In view of the present quandary in the world due to the ongoing crises in South Sudan and Syria, the humanitarian importance of the World Refugee Day, June 20, stands validated more than ever before. The observance of the World Refugee Day was started at the behest of the United Nations from 2001 to commemorate the abject distress faced by the forcefully displaced persons and raise awareness about their situation worldwide.
As per the Global Trends Report on Forced Displacement in 2016 published by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), 65.6 million individuals stood forcibly displaced worldwide as a result of persecution, conflict, violence, or human rights violations by the end of 2016. There were 65.3 million of them worldwide at the end of 2015. That was an increase of 300,000 people over 2015, and the world’s forcibly displaced population remained at a record high.
The UNHCR defines a refugee as
“someone who has been forced to flee his or her country because of persecution, war, or violence. A refugee has a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in a particular social group. Most likely, they cannot return home or are afraid to do so. War and ethnic, tribal and religious violence are leading causes of refugees fleeing their countries.”
The main difference between the terms “refugee” and “migrant” is that migrants choose to move to improve their lives as opposed to evading a direct threat of persecution or death. If they choose to return home, they will continue to receive the protection of their government.
At the international level, the most comprehensive legally binding policy detailing the standards for the treatment of refugees is the ‘United Nations Convention relating to the Status of Refugees’, popularly known as the 1951 Refugee Convention, ratified by 145 state parties on 28th July 1951.
The 1951 Convention was initially designed as a post World War II instrument, protecting persons fleeing events that predated January 1st, 1951 and within Europe. So far, it has undergone only one amendment in the form of the 1967 Protocol which removed these temporal and spatial limitations, thus giving the Convention universal applicability.
While majority of the world are parties to the multilateral agreement, India continues to desist acceding to it. However, the Indian government largely abides by the principle of non-refoulement, which is the cornerstone of the Convention.
It prevents any form of expulsions or non-admittance at the frontier by state machinery of the asylum country against the will of the refugee or stateless person, unless such measures are dictated by reasons of national security or public order.
Though India does not have any legal documentation of its refugee policy, the Indian course of action has largely been a liberal one, allowing political asylum seekers to settle within the Indian borders.
For example, Dalai Lama had been provided political asylum in India at the risk of deterioration in relationships with China. At the end of 2016, according to the UNHCR, there were 2,07,070 persons of concern in India, out of whom 1,97,851 were refugees and 9,219 were asylum seekers.
Over the years, thousands of refugees, including Tibetans, Afghans, Bangladeshi Chakmas and Sri Lankan Tamils have been provided shelter within India. But in view of the permeability of the international borders, it is difficult to pin down the exactitude of the very limited data available.
The Indian approach continues to be a de facto one, where the contemporary government devises its asylum policy on an ad hoc and case-to-case basis, at times motivated by local electoral goals. The Asylum Bill, 2015, a private member bill introduced in the Parliament by M.P. Shashi Tharoor, seeks “to provide for the establishment of an effective system to protect refugees and asylum seekers by means of an appropriate legal framework to determine claims for asylum and to provide for the rights and obligations flowing from such status and matters connected therewith”.
This however, is yet to receive legal status. Though there is no formal declaration from the UNHCR or from the Indian government stating precise reasons for not signing the Convention, the existing opinion in academia is that the looming threat on political stability, internal security and international relations mainly prohibit India from ratifying the 1951 Refugee Convention.
The highly porous nature of the international borders in South Asian countries poses a major impediment to the implementation the Eurocentric formulations in the policy. It would be extremely difficult to put in place effective border control measures to supervise population entry that the 1951 Refugee Convention demands.
These issues are effectively dealt with by most of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) members through bilateral agreements. Furthermore, there remains a concern for the socio-economic and cultural composition within the border states of India. Most South Asian nationalities harbour deeply embedded cultural identities.
Although on one side, the already existing stress on the available infrastructure and employment opportunities makes it difficult for developing countries to accommodate sudden spikes in population, on the other, cross-border movement of population has been a historically accepted phenomenon. Given the problems that India faces with respect to international migration, it would be difficult for the Indian government to guarantee fair treatment to the multitudes whose lives and livelihoods are intrinsically linked beyond boundaries, which would be binding under the 1951 Refugee Convention.
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- In the Large States category (overall), Chhattisgarh ranks 1st, followed by Odisha and Telangana, whereas, towards the bottom are Maharashtra at 16th, Assam at 17th and Gujarat at 18th. Gujarat is one State that has seen startling performance ranking 5th in the PAI 2021 Index outperforming traditionally good performing States like Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, but ranks last in terms of Delta
- In the Small States category (overall), Nagaland tops, followed by Mizoram and Tripura. Towards the tail end of the overall Delta ranking is Uttarakhand (9th), Arunachal Pradesh (10th) and Meghalaya (11th). Nagaland despite being a poor performer in the PAI 2021 Index has come out to be the top performer in Delta, similarly, Mizoram’s performance in Delta is also reflected in it’s ranking in the PAI 2021 Index
- In terms of Equity, in the Large States category, Chhattisgarh has the best Delta rate on Equity indicators, this is also reflected in the performance of Chhattisgarh in the Equity Pillar where it ranks 4th. Following Chhattisgarh is Odisha ranking 2nd in Delta-Equity ranking, but ranks 17th in the Equity Pillar of PAI 2021. Telangana ranks 3rd in Delta-Equity ranking even though it is not a top performer in this Pillar in the overall PAI 2021 Index. Jharkhand (16th), Uttar Pradesh (17th) and Assam (18th) rank at the bottom with Uttar Pradesh’s performance in line with the PAI 2021 Index
- Odisha and Nagaland have shown the best year-on-year improvement under 12 Key Development indicators.
- In the 60:40 division States, the top three performers are Kerala, Goa and Tamil Nadu and, the bottom three performers are Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Bihar.
- In the 90:10 division States, the top three performers were Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim and Mizoram; and, the bottom three performers are Manipur, Assam and Meghalaya.
- Among the 60:40 division States, Orissa, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh are the top three performers and Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Delhi appear as the bottom three performers.
- Among the 90:10 division States, the top three performers are Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland; and, the bottom three performers are Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh
- Among the 60:40 division States, Goa, West Bengal and Delhi appear as the top three performers and Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Bihar appear as the bottom three performers.
- Among the 90:10 division States, Mizoram, Himachal Pradesh and Tripura were the top three performers and Jammu & Kashmir, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh were the bottom three performers
- West Bengal, Bihar and Tamil Nadu were the top three States amongst the 60:40 division States; while Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan appeared as the bottom three performers
- In the case of 90:10 division States, Mizoram, Assam and Tripura were the top three performers and Nagaland, Jammu & Kashmir and Uttarakhand featured as the bottom three
- Among the 60:40 division States, the top three performers are Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Orissa and the bottom three performers are Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand and Goa
- In the 90:10 division States, the top three performers are Mizoram, Sikkim and Nagaland and the bottom three performers are Manipur and Assam
In a diverse country like India, where each State is socially, culturally, economically, and politically distinct, measuring Governance becomes increasingly tricky. The Public Affairs Index (PAI 2021) is a scientifically rigorous, data-based framework that measures the quality of governance at the Sub-national level and ranks the States and Union Territories (UTs) of India on a Composite Index (CI).
States are classified into two categories – Large and Small – using population as the criteria.
In PAI 2021, PAC defined three significant pillars that embody Governance – Growth, Equity, and Sustainability. Each of the three Pillars is circumscribed by five governance praxis Themes.
The themes include – Voice and Accountability, Government Effectiveness, Rule of Law, Regulatory Quality and Control of Corruption.
At the bottom of the pyramid, 43 component indicators are mapped to 14 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that are relevant to the States and UTs.
This forms the foundation of the conceptual framework of PAI 2021. The choice of the 43 indicators that go into the calculation of the CI were dictated by the objective of uncovering the complexity and multidimensional character of development governance
The Equity Principle
The Equity Pillar of the PAI 2021 Index analyses the inclusiveness impact at the Sub-national level in the country; inclusiveness in terms of the welfare of a society that depends primarily on establishing that all people feel that they have a say in the governance and are not excluded from the mainstream policy framework.
This requires all individuals and communities, but particularly the most vulnerable, to have an opportunity to improve or maintain their wellbeing. This chapter of PAI 2021 reflects the performance of States and UTs during the pandemic and questions the governance infrastructure in the country, analysing the effectiveness of schemes and the general livelihood of the people in terms of Equity.
Growth and its Discontents
Growth in its multidimensional form encompasses the essence of access to and the availability and optimal utilisation of resources. By resources, PAI 2021 refer to human resources, infrastructure and the budgetary allocations. Capacity building of an economy cannot take place if all the key players of growth do not drive development. The multiplier effects of better health care, improved educational outcomes, increased capital accumulation and lower unemployment levels contribute magnificently in the growth and development of the States.
The Pursuit Of Sustainability
The Sustainability Pillar analyses the access to and usage of resources that has an impact on environment, economy and humankind. The Pillar subsumes two themes and uses seven indicators to measure the effectiveness of government efforts with regards to Sustainability.
The Curious Case Of The Delta
The Delta Analysis presents the results on the State performance on year-on-year improvement. The rankings are measured as the Delta value over the last five to 10 years of data available for 12 Key Development Indicators (KDI). In PAI 2021, 12 indicators across the three Pillars of Equity (five indicators), Growth (five indicators) and Sustainability (two indicators). These KDIs are the outcome indicators crucial to assess Human Development. The Performance in the Delta Analysis is then compared to the Overall PAI 2021 Index.
Key Findings:-
In the Scheme of Things
The Scheme Analysis adds an additional dimension to ranking of the States on their governance. It attempts to complement the Governance Model by trying to understand the developmental activities undertaken by State Governments in the form of schemes. It also tries to understand whether better performance of States in schemes reflect in better governance.
The Centrally Sponsored schemes that were analysed are National Health Mission (NHM), Umbrella Integrated Child Development Services scheme (ICDS), Mahatma Gandh National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan (SmSA) and MidDay Meal Scheme (MDMS).
National Health Mission (NHM)
INTEGRATED CHILD DEVELOPMENT SERVICES (ICDS)
MID- DAY MEAL SCHEME (MDMS)
SAMAGRA SHIKSHA ABHIYAN (SMSA)
MAHATMA GANDHI NATIONAL RURAL EMPLOYMENT GUARANTEE SCHEME (MGNREGS)