Make Lynching A Separate Offence, SC Tells Parliament

The Supreme Court has condemned the recent events of lynchings and has asked the Parliament to make lynching a separate offence. A special law in this field would instil a sense of fear of law amongst the people who involve themselves in such kinds of activities

Court’s Observations

• The court observed that "horrendous acts of mobocracy" cannot be allowed to overrun the law of the land. 
• The primary obligation of the government is to protect all individuals irrespective of race, caste, class or religion.
• Describing lynchings and mob violence as threats, the court warned that the rising wave of frenzied mobs, fed by fake news, self-professed morality and false stories, can immensely effect secular ethos and pluralistic social fabric of the country.
• Presentation of the incidents in a favourable light by the perpetrators of the crimes, including in the social media aggravates the entire problem.
• Pluralism and tolerance are essential virtues and constitute the building blocks of a truly free and democratic society and ought not to be suppressed.
• The dignity of a human being is of utmost priority and has been guaranteed by the law of the land. It cannot be taken away by other citizens of the society.
• The court has directed several preventive, remedial and punitive measures to deal with lynching and mob violence.
• It has ordered the Centre and the States to implement the measures and file compliance reports within the next four weeks.
• Till a special legislation is framed, the guidelines directed by the court would stand the force of law.

The Guidelines

• The state governments shall designate a senior police officer in each district for taking measures to prevent incidents of mob violence and lynching.
• The state governments shall immediately identify districts, sub-divisions and villages where instances of lynching and mob violence have been reported in the recent past.
• The nodal officers shall bring to the notice of the DGP any inter-district co-ordination issues for devising a strategy to tackle lynching and mob violence related issues.
• It shall be the duty of every police officer to cause a mob to disperse, which, in his opinion, has a tendency to cause violence in the disguise of vigilantism or otherwise.
• Central and the state governments should broadcast on radio and television and other media platforms including the official websites that lynching and mob violence shall invite serious consequence.
• Curb and stop the dissemination of irresponsible and explosive messages, videos and other material on various social media platforms. Register FIR under relevant provisions of law against persons who disseminate such messages.
• Ensure that there is no further harassment of the family members of the victims.
• State governments shall prepare a lynching/mob violence victim compensation scheme.
• Cases of lynching and mob violence shall be specifically tried by designated court/fast track courts earmarked for that purpose in each district. The trial shall preferably be concluded within six months.
• To set a stern example in cases of mob violence and lynching, the trial court must ordinarily award maximum sentence upon conviction of the accused person.
• If it is found that a police officer or an officer of the district administration has failed to fulfil his duty, it will be considered as an act of deliberate negligence.

Understanding Inflation

In June, Wholesale Price Index (WPI) inflation rose to its highest level in 54 months and Consumer price index (CPI)-based inflation rose, reaching 5%—a five-month high.

The impact

• The rise in WPI inflation shows the pressure on prices in the economy, and any changes in prices at the producer level get transmitted to consumers, mostly with a lag - indicating a further rise in retail inflation.
• Given the recent trends, the sharper-than-expected increase in the WPI inflation may prompt a repo rate hike at the next meeting by the RBI’s Monetary Policy Committee.

CPI vs. WPI

• Wholesale inflation, measured by WPI, tracks year-on-year inflation at the producer level and CPI, on the other hand, captures changes in prices levels at the consumer level.
• Both baskets measure inflationary trends (the movement of price signals) within the broader economy, the two indices differ in which weightages are assigned to food, fuel and manufactured items.
• The weightage of food in CPI is far higher (46%) than in WPI (24%).
• WPI does not capture changes in the prices of services, which CPI does.
• In April 2014, the RBI had adopted the CPI as its key measure of inflation. Prior to this, the central bank had given more weightage to the WPI as the key measure of inflation for all policy purposes.

Warning Signs

• The revised inflation projection of 4.8%-4.9% issued by the RBI in its June review could be breached in the first half of FY’19 due to rising crude oil prices, according to projections by India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra).
• Recently, the IMF trimmed India’s growth projection for 2018-19 by 10 basis points and for 2019-20, by 30 basis points.

Inflation and Growth

• It has been concluded by economists that the threshold values of inflation in developing countries are higher than in developed countries.
• Many economists find the inflation-growth relationship as being “significantly negative” if inflation is above the threshold value (i.e. if inflation increases beyond the limit, growth would be on decreasing trend), and “insignificant or significantly positive” if it is below the threshold value (i.e. if the inflation is within the limit, growth might be unchanged or on increasing trend).
• In the Indian context, the empirical analysis is based on WPI inflation data, using the data for the period 1996-97 to 2010-11, concluded that threshold for India falls in the 4% to 5.5% inflation range, above which inflation retards growth rate of GDP, and below the threshold level, there is a “statistically significant positive relationship” between inflation rate and growth.

Government Doubles Duty on Over 50 Textile Items

The Government has doubled import duty from 10% to 20%, on more than 50 textile products such as jackets, suits and carpets.  

• The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs has also raised the ad-valorem rate of duty for certain items like woven fabrics, dresses, trousers, suits and baby garments.
• The boost comes at a time when India has lost out its garment manufacturing edge to neighbouring countries of China, Bangladesh and Vietnam.
• The move is in line with the ‘Make in India’ initiative and will help boost domestic manufacturing. However, least developed countries including Bangladesh would continue to enjoy duty-free access to Indian markets under the South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) agreement.
• However, concerns have been raised that even the prices of domestic apparel which use foreign inputs could rise.
• As per WTO norms, India would not be able to give further incentive to the textile sector.

NOTE: An ad valorem tax is a tax based on the assessed value of an item such as real estate or personal property. All ad valorem taxes are levied based on the determined value of the item being taxed. The most common ad valorem taxes are property taxes levied on real estate. However, ad valorem taxes may also extend to a number of tax applications, such as import duty taxes on goods from abroad.

Textile Sector in India

• The Textile industry contributes to 7% of industry output in value terms, 2% of India’s GDP and to 15% of the Country’s export earnings.
• The textiles industry is also labour intensive and is one of the largest employers.
• The Indian textiles industry is extremely diverse, with the hand-spun and hand-woven textiles sectors at one end of the spectrum, while the capital-intensive sophisticated mills' sector at the other end of the spectrum.
• The decentralised power looms/ hosiery and knitting sector forms the largest component of the textiles sector.

Government Initiatives

• The Indian government has allowed 100% FDI in the Indian textiles sector under the automatic route.
• The Ministry of Textiles along with Energy Efficiency Services Ltd (EESL), has launched a technology upgradation scheme called SAATHI (Sustainable and Accelerated Adoption of Efficient Textile Technologies to Help Small Industries) for reviving the powerloom sector of India.
• The Government has planned to connect as many as 5 crores (50 million) rural women to charkha (spinning wheel) in next 5 years with a view to provide them employment and promote khadi.
• 21 ready-made garment manufacturing units are being set up in seven states for development and modernisation of Indian Textile Sector.

Safeguard Duty Imposed on Imported Solar Component

The Directorate General of Trade Remedies has recommended a safeguard duty on solar component imports from China and Malaysia.

• The decision came as a relief for domestic manufacturers who are struggling to cope with a deluge of cheap imports. They believe that the imposition of safeguard duty would be a positive development as it would lead to an improvement in their competitiveness against the cheaper imports.
• This will prevent the complete erosion of the manufacturing base of the solar industry in the country.
• Around 90% of the solar panels used in Indian projects are imported from China and Malaysia, mainly because imported equipment comes 25-30% cheaper than locally made ones.
• All other nations such as the US, the UK, and Taiwan have been exempted.
• The duty will apply for two years in total to imports from China and Malaysia.
• It is broken into three slabs of 25% for the first year, 20% for the first half of the second year, and 15% for the last six months of the second year.
• Products from units located in Special Economic Zones (SEZs) directed for consumption within India will not be exempt from the proposed safeguard duty on solar cells.
• Earlier in 2018, the Director General of Safeguards had recommended setting a safeguard duty of 70% for 200 days on solar imports which was stayed by the Madras High Court.

Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR)

• DGTR is apex National Authority under the Ministry of Commerce for administering all trade remedial measures including anti-dumping, countervailing duties and safeguard measures.
• The DGTR subsumed Directorate General of Anti-dumping and Allied Duties (DGAD), Directorate General of Safeguards (DGS) and Safeguards (QR) functions into its fold by merging them into one single national entity.
• It will also provide trade defence support to our domestic industry and exporters in dealing with increasing instances of trade remedy investigations instituted against them by other countries.
• The DGTR will substantially reduce the time taken to provide relief to the domestic industry and its constitution is in consonance with the goal of “Minimum Government Maximum Governance”.
• The issue of creation of DGTR pending since 1997, was finally approved in May 2018 to provide a level playing field to the domestic industry.

Concerns

• This could raise capital costs for solar projects based on imported modules.
• The safeguard duty may drive up domestic solar power tariffs as a bulk of the projects are already under implementation. In the past, cheap imports have pushed down tariffs for solar power to record lows.
• The cost of supplies from SEZ units, which are a substantial source of solar cells and modules, would increase.
• Some argue that the two-year time period for the proposed duty would be too short to actually benefit the domestic manufacturers in terms of capacity addition.
• Solar developers, as well as the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, had argued that any such safeguard duty would hinder India’s ambitious programme of setting up 100GW of solar capacity by 2022.

Counter-Drone Strategy for Country’s Airports Is Ready

The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) has finalized a strategy to neutralize drones near airports as the BCAS is mandated to ensure aviation security.

Key Highlights

• The proposed measure includes neutralizing drones through a “soft kill” approach which will include entrapping or jamming drones instead of destroying them.
• A “soft kill” approach instead of a hard kill approach has been suggested because destroying a drone with a payload of explosives or biochemical will result in an unintended attack.

NOTE: The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) was initially set up in January 1978 on the recommendation of the Pande Committee. The main responsibility of BCAS are to lay down standards and measures in respect of the security of civil flights at International and domestic airports in India.

Why the Need for a Strategy?

• Regular sighting of drones has made it a big threat for airport security as there are currently no counter-measures in place to shoot down a flying object.
• Operating a drone, an unmanned aircraft, is prohibited in areas near the airport. However, there is no guideline as to how to react when a drone is spotted in the vicinity of an airport.
• Other Measures
  • The Ministry of Civil Aviation had released draft rules for unmanned aircraft systems in 2017. The draft rules proposed to ban their operation within 5 km radius of an airport and 50 km from an international border. It also barred drones within 5 km radius of Vijay Chowk in New Delhi.
  • Ministry of Home Affairs may also prepare a separate plan to deal with drone attacks in sensitive zones such as Parliament.

NOTE: Drones, also known as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or remotely piloted aircraft system (RPAS), are used in several parts of the world in the armed forces. Apart from its use in the military, it is also used for civilian purposes such as monitoring crop production and infrastructure, natural calamities, surveys, commercial photography, aerial mapping, and package delivery.

Important Facts for Prelims (July 18th, 2018)

Cyanothece

• It is a bacteria that is able to fix nitrogen because it has a circadian rhythm.
• Cyanothece photosynthesises during the day, converting sunlight to the chemical energy they use as fuel, and fix nitrogen at night, after removing most of the oxygen created during photosynthesis through respiration.
• By taking the genes from Cyanothece and putting them into another type of cyanobacteria, Synechocystis, scientists could coax it into fixing nitrogen from the air too.
• This could help in engineering plants to develop their own fertilizer by using atmospheric nitrogen to create chlorophyll for photosynthesis.
• Doing so could eliminate the use of some human-made fertilizer, which has a high environmental cost.

Dolphin Population Declines

• The population of Gangetic river dolphin has declined at the Vikramshila Gangetic Dolphin Sanctuary (VGDS) which is India’s only sanctuary for its national aquatic animal.
• The Gangetic dolphin is among the four freshwater dolphins - the other three are the Baiji now likely extinct from the Yangtze River in China, the Bhulan of the Indus in Pakistan and the Boto of the Amazon River in Latin America.
• The prominent reason for the decline is the movement of big cargo vessels in the river and dredging activities. Since they depend on echolocation, the Gangetic dolphins suffer from the noise pollution created by large ship propellers, and by dredging.
• Other reasons for the decline are increasing pollution, human interference, siltation and decreasing water flow and water level in the river.

Ganges River Dolphins

• Common Name: Ganges River Dolphin, Blind Dolphin, Ganges Susu, Hihu, Side-swimming Dolphin, South Asian River Dolphin.
• Scientific Name: Platanista gangetica
• IUCN Status: Endangered
• It is listed on CITES Appendix I.
• It is classified under Schedule 1, Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 as this provides absolute protection and offences under these are prescribed the highest penalties.

NOTE: CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) is an international agreement which aims to ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival.

Vikramshila Gangetic Dolphin Sanctuary

• It is located in Bhagalpur District of Bihar, India.
• The sanctuary is a 50 km stretch of the Ganges River from Sultanganj to Kahalgaon.
• It was designated as a protected area for the endangered Gangetic dolphins in 1991.

Expanding 'dead zone' in the Arabian Sea

• According to scientists, climate change may be causing the expansion of a vast dead zone in the Arabian Sea.
• As waters warm because of climate change, they hold less oxygen - and that, coupled with the excess fertilizer and run-off that gets dumped into the Gulf of Oman – worsens the situation.
• It starts at about 100 metres and goes down to 1,500 metres, so almost the whole water column is completely depleted of oxygen.
• This dead zone, the researchers now believe is by far the largest in the world.

Dead Zones

• Also known as Hypoxic zone are areas of the sea where the lack of oxygen makes it difficult for organisms to survive.
• There are many physical, chemical, and biological factors that combine to create dead zones, but nutrient pollution is the primary cause of those zones created by humans.
• Excess nutrients can stimulate an overgrowth of algae, which then sinks and decomposes in the water.
• The decomposition process consumes oxygen and depletes the supply available to healthy marine life.
• Other factors contributing to the formation of dead zones:  absorption of air-borne nitrogen by water bodies, sewage run-off, the churning of ocean waters.
• Dead zones are found across the world. They are found in coastal as well as inland waters.

Pangolin

• A special unit of Odisha Police said it would soon approach Interpol to bust the international smuggling operations of pangolin,  the world’s most illegally traded mammal. 
• Of the eight species found worldwide (four each in Asia and Africa), two are found in India- Indian Pangolin (Manis crassicaudata) and Chinese Pangolin (Manis pentadactyla). 

  

• The Indian Pangolin is found throughout the country south of the Himalayas, excluding the north-eastern region while the Chinese Pangolin ranges through Assam and the eastern Himalayas.
• Due to their huge demand for medicinal purposes, pangolins are smuggled through roads and rails and sent to China.

Current Status

• The Chinese pangolin has been listed as “critically endangered” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List, while the Indian pangolin has been listed as “endangered”.
• In India, this species is included in Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act 1972, therefore hunting, trade or any other form of utilisation of the species or their body parts and derivatives is banned.
• All pangolin species are listed in Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species(CITES) Appendix I.