New Delhi, Jul 5: The right to vote “lies at the heart” of democracy as it inculcates a sense of belonging among the people and it is absolutely necessary that the people’s will is implemented, the Supreme Court today said.
It also said that subjecting the people of a particular state or region to the governance of the Union, that too on matters “which could be best legislated at the state level, goes against the very basic tenet of democracy”.
A five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra said the constitutional spirit ensures that the voice of the citizens does not go unrecognised while making laws. This is possible only if the agency enacting and enforcing the laws comprises of representatives chosen by the people, it said.
“Though this right to vote is not a fundamental right, yet it is a right that lies at the heart of democratic form of government. The right to vote is the most cherished value of democracy as it inculcates in the people a sense of belonging,” CJI Misra, who wrote the judgement for himself and on behalf of Justices A K Sikri and A M Khanwilkar, said.
Two other judges of the bench, Justices D Y Chandrachud and Ashok Bhushan, wrote separate but concurring judgements.
“The elected representatives being accountable to the public must be accessible, approachable and act in a transparent manner.
“Thus, the elected representatives must display constitutional objectivity as a standard of representative governance which neither tolerates ideological fragmentation, nor encourages any utopian fantasy, rather it lays stress on constitutional ideologies,” the court said.
The bench said a representative form of government should also not become a “government of elites” where the elected representatives do nothing to give effect to the will of the sovereign.
“The elected representatives must not have an ulterior motive for representing their constituents and they should not misuse the popular mandate awarded to them by covertly transforming it into ‘own rule’. The inherent value of public accountability can never be brushed aside,” the court said.
“The interest of the states inherent in a federal form of government gains more importance in a democratic form of government as it is absolutely necessary in a democracy that the will of the people is given effect to,” it said.
“It is a well recognised principle of a true democracy that the power shall not remain vested in a single person and it is absolutely essential that the ultimate say in all matters shall vest with the representative Government who are responsible to give effect to the wishes of the citizens and effectively address their concerns,” the bench said.
These observations were made in a landmark verdict in which the apex court unanimously held that Delhi cannot be accorded the status of a state but clipped the powers of the Lieutenant Governor saying he has no “independent decision making power” and has to act on the aid and advice of elected government.
New Delhi, July 3: India has agreed to provide tariff concessions on 3,142 products to Asia Pacific Trade Agreement (APTA) members, including Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, from July 1, the commerce ministry said today.
However, these duty concessions will be more for least developed countries (LDCs) and less for developing nations.
APTA is an initiative under the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN ESCAP) for trade expansion through exchange of tariff concessions among developing country members of the Asia Pacific Region. It is in place since 1975.
It is a preferential trade agreement (PTA), under which the basket of items as well as extent of tariff concessions are enlarged during the trade negotiating rounds which are launched from time to time.
The six member countries are Bangladesh, China, India, Laos, Korea and Sri Lanka.
The results of fourth round of negotiations under the APTA have been implemented with effect from July 1, the ministry said in a statement.
“India has, on its part, exchanged tariff concessions on 3,142 tariff lines (or goods) with all member countries and special concessions on 48 tariff lines for LDCs, with Bangladesh and Laos,” it said.
The fourth round of trade negotiations were formally concluded and signed by the ministers of the member countries during their meeting on January 13 last year.
The decision of this meet has now been implemented by all members with effect from July 1, it added.
With the implementation of this decision, the coverage of preferences of total tariff lines for each member would come of 10,677 products, up from 4,270 items at the conclusion of the third round.
The average Margin of Preference (MoP) being provided under the agreement is 31.52 per cent. But LDC members are entitled to greater concessions on 1,249 items with an average MoP of 81 per cent.
Under a free trade agreement, countries cut or eliminate duties on most number of goods traded between them besides liberalising norms to promote services trade and investments. But under a PTA, duties are eliminated on a certain number of identified items.
Amman, Jul 3: A regime offensive in southern Syria has forced more than 270,000 people from their homes, the United Nations said today.
“We were expecting the number of displaced in southern Syria to reach 200,000, but it has already exceeded 270,000 people in record time,” said Mohammad Hawari, the spokesman for UN refugee agency UNHCR in Amman.
Nearly two weeks of ferocious air strikes and barrel bombing have seen regime forces retake swathes of rebel-held territory in the southern province of Daraa.
.New Delhi, Jul 2: Union Minister Arun Jaitley on Sunday dismissed the idea of a single GST slab being advocated by Congress President Rahul Gandhi as flawed , saying that it can only work in a country where the entire population has similar and high capacity to spend.
The minister, in an article on ‘The GST Experience’ on completion of the first year of rollout of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), also exuded confidence the GST Council would look into rationalisation of the taxation structure after stabilisation of the collections.
Jaitley, who was the Finance Minister when the GST was introduced, is currently minister without portfolio, and is recuperating from a kidney transplant operation.
Rahul Gandhi has been advocating a single slab GST for India. It is a flawed idea. A single slab GST can function only in those countries where the entire population has a similar and a higher level of paying capacity.
Being fascinated by the Singapore model is understandable but the population profile of a state like Singapore and India is very different. Singapore can charge 7 per cent GST on food and 7 per cent on luxury goods. Will that model work for India?, the Minister questioned.
Since the GST is a regressive tax, the poor have to be given a substantial relief, he said, stressing that most of food items agricultural products and the Aam Aadmi used products have to be tax exempt while some others have to be taxed at a nominal rate.
The others could be taxed higher. Eventually, as the collections improve, many more items from the 28 per cent category can possibly come down. Only sin products and luxury goods can remain there.
There would also be a scope again, depending on the collection going up, to merge some of the mid category slabs but for that we have to see the progress of the new tax regime and the possible upward movement in the collections, the minister said.
Observing that there is always scope for improvement, he said key areas of future action will include further simplifying and rationalising the rate structure and bringing more products into the GST. I am confident that once revenue stabilises and the GST settles, the GST Council will look into these carefully and act judiciously.
Referring to the issue of levying GST on petroleum products, Jaitley said that while the UPA kept petroleum products permanently outside GST, we brought them back into the Constitution as levyable to GST and can gradually impose the GST when the GST Council so decides.
For this I would continue to make my earnest efforts and hopefully when the states are more comfortable with the revenue position, it would be an ideal time to strike for a consensus between them.
He further said that while Gandhi and former Finance Minister P Chidambaram have repeatedly demanded that petroleum products be forthwith brought within the GST, the finance ministers of the Congress-ruled states were against it.
When I speak to the Congress Finance Ministers’ in the states, they don’t seem to be ready for it. But what was the UPA’s own track record on petroleum products in the GST? The Constitution amendment proposed by the UPA permanently kept all petroleum products outside the GST, he said.
Jaitley further said that he used the inclusion of petroleum products as a bargaining issue with the states while conceding the Central Sales Tax (CST) and compensation payment to the states.
I worked out a formulae that petroleum products would be included in the Constitution amendment providing for the GST but the council can decide the date from which to bring them into GST. The states agreed, he said.
He further said that when the GST was to be launched on July, 1, 2017, the government was advised by the Congress to postpone it.
A reluctant government can never take reformist decisions. We went ahead. At the initial stage, we fixed the first set of rates. A large number of requests started coming from trades, industry and, therefore, we started rationalising the rates, he added.
The minister took comfort from the fact that the country witnessed the smoothest switch-overs in one of the largest tax reforms in the country. All the check-posts disappeared overnight. The system of input tax credit ensures that disclosures are made.
The GST has encouraged enormous voluntary tax registration. Detailed calculations done in this year’s Economic Survey show that as of December 2017, about 1.7 million registrants were those who fell below the GST threshold but nevertheless chose to be part of the GST. Similarly, more than 50 percent of those who could have chosen to opt for the simpler composition scheme chose to register under the regular GST scheme, the Minister said.
As regards the all powerful GST Council, Jaitley said, it is India’s first experience at cooperative-federalism based decision-making authority. We cannot afford to risk a failure and, therefore, it is functioning as to arouse confidence amongst all states. The meetings have always been consensus based.
The only area where unanimity seems to be lacking is the television bites that some ministers’ give after the meeting, which may be necessary for their own political position. I am willing to live with the experience of a healthy debate and unanimity within the Council and a show of dissent outside the Council meetings, Jaitley added.
Air pollution caused one in seven new cases of diabetes in 2016, according to a US study, which found even low levels raised the chances of developing the chronic disease.
Diabetes has primarily been associated with lifestyle factors like diet and a sedentary lifestyle, but research by the Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis said pollution also plays a major role.
The study estimated that pollution contributed to 3.2 million new diabetes cases globally in 2016 — or around 14 percent of all new diabetes cases globally that year.
“Our research shows a significant link between air pollution and diabetes globally,” said Ziyad Al-Aly, the study’s senior author.
Pollution is thought to reduce the body’s insulin production, “preventing the body from converting blood glucose into energy that the body needs to maintain health,” according to the research.
Al-Aly said the research, published in the Lancet Planetary Health, found an increased risk even with levels of air pollution currently considered safe by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the World Health Organization (WHO).