The week in 5 charts | FIFA World Cup, Delhi MCD Polls, India’s GDP slows in Q2, and more

Here are five charts that will help you understand some of the key stories from this week

German subs on the bench react after the World Cup group E soccer match between Costa Rica and Germany at the Al Bayt Stadium in Al Khor , Qatar, Thursday, Dec. 1, 2022. | Photo Credit: AP

(1) FIFA World Cup

The FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar is about to enter its knockout stages, with the final 16 teams battling it out across 8 matches to reach the quarter-finals. The results of the final games of group stages have led to the elimination of top teams like Germany and Belgium. The Round of 16 will begin on December 3 at 8.30 p.m. with the Netherlands taking on the U.S.A. and will go on till December 7. To find out what happened in each group, interact with the graphic below.

(2) Delhi MCD Polls

The high-stakes Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) polls are going to be held on Sunday, December 4, 2022. In 2017, BJP swept the capital’s formerly-trifurcated civic bodies - namely, North, South, and East Delhi Municipal Corporation - with a majority in all (as shown in the graphic below). BJP secured over a third of the votes in all three civic bodies, and won a total of 181 seats out of 272.

There’s been a war of words ahead of Sunday’s elections. While AAP’s campaign has focused on landfills and municipality’s poor finances to prove BJP corrupt, the latter has highlighted leaked videos of Satyendar Jain and alleged irregularities in Delhi governments now-scrapped excise policy to brand the former as dishonest. Currently, Delhi produces around 11,144 tonnes of waste per day. Of this, 5,885 tonnes are dumped in landfills. That is 53% of waste generated.

The FY 2022-23 budget of the now-unified civic body shows that out of the total budget of around ₹15,276 crore, the highest allocations have been made for sanitation, general administration and education — 65.53% of the total estimate. The graphics below showcase how the 2017 elections turned out and also throws light on the financial status of over 1300 candidates who are going to be contesting this year.

(3) India’s GDP

India’s gross domestic product (GDP) for the July-September quarter (Q2) of the ongoing financial year 2022-23 slowed to 6.3%, as per provisional estimates released by National Statistical Office (NSO). The GDP growth was dragged down mainly by the poor performance of the manufacturing and mining sectors. Last year, the GDP growth rate was 8.4% in the July-September quarter. At a little over ₹75 lakh crore, India’s GDP in the first half of 2022-23 was 5.7% larger than the comparable pre-COVID level. The April to June quarter of this fiscal had witnessed GDP growth of 13.5%, with GVA expanding 12.7%. The GDP figure assumes significance amid widespread speculations of a global recession as economies struggle to cope with the aftereffects of the Covid pandemic and also of the uncertainties created by the Russia-Ukraine war.

As per the government data, the gross value added (GVA) at basic price at constant terms during the September quarter rose 5.6%. The GVA at basic price at current prices rose 16.2% in Q2 2022-23. As per the data by the NSO, the GVA of trade, hotels, transport, communication & services related to broadcasting witnessed a rise of 14.7% while that of financial, real estate & professional services climbed 7.2%. The construction segment grew by 6.6% while public administration, defense, and other services rose by 6.5%. Electricity, gas, water supply & other utility services climbed 5.6% and the agriculture, forestry & fishing segment witnessed a 4.6% rise in GVA. The GVA in the manufacturing sector contracted by 4.3% during the quarter from 5.6% growth during the year-ago period. GVA in mining declined by 2.8% in the quarter compared to 14.5% growth. The GVA growth in the construction sector also decelerated to 6.6% in the quarter from 8.1%.

(4) SC on judiciary appointments

The Supreme Court and the Union Government locked horns this week over judiciary appointments. Delay in clearing appointments was the main contention. On one hand, the government accused the Supreme Court Collegium of being opaque. The Court, on the other hand, accuses the government of stalling their appointment recommendations. It linked the government’s refusal to clear Collegium recommendations to the Court’s 2015 judgment striking down the National Judicial Appointments Committee (NJAC). The NJAC gave the government an equal say in judicial appointments.

So, how does the present system work? The process begins with a four-member Collegium recommending names for High Court and Supreme Court judges. This list goes to the Law Minister, the Prime Minister, and then the President, who would approve the appointment. He can also send the recommendation back to the Collegium for reconsideration. However, the Collegium has veto power. The point of this system is to make sure the Supreme Court has primacy over appointments. However, the system has its pitfalls. On September 30, a Collegium meeting to recommend names for Supreme Court judges was closed without making final recommendations. Differences between the Collegium members in the method of recommending names were one of the reasons. The other was a letter from the Law Ministry requesting then-Chief Justice Lalit to nominate his successor. This letter is seen as the beginning of the Chief Justice appointment process. Convention dictates that an outgoing CJI cannot hold collegium meetings when the appointment process of his successor has already begun. The collegium had finalized one recommendation. The ten others under deliberation were never discussed.

There have been issues with the government, too. The Supreme Court accused the government of holding up appointments and using silence and inaction to compel the withdrawal of consent by eminent persons considered for judgeships. When the government does reply, the Supreme Court said that it cherry-picks names. This spat between the government and the Court puts this perennial issue of judicial appointments under the spotlight again. A solution comes from either the government clearing pending recommendations, or the collegium consults a more diverse group of people when recommending names.

(5) GM crops

This week, the Supreme Court heard petitions challenging the environmental safety behind adopting genetically modified mustard. Earlier this month, the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) approved genetically modified mustard Dhara Mustard Hybrid-11 (DMH-11) for environmental release. However, the verdict is split on adoption. Scientists have welcomed GEAC’s approval, pointing out that using genetically modified mustard will reduce India’s imports of edible oil. They gave rapeseed cultivation in Canada, China and Europe as examples. These countries use rapeseed hybrids mostly. With the hybrid mustard’s productivity increase and higher yield, more edible oil can be produced in the country.

A host of issues question adoption. The Supreme Court questioned the impact of the herbicide-tolerant mustard over the employment prospects of women engaged in weeding. Herbicide-tolerance would encourage farmers to use weed-killing chemicals, eliminating the need for manual workers. Some are worried whether the hybrid might keep bees from pollinating the plant, leading to other environmental consequences.

Genetically modified crops have increased over the years across the world. It went from being cultivated in 1.7 million hectares of land in 1996 to around 190 million hectares in 2019. India has one success story with genetically modified crops. In 2009, Bt-cotton was introduced. Its modifications made it resistant to bollworm infestation. The adoption of Bt-cotton increased yields and now, the majority of cotton cultivation is using Bt-cotton. However, India has never approved a genetically modified food crop for commercial use.