Month: December 2022

Five Elections That Can Determine the State of the World in 2023

While India’s own general elections are not until 2024, some countries, including neighbour Pakistan, are headed to the polls in 2023.

Predicting the outcome of national elections can be a mug’s game. Polls are often wrong, and second-guessing how people will vote months down the line can leave even the most savvy election specialist with egg on their face.

In short, there are too many unknowns – the state of the economy, late political shocks and even the weather on election day. What is known is that 2023 has its fair share on consequential races. Democracy is on the ballot in a number of nations, while common themes – such as the handling of inflation and corruption – may determine how incumbent governments and presidents fare as the ballot box. The Conversation asked five experts to provide the lowdown on what is at stake in key national votes in 2023.

Here are their psephological pearls of wisdom:

Nigeria (February 25)

Carl LeVan, professor of comparative and regional studies at American University

Some of the campaign dynamics heading into the Nigerian presidential election will seem familiar to those who follow the country, with politics still deeply entwined with the country’s geographic-religious divide between a predominantly Muslim north and its Christian south. And after eight years of a northerner – Muhammadu Buhari – holding the presidency, debate revolves around whether power should “shift” to the south.

Buhari, in line with the constitution, is stepping down after serving two four-year terms – and that changes the electoral landscape. For only the second time since the transition to civilian rule in 1999, there’s no incumbent presidential candidate.

Having no incumbent seeking reelection has historically increased the chances of opposition party victory in Africa. Arguably for the first time since the 1980s, each of the three major ethnic groups in Nigeria has produced a serious presidential contender: Atiku Abubakar who is of Hausa-Fulani descent, the Yoruba former Lagos governor Bola Tinubu and former Anambra governor Peter Obi, a member of the Igbo.

While this might seem like progress – and has advanced inter-ethnic cooperation in the presidential campaign – it also dramatically increases the risk of no clear winner under the constitution’s formula that requires both a plurality of votes and a geographical distribution of support. A runoff has never before taken place, and the electoral commission would have only a week to organise it.

Security and poverty are key electoral themes. Buhari won in 2015 by prioritising economic growth, anti-corruption and the defeat of the world’s deadliest insurgency, Boko Haram. Yet today, more than 80 million Nigerians remain in poverty, while insecurity ravages the country. The scale of violence plaguing Nigeria has not been seen since the civil war ended in 1970, while the geographical scope is unprecedented. Meanwhile, only 15% of Nigerians feel more loyalty to their nation than to their ethnic group.

This raises the spectre of electoral violence and voter intimidation in the run-up to the Feb. 23 vote. Political violence, both between and within political parties, increased in 2022. Despite this, candidates have been largely running on hopeful messages about economic diversification, anti-corruption and opportunities for Nigeria’s youth.

Turkey (June 18)

Ahmet Kuru, professor of political science at San Diego State University

People in Turkey tend to call every presidential election historic – but the June 2023 election will truly be historic. It will determine whether the increasingly autocratic rule of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will continue to dominate the country’s politics or not. What’s at stake is not simply “politics” in the narrow sense of the term, but also the direction in economic policy, religion, education and many other fields.

If Erdogan wins, it could portend a further erosion of the remaining opposition in Turkish public life, especially given his past record of authoritarianism and vengefulness. Indeed, there is already a suspicion that potential presidential candidates are being targeted, with the popular mayor of Istanbul being sentenced to prison in December – a conviction that if held up on appeal would bar him from running for any political office.

The danger is the Turkish opposition will lose hope for the future. It could also exacerbate the country’s “brain drain” problem – as well-educated people, including medical doctors, academics, and businesspeople, migrate to Western countries, weakening the opposition at home.

An Erdogan loss would be hugely consequential. Those who have been silenced under his rule will be able to speak up again. Over a hundred thousand people have been jailed as part of Erdogan’s political purge. It would not surprise me that in the event of an Erdogan loss, legal action is taken against him and his civil servants over alleged abuses and against his crony-capitalists over alleged corruption.

The outcome of the election will also determine the future of religion-state relations. Turkey’s Directorate of Religious Affairs, which controls 80,000 mosques, is a major ally of Erdogan. Any change in the administration is likely to result in curtailing of the directorate’s powers.

The 2023 presidential election will be fought over politics, economics and religion. If Erdogan wins, he will frame himself as the second founder of Turkey, after Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. If he loses, his political, business, and religious allies will face the risk of being expunged.

Zimbabwe (likely July-August)

Miles Tendi, associate professor of politics at the University of Oxford

The 2023 election in Zimbabwe will be the second national vote to take place after the downfall of the country’s former leader Robert Mugabe.

The country’s last election, in 2018, occurred a year after a military coup ended Robert Mugabe’s oppresive 37-year-long leadership. But contrary to the hopes of many Zimbabweans and foreign governments, that ballot did not prove to be a momentous break from the country’s extensive history of disputed and violent elections – underlining that powerful systemic problems, such as the conflation of the ruling ZANU PF party and the state, generate flawed elections in Zimbabwe.

Whether Zimbabwe can finally stage an election that is universally accepted as credible is one of the key issues in 2023. A credible election in itself will not bring about consequential political, economic and social reforms. But Western states and international donors such as the International Monetary Fund will be looking for an unblemished national vote as a prerequisite to earnest economic and diplomatic re-engagement with Zimbabwe after years of strained relations.

Observers will also be hoping for improvements on women’s political rights. The gendered nature of political leadership, violence, election campaigns and voting behaviour have precluded equal representation for women in Zimbabwean politics. Only 26 of the 210 constituencies in the 2018 parliamentary election were won by women candidates. Although four women ran for president in 2018, none managed more than 4% of the vote share.

The future of opposition politics is also on the ballot. Since 2018, the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party has had to contend with state repression, internal splits and underfunding. In the intervening years it has failed to get large numbers of new voters onto the electoral register.

If the ruling ZANU PF party pulls off the overwhelming election victory it is working towards, it is likely that the opposition will be further saddled with division and disillusionment, posing an existential threat to the kind of vibrant opposition politics led by the MDC in the past two decades. And with no strong opposition to challenge and keep a check on ZANU PF, the danger is authoritarian rule will be solidified.

Argentina (October 29)

Eduardo Gamarra, professor of politics and international relations at Florida International University

Even with a World Cup to savour, many Argentinians are pretty gloomy going into the 2023 election year – for good reason. The nation’s economy has been on the skids for a long time and it has one of the highest per capita debts in Latin America. On top of this there are sky-high inflation, low wages and poor growth – all worsened by the government’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Not all of these problems are the sole making of President Alberto Fernández and his powerful vice president, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner – both from the centre-left Peronist faction. In fact, former President Mauricio Macri racked up massive levels of debt to the IMF before being voted out in 2019. But it is fair to say that Fernández and Fernández de Kirchner have been unable to solve the country’s economic problems.

Moreover, the pair have been plagued by other problems, notably corruption – both old-style political patronage and modern corruption based in drug trafficking throughout the country.

Indeed on Dec. 6, 2022, Fernández de Kirchner was sentenced to six years in jail in a scandal over a kickback scheme that saw public contracts go to a friend in return for bribes.

Some are even predicting that the combination of mishandling the economy and the corruption scandal could bring an end to Peronism, the political philosophy that has governed Argentina for much of last 70 years. Indeed the Peronists appear to be struggling with unifying around a candidate to contest the election.

Meanwhile, the party of Mauricio Macri is similarly split, with the former president facing strong challenges from within his own party.

These political and economic circumstances may favour a third contended: Javier Milei, a populist libertarian who has been rising in the polls and whose brusque style has drawn comparisons with Donald Trump.

Pakistan (by end of 2023)

Ayesha Jalal, professor of history at Tufts University

Pakistani elections are all about power. In particular, this one will be all about whether ousted Prime Minister Imran Khan can get the two-third majority he says he wants to govern Pakistan. Anything less will not satisfy the former national cricket star.

A big question is when the elections will take place. In Pakistan, general elections are not held under an incumbent government. Instead, an interim government – typically made up of technocrats – takes over with an election having to take place within 90 days.

But with the ruling coalition seemingly intent on holding on to power for as long as possible while the country faces an economic crisis, environmental disaster and a credibility crisis it is unclear when the national assembly will dissolve and an interim government take over. And that could mean pushing the election toward the end of the year.

Either way, it will be a consequential election. It remains to be seen if the current coalition government – which ousted Khan’s Tehreek-e-Insaf party last year – will hold together, as it consists of a number of parties.

Khan has said he wants a two-third majority to bring about the constitutional changes he would like. So if he fails to get that, will he still be satisfied?

Either way, the 2023 election is unlikely to be the answer to Pakistan’s woes. Whoever is in charge after will need to paper over the economic cracks with the help of the International Monetary Fund; without a further bailout, Pakistan won’t have the liquidity it needs to function.

You can never rule out electoral violence. Pakistan is awash with guns and is very polarised. Violence marred the election in 2013 and there has been recent violence in northern Pakistan as well as the shooting of Khan at a rally.

That said, the hope is the nation’s security forces can keep a lid on violence during the election.The Conversation

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

RTI Information Flow Continues to Suffer Due to Vacancies, Tardy Rate of Disposal: Report

The report notes how some Information Commissions return over 40% of cases without orders. Minuscule penalties are imposed on officers not providing replies.

New Delhi: The latest report by Satark Nagrik Sangathan (SNS) on the performance of the 29 Information Commissions set up under the Right to Information Act across the country has revealed a poor state of functioning of most commissions.

The report has noted that while the State Information Commissions of Tripura and Jharkhand have been lying defunct, may others are functioning with significantly fewer than the sanctioned strength of commissioners.

Pendency of cases reaches 3.14 lakh due to tardy rate of disposal, vacancies in Commissions

The report has also pointed out that while the shortage of commissioners has added to the pendency of appeals and complaints that topped the 3.14 lakh mark in June 2022, the tendency of some of the commissions to return nearly 40% of the complaints without any orders, and the tardy pace at which many of the commissioners have been functioning has also been harming the RTI movement.

Writing the report, Anjali Bhardwaj and Amrita Johri said a total of 145 RTI applications were filed with the State Information Commissions (SIC) and the Central Information Commission (CIC) and there were 10 main queries that were posed to the panels. The replies received till October 12, 2022, were incorporated in the report that covers the functioning of the panels from July 2021 till June 2022.

“The report,” the SNS said, “is part of an effort to undertake ongoing monitoring of the performance of information commissions across the country with the objective of improving the functioning of commissions and strengthening the RTI regime.”

Also read: Cases Pending Before Information Commissions Mount as Posts Remain Vacant

It added that the need to scrutinise the functioning of information commissions had grown in view of amendments made to the law in 2019 and due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Most Commissioners are retired bureaucrats, only 10% women

On the key findings, the Sangathan said “there is lack of diversity in the composition of information commissions” as nearly 60% commissioners were retired government officials and only 10% of them were women. Also, it said, there was no commission that was headed by a woman at present.

It was also revealed that the Commissions were returning a large number of cases without passing any orders. “The CIC, UP SIC and Andhra Pradesh SIC returned around 40% of the appeals/complaints received by them,” it added.

Less than one case a day being disposed by some Commissioners

On the amount of work being put in by the Commissioners too, the report commented on a “tardy disposal rate”.

It said “several commissions have an extremely low rate of disposal per commissioner. For instance, the SIC of West Bengal had an annual average disposal rate of 222 cases per commissioner – each commissioner effectively disposing fewer than one case a day – even though more than 10,000 cases were pending.”

The report said that out of the Commissions, it was only the Central Information Commission that has set a norm on the number of appeals and complaints to be disposed of by each commissioner in a year.

Earlier in October this year, the SNS had also released a ‘report card’ on the performance of the 29 Commissions  in which it had stated among other things that the number of pending cases have gone up by 59,000 in the past year.

The report had stated that “large backlog of appeals and complaints in many commissions across the country have resulted in inordinate delays in disposal of cases, which render the law ineffective.”

Two Commissions remained defunct, four functioned without a chief

This ‘Report Card’ had revealed that while two of the information commissions – Jharkhand and Tripura – still remained completely defunct during the year, as no new commissioners have been appointed upon the incumbents demitting office, Meghalaya had moved out of the list over the past year.

The report had added that another four commissions are functioning without a chief information commissioner. These were the SICs of Manipur, Telangana, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh.

Also read: Over 26,500 RTI Appeals Pending with Information Commission: Centre

The report had also noted that several information commissions have been functioning at reduced capacity. “The non-appointment of commissioners in the ICs in a timely manner leads to a large build-up of pending appeals and complaints,” it said.

Overall, the report had pointed out how the backlog of appeals/complaints has been steadily increasing in the commissions – growing from 255,602 appeals pending before 26 information commissions last year, to 314,323 appeals pending as on June 30 this year. This marked a rise of nearly a lakh more pending cases in a year.

Reluctance to impose penalties on erring PIOs remains

The report had also lamented that that the Commissions still remained reluctant in imposing penalties on officers where they could be imposed. “The RTI Act empowers the ICs to impose penalties of up to Rs 25,000 on erring PIOs for violations of the RTI Act. The penalty clause is one of the key provisions in terms of giving the law its teeth and acting as a deterrent for PIOs against violating the law,” it said, adding that “the assessment found that ICs imposed penalty in an extremely small fraction of the cases in which penalty was imposable”.

This year, the report stated, the analysis of penalties imposed by Information Commissions shows that the commissions did not impose penalties in 95% of the cases where penalties were potentially imposable. Last year too, the percentage of penalties imposed was exactly the same and this shows that neither the CIC nor the SICs have acted on the matter.

Venezuela Opposition Removes Interim President Juan Guaido

Guaido has been the public face of Venezuela’s fractious opposition since 2019, when he invoked the constitution to assume an interim presidency, rejecting the 2018 re-election of President Nicolas Maduro.

Caracas: Venezuela’s opposition national assembly voted on Friday to remove interim President Juan Guaido, dissolve his government and appoint a commission to govern the country’s foreign assets, as lawmakers seek a united front ahead of elections slated for 2024.

Guaido has been the public face of Venezuela’s fractious opposition since 2019, when he invoked the constitution to assume an interim presidency, garnering backing from the United States and other governments who reject the 2018 re-election of President Nicolas Maduro as fraudulent.

But Maduro has remained in control of nearly all Venezuela’s institutions, including its security forces, and Guaido’s interim government, which has control over some foreign assets and runs many embassies, has seen its support wane.

Three of four major opposition groups – Justice First, Democratic Action and A New Era – backed the bill to oust Guaido and create the five-member commission to manage foreign assets, especially US-based refiner Citgo, a subsidiary of state-owned oil company PDVSA.

Supporters say opposition control of foreign assets is not at risk and the dissolution is necessary for unity ahead of the elections.

“There are already tools to protect the assets in the United States, the United Kingdom, Portugal,” said Justice First lawmaker Juan Miguel Matheus.

Both the article eliminating the interim government and the article creating the assets commission passed with 72 votes in favour, 29 against and 8 abstentions.

Guaido, whose Voluntad Popular party did not back the effort, had urged lawmakers to replace him instead of dissolving the interim government.

“To annul this is to jump into the abyss,” Guaido told the assembly after the votes. “It is destroying what could have been maintained.”

Opposition parties hope Washington will extend a license protecting Citgo from possible creditor seizures when the license expires in January.

Venezuela owes more than $60 billion to creditors.

The United States will continue to support the opposition, the assembly and the interim government “regardless of what form it takes,” a spokesperson for the U.S. National Security Council said on Friday.

(Reuters)

Former Pope Benedict Dies at 95

In 2013, he had become the first pontiff in 600 years to step down.

Vatican City: Former Pope Benedict, who in 2013 became the first pontiff in 600 years to step down, died on Saturday aged 95 in the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery in the Vatican where he had lived since his resignation, a spokesman for the Holy See said.

“With sorrow I inform you that the Pope Emeritus, Benedict XVI, passed away today at 9:34 in the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery in the Vatican. Further information will be provided as soon as possible,” the spokesman said in a written statement.

The Vatican said his body will lie in state from Monday in St.Peter’s Basilica. The Vatican has painstakingly elaborate rituals for what happens after a reigning pope dies but no publicly known ones for a former pope.

Earlier this week, Pope Francis disclosed during his weekly general audience that his predecessor was “very sick”, and asked for people to pray for him.

For nearly 25 years, as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Benedict was the powerful head of the Vatican’s doctrinal office, then known as the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF).

Conservatives in the Church have looked to the former pope as their standard bearer and some ultra-traditionalists even refused to acknowledge Francis as a legitimate pontiff.

They have criticised Francis for his more welcoming approach to members of the LGBTQ+ community and to Catholics who divorced and remarried outside the Church, saying both were undermining traditional values.

Home and Away, Here’s How India’s Lawmaking and Diplomacy Fared in 2022

Both arms saw interesting developments. A total of 25 Bills were passed by both Houses of parliament during the three sessions in the year. In the global sphere, India refrained from direct criticism of some crucial powers.

For diplomacy and lawmaking – two key aspects of the Indian government’s functions – 2022 proved to be an interesting year. On global stages, India sought to highlight its exceptionalism as within the country, lack of detailed discussion in parliament led to sustained opposition protests, in spite of which laws were passed quickly.

Below are some highlights selected by journalists covering the two areas.

External affairs

2022 will remain etched in history as the year that Russia invaded Ukraine, with the rest of the world scrambling to find their footing on the shifting sands of geopolitics. The Ukraine war may be in the European continent, but its impact has resonated worldwide, with food and energy prices rocketing up and having a domino impact on the global economy just emerging from the covid pandemic.

The pattern of Indian response was set when Russian troops amassed at the border and had not yet stepped onto Ukrainian soil. At the first UNSC meeting on Ukraine on January 30, India refrained from directly criticising Moscow. It called for immediate de-escalation of tensions and the need for “quiet and constructive diplomacy”. The addition made by India was the need to respect the “UN Charter, international law, and respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of states” in its explanation of vote for the first UNSC resolution on the Ukraine war. It was, of course, also the first of the abstention votes cast by India on resolutions criticising Russia at various UN bodies.

In western capitals, there was some handwringing over India buying discounted Russian crude, but there were no public recriminations from western foreign offices except through media columns. The MEA-backed flagship international seminar, the Raisina dialogue held in April, was an example of India’s tightrope walk. European leaders got the top billing, while the Russian delegation was allegedly kept low-key by the hosts. 

At the same time, the Indian external affairs minister kept up with his public broadsides against European exceptionalism, which was a popular line for the Indian domestic audience.

During most of 2021, India’s argument against any criticism of buying Russian oil was to point at European purchases. When Europe started bringing down its energy dependence on Russia, Jaishankar complained that the European acquisition of Gulf oil was driving up prices for traditional buyers like India.

For India, the most extensive diplomatic operation in 2021 was the extraction of 22,500 Indian students from Ukraine after Russian troops rolled across the border, instantly turning large parts of the country into a war zone. One Indian student was killed in shelling at Kyiv, where he was standing in line to buy food. Despite the government claiming that it did enough, there are still questions remaining on whether it delayed issuing advisory to students to get out of Ukraine immediately.

Even though India’s relations with China were not as tense as last year, the clash in Arunachal in December 2021 demonstrated that the volatility at the border would continue to cast a shadow. It was the first major clash since the June 2020 Galwan valley that left over 23 soldiers dead. 

Before the Arunachal incident, there had seemed to be a slight thaw in relations heralded by the surprise visit of the Chinese foreign minister to New Delhi and the disengagement in four friction points in eastern Ladakh. The Indian external affairs minister Jaishankar termed the verification of PP-15 as “one problem less”. In November, the Indian prime minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping shook hands for the first time since the Ladakh stand-off began.

But, there continues to be fundamental differences over the resolution of the two remaining stand-off points at Depsang and Demchok.

Meanwhile, India and China continue to differ on the normalisation of ties, even as trade between the two Asian giants flourished. 

With India to host both the SCO and G20 summits in 2023, the guessing game is whether President Xi will visit New Delhi twice in the same year.

– Devirupa Mitra

Parliament

A total of 25 Bills were passed by both Houses of parliament during the three sessions in the calendar year 2022. Despite differences between the government and the opposition over a variety of issues, which resulted in several protests, disruptions and walkouts, both Houses did a substantial amount of business.

It may be recalled that the opposition had vehemently opposed the 2022 Budget, describing it as anti-people and anti-poor during the Budget Session. It had also protested against the Union government’s refusal to allow a discussion on the issue of price rise and inflation for several weeks during the Monsoon Session, and against its reluctance to allow a discussion on the China border issue during the Winter Session.

Yet, the productivity of the Lok Sabha during the Budget Session 2022 was approximately 129% and that of the Rajya Sabha was 98%; in the Monsoon Session, this dropped sharply to 48% in the Lok Sabha and 44% in the Rajya Sabha. However, the Winter Session saw a return to higher levels, with the productivity of the Lok Sabha approximately at 97% and that of the Rajya Sabha was nearly 103%.

Both Houses passed 11 Bills during Budget Session

Several important Bills were also passed during the year. As per government data, in the Budget Session, a total of 13 Bills (12 in the Lok Sabha and 1 in the Rajya Sabha) were introduced. While 13 Bills were passed by the Lower House, 11 Bills were passed by the Upper House. The total number of Bills passed by both Houses of Parliament was 11.

Some of the major Bills passed were:

The Criminal Procedure (Identification) Bill, 2022: It authorised the taking of measurements of convicts and other persons for the purposes of identification and investigation in criminal matters.

The Delhi Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2022: It sought to (i) unify the three municipal corporations into a single, integrated and well-equipped entity; (ii) ensure a robust mechanism for synergised and strategic planning and optimal utilisation of resources; (iii) bring about greater transparency, improved governance and more efficient delivery of civic service for the people of Delhi.

Monsoon Session

During the Monsoon Session, six Bills were introduced and seven were passed in the Lok Sabha, while five Bills were passed by the Rajya Sabha. Apart from this, five Bills were passed by both Houses of Parliament during the session. Some of the major Bills passed were:

The Family Courts (Amendment) Bill, 2022: This Bill sought to amend the parent Act to provide for the establishment of Family Courts in Himachal Pradesh with effect from February 15, 2019 and in Nagaland with effect from September 12, 2008; and for insertion of a new section 3A to retrospectively validate all actions under the parent Act taken by these state governments.

The Weapons of Mass Destruction and their Delivery Systems (Prohibition of Unlawful Activities) Amendment Bill, 2022: This Bill sought to (a) prohibit financing of any activity in relation to weapons of mass destruction and their delivery systems; (b) empower the Union government to (i) freeze, seize or attach funds or other financial assets or economic resources for preventing such financing; (ii) prohibit making available funds, financial assets or economic resources for any prohibited activity in relation to weapons of mass destruction and their delivery systems.

The Indian Antarctica Bill, 2022: The Bill provided for national measures for protecting the Antarctic environment and dependent and associated ecosystems and to give effect to the Antarctic Treaty, the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources and to the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.

The National Anti-Doping Bill, 2021: It provided for the constitution of the National Anti-Doping Agency for regulating anti-doping activities in sports and to give effect to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation International Convention against doping in sport, and compliance of such other obligations and commitments thereunder and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.

Opposition members protest in well of the Rajya Sabha on the first day of the monsoon session of Parliament, July 18. Photo: PTI.

Nine Bills passed by both Houses during the Winter Session

In the Winter Session, nine Bills were passed by both Houses. Overall, nine Bills were introduced and seven Bills were passed in the Lok Sabha; nine Bills were passed by the Rajya Sabha.

Some of the major Bills passed by both Houses during the Session were:

The Wild Life (Protection) Amendment Bill, 2022: It sought to increase the species protected under the law, and implement the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.

The Energy Conservation (Amendment) Bill, 2022: This Bill sought to (a) mandate the use of non-fossil sources, including Green Hydrogen, Green Ammonia, Biomass and Ethanol for energy and feedstock; (b) establish Carbon Markets; (c) bring large residential buildings within the fold of Energy Conservation regime; (d) enhance the scope of Energy Conservation Building Code; (e) amend penalty provisions; (f) increase members in the Governing Council of Bureau of Energy Efficiency; and (g) empower the State Electricity Regulatory Commissions to make regulations for smooth discharge of its functions.

The Maritime Anti-Piracy Bill, 2022: It proposed to make special provisions for the repression of piracy on high seas and to provide for punishment for the offence of piracy.

Parliament also passed three Constitution (ST) Order Amendment Bills during the Winter Session.

The Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order (Second Amendment) Bill, 2022 was passed by both Houses. It sought to include the Narikoravan and Kurivikkaran communities in the list of Scheduled Tribes in Tamil Nadu.

The Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order (Fourth Amendment) Bill, 2022 led to the inclusion of Betta-Kuruba as a synonym for the Kadu Kuruba community in the list of STs in Karnataka.

The Constitution (Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes) Order (Second Amendment) Bill, 2022 was also passed by both Houses. It provided for including the transfer of the Gond community from the list of SCs to STs and the inclusion of Dhuria, Nayak, Ojha, Pathari and Rajgond in the list of STs of Uttar Pradesh in the four districts of Sant Kabir Nagar, Kushinagar, Chandauli and Bhadohi.

– Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar

Basic Rights in India Have Become ‘Luxuries’ and ‘Entitlements’, Mehbooba Mufti Writes to CJI

The former chief minister also alleged that since 2019, the fundamental rights of every resident of Jammu and Kashmir have been suspended arbitrarily.  

Srinagar: Basic rights in the country have now become “luxuries” and “entitlements” bestowed upon only those who toe the government’s line on political, social, and religious matters, former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti said on Saturday.

In a letter to Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud, she also alleged that the trust deficit and growing alienation have only widened in Jammu and Kashmir since the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019.

“I write to you with a deep sense of concern and worry about the prevailing situation in the country, especially J-K. Your recent observations on the inability of lower judiciary to grant bail in ordinary cases in a functioning democracy as ours should have been adopted as a directive rather than just being consigned to a single column story churned out in newspapers,” Mufti said in the letter posted on her Twitter handle.

Speaking at the inauguration of the Andhra Pradesh Judicial Academy on Friday, CJI Chandrachud had said that over 63 lakh cases across the country have been considered to be delayed due to non-availability of counsel and over 14 lakh cases are delayed as they await some kind of document or record.

Also read: Over 63 Lakh Cases ‘Delayed’ Due to Lack of Availability of Counsels: CJI Chandrachud

He had said that people must get rid of the colonial mindset of referring to and treating district courts as subordinate judiciary in hierarchy and in practice.

Mufti, the PDP president, said the fundamental rights enshrined in the Indian constitution and guaranteed to all Indian citizens “are being brazenly impinged upon”.

“Unfortunately, it is these basic rights that have now become luxuries and entitlements bestowed upon only those select citizens who toe the Government’s line on political, social and religious matters.

“And more worryingly, to those who actively contribute and not obstruct GOI’s idea of an India where its strengths of diversity, religious pluralism and tolerance must be weeded out and crushed to lay the foundations of a one religion nation where minorities are relegated to the social, political and economic fringes,” she said.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leader further alleged that since 2019, the fundamental rights of every resident of Jammu and Kashmir have been suspended arbitrarily and the constitutional guarantees given at the time of its accession were suddenly and unconstitutionally abrogated.

She said hundreds of youngsters are languishing in jails outside the Union territory as undertrials and their condition is exacerbated since they belong to poor families who lack the wherewithal to get legal aid.

“All this is happening at a time when the trust deficit and growing alienation has only widened since 2019. Passports being a fundamental right are impounded with full impunity. Journalists are being jailed and even prevented from flying out of country,” she said.

While Mufti said the only ember of hope in these “bleak circumstances” is the judiciary which only can right these “wrongs”, she added, “however, it saddens me to say that so far our experience with the judiciary has not inspired much confidence”.

She said it took the Supreme Court well over a year to order her release after she was detained under the Public Safety Act (PSA) in 2019.

She, however, expressed hope that with the CJI’s intervention, justice is delivered and the people of J-K see their expectations of dignity, human rights, constitutional guarantees and a democratic polity realised which had inspired their forefathers to join Mahatama Gandhi’s India.

What Made News in Health and Environment in 2022?

From the booster dose to the cough syrup investigations to the arrival of cheetahs – The Wire’s health and environment reporters summarise the year that was in their respective beats, highlighting key events that dominated news headlines for days on end.

The year 2022 saw key events in two crucial beats – health and environment – dominate frontpages and headlines for days on end.

The Wire’s reporters covering these two fields summarise the year and its highlights for readers.

Health

The beginning of 2022 saw the emergence of the fourth variant of novel coronavirus, Omicron.

The first emergence saw some spike in cases but cases started plummeting gradually. Many sub variants of Omicron made appearances, primarily BA.2.75 and XBB but no overwhelming of hospital infrastructure was observed. However, what shocked public health experts and scientists towards the end of the year was hype created around BF.7, another subvariant of Omicron.

While the government held a series of meetings with even Prime Minister Narendra Modi chairing one, TV channels dubbed BF.7 as new even though its first case was registered in June. China was experiencing a massive wave but disease dynamics of China are very different from India. Despite a consistent declining graph of cases as well as positivity rate, amplification of panic renewed people’s fear of lockdown and at least one state – Karnataka – bringing back mask mandates. The emergence of the panic remains a mystery

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The World Health Organisation  issued a product alert on October 5 against four medicines made by Haryana-based Maiden Pharmaceuticals Limited linking them ‘potentially’ with deaths of 70 children in Gambia due to presence of two toxins – Diethylene Glycol and Ethylene Glycol. Indian government, in its own investigation, cleared the name of the company and said it found no contamination in the samples it tested and accused the WHO of making ‘premature deductions’, in December.

The Wire, however, accessed a report of a lab in Switzerland where the WHO had sent samples for testing, and reported on December 19, that the four products had DEG ranging from 1-21% – a huge amount that could be fatal. On December 20, a parliamentary committee of Gambia submitted its report in their parliament on the investigation that it had conducted.

It found Maiden Pharma responsible for deaths and said it was culpable and accountable for deaths. It demanded a prosecution against the company but the Indian government responded neither to this report nor the Swiss lab report leaked by The Wire. 

In December, Uzbekistan authorities announced that 18 children had died after consuming a cough syrup manufactured by a Noida-based company whose manufacturing activities have been suspended now, according to the Union health ministry. However, the details of why the CDSCO’s investigations led to the shutdown are yet to emerge.

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India rolled out its booster doses, known as precautionary doses, against COVID-19 in January 2022, after PM Narendra Modi made an announcement to this effect in his TV address on December 25, 2021. The Union minister had claimed in parliament, before the announcement, that any decision on boosters would be taken only on the basis of advice of experts.

However an investigation by The Wire, done through a series of Right to Information applications revealed that no expert body – including the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (NTAGI) that comprises representatives of government and independent expats – had given a go ahead. The government refused to share minutes of any meeting where precautionary doses were formally approved.

Worse, the drug regulator of the country said in reply that it had never approved the doses because no data to that effect was presented to it. 

– Banjot Kaur

Environment

On September 17 this year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi welcomed eight African cheetahs from Namibia to Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh, India, as part of Project Cheetah. The scheme aims to introduce cheetahs into select grassland habitats in India, areas where the Asiatic cheetah – once native to India but hunted to extinction in the 1950s – once ran wild.

However, Project Cheetah has come under fire repeatedly.

Scientists who have studied large cats and grassland habitats have pointed out that the entire exercise may be unable to achieve its goal – build a viable population of the big cats in India, or protect their grassland habitats – for several reasons. These include inadequate space (cheetahs have huge home range sizes), predation by leopards and the fact that grasslands, many of which are outside protected areas, still continue to be listed as wastelands. India also abstained to vote on reopening ivory trade for the first time at the CITES Conference of Parties in November this year, raising doubts whether Namibia’s claims that it sought India’s help to reverse the ban on the global ivory trade as part of its deal to transfer African cheetahs may indeed be true.

– Aathira Perinchery 

India Release of Pakistani Film ‘The Legend of Maula Jatt’ Postponed Indefinitely

According to an industry insider, the highest-grossing Pakistani film of all time release was stalled due to resistance from certain sections.

New Delhi: Pakistani blockbuster The Legend of Maula Jatt, which was to release on Friday, December 3o, in India has been postponed indefinitely, news agency PTI quoted an official from multiplex chain INOX as saying.

“We have been informed by the distributors that the release of the film has been postponed. We were told this two-three days ago. No further date has been shared with us,” an official from the multiplex chain told PTI.

An industry insider said the film’s release was stalled due to resistance from certain sections. On the other hand, another source in the know of things told Bollywood Hungama, “Zee Studios had already acquired a clearance for The Legend Of Maula Jatt from the Central Board of Film Certification. But on Monday the CBFC recalled the film.”

The film news portal also said it is not clear if the censor certificate given to The Legend Of Maula Jatt has been revoked.

Directed by Bilal Lashari, The Legend of Maula Jatt is an adaptation of the 1979 cult classic Maula Jatt. It stars Fawad Khan and Mahira Khan. The producers, however, said it is neither a remake nor a sequel. The film, which was released in Pakistan on October 13, is the highest-grossing Pakistani film of all time with box office returns of $10 million.

“Zee Studios had acquired the rights of The Legend of Maula Jatt as they were expecting the film to do well. But because of the resistance from certain sections, the decision was made to not release the movie,” the PTI source said on the condition of anonymity.

Multiplex chain PVR Cinemas had shared the India release date of the film on its official Instagram page earlier this week but deleted it soon after.

Rajender Singh Jyala, chief progamming officer, INOX Leisure Ltd, had told PTI last week that the film would be played in Punjab and in a few theatres in Delhi where there are Punjabi-speaking people.

Ameya Khopkar, president of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena’s cinema wing, said on Twitter today that the film’s release has been stalled after a warning given by the party.

“… the screening of The Legend of Maula Jatt has been completely cancelled…,” he said.

Actors Mahira and Fawad are familiar to Indian audiences through their popular Pakistani drama Humsafar and also through Bollywood. Fawad, who was most recently seen in the superhero series Ms Marvel, has featured in Khoobsurat, Kapoor & Sons, and Ae Dil Hai Mushkil while Mahira appeared in Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Raees.

The last Pakistani film to get a theatrical release in India was Bol starring Mahira in 2011. Before that was Ramchand Pakistani starring Nandita Das and Rashid Farooqi in 2008. Khuda Kay Liye, which included Fawad in the ensemble cast alongside Naseeruddin Shah, came in 2007

Pakistani actors stopped being cast in Indian productions following the 2016 terror attack in Uri in which 19 Indian Army personnel were killed. Although there is no official trade ban of goods from Pakistan, artistes and actors from across the border, including Fawad Khan, have been made to feel unwelcome in India. The decision came amid demands by various political outfits to ban Pakistani artistes from Indian films and from performing here.

(With PTI inputs)

In CBI Reopening Corruption Case Against Lalu, Tejashwi, a Political Agenda Is Unmissable

Why is BJP suddenly keen to dent the popularity of Bihar’s deputy chief minister? The case’s history might have the answers.

Political pundits in Bihar are viewing the reopening of a corruption case against Lalu Prasad Yadav and his family members by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) as a move by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to unsettle the ruling alliance in the run-up to the 2024 General Election.

The CBI itself closed the corruption case in 2021 on the grounds that “no case had been made out of the allegation”.

But within two months of Nitish Kumar walking out of the alliance with the BJP and returning to the alliance in August 2022, the CBI petitioned its special court in Delhi to cancel the bail of Lalu’s son Tejashwi Yadav, who is Bihar’s deputy chief minister.

On October 18, the special court rejected the CBI’s petition.

“Even a child knows that the BJP is misusing the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate,” said Jayaprakash Yadav, general secretary of the Rashtriya Janata Dal and a former Union minister.

The corruption case

In July 2017, the CBI carried out a series of raids on Lalu Prasad Yadav’s establishments in connection with what it called “irregularities” in the Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) and implicated Tejashwi Yadav, the deputy chief minister in the then alliance government, and others in Lalu’s family, in the cases.

Also read: Explainer: The Many Corruption Charges Against Lalu Prasad Yadav and His Family

Arguing that his party would not be associated with corruption, Nitish Kumar broke away from the Mahagathbandhan, of which he was then a member, and allied with the BJP again.

The CBI had investigated alleged corruption in the allotment of railway projects when Lalu was the railway minister in the United Progressive Alliance government from 2004 to 2009. The investigating agency closed the inquiry in May 2021, saying “no case had been made out of the allegation”, according to the documents in possession of Lalu’s lawyers.

According to the allegations, Lalu had received a south Delhi property as bribe from the real estate major DLF Group, which was interested in rail land lease projects in Mumbai’s Bandra, and the revamp of the New Delhi Railway Station. It was alleged that the property was bought by a DLF-funded shell company and then bought by Tejashwi Yadav. The CBI also implicated Chanda Yadav and Ragini Yadav, Lalu’s two daughters, in the case.

Nitish’s reactions

In his four decades of public life, Nitish Kumar has seldom commented on the functioning of India’s investigating agencies. But, on October 15, when the CBI petitioned for the cancellation of Tejashwi’s bail, Nitish said at a public meeting at Samastipur on October 18: “They – (the BJP and the CBI) – lodged cases against Laluji and his family when we (the JD(U) and the RJD) came together. Thus, we were separated. Now that we have come together again after five years apart, they are making new charges against Laluji and his family members. What type of elements are they?”

Also read: For the First Time, Nitish Questions CBI’s Credibility in Cases Against Lalu, Tejashwi

This Wednesday, December 28, reacting to the reopening of the case by the CBI, Nitish told reporters: “You understand… they are doing it because we have come together.”

Nitish Lalu

Lalu Prasad Yadav and Nitish Kumar in happier times. Photo: PTI

 

When Lalu and others were charged by the CBI in the fodder scam cases, Nitish had never commented on the proceedings.

His public image is of a leader who is strongly against corruption. Nitish, most recently, had insisted that the late Mewalal Choudhary resign after having been charged with corruption soon after becoming a minister. Thus, there is some weight to Nitish’s public assertion now, in favour of RJD’s leaders.

Facts of the case

The facts and circumstances of the charges against Lalu and Tejashwi shed light on certain inconsistencies.

First, the cases were initiated in 2017, eight years after Lalu had ceased to be the railway minister and two years after Nitish had broken ties with the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and formed the Mahagathbandhan with Lalu in Bihar. Lalu’s tenure as the railway minister between 2004 and 2009 was not only unblemished, but official records show that the railways had recorded a huge profit of over Rs 90,000 crores even though Lalu had reduced passenger fares during his term.

Also read: In Fresh Graft Case Against Lalu, an Attempt by BJP to Undermine Him Ahead of 2024 Polls

Born on November 11, 1989, Tejashwi, who was also charged in this case, was 14 years old when his father became the railway minister in the Manmohan Singh-led government.

Moves and manoeuvres

All the members of the Mahagathbandhan as well as neutral political observers in Bihar believe that the BJP has been unable to harness the politics of polarisation in Bihar in the manner it had done in Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and other states under its rule. Many thus feel that the only way for the BJP to make a serious impact in Bihar would be to ensure Tejashwi is named in corruption cases.

The CBI opposed Lalu’s bail in the fodder scam cases for over four years from 2016 to June 2022. Many others in the same cases, including the late Jagannath Mishra, a former chief minister of Bihar, had been granted bail on medical grounds, but despite the ailments Lalu suffered, the CBI had opposed all his bail applications. Now that he has completed half the sentence in every case – the condition set by the Supreme Court for the grant of bail – Lalu is out on regular bail.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the NDA won 39 seats (including the JD(U)’s 16) in Bihar. It remains to be seen if the BJP can repeat this performance should the Mahagathbandhan remain intact in 2024.

Nalin Verma is a senior journalist, media educator and independent researcher in social anthropology. 

Gujarat: Nine Killed as SUV Rams into Luxury Bus in Navsari

According to reports, the mishap took place when the bus driver had a heart attack and lost control of his vehicle.

New Delhi: Nine persons were killed and nearly 15 others injured after a sports utility vehicle (SUV) rammed into a luxury bus in the Navsari district of Gujarat in the wee hours of Saturday, December 31, police said.

According to NDTV, the mishap took place when the bus driver had a heart attack and lost control of his vehicle. He was taken to a hospital for treatment, where he died. The bus was full of people returning from the Pramukh Swami Maharaj Shatabdi Mahotsav event from Surat.

The accident occurred on a national highway near Vesma village when the bus was going towards Valsad, while the SUV was coming from the opposite direction, Navsari superintendent of police (SP) Rushikesh Upadhyay said.

Of the nine persons travelling in the SUV, eight died on the spot along with the driver of the luxury bus, he said.

Those travelling in the SUV were residents of Ankleshwar (in Gujarat) and they were on their way back to their hometown from Valsad, Upadhyay said, adding that the passengers of the bus hailed from Valsad.

Prime Minister Narendra expressed his sympathies with the kin of the deceased and injured. He announced an ex gratia of Rs 2 lakh to the next of kin of the deceased and Rs 50,000 to the injured.

Taking to Twitter, he wrote:

Union home minister Amit Shah also condoled the deaths in a Twitter post. Tweeting in Gujarati, he said, “The road accident in Gujarat’s Navsari is heartbreaking. My condolences to those who have lost their families in this tragedy. May God give them the strength to bear the pain. The local administration is giving immediate treatment to the injured, praying for their speedy recovery.”

(With PTI inputs)