Today's Headlines

Today's Headlines - 12 April 2023

SC’s public interest immunity

GS Paper - 2 (Polity)

The Supreme Court set aside the Centre’s order imposing a broadcast ban on the Malayalam news channel MediaOne. The top court set aside judgment of the Kerala High Court that had upheld the I&B Ministry’s order. In making its decision, the High Court had relied on material disclosed solely to it by the Home Ministry in a ‘sealed cover’. The SC, which has repeatedly expressed unhappiness with so-called “sealed cover jurisprudence”, also devised a procedure for “public interest immunity claim” as a less restrictive alternative to sealed covers for deciding claims involving state secrets.

What is the public interest immunity claim?

  1. The Supreme Court said that the validity of a claim involving national security considerations must be based on the test of “(i) whether there is material to conclude that the non-disclosure of information is in the interest of national security; and (ii) whether a reasonable prudent person would draw the same inference from the material on record”.
  2. However, in the MediaOne case, the court said that even if one assumes that the non-disclosure was in the interests of confidentiality and national security, the means adopted by the government did not satisfy the proportionality standard.
  3. “The non-disclosure of a summary of the reasons for the denial of security clearance to MBL (Madhyamam Broadcasting Ltd, the company that owns MediaOne) which constitutes the core irreducible minimum of procedural guarantees, does not satisfy the suitability prong,” the court said.
  4. The court also said that it assesses the validity of public interest immunity claims, which address the same harms as the sealed cover procedure, based on the “structured proportionality” standard.
  5. This is essentially a “standard of review” used by courts in public interest immunity claims — and “the lack of such a standard in sealed cover proceedings to protect procedural safeguards indicates that public interest immunity claims constitute less restrictive means”, the court said.
  6. The court added that while public interest immunity claims also impact the principles of natural justice, sealed cover proceedings go a step ahead and infringe on the principles of natural justice as well as the principles of open justice.
  7. Alternatively, the court suggested that confidential portions of the document could be redacted, and a summary of the document’s contents could be provided to fairly exclude materials after a successful public interest immunity claim.
  8. A “public interest immunity claim is a less restrictive means”, the court said, adding that dilution of procedural guarantees while hearing the claim could not be ignored.
  9. It is only the court and the party seeking non-disclosure of the material that is privy to the public interest immunity proceedings, it said.
  10. It was also clarified that the court must consider factors like “the relevance of the material to the case” while using theproportionality standard to test the public-interest immunity claim.

 UN Democracy Fund

GS Paper -2 (International Relations)

India and the US were prime movers behind the UN Democracy Fund in 2005, when both were negotiating the civilian nuclear co-operation deal.

More about the news:

  • During Prime Manmohan Singh’s visit to the US in July 2005, both countries announced the India-US framework agreement on civilian nuclear co-operation.
  • They also announced the US-India Global Democracy Initiative, and support to the UN Democracy Fund that had been set up a couple of months earlier with an inaugural contribution of $ 10 million each.
  • At the World Summit during the UN General Assembly in September 2005, Bush and Singh co-sponsored a fund-raising event for UNDEF. The UNDEF was part of the World Summit’s outcome document.

India’s contribution:

  • India gave $5 million to thefund in 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009 and 2011. No contribution was made in 2007 and 2010. The contributions began dipping from 2012. That year the contribution was $4.71 m. The following year it was $1.85 million.
  • From 2014, India slashed its funding. That year, and in 2015 it was $200,000; in 2016, it was a mere $50,000. No contribution was made in 2017.In 2018 and 2019, India was back with $100,000. In 2020, 2021 and 2022, it gave $150,000.

About UNDEF:

  • Each year, UNDEF solicits and receives upto 3,000 proposals from NGOs around the world. An Advisory Board considers these proposals, and recommends proposals for approval by the Secretary General.
  • In 15 Rounds of Funding so far, UNDEF has supported over 880 two-year projects in more than 130 countries, according to the Fund’s website.
  • India has been a member of the Board since the beginning. Among the two CSOs that serve on the board currently are CIVICUS and Transparency, Accountability and Participation Network.

About CIVICUS:

  • It is head-quartered in Johannesburg; CIVICUS is a global alliance of civil society organisations.
  • The group, which monitors “civic space” across the world, has rated India as “repressed” on civic freedoms since 2019, including in its latest report.


Deadly fungus Candida auris is spreading

GS Paper - 3 (Health and Diseases)

The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention highlighted the threat posed by a rapidly spreading fungus called Candida auris that is causing infections and deaths among hospital patients across the country. The unexpected rise of this recently discovered pathogen is part of a larger trend of increasing fungal infections in the US.

What is Candida auris?

  1. Candida auris is a recently identified, single-cell fungus that can infect humans and is moderately resistant to existing antifungal drugs.
  2. You might be familiar with superficial fungal infections – like athlete’s foot – which are quite common and don’t pose significant risks to most people.
  3. In contrast, Candida auris and other related fungi can cause infections within a person’s body and are much more dangerous.
  4. Candida auris is a type of yeast that was first identified in 2009 and is one of a number of species in the candida family that can infect people.
  5. In the past, most invasive candida infections were caused by Candida albicans. Recently, though, infections with species of candida that are much more resistant to drugs than Candida albicans – like Candida auris – have shot up, with a nearly fivefold increase since 2019.

How dangerous are candida infections?

  1. For the most part, healthy people do not have to worry about invasive candida infections.
  2. There are two groups of people who are most at risk for dangerous candida infections: first are patients in intensive care units who also have central intravenous catheters and are receiving broad spectrum antibiotics.
  3. Patients with weak immune systems, such as cancer patients on chemotherapy or patients with human immunodeficiency virus, are also at high risk of candida infection.
  4. Nearly all people have candida fungi growing in their guts and on their skin as part of their microbiome. When a person is healthy, candida numbers are low, but the fungi can proliferate rapidly and overcome a person’s immune system when a patient is sick and on antibiotics.
  5. If candida cells on a person’s skin contaminate an intravenous line, the fungus can get into a patient’s bloodstream and cause often deadly bloodstream infections.
  6. Candida species are the fourth most-common cause of hospital associated bloodstream infections.
  7. There are three classes of antifungal drugs that can be used to fight invasive candida infections.
  8. Candida albicans is susceptible to all three and easier to treat than Candida auris, which is moderately resistant to all three classes of antifungals.

 
Al Aqsa triggered a furious reaction

GS Paper - 2 (International Relations)

An Israeli police raid on Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa mosque has triggered a furious reaction from Palestinians across the occupied West Bank and the wider Arab and Muslim world.

Where and what is the AL-Aqsa Mosque?

  1. The Al-Aqsa lies at the heart of Jerusalem’s Old City on a hill known to Jews as Har ha-Bayit, or Temple Mount, and to Muslims internationally as al-Haram al-Sharif, or The Noble Sanctuary.
  2. Muslims regard the site as the third holiest in Islam, after Mecca and MedinaAl-Aqsa is the name given to the whole compound and is home to two Muslim holy places: the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa Mosque, also known as the Qibli Mosque, which was built in the 8th century AD.
  3. The compound overlooks the Western Wall, a sacred place of prayer for Jews, for whom the Temple Mount is their most sacred site.
  4. Jews believe biblical King Solomon built the first temple there 3,000 years ago. A second temple was razed by the Romans in AD 70.
  5. Israel captured the site in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed it with the rest of East Jerusalem and adjoining parts of the West Bank in a move not recognized internationally.

Why is Al-Aqsa a Flashpoint in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict?

  1. The Al-Aqsa compound has long been a flashpoint for deadly violence over matters of sovereignty and religion in Jerusalem.
  2. Under the longstanding “status quo” arrangement governing the area, which Israel says it maintains, non-Muslims can visit but only Muslims are allowed to worship in the mosque compound.
  3. Jewish visitors have increasingly prayed more or less openly at the site in defiance of the rules, and Israeli restrictions on Muslim worshippers’ access to the site have led to protests and outbreaks of violence. Clashes at the site in 2021 contributed to setting off a 10-day war with Gaza.
  4. In 2000, the Israeli politician Ariel Sharon, then opposition leader, led a group of Israeli lawmakers onto the Temple Mount/al-Haram al-Sharif complex.
  5. Palestinians protested, and there were violent clashes that quickly escalated into the second Palestinian uprising, also known as the Al-Aqsa Intifada.