07 SEPTEMBER 2023

Topic 1 : Ecocide

Why in news: The Tribunal for the Rights of Nature has stated Mexico’s ‘Maya train’ project has caused crimes of ecocide and ethnocide.

What is ecocide?

• Ecocide, derived from Greek and Latin, translates to “killing one’s home” or “environment”.
• Such killing could include:
  • port expansion projects that destroy fragile marine life and local livelihoods;
  • deforestation;
  • illegal sand-mining; and
  • polluting rivers with untreated sewage.
• Today, the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) deals with four atrocities:
  • genocide
  • crimes against humanity
  • war crimes:
    • The provision on war crimes is the only statute that can hold a perpetrator responsible for environmental damage, but only if it is intentional and in wartime.
  • the crime of aggression
• There is no accepted legal definition of ecocide, but a panel of lawyers in June 2021 for the Stop Ecocide Foundation defined it as:
  • the unlawful or wanton acts committed with knowledge that there is a substantial likelihood of severe and either widespread or long-term damage to the environment being caused by those acts.

Arguments for declaring ecocide as a crime

• A much needed law for environmental protection:
  • Ecocide laws are legal instruments to plug a loophole in environmental protection.
  • None of the existing international criminal laws protect the environment as an end in itself, and that’s what the crime of ecocide does.
  • An amendment to the Rome Statute could prompt countries around the world to draft their own laws, and individual countries that have incorporated ecocide in their laws could in turn build pressure on the ICC.
• Accountability and liability:
  • The purpose of ecocide laws is to define the significant harm of environmental damage, together with accountability and liability.
  • Deforestation of the Amazon, deep-sea trawling or even the catastrophic 1984 Bhopal gas disaster could have been avoided with ecocide laws in place.
  • These laws could also hold individuals at the helms of corporations accountable.
    • Laws provide boundaries and sanctions for investment, as no company or organisation – such as the World Bank – would want to invest in something potentially criminal.
• Justice to low and middle income countries:
  • Ecocide laws could also double up as calls for justice for low- and middle-income countries disproportionately affected by climate change.
  • Small nation-states like Vanuatu and Barbuda are already lobbying the ICC to declare crimes against the environment to be violations of international law.

Arguments against criminalizing ecocide:

• Ambiguous and misleading definition:
  • The 2021 definition is said to be ambiguous and as setting a very low threshold to implicating an entity.
  • Words like “long-term” or “widespread damage” are abstract and leave room for misinterpretation.
  • The definition describes wanton as damage that is clearly excessive in relation to the social and economic benefits anticipated.
  • This constructs a development-versus-environment narrative – one that others have argued could mean that it is ‘okay’ to destroy the environment as long as it benefits humans.
• Too high threshold:
  • The threshold to prove ecocide may also be too high.
  • Countries like Belarus and Moldova specify intentional or deliberate destruction, but environmental disasters are not caused intentionally or deliberately.
  • This wording may have the effect of limiting, if not excluding, the liability of corporations’ top managers’ and Governments’ officials’.
• Limitations of the ICC:
  • The ICC also has limited legal powers as well as an uneven track record of converting prosecutions into convictions.
  • Specifically, the court’s power is limited to “natural persons,” so without any significant changes, the ICC will be unable to hold corporate entities criminally liable.
• Transnational nature of crimes:
  • Most crimes are transnational in nature as corporations have private or State-owned corporations in other countries (which are not members of the Rome Statute) that are responsible for polluting activities.
    • For example, Coca-Cola was accused of poisoning land in South India with waste sludge and pushing thousands of farmers out of work by draining the water that fed their wells.

India’s stance

• Some Indian judgments have affirmed the legal personhood of nature by recognising rivers as legal entities with the right to maintain their spirit, identity, and integrity.
• In T.N. Godavarman Thirumulpad vs Union Of India & Ors, the Supreme Court called attention to an “anthropogenic bias” and argued that environmental justice could be achieved only if we drift away from the principle of anthropocentric to ecocentric .
• India’s legislative framework vis-à-vis environmental and ecological governance includes:
  • the Environmental (Protection) Act 1986,
  • the Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972, and
  • the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Act (CAMPA) 2016,
  • Separate Rules to prevent air and water pollution.
• Need of the hour for India:
  • The separate laws have to be consolidated into a unified code and institutions have to be streamlined so that debates like the one about ecocide and rights of nature find their proper way through legal channels.
  • The National Green Tribunal, India’s apex environmental statutory body, does not have the jurisdiction to hear matters related to the Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972, the Indian Forest Act 1927, and other State-enacted laws.
• Challenges:
  • Indian laws are themselves in a state of conflict:
    • the Parliament passed the controversial Forest Conservation (Amendment) Bill 2023 and Biodiversity (Amendment) Bill 2023, which is said to dilute current legal protections and will lead to the loss of 20-25% of forest area in the country and the attendant biodiversity and ecosystem issues.
    • One critical challenge is to tackle problems of liability and compensation – an example of the friction between committing to environmental protection and actual action.
      • For example, survivors of the Bhopal gas disaster are still fighting for compensation.
      • The disaster’s aftermath has been characterised by an intergenerational impact on health and widespread contamination of soil and groundwater.
  • Several independent investigations have also alleged that funds earmarked for Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) have been misused and/or diverted for other purposes.
    • Despite the National Green Tribunal having slapped fines worth Rs 28,180 crore on seven States, there is little clarity on the total fines collected and the way they were used.
       

Conclusion:

• Even before ecocide laws come up internationally, India needs to first bring its [environmental] laws in tune with the idea of ecocide.Topic 2 : Staff contribution

Context: The Delhi High Court in an interim order directed members of the Federation of Hotel and Restaurant Association of India (FHRAI) to replace the term ‘service charge’ with ‘staff contribution’.

Key details:

• The court said that the amount charged should not exceed 10% of the total bill excluding GST.
• Hotels and restaurants associated to FHRAI will now specify on their menus in bold that tips need not be given after staff contribution is paid.
• It is directed that the members of FHRAI shall use the terminology ‘staff contribution’ for the amount of service charge that they are currently charging.

2022 guidelines on service charge

• The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) stated in the guidelines that service charge shall not be collected from consumers by any other name and is optional and voluntary.
• Service charge shall not be collected by adding it along with the food bill and levying GST on the total amount.
• It cannot be added to the bill automatically, without informing the consumers.
• The guidelines were issued by the CCPA under Section 18(2)(1) of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019.
• Registration of complaints:
• Consumers who found restaurants or hotels violating these guidelines could call the National Consumer Helpline (1915) or file a complaint on the NCH mobile app.
  • Alternatively, they could request that the eatery remove the service charge from the bill.
  • A complaint against unfair trade practices could also be lodged electronically with the Consumer Commission through the eDaakhil portal for speedy redressal or otherwise.
  • Complaints could also be submitted to the District Collector of the district concerned for investigation and subsequent proceedings by the CCPA.

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Topic 3 : The Pradhan Mantri Dakshata Aur Kushalata Sampanna Hitgrahi (PM-DAKSH) Yojana

Why in news: The government recently informed the Parliament about PM-Daksh Scheme.
 

About the Scheme:

• Nature:
  • The Pradhan Mantri Dakshata Aur Kushalata Sampanna Hitgrahi (PM-DAKSH) Yojana is a Central Sector Scheme.
• Aim:
  • The main objective of the Scheme is to enhance competency level of the target groups to make them employable both in self- employment and wage-employment for their socio-economic development.
• Target groups:
  • Scheduled Castes (SCs),
  • Other Backward Castes (OBCs),
  • Economically Backward Castes (EBCs,)
  • Denotified Tribes (DNTs)
  • Safai Karamcharis including waste pickers etc.
  • Women
• Age criteria:
  • The age criterion of scheme between 18-45 years.
• Income criteria:
  • There is no income limit for SCs, SafaiKaramcharis Including wastepicker and DNT.
  • The annual  family income  should be below Rs.3 lakh for OBCs
  • For EBCs (Economically Backward Classes) annual family  income should below Rs.1 lakh.
• Nodal ministry:
  • This scheme introduced by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.Topic 4 : The Kunbis

Why in news: The Maharashtra government recently decided that Kunbi caste certificates will be issued to members of the Maratha community.
 

Key details:

• The certificates will be issued for those Marathas who hail from the Marathwada region and possess revenue or education documents from the Nizam era that recognise them as Kunbis.
• The Marathwada region was part of the erstwhile Hyderabad kingdom before it became a part of Maharashtra.
• A five-member panel headed by (retired) judge Sandeep Shinde will determine the Standard Operating Procedure for giving caste certificates to members of the community referred to as Kunbis in Nizam-era documents.

About Kunbis:

• Kunbis (the community associated with agriculture) are grouped under the Other Backward Class category in Maharashtra.
• When Marathwada was part of Hyderabad province till the 1960s, Marathas there were counted as Kunbis.
• When the region became part of Maharashtra, many were counted as Marathas and not OBCs.
• Kunbi (alternatively Kanbi , Kurmi ) is a generic term applied to castes of traditional farmers in Western India.
• These include the Dhonoje, Ghatole, Hindre, Jadav, Jhare, Khaire, Lewa (Leva Patil), Lonare and Tirole communities of Vidarbha.
• Most of the Mavalas serving in the armies of Shivaji came from this community.
• The Shinde and Gaekwad dynasties of the Maratha Empire are originally of Kunbi origin.
• The communities are largely found in the state of Maharashtra but also exist in the states of Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala and Goa.Topic 5 : Investor Education and Protection Fund Authority

Why in news: IEPFA celebrates 7th Foundation Day in New Delhi

About IEPFA:

• Investor Education and Protection Fund Authority was established in 2016 for administration of Investor Education and Protection Fund.
• It was established under the provisions of section 125 of the Companies Act, 2013.
• Objectives
  • Entrusted with the responsibility of administration of the Investor Education Protection Fund (IEPF) 
  • Make refunds of shares, unclaimed dividends, matured deposits/debentures etc. to investors
  • Promote awareness among investors
  • Distribution of any disgorged amount among eligible and identifiable applicants
    • The disgorged amount refers to the amount received through disgorgement or disposal of securities.
• Nodal Ministry: Ministry of Corporate Affairs
• Composition:
  • Secretary, Ministry of Corporate Affairs – Chairperson of the Authority.
  • The Joint Secretary, Ministry of Corporate Affairs – Chief Executive Officer of the Authority.