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Editorial
Has India missed the bus in terms of becoming an international arbitration hub? Even if it has, India can still play catch up with Online Dispute Redressal (ODR).
At the Delhi Arbitration Weekend in February 2023, Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju emphasised the need for institutional arbitration to enhance the ease of doing business. India has shown tremendous improvement in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business report, rising from the 142nd rank among 190 countries in 2014 to 63rd in 2019.
However, India is ranked 163rd, in ‘Enforcing Contracts’, which is a marginal improvement from the 186th rank in 2015 and 173rd in 2006.
The report says it takes almost four years and 31% of the cost of the claim to enforce a contract in India; in contrast, it takes just over two years and costs 22% of the claim value in Brazil. In Mexico it is 341 days and 33% of claim value, and Vietnam 400 days, and 29% of claim value.
India opened up its economy in the 1990s, which was the decade of growth for international arbitration. As more countries entered into bilateral investment treaties, institutional arbitration became the preferred choice of resolution.
Although India introduced its first piece of legislation on arbitration and conciliation by the middle of the decade, it acquired a reputation of being ‘arbitration-unfriendly’, as the Srikrishna Committee pointed out in 2017, for several reasons — lack of preference for institutional arbitration over ad hoc arbitration, frequent interference from the judiciary from the appointment of arbitrators to the enforcement of awards, and setting aside of arbitral awards on grounds of ‘public policy’.
Explainer
The Role of Parliamentary Committees (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 2, Polity and Governance)
The former President of the U.S. Woodrow Wilson once remarked, ‘It is not far from the truth to say that Congress in session is Congress on public exhibition, whilst Congress in Committee rooms is Congress at work.’ The universality of this statement seems to have stood the test of time and geography.
Due to the sheer volume of information and scale of operations that the Indian Parliament is required to undertake, it is not feasible to take up all issues on the floor of the House.
Thus, Parliamentary committees — panels made up of MPs — are constituted to deal with such situations and take up sector-specific concerns. Contrary to popular perception, looking into Bills is not the only purpose that committees serve.
We tend to underestimate their relevance, not realising the sheer magnitude of effort that goes into making Parliament a dynamic, functional space where members converge every few months and debate on matters that concern the nation.
Behind every such speech, every comment and every Bill introduced or taken up for discussion lies the ceaseless work of various committees that deserve a nuanced perusal if we are to understand how the highest platform of multilateral dialogue in India is brought to life.
However, in these times of political rancour and polarisation, public proceedings of the House seem to reflect serious fault lines. It does not allow for any deliberation, let alone consensus.
During the course of the 17th Lok Sabha, only 14 Bills have been referred for further examination so far. As per data from PRS, as little as 25% of the Bills introduced were referred to committees in the 16th Lok Sabha, as compared to 71% and 60% in the 15th and 14th Lok Sabha respectively. This represents a declining trend of national legislation being subjected to expert scrutiny.
Text & context
A beginner’s guide to the Large Hadron Collider, its functions and its future (Page no. 9)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Technology)
The Large Hadron Collider (LHC), built by the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), is on the energy frontier of physics research, conducting experiments with highly energised subatomic particles.
The LHC, true to its name, is three things. First, it is large — so large that it is the world’s largest science experiment. Second, it is a collider.
It accelerates two beams of particles in opposite directions and smashes them head on. Third, these particles are hadrons.
Currently, engineers are warming up the LHC for its third season of operations, following upgrades that will have made the collider and its detectors more sensitive and accurate than before.
A hadron is a subatomic particle made up of smaller particles. The LHC typically uses protons, which are made up of quarks and gluons. It energises the protons by accelerating them through a narrow circular pipe that is 27 km long.
Simply put, this pipe encircles two D-shaped magnetic fields, created by almost 9,600 magnets. Say there is a proton at the 3 o’clock position.
It is made to move from there to the 9 o’clock position by turning on one hemisphere of magnets and turning off the other, such that the magnetic field acting on the proton causes it to move clockwise.
Once it reaches the 9 o’clock position, the magnetic polarity is reversed by turning off the first hemisphere and turning on the second. This causes the proton to move in an anticlockwise direction, from 9 o’clock back to the 3 o’clock position.
This way, by switching the direction of the magnetic field more and more rapidly, protons can be accelerated through the beam pipe.
There are also other components to help them along and to focus the particles and keep them from hitting the pipe’s walls.
Eventually, the protons move at 99.999999% of the speed of light. In the process they accrue a tremendous amount of energy according to the special theory of relativity.
When two antiparallel beams of energised particles collide head on, the energy at the point of collision is equal to the sum of the energy carried by the two beams.
Thus far, the highest centre-of-mass collision energy the LHC has achieved is 13.6 TeV (teraelectron-volts). This is less energy than what would be produced if you clapped your hands once.
The feat is that the energy is packed into a volume of space the size of a proton, which makes the energy density very high.
News
Tejas, Rafale, Sukhoi to face off with U.S. fighter jets at Cope India 23 (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 3, Defence)
The light combat aircraft Tejas, Rafale, Su-30MKI and Jaguars of the Indian Air Force (IAF) are all set to undertake manoeuvres with F-15 fighters and B-1B long-range bombers of the U.S. Air Force (USAF) under the second phase of the ongoing bilateral air exercise, Cope India 23.
In a rare gesture, General Kenneth S. Wilsbach, Commander, U.S. Pacific Air Forces (COMPACAF), who is visiting India, undertook a sortie in a Russian-origin Su-30MKI fighter of the IAF during the exercise at the Kalaikunda air base.
This segment of the exercise will witness participation of B-1B bombers of USAF. F-15 fighter aircraft of the USAF will also join the exercise subsequently.
The IAF element will include the Su-30MKI, Rafale, Tejas and Jaguar fighter aircraft. Japan is taking part in the exercise as an observer.
The exercise will be supported by aerial refuellers, Airborne Warning and Control System and Airborne Early Warning and Control aircraft of the IAF,” the statement said. The exercise will conclude on April 24.
This is the first time ever that U.S. bombers will be taking part in a military exercise in India. B-1B bombers had earlier done fly-bys during Aero India on two occasions.
Govt. revises package rates for CGHS beneficiaries (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 2, Health)
The Health Ministry announced that it has revised the Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS) package rates for all CGHS beneficiaries and simplified the referral process under CGHS for the benefit of its employees by offering a video call facility. There has not been a revision in the rates since 2014.
A senior Health Ministry official said that the increase in rates associated with the CGHS follows the demand for it from various stakeholders.
The decision will increase the burden on the Central government’s exchequer from between ₹240 crore to ₹300 crore.
The Central government has increased the CGHS rates of consultation fee for out-patient department (OPD)/in-patient department (IPD) to ₹350 from ₹150.
Similarly, ICU charges have been revised to ₹5,400 (₹862 plus ₹4,500 for private wards, rounded to ₹5,400), including accommodation for all ward entitlements. There are about 44 lakh CGHS beneficiaries.