THE HINDU EDITORIAL-MARCH 10, 2022

 THE HINDU EDITORIAL- MARCH 10, 2022

 

 

Tradition and formality Leaders’ wrangling should not lead to politicizing of constitutional norms   Two contrasting issue concerning the legislature in two States appear to sum up the potential for political controversy when elected governments and Governors do not see eye to eye. In the West Bengal Assembly, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and legislators of her party had to virtually plead with Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar to start reading his customary address amidst a prolonged uproar by the Opposition BJP MLAs. Mr. Dhankhar appeared ready to give in to the protesters, but was ultimately persuaded into reading the first and last lines. In Telangana, on the other hand, the K. Chandrasekhar Rao government seems to have decided not to have Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan address the legislature before it presented this year’s Budget. Instead, it is treating the current meeting of the legislature as a continuation of the last session. That the session, which last met some months ago, was not prorogues, has given scope for the government to contend that it is just a further meeting, and it is not necessary for the Governor to open it with an address. The ceremonial address is usually delivered in the first session of every year. Dr. Soundararajan has issued a rare statement to argue that the government’s position was technical, and it would not be proper to commence the Budget session without her address. The episode appears to arise from points of conflict between the government secretariat and Raj Bhavan, as the ruling TRS seems aggrieved that the Governor deviate from the text of her address last year and on some other issues too. The Governor’s address is a constitutional formality, albeit a significant one, as it is essentially a statement of policy of the regime of the day. That the formal occasion is mired in political wrangling is a sign of institutional decay and unwarranted politicization of constitutional decay and unwarranted politicization of constitutional norms. That Mr. Banerjee saw the incidents in the Assemble, which almost resulted in the abandonment of the Governor’s address, as “an attempt to create a constitutional crisis” shows that leaders still attach constitutional significance to the tradition. It will be desirable if the same recognition is seen in Telangana too. After all, if not now, the next session will have to open with the Governor’s address. It is true that there are sound arguments that question the need and the relevance of the office of Governor, or support the view that some incumbents are politically partisan. There may even be a case for doing away with the formality, or even arguing that the policy statement is better read out by the elected Chief Minister. However, as long as the current system is in vogue, there is a case for abiding by the norms. Politics notwithstanding, it is only in such formality that civility in public discourse is expressed.   A chance for peace Putin should pause the war and start talks on Zelensky’s compromise proposals   Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky delivered a Churchill-like speech at the British Parliament on Tuesday, vowing to fight to the end “in forests, fields and streets”. But hours before his speech, through video-conferencing, he sent the clearest signal to Russian President Vladimir Putin – in an insensitive issue such as Ukraine’s bid to join NATO, and the status of Russian-controlled Crimea and the breakaway Donetsk and Luhansk republics. He also called for “a collective security agreement” that would include Russia, the U.S. and Western European countries as part of a lasting solution. What makes his apparent concessions important is that he announced them a day after the Kremlin laid out three conditions to stop what it calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine: It wants Kyiv to accept Crimea as a Russia territory, recognize Donetsk and Luhansk as independent republics and amend the country’s Constitution to drop attempts to join any bloc (NATO) and reinstate its neutrality. While Mr. Zelensky stopped short of offering recognition to the breakaway regions, his offer for compromise and dialogue opened a path towards a political settlement. The Russian Foreign Ministry’s statement on Wednesday that its goals would be better achieved through talks also signals hop for a de-escalation. In the last two weeks, Mr. Zelensky has emerged as the face of the Ukrainian resistance. But he is also in a difficult situation. The Russian advances are slow given Russia’s relative power, but in the last 13 days, Ukraine has lost sizeable territories, from its northern border with Belarus to its southwestern Black Sea coast. Russia has not taken any major Ukrainian city except Kherson in the south, but most cities, including Kharkiv in the north and Mariupol in the southeast, are being encircled. Kyiv, the capital city, is being enveloped from the east and west. Mr. Zelensky has repeatedly asked for military help from NATO. But his request for a no-fly zone was shot down. Even the Polish offer to send its fleet of MIG-29 fighters was dismissed by the U.S., which does not want any kind of military involvement in the conflict. So, the practical solution before Mr. Zelensky is to take advantage of Ukraine’s initial resistance and seek a solution through talks. Against this backdrop, his comment about Ukraine dropping its NATO bid is a welcome step. But the question is whether Mr. Putin would take this and be ready for de-escalation. If Russia had expected a quick collapse of the Ukrainian government, it has been proved wrong. Nearly a fortnight of conflict has taken a huge toll on Russia’s economy. Its ties with Europe have been set back by decades. Continuing this war endlessly does not serve anybody’s interest. If Mr. Putin’s primary concern is Russia’s security interests, he should pause the operation and start serious dialogue with the Ukrainians on Mr. Zelensky’s proposals.

An unnecessary war and its grave portents Kyiv is paying a heavy price and a change of tack is needed, where the cardinal objective is to save lives and Ukraine M.K. NARAYANAN Russia’s attack on Ukraine, which began from the third week of February, shows no sign of ending. It has, in the meantime, led to a humanitarian crisis of gigantic proportions. The number of refugees streaming into countries adjoining Ukraine has revived memories and images of the vast numbers who sought refuge in Europe following the wars in Syria, Iraq and North Africa at the turn of the century. No one would have anticipated that a similar situation would arise just a few years later in Europe. The number of refugees has already approached, and possibly even crossed, the two million mark; and this is apart from the several thousands who have been killed inside Ukraine. It is a vivid demonstration of the callousness of human nature, more so considering the underlying cause of the conflict. It is most surprising that nothing concrete is being done by powerful nations in Europe and across the world to try and end the conflict through a process of reconciliation and negotiation. What the conflict, though, has exposed is the irrelevance of the United Nations in dealing with situations of this kind – becoming in many ways a modern day variant of the ill-fated League of Nations created at the end of the First World War. More an economic concern The primary concern of European nations and the United States appears to be the economic impact of the conflict – rather than the human costs involved – consequent on the ongoing war in Ukraine. The International Monetary Fund has already issued a warning of the serious global impact of the war, which includes a surge in energy and commodity prices, and being taken seriously by the U.S., almost all European nations and many countries across the globe. Leading western economists have been pontificating on the economic consequences of the war, and the ways and the means to reduce its impact. Similar concerns about the human costs of this unnecessary war are nowhere to be found. Least of all to be found are suggestions on how best to end the conflict, or at least bring about a truce to reduce the human toll that keeps steadily rising. Debating the sanctions route It may appear tendentious to think that there are leading elements in the West who believe that by waging a prolonged ‘sanctions war’ against Russia of the kind currently being pursued – rather than seeking a compromise by which to end the genocide in Ukraine – an option had become available to checkmate Russia, which under Russian President Vladimir Putin was posing a threat to the West. Russia deserves to be rightfully condemned for being in violation of the United Nations Charter and invading Ukraine. There are, however, far more efficacious means to checkmate Russian moves than persisting with a prolonged period of ever widening economic sanctions aimed at crippling Russia’s economy. This may be an ideal way to achieve a ‘regime change’ in Moscow, getting citizens to rise against the regime due to the shortages and other restrictions imposed by a ‘sanctions’ regimen. It is, however, not the best way to end a conflict in the shortest possible time, and avert a greater human tragedy that a prolonged conflict entails. Sanctions, no doubt, do and will affect Russia and its economy, but it has had little impact on Russia’s war effort. Meanwhile, Ukraine, or more particularly the citizens and the residents of Ukraine, are innocent victims of the tussle between the West and Russia. For the present, each new sanction only strengthens Russia’s determination to compel Ukraine to cut its links with the West. No country within the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Or even those outside it, is at present willing to send forces in support of Ukraine. Waiting for the eventual collapse of the Russian state while leaving Ukraine and its citizens to the not-so-tender mercies of the Russian juggernaut is tantamount to becoming an accessory to genocide. While concerns that the conflict in Ukraine may lead to a nuclear conflict do appear exaggerated, what is taking place is a tragedy of a kind that should not befall any nation. Deconstructing Ukraine The need to break the cycle of conflict and end the death of innocent civilians – as also the destruction of property – is the most vital issue at this juncture. There are, no doubt, certain special circumstances that make the problem inherently difficult and complicated. Ukraine, for instance, is not just another country as far as Russia is concerned. It was part of the erstwhile Soviet Union till 1991, and even at the time there were inherent tensions in the relationship. Ukraine in turn has long struggled with ethno-linguistic tensions encompassing western and central Ukraine and the Russian-speaking Eastern Ukraine. Western Ukraine is also largely Catholic while the east is largely Russian Orthodox. Even after its split from Russia in 1991, Ukraine has had problems in maintaining a semblance of neutrality between Russia and the West. Aggravating the situation is the fact that Ukraine was, in a sense, a child of a series of ‘Colour Revolutions’ that shook parts of the Russian Empire in 1991 – when Russian influence was at its lowest ebb after the Second World War. Matters god further aggravated when a pro-Russian President of Ukraine – who was elected in a relatively fair election – was ousted and had to flee the country. Following this, Russia intervened and annexed Crimea and took aggressive measures to reinforce Russian influence in Donetsk and Luhansk, regions of eastern Ukraine which have large Russian populations. The ties between Russia and Ukraine are thus in a sense both historical and political. The declared ambition of NATO is to deter Soviet expansionism and, hence, any nation becoming a part of NATO is deemed by Russia to be anti-Russia. Russia has, from time to time, made it apparent that under no circumstances would it countenance NATO membership for Ukraine, and that this would be perceived as a hostile act towards Russia. The politics of the war As of now, Ukraine has become a pawn between Russia and the West. The war over Ukraine is, furthermore, a reflection of the prevailing myopia of current leaders who seem doomed to repeat past follies. An extension of NATO by the inclusion of Ukraine at this time – a country with a complex history and polyglot composition – was hardly a compelling necessity at this juncture, but badly misreading the situation (for even as far back as 2007 at the Munich Security Conference where I was the Indian delegate, Mr. Putin had made it amply clear that ‘NATO extension…. Represents a serious provocation that reduces the level of mutual trust’). Since then, Mr. Putin has given no indication whatsoever of any change in his attitude on this issue. This misreading of Mr. Putin’s personality has been a cardinal error, and Ukraine is paying a very heavy price. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, who openly flaunts his pro-West inclination, is hardly a match for President Putin in terms of strategy and tactics. While Mr. Zelensky employs grandstanding as a strategy, Mr. Putin is a born fighter. Anyone who has had an opportunity to interact closely with Mr. Putin would never have attempted to challenge him in the manner that Mr. Zelensky has been doing these past few weeks. Currently, an unlikely hero to his fellow countrymen, he could well go down in history as someone who has caused the ruin of Ukraine. Had he had played his cards properly; he could have prevented the situation from reaching the present impasse and still maintained Ukraine’s independence. To say the least, this is extremely unfortunate for Ukraine and much of the world as well. Press the pause button A change of tack is clearly called for. At this time, the cardinal objective should be to save human lives and the existence of Ukraine. Ukraine’s ambitions to join NATO, which are in any case a distant dream, need to be put on the back burner. For the present, any extension of NATO further to the east should be given up, and, instead, an effort made to rebuild some of the bridges that existed between Russia and the rest of Europe at the beginning of this century. Alongside this, the West should hit the ‘pause button’ on initiating ‘Colour Revolutions’ which have led to more conflicts than peace in Europe or elsewhere. More than anything else, leaders of nations and countries need to understand and assimilate the lessons of history, to avoid the kind of critical mistakes that have been evident during the current Russia-Ukraine crisis and war.   Water management needs a hydro-social approach Freshwater resources are under stress, the principal driver being human activities in their various forms SRIKUMAR CHATTOPADHYAY   The Global Water System Project, which was launched in 2003 as a joint initiative of the Earth System Science Partnership (ESSP) and Global Environmental Change (GEC) programme, epitomizes global concern about the human-induced transformation of fresh water and its impact on the earth system and society. The fact is that freshwater resources are under stress, the principal driver being human activities in their various forms. Fresh water, water valuation In its fourth assessment report in 2007, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) highlighted the link between societal vulnerability and modifications of water systems. It is globally estimated that the gap between demand for and supply of fresh water may reach up to 40% by 2030 if present practices continue. The formation of the 2030 Water Resource Group in 2008, at the instance of the World Economic Forum, and the World Bank’s promotion of the group’s activity since 2018, is in recognition of this problem and to help achieve the sustainable Development Goal (SDG) on water availability and sanitation for all by 2030 (SDG 6). Formally, it is: “to ensure safe drinking water and sanitation for all, focusing on the sustainable management of water resources, wastewater and ecosystems….” The latest UN World Water Development Report, 2021, titled ‘Valuing Water’, has laid stress on the proper valuation of water by considering five interrelated perspectives: water sources; water infrastructure; water services; water as an input to production and social-economic development, and socio-cultural values of water. Designing a comprehensive mix of divergent views about water (along with ecological and environmental issues) held by stakeholder groups is necessary. In this context a hydro-social cycle approach provides an appropriate framework. It repositions the natural hydrological cycle in a human-nature interactive structure and considers water and society as part of a historical and relational-dialectical process. Inter-basin transfer projects The anthropogenic factors directly influencing a freshwater system are the engineering of river channels, irrigation and other consumptive use of water, widespread land use/land cover change, change in an aquatic habitat, and point and non-point source pollution affecting water quality. The intra- and inter-basin transfer (IBT) of water is a major hydrological intervention to rectify the imbalance in water availability due to naturally prevailing unequal distribution of water resources within a given territory. There are several IBT initiatives across the world. One recent document indicates that there are 110 water transfer mega projects that have either been executed (34 projects) or being planned/under construction (76projects) across the world. The National River Linking Project of India is one of those under construction. These projects, if executed, will create artificial water courses that are more than twice the length of the earth’s equator and will transfer 1,910 km3 of water annually. They will reengineer the hydrological system with considerable local, regional and global ramifications. Based on a multi-country case study analysis, the World Wildlife Fund/World Wide Fund for Nature (2009) has suggested a cautious approach and the necessity to adhere to sustainability principles set out by the World Commission on Dams while taking up IBT projects. Some of the key assumptions Recently, inter-basin transfer of water drew attention in India due to a provision made in Budget 2022 for the Ken Betwa river link project which is a part of the National River Linking project (mooted in 1970 and revived in 1999). This decision raises larger questions about hydrological assumptions and the use and the management of freshwater resources in the country. We shall ponder over some of them. First, the basic premise of IBT is to export water from the surplus basin to a deficit basin. However, there is contestation on the concept of the surplus and deficit basin itself as the exercise is substantially hydrological. Water demand within the donor basin by factoring present and future land use, especially cropping patterns, population growth, urbanization, industrialization, social-economic development and environmental flow are hardly worked out. Besides this, rainfall in many surplus basins has been reported as declining. The status of the surplus basin may alter if these issues are considered. Second, there is concern about the present capacity utilization of water resources created in the country. By 2016, India created an irrigation potential for 112 million hectares, but the gross irrigated area was 93 million hectares. There is a 19% gap, which is more in the case of canal irrigation. In 1950-51, canal irrigation used to contribute 40% of net irrigated area, but by 2014-15, the net irrigated area under canal irrigation Ground water irrigation now covers 62.8% of net irrigated area. The average water use efficiency of irrigation projects in India is only 38% against 50%-60% in the case of developed countries. Agriculture, grey water use Even at the crop level we consume more water than the global average. Rice and wheat, the two principal crops accounting for more than 75% of agricultural production use 2,850 m3/tonnes and 1,654 m3/tonnes of water, respectively, against the global average of 2,291 m3/tonnes and 1334 m3/tonnes in the same order. The agriculture sector uses a little over 90% of total water use in India. And in industrial plants, consumption is 2times to 3.5 times higher per unit of production of similar plants in other countries. Similarly, the domestic sector experiences a 30% to 40% loss of water due to leakage. Third, grey water is hardly used in our country. It is estimated that 55% to 75% of domestic water use turns into grey water depending on its nature of use, people’s habits, climatic conditions, etc. At present, average water consumption in the domestic sector in urban areas is 135 liters to 196 liters a head a day. Given the size of India’s urban population (469 million estimated for 2021), the amount of grey water production can be well imagined. If grey water production in the rural areas is considered it will be a huge amount. The discharge of untreated grey water and industrial effluents into freshwater bodies is cause for concern. The situation will be further complicated if groundwater is affected. Apart from the inefficient use of water in all sectors, there is also a reduction in natural storage capacity and deterioration in catchment efficiency. The issues are source sustainability, renovation and maintenance of traditional water harvesting structures, grey water use efficiency, and reuse of water. Planning ahead Looking into these issues may not be adequate to address all the problems. Nevertheless, these measures will help to reduce demand supply gap in many places, and the remaining areas of scarcity can be catered to using small-scale projects. The axiom that today’s water system is co-evolving and the challenges are mainly management and governance has been globally well accepted. Water projects are politically charged and manifest an interplay of social relations, social power, and technology. It is important to include less predictable variables, revise binary ways of thinking of ‘either or’, and involve non-state actors in decision-making processes. A hybrid water management system is necessary, where (along with professionals and policy markers) the individual, a community and society have definite roles in the value chain. The challenge is not to be techno-centric but anthropogenic.

 

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EDITORIAL- MARCH, 9, 2022

 

THE HINDU EDITORIAL- MARCH 9, 2022

 

Clear signals India and China must take on board global currents that could reshape ties   China’s claim that the U.S. Indo-Pacific strategy is aiming to create “an Indo-Pacific version of NATO”, as the Chinese Foreign Minister, Wang Yi, put it on March 7 is not new. Indeed, even as long as 15 years ago, during the first iteration of the now revived India, Australia, Japan, U.S. Quad, Beijing warned of an impending “Asian NATO”, which, of course, never materialized. The latest statement does, however, assume significance in the current global context and amid the crisis in Ukraine. Mr. Wang, speaking in Beijing during the National People’s Congress, accused the U.S. of “stoking geopolitical rivalry “by “forming exclusive clubs”. He said by “strengthening the Five Eyes” intelligence alliance and “peddling the Quad, piecing together AUKUS and tightening bilateral military alliances”, the U.S. was leading what he called a “five-four-three-two” formation in the region. The broader goal, he said, was “to establish an Indo-Pacific version of NATO”. In recent weeks, Beijing has repeatedly blamed NATO for the crisis in Ukraine. While claiming to stay neutral, it has moved to reaffirm ties with Russia, which Beijing on Monday described as “rock solid”. When the two countries’ leaders met for a summit on February 4, China backed Russia on its concerns on NATO’s eastward expansion in Europe, and Russia returned the favour with both criticizing the U.S. Indo-Pacific strategy. Beyond their already deep political and economic linkages, these mirrored concerns on U.S. alliances are emerging as powerful binding glue in the China-Russia axis. New Delhi will need to consider how this will impact its close relations with Russia. By explicitly equating the Quad, which is not a military pact, with other security agreements, China now also appears to be clearly situating India as a part of the U.S. “exclusive club”. New Delhi has rejected that notion. Only last month, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said “interested parties” were making a “lazy analogy of an Asian NATO” and India was not a U.S. treaty ally. Indeed, some in New Delhi have come to view Beijing’s aggressive moves along the LAC in 2020 as a warning sign to deter India-U.S. relations. India’s firm, and correct, response has been to hold the line, and continue deepening ties not only with the U.S. and the Quad but also other Indo-Pacific partners to underline it will not be swayed. The other message from India has been that sensitivity to concerns has to be mutual, and cannot be demanded from one side when ignored by the other; China’s relations with Pakistan being a case in point. Mr. Wang did acknowledge that recent “setbacks” in ties suited neither India nor China – a view New Delhi shares. The two sides will meet on March 11 for the next round of military talks to take forward LAC disengagement. As India and China continue to seek a much-needed modus Vivendi to restore ties from the lowest point in decades and ensure peace on the border, they will also need to have a broader conversation about global currents that are reshaping their bilateral relations.   Global stagflation risk India will have to cut fuel taxes or risk both faster inflation and slower growth As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is set to enter the third week, the economic cost of the conflict in Eastern Europe threatens to stall the shaky global recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. While the expansive financial sanctions imposed on Russia by the U.S. and its western allies have sent the value of the rouble plunging by more than 60% against the dollar since the start of the conflict, the war-led disruptions to supply and the sanctions have sent the prices of several key commodities soaring: from wheat and corn, to metals including nickel and aluminum, and, most crucially, crude oil and gas. Brent crude futures surged to a high not seen since July 2008, and are currently about 29% higher than before the invasion began on February 24. The price of natural gas has also risen sharply in Europe amid concerns that supplies from Russia could be hit either on account of European nations agreeing to a U.S. proposal to shut the tap on Russian energy exports or by retaliatory sanctions by Moscow. Russia supplies Europe about 40% of its gas requirements, roughly a quarter of its oil and almost half its coal needs, and an embargo on energy supplies from Russia could send already high electricity costs in the countries comprising the euro zone skyrocketing. That in turn would hit consumers, as well as businesses and factories, forcing them to either raise prices or possible even temporarily shut operations. Inflation in the euro area had accelerated to 5.8% in February, mainly on account of a more than 31% surge in energy prices, and with the uptrend in oil prices steepening sharply this week, the outlook for price gains in Europe and worldwide is not encouraging. The IMF< which had in January cut its forecast for global growth in 2022 to 4.4% citing the Omicron variant, rising energy prices and supply disruption, on March 5 warned that the war in Ukraine posed grave risks to the global recovery. With analysts projecting that crude price will cross $180 and some traders punting on prices surpassing $200 a barrel, India too can hardly be sanguine, its diplomatic fence-sitting notwithstanding. In a 2019 paper on ‘The Impact of Crude Price Shock on India’s Current Account Deific, Inflation and Fiscal Deficit’, two senior RBI researchers posited that a $10 increase in the price of oil from a $65 level would raise headline inflation by about 49 basis points (bps) or widen the Government’s fiscal deficit if it decided to absorb the entire oil price shock. India’s policymakers face a tough choice: bear the cost of lower revenue by cutting fuel taxes or risk both faster inflation and slower growth.

Poignant reflections that stretch a war’s canvas How can someone be so bad in 2022’ is a question that would resonate with millions of youth across the world KRISHNA KUMAR Thousands of images go past our eyes as they face the unending television coverage of Russia’s assault on Ukraine. In one such image, a BBC reporter asks a Ukrainian girl how old she is and what she is thinking as she boards a train out of Kyiv to head to the Polish border. She is 19, she says, and she wants to take revenge for what the Russian President is doing to her country. The she adds: ‘How can anyone be so bad in 2022? Though it is phrased like a question, it expresses a sense of moral outrage. It also conveys bewilderment 0 of a young person who is about to become a refugee. Layers of meaning  Her question reveals a globally shared emotion among youth born around the turn of the century. They have every reason to believe that the world is an inter-connected place, governed by rules and consensus. They have recently witnessed proof of the world is efficiency and inter-connectedness in in the handling of the COVID-19 crisis. The lethal virus failed to stop two Olympics from being held. In the first one, Ukraine won 19 medals, and in the second one, held a few weeks ago, it won a medal. Then, bombs started falling and city streets turned into rubble. No wonder the 19-year old girl feels lost. So are we, watching devastation in action. The girl’s question will linger for a while. It has already mutated into an allegory, with layers of meaning that are hard to decipher. How can this happen in 2022? The ferocity and the scale of the violence are shocking enough; the aggressor’s resolve to give peace no chance is profoundly depressing. We witnessed the helplessness of Myanmar’s common people over the whole of last year. This time, it is Europe’s turn to stare. Phrases assiduously promoted by United Nations agencies for decades now sound like stone-dry bean pods. Two of them come to mind with especially hollow effect: These are: ‘global citizenship and ‘sustainable development’. The pictures of Ukraine under attack show icons of prosperity catching fire, millions leaving homes, their faces looking numb with disbelief. They do not look like refugees from the poorer parts of the world, waiting at the Mexican or Greek borders. The news that Russia has put its nuclear system in a state of high alert also jars with received wisdom. The global information system had for decades reserved its dire phraseology to Iran, Palestine and Kashmir. Terms like ‘flashpoint’ and ‘nuclear neighbors’ were used for territories far away from Europe. Memories of the Bay of Pigs had faded, and the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum had been sanitized. When I visited it in the new century, all its horror-inducing imagery had gone. A member of the museum staff explained that the earlier style of display had proved discouraging for tourism. What the young confront For us in India, the poignant absurdity of Russia’s war in Ukraine is personified by our stranded students. The precarious nature of their plight, and the marks it will leave on their future, cannot be imagined. Some people, who should know better, have been asking: ‘How did so many Indian youth end up studying in Ukraine?’ This is not the right time to contemplate this kind of query, one can say. At the same time, we know how short public memory is – and few public concerns have longevity in our ethos. This situation reminds us of the folly of worrying about headdresses to be worn in classrooms. The news that a senior medical student who has been killed by a Russian bullet hails from Karnataka carries far too many connotations than one might with to probe, but not just now. The sudden turn their lives have taken in a war-torn land is no less sharp than what the 19-year old Ukrainian girl is trying to cope with. Her question expresses a feeling that millions of youth would empathies with. ‘How can someone be so bad in 2022’, she is asking. In many countries such as her own, middle class youth had convinced themselves that they were living in a world far better than the one their parents had to cope with. And they were sure it was getting better The digital convenience of negotiating the complex demands of life had a mesmerizing effect. Nothing seemed to pose a problem that technology and science might not be able to solve. That a European location can be the site of a nuclear alert might also surprise a generation that had no reason to remember how dangerous nuclear weaponry is. What has helped in the erasure of this awareness is the rhetoric of nuclear energy being clean and environmentally friendly. The discourse of separating nuclear energy from nuclear weapons and war has never died. Under the new, broader discourses of climate change, nuclear energy has begun to look safe, and those who talk of nuclear deterrence benefit from this idea. If a Russian Minister comfortably talks about a third World War based on nuclear arms, his world wide young audience cannot necessarily be expected to shiver. They have been told that the Cold War ended in the last century, leaving the new century to stride forward with a relaxed mind. It is rightly described as a post-truth generation as it is used to the idea that politicians can say and get away with anything. Russia’s assertion about Indian students being used as hostages is an example. At least on this matter, India has refuted Russia’s lie. A Widening gap in Russia No matter which nation they belong to, those born after 1995 do have a special problem making sense of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. There have been several visible signs of a generation gap in Russia society. For the younger Russians, the Bolshevik revolution is as distant as the map of the Soviet Union. Unlike many societies that go through sharp turns and historical twists, Russia has had to face the challenge of upgrading its sense of the past. Reforms in curriculum and teacher training since the beginning of the 1990s have been pursued with a considerable degree of imagination. Ironically, these very reforms have widened the gap between generations. It is perhaps a reflection of this gap to reach out to the young in order to explain to them the reasons for the ‘special military action’ in Ukraine. A vacuum The burden of history that sits so awkwardly on their shoulders cannot be lightened by good education alone. The problems of understanding what they face are quite similar to those encountered in parts of Germany following the removal of the remarkable Berlin Wall. It was a bizarre symbol of war-infested history. A 2003German film, Good Bye Lenin!, adroitly captured the difficulties that a senior citizen of Berlin had maintaining mental balance when the city’s division between the eastern and western sides of a wall had started facing open resistance from the younger citizens. The story revolves around an imaginative, desperate attempt to stretch the past into the present. Something like that is happening in Ukraine today, but this is not fantasy: the country is facing naked, violent aggression. Its struggle t survive echoes a terrifying vacuum in the modern world. That it is a moral vacuum is obvious enough, but it is also a vacuum in intelligence. In War and Peace, Tolstoy had said that ‘the need to seek causes has been put into the soul of man’. No cause that Russia can possible cite today can justify its violent behavior on display.   Revive tax increases, stub out tobacco product use The Government must stop the increasing affordability of tobacco items and also rationalize their taxation under GST RIJO M. JOHN Despite a relatively high degree of societal attention and debate spurring on the pace of COVID-19 vaccine development, the novel corona virus pandemic has continued to remain a serious public health concern worldwide. India is reported to have lost half a million of its people to the pandemic over the past two years. Another epidemic But there is a silent killer in our midst that kills an estimated 1.35 million Indians every year. It is the use of tobacco as a result of which more than 3,500 Indians die every single day, as estimated by scientific studies. It also comes at a heavy cost: an annual economic burden of 1, 77,340 crore rupees to the country or more than 1% of India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Although not a communicable disease like SARRS-CoV-2, the tobacco epidemic – as the World Health Organization characterieses it –has some definitive solutions that can reduce the death toll. Research from many countries around the world including India shows that a price increase induces people to quit or reduce tobacco use as well as discourages non-users from getting into the habit of tobacco use. There is overwhelming consensus within the research community that taxation is one of the most cost-effective measures to reduce demand for tobacco products. Nevertheless, ever since the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) legislation in 2017, there has been no significant tax increase on any tobacco product barring a minor increase in the National Calamity Contingent Duty (NCCD) during the Union Budget 2020-21 which only had the effect of increasing cigarette prices by roughly 5%. Lost opportunity In short, there has been no significant tax increase on any tobacco product for four years in a row which is quite unlike the pre-GST years where the Union government and many State governments used to effect regular tax increases on tobacco products. As peer-reviewed studies show, the lack of tax increase over these years has made all tobacco products increasingly more affordable. The Union Budget 2022-23 was an excellent opportunity for the Government of India to buck this trend (of not effecting a significant price increase for the longest time in a row) and significantly increase either excise duties or NCDs on tobacco products. Needless to say, the tobacco industry and the public health community did expect such a move. This year, when the Finance Minister began her Budget speech, it was interesting to note that the movement of ITC stock was stable in contrast to most other stock indices, which were generally moving up. Just as the Budget speech concluded, and having realized that there were no tax hike proposals whatsoever on any tobacco product, ITC stocks gained by more than 6% and outperformed most other stocks in the next couple of hours. The market was just pricing in an unrealized negative prospect for the company. The reason is this: despite the claims of a business diversification away from the tobacco business, close to 85% of ITC’s profits are still derived from its cigarette segment. While the lack of tax hikes has helped the bottom-line of ITC, the Budget has dealt a significant blow to tobacco control efforts in India in particular. The absence of a tax increase on tobacco has the potential to reverse the reduction in tobacco use prevalence that India saw during the last decade and now push more people into harm’s way. It is known that more affordable tobacco products could attract new users especially among the youth. It would also mean foregone tax revenues for the Government especially at a time when the Government of India is looking forward to increasing the share of public spending on health; in the recent Union Budget, it has budgeted 2.2% of the total expenditures towards health. GST Council should act The Union Budget exercise, however, is not the only opportunity to initiate a tax increase on tobacco products. The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council could well raise either the GST rate or the compensation cess levied on tobacco products especially when the Government is looking to rationalize GST rate and increase them for certain items. For example, there is absolutely no public health rationale why a very harmful product such as the bidi does not have a cess levied on it under the GST while all other tobacco products attract a cess. Similarly, there is no rationale why the specific cess applied on cigarettes (which is currently the largest component of overall cigarette taxes) has remained unchanged for four years in the face of increasing inflation. Since specific cess is applied as a fixed amount per stick of cigarette, increasing inflation will decrease the significance of this particular tax component making cigarette prices more affordable and reducing its effective tax burden. GST Council meetings must strive to keep public health ahead of the interests of the tobacco industry and significantly increase either the GST rates or the GST compensation cess rates applied on all tobacco products. The aim should be to arrest the increasing affordability of tobacco products in India and also rationalize tobacco taxation under the GST.

                                                   

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THE HINDU EDITORIA- MARCH 8, 2022

THE HINDU EDITORIAL- MARCH 8, 2022

 

A house of cards Systemic risks stemming from misdeeds at the NSE have evinced lacklustre response The Sunday evening arrest of Chitra Ramkrishna, the former MD and CEO of India’s largest stock exchange, by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), should change the course of what has been a laidback probe into alleged misuse of exchange data by market players and jarring- even surreal – governance lapses. A Delhi court has granted CBI sleuths seven days to interrogate the former National stock Exchange (NSE) boss, about a month after the stock market watchdog, SEBI, passed a 190-page order that has made headlines for its assertions about Ms. Ramkrishna sharing confidential internal information with an unknown person, Separately, the CBI has got extended custody of Anand Subramanian, the NSE’s former group operating officer, hired ostensibly at the behest of the unknown yogi, disregarding the kind of internal controls and governance norms one expects from and institution of such systemic importance in the financial markets. The catchy details must not detract from the larger question arising from the deployment of co-location services and the lacunae in India’s oversight mechanisms over its capital markets reflected in the multi-layered failure to crack down on the wrongdoings at the NSE. The co-location services offered by the NSE, which give market operators willing to pay a premium a head start on exchange trading data and refine their own algorithms for high-frequency trades, are permitted by SEBI but were ostensibly misused by certain players. The NSE’s case entails and unfair advantage provided to some brokers within its co-location user community. Whatever the defenders of such services may say, the premise of giving players with deeper pockets quicker and more information than the average retail investor does not gel with an open market philosophy. That institutional mechanisms, from the NSE’s board and auditors, to SEBI, and independent regulator accountable to Parliament, have not delivered, is a larger worry. Nearly three years have passed between SEBI’s 624 crore rupees fine on the NSE for misuse of its co-location services, and the latest order against its former top brass. A matter where the sanctity of the entire market comes under a cloud should have been treated with a take more urgency. The CBI special court has observed that SEBI, which began this probe in 2016, has been ‘to kind and gentle’, while the CBI, after filing an FIR in 2018, and has been ‘most lackadaisical’. With a new SEBI chief in place, the Government, led by the Finance Minister who is reviewing the handling of the NSE case, must ensure some deterrent action is accompanied by a review of checks and balances in current governance structures.   Terror in Peshawar Islamist terrorists are seeking to set off a Sunni-Shia sectarian war in Af-Pak region The suicide attack at a Shia mosque in Peshawar, killing at least 62 people, is a grave reminder of Pakistan’s growing security challenges after the Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan and the continued persecution that the Shia minority is facing in the Af-Pak region. This was the deadliest attack in Pakistan since the 2018 bombing of Quetta, killing 149 people. The Islamic State terrorist organization, which has carried out a number of suicide attacks in Afghanistan ever since the Taliban captured Kabul in August 2021, has claimed responsibility for the bombing. The IS’s sectarian animosity towards the Shias is well-known. In Iraq and Syria, the IS has carried out systematic attacks against the Shias, who they call “rejectionists” of Islam just because they belong to a different branch of the faith. In Afghanistan, the IS-Khorasan has targeted religious minorities such as Shias and Sikhs. They use sectarian attacks to drum up support for their murderous ideology among Sunni hardliners. Earlier in Afghanistan, the IS-K was confined to the eastern province of Nangarhar. But the complete breakdown of security in the last phase of the Taliban’s insurgency and the collapse of the Islamic Republic of President Ashraf Ghani last year appears to have given the IS a fresh lease of life. The Peshawar attack suggests that the IS threat is now spreading across the porous border to Pakistan. Shia, who make up some 20% of Pakistan’s population, face growing sectarian violence by extremist groups and a state crackdown under the infamous blasphemy law? The Ahl-e-Sunnat-Wal-Jamaat and Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan, two hard-line Sunni groups, have been at the forefront of an anti-Shia campaign in the country. In July 2020, the Punjab Assembly passed a Bill (Tahaffuz-E-Bunyad-e-Islam) which supported only Sunni interpretation of Islam. Terrorist organizations such them IS are trying to exploit these existing sectarian hostilities by carrying out attacks on Shia mosques. What they want in Pakistan and Afghanistan is the same as what they have wanted in Iraq and Syria – a Shia-Sunni sectarian civil war. What makes the threat dangerous this time is the political change in Afghanistan. As the Taliban became the rulers of Afghanistan, the IS emerged as the main armed opposition to the Taliban. The Taliban’s relationship with the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP, also called Pakistan Taliban) also makes the security situation complicated for Pakistan. Islamabad supported the Afghan Taliban to capture power in Kabul. The Afghan Taliban backs the TTP, their ideological brethren, who are fighting Pakistani forces. As the security situation remains fragile in the Af-Pak region, groups such as the IS are swiftly pushing their terror agenda. The Peshawar attack should serve as a warning to Pakistan, which sees the wheel of jihadism returning. If it does not check the widespread anti-Shia narrative and find a way to tackle the security challenges posed by both the TTP and the IS-K, its borderlands could once again turn to anarchy and sectarian bloodletting.

‘Sealed cover’ jurisprudence is appalling As the MediaOne case shows a judiciary that is a mute spectator to any executive action highlights democratic decay KALEESWARAM RAJ & THULASI K. RAJ A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court has dismissed the appeal filed by MediaOne, a television channel in Kerala, whose license the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has refused to renew. The Ministry had said that the license could not be renewed for reasons related to national security. The stand of the Government was endorsed by both the Single and Division Benches of the High Court. In this context, the judgments set a dangerous precedent for free speech rights and procedural justice. Suspended rights A whole set of rights are directly hit by the ban. The first is the obvious one: the right to freedom of speech and expression of the television channel. The rights to association, occupation and business are also impacted. Moreover, the viewers also have a right to receive ideas and information. All these rights are altogether suspended by the executive. The only contingencies in which these rights under Article 19(1) can be interfered with are reasonable restrictions under Article 19(2). Among others like public order, incitement to an offence, it lists ‘security of the State’ as a ground. However, the trouble emanating from the MediaOne judgment is that the state need not even show that its security is threatened. It can conveniently choose the ‘sealed cover’ route. The jurisprudence of ‘sealed process of judicial review is significant since it holds the executive accountable. The executive must cogently answer its action –especially when fundamental rights such as free speech are curtailed. India’s Constitution does not give a free hand to the executive to pass arbitrary orders violating such rights. The Supreme Court of India has repeatedly held that judicial review of executive action is the basic feature of the Constitution. The decisions in Minerva Mills’s vs Union of India (1980) and L. Chandra Kumar vs Union of India (1997) reiterated this fundamental principle. If the executive wishes to limit rights – in this case, censor or restrict speech – it must show that the test of reasonable restrictions is satisfied. This principle is the bedrock of judicial review. The ‘sealed cover’ practice inverses this position. The moment the executive utters ‘national security’, courts often permit them to inform the justification in a ‘sealed cover’. These ‘reasons’ are not disclosed to the party whose rights are clearly at stake. The court satisfies itself of the defense of the state and dismisses the petition. MediaOne, the channel that has been censored, is completely in the dark over the reasons for the ban. It was never heard not its version ascertained. Endorsed yet blocked The judgment creates a situation that endorses the breach of fundamental rights on the one hand, and blocks remedy for the victim through a court of law and a process known to law on the other hand. This is and emulation of the tenor in the judgment in ADM Jabalpur (1976). The majority said in this case that fundamental rights could be suspended during the emergency, with no scope for assessment by the court. Unfortunately, the Kerala verdict revives the ghost of ADM Jabalpur. Consider what the judgments say. The Single Judge said: “From the files produced before the court, it is discernible that the committee of officers took note of the inputs given by the intelligence agencies….” Which “are of serious nature”. These inputs remain unknown. In the judgment of March 2, the Division Bench said: “It is true that the nature, impact, gravity and depth of the issue is not discernible from the files.” Still, the Bench chose to dismiss the appeals by bluntly saying that “there are clear and significant indications impacting the public order and security of the state”. All that is necessary to ban a news broadcaster are these ‘indications’ – which are never revealed to the broadcaster! No recent trend in judicial review has been as opposed to the principles of natural justice as that of the ‘sealed cover’. At the High Court, national security came to mean absolute impunity for the centre. The central government virtually wanted the constitutional court to abstain from its primary function of review of the legality of executive action, and the court did exactly that. The judgment, which accepted this proposition, has the potential to mark the beginning of the end of a free press in a working democracy. When an action is alleged to have curtailed fundamental rights, the court is bound to examine the legality of the action through the lens of proportionality. In Modern Dental College vs State of Madhya Pradesh  (2016), the top court adopted the proportionality test proposed by Aharon  Barak, the former Chief Justice, Supreme Court of Israel, “a limitation of a constitutional right will be constitutionally permissible if: (i) it is designated for a proper purpose; (ii) the measures undertaken to effectuate such a limitation are rationally connected to the fulfillment of that purpose; (iii) the measures undertaken are necessary in that there are no alternative measures that may similarly achieve that same purpose with a lesser degree of limitation; and finally (iv) there needs to be a proper relation (‘proportionality strict sensu’ or ‘balancing’) between the importance of achieving the proper purpose and the social importance of preventing the limitation on the constitutional right”. This was reiterated in K.S. Puttaswamy vs Union of India (2017). But this entire process of proportionality analysis is sidelined by the High Court. For the top court to resolves Yet, the MediaOne case might create a real problem area that needs resolution by the Supreme Court. The High Court relied on the Supreme Court judgment in Digi Cable Network vs Union of India (2019). In Digi Cable, the Court reiterated the principle in an earlier judgment called Ex-armymen’s Protection Services Private Ltd. (2014). The High Court reiterated what the top court said in Digi Cable: “In a situation of national security, a party cannot insist for the strict observance of the principles of natural justice”. There are two issues here. First, there was no examination of the national security plea based on the proportionality analysis, well established in our recent jurisprudence. Second, when a three-judge Bench in the Pegasus case (Manohar Lal Sharma vs Union of India, 2021) has categorically held that the state does not get a “free pass every time the spectre of ‘national security’ is raised” and that “national security cannot be the bugbear that the judiciary shies away from, by virtue of its mere mentioning”. In view of this subsequent law laid down by a larger Bench, the High Court could not have mechanically resorted to the earlier approach in Digi Cable. Therefore, the principle, if any in both Digi Cable and Ex-Armymen, is arguably implicitly overruled in the Pegasus judgment. No court can read and apply a previous judgment as if it is a statute. But this is what the Kerala High Court did, while relying on Digi Cable. A deterioration Today, we have a state that has succeeded in suppressing the voice of the dissenter, illegally and clandestinely. The current case will have an impact on any kind of dissent against an aggrandizing regime, including political movements and academic criticism. A court that sits as a mute spectator to any executive action is a crude manifestation of democratic decay. Justice Jackson of the U.S. Supreme Court famously said; “Those who begin coercive elimination of dissent soon find themselves exterminating dissenters. Compulsory unification of opinion achieves only the unanimity of the graveyard” (West Virginia State Board of Education vs Barnette et. Al, 1943). Constitutional courts are expected to eradicate such possibilities instead of perpetuating them.     Working women too, with a dream of good childcare More than 95% of India’s working women are informal workers, but they lack affordable services and maternity benefits NEETHI P., ANTARA RAI CHOWDHAURY & DIVYA RAVINDRANATH The theme for International Women’s Day 2022 (March 8) is ‘gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow’. However, gender equality is still a far cry for India’s female informal work-force. According to a 2018 study by the International Labor Organization (ILO), more than 95% of India’s working women are informal workers who work in labor-intensive, low-paying, highly precarious jobs/conditions, and with no social protection. A World Health Organization bulletin says that “woman’s informal work is central to the feminization of poverty”. However, we know little about how informal work affects maternal, neonatal, and child health, with the lack of childcare solutions being a serious concern. India is ahead of many advanced nations in instituting maternal health benefits, and its statutory maternity leave is among the global to three. The Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act, 2017 more than doubled the duration of paid maternity leave for women employees to 26 weeks, proposing an option to work from home after this period, on mutual agreement with the employer, and made crèche facilities mandatory for establishments employing 50 or more women. However, these benefits are mostly enjoyed by formal sector women workers, constituting less than 5% of the women workforce. Another ILO study, in 2016, pointed out that a lack of access to quality childcare services forces women workers to leave the labor force, ceasing their earning, and exposing themselves to discriminatory employment practices, and to significant economic and health risks. India has paid less attention to address concerns around childcare support for informal women workers. Here are three ways to enable women to take up more productive paid work and improve their maternal and child health outcomes: extending the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) infrastructure; revitalizing national crèche schemes, and improving maternity benefits. Expansion of the ICDS The primary mandate of the Anganwadi centre’s under the ICDS is to provide maternal and child nutritional security, a clean and safe environment, and early childhood education, thus facilitating the ability of women to re-enter work post-childbirth. However, it has two major limitations. First, it does not cater to children under the age of three. Second, it functions only for a few hours a day, making it inconvenient to send and pick up children during work hours or avail take-home rations provided to pregnant women and households with younger children. Early intake of children in the Anganwadi centre’s can have dual benefits – allow mothers time for paid work and converge with the National Education Policy 2020 mandate that acknowledges quality Early Childhood Care and Education for children in the 0-6 age group. Extending the hours of Anganwadi centre’s can also address time constraints for working women. However, these expansions would also require expanding the care worker infrastructure, especially the Anganwadi worker and helper, who are already overburdened and underpaid. Revitalize the crèche scheme The National Crèche Scheme lays out specific provisions for working women but has suffered diminished government funding. An inclusive approach is required to diversify worksite and working hours and overcome implementation gaps. Revitalizing the provisions of the scheme and adding a network of public and workplace crèches can be hugely beneficial. Public crèches can be operated at worksite clusters such as near industrial areas, markets, dense low-income residential areas, and labor nakas. Crèches closer to the workplace allow for timely breast-feeding and attending to emergencies. This model has been tested successfully by Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) Sangini in some India cities. Where work occurs at a single site, such as a garment factory or construction site, worksite crèches will help; as seen in the construction site crèches run by Aajeevika Bureau (Ahmadabad) and Mobile Crèches (Delhi). The construction sector is a case in point where the Building and other Construction Workers Welfare Board mandates the running of crèches. The funds collected under the construction cess can be earmarked for running crèches at construction sites. Some benefits Childbirth and childcare are financially stressful and compel many women to return to work within a few weeks of childbirth. Women in informal employment did not have maternity benefits until the National Food Security Act (NFS), 2013, entitled pregnant and lactating mothers to a cash transfer of at least 6,000 rupees. However, the scheme notified for this purpose, the Pradhan Mantri Matru vandana Yojana (PMMVY) limits the benefit to the first birth and has also reduced the amount to 5,000 rupees. States such as Tamil Nadu (Dr. Muthulakshmi Maternity Benefit Scheme), Rajasthan (Indira Gandhi Maternity Nutrition Scheme), Odisha (Mamta Scheme), Gujarat (Kasturba Poshan Sahay Yojana), and Chhattisgarh (Kaushalya Maternity Scheme) try to bridge the coverage gap, incentivizing health-seeking behaviors. Of these, Tamil Nadu has an expansive and ambitious scheme offering 18,000 rupees in cash and kind for two live births. Right to Food demands that universal and unconditional maternity entitlements of at least six months of the minimum wages for pregnant women and lactating mothers be implemented. The cash transfers under the PMMVY are insufficient, by both evaluations on the ground and the NFSA benchmark, as well as for nutrition needs and wage compensation. The compensation, which is lower than the minimum wages, is inadequate in postponing the mother’s return to work for the first six months. The amount also does not match an inflation-adjusted NFSA benchmark (nearly 9,400 in 2022). The lack of affordable and quality childcare services and maternity benefits increase the burden on informal women workers, aggravating gender and class inequalities. Presently, it is up to individuals and families to find a resolution to this tension of a worker-mother, putting women, girls, and children at a gross disadvantage. It is imperative that we consider affordable and quality childcare infrastructure as an employment-linked benefit and as a public good.

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