Daily UPSC Mains Question – July 8/2020

GS – 2

Without proper rule of law, citizens are condemned to live in local tyrannies. What does the present incident reveal about the nature of our state and the link between law and violence? 150 Words

In the News:

• The modern state emerged by gathering power dispersed among rivalries’, local strongmen and depositing it in a single set of inter-related institutions, now endowed with a monopoly of force and violence.
•  These institutions were meant to function independently of the ruler — they do not belong to him, are not part of his personal estate. Instead, they work for the entire public.

Political Institutions:

• First our political institutions, including the judicial machinery, are far from independent of the will of the rulers.
•  Second, local policemen think of themselves as sovereigns in their own little territory, executors of ‘laws’ they invent on the go. Indian society continues to consist of rival power groups, each with a ‘private’ police force at their mercy, coercing local populations to behave according to rules crafted at will.
• The police uniform plays a symbolic role expressing that anyone who dons it has power, prestige and the backing of the entire official apparatus. This social superiority sanctions extra-legal behaviour that often has the stamp of rampaging criminality.

Law as performance:

• Our society is meant to be governed by the rule of law implemented by a state above it, impartially arbitrating social disputes. The performance of law courts is like theatre or a film that seduces spectators into a reality of its own making.
• On most occasions, the lower courts are seen to be doing something when in fact they get nothing legally substantive done.
• The proper functioning of the legal system then is the exception, the absence of rule of law and the lawlessness of local powers, the norm. Winners at the ballot box appear to earn the right to rule by arbitrary power.
• So, it goes unsaid to have a proper rule of law implemented in the first place so that the violence is kept under check

Chinese muscularity in the South China Sea is leading to a growing chorus of protest. Explain.250 Words

In the News

• The Philippines invoked the dispute settlement mechanism of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) to test the legality of China’s ‘nine-dash line’ regarding the disputed Spratlys.
• The South China Sea (SCS) is important not just to its littoral countries. It has been a transit point for trade since early medieval times, contains abundantly rich fisheries, and is a repository of mineral deposits and hydrocarbon reserves.

The PCA verdict:

• The PCA award undermined the Chinese claim. It held that none of the features of the Spratlys qualified them as islands, and there was no legal basis for China to claim historic rights and to the resources within the ‘nine-dash line’.
•  The UNCLOS provides that islands must sustain habitation and the capacity for non-extractive economic activity. Reefs and shoals that are unable to do so are considered low-tide elevations. The award implied that China violated the Philippines Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).

Growing Chinese Muscularity:

• Growing Chinese muscularity in the SCS is visible in the increased patrolling and live-fire exercising by Chinese naval vessels; ramming and sinking of fishing vessels of other claimant countries; renaming of SCS features; and building of runways, bunkers, and habitation for possible long-term stationing of personnel on the atolls claimed by China. 
• Chinese exploration and drilling vessels compete aggressively with those of other littoral countries in the disputed waters. A complicating factor for China is Russia’s growing military and economic equities in the SCS.
•  Russia and Vietnam have a defence cooperation relationship, which they are committed to strengthening.

India’s relevant options:

• From India’s perspective, foreign and security policy in its larger neighbourhood covers the entire expanse of the Asia-Pacific and extends to the Persian Gulf and West Asia.
•  India must continue to actively pursue its defence diplomacy outreach in the Indo-Pacific region: increase military training and conduct exercises and exchanges at a higher level of complexity, extend Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief activities, share patrolling of the Malacca Strait with the littoral countries, etc.
•  The Comprehensive Strategic Partnerships that India has concluded with Australia, Japan, Indonesia, the U.S., and Vietnam could be extended to Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Singapore.
• India must also buttress the military capacity of the tri-service Andaman and Nicobar Command. In this time of turbulence, India cannot afford to continue undervaluing one of its biggest assets.