The Hindu Editorial Analysis | 6th July ’21

Table of Contents

NEWS

PM Modi offers India’s CoWIN App for Corona vaccination to countries around world
Over 35 crore 71 lakh covid-19 vaccine doses administered so far in country
Govt allows domestic airlines to operate at 65 percent passenger capacity
Delimitation Commission to arrive in Srinagar today on four-day visit to J&K
CBSE to hold class 10 and 12 board exams for current academic year in two sets with approximately 50 per cent syllabus
Monsoon likely to reach remaining parts of northwest India around July 10
FCI West Bengal fully geared up for implementing 4th Phase of Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojna
MoS for Education Sanjay Dhotre to chair 8th BRICS Education Ministers meeting tomorrow
ISRO constantly enlarging its role in development activities in the last seven years: Dr Jitendra Singh

· Minister of State for Department of Space Dr Jitendra Singh today said that Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) is no longer confined mainly to the launching of satellites.

· He was interacting with senior officials of ISRO.

· ISRO scientists briefed him about the widespread application of Space Technology in fields like agriculture, soils, water resources, land use, rural development, earth and climate studies, geosciences, infrastructure, disaster management support, forestry and ecology and Using Geo-spatial Technology as a tool for enabling Decision Support Systems.

· Striking a note of appreciation, Dr Singh said that it is not widely known that ISRO had provided Liquid Oxygen continuously on a large scale to several State Governments from their own manufacturing facilities or from the existing stock during the COVID pandemic.

· He added that ISRO also engaged in repurposing existing resources, scaling up of capacity of their facilities and transferring technology to supplement the country’s fight against the second wave of COVID-19.

Safety audits mandated at all stages of road development to reduce accidents: Nitin Gadkari
China widens its crackdown on tech companies under the ambit of national security
Bangladesh records highest COVID death, cases in single day, Lockdown extended till July 14
Indonesia Govt orders producers to prioritise Medical Oxygen amid COVID surge
Explosion near Thai capital Bangkok’s international airport left plastic’s factory in flames, 1 killed, 27 injured

Wildly Disruptive | ToI

In 2020, the standing committee of the National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) approved the diversion of as much as 1,792 hectares of wildlife habitat.
The data is from a study carried out by the nonprofit organisation Legal Initiative for Forest and Environment (LIFE).
How can so much wildlife habitat area be given over to project work in a year when site visits, considered absolutely critical for such clearances, were severely restricted?
Most of the diversion is for linear projects such as roads, railways and transmission lines.
These cause direct loss of habitat and also reduce the landscape’s capacity to sustain wildlife.
The LIFE study also finds that in some cases diversions were approved without indicating the specific area.
At around 4.9% of India’s geographical expanse, its protected areas – including national parks and wildlife sanctuaries – are anyway seriously short of the globally recognised Aichi Biodiversity Target of 17%.

Indian PAs’ effectiveness in preventing forest loss has been poor as compared to countries like Mexico and Thailand.
Plus, even the small proportion that’s protected has taken decades to secure.
Alternative, less disruptive routes for these projects can be found.

Grafty netas? | Pioneer

A French judge has been appointed to lead a “highly sensitive” judicial investigation into the charges of alleged corruption and favouritism in the Rs 59,000 crore Rafale fighter jet deal with India.
19-7-21: the monsoon session of Parliament starts
Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) to probe
Opposition parties also questioned the Government as to why the offset contract was given to a private firm instead of the public sector Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).
If the deal is actually honest and not sweet, why doesn’t the Government allow Parliament to set up a JPC and let it probe the matter to the Opposition parties’ heart’s content?

Will a national judiciary work? | TH

The Union government appears to be steadfast in its resolve to implement reforms in recruitment and appointment to the subordinate judicial services.
In 2019, it spearheaded a consultative process for the creation of the All India Judicial Service (AIJS).
Initially, only four States and two High Courts supported the proposal.
Eight States rejected it, five suggested changes, and 11 are yet to respond.
Recently, the Centre took the ordinance route to effect changes in the appointment of members to various tribunals.
In a single stroke, it abolished several tribunals.
The manner of appointment of members to the remaining tribunals underwent a sea change.
It is likely that the ordinance may not pass judicial scrutiny in light of the Supreme Court’s judgment in Rojer Mathew v. South Indian Bank (2019).
Article 233(1) of the Constitution lays down that “appointments of persons to be, and the posting and promotion of, district judges in any State shall be made by the Governor of the State in consultation with the High Court exercising jurisdiction in relation to such State”.
The 42nd Constitutional amendment in 1976 amended Article 312 (1) empowering Parliament to make laws for the creation of one or more All-India Services, including an AIJS, common to the Union and the States.
However, Clause 3 of Article 312 places a restriction that such a service shall not include a post inferior to that of a district judge.
The amendment also brought about a significant change in the Seventh Schedule — Entry 3 of List II in its entirety was placed as Entry 11A in List III.
This paves the way for Parliament to enact laws with regard to ‘Administration of Justice; constitution and organisation of all courts, except the Supreme Court and the High Courts’.
Post-Emergency, amendment to Article 312 (1) has escaped parliamentary scrutiny.
A dichotomy exists with regard to Articles 233 and 312.
What was essentially intended to be the prerogative of the State will now be the prerogative of the Union.
If the fundamental power of the States to make such rules and govern the appointment of district judges is taken away, it may be against the principle of federalism and the basic structure doctrine.
The First Law Commission deliberated upon this, but it was only in 1972 that the issue gained momentum.
The views of the Chief Justice of India and the Law Commission reports perhaps paved the way to bring in the 42nd constitutional amendment.
It was only in 1986 that the Law Commission resurrected the issue and deliberated upon the objections.
The primary fear was that promotional avenues of the subordinate judiciary would be severely curtailed.
Fifty per cent of the posts of district judges are to be filled by promotion from the subordinate judicial service, thus leaving open the remaining for direct recruitment.
Another fundamental concern was the language barrier.
The Union Law Minister has extolled AIJS to be an ideal solution for equal representation of the marginalised and deprived sections of society.
Most States already have a reservation policy in force.
Tamil Nadu provides for a roster-based reservation of 69%, of which 30% is for women.
Uttar Pradesh merely provides 20% reservation for women and the AIJS may therefore benefit States like U.P.
Arguments that the AIJS will reduce judicial delays do not hold water as the subordinate courts are the crucial point of delays owing to the existence of large vacancies.
In the early 1960s, the issue was debated during the Chief Justices Conference and was favoured by the eminent body, but many States and High Courts opposed it.
The First National Judicial Pay Commission found that it would be in the interest and the health of the judiciary to form an AIJS.
The report supported and reiterated the recommendations of the 14th Law Commission.
In the All-India Judges case in 1992 the apex court had opined that the recommendations of the Law Commission should be examined and implemented.
The issue was again discussed in All India Judges Association Vs. Union of India (2002).
The court accepted most recommendations of the Shetty Commission and directed the government to implement the judgment.
Any groundbreaking reform is bound to receive criticism.
The National Commission constituted for review of the Constitution headed by luminaries including Justice H.R. Khanna, Justice B.P. Jeevan Reddy and K. Parasaran, the then Attorney General, had suggested a paradigm shift in the approach of the Union.
The feasibility of the AIJS in the current context requires to be studied, especially when reliance is placed upon archaic reports of the Law Commission.
It is for the Union to dispel doubts and at the same time give wings to the aspirations of all stakeholders when implementing the proposal.
It, however, remains to be seen if the AIJS would be like the proverbial curate’s egg.

After the lull | Ind Exp

The hope that the February 24 agreement between the Indian and Pakistan armies to revive the 2003 ceasefire along the Line of Control and International Border would lead to a wider thaw in relations between the two neighbours appears to have been misplaced.
After an all too brief lull of four months, both sides are moving back to their default setting of open hostility.
Pakistan’s National Security Adviser Moeed Yusuf has blamed India’s external intelligence agency for a car bombing in Lahore outside the home of Lashkar-e-Toiba chief Hafiz Saeed, in which two passers-by were killed and several others injured.
Earlier, the Jammu & Kashmir Director General of Police said that the drone attack at the Indian Air Force base in Jammu may have originated in Pakistan.
Leaders have painted themselves so much into their respective corners that no one wants the political risk of breaking out.
The Pakistan government’s U-turn on even limited trade with India was a classic example of how hard put the hybrid civilian-military government was to explain to its people why it had shifted from its earlier declared policy that there would be no contact with India unless Delhi reversed the August 5, 2019 decisions on J&K.
Pakistan’s belief that it stands to gain strategic advantages through the Taliban in Afghanistan with the US departure is as short-sighted as its use of terrorist proxies in Kashmir, apart from being contradictory of its own Army chief’s passionate espousal of “geo-economics”.
Meanwhile, in this country, a powerful political leadership has not even owned up to back channel talks with Pakistan even though such contacts have been confirmed by several others, including a high-ranking official of the country that played host to the meetings.
The expectation that the prime minister’s outreach to J&K’s mainstream political parties, despite all its limitations, might provide a platform for a dialogue with Pakistan was also belied as it offered no clear road map even towards the minimal demand of statehood.
The challenge now is to keep the ceasefire intact.
Too many civilians and soldiers have died in the near undeclared war on the Line of Control in the “exchange of fire” between the two armies since 2008 until the agreement earlier this year.

ANSWER

Q.) Name the European country – a non-EU member state – that gave recognition to the Covishield vaccine produced by the Serum Institute of India on Thursday.