Daily News Analysis 19th October 2018.

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Daily News Analysis (Prelims + Mains) – 19th October 2018

General Study – II

Topic:

Salient features of the Representation of People’s Act.

CRIMINALISATION OF POLITICS

Why in news?

In Public Interest Foundation Case a five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice issued directions aimed at decriminalisation of politics.

Legal and Judicial Provisions

  • Article 102(1) and 191(1) disqualifies an MP and an MLA respectively on certain grounds
  • Section 8 of the Representation of People Act, 1951, bans convicted politicians. But those facing trial, no matter how serious the charges, are free to contest elections.
  • The Supreme Court in Lily Thomas case (2013) held that charge sheeted MPs and MLAs, on conviction for offences, will be immediately disqualified from holding membership of the House without being given three months’ time for appeal, as was the case before.
  • In March 2014 SC judgment, court directed all subordinate courts to give their verdict on cases involving legislators within a year, or give reasons for not doing so to the chief justice of the high court. Progress in this matter has not been reviewed.

Background

  • According to the prevalent law, the lawmakers and candidates are barred under the Representation of Peoples Act (RPA) from contesting elections only after their conviction in a criminal case.
  • The current verdict was pronounced on a question whether lawmakers facing criminal trial can be disqualified from contesting elections at the stage of framing of charges against them.

Supreme Court Observations/Recommendations

  • Problem of criminalisation of politics is “not incurable” but requires urgent attention before it becomes “fatal” to the democracy.
  • The Apex court recommended that the Parliament must make law to ensure that persons facing serious criminal cases do not enter into the political stream.
  • The Court directed disclosure of criminal cases pending against the candidate by himself/herself through Election Commission of India and his/her political party.
  • Moreover the criminal antecedent of candidates must be widely publicized through different media including the websites of concerned political parties.
  • Court also made observations on political parties. The SC said that it is the political parties that form the government, man the parliament and run the governance of the country. It is therefore, necessary to introduce internal democracy, financial transparency and accountability in the working of the political parties.

Reasons for Criminalisation of Politics

  • Vote Bank: As the SC has observed that we as a voter are not yet organically evolved, therefore, majority of the voters are maneuverable, purchasable. Expenditure for vote buying and other illegitimate purposes through criminals leads to nexus between politicians and criminals.
  • Corruption: In every election all parties without exception put up candidates with a criminal background. The general trend is that these candidates are elected to office. Institutionalization of corruption and failure to deal with corruption has bred contempt for the law. This, combined with the criminalization of politics, flourishes the corruption. The past three Lok Sabha have seen an increasing number of legislators with criminal background or pending cases against them — 124 in 2004, 162 in 2009 and 182 in 2014.
  • Loop Holes in The Functioning of Election Commission: For the past several general elections there has existed a gulf between the Election Commission and the voter. Common people hardly come to know the rules made by the commission. Model Code of Conduct is openly flouted by candidates without any stringent repercussions.
  • Denial of Justice and Rule of Law: Toothless laws against convicted criminals standing for elections further encourage this process. In December 2017, the Government announced to set up 12 fast-track courts across the country to try criminal cases pending against sitting MPs and MLAs. 40 percent of pending cases have been transferred to special courts — of which judgments have been pronounced in just 136 cases (11%).
  • Though the Representation of the People Act (RPA) disqualifies a sitting legislator or a candidate on certain grounds, there is nothing regulating the appointments to offices within the party. A politician may be disqualified from being a legislator, but he may continue to hold high positions within his party, thus also continuing to play an important public role which he/she has been deemed unfit for by the law. Convicted politicians may continue to influence law-making by controlling the party and fielding proxy candidates in legislature.

Impact of Criminalization

  • The law-breakers get elected as law-makers- The people who are being tried for various offences are given the opportunity to make laws for the whole country, which undermines the sanctity of the Parliament.
  • Loss of public faith in Judicial machinery- It is apparent that those with political influence take advantage of their power by delaying hearings, obtaining repeated adjournments and filing innumerable interlocutory petitions to stall any meaningful progress. This questions the credibility of the judiciary.
  • Tainted Democracy: Where the rule of law is weakly enforced and social divisions are rampant, a candidate’s criminal reputation could be perceived as an asset. This brings in the culture of muscle and money power in the politics

Suggested measure to curb criminalization of politics:

  • Bringing greater transparency in campaign financing is going to make it less attractive for political parties to involve gangsters.
  • The Election Commission of India (ECI) should have the power to audit the financial accounts of political parties, or political parties’ finances should be brought under the right to information (RTI) law.
  • Broader governance will have to improve for voters to reduce the reliance on criminal politicians.
  • Fast-track courts are necessary because politicians are able to delay the judicial process and serve for decades before prosecution.
  • The Election Commission must take adequate measures to break the nexus between the criminals and the politicians.
  • The forms prescribed by the Election Commission for candidates disclosing their convictions, cases pending in courts and so on in their nomination papers is a step in the right direction if it applied properly.

Conclusion:

  • The need for cleansing politics of criminal influence has been flagged once again.
  • The primary sacrifice at the altar of criminalisation is that of governance, along with transparency and accountability.
  • Expensive election campaigning favours candidates with strong financial background. Such candidates, when elected, seek to recover their expenses besides securing a corpus for the future election as quickly as possible, especially in the era of coalition governments with tenuous stability.

General Study – III

Topic:

Disaster and disaster management.

National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA)

About NDMA

On 23 December 2005, the Government of India enacted the Disaster Management Act, which envisaged the creation of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) in 2009.

It is an apex statutory body for disaster management in the country, headed by the Prime Minister, and State Disaster Management Authorities (SDMAs) headed by respective Chief Ministers, to spearhead and implement a holistic and integrated approach to Disaster Management in India.

NDMA Vision

“To build a safer and disaster resilient India by a holistic, pro-active, technology driven and sustainable development strategy that involves all stakeholders and fosters a culture of prevention, preparedness and mitigation.”

Organisation Structure

  • The National Disaster Management Authority has been constituted under the Disaster Management Act 2005.
  • The Prime Minister of India as its Chairman
  • A Vice Chairman with the status of Cabinet Minister, and eight members with the status of Ministers of State.

Conceptually the organization is based on a ‘disaster divisions-cum-secretariat’ system. Each member of the Authority heads disaster-specific divisions for specific disaster and functional domains.

Each member has also been given the responsibility of specified states and UTs for close interaction and coordination.

The NDMA Secretariat, headed by a Secretary, is responsible for providing secretarial support and continuity.

The Secretariat deals with mitigation, preparedness, plans, reconstruction, community awareness and financial and administrative aspects.

NDMA also has the National Disaster Management Operations Centre which will be equipped with a state-of-the-art resilient and redundant communication systems, NDMA also carries out the tasks of capacity development, training and knowledge management.

Functions and Responsibilities of NDMA

  • Approval of the National Disaster Plan.
  • Lay down policies on disaster management.
  • Approve plans prepared by Ministries or Departments of Central Government in accordance with National Plan.
  • Lay down guidelines to be followed by State Authorities in drawing up State Plan.
  • Lay down guidelines to be followed by different Ministries or Departments of Centre for purpose of integrating measures for disaster prevention or mitigation of its effects in their development plans and projects.
  • Coordinate enforcement and implementation of disaster management policy and plan.
  • Recommend provision of funds for the purpose of mitigation.
  • Taking measures for prevention of disaster or mitigation or preparedness and capacity building for dealing with threatening disaster situation or disaster as it may consider necessary.
  • Lay down broad policies and guidelines for the functioning of National Institute of Disaster Management.
  • Provide required support to other countries affected by major disasters as determined by Central Government.

Sendai Framework on Disaster Risk Reduction

The “Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030” (SFDRR) was adopted during the Third United Nations (UN) World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (WCDRR) held in Sendai, Japan  in March, 2015.
It is the first major agreement of the post-2015 development agenda, with seven targets and four priorities for action. The Sendai Framework is the successor instrument to the Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA) 2005-2015: Building the Resilience of Nations and Communities to Disasters.
The Sendai Framework’s primary focus on risk reduction and resilience is a common element highlighted in all the 2030 development agendas adopted by all member states of the United Nations, such as the Addis Ababa Action Agenda on Financing for Development, the Sustainable Development Goals, the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, the Agenda for Humanity and New Urban Agenda.

The Sendai Framework introduces seven global targets to assess global progress toward the expected outcome.

Global Targets

  • Substantially reduce global disaster mortality by 2030, aiming to lower average per 100,000 global mortality rate in the decade 2020-2030 compared to the period 2005-2015.
  • Substantially reduce the number of affected people globally by 2030, aiming to lower average global figure per 100,000 in the decade 2020 -2030 compared to the period 2005-2015.
  • Reduce direct disaster economic loss in relation to global gross domestic product (GDP) by 2030.
  • Substantially reduce disaster damage to critical infrastructure and disruption of basic services, among them health and educational facilities, including through developing their resilience by 2030.
  • Substantially increase the number of countries with national and local disaster risk reduction strategies by 2020.
  • Substantially enhance international cooperation to developing countries through adequate and sustainable support to complement their national actions for implementation of this Framework by 2030.
  • Substantially increase the availability of and access to multi-hazard early warning systems and disaster risk information and assessments to the people by 2030.

SFDRR defined four priorities areas where action is needed:

  • Understanding disaster risk.
  • Strengthening disaster risk governance to manage disaster risk.
  • Investing in disaster risk reduction for resilience.
  • Enhancing disaster preparedness for effective response and to “Build Back Better” in recovery, rehabilitation and reconstruction.

Topics for Prelims

Dharma Guardian- 2018

  • India and Japan are all set to hold the first ever joint military exercise ‘DHARMA GUARDIAN-2018’ involving the Indian Army and Japan Ground Self Defense Force at Counter Insurgency Warfare School, Vairengte, India from 01 November to 14 November 2018
  • During the 14 day long exercise, due emphasis will be laid on increasing interoperability between forces from both countries.
  • Both sides will jointly train, plan and execute a series of well-developed tactical drills for neutralization of likely threats that may be encountered in urban warfare scenario.
  • Experts from both sides will also hold detailed discussions to share their expertise on varied operational aspects.