Ready to give Aadhaar card to sex workers, UIDAI tells SC
Land protests over Deocha Pachami coal block
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Fighting in Ukraine must stop: UN chief
Debunking Russia’s international law justifications
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GDP to grow at 8.9% in 202122 instead of 9.2%
IPCC warns of multiple climate hazards
After Russian attack, world’s largest cargo plane may never fly again
Ready to give Aadhaar card to sex workers, UIDAI tells SC
The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) on Monday informed the Supreme Court that it was willing to issue Aadhaar card to sex workers without insisting on proof of residence/identity, provided they got a certificate from a gazetted officer of the health departments of the States or from an official with the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO).
The suggestion came in a petition before a Bench of Justices L. Nageswara Rao and B.R. Gavai on the lack of food security for lakhs of sex workers across the country, especially during the years of pandemic.
The court has been hearing arguments about how the authorities and community-based organisations could reach out to sex workers and provide them with ration card, voter card and Aadhaar card without disclosing their identities. Sex workers still battle social stigma even at the cost of food security.
Advocate Zoheb Hossain, for the UIDAI, submitted that it was an obligation to ensure that sections of society did not lack access to their basic rights like food because they did not have an Aadhaar card.
Case of West Bengal
Taking the case of West Bengal, the court noted that it had identified 6,227 sex workers so far.
“States which are smaller in size than you show the number of sex workers to be in the likes of 80,000 to one lakh... And you have only been able to identify 6,227? We are talking about identification for the purpose of providing them ration for survival purposes,” Justice Rao addressed advocate Raghenth Basant, for West Bengal.
He noted that even Tamil Nadu had identified over 87,000 sex workers and provided over 86,000 of them with ration cards.
Similarly, Maharashtra also came under the spotlight of the court. Advocate Sachin Patil, Maharashtra counsel, said the authorities have so far identified over 27,000 sex workers and 15,655 of them have been issued ration cards.
Land protests over Deocha Pachami coal block
Prasenjit Bose, an economist and activist based in Kolkata, and eight others were arrested earlier this week from the Deocha Pachami coal project area in the Md. Bazar block in West Bengal’s Birbhum district. The nine persons— four from Kolkata and five locals from Md. Bazar — have been booked for unlawful assembly under Section 149 and non-bailable charges of Section 333 of voluntarily causing hurt to public servant in discharge of his duties of the Indian Penal Code.
The First Information Report (FIR) lodged by sub-inspector Bandhan Deogharia has stated that the accused under the banner of Birbhum Jomi Jeeban Jeevika O Prakiti Bachao Mahasabha on February 20 held a meeting at the Dewangunj playground “to foment people, particularly Adivasi people having lands and dwellings under the Deocha Pachami Dewangunj Horisinga Coal area not to give their land for the said project and also not to allow the project to start”.
‘Misleading propaganda’
“It is unfortunate that instead of engaging with people and their grievances and issues against the coal mine project, the administration is imprisoning tribal women and activists on false and serious charges. Hope better sense prevails,” said Albeena Shakil, wife of Mr. Prasenjit Bose.
Civil right and environmental activists have raised questions on the proposed coal mining project that is likely to displace 5,000 families and this is the first major arrest of activists. The arrest comes at a time when Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has said that there will be no forcible acquisition of land for the project.
Mamata bats for project
Ms. Banerjee on Wednesday once again emphasised the necessity of the project and said it would create about one lakh jobs. During the day, the Chief Minister handed over cheques and appointment letters to land losers as part of the relief and rehabilitation package announced by the State Government. On February 21, the State Government had revised the relief and rehabilitation project making it more lucrative for land losers.
The Deocha Pachami coal block is considered the largest in the country with a reserve of around 1,198 million tonnes of coal and 1,400 million cubic metre basalt and is spread over an area of 12.31 sq. km. There are about 12 villages in the project area with a population of over 21,000.
Fighting in Ukraine must stop: UN chief
Russian nuclear forces being put on high alert is a “chilling development” and the mere idea of a nuclear conflict is simply inconceivable, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said on Monday, voicing hope that direct talks between Ukraine and Russia would produce an immediate halt to the fighting.
A day after the 15-nation UN Security Council voted to refer the Russia-Ukraine crisis to an emergency session of the General Assembly, the most representative body of the United Nations convened the rare emergency session on Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.
President of the 76th session of the General Assembly Abdulla Shahid presided over the unprecedented session, only the 11th such emergency session of the General Assembly since 1950. With the adoption of the UNSC resolution on Sunday, it was for the first time in 40 years that the Council decided to call for an emergency special session in the General Assembly.
Mr. Guterres said the escalating violence, resulting in civilian deaths, including children, was totally unacceptable.
Enough is enough. Soldiers need to move back to their barracks. Leaders need to move to peace. Civilians must be protected,” he said.
He asserted that the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Ukraine, within its internationally recognised borders, must be respected.
‘Violation of sovereignty’
Mr. Shahid said Russias military offensive was a violation of Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty, and called for an immediate ceasefire and full return to diplomacy and dialogue. He voiced grave concern about the fast-deteriorating situation and ongoing military action in Ukraine.
On the talks between the Russian and Ukrainian delegation, Mr. Shahid said this “rare window of opportunity” had opened up for dialogue. “Let’s use this opportunity to meaningfully and rapidly de-escalate the situation.”
Underlining that there were “no winners in war”, but countless lives are torn apart, Mr. Shahid stressed that security and access for humanitarian efforts must be guaranteed.
The Security Council on Friday failed to adopt a resolution that would have deplored Russia’s “aggression” against Ukraine after Moscow used its veto. India, China and the UAE abstained, Russia used its veto and 11 Council members voted in favour.
India abstained again, along with China and the UAE, when the Council voted on Sunday on the procedural resolution to refer the Ukraine crisis to an emergency session of the General Assembly. Russia voted against and 11 Council members in favour.
U.S. Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield had said on Friday after the failed UNSC vote that we will be taking this matter to the General Assembly, where the Russian veto does not apply and the nations of the world will continue to hold Russia accountable.” While a UNSC resolution would have been legally binding and the UN General Assembly resolutions are not, a vote in the 193-member UN body is symbolic of world opinion on the crisis.
Mr. Shahid said the General Assembly with its 193 Member States represents the collective conscience of humanity.
“The strength of this Assembly is rooted in its moral authority. Let’s demonstrate that moral courage and use today’s debate not to whip up war rhetoric, but to give peace a chance,” he added.
Debunking Russia’s international law justifications
Notwithstanding the spin offered by international relations experts on the Russia-Ukraine crisis, the unequivocal truth is this. The Russian invasion of Ukraine is a brutal murder of the United Nations (UN) Charter and several other tenets of international law. Ironically, Russian President Vladimir Putin has invoked international law to justify Moscow’s barefaced illegal actions. But these justifications are erroneous.
Recognition of territories
Three days before the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russia recognised the supposedly independent territories of Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine and signed treaties of friendship with these entities paving the way for Russian troops moving in as “peacekeepers”.
In doing so, Russia seems to rely on the controversial theory of remedial secession, which posits the unilateral secession of a territory from the parent state in the most extreme cases.
However, international law, beyond the context of decolonisation, does not recognise a general right to unilateral secession within the principle of self-determination. Even if an arguable case could be made for remedial secession, it requires a very high threshold such as severe violations of human rights and systemic oppression of ethnic Russians by Ukraine.
Russia’s claims of the genocide of ethnic Russians are not backed by any evidence. Ukraine has moved the International Court of Justice on the issue of alleged genocide. In any case, Ukraine expressly agreed to recognise the autonomy of Donetsk and Luhansk under the Minsk Accords with Russia, thereby promising to protect the right to self-determination of these territories. Therefore, Russia’s claims have no basis in international law. In recognising the statehood of Donetsk and Luhansk, Russia has violated Article 2(4) of the UN Charter by undermining Ukraine’s territorial integrity.
Use of force
The Russian illegality has not been restricted to just this. The Russian missile strikes in Ukraine including on non-military objects and the Russian forces marching through Ukrainian soil are a ruthless exhibition of the use of force in international relations, which Article 2(4) of the UN Charter proscribes. Bizarrely, Mr. Putin claims that he is acting in self-defence as per Article 51 of the UN Charter. Article 51 recognises the inherent right of individual or collective self-defence in the case of an armed attack by one state against another state. However, Ukraine has not launched an “armed attack” against Russia warranting defensive strikes. Moreover, there was no ‘imminent’ threat from Ukraine that would have justified Russia’s actions even under the arguable theory of anticipatory self-defence in international law. The right to collective self-defence under Article 51 exists only for states.
Donetsk and Luhansk are not states under international law. Moreover, Ukraine did not attack these purportedly independent states. Even assuming that legitimate grounds for self-defence exist, nothing in Article 51 or customary international law permits a disproportionate action in self-defence, such as a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Mr. Putin’s despicable actions are tantamount to committing the crime of aggression as defined under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC). The Rome Statute in Article 8 bis (2) defines an act of aggression to mean any use of force against the sovereignty, territorial integrity, or political independence of another state. Ideally, the aggressor state and its leaders should face international criminal responsibility for aggression. However, the ICC is unable to exercise jurisdiction unless both the aggressor and victim states are party to the Rome Statute. With Russia and Ukraine not being a party, the likelihood of legal accountability to the actions of Russia is slim.
On ‘R2P’
Mr. Putin also indirectly invoked the controversial doctrine of humanitarian intervention, also termed Responsibility to Protect (R2P), in international law for its actions in Ukraine. R2P stems from every state’s responsibility to protect its population from gross violations of human rights and the international community’s responsibility in assisting states to fulfil such responsibility.
Controversially, this principle has been stretched to justify the use of force by third states in the territory of a state which has failed in its duty to protect its citizens. Such actions may or may not be authorised by the UN Security Council (UNSC); the 2011 military intervention in Libya received UN authorisation, while the 1995 North Atlantic Treaty Organization bombing of Bosnian Serbs did not. However, the R2P doctrine remains disputed in international law. Even if it exists, there is no evidence that ethnic Russians in Ukraine are facing atrocities that merit a humanitarian intervention of the scale that Russia has launched. The irony of Russia invoking the R2P doctrine for its Ukrainian invasion, in the same declaration criticising the West for R2P in Libya and the former Yugoslavia, is lost in hubris.
Russia’s revisionism
It will be futile to look at the current crisis through the narrow lens of black letter law alone without expounding the ideational moorings of Russia’s approach. The Kremlin believes that the world is divided into spheres of influence. Thus, one needs to distinguish between countries that are truly sovereign and countries that possess nominal or limited sovereignty. Russia views Ukraine as an entity that possesses limited sovereignty. The global community should take note of Mr. Putin’s precarious game of resurrecting a ‘Russian empire’ that could topple the very foundations on which the post-World War rule-based international order has been laboriously built. This is part of the Russian approach toward international law which believes that the basis of international law is not universal but cultural and civilisational distinctness.
Rooted in Russia’s cultural and civilisational exceptionalism is the emphasis on statism. Indeed, Putin’s Russia has doubled down on statism in international law through institutionalising several mechanisms. For example, Russia has created a constitutional apparatus to denounce international human rights law, by empowering the Russian Constitutional Court to invalidate any judgment by any human rights mechanism (including the European Court of Human Rights), if they are found to be inconsistent with the Russian constitution.
History tells us humanity has suffered at the hands of hyper-masculine autocratic leaders who set out on the path of achieving mythical civilisational greatness. The global community should collectively ensure that this is not repeated. International law should be marshalled to constrain arbitrary state power and check imperial designs. Or else the sustenance of a rule-based international order shall remain a pipe dream.
GDP to grow at 8.9% in 202122 instead of 9.2%
India’s gross domestic product (GDP) is estimated to grow at 8.9% in 2021-22 instead of 9.2% estimated earlier, with year-on-year growth in the October to December 2021 period slipping to 5.4% from 8.5% in the previous quarter, as per the second advance national income estimates released on Monday.
Gross Value-Added (GVA) in the economy is expected to grow by 8.3% this financial year, from a 4.8% contraction in 2020-21, the National Statistical Office (NSO) said. Barring the contact-intensive segment of Trade, Hotels, Transport, Communication _amp; services related to Broadcasting, all sectors are expected to surpass pre-pandemic GVA levels this year.
India’s GDP had shrunk 6.6% in 2020-21, with the first half of the year recording a sharp contraction before GDP resurfaced to clock 0.7% growth in the October to December 2020 quarter.
“To achieve 8.9% growth, the GDP has to grow 4.8% in the fourth quarter, which looks challenging given the considerable restrictions posed by the pandemic’s third wave, the ongoing geopolitical tensions and persistent supply challenges in areas like coal, power and semiconductors,” said M. Govinda Rao, chief economic advisor at Brickwork Ratings, adding that higher crude oil prices may compel a revisit of these GDP estimates for the year.
The GDP growth rates for the first and second quarters of 2021-22 were revised upwards marginally by the NSO from 20.1% to 20.3% and 8.4% to 8.5%, respectively.
IPCC warns of multiple climate hazards
The world faces unavoidable multiple climate hazards over the next two decades with global warming of 1.5°C and even temporarily exceeding this warming level would mean additional, severe impacts, some of which will be irreversible, according to a report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that was made public on Monday.
“This report is a dire warning about the consequences of inaction,” said Hoesung Lee, Chair of the IPCC. “It shows that climate change is a grave and mounting threat to our wellbeing and a healthy planet. Our actions today will shape how people adapt and nature responds to increasing climate risks.”
Human-induced climate change, including more frequent and intense extreme events, has caused widespread adverse impacts and related losses and damages to nature and people, beyond natural climate variability. Some development and adaptation efforts have reduced vulnerability. Across sectors and regions, the most vulnerable people and systems are observed to be disproportionately affected. The rise in weather and climate extremes have led to some irreversible impacts as natural and human systems are pushed beyond their ability to adapt, according to an accompanying statement from IPCC authors, who include scientists from India.
‘Unevenly distributed’
While progress in adaptation planning and implementation has been observed across all sectors and regions, generating multiple benefits, it was unevenly distributed with observed adaptation gaps. Many initiatives prioritise immediate and near-term climate risk reduction which reduces the opportunity for transformational adaptation, they noted.
India will achieve net zero emissions latest by 2070, that is, there will be no net carbon emissions, Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared at the COP26 summit in Glasgow last year.
By 2030 India would also ensure 50% of its energy will be from renewable energy sources. India will reduce its carbon emissions until 2030 by a billion tonnes and cut its emissions intensity per unit of GDP by less than 45%. India would also install 500 Gigawatt of renewable energy by 2030, a 50 gigawatt increase from its existing targets, he added.
Lucknow and Patna, according to one of several studies cited in Monday’s IPCC report, are among the cities predicted to reach wet-bulb temperatures (a metric of humidity) of 35°C if emissions continued to rise, while Bhubaneswar, Chennai, Mumbai, Indore, and Ahmedabad are all identified as at risk of reaching wet-bulb temperatures of 32-34°C with continued emissions; overall, Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab will be the most severely affected, but if emissions continue to increase, all Indian States will have regions that experience wet-bulb 30°C or more by the end of the century,
Global sea levels will likely rise 44-76 cm this century if governments meet their current emission-cutting pledges. With faster emission cuts, the increase could be limited to 28-55 cm. But with higher emissions, and if ice sheets collapse more quickly than expected, sea levels could rise as much as 2 m this century and 5 m by 2150.
‘Fragile ecology’
“It is expected that by 2050, we would reach 1.5 degrees Celsius. Even the slightest change in climate will have a long-lasting impact on the Himalayan region due to its fragile ecology. There would be a rapid increase in incidents like the Chamoli disaster and extreme weather events like heavy precipitation that we saw in Himachal and Uttarakhand this year,” said Anjal Prakash, Research Director of Bharti Institute of Public Policy at ISB and lead author of the chapter on cities, settlement and key infrastructure and cross chapter paper on mountains.
“The latest IPCC report, in particular, worries me on three counts. We now have high confidence that the accelerating climate crisis is increasing water-related diseases. Second, we have high confidence that climate change will severely impact food production and food security. Third, droughts and heatwaves will trigger biodiversity loss, as well as human migration. To combat this surge of crises, developing countries like India will need to significantly scale up their adaptive capacity,” said Arunabha Ghosh, CEO, Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW), a think tank.
After Russian attack, world’s largest cargo plane may never fly again
An aviation wonder and the world’s largest cargo aircraft, the Antonov An-225, has been “destroyed” in an attack on its base at Hostomel/Gostomel airport in Ukraine.
Concern grew over the fate of the giant plane after Russian troops began moving into Ukraine, and there were reports of attacks on the airport and its vicinity around February 24, leading to aviation chatter on social media over the last 48 hours about damage, which was largely speculative and based on grainy images of the airport and its hangars.
Confirming the development in an E-mail from Kyiv, Ukraine, on Monday, the Commercial Director of Antonov Airlines, said, “Today the fact was confirmed that as a result of [the] attack and capture of Ukrainian civil Kyiv-Antonov airport (Gostomel) by Russian troops, the largest aircraft in the world, [the] An-225 Mriya, was damaged and burned down. The aircraft was at the home base in Ukraine for maintenance. The loss of this unique aircraft, which was the real piece of technical art, is a great loss not only for [the] Antonov Company and Ukraine, but for the entire aviation world.” No other details were shared.
Known formally as the “Cossack”, its North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) operating code, the world knew the “super-heavy transport plane” better by its Ukrainian name, “Mriya”, or “the Dream”.
The six-engine 84-metre-long behemoth, with its 32-wheel landing gear, had its first flight on December 21, 1988, built mainly for the transportation of the Buran shuttle orbiter and components of the Energiya carrier rocket. After an uncertain future following the breakup of the USSR, the aircraft bounced back and reinvented itself to don a variety of roles — and creating cargo transportation records — leaving spectators spellbound with its appearances across the world. It underwent extensive technical upgrades as well.
It Landed in India Once
It made its maiden landing in India, in May 2016, at Hyderabad’s Shamshabad airport while en route to Perth to deliver a 117-tonne power generator (from Prague, the Czech Republic) to a mine in Australia. It played an important role too in the COVID-19 fight, ferrying nearly 100 tonnes of medicines, laboratory kits, medical masks and personal protective equipment in various missions across Europe, Canada and to Africa. It was even chartered to transport ‘Puma’ helicopters from Kabul to the U.K. after U.S. ended its mission in Afghanistan.
There is much speculation about happens next. If the “Mriya” cannot be repaired — aviation sources estimate it to be $3 billion — there is some hope left in the form of a second but unfinished fuselage that lies in an undisclosed warehouse in Ukraine.
