3 June 2023

• Polity: The Law Commission recommended retaining Section 124A of the IPC (sedition) with procedural safeguards. The Supreme Court had suspended the provision in 2022.
• Governance: The government announced the fourth lateral entry recruitment of 17 officers into senior central government posts.
• International: Prime Minister Prachanda of Nepal visited India; multiple connectivity and energy projects were signed.
• Economy: The ILO projected a global jobs gap of 453 million in 2023, while India's unemployment rate fell to 4.8 per cent.

GS area: Polity, Governance

The Law Commission of India submitted its report recommending that Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code be retained but amended with stronger procedural safeguards.

• Section 124A: Punishes any speech or act that excites disaffection towards the government established by law. The punishment ranges from three years to life imprisonment with fine.
• History: Drafted by Thomas Babington Macaulay, it was inserted into the IPC in 1870 primarily to suppress the independence movement.
• Kedar Nath Singh (1962): The Supreme Court upheld the provision but narrowed its application. Only speech that incites violence or has a tendency to cause public disorder can attract the section. Criticism of the government alone is insufficient.
• Current status: In May 2022, the Supreme Court stayed all sedition proceedings across the country and asked the government to reconsider the law. Pending cases were not to proceed until reconsideration was complete.
• Law Commission proposals: Replace the vague phrase "inclination to incite" with a requirement of actual incitement to violence. Enhance the alternative imprisonment to 7 years. Require a preliminary inquiry by a police officer of at least Deputy Superintendent rank before an FIR is registered.
• Criticism of the provision: Between 2014 and 2022, recorded sedition cases rose sharply while conviction rates remained below 3 per cent. Critics argue the low conviction rate alongside high arrest numbers shows the law is used for harassment rather than prosecution.

Static linkage: Fundamental rights (Article 19); Polity.

GS area: Governance

The central government announced the fourth round of lateral entry recruitment, filling 17 posts at the Joint Secretary and Director level from outside the civil services.

• What lateral entry is: Appointment of domain experts from the private sector, academia, and public enterprises directly to senior bureaucratic posts, bypassing the traditional UPSC-IAS route.
• First drive: 2018. The current announcement is the fourth.
• Committees that recommended it: The Surinder Nath Committee (2003), the Hota Committee (2004), and the Second Administrative Reforms Commission (2008) all suggested bringing private sector talent into government.
• Arguments for: Domain expertise, fresh perspective, reduced departmental insularity.
• Arguments against: Lateral entrants lack field exposure and institutional knowledge. Questions of accountability arise when officials from a commercial background make public welfare decisions.

The UPSC is the constitutional body under Article 315 that conducts recruitment to central services. Lateral entry bypasses competitive examination but does not bypass government appointment processes.

Static linkage: Polity (UPSC); governance; civil services.

GS area: International Relations

Newly elected Nepali Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal (Prachanda) visited India. Several bilateral agreements were signed.

• Hydropower: A target of importing 10,000 MW of electricity from Nepal was announced. The Arun IV project (900 MW) and the Upper Karnali project were discussed.
• Railways: Progress on the 35-km Jaynagar-Kurtha cross-border rail line.
• Pipeline: Phase II of the Motihari-Amlekhgunj petroleum products pipeline expansion was agreed.
• International Solar Alliance: Nepal joined the ISA, which India co-founded.
• Ongoing challenges: Boundary disputes remain at Kalapani (where India, Nepal, and China meet), and at Susta. Nepal has demanded revision of the 1950 Treaty of Peace and Friendship. China's growing economic and infrastructure footprint in Nepal complicates the bilateral.

Static linkage: India and its neighbours; international organisations.

GS area: Economy (employment), Social Issues

The International Labour Organisation released the 11th edition of its Monitor on the World of Work.

• Global jobs gap: 453 million people unable to find the work they want or need. The jobs gap measures not just the unemployed but also the underemployed and those who have stopped looking.
• Low-income countries: 25.7 per cent jobs gap, meaning more than one in four working-age people cannot find adequate work.
• India: Unemployment rate fell to 4.8 per cent in 2022, down from 6.5 per cent in 2019.
• India's labour reforms: The government consolidated 29 central labour laws into four codes: the Code on Wages (2019), the Industrial Relations Code (2020), the Code on Social Security (2020), and the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code (2020). Rules under the codes had not yet been notified as of June 2023.

The ILO is a UN specialised agency founded in 1919 under the Treaty of Versailles. India has been a member since 1922. Its headquarters are in Geneva.

Static linkage: Indian economy; social justice; labour.

GS area: Polity, Governance

The Aircraft (Amendment) Bill 2023 was introduced to replace the Aircraft Act of 1934. The 1934 Act predates Indian independence and is no longer adequate for a modern aviation sector.

• Chicago Convention: India is a signatory to the Convention on International Civil Aviation (Chicago, 1944). The Bill aligns Indian law with Chicago Convention standards.
• Key addition: An Aviation Security Bureau within the Directorate General of Civil Aviation. Security of civil aviation was not addressed in the 1934 Act.
• ICAO: The International Civil Aviation Organisation is the UN agency that sets global aviation standards under the Chicago Convention.

Static linkage: International conventions; governance.

• Iran-Taliban water dispute: Iran and Afghanistan are in dispute over flows from the Helmand River under the 1973 treaty. Afghanistan says lower flows are due to drought; Iran says Afghanistan is violating the treaty by retaining water in upstream reservoirs.
• ICC warrant for Putin: The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin in March 2023 for the deportation of Ukrainian children. South Africa, as a Rome Statute signatory and BRICS host, faced questions about whether it would arrest him if he attended the BRICS summit.
• MH-60R helicopter: India received its first batch of MH-60R multi-role maritime helicopters from the United States. The helicopter operates from frigates, destroyers, and aircraft carriers.