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The Supreme Court said the “buck ultimately stops with the government” to clamp down on hate speech and hate crimes, as they are offences committed on the society.The government agreed that hate could not hide behind the colour of any religion.
The remarks from the Bench came after Uttar Pradesh informed the court that it had registered 580 cases of hate speech in 2021-2022. Of these, 160 were suo motu registered by the police. Uttarakhand said that it had registered 118 cases.
During the hearing, the court highlighted the problem of hate speech on television. It said that TV channels and their anchors have become tools to peddle particular “agendas” through the powerful visual medium, creating divisiveness and violent instincts in the society to win their TRP (or television rating point) wars.
Asking whether any anchor has been “taken off air” to send a message against triggering hate or bias on TV, the court said that “if freedom is exercised with an agenda or to promote an agenda, you are not actually serving the people but some other cause. Then you have to be dealt with.” The court said that the anchors and the editorial heads of the channels decided the content, adding that it was also dictated by the “money” behind the channels.
Justice Joseph, who said he was speaking for himself, said that he found it denigrating how TV channels resorted to “name-calling”.
Justice Nagarathna said that the exercise of free speech by one could not violate the right to dignity and free speech of others.
The court referred to TV debates dissolving into slanging matches where some invitees were muted. Justice Joseph said that such actions affected the viewers’ right to be informed.
Rise in govt. Capital-spending pushes up investments by 53% (Page no. 1)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
A sharp 61.2% sequential rise in capital spending by the Central and State governments lifted fresh investment plans announced in the third quarter (Q3) of 2022-23 to ₹7.1 lakh crore, even though private sector investments dropped 41% from ₹6.31 lakh crore in Q2 to ₹3.71 lakh crore between October and December 2022.
Despite a 15.5% quarter-on-quarter decline in new investment plans in Q3 of the year, total investment projects in the first nine months of 2022-23 have crossed ₹21 lakh crore, 53.2% higher than 2021-22 and nearly 2.5 times the investment plans announced in the pre-COVID year of 2019, as per the latest projects survey by investment monitoring firm Projects Today.
The number of new projects announced in 2022-23 is 7,555, a tad lower than the 7,978 projects in the first nine months of 2021-22. But big-ticket private investments and higher capex outlays from government agencies lifted the total investment to ₹21,14,773 crore compared to ₹13,80,540 crore over the same period a year earlier.
Private sector investment project numbers dropped from 3,585 projects in April to December 2021 to 2,787 in 2022-23 so far, but the value of investments was ₹13.6 lakh crore, almost 38% higher than 2021-22.
“The fall in the number of private projects shows that a number of private companies, despite experiencing high-capacity utilization and having enough resources, are adopting a wait-and-watch policy to unravel their capex plans.
Rising input costs, hardening interest rates and the slowdown expected in developed economies are the headwinds making mid-size Indian companies go slow on their investment plans.
However, the scale of the total fresh capex commitments made during Q1-Q3 this year should not only raise the confidence level of foreign investors but also make the mid-size Indian companies, who are not investing heavily currently, line up their investment plans in 2023-24, he pointed out.
In the first nine months of 2019-20, new investments worth ₹8.68 lakh crore had been announced, with the private sector accounting for less than half of the outlays.
In Q1 to Q3 of 2021-22, private sector investments constituted 71.4% of total investments, with their share declining slightly to 64.3% in 2022-23 as government capex has nearly doubled year-on-year to ₹7.55 lakh crore.
States
Alappuzha sees a decline in visiting waterbirds (Page no. 5)
(GS Paper 3, Environment)
A shift in migration patterns of waterbirds appears to be taking place as revealed by a recent survey conducted in the northern parts of Alappuzha.
A detailed assessment of the survey, conducted as part of the Asian Waterbird Census 2023, shows the populations of some migratory waterbirds, especially duck species, visiting the region are falling.
The survey jointly organised by the Social Forestry wing of the Forest department and Birders Ezhupunna, a birdwatching group, recorded 15,335 birds of 117 species.
Last year, the survey sighted some 9,500 birds. Though at a glance the number of birds sighted in the region has recorded an increase, birders say that it does not reflect the reality of bird migration to the region.
“Last year, we conducted a bird survey at seven places. This time, the census was held at 13 locations in 12 local bodies. Going through the details, we can say the number of migratory birds visiting the region is actually on the decline.
The most shocking aspect was that duck species like Northern Shoveler, Common teal and Eurasian wigeon, sighted in the previous surveys, were totally missing this time around.
Climate change has affected the number of birds visiting the region. However, the precise impact of climate change on bird migration and the environment can only be known after conducting more studies and analysing the results of bird census in the coming years,” says G. Anilkumar, joint secretary, Birders Ezhupunna.
As many as 50 birders from different parts of the State took part in the census. They observed 68 bird species at Chembakasseri wetlands in Pattanakkad.
It is followed by Changaram wetlands in Ezhupunna (67 species), Patthithode wetlands in Thuravoor (59), Kottalappadam wetlands in Pattanakkad (58), Perumbalam North (57), Pallathuruthy North in Alappuzha (52), Parayakad-Kannat wetlands in Thuravoor (52), Neendakara wetlands in Ezhupunna (44), Elipanam wetlands in Mannancherry (40), Elanjipadam, Areeparambu in Cherthala (35), Ulavaipu wetlands in Thycattuserry (35), Kannankara wetlands in Thaneermukkom (26), and Vembanad wetlands in Pathiramanal island (23).
Editorial
More than just an address (Page no. 6)
(GS Paper 2, Polity and Governance)
The first session of every new Parliament in the United Kingdom requires the election of the Speaker to be completed and members of both Houses to take oath. Neither House of Parliament can proceed with any public business in any further session unless it is opened either by the King himself or by Lords Commissioners acting on his behalf.
The King’s speech is thus the formal beginning of each new session of Parliament and states the government’s policy and the intended programme of business for the forthcoming session.
The King’s speech is prepared by the incumbent government and a copy of it is given to him by the Lord Chancellor.
As India adopted the Westminster model of parliamentary democracy, the Constituent Assembly decided, on May 18, 1949, to adopt this practice.
Article 87 of the Indian Constitution requires the President to make a special address to both Houses of Parliament assembled on the commencement of the first session of each year.
The President has to inform Parliament of the causes of its summons. Similarly, Article 176 requires the Governor to make a special address at the first session of each year of every State Legislative Assembly and to both Houses wherever the State also has a Legislative Council. The language of these provisions were borrowed from the rules of the House of Commons.
Jawaharlal Nehru, speaking in the Lok Sabha on February 22, 1960, stated that the President’s address is nothing but a statement of policy of the government. He observed: “If the President’s address has anything wrong in it or objectionable in it, it is the government to blame not the President, and it is open to hon. Members to criticise or condemn government because there is some such statement in it which they disapprove of”.
The Calcutta High Court, while interpreting this article in Syed Abdul Mansur Habibullah v. The Speaker, West Bengal Legislative Assembly (1966), held that the special address is not an idle or ceremonial formality.
It keeps the members informed about the executive policies and legislative programme of the State government. The High Court further observed that the non-delivery of the special address hampers legislative debates and budgetary criticisms.
Bound supremacy (Page no. 6)
(GS Paper 2, Polity and Governance)
It is fairly well-known that parliamentary legislation is subject to two limitations under the Constitution of India. One is by judicial review, or the power of constitutional courts to review legislation for possible violation of any fundamental right.
Another is that no amendment to the Constitution should have the effect of destroying any of its basic features. While the first limitation is set out in Article 13, under which laws inconsistent with or in derogation of fundamental rights are void, the second limitation is based on the ‘basic structure’ doctrine evolved by the Supreme Court.
Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar’s remarks questioning the basic structure doctrine propounded in the landmark Kesavananda Bharati case (1973) does not reflect the correct position of law.
In his view, the basic structure doctrine has usurped parliamentary sovereignty and goes against the democratic imperative that the elected legislature should reign supreme.
His particular concern seems justified: that the Supreme Court prevented the National Judicial Appointments Commission, a body to appoint judges to the superior courts in the country, from coming into existence by striking down the relevant amendment to the Constitution and a parliamentary law to give effect to it.
But it is difficult not to see his attack on the basic structure doctrine as part of the current dispensation’s tirade against the judiciary and its grievance that it does not have enough say in the appointment of judges.
The idea that the basic structure doctrine undermines parliamentary sovereignty is simply wrong. Parliament is sovereign in its domain, but it is still bound by the limitations imposed by the Constitution.
Mr. Dhankhar seems to have a problem with any sort of limitation on Parliament’s jurisdiction to amend the Constitution. Surely, he could not have forgotten that the basic structure doctrine had helped save the Constitution from being undermined through the misuse of parliamentary majority.
The main purpose of the doctrine is to ensure that some fundamental features of the Constitution are not legislated out of existence.
Take a step to regulate deepfakes (Page no. 6)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Technology)
In William Golding’s famous novel, Lord of the Flies, Jack emphasises the importance of following rules and establishing a system of governance among the boys.
In the end, all the boys end up becoming nothing short of savages. The book illustrates the significance of rules and the negative outcomes that can result from their absence.
If nothing else, it is a governance lesson for governments and regulators. It demonstrates how self-regulation or no regulation can be disastrous at times. This lesson is particularly relevant in the context of Artificial Intelligence (AI) regulations in India.
The lack of proper regulations creates avenues for individuals, firms and even non-state actors to misuse AI. The legal ambiguity, coupled with a lack of accountability and oversight, is a potent mix for a disaster.
Policy vacuums on deepfakes are a perfect archetype of this situation. Deepfakes “leverage powerful techniques from machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) to manipulate or generate visual and audio content with a high potential to deceive”. Many of us have likely encountered a highly convincing deepfake of Tom Cruise that seemed more like Tom Cruise than the real Tom Cruise.
While appreciating the technology, we should be aware of the serious issues with deepfakes. First, since they are compelling, deepfake videos can be used to spread misinformation and propaganda.
They seriously compromise the public’s ability to distinguish between fact and fiction. Second, there has been a history of using deepfakes to depict someone in a compromising and embarrassing situation.
For instance, there is no dearth of deepfake pornographic material of celebrities. Such photos and videos do not only amount to an invasion of privacy of the people reportedly in those videos, but also to harassment.
As technology advances, making such videos will become much easier. Third, deepfakes have been used for financial fraud. Recently, scammers used AI-powered software to trick the CEO of a U.K. energy company over the phone into believing he was speaking with the head of the German parent company.
As a result, the CEO transferred a large sum of money — €2,20,000 — to what he thought was a supplier. The audio of the deepfake effectively mimicked the voice of the CEO’s boss, including his German accent.
News
Modi flags off world’s longest river cruise from Varanasi to Dibrugarh (Page no. 9)
(GS Paper 2, Government Policies and Interventions)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off the world’s longest river cruise – MV Ganga Vilas – and inaugurated the tent city at Varanasi. Mr. Modi, who joined the function from New Delhi through video conferencing, also laid the foundation stones for many development schemes and inaugurated projects worth more than ₹1,000 crore for Varanasi.
The longest river cruise from Kashi to Dibrugarh is starting from today, putting tourism destinations on the global tourism map, the Prime Minister said.
MV Ganga Vilas is the first indigenously made cruise vessel to be made in India. The cruise has three decks, 18 suites on board with a capacity of 36 tourists, with all the modern amenities.
It will cover a distance of 3,200 km in roughly 51 days reaching Assam’s Dibrugarh through Bangladesh. Built with a unique design and a futuristic vision, the MV Ganga Vilas will meander across various prominent destinations that lie across the Ganges along with river Hooghly. The cruise will pass through 25 different river streams.
Mr. Modi added the cruise journey is going to bring many spiritual, multinational and natural experiences as it will cover destinations like Kashi, Patna Sahib, Bodh Gaya, Vikramshila, Dhaka and the Suderbans.
In his address Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath dubbed the launch of the cruise as the start of a “new era of tourism” in Kashi
Business
India’s trade deficit with China races beyond $100 bn (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 2, International Relations)
India’s bilateral trade with China reached a record $135.98 billion in 2022, Chinese Customs data showed on January 13, 2023, driven by surging Indian imports of Chinese goods that were up by more than 21% last year.
India’s exports to China, however, fell in 2022, driving an already significant trade deficit beyond the $100 billion-mark for the first time.
Figures released by the General Administration of Customs (GAC) in Beijing on January 13, 2023 showed two-way trade was up by 8.4% last year to $135.98 billion, with India’s imports accounting for $118.5 billion, up from $97.5 billion.
India’s exports to China fell from $28.1 billion to $17.48 billion. The trade deficit reached $101.02 billion, up by 45%, from $69.4 billion in 2021.
China’s total foreign trade in 2022 hit a record high, up 7.7% to $6.25 trillion. Exports were up 10.5%. Trade with ASEAN, China’s biggest trading partner, increased 11.2% to $975.34 billion.
The EU ranked second among China’s trading partners, with trade up 2.4% to $847.32 billion, followed by the U.S., with trade up 0.6% to $759.42 billion.
For India, trade last year has surpassed what was a record year in 2021, on account of a recovery in demand in India, increasing imports of intermediate goods, and imports of new categories of goods such as medical supplies.
Analysts have seen India’s growing imports from China as both a worry, reflecting continued dependence for a range of key goods, but also, to some extent, as a positive indicator of the Indian economy importing more intermediate goods.