The Union Finance Ministry has notified changes to the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

Ø  The Union Finance Ministry has notified changes to the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, widening its ambit to include transactions facilitated by chartered accountants, company secretaries, etc.

Ø  Going forward, setting up a company, buying property and financial transactions executed by these professionals on behalf of their clients will now be covered under the PMLA.

Ø  They will be liable under the PMLA if they facilitate a transaction that violates the law.

Ø  They will need to comply with verification of identity rules, maintain records and furnish information when asked.

Ø  The Act also stipulates confidentiality on information sought from the reporting entity, thereby, requiring adherence to the strictest of professional standards.

Ø  In case a transaction undertaken by a client appears to be suspicious or possibly involves proceeds of crime, the reporting entity shall step up monitoring of the business relationship.

Ø  The amendments are expected to aid investigative agencies further in their probe against dubious transactions involving shell companies and money laundering.

Ø  Over a month ago, in March, the government had widened the ambit of reporting entities under money laundering provisions. These provisions incorporate more disclosures for nongovernmental organisations and defined politically exposed persons (PEPs) under the PMLA.

About Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 -

Ø  The Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002 was enacted in January, 2003.

Ø  The Act seeks to combat money laundering in India and has three main objectives —

Ø  To prevent and control money laundering

Ø  To confiscate and seize the property obtained from the laundered money; and

Ø  To deal with any other issue connected with money laundering in India.

Ø  Section 3 of the Act defines offence of money laundering as – whosoever directly or indirectly attempts to indulge or knowingly assists or knowingly is a party or is actually involved in any process or activity connected with the proceeds of crime and projecting it as untainted property shall be guilty of offence of money-laundering.

Ø  The Act was amended by the Prevention of Money Laundering (Amendment) Act, 2009 and by the Prevention of Money Laundering (Amendment) Act, 2012.

Most recently, the PMLA was amended through the —

Ø  Finance Act, 2015 ('2015 Amendment’)

Ø  Finance Act, 2018 ('2018 Amendment’)

Ø  Finance Act, 2019 ('2019 Amendment')

Major provisions of the Act -

Ø  The Act prescribes obligation of banking companies, financial institutions and intermediaries for verification and maintenance of records of the identity of all its clients and also of all transactions.

Ø  PMLA empowers the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) to carry out investigations in cases involving offence of money laundering and also to attach the property involved in money laundering. ED is a law enforcement agency and economic intelligence agency responsible for enforcing economic laws and fighting economic crime in India.

Ø  PMLA envisages setting up of an Adjudicating Authority to exercise jurisdiction, power and authority conferred by it essentially to confirm attachment or order confiscation of attached properties.

Ø  It also envisages setting up of an Appellate Tribunal to hear appeals against the order of the Adjudicating Authority

Ø  PMLA envisages designation of one or more courts of sessions as Special Court or Special Courts to try the offences punishable under the Act.

Ø  PMLA also allows Central Government to enter into an agreement with Government of any country outside India for enforcing the provisions of the PMLA.

Criticism of the Act -

Ø  Certain provisions of the PMLA have received criticism on the grounds of legal and constitutional principles.

These provisions include –

• Stringent bail conditions,
• Arrest of persons without supply of Enforcement Case Information Report (similar to FIR),
• Non-communication of grounds of arrest to the accused,
• Statement given by accused during investigation made admissible as evidence during trial, and Broad definitions of money laundering and proceeds of crime under the Act.
• Critics argue that the amendments to the Act have not yielded the desired results of improved convictions but has only resulted in a procedure that takes away an individual’s liberty depriving them of all constitutional guarantees and procedure laid down under the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).

Violence between Manipur’s Kuki tribe and the majority Meitei community continued to rage in several parts of the Manipur. 

What is behind the violence in Manipur?

Manipur was boiling since February 2023 —

Ø  Manipur has been restive since February when the state government launched an eviction drive seen as targeting a specific tribal group.

Ø  The drive led to protests but not on the scale of the one seen recently.

High Court’s order as a tigger point —

Ø  The recent protests were triggered by the Manipur High Court’s direction to the State to pursue a 10-year-old recommendation to grant Scheduled Tribe (ST) status to the non-tribal Meitei community.

Ø  The Court’s order has brought the historical tensions between the valley-dwelling Meitei community and the state’s hill tribes to a boil.

Violence started —

Ø  A ‘tribal solidarity march’ was organised by the All Tribal Students’ Union of Manipur (ATSUM) against the order of the High Court.

Ø  Violent clashes broke out at various places in Manipur during the course of this march. 

Which are the major communities residing in Manipur?

Ø  The State is like a football stadium with the Imphal Valley representing the playfield at the centre and the surrounding hills the galleries.

Ø  The valley, which comprises about 10% of Manipur’s landmass, is dominated by the non-tribal Meitei. This area yields 40 of the State’s 60 MLAs.

Ø  The hills comprising 90% of the geographical area are inhabited by more than 35% recognised tribes. This area sends only 20 MLAs to the Assembly.

Why does the Meitei community want ST status?

Ø  There has been an organised push in support of this demand since 2012, led by the Scheduled Tribes Demand Committee of Manipur (STDCM).

Ø  Recognised as tribe before merger with India — In their plea before the High Court, it was argued that the Meitei community was recognised as a tribe before the merger of the princely state of Manipur with the Union of India in 1949. It lost its identity as a tribe after the merger.

Ø  Need to preserve tradition and culture — The demand for ST status arose from the need to preserve the community, and save the ancestral land, tradition, culture and language of the Meiteis.

Ø  As per the arguments forwarded by the community in the court —

Ø  The community has been victimised without any constitutional safeguards to date.

Ø  The Meitein/Meetei have been gradually marginalised in their ancestral land.

Ø  Their population which was 59% of the total population of Manipur in 1951 has now been reduced to 44% as per 2011 Census data.

Why are tribal groups against ST status for Meiteis?

Ø  The tribal groups say the Meiteis have a demographic and political advantage besides being more advanced than them academically and in other aspects.

Ø  The Meiteis are a dominant group controlling the state and its apparatuses.

Ø  Hence, the claim that Meiteis need ST status to protect their culture and identity is selfdefeating.

Ø  They feel the ST status to the Meiteis would lead to loss of job opportunities and allow them to acquire land in the hills and push the tribals out.

Ø  The Manipuri language of the Meiteis is included in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution.

Ø  Sections of the Meitei community — which is predominantly Hindu — are already classified under Scheduled Castes (SC) or Other Backward Classes (OBC).

Is this demand the only reason for the conflict rocking the state currently?

Ø  Unrest has been brewing among the hill tribes of the state for a number of reasons.

Ø  Pro-government groups in Manipur claim that some tribal groups with vested interests are trying to scuttle Chief Minister’s crusade against drugs.

Ø  The anti-drug drive began with destroying poppy fields and the theory that illegal settlers from Myanmar are behind clearing forests and government lands to grow opium and cannabis. These settlers are ethnically related to the Kuki-Zomi people of Manipur.

Ø  The first violent protest in March was against the eviction of the residents of a Kuki village. Kuki groups have claimed that the survey and eviction is a violation of Article 371C, which confers some administrative autonomy to the tribal-dominated hill areas of Manipur.

Ø  The large-scale arson and violence, on May 3 and 4, followed a tribal solidarity rally against the reported move to include the Meiteis in the ST list.

Media associations in the country have voiced concern over India slipping 11 places to 161^st rank in the World Press Freedom Index 2023.

What is the World Press Freedom Index?

Ø  It is an annual ranking of countries compiled and published by France-based global media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) since 2002

Ø  It intends to reflect the degree of freedom that journalists, news organisations, and netizens have in each country, and the efforts made by authorities to respect this freedom.

Ø  It only deals with press freedom and does not measure the quality of journalism in the countries it assesses, nor does it look at human rights violations in general.

A new methodology devised in 2021 is based on a definition of press freedom as —

o   the ability of journalists as individuals and collectives

o   to select, produce, and disseminate news in the public interest

o   independent of political, economic, legal, and social interference and

o   in the absence of threats to their physical and mental safety.

Ø  It uses five new indicators: political context, legal framework, economic context, sociocultural context and safety.

The World Press Freedom Index 2023 -

Ø  It evaluates the environment for journalism in 180 countries and territories and Norway is ranked first for the seventh year running.

Ø  The last three places are occupied by: Vietnam, China, and North Korea (180th).

Ø  This Index spotlights the rapid effects that the digital ecosystem’s fake content industry has had on press freedom.

Ø  The difference is being blurred between true and false, real and artificial, facts and artifices, jeopardising the right to information.

Ø  Last in the regional ranking, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) continues to be the world’s most dangerous region for journalists.

Situation in India -

The situation has gone from “problematic” to “very bad” in India, along with Tajikistan and Turkey.

In India, media takeovers by oligarchs close to the government have jeopardised pluralism and restricted free flow of information.

Government’s take on the previous World Press Freedom Index -

Ø  Freedom of speech and expression (press freedom is a part of it) is a constitutionally guaranteed fundamental right to citizens under Article 19(1) with restrictions as stated in Article 19(2).

Ø  Under the Article 19(2), the state is empowered to impose reasonable restrictions on the operation of the right in the interest of —

Ø  Sovereignty and integrity of India,

Ø  Security of the state,

Ø  Friendly relations with foreign states,

Ø  Public order, decency or morality or

Ø  In relation to contempt of court, defamation or incitement to an offence

Ø  The government does not subscribe to the country’s ranking and to the conclusions drawn by the Index.

Ø  This was due to various reasons, including very low sample size, little or no weightage to fundamentals of democracy, adoption of a methodology which is questionable and nontransparent.

Steps taken by Government to promote press freedom -

Ø  G7 countries and partner countries (including India) adopted a ‘Resilient Democracies Statement’ at the 2022 G7 Summit affirming their commitment to strengthening the resilience of democracies.

Ø  An advisory on the safety of journalists was issued to states and UTs in 2017, requesting them to strictly enforce the law to ensure the safety and security of media persons.

Ø  The Press Council of India (PCI), a statutory autonomous body, has been set up under the Press Council Act, 1978, mainly to preserve the freedom of the press and improve the standards of newspapers and news agencies.

Ø  It considers complaints filed ‘by the press’ concerning curtailment of press freedom, physical assault/attack on journalists, etc.

Ø  For television, all channels are required to adhere to the Programme Code under the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995.

Ø  For digital news publishers, the IT (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 under the IT Act, 2000, has been notified.

Shaped over a millennium of culture and economic engagement around the Indian Ocean network, today India-UAE relationship has reached beyond economic cooperation. This partnership reinforces the UAE’s position as an economic hub for India to undertake sustainable and diversified growth through the UAE's strategic location at the intersection of global trade. 

The Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) -

Ø  Building on mutual enterprise and a positive outlook on economic cooperation, India and the UAE formulated CEPA.

Ø  CEPA is a full and deep Agreement signed on 18 February 2022 which came into existence on 1 May 2022, with an aim of taking bilateral trade to US$ 100 billion within 5 years.

Ø  It commences a new chapter in the shared history, unlocking greater trade volumes and improved mutual access to markets and stimulating a wide range of economic, industrial and investment opportunities.

Advantages of CEPA to India and the UAE -

Ø  Unleashing the spirit of entrepreneurship that exists in both countries.

Ø  It is an opportune moment for India’s dynamic startup ecosystem, its unicorns and innovators, to explore growth and diversification into the Emirati market, and from there to the Middle East, Africa, and Europe.

Ø  Enabling ecosystem of investors and fellow entrepreneurs, the India-UAE Startup Bridge will also enable them to attract investment from venture capitalists and angel investors and strengthen their position in the global market.

Ø  Inspiring innovators and investors, catalysing SMEs, startups, and India Inc alike to make decisive inroads into new markets.

Ø  A strategic catalyst in addressing vital developmental challenges. Giving a trade lens to tackle issues as diverse as energy and food security, agriculture, and sustainability.

Ø  It adds greater Strategic importance, due to the presence of India and the UAE in regional blocs and multi-laterals such as the I2U2 (Israel-India- UAE-USA) and UFI (UAE-France-India).

CEPA’s role as a Growth Engine for India-UAE Bilateral Trade -

Ø  The Bilateral Trade between India and the UAE — Trade has increased from US$ 72.9 billion (Apr 21-Mar22) to US$ 84.5 billion (Apr 22-Mar 2023) registering a year-on-year increase of 16%.

Role played by CEPA in the goods domain —

Ø  The UAE eliminated duties on goods corresponding to 99% of imports from India.

Ø  Number of Preferential Certificates of Origin (COOs) issued under the CEPA increased from 415 in May 2022 to 8440 in March 2023.

In the services domain —

Ø  Broader and deeper commitments have been taken across all the sectors and modes of supply.

Ø  Out of the 160 services subsectors, India has offered 100 sub-sectors to the UAE and the UAE has offered 111 sub-sectors to India.

Ø  Academic and Cultural Cooperation Between India-UAE -

Academic cooperation —

Ø  The UAE looks forward to the opening of the IIT-Delhi campus in Abu Dhabi next year.

Ø  Positive outcomes are expected from the MoU in academic cooperation signed between Anwar Gargash Diplomatic Academy (AGDA) and O P Jindal Global University.

Cultural cooperation —

Ø  In September last year, the UAE and India signed an MoU to establish the Emirati India Cultural Council.

Ø  Recently, the Louvre Abu Dhabi paid homage to Bollywood by unveiling its first exhibition of the year; ‘Bollywood Superstars: A Short Story of Indian Cinema’.

Ø  For the Emirati audience, the exhibition not only showcases the depth and richness of Indian art and civilisation through its films, but also illuminates our shared roots, common values, and cultural connections.

Conclusion -

Ø  The UAE-India CEPA and strong people-to-people multicultural fabric have created a highly favourable business environment. Given the significant increase in bilateral trade, particularly in exports of Indian goods and services, CEPA will have a positive impact on other key macroeconomic variables such as GDP and employment. These initiatives give a glimpse of the deal’s fullest role as the heart of strategic alignments and common interests, leading both nations to build competitive, resilient, sustainable, and vibrant economies.

According to an article published in the journal ‘Science’, the African Swine Fever could fatally affect the population of pygmy hogs, the world’s rarest and smallest pigs. 

What is African Swine Fever?

Ø  African Swine Fever (ASF) does not affect humans but can be catastrophic for pigs.

Ø  In 2019, the outbreak of the disease swept through pig populations in China — which is the largest exporter and consumer of pork — leading to large-scale cullings.

Ø  ASF is a severe viral disease that affects wild and domestic pigs typically resulting in an acute haemorrhagic fever.

Ø  The disease has a case fatality rate (CFR) of almost 100 per cent.

Ø  Its routes of transmission include direct contact with an infected or wild pig (alive or dead), indirect contact through ingestion of contaminated material such as food waste, feed or garbage, or through biological vectors such as ticks.

Ø  Any country with a pig sector is at risk of the spread of the disease and its spread is most likely via meat arriving aboard ships and planes, which is incorrectly disposed of and by meat carried by individual travellers. 

What are the symptoms of African swine fever?

Ø  High Fever

Ø  Weakness and Difficulty Standing

Ø  Vomiting

Ø  Diarrhea

Ø  Red or blue blotches on the skin (Particularly around ears and snout)

Ø  Coughing or labored breathing