India, Nepal sign pacts on energy, transport

• The border between India and Nepal should not become a barrier, Prime Minister as the two sides signed a series of agreements on energy and transport, including export of Nepal’s hydropower to Bangladesh through Indian territory.
• A long-term Power Trade Agreement has been signed between India and Nepal. Under this agreement, we have set a target of importing 10,000 MW of electricity from Nepal in the coming years. Focusing on energy cooperation, and a new pipeline will be constructed from Siliguri to Jhapa in eastern Nepal.
• The two sides signed a number of agreements, including an MoU between NHPC and VUCL (Vidyut Utpadan Company Ltd.) of Nepal, for the development of Phukot Karnali Hydroelectric Project and a Project Development Agreement for Lower Arun Hydroelectric Project between SJVN (India) and Investment Board of Nepal.

Sedition law can be retained but with safeguards: Law Commission

The Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) dealing with sedition needs to be retained but certain amendments could be made for greater clarity regarding its usage, the 22nd Law Commission has said in its report to the government.

The commission said sedition being a “colonial legacy” is not a valid ground for its repeal but in view of the misuse of Section 124A, the panel has recommended that the Centre issue model guidelines to curb any misuse.

Sedition Law

• Historical Background:
  • Sedition laws were enacted in 17th century England when lawmakers believed that only good opinions of the government should survive, as bad opinions were detrimental to the government and monarchy.
  • The law was originally drafted in 1837 by Thomas Macaulay, the British historian-politician, but was inexplicably omitted when the Indian Penal Code (IPC) was enacted in 1860.
  • Section 124A was inserted in 1870 by an amendment introduced by James Stephen when it felt the need for a specific section to deal with the offence.
  • Today the Sedition is a crime under Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
• Sedition Law Today:
  • Section 124A IPC:
    • It defines sedition as an offence committed when "any person by words, either spoken or written, or by signs, or by visible representation, or otherwise, brings or attempts to bring into hatred or contempt, or excites or attempts to excite disaffection towards the government established by law in India".
    • Disaffection includes disloyalty and all feelings of enmity. However, comments without exciting or attempting to excite hatred, contempt or disaffection, will not constitute an offence under this section.
  • Punishment for the Offense of Sedition:
    • It is a non-bailable offence. Punishment under Section 124A ranges from imprisonment up to three years to a life term, to which a fine may be added.
    • A person charged under this law is barred from a government job.
      • They have to live without their passport and must appear in court at all times as and when required.

Significance and Issues with the Sedition Law

• Significance:
  • Reasonable Restrictions:
    • The constitution of India prescribes reasonable restrictions (under Article 19(2)) that can always be imposed on this right (Freedom of Speech and Expression) in order to ensure its responsible exercise and to ensure that it is equally available to all citizens.
  • Maintaining Unity & Integrity:
    • Sedition law helps the government in combating anti-national, secessionist and terrorist elements.
  • Maintaining Stability of State:
    • It helps in protecting the elected government from attempts to overthrow the government with violence and illegal means. The continued existence of the government established by law is an essential condition of the stability of the State.
• Issues:
  • Relic of Colonial Era:
    • Colonial administrators used sedition to lock up people who criticised the British policies.
    • Stalwarts of the freedom movement such as Lokmanya Tilak, Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Bhagat Singh, etc., were convicted for their “seditious” speeches, writings and activities under British rule.
    • Thus, rampant use of the sedition law recalls the colonial era.
  • Stand of Constituent Assembly:
    • The Constituent Assembly did not agree to include sedition in the Constitution. The members felt it would curtail freedom of speech and expression.
    • They argued that the sedition law can be turned into a weapon to suppress people’s legitimate and constitutionally guaranteed right to protest.
  • Disregarding Supreme Court’s Judgement:
    • Supreme Court in Kedar Nath Singh vs State of Bihar case 1962, limited application of sedition to “acts involving intention or tendency to create disorder, or disturbance of law and order, or incitement to violence”.
    • Thus, invoking sedition charges against academicians, lawyers, socio-political activists and students is in disregard of the Supreme Court’s order.
  • Repressing Democratic Values:
    • Increasingly, India is being described as an elected autocracy primarily because of the callous and calculated use of sedition law.

Half of electricity to be from renewable sources by 2027

• India may have internationally committed to half its installed electricity being sourced from renewable sources by 2030, an estimate of the country’s projected power needs by the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) suggests that this target may be achieved early, by 2026-27.
• The National Electricity Plan (NEP) prepared by the CEA is a five-year plan that assesses India’s current electricity needs, projected growth, power sources, and challenges. The voluminous document notes that the share of non-fossil based capacity is likely to increase to 57.4% by the end of 2026-27 and may likely to further increase to 68.4% by the end of 2031-32 from around 42.5% as on April 2023.
• Installed capacity, however, does not perfectly translate into generated power as different sources of energy have varying efficiencies, and not all sources of power are available at all times. For instance, solar power is available only during the day and wind energy is dependent on climate vagaries.
• Accounting for this, the available power from renewable energy will only be around 35.04% of the total generated electricity by 2026-27 and 43.96% by 2031-32, the NEP estimates.

World’s lithium

The news of potentially significant reserves of lithium, an element needed to manufacture batteries used in electric cars and other renewable energy infrastructure, in Jammu and Kashmir has been welcomed universally.

India’s lithium industry

• India’s electric-vehicle (EV) market was valued at $383.5 million in 2021, and is expected to expand to $152.21 billion in 2030.
• India imported 450 million units of lithium batteries valued at $929.26 million (₹6,600 crore) in 2019-2020, which makes the development of the country’s domestic lithium reserves a matter of high stakes.
• Scholars have argued that the ongoing global transition to low-carbon economies, the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence (AI), and 5G networks will greatly reshape global and regional geopolitics. The access to and control over rare minerals, such as lithium and cobalt, will play a crucial role in these epochal changes.

Who should own

• In July 2013, a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court of India ruled that the owner of the land has rights to everything beneath, “down to the centre of the earth”. Yet, large areas of land, including forests — which make up more than 22% of India’s landmass — hills, mountains, and revenue wasteland are publicly owned.
• The Supreme Court also recalled that the Union government could always ban private actors from mining sensitive minerals, as is already the case with uranium under the Atomic Energy Act 1962. In today’s context, lithium is as important as, if not more than, uranium.

Other countries manage lithium reserves

• The stories of two South American countries, Chile and Bolivia — which have the largest known reserves of lithium — are particularly instructive.
• In Chile, the government has designated lithium as a strategic resource and its development has been made the exclusive prerogative of the state. The state has licensed only two companies — SQM and Albemarle — to produce lithium in the country.
• In April 2023, Chile’s president Gabriel Boric announced a new “National Lithium Strategy”, which many in the corporate sector took to be a declaration of his intention to nationalise the industry. which will allow the state to regulate the environmental impact of lithium-mining, distribute the revenue from lithium production more fairly among local communities, and promote domestic research into lithium-based green technologies.
• Bolivia’s new constitution, approved by a popular vote in February 2009, gave the state “the control and direction over the exploration, exploitation, industrialisation, transport, and commercialisation of natural resources.” The Morales administration nationalised lithium and adopted a hard line against private and foreign participation. This is believed to be one of the factors for the country’s failure to produce any lithium at a commercial scale nearly 20 years after the industry was nationalised.
• Bolivia’s current president, seeks to change that. However, instead of handing over lithium resources to the private sector, Join hands with other Latin American countries to design a ‘lithium policy’ that would benefit all their economies.
• Mexico’s president Andrés Manuel López Obrador also nationalised lithium in February this year, declaring, “Oil and lithium belong to the nation, they belong to the people of Mexico.”