General

1. Right to retire is not above Right to save lives: SC

• The State can stop government doctors from taking voluntary retirement in public interest, the Supreme Court has ruled.
• The fundamental right to retire is not above the right to save lives in a country where government hospitals cater to the poorest.
• The court observed public health was suffering from a scarcity of doctors. Qualified doctors did not join the public service, and even if they did so, they chose voluntary retirement and went into lucrative private practice.
• The State governments had an obligation “to make an endeavour under Article 47 to look after the provisions for health and nutrition.”
• The doctors, as citizens, had certain fundamental duties under Article 51(A) towards their fellow citizens. The right to practise a profession under Article 19(1)(g) was subject to the interest of the general public.
• The ruling is based on an appeal by the Uttar Pradesh government against the Allahabad High Court’s decision to allow Dr Achal Singh, who was working as Joint Director, Medical, Health and Family Welfare, in Lucknow, to voluntarily retire with effect from March 31, 2017.
• Though the High Court allowed Ms Singh to retire, it rued the way government doctors were seeking voluntary retirement almost every day in the State. The High Court said the government healthcare sector needed senior doctors as they were “absolutely necessary to run the medical services which are part and parcel of the right to life itself.”

2. Quad Countries & Oceanic Security

• The Quad grouping is one of the many avenues for interaction among India, Australia, Japan and the U.S. and should not be seen in an exclusive context.
• India’s readiness to shed its past inhibitions about the militarization of the grouping and willingness to take greater responsibility for the security of the Indo-Pacific region.
• The sudden revival of the Quad and the overt display of its militarisation shows how serious the members of the Quad consider the Chinese threat to be. China’s unilateralism, disregard for rule-based order, use of infrastructure development and investments in the region for geopolitical gains have hastened the process.