Daily Current Affairs : 27th & 28th March 2022

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Daily Current Affairs for UPSC CSE

Topics Covered

  1. PM – GKAY
  2. Olive Ridley
  3. T-cell immune response
  4. BIMSTEC
  5. Minorities
  6. Space Economy of India
  7. $400 bn exports
  8. Voting of Overseas Citizen
  9. Facts for Prelims

1 . PM – GKAY

Context : The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Saturday extended the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PM-GKAY) by another six months till September 2022. The scheme was originally introduced in April 2020 a month into the first lockdown during the initial onset of the COVID pandemic.

About the scheme

  • Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PM-GKAY) is a scheme as part of Atmanirbhar Bharat to supply free food grains to migrants and poor. 
  • The program was announced as part of the existing Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana welfare initiative in his first address to the nation during the COVID-19 pandemic by the Prime Minister
  • The program is operated by the Department of Food and Public Distribution under the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution.
  • Phase-I and Phase-II of this scheme was operational from April to June, 2020 and July to November, 2020 respectively.
  • Phase-III of the scheme was operational from May to June, 2021.
  • Phase-IV of the scheme is currently operational for July-November, 2021 months.
  • The PMGKAY scheme for Phase V from December 2021 till March, 2022 would entail an estimated additional food subsidy of Rs. 53344.52 Crore

Benefits

  • More than 81.35 crore people will be provided 5 kg free wheat/rice per person / month along with 1 kg free whole chana to each family per month.
  • Wheat has been allocated to 6 States/UTs, – Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Chandigarh, Delhi and Gujarat and rice has been provided to the remaining States/UTs.
  • This is over and above the regular monthly entitlements under National Food Security Act, 2013 (NFSA).

Eligibility 

  • Families belonging to the Below Poverty Line – Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) and Priority Households (PHH) categories will be eligible for the scheme.
  • PHH are to be identified by State Governments/Union Territory Administrations as per criteria evolved by them.
  • AAY families are to be identified by States/UTs as per the criteria prescribed by the Central Government:
  • Households headed by widows or terminally ill persons or disabled persons or persons aged 60 years or more with no assured means of subsistence or societal support.
  • Widows or terminally ill persons or disabled persons or persons aged 60 years or more or single women or single men with no family or societal support or assured means of subsistence.
  • All primitive tribal households.
  • Landless agriculture labourers, marginal farmers, rural artisans/craftsmen such as potters, tanners, weavers, blacksmiths, carpenters, slum dwellers, and persons earning their livelihood on daily basis in the informal sector like porters, coolies, rickshaw pullers, hand cart pullers, fruit and flower sellers, snake charmers, rag pickers, cobblers, destitute  and other similar categories in both rural and urban areas.
  • All eligible Below Poverty Line families of HIV positive persons

2 . Olive Ridley Turtle

Context : About 2.45 lakh Olive Ridley sea turtles crawled ashore on the Nasi-II beach of the Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary along the Odisha coast for laying eggs, marking one of the largest opening day arrivals of turtles at the site. Once known as a safe nesting ground on India’s east coast, a nearly 30-km coastline in the Godavari estuary has recorded a sharp fall in the arrival of Olive Ridley turtles (Lepidochelys olivacea) during the breeding season as large numbers of the endangered animals are trapped by high speed fishing boats.

About Olive Ridley Turtles

  • The Olive ridley turtle is the smallest and most abundant of all sea turtles
  • The Olive ridley gets its name from its olive green coloured carapace, which is heart-shaped
  • Olive ridley turtles use three different strategies to nest: arribadas, solitary nests and mixed strategy.
  • An arribada is a mass-nesting event when thousands of turtles come ashore at the same time to lay eggs on the same
  • In the Indian Ocean, the majority of olive ridleys nest in two or three large groups near Gahirmatha in Odisha. The coast of Odisha in India is the largest mass nesting site for the olive ridley, followed by the coasts of Mexico and Costa Rica
  • The Gahirmatha Beach in Kendrapara district of Odisha (India), which is now a part of the Bhitarkanika Wildlife Sanctuary, is the largest breeding ground for these turtles
  • IUCN list status – Vulnerable

Nesting

  • Conservation of the Olive Ridley turtles in Odisha began with the discovery and worldwide recognition of the Gahirmatha rookery close to the mouth of Brahmani-Baitarani (Dhamra) River, in 1974. A second mass nesting was discovered in 1981 at the Devi River mouth, about 55 nautical miles south of Gahirmatha. In 1994, a third mass nesting area was also discovered at the Rushikulya river mouth, 162 nautical miles south of Gahirmatha.
  • The Olive Ridely Turtles come to the beaches of Odisha coast annually between November and December and stay on until April and May for nesting. Off late, nesting has been observed to start from late January to early February. The turtles choose the narrow beaches near estuaries and bays for laying their eggs. Each adult female lays approximately hundred to hundred and forty eggs at a time.

Threats

  • Olive-ridleys face serious threats across their migratory route, habitat and nesting beaches, due to human activities such as turtle unfriendly fishing practices, development and exploitation of nesting beaches for ports, and tourist centres.
  • Though international trade in these turtles and their products is banned under CITES Appendix I, they are still extensively poached for their meat, shell and leather, and their eggs, though illegal to harvest, have a significantly large market around the coastal regions.
  • However, the most severe threat they face is the accidental killing of adult turtles through entanglement in trawl nets and gill nets due to uncontrolled fishing during their mating season around nesting beaches.

Conservation

  • All the five species of sea turtles occurring in India, including the Olive Ridley turtles, are legally protected under Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 and Appendix I of the CITES Convention which prohibits trade in turtle products.
  • The mass nesting beach at Gahirmatha is a part of Bhitarkanika Wildlife Sanctuary and the waters around Bhitarkanika were declared as Gahirmatha (Marine) Wildlife Sanctuary in September 1997, to protect the nesting and breeding habitat of the Olive Ridley.
  • The coastal waters off Devi and Rushikulya rookery are declared as a nofihing zone during the sea turtle breeding season under the Odisha Marine Fisheries Regulation Act (OMFRA), 1982 and Odisha Marine Fisheries Regulation Rules, 1983. The Coast Guard is empowered to enforce the provisions of the Act.
  • To reduce accidental entrapment and death of turtles, the Odisha Government has made it mandatory for the mechanized fishing trawlers to use
  • Turtle Excluder Device or TEDs, which is a specially designed net with an exit cover that retains the catch while allowing the turtles to escape
  • As the nesting period stretches over six months, the Indian Coast Guard undertakes the Olive Ridely Turtle protection program under the code name ‘Operation Olivia’ every year.

3 . T-cell immune response

Context : No studies have been done to evaluate the protective effect of memory T cell immune responses against severe disease 12 months after primary infection. A new study from Wuhan addresses this gap. The results were published in the journal The Lancet Microbe.

Details of the Study

  • The researchers found that neutralising antibodies were detectable even 12 months after infection in “most individuals”, and it remained stable 6-12 months after initial infection in people younger than 60 years.
  • The researchers found that “multifunctional T cell responses were detected for all SARS-CoV-2 viral proteins tested”. And most importantly, the magnitude of T cell responses did not show any difference immaterial of how severe the disease was. While the ability of antibodies to neutralise was nearly absent against the Beta variant, it was reduced in the case of the Delta variant.
  • In contrast, the T cell immune responses were detectable in all the 141 individuals tested 12 months after infection and even when they had lost the neutralising antibody response. And the T cell responses were responding against the Beta variant in most of the 141 individuals.
  • SARS-CoV-2-specific neutralising antibody and T cell responses were retained 12 months after initial infection. Neutralising antibodies to the D614G, Beta, and Delta were reduced compared with those for the original strain, and were diminished in general. Memory T cell responses to the original strain were not disrupted by new variants,” they write. “Our findings show that robust antibody and T cell immunity against SARS-CoV-2 is present in majority of recovered patients 12 months after moderate-to-critical infection.”

B Cell and T Cell

  • The immune system is broadly classified into two sub-types: innate (or natural) and adaptive (or acquired). The key differences between the two are the specificity and agility of the responses generated towards a perceived threat.
  • The innate system also provides cues in the forms of chemical signals (cytokines) or degraded products of infectious organisms (antigens) to activate the adaptive immune system, using a process known as “antigen presentation”. Without these cues, the adaptive immune system cannot be activated.
  • The adaptive immune system has evolved to provide a more versatile and highly target-specific defence with an ability to distinguish very subtle differences in the make-up of infectious agents. But the adaptive immune system is slow and can take several days before two key cell types – B cells and T cells – are brought into play.
  • T cells are further grouped into two sub-types, CD4+ and CD8+ cells
  • CD4+ are helper T cells that help the activity of other immune cells by releasing cytokines.
  • The cytokines prime the maturation of B cells, which become plasma cells and produce antibodies to neutralise the pathogen.
  • CD8+ cytotoxic T cells, on the other hand, directly kill infected cells.
  • Once the adaptive immune system has vanquished the invader, a pool of long-lived memory T and B cells are made. These memory lymphocytes remain dormant until the next time they encounter the same pathogen. This time, though, they produce a much faster and stronger immune reaction. Memory is the key feature of the adaptive immune system, enabling long-term protection.

4 . BIMSTEC

Context : It is better to engage Myanmar rather than “isolate” the country, said Sri Lanka’s Foreign Secretary Admiral Jayanath Colombage (retired), explaining Colombo’s decision to invite Myanmar military administration’s Foreign Minister to the fifth Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) summit this week.

About BIMSTEC

  • The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) is a regional organization comprising seven Member States lying in the littoral and adjacent areas of the Bay of Bengal constituting a contiguous regional unity.
  • This sub-regional organization came into being on 6 June 1997 through the Bangkok Declaration.
  • It constitutes seven Member States: five deriving from South Asia, including Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and two from Southeast Asia, including Myanmar and Thailand.
  • Initially, the economic bloc was formed with four Member States with the acronym ‘BIST-EC’ (Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka and Thailand Economic Cooperation). Following the inclusion of Myanmar on 22 December 1997 during a special Ministerial Meeting in Bangkok, the Group was renamed ‘BIMST-EC’ (Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Thailand Economic Cooperation).
  • With the admission of Nepal and Bhutan at the 6th Ministerial Meeting (February 2004, Thailand), the name of the grouping was changed to ‘Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation’ (BIMSTEC).
  • The regional group constitutes a bridge between South and South East Asia and represents a reinforcement of relations among these countries.

Importance of BIMSTEC

  • The objective of building such an alliance was to harness shared and accelerated growth through mutual cooperation in different areas of common interests by mitigating the onslaught of globalization and by utilizing regional resources and geographical advantages.
  • Unlike many other regional groupings, BIMSTEC is a sector-driven cooperative organization. Starting with six sectors—including trade, technology, energy, transport, tourism and fisheries—for sectoral cooperation in the late 1997, it expanded to embrace nine more sectors—including agriculture, public health, poverty alleviation, counter-terrorism, environment, culture, people to people contact and climate change—in 2008.

Significance of BIMSTEC for India

  • As the region’s largest economy, India has a lot at stake. BIMSTEC connects not only South and Southeast Asia, but also the ecologies of the Great Himalayas and the Bay of Bengal. For India, it is a natural platform to fulfil our key foreign policy priorities of ‘Neighborhood First’ and ‘Act East‘
  • Connectivity. Almost 300 million people, or roughly one-quarter of India’s population, live in the four coastal states adjacent to the Bay of Bengal (Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal). And, about 45 million people, who live in landlocked Northeastern states, will have the opportunity to connect via the Bay of Bengal to Bangladesh, Myanmar and Thailand, opening up possibilities in terms of development.
  • Asian Trilateral Highway connecting India and Thailand through Myanmar, Kaladan Multimodal project that seeks to link India and Myanmar, the project envisages connecting Kolkata to Sittwe port in Myanmar, and then Mizoram by river and road Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal (BBIN) pact for movement of goods and vehicles are the projects undertaken by BIMSTEC countries which will provide connectivity especially in the North Eastern States.
  • From the strategic perspective, the Bay of Bengal, a funnel to the Malacca straits, has emerged a key theatre for an increasingly assertive China in maintaining its access route to the Indian Ocean. Beijing has undertaken massive drive to finance and develop infrastructure in South and Southeast Asia through the Belt and Road Initiative in almost all BIMSTEC countries, except Bhutan and India. As China mounts assertive activities in the Bay of Bengal region, with increased submarine movement and ship visits in the Indian Ocean, it is in India’s interest to consolidate its internal engagement among the BIMSTEC countries.

5 . Minorities

Context : The Supreme Court will on Monday (March 28) take up a petition seeking identification of minorities at the state level and granting minority status to Hindus in states and union territories where their numbers have gone below other communities.

What is the case about?

  • The petition by Advocate Ashwini Upadhyay has contended that the 2011 census showed that Hindus have become a minority in Lakshadweep (2.5%), Mizoram (2.75%), Nagaland (8.75%), Meghalaya (11.53%), J&K (28.44%), Arunachal Pradesh (29%), Manipur (31.39%), and Punjab (38.40%), but were being denied minority benefits that are currently being enjoyed by the respective majority communities in these places.
  • The plea relies on the Supreme Court’s 2002 ruling in the TMA Pai Foundation case (TMA Pai Foundation & Ors vs State Of Karnataka & Ors) and the 2005 decision in the Bal Patil case (Bal Patil & Anr vs Union Of India & Ors).

What does the Constitution say about minorities?

  • The expression “minorities” appears in some Articles of the Constitution, but is not defined anywhere.
  • Article 29, which deals with the “Protection of interests of minorities”, says that “any section of the citizens residing in the territory of India or any part thereof having a distinct language, script or culture of its own shall have the right to conserve the same”, and that “no citizen shall be denied admission into any educational institution maintained by the State or receiving aid out of State funds on grounds only of religion, race, caste, language or any of them”.
  • Article 30 deals with the “right of minorities to establish and administer educational institutions”. It says that all minorities, whether based on religion or language, shall have the right to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice. It says that “in making any law providing for the compulsory acquisition of any property of an educational institution established and administered by a minority…, the State shall ensure that the amount fixed by or determined under such law for the acquisition of such property is such as would not restrict or abrogate the right guaranteed under that clause”, and that “the state shall not, in granting aid to educational institutions, discriminate against any educational institution on the ground that it is under the management of a minority, whether based on religion or language”.
  • Article 350(A) says there shall be a Special Officer for linguistic minorities to be appointed by the President. “It shall be the duty of the Special Officer to investigate all matters relating to the safeguards provided for linguistic minorities under this Constitution and report to the President upon those matters at such intervals as the President may direct, and the President shall cause all such reports to be laid before each House of Parliament, and sent to the Governments of the States concerned”.

So, who is a minority in India?

  • Currently, only those communities notified under section 2(c) of the National Minorities Commission Act, 1992, by the central government are regarded as minority.
  • In the exercise of its powers under the Section 2(c) of the NCM Act, the Centre on October 23, 1993, notified five groups — Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Parsis — as ‘minority’ communities. Jains were added to the list in January 2014

What have courts said on the subject?

  • TMA PAI: In ‘TMA Pai’, an 11-judge bench of the Supreme Court dealt with the question of the scope of right of minorities to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice under the Constitution. A majority ruling by six judges in 2002 referred to two other cases pertaining to the DAV College in Punjab, in which the SC had to consider whether Hindus were a religious minority in the State of Punjab. “This Court rejected the contention that since Hindus were a majority in India, they could not be a religious minority in the State of Punjab, as it took the State as the unit to determine whether the Hindus were a minority community. There can, therefore, be little doubt that this Court has consistently held that the unit to determine a religious or linguistic minority can only be the State.
  • BAL PATIL: In 2005, the SC in its judgment in ‘Bal Patil’ referred to the TMA Pai ruling, and said: “After the verdict in the eleven judges’ Bench in TMA Pai Foundation case (supra), the legal position stands clarified that henceforth the unit for determining status of both linguistic and religious minorities would be ‘state’….If, therefore, the State has to be regarded as the unit for determining “linguistic minority” vis-a-vis Article 30, then with “religious minority” being on the same footing, it is the State in relation to which the majority or minority status will have to be determined. “The minority for the purpose of Article 30 cannot have different meanings depending upon who is legislating. Language being the basis for the establishment of different States for the purposes of Article 30, a “linguistic minority” will have to be determined in relation to the State in which the educational institution is sought to be established. The position with regard to the religious minority is similar, since both religious and linguistic minorities have been put on a par in Article 30.”

6 . Space Economy of India

Context : A collaboration between two premier research and educational institutions in Thiruvananthapuram has shed light on India’s “space economy”, the contours of which have remained largely vague even as the country’s space programme grew by leaps and bounds.

About the News

  • In a first-of-its kind attempt at measuring the size of India’s space economy, researchers from the Centre for Development Studies (CDS) and the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST) arrived at a figure of ₹36,794 crore (approximately $5 billion) for the financial year 2020-21. The estimated size, as a percentage of the GDP, has slipped from 0.26% in 2011-12 to 0.19% in 2020-21, they found.
  • The findings, outlined in a paper, “The space economy of India: its size and structure”, by CDS Director Sunil Mani; V.K. Dadhwal, till recently IIST Director; and Shaijumon C.S., Associate Professor of Economics, IIST, were the subject of a recent webinar.
  • For the present study, the authors have relied on Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and Parliament documents, the Comptroller and Auditor-General’s (CAG) reports, data on intellectual property rights and other government data, in addition to Scopus-indexed space publications.

Key Findings

  • By employing internationally accepted frameworks, the authors have examined the annual budget for the space programme and its constituents; space manufacturing, operations and application. According to the paper, space applications accounted for the major chunk of this evolving economy, constituting 73.57% (₹27,061 crore) of it in 2020-21, followed by space operations (₹8,218.82 crore or 22.31%) and manufacturing (₹1,515.59 crore or 4.12%).
  • The budget outlay for space has considerable influence on the dynamics of the space economy, according to the study. “’India’s space economy has evolved considerably and now accounts, on an average, for about 0.23% of the GDP (over 2011-12 to 2020-21). We have also noticed a decline in the budget for space-related activities, leading to a reduction in the size of the economy in the last two years,” Professor Mani said. The budget outlay in 2020-21 was ₹9,500 crore, shrinking from ₹13,033.2 crore in the previous fiscal. The estimated size of the space economy shrunk from ₹43,397 crore in 2018-19 to ₹39,802 crore in 2019-20 and ₹36,794 crore in 2020-21.
  • The study also found that the space budget as a percentage of the GDP slipped from 0.09% in 2000-01 to 0.05% in 2011-12, and has remained more or less at that level since then. In relation to GDP, India’s spending is more than that of China, Germany, Italy and Japan, but less than of the U.S. and Russia.
  • Inability to establish the size of the space-based remote sensing industry is a drawback.

7 . $400 bn exports

Context : On March 21, the value of India’s outbound shipments in the financial year 2021-22 hit $400 billion, the highest ever. By the time the year closes this Thursday, another $10 billion worth of goods is expected to be shipped out. This would translate into a growth of about 41% from the pandemic-hit year of 2020-21, making it India’s fastest exports growth rate since 2009-10.

How significant is the attainment of India’s $400 billion exports target?

  • First, 2021-22 reflects the first time in several years that the country has met its exports target, but for greater context, India’s trend line in exports before the COVID-19 disruptions was nowhere close to this year’s performance.
  • According to data from the Reserve Bank of India, outbound merchandise trade had clocked $303.5 billion in 2017-18, $330.1 billion in 2018-19 before slipping to $313.4 billion in 2019-20, when numbers were slightly dented due to the harsh national lockdowns imposed in the last week of that financial year.
  • While higher prices of commodities and oil helped drive up the value of exports, with petroleum products exports jumping over 141%, some of India’s industrial sectors shone through as well. Engineering exports, for instance, have jumped 46.5% to cross $100 billion for the first time, even as chemicals, cotton yarn, handloom products, and the apparel industry have done well. India has managed to achieve its export target despite supply disruptions due to the pandemic, the challenging shortages of shipping containers and surging freight rates.
  • Part of this could also be explained by the world shifting its global procurement preferences to diversify their dependence on China following the outbreak of the COVID-19 virus. Australia, which is in the midst of a shrill trade battle with China, has made way for India, taking exports up 94% so far this year. Shipments to the U.S. are also up 47%. India would hope to consolidate these gains and establish its credentials as a credible alternative to China, even as it could face stiff competition in some sectors from Asian peers such as Vietnam and Bangladesh.

What about imports and the trade deficit?

  • Even as exports may rise nearly $120 billion this year, India’s imports have shot up to record levels and could end up nearly $200 billion over 2020-21’s import figure of $393.6 billion.
  • The trade deficit for the year could be around $190 billion, sharply higher than the $102 billion recorded in the pandemic year. The monthly trade deficit has been spiking recently and had hit a record $22.9 billion in November 2021, with imports gaining greater momentum than exports.

What are the risk factors for Indian exports in the coming year?

  • Although India’s direct trade with Russia is not significant at about 1% of its trade basket, the Ukraine-Russia conflict may create some more opportunities for Indian farm produce exports, especially for crops like wheat and maize. But this would be offset by a sharp rise in India’s energy import bill as well as an uptick in costs of importing edible oils like sunflower oil, whose production is dominated by the two nations at war. India imports 80% of its oil and demand is likely to grow as the economic recovery picks up pace, provided the pandemic doesn’t resurface. This could translate into a ’term-of-trade’ shock, with elevated trade and current account deficits and sustained pressure on the rupee even as monetary tightening in the developed world may suck out dollars from emerging markets. The RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das has pointed out that unlike the taper tantrum of 2013, the country’s foreign exchange reserves, adequate to cover more than 12 months of imports, are robust and can finance higher current account deficits if needed. Most economists, however, expect the rupee to weaken over 2022-23, which in turn could be a minor perk for exporters.
  • While high shipping rates, container shortages and re-alignment of trade routes around the Black Sea will pose a challenge, timely actions on the policy front could help create more export opportunities. First, a swift conclusion of Free Trade Agreement pacts being negotiated with countries like the U.K., Australia and Canada, could create easier market access in these large markets. Second, exporters await a long-overdue revision of the Foreign Trade Policy for 2015-20, that has now been extended into the first few months of 2022-23 as well. Third, a parliamentary committee has urged the government to include Special Economic Zones and sectors such as pharma, steel, and chemicals under the Remission of Duties and Taxes on Export Products (RoDTEP) Scheme, which finally kicked off last year after a significant delay.
  • These could help balance out some of the bigger tectonic shifts in trading patterns from the European crisis, including a firming up of the COVID-induced inward-looking shift in nations’ stance on globalisation.

8 . Voting for Overseas Citizens

Context : On March 25, Union Minister for Law and Justice Kiren Rijiju in response to a question in the Lok Sabha stated that the government was exploring the possibility of allowing online voting for non-resident Indians (NRI).

How can overseas voters currently vote in Indian elections?

  • Prior to 2010, an Indian citizen who is an eligible voter and was residing abroad for more than six months , would not have been able to vote in elections. This was because the NRI’s name was deleted from electoral rolls if he or she stayed outside the country for more than six months at a stretch.
  • After the passing of the Representation of the People (Amendment) Act, 2010, eligible NRIs who had stayed abroad beyond six months have been able to vote, but only in person at the polling station where they have been enrolled as an overseas elector.
  • Just as any resident Indian citizen above the age of 18 years) is eligible to vote in the constituency where she/he is a resident, overseas Indian citizens are also eligible to do so. In the case of overseas voters, their address mentioned in the passport is taken as the place of ordinary residence and chosen as the constituency for the overseas voter to enrol in.

How has the existing facility worked so far?

  • From merely 11,846 overseas voters who registered in 2014, the number went up to close to a lakh in 2019. But the bulk of these voters (nearly 90%) belonged to just one State — Kerala. Of the 25,606 such voters who actually turned up, 25,534 were from Kerala (mostly from Kozhikode and Malappuram districts).
  • Clearly, a very low proportion of eligible overseas residents actually registered or turned up to vote. The Representation of the People Act, envisaged voters as only the “ordinary residents” in a constituency who will choose representatives to represent their local interests while mediating on larger issues in the legislature.
  • Proviso of having to visit the polling booth in person has discouraged eligible voters from exercising their mandate.
  • In the winter session of Parliament in 2017, the government proposed to remove the restriction imposed by Section 20A of the Representation of the People Act, which required them to be physically present to vote in their constituencies.
  • The Bill provided for overseas voters to be able to appoint a proxy to cast their votes on their behalf, subject to conditions laid down in the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961.
  • The Bill was later passed in 2018, but lapsed with the dissolution of the 16th Lok Sabha. The ECI then approached the government to permit NRIs to vote via postal ballots similar to a system that is already used by service voters, (a member of the armed Forces of the Union; or a member of a force to which provisions of the Army Act, 1950 (46 of 1950) which is the Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot System or ETPBS.

What is ETPBS and how does it function?

  • The Conduct of Election Rules, 1961 was amended in 2016 to allow service voters to use the ETPBS. Under this system, postal ballots are sent electronically to registered service voters.
  • The service voter can then download the ETPB (along with a declaration form and covers), register their mandate on the ballot and send it to the returning officer of the constituency via ordinary mail. The post will include an attested declaration form (after being signed by the voter in the presence of an appointed senior officer who will attest it). The postal ballot must reach the returning officer by 8 a.m. on the day of the counting of results.
  • The ECI proposed to extend this facility to overseas voters as well. For this to commence, the Law Ministry has to amend the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961. In the case of NRI voters, those seeking to vote through ETPBS will have to inform the returning officer at least five days after notification of the election. The returning officer will then send the ballot electronically via the ETPBS.
  • The NRI voter can then register her/his mandate on the ballot printout and send it back with an attested declaration in a process similar to the service voter. Except in this case, the senior officer would be appointed by the Indian diplomatic or consular representative in the resident country of the NRI. The ECI has not specified whether the voter should send in the ballot through ordinary post to the returning officer or drop it off at the Indian consular office/embassy, which will then send the envelopes constituency-wise to the returning officers.

Are postal ballots a viable means of voting?

  • The ETPBS method allowed for greater turnout among service voters in the 2019 Lok Sabha election. With increasing mobility of citizens across countries for reasons related to work, the postal ballot method has been recognised by the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (an intergovernmental organisation that works to support democratic processes and institutions) as a means to allow overseas voters to exercise their right, subject to certain conditions normally related to the time spent abroad or the work carried out abroad.
  • A postal ballot mechanism that allows for proper authentication of the ballot at designated consular/embassy offices and an effective postal system should ease this process for NRIs, but rules must be clearly framed for eligibility on the basis of time spent away from the country.

9 . Facts for Prelims

Crime and Criminal Tracking Network & Systems (CCTNS)

  • Crime and Criminal Tracking Network & Systems (CCTNS) is a plan scheme conceived in the light of experience of a non-plan scheme namely – Common Integrated Police Application (CIPA).
  • CCTNS is a Mission Mode Project under the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) of Govt. of India.
  • CCTNS aims at creating a comprehensive and integrated system for enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of policing through adopting of principle of e-Governance and creation of a nationwide networking infrastructure for evolution of IT-enabled-state-of-the-art tracking system around ‘Investigation of crime and detection of criminals’.
  • The objectives of the Scheme can broadly be listed as follows:
    • Make the Police functioning citizen friendly and more transparent by automating the functioning of Police Stations.
    • Improve delivery of citizen-centric services through effective usage of ICT.
    • Provide the Investigating Officers of the Civil Police with tools, technology and information to facilitate investigation of crime and detection of criminals.
    • Improve Police functioning in various other areas such as Law and Order, Traffic Management etc.
    • Facilitate Interaction and sharing of Information among Police Stations, Districts, State/UT headquarters and other Police Agencies.
    • Assist senior Police Officers in better management of Police Force
    • Keep track of the progress of Cases, including in Courts
    • Reduce manual and redundant Records keeping

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