How do emergency provisions impact Centre-State relations?

What is the federal structure of governance in India? How do Articles 355 and 356 affect federalism?

Context:

• The recent spate of renewed violence in Manipur has once again triggered the discussion around Centre-State relations and the use of emergency provisions by the Centre.

Indian federal set-up:

• India is a federation with governments at the Centre and the States.
• The Seventh Schedule to the Indian Constitution distributes the power between the Union and States.
• Under this scheme, it is the domain of the State governments to maintain law and order in their respective States.

Emergency provisions:

• The emergency provisions are provided in Part XVIII of the Constitution.
• Articles 355 and 356 deal primarily with the affairs of government in a State under this part.
• Article 355 imposes a duty on the Centre to protect every State from external aggression and internal disturbance.
• It also specifies that the Centre should ensure that every State government operates according to the Constitution.
• Article 356 allows for the imposition of the President’s rule if a State’s government cannot function in accordance with constitutional provisions.
• While in the U.S. and Australia, federal government functions also involve protecting States; their constitutions do not contain provisions for removing State governments.
• R. Ambedkar explained the purpose of Article 355, keeping in mind the federal character of our polity, that if the Centre is to interfere in the State’s administration under Article 356, it must be by or under some obligation which the Constitution imposes on the Centre.
• Hence, Article 355 was incorporated to check any arbitrary or unauthorised use of Article 356.

Court rulings:

• Ambedkar again in the constituent Assembly wished that Articles 355 and 356 would never be called into operation and would remain a dead letter.
• However, it was a travesty of the Constitutional principles and federalism that Article 356 was misused on several occasions removing elected governments that enjoyed majority in the States.
• Reasons varied from loss in Lok Sabha elections to deterioration of law and order in the States.
• It was only after the Supreme Court’s categorical judgement in the S R Bommai case (1994) that such misuse was restricted.
• The court held that Article 356 should be imposed only in the event of a breakdown of constitutional machinery, as distinguished from an ordinary breakdown of law and order.
• It also held that the imposition of the President’s rule is subject to judicial review and should not be misused for political reasons.
• On the other hand, the scope of Article 355 has been widened by various Supreme Court rulings.
• In State of Rajasthan Vs Union of India (1977), the court had a narrow interpretation of Article 355 as justifying the employment of Article 356.
• However, in subsequent cases such as Naga People’s Movement of Human Rights Vs Union of India (1998), Sarbananda Sonowal Vs Union of India (2005), and H.S.Jain Vs Union of India (1997), the legal position with respect to Article 355 has shifted.
• The scope of actions under this article has been widened to permit all statutorily and constitutionally available actions by the Union to discharge its duties of protecting the State and ensuring that its governance is in accordance with the Constitution.

Suggestions:

• The Sarkaria Commission on Centre-State Relations (1987), the National Commission to Review the Working of the Constitution (2002), and the Punchhi Commission on Centre-State Relations (2010) have all opined that Article 355 not only imposes a duty on the Union but also grants it the power to take necessary actions for the effective performance of that duty.
• Imposition of the President’s rule under Article 356 must be used as a last resort in situations of utmost gravity and urgency.

Conclusion:

• The situation in Manipur is grave. Large-scale violence against innocent civilians, women and children; looting of ammunition from police armoury; drone and missile attacks targeting civilians cannot be viewed as just an ordinary breakdown of law and order.
• Constitutional as well as political expediency, considering that the same party is in power at the Centre and the State, has resulted in Article 356 not being invoked.
• However, under Article 355, all possible instructions and actions should continue to be pursued to restore normalcy at the earliest.

Environment takes centre stage as global summits loom

Context:

• The COP29 summit will be the most watched as it is expected to land a new agreement on climate finance
• Global warming. Disappearing plant and animal species. Fertile land turning to desert. Plastic in the oceans, on land, and the air we breathe.
• These urgent environmental challenges will be in the spotlight over the next few months as the United Nations hosts four major sessions to address key threats to the planet.

Biodiversity:

• Conference of the Parties (COP) dedicated to biodiversity being held in Cali, Colombia in October 2024.
• These are called every two years to debate how the world can cooperate to better protect the rich variety of plant and animal life in the natural world.
• The COP16 isn’t expected to break new ground but is more a stocktake of progress since the last summit secured historic assurances for biodiversity.
• In 2022 in Montreal, nations agreed to place 30 percent of the planet under environmental protection by 2030 in a landmark pact aimed at arresting biodiversity loss and restoring ecosystems to health.
• In Cali, countries will put forward national strategies to meet this global objective, and observers hope Colombia as host will provide a model for others to follow.
• WWF has commended the leadership shown so far by Colombia, which hosts close to 10 percent of Earth’s biodiversity, including countless bird, butterfly, and orchid species.

Climate:

• The world’s most important conference on climate change this year being hosted by Azerbaijan, a former Soviet republic heavily dependent on oil and gas exports, in November 2024.
• While the last summit in Dubai in 2023 delivered a historic commitment to transition the world away from fossil fuels, supporting poorer countries with climate change will top this year’s agenda.
• The summit, known as COP29, is expected to land a new agreement on climate finance: money from rich nations most responsible for global warming to developing countries vulnerable to climate change.
• There isn’t an agreed figure yet, or even consensus on where the money should come from, who should receive it, and what form it could take.
• But developing countries are pushing for much more than the $100 billion pledged in 2009. This was only reached for the first time in full in 2022.
• “COP29 offers an opportunity to unlock more climate investments from a wider range of public and private sources and to improve the quality of this finance,” said the World Resources Institute, a US think tank.
• The result of the US election, just six days before COP29 begins, could throw a last-minute curveball into the final negotiations, which have proved divisive so far.
• It also remains to be seen how many world leaders travel to Baku, the capital on the Caspian Sea, with some expected to focus their energy on COP30 in Brazil next year.

Desertification:

• The least high profile of the three COPs, this session in Saudi Arabia addressing the loss of fertile land to desert is nonetheless critical.
• Climate variation like droughts and human activities like overgrazing can result in desertification, a process mainly in dry areas where land degrades and becomes unproductive.
• Experts hope the COP16 on desertification, scheduled to take place in Riyadh in December 2024, can act as a turning point in addressing this problem.
• Discussions will focus on ways to restore 1.5 billion hectares of land by 2030, as well as putting in place agreements to manage the droughts that are already affecting many regions of the globe.

Plastic:

• In 2022, some 175 nations agreed to fast-track negotiations toward a world-first treaty on plastic pollution, and the final session gets underway on November 25 in South Korea.
• The treaty aims to marshal an international response to the plastic trash choking the environment, from oceans and rivers to mountains and sea ice.
• Some nations want the treaty to restrict how much plastic can be made while others, particularly oil and gas producing countries that provide the raw materials to make plastic, want a focus on recycling.
• Head of Greenpeace’s Pan-African Plastics Project hopes that countries “will agree on a treaty that prioritises reducing plastic production”.
• “There is no time to waste with approaches that will not solve the problem,” the activist said.

What is the current status of the introduction of African cheetahs?

Project Cheetah has encountered significant setbacks, including prolonged captivity and cheetah fatalities; with long-term success hinging on finding sufficient habitat, scientific management, and community support, the project’s future depends on overcoming these enormous challenges

Introduction:

• The Cheetah Action Plan (CAP) represents India’s ambitious effort to introduce African cheetahs into its ecosystems, with a focus on both conserving the species and restoring the health of savanna habitats.
• However, the project has faced several challenges since its inception, including extended captivity of the cheetahs and fatalities, raising questions about its long-term prospects.

Project Cheetah:

• The CAP states that the translocation of a large carnivore, African cheetahs in this case, is a strategy to conserve threatened species and restore ecosystem functions.
• It also states that India plans to assist the Government of Iran, and the international conservation community with conserving the Asiatic cheetah and increasing its distribution range to include protected landscapes in India.
• The CAP also says cheetahs will be a flagship species for the degraded dry-open forest/savanna ecosystems in India and increase the value of restoring and conserving them, as well as improve the fortunes of local communities through eco-tourism.
• It has been estimated that the released population should reach the carrying capacity of Kuno National Park in about 15 years and that of the wider Kuno landscape in 30-40 years.
• According to the CAP, the introduction programme requires long-term (at least 25 years) financial, technical, and administrative commitments from the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC), the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), the Madhya Pradesh Forest Department, and the Wildlife Institute of India.

African cheetahs in captivity:

• Radio-collared male coalitions were to be released first from their holding enclosures (bomas) after a period of one to two months.
• The radio-collared females were to be released one to four weeks after the males, depending on how comfortable the males were in their new environment.
• India has missed these timelines.
• The quarantine period in Kuno for all the cheetahs was longer than specified.
• Once the cheetahs were released into the bomas, they endured a prolonged period of confinement.
• In fact, the 12 surviving adult cheetahs of the 20 brought from Africa have spent almost all of the last 12 months in captivity.
• Such long-term captivity can only be interpreted as a misguided attempt by those managing the cheetahs to play it safe, possibly in the belief that the mortality of the cats can be mitigated in captivity and that they will also be easier to breed.
• Problem: Captive cats quickly become unfit to be released to range free in the wild, which is Project Cheetah’s objective.
• A Namibian policy categorically restricts the captivity period for wild large carnivores to three months.
• If the period exceeds this duration, the carnivore should either be euthanised or be held permanently in captivity.
• As per this policy, the 12 adult cheetahs and the 12 cubs currently in Kuno are unfit to be released into the wild.

Reasons for so many cheetahs die after moving:

• Deaths and births are part and parcel of the lives of all species.
• That said, in such international projects, utmost care should be taken to assess and choose individual animals before they are imported.
• Once the cats are in India, we are responsible for deploying the best available knowledge and management practices to ensure they thrive, not just survive.
• There have been failures on both these fronts.
• One female cheetah imported from Namibia had a pre-existing and chronic renal ailment resulting in her death in captivity.
• A male from South Africa died in captivity due to suspected hypokalaemia and the resulting acute heart failure.
• A female from South Africa died in captivity as she was mauled by a male coalition in an enclosure while the managers were trying to get her to mate.
• All three cats died before they were released at all.
• In May 2023, three of the four cubs born to Jwala were found dead due to heat stroke.
• Between July and August 2023, two males from South Africa (one free-ranging and the other in captivity) and one female from Namibia (free-ranging) died.
• The official reason was that these cats contracted dermatitis, followed by myiasis and septicaemia.
• The root cause was allegedly the growth of a winter coat during the Indian summer and monsoons.
• This is physiologically impossible since a shorter day length is required for the winter coat to grow.
• In January 2024, a male from Namibia died in captivity due to septicaemia.
• In August 2024, another male from Namibia, the only free-ranging African cheetah in Kuno, died apparently due to drowning.
• A few cheetah researchers with decades of experience said none had heard of a single instance of a free-ranging cheetah drowning.
• Two of the cubs born in a litter of six died in June and August 2024. One cub’s spine was broken.

Reasons for locating Cheetahs in Kuno:

• The CAP states that 10 sites were surveyed in five central Indian States to determine their suitability for introducing African cheetahs.
• Of these, Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh was found to be the most suitable for introducing the cheetahs because of its habitat and adequate prey base.
• But even in Kuno, the cheetahs have largely been held captive.
• About 80 sq. km has been fenced off in Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary and cheetahs were initially supposed to be released there by December 2023 or January 2024.
• Now the plan seems to be to introduce the cats in late 2024 or early 2025.
• A captive breeding facility for the African cheetahs is being built in the Banni grasslands of Kachchh, Gujarat.
• Some cheetahs are likely to be housed here.
• Nauradehi Wildlife Sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh has also been mentioned as a potential site for introducing African cheetahs.

Responsibility of Cheetahs:

• An expert committee appointed by the NTCA has the overall responsibility for guiding the project.
• The NTCA and the MoEFCC are the institutions responsible for all high-level decision-making, including negotiating with the African countries to procure the cheetahs.
• The Wildlife Institute of India has been providing technical inputs and the Madhya Pradesh Forest Department has been responsible for the field implementation.

Outcomes of Project Cheetah:

• The CAP outlines both short-term and long-term success criteria for introducing cheetahs in India.
• In the short term, the goals include a 50% survival rate for the first year, cheetahs establishing home ranges, successful reproduction in the wild, and generating revenue for local communities through eco-tourism.
• These goals are currently not being met due to prolonged captivity, which contradicts the plan’s original prescriptions.
• Long-term success is measured by cheetahs becoming a stable part of the ecosystem with natural survival rates, establishing a viable metapopulation, improving habitat quality and prey diversity, and benefiting local economies through sustainable conservation efforts.

Sunset Clause:

• In some sense, the long-term criteria for success like the establishment of a viable metapopulation in India should be viewed as the sunset clause.
• Such projects will need almost constant management attention.
• The timelines stretch across a minimum of 15 years but more realistically 30 to 40 years, as per the CAP.
• But the big question still remains: does India have sufficient habitat (4,000 to 8,000 sq. km) of the required quality to establish a viable population of free-ranging cheetahs in the wild.