RTI amendment Bill

CONTEXT

The Right to Information (Amendment) Bill, 2019 that amends the Right to Information Act, 2005 has been introduced in Lok Sabha.

What does the RTI Act do?

• Under the RTI Act, 2005, Public Authorities are required to make disclosures on various aspects of their structure and functioning.
• This includes: (i) disclosure on their organisation, functions, and structure, (ii) powers and duties of its officers and employees, and (iii) financial information.

Need:

The intent of such suo moto disclosures is that the public should need minimum recourse through the Act to obtain such information. The intent behind the enactment of the Act is to promote transparency and accountability in the working of Public Authorities.

Who is included in the ambit of ‘Public Authorities’?

‘Public Authorities’ include bodies of self-government established under the Constitution, or under any law or government notification. For instance, these include Ministries, public sector undertakings, and regulators. It also includes any entities owned, controlled or substantially financed and non-government organizations substantially financed directly or indirectly by funds provided by the government.

How is the right to information enforced under the Act?

• The Act has established a three tier structure for enforcing the right to information guaranteed under the Act.
• Public Authorities designate some of their officers as Public Information Officers.
• The first request for information goes to Central/State Assistant Public Information Officer and Central/State Public Information Officer, designated by the Public Authorities. These Officers are required to provide information to an RTI applicant within 30 days of the request.
• Appeals from their decisions go to an Appellate Authority.

Information Commissions:

• Appeals against the order of the Appellate Authority go to the State Information Commission or the Central Information Commission.
• These Information Commissions consists of a Chief Information Commissioner, and up to 10 Information Commissioners.

What does the Right to Information (Amendment) Bill, 2019 propose?

• The Bill changes the terms and conditions of service of the CIC and Information Commissioners at the centre and in states.
• The Bill states that the central government will notify the term of office for the CIC and the ICs.
• The Bill states that the salaries, allowances, and other terms and conditions of service of the central and state CIC and ICs will be determined by the central government.

History of amendments

• “Amendments” have haunted the Right to Information (RTI) community ever since the RTI Act came into effect almost 14 years ago.
• Rarely has a law been so stoutly defended by activists. It is not possible to pass a perfect law.
• But it was a popular opinion strongly held by most RTI activists that a demand for progressive amendments could be used as a smokescreen by the establishment to usher in regressive changes.

Background of amendments

• Nevertheless, the sword of Damocles of regressive amendments has hung over the RTI with successive governments.
• Amendments have been proposed since 2006, just six months after the law was implemented and many times thereafter.
• Peoples’ campaigns, through reasoned protest and popular appeal, have managed to have them withdrawn.

The proposed amendments

1.Challenging Autonomy

In the form of the Right to Information (Amendment) Bill, 2019, they seek to amend Sections 13, 16, and 27 of the RTI Act which carefully links, and thereby equates, the status of the Central Information Commissioners (CICs) with the Election Commissioners and the State Information Commissioners with the Chief Secretary in the States, so that they can function in an independent and effective manner.

2. Giving central overarching power – The deliberate dismantling of this architecture empowers the Central government to unilaterally decide the tenure, salary, allowances and other terms of service of Information Commissioners, both at the Centre and the States.

Why is there a need of change?

Some feel that it is because the RTI helped with the cross-verification of the affidavits of powerful electoral candidates with official documents and certain Information Commissioners having ruled in favour of disclosure.

Challenge to the misuse of power – It is unlikely to be a set of instances but more the fact that the RTI is a constant challenge to the misuse of power.

Empowering a citizen’s access to power and decision-making –

• In a country where the rule of law hangs by a slender thread and corruption and the arbitrary use of power is a daily norm, the RTI has resulted in a fundamental shift — empowering a citizen’s access to power and decision-making.
• It has been a lifeline for many of the 40 to 60 lakh ordinary users, many of them for survival.
• It has also been a threat to arbitrariness, privilege, and corrupt governance.
• More than 80 RTI users have been murdered because their courage and determination using the RTI was a challenge to unaccountable power.

Impact of RTI

• The RTI has been used brilliantly and persistently to ask a million questions across the spectrum — from the village ration shop, the Reserve Bank of India, the Finance Ministry, on demonetisation, non-performing assets, the Rafale fighter aircraft deal, electoral bonds, unemployment figures, the appointment of the Central Vigilance Commissioner (CVC), Election Commissioners, and the (non)-appointment of the Information Commissioners themselves.
• The information related to decision-making at the highest level has in most cases eventually been accessed because of the independence and high status of the Information Commission.

Significance of RTI

• The RTI movement has struggled to access information and through it, a share of governance and democratic power.
• The Indian RTI law has been a breakthrough in creating mechanisms and platforms for the practice of continual public vigilance that are fundamental to democratic citizenship.
• The mostly unequal struggle to extract information from vested interests in government needed an institutional and legal mechanism which would not only be independent but also function with a transparency mandate and be empowered to over-ride the traditional structures of secrecy and exclusive control.
• An independent Information Commission which is the highest authority on information along with the powers to penalise errant officials has been a cornerstone of India’s celebrated RTI legislation.

Part of checks and balances

• The task of the Information Commission is therefore different but no less important than that of the Election Commission of India.
• Independent structures set up to regulate and monitor the government are vital to a democratic state committed to deliver justice and constitutional guarantees.
• The separation of powers is a concept which underscores this independence and is vital to our democratic checks and balances.
• When power is centralised and the freedom of expression threatened no matter what the context, democracy is definitely in peril.
• Sections being amended – Apart from Section 13 which deals with the terms and conditions for the Central information Commission, in amending Section 16, the Central government will also control through rules, the terms and conditions of appointment of Commissioners in the States. This is an assault on the idea of federalism.

Opaque moves

Checks by committee –

• All the provisions related to appointment were carefully examined by a parliamentary standing committee and the law was passed unanimously.
• It has been acknowledged that one of the most important structural constituents of any independent oversight institution, i.e. the CVC, the Chief Election Commission (CEC), the Lokpal, and the CIC is a basic guarantee of tenure. In the case of the Information Commissioners they are appointed for five years subject to the age limit of 65 years.
• It was on the recommendation of the parliamentary standing committee that the Information Commissioner and CIC were made on a par with the Election Commissioner and the CEC, respectively.

Challenges in the manner of amendment being pursued

1.Bypassing examination by the standing committee – The manner in which the amendments are being pushed through without any citizen consultation, bypassing examination by the standing committee demonstrates the desperation to pass the amendments without even proper parliamentary scrutiny.

2.Pre-legislative consultative policy – The mandatory pre-legislative consultative policy of the government has been ignored.

Previous governments eventually introduced a measure of public consultation before proceeding with the amendments.

3.Violation of Constitutional Values –

• If the amendments are discussed by citizens and RTI activists in the public domain, it would be apparent that these amendments fundamentally weaken an important part of the RTI architecture.
• They violate the constitutional principles of federalism, undermine the independence of Information Commissions, and thereby significantly dilute the widely used framework for transparency in India.

Conclusion

The RTI has unshackled millions of users who will continue to use this democratic right creatively and to dismantle exclusive power. The RTI has been and will be used to withstand attacks on itself and strengthen the movement for transparency and accountability in India. Eventually, the Narendra Modi government will realise that while it might be able to amend a law, it cannot stop a movement.

The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Amendment) Bill, 2019

Stringent punishments under POCSO Act

• In a historic decision to protect the children from Sexual offences, the Union Cabinet chaired by PM Modi has approved the Amendments in the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012.
• It will make punishment more stringent for committing sexual crimes against children including death penalty.
• The amendments also provide for levy of fines and imprisonment to curb child pornography.

Salient Features of the POCSO Act 2012

• This act is applicable to the whole of India and provides protection to children under the age of 18 years against sexual offences.
• Definition of sexual abuse – penetrative and non-penetrative assault, as well as sexual harassment and pornography, and deems a sexual assault to be “aggravated” under certain circumstances, such as when the abused child is mentally ill or when the abuse is committed by a person in a position of trust or authority vis-a-vis the child, like a family member, police officer, teacher, or doctor.
• It has raised the age of consensual sex from 16 years as per Indian Penal Code, 1860 to 18 years. This means that –
  • Any person (including a child) can be prosecuted for engaging in a sexual act with a child irrespective of whether the latter consented.
  • A husband or wife can be prosecuted for engaging in a sexual act with his or her spouse under the age of eighteen years.
• The burden of proof lies on the accused – punishment has been provided for false complaints or false information with malicious intent.
• People who traffic children for sexual purposes are also punishable under the provisions relating to abetment in the Act.
• In keeping with the best international child protection standards, the Act also casts a legal duty upon a person who has knowledge that a child has been sexually abused to report the offence; if he fails to do so, he may be punished with six months’ imprisonment and/ or a fine.
• The Act also casts the police in the role of child protectors and are given the responsibility of making urgent arrangements for the care and protection of the child, such as obtaining emergency medical treatment for the child and placing the child in a shelter home, should the need arise.
• The police are also required to bring the matter to the attention of the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) within 24 hours of receiving the report, so the CWC may then proceed where required to make further arrangements for the safety and security of the child.
• The Act also makes provisions for the medical examination of the child designed to cause as little distress as possible. The examination is to be carried out in the presence of the parent or other person whom the child trusts, and in the case of a female child, by a female doctor.
• The Act further makes provisions for avoiding the re-victimisation of the child at the hands of the judicial system. It provides for special courts that conduct the trial in-camera and without revealing the identity of the child, in a manner that is as child-friendly as possible.
• The Special Court can determine the amount of compensation to be paid to a child who has been sexually abused for the child’s medical treatment and rehabilitation.
• The Act stipulates that a case of child sexual abuse must be disposed of within one year from the date the offence is reported.

Role of police: The Act casts the police in the role of child protectors during the investigative process. Thus, the police personnel receiving a report of sexual abuse of a child are given the responsibility of making urgent arrangements for the care and protection of the child, such as obtaining emergency medical treatment for the child and placing the child in a shelter home, and bringing the matter in front of the Child Welfare Committee (CWC), should the need arise.

Safeguards: The Act further makes provisions for avoiding the re-victimisation of the child at the hands of the judicial system. It provides for special courts that conduct the trial in-camera and without revealing the identity of the child, in a manner that is as child-friendly as possible. Hence, the child may have a parent or other trusted person present at the time of testifying and can call for assistance from an interpreter, special educator, or other professional while giving evidence. Above all, the Act stipulates that a case of child sexual abuse must be disposed of within one year from the date the offence is reported.

Mandatory reporting: The Act also provides for mandatory reporting of sexual offences. This casts a legal duty upon a person who has knowledge that a child has been sexually abused to report the offence; if he fails to do so, he may be punished with six months’ imprisonment and/ or a fine.

Definitions: The Act defines a child as any person below eighteen years of age. It defines different forms of sexual abuse, including penetrative and non-penetrative assault, as well as sexual harassment and pornography. It deems a sexual assault to be “aggravated” under certain circumstances, such as when the abused child is mentally ill or when the abuse is committed by a person in a position of trust or authority like a family member, police officer, teacher, or doctor.

What are the amendments proposed?

• The act will be amended to introduce the death penalty as a punishment for offences of penetrative sexual assault and aggravated penetrative sexual assault.
• Aggravated penetrative sexual assault: The Act defines certain actions as “aggravated penetrative sexual assault”. These include cases when a police officer, a member of the armed forces, or a public servant commits penetrative sexual assault on a child. It also covers cases where the offender is a relative of the child, or if the assault injures the sexual organs of the child or the child becomes pregnant, among others. The Bill adds two more grounds to the definition of aggravated penetrative sexual assault. These include: (i) assault resulting in the death of child, and (ii) assault committed during a natural calamity.
• Penetrative sexual assault: Under the Act, a person commits “penetrative sexual assault” if he: (i) penetrates his penis into the vagina, mouth, urethra or anus of a child, or (ii) makes a child do the same, or (iii) inserts any other object into the child’s body, or (iv) applies his mouth to a child’s body parts. The punishment for such offence is imprisonment between seven years to life, and a fine. The Bill increases the minimum punishment from seven years to ten years. It further adds that if a person commits penetrative sexual assault on a child below the age of 16 years, he will be punishable with imprisonment between 20 years to life, along with a fine.
• Aggravated sexual assault: Under the Act, “sexual assault” includes actions where a person touches the vagina, penis, anus or breast of a child with sexual intent without penetration. “Aggravated sexual assault” includes cases where the offender is a relative of the child, or if the assault injures the sexual organs of the child, among others. The Bill adds two more offences to the definition of aggravated sexual assault. These include: (i) assault committed during a natural calamity, and (ii) administering any hormone or any chemical substance, to a child for the purpose of attaining early sexual maturity.
• Storage of pornographic material: The Act penalises storage of pornographic material for commercial purposes with a punishment of up to three years, or a fine, or both. The Bill amends this to provide that the punishment can be imprisonment between three to five years, or a fine, or both. In addition, the Bill adds two other offences for storage of pornographic material involving children. These include: (i) failing to destroy, or delete, or report pornographic material involving a child, and (ii) transmitting, propagating, or administering such material except for the purpose of reporting

What is the rationale behind the legislation?

• As per the last available data from the National Crime Records Bureau 2016 of child rape cases came up before the courts under the POCSO Act read with Indian Penal Code Section 376.
• Less than three per cent cases ended in convictions, pointing to the need for better access to justice for all, and not just more stringent conviction in a small percentage of cases.
• There is the belief that harsher punishments will deter people from committing child rape.
• Also, justice for child survivors demands that the law provide for the death penalty.
• Lastly, the disgust for the crime makes the perpetrator ‘deserving’ of death penalty.

Why are the arguments flawed?

1. Deterrence

The deterrence argument puts forth that fear of harshest punishment will prevent individuals from committing child rape.

• But social, economic, cultural, psychological and other factors in one’s life interact in far more complex ways.
• Various studies have proved the uncertainty of death penalty in being an effective deterrent.
• Moreover, in the context of child rape, many preventive measures and policies do have a definitive impact on preventing child rape.
• These may include risk assessment and management, cognitive behavioural treatment and community protection measures.
• Diverting resources to the death penalty, is more like taking away from developing these strategies that have greater preventive potential.

2. Justice

The argument of death penalty as justice to the child survivor seeks to cover-up the real reasons preventing justice.

• Notably, the conviction rates are low under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012.
• There are some grave concerns over the manner of investigations and criminal prosecutions under the POCSO Act.There is lack of specialised investigators, prosecutors, judges, mental health professionals, doctors, forensic experts and social workers.
• Inadequate child protection and rehabilitation services, lack of compliance with child-friendly legal procedures are some other concerns.
• Furthermore no real system of positive measures to reduce vulnerabilities of children in this context has been developed.
• Working on these shortfalls is the need of the hour to ensure justice for child survivors.

3 Under-reporting

A large proportion of perpetrators are family members or those close to or known to the family.

• This results in massive underreporting of such crimes.
• This concern will only intensify with death penalty, as the child’s family risks sending a family member or a known person to the gallows.

4. Legal

Under the Constitution, a legislation has to always give a sentencing judge the option to choose between life imprisonment and death penalty. Death penalty cannot be declared as the only punishment for any crime. The sentencing judges will have to make this choice in the context of child rape too.

5. Vulnerability

The arbitrariness of the death penalty in India also arises from the discriminatory impact of the choice of what constitutes ‘rarest of rare’.

• The Death Penalty India Report of 2016 found that over 75% of death row prisoners were extremely poor.
• They belong to marginalised groups with barely any meaningful access to legal representation.
• Thus, in most cases, the weakest sections of the society bear the burden of the death penalty.
• It is important to understand this implication, in the discussion on death penalty for child rape.

Challenges

• It is frightening to see a society which is getting more and more literate and educated, is not aware of the concerned laws and legislations, otherwise, the original POCSO Act was good enough to create fear in the minds of people. This is evident from the rising number of cases of sexual assault on child.
• The resolution of such cases is not quick. It takes time to punish the criminals.
• Regarding the death penalty, there is a controversy. In some cases, it creates a deterrence but there is also a view that if one knows that one is going to get a death penalty for committing one such crime, one would probably commit more such crimes as anyway one is going to get the death penalty.
• The damage that is done to a child psychology by a person of trust cannot be compensated with anything.
• People are not even aware of the fact that the POCSO law is a gender neutral law.
• Implementation of the law remains a problem. The Kathua Rape case took 16 months for the main accused to be convicted whereas the POCSO Act clearly mentions that the entire trial and conviction process has to be done in one year.
• The POCSO Act gives the judges in the designated POCSO courts a lot of power to announce interim medical compensations for relief to victims. The judges in many cases do not provide for the same. Also, there have been cases when the compensation has reached to the victims after their death.
• The rate of conviction under the POCSO act is only about 32% if one takes the average of the past 5 years and the percentage of cases pending is 90%.
• As per the POCSO Act, FIR must be registered under the 30 days but this hardly happens.
• Politicization of rapes on communal angles is another challenge. The Unnao rape case and Kathua rape case are some of the examples.

What is the way forward?

• Measures that governments ought to take are different from steps meant to convey public abhorrence.
• The social menace of child rape requires sustained planning, engagement, and investment of resources by the government.
• Death penalty for child rape is a counterproductive diversion and an easy way out on the issue.

Application of Behavioural Economics in India

The Economic Survey 2019 has drawn on Nobel Laureate Richard Thaler’s Behavioural Economics Theory to lay out what it describes as an “ambitious agenda” for behaviour change that will bring in social change, which in turn, will help India transit to a $5 trillion economy by 2024-25. Programmes such as Swachh Bharat Mission, Jan Dhan Yojana and Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, provide testimony to the potential for behavioural change in India.

Given India’s rich cultural and spiritual heritage, social norms(that play a very important role in shaping the behaviour), can be utilized to effect behavioural change. Behavioural economics is, however, not a panacea to policymaking.

What is Behavioural Economics?

• Behavioural economics is a method of economic analysis that applies psychological insights into human behaviour to explain economic decision-making
• In reality, decisions made by people often deviate from the various theories of classical economics. Drawing on the psychology of human behaviour, behavioural economics provides insights to ‘nudge’ people towards desirable behaviour.
• The US academic Richard Thaler has won the Nobel prize in economics in 2017 for his pioneering work in this field.

What are nudges?

If policy design is thought as the map and development outcomes as the destination, then nudges can be the road signs that gently guide you towards the best route.

Formulating these road signs requires expertise at two levels:

1. Understanding why consumers pick less optimum routes (cognitive biases)
2. Designing signs that guide users to better routes (nudges/interventions).

Background:

‘Nudge’ theory was proposed originally in US ‘behavioral economics’. But, it was popularized by the 2008 book, ‘Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness‘, written by American academics Richard H Thaler and Cass R Sunstein. The book is based strongly on the Nobel prize-winning work of the Israeli-American psychologists Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky.

Nudge theory is a flexible and modern concept for:

1. Understanding of how people think, make decisions, and behave.
2. Helping people improve their thinking and decisions.

• Managing change of all sorts.

1. Identifying and modifying existing unhelpful influences on people.

Basis for such interventions:

Behavioural economists have found that all sorts of psychological or neurological biases cause people to make choices that seem contrary to their best interests. The idea of nudging is based on research that shows it is possible to steer people towards better decisions by presenting choices in different ways.

• Nudges and other behavioural change interventions primarily rely on design and messaging that address the effect of behavioural biases on human behaviour.
• These biases are no unique phenomenon in government and public policy, neither do they affect only a small percentage of the population—cognitive biases are everywhere.
• Take for example the IKEA effect (named after the do-it-yourself Swedish furniture retailer). This bias leads to us placing a disproportionately high value on ideas or products that we had a hand in creating. The bias can prevent us from recognising early on that our much-valued product isn’t working well, or make us closed to ideas from elsewhere since we’re attached to the home-grown idea.
• Another common bias that we face on a daily basis comes from the psychological theory of framing—where the construction of a sentence or situation changes your perception or reaction of it (reactions in newspapers to the latest census results on religious groups are an excellent example of framing).

Do such interventions work?

Previous experiences suggest that, if planned carefully, and backed by accurate bias-targeting, then, such interventions do work.

Success stories:

• In Israel, the issuing or renewal of an ID, passport or driving license, became conditional upon answering the question of becoming a registered donor. The default option was an ‘opt-in’ provision, which greatly increased the list of registered donors by targeting the status quo bias.
• Similarly, in Singapore—known for a number of innovations in governance—providing the average electricity usage of the locality on the back of bills has nudged households to think about their own energy consumption, driving them towards reducing it to the average levels, an example of the groupthink effect.
• Copenhagen’s experiment of using green footsteps to lead to trash bins helped reduce littering by 46%.
• In the field of tax collection, nudge has helped boost revenues for cash-strapped governments. For instance, in Singapore, printing tax bills on the pink paper typically used for debt collection led to an improvement in the prompt payment rate of between three to five percentage points.

Applying behavioural science in India

• Analysis of social norms

1. Efforts in Bihar, to improve the quality of health-care service delivery by front-line workers takes into account popular ‘rituals’, like keeping a baby away from the ground in a cot (palna), or marking decorations around her hearth (chulah), for transmitting messages that are culturally acceptable

• Behavioural science can be applied to large-scale programmes

1. The very nature of the science being imbued in a social and cultural context enables it to generate effective and sustained results to public service programmes
2. Research is going on in Tamil Nadu and Bihar to analyse core social motivators for open defecation and related behaviours with culturally appropriate social measures to convert toilet usage into a sustained habit

• Interventions that are designed using this science can reduce the intent-to-action gap

1. There are a plethora of tools like defaults, reminders, prompts, and incentives that can reduce poor adherence and increase compliance for sustained impact throughout the life of an intervention
2. A good example of this is Kilkari, a mobile service by the government that delivers free, weekly and time-appropriate audio messages about pregnancy, childbirth and childcare directly to families’ mobile phones

• Data collected and evaluated from a behavioural insights approach can be used for better management of programme performances

1. Rigorous evaluation of behaviour is often missed while measuring programme performances, and often this missing data can help explain the limited impact of well-intended government programmes
2. The impressive work done by the Ministry of Rural Development, on monitoring the implementation of national flagship schemes through DISHA dashboards, can be leveraged for evaluating behavioural change on the ground

The learnings of the economic survey on Behavioral Economics

• A key principle of behavioural economics is that while people’s behaviour is influenced significantly by social norms, understanding the drivers of these social norms can enable change. In India, where social and religious norms play such a dominant role in influencing behaviour; behavioural economics can, therefore, provide a valuable instrument for change.
• Many Indian schemes that employ insights from behavioural economics have met with success. For example:
  • The Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) and the Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao (BBBP) scheme, Give it up (LPG subsidy).
• The Survey, therefore, lays out an ambitious agenda for behavioural change by applying the principles of behavioural economics to several issues, including gender equality, a healthy and beautiful India, savings, tax compliance and credit quality.

Behavioural Economics’ application in the Indian context

• Recently, behavioural economists have discovered the efficacy of a new class of policies called “nudge” policies. Nudge policies gently steer people towards desirable behaviour even while preserving their liberty to choose.
• According to Nudge theory: People need reminders and positive reinforcement to sustain socially desirable behaviour.
• According to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, there are more than 202 government institutions using behavioural insights around the world.
• Examples of nudge policies:
  • For increasing tax compliance in India: Citizens can be sent variations of text messages on how their taxes make a difference to public services.
  • For reducing drop out rate in poor families: Parents can be informed about the average income gains from spending one more year in school for children.
  • To increase savings rate: People can be offered specially designed savings accounts that locked up funds until a self-specified target was met.
• Behavioural economics is, however, not a panacea to policymaking.

Limitations of Behavioural Economics

• ‘Give It Up’ -LPG subsidy was a comparatively easy policy to be induced by behavioural economics as it requires only a one-time action of affluent households, whereas task is very difficult in case of Beti Bachao, Beti Padao and SBM, as it requires continuous effort to dislodge mind-sets that prevailed for decades.
• Community-led sanitation schemes, part of the SBM, did include steps to change behaviour, but advertising campaigns such as the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao scheme did not target specific states where child sex ratios were already skewed (although it was effective in Haryana, which also has a very poor sex ratio)
• The applications of behavioural insights appeared to be a result of confirmation bias (to the extent that past policies were viewed with a behavioural lens).
• Survey held, reducing corruption, discouraging the conspicuous display of wealth and inculcating a sense of pride of being the highest taxpayer in a district (by naming buildings after them) would go a long way in ensuring behavioural change vis-à-vis tax compliance
  • But this could easily lead to a backlash among lower taxpayers, and hurt tax morale disproportionately.

In this scenario, government regulation, taxes and free-market policies should be clubbed with a nudge effect to increase the efficacy of policymaking. If it is implemented diligently than Indian policymaking will be transformed:

• From BBBP to BADLAV (Beti Aapki Dhan Lakshmi Aur Vijay Lakshmi)
• From Swachh Bharat to Sundar Bharat
• From “Give it up” for the LPG subsidy to “Think about the Subsidy”
• From tax evasion to tax compliance

And the dream of New India 2022 can be realised.

Triple Talaq

Summary:

The Supreme Court is all set to begin hearing arguments in Shayara Bano v. Union of India, which has popularly come to be known as the “triple talaq case”. This case, in which the constitutional validity of certain practices of Muslim personal law such as triple talaq, polygamy, and nikah halala has been challenged, has created political controversy across the spectrum. The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) has warned secular authorities against interfering with religious law.

What is triple talaq?

‘Triple Talaq’ is a procedure of divorce under the Sharia Law which is a body of the Islamic law. Under this, a husband can divorce his wife by pronouncing ‘Talaq’ thrice.

What’s the issue all about- A brief history:

• The case dates back to 2016 when the Supreme Court had sought assistance from the then Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi on pleas challenging the constitutional validity of “triple talaq”, “nikah halala” and “polygamy”, to assess whether Muslim women face gender discrimination in cases of divorce.
• Opposing the practice of triple talaq, the Centre told the top court that there is a need to re-look at these practices on grounds of gender equality and secularism.
• The Supreme Court later announced the setting up of a five-judge constitutional bench to hear and deliberate on the challenges against the practice of ‘triple talaq, nikah halala’ and polygamy.
• The issue gained political momentum on March 2017 when the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) told the Supreme Court that the issue of triple talaq falls outside the judiciary’s realm and that these issues should not be touched by the court.
• However, on August 22, the Supreme Court set aside the decade-old practice of instant triple talaq saying it was violative of Article 14 and 21 of the Indian Constitution.

Why triple talaq should be abolished?

• In spite of protests by Muslim women and activists world-wide the procedure is still prevalent in most countries.
• There are several instances where ‘triple talaq’ has enabled husbands to divorce their wives arbitrarily, devoid of any substantiation.
• According to a study, 92% of Muslim women in India want oral triple talaq to go.
• Oral talaq or ‘triple talaq’ delivered through new media platforms like Skype, text messages, email and WhatsApp have become an increasing cause of worry for the community.
• The ‘triple talaq’ has been abolished in 21 countries including Pakistan, but is still prevalent in India.
• The Centre reasons that these practices are against constitutional principles such as gender equality, secularism, international laws etc.
• The government also argues that when these practices are banned in Islamic theocratic countries, the practices could have absolutely no base in religion and are only prevalent to permit the dominance of men over women.

A bill in this regard:

In September, the government had proposed the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill in the Parliament and sought to make triple talaq a punishable offence under the law.

At first, the Bill was passed in the Lok Sabha but it failed to secure a majority in the Rajya Sabha. The Bill was postponed till the winter session of Parliament. Following this, an ordinance was issued by the government after the bill failed to get cleared in Rajya Sabha amid protests by the Opposition.

Key provisions of the bill:

The Bill makes all declaration of talaq, including in written or electronic form, to be void (i.e. not enforceable in law) and illegal.

Definition: It defines talaq as talaq-e-biddat or any other similar form of talaq pronounced by a Muslim man resulting in instant and irrevocable divorce. Talaq-e-biddat refers to the practice under Muslim personal laws where pronouncement of the word ‘talaq’ thrice in one sitting by a Muslim man to his wife results in an instant and irrevocable divorce.

Offence and penalty: The Bill makes declaration of talaq a cognizable offence, attracting up to three years’ imprisonment with a fine. (A cognizable offence is one for which a police officer may arrest an accused person without warrant.) The offence will be cognizable only if information relating to the offence is given by: (i) the married woman (against whom talaq has been declared), or (ii) any person related to her by blood or marriage.

The Bill provides that the Magistrate may grant bail to the accused: The bail may be granted only after hearing the woman (against whom talaq has been pronounced), and if the Magistrate is satisfied that there are reasonable grounds for granting bail.

The offence may be compounded by the Magistrate upon the request of the woman (against whom talaq has been declared). Compounding refers to the procedure where the two sides agree to stop legal proceedings, and settle the dispute. The terms and conditions of the compounding of the offence will be determined by the Magistrate.

Allowance: A Muslim woman against whom talaq has been declared, is entitled to seek subsistence allowance from her husband for herself and for her dependent children. The amount of the allowance will be determined by the Magistrate.

Custody: A Muslim woman against whom such talaq has been declared, is entitled to seek custody of her minor children. The manner of custody will be determined by the Magistrate.

Arguments favouring the bill:

• Bill is needed so that even Muslim women also get equality on par with other Muslim men.
• Triple talaq adversely impact rights of women to a life of dignity and is against constitutional principles such as gender equality, secularism, international laws etc.
• The penal measure acts as a “necessary deterrent”
• It significantly empowers Muslim women.
• The practice of triple talaq has continued despite the Supreme Court order terming it void.
• The practice is arbitrary and, therefore, unconstitutional
• The law is about justice and respect for women and is not about any religion or community
• It protects the rights of Muslim women against arbitrary divorce
• Instant triple talaq is viewed as sinful and improper by a large section of the community itself.
• The fine amount could be awarded as maintenance or subsistence.

Arguments opposing the bill:

• It is well established that criminalising something does not have any deterrent effect on its practice.
• Since marriage is a civil contract, the procedures to be followed on its breakdown should also be of civil nature only.
• Civil redress mechanisms must ensure that Muslim women are able to negotiate for their rights both within and outside of the marriage
• The harsh punishment defies the doctrine of proportionality.
• Three years in prison of the convicted husband will end up penalising the already aggrieved wife and children too.
• The punishment will aggravate the insecurity and alienation of the Indian Muslim community
• In the recent Supreme Court judgement, it never said that triple talaq is to be criminally punished.
• Invoke a secular law that already exists: Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act (PWDVA), 2005.
• Parliament should have passed a law stating that the utterance of the words “talaq, talaq, talaq” would amount to “domestic violence” as defined in the PWDVA.
• The PWDVA was conceived as a law that ensures speedy relief — ideally within three months — to an aggrieved woman
• While PWDVA is civil in nature, it has a reasonably stringent penal provision built into it

Challenges before the court:

The court cannot decide this case without engaging in a series of complex and difficult choices. In particular, the court will have to decide first whether to adjudicate the case in a narrow manner, which stops at assessing the relationship between triple talaq and Muslim personal law, of whether to undertake a broader approach, and ask whether personal law can be subject to the Constitution at all.

What experts say?

Relying upon the Supreme Court’s own judgments, experts point out that only those features of a religion are constitutionally protected which are “integral” or “essential” parts of it. There is no evidence to show that talaq-i-bidat constitutes an integral part of the Islamic faith and, consequently, it does not deserve constitutional protection.

Way ahead:

On this view, the Supreme Court need not go into tangled and messy questions involving personal law and the Constitution; it can decide the question on its own terms. Although this would involve secular judges laying down the law on what Islam does or does not consider an essential religious practice, the Supreme Court has been engaging in such religious inquiry at least since 1966, and it is too late in the day to now say that it cannot, or should not. In fact, the Supreme Court itself, in a number of cases, has either doubted the validity of instantaneous triple talaq, or gone so far as to say that it is not a part of Muslim personal law.

Conclusion:

There is no doubt that triple talaq violates women’s rights to equality and freedom, including freedom within the marriage, and should be invalidated by the Supreme Court. The larger question, however, is whether the court will stick to its old, narrow, colonial-influenced jurisprudence, and strike down triple talaq while nonetheless upholding a body of law that answers not the Constitution, but to dominant and powerful voices within separate communities; or will it, in 2017, change course, and hold that no body of law (or rather, no body of prescriptions that carries all the badges and incidents of law) can claim a higher source of authority than the Constitution of India?

CONTEXT

In early June, at a NITI Aayog meeting, Prime Minister Narendra Modi set a clear and bold economic target — to grow India into a $5 trillion economy by 2024. It is now for ‘Team India’, as the meeting was bannered, to translate this target into a plan and policies and programmes.

What does a $5-trillion economy mean?

• $5-trillion economy refers to the size of an economy as measured by the annual gross domestic product (GDP). GDP is the total monetary value of all final goods and services produced in an economy within a year.
• Currently, India is the sixth-largest economy in the world with a GDP of $2.7 trillion. But it has to be understood that India being the sixth-largest economy doesn’t corroborate Indians being sixth-richest people since GDP per capita of India is much lower when compared to many developed countries and developing countries.

How realistic is this dream?

• It is Rs350,00,000 crore of gross domestic product (GDP) at current prices, at ₹70 to a U.S. dollar exchange rate. India’s (provisional) GDP in 2018-19 at current prices is ₹190,10,164 crore (or $2.7 trillion), which means the annual per capita income is ₹1,42,719, or about ₹11,900 per month.
• The target implies an output expansion by 84% in five years, or at 13% compound annual growth rate. Assuming an annual price rise of 4%, in line with the Reserve Bank of India’s inflation target, the required growth rate in real, or inflation-adjusted, terms is 9% per year.
• To get a perspective, India officially grew at 7.1% per year over the last five years, but the annual growth rate never touched 9%.

Comparison with Asian Countries

China – China, with a historically unprecedented growth record in its best five years, during 2003-07, grew at 11.7%;.

South Korea – South Korea, between 1983 and 1987, grew at 11%.

How to grow at such a fast pace

No country grew at such a pace without mobilising domestic saving and raising fixed investment rates.

1.Savings and investment rates required

• In the last five years, on average, the domestic saving rate was 30.8% of gross national domestic income (GNDI), and the investment rate (gross capital formation to GDP ratio) was 32.5%.
• Assuming the underlying technical coefficients remain constant, a 9% annual growth rate calls for 39% of domestic saving rate and 41.2% of investment rate.
• Correspondingly, shares of private consumption need to shrink to about 50% of GDP from the current level of 59% of GDP at current prices, assuming foreign capital inflow remains at 1.7% of GDP.
• In other words, India will have to turn into an investment-led economy as it happened during the boom last decade (2003-08) before the financial crisis, or like China since the 1980s.
• Granting that rapid technical progress or changes in output composition could reduce the required incremental capital-output ratio (ICOR), it nevertheless will call for a nearly 8-9 percentage point boost to saving and investment rates.

The low domestic saving rate

History shows that no country has succeeded in accelerating its growth rate without raising the domestic saving rate to close to 40% of GDP.

FDI is not an alternative – Foreign capital can fill in some vital gaps but is not a substitute for domestic resources.

A decline in savings – The domestic saving rate has declined from 31.4% in 2013-14 to 29.6% in 2016-17; and gross capital formation rate from 33.8% to 30.6% during the same period.

NPA Crisis – The banking sector’s ability to boost credit growth is limited by non-performing assets (NPAs) and the governance crisis in the financial sector.

Baltic Dry Index indications –

• Export to GDP ratio has declined rapidly, with a looming global trade war on the horizon, as has been indicated by the Baltic Dry Index.
• The highly regarded leading indicator of global trade, currently trading at 1354 is forecasted to decline to less than 1,000 index points by the year-end (a decline from its historic high of 11,793 points in May 2008, just before the financial crisis set in).

Challenges facing by the economy

Rising trade protectionism: the US imposed three rounds of tariffs on more than $250bn worth of Chinese goods. The duties of up to 25% cover a wide range of products, from handbags to railway equipment. China hit back by imposing tariffs ranging from 5% to 25% on $110bn of US products including chemicals, coal and medical equipment. On the same lines USA imposed tariffs on steel and aluminum imports and recently withdrawn generalized system preference (GSP).

Rising right wing philosophies in European countries: like Brexit and right wing leaders elected in Italy, Poland and Hungary nations will lead to rising protectionism.

Ineffectiveness of World trade organization (WTO): WTO failed to control the rising tariff war between USA, china and India. WTO launched Doha round negotiations in 2001 but still negotiations are in limbo.

Conflict in west Asia (Syria war, Saudi Arabia-Oman war) along with USA withdraw from Iran nuclear deal led to rising crude oil prices. With the $10 per barrel increase in oil price, the GDP is expected to come down by 0.2-0.3 per cent which will further worsen the Current Account Deficit by $9-10 billion dollars.

Internal factors:

India’s agrarian crisis: increasing protest from farming community due to lack of just price for agricultural produce; increasing debt and loan waivers; effects of climate change (like monsoon breaks, increasing unseasonal rains etc.) will effect on the agricultural productivity and on Indian food security.

Twin balance sheet syndrome (TBS): Twin balance sheet problem refers to the stress on balance sheets of banks due to non-performing assets (NPAs) or bad loans on the one hand, and heavily indebted corporate on the other. Because of rising NPA’s led to decline in credit growth.

Rising state Debt’s: according to N K Singh committee report, Outstanding liabilities of States have increased sharply during 2015-16 and 2016-17, following the issuance of UDAY bonds in these two years, which was reflected in an increase in liability-GDP ratio from 21.7% at end-March 2015 to 23.4% at end-March 2016 and further to 23.8% at end-March 2017.this will also not give enough space for productivity investment.

How can India become a 5 trillion economy?

1) Investment: According to the Economic Survey 2019, private Investment is the key driver of growth, jobs, exports and demand. The government expects investment rate to pick up in FY20 on higher credit growth and improved demand rebound in investment cycle. Growth in investment, which had slowed in many years, has bottomed out and has started to recover since 2017-18. Growth in fixed investments picked up from 8.3 per cent in 2016-17 to 9.3 per cent in 2017-18 and further 10 per cent in 2018-19, the survey said.

2) Jobs: The survey says job creation is mandatory to achieve the $5 trillion economy status. It says that unshackling MSMEs could help to achieve greater profits, job creation and enhanced productivity. This can be done via: sunset clause of less than 10 years, with necessary grand-fathering, for all size-based incentives; and deregulating labor law restrictions to create significantly more jobs, it adds.

Job creation in India suffers from policies that foster dwarfs, that is small firms that never grow, instead of infant firms that have the potential to grow and become giants rapidly,” the survey said, categorising small firms as those employing less than 100 workers. Dwarfs were defined as small firms in operations since more than 10 years and “infants” as newer companies that are small in size in terms of workforce, according to the survey.

Analysing the Annual Survey of Industries (ASI) data, the survey said dwarfs accounted for more than half of all organised firms in the manufacturing sector, but contribute only 14 per cent in employment generation and a “mere” 8 per cent to productivity.

“In contrast, large firms (more than 100 employees) account for three quarters of such employment and close to 90 per cent of productivity, despite accounting for about 15 per cent,” the survey said, emphasising that it is a misconceived notion that small firms are significant job creators as they are also responsible for job destructions because they “find it difficult to sustain the jobs they create”.

3) Savings: Exports and manufacturing must ideally be focused as part of the growth model to sustain GDP at 8 per cent rate. “Because higher savings preclude domestic consumption as the driver of final demand,” said the survey.

4) Demographic phase: The Economic Survey 2019 has predicted a slowdown in population growth in the next two decade. “Working age population would grow by roughly 9.7 million (97 lakh) per year during 2021-31 and 4.2 (42 lakh) million per year during 2031-41. This could be an ideal for India to propel its economy.

5) Energy conservation: Enabling inclusive growth through affordable, reliable and sustainable energy is another step to make India a $5-trillion economy. The survey has suggested that 2.5 times increase in per capita energy consumption is needed for India to increase its real per capita GDP by $5000 (at 2010 prices), and enter the upper-middle income group. And, four times increase in per capita energy consumption can achieve 0.8 Human Development Index score.

Conclusion

Given the foregoing, the $5 trillion target appears daunting. It may yet be doable, provided policymakers begin with a realistic assessment, by willing to step up domestic saving and investment, and not by the wishful thinking of FDI-led growth accelerations in uncertain economic times.

News

• India has begun pre legislative consultations on a “Space Activities Bill” that is designed to encourage domestic private rocket and satellite companies to offer services for Indian and global customers.

About the Space Activities Bill, 2017

• The Bill will address the liability issues arising from their space activities, in a suitable/ rational manner, in line with international practices.
• The government first introduced the Bill in 2017.

Objective

• To promote and regulate the space activities of India by encouraging the participation of non-governmental/private sector agencies under the guidance and authorisation of the government through the Department of Space.

Why is there a need for a space law?

• Currently, space activities are regulated by policies like Satellite communication policy, 2000 and Remote Sensing Data Policy, 2011. But there is a need for the proper legal environment for orderly performance and growth of the space sector.
• Nations such as the USA, Russia, UK, etc. have their own space legislation. Even China and Japan are in the process of formulating their own domestic space legislation.
• Earlier, ISRO was the sole player in the space sector. However lately, there have been many start-ups mushrooming in this sector, which calls for a regulatory mechanism and legislation to govern their activities.
• Furthermore, the demand for Indian space products has been growing both in the country and outside the country. So it is necessary to include Indian industry and service providers in space activities under the technical guidance of the Department of Space (DOS) and the growth of the Indian space sector.
• A legislation is required as India is obligated to UN outer space treaties which require signatories to have a national legislation in place.
• There is a need for national space legislation for supporting the overall growth of the space activities in India. This would encourage enhanced participation of non-governmental/private sector agencies in space activities in India, in compliance with international treaty obligations, which is becoming very relevant today.

Legal Provisions

• Internationally, the outer space activities are governed by treaties and principles evolved under UN Committee on Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UNCOPUOS).
  • The Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) was set up by the UN General Assembly in 1959 to govern the exploration and use of space for the benefit of all humanity: for peace, security and development.
• India is also a party to the Outer Space Treaty, 1967.
• Constitution of India provides for implementation of international treaty obligations, vide Articles 51 and 253.
• The “space” as a subject is not mentioned in the Union List. However, Parliament retains residuary legislative power in respect of “any matter not enumerated” in any of the three lists.
• Currently, space activities are regulated by policies like Satellite Communication Policy, 2000 and Remote Sensing Data Policy, 2011.

Background

• The lack of independent private participation in space is because of absence of a framework to provide transparency, timelines on licensing, issuance of authorisation and continuous supervision mechanism (in accordance with the Outer Space Treaty), among others.
• These issues need to be addressed today to provide a stronger thrust for ‘Make in India’ as well as FDI in space.

Key propositions of the Bill

• The provisions of this Act shall apply to every citizen of India and to all sectors engaged in any space activity in India or outside India
• A non-transferable licence shall be provided by the Central Government to any person carrying out commercial space activity
• The Central Government will formulate the appropriate mechanism for licensing, eligibility criteria, and fees for licence.
• The government will maintain a register of all space objects (any object launched or intended to be launched around the earth) and develop more space activity plans for the country
• It will provide professional and technical support for commercial space activity and regulate the procedures for conduct and operation of space activity
• It will ensure safety requirements and supervise the conduct of every space activity of India and investigate any incident or accident in connection with the operation of a space activity.
• It will share details about the pricing of products created by space activity and technology with any person or any agency in a prescribed manner.
• If any person undertakes any commercial space activity without authorisation they shall be punished with imprisonment up to 3 years or fined more than ₹1 crore or both.

Arguments favouring the bill

Definition: The bill clearly defines space players, licenses, violations, objects, people, and geography. It is also proposed to define detailed guidelines in consultation with stakeholders and industry bodies.

Promotion: The bill encourages non-governmental players to take the risk and invest in space activities in India. This will make India a commercial hub for space activities and generate jobs in the country.

Arguments against the bill

Clarity: Experts have criticized the bill for its lack of clarity on the use of space objects.

Regulation: It gives arbitrary power to the government for monitoring the research activities. This would scare away international investors from investing in the space sector of India.

Liability: The bill made the government non-liable for any harm caused by the commercial activities by the non-governmental players in space even though the government gives clearance for their involvement in the space activities.

Significance of the bill

• The current space policy does not cover liability for damage to third party space assets although the country is a signatory to the UN Treaties on Outer Space activity.
• The Bill will help formulate necessary rules under the Space Activities Act to deal with damages under the liability provisions and the mode of securing financial guarantee to compensate for damages.
• This bill would address a long-pending concern on covering liabilities in the event of a mishap or damage to spacecraft.

Why reconsider the Bill?

The current space policy does not cover liabilities for damage to third party space assets although the country is a signatory to the UN Treaties on Outer Space activity.

The Bill will help formulate necessary rules under the Space Activities Act to deal with damages under the liability provisions and the mode of securing financial guarantee to compensate for damages.

This bill would address a long-pending concern on covering liabilities in the event of a mishap or damage to spacecraft.

For tapping global opportunities

India’s PSLV has emerged as the preferred rocket to hurl small satellites globally.

India is also working on a small satellite launch vehicle that is designed to tap the global opportunity to carry satellites of less than 50 kg into space.

The US, France and the EU have legislations that underwrite costs of damage if it exceeds insurance when a private satellite launch goes awry or a rocket hits another object in space.

Way forward

The bill is a welcome step in promoting the space sector. But to enable competitive ecosystem in the space sector there is a need to conduct a review of international best practices in managing the space value chain and inducting them within the Act.

News

• The IT Ministry’s Bill on data protection is scheduled to be introduced in Parliament during the current session.
• Worldwide, the data flow debate is playing out at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and G20.

Background

RBI had in April last year asked payments firms to adhere to data localization norms, suggesting these companies had to store data on Indian servers only. They were given six months to comply with the banking regulator’s order. While foreign companies are adhering to RBI’s data localization rules, they have maintained that storing data on Indian servers would require setting up data storage infrastructure in the country, which would increase their costs.

The ‘Data’ under debate

• Data is any collection of information that is stored in a way so computers can easily read it.
• These days, most people refer to data to mean information about their messages, social media posts, online transactions, and browser searches.
• Big data refers to the immense amount of data that can now be collected, stored, and analysed to find patterns.

Why is Data important?

• This large collection of information about people’s online habits has become an important source of profits.
• Your online activity can expose a lot about who you are, and companies find it valuable to use the information to target advertisements to you.
• Governments and political parties have also gained interest in these data sets for elections and policymaking.

Data Localization

1. It is a concept that the personal data of a country’s residents should be processed and stored in that country.
2. Some directives may restrict flow entirely, while others more leniently allow for conditional data sharing or data mirroring – in which only a copy has to be stored in the country.
3. As of now, much of cross-border data transfer is governed by individual bilateral “mutual legal assistance treaties” (MLATs).

India in favor of Data Localization

• India’s recent drafts and statements have strong signals for data localisation, which means that data of Indians (even if collected by an American company) must be stored and processed in India.
• Along with a RBI directive to payment companies to localize financial data, the Ministry of Commerce’s draft e-commerce policy is currently in public consultation.
• The IT Ministry has drafted a data protection law that will be introduced in Parliament and has also framed draft intermediary rules that were leaked earlier.
• These laws, broadly speaking, could require Facebook, Google, and Amazon to store and process in India information such as an Indian’s messages, searches, and purchases.
• In some cases, they restrict what type of data these companies can collect. In others, it requires only a copy of the data to be in the country.
• By requiring a copy of the data to be stored in India (data mirroring), the government hopes to have more direct control over these companies, including the option to levy more taxes on them.
• The government also argues for data localisation on the ground of national security, to prevent foreign surveillance and attacks.

Arguments in Favor of data localization

1. A common argument by officials is that localisation will help Indian law enforcement access user data.This especially gained prominence when incidences of lynchings across the country were linked to WhatsApp rumours whose stance on encrypted content frustrated government officials.
2. Along with government support, most domestic-born technology companies (which tend to have heavy foreign investments) support data localisation.Most of these firms store their data exclusively in India.
3. Some Indian companies have strongly argued that data regulation for privacy and security will have little teeth without localisation, citing models in China and Russia.
4. These domestic companies are rivals of many big US giants and condemn the large tax differences between international companies operating in India and those with a permanent establishment in the country.
5. Many argue that localisation would lead to a larger presence of MNC’s in India overall, such as local offices, and increase tax liability and open more jobs.
6. Secures citizen’s data and provides data privacy and data sovereignty from foreign surveillance. Example – Facebook shared user data with Cambridge Analytica to influence voting.
7. Ensures National Security by providing ease of investigation to Indian Law Enforcement agencies as they currently need to rely on Mutual Legal Assistance Treaties (MLATs) to obtain access to data.
8. It will give local governments and regulators the jurisdiction to call for the data when required.
9. Data centre industries are expected to benefit due to the data localisation which will further create employment in India.
10. Greater accountability from firms like Google, Facebook etc. about the end use of data.
11. Minimises conflict of jurisdiction due to cross border data sharing and delay in justice delivery in case of data breach.

Argument against data localisation

1. Industry bodies, especially those with significant ties to the US, have slung heavy backlash.
2. Much of this sentiment hampers to the values of a globalised, competitive internet marketplace, where costs and speeds determine information flows, rather than nationalistic borders.
3. Opponents say that this, in turn, may backfire on India’s own young start-ups that are attempting global growth, or on larger firms that process foreign data in India.
4. Critics caution against state misuse and surveillance of personal data.
5. They also argue that security and government access is not achieved by localisation. Even if the data is stored in the country, the encryption may still remain out of the reach of national agencies due to company’s privacy concerns.
6. The US government and companies want cross-border flow of data. It would allow companies to store the data of Indians in the most efficient place in the world.
7. The Cyber Security Report 2017 reported that businesses in India were most at risk to cyber security attacks. Thus, a mandatory border control provision by data localisation may not be the solution to avoiding security breach incidents. As foreign governments use sophisticated malware to spy, forcing data storage within the country’s boundaries may not offer it any better protection.Huge costs are involved to fulfill data localisation requirements.

Data protection bill seeks localisation of data

• The Justice Srikrishna Committee in its report accompanying the draft Personal Data Protection Bill notes that eight of the top 10 most accessed websites in India are owned by U.S. entities
• This reality has often hindered Indian law enforcement agencies when investigating routine crimes or crimes with a cyber element
• Police officials are forced to rely on a long and arduous bilateral process with the U.S. government to obtain electronic evidence from U.S. communication providers
• The committee seeks to correct this
• The Bill calls for a copy of user data to be mandatorily localised in India

Is data localisation enough?

• A fundamental error that the Srikrishna Committee seems to have made is in its belief that the location of data should determine who has access to it
• The reason that Indian law enforcement relies on an outdated Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) process to obtain data stored by U.S. companies is because the U.S. law effectively bars these companies from disclosing user data to foreign law enforcement authorities
• Technology companies are allowed to share data such as content of an email or message only upon receiving a federal warrant from U.S. authorities
• This scenario will not change even after technology companies relocate Indian data to India
• Crimes across the globe not covered
• The draft bill mandates local storage of data relating to Indian citizens only
• Localisation can provide data only for crimes that have been committed in India, where both the perpetrator and victim are situated in India
• Prevalent concerns around transnational terrorism, cyber crimes and money laundering will often involve individuals and accounts that are not Indian, and therefore will not be stored in India
• For investigations into such crimes, Indian law enforcement will have to continue relying on cooperative models like the MLAT process

Is location sole measure of claiming data rights?

• Questions around whether access to data is determined by the location of the user, location of data or the place of incorporation of the service provider have become central considerations for governments seeking to solve the cross-border data sharing conundrum
• The Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data (CLOUD) Act, passed by the U.S. Congress earlier this year, seeks to de-monopolise control over data from U.S. authorities
• The law will for the first time allow tech companies to share data directly with certain foreign governments
• This requires an executive agreement between the U.S. and the foreign country certifying that the state has robust privacy protections and respect for due process and the rule of law
• The CLOUD Act creates a potential mechanism through with countries such as India can request data not just for crimes committed within their borders but also for transnational crimes involving their state interests

Data policies in neighbourhood

• China has developed similar laws, which proponents say allow for a flourishing domestic economy of data centres and data processing by blocking foreign players out.
• This is why Indian companies, like Reliance and PayTM, usually support data localisation.

Ahead of G20 meet

• A principle titled “Data Free Flow with Trust” (DFFT) — supported by US, Japan, and Australia — is expected to be a significant talking point at the upcoming G20 summit.

Way Forward

• There is need to have an integrated long-term strategy for policy creation for data localisation.
• Adequate infrastructure and adequate attention need to be given to the interests of India’s Information Technology enabled Services (ITeS) and Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industries, which are thriving on cross border data flow.

Bt Brinjal

In News

• A month ago, Bt brinjal to resist the brinjal fruit and shoot borer (an insect), was found growing illegally in Haryana.
• This was a different Bt brinjal from the one developed by the Indian company, Mahyco, in which Monsanto has a 26% stake.

What are Genetically Modified (GM) crops?

• GM is a technology that involves inserting DNA into the genome of an organism.
• To produce a GM plant, new DNA is transferred into plant cells. Usually, the cells are then grown in tissue culture where they develop into plants. The seeds produced by these plants will inherit the new DNA.
• One of the methods used to transfer DNA is to coat the surface of small metal particles with the relevant DNA fragment, and bombard the particles into the plant cells.
• Another method is to use a bacterium or virus. The viruses and bacteria transfer their DNA into a host cell as a normal part of their life cycle. For GM plants, the bacterium most frequently used is called Agrobacterium tumefaciens. The gene of interest is transferred into the bacterium and the bacterial cells then transfer the new DNA to the genome of the plant cells.

Pros of GM crops

• Higher crop yields.
• Reduced farm costs.
• Increased farm profit.
• Improvement in health and the environment.

Cons of GM Corps

• It is clear that the technology of genetic engineering is an evolving one and there is much, especially on its impact on human health and environment that is yet to be understood properly. The scientific community itself seems uncertain about this.
• While there are many in this community who feel that the benefits outweigh the risks, others point to the irreversibility of this technology and uncontrollability of the Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) once introduced in the ecosystem. Hence, they advocate a precautionary approach towards any open release of GMOs.
• One of the concerns raised strongly by those opposing GM crops in India is that many important crops like rice, brinjal, and mustard, among others, originated here, and introducing genetically modified versions of these crops could be a major threat to the vast number of domestic and wild varieties of these crops.
• In fact, globally, there is a clear view that GM crops must not be introduced in centres of origin and diversity. India also has mega biodiversity hotspots like the Eastern Himalayas and the Western Ghats which are rich in biodiversity yet ecologically very sensitive.
• There is also a potential for pests to evolve resistance to the toxins produced by GM crops and the risk of these toxins affecting nontarget organisms.
• There is also the danger of unintentionally introducing allergens and other anti-nutrition factors in foods.

Labeling GM crops

• Most GM foods in the study did not disclose GM on their labels and 15% made false claims saying they were GM-free.
• Retailing being largely an unorganized sector, enforcing truthful labeling is not pragmatic.
• Two of the eight infant food samples, imported from the US and the Netherlands, were GM positive, but the labels did not disclose this.
• Under Section 22 of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, GM foods are not allowed to be manufactured, imported or sold in India unless approved under the Act.

What is Bt Brinjal?

• Bt Brinjal is a GM crop created by inserting Cry1Ac gene from the soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis into Brinjal.
• The insertion of the gene gives Brinjal plant resistance against lepidopteron insects like the Brinjal Fruit and Shoot Borer (Leucinodes orbonalis) and Fruit Borer (Helicoverpa armigera).
• Upon ingestion of the Bt toxin by the insect, there would be disruption of digestive processes, ultimately resulting in the death of the insect.
• This was to bring down the economic cost of brinjal production in the country. As per studies, the Shoot Borer and Fruit Borer cause up to 20% damage in the crops. The introduction of Bt Brinjal would add to annual production and it would be good for farm economy in the country.

Why Bt Brinjal was banned?

• Despite of the claims of the Mahyco (Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds Co) company that it has done all Biosafety tests, there were concerns over potential health hazards and problem of terminator seed in Brinjal, which would compel farmers to by seeds from Monsanto.
• The matter reached to Supreme Court and an expert committee, appointed by Supreme Court recommended a 10-year moratorium on field trials of all genetically modified (GM) food crops and a complete ban on field trials of transgenics in crops which originate in India.
• The result was that the government imposed a moratorium on field trials of Bt Brinjal in 2010.

Issues with BT Brinjal

I] Institutional dilemma

• The Ministry of Agriculture has not offered evidence that Bt brinjal will benefit farmers.
• If Bt brinjal performs as Mahyco proposes, brinjal output will increase and retail prices will fall, benefiting consumers far more than farmers.
• Companies might charge premium prices for Bt brinjal seeds, in which case farmers may not benefit at all.

II] Biosafety issues

• On biosafety issues, scientific opinion is divided down the middle. Brinjal happens to be such a crop.
• While some scientists were in favour of releasing Bt brinjal, others highlighted crucial deficiencies in the characterization of Bt brinjal, and in the environmental impacts assessment.
• Few ecologists warned of contamination of India’s diverse brinjal varieties.
• Biodiversity is critical for nutrition and sustainability, and the government’s own task force on biotechnology (2004) had recommended that no GM crop be allowed in biodiversity-rich areas.
• Further, a majority of the technical expert committee appointed by the Supreme Court recommended a ban on genetically modifying those crops for which India is a centre of origin or diversity.
• The Dr. Y.S.R. Horticultural University highlighted crucial deficiencies in the characterisation of Bt brinjal, and in the environmental impact assessment.
• The ecologist, Madhav Gadgil, warned of contamination of India’s diverse brinjal varieties.

III] Nutrition issues

• In terms of nutrition, there seem to be some significant differences between Bt and ordinary brinjal.
• Many health researchers have argued that Bt brinjal poses risks to human health.
• S. Swaminathan and V.M. Katoch, then the Director General of the ICMR, asked for long-term (chronic) toxicity studies, before taking any decision on Bt brinjal.
• Further, they asked that these be conducted independently, instead of relying exclusively on Mahyco for data.

IV] No scientific consensus

• In recent years, pests have developed resistance to Bt cotton, forcing farmers to spray lethal pesticides.
• This led to over 50 deaths by pesticide-poisoning in Vidarbha in 2017.
• A GM-based strategy of pest control is unsustainable, all the more so since farmers, already pressed for land, ignore the government’s recommendation to plant refuge crops.
• The problem of sustainable, remunerative farming has become more acute, and alternative strategies such as organic and zero budget natural farming, which do not allow GM seeds, are gaining ground.

In the debate

• Bt brinjal found no support from State governments. Kerala and Uttarakhand asked for a ban on GM crops.
• States with substantial brinjal cultivation, i.e. West Bengal, Odisha, Bihar opposed the release pending rigorous, extensive testing.
• In 2012 and 2017, respectively, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Agriculture and the Committee on Science & Technology, Environment and Forests assessed the GM controversy.
• Both committees expressed grave concerns about lapses in the regulatory system.
• In fact, the Committee on Agriculture was so alarmed by the irregularities in the assessment of Bt brinjal, that it recommended “a thorough probe by a team of eminent independent scientists and environmentalists”, which never happened.
• Further, both committees endorsed labelling GM foods to protect a consumer’s right to know.
• However, since retailing is largely unorganised, enforcing truthful labelling is a logistical nightmare, and the Ministry of Agriculture believes it is impractical.
• The FSSAI has only recently begun putting labelling rules into place.

No scientific consensus yet

• In sum, there is a moratorium on Bt brinjal because there is no scientific consensus on its safety and efficacy, and because the States and Parliament have profound misgivings about the regulatory system.
• In recent years, pests have developed resistance to Bt cotton, forcing farmers to spray lethal pesticides.
• This led to over 50 deaths by pesticide-poisoning in Yavatmal in 2017.
• If anything, the problem of sustainable, remunerative farming has become more acute, and alternative strategies such as organic and zero budget natural farming, which do not allow GM seeds, are gaining ground.

Way Forward

• Environmental Impact Assessment: must be carried out by independent environmentalist, as farmers do not and cannot assess the long-term impact of GM crops on ecology and health.
• Unchecked import of GM products should be stopped.
• In order to curb the illegal cultivation of Bt brinjal, the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) must:
• Collaborate with state governments and launch a nation-wide investigation drive.
• Take action on threats of deliberate Bt brinjal and Bt cotton cultivation.
• Investigate and prosecute those involved in the illegal supply of Bt brinjal seeds.
• Organic farming should be encouraged.
• The government should go for commercialization of Bt brinjal only after the core and deep research on the long term prospects and benefits of commercialization of Bt crops in India. In that context, India can learn from Bangladesh’s example where farmers have been growing the Bt Brinjal since 2013.

The government

• Must detail the steps it has taken since 2010 to address the scientific lacunae.
• Clarify precisely how Bt brinjal will benefit farmers
• Put the infrastructure to ensure labelling into place
• Demonstrate how Bt brinjal fits in with sustainable farming and biodiversity conservation.

Conclusion

As things stand, Bt brinjal runs counter to the framework for agricultural development and farmers’ well-being devised by parliamentary panels and the government’s own task forces and expert committees.

India and SCO

News

• PK Modi departed for the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek to attend a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).

Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO)

• After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the then security and economic architecture in the Eurasian region dissolved and new structures had to come up.
• The original Shanghai Five were China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan.
• The SCO was formed in 2001, with Uzbekistan included. It expanded in 2017 to include India and Pakistan.
• Since its formation, the SCO has focused on regional non-traditional security, with counter-terrorism as a priority:
• The fight against the “three evils” of terrorism, separatism and extremism has become its mantra.
• Today, areas of cooperation include themes such as economics and culture.

India’s entry to the SCO

• India and Pakistan both were observer countries.
• While Central Asian countries and China were not in favour of expansion initially, the main supporter — of India’s entry in particular — was Russia.
• A widely held view is that Russia’s growing unease about an increasingly powerful China prompted it to push for its expansion.
• From 2009 onwards, Russia officially supported India’s ambition to join the SCO. China then asked for its all-weather friend Pakistan’s entry.

How does membership of the SCO help India?

[I] Counter-terrorism

• These sit well with the SCO’s main objective of working cooperatively against the “three evils”.
• India wants access to intelligence and information from SCO’s counter-terrorism body, the Tashkent-based Regional Anti Terror Structure (RATS).
• A stable Afghanistan too is in India’s interest, and RATS provides access to non-Pakistan-centred counter-terrorism information there.

[II] Connectivity

• Connectivity is important for India’s Connect Central Asia policy. Energy cooperation dominates its interest – and it’s in China’s neighbourhood.
• But India will also have to deal with an assertive China, which will push its Belt and Road Initiative during the summit.
• SCO membership also bolsters India’s status as a major pan-Asian player, which is boxed in the South Asian paradigm.

Geopolitics and play out for India

• The US’ power struggle with China, exit from the Iran nuclear deal JCPOA which affected India’s oil imports from Iran and adversarial attitude towards Russia which delayed India’s defence purchase like S-400.
• While US’s stance against Islamabad after the Pulwama attack was evidence of its support to New Delhi, India has had a strained relationship with China after the Doklam stand-off, followed by attempts to reset relations in Wuhan.

A cause of worry for US

• In the SCO, India’s sitting down with less-than-free regimes, Russia and China has always had the West worried.
• India, however, has always been tactful in not aligning with these countries on governance issues.

How does it play out in the India-Pakistan or India-China relationship?

• In the absence of the SAARC summit, the SCO summit gives an opportunity for Indian and Pakistani leaders to meet informally, on the sidelines.
• Both sides have the obligation not to bring in bilateral disputes, but can cooperate on issues of mutual interest and importance.
• Signing off on joint counter-terrorism exercises will be a new form of engagement between the two militaries.
• With China, it is yet another opening, like the BRICS summit last year, to bring down tensions, and ahead of the next informal summit in October in India.

Divergences in Central Asian and Indian Interests

• Russia and Central Asian countries are likely to express “broad support” for China in the wake of trade war against U.S. India is equally concerned about this trade war, but is in a dilemma in view of openly slamming U.S. protectionism.
• It is also notable that all SCO members, barring India, are enthusiastic supporters of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
• Also, the other agenda of the summit would be to sell the Gwadar Port and China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) as a potential passage to landlocked Central Asian states. But CPEC passes through territory over which India claims its sovereignty.
• Terrorism is likely to be approached from the angle of improving the situation in Afghanistan and not necessarily of curbing the terrorist elements emanating from Pakistan.

Key outcomes of the Bishkek Declaration?

• The Bishkek Declaration was finalised in the summit.
• Member countries signed 14 decisions at the summit, including cooperation in sports, healthcare and environment.
• The anti-narcotic strategy and the programme of action was amongst one of the documents signed.
• Discussions regarding terrorism, regional cooperation, Afghanistan, and economic issues were carried out during the summit.
• SCO urged the global community to work towards a consensus on adopting the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT).
• It also emphasised the need to launch multilateral talks, at the Conference on Disarmament, on an international convention to combat acts of chemical and biological terrorism.
• SCO called for the international community’s joint efforts to counter attempts to involve young people in terrorism, separatism and extremist activities.
• The members committed to counter the use of information and communications technology to undermine political, economic and public security in the SCO countries.
• Opportunities for economic cooperation had a special focus, and SCO countries committed to strengthening economic cooperation.
• Countries also committed to supporting the World Trade Organisation structure.
• Also, building more people-to-people ties, tourism and cultural bonds within the grouping was stressed upon.
• On the sidelines of the summit, some cooperation agreements between SCO and UN-specialised agencies were also signed.
• Afghanistan – On Afghanistan, the Bishkek declaration stressed on an inclusive peace process led by “Afghans themselves”.
• India reiterated its long-held stand towards the peace process in Afghanistan.
• It held the view that Afghanistan should be led, owned, and controlled by Kabul.
• Indian PM Modi also touched upon the topics of connectivity, especially the north-south corridor, Chabahar port and renewable energy.
• He also introduced the acronym HEALTH (during the SCO session) which denotes –
  1. Healthcare Cooperation
  2. Economic Cooperation
  3. Alternate Energy
  4. Literature and Culture
  5. Terrorism-free society
  6. Humanitarian Cooperation
• India-Pakistan – Prime Minister Modi and his Pakistani counterpart Imran Khan failed to hold substantive talks at the summit.
• Nevertheless, the occasion provided a setting for them to exchange what India called the “usual pleasantries” at the least.
• Beyond the summit, the two countries are committed to engaging at several other levels, including the SCO Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure.
• Pakistan leads the effort to coordinate between the SCO and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime.
• Besides these, India opposed to China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
• The summit declaration has mentioned only the other countries in a paragraph praising the project.
• On the sidelines of the summit, Mr. Modi held bilateral meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Way Forward

• What draws India to SCO is the “Shanghai spirit”, which emphasises harmony, non-interference in others’ internal affairs, and non-alignment.
• The bottom-line is that it helps India keep all options open in terms of international partnerships.
• n this situation, India will have to clearly identify and promote its interests to enhance its presence in the Eurasian region for this accelerating progress on the International North-South Transport Corridor, the Chabahar Port, the Ashgabat Agreement and the India-Myanmar-Thailand Trilateral Highway should be very much on the cards.

Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES)

• An epidemic of Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) has broken out in five north Bihar districts, with more than 50 children having died in the last nine days.
• Locally known as Chamki Bukhar, at least 400 children have died in the last one decade due to AES in these districts.

What is AES?

• AES is a clinical condition most widely caused by infection with Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) or other infectious and non-infectious causes.
• AES in short, it is a basket term used for referring to hospital, children with clinical neurological manifestations which include mental confusion, disorientation, convulsion, delirium or coma.
• Meningitis caused by virus or bacteria, encephalitis (mostly Japanese encephalitis) caused by virus, encephalopathy, cerebral malaria, and scrub typhus caused by bacteria are collectively called acute encephalitis syndrome.
• While microbes cause all the other conditions, encephalopathy is biochemical in origin, and hence very different from the rest.
• There are different types of encephalopathy. In the present case, the encephalopathy is associated with hypoglycemia and hence called hypoglycemic encephalopathy.

Is encephalitis different from hypoglycaemic encephalopathy?

• The two conditions show very different symptoms and clinical manifestations.
• Fever on the first day is one of the symptoms of encephalitis before the brain dysfunction begins.
• While fever is seen in children in the case of hypoglycaemic encephalopathy, fever is always after the onset of brain dysfunction (actually due to the brain dysfunction).
• And not all children exhibit fever. Some children have no fever, while others may have mild or very high fever.
• The blood sugar level is usually normal in children with encephalitis but is low in children with hypoglycaemic encephalopathy.

What happens in hypoglycaemic encephalopathy?

• However, in hypoglycaemic encephalopathy, children go to bed without any illness but manifest symptoms such as vomiting, convulsion and semi-consciousness early next morning (between 4 a.m. to 7 a.m.).
• At that time, the blood sugar level is low, hence the name hypoglycaemic encephalopathy.

Symptoms of AES

• The signs and symptoms of AES include – an acute onset of fever, headache and clinical neurological manifestation that includes mental confusion, disorientation, delirium, or coma.

Who is at risk?

• People in rural areas where the virus is common are at greater risk.
• But the incidence was highest among children 0-6 years of age.
• People with weakened immune system – for instance, who have HIV/AIDS, take immune-suppressing drugs – are at an increased risk of encephalitis.

What killed so many children in Bihar?

• In a majority of cases, children died due to hypoglycaemic encephalopathy.
• According to a PIB release hypoglycaemia (low blood sugar level) was reported in a “high percentage” of children who died.
• Unlike hypoglycaemic encephalopathy, encephalitis does not cause low blood sugar level so death in a high percentage of children couldn’t have been due to encephalitis.

Why has it affected only young children in Bihar?

• It is an observed fact that malnourished children between two to 10 years fall ill and die due to hypoglycaemic encephalopathy.
• It is not known why older children or adults do not suffer the same way.
• This clear discrimination by age is also a reason why the underlying cause of the illness cannot be a virus.
• A virus does not discriminate by age, and children younger than two years too are affected by Japanese encephalitis.
• It has also been documented that most of the children falling ill are from families camping in orchards to harvest the fruits. These children tend to collect and eat the fruits that have fallen on the ground.
• Hypoglycaemic encephalopathy outbreaks are restricted to April-July, with a peak seen in June. This is because litchi is harvested during this period.

Reasons

Now, belatedly, they have acknowledged the two most critical reasons for the deaths — malnutrition and the inadequacy of primary health centres (PHCs).

• The state government’s lack of preparedness is indefensible.
• AES has struck Muzaffarpur with regularity in the summers since 1995.
• The disease claimed nearly 1,000 children between 2010 and 2014. It seemed to have become less virulent after 2014.

Study on AES

For example, a 2014 study by researchers from the Christian Medical College, Vellore, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta in the US showed how a combination of factors, unique to Muzaffarpur, sharpened the vulnerability of its children to the disease.

Litchi’s toxins – The district is a major litchi-growing region and the study found that toxins present in the fruit were a source of AES.

Malnutrition –

• But the fruit was a triggering factor only in the case of children who had not received proper nutrition, the study reported.
• It said that the toxins in the fruit assume lethal proportions when a poorly-nourished child eats litchis during the day and then goes to sleep without a proper meal.
• The links between the fruit and AES have been debated but most researchers agree that the disease affects only under-nourished children.

No Action by the state on report

However, the state government has not taken the cue from medical research. It does not have a special nutrition programme for AES-prone areas.

Poorly Equipped PHCs

• Medical literature has also shown that AES can be contained if the child is administered dextrose within four hours of onset of symptoms.
• But every AES outbreak in the past 10 years has shown that Muzaffarpur’s PHCs — the first point of healthcare for most AES patients — are ill-equipped to deal with the disease.
• Most of them do not have glucometers to monitor blood sugar levels.
• The Sri Krishna Medical College and Hospital, the designated hospital in Muzaffarpur to deal with the disease, do not have a virology lab or adequate number of paediatric beds

Role of Litchi

• In 2012-2013, a research shown that a toxin found in litchi fruit that was responsible for causing hypoglycaemic encephalopathy.
• In 2017, an India-U.S. team confirmed the role of the toxin called methylene cyclopropyl glycine (MCPG).
• Early morning, it is normal for blood sugar to dip after several hours of no food intake.
• Undernourished children who had gone to sleep without a meal at night develop hypoglycaemia.
• The brain needs normal levels of glucose in the blood. The liver is unable to supply the need.
• So the alternate pathway of glucose synthesis, called fatty acid oxidation, is turned on. That pathway is blocked by MCPG.
• Litchi does not cause any harm in well-nourished children, but only in undernourished children who had eaten litchi fruit the previous day and gone to bed on an empty stomach.

How is MCPG hazardous?

• The toxin acts in two ways to harm the brain and even cause death.
• Because of the toxin, the body’s natural mechanism to correct low blood glucose level is prevented thus leading to a drop in fuel supply to the brain.
• This leads to drowsiness, disorientation and even unconsciousness.
• When the toxin stops the fatty acid conversion into glucose midway, amino acids are released which are toxic to brain cells.
• The amino acids cause brain cells to swell resulting in brain oedema. As a result, children may suffer from convulsions, deepening coma and even death

Treatment for AES

• People suffering from encephalitis need to be treated urgently.
• Treatment may include antiviral medication, steroid injections among others to support the body, relieve the symptoms.
• Other treatment options are – bed rest, plenty of fluids, anti-inflammatory drugs to relieve the symptoms such as fever and headache.
• There is no cure for the disease. However, safe and effective vaccines are available to prevent encephalitis.
• Acute encephalitis syndrome (AES) in few districts of Bihar has so far claimed the lives of over 100 children.
• Most of the deaths have been attributed to low blood sugar level (hypoglycaemia).

Can hypoglycemic encephalopathy be treated?

• Yes, hypoglycaemic encephalopathy can be easily treated with infusing dextrose (a simple sugar that is made from corn and is chemically identical to glucose).
• Infusing 10% dextrose not only restores blood sugar to a safe level but also stops the production of amino acid that is toxic to brain cells by shutting down the body’s attempt to convert fatty acid into glucose.
• Together with dextrose infusion, infusing 3% saline solution helps in reducing oedema of the brain cells.
• The concentration of ions in the fluid outside the brain cells becomes more than what is inside the cell; this causes the fluid from the cells to come out thus reducing oedema and damage to brain cells.
• If dextrose infusion is not started within four hours after the onset of symptoms, the brain cells may not recover but will die.
• As a result, even if they survive, children suffer from various aspects of brain damage — speech getting affected, mental retardation, muscle stiffness/weakness and so forth.

What can be done to prevent this?

• By making sure that undernourished children do not eat plenty of litchi fruit.
• Ensuring that they eat some food and not go to bed on an empty stomach.