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Explainer: The What, Why, and How of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) for Elections
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
May 7, 2024
The Model Code of Conduct serves as a regulatory structure aimed at maintaining fairness and ethical standards and freedom in campaigning. These guidelines are aimed at enhancing the integrity of the electoral process by strengthening values such as transparency, fairness, and accountability.  However, the data & details of complaints on such violations are not readily available in the public domain with criticism of subjective interpretation of the guidelines by the ECI.
In the ongoing 2024 General Elections, the Election Commission of India (ECI) barred K. Chandrasekhar Rao, President, Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) and former Chief Minister of Telangana, from holding any election-related public activity for 48 hours between 01 May and 03 May. This unprecedented action invited wrath from various political segments questioning the inaction of the ECI on other similar alleged violations by other Parties and the Prime Minister of India himself.
In today’s story, we look at the brief history of the Model Code of Conduct, its evolution over time, some statistics on violations, and criticisms of its application.
What and why of Model Code of Conduct (MCC)?
The Model Code of Conduct serves as a regulatory structure aimed at maintaining fairness and ethical standards and freedom in campaigning. These guidelines are aimed at enhancing the integrity of the electoral process by strengthening values such as transparency, fairness, and accountability.  Despite lacking legal enforcement, the MCC has gradually established itself as a morally binding set of ethical guidelines and serves as a benchmark for political parties’ behaviour. It comes into force from the time of the announcement of elections.
Evolution of MCC
The Model Code of Conduct was initially introduced during the 1960 Kerala State Assembly elections. By the 1962 Lok Sabha general elections, it was officially disseminated to all political parties with an appeal for their agreement. Over time, as electoral circumstances shifted, adjustments were made to the Model Code of Conduct.
The MCC consists of Eight parts, each dealing with different aspects of election campaigning. Section I covers general conduct, while Sections II and III address meetings and procession. Sections IV and V deal with polling day and Polling booth respectively. Section VI deals with observers and Section VII is particularly vital as it focuses on the conduct of the party in power, which wields significant influence. Likewise, Section VIII, the most recent addition, pertains to guidelines on election manifestos.
The ambit of MCC evolved concerning the changing electoral scenarios. In 2004, the ECI, upon the directions of the Apex court, issued directions for setting up of committee that examines and certifies advertisements of a political nature on TV Channels and cable networks.
The Election Commission of India also instructed all the electoral officials in 2009 to maintain a party-wise register to track the instances of violations being committed by various candidates and campaigners of various political parties, and this violation index should be put out in the public domain. However, there is no such publicly available database of MCC violations.
Further, during the 2019 elections, the Election Commission of India, under the powers of Article 324 of the Indian Constitution, barred the display/exhibit of any biopic/publicity material during the MCC period.
How are MCC violations collated?
The Election Commission of India (ECI) has dedicated MCC Teams tasked with ensuring compliance with ECI directives regarding the Model Code of Conduct by officials, candidates, political parties, media outlets, etc., across all levels. If any violations were reported post-election announcement, these teams conduct thorough inquiries and forward the findings for appropriate action. Daily reports on MCC violations are compiled and managed by the MCC Team.
MCC complaints are usually received from the General Public, Political Parties, Media, and Others including Independent Candidates, BLOs, Government officers, etc. Additionally, Flying Squads (FS), Static Surveillance Teams (SST), Video Viewing Teams (VVT), Video Surveillance Teams (VST), and Check Posts are deployed to monitor excessive campaign expenditures, distribution of bribes in cash or kind, illegal movement of arms, ammunition, liquor, or antisocial elements within the geographical segments during the electoral process. Despite all these, there is no central database for publication of all such cases of MCC violations in the public domain.
The ECI launched the cVIGIL app during the Parliament elections 2019, which enables citizens to report MCC Violations and act as a unified database of publications of all such cases of MCC violations.
Statistics on MCC Violations
The 2014 elections saw more than 8 Lakh violation cases being reported, more than 4.2 lakh notices issued and more than sixteen thousand FIRs being registered. However, there is no clarity on the authenticity of this data as the narrative report of the 2014 elections shows different numbers at different places.
In 2019 general elections, a total of 510 cases were reported in the MCC Violation Portal out of which 121 relaxation requests were received from the Central Ministries.  During the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, a total number of 1,42,250 cases had been filed through the cVIGIL app out of 99% of cases (i.e.,1,41,618) were disposed of and 77% of the total filed cases were found correct (i.e., 1,10,029). Maximum cVIGIL cases had been filed from Kerala i.e., 64,114 followed by Madhya Pradesh at 16,472 and West Bengal at 13,116 cases.
Further, considering the growing penetration of social media and electoral campaigning through social media, the ECI, and all major social media platforms, operating under the supervision of the Internet & Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), collaborated and collectively endorsed a ‘Voluntary Code of Ethics’ for the General Elections of 2019, which was subsequently s implemented immediately upon its presentation to the Commission on 20 March 2019. A total of 909 cases of violation were acted upon by social media platforms during the 2019 elections.
Post the first month of the enforcement of MCC in the ongoing 2024 elections, the ECI reported that approximately 200 cases of violations were reported, out of which 169 cases were acted upon. BJP filed 51 complaints, while INC filed 59 and other parties constituted 90 cases of the total violations. Actions were taken up in 38 cases filed by BJP, 51 cases filed by INC and 80 cases filed by other parties. Further, since the announcement of General Elections 2024, 2,68,080 complaints have been received in the cVIGIL app, and over 2,67,762 cases (99.8%) have been resolved.
Some criticisms of MCC
The journey of the MCC has evolved from a mere moral guideline to actively influencing electoral affairs, despite lacking legal backing. However, its effectiveness isn’t hindered by this absence of statutory support. Violations can be addressed under existing laws like the Indian Penal Code, 1860, Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 , and Representation of People’s Act,1951. The Election Commission can take various actions against such violations, broadly categorized into two categories.
ECI had undertaken extreme action only once by cancelling the bye-election for the Kalka Assembly seat in Haryana, and Ranipet in Tamil Nadu in 1993. It had not used its power under Section 16A of The Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) order, 1968 to suspend or withdraw recognition of a recognised political party for failure to observe MCC. In 2019, the election to the Vellore Parliamentary Constituency was rescinded based on reports of systematic design to influence voters, unearthed during Income Tax raids.
How uniform are actions taken by ECI for MCC Violations?
To understand the uniformity of actions by the Election Commission of India, we shall look at some previous instances where action was taken.
It can be seen that the action by ECI depends on a lot of factors- status of the candidate- whether star campaigner or not, previous history of violations, location, and intensity of the violation, and so on. Such a non-objective way of dealing with violations could definitely invite criticisms of the impartiality of the Election Commission. These allegations are further aggravated by the inactions on violations by politicians of certain parties, particularly in Lok Sabha 2024.
Need for more strengthened, uniform, and broader MCC.
As seen above, there is no standardized criteria for determining penalties for Model Code of Conduct violations. These actions are primarily based on immediate assessments, relying on reports from poll observers. Decision-making regarding MCC violations involves a high level of subjectivity. Terms like “urgency,” “seriousness,” “highly provocative,” and “insinuating” are open to interpretation. It’s not necessarily the type of violation but its intensity that determines the action taken. However, who defines this intensity and on what grounds remains highly subjective. The Election Commission lacks a set criterion for deciding penalties for violations.
A definitive step in this direction involves standardizing processes where arbitrariness is possible. Initiatives aimed at making violations of the MCC more uniform and objective should be undertaken from the beginning. With the increasing reliance on social media and digital technologies, it’s crucial for the Election Commission to remain ahead. Measures should be implemented to establish guidelines or mechanisms that can limit or regulate the undue influence on the free & fair process of elections.


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[Explainer] Understanding Government Debt
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
July 5, 2019
There are many viral posts on social media alleging that the financial liabilities of different state governments and the central government have increased substantially over the last few years. Here is an explainer on government debt and the nuances.
Why does a Government take loans?
Governments needs money to provide various services (Infrastructure, Social Welfare Schemes, Pensions, etc.) to the public. Every year in the budget, generally, there is a mismatch between the revenue (receipts) and the expenditure. To meet the gap between the revenue and expenditure, governments raise loans. Every year, this gap between the receipts and expenditure of the government is shown as ‘fiscal deficit’ in the budget document. Fiscal deficit shows the deficit for that particular financial year whereas the outstanding government liabilities include all the liabilities of the government till that year.
What are the different liabilities of the
Central Government?
According to the ‘Status Paper on Government Debt’ released by the Ministry of Finance in 2018, the liabilities of the Central Government are mainly classified under two heads:
In 2017-18, the ‘Public Debt’ accounted for 87.8 per cent of the total liabilities of the central government. Public debt can be further divided into two groups: Internal Debt and External Debt.
Among the two sub-groups of public debt, the internal debt accounts for 93.4 per cent of the total public debt as per the figure of 2017-18.
What is the quantum of total liabilities of the Central Government?
According to the recent ‘Public Debt Management -Quarterly Report (Jan-Mar 2019)’ document released by Department of Economic Affairs, ‘the total liabilities (including liabilities under the ‘Public Account’) of the Government, increased to Rs. 84,68,086 crore at end-March 2019 from Rs. 83,40,027 crore at end-December 2018.’ (the data is provisional).
The outstanding total liabilities of both central and state governments keep changing every year and sometimes may go beyond the acceptable levels. So, the government came up with ‘Fiscal Responsibility and Management Act, 2003’, more commonly known as the FRBM Act, under which “the government proposed that the central and state fiscal deficit would each be progressively reduced to reach 3% of GDP”.  A review committee in 2017 writes in its report, “The FRBM Act did make a significant difference. Fiscal deficits came down impressively in subsequent years. However, there was a ‘pause button’ on the FRBM law post the global financial crisis, and many of the earlier gains were eroded. This significantly impeded credibility, and it was only in September 2012 that a path towards fiscal consolidation was recalibrated.”
An FRBM Committee headed by N.K. Singh was appointed to review the 2003 FRBM Act. In January 2017, the committee submitted its report, with some recommendations regarding debt and fiscal targets, institutional reforms and fiscal transparency. In line with the recommendations, the central government notified amendments to the FRBM rules – 2004 in 2018, after announcing them in the budget. Some of the targets under the new rules are:
Against these debt targets set by the government, let’s check the total outstanding liabilities of the central government and the state governments over the years.
Outstanding Liabilities of the Government over the years:
According to the data on the RBI website, there is a year-on-year increase in the absolute amount of liabilities of the central government. The absolute amounts do not give the full picture as the debts may or may not result in fueling the economic growth. So, let’s check whether the debt-to-GDP ratios increased or decreased over the years.
The debt-to-GDP figures show that, in the last decade, the total outstanding liabilities of the central government as a percentage of GDP have plateaued or hovered around the 50% mark. Under the FRBM targets, the central government aims to reduce the debt-to- GDP ratio (which is 48.65 % as per 2018-19 Budget Estimates) to 40% by the end of the financial year 2024-2025.
Similarly, the absolute debt figures for many states show a year-on-year increase in their respective debts but the debt-to-GSDP figures of the states show the alternate.
High debts do not always translate into high debt-to-GDP ratios. In the chart given below (data for 2018-19 estimates), it can be observed that while some states have high debts, they have low debt-to-GDP ratios. In the case of some other states, though they have lower debt figure, they have a  high debt-to-GDP ratio. Various factors like the area of the state, the population of the state, infrastructure needs, potential for growth etc. determine the quantum of debts taken by a state.  High debts are not always bad if they are sustainable and efficiently used to fuel the economic growth and the GSDP grows proportionally.
Further details about the absolute amount of outstanding liabilities and the composition of liabilities of each state can be found here and here, respectively.
To sum it up, while it is true that the outstanding liabilities of the central government and some state governments have increased over the few years, those numbers do not the ring any emergency bells as the debt-to-GDP ratios of those governments did not grow in similar proportions and is more or less stable. The next big target is is reduce the overall government debt to 60% of GDP by 2024-25.

source: news-factly

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

author: Sai Krishna Muthyanolla


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Explainer: Understanding India’s Balance of Payments & Trade
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
October 30, 2019
What is the meaning of
‘Balance of Payments’? What is the status of India’s exports & imports?
Here is an explainer.
Trade betweendifferent cultures and societies has been a common feature across human civilization.In the modern-day context, international trade plays a key role in the economyof every country. Exporting goods & services that a country has surplus ofor is good at and importing those which it needs is a driver behind theinternational trade.
Ascertainingthe value of exports & imports along with the difference between them, canoffer insights into the state of a country’s economy.  Balance of Payments is a good measure whichindicates the surplus or deficit in a country’s trade with other nations.
In this story,we explore the trends in India’s Balance of Payments (BOP) and its variouscomponents.
Positive
Capital Account covering up for the negative Current Account over the years
Balance ofPayments (BoP) is a statement that has a record of all the monetarytransactions made between residents of a country with the rest of the worldduring a specific time period.
BoP statementindicates whether a country has a surplus or deficit.
BoP statementconsists of two components – Current Account and Capital Account. Currentaccount consists of all the inflow and outflow of goods and services of acountry. Capital account includes all the capital transactions made between thecountries.
BoP follows thedouble entry system of accounting i.e. every debit has a corresponding credit.Ideally, when all the components are rightly accounted for, the net sum wouldbe ‘zero’. India has a deficit current account with the value of the importsexceeding the value of exports for most of the years. This negative currentaccount is covered up by the positive capital account (funded by foreignInvestments, loans etc.).
However, as per the data provided by RBI, for 2018-19, the positive capital account could not cover up for the current account deficit and hence the overall deficit in BoP was to the tune of ₹ 202 billion. This amount is balanced out through foreign exchange reserves.  Over the last decade (barring one year), the capital account was able to balance out the negative current account.
The current account deficit for 2018-19 was ₹ 4,002 billion which is a substantial increase over 2017-18, when it was ₹ 3,141 billion. However, there is a fall in the value of capital account in 2018-19 (₹ 3,834 billion) compared to that of 2017-18 (₹ 5,891 billion) resulting in capital account not being able to cover up current account’s deficit leading to negative BoP.
The last time there was a deficit in BoP was in 2011-12, when it was ₹ 685 billion. During that year, the current account deficit grew substantially, while the corresponding growth in capital account was not to that extent.
In thesubsequent year, even though the current account deficit increased, thecorresponding capital account net value increased, there by covering thedeficit.
Deficit in trading
& income contributing towards Current account deficit
The currentaccount takes into consideration the trade of both the tangible commodities/goodsand the services along with transfers and earnings.
While the netvalue of the current account has been varying over the last decade, it has alwaysbeen in the negative. This implies that the value of imports exceeded that ofthe exports.
A closer lookat current account numbers reveal that the net transfers have remained positiveover the years, while net income and net trade values were always in thenegative and thereby contributing to current account deficit.
At the beginning of the decade i.e. 2009-10, the net value of transfer was ₹ 2483 billion which has gradually increased over the decade and for the year 2018-19 it is ₹ 4892 billion.
However, thetrend is opposite for Net Income and Net Trade whose deficit has been on agradual increase.
The head‘Income’ consists of two categories – Investment income & Compensation ofemployees. While ‘Compensation of Employees’ shows a surplus every year withthe Inwards being more than Outwards, the same isn’t the case for InvestmentIncome. The net value of Investment Income has a deficit every year over thepast decade.
Deficit in
Trade is due to imports exceeding the exports
While the netdeficit under ‘Income’ is a contributor towards current income deficit, itsproportion is less. The major part of the current income deficit is due to thehuge trade deficit of India.
Trade includes both tangible goods as well as services. A closer inspection shows that India’s trade in services has a surplus but the deficit in the trade of tangible goods is so huge that it results in a net negative for trade.
Over the last decade, the surplus from trade of services has increased by 3.35 times. In 2009-10, the surplus through services was ₹ 1,712 billion which increased to ₹ 5,738 billion in 2018-19.
The differentcomponents of the services include – Travel, Transportation, Software services,financial services etc.
During the same time period, the trade deficit when it comes to goods has more than doubled. In 2009-10, the deficit for trading goods was ₹ 5,599 billion which has increased to ₹ 12,609 billion in 2018-19.
The earlier highest deficit of trade in goods was in 2012-13, when it was ₹ 10,645 billion. Over the subsequent years the volume of this deficit has come down to reach ₹ 7,545 billion in 2016-17. But the last two years has seen an increase in the deficit of trade in goods with ₹ 10,317 billion and ₹ 12,609 billion in 2017-18 and 2018-19 respectively.
Increase in
imports of goods has overshadowed the increase in exports
Over the pastdecade, India’s exports of goods have increased by 3 times. However, during thesame period, the value of India’s imports has increased by nearly 4.2 times.This higher corresponding increase in the value of imports over the exports iscontributing towards the increasing trade deficit.
During 2013-14, there was a major spike in the volume of imports of goods where in it increased to ₹ 28,159 billion from ₹ 16,677 billion the previous year. After a slight increase in the next year, the value of goods imported has come down to in 2015-16 and 2016-17.  During these two years also, the exports has shown a corresponding increase.
However, in 2017-18 and 2018-19, the value of imports increased by ₹ 3,898 billion and ₹ 5,959 billion respectively.  Correspondingly, the exports only increased by ₹ 1,125 billion and ₹ 3,668 billion respectively.  Hence, in spite of a higher increase in the exports during 2018-19, the increase in imports has widened the deficit gap.
Increase in the
value of exports can help to reduce the trade deficit
With theincrease in the value of exports, it does appear that decreasing the importscould help cover up the trade deficit. A quick look at the differentcommodities being imported would reveal that Petroleum products, machinery,organic & inorganic chemicals form a major part of the imports. Thesecommodities have a significant impact on the economy as they are vital to the commercialactivity of the country.
While alternatesolutions can be sought out, a decrease in the imports in the short term mightnot be a plausible solution. On the other hand, increasing exports, morespecifically the value of the services (where India has a surplus) can help tocut down on the deficit.
In the next story, we would explore the different components of the exports and imports in India and the related trends, along with understanding the reasons for negative BoP in 2018-19.
Featured Image: Balance of Payments

created: October 30, 2019


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Explainer: Understanding the Business Responsibility and Sustainability Reporting (BRSR) Framework
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
April 5, 2024
Comprehensive Datasets on Business Responsibility and Sustainability Reports (BRSR)
In 2020, the Committee on Business Responsibility Reporting, established by the MCA presented its report recommending the replacement of BRR with BRSR, which stands for Business Responsibility and Sustainability Reporting (BRSR). Unlike BRR, which focuses solely on business responsibility, BRSR emphasizes sustainability as well. Changes were made to the format, types of questions, and indicators in BRSR, making it more comprehensive.
The evolving landscape of corporate reporting reflects shifting societal values and priorities. There is a growing emphasis on transparency and accountability, which are seen as essential business values that promote increased stakeholder engagement. Companies are now expected to provide clear disclosures regarding how their activities impact Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) aspects, reflecting a broader focus on non-financial information for evaluating company performance and value creation. Investors worldwide are demanding a comprehensive view of how organizations generate value and the measures taken by company boards to safeguard it. Adapting swiftly to these new demands is critical to driving change towards a more environmentally and socially responsible society. In response, there has been a proliferation of voluntary frameworks and governmental mandates prescribing diverse rules for ESG disclosure, with sustainability reporting gaining momentum as a market-driven approach over recent decades.
Global ESG/sustainability disclosures and frameworks, such as the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), Integrated Reporting (IR) Framework of the International Integrated Reporting Council, United Nations Global Compact (UNGC), Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB), and Carbon Disclosure Project, mandate businesses to disclose their sustainability performance based on specific key performance indicators (KPIs) and principles. Numerous countries worldwide, including India, have introduced and enforced various forms of ESG-related disclosures.
Evolution of ESG reporting in India
In 2009, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) released the Corporate Social Responsibility Voluntary Guidelines, paving the way for ESG reporting in the country.  Later, in 2012, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) mandated that the top 100 listed companies by market capitalization file a Business Responsibility Report (BRR) aligned with the revised National Voluntary Guidelines (NVGs) released in 2011 with their annual reports. Corporate Social Responsibility was made mandatory for certain companies meeting certain financial criteria in 2014 following which, in 2015 SEBI extended mandatory BRR reporting to the top 500 listed companies.
SEBI released a circular in 2017 asking the listed companies to adapt to the IR Framework of the IIRC for disclosure voluntarily. In the same year, SEBI also made the disclosure of Green Debt Securities mandatory for those companies raising Green Debts or Bonds.
The National Voluntary Guidelines were again revised and released as the National Guidelines on Responsible Business Conduct (NGRBC) in 2019 to align with global concerns like the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business & Human Rights (UNGPs). BRR was extended to the top 1000 companies too.
In 2020, the Report of the Committee on Business Responsibility Reporting, established by the MCA was presented. The committee recommended replacing BRR with BRSR, which stands for Business Responsibility and Sustainability Reporting (BRSR). Unlike BRR, which focuses solely on business responsibility, BRSR emphasizes sustainability as well. Changes were made to the format, types of questions, and indicators in BRSR, making it more comprehensive. It was introduced in 2021.
Changes brought in corporate reporting by BRSR
The BRSR framework brings several significant enhancements to corporate reporting in line with international practices. Firstly, it places a strong emphasis on maximizing business impact by prompting companies to redefine their corporate purpose with a heightened focus on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) dimensions. This move is aimed at creating awareness around corporate sustainability. Moreover, investors are relying more on the ESG performance data of potential companies to guide their investment choices.
BRSR facilitates the alignment of reporting with Global Reporting Standards, allowing companies to cross-reference their sustainability reports with internationally accepted disclosure parameters such as those set out by GRI, SASB, and TCFD.
The framework also underscores the importance of training and awareness initiatives, necessitating the disclosure of details regarding employee health and safety measures, anti-corruption efforts, and promotion of human rights, among others. It also mandates the disclosures related to any Environmental or Social Impact Assessments conducted by listed companies following relevant laws.
Structure of BRSR
There are three sections in the reporting questionnaire– Sections A, B, and C. There are around 140 questions, with the majority being mandatory.
Section A or ‘General Disclosures’ seeks basic information about the entity such as their products and services, operations, employees, holdings, CSR details, and transparency and disclosure compliances.
Section B of the questionnaire deals with management and process disclosures. This section helps businesses demonstrate their adoption of NGRBC Principles and Core Elements through policies, processes, and governance. It covers areas such as policy formulation, adoption of national and international standards, commitments, goals, and targets, and governance oversight. The 9 principles are given in the next section.
Section C: Principle-wise performance disclosures help entities showcase their performance by integrating Principles and Core Elements into key processes and decisions. It requires disclosure of “Essential” indicators by all mandated entities and allows voluntary disclosure of “Leadership” indicators for entities aiming for higher levels of social, environmental, and ethical responsibility. The indicators for each of the 9 principles are given below:
The BRSR disclosures are published in the form of an annual report as well as in XBRL format. These are available on the Bombay Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange websites.
Recent modifications made by SEBI
Based on the recommendations of the ESG Advisory Committee and pursuant to public consultation, the SEBI decided to introduce the BRSR Core for assurance by listed entities in 2023. The Board further decided to introduce disclosures and assurance for the value chain of listed entities, as per the BRSR Core.
The BRSR Core is a subset of the broader BRSR framework, comprising key performance indicators (KPIs) across nine ESG attributes. Additional KPIs relevant to the Indian/emerging market context include job creation in small towns, business openness, and gross wages paid to women, aimed at providing assurance. Intensity ratios based on revenue adjusted for purchasing power parity (PPP) have been included to enhance global comparability.
SEBI has provided a timeline for the mandatory compliance of listed entities with the BRSR Core.
Not just India, Governments of several countries have introduced disclosures on sustainability reporting. These include China, Denmark, South Africa, Malaysia, and the Philippines. Several countries require reporting on specific issues such as Australia and the USA where climate change-related reporting is prevalent. Similarly, in Australia and the UK, companies should report on modern slavery.
The introduction of the BRSR framework by SEBI has played a pivotal role in this transformation, aligning Indian corporate reporting practices with international standards. Moving forward, as SEBI introduces the BRSR Core for assurance by listed entities, and with the timeline set for mandatory compliance, it is expected to strengthen corporate reporting practices in India further. Stay tuned for Factly’s upcoming data stories based on these disclosures.


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[Explainer Video] Arrest and Rights of Arrested Persons
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
June 12, 2018
An explainer video on the rights of arrested persons. For further reading, click the links below


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[Explainer Video] Can POS units & Mobile e-Wallets be used in a Petrol Pump? - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
December 5, 2017
In October 2017 , the government had announced discounts on Petrol & Diesel if the payment is made through the BHIM app or by swiping a card at a petrol pump. But can mobile e-wallets be used inside a petrol pump? What do the rules say?
For more details: https://factly.in/can-mobile-e-wallet-used-inside-petrol-pump/

created: December 5, 2017


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[Explainer Video] What are the checks in place to prevent misuse of Tatkal Booking? - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
February 16, 2018
In December 2017, the CBI arrested 14 people including one CBI employee for misusing the Tatkal booking through an illicit software. Following this, IRCTC introduced additional checks to prevent such misuse. Here is the list.
For detailed reading: Click here

created: February 16, 2018


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[Explainer Video] Features of the new '100 Rupee' note - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
July 21, 2018
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) released the new 100 Rupee note. Here is a short video of all the features.
List of Features (Front)
1. See through register with denominational numeral 100
2. Latent image with denominational numeral 100
3. Denominational numeral १०० in Devnagari
4. Portrait of Mahatma Gandhi at the centre
5. Micro letters ‘RBI’, ‘भारत’, ‘India’ and ‘100’
6. Windowed security thread with inscriptions ‘भारत and RBI with colour shift ’ ; Colour of the thread changes from green to blue when the note is tilted
7. Guarantee Clause, Governor’s signature with Promise Clause and RBI emblem towards right of Mahatma Gandhi portrait
8. Ashoka Pillar emblem on the right
9. Mahatma Gandhi portrait and electrotype (100) watermarks
10. Number panel with numerals in ascending font on the top left side and bottom right side
11. For visually impaired intaglio or raised printing of Mahatma Gandhi portrait, Ashoka Pillar emblem, raised triangular identification mark with micro-text 100, four angular bleed lines both on the right and left sides Reverse
List of Features (Back)
12. Year of printing of the note on the left
13. Swachh Bharat logo with slogan
14. Language panel
15. Motif of RANI KI VAV
16. Denominational numeral १०० in Devnagari


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[Explainer Video] Is Hindi our National Language?
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
February 6, 2018
Does the constitution mention any ‘National Language’? What is the official position of Hindi? This video explains the relevant rules
Further reading: http://www.rajbhasha.nic.in/en/ol_clause

created: February 6, 2018


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[Explainer Video]: How are Cyclones Named?
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
June 4, 2019
Hudhud, Titli, Phethai and  Fani are among the names of cyclones we have heard of. But ever wondered how these Tropical Cyclones are named? Here is an explainer video.
There is every chance that you must have heard of the tropical cyclones in the Arabian Sea, the Bay of Bengal & the Indian Ocean that are identified by a specific name. This naming has a history & a process. Here is an explainer video.
Read more here.


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[Explainer Video]: How to apply for a PAN Card online? - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
June 25, 2018
This video explains the detailed procedure to apply for a ‘PAN Card’ online and the type of documents to be submitted as proofs. To apply visit this link


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Making a will
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
January 3, 2018
This explainer video provides a snapshot of the procedure involved, legal framework, and other important things about making & executing a Will. It’s a 6-minute long video.

created: January 3, 2018


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[Explainer Video] New Parking Policy in Telangana - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
March 24, 2018
The Government of Telangana has issued an order notifying parking charges in malls/multiplexes and other commercial establishments. The new order will come into effect from 01st April 2018


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[Explainer Video] What is a 'No-Confidence' Motion?
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
March 17, 2018
What is a ‘No-Confidence’ motion? Who can introduce such a motion? What happens after it is introduced? Here is our explainer video.


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[Explainer Video] Understanding the issue of Minimum Support Price (MSP)
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
July 7, 2018
The government provides Minimum Support Price (MSP) to the farmer for certain crops. But how is MSP calculated? Why are farmers unhappy with the current model of MSP where the (A2+FL) cost is taken into consideration?


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[Explainer Video] Understanding the Maintenance & Welfare of Parents & Senior Citizens Act
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
July 28, 2018


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[Explainer Video] What is a 'State Funeral'? - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
September 17, 2018
If you are wondering what a ‘State Funeral’ means, here is the answer. A short explainer video on ‘State Funeral’.
For detailed reading: What is a ‘State Funeral’?

created: September 17, 2018


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[Explainer Video] What is the Model Code of Conduct enforced during Elections? - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
November 24, 2018

created: November 24, 2018


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[Explainer Video] What is the Model Code of Conduct enforced during Elections? - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
May 19, 2018


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Explainer: What all documents are presented during the Budget?
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
January 28, 2021
During the budget presentation in the parliament, multiple documents are presented by the government including the finance bill, appropriation bill, expenditure profile/budget, demand for grants, revenue budget, etc. What do all these documents contain? Here is a detailed explainer.
In an earlier explainer, we looked at the process followed in the preparation of the Union Budget and its presentation in the parliament.  As part of the Union Budget presentation, various documents are presented by the government on the floor of the house. Here is a look at few such key documents.
Finance Bill consists of the proposed changes in Taxation and other proposals
Finance Bill is one of the key documents presented as part of the Union Budget. It contains provisions for all the legal amendments required for the proposed changes in taxation and Financial proposals that are made in the Union Budget for the upcoming financial year.
In an observation by PRS, it is noted that over the past few years, the Finance Bill has included items that are not related to the taxes or the expenditure of the government.
Apart from the Finance Bill, the Appropriation Bill is also introduced in the parliament as part of the Union Budget. As per Article 114, the Government of India can withdraw money from the consolidated Fund only after receiving approval from Parliament.
While a Finance Bill contains provisions on how the government intends to meet its expenditure i.e., taxes, levies, etc., the Appropriation Bill consists of the details of the extent and the purpose for which the government wants to withdraw the money.
Economic Survey of India presents the Economic Performance over the last one year
Prior to the presentation of the Union Budget in the Parliament, the Ministry of Finance releases the annual ‘Economic Survey of India’.  It is the flagship Annual Report of the Finance Ministry and is released a day prior to the budget presentation. This year, it is expected to be released on 31 January 2021.
The survey to be presented this year holds significance as we would be able to ascertain the impact of COVID-19 on the economy in the previous year and the prospects for the future.
Actual Budget figures are only available for the completed financial year
As observed in the earlier story, the activity of preparation and presentation of Budget is an estimate for the upcoming financial year. The Demands-in-grants, expenditure, etc. are all estimates for the future.
Upon a glance through the Budget documents, one can find figures attributed as “Budget Estimate” (BE) for the expenditure and receipts under various heads. Apart from these figures, one can also notice “Revised Estimates” and “Actuals’ also being mentioned.  Understanding these different numbers is key to understand the Budget.
Budget Estimate: This is the estimate for next year. In the upcoming Budget to be presented, it would be Budget Estimates for 2021-22.  In the above screenshot, taken from the Receipt Budget of 2020-21, the Budget Estimates are provided as BE 2020-21. In few documents, you can also find the BE for last year, which is for reference as you compare the last year’s estimates with revised Estimates (in the example it is provided as BE 2019-20).
Revised Estimate: The Revised Estimate (RE) is for the current year i.e., in the budget to be presented on 01 February, this would be for 2020-21. In the above example from the last year’s budget, the RE is for 2019-20.
The budget involves a revised statement of the current year, compared to what was estimated when the previous budget was presented. This provides a picture of the probable deviation from the Budget estimates. This is a half-yearly revision and might not necessarily reveal the actual picture.
Actuals: These are the actual figures for the completed year. When the 2021-22 budget is presented, the completed year would 2019-20 (note that we are still in 2020-21 by the time the budget is presented).  In the above example of last year’s budget, the Actuals belong to the year 2018-19.
In summary, the Budget for 2021-22, will contain:
In a way, there would be a reference to three years budget in a single budget document.
Expenditure Budget provides details of Union Government’s expenditure
Among the various Budget documents presented as part of the Union Budget, the Expenditure budget is one of the prominent ones. The Expenditure Budget presented by the government highlights the allotment & disbursement of funds to different ministries, departments, sectors etc. in a financial year. The expenditure is broadly classified into two categories – Capital Expenditure and Revenue Expenditure.
The Capital Expenditure results in the creation of a Physical Asset or an Investment, while the Revenue Expenditure includes operational expenses like – Payment of wages, pensions, interest, subsidies, etc.
The Expenditure portfolio of the Union Budgeted is presented in three different documents:
Expenditure Profile
It compiles the information from all the Ministries and Departments and sketches a complete profile of the financial performance of the Union government. It is an important explanatory document that helps in economic analyses.
The statements in the document are provided on the basis of the information given by the various ministries.
Expenditure Budget
Expenditure Budget contains information of the government expenditure in the financial year – ministry & department wise.
The expenditure of each Ministry/Department is divided into – Capital expenditure & Revenue Expenditure. The information includes the Budget Estimates, Revised Estimates along with the Actuals as explained earlier.
Demand for Grants
As per Article 113, any proposal or estimate seeking withdrawal of money from Consolidated Fund of India needs to be presented before Lok Sabha, in the form of Demand for grants. Every Ministry/Department is required to prepare a demand for grants for the expenditure that is expected to be incurred during the next financial year.
These are collectively presented in the Lok Sabha as part of the Union Budget.
The information in both “Expenditure Budget “and “Demand for Grants” includes Charged Expenditure and Voted Expenditure. Voted Expenditure is the expenditure, which is subject to vote in the parliament while Charged Expenditure is not subjected to vote and is charged on the Consolidated Fund.
Receipt Budget provides a snapshot of the various Income sources
The expenditure for the upcoming financial year is not only driven by the need but also by the availability of resources to meet the need. Hence to draw any Expenditure estimate, it is important to estimate the revenue sources for the upcoming year.
This information also shapes up the policy regarding taxation, taking external loans, schemes/policies to stimulate growth, etc.  Hence the Receipt Budget is one of the most important documents in a Union Budget.
As is the case with other budget documents, the Receipt Budget figures include:
The Budget Receipts are classified into:
Revenue Receipts refer to those receipts which neither create any liability nor cause a reduction in assets of the government. For example, any amount that is borrowed by the government is not a revenue receipt as it increases the liabilities of the government. They are recurring and regular in nature.
Revenue Receipts include (i) Tax – Revenue & (ii) Non-Tax Revenue
Tax-Revenue includes revenue from various taxes – Corporation Tax, Tax on Income, Wealth Tax, Custom, GST, etc. Non-Tax revenues include – Interest receipts, dividends, etc.
The Capital Receipts include the information about the various assets & liabilities of the government, prepared on the inputs received from various Ministries & Departments. These include – Non-debt receipts (that do not lead to debts- divestments in PSU, recovery of loans, etc.) & Debt-receipts.

created: January 28, 2021


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Explainer: What are APMC Laws?
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
May 29, 2020
One of the measures announced by the Government of India as part of the COVID-19 relief package was changes proposed to the APMC law. But what are APMCs? How do they affect the farmers?
Whilst the lockdown resulted in a temporary halt of economic activities, various state governments have announced amendments to their respective Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee Laws (APMC Laws), in order to make sure that there is sustained supply of agriculture produce during this period and that the farmer has freedom to sell his produce without restrictions. In this story, we look at what APMC law is, why was it formulated, and how the law affects farmers.
APMCs have been established to help farmers from distress sale and debt
Agriculture marketing, which mainly concerns buying and selling of agriculture produce, is considered the key driver of agriculture sector at present, post globalization, privatization, and liberalization, which has opened new marketing opportunities. Production uncertainties and market unpredictability are some of the structural hindrances to the agriculture sector. Farmers were forced to sell produce in distress due to debt. Not just that, middlemen bargained and bought the produce at a low cost, since farmers did not have adequate storage or transportation facilities. Improper market regulations meant farmers did not get a fair price for their crops. APMCs are marketing boards which have been established by many states to safeguard farmers from large retailers, moneylenders or creditors.  These were formed to overcome these challenges. Under the APMC regulations, all produce must be sold in markets through auctions.
Agriculture market regulations have been imposed in India from the colonial period
Before India got independence, agricultural marketing policy was mainly focused on controlling the price of food for consumers and availability of Agri raw material. It was only after independence that the focus was shifted to protect the farmers’ interests.
In India, agricultural produce market regulations have been in place even during the British rule since the producers had to incur high marketing costs due to varied reasons such as hatta system, and traders monopoly. Since the British rulers wanted to make cotton available at reasonable prices in the textile mills of Manchester, the first regulated market (Karanja) was established in 1886 under Hyderabad Residency Order. Berar Cotton and Grain Market Act of 1887 was the first legislation under which an empowered British Resident could decide any place in the assigned district as a market and set up a committee to supervise regulated markets.
The act was considered a model for the rest of the country. The recommendation of the Royal Commission of Agriculture is considered an important landmark in the history of agriculture marketing. This included regulation of trade and establishment of mandis in the countryside. Later, in 1938, a model bill was prepared and circulated by the Government of India but did not make any progress. It was only in 1960s and 70s that the states began implementing the regulations, and gradually, organized agricultural marketing came into existence with the establishment of APMCs.
Different states have different APMC acts
APMCs provide farmers with a platform to market their produce, regulate the sale of produce and collect market fees for it. Agriculture, falls under the purview of the State, as per the Constitution of India. Intra-state trade in commodities falls under the State list as well, but inter-state trade and commerce falls under the Union List. That is, intra-state trade in agricultural commodities is regulated by the state whereas the same between states is regulated by the Central Government. Thus, different states have different APMC Acts, and the marketing committees are set up as per the law prevalent there.
APMC Model Act was released in 2003
In 2003, to bring about a much-needed reform in the agriculture market, the then government released the 2003 Model APMC Act that brought about new market channels such as private wholesale markets, direct purchase, and contract farming based on the recommendations by an Inter-Ministerial Task Force. Special markets for onions, fruits, vegetables, and flowers, rationalization of market fees, and replacement of existing licensing system with a simple one is also a part of the model act. However, only 16 states made amendments to their APMC Acts and provided for direct marketing, contract farming and establishment of markets in the private/cooperative sectors with the objective to increase competition. Only six states had notified the amended rules as per a report in 2013.
The latest version of the model act was released in 2017 & includes livestock marketing
The latest model Agricultural Produce and Livestock Marketing (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2017 was released in 2017 to bring about reforms in agricultural marketing after 14 years of the first model act in 2003.
Under the new model Act, depending on a state’s geography, it is divided into market areas that are managed by market committees formed by the respective governments. Market Boards comprising of APMC chairman, representatives of Government Departments, members of yards (mandis), market sub yards, trade license holders nominated by the government, etc. are formed to supervise the functioning of committees. The Principal Secretary in charge of agriculture and/or horticulture, Agriculture Marketing Advisor to Government of India, NABARD Representative, etc. are ex-officio members of the Board.
Some important functions of APMCs as enumerated in the model act include
Extent of adoption of the act is different in different states
There are multiple differences in the provisions of the APMC legislations in various states. These differences include commodities that are covered, membership and appointment in marketing companies, and the role of marketing boards. The extent to which different states have adopted the 2017 model act is also different. As per a Lok Sabha answer as in November 2019, Arunachal Pradesh had adopted the 2017 model fully while the states of Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Punjab had adopted some of the major provisions of the act.
The e-NAM trading portal launched by the NDA government in 2016 connects all existing mandis. The portal is a repository of all APMC related information and services. Details of commodity arrival, price, buy and trade offers etc. are a part of this portal. This is aimed at increasing transparency of service.
The Model Act has its own shortcomings
One major drawback of the APMC model is the restriction imposed on farmers.  A farmer is not allowed to sign a contract with a manufacturer or processor. It is mandatory that they sell their produce through the specified channels. Furthermore, even though the act is planned to avoid monopoly, the act tacitly allows monopoly of the APMC over buying the farmer’s produce. Prevalent corruption in APMCs and typical bureaucratic machinery also act as hindrances to the farmer. These acts also impose multiple levies of mandi fee and multiple licenses need to be acquired. These shortcomings have been hotly debated in the light the COVID-19 induced lockdown.
In a subsequent story, we  discuss the amendments brought in the Act by Centre and States in light of the COVID-19 crisis.
Featured Image: What are APMC Laws


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Explainer: What are CAMPA Funds?
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
January 8, 2020
Recently, the central government released more than ₹ 47000 crores CAMPA funds to the States. But what are CAMPA funds? Here is an explainer.
In India, Forest land can be diverted for non-forest purposes such as construction of dams, mining and other developmental activities only if the government permits. Since this diversion of forest land results in loss of biodiversity which in turn affects wildlife as well as geographical parameters such as climate and terrain, compensatory afforestation is also mandated in the law. In other words, to compensate for the losses incurred, the government made compensatory afforestation mandatory. This story takes a look at the measures taken by the government to ensure the same and the status of Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) funds.
Compensatory afforestation is mandatory in case of
diversion of Forest Land
Whenever forestland is diverted for non-forest purposes, it is mandatory under the Forest
(Conservation) Act, 1980 that anequivalent area of non-forest land has to be taken up for compensatoryafforestation. In addition to this, funds for raising the forest are also to beimposed on whomsoever is undertaking the diversion. The land chosen forafforestation, if viable, must be in close proximity of reserved or protected forestfor ease of management by forest department.
An undertaking to pay for CA activities is also mandatory
for clearance
At the time ofsubmission of project proposal to apply for forest clearance,the applicant must attach an undertaking stating that they will bear the costof compensatory afforestation as per existing rules & scheme.
The forestdepartment must also provide details regarding the area identified forafforestation. It is only after this, that the proposal goes to higherauthorities for recommendations and approval.
SC in 2002 directed that CA fund be created
In
2002, the Supreme Court (SC) ordered thata Compensatory Afforestation Fund had to be created in which all thecontributions towards compensatory afforestation and net present value of landhad to be deposited. This order was made in the case of TN
Godhavarman Vs Union of India where the SC observed that a lot of funds received for compensatoryafforestation remained unutilised with the states.
CAMPA was constituted in 2004 by MoEF to manage CAF
In April 2004, Ministry
of Environment and Forests constitutedCompensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) tooverlook and manage the Compensatory Afforestation Fund (CAF) as directed bythe SC. The authority was termed as the ‘custodian’ of the fund. Further in2009, the government ordered that State
CAMPAs had to be set up to boostcompensatory afforestation at state level and also manage Green India Fund.
CAG report showed that utilisation of fund under CAMPA
was very poor
Despite all theseefforts, CAG
report in 2013 revealed that the CAMPA fundsremained unutilised. The report stated that between 2006 and 2012, CAF with adhoc CAMPA grew from ₹1,200 crores to ₹23,607 crores.
CAF Act, 2016 came into force from 2018 after
formulation of CAF rules
Compensatory
Afforestation Fund Act, 2016 came into force from 30
September 2018. The Act established aNational Compensatory Afforestation Fund under the Public Account of India andState Compensatory Afforestation Fund under the Public Account of each state.The payments made for compensatory afforestation, net present value and othersrelated to the project will be deposited in the fund. The State Funds willreceive 90% of the payments while National Fund will receive remaining 10%.These funds will be regulated by State and National CAMPA. The Compensatory
Afforestation Fund Rules were notified inAugust 2018. All states except
Nagaland have set up state CAMPAs followingthis notification, as of November 2019.
States with forest cover more than 75% need not take
up CA activities in their state
In April 2019, the Ministry
of Environment notified that states whichhave a forest land of more than 75% of their geographical area need not providenon-forest land for compensatory afforestation. Instead, land can be taken upin states with lesser forest cover. Further, it was also notified that theminimum area of compensatory land should be five hectares if the land is notcontiguous to a forest.
As per 2019
State of Forest India report,states with more than 75% forest cover include the North Eastern states ofArunachal Pradesh (79%), Manipur (75%), Meghalaya (76%), Mizoram (85%),Nagaland (75%), and Andaman and Nicobar Islands (81%) and Lakshadweep (90%). Interms of Recorded Forest Area, Manipur, Sikkim and Andaman and Nicobar Islandshave more than 75% area categorised as forests.
23.3% of India’s geographical land is ‘Recorded Forest
Area’
According to the ‘State
of Forest Report 2019’, India has a totalRecorded Forest Area of 7.67 lakh square kilometres. This is about 23.3% ofIndia’s geographical land. Recorded forest area refers to those areas whichhave been classified as forests (reserved and protected) by the government asper Indian Forest Act, 1927. India’s forest cover is 7.12 lakh squarekilometres and covers 21.7% of India’s geographical area. This includes alllands having area more than one hectare and tree canopy density of 10%irrespective of classification and can include both forest and privateplantations. Between 2015 and 2018, a total of 20,314
hectares of forest land was diverted.
More
than ₹ 30000 crore received in CAMPA fund
Annually, theamount released by ad
hoc CAMPA towards compensatory afforestation, beforethe rules came into force is given in the chart below.
The amountreleased has increased from ₹1575.7 crores in 2014-15 to ₹3,523.6 crores in 2018-19, by 123%. It was also observed that between 2006 and 2017, about ₹ 38,029.5 crores were received invarious CAMPA Funds of which only ₹ 12,241 crores were released to Stateand UT Funds as of January 2018.
MoEF released over ₹ 47000 crores to states
in 2019
After the 2018notification rules, ₹54,685 crores were brought to the control of central government fund from thead hoc CAMPA. Of this, MoEF handed over ₹ 47,436crore rupees to various states to take up afforestation and conservationactivities as per the provisions of CAF Act and Rules.
The Ministry alsostressed that the fund had to be used for important needs such as Compensatory Afforestation, CatchmentArea Treatment, Wildlife Management, Assisted Natural Regeneration, Forest FirePrevention and Control Operations, Soil and Moisture Conservation Works in theforest, Improvement of Wildlife Habitat, Management of Biological Diversity andBiological Resources, Research in Forestry and Monitoring of CAMPA works andothers.
Government needs to
focus on utilisation of the CAF funds effectively
Underutilisation and misuse of CA funds continues to be amajor cause of concern. The government has to step up the utilisation of thesefunds to not only undertake afforestation activities but also maintain theexisting forests that are facing degradation.
In addition to this, the government also implements GreenIndia Mission and National Afforestation Programme to increase the forest coverof India. All in all, proper utilization of the fund remains the biggestchallenze.

created: January 8, 2020


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Explainer: What are Classical Languages of India?
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
September 26, 2019
The debate over
languages ceases to stop. After Amit Shah’s statements on Hindi, the Prime
Minister extolled the diversity of languages in India. But what is meant by
Classical languages? How much such languages exist in India? Here is an
explainer.
Discussion on Language has been at thecenter stage of India’s societal discourse over the last few weeks.  While speaking at the ‘Howdy Modi’ event inHouston, Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the diaspora gathered at NRGstadium on Sunday saying that ‘everything is fine’ in eight different Indian languages-Punjabi, Gujarati, Telugu, Kannada, Tamil, Marathi, Bengali and Odia inaddition to Hindi and English. He also stated that languages are an important identity of India’s liberaland democratic society. ‘Our languages are a great identity of our Liberal
and Democratic Society. For centuries hundreds of languages, hundreds of dialects,
have been moving forward in our country with a sense of co-existence and they
still remain the mother tongue of millions of people. This diversity of India is the
very basis of our Vibrant Democracy’ said the Prime Minister.
Recently, Home Minister Amit Shah’s statementson Hindi had triggered discussions across all sections of society including media& social media platforms.
What is the Status of
various languages?
While Hindi and English are the official languages of the CentralGovernment for communication and administrative purposes, no language in Indiahas been conferred the status of the national language. As per Schedule VIII of the Constitution ofIndia, 22 languages have been recognised as Scheduled languages. Also, tilldate, six languages have been conferredthe status of ‘Classical Language’ in India. The first language to be accordedwith that status is Tamil. Tamil was declared classical language back in 2004.In the following year, Sanskrit was accorded with the status. In 2008, Teluguand Kannada were conferred with the status followed by Malayalam in 2013. Odiais the latest addition to the list and received the status in 2014. Theproposal of Maharashtra government to confer Marathi with the status is underconsideration by the Central Government.
4 of the 6 Classical languages are Dravidian
Of the six classical languages, five ofthem are regional languages except for Sanskrit which is not specific to anyregion. Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam are Dravidian languages while Sanskrit andOdia are Indo-Aryan languages.
As per the 2011 Census, 78.1% of totalpopulation has one of the Indo-Aryan languages as mother tongue while 19.6% ofthe total population has one of the Dravidian languages as mother tongue. Thereare 21 and 17 languages under the family of Indo-Aryan and Dravidian languagesrespectively. It has to be noted that not all of these languages are recognizedas scheduled languages in the constitution.
How many people speak
these Classical languages?
As per 2011 census, the percentage of totalpopulation whose mother tongue is recorded as one of these classical languagesis in the following chart. The number of people who reported Sanskrit as mothertongue is only 24,821.  Since this numberis small, the percentage of Sanskrit speakers with respect to the totalpopulation is negligible and hence, it has not been included in the graph.
The data also suggests that 93% of thepeople with mother tongue Kannada are in Karnataka. Similarly, 93% of those whorecorded mother tongue as Malayalam are in Kerala. Tamil Nadu is home to 92.3%of the population whose mother tongue is Tamil and Odisha has 92.5% of thepeople who recorded Odia as mother tongue. In the case of Telugu, 87% of thosewho recorded it as their mother tongue are in Andhra Pradesh & Telangana. Inthe case of Sanskrit, 15.3% of those with Sanskrit as mother tongue are inMaharashtra. 12.3% and 13.6% of the people with mother tongue Sanskrit are inUttar Pradesh and Bihar respectively. Population with Sanskrit as mother tongueare also found in Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Goa and otherstates.
What is the criteria
for conferring the status of Classical Language?
According to the Ministry of Culture, the norms for according status ofclassical language are that the language should have a recorded history of morethan 1500 years with ancient valuable literature recorded in it. Further, thelanguage has to be original and not derived from another speech community. The guidelines of the government areas follows:
Upon receiving the proposal forconsidering a language for the status, the Ministry of Culture refers it to theCommittee on Linguistic Experts through the Sahithya Akademi forrecommendations. The Ministry then forwards the proposal along with therecommendations to the Prime Minister’s Office for further action.
What are the benefits of being conferred the ‘Classical’ status?
The Ministry of Human Resources Development gives away two major international awards every year for scholars ofeminence in Classical Indian Languages. Centre of Excellence for studies inClassical Languages is also set up. MHRD also sends a request to the UniversityGrants Commission to create a certain number of Professional Chairs for theClassical Languages in central universities to begin with. Annually, funds aredisbursed by the Central Government for promotion and development of theselanguages.
The Central
Institute of Indian Languages located in Mysore, Karnataka works for the promotion of Kannada, Telugu,Malayalam and Odia. For the promotion of Tamil, a separateinstitute, Central
Institute of Classical Tamil was established in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Sanskrit language promotion isdone by the Government through three deemed universities- Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeeth (Tirupati), Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthanand Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeeth in New Delhi.
Funds are allocated to theuniversities/institutes for seminars, book publications, projects, fellowships,scholarships, orientation programmes and workshops. As per the data provided in theanswers in Lok Sabha, the allocation of funds appears to be meagre. The dataalso suggests that Sanskrit gets a lion’s share of these funds.
Presidential Awards in Classical Languages
As per the notification of MHRD on 01 March 2019 inviting recommendations for Presidential Award 2019, 21 awards for scholars of Sanskrit and 32 awards in the category of Classical languages  have been called for, in addition to awards in other languages. The 32 awards in classical languages include 8 each in Classical Telugu, Classical Kannada, Classical Malayalam and Classical Odia. As Tamil was missing from the list, it led to a furore in Tamil Nadu. It was later clarified that the Central Institute of Classical Tamil (CICT) was giving awards for Tamil. However, the information for Tamil awards is available only till 2015-16 on the CICT website.  Honouring Sanskrit scholars started in 1958 and from 2016, awards for the four classical languages were introduced.
Advocate in Chennai filed five writ petitions between 2008 and 2016 with
respect to classical languages
R. Gandhi, an advocate in Chennai filed writ petitions in 2008 in the MadrasHigh Court, one seeking reconstitution of the Committee of Linguistic Experts andthe other challenging the notification of Telugu and Kannada as classicallanguages. In 2014, he filed another petition seeking strict adherence to thecriteria laid down for classifying a language as classical and in 2015, hechallenged the notification of Malayalam and Odia as classical languages. The MadrasHigh Court in 2016 dismissed all these petitions and ordered that all the petitions related to this were closed. TheCourt also added that the petitioner could give his suggestions fordetermination of the type of literature, that can be the bench mark forqualification for consideration as a classical language. These writ petitionsled to the delay in considering the proposal of Marathi.
The concept of classical languages has beena long debated issue since the notion has not been adopted by UNESCO. Therehave been debates around the criteria itself and whether or not each languagesatisfies all the conditions laid down. While the recognition in India is goodfirst step towards promoting these languages, the meagre allocations do not dojustice to the mandate.

created: September 26, 2019


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Explainer: What are ‘Credit Information Companies’?
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
May 15, 2020
A good credit score is a prerequisite to access credit from a bank or any financial institution. But who compiles your credit score, based on what factors? Here is a detailed explainer.
Lending money is fraught with risks. Whether it is loans or credit cards, banks & other financial institutions run the risk of the debtors defaulting on credit. In order to mitigate such situations, due diligence is exercised in evaluating the credit worthiness of the customer before extended any offer of loan or a credit card.
This process of evaluation is assisted by the services of Credit Information Companies (CIC), which assist the banks in determining the credit worthiness of the customers who applied for a loan or a credit card. The information by CICs helps in creating a Credit Report of customers. The Credit Report is a statement of the financial history of the customer, which can be used by banks or financial institutions to evaluate its customers and take a decision on their request.
Credit Information Company (CIC) is an independent third-party agency that collects financial data of individuals pertaining to their loans, credit cards and other related information and shares with its members, who generally happen to be banks and other financial institutions.
In this story, we explain what these Credit Information Companies are, their role and the services provided by them.
Credit Information Companies in India need to obtain license from RBI
The nature of the services provided by CICs entails them to be a key part of the decision-making process of the banks & NBFCs in their lending activities. Hence the credit information provided needs to be accurate and trustworthy.  Therefore all the CICs in India are licensed by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and are governed by the provisions under Credit Information Companies Regulation Act (CIC Act), 2005 and other RBI regulations and guidelines. This was further followed by Credit Information Companies, Regulations and Rules Act, 2006.
As per Section 2 of CIC Act , ‘Credit Information’ refers to any information relating to
This section of the act, further provides for the definition of a Credit Information Company
As per this definition, a Credit Information Company:
Section 3, of CIC Act, 2005 clearly prohibits any company from carrying out the business activity of credit information, without having the Certificate of Registration from RBI. Hence it is mandatory to apply and obtain for this certificate from RBI.
Application and Grant of Certification of Registration
Section 4 of CIC Act, 2005, specifies that any company which intends to start Credit Information business needs to apply for registration to the RBI as per the specified regulations. Even the existing companies that were dealing Credit Information at the time of enactment of the Act, were also required to apply for Certificate of Registration, nevertheless they were allowed to carry on with their business until receiving the certification or rejection from RBI.
The conditions which needs to be satisfied by the companies to receive the Certification of Registration from RBI, are laid out in Section 5 of CIC Act, 2005.
Once an application for registration is filed,  RBI can either grant a certificate of registration or reject it.
However, the applicant company is provided an opportunity to be heard, before a decision is made on rejecting the application.
RBI reserves the right to determine the number of Credit Information Companies that can be granted with the Certificates of Registration to carry out the business of Credit Information, by taking into consideration various factors like the available business of Credit Information, the scope of expansion of existing CICs etc.
Currently there are 4 authorized Credit Information Companies in India.
Furthermore, RBI has the right to cancel the Certificate of Registration of any CIC as per the conditions laid out in Section 6, of CIC Act 2005.
CICs collect credit information and provide it to its members
Section 15 of CIC Act  stipulates that it is compulsory for all the credit institutions (i.e. Banks, NBFCs and other Financial Institutions) become member of a Credit Information Company. The section further lays down the rules surrounding the membership with the CICs.
The defined functions of CICs as laid out in Section 14 include the following.
The Credit Information or Credit Rating can be provided to:
Other rules in the functioning of CICs include:
One free report for individuals every year
Credit report plays a key role in the application for a loan or a credit card. The Credit institutions lay emphasis on the credit score to determine the extent of the credit and to draw up the terms and conditions based on the credit worthiness of the applicant.
Credit Instructions, which are required to be members of any of the CICs depend on the Credit Report provided by the CICs to extend loans. The report is provided based on the request received from the respective credit institution which is processing the loan/credit card request of the individual applicant.
A CIC can seek the assistance of other CIC, if the bank or NBFC relating to the financial history of the applicant is not their own member.  CIC Act,2005 requires the CICs to come up with specific procedures to receive  requests and provide information.
Apart from the member credit institutions, even individuals can check their credit scores. The CIC’s have their own process through which the individuals can apply for a credit report for a specified fee. CIBIL’s credit report is one such report. A good CIBIL score is considered as a prerequisite for a loan or procuring a Credit card.
As per the RBI’s notification issued in 2016, each customer/individual should be provided one base level consumer Credit Information Report (CIR) free of cost every year by each Credit Information Company (CIC). This report should beone free full credit report (FFCR) including credit score.
Customer Credit Information is provided security under CIC Act 2005
One of the prime apprehensions about Credit Information Companies is about the secrecy of customer information. However, this is safeguarded through the privacy principles in the CIC Act.
All the CICs are required to develop procedures and controls that are in line with the privacy principles.
There have been instances earlier where in the Credit Institutions were involved in sharing the credit information with Fintech companies, whose platforms were being used by the Credit Institutions to reach out to customers and to process their requests. However, RBI has put curbs on this practice and have asked the Credit Institutions to refrain from this practice.
Featured Image: Credit Information Companies


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Explainer: What are School Nutrition (Kitchen) Gardens being proposed by the Government?
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
October 28, 2019
The Ministry of Human
Resource Development has recently released additional set of guidelines
mandating schools to set up a School Nutrition (Kitchen) Garden. Here is an
explainer on what this initiative is all about, what does it try to achieve
etc.
The Mid-Day Meal Scheme
(MDMS), is a flag ship scheme of Government of India’s Ministry of HumanResource Development (MHRD) which aims at not only increasing the schoolattendance but more importantly improve the nutritional levels among thechildren. Since its inception as a centrally sponsored scheme in 1995, therewere multiple changes and additions made to improve on the effectiveness of thescheme.
One suchinitiative, which was implemented in a few states is the concept of ‘SchoolNutrition (Kitchen) Gardens’. The idea behind this is for the schools tomaintain a garden and grow plants that would supplement the nutritionalrequirement of the food being served as part of MDMS.
The MHRD hasreleased a set of guidelines recently withrespect to School Nutrition Gardens. The Ministry has further released additional set
of guidelines on 15 October2019 to assist schools in States/UTs in setting up theseNutrition Kitchen Gardens.
In thisexplainer story, we look into how MHRD plans to utilize the concept ofNutrition Gardens in schools to achieve multiple purposes, and the plans to ensurelarger community participation.
School
Nutrition Gardens to have multiple purposes
The initialidea of School Nutrition Gardens (SNG) was to be an integral part of providingnutrition to children by supplementing freshly grown vegetables to be served inMid-day meals. MHRD, has conceptualized to build upon this and expand the scopeof SNGs.   The guidelines document released by MHRD,highlights three
objectives for developing these nutrition gardens in the schools.
Hence, apartfrom being a source of nutrition, this initiative is envisioned to be aplatform to aid children’s learning. The scope of learning is multi-fold. Froma practical perspective, the child can develop gardening skills and otherskills associated with the activity.
This alsocreates a scope to engage in discussion and learning about the following.
The guidelinesdocument enlists various
benefits (practical & educational) of having School nutrition gardens.
Setting up and
maintenance of School Nutrition Gardens
Thespecifications for setting up and maintaining a kitchen garden are basic and donot need much investment. This is to ensure that maximum number of schools cantake part in this initiative.
Space
There are nospecific space requirements to set up a garden in school. A plot with minimaldimensions (1m X 2m) can be used for growing sample plantation. Depending onthe availability of space, the respective school authority can decide on theplace which can be allotted for the kitchen garden.
Hence, schoolsin both rural and urban locations can develop their own kitchen garden. Inplaces where there is a serious shortage of land, roof top gardens oralternatives like wall climbers can be opted for.
Availability ofwater and being shade free are few of the pre-requisites before finalizingthe land for garden.
Funding
For funding of the
School Nutrition Garden, an amount of Rs. 5,000 can be used from ‘Flexi fundcomponent for Innovative Interventions’ under the MDMS. This amount can be usedfor purchasing seeds, compost, equipment etc.
DistrictMagistrate would be heading the district level committee which is empowered toimplement the scheme. The committee would determine the prioritization andallocation of funds with an average of Rs. 5000 per School Nutrition Garden.
Agriculture/horticulturedepartment can be approached to procure seeds/saplings. Any of the activitieslike – levelling of the land, building the boundary wall etc. can be donethrough the works under ‘Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guaranteeact’ (MGNREGA).
Maintenance and
Monitoring
Sense ofownership by school children is an important aspect of maintaining SchoolNutrition Garden. Schools can form Eco clubs or School Garden
Clubs comprising of enthusiastic students. The principal/head teacher canlead the club. Schools can seek support from interested members from communityand from experts who can assist the children.
If there isenough space, each class can have a separate garden with the class beingresponsible for the maintenance of the garden.  The school can from groups with each groupbeing assigned a garden plot to take care.
Differentresponsibilities can be rotated among the groups, to ensure that the wholeschool is involved with the maintenance of the garden. While the school can beopen to the involvement of others, care ought to be exercised that studentslearn from this experience.
Schools areencouraged to upload relevant photos on MDMS portal on quarterly basis and alsoshare information about any best practices and progress with the stake holders.Students can be taught to maintain records, taking stock etc.  which would provide them with practicalskills.
Allocating time
& undertaking activities
MHRD recommends around 2 hoursto be spent in a week for this activity. An hour can be designated as gardentime, wherein the students can spend in the garden with the activities. Anotherhour in the week is advised to be class time, where in the teacher and studentscan involve in lesson time. The activities in the class could include – organizingwork, setting up activities, observations, documentation etc.
School alsoneed to come up with a calendar which includes details like – season, timingsfor different activities, planting, harvest etc.  The school can plan for planting variousvegetables as per – season, availability and requirement.
Enlisting inter-departmental
and outside support
There are 706 Krishi
Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) across the country, which work under Indian Council ofAgricultural Research (ICAR) and are under the jurisdiction of AgriculturalTechnology Application Research Institutes (ATARI). These KVKs function asknowledge and resource centers for agricultural technology at district level.Schools can have scientists from KVKs to provide knowledge and technicalassistance in setting & maintenance of School Nutrition Gardens.
Parents andfamilies of the school children can be involved in the initiative. They canvolunteer for assistance in developing the garden. Furthermore, in cases wherethere is not enough space at the school, parents’ permission can be sought forchildren to develop a garden at their home.
Schools canseek support from NGOs, Charities, Religious trusts, corporates etc. in form ofknowledge transfer, kind and monetary benefits to create and develop thesegardens.
Simple
initiative which can be expanded across all the schools
So far 8 states have reporteddata in respect to this initiative with Assam having the highest number ofschools with this initiative as of March 2018.
While theconcept of Kitchen Gardens is not a new initiative and being followed byschools in many parts, MHRD has come up with these new set of guidelines topromote it at a bigger scale. Through this initiative, MHRD looks at promotingthe idea that a School Nutrition Garden can be set up without requiring a largearea and to promote innovative ways of working around the challenges indeveloping a School Nutrition Garden.
Schools havethe opportunity to develop innovative ways of making the optimum utilization ofthe resources and by engaging various partners. The most important target inthis new version to develop skill in children as well as to use this as a platformto imbibe knowledge on various aspects.

created: October 28, 2019


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Explainer: What are ‘Serious Adverse Events’ in a Clinical Trial?
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
November 4, 2020
As the world races towards launching a COVID-19 vaccine for public use, clinical trials and their impact on participants have caught the attention of people. Data from the government indicates that between 2015 & September 2020, about 176 deaths related to clinical trials were reported in India.
As the coronavirus pandemic spread globally, scientists and organizations from different parts of the world started dedicating their time and resources towards finding a cure and vaccine to fight the virus. Thanks to the medical research in the last few months, there has been a significant improvement in the knowledge regarding the virus and the disease, compared to what was known during early 2020. The research helped to a great extent in finding a treatment protocol among other things. As organizations rush to complete the clinical trials and bring them out for public use, there is a need to understand what happens in these clinical trials and how adverse events are taken care of, especially in India. Here is a detailed story.
Multiple stages need to be passed before a vaccine or a drug is approved for public use
For the development of drugs and vaccines, there are multiple stages of medical research which the drug/vaccine must pass through, following which it is reviewed and rolled out for larger public use. The New Drugs and Clinical Trials Rules, 2019 governs these practices. The initial stage of discovery and development, known as the non-clinical stage, is that phase when compounds that help in treatment, dosage, effectiveness, toxicity, and interaction with other drugs and treatments, are studied. The details like the effect the drug has on animals and how it demonstrates therapeutic potential for humans must be specified. Clinical trials follow this stage.
Factors such as safety, reaction, and tolerance need to be recorded during Clinical Trials
The clinical trials rules of 2019 define clinical trial as any systematic study of new drug, performed in people to evaluate the drug or the medical intervention for safety, tolerance, and effectiveness. For instance, how harmful are the side effects of the intervention is studied at this stage. There are four different phases in which clinical trials are carried out. In each phase, the results obtained in the preceding phase are reviewed and used. The population size in each phase increases and the composition diversifies as the trials advance to the next phase. These are-
Phase I– Drug activity, the drug’s absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion, dosage is measured, observed, and monitored while using the drug on healthy individuals or certain types of patients.
Phase II– A group of patients based on certain criteria, a relatively homogenous population, are selected for carrying out this phase of trials, during which the dose and regimen for the next phase is determined.
Phase III– This is the stage when the demonstration and confirmation of therapeutic benefits happens. Large scale trials take place at this stage with thousands of subjects depending on the type of drug/vaccine. Information pertaining to usage of drug/vaccine is gathered in this stage.
Phase IV– Also known as post marketing trial, this phase of trials is usually performed after the drug gets approval. Additional drug-drug interaction, safety studies, dose response, mortality and morbidity studies, etc. are covered in this phase.
Participation in human trials is voluntary and informed consent is mandatory
For any person to participate in clinical trials, it is important that the investigator obtains an informed consent in writing from the participant or guardian, in case of children. For this, the investigator must clearly provide details of the study to the participant both verbally and in writing in a simple, non-technical language. It is also mandatory that all clinical trials being carried out in the country register themselves with the Clinical Trial Registry of India, maintained by the ICMR, even before the first participant gets enrolled. An Ethics Committee is constituted that constantly reviews the ongoing research. Strict compliance with the rules must also be ensured.
The Clinical Trial Registry website comes with an option to search for information about trials that have been registered with them. Here is a screenshot of the webpage.
Registration of clinical trials is important as it helps in making the research more transparent and keeps a check on publication bias and selective reporting. Moreover, it is the lives of people at stake when a clinical trial is carried out. However,  pharmaceutical companies refrain from registering for fear of their intellectual property getting stolen.
Serious Adverse Events such as death or impairment should be informed to the Central Authority
In case any new drug/vaccine results in death, permanent disability, congenital anomaly, or any other life-threatening event in a participant during the clinical trials,  the trials are then paused to understand the reason for such an impact. Such an instance, or ‘Serious Adverse Event (SAE)’, has been described as follows in the latest Drugs and Clinical Trials Rules.
‘an untoward medical occurrence during clinical trial resulting in death or permanent disability, or hospitalisation of the trial subject where the trial subject is an outdoor patient or a healthy person, prolongation of hospitalisation where the trial subject is an indoor-patient, persistent or significant disability or incapacity, congenital anomaly, birth defect or life threatening event’
Since the trial is carried out on people as an experiment, the results may not be as expected and can cause a SAE. In such cases, the investigators must report the event to the Central Licensing Authority (CLA) and the Ethics Committee within 24 hours. The CLA will constitute another expert committee to examine the case, in case of a death, and provide recommendations with respect to cause of death and quantum of compensation. The Ethics Committee investigates the matter in case of injury and proposes the final compensation.
Compensation is calculated by a Committee based on formulae
The compensation in case of a SAE is calculated on the basis of base amount, age factor of participant, and the risk factor depending on seriousness of disease, comorbidities, and duration of disease. The base amount is Rs. 8 Lakhs. Age factor ranges from 228.54 for the age of 16 to 99.37 for those aged 65 years and above. The risk factor also varies between 0.5 to 4. For those whose mortality is expected to be 90%, a compensation of Rs. 2 lakhs have been fixed. For events of injury, the compensation should not be more than that in case of death.
From 2015 to 09September 2020, a total of 176 SAEs of death related to clinical trials have been reported in India, out of which, compensation was paid in 156 cases. In total, Rs. 13.85 crore has been paid to the 156 families, an average of Rs. 8.88 Lakh per person. During the same period, six cases of illegal clinical trials were registered, as per government’s response in the Lok Sabha.
Past instances of illegal clinical trials in India have resulted in many deaths
In March 2010, there were media reports of female children and adolescents having died in Khammam District in Andhra Pradesh after being administered Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) vaccines, trials of which were being carried out by  Programme for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH) reportedly funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. A parliamentary Standing Committee report tabled in May 2013 stated that there was ‘serious dereliction of duty’ by the institutions and individuals involved. They further accused the department of acting in favour of drug manufacturers by giving a nod for marketing the drugs in India instead of conducting clinical trials here.  Another report highlighted that between January 2008 and October 2010, around 31 new drugs were approved in India without conducting clinical trials. There was no scientific evidence or data backed evidence for the usage of these drugs in India. This could have potentially resulted in harm to public health. There are numerous reports from the past which throw light on how illegal trials were being conducted in India. The rules brought about in 2019 was an effort to ensure registration and make the system transparent in the country.
Clinical Trials for COVID-19 Vaccine are being conducted in India
Currently, three vaccine trials on humans for COVID-19 are being conducted in India. These are-
The list of all potential ‘Repurposed Drugs’ that can be used for COVID-19, where the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) is partnering in clinical trials is now available on the CSIR website.
Featured Image: Clinical Trials Serious Adverse Events

created: November 4, 2020


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Explainer: What are the agreements between India-China that call for restraint in border face-offs along the LAC?
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
June 22, 2020
For the first time in more than four decades, twenty Indian soldiers lost their lives in a face-off along the LAC on the Indo-China border. The number of Chinese casualties is not known. It was reported that it is a long-standing practice of not using firearms in border face-offs along the LAC. What are these agreements?
On 15June 2020, Indian and Chinese troops engaged in a face-off in Galwan Valley across the Line of Actual Control (LAC).  Indian Army sources stated that 20 Army personnel were killed in the clash, the worst such incident in the last few decades. This clash occurred amidst a de-escalation process being carried out after a stand-off over the past few weeks in various parts of Ladakh across the LAC.
As per various media reports, there were no firing between Indian and Chinese soldiers during the faceoff and the combat was a physical one where the Chinese were said to have used stones and metal clubs to attack.  While there was no official statement from China, it is estimated that there were multiple causalities on their end as well.
Minister for External Affairs stated that Firearms not used as per India-China Agreements
The nature of the face off i.e. not using firearms, raised apprehensions if the Indian Army was not carrying any arms with them. Congress Leader, Rahul Gandhi via a tweet questioned government on sending the army personnel on the mission without arming them.
Responding to his tweet, the Minister for External Affairs, Dr. S. Jaishankar has tweeted that troops were carrying arms as is the norm while leaving their post. However, they did not use them in adherence to  the agreements made in 1996 & 2005 agreements, which specify not to use firearms during face offs.
What are these Agreements?
In his tweet, Dr. Jaishankar made the reference of India-China agreements in 1996 and 2005. In 1996, India and China signed an agreement on ‘Confidence-Building Measures in the Military Field along the Line of Actual Control in the India-China Border Areas’. This agreement was in continuation of an earlier agreement, ‘Maintenance of Peace and Tranquillity along the Line of Actual Control in the India-China Border Areas’, which both the countries signed on 07 September 1993.
The first agreement made in 1993, was aimed at maintaining peace along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) along India-China Border and to work towards peaceful resolution of the border disputes existing between the countries. The 1996 agreement specifically laid out the protocols to be followed by the military of the both the countries across the border.
Article VI (1) of the agreement, prevents either from opening fire, conduct blasts or hunt with guns or explosives within two Kilometres of the border, on either side.
Article VI (4) of the protocol in the agreement is relevant to the situation that emerged in Galwan Valley. As per this article, the border personnel are supposed to exercise restraint by when a face-face situation arises due to difference in the alignment of LAC or other reasons.
Both the sides are required to enter into immediate consultations using diplomatic and other channels to review and prevent escalation of a situation.
However, unlike the protocol states, the forces were involved in a fight instead of exercising restraint. The protocols do not explicitly specify when to use firearms and what is to be done if either side does not exercise restraint and in face of provocation.
Common understanding from both the sides needed for implementation of some of the provisions
Article X(1) of the 1996 agreement provides a caveat regarding the implementation of some of the provisions on the agreement. As per the proviso in this article, the full implementation of some of the provisions in the agreement are dependent on both the countries arriving at a common understanding of the alignment of LAC across India-China borders.
With both the countries not coming to a common agreement on the alignment of borders, there is no clarity of the validity of few of the protocols.
In 2003, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the then Prime Minister of India made a visit to China. As part of the bilateral interactions, there was ‘Declaration on Principles for Relations and Comprehensive Cooperation Between the Republic of India and the People’s Republic of China’
Regarding the question of India-China boundary, both the countries reiterated the need to maintain peace in border and to continue with the implementation of the agreements signed earlier, in wake of pending ultimate solution to the border issues.
Apart from 1996 agreement, Dr. Jaishankar also refers to 2005 agreement.
Article 1, of the agreement states that neither side should use or threaten to use force by any means, and it further calls for the resolution of the boundary dispute through peaceful resolution.
Article VII and VIII of Border Defence Cooperation Agreement-2013, reiterate the aspects highlighted in 1996 agreement regarding the response in cases of face-face situation regarding the non-agreement on border alignment i.e. to practice restraint and to explore diplomatic route for resolution.
In this context, the External Affairs Minister’s statement of not using firearms as a long-standing practice stands ground, as multiple agreements signed over the period of time reinforce this practice of exercising restraint.
More than 1000 Transgressions on LAC with no causalities between 2016-18
Responding to a question in Lok Sabha on 27November 2019, the government stated that there were more than 1000 transgressions on the Indo-China border between 2016 & 2018 with no casualty. The government mentioned that transgressions do occur as both sides undertake patrolling up to their respective perception of the LAC. India & China both have differing perception of the LAC.
The government further stated that, both the countries have different perceptions about LAC in multiple areas. Hence patrolling alongside LAC as per their particular perceptions leads to transgressions.
Not using firearms was part of a long-standing tradition to prevent escalation
Few Defence experts opine, that although there is no specific coded rules, the practices have evolved over the years to not use fire arms or involve in any sort of activities that could escalate the situation. For example, one such action includes holding the barrel end down when patrols come face-face.
This has led to evolution of other arms like clubs, stone-pelting etc., which aren’t firearms but have been used by the Chinese army in such situations. Over the period of time, there have been instances of the usage of such weapons turning harmful as in the case of Pangong Lake Face-off where 72 soldiers were injured.
While engaging in face-face clashes along the LAC without using firearms, does seem to be a long-standing practice, the death of 20 soldiers marks an important milestone to review the nature of these engagements.
Featured Image: Line of Actual Control