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Carefully calibrating its response by calling for safeguards and underlining that there was no “witch-hunt,” the Supreme Court asked the Centre and market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to suggest measures to strengthen the regulatory mechanism and protect Indian investors from market volatility like the one witnessed in the wake of Hindenburg report on the Adani Group.
Since the report was made public, the market cap of nine Adani Group companies has fallen by 50.5 per cent: from Rs 19.18 lakh crore on January 24 – the report came the next day — to Rs 9.49 lakh crore.
The Hindenburg report alleged that the Adani Group was involved in fraudulent transactions and share-price manipulation. The Adani Group has dismissed the charges.
A three-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud, pointed out that the stock market has seen the rising presence of the middle-class and there was a need, therefore, to scale up security measures in tune with India’s changing status on the world stage.
However, it made clear that it was not “planning any witch-hunt” and would tread with “very great caution” as its observations would affect the stock market which “goes largely by sentiments”.
“We have indicated to the Solicitor General concerns with regard to ensuring that the regulatory mechanisms within the country are duly strengthened so as to ensure that Indian investors are protected against certain volatility, the kind of which was witnessed in the recent two weeks.
That, in turn, would require due assessment of the existing regulatory framework and the need for strengthening regulatory framework in the interest of the securities market”, the bench said.
First time, India US exercise includes response to nuke & Bio terror attacks (Page no. 3)
(GS Paper 3, Defence)
With chemical and biological warfare being recognised as a looming threat to the world, an ongoing Indo-US joint exercise has for the first time included “Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) terror response” in its drill.
Named TARKASH, the exercise by the National Security Guard (NSG) and US Special Operations Forces (SOF) is currently underway in Chennai.
This is the sixth edition of the exercise which began on January 16 and will end on February 14.
The exercise comes in the backdrop of Russian allegations against Ukraine in May last year that Kyiv had orchestrated a chemical attack in Kharkiv to blame Russia and get military aid from the West.
Sources said among the various counter-terror drills carried out during the Chennai exercise, a drill to counter chemical and biological attacks by terrorists was also included.
The Joint Exercise, for the first time, simulated a validation exercise for Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) terror response mission.
During the mock validation exercise, a terrorist organisation armed with chemical agents threatened to attack a convention hall during an international summit.
The objective of the joint exercise by NSG and US (SOF) teams was to rapidly neutralise the terrorists, rescue the hostages safely and deactivate the chemical weapons being carried by the terrorists,” an official privy to details of the exercise said.
Sources said the exercise involved small team insertion by IAF helicopters to the target area, successful intervention in a large auditorium, rescue of hostages and neutralisation of the chemical agent weapon.
Govt & Politics
G20 meet: India uniquely placed to champion cause of global south, says Puri (Page no. 9)
(GS Paper 2, International Organisation)
Addressing delegates on the second day of the first meeting of the Environment and Climate Sustainability Working Group under India’s G20 Presidency being held in Bengaluru, Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs and Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri said India was uniquely placed to champion the cause of the global south. Puri said that “India is demonstrating that economy and ecology are not at odds with each other”, but are in fact, fundamentally intertwined.
Tackling the interrelated matters of climate change and biodiversity loss demands a concerted and calibrated global effort. This will require committed and farsighted leadership by the G20 nations which collectively account for 85% of the world’s GDP, 75% of the global trade, and two-thirds of the global population.
The Global South, in particular, looks up to the G20 dialogue and desires an urgent consensus that prevents both a climate crisis and a debt crisis for developing nations,’ ’said Puri Friday.
Saying that India is “uniquely positioned to champion the aspirations of the Global South’’, Puri added that in the last eight years, the Modi administration has taken many transformative steps in advocating ‘climate justice’.
Talking about the importance of the Working Group Meeting, Puri said this year’s Working Group provides an opportunity for G20 nations
to conceptualise and adopt a concrete roadmap based on the recommendations at COP-27 in Sharm el-Sheikh and the Biodiversity Conference held in Montreal recently. He added that the Working Group will enable a shift in mindset from ownership to stewardship of natural resources.
Editorial
What a tangled web (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 2, Judiciary)
The Collegium system for appointing judges has been under attack by the government. It is also the case that this system has a tenuous foundation in law.
The legitimacy of the system, such as it is, rested entirely upon institutional practice and the trust that, all things considered, this system was likely to produce a judiciary that was both more independent and of higher quality.
The trust in the Collegium system had been frittered away over the years by the manner in which the judiciary conducted its own affairs.
The Supreme Court put itself in a position where doubts could easily be cast both on its excellence and its independence. But there was still a residual trust in the judiciary as the lesser of two evils. But the conduct of the Supreme Court over the appointment of Justice Victoria Gowri is yet another spectacular own goal.
The issues in this case should not be seen in the context of a particular individual. Let us, for a moment, put aside the question of whether Justice Gowri is worthy of appointment. Instead, focus on the institutional dynamics at play.
The first is an odd structural situation where the Court becomes a judge in its own cause. It is true that the petition challenging the Justice’s appointment was heard by judges who were not part of the Collegium.
But this is, as Gautam Bhatia has forcefully pointed out, a case of the Court sitting in judgment of its own decision, where the bench is constituted by the Chief Justice who is party to the decision. This is a total legal anomaly, to put it mildly.
Economy
Dec Factory output up 4.3% manufacturing growth slows (Page no. 15)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
Factory output grew 4.3 per cent in December as against a 1 per cent growth in the corresponding period a year ago and 7.3 per cent a month ago, driven mainly by a rise in mining and electricity even as manufacturing output posted a slower rate of growth, data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO) showed.
The Index of Industrial Production (IIP), in absolute terms, increased to 144.7 in December 2022 from 137.4 in November 2022 and 138.8 in December 2021.
The previous high for the index was in March 2022 at 148.8. The IIP had posted growth of 1 per cent a year ago in December and 7.3 per cent in November on a low base.
Cumulatively, industrial output has grown 5.4 per cent during April-December as against 15.3 per cent in the corresponding period a year ago.
Manufacturing output, which accounts for 77.6 per cent of the weight of the IIP, grew at a slower pace of 2.6 per cent in December 2022 despite having a low base of 0.6 per cent in December 2021.
The year-on-year growth rate for manufacturing moderated from 6.4 per cent seen in November 2022. In absolute terms, manufacturing output was recorded at 143.5 in December compared with 137.1 in November and 139.8 in December 2021.
The maximum increase in the growth in December was seen for the manufacturing of pharmaceuticals, motor vehicles, machinery and equipment, while the maximum decline was seen for manufacturing of computer, electronic and optical products, apparel, tobacco products and textiles.
Explained
Lithium inferred in J&K – How significant is this find What next (Page no. 3)
(GS Paper 1, Geography)
The Geological Survey of India (GSI) has established “inferred” lithium resources of 5.9 million tonnes in Salal-Haimana area of Reasi District of Jammu and Kashmir.
These resources have been established as part of the “Reasi Sersandu-Kherikot-Rahotkot-Darabi” mineral block, where prospecting has been ongoing since 2021-22.
Under the United Nations Framework for Classification for Reserves and Resources of Solid Fuels and Mineral Commodities (UNFC 1997), the stage of prospecting is categorised as ‘G4’ when it entails reconnaissance surveys — a fairly advanced stage of prospecting.
The finds in this case are learnt to include bauxite (the ore for aluminium) and rare earth elements, alongside lithium.
There are two caveats with the latest lithium find: first, the new find is categorised as “inferred” — one of three categories that mineral resources are subdivided into, in order of increasing geological confidence.
The “inferred” mineral resource is the part of a resource for which quantity, grade and mineral content are estimated only with a low level of confidence based on information gathered from locations such as outcrops, trenches, pits, workings and drill holes that may be of limited or uncertain quality, and also of lower reliability from geological evidence.
The India – Canada reset (Page no. 3)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
Ahead of her scheduled participation in the G20 Foreign Ministers’ meeting in March in New Delhi, Canada’s Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly made a quiet bilateral visit to the capital this week.
Both sides appear keen to draw a line under the bitterness that has dogged their relationship over the last few years — and Canada’s freshly minted Indo-Pacific strategy, which has attracted notice for its unusually blunt language against China, seems to have provided an appropriate opening.
Joly’s February 6-7 visit, during which she met External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar for the India-Canada Strategic Dialogue, did not see any joint announcements or address to the media. Each side put out its own statement on the visit.
The Ministry of External Affairs said the two Ministers “expressed interest in deepening collaboration across domains and look forward to the Early Progress Trade Agreement (EPTA)”.
It welcomed Canada’s Indo-Pacific strategy, given “the shared vision of a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific”.
After an interaction with Canada watchers in India at the New Delhi-based think tank Ananta Aspen, Joly tweeted: “India’s growing strategic, economic, and demographic importance makes it a critical partner for Canada in the Indo-Pacific.
In return, Canada can be a reliable supplier of critical minerals, a strong partner in the green transition and a major investor.”