GS Analyst
Daily Current Affairs

Recently, Indonesian government authorities unveiled the site of the country’s new capital, from Jakarta to Borneo.

Key-highlights

• The city is expected to be inaugurated on August 17 next year to coincide with Indonesia’s Independence Day. 
• The final stages of the city, however, likely won’t be completed until 2045, marking the nation’s hundredth anniversary.

About Jakarta (the Indonesian Island)

• Jakarta is the largest city and capital of Indonesia. 
• The city lies on the northwest coast of Java at the mouth of the Ciliwung (Liwung River), on Jakarta Bay (an embayment of the Java Sea). 
• It is coextensive with the metropolitan district of Greater Jakarta (Jakarta Raya).
• Jakarta is home to about 10 million people and three times that number in the greater metropolitan area.

Problems surrounding the city:

• Jakarta lies on a low, flat alluvial plain with historically extensive swampy areas.
• It is easily flooded during the rainy season. 
• The draining of swamps for building purposes and the continuous decrease of upland forest vegetation have increased the danger of floods. 
• With such an excess of water in the soil, Jakarta has a shortage of clean drinking water, for which there is increasing demand. 

Why is the government planning to change the capital?

• Sinking land: Jakarta is congested, polluted, prone to earthquakes, and rapidly sinking into the Java Sea.
• It has been described as the world’s most rapidly sinking city and it is estimated that one-third of the city could be submerged by 2050. 
• Causes: The main cause is uncontrolled groundwater extraction, but it has been exacerbated by the rising Java Sea due to climate change.

Issues in shifting the location:

• local habitat loss: 
• It has been reported that the new capital region is home to orangutans, leopards, and a wide array of other wildlife, which will be affected by deforestation or any changes in their habitat.
• Also Forest Watch Indonesia, an Indonesian non-governmental organisation that monitors forestry issues that most of the forested areas in the new capital are “production forests” meaning permits could be granted for forestry and extractive activities that would lead to further deforestation. 

• Affect livelihood of indigenous communities: 

At least five villages with more than 100 Indigenous Balik people are relocated, with more villages expected to be uprooted to expand the capital region area.

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (UK) has mentioned the launch of new legislation on migrant channel crossings at Downing Street. 

• The new plan will ban refugees arriving in the UK by small boats from claiming asylum.

About Britain’s Migration policy:

• The 2022 Nationality and Borders Act barred people from claiming asylum in Britain if they had passed through a safe country such as France. 
• But in practice, people fleeing war and persecution can’t be sent home, and no countries — other than Rwanda and Albania have agreed to take deportees. 
• This week Britain unveiled the Illegal Migration Bill, which calls for people arriving by unauthorized routes to be detained, deported to their homeland or “a safe third country” and banned from ever re-entering the U.K.

The migrant population in Britain:

• The British government has noted that the people migrating to the UK are economic migrants rather than refugees and points to an upswing last year in arrivals from Albania, a European country that the U.K. considers safe.
• The other main countries of origin last year were Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq and Syria. 
• Of those whose applications have been processed, a large majority were granted asylum in the U.K.

Why do people want to migrate to Britain?

• Most of the migration to the UK has been observed from France, in view of Cultural ties and native links.

Does the bill affect India?

• Indians are the third-largest group of migrants crossing into the UK over the English Channel on risky small boats so far this year, according to the UK Home Office. 
• Indians now account for about a fifth of 1,180 migrants who have attempted the perilous crossing this year. Afghans were the most numerous, followed by Syrians.
• The arrangement of permitting Indians to enter Serbia without a visa ended on January 1 as part of Serbia’s efforts to comply with EU visa requirements, resulting in some Indians travelling in small boats into the EU and then to the UK.

• So, definitely, the new illegal immigration bill will impact the Indians who were entering the UK from sea routes, without any permits for taking asylum.

India-UK mobility agreement:

• Migration and mobility partnership: It will include “covering the movement of students and professionals as well as irregular migration keeping in view the UK’s new skills-based immigration policy”. 
• The agreement included a young professionals scheme to allow 3,000 young Indian professionals to come to the UK each year. 
• The scheme was confirmed in November 2022 and India and the UK exchanged letters formalising the scheme in January 2023, with an implementation date to be announced.

The Ministry of Finance, Department of Revenue, Government of India notified the 2023 Amendment to the Prevention of Money-laundering (Maintenance of Records) Rules, 2005.

Key points:

• The amendment was done in line with the recommendations of FATF.

• Disclosure of beneficial owners: The new rules prescribe disclosures of beneficial owners beyond the current requirement of KYC norms through documents such as registration certificates and PAN by reporting entities such as financial institutions, banking companies or intermediaries.
• Lowering the threshold for identifying beneficial owners: In line with existing provisions of The Income-Tax Act and The Companies Act, the amended rules have now lowered the threshold for identifying beneficial owners by reporting entities, where the client is acting on behalf of its beneficial owner.
  • Lowering of the threshold for beneficial ownership has been done to bring PMLA in line with the Companies Act and Income-tax Act.
  • Reporting entities are also required to register details of the client if it’s a non-profit organisation on the DARPAN portal of NITI Aayog.
• Meaning of non-profit organization: The definition of a non-profit organisation has been amended and linked to the definition of charitable purpose provided under Section 2(15) of the Income Tax Act, 1961. 
• Definition of Politically Exposed Persons (PEP): PEP is referred to individuals who have been entrusted with prominent public functions by a foreign country.
  • They include the heads of States or Governments, senior politicians, senior government or judicial or military officers, senior executives of state-owned corporations and important political party officials.
  • The move to define PEPs under PMLA is to bring uniformity with a 2008 circular of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for KYC norms/anti-money laundering standards for banks and financial institutions, which had defined PEPs in line with FATF norms.

Significance

• The amendments assume significance ahead of the proposed FATF assessment of India, which is expected to be undertaken later this year.

What is the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA)?

• The prevention of Money Laundering Act is a criminal law of the Parliament of India passed in 2002 to prevent money laundering and confiscate property derived from the laundered money. 
• PMLA became law and came into force on July 1, 2005.
• Core objectives:
• Prevention and controlling money laundering
• Confiscation and seizing of property involved in or derived from money laundering
• Providing punishment to offenders
• Appointment of adjudicating authority and appellate tribunal concerning money laundering matters
• Maintaining records and putting obligations on financial institutions, banking companies and institutions
• Dealing with every issue related to money laundering

Recently a draft international agreement referred to as the ‘UN High Seas Treaty’ was finalised to govern the conduct of governments in ‘open seas’.

• The UN general assembly decided to convene an Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) in December 2017 to elaborate on the text of the legal instrument for protecting biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ).
• The IGC held four formal sessions in September 2018, March 2019, August 2019 and March 2022.
• The ambition of the treaty is to reverse the current downward trend in biodiversity and protect marine life, while also guaranteeing safe access to international waters.
• The treaty will help conserve biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ) that lie outside countries’ 322-kilometre exclusive economic zones.

Need for a universal Law:

• The draft treaty was negotiated under the United Nations Convention on Laws of the Sea (UNCLOS) of 1982 which governs the rights of countries regarding marine resources. 
• Till now, there was no treaty for conserving the open earth’s oceans.
• The proposed treaty concerns the ocean existing beyond the Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) that lie from the coast of a country to about 200 nautical miles (or 370 km into the sea).
• Waters beyond that are known as ‘open seas ‘or ‘high seas’.

About the draft treaty:

• The 54-page draft, when it is ratified by countries (requiring them to also pass it in their own Parliaments), will become legally binding. 
• Also referred to as the ‘Paris Agreement for the Ocean’, the treaty to deal with Biodiversity beyond National Jurisdiction.
• Objective: To ensure the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction through the Convention and to further international cooperation.
• Agreements on the actions of parties are to be taken based on consensus.
• The draft often mentions a clearing-house mechanism that will be a centralised platform to enable parties to access, provide and give information on activities taking place in relation to the agreement. 

Key highlights of the Treaty:

• The polluter-pays principle; is an important concept in environmental laws. It means those causing pollution in a particular region are responsible for its reduction, such as a factory owner having to compensate for air pollution.
• Building ecosystems’ resilience against adverse effects of climate change and ocean acidification, and also maintaining and restoring ecosystem integrity.
• Parties should take legislative, administrative or policy measures with the aim of ensuring that traditional knowledge associated with marine genetic resources in areas beyond national jurisdiction held by Indigenous Peoples and local communities shall only be accessed with their free, prior and informed consent.
• Full recognition of the special circumstances of Small Island Developing States and of least developed countries; Acknowledgement of the special interests and needs of landlocked developing countries.
• Parties are to promote international cooperation in marine scientific research and in the development and transfer of marine technology.

Who governs the High seas currently?

• At present, every country has the right to access open seas, resulting in large-scale drilling and trawling operations for catching fish and other animals for commercial purposes. 
• A High Ambition Coalition, which now has more than 100 countries including India, the US, and the UK, came about and put the focus on ‘30×30’ goals – protecting 30 per cent of the ocean by 2030.