Daily News Simplified -

DNS
29 Sep 22
Notes
SL. THE HINDU
TOPICS
NO. PAGE NO.

1 The hijab case and the essential practices doctrine 12

2 Scandinavian Social democracy 08
the significance of Ethereum’s merge
3 06
for the future of cryptocurrencies
Date: 20-September-2022DNS Notes - Revision

1. UPSC Current Affairs: The hijab case and the essential practices doctrine| Page 12
UPSC Syllabus: Mains/Prelims: GS paper II: Polity and governance
Sub Theme: Human rights| UPSC

Supreme Court of India is presently hearing arguments on the correctness of a Karnataka High Court
judgment that upheld the ban on the use of the hijab by students in Karnataka. The petitioners have
raised a bundle of different issues, ranging from the rights of students to freedom of expression,
conscience, and religion to the disparate impact that the ban has had on the right to education of Muslim
women.

Issues like this can be resolved through application of doctrines of constitutional law- religious freedom.
However there is also court-crafted doctrine of essential religious practice. This requires judges to
engage not merely in legal analysis but also in theological study — something an education in the law
scarcely equips one to perform.

Article 25

Freedom of conscience and free profession, practice and propagation of religion

(1) Subject to public order, morality and health and to the other provisions of this Part, all persons are
equally entitled to freedom of conscience and the right freely to profess, practise and propagate religion
(2) Nothing in this article shall affect the operation of any existing law or prevent the State from making any
law
(a) regulating or restricting any economic, financial, political or other secular activity which may be
associated with religious practice;
(b) providing for social welfare and reform or the throwing open of Hindu religious institutions of a public
character to all classes and sections of Hindus Explanation I The wearing and carrying of kirpans shall
be deemed to be included in the profession of the Sikh religion Explanation II In sub clause (b) of clause
reference to Hindus shall be construed as including a reference to persons professing the Sikh, Jaina or
Buddhist religion, and the reference to Hindu religious institutions shall be construed accordingly

Karnataka High Court’s primary findings:

• First, it held that the use of a hijab is not Essential Religious Practice (ERP) of Islam. Thus, the right to
freedom of religion was not violated.
• Second, it ruled that there exists no substantive right to freedom of expression or privacy inside a
classroom and, therefore, these rights were simply not at stake here. The High Court believes that
classrooms are “qualified public spaces” where individual rights must give way to the interests of
“general discipline and decorum”.
• Third, it held that the ban did not stem directly out of the government’s order, which only called for a
uniform dress code to be prescribed by the State or school management committees, and, hence, the
law is not discriminatory, either directly or indirectly, against Muslim students.
• Further, High Court judgment asserting Fundamental Duty under Article 51A(h) (promotion of scientific
temper) of the Constitution, ignored Article 51A(f) which speaks of preserving "composite culture".
• The right to conscience and right to practice of religion are mutually exclusive.
Date: 20-September-2022DNS Notes - Revision

Essential Religious Practice (ERP)

The essential practices doctrine owes its existence to a speech made by B.R. Ambedkar in the
Constituent Assembly. “The religious conceptions in this country are so vast that they cover every aspect
of life, from birth to death,” he said. “…I do not think it is possible to accept a position of that sort…
we ought to strive hereafter to limit the definition of religion in such a manner that we shall not extend
beyond beliefs and such rituals as may be connected with ceremonials which are essentially religious.
It is not necessary that… laws relating to tenancy or laws relating to succession, should be governed by
religion.”

Ambedkar was striving to distinguish the religious from the secular, by arguing that the state should be
allowed to intervene in matters that are connected to religion but are not intrinsically religious.

Over the years, the Supreme Court (SC) has evolved a practical test of sorts to determine what religious
practises can be constitutionally protected and what can be ignored.

In 1954, the SC held in the Shirur Mutt case that the term “religion” will cover all rituals and practises
“integral” to a religion. The test to determine what is integral is termed the “essential religious practises”
test.

The intent of the Supreme Court up until this point was to draw a line between religious and secular. In
other words, the test was not meant to distinguish between practices that were essential to a religion and
those that were not. It was meant to distinguish between practices that were essentially religious and
those that were secular. The latter practices could be restricted through law, but the former couldn’t.

However, ‘essentially religious’ slowly turned into the ‘essential religious practice test’ with the
Allahabad High Court ruling in 1957 that bigamy cannot be considered an integral part of the Hindu
religion.

In 2004, the Supreme Court ruled that Tandava dance was not an essential rite of the Ananda Marga
Faith.

In 2016, the Bombay High Court permitted women to enter the sanctum sanctorum of the Haji Ali
Dargah. In its judgment, the court ruled that the Trust had failed to place any material on record to
demonstrate that the exclusion of women from dargahs was an “essential feature” of Islam.

More recently, in 2017, the Supreme Court ruled that triple talaq was not an essential practice of Islam
and could not be offered constitutional protection under Article 25.

A year later in 2018, the Supreme Court in the Sabarimala case rejected the claim of ‘Ayyappans’
(pilgrims) that the exclusion of women between the age of 10 and 50 from entering the temple
constituted an essential practice. A review petition against this decision is, however, pending in the
Supreme Court.

Benefits of Essential Religious Practice doctrine

• It has ensured balance between fundamental rights. For example, in Sabrimala case, SC attempted to
strike a balance between the two fundamental rights of the right to equality and the right to freedom
of religion.
• In has ensured social justice during the practice of Right to freedom of religion.
Date: 20-September-2022DNS Notes - Revision

• It ensured that constitutional morality gains primacy over religious morality to give freedom to people
in a multicultural society, example SC struck down section 377.
• It ensured that there will be primacy of rule of law rather than rule of religion. It helps in eliminating
the possibility of conflict between different sections of society.
• The doctrine protects the essential practices of religion from interference of state.

The negative effects of Essential Religious Practice doctrine

First, it has allowed the Court to narrow the extent of safeguards available to religious customs by
directly impinging on the autonomy of groups to decide for themselves what they deem valuable,
violating, in the process, their right to ethical independence.

Second, it has also negated legislation that might otherwise enhance the cause of social justice by
holding that such laws cannot under any circumstances encroach on matters integral to the practice of a
religion. For example, in 1962, the Court struck down a Bombay law that prohibited excommunications
made by the Dai of the Dawoodi Bohra community when it held that the power to excommunicate is an
essential facet of faith and that any measure aimed at social welfare cannot reform a religion out of its
existence.

what constitutes an essential practice shall be decided by the judges or members of the community? The
doctrine lead the court into an area that is beyond its competence.

There is no fixed parameter for deciding the essential practices, in some cases they have relied on
religious texts to determine essentiality, in others on the empirical behaviour of followers, and in yet
others, based on whether the practice existed at the time the religion originated.

A principle of anti-exclusion

The essential practices test is not without alternatives. In his concurring opinion, in the case concerning
the ban on entry of women into the Sabarimala temple, Justice D.Y. Chandrachud proposed one such
doctrine: a principle of anti-exclusion.

Its application would require the Court to presume that a practice asserted by a religious group is, in
fact, essential to the proponents of its faith. But regardless of such grounding, the Constitution will not
offer protection to the practice if it excludes people on grounds of caste, gender, or other discriminatory
criteria. As Justice Chandrachud put it, “the anti-exclusion principle allows for due-deference to the
ability of a religion to determine its own religious tenets and doctrines. At the same time, the anti-
exclusion principle postulates that where a religious practice causes the exclusion of individuals in a
manner which impairs their dignity or hampers their access to basic goods, the freedom of religion must
give way to the over-arching values of a liberal constitution”.

But until such time as the essential practices doctrine is overruled by a Bench of more than seven judges,
the Court is bound to apply its tenets. Perhaps that reassessment will happen when a nine-judge Bench
constituted in the review petitions filed against the judgment in the Sabarimala case passes judgment.
For now, any Court hearing a matter touching upon a matter of faith has the unenviable task of acting
not merely as an expert on law but also as an expert on religion.

Other issues in the Karnataka High Court Judgement

Date: 20-September-2022DNS Notes - Revision

• High Court judgment asserting Fundamental Duty under Article 51A(h) (promotion of scientific temper)
of the Constitution, ignored Article 51A(f) which speaks of preserving "composite culture".

• "Qualified public space may hold good in some places. If I am in the Army, I have to wear the prescribed
uniform. If I am a member of Bar Council, I have to wear the prescribed uniform. I will wear the
prescribed uniform. But the question is if I can wear anything more which is important for my culture."

• The doctrine of proportionality, that has been completely ignored.

• He argued that the right to privacy, right to freedom of expression and right to practice religion are not
mutually exclusive but rather supplement each other.

• It is their right under Article 25(1)(a), Article 19(1) (a) and 21, and on a conjoint reading of these rights,
their fundamental rights are violated. Right to access education, right to personal dignity, privacy, right
to practice religion, all of them have been violated.

Puttaswamy judgment

• Puttaswamy judgment held that the choice of appearance are aspects of privacy
• Puttaswamy case held that validity of the State's Act must be seen not on the basis of the objective
but on the impact of the state's law.
• Puttaswamy judgment stressed on the decisional autonomy. It is my decisional autonomy what to
dress, whether to keep a small beard, long beard, whether to wear a cap.

2. UPSC Current Affairs: Scandinavian Social democracy | Pg 08

UPSC Syllabus: Prelims: current affairs, Mains: GS paper III: Indian society
Sub Theme: Social democracy | UPSC

Historically speaking socialism was seen as somewhat of a halfway point between capitalism and
communism. Under this spectrum democratic socialism fit somewhere in between capitalism and
socialism. Social democracy fall somewhere between capitalism and democratic socialism.

Capitalism is all about letting the free market generate unlimited profits for corporations and individuals.
The downside of capitalism is that when it's unregulated he leads to things like child labour contaminated
air and water and the concentration of wealth in the hands of very few. Communism is about creating a
classless society with absolute equality with the government dictates the price, supply and distribution
of goods. The downside of communism is that the only practical way to redistribute wealth with
absolutely quality is by force. So these governments usually end up becoming authoritarian regime.

Socialism arose as an attempt to merge the best parts of capitalism with the best parts of communism.
The traditional definition of socialism basically says that there should be some free market system to
determine supply and demand of products, but the government should own the country's major industries
so that the people can benefit from most of the wealth. The downside to socialism is that it's very
vulnerable to corruption. If the people running the traditional socialist system are corrupt in these types
of socialist government will also skewed towards authoritarianism.
Date: 20-September-2022DNS Notes - Revision

Democratic socialists still believe in social ownership of major industries either through the government
or to worker alliances. But they reject 2 main aspects of traditional socialism. One they sharply rejected
any type of undemocratic or authoritarian system and two they reject the Soviet style planned economies
where the government determines the price and supply of goods. There's a lot of debate about what
exactly democratic socialism entails. But in essence democratic socialists believe that workers should
enjoy a larger share of the profits that they are helping to generate. They also believe that strong social
safety nets are essential for the stability and long term growth of society. It's interesting to note that
America's most famous self-described democratic socialist Bernie Sanders is opposed to the idea that
the government should own the country's major industries which in economic terms are called the means
of production. when looking at the policies the Bernie Sanders is proposing things like an increase in
minimum wage, Medicare for all and free college education most analysts agree that this ideas fall in
line with the successful policies of the Nordic countries where they call themselves social democracies.
Social democracies are basically capitalist systems with really strong social safety.

Social democracy is based on 3 fundamental values:

1. Freedom/Liberty
2. Justice and
3. Solidarity

Freedom means that every individual should be able to decide how he or she lives for the state and
society should not interfere arbitrarily in terms of financial security educational and social opportunities.
Every individual cam live this freedom actively.

Justice means initially that in the eyes of the law everyone is equal irrespective of where he or she comes,
from his or her family background, and his or her sex. But justice also means that given the same
opportunities, people’s achievements and requirements are taken into account.

Solidarity is about everybody being willing to help each other. It’s the glue which holds society
together.

There has to be a union of all the three values:

• L + E - F = Police state
• E + F - L = No innovation
• L + F – E = Elitism

However these values are still not precise enough to derive concrete rules from them for how to live in
harmony. This is why social democracy is also based on to human rights covenants enacted by the
United Nations which apply in numerous countries.

There are both negative and positive civil rights and liberties. The negative civil rights and liberties are
protective rights which protect one from interferences. Positive civil rights and liberties make it possible
for one to be able to practice his/her civil rights and liberties.

Libertarian democracy requires negative rights and liberties to be given priority at all times. Positive
rights and liberties are only ensured when they did not impede negative ones.

Social democracy positive and negative rights and liberties are taken equally seriously as without the
positive rights some people also do not have access to the negative ones. Let’s take the negative liberty,
‘freedom of opinion’ as an example. In exercise of this right, one has the right to speak his/her mind
Date: 20-September-2022DNS Notes - Revision

freely. To be able to practice this right one must have the opportunity to develop his own opinion. This
is why education is important this is a positive liberty and is financed by all citizens by means of taxes.
In other words a small interference in the rights to own property. In this way the positive and the negative
rights and liberties complement each other.

Economics and Social democracy

The relationship between the state and the market economy has already caused many notable thinkers
to rank that brains for a solution. In the mid eighteenth century Adam Smith believed that the state and
the market should be strictly separated. The invisible hand of the market would best provide for
everyone. During the industrialization of the nineteenth century Karl Marx saw first-hand the wretched
conditions of the working class. Since the market economy was clearly not able to provide these people
with the prosperity they anticipated, he was in favor of abortion is completely. In the 19 thirties John
Maynard Keynes proposed a solution. The market can provide prosperity if the statement establishes
the right framework. In the event of crises and problems the state must intervene - coordinated market
economy. This is also the idea behind the economic policy of social democracy. The economic policy
of social democracy is built upon 3 principles:

1. Growth
2. Social balance and
3. sustainability.

Growth should ensure enough wealth is generated to match the needs of the entire system. This
establishes the material foundations for a good quality of life. But it's important that this wealth but if
it's not just a few people but the whole society. This is the principle of social balance. This means
for example the good work should be paid appropriately. A sustainable economy is necessary in order
to ensure that societies in the future also have access to the resources they need. Sustainability means
only consuming as much as can be replenished.

The 3 economic principles of growth, social balance and sustainability each affect one another. There
are political movements that tend to concentrate on just one of the principles. What's special about the
economic policies of social democracy is that it aims to find a balance between 3 principles.

3. UPSC Current Affairs: the significance of Ethereum’s merge for the future of cryptocurrencies|Page
09
UPSC Syllabus: Prelims/Mains: GS paper III: Science and technology
Sub Theme: IPR | UPSC

Ethereum blockchain platform fully transitioned from ‘proof of work’ to a ‘proof-of-stake’ consensus
mechanism and this revamp is known as the Merge.

Proof of Work: As a decentralised platform, Ethereum doesn't have institutions like banks approving the
transactions that happen on its network – the approvals were earlier happening under the Proof of Work (PoW)
consensus mechanism.
Date: 20-September-2022DNS Notes - Revision

High Energy Consumption: These mining farms were energy guzzlers and they sometimes consumed more
electricity than entire countries and were, therefore, a big concern in terms of environmental sustainability.
The crypto’s total annualised power consumption nearly matches that of Finland, while its carbon footprint is
comparable to Switzerland.
For some time, European countries even mulled a crypto mining ban, while China actually carried out a
nationwide crackdown on crypto miners, sending them fleeing overseas.
New Method is Proof of Stake: It would set aside the need for crypto miners and gigantic mining farms,
which had previously driven the blockchain under a mechanism called ‘proof-of-work’ (PoW). Instead, it has
now shifted to a ‘proof-of-stake’ (PoS) mechanism that assigns ‘validators’ randomly to approve
transactions and earn a small reward.
Validators are people who volunteer a computer to maintain the blockchain's integrity by constantly
computing the linkage from the first block to the last.
Benefits:
o This would entirely eliminate the need for miners on the Ethereum network.
o It will reduce Ethereum’s energy consumption by nearly 99.95%.
o It will make transactions on the Ethereum network extremely secure.