22 August 2024 : The Hindu Editorial Analysis
1. Moral pressure and human rights compliance
(Source – The Hindu, International Edition – Page No. – 8)
| Topic: GS2 – Governance |
| Context |
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Introduction to Enforcement of Human Rights Norms
- Human rights compliance can be enforced through two approaches: economic sanctions/military invasion or forceful condemnation.
- Powerful nations often resort to military or economic means, whereas smaller nations or NGOs focus on moral condemnation.
- However, authoritarian regimes like Russia, China, and North Korea often ignore these condemnations.
Impact of Naming and Shaming
- Rochelle Terman’s Study: In her work, Terman highlights how the strategic use of naming and shaming has proven to be a successful deterrent against human rights abuses.
- Positive Outcomes:
- In countries like Myanmar, Ethiopia, Columbia, and Argentina, naming and shaming led to the release of political prisoners and policy changes.
- Prosecutions of dictators like Augusto Pinochet and Slobodan Milošević also resulted from global campaigns.
- Increased safeguards for marginalised groups such as ethnic minorities and the LGBTQ community were outcomes of this strategy.
- Long-Term Effects: Even if resistance occurs initially, persistent pressure often leads to long-term accountability.
Failures and Resistance to Naming and Shaming
- Cosmetic Changes: In some instances, governments might resist or make only superficial changes.
- Limited Impact:
- Despite the global criticism of Israel over the situation in Palestine, minimal impact has been observed.
- Similarly, Bangladesh’s dictatorship and various instances of religious nationalism have not seen significant shifts despite moral pressure.
- Many nations, driven by right-wing politics, either ignore or discourage student-led dissent against human rights violations.
Challenges in International Law and Enforcement
- Effectiveness of Shaming: While naming and shaming remains a moral tool, its effectiveness is questioned when even military or economic sanctions fail to achieve results.
- Amnesty International and UN Efforts: Actions such as petitions by Amnesty International or UN resolutions against state violence amount to shaming but often lack tangible outcomes.
- Moral pressure alone may not suffice in forcing authoritarian states to reform, and international law struggles to enforce compliance.
The Role of National Psyche and Democratic Institutions
- Bridging Power and Law: Instead of focusing solely on shaming, efforts should be directed at ensuring that human rights emerge from a nation’s democratic institutions and its societal values.
- Governments must build bridges between their power and the law by engaging with the public and focusing on long-term reforms.
- Challenging Illiberal Forces: Human rights advocates need to combat illiberal forces that manipulate liberal ideas to gain power, often through propaganda and unconstitutional politics.
The State’s Responsibility in Upholding Human Rights
- It is essential for the state to protect human rights within the framework of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
- If the state fails in its duty, then resistance activism gains legitimacy, serving as a defence against state persecution.
- Challenges for Human Rights: In a world where prejudice and authoritarianism thrive, the centrality of human rights remains under threat.
Conclusion
- Stronger institutions are needed to maintain democratic norms and protect human rights.
- Countries with right-wing authoritarian governments often lack accountability, making it crucial to mobilise political coalitions and institutional arrangements to enforce human rights.
| Practice Question: Discuss the effectiveness of ‘naming and shaming’ as a strategy to enforce international human rights norms. What are its limitations, especially in dealing with authoritarian regimes? (150 Words /10 marks) |
2. Imports weaken Indian pharma
| Topic: GS2 – Social Justice – Health |
(Source – The Hindu, International Edition – Page No. – 9)
| Context |
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Introduction
- Ensuring the affordability of pharmaceuticals is crucial for controlling healthcare costs in India, where out-of-pocket expenditures made up 47.1% of total health expenditure in 2021.
- While the Drugs Price Control Order, 2013, regulates medicine prices, fostering local production of critical medicines could be a better strategy.
- However, recent government initiatives to meet domestic pharmaceutical demands through imports may harm the domestic pharmaceutical industry.
Government Initiatives and Their Impact
1. Global Tendering for Medicines
- The Department of Expenditure (DoE) allowed the Ministry of Health to procure 120 medicines through global tenders for Union government schemes.
- This list includes top-selling anti-diabetes and anti-cancer drugs, which are currently monopolised by specific companies in India due to patent protection or regulatory barriers.
- For over 40 of these medicines, the DoE specified a particular brand, likely increasing the monopoly power of foreign companies in the Indian market.
2. Removal of Customs Duty on Cancer Medicines
- The 2024-25 Union Budget proposed removing the 10-12% customs duty on three cancer medicines marketed by AstraZeneca to reduce their prices.
- Given the high costs of these medicines, this duty waiver would likely have a minimal effect on their affordability.
3. Impact on the Domestic Industry
- These measures could disincentivize local production and make India more reliant on imports, weakening the domestic pharmaceutical industry.
- Additionally, the domestic industry faces two significant barriers: the product patent regime and regulatory guidelines for biosimilar marketing approval.
Barriers to Local Production
1. Product Patent Regime
- New medicines are typically under patent protection, preventing Indian manufacturers from producing cheaper generics or biosimilars.
- The Patents Act includes public interest provisions that can be invoked to encourage local production, but these remain underutilised.
2. Regulatory Guidelines for Biosimilars
- India’s regulatory guidelines for obtaining marketing approval of biosimilars are resource-intensive and outdated.
- They require unnecessary animal and clinical studies, creating additional hurdles for domestic manufacturers.
Provisions Under the Patents Act
1. Compulsory Licensing (CL)
- Section 83 of the Patents Act emphasises that patents are meant to promote inventions that are worked commercially in India and to ensure public access to patented inventions at reasonable prices.
- CL can be issued if a patented medicine is not reasonably affordable to the public.
2. Government-Use Licences
- Section 100 of the Patents Act allows the Central government to grant licences for domestic production of patented medicines to protect public health.
- This provision could be utilised to promote the local manufacturing of affordable medicines but has seen limited application.
3. Obsolete Biosimilar Guidelines
- India’s guidelines for biosimilar approval require animal studies and clinical trials, which are no longer mandatory in countries with stringent standards like the U.S. and EU.
- The WHO and U.K. guidelines treat clinical trials as optional for biosimilars, yet India still insists on them.
- Reducing these duplicative requirements could significantly lower the time and cost burdens on domestic producers, thereby increasing patient access to affordable medicines.
Misalignment of Government Policies
- The proposed customs duty waiver on cancer medicines and global tendering for essential drugs contradict India’s legislative directives aimed at improving medicine affordability and local production.
- These policies could reduce incentives for domestic production, leading to greater reliance on imports.
- To maintain the relevance and growth of the domestic pharmaceutical sector, the government needs to rethink these decisions and align its policies to support local manufacturing.
Conclusion
- The government’s recent decisions to rely on imports for critical medicines threaten the domestic pharmaceutical industry’s ability to thrive and remain competitive.
- While patent protection and regulatory guidelines pose significant entry barriers, proactive measures under the Patents Act and modernising biosimilar approval processes can help overcome these challenges.
- A balanced approach that promotes local production while maintaining affordability and access to essential medicines is essential for India’s long-term healthcare and pharmaceutical sustainability.
| Practice Question: Discuss the impact of recent government policies on the domestic pharmaceutical industry in India, particularly in the context of global tendering and customs duty waivers. Suggest measures to promote local production and ensure medicine affordability. (150 Words /10 marks) |
