08 April 2023

DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS ANALYSIS

1 –About the Death Penalty: GS II – Judiciary-Related Issues

Recent rulings by the Supreme Court:

• Justice Lalit came to the judgment in March 2022 that in situations where a death sentence was involved, giving the court “full assistance” would necessitate the production of both the case’s evidence and the prisoner’s most recent mental health data. He was motivated to do this by the Bachan Singh ruling.

Supreme Court decision in Bachan Singh v. State of Punjab, 1980:

• When imposing the death penalty, this decision created the “rarest of rare” crime theory and mandated a comparative assessment of the aggravating and mitigating circumstances in reference to the accused.
• According to the judgment, the court must thoroughly consider both the crime and the perpetrator before determining if the death penalty is the only appropriate punishment in the current situation.
• The aggravating and mitigating aspects that rely on the specific facts and circumstances of the case should be highlighted.

State of Punjab v. Machi Singh, 1983:

• In this ruling, the Supreme Court clarified the “rarest of rare” notion and set certain broad principles for situations deserving the death penalty.
• The way the crime was committed, the reason it was committed, how terrible it was, and who the victim was all qualified as aggravating factors.
• The accused’s mental health and upbringing, as well as the possibility of his or her reformation and rehabilitation, were among the mitigating circumstances.

The court considered the application and implementation of the death penalty as follows in its most recent decision:

• Simply because the crime was horrible and had a negative effect on society shouldn’t be a reason for trial judges to be under pressure to execute the death sentence. It’s important to take into account the defences for life in prison.
• The court’s ruling demonstrated how criminological theories have changed through the years. Criminal justice theories have “evolved to balance the other obligations of the society, i.e., of preserving the human life, be it of the accused, unless termination thereof is inevitable and is to serve the other societal causes and collective conscience of society,” even though the death penalty serves as a deterrent and a “response to the society’s call for appropriate punishment in appropriate cases.”

What has the court said about petitions being considered and death sentences being extended?

• The Supreme Court declared in 2014 that a convict, a member of their family, or even a concerned citizen might file a writ petition requesting the commuting of the sentence if there was an unreasonable delay in carrying out a death sentence.
• It was established that delaying the execution of death sentences had a “dehumanising effect” on people who had been found guilty and had to endure the anguish of waiting for years in fear of passing away while their appeals for compassion were being taken into account. Their bodies and brains would suffer agonising effects from a protracted delay.
• The same year, a Constitution court decided that a three-judge bench would hear a review appeal from a death row inmate in public. Previously, two judges would hear these cases in private in the judges’ chamber.

Future difficulties:

• By 2022, trial courts in India had already executed more than 50 persons, frequently in violation of substantive and procedural laws, underscoring the gravity of the work before the Supreme Court.
• The Supreme Court’s decision to tackle the issue head-on is undoubtedly noteworthy and deserves our respect, even though it will be challenging to strike a balance between fairness and consistency in death penalty sentences throughout all Indian courts.

Source The Hindu

2 – Details of the Windfall Tax – GS III – Indian Economy

About:

• The U.S. Congressional Research Service defines a windfall as a “unearned, unanticipated boost in income with no additional labour or expense” (CRS).
• As a result of an exceptional or outside incident, or from something with which the corporation actively disagreed, such as the rise in energy prices resulting from the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, they are so dubbed.
• It is often imposed as a one-time extra tax on top of the standard tax rates.
• Profits for the industry are irregular or fluctuate due to price instability in the oil markets. Therefore, tax is applied to redistribute unanticipated benefits when high prices benefit producers at the expense of consumers.
• It can be used to fund social welfare programmes as well as provide the government with an extra stream of revenue.

Reasons why a windfall tax is necessary:

• to lessen the growing trade deficit of the country brought on by the rise in the cost of oil, gas, and coal.
• Prices rising as a result of the epidemic recovery, supply issues brought on by the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, and an increase in energy demand.
• Large profits for energy firms result from rising energy expenses, which also increase the price of electricity and gas for homes and widen the income gap.
• The “grotesque greed” of enormous oil and gas enterprises was evident in the first quarter of the year, when the main energy companies’ combined profits totaled about $100 billion.

Challenges:

• Since of the retrospective character of the tax and the influence of unforeseen events and surprises, a transitory windfall profit tax has a detrimental effect on investments because potential investors will internalise the likelihood of potential taxes while making investment decisions. As a result, future investments will also be lessened.
• These levies are populist and politically short-sighted.
• The IMF issued a warning that taxes enacted in response to price increases may have design flaws due to their political and expedient nature.
• It can be challenging to recognise genuine windfall profits and estimate their level of normalisation of profit. For instance, a CRS report states that if profits increase quickly along with price increases, these are in some ways true windfalls because they were unanticipated. On the other hand, businesses might assert that the profit is their reward for taking the risk to provide the petroleum product to the end user.
• Whether or not to tax only large businesses that account for the majority of high-priced sales, or whether to exclude producers with revenues or profits below a certain threshold.

IMF suggestions in this regard:

• levy a long-term tax on unforeseen profits from the use of fossil fuels.
• Temporary taxes on windfall gains should be implemented with caution because they tend to increase investor risk, can lead to more distortion (especially if implemented at the wrong time or with poor planning), and do not bring in more revenue than a long-term tax on economic rents.
• It is necessary to charge the tax on a share of economic rents (meaning excess profits).
• Economic rents usually result from the extraction of fossil fuels because of the fixed quantity and variety of these fuels. Rent-targeting taxes bring in more money while reducing inflation and declining investment.
• Encourage the usage of renewable energy in light of the need for carbon-free energy generation. The use of renewable energy sources improves energy security.
• design principles: It is necessary to tax excess profits in a specific amount; revenue should not be taxed as this can cause inflation and deter investment. To ensure symmetrical treatment, losses under the tax should be able to be carried forward.

Source The Hindu

3 – About the Vande Bharat Train: Prelims Specific

About:

• This semi-high-speed, self-propelled train is being touted as the Indian Railways’ next important development in terms of speed and passenger convenience since the introduction of Rajdhani trains.
• As part of the “Make in India” initiative, the first Vande Bharat was produced at the Integral Coach Factory (ICF), Chennai, for roughly Rs. 100 crore.
• The Vande Bharat was India’s first attempt to use train set technology as opposed to older methods of passenger coaches pulled by individual locomotives.
• The train set configuration, despite being complicated, is speedier, easier to maintain, consumes less energy, and provides more flexibility in train operation.
• There are two Vande Bharat Expresses operating at the moment, one each to Katra and Varanasi from New Delhi.
• The 400 new trains will be manufactured with “better efficiency” in mind, and some of these trainsets may be made of aluminium rather than steel.
• Thanks to an aluminium body, each trainset will be 40–80 tonnes lighter than a modern Vande Bharat, increasing speed potential and consuming less energy.

What qualities do Vande Bharat Trains possess?

• These trains, known as “Train 18,” were created without a locomotive and are propelled by a distributed traction power system that provides independent power to each of the train’s carriages.
• OnboardWiFi, GPS-based passenger information systems, CCTVs, automated doors in every coach, rotating chairs, and bio-vacuum toilets similar to those found in aeroplanes are just a few of the facilities included in its coaches for passengers.
• It can drive at a top speed of 160 kmph thanks to speedier acceleration and deceleration, which reduces the journey time by 25% to 45%.
• It also has a smart braking system with power regeneration, making it economical in terms of costs, energy use, and environmental impact.

Importance:

• Over the course of three years, an additional 10,000–15,000 employment will be created as a result of the production of 400 of these trainset accessories.
• A about Rs 50,000 crore investment would be made in the nation’s rolling stock business, which would be extremely beneficial to supply and component manufacturing companies, among others.
• It will also increase railroad production and budgets.

How to Proceed:

• Indian Railways ushers in a new era of travel with improved next-generation trains. At a time when low-cost airlines and effective road networks provide severe competition, the new trains can help railways keep and even increase business.
• The early completion of the ambitious project and consideration of the requirement for diverse classes of travel will both significantly boost the success of the Vande Bharat project.

Source The Hindu

4 – Details of the Lashkar – e – Taeba: Prelims Specific

About:

• The militant wing of Markaz-ud-Dawa-wal-Irshad, an Islamist organisation with ties to the Wahhabi sect of Sunni Islam, Lashkar-e-Taiba was established in Pakistan in the late 1980s. It is also known by the spellings Lashkar-e-Tayyiba and Lashkar-e-Toiba. In the end, it sought to establish Muslim rule throughout the whole Indian subcontinent. Lashkar-e-Taiba began its operations in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, which is near to the Pakistani border, despite having its headquarters there. By the first decade of the twenty-first century, however, the organisation had expanded its influence even farther into India. Jammu and Kashmir was claimed by both India, a country with a large Hindu population, and Pakistan, a country with a large Muslim population. As a result of the struggle, Jammu and Kashmir is now home to many armed factions.

Militancy in Jammu and Kashmir:

• Conflict-ridden societies usually keep “Us” and “Them” apart through fostering division and distance between two bigger collectives. This is true in Kashmir. Since the government launched counterinsurgency and anti-militancy operations in the wake of the violent separatist uprising in 1989, Kashmiris have formed strong “Us vs. Them” narratives and have become alienated from the Indian democratic system.
• These state actions have included crackdowns, arrests, executions of local militants, and strict application of laws like the Public Safety Act (PSA) and the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA).
• As a result, Kashmiris typically have an unfavourable opinion of India and its actions and consider it to be a “occupier” or “coloniser.”
• The effects of these perceptions have gotten worse in recent years, during what analysts describe to as “new militancy,” when locals are in charge of the militant movement and social media plays a significant role in radicalising a sizable number of people and disseminating anti-India propaganda.
• India needs to work harder to reshape its narratives if it wants to counteract the pervasive unfavourable views and maintain its territorial integrity.
• Between 2014 and 2020, the local militancy and instances of stone-pelting greatly rose. The Indian armed forces launched “Operation All Out” in 2017 to eradicate militant networks, their overground workers (OGW), and top militant commanders. These operations did, however, contribute to the “we vs them” narrative because the majority of the militants were locals.
• Many anticipated that after the decision to abolish J&K’s special status on August 5, 2019, there would be a huge increase in terrorism-related bloodshed in the area. The security situation has become better over the past few years to the point where Doda was declared a terrorist-free area.
• As Jammu and Kashmir approaches its second anniversary as a Union Territory (UT), militancy continues to pose a significant challenge to the security apparatus despite growing worries that the Taliban taking control of Afghanistan will likely change the striking capabilities of the militant outfits, particularly the Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) and the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HuM).

How to Proceed:

• District Development Councils (DDCs): After Jammu and Kashmir lost its statehood, grassroots development and DDCs took centre stage in Kashmir politics. Residents of Kashmir who have long had to battle bureaucratic red tape can find new hope in the elected local leaders who can ensure good administration and local development.
• Social media: In the age of the “new militancy,” social media has become a key source of information, as well as misinformation and propaganda. By employing reactive measures such blanket bans, monitoring, censoring, and reporting of extremist profiles and content, the government has attempted to halt the spread of extremist propaganda on social media. These precautions, however, have not proven effective.
• The state will still need to invest in artificial intelligence (AI) and other technology to counter extreme messaging. Additionally, it needs to think of fresh ways for Kashmiris to absorb the propaganda produced by the Indian military and government.
• India may increase its spending on drone and unmanned aerial vehicle technology and employ it in peaceful areas. These modern tools can be used for surveillance, law enforcement, and to stop militants and their supporters from deploying drones.
• Long-term, the state ought to start emphasising education more. Many historical myths are spread through the school system in Kashmir and the rest of India. Supporting topics and concepts that are more accessible and useful, such constitutional protections for people living in conflict-affected areas, is vital.

Conclusion:

• Using tales can significantly lessen the “Us vs. Them” division. This distance between Kashmir and India has recently widened as a result of state actions like Operation All Out and the elimination of Kashmir’s special status on the one hand, and the advent of “new militancy” in Kashmir on the other.
• Therefore, by incorporating social media operations into their traditional missions intended to win over hearts and minds, the Indian government and military forces are attempting to enhance their nation-building narrative.
• Even while these initiatives aim to tear down the mental and psychological barriers Kashmiris have erected for the Indian state, there is still more to be done.
• As long as Kashmir remains a contentious issue, New Delhi must welcome the absence of active hostilities in order to support its narrative-building efforts and bring the region closer to enduring peace.

Source The Hindu