ethics

ven by Indian Medical Association (IMA)- Don’t indulge in the business of ‘No Cure, No Payment’ or ‘Guarantee any cureViolation: Medical Council of India (MCI) Code of Ethics Regulations and also Drugs and Magic Remedies ActNeed: To educate patients about how not all lives can be saved and how the success of all treatments cannot be guaranteed


Quote from World Banks 2015 WDR behabioural change

In Germany and Austria both are similar societies; But in Austria by default if you dont say no ur organs will be donated when you die but in Germany one has to say yes to get his/her organs donated. This produces a vast difference between the 2 nations. Austria seeing a huge organ donation.

Arbi medi adr

ethicsa

Meet Mr.Sandeep Nanduri IAS (Collector of Tirnelveli district, Tamil Nadu)

Mr.Sandeep discovered that there are lot of poor people (daily wage workers) in his district, so he wanted to help these poor people by providing basic amenities such as clothing, books and other basic needs. In order to provide basic amenities to all poor people in his jurisdiction needs a lot of money.

But this man wants to tackle this situation and help the needy, Sandeep came up with a novel idea. He transformed a wall at the local collectorate office compound into a ‘Wall of Kindness’ ,where people could leave stuff that they no longer used or needed and hope that their actions would encourage others to follow suit.

“One man’s trash become another man’s treasure”

First ever Wall of Kindness in Tamil Nadu:

Social media politcal corruption ethics ritch

Section 295 a of ipc holds that publishing with deliverate and malicious intentions of hurting the religious feelings of a community is a punishable offence

Section 153 a of ipc promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion race place of birtg residence and language etc

Its protector of indian diversity. Ha mr 10 percent

E-judiciary

It is a digital case management system adopted by Supreme CourtIt will help in making SC a paperless, digital courtSubsequently, all High Courts, District Courts, Sub-Division Courts will be integrated with the new system.Later on, all the jails in the country will be Integrated by ICMIS software.ICMIS will help litigants access data and obtain informationabout the filing, delays etc. It would pave way for theintegration of all courts in the country.The appellants hereafter is not required to file the records as the records will be picked up electronically from trial courts and high courts.The digital filing system will also help in ushering transparency as nothing can be manipulated with this paperless system. Also, the litigants will be able to know the progress of the case on real time basis.

Ordinance ritch

January 2, in one of many judgments delivered on its first working day of the year, the Supreme Court, in Krishna Kumar Singh v. State of Bihar , made a series of pronouncements with potentially huge implications for the future of democratic governance in the country. The case raised intricate constitutional questions concerning the executive’s power to make law through ordinance, but the majority’s opinion, authored by Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, on behalf of five of the seven judges who heard the case, is lucid both in its reasoning and in its ultimate findings.

For far too long, the court recognised, the power to make ordinances has been abused to subvert the democratic process. A failure of a legislature to confirm an ordinance, therefore, in the court’s ruling, was fatal both to the validity of the law, and also, unless public interest otherwise demanded, to the rights and liabilities that may have accrued from such a law. According to Justice Chandrachud, the authority to issue ordinances is not an absolute entrustment, but is “conditional upon a satisfaction that circumstances exist rendering it necessary to take immediate action”. In other words, ordinances are not immune from judicial challenge.

Ordinary idea of ordinance

The contest over the use of ordinances as a tool to make laws stretches well beyond the Constitution’s adoption. Indeed, at the time when the provisions incorporating these powers were debated in the Constituent Assembly, B.R. Ambedkar suggested that any concerns over the conferment of ordinance-making powers on the executive were really only a quibble over language. “My own feeling is that a concrete reason for the sentiment of hostility, which has been expressed by my honourable Friend, Mr. [H.V.] Kamath as well as my honourable Friend, Mr. [H.N.] Kunzru, really arises by the unfortunate heading of [the] Chapter ‘Legislative Powers of the President’,” Ambedkar said. “It ought to be ‘Power to legislate when Parliament is not in session’. I think if that sort of innocuous heading was given to the Chapter, much of the resentment to this provision will die down. Yes. The word ‘Ordinance’ is a bad word, but if Mr. Kamath with his fertile imagination can suggest a better word, I will be the first person to accept it. I do not like the word ‘ordinance’, but I cannot find any other to substitute it.”

But had Ambedkar been around to witness the systematic dismantling of the constitutional basis for the ordinance-making power by recent governments at both the Central and State levels, it is likely that he may have renounced his earlier opinion. It’s now apparent that the problem in the use of ordinances arcs far beyond mere semantics. It goes, in fact, as Shubhankar Dam, a professor of law, and an author of a recent book on ordinances, has argued, to the very root of the power’s conferment. This is because, in many ways, the clauses allowing for the power to make ordinances are an outlier in our constitutional structure.

The founders’ aim was always to impose a separation of power between the three recognised wings of government. In this arrangement, the legislature (Parliament at the Centre, and the Assemblies and the Councils in the States) is tasked with the primary job of making laws; the executive’s role is to administer the country by enforcing these laws; and the judiciary interprets the laws, sees if they are being followed, and, where required, reviews them to ensure that they are constitutionally compliant. The executive’s power to issue ordinances, therefore, goes against this general grain of command; for it acts neither as a check nor as a balance on the authority exercised by the other branches of government.

Only an exceptional measure

It’s equally clear even from the bare text of the Constitution that the authority to issue ordinances is to be used only to meet the emergent demands of extraordinary situations. Article 123, which defines the ordinance-making power of the Union executive, states that when both Houses of Parliament are not in session, if the President is satisfied that “circumstances exist which render it necessary for him to take immediate action, he may promulgate such Ordinance as the circumstances appear to him to require”. It further provides that any ordinance shall have the same force and effect as a statute of Parliament, provided it is laid before both Houses. What’s more, the ordinance so made will “cease to operate at the expiration of six weeks from the reassembly of Parliament”, or if Parliament at any time before the conclusion of the period passes resolutions disapproving of the ordinance. In nearly identical terms, Article 213 of the Constitution places on the Governor, acting on the advice of the Council of Ministers of his State, the power to pass ordinances on subjects of State authority.

In practice, however, ordinances have scarcely been used as a purely exceptional measure. Most recently, the Central executive had issued an ordinance in 2014, which it subsequently repromulgated three times without approval, to overturn significant benefits guaranteed by the land acquisition law enacted by Parliament in 2013. Their aim clearly was to bypass the democratic requirements of argument and deliberation, and to overcome numerical shortcomings that they faced in the Rajya Sabha. What the government was doing, therefore, was to use its ordinance-making power as virtually an alternative tool of legislation. It was a similar abuse of power that had been placed before the Supreme Court for its examination in Krishna Kumar Singh .

A clear case of abuse

Here in question were a series of ordinances passed by the government of Bihar through which the State sought to take over some 429 Sanskrit schools, transferring in the process the services of all the teachers and other employees of the schools to the State government. The first ordinance, which was issued in 1989, was followed by a succession of five ordinances, none of which was placed before the State legislature. Ultimately, the government failed to enact a statute confirming the terms of the ordinances, and the last of them was allowed to lapse on April 30, 1992. The employees of the schools, who stood discharged from service, as a result of the termination of the ordinances, took the State government to court.

When the case ultimately reached the seven-judge bench for arguments there were two fundamental questions to be answered: whether the ordinances issued by the Bihar government were constitutionally valid, and whether the petitioners had derived any legal right that survived the termination of the ordinances. On the first, Justice Chandrachud went beyond existing precedent to hold that not only repromulgated ordinances, but even ordinances issued at the first instance, are subject to judicial review. Here, he placed reliance on the celebrated S.R. Bommai case (1994), where a nine-judge bench of the court had ruled that the judiciary could strike down a proclamation of emergency when the power had been exercised by the executive to secure an oblique purpose.

Ordinances subject to scrutiny

Justice Chandrachud ruled that a similar standard of review could be applied to ordinances too; the court, in these cases, he held, will not enquire into the adequacy or sufficiency of the material before the President or the Governor, but it can investigate to see if there has been either a fraud or an abuse of power committed by the executive.

But strong as the court’s finding is on the first question, on the second its verdict is potentially even more far-reaching. Here, the court overruled two of its earlier judgments, and binned what it described as a theory of enduring rights. It ruled that an ordinance is distinct from a temporary legislation, and it therefore doesn’t automatically create rights and liabilities that go beyond its term of operation. “While enacting a law, the legislature is entitled to define the period during which the law is intended to operate,” wrote Justice Chandrachud. “…Hence, it lies perfectly within the realm and competence of the legislature which enacts a temporary law to provide that the rights or the liabilities which are created during the tenure of the law will subsist beyond the expiry of its term.” But an ordinance, unlike a temporary statute, is not a creature of the legislature. Therefore, the court held, these orders have the same force and effect of a legislation only so long as they are operational. In other words, once the conditions imposed by Article 123 or Article 213, as the case may be, are infracted, the question of what effects will survive from the ordinance will have to be independently assessed. In such circumstances, wrote Justice Chandrachud, the court must examine whether the undoing of acts performed under an ordinance would run counter to public interest.

Now, while Justice Chandrachud is certainly correct in ruling that an ordinance would not automatically create enduring effects, a test of public interest could prove somewhat problematic in the future. There may well be cases where an ordinance creates outcomes that are manifestly irreversible, despite public interest demanding its reversing. However, that said, these issues could well be ironed out when subsequent benches are faced with such questions.

In the final analysis, the court’s verdict has to be seen as placing a vital check on what has until now been a power rampantly abused by the executive. Inconvenient as legislative debate and deliberation can be, the legislature constitutes a critical foundation of our democracy. When Parliament reconvenes next week, it must be seen by both the ruling dispensation and the opposition as a forum for debate, for making laws based on critical reasoning. To await the completion of the session, and to create laws then by circumventing this process through ordinance, debases altogether the Constitution and its finest ideals.

Suhrith Parthasarathy is an advocate practising at the Madras High Court.

Capsule current

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The government had constituted a ten Member, High Level Committee under the Chairmanship of Justice B.N.Srikrishna, Retired Judge, Supreme Court of India to review the institutionalization of arbitration mechanism and suggest reforms thereto.

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Justice B N Srikrishna, former judge of the Supreme Court of India will head a Committee of experts which has been formed to deliberate on a data protection framework for the country.

Key facts:

The government led ten-member committee will “identify key data protection issues in India and recommend methods of addressing them.”

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The Comptroller and Auditor General of India has said in an audit report on the Food Corporation of India (FCI) that more than 4.72 lakh tonnes of wheat valued at Rs700.30 crore got damaged in Punjab till March 2016 due to delay in implementation of the private entrepreneur scheme

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What is no detention policy?

The no-detention policy was introduced as a part of the Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) under the Right to Education Act (RTE) in 2010. Under this policy, students up to class 8 are automatically promoted to the next class without being held back even if they do not get a passing grade.

TSR Subramanian committee for formulation of the National Policy on Education has also suggested that ‘no detention’ policy should be discontinued after Class V. It had recommended restoration of detention provision, remedial coaching and two extra chances to each student such to move to a higher class.

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A new Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) by the name BHARAT 22 was recently launched.

bharat 22

What you need to know about BHARAT 22?

Bharat 22 consists of 22 stocks of CPSE’s, PSB’s & strategic holding of SUUTI. Bharat 22 is a well Diversified portfolio with 6 sectors (Basic Materials, Energy, Finance, FMCG, Industrials & Utilities).

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In an attempt to promote innovation and entrepreneurship in agriculture, the government is launching a new AGRI-UDAAN programme that will mentor startups and help them connect with potential investors.

Key facts:

The programme will help convert innovative ideas from India’s rural youth into viable businesses. The idea is to attract the youth from rural India and elsewhere, and train them so they can add value to the farmers’ produce.

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The Nasa-Isro Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) mission is a joint project between NASA and ISRO to co-develop and launch a dual frequency synthetic aperture radar satellite.

The satellite will be the first radar imaging satellite to use dual frequency and it is planned to be used for remote sensing to observe and understand natural processes of the Earth.

It is also designed to observe and take measurements of some of the planet’s most complex processes, including ecosystem disturbances, ice-sheet collapse, and natural hazards such as earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes and landslides.

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About NavIC:

NAVIC is an independent regional navigation satellite system designed to provide position information in the Indian region and 1500 km around the Indian mainland. It provides two types of services, namely Standard Positioning Services available to all users and Restricted Services provided to authorised users.

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How proxy voting takes place?

The Union Cabinet’s approval for proxy voting by NRIs carries a caveat: they cannot nominate one proxy for all polls. Overseas electors will have to appoint a nominee afresh for each election — one person can act as proxy for only one overseas voter. The proxy voter should be an ordinary resident of the constituency one is voting in.

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BRICS Agriculture Research Platform (BRICS-ARP).

BRICS-ARP will be the natural global platform for science-led agriculture-based sustainable development for addressing the issues of world hunger, under-nutrition, poverty and inequality, particularly between farmers’ and non-farmers’ income, and enhancing agricultural trade, bio-security and climate resilient agriculture.

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What you need to know about the RAISE Act?

The RAISE Act would scrap the current lottery system to get into the US and instead institute a points-based system for earning a green card. Factors that would be taken into account include English language skills, education, high- paying job offers and age.

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Asia-Africa Growth Corridor (AAGC):

Aiming to strengthen the growth and connectivity between Asia and Africa, India and Japan initiated the Asia-Africa Growth Corridor (AAGC), which primarily focuses on Development Cooperation Projects, Quality Infrastructure and Institutional Connectivity, Enhancing Skills, and People-to-People Partnership.
----Reportedly, China is Africa’s largest economic partner with a trade growth rate of 20% per year since 2002 and AAGC initiative by China’s two Asian rivals is key for the trans-continent relation between the Asian and African countries.

Is AAGC a counter to OBOR?

Unlike OBOR which entails development of a land corridor, AAGC will essentially be a sea corridor linking Africa with India and other countries of South-East Asia and Oceania

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RBI plans to set up public credit registry

RBI has announced the creation of a panel to consider creation of a Public Credit Registry (PCR) operated by the regulator.

What you need to know about the PCR?

The PCR will be an extensive database of credit information for India that is accessible to all stakeholders. The idea is to capture all relevant information in one large database on the borrower and, in particular, the borrower’s entire set of borrowing contracts and outcomes.

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Israel launches first environmental research satellite Venμs

The technological mission of the satellite will test the operation of an innovative electric propulsion system based on the Israeli-designed Hall Effect Thrusters. A Hall-effect thruster (HET) is a relatively low power device used to propel a spacecraft after entering orbit or farther out into space.

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Coconut palm declared State tree of Goa:

The Goa state government has decided to include coconut palm as a tree in the Goa, Daman and Diu Preservation of Trees Act, 1984, to regulate felling of coconut trees under the act. The cabinet has also resolved to declare the coconut tree as the “state tree”.

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The government has launched a portal, e-RaKAM, to provide a platform to sell agricultural produce.

Key facts:

E-RaKAM is a first-of-its-kind initiative that leverages technology to connect farmers of the smallest villages to the biggest markets of the world through internet and e-RaKAM centres.

The portal is a joint initiative by state-run-auctioneer MSTC and Central Warehousing Corporation arm CRWC.

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According to a research report from the University of California, Climate change may have led to over 59,000 farmer suicides over the last 30 years in India.

The study tested the link between climate change, crop yields and suicide by comparing the number of suicides across India between 1967 and 2013 with crop yield and climate data. Data on suicides were collected from the National Crime Records Bureau

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india, China home to 39% of young Internet users: UN report

The ICT Facts and Figures 2017 report released by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the United Nations specialised agency for Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), shows that of the 830 million young people online worldwide, 320 million, or 39%, are in China and India.

ITU is the United Nations specialized agency for information and communication technologies – ICTs.

It allocates global radio spectrum and satellite orbits, develops the technical standards that ensure networks and technologies seamlessly interconnect, and strives to improve access to ICTs to underserved communities worldwide.

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About the Public Financial Management System:

The PFMS, also known as Central Plan Scheme Monitoring System (CPSMS), tracks fund disbursement and ensures that state treasuries are integrated with the Centre to ensure money is send as and when required.

PFMS, administered by the department of expenditure, is an end-to-end solution for processing payments, tracking, monitoring, accounting, reconciliation and reporting. It is a web based application.
The PFMS platform compiles, collates and makes available in real-time, information regarding all government schemes, and, significantly, provides the government real-time information on resource availability and utilisation across schemes.
In addition, the platform will allow government expenditure to adopt a Just-in- Time (JIT) approach, with payments made only when they are needed.

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National Campaign Against Mob Lynching (NCAML)

It has initiated a campaign for a law against mob lynching.
Also known as ‘#Masuka’, short for Manav Suraksha Kanoon (law to protect humans)
A draft of the proposed legislation is currently up on the Internet, awaiting suggestions from the public.

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What is a Parliamentary Budget Office(PBO)?

A PBO is an independent and impartial body linked directly to Parliament
A PBO is comprised of independent and specialised staff, such as Budget analysts, economists, public finance experts
It provides technical and objective analysis of Budgets and public finance to the House and its committees
Its core functions include Budget approval, scrutiny of its implementation
The PBO must be non-partisan, independent and mandated to serve all parliamentarians
Its output, and the methods by which those outputs are prepared must be transparent, accessible and understandable

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Finance act ritch

Arun Jaitley’s Finance Bill, 2017 has been passed in Lok Sabha today. A “money bill”, it will not be sent to Rajya Sabha for discussion, but only for recommendation which can be rejected by Lok Sabha, and then will be sent to the President of India for his ascent.

A bulk bill of 40 amendments to different laws, Finance Bill, 2017 has a string of legislations that will impact a variety of existing taxation (and other) laws involving funding of political parties, use of Aadhaar, income tax returns and raids, caps in cash transaction, and a host of other issues.

The Finance Bill, 2017, which was tabled in Lok Sabha by Union finance minister Arun Jaitley on February 1, during the Union Budget 2017-18, has been deemed one of the most controversial and debated bulk legislation that has been passed in Parliament.

Importantly, the “money bill” route, which will not require it to be debated in Rajya Sabha, where the ruling BJP does not have enough strength, has been widely criticised by Opposition leaders and by commentators on social media. Opposition leaders, such as Sitaram Yechury of the CPIM, have observed that a number of non-finance and non-taxation related amendments, such as the issue of electoral bonds for political funding, have been given a “backdoor entry” through the Finance Bill 2017.

So what are the main impacts and the key issues at stake vis-a-vis Finance Bill 2017? They are as follows:

Aadhaar is now mandatory for filing income tax returns and PAN

In addition to being linked to a number of public services and subsidies, as per Finance Bill, 2017, Aadhaar will now be compulsory from July 1, 2017 to file one’s income tax returns and to obtain and retain PAN, or permanent account number.

Repeat after me: Aadhaar is surveillance technology masquerading as secure authentication technology. https://t.co/NkveDsTM6y

— Nikhil Pahwa (@nixxin) March 22, 2017

Without possessing, or at least enrolling for Aadhaar, it won’t be possible to pay taxes, and that would mean ordinary citizens without Aadhaar will end up committing a crime, that of tax evasion and non-compliance of Income Tax Act, 2016.

Political funding and electoral bonds

Finance Bill, 2017 has made a major amendment to how private companies provide donations to political parties, which are not under Right to Information Act and need not disclose the source of contributions under Rs 20,000.

As of now, a company can donate up to 7.5 per cent of the average of its net profits in the last three consecutive financial years to parties, and disclosure of the donations against the names of the political parties who have been the beneficiaries must be displayed in the company balance sheet.

Debate on #FinanceBillcontinues in LS. The Bill has details about electoral funding. To know more on this: https://t.co/aQlfwODGQw

— PRS Legislative (@PRSLegislative) March 22, 2017

Once the amendments made in Finance Bill, 2017 come into effect, the cap of 7.5 per cent of the average of its net profits in the last three consecutive financial years will be removed. Additionally, companies will not be required to name the beneficiary political party.

Debate on #FinanceBillcontinues in LS. The Bill has details about electoral funding. To know more on this: https://t.co/aQlfwODGQw

— PRS Legislative (@PRSLegislative) March 22, 2017

Though companies can contribute via cheque, bank draft or e-transfer, electoral bonds, which might be introduced as means to fund political parties to “maintain donor anonymity” would become the main route through which money goes into the coffers of political parties.

Mahtab: Any money a political party gets should be made public. Why keep it anonymous? Big cos are giving the max donations to parties.

— Meghnad (@Memeghnad) March 22, 2017

Tribunals and Appellate Tribunals

A number of tribunals, which oversee disputes related to taxation and company balance sheets, as well as company wars over items such as telecom spectrum, etc, will be replaced and taken over by existing tribunals under other Acts.

#FinanceBillamendments:Certain Tribunals are proposed to be replaced,functions 2 be taken ovr by existing Tribunals https://t.co/mNbYMCiWzypic.twitter.com/i2qWKQqPw8

— PRS Legislative (@PRSLegislative) March 22, 2017

There’s no clear rationale behind this replacement, and seems to be rather arbitrary.

Members of invalidated tribunals, or those that have been merged, after the premature termination of their office terms, will go back to their parent ministry and department.  

Airports Authority of India Act, National Highways Act, TRAI Act, Information Technology Act 3/n

— Raman Chima (@tame_wildcard) March 21, 2017

Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of India Act, Competition Act, and Companies Act 4/4 *draws a long, ragged breath of air*

— Raman Chima (@tame_wildcard) March 21, 2017

Oh missed that also plans to amend the appellate tribunal under the Cinematograph Act. Because film censorship is finance issue apparently

— Raman Chima (@tame_wildcard) March 21, 2017

Terms of service

Currently, respective Acts specify the qualifications, remuneration package and other terms of service. However, Finance Bill 2017 will empower the central government to decide the terms of services, making up rules on the go. This will directly impact the independence of the tribunals as the executive will have enormous and undue influence in deciding the outcomes of these tribunals and appellate tribunals.

Photo: DailyO

More curbs on cash transaction

Finance Bill, 2017, as tabled by Union finance minister Arun Jaitley on February 1, proposed that cash transaction would be limited to Rs 3 lakh per person per day per event. Amendment moved on March 21 lowered the cap further to Rs 2 lakh per person per day per event.

B Mahtab asks the Finance Minister to reveal how much black money has been deposited under voluntary disclosure schemes in the past 1 year.

— Meghnad (@Memeghnad) March 22, 2017

This is in sync with the government’s cashless push, and is supposedly in the interest of curbing black money and tax evasion.

Possible Inspector Raj

The Finance Bill, 2017, which is pushing through changes to Income Tax Act, 2016, allows income tax raids to take place without furnishing a reasonable explanation (as was required under IT Act, 1961) for doing it, and without needing a court order.

This effectively puts enormous powers in the hands of IT officers and can bring about a new “Inspector Raj” and reign of “tax terrorism”. A possible fallout could be raids on dissenters, journalists, whistleblowers, activists, human rights lawyers, among others who ritually call out the government on incompetence, authoritarian streaks and governmental overreach bordering on police state.

Yes. Cannot accept.Foreign funding to pol parties, lobbying legal & opaque, giving superpowers to IT officers to raid is... all cool though https://t.co/MUS3Oh5SFb

— Meghnad (@Memeghnad) March 22, 2017

Penalty overdrive

As per Finance Bill, 2017, the adjudicating officer will continue to retain power under amended Securities Contracts (Regulation) Act and Depositories Act, 2004, to impose penalties on those failing to furnish information, documents or returns vis-a-vis their incomes. Essentially, this will lead to a penalty overdrive and a zeitgeist bureaucracy targeting anyone on the wrong side of the ruling regime at will.

Also read - Making Aadhaar mandatory for I-T returns and PAN smells like authoritarianism

#Income Tax, #Aadhaar, #Arun Jaitley, #Finance

EUGENICS

eugenics

juːˈdʒɛnɪks/

noun

the science of improving a population by controlled breeding to increase the occurrence of desirable heritable characteristics.
Related to crispr 9 wherein genes are edited to remove certain disease bearing genes..it doesnt add to god genes only cuts out bad gene from the sperm embryo whatever ritch

Whyyyy aa

Two-day 20th National Conference on e-Governance concludes in Visakhapatnam 

Cyber security is the need of the hour: MoS Shri P.P. Chaudhary

 

The two day National Conference on e-Governance concluded in Visakhapatnam today. The Union Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology and Law & Justice Shri P.P. Chaudhary chaired the valedictory session of the 20th National Conference on e-Governance. Addressing on the occasion, Shri P.P. Chaudhary said that there is a need for bridging the digital divide between the urban and rural areas. He said the Union government promotes research and development and innovative eco-system of Information Technology and also encourages acquisition of the Intellectual Property Rights by Indians.

The Minister further said that Cyber Security is the need of the hour and artificial intelligence will provide solutions to the problem of cyber security. There is also need for development of Nano technology and Nano electronics which helps for imparting value based education based on Mission mode Nano Electronics. India will be in a position to manufacture electronics devices and products in the country very soon, he added.

Shri P.P. Chaudhary also said that Andhra Pradesh is a pioneer in providing 725 e-governance services in rural areas. Government is committed for inclusive development through e- governance and providing several services to the citizens namely ration cards in public distribution system, passports, driving licenses and Voter IDs on the click of a button through mobile phones. The Prime Minister’s vision of Digital India can be achieved through e- governance, he added. The Minister said there is a need for use of technology into making a 3D animation form in various languages and its application in medical, Higher and professional education that would enhance the learning capabilities of the students. Shri P.P. Chaudhary said the linking of the AADHAAR Cards has helped the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) and the beneficiaries get their financial benefits directly to their bank accounts.

On the occasion Shri P.P. Chaudhary gave away the awards to the winners. National Awards for e-Governance 2016-17 were presented in two types of awards for each category. Out of 20 awards, 09 are Gold and 11 Silver.  Gold Award carries a certificate, citation and cash award of Rs. 2.00 lakhs.Silver Award carries a certificate, citation and cash award of Rs. 1.00 lakh.  

The awards were presented in several categories which includes Excellence in Government Process Re-engineering, Outstanding performance in Citizen-Centric Service Delivery, Innovative Use of Technology in e-Governance, Incremental Innovations in existing projects, Best District level initiative in citizen-centric service delivery through ICT, Innovative use of GIS Technology in e-Governance, Innovative use of mobile technology in e-Governance, Sectoral Award: Digital Transformation towards transforming India, Innovative Use of ICT by Central Government PSUs, Innovative use of ICT by State Government PSUs/Cooperatives/Federations/Societies, Outstanding e-Governance initiative by Academic and Research institutions and Use of ICT for Development by Non-Government Institutions.

reys

But that is where the similarity between Germany and India ends. How the two nations are likely to relate to each other will depend on how they deal with an important dissimilarity. Post-World War II Germany, like post-War Japan, chose to shy away from geopolitics and rose, instead, as a geo-economic power. It is only recently that both Germany and Japan have tried to leverage their geo-economic power to recover geopolitical influence in their respective regions.

This is happening precisely at a time when India is pursuing a more aggressive developmental agenda, giving greater importance to geo-economics over geopolitics. While old-fashioned analysts bemoan India’s inability to get its neighbours to ‘behave’ — look at Maldives, Nepal and, till recently Sri Lanka — the more forward-looking thinkers take the view that for India to play a larger geopolitical role in Asia and around the world, it must first become a more competitive and productive economy.

sucess of shg shows that social capital can triumph physical capital. or that trust in the society leads to prosperity

dickie bird ismail sheikh firozuddin

Dickie bird ismay and plan balkan

Dickie Bird Plan 1947 October 30, 2011No comments Mountbatten prepared a “Dickie Bird Plan” for India’s independence.  This plan was prepared by a committee of General Sir Hastings Ismay, Sir George Abell and Lord Mountbatten himself.  The Plan Balkan was completed and presented on 15-16 April 1947 by Hastings Ismay to assembly of provincial governors in Delhi.  Due to this, this plan was also called “Ismay Plan“. The main proposal of this plan was to that provinces should become first independent successor states rather than an Indian Union or the two dominions of India & Pakistan. As per this plan all the provinces viz. Madras, Bombay, United Provinces of Bengal, Punjab & North West Frontier etc. were proposed to be declared Independent. The states later would decide whether to join constituent assembly or not. This plan was not discussed in details with leaders of India and Mountbatten discussed just informally. He gave the plan a final touch and sent to London. Later when he moved to Shimla, Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru joined him as a guest. Here the details of the plan were put by Mountbatten before Nehru. Nehru rejected the plan right away and told him that this plan would invite Balkanization of India and would provoke conflict and violence. Consequently, Mountbatten cabled to England that this plan was cancelled. So it was also called as plan balkan.

The difference between this and mt batten plan is that the latter gave independence to princely states only...while this one was giving sovereignty to british provinces ie the very constituent elements of india itself.

Later sardar would integrate the princely states by offer of privy purses and later madam indira gandhi under the wave of socialism that nationalised banks did garibi hatao would also mean removing privy purses of princes. What nehru giveth daughter taketh away

The Six-Day War took place in June 1967. The Six-Day War was fought between June 5th and June 10th. The Israelis defended the war as a preventative military effort to counter what the Israelis saw as an impending attack by Arab nations that surrounded Israel. The Six-Day War was initiated by General Moshe Dayan, the Israeli’s Defence Minister.

The war was against Syria, Jordan and Egypt. Israel believed that it was only a matter of time before the three Arab states co-ordinated a massive attack on Israel. After the 1956 Suez Crisis, the United Nationshad established a presence in the Middle East, especially at sensitive border areas. The United Nations was only there with the agreement of the nations that acted as a host to it. By May 1967, the Egyptians had made it clear that the United Nations was no longer wanted in the Suez region. Gamal Nasser, leader of Egypt, ordered a concentration of Egyptian military forces in the sensitive Suez zone. This was a highly provocative act and the Israelis only viewed it one way – that Egypt was preparing to attack. The Egyptians had also enforced a naval blockade which closed off the Gulf of Aqaba to Israeli shipping.

The U.N. Security Council called for a withdrawal from all the occupied regions, but Israel declined, permanently annexing East Jerusalem and setting up military administrations in the occupied territories. Israel let it be known that Gaza, the West Bank, the Golan Heights, and the Sinai would be returned in exchange for Arab recognition of the right of Israel to exist and guarantees against future attack. Arab leaders, stinging from their defeat, met in August to discuss the future of the Middle East. They decided upon a policy of no peace, no negotiations, and no recognition of Israel, and made plans to zealously defend the rights of Palestinian Arabs in the occupied territories.

Egypt, however, would eventually negotiate and make peace with Israel, and in 1982 the Sinai Peninsula was returned to Egypt in exchange for full diplomatic recognition of Israel. Egypt and Jordan later gave up their respective claims to the Gaza Strip and the West Bank to the Palestinians, who beginning in the 1990s opened “land for peace” talks with Israel. The East Bank territory has since been returned to Jordan. In 2005, Israel left the Gaza Strip. Still, a permanent Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement remains elusive, as does an agreement with Syria to return the Golan Heights
The Palestine Authority has welcomed the initiative as a “flicker of hope”. But the Israeli government has slammed it. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s position is that Israel will hold direct talks with “a demilitarised Palestinian state that recognises Israel as a Jewish state and a national homeland for the Jewish people”. This appears more like a delaying tactic than a genuine demand for resuming talks for various reasons.

First, the Jewishness of the state of Israel is a matter of contention at least till the fate of the Palestinian refugees is settled. Second, there’s no level playing field between Israel and Palestine. One is the mightiest military power in West A

The problem in the case of the Israel-Palestine conflict is that there’s a pro-Israel bias among the Western powers which stops them from putting real pressure on Tel Aviv to deliver. Israel knows that it can get away with anything. It’s the only nuclear armed nation in West Asia, though it hasn’t officially declared that. It faced allegations of war crimes against Palestinians in Gaza. It continues occupation of the West Bank in violation of the UNSC resolutions. Despite criticisms even from its allies in the West, Israel’s settlement policy remains intact. Still, were there any meaningful international efforts to hold Israel accountable for its actions or to put pressure on its leaders to change their policies?

The international community could actually take a lesson out of the Iran example. World powers were on the same page in putting pressure on Iran, through a mix of international sanctions and threats of isolation, over its nuclear programme. Even Iran’s allies such as Russia and China joined hands with the U.S. and Britain to build a global pressure regime which eventually worked in forcing Tehran to compromise. What was one of the most contentious global issues till a few years ago was settled amicably in a rare case of the triumph of public diplomacy. Why can’t a similar method be adopted in dealing with Israel, which is also a violator of accepted global norms? This is unlikely to happen immediately. But unless the Israeli exceptionalism is broken, there won’t be peace in the Israel-Palestine conflict. To break that, there has to be both carrots and sticks. Right now, there are only carrots in the kitty, plenty of them.

Why was the nation partitioned

Nhru in discovery of india says that although  it was our fault to start with but the british had it in their interest to keep the nation divided post independence. Same has been reiterated by maulana azad.  MIND BLOWING ANALYSIS.

1. The ncert says that it was wrong on part of congress to indulge in too much negotiation with jinnah.. they should have nipped the problem in the bud by making an all out ideological war against communalism.

2. Cripps mission which it is said created the blue print for partition was then a creation of both British as well as congress. But more of congress as they wouldn't have had this problem if they hadnt made jinnah a negotiating partner.

3. The cabinet mission and even cripps never talked of partition. It is even said that britisg through a sense of justice wanted to see their former possession intact rather than brittled. Jinnah agreed to the solution but nehru left himm no choice but to seek partition.

4. Forces of communalism were without doubt were nt in the hands of british but they had given birth to it by their policy of divide and rule...

5. Congress did little to disassociate itself from hindu mahajan sabha

Therefore no one is at fault and everyone ia at fault.

last year shit 1

 The European Union Customs Union (EUCU) is acustoms union which consists of all the member states of the European Union (EU), Monaco, and some territories of the United Kingdom which are not part of theEU (Akrotiri and Dhekelia, Bailiwick of Guernsey, Bailiwick of Jersey, and the Isle of Man).




















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Recall the Article on Colonization of Asia. We had seen how the British, French and Americans had colonized almost entire South Asia.
After Second World War, most of these colonies attained independence. But they also had internal dispute regarding territories and borders.
One such dispute was Indonesia-Malaysia conflict over the Borneo islands.
This conflict + the then ongoing Vietnam War raised fears of increased external involvement in the newly independent states.
They feared that south east region would become a theatre of western vs. communist ideologies
Hence they decided to form a common platform:
To resolve bilateral issues among themselves
Present a collective front to the world.
1967, five countries signed “Bangkok declaration” to form the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), later another 5 joined. Thus today ASEAN has 10 members
List of 10 ASEAN nations
Indonesia (ASEAN HQ is here, in Jakarta)
Malaysia
Philippines
Singapore
Thailand
Brunei
Cambodia
Laos
Vietnam
Myanmar
Musyawarah & Mufakat
ASEAN follows the principle of “ASEAN way”. Meaning,

Musyawarah And Mufakat  [deliberation and consensus]
don’t use force/confrontation
don’t interfere in the internal matters of states
Informal discussion
minimal institutionalization
To achieve “the ASEAN way”, Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia (TAC) was signed.

TAC Treaty
It provides the guiding principles of ASEAN

they’ll not interfere in the internal affairs of one another,
they’ll not use threat or use of force to settle differences / disputes
they’ll settle of differences or disputes by peaceful means,
They’ll effectively cooperate among themselves.
they’ll mutually respect each other’s’ independence, sovereignty, equality, territorial integrity and national identity
Every State has right lead its national existence free from external interference, subversion or coercion,
India had signed TAC treaty with ASEAN in 2003.

Timeline: Growth of ASEAN since 90s
1994 ASEAN regional forum (ARF). already discussed in separate article click me
1997 ASEAN+3 is formed to increase regional integration. This includes
China
Japan
South Korea
2002 Treaty to control haze pollution in South East Asia
2006 ASEAN gets observer status in UNGA (General assembly)
2007 Cebu declaration for energy securities and renewable energy.
2010 Chiang Mai Initiative (CMI)
It is a currency swap agreement among ASEAN +3,
It provides emergency liquidity to those economies during crises.
2012
Asean Human Rights Declaration
21st ASEAN Summit in Phnom Penh Combodia with theme:“ASEAN: One Community, One Destiny”
20

The National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC) and National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) have backed Union Minister Ramdas Athawale’s suggestion to raise the current quota to accommodate upper caste poor. As long as the current 49.5% quota for SC, ST and OBCs remains intact, we are open for extending it for upper caste poor, said both NCBC and NCSC.and

 23 other Indian Ocean countries today started a tsunami mock drill to test warning and detection systems. The exercise involves evacuation of around 35,000 people from the coastal regions of India. Named ‘IOWave16’, the two-day mock drill organised by UNESCO simulated a tsunami warning with an earthquake of magnitude 9.2 in the eastern Indian Ocean

An NCERT panel has found serious deficiencies and flaws in the textbooks suggested at primary level by state boards. It held the authors responsible for the students' future and said most authors were writing books only for earning money. The method of treatment of the subject and the flow of language too are faulty, the panel said while making recommendations.

Starting next week, the Central Information Commission will give real-time updates of queries filed under the Right to Information (RTI) Act through email and SMS. The CIC would function as an e-court with all its files moving digitally, making the hearings faster and more convenient. The CIC has already scanned around 1.5 lakh documents and converted them into digital form.

Banni Grasslands Reserve or Banni grasslands form a belt of arid grassland ecosystem on the outer southern edge of the desert of the marshy salt flats of Rann of Kutch in Kutch District, Gujarat State, India. They are known for rich wildlife and biodiversity and are spread across an area of 3,847 square kilometres. They are currently legally protected under the status as a protected or reserve forest in India. Though declared a protected forest more than half a century ago Gujarat state's forest department has recently proposed a special plan to restore and manage this ecosystem in the most efficient way.[1][2] Wildlife Institute of India (WII) has identified this grassland reserve as one of the last remaining habitats of the cheetah in India and a possible reintroduction site for the species.[3]

Melody and rhythm are the common grounds for music, be it Western or Indian. Indian music is essentially monophonic (single melody format or homophonic) while Western music can be polyphonic (multiple notes played or sung in harmonised unison), monophonic or a combination of both.This was later enhanced by the Muslim influence and this musical bifurcation was described for the first time as Hindustani and Carnatic music by Haripaladeva in his text the 'Sangeetsudhakara' (1309-1312 AD).

Both the styles are monophonic, follow a melodic line and employ a drone (tanpura) with the help of one or two notes against the melody. Both the styles use definite scales to define a raga but the Carnatic Style employs Shrutis or semitones to create a Raga and thus have many more Ragas than the Hindustani style. Carnatic ragas differ from Hindustani ragas. The names of ragas are also different. However, there are some ragas which have the same scale as Hindustani ragas but have different names; such as Hindolam and Malkauns, Shankarabharanam and Bilawal. There is a third category of ragas like Hamsadhwani, Charukeshi, Kalavati etc. which are essentially Carnatic Ragas. They share the same name, the same scale (same set of notes) but can be rendered in the two distinctively different Carnatic and Hindustani styles. Unlike Hindustani music, Carnatic music does not adhere to Time or Samay concepts and instead of Thaats, Carnatic music follows the Melakarta concept.

Suficomposers like Amir Khusro, and later in theMughal courts. Noted composers such asTansen flourished, along with religious groups like the Vaishnavites.

Mention amzad sabri sabri brothers nusrat fateh ali a r rehman etc in a box

The Hindustani music system uses different musica
forms like the Dhrupad, Khyal, Thumri, Dadra, Tarana and so on. Of these, the important ones are Dhrupad, Khyal and Thumri. While the Dhrupad is the most strict form in terms of grammar and presentation format, the Khyal permits more liberty. The Thumri is the most flexible compared to the other two. But what separates one form from the other? How can one identify and differentiate? Let's see in detail. 

 Selvi v State of Karnataka

‘No person accused of any offence shall be compelled to be a witness against himself.’ (the ‘right to silence’). The Court has, apparently, also held that even when a person volunteers to be subject to these tests, their result cannot be admitted as evidence in a court of law.

In a recent case, Rajbala v. Haryana (2015), a two-judge bench of the Supreme Court of India strongly rejected the doctrine of substantive due process in India. In this case, the constitutional validity of the Haryana Panchayati Raj (Amendment) Act, 2015 was in question. Under the Act, five categories of persons were considered ineligible to contest elections for certain offices in panchayats in Haryana (for example, those against whom criminal charges of a certain kind were framed, those who had not paid their electricity dues, those who did not have specified educational qualifications, those who did not have a functional toilet in their homes, etc). The Act was challenged on the ground that it was “wholly unreasonable and arbitrary and therefore violative of Article 14 of the Constitution”. Though the Supreme Court rightly held that a statute cannot be invalidated merely because it is “arbitrary”, it also went on to reject the U.S. doctrine of substantive due process by holding that Indian courts “do not examine the wisdom of legislative choices unless the legislation is otherwise violative of some specific provision of the Constitution”, as “to undertake such an examination would amount to virtually importing the doctrine of ‘substantive due process’ employed by the American Supreme Court”, and under the Indian Constitution “the test of due process of law cannot be applied to statutes enacted by Parliament or the State Legislatures”.

The Rajbala decision is particularly interesting because earlier Benches of the Supreme Court, in cases like Ramlila Maidan Incident (2012) and Selvi v. State of Karnataka(2010), have repeatedly held that substantive due process and due process generally are a part of Indian constitutional law under Article 21 of the Constitution.

1. Size of Council of Ministers - After the 1989 defeat of Congress, the first National Front government was formed by a coalition of Janata Dal and other local parties with outside support of Left and the BJP. This was a minority government under VP Singh. For the period from 1989 onwards the number of ministers were on the discretion of the Prime Minister and were done to placate the allies. Ministries were split into individual functions so that Ministers could be given their own fiefdoms to run. This also increased the power and stature of individual leaders and could lead to unstable governments and too many important people in the government to cater to. To resolve this, 91st Amendment introduced in 2003-04, capped the upper level of Ministers to 15% of the strength of the  "popular house of the legislature" implying LS in case of Parliament and Vidhan Sabha in case of states. Exceptions were given for smaller legislature of Goa, Sikkim & Mizoram. This too was on a higher side compared to the recommendation of National Committee to Review the Working of the Constitution (NCRWC) of max 10%. I feel that even the 10% was higher but 15% is too much given that only 272 MPs are needed to form the government, which means that at the maximum possible there would be 1/3 of the government in the driving seat.
2. Anti-Defection Law - The anti-defection law was enacted in 1985 by the Rajiv Gandhi government and the intention was to remove horse trading and poaching of legislators by the parties. The law basically states that if a legislator elected on one party's ticket, resigns and moves to another party, his election will be nullified and he has to seek fresh elections on another party's ticket. However, if 1/3 of the party members left the party it did not qualify as defection. For smaller parties in the parliament, this was still a problem because smaller numbers of party members could still be poached by other parties without invoking the Anti-Defection law. To strengthen the Anti-defection law, this limit was increased from 1/3 to 2/3 members of the party in the 91st Amendment, thus making it more difficult for individuals and factions within the party to defect.

ramjawaya kapoor vs state of punjab

Our Supreme Court has recognised separation of powers as part of the basic structure of the Constitution, and can therefore strike down even amendments to the Constitution that infringe upon this principle.

The Delhi government has appointed 21 MLAs as parliamentary secretaries. Several other State governments have also taken this route in the past; earlier State governments in Delhi have also made such appointments, although fewer in number. This is part of a trend of weakening the power of legislative bodies by governments which has developed over the last three decades.

The concept of office of profit finds place in Articles 102 and 191 of the Constitution, which state that an MP or MLA will be disqualified if he or she occupies such an office. The idea is that every legislator should be able to carry out legislative duties without any obligation to the government of the day. As Ministers have to be members of the legislature, they are exempt from this disqualification. The Constitution also recognises that there may be other cases where exceptions may be required and allows Parliament and State legislatures to make exemptions by passing a law. In several cases, courts have examined this issue and concluded that the key question is whether occupation of such office will make a legislator beholden to the executive. In general, a person is considered to hold an office of profit if four conditions are met: (a) he holds an office, (b) the office is one of profit, that is, it carries some benefits, (c) the office is under the control of the Central or the State government (d) the office is not that of a Minister or exempted by an Act of Parliament or State legislature.

The 91st amendment to the Constitution recognised the problem of the government trying to win over legislators by giving them ministerial berths. It limited the number of ministers, including the Chief Minister, to 15 per cent of the strength of the Lok Sabha or State Legislative Assemblies. For Delhi, Article 239AA of the Constitution limits the number to 10 per cent of the strength of the Legislative Assembly (which is seven persons). The question is whether by appointing 21 more MLAs as parliamentary secretaries — which will make 40 per cent of the membership have some type of an executive role — the nature of the Legislative Assembly is being changed. That is, whether such an Assembly will still be able to exercise its oversight role over the government. An argument has been made that these parliamentary secretaries will be able to aid the government in being more responsive to citizens’ needs. That argument, however, misses the point of separation of powers. The role of legislators is not to help the government do its job better, but to ensure that it functions in a proper manner. That is, the legislator exercises the role of a watchdog over the government on behalf of citizens and not as an agent of the government.

Disempowering the legislature

 Two other developments, the anti-defection law and MPLADS/MLALADS (local area development schemes), also weaken the separation of the legislative arm from the executive. The anti-defection law was enacted in 1985 through the 52nd amendment to the Constitution. This requires all legislators to abide by the party diktat on every vote in the legislature. Therefore, the legislator cannot exercise independent judgement on any issue if the party leadership has taken a position. Thirty years of experience shows us that this has led to concentration of power in party leaderships. For instance, one sees any government that is trying to build consensus — such as for the Goods and Services Tax legislation — negotiate with the leaderships of various parties, rather than convince individual MPs on the merits of the case. Also, the ruling party can require all its MPs to vote in support of a motion. These MPs have effectively lost their rights — and therefore cannot do their duty — of exercising their independent judgement on issues and performing the watchdog role.

In 1993, the Central government started MPLADS, through which legislators can earmark a certain amount of public funds for projects in their constituency. The concept has been adopted by many states as MLALADS. The argument was that elected MPs and MLAs know the needs of their electorate well and can be effective in allocation of resources. This again subverts the role of legislators. Their role is to allocate the entire Central and State budgets, and to monitor the spending. They are expected to use their knowledge of ground-level issues in this allocation, and see that the funds are spent properly. By providing each of them a specific amount to spend on projects, their oversight role is weakened.

The role of legislators is critical in a democracy. They are elected by citizens, and have the task of ensuring that the government is acting in the best interests of the public. In this, they are expected to exercise their independent judgements on what constitutes public and national interest. They act as a bulwark against autocratic actions of the executive. Therefore, it is imperative that their independence is protected. Actions that impinge on such independence, such as excessive appointments to executive positions, the anti-defection law and MPLADS, should be reversed. Otherwise, there is a risk of a slow erosion of the institution of legislatures, which could put at risk the very existence of our republic.

time in 11 years and the second time in nearly three decades, the Supreme Court is functioning without a Muslim judge, reported The Indian Express. “It’s not a question of their rights being denied, it’s a question of proper representation of all religions, castes and regions at the Apex court,” said ex-CJI KG Balakrishnan

Model BIT

To what extent, the new model BIT has removed the problems of old draft?

There were several problems of the earlier draft as discussed in salient features above. It had not much emphasis on protection; had vague definitions and posed problems for India. It was also considered a pro-State document, heavily favouring the host state. Due to this, it created a problem for India to renegotiate the existing BITs with 73 different countries. Further, the language of the earlier draft was  that it inhibited India to negotiate BITs favourable to its own investors.

The recently released draft has made a balanced approach, is clear and tries to take care of not only foreign but also domestic investors. It also gives a fair amount of room to India to negotiate BITs with different countries on different terms.  It has done away with the vague norms of ‘fair and equitable treatment’ and replaced the same with clear and transparent standards of treatment, leaving no room for arbitration in future. It also inserts new concepts, like requiring arbitrators to be impartial, independent, and free from conflict of interest; transparency in arbitral proceedings; and acknowledges the possibility of setting up an appeals mechanism to review tribunal awards.

Does the new model suffer with some drawbacks?

Despite having accommodated positive changes, it suffers from certain fundamental drawbacks, for instance:

It restores its unconditional support of the Indian judicial system. It repeatedly refers to the need for “exhaustion of local remedies.” It is prescribed in the Model that foreign investors can raise a treaty dispute with India and similarly, an Indian investor can claim against a foreign state only after approaching local courts and eliminating the possibility of domestic resolution. The model also recalibrates the limitation period for such disputes, requiring that cases be filed before local courts within one year of acquiring knowledge of the disputed claim. The investor must then wait five years for that process to play out before seeking an arbitrated solution. Restoration of such traditional faith of the Model in the India judicial system – characterised with inordinate delays and systemic problems of quality of adjudication – sounds a utopian blare defeating the purpose of unlocking BIT-related deadlocks.

The removal of ‘most favoured nation’ clause – a standard element of typical BIT basket and which is expected by the USA to be an integral feature of BITs in India looks a intransigent approach of the Model.

Exclusion of taxation from its purview is a clear indication of the Government’s reaction to various disputes with firms like Vodafone, Nokia,andCairn on tax-related matters. As a response to the multifarious disputes India faces under the prevalent BITs, the Model has put in place an unbending grievance redressal mechanism (local remedies, lesser limitation, mandatory waiting period, etc.).

What is Investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS)? What role does it play?

Investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) or investment court system (ICS) is an instrument of public international law that grants an investor the right to use dispute settlement proceedings against a country’s government.

The ISDS’s focus on weak access to justice for the host state’s local investors and a viable one for the foreign investors has drawn flares of objection from all quarters. Its self-imposed faith in the competence of the host country’s judicial system without considering the fact that the delicate issues of bilateral trade and commerce.  Like these the ISDS contains a substantially flexibility which affects justice delivery process in case of bilateral investment issues.

New BIT

In a surprising recent move, India has served notices to 57 countries including the UK, Germany, France and Sweden seeking termination of bilateral investment treaties (BITs) whose initial duration has either expired or will expire soon.

For the remaining 25 countries with similar treaties whose initial duration will expire from July 2017 onwards, such as China, Finland, Bangladesh and Mexico, India has asked for joint statements to clarify ambiguities in treaty texts, to avoid expansive interpretations by arbitration tribunals.

The Indian government intends to replace existing BITs with a new set of treaties designed to strike a balance between investor rights, regulatory space and investor responsibilities. This move is an outcome of India’s new Model BIT of 2015, which provides a more balanced and coherent policy framework, in tune with domestic investment policies as well as new realities of international investment. It comes as India faces a record number of claims from foreign investors seeking billions of dollars in compensation for the alleged violation of existing investment treaties.

Most foreign investors have adopted a wait-and-see approach as India embarks on this new path. Their existing investments in India will continue to enjoy treaty protection for the next 10 to 15 years, as most Indian BITs contain a so-called sunset clause. For instance, India’s BIT with the Netherlands extends protection to all qualifying investments (made before the date of termination) for an additional 15 years, so that investments made in India by Dutch companies before December 2016 will continue to benefit from the Treaty’s protections until December 2031.

India’s new Model BIT is a major departure from its earlier models (of 1993 and 2003) as it provides protection to foreign investors in more limited circumstances. Under the new Model, controversial elements such as Most Favoured Nation status have been completely dropped, while the scope of clauses on National Treatment and Fair and Equitable Treatment has been considerably narrowed down.

Investors may still initiate international arbitration proceedings under the Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) mechanism. However, whereas this has hitherto allowed them to bypass domestic courts entirely, access to the ISDS mechanism has henceforth been made conditional on the exhaustion of local remedies. Foreign investors will have to first approach the relevant domestic courts for the resolution of an investment dispute before turning to arbitration.

The new Model includes an exhaustive list of economic, environmental and social measures to be exempted under the new BITs. This includes matters such as taxation, intellectual property rights and measures to protect macroeconomic stability.

The next big task for India is to negotiate its future treaties as per the new Model text. India is currently negotiating standalone BITs with the US and Canada, and a proposed free trade agreement with the EU includes an investment chapter. Negotiations for the proposed India-EU FTA were launched way back in in 2007.

Since the entry into force of the EU’s Lisbon Treaty of 2009, the competence for international investment agreements has shifted from individual member states to the EU. So it is unlikely that India and the Netherlands will start negotiations for a new BIT without the European Commission in the picture. Perhaps both countries will watch and wait until negotiations on the proposed India-EU FTA are finished.

India is also a major player in the ongoing negotiations for the Asian Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership – a mega regional FTA being negotiated between 16 countries – which will also cover investment protection issues.

Post-Brexit, there is a renewed push by the UK to forge closer bilateral trade and investment ties with India. On its part, India is also keen to explore a new BIT with the UK as the previous treaty of 1994 has turned out to be problematic.

Sajid Javid, the UK’s Business Secretary before the new government’s cabinet shuffle this week, visited India this month to explore the possibility of an FTA between the two nations in the near future. India was the first destination for such trade talks since the UK voted to leave the EU last month.

Rather than seeking a new standalone BIT, India and the UK may opt for an investment protection chapter under a comprehensive FTA. Given the current deadlock over the India-EU negotiations, India’s chances of entering into a FTA with the UK are far greater than its chances of doing so with the EU.

In the past decade, India’s investment landscape has changed considerably. India is no longer a purely capital-importing nation. Since 2005, Indian companies have increasingly looked to expand their global footprints by investing abroad. Indian investors are increasingly seeking investment protection tools in those jurisdictions that are generally perceived to have greater potential risks and uncertainties related to the regulatory framework and the political climate. So it remains to be seen how New Delhi will strike a balance between such competing claims.

Nor is it yet clear what would be the Indian government’s approach to investment chapters in FTAs. These are fraught with complexity and legal hurdles. As pointed out by Abdulkadir Jailani, an official from Indonesia’s foreign ministry, terminating an investment chapter of