Editorial 1: It’s not just nine months
Recent Context:
- Recently, Supreme court rejected plea to end 26-week pregnancy. In 2021, India revised the upper gestational limit for legal abortion to 24 weeks for specific categories of “vulnerable women”, removing them altogether in case of substantial foetal abnormalities diagnosed by a medical board.
- Earlier, the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act 1971 allowed registered medical practitioners (RMP) to terminate pregnancies on the permitted grounds up to 20 weeks of gestation.
- This amendment came in the backdrop of several writ petitions seeking judicial authorisation for termination of pregnancy filed before the Supreme Court and High Courts.
Current challenges relation to abortion after the latest amendment
- Even after the 2021 amendment, women continue to approach the courts in case of breach of the new gestational limits or denial of abortion care by providers.
- On Monday, the SC rejected a petition for termination of pregnancy at 26 weeks filed by a married woman, whose pregnancy went undetected due to lactational amenorrhea.
- Studies prior to the 2021 amendment, indicate that in most cases women approached the courts upon crossing the 20-week gestational barrier
- In an overwhelming majority of these cases (96 per cent), abortion was sought on grounds of foetal abnormalities or rape.
- A possible reason for this is “pre-screening” of the petition by stakeholders assisting the woman (such as doctors/lawyers), to assess its chances of obtaining a favourable opinion from the medical board or judges.
- It is likely that court grant permission to minor rape victims or in case of certain foetal abnormalities, such petitions were readily filed, whereas “borderline cases” were not sent to courts to avoid “adverse precedents” and “corruption of jurisprudence”.
- But women may need a late-term abortion in several other circumstances, including
- structural barriers to accessing abortion at early stages;
- vulnerable situations (domestic violence, sexual assault, prisons);
- changes in circumstances post-pregnancy (including partner support, financial situation, education and employment);
- physical and mental health conditions; and
- late detection of pregnancy due to lactational amenorrhea or menopause, among others.
- The 2021 amendment secures abortion access for only some women who qualify under the prescribed categories (or can be interpreted as such) subject to the gestational limit
Situations face by the person during proceeding who chooses for abortion
- For those who can cross the initial hurdles to accessing courts and file a petition, the journey through the legal and medical systems is often arduous, frustrating and dehumanising.
- Women must undergo medical examination by a panel of doctors even when multiple medical reports are appended to the petition. Repeated medical examinations (including psychiatric/psychological evaluations) are not uncommon when the medical opinion is vague or becomes dated during the proceedings.
- In the courtroom, lawyers often resort to graphic descriptions to help the judges visualise the seriousness of their client’s situation.
- Sometimes, Conversations in the SC circling around the petitioner’s mental illness claims and repeated suggestions for counselling exemplify this. Despite putting themselves up for public scrutiny, fear and apprehensions about uncertainties of the outcome remain.
IS there need for legal reform?
- While it is true that Indian law is more liberal in comparison to other countries, it does not reflect the international human rights standards and recent best practices on abortion.
- Last year, the SC acknowledged that the MTP Act is a provider-centric legislation, where the opinion of the RMP on whether the grounds specified under the Act are satisfied is “decisive” and in case of denial of abortion services, women are “compelled to approach courts or seek abortion in unsafe conditions”.
- In its latest guidelines on abortion care, the WHO recommends that
- States fully decriminalise abortion and remove grounds-based regulation and gestational limits to abortion (amongst others) to ensure non-discriminatory and equal abortion care to all.
- The guidelines recommend clinical best practices for safely terminating a pregnancy at any gestational age. The WHO considers grounds-based control and gestational limits on abortion as “medically unnecessary policy barriers”, which are not evidence based.
- Even in latest judgement, SC gave a purposive interpretation to the MTP Rules, allowing unmarried women to access abortion up to 24 weeks which recognises women’s right to life and reproductive autonomy.
- SC adopted a rights-based approach and drew attention to “social realities” and lived experiences of women, structural and legal barriers to abortion, objects and purposes of the MTP Act, constitutional guarantees, and India’s obligations under the international human rights law.
Conclusion:
- The debate over abortion brings the ethical dilemma between pro-choice and right to choose, autonomy over own body. The existing law is complex rather than maintaining the balance.
- Therefore there is need to further reform in MTP Act as per latest WHO guidelines and in the case, abortion beyond a certain time duration then it should be carried out case by case while following rule, regulation , ethical and moral principles.
Editorial 2: On the upswing
Recent Context:
- Recently, The International Monetary Fund has upgraded India’s GDP growth forecast to 6.3 per cent for 2023-24, up 40 basis points from its April forecast. The RBI’s forecast remains unchanged at 6.5 per cent.
- While the latest geopolitical conflict in West Asia may have opened a pandora’s box, we still believe the Indian economy could grow at a faster pace than expected. India’s growth projection for the full year is at 6.7 per cent.
The potential fourfold reasons for India’s growth
- First, the favorable monsoon.
- While the overall rainfall was 6 per cent below the expected during the monsoon season (due to 36 per cent deficit rains in August), the spatial distribution is quite even. Out of 36 states/UTs, 29 received normal/above-normal rains. It will result in better growth is agriculture sector.
- Second, the thrust on capital expenditure continues.
- During the first five months of the current year, the capital expenditure of the states as a percentage of the budgeted target is at 25 per cent, while the Centre’s is at 37 per cent.
- Nearly all states are on a spending spree, with Andhra Pradesh leading the pack, spending as much as 51 per cent of the budgeted amount.
- It will lead to cover infrastructure bottleneck and promote EoDB in the economy.
- Third, the robust new companies’ registration depicts strong growth intentions.
- Around 93,305 companies were registered in the first half of 2023-24 as compared to 59,241 five years back.
- It is interesting to note that the average daily registration of new companies increased to 622 in 2023-24 (an increase of 58 per cent) from 395 in 2018-19.
- It will help in generating economic growth and employment in the economy
- Fourth, continued traction in credit growth.
- All scheduled commercial banks’ (ASCB’s) credit growth (year-on-year) has been accelerating since early 2022.
- Aggregate deposits grew by 13.2 per cent and credit by 20 per cent (without HDFC it was 15.3 per cent, but still broadly similar to FY22) till September.
- In the coming months, we expect credit demand to remain robust due to the festive season. Thus it will promote investment and demand within the economy.
Role of financial inclusion in formalization of credit facility that support economic growth potential
- Government’s schemes like PM SVANidhi, credible borrowers can have continued access to the financial system in the form of repeat loans provided that they have a good credit repayment history.
- Programmes like Jan Dhan Yojana allow banks to meet the demand for credit for households that were operating outside the formal banking sector. And the aspirations of such households are much stronger now and there is nothing to get alarmed at such trends.
- And, this sustained healthy credit growth could continue to propel the economic momentum across the country.
Conclusion:
- In 2023-24, the credit to nominal GDP ratio may end up being around 1.7 times, up from 0.93 times in 2022-23, boosting the flow of funds to the broader economy, and helping to sustain the momentum.
- Therefore, If the banking sector’s indicators are taken as a new normal, India is in for a sustained period of growth.