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The Tamil Nadu government has moved a writ petition in the Supreme Court against Governor R.N. Ravi for creating a “constitutional deadlock” by inexplicably delaying or even failing to consider and give assent to crucial Bills passed by the Assembly, and stymieing day-to-day governance in a way which is threatening to bring administration in the State to a grinding halt.
The State said the Governor had positioned himself as a political rival to the legitimately elected government.
The Governor’s inactions have caused an impasse between the constitutional head of the State and the elected government of the State. The Governor is toying with the citizen’s mandate, the petition said.
Akhaura-Agartala rail link to be inaugurated virtually by PM Modi, Sheikh Hasina today (Page no. 1)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
In a historic move, Bangladesh and northeast India will re-establish rail connectivity through Tripura, after a gap of nearly seven and a half decades.
The much-awaited Akhaura-Agartala rail link will be inaugurated virtually by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).
This rail link is being seen as a first step to connect Tripura to Kolkata through Bangladesh. At present, trains to Agartala must run through a longer route via Guwahati and Jalpaiguri stations.
The link will significantly reduce the time and distance needed to reach Tripura, southern Assam, and Mizoram from Kolkata. It will also help boost India-Bangladesh trade in agriculture products, tea, sugar, construction items, iron and steel, consumer items, besides people-to-people ties.
The Akhaura-Agartala Cross-Border Rail Link project was supported by a grant aid of ₹392.52 crore extended to Bangladesh by the Indian government.
Editorial
Ethics, parliamentary conduct and the Indian MP (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 2, Polity and Constitution)
The Lok Sabha Ethics Committee’s proceedings against the All India Trinamool Congress Member of Parliament (MP) from West Bengal, Mahua Moitra, have resulted in much public debate.
A senior MP from the Bharatiya Janata Party, Nishikant Dubey, lodged a complaint with the Speaker alleging that Ms. Moitra had received money from a businessman for putting questions up in Parliament with a view to promoting the person’s business interests. The Speaker in turn referred the complaint to the Ethics Committee for examination and a report.
It must be clarified at this point that if an MP takes money for putting questions up in Parliament, they will be guilty of breach of privilege and contempt of the House.
Such complaints are invariably referred to the Committee of Privileges for investigation. This committee, after a proper investigation, submits its findings in a report along with the recommendation for action against the MP in question.
If a case involving illegal gratification for conducting parliamentary work is proven, the MP may even be expelled from the House. There have been such instances in the Lok Sabha where MPs were expelled from the House on this ground.
Stocktaking climate finance — a case of circles in red ink (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 3, Environment)
Climate finance has a crucial role in retaining the trust of the developing countries in future climate change negotiations.
The issues relating to climate finance are likely to be prominent in the Conference of the Parties (COP 28) meeting (November 30–December 12), in Dubai, in the context of Climate Change 2023: Synthesis Report providing the main scientific input to the global stocktake at COP.
The report which says that the current temperature increase at 1.1° Celsius is responsible for frequent hazardous weather will feed into the global stocktake.
Thus, the developed countries and climate vulnerable countries are likely to demand a ramping up of mitigation action by the developing countries — which is likely to be countered with the demand that the developed countries have not been able to meet the mark of a mobilisation of $100 billion climate finance.
The sum is inadequate in terms of the challenges faced by the developing countries in switching over to a low carbon development path and climate resilient development.
Providing finance to developing countries is the operationalisation of the anchor sheet principle of the Common but Differentiated Responsibilities and Respective Capabilities.
Opinion
The silent annexation of West Bank (Page no. 9)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
My first experience of Israeli occupation was in 2016, when I found myself squatting on my luggage, without food or water for eight hours, after crossing the King Hussein Bridge from Jordan into the West Bank.
Fear ran down my spine as I saw other Palestinian Arabs entering in long queues. The Israeli authorities brutally frisked them and seized or threw away their luggage.
After Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7, this border crossing has been closed by the Israelis. As Palestinians in Gaza face genocide, the silent annexation of the West Bank receives less attention.
Since October 7, reportedly 114 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank, and 1,200 arrests and rapid raids have taken place.
Explainer
How cargo transport can be improved (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 3, Infrastructure)
In this article, we will analyse the carriage of non-bulk and general cargo by the Indian Railways (IR). In 2018-19, before the onset of COVID-19, the IR loaded 62 million tonne (MT) of general cargo consisting of 45 MT of general goods, 12 MT of domestic containers and 5 MT of parcels, earning a total of ₹8,247 crore with the average earnings per tonne being ₹1,339 for goods and ₹3,384 for parcel.
However, general cargo loading is nowhere near what a Rail India Technical and Economic Service (RITES) study had projected in 2008 for the next ten years — between 194 to 292 MT depending on the IR’s efforts.
The IR’s current strategy for moving general cargo is two-pronged — the parcels are moved either by passenger trains or special heavy parcel van (VPH) trains.
However, these approaches appear to have gone haywire as loading leased parcel vans and full parcel trains fell by 15% and 8% respectively.
Text & Context
In the Pegasus battle, the fight for surveillance reform (Page no. 11)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Technology)
A year has passed since the disclosures about the Pegasus Project revealed the threat to India’s democracy. A leading digital news platform reported that the cellphones of at least 300 Indians had been hacked with Pegasus, the spyware from the Israel-based NSO Group; 10 of the cases were confirmed by Amnesty International’s Security Lab using forensic analysis.
The victims, important members of India’s constitutional order, included cabinet Ministers, Opposition leaders, journalists, judges and human rights defenders.
News
SC flags possibility of electoral bonds being used to trade favours (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 2, Judiciary)
A Constitution Bench on Tuesday raised the scenario of influential entities covertly setting up persons with verified accounts to purchase electoral bonds for them through the regular banking route in order to curry favour with political parties or anonymously enter into a quid pro quo with them.
“Suppose ‘A’, a person, purchases electoral bonds worth ₹100 crore. ‘A’ is only put up by ‘B’ for the purchase as he has a [verified or know-your-customer] KYC account.
It is ‘B’ who actually gives the donation to the political party… ‘B’ can also be an aggregator of electoral bonds by having a 100 people buy bonds worth ₹1 crore each,” Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud, heading a five-judge Bench, observed orally on the first day of hearing the challenge to the electoral bonds scheme.
World
Gaza now a ‘graveyard’ for thousands of children: UN (Page no. 15)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
The Gaza Strip has become a graveyard for thousands of children, the UN said on Tuesday, as it feared the prospect of more dying of dehydration.
The Gaza Health Ministry said the Israeli strikes have killed more than 8,500 people, mainly civilians.
The UN children’s agency UNICEF said there was a risk that the number of child deaths directly from bombardment could become eclipsed.
“Our gravest fears about the reported numbers of children killed becoming dozens, then hundreds, and ultimately thousands were realised in just a fortnight,” UNICEF spokesman James Elder said in a statement.
The numbers are appalling; reportedly more than 3,450 children killed; staggeringly this rises significantly every day.
Business
Fiscal deficit touches 39.3% of full-year target in first half (Page no. 16)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
The central government’s fiscal deficit touched 39.3% of the full year target in the first half of the current financial year, slightly higher than 37.3% recorded in the year-earlier period.
In actual terms, the fiscal deficit, or the gap between expenditure and revenue, was ₹7.02 lakh crore at the end of September, data released by the Controller General of Accounts (CGA) showed.
In the Union Budget, the government projected to bring down the fiscal deficit to 5.9% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the 2023-24 financial year.
Tax revenue was at ₹11.60 lakh crore or 49.8% of the annual target. During April-September 2022, net tax collection was 52.3% of Budget Estimate.