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Human rights advocate Ales Bialiatski from Belarus, the Russian human rights organisation Memorial, and the Ukrainian human rights organisation Center for Civil Liberties are being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 2022, the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced on October 7, 2022.
The Nobel Peace Prize laureates represent civil society in their home countries. They have for many years promoted the right to criticise power and protect the fundamental rights of citizens.
They have made an outstanding effort to document war crimes, human right abuses and the abuse of power. Together they demonstrate the significance of civil society for peace and democracy, the avademy said.
With this year’s Nobel Peace Prize, the Norwegian Nobel Committee wishes to honour three outstanding champions of human rights, democracy and peaceful co-existence in the neighbour countries Belarus, Russia and Ukraine, the academy said.
Ales Bialiatski was one of the initiators of the democracy movement that emerged in Belarus in the mid-1980s. He has devoted his life to promoting democracy and peaceful development in his home country.
He founded the organisation Viasna (Spring), in 1996. Viasna evolved into a broad-based human rights organisation that documented and protested against the authorities’ use of torture against political prisoners.
Government authorities have repeatedly sought to silence Ales Bialiatski. Since 2020, he is still detained without trial. Despite tremendous personal hardship, Mr Bialiatski has not yielded an inch in his fight for human rights and democracy in Belarus.
Human rights organisation Memorial, was established in 1987 by human rights activists in the former Soviet Union who wanted to ensure that the victims of the communist regime’s oppression would never be forgotten.
Memorial is based on the notion that confronting past crimes is essential in preventing new ones. The organisation has also been standing at the forefront of efforts to combat militarism and promote human rights and government based on rule of law.
During the Chechen wars, Memorial, gathered and verified information on abuses and war crimes perpetrated on the population by Russian and pro-Russian forces. In 2009, the head of Memorial’s branch in Chechnya, Natalia Estemirova, was killed because of this work.
Panel to study SC status of Dalits post conversion (Page no. 1)
(GS Paper 2, Polity and Governance)
The Union government has now formed a three-member Commission of Inquiry headed by former Chief Justice of India, Justice K.G. Balakrishnan, to examine the issue of whether Scheduled Caste (SC) status can be accorded to Dalits who have over the years converted to religions other than Sikhism or Buddhism.
The notification for the formation of the commission was issued on Thursday, days before the Supreme Court on October 11 is expected to hear the Centre’s present position on a batch of petitions seeking the inclusion of Dalit Christians and Dalit Muslims and the removal of the religion criteria for inclusion as SCs.
Currently, the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950 provides for only those belonging to Hindu, Sikh or Buddhist communities to be categorised as SCs.
When enacted, the Order only allowed for Hindu communities to be classified as SCs based on the social disabilities and discrimination they faced due to untouchability. It was amended in 1956 to include Sikh communities and again in 1990 to include Buddhist communities as SCs.
The three-member commission will also comprise Professor Sushma Yadav, member, UGC, and retired IAS officer Ravinder Kumar Jain, and has been given a two-year deadline to submit a report on the issue — starting from the day Justice Balakrishnan takes charge of the commission.
The Department of Social Justice and Empowerment has said the commission’s inquiry will also look into the changes an SC person goes through after converting to another religion and its implications on the question of including them as SCs.
These will include examining their traditions, customs, social and other forms of discrimination and how and whether they have changed as a result of the conversion.
Noting that several representatives of existing SC communities have staunchly opposed the inclusion of converts to other religions, the government has also tasked the Justice Balakrishnan Commission with examining the impact of such a decision on these existing SC communities.
The commission has also been empowered to examine any other related questions that it deemed appropriate, in consultation with and with the consent of the Central government.
The petitions challenging the religion criteria for inclusion in the top court have cited several independent commission reports since the First Backward Classes Commission headed by Kaka Kalelkar in 1955 that have documented the existence of caste and caste discrimination among Indian Christians and Indian Muslims, concluding that Dalit converts continued to face the same social disabilities even after leaving the Hindu fold.
These include the Report of the Committee on Untouchability Economic and Educational Development Of the Scheduled Castes in 1969, the HPP report on SCs, STs, and Minorities in 1983, the report of the Prime Minister’s High-Level Committee formed in 2006, a 2008 study conducted by the National Commission for Minorities, the Ranganath Mishra Commission Report among others.
States
Agri-credit societies to be set up in all panchayats, says Shah (Page no. 5)
(GS Paper 3, Agriculture)
Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah on Friday said that primary agricultural credit societies (PACS) will be set up in all panchayats of the country to boost various activities over the next five years, such as marketing of dairy products, and people of Northeast will largely benefit from the move.
The Minister noted that there are only 65,000 active PACS in the country at present, and it is imperative that all panchayats must have one such body by 2027 to promote farming and dairy activities at the grassroots level.
The co-operation ministry is working on a plan to set up multi-purpose PACS in panchayats over the next five years in order to promote various cooperative activities at the grassroots level,” he said, inaugurating the ‘Eastern and North-Eastern Zones Dairy Cooperative Conclave- 2022’ at Manan Kendra.
Such PACS will carry out activities like sale of gas and petrol and storage and marketing of dairy and farm products with an aim to alleviate poverty and empower women, Mr. Shah, who arrived here around noon, said.
Mr. Shah also pointed out that the eastern and northeastern states will benefit the most from the establishment of the PACS as its farm and dairy products will be efficiently marketed, thus generating optimum financial benefits for people engaged in animal husbandry and allied sectors.
Alleging that the previous governments had neglected the cooperative sector, Mr. Shah said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had the vision to identify the role that the segment could play in poverty alleviation and women empowerment and decided to set up a separate ministry.
He left for Guwahati later in the day. Mr. Shah is visiting Assam for three days beginning Friday during which he will attend a meeting on floods, inaugurate a State-level SPs conference and address BJP workers.
Mr. Shah will also attend a meeting of Chief Ministers and DGPs of northeastern States on narcotics, review the functioning of the North Eastern Space Application Centre and inaugurate the newly built office of the BJP's Assam unit during the visit, sources said here.
Editorial
The atrophy of the neo-Buddhist movement in India (Page no. 6)
(GS Paper 1, Society)
Every year in October, thousands of people assemble at Nagpur’s Deekshabhoomi to pay homage to B.R. Ambedkar and remember the historic day of October 14, 1956, when he and half a million of his followers embraced Buddhism.
Ambedkar chose Buddhism after examining various religions to understand the suitability of each to liberate socially marginalised communities from the exploitative caste order.
He found that Buddhism is rooted in India’s civilization, supplements modern ethical values and is averse to social hierarchies and patriarchal domination.
Neo-Buddhism was proposed as a mass movement that would elevate former ‘Untouchables’ and help them achieve self-respect. He hoped that Buddhist principles would mobilise them into a robust community to battle the ruling Brahmanical elites.
Neo-Buddhism emerged as a maverick phenomenon that offered strong psychological solace to the struggling Dalit masses. However, Ambedkar’s grand hopes remain unfulfilled.
Today, the Buddhist population in India is one of the smallest minorities, its ideological challenge against the Hindu social order has not been taken seriously, and even within the Dalit community, conversion to Buddhism is not perceived as a suitable path to achieve social emancipation. Instead, it is the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that often fashions itself as the new torchbearer of Buddhist identity.
A large majority (close to 80%) of Indian Buddhists resides in Maharashtra. The neo-Buddhists have established social and educational institutions, initiated cultural movements, and organised popular public festivals to make Buddhism a visible force in Maharashtra’s public sphere.
However, it is mainly the Mahar caste and recently, smaller sections within the Matang and the Maratha castes which have identified themselves as neo-Buddhists. Other socially marginalised groups are still defined by Hindu caste nomenclatures and traditional occupations.
The Dalit sociopolitical movements in States including Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka have also not promoted conversion to Buddhism.
In Uttar Pradesh, during the BahujanSamaj Party (BSP)’s regime, cultural symbols related to Buddhism, such as the Rashtriya Dalit PrernaSthal and Green Garden, were erected in public spaces, but there was still hesitation in suggesting religious conversion as an alternative to fight the battle for social justice.
Even in States where the Scheduled Caste population is relatively high, such as in Punjab, West Bengal and Odisha, Dalits have shown restraint in adopting Buddhism to challenge their social location.
Importantly, India’s neighbouring Buddhist countries also have not identified neo-Buddhists as significant partners in their theological engagements.
Slow lane driving (Page no. 6)
(GS Paper 2, International Institutions)
At the onset of 2022-23, the Indian economy was expected to grow anywhere between 7.2%, as per Reserve Bank of India projections, and 8.2%, as per the International Monetary Fund forecast, with major rating agencies and financial institutions pegging their projections in the middle.
Having bounced back 8.7% last year from a COVID-triggered nadir, the moderation in economic growth was not a big deal even as the ripple effects of the war in Europe had begun and inflation had been high since January.
By early September, the range of most forecasts shifted to 6.7%-7.7%. The RBI, Asian Development Bank, and Fitch Ratings have lowered their estimate to 7%.
S&P Global Ratings retained its forecast at 7.3% and Moody’s Investors Service pared it to 7.6%, but both believe the emerging global slowdown will not derail the post-COVID recovery.
The outlook is not so benign any more, the World Bank has suggested, based on inputs as recent as the last week of September. From its initial expectation of 8% growth this year, which it cut to 7.5% in June, the Bank has laid out a gloomier outlook with growth of just 6.5%, citing the worsening external environment.
After the 13.5% expansion in the April-June quarter, high-frequency economic indicators point to a healthy uptick through August.
But growth appears to have stumbled a bit in September with goods exports contracting for the first time since February 2021 and imports growth also slowing sharply, signalling lower domestic demand.
The Bank’s latest forecast suggests a relative slowdown starting in the October-December quarter, with tighter global liquidity, higher inflation (oil prices are surging again after the OPEC meet) and rising interest rates denting domestic demand.
At the same time, the demand for exports will shrink further and private investment will likely prefer to sit out this period of heightened uncertainty.
Private consumption, in particular, will be affected this year and next, the Bank has reckoned, especially as the pandemic’s scars on income and employment levels persist for rural and low-income households.
As many as 56 million Indians may have slipped below the poverty line in 2020, it estimated. The government has been gung-ho about “entering an era of robust growth”, but its decision to extend the pandemic-driven free foodgrains programme suggests it realises that not all actors of the economy have managed to get out of the woods yet.
Ground zero
Where the stars must not twinkle (Page no. 7)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Technology)
SrinivasaRamanujan was ‘discovered’ twice in the 20th century. The first was when English mathematician G.H. Hardy ‘discovered’ the genius mathematician in 1914; and the second was when Indian astronomers in India, led by R. Rajamohan, discovered an asteroid that was later named 4130 Ramanujan.
It was the first time in 104 years that asteroids were discovered from India. Their instrument, the 45-cm Schmidt telescope, was housed on the Javadi hills in Kavalur, Tamil Nadu.
This spot is today the VainuBappu Observatory and is run by the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), Bengaluru, and is among India's foremost observatories.
It was chosen in the 1960s because it was an impressive 750 metres above sea level, located amid a forest and offered fairly unobstructed vistas of the night sky.
But this wasn’t ideal. Kavalur’s geography put it in the path of both monsoonal clouds, during June-September and the returning, or northeast, monsoon in November, forcing the observatory to often shut down for months.
Rainclouds absorb starlight and radiation from cosmic objects, preventing them from being caught on the telescopes of cameras. So IIA scientists began their search in the early 1980s for a place least affected by the monsoon.
To be able to detect stars or traces of cosmic phenomena, such as supernovae or nebulae from light years away, astronomers must be able to catch the faintest slivers of their radiation that often lie outside the range of visible light. Such radiation is, however, easily absorbed by water vapour and so it helps to have a telescope high above ground where the atmosphere is drier.
“A dry, high-altitude desert is in many ways the ideal location,” says AnnapurniSubramaniam, Director of the IIA. “Such terrain is difficult and quite inaccessible.
We commissioned several expeditions and teams to different parts of the Himalayas and finally Hanle, Ladakh was chosen.”
A largely smooth double-lane highway from Leh, the capital of Ladakh, to Hanle cuts through a valley scooped out of the mountains of the Ladakh range and the teal-coloured Indus. Army units and border check-posts punctuate the landscape that opens out into the Changthang Wildlife Sanctuary, where you can spot the occasional herd of the Tibetan wild ass and swarms of leaf warblers.
As the road ascends, a smattering of hamlets, surrounded by pasture land, comes into view with herds of Changthangi sheep, the source of pashmina wool.
News
Centre seeks CJI’s recommendation on appointment of his successor (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 2, Polity and Governance)
The Ministry of Law and Justice on October 7, 2022 sought Chief Justice of India U.U. Lalit’s recommendation for appointment of his successor.
As per the MoP [Memorandum of Procedure] on appointment of Chief Justice of India and Supreme Court Judges, today the Hon’ble Minister of Law and Justice sent a letter to the Hon’ble Chief Justice of India for sending his recommendations for appointment of his successor.
The letter kick-starts the appointment process for the 50th Chief Justice of India. Justice D.Y. Chandrachud is next in line to be Chief Justice of India in accordance with the seniority norm.
The process of appointment, according to the ‘Memorandum of Procedure of Appointment of Supreme Court Judges’, begins with the Union Law Minister seeking the recommendation of the outgoing CJI about the next appointment.
The Minister has to seek the CJI’s recommendation “at the appropriate time”. The Memorandum does not elaborate or specify a timeline. Usually the Law Minister sends his request and the outgoing CJI makes his recommendation with a month to spare before his retirement. Chief Justice Lalit is set to retire on November 8, which leaves him hardly 15 working days.
The appointment process for the next Chief Justice of India has begun at a time when four names are under consideration of the collegium for appointment as Supreme Court judges.
Usually, no new recommendations for judicial appointments are made when the appointment process for the next Chief Justice of India is on.
Respect and guarantee human rights to Uighurs of Xinjiang, says MEA (Page no. 9)
(GS Paper 2, International Relations)
India on Friday addressed the issue of the Uighurs of Xinjiang directly for the first time saying that the community’s human rights should be “respected”.
Official spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs ArindamBagchi said that the government of India had taken “note” of the human rights “assessment” of Xinjiang that was earlier presented by the Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights (OHCHR) in a 46-page report.
“The human rights of the people of Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region should be respected and guaranteed. We hope that the relevant party will address the situation objectively and properly,” he said.
India has generally avoided commenting on the reported crackdown on the Uighurs in Xinjiang. This policy was evident In 2016, when India issued a visa for leading Uighur activist Dolkun Isa but cancelled it at the last moment preventing him from traveling to Delhi.
The statement from the MEA came a day after India abstained on voting on a draft resolution at the 51st Regular Session at the United Nations Human Rights Council to hold a debate on the human rights situation in Xinjiang.
The resolution was sponsored by the U.S., Finland, and other members of the western group at the HRC but at the end only 17 of the 47 members voted in favour, 19 voted against and 11, including India, abstained.
Explaining India’s decision to abstain at the HRC, Mr. Bagchi said, “India remains committed to upholding all human rights. India’s vote is in line with its long-held position that country-specific resolutions are never helpful.
India favours a dialogue to deal with such issues.” In a rare gesture, Mr. Bagchi also recognised the importance of the OHCHR’s report on Xinjiang that had drawn China’s strong opposition earlier.
The delay to release the OHCHR's report which contains details of atrocities against the Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang was criticised by Amnesty International that had sought international investigation into the findings.
Now that the OHCHR has finally made its findings public, it is time for the UN Human Rights Council to set up an independent international mechanism to investigate these crimes under international law and other serious human rights violations in Xinjiang.
Business
RBI to start erupee pilot for specific use cases (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
The Reserve Bank said it will soon commence the pilot launch of e-rupee for specific use cases as it tests digital currency in India.
"As the extent and scope of such pilot launches expand, RBI will continue to communicate about the specific features and benefits of e-rupee, from time to time," the central bank said in a concept note on Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC).
The concept note also discusses key considerations such as technology and design choices, possible uses of the digital rupee, and issuance mechanisms, among others.
It examines the implications of the introduction of CBDC on the banking system, monetary policy, and financial stability, and analyses privacy issues.