DRUG TRAFFICKING
1. Introduction
- The narcotics trade is assuming dangerous proportions all over the world.
- It is a social problem that harms youth and families and the money it generates is diverted for disruptive activities that have bearings on national security.
- The issue has kept security agencies and law enforcement agencies on the tenterhooks. India is no exception.
2. Key points
- Traditionally India has been seen as sandwiched between the Death (Golden) Crescent and Death (Golden) Triangle.
- The country is being flooded with drugs, especially heroin and methamphetamine, from these two regions by drug lords indirectly supported by intelligence setups.
- Nearly 90 per cent of the world's demand for these drugs is being met from these two regions.
- India is both a big market and a transit route for other countries. Money generated in this illicit trade is phenomenal.
- There are indications that parts of Pakistan adjoining Afghanistan are also used by Pakistani drug traffickers to convert Afghan opium to heroin.
- The Shan and Kachin provinces of Myanmar bordering China also pose challenges.
- These heroin and methamphetamine-producing areas have porous borders and are, reportedly, under the control of rebel groups, indirectly supported by the Chinese.
- Illicit arms are manufactured here and supplied to underground groups active in India.
3. Recent developments
- The maritime route has also become very active after the recent developments in Jammu and Kashmir.
- The use of drones to supply drugs and weapons across the border in Punjab is a new phenomenon and law enforcement agencies are working out strategies to neutralise this.
- The Indian Coast Guard (ICG), in conjunction with the intelligence agencies, has been making big seizures frequently.
- ICG has developed a good synergy not only with the security agencies but also with the coast guards of Sri Lanka, Maldives and Bangladesh.
- It seized 2, 160 kgs of meth in two different instances recently near the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The drugs were destined for Thailand from Myanmar.
- Investigations have indicated the connection of drug traffickers from across borders with terrorist organisations like Lashkar-e-Toiba and Hizbul Mujahideen.
- The illegal money is used for terror activities sponsored by the ISI.
4. Links with terrorists
- India has surprisingly also become a hot destination for cocaine, the supply of which is controlled by South American drug cartels.
- Recent investigations have revealed the connection of these cartels with NRIs based in Canada, Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong and several European countries along with local drug lords and gangsters in India, who have links with Khalistani terrorists and the ISI in Pakistan.
- The role of the fugitive Don Dawood Ibrahim and his gang has been under scanner.
- Studies reveal that 62 per cent of the darknet is being used for illicit drug trafficking.
Darknet markets are disrupting traditional drug markets because of their anonymity and low risks. - Cryptocurrency payments and doorstep deliveries, through courier services, have made darknet transactions attractive.
- Concerted and coordinated efforts of all the agencies will be required to tackle this growing threat.
- The success rate in catching traffickers using the darknet has been very low the world over.
- However, in January-February, the Narcotics Control Bureau busted an organised racket of darknet vendors and arrested several Indian nationals.
- Their international counterparts were exposed for the first time. Technical surveillance followed by basic policing methods led to the seizure of large consignments of drugs and the arrest of the gang.
- The operation exposed various international connections. Drug cartels all over the world are networked and are using the darknet in a big way for trafficking narcotics, especially pharmaceutical opioids or Synthetic drugs made in labs using deadly chemical precursors.
- A new trend has emerged wherein organised gangs, which primarily used to carry out extortion activities in their local areas, are getting hooked to this network and are being used for drug trafficking and gun running.
- Quick and more money attracts them to such activities but knowingly or unknowingly they are getting into the trap of ISI and Khalistani elements settled abroad, especially in Canada, Germany, the UK, USA.
- It is easier for these terrorist groups to use these networks because they get ready-made logistics to carry out their activities.
- The nexus between terrorists and organised gangs or the underworld is a new and disturbing trend, which has to be tackled effectively by security agencies.
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For Prelims: Drug trafficking, Terrorism, Kalisthan, heroin and methamphetamine, illicit trade, opium, drones, Indian Coast Guard, Lashkar-e-Toiba, Hizbul Mujahideen, ISI, Cryptocurrency, Narcotics Control Bureau,
For Mains:
1. What is Drug trafficking? Discuss why Drug trafficking is a serious security issue for India. Explain how it is helpful for terror financing? (250 Words)
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Previous Year Questions
For Prelims:
1. Consider the following activities: (UPSC 2020)
1. Spraying pesticides on a crop field.
2. Inspecting the craters of active volcanoes.
3. Collecting breath samples from spouting whales for DNA analysis.
At the present level of technology, which of the above activities can be successfully carried out by using drones?
A. 1 and 2 only B. 2 and 3 only C. 1 and 3 only D. 1, 2 and 3
Answer: D
2. Which one of the following Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) developed by DRDO is not a target drone: (Gujarat Engineering Service 2017)
A. Abhyas
B. Ulka
C. Lakshya
D. Nishant
Answer: D
3. Consider the following statements: (UPSC 2019)
1. The United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) has a 'Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air.
2. The UNCAC is the ever-first legally binding global anti-corruption instrument.
3. A highlight of the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC) is the inclusion of a specific chapter aimed at returning assets to their rightful owners from whom they had been taken illicitly.
4. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) is mandated by its member states to assist in the implementation of both UNCAC AND UNTOC.
Which of the statements given above are correct?
A. 1 and 3 only B. 2, 3 and 4 only C. 2 and 4 only D. 1, 2, 3 and 4
Answer: C
4. The staple commodities of export by the English East India Company from Bengal in the middle of the 18th century were (UPSC 2018)
A. Raw cotton, oil-seeds and opium
B. Sugar, salt, zinc and lead
C. Copper, silver, gold, spices and tea
D. Cotton, silk, saltpetre and opium
Answer: D
5. With reference to “Blockchain Technology”, consider the following statements: (UPSC 2020)
1. It is a public ledger that everyone can inspect, but which no single user controls.
2. The structure and design of the blockchain are such that all the data in it are about cryptocurrency only.
3. Applications that depend on the basic features of blockchain can be developed without anybody’s permission.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
A. 1 only B. 1 and 2 only C. 2 only D. 1 and 3 only
Answer: D
6. With reference to 'Bitcoins', sometimes seen in the news, which of the following statements is/are correct? (UPSC 2016)
1. Bitcoins are tracked by the Central Banks of the countries.
2. Anyone with a Bitcoin address can send and receive Bitcoins from anyone else with Bitcoin address.
3. Online payments can be sent without either side knowing the identity of the other.
Select the correct answer using the code given below.
A. 1 and 2 only B. 2 and 3 only C. 3 only D. 1, 2 and 3
Answer: B
For Mains:
1. In one of the districts of a frontier state, narcotics menace has been rampant. This has resulted in money laundering, mushrooming of poppy farming, arms smuggling and near stalling of education. The system is on the verge of collapse. The situation has been further worsened by unconfirmed reports that local politicians as well assume senior police officers are providing surreptitious patronage to the drug mafia. At that point of time a woman police officer, known for her skills in handling such situations is appointed as Superintendent of Police to bring the situation to normalcy. If you are the same police officer, identify the various dimensions of the crisis. Based on your understanding, suggest measures to deal with the crisis. (UPSC 2019) (250 words) |
Source: The Indian Express
INTACH
1. Context
As the railway ministry has started redevelopment of Paralakhemundi station, one of the oldest railway stations in Odisha, the state chapter of the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) has objected to the demolition of the heritage station built in 1899 by the then royals.
2. Background
- In a letter to Union railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, INTACH Odisha said the new building being developed by the railways is on a raised platform and overshadows the existing heritage structure.
- It demanded that the old station should be given a heritage tag and preserved as it is.
- While the new building is being built on the lines of the older one, it should be noted that the original building has a lot of historical and heritage value.
3. History
- According to official sources, the then Maharaja of Parlakimedi (now Paralakhemundi) had decided to connect his capital with Nuapada (in Andhra Pradesh now) which got rail lines in 1884, with a light railway. After getting the nod from the British authorities in 1898, he built a 39-km line by spending around Rs 7 lakh from his coffer.
- INTACH also urged the railway minister that at least two of the original heritage locomotives of the PLR (Paralakimedi Light Railway) should be brought back and properly plinthed at the railway station.
- About seven of the original locomotives are lying scattered at places that have no connection to Paralakhemundi.
- The 1899-built wooden carriage used by the royals of Paralakhemundi, which is kept at the narrow-gauge railway museum at Nagpur, too should be brought back for display at the station, it demanded.
- Stating that many other artifacts relating to the PLR are kept at the Nagpur museum, including signaling equipment, electrical equipment, scales, uniforms, insignias, German silver cutlery, and royal embellishments, INTACH said all these should be obtained back.
4. Indian National Trust for Art and Culture Heritage (INTACH)
- The Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) was established in New Delhi in 1984 with the goal of raising heritage awareness and conservation in the country.
- With over 190 Chapters around the country, INTACH is now one of the world's largest heritage organizations.
- INTACH has been a leader in the protection and preservation of not just our natural and constructed heritage, but also our intangible heritage for the past 31 years.
- Architectural Heritage, Natural Heritage, Material Heritage, Intangible Cultural Heritage, Heritage Education and Communication Services (HECS), Crafts and Community Cell, Chapters, INTACH Heritage Academy, Heritage Tourism, Listing Cell, and Library, Archives, and Documentation Centre are among the Chapters that operate out at INTACH.
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The INTACH's inaugural governing council included notable figures such as former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, M.G.K. Menon, Dr. Kapila Vatsyayan, Madhavrao Scindia, and others.
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For Prelims: Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH), Maharaja of Parlakimedi (now Paralakhemundi), INTACH Heritage Academy, Heritage Tourism, Listing Cell, Library, Archives.
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Source: The Indian Express
AADHAAR ENABLED PAYMENT SYSTEM (AePS)
1. Context
Pushpendra Singh, a popular Youtuber, in a Twitter thread, shared how his mother's bank account was drained using an Aadhaar-linked fingerprint without needing a two-factor authentication. His mother was not informed of the transaction by her bank, via message or otherwise. A quick search on Google reveals that similar incidents have been reported in different parts of the country.
2. What is Aadhaar enabled Payment System (AePS)?
- The Aadhaar-enabled Payment System (AePS) is a bank-led model which allows online financial transactions at Pointofsale (PoS) devices and micro ATMs of any bank using Aadhaar authentication.
- The model removes the need for OTPs, bank accounts, and other financial details.
- It allows fund transfers using only the bank name, Aadhaar number, and fingerprint captured during Aadhaar enrolment, according to the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).
- This method offers an additional degree of protection for financial transactions by eliminating the need to provide bank account information while conducting these transactions.
- The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Indian Bank's Association (IBA) collaborated to form the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) (IBA).
3. Are AePS enabled by default?
- Neither the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) nor NPCI mentions clearly whether AePS is enabled by default. Cashless India, a website managed and run by MeitY, says the service does not require any activation, with the only requirement being that the user's bank account should be linked with their Aadhaar number.
- Users who wish to receive any benefit or subsidy under schemes notified under section 7 of the Aadhaar Act, have to mandatorily submit their Aadhaar number to the banking service provider, according to UIDAI. Aadhaar is also the preferred method of KYC for banking institutions, thus enabling AePS by default for most bank account holders.
4. Advantages associated with AePS
- Bank Decongestion: It, like other micro-ATM systems, has aided in the decongestion of banks. It's especially beneficial for migratory employees who don't have access to an ATM.
- Increasing Social Security Benefits: Following the expansion of cash transfer programs from governments to disadvantaged individuals, will aid in the development of social services.
- Last-Mile Service Enablement: It will make payments easier because they would be made at the doorstep rather than having to go vast distances.
- The consumer is not bound to one bank's B.C. because of the interoperable system.
- Getting rid of the Middlemen: The exploitative middlemen who preyed on the poor and ignorant would no longer exist.
5. How is biometric information leaked?
- While Aadhaar data breaches have been reported in 2018, 2019, and 2022 the UIDAI has denied any breach of data.
- In response to media reports, the UADAI said that the Aadhaar data, including biometric information, is fully safe and secure.
- However, UIDAI's database is not the only source from where data can be leaked. Aadhaar numbers are readily available in the form of photocopies, and soft copies, and criminals are using Aadhaarenabled payment systems to breach user information.
- Scammers have, in the past, made use of silicone to trick devices into initiating transactions.
6. How do you secure your Aadhaar biometric information?
- The UIDAI is proposing an amendment to the Aadhaar (Sharing of Information) Regulations, 2016, which will require entities in possession of an Aadhaar number to not share details unless the Aadhaar numbers have been redacted or blacked out through appropriate means both in print and electronic form.
- The UIDAI has also implemented a new two-factor authentication mechanism that uses a machine learning-based security system, combining finger minutiae and finger image capture to check the 'liveness' of a fingerprint.
- Additionally, users are also advised to ensure that they lock their Aadhaar information by visiting the UIDAI website or using the mobile app.
- This will ensure that their biometric information, even if compromised, can not be used to initiate financial transactions.
- It can be unlocked when the need for biometric authentication arises, such as for property registration and passport renewals, after which it can again be locked.
7. What can be done in case of a financial scam using Aadhaar?
- If users have not already locked their Aadhaar biometric information, they should do so immediately in case of any suspicious activity in their bank accounts.
- Users are also advised to inform their banks and the concerned authorities as soon as possible.
- Timely reporting can ensure that any money transferred using fraudulent means is returned to the victim.
- The RBI in a circular has stated that a customer's entitlement to zero liability arises when an unauthorized transaction occurs, and the customer notifies the bank within three working days of receiving a communication from the bank regarding such an unauthorized transaction.
| For Prelims: Aadhaar-enabled Payment System (AePS), Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Indian Bank's Association (IBA), National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI). |
Previous year Questions
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1. Consider the following statements: (UPSC 2017)
1. National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) helps in promoting financial inclusion in the country.
2. NPCI has launched RuPay, a card payment scheme
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
A. 1 only
B. 2 only
C. Both 1 and 2
D. Neither 1 nor 2
Answer: C
2. Consider the following statements: (UPSC 2020)
1. Aadhaar metadata cannot be stored for more than three months.
2. State cannot enter into any contract with private corporations for sharing of Aadhaar data.
3. Aadhaar is mandatory for obtaining insurance products.
4. Aadhaar is mandatory for getting benefits funded out of the Consolidated Fund of India.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
A. 1 and 4 only
B. 2 and 4 only
C. 3 only
D. 1, 2, and 3 only
Answer: B
3. Consider the following statements: (UPSC 2018)
1. Aadhaar card can be used as proof of citizenship or domicile.
2. Once issued, the Aadhaar number cannot be deactivated or omitted by the Issuing Authority.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
A. 1 only
B. 2 only
C. Both 1 and 2
D. Neither 1 nor 2
Answer: D
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Source: The Hindu
TRANSFORMER
1. Introduction
- Machine learning (ML), A Subfield of artificial intelligence, teaches computers to solve tasks based on structured data, language, audio, or images, by providing examples of inputs and the desired outputs.
- This is different from traditional computer programming, where programmers write a sequence of specific instructions.
- Here, the ML model learns to generate desirable outputs by adjusting its many knobs often in the millions.
- ML has a history of developing methods with handcrafted features that may work only for specific, narrow problems.
- There are several such examples. In the text, classifying a document as scientific or literary may be solved by counting the number of times certain words appear.
- In audio, spoken text is recognised by converting the audio into a time-frequency representation.
- In images, a car may be found by checking for the existence of specific carlike edge-shaped patterns.
- Such handcrafted features are combined with simple or shallow, learning classifiers that typically have up to tens of thousands of knobs. In technical parlance, these knobs are called parameters.
2. Deep neural networks
- In the first part of the 2010s, deep neural networks (DNNs) took over ML by storm, replacing the classic pipeline of handcrafted features and simple classifiers.
- DNNs ingest a complete document or image and generate a final output, without the need to specify a particular way of extracting features.
- While these deep and large models have existed in the past, their large size and millions of parameters hindered their use.
- The resurgence of DNNs in the 2010s is attributed to the availability of large-scale data and fast parallel computing chips called graphics processing units.
- Furthermore, the models used for text or images were still different recurrent neural networks were popular in language understanding while convolutional neural networks (CNNs) were popular in computer vision, that is, machine understanding of the visual world.
3. Attention Is All You Need
- In a pioneering paper entitled "Attention Is All You Need" that appeared in 2017, a team at Google proposed transformers a DNN architecture that has today gained popularity across all modalities (image, audio and language).
- The original paper proposed transformers for the task of translating a sentence from one language to another, similar to what Google Translate does when converting a sentence from, say English to Hindi.
- A transformer is a two-part neural network. The first part is an "encoder: that ingests the input sentence in the source language (English) and the second part is a "decoder" that generates the translated sentence in the target language (Hindi).
- The encoder converts each word in the source sentence to an abstract numerical form that captures the meaning of the word within the context of the sentence and stores it in a memory bank.
- Just like a person would write or speak, the decoder generates one word at a time referring to what has been generated so far and looking back at the memory bank to find the appropriate word.
- Both these processes use a mechanism called "attention", hence the name of the paper.
- A key improvement over previous methods is the ability of a transformer to translate long sentences or paragraphs correctly.
- The adoption of transformers subsequently exploded. The capital "T" in ChatGPT, for example, stands for "transformer".
- Transformers have also become popular in computer vision as they simply cut an image into small square patches and line them up, just like words in a sentence.
By doing so, and after training on large amounts of data, a transformer can provide better results than CNNs. - Today, transformer models constitute the best approach for image classification, object detection and segmentation, action recognition and a host of other tasks.
- Transformers' ability to ingest anything has been exploited to create joint vision and language models which allow users to search for an image, describe one and even answer questions regarding the image.
4. Attention
- Attention in ML allows a model to learn how much importance should be given to different inputs.
- In the translation example, attention allows the model to select or weigh words from the memory bank when deciding which word to generate next.
- While describing an image, attention allows models to look at the relevant parts of the image when generating the next word.
- A fascinating aspect of attention-based models is their ability for self-discovery, by parsing a lot of data.
- In the translation case, the model is never told that the word 'dog' in English means kutta in Hindi.
- Instead, it finds these associations by seeing several training sentence pairs where "dog" and kutta appear together.
- A similar observation applies to image captioning. For an image of a "bird flying above water", the model is never told which region of the image corresponds to "bird" and which "water".
- Instead, by training on several image caption pairs with the word "bird", it discovers common patterns in the image to associate the flying thing with "bird".
- Transformers are attention models on steroids. They feature several attention layers within the encoder, to provide meaningful context across the input sentence or image and form the decoder to the encoder when generating a translated sentence or describing an image.
5. The billion and trillion scale
- In the last year, transformer models have become larger and trained on more data than before.
- When these colossuses train on written text, they are called large language models (LLMs).
- ChatGPT uses hundreds of billions of parameters whereas GPT 4 uses hundreds of trillions.
- While these models are trained on simple tasks, such as filling in the blanks or predicting the next word, they are very good at answering questions, creating stories, summarising documents, writing code, and even solving mathematical word problems in steps.
- Transformers are also the bedrock of generative models that create realistic images and audio.
- Their utility in diverse domains makes transformers a very powerful and universal model.
- However, there are some concerns. The scientific community is yet to figure out how to evaluate these models rigorously.
- There are also instances of "hallucination", whereby models make confident but wrong claims. we must urgently address societal concerns, such as data privacy and attribution to creative work, that arise as a result of their use.
- At the same time, given the tremendous progress, and ongoing efforts to create guardrails guiding their use and work on leveraging these models for positive outcomes (for example in health care, education and agriculture), optimism would not be misplaced.
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For Prelims: Machine learning, deep neural networks, convolutional neural networks, ChatGPT, large language models,
For Mains:
1. What is a transformer? Discuss the machine learning model that powers ChatGPT. (250 Words)
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Previous Year Questions
1. With the present state of development, Artificial Intelligence can effectively do which of the following? (UPSC 2020)
1. Bring down electricity consumption in industrial units.
2. Create meaningful short stories and songs.
3. Disease diagnosis.
4. Text-to-Speech Conversion.
5. Wireless transmission of electrical energy.
Select the correct answer using the code given below:
A. 1, 2, 3 and 5 only B. 1, 3 and 4 only C. 2, 4 and 5 only D. 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5
Answer: D
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Source: The Hindu
CENTRAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION
1. Context
The 1986-batch, Karnataka cadre Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Praveen Sood has been appointed the head of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), as per a government order released on Sunday (May 14). A Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led high-powered selection committee was involved in the process.
2. Background
- CBI was set up in 1963 under a resolution of MHA ( Ministry of Home Affairs ) on recommendations of the Santhanam Committee.
- The Special Police Establishment setup in 1941 was also merged with the CBI
- As CBI is neither a constitutional body nor statutory and it derives its powers from Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, 1946.
- It plays a crucial role in the prevention of corruption and maintaining Impartiality, and integrity in the administration.
3. Questioning the credibility of CBI
- Multiple corruption scandals in 2013 the Supreme Court made an observation about the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) that has stuck to the agency ever since.
- A Bench headed by Justice R M Lodha described the CBI as “a caged parrot speaking in its master’s voice”.
- The observation was made in the context of government interference in the functioning of the CBI in its investigation of the coal blocks allocation cases. The apex court has since criticized the CBI for its “actions and inactions” on several occasions, and flagged fundamental problems with the functioning of the agency.
- “When it comes to the CBI, it possessed immense trust of the public in its initial phase. …But with time, like every other institution of repute, the CBI has also come under deep public scrutiny. Its actions and inactions have raised questions regarding its credibility in some cases,” Justice Ramana had said.
- In 2019, then CJI Ranjan Gogoi questioned the role of the CBI in “politically sensitive” cases and said that it reflected “a deep mismatch between institutional aspirations” and “governing politics”.
- “The SC judgment and the CVC Act (of 2003) have been progressively diluted by various governments over the years. The advent of Lokpal diluted it even more. The current situation is that central agencies such as CVC, CBI, and ED have become completely defunct. Apart from following instructions from the government, they are doing nothing. And it is happening blatantly. The entire struggle for independence of CBI and ED is being defeated,”
4. Role of various instances in maintaining the credibility of law enforcement agencies
- The struggle to free elite law-enforcement agencies such as the CBI and Enforcement Directorate (ED) from the stranglehold of governments and political parties has been ongoing since the 1990s. The landmark 1997 Vineet Narain judgment of the Supreme Court (Vineet Narain & Others vs Union Of India & Anr) dealt with this issue in detail.
- The Supreme Court fixed the tenure of the CBI Director at two years, gave statutory status to the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC), and stipulated that a panel headed by the CVC and including top secretaries to the Union government would draw up a panel from which the Director of the ED would be selected.
- The Lokpal Act, 2013, laid down that the CBI Director should be chosen, unanimously or by majority vote, by a search committee headed by the Prime Minister and also comprising the Leader of Opposition and the CJI or his representative, from a list of candidates drawn up by the Home Ministry and examined by the Department of Personnel and Training.
5. Structural constraints of CBI
- The CBI has been stymied both by the legal structure within which it functions and by the changes made by governments in the Rules governing it. Over the years, these have progressively made the agency subservient to the Union government.
- To prosecute any MLA, state minister, or MP, the CBI needs sanction from the Speaker of the state Assembly (in case of MLAs) or the Governor (for state ministers). In the case of an MP, the sanction is sought from the Speaker of Lok Sabha or Vice Chairman of Rajya Sabha. Since all these sanctioning authorities have links to the ruling dispensation, Opposition parties feel they are unfairly targeted.
- In the Narada Sting Operation case, the CBI charge-sheeted Firhad Hakim, Subrata Mukherjee, Madan Mitra, and Sovan Chatterjee — all ministers in the TMC-led West Bengal government at the time of the offence — after getting sanction from the Governor. However, other MLAs and MPs have not been charge-sheeted, including TMC-turned-BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari, for lack of sanction from the West Bengal Assembly Speaker and Lok Sabha Speaker. Adhikari was an MP when the sting operation was conducted.
- In 2012, CBI sought sanction to prosecute former Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan in the Adarsh Cooperative Housing case, which was denied in 2013 by then Governor K Sankaranarayanan. In February 2016, after the Narendra Modi government came to power and a new Governor, C Vidyasagar Rao was appointed, the sanction came through.
- The Rajiv Gandhi government, through what is known as the “single directive”, introduced a provision in The Delhi Special Police Establishment (DSPE) Act, 1946, (from which the CBI derives its powers) which barred the CBI from investigating officials of joint secretary level and above without permission from the government.
- This was struck down by Vineet Narain but was reintroduced after the 1999 Loksabha election. After it was struck down again by the Supreme Court in 2014, the current government introduced Section 17A into the Prevention of Corruption Act through an amendment. This amendment went far ahead of reintroducing the “single directive”, and barred the CBI from probing any public servant without the consent of the concerned government.
- “It’s very clear that the agency has no freedom to probe anyone on its own. It is the government, at the Union or in states, or the court, which will decide who will be investigated,”
6. Is CBI used to meet political ends
- The work of the agency has been further constrained by the increasingly hostile relations between the Center and the state governments. As many as nine states have withdrawn general consent to the CBI. Most of these are Opposition-ruled states, which have alleged that the CBI is being used by the Center to target the Opposition. In March this year, Meghalaya, where the BJP is
