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Editorial
This year’s Union Budget was criticised by experts over a decline in allocations for welfare schemes in real terms, at a time of post-COVID-19 recovery when welfare spending should have been a priority. Similarly, last year’s Budget too ignored social spending in favour of capital expenditure.
The analysis below, based on Budget papers, shows that the trend of declining central government spending on critical social schemes is not new, having begun when the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government came to power in 2014.
Since then, central allocations for welfare schemes and sectors that ensure basic rights have declined as a proportion of GDP.
Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0 aims to address child malnutrition and hunger. From 2021-22, the Anganwadi programme (ICDS) was merged with POSHAN Abhiyaan and a nutrition scheme for adolescent girls.
Even with more components, its allocation went down from 0.13% of GDP in 2014-15 to 0.07% in 2023-24 — almost half of what it was.
According to National Family Health Survey (NFHS)-5 data, the percentage of anaemic, underweight and stunted children in India is 67%, 32% and 36%, respectively, which is among the worst in the world. Yet, funds meant to address malnutrition are being slashed with abandon.
Another important nutrition scheme is the mid-day meal (MDM) scheme, covering almost 12 crore children. Evidence shows that the scheme has led to an improvement in class attendance, learning as well as nutritional outcomes and reduced stunting in children.
However, the Budget allocation for MDM decreased by 50% as a share of GDP, from 0.08% in 2014-15 to 0.04% in 2023-2024. In 2021 the Ministry of Finance rejected a breakfast at school plan citing funds constraint, a plan that has shown promising results in Tamil Nadu within a year.
Lastly, the PM Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY) provides maternity benefits as a conditional cash transfer of ₹5,000 to women in the unorganised sector.
To cover all women and births as per the National Food Security Act (NFSA) mandate, the scheme needs around ₹14,000 crore, but the PMMVY Budget is yet to cross ₹3,000 crore.
Diagnostic imaging of the Rajasthan Right to Health Act (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 2, Health)
The Rajasthan Right to Health (RTH) Bill, which became an Act in April, had caused a bitter row following which the State government agreed on some exclusions.
Many doctors termed the Act draconian, while public health activists have largely stood by it. But there are certain aspects of the Act that have attracted little discussion, which also make it unfit to be an ideal precedent for other States.
Comparing the two iterations of the RTH Bill, one before and another after the select committee review, is a good starting point for a review.
The primary iteration was sent for the select committee’s review in 2022, and the amended Bill was passed on March 21, 2023, which stoked protests.
Even a cursory review brings out how the amended version, which sparked the row, was itself a highly moderated version attuned strongly to the interests of the medical community.
Following the select committee amendments, some definitions (accidental emergency, emergency care, and first aid), were added to the Bill.
In addition, the term ‘designated health care centres’ was introduced, and a reimbursement clause for unpaid emergency care was added. These additions are commendable. However, most other changes in the amended Bill were not so salutary at least as far as protecting public health interests is concerned.
This shows, foremost, in the renewed composition of the State and district health authorities. For the State health authority, the initial iteration included three representatives, from ayurveda, homoeopathy, and unani, as ex-officio members.
Instead, the amended Bill had provision for only one representative from the alternative medical systems, with medical education representatives filling for the remaining two.
What is even more striking is that the amended Bill swapped public health/hospital management experts with Indian Medical Association (IMA) representatives as nominated members.
This leaves these authorities with little or no representation from the public health fraternity and, most importantly, from the community for which the Act is aimed.
News
SC tells courts not to rely on April 26 order on default bail (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 2, Polity and Governance)
The Supreme Court, in a rather unusual order, directed lower courts to decide pending default bail applications without relying on its own judgment of April 26.
A judgment of the Supreme Court is considered the law of the land. Article 141 of the Constitution provides that the law declared by the Supreme Court shall be binding on all courts within India.
The April 26 judgment in Ritu Chhabaria versus Union of India held that the Central agencies cannot deny accused persons their right to default bail by filing multiple supplementary chargesheets and seeking renewed custody.
The judgment held that “the right of default bail under Section 167(2) of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) is not merely a statutory right, but a fundamental right that flows from Article 21 of the Constitution” to protect accused persons from the “unfettered and arbitrary power of the State”.
According to Section 167(2) of the CrPC, an accused is entitled to default bail if the investigating agency fails to file a final chargesheet within 60 days from the date of remand. For certain categories of offences, the stipulated period can be extended to 90 days.
The April judgment, delivered by a Division Bench led by Justice Krishna Murari, came in a petition by Ritu Chhabaria, whose husband, Sanjay, was named in a corruption case.
The CBI, which arrested him in April 2022, got his custody renewed from time to time by filing multiple supplementary chargesheets. He was never released on default bail.
Following the judgment, the government, through the Enforcement Directorate (ED), moved an urgent application in the top court to “recall” the Ritu Chhabaria judgment.
The ED argued that the judgment contradicted the Supreme Court’s own past verdicts. The Central agency backed the recall application by separately filing an appeal against the default bail granted by the Delhi High Court to Manpreet Singh Talwar, an accused in a money laundering case who relied on the Ritu Chhabaria verdict. The ED argued that the April 26 judgment would not apply to special laws like the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
Centre prepares new Model Prisons Act with focus on reform (Page no. 11)
(GS Paper 2, Government Policies and Interventions)
The Ministry of Home Affairs has prepared the ‘Model Prisons Act 2023,’ that will replace a British-era law to overhaul the prison administration, which will focus on the reformation and rehabilitation of inmates.
Among the salient features of the Act are provisions of punishment for prisoners and jail staff for use of prohibited items such as mobile phones in jails, establishment and management of high security jails, open jail, and provisions for protecting the society from the criminal activities of hardened criminals and habitual offenders.
It also contains provisions for providing legal aid to prisoners, parole, furlough and premature release to incentivise good conduct.
Prisons in the country and ‘persons detained therein’ are a State subject and the existing law in this context, the Prisons Act of 1894 is a pre-independence era Act and is almost 130-years-old, it said.
Two other related laws — The Prisoners Act, 1900 and The Transfer of Prisoners Act, 1950 are also decades-old. The Model Prisons Act, the Ministry said, might serve as a “guiding document” for the States, and for adoption in their jurisdiction. The MHA said it found that there were “several lacunae” in the existing Prisons Act and there was “conspicuous omission” of the correctional focus in the existing Act.
The Ministry, hence, directed the Bureau of Police Research and Development, a Union government think tank on policing subjects, to review the laws and prepare a new draft.
The existing Act mainly focuses on keeping the criminals in custody and enforcement of discipline and order in prisons. There is no provision for reform and rehabilitation of prisoners in the existing Act.
It said a comprehensive ‘Model Prisons Act, 2023’ was finalised with the objective of holistically providing guidance and addressing the gaps in the existing Prisons Act.
Business
RBI tells banks to shift wholly from LIBOR by July (Page no. 14)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has advised banks and other RBI-regulated entities asking them to ensure complete transition away from the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) from July 1.
They have been advised to ensure no new transaction undertaken by them or their customers rely on or are priced using the U.S. Dollar LIBOR or the Mumbai Interbank Forward Outright Rate.
In 2021, the Financial Conduct Authority, U.K. had said all LIBOR settings would either cease to be provided by any administrator or no longer be representative.
RBI to join 12 other regulators to tackle ‘greenwashing’ risks (Page no. 14)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said it will join 12 international regulators in the Global Financial Innovation Network (GFIN)’s first-ever Greenwashing TechSprint to develop a tool to help regulators and the market effectively tackle the risks of greenwashing in financial services.
The central bank noted the number of investment products marketed as ‘green’ was growing.
Exaggerated, misleading or unsubstantiated claims about Environmental, Social and Governance credentials damage confidence in the products and the RBI wants to ensure consumers and firms can trust the products have the sustainability characteristics they claim,” the RBI said in a statement.
The central bank would be participating in a virtual TechSprint, hosted on the Financial Conduct Authority’s digital sandbox, to bring together international regulators, firms and innovators to address sustainable finance as a collective priority.