Governance

Social Audit

Context: Lieutenant-Governor of Delhi has raised the issue of the Delhi government’s 10-year delay in framing rules for conducting a social audit into the functioning of the public distribution system (PDS) and fair price shops under the National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013.

About Social Audit

It is a continuous process that includes verification of works at the various stages of implementation of programmes/schemes with active involvement of the primary stakeholders.
It is a way of measuring, understanding, reporting and ultimately improving an organization’s social and ethical performance.
It helps to narrow gaps between vision/goal and reality, between efficiency and effectiveness.
It creates an impact on governance. It values the voice of stakeholders, including marginalized/poor groups whose voices are rarely heard.
It is taken up for the purpose of enhancing local governance, particularly for strengthening accountability and transparency in local bodies.
The key difference between a development and a social audit is that a social audit focuses on the neglected issue of social impacts, while a development audit has a broader focus including environmental and economic issues, such as the efficiency of a project or programme.
It is a powerful tool, that is, associated with accountability and promotes the Right to Information (RTI).
The states in India have taken up Social Audits of various programmes/schemes such as MGNREGS, Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana (PMAY), Mid-Day Meal Scheme (MDM), Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) and Public Distribution System (PDS).

Origin of Social Audit in India

The concept gained significance after the 73rd Amendment of the Constitution.
National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 provides for regular Social Audits so as to ensure transparency and accountability in the scheme. The State Government shall identify or establish, under the NREGS, an independent organization, Social Audit Unit (SAU), at the state level, to facilitate the conduct of social audit by Gram Sabhas.
In April 2017, Meghalaya became the first State in the country to pass a social audit legislation, the Meghalaya Community Participation and Public Services Social Audit Act.

Need for Social Audit:

Reduces corruption: It uncovers irregularities and malpractices in the public sector and maintains oversight of government functioning, thus reducing leakages and corruption.
Monitoring and feedback: It monitors the social and ethical impact of an organization’s performance and provides feedback on the work.
Accountability and transparency: It ensures accountability and transparency in the working of local government bodies and reduces the trust gap between people and local governments.
According to the MGNREGA Social Audit Report of 2020, close to 3 lakh cases of financial misappropriation amounting a total of Rs 658 Crore, combining audits of both 2018-19 and 2019-20 were identified. 60 percent of these financial misappropriation cases pertain to issues of payment to persons who did not work under NREGA.
Participative and democratic: It promotes the participation of people in the implementation of programmes and makes people more forthcoming for social development activities.
Strengthens the Gram Sabha: It gives voice and influencing power to the Gram Sabha, the lynchpin of the rural governance structure.
Collective platform: It provides a collective platform such as a social audit Gram Sabha, for people to express their common needs, resulting in social cohesion.

Objectives of Social Audit

Physical and financial gaps: Assessing the physical and financial gaps between needs and resources available for local development.
Awareness: Creating awareness among beneficiaries and providers of local social and productive services.
Efficacy and effectiveness: Increasing efficacy and effectiveness of local development programmes and ensures that the audited accounts are disclosed to stakeholders.
Scrutiny: Scrutiny of various policy decisions, keeping in view stakeholder interests and priorities, particularly of rural poor.
Timely access: Estimation of the opportunity cost for stakeholders of not getting timely access to public services.
Participatory: Encourages participation of stakeholders and sharing of their values and reflects the views (voices) of all those people (stakeholders) involved with or affected by the organization/department/programme.
Transparency and accountability: Ensure that the social accounts are audited by a suitably experienced person or agency with no vested interest in the organisation.

Advantages of social audit

Trains the community on participatory local planning.
Encourages local democracy.
Encourages community participation.
Benefits disadvantaged groups.
Promotes collective decision-making and sharing responsibilities.
Develops human resources and social capital

Challenges of Social Audit:

Lack of Infrastructure: At ground level to address grievances made by the public during scrutiny.
Lack of administrative and political will: In institutionalizing social audit mechanisms.
Lack of stringent penal action: Against those creating hurdles in the process.
Lack of awareness: Lack of educated and well-informed citizenry to undertake regular audits.
Low skilled capacity: Lack of technical and managerial capacity such as book-keeping, and accounting.
One size fits all approach: Lack of uniform process of social audit across states due to language and cultural barriers. No Benchmarking of Social Audit mechanisms for comparison purposes across districts.

Way forward

Director and staff selection: The selection of Directors of Social Audit Units(SAUs) should be free of political control and the selection process should be strictly followed.
Legally sanctioned outcomes: Social audit arrangements have mostly been ineffective because there is no legal provision for punitive action. States should enact legislation to facilitate social audit by the Gram Sabha on the line of Meghalaya’s Public Services Social Audit Act.
Increased frequency: Social audits must be conducted in every Gram Panchayat once every 6 months.
Using Management Information System (MIS): Usage of MIS to track details of schemes at all levels to streamline the life-cycle of programme planning, implementation and feedback.
Displaying Information of Notice Board: The findings of the social audit should be shared with all local stakeholders. This encourages transparency and accountability. A report of the social audit meeting should be distributed for Gram Panchayat auditing. In addition, key decisions should be written on walls and boards and communicated orally.
Civil society participation: People including students from different universities should be encouraged to participate as Village Resource Persons. Example, Jharkhand has instituted a formal mechanism by inviting prominent civil society representatives to be part of the SA panel.
Better coordination: Seeks clarifications from the implementing agency about any decision-making, activity, scheme, income and expenditure incurred by the agency
Scrutiny: Consider and scrutinize existing schemes and local activities of the agency.
Database: Access registers and documents relating to all development activities undertaken by the implementing agency or by any other government department.

Independent agency: An agency like the Ombudsman can be set up to look into complaints of local maladministration.

Case Studies:

Social audit in Jharnipalli Panchayat, Agaipur block, Bolangir district, Orissa
In October 2001, the gram sabha members of Jharnipalli Panchayat conducted a one-day social audit of development works carried out in the panchayat over the preceding three years. This audit took place with the active participation of many individuals and agencies, including block and district administration officials
The Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS)
It conducted social audits of daily wage earners and farmers on government projects, and more generally, to expose corruption in government expenditure in Rajasthan. They found various irregularities in finance which resulted into right to information movement in Rajasthan.

Online fact-checkers may need to register with Govt

Context: The government of India plans to register online fact checking platforms of various institutions including big corporates to ensure greater accountability in the digital space. This aspect of registration is expected to be a part of the proposed Digital India Bill and such registration of online fact checking platform could be carried out in different phases.

Classification of Online Fact Checking Platform

The proposed Digital India Bill is expected to classify various types of online intermediaries, including fact-checking portals - One of the major reasons behind the proposed classification of online intermediaries is that the Centre intends to prescribe specific rules for different types of intermediaries. One of the rules may prescribe for registration of online intermediaries or online fact checking portal.
The term “intermediary” has been presently defined in The Information Technology Act, 2000 - “intermediary”, with respect to any particular electronic records, means any person who on behalf of another person receives, stores or transmits that record or provides any service with respect to that record and includes telecom service providers, network service providers, internet service providers, web-hosting service providers, search engines, online payment sites, online-auction sites, online-market places and cyber cafes.
Multiple types of intermediaries in the current digital age comprise e-commerce, digital media, social media, Artificial Intelligence, Over the Top (OTT) Platforms, Online Gaming etc.

Proliferation of Illegal Activities in Digital Space

With increasing proliferation of technology and expansion of digital space at an exponential rate also increases the risks of cyber-frauds and hence needs better regulation.
We are witnessing new innovative ways of online financial fraud and criminal and illegal activity also thrives in other areas of digital space.
New Complex forms of user harms includes –
- Catfishing - creation of fictional or fake identity by taking personal details of other persons
- Doxxing - a form of cyberbullying that uses sensitive or secret information, statements, or records for the harassment, exposure, financial harm, or other exploitation of targeted individuals.
- Cyberstalking - is a technologically-based "attack" on one person who has been targeted specifically for that attack for reasons of anger, revenge or control. Cyberstalking can take many forms, including: harassment, false accusation, defamation, embarrassment or humiliation of the victim.
- Cyber trolling - person who posts or makes inflammatory, insincere, digressive, extraneous, or off-topic messages online
- Gaslighting – manipulating someone using psychological methods leading to question sanity of the person
- Phishing – attackers deceiving people into revealing sensitive information such as credit card numbers, bank information, or passwords etc. or installing malware such as ransomware.
- Increasing proliferation of hate speech, disinformation and fake news is another very important reason to register online fact checking platforms.

What does the Proposed Digital India Law intends to Achieve?

According to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, the proposed Digital India law should evolve through rules that can be updated, and address the tenets of Digital India which includes:

Open Internet
Online Safety and Trust
Accountability and Quality of Service
Adjudicatory mechanism
New Technologies

There is also an urgent need for a specialized and dedicated adjudicatory mechanism for online civil and criminal offences. The adjudicatory mechanism should

be easily accessible
deliver timely remedies to citizens
resolve cyber disputes
develop a unified cyber jurisprudence
enforce the rule of law online

Way Forward

The proposed Digital India Bill should not only provide a global standard cyber laws to act as a catalyst and enabler for $1 trillion digital economy but should also ensure that the digital space is not misused. Hence, the proposed law should also protect citizens’ rights and address emerging technology risks including technological disruptions.

Childline 1098 is to be Merged with 112 lines in 9 States

Context: Recently, the Ministry of Women and Child Development (WCD) has decided to do away with NGOs collaborating to run the successful Childline emergency counselling and Distress Helpline for Children, established in 1995.

Issues with the existing system

Till now, the CIF has been rendering Childline services in 568 districts, 135 railway stations and 11 bus stands through its network of over 1,000 units.
“CIF’s response time to children’s distress calls is about 60 minutes.
The current system, however, lacks interoperability with other services, including Police, Fire and Ambulance services, which leads to loss of precious time in distress situations,”.
Moreover, the CIF network covered only 568 districts, leaving almost 200 districts without Childline coverage.
Hence the Government is likely to stop funding trust linked to 1098 Earlier, the WCD Ministry, under the erstwhile Child Protection Services scheme, was supporting the 24x7 helpline through the Childline India Foundation (CIF) and its partner NGOs.

New Proposal

The merger is a part of the broader ‘One Nation One Helpline’ initiative.
In the first phase, the Ministry plans to merge the Childline 1098 service with the Emergency Response Support System (ERSS) number 112 by the end of June in nine States and Union Territories — Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Goa, Mizoram, Ladakh, Puducherry, and Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu. Other States and Union Territories will follow in a phased manner.
States have to ensure a dedicated 24x7 WCD (Women and Child Development) Control Room to be integrated with the ERSS 112.
At the district level, a Child Help Line (CHL) would be available round the clock at the District Child Protection Unit (DCPU) to link children in crises to emergency as well as long-term care and rehabilitation services.
Help desks or kiosks or booths will be maintained for children in distress at select railway stations and bus stands.
The Ministry has made the Kerala-based Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) the ‘total solution provider’ for the automation and integration of Childline 1098 with ERSS 112.
“Incoming 1098 calls will be classified as ‘emergency calls’, ‘non-emergency calls’, and ‘information calls’.
All emergency calls can be forwarded from 1098 to 112 or vice versa with the switch of a button,”.
‘Non-emergency calls’ may be transferred to the respective CHL units at DCPUs, while ‘information calls’ could be handled at the WCD Control Room itself or transferred to DCPU CHL units for providing information to the caller.
All 1098 calls will land at the WCD Control Room in the respective States and Union Territories, and emergency calls would be forwarded to the ERSS 112.

Controversy over DGP Appointment in Punjab

Context: Punjab Assembly passed the Punjab Police Amendment Bill, 2023 which seeks to do away with Supreme Court mandated procedure to appoint the Director General of Police. Under the Amended Act, Punjab government has created a parallel mechanism where a panel of three officers will be selected by a 7 member committee headed by retired chief justice or retired judge from the High Court of Punjab & Haryana.

Supreme Court mandated procedure for DGP Appointment

Supreme Court in Prakash Singh Judgement, 2006 directed states under Article 142 of the Constitution of India laid down institutional reforms for the police.
The intent of the Supreme Court was that the process of appointment of DGP should be purely based on merit and would insulate the office from all kinds of influences and pressures.

The procedure for appointment of DGP laid down in the judgement is:

Selection from a pool of officers by UPSC (non-political body): Director General of Police of State to be selected by State Government from amongst the three seniormost officers of the Police Department who have been empanelled for promotion by the UPSC.
UPSC will empanel the three seniormost officers on the basis of their length of service, very good record and range of experience for heading the police.
Security of tenure: The selected DGP should have a minimum tenure of at least two years irrespective of his date of superannuation/retirement.
Removal of DGP: Incumbent DGP may be removed by the State Government in consultation with State Security Commission consequent upon any action of the incumbent DGP against the All India Services (Discipline & Appeal) Rules or following his conviction in a court of law in a criminal offence or in a case of corruption or if he is incapacitated from discharging his duties.

Later in 2018, Supreme Court clarified on the procedure laid down by Supreme Court in Prakash Singh Judgement by making the following changes:

All States to send their proposals in anticipation of vacancies to the office of DGP to the UPSC, at least three months in advance from the date of retirement of incumbent to the post of DGP.
States cannot appoint any person as an acting DGP.
UPSC should empanel persons for the post of DGP considering they have close two years of service remaining which will make candidates continue in the office for a limited period after their superannuation.
Any legislation/rule framed by States or Central Government running counter to the direction shall remain in abeyance to the extent.
Later in 2019, the Supreme Court clarified that the maximum residual tenure of an officer appointed as DGP after his superannuation should be six months.

Rationale for the changes introduced by Supreme Court in 2018

These changes were made due to the following practices pursued by States

States started appointing acting director general of police to bypass the need for appointing candidates nominated by UPSC.
Candidates were appointed as DGP on the last date of retirement. This made them continue on the office of DGP despite approx two years of superannuation.

Concerns of the States with above Procedure

States have been demanding autonomy while selecting DGP of the Police since Police and Public order are state subjects under Schedule VII of the constitution.
All matters of promotion, posting and transfer of IPS officers at all levels within the State should be handled exclusively by the State government.
States content that UPSC neither has jurisdiction nor expertise to appoint the DGP of the State.
Under Article 320 of the Constitution, UPSC can only lay down principles for promotion and transfers and suitability of candidates for such appointments. However, under the Constitution, UPSC does not have the power to select or empanel officers.
UPSC while empanelling officers for appointment to the post of DGP considers minimum residual tenure of two years. Thus, the process overlooks many suitable and eligible officers.

Rozgar Melas

Context: Around one in every six candidates hired so far under Mission Recruitment or Rozgar Melas, the Government’s bulk recruitment drive to fill 10 lakh posts by 2023 end, were women. Of these, 3,61,763 (84%) recruits were male and 68,783 (16%) women, shows data available from the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances, and Pensions.

About Rozgar Melas

It is a drive to recruit 10 lakh people, this will be a significant step forward towards fulfilling the continuous commitment of the prime minister to providing job opportunities for the youth and ensuring the welfare of citizens.
The recruitments are being conducted in collaboration with Central Government Departments as well as State Governments and Union Territories.
The new recruits, hailing from various parts of the country, will be joining the Government in departments such as Financial Services, Posts, School Education, Higher Education, Defence, Revenue, Health and Family Welfare, Atomic Energy, Railways, Audit and Accounts, and Home Affairs, among others.
The recruitments are largely in posts of Group B and Group C level, which directly helps these departments to provide a higher quality of service at the cutting-edge level to the citizens.
All the recruitments taking place through the recruitment agencies like Staff Selection Commission (SSC), Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), and Railway Recruitment Board(RRBs) in a time-bound and transparent manner
The newly inducted appointees are also getting an opportunity to train themselves through Karmayogi Prarambh, an online module on the Integrated Government Online Training (iGOT) Karmayogi portal, where more than 400 e-learning courses have been made available for ‘anywhere any device’ learning format.

The Vaishvik Bhartiya Vaigyanik (VAIBHAV) fellowships programme

Context: Recently the Government of India has launched a new fellowship programme to connect the Indian STEMM diaspora with Indian academic and R&D institutions for collaborative research work leading to sharing of knowledge, wisdom, and best practices in the frontier areas of science & technology.

About The Vaishvik Bhartiya Vaigyanik (VAIBHAV)

The Vaishvik Bhartiya Vaigyanik (VAIBHAV) fellowships programme is to be implemented by the Department of Science and Technology (DST).
Ministry of Science and Technology would be award to outstanding scientists/technologists of Indian origin (NRI/OCI/PIO) who are engaged in research activities in their respective countries.
The fellowship programme launched as a step to further those efforts by shaping and implementing the VAIBHAV programme, envisages collaboration between scientists of the Indian Diaspora with Indian Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs), Universities, and/ or public funded Scientific Institutions.
The VAIBHAV Fellow would identify an Indian Institution for collaboration and may spend up to two months in a year for a maximum of 3 years.
The fellowship would include a fellowship grant (INR 4,00,000 per month), international and domestic travel, accommodation and contingencies.
The VAIBHAV fellows are expected to collaborate with their Indian counterparts and help initiate research activities in the host institution in the cutting-edge areas of Science and Technology.
The 75 selected fellows would be invited to work in 18 identified knowledge verticals including
- Health
- Pharma
- Electronics
- Agriculture
- Quantum technology
- Energy
- Computer sciences and
- Material sciences amongst others.

Next Generation administrative reforms to be the Focus at International Institute of Administrative Sciences (IIAS) Conference 2025

Context: India expressed its willingness to host the 2025 IIAS (International Institute of Administrative Sciences) Annual Conference at Kochi, Kerala, in February 2025, with the theme “Next Generation Administrative Reforms – Empowering Citizens and Reaching the Last Mile”.

About Next Generation Administrative Reforms

Prime Minister Modi has given a clarion call for adopting Next Generation Reforms by bridging the gap between government and citizens under the theme Viksit Bharat.
The Next Generation Administrative Reforms include
- Secretariat Reforms
- Benchmarking of Governance
- Redressal of Public Grievances & Improving Service Delivery
- Recognizing Meritocracy and
- Replication of good governance practices forms the core of India’s good governance model.
The organisational reforms coupled with significant reforms in Personnel Administration represent a paradigm shift in India’s governance models.
The adoption of e-governance practices best symbolizes New India’s strong institutions.
The best manifestation of the “Maximum Governance – Minimum Government” policy is a “Digitally Empowered Citizen” and a “Digitally Transformed Institution”.

About IIAS

The IIAS established in 1930, is a federation of member States, national sections and academic research centres jointly elaborating public administration solutions to the policy challenges of the day with headquarters in Brussels, Belgium.
The 2025 Annual Conference of IIAS would be attended by 30 Member Countries, 18 National Sections and over 50 IIAS Universities/ Institutes of Public Administration in Member Countries.
The Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances is an institutional member of the International Institute of Administrative Sciences IIAS since 1998.

Unsolicited Commercial Communication (UCC)

Context: Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has directed all Access Providers to deploy Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning based Unsolicited Commercial Communication (UCC) Detect systems to detect, identify and act against senders of Commercial Communication who are not registered in accordance with the provisions of Telecom Commercial Communication Customer Preference Regulations, 2018 (TCCCPR-2018).

About UCC

It means any commercial communication that is neither as per the consent nor as per registered preference(s) of the recipient.
It shall not include:

Any transactional message or transactional voice call;
Any service message or service voice call;
Any message or voice calls transmitted on the directions of the Central Government or the State Government or bodies established under the Constitution when such communication is in the Public Interest;
Any message or voice calls transmitted by or on the direction of the Authority or by an agency expressly authorized for the purpose of the Authority.

Direction of TRAI to detect UCC

TRAI has directed all Access Providers to deploy Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning based UCC Detect systems capable of constantly evolving to deal with new signatures, new patterns, and new techniques used by unregistered telemarketers (UTMs).
Access Providers have also been directed to share intelligence with other Access Providers using the Distributed ledger technology (DLT) platform.
Access Providers have further been directed to ensure that such UCC Detect System shall detect senders who are sending Unsolicited Commercial Communications in bulk and not complying with the provisions of the regulations.

Poshan Abhiyaan

Context: Over 57,000 migrant workers have enrolled in the One Nation, One Anganwadi program, allowing them to access government benefits for children under six and pregnant/lactating women even if they relocate.

About Poshan Abhiyan:

Launched in 2018 with the objective of improving the nutritional status of Children under 6 years, Adolescent Girls, Pregnant Women, and Lactating Mothers through a time-bound approach.
Implemented as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme by States/UTs.
Addresses malnutrition issues nationwide through various components such as ICT Application, Convergence, Community Mobilization, Behavioural Change & Jan Andolan, Capacity Building, Incentives and Awards, and Innovations.
Poshan Vatikas or Nutri-gardens are being established across the country to facilitate affordable and convenient access to fruits, vegetables, medicinal plants, and herbs, promoting the right kind of nourishment.

National Centre for Good Governance (NCGG)

About National Centre for Good Governance (NCGG)

Set up in 2014 by the Government of India as a premier think tank opened its door to bright young minds and launched its first internship programme.
It engages Indian students pursuing postgraduate degrees or in the final year of law and engineering graduate programmes or research scholars enrolled in recognized universities/ institutions within India or abroad, as interns.
The internship programme aims to provide young and brilliant minds to carry out research, critical study, documentation and dissemination of best practices to develop a national repository, and establish a platform for wider dissemination.
This will also provide opportunities for these young students to learn as well as contribute to public policy.
The Internship is for a minimum of 8 weeks and a maximum of 6 months duration.
Interns are to be paid Rs. ten thousand per month as an honorarium.
NCGG Internship Programme attracted huge interest and over 1,700 applications were received for the June 2023 batch.
From these applications, after scrutiny and interactions, 22 candidates have been selected based on their academic and extracurricular achievements and passion for public policy, governance, and related domains.
They represent a wide range of disciplines, including law, development studies, public health, economics, geography, political science, and more.
They have pursued their education at reputed institutions such as Harvard Law School, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Indian School of Public Policy, and National Law Universities, among others.
The NCGG Internship Programme is a short-term engagement that offers a unique blend of public policy-making and practical experiences.
One of the key objectives of the programme is to foster a collaborative environment where interns can work on innovative ideas and perspectives on policies in their respective domains.

Renaming of places in India

Context: The Maharashtra Cabinet has formally approved the renaming of Ahmednagar district to 'Ahilyanagar' after the 18th century Maratha Queen Ahilyabai Holkar. The renaming of Ahmednagar follows the government's decision to rename Aurangabad as Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and Osmanabad as Dharashiv.

More about the news

Ahilyabai was born in Ahmednagar and after her husband's death in the Battle of Kumbher in 1754, Ahilyabai took charge of the Malwa region.
She established Maheshwar as the capital of the Holkar dynasty in present-day Madhya Pradesh.
The demand for renaming Ahmednagar was initially raised by the ‘Dhangar community’, as Ahilyabai belonged to the Dhangar (shepherd) community.

(To know more about Ahilyabai Holkar, visit the link: https://compass.rauias.com/current-affairs/ahmednagar-of-maharashtra-to-renamed-after-ahilyadevi-holkar/)

History of Ahmednagar

Ahmednagar, located in the Western region of Maharashtra, has a rich history dating back to 240 BC, mentioned in reference to Mauryan Emperor Ashoka.
During the medieval period, Ahmednagar came under the rule of influential dynasties such as Rashtrakutas, Western Chalukyas and Delhi Sultanate.
Under Delhi Sultanate, the region was indirectly controlled and a revolt by Afghan soldier Allaudin Hasan Gangu resulted in the establishment of the Bahmani kingdom in Deccan.
In 1486, Prime Minister Malik Ahmad Nizam Shah defeated Bahamani Sultan’s attempt to remove him from power, which led to the establishment of an independent kingdom called Nizam Shahi (Ahmednagar), after the disintegration of the Bahmani empire. In 1490, the city of Ahmednagar was founded, on the left bank of the Sina River.
In his book ‘A Discovery of India’, Jawaharlal Nehru acknowledged Nizam Shah as the founder of Ahmednagar in 1490.
In 1636 Aurangzeb, then Mughal viceroy of Deccan finally annexed the sultanate to the Mughal Empire.

Renaming places in India

The Supreme Court dismissed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) that sought to rename the commission should focus on ‘ancient India’.
The court upheld the principles of ‘rule of law, secularism, and constitutionalism’, and warned against intolerance.
The court stated that the country cannot be held prisoner to the past.

Constitutional provisions for renaming places in India

Renaming a city is a task entrusted to the State Legislatures:

A resolution is raised by a Member of the Legislative Assembly, proposing the renaming of a particular city or street.
It is deliberated upon, and its consequences are discussed.
The validity of the resolution is then voted upon.
If there is a simple majority vote in favour of the resolution, it is declared passed.
State Legislature, based on the majority view, makes necessary changes to the name of the city.
The procedure for renaming a state is a task entrusted to the Parliament:

Article 3 and 4 of the Constitution provides for the renaming of a state.
A bill for renaming a state is introduced in Parliament on the recommendation of the President.
Before the introduction of the bill, President sends it to the respective state assembly to express their views within a stipulated time.
Views of the state assembly are not binding on President or Parliament but are of vital importance as any law made will affect that particular state.
The bill is then sent to Parliament for deliberation and it must be passed by a simple majority.
The bill is sent to President for approval and after approval, the bill becomes a law, modifying officially the name of the state.

The rationale behind renaming places in India

Rapid development: India is projected to experience significant urbanization, with an additional 416 million people to reside in cities by 2050. Each new project or street will require a new name.
Fostering Indian identity: Visakhapatnam was given the name ‘Waltair’ by the British, and renaming it aims to reclaim its Indian identity.
Honouring leaders: To honour individuals being universally admired for their contributions to the country. Aurangzeb Road was renamed Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Road in tribute to former President of India
Identity politics: A powerful tool for promoting communal pride.
Political changes: A testing ground for political changes that go beyond symbolic gestures and have substantive implications.

Advantages of renaming places

Preserving cultural heritage: Changing Gurgaon to ‘Gurugram’ restored the historical name, it got from the Mahabharata story of Guru Dronacharya. Similarly, renaming Allahabad as ‘Prayag Raj’ reflects its cultural significance.
Civilizational awakening: Renaming places can contribute to reviving a sense of civilizational consciousness, which has faced invasions and colonialism.
Exerting norms in public space: Allows governments to shape the values embedded in public spaces and contribute to the formation of a desired societal order.

Challenges in renaming places

Creating confusion: In a global economy, changing names after they have gained universal recognition can lead to confusion.
Intangible aspects: Intangible aspects tied to the lived reality of communities may still be associated with the original name. Cultural and historical identities may persist despite official name changes.
Cultural genocide: Renaming places can be viewed as part of a larger process of cultural genocide, where communities feel diminished by disregarding their contributions to the nation's history.
Economic costs: Revising signage to updating official documents and data sets, which involve public expenditure.

Way forward

Supreme Court’s message: It cautioned against misusing history and emphasised the importance of upholding the concept of fraternity in the Constitution's Preamble.
Focus on re-education: Addressing historical guilt and creating a more inclusive society requires re-educating present societies about past wrongs.
Revamp naming philosophy: India needs a revamped philosophy of naming that avoids wasting social capital, especially considering projected urban development and infrastructure expansion.
Avoid politicisation: Political parties should refrain from using popular beliefs and historical narratives as political stunts. Lawmakers should prioritize growth over further fragmentation of society.
Respect history and fraternity: Prioritize upholding the concept of fraternity as outlined in the Constitution's Preamble.
Inclusive cultural landscapes: Ensure that cultural landscapes embrace names, languages, and scripts from diverse communities, fostering a sense of belonging for all.

Governor's Power of Ordinance

Context: Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan took exception to the State government’s move to reissue ordinances instead of getting the executive orders ratified by the Assembly.

The government had sent Mr. Khan 11 ordinances for re-promulgation. They included the controversial Kerala Lok Ayukta, 1999, amendment ordinance, and the Kerala Cooperative Societies Act, 2022, amendment ordinance.

If we look into the UPSC syllabus:

Power of ordinance

In India, the central and state legislatures are responsible for law making, the central and state governments are responsible for the implementation of laws and the judiciary (Supreme Court, High Courts and lower courts) interprets these laws. However, there are several overlaps in the functions and powers of the three institutions. For example, the President has certain legislative and judicial functions and the legislature can delegate some of its functions to the executive in the form of subordinate legislation.

Ordinance making is one such provision which diffuses the line between legislature and executive. They enable the government to take immediate legislative action in desperate times. Article 123 of the Indian Constitution grants the President of India certain Law making powers i.e. to Promulgate Ordinances when either of the two Houses of the Parliament is not in session which makes it impossible for a single House to pass and enact a law. Ordinances may relate to any subject that the parliament has the power to make law, and would be having the same limitations.

But executive (Both central and state) have often misused this power. Nothing epitomises the re-promulgation of the ordinances better than the famous “Bihar case”. Which was about the promulgation of 256 ordinances between 1967 and 1981 in Bihar. This included 11 ordinances that were kept alive for more than 10 years and famously dubbed as ordinance raj.

So instances like these clearly indicate the misuse of legislative powers by the executive which were meant to be used only rarely and under limited circumstances. So in this regard we will understand the following:

1. Constitutional Provisions:

2. Why frequent resorting to Ordinance Route?

3. Issues

4. Important Cases related to Ordinance

Constitutional Provisions:

Article 123 and Article 213 confers power to promulgate ordinance on the President and the Governor respectively.
Under the Constitution, limitations exist with regard to the Ordinance making power of the executive:
- Legislature is not in session: The President can only promulgate an Ordinance when either of the two Houses of Parliament is not in session.
- Immediate action is required: The President cannot promulgate an Ordinance unless he is satisfied that there are circumstances that require taking ‘immediate action’.
- Parliamentary approval during session: Ordinances must be approved by Parliament within six weeks of reassembling or they shall cease to operate. They will also cease to operate in case resolutions disapproving the Ordinance are passed by both the Houses.

Why frequent resorting to Ordinance Route?

Reluctance to face the legislature on particular issues.
Lack of majority in the Parliament.
Repeated and wilful disruption by opposition parties.

Issues

The executive’s power to issue ordinances, goes against the Philosophy of Separation of powers between the Legislature, Executive and Judiciary
It bypasses the democratic requirements of argument and deliberation.
Re-promulgation defeats the constitutional scheme under which a limited power to frame ordinances has been conferred on the President and the Governors.
It poses threat to the sovereignty of Parliament and the state legislatures which have been constituted as primary lawgivers under the Constitution. The Constitution has provided for Separation of Power where enacting laws is the function of the legislature. The executive must show self-restraint and should use ordinance making power only as per the spirit of the Constitution and not to evade legislative scrutiny and debates

Important Cases related to Ordinance

RC Cooper vs. Union of India, 1970: SC held that the President’s decision could be challenged on the grounds that ‘immediate action’ was not required; and the Ordinance had been passed primarily to by-pass debate and discussion in the legislature.
AK Roy vs. Union of India, 1982: SC argued that the President’s Ordinance making power is not beyond the scope of judicial review. Later in case of Venkata Reddy v. State of Andhra Pradesh (1985) Supreme court over ruled its own decision and held that the Satisfaction of the President cannot be called in question.
DC Wadhwa vs. State of Bihar, 1987: SC said that the legislative power of the executive to promulgate Ordinances is to be used in exceptional circumstances and not as a substitute for the law making power. It was examining a case where a state government repromulgated a total of 259 Ordinances and some of them for as long as 14 years.
Krishna Kumar Singh vs. State of Bihar, 2017: Supreme Court held that the failure to place an ordinance before the legislature constitutes abuse of power and a fraud on the Constitution. It makes mandatory for an ordinance to be tabled in the legislature for its approval.

Way forward

In Nagraj Judgment, SC has observed “The power to issue an ordinance is not an executive power but it’s the power of the executive to legislate on the grounds provided for in article 123”.