The week in 5 charts | SC upholds Article 370 abrogation, 14 Opposition MPs suspended from Parliament Winter Session, and more

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

TMC MP Derek O’ Brien among 14 Opposition MPs suspended from Parliament Winter session (Right), President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi is expecting a sweeping victory and a new six-year term in Egypt election (Centre), and A five-judge Constitution bench on December 12 during the judgement on a batch of petitions challenging the abrogation of Article 370.

(1) Supreme Court upholds Article 370 abrogation

Four years after Article 370 was abrogated, the Supreme Court held the decision as valid in a judgement on Tuesday. The timeline below briefly traces events from when Jammu and Kashmir signed the Instrument of Accession and agreed to be a part of India. The Court dealt with questions about various parts of this process. These included questions of the State’s sovereignty, power excesses on the part of the President, and the State Assembly’s role. The graphic is a gist of the issues in front of the Court and where they came from.

The table below shows in brief how each of the questions were answered.

The overall consensus was that Jammu and Kashmir was never a fully sovereign State, and over the years, the government has been incrementally advancing its integration with India. Moreover, the objective of Article 370 was to help ease the integration of the State with India.

(2) 14 Opposition MPs suspended from Parliament

Amid protests seeking a statement from Union Home Minister Amit Shah on December 13th’s security scare in Parliament, a total of 14 MPs, including one from Rajya Sabha, were suspended on Thursday. The suspensions were on account of alleged “gross misconduct”. Overall, proceedings in both Houses were marred by protests from members of the opposition benches, as concerns continued to echo in both chambers. 

While Trinamool Congress leader Derek O’Brien was the only one to have been suspended from the Rajya Sabha, as many as 13 Opposition MPs, including nine from the Congress and the DMK’s Kanimozhi, were among those who were suspended from the Lok Sabha.

The government accused the Opposition of “politicising a grave national security issue”, while the Congress described the suspension as “murder of democracy” and accused the BJP of reducing the Parliament to being “a mere rubber stamp”.

Stepping up their attack on the Home Ministry and Mr. Shah for the major security lapse, the Opposition members demanded action against BJP MP Prathap Simha, who had recommended the passes for the two intruders.

“In the past also, many such incidents have taken place. I am not comparing past incidents and defending Wednesday’s incident but we have to learn lessons from the past,” Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi said.

(3) Egypt’s Sisi cruises towards victory in subdued election

Egyptians cast their ballots on December 12 on the third and final day of a presidential election expected to give President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi a sweeping victory and a new six-year term in the absence of real competition.

Many Egyptians have shown little interest in the election, saying they believe that voting will make little difference, although authorities and commentators on tightly controlled local media continued urging them to cast ballots out of national duty. Results are expected on Dec. 18.

The election, which began on Sunday, is Sisi’s third since taking power after the 2013 overthrow of Egypt’s first popularly elected president Mohamed Mursi. An Islamist, Mursi won the presidency a year after the toppling of long-ruling autocrat Hosni Mubarak in a popular uprising.

The election featured three other low-profile candidates. The most prominent potential challenger halted his run in October, saying officials and thugs had targeted his supporters - accusations dismissed by the National Election Authority.

Critics say the election is a sham and that former general Sisi’s popularity has been eroded amid a slow-burning economic crisis and the decade-long crackdown on dissent.

The government’s media body has said the vote was a step towards political pluralism and authorities have denied violations of electoral rules. Authorities have sought to address criticism of its record with steps including by opening a national dialogue and releasing some prominent prisoners.

(4) Exports, imports down in November

India’s merchandise exports slipped by 2.83% to $33.90 billion in November while the trade deficit narrowed to $20.58 billion, according to government data. Imports also fell by 4.33% to $54.48 billion in November, the data released by the commerce ministry on Friday showed.

Cumulatively, the country’s merchandise exports in April-November FY2023-24 contracted by 6.51% to $278.8 billion. Imports were also down by 8.67% to $445.15 billion in the eight-month period due to a fall in oil imports. Oil imports dipped to $113.65 billion as against $139.29 billion in April-November 2022-23.

The trade deficit – difference between imports and exports - during the eight-month period was $166.35 billion against $189.21 billion in the corresponding period last year.

According to the data, the estimated value of services export for November is $28.69 billion, as compared to $26.93 billion in November 2022. During the eight-month period, these exports stood at $220.66 billion as compared to $208.30 billion in April-November 2022.

Briefing reporters here, Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal said that given the global situation, India’s export numbers are good.

All key export sectors have recorded negative growth during the April-November period of this fiscal and that include petroleum products, gems and jewellery, chemicals, garments, and engineering goods. Sectors which registered positive growth include electronics, iron ore, and pharma.

(5) 74.1% of Indians unable to afford a healthy diet according to FAO Report

The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations’ recent report on worldwide food security and nutrition has provided startling figures of India’s position on malnutrition and stunted growth. 74.1% of Indians were unable to afford a healthy diet in 2021. In 2020, the percentage was 76.2. Rising food costs, if not matched by rising income, will lead to more people unable to afford a healthy diet, the report warned.

“Southern Asia showed higher prevalence of severe food insecurity compared with the other subregions, and it is in Eastern Asia where the lowest prevalence of severe food insecurity was observed. Compared with the world, Southern Asia had higher percentages for both moderate or severe and severe food insecurity since 2015,” the report said.

The report said 16.6% of India’s population is undernourished. “The impacts of undernourishment extend beyond health and nutritional well-being to include economic and social costs,” it said.

1.6% of the country’s adults are obese as of 2000, according to the FAO. The figure has increased to 3.9% by 2016. On exclusive breastfeeding among infants 0–5 months of age, India has improved the prevalence with a percentage of 63.7%, which is higher than the world prevalence – 47.7%. India has the highest prevalence of low birthweight in the region (27.4%), followed by Bangladesh and Nepal.