Must Read News Articles I 7th March 2020

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SC upholds 2018 order on land acquisition

A Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court on Friday held that land acquisition proceedings under the 1894 Act will not be deemed to have lapsed under Section 24(2) of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transpa­rency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettle­ment Act, 2013, if the auth­orities have tendered the compensation by deposit in the Treasury.

SC held that landowners, who had refused to accept compensa­tion or who sought refe­rence for higher compensa­tion, cannot claim that the acquisition proceedings had lapsed under Section 24(2) of the 2013 Act.

Centre cannot brand Organisations ‘political’: SC

The SC has held that the Central government cannot brand an organisation ‘political’ and deprive it of its right to receive foreign funds for using “legitimate forms of dissent” like bandh, hartal, road roko or jail ‘bharo’ to aid a public cause. However, it also observed that the foreign funding pipeline could be cut if an organisation took recourse to these forms of protest to score a political goal.

The verdict came on a petition filed by Indian Social Action Forum (INSAF) challenging certain provisions of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA), 2010 and the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Rules of 2011, both of which confer the Centre with “unguided and uncanalised power” to brand organisations ‘political’ and shut down their access to foreign funds.

Making the environment conducive for justice

The article highlights the importance of judiciary during a riot situation. It mentions that proactive intervention by the judiciary can prevent a slide into chaos.

India joins Indian Ocean Commission as observer

India has been approved as an observer state for the Indian Ocean Commission (IOC). It is a five nations grouping in the Western Indian Ocean which includes Madagascar, Comoros, Seychelles, Mauritius and French Reunion.

The decision to join the IOC marks a part of the government’s push for greater salience in the whole Indian Ocean Region (IOR), including what is called the Western or African Indian Ocean. In December 2019, the Ministry of External Affairs decided to include Madagascar, Comoros and Reunion as part of the IOR (Indian Ocean Region) desk along with Sri Lanka, Maldives, Mauritius and Seychelles. Subsequently, they have been incorporated into one single division under the additional Secretary (Indo-Pacific) Neena Malhotra.

The IOC is also significant for its geographical location, as the islands sit around a “key choke-point” in the Indian Ocean — the Mozambique Channel. This channel is being watched more closely as the U.S.-Iran tensions threaten the Strait of Hormuz. 

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Banking on bailouts

The article mentions that the prompt bailout proposal for Yes Bank was commendable. However, the decision to suspend normal business operations raises several worrying questions, both about the health of the banking sector, and the adequacy of the oversight role of regulators.

Monetary policy cannot combat the COVID-19 impact

The article talks about the impact of COVID-19 on the Indian economy and the possible options to the government to offset the same. Reduction in the Interest rate may be useful in the short term. In the long term,  Supply chains can be lo­calised through fresh investments and India can bid to be an alterna­tive to China in the global value chain.