E. Editorials

Category: SOCIAL ISSUES

1. Love on the razor’s edge

Context:

Recently, the Uttar Pradesh government promulgated an ordinance seeking the prohibition of unlawful religious conversions.

Issues:

• Ever since the promulgation of the ordinance, complaints have been raised about U.P. polices’ display of uncanny expediency in invoking it in cases involving Muslim men and Hindu women.
• There have been complaints that the ordinance is being used to harass inter-faith couples and expose them to vigilantism.
• It is argued that the ordinance criminalises inter-faith love and marriage and places the burden of proof on the accused.

This topic has been covered in 27^th November 2020 and 4^th December 2020 Comprehensive News Analysis.

Category: POLITY AND GOVERNANCE

1. Pointing the finger at parliamentary scrutiny

Context:

• The Farm Bills passed by Parliament in the monsoon session have evoked a scale of unforeseen protests.
• Negotiations between the government and the farmers have produced no result, with the farmers determined to scale up their agitation.
  • A noteworthy aspect of the negotiations is that many of the proposals put forward at present by the government for the consideration of the farmers are issues which were rejected by the government when those Bills were debated in Parliament.
• While the government is willing to amend these Acts in order to meet the demands of the farmers, the farmers want the laws repealed.
• The developments could lead to a serious confrontation between the government and the agitating farmers.

A process of refinement – parliamentary scrutiny:

• The demand for the repeal of the laws passed by Parliament recently points to a serious lapse in the management of the legislative work in Parliament.
• Parliament is the supreme law-making body which has put in place a large machinery of committees to scrutinise the Bills.
• Rules of the Houses give the discretion to the Speaker or the Chairman to refer the Bills to the Standing Committees for detailed scrutiny.
  • While undertaking such scrutiny, the committees invite various stakeholders to place their views before them.
  • Only after elaborate consultation do the committees formulate their views and recommendations.
  • Members of Parliament who know the ground realities better apply their mind and put them in a better shape.
  • Under any circumstances, the Bills which come back to the Houses after the scrutiny by the committees will be in a much better shape in terms of their content.
• After such scrutiny is completed, the committees send their reports containing their recommendations on improvements to be made in the Bills to the Houses.
• However, every Bill which comes before the Houses need not be sent to the committees.

Issues:

• Data shows that, at present, very few Bills are referred to the Parliamentary Committees.
• Ministers often request the Presiding Officers not to refer their Bills to the committees.
• But the Presiding Officers are required to exercise their independent judgment in the matter and decide the issue.

The need for scrutiny:

• Improving the pieces of legislation through detailed scrutiny by Parliament through its committees is historically an ancient practice.
  • Even the colonial Parliament recognised the need and usefulness of parliamentary scrutiny of Bills brought to the House by the government.
• The Indian experience of legislative scrutiny of Bills goes back to the post-Montagu–Chelmsford Reforms.
  • The Central Legislative Assembly which was the Parliament of British India, had set up three committees: Committee on Petitions relating to Bills, Select Committee of Amendments of standing orders and Select Committee on Bills.
• Free India’s Parliament established a vast network of committees to undertake scrutiny of various aspects of governance including the Bills.
• Earlier, there existed a healthy tradition of consensus making in Parliament between the government and the Opposition on the formation of such committees.

Conclusion:

• The Farm Bills that seek to alter the well-established system of the grain trade in major grain-growing States were not sent to the Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture for a detailed study.
• The Committee is sure to have consulted the farmers apart from other stakeholders and suggested improvements which, perhaps, could have averted the current agitation.
• Parliamentary Committees have a tradition of working in a non-party manner. The reports of these Committees are based on consensus.
• To make these systems gradually non-functional and irrelevant is to invite disaster.

Click here to know more about the Functions of the Parliament.

Category: ECONOMY

1. Connecting more people

Context:

The Union Cabinet recently approved the setting up of public Wi-Fi networks across India that would be provided through public data offices (PDOs) under the Prime Minister Wi-Fi Access Network Interface (PM WANI) scheme.

This topic has been covered in 9^th December 2020 PIB Summary and Analysis.

Details:

• Bringing broadband internet to remote locations at minimum investment, and giving subscribers the option of making small, need-based payments to use it has remained a challenge thus far.
  • PM WANI scheme aims to bridge that divide using wireless technologies.
• Earlier when TRAI initiated the first pilot of a public wi-fi system on the WANI architecture, it noted that a 10% rise in net penetration led to a 1.4% increase in GDP.
• Public wi-fi suffered neglect because it was seen as a competitor to data services sold by mobile telecom firms, rather than as a complementary technology.

Significance:

• Similar to the expansion of long-distance telephony through STD public call offices, this move can get many more people connected.
• Internet access would connect a new wave of users to commercial options, entertainment, education, tele-health, agriculture extension etc.
• It would bring greater accountability to government by boosting transparency and interactivity.
• By cutting through layers of bureaucracy and eliminating licences and fees, it can make online registrations easier, opening up new income avenues.
• A rapid scale-up of Internet in rural India will be transformative, given the low level of penetration.
• The WANI system offers a great way forward to connect low revenue consumers.
• It opens up opportunities for community organisations, libraries, educational institutions, panchayats and small entrepreneurs to tap into a whole new ecosystem, purchasing bandwidth from a public data office aggregator to serve local consumers.

Conclusion:

• What the citizen expects is robust service, protection of data integrity, transparency on commercial use of data, and security against cyberattacks.
• The government must also ensure true unbundling of hardware, software, apps and payment gateways in the WANI system to prevent monopolies.
• Existing public wi-fi options run on a limited scale by some entities compel consumers to pay through a single gateway app, underscoring the need for reform.
• Executed properly, the public data offices (PDOs) of PM WANI can do what the PCOs did for phone calls, genuinely empowering citizens.

F. Tidbits

1. New cross-sector initiative for universal health coverage

What’s in News?

The Lancet Citizens’ Commission on Reimagining India’s Health System, a cross-sector initiative to develop a citizens’ roadmap to achieving universal health coverage (UHC) in India over a period of ten years.

• The Lancet Citizens’ Commission was launched to develop a roadmap to achieve universal health coverage and to submit it to the government of India by 15 August 2022.
• The initiative is the result of a collaboration with the world’s leading international medical journal, The Lancet, and Lakshmi Mittal and Family South Asia Institute, Harvard University.
• The Commission will be guided by four principles:
  • UHC covers all health concerns.
  • Prevention and long-term care are key.
  • The concern is financial protection for all health costs.
  • Aspiring for a health system that can be accessed by all who enjoy the same quality.

G. Prelims Facts

Nothing here for today!!!

Q1. Arrange the following from North to South:

Q2. Which of the given pairs are correctly matched?

Q3. Consider the following statements with respect to Rossby Waves:

Q4. Consider the following statements: