12 August 2024 : The Hindu Editorial Analysis

1. A nutrition strategy would have averted Olympic agony

(Source – The Hindu, International Edition – Page No. – 8)

Topic: GS2 – Social Justice – Health

Context

The disqualification of Indian wrestler Vinesh Phogat at the Paris Olympics 2024 underscores a significant gap in the Indian sports support system. It highlights the critical need for integrating precision nutrition, emphasising tailored dietary strategies and technology to optimise athlete performance and prevent similar setbacks in the future.

Introduction: Vinesh Phogat’s Disqualification

• Indian wrestler Vinesh Phogat faced a setback at the Paris Olympics 2024 when she was disqualified from the women’s 50kg wrestling final for being 100 grams over the weight limit.
• This incident underscores the role of support staff, including nutritionists, doctors, and team management, in ensuring athletes meet competition requirements.

The Importance of Precision Nutrition

• Precision nutrition tailors dietary recommendations to meet an athlete’s specific requirements, focusing on individual responses to food and supplements rather than a one-size-fits-all approach.

What is Precision Nutrition?

Precision nutrition is an advanced approach to dietary planning that tailors nutrition recommendations based on an individual’s unique characteristics, such as metabolism, genetics, and lifestyle. This method leverages systems biology and a multi-omics approach, integrating genomics, metabolomics, microbiomes, and epigenetics with bioinformatics and machine learning to provide personalised nutrition guidance. By considering individual responses to food and supplements, precision nutrition aims to optimise health and performance. It is particularly valuable for athletes, enabling them to achieve peak performance through customised dietary plans that adjust to their physiological needs and help maintain optimal body weight and energy levels.

The Science Behind Precision Nutrition

• This approach uses data to adjust nutrition based on an athlete’s physiological responses, ensuring peak competition conditions.
• Integration with bioinformatics and machine learning helps identify patterns and predict how nutritional strategies affect performance.
• A plant-based diet and regular exercise can positively influence gut microflora, resulting in the production of short-chain fatty acids that support athletic performance and recovery.

Challenges of Traditional Dietary Data Collection

• Traditional methods like questionnaires have drawbacks, including self-reporting, memory bias, and high respondent burden.
• Combining subjective information with continuous monitoring (e.g., continuous blood glucose monitoring) can provide more precise recommendations, addressing dietary needs and regulatory sport requirements.
• Wearable sensors can track physical activity, stress, sleep quality, and heart rate, aiding in achieving and maintaining target weight.

Role of Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM)

• CGMs, used by people with diabetes, monitor interstitial blood glucose responses to food and can help athletes optimise muscle building, energy, inflammation reduction, and weight maintenance.
• Olympic gold medalist Chelsea Hodges and runner Eliud Kipchoge have used CGMs to enhance performance.
• While CGM use is banned in competitions, it can be useful during training to tailor nutrition plans.

Weight Management Challenges in Sports

• Weight-based sports like wrestling often require athletes to “make weight,” leading to extreme measures like starvation and dehydration.
• Such drastic actions can negatively impact athletes’ mental and physical health and performance.
• Reports indicate that Vinesh Phogat and Antim Panghal resorted to extreme measures to make weight, highlighting the need for healthier, sustainable practices.

The Role of Sports Nutritionists

• Coaches and peers play a significant role in athletes’ dietary choices, but nutritionists trained in precision nutrition can better monitor and optimise athletes’ dietary intake.
• Nutritionists should be assigned to specific sports to understand and adjust to athletes’ needs, familiarising themselves with sport rules, weight categories, and safe weight reduction methods.
• Integrating precision nutrition in sports involves individualising dietary plans and monitoring them continuously to prevent unhealthy practices.

Conclusion: Bridging the Gap in Sports Support Systems

• Vinesh Phogat’s disqualification highlights a gap in the Indian sports support system.
• Precision nutrition is crucial for preventing setbacks and optimising performance, emphasising the need for integrating technology and expert nutritionists.
• This approach can help revolutionise sports training in India, ensuring athletes achieve their full potential while maintaining health and well-being.

Practice Question:  Discuss the role of precision nutrition in enhancing athlete performance and preventing setbacks in competitive sports, in light of recent incidents involving weight management challenges faced by Indian athletes at international events. (150 Words /10 marks)

2. Parties, serious crimes and the need for judicial clarity

(Source – The Hindu, International Edition – Page No. – 8)

Topic: GS2 – Indian Polity

Context

The Supreme Court of India raised questions in bail petitions involving Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and former Deputy CM Manish Sisodia about the potential legal culpability of political parties under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. The court’s queries on whether political parties can be deemed accused entities under the PMLA and the distinction between policy and criminality could reshape legal accountability and transparency for political entities in India.

Supreme Court Observations in Bail Petitions

• Recent observations from two different Benches of the Supreme Court of India in the bail petitions of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia warrant in-depth analysis.
• The first observation was from the Bench headed by Justice Sanjiv Khanna, questioning whether the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) could be involved in a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and if the party could be made an accused.
• This prompted the Enforcement Directorate to consider making AAP an accused party in Mr. Kejriwal’s case, marking the first instance of a political party being accused under the PMLA.
• In a parliamentary democratic system, political parties play a pivotal role, and making them accused in serious criminal cases is fraught with grave problems.

Legal Analysis

• Enforcement Directorate invoked Section 70 of the PMLA to involve AAP, which deals with offences by companies.

Section 70 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA):

Section 70 states that if the person committing a contravention of any provision of the Act is a company, then every person in charge of the company shall be deemed guilty under the Act. The explanation to Section 70 defines ‘company’ as any body corporate and includes a firm or other association of individuals.

Question arises: Where does a political party fit under this definition?

• The investigative agency reportedly used the definition of political parties from The Representation of The People Act (RPA), 1951, which defines a political party as any association or body of individual citizens of India calling itself a political party.
• Not all associations of individuals can be treated as political parties unless they call themselves a political party.
• The explanation to Section 70 of the PMLA only covers associations of individuals, not associations calling themselves a political party.
• Thus, Section 70 does not cover political parties, making it legally impermissible to bring a political party within this definition.
• This means that, “association of individuals” can only mean a body in the nature of a body corporate or a firm, which a political party is not.

Political Parties and Financial Operations

• Political parties are not transactional bodies; their role is to mobilise people, fight elections, and run a government, not run businesses.
• Most political parties rely on donations from individuals or corporates, which are legally permitted and require declarations to the Election Commission of India.
• The entire donation received by a political party is exempt from income-tax, reflecting the law’s recognition of the role political parties play in a democratic system.
• It is challenging to understand the observation of bringing political parties under the PMLA.

Policy vs. Criminality

• The second observation from a Bench of Justice B.R. Gavai and Justice K.V. Viswanathan in Mr. Sisodia’s bail petition questioned the distinction between policy and criminality.
• In a cabinet form of government, the cabinet has exclusive authority to frame policy, which may be good or bad.
• Parliament or the Assembly may disapprove a bad policy, and ultimately the cabinet is accountable to the people, who can punish the government and party for harmful policies.
• The judiciary does not examine the correctness or motive of a policy made by a cabinet.
• Criminal charges against an individual Minister for a cabinet decision are legally unsustainable and unheard of in the cabinet form of governments.
• A Minister becomes culpable for an individual action violating the law, but not as part of a cabinet decision.

Need for Judicial Clarity

• Bringing political parties under the Prevention of Corruption Act and PMLA will have far-reaching consequences.
• In a country where political vendetta is common, such actions would make political parties vulnerable.
• There is an urgent need for the Supreme Court to clarify the law regarding the involvement of political parties in these acts and the culpability of individual Ministers for cabinet decisions.

Practice Question:  Discuss the implications of including political parties under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) on the democratic framework and political accountability in India. How might this affect the functioning and transparency of political entities? (150 Words /10 marks)