17 Nov 2023 : The Hindu Editorial

Editorial 1 : Challenging the Electoral Bond Scheme

Introduction:

• Civil society has been campaigning for long to empower the voter by improving her access to background information on the candidates in the electoral fray, and to bring about greater transparency in the obscure domain of political funding.
• In this, the instrument of public interest litigation (PIL) has been deployed to good effect. The campaign is premised on the citizen’s democratic right to information (RTI), which is integral to the fundamental right to speech and expression under the Constitution.

A veil over the corporate donor

• Electoral Bond Scheme (EBS) was touted as a sincere effort to clean up electoral democracy by incentivising political donations through banking channels.
• To begin with, the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA) was retrospectively amended through the Finance Act of 2016 to permit Indian subsidiaries of foreign companies to donate to political parties. This was followed by an overhaul of the regulatory framework comprising the Representation of the People Act (RPA), the Companies Act, 2013, the Income Tax (IT) Act and the RBI Act through the Finance Act of 2017, despite strident protests from the RBI, the Election Commission of India (ECI) and Opposition parties.
• The device of incorporating the amending Bills in the Finance Bill effectively short circuited the consideration of the legislative proposals by the Rajya Sabha and ensured their smooth passage.
• Months before the EBS was promulgated, the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and Common Cause filed a PIL to challenge the constitutionality of the amendments made in the Finance Act of 2017. The petition contended that these amendments infringed the citizen’s fundamental ‘Right to know’ under Article 19(1)(a), and were not saved by any of the permissible restrictions under Article 19(2).
• The petition held that the impugned amendments jeopardised the country’s autonomy, militated against transparency, incentivised corrupt practices by lifting the caps on corporate donations and allowing contributions by loss making and shell companies. Consequently, the nexus between politics and big business was rendered more opaque.
• The instrument would enable special interest groups, corporate lobbyists and foreign entities to secure a stranglehold on the electoral process and influence the country’s governance to public detriment.
• By relieving the political parties of the duty to disclose the particulars of their donors, the amendments eroded the ECI’s constitutional role and deprived citizens of vital information concerning electoral funding. Further, the recourse to a money bill to amend the relevant laws subverted the legislative scheme envisaged in the Constitution.

Bonds, the favoured mode

• Over time, electoral bonds have become the favoured mode of political donation. Bonds worth ₹13,791 crore have been sold in 27 tranches until July 2023. The ADR’s research has shown that electoral bonds accounted for 55.9% of the donations.

• The expenditure on the last general election to the Lok Sabha has been estimated at between ₹55,000 to ₹60,000 crore. Most dealings of political parties continue to be in cash, but the receipts from electoral bonds enable them to meet their transactions with the formal economy, such as the costs of infrastructure expansion, equipment and publicity in the print, electronic and digital media. This gives them an enormous advantage over their rivals in influencing voter behaviour and electoral outcomes.
• Meanwhile, a general election to the Lok Sabha and 30 elections to State Assemblies have been held. In most of these contests, the political formations in power have enjoyed the advantage of augmented inflow of corporate contributions, thanks to the EBS that inherently favours the incumbent. 
• Supreme Court (SC) of India did not take kindly to the petitioners’ repeated pleas to stay the impugned scheme, pending determination of the weighty issues raised in their petition. Solicitor General has argued that anonymity is central to the right to privacy of political donors, even though this fundamental right is not available to artificial legal persons.

Conclusion:

• Based on the Supreme Court’s stellar record in expanding the scope of the right to freedom of speech and expression and empowering the voter to make an informed choice, one may hope that the next round of elections will be contested on a reasonably level playing field.

Editorial 2 : How was the first vaccine for chikungunya approved?

Context:

• Recently, the world’s first vaccine for chikungunya was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the U.S. The vaccine has been manufactured by Valneva under the brand name Ixchiq. It has been approved for administration in people who are 18 years or older, and are at increased risk of exposure to the virus.
• Ixchiq is administered as a single dose by injection into the muscle. It contains a live, weakened version of the chikungunya virus and may cause symptoms in the vaccine recipient similar to those experienced by people who have the disease.

About chikungunya:

• Chikungunya, is characterised by severe joint pain and impaired mobility, and comes with fever. It is a viral infection (CHIKV) transmitted primarily by the Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquitoes and has been described as “an emerging global health threat.”
• The WHO fact sheet says Chikungunya is prevalent in Africa, Asia, and the Americas; but sporadic outbreaks have been reported in other regions. As per the National Centre for Vector Borne Diseases Control, India had above 93,000 suspected chikungunya cases until September in 2023.
• Since 2004, outbreaks of CHIKV have become more frequent and widespread, partly due to viral adaptations allowing the virus to be spread more easily by the Aedes albopictus mosquitoes.
• The joint pain is often debilitating and varies in duration; it can last for a few days, but also be prolonged over months. Other symptoms include joint swelling, muscle pain, headache, nausea, fatigue and rash.
• While severe symptoms and deaths from chikungunya are rare and usually related to other coexisting health problems, it is believed that the numbers are generally underestimated, because chikungunya is often misdiagnosed as dengue or zika, as symptoms can seem similar.
• As of now, there is no cure, only symptomatic relief, with analgesics to help with the pain, antipyretics for the fever, rest, and adequate fluids. Prevention includes mosquito control activities, primarily falling under public health outreach and routine civic maintenance. Individuals are also advised to use medicated mosquito nets and ensure that there is no water stagnation in any containers at home, in order to prevent the breeding of mosquitoes.

Indian Government Initiative to Control Chikungunya:

• National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP) is a comprehensive programme for prevention and control of vector borne diseases namely Malaria, Filaria, Kala-azar, Japanese Encephalitis (JE), Dengue and Chikungunya. It works under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
• Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) launched during 12th Plan (2012–17) under the National Health Mission, sets up a Central Surveillance Unit (CSU) at Delhi, State Surveillance Units (SSU) at all State/Union Territories (UTs) head quarters and District Surveillance Units (DSU) at all Districts. Its objectives are to strengthen/maintain decentralized laboratory based and IT enabled disease surveillance systems for epidemic prone diseases to monitor disease trends, to detect and respond to outbreaks in the early rising phase through trained Rapid Response Teams (RRTs).

Conclusion:

• Hopefully, inspired by the fasttrack pathway drawn up by research into COVID, this approval will fast track the roll out of vaccines in countries where chikungunya is more prevalent, including Brazil, Paraguay, India and parts of western Africa.