Bitter medicine for the Centre

 

The Supreme Court has set up a three-member committee headed by former Chief Justice of India R.M. Lodha to perform the statutory functions of the Medical Council of India.

Issues which needs reform on urgent basis are:

• Need to reduce the cost of medical education and increase access in different parts of the country.
• Need to improve the doctor-to-population ratio, which is one for every 1,674 persons, as per the parliamentary panel report, against the WHO-recommended one to 1,000.
• Need to remove bottlenecks to start medical colleges, such as conditions stipulating the possession of a vast extent of land and needlessly extensive infrastructure, and to considerably rectify the imbalance, especially in underserved States.
• The primary criterion to set up a college should only be the availability of suitable facilities to impart quality medical education.
• The development of health facilities has long been affected by a sharp asymmetry between undergraduate and postgraduate seats in medicine.
• There are only about 25,000 PG seats, against a capacity of 55,000 graduate seats. The Lodha committee will review this gap.
• National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test, some States
• Will addresses issues such as the urban-rural divide and language barriers.

The single most important issue that the Lodha committee would have to address is corruption in medical education, in which the MCI is mired.

Appointing prominent persons from various fields to a restructured council would shine the light of transparency, and save it from reverting to its image as an 'exclusive club' of socially disconnected doctors.

National insecurity issue

Issue

Accountability needs to be set for lapses in the National Security.

Context

• Something is seriously wrong with our counter-terror security establishment, Parliament's Standing Committee on Home Affairs has reported regarding attack on the Indian Air Force base in Pathankot.
• It said that something is seriously wrong with our counter-terror security establishment,
• Its calls for more effective police action against cross-border trafficking, to ''effectively seal the border'' and for ''better intelligence and operational coordination''

Moment of Truth

• The truth is that the resources to do what the committee knows needs doing just do not exist.
• Funds are not available even for fuel and maintenance needs for Punjab Police patrol vehicles.
• BSF is desperately short of officer-rank personnel.
• IB and R&AW are over a third short of staff allocations.
• Throughout the security sector, training standards are being diluted, and specialist skills are in short supply.

Problem

Accountability can't be demanded unless security forces are given functional autonomy, and credible resources to go with it.

The pulse of India's agrarian economy

The severe drought across India should hopefully help focus attention on the overuse of water in agriculture.

A data analysis showed that the average water footprint for five major crops—rice, wheat, maize, sugarcane and cotton—is far higher than global averages.

Time to Change

• In 1960s. the dominant role was given to water-intensive cereals
• It is time India switched its policy focus to the efficiency of water use rather than adding to the food mountain.
• One key element of this switch should be greater incentives for the cultivation of pulses as well as millets because
• They use less water for every unit of output
• It also acts as a weapon in the fight against hidden hunger.

Why in news?

• Maharashtra government has taken a few baby steps to help farmers move away from crops that use water intensively.
• It will make it more attractive for farmers to grow pulses by offering to pay a guaranteed price that is 5-10% higher than the central minimum support prices (MSPs) for pulses, as well as provide free seeds and fertilizers to farmers who grow pulses.
• This is a welcome beginning in a state that is dominated by the sugar lobby, and an experiment that other state governments should keep a keen eye on.

We need to apply this on national level

• Rising prices of these pulses are not only a big contributor to high food inflation.
• We are importing pulses to feed growing demand in India.
• To minimize the wedge between domestic prices and zero-tariff import prices, the government should also consider doing away with export duties on pulses.
• This will prompt farmers to produce more for both the domestic and foreign markets.

Conclusion

The centre and states would also do well to simultaneously focus on insuring farmers, raising yields within water constraints, enhancing food processing and storage facilities and abandoning export controls. A shift in the highly skewed cropping pattern of the country is the need of the hour.

SC sends back draft on judges appointment

The Supreme Court has raised concerns over two issues in the draft Memorandum of Procedure (MoP) for appointment of judges including the one relating to government's right to reject a recommendation on concerns of national interest. Other clauses include clauses on the role of the Attorney-General of India in the appointment of Supreme Court judges and Advocates-General in the appointment process of High Court judges. The Supreme Court has asked the government to re-consider these clauses.

Present scenario:

Presently, the government is bound to comply if the Supreme Court collegium chooses to override its disapproval of a person recommended for judicial appointment. If the government returns the candidate's file to the collegium, and the latter reiterates its recommendation, the government has no choice but to comply.

Background:

In December 2015, the supreme court, after restoring the collegium system, had directed the Centre to frame a new MoP. The court had directed the government to do this in consultation with the Chief Justice of India, who would in turn take into confidence his four seniormost puisne judges of the Supreme Court and who are part of the collegium.

The MoP for appointment of judges to the Supreme Court and the High Courts have ''always been prepared'' by the executive in consultation with the President and the CJI in consonance with the judgments of the Second Judges and Third Judges cases which ushered in and fine-tuned the collegium system.

Five factors were held by Supreme Court's own consequential judgment to be very important:

1. First, the MoP may indicate the eligibility criteria, such as minimum age, for the guidance of the collegium (both at the level of the high court and the Supreme Court) for appointment of judges, after inviting and taking into consideration the views of state governments and the Government of India (as the case may be) from time to time.
2. Second, the eligibility criteria and the procedure as detailed in the MoP for the appointment of judges ought to be made available on the website of the court concerned and on the website of the Department of Justice of the Government of India. The MoP may provide for an appropriate procedure for minuting the discussions including recording the dissenting opinion of the judges in the collegium while making provision for the confidentiality of the minutes consistent with the requirement of transparency in the system of appointment of judges.
3. Third, in the interest of better management of the system of appointment of judges, the MoP may provide for the establishment of a secretariat for each high court and the Supreme Court and prescribe its functions, duties and responsibilities.
4. Fourth, the MoP may provide for an appropriate mechanism and procedure for dealing with complaints against anyone who is being considered for appointment as a judge.
5. Fifth, the MoP may provide for any other matter considered appropriate for ensuring transparency and accountability including interaction with the recommended persons by the collegium of the Supreme Court, without sacrificing the confidentiality of the appointment process.

A job for every Indian

Context

The Labour Bureau has compiled statistics for job creation in labour-intensive sectors in the country each quarter since the 2008 global financial crisis.

Key points

• The latest figures show that 1.35 lakh jobs were created in 2015, the lowest figure by far of any year since then — lower than the 4.9 lakh new jobs in 2014 and 12.5 lakh in 2009.
• In fact, the last quarter of 2015 recorded job losses.
• Private surveys suggest that the services sector will hire more than manufacturing this year, but there is little to suggest that this will be sharp enough to gainfully employ the one crore Indians who enter the workforce annually.

Challenges Ahead

Annual economic growth has dipped somewhat since 2009-10, but the challenge for the country remains as stark: how to better its job creation for every percentage point of GDP growth, a ratio on which it significantly lags behind most other emerging economies.

Are we ready?

• According to a Government report.,175 million new jobs could be created by 2032 if the economy grows by 10 per cent annually; the figure is 115 million if it grows by 7 per cent.
• To create jobs on such a scale, it proposes tax incentives and interest subsidies for firms creating jobs and some blue-sky interventions to invigorate sectors.
• For instance, negotiate free trade pacts with major markets such as the European Union and the U.S. to boost textiles, improve regional air connectivity for tourism, and so on.

What we really need?

• We need a holistic action plan that covers every base — one that includes
• A skilling and re-skilling programme to increase employability and productivity
• Incentives for smaller enterprises that absorb a greater number of workers
• And the embedding of job generation in the massive infrastructure upgrade that India requires.
• Jobs must be the pivot for social and economic policy.

Facilitating trade in Indian ports

Importance of Indian Port

• The Indian port sector plays a vital role in sustaining growth in the country's trade and commerce.
• It also has an important role in fulfilling India's dream of achieving greater global engagement and integration with its trading partners.
• Much of India's port-led development initiative is expected to revolve around growth in maritime trade, given its share in terms of both volume and value in the country's overall trade statistics.

Initiatives taken by Government to strengthen this sector

• Development of new ports
• Modernisation and mechanisation of the existing ports,
• Reduction of logistics costs through the implementation of increased waterways transport.
• These are also in line with the vision of initiatives such as ''Make in India''.

Issues faced by various ports

• Seaports displayed specific patterns of issues based on differences in geography, infrastructural capacity, operational aspects, contractual arrangements, and so on.
• Haldia Port, West Bengal, being a riverine port, faces the natural challenge of heavy siltation and inadequate dredging capacities.
• In Paradip Port, Odisha, there is issue of semi-mechanisation and manual handling of critical processes having a cascading effect on overall operational efficiency. It highlights the importance of complete mechanisation of processes to ensure seamless operations and thereby lower down vessel turnaround time.
• Congestion at the approach roads is a common problem observed at the Jawaharlal Nehru Port in Maharashtra.
• Underutilisation of physical infrastructure in particular though is extremely prevalent at another private terminal — the Vallarpadam International Container Transhipment Terminal — at the Cochin Port.

Bolstering prospective ventures

As India eyes a resurgence in port-led activities in the country, these issues, though specific to certain ports, indicate the need for the Central government to undertake measures to facilitate trade through Indian ports, either in terms ofbuilding and maintaining infrastructurefor handling desired capacities or undertaking relevantpolicy and regulatory reforms.

For Infrastructure

• It is important to maintain draft to serve bigger vessels
• Ensure mechanisation of ports through introduction of new equipment and procedures
• Build new facilities
• Upgrade existing facilities
• Automate systems/procedures.

For policy and regulatory reforms

• It is important to streamline tariff determination by TAMP along with a provision for periodic revisions
• Ensure transparent and effective contractual arrangements in PPPs
• Implement strengthened communication platforms for seamless information flow among stakeholders
• Strengthen system integration
• Ensure paperless clearance of procedures and transactions
• Develop user information portals

Conclusion

• Apart from reviving the ports currently operational, these measures, if duly incorporated, promise to sufficiently bolster prospective ventures as the country moves towards an optimistic maritime trade regime.

Tips are not salary income, still taxable: SC

In a major relief to the hospitality industry, the Supreme Court has held that tips paid by customers to staff for availing services in restaurants do not constitute salary, and therefore, the employer is not liable to deduct tax at source on such payments under income-tax laws.

However, the court observed that such tips at the hands of employees would be chargeable as ''income from other sources''.

With this, the Supreme Court has set aside the Delhi High Court's May 2011 judgment, which held that the receipt of such tips constitutes income at the hands of the recipient and is chargeable to income tax under the head 'salary' under Section 15 of the Income-Tax Act.

What else the Court said?

According to the court, the employer merely acts in a fiduciary capacity as a trustee for payments that are received from customers, which they disburse to their employees for services rendered to the customer. The employer, therefore, has no obligation to withhold tax on such payments made to employees, regardless of whether the tips are received directly in cash, or collected through credit card by employer, and subsequently disbursed to employees.

Background:

The Delhi High Court in 2011 had ruled that when a tip is paid by way of a credit card by a customer—since such a tip goes into the account of the employer, after which it is distributed to employees—the receipt of such money from the employer would amount to ''salary'' within the extended definition contained in Section 17 of the Act. However, the High Court had also held that when tips are received by employees directly in cash, the employer has no role to play and would therefore be outside the purview of Section 192 of the Act.

Challenging the High Court judgment before the Supreme Court, ITC and others had argued that tips by customers are paid out of their own volition and discretion, and are in the nature of gratuitous payment made directly to the waiters/staff as a reward in appreciation of services rendered to them. ITC further added that employees cannot claim any vested right thereto, since the employer neither pays nor is bound to pay any amount to the employee as a tip.

Supreme Court panel to monitor MCI

Endorsing a Parliamentary Standing Committee report of March 2016 that medical education and profession in the country is at its lowest ebb and suffering from total system failure due to corruption and decay, the Supreme Court has set up a three-member committee, headed by former Chief Justice of India R.M. Lodha, to oversee the functioning of the Medical Council of India (MCI) for at least a year.

In doing so, the court has exercised its extraordinary powers under Article 142 of the Constitution. It empowers the Supreme Court to pass such ''decree or order as may be necessary for doing complete justice between the parties''.

Background:

Court was bound to take this route as the government had not acted on the report of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health and Family Welfare. Its report on ''The functioning of the Medical Council of India'' was tabled in Parliament on March 8, 2016.

Other details:

According to the court, the Justice Lodha committee will have the authority to oversee all statutory functions under the MCI Act. All policy decisions of the MCI will require approval of the Oversight Committee.

The Committee will be free to issue appropriate remedial directions. The Committee will function till the Central Government puts in place any other appropriate mechanism after due consideration of the Expert Committee Report.

About MCI:

• The Medical Council of India (MCI) is the statutory body for establishing uniform and high standards of medical education in India.
• The Council grants recognition of medical qualifications, gives accreditation to medical schools, grants registration to medical practitioners, and monitors medical practice in India.
• The Medical Council of India was first established in 1934 under the Indian Medical Council Act, 1933. The Council was later reconstituted under the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956 that replaced the earlier Act.

Important functions performed by the council:

• Establishment and maintenance of uniform standards for undergraduate medical education.
• Regulation of postgraduate medical education in medical colleges accredited by it..
• Recognition of medical qualifications granted by medical institutions in India.
• Recognition of foreign medical qualifications in India.
• Accreditation of medical colleges.
• Registration of doctors with recognized medical qualifications.
• Keeping a directory of all registered doctors (called the Indian Medical Register).

Non-trade issues at WTO, lack of legal experts worry India

India recently indicated that developing nations, including India, are facing a double disadvantage at the World Trade Organisation's (WTO) Dispute Settlement Body (DSB).

Concerns:

These nations are challenged not only by the lack of a sufficient pool of trade law experts to represent them effectively at the DSB but also by certain efforts to bring within the body's ambit non-trade issues such as labour and environment.

Background:

India has been advocating that certain issues, including labour and environment, must be kept out of the WTO's purview and instead be dealt with by the global bodies concerned such as the International Labour Organisation and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The developed world, however, is keen that the WTO addresses, what they call, global trade's new challenges, including labour and environment.

The Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) of the World Trade Organization (WTO) makes decisions on trade disputes between governments that are adjudicated by the Organization.

India should send Marine to Italy, U.N. arbitration court rules

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An Italian marine accused of killing two Indian fishermen in 2012 could return home as an international tribunal asked India and Italy to approach the Supreme Court of India to relax his bail conditions.

In its interim ruling, the UN's Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague ruled that Sergeant Salvatore Girone be allowed to return home until the dispute is resolved through arbitration.

The verdict is the first big pronouncement of the PCA (Permanent Court of Arbitration, The Hague), after Italy approached it in June 2015.

Background:

Two Italian marines — Massimiliano Latorre and Mr. Girone are facing the charge of murdering two Indian fishermen in 2012 off the Kerala coast. The fishermen were killed when the marines on duty aboard MV Enrica Lexie, an Italian-flagged oil tanker, fired at them.

Way ahead:

The order is binding for both countries as there is no appeal process in the UN tribunal. Technically, the Supreme Court has the power to keep the accused marine in India till the tribunal delivers its verdict in the jurisdiction case.

For his return to his homeland, the tribunal has suggested conditions such as Girone surrendering his passport so that he doesn't travel abroad and reporting his presence to an Italian authority designated by the Indian top court.

About PCA:

• The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) is an international organization based in The Hague, the Netherlands. The PCA was created in The Hague by treaty in 1899.
• It is not a court and does not have permanent judges. The PCA is a permanent bureaucracy that assists temporary tribunals to resolve disputes among states (and similar entities), intergovernmental organizations, or even private parties arising out of international agreements.
• The cases span a range of legal issues involving territorial and maritime boundaries, sovereignty, human rights, international investment, and international and regional trade.

Uttarakhand forest fires

Often unquantified, the social and economic impacts of forest fires are considerable: lives are lost, health problems occur, animals are killed and the environment suffers

The disaster:

Lives lost: 5

Land gutted by forest fire: Almost 1,600 acres of land (hundreds of villages/clusters)

Forest Fire in India:

Almost 50-55% of the total forest cover in India is prone to forest fire annually

Indian State of Forest Report, 2015: Tropical thorn forest, Tropical dry evergreen forest and Subtropical pine forest - most prone to forest fires

Period: Between February & mid-June

Why— Soil moisture is at its lowest

Himalayan Belt:

Western Himalayan region- moist deciduous, tropical dry deciduous, temperate and sub-Alpine types

Prone to fires owing to less rain in the pre-monsoon period

More susceptible trees: Pine forest in Garhwal & Kumaon Hills

Forest Fire & Ecology

The ground vegetation is completely destructed— severe loss of biodiversity

oLoss of forest cover

oLoss to the wildlife habitat

oLoss of human lives

Emissions of Carbon in the Atmosphere (Climate change - lack of sustainable land use policy)

Expansion of deforested area— Change in landscape & micro-climate—Drying up of forest floor

Fires in the understorey of humid rainforests can cause tree mortality and canopy openness (Land transforms into ''savannah'')

Major Issues related to Indian Forests:

Definition of Forest: No proper definition charted out with environmentalists and the government authorities having their own version of what exactly a forest is.

Greed for Land:

Increased industrial activity

Need to increase agricultural production

Nexus between land developers & Timber Mafia

Climate Change:

Natural Disasters: Volcanoes, Tsunamis, Earthquakes, Cloudbursts in Himalayas, Droughts, Storms

Mild winter: More pests and diseases (insect infestations)

The El-Niño effect: contributes to increases in the frequency of drought and lightning strikes

A recent study of various forest conditions in Russia suggests that a 2°C rise in temperature could increase the area affected by forest fires by a factor of between one and a half and two

India's Efforts:

Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDCs): Pledged to

Increase its forest cover and improve the quality of forest cover

Create an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of Carbon Dioxide equivalent through additional forests and tree cover by 2030

Technology used for monitoring:

Satellite images to detect forest fires and its spread (INFFRAS)

Mapping of fire-sensitive zones as well as real-time data

Pre & post fire guidelines/warnings

Firefighting Techniques:

Clearance of stretches of ground vegetation in between forest areas to arrest the spread of forest fire

Beating the fire with the help of local community with specified certain equipment's

Difficult to implement technique: Helicopters spraying water or carbon dioxide

Way Ahead:

The lack of regulatory enforcement and contradictory policies and laws need to be tamed in order to arrest the loss—ASEAN's Zero Burning Policy needs to be reformed and given more teeth in order to keep the trend in check

Rural community is a major stakeholder and government should involve its large rural communities in preparing for the future— by utilizing effective intervention of community-led ''van panchayats'' (forest councils) in preventing fires.

Usage of biomass alternatives, including cooking gas, has had a beneficial impact on fire risk, and this must be expanded

The plantation sector can be tapped for reducing the clearance of ecologically important natural oak forests, by giving preference to growing useful fodder and timber trees