The new war on piracy

Recent reports about the change in copyright infringement(violation,उल्लंघन) warnings on various websites have triggered anxiety among many Internet users in India. While the government has maintained a list of banned websites for quite some time, the warning that one earlier saw merely mentioned that the website had been blocked under directions from the Department of Telecommunications, while the new message warns against the viewing, downloading, exhibition and duplication of the contents of the URL as being offences which are punishable under Sections 63, 63-A, 65 and 65-A of the Copyright Act. It further states that these provisions prescribe a punishment of up to three years and a fine of up to Rs.3 lakh.

Conflating various provisions

Sec. 63 of the Copyright Act, which deals with the offence of infringement, provides that any person who ‘knowingly’ infringes copyright or abets(assist,उकसाना) in the infringement of the same may be punished with imprisonment (minimum of six months and extendable to three years) and fined up to Rs.2 lakh. The new warning seems to have accounted for inflation and arbitrarily(randomly,मनमाने ढंग से )extended the fine amount to Rs.3 lakh, but that is only one part of its disingenuity. What the warning does is to conflate(mix,मिश्रित) all the provisions and flatten them as though they all deal with a singular thing called infringement.

It is important to remember that the provision of the Act itself distinguishes between commercial and personal infringement and it provides that where any infringement has not been made in the course of trade or business, the court may impose a term for less than six months and a fine of less than Rs.5,000. Sec. 63-A deals with repeat offences and provides for a higher fine and imprisonment term for someone who has already been convicted for an offence under Sec. 63. Sec. 65 deals with the possession of plates for the purposes of making infringing copies, a term inherited from print piracy which deals with mass reproductions of material such as bestsellers. And finally Sec. 65-A deals with the circumvention(remedy,उपाय) of technological measures for protecting copyright or what is popularly known as digital rights management with the intention of infringing rights. And even within this provision there are a number of exceptions provided where someone may legitimately circumvent a measure for technological protection.

It is abundantly(richly,बहुतायत से) clear that the warning is neither accurate in law nor entirely honest in its invocation of the penal provisions of the Copyright Act. While it is true that some of these provisions penalise the infringement of copyright, the fact is that the provisions which have been cited(mentioned,उल्लेख) in the warnings all pertain(related,सम्बंधित) to different acts and to different degrees of liability accruing based on the nature of the act, the pecuniary(financial,धन संबंधी)gains, etc. The requirement of knowledge in the case of Sec. 63 and intention in Sec. 65-A establishes a relatively high burden of proof on someone claiming infringement, but the warning seems to shift this burden and creates a presumption that any act with respect to a prohibited URL would necessarily be infringement.

What happens in cases when someone uses file-sharing mechanisms as a way of distributing public domain material? Raj Kapoor’s Awaara, for instance, is available through The Pirate Bay, but it is a film whose term of copyright has expired and may be legitimately downloaded from The Pirate Bay. By flattening the differences between the provisions, the warnings seek to rely on a by-now-well-known strategy of ‘shock and awe’. Just as the global war against terror obfuscated(unclear,अस्पठ) the debate through the rhetoric of shock and awe, the war against piracy relies on a similar strategy that conceals rather than illuminates some of the key questions.

Piracy as a productive force

The question of copyright and the appropriateness of a model that treats intangibles(untouchable,अमूर्त) as property has been seriously questioned both in terms of its normative basis as well as in terms of its efficacy. Rather than just seeing media piracy as a legal or a moral problem, it would be more accurate to see it as a global pricing problem. High prices for media goods, low incomes, and cheap digital technologies are the main ingredients of global media piracy. Media piracy arises when market failures meet increasingly cheap and improved infrastructures (bandwidth, hardware) of information transmission. Does this pose a problem to owners of copyright? Of course it does, but there is nothing new about that. Every technological advancement starting from the print revolution has transformed the ways we access knowledge and culture and innovations in technology have also been accompanied by innovations in business models. Thus while the introduction of VHS and video cassettes were predicted to be the death of the film industry, what happened instead was the creation of a new business model of home entertainment. In the Indian context, Moser Baer recognised this with their introduction of low-priced DVDs which competed with the pirate markets. So assuming that the desire for low-cost entertainment is not going to disappear, the options are either a rethink of the business models or to rely on penal laws to protect any older business model.

The shift in the nature of the warning seems to suggest that the government and private players have opted for the latter. This may be a short-sighted strategy that misrecognises the role piracy has played not just as a destructive but also as a productive force. Piracy indeed does impose a range of costs on producers and distributors of content, but in developing countries they also act as the main source of access to a wide range of media and knowledge. One good example of this is LibGen, a site which provides access to thousands of pirated books, many of which are not just not available or affordable in India. While this is indeed piracy, if we were to suspend for a moment our legal and moral indignation and ask what other descriptions one could give of LibGen, then as Bodo Balazs — a scholar of piracy studies — provocatively argues, it has been the single greatest knowledge transfer project in the history of humanity.

Not a settled debate

It is also important to understand the dynamics of media markets in emerging markets, and the harms of piracy should not be treated as settled question, but one that needs more debate. Studies have shown that the perceived harms of copyright infringement may be overstated and the presumption that every download equals a lost sale is just not true. In a global comparative study of media piracy in emerging economies it was found that there was no correlation(connection,सहसंबंध) between the commercial success of a film and the number of times that it had been downloaded, and it was indeed the case that the films which were downloaded the most were also the most successful ones at the box office.

The new warnings and the panic it seeks to create are counterproductive for all parties — consumers, governments and copyright interests — that drive the enforcement agenda, and there is a need to frame the debate within a larger structural understanding of the complex dynamics of the costs imposed by more stringent(strict,सख्त) enforcement of copyright.

The history of technology and cultural production is a contested history in which new technologies disrupt existing power relations, redistribute the means of cultural production and redefine questions of access. The war against piracy addresses only one axis of the debate and as with all wars which are being lost, you hope to win by heightening the rhetorical stakes. Perhaps this ill-informed and misguided set of warnings should be taken not just as a moment in which we panic but one in which we collectively raise larger questions and challenge the logic of stronger penalising of knowledge offences. We are, after all, from the country which produced the most subtle text of literal and moral wars — the Mahabharata — in which Ekalavya, when denied a privileged education, created the first pirated copy of Dronacharya to educate himself. Ekalavya paid a terrible price — the cutting of his thumb — but there are still millions who bleed as a result.

courtesy:the hindu

click here for official link

Sedition law cannot be used against honest views, expressed peacefully

Gandhiji described “sedition” as the prince of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). No fundamental right in our Constitution is absolute. Freedom of speech and expression guaranteed by Article 19(1)(a) can be reasonably restricted on the grounds specified in Article 19(2). It is significant that during the debates in the Constituent Assembly, the founding fathers, in view of their bitter experience of the application of the sedition law by the British colonial regime, deliberately omitted “sedition” as one of the permissible grounds of restriction under Article 19(2) on freedom of speech and expression. However, sedition as a criminal offence remains in the IPC under Section 124A and provides for inter alia sentence of life imprisonment and fine upon conviction.

Section 124A was challenged in the Supreme Court as unconstitutional. In its celebrated judgment in the case of Kedarnath vs State of Bihar, the Supreme Court explained the scope of sedition law. It ruled that “vigorous(strong,जोरदार) words in writing and very strong criticism of measures of government or acts of public officials, would be outside the scope of Section 124A”. The Supreme Court further observed: “A citizen has a right to say or write whatever he likes about the government, or its measures, by way of criticism or comment, so long as he does not incite  people to violence against the government established by law, or with the intention of creating public disorder.” The Supreme Court did not approve of the Privy Council’s judgments according to which any speech or writing which evinced(revealed,जताना)disloyalty or ill feelings towards the government could be regarded as sedition. Many freedom fighters were prosecuted and punished for sedition by the British colonial regime.

The Supreme Court preferred the judgment of the Federal Court delivered by distinguished chief justice, Maurice Gwyer, who ruled that sedition law is not to be invoked “to minister to the wounded vanity of government. The acts or words complained of must either incite to disorder or must be such as to satisfy reasonable men that that is their intention or tendency”. The Supreme Court made the following significant observation: “It is only when the words, written or spoken, etc. which have the pernicious(harmful,नुकसानदायक) tendency or intention of creating public disorder or disturbance of law and order that the law steps in to prevent such activities in the interest of public order. So construed, the section in our opinion, strikes the correct balance between individual fundamental rights and the interest of public order. It is also well settled that in interpreting an enactment the court should have regard not merely to the literal meaning of the words used, but also take into consideration the antecedent history of the legislation, its purpose and the mischief it seeks to suppress.”

×

The Supreme Court limited the application of Section 124A to acts involving incitement to violence, which is the essential ingredient of the offence of sedition. That is our law, that is how 124A was interpreted and upheld as constitutional by a Constitution Bench. Therefore the question whether certain speech or acts constitute sedition are questions of fact which have to be determined by a court of law keeping in mind the principles enunciated(pronounced,उच्चारित)by the Supreme Court in Kedarnath. Subsequent judgments of the Supreme Court have reaffirmed the principles laid down in Kedarnath.

Recently sedition law has been invoked against Amnesty International on the ground that certain slogans insulting to India were uttered(say,बोलना) at its recent event in Bengaluru. If that be so, it is certainly deplorable and may expose Amnesty to civil and criminal proceedings. One can certainly criticise and condemn the alleged anti-India slogans. But mere utterance of slogans by itself does not constitute sedition unless there is exhortation to overthrow the government of the day by recourse to violence, which is the prerequisite(condition,शर्त) for invoking the sedition section. Surely our country is strong and mature enough to take in its stride(progress,प्रगति) alleged insulting slogans without rushing to invoke the law of sedition.

It is opined by some that Section 124 should be deleted. In my view Section 124A “sedition” as interpreted by the Supreme Court is necessary. There may be cases where Section 124A can be legitimately invoked. Therefore, retain the section but strike down actions not in conformity with the section.

Take the recent case of Divya Spandana alias Ramya, who in response to Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar’s statement that Pakistan is hell, recounted her recent experience on her visit to Islamabad and stated that Pakistan is not hell and people there are like us — hospitable and friendly. I have visited Pakistan on more than one occasion and found Pakistani people to be hospitable. If I express my opinion, am I in breach of Section 124A of the IPC? The purported justification followed for booking Ramya under Section 124A is that her statement is an insult to people of India and therefore she should leave India and go to Pakistan. The degree of intolerance exhibited is appalling(terrible,भयानक). Section 124A is not to be used as an instrument to muzzle unpalatable(tough,कड़ा) views. It is high time that appropriate penalties are imposed on those, including lawyers, who invoke Section 124A wantonly(stupidity,बेहूदगी) and cause pain and harassment to those who honestly express their opinion and who are intimidated(threaten,धमकाया हुआ) by invocation of Section 124A. If this trend is not arrested, it would lead to self-censorship, a regrettable phenomenon.

One would expect judicial officers not to entertain manifestly ill-founded complaints. It is the need of the hour to contain the forces of bigotry(zealotry,कट्टरता)and intolerance which pose a grave threat to our democratic secular republic. Ramya deserves to be congratulated for not yielding to intimidation and not saying sorry for expressing her honest views in a peaceful manner. It would be ridiculous to construe Ramya’s views as seditious.

courtesy:indian express

click here for official link

Pharmacies not likely cause of TB drug resistance

For a while now, the medical community has been blaming pharmacies for indiscriminately(recklessly,अंधाधुंध) giving antibiotics to patients with tuberculosis (TB), instead of referring them to a doctor. A Lancet paper has now corrected the

popular misconception when a study found that none of the 622 pharmacies in Delhi, Mumbai and Patna handed out first-line anti-TB drugs to these patients. So, pharmacies are the unlikely source of irrational drug use that contributes to multidrug resistant tuberculosis.

Not playing a role

The study shows that pharmacies are not playing any role in increasing TB resistance in the country,” says Dr. Srinath Satyanarayana, from McGill University, Montreal, Canada, who is the lead author of the paper that was published on August 26, 2016. “TB drug resistance occurs primarily due to incorrect  , intake of drugs irregularly or intake of drugs for very short duration of time. From our study, it appears that pharmacies are not playing a role in deciding the anti-TB regimens and are also not dispensing anti-TB drugs over-the-counter, at least in the three cities that we studied. So the drug resistance in India could be due to either patient related-factors or provider-related factors or health system related factors (which has not created a system for all TB patients in [the] country to access quality assured diagnosis and treatment free of cost and seamlessly),” he says in an e-mail to The Hindu.

One reason why pharmacies did not dispense first-line, anti-TB drugs could be because they belong to a more stringent(strict,सख्त) Schedule H1 category of drugs where details of the prescription and name of the doctors and patients have to be documented and the registry retained for two years.

Quinolone abuse a concern

However, the good news ends here. The researchers found that that a vast majority of these pharmacies did dispense antibiotics to TB patients even when they did not have a prescription. This links to an earlier study which showed the tendency of private practitioners to liberally use antibiotics in treating TB, leading to a delay in diagnosis and treatment and an increase in the chances of TB spreading within a community.

In the Lancet study, healthy individuals were trained to pose as TB patients and interacted with pharmacists — to understand how the pharmacies in these cities treated patients presenting themselves with TB symptoms. The objective was to determine whether the pharmacies were contributing to the inappropriate use of antibiotics. One patient presented with 2-3 weeks of cough and fever, was directly seeking drugs from a pharmacy while a second patient was presented with one month of cough and microbiological confirmation of TB from a sputum test. In the case of the first patient, only 96 of 599 pharmacies (16 per cent) referred the patient to health-care providers. But ideal case management was in only 13 per cent of the cases, as a few pharmacies handed out antibiotics to the patients even while referring them to a physician. Antibiotics (37 per cent), steroids (8 per cent) and fluoroquinolones (10 per cent) were given to patients with symptoms.

“That nearly 37 per cent of the pharmacies are handing out antibiotics to persons presenting with TB symptoms is really worrisome,” says Dr. Satyanarayana. But more worrying is the dispensation of fluoroquinolones. “Fluoroquinolones are an essential part of the MDR-TB [multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis] treatment regimen and emerging regimens, so quinolone abuse is a concern.”

Impact

In stark contrast, in the case of the second patient, who had a microbiological confirmation, 67 per cent (401 of 601) of pharmacies referred the patient to a health-care provider. Like in the earlier case, ideal case management was seen in only 62 per cent as the standardised patient did receive antibiotics (16 per cent) or steroids (3 per cent) even while being referred to a health-care provider. “In the case of TB patients with microbiological confirmation of TB disease, antibiotics (without anti-TB properties) will be futile(ineffective,अप्रभावी) and redundant (unnecessary,अनावश्यक), and can delay the initiation of proper therapy for patients. These patients will continue to spread the disease in the community and TB disease will continue to progress in the individual concerned. Steroids reduce body immunity, suppress symptoms temporarily and can exacerbate (worsen,बिगाड़ना) the TB disease,” he says.

courtesy:the hindu

click here for official link

Looking for some change, Governor

So the Government of India has announced the name of the next Governor of the Reserve Bank of India. In a way, there was no great surprise. Of the three names that had been mentioned in the press as constituting the shortlist, Urjit Patel’s was the one most likely to come to light. First, he was already within the Bank, being one of its Deputy Governors. Second, he has the academic pedigree by now considered de rigueur(obligatory,आवश्यक) for top posts in the Indian government. But, above all, he also has the advantage of being on the same page as the current dispensation in Delhi. I say the last not on grounds of the politics as much as the fact that he must agree with the new view of monetary policy legislated by Parliament in April 2016 whereby inflation targeting became the main objective of the RBI. He was after all the head of the Expert Committee to Revise and Strengthen Monetary Policy that had recommended the transition in the first place. As the RBI does not have statutory independence, it helps the Governor in the discharge of his functions that his views are shared by the government of the day, or vice versa.

Message in the data

Given the statutory requirement to deal with inflation, the incoming Governor of the RBI has his task cut out. Data released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation show food inflation rising more than usual since April, the figure of over 8 per cent registered in July being the highest in a while. If the government does not do anything to replenish(fill,भरना) the supply of food, some potential growth will have to be sacrificed if inflation is to be controlled. The RBI itself can dampen food inflation only by restraining growth. In a sense, the GoI has absolved(free,दोषमुक्त) itself of responsibility by handing over, as it were, responsibility for inflation to the RBI. But in recent years the RBI itself may have contributed to the move by aggressively giving the impression that it can control inflation. There is reason to believe that it cannot, as current research calls the claim into question. Econometric estimation by M. Parameswaran, Gurdeep Singh Lamba and myself of the inflation model presented in the Urjit Patel Committee Report reveals it as without foundation when run with Indian data, whether over the long haul or more recently. We will be presenting this work publicly soon.

The somewhat poor performance of the RBI inflation model may be a sign that of late, economic research in the RBI has been in thrall(slave,गुलाम) to the changing fashions of Anglo-American economics without being sufficiently empirically(experimentaly,अनुभव से) grounded. If this were true, what then explains the fact that the inflation rate has successfully been kept within the range specified by the government? At least some part of it has to do with lower global oil prices and a generally sluggish growth environment. An instance of the latter is the slower growth as recorded by the Index of Industrial Production (IIP). The argument is often made that the index itself, being a physical measure, is not the best measure of income by comparison with an index of value added as is the one provided by the Central Statistical Office. This may be so when it comes to measuring income but the IIP could yet be a better measure of inflationary pressure. After all, the production of two ordinary cars could draw in more labour than the production of just one even when it is of a higher value. And that would generate a greater demand for food. On the whole, there is case for a review of India’s existing anti-inflationary policy and the RBI’s role in it. The occasion of a new Governor taking over is exactly the moment for this.

The Bank’s legacy

Into the early seventies the RBI had remained a major centre of research with its monthly bulletin being a widely read source of information and analysis on the Indian economy. This appears to have been lost, which is a great pity. The Bank appears not to have cared enough to preserve the enormous(big,बड़ा) goodwill it once enjoyed among India’s professional economists and business journalists. Of course, this goodwill was also related to the perception that the RBI was relatively independent of the government. And the RBI itself was intellectually open too, as evident in the external opinion that it entertained.

A particularly memorable moment for me as a professional economist in this country was in September 1991 when the Bank invited its independent economists for advice on how to deal with the balance of payments crisis. I recall over 20 economists representing every shade of opinion arrayed in the conference room, and the Governor responding most impressively to every speaker on the spot. Unusual among India’s institutions, the RBI was able to give the impression of being able to effortlessly combine the transactions of a public office with a human touch. It is likely that its location away from the political capital made a difference here. Hopefully, our youthful new Governor will be able to restore the intellectual capital and accessibility of one of our most respected public bodies to the citizen.

The debate on monetary policy, however, is a dry subject and is unlikely to impress the hoi polloi more concerned with the quality of their lives. Here the role of the RBI is much greater than actually imagined. The RBI has a fairly good record of maintaining financial stability and securing the interests of bank depositors. It has come a long way since the stock market scam engineered by Harshad Mehta, which may have cut short the tenure of a most excellent Governor in S. Venkitaramanan, who had played a heroic but unsung role during the balance-of-payments crisis of mid-1991 when, in the midst of a drift in Delhi, the RBI had coolly done whatever it took to salvage the country’s meagre(lack.थोडा) foreign exchange reserves and ensure that India would not default on its dues. In 2003, the RBI arranged a smooth merger of the troubled century-old Nedungadi Bank based in Kerala with Punjab National Bank, ensuring that the money of its depositors remained safe. It seems for once national integration did not sound a hollow slogan. More recently, Governor Raghuram Rajan has made it necessary for the commercial banks to address their non-performing assets (NPAs). So, generally the RBI has done a good job of regulating India’s financial sector.

Compare this with the record in the United States where a financial crisis originated in 2007 and slowly spread to the rest of the world. There Alan Greenspan, who had headed the Federal Reserve Bank for 18 years, not only failed to call out a brewing disaster but allegedly encouraged the financial sector of that country in its adventure with derivatives, new-fangled financial instruments that went on to wreck the system and plunge the world into a new normal of slower growth. By comparison, the RBI has maintained an arm’s length from the Indian financial sector, a stance wholly necessary if it is to retain its credibility as a regulator.

The daily transactions

However, while we as citizens of India remain grateful to the RBI for its watchfulness over our own financial sector, there is ground for some dissatisfaction in an area far more important to many Indians. Anyone who visits the bazaar, as opposed to shopping on Flipkart where the goods are higher valued, would notice the shortage of what we refer to as change. There are not enough low denomination notes nor coins to be had for love or for money. So, while I am aware of the predicament(difficult situation,दुर्दशा) of my corner shop’s owner, I am not amused(happy,खुश) at being palmed off with a piece of toffee! Is it too much to expect that a country that has minted coins since the time of Chandragupta Maurya should have some more of the stuff? Surely there is more to a Central Bank than a “modern monetary policy”, the government’s chosen terminology for the architecture that it hasbequeathed(left,वसीयत में देना) upon the RBI. The latter must not forget that it also exists to facilitate exchange.

As a young lecturer at Oxford in the mid-1980s when Urjit Patel was completing his first graduate degree, I recall his being thoughtful, prone to due diligence(hard work,लगन),  and an understated member of the community. India is lucky to have a Central Bank Governor with these qualities.

http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/looking-for-some-change-governor/article9018210.ece

 Looking for some change, Governor

So the Government of India has announced the name of the next Governor of the Reserve Bank of India. In a way, there was no great surprise. Of the three names that had been mentioned in the press as constituting the shortlist, Urjit Patel’s was the one most likely to come to light. First, he was already within the Bank, being one of its Deputy Governors. Second, he has the academic pedigree by now considered de rigueur(obligatory,आवश्यक) for top posts in the Indian government. But, above all, he also has the advantage of being on the same page as the current dispensation in Delhi. I say the last not on grounds of the politics as much as the fact that he must agree with the new view of monetary policy legislated by Parliament in April 2016 whereby inflation targeting became the main objective of the RBI. He was after all the head of the Expert Committee to Revise and Strengthen Monetary Policy that had recommended the transition in the first place. As the RBI does not have statutory independence, it helps the Governor in the discharge of his functions that his views are shared by the government of the day, or vice versa.

Message in the data

Given the statutory requirement to deal with inflation, the incoming Governor of the RBI has his task cut out. Data released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation show food inflation rising more than usual since April, the figure of over 8 per cent registered in July being the highest in a while. If the government does not do anything to replenish(fill,भरना) the supply of food, some potential growth will have to be sacrificed if inflation is to be controlled. The RBI itself can dampen food inflation only by restraining growth. In a sense, the GoI has absolved(free,दोषमुक्त) itself of responsibility by handing over, as it were, responsibility for inflation to the RBI. But in recent years the RBI itself may have contributed to the move by aggressively giving the impression that it can control inflation. There is reason to believe that it cannot, as current research calls the claim into question. Econometric estimation by M. Parameswaran, Gurdeep Singh Lamba and myself of the inflation model presented in the Urjit Patel Committee Report reveals it as without foundation when run with Indian data, whether over the long haul or more recently. We will be presenting this work publicly soon.

The somewhat poor performance of the RBI inflation model may be a sign that of late, economic research in the RBI has been in thrall(slave,गुलाम) to the changing fashions of Anglo-American economics without being sufficiently empirically(experimentaly,अनुभव से) grounded. If this were true, what then explains the fact that the inflation rate has successfully been kept within the range specified by the government? At least some part of it has to do with lower global oil prices and a generally sluggish growth environment. An instance of the latter is the slower growth as recorded by the Index of Industrial Production (IIP). The argument is often made that the index itself, being a physical measure, is not the best measure of income by comparison with an index of value added as is the one provided by the Central Statistical Office. This may be so when it comes to measuring income but the IIP could yet be a better measure of inflationary pressure. After all, the production of two ordinary cars could draw in more labour than the production of just one even when it is of a higher value. And that would generate a greater demand for food. On the whole, there is case for a review of India’s existing anti-inflationary policy and the RBI’s role in it. The occasion of a new Governor taking over is exactly the moment for this.

The Bank’s legacy

Into the early seventies the RBI had remained a major centre of research with its monthly bulletin being a widely read source of information and analysis on the Indian economy. This appears to have been lost, which is a great pity. The Bank appears not to have cared enough to preserve the enormous(big,बड़ा) goodwill it once enjoyed among India’s professional economists and business journalists. Of course, this goodwill was also related to the perception that the RBI was relatively independent of the government. And the RBI itself was intellectually open too, as evident in the external opinion that it entertained.

A particularly memorable moment for me as a professional economist in this country was in September 1991 when the Bank invited its independent economists for advice on how to deal with the balance of payments crisis. I recall over 20 economists representing every shade of opinion arrayed in the conference room, and the Governor responding most impressively to every speaker on the spot. Unusual among India’s institutions, the RBI was able to give the impression of being able to effortlessly combine the transactions of a public office with a human touch. It is likely that its location away from the political capital made a difference here. Hopefully, our youthful new Governor will be able to restore the intellectual capital and accessibility of one of our most respected public bodies to the citizen.

The debate on monetary policy, however, is a dry subject and is unlikely to impress the hoi polloi more concerned with the quality of their lives. Here the role of the RBI is much greater than actually imagined. The RBI has a fairly good record of maintaining financial stability and securing the interests of bank depositors. It has come a long way since the stock market scam engineered by Harshad Mehta, which may have cut short the tenure of a most excellent Governor in S. Venkitaramanan, who had played a heroic but unsung role during the balance-of-payments crisis of mid-1991 when, in the midst of a drift in Delhi, the RBI had coolly done whatever it took to salvage the country’s meagre(lack.थोडा) foreign exchange reserves and ensure that India would not default on its dues. In 2003, the RBI arranged a smooth merger of the troubled century-old Nedungadi Bank based in Kerala with Punjab National Bank, ensuring that the money of its depositors remained safe. It seems for once national integration did not sound a hollow slogan. More recently, Governor Raghuram Rajan has made it necessary for the commercial banks to address their non-performing assets (NPAs). So, generally the RBI has done a good job of regulating India’s financial sector.

Compare this with the record in the United States where a financial crisis originated in 2007 and slowly spread to the rest of the world. There Alan Greenspan, who had headed the Federal Reserve Bank for 18 years, not only failed to call out a brewing disaster but allegedly encouraged the financial sector of that country in its adventure with derivatives, new-fangled financial instruments that went on to wreck the system and plunge the world into a new normal of slower growth. By comparison, the RBI has maintained an arm’s length from the Indian financial sector, a stance wholly necessary if it is to retain its credibility as a regulator.

The daily transactions

However, while we as citizens of India remain grateful to the RBI for its watchfulness over our own financial sector, there is ground for some dissatisfaction in an area far more important to many Indians. Anyone who visits the bazaar, as opposed to shopping on Flipkart where the goods are higher valued, would notice the shortage of what we refer to as change. There are not enough low denomination notes nor coins to be had for love or for money. So, while I am aware of the predicament(difficult situation,दुर्दशा) of my corner shop’s owner, I am not amused(happy,खुश) at being palmed off with a piece of toffee! Is it too much to expect that a country that has minted coins since the time of Chandragupta Maurya should have some more of the stuff? Surely there is more to a Central Bank than a “modern monetary policy”, the government’s chosen terminology for the architecture that it hasbequeathed(left,वसीयत में देना) upon the RBI. The latter must not forget that it also exists to facilitate exchange.

As a young lecturer at Oxford in the mid-1980s when Urjit Patel was completing his first graduate degree, I recall his being thoughtful, prone to due diligence(hard work,लगन),  and an understated member of the community. India is lucky to have a Central Bank Governor with these qualities.

courtesy:the hindu

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A fat tax that shouldn't go up in smoke

When Kerala recently imposed a “fat” tax of 14.5 per cent on burgers, pizzas, tacos, doughnuts and pasta sold by “branded restaurants” such as McDonald’s and KFC, many applauded the tax. It was seen as a responsible move by a government keen to curb(control,नियंत्रण) rising rates of obesity(fat,मोटापा) and related ailments such as type II diabetes in the State, and in the hope that taxing processed foods would prompt people to move away from calorie-laden, unhealthy food choices. On the other hand, others criticised the tax for its emphasis on particular foods sold by “branded restaurants” while ignoring the variety of processed Indian foods sold at a plethora of food outlets, whether branded or otherwise. If the idea of the tax is to address the health risks of processed food, its focus on “fat western foods” to the exclusion of equally unhealthy “fat Indian foods”, appears incomprehensible. Moreover, the emphasis on food sold by branded restaurants, mainly local franchises of western food brands, again defies legitimate explanation.

Can well-meaning public health measures like the Kerala fat tax have unintended discriminatory(unfair treatment,भेदभावपूर्ण) effects which undermine the legitimacy of government action? Quite possibly. To understand why, one needs to look at international arbitrations and World Trade Organisation (WTO) cases involving tobacco control laws.

Discriminatory effects: the cigarette case

No one disagrees that tobacco is harmful to health. And government laws curbing tobacco use are viewed as a legitimate exercise of its sovereign duty to protect public health. Yet, government actions controlling tobacco use have not always gone in favour of governments implementing them. A case in point is the WTO challenge to a U.S. law seeking to curb smoking among young people.

The United States implemented a law to reduce smoking among its youth by prohibiting the imports of clove cigarettes because there was evidence that young people were drawn to smoking by using cigarettes which had flavours such as clove. Indonesia, which exported clove cigarettes to the U.S. challenged the law at the WTO.

Indonesia argued that U.S. law banned the imports of clove cigarettes, but it did not similarly ban locally produced menthol cigarettes. Indonesia claimed both clove- and menthol-flavoured cigarettes had the same effect, of drawing young consumers to smoke, and hence a law banning only clove cigarettes was not justified. The WTO agreed. It faulted the law for being discriminatory and struck it down. Though the U.S. objective was laudable and the law well-meaning, it nevertheless discriminated against Indonesian clove cigarettes and such discrimination could not be adequately(sufficiently,पर्याप्तता) justified.

Laws based on scientific guidelines

On the other hand, an international investor-state arbitration brought by the tobacco giant(bigबड़ा), Philip Morris, against Uruguay failed.

Uruguay had implemented a law which placed major restrictions on how tobacco companies could use their trademarks on cigarette packs. Philip Morris found that it could no longer use its snazzy trademark, Marlboro, to market variations like ‘Marlboro Red’, ‘Marlboro Light’ and ‘Marlboro Fresh Mint’. It had to stick to one trademark. Further, health warnings needed to become bigger and more graphic covering 80 per cent of the cigarette pack.

Other countries such as Australia and United Kingdom have also implemented similar laws. Countries claim they are justified in imposing these far-reaching measures and point to WHO’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) as providing the international framework for tobacco control policies like Uruguay’s or Australia’s.

Tobacco companies are not happy. They view packing restrictions as a major violation of their trademark rights and are fiercely(desperately,जमकर)  battling governments in international courts. WTO cases against Australia have been filed by Ukraine, Cuba, Honduras, the Dominican Republic and Indonesia, allegedly with the backing of tobacco companies.

The arbitration case where Philip Morris faced a stinging loss against Uruguay holds some important lessons for when international tribunals are likely to defer(postpone,टालना) to government action and uphold laws that are enacted to serve a public health purpose.

In the Philip Morris arbitration, judges deferred to Uruguay’s decision to take measures in response to an acknowledged public health risk. That the law was based on the WHO’s science-backed guidelines was important. The law was adopted in good faith and was reasonable because it was tailored to combating(fight,लड़ना) the risk of smoking. It was not arbitrary or discriminatory. All of these elements provided the law with the necessary mantel of legitimacy.

Unlike Uruguay’s law, the Kerala fat tax could be called out for being discriminatory. The tax applies to western fat food but does nothing about processed Indian food. It is sceptical(doubtful,संशयवाद) whether scientific literature would support the proposition that western processed food poses a health risk while processed Indian food does not. And then there is the restriction on branded restaurants. Again, singling out a particular type of food outlet by burdening it with the tax goes against the well-intentioned objective of the tax, which is to generally encourage healthy eating and reduce obesity.

International tribunals are inclined to defer to a government’s sovereign right to regulate, particularly in matters of public health. But when governments enact laws which appear discriminatory, it is difficult to justify such laws as being tailored to address a legitimate health risk. In such cases, the law faces the prospect of being scrutinized(examine,जाँच) for its over-reach. The tobacco cases provide guidance of where the balance can be struck.

courtesy:the hindu

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Health Security At Stake

During the last session of Parliament, members expressed much concern over the country’s increasing dependence on China for active pharmaceuticals ingredients (APIs). During the debate, the government informed MPs that the National Security Advisor had warned it about the matter. The issue has implications, not just for India’s pharmaceutical exports, but also other key areas — especially in matters pertaining(related,सम्बंधित) to access to medicine. Y. K. Hamied, the chairman of the generic manufacturing company, CIPLA is not off the mark, when he says, “if China decides, one day, to stop exports to India, the pharma industry’s output would be zero.”

In 1991, Chinese ingredients accounted for only 0.3 per cent of the bulk drug imports, by 2012 their share had gone up to 47.61 per cent. The latest figures show that this share stands at almost 66 per cent.

India has attached high priority to the pharmaceutical sector since Independence. The adoption of the Patent Act, 1970 opened the doors for greater participation of Indian firms in the production of pharmaceuticals. The pharmaceutical sector is a major player in the manufacturing landscape of the country. The founding of Bengal Chemical and Pharmaceutical Limited (BCPL) at the beginning of the last century marked the industry’s inception(start,शुरुवात) and by the early 1990s, it had more than 6,000 units. After that, however, the number of units declined and people lost jobs, but somehow industry performance remained at a level that did not demand the policymakers’ attention.

In 2015, the Indian pharmaceutical sector accounted for about 1.4 per cent of the global pharmaceutical industry in value terms and about 10 per cent in terms of volume. Its share in global generic exports is around 20 per cent. Its diverse portfolio is a major strength of the Indian generic industry. With almost 60,000 generic brands across 60 therapeutic areas, the sector has a gigantic(huge,विशाल)requirement. India’s strength lies in formulation production, or processing bulk drugs into finished products. Bulk drug production, the production of active ingredients, has not received adequate(enough,पर्याप्त)attention.

In a globalised economy, closing markets or overlooking cost-effective ingredients is not a feasible(possible,संभावित) option. But there are policy choices which should be leveraged at the earliest, because the overdependence on China for APIs threatens India’s ascendancy (dominance,प्रभुत्व) in generic medicines. There are four major ways by which we can overcome the reliance on China.

First, domestic production of APIs should be encouraged. An inter-ministerial committee headed by secretary, department of health research had recommended several measures for rejuvenating API production in the country. It had advocated specified pharmaceutical zones. The government should work on this recommendation and revive closed units of enterprises like the Indian Drugs and Pharmaceutical Limited (IDPL). At a time, when more jobs are needed, smart strategies to kickstart improvements in operational efficiencies are extremely important. We should not forget that enterprises like the IDPL were not established with the objective of making profits; health security drove the decision-making process.

Second, despite several opportunities and incentives, established Indian pharmaceutical firms have not stepped up R&D measures to fulfill their needs for ingredients. Some policy measures are now needed to press for amplifying(enhancing,बढ़ाना) the use of domestic content by this sector.

Third, diversification of sources of imports should be seriously explored. In this effort, key industry partners should be consulted and their concerns should be taken on board.

The fourth area that needs addressing is data discrepancy(difference,भिन्नता). The Research and Information Systems for Developing Countries used the chapter on pharmaceuticals of the Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics (DGCIS) — as reported by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy — to calculate India’s dependence on pharmaceutical imports from China. These calculations showed that the imports from China in 2014-2015 did not exceed $ 122 million, a mere 0.2 per cent of the pharmaceutical sector’s total imports. One needs to add imports of chemicals, organic and inorganic, in this list of pharmaceuticals. Once they are added, the volume of the pharmaceutical sector’s imports from China goes up by a whopping 62 times from that reported by the DGCIS.

courtesy:indian express

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Citizenship without bias

On July 19, 2016, the government introduced a Bill to amend certain provisions of the Citizenship Act, 1955. The Bill has now been referred to the joint select committee of Parliament. The object of the proposed Bill is to enable Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians who have fled to India from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh without valid travel documents, or those whose valid documents have expired in recent years, to acquire Indian citizenship by the process of naturalisation. Under the Bill, such persons shall not be treated as illegal immigrants for the purpose of the Citizenship Act. In another amendment, the aggregate period of residential qualification for the process of citizenship by naturalisation of such persons is proposed to be reduced from 11 years to six years. A large number of people who would otherwise be illegal immigrants can now heave a sigh of relief if the Bill goes through as they would be eligible to become citizens of the country.

Not inclusive enough

The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, owes its genesis(origin,उतपत्ति) to the assurance given by the Prime Minister that Hindus from these three countries who have sought asylum in India would be conferred Indian citizenship. But since singling out Hindus alone could be discriminatory(unfair,भेदभावपूर्ण), the Bill has extended the right to acquire citizenship to other religious minorities living in the three countries.

Bill, when passed, would be of immense(large,अत्यधिक) benefit to the Chakmas and Hajongs of Bangladesh displaced because of the construction of the Kaptai Dam who have been refugees for nearly 65 years. The Supreme Court in Committee for C.R. of C.A.P. v. State of Arunachal Pradesh directed the Government of India and Arunachal Pradesh to grant citizenship to eligible persons from these communities and to protect their life and liberty and further prohibited discrimination against them.

Though India has not enacted a national refugee law, the three principles underlying India’s treatment of refugees was spelt out in Parliament by Jawaharlal Nehru in 1959 with reference to Tibetan refugees. They include: refugees will be accorded a humane welcome; the refugee issue is a bilateral issue; and the refugees should return to their homeland once normalcy returns there.

The proposed Bill recognises and protects the rights of refugees and represents a welcome change in India’s refugee policy. But it would have been appropriate if the Bill had used the term “persecuted(oppressed,सतायी) minorities” instead of listing out non-Muslim minorities in three countries. To give an example, the Ahmadiyyas are not considered Muslims in Pakistan and are subject to many acts of discrimination. Other groups include members of the Rohingyas, who being Muslims are subjected to discrimination in Myanmar and have fled to India. Such a gesture would also have been in conformity with the spirit of religious and linguistic rights of minorities guaranteed under our Constitution. Unfortunately the Bill does not take note of the refugees in India from among the Muslim community who have fled due to persecution and singles them out on the basis of religion, thereby being discriminatory.

The case of the Malaiha Tamils

Yet another disappointing feature of the Bill is that it does not provide citizenship to the people of Indian origin from Sri Lanka who fled to Tamil Nadu as refugees following the communal holocaust(destruction,विनाश) in July 1983. The Indian Tamils, or Malaiha (hill country) Tamils as they like to be called, are descendants(progeny,वंशज) of indentured workers who were taken by the British colonialists in the 19th and 20th centuries to provide the much-needed labour for the development of tea plantations. The British gave an assurance that the Indian workers would enjoy the same rights and privileges accorded to the Sinhalese and the Sri Lankan Tamils. But soon after independence, by a legislative enactment the Indian Tamils were discriminated and rendered(give,देना) stateless. In the protracted(long,दीर्घ) negotiations that took place between New Delhi and Colombo on the thorny issue of stateless people, Nehru maintained that except for those who voluntarily opted for Indian citizenship, the rest were the responsibility of Sri Lanka (then Ceylon). Sri Lanka, on the other hand, argued that only those who fulfilled the strict qualifications prescribed for citizenship would be conferred citizenship, and the rest were India’s responsibility.

Nehru’s principled stance was abandoned(rejected,त्यागना) by Lal Bahadur Shastri and Indira Gandhi when they entered into two agreements with Colombo in 1964 and 1974, respectively. New Delhi agreed to take back 6,00,000 people of Indian origin with their natural increase as Indian citizens, while Sri Lanka agreed to give citizenship to 3,75,000 with their natural increase. The wishes of the Indian Tamils in Sri Lanka were not ascertained(make sure,निर्धारित). To the ruling elite(specialist,विशिष्ट) in Colombo and New Delhi the people of Indian origin became an embarrassing set of statistics. Important national leaders — C. Rajagopalachari, K. Kamaraj, V.K. Krishna Menon, P. Ramamurthy and C.N. Annadurai — opposed the agreement as inhuman, but their views were brushed aside by the Central government in order to befriend the Government of Sri Lanka.

The ethnic fratricide in 1977, 1981 and 1983, which affected the plantation areas, convinced many people of Indian origin that they could not live amicably(friendly.सोहार्दपूर्ण) with the Sinhalese. They never subscribed to the demand for a separate state of Tamil Eelam; in fact, the hill country was relatively tranquil(calm,शांत) during the protracted ethnic conflict. Even then, they were subjected to vicious(cruel,निर्दयी) attacks by some lumpen sections of the Sinhalese population. They sold all their belongings, came to India as refugees, with the hope of acquiring Indian citizenship and permanently settling down here.

A point of no return

According to informed sources, there are nearly 30,000 Malaiha Tamils in the refugee camps scattered throughout Tamil Nadu. They have absolutely no moorings in Sri Lanka. Their children have intermarried with the local people and are well integrated into Tamil society. The young have availed of educational facilities, but are unable to get jobs commensurate to their qualifications because they are not Indian citizens. The refugees in Kottapattu camp, near Tiruchi, with whom we interacted, told us: “Come what may, we will not go back to Sri Lanka.”

All these refugees qualify for Indian citizenship by registration under Article 5 of the Citizenship Act of 1955. However their plea for citizenship has been negated citing(mentioning,उल्लेख) a Central government circular that Sri Lankan refugees are not entitled for Indian citizenship. In a communication dated November 21, 2007 to the Special Commissioner for Rehabilitation, the Secretary to the Government of Tamil Nadu mentioned that there are strict instructions from the Government of India “not to entertain applications of Sri Lankan refugees for the grant of Indian citizenship”. We submit, in the light of recent developments, the above-mentioned circular of the Central government must be immediately withdrawn.

The tragedy of the Malaiha Tamils, a majority of whom are Dalits, must be underlined.

Immigrants, even those who are termed illegal, are entitled to equal protection before the law and the various rights that flow from Article 21. This was stressed by the Supreme Court in National Human Rights Commission v. State of Arunachal Pradesh while addressing the rights of Chakma refugees. If such immigrants are granted citizenship, the natural progression would mean that they enjoy the benefits of rights guaranteed under Article 19 besides others such as access to the public distribution system, right to participate in the political process, right to secure employment and other rights all of which currently are inaccessible to them. The Bill recognises this in its objects and reasons by referring to the denial of opportunities and advantages to such persons. The Bill therefore should not restrict itself to minorities from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh but should include refugees from persecuted minorities of all denominations who have made India their home.

 courtesy:the hindu

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