In India, four months have passed since the initial nationwide lockdown implemented by the Government of India on 25th March 2020 and now preparation for Unlock 2.0 is beginning, with relaxed restrictions barring a few services such as of Cinema halls, theatres, bars, educational institutes, swimming pools, and other similar services.

Amidst the new policies announced and regulations updated, the role of women, and the economic impact on them is undervalued at an unprecedented rate in India. In a recent policy brief on ‘The Impact of COVID-19 on Women’ by the United Nations on 9^th April 2020, it was stated that “Women will be the hardest hit by this pandemic but they will also be the backbone of recovery in communities.” 

The threat of the pandemic worsening the pre-existing gender inequalities is rising, with a risk of erasing the limited gains of women liberation made in the past few decades in India and worldwide. It is widely known the abysmal manner in which the center handled the migrant labour situations, but often the cases of women migrant labours are overlooked in the broader term of this case.

Women’s Position in Coronavirus

Unpaid care work has increased for women, within households, and informal care jobs. Established gender norms have added responsibilities to women performing the majority of the household chores and care work, and sadly these are not paid and invisible in the economic sense of nature. Women perform 9.6 times more unpaid care work than men, according to a report by the International Labour Organization.

Teachers and nurses are underpaid in the formal care sectors, and even though educational institutes are closed, some teachers still have to go to school for administrative purposes. Sanya Bannerjee, a preschool teacher in a well-reputed school in Vadodara, Gujarat is a single mother of an 8-year-old son. She recounts her experience, “We teachers don’t have to go to school every day, maybe twice or thrice a week. I have to leave my son with the neighbors as the school crèche is closed. I cannot avoid my work as it is my only source of income now. Earlier, I used to take tuitions, but that has stopped since March. I am worried about the health of my son, but I have to go to work for both of us.”

Around the world, women earn less than men and are more likely to be employed in the informal sector, especially in south-Asian countries. With reduced social security and entrenched gender norms, their ability to absorb economic shocks is less than that of men. The pandemic and the economic crisis in India has created a detrimental atmosphere for the single-parent household.

Deepali a domestic helper from Khar, Mumbai says, “I haven’t worked for three months. Out of four houses, only one house paid my salary all these months. In the beginning of the year, I had got a job for washing dishes. But you know, these rich people get to know everything first, and they made some absurd reason and asked me not to come to work in the middle of February. Now I cannot go looking for jobs. Many societies here have rules not to allow people like us to enter because we come from Jhopar-Patti areas. It has been very difficult for me to make ends meet. I am desperately in need of work.” Deepali worked in houses in Santa Cruz and Bandra. She adds that once she was given 3kg of dal and rice from an NGO, but now Deepali and her daughter survives on rice water and boiled vegetables.

According to a recent article on the New York Times, it was reported that female labour participation decreased to 21% from 32% from the year 2005 to 2018 in the country. Women are at a much higher risk of losing their existing jobs and the lack of employment opportunities is said to make it tougher for Indian women to re-enter professional workspace.

Women and girls perform three times more unpaid care and domestic work than men. In the informal sector, they have limited access to social protection and paid sick leaves. While this invisible economy has a positive impact on the formal economy, it has a much greater negative impact on women’s lives.

The mental strain on women worrying about their job security is causing major anxiety-related mental health issues. Due to a low or negligible support system, they are truly in a vulnerable position. The social distancing rules have induced an undesirable effect of a safety norm since it has created a greater physical divide for women to reach out for help. Lack of a support system and negligible safety nets has created a catastrophic environment for women like Deepali and Sanya. 

The discussion of the drawbacks of policies by the government in this period of the pandemic in gender-neutral terms has downplayed the economic impact on women’s lives.  The national media and prominent political figures often wash away the unique issues and situations faced by women due to the systemic social disadvantage. It is imperative to address challenges faced by women and form policies keeping their needs at the center of it.

Conclusion:

A major economic recession announced by the International Monetary Fund, and it is deemed to be unique than any previous global recession. This likelihood will bring challenges to the vulnerable and weaker members of our society, especially women. The progress in women empowerment over the years is likely to be erased in these difficult times as women are burdened with more unpaid care work, domestic labour and gender pay gaps. Women are distanced from NGOs and other organizations for help in current times, which is likely the cause of the rise of domestic violence. Policies should be formed, taking the sensitive issues faced by women, as they have comparatively weaker social safety nets.

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Following the PM’s address, our Finance Minister, Dr. Nirmala Sitharaman, through a set of conferences, laid out the specifics of the package divided into 5 tranches. This article seeks to explore the details, benefits and drawbacks of the same. 

The Package in Details

Some of the Key Highlights of the Package for various sectors in several tranches have been provided below:

EARLIER MEASURES 

The “Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana” provided the following:  

• Foodgrains and gas cylinders to the needy for three months.
• ₹500 to women Jan Dhan account holders for three months.
• Relief to construction workers via a Welfare Fund.
• Insurance cover to health workers.
• District Mineral Fund to facilitate greater medical testing.
• Increased minimum daily wage rate 
• An increased limit of collateral-free loans for Women Self Help Groups.

Apart from the aforementioned activities, the Indian government has also provided relaxation in Statutory and Compliance matters such as extending the last date for Income Tax Returns and filing GST returns, allowing for 24*7 customs clearance till 30th June 2020, and others. It has also sanctioned Rs. 15,000 crores for Emergency Health Response Package and issued pending income-tax returns up to Rs. 5 lakhs.

RBI’s Monetary Measures:

• Reducing Cash Reserve Ratios.
• Providing Targeted Long Term Repo Operations for fresh deployment in investment-grade bonds, commercial paper, and non-convertible debentures. 
• Increasing banks’ borrowing-limit under the Marginal Standing Facility.
• Special refinance facilities for NABARD, SIDBI and the NHB at policy repo rate.
• 3 months of moratorium on payment of all installments and interest on working capital facilities.

MSMEs AND OTHER BUSINESSES

• Availability of collateral-free, automatic loans with 4-year tenure.
• 25% reduction in the rate of Tax Deduction at Source (TDS) and Tax Collection at Source (TCS) 
• Equity infusion and Equity Support for MSMEs.
• Providing a new definition of MSMEs with additional turnover criteria to incentivise them to grow.
• Amendments of General Financial Rules to disallow Global tenders up to Rs.200 crores.
• Extension of the due date of all income-tax return for FY 2019-20.

AGRICULTURE^[3]

• Additional Emergency Working Capital for farmers through NABARD
• Provision of concessional credit to PM-KISAN beneficiaries.
• Promotion of ‘Vocal for Local with Global outreach’ vision via schemes formalising Micro Food Enterprises.
• Facilitating risk mitigation, assured returns and quality standardisation for farmers.
• Implementation of schemes for sustainable development of marine and inland fisheries, development of herbal cultivation, animal husbandry and beekeeping.
• Subsidies on transportation and storage.

MIGRANTS, LABOURERS and OTHERS^[4]

• Setting up shelters providing food and water to migrants by utilising  State Disaster Response Fund.
• Launching schemes to provide free food supply and affordable rental accommodation to migrant workers.
• Providing employment opportunities to the urban-poor by mass production of sanitizers and masks.
• Launching a Special Credit Facility for Street Vendors.
• Universalizing the minimum wage right and implementing the statutory concept of National Floor Wage to reduce regional disparity in minimum wages.
• Boosting the housing sector and the middle-income group through the extension of the Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme.

NEW HORIZONS^[5]

• Fast track Investment Clearance through Empowered Group of Secretaries (EGoS)
• Implementing schemes to upgrade industrial infrastructure and bring about beneficial policy reforms.
• Encouraging private sector participation and boosting investment in several sectors, including space activities.
• Facilitating Efficient Airspace Management for Civil Aviation.
• Improve autonomy, accountability and efficiency in Defence Production.
• Implementing a Tariff Policy Reform pertaining to Consumer Rights, Industry Promotion and Sector-Sustainability.

      GOVERNMENT REFORMS^[6]

• Promoting India as one of the easiest business locations by modifying the Ease of Doing Business Reforms relating to easy registration of property, fast disposal of commercial disputes and simpler tax regime. 
• Facilitating Technology-Driven Education via PM eVIDYA programme
• Increasing investments in the Public Health Sector to not only combat the present pandemic but also prepare for future pandemics.
• Supporting State Governments & promoting state-level reforms.
• Modifying policies to allow for the privatization of various sectors, while upholding the prominence of Public Service Enterprises in defined areas. 

Overall Stimulus Provided by the Aatmanirbhar Bharat Package

Problems

The earlier fiscal relief measures along with RBI’s measures constitute ₹9,94,403 crores, which leaves an effective amount of ₹11,02,650 crores. Thus, the immediate fiscal boost announced with such grandeur by the government is quite less than the promised amount because of the inclusion of RBI’s monetary measures, despite both being independent institutions. Direct investment by the government in the form of a boost to the aggregate demand guarantees immediate impetus to the economy, however, that might not be the case with the government’s indirect measures and RBI’s credit easing because the banks, instead of lending, might park the money back with the RBI, thus, rendering its help ineffective. Even if the banks transmit the liquidity measures from RBI to the citizens, the transmission procedure will not be smooth due to the prevailing inefficiency of monetary policy transfers.

The economic package includes a lot of measures spread over 5 tranches. However, there exists the problem of implementing those measures. A classic example is the provision of collateral-free automatic loans to MSMEs. There is a high risk of non-return to banks in such cases unless the businesses end up earning high-profits amidst a global crisis, that is if the MSMEs get the required loans after overcoming the hurdles of meeting the high credit score criteria, bearing high processing costs followed by tedious procedures, and still not receiving the entire amount applied for. 

Conclusion

Both ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan’ and the ‘Make In India Campaign’ attempt to attract Foreign Direct Investment by laying emphasis on the promotion of local products to help with the declining job market. However, this causes a critical problem in a developing country like India which needs to depend on cost-effective imports of several products in which it does not have a comparative advantage and the domestic production of which will lead to increased manufacturing cost, thus, leading to the loss of a competitive edge in the Global Market. Although, Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan does possess an advantage due to the inclusion of agriculture, which had been neglected all this while.

Although the package is very comprehensive and caters to the needs of all people, past history of failures due to the presence of corrupt bureaucracy raises the question of whether the relief package will have its desired effect. However, if the package is properly implemented and people are educated about the schemes through various drives and trained to utilize the benefits available to them, then there exists the possibility of success of the package through economic upliftment of the nation.

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The encounter of criminals is not a novel thing in India; in fact, it is much more commonplace than capital punishment. So, more people are killed by the police without trial than criminals sentenced to the gallows through the proper procedure by our courts. If they are a violation of the due process of justice, how come they are still such widespread phenomena?

Why Extra-Judicial Killings Continue Unabated?

It is now a well-known fact that Indians have lost faith in the judicial system. Rampant with red-tapism, corruption, procedural delays and empty posts, the mammoth of a system takes years to fulfill its promises. As the Hindi film, Damini has immortalized: “Tareekh pe tareekh milti hai My Lord, insaaf nahi milta!” This is a sad reality for the majority of people who spend half of their lives trapped in the slow-paced monotony of courts for trivial cases. Over three crore cases are pending in the courts of the country, nearly 15% of them for more than 10 years! As a result, many extra-judicial forms of punishment are seen to bring timely ‘justice’ in places where the courts have been exhausted. For instance, it took nearly 7 years for Nirbhaya rapists to face their ultimate punishment, while the Telangana police disposed off the 2019 rape accused within a few days and were hailed as heroes. This is a bleak picture of our hollow system, which has come to prefer encounters over trials.

Apart from the inadequacy of the judicial system, public perceptions of justice are also responsible for these methods adopted by the police. Justice in India has retained its barbaric, orthodox roots that embrace a tit-for-tat approach tainted with violence. Public lynching of an accused is given moral backing and it is seen as the policemen’s duty to teach the defiant criminals a lesson. So of course encounters of criminals are met with applause and immortalized into Bollywood ‘masala’ scripts. The film industry, with its penchant for the heroic cop protagonist who takes matters in his own hands to rid the society of all evil, has enhanced public acceptance and appreciation of cops turning executioners. Even the police deem it easier to kill a suspect than go through the trouble of building a case and proving the accused’s guilt.

We as citizens view justice in absolute terms. But in reality, the matters of law are much more complex than the black and white camps of fair and unfair. There is a vast grey area that encompasses the latent aspects of truth, penal action, and reform. To simplify it through killing criminals is an insult to the very nature of justice and rule of law. The difference between the roles of Police and the Courts blurs in our mind to give way to a twisted system where the cops play judge, jury and executioner, when all their jobs permit is capturing criminals and bringing them before the law. Even those who do not support the law enforcement’s use of such means willingly turn a blind eye fearing retaliatory action. Unlike the US, a civil movement against the high-handedness of the cops is rendered almost impossible as the police are viewed as the ultimate dispenser of justice.

The Price to Pay

You cannot play with fire without getting burnt; you cannot embrace or allow one form of police brutality (re encounters) without offsetting a spiral of police-administered justice that violates our rights. The custodial torture and deaths of Jayaraj and Fenix are a product of this very system that is used to getting away with killings. It is this very lack of accountability that has put the sanctity of our democracy in peril, for absolute power corrupts absolutely. With few exceptions, most encounters today are jaded with shady details and fake charges. As was seen in Punjab during the heights of militancy, police killed anyone whom they suspected in the slightest to have a connection with insurgents. The same was practised in the case of Naxalites. So many lives were lost with no proof of their guilt presented for perusal.

A democracy guarantees certain rights to its citizens, even to convicts. Free and fair trial is a necessity not only of the accused but also the state in order to ascertain without a doubt that the allegations levelled are true. And even if found guilty, the quantum of punishment should be in proportion to the crime committed. This is the job of courts, not the police. Subverting due democratic process even for handing out punishment threatens the very foundations of our state. The means, after all, do not justify the end, and all logic contrary to this is a sign of approaching totalitarianism. India chose to be a democratic nation for a reason; hence the policing measures should reflect the same commitment instead of behaving in a manner reminiscent of our coloniser’s policies. And the police connivance with the underbelly of crime and politics forms an inescapable nexus which has reduced encounters to a political tool readily used, than a last resort method.

This trigger-happy attitude not only severely deprives the accused a chance to prove their innocence or receive punishment in accordance with their crime; it also dehumanizes them in our eyes. All criminals are not hard-core evil. They are born from us, sometimes because of us…Without due process, the truth about their circumstances and motives will never see the light of the day. If we deprive even the most heinous ones of their rights, we fail as a democracy. Equality before the law is a fundamental right, therefore a terrorist and a petty criminal both have the right to defend themselves in front of unbiased judges through due procedure laid down by the law. Our sense of justice is hence very punitive. We as a people do not believe in reform despite claiming the opposite and are content to see criminals incarcerated for life, or worse, dead. What is the point of locking up the bad guys if they do not become better? Do we want to kill all evil or dive to its roots and weed it out? That is for us to decide.

Reform the Norms

The law is reason without passion

Aristotle

This is one statement that has stood the test of time. There is no doubt that there are numerous criminals with blood on their hands that deserve to be punished, but their fate is for the law to decide. One organ of the law enforcement taking the entire law into their hands is not only a mockery of the system but also defeats the very purpose that due legal processes were created for. The law should punish and reform the accused and simultaneously grant a reprieve to the victim. We cannot imagine the pain of someone whose rights have been violated, and it would be unfair to tell them to wait until justice is served because no amount of judicial action can reverse their suffering. But justice is never served through wanton murders without trials. To deprive the accused of their chance to defend themselves, to kill whom you deem guilty, spells another violation of the law. And if the law-protectors break it brazenly, what is to stop the common man from doing so?

All the delays, extensive paperwork, ever-shifting dates that have made the judicial system so tedious and unattractive call for reform, not a subversion of the law. And not just the system, there is a strong need to change the public attitude and perception of justice, and replace it with a more reform-centric approach instead of plain retribution. For us to question the authorities that undermine the constitution is the first step towards a stronger, more accountable nation.

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With the similar objective of promoting investments through transparent and expedient approvals by implementation of an online system, further delegation, rationalization and standardization of the process as part of ease of doing business in March 2020, the environment ministry proposed a draft notification to replace the 2006 EIA. Currently, the notification is at the stage of public comments. This draft raised key concerns among the communities as it primarily provides for a reduction of time period from 30 days to 20 days for the public to submit their responses during a public hearing for any application seeking environmental clearance.

It also requires that the public hearing process be completed in 40 days compared to 45 days under the 2006 notification. In addition to this projects can receive clearance post-facto, i.e. a project operating in violation of the EPA can now apply for clearance and it also increased the discretionary power of state government to waive the process of getting clearance for strategic projects (where it can include long list of projects).

Background of Environment Impact Assessment and Public Hearing

Saving our planet, lifting people out of poverty, advancing economic growth… these are one and the same fight. We must connect the dots between climate change, water scarcity, energy shortages, global health, food security and women’s empowerment. Solutions to one problem must be solutions for all.

– Ban Ki-Moon

India issued the country’s first Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) notification in 1994, under the Environment (Protection) Act (EPA) of 1986. This was later replaced by a modified draft in 2006. In both forms, the EIA performs the important function of assessing and regulating the impact of new projects on the environment and empowers the public to participate in the process of approvals.

The Environmental Impact Assessment report, Environment Management Plan and details of public consultations have to be submitted by the project proponents to the Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) for appraisal of the project. The 2006 notification made clearance of a four-step procedure with screening, scoping, public consultation, and appraisal as mandatory steps to be followed by project proponents before clearance could be granted. After these four steps have been followed, the recommendation for acceptance or rejection of EC is sent to the regulatory authority, which is the MoEF for category ‘A’ and State Level Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA) for category B projects. Public consultation is the third step in the process of environmental clearance.

The enactment of this procedure was influenced by series of environmental problems which can be exemplified through the cases such as Bichri village where many villages, agricultural land water of the wells, surface water, cattle, and human beings were badly affected because of the industrial operation in the district of the Udaipur, state of Rajasthan and Tanneries case where public hearing before setting up of the factory was considered as an important measure. In the Samarth Trust Case, the Delhi high court had considered EIAs “a part of participatory justice in which the voice is given to the voiceless and it is like a jan sunwai, where the community is the jury”.

Sustainable Development

It is often argued that the process of environment clearance is leading to piling up of files and delays in projects. Developers complain that the EIA regime dampened the spirit of liberalization, leading to red-tapism and rent-seeking. This is the present state of implementation of existing mechanisms in Kerala, the administration took 1,049 days to clear the construction of the IT park project of M/s L&T Tech Park Ltd, instead of 105 days.

Amidst this, in the case of Vellore Citizens Welfare Forum vs UOI  it is held that companies are vital for the country’s development, but having regard to pollution, the doctrine of ‘Sustainable Development’ must be adopted by them as a balancing concept. If final clearance is granted after taking into account the environmental, social, and health concerns, then it can be said that the government is using this process as a tool to ensure sustainability which implies that the delay in clearance should be encountered while balancing it with the above concerns.

Reduced capacity to clearance and administrative inefficiency in granting clearance was often highlighted right from Sterlite to LG polymers’ case which has shown us the dampening spirit of the government towards already existing environmental laws.

Conclusion

A solution to development should also solve the problem of mounting environmental challenges. Introduction of environmental impact assessment is the hallmark of participatory governance in the country and dilution of this in any way hampers the primary aim of promoting a sustainable environment. Encountering bureaucratic inefficiency would always be a welcoming step but granting discretionary powers to the same authority would always raise concerns among the communities.

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