3 August 2024

• Polity: the Supreme Court (7-judge bench) allowed states to sub-classify Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes for reservations. The creamy layer principle now applies within SC-ST categories.
• Governance: the Disaster Management (Amendment) Bill 2024 was introduced in the Lok Sabha. Urban Disaster Management Authorities for state capitals are a new institutional feature.
• Cybersecurity: a ransomware attack on C-Edge Technologies suspended UPI and Aadhaar-enabled payments at about 200 cooperative and regional rural banks.
• Health: the WHO Global Traditional Medicine Centre in Jamnagar, Gujarat was in the news. India has committed USD 85 million over ten years.

GS area: Polity, Social Justice

A seven-judge constitutional bench decided in State of Punjab versus Davinder Singh that states may sub-classify within Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes to give additional quota benefits to the most disadvantaged sub-groups:

• The core holding: a state government can identify which communities within its SC or ST list are more disadvantaged and give them a preferential share within the overall reservation ceiling. States cannot, however, earmark 100 per cent of the reservation for any single sub-class.
• Creamy layer extended: the majority held that the creamy layer principle, already applied to OBC reservations after Indra Sawhney (1992), logically extends to SCs and STs. More advantaged members of a listed community may be excluded from quota benefits.
• Constitutional basis: Articles 15(4) and 16(4) permit the state to make special provisions for socially and educationally backward classes. Articles 341(1) and 342(1) give the President power to specify the SC and ST lists.
• Judicial review retained: all sub-classification decisions are subject to judicial review. A state cannot arbitrarily designate sub-groups.
• Significance: the judgement reverses E.V. Chinnaiah (2004), in which a five-judge bench had held that states cannot tinker with the Presidential list.

The critical tension this raises is between the constitutional goal of representation and the practical reality that within large SC or ST groups, some communities have advanced while others remain at the bottom. Whether sub-classification accelerates or fractures the constitutional scheme is the live debate.

Static linkage: reservation framework, fundamental rights (Articles 14-16), social justice.

GS area: Governance, Polity, Disaster Management

The Bill amends the Disaster Management Act 2005. The Act, enacted after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, created the National Disaster Management Authority and the State Disaster Management Authorities. The 2024 amendments add:

• Urban Disaster Management Authorities: new bodies for state capitals and cities with a population above a threshold. Urban India has specific disaster risks (building collapses, flash floods, industrial accidents) that standard SDMA frameworks do not address well.
• Disaster databases: national and state databases to track events, losses and resources. A database that actually records what happened and what was spent is a prerequisite for evidence-based policy.
• Statutory status for NCMC: the National Crisis Management Committee, previously an executive body, gets a legal foundation.
• State Disaster Response Forces: states may now form their own SDRFs, supplementing the National Disaster Response Force.
• New Section 60A: penalties up to Rs 10,000 for non-compliance with directions issued under the Act. The original Act had weak enforcement provisions.
• NDMA composition: the Prime Minister chairs NDMA. The NDRF is its operational arm.

Static linkage: disaster management institutional framework, constitutional provisions on Centre-state relations.

GS area: Science and Technology, Economy (cybersecurity)

C-Edge Technologies Limited, a joint venture between Tata Consultancy Services and the State Bank of India that provides technology services to cooperative and regional rural banks, suffered a ransomware attack:

• Impact: approximately 200 cooperative and regional rural banks were cut off from UPI and Aadhaar-enabled payment services.
• NPCI response: the National Payments Corporation of India temporarily isolated C-Edge's systems from the payment network to prevent the attack from spreading further.
• Cooperative banks: these banks serve rural and semi-urban populations. Many do not have their own core banking systems and rely on service providers like C-Edge. An attack on the aggregator therefore hits hundreds of small banks simultaneously.
• Ransomware: malicious software that encrypts a target's data and demands payment for the decryption key. The attacker in this case exploited shared infrastructure.

Static linkage: banking regulation, digital payments infrastructure, cybersecurity.

• Open Market Sale Scheme: the Food Corporation of India sells surplus grain stocks through e-auctions via the National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange. In a move announced on 1 August, grain-deficient states may purchase rice at Rs 2,800 per quintal directly without participating in the competitive e-auction process.
• WHO Global Traditional Medicine Centre: located in Jamnagar, Gujarat. India committed USD 85 million over ten years from 2022 to 2032. The centre promotes evidence-based Traditional, Complementary and Integrative Medicine.
• Woody encroachment: the spread of trees into grasslands and savannahs, which cover about 40 per cent of Earth's land surface. Higher atmospheric CO2 favours deep-rooted woody plants. Native grassland bird populations have declined by more than 20 per cent where this is occurring. This is a topic for biodiversity and environmental science sections.
• Genetic screening: BCCI has used genetic screening since 2017 to assess athletes for speed, endurance, recovery time and muscle-building potential. The technique identifies disease risk or performance traits through analysis of genetic material.