RANJANA PRAKASH DESAI COMMITTEE

Centre has constituted an eight-member search committee,

to be headed by former Supreme Court judge, Ranjana
Prakash Desai, to recommend the chairperson and members
of Lokpal.
About:
•The step comes after the Supreme Court’s order to appoint Lokpal at the earliest.
•This search committee was appointed by the selection committee, which comprises Prime Minister,
Chief Justice of India, Lok Sabha Speaker, leader of the largest Opposition party and eminent jurist Mukul
Rohatgi.

RANJANA PRAKASH DESAI COMMISSION

 March 8, 2020
The Law Ministry notified the delimitation commission for Jammu and Kashmir, Assam, Arunachal
Pradesh, Manipur and Nagaland.

About:

•The three-member commission will be headed by former Supreme Court judge Justice Ranjana Prakash
Desai.
•Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora has nominated Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra as his
representative on the commission. The third member will be the election commissioner of the state or
Union Territory concerned.
•The delimitation commission is expected to wind up the exercise in a year’s time. 

The last delimitation (Fixing limits of territorial constituencies) was conducted across India in 2002,
but the four North-eastern states namely Assam.Recently, a Delimitation Commission was recently
set up to redraw the Lok Sabha and assembly constituencies of the above states and UT. Former
Supreme Court judge Ranjana Prakash Desai has been appointed as the chairperson of the
Commission.

Delimitation
Why in the news?
The bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir state into the Union Territories of J&K and Ladakh

has made delimitation of their electoral constituencies inevitable. Recently, the EC has
held “internal discussions” on the Jammu and Kashmir reorganisation Act, 2019,

particularly its provisions on delimitation.

What is Delimitation?
Delimitation literally means the act or process of fixing limits or boundaries of territorial

constituencies in a country to represent changes in population.

Why Delimitation?
•To provide equal representation to equal segments of a population.

•Fair division of geographical areas so that one political party doesn’t have an

advantage over others in an election.

•To follow the principle of “One Vote One Value”.

How delimitation is carried out?

•Under Article 82, the Parliament enacts a Delimitation Act after every Census.

•Under Article 170, States also get divided into territorial constituencies as per

Delimitation Act after every Census.

•Once the Act is in force, the Union government sets up a Delimitation Commission.

•The first delimitation exercise was carried out by the President (with the help of the

Election Commission) in 1950-51.

The Delimitation Commission Act was enacted in 1952.

•Delimitation Commissions have been set up four times — 1952, 1963, 1973 and

2002 under the Acts of 1952, 1962, 1972 and 2002.

•There was no delimitation after the 1981 and 1991 Censuses.

Delimitation Commission
•The Delimitation Commission is appointed by the President of India and works

in collaboration with the Election Commission of India.

•Composition: 

•Retired Supreme Court judge

•Chief Election Commissioner

•Respective State Election Commissioners

•Functions:

•To determine the number and boundaries of constituencies to make population of all

constituencies nearly equal.

To identify seats reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, wherever their
population is relatively large.

•In case of difference of opinion among members of the Commission, the opinion of the

majority prevails.

•The Delimitation Commission in India is a high power body whose orders have the force

of law and cannot be called in question before any court.

Current Position of Delimitation

•In the 2009 General elections, 499 out of total 543 Parliamentary constituencies

were newly delimited constituencies.

•This affected the National Capital Region of Delhi, The Union territory of Puducherry and

all other states except J&K, Arunachal Pradesh,Assam,Jharkhand,Manipur and Nagaland

Problems with Delimitation
•States that take little interest in population control could end up with a greater number

of seats in Parliament. The southern states that promoted family planning faced the

possibility of having their seats reduced.

•In 2008, Delimitation was done based on the 2001 census, but the total number of seats

in the Assemblies and Parliament decided as per the 1971 Census was not changed.

•The constitution has also capped the number of Lok Shaba & Rajya Sabha seats to a

maximum of 550 & 250 respectively and increasing populations are being represented

by a single representative.

Steps to be taken
•A national consensus exercise should be started to sort out issues much before 2026.

•The weightage given by the Finance Commission to population can be reduced to 10%,

or even 5%.

Way Forward
Although the freeze on the number of seats in Lok Sabha and Assemblies should have
been lifted after the 2001 Census, another amendment has postponed this until 2026.

•This was justified on the ground that a uniform population growth rate would be

achieved throughout the country by 2026.

Reservation in India
Introduction
•The age-old caste system of India is responsible for the origination of the reservation

system in the country.

•In simple terms, it is about facilitating access to seats in the government jobs,

educational institutions, and even legislatures to certain sections of the population.

•These sections have faced historical injustice due to their caste identity.

 •As a quota based affirmative action, the reservation can also be seen as positive

discrimination.

•In India, it is governed by government policies backed by the Indian Constitution.

Social Justice

Prev   Next

Reservation in India
• 24 Jul 2019 

• 15 min read

Tags: 

• GS Paper - 2

• Social Empowerment

• Issues Related to SCs & STs

• Government Policies & Interventions

Introduction
• The age-old caste system of India is responsible for the origination of the reservation

system in the country.

• In simple terms, it is about facilitating access to seats in the government jobs,

educational institutions, and even legislatures to certain sections of the population.

• These sections have faced historical injustice due to their caste identity.

• As a quota based affirmative action, the reservation can also be seen as positive

discrimination.

• In India, it is governed by government policies backed by the Indian Constitution.

Historical Background
• William Hunter and Jyotirao Phule in 1882 originally conceived the idea of caste-based

reservation system.

• The reservation system that exists today, in its true sense, was introduced in 1933 when

British Prime-Minister Ramsay Macdonald presented the ‘Communal Award’.

• The award made provision for separate electorates for Muslims, Sikhs, Indian Christians,

Anglo-Indians, Europeans and the Dalits.

• After long negotiations, Gandhi and Ambedkar signed the ‘Poona Pact’, where it was

decided that there would be a single Hindu electorate with certain reservations in it.

• After independence, initially reservations were provided only for SCs and STs.

• OBCs were included in the ambit of reservation in 1991 on the recommendations of

the Mandal Commission.

Mandal Commission
•In exercise of the powers conferred by Article 340 of the Constitution, the President

appointed a backward class commission in December 1978 under the chairmanship of

B. P. Mandal.

•The commission was formed to determine the criteria for defining India’s “socially and

educationally backward classes” and to recommend steps to be taken for the

advancement of those classes.

•The Mandal Commission concluded that India’s population consisted of approximately

52 percent OBCs, therefore 27% government jobs should be reserved for them.

•The commission has developed eleven indicators of social, educational, and economic

backwardness.
 •Apart from identifying backward classes among Hindus, the Commission has also

identified backward classes among non-Hindus (e.g., Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, and

Buddhists.

•It has generated an all-India other backward classes (OBC) list of 3,743 castes and a

more underprivileged “depressed backward classes” list of 2,108 castes.

In the Indra Sawhney Case of 1992, the Supreme Court while upholding the 27 percent
quota for backward classes,struck down the government notification reserving 10%
government jobs for economically backward classes among the higher castes.

•Supreme Court in the same case also upheld the principle that the combined

reservation beneficiaries should not exceed 50 percent of India’s population.

•The concept of ‘creamy layer’ also gained currency through this judgment and provision

that reservation for backward classes should be confined to initial appointments only

and not extend to promotions.

•Recently, the Constitutional (103rd Amendment) Act of 2019 has provided 10%

reservation in government jobs and educational institutions for the “economically

backward” in the unreserved category.

•The Act amends Articles 15 and 16 of the Constitution by adding clauses empowering

the government to provide reservation on the basis of economic backwardness.

•This 10% economic reservation is over and above the 50% reservation cap.

Constitutional Provisions Governing Reservation in India

•Part XVI deals with reservation of SC and ST in Central and State legislatures.

•Article 15(4) and 16(4) of the Constitution enabled the State and Central Governments

to reserve seats in government services for the members of the SC and ST.

•The Constitution was amended by the Constitution (77th Amendment) Act, 1995 and a

new clause (4A) was inserted in Article 16 to enable the government to provide

reservation in promotion.
•Later, clause (4A) was modified by the Constitution (85th Amendment) Act, 2001 to

provide consequential seniority to SC and ST candidates promoted by giving reservation.

•Constitutional 81st Amendment Act, 2000 inserted Article 16 (4 B) which enables the

state to fill the unfilled vacancies of a year which are reserved for SCs/STs in the

succeeding year, thereby nullifying the ceiling of fifty percent reservation on total

number of vacancies of that year.Article 330 and 332 provides for specific

representation through reservation of seats for SCs and STs in the Parliament and in the

State Legislative Assemblies respectively.

•Article 243D provides reservation of seats for SCs and STs in every Panchayat.

•Article 233T provides reservation of seats for SCs and STs in every Municipality.

•Article 335 of the constitution says that the claims of STs and STs shall be taken into

consideration constituently with the maintenance of efficacy of the administration.

• Judicial Scrutiny of Reservation

•The State of Madras v. Smt.Champakam Dorairajan (1951) case was the first major

verdict of the Supreme Court on the issue of Reservation.The case led to the First

amendment in the constitution.

•The Supreme Court in the case pointed out that while in the case of employment under

the State, Article 16(4) provides for reservations in favour of backward class of citizens,

no such provision was made in Article 15.

•Pursuant to the Supreme Court’s order in the case the Parliament amended

Article 15 by inserting Clause (4).

• In Indra Sawhney v. Union of India (1992) case the court examined the scope

and extent of Article 16(4).

• The Court has said that the creamy layer of OBCs should be excluded from the

list of beneficiaries of reservation, there should not be reservation in

promotions; and total reserved quota should not exceed 50%.

• The Parliament responded by enacting 77th Constitutional Amendment

Actwhich introduced Article 16(4A).

 •The article confers power on the state to reserve seats in favour of SC and ST

in promotions in Public Services if the communities are not adequately

represented in public employment.

• The Supreme Court in M. Nagaraj v. Union Of India 2006 case while upholding

the constitutional validity of Art 16(4A) held that any such reservation policy in

order to be constitutionally valid shall satisfy the following three constitutional

requirements:

• The SC and ST community should be socially and educationally backward.

 • The SC and ST communities are not adequately represented in Public

employment.

• Such reservation policy shall not affect the overall efficiency in the

administration.

• In Jarnail Singh vs Lachhmi Narain Gupta case of 2018, Supreme Court holds

that reservation in promotions does not require the state to collect quantifiable

data on the backwardness of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes.
 •The Court held that creamy layer exclusion extends to SC/STs and, hence the

State cannot grant reservations in promotion to SC/ST individuals who belong

to the creamy layer of their community.

• In May 2019 the Supreme Court upheld the Karnataka law that allows

reservations in promotions for SCs and STs with consequential seniority.

Why reservation needed?

•To correct the historical injustice faced by backward castes in the country.

•To provide a level playing field for backward section as they can not compete with

those who have had the access of resources and means for centuries.

•To ensure adequate representation of backward classes in the services under the

State.

•For advancement of backward classes.

•To ensure equality as basis of meritocracy i.e all people must be brought to the same

level before judging them on the basis of merit.

Argument Against Reservation
•Reservation in state services led to divisions and enmity among government

employees, vitiating the atmosphere at workplace.

•Eradication, not perpetuation of caste was the objective of the reservation policy but

Caste Based Reservation only perpetuate the notion of caste in society.

•Reservation was introduced to ensure that the historically underprivileged communities

were given equal access to resources but irrespective of the economic progress

they continue to remain socially disadvantaged.

•Reservation destroys self-respect, so much so that competition is no longer on to

determine the best but the most backward.

•Reservations are the biggest enemy of meritocracy which is the foundation of many

progressive countries.

•It has became a tool to meet narrow political ends through invoking class loyalties and

primordial identities.

•The dominant and elite class within the backward castes has appropriated the benefits

of reservation and the most marginalised within the backward castes have remained

marginalised.

•Reservation has become the mechanism of exclusion rather than inclusion as many

upper caste poors are also facing discrimination and injustice which breeds frustration

in the society.

Reasons Behind Increasing Demands of Reservation

•Reservation is increasingly seen as a remedy for the adverse effects of ill-thought out

development policies.

•In developed states like Haryana, Gujarat and Maharashtra, in spite of their economies

being relatively better, three things have been worrying the people:
 •Acute agrarian distress,

•Stagnation in employment growth and

•Distortions in the development trajectory.

•In this backdrop, for governments, it is easier to talk of reservation than to make

a course correction.

•Increasing reservation demands among upper castes also arising from the fear of

losing privilege and the inability to cope with change

•Upper castes have begun to feel disadvantaged especially in context of government

jobs as they don’t get similar advantages like backward classes.

Suggestion
•The reservation benefits should flow to the vast majority of underprivileged children

from deprived castes; not to a few privileged children with a caste tag.

•High ranks officials families, high income professionals and others above a certain

income should not get the reservation benefits especially in government jobs.

•Fair and practical ways to help needy person from each community through reservation

is possible and necessary.

•The process of reservation should filter the truly economically deprived individuals and

bring them all to justice

•Revolutionary changes in the education system at the grass-roots level is need of the

hour.

•There is also need for awareness generation because while the unreserved segments,

keep on opposing the provision, the neediest sections from within the reserved

segments are hardly aware about how to get benefited from the provision or even

whether there are such provisions exists.

 •The radical solutions like excluding the entire creamy layer among all castes from

reservation and developing their capabilities instead of offering them reservation for

admission to higher education or jobs on a platter.

Way Forward
•Reservation is fair, as far as it provides appropriate positive discrimination for the

benefit of the downtrodden and economically backward Sections of the society.

•But when it tends to harm the society and ensures privileges to some at the cost of

others for narrow political ends, it should be done away with, as soon as possible.

•The communities excluded from reservations harbour animosity and prejudiceagainst

the castes included in the reservation category.

•When more people aspire for backwardness rather than of forwardness, the country

itself stagnates.

•Meritocracy should not be polluted by injecting relaxation of entry barriers, rather than it

should be encouraged by offering financial aid to the underprivileged.

•A strong political will is indispensable to find an equilibrium between justice to the

backwards, equity for the forwards and efficiency for the entire system.

•The right of an accused to be defended

he right of an accused to be defended

What to study?

For Prelims: What rights do accused have? Important

observations made by courts.

For Mains: Need for these rights and their significance,

challenges.
 Context: Recently, the Karnataka High Court observed that it is unethical and

illegal for lawyers to pass resolutions against representing accused in

court. This was after local bar associations had objected to four students arrested

for sedition being defended in court.

This is not the first time that bar associations have passed such resolutions, despite a

Supreme Court ruling that these are “against all norms of the Constitution, the

statute and professional ethics”.

What does the Constitution say about the right of an accused to be defended?

Article 22(1) gives the fundamental right to every person not to be denied the right

to be defended by a legal practitioner of his or her choice.

Article 14 provides for equality before the law and equal protection of the laws

within the territory of India.

Article 39A, part of the Directive Principles of state policy, states that equal

opportunity to secure justice must not be denied to any citizen by reason of

economic or other disabilities, and provides for free legal aid.

What has the Supreme Court said about such resolutions by bar associations?

Supreme Court observations in 2010A S Mohammed Rafi vs State of Tamil

Nadu case:

Such resolutions are wholly illegal, against all traditions of the bar and against

professional ethics.

1.Every person, however wicked, depraved, vile, degenerate, perverted,

loathsome, execrable, vicious or repulsive he may be regarded by society has a
right to be defended in a court of law and correspondingly, it is the duty of
the lawyer to defend him.”
 2.Such resolutions were “against all norms of the Constitution, the statute
and professional ethics”, called these “a disgrace to the legal community”,
and declared them null and void.

How are professional ethics of lawyers defined?

The Bar Council of India has Rules on Professional Standards, part of the Standards

of Professional Conduct and Etiquette to be followed by lawyers under  the

Advocates Act.

An advocate is bound to accept any brief in the courts or tribunals, at a fee

consistent with his standing at the Bar and the nature of the case.The Rules

provide for a lawyer refusing to accept a particular brief in “special circumstances”.

Last year, The Uttarakhand High Court clarified that these special circumstances refer

to an individual advocate who may choose not to appear in a particular case, but who

cannot be prohibited from defending an accused by any threat of removal of his

membership of the bar association.

How frequent are resolutions not to defend an accused?

Various bar associations across the country have passed such resolutions over the

years. Among the prominent cases:

1.After the 2008 terror attack in Mumbai, a resolution was passed against
representing Ajmal Kasab. A Legal Aid lawyer was assigned the brief but he
refused, while another who agreed to defend Kasab faced threats.
Subsequently, a lawyer was appointed and given police security.

2.After the 2012 gangrape in Delhi, lawyers in Saket court passed a resolution
not to defend the accused.

3.In Hyderabad last year, the Bar Association passed a resolution against
representing four men who had been arrested for the rape and murder of a
veterinary doctor, and who were later killed in an alleged encounter.
 In 2017, the Supreme Court directed lawyers of the Gurgaon District Bar Association not

to obstruct any lawyer defending the accused in the murder of a seven-year-old

schoolboy.

Have lawyers faced action for such resolutions?

Uttarakhand High Court has previously held that, in such instances, the State Bar

Council can initiate action against office-bearers of the Bar Association if such

resolutions are passed

It also said that action under Section 15(2) of the Contempt of Courts Act,

1971, can be considered against advocates who interrupt court proceedings.

Gaura Devi as Part of International Women’s Day

Celebrations

Why in News
•The Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) is celebrating Women's Week

from 1st March to 8th March 2020.

•International Women's Day is observed on 8th March every year.

•MHRD remembered the women of history who have made significant contributions in

the past and planted a sapling in memory of Gaura Devi, a Chipko Activist.

The Chipko Movement

•The Chipko movement was a non-violent agitation in 1973.

•It is best remembered for the collective mobilisation of women for the cause of

preserving forests, which also brought about a change in attitude regarding their own

status in society.
Gaura Devi
•The movement was led by Gaura Devi, who saved their

communal forest from clear felling, beginning a decade of

Chipko direct actions by women throughout the

Uttarakhand region.

•Gaura Devi led the first all-women action to save their

community forest and mobilised the women of this region

to protect their natural heritage.

•During the activist phase of Chipko in the1970s, the

courage and vigilance of Uttarakhandi women saved many

forests and earned them a hallowed place in the history of

the global environmental movement.

•From this action, Chipko was to emerge as a peasant

movement in defence of traditional forest rights, continuing

a century-long tradition of resistance to state

encroachment.

Gaura Devi
•Gaura Devi was born in 1925 in a village named Lata in the state of Uttarakhand. She moved to a
nearby village named Reni by the Alaknanda River.
•She was elected to lead the Mahila Mangal Dal (Women’s Welfare Association) in the wake of the
Chipko movement. The organization worked on the protection of community forests.

Her contributions in Chipko Movement

•Gaura Devi came to notice in 1974 when she was told that local loggers were cutting the trees.
•The men of Reni village had been tricked out of the village by news that the government was going
to pay out compensation for land used by the army.
•She challenged the men to shoot her instead of cutting down the trees and she described the forest
with her maika (mother’s house).
•They managed to halt their work by hugging the trees despite the abuse of the armed loggers.
•They kept guard of the trees that night and over the next three or four days other villages and
villagers joined the action. The loggers left leaving the trees.
Impact
•After this incident, the Uttar Pradesh Government established a committee of experts to investigate
the issue of felling of trees, and the lumber company withdrew its men from Reni.
•The committee stated that the Reni forest was an ecologically sensitive area and that no trees
should be felled there.
•Thereafter the government of Uttar Pradesh placed a 10-year ban on all tree-felling in an area of
over 1150 km².

Method to simulate, predict solar activity over ten

years developed

Context: A team of researchers from IISER Kolkata have developed a way of

predicting the intensity of activity in the next solar cycle (approximately from 2020 to
2031) using data spread over the last 100 years.

Background:

Astronomers have observed sunspots on the surface of the sun for nearly 400 years.

It is known that sunspots follow a cyclic pattern of growing in number and

disappearing in approximately 11 years, known as the sunspot cycle or the sun’s

activity cycle. We are currently in the 24th sunspot cycle since the observation began

in 1755.

Findings:

The researchers found that the sun’s activity would not dip during the next cycle, but

it would be similar to the current cycle, perhaps even stronger. They expect the cycle

to peak around 2024.

How was it found?

 •The researchers simulated the behaviour of the sun using magnetic field
evolution models and observational data. They simulated solar activity, and
using inputs from observed data from one cycle, predicted the behaviour of
the sun over the next cycle, about ten years in advance.

What are Sunspots?

Sunspots are temporary phenomena on the Sun’s photosphere that appear as spots

darker than the surrounding areas. They are regions of reduced surface temperature

caused by concentrations of magnetic field flux that inhibit convection. Sunspots

usually appear in pairs of opposite magnetic polarity.

Why study sunspots?

•For the understanding of the long-term variations of the sun and its impact on
our climate which is one of the science objectives of Aditya mission. The
forecast will be also useful for scientific operational planning of the Aditya
mission.

•To know the effects on space weather. This refers to the effect of radiation,
particle flux and magnetic flux in the region around the sun. During extreme
events, space weather can affect electronics-driven satellite controls,
communications systems, air traffic over polar routes and even power grids.

Sunspots are correlated with climate on earth. A lot of the research in this area
focuses on predicting the way the next sunspot cycle will shape up – whether the sun
will be extremely active and produce many sunspots or not.

Maunder-like minimum’:

There have been predictions that the next cycle (cycle 25) will show reduced sunspot

activity. There have even been speculations that the sun may be heading towards a

period of prolonged low activity – what solar physicists describe as a ‘Maunder-like

minimum’.

The Maunder minimum refers to a period from 1645 to 1715 where observers

reported minimal Sunspot activity — the number of sunspots reduced by a factor of

nearly 1,000, over a period of 28 years.

During this and other such periods of low activity, some parts of Europe and North
America experienced lower-than-average temperatures. While the connection
between the Maunder minimum and the climate on earth is still debated, it gives
another reason to watch the sunspots.

4th meeting of SAWEN held in Kolkata, India May 15, 2018 The fourth meeting of
South Asia Wildlife Enforcement Network (SAWEN), an inter-governmentalwildlife law
enforcement agency was in Kolkata, West Bengal (India) from May 8-10, 2018. It was
first meeting of SAWEN to be held in India since its inception in 2011.

Key Outcomes of meeting The two-day conference was attended by representatives

of seven (excluding Pakistan) out of eight member countries. Six propos

Maharashtra renames Aurangabad Airport as Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj Airport

The state Government of Maharashtra has recently renamed the Aurangabad Airport

of the state as Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj Airport. The airport has been renamed
after Sambhaji, the son of the great Maratha warrior Chhatrapati Shivaji. The airport
is owned and operated by the Airports Authority of India.