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In a judgment in December 2022 — Neeraj Dutta v. State (Govt. of NCT of Delhi) — the Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court came down heavily on corruption among public servants in the country and lowered the bar for the quantum of evidence required to convict persons charged with corruption.
This verdict was hailed by those who desire probity in public administration and demand deterrent penalties for criminal activities.
This was not the first time that the Supreme Court was speaking on endemic corruption in our system; on many occasions in the past, the court gave equally strong expression to this scourge that afflicts our public administration. But in spite of its unequivocal stand, the extent of corruption in public life remains undiminished.
Through its ruling, the Supreme Court debunks the myth that absolute proof of guilt alone can help convict an offender. The court has now laid down that even if prosecution witnesses turn hostile, a conviction would be in order if all the circumstantial evidence marshalled by the prosecution and produced before the court points unmistakably to the guilt of the accused.
This is a great step towards ensuring integrity in public services, especially in the ‘superior’ services such as the Indian Administrative Service and Indian Police Service.
There are two aspects to the fight against corruption: the severity of the law and its application; and the strength of public opinion that would help carry forward the campaign for a clean public life. Both are equally important if we are to rid the country of the weakest link in a burgeoning bureaucracy.
There is often a cry in favour of making our laws more stringent so that the wrongdoer is punished. Even law-makers and the public sometimes don’t understand that deterrence works only up to a point.
The demand for the death penalty for a wide range of offences is therefore misdirected. Legislators disregard the fact that the more you enhance penalties for criminal behaviour, the higher will be the quantum of proof required by the courts to be convinced of the guilt of those arraigned before them.
It is probably this hard reality that persuaded the Constitutional Bench to lower the bar for the quantum of evidence required to convict persons charged with corruption.
Time to count (Page no. 6)
(GS Paper 1, Social Issues)
The importance of the decennially conducted Census cannot be overstated. As it tallies data on several features of the Indian population, such as basic demography, literacy levels, caste status, educational levels, spoken languages, religion, marital status, occupation, and migration status among others, the Census is vital to administrative functions and planning of welfare schemes. Census data are also critical as they are used as a frame to underpin other sample surveys that are representative of the whole population.
The national Census is utilised by international agencies to project the world’s population as well. India has conducted the Census every 10 years since 1881; only 2021, a pandemic-affected year, was an exception as the exercise was postponed.
With the deadline for freezing of boundaries further extended to June 30, 2023, the Census can effectively be conducted only some months after this event. Census enumeration is preceded by activities such as house-listing.
Most States were in line to begin this in early 2020, before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. But the repeated postponement and, consequently, the undue delay in the Census’s commencement will severely affect the availability of vital information on population numbers at district and other lower levels.
The pandemic has been cited as a reason for the delay. The fact that lockdowns and physical distancing norms are now a thing of the past and infection levels in the country have remained relatively low ever since the last Omicron variant wave happened in early 2022 suggests that this is no longer a valid excuse.
In fact, Census data should validate the various estimates on mortality based on ‘excess deaths’ analyses during the COVID-19 pandemic. Also, it is imperative that decadal changes in India’s demography related to urbanisation and migration of people across States are captured adequately.
Welfare schemes such as the targeted Public Distribution System under the National Food Security Act depend on population estimates, and the government continues to rely on Census 2011, which is now clearly outdated.
Inter-State disparities in population growth rates could also impinge upon debates on the prospective delimitation of electoral boundaries and apportioning of seats across States.
Opinion
A mountain reeling under human aggression (Page no. 7)
(GS Paper 3, Environment)
Many raised a red flag against a massive infrastructural project called the Char Dham road project that is being implemented in the Uttarakhand Himalaya.
It is indeed turning out to be an unscientific road-construction project with catastrophic consequences for the mountain ecology.
The Armed Forces and the authorities, in their enthusiasm to have a “smoother” and “faster” “all-weather” connectivity for pilgrim tourists from the plains, ignored the government’s own recommended “best practice norms” to minimise the impact on the mountain ecosystems and landscapes.
In the next decade, the Government proposes to build 66 tunnels in the Uttarakhand Himalaya and 18 tunnels are already in operation.
Building these subsurface structures could result in gross damage to the environment, including the concentration of pollutants from traffic exhaust compounded by a microenvironment with no sunlight and limited dispersion in such long-distance tunnels.
The rail traffic may rely on electric locomotion, but constantly generated vibrations during the train movements will keep the mountain slope eternally unstable and thus, make it vulnerable to slide at the slightest trigger.
The construction of highways and railway tracks has now become a prime cause for landslides and its occurrences have doubled over the years.
The increased anthropogenic activities such as road construction have made the hill slopes extremely unstable. That is why the recurring landslides have gone up in numbers in the Himalayas.
Irreversible impact on groundwater like descending water levels has been observed in the areas of tunnel construction. Erratic rainfall and ecological degradation associated with land use change for infrastructural development are already impacting mountain aquifer systems.
Groundwater use in the Himalayan States differs from that in the plains, as large and contiguous aquifers do not exist in the hills.
Considered as holy, the town of Joshimath in Chamoli district, located at an altitude of 6,150 feet, is sinking rapidly due to human-induced causes.
Municipal corporations in India are gasping for funds (Page no. 7)
(GS Paper 2, Polity and Governance)
The combined budget of all the municipal corporations in India is much smaller than that of the Central and State governments, an RBI analysis of finances of urban local bodies concludes.
The study titled “Report on municipal finances” reveals how municipal bodies are increasingly dependent on fund transfers from the State and the Centre, while their revenue earning capacity is limited.
Their revenue raising powers are curtailed, the study shows. Limited funds aside, about 70% of it gets spent on salaries, pensions and administrative expenses with the rest left for capital expenditure. And above all, the municipal corporations don’t borrow much, leaving them gasping for funds.
Taxes earned by municipal corporations in India are grossly inadequate to meet their expenditure needs. In India, the own tax revenue of municipal corporations, comprising property tax, water tax, toll tax and other local taxes, formed 31-34% of the total revenue in the FY18-FY20 period.
This share was low compared to many other countries and it also declined over time. The share of own revenue (both tax and non-tax) in the total revenue of urban local bodies in India has declined, while that of government transfers has increased.
Using budgetary data from 201 municipal corporations across India, the RBI report calculated their overall revenue receipts — consisting of own tax revenue, own non-tax revenue and transfers. In 2017-18 (actuals), it was estimated to be 0.61% of the GDP and according to budget estimates of 2019-20, it increased slightly to 0.72% of the GDP. This was much smaller than Brazil’s 7% and South Africa’s 6%.
Large variations can be observed if the municipal corporations’ own tax revenue is sliced State-wise. The own tax revenue of municipal corporations as a share of the State’s GDP in 2017-18 crossed the 1% mark in Delhi, Gujarat, Chandigarh, Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh, while it was 0.1% or less in Karnataka, Goa, Assam and Sikkim. Chart 2 plots these State-wise variations.
Another major issue with the municipal corporations’ revenue raising capabilities was their dependence on property taxes. In 2017-18, the property taxes formed over 40% of the municipal corporations’ own tax revenue.
Despite such dominance, property tax collection in India was much lower compared to OECD countries due to undervaluation, and poor administration, the report argues.
A report published in the Chennai edition of this paper on Monday further highlights the problems plaguing property tax collection. Of the 13.27 lakh assessees in Chennai, only 6.94 lakh paid the property tax, while 6.33 lakh were yet to pay. Shortage of tax collectors has further impacted the revenues.
Explainer
The delay in the decennial Census (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
The decennial Census of 2021 has been pushed forward yet again and is unlikely to start till September 2023, at least. The Additional Registrar General of India communicated to States on January 2, without specifying a reason, that the date of freezing of administrative boundaries has been extended till June 30.
The Census can only begin three months after the boundaries have been frozen, and the completion of the Census in its two phases takes at least 11 months.
Thus, even if started in an urgent fashion from October this year, the possibility of its fruition in 2023 or early 2024 is ruled out, as general elections are due in March-April 2024.
India’s first proper or synchronous Census, one which begins on the same day or year across regions of the country, was carried out in 1881 by the colonial administration and has since happened every 10 years, except the one that was supposed to be carried out in 2021.
The decennial census is carried out by lakhs of enumerators empanelled and trained by the government in two phases. The first phase is the housing Census, where data on housing conditions, household amenities and assets possessed by households are collected and the second phase is where data on population, education, religion, economic activity, Scheduled Castes and Tribes, language, literacy, migration, and fertility are collected.
The freezing of boundary limits of administrative units such as districts, sub-districts, tehsils, and police stations, happens between two consecutive censuses as State administrations often create new districts or merge, or reorganise the existing units.
The Census is still conducted under the Census Act of 1948, which predates the Constitution.
Notably, the Act does not bind the government to conduct the Census on a particular date or to release its data in a notified period.
The Centre’s intent to conduct the 2021 Census was notified in the Gazette of India on March 28, 2019. The freeze on administrative boundaries was to be effective from January 1, 2020 to March 31, 2021, before the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2020, the census was postponed indefinitely and several requests were received from States for permission to create new units, the date of freezing of boundaries was first extended till December 31, 2020.
Has human animal conflict increased in Wayanad? (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 3, Environment)
In the latest in a series of wild elephant attacks in Kerala, Subair Kutty, a daily worker, was attacked by a rouge elephant at Sulthan Bathery town adjacent to the Wayanad wildlife Sanctuary in the early hours of January 6.
Subair, who was taken to a hospital with injuries, had a miraculous escape. The same elephant further charged at a bus and destroyed crops grown by three farmers on the same day. Meanwhile, a herd of elephants raided a field of 500 plantains belonging to two farmers at Kallur, some 10 kms away from Sulthan Bathery.
After a three-day search, the elephant, codenamed Pandalur Makhna-2 or PM2, was caught and has since been relocated to the elephant kraal at Muthanga in Wayanad.
Initially, the plan was to chase the animal back into the wild. But on January 7, the chief wildlife warden issued an order to capture PM2 and to convert the elephant into a trained one, at the elephant kraal at Muthanga. Officials say two rogue elephants were captured and tamed in the kraal in the last decade.
A few weeks ago, sightings of a five-year-old tigress at Vakery, some eight kms from Bathery, in the south Wayanad forest division, had caused panic among the residents in the area. Forest officials tried to locate the beast, which was found dead in a plantation three days later.
While the capture of PM2 provided a huge relief to the people of the area, they were nonetheless disgruntled over the perceived lack of apathy on the part of the government in effectively implementing plans to mitigate human-animal conflict.
Human-animal conflict has become a serious wildlife management problem in Kerala in the last few years,” says wildlife expert P.S. Easa.
People living on the fringes of reserve forests and sanctuaries have a heightened sense of insecurity now. But the causes of this are many.
He attributed many reasons to it including an increase in human population in such areas, habitat loss and fragmentation suffered by wild animals and change in cropping patterns adopted by farmers.
Text & context
The open access movement, to make academic papers accessible for all (Page no. 9)
(GS Paper 2, Polity and Governance)
Open access (OA) is a term associated with certain practices in academic publishing which improve access to scholarly work. An OA scientific paper will be free and fully accessible.
The OA movement is prominent today because of the high cost of accessing scientific papers. It’s common for a paper published by many journals to cost $15+ to read once and $30+ for permanent access.
Subscriptions to these journals have also become more expensive, costing universities several crores a year. There are many OA initiatives that offer better alternatives. India recently took the first steps of its ‘One Nation, One Subscription’ (ONOS) scheme: the government, instead of universities, will negotiate with publishers for a capped and fixed fee to access their papers (of studies funded by the state) and pay the fees, so that everyone in the country can read the papers at no additional cost.
The Education Ministry has so far shortlisted 70 publishers and set an implementation deadline of April 1, 2023.
Scientists write up a paper and submit it to a journal. Editors at the journal share the manuscript with peer-reviewers — experts on the same topic who scrutinise the authors’ claims, and also provide feedback on structuring the manuscript, including references to previous results, reaching certain conclusions, etc. After the review is complete, the draft is finalised and the journal publishes the paper — in print, online or both.
In the ‘subscription model’, papers published online are behind a paywall. Paywall fees have increased in leaps over time. In a 2018 analysis, Duke University found that 59 of the 100 “most highly cited articles ever published are behind a paywall” and that the “average cost of one of these articles for an unaffiliated researcher is $33.41” — or ₹2,285 (2018).
A 2020 report prepared by fellows of India’s science academies wrote, “During 2018, India spent an estimated ₹1,500 crore for subscriptions to [e-journals] and/or print journals.” Higher access costs put papers out of reach of other researchers as well as journalists, policymakers, students, etc.
A preprint is the manuscript before it has been submitted to a journal. Preprint papers aren’t peer-reviewed in the conventional sense, but some workarounds exist, like post-publication peer-review.
World
India, Britain sign and exchange letters for Young Professionals Scheme (Page no. 13)
(GS Paper 2, International Relations)
The governments of India and the U.K. marked Pravasi Bharatiya Divas on January 9, 2023 by kicking off the Young Professionals Scheme, which will permit up to 3,000 of their degree-holding citizens aged between 18 and 30 to live and work in each other’s countries for a period of two years.
The launch of the scheme, which was conceived as part of an India-U.K. Migration and Mobility MoU signed in May 2021, was announced in November at the G20 summit in Bali, where U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak held talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Speaking at the High Commission of India in London, after a ceremony where letters were signed and exchanged between the two countries, High Commissioner Vikram Doraiswami, said the scheme, which will run for a period of three years initially, would hopefully be “up and running in March”.
But that is conditional on everything actually been put in place. So we don’t want to make a formal announcement of a date until we are a 100% certain.
Young Indians and Britons would be able to travel to each other’s countries and either work, study, or visit, for two years. The scheme allows for exchange visas for up to 3,000 individuals per year.
The signing of the agreement belies more complex issues around the movement of persons across borders. Part of the Migration and Mobility agreement of 2021 seeks to address the return of illegal migrants to their home countries.
A ‘free trade’ agreement between the two countries, which the governments were hoping to conclude before Deepavali last year, was complicated in part due to the U.K. Home Secretary Suella Braverman saying that Indians were the largest group of visa-overstayers in Britain and the agreement with India had “not necessarily worked very well.
The High Commission of India in London responded by saying it had acted on every case of visa overstaying referred to it by the U.K. authorities and that the government was awaiting “demonstrable progress” on some of the U.K.’s commitments under the agreement.
The government is also seeking greater ease in the movement of skilled professionals and students from India to the U.K. as part of the trade discussions, the sixth round of which took place in New Delhi in December.