BJP government, if it comes to power for a second term, is not just planning to scrap Article 370 of the Indian constitution – which was provided in the Indian constitution to recognize the rights given to Kashmiris at the time of its accession to India, but plans to bring ‘policy changes that are regressive, and/ or violate Constitutional values, and ethos,” a new 50-page report ‘Dismantling rights through systematic policy dilutions – Tracking Legislative Changes in India: 2014-2019’ by Maharashtra unit of People’s Union of Civil Liberties (PUCL) has noted.
The report by PUCL (one of India’s prominent civil liberties group), which has taken around four months to be compiled discusses how the current NDA government has profited from bringing policy changes in different laws of the country or bringing in new legislations. The report discusses legislations such as Aadhaar Act, environmental laws, triple talaq, GST, demonetization among others.
The report was released at the Press Club of Mumbai on Monday where the panel discussion was moderated by Hosbet Suresh, a retired Bombay High Court judge; Mihir Desai, the convener of PUCL’s Maharashtra unit; and Veena Gowda and Lara Jesani, committee members of PUCL’s Maharashtra unit.
The PUCL report deals with the major legislative and some of the policy changes brought about from 2014 onwards by the present NDA Government at the Central level. “It’s a bird’s eye view of more than 20 laws and enactments that came about in the last five years. It demonstrates clearly how the principles enshrined in the Indian Constitution are being subverted through several legislative and policy changes. It also shows how, despite its claims to undertake welfare measures, the policies and legislations are an eyewash and a serious threat to democratic values,” the report says.
Criticising the method adopted by the NDA government in introduction demonetization, the PUCL report says that the scheme was introduced in contravention with past practices of demonetization. “The scheme lacked any prior notification and was never subject to any legislative scrutiny,” it says.
“Unlike the methods adopted in 1946 and 1978, the 2016 demonetization policy was not backed by a Presidential Ordinance or an Act of Parliament. Only after the 2016 policy was challenged before courts and possibly realizing the folly, the Specified Bank Notes (Cessation of Liabilities) Ordinance was issued by the President on 30 December 2016, much after the actual demonetization process taking place. This ordinance was then replaced with The Specified Bank Notes (Cessation of Liabilities) Act, 2017,” the report reads.
Calling the introduction of Goods and Services Tax (GST) as problematic on many levels, the report says that “GST leads to the increasing centralization of power and damages the federal polity. The tax may be beneficial for the Union Government and large businesses, but the State Governments are being affected adversely.”
“The entire GST regime has not only been rolled out hastily but also imposes a large burden on the small-scale businesses, without providing adequate infrastructure for it. In any case, presently it is so complicated that even tax experts are finding it hard to understand the full implications,” the report further comments.
The report has critiqued criminalization of Triple Talaq and said that the Triple Talaq bill has a ‘skewed objective of punishing Muslim men, and no others, for an act that has no effect in law.’
The report further critiques amendments in CHILD LABOUR PREVENTION (AMENDMENT) ACT, 2016, AMENDMENTS TO LAWS
PUNISHING RAPE, THE TRANSGENDER
PERSONS (PROTECTION OF RIGHTS) BILL, 2018, THE TRAFFICKING OF PERSONS (PREVENTION, PROTECTION
AND REHABILITATION) BILL, 2018, THE SURROGACY (REGULATION) BILL, 2016, THE RIGHT TO FAIR COMPENSATION AND TRANSPARENCY IN LAND ACQUISITION, REHABILITATION AND RESETTLEMENT (SECOND
AMENDMENT) BILL, 2015 and other laws.
The report notes with caution that “most policy changes brought about are completely partisan, communally motivated, promote unsustainable and destructive development and unfettered destruction of natural resources by the corporates.”