4 May 2024

• Food safety: The MDH and Everest spice controversy put FSSAI's enforcement under scrutiny. Nearly one-fourth of all food samples tested in three years failed safety standards.
• Elections: The Supreme Court clarified the distinction between prisoners' voting rights and the right to contest elections under the Representation of the People Act.
• Environment: The 2024 heatwave continued to intensify. India's Core Heatwave Zone was placed on alert as temperatures surged.
• Art and Culture: Kutch Ajrakh, a traditional block-printing textile craft from Gujarat, received a Geographical Indication tag.

GS area: Governance, Food Safety

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) faced public scrutiny after Hong Kong and Singapore raised concerns about carcinogenic residues in MDH and Everest brand spices. US Customs had earlier rejected 31 per cent of MDH consignments citing salmonella contamination.

• FSSAI: The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India is the statutory body under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. It was established under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 to set standards and regulate food businesses.
• Scale of failure: Nearly one-fourth of food samples tested by FSSAI over the preceding three years failed safety standards. This figure covers a range of products, not just spices.
• FSSAI schemes: Eat Right India Movement (promotes safe and healthy food); Eat Right Station Certification (for railway stations); Food Hygiene Rating Scheme; Food Safety Mitra (grassroots food safety support network); State Food Safety Index (annual ranking of states on food safety performance).
• Ethylene oxide (ETO): The specific concern in the spice controversy was contamination with ethylene oxide, used as a sterilising agent. ETO is carcinogenic above permitted levels. CODEX Alimentarius has not set a specific maximum residue limit for ETO in spices, creating a regulatory grey area.

Static linkage: FSSAI, food safety regulation, consumer protection.

GS area: Polity (Elections)

A question on the voting and contestation rights of prisoners in the context of the ongoing Lok Sabha elections drew legal attention.

• Section 62(5) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951: A person detained in prison (whether convicted or under trial) or in lawful police custody is disqualified from voting. This is a statutory restriction on the constitutional right to vote.
• Exception for preventive detainees: Persons held under preventive detention laws (such as the National Security Act) retain their right to vote. Only persons in police custody or serving a sentence are barred.
• Candidacy: Being an accused or undertrial does not bar a person from contesting elections. A person convicted under Section 8(3) of the RPA 1951 (and sentenced to two years or more) is disqualified from contesting for a period of six years after serving the sentence.
• Article 326: Confers universal adult suffrage, subject to disqualifications prescribed by Parliament. The Supreme Court has held that the bar under Section 62(5) is a permissible statutory restriction and does not violate fundamental rights.

Static linkage: Representation of the People Act, electoral disqualification, fundamental rights.

GS area: Governance, Polity

The government circulated a draft Explosives Bill, 2024 to replace the Explosives Act of 1884, a colonial-era law that is over 140 years old.

• PESO: The Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation is the regulatory body for explosives in India. It was established in 1898 and is headquartered at Nagpur, Maharashtra. It functions under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
• Scope of the new Bill: Covers the manufacture, possession, use, sale, transport, import, and export of explosives.
• Penalties: The draft imposes a maximum punishment of three years' imprisonment and/or a fine of Rs 1,00,000.
• Purpose of reform: The 1884 Act predates India's independence, modern mining technology, and contemporary security requirements. The new Bill incorporates digital licensing, enhanced penalties, and clearer definitions.

Static linkage: Regulatory reform, PESO, mining and industrial safety.

GS area: Environment, Disaster Management

The 2024 heatwave, linked to the El Nino event that developed in June 2023, intensified across northern and central India.

• El Nino: A periodic warming of the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean. Years that begin under El Nino conditions tend to see elevated temperatures globally. El Nino suppresses monsoon rainfall over India and raises summer temperatures.
• IMD heatwave criteria: For plains, a heatwave is declared when the maximum temperature reaches 40 degrees Celsius or exceeds the normal by 4.5 degrees Celsius. For hilly regions the threshold is 30 degrees Celsius. For coastal regions it is 37 degrees Celsius. A severe heatwave is declared when the departure exceeds 6 degrees Celsius.
• Core Heatwave Zone (CHZ): The region covering central, northern, and parts of peninsular India, roughly from Gujarat to West Bengal, where heatwaves are most frequent and intense.
• Scale of 2024: Heatwave conditions were recorded on almost all days of April 2024. Thirty-seven cities crossed 45 degrees Celsius. Official deaths crossed 360 by season end, with researchers estimating over 730 deaths across 17 states.
• Most affected states: Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Bihar, Jharkhand, and West Bengal.

Static linkage: Climate science, IMD, disaster management, public health.

GS area: Art and Culture, Economy

Kutch Ajrakh, the traditional block-printing textile craft of Gujarat, was granted a Geographical Indication (GI) tag by the Office of the Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks (CGPDTM).

• Ajrakh: A form of block printing on cotton or silk using natural dyes. Ajrakh textiles are characterised by geometric, floral, and paisley patterns in deep red and indigo. The craft was introduced to the Kutch region over 400 years ago.
• Community: Primarily practiced by the Khatri community in Kutch, Gujarat. Ajrakh textiles are closely identified with the pastoral Rabari, Maldhari, and Ahir communities who wear them.
• GI law: The Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999 governs GI tags in India. A GI tag protects the name of a product associated with a specific geographical origin and traditional knowledge.
• Issuing authority: The CGPDTM, under the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

Static linkage: Geographical Indications, art and craft heritage, textile traditions.

GS area: Polity (Constitutional Law)

The nine-judge Supreme Court Constitution Bench continued hearings on whether private resources can qualify as "material resources of the community" under Article 39(b).

• Article 39(b): A Directive Principle that mandates the state to distribute the material resources of the community to subserve the common good. It does not define what "material resources of the community" means.
• Core question: If Article 39(b) covers private property (not just state-owned resources), it could give the state broad powers to redistribute wealth. If it only covers public resources, its scope is narrow.
• Article 31C linkage: A law enacted to implement Article 39(b) is shielded by Article 31C from challenge under Articles 14 and 19 of the Fundamental Rights.
• Earlier position: Some past judgments held that Article 39(b) can apply to private resources. The current bench is reconsidering that interpretation.
• Article 300A: The right to property is now only a legal right (not a Fundamental Right) under Article 300A. Deprivation requires authority of law.

Static linkage: Fundamental Rights versus Directive Principles, property rights, constitutional interpretation.

GS area: Art and Culture

Patachitra is a traditional form of scroll painting associated with Odisha and West Bengal.

• Etymology: From Sanskrit, pata means cloth and chitra means picture.
• Origin: Traced to the twelfth century in Odisha. Patachitra has a close association with the Jagannath temple tradition in Puri. Paintings were originally produced as ritual objects and souvenirs for pilgrims.
• West Bengal connection: The tradition reached Bengal approximately three centuries ago through Odia artists who migrated. The Bengali form (Kalighat pat, among others) developed its own distinctive style.
• Materials: Natural colours derived from minerals, vegetables, and plants. The cloth canvas is prepared with a mixture of chalk and gum.
• Themes: Scenes from Hindu mythology (Ramayana, Mahabharata, Puranas), folk stories, and the Jagannath tradition.

Static linkage: Traditional art forms, Indian cultural heritage, Odisha and West Bengal.

• India-Greece relations: Greece supports India's bid for Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) membership and a permanent UNSC seat. A strategic interest is the Mumbai-Piraeus multi-modal corridor. China's state enterprise COSCO holds approximately 60 per cent of the Piraeus port stake, which India considers in its connectivity planning. The joint air exercise is INIOCHOS.
• EVM ruling: On 26 April 2024, the Supreme Court rejected petitions seeking a return to paper ballots and warned against "blind distrust" of EVMs. The Court noted that EVM microcontrollers cannot be reprogrammed after programming. Technical Expert Committees reviewed EVMs in 1990, 2006, and 2013.