GS Analyst: Daily Current Affairs

Context:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent announcement of a new scheme to assist urban poor in building houses signals a change in government policy. However, despite this effort, the goal of "housing for all" remains distant, with only about two-thirds of the sanctioned houses completed or handed over in the eight years since PMAY-U's launch.

Highlights of PMAY-U:

• Nodal agency: Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) falls under the Government’s mission – ‘Housing for all by 2022’ for urban housing being implemented by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA).
• Significance: It makes home loans affordable for the urban poor by providing a subsidy on the Interest Rate of a home loan during repayment by way of EMI (Equated Monthly Installments).
• Beneficiaries: The Mission addresses urban housing shortage among the EWS/LIG and MIG categories including the slum dwellers, and a beneficiary family will comprise husband, wife, unmarried sons and/or unmarried daughters.

Points of proposed scheme

• Objective: A proposed scheme aims to lower the beneficiary share to around 40%, recognizing their limited income capacity.
• Aim: The scheme shift in stance comes after the extension of the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Urban (PMAY-U) until December 2024.
• Fund allocation: The project amounts to Rs.1.49 lakh crore, with the government's share at 4%, states and urban bodies at 16%, and the remaining 60% expected from beneficiaries.

Parliamentary Committees’ recommendations

• Flexible assistance: The committee's key proposal is to replace the current uniform and fixed assistance approach with a flexible one that considers regional variations and factors like topography.
• To address issues of poor housing quality and unoccupancy: It suggests delving into reasons behind these problem such as high land costs, restrictions on floor space index, and complexities arising from multiple certifications by various agencies play pivotal roles in determining the success of urban housing initiatives.
• Involvement of stakeholders’: The government should facilitate discussions involving relevant stakeholders like state governments, local bodies, urban planning organizations, professionals, financial institutions, and activists.

Context:  

Haphazard development is increasing the impact of weather events.

El Nino being Ineffective

• Less rainfall: Being an El Niño year, the expectation was that north India would see a sparse monsoon.
• Despite seen patched rains: However, the pendulum has swung the other way. July saw record rainfall in many parts of Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Uttarakhand and the rare sight of the Yamuna nearly spilling into the Red Fort in Delhi.
• Leading to floods: The worst, however, was yet to come as the week saw multiple floods in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand that have claimed at least 60 lives recently. A series of landslides has crumbled buildings and blocked highways.

Western Disturbances (WD) and monsoon

• Erratic Western Disturbance: There were too few of them in December and January and their absence was cause for the hottest February recorded in India in at least a century.
• Compensating Monsoon: However, the WD appear to be overcompensating for their absence, with several of them incident over north India in the last two months — a time when they normally should not be around.
• Reasons: The wired WD is in part due to a warming Arctic that causes the polar jet stream, which carries moisture, to deviate from its regular path and bring the disturbances to north India during the monsoon.

The Infrastructure Effect on Weather Systems

• Consequences of construction: As recent fears of land subsidence in Joshimath, Uttarakhand demonstrated, ill-thought construction.
• The ongoing Char Dham road building project: It has led to large-scale altering of the mountains with significant chunks carved away, rendering them vulnerable to upheaval.
• Way forward: It is time that more serious thought is given to the nature of infrastructure development and, if need be, restrictions imposed in the larger interest of minimising hazards and maintaining stability.

Context:

The recent introduction of three Bills transforming India’s criminal laws — the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita to replace the Indian Penal Code; the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita to replace the Code of Criminal Procedure and the Bharatiya Sakshya Bill to replace the Indian Evidence Act — has ignited a spectrum of reactions.

Reformatory measures

• Fostering gender inclusivity - The Bills exhibit moderative modifications fostering gender inclusivity and replacement of anachronistic terms such as ‘unsoundness of mind with mental illnesses.
• Integration of ICT- Significantly, the integration of information and communications technology applications with the criminal justice process is noteworthy.
• New added offences- Newly created o?ences such as terrorism; organised crime, mob lynching, and negligent acts too add novel dimensions.

Parameters to examine these laws

• Addressing needs of the concerned-The primary principle is to address the needs and concerns of those impacted by criminal justice, especially the realisation of fundamental and statutory rights.
• Following the principles of criminalisation-There is a need to study the principled basis of the harm or the moral/legal o?ence caused by such criminalised conduct.
• Principles of equality- The principles of equality and equitability become essential checks on criminal law reform.

Way Ahead

• Greater engagement to improve- The Select committee should allow greater engagement to improve the drafts in terms of language and substance.
• Strike a balance - The amended laws must strike a balance between state security imperatives and individual freedoms.
• Foster the rule of law- The envisioned criminal law reforms must foster the rule of law and fortify the pursuit of justice.