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A three-judge Bench led by Chief Justice of India N. V. Ramana said the Pegasus technical committee has reported that out of 29 phones examined, five were found infected with "some malware" but that did not mean it was Pegasus spyware.
Twenty-nine phones were given to the Committee. There is evidence found of some malware in five out of the 29 phones, but it does not mean the malware of Pegasus.
The court had set up the committee following allegations of the use of Israeli spyware Pegasus by the government agencies for targeted surveillance of politicians, journalists and activists.
The Bench also conveyed the Committee's observation that the Government of India was "not cooperative".Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, for the Centre, clarified saying "I do not know personally what happened. But if they had asked 'whether you are using a particular malware', we would have said 'we are not using'. If they had asked 'what you are using, we may not have said it'.
The petitioners and individuals who had given their phones to the Committee asked the court to give them a redacted report after taking into consideration issues of national security.
Give us a redacted report. If there is malware, please give us the report. We gave our phones to the Committee. We are the people who are concerned.
The CJI said it has just opened and read the final report of the Pegasus technical committee in the courtroom. The Bench needed time to study the report in detail. The court said it would take into consideration the request to release a redacted copies of the technical committee report.
However, the court said it would publish on its website the separate report of the overseeing judge, Justice R. V. Raveendran, on ways to enhance or improve the cyber security.
The final report was in three parts — digital images of phones examined for spyware infection, report of the technical committee and the report of Justice Raveendran, the Bench said.
Justice Raveendran has recommended that country's cyber security needed enhancement while protecting the right to privacy against unauthorised surveillance. The retired apex court judge has said private firms resorting to illegal surveillance ought to be prosecuted.
He has suggested the formation of a special investigation agency for investigating cyber attacks and to strengthen the cyber security network of the country.
Justice Raveendran has recommended that the government should create a mechanism for the citizens to complain about surveillance and alleged implantation of malware in their personal devices.
Spotlight
Missing pot and the unmissable caste divide (Page no. 4)
(GS Paper 1, Social Issues)
Two days before India celebrated its 76th Independence Day, a nine-year-old Dalit boy from Rajasthan’s Jalore district died at a hospital in Ahmedabad after allegedly being thrashed by his school principal.
The boy, InderMeghwal, according to initial reports, was punished by Chail Singh, a Rajput, for quenching his thirst from a water pot reserved for the upper caste teacher.
The incident triggered a massive outrage, leading to the immediate arrest of the accused schoolteacher and drawing the national gaze upon SaraswatiVidyaMandir, a private school in Jalore’sSurana village, and the contentious earthen pot. Though the pitcher is nowhere to be found on the school premises, it has stirred the caste pot in Rajasthan.Surana, a small village in Sayala tehsil, boasts visible signs of development — government and private schools, hospitals, electricity and metalled roads.
The village, which has a sizeable population of Rajputs and Dalits, has managed to do away with ill practices such as child marriage and open defecation but caste discrimination is a different story.
While members of the upper castes here claim Chail Singh’s school never had a separate water pot for the principal, the Dalits too rule out any link between Inder’s death and caste bias.
“Chail Singh had hit the boy [Inder]. He accepted this fact and even gave ₹1.5 lakh for his treatment. The caste angle being added to the case is baseless.
This school was the most affordable institution in the village where students used to get good education. Now the future of all these children is at stake,” says DevashiWalaram, the deputy sarpanch of Surana, who belongs to the Other Backward Classes (OBC).
The village has a woman sarpanch, JaswantKanwar, a Rajput, who is hardly visible in the ongoing controversy as she is nursing her ailing husband.
The denial of caste discrimination by the villagers has forced Inder’s father, DevaramMeghwal, to move out of their house in Surana. He along with his wife Pawani Devi and three sons are currently staying at his brotherParvat Kumar’s house on the village outskirts where the family has found support from activists, politicians and relatives.
Rajasthan is the largest State in terms of geographical area of 342,239 sq. km — has a population of around 8 crore, including 89% Hindus and 9% Muslims. Among the Hindus, the Scheduled Castes constitute 18% of the population, followed by the Scheduled Tribes at 13%, the Rajputs at 9%, and the Brahmins at 7%.
Despite this massive presence of SC/ST population, Rajasthan ranks fourth — after Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh — in the country in cases of atrocities against the community.
As per data of the National Crime Records Bureau, the State recorded over 7,000 cases of crimes and atrocities against SC/ST community members in 2020.
States
Fix leak on Sabarimala temple roof by Sept. 7, court tells TDB (Page no. 7)
(GS Paper 1, Art and Culture)
A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court has directed the Travancore Devaswom Board to complete the entire work of fixing the leak on the roof of the Sreekovil of the Sabarimala temple by September 7.
The Bench, while allowing the Devaswom Board to proceed with the repair works, closed a suomotu case initiated on the basis of the Sabarimala Special Commissioner’s report.
The court observed that as borne out from the report of the Special Commissioner and the affidavit filed by the TDB secretary, rainwater was dripping through a few nails used to fix the copper plates covering the teakwood panels on the roof of the Sreekovil .
It could be rectified by fixing copper plates with new screws and filling the gap between the gold-plated copper foils and the copper plates with the best available sealant.
The rectification/repair measures suggested include fixing new nails/screws to the loosened roofing plates, replacement of the old sealant with high-quality sealant, use of extra copper plates, if required.
Editorial
Rainbow of hope (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 1, Social Issues)
Struggling with gender identity, and fighting against stigma, prejudice and discrimination, the LGBTQIA+ community, in Tamil Nadu at least, will not be derided by slurs or mocking half-names anymore.
The T.N. government, on the orders of the Madras High Court, has come out with a glossary of terms to address people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual or of any other orientation.
The Department of Social Welfare and Women Empowerment notified the terms — paalpudhumaiyar for queer; maruviyapaalinam for a transgender; idaippaal for intersex; paalinaadaiyaalangaludanoththupogaathavar for a gender non-conforming person and so forth.
Not everyone is happy; some groups feel the word for transgender should be the one in use, thirunar ; others hope the nomenclature will not rid those who fall outside the generalisation of the benefits.
For this diverse community, the road from isolation to belonging has been fraught with bias and violence, it was a wrong Justice N. AnandVenkatesh of the Madras High Court sought to amend in his June 7, 2021 verdict.
While hearing, in April, the ordeal of a same-sex couple who sought police protection from combative parents, Justice Venkatesh admitted that he had to shed his own misconceptions before ruling on the case.
The High Court came out with a slew of guidelines for the police, and social welfare ministries, both State and Centre, to ensure the safety of the community.
In February, the High Court pulled up the Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment for dragging its feet on listing names of NGOs working for the community.
In a June 2021 order, the High Court had acknowledged that social sanction is of paramount importance to lead a life of choice.
In 2018, a Bench of the Supreme Court had overturned a 2013 ruling and decriminalised homosexuality. But the landmark judgment was only a first step.
An individual wanting to live with dignity, no matter how she wants to be identified, still has many mountains to climb before enjoying liberty, autonomy and privacy guaranteed by Article 21.
The state and society often mobilise traditional values to combat all sorts of phobias, and the movement for equal rights in T.N. should ensure children are not forced to go in for conversion therapy or thrown out of their homes for being different.
Rights activists hope the glossary is fluid because the conversation around gender and sexuality is evolving. By creating inclusiveness in language for a marginalised community, the State has worked on the principle of suyamariyadhai or self-respect, the cornerstone of the Dravidian movement.
Tamil Nadu has shown the way, but there is a long way to go before people forced to be in the shadows see a rainbow of hope in all spheres of life.
OPED
Should India change its policy on the Rohingya? (Page no. 9)
(GS Paper 2, Foreign Policy)
The Central government reasserted last week that its policy on the Rohingya refugees in India, who it calls “illegal foreigners”, will not change.
It did so while denying a tweet by Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri which said the government will move the Rohingya refugees living in Delhi to flats meant for economically weaker sections.
Denying this, the Home Ministry said the government would continue efforts for their “deportation” to Myanmar, from where more than a million Rohingya have fled in the past decade after targeted attacks by the Myanmar military that the United Nations has termed a “genocide”.
This week marks five years since the last big migration of the Rohingya, who have sought shelter in a number of countries around the world. In a discussion moderated by SuhasiniHaidar, VivekKatju and MeenakshiGanguly discuss India’s policy on the Rohingya and the need for a refugee law. Edited excerpts:
There are two issues here: policy and politics. India’s record on refugee protections is actually quite exemplary. We have often referred to India when we speak to other governments, because starting with the Tibetans, Sri Lankans, Afghans, Bhutanese and even people from Myanmar, India has hosted hundreds of thousands of refugees.
Even though India will argue often that it has not signed the UN Refugee Convention, there has been a particularly humane approach.
Now, we come to the politics of this. India is right now led by a government that ideologically wants to promote Hindu rights. But that also reflects on how it treats other minorities, particularly Muslims. The Rohingya happen to be Muslim. And therefore, often when we hear political leaders speak, they don’t even seem to be able to distinguish between the Rohingya who have suffered some of the world’s worst atrocities visited upon any community, and irregular immigrants, economic immigrants, from Bangladesh.
They can’t seem to even distinguish between the two. And therefore, often the rhetoric is that the Rohingya are taking jobs from Indians and they are a burden on India.
Above all, what is most terrifying are these unsubstantiated allegations that thousands of Rohingya are, for some reason, a security threat or a terror threat.
So, that is where it is really concerning to see how politics is impacting what has largely been a very humane policy that India has always adopted towards refugees.
News
Citing border pacts, China objects to India-U.S. drills (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 3, Defence)
China’s military, which in 2020 carried out multiple transgressions across the Line of Actual Control (LAC) which India has said violated past border agreements and triggered the worst crisis in decades, has now cited those same pacts to object to upcoming India-U.S. exercises, a charge India denied.
We firmly oppose any third party to meddle in the China-India border issue in any form,” People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Senior Colonel Tan Kefei, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Defence, said at a monthly press conference in Beijing in response to questions about the upcoming drills.
In Delhi the MEA spokesperson ArindamBagchi said that the India-US exercises are “completely different” from the situation at the LAC, and denied that they were “targeting” China or were violative of previous agreements.
In response to a question from The Hindu about the PLA statement, Mr. Bagchi said that India has always held that the two sides should “stick to” past agreements.
“Obviously, that hasn’t happened”, he added, referring to Chinese transgressions along the LAC and to India’s protests about the PLA’s attempts to change the status quo despite 1993 and 1996 protocols.
According to reports, the upcoming fifteenth edition of the “YudhAbhyas” joint exercise is expected to take place next month in a high-altitude area in Uttarakhand less than 100 km from the LAC.
In April 2020, two divisions of the PLA, having completed routine exercises, deployed in large numbers close to the LAC and carried out multiple transgressions which, India has pointed out, violated the 1993 and 1996 agreements to maintain peace in the border areas.
A clash in Galwan Valley in June 2020 marked the worst violence along the LAC since 1967. After disengagement in some regions, talks have been deadlocked to complete the process.
The PLA spokesperson said China “always stressed that military cooperation of relevant countries, especially on exercises and training activities, should not be targeted at any third party, but rather serve to help maintain regional peace and stability.
The China-India border issue is a matter between the two countries. Both sides have maintained effective communications at all levels and agreed to properly handle the situation through bilateral dialogues.
In light of the relevant agreements signed by China and India in 1993 and 1996, neither side is allowed to conduct military exercise against the other in areas near the Line of Actual Control.
The Indian side will strictly abide by the important consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries and the relevant agreements, uphold its commitment to resolving border issues through bilateral channels, and maintain peace and tranquillity in the border area with practical actions.
Govt. limits wheat flour export to curb price rise (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
The Central government has decided to restrict the export of wheat flour in order to curb the rising prices of the commodity and ensure food security of the most vulnerable sections of the society. The decision was taken by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The government will accordingly amend the policy of exemption for the commodity from export restrictions or ban.
The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) will issue a notification to this effect, a Government release said. The decision is taken against the backdrop of the Russia-Ukraine war.
The Centre said both the countries are the major exporters of wheat accounting for around 1/4th of the global wheat trade and the conflict between them led to the global wheat supply chain disruptions increasing demand of Indian wheat.
As a result, the price of wheat in domestic market showed an increase. In order to ensure food security of 1.4 billion people of the country, the decision was taken to put a prohibition on export of wheat in May 2022.However, the Centre said, due to the prohibition on export of wheat, the demand for wheat flour has increased in foreign markets and its exports have registered a growth of 200% during April-July 2022 compared to the corresponding period in 2021.
The increased demand for wheat flour in international market led to significant price rise of wheat flour in the domestic market.
Earlier, there was a policy not to prohibit or put any restrictions on the export of wheat flour. Therefore, a partial modification of the policy was required by withdrawing the exemption from ban/ restrictions on export for wheat Flour in order to ensure food security and put a check on mounting prices of wheat flour in the country.
Samir Kamat is new Chairman of DRDO (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 3, Internal Security)
The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet appointed Samir V. Kamat as Secretary, Department of Defence Research and Development and Chairman, Defence Research and Development Organisation.
Incumbent chairman G. Satheesh Reddy has been made the Scientific Adviser to the Defence Minister.
Mr. Kamat will retain his post till the age of 60 or further orders.
SC to review PMLA order on two aspects (Page no. 13)
(GS Paper 2, Polity and Governance)
The Supreme Court on August 25 prima facie agreed to re-consider two aspects of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) upheld by its judgment on July 27, which deprives an accused a copy of the Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) and transfers the burden of proof of innocence onto shoulders of the accused instead of the prosecution.
A Review Bench led by Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana clarified that its move to reconsider these two key points in the apex court judgment which upheld several core amendments made to the PMLA should not be construed to mean that the court was opposing the efforts of the government to prevent the circulation of black money or money-laundering. It said the objective of the government was “noble”.
We feel that only these two aspects need to be looked into. We are in principle completely in support of the efforts to prevent black money, its circulation and money laundering.
We cannot afford such types of offences. The object is noble… But after reading the judgment, prima facie we feel that these two areas — non-provision of ECIR and reversal of presumption of innocence — may require re-consideration. We will issue notice. Let the Government of India respond,” Chief Justice Ramana observed orally.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, said entertaining a review of the July judgment would entail serious repercussions.
The PMLA was not a standalone law, but part of a larger global structure against the offence of money laundering. India may lose its standing and may not even get financial assistance for its fight against the offence.
He said the review petition filed by Karti Chidambaram, represented by senior advocate KapilSibal, was “an appeal in the guise of a review”.
“We are part of a global structure. This is not a standalone legislation for our country alone. We are part of a global structure. Our law will have to be in tune with that larger structure.
We had explained this to the court and the court had examined the provisions in detail and found the amendments in tune with not only the global structure but also our Constitution. Any deviation will risk India being sent to another list where we would not be able to get certain financial assistance.
To this, the court said it has already acknowledged the seriousness of the offence of money laundering.We are not opposing any of the actions taken by the government to stop money laundering or bringing back black money from abroad.
The court also ordered several writ petitions, one of them filed by Shivshankar Bhatt through advocate Vipin Nair, which have primarily challenged the introduction of the amendments to the PMLA via the Finance Act route, to be tagged along with the review petition.
Labour Codes empower workers: PM (Page no. 14)
(GS Paper 3, Inclusive growth)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the Centre has taken initiatives to abolish laws from “the period of slavery” that reflect slavery mentality.
He was inaugurating the two-day National Labour Conference, a meeting of Labour Ministers and Labour Secretaries from Union Territories and States in Tirupati.
He said the country is now changing, reforming and simplifying such labour laws and justified the decision to convert 29 labour laws into four “simple labour codes. This will ensure empowerment of workers through minimum wages, job security, social security, and health security.
The Prime Minister said there is a need to change as per the changing scenario. He said the country must take full advantage of the fourth industrial revolution by taking quick decisions and implementing them rapidly.
He said the country must be positive towards the scope of platform and gig economy and online facilities, which have become the emerging dimensions of work. “Right policies and efforts in this area will help in making India a global leader,” the Prime Minister said.
He said the future needs flexible workplaces, a work from home ecosystem and flexible work hours and systems like flexible workplaces should be considered as opportunities for women’s labour force participation.
By making the right use of women power, India can achieve its goals faster,” he said. “We can take advantage of global opportunities by creating a high-quality skilled workforce on the demographic dividend the country has.
He asked the States to make full use of the construction workers’ cess that has been provided for them. I have been told that out of this cess, about ₹ 38,000 crore has still not been utilised by the States,” he added. He said several such schemes have helped the workers during the pandemic.
The Emergency Credit Guarantee Scheme, according to a study, saved 1.5 crore jobs during the pandemic and added that the workers have put their full strength to help the country recover from the economic toll of the pandemic. India has once again become the fastest growing economy in the world, so a lot of credit goes to our workers.
India, Bangladesh discuss river water sharing issues (Page no. 14)
(GS Paper 2, International Relations)
India and Bangladesh discussed a wide range of issues related to the major common rivers such as the Ganga, Teesta and several smaller rivers during the 38th meeting of the Joint River Commission (JRC).
During the talks, the Indian delegation led by Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Minister for Jal Shakti, assured the Bangladesh delegation that India was making "utmost efforts" for agreement on the Teesta. A statement from the Indian side informed that the JRC “finalised the text of MoU on Interim Water Sharing of Kushiyarariver”.
The JRC meeting, held in a cordial and friendly atmosphere, discussed the whole gamut of the issues related to the common rivers between the two countries, especially the Ganga, Teesta, Manu, Muhuri, Khowai, Gumti, Dharla, Dudkhkumar and Kushiyara," said an official statement issued by Dhaka after the talks.
The two sides also discussed exchange of flood-related data and information, river-bank protection works, common basin management, and also the River Interlinking Project of India.
Bangladesh side requested for conclusion of the long-pending Teesta Waters Sharing Treaty at an early date. The Indian side assured of their utmost efforts in concluding the agreement.
The JRC meeting which took place after a gap of 12 years agreed to undertake a few more additional common rivers for exchange of data and information for the "preparation of the draft framework of interim water sharing agreement".
Leader of the Bangladesh delegation ZaheedFarooque, State Minister for Ministry of Water Resources of Bangladesh, urged Mr. Shekhawat for signing anMoU for withdrawal of water by Bangladesh and India from the common stretch of Kushiyara river at an "early date".
The Hindu had earlier reported that the agreement on Kushiyara near the border with Assam is expected to be on top of the bilateral agenda.
Both sides agreed to conduct the feasibility study for optimum utilisation of water received by Bangladesh under the provision of the Ganges Water Sharing Treaty, 1996," stated the official press release from Bangladesh.
Sources indicated that the conversation in the JRC contributed to the "positive sentiments" between Delhi and Dhaka ahead of the expected visit of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to India in the first week of September.
Boeing 787s exempted from GAGAN till 2025 (Page no. 14)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Technology)
The government has exempted Boeing 787 aircraft in India from complying with indigenously developed GAGAN navigation system until December 2025 as the aircraft manufacturer has said that it involves a major design change.
GAGAN (GPS Aided GEO Augmented Navigation) helps aircraft with guided landing at airports that do not have instrument landing system for low-visibility operations or an aid where two radio beams provide pilots with vertical and horizontal guidance during landing.
In a notification on August 18, the Ministry of Civil Aviation, said "Boeing 787 aircraft is exempted from GAGAN compliance till 31st December 2025.
A senior official of the Ministry said that the waiver was granted following a discussion with Airports Authority of India (AAI) and aviation safety regulator the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).
The compliance requirement for Boeing 787 is extended after due consultation with AAI and DGCA. Boeing has informed that to make 787 compliant with GAGAN equipment major design change has to be carried out and given a time-frame of 4th Quarter of 2025.
The official added that all other aircraft had to comply with GAGAN. As per the Civil Aviation Policy 2016, the deadline for aircraft in India to comply with GAGAN was January 1, 2019 which was first extended to June 30, 2020 and then to July 1, 2021.
GAGAN is an Indian Satellite Based Augmentation System jointly developed by the AAI and the Indian Space Research Organisation.
There are only three other space-based augmentation systems available in the world which include Wide Area Augmentation System in the U.S., European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service and Japan's Multi-functional Satellite Augmentation System.
Business
Bank credit growth accelerates to 14.2% in June quarter (Page no. 15)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
Bank credit growth accelerated to 14.2% in the quarter ended June 2022 from 6% in the same period of the previous year, RBI data.In the quarter ended March 2022, bank credit had expanded by 10.8%.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Thursday released the 'Quarterly Statistics on Deposits and Credit of SCBs for June 2022'.
This data is collected from all scheduled commercial banks (SCBs), which include regional rural banks (RRBs), small finance banks (SFBs) and payments banks (PBs).
"Credit growth has been broad-based: all the population groups (i.e., rural, semi-urban, urban and metropolitan), all the bank groups (i.e., public/private sector banks, foreign banks, RRBs and SFBs) and all the regions of the country (i.e., central, eastern, north-eastern, northern, southern and western) recorded double-digit annual credit growth in June 2022," as per the Reserve Bank.
Aggregate deposit growth (year-on-year) has remained in the range 9.5 - 10.2% during the last five quarters.
Metropolitan branches continue to account for over half of the bank deposits and their share increased marginally over the last one year.
The share of current account and savings account (CASA) deposits in total deposits has been increasing over the last three years (42% in June 2020, 43.8% in June 2021 and 44.5% in June 2022).
As credit growth is outpacing deposit growth in the recent period, credit-deposit (C-D) ratio has been on the rise, the data showed.
In June 2022, C-D ratio stood at 73.5% at all-India level (70.5% a year earlier) and 86.2% for metropolitan branches of banks (84.3% a year earlier).
DoT eases telecom infra norms to boost networks (Page no. 15)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Technology)
The Telecom Ministry on Monday announced amendments to the Right of Way Rules, a move that is expected to expedite upgradation and expansion of telecom networks, including for 5G.
The amendments include rationalisation of fee, introduction of single-window clearance system and removing the need for consent from an authority for installing infrastructure over private property.
Announcing the amendments to the Indian Telegraph Right of Way (RoW) Rules, 2016, Minister for Communication, IT and Railways AshwiniVaishnaw noted that these amendments would pave the way for the deployment of 5G small cells on existing street infrastructure and with these reforms, India was now ready for introduction of 5G services by October.
Welcoming the move, S.P. Kochhar, Director General, COAI, said, “The Indian Telegraph Right of Way (Amendment) Rules, 2022 will ensure the speedy roll-out of the technology and make the dream of 5G-enabled India come true.
Panel approves former CEA as India’s ED at IMF (Page no. 15)
(GS Paper 2, International Institutions)
The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved former Chief Economic Adviser Krishnamurthy Subramanian for the post of Executive Director (India) at the International Monetary Fund for a period of three years starting November 1, 2022, or until further orders.
Mr. Subramanian, who is currently a Finance Professor at the Indian School of Business, will replace Surjit S. Bhalla who was appointed to the role in 2019.
The Secretariat to the Cabinet’s appointments panel said the appointment’s approval entailed “curtailing the tenure of Mr. Bhalla up to October 30, 2022.”
Mr. Bhallahad been appointed as the Executive Director (India) at the IMF for a period of three years in October 2019 after his predecessor SubirGokarn passed away in July 2019.
Congratulating Mr. Subramanian, Indian School of Business Dean Madan Pillutla in a statement said, “It is a matter of extreme pride for all of us at the ISB that Subbu is contributing extensively to India’s economic policymaking. We wish him all the best in his new role and are confident that he will do us proud again.”