Codex Alimentarius: The 100'th post

Note: This is the 100'th post on this blog and I am glad that I have come this far. Further I feeling very happy that my 100'th post is on a topic which is so near to the hearts of millions i.e. food and agriculture.

Codex Alimentarius: The 100'th post

The Codex Alimentarius Commission was created in 1963 by FAO and WHO to develop food standards, guidelines and related texts such as codes of practice under the Joint FAO/WHO Food Standards Programme.

The main purposes of this Programme are protecting health of the consumers and ensuring fair trade practices in the food trade, and promoting coordination of all food standards work undertaken by international governmental and non-governmental organizations.

Critics:

Codex Alimentarius is recognized by the World Trade Organization as an international reference standard for the resolution of disputes concerning food safety and consumer protection, which is unfair to countries not recognizing it.

Codex Alimentarius has "codified policies designed to serve the interest of global agribusiness above all others, while actively undermining the rights of farmers and consumers

Microfinance Institutions (Development and Regulation) Bill

The Microfinance Institutions (Development and Regulation) Bill: An analysis

Need of the Bill: About a year ago, the government of Andhra Pradesh — the State that accounts for nearly a third of microfinance business in the country — introduced tough rules to clamp down on such practices as overcharging customers and employing coercive methods to recover loans.

Neither self-regulation nor regulation by Nabard, which also lends to the MFIs, has been found viable. Hence the onus has fallen squarely on the RBI.

Advantages:

Proposes that all microfinance institutions with net-owned funds of over Rs.5 lakh register with it.

The RBI will define and fix what the Bill calls “an annual percentage rate”, to be charged by private MFIs, and also set the range within which it can operate. That rate will include interest, processing fees, service charges and any other charges or fees that are payable by the borrowers.

Difficulties in implementation:

Extremely cumbersome and will be difficult to enforce.

Given the low threshold for registration envisaged under the Bill, the number of MFIs that will come under the regulatory scanner will be too large for any meaningful supervision.

Even if the RBI became the principal regulator, it would be well within the State government's jurisdiction to exercise control over money lenders and check usurious practices

Koya Commandos: Violation of Art 14, 21

Both Article 21 and Article 14 of the Constitution of India have been violated, and will continue to be violated, by the appointment of tribal youth, with very little education, as SPOs engaged in counter-insurgency activities.

Article 14 — equality before the law and equal protection of the laws — is violated because subjecting these youths to the same levels of danger as members of the regular force, who have better education and training and possess a better capacity to benefit from training, “would be to treat unequal as equals”, the court explained.

Article 21 — protection of life and personal liberty — was violated because youngsters with such poor educational qualifications “cannot be expected to understand the dangers that they are likely to face, or skills which are needed to face such dangers”