The triumph of Vachathi over a hostile state

Why in the News?

The Madras High Court’s judgment recently upheld the human rights of the people of Vachathi in Tamil Nadu by recognising that coordinated and large-scale repression by uniformed forces cannot take place without orders from the top levels of the government.

What was the issue?

1. Vachathi is a remote village of Adivasis in Dharmapuri district of Tamil Nadu.
2. On June 20, 1992, nearly 300 uniformed officials set violence on the village on the pretext of unearthing smuggled sandalwood. 
3. During the violence, 18 women including a woman who was pregnant were raped and 90 women, 28 children and 15 men were illegally confined in the Forest Ranger’s office. 
4. The custodians of law ordered the “Oor Gounder” (the village chief) to strip the women. 
5. Due to continued plunder and violence by the officials, villagers were forced to flee to the forests.
6. The government machinery down to the District Collector, the Revenue Divisional Officer, the Superintendent of Police and the Chief Conservator of Forests failed to take action despite representations.

The High Court intervention:

1. The Madras HC ordered for an investigation by Central Bureau of Investigation, after a public interest litigation was filed in the court.
2. This became the rarest case in the legal history where all 215 accused (the survivors of the 269 accused), government and law enforcement personnel stand convicted en masse of offences.
3. All of the accused were booked under The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 and the Indian Penal Code. 
4. Punishments involving rigorous imprisonment ranging from one to 10 years with fine has also been imposed.
5. The HC fixed the responsibility on the state to pay the enhanced compensation of ₹10 lakh and to ensure a job for each rape survivor. 

Gross lacunae in the criminal justice system:

1. No special procedures, evidentiary principles and criminal liability have been prescribed in law for organised crimes by state actors.
2. There is a need for the prosecutor to prove the guilt of each of those accused as if an individual offence had been committed.
3. Principle 24 of the UN Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials states that:

• Law enforcement agencies must adopt measures to ensure that superior officers are held responsible if they have not taken actions to prevent/report their subordinates who have restored to violation of human rights.
• Such shift of onus on top level officials are not present in our criminal system

4. Inter-American Court of Human Rights in South America: judgments
   1. Being ignorant of actual occurrence of incidence cannot be claimed to be not guilty.
   2. The responsibility of superiors lies in exercising adequate supervision and control that includes
      1. Knowledge of risk by state officials.
      2. The duty to know of the existence of a real and immediate risk to life and/or physical integrity.
      3. The reasonable possibilities of preventing or avoiding that risk.
5. Article 28 of the Rome Statute: followed by International Court of Justice
   1. Follows the principle of command responsibility
6. The new criminal laws proposed recently to decolonise old laws do not recognise organised violence by state agents as a separate class of crime, and state violence as a colonial legal was failed to be acknowledged.

The trouble with a Nobel for mRNA COVID vaccines

Why in the News?

The Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine, 2023 was given to Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman for developing the mRNA vaccine technology.

The mRNA technology developed by the awardees:

1. messenger RNA (mRNA) is a template used for protein production when genetic information encoded in DNA is transferred to it.
2. Proteins are the main structural component of cells which plays a key role in growth and repair.
3. During the 1980s, in-vitro transcription method was developed which permitted the idea of using mRNA for vaccine and therapy.
4. Karikó worked on developing mRNA for therapy despite challenges in delivery and inflammatory reactions and immunologist Weissman joined the work later.
5.  In 2005, by making base modifications to the mRNA they managed to ease delivery paths and get rid of the inflammatory reactions. 
6. In 2019, the scientists taught the mRNA vaccine to instruct human cells to make the S protein found on the surface of the COVID-19 virus.
7. This caused the body to create antibodies which will fight the virus if the individual were to contract the infection. 

Significance of the Work:

1. The technology became the foundation for history’s fastest vaccine development programme during the COVID-19 pandemic.
2. The Nobel prize for Medicine has been awarded for a discovery that renders ‘greatest benefit on mankind’, which was done by the mRNA.
3. Recognition of contribution of a woman of science:

• 13 women have now won the Nobel Prize for Medicine (out of 225 awarded); and only 62 women have won any Nobel Prize (against 894 men) so far.

What were the down side of mRNA COVID vaccines:

1. ‘Double spend’ imposed on the Consumers:
   1. most new drugs and vaccines development happens at the expense of governments and public funds, which are taxes paid by the public.
   2. Post patent/license acquisition, companies commoditise and commercialise these entities registering huge profits at the expense of the same people whose taxes funded the fundamental research.
2. It fell short of targets such as
   1. Poorer countries became the victims of their subpar purchasing power.
   2. Did not have sufficient stocks of mRNA vaccines.

Nobel Prize for Physics 2023

Why in the News?

Recently Pierre Agostini, Ferenc Krausz and Anne L’Huillier have been awarded Nobel Prize in physics, 2023 for their contribution to making it possible to watch electrons move.

Significance of their work:

1. Atoms or molecules make movements, or changes took place generally in picoseconds (10^-12) or femtoseconds (10^-15), which required unimaginably short pulses of light to capture their movement. For that femtosecond ‘photography’ was developed and was considered the limit.
2. However, there were processes that were even faster in atoms happening within a few attoseconds (10^-18).
3. Pierre Agostini, Ferenc Krausz and Anne L’Huillier worked
   1. to develop experimental methods that generate attosecond pulses of light for the study of electron dynamics in matter.
   2. They have demonstrated a way to create extremely short pulses of light that can be used to measure the rapid processes in which electrons move or change energy.
4. The sub-atomic motion happens in a matter of attoseconds.

• For instance, the dynamics of the electron are 100 to 1,000 times faster than that of the atom. This is because atom is heavier, because of the nucleus, and has greater inertia (Lower the inertia, faster the dynamics).

5. They mixed the lights of different wavelengths, to produce attosecond pulses.
6. Challenges in developing attosecond light pulses:
   1. To capture a process, the measurement must be made at a pace quicker than the rate of change.
   2. But, for all sorts of light produced by laser systems, this cycle used to take at least a few femtoseconds to complete.
7. Possible applications:
   1. It has potential applications in a variety of areas, from electronics to medicine, across disciplines in physics, chemistry and biology.
   2. In medical science, particularly in finding therapies for cancer care.
   3. Study molecular-level changes in blood, to identify diseases.
   4. Create more efficient electronic gadgets by better understanding of how electrons move and transmit energy.

Relationship between India and Taliban-ruled Afghanistan

Why in the News?

Recently, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan announced the closure of the Embassy of Afghanistan in Delhi.

The Embassy of Afghanistan has cited some reasons for the move that includes:

• Lack of cooperation from the Government of India 
• Lack of resources to operate any further

Is this a turning point for Afghanistan-India relations?

1. The embassy represented the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan in India.
2. But with the takeover of Afghanistan through a military campaign by Taliban, who were not recognised by India as de facto rulers, the embassy stopped representing an active state (“stateless mission”) since August 2021.
3. Instead, it worked as a coordinating agency since then, such as performing a ceremonial or a symbolic role and helping out Afghan citizens among others.
4. The ambassador of the previous regime of President Ashraf Ghani, Farid Mamundzay, left India before 3 months itself.
5. However, the two consulates of Afghanistan in Hyderabad and Mumbai have announced to continue functioning as part of a “solemn commitment” towards thousands of Afghan students, refugees and traders.

Other ways of engagement are on the move:

1. India has a “technical team” in Kabul to provides visas to Afghan traders and travellers to India. 
2. Two weekly flights that carry Afghan citizens and items to India, as well as humanitarian assistance to the Afghan people by India, are being operational.
3. Indian trade goods with Afghanistan are happening through other countries like Iran and the UAE.

However, these are informal nature of interactions because formal diplomatic ties are unable to take off as India refuses to recognise Taliban citing human rights abuses inflicted by it.

Possibility of establishing formal ties:

1. Indian diplomats have engaged with the Taliban immediately after the takeover of Kabul in 2021, though India has not recognised Taliban formally.
2. Indian diplomats have met Taliban’s representatives under many multilateral initiatives such as

• The recent Moscow format dialogue in which India sent a representative to Kazan, Russia to engage with the Taliban.

3. Increasing pressure on India to reconsider its position on the Taliban:
   1. It has gained international recognition from rival powers like China.
   2. Countries such as Iran, Pakistan, the UAE, Russia and Qatar are warming ties with the Taliban.
   3. Taliban is urging India to support its economic revitalisation through projects like electricity generation and road building works. 

Circular Migration

Circular migration:

1. It is a repetitive form of migration wherein, according to the availability of employment, people move to another place (the destination country) and back (country of origin).
2. Instead of migrating permanently or temporarily (say, contract-based labour) to another location, people move to different locations for a brief period of time when work is available. 
3. This phenomenon is mostly seen among low-income groups who migrate to avail of seasonally available jobs in another country, city, place etc.
4. Circular migration has the following characteristics
   1. Temporary residence in the destination location
   2. Possibility of multiple entries into the destination country
   3. Freedom of movement between the country of origin and the country of destination during the period of residence
   4. Legal right to stay in the destination country
   5. Protection of migrants’ rights in the destination country
   6. Healthy demand for temporary labour in the destination country.
5. Reasons for circular migration:
   1. advent of globalisation and development
   2. Increased access to modern forms of transport and communication
   3. High penetration of social networks
   4. Growth of multinational corporations 
6. The UN Economic Commission for Europe Task Force report states that, one is called a circular migrant if he has completed at least ‘two loops’ i.e., travelled between the destination and origin country at least two times.

As a public policy:

1. Need for a public policy on migration:
   1. Migration creates brain drain for the origin countries and competition for the citizens of the destination countries.

• For instance, movement of citizens from the Global South to the West in search of more employment opportunities or a better standard of living
  2. It leads to breakdown of infrastructure and agrarian stagnation in the case of rural to urban migration.
  3. Migration, thus becomes a policy hazard.
  4. Influx of migrants have caused anxieties and cultural conflicts in the host populations, leading to calls for restrictions and outright ban on migration.

2. Circular migration can be a viable option to balance needs of development and individual economic advancement.
3. It can act as a balanced migration method for both the receiving country and also of the sending nation.
4. The sending country especially in the case of international migration, can benefit from
   1. the flow of remittances which will boost and aid the domestic economy. 
   2. The foreign capital will enhance the economy ensuring more infrastructure, jobs and a better standard of living.
5. For the host countries,
   1. Countries in the west having lesser population and a higher access to education have large demands for low-income low-skill jobs, which are filled by migrants.
6. Circular migration shall help to
   1. It will encourage a sort of brain circulation resulting in brain drain to reduce. In such a situation, an individual can use his talents in both countries and still contribute to remittances.

Circular migration within India:

1. In India, internal migration (migration within a particular country or State) especially from rural areas to urban cities have been mostly circular.
2. Boom in construction sector:
   1. The construction sector registered huge increases in employment for all workers, specifically for rural males between 2004–2005 and 2011–2012.
   2. This pushed for rural to urban migration, resulting in dwindling rural population and economy while urban spaces witnessing infrastructural collapse due to less housing accommodations.
3. Uneven development post-liberalisation
   1. States such as West Bengal, Odisha and Bihar have some of the highest rates of out-migration.
   2. The migrants have positive outcomes such as
      1. Access to higher paying jobs
      2. Better household welfare due to remittances
      3. Ease of mobility
      4. Women get more autonomy and decision-making power in the family due to the absence of men who migrate.
   3. Migration to Delhi mainly has now shifted to the southern states.

With migrants are facing issues such as made to work in unhygienic and unsafe conditions, routinely exploited and face ‘unfreedoms’ in host States, States have to start actively formulating policy to understand the extent of circular migration and ensure migrants rights. States like Kerala have announced health insurance schemes for migrant workers (Awaz Health scheme) which can be a way forward.

Counting Caste

Why in the News?

The Bihar govt. has released the results of its survey of castes in the state, which was a result of unanimous decision of an all-party meeting in the state.

• It is the first such large-scale exercise where results have been made public (comprehensive caste data collected by Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, as well as the Union government in the past have been unrevealed).
• The survey involved a 17-question form on caste, religion, and economic status.
• An app was used to collect the data for tabulation and processing.
• It is yet to make social sense of the bare caste counts made public.

Key findings of the Caste survey:

1. The share of Extremely Backward Classes (EBCs) and Other Backward Classes (OBCs) stand at more than 63%. 
2. The EBCs form 36.01% and OBCs account for 27.12% of the state’s population.
3.  The “unreserved” category of so-called “forward” castes is about 15.5%.
4. The Scheduled castes form 19.65% and the Scheduled Tribes (STs) form about 1.68% of the state population.
5. Hindus comprise 81.99% of the population, and Muslims 17.72%, while Buddhists, Christians, Sikhs, Jains, and other religious denominations form a minuscule population.

Significance of the survey findings:

1. The changed proportion of share of castes in the increasing population can be used to pressure for holding a nationwide caste census in the coming days.
2. The results from the survey can support demands for increasing the OBC quota beyond 27%, and for a quota within quota for the EBCs.
3. The Bihar survey may push other states to carry out similar exercises.
   1. When Bihar started to conduct the exercise, the Patna High Court paused it stating that the state government was not competent to conduct what appeared to be a census.
   2. However, it signalled a green light after the state submitted that it was a “survey”, and assured that no one’s data would be disclosed.
4. The survey data will reopen the longstanding debate over the 50% ceiling on reservation.
   1. In the Indra Sawhney v Union of India (1992) case, a 50% ceiling on reservation was imposed to ensure “efficiency” in administration.
   2. This ruling has been used by courts to block several attempts by states to breach it.

With EBCs, OBCs, and SCs together accounting for more than 82% of the state’s population, a vote bank for which fierce battles among political parties will be fought in the upcoming elections.

International Criminal Court (ICC)

1. ICC is an intergovernmental organization and international tribunal having headquarters at The Hague, Netherlands.
2. It is the first and only permanent international court with jurisdiction to prosecute 
   1. individuals for the international crimes of genocide
   2. crimes against humanity, war crimes 
   3. crime of aggression. 
3. The ICC became operational in 2002, after the Rome Statute was put to force.
4. The Rome Statute is a multilateral treaty that serves as the court's charter and governing document.
5. As of March 2022, 123 countries are the member states of ICC.
6. ICC serves as the "court of last resort" and exercise its jurisdiction only when national courts are unwilling or unable to prosecute criminals.
7. It lacks universal territorial jurisdiction and can investigate or prosecute crimes committed within member states or cases referred to the Court by the United Nations Security Council.

Purchasing Manager’s Index

1. It is an index that reflects the prevailing direction of economic trends in the manufacturing and service sectors.
2. It has a diffusion index that summarizes whether market conditions are expanding, staying the same, or contracting as viewed by purchasing managers.
3. It is a monthly survey released by the Institute for Supply Management (ISM), of supply chain managers across 19 industries, covering both upstream and downstream activity.
4. The PMI is based on five major survey areas, all are weighed equally:
   1. New orders
   2. Inventory levels
   3. Production
   4. Supplier deliveries
   5. Employment
5. A PMI above 50 represents an expansion and under 50 represents a contraction when compared with the previous month. 

Pension Scheme

The Old Pension Scheme:

1. It is a retirement scheme approved by the central government that provides monthly pension to the beneficiaries till the end of their life service. 
2. The amount of pension released monthly shall be equal to half of the last drawn salary by an individual before retirement.
3. Also called as Defined Contribution scheme.
4. In addition to the Pension amount, the beneficiaries receive Dearness Allowance that is fixed on the basis of price rise/ inflation in the economy.
5. The entire amount of the Old Pension was paid by the government.
6. Only government employees are eligible to receive pension under the OPS after retirement.

New Pension Scheme (NPS):

1. Under the new retirement scheme introduced in 2003, the beneficiaries can withdraw 60% of the amount invested after retirement.
2. It seeks to provide old age income security in a fiscally sustainable manner and also make prudential investments in productive sectors of the economy by channelizing the small savings.
3. The scheme was made mandatory for all new recruits to the Government service (except armed forces) with effect from January 1, 2004,
4. The scheme has also been rolled out for all citizens (private sector employees) for adoption on voluntary basis with effect from May 1,2009.
5. NPS is a contributory pension scheme under which employees contribute 10% of their salary (basic + dearness allowance). The government contributes 14% towards the employees’ NPS accounts.
6. In NPS, employees contribute money from their salary during their employment tenure. The amount is invested in market-linked instruments.