Issues of Governance

Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)

Context: Parveen Sood, a 1986 batch officer, has been appointed director of CBI for a period of two years.

About CBI:

It was setup in 1963 by resolution of the Ministry of Home Affairs.
The establishment of the CBI was recommended by Santhanam Committee.
It is a non-constitutional and non-statutory body.
It derives its powers from the Delhi Police Establishment Act, 1946.
It is the main investigating agency of the Central Government.
It acts as the “National Central Bureau” of Interpol in India.

Director of CBI:

The CBI is headed by a Director.
The director of CBI has been provided security of two-year tenure in office by CVC Act, 2003.
Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act 2013 amended the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act 1946 and made following changes: The Central Government shall appoint the Director of CBI on the recommendations of a three-member committee consisting of Prime Minister, Leader of Opposition and the Chief Justice of India or Judge of Supreme Court nominated by him.

Functions of CBI:

Investigating cases of corruption, bribery and misconduct of Central government employees.
Investigating cases relating to infringement of fiscal and economic laws.
Investigating serious crimes, having national and international ramifications, committed by organized gangs of professional criminals.
Coordinating the activities of anticorruption agencies and various state police forces.
It takes up investigation of conventional crimes like murder, kidnapping, rape etc. on the reference from the state governments or when directed by the Supreme Court/High Courts.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is India's premier investigative agency, responsible for conducting probes into a wide range of crimes and offences. However, the agency has faced several issues and controversies in recent years.

Limited jurisdiction: Its jurisdiction is limited to certain types of cases, such as those related to corruption or economic offences. This has led to questions about the agency's ability to investigate other types of crimes, such as terrorism or organized crime.
Withdrawal of Consent: The work of the agency has been further constrained by the increasingly hostile relations between the Centre and the state governments. As many as nine states have withdrawn general consent to the CBI. Most of these are Opposition-ruled states, which have alleged that the CBI is being used by the Centre to target the Opposition.
Political interference: CBI is often accused of being used as a tool by the ruling government to target political opponents and shield their own leaders from corruption charges. E.g., CBI's investigation into the alleged corruption in the Rafale deal was seen as politically motivated by the opposition parties.
Lack of autonomy: CBI is supposed to be an independent investigating agency, but it often faces interference from the government and its officials. In 2018, the CBI director Alok Verma was removed from his post and sent on leave by the government, which led to a controversy over the agency's autonomy.
Delay in investigations: It is known for its slow pace of investigations, which often leads to delays in justice and allows the accused to go scot-free. For example, the investigation into the 2G spectrum scam took several years to complete, which led to criticism from the public and the media.
Lack of transparency: It is often criticized for its lack of transparency in its functioning and investigations. The agency's refusal to disclose information under the Right to Information Act has been challenged in courts by activists and journalists. E.g., In the 2017 Ryan International School murder case, the CBI was criticized for not disclosing key information about the investigation.
Corruption within the agency: CBI itself has been rocked by corruption scandals in the past, which have raised questions about its credibility and impartiality. In 2018, the CBI arrested its own DSP Devender Kumar for allegedly falsifying records in a case against the meat exporter Moin Qureshi.
Inefficient use of resources: Its resources are often stretched thin due to its heavy workload, which leads to inefficiencies in its functioning. The agency has a backlog of several thousand cases, which has led to the demand for more resources and manpower.
Lack of expertise: Its investigators are often accused of lacking the necessary expertise and skills to handle complex cases. For instance, the agency's investigation into the murder of journalist Gauri Lankesh was criticized for being shoddy and inadequate.
Internal Conflicts: The issue between former Director Alok Verma and his deputy Rakesh Asthana, who accused each other of corruption and interference in ongoing investigations, led to two factions within the CBI. The conflict affected the CBI's credibility and raised concerns about independence.

Way Forward:

Greater Autonomy: The 2nd ARC have recommended enactment of a comprehensive central legislation to remove the deficiencies of not having a central investigative agency having its own laws and charter of duties and functions.
Increase Jurisdiction: 24th Parliamentary Standing Committee even suggested CBI to take Suo moto cognizance of crimes and to give CBI pan Indian jurisdiction including jurisdiction to investigate corruption charges against officers of All India Service.
Enhanced Accountability: To ensure greater accountability, the CBI should be made answerable to a parliamentary committee rather than the executive. This would help to prevent interference in the agency's functioning and improve transparency.
Strengthening Coordination: The CBI should strengthen coordination with state police forces and other law enforcement agencies to enhance its investigative capabilities. This would help to avoid duplication of effort and ensure that cases are investigated thoroughly and efficiently.

Public records act & RTI Act

Context: Losing of government records is one of the main reasons for denying of RTI Applications. Currently, RTI Act does not have any provisions to deal with lose of public records. In this regard, Public Records Act, 1993 provides a framework for management and administration of public records of central government and its agencies and UT administration and their agencies are treated as public records and need to be properly archived.

Salient Features of Public Records Act, 1993

This act aims to regulate the management, administration and preservation of public records of Central Government, UT Administrations, PSUs, statutory bodies and corporations, commissions & committees constituted by Central Government or a UT Administration.

Definition of Public Records: Any Document, manuscripts, files, microfilms, microfiche, facsimile copy of a document, reproduction of images embodied in such microfilms, any other material produced by a computer or by any other device created by any records creating agency.

Records Creating Agency:

Any ministry, department or office of Central Government; Offices of any, body wholly or substantially controlled or financed by Central Government; department or office of UT Administration.
Every records creating agency shall nominate one of its officers as records officer to discharge the functions under this act.

Responsibilities of Records Officer:

Proper management, maintenance and preservation of public records under his charge.
Periodical review of all public records and weeding out public records of ephemeral value
Appraisal of public records which are more than 25 years old in consultation with National Archives of India or Archives of UT with a view of retaining public records of permanent value.
Destruction of public records in a manner
Compilation of a schedule of retention for public records in consultation with National Archives of India or Archives of UT.
Periodical review for downgrading of classified public records
Adoption of such standards, procedures and techniques as may be recommended from time to time by National Archives of India for improvement of record management system and maintenance of security of public records.
Compilation of annual indices of public records
Compilation of organisational history and annual supplement.
Assisting National Archives of India and Archives of UT.
Submission of annual report to Director General or head of Archives
Transferring of records of any defunct body to National Archives of India or Archives of UT for preservation.

Power of Central Government: Central Government shall have power to coordinate, regulate and supervise the operations connected with administration, management, preservation, selection, disposal and retirement of public records under this Act.

Director General of Archives to be appointed by Central Government.
Head of Archives means a person holdiing the charge of Archives of UT.

Powers of Director General or head of Archives

Central Government for public records relating to organisations of central government and UT Administration for public records relating to organisations of UT, may by order authorise Director General or head of Archives to carry out the following functions:

Supervision, management and control of Archives.
Acceptance for deposit of public records of permanent nature after such period
Custody, use and withdrawal of public records.
Arrangement, preservation and exhibition of public records.
Preparation of inventories, indices, catalogues and other reference media of public records.
Analysing, developing, promoting and coordinating the standards, procedures and techniques for improvement of records management system.
Ensuring maintenance, arrangement and security of public records in Archives and in the offices of records creating agency.
Promoting utilisation of available space and maintenance of equipments for preserving public records.
Tendering advice to records creating agencies on the compilation, classification and disposal of records management.
Survey and inspection of public records.
Organising training programs in various disciplines of Archives administration and records management.
Accepting records from any private source.
Regulating reports on records management and disposal practices from records officer.
Providing authenticated copies of extracts from public records.
Destroying or disposal of public records.
Obtaining on lease or purchasing or accepting as gift any document of historical or national importance.

Receipt of records from private sources: National Archives of India or Archives of UT may accept any record of historical or national importance from any private source by way of gift or purchase etc.

Access to Public Records:

All unclassified public records which are more than 30 years old and transferred to National Archives of India or Archives of UT can be mada available to any bona fide research scholar, such to exceptions or restrictions.
Any records creating agency may grant to any person access to any public record in its custody, in a manner manner as may be prescribed.

Archival Advisory Board: Central Government to constitute an Archival Advisory Board to be headed by Secretary of Union Ministry of Culture.

The Archival Advisory Board shall perform the following functions:

Advise Central Government and UT Administration on matters concerning administration, management, conservation and use of public records.
Lay down guidelines for training of archivists.
Give directions for acquisition of records from private custody.
Deal with such matters as may be prescribed.

Director General shall have power to lay down norms and standards for courses curricula, assessment and examinations relating to training in archival science and other ancillary subjects.

Prohibitions under Public Records Act

No public record shall be destroyed or disposed except in such manner and conditions as may be prescribed.
Prohibition against taking of public records out of India, except without prior approval of Central government.
No record created before the year 1892 shall be destroyed except where in the opinion of Director General or head of Archives, it is so defaced or is in such condition that it cannot be put to any archival use.
Whoever contravenes the above provisions shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term of upto 5 years or with fine (up to Rs 10,000) or both.
No public records bearing security classification shall be transferred to National Archives of India or Archives of UT.

Need to make Public Records Act more effective

Currently, Public Records Act, 1993 only applies to Central Government and UT Administration. It does not apply to state governments. State governments have their own acts and often many states also do not have such act. This makes it difficult to deal with the issue to misplaced files.
There is a need to make archives easily accessible to researchers on a easier basis for accurate analysis by historians.

Delhi demolitions: Under the cloak of law

Context: The periodic drama of demolitions of illegal construction has become the unfortunate leitmotif of Delhi’s development. The recent demolitions around Tughlaqabad Fort follow the script that has been enacted innumerable times before. The need to demolish is portrayed as a law and order issue, not the failure of urban planning.

Arguments in favour of demolitions

These colonies are developed on illegal land
They are becoming obstructions in the way of the master plan of Delhi (MPD)
They deface the city.
People living there are involved in the criminal activities.

Issues associated with demolition

Illegal colonies developed due to the inability of MPD to meet the needs of migrant inflow in the city.
This kind of demolition involves only the issue’s legal dimension, leaving the ethical issues unsolved.
The spatial norms, development controls, and even the basic planning ideology on which the present Master Plan of Delhi (and other Indian cities) is based are modelled on urban development strategies that evolved in post-war Europe and the US — under entirely different social, economic and cultural circumstances.
These were eagerly adopted after Independence by the governing elite (including urban planners) because they neatly aligned with their aspirations for creating modern Indian cities.
This model has proved inadequate to handle the complex problems of Indian urbanisation and the nature of indigenous urbanism that underpins the expectations of new migrants.
Elitist mentality of urban developers who treated slums as urban malaise which must be eradicated.
Demolitions have only shifted the focus from the original source of the problem, the flawed MPD and the lack of imaginative governance, to its victims, the migrants and entrepreneurs, who have immeasurably contributed to India’s success story.

Way forward

To begin, the mindset of urban planners, civic authorities and the police must change. They must understand that they are dealing with an ethical, not legal issue.
The success of urban planning should not be contingent on the outcome of the contest between the haves and the have-nots. For one, the needs and aspirations of one are not more legitimate than those of the other.
Second, given the history of urban development of Delhi, aborting the attempts of the have-nots to fulfil their basic needs is not the most efficacious strategy to ensure the success of urban planning.
The have-nots have legitimate status and rights to the city. Therefore, their self-help achievements in the face of the hostility they face from society and the government, should not be treated as a cancerous tumour that needs to be excised to protect the planner’s vision.

Govt widens Aadhar ambit: 22 pvt firms can use it to verify customers

Context: Widening the list of non-banking reporting entities, the Finance Ministry has allowed 22 financial entities — including Amazon Pay (India) Pvt. Ltd, Aditya Birla Housing Finance Ltd and IIFL Finance Ltd — to verify the identity of their customers via Aadhaar under the ambit of the money laundering law.

Widening of Aadhar Ambit

In a notification dated May 4, the Finance Ministry said these reporting entities, other than the banking companies mentioned, shall comply with the standards of privacy and security under the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act, 2016.
It is necessary and expedient to do so, after consultation with the Unique Identification Authority of India established under sub-section (1) of section 11 of the Aadhaar Act and the appropriate regulator, namely, the Reserve Bank of India, hereby permits the said Reporting Entities to perform authentication under the Aadhaar Act for the purposes of Section 11A of the Money Laundering Act.
Section 11A of PLMA provides for verification of identity by reporting entities. Earlier only banks were considered as reporting entities but now non-banking regulated entities that are considered as reporting entities under PLMA can be allowed to conduct such authentication if their approval is accepted by the UIDAI depending on their data security practices.
In, 2019, the government amended the Aadhaar(Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act, 2016, under which it allowed only banking and telecom companies to carry out such authentication for KYC requirements.

Application of widening of Aadhaar ambit:

E-KYC carried out through OTP-based Adhaar authentication allows entities to offer a limited set of services to their users. Such a KYC has to be renewed every year and the aggregate amount of term loans sanctioned shall not exceed Rs 60000 in a year.
It may help in expanding the reach of financial services, especially microfinance.
Availability will improve consumption in the Indian economy which fosters the Economic growth of the Nation.
It will help in the expansion of the formal credit network in the Indian economy.

Concerns:

It may lead to an invasion of privacy: Private companies are profit-oriented and they may misuse this limited permission to target the customers.
It may also pose a challenge of financial fraud: in the digital age financial frauds are new realities and allowing private entities to access Addhar data will further increase this threat.
Other private entities may demand the same: with time other private companies even those of the non-financial sector can also seek the same permission.
Diverting from the aim of Aadhaar itself: Aadhaar was aimed to provide a unique identity to individuals but this widening of the ambit of Aadhaar will make it an instrument of financial matters.

Happening Haryana slips as investments drop amid worries over law reserving jobs for locals

Context: Once one of the most sought-after investment destinations, particularly for skill driven manufacturing sectors such as automobiles, Haryana seems to have lost some of its sheen with its share of new investment projects in the country tripping to a six year low of 1.06% in 202223, down sharply from almost 3% in the year before.

Highlights

Total investment outlays announced in the State fell 30% last year to ₹39,000odd crore from nearly ₹56,000 crore in 202122.
This pushed Haryana from the ninth best State in terms of new investment projects to the 13th rank in 202223.
Manufacturing investments declined 60% to just about ₹9,500 crore.

Maruti Suzuki — one of the State’s largest legacy investors, which announced a ₹18,000crore project, Haryana’s largest investment in 202122 — is now eyeing a ₹24,000crore plant that will come up elsewhere.
Compared to 202122, when manufacturing, industrial parks, roadways and realty projects dominated the State’s largest investments, realty projects dominate the outlays announced in 202223.

The decline in fresh projects in the State coincides with its enactment of a law in early 2022 that reserved 75% of private sector jobs with monthly salaries up to ₹30,000 for local people. The law has been kept in abeyance after being challenged judicially, but the suspense over its implementation remains a worry for investors.

HARYANA’S LOCAL RESERVATION LAW

Haryana government passed a law reserving 75% of private sector jobs for residents of the state. This raised a debate on such sons of soil policies undertaken by state governments like Haryana and Andhra Pradesh.

Haryana Employment of Local Candidates Act 2020

The Act requires private sector employers to reserve 75% of job posts that offer a salary of less than Rs 30,000 for individuals who are domiciled in Haryana. It is applicable to all private companies, societies, partnership firms, trusts, any person employing ten or more persons in Haryana, or any other entity as may be notified by the Government.

Potential Benefits

• Provides employment opportunities to the locals and reduces regional inequalities.

• Reduces the friction between local and Migrant labour and helps in managing labour unrest.

• Since migration of labour is more often seasonal, the law can lower the dependence on migrant labour and reduces absenteeism.

Problems

Drive away investments: Mandatory quotas for jobs and powers for officials to slap penalties on companies for violations may drive away competitive firms who will be wary of new inspector raj and the impact on productivity.
Barrier to migration: Poses risk of obstructing free flow of labour from labour surplus states to labour shortage states, which is essential to reap the benefits of Demographic dividend.

Legal Implications: Violation of Art 14, Art 16 and Art 19(a) guaranteed by the Indian Constitution. In a landmark Pradeep Jain Case, the Supreme Court has raised concerns that such policies may lead to Economic and Social Fragmentation of India.
Political Implications: Rise of strong Sons-of-soil movement even in other states and thus end up affecting the spirit of Cooperative Federalism.

Increased Automation: Such affirmative actions in private industry might encourage firms to increase automation in production process which reduces employment generation potential of private firms.
Social Implications: In a multilinguistic society such as India, restricted work-related migration stifles interaction of different languages and cultures and helps in thriving regionalist tendencies.
Unsustainable solution: Though such reservations provide temporary benefits to the local community in terms of assured employment, it will not help in addressing the basic issues that are responsible for low employment growth.

Hence, States need to abstain from such inward- oriented and parochial policies, adopt spirit of cooperative federalism and work in a coordinated and synergistic manner to address the root cause- Lack of employment opportunities.

CERT-in may be exempted from giving information under RTI Act

Context: Central Government has informed Parliament that Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-in) may soon be exempt from responding to queries under the Right to Information Act.

Major Highlights:

The Department of Personnel and Training has reviewed a proposal from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology to include CERT-in in the Second Schedule to the RTI Act, which deals with exempted organisations like the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Border Security Force.
The exemption would allow CERT-in to reject any application for information, even on policy-related matters.

About CERT:

Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-IN) is the nodal agency to deal with cyber security threats like hacking and phishing and strengthens the security-related defence of the Indian Internet domain.
CERT-IN was formed in 2004 by the Government of India under Information Technology Act, 2000 Section (70B).
It is an office within the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.
CERT-In has been designated to serve as the national agency to perform the following functions in the area of cyber security:
- Collection, analysis and dissemination of information on cyber incidents.
- Forecast and alerts of cyber security incidents.
- Emergency measures for handling cyber security incidents.
- Coordination of cyber incident response activities.
- Issue guidelines, advisories, vulnerability notes and whitepapers relating to information security practices, procedures, prevention, response and reporting of cyber incidents.