Indian Polity and Governance - 2 | Current Affairs & Hindu Analysis: Daily, Weekly & Monthly - UPSC PDF Download

Foreign lawyers, firms can operate in India: Bar Council

Context

• Recently, the Bar Council of India permitted foreign lawyers and law firms to practice in India.
• The Bar Council of India had notified the Rules for Registration and Regulation of Foreign Lawyers and Foreign Law Firms in India, 2022.

About the Rules

• A foreign lawyer registered under rules shall be entitled to practice law in India in non-litigious matters only.
• The foreign lawyers and law firms  need to register with BCI to practice in India if they are entitled to practice law in their home countries.
  • But, they have not been permitted to appear before any courts, tribunals or other statutory or regulatory authorities.
• Section 29 of the Advocates Act, states that only advocates enrolled with BCI can practise law.
• They are allowed to practice transactional work /corporate work such as joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions, intellectual property matters, drafting of contracts and other related matters on a reciprocal basis.

Significance

• These rules will help to address the concerns expressed about the flow of Foreign Direct Investment in the country and making India a hub of International Commercial Arbitration.
• Many countries have already allowed foreign lawyers to practice foreign law and diverse international legal issues and arbitration matters in their countries in restricted fields with specific and prescribed conditions.

Bar Council of India (BCI)

• About: 
  • The BCI is a statutory body established under the section 4 of Advocates Act 1961 that regulates the legal practice and legal education in India.
  • Its members are elected from amongst the lawyers in India and as such represents the Indian bar.
• Functions:
  • It prescribes standards of professional conduct.
  • It also sets standards for legal education
  • grants recognition to universities for degree in law 
  • Safeguard the rights, privileges and interests of advocates
  • Promote and support law reform
  • Deal with and dispose of any matter which may be referred by a State Bar Council
  • Organise and provide legal aid to the poor.
  • Recognise foreign qualifications in law obtained outside India for admission as an advocate.
• Structure:
  • It consists of members elected from each state bar council, and the Attorney General of India and the Solicitor General of India who are ex officio members.
  • The council elects its own chairman and vice-chairman for a period of two years from among its members.

India’s Inland Water Transport

Context

Government intends to increase the share of Inland Water Transport (IWT) to 5% as per Maritime India Vision (MIV)-2030.

What is the IWT?

• About:
  • Inland water transport refers to the transportation of people, goods, and materials via waterways such as rivers, canals, lakes, and other navigable bodies of water that are located within a country's boundaries.
  • IWT is the most economical mode of transportation, especially for bulk cargo like coal, iron ore, cement, food grains and fertilizer. Presently, it remains underutilized at a share of 2% in India’s modal mix.
• Socio-Economic Benefits of IWT:
  • Cheaper operating cost and relatively lesser fuel consumption
  • Less polluting mode of transportation
  • Lesser requirement of land relative to other modes of transportation
  • More environment friendly mode of transportation
  • Moreover, waterways can be used for recreational purposes such as boating and fishing.

What is the Scope and Challenges of Inland Waterways in India?

• About:
  • India has an extensive network of inland waterways, including rivers, canals, and backwaters, covering over 20,000 kilometers in length. Inland water transport has enormous potential in India as a mode of transportation for both passengers and cargo.
  • Priority development of National Waterway-1 was undertaken through the Jal Vikas Marg Project (JVMP), which includes Arth Ganga, and they will give an economic boost of Rs 1,000 crore over the next five years.
  • The inland waterways can play a crucial role in realising Prime Minister (PM) vision of making India a zero-carbon emission country by 2070.
• Challenges:
  • No Navigability throughout the Year:
    • Some rivers are seasonal and do not offer navigability through the year. Around 20 out of the 111 identified national waterways have reportedly been found unviable.
  • Intensive Capital and Maintenance Dredging:
    • All the identified waterways require intensive capital and maintenance dredging, which could be resisted by the local community on environmental grounds, including displacement fears, thereby posing implementation challenges.
  • Other Uses of water:
    • Water also has important competing uses, viz. need for living as well as for irrigation, power generation etc. It would not be possible for the local government/others to overlook these needs.
  • Exclusive Jurisdiction of the Central Government:
    • The exclusive jurisdiction of the Central Government is only in regard to shipping and navigation on inland waterways declared to be ‘national waterways’ by an act of Parliament.
    • Utilisation/sailing of vessels, in other waterways, is within the ambit of the concurrent list or is in the jurisdiction of the respective state governments.

Context

With an aim to improve medical tourism in the country, the Ministry of Tourism has formulated a National Strategy and Roadmap for Medical and Wellness Tourism (2022).

Background

India has been ranked 10th in the Medical Tourism Index (MTI) for 2020-2021 out of 46 destinations in the world by the Medical Tourism Association.

 Medical vs wellness tourism

• Medical tourism (valued at $60-80 billion globally) primarily addresses the “poor health” end of the market, with patients travelling to another place for specific medical treatments.
• Wellness tourism (~$639 billion), on the other hand, attracts those seeking destinations that extend their wellness lifestyle and help them proactively maintain and improve their health and well-being.
• As far as medical tourism is concerned, India currently has a $5-6 billion market (2019 figure) that may rise to $13 billion by 2026.

Govt. efforts to boost the medical tourism sector in India

 Streamlining Medical Value Travel (MVT): A segment that attracted 0.7 million foreign tourists in pre-pandemic 2019.

• MVT is a specialised service by Hospitals and Wellness centres including both modern as well as traditional systems of medicine.
• It involves healthcare service providers, VISA requirements, insurance, MVT facilitators, etc.

 National Strategy and Roadmap for Medical and Wellness Tourism (2022): Key pillars for the development of MVT in the country:

• Develop a brand for India as a wellness destination
• Strengthen the ecosystem for medical and wellness tourism
• Enable digitalization by setting up an Online Medical Value Travel (MVT) Portal
• Enhancement of accessibility for Medical Value Travel
• Promoting Wellness Tourism
• Governance and Institutional Framework

 Heal in India Initiative: The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the Ministry of Ayush have been working with C-DAC and the Services Export Promotion Council for developing a One Step Heal in India portal for the Promotion of MVT.

 Champion Service Sector Scheme: The Ministry of Ayush developed a Central Sector Scheme for MVT to incentivise private investors for the establishment of Super Specialty Hospitals, etc.

 e-Tourist Visa scheme: It was liberalised and renamed as an e-Visa scheme and at present, it has e-Medical Visa and e-Medical Attendant Visa as sub-categories of e-visa.

 National Medical & Wellness Tourism Board (NMWTB): The Ministry of Tourism constituted the Board in 2015 to provide a dedicated institutional framework to take forward the cause of promotion of Medical and Wellness Tourism.

The Case of Defamation

Context

Recently Mr. Rahul Gandhi has been sentenced to 2 years in prison for criminal defamation and disqualified from his membership in the Lok Sabha.

What are the reasons for disqualification?

• Rahul Gandhi was disqualified for violating the provisions of
  • Article 102 (1) (e) of the Constitution of India
  • Section 8 (3) of the Representation of People Act, 1951
• Article 102 - It deals with the disqualification of MPs from either house of the Parliament.
• Article 102 (1) (e) – It deals with disqualification under any law made by Parliament.
• RPA – The Representation of the People Act (RPA), 1951 is an act of Parliament of India deals with:
  1. Elections – Conduction of election of the Houses of Parliament and state legislative assemblies.
  2. Disqualifications – The qualifications and disqualifications for membership of Houses of Parliament and state legislative assemblies.
  3. Offences – Other offences, decision of doubts and disputes for the election for Houses of Parliament and state legislative assemblies.
• Section 8 of the RPA, 1951 – The Section (8) of the RPA, 1951 consists of the following provisions:
  1. Section8 (1) – It includes specific offences such as promoting enmity between two groups, bribery, and undue influence or personation at an election.
  2. Section 8(2) – It lists offences that deal with hoarding or profiteering, adulteration of food or drugs and for conviction and sentence of at least six months for an offence under any provisions of the Dowry Prohibition Act.
  3. Section 8(3) – A person convicted of any offence and sentenced to imprisonment for not less than two years shall be disqualified from the date of such conviction and shall continue to be disqualified for a further period of 6 years since his release.
  4. Section 8(4) – The disqualification takes effect only after 3 months have elapsed from the date of conviction.
• However, in the landmark 2013 ruling in ‘Lily Thomas V Union of India’, the Supreme Court made Section 8(4) of the RPA as unconstitutional.

What is defamation?

• Section 499 of IPC – It defines 'defamation' as being committed through
  1. Words that are spoken or intended to be read
  2. Signs or visible representations which are a published or spoken
  3. Imputation  concerning any person if the imputation is spoken or published with
     1. The intention of causing harm to the reputation of the person
     2. Reason to believe that the imputation will harm the reputation of the person

Defamation as a Tort or Civil Offence

• Law of Torts – Civil Defamation under the Law of Torts focuses mainly on libel (i.e., written defamation) and not on slander (i.e., spoken defamation).
• To establish that a statement is defamatory or libelous, it must prove to be - False, Written, Defamatory, and Published.

Defamation as a Crime or Criminal Offence

• Section 499 IPC – Defamation is defined as a criminal offense under Section 499 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860.
• The types of insult may also be known as Slander or Libel.
• Slander – A slander is a form of defamation that is communicated verbally.
• Libel – Libel is the form of insult which is represented in a pictorial or a written form.

How has the judiciary inferred?

• In Shreya Singhal V. Union of India case the Court found the criminal defamation laws to be fair and reasonable.
• Case law - It was observed that the expression collection of persons used in the IPC, has to be an identifiable class or group.
• In such case the particular member who initiates criminal proceedings for defamation must demonstrate personal harm or injury by the alleged defamatory statement.
  • Case law is the law based on decisions made by judges in earlier legal processes (cases).

What is the way forward?

• A modern democracy should not treat defamation as a criminal offence at all.
• Opposition parties should include abolishing criminal defamation in their agenda.

Digital Health Summit 2023

Context

Recently, Digital Health Summit 2023 was organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in Goa.

• CII is a non-government, not-for-profit, industry-led and industry-managed organization.

What are the Major Highlights of Digital Health Summit 2023?

• It highlighted the importance of digital health innovations and how they can empower exponential medicine, including 3D printing, point-of-care diagnostics, robots, bioinformatics, and genomics.
• It aims to create a digital public goods framework to promote standards for interoperability, data privacy, and data security.
• It emphasised the need for "citizen-centric" digital health systems with equitable access to high-quality treatments.
  • It also highlighted that health-tech is the most significant aspect of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and taking pre-emptive steps remains the key.

What are the Challenges Related to Digital Healthcare in India?

• About:
  • Driven by the Covid-19 pandemic, India has adopted digital health at a breathtaking pace. The unprecedented health crisis paved the way for the adoption of telemedicine and thus proved to be a dawn of remote and patient-centric care in India.
• Challenges:
  • Absence of Clear Regulation: The absence of clear regulations and guidelines may lead to fraudulent practices, misuse of digital prescriptions, data theft, and misuse of electronic health records.
    • Also, the lack of digital infrastructure and skilled professionals is another roadblock to the digitalization of the healthcare system in India.
  • Data Privacy and Cybersecurity: Ensuring data privacy and cybersecurity is crucial to maintain patient trust in digital healthcare. Lack of security measures can lead to data breaches and compromise patient data.
    • For example: An instance of ransomware attack occurred at AIIMS Delhi recently.
  • No Statutory Backing to E-pharmacy: The Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 regulates the import, manufacturing and distribution of drugs in India.
    • However, there is no statutory definition of “e-pharmacy” either under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 or the Pharmacy Act, 1948.
• Government Initiatives Related to Digital Health:
  • Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM),
  • e-Sanjeevani Teleconsultation Service
  • Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY)
  • CoWIN App

Way Forward

• AI Powered Healthcare: Artificial intelligence (AI) is being increasingly used in healthcare to analyze large amounts of data, make diagnoses, and predict health outcomes.
  • This technology has the potential to improve the accuracy and speed of healthcare delivery, while also reducing costs.
• Blockchain in Healthcare: Blockchain technology can help improve the security and privacy of health data, as well as streamline healthcare processes.
  • By providing a secure and transparent way to store and share information, blockchain can help reduce errors, fraud, and administrative costs.
• Mobile Health (mHealth): mHealth involves the use of mobile devices and apps to deliver healthcare services remotely.
  • This can be especially useful in rural areas, where access to healthcare is limited. mHealth can also help patients manage chronic conditions and communicate with healthcare providers more easily.

SC and Plea over Probe Agencies

Context

Recently, the Supreme Court (SC) has refused to entertain a plea by some political parties alleging "selective and targeted" use of Central probe agencies such as the CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) and ED (Directorate of Enforcement) by the Central government against their leaders.

• The Enforcement Directorate (ED) frequently summons politicians, celebrities, and NGOs, leading to accusations that it is being used as a tool by the central government to control political opponents.

What is the SC’s Observation?

• The plea sought laying down guidelines for arrest, remand and bail for politicians.
• However, the SC, stated that politicians stand on the same footing as the citizens of the country and cannot have a different set of procedures. The court can intervene only in individual cases when the facts are before it, but it cannot lay down separate general guidelines only for politicians.
• The petitioners alleged a skewed application of the law leading to an "uneven playing field" and shrinking space for dialogue.
• Petitioner argued that there has been a huge increase in CBI and ED cases between 2014 and 2021, but there have been only 23 convictions. Of the 121 political leaders probed by ED and 124 probed by CBI, he said 95 % were from the opposition.
• However, the bench pointed out that the conviction rate in the country was dismal, and a politician is basically a citizen and, as citizens, all are amenable to the same law.

What makes Probe Agencies Vulnerable to Political Interferences?

• The ED and CBI in India are not statutory bodies and are instead governed by executive orders. This makes them more susceptible to political interference by the government of the day.
• As a result, these agencies have often been accused of carrying out politically motivated investigations or turning a blind eye to certain crimes based on political considerations.
• These agencies lack the necessary autonomy and independence to carry out their mandate of investigation and prosecution of crimes in a fair and transparent manner. Additionally, they are also susceptible to budgetary cuts or other forms of pressure that could impact their ability to function effectively.

What are the Concerns Related to Misuse of Central agencies?

• Political Influence: The agencies may be used by the ruling political party to target political opponents and dissenters, leading to the misuse of these agencies for political gains.
  • In 2017 when the CBI had registered a case against Karti Chidambaram and a few others for allegedly receiving kickbacks in exchange for facilitating Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) which was said to be political motive.
• Lack of Transparency and Accountability: The agencies often work behind closed doors, and there is a lack of transparency in their functioning. This opacity can lead to suspicion and mistrust in their actions.
  • There is a lack of accountability and oversight in the functioning of these agencies, which can lead to misuse and abuse of power.
• Abuse of Power: There have been instances where the agencies have been accused of overstepping their authority and misusing their power to intimidate or harass individuals.
• Violation of Human Rights: The agencies may use coercive tactics, such as illegal detentions, torture, and custodial violence, which violate human rights.
  • In 2020, a father and son in Tamil Nadu were allegedly tortured to death in police custody. The incident sparked widespread outrage and calls for justice.
• Delayed Justice: The cases investigated by these agencies often take years to resolve, leading to a delay in justice and causing harm to the reputation and livelihood of individuals who may be innocent.

Way Forward

• There needs to be greater transparency and accountability in the functioning of these agencies. The agencies should operate independently of political influence and their actions should be guided solely by law and evidence.
• It is also important to ensure that the agencies are adequately staffed and resourced to carry out their duties effectively. This includes providing training and support to the staff, as well as ensuring that they have the necessary tools and equipment to carry out their work.
• There is a need to strengthen the legal and institutional frameworks that govern the functioning of these agencies. This will help to build public trust and confidence in the agencies and ensure that they are able to carry out their duties effectively and impartially.
• Giving probe agencies greater autonomy and a constitutional position could go a long way in addressing the issues of political influence and human rights violations in India.
  • This would require political will and consensus-building among various stakeholders, but it is a necessary step to ensure that probe agencies are able to carry out their mandate of investigation and prosecution of crimes in a fair and transparent manner.