1. India needs a Uniform Civil Code
M. Venkaiah Naidu is a former Vice President of India.
India, being a diverse nation, is home to many religions, each with its distinct personal laws governing marriage, divorce, adoption, inheritance and succession. It would be accurate to say that the absence of a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) has only served to perpetuate inequalities and inconsistencies in our land of rich diversity. In fact, this has been a hindrance in the nation’s progress towards social harmony, economic and gender justice. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had last week called for the enactment of a UCC, pointing out the anomaly of having varying laws for different categories of citizens.
In the Constituent Assembly
The debate on the UCC goes back to the Constituent Assembly debates. In fact, one could assert that the legality of UCC is rooted in the Constitution of India, Constituent Assembly debates and also Supreme Court of India judgments. Constituent Assembly debates shed light on the need and the objective behind promoting a common civil code. Babasaheb Ambedkar, the chief architect of the Indian Constitution, had made a strong case in the Constituent Assembly for framing a UCC. He stressed the importance of a UCC in ensuring gender equality and eradicating prevailing social evils.
Countering the arguments of some of the members of the Constituent Assembly who were opposed to the idea, B.R. Ambedkar observed: “I personally do not understand why religion should be given this vast, expansive jurisdiction so as to cover the whole of life and to prevent the legislature from encroaching upon that field. After all, what are we having this liberty for? We are having this liberty in order to reform our social system, which is so full of inequities, so full of inequalities, discriminations and other things, which conflict with our fundamental rights. It is, therefore, quite impossible for anybody to conceive that the personal law shall be excluded from the jurisdiction of the State.”
Other distinguished and erudite members of the Constituent Assembly such as Alladi Krishnaswamy Ayyar and K.M. Munshi also advocated the enactment of a UCC. Alladi Krishnaswamy Ayyar argued that “the Article actually aims at amity….what it aims at is to try to arrive at a common measure of agreement in regard to these matters”. Similarly, K.M. Munshi also called for a UCC in the Constituent Assembly. He said: “The point however, is this, whether we are going to consolidate and unify our personal law in such a way that the way of life of the whole country may in course of time be unified and secular… What have these things got to do with religion I really fail to understand.”
Since a consensus on a UCC could not be reached in the Constituent Assembly, the subject found a place under Article 44 of the Directive Principles. Thus, Article 44, in a sense, is the Constitutional mandate which requires the state to enact a UCC that applies to all citizens cutting across faiths, practices and personal laws.
It would be also pertinent to point out here that the Supreme Court had dwelt on the matter on more than one occasion. The top court had observed in the Shah Bano case that “It is a matter of regret that Article 44 has remained a dead letter.” The Court had pointed out that a UCC would help the cause of national integration. The top court ruled that “… in the constitutional order of priorities, the right to religious freedom is to be exercised in a manner consonant with the vision underlying the provisions of Part III (Fundamental Rights)” — Indian Young Lawyers Association case (2018). However, despite articulating its views clearly on the subject in many cases, the Supreme Court refrained from issuing any clear directive to the government being mindful of the fact that the framing of laws falls within the exclusive domain of Parliament.
The essence
The UCC is, therefore, a step in the right direction, long overdue, to safeguard the fundamental rights of all citizens and reduce social inequalities and gender discrimination.
It should be seen and understood as an attempt at creating a unified legal framework that upholds the principles enshrined in the Constitution and reaffirmed by Supreme Court judgments.
The doubts in the minds of some and the opposition to this initiative stemming from unfounded apprehensions need to be addressed through enlightened debate and constructive engagement. The overarching objective is to ensure that there is no gender discrimination, everyone enjoys the fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution, and that the law of the land is uniform for every citizen in our country. It will serve as a powerful instrument for the promotion of equality and justice for all citizens. Seen in this light, every citizen should welcome it.
As Babasaheb Ambedkar and other learned members of the Constituent Assembly had proposed, uniformity in personal laws is essential for empowering women and ensuring gender equality in matters of marriage, divorce, and inheritance. A UCC would eliminate discriminatory practices that deprive women of their rights and provide them with equal opportunities and protections. Our diverse society calls for a unified legal framework to foster social cohesion and national integration. The Constituent Assembly members recognised the existing challenges and stressed the need for a UCC to bridge the gaps and promote a sense of unity among diverse communities.
Personal laws should have a two-dimensional acceptance — they should be constitutionally compliant and consistent with the norms of gender equality and the right to live with dignity. The Constitution is the North Star which guides us in this regard. It exemplifies the essential principles of justice, gender equality, and secularism which, taken together, set the foundation of the UCC.
An appeal
Finally, I would like to urge my fellow citizens, leaders of religious groups and political parties to rise above all differences and support implementation of the UCC. They should contribute to making it an instrument of social reform, a legislative framework fully aligned with principles of justice and equity underscored by the Constitution, a code that provides legal protection against discrimination, a progressive piece of legislation to guarantee equal human rights and give tangible shape to the vision of the country’s illustrious founding fathers. It will be a yet another step, a very significant one, towards building a new, inclusive, egalitarian India that we all want.
The country’s progress towards social harmony, economic and gender justice has been hampered by the absence of a Uniform Civil Code
2. Momentum softens
Food inflation threatens to undermine efforts to ensure price stability
The latest Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for India’s manufacturing sector and the Services Business Activity Index for the economy’s broader services sector from S&P Global, posit a softening in momentum in economic activity. Its survey of about 400 manufacturers shows that production growth at major private sector factories eased marginally last month, with the June PMI reading dipping to 57.8, from 58.7 in May. On the services front, the index signalled the expansion in output decelerating to a three-month low, dragged down by activity in the transport, information and communication sectors registering a sequential slowdown. The softer readings of the manufacturing and services indices for June can be attributed to a large extent to their multi-year peaks in May and April, respectively, especially when the underlying constituents of the index are viewed separately. While manufacturing PMI surged to a 31-month high in May, the index for services had in April registered its highest seasonally adjusted figure in almost 13 years. June’s data show that new orders at factories, which constitute about 30% of the manufacturing PMI’s weight, grew at the strongest pace in 28 months, while demand and higher labour costs spurred charge inflation — the rate of increase in prices of manufacturers’ finished goods — to a 13-month high. Similarly, service providers noted a quicker expansion in intake of new business, pointing to demand remaining robust, and buoying firms’ confidence in growth prospects to the highest level in 2023.
On the face of it, S&P Global’s survey findings ought to reassure policymakers that the Reserve Bank of India’s inflation-battling interest rate increases till the end of the last fiscal have still not sapped domestic demand for manufactured goods and services. However, the PMI survey panels do not include MSMEs, which collectively are estimated to contribute more than a third to the gross value added generated by the manufacturing sector as a whole. The absence of data on the MSME segment, which is a key bulwark of manufacturing employment, means that estimating the overall strength of job creation in the formal economy relying largely on PMI as an indicator may be risky. While S&P Global’s surveys point to private sector employment strengthening further, with manufacturers recording a stronger expansion in jobs than service providers, CMIE data point to the June unemployment rate having spiked to 8.5%, from 7.7% in May. Policymakers will also need to keep a watch on the upward trend in output prices at manufacturers and service providers, given that the resurgence in food inflation threatens to undermine the RBI’s efforts to anchor inflation expectations and ensure growth-supportive price stability.
3. Internationalising the rupee without the ‘coin tossing’
Feroze Varun Gandhi is a third term Member of Parliament (BJP), representing the parliamentary constituency of Pilibhit in Uttar Pradesh.
The government’s announcement of a long-term road map for further internationalisation of the rupee can turn out to be a positive exercise. In the 1950s, the Indian rupee was legal tender for almost all transactions in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman and Qatar, with the Gulf monarchies purchasing rupees with the pound sterling. In 1959, to mitigate challenges associated with gold smuggling, the Reserve Bank of India (Amendment) Act was brought in, enabling the creation of the “Gulf Rupee”, with notes issued by the central bank for circulation only in the West Asian region. Holders of the Indian currency were given six weeks to exchange their Indian currency, with the transition happening smoothly. However, by 1966, India devalued its currency, eventually causing some West Asian countries to replace the Gulf rupee with their own currencies. Flagging confidence in the Indian rupee’s stability combined with an oil-revenue linked boom, slowly led to the introduction of sovereign currencies in the region. The move, in 2023, to withdraw the ₹2,000 note has also impacted confidence in the rupee.
The demonetisation of 2016 also shook confidence in the Indian rupee, especially in Bhutan and Nepal. Both countries continue to fear additional policy changes by the RBI (including further demonetisation). The rupee’s internationalisation cannot make a start without accounting for the concerns expressed by India’s neighbours.
Very little international demand
The rupee is far from being internationalised — the daily average share for the rupee in the global foreign exchange market hovers around ~1.6%, while India’s share of global goods trade is ~2%. India has taken some steps to promote the internationalisation of the rupee (e.g., enable external commercial borrowings in rupees), with a push to Indian banks to open Rupee Vostro accounts for banks from Russia, the UAE, Sri Lanka and Mauritius and measures to trade with ~18 countries in rupees instituted. However, such transactions have been limited, with India still buying oil from Russia in dollars. Ongoing negotiations with Russia to settle trade in rupees have been slow-going, with Russia expected to have an annual rupee surplus of over $40 billion — reports indicate that Russian banks have been averse to the trade, given the risk of further currency depreciation and a lack of awareness among traders about local currency facilities. In short, there is very little international demand to trade in the Indian rupee.
For a currency to be considered a reserve currency, the rupee needs to be fully convertible, readily usable, and available in sufficient quantities. India does not permit full capital account convertibility (i.e., allowing free movement of local financial investment assets into foreign assets and vice-versa), with significant constraints on the exchange of its currency with others — driven by past fears of capital flight (i.e., outflow of capital from India due to monetary policies/lack of growth) and exchange rate volatility, given significant current and capital account deficits.
China’s experience
China’s example in internationalising the Renminbi has lessons. As an online article highlights, before 2004, the RMB could not be used outside China. By 2007, the “Dim Sum” bond and offshore RMBD bond market had been created, with financial institutions in Hong Kong allowed to issue dim sum bonds by 2009. Post 2008, China pursued a phased approach, enabling the use of the RMB for trade finance (i.e., financial instruments for facilitating international trade and commerce), investment and, over the long term, as a reserve currency.
First, it allowed the use of RMB outside China for current account transactions (e.g., commercial trade, interest payment, dividend payments) and for select investment transactions (e.g., foreign direct investment, outward direct investment). By 2009, China had signed currency swap agreements (i.e., an exchange of an equivalent amount of money, but in different currencies) with countries such as Brazil, the United Kingdom, Uzbekistan, and Thailand. Soon, it allowed central banks, offshore clearing banks and offshore participating banks to invest excess RMB in debt securities. The Shanghai Free Trade Zone was launched in September 2013, to allow free trading between non-resident onshore and offshore accounts.
Over time, the RMB was internationalised, with reserve currency status increasingly enabled (e.g., by Q2 2022, the RMB’s share of international reserves had reached ~2.88%), as the article highlights.
Pursue these reforms
Many reforms can be pursued to internationalise the rupee. It must be made more freely convertible, with a goal of full convertibility by 2060 – letting financial investments move freely between India and abroad. This would allow foreign investors to easily buy and sell the rupee, enhancing its liquidity and making it more attractive. Additionally, the RBI should pursue a deeper and more liquid rupee bond market, enabling foreign investors and Indian trade partners to have more investment options in rupees, enabling its international use. Indian exporters and importers should be encouraged to invoice their transactions in rupee — optimising the trade settlement formalities for rupee import/export transactions would go a long way. Additional currency swap agreements (as with Sri Lanka) would further allow India to settle trade and investment transactions in rupees, without resorting to a reserve currency such as the dollar.
Additionally, tax incentives to foreign businesses to utilise the rupee in operations in India would also help. The RBI and the Ministry of Finance must ensure currency management stability (consistent and predictable issuance/retrieval of notes and coins) and improve the exchange rate regime. More demonetisation (or devaluation) will impact confidence. A start could be made to push for making the rupee an official currency in international organisations, thereby giving it a higher profile and acceptability. The Tarapore Committees’ (in 1997 and 2006) recommendations must be pursued including a push to reduce fiscal deficits lower than 3.5%, a reduction in gross inflation rate to 3%-5%, and a reduction in gross banking non-performing assets to less than 5%.
The government’s road map for further internationalisation of the rupee will make it easier for Indian businesses to do business/invest abroad and enhance the rupee’s liquidity, while enhancing financial stability. It must also benefit Indian citizens, enterprises and the government’s ability to finance deficits. It is a delicate balance to trade off rupee convertibility for exchange rate stability. One hopes predictable currency management policies will be instituted.
India must pursue reforms confidently to internationalise the rupee, which will result in a number
of benefits
4. SC asks NGO to move Centre against issue of sarpanch-patism in politics
We feel that it is for the Ministry of Panchayati Raj to look into the grievance made by the petitioner as to whether there is a better mechanism to implement the object of the reservation
SUPREME COURT
The Supreme Court said on Thursday that the government, and not the judiciary, should look into the problem of men often wielding the actual power behind elected women who remain “faceless wives and daughters-in-law” in grassroots politics.
A Bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Sudhanshu Dhulia advised an NGO, Mundona Rural Development Foundation, to make a representation before the Ministry of Panchayati Raj on this issue.
The NGO, represented by advocate Swati Jindal, said that the phenomenon of unelected male relatives wielding political and decision-making power behind women amounted to a “sheer mockery of constitutional democracy”. This is the situation 30 years after the Seventy-Third Constitution Amendment Act, 1992 provided a one-third quota for women in village, block and district levels of panchayat governance.
“The amendments were inserted in the Constitution to help the women population at the grassroots level break cultural barriers and improve their socio-economic conditions through representative democracy,” the petition noted.
However, State governments had not been able to prevent men from acting as “sarpanch-pati, sarpanch-devar, pradhan-pati” while wielding the actual political and decision-making power. The NGO termed this tendency among male relatives to exercise power, in lieu of the elected women, as “sarpanch-patism”.
‘Evolutionary process’
“But how do you stop the wife of an influential person from contesting if she wants to lend a shoulder? It is an evolutionary process and we are not an executive authority,” the court addressed Ms. Jindal during the hearing. “Despite the passing of the amendment, the letter is there but the spirit is lacking…” Ms. Jindal said.
“How do we judicially create this spirit? You say that these men run the office by proxy… How do you prevent that?” Justice Kaul asked.
Ms. Jindal argued that an expert panel should be formed to look into the issue. Justice Kaul said this was an “unrealistic expectation” from the court.
“We believe this is not the function of this court… We feel that it is for the Ministry of Panchayati Raj to look into the grievance made by the petitioner as to whether there is a better mechanism to implement the object of the reservation,” the court said.
5. Chandrayaan-3 launch on July 14, lunar landing on August 23 or 24
Moving forward: ISRO Chairman S. Somnath addresses a press conference in Bengaluru on Thursday.PTI
Landing date is decided based on when there is sunrise on the moon; if the landing does not take place as planned,then ISRO will wait for one month to make another attempt in September, says space agency Chairman S. Somnath
India’s much-awaited moon mission Chandrayaan-3 will be launched at 2.35 p.m. on July 14 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) announced on Thursday.
On the sidelines of the G-20 Space Economy Leaders Meeting, ISRO Chairman S. Somnath told presspersons that if the launch took place as scheduled on July 14, the landing on the lunar surface would take place in the last week of August.
“If the launch takes place on that day, then we will be ready for landing on the moon possibly by the last week of August. The date (landing date) is decided when there is sunrise on the moon. When we are landing, sunlight must be there. So the landing will be on August 23 or 24,” Mr. Somnath said.
The space agency chief said that if the landing did not take place as planned, then the ISRO would wait for another month to make a landing attempt in September.
“The lander and the rover will stay on the moon for 14 days until sunlight is there. When there is no sunlight, a small solar panel which is on the rover will generate power to charge the battery for the next 14 days until light comes. The temperature there goes down to minus-40 degrees Celsius, and in such an environment, there is no guarantee that the battery and electronics will survive, but we did some tests and have the feeling that they will survive,” he said.
The Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft will be launched by the Launch Vehicle Mark-III (LVM3) and launch window for the mission is between July 12 and 19.
Chandrayaan-3 will demonstrate end-to-end capability in safe landing and roving on the lunar surface.
The mission has an indigenous lander module, a propulsion module and a rover with an objective of developing and demonstrating new technologies required for inter-planetary missions.
6. FinMin pushes for reforms to spur FDI
The ministry calls for more attention to issues faced by global investors, including infrastructure and the difficulties in setting up large factories
The Finance Ministry has made a strong pitch for measures to facilitate Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) flows, that dipped last year and may remain subdued in the coming months. It mooted greater attention from policymakers to resolve challenges faced by global investors, including last-mile infrastructure issues and difficulties in setting up large-scale factories.
Blaming the dip in FDI inflows in FY23 to inflationary pressures and tighter monetary policies, the Ministry noted that FDI flows may also be impacted by “political distance more than geographical distance” as “geopolitics has dominated geography.”
‘Not unique to India’
Gross FDI flows slid 16% last year from the record high of $84.8 billion in FY22, while net inflows fell a sharper 27.4%. In its annual economic review published on Thursday, the Ministry said this phenomenon was “not unique to India” as net FDI inflows to emerging market economies declined 36% in 2022.
Identifying the external sector as a possible challenge for India’s growth outlook in FY24, the Ministry noted that “escalation of geopolitical stress, enhanced volatility in global financial systems, sharp price correction in global stock markets, a high magnitude of El-Nino impact, and modest trade activity and FDI inflows owing to frail global demand” could all constrain growth.
“India needs to watch FDI data closely and continue to take measures to facilitate FDI inflows. Last-mile infrastructure issues, labour availability and measures to facilitate large capacity creation will be needed. This policy space may need India’s increasing attention in the coming months and years,” it said.
“Friend shoring” of FDI by increasing investments in countries which are geopolitically aligned to each other was leading to a fragmentation in FDI flows across the globe, the Ministry noted, citing research from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Inflows from foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) into the Indian markets had become less volatile, it asserted.
On the trade front, the Ministry identified the European Union’s introduction of the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), for which carbon content reporting will be mandatory from October 1, as an impending downside risk to India’s exports.
‘Rising inclusivity’
Countering criticism about an uneven recovery, the Ministry said that job creation played a key role in boosting demand in the economy from FY21 to FY23. So, “it bespeaks the rising inclusivity in the growth of the Indian economy,” it contended.
“Going forward, employment levels are expected to remain buoyant, mainly driven by rapid digitalisation, technological advancement, and the expanding implementation of the PLI [production-linked incentive] scheme, thereby creating employment avenues for both semi-skilled and skilled workers,” the Ministry underlined in its review.
7. ‘India will need at least 20 lakh deep tech engineers by 2030’
India will require an additional pool of at least 20 lakh ‘deep tech’ engineers by 2030 to meet its growth aspirations for the semiconductor and electronic design manufacturing sectors, said K. Krishna Moorthy, CEO and President, India Electronics & Semiconductor Association (IESA).
“The number one challenge in front of us is not around investments, land or electricity, but lack of high-quality talent with deep tech expertise. We will be able to meet our growth targets for the electronics and semiconductor sector only if we address this serious issue of talent on a war footing,” he told The Hindu.
These 20 lakh ‘deep tech’ engineers should come from diverse disciplines and the requirement for electronic engineers alone would be over 2 lakh by 2030, he said.
“It is good to know that the semiconductor and electronics segment will open up opportunities worth several billions of dollars. However, without having enough quality talent, we are not going to benefit,” he cautioned.
IESA is in talks with academic institutions, industry players and the government to work on various initiatives towards the development of high-quality talent through enhancement of syllabi and training of faculty.
