07 MARCH 2023

1. Bio-computers

Context: Scientists at Johns Hopkins University (JHU) recently outlined a plan for a potentially revolutionary new area of research called organoid intelligence, which aims to create “bio-computers”.

What is organoid intelligence?

• Organoid intelligence is an emerging interdisciplinary scientific field aiming to establish a new type of biological computing system.
• These next-generation biocomputers will harness the computational power of the brain by using lab-grown brain organoids as ‘biological hardware’.

What are biological computers?

• Biological computers are made from living cells.
• Instead of electrical wiring and signaling, biological computers use chemical inputs and other biologically derived molecules such as proteins and DNA.

Potential of biological computers

• Once a single biological cell is programmed, it’s extremely cost-effective to grow billions more with only the cost of the nutrient solutions and a lab tech’s time.
• It’s also anticipated that biocomputers might actually be more reliable than their electronic counterparts.
• They can just program cells to do the job they need them to do, for example, program cells to fight cancer or deliver insulin to a diabetic’s bloodstream.

What are brain organoids?

• Brain organoids are three-dimensional cultures of brain cells grown in the lab.
• They are generated from stemcells
  • Stem cells are unique cells that can become any type of cell under the right conditions.

Challenges of biocomputing

• It differs from biology as in the goal of biology is to reverse engineer things that have already been built while Biocomputing aims to forward engineer biology.
• When dealing with biological environments in what is known as a “wet lab,” organisms might react unpredictably.

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2. Urban Infrastructure Development Fund

Context: Union Finance Minister had announced in her Budget speech that the UIDF would be established through the use of priority sector lending shortfall.

Key details:

• What is UIDF?
  • The Urban Infrastructure Development Fund (UIDF) is to be set up to ramp up infrastructure in tier-2 and tier-3 cities with an annual allocation of Rs 10,000 crore
  • It will be established on the lines of the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF)
  • UIDF will be established through the use of priority sector lending shortfall.
• Aims:
  • focus on the ongoing projects for the effective utilisation of funds;
  • must provide for basic services; and
  • encourage projects with lower carbon footprint.

• What are Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities?
  • While Tier 2 cities are those which have a population range of 50,000-1,00,000, Tier 3 cities are classified as those with a population of 20,000-50,000.
• Who will manage the fund?
  • The UIDF, which will be managed by the National Housing Bank.

Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF)The RIDF was set up in 1995-96 for financing ongoing rural Infrastructure projects.The Fund is managed by the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD).It provides loans to State Governments and State-owned corporations to enable them to complete ongoing rural infrastructure projects.

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3. One Nation, One Challan initiative

Context: The Gujarat government recently told the High Court that it was already in the process of implementing the ‘One Nation One Challan’ initiative.

What is the One Nation, One Challan initiative?

• One Nation, One Challan is an initiative of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways to bring all related agencies, such as the traffic police and the Regional Transport Office (RTO), on one platform, to enable seamless collection of challans as well as data transfer.
• The Process:
  • detection of traffic violations through the CCTV network and
  • getting the registration number of the erring vehicle from applications like VAHAN (detecting the vehicle’s ownership details) and SARATHI (compilation of driving licenses).
  • An e-challan is then generated with the relevant penalty amount, and sent to the mobile number linked with the vehicle.
  • If someone doesn’t pay the challan amount within 90 days, the challan will be automatically forwarded to a virtual court and proceedings will be initiated.
  • Summons will be sent on the mobile phone of the offender.
  • If the fine is still not paid, further legal proceedings will follow.
• Significance of virtual courts:
  • A virtual court is a court set up where the proceedings of PILs take place virtually, eliminating the physical presence of the litigant or lawyer in the court.
  • The court can be administered by a judge through a virtual electronic medium whose jurisdiction may extend to the entire state and function 24X7.
  • Virtual courts are aimed at eliminating the presence of litigants in the court.

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4. Court martial

Context: An Army captain was court-martialled after a Court of Inquiry (CoI) and subsequent summary of evidence found that troops under his command had exceeded their powers under the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act.

What is a Court martial?

• Court-martial is a procedure for trials of the military personnel for violating the military laws or making any military offences.
• It is conducted in a military court.
• There are twelve groups of people who can be trialed under court-martial or the military justice system including:
  • the military personnel,
  • members of a quasi-military organisation (public sectors working with the armed force),
  • prisoner of military and war
  • some specific civilians can be trialed under court martial despite the place of occurrence of the offence.
• Court-martial cannot trial civil proceedings.
• Courts-martial may be used to try prisoners of war for war crimes.
  • The Geneva Convention requires that POWs who are on trial for war crimes be subject to the same procedures as would be the holding army’s own soldiers.

Court martial in India

• Indian Army has four kinds of court martial:
  • General Court Martial (GCM),
  • District Court Martial (DCM),
  • Summary General Court Martial (SGCM) and
  • Summary Court Martial (SCM).
• According to the Army Act, Army courts can try personnel for all kinds of offences except for murder and rape of a civilian, which are tried by a civil court.
• The Indian Army is still following the system of military justice it inherited from the British.
  • The provisions for summary courts martial were not introduced into the regular army till the sepoy mutiny of 1857.
  • The commandant had practically no power to punish or reward his own men.
  • Here, the need of a military court was felt, and thus created.
  • This enabled the commanding officer to convict and sentence a military offender.

Process of court martial:

• When the Army wants an allegation against its personnel investigated, it first sets up a Court of Inquiry (CoI) for the purpose.
• This stage is similar to the registering of a First Information Report (FIR) by police.

• A Court of Inquiry investigates the complaint, but cannot award a punishment.
• Based on the findings of the CoI, a tentative chargesheet is drawn up by the commanding officer of the accused officer, which is akin to the police filing a chargesheet.
• Then the hearing of charges takes place, which is like the initial summoning of an accused by the magistrate in a case involving civilians.
• The summary of evidence is then recorded, which is akin to the framing of charges by the magistrate.
• Then a general court martial (GCM) is ordered.
  • This stage is like the conduct of a trial by any judicial court in matters involving civilians.
  • While in a magisterial court, the magistrate announces a sentence when the trials are over, the GCM announces this in the form of recommendations, which are sent to the command concerned for legal vetting.

Legal recourse

• Under section 164 of the Army Act, the accused can file a pre-confirmation petition as well as one post- confirmation.
  • A pre-confirmation petition will go to the Army Commander, who may look into its merits.
  • Post-confirmation petition must be filed with the government after confirmation of the sentence by the Army commander.
• After these options have been exhausted, the accused can approach the Armed Forces Tribunal, which can suspend the sentence.

What is AFSPA?The Act in its original form was promulgated by the British in response to the Quit India movement in 1942.After Independence, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru decided to retain the Act, which was first brought in as an ordnance and then notified as an Act in 1958.AFSPA has been imposed on the Northeast states, Jammu & Kashmir, and Punjab during the militancy years.Punjab was the first state from where it was repealed, followed by Tripura and Meghalaya.It remains in force in Nagaland, Manipur, Assam, J&K, and parts of Arunachal Pradesh.AFSPA provides for special powers for the armed forces that can be imposed by the Centre or the Governor of a state, on the state or parts of it, after it is declared “disturbed’’.Powers of the armed forces:The Act, which has been called draconian, gives sweeping powers to the armed forces.It allows them to open fire’, even causing death, against any person in contravention to the law or carrying arms and ammunition.It gives them powers to arrest individuals without warrants, on the basis of reasonable suspicion, and also search premises without warrants.The Act further provides blanket impunity to security personnel involved in such operationsThere can be no prosecution or legal proceedings against them without the prior approval of the Centre.Safety netsWhile the Act gives powers to security forces to open fire, this cannot be done without prior warning given to the suspect.The Act further says that after any suspects apprehended by security forces should be handed over to the local police station within 24 hours.It says armed forces must act in cooperation with the district administration and not as an independent body.

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5. The Hindu rate of growth

Context: Former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor said that India is dangerously close to the Hindu rate of growth due to subdued private sector investment, high-interest rates and slowing global growth.

Key details:

• What is the ‘Hindu rate of growth’?
  • The Hindu rate of growth is a term used to describe India’s low rate of economic growth for a prolonged period.
  • It is generally used to show that the country is satisfied with the slow growth rate.
  • The slow growth rate is called the Hindu rate of growth only if it is persistent and is accompanied by low per-capita GDP, with population growth factored in.
• Who coined the term?
  • The term was first used by the late economist Raj Krishna in 1978 to refer to the low rate of economic growth in the pre-liberalisation era.
  • Krishna explained it against the backdrop of socialist economic policies.

• Example:
  • The most recent example of this is the 1980s, just before the economic reforms.
  • India’s annual population growth rate was over 2 per cent, and the per-capita GDP growth rate, with 3.5 per cent GDP growth, was a meagre 1 per cent.
  • This was due to the socialist policies of state control and import substitution.
• Why the term ‘Hindu’?

• Several economists believed that the term “Hindu” was used to link the belief in Karma and Bhagya with the slow growth.
• Later liberal economists attributed the low growth rate to the then governments’ protectionist and interventionist policies.

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6. Judicial custody

Context: Delhi’s Rouse Avenue Court on Monday (March 6) sent former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia to judicial custody in connection with a corruption case.

Key details:

• What is custody?

• Although undefined in Indian law, “custody” refers to the state of being kept by the police while awaiting trial.
• The Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) says that any person arrested without a warrant cannot be detained for more than 24 hours unless there is a special order of a Magistrate.
• However, if an investigation cannot be completed within 24 hours, the detainee can still be kept in custody when there are well-founded grounds for believing the accusations against him.
• Custody can either be judicial custody or police custody.

What is judicial custody?

• Judicial custody means that the person detained by a judicial magistrate is lodged in central or state prison.
• In some cases, courts may directly remand a person to judicial custody, if the court concludes that there is no need for police custody or extension of police custody.
• The judicial custody can extend up to 60 or 90 days as a whole, depending upon the maximum punishment prescribed for the offense.
• Aperson in judicial custody, who has served half the maximum punishment that can be given for an offense, can apply for default bail, if their trial is pending.

Police custody

• Police custody refers to when a person is detained in a police station or lock-up when he is believed to have committed a crime.
• Unlike judicial custody, police custody requires the accused to be furnished before the magistrate in 24 hours.

Judicial custody vs police custody

• In police custody, the investigating authority can interrogate a person while in judicial custody, officials need the permission of the court for questioning.
• In police custody, the person has the right to legal counsel, and the right to be informed of the grounds which the police have to ensure.
• In judicial custody, the person is under the responsibility of the magistrate, while the Prison Manual comes into the picture for the routine conduct of the person.

Detention vs arrest vs custody

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7. EXERCISE FRINJEX-2023

Context: Indo-France joint military exercise FRINJEX-2023 to commence at Thiruvananthapuram.

Key details:

• This will be a maiden Joint Military Exercise between Indian Army and French Army.
• It is for the first time armies of both the nations are engaging in this format with each contingent comprising of a Company Group.
• Aim:
  • The exercise is aimed at enhancing inter-operability, coordination and cooperation between both forces at tactical level.
• Scope:
  • The scope of the exercise involve:
    • establishment and operationalisation of a joint command post to secure an envisaged area for undertaking joint humanitarian assistance and disaster relief,  
    • establishing an Internally Displaced Population (IDP) camp and
    • move disaster relief material.

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8. Migrant workers in India

Context: Rumours of migrant workers being assaulted in Tamil Nadu have triggered concern among manufacturers in the state..

Legal framework for migrant welfare

• The Inter-State Migrant Workmen Act, 1979 looks into the welfare of the labourers.
  • The Act mandates that the establishment which proposes to employ migrant workers be required to be registered with destination states.
  • Contractors will also have to obtain a licence from the concerned authority of the home states as well as the host states.
  • In practice, this Act has not been fully implemented.
• This Act has been subsumed into the four broad labour codes notified by the Centre:
  • The Code on Wages, 2019;
  • The Industrial Relations Code, 2020;
  • The Code on Social Security, 2020; and
  • The Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020.
• These have not been implemented yet.

Data on migration

• Migrants as per 2011 census:
  • The 2011 census reported the number of internal migrants in India at 45.36 crore, making up 37% of the country’s population.
    • This number included both inter-state migrants and migrants within each state.
  • The annual net migrant flows amounted to about 1 per cent of the working age population.
• Migrants as per economic survey 2016:
  • As per the 2011 census, India’s workforce was 48.2 crore.
  • This figure is estimated to have exceeded 50 crore in 2016.
  • The Economic Survey that year pegged the size of the migrant workforce at roughly 20 per cent of the population, or more than 10 crore individuals.

• Report of Working Group on Migration, 2017:
  • As per the Report of the Working Group on Migration, 2017 under the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, 17 districts accounted for the top 25% of India’s total male out-migration.
  • Ten of these districts are in UP, six in Bihar, and one in Odisha.
  • Relatively less developed states such as Bihar and Uttar Pradesh have high net out-migration.
  • Relatively more developed states take positive CMM (Cohort-based Migration Metric) values reflecting net immigration such as:
    • Goa,
    • Delhi,
    • Maharashtra,
    • Gujarat,
    • Tamil Nadu,
    • Kerala
    • Karnataka.
  • The largest recipient was the Delhi region, which accounted for more than half of migration in 2015-16.
  • Uttar Pradesh and Bihar taken together account for half of total out-migrants.
• Recent reports:
  • A report, ‘Migration in India 2020-21’, released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation points that 0.7 per cent of the country’s population was recorded as a ‘temporary visitor’ across households.
    • Temporary visitors were defined as those who arrived in households after March 2020 and stayed continuously for a period of 15 days or more but less than 6 months.
    • Migrants were defined as those for whom the last usual place of residence any time in the past is different from the present place of enumeration.
  • 12.2 per cent of temporary visitors moved due to loss of job/ closure of unit/ lack of employment opportunities.
• Migration rate:
  • The all-India migration rate was 28.9 per cent, with a 26.5 per cent migration rate in rural areas and 34.9 per cent in urban areas.
  • Females recorded a higher share of migration rate of 47.9 per cent.
    • Among females, the highest level of migration rate was seen at 86.8 per cent for marriage
  • Migration rate for males was 10.7 per cent.

Challenges and issues:

• Multiple vulnerabilities
  • They are often engaged in menial jobs with meagre income and no social security.
  • The major factors that create multiple vulnerabilities are:
    • economic and food insecurity
    • harsh living conditions
    • health hazards
    • social prejudice
    • political exclusion
• Economic hardship
  • The informal nature of their employment compels migrant workers to work for very low wages under extremely harsh conditions for long working hours.
  • The casual nature of their terms of employment deprives them of employment-related security and they are left at the mercy of their employers with their wages often being irregular.
• Food insecurity
  • As the migrant workers’ ration cards remain with their families in their native villages, they are not entitled to subsidised food in their work cities.
  • So, unlike the local poor, the migrants had to spend a substantial portion of their income on buying food.
  • Job losses, negligible savings, and lack of documentation for accessing free food created unprecedented challenges for poor migrants in the cities.
• Harsh living conditions

• Construction workers, headloaders and restaurant/hotel staff negotiate with their employers to stay on the worksite itself.
• Others look for affordable rented houses in slums, mess houses or worker colonies often located near main work areas.
• This housing compel the migrants to pay higher rent, without basic sanitation and water facilities in unhygienic and crowded quarters.
• The ones who can’t afford shelter, sleep on footpaths, stations and bus depots of the cities.
• Inadequate healthcare

• Many migrant workers are unable to access healthcare.
• They are, in many cases, ineligible for the state government’s subsidised healthcare facilities in the public hospitals of the cities.
• They are forced to go to private healthcare facilities for treatment with extremely high expenses which they can’t afford, pushing them into huge debt.
• Women migrants suffer more as unhygienic living and sanitation conditions, inadequate nutrition and impoverishment make them vulnerable to diseases.

• Victim of prejudice and exclusion
  • Deep-rooted social prejudices against the ‘outsider’ image of the ‘migrant’ labour is prevalent in the local city dwellers.
  • Migrants were often perceived as ‘dirty’, ‘job usurpers’, ‘criminals’ and ‘anti-socials’.
  • They are subjected to harsh treatment from city administration and police for lack of documents.
  • As the workers are not voters of the city in which they work, the political class of the city seem indifferent to their hardship.
• States reserve jobs for own residents
  • In March 2021, the Haryana government notified a law to reserve 75% of private jobs for local people.
  • Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh already have, or have proposed, similar provisions.

Way forward:

• All migrant workers, along with informal workers must be covered by universal, portable social protection schemes.
• Employers must be held accountable for the work conditions they provide.
• Labour laws should not be onerous, must be enforced strictly, and must make remedial justice accessible for migrant workers.
• Policy reforms should focus on building up adequate infrastructure and resources, including human resources, to implement welfare measures across state and central departments.
• Urban employment schemes to support the urban poor must include migrant workers.
• Needs of vulnerable groups such as migrant women and children must be addressed.

Conclusion

• The vulnerabilities of migrant workers have pushed them to the margins of society as their fundamental right to life with dignity and right to freedom of movement remains compromised.
• A rights-based perspective of socio-economic protection should be designed keeping in mind the multiple levels of their vulnerabilities.
• Structural changes like inter-state and Centre-State coordination on migrant workers data, and policy interventions with hassle-free documentation of migrants for easily availing government social-welfare measures and reforms in the city governance structures to treat the migrants in a humane manner, can be a much-needed starting point for the amelioration of their condition.