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Parliament Review: Monsoon session ends a few days early as productivity falls below 50%
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
August 12, 2022
The final week of the 2022 Monsoon Session of the Parliament was marked by fewer disruptions and witnessed debates on important bills. The week’s proceedings were dominated by the farewell to former Vice President & Rajya Sabha chairman Venkaiah Naidu.
The Monsoon Session of Parliament for the year 2022 that commenced on Monday, the 18 July 2022 was adjourned sine die on 08 August 2022. There were a total of 16 sittings spread over a period of 22 days during this session which was originally scheduled to have 18 sittings up to 12 August 2022. The session was curtailed due to the completion of essential Government Business and the demand of members due to gazetting and the Parliamentary holidays.
While the Rajya Sabha held business for over 38 hours, more than 47 hours were lost due to interruptions. The House discussed the issue of rising prices of essential items in the form of a Short Duration Discussion which lasted for more than four hours which 33 Members participated in the debate. Meanwhile, in the Lok Sabha, business was held for 44 hours 38 minutes. The issue of price rise was discussed in the lower house for 6 hours 25 minutes and 32 members participated in the discussion. The productivity of Lok Sabha was approximately 48% and that of Rajya Sabha was approximately 44%.
Key Developments
On the fifteenth day of the session (05 August 2022), both the Houses were adjourned multiple times due to continued protests by the opposition MPs on issues like price hikes, GST, etc. Vice Presidential elections were held this week. Jagdeep Dhankar was elected the 14 Vice President of India.
The farewell of the former Vice President, Venkaiah Naidu was held in the Rajya Sabha on 08 August 2022 forgoing the Zero Hour. In his farewell speech, Venkaiah Naidu stressed on maintaining decency, dignity, and decorum in the House to maintain the image and respect of the House. He also emphasized on giving primacy to the mother tongue by using it in the Parliament, Assemblies, Schools, Administration, Courts, etc.
List of Bills taken up
The Electricity (Amendment) Bill, 2022 which seeks to amend the Electricity Act, 2003 was tabled in the Lok Sabha. The Bill calls for non-discriminatory open access to its network to all other DISCOMs operating in the same area, on payment of certain charges. It also adds that upon grant of multiple licenses for the same area, the state government will set up a ‘Cross-subsidy Balancing Fund’ to finance deficits in cross-subsidy for other DISCOMs in the same area or any other area. Further, the Bill seeks to increase the number of members (including the chairperson) in SERCs from three to four and at least one member in both the CERC and SERCs with a background in law.
The New Delhi International Arbitration Centre (Amendment) Bill, 2022 was introduced and passed in the Lok Sabha. The Bill amended the New Delhi International Arbitration Centre Act, 2019. It also renamed the New Delhi International Arbitration Centre as the India International Arbitration Centre. The bill requires the Arbitration Centre to strive to facilitate the conduct of international and domestic arbitration and conciliation.
‘The Energy Conservation (Amendment) Bill, 2022’ which was introduced in the Lok Sabha previously was passed. The Bill seeks to amend the Energy Conservation Act, 2001 through the establishment of a state energy conservation fund by including a new section 16, and section 14A that authorizes the Union Government, or any agency authorized by it, to issue carbon credit certificates to entities compliant with the requirement of the carbon credit trading scheme.
The Central Universities (Amendment) Bill 2022 that seeks to further amend the existing Central Universities Act, 2009, to establish Gati Shakti Vishwavidyalaya in Gujarat by converting the National Rail and Transportation University, Vadodara was earlier passed in the Lower House. This week, the Rajya Sabha passed the Bill. The Bill also seeks to expand the scope of the deemed university from beyond the railways to cover the entire transport sector to support the ambitious growth and modernization in the field.
The Competition (Amendment) Bill, 2022 was introduced in the Lok Sabha. The Bill seeks to amend the Competition Act, 2002 by proposing institutional changes to make the law in line with the evolving times. The key proposed amendments include expansion of the scope of the combinations to include transactions with a value above Rs. 2000 crores, and a reduction in the time period for approval of combinations from 210 days to 150 days, among others.
During the current Session, a total of 6 Government Bills were introduced. In the Lok Sabha, a total of 7 Bills were passed including the National Anti-Doping Bill, 2022, the Wild Life (Protection), Amendment Bill, 2022, the Central Universities (Amendment) Bill, 2022 and the Energy Conservation (Amendment) Bill, 2022.
In the Rajya Sabha, only five Bills were considered and passed during the Session. The Five Bills passed by both the Houses are:
Apart from these, Private Member Bills were also taken up in both the Houses. In the Rajya Sabha, the private member’s bill on the Right to Health was discussed partly. During the discussion, the health minister stated that the national budget for health was Rs. 33,000 crores in 2014 when the BJP formed the government which has now increased to Rs. 52,000 crores or by 58% after the BJP Government was formed. Further, the budget has continued to rise with an allocation of Rs 83,000 crores for the year 2022-2023. Some other private bills introduced include the Epidemic Diseases (Prevention, Preparedness and Management) Bill, 2021, the Sal Leaves Collectors and Traders’ Welfare Bill, 2022, the Information Technology (Amendment) Bill, 2022, etc.
Reports tabled
Action Taken by the Government on the recommendations contained in the Eleventh Report of the Standing Committee on Petroleum and Natural Gas (2021-22) on the subject ‘National Gas Grid Including PNG and CNG’ was tabled in the Lok Sabha. Of the 16 recommendations made by the committee, the government accepted 12. The Action Taken Report on ‘Availability of Medicines & Medical devices for COVID Management’ of the Department of Pharmaceuticals under the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers was also laid.
The Committee on Estimates laid reports on ‘requirement of human capital and physical infrastructure to meet the growth of civil aviation sector in India and development of airports in various parts of the country’, ‘estimates and functioning of National Highway Projects including Bharatmala Projects’, and an action taken report on the ‘recent budgetary reform for better management of government expenditure.’ Apart from these, Action Taken Reports on Demands for Grants 2022-23 for various departments of the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers were also laid.
Questions raised
In response to a question on homeless people in the country, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs stated that the number of houseless people in India was 17,73,040 including 9,38,348 from urban areas and 8,34,692 from rural areas, as per the census 2011. It added that in pursuance of the Government’s vision of “Housing for All”, the Ministry is implementing Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Urban (PMAY-U) since 2015 for people in urban areas including homeless people. Total assessed demand of houses reported by States under the scheme was 1.12 crores. Further, in the last five years and current year, a total of 1.08 crore houses were sanctioned, 93.5 lakh houses were grounded for construction and 58.17 lakh houses were completed and delivered to the beneficiaries.
A question on crimes against children in orphanages was raised. In response, the Ministry of Women and Child Development stated the figures provided by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR). According to NCPCR, 34 complaints were received relating to child abuse/exploitation in Child Care Institutions (CCIs) including orphanages during the last three years. Over 1.4 lakh cases of crimes against children were registered in each of the years 2018 and 2019 and over 1.28 lakh cases were registered in 2020, according to National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).
Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) is being implemented since August 2019 to make provision of potable tap water supply to every rural household in the country, by 2024. According to the Ministry of Jal Shakti, when the Mission was announced, 3.23 Crore rural households were reported to have tap water connections. In the last 35 months, 6.70 Crore (35%) households, have been provided with tap water connections. As on 03 August 2022, out of 19.11 Crore rural households in the country, around 9.93 Crore (51.9%) households are reported to have tap water supply in their homes and the remaining 9.08 Crore rural households are planned to be covered by 2024. The Ministry stated these figures in the Upper House in response to a question.
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Lok Sabha has a new standing committee on Ethics. But does it have enough teeth?
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
October 15, 2015
Both the houses of Parliament now have a permanent standing committee on ethics. While their job is to oversee moral & ethical conduct of the members, these committees have fallen short of global standards both in scope & work.
Lok Sabha has a new permanent Standing Committee on Ethics which came into force on 12th August, 2015. Until now, the ethics committee in Lok Sabha has been an ad hoc one. The question that arises is, whether the standing committee on ethics is empowered enough to enforce the necessary code of conduct on the Members of Parliament? How do ethics and parliamentary standards committees in different other democracies function?
Ethics Committees in the Indian Parliament
Rajya Sabha was the first among the two Houses to form an ethics committee, with a full standing committee status, on 30th May, 1997. Lok Sabha, in contrast, formed an ad hoc ethics panel in 2000 and has been operating as one until August 2015 when it was given a permanent standing committee status.
Ethics committees function to uphold the standards of the Parliament and thus its functions are twofold:
The ethics committee in the Lok Sabha has 15 members chaired by LK Advani, while the Rajya Sabha has 10 members chaired by Dr. Karan Singh.
What do Ethics Committees do?
As mentioned above, ethics committees formulate, enforce and oversee the moral and ethical conduct for members of Parliament.
While a certain form of code of conduct on speech, conduct and behaviour of members of parliament has existed in most Parliaments in the world, recent years have seen a great thrust on separation between the public and private interests of the MPs. Central to this principle is the obligation of the MPs to declare their personal financial interest to the parliament and for such information to be made public in the form of ‘Registers of members’ interests’. Some parliaments have also adopted an independent authority that maintains these registers and also conducts inquiries into the misconduct of MPs.
Even while being two Houses of the Indian Parliament, there is a significant degree of variation on the rules and procedures of the ethics committees in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. While both focus on codes of conduct for Members of Parliament, where they differ is the declaration of members’ pecuniary or financial interest.
Rajya Sabha has explicitly provided for a ‘Register of Members’ Interest’, where MPs have to declare their interest in 5 categories: remunerative directorship, remunerated activity, majority shareholding, paid consultancy and professional engagement. In addition to that, members are required to declare any financial interest on an issue that is being debated in the House or under consideration by any other standing committee and hence refrain from taking part to avoid conflict of interest.
Lok Sabha does not maintain such a registry of members interests and apart from disclosing their assets and liabilities, MPs are not obliged to declare other financial interests that might be in direct or indirect conflict with their role as public servants.
Another significant point of difference between the two Houses is that while Rajya Sabha’s Ethics Committee acts both on complaints as well as takes up issues suo motu, Lok Sabha’s committee acts only on complaints made either by any member of the public or any other member of the House.
The Rajya Sabha’s registry though is not openly available on its website and can be accessed only through an RTI application.
Ethics Committees in other Parliaments
In most mature democracies in the world, ethics committees have a much more expanded and active role, chief among them being the maintenance of MPs ‘Register of Interests’ and inquiring and acting upon complaints of their misconduct.
Investigation and adjudication into MPs conduct and irregularities usually follow two models: self-regulation and a Hybrid model.
In self-regulatory systems, with no external input, investigation and adjudication functions are usually carried out by parliamentary Committees, with the whole House needed to confirm sanctions. In hybrid systems, external bodies such as Commissioners (UK, Australia, Canada) or the Office of Congressional Ethics( USA) conduct investigations and a parliamentary committee acts as adjudicator.
The United Kingdom is perhaps one of the best examples of a good ethics and standards process. The ‘Committee on Standards’ as it is known in the UK, maintains a comprehensive register of member’s financial and material interests that might influence an MPs public function. This has 10 categories including employment, earnings, shareholdings, land and property and even family members engaged in lobbying.
It has a Parliamentary Commissioner of Standards, whose job it is to act on complaints. The Standards committee oversees the work of the commissioner and takes up issues or complaints raised by her. All current and past enquiries are openly listed on their website.
Australia and New Zealand Parliaments also provide for members registries with up to 14 categories listed under which declarations have to be made. In Australia, this extends to MPs families as well, while in New Zealand, it applies only to MPs.
In Australia, the oversight committee is the Committee of Privileges and Members’ Interests, assisted by the Registrar of Members’ Interests (currently the Deputy Clerk of the House).
In Canada, apart from all of the above categories, there is a prohibition on gifts and sponsored travel, unless undertaken as part of their MP duty, in which case it has to be disclosed. All assets above $10,000 have to be disclosed as are the private interests of family members. The Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner is ‘responsible for helping appointed and elected officials prevent and avoid conflicts between their public duties and private interests’
The House of Representatives in the United States also mandates its members to disclose in all of the above mentioned categories as well as embargo on gifts and sponsorships. They are required to separate official and campaign funds, extra-parliamentary income. Family members interests need to be disclosed as well. The House follows a process of self-regulation system through two offices : the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) and the House Committee on Ethics.
The US Senate goes a step further and prohibits senators from participating in commercial activities as well as sitting on non-fiduciary advisory bodies. The Code is administered and enforced by the Select Committee on Ethics, which is non-partisan and has three members from each party.
The Israeli Knesset also mandates its members to declare their own as well as their family members’ interests to the Ethics committee.
How empowered are ethics committees in Indian Parliament?
Judging by global standards, Indian Parliament falls considerably short in how the ethics committees function. One of the major shortcomings of Lok Sabha is the failure to mandate and maintain MPs register of financial interest. This violates the principles of transparency and accountability, in that, there is no separation of a members’ public and private roles. In addition to this, potential conflicts of interest remain hidden from public scrutiny and often may influence legislation and policy.
While the Rajya Sabha does provide for the maintenance of members register of interest, it mandates disclosure only in five categories as opposed to global standards of at least ten. Besides, the registry is not open to public by default.
Apart from the one case in 2005, where 10 members were expelled for taking money for questions, Lok Sabha does not maintain a list of complaints or enquiries, nor does the Rajya Sabha. This either means that there is poor data management and disclosure or that no complaints have been made to the ethics committees nor have cases been taken up suo motu. This despite the fact that several clear conflicts of interests exist between members private interests and parliamentary functions as this report shows.
Until there is a register of interests maintained and cases actively monitored and taken up suo motu by the ethics committees, their credibility is questionable. In the absence of independent commissioner or any other body that looks into complaints and investigates as in other mature democracies, self-regulated ethics committees as in India do not have the potential to go too far in ensuring MPs accountability nor maintain high Parliamentary standards.

source: news-factly

created: October 15, 2015

license: Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

author: Sai Krishna Muthyanolla


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Parliamentary Standing Committee bats for improved Regulation & Standards in Legal Education
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
March 3, 2017
The parliamentary standing committee on Law & Justice in its latest report recommended for improved regulation & standards in legal education. India currently has 1305 law colleges and 14.45 lakh advocates are registered with the various state bar councils.
It is an undisputed fact that the opportunities for legal professionals have increased manifold following the liberalization of the economy. With ever increasing demand for legal education, the parliamentary standing committee on Law & Justice submitted a report on ‘Promotion of Legal Education and Research’ recently. Among other things, the committee recommended improved regulation and standards in legal education.
1305 colleges imparting legal education in the country
As per the standing committee report, there are 1305 colleges across the country imparting legal education that are registered with the Bar Council of India. This comes to around one college for every million population. As per government estimates, about 30000 advocates join the legal profession every year.
Uttar Pradesh is home to around 25% of all the law colleges in the country (320). Apart from Uttar Pradesh, only four other states (Maharashtra, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan) have more than 100 law colleges each. Surprisingly, Tamil Nadu, Bihar & West Bengal have fewer legal colleges compared to the other big states.
1.45 million advocates enrolled with State Bar Councils
As per the standing committee report, a total of 1445056 lawyers are registered with the various state bar councils. This comes to about 119 lawyers for every 1,00,000 population or one lawyer for every 837 people. Though India is behind US, UK and Australia in terms of the lawyers per 1,00,000 people, it is ahead of countries like China & Japan.
But there are wide variations within the states. Delhi leads with 4447 lawyers per million population, almost 3 times that of Uttar Pradesh with 1522 lawyers per million population.  Fourteen (14) different state bar councils have more than 1000 lawyers registered per million population. Jammu & Kashmir has only 438 lawyers per million population, the least in the country.
Conflicting viewpoints from various stakeholders
The committee held stakeholder meetings in five different places. Various viewpoints were received from stakeholders during these meetings, some of which were conflicting in nature. Some of the important viewpoints received by the committee are the following.
Committee recommends improving standards & regulation of legal education
After hearing these viewpoints, the committee recommended the overall improvement both in the standards and regulation of legal education in the country. The following are some of the important recommendations of the committee.
Featured Image: Outlookindia


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Review: Parliamentary Standing Committee highlights the underutilization of Railway isolation facilities
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
November 30, 2020
Among the first reports on the government’s management of COVID-19, the parliamentary standing committee on Health & Family Welfare submitted a report recently to the Rajya Sabha chairman. Among other things, it highlighted the underutilization of existing beds and more so the beds created in the railway coaches. Only about 4% of the isolation beds created by the Railways were reportedly utilized by the end of July.
Since the first COVID-19 case was reported on30 January 2020, India has emerged as the country with the second highest number of cases so far with around 93 lakh COVID-19 positive cases. In spite of the high number of COVID-19 cases, the Fatality Rates in India is among the lowest. Even with respect to the high number of cases, the government and others have argued that the high number of cases is due to India’s large population and the country has fared better when the population is taken into consideration. However, few other experts have pointed out the number of tests conducted in India is low when the population is taken into consideration. India currently is second to USA in terms of the total number of tests conducted.  Therefore, the opinion is divided on India’s handling the COVID-19 pandemic.
In this context, Parliamentary Standing Committee’s Report on ‘The Outbreak of Pandemic COVID-19 of Pandemic COVID-19 and its Management’ submitted in Rajya Sabha on 21 November 2020, offers a perspective on COVID-19 pandemic management in India. This is the first Parliamentary Standing Committee Report that was presented virtually. We look at the important issues discussed in this report.
Rajya Sabha Chairman @MVenkaiahNaidu was virtually presented 4 reports of Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health & Family Welfare by @proframgopalya1. For the 1st time in Parliamentary history Standing Committee reports were presented virtually to the Chairman. @VPSecretariat pic.twitter.com/DVDKcQhDpg
Poor contract tracing in the initial stages might have contributed to increase in the number of cases
In the interaction with the Standing Committee, Secretary of the Department of Health Research provided information about the steps taken by the Ministry in containing the Pandemic during the early months.
As per the government’s submission to the committee, one of the initial steps included screening at Airports, Seaports & Land Crossings at borders. Around 5.89 Lakh air passengers and 16 thousand at Shipping ports were screened. The committee was appraised of the advisories issued by the government and the action plan in place to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 cases. The Secretary highlighted that the pre-emptive measures like Lockdown has helped in containing the spread of COVID-19, wherein the growth rate during the initial phases of Lockdown was 36% while during the unlocking period, it was reduced to 3.3%.
The role of the National Center for Disease Control (NCDC) in surveillance and response to epidemic-prone diseases in the country especially through the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) was also mentioned.
However, the Committee felt that the poor contract tracing and slow testing in the initial phase of the outbreak has led to an increase in the number of infections.
The committee also felt that the IDSP should have been more effectively utilised and that the NCDC-IDSP has failed in generating the required response. It has recommended the government to extend the surveillance under ISDP beyond the current 9 states and also advised to assess the financial needs of NCDP-IDSP for revitalization.
While the Committee did not make any comment on Health Ministry’s claim of reduction in the growth rate of COVID-19 infection, the statement does not present the holistic picture. At the beginning of the Lockdown, there were around 500 total cases in the country with the daily cases being around 100. By the beginning of June, the total number of cases reached 2 lakh with around 8-9 thousand being reported daily. The smaller number during initial days meant that corresponding growth rate would be higher compared to the beginning of the unlock period, where large numbers would ideally mean a larger denominator and hence a reduced growth rate.
These numbers support the Committee’s observation that more effective contact tracing & increased testing during the initial stages could have helped in containing the spread of infection, as the numbers does indicate that in spite of the lockdown, there has been a considerable increase in the number of cases, which has only further increased during the Unlock Phases.
Inadequate number of beds in Government hospitals and underutilization of the available beds
Hospital infrastructure and the accessibility of these Healthcare facilities is another key aspect that the Parliamentary Standing Committee looked into. Government appraised the committee of the 3-tier arrangement of the healthcare facilities –
The Government also highlighted the proposal of Prime Minister Atma Nirbhar Swasth Bharath Yojana (PM-ASBY) which is aimed at strengthening public health system. While acknowledging the proposal, the Committee has made some critical observations regarding the availability and accessibility of Hospital beds for COVID-19 patients.
As per the update provided by the Government, there are a total of 220 DCHs, 4153 DCHCs and 8,880 DCHCs across the country i.e. a total of 15,239 dedicated COVID-19 facilities as of 13 October 2020.
The availability of beds across these dedicated facilities is given in the below image.
The government also mentioned that around Rs. 140 crores were allocated for the conversion of Railway coaches to COVID Care Centers. The Railways has provisioned for 813 coaches with 12,472 beds.
Based on this information provided by the Government, the Committee has made the following observations :
While upscaling of the Health Care facilities is a long-term goal which the government should focus on, the underutilization of the available facilities especially during the time of pandemic points to serious lapses in dealing with the pandemic.
In relation to COVID-19 treatment, the Committee made two more key observations. The first one relating to the inadequate budgetary allocation on developing Healthcare facilities in the country. It highlighted that the Government can take the COVID-19 situation as a window of opportunity and increase the spending on Health Infrastructure. The second one was regarding the financial burden of COVID-19 treatment, especially with the lack of specific guidelines on COVID-19 treatment in private hospitals, making this a challenge to the financially weaker sections of society.
We would look at these observations in further detail along with the Committee’s observation on the Testing Strategy, Healthcare workers, Educational Institutions, Mental Health etc. in the next part of the story.
Featured Image:  Parliamentary Standing Committee Report on COVID-19

created: November 30, 2020


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What did a Parliamentary Standing Committee say on the issue of ‘Sahayaks’ in the Army?
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
January 17, 2017
The debate on the ‘Sahayak’ system is back at the center stage after allegations of harrasment by an army jawan in a video that went viral on social media. The parliamentary standing committee on defence had recommended abolition of the ‘Sahayak’ system in 2008.
A video by an army jawan went viral recently in which he alleged harassment by superiors and also said that jawans who act as sahayaks, should not be made to polish shoes of officers. The Army chief reiterated that the sahayak system is more like a buddy system and during peace locations, the sahayaks can be civilians. As the debate on the necessity of this system is on, we look back at what a parliamentary standing committee had said in 2008.
Parliamentary Standing Committee recommends abolition of the ‘Sahayak’ System
The parliamentary standing committee on Defence submitted its 31st report during the 14 Lok Sabha on the issue of ‘Stress Management in Armed Forces’ in 2008. In response to the standing committee’s query on deployment of lower rank jawans as sahayaks, the Ministry of Defence in a written note said that Sahayaks are authorized to Officers and Junior Commissioned Officers in the Army when serving with units or Headquarters functioning on War Establishment. The scale of authorization of Sahayak is the following
The following duties are assigned to sahayaks as per the ministry’s response.
The Ministry also said that there is no such system of Sahayaks in the Navy and Air Force.
The committee in its report noted the interaction with jawans has brought to light, the practice of some of the soldiers being deployed to work as Sahayaks with the families of the officers.
The committee in its reported mentioned that several instances had come to their notice where soldiers have been seen to be deployed at the residence of officers. To this, the representative of the army said the following.“Would have been attending the work at home due to reverence. He is not supposed to do it technically. He is not supposed to work in the house.”
The Committee noted that the jawans are recruited for serving the nation and not to serve the family members of officers in household work which is demeaning and humiliating. The Committee took a very serious view of the shameful practice which  it felt should have no place in independent India. Based on these findings, the committee recommended the abolition of the sahayak system in the Army and also recommended that the Ministry of Home Affairs take similar steps in para military and other organizations.
Government refuses and the committee reiterates its recommendation
In its fourth report of the 15 Lok Sabha, the parliamentary standing committee on defence submitted the action taken report on its previous recommendations. In response to the committee’s recommendation on the abolition of the sahayak system, the Ministry of Defence, in the action taken reply merely stated the various instructions issued about the sahayak system and that the system should not be misused to employ sahayaks in menial house-hold work. But it refused to accept the recommendation of the committee.
The committee in its action taken report noted that it was not able to understand the necessity of having the services of Sahayaks by the Army officers particularly when the sister services i.e., Navy and Air Force have abandoned this practice. While reiterating their earlier recommendation, the Committee recommended that Army should follow the examples set by their counterparts Air force and Navy and stop the colonial practice with immediate effect.
Featured Image: ‘Sahayaks’ in the Army

created: January 17, 2017


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Parody video is passed off as David Bowie's prediction of the impact of internet in 1999 - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
January 11, 2022
A social media post accompanying a video claims that popular English singer-songwriter had predicted the impact of the internet back in 1999 in a programme called Newsnight. This video is being widely shared. In the video, we can hear a man (look-alike of David Bowie) predicting the emergence of social media, targeted adverts, far-right gaining political power, behavioural changes of humans, etc. Through this article, let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Video of English singer-songwriter David Bowie predicting the impact of internet back in 1999.
Fact: The viral video is a parody of the real David Bowie’s old interview on Newsnight in 1999, created by Michael Spicer. Though David Bowie talks about the internet in the original interview, at no point in the interview he mentions exactly the same words, as claimed in the viral video. The viral video is a recreation of original David Bowie interview. Hence the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
It is true that the real David Bowie spoke about the internet on Newsnight interview in 1999. However, the viral video is actually a parody of David Bowie’s old interview, wherein an actor impersonates as real David Bowie.
Google search with keywords yielded the original interview on the official BBC Newsnight channel on YouTube. In this interview David Bowie indeed talks about the internet, ‘I don’t think we’ve even seen the tip of the iceberg. I think the potential of what the Internet is going to do to society, both good and bad, is unimaginable. I think we’re actually on the cusp of something exhilarating and terrifying’ Bowie replied to a question.
However, at no point in the interview, Bowie mentions the emergence of social media, targeted adverts, far-right gaining political power, behavioural changes of humans, etc. as claimed in the post.
The viral video is a parody of the original David Bowie interview. The video was created shared by Michael Spicer, a British comedy writer, best known for his satirical videos. He shared the video initially on his Twitter handle on 03 January 2022. Many users have posted the actual video of David Bowie interview in the comments section.
David Bowie Predicts the Impact of the Internet on Newsnight (1999) pic.twitter.com/SH3bFQbqQw
To sum it up, a parody video is passed off as David Bowie predicted the impact of the internet in 1999.

created: January 11, 2022


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Parody video shared as visuals of Elon Musk firing Twitter’s former policy chief Vijaya Gadde during a live broadcast - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
November 3, 2022
A video is being shared on social media claiming that Twitter’s new owner Elon Musk had fired Twitter’s former policy head Vijaya Gadde live on air. This post claims that the billionaire invited the head of Twitter’s policy department to a live broadcast and fired her during the programme. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Video showing Elon Musk firing Twitter’s former policy head Vijaya Gadde during a live broadcast session.
Fact: It is a parody video created by a Denmark-based content producer named Damon Imani. This video was created by editing video clips from Elon Musk’s and Vijaya Gadde’s old podcast interviews with Joe Rogan. After acquiring Twitter for $44 Billion, Elon Musk fired Twitter’s former CEO Paresh Agrawal, Vijaya Gadde and other top officials of Twitter. But Musk did not fire Vijaya Gadde during a live broadcast as claimed by the post. Hence, the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
When we searched to check whether Elon Musk and Twitter’s former Policy Chief Vijaya Gadde were together in any live broadcast interview lately, we could not find any reports confirming this on the internet. Upon searching for the details of this video using the relevant keywords, we found that the clips showing Vijaya Gadde’s reaction in the video were taken from Gadde’s podcast interview with Joe Rogan in March 2019. Twitter’s co-founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey, Vijaya Gadde and an independent journalist named Tim Pool participated in this podcast with Joe Rogan. From 26:31 minutes of the video, one could see similar visuals of Vijaya Gadde admitting their failure at educating people about violation rules on Twitter and not being transparent. Elon Musk was not present in this old podcast interview with Joe Rogan .
On searching for further details, we found that the video clips showing Elon Musk in the post were taken from Elon Musk’s 2018 podcast interview with Joe Rogan. At 24:21 and 25:12 minutes of the video, one could see Elon Musk making similar hand and eye gestures as shown in the video shared in the post. During the interview, Elon Musk never spoke about the word penalty or fired an employee from his company.
On observing the video shared in the post carefully, one could see ‘@damonimani’ watermark on the top left of the video. When searched for the video using relevant keywords, we found the same video on the Instagram handle of a Denmark-based content producer named Damon Imani. Damon Imani published the video with a description, “FOOTAGE: Elon Musk fired Twitter’s head of censorship ON AIR! – parody!”
A post shared by Damon Imani (@damonimani)
After acquiring Twitter for $44 Billion, Elon Musk fired Twitter’s former CEO Parag Agrawal and other top company officials including Vijaya Gadde, and become the sole director of Twitter. But, Elon Musk did not fire Vijaya Gadde during a live broadcast as claimed by the post.
To sum it up, a parody video is shared as visuals of Elon Musk firing Vijaya Gadde during a live broadcast.

created: November 3, 2022


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Part-1: Analysis of the North-South divide of the Population growth rate
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
August 26, 2019
Ever since the Prime Minister mentioned population growth and the need to be concerned about population explosion, in his Independence day speech, opinions are divided on the issue. In a two-part series, we look at the numbers from Census 2011 to understand the issue in greater detail.
In his Independence Day speech this year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the country needs to worry about population explosion and mentioned that increasing population poses various new challenges.
The debate around population growth is divided. But what do the numbers say about population growth in India? In a two-part series, we look at numbers from the Census 2011 to understand the differences in population growth rates across the country, both in terms of geographies and communities.
Decreasing trend in population growth rate over last Four decades
The latest available census data is for 2011 and this data is compared it with the previous census data of 2001 for arriving at growth rates for the purpose of this analysis. The population of the country as per 2011 census was 121.08 crores, whereas in 2001 it was 102.86 crores. In other words, the population grew by 17.71% over this decade which is less than 21.54% growth rate in the previous decade (1991-2001). This is in continuation of declining growth rate observed since 1971-81 where the growth percentage was 24.65% and in the ensuing decade of 1981-91, the population grow at 23.86%.  This could be the result of emphasis on family planning and national level campaigns around family planning. The reduction in population growth rates in the recent decades follows the increasing trend observed between 1951-71.
However, the decline in growth rate over the last decade is not uniform across the country.
Population Growth rate in many of the Hindi speaking states more than the National Average
Apart from being the states with higher population in India, the states of UP, Bihar and MP also have higher population growth rate over the period 2001-2011.
Among the bigger states, Bihar has the highest population growth rate with 25.42%.  J&K has was next with a growth rate of 23.64%followed by Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Rajasthan at 22.61%, 22.42% and 21.31% respectively.
Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh which rank 1st and 6th respectively among the states in terms of population, have a growth rate of 20.23% and 20.35% respectively. Other states in the Northern and Western part of India also have a higher rate of population growth than the national average.
The population growth rate of the southern states is less than national average of 17.71% for 2001-2011.  Kerala had the least population growth with only 4.91% followed by Andhra Pradesh (before bifurcation) with 10.98%. Karnataka and Tamil Nadu also have lower population growth with approximately 15.6% for both the states. Maharashtra and West Bengal which are the 2nd and 4th most populated states in the country, also have population growth rates less than national average.
Among the smaller states, Manipur, Meghalaya, Arunachala Pradesh and Mizoram have higher rate of population growth compared to the national average while Goa, Sikkim & Tripura have a growth rate less than the national average.  The state of Nagaland has a negative rate of growth during 2001-11.
Districts with more than 50 Lakh population among those with the highest growth rate
As per 2001 census, there were a total of 593 districts in India, which increased to 640 districts as per 2011 census. To facilitate analysis and comparison, the population of new districts as per 2011 census is included in their parent districts for comparison with the 2001 figures. Overall,  45% of the districts in India have a population growth rate more than the national average.
A total of 20 districts in India have a population of more than 50 lakhs as per the 2011 census of which 13 districts have a growth rate more than the national average. The average growth rate of these top 20 districts is 22.13%. Most of these are urban centers which attract a lot of inward migration.
35 districts in India have population between 40-50 lakhs of which 34% districts are above the national average in terms of population growth rate.  Further, 49% of the 73 districts with population between 30-40 lakhs have the population growth more than India’s growth rate.
Nearly half of 115 districts with population between 20-30 lakhs are above the nations’ population growth. A majority of the districts in India have population less than 20 lakhs. Of which, 41% of 192 districts between 10-20 lakhs, and 36% of the 157 districts with population less than 10 lakhs have the population growth rate above the nation’s average.
Bihar, UP, MP and Rajasthan account for a large number of districts with rate of growth more than national average
All the 37 districts in Bihar have a growth rate more than India’s population growth rate. Of these, 18 districts have population growth rate even higher than Bihar’s average of 25.62%. Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh are the other states where the population growth rate in more than 50% of the districts is more than India’s population growth rate.
In Jharkhand, 72% of the districts have a higher population growth rate than the national average. Further, 11 out of 18 districts in Jharkhand have population growth rate more than the state’s average of 23.92%.
32 of 45 districts in Madhya Pradesh have population growth more than that of India. Of these, 19 districts have population growth rate more than the state’s average growth rate.
Out of the 45 districts in UP, which have population growth rate higher than India, 26 of them have the growth rate higher than UP’s average. The population of Bahraich district grew by 46% by adding 11.06 lakhs in the decade between 2001-2011. The population in Ghaziabad, in Uttar Pradesh grew by 13.9 Lakhs i.e. by 42%.
In Rajasthan,the population of Jaipur District increased by 13.75 Lakhs i.e. 26% higher than the state’s growth rate of 19%.
Kerala has no district which has population growth rate higher than India’s growth rate. However, Malappuram district has a population growth rate of 13% which is significantly higher than the state’s average of approximately 5%. It is also the highest populated district in Kerala.
Of the other big states, Punjab also does not have any district with a higher growth rate than national average. In erstwhile Andhra Pradesh, only one district (Rangareddy, surrounding the capital city of Hyderabad) recorded a higher growth rate.
It also has to be noted that some of the districts where population growth is more than the state or national average are urban districts, which are the destination for inward migrants.
High population growth of Northern States offsetting the contribution of Southern states towards lower population growth rate.
The national population growth rate has been on the decline in the last four decades largely due to the contribution of the southern states. The high population growth rate of the Hindi heartland states (UP, Bihar, Jharkhand, MP, and Rajasthan) is offsetting any potential benefit from the lower population growth in the south. The growth of population is high across the districts in these states with rare exceptions. While few North Eastern states also recorded higher population growth, this is largely due to the lower population base and hence may not impact India’s population growth significantly. In the case of the Hindi heartland states, it is higher population growth combined with higher growth rates.
In Part-2, we look at some of the districts with unusually high population growth rate across the country and if there is correlation with community wise growth rates.
Featured Image: Population growth rate in India


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Part-1: Average Fleet Size & Vehicle Productivity of SRTUs decreases over years
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
October 23, 2019
The strike of the
employee unions of the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation has put the
spotlight on the performance of SRTUs. Here is a 3-part series that looks at
the various aspects of SRTUs. In the first part, we look at the physical
performance of the SRTUs.
About 48,000 employees of Telangana State
Road Transport Corporation began an indefinite strike on 05October 2019 demanding a higher pay, merger with government, job security toemployees among other things. Incidents of suicides and suicideattempts by those protesting have also been reported in the state. As theprotest by TSRTC employee unions in Telangana intensifies, in a three-partseries, we analyse the performance of the State Road Transport Undertakings (SRTUs)in India. The first part looks into the physical performance such as fleetsize, vehicle productivity etc. over the years. In the second part, we look atthe staff related statistics and accidents and the last part will look into thepecuniary aspects of SRTUs.
There
were 54 SRTUs in India as per the SRTU performance report of 2015-16
The Ministry of Road Transport &Highways (MoRTH) publishes reports of SRTUs  for every financial year. The last such reportis available only for the financial year 2015-16. Every year, the number ofSRTUs which submit their report to the ministry is different. What has beenobserved is that the number of SRTUs that have submitted the report hasincreased gradually from 34 in 2009-10 to 47 in 2015-16. The data from thelatest 2015-16 report indicates that altogether there were a total of 54 SRTUsin 2015-16 of which only 47 had submitted their reports. These 47 SRTUstogether had 1.42 lakh buses. Though the number of States/UTs in India is only36, the number of SRTUs is more than 50 because some states have multipleSRTUs. Tamil Nadu has 7 SRTUs followed by Maharashtra which has 6 and Karnatakawhich has 4.
Even though the numbers suggest thatthe total number of buses has increased over the years, it should be kept inmind that the number of SRTUs that have submitted data has also increased duringthis period. In order to make the numbers comparable, the arithmetic averagenumber of buses under each SRTU has been calculated and demonstrated in thefollowing chart. From this, it is clear that the average fleet size per SRTUhas actually decreased over the years.
Maharashtra
SRTC has the largest number of buses followed by Andhra Pradesh SRTC and
Telangana SRTC
The fleet size owned by various SRTUshows a decreasing trend since 2012-13. On an average, in 2015-16, each SRTUowns only 3039 buses compared to an average of 3,599 buses per SRTU in 2010-11.According to the 2015-16 report, Maharashtra SRTC had the largest fleet sizewith 18,514 buses, followed by Andhra Pradesh with 12,012 buses. Telangana SRTChad a fleet size of 10,391 buses- third highest in the country, which accountsfor a 7.3% share of the total fleet size of the 47 SRTUs in 2015-16. Before theformation of Telangana state, United Andhra Pradesh SRTC had the largest fleetsize followed by Maharashtra SRTC. However, in terms of states, Maharashtra hadthe highest fleet size if all the 6 SRTUs are taken into consideration.  SRTUs in north eastern states- Sikkim NT,Arunachal Pradesh ST, Meghalaya STC, Mizoram ST and Tripura RTC have the lowestfleet size and had a combined share of just 0.3% of total fleet size reportedin 2015-16. This could be because of the lower population in these states andthe difficult terrain.
A
little over 90% of the total number of buses owned by SRTUs are operational
Despite the SRTUs owning more than 1.4lakh buses in 2015-16, only 1.29 lakh buses were operating. In other words, only90.4% of the fleet size was operational & plying on the roads. Fleetutilisation is calculated as the percentage of operational buses over fleetsize. Fleet utilisation had dropped from 92.4% in 2009-10 to 89.5% in 2013-14.In 2015-16, fleet utilisation was 90.4%, less than the same in preceding year,90.9% in 2014-15. Telangana SRTC had a fleet utilisation of 99.88% in 2015-16.The average age of buses in Telangana as of 2015-16 was 7.12 years. A total of 17.21%of the buses of Telangana SRTC operational in 2015-16 were over aged vehicles.
Vehicle
productivity of Telangana SRTC has been better than the national average
despite witnessing a decline in 2015-16
Fleet utilisation is a parameter whichgives an idea of quality of the vehicles and their maintenance. The averagenumber of revenue earning kilometres traversed by each bus per day isdetermined in order to ascertain the productivity of vehicle. Vehicleproductivity across the country has reduced substantially over the years. From323.3 km per bus per day in 2009-10, the productivity decreased to 305.59 kmper bus per day in 2015-16. While Maharashtra SRTC had recorded the maximumrevenue earning kilometres with over 21,066 lakh kilometres (because of thelarger fleet size), Telangana SRTC recorded 12,381.39 lakh revenue earningkilometres in 2015-16. Vehicle productivity of Telangana SRTC stood at 325.56kilometres per bus per day in 2015-16, better than the national average.However, this is less than the 330.22 km per bus per day recorded in TelanganaSRTC in 2014-15.
Telangana
SRTC reported the largest number of passengers carried in 2015-16
Along with the Indian Railways, SRTUsare the backbone of public transport in the country. A large chunk of the populationdepends on public transport since it is cost effective and convenient inaddition to reducing carbon footprint.
The year 2011-12 witnessed the highestvehicle productivity with 329.1 km per bus per day across SRTUs in India, inthe 7-year period between 2009-10 & 2015-16. The largest number ofpassengers in buses under SRTUs was also recorded in the same year.
During the 7-year period between2009-10 and 2015-16, more than 2910 crore passengers travelled in the SRTUs in2011-12, marking the highest number of passengers. In 2015-16, close to 2490crore passengers have availed the services of SRTUs. In other words, an averageof 6.82 crore passengers per day availed the services of SRTUs across the countryin 2015-16.  Telangana SRTC alone carriedmore than 329 crore passengers in 2015-16 (an average of 90 lakh a day), thelargest number of passengers for a SRTU in that year.
Occupancy ratio is measured aspercentage of passenger kilometres performed to passenger kilometres offered.This can also be inferred as the percentage of seats occupied against the seatsavailable. Occupancy ratio over the years has varied between 67.9% to 72.2%. In2015-16, the occupancy ratio was 69.7%. Telangana SRTC’s occupancy ratioincreased from 69% in 2014-15 to 70.21% in 2015-16.
In the subsequent stories, we will look at the staff strength of each SRTU, accidents amount other things.
Featured Image:State Road Transport Undertakings

created: October 23, 2019


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Fact-Check of Development-related Claims made by the Finance Minister
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
February 11, 2020
During her budget speech for 2020-21, the finance minister made multiple claims related to development, welfare, economy among other things. Here is a series that fact checks these claims.
The Budget Speech, delivered by FinanceMinister Nirmala Sitharaman, while presenting the Union Budget for the year2020-21 presents a summary of major achievements and future plans of thegovernment. Here’s a deep dive into some of the claims in her speech.
Gross
Enrolment Ratio across levels
Claim (Point 65): Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) of girls across all levels of education is now higher than boys. At elementary level, it is 94.32 % as against 89.28% for boys. At secondary level, it is 81.32 % as compared to 78 %, At higher secondary level girls have achieved a level of 59.70 % as compared to 57.54 % for boys.
Fact: It is TRUE that the GER for girls is more than the boys across levels. However, the increasing trend in the GER of girls is not a recent phenomenon. It has been happening for many years now including the UPA period.
The Department of School Education
& Literacy’s data for 2018-19 shows, as quoted in the speech,that GER for girls across all levels of education is higher than boys. It isimportant to note that the emphasis is on this being a recent achievement. The GER for girls has been onan increasing trend and has been higher than boys at elementary and secondarylevels of education in the previous years as well. However, the distinguishingfact is that the GER of girls has been higher than boys in all levels ofeducation (including higher secondary) since the year 2015-16.
India’s
rank in the Travel & Tourism Index
Claim (Point 76): India has moved up from rank 65 in 2014 to 34 in 2019 in the Travel & Tourism Competitive Index (World Economic Forum). Foreign exchange earnings grew 7.4% to Rs. 1.88 lakh crores for the period January to November 2019 from Rs. 1.75 lakh crores.
Fact: It is TRUE India’s rank has substantially improved in the Travel & Tourism Competitive Index.  However, the growth rate of Foreign Exchange Earnings (FEE) in 2019 is the lowest in many years. Hence it is MISLEADING to claim the growth in FEE is an achievement.
Withrespect to India’s ranking in Travel & Tourism Index, the rank has improvedfrom 65 in 2013’s Index to 34 in 2019’s Index. The Index was for theyear 2013 and not 2014, as mentioned in the speech. Previously, India’s rank inthe Index hovered around 62-68 from 2009 to 2013. The rank has improvedsignificantly during 2015-19 period.
With respect to Foreign Exchange Earnings (FEE), the figures quoted in the speech are reflected in the Ministry of Tourism’s End Year Review 2019. However,  the data from Ministry of Tourism’s annual reports reveals that the growth in FEE during the previous years has been higher than the present growth rate. In fact, the present rate of FEE growth is the lowest since 2012.
Part-2  of this series can be read here.
Featured Image: Claims made by the Finance Minister during Budget speech

created: February 11, 2020


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Part 1: FAQs on the CAA & NRC Issue
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
December 24, 2019
Here is a list of FAQs on the CAA and what it means for various sections of people.
In an earlier story on Factly, we explained what the Citizenship Act is and how an individual can acquire Indian citizenship. The story also looked at the amendment made to the act this year. This story takes a look at some frequently asked questions pertaining to the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). In the subsequent story, we would address some questions related to the National Register of Citizens (NRC).
What is the CAA all about?
According to the CAA,Hindus, Sikhs, Parsis, Jains, Christians and Buddhists who entered India fromAfghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh on or before 31 December 2014 will not beconsidered as illegal migrants. Since CAA only exempts persons from these 6religions & 3 countries, migrants in India who do not belong to thosereligions and countries will be deemed illegal if they do not have validdocuments or have overstayed in India. At the same time, CAA is not directlyrelated to Indian citizens.
What are the benefits they get under CAA?
Under the CAA, the period of stay for naturalisation has also been reduced to six years (5 years plus one year before the application) for persons from the 6 religions & 3 countries. People belonging to other religions such as Muslims from these countries can apply for citizenship in India but they should have lived in the country for 12 years (11 years plus one year before the application). However, those who are deemed illegal migrants will not be eligible to apply for citizenship.
Does the law favour only persecuted religious
minorities from the three countries?
In the CAA, it has not been explicitly mentioned that the law is for those minorities who have been persecuted on religious grounds. However, the object of the bill states that the amendment was made to help the religious minorities who faced persecution in the three countries on the grounds of religion.
Reference has also been made in the CAA to Passport (Entry to India) Act of 1920 and rules made under the same. The Passport (Entry into India) Rules was altered by the Central Government in 2015 exempting religious minorities- Buddhists, Sikhs, Jains, Hindus, Parsis and Christians from Pakistan and Bangladesh, who were forced to come to India due to religious persecution prior to 2015, from being considered as illegal migrants.
This was further amended in July 2016 to include those from Afghanistan also.
Is it not possible for other foreigners to apply for
citizenship?
CAA does not deny other foreigners from applying for citizenship. Any foreigner who has valid documents such as passport, visa and other documents which have been notified by the government of India, can apply for citizenship. However, it is mandatory that the person applying has lived in India for 11+1 years (as explained in the earlier story). Religious minorities from other countries too can apply for citizenship provided they qualify as per the criteria notified by the government. But as explained earlier, those deemed illegal migrants will not be able to apply for citizenship except the ones from the 6 religious minorities from the 3 countries.
Foreigners whowish to stay in India for more than 180 days should have Long Term Visas (LTV).The government has also made provisions to provide
Long Term Visas to those who come toIndia from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh seeking permanent settlement.
However, thoseMuslim migrants in India and those from other countries who have not beencovered under CAA and do not possess necessary documents will not be able toapply for citizenship unless the government decides to consider their case inspecific (like in the case of Sri Lankan Tamils).
For those who claim to be refugees, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has issued a standard operating procedure to be followed before granting them an LTV.
What about persecuted religious minorities other
neighbouring countries?
The minorities from other countries including Baluchis, Rohingayas and Ahmediyas can apply for citizenship if they fulfil the criteria mentioned in the Citizenship act. According to the Parliamentary Joint Committee report, the standard operating procedure issued by the government on 29 December 2011 should be adhered to for refugees/ persecuted minorities from other countries.
However, as seenearlier, those who do not possess valid documents will not be eligible toapply.
What is the need for CAA?
The object of thebill states that the religious minorities from the six religions have beenfacing persecution on grounds of religion.
According to arepresentative of Ministry of External Affairs, the amendment was needed toredress the issues faced by the religious minorities from the earlier mentionedcountries as they could not return to their country for fear of religiouspersecution and that these three countries provide for a specific statereligion, Islam. It was also stated that the ministry received representationsrequesting extension in visas and that lack of documents would result thembeing classified as illegal migrants.
Why have the three countries been included?
The government hasincluded only the three countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan whichhave Islam as the state religion. While Bangladesh and Pakistan were part ofundivided India, the reason for inclusion of Afghanistan as per the JointCommittee report is because of ‘multiple attacks against Indian interests inAfghanistan by the Pakistan establishment sponsored LET, Haqqani Network andTaliban.’ The Ministry of Home Affairs also claimed that a number of people hadcome to India from Afghanistan following religious persecution or fear ofreligious persecution.
What is the evidence that the government will require
in order to establish whether or not the migrant has been religiously
persecuted?
The Government isyet to notify the rules under the CAA which will answer these questions.
However, during the Joint Committee’s discussion, MHA stated that inputs from security agencies and evidences in print and electronic media will be used for establishing religious persecution. How will this be proved in every individual case remains unanswered.
Why have some areas in the North East been excluded?
The areas fallingin the Inner
Permit Line and other areas in Schedule
6 where tribal and indigenous populationare present have been excluded from the act so as to prevent the influx ofmigrants into these areas.
What will happen to those who entered India after 2015?
As per the act,they will have to apply for Long Term Visas and follow the criteria as listedin the citizenship act. No consideration will be given to them as of now.
What will happen to the illegal migrants under this
law?
The CAA does notdeal with actions taken against illegal
migrants. The Passport (Entry into India)Act, 1920 and Foreigners Act, 1946 govern entry and exit of foreigners. It isbased on these laws that detention and deportation of illegal immigrants takesplace.
In a subsequent story, we will look at questions with respect to National Register of Citizens (NRC) and if NRC coupled with CAA could pose a threat to minorities in the country.
Featured Image: FAQs on  CAA & NRC

created: December 24, 2019


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Part-1: Food Grain procurement by FCI – What do the numbers say?
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
June 4, 2020
Food Grain procurement by the government is the most important post-harvest agricultural activity in the country. The procurement for the government is done by the Food Corporation of India (FCI) with the help of State Agencies. What do the numbers tell us about food grain procurement by FCI?
In the earlier story on Food Cooperation of India (FCI), we explored the role of FCI in Food Grain procurement & ensuring Food Security. Along with the mandated objectives of FCI, its different functions like –procurement, storage, distribution etc. were also discussed.
In this story, we take a more detailed look at the procurement strategy followed by FCI along with related numbers of procurement and the stocks maintained.
Procurement Policy consists of Centralized and De-centralized procurement systems
The Government of India follows a procurement policy which is open-ended. As per this policy:
This procurement of Wheat and Paddy is done via the following two systems:
In few of the major Wheat and Paddy procuring states like Punjab, Haryana and in few parts of Rajasthan, FCI/State agencies procure the produce from the farmers via Commission Agents (Arhatiyas) as per the guidelines of respective State APMC acts. In few other states like Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal etc. the procurement is done via Co-operative societies also.
As for Coarse grains (like Jowar, Bajra, millet etc.), the procurement is done by State governments with consultation with FCI, so that the respective State Government may utilize them for distribution under National Food Security Act (NFSA) and other Welfare Schemes. This also provides them with the choice of preferred grains to procure.
States which have Decentralized Procurement System are called DCP states and they vary for Rice and Wheat.
MSP trend over the last 10 years
The Government of India announces the Minimum Support Price (MSP)  prior to every Kharif/Rabi season. This is done based on the recommendations of Commission of Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) reports which takes into consideration various factors to determine MSP.
For the Marketing Year 2011-12, the MSP for Paddy (Common) was Rs.1080 per Quintal (Qtl). With minor increase year on year, the MSP for Paddy  for 2020-21 is fixed at Rs.1,868 per Qtl.
Similarly, the MSP for Paddy (Grade A) has also increased over the 10 years from Rs. 1110 per Qtl to Rs.1888 per Qtl.
MSP of Wheat also has increased from Rs. 1170 per Qtl in 2011-12 to Rs.1925 being offered as MSP in 2020-21. Comparatively Coarse grains had a higher increase in their MSP with more than two-fold increase for most of them over the 10-year period.
Procurement in the current Marketing Year among the highest for both Wheat and Rice
The current marketing season for Wheat is Rabi Marketing Season 2020-21. As per the information available on 03 June 2020, the total wheat procured in this season is 364.55 Lakh Metric Tons (LMT).
The procurement of wheat for the current season is still under progress, but it has already crossed the procurement of previous marketing season, which was 341.33 LMT.  The highest procurement of Wheat in the last 10 years was in 2012-13 where in it was 381.48 LMT.
The latest season for Rice is the Kharif Marketing Season (KMS) 2019-20. The procurement of Rice to the Central Pool as on 03 June 2020 is 477.13 LMT.
This is the highest procurement of rice in the last ten years. The actual procurement for KMS 2019-20 of rice has exceeded the estimate for that marketing season, which was 416 LMT.
Since KMS 2013-14, the procurement of rice has consistently increased year on year.
Major Share of procurement is done by State Agencies
As highlighted earlier, the procurement of food grains is done both by FCI as well as the state agencies. In the procurement done for the Central Pool, procurement by State Agencies is higher than that of the FCI. While the share of procurement by FCI for wheat has more or less remained the same, there has been a drastic fall of FCI’s procurement share in the case of Rice.
The share of procurement of wheat by State Agencies in 2014-15 was 87.39%, which increased to 89.28 % the next year, followed by a fall. Over the next three years, it hovered around 88%.
However, as per the latest numbers for the current season of 2020-21, the procurement by State agencies has increased to 91.14% , due to a fall in the volume of procurement by FCI.
As for Rice, there has been a drastic fall in the procurement done through FCI. In the year 2013-14, the procurement through FCI to the central pool was 19%, which fell to 7.5% in the next year and continued to fall in the subsequent years. In fact, there is a considerable fall in the volume of procurement done by FCI, which has contributed to this falling share.  In the year 2018-19, the share of procurement by FCI was 1.02 %, slightly better than previous year’s share of 0.41 %.
The main reason for this shift can be attributed to both the states of Telangana & Andhra Pradesh becoming DCP states during 2014-15 and 2015-16 respectively, wherein the procurement is now done by the state agencies rather than FCI. These two states are among the top producers of rice.
In the next story, we take a look at the procurement numbers as against the projected estimate as well the share in total production.
Featured Image: Food Grain procurement by FCI


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Part 1: What does the NCRB report tell us about the State of Crime in India?
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
November 13, 2019
The NCRB
report is the primary source of state level crime data. In a two-part series,
we take a deeper look at the numbers from the NCRB’s 2017 Crime in India report
to understand the real picture.
National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB)’s annual Crime in India (CII) report not only provides numbers with respect to various crimes at a national level, but also provides these statistics at the state level. In fact, the numbers reported in this report are a consolidation of the data received from the States and UTs. A closer look at the various crimes reported at state-level would help in understanding the state of affairs and trends.
Hereis an analysis of the numbers from the Crime
in India Report-2017  about the stateof crimes across different states & UTs of India.
Kerala
has the highest number of reported crimes followed by Uttar Pradesh and
Maharashtra
For the year 2017, Kerala reported a total of 6,53,500 cognizable crimes, which is the highest among Indian States/UTs. Uttar Pradesh ranks second with 6,00,082 reported crimes. Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh make up the top-5 in terms of states that reported the greatest number of cognizable crimes. It has to be noted that these numbers include crimes committed as per the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and other Special Acts & Local Laws (SLL).
Evenin the year 2016, Kerala recorded the highest number of cognizable crimes 7,07,870followed by Uttar Pradesh with 4,94,025 cases and Tamil Nadu with 4,67,369.
Reported
Crime Rate is highest in Delhi, followed by Kerala.
Crimerate measures the incidence of crime per one lakh of population. The NCRBreport uses the population estimates for 2017 on the basis of 2001 Census forthis calculation.
Among the States/UTs in India, Delhi has the highest crime rate as per NCRB data with 1050 reported instances of crime per one lakh population. Kerala, which has the highest number of crimes reported, has the second highest crime rate with 656 in 2017. Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Telangana complete the list of top 5 states with the highest reported crime rate in India. However, the crime rates in these states is significantly lower than that of Delhi and Kerala. In general, lower population and the higher number of recorded crimes contribute towards a higher crime rate in these two states of Delhi & Kerala.
Conversely,Uttar Pradesh, which has the second highest number of recorded crimes in 2017,stands among the states with one of lower recorded crime rate with 139. Among thestates Nagaland has the least recorded crime rate with only 44 crimes per onelakh population.
Majority
of the crimes are reported are under SLL (Special and Local Laws) in Kerala
WhileKerala has the highest reported cases, it does not rank first when it comes tocases booked under the IPC (Indian Penal Code). Nearly 64% of the casesregistered i.e. 4,17,654 in Kerala in 2017 are under SLL (Special and LocalLaws).
Asper the Criminal
Procedure Code, crimes are classified into Cognizable andNon-Cognizable Crimes. Cognizable crimes are those which do not require anorder from magistrate, and which requires the police to take immediate actionon receipt of complaint or information. These cognizable crimes either fallunder Indian
Penal Code(IPC) like Crime against body, crime against property,sexual offences etc. or under Special
and Local Laws (SLL) like Arms Act, 1959; Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961;Information Technology Act 2000 etc.
UttarPradesh (UP) has the highest number of cases recorded under IPC for the year2017 with 3,10,084 cases which make up nearly 52% of the total cases registeredin UP.  Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh arenext in line in terms of the highest number of cases under IPC with 2,88,879and 2,68,512 respectively, followed by Kerala.  Both Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh have alarge proportion of the cases registered under IPC with 62% and 76%respectively unlike in Kerala where 64% of the cases were registered under SLL.
Otherstates which have a larger share of crimes under IPC out of the totalregistered crimes include Delhi (95%), Assam (95%), Telangana (89%), AndhraPradesh (89%), West Bengal (83%), Odisha (80%), Karnataka (79%), Bihar (76%)etc.
As noted before, Kerala has the highest number of cases booked under SLL with 4,17,654 cases. Tamil Nadu with 57.5%, Gujarat with 61.5% and Haryana with 56% are the other states which have a higher proportion of total cases registered under SLL.
Uttar
Pradesh, Bihar & West Bengal among the states with the highest recorded
incidents of Violent Crimes in 2017
Apart from the overall data of the crimes in India,NCRB data provides further details in respect to the types of crimes committed.Violent crimes are a key category in view of the grave nature of such crimes aswell as the prominence accorded to them in news reporting and the impression onthe public memory.
As per NCRB Data, Violent Crimes include crimes such as – Murder, Culpable Homicide not amounting tomurder, Dowry Deaths, Attempt to Commit Murder, Grievous Hurt, Rape, Riotingetc.
Uttar Pradesh has reported the highest number of violentcrimes in 2017 with 64,450. Bihar has the next highest number of recordedviolent crimes with 50,700 followed by West Bengal with 48,609.  Maharashtra has a total of 40,010 recorded violentcrimes in 2017.
Assam and Madhya Pradesh are other states which havea high number of violent crimes recorded with 25,875 and 27.591 respectively.  Kerala which has the highest number ofrecorded crimes reported 13,315 violent crimes i.e. 2% of the total crimesrecorded in the state.
If one counts the proportion of violent crimes ofthe total number of reported crimes in a state, nearly 25% of the crimesrecorded in West Bengal are violent crimes. Bihar with 21.5% and Assam with23.5% are the other states which not only have a high volume of violent crimesbut also a higher proportion of violent crimes. Violent crimes in UttarPradesh, while being the highest in country constitute around 11% of the totalcrimes committed in the state.
Tamil Nadu, which has the fourth highest number oftotal crimes, reported 10,358 crimes under the category of violent crimes whichconstitutes approximately 2.5% of the total crimes in the states.
Gujarat, Delhi, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana &Madhya Pradesh are among the other states which have a higher number of overallrecorded crimes but a lesser proportion of violent crimes with 3.1%, 5.5%, 5.6%,5.7%, 5.8% and 7.3% respectively.
What
does the NCRB Crime data tell us & not tell us?
Theoverall crime figures point out that states like Kerala, Tamil Nadu,Maharashtra etc. which are considered to be among the more developed states inIndia are also among the states with higher number of crimes. On the otherhand, the likes of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, known to be among the lesserdeveloped states have relatively lesser number of crimes and a much lessercrime rate as per NCRB records.
However,as we dwell deeper into the different types of crimes, we see that thedeveloped states have lesser crimes under IPC and much lesser number of violentcrimes with states like Bihar and UP reporting a greater number of violentcrimes.
This necessitates the need to explore the data further rather than being restricted to the overall number of crimes reported, to be able to understand the issue better. We have in an earlier story,  highlighted the inconsistency between the NCRB data & Home Ministry data regarding communal incidents especially in view of its dependence on crime being reported and FIRs being filed. In the second part of this series on NCRB’s CII report 2017, we explore other categories of crimes that may offer insights into and help us draw a better picture of the state of crime and crime reporting in India, beyond just the overall numbers.
Featured Image:Crime in India

created: November 13, 2019


text:
Part-1: What is the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY)?
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
October 7, 2019
In a three-part series,
we look at the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) in detail. In the first
part, we look at the scheme, its similarities & differences with the
earlier insurance schemes.
With the objective to provide comprehensiveinsurance coverage and financial support to the farmers at the time of cropfailure due to natural calamity or pest attack, the Government of India launchedthe Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) in February 2016. But what are the salient features of the scheme? Howdoes it differ from its predecessors and what is the current status ofimplementation? Here is a three-part series that looks into the various aspectsof the PMFBY.
PMFBY was launched in Kharif 2016 in place of NAIS and MNAIS
Currently, the Government of India isimplementing four crop insurance schemes. These are Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), Restructured-Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme (RWBCIS), Unified Package Insurance Scheme(UPIS) and Coconut Palm Insurance Scheme (CPIS). PMFBY was launched by the NDA Governmentin Kharif season of 2016 after reviewing the erstwhile agricultural insuranceschemes of National Agriculture Insurance Scheme (NAIS), Weather-based CropInsurance scheme (WBCIS) and Modified National Agricultural Insurance Scheme(MNAIS). PMFBY replaced National Agriculture Insurance Scheme (NAIS) andModified National Agricultural Insurance Scheme (MNAIS). While PMFBY is basedon yields, the weather index based Restructured Weather Based Crop InsuranceScheme (RWBCIS) was also launched in 2016. The RWBCIS is a restructured versionof the erstwhile WBCIS.
What is the objective of PMFBY?
The PMFBY has been launched withthe aim to provide risk cover for crops of farmers against all the natural riskswhich cannot be prevented, from pre-sowing to post-harvest period. Some of the non-preventablenatural risks include natural fire, lightning, storm, floods, cyclone, droughtand landslides. Further, the scheme also aims to provide farmers with adequateclaim amount and timely settlement of the same. The objectives of the schemealso include stabilisation of farmers’ income in order to ensure that theycontinue farming and also ensure flow of credit to the sector. Through thisscheme, the government also aims to encourage farmers to adopt new andinnovative agricultural techniques.
It has to be noted that most of the features of PMFBY are taken fromthose of the erstwhile schemes like the NAIS and MNAIS. While the insuranceunit for former MNAIS scheme was reduced to village or village panchayat levelfor all crops, under PMFBY the unit area of insurance for major crops is at thevillage or village panchayat level and that for other crops was higher such asblock and taluka. Another major difference lies in the premium rate. UnderPMFBY, the premium rates have been brought down considerably.
Farmers have to pay a premium between 1.5% to 5% depending on the type
of crop
The farmers across the country will have topay a premium at 2% of sum insuredfor all Kharif food and oilseed crops and 1.5% of sum insured for Rabi food andoilseed crops. For annual commercial crops and horticulture, premium borne byfarmers will be 5% of the sum insured. The remaining amount of premium will beequally split and paid by the Central and State governments. The role of state governments is to determine the crops and areas where scheme has to be implemented.They are also responsible for selecting insurance companies through bidding,determining the cluster of districts and furnishing the past set of yield dataand other data for insurance companies, premium rates, release their share ofpremium subsidy and monitoring the scheme along with other responsibilities.
PMFBY has features similar to its predecessor schemes under UPA
Unlike in the case of NAIS, empanelledprivate insurance companies were also considered eligible to be appointed as‘Implementing Agencies’ at district level on the lowest premium quoted underthe MNAIS of the UPA. The same is being continued under PMFBY.
In the case of PMFBY, digital innovationsuch as smartphone applications have also been added for yield estimation. ThusPMFBY can be considered a modified version of the erstwhile crop insuranceschemes. Also, under PMFBY,  it ismandatory for farmers who have availed crop loans from financial institutionsto get enrolled under PMFBY.
RWBCIS was also launched in Kharif 2016
RWBCIS is the improvisedversion of WBCIS scheme that was already being implemented in India since 2007.Under this scheme, farmers are provided with insurance protection againstadverse weather incidents such as deficit or excess rainfall, temperaturedifference, moisture and others which have a significant impact on cropproduction. RWBCIS is a revised version of the earlier WBCIS scheme, underwhich, the premium rates have been made on par with that under PMFBY. Underthis scheme, plans have been devised to set up more ‘Automatic Weather Stations(AWS)’ in the country.
About 20 States have opted for PMFBY
Kharif crops are usuallygrown from June to September in India (during the Monsoons) and Rabi crops aregrown from October of one year to March of the following year. Very littlesowing happens in the Zaid season between April and June and hence is notcovered under the insurance schemes.
Insurance coverage is provided for Kharifand Rabi separately. In the following chart, the number of
applications of loanee and non-loaneefarmers for Kharif 2019 and Rabi 2018-19 is given. The number of states whichhad opted for PMFBY in Kharif (2019) is 20 states while that for RWBCIS is 11.For Rabi (2018-19), 18 states had opted for RWBCIS and 21 states had opted forPMFBY.
The scheme has been criticised that it benefits the private insurance companies and not the farmers. Further, delay in payment of premiums by state and central governments is another reason for the criticism. There have also been complaints that farmers do not receive claim payments on time. In Parts 2 & 3 of this series, we analyse the numbers related to PMFBY to understand if there is any merit in the criticism.

created: October 7, 2019


text:
Part-2: Employee Strength of SRTUs decreased over the years
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
October 25, 2019
In part-2 of this
series on the performance of SRTUs, we look at the employee strength, their
productivity, accidents involving SRTU buses among other things.
Among otherdemands put forth by the striking employees of TSRTC, they have also asked theTelangana government to revise their pay scales, purchase more buses andrecruit more people. This story is the second part of the three-part series onperformances of SRTUs in India. In the first part, we looked at thefleet size, passengers, productivity and other such parameters. In this story,we look at staff strength, productivity and accidents that have taken placeacross SRTUs.
Total staff strength of SRTUs has declined by 3%
since 2013-14
SRTUs have provided employment for more than 7.38 lakh people in the country as of 2015-16. The number has fallen by about 3% compared to the 7.62 lakh employed in 2013-14. Maharashtra SRTC which has the largest number of buses is also the largest employment provider. It had more than 1 lakh employees in 2015-16 which accounted for 14% of the total SRTU employment. Andhra Pradesh SRTC which has the second-largest fleet size in India had a staff strength of 57,902 followed by Telangana SRTC with a staff strength of 55,993 constituting 7.5% of total staff strength as of 2015-16.
TSRTC has witnessed a reduction in staff strength
by more than 7,700 since 2009-10
In the case of TSRTC, the staff strength has been reducing since 2013-14. While in 2013-14, data suggests that it had provided employment for 58,039 people, in the following year 2014-15, the employee strength decreased to 56,740 people. This had further reduced to 55,993 in 2015-16. The latest staff strength, according to the TSRTC’s website is 50,317 as of May 2019. In the span of five years, the staff strength of TSRTC has gone down by 13%.
Not onlyTSRTC, but other SRTUs such as Andhra Pradesh SRTC, BEST Undertaking, Delhi TC,Kerala SRTC and UP SRTC have also witnessed a significant reduction in staffstrength during this period.
Staff productivity of SRTUs in India stood at 59.1
km per staff per day
Staff productivity is another parameter which is used in evaluating the performance of SRTUs. It is calculated as the average revenue-earning kilometres performed per worker per day. This parameter tell us how productive the staff is.  From 55.9 km per worker per day in 2013-14, the productivity of staff has increased from to 59.1 km per worker per day in 2015-16. This may be attributed to the reduction in the employee strength and the increased passenger kilometres clocked by these SRTUs.
TSRTC has a staff productivity of 60.42km per worker per day. Productivity of TSRTC is greater than the nationalaverage and has consistently remained so during this period.
Staff-Bus ratio of India has gone down implying that staff recruitment has not increased
The number of staff for each bus is represented by the parameter staff- bus ratio. The staff- bus ratio of India was 5.4 in 2012-13 and this dropped to 5.25 in 2014-15 and touched a low of 5.17 in 2015-16. This decrease could be attributed to reducing staff numbers and stagnant fleet size.  TSRTC had a staff- bus ratio of 5.39 in 2015-16 less than that of 2014-15 when it stood at 5.49. In 2013-14, it was recorded as 5.64 in the case of TSRTC.
One
in five accidents caused by buses under SRTUs results in fatality in India
While a total of 4,80,652 road accidents were recorded in 2016 alone, SRTU buses have been held responsible for 18,768 accidents in 2015-16. The number of cases of road accidents where buses of SRTUs are involved has come down by 12.8% between 2009-10 and 2015-16. But, on average, 21% of these accidents are fatal, which implies that one in five accidents caused by buses under SRTUs results in death. From 2013-14 to 2015-16, the number of fatal accidents has gone up even though the total number of accidents has come down.
42%
of the accidents involving TSRTC buses have resulted in loss of lives
The highest number of accidents have been caused by the SRTUs in Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh. In 2015-16, TSRTC buses were responsible for 827 accidents of which 348 or 42%, turned out to be fatal. The number of fatal accidents as the percentage of total number of accidents is the highest for Uttar Pradesh SRTC, with 53.8% of the total accidents turning fatal, followed by Tamil Nadu STC (Salem) Limited with 53.2% accidents resulting in fatalities. Haryana ST has the third-highest rate of fatal accidents with 46.7% while TSRTC is next in line with 42%.
An overviewof the performance of TSRTC is available on the official TSRTC website. A screenshot ofthe details as on 31 May 2019 is given below.
In part 3 of this series, financial performance of SRTUs will be covered.
Featured Image: By LOVEofZ [CC By SA 4.0]

created: October 25, 2019


text:
Part 2: FAQs on the NRC Issue
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
December 25, 2019
Here is a list of FAQs on the NRC and  details of the various issues involved.
An earlier
story by Factly answered a few questionsabout the much-debated Citizenship Amendment Act 2019 (CAA). In this story, weaddress a few questions related to National Register of Citizens (NRC) and whatmay happen if the NRC is implemented across the country.
It has to be noted that the rules for implementation of CAA are yet to be released by the government. At the same time, there is no further information on the nationwide NRC except for the statements of the Home Minister, BJP leaders and some FAQs released by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).
What is NRC?
National Register
of Citizens is a register whichcontains the names of citizens. Names of citizens are entered in the list on verifyingthe documents produced proving their citizenship. Section
14A of the Citizenship Act specifies thatthe Central Government may maintain a register of citizens and issue nationalID cards to all of them.
The Section 14Athat introduced the concept of NRC was included in the Citizenship Act throughan amendment
notified in 2004. This amendment was passedby both houses of parliament during the Vajpayee led NDA government in 2003 andwas notified after the UPA came to power in 2004.
The Citizenship
(Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules,2003 lays out the procedure to prepare and maintain the NRC. The exercise is tobe done under the supervision of the Registrar General of Citizen Registration.
When was it first prepared?
The NRC Assam, the register containing names of Indian Citizens in Assam, was prepared in 1951 as a non-statutory process by recording particulars of all the persons enumerated during 1951 Census. This was done before the enactment of the Citizenship act of 1955. The registers were kept in the offices of Deputy Commissioners and Sub Divisional Officers.
As per the Supreme Court’s directions, the exercise of NRC update in Assam commenced in December 2013 to be completed over a period of three years. This exercise was to weed out illegal migrants who posed a threat to the demography of the state and was done as part of the Assam Accord.
What is the Assam Accord?
The Assam agitation (1979-85) against the illegal foreigners led to the signing of Assam Accord on 15 August 1985, between the Central Government, State Government, All India Students’ Union (AASU) and All Assam Gan Sangram Parishad (AAGSP), which stipulated 24 March 1971, as the cut-off date for identification and deportation of illegal migrants from East Pakistan (Bangladesh). Accordingly, the Citizenship Act, 1955 was amended by inserting Section 6A as a special provision for Assam.
In a tripartitemeeting of the Central Government, State Government and AASU chaired bythe  Prime Minister in May 2005, it wasagreed to update NRC of 1951. The modalities were approved by the Government ofIndia in consultation with the Government of Assam.
Assam Accord isthe Memorandum of Settlement signed between Rajiv Gandhi led Central Governmentand the leaders of the popular Assam Movement in 1985. The movement was againstthe illegal migrants, mainly from Bangladesh, who settled down in Assam.
Section 6A of Citizenship Act specifies the provisions concerning citizenship of persons as per the Assam Accord of 1985. According to Assam Accord and Section 6A of the Citizenship Act,
What happened in Assam while carrying out NRC
exercise?
The NRC exercise carried out in Assam required residents of Assam to prove their presence in the country or linkage to someone whose name was a part of the electoral rolls up to 24 March 1971. The list of documents that can be used as proof to establish linkage or presence back to 1971 has been listed on the official website.
List A is that list of documents one can use to establish the presence of ‘ancestor or self’ on or before 24 March 1971. These documents had to be issued before the midnight of 24 March 1971. List B is those documents one can use to establish a relationship with the ancestor whose documents were submitted as per List A. Documents in List B are not required to be submitted if one has submitted any document in List A for self.
The draft NRC published in 2018 had left out the names of 40 lakh people. The revised final list was published in August 2019  which left out the names of over 19 Lakh people.
As per media
reports, many government employees, familymembers of the former President of India were also among those who wereexcluded from the NRC Assam. The BJP leadership in Assam has also expressed
dissatisfaction with the outcome of theNRC exercise in Assam as did the other political parties.
What is the cost of Assam NRC?
The Government of India, which funded NRC project in Assam released a total of Rs.1220.93 crore as of December 2018. The details of the total cost of the NRC exercise in Assam are not known yet.
Why is NRC being linked with CAA protests?
While there is no official announcement or a notification from the government about a nationwide NRC, the Home Minister and other BJP leaders have made statements about such an exercise and also about the relation between CAA & NRC.
It is also worth noting that various leaders of BJP spoke in different voices at different times on whether or not NRC and CAA are related.
On 09 December2019, Home Minister Amit Shah mentioned in the
Lok Sabha during the discussion on CAB, thatNRC will be implemented in the country.
Even in April2019, Amit Shah can be seen stressing on implementation of CAB and NRC in thesame order in a video uploaded on BJP’s official channel on YouTube,
Now, there have also been reports of Union Ministers Ravi Shankar Prasad and Nirmala Sitharaman stating that there is no relation between CAA and NRC.
A tweet on nation-wide NRC as stated by Amit Shah was made by the BJP’s official twitter handle on 11 April 2019. But this tweet was subsequently deleted.
Amidst all this,the Prime Minister in his speech on 22 December 2019 stated that NRC was not even discussed withinthe government since he took over as the Prime Minister in 2014.
A tweet by the Official Spokesperson of MHA was later
deleted
In a bid to clarify some common doubts, the official spokesperson of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) made a series of tweets on the issue.  In one of those tweets, it was mentioned that the list of documents accepted for any future NRC exercise is likely to include a lot of common documents.
A tweet in thesame thread also mentioned that there would not be any need to establishancestry by presenting identity cards of parents or grandparents. However, thetweet was later deleted.
This tweet was however found in archives.
The Home Ministry’s FAQs on NRC
Subsequently, aseries of FAQs were
published by the Press Information Bureau(PIB).  In these FAQs, the following ismentioned about the need to provide details of the birth of one’s parents.
However, multipleother documents that are commonly used by most of us are issued only tocitizens. Whether these documents will be accepted for any future NRC exerciseand what will be the cut-off date are still not known.
For instance, onlyIndian citizens can vote in elections. The Voter ID is a document which establishesone’s citizenship since being a citizen is one of the prerequisites for enrolling as a voter. A citizen will have to fill up Form
6 to get their name included in theelectoral rolls. However, only those aged above 18 years will be eligible forthe same.  Another proof of citizenshipis the Indian Passport, which only a small fraction of citizens hold.
It should be noted that Aadhar card is not proof of citizenship since it is issued to all residents of India and not just citizens.
Is there a link between CAA & NRC?
There have been instances when the Home Minister stressed on implementing a nation-wide NRC after passing the Citizenship Amendment Bill in that order. However, BJP leaders are now claiming that both are not related.
Technically, theCAA & NRC serve two different purposes and there is no apparent linkbetween the two. Through the NRC, the government aims to identify infiltratorswho have been living in the country illegally.
With the CAA in place, the following are some of the possibilities.
What are the reasons behind the protests?
The protestsacross the country seem to be for varied reasons.
The BJP Manifesto promised CAA, but for different
religions at different times
The election manifesto of BJP in 2014 mentioned that persecuted Hindus shall seek refuge in India.
In the 2019
manifesto released prior to the generalelections, it was mentioned that  persecuted minorities belonging to fourreligions- Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs will be given citizenship inIndia.
The copy of the ‘Sankalp Pathra’  or the Manifesto for 2019 Lok Sabha elections currently available on the BJP website now mentions Christians  in addition to the four religions.
It has to be notedthat Parsis have not been mentioned in any of the manifestos. However, theyhave been included in the CAA.
What is the Government doing to allay the fears?
The government hasissued advertisements asking people not to get misled by misinformation on the CAA. The government hasalso issued a series of FAQs on NRC and CAA.
Is the Government doing enough?
While the government has begun some damage control, this doesn’t seem to be enough. For one, the government doesn’t seem to have an estimate of the number of people who will be granted citizenship under the CAA. While the Home Minister had stated in the parliament that lakhs and crores of people will be benefited with CAA, the numbers present a confusing picture. The Prime Minister had recently expressed his concern overpopulation explosion in the country in his Independence Day speech in 2019. In such a situation, it is incumbent on the government to estimate the number of persons who will be granted citizenship under CAA and also explain where they will be accommodated.
It is also important for the government to evolve a political consensus on the process & rules for a nationwide NRC and explain the contours of such an exercise to put an end to rumourmongering.
Featured Image: FAQs on NRC Issue

created: December 25, 2019