The Hindu Editorial Analysis- 18th November, 2020 | Additional Study Material for UPSC PDF Download

1. SHOT IN THE ARM-

GS 2- Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health

Context
Close on the heels of the multinational, Pfizer, announcing promising results from its ongoing phase-3 trial of a potential COVID-19 vaccine, Moderna, the U.S.-based biotechnology firm, has indicated similar news from human trials (again phase 3) of its m-RNA vaccine.

Experiment
(i) An analysis of 95 of the nearly 30,000 volunteers — they are exclusively from the United States — who tested positive, revealed that 90 had only got a placebo and five the double-vaccine shots.
(ii) This led to the vaccine being declared as ‘94.5% effective’ and well past the U.S. FDA’s requirement that a potential vaccine must be at least 50% effective.
(iii) Encouragingly, the company also said that 11 volunteers manifested moderate to severe disease and all of them were those who did not get the real vaccine.
(iv) This is a sign that the vaccine is successful in its primary job of protection though its efficacy at curbing(restricting) disease transmission is still to be evaluated.
(v) The results were announced as a company news release and not in a scientific journal, implying that a review by independent experts is pending.

Readying The Vaccines
(i) Moderna’s results, like Pfizer’s, are a boost for a new approach to vaccine design.
(ii) The m-RNA class of vaccines are a synthetic construction of a piece of genetic machinery that viruses need to replicate.
(iii) There are twin advantages. No physical part of a virus is introduced, reducing the odds of adverse(harmful) reactions, and the number of doses can be quickly scaled up as they do not need mammalian cells.
(iv) The cons(negatives) are that such vaccines have never been commercially produced and require sub-zero refrigeration facilities, which is a rarity in most of the world.
(v) In the case of Moderna, there is more optimism(cheer) as the company claimed that the vaccine was able to survive for 30 days — and not the supposed seven — in a refrigerator and could last 12 hours at room temperature.
(vi) Its vaccine is primarily for the U.S. However, this vaccine, unlike Pfizer’s, was developed with support from the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations and other global alliances.
(vii) Under this arrangement, member-countries, and this includes India, are in line to get a minimum number of doses, however few, to cover a fraction of their population on priority basis.
(viii) Moderna says it can ready 20 million doses by the year end.
(ix) By late next year, this can be ramped up to the billions but by then it is expected that several more vaccines that are in large trials, including those in India, will be available.
(x) India does not stand to directly and immediately gain significantly from Moderna.

Conclusion
However, every vaccine candidate that passes a significant hoop is a win for the world as it opens the way to new practices and ways of applying science that would have been otherwise implausible(unlikely) in the pre-pandemic world.

2. CHANGING THE DISCOURSE ON VICTIM JURISPRUDENCE-

GS 2- Important aspects of governance, transparency and accountability

Context
(i) The primary victims — mere witnesses in the eyes of the law — are side-lined and left to their own resources.
(ii) The victims, for no fault of their own, are frequently left without remedy where the institutions geared towards securing justice to them fail to deliver.
(iii) Any reform in criminal laws would be incomplete without accounting for these concerns.

Need To Re-Conceptualise The Institutions
(i) While several steps have been taken to come up with remedies, progress has been piecemeal(slow) and marked by judicial initiative rather than legislative enterprise.
(ii) While the Supreme Court has led the movement for recognition of victim rights to access to justice, compensation and assistance, little has changed in terms of both the black letter of the law and the ground realities.
(iii) There is an overwhelming need to re-conceptualise the institutions of our criminal justice system to account for victims both at the pre- and post-crime levels.
(iv) As opposed to post-crime mitigation(reduction) and rehabilitation, a pre-crime conceptualisation of victimisation is geared towards prevention.
(v) Crime prevention is an oft-cited but least studied aspect of our criminal justice system.
(vi) Examination of crime-prevention from the victim’s perspective is even rarer.
(vii) Among other methods, situational crime prevention through risk-mapping and vulnerability-mapping stands out in terms of viability and efficacy.
(viii) A truly effective criminal justice system can identify potential victims and to put measures to protect them in place — before the incidence of crime itself.
(ix) Capacity building and effective implementation are key to such endeavours.

Victim’s Rights And Needs
(i) In a post-crime scenario, however, there is a need to shed(end) the image of the victim as a mere witness and to institutionally recognise their rights and requirements.
(ii) The same thing can be achieved through a legislative recognition of the following points.
(iii) First, the conceptualisation of access to justice for victims requires viewing such access less in terms of Directive Principles of State Policy under Article 39A, and more as a fundamental right under Articles 14 and 21.
(iv) There is an urgent need to strengthen the complaint mechanism for non-registration of FIR u/s. 154(3) Code of Criminal Procedure, and extension of Section 166A(c) in the Indian Penal Code to all cognizable(identifiable) offences.
(v) Further, access to justice also requires the creation of victim-friendly procedures that are aimed at reducing their inconvenience.
(vi) Second, it is imperative(need) to recognise the need for effective victim participation.
(vii) Currently, the victims and their counsels are entitled to extremely limited participation.
(viii) In line with the global trend, there is a need to recognise the right of victims to be heard at all appropriate stages of a trial.
(ix) Victim Impact Statements can help accord this right. Moreover, substantive access to justice also requires access to legal aid.
(x) Such legal aid has the potential to culminate(result) in effective victim participation if provided to the victim from the stage of reporting to the stage of sentencing and appeal.

Right To Information
(i) Third, such legal aid to victims is also imperative(need) for fruition of their right to information.
(ii) The right to information, in turn, enables their access to all other rights. Ergo, victims must be entitled to information regarding their role in the criminal justice process, what they can expect from the criminal justice system, status of the trial,and also their other rights and entitlements as a victim of crime.
(iii) Fourth, the right to information can also go a long way in securing the right to protection.
(iv) The victim must be kept abreast(informed) of all developments in the trial process which may potentially compromise their security.
(v) This would require intimation of the victim in connection with any hearing changing the nature of the accused’s custody including his release on bail or parole(temporary release).
(vi) The framework for such intimation is already available to specific victims in Section15A of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
(viii) Other measures for witness protection such as relocation and change in identity, as provided for in the Witness Protection Scheme, too need to be reviewed and enforced effectively.
(ix) Fifth, the concept of assistance needs to be recognised as a right, not merely for victims of rape and acid attack, but for all victims of crime in general.
(x) The state must play the role of a facilitator in providing to the victims all such assistance as is necessary — medical, psychological, financial and material.
(xi) The same would require institutional capacity building, through ramping up(increase) of infrastructure such as one-stop centres, training of existing functionaries, and by engaging with and promoting the non-governmental organisations involved in providing such assistance to victims.

Compensation And Restitution
(i) Sixth, the right to compensation, recognised to a limited extent under our current laws, is lacking in many respects.
(ii) Primarily, the political will for its enforcement at a state level has been found to be wanting.
(iii) Additionally, the Victim Compensation Scheme provided for under Section 357A of the Code of Criminal Procedure must be revitalised by revising it in terms of accessibility and adequacy.
(iv) Finally, the right to restitution(restoration) must be separated from the right to compensation.
(v) Both terms have been used inter-changeably in our criminal justice system, leading to a large degree of confusion.
(vi) But if the scheme of the 1985 Declaration is adopted, restitution can be differentiated from compensation in that the first right is enforceable against the accused while the second right is enforceable against the state.
(vii) In this sense, the right to restitution is already present to some extent in Section 357A of the Code of Criminal Procedure, but has been mis-termed as ‘compensation’.
(viii) Section 357 provides that where the court imposes a sentence of fine, the court may use the same, in whole or in part, for paying compensation for any loss or injury.
(ix) The Supreme Court has repeated that the provision should be used liberally. The same must be made mandatory wherever appropriate.

Conclusion
(i) The global discourse on victim jurisprudence(legal system) has now matured enough to be incorporated directly into our laws.
(ii) In his seminal piece, Herbert L. Packer stressed that a criminal justice system focuses on two values — of crime control and due process.
(iii) But in line with Douglas E. Beloof’s addendum to Packer’s models, there is a need to introduce a third value — victim participation.
(iv) Without such a value, the aim of justice will remain unfulfilled; always just a little out of reach.

3. SHIFTING SANDS FOR ASIAN ECONOMIES-

GS 2- Effect of policies and politics of developed and developing countries on India’s interests

Context
(i) Discussions on the post-pandemic global economy have often predicted that China’s appeal as a business destination would fade(lose), losing favour as the global manufacturing hub.
(ii) Arguments have been made that production would be dispersed to other appealing locations mostly in Asia, and even to those outside.
(iii) It was expected that this relocation of production would benefit emerging labour-abundant economies. The reality, however, is more nuanced(finer).
(iv) Some labour-intensive industries, such as textiles and apparels, have been moving to Bangladesh and Sri Lanka as labour costs in China are increasing.
(v) But trends in other industries show that businesses have mostly remained in China.

China’s Importance
(i) Yossi Sheffi, an expert in systems optimisation and supply chain management, points out in a recent article that the combination of the trade war and the COVID-19 crisis has resulted in firms establishing relatively small-scale operations elsewhere.
(ii) This is perceived as a buffer against being completely dependent on China, referred to as the ‘China +1’ strategy.
(iii) There are three reasons for firms to remain in China and pursue this strategy.
(iv) First, starting an enterprise and maintaining operations in China are much easier than elsewhere.
(v) Second, Chinese firms are nimble and fast, which is evident from the quick recovery of Chinese manufacturing after the lockdown.
(vi) Third, many global companies have spent decades building supply chains in China.
(vii) Hence, getting out would mean moving the entire ecosystem, which involves time and expenditure.
(viii) This strategy of global firms has led to an intensification of competition among Asian economies to be that ‘plus one’ in the emerging manufacturing landscape.

Asian Drama
(i) In 1968, Swedish Nobel laureate Gunnar Myrdal published the monumental ‘Asian Drama – An Inquiry into the Poverty of Nations’, which, focusing on South and Southeast Asia, was pessimistic(negative) about their development prospects.
(ii) Half a century later, there has been remarkable growth in the very region in which ‘Asian Drama’ was set.
(iii) Openness and trade exploded, and these newly industrialised economies started exporting goods to the rest of the world, while raising their own levels of living.
(iv) A new ‘Asian Drama’ is likely to unfold with the formal launch of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).
(v) Asia’s growth would hinge on the role of trade and investment flows into these economies, and this would again be the centrepiece of global growth, as the 15 member countries account for nearly 30% of the global GDP.
(vi) This largest free trade agreement in the world includes provision to cover the entire gamut(range) of trade and commerce.
(vii) Unlike the portrayal in ‘Asian Drama’, these economies have spruced up(made attractive) their institutional and infrastructural settings, which would be the deciding factor in the new edition of ‘Asian Drama’.

A Host Of Challenges
(i) The RCEP and the ‘China +1 strategy’ is likely to impact investment flows into Vietnam, India, Bangladesh and Indonesia, which have emerged as key investment destinations.
(ii) India faces three challenges in this race.
(iii) First is the task of increasing domestic public investments, which have a central role in economic activity, for both demand and supply sides.
(iv) According to the International Monetary Fund, “increasing public investment by 1% of GDP could boost GDP by 2.7%, private investment by 10%, and employment by 1.2%, if investments are of high quality and if existing public and private debt burdens do not weaken the response of the private sector.”
(v) In India, even before the pandemic, the growth in domestic investments had been weak, and this seems to be the opportune time to bolster(push) public investments as interest rates are low globally and savings are available.
(vi) Private investments would continue to be depressed, due to the uncertainty on the future economic outlook, which underscores(focusses) the need to undertake high-quality public investments.

Trade Policy
(i) Second, India needs a major overhaul(repair) in her trade policy, as in the pre-COVID-19 era, world trade had been rattled by tendencies of rising economic nationalism and unilateralism leading to the return of protectionist policies.
(ii) A revamped(reconditioned) trade policy needs to take into cognizance(consideration) the possibility of two effects of the RCEP: the ‘Walmart effect’ and a ‘switching effect’.
(iii) The first would sustain demand for basic products and help in keeping employee productivity at an optimum level, but may also reduce wages and competition due to sourcing from multiple vendors at competitive rates.
(iv) Switching effects would be an outcome of developed economies scouting(searching) for new sources to fulfil import demands, which requires firms to be nimble and competitive.
(v) Trade policy has to recognise the pitfalls(gaps) of the present two-track mode, one for firms operating in the ‘free trade enclaves’ and another for the rest.
(vi) A major fallout of this ‘policy dualism’ is the dampening of export diversification. The challenge is to make exporting activity more attractive for all firms in the economy.

Women’s Participation
(i) Third is to increase women’s participation in the labour force.
(ii) While India’s GDP has grown by around 6% to 7% per year on an average in the recent years, educational levels of women have risen, and fertility rates have fallen, women’s labour force participation rate has fallen from 42.7% in 2004–05 to 23.3% in 2017–18.
(iii) This means that three out of four Indian women are neither working nor seeking paid work.
(iv) Globally, India ranks among the bottom ten countries in terms of women’s workforce participation.
(v) When Bangladesh’s GDP grew at an average rate of 5.5% during 1991 and 2017, women’s participation in the labour force increased from 24% to 36%.
(vi) India could gain hugely if barriers(hurdles) to women’s participation in the workforce are removed, for which the manufacturing sector should create labour-intensive jobs that rural and semi-urban women are qualified for.

A New Approach
(i) India’s approach to the changed scenario needs to be well-calibrated(measured).
(ii) The intensity of competition is evident from the fact that after India passed three labour code Bills on September 23, Indonesian Parliament on October 5 passed a legislation that slashes regulations contained in more than 70 separate existing laws, to open up the country to more foreign investment.
(iii) Bangladesh on its part plans to start negotiations with a dozen countries, including the U.S. and Canada, for signing preferential trade agreements.

Conclusion
Thus, the stage is set for a new ‘Asian Drama’. What will be India’s role in it? Well, it will not be on the basis of past accolades(recognition), for sure.