Not surprisingly, Trump refuses to denounce white supremacy or condemn xenophobia; these may be part of his individual idiosyncrasies, but capsule into a wider political strategy. The choice before the electorate is for a vision of America for the 21st century, and the contrasts couldn’t be clearer.
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Why has the Trump nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court become such a major issue in the election?
Other than the ethics of trying to appoint, literally weeks before the election, a judge for life to the highest court of the land—when the Senate Republican majority had blocked confirmation hearings for Judge Merrick Garland, nominated by President Obama as early as in March of 2016 — and allegations of a retaliatory “packing of the court” by a possible Democratic majority in Congress, there are a number of critical cases which may be heard by the Supreme Court in the next few months, including possible cases involving the Presidential election itself. But two cases need to be flagged and fleshed out: Obamacare, and Roe versus Wade.
FILE – In this Sept. 29, 2020, file photo President Donald Trump, left, and Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden, right, participate in the first presidential debate with moderator Chris Wallace of Fox News, canter, Case Western University and Cleveland Clinic, in Cleveland, Ohio (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File) Obamacare In 2012, the US Supreme Court decision established the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act 2010 (“the Act”, popularly referred to as “Obamacare”). The Act established an “individual mandate” for Americans to maintain “minimum essential” health insurance coverage. Under the Act, those individuals who did not comply with the mandate from 2014 onwards, would be required to make a “[s]shared responsibility payment” to the Federal Government,
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which was referred to as a “penalty”. In the 2012 decision of the Supreme Court, the majority held that the penalty was justified on the basis of Congress’ power to “lay and collect taxes”. The majority’s reasoning was that the so described “penalty” imposed in the individual mandate, in fact resembled a tax.
With the election of Trump in 2016, the individual mandate was amended so that the payment of the penalty was no longer required and could not be enforced. This has undermined the validity of the individual mandate, the constitutionality of which had been upheld on the basis of the tax it was found to impose. This has also raised doubts about the constitutionality of the Act as a whole, with the Supreme Court expected to hear oral arguments on the matter on November 10, 2020, shortly after the Presidential elections. If Judge Barrett is confirmed to the Supreme Court before that date, it may mean that the Act is held to be unconstitutional by the majority. From the NYT | President’s taxes: The swamp that Trump built
FILE – In this June 20, 2020, file photo a supporter waves a flag prior to a campaign rally for President Trump at the BOK Center in Tulsa, Okla. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File)
Roe v. Wade The 1973 landmark Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade is rooted deep in the American psyche. The case concerned the constitutionality of a Texas statute, which made it a crime to obtain an abortion, except where abortion was necessary to save the mother’s life, but is embedded into larger issues related to choices and women’s rights. The Court, by a 7:2
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majority, held that the constitutional “right of personal liberty” includes the mother’s right to take a decision about abortion. The right was not absolute, and was to be balanced against the interests of states in regulation. The Court held with respect to the Texas statute, which criminalised all abortions (other than those required to save the mother’s life), without taking into account the stage of pregnancy or any interests, that it violated the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the US Constitution. This decision thus established constitutional protection for women’s right to take decisions for their own health, and paved the way for greater political, social and economic involvement of women in public life.
As highlighted by Professor Erwin Chemerinsky of Berkeley Law School (in a recent UC Berkeley lecture, ‘Berkeley Conversations: Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, her legacy, and what may follow’), if Judge Barrett were confirmed to the Supreme Court, this would mean the Court would likely be run by Conservatives for years to come. Until the death of Justice Ginsburg, there were four liberal justices and four conservative justices on the Supreme Court in recent years, with Chief Justice John Roberts as a moderately conservative justice who agreed with the liberal bloc of justices in certain decisions.
As Chemerinsky emphasised, if Judge Barrett is confirmed, Chief Justice Roberts is likely to express agreement with the conservative bloc, and the Court may be willing to overrule Roe v. Wade. There have been several hints of Barrett’s openness to overrule Roe, including her 2013 article for Texas Law Review, where she observed that certain “super precedents” could not be overruled; Roe v. Wade was notably absent from her list of such landmark cases (“Precedent and Jurisprudential Disagreement”, Amy Coney Barrett, 91 TXLR 1711, Texas Law Review).
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2.Explained: How proctoring keeps a tab on candidates taking online exams
Several universities have adopted a multiple choice questionnaire format, which might also enable a candidate to quickly search the Internet for the right answers.
X A candidate has to make sure that there is no noise in the background during the exam.
With colleges allowing students to take final-year exams online from home, proctoring, a technology deployed to ensure the identity of the test taker and the integrity of the test taking environment has gained currency.
What is proctoring, and why is it necessary?
At exams conducted in colleges, invigilation helps keep a check on students. For online exams taken at home, the possibility of cheating increases. Several universities have adopted a multiple choice questionnaire format, which might also enable a candidate to quickly search the Internet for the right answers. To maintain the veracity of an individual’s grades, as a
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measure to evaluate a student’s performance, invigilation becomes mandatory. Proctoring comprises artificial intelligence (AI) based algorithms and tools that keep a check on candidates during online exams not taken at an exam centre.
What set of rules does a candidate need to comply with during online exams?
Most commonly, college or government-issued identity cards are to be displayed by candidates in front of the camera to prove their identity at the time of taking the examination. Use of electronic devices, textual material and stationery items like smart watches and pen drives is prohibited, and so is the use of telecommunication devices like cellphones, head phones, bluetooth earphones, pagers and health bands among others. A candidate has to make sure that there is no noise in the background during the exam. No other application or web page should be open on the computer except the provided exam software. Switching, minimising or closing the exam window is not allowed. A candidate also has to ensure the availability of hardware, software, broadband Internet and power back-up. Further, no other person should be present in the room.
How does proctoring work?
Before the exam begins, the image of the student on the screen is compared with the photo available in the system, based on which a user is allowed to continue. AI-based algorithms keep users from opening other tabs on their screen. In case of multiple such attempts, the examine is suspended from appearing for exam in most cases. The algorithms also keep a record of the number of times students opened other windows, and captures surrounding audio. Any change in the user’s line of sight — to the left or right — is flagged to the invigilator by an alert.
Audio-video streaming or continuous capturing of photos at intervals of about 15 to 20 seconds, which can amount to 200 to 240 images in an hour, is deployed, apart from capturing all activity on the user’s screen.
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What are the types of proctoring?
Proctoring can be done in two ways: full-view and face proctoring. In full-view proctoring, the student’s laptop is kept on the side at a suitable vantage point to obtain a view of his or her face, hands, answerbook, and the cellphone used to take the exam. The “full view” can also be obtained using a phone instead of a laptop, but has limitations such as storage issues. In face-view proctoring, a student takes the exam on a laptop, and the laptop camera monitors his or her face. The hands are not visible. Given the limitations of equipment and Internet connectivity faced by students, most institutions have opted for this mode of remote proctoring. However, there are two types of integrity risks with face view proctoring — there are workarounds that web-based remote proctoring software cannot catch. Separate devices, such as cheat sheets, notes or phones kept on or beside laptops, which are out of view of the laptop cameras, are harder to catch.
Is this method full-proof?
Regardless of the technology solutions adopted by colleges, there is a common consensus among faculties that online exams are not full-proof. “The software deployed for exams has so far not flagged any student for misconduct, yet we have come across screenshots of question papers that are being shared on informal WhatsApp groups. Most students have been achieving good marks, which would not have been the case if physical exams were to be conducted,” said an exam coordinator of a south Mumbai college.
Videos have been trending on YouTube explaining ways to cheat during online exams. Institutions such as IIT-Bombay have proposed solutions requiring a laptop with a webcam and a smartphone, or two smartphones in the absence of a laptop, to minimise instances of cheating. However, it may still not be a full-proof solution to curb malpractices.
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3.Explained: Who is Yatin Oza, and why has the Gujarat High
Court held him in contempt?
A veteran Senior Advocate, Oza has dabbled in politics, and has been president of the High Court’s Bar association for over two decades. The High Court has noted his ‘repeated acts and conduct of contempt’, and concluded that his apology is ‘not bona fide and lacks sincerity’.
Yatin Oza (Express Archive) A Division Bench of the Gujarat High Court on Wednesday (October 7) sentenced Gujarat High Court Advocates’ Association (GHAA) president Yatin Oza to a penalty of Rs 2,000 and punishment till the rising of the court, after he was found guilty of committing criminal contempt of the court.
Who is Yatin Oza, and why did the Gujarat HC take strong objection to his comments?
A veteran practising advocate, Oza was designated as ‘Senior Advocate’ in 1999. He has been president of the High Court’s bar association for over two decades. In May, Oza pushed for physical reopening of courts. On June 5, he addressed a press conference that was also live-streamed on Facebook, in which he made serious allegations against the administration, and on the dispensing of justice at the court. The HC did not take kindly to this.
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Broadly, Oza levelled allegations of “corrupt practices being adopted by the registry of the High Court of Gujarat”, of “undue favour” being shown to “high-profile industrialist and smugglers and traitors”, that the HC functions “for the influential and rich people and their advocates”, and that “billionaires walk away with order from the HC in two days whereas the poor and non-VIPs suffer”. The HC also noted that Oza called the institution “a gambling den”. The court was upset not only by the allegations themselves, but also by the way they were made — with Oza, a senior representative of the Bar, live-streaming them over social media. Notably, Oza has been politically active — with no long-term loyalties. He was elected twice to the Gujarat Assembly from Sabarmati constituency in Ahmedabad on BJP tickets — in 1995 and 1998. He subsequently left the BJP, joined the Congress, and contested unsuccessfully against (now Prime Minister) Narendra Modi from the Maninagar Assembly constituency in 2002. In 2016, Oza joined the Aam Aadmi Party.
Ya tin Oza is a veteran practising advocate. (File Photo)
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How did the High Court’s action against Oza proceed? After Oza’s press conference of June 5, a Division Bench of Justices Sonia Gokani and N V Anjaria initiated suo motu criminal contempt proceedings against him for raising “accusing fingers… against the High Court, HC administration and the registry…,” on June 9. Meanwhile, Oza had also written about his grievances to the High Court Chief Justice Vikram Nath on June 5. A committee comprising the three senior-most judges of the court considered the allegations and gave a clean chit to the court registry. In its report, communicated to Oza on June 10, the committee said that “all the grievances” made by Oza in his letter were “without any foundation”, and were “factually baseless”.
On June 11, Oza moved the Supreme Court, challenging the order of the suo motu contempt against him, but subsequently withdrew the petition after the SC opined that it would be premature for it to intervene.
A meeting of the full court on July 18 accepted the recommendation of the Division Bench that had initiated criminal contempt proceedings against Oza, that the GHAA president should be stripped of his designation as Senior Advocate.
Oza moved the SC challenging the decision of the full court to divest him of his title. The matter has been periodically deferred — with the SC opining that it would be inclined to consider the matter only after a decision had been reached on the contempt proceedings before the Gujarat HC.
In the meantime, Oza tendered an apology to the HC — but a third party advocate intervened in the ongoing contempt proceedings, seeking to be added as a party. This advocate brought to the notice of the court earlier instances of improper conduct by Oza. The court did not allow the advocate to be added as a party, but permitted the additional material to be included as part of the record in the proceedings.
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A view of the Gujarat High Court. (File Photo)
But why did the High Court refuse to accept Oza’s apology despite a nudge from the Supreme Court asking the HC to consider it?
The present case is not the first time that the Gujarat HC has initiated proceedings against Oza for being in criminal contempt of the court. In 2016, Oza had levelled allegations against two sitting judges of the HC. At the time, the HC had initiated criminal contempt proceedings against Oza, which came to be stayed by the SC. A subsequent apology later, the proceedings were put to rest.
In 2006 as well, Oza had invited proceedings for contempt of court on two occasions — one of which was for issuing a press note against a then sitting judge. He was let off on both occasions after he tendered unconditional apologies.
This time, the Division Bench, while refusing to accept his apology, put on record that Oza’s “repeated acts and conduct of contempt” in the past only leaves the court to conclude that his apology “is not bona fide and lacks sincerity…” The court noted: “Every time scurrilous remarks against the Judges and the institution are made and when he (Oza) realises that there is no escape route, the weapon of unconditional apology comes to his rescue. This was permitted in the past up keeping a rich tradition of Kshama Virsya Bhushanam (forgiveness is the jewel of heroes)… If still permitted, this
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institution would be inviting for itself more and many such unsubstantiated, unsustainable and baseless attacks from various quarters. A clear and loud message is a must to be sent that we are open to every healthy criticism respecting the fundamental right of freedom of expression and at the same time, we are obligated not to permit any attempt to tarnish the image of the Institution and to despise and damage the prestige of the same and to demean the respect it enjoys by one and all…”
What has been Oza’s defence?
In his arguments as well as in the apologies he has tendered, Oza has repeatedly stressed that he has been a long-standing distinguished member of the Bar, and that his transgression has been an anomaly.
He has also emphasised that he holds the judges in the highest regard, and it was only the lacuna on the administrative side that he had sought to highlight. However, the court has been unconvinced by this argument, stating that the administrative side too, forms part of the judiciary — and that the allegations that he had made was unbecoming of the position and stature he holds as a senior member of the Bar, and only maligns the institution.
What happens next?
An appeal against the HC verdict is expected before the SC. The HC Division Bench has permitted a stay on the operation and execution of its verdict until the end of the statutory appeal period, that is for the next 60 days. The apex court, while hearing his plea challenging the HC’s decision to revoke his Senior Advocate status, had pointed out that Oza had been found to be “browbeating” the court — but had expressed its willingness to hear him.
The matter is expected to be now taken up for further hearing on October 13.
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4. Explained Ideas: A Permission Raj looms over public protests.
TM Krishna argues that a nuanced reading of protests like the one at Shaheen Bagh is necessary so that they are not dismissed as public nuisance, especially when staged in public spaces.
Children play on the closed road of Shaheen Bagh in New Delhi in February 2020. (Express Photo: Praveen Khanna)
The protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act by the women of Shaheen Bagh inspired similar sit-ins across the country. In Shaheen Bagh, the protestors occupied a city road and turned it into a vibrant political arena, where activists, writers, musicians, politicians etc spoke and performed in solidarity with the opposition to a discriminatory citizenship law. Shaheen Bagh was an organic protest of local residents that did not ally with any political party or take orders from a single leader. With its emphasis on constitutional values and invocation of the secular spirit of the Freedom Movement, the peaceful sit-in was an innovative experiment in public action. On Wednesday, a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court ruled that an indefinite “occupation” of a public road was unacceptable.
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In ‘In defence of commons’, musician, author and activist, T M Krishna writes that “the Shaheen Bagh protests were necessary to push back a government that is bent on demolishing our constitutional soul, using every Machiavellian trick in the book”. It represented a battle for the nation’s constitutional commons, such as equality, equity, fundamental rights, liberty, justice and secularism. He argues that a nuanced reading of such protests is necessary so that they are not dismissed as public nuisance, especially when staged in public spaces.
He writes: “Society is not a level-playing field and every institution, including the judiciary, does not treat every protest with the same yardstick… Public protests or processions by Dalits, minorities, women, trans people are viewed with disdain but none will dare question protests by powerful caste lobbies, political parties or the religious majority.”
In fact, a Permission Raj looms over public protests as the state through its various arms try to stifle dissent. He writes: “It is also essential to realise that protesting is often a spontaneous act and cannot be bottled by allocations and permissions. A vital quality of protest is public awareness and participation; consequently, public roads cannot be off-limits. Unless we are shaken awake from our slumber by slogans, cheers, demands, songs and hundreds walking the streets, those of us who complain of disruption will never notice the farmer or labourer.”
While India became a democratic country in 1947, many citizens have been denied the freedoms promised in the Constitution. Common people will have to apply collective pressure for the state to respond to their concerns and act against injustice. Krishna writes: “In this tussle, public spaces are crucial to empower people, make them heard, and bring some parity into the discourse. Therefore, the occupation of highways by citizens whose lives have been torn apart by sexual, corporate and political violence is an important tool and to treat it as a public annoyance is majoritarian browbeating.” He concludes that “the Supreme Court had the opportunity to expand the contours of its order keeping in mind reality with all its unevenness, but it remained silent and forgot that democracy thrives in the poromboke!”
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5.Manipulation of Television Rating Points: How TRPs work, the scam.
Mumbai police are looking at alleged manipulation of Television Rating Points. How do channels score TRPs? What are the ways in which manipulation is possible, and how often has it been alleged in the past?
For TRPs it does not matter what the entire country is watching, but essentially what the 45,000 odd households, that are supposed to represent the TV viewership of the country, have watched.
Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh said on Thursday that police are looking into a scam about manipulation of TRPs (Television Rating Points) by rigging the devices used by the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) India, which has the mandate to measure television audience in India.
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What is TRP? In simple terms, TRPs represent how many people, from which socio-economic categories, watched which channels for how much time during a particular period. This could be for an hour, a day, or even a week; India follows the international standard of one minute. The data is usually made public every week.
A consultation paper about television audience measurement and ratings in India floated by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) in 2018 defined its importance as: “On the basis of audience measurement data, ratings are assigned to various programmes on television. Television ratings in turn influence programmes produced for the viewers. Better ratings would promote a programme while poor ratings will discourage a programme. Incorrect ratings will lead to production of programmes which may not be really popular while good programmes may be left out.”
A FICCI-EY report on India’s media and entertainment industry for last year said the size of the TV industry was Rs 78,700 crore last year, and TRPs are the main currency for advertisers to decide which channel to advertise on by calculating the cost-per-rating-point (CPRP).
What is BARC?
It is an industry body jointly owned by advertisers, ad agencies, and broadcasting companies, represented by The Indian Society of Advertisers, the Indian Broadcasting Foundation and the Advertising Agencies Association of India. Though it was created in 2010, the I&B Ministry notified the Policy Guidelines for Television Rating Agencies in India on January 10, 2014 and registered BARC in July 2015 under these guidelines, to carry out television ratings in India.
How is TRP calculated?
BARC has installed “BAR-O-meters” in over 45,000 empanelled households. These households are classified into 12 categories under the New Consumer Classification System
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(NCCS), the so-called “new SEC” adopted by BARC in 2015, based on the education level of the main wage earner and the ownership of consumer durables from a list of 11 items ranging from an electricity connection to a car.
While watching a show, members of the household register their presence by pressing their viewer ID button — every person in household has a separate ID — thus capturing the duration for which the channel was watched and by whom, and providing data on viewership habits across age and socio-economic groups. The panel chosen to capture TRPs must be representative of the country’s population, and the methodology must be economically viable for the industry.
How can TRP data be rigged?
If broadcasters can find the households where devices are installed, they can either bribe them to watch their channels, or ask cable operators or multi-system operators to ensure their channel is available as the “landing page” when the TV is switched on.
For TRPs, it does not matter what the entire country is watching, but essentially what the 45,000-odd households supposed to represent TV viewership of the country have watched. Broadcasters can target these households to fudge actual viewership data.
In the 2018 consultation paper, TRAI said: “One of the biggest challenges has been the absence of any specific law through which the agents/ suspects involved in panel tampering/infiltration could be penalised”. It noted that BARC “has filed FIRs in various police stations against the agents/ suspects involved in panel tampering/infiltration” but its efforts “to mitigate panel tampering/ infiltration have been hampered due to absence of any legal framework”.
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How does panel tampering affect TRPs?
TRAI mentioned “panel infiltration has a significant impact when the panel size is smaller” and “with the increase in panel size, infiltration of panel homes becomes challenging”. A senior industry insider said BARC has filed multiple FIRs in the past “as it tracks unusual viewership behaviour and takes action”. In the current case, the insider said an FIR was filed against employees of Hansa Research, which BARC hires for certain field jobs like going to panel households. BARC hires multiple agencies so that no single agency has the entire map of panel households across the country.
The source cited the example of English TV news, which has a small share of the national viewership pie at around 1.5%, which means that for around 45,000 panel households, around 700 households will contribute to the viewership. “What actually happens is that while your sample is around 700, not all of them are watching English TV news every day. Actual watching will be around 350 homes.” In such a scenario, the source said, “if you manage to rig 10 among the heavy viewing homes, then you can swing the needle big time”.
When the sample is smaller, “manipulation becomes easier”. In a genre like English news, “because fewer homes will have larger weightage, change in behaviour of one home gets amplified at a much larger scale nationwide”.
Additionally, as each channel tries to project itself as a market leader in a particular segment, it slices the data into socio-economic brackets on the basis of NCCS, age, gender, time slots (primetime) etc to find the perfect data slice. This too increases relative error in the data, because of the small sample size.
How often have allegations been made?
For over a decade, questions have been raised by people from within the industry. In a letter to the BARC chairman in July, News Broadcasters Association president Rajat Sharma, who owns India TV News, complained against the ratings of TV9 Bharatvarsh, and said “several news broadcasters have written to BARC drawing their attention that every week’s ratings
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are not in correlation to the basics of television” and “the manipulated data is being released week after week without taking any remedial action”. Sharma had said that “these are corrupt practices, which are being done with complete connivance with BARC and the broadcaster”.
Two years ago, the I&B Ministry had raised concerns that BARC was under-reporting viewership of Doordarshan, and floated the idea of chip-based activity logs through all set- top boxes. The idea was finally rejected.
In 2017, the editor of one of the top five English news channels had written to BARC about how a few households from Gujarat were contributing heavily to a rival channel’s overall viewership.
6.Explained: Why does World No. 1 Novak Djokovic want line- umpires to be replaced by technology?
Being a tennis umpire is a proper profession and requires years of training.
At the Grand Slams, line-umpires are highly qualified officials, who sometimes face the wrath of superstar players even when the call is right, or they aren’t even involved.
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Novak Djokovic during his fourth round match against Russia's Karen Khachanov. (Reuters Photo: Christian Hartmann)
Calls for the use of Hawk-Eye technology have grown louder at the ongoing French Open tournament. The likes of World No. 3 Dominic Thiem, No. 6 Stefanos Tsitsipas, and No. 11 Denis Shapovalov have joined the chorus.
But World No. 1 Novak Djokovic has gone further, calling for line-umpires to be removed altogether, to be replaced by the technology available to determine calls on courts to eliminate human error.
The Hawk-Eye Live system was first used at the senior tour level just a week before the US Open, at the relocated Cincinnati ATP 1000 Masters event in New York, which Djokovic won. But it was put in place solely for the purpose of reducing the number of people on court in light of the Covid-19 pandemic, and not for the reason the 33-year-old Serb stated. And before tennis organisers can think of making this drastic change, there is a lot that will need to be considered – regardless of the fact that the technology is available.
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What did Djokovic say?
After his third-round match against Daniel Elahi Galan, Djokovic said in his post-match press conference on October 3 that “with all my respect for the tradition and the culture we have in this sport, when it comes to people present on the court during a match, including line (judges), I really don’t see a reason why every single tournament in this world, in this technological(ly) advanced era, would not have what we had during the Cincinnati/New York tournaments.
“Of course, I understand technology is expensive, so it’s an economic issue and a question mark. But I feel like we are all moving towards that, and sooner or later there is no reason to keep line-umpires. Yes, ball kids, of course, ball person, yes, but line-umpires, I don’t see why anymore, to be honest.”
Rafael Nadal argues with the umpire over a line call in the quarterfinal match against Jannik Sinner on October 6, 2020. (AP Photo: Alessandra Tarantino)
What is the process to become a line-umpire? Being a tennis umpire is a proper profession and requires years of training. According to the Joint Certification Programme for Officials – formed in 1999 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) and International Tennis Federation (ITF) to standardise the training process for umpires – there are four levels to
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becoming a top-notch umpire at the Grand Slam level. The committee meets at the end of every year to evaluate and promote umpires based on their performances.
The first stage is the national level, in which one is essentially starting off as a line-judge in domestic events. This is followed by Level 1, or the Green Badge, which allows one to serve as a chair umpire for events within their respective countries. The next level is the White Badge, which allows one to officiate at bigger events but only in their own countries.
The final stage is Level 3, which certifies one as an international umpire. This level is divided into bronze, silver and gold badges – the gold badge meaning one can be a chair umpire for important Grand Slam matches. At the Grand Slams, line-umpires are usually a mixture of bronze, silver and white badge holders – highly qualified officials.
How much are line umpires paid?
Most of the gold badge holders have contracts with the ATP and/or WTA tours. According to website Perfect Tennis, in 2018, chair umpires at the Australian Open were paid around $546 per day, approximately $443 at the French Open, around $495 at Wimbledon, and $450 at the US Open.
On the ITF website’s FAQs page, the governing body has set a ‘minimum recommended fee’ for umpires at the lowest Futures event (M15, W15, M25), with White badge holders earning $550 for the entire event and international chair umpires earning $750.
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Diego Schwartzman argues with the umpire over a line call in the quarterfinal match against Dominic Thiem on October 6, 2020. (AP Photo: Michel Euler)
What will happen if line-umpires are removed from all events?
Apart from taking away a livelihood, the conveyor belt of top-level chair umpires will also run dry. Like a high-ranked tennis player starts at the lowest level, a Gold badge umpire starts as a line-umpire at small events and then works his or her way up the ladder. Essentially, if there are no line-umpires, there will be nobody to become a chair umpire. If line-umpires are removed from all Grand Slam events, it may deter individuals from wanting to become umpires as officiating at the majors is the final goal for them as well. It’s similar to the hypothetical situation if doubles is removed from the Grand Slam schedule. Then players will not want to play doubles at all.
Why has there been a call to use Hawk-Eye?
All tour-level tournaments, apart from clay-court events, use the technology. During a rally, if there is a call made by an umpire that the player feels is incorrect, he or she can call for a review which determines if the ball was in or out.
“On hard courts, the mark is always 5 to 10 mm further than where the ball actually landed. But clay courts leave a mark that is quite accurate. Which is why tournaments like the French
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Open prefer to use traditional methods by having the chair umpire go down to check where the ball landed,” a Hawk-Eye engineer had told The Indian Express in 2016. “The only trouble is that (on clay) there may be confusion on which shot the player has challenged.” The Hawk-Eye Live system, which was used in place of line-umpires at the Cincinnati Masters, and first at the ATP Next Gen Finals in 2018, makes calls instantly.
Is Hawk-Eye used at all levels of tournaments?
Installing the system is expensive, and out of budget for all lower-level events, including the Challenger circuit. According to The New York Times, it costs over $25,000 per court to install the Hawk-Eye Live system.
Alexander Zverev and the umpire discuss a line call in the third round match against Marco Cecchinato on October 2, 2020. (AP Photo: Alessandra Tarantino)
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Is the technology flawless?
No. According to the ITF guidelines, the technology can have an error margin no greater than five millimetres.
“Now it is 3.6 mm,” the Hawk-Eye engineer said to this newspaper in 2016. “That means that whatever mark we have, the ball could have actually landed 3.6 mm on either side.” In the first week of the US Open, according to The NYT, Hawk-Eye Live made 225,000 calls, of which 14 were errors. Despite the low number, the system is also open to human error.
“(James) Japhet (managing director of Hawk-Eye North America) said the Hawk-Eye operator in the control room had sometimes selected the wrong service box, which meant that a few balls that landed in the correct service box were wrongly called out. Other errors occurred when the review official, who is responsible for determining foot faults with the aid of the Hawk-Eye cameras, failed to trigger the system,” The NYT reported.
Do players take their anger out on umpires after a bad call?
Yes, sometimes even after a good call, sometimes even when the umpire isn’t involved. At the 2009 US Open, a line-umpire called a foot-fault on Serena Williams, who then angrily gestured at her, allegedly yelling profanities and threatening to “shove a tennis ball” down the line-umpire’s throat. Later on, cameras picked up Williams saying “I didn’t say I will kill you! Are you serious?” in a conversation with officials.
John McEnroe, at Wimbledon 1981, disputed a line call by shouting “you cannot be serious,” in what has become the sport’s most famous quote.
More recently, at the US Open, Djokovic was defaulted in the fourth round after he inadvertently hit a line-umpire in the throat with a ball. The Grand Slam was using the Hawk-
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Eye Live on all the outer courts but not the show courts. So if the Serb had been playing outside, his frustrated hit of the ball toward the backboard would not have hit anybody.
7.Explained: The experimental cocktail President Trump is taking for Covid-19.
The cocktail is a combination of two monoclonal antibodies -- REGN10933 and REGN10987 -- designed “specifically” to block the infectivity of SARS- CoV-2.
President Donald Trump arrives at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, in Bethesda, Md., Friday, Oct. 2, 2020, on Marine One helicopter after he tested positive for COVID-19. White House chief of staff Mark Meadows is at second from left. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
American President Donald Trump began receiving an experimental antibody cocktail as part of his Covid-19 treatment.
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What is this therapy?
REGN-COV2 is an investigational antibody cocktail which has shown reduced viral load and time to alleviate the symptoms in non-hospitalised patients, according to Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc, the firm that has developed it.
The cocktail is a combination of two monoclonal antibodies — REGN10933 and REGN10987 — designed “specifically” to block the infectivity of SARS-CoV-2.
When did this come in and the research behind it?
The cocktail is undergoing a seamless phase 1/2/3 clinical trial in the US. In the first phase, 275 patients have received it, while a total of 1,300 patients will be recruited in the second and third phases.
The trials for this drug began in June. Over 2,000 people have enrolled across the drug’s development programme and no unexpected safety findings have been reported by the trial’s independent data monitoring committee, according to the company.
Who has tried it out before?
In addition to this trial in non-hospitalised patients, REGN-COV2 is currently being studied in a Phase 2/3 clinical trial for the treatment of COVID-19 in hospitalised patients, according to Regeneron. It is also being studied in Phase 3 open-label RECOVERY trial of hospitalised patients in the UK and a Phase 3 trial for the prevention of COVID-19 in household contacts of infected individuals. Recruitment in all 4 trials is ongoing.
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Does it work in combination with any other drugs?
Since the drug has not been given an Emergency Use Authorisation (EUA) by the US Food and Drug Administration (US FDA), it can be used as an experimental treatment for compassionate use. As it is undergoing trials, there is no fixed combination of drugs with which this cocktail is given.
Trump has been prescribed REGN-COV2 in combination with zinc, vitamin D and the generic version of antacid Pepcid, according to The New York Times.
8. Explained Ideas: Why judiciary must intervene in the Hathras case.
Brutality of crime, brazen police abdication, have shaken and shamed us all, write Nandita Rao and Iti Pandey.
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The sequence of events that saw the unforgivable forced burning of the body of the young woman in Hathras is as horrifying as the end that she met. (Express photo by Gajendra Yadav)
On Wednesday night, when images streamed in on social media and news channels, of a sobbing mother in Hathras being denied her young daughter’s body, followed by the images of police personnel, deployed in full force, burning this young girl’s remains, without any right in law, in a lonely field outside the village, “it was an injustice that was morally and legally too much to bear,” according to Nandita Rao and Iti Pandey, both lawyers practising at the Delhi High Court.
“It was a reminder of a time when, in this country, a person relegated by oppressors through the unscientific and inhuman caste system, as an untouchable could be subjected worse than animals are — with social and legal impunity,” they state in their opinion piece in The Indian Express.
A young woman, only 19 years old, hailing from the Valmiki community, was denied the promise of the Constitution of India of equality before the law and equal protection of the law, in both life and death. The sequence of events that saw the unforgivable forced burning of the body of the young woman in Hathras is as horrifying as the end that she met.
“As if it wasn’t bad enough that the entire investigation of the dastardly violence against this young Dalit woman had been compromised, and her health and medical condition had been neglected, the actions of the UP police officials after she passed away seem unfathomable,” they state.
As citizens of India, when we gave ourselves our Constitution, we cast upon our judiciary the duty to protect our fundamental rights against any encroachment from the executive, irrespective of the religion we espoused or the caste forced upon us.
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“And today, as we stand shaken and humiliated by the brazen inhumanity perpetrated on the most vulnerable of Indians in complete violation of the rule of law, we hope that our judiciary will exercise its immense constitutional power to lead and supervise a free, fair and speedy investigation into the heinous allegation of brutal rape and the completely illegal forced cremation and illegal detention by the UP police,” they conclude.
9. Explained | Azerbaijan vs Armenia: An old regional conflict, and interested neighbours.
Military action claims 100 lives in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region. What is the dispute, and how are other countries getting involved?
Demonstrators wave flags of Azerbaijan and Turkey during a protest against Armenia in Istanbul, Turkey October 1, 2020. (Photo: REUTERS/Murad Sezer)
Over the last one week, military action in Nagorno-Karabakh, a region disputed between Armenia and Azerbaijan, has resulted in the death of at least 100 civilians and Armenian combatants. While the two countries have fought over the region for decades, the current
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conflict is being seen as one of the most serious in recent years. Azerbaijan has not released information on its casualties.
What is Nagorno-Karabakh?
Straddling western Asia and Eastern Europe, Nagorno-Karabakh is internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan, but most of the region is controlled by Armenian separatists. Nagorno- Karabakh has been part of Azerbaijan territory since the Soviet era. When the Soviet Union began to collapse in the late 1980s, Armenia’s regional parliament voted for the region’s transfer to Armenia; the Soviet authorities turned down the demand.
Years of clashes followed between Azerbaijan forces and Armenian separatists. The violence lasted into the 1990s, leaving tens and thousands dead and displacing hundreds of thousands. In 1994, Russia brokered a ceasefire, by which time ethnic Armenians had taken control of the region.
While the area remains in Azerbaijan, it is today governed by separatist Armenians who have declared it a republic called the “Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast”. While the Armenian government does not recognise Nagorno-Karabakh as independent, it supports the region politically and militarily.
Even after the 1994 peace deal, the region has been marked by regular exchanges of fire. In 2016, it saw a Four-Day War before Russia mediated peace. The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group, chaired by France, Russia and the US, has tried to get the two countries to reach a peace agreement for several years.
What is the fresh conflict about?
It began on the morning of September 27, since when each country has claimed to have inflicted serious loss on its opponent. What’s different about the current flare-up is that this is the first time that both countries have proclaimed martial law.
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According to the Warsaw-based Centre for Eastern Studies (OSW), the current escalation was “most likely” initiated by Azerbaijan. Media reports have noted that the clashes were possibly a fallout of Azerbaijan’s bid to reclaim some territories occupied by separatist Armenians.
The chairman of Azerbaijan’s National Council has said in a statement that the “military operation of the Azerbaijani army continues to clear the territories occupied by the enemy for almost 30 years”. He said September 27 was a “day of exhaustion” and alleged Armenia has occupied regions around Nagorono-Karabakh with the “direct support” of Russia to create a “security zone”.
What are the stakes for Russia, and other countries?
The conflict is getting worldwide attention because of the involvement of regional rivals Turkey and Russia. Muslim-majority Turkey backs Azerbaijan, and recently condemned Christian-majority Armenia for not resolving the issue through peaceful negotiations. Turkey recently declared unconditional support to Muslim-majority Azerbaijan.
Russia and Turkey also back opposite sides in the civil wars playing out in Syria and Libya and Turkey’s support for Azerbaijan may be seen as an attempt to counter Russia’s influence in the region of South Caucasus.
Russia’s role is somewhat opaque since it supplies arms to both countries and is in a military alliance with Armenia called the Collective Security Treaty Organisation. In a statement released on Monday, Dmitry Peskov, the Press Secretary of the President of the Russian Federation, said Russia “has always taken a balanced position” on the matter and has “traditionally good relations” with both countries. He added that Russia is in contact with Turkey regarding the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Other countries, including the US, have limited their participation to appeals for maintaining peace so far. For all countries, the region is an important transit route for the supply of oil and natural gas to the European Union.
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What next?
As of now, both sides are standing their ground. The Russian state news agency TASS quoted Azerbaijan President Ikhlam Aliyev as saying that for the fighting to stop, Armenia must unconditionally leave Nagorno-Karabakh.
On Monday, the Armenian government lodged a request with the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) for an interim measure (applicable only when there is imminent risk of irreparable harm) against Azerbaijan. It requested the court to indicate to the Azerbaijani government to “cease the military attacks towards the civilian settlements along the entire line of contact of the armed forces of Armenia and Artsakh”.
10. Explained: What are defence offsets? Here’ everything you need to know.
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Effective today, the new Defence Acquisition Procedure removes the clause for offsets for certain kinds of defence contracts. How does the offset policy work, and why has this step been taken?
A Rafale jet at the induction ceremony at Ambala Air Force base. (Express Photo: Tashi Tobgyal)
The Defence Ministry came up with its latest Defence Acquisition Procedure 2020 (DAP 2020) on Monday, which comes into effect from Thursday, October 1. Changing a 15-year old policy, the government has decided to remove the clause for offsets if the equipment is being bought either through deals or agreements between two countries, or through an ab initio single-vendor deal.
What are defence offsets?
In simplest terms, the offset is an obligation by an international player to boost India’s domestic defence industry if India is buying defence equipment from it. Since defence contracts are costly, the government wants part of that money either to benefit the Indian industry, or to allow the country to gain in terms of technology.
The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), in a report submitted on September 23, defined offsets as a “mechanism generally established with the triple objectives of: (a) partially compensating for a significant outflow of a buyer country’s resources in a large purchase of foreign goods (b) facilitating induction of technology and (c) adding capacities and capabilities of domestic industry”.
An offset provision in a contract makes it obligatory on the supplier to either “reverse purchase, execute export orders or invest in local industry or in research and development” in the buyer’s domestic industry, according to CAG.
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When was the policy introduced?
Amit Cowshish, a former Financial Advisor to the Defence Ministry, who retired in 2012 and continues to be part of the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analysis, said the policy was adopted on the recommendations of the Vijay Kelkar Committee in 2005.
“The idea was that since we have been buying a lot of defence equipment from foreign countries, so that we can leverage our buying power by making them discharge offset obligations, which is the norm world over,” Cowshish said. “The first policy said that all defence procurements exceeding Rs 300 crore, estimated cost, will entail offset obligations of at least 30%, which could be increased or decreased by the DAC (Defence Acquisition Council),” Cowshish said.
The Sixth Standing Committee on Defence (2005-06) had recommended in December 2005 in its report on Defence Procurement Policy and Procedure that modalities for implementation of offset contracts should be worked out.
The first offset contract was signed in 2007. The government stated the “objective for defence offsets” for the first time on August 1, 2012: “The key objective of the Defence Offset Policy is to leverage capital acquisitions to develop Indian defence industry by (i) fostering development of internationally competitive enterprises, (ii) augmenting capacity for Research, Design and Development related to defence products and services and (iii) encouraging development of synergistic sectors like civil aerospace, and internal security”.
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(Expre ss Photo: Tashi Tobgyal)
How can a foreign vendor fulfil its offset obligations?
There are multiple routes. Until 2016, the vendor had to declare around the time of signing the contract the details about how it will go about it. In April 2016, the new policy amended it to allow it to provide it “either at the time of seeking offset credits or one year prior to discharge of offset obligations”.
The August 2012 Defence Ministry note mentioned these avenues * Direct purchase of, or executing export orders for, eligible products manufactured by, or services provided by Indian enterprises * Foreign Direct Investment in joint ventures with Indian enterprises (equity investment) for eligible products and services * Investment in ‘kind’ in terms of transfer of technology (TOT) to Indian enterprises, through joint ventures or through the non-equity route for eligible products and services * Investment in ‘kind’ in Indian enterprises in terms of provision of equipment through the non-equity route for manufacture and/or maintenance of products and services * Provision of equipment and/or TOT to government institutions and establishments engaged in the manufacture and/or maintenance of eligible products, and provision of eligible services, including DRDO (as distinct from Indian enterprises).
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* Technology acquisition by DRDO in areas of high technology.
Cowshish said the 2012 note also introduced offset banking and multipliers. “Banking means that in anticipation of getting a contract from the Defence Ministry, a vendor could discharge offsets and earn the credit which could be banked. Later on, if you got the contract, you could use the banked credits, subject to certain conditions.” He said.
For multipliers, Cowshish said, “if you discharge offset obligation by taking an MSME unit as an IOP (Indian Offset Partner for the foreign vendor), you get the multiplier of 1.5, which is to say if you discharge an offset obligation of Rs 100, but your IOP is an MSME unit, you will get an offset credit of Rs 150”.
The DAP 2020 has given transfer of critical technology to DRDO the highest multiplier of 4.
Will no defence contracts have offset clauses now?
Only government-to-government agreements (G2G), ab initio single vendor contracts or inter-governmental agreements (IGA) will not have offset clauses anymore. For example, the deal to buy 36 Rafale fighter jets, signed between the Indian and French governments in 2016, was an IGA.
“Ab initio single vendor means that when you start the process you have only one vendor… There can be a situation when you start with two or three vendors and issue Request for Proposals (RFP) to them, and are left with a single vendor, which is called a resultant single vendor situation,” Cowshish said. The Defence Ministry issues the RFP to only one vendor. IGA is an agreement between two countries, and could be an umbrella contract, under which you can go on signing individual contracts, Cowshish said. G2G is transaction specific, or an acquisition specific agreement, he said.
According to DAP 2020, all other international deals that are competitive, and have multiple vendors vying for it, will continue to have a 30% offset clause.
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The induction ceremony of the newly acquired Rafale jets was held in the presence of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and his French counterpart Florence Parly at the Ambala Air Force station in Haryana on Thursday. (Express Photo: Tashi Tobgyal)
Why was the clause removed?
Apurva Chandra, Director General of Acquisitions, said Monday that vendors would “load” extra cost in the contract to balance the costs, and doing away with the offsets can bring down the costs in such contracts. Sources explained that there are “administrative costs” involved in discharging offset obligations, which the vendors pay. Chandra had also mentioned recent CAG criticism.
What has the CAG said?
The CAG has been critical of the entire policy. From the first contract signed in 2007 until March 2018, CAG said, 46 offset contracts have been signed for Rs 66,427 crore. “On the whole, from 2007 till December 2018. Rs 19,223 crore worth of offsets should have been discharged. However, the claimed discharge of the offset obligation by the vendors till
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December 2018 was Rs 11,396 crore. This was only 59 per cent of the offsets which were due by December 2018.”
It said the relevant authority had accepted claims of only Rs 5,457 crore out of the Rs 11,396 crore and rest are either pending or rejected. “The remaining offset obligation of about Rs 55,000 crore is due to be completed by 2024”. The CAG is not very hopeful of the obligations being met by 2024. It said the audit “found that the foreign vendors made various offset commitments to qualify for the main supply contract but later, were not earnest about fulfilling these commitments”.
The CAG had not found “a single case where the foreign vendor had transferred high technology to the Indian industry”.
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11. Drugs case: When does an statement by an accused become admissible in a trial?
One of those arrested in the Bollywood drugs case has said he was forced to falsely implicate Karan Johar. Rhea Chakraborty has retracted the statements on the basis of which other actors have been questioned. A lot hinges on what the Supreme Court says in another, unrelated case.
X So far, 20 accused have been arrested in the drugs case, including Rhea Chakraborty.
A former executive producer of Dharmatic Entertainment, the sister concern of Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions, told a Mumbai court on Sunday (September 27) that he was made to sign a statement against his will by senior officials of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB).
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Kshitij Prasad also told the court that he was forced to falsely state that Johar and some others consume drugs.
The NCB has denied the accusations. It has said that the investigation was being carried out in a professional manner, and that Prasad was not cooperating with the investigators. So far, 20 accused have been arrested in the drugs case which the NCB is probing. Some of the accused, including actor Rhea Chakraborty, have told the court that they were coerced into giving self-incriminatory confessions, and have retracted from them.
What is ‘self-incrimination’?
One of the methods employed by investigating agencies to collect evidence in a criminal investigation is interrogation of the accused. However, a safeguard in criminal law across the world, specified also in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, states that no person charged with a criminal offence can be compelled to testify against herself, or to confess guilt. This is often referred to as the right to remain silent or the right against self- incrimination.
A common reference about this in popular culture is the “Miranda rights” or “Miranda warning”. It refers to the law in the United States after a 1966 Supreme Court case ‘Miranda vs Arizona’, which makes it obligatory for police to inform a person in custody that they have the right to remain silent, and that anything they say can be used against them in court. In India, Article 20(3) of the Constitution states: “No person accused of any offence shall be compelled to be a witness against himself.”
This means that an accused cannot be forced by an investigating agency to give a confession or any information which may establish their involvement in an offence, or that of others.
What is the law in India on confessions by accused?
The Indian Evidence Act, 1872, states that confessions obtained through inducement, threat, or promise are irrelevant in a criminal proceeding. Any statement made before the police is inadmissible as evidence as per the Act.
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A voluntary confession by an accused can be given only before a magistrate under Section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code. This is to ensure that police do not force statements out of accused in their custody through threats, violence, and harassment.
The magistrate who records the confession is expected to inform the accused beforehand that she is not bound to give the statement, and that it could be used against her. The magistrate has to ensure that the statement is being given with free will, and that no police officer is present during its recording.
If a statement is retracted subsequently, the courts may rely on them as long as there is other evidence which corroborates the statements.
Is this true of all cases?
Some special Acts, including the now repealed Terrorism and Disruptive Activities(Prevention) Act (TADA) and Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA), as well as the existing Control of Organised Crime Acts in Maharashtra and Gujarat, permit confessions to be recorded by a police officer above a specified rank. And what about confessions given in cases involving the Narcotic Substances and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act like the current case involving Rhea Chakraborty and others?
Section 67 of the Act gives an officer the power to call for information from any person or examine him during an inquiry. However, the provision has seen differing judgments and opinions over the years.
One argument is that the official given this power under the NDPS Act should be treated as a ‘police officer’, and such statements should not be admissible as evidence.
The contrary opinion is that Section 67 does not state that the officer is a ‘police officer’; hence the statement can be treated as a confession and be relied upon as evidence.
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In 2013, the Supreme Court in ‘Tofan Singh vs State of Tamil Nadu’ considered these arguments. The court said that the term ‘police officer’ is not defined under the Evidence Act or the Criminal Procedure Code, and its meaning ought to be assessed from the “perception of the common public”, and from whether the person concerned “is capable of exercising influence or authority over a person from whom a confession is obtained”.
The court referred the case to a larger Bench for consideration of these issues. Arguments before a Bench of Justices R F Nariman, Navin Sinha, and Indira Banerjee were concluded on September 16, and the order has been reserved.
Can the statements given by Chakraborty, the ex-staffer of Dharmatic Entertainment, and other accused be relied upon in this case?
In the drugs case, the NCB has said that during the investigation, a link was established from statements given by accused persons including Chakraborty. However, she and a few others have told a court that they were coerced into giving these statements, and have retracted them.
But these statements are the basis for the summoning of others, including actors Sara Ali Khan, Shraddha Kapoor, and Rakul Preet Singh, who were called in for questioning.
The Supreme Court order could determine the status of these statements, and whether they can be admissible during the trial eventually.
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12. Babri Masjid conspiracy case: How the demolition trial progressed over the years.
Ayodhya conspiracy case: As a Lucknow court pronounced its judgment on the Babri Masjid demolition case on Wednesday, a look at how the trial has progressed over the years.
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Kar sevaks atop the dome of Babri Masjid on December 6, 1992. (Express Archive)
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A special CBI court in Lucknow has fixed Wednesday, September 30 for pronouncement of its judgment in the Babri Masjid demolition case.
While the Supreme Court has delivered the final judgment in the Ayodhya title suit, Wednesday’s judgment will be the first in the nearly 28-year-old demolition case. Once pronounced, it can be challenged in higher courts.
Of the 49 accused, 32 are alive today.
The cases filed
After the demolition of the Babri Masjid on December 6, 1992, two separate cases were filed at Ram Janmabhoomi police station in Faizabad.
The first was filed at 5.15 pm by the then SHO, Priyamvada Nath Shukla, against unknown kar sevaks. This was under IPC sections 395 (dacoity), 397 (robbery or dacoity, with attempt to cause death or grievous hurt), 332 (voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from duty), 337 (causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others), 338 (causing grievous hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others), 295 (injuring or defiling place of worship with intent to insult the religion of any class), 297 (trespassing on burial places, etc) and 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony). Police also invoked Section 7 of the Criminal Law Amendment Act.
The second FIR was filed 10 minutes later by sub-inspector Ganga Prasad Tiwari, in-charge of Ramjanmabhoomi police outpost, against eight persons including senior BJP leaders — L K Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Ashok Singhal (now deceased), Giriraj Kishore (deceased), Vishnu Hari Dalmia (deceased), Vinay Katiyar, Uma Bharti and Sadhvi Ritambhara. This was under IPC sections 153-A, 153-B (imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration) and 505 (statements conducing to public mischief).
Between December 6 and 21, police registered 47 more FIRs, mostly relating to assault on and looting of media persons during the demolition.
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The CBI probe
The state government initially assigned the case against unidentified kar sevaks to the Crime Branch’s Criminal Investigation Department (CB-CID). On December 12, 1992, the state sent a recommendation to the Centre for transfer of the investigation to the CBI, which lodged an FIR and began its investigation the following day.
The other case, in which Advani and others were named, was investigated by local police and thereafter the CB-CID. On December 16, the state government in consultation with the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court issued a notification setting up a special court of a judicial magistrate in Lalitpur for this case. After getting sanction, the CB-CID filed a chargesheet against Advani and the seven others in this court on February 27, 1993.
On July 8, 1993, the state government in consultation with the High Court issued another notification, transferring the place of sitting of the court from Lalitpur to Rae Bareli. In August 1993, the state government sent a recommendation for a CBI probe into the other 48 FIRs. The CBI was handed over all these cases.
In September, the state government, in consultation with the High Court, issued another notification constituting a special court in Lucknow for the cases relating to demolition. Meanwhile, the CBI moved an application in the Rae Bareli court, seeking — and getting — CBI permission for further investigatio
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n in the case against Advani and others.
The accused in the Ayodhya conspiracy case
The CBI case in court
On October 5, 1993, the CBI filed a chargesheet against 40 persons in the Lucknow court. On October 8, the state government issued a notification that the case against Advani and others would also be heard in Lucknow.
In January, 1994, the Rae Bareli court transferred records on the demolition case to the Lucknow court. In 1996, the CBI filed a supplementary chargesheet against nine more persons.
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In September 1997, the Lucknow court took cognisance of the CBI chargesheet and ordered charges be framed against accused. Summonses were issued. In its chargesheet, the CBI claimed it had evidence that the demolition was the fallout of a larger conspiracy. Charges under section 120-B IPC were added.
In February 2001, 33 of the accused filed a petition in the High Court challenging the summonses issued by the Lucknow court. They also challenged the trial of the case against Advani and others in the Lucknow court. Their ground was that the state government had issued the notification on the transfer of the case without consulting the High Court. The CBI requested the government to issue a fresh notification after consultation with the High Court; the government did not.
On February 12, 2001, the High Court passed an order finding no illegality in a joint single chargesheet for all the FIRs on the ground that all the offences were committed in the course of the same transaction to accomplish the conspiracy, and that the evidence for all offences is almost the same. The court upheld the framing of charges in all 48 cases, except the one against Advani and others. “The High Court observed that the notification dated October 8, 1993, by which the trial of the case in which Advani and others were accused was transferred to Lucknow, was legally not sound,” said defence counsel Abhishek Ranjan.
The High Court said the mistake in issuing the notification on October 8, 1993 was curable and this could be done through another notification
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BJP leaders Uma Bharti hugs Murli Manohar Joshi celebrating the demolition of Babri Masjid at Ayodhya. (Express Archive/Kedar Jain)
The case against Advani
On May 4, 2001, based on the High Court order, the Lucknow trial court dropped proceedings on the case against Advani and others. It also dropped proceedings against 13 other accused including Mahant Avaidya Nath, Ram Vilas Vedanti, Mahant Nritya Gopal Das, Kalyan Singh, Balasaheb Thackeray and Champat Rai until rectification of the government notification. The court held that these 21 accused were covered in the case in which Advani and others were accused. In the Lucknow court, the trial was on against 28 persons now. In June 2001, the CBI moved the High Court against the Lucknow court order dropping proceedings against 21 persons.
In 2003, the CBI moved the Rae Bareli court requesting that it start proceedings of the case against Advani and others. It requested that documents of this case be summoned from Lucknow, and also moved an application in Lucknow court requesting that it send these documents to Rae Bareli. The Lucknow court ordered these be sent. On September 19, 2003, the Rae Bareli court discharged Advani and summoned the other seven accused. These seven then moved the High Court against the summons. The CBI too moved a petition over Advani being discharged.
In July 2005, the High Court set aside the Rae Bareli court order and directed all the accused to appear. On July 28, it framed charges against Advani and the seven others. In August 2010, the Lucknow court framed charges against the remaining accused.
In 2011, the CBI moved a Special Leave Petition after the High Court had upheld the May 4, 2001 trial corder order dropping proceedings against 21. On April 19, 2017, the Supreme Court ordered adding of criminal conspiracy charges against the accused then facing trial in Rae Bareli. The court also ordered restoration of charges that had been dropped against 13 accused, and clubbing of the trial against Advani and others (two of them had passed away by then) with the case being tried in Lucknow. The court directed that there shall be no transfer of the judge conducting the trial until the entire trial concludes, and the trial be conducted day to day.
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In May 2017, the Lucknow court ordered framing of charges against Advani, Joshi, Katiyar and Bharti. Fresh charges were made out against the 13 against whom proceedings were dropped.
Kar sevaks at the site facing the Babri Masjid in July 1992. (Express Archive/Praveen Jain)
This year, so far The recording of prosecution witness statements was completed in March this year. The court then began recording statements of the accused under Section 313 CrPC.The statements of Satish Pradhan, Advani, Joshi and Ram Chandra Khatri were recorded through videoconference as they could not appear in court because of various reasons. The recording of statements was completed in July this year. The defence did not produce any witnesses
The prosecution submitted written arguments on August 21, and the defence did so on August 31. On September 16, the court said the judgment would be pronounced on September 30. An earlier deadline for judgment expired on August 31 before the Supreme Court extended it.
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13. Explained: What is the role of the Artillery in the Indian
Army?
The foundation of the Regiment of Artillery was laid on September 28 in 1827 when Bombay Artillery, later renamed 5 Bombay Mountain Battery, was raised. This day is celebrated by the Regiment of Artillery as Gunners Day.
The Regiment of Artillery of the Indian Army is celebrating the 193rd Gunners Day today. (Source: Twitter/@SpokespersonMoD)
The Regiment of Artillery of the Indian Army celebrated the 193rd Gunners Day on September 28 marking the date in 1827 when the Five Bombay Mountain Battery, equipped with 2.5 inch guns, was raised in the British Indian Army.
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The Artillery and its Gunners
One of the basic warfare lessons is that greater the distance from which one can target the enemy, greater the flexibility one can achieve for ground manoeuvres. From the catapults and cannons used in ancient times, the evolution of mechanical projectiles, to the modern day artillery guns which are integrated with network centric warfare, the role of gunners has always been a winning factor in the battlefield, proving to be a crucial support system to the other fighting arms.
The artilleries of Mughals, Marathas and those of Sikh armies among other historic entities have played a major role in their successful campaigns. The foundation of the Regiment of Artillery was laid on September 28 in 1827 when Bombay Artillery, later renamed 5 Bombay Mountain Battery, was raised. This day is celebrated by the Regiment of Artillery as Gunners Day.
In May 1857, the mutiny by Indian soldiers started in the artillery of the Army of the Bengal Presidency. The incident prompted a complete ban on Indian artillery units, except the mountain artillery batteries in select provinces. The decision was reversed in the mid-1930s when the first of the field regiments — which support the other formations on the field — of the Indian Army were raised.
With the motto ‘Sarvatra Izzat-O-Iqbal – Everywhere with Honour and Glory’, the regiment boasts of one Victoria Cross, one Distinguished Service Order, 15 Military Crosses during the pre-independence era and one Ashok Chakra, seven Maha Vir Chakras, nine Kirti Chakras, 101 Vir Chakras, 63 Shaurya Chakras, six Bar to Sena Medal, 485 Sena Medals besides many other decorations.
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The present day Artillery
Today, the Artillery of Indian Army consists of a dynamic inventory which ranges from Ballistic Missile, Multi-Barrel Rocket launchers, High Mobility Guns, Mortars Precision Guided Munitions for destruction of enemy targets to Radars, UAVs and Electro optic devices for locating and carrying out Post Strike Damage Assessment (PSDA). The Regiment of Artillery has played a key role in all the post independence conflicts with the neighbours including the Kargil War.
The importance of the artillery in conventional warfare remains intact, especially with the artillery guns playing a major role in the ‘Integrated battle groups’. These battle groups are formations comprising artillery, mechanised infantry and armoured and infantry elements along with the modern day force multipliers like UAVs and electronic warfare systems. The artillery fire can be used for suppressive and destructive purposes to get an upper hand over the enemy.
Around 30 years after the acquisition of the Bofors guns in 1980s which proved decisive in Kargil war, two more artillery guns — the K9 Vajra of the Indian-South Korean make and US sourced M777 Ultra Light Howitzers — were inducted into the Indian Army in 2018. While Defence Research and Development Organisation’s (DRDO) Dhanush is in the pipeline for induction, its Advanced Towed Artillery Gun System (ATAGS) is in its trial stages.
The evolving role of the Artillery
Along with its role in conventional battlefield, artillery is extensively being deployed and used in the counter insurgency (CI) battles. Earlier the artillery used to be avoided in counter insurgency operations because of the concern of the collateral damage, but with the advent of precision ammunition, its role has attained a lot of importance. Artillery formations have
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been deployed in counter insurgency operations in Jammu and Kashmir as well as the north eastern theatre by the Indian Army.
With the introduction of self-propelled and automated artillery weapon systems, the footprint of artillery has reduced because of removal of ancillary systems. These advancements have also helped in increasing the survivability of the systems against the enemy fire because their ability to manoeuvre in all types of terrains has also increased. The introduction of ‘force multipliers’ like satellite communication, UAVs, networked electronic systems and artificial intelligence have increased the efficacy of artillery and have again underlined its role as a decisive arm on the battlefield.
14. Explained Ideas: Why farmers are unwilling to trust the central government’s farm reforms.
Farm bills are seen by farmers to deliver freedom — not to them, but to private capital, writes Himanshu.
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Describing the agriculture bill passed by Centre as anti-farmers, Dr Chabbewal and Mann said that the Prime Minister had hurriedly passed these Bills to benefit the industry. (Representational)
On Friday, farmers’ organisations across the country gave a call for a bandh to protest the three bills passed by Parliament. These bills were passed amid protests by the Opposition parties, without discussion in Parliament. Even the government’s allies, such as the Shiromani Akali Dal, have raised apprehensions, lending their voice to the farmers’ demands.
Projected as historic reforms, the government promises freedom to the farmers from the “villainous and exploitative” Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) mandis and from the middlemen who charge commission from trade in these mandis . Most farmers would agree that the functioning of the mandis is inefficient, opaque, politicised and often controlled by cartels. The attempt to reform the functioning of the mandis is not new and has been in process for the last two decades.
So why are farmers protesting instead of welcoming the freedom from mandis?
Himanshu, associate professor, Centre for Economic Studies and Planning, JNU, provides the answers in his opinion piece in The Indian Express.
For one, he writes, this time farmers are on the streets fighting for restoring the primacy of the mandis in agricultural trade primarily because APMC mandis are an essential part of the agricultural trading ecosystem.
While farmers may have a confrontationist attitude to the functioning and administration of mandis, they also share a symbiotic relationship with the middlemen and the mandis extending beyond matters of transaction in agricultural produce.
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“The middlemen are a source of information, inputs, and sometimes credit without collateral,” he explains.
The anger is also over the manner in which the bills were thrust upon the farming community. Not only the farmers’ organisations but even state governments and allies have not been consulted.
Secondly, all the earlier attempts at reforming agricultural marketing respected the constitutional separation of powers. Most APMC reforms were enacted by states.
On the other hand, the current reforms completely bypass the state governments and weaken their ability to regulate agricultural markets even though it is a state subject.
Further, unlike earlier reforms where the focus was on strengthening the functioning of APMC mandis while allowing for greater private market access and participation, the current bill bypasses the APMC altogether, creating a separate structure of trading.
Most farmers realise that the reform is not delivering on the promise of freedom to farmers but freedom to private capital to purchase agricultural produce at cheaper prices and without any regulation or oversight by the government.
“The fight to retain the APMC despite its shortcomings is also a fight to extract a commitment from the government on maintaining state support to the agricultural sector,” explains Himanshu.
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15. Retrospective taxation: The Vodafone case, and The Hague court ruling.
The court has also asked India not to pursue the tax demand any more against Vodafone Group.
X Pedestrians walk past a Vodafone India Ltd. store in Mumbai. (Bloomberg Photo: Dhiraj Singh)
In a unanimous decision, the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague on Friday ruled that India’s retrospective demand of Rs 22,100 crore as capital gains and withholding tax imposed on the British telecommunication company for a 2007 deal was “in breach of the guarantee of fair and equitable treatment”. The court has also asked India not to pursue the tax demand any more against Vodafone Group.
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What is the case?
In May 2007, Vodafone had bought a 67% stake in Hutchison Whampoa for $11 billion. This included the mobile telephony business and other assets of Hutchison in India. In September that year, the India government for the first time raised a demand of Rs 7,990 crore in capital gains and withholding tax from Vodafone, saying the company should have deducted the tax at source before making a payment to Hutchison.
Vodafone challenged the demand notice in the Bombay High Court, which ruled in favour of the Income Tax Department. Subsequently, Vodafone challenged the High Court judgment in the Supreme Court, which in 2012 ruled that Vodafone Group’s interpretation of the Income Tax Act of 1961 was correct and that it did not have to pay any taxes for the stake purchase.
The same year, the then Finance Minister, the late Pranab Mukherjee, circumvented the Supreme Court’s ruling by proposing an amendment to the Finance Act, thereby giving the Income Tax Department the power to retrospectively tax such deals. The Act was passed by Parliament that year and the onus to pay the taxes fell back on Vodafone. The case had by then become infamous as the ‘retrospective taxation case’.
SETBACK FOR POLICY
The ruling in favour of Vodafone signals a setback for the country's retrospective taxation policies. It also raises the possibility of other cases under arbitration being decided on similar lines.
What is retrospective taxation?
As the name suggests, retrospective taxation allows a country to pass a rule on taxing certain products, items or services and deals and charge companies from a time behind the date on which the law is passed.
Countries use this route to correct any anomalies in their taxation policies that have, in the past, allowed companies to take advantage of such loopholes. While governments often use a
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retrospective amendment to taxation laws to “clarify” existing laws, it ends up hurting companies that had knowingly or unknowingly interpreted the tax rules differently. Apart from India, many countries including the US, the UK, the Netherlands, Canada, Belgium, Australia and Italy have retrospectively taxed companies, which had taken the benefit of loopholes in the previous law.
What happened after India passed the retrospective taxation law?
Once Parliament passed the amendment to the Finance Act in 2012, the onus to pay the taxes fell back on Vodafone. The amendment was criticised by investors globally, who said the change in law was “perverse” in nature.
“The retrospective amendment that overturned the decision of the highest court of the land was badly drafted in its wide generalities and carried a perverse sense of vindictiveness,” said Nigam Nuggehalli, Dean of the School of Law at BML Munjal University.
Following international criticism, India tried to settle the matter amicably with Vodafone, but was unable to do so. After the new NDA government came to power, it said it would not create any fresh tax liabilities for companies using the retrospective taxation route. By 2014, all attempts by the telco and the Finance Ministry to settle the issue had failed. Vodafone Group then invoked Clause 9 of the Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) signed between India and the Netherlands in 1995.
What is the Bilateral Investment Treaty?
On November 6, 1995, India and the Netherlands had signed a BIT for promotion and protection of investment by companies of each country in the other’s jurisdiction. Among the various agreements, the treaty had then stated that both countries would strive to “encourage and promote favourable conditions for investors” of the other country. The two countries would, under the BIT, ensure that companies present in each other’s jurisdictions
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would be “at all times be accorded fair and equitable treatment and shall enjoy full protection and security in the territory of the other”.
While the treaty was between India and the Netherlands, Vodafone invoked it as its Dutch unit, Vodafone International Holdings BV, had bought the Indian business operations of Hutchinson Telecommunicaton International Ltd. This made it a transaction between a Dutch firm and an Indian firm.
The BIT between India and the Netherlands expired on September 22, 2016.
What did the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague say?
One of the major factors for the Court of Arbitration to rule in favour of Vodafone was the violation of the BIT and the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL).
In 2014, when the Vodafone Group had initiated arbitration against India at the Court of Arbitration, it had done so under Article 9 of the BIT between India and the Netherlands. Article 9 of the BIT says that any dispute between “an investor of one contracting party and the other contracting party in connection with an investment in the territory of the other contracting party” shall as far as possible be settled amicably through negotiations.
The other was Article 3 of the arbitration rules of UNCITRAL, which, among other things, says that “constitution of the arbitral tribunal shall not be hindered by any controversy with respect to the sufficiency of the notice of arbitration, which shall be finally resolved by the arbitral tribunal”.
In its ruling, the arbitration tribunal also said that now since it had been established that India had breached the terms of the agreement, it must now stop efforts to recover the said taxes from Vodafone.
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16. Redefining essential items: Why it was needed, and who it will impact.
An amendment to Essential Commodities Act, 1955 deregulates key foodstuffs except under extraordinary circumstances. Why was the need felt, and why have farmers and the Opposition raised concerns over it?
At the Sealdah Koley market in Kolkata. (Express Photo: Shashi Ghosh)
On Tuesday, Rajya Sabha passed the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill, 2020 which is aimed at deregulating commodities such as cereals, pulses, oilseeds, edible oils, onion and potatoes. The Bill had been introduced and passed in Lok Sabha last week. It replaces an ordinance that the government had promulgated on June 5, along with two other ordinances on the farm sector. As with the two other ordinances (also passed as Bills) that have seen protests from farmers in Punjab and Haryana, there have been concerns about the provisions of this Bill, too.
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What is the Bill about?
It is a four-page Bill that amends the Essential Commodities Act, 1955, by introducing a new Subsection (1A) in Section 3.
After the amendment, the supply of certain foodstuffs — including cereals, pulses, oilseeds, edible oils, potato — can be regulated only under extraordinary circumstances, which include an extraordinary price rise, war, famine, and natural calamity of a severe nature. In effect, the amendment takes these items out from the purview of Section 3(1), which gives powers to central government to “control production, supply, distribution, etc, of essential commodities”.
Earlier, these commodities were not mentioned under Section 3(1) and reasons for invoking the section were not specified. The amendments states that “such order for regulating stock limit shall not apply to a processor or value chain participant of any agricultural produce, if the stock limit of such person does not exceed the overall ceiling of installed capacity of processing, or the demand for export in case of an exporter…”
How is an ‘essential commodity’ defined?
There is no specific definition of essential commodities in the Essential Commodities Act, 1955. Section 2(A) states that an “essential commodity” means a commodity specified in the Schedule of the Act.
The Act gives powers to the central government to add or remove a commodity in the Schedule. The Centre, if it is satisfied that it is necessary to do so in public interest, can notify an item as essential, in consultation with state governments. According to the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, which implements the Act, the Schedule at present contains seven commodities — drugs; fertilisers, whether inorganic, organic or mixed; foodstuffs including edible oils; hank yarn made wholly from cotton; petroleum and petroleum products; raw jute and jute textiles; seeds of food- crops and seeds of fruits and vegetables, seeds of cattle fodder, jute seed, cotton seed.
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By declaring a commodity as essential, the government can control the production, supply, and distribution of that commodity, and impose a stock limit.
The move is expected to attract private investment in the value chain of commodities removed from the list of essentials, such as onions. (Express Photo: Shashi Ghosh)
Under what circumstances can the government impose stock limits?
While the 1955 Act did not provide a clear framework to impose stock limits, the amended Act provides for a price trigger. It says that agricultural foodstuffs can only be regulated under extraordinary circumstances such as war, famine, extraordinary price rise, and natural calamity.
However, any action on imposing stock limits will be based on the price trigger. Thus, in case of horticultural produce, a 100% increase in the retail price of a commodity over the immediately preceding 12 months or over the average retail price of the last five years, whichever is lower, will be the trigger for invoking the stock limit.
For non-perishable agricultural foodstuffs, the price trigger will be a 50% increase in the retail price of the commodity over the immediately preceding 12 months or over the average retail price of the last five years, whichever is lower.
However, exemptions from stock-holding limits will be provided to processors and value chain participants of any agricultural produce, and orders relating to the Public Distribution System.
“Price triggers will also minimise the earlier uncertainties associated with the imposition of orders under stock limits. This will now be more transparent and help in better governance,” said a source at the Consumer Affairs Ministry.
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“The last 10 years have seen periods of prolonged application of the EC Act. Once imposed, they were for long periods — pulses from 2006 to 2017, rice from 2008 to 2014, edible oilseeds from 2008 to 2018. Amendments to the EC Act seek to remove this uncertainty by defining criteria for the process of imposing stock limits and making it more transparent and accountable,” the source said.
Why was the need for this felt?
The 1955 Act was legislated at a time when the country was facing a scarcity of foodstuffs due to persistent low levels of foodgrains production. The country was dependent on imports and assistance (such as wheat import form the US under PL-480) to feed the population. To prevent hoarding and black marketing of foodstuffs, the Essential Commodities Act was enacted in 1955.
But now the situation has changed. A note prepared by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution shows that production of wheat has increased 10 times (from less than 10 million tonnes in 1955-56 to more than 100 million tonnes in 2018-19), while the production of rice has increased more than four times (from around 25 million tonnes to 110 million tonnes during the same period). The production of pulses has increased 2.5 times, from 10 million tonnes to 25 million tonnes.
In fact, India has now become an exporter of several agricultural products.
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The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill, 2020 is aimed at deregulating commodities such as onion and potatoes. (Express Photo: Shashi Ghosh)
What will be the impact of the amendments? The key changes seek to free agricultural markets from the limitations imposed by permits and mandis that were originally designed for an era of scarcity. The move is expected to attract private investment in the value chain of commodities removed from the list of essentials, such as cereals, pulses, oilseeds, edible oils, onions and potatoes. While the purpose of the Act was originally to protect the interests of consumers by checking illegal trade practices such as hoarding, it has now become a hurdle for investment in the agriculture sector in general, and in post-harvesting activities in particular. The private sector had so far hesitated about investing in cold chains and storage facilities for perishable items as most of these commodities were under the ambit of the EC Act, and could attract sudden stock limits. The amendment seeks to address such concerns.
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Why is it being opposed?
This was one of the three ordinances/Bills that have seen protests from farmers in parts of the country. The Opposition says the amendment will hurt farmers and consumers, and will only benefit hoarders. They say the price triggers envisioned in the Bill are unrealistic — so high that they will hardly ever be invoked.
This article first appeared in the print edition on September 24, 2020 under the title ‘Redefining essential items’.
17. Delhi journalist arrested under Official Secrets Act: What is
this anti-spying law?
Officials Secrets Act has its roots in the British colonial era. This was brought in with the main objective of muzzling the voice of a large number of newspapers that had come up in several languages, and were opposing the Raj’s policies
X Arrested freelance journalist Rajeev Sharma in New Delhi (PTI)
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The Delhi police has arrested a strategic affairs analyst and two others – a 30- year-old Chinese woman and her “Nepalese accomplice” – under the Official Secrets Act (OSA). The police claimed that Rajeev Sharma, the analyst, had passed on information such as the deployment of Indian troops on the border to Chinese intelligence officers. The other two have been arrested for allegedly “supplying him (Sharma) huge amounts of money routed through hawala channels for conveying sensitive information to Chinese intelligence”.
What is the Official Secrets Act?
OSA has its roots in the British colonial era. The original version was The Indian Official Secrets Act (Act XIV), 1889. This was brought in with the main objective of muzzling the voice of a large number of newspapers that had come up in several languages, and were opposing the Raj’s policies, building political consciousness and facing police crackdowns and prison terms. It was amended and made more stringent in the form of The Indian Official Secrets Act, 1904, during Lord Curzon’s tenure as Viceroy of India. In 1923, a newer version was notified. The Indian Official Secrets Act (Act No XIX of 1923) was extended to all matters of secrecy and confidentiality in governance in the country.
It broadly deals with two aspects — spying or espionage, covered under Section 3, and disclosure of other secret information of the government, under Section 5. Secret information can be any official code, password, sketch, plan, model, article, note, document, or information. Under Section 5, both the person communicating the information and the person receiving the information can be punished.
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A 30- year-old Chinese woman and her “Nepalese accomplice” were also arrested (PTI)
For classifying a document, a government Ministry or Department follows the Manual of Departmental Security Instructions, 1994, not under OSA. Also, OSA itself does not say what a “secret” document is. It is the government’s discretion to decide what falls under the ambit of a “secret” document to be charged under OSA. It has often been argued that the law is in direct conflict with the Right to Information Act, 2005.
Between the RTI Act and OSA, which has primacy?
Section 22 of the RTI Act provides for its primacy vis-a-vis provisions of other laws, including OSA. This gives the RTI Act an overriding effect, notwithstanding anything inconsistent with the provisions of OSA. So if there is any inconsistency in OSA with regard to furnishing of information, it will be superseded by the RTI Act. However, under Sections 8 and 9 of the RTI Act, the government can refuse information. Effectively, if the government classifies a document as “secret” under OSA Clause 6, that document can be kept outside the ambit of the RTI Act, and the government can invoke Sections 8 or 9. Legal experts see this as a loophole.
Has there been any effort to change provisions of OSA?
In 1971, the Law Commission became the first official body to make an observation regarding OSA. In its report on ‘Offences Against National Security’, it observed that “it agrees with the contention” that “merely because a circular is marked secret or confidential, it should not attract the provisions of the Act if the publication thereof is in the interest of the public and no question of national emergency and interest of the State as such arises”. The Law Commission, however, did not recommend any changes to the Act.
In 2006, the Second Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC) recommended that OSA be repealed, and replaced with a chapter in the National Security Act containing provisions relating to official secrets. Observing that OSA was “incongruous with the regime of transparency in a democratic society”, the ARC referred to the 1971 Law Commission report that had called for an “umbrella Act” to be passed to bring together all laws relating to national security.
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In 2015, the government had set up a committee to look into provisions of the OSA in light of the RTI Act. It submitted its report to the Cabinet Secretariat on June 16, 2017, recommending that OSA be made more transparent and in line with the RTI Act.
What are the major instances when OSA has been invoked?
One of the oldest and longest criminal trials involving OSA is the 1985 Coomar Narain spy case. Twelve former staff members in the Prime Minister’s Office and Rashtrapati Bhavan Secretariat were sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment in 2002. They were found guilty of entering into a criminal conspiracy with officials of the French, Polish and German embassies, communicating secret official codes, classified documents and information pertaining to defence, shipping, transport, finance, planning, and R&AW and Intelligent Bureau reports.
The other high-profile case was the ISRO spy case targeting scientist S Nambi Narayan. Before his acquittal, he had faced a criminal trial under OSA and was accused of passing on rocket and cryogenic technology to Pakistan for illegal gratification.
The most recent conviction under OSA came in 2018, when a Delhi court sentenced former diplomat Madhuri Gupta, who had served at the Indian High Commission in Islamabad, to three years in jail for passing on sensitive information to the ISI. In another high-profile case, then Kashmir Times journalist Iftikhar Gilani was arrested in 2002 and charged under OSA.
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18. Explained: What discovery of phosphine gas in the atmosphere of Venus means.
An international team of researchers have detected traces of phosphine gas in the atmosphere of Venus. What does this mean? Why is this discovery significant?
Life on Venus? Here's why the latest discovery by astronomers has triggered excitement.
Is there life on Venus? The idea was triggered recently after astronomers announced the discovery of phosphine gas in the atmosphere of the planet. Phosphine, a colourless but smelly gas, is known to be made only by some species of bacteria that survive in the absence of oxygen.
The international team of scientists reported traces of phosphine in concentration of approximately 20 parts per billion, thousands to millions of times more than what could otherwise be expected. Their findings were published in Nature Astronomy.
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Could #Venus possible be hosting extraterrestrial life?
Here’s what we know about phosphine, the gas discovered in the atmosphere of Venus.
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It’s too early to say whether there’s life on Venus.
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Why is the latest discovery of the high concentration of phosphine exciting?
19. Explained: Why China harvests India data, why track public figures.
Zhenhua Data scrapes information that’s in public domain. So what’s the big deal? The big deal is in how big data works, the sweep of the targets — and the uses it can be put to.
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The Indian Express attempts to frame the context given the prevailing situation on the India- China border, the scale and legality of the operations, the technology involved, and the end-use possibilities, given the trove of information being collected.
The Government of India on Wednesday decided to set up an “expert committee” under the National Cyber Security Coordinator in the National Security Council Secretariat following a three-part investigative series by The Indian Express. The committee will study the reports, evaluate their implications, assess any violations of law, and submit its recommendations within 30 days.
The series reveals how a Shenzhen-based information technology firm, Zhenhua Data, with links to the Chinese government and military, is monitoring over 2.5 million individuals across the world, including at least 10,000 Indians. The investigation has elicited a range of responses. The Indian Express attempts to frame the context given the prevailing situation on the India- China border, the scale and legality of the operations, the technology involved, and the end- use possibilities, given the trove of information being collected.
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China is Watching: The background
Over the past decade, the rapid evolution of Internet technology, cheap phones, and cheaper data, has transformed the lives of urban and rural Indians in ways that now seem irreversible. With smartphones becoming ubiquitous, technology improving accessibility, and with probably the cheapest data in the world (Rs 6.5 per GB), almost every phone is a data device today.
Huge emphasis on digitisation of government services by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and the demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes in November 2016, have turned mobile phones into almost a KYC device that is linked to the individual and her/his identity: Aadhaar authentication is facilitated by the mobile phone; instant transfer of funds between bank accounts is enabled via UPI.
The Indian Express report on September 14, 2020.
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Now, three out of four smartphones sold in India during April-June this year, were Chinese brands; in the previous quarter, four out of five phones sold were Chinese. Most phones also come pre-installed with Facebook, Google, YouTube, and many other social media platforms.
India has banned 224 Chinese apps including TikTok, CamScanner and PUBG. In the US, TikTok may soon change hands. What is at the centre of such actions in India and the West is fear at the app level, and also at the pipe level (with companies such as Huawei and ZTE), that personal data may be compromised and may find their way into Chinese servers. Beijing denies this, but countries are sceptical, and turning more cautious — given particularly the nature of an assertive and ambitious China, which is being seen as expansionist today. Question of Legality
Zhenhua Data has scraped personal information from about a dozen social media platforms, and many other online sources. At the heart of the legal argument is the baseline assumption: can consent given to Facebook, Twitter, Wiki, Medium, Youtube and Instagram, etc. be taken as consent for any third party scraping information from these platforms?
Two decades ago, this might have been all right. But the exponential rise in processing capacity, rapid evolution in big data analytics and artificial intelligence, has completely changed the paradigm.
Increasingly, it is becoming more and more obvious that companies have no skin in the game in what is said or written or appears on their platforms; they claim no intermittent liability. The Personal Data Protection Bill, once it becomes law, will place responsibilities on the platforms, be it Twitter or Facebook, which are the primary collectors of data, to keep personal information safe.
There will be intermediaries like account aggregators and consent managers, who will keep a tab on these platforms, and their possible misuse.
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But can these platforms or the intermediaries really act against a sovereign nation like China, if it is the ultimate source of misuse?
Operations and scale
Zhenhua Data has collected information on about 2.5 million key individuals and over 650,000 organisations, from countries across the world.
There are thousands of individuals in India, along with their network of families and associates tracked across multiple social media platforms. The Indian database includes prominent people — ministers, businesspersons, entrepreneurs, defence personnel, bureaucrats and diplomats, scholars and researchers, scientists and academics.
The first question this throws up is:
What is the point in tracking public figures, about whom so much is known anyway?
That is exactly the motivation — because tracking them gives you an insight into their followers’ minds. How followers or friends react (like/share/comment) to any public figure on open platforms reveals a lot about each of them.
Zhenhua Data is not necessarily interested in every follower of a public figure. But that is the thing about big data. It is about casting the net as wide as possible where individuals are not necessarily targeted as consequential in themselves, but simply because they complete the wide arc. The more information one collects and correlates, the more one gets to discover. Leaving out certain members of, say, a leadership team of any setup because they are not exciting enough defeats that purpose.
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The second question that follows is:
So what, many companies have been doing this for years, both in India and in other countries?
Like any big data operation involving OSINT (open-source intelligence), Zhenhua Data deals in volumes.
First, the sweep: how many people it tracks. Second, the depth: how many data points it engages to collect information about every person it tracks. The potential of the database for ‘hybrid warfare’ depends on both factors: how many they know about, and how much they know about each of them.
Such an operation may not be immediately successful in filling all the information columns against each name. But it spells out the data ambition the company wants to achieve over time. The chances of striking gold — actionable intelligence — multiply as the data pool grows. And the chances of even a fraction of the Overseas Key Information Database — already 5 billion pieces of information and counting — yielding what is called “useable data” is motivation enough to keep invested in the project.
Companies are subject to regulation, and can be held accountable or asked questions by elected legislatures. In contrast, a Chinese company, from an opaque authoritarian set-up, mining big data in a more open democratic system doesn’t have similar checks and balances. Also, propaganda — misinformation, disinformation and fake news — has always been a big item on the agenda when countries go to war. But what big data allows now is to customise data for millions instantly, making rapid response possible.
The sweep of Zhenhua’s targets, from politicians and CMs at the Centre and states to legislators in J&K and the Northeast, scientists in critical technology institutions to a range of tech start-ups and over 6000 accused of a range of crime, all monitored over years, yields a
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staggering volume of information which can be analysed by sophisticated big-data tools and processed as per the end user.
Then the third question is:
Basically, you can’t do much… what is the point then?
It is not that you cannot do anything. Experts suggest the government must educate citizens on cyber hygiene; a stricter level of hygiene for those in important positions from a security point of view. With the mobile phone becoming a data device, and storing almost all personal information, “key individuals” should be cautious about sharing personal information on social media or allowing platforms to track their geo-location, etc.
Not much can be done perhaps to stop the collection of data all together – given what technology allows, and particularly since open-source public data is by definition open and public. Big platforms such as Facebook and Twitter discourage automated scraping and bots, but recent events suggest this is more to maintain their monopoly of data for advertisement.
Yes, individual governments can force them to make mass scraping more difficult, but overdoing it may change the nature of the platforms and these companies are no pushovers. So, without sweating much over the source of the data and how it is collected, governments can invest in predicting possible strategic end uses foreign agencies may utilise such a database for. That means building capacity to pre-empt disinformation and propaganda campaigns. Given the bewildering pace of change in cyber security, the new battlelines are drawn.
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20. An Expert Explains: In India-China border row, the state of play in Ladakh.
While Indian Army has gained an advantage by taking the Chushul heights, a diplomatic and military long haul seems likely. Until LAC is delineated, the Chinese can be expected to continue violations of Indian territory.
X An Indian fighter plane flies over a mountain range in Leh. (Reuters Photo)
How dangerous is the situation given the People’s Liberation Army numbers, firepower, and the area they are occupying?
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The People’s Liberation Army has deployed over two regular divisions (about 40,000 troops) along with supporting arms, logistic services and air force along the Eastern Ladakh frontline and as back-up. India too, has about two regular Army divisions supported by the Indian Air Force in this sector now. Along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), the PLA has now occupied many areas which were earlier considered ‘disputed’, that is, lying between Chinese and Indian perceptions of the LAC.
On Finger 4, north of Pangong Tso, the opposing troops are deployed a few hundred metres apart. On the south bank of Pangong Tso, they are occupying heights that overlook each other’s military camps and vital road communications.
With such close and large deployment, coupled with lack of trust after the [June 15-16] Galwan incident [in which 20 Indian soldiers were killed], the pre-emptive occupation of the Kailash Range by Indian troops on August 29-30, and the PLA’s provocative action on September 7 [when shots were fired along the LAC for the first time in 45 years], the situation on the ground, particularly in the Chushul sector, is indeed very tense and explosive.
Besides, accusations and counter-accusations flying thick and fast are only adding to the tension.
What does domination of the Fingers area by the Chinese mean for India?
On the north bank of Pangong Tso, there are eight major finger-like spurs coming down to the Tso (lake). From heights along these spurs, one can observe military activity on the north and south banks of Pangong Tso.
The Chinese and Indian (perceived) LACs are about 8 kilometres apart (between Finger 4 and Finger 8) in this area. In May, the PLA occupied this disputed area, deployed troops on Finger 4, and blocked Indian troops, which used to earlier patrol the areas up to Finger 8.
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The
theatre of conflict around Pangong Tso (Reuters)
What are the advantages India gets by occupying the heights in Chushul sector? Heights in the mountains enable observation of the adversary’s military activities in the (visible) area, and the ability to bring down accurate direct and indirect fire on the chosen enemy target.
What if the talks don’t lead to any disengagement on the ground? In the current situation, it will be a long haul on both the diplomatic and military fronts. India’s forces on the ground have to remain alert to ensure that the PLA does not take any advantage during the lull created by long diplomatic engagement. Remember, it took nearly six years to resolve the Sumdorong Chu incident (1986) diplomatically.
The Chinese are also present near Demchok and Sub Sector North. How does India deal with that?
In Demchok, the PLA has been objecting to India’s non-military developmental activities — road and water channel — for India’s civilian population. About 90 km from Demchok, at Chumar, it had made territorial claims and military advances in September 2014.
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There has been an LAC-related dispute in the Depsang Plains in Sub Sector North. In April 2013, the PLA troops set up a temporary camp in our area, but later withdrew. They have again occupied some area claimed by us. This has resulted in additional deployment of troops, including armour and artillery by both sides.
All these disputes in Eastern Ladakh, and elsewhere, are related to the LAC which has not been delineated on the maps. India has made many efforts, even at the highest level, but the Chinese have steadfastly refused. An ambiguous LAC enables the Chinese to continue with frequent pin-prick activities, and thus maintain political and military pressure on India.
In the recent incidents, China has deliberately violated all the confidence-building agreements and the perceived alignment of the LAC until now. Unless the LAC is delineated on the map, without prejudice to the final boundary settlement, such violations of Indian territory by the PLA are likely to continue, as these suit China strategically.
How will India cope if the Eastern and Central sectors too, see a Ladakh-like situation?
The situation in eastern Ladakh has already caused tension and the deployment of additional troops along the LAC and vulnerable points in the Central and Eastern sectors. This has become necessary due to the breach of trust with China.
What logistics challenges will Indian troops face in establishing defences in the coming months?
We have never deployed such large forces (Army, Air Force and paramilitary forces) in Ladakh earlier. As road access to Ladakh will not be available between mid-November and mid-May (2021), the winter stocking requirement for civilians and the military is huge. The IAF will remain heavily committed for essential daily maintenance and movement of troops whenever necessary.
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What are the chances of the Ladakh situation leading to a conflict? Is there a weather window?
Climatically, intense conflict chances remain high until mid-November. The winter months will reduce the intensity, but we cannot expect a complete stoppage. Aerial and ground surveillance, infantry and artillery deployments will continue.
How important will be the role of the IAF in case of any armed conflict?
Today, one cannot imagine any armed conflict situation without synergy and jointness among armed forces.
The IAF has a crucial role at the strategic and operational levels. Besides its primary role of protecting air space and vulnerable areas/assets, it will be actively engaged in aerial reconnaissance, destroying enemy targets and providing tactical and logistic support to the Army.
What are the chances of this situation turning into a two-front threat with Pakistan also throwing its weight behind China?
China and Pakistan are already engaged in a ‘collusive threat’ (engaged in secret or hidden avowed goals) vis-à-vis India.
China is unlikely to bank on Pakistani collaboration or participation in any large-scale conflict with India. In the current scenario, however, a limited China-Pakistan military collaboration in the Karakoram Pass region cannot be ruled out. Its manifestations could be activation of diversionary military movements by Pakistan in Siachen and Kargil sectors, and an intensification of proxy war conditions in Jammu & Kashmir.
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What else can be done by the Government of India to make it easier to craft a long-term China strategy or negotiate a solution?
National security, particularly armed conflict issues, requires a ‘whole of the government’ approach.
Unfortunately, we in India have not come out of the habit of working in ministerial silos and stovepipes which in the past have often resulted in military operations not achieving the desired strategic goals. Unlike western democratic nations, our ministers and civil officials are still shy of involving military personnel directly in defence policy-making or while negotiating such issues with foreign political leaders.
General V P Malik (retd) was Chief of Army Staff who led India to victory in the Kargil War of 1999 against Pakistan. He is well-versed in the challenges that high-altitude deployment pose, having commanded an infantry brigade in Jammu and Kashmir and a mountain division before heading a corps and a command. He was also Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee.
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21. Explained: What constitutes a breach of legislature’s privilege?
This week, the Houses in Maharashtra moved motions of breach of privilege against Arnab Goswami and Kangana Ranaut. What is the procedure followed in such a case, and what can be the punishment?
X Arnab Goswami and Kangana Ranaut faces privilege motions in the Maharashtra Assembly and Maharashtra Legislative Council respectively.
A motion for breach of privilege was moved in the Maharashtra Assembly against Republic TV’s Managing Director and Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami on Tuesday (September 8). A similar motion was moved in the Maharashtra Legislative Council against actor Kangana Ranaut.
The truncated two-day Monsoon Session having ended on Tuesday, the motions could not be taken up by the lawmakers.
Which provisions of the Constitution protect the privileges of the legislature?
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The powers, privileges and immunities of either House of the Indian Parliament and of its Members and committees are laid down in Article 105 of the Constitution.
Article 194 deals with the powers, privileges and immunities of the State Legislatures, their Members and their committees.
Parliamentary privilege refers to the right and immunity enjoyed by legislatures, in which legislators are granted protection against civil or criminal liability for actions done or statements made in the course of their legislative duties.
What constitutes a breach of this privilege? While the Constitution has accorded special privileges and powers to parliamentarians and legislators to maintain the dignity and authority of the Houses, these powers and privileges are not codified. Thus, there are no clear, notified rules to decide what constitutes a breach of privilege, and the punishment it attracts. Any act that obstructs or impedes either House of the state legislature in performing its functions, or which obstructs or impedes any Member or officer of such House in the discharge of his duty, or has a tendency, directly or indirectly, to produce such results is treated as breach of privilege.
It is a breach of privilege and contempt of the House to make speeches or to print or publish libel reflecting on the character or proceedings of the House, or its Committees, or on any member of the House for or relating to his character or conduct as a legislator.
What is the procedure to be followed in cases of alleged breach of the legislature’s privilege?
The Legislative Assembly Speaker or Legislative Council Chairman constitutes a Privileges Committee consisting of 15 members in the Assembly and 11 members in the Council. The members to the committee are nominated based on the party strength in the Houses.
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Anant Kalse, retired principal secretary of the Maharashtra State Legislature, said that the Speaker or Chairman first decides on the motions. “If the privilege and contempt are found prima facie, then the Speaker or Chairman will forward it to the Privileges Committee by following the due procedure,” Kalse said.
In Goswami’s case, the Committee will examine whether statements made by him had insulted the state legislature and its Members, and whether their image was maligned before the public.
At present, there is no Privileges Committee in either House of the state legislature. Kalse said that the Committee, which has quasi-judicial powers, will seek an explanation from all the concerned, will conduct an inquiry and will make a recommendation based on the findings to the state legislature for its consideration.
What is the punishment for an individual who is found guilty of breaching the legislature’s privilege? If the Committee finds the offender guilty of breach of privilege and contempt, it can recommend the punishment. The punishment can include communicating the displeasure of the state legislature to the offender, summoning the offender before the House and giving a warning, and even sending the offender to jail. In the case of the media, press facilities of the state legislature may be withdrawn, and a public apology may be sought.
22.Explained: What is the ‘green-blue’ policy proposed by Delhi
Master Plan 2041?
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It is an urban planning concept which sees water bodies and land as being interdependent, and symbiotic, while offering environmental and social benefits
Focus on water bodies and the land around it, which is referred to as the “Green-Blue policy”, promises to give the city a new shape. (Express photo: Gajendra Yadav)
The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) is holding public consultations for the preparation of the Master Plan for Delhi 2041, a vision document for the city’s development over the next two decades. The existing Master Plan 2021 will be outdated next year, and the agency wants to notify the new plan by the time that happens. There are several features in the draft policy but the focus on water bodies and the land around it, which is referred to as the “Green-Blue policy”, promises to give the city a new shape.
What is Green-Blue infrastructure?
‘Blue’ infrastructure refers to water bodies like rivers, canals, ponds, wetlands, floodplains, and water treatment facilities; while ‘Green’ stands for trees, lawns, hedgerows, parks, fields, and forests. The concept refers to urban planning where water bodies and land are interdependent, and grow with the help of each other while offering environmental and social benefits.
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How does DDA plan to go ahead with it?
In the first stage, the DDA plans to deal with the multiplicity of agencies, which because of the special nature of the state, has plagued it for several years. DDA wants first map out the issues of jurisdiction, work being done by different agencies on drains, and the areas around them. Thereafter, a comprehensive policy will be drawn up, which would then act as the common direction for all agencies.
Delhi has around 50 big drains (blue areas) managed by different agencies, and due to their poor condition and encroachment, the land around (green areas) has also been affected. DDA, along with other agencies, will integrate them and remove all sources of pollution by checking the outfall of untreated wastewater as well as removal of existing pollutants. A mix of mechanised and natural systems may be adopted, and dumping of solid wastes in any of these sites will be strictly prohibited by local bodies, through the imposition of penalties.
What will the areas look like after redevelopment?
Land around these drains, carrying stormwater, will be declared as special buffer projects. A network of connected green spaces would be developed in the form of green mobility circuits of pedestrian and cycling paths. “It will be developed along the drains to serve functional as well as leisure trips,” a senior DDA official said. There is also a plan to develop spaces for yoga, active sports (without formal seating), open air exhibitions, museums and information centres, open air theatres, cycling and walking facilities, arboretums, greenhouses, community vegetable gardens, facilities for boating, restaurants, and other low impact public uses that may be encouraged as part of special projects.
The nature of use, extent of public access, type of vegetation, suitability for developing water bodies, etc. shall be ascertained on a case-to-case basis through scientific assessments, the DDA official said. Thereafter, real estate would be developed along these integrated corridors, he said.
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What are the challenges?
The biggest challenge here is the multiplicity of agencies. DDA wants to bring together different agencies like Delhi Jal Board, Flood and Irrigation Department, and municipal corporations as stakeholders in the project. In a city where even waterlogging turns into a blame game between different warring agencies, this will be a tough task, especially as DDA has no supervisory power over these bodies.
Secondly, cleaning of water bodies and drains has been a challenge for agencies in Delhi for years now. A report by researchers of IIT-Delhi on 20 major sewer drains and five prominent sites on the River Yamuna found abundant presence of coliform and other pollutants. Only rainwater is supposed to flow in these drains, but the study found sewage waste and even industrial waste in some.
A similar attempt made by DDA earlier, where a special task force was created to check dumping of waste in Yamuna, has not been successful.
23.Explained: Why Facebook and Google are locked in a standoff with Australia’s govt.
Australia could soon pass a law to force Google and Facebook to pay media firms for news reports that appear on these platforms. The tech giants have refused flatly, and issued grim warnings about the fallout such a step might have.
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As a final version of a legislation calling on tech giants to compensate media firms for news reports takes shape in Australia, Facebook has threatened to block the country’s publishers and individuals from sharing news stories on the platform.
On September 7, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he expected a “sensible outcome” to his government’s plans to make digital platforms pay for journalism .
What sparked the standoff? Since January 2019, poor advertising revenues have forced over 200 news organisations in Australia to close temporarily or permanently shut down, according to the Australian Newsroom Mapping Project, and the Covid-induced slowdown has compounded the industry’s problems. Following an inquiry last year, which found that platforms such as Google and Facebook were bagging “too large a share” of the online advertising profits from media organizations in Australia, the government proposed the draft News Media Bargaining Code law in July this year.
Drafted by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, the country’s competition regulator, the code is aimed at providing a “level playing field” to local news publishers.
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What does the draft code propose?
The code urges tech giants Google and Facebook to pay for Australian news content that appears on their news feed and searches.
If implemented, it will allow media firms to negotiate a price for their content with the digital services, and if the two parties do not agree to an amount, arbitrators would be appointed to take a call.
The legislation also calls upon Facebook and Google to notify news companies in case of a change of algorithms – which could decide which stories appear on top of a search – with penalties of up to 10% of a platform’s annual turnover in case of non-compliance. As per the Australian government’s website, August 28 was the last date for “all interested parties to provide their views on the draft code”.
The country’s Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has said that he hopes Parliament will pass the legislation — which focuses on Facebook and Google for now, but could be expanded to other digital platforms too — this year.
The code has been backed by all major news firms including News Corp Australia, the country’s largest conglomerate, Nine Entertainment, and Guardian Australia, among others.
What was Facebook and Google’s response?
Both companies have strongly opposed the legislation. Last month, Google published an open letter – which was linked to its homepage in Australia — that said the new law could “hurt how Australians use Google Search and YouTube”.
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“It could lead to your data being handed over to big news businesses, and would put the free services you use at risk in Australia,” said Melanie Silva, Managing Director for Google Australia and New Zealand.
Silva had warned earlier that the government’s “heavy-handed intervention threatens to impede Australia’s digital economy and impacts the services we can deliver to Australians”. In a blog post on August 31, Will Easton, Managing Director, Facebook Australia and New Zealand, wrote: “Australia is drafting a new regulation that misunderstands the dynamics of the Internet and will do damage to the very news organisations the government is trying to protect… Assuming this draft code becomes law, we will reluctantly stop allowing publishers and people in Australia from sharing local and international news on Facebook and Instagram.”
A ustralian Prime Minister Scott Morrison speaks at a press conference at Parliament House in Canberrs. (Mick Tsikas/AAP Image via AP)
But why are Facebook and Google opposed to the code?
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Facebook has argued that news reports make up “only a fraction” of what the platform’s users get in their feeds, and that it is already driving a large amount to traffic to news websites – numbers which in turn help them seek revenues from advertisers. “Over the first five months of 2020 we sent 2.3 billion clicks from Facebook’s News Feed back to Australian news websites at no charge — additional traffic worth an estimated $200 million AUD to Australian publishers,” Easton wrote in his post.
Google has claimed that the law is skewed in favour of big media companies and will end up giving them “special treatment”, and “encourage them to make enormous and unreasonable demands that would put our free services at risk”.
And what is the government’s defence?
Defending the draft code, Australia’s Competition and Consumer Commission chair Rod Sims told The Guardian: “The draft media bargaining code aims to ensure Australian news businesses, including independent, community and regional media, can get a seat at the table for fair negotiations with Facebook and Google.”
Countering Facebook’s claim that news is “only a fraction” of its content, he said, “We note that according to the University of Canberra’s 2020 Digital News Report, 39% of Australians use Facebook for general news, and 49% use Facebook for news about Covid-19.”
What if Facebook actually follows through with its threat?
In the absence of news reports from credible sources, say experts, proliferation of fake news and disinformation could be major concerns. Facebook has already been under fire for fake news for some time now.
Google has warned that the new law would force the platform to “make its services dramatically worse”.
However, the Australian government seems unlikely to blink. “The tech giants have a history of making heavy-handed threats on public policy issues… But we’re not going to be
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distracted by that,” the country’s Communications Minister Paul Fletcher told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
Do other countries have such a law?
In 2014, Spain passed a “snippet tax” that called on news outlets in the country to charge Google for headlines (or snippets) of their stories appearing on Google News. The outcome was that even now “Spanish publishers aren’t featured in Google News and Google News is closed in Spain.
Google has often said that it does not pay for news content as “a matter of policy”.
In March last year, the European Union introduced new online copyright rules to help news publishers and tech giants strike deals for sharing content.
In France, where the legislation was first implemented, Google did not agree to pay publishers, and said instead that they would only display thumbnail images of stories if provided to them for free, leaving many news firms disappointed.
In Germany too, the company has adopted the same policy. Last year, the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act of 2019 was introduced in the United States Congress for the “publishers of online content to collectively negotiate with dominant online platforms regarding the terms on which their content may be distributed”. Now, all eyes are on the Australian government. If the draft code becomes law, it could be a precedent for similar legislation in other countries too.
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24. Cisgender, agender, bigender, genderqueer: What are these terms, and why do they matter?
Several gender identifiers are in use – Facebook offers over 60 to choose from. Why do we need so many terms? Is the profusion actually muddling up the message they seek to convey?
According to gender activists and those who use the term, having distinct words for transgendered and cisgendered people denotes that both are equally valid, neutral experiences, with neither being an aberration.
Last month, Hollywood actor William Shatner took offence to being called ‘CIS’, short for ‘cisgendered’. “Some need labels and categories to separate people in order to harass or debase them… Do we need these labels in order to communicate? No. So those that use them when describing others are doing it for neg[ative] reasons,” Shatner tweeted.
In a Twitter battle that raged for days, many pointed out to him that cisgender was not a pejorative at all, that it was simply a descriptor. But Shatner persisted: “It’s used as a slur & term of harassment.”
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So, is cisgender a term of slur and harassment? Or is it a harmless adjective? More importantly.
what is cisgender?
Cisgender The term cisgendered is used to define people whose gender identity matches the identity assigned to them at birth.
When a child is born, it is assigned a gender identity based on its physical characteristics. Many believe that gender is a social construct, and growing up, the child may or may not confirm to the birth identity.
Children assigned male at birth can feel they identify more authentically as a woman, to give one example.
For transgender people, their sense of gender identity does not match the one assigned to them at birth.
The latin prefix ‘cis’ literally means ‘on the same side of’, while ‘trans’ means on the other side.
Who used the word first?
‘Cisgender’ entered Britain’s Oxford English Dictionary in 2015, and the USA’s Merriam Webster Dictionary in 2016. Both dictionaries document its first usage around 1994. Dana Leland Defosse, a biologist at the University of Minnesota, seems to have first used the word in connection with a study on transphobia, in May 1994.
What is commonly agreed upon is that the word existed in academic journals since the mid- 90s. It was popularised by gender theorist and activist Julia Serano’s 2007 book Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity, and gradually,
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especially with the advent of the internet, became part enough of popular parlance to be included in the dictionaries.
Why the word is important
Quite simply, if there are ‘transgendered’ people, there should be a word for those who are not. Giving a label to only one section of the population, especially when that is the minority section, implies that the others are default, ‘normal’, and only that section needs to be singled out and labeled.
According to gender activists and those who use the term, having distinct words for transgendered and cisgendered people denotes that both are equally valid, neutral experiences, with neither being an aberration.
Also, cis and trans are not the only gender identifiers in use. There are many other terms, such as genderqueer, gender fluid and gender variant. Some also choose not to use the traditionally gender-tied pronouns of he/she/her/his, and go for they/them.
Okay, why do we have so many terms?
Having specific words helps people better express who they are, and know they are not alone in their gender confusions. Also, having new terms is acknowledgement that conversation around gender is changing. It can make people who have not had to confront gender struggles as part of their lived reality pay more attention to their existence.
Kiran Naik, a transman (birth identity woman, identifies as man) who works as a trans and disability rights activists in Chikballapur, Karnataka, says: “For you to accept me, you need to first know who I am. I am a transman. This is my identity. Many people simply don’t get what a transman is. For them to understand a concept, there has to be a word. For example, transwomen find it comparatively easier to be understood, because people are familiar with hijdas. They just can’t understand transmen.”
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Janani, a behavior analyst and media professional from Bangalore, identifies as genderqueer and uses the pronouns they/them. They agree with the importance of specific terms. “In a world in which it was universally accepted that gender is a construct, maybe terms wouldn’t matter. But in our world, it can be immensely helpful for two reasons: it helps people to use identity labels to work out their gender feels and how they define it for themselves; and it allows typically cis people to build flexibility around the construction of gender,” they say. Kiran points out that acceptability is social as well as official. “I would like my chosen gender on my ID documents. But for that to happen, the government needs to accept there is a word for that gender.”
Criticism of the word
Some people, including those working on trans rights, feel terms like ‘cisgender’ belong in the realm of esoteric gender theory alone, and their usage can be counterproductive – people are less likely to grasp a message if they have to look up the individual words that make up the message.
Others feel ‘cisgendered’ as a counter to ‘transgendered’ is restrictive – reinforcing a binary of genders that many choose to reject.
Janani says the two terms should not be seen as binaries, but rather as “umbrella terms for two ends of a spectrum”, and the “discomfort of learning new words does not trump the discomfort of non-cis (trans, nonbinary, genderqueer, genderflux, etc.) people who are experiencing constant policing of their identities.”
Kiran says having an exact term that can define them makes a whole lot of difference for someone who has first struggled internally with their gender identity, and is now struggling with society. “People get annoyed if you pronounce their name wrong. Imagine spending your life with others getting the very nature of your being wrong. I publicly identify as a transman, but people insist on calling me ‘madam’ because of my voice. For my identity to not be erased, it’s important for me to have a word for it.”
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Some identity labels in use As language evolves, a lot of new terms come in and out of use. Also, a lot of words overlap. Here’s a list of some common gender identifiers, though there are more in use.
Agender: Someone who identifies as not belonging to any gender
Androgynous: Someone who identifies as neither man nor woman
Bigender: Someone who identifies as both man and woman
Non-binary: Someone who rejects the binaries of male and female
Genderfluid: Someone whose gender identity changes
Genderquestioning: Someone who is exploring which gender they identify as
Genderqueer: An umbrella term for people not subscribing to traditional genders
AFAB, AMAB: Assigned Female At Birth, Assigned Male At Birth
Intersex: Those who do not possess the physical characteristics of either males or females
Third Gender: Those who have a gender identity beyond man or woman
Also, one can be cisgendered but their gender expression can be different from their gender. For example, a cisgendered man can dress up in a lehenga or a ball gown simply because he likes to.
On the profusion of terms, Janani says: “There are no rules with how people use identity labels; you pull five genderqueer people in a room and they will all likely define genderqueerness differently, but what they’ll probably have in common is how the labels helps them feel and move in the world.”
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Other terms in gender discourse you should know
Many words that are not gender identifiers, but often come up in gender discourse (and on social media) can help one understand these issues better. A few of them are: Gender dyspohoria: Distress and trauma, significant, long-term, caused by the incongruence between your birth gender and what you feel your gender is.
TERF: Trans-exclusionary radical feminist (recently used prominently for author JK Rowling). These are feminists who deny that transwomen are women, and do not admit that the struggle for women’s rights should include support for transgender rights.
Misgender: Using for someone a gender other than what they identify as.
Cissexism: Favouring cisgendered people over others.
Why language matters
Recently, author JK Rowling faced a lot of criticism for her views on trans rights. Zeroing in on one of the things she said can illustrate the importance of inclusive language. Rowling had objected to a headline that said ‘people who menstruate’, insisting it should have been ‘women who menstruate’.
However, not all women menstruate, transmen menstruate, transwomen may not menstruate. Rowling’s critics pointed out that while all these categories are definitely ‘people’, insistence on using ‘women’ can exclude the realities of those not conventionally “women”, and make their journey of acceptance, already extremely difficult, harder.
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25. An Expert Explains: What are Question Hour and Zero Hour, and why do they matter?
In view of the pandemic and a truncated Monsoon Session, Parliament has said no to Question Hour and curtailed Zero Hour. The Opposition has strongly criticised this. Why these two periods are important.
A view of the Parliament in March 2020. Express Photo: Prem Nath Pandey)
On Wednesday, the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha secretariats notified that there will be no Question Hour during the Monsoon Session of Parliament, which has been truncated to September 14-October 1 in view of the Covid-19 pandemic, and that Zero Hour will be restricted in both Houses. Opposition MPs have criticised the move, saying they will lose the right to question the government. A look at what happens in the two Houses during Question Hour and Zero Hour:
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What is Question Hour, and what is its significance?
Question Hour is the liveliest hour in Parliament. It is during this one hour that Members of Parliament ask questions of ministers and hold them accountable for the functioning of their ministries. The questions that MPs ask are designed to elicit information and trigger suitable action by ministries.
Over the last 70 years, MPs have successfully used this parliamentary device to shine a light on government functioning. Their questions have exposed financial irregularities and brought data and information regarding government functioning to the public domain. With the broadcasting of Question Hour since 1991, Question Hour has become one the most visible aspects of parliamentary functioning.
Asking questions of the government has a long history in our legislative bodies. Prior to Independence, the first question asked of government was in 1893. It was on the burden cast on village shopkeepers who had to provide supplies to touring government officers.
Source: PRS Legislative Research
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And what is Zero Hour?
While Question Hour is strictly regulated, Zero Hour is an Indian parliamentary innovation. The phrase does not find mention in the rules of procedure. The concept of Zero Hour started organically in the first decade of Indian Parliament, when MPs felt the need for raising important constituency and national issues.
During the initial days, Parliament used to break for lunch at 1 pm. Therefore, the opportunity for MPs to raise national issues without an advance notice became available at 12 pm and could last for an hour until the House adjourned for lunch. This led to the hour being popularly referred to as Zero Hour and the issues being raised during this time as Zero Hour submissions. Over the years, presiding officers of both Houses have given directions to streamline the working of Zero Hour to make it even more effective. Its importance can be gauged from the support it receives from citizens, media, MPs and presiding officers despite not being part of the rulebook.
THE EXPERT
Chakshu Roy is the Head of Legislative and Civic Engagement at PRS Legislative Research. Over the last 15 years, he has closely followed the functioning of Parliament and state legislatures. He writes extensively on the intricacies of parliamentary procedure and has anchored several workshops for demystifying the functioning of legislative institutions.
How is Question Hour regulated?
Parliament has comprehensive rules for dealing with every aspect of Question Hour. And the presiding officers of the two houses are the final authority with respect to the conduct of Question Hour. For example, usually Question Hour is the first hour of a parliamentary sitting. In 2014, Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari shifted Question Hour in the House from 11 am to 12 noon. The move was to prevent the disruption of Question Hour.
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Vic e-President and Rajya Sabha Chairman Venkaiah Naidu takes stock of preparations ahead of the monsoon session of Parliament, on August 28, 2020. (Express Photo: Renuka Puri)
What kind of questions are asked?
Parliamentary rules provide guidelines on the kind of questions that can be asked by MPs. Questions have to be limited to 150 words. They have to be precise and not too general. The question should also be related to an area of responsibility of the Government of India. Questions should not seek information about matters that are secret or are under adjudication before courts. It is the presiding officers of the two Houses who finally decide whether a question raised by an MP will be admitted for answering by the government.
How frequently is Question Hour held?
The process of asking and answering questions starts with identifying the days on which Question Hour will be held. At the beginning of Parliament in 1952, Lok Sabha rules provided for Question Hour to be held every day. Rajya Sabha, on the other hand, had a provision for Question Hour for two days a week. A few months later, this was changed to four days a week. Then from 1964, Question Hour was taking place in Rajya Sabha on every day of the session.
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Now, Question Hour in both Houses is held on all days of the session. But there are two days when an exception is made. There is no Question Hour on the day the President addresses MPs from both Houses in the Central Hall. The President’s speech takes place at the beginning of a new Lok Sabha and on the first day of a new Parliament year. Question Hour is not scheduled either on the day the Finance Minister presents the Budget. Since the beginning of the current Lok Sabha, approximately 15,000 questions have been asked in the Lower House.
Face masks have been made compulsory for all the members during this session. (Express Photo: Renuka Puri)
How does Parliament manage to get so many questions answered?
To streamline the answering of questions raised by MPs, the ministries are put into five groups. Each group answers questions on the day allocated to it. For example, in the last session, on Thursday the Ministries of Civil Aviation, Labour, Housing, and Youth Affairs and Sports were answering questions posed by Lok Sabha MPs. This grouping of ministries is different for the two Houses so that ministers can be present in one house to answer questions, So the minister of Civil Aviation was answering questions in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday, during the Budget session.
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MPs can specify whether they want an oral or written response to their questions. They can put an asterisk against their question signifying that they want the minister to answer that question on the floor. These are referred to as starred questions. After the minister’s response, the MP who asked the question and other MPs can also ask a follow-up question. This is the visible part of Question Hour, where you see MPs trying to corner ministers on the functioning of their ministries on live television. Seasoned parliamentarians choose to ask an oral question when the answer to the question will put the government in an uncomfortable position.
How do ministers prepare their answers?
Ministries receive the questions 15 days in advance so that they can prepare their ministers for Question Hour. They also have to prepare for sharp follow-up questions they can expect to be asked in the House. Governments officers are close at hand in a gallery so that they can pass notes or relevant documents to support the minister in answering a question. When MPs are trying to gather data and information about government functioning, they prefer the responses to such queries in writing. These questions are referred to as unstarred questions. The responses to these questions are placed on the table of Parliament.
Are the questions only for ministers?
MPs usually ask questions to hold ministers accountable. But the rules also provide them with a mechanism for asking their colleagues a question. Such a question should be limited to the role of an MP relating to a Bill or a resolution being piloted by them or any other matter connected with the functioning of the House for which they are responsible. Should the presiding officer so allow, MPs can also ask a question to a minister at a notice period shorter than 15 days.
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Seating arrangements ahead of the monsoon session of Parliament. (Express Photo: Renuka Puri)
Is there a limit to the number of questions that can be asked?
Rules on the number of questions that can be asked in a day have changed over the years. In Lok Sabha, until the late 1960s, there was no limit on the number of unstarred questions that could be asked in a day. Now, Parliament rules limit the number of starred and unstarred questions an MP can ask in a day. The total number of questions asked by MPs in the starred and unstarred categories are then put in a random ballot. From the ballot in Lok Sabha, 20 starred questions are picked for answering during Question Hour and 230 are picked for written answers. Last year, a record was set when on a single day, after a gap of 47 years, all 20 starred questions were answered in Lok Sabha.
Have there been previous sessions without Question Hour?
Parliamentary records show that during the Chinese aggression in 1962, the Winter Session was advanced. The sitting of the House started at 12 pm and there was no Question Hour held. Before the session, changes were made limiting the number of questions. Thereafter,
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following an agreement between the ruling and the Opposition parties, it was decided to suspend Question Hour.
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