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Annual Current Affairs Compilation
(First AI based Learning Platform) (Jan 2023-Jan 2024) Polity & Governance
Index
INDIAN SPACE POLICY 2023 ............................................................ 30
SAGARMALA INNOVATION AND START-UP POLICY ................................. 31
ELECTION COMMISSION BEGINS DELIMITATION OF CONSTITUENCIES IN ASSAM PM INAUGURATES DIAMOND JUBILEE CELEBRATIONS OF CENTRAL BUREAU OF
................................................................................................... 3 INVESTIGATION IN NEW DELHI .......................................................... 32
ELECTION COMMISSION DEVELOPS EVM PROTOTYPE FOR MIGRANTS .......... 4 AAP GETS ‘NATIONAL PARTY’ STATUS ................................................. 32
NATIONAL GEOSPATIAL POLICY 2022 .................................................. 4 NATIONAL CREDIT FRAMEWORK ....................................................... 33
UGC RELEASED DRAFT GUIDELINES TO SET UP FOREIGN EDUCATIONAL NCPCR ISSUES GUIDELINES FOR ASSESSMENT OF CHILD SUSPECTS IN HEINOUS
CAMPUSES IN INDIA ......................................................................... 5 OFFENCES .................................................................................... 34
KARNATAKA RECLASSIFIES VOKKALIGAS, LINGAYATS TO RAISE THEIR OBC POLICY FOR THE MEDICAL DEVICES SECTOR ......................................... 35
QUOTA SHARE ................................................................................. 6 ANIMAL BIRTH CONTROL RULES, 2023 .............................................. 36
DRAFT RULES FOR ONLINE GAMING ...................................................... 7 ANTI-MONEY LAUNDERING LAW....................................................... 36
INDIAN TELEGRAPH (INFRASTRUCTURE SAFETY) RULES 2022 .................... 7 SUPREME COURT RULES IN FAVOUR OF DELHI GOVT IN TUSSLE WITH CENTRE
CENTRE TO END DISCRETIONARY HAJ QUOTA .......................................... 8 ................................................................................................. 37
AMPHEX 2023 ............................................................................ 9 DISTRICT GOOD GOVERNANCE INDEX ................................................. 38
MPLADS SCHEME .......................................................................... 9 NATIONAL E-VIDHAN APPLICATION (NEVA) ........................................ 39
INDIA TOPS LIST OF GLOBAL INTERNET SHUT-OFFS: REPORT...................... 10 GOVT SETS UP PANEL TO RECOMMEND REFORMS IN ARBITRATION LAW ... 39
CENTRE SETS UP THREE GRIEVANCE COMMITTEES TO TAKE UP USER RETAIN SEDITION IN IPC, MAKE IT TOUGHER: PANEL .............................. 40
COMPLAINTS AGAINST SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS .................................. 10 GOVT SETS UP PANEL TO RECOMMEND REFORMS IN ARBITRATION LAW ... 41
PVT BROADCASTERS TO UNDERTAKE PUBLIC SERVICE BROADCASTING FOR 30 UNIFORM CIVIL CODE ..................................................................... 41
MINS DAILY .................................................................................. 11 TIME OF DAY TARIFF ...................................................................... 42
DIGITIZATION OF COURTS ................................................................ 11 REPORT ON PANCHAYAT DEVELOPMENT INDEX ..................................... 43
NCST FUNCTIONING WITH LESS THAN 50% OF SANCTIONED STRENGTH. .... 12 ECI OPENS WEB PORTAL FOR POLITICAL PARTIES TO FILE FINANCIAL ACCOUNTS
MISSION ANTYODAYA SURVEY (MAS) 2022-23 ................................. 13 ................................................................................................. 44
STATE POLICE CHIEF APPOINTMENT .................................................. 13 NATIONAL E-GOVERNANCE SERVICE DELIVERY ASSESSMENT (NESDA) PORTAL
WORLD GOVERNMENT SUMMIT 2023 .............................................. 14 ................................................................................................. 45
UTTARAKHAND GOVT APPROVES PROMULGATION OF ORDINANCE TO ENSURE DATA PROTECTION BILL APPROVED BY CABINET .................................... 45
TRANSPARENCY AND FAIRNESS IN COMPETITIVE EXAMINATIONS ................ 14 ASSOCIATION OF WORLD ELECTION BODIES (A-WEB)........................... 46
DHARA ..................................................................................... 15 ODISHA RECOMMENDS KUI’S INCLUSION IN 8TH SCHEDULE OF THE
ROLE OF GOVERNORS AND THEIR APPOINTMENT ................................... 15 CONSTITUTION .............................................................................. 47
DRAFT GEO-HERITAGE SITES AND GEO-RELICS BILL ............................... 16 JAN VISHWAS BILL ......................................................................... 47
FOREIGNER CAN’T CLAIM VESTED RIGHT TO BE GUARDIAN FOR PERSON WITH ATR MODULE OF AUDITONLINE ....................................................... 48
DISABILITIES: HC ........................................................................... 17 INCREASE RETIREMENT AGE OF SC JUDGES TO 67 YEARS AND HC JUDGES TO
SC REJECTS SEALED COVER SUGGESTIONS ............................................ 18 65 YEARS .................................................................................... 49
AADHAAR LINKAGE WITH VOTER IDS ................................................. 19 NO CONFIDENCE IN LOK SABHA ........................................................ 49
CENTRE EXTENDS TERM OF 22ND LAW COMMISSION TILL AUG 2024 ....... 19 NEW BILL ON ELECTION BODY APPOINTMENTS....................................... 50
FOREST AMENDMENT BILL .............................................................. 20 BHARTIYA NYAYA SANHITA BILL 2023 ............................................... 51
GOVT PORTAL TO REPORT UNRESOLVED SOCIAL MEDIA COMPLAINTS GOES LIVE MONSOON SESSION OF PARLIAMENT ADJOURNS SINE DIE ........................ 52
................................................................................................. 20 BACK PARLIAMENT CLEARS 28% GST ON ONLINE GAMING, CASINOS ......... 52
NATIONAL ELECTRICITY PLAN (2022-27) ........................................... 21 ANNUAL CAPACITY BUILDING PLAN OF DEPARTMENT OF RURAL
PM MODI TO INAUGURATE 3-DAY RAISINA DIALOGUE ......................... 22 DEVELOPMENT .............................................................................. 53
SUPREME COURT VERDICT ON ECI APPOINTMENTS................................ 23 E-COURT PROJECT & NATIONAL JUDICIAL DATA GRID ............................ 53
BACK CENTRE RELEASES GUIDELINES FOR CELEBRITIES, SOCIAL MEDIA NATIONAL DEEP TECH STARTUP POLICY .............................................. 54
INFLUENCERS ................................................................................ 23 KRISHNA WATER DISPUTE TRIBUNAL-II .............................................. 54
CENTRE OPPOSES RECOGNITION OF SAME-SEX MARRIAGE IN SC CITING SAMMAKKA SARAKKA CENTRAL TRIBAL UNIVERSITY IN THE STATE OF
PERSONAL LAWS ............................................................................ 24 TELANGANA ................................................................................. 55
BAR COUNCIL ALLOWS FOREIGN LAWYERS , LEGAL FIRMS TO PRACTICE IN INDIA TRIPURA BECOMES FOURTH STATE TO INTRODUCE E-CABINET SYSTEM ......... 56
................................................................................................. 25 DIGITAL INDIA ACT ......................................................................... 56
RAJASTHAN RIGHT TO HEALTH BILL ................................................... 26 RIGHTS OF UNBORN CHILD .............................................................. 57
INTER-SERVICES ORGANISATIONS BILL ................................................ 27 SAME-SEX MARRIAGE VERDICT ........................................................ 58
DISQUALIFICATION MPS ................................................................. 27 ST STATUS FOR MEITEIS WAS CONSIDERED AND REJECTED IN 1982 AND 2001
PAR PANEL RECOMMENDS NEW LAW TO DEFINE POWER, FUNCTIONS OF CBI 28 ................................................................................................. 59
GUILLOTINE IN PARLIAMENT ............................................................ 29 OBCS AND SUBCATEGORIES ............................................................. 60
TELE-LAW PROGRAME ................................................................... 29 DAM SAFETY ACT .......................................................................... 61
GOVERNMENT RELEASES PRE-DRAFT OF NATIONAL CURRICULUM FRAMEWORK HATTEES COMMUNITY .................................................................... 62
FOR SCHOOLS ............................................................................... 30 ONE-NATION, ONE-POLL ................................................................. 63
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HOW ARE SYMBOLS ALLOTTED TO POLITICAL PARTIES IN INDIA? ................ 64 JAMMU AND KASHMIR REORGANISATION (AMENDMENT) BILL ............... 124
LOK SABHA ETHICS COMMITTEE ....................................................... 65 SUPREME COURT HEARING ON THE CHALLENGE TO SECTION 6A OF THE
ONE NATION, ONE STUDENT ID ....................................................... 66 CITIZENSHIP ACT.......................................................................... 125
SUPREME COURT ALLOWS SURROGACY, STRIKES DOWN RULE BANNING USE OF SUPREME COURT TO DELIVER VERDICT ON ARTICLE 370 ....................... 125
DONOR GAMETES .......................................................................... 67 J&K RESIDENT ............................................................................ 126
DNA SYSTEMS IN POLICE STATIONS ................................................... 68 THE CHIEF ELECTION COMMISSIONER AND OTHER ELECTION COMMISSIONERS
ANTI -DEFECTION LAW ................................................................... 70 (APPOINTMENT, CONDITIONS OF SERVICE AND TERM OF OFFICE) BILL, 2023
ISSUES IN ELECTORAL BONDS ........................................................... 71 ............................................................................................... 127
MARATHA QUOTA PROTEST HEATS UP ................................................ 72 CRIME AGAINST WOMEN ............................................................... 128
UPSC TIGHETNS RULES FOR STATE POLICE CHIEFS ................................. 73 CENTRE TABLES BILL TO PUSH DEADLINE FOR REGULARISING ILLEGAL COLONIES
ADVOCATE-ON-RECORD SYSTEM IN THE SUPREME COURT ...................... 74 IN CAPITAL ................................................................................. 129
RIGHTS OF TRANS WOMAN FOR INVOKING THE DOMESTIC VIOLENCE ACT ... 76 REVISED CRIMINAL REFORM BILLS IN PARLIAMENT ............................... 130
STATES IN COURT AGAINST THEIR GOVERNORS ..................................... 77 SUPREME COURT’S VERDICT UPHOLDING THE ABROGATION OF ARTICLE 370
MOVE TOWARDS E-FIR, BUT WITH CAUTION ....................................... 78 ............................................................................................... 131
ROLE OF CAG .............................................................................. 80 FOREST RIGHTS ACT ..................................................................... 132
REGULATING POLITICAL FUNDING ...................................................... 82 SELECTING ELECTION COMMISSIONERS ............................................. 134
THE GOVERNMENT ISSUED A DIRECTIVE ON DEEPFAKE ............................ 84 ONE PERSON, ONE VOTE, ONE VALUE................................................ 135
BHARATIYA NAGARIK SURAKSHA SANHITA BILL .................................... 85 ED’S POWERS OF ARREST ............................................................... 137
DRAFT BROADCASTING SERVICES (REGULATION) BILL, 2023 .................. 86 INDIAN PENAL CODE TO NYAYA SANHITA .......................................... 138
ENHANCING REPRESENTATION, FOR A JUST ELECTORAL SYSTEM ................. 87 NUMBER OF CAG AUDITS ON UNION GOVT. TABLED IN PARLIAMENT HITS A
COMMUNITY RIGHTS AND FOREST CONSERVATION ................................. 89 LOW IN 2023 ............................................................................. 139
WHY IAS COACHING CENTRES BEING PROBED BY CCPA? ....................... 91 TELECOM BILL ............................................................................. 140
WHAT IS ADULTERY? ..................................................................... 92 PRESS AND PERIODICALS BILL 2023 ................................................. 141
STATE FUNDING OF ELECTIONS ......................................................... 93 HOW THE CENTRE PLANS TO REGULATE CONTENT ON OTT AND DIGITAL
SUB-CATEGORISATION WITHIN CASTES ................................................ 95 MEDIA? ..................................................................................... 142
MANDATORY REPORTING PROVISION UNDER POCSO ............................ 95 ULFA PEACE ACCORD ................................................................... 145
GOVERNOR’S RIGHT TO WITHHOLD ASSENT .......................................... 96 VOTER VERIFIABLE PAPER AUDIT TRAIL (VVPAT) MACHINE .................. 146
HC HAS STRUCK DOWN HARYANA’S PRIVATE SECTOR QUOTA ................... 97 UNDERSTANDING THE PEACE PACT WITH ULFA .................................. 147
THE ROLE OF THE GOVERNOR IN LEGISLATURE ...................................... 98 SELECTION OF TABLEAUX FOR THE REPUBLIC DAY PARADE ..................... 148
THE DEBATE OVER APPROPRIATE AGE OF ADMISSION TO CLASS 1 ............ 100 THE NEED TO EXAMINE THE EXAMINATION SYSTEM ............................... 149
A FACT CHECK UNIT THAT IS UNCONSTITUTIONAL ................................. 101 WHY IS CHILD MARRIAGE STILL HIGH IN WEST BENGAL?........................ 151
REPORTING ANIMAL CRUELTY MAKES CHILDREN SAFER .......................... 102 PUSH FOR ETHICS IN HIGHER EDUCATION ........................................... 152
HARYANA’S PRIVATE SECTOR DOMICILE RESERVATION LAW .................... 104 INDIA’S NEW HIT-AND-RUN LAW ...................................................... 153
MGNREGS AUDIT CROSSES 50% LOCAL BODIES IN JUST SIX STATES ....... 106 SC REPORT EXPOSES SEVERE GAPS IN ACCESSIBILITY FOR PEOPLE WITH
REVAMPING THE STRUCTURE OF THE SUPREME COURT ......................... 107 DISABILITIES AT COURTS ACROSS INDIA .............................................. 155
MUSLIM STUDENT STRENGTH IN HIGHER EDUCATION FELL BY 1.79 LAKH IN THE LAWS AROUND REMISSION POLICY .............................................. 156
2020-21 .................................................................................. 108 REGULATING INDIA’S ONLINE GAMING INDUSTRY ................................. 157
CABINET CLEARS TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR 16TH FINANCE COMMISSION. 109 TENTH SCHEDULE ........................................................................ 158
SEXUAL EDUCATION, THE NEED OF OUR TIMES .................................... 110 INDIAN MEDIA: QUO VADIS ........................................................... 159
BROADCAST REGULATION 3.0, COMMISSIONS AND OMISSIONS .............. 112 LEGAL DISPUTE OVER AMU’S MINORITY STATUS.................................. 160
UNDERSTANDING SIMULTANEOUS ELECTIONS ..................................... 113 INCESTUOUS ‘SAPINDA’ MARRIAGES ................................................. 161
HISTORY OF UNLF, MEITEI INSURGENT GROUP THAT SIGNED PEACE DEAL WITH NAAC TO INTRODUCE NEW BINARY ACCREDITATION SYSTEM IN FOUR MONTHS
CENTRE ..................................................................................... 115 ............................................................................................... 163
PRESIDENT MURMU ADVOCATES FOR ALL INDIA JUDICIAL SERVICE.......... 116 UTTARAKHAND UNIFORM CIVIL CODE .............................................. 163
IMPACT OF LIQUOR PROHIBITION IN BIHAR ........................................ 117 THE RIVER-LINKING PROJECT RAJASTHAN, MP, CENTRE HAVE SIGNED MOU
INDIA, DISABILITY INCLUSION AND THE POWER OF ‘BY’ .......................... 119 ............................................................................................... 164
RE-CRIMINALISING ADULTERY AS A GENDER-NEUTRAL OFFENCE .............. 120 THE PROS AND CONS OF SIMULTANEOUS ELECTIONS ............................. 165
RS PASSES POST OFFICE BILL TO AMEND 125-YEAR-OLD INDIAN POST OFFICE
ACT ......................................................................................... 121
PARLIAMENT PASSES ADVOCATES AMENDMENT BILL ........................... 122
CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE FOR TRANSGENDER HEALTHCARE...................... 123
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Election Commission begins delimitation of constituencies in Assam
In News
The Election Commission recently said it has started the delimitation process of Assembly and parliamentary
constituencies in Assam.
About Delimitation
• Delimitation is the act of redrawing boundaries of Lok Sabha and state Assembly seats to represent changes
inpopulation.
• The main objective of delimitation is to provide equal representation to equal segments of a population.
• For instance, in 1971, Assam’s population was 1.46 crore. In 2001, it increased to 2.66 crores.
• Delimitation of constituencies is periodically carried out to reflect not only an increase in population but
changes in its distribution.
Composition
• The Delimitation Commission is appointed
Delimitation is carried out by an independent Delimitation
by the President of India and works in
Commission, appointed by the Government of India under
collaboration with the Election
provisions of the Delimitation Commission Act.
Commission of India.
• It is composed of the following: a retired Supreme Court judge, the Chief Election Commissioner of India and
respective State Election Commissioners.
• The Delimitation Commission is to work without any executive influence.
• The Constitution mandates that the Commission’s orders are final and cannot be questioned before any
court as it would hold up an election indefinitely.
How is delimitation supposed to be carried out?

• Under Article 82, Parliament is to enact a Delimitation Act after every Census.
• Once the Act is in force, the Union government sets up the Delimitation Commission.
• The Commission is supposed to determine the number and boundaries of constituencies in a way that the
population of all seats, so far as practicable, is the same.
• The Commission is also tasked with identifying seats reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
• The final order is published in the Gazette of India and the State Gazette concerned and comes into force
on a date specified by the President.
Historical Background
• In the history of the Indian republic, 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, 1991 and 2001 Censuses.
• The delimitation exercises was not conducted frequently in the recent past.
• This is because the Indian Constitution mandates that the number of Lok Sabha seats allocated to a state
should be (as far as it is achievable) same for all states.
• This has an unintended consequence of those states that did not take measures to control the population
getting larger number of seats in the Indian Parliament.
• To address this issue, the Indian Constitution was amended in 1976 to suspend the delimitation until 2001.
• Another amendment was enacted to delay the delimitation exercise further until 2026, with the hope that
India would achieve a uniform population growth rate by this time.
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Election Commission develops EVM prototype for migrants
In News
The Election Commission on India (ECI) recently said it has developed a prototype of a multi-constituency remote
electronic voting machine (RVM) for domestic migrants, a potentially landmark development that can boost voter
participation and eliminate problems of travelling to home districts during polls for voting.
About RVMs
The RVM is a multi-constituency electronic voting machine that can handle up to 72 constituencies from a
single remote polling booth. It is based on the time-tested M3 (Mark 3) EVMs and will be used to enable voting
at remote polling stations for domestic migrants.
• The initiative, if implemented, can lead to a social transformation for the migrants and connect with their
roots as many times they are reluctant to get themselves enrolled at their place of work for various reasons
such as frequently changing residences, not enough social and emotional connect with the issues of area
of migration, unwillingness to get their name deleted in electoral roll of their home/native constituencies
as they have permanent residence/property.
Challenges
• There are several challenges and considerations that must be addressed in order to successfully implement
the RVM system.
• These include defining domestic migrants, enumerating remote voters, and ensuring the secrecy of voting
and the presence of polling agents for voter identification.
• The Representation of the People Act, 1950 and 1951, The Conduct of Election Rules, 1961, and The
Registration of Electors Rules, 1960 will also need to be amended to introduce remote voting.
Other considerations include the method of remote voting, the familiarity of voters with the RVM technology,
and the counting and transmission of votes cast at remote polling stations.
National Geospatial Policy 2022
In News
The National Geospatial Policy 2022 recently notified is aimed to set up high resolution topographical survey and
mapping, with a high-accuracy Digital Elevation Model (DEM) for the country by 2030.
Features of the policy

• A Geospatial Data Promotion and Development Committee (GDPDC, will be a 17-member body) at the
national level shall be the apex body for formulating and implementing strategies related to promotion of
the Geospatial sector.
• GDPDC would replace and subsume the functions and powers of the National Spatial Data Committee
(NSDC) constituted in 2006 and GDPDC constituted in 2021.
• To develop a coherent national framework in the country and leverage it to move towards a digital economy
and improve services to citizens.
• To develop Geospatial infrastructures, Geospatial skill and knowledge, standards, Geospatial businesses.
• To promote innovation and strengthen the national and sub-national arrangements for generation and
management of Geospatial information.
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Geospatial Technology
• Geospatial Technology is an emerging field of study that includes Geographic Information System (GIS),
Remote Sensing (RS), and Global Positioning System (GPS).
• It has applications in almost every domain of the economy ranging from -
• Agriculture to industries,
• Development of urban or rural infrastructure,
• Administration of land,
• Economic activities of banking and finance, resources, mining, water, disaster management, social planning,
delivery services, etc.
• It enables government systems, services, and initiatives to be integrated using ‘location’ as a common and
underpinning reference frame.
Survey of India
• The origins can be traced back to the time of Lord Clive, who commissioned a major-ranking officer to
produce a map of Bengal.
• It was established in 1767 to help consolidate the Indian territories of the British East India Company .
• It is India’s principal mapping agency and functions under the Department of Science and Technology (DST),
Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India.
• Its chief responsibility is to ensure that India’s domain is explored and mapped appropriately.
• It also provides base maps for expeditious and integrated development of the country by ensuring that all
resources contribute to the progress, security and prosperity of the nation for the present and the future.
• Survey of India is headquartered in Dehradun, Uttarakhand. It is headed by the Surveyor-General of India
UGC released draft guidelines to set up foreign educational campuses in India
In News
The University Grants Commission (UGC) has notified the draft guidelines for establishing campuses of foreign higher
educational institutions in the country .
Draft Guidelines
• The programmes offered under these regulations will not be allowed in online mode, and universities will
have to conduct the courses in offline mode only.
• A regulatory framework allowing the entry of higher-ranked foreign Universities will provide an international
dimension to higher education, enable Indian students to obtain foreign qualifications at affordable cost,
and make India an attractive global study destination.
• No Foreign Higher Educational Institutions (FHEIs) will be allowed to set up campuses in the country without
the approval of the UGC.
• The foreign educational institution should be within the top 500 of overall / subject-wise global rankings, as
decided by the Commission from time to time, in its home jurisdiction.
• These regulations shall regulate the entry and operations of Foreign Universities/Institutions in India to
conduct undergraduate, postgraduate, doctoral, post-doctoral, and other programmes and award degrees,
diplomas, and certificates in all disciplines.
• The foreign institute has to ensure that the quality of education imparted by it in its Indian campus is at par
with that of the main campus in the country of origin.
Future of education
• A web-based portal maintained by the UGC will receive proposals → A committee formed by the UGC will
evaluate the applications and make recommendations within 45 days → The selected applicants will be
given about 2 years to set up campuses.
Significance
• Allowing foreign universities will ensure diverse courses, such as in the fields of urban design and fashion
design.
• Reduce forex reserve depletion. In 2022 over 5 lahks (four point five) of Indian students went abroad to
study, leading to an outflow of an estimated $28-30 billion.
• Around 40 million students in India, currently pursuing higher education, will have access to global quality
education.
Karnataka reclassifies Vokkaligas, Lingayats to raise their OBC quota share
In News
Recently, the Karnataka Cabinet decided to categorise the two dominant communities, Vokkaligas and Lingayats, as
“moderately backward” from the “backward” category in a move that could increase their share in reservation for
Other Backward Classes (OBC).
Lingayats
• The tradition of Lingayatism is known to have been founded by social reformer and philosopher Basavanna
in 12th century Karnataka.
• Lingayats had been classified as a The term Lingayat denotes a person who wears a personal linga,
Hindu subcaste called “Veerashaiva an iconic form of god Shiva, on the body whichis received during
Lingayats” and they are considered to the initiation ceremony.
be Shaivites.
• The emergence of the Lingayat sect can be located within the larger trend of Bhakti movements that had
swept across South India from the 8th century AD onwards.
Vokkaligas
• The agricultural communities of south Karnataka are called Vokkaligas. People belonging to the Vokkaliga
community are known as Okkalia of Utkala Kingdom.
• As a community of warriors and cultivators they have historically had notable demographic, political, and
economic dominance in Old Mysore (region).
• It is believed by some historians that the Rashtrakutas and Western Gangas were of Vokkaliga origin. The
Vokkaligas occupied administrative positions in the Vijaynagar Empire.
OBC status in Karnataka

• Karnataka currently has 32% quota for OBC, and 17% and 7% quota for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled
Tribes, respectively, taking the total to 56%.
• The Panchamasali sub-sect of Veerashaiva Lingayats has demanded inclusion in the 2A category which has
15% quota from their current 3B category which has 5% quota.
• The Vokkaliga community, which is currently in the 3A category, will be moved to a newly-created 2C
category with 4% reservation. And the Lingayat community, which is in the 3B category, will now be in a new
2D category with 5% reservation.
• The increase in reservation from the one granted currently to these communities — 4% for Vokkaligas and
5% for Lingayats — via redistribution of the EWS quota will be based on the population of various
communities assessed by the Karnataka State Commission for Backward Classes.
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Draft rules for online gaming
In News
A self-regulatory body, mandatory know-your-customer norms for verification, and a grievance redressal mechanism
are among the key proposals in the draft rules for online gaming.
Draft Rules
• Online games will have to register with a self-regulatory body, and only games cleared by the body will be
allowed to legally operate in India.
• Online gaming companies will not be allowed to engage in betting on the outcome of games.
• The attempt is to regulate online gaming platforms as intermediaries and place due diligence requirements
on them.
• The self-regulatory body will have a board of directors with five members from diverse fields, including
online gaming, public policy, IT, psychology and medicine.
• It must ensure that the registered games don’t have anything “which is not in the interest of sovereignty and
integrity of India, defence of India, security of the state, friendly relations with foreign states or public order,
or incites the commission of any cognizable offence relating to the aforesaid.
• online gaming firms will be required to undertake additional due diligence, including KYC of users,
transparent withdrawal and refund of money, and a fair distribution of winnings. For KYC, they will have to
follow norms laid down for entities regulated by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
• Gaming companies will also have to secure a random number generation certificate, which is typically used
by platforms that offer card games to ensure that game outputs are statistically random and unpredictable.
They will also have to get a “no bot certificate” from a reputed certifying body
• Similar to social media and e-commerce companies, online gaming platforms will also have to appoint a
compliance officer who will ensure that the platform is following norms, a nodal officer who will act as a
liaison official with the government and assist law enforcement agencies, and a grievance officer who will
resolve user complaints.
Why these rules? The rules aimed at safeguarding users against

• Around 40 to 45 % of the gamers in India are potential harm from skill-based games, have been
women, and therefore it was all the more introduced as an amendment to the Information
important to keep the gaming ecosystem safe. Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital
• It is believed to be a great first step for Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021.
comprehensive regulation for online gaming and
will reduce the state-wise regulatory fragmentation that was a big challenge for the industry.
• The revenue of the Indian mobile gaming industry is expected to reach USD 5 billion in 2025.
• The industry grew at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 38% in India between 2017-2020, as
opposed to 8 % in China and 10% in the US.
• It is expected to grow at a CAGR of 15 % to reach Rs 153 billion in revenue by 2024, as per a report by VC
firm Sequoia and management consulting company BCG.
Indian Telegraph (Infrastructure Safety) Rules 2022
In News
The Department of Telecommunications under the Ministry of Communications has formulated the Indian
Telegraph (Infrastructure Safety) Rules 2022.
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Provisions
• The information shall include the name and address of the person exercising the legal, agency details,
contact details, date and time of start of the exercise, description and location of the exercise, and the
reasons for such dealing.
• The licensee shall, as expeditiously as possible, provide through the common portal, the details of telegraph
infrastructure owned/ controlled/ managed by them, falling under/ over/ along the property with which the
person intends to deal, alongwith precautionary measures for coordination in avoiding damages to the
telegraph infrastructure.
• Excavators/utility asset owners will be given alerts via SMS, email and in-app notification and will also
have the facility of ‘Click to call’ from the app itself.
• The person digging or excavating shall take appropriate action on precautionary measures provided by the
licensee.
• Once the asset owner agencies map their underlying assets with GIS coordinates on PM GatiShakti NMP
platform, it will also be possible to know the presence of underlying utility assets, at the point of interest,
before start of excavation.
Benefits
• Many utilities can be saved from unwanted cuts and wasteful cost towards restoration, thus saving
thousands of crores for businesses and associated tax loss to Govt.
• Inconvenience caused to citizens because of frequent breakdown may be reduced due to better synergy
between the agencies.
Centre to end discretionary Haj quota
In News Any person wishes to exercise a legal right to dig or

The Union Minister for Minority Affairs, Smriti Irani, excavate any property which is likely to cause damage to
recently announced that the Indian government has a telegraph infrastructure shall give notice to the
done away with the discretionary Haj quota for licensee, prior to commencement, through common
pilgrims. portal.
About Haj Pilgrimage

• It is considered to be a mandatory religious The Haj is an annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi
duty for all adult Muslims physically and Arabia, the holiest city for Muslims.
financially capable of doing so.
• The rites of pilgrimage are performed over five to six days, in Dhu al-Hijjah, the last month of the Islamic
calendar
Abolition of Discretionary Quota

• The “Government discretionary quota” is further divided in two, 200 seats are with the Haj Committee itself
and 300 are with people holding important offices at the Centre.
• These include, 100 with the President, 75 with the Prime Minister, 75 with the Vice President, 50 with the
Minister of Minority Affairs.
• As per the old policy, these seats could be allocated to individuals who applied for the pilgrimage through
the normal means but were unsuccessful in getting a slot for the pilgrimage.
• According to the 2018-22 policy document, 70 per cent of India’s total quota goes to the HCoI and 30 per
cent goes to private operators.
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AMPHEX 2023
In News
The biennial Tri-Services Amphibious Exercise, AMPHEX 2023 was conducted at Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh.
AMPHEX 2023
• AMPHEX is aimed at joint training of elements of all three services in various facets of amphibious
operations to enhance interoperability and synergy.
• The participating forces undertook
complex exercises in all domains of AMPHEX 23 is the first time that the exercise was undertaken at
amphibious operations over five Kakinada, and was the largest ever AMPHEX conducted till date.
days.
• The exercise witnessed the participation of a number of amphibious ships consisting of Large Platform Dock
(LPD), Landing Ships and Landing Crafts, Marine Commandos (MARCOS), helicopters and aircraft from the
Indian Navy.
• Indian Army participated in the exercise with over 900 troops which included Special Forces, Artillery and
Armoured vehicles.
MPLADS Scheme
In News
The Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implemntation (MoSPI) Rao
Inderjit Singh released the Revised Guidelines on Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme
(MPLADS)-2023.
MPLADS -2023 Guidelines

• The revised set of guidelines aims to broaden the scope of the Scheme so as to enable the Hon’ble MPs to
recommend the developmental works as per the changing needs of the community; with an emphasis on
improving the functioning, implementation and monitoring of the MPLAD scheme.
• The entire process of fund flow under the revised guidelines will operate through the web portal, which will
facilitate real-time monitoring, greater transparency and accountability in the system, and improved
efficiency and effectiveness of the MPLAD Scheme.
About MPLADS
• The MPLADS is a Plan Scheme fully funded by the Government of India. The annual MPLADS fund
entitlement per MP constituency is Rs. 5 crores.
• It was introduced in December 1993.
• Lok Sabha Members can recommend works within their Constituencies
• Elected Members of Rajya Sabha can recommend works within the State of Election.
• Nominated Members of both the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha can recommend works anywhere in the
country.
• The objective is to enable the Members of Parliament (MP) to suggest and execute developmental works
of a capital nature based on locally felt needs with an emphasis on the creation of durable assets.
• The Ministry of Rural Development initially administered the scheme.
• Since October 1994 it has been transferred to the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation
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India tops list of global internet shut-offs: Report
In News
India enforced as many as 84 internet shutdowns last year and was on top of the list of nations that ordered internet
shutdowns for the fifth year in a row, as per a report by Access Now and the KeepItOn coalition.
Major Highlights
• In 2022, the Internet was shut down 49 times in Jammu and Kashmir, the highest of any state in the country,
per the report.
• Authorities in Rajasthan imposed shutdowns on 12
The report titled ‘Weapons of control, shields
different occasions followed by West Bengal, which
of impunity: Internet shutdowns in 2022'.
ordered shutdowns seven times.
• At least 187 internet shutdowns across 35 countries were recorded in 2022.
• Thirty-three of these 35 countries are repeat offenders.
• Ukraine comes a distant second with 22 shutdowns in 2022, followed by Iran with 18, and with seven
internet shutdowns, Myanmar stands fourth in the list.
• People in many regions across Myanmar had been in the dark for 500+ days by March 2022.
• By the end of 2022, people in Tigray, Ethiopia had endured 2+ years of full communications blackout, and
many remained disconnected.
Internet Shutdown
• Currently, internet shutdown orders are governed under the Temporary Suspension of Telecom Services
(Public Emergency or Public Safety) Rules, 2017.
• Internet shutdowns are a means to wipe out online communication, which directly impacts day to day
functioning in an increasingly digital world, but they also have important and serious knock-on effects on
democratic movements, and sometimes provide cover for violence, as reporting crime and making contact
for support becomes hard to do.
• The 1885 Act empowers the central government to regulate various types of telecom services including
internet services and grant licenses for them.
• In Anuradha Bhasin vs Union of India (2020), the Supreme Court ruled that an indefinite suspension of
internet services would be illegal under Indian law and that orders for internet shutdown must satisfy the
tests of necessity and proportionality.
Centre sets up three grievance committees to take up user complaints against social media
platforms
In News
The Centre recently established three Grievance Appellate Committees based on the recently amendedInformation
Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 (“IT Rules 2021”).
GAC Composition
• The First Panel: It will be chaired by the chief Each of the three GACs will have a chairperson, two whole-
executive officer of the Indian Cyber Crime time members from different government entities and
Coordination Centre under the Ministry of retired senior executives from the industry for a term of
Home Affairs. three years from the date of assumption of office.
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• The Second Panel: It will be chaired by the joint secretary in charge of the Policy and Administration Division
in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
• The Third Panel: It will be chaired by a senior scientist at the Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY).
Significance
• The Grievance Appellate Committee (GAC) is a critical piece of overall policy and legal framework
to ensure that Internet in India is Open, Safe & Trusted and Accountable.
• The need for GAC was created due to large numbers of grievances being left unaddressed or
unsatisfactorily addressed by Internet Intermediaries.
• GAC is expected to create a culture of responsiveness amongst all Internet Platforms and
Intermediaries towards their consumers.
• The GAC will be a virtual Digital platform that will operate only online and digitally - wherein the
entire appeal process, from filing of appeal to the decision thereof, shall be conducted digitally.
Functions
• The GACs will adopt an online dispute resolution mechanism where the entire appeal process, from its filing
to the final decision, will be done online.
• Any person aggrieved by a decision of the grievance officer of a social media intermediary will be allowed to
file an appeal to the GAC within a period of thirty days.
• The GAC will have to deal with the appeal and resolve it within a month of receipt of the appeal.
Pvt broadcasters to undertake public service broadcasting for 30 mins daily
In News
Recently, the Information and Broadcasting Ministry clarified that private TV channels must show programs about
important national issues and topics that matter to society for 30 minutes every day, under the “Guidelines for
Uplinking and Downlinking of Television Channels in India, 2022”.
About advisory
• And spread of literacy; agriculture The theme for the broadcasting should comprise national importance
and rural development; health and social relevance, including education welfare of women; welfare
and family welfare; science and of the weaker sections of the society; protection of environment and
technology; It also said that the of cultural heritage; and national integration.
broadcaster shall keep the record
of the content telecast for a period of 90 days.
• It is also clarified that the content need not be of 30 minutes at a stretch and could be spread over smaller
time slots and requires the broadcaster to submit a monthly report online on the Broadcast Seva Portal.
• The Electronic Media Monitoring Centre under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting shall keep the
record of the content telecast for a period of 90 days.
• It said the private satellite TV channels are accordingly advised to report public service broadcasting in the
manner prescribed above, with effect from March 1, 2023.
Digitization of Courts
In News
The Government has launched the eCourts Integrated Mission Mode Project in the country for computerization of
District and subordinate courts with the objective of improving access to justice using technology.
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eCourts project
• Phase I of the project was implemented during 2011-2015.
• Under the Wide Area Network (WAN) Project,connectivity has been provided to 99.4% (2976 out of
earmarked 2994) of total Court Complexes across India with
10 Mbps to 100 Mbps bandwidth speed. eCourts project is being implemented in
• Case Information Software (CIS) is based on Free and Open- association with e-Committee Supreme
Source Software (FOSS) which has been developed by NIC. Court of India and Department of Justice.
Currently CIS National Core Version 3.2 is being implemented in District Courts and the CIS National Core
Version 1.0 is being implemented for the High Courts.
• National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG) is a database of orders, judgments, and cases, created as an online
platform under the eCourts Project. It provides information relating to judicial proceedings/decisions of all
computerized district and subordinate courts of the country.
• Virtual Courts in 17 States/UTs have been operationalized to handle traffic challan cases.
• New e-filing system has been rolled out for the electronic filing of legal papers with upgraded features. As of
2022, a total of 19 High Courts have adopted the model rules of e-Filing.
• A new “Judgment Search” portal has been started with several user-friendly features. This facility isbeing
provided free of cost to everyone.
Phase III of eCourts

• Phase III has been finalized and approved by eCommittee, Supreme Court of India.
• Phase III of the e-Courts project mentions a judicial system that is more affordable, accessible, cost-
effective, predictable, reliable, and transparent for every individual who seeks justice or is part of the
delivery of justice in India.
• DPR of eCourtsPhase III mentions various new features such as Digital and Paperless Courts aimedat
bringing court proceedings under a digital format in a court; Online Court focussing on eliminating the
presence of litigants or lawyers in the court ; expansion of scope of Virtual Courts beyond adjudication of
Traffic Violations ; use of emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence and its subsets like Optical
Character Recognition (OCR) etc for analysis of case pendency, forecasting future litigation, etc.
NCST functioning with less than 50% of sanctioned strength.
In News
Data presented by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs(MoTA) has revealed that the National Commission for Scheduled
Tribes(NCST) is currently functioning with less than 50% of its sanctioned strength.
About NCST
• By this amendment, the erstwhile National Commission for The National Commission for Scheduled
Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes was replaced by two Tribes(NCST) was established by
separate Commissions namely (i) the National Commission for amending Article 338 and inserting anew
Scheduled Castes (NCSC), and (ii) the National Commission for Article 338A in the Constitution through
Scheduled Tribes (NCST). the Constitution (89th Amendment) Act,
2003.
Composition
• The term of office of the Chairperson, Vice-Chairperson and each member is three years from the date of
assumption of charge.
• The Chairperson has been given the rank of Union Cabinet Minister and the Vice-Chairperson that of a
Minister of State and other Members have the ranks of a Secretary to the Government of India.
• They are appointed by the President by warrant under his hand and seal.
• At least one member should be a woman.
• The members are not eligible for appointments for more than two terms.
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Issues
• The sanctioned strength of the ST panel is one Chairperson+ one Vice-Chairperson+ three Members= total of
Five members (two among V-C and Members must be from the ST community and one member must be a
woman).
• However, currently, it just has a Chairperson (Harsh Chouhan) and one Member (Ananta Nayak) with all
other positions, including that of the mandatory ST Member, vacant for the last three years.
• In the financial year 2021-22, it has met only four times.
• Its rate of pendency of resolution of complaints and cases that it receives is also close to 50%
Mission Antyodaya Survey (MAS) 2022-23
In News
The Union Minister for Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Shri Giriraj Singh inaugurated the Mission Antyodaya
Survey (MAS) 2022-23 including launching of its portal and mobile application at a function in New Delhi.
About MAS
• Annual survey in Gram Panchayats across the country is an important aspect of Mission Antyodaya
framework.
• The survey aims to lend support to the process of participatory planning for Gram Panchayat Development
Plan (GPDP) which will improve service delivery, enhance citizenship, create pace for an alliance of people’s
institutions, and groups and improve governance at the local level.
• The survey is being conducted to collect village level data on 183 indicators under 216 data points of 21
sectors.
• The survey questions have been categorized into five stratums:
• Panchayat Infrastructure; (ii) Panchayat Services; (iii) Village Infrastructure; (iv) Village Services; and (v)
Village Practices.
State Police Chief Appointment
In News
• The Nagaland government has appointed Rupin Sharma as Director General of the state police after SC’s
direction.
• Previously, Nagaland had challenged the Union Public Service Commission’s (UPSC) recommendation of
Sharma as the only candidate for the post.
Appointment process
• Appointments of DGPs are now made on the basis of the Supreme Court judgment on police reforms in
Prakash Singh vs Union of India 17 years ago.
According to the SC’s guidelines on the appointment of police chiefs, the DGP is to be selected by the state
government from among the three senior most officers who have been empanelled for promotion to that rank
by the UPSC “on the basis of their length of service, very good record and range of experience for heading the
police force”.
• The empanelment committee selects the panel of three officers based on merit.
• UPSC shall not put in the panel any officer with less than 6 months to retirement
• DGP should have a fixed tenure of two years in the post, irrespective of retirement date
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• The list of eligible officers must have at least 30 years of service and be submitted to the UPSC six months
before the incumbent DGP is to retire.
• The 30-year rule may be relaxed to 25 years in certain states with the consent of the Centre
Empanelment Committee
• For smaller states that may have only An empanelment committee headed by the UPSC chairman,
one cadre post of DGP, the committee and with the union home secretary, state chief secretary, state
is supposed to send two names. DGP, and the chief of a central police organisation in it, is
• UPSC also submitted that while the 30- supposed to select a panel of three officers “based on merit”.
year rule could be relaxed to 25 years in states like Himachal Pradesh, Manipur, Nagaland, Uttarakhand,
Tripura, and Sikkim which may not have enough officers meeting this criterion, this is to be done with the
consent of the Centre.
Issue
The process of appointment has faced challenges with at least four states having interim police chiefs and some
cases of the Centre not following the Prakash Singh judgment.
World Government Summit 2023
In News
• The World Government Summit 2023 is set to begin on 13th February 2023 in Dubai.
• The World Government Summit will be held under the theme of “Shaping Future Governments”.
About WGS
• The World Government Summit is a global platform dedicated to shaping the future of government
worldwide. harness innovation and technology to solve universal challenges facing humanity.
• Each year, the Summit sets the agenda for the next generation of governments with a focus on how they can
It is basically a knowledge exchange center at the intersection between government, futurism, technology,
and innovation. It functions as a thought leadership platform and networking hub for policymakers, experts,
and pioneers in human development.
• The Summit is a gateway to the future as it functions as a stage for analysis of the future trends, issues, and
opportunities facing humanity. It is also an arena to showcase innovations, best practice, and smart solutions
to inspire creativity to tackle these future challenges.
Uttarakhand govt approves promulgation of ordinance to ensure transparency and fairness

in competitive examinations
In News
Uttarakhand government has approved the Uttarakhand Competitive Examination (Measures for Prevention and
Prevention of Unfair Means in Recruitment) Ordinance 2023 to ensure transparency and fairness in competitive
examinations.
Features of the bill

• The ordinance aims to prevent use of unfair means in recruitment examinations in the state, making it a
cognizable and non-bailable offence.
• Strict provisions have been made against the culprits in this ordinance.
• If any person, printing press, service provider organization, management system, coaching institute found
involved in unfair means, then provision has been made for a maximum punishment of life imprisonment
and a fine of up to 10 crore rupees for those indulging in or facilitating use of unfair means in recruitment
examinations.
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If any person, printing press, service provider contracted or ordered for examination, management for
material, any employee of the examination authority, limited liability partnership, coaching centre, or any
other institution has indulged in conspiracy or other unfair means, they shall be punished with a jail term of
not less than 10 years, which may extend to life imprisonment.
• conducting an examination, or any person and organization authorized to keep and transport the
examination An applicant found cheating will be:
• debarred for two to five years from the date of the chargesheet
• And in case of conviction, from all competitive exams for 10 years.
• All the properties earned using unfair means will be seized.
• The offences are cognizable, non-bailable, and non-compoundable.
DHARA
In News
DHARA which stands for Driving Holistic Action for Urban Rivers, the annual meeting of the members of the River
Cities Alliance (RCA), is being organised by the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) in association with National
Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA) recently in Pune.
About DHARA
• DHARA 2023 will witness sessions on ‘National Case Studies on Innovative River-related Practices’ to
introduce the participants to several unique and innovative solutions for different aspects of urban river
management involving lake and pond rejuvenation, de-centralized used-water management, enhancing
river-related economy, groundwater management.
• And flood management and ‘International Case Studies’ to focus on Innovative River-related practices in
countries like Denmark, reuse of used water in Israel, floodplain management in Netherlands, river health
monitoring in USA, pollution control in Japan, and water sensitive city design in Australia.
• DHARA 2023 is being organised for Municipal Commissioners of member cities to come up with possible
learning solutions for urban river management
DHARA will shine light on unaddressed issues & challenges for river management in cities and help NIUA &
partners in formulating an effective work plan
About RCA
• River Cities Alliance (RCA) started with 30 cities in 2021 and currently has 95 cities as members across India.
• RCA was launched by the Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat on November 2021 as a dedicated platform for
river cities in India to ideate, discuss and exchange information for sustainable management of urban rivers.
• River Cities Alliance, first-of-its-kind Alliance in the world, symbolizes the successful partnership of the two
Ministries i.e., Ministry of Jal Shakti and Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.
• The Alliance focuses on three broad themes- Networking, Capacity Building and Technical Support.
Role of Governors and their appointment
In News
Twelve states and the Union Territory of Ladakh will have new Governors, the Centre announced recently. This
includes both first-time appointments as well as transfers of Governors from one state to the other.
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Appointment of Governor
• Article 153 of the Constitution says “There shall be a Governor for each State.” A few years after the
commencement of the Constitution, an amendment in 1956 laid down that “nothing in this article shall
prevent the appointment of the same person as Governor for two or more States”.
• Article 155 says that the “Governor of a State shall be appointed by the President by warrant under his hand
and seal”.
• Under Article 156, “the Governor shall hold office during the pleasure of the President”, but his normal term
of office will be five years.
• If the President withdraws her pleasure before the completion of five years, the Governor has to step down.
• Since the President acts on the aid and advice of the Prime Minister and the Union Council of Ministers, in
effect, the Governor is appointed and removed by the central government.
Qualification
• Articles 157 and 158 lay down the qualifications of the Governor and the conditions of his office.
• The Governor must be a citizen of India and should have completed the age of 35 years.
• The Governor should not be a member of Parliament or a state legislature, and must not hold any other
office of profit.
Duties/Powersof Governor
• However, the Governor enjoys certain discretionary The position of the Governor is envisaged as an
powers under the Constitution, such as apolitical head who must act on the advice of
• Giving or withholding assent to a Bill passed by the state the Council of Ministers of the state (Article
legislature; 163).
• Determining the time needed for a party to prove its majority in the state Assembly;
• In cases of a hung verdict in an election, which party must be called first to prove its majority
Recommendations
• The Sarkaria Commission (1983) recommended that the appointee shall be an eminent person.
• The National Commission to Review the Working of the Constitution (2000) also suggested that a time limit,
preferably six months to give assent or to reserve a Bill for consideration of the President.
• The Punchhi Commission (2007): Amend Article 156 to provide a procedure to remove the Governor from
office.
Draft Geo-heritage Sites and Geo-relics Bill
In News
• The Ministry of Mines recently notified a bill on geo-heritage sites of India.
• The bill also has features of Geo-relics. Geo-relic means rock or sediment or mineral or meteorite.

• The Bill is aimed at providing for the declaration, preservation, protection and maintenance of geo-heritage
sites and geo-relics of national importance, for geological studies, education, research and awareness
purposes.
• The draft bill defines Geoheritage sites as “sites containing geo-relics and phenomena, stratigraphic type
sections, geological structures and geomorphic landforms including caves, natural rock-sculptures of
national and international interest; and includes such portion of land adjoining the site,” that may be
required for their conservation or to access to such sites.
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• Geo-relic is defined as “any relic or material of a geological significance or interest like sediments, rocks,
minerals, meteorite or fossils”. The GSI will have the power to acquire geo-relics “for its preservation and
maintenance”.
• The 32 geo-heritage sites spread across 13 states include the Volcanogenic bedded Barytes of Mangampeta
in Cuddapah district of Andhra Pradesh, the Akal Fossil Wood Park in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan and others.
• It would authorise the Central Government to declare a geoheritage site to be of national importance. This
would be under the provisions of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition,
Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 (RFCTLARR Act).
• Provision is made for compensation to the owner or occupier of land who incurs loss or damage from the
land due to the exercise of any power under this Act.
• The Bill imposes a prohibition on construction, reconstruction, repair or renovation of any building within
the geoheritage site area or utilisation of such area in any other manner, except for construction for
preservation and maintenance of geoheritage site or any public work essential to the public.
• There is a penalty of imprisonment which may extend to six months or fine which may extend to Rs.5 lakh,
or both. In the case of a continuing contravention, additional fine of upto Rs.50,000 for every day of
continuing contravention may be imposed.
Why this bill?

Due to the absence of any legislation in the country for the protection, preservation and maintenance of the
geoheritage sites, these are increasingly threatened with destruction not only by the natural causes of decay but also
by population pressure and changing social and economic conditions which is aggravating the situation.
Concerns
• The bill gives enormous powers to the GSI. For instance, the GSI gets the power to acquire any material such
as minerals, sediments, fossils or meteorites. Also, there are land acquisition issues.
• Local communities may raise voices against including the sites under protected zones.
Foreigner can’t claim vested right to be guardian for person with disabilities: HC
In News
The Delhi High Court recently held that a foreigner cannot claim a vested right to be appointed the legal guardian of
a person with disabilities or claim protection guaranteed under Part III of the constitution as are available to Indian
citizens.
Issue
• The father sought to be appointed as the guardian of his son under the National Trust Act and claimed that
his application for guardianship is barred by the said provisions of the rules and regulations which prescribe
“citizenship to be an essential qualification.
• The HC ruled that the National Trust Act lays down a
basic structure with respect to differently abled The HC said that the neither the Rules or
persons and including the appointment of a guardian. Regulations have “travelled beyond the scope
• The Court underlined that the Act does not even of the authority” underthe Act and that the
attempt to specify the essential qualifications that a Centre and the Board of the National Trust
guardian must possess. were duly empowered to prescribe the
qualifications of a guardian.
FRs available to citizens
• Article 15: This article prohibits discrimination on the grounds of religion, race, caste, sex, or place of birth.
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• Article 16: This article guarantees equality of opportunity in matters of public employment. It ensures that
no citizen shall be discriminated against on the grounds of religion, race, caste, sex, descent, place of birth,
or residence.
• Article 19: This article provides for six freedoms, namely, freedom of speech and expression, assembly,
association, movement, residence, and profession.
• Article 29: This article protects the interests of minority groups by ensuring that they have the right to
conserve their distinct language, script, and culture.
• Article 30: This article provides minority communities with the right to establish and administer educational
institutions of their choice.
SC rejects sealed cover suggestions
In News
The Centre has told the Supreme Court that the “truthfulness” of allegations made by US short-seller Hindenburg
Research against the Adani Group should be examined by an expert panel in order to protect investors.
Sealed Cover Jurisprudence

• It is a practice used by the Supreme Court and sometimes lower courts, of asking for or accepting
information from government agencies in sealed envelopes that can only be accessed by judges.
• While a specific law does not define the doctrine of sealed cover, the Supreme Court derives its power to use
it from Rule 7 of order XIII of the Supreme Court Rules and Section 123 of the Indian Evidence Act of 1872.
• Rule 7 of order XIII of the Supreme Court Rules:
• It is stated under the said rule that if the Chief Justice or court directs certain information to be kept under
sealed cover or considers it of confidential nature, no party would be allowed access to the contents of such
information.
Exceptions-
• If the Chief Justice himself orders that the opposite party be allowed to access it.
• It also mentions that information can be kept confidential if its publication is not considered to be in the
interest of the public. Under this act, official unpublished documents relating to
• Section 123 of the Indian Evidence Act of state affairs are protected and a public officer cannot be
1872: compelled to disclose such documents.
• Other instances where information may be
sought in secrecy or confidence are when its publication impedes an ongoing investigation, such as details
which are part of a police case diary.
Issues
• Sealed envelopes enlarges the scope for arbitrariness in court decisions, as judges are supposed to lay down
reasoning for their decisions, but this cannot be done when they are based upon information submitted
confidentially.
• The state shouldn’t be granted such a privilege to submit information in secrecy, when existing provisions
like in-camera hearings already provide sufficient protection to sensitive information.
• The principles of natural justice demand that all parties in litigation get a fair chance to scrutinise evidence.
• Not providing access to such documents to the accused parties obstructs their passage to a fair trial and
adjudication.
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Aadhaar Linkage with Voter IDs
In News
Over 60% of India’s 94.5 crore voters in India have linked their Aadhaar number to their voter IDs, the Election
Commission (EC) disclosed in a Right to Information response obtained by The Hindu. The total number of voters
who have their Aadhaar linked is 56,90,83,090.
Major Highlights
• Tripura, had the highest rate of Aadhaar linking; over 92% of voters in the State have provided their
Aadhaar details to the Election Commission.
• After Tripura, Lakshadweep and Madhya Pradesh occupy the second and third spots, with over 91% and 86%
of voters having provided the number respectively.
• The State with the lowest Aadhaar registration by voters is Gujarat, where only 31.5% of voters have linked
the document to their voter registration. Less than 34% of voters in the national capital had their Aadhaar
linked.
• Voters in southern States have not provided their Aadhaar in such proportions, even though they are above
the national average.
Why govt is pushing for linkage?

• The government claims the linkage will solve the problem of multiple enrollments of the same person at
different places.
• Once the Aadhaar linkage is achieved, the electoral roll data system will instantly alert the existence of
previous registration(s) whenever a person applies for new registration.
• This will help in cleaning the electoral roll to a great extent and facilitate elector registration in the location
at which they are ‘ordinarily resident’.
Concerns
• This is against the Supreme Court judgment in Justice K. S Puttaswamy v Union of India & Ors which dealt
with the validity of the Aadhar card. According to the judgment, Aadhar cards can only be made mandatory
if some benefit or subsidy is sought and not if there is an intrinsic right, such as the right to vote.
• The linkage poses a major threat to the independence of the Election Commission (EC) as the preparation of
the electoral rolls is made dependent on the processes of Aadhaar, a process it has no control over.
Centre extends term of 22nd Law Commission till Aug 2024
In News
The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi extended by one-and-a-half year the term of the 22nd
Law Commission which is mandated to identify laws which are “no longer relevant" and recommend their repeal.
Law Commission of India

• The Law Commission of India is a non-statutory body which advises the government on all legal issues, from
time to time by the Government of India.
• It works as an advisory body to the Ministry of Law and Justice.
• The first Law Commission was established during colonial rule in India, by the East India Company under
the Charter Act of 1833, and was presided by Lord Macaulay.
• The first Law Commission of independent India was The commission was originally formed in
established in 1955. The Chairman of this commission 1955 and is reorganized every 3 years.
wasMr. M. C. Setalvad, who was also the First Attorney The term of the 21st Law Commission of
General of India. India was till August 31, 2018.
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Membership
• The 22nd Law Commission will consist of:
• Chairperson
• A member-secretary and three other members
• Secretary (Department of Legal Affairs as ex-officio Member)
• Secretary (Legislative Department as ex officio Member)
• Part-time Members (Not more than five).
Functions
• It will identify laws that are no longer needed or are irrelevant and can be repealed immediately.
• The 22nd Law Commission will examine the existing laws and suggest ways for reforms.
• It will also suggest the necessary laws to implement the Directive Principles mentioned in the Preamble of
the Constitution.
• It will take all necessary measures to use law and legal processes in the service of poor people.
• The law commission will revise the laws of general importance to simplify them and remove anomalies,
ambiguities, and inequities.
Forest Amendment Bill
In News
Recently, the central government introduced the Forest (Conservation) Amendment Bill, 2023, which seeks to
amend certain provisions under the Forest (Conservation).
Major provisions
• The Bill amends the Forest Conservation Act, 1980 which provides for the conservation of forest land.
• The Act restricts the de-reservation of forest or use of forest land for non-forest purposes. Such restrictions
may be lifted with the prior approval of the central government. Non-forest purposes include use of land for
cultivating horticultural crops or for any purpose other than reafforestation. The Act specifies certain
activities that will be excluded from non-forest purposes, i.e., the restrictions on de-reservation of forest or
use of forest land for non-forest purposes will not apply.
• The Bill provides that two types of land will be under the purview of the Act: (i) land declared/notified as a
forest under the Indian Forest Act, 1927 or under any other law, or (ii) land not covered in the first category
but notified as a forest on or after October 25, 1980 in a government record.
• The Bill also exempts certain types of land from the provisions of the Act such as forest land along a rail line
or a public road maintained by the government providing access to a habitation, or to a rail, and roadside
amenity up to a maximum size of 0.10 hectare.
• Under the Act, state government or any authority requires prior approval of the central government to
direct the assigning of forest land through a lease or otherwise to any organisation (such as private person,
agency, authority, corporation) not owned by the government.
• The Bill adds that the central government may issue directions for the implementation of the Act to any
other authority/ organisation under or recognised by the centre, state, or union territory.
Govt portal to report unresolved social media complaints goes live
In News
The Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) launched the portal for social media users to report grievances if the
content moderation decision taken by a social media company’s grievance officer is not satisfactory.
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About the portal

• The portal will be looked over by three grievance appellate committees (GACs).
• Anyone aggrieved by a decision of the grievance officer will be allowed to file an appeal to the GAC within
a period of thirty days.
• The GAC will have to deal with the appeal and resolve it within a month of the receipt of the appeal. To raise
complaints on the portal, users will need to submit their Aadhaar details for a one-time verification of their
identity.
• The first panel, which will look into complaints related to national security, will be chaired by the chief
executive officer of the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre under the Ministry of Home Affairs.
• Retired Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Ashutosh Shukla and Punjab National Bank’s (PNB) former chief
general manager and chief information officer Sunil Soni have been appointed as the whole-time members
of this committee.
• The second panel will focus on complaints related to fake news and misinformation, will be chaired by the
joint secretary in charge of the Policy and Administration Division in the Ministry of Information and
Broadcasting.
• Indian Navy’s retired Commodore Sunil Kumar Gupta and Kavindra Sharma, the former vice-president
(consulting) of L&T Infotech, have been appointed as the whole-time members.
• This panel will be responsible for handling complaints that do not fall under the ambit of the other two
committees. The third panel will be chaired by Kavita Bhatia, a
• GACs can also seek assistance from people who senior scientist at the Ministry of Electronics and IT.
may have adequate expertise and experience in
a subject matter while dealing with users’ appeals.
• The GACs will adopt an “online dispute resolution mechanism” where the entire appeal process, from its
filing to the final decision, will be done online.
National Electricity Plan (2022-27)
In News
A new blueprint for the country’s power sector planners - the National Electricity Plan (NEP) 2022-27 - marks a
discernible reversal in the policy thrust from its last edition.
National Electricity plan

• The Central Electricity Authority (CEA) must create a National Electricity Plan in line with the National
Electricity Policy, according to the Electricity Act 2003, to –
• Create short-term (every 5-year) and perspective plans (15 years)
• Analyse the need for planning capacity expansion
• Coordinate the efforts of different planning agencies to ensure that resources are used optimally
• Support the needs of the country’s economy.
• The 1st National Electricity Plan was published in 2007, the 2nd in 2013, and the third (2018) includes the
detailed Plan for 2017–22 and the perspective Plan for 2022–27.
• A projected battery storage requirement in 2031-32 of between 51 GW to 84GW with a daily usage rate of 5-
hours.
• Estimated to be Rs 10 crore per MW, this could translate into investments into battery storage between Rs 5
- 8 lakh crore over the next ten years as backup for renewable capacity.
• Battery Energy Storage systems (BESS) especially based on Lithium - ion batteries are one of the storage
options.
• The cost of the BESS is reducing in an unprecedented way making it one of the preferred options for
deployment.
• BESS has various advantages of balancing the grid against load fluctuations, intermittency in generation etc.
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• Energy storage can provide energy time-shifting which can be useful with the large-scale deployment of
variable renewable energy sources.
• The hybrid generation models. This will basically perform solar energy shifts and provide backup power.
• The water-based systems, where no barrage on the river is required (economical).
• During charging the water is lifted to the reservoir and during discharge the water generates electricity.
Challenges
• The continued reliance on old, inflexible coal-fired plants for base load capacity.
• India’s vast fleet of coal-fired thermal power plants of 200 MW series are more than 25 years old, run-on old
technology and do not promise robust reliability.
• Lack of clarity on how the renewables-dominated grid will be actually managed, despite a pronounced
reliance on renewable generation for meeting capacity additions.
• The inertia, which imparts stability to the grid, has been declining due to poor progress of hydro power and
zero inertia solar generators
• There is also no assessment of ramping rate for thermal plants under various scenarios of solar generation
going out.
• If battery storage is to be relied on, the total fund requirement for the period 2022-27 is estimated to be
14.30 lakh crore.
PM Modi To Inaugurate 3-Day Raisina Dialogue
In News
• The eighth edition of the annual Raisina Dialogue, the flagship conference on geopolitics and geo-strategy,
begins in New Delhi recently.
• It will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Raisina Dialogue
• Theme- Provocation, Uncertainty, Turbulence: Lighthouse in the Tempest
• Prime Minister of Italy Giorgia Meloni will join the inaugural session as the Chief Guest.
• The Raisina Dialogue is India’s flagship conference on geopolitics and geo-strategy.
• It is organized by the Ministry of External Affairs in collaboration with Observer Research Foundation.
• During the past eight years, the Raisina Dialogue has consistently grown in stature and profile to establish
itself as one of the leading global conferences on international affairs.
Pillars of Raisina Dialogue

• Neo Insurgence: This means the dialogue will discuss about the new revolts and uprisings. It will focus on
geographies and ambitions
• Amoral Mosaic: mosaic means a pattern. The dialogue will discuss on things that are not moral and what
shall be done to change or reduce this. The discussion will be on things that will help in boosting cooperation
• Pernicious Passports: That is, the passports used for harmful effects and will focus on citizens and climate-
related issues
• Grey Rhinos: This will focus on debt traps and democracies
• Chaotic codes: Under this pillar, the dialogue will discuss security, sovereignty, and society
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Supreme Court verdict on ECI appointments
In News
A five-judge bench of the Supreme Court recently unanimously ruled that a high-power committee consisting of the
Prime Minister, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, and the Chief Justice of India must pick the Chief Election
Commissioner (CEC) and Election Commissioners (ECs).
SC verdict
• In 2015, a public interest litigation was filed by Anoop Baranwal challenging the constitutional validity of the
practice of the Centre appointing members of the Election Commission.
• In October 2018, a two-judge bench of the SC referred the case to a larger bench since it would require a
close examination of Article 324 of the Constitution, which deals with the mandate of the Chief Election
Commissioner.
• While ordinarily, the court cannot encroach on a purely legislative power, but in the context of the
Constitution and inertia of the Legislature and the vacuum created by it make it necessary for the court to
intervene.
• On the question whether process of removal should be same for CEC and the ECs, SC stated that it cannot
be same as CEC has special position and article 324 becomes inoperable without CEC.
• SC left the question of funding the EC, Permanent secretariat and need for expenditure to be charged on
Consolidated Fund of India for the government to decide.
• Two corollary issues that were also examined by the Court are whether the process of removal of the two
Election Commissioners must be the same as the CEC; and regarding the funding of the EC.
Challenge
• Since there is no law made by Parliament on this issue, the Court must step in to fill the “constitutional
vacuum.”
• This examination also leads to the larger question of separation of powers and if the judiciary is overstepping
its role in filling this gap in the law.
About ECI
• The election commission shall consist of the Chief Article 324 of the Constitution provides that
Election Commissioner and a such number of other the power ofsuperintendence, direction and
election commissioners, if any, as the president may control of elections to parliament, state
from time to time fix. legislatures, the office of president of India
• The appointment of the chief election commissioner and the office of vice-president of India shall
and other election commissioners shall be made by be vested in the election commission.
the president.
• When any other election commissioner is so appointed the chief election commissioner shall act as the
chairman of the election commission.
• The president may also appoint after consultation with the election commission such regional
commissioners as he may consider necessary to assist the election commission.
Back Centre releases guidelines for celebrities, social media influencers
In News
The Centre recently released a set of guidelines for celebrities, influencers, and virtual influencers on social media
platforms to ensure that individuals do not mislead their audiences when endorsing products or services.
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Major Guidelines
• The guidelines called “Endorsements Know-hows!" state that endorsements must be made in simple, clear
language, and terms such as “advertisement," “sponsored," “collaboration" or “paid promotion".
• Individuals must not endorse any product or service that they have not personally used or experienced or in
which due diligence has not been done by them.
• The guidelines specify that individuals or groups who have access to an audience and the power to affect
their audiences‘ purchasing decisions or opinions about a product, service, brand, or experience, because
of the influencer’s/celebrity’s authority, knowledge, position, or relationship with their audience, must
disclose.
• The guidelines state that the disclosure must be placed in the endorsement message in a manner that is
clear, prominent, and extremely hard to miss.
• Disclosures should not be mixed with a group of hashtags or links.
• For endorsements in a picture, disclosures should be superimposed over the image enough for viewers to
notice.
• For endorsements in a video or a live stream, disclosures should be made in both audio and video format
and displayed continuously and prominently during the entire stream.
• The guidelines advise celebrities and influencers to always review and satisfy themselves that the advertiser
is in a position to substantiate the claims made in the advertisement.
Significance
The guidelines aims to ensure that individuals do not mislead their audiences when endorsing products or services
and that they are in compliance with the Consumer Protection Act and any associated rules or guidelines.
Centre opposes recognition of same-sex marriage in SC citing personal laws
In News
The Centre has opposed in the Supreme Court a batch of pleas seeking legal validation of same-sex marriage, saying
it would cause a complete havoc with the delicate balance of personal laws and in accepted societal values.
Govt. View on Same Sex Marriage

• The government argued that the Court had only decriminalised sexual intercourse between same-sex
persons in its 2018 judgement in Navtej Singh Johar v. Union of India, and not legitimised this “conduct”.
• The court, while decriminalising homosexuality, did not accept same-sex marriage as part of the
fundamental right to life and dignity under Article 21 of the Constitution.
• The government argues that marriage depends on customs, rituals, practices, cultural ethos, and societal
values.
• Same-sex marriage cannot be compared to a man and woman living as a family with children born out of the
union.
Legal Status of Same Sex marriage

• On September 6, 2018, the SC decriminalised consensual gay sex between adults in the Navtej Singh Johar
verdict.
• It also decriminalised Section 377 of the India Penal Code (IPC) which considered sex with the same gender
as a criminal activity.
• However, it said that this should not be meant as conferring any right including the right to marry.
• So, homosexual couples currently do not have a right to legally marry in India.
Status around the world

• Currently, there are 32 countries globally where same-sex marriage is legal.
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• These are Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Denmark,
Ecuador, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, Mexico, the Netherlands, New
Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, the United Kingdom,
the United States of America and Uruguay.
Arguments if Favour
• All individuals, regardless of their sexual orientation, have the right to marry and form a family.
• Same-sex couples should have the same legal rights and protections as opposite-sex couples.
• Non-recognition of same-sex marriage amounted to discrimination that struck at the root of the dignity and
self-fulfillment of LBTQIA+ couples.
• Marriage provides social and economic benefits to couples and their families. Allowing same-sex couples to
marry strengthens families and communities by promoting stability and security.
Bar council allows foreign lawyers, legal firms to practice in India
In News
The Bar Council of India (BCI) recently allowed foreign lawyers and law firms to practice in India on a reciprocity
basis.
New Rules
• The rules allow foreign lawyers and law firms to The new rules will enable foreign lawyers and law
register with BCI to practice in India if they are firms “to practice foreign law, diverse international
entitled to practice law in their home countries. law and international arbitration matters in India
• The requirement of registration with the BCI would on the principle of reciprocity in a well-defined,
not apply to law practice by a foreign lawyer or regulated and controlled manner”.
foreign law firm on a ‘fly in and fly out basis’ for the
purpose of giving legal advice to a client in India.
• However, in such a case, the lawyer or firm cannot have an office in India, and their practice cannot exceed
60 days in any 12-month period.
• A primary qualification required from them is a certificate from the competent authority of their country
that they are entitled to practice law in that country.
Significance
• The BCI said that the move would benefit Indian lawyers, whose standards of proficiency in law are
comparable to the international standards.
• The BCI said that the rules would also help to address the concerns expressed about the flow of Foreign
Direct Investment into the country.
• India as hub for international commercial arbitration: By allowing the operation of foreign lawyers and law
firms in India, the rules would help make India a hub for international commercial arbitration.
Current Law
• According to the Advocates Act of India, 1961, the advocates enrolled with the BCI “alone” can “practice
law” in India.
• For this, they must obtain a license to practice as a lawyer from the BCI. However, they can only do so if their
country allows Indian lawyers to practice legal professions there.
• In 2018, BCI told the Supreme Court that it was not in favour of allowing foreign law firms to open branch
offices in India.
• The Supreme Court also passed a verdict stating that foreign lawyers and firms are not allowed to practice
law in India unless they meet the requirements.
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About BCI
• The BCI is a statutory body established under the Advocates Act, 1961, and it regulates legal practice and
legal education in India.
• Concerned Ministry: The Ministry of Law and Justice.
Rajasthan Right to Health Bill
In News
Rajasthan, recently became the first-ever state to pass the Right to Health Bill in Assembly which now gives every
resident of the state a right to avail free Out Patient Department (OPD) services and In Patient Department (IPD)
services at all the public healthcare facilities.
Provisions of the bill

• Free healthcare services including diagnostics, drugs, emergency transport, emergency care and procedure will
be provided at the public institutions and select private facilities subject to conditions which will be formulated
now. All citizens of the state will be entitled to emergency and accidental emergency care free of cost.
• The Bill intends to, “provide protection and fulfilment of rights and equity in health and well-being under Article
47 (Duty of the state to raise the level of nutrition and the standard of living and to improve public health) of
Constitution of India and to secure the Right to Health as per the expanded definition of Article 21 (Protection
of life and personal liberty)”.
• The Bill makes it mandatory for the hospitals to provide treatment in emergency cases without waiting for
medico-legal formalities and give medicines and transport facilities without charging money.
Right to Health
• Health as a human right creates a legal obligation on states to ensure access to timely, acceptable, and
affordable health care of appropriate quality.
• This includes safe and potable water, sanitation, food, housing, health-related information and education, and
gender equality.
• The right to health includes both freedoms and entitlements-
• Freedoms: include the right to control one’s health and body (for example, sexual and reproductive rights) and
to be free from interference (for example, free from torture and non-consensual medical treatment and
experimentation).
• Entitlements: include the right to a system of health protection that gives everyone an equal opportunity to
enjoy the highest attainable level of health.
Constitutional Provisions
• India is a signatory of the Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) by the United Nations
that grants the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being to humans including food,
clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services.
• Article 21 of the Constitution of India guarantees a fundamental right to life & personal liberty. The right to
health is inherent to a life with dignity.
• Articles 38, 39, 42, 43, & 47 put the obligation on the state in order to ensure the effective realization of the
right to health.
• Supreme Court in Paschim Banga Khet Mazdoor Samity case (1996) held that in a welfare state, the primary
duty of the government is to secure the welfare of the people and moreover it is the obligation of the
government to provide adequate medical facilities for its people.
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Inter-services Organisations Bill
In News
Recently, the Inter-Services Organisations (Command, Control and Discipline) Bill, 2023, was introduced in Lok Sabha
to empower designated military commanders to take charge of soldiers and enforce discipline, regardless of the
service they belong to.

• The bill will empower the central government to constitute Inter-services Organisation.
• Such an organisation may include a joint services command — comprising of units or service personnel of Air
Force, Army and Navy.
• They may be placed under the command of the Commander-in-Chief or the Officer-in-Command.
• Power under the bill will also be available to Inter-services Organisations constituted before the commencement
of new law.
• Presently, the service personnel of Air Force, Army and Navy are governed by the provisions of the Air Force Act,
1950, the Army Act, 1950 and the Navy Act, 1957.
• Only officers of the respective services are empowered to exercise disciplinary powers over the service
personnel under the respective Service Acts.
• The bill also provides that the service personnel will continue to be governed by their respective Service Acts for
the purposes of disciplinary or administrative action, if any, when serving in or attached to an Inter-services
Organisation.
Significance
• This has a direct impact on command, control and discipline of the Inter-services Organisations like Andaman
and Nicobar Command or Defence Space Agency, and joint training establishment like National Defence
Academy or National Defence College, as the Commander-in-Chief or Officer-in-Command of such Inter-services
Organisations are not empowered to exercise disciplinary or administrative powers over the personnel belonging
to other services.
• The bill will pave way for various tangible benefits such as expeditious disposal of cases, saving of time and
public money by avoiding multiple proceedings and greater integration and jointmanship amongst Armed Forces
personnel.
Disqualification MPs
In News
Recently, an eminent politician has been sentenced to two years jail which shall lead to his disqualification as a
Member of Parliament (MP).
• Article 102 authorizes Parliament to make law determining
conditions of disqualifications. Articles 102 & 191: Basic disqualification
• Grounds for disqualification under Constitution- criteria for an MP are laid down in Article
• Holding an office of profit under the Government of India 102 of the Constitution and for an MLA in
or State Government Article 191.
• Being of unsound mind
• Being an undischarged insolvent
• Not being an Indian citizen or for acquiring citizenship of another country.
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• Tenth Schedule- Commonly known as the ‘anti-defection law’, it was meant to arrest the practice of
legislators from changing political affiliations during their term in office.
About RPA,1951
• Section 8(1): This includes specific offences such as promoting enmity between two groups, bribery, and
undue influence or personation at an election.
• A person will be disqualified if convicted and sentenced to imprisonment for not less than two years.
• The person is disqualified for the period of imprisonment and a further six years.
• Section 9: It deals with disqualification for dismissal for corruption or disloyalty, and for entering into
government contracts while being a lawmaker.
• Section 10: It deals with disqualification for failure to lodge an account of election expenses.
• Section 11: It deals with disqualification for corrupt practices.
Defamation Judgements
• Mahendra Ram Vs. Harnandan Prasad (1958): A letter written in Urdu was sent to the plaintiff. Therefore,
he needed another person to read it to him. It was held that since the defendant knew the plaintiff does not
know Urdu and he needs assistance, the act of the defendant amounted to defamation.
• Ram Jethmalani Vs. Subramanian Swamy (2006): The High Court of Delhi held Dr. Swamy for defaming
Ram Jetmalani by saying that he received money from a banned organization to protect the then Chief
Minister of Tamil Nadu from the case of assassination of Rajiv Gandhi.
Par panel recommends new law to define power, functions of CBI
In News
A parliamentary committee has said that an existing law governing the federal probe agency has “many limitations”
and there is a need to enact a new legislation to define its status, functions and powers.
Major Findings
• The Committee feels that the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act has many limitations and therefore,
recommends that there is a need to enact a new law and define the status, functions and powers of the
CBI and also lay down safeguards to ensure objectivity and impartiality in its functioning.
• The panel said that vacant posts in the CBI are not being filled up at the required pace and recommended
that “every effort should be made to fill up vacancies at the earliest.
• The Committee is of the opinion that vacancies in the cadres of executive ranks, law officers and technical
officers will unquestionably increase pendency of cases, hamper the quality of investigation and ultimately
impact the effectiveness and efficiency of the agency.
• The panel further recommended that the Director of CBI should monitor the progress made in filling up of
vacancies on a quarterly basis and take necessary measures to ensure that the organisation is sufficiently
staffed. It is governed by the Delhi Special Police
• CBI should reduce its dependence on Establishment (DSPE) Act, enacted to regulate the
deputationists and strive to recruit permanent functioning of the special police establishment set
staff in the ranks of inspector of police and up in 1941 to investigate cases of bribery and
deputy superintendent of police. corruption involving purchases and supplies during
• CBI should maintain a case management system World War II.
which would be a centralised database
containing details of cases registered with it and the progress made at their disposal.
• CBI should also publish case statistics and annual reports on its website to ensure transparency and
accountability.
About CBI
• The federal probe agency was established in 1963.
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• Currently, CBI functions under the Department of Personnel, Ministry of Personnel, Pension & Public
Grievances of the Government of India.
Functions
• Investigating cases of corruption, bribery and misconduct of Central government employees under the
Prevention of Corruption Act against Indian public officials, public sector undertakings, corporations, and
bodies that are owned or controlled by the Indian government.
• Investigating cases relating to infringement of fiscal and economic laws, that is, breach of laws concerning
export and import control, customs and central excise, income tax foreign exchange regulations.
Guillotine in Parliament
In News
The Finance Bill 2023, which gives effect to the tax proposals for the fiscal year beginning April 1, was passed in the
Lok Sabha with 45 amendments as opposition members were protesting.
About Guillotine
• The term guillotine originally referred to an apparatus designed for executions by beheading.
• It was introduced in France during the French Revolution to make capital punishment more reliable and
less painful.
• In legislative parlance, guillotine means to bunch together and
fast-track the passage of financial business. It is a fairly Once the Speaker of the House applies
common procedural exercise in Lok Sabha during the Budget the guillotine, all the outstanding
Session. demands for grants, whether discussed or
• Once the guillotine is applied, any remaining demands for not, are put to vote at once.
grants are put to vote without further discussion.
• This ensures that the budget is passed within the allocated time, and the government can continue its work
without any delay.
Procedure
• The Appropriations Bill is formally introduced by the government, which gives them permission to seek
funds out of the Consolidated Fund of India.
• After being enacted, this Bill becomes the Appropriation Act.
• The Finance Bill is then brought up for discussion following the vote on the Appropriations Bill.
• The sections and changes of the Finance Bill are only discussed in relation to the tax measures.
• The Finance Act becomes part of the law after this bill is passed, and the final budget is approved.
Tele-Law Programe
In News
The Tele-Law programe under the Department of Justice, Ministry of Law and Justice achieved a new milestone with
40 Lakh beneficiaries across the country having been empowered with pre-litigation advice.
About the programme

• Reaching the Unreached is an e-interface mechanism to
It connects needy and marginalised in need
seek legal advice and consultation at a pre-litigation stage.
of legal aid with the Panel Lawyers via video
• Launched in 2017, the Tele-Law service is now directly
conferencing/telephonic facilities available
accessible through the Tele-Law Mobile App.
at Common Service Centres (CSCs) situated
at the Panchayat level.
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Benefits
• Tele Law service enables anyone to seek legal advice without wasting precious time and money.
• The service is free for those who are eligible for free legal Aid as mentioned under Section 12 of the Legal
Services Authority Act, 1987.
• For all others a nominal fee is charged.
• It can be noted that this initiative is in line with Sustainable Development Goal-16, which seeks to "Promote
peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build
effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels".
• Article 39A of the Constitution of India provides that State shall secure that the operation of the legal
system promotes justice on a basis of equal opportunity, and shall, in particular, provide free legal aid, by
suitable legislation or schemes or in any other way, to ensure that opportunities for securing justice are
not denied to any citizen by reason of economic or other disability.
• Articles 14 and 22(1) also make it obligatory for the State to ensure equality before the law and a legal
system which promotes justice on a basis of equal opportunity to all.
Government releases pre-draft of National Curriculum Framework for schools
In News
The Ministry of Education released a pre-draft version of National Curriculum Framework for School Education
recently.
About the Draft

• The Education Ministry has designed four National Curriculum Frameworks (NCFs) based on the 5+3+3+4
'curricular and pedagogical' structure that NEP 2020 has recommended for school education.
• The ministry launched the NCF for foundational stage (NCF-FS) for children between ages 3-8 years in
October 2022.
• In continuation of that policy, the next NCF for school education is being prepared.
• Revamping class 10 and 12 board exams, aligning the shift from 10+2 structure to 5+3+3+4 structure and
emphasis on developmental perspectives suggesting curricular and pedagogical shifts at different stages -
foundational, preparatory, middle and secondary - are among the recommendations made in the pre-draft.
• The new proposed revision will be the fifth of the framework.
• The pre-draft has been prepared by a committee headed by K Kasturirangan, former ISRO Chief.
• The NCF has been revised four times - in 1975, 1988, 2000 and 2005.
• Focus on moral development -
• annamaya kosha (physical layer),
• pranamaya kosha (life force energy layer),
• manomaya kosha (mind layer),
• vijnanamaya kosha (intellectual layer) and
• anandamaya kosha (inner self).
Indian Space Policy 2023
In News
• The Central government approved the Indian Space Policy 2023 recently.
• The policy seeks to institutionalise private sector participation in the space sector.
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Provisions of the policy

• The policy delineated the roles and responsibilities of ISRO, space sector PSU NewSpace India Limited (NSIL)
and the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Center (IN-SPACe).
• The Policy thrust on privatization will enable the space sector to be more innovative and sustainable. It is
crucial if India wants to be competitive in global space ecosystems.
• The government aims to drive the overall growth of Indian commercial space activities by creating a
regulatory environment in compliance with international law and by addressing the previous hurdles to the
goal of encouraging the private sector.
• The ISP also addresses the liability issue in case of any fallout or destruction of space assets.
• Since India is a party to the Outer Space Treaty, the Liability Convention, and the Registration Convention,
the responsibility for any destruction or damage lies with the government.
• Within the policy framework, the government aimed to address the crucial issue of the control and access of
the dual-use space technology or IP that protects or threatens national security. Industry demanded that IP
must be examined on a case-by-case basis.
• The policy will help India increase its share in the global space economy substantially from less than 2% to
10% in the future.
India's Space Sector

• The Indian Space Sector has been globally recognised for building cost-effective satellites, and now India is
even taking foreign satellites to space.
• As part of India's commitment to the Geneva Conference on Disarmament, the country continues to
advocate peaceful and civilian use of outer space and oppose any weaponization of space capabilities or
programs.
• ISRO is the 6th largest space agency in the world and holds an exceptional success rate.
• With over 400 private space companies, India ranks fifth globally in no. of space companies.
Sagarmala Innovation and Start-up Policy
In News
The Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways (MoPSW) recently released the draft Sagarmala Innovation and
Startup Policy for feedback from stakeholders concerned.
Features of the policy

• The draft startup policy envisages the creation of a conducive environment for the facilitation of innovation
and startups in the maritime sector
• The new framework is aimed at scaling efficiency in areas such as operation, maintenance, and
infrastructure development in the maritime startup ecosystem
• The new framework envisages the convergence of different schemes and programmes to ‘groom fresh ideas
and approaches’ to address ecosystem bottlenecks and scale efficiency in areas such as operation,
maintenance, and infrastructure development.
• The draft identifies several key areas for startup participation-
• Decarbonisation
• Optimisation of processes through data
• Maritime education
• Multi-modal transportation
• Manufacturing
• Maritime cybersecurity
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• Smart communication
• Marine electronics
• The policy also envisages the setting up of working spaces and the adoption of these startup-made products
and solutions at the ports.
• The regulatory support under the policy will also cover aspects such as tendering and subcontracting for
startups, although it wasn’t clear whether this included government contracts as well
• Maritime Innovation Hubs (MIHs) will also be set up under the policy to promote maritime startups.
• Under these MIHs, maritime-specific incubators and accelerators will be established with state-of-the-art
facilities, enabling these startups to move from the ideation phase to full-scale deployment.
Sagarmala Program
• The Sagarmala Programme is an initiative by the Shipping Ministry to utilise India’s 7,500 km of coastline and
advantageous location in the Indian Ocean Region.
• It is a port-led development initiative that aims to enhance infrastructural growth, which will improve
logistical competitiveness, increase industrialisation and job creation, and ultimately support the growth of
the coastal economy as a whole.
• It strives to improve connection with major economic centres and beyond by expanding rail, inland water, co
astal, and road services.
• It also promotes the optimal modal split and develops access to new growth zones.
PM inaugurates Diamond Jubilee Celebrations of Central Bureau of Investigation in New

Delhi
In News
The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi inaugurated the Diamond Jubilee Celebrations of the Central Bureau of
Investigation (CBI) at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi.
About CBI
• The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) was set up in 1963 by a resolution of the Ministry of Home Affairs.
Later, it was transferred to the Ministry of Personnel and now it enjoys the status of an attached office.
• Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is the premier
investigating police agency in India. The establishment of the CBI was
• It plays an important role in the prevention of corruption recommended by the Santhanam
and maintaining integrity in administration. It also provides Committee on Prevention of Corruption
assistance to the Central Vigilance Commission and Lokpal. (1962–1964). The CBI is not a statutory It
• It functions under the superintendence of the Dept. of derives its powers from the Delhi Special
Personnel, Ministry of Personnel, Pension & Public Police Establishment Act, 1946.
Grievances, GoI – which falls under the PRIME MINISTER’S OFFICE
• The CBI is a multidisciplinary investigation agency of the GoI and undertakes investigation of corruption-
related cases, economic offences and cases of conventional crime.
• It normally confines its activities in the anti-corruption field to offences committed by the employees of the
Central Government and Union Territories and their public sector undertakings.
AAP gets ‘national party’ status
In News
The Election Commission of India on Monday revised the list of national and state political parties, granting national
party status to the Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party.
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Criteria for National Party

• According to the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968, a political party is recognised
as a national party if it fulfils any of the following three conditions:
• First, it secures at least 6% of votes polled in four or more states in Lok Sabha or assembly elections, and, in
addition, have at least four members in the Lok Sabha.
• Second, it has at least 2% of the total Lok Sabha seats and its candidates come from not less than three
states.
• Third, it is recognised as a state party in at least four states.
Criteria for State Party

• First, the party gets at least 6% of the votes and wins at least two seats in the assembly election.
• Two, it gets at least 6% of the votes polled and has at least one MP in the Lok Sabha.
• Three, it has at least 3% or three MLAs in the assembly, whichever is more.
• Four, it has at least one Lok Sabha member for every 25 assembly members or any fraction thereof allotted
to the state.
• Five, it has at least 8% of the total valid votes polled in the state in the previous election to the Lok Sabha or
assembly in the state.
Significance
• A recognised party (national or state) has the right to certain privileges like allocation of the party symbols,
provision of time for political broadcasts on the state-owned television and radio stations and access to
electoral rolls.
• These parties are allowed to have 40 “star campaigners” during the time of elections (the registered-
unrecognised parties are allowed to have 20 “star campaigners”).
• Every national party is allotted a symbol exclusively reserved for its use throughout the country. Even in the
states where it is not contesting elections.
• For a state party, the allotted symbol is exclusively reserved for its use in the state/s in which it is so
recognised.
National Credit Framework
In News
The University Grants Commission (UGC) recently released the National Credit Framework (NCrF), which will allow
students to earn educational credits at all levels, irrespective of the mode of learning i.e. offline, online, or blended.
About NCrF
• NCrF divides the educational ecosystem into eight levels from Class 5 to PhD level and assigns credit on the
basis of learning hours.
• For instance, one credit equals 30 hours of notional learning in a year of two semesters.
• Every semester a student is required to earn a minimum of 20 credits.
• A student earns 40 credits in one year corresponding to 1,200 learning hours. However, students can also
earn more than 40 credits in a year.
• School education is assigned Level 0 to Level 4. Higher education levels start from Level 4.5 and end at Level
8.
• Vocational and skill education is also spread from level 4.5 to level 8, so there is an equivalence between
general and vocational & skill education.
• It helps the students to quickly move from one education stream to the other by having the equivalent levels
and total credits corresponding to these levels.
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Significance
• NCrF provides the opportunity for creditisation for experiential learning, which was not credited earlier.
• It also provides scope for creditising national/international achievers in any field but not limited to Sports,
Indian Knowledge System, Music, Heritage, traditional skills, performing & fine arts, Master artisans, etc.
• Suppose these earned credits correspond to a particular level. In that case, the student can then move to the
next level in University, to earn additional credits and obtain a diploma or degree qualification.
Why this needed?

• The National Education Policy 2020 (NEP2020) emphasizes the integration of general academic education
and vocational & skill education, according to a statement from UGC.
• NCrF provides a mechanism to ensure equivalence within and between these two education streams.
• It provides seamless horizontal and vertical mobility between the two streams for lifelong learning.
• NCrF allows learners to opt for different modes of learning including homeschooling, offline schooling,
online schooling, or blended learning.
• With the growing trend of homeschooling especially after the pandemic and the unavailability of any
framework, it was difficult to validate these types of learners.
• NCrF will validate these students by giving them diplomas and certificates.
NCPCR issues guidelines for assessment of child suspects in heinous offences
In News
The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) issued guildelines for the first time for conducting
“preliminary assessment’’ to determine whether a child should be treated as a minor or not in criminal cases.
About Guidelines
• Child suspects should be assessed by a team of experts, including a child psychologist or psychiatrist, a
medical doctor, and a social worker.
• The assessment should take into account the child's age, developmental stage, and maturity level, as well as
any history of trauma or abuse.
• The team should also consider the child's cognitive abilities and capacity to understand the charges against
them.
• The child suspects will be provided with legal aid and support from child welfare agencies.
• The Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) will be responsible for conducting a preliminary assessment of the child
suspect.
• The JJB must complete this assessment within three months from the date the child is first brought before it.
• If the JJB determines that there is a need for a trial of the child as an adult, it will then transfer the case to
the Children's Court.
Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015

• Under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, a child is defined as an individual who
has not completed 18 years of age.
• However, there is a specific provision under which initiation of an inquiry into a heinous crime has been
differentiated based on the age of the child.
• According to Section 15(1) of the Act, in case of a heinous offence alleged to have been committed by a child
“who has completed or is above” the age of 16, the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) “shall conduct a preliminary
assessment with regard to his mental and physical capacity to commit such offence, ability to understand
the consequences of the offence and the circumstances in which he allegedly committed the offence”.
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Criminal Cases
• The amendment passed in 2021 by Parliament defines three categories of criminal cases involving children in
conflict with law.
• They are “heinous offences,” which include crimes for which the minimum punishment is imprisonment for
7 years or more; “petty offences,” which includes crimes for which the maximum punishment is
imprisonment up to three years; and
• “Serious offences,” which includes crimes for which the punishment is a minimum imprisonment for a term
more than 3 years and not exceeding 7 years.
Age Determination
• To determine the offender’s age, the JJ Board would either obtain the date of birth certificate from the
school or the matriculation or equivalent certificate from the concerned examination Board in the absence
of the birth certificate given by a civic body.
• Only in cases where neither of the two are available, “age shall be determined by an ossification test or any
other latest medical age determination test” conducted on the orders of the JJ Board.
Policy for the Medical Devices Sector
In News
The Union Cabinet recently approved the National Medical Devices Policy, 2023, which aims to reduce India’s heavy
import dependence in this sector (75-80% currently).
Salient Features of the policy

• Currently about 75-80% of medical devices are imported in India and with this scheme the government will
enhance India’s manufacturing capacity. It is also essential to enhance indigenous capacity as there is a
growing demand for affordable quality medical devices.
• The National Medical Devices Policy, 2023 is expected to facilitate growth of the medical devices sector to
meet the public health objectives of access, affordability, quality and innovation.
• According to the government data, the market for medical devices in India was estimated to be $11 billion
(approximately, ₹ 90,000 crore) in 2020, accounting for 1.5% of the global market.
• Policy lays down a roadmap for accelerated growth of the medical devices sector to achieve the following
missions viz, Access & Universality, Affordability, Quality, Patient Centred & Quality Care, Preventive &
Promotive Health, Security, Research and Innovation and Skilled manpower.
• The establishment and strengthening of large medical device parks, clusters equipped with world class
common infrastructure facilities in proximity to economic zones with requisite logistics connectivity as
envisioned under the National Industrial Corridor Program
• The policy envisages to promote Research & Development in India and complement the Department’s
proposed National Policy on R&D and Innovation in the Pharma- MedTech Sector in India.
• In order to have a steady supply of skilled work force across the value chain such as scientists, regulators,
health experts, managers, technicians, etc., the policy envisages-
• For skilling, reskilling and upskilling of professionals in the medical device sector, we can leverage the
available resources in Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship
• The policy will support dedicated multidisciplinary courses for medical devices in existing institutions to
ensure availability of skilled manpower for futuristic medical technologies, high-end manufacturing and
research, to produce future-ready MedTech human resources.
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Significance
• The policy is expected to provide the required support and directions to strengthen the medical devices
industry into a competitive, self-reliant, resilient and innovative industry that caters to the healthcare needs
of not only India but also of the world.
• The National Medical Devices Policy, 2023 aims to place the medical devices sector on an accelerated path of
growth with a patient-centric approach to meet the evolving healthcare needs of patients
Animal Birth Control Rules, 2023
In News
The Centre recently directed local bodies to ensure only recognised organisations carry out the animal birth control
programme in stray dogs as per the recently notified rules.
Birth Control Rules

• The Rules have been formulated in accordance with the guidelines provided by the Hon'ble Supreme Court
related to Animal Welfare Board of India and People for The Rules aim to provide guidelines for
Elimination of Stray Troubles. the sterilisation and immunisation of
• The responsibility of carrying out ABC programmes lies with stray dogs through Animal Birth Control
the respective local bodies, municipalities, municipal (ABC) programmes.
corporations, and panchayats.
• The Municipal Corporations are required to implement the ABC and Anti Rabies Program jointly.
• It provides guidelines on how to deal with human and stray dog conflicts without relocating the dogs in an
area.
• It also emphasises addressing the cruelty involved in carrying out ABC programmes, ensuring animal welfare.
Anti-Money Laundering Law
In News
Chartered accountants, company secretaries and works accountants who buy property, establish a company and
execute financial transactions on behalf of their clients will now be covered under the anti money laundering law.
About PMLA
• The Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) is a law that was passed in 2002 to combat money
laundering and other financial crimes.
• It was designed to prevent the use of illegal funds to finance terrorist activities and other unlawful acts.
• The PMLA has been amended several times since its introduction to expand its coverage and strengthen its
provisions.
New Provisions
• If they assist in a transaction that breaches the law, they will be held responsible under the Prevention of
Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
• The director of the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) Chartered accountants, company secretaries, and
has the power to impose penalties under Section 13 cost and works accountants have now become
of the Act for non-compliance with the law. “reporting entities” and are responsible for
• The Act also stipulates confidentiality on information verifying the identity of clients, examining their
sought from the reporting entity, requiring financial position, and recordingthe purpose of the
adherence to the strictest of professional standards. transaction.
• This move is expected to strengthen the government’s efforts to combat money laundering and other
financial crimes.
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Supreme Court Rules in Favour of Delhi Govt in Tussle with Centre
In News
The Supreme Court ruled unanimously in favour of Delhi government on the issue of who controls the bureaucracy
in the national capital.
Background
• A five-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court was hearing the dispute between the Delhi
government and the Central government.
• The dispute was over matters pertaining to control over the transfers and the overall functioning of
administrative services in the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi.
• The administrative services include appointments and transfers, in the national capital.
About the dispute

• Article 239 AA was inserted in the Constitution by the 69th Constitutional Amendment Act, 1991.
• Based on the recommendations of S Balakrishnan Committee, it gave special status to Delhi.
• It says that the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi will
have an Administrator and a Legislative Assembly. The Court held that the legislature has
• The Legislative Assembly “shall have power to make laws control over bureaucrats in administration
for the whole or any part of the NCT w.r.t. any of the of services, except in areas outside the
matters in the State List or Concurrent List in so far as any legislative powers of the National Capital
such matter is applicable to Union territories”. Territory (NCT).
• However, the legislative assembly of Delhi cannot legislate on the following three subjects – Police, Public
Order, and Land.
• However, in the past few years, governance in the NCT has often been a subject of conflict between the
Delhi government and the L-G.
About the judgement

• A five-judge bench of the Supreme Court has ruled unanimously in favour of the Delhi government on the
issue of who controls the bureaucracy in the national capital.
• Earlier, it was the Lieutenant-Governor, Chief Secretary and the Secretary of the Services Department who
took a call on these issues.
• According to the Supreme Court, the Delhi government, much like other States, represents the
representative form of government and any further expansion of the Union's power will be contrary to the
Constitutional scheme.
• The Court pointed out that if officers stop reporting to ministers or do not follow their instructions, the
principle of collective responsibility will be affected.
Limitations
• However, the Court added that control over services would not extend to entries related to public order,
police and land.
• Also, the decision on which IAS officer gets posted to the national capital — and for how long — will
continue to be the Centre’s prerogative.
• Also, the Central government will continue to, appoint the Chief Secretary of Delhi, with consultations with
the Chief Minister which, as per tradition, is more or less a formality.
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Constitution bench
• Article 145(3) deals with the setting up of a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court comprising at least five
judges “for the purpose of deciding any case involving a substantial question of law as to the interpretation”
of the Constitution.
• This is the second time that a constitutional bench has been set up to decide on issues between the Delhi
government and Delhi’s Lieutenant Governor — the Centre’s representative in the capital — in the past four
years.
District Good Governance Index
In News
Chief Minister of Gujarat Shri Bhupendrabhai Patel will release Gujarat’s First “District Good Governance Index”, of
Gujarat, prepared by Department of Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances (DARPG).
About the Index

• This was prepared in collaboration with Government of Gujarat with Centre for Good Governance,
Hyderabad as the knowledge partner.
• The DGGI represents a deeper study of the Gujarat Model of Governance documenting the success stories of
Gujarat that could be adopted by other Districts of the country.
• The DGGI represents Next Generation Administrative Reform in Benchmarking Governance at District level.
• The Index benchmarks governance in all the 33 Districts of Gujarat on 126 data points under 65 indicators
spread across 10 sectors.
• It is a uniform tool across Districts of Gujarat to assess the status of governance and impact of various
interventions taken up by the Central and State Governments.
• It is expected to provide guidance to the State as well as the District administration in their efforts to address
existing gaps, plan to bridge these gaps and aid as decision making tool.
About rankings
• All 33 Districts have reported positive growth in milk production & more than 2/3rd of Districts have
reported positive growth in foodgrain and horticulture production.
• All the Districts have reported cropping intensity of more than 100%.
• 22 Districts reported composite score of more than 90 in District Level Facilitation Committee (DLFC) Index.
• 29 Districts have reported positive growth in Industrial production. Gujarat stood first in the GGI
• Ahmedabad, Vadodra and Surat Districts are the leading Districts of 2021 with an incremental
Gujarat in terms of number of Start-ups. growth of 12.3% over GGI
• Navsari District has reported highest transition rate from Upper Primary 2019.
to Secondary.
• All the Districts of the State have reported trained percentage of more than 90% at ITIs.
• Ahmedabad District has reported highest per capita income from own sources of ULBs and GPs.
• Gandhinagar, Surat and Bharuch Districts have reported the highest percentage of construction of houses
sanctioned for construction under PMAY- Grameen and Urban.
• All the 33 Districts have reported percentage of Aadhaar seeded ration cards of more than 99%.
• 25 Districts have reported percentage of Mid-Day Meal of more than 95% of students.
• 29 Districts have reported more than 85% of water sample meeting the quality standards.
• Banaskantha, Sabarkantha and Jamnagar Districts have reported the lowest number of days taken for filing
the charge-sheets in IPC crimes.
• Total nine districts have reported 100% grievance redressal registered at Swagat portal.
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National e-Vidhan Application (NeVA)
In News
The Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs hosted a two-day National Workshop on the National e-Vidhan Application
(NeVA).
About NeVA
• NeVA is part of the “Digital India Programme” initiated by the Government of India and is classified as one of
the 44 Mission Mode Projects (MMPs).
• Its purpose is to eliminate the need for paper-based operations in all State Legislatures, transforming them
into digital entities. Currently, 21 State legislatures have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to
implement NeVA.
• The National e-Vidhan Application (NeVA) is a centralized web-based application that digitizes the
functioning of state legislatures in India.
NeVA acts as a one-stop solution for
• It aims to facilitate paperless proceedings, promote transparency,
lawmakers, enabling them to access
and streamline legislative processes.
various legislative documents,
• NeVA provides a secure and centralized repository for storing and participate in discussions, and
managing legislative documents such as bills, reports, efficiently manage legislative
proceedings, and committee reports. This digital platform operations.
eliminates the need for physical copies, reducing paperwork and
associated costs.
• NeVA ensures real-time dissemination of information, making legislative proceedings accessible to the
public. It offers live streaming of sessions, committee meetings, and events, fostering transparency and
increasing citizen engagement in the democratic process.
Benefits
• NeVA streamlines legislative processes, reducing paperwork, and automating several tasks. It enables
lawmakers to access and manage documents digitally, saving time and enhancing overall efficiency.
• Enhanced Transparency: NeVA promotes transparency by providing citizens with easy access to legislative
proceedings. The live streaming feature allows citizens to witness debates and discussions, fostering
accountability and trust in the democratic process.
• Cost and Resource Optimization: NeVA significantly reduces the costs associated with printing, distribution,
and storage of physical documents. The digital platform also minimizes the need for physical infrastructure,
making it an environmentally friendly and cost-effective solution.
Govt Sets Up Panel To Recommend Reforms In Arbitration Law
In News
The Indian government has formed an expert panel with the aim of establishing India as an international arbitration
hub.
About the panel

• T K Vishwanathan, a highly experienced former law secretary, is leading the expert panel.
• Additionally, N Venkataramani, the Attorney General of India, plays a crucial role as a member of the
committee.
• Another key member is Rajiv Mani, serving as the Law Ministry’s additional secretary.
• The panel also includes senior advocates, representatives from private law firms, and officials from various
departments such as the Legislative Department, Niti Aayog, National Highways Authority of India (NHAI),
railways, and Central Public Works Department (CPWD).
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Objective
• The primary objective of the expert panel is to recommend reforms in the Arbitration and Conciliation Act to
alleviate the burden on courts.
• By strengthening the arbitration ecosystem, the panel aims to encourage parties to opt for private dispute
resolution instead of approaching courts.
• This shift can expedite the resolution process and ease the strain on the judicial system.
• It will evaluate and analyse the operation of the present arbitration ecosystem of the country, including the
working of the Arbitration Act, highlighting its strengths and weaknesses and challenges vis-a-vis other
important foreign jurisdictions.
• The panel will also devise strategy for developing a competitive environment in the arbitration services
market for domestic and international parties that can subserve the interests of the users, particularly in
building a regime of cost-effective arbitration.
Need of the panel

The prime reason for the exercise is guided with a view to reduce court intervention in the whole process to the
minimum and make arbitration a truly party-driven process, cost-effective and with time-bound finality being
attached to the award.
Retain sedition in IPC, make it tougher: Panel
In News
The Law Commission of India has recommended that the country's 153-year-old colonial law on sedition be retained.
Sedition law
• It deals with Sedition – a non-bailable offence and was drafted by TB Macaulay and included in the IPC in
1870.
• Whoever (by words/signs/visible representation) brings or attempts to bring into hatred or contempt or
excites or attempts to excite disaffection towards the Government established by law in India shall be
punished.
• Punishment under the law varies from imprisonment up to three years to a life term and fine.
Supreme court view

• In Kedar Nath Singh v State of Bihar (1962), the top court upheld the validity of Section 124A, but also
attempted to restrict the colonial-era law’s scope for misuse.
• Invoking the sedition clause requires the existence of a harmful intent to promote violence and the penal
provision cannot be utilised to restrict free speech.
• The government could not put citizens behind bars simply because they chose to disagree with the state
policies.
• In 2022, the SC effectively put on hold the colonial-era penal provision, and asked the Centre/states to desist
from arresting/prosecuting people under the contentious provision.
Recommendations by law commission

• To bring about more clarity in the interpretation, understanding, and usage of the provision and to align it
with the SC’s 1962 verdict.
• To replace mere inclination to incite violence or cause public disorder with proof of actual violence or
imminent threat to violence.
• To enhance the alternative punishment to “7 years”, giving the courts greater room to award punishment in
accordance with the gravity of the act.
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• Procedural safeguards to minimise the abuse. For example, Section 154 of the CrPC could be amended to
hold that a FIR under Section 124A would be registered only after a police officer conducts a preliminary
inquiry.
Govt Sets Up Panel To Recommend Reforms In Arbitration Law
In News
The Indian government has formed an expert panel with the aim of establishing India as an international arbitration
hub.
About the panel

• T K Vishwanathan, a highly experienced former law secretary, is leading the expert panel.
• Additionally, N Venkataramani, the Attorney General of India, plays a crucial role as a member of the
committee.
• Another key member is Rajiv Mani, serving as the Law Ministry’s additional secretary.
• The panel also includes senior advocates, representatives from private law firms, and officials from various
departments such as the Legislative Department, Niti Aayog, National Highways Authority of India (NHAI),
railways, and Central Public Works Department (CPWD).
Objective
• By strengthening the arbitration ecosystem, the panel aims to
encourage parties to opt for private dispute resolution instead The primary objective of the expert panel
of approaching courts. is to recommend reforms in the
• This shift can expedite the resolution process and ease the Arbitration and Conciliation Act to
strain on the judicial system. alleviate the burden on courts.
• It will evaluate and analyse the operation of the present arbitration ecosystem of the country, including
the working of the Arbitration Act, highlighting its strengths and weaknesses and challenges vis-a-vis other
important foreign jurisdictions.
• The panel will also devise strategy for developing a competitive environment in the arbitration services
market for domestic and international parties that can subserve the interests of the users, particularly in
building a regime of cost-effective arbitration.
Need of the panel

The prime reason for the exercise is guided with a view to reduce court intervention in the whole process to the
minimum and make arbitration a truly party-driven process, cost-effective and with time-bound finality being
attached to the award.
Uniform Civil Code
In News
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said the implementation of a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) was imperative for India,
citing the impracticality of maintaining a dual legal system that caters to distinct communities.
• The British government’s 1835 report on colonial India, which emphasized the need for uniformity in the
codification of Indian law with regard to crimes, evidence, and contracts and specifically suggested that
personal laws of Hindus and Muslims be kept outside of such codification, is where the UCC first emerged.
• The government was forced to create the B N Rau Committee in 1941 to codify Hindu law due to an increase
in legislation addressing personal concerns at the end of British rule. Examining the issue of whether
common Hindu laws are necessary was the Hindu Law Committee’s responsibility.
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• According to the committee’s recommendation, which was based on the scriptures, women would have
equal rights under a codified version of Hindu law. The 1937 Act was reviewed, and the committee
suggested establishing a civil code for Hindu marriage and succession.
UCC in India
• The primary argument against a UCC is that it infringes on the right of citizens to practise the religion of their
choice, which enables religious communities to adhere to their own local laws. For instance, Article 25
guarantees the autonomy of every religious organisation. They are entitled to maintain their unique culture
under Article 29.
• The fundamental rights subcommittee of the Indian Constituent Assembly purposefully omitted the inclusion
of a UCC as a fundamental right. Tribal organisations have expressed a similar worry, such as the Rashtriya
Adivasi Ekta Parishad, which petitioned the Supreme Court in 2016 to request protection for its members’
traditions and religious beliefs from a future UCC. Customary rules already in place take precedence over
federal laws in Nagaland’s tribal districts when it comes to private matters like marriage, property
ownership, etc.
• It is stated that “one nation, one law” cannot be applied to the unique personal laws of different
communities if codified civil laws and criminal laws like the CrPC and IPC do not adhere to this principle. For
instance, the governments of West Bengal and Tamil Nadu altered the federal Indian Evidence Act of 1872.
Be aware that several states have various legal drinking ages when it comes to criminal law.
• After all, personal laws were included in the Concurrent List as entry number 5, providing both the
Parliament and State Assemblies the authority to enact personal laws. If the Constitution’s creators had
wanted personal laws to be uniform, they would have included them on the union list and given parliament
full legislative authority over them.
Arguments in favor
• The UCC in India aims to safeguard vulnerable communities, including women and religious minorities, as
envisioned by Ambedkar, while simultaneously fostering nationalistic fervour via unity.
• When put into effect, the code will aim to make laws that are currently divided based on religious views,
such as the Hindu code bill, Sharia law, and others, simpler. The code will make the complicated regulations
governing marriage ceremonies, succession, inheritance, and adoptions simpler and more universal. All
citizens will then be subject to the same civil law, regardless of their religious affiliation.
Personal Laws
• Laws that are relevant to a particular group of people based on their caste, religion, faith, and beliefs, are
made after careful examination of traditional practices and religious scriptures. Hindu and Muslim personal
law derives from and is governed by the sacred books of their respective religions.
• Hinduism recognises the application of personal laws to cases involving legal matters such as inheritance,
succession, marriage, adoption, co-parenting, sons’ duty to settle their father’s debts, the division of family
property, maintenance, guardianship, and charity contributions.
• Islam has personal rules that are based on the Quran that govern issues including pre-emption,
guardianship, guardianship, marriage, wakfs, dowry, inheritance, wills, succession, legacies, and marriage.
Time of Day Tariff
In News
Union government introduced an amendment to the Electricity (Rights of Consumers) Rules, 2020, recently.
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Time Based Tariff

• The time-based power tariff structures mentioned in the announcement can be categorized into two types:
static and dynamic.
• Static tariffs are predetermined tariffs based on specific time blocks, while dynamic tariffs are determined in
real-time according to the actual demand conditions.
• The focus of the proposed changes is on static tariffs, which will be decided in advance for different blocks of
the day.
Discounted Tariffs
• Under the Time-of-Day (ToD) tariff system, the power tariff during “solar hours” will be at least 20% lower
than the normal tariff.
• The duration of solar hours will be specified by the respective State Electricity Regulatory Commission
(SERC).
• This initiative aims to encourage consumers to consume electricity during daylight hours when solar power
generation is at its peak.
• By providing discounted tariffs during solar hours, consumers are incentivized to shift their energy
consumption to these periods.
• For commercial and industrial consumers, the tariff during peak hours will experience a minimum increase of
20% compared to the regular tariff.
• This surge pricing during peak consumption aims to discourage excessive load on the grid during high-
demand periods.
• The ToD tariff system will be applicable for commercial and industrial consumers with a maximum demand
of 10 KW and above from 1st April 2024.
• For all other consumers, except agricultural consumers, it will be effective from 1st April 2025.
Significance
• Time-based power tariff structures have been implemented in approximately 20 countries, encompassing
some 17 European nations as well as the United States.
• The objective is to balance electricity demand and supply efficiently while promoting the integration of
renewable energy sources.
• One of the major challenges in integrating renewable energy generation is the variability in generation
trends.
• Solar and wind power are dependent on weather conditions and may not align with the demand cycle.
• To address this issue, alternative technologies such as hydrogen and hybrid generation models blended with
off-stream pumped storage are being considered for energy storage.
Report on Panchayat Development Index
In News
Report on Panchayat Development Index was released at the hands of Union Minister of State for Panchayati Raj
Shri Kapil Moreshwar Patil at National Workshop on Panchayat Development Index (PDI) recently.
Background
• NITI Aayog is the Nodal institution for the implementation India is a signatory to the United Nation
of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).Different 2030 Agenda for achieving inclusive;
Ministries and their Schemes are mapped with SDGs and people centric and holistic Sustainable
targets. Development through 17 Goals.
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• Ministry of Panchayati Raj is anchoring the process of Localization of Sustainable Development Goals (LSDGs)
in PRIs.
• To this end, it has been our endeavour to bring together different stakeholder at one forum imbibing the
spirit of ‘Whole of Government & Whole of Society’ approach.
• Given that nearly 70% of India lives in rural areas, attainment of Sustainable Development Goals at the
National level will require actions at the grassroots level through Panchayati Raj Institutions.
• Hence role of Panchayati Raj Institutions especially Gram Panchayats is very crucial in localizing the SDGs.
About PDI
• Panchayat Development Index (PDI) Report has come with 144 local targets, 577 local indicators and 688
data points on 9 themes of LSDGs.
• PDI will act as a baseline for Panchayat for setting local targets & local action points with measurable
indicators in preparation of thematic Gram Panchayat Development Plan.
• Panchayat Development Index (PDI) also help to reflect current status of the Panchayats to take concerted
actions to achieve development goals through building institutional mechanisms.
Significance
• Panchayat Development Index (PDI) will play a pivotal role in the process of quantified evaluation and
mechanism for computation of the composite score on 9 themes of LSDGs and will pave the way for
outcome oriented development goals at Panchayats.
• PDI is a computation score based on local indicators of 9 themes which spur Panchayats to attain SDGs.
• Ministry of Panchayati Raj has been incentivizing best performing Panchayats through National Panchayat
Awards.
• These awards have been revamped and launched during the year 2022 aligning them with 9 Localization of
Sustainable Development Goals (LSDGs) themes aggregating 17 SDGs.
• Primary objective through this competition is to assess the performance of Panchayats in attainment of
SDGs, promote competitive spirit among them and catalyze the process of LSDGs through Panchayati Raj
Institutions for attaining LSDGs by 2030.
ECI opens web portal for political parties to file financial accounts
In News
Political parties will now be able to file their financial accounts online to the Election Commission.
Features of the portal

• The facility has been created with twin objectives: firstly,
to facilitate political parties in overcoming the The measure has been enabled with the launch
difficulties in physical filing of reports, and of a new web-portal (https://iems.eci.gov.in/)
• Secondly, to ensure timely filing of financial statements to facilitate the online filing of Contribution
in the prescribed/standardised formats. The online Report, Audited Annual Account and Election
availability of the data is expected to enhance the level Expenditure Statement by the Political Parties.
of compliance and transparency.
• The on-line portal also has a facility for sending reminders in the form of messages on the registered
mobile number and registered emails of the authorised representatives of the political party so that the
dates of compliances are not missed.
• A comprehensive guiding manual with graphical representations, and FAQs have also been sent to the
political parties explaining the online module and the process of filing reports online.
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National e-Governance Service Delivery Assessment (NeSDA) portal
In News
DARPG has developed NeSDA framework with an overall objective to measure the depth and effectiveness of
existing e-Governance service delivery mechanisms from the citizen’s perspective.
About NeSDA framwork

• This framework, based on the Online Service Index (OSI) of UN eGovernment Survey, has been customized
for the Indian federal structure and the e-Governance landscape of the States and UTs.
• DARPG undertakes NeSDA study biennially. This study assesses States, Union Territories (UTs), and focus
Central Ministries on the effectiveness of e-Governance service delivery.
• NeSDA helps the respective governments improve their delivery of citizen centric services and shares best
practices across the country for all States, UTs and Central Ministries to emulate.
• Increase in e-Service Delivery
• Rise in use of Integrated / Centralized Portals for delivery of e-Services
• Improvement across assessment parameter scores
• In NeSDA 2021, 1400 services across all States and UTs were assessed as compared to 872 in 2019, an
increase of over 60%. 74% respondents of the nation-wide citizen survey conducted during the study had
stated that they are satisfied with the e-Services provided by the States and UTs.
NeSDA Dimensions
• Portals Coverage: All Government Portals assessed during NeSDA are classified into two categories viz., (i)
State, UT, Central Ministry Portal and (ii) State, UT, Central Ministry Services Portals.
• Focus Sectors and Mandatory Services Coverage: The NeSDA framework covers G2C and G2B services
across seven sectors, viz Finance, Labour Employment, Education, Local Governance Utility Services, Social
Welfare (including Health, Agriculture, Home Security), Environment (including Fire) and Tourism sectors.
The framework for NeSDA 2023 proposes an expansion on focus sectors with an addition of Transport and
Public Grievance.
• Assessment Parameters: To make NeSDA framework more robust and align with global digital government
trends it is proposed to include three additional assessment parameters, viz., Open Government Data (OGD),
E-Participation, and Leveraging Emerging Technologies.
Data Protection Bill approved by Cabinet
In News
Nearly six years after the Supreme Court held privacy to be a fundamental right, the Centre has made a second
attempt at framing legislation for protection of data.

• The bill includes provisions to penalize private and government entities up to ₹250 crore per instance for
data breaches, which can be raised up to ₹500 crore by the Data Protection Board that will be constituted
as an appellate body.
• The penalties will be decided on a case-to-case basis, depending on the severity, extent of harm or loss, scale
and number of people impacted by the breach, and the clauses that have been specified in the bill.
• The board will comprise mainly of professionals, as many as possible. It will be an independent body, and its
powers will be specified in the law.
• It will recommend the penalties, which can go up to ₹250 crore.
• If it recommends above that level up to ₹500 crore, the Cabinet has to be apprised and it has to be
presented in Parliament, but for anything beyond ₹500 crore, the law will have to be amended.
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• It will not be an arithmetic calculation, and this is a field which is rapidly evolving," one of the two people
said on condition of anonymity.
• The bill will mention special circumstances, such as a pandemic, law enforcement requirements,
protection of IP rights within employment, golden hour for medical treatment and natural disasters, under
which deemed consent will not be sought from users by government agencies.
• But in other cases, consent will be sought by apps and platforms, which will be explicit and elaborated in
clear language.
• Blanket consent will not be permitted; apps will have to make some changes.
• Individuals will have the right to seek details about their data
collection, storage, and processing once the law is The bill will specify the responsibilities of
implemented. an organization or an app that collects,
• Citizens will have the right to claim compensation by stores, processes and secures the data of
approaching civil courts. people and also the rights of users that
• Government entities do not get a blanket exemption under provide the data.
the proposed law, and well-thought-out carve-outs have been made for the collection, storage, and
processing of data since the government is an important data fiduciary.
• The bill also provides for an alternative dispute resolution mechanism as a platform for issues outside the
judicial system to reduce litigation.
• The voluntary undertaking has been provided for entities to own up to their violations of law by paying up
penalties or fines, followed by implementation of mitigation measures.
• However, the entities will not be absolved of their breaches fully and will be liable to investigations by the
Data Protection Board.
Association of World Election Bodies (A-WEB)
In News
Chief Election Commissioner Shri Rajiv Kumar led a three-member Election Commission of India (ECI) delegation to
Cartagena, Colombia to attend the 11th meeting of the Executive Board of the Association of World Election Bodies
(A-WEB).
About the conference

• The Association of World Election Bodies is the largest association of Election Management Bodies (EMBs)
worldwide with 119 EMBs as Members & 20 Regional Associations/Organisations as Associate Members.
• An international conference on the theme “A global view on the challenges of regional elections 2023” is
also being organised by National Civil Registry, Colombia on July 13, 2023.
ECI and A-WEB

• ECI has been very closely associated with the A-WEB was founded in October 2013 in Seoul,
process of formation of A-WEB since 2011-12 and Republic of Korea on the shared vision among its
has been its Executive Board Member, since its members of achieving sustainable democracy
inception in October 2013 for two consecutive around the world through the strengthening of the
terms (2013-15 and 2015-17). processes of election management in member
• ECI took over as Vice-Chairperson of A-WEB for countries.
2017-19 term; as Chair for 2019-22 term and is
presently a member of its Executive Board for 2022-24 in its capacity as immediate former Chair of A-WEB.
• A-WEB organises capacity building programmes for its member EMBs and undertakes Election Visitor and
Observation Programmes in various countries to study election management practices and share knowledge
with other member EMBs.
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India A-WEB Centre

• As per the decision taken at the meeting of the A-WEB Executive Board held at Bengaluru in Sep 2019, an
India A-WEB Centre has been established at New Delhi for documentation and research for sharing the best
practices and training and capacity building of officials of A-WEB members.
• The Centre is bringing out several publications and documents, including a world class Journal titled ‘A-WEB
India Journal of Elections.’
• The ECI is providing all the necessary resources for the India A-WEB Centre.
Odisha Recommends Kui’s Inclusion In 8th Schedule Of The Constitution
In News
The State Government has recommended a proposal to include ‘Kui’ language in the 8th Schedule of the Indian
Constitution.
About Kui language

• Approximately 46 languages are spoken by the tribal population in Odisha, India. Among them is the Kui
language, also known as Kandh, Khondi, Kanda, Kodu, or Kuinga. Kui is a South-Eastern Dravidian language
primarily spoken by the Kandhas or Kondhs, residing in the hilly and forested areas of Odisha.
• The Kui language is predominantly spoken in regions such as Phulbani (Kondhamal), Boudh, Koraput,
Kalahandi, Rayagada, Nayagarh, Ganjam, Gajapati, Nabarangpur, Sonepur, Angul, and Dhenkanal districts of
South and central Odisha. It is closely related to the Gondi and Kuvi languages and is written in the Odia
script.
• According to the census of India, the Kui language has approximately 1 million speakers, precisely 941,488
individuals. The UNESCO site indicates that the language’s status situation is potentially vulnerable,
suggesting the need for attention and preservation efforts.
Benefits of Inclusion
• It will help in the preservation, promotion, and propagation of the Kui language and culture;
• Activities such as publication, creation of content and recognition will get momentum;
• Create an eco-system to facilitate research & Studies anchored around the preservation, promotion and
propagation of Kui Language
• More than seven Lakh Kui-speaking Indigenous people will be benefitted from this decision.
Jan Vishwas Bill
In News
The Union Cabinet has reportedly approved amendments to the Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Bill, 2023.
The proposed changes aim to decriminalize minor offences by amending 183 provisions across 42 Acts administered
by 19 ministries.

• The Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Bill, 2022 amends 42 laws, across multiple sectors, including
agriculture, environment, and media and publication. Acts being amended include the Indian Post Office Act,
1898, the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, the Public Liability Insurance Act, 1991, and the Information
Technology Act, 2000.
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• The Bill converts several fines to penalties, meaning that court prosecution is not necessary to administer
punishments. It also removes imprisonment as a punishment for many offences. All offences under the Post
Office Act, 1898 are being removed.
• Fines and penalties for certain offences in specified Acts are being increased. These fines and penalties will
be increased by 10% of the minimum amount every three years.
• The Bill amends some Acts to provide for the appointment of Adjudicating Officers to decide penalties. It
also specifies the appellate mechanism.
• The Bill creates an Environmental Protection Fund for education, awareness, and research for environment
protection. The reasons for creating this fund are unclear given the overlap between its purpose and that of
existing funds of the Central and State Pollution Control Boards.
• The Bill decriminalises offences under the High Denomination Bank Notes (Demonetisation) Act, 1978. This
Act was used to remove high-value banknotes as legal tender on January 16, 1978.
• This deadline also applied to regulatory compliances under that Act. Therefore, amending punishments
under this Act after 45 years may not be relevant.
• For instance, under the Agricultural Produce (Grading and Marking) Act, 1937, counterfeiting grade
designation marks is punishable with imprisonment of up to three years and a fine of up to Rs 5,000. The Bill
intends to replace this with a penalty of Rs 8 lakh.
ATR Module of AuditOnline
In News
The Action Taken Report (ATR) Module of AuditOnline was launched by the Ministry of Panchayati Raj (MoPR)
recently through video conferencing.
Audit Online
• To promote greater transparency and accountability in Panchayat audits, the Ministry of Panchayati Raj
launched the AuditOnline application on 15th April 2020, enabling online audits of Panchayat accounts and
further strengthening financial management and transparency.
• States have achieved significant progress, generating over 200,000 Audit Reports in the two last two audit
periods 2020–21 and 2021–22.
• As on date, 256,795 Panchayats have been registered; 2,103,058 observations have been documented and
211,278 (approximately 80%) PRI Audit Reports have been generated for audit period 2021–22.
• States must ensure that all tiers of Panchayats, constituting 100% of rural local bodies have audited accounts
for the 2021–22 period.
• To achieve accountability through audits, the Ministry has endeavored to enhance the online audit process
by introducing the Action Taken Report (ATR) Module, which has been launched.
• This module aims to provide a more structured approach to the audit process, ensuring clarity on the actions
taken in response to audit findings.
Significance
• ATR module of AuditOnline will play a crucial role in holistic audits of all Panchayat accounts to meet the
criteria of the XV Finance Commission for the release of subsequent grants.
• To achieve this, the States/UTs need to lay a special focus on strengthening the District Level Financial
Advisors (DLFAs) and Audit Departments to ensure timely completion of audit activities.
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Increase Retirement Age Of SC Judges To 67 Years And HC Judges To 65 Years
In News
A Parliamentary Panel has recommended that the retirement age of Supreme Court Judges should be increased to
67 years and that of High Court Judges should be increased to 65 years.
Findings of the report

• The Committee, in its 133rd Report on the subject 'Judicial Processes and their reform', says it feels that the
"age of retirement of judges needs to be increased in sync with the increase in the longevity and
advancement in medical sciences leading to improved health of the population."
• While increasing the age of retirement for judges, the performance of judges may be reassessed based on
their health conditions, quality of judgements and number of judgments delivered.
• For this, a system of appraisal may be devised and put in place, by the Supreme Court collegium, before any
judge is recommended for enhancement of their tenure.
• With the increase in the age of retirement of judges, the practice of post retirement assignments to judges
of Supreme Court and High Courts in bodies and institutions financed from public exchequer may be
reassessed to ensure their impartiality.
• It further recommended that judiciary needs to be sensitized from shutting down courts en masse for a
couple of months a year.
• The pendency in the Supreme Court has remained static and in the year 2022 the disposal of cases was more
than the number of cases instituted in that year.
• Overall vacancies in the High Courts stood at 30 per cent of the sanctioned strength and in many of them
had vacancies ranging from 40 - 50 per cent. "Thus vacations are not the only cause of high pendency in
the higher judiciary.
• The committee suggested six reforms that included Social Diversity in the appointment of Judges in the High
Court and Supreme Court; Feasibility of Regional Benches of Supreme Court; Exploring the possibilities of
increasing the retirement age of High Court and Supreme Court Judges; Vacations in the Supreme Court and
High Courts; Mandatory declaration of assets by the Judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts; and
preparation and publication of Annual Reports by the Supreme Court and High Courts.
No Confidence in Lok Sabha
In News
The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi replied to the Motion of No Confidence in Lok Sabha.
No- Confidence motion

• The No Confidence Motion is sometimes referred to as the No Confidence Vote and the No Confidence
Motion.
• The parliamentary motion from the opposition refers to the Lok Sabha’s ruling and establishes the majority.
• In the Lok Sabha, it may be accepted without prior justification.
• Rule 198 of the Lok Sabha’s norms of procedure and conduct, the opposition is not required to provide a
justification for its request for a No Confidence Motion before the Lok Sabha votes on it.
• According to Article 75 of the Constitution, the Lok
Sabha is the council of ministers’ primary oversight A legislative resolution known as a “No
body. Confidence Motion” is presented to the Lok
• The ministry will remain in office as long as the Sabha and declares the entire council of
majority of Lok Sabha MPs continue to support it. ministers unfit to hold positions of leadership
• Only when it has a majority in the Lok Sabha can a due to their flaws or failure to perform their
government function. duties.
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• The administration is deemed to have lost the majority and is obliged to resign if the No Confidence Motion
is supported by 51% of the house members.
• After presenting a motion of no confidence, the opposition can ask the administration to show that it has a
majority, or it can do so by introducing a vote of confidence.
• In order to force the administration to address important issues, the opposition occasionally introduces the
No Confidence Motion.
How No-Confidence moved?

• The Speaker may convene the members to request leave to introduce the motion, according to Rule 198 (1)
(a).
• According to Rule 198 (1)(b), the opposition members requesting the motion shall provide the Lok Sabha
Secretary-General with a formal notice by 10 AM on the proposal day.
• The proposal must be presented by 10 AM the next day if it cannot be done by that time.
• After reading the house motion, the Speaker may ask the members who are proposing it to stand if they
think it to be in order, in accordance with Rule 198(2).
• If at least 50 members support the motion, the Speaker will declare it approved. Within 10 days of the
leave application, the No Confidence Motion is heard.
• According to Rule 198 (3), the Speaker may permit a portion of the day, an entire day, or a number of days
to discuss the motion after the leave is granted.
• In accordance with Rule 198(4), the Speaker must ask questions at the designated hour on the day
designated for discussion in order to control the house’s decision.
• The Speaker has the authority to set a time restriction for remarks under Rule 198(5).
• The government must leave the office for further action if the motion is approved by the House.
New bill on election body appointments
In News
The Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners will be selected by a three-member panel comprising
the Prime Minister, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha and a Cabinet Minister, according to a new bill that was
introduced in the Rajya Sabha recently.

• The Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners (Appointment Conditions of Service and
Term of Office) Bill, 2023, has been listed for introduction in the Rajya Sabha.
• The bill to "regulate the appointment, conditions of service and term of office of the Chief Election
Commissioner and other Election Election Commission: As per Article 324 of the Constitution, the
Commissioners, the procedure for Election Commission consists of the Chief Election Commissioner
transaction of business by the (CEC) and such number of other Election Commissioners (ECs), as
Election Commission and for the President may decide. The CEC and other ECs are appointed by
matters connected therewith or the President. The Bill specifies the same composition of theElection
incidental thereto”. Commission. It adds that the CEC and other ECs will be appointed by
• It repeals the Election Commission the President on the recommendation of a Selection Committee.
(Conditions of Service of Election
Commissioners and Transaction of Business) Act, 1991.
• Selection Committee: The Selection Committee will consist of: (i) the Prime Minister as Chairperson, (ii) the
Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha as member, and (iii) a Union Cabinet Minister nominated by the Prime
Minister as member. If the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha has not been recognised, the leader of the
single largest opposition party in Lok Sabha will assume the role.
• Search Committee: A Search Committee will prepare a panel of five persons for the consideration of the
Selection Committee. The Search Committee will be headed by the Cabinet Secretary. It will have two other
members, not below the rank of Secretary to the central government, having knowledge and experience in
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matters related to elections. The Selection Committee may also consider candidates who have not been
included in the panel prepared by the Search Committee.
• Qualification of CEC and ECs: Persons who are holding or have held posts equivalent to the rank of Secretary
to the central government will be eligible to be appointed as CEC and ECs. Such persons must have expertise
in managing and conducting elections.
• Salary and allowances: The 1991 Act provides that the salary of the ECs will be equal to that of a Supreme
Court judge. The Bill provides that salary, allowance, and service conditions of the CEC and other ECs will be
the same as that of the Cabinet Secretary.
• Term of office: The 1991 Act mandates that the CEC and other ECs will hold office for a term of six years or
until they reach the age of 65 years, whichever is earlier. If an EC is appointed as the CEC, his total term
cannot exceed six years. The Bill retains the same tenure. Further, under the Bill, the CEC and other ECs
will not be eligible for re-appointment.
Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita Bill 2023
In News
Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation, Shri Amit Shah introduced the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita Bill, 2023,
Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita Bill, 2023 and Bharatiya Sakhshya Bill, 2023 in the Lok Sabha.
Significance
• All these three bills have basic laws for the criminal justice system.
• Three new laws will abolish the Indian Penal
Code, 1860, Criminal Procedure Code, (1898), The Indian Penal Code, 1860 will be replaced by the
1973 and the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 made by Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita Bill, 2023, the Criminal
the British and passed by the British Parliament. ProcedureCode, 1898 will be replaced by the
• These three Acts which will be replaced, were Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita Bill, 2023 and the
made to strengthen and protect the British rule Indian Evidence Act, 1872 will be replaced by the
and their purpose was to punish, not to give Bharatiya Sakshya Bill, 2023.
justice.
• The soul of these three new laws will be to protect all the rights given by the Constitution to the Indian
citizens.
• The objective will not be to punish anyone but give justice and in this process punishment will be given
where it is required to create a sense of prevention of crime.
• Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita Bill, which will replace CrPC, will now have 533 sections, 160 sections
have been changed, 9 new sections have been added and 9 sections have been repealed.
• The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita Bill, which will replace the IPC, will have 356 sections instead of the earlier 511
sections, 175 sections have been amended, 8 new sections have been added and 22 sections have been
repealed.
• The Bharatiya Sakshya Bill, which will replace the Evidence Act, will now have 170 sections instead of the
earlier 167, 23 sections have been changed, 1 new section has been added and 5 repealed.
Provisions
• The operation of Section 124A— a non-bailable offence punishable with jail term ranging up to life, and
one that activists and jurists have alleged is often misused to muzzle dissent.
• A key change in the proposed draft Section 150 of the BNS bill is the removal of a provision, which allowed a
person convicted of sedition to get away only with a fine: Section 150 of the bill prescribes imprisonment for
life or with imprisonment which may extend to seven years, in addition to fine, as punishment.
• Section 150 reads as: “Whoever, purposely or knowingly, by words, either spoken or written, or by signs, or
by visible representation, or by electronic communication or by use of financial means, or otherwise, excites
or attempts to excite, secession or armed rebellion or subversive activities, or encourages feelings of
separatist activities or endangers sovereignty or unity and integrity of India; or indulges in or commits any
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such act shall be punished with imprisonment for life or with imprisonment which may extend to seven years
and shall also be liable to fine.”
• A comparative evaluation between the old and the new shows that Section 150 has included “electronic
communication” and “use of financial means” as tools of perpetuating an act “endangering sovereignty unity
and integrity of India”.
• The new provision also lays down that the category of offence under Section 150 will not be against “the
Government established by law in India,” as was mentioned under Section 124A of IPC.
Monsoon session of parliament adjourns sine die
In News
The Monsoon Session, 2023 of Parliament which commenced on 20th of July, 2023 has been adjourned sine die.
During the Session 20 Bills were introduced in Lok Sabha and 5 Bills were introduced in Rajya Sabha. 22 Bills were
passed by Lok Sabha and 25 Bills were passed by Rajya Sabha.
Sine Die
• Adjournment sine die means terminating a sitting of Parliament for an indefinite period, that is, when the
House is adjourned without naming a day for reassembly, it is called adjournment sine die.
• The power of adjournment sine die lies with the presiding officer of the House.
• However, the presiding officer of a House can call a sitting of the House before the date or time to which it
has been adjourned or at any time after the House has been adjourned sine die.
Adjournment
• In this case, the time of reassembly is specified as an An adjournment results in the
adjournment only terminates a sitting and not a session of the suspension of work in a sitting for a
House. specified time, which may be hours,
• The power of adjournment lies with the presiding officer of the days or weeks.
House.
Major Bills passed

• The Cinematograph (Amendment) Bill, 2023 seeks to make the process of sanctioning of films for
exhibition more effective and in tune with the changed times by including enabling provisions in the Act to
check film piracy, introduce age-based categories of certification and remove redundant provisions in the
existing Act.
• The Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order (Third Amendment) Bill, 2023 seeks for inclusion of Hattee
community of Trans Giri area of Sirmour district in the list of Scheduled Tribes in Himachal Pradesh.
• The Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order (Fifth Amendment) Bill, 2023 seeks for inclusion of Bhuinya,
Bhuiyan, and Bhuyan communities as synonyms of the Bharia Bhumia community. It also includes three
Devanagari versions of the name of the Pando community in Chhattisgarh.
• The Multi-State Cooperative Societies (Amendment) Bill, 2023 seeks (i) to strengthen governance, enhancing
transparency, increasing accountability reforming electoral process etc.in the Multi-State Cooperative
Societies by supplementing existing legislation and incorporating the provisions of Ninety Seventh
Constitutional Amendment. (ii) to improve monitoring mechanism and ensuring Ease of Doing Business for
Multi-State Cooperative Societies.
Back Parliament clears 28% GST on online gaming, casinos
In News
The Union Cabinet cleared a bill to amend laws to bring clarity related to the uniform 28 per cent GST at full face
value for online gaming, casinos and horse racing, government sources confirmed.
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Major Provisions
• The statutes to be amended through the latest bill include CGST, IGST and UT GST laws.
• Tax will be applicable on the face value of the chips purchased in the case of casinos, the full value of the
bets placed with the bookmaker/totalisator in the case of horse racing, and the full value of the bets placed
in online gaming.
• The valuation of supply of online gaming and
actionable claims in casinos may be based on the The bill recommended inserting a specific provision
amount paid or payable to or deposited with the in IGST Act, 2017, “to provide for liability to pay GST
supplier, by or on behalf of the player (excluding on the supply of online money gaming by a supplier
the amount entered into games/ bets out of located outside India to a person in India, for single
winnings of previous games/ bets) and not on the registration in India for the said supplier through a
total value of each bet placed. simplified registration scheme and also for blocking
• The council recommended that CGST Rules, 2017, of access by the public to any information
may be amended to insert specific provisions for generated, transmitted, received or hosted in any
valuation of supply of online gaming and supply of computer resource used for supply of online money
actionable claims in casino accordingly. The council gaming by such supplier in case of failure to comply
also recommended issuance of certain with provisions of registration and payment of tax”.
notifications/ amendment in the notification related to the issue.
Annual Capacity Building Plan of Department of Rural Development
In News
Minister of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Shri Giriraj Singh launched the Annual Capacity Building Plan of
Department of Rural Development, Department of Land Resources and Ministry of Panchayati Raj in New Delhi.
About the programme

• The plan have 3 lenses namely National Priorities, Citizen Centricity, Emerging Technology and 3 Pillars-
Individual, Organizational and Institutional, that are used as the guiding light for development of an ACBP to
positively contribute for achievement of the objective.
• It is a plan document that is developed based on the competency enhancement requirements of the officials
of the Ministry/Department/Organization (MDO), that is ascertained through carrying out Competency Need
Analysis (CNA) and prioritization of the competencies based on requirement of the officials and also
importanceof the competency to the ministry so that the resources invested by MDO on Capacity Building
are optimized.
• A budgetary outlay of 2.5 % of salary head of the Department will be ear-marked for implementation of
ACBP. CBU will prioritize the training needs of officers for Quarter 2, Quarter 3 & Quarter 4.
• The trainings will be both in online and offline mode. CBC has identified institutes and knowledge partners to
impart trainings in various issue to officers.
e-Court project & National Judicial Data Grid
In News
The Wide Area Network (WAN) Project under eCourts project is aimed at connecting all District and Subordinate
court complexes, spread across the country using various technologies like OFC, RF, VSAT.
eCourt project
• The eCourts Project was conceptualized on the basis of the “National Policy and Action Plan for
Implementation of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in the Indian Judiciary – 2005”
submitted by eCommittee, Supreme Court of India with a vision to transform the Indian Judiciary by ICT
enablement of Courts.
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• Under the Wide Area Network (WAN) Project, connectivity has been provided to 99.4% of total Court
Complexes across India with an improved bandwidth speed.
NJDG
• National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG) is a database of orders, judgments and case details of 18,735 District &
Subordinate Courts and High Courts created as an online platform under the eCourts Project. Data is
updated on a near real-time basis by the connected District and Taluka courts.
• It provides data relating to judicial proceedings/decisions of all computerized district and subordinate courts
of the country.All High Courts have also joined the National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG) through web services,
providing easy access facility to the litigant public.
• Through the eCourts services platform using elastic search technology, currently litigants can access case
status information in respect of over 23.58 crore cases and more than 22.56 crore orders / judgments
pertaining to these computerized courts as on date.
• Case data is available on NJDG for both civil and criminal cases with the ability to perform drill-down analysis
based on the age of the case as well as the State and District.
• NJDG works as a monitoring tool to identify, manage and reduce pendency of cases.
• It helps to provide timely inputs for making policy decisions to reduce delays in disposing of cases and helps
in reducing case pendency.
National Deep Tech Startup Policy
In News
The government recently released the draft National Deep Tech Startup Policy (NDTSP) that spells out a nine-point
programme to create a conducive ecosystem for the sector, which is crucial for enhancing India's capability and
global competitiveness.
Policy Guidelines
• The policy has defined deep tech startups with regard to different parameters based on various attributes
such as maturity levels, applicability to different sectors, time frames and geographical boundaries, and
contextual relevance.
• A deep tech startup involves early-stage technologies based on scientific or engineering advancements,
which are yet to be developed for any commercial applications.
• A deep tech startup typically produces a solution along an unexplored pathway based on new knowledge
within a scientific or engineering discipline or by combining knowledge from multiple disciplines.
• The key priorities for the government through this policy are nurturing research, development, and
innovation, strengthening intellectual property regime, facilitating access to funding, infrastructure access
and resource sharing, standards and certifications, among other things.
• The policy also proposes an organisation – The Centre for Deep Tech Translation to assess Indian research
(publications, patents, etc.) for potential commercialisation.
Krishna Water Dispute Tribunal-II
In News
The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved the issue of further Terms of
Reference (ToR) to the existing Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal-II (KWDT-II).
About KWDT
• The KWDT was established under the Inter-State River Water Dispute Act, 1956.
• Headed by Justice R.S. Bachawat, it was tasked with adjudicating the inter-state water dispute over the
sharing of Krishna river waters.
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• The tribunal presented its report in 1973, which was published in 1976.
• It allocated the 2060 thousand million cubic feet (TMC) of Krishna water at 75% dependability into three
parts: 560 TMC for Maharashtra, 700 TMC for Karnataka, and 800 TMC for Andhra Pradesh.
• The KWDT order stated that it could be reviewed or revised by a competent authority or tribunal after May
31, 2000
Second KWDT
• As new grievances arose between the states, the second KWDT was constituted in 2004.
• It delivered its report in 2010, allocating Krishna water at 65% dependability and surplus flows as follows: 81
TMC for Maharashtra, 177 TMC for Karnataka, and 190 TMC for Andhra Pradesh.
• Andhra Pradesh challenged this order in the Supreme Court through a Special Leave Petition (SLP).
About Krishna River

• The Krishna is an east-flowing river.
• Originates at Mahabaleshwar in Maharashtra and merges with the Bay of Bengal
• Flows through Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
• Together with its tributaries, it forms a vast basin that covers 33% of the total area of the four states.
• The principal tributaries joining Krishna are the Ghataprabha, the Malaprabha, the Bhima, the Tungabhadra
and the Musi.
• The important soil types found in the basin are black soils, red soils, laterite and lateritic soils, alluvium,
mixed soils, red and black soils and saline and alkaline soils.
• Right bank: Venna, Koyna, Panchganga, Dudhganga, Ghataprabha, Malaprabha and Tungabhadra are the
major right-bank tributaries.
• Left Bank: Bhima, Dindi, Peddavagu, Halia, Musi, Paleru, and Munneru are the major left-bank tributaries.
• Almatti Dam, Srisailam Dam, Nagarjuna Sagar Dam, and Prakasham Barrage are some of the major dams
constructed on the river.
Sammakka Sarakka Central Tribal University in the State of Telangana
In News
The Union Cabinet approved the setting up of Sammakka Sarakka Central Tribal University in Telangana's Mulugu
District.
Tribal University
• The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi gave its approval for the introduction in
Parliament, a Bill, namely, the Central Universities (Amendment), Bill, 2023 further to amend the Central
Universities Act, 2009 for setting up of Sammakka Sarakka Central Tribal University at Mulugu District in the
State of Telangana as provided in the Thirteenth Schedule to the Andhra Pradesh Re-organisation Act, 2014.
• There would be provision of funds of Rs. 889.07 crore.
• The new university aims to increase access and improve the quality of higher education in the State and to
promote avenues of higher education and advance knowledge by providing instructional and research
facilities in tribal art, culture and traditional knowledge system for the benefit of the tribal population in the
State.
Central Universities Act

• Under the Central Universities Act, 2009, the President of India shall be the Visitor of a central university.
• With their role limited to presiding over convocations, Chancellors in central universities are titular heads,
who are appointed by the President in his capacity as Visitor.
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• The Vice Chancellor is appointed by the Visitor from panels of names picked by search and selection
committees formed by the Union government.
• A visitor is empowered to call for a set of fresh names in case of dissatisfaction with the given panel.
• The Act adds that the President, as Visitor, shall have the right to authorize inspections of academic and non-
academic aspects of the universities and to institute inquiries.
Tripura becomes fourth state to introduce e-cabinet system
In News
Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha launched an e-cabinet system at Agartala to promote digital infrastructure
development and digitisation of government services and information.
e-Cabinet System
• Tripura has thus become the fourth state—and second in the Northeast—after Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh
and Arunachal Pradesh, to have introduced an e-cabinet system.
• All future cabinet meetings in the state will be paperless, reducing the carbon footprint and environmental
degradation in the process, with ministers and bureaucrats using tablets.
• All ministers attended the event at the new Secretariat complex, where the chief minister launched the app
to be used for the e-cabinet.
• In the debut e-cabinet meeting, the government approved a proposal to procure a loan of Rs 160 crore
from the Asian Development Bank, which has earlier provided soft loans with low interest rates to the
government and partnered with it in several developmental projects.
• The e-cabinet app would have features to facilitate uploading of cabinet memos marked with date and time
and that ministers, the chief secretary, secretaries and other officials would be able to review and approve
them online.
• The application has the highest degree of privacy protection safeguards.
• The e-cabinet system is expected to eliminate delays caused by the physical movement of paper documents
and to infuse dynamism in the government’s decision-making process.
• The government had earlier introduced e-file and office systems in keeping with the Digital India campaign.
• As part of the mission to ramp up digital infrastructure development across the state, the state government
has been trying to introduce digitisation on all possible public service platforms.
Digital India Act
In News
The recent announcement of the Digital India Act 2023 (DIA) represents a significant step towards establishing a
future-ready legal framework for the country’s burgeoning digital ecosystem.
Features of DIA 2023

• The DIA, poised to replace the two-decade-old Information Technology Act of 2000 (IT Act), is designed to
address the challenges and opportunities presented by the dramatic growth of the internet and emerging
technologies.
• The proposed DIA encompasses a spectrum of significant provisions aimed at addressing the ever-evolving
digital landscape.
• Firstly, it places a strong emphasis on online safety and trust, with a commitment to safeguarding citizen’s
rights in the digital realm while remaining adaptable to shifting market dynamics and international legal
principles.
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• Secondly, recognising the growing importance of new-age technologies such as artificial intelligence and
blockchain, the DIA provides guidelines for their responsible utilisation.
• The DIA does not just leave it to the market to dictate the course of these technologies but actively engages
in shaping their development and use within a regulatory framework.
• And by doing so, the DIA strikes a balance between fostering innovation and safeguarding against potential
harms.
• It promotes ethical AI practices, data privacy in blockchain applications, and mechanisms for
accountability in the use of these technologies.
• Thirdly, it upholds the concept of an open internet, striking a balance between accessibility and necessary
regulations to maintain order and protect users.
• Additionally, the DIA mandates stringent Know Your Customer (KYC) requirements for wearable devices,
accompanied by criminal law sanctions
• Lastly, it contemplates a review of the “safe harbour” principle, which presently shields online platforms
from liability related to user-generated content, indicating a potential shift in online accountability
standards.
• These provisions underscore the proposed DIA’s commitment in addressing the complexities of the digital
age.
Challenges
• One key concern is the potential impact on innovation and the ease of doing business.
• Stricter regulations, particularly in emerging technologies, could inadvertently stifle entrepreneurial
initiatives and deter foreign investments.
• Balancing the interests of various stakeholders, including tech giants, while ensuring the protection of citizen
rights, poses a significant challenge.
• Therefore, while the DIA is a progressive move, its implementation and potential repercussions warrant
vigilant monitoring and adaptability to avoid unintended consequences.
• The DIA is a crucial step towards ensuring a secure, accountable, and innovative digital future for India.
• It represents a forward-looking approach to regulation in an age of constant change and has the potential to
shape the country’s digital landscape for generations to come.
Rights of Unborn Child
In News
• The Supreme Court is hearing a married woman’s request to end her 26-week pregnancy.
• The case has travelled to two different Benches of the SC, raising crucial questions on the decisional
autonomy of a woman to abort, and the legislative framework.
About the case

• The 27-year-old married woman, who already has two boys, has argued that the pregnancy was unplanned.
• She has said that her family income is insufficient to support another child, and that she is under medication
for post partum depression after the birth of her second child.
• On October 9, a two-judge Bench of Justices Hima Kohli and B V Nagarathna, after interacting with the
petitioner through video conferencing, allowed the termination of the pregnancy.
• The court reasoned that an unwanted pregnancy due to failure of contraceptive methods is the same as a
forced pregnancy for which termination is allowed up to 24 weeks.
• However, AIIMS, Delhi, wrote to the SC that it would need a directive on whether a foeticide (stopping the
foetal heart) can be done before termination since the foetus is “currently viable”.
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Law on Abortion
• The Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act (MTP Act) allows termination of pregnancy in three stages.
• Termination of pregnancy up to 20 weeks is allowed on the advice of one doctor.
• If a pregnancy is 20-24 weeks, the right to seek abortion is determined by two registered medical
practitioners as an exception, but only under certain categories.
• Section 3B of the Rules under the MTP Act lists seven categories of forced pregnancies, including statutory
rape in case of minors or sexual assault; women with disabilities; or when there is a change in marital status
of women during pregnancy.
• After 24 weeks, a medical board must be set up in “approved facilities”, which may “allow or deny
termination of pregnancy” only if there is substantial foetal abnormality.
Rights of unborn Child

• The landmark 1973 US Supreme Court verdict in Roe v Wade that made abortion a constitutional right
allowed abortion up to the point of foetal viability, that is, the time after which a foetus can survive outside
the womb.
• Foetal viability in 1973 was pegged at 28 weeks (7 months), which is now with scientific advancement lower
at 23-24 weeks.
• In 2005, Rajasthan High Court in Nand Kishore Sharma versus Union of India rejected a challenge to the
constitutional validity of the MTP Act on the grounds that it violates the fundamental right to life of an
unborn child.
• The right of an unborn child has, however, formed the basis of legislation that deal with succession or the
law banning sex-determination of foetus.
• Section 416 of CrPC also provides for postponement of the death sentence awarded to a pregnant woman.
Same-Sex Marriage Verdict
In News
A five-judge bench of the Supreme Court that was headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, unanimously
ruled against legalising same sex marriage in India.
About the verdict

• All five judges agree there is no fundamental right to marry and in a majority verdict, the court has ruled
against same-sex marriage.
• The majority view is that the legislature must decide on bringing in same-sex marriage. Justice Hima Kohli
says she agrees with the view of Justice Ravindra Bhat, as does Justice Narasimha.
• The CJI and Justice Kaul had spoken in favour of introducing civil unions for non-heterosexual couples.
• The CJI in his opinion said that it is discriminatory to assume that only married, heterosexual couples can
provide a safe space for raising children.
• CJI directs the Centre to:
• Ensure queer community is not discriminated against.
• Ensure there is no discrimination in access to goods and services.
• Sensitise the public about queer rights.
• Create a hotline for the queer community.
• Create safe houses or Garima grih for queer couples.
• Ensure inter-sex children are not forced to undergo operations.
• No person shall be forced to undergo any hormonal therapy
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Timeline
• 2001: the Naz Foundation filed a public interest litigation (PIL) in the Delhi High Court challenging the
constitutionality of Section 377.
• 2009: Delhi High Court declared Indian Penal Code Section 377 unconstitutional and decriminalized
homosexuality.
• This decision of the High Court was overturned by the Supreme Court of India in 2013, which reinstated
Section 377.
• 2018: Supreme Court’s constitutional bench, in Navtej Singh Johar v. Union of India judgment, overturned
the previous decision and decriminalized homosexuality once again.
• 2023: Supreme Court ruled in a 3:2 verdict against legalizing same-sex marriage in India
Global scenario
• The Netherlands became the first country to give Same-sex couples the legal right of marriage and adoption.
• Taiwan became the first Asian country to legalize same-sex marriages after the country’s Constitutional
Court found a law recognizing marriage as between a man and a woman to be unconstitutional.
• Estonia’s parliament approved same-sex marriage in June 2023, making it the first ex-Soviet and first Baltic
country to do so.
ST status for Meiteis was considered and rejected in 1982 and 2001
In News
A proposal on the inclusion of the Meitei community in the Scheduled Tribes list has been examined and rejected
twice over the last four decades.
Meitei community
• Meiteis are the largest community in Manipur and there are 34 recognized tribes broadly classified as ‘Any
Kuki Tribes’ and ‘Any Naga Tribes’.
• The Imphal valley in the state, at the centre of Manipur, accounts for about 10% of its landmass and is home
primarily to the Meitei and Meitei Pangals who constitute roughly 64.6% of the state’s population.
• The remaining 90% of the state’s geographical area comprises hills surrounding the valley, which are home
to the recognized tribes, making up about 35.4% of the state’s population.
• While a majority of the Meiteis are Hindus followed by Muslims (8%), the 33 recognised tribes, broadly
classified into ‘Any Naga tribes’ and ‘Any Kuki tribes’ are largely Christians.
• Manipur, along with Dimapur district of Nagaland, was brought under the purview of the ILP System in
December 2019.
• ILP is a special permit obligatorily required by “outsiders” from other regions of the country to enter the
notified states.
Criteria for inclusion

• The modalities for inclusion of tribes allow only proposals initiated by the State government to be processed,
with primacy given to the opinion of the Office of the RGI.
• The Constitution allows only Parliament to finalise the inclusion by passing the required amendments to the
Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order, 1950.
• The criteria followed by the Office of the RGI to decide inclusion in ST list were set in 1965 by the Lokur
Committee: indications of primitive traits, distinctive culture, geographical isolation, shyness of contact with
the community at large, and backwardness.
• The same criteria are used to this day.
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OBCs and subcategories
In News
• The Minister for Backward Classes Welfare in Andhra Pradesh said recently that the state will begin a
backward classes census from November 15.
• The publication of the results of the caste survey in Bihar earlier this month had raised the possibility that
other states too would announce similar exercises as the country enters a new cycle of elections.
OBCs
• The expression ‘OBC’ was coined to denote backward/ marginalised communities and castes that were not
Scheduled Castes (SCs) or Scheduled Tribes (STs).
• It is recognised that social backwardness in India has traditionally been a direct consequence of caste
status, and that other types of backwardness have flowed from this initial handicap.
• Affirmative action for OBCs is mandated by Article 15(4) of the Constitution: “Nothing in this article or in
clause (2) of Article 29 [non-discrimination with regard to admission into state educational institutions on
grounds of religion, caste, etc] shall prevent the State from making any special provision for the
advancement of any socially and educationally backward classes of citizens…”.
• Article 16(4) allows the state to make “any provision for the reservation of appointments or posts in favour
of any backward class of citizens which, in the opinion of the State, is not adequately represented in the
services under the State”.
Criteria
• OBCs have been generally identified on the basis of their occupation: cultivation of own land, tenant
farming, agriculture labour, cultivation and selling of vegetables, fruits and flowers, cattle-rearing, washing of
clothes, carpentry, blacksmith, oilseeds crushing, pottery, stone-cutting, etc.
• The many castes among the OBCs are at different levels of marginalisation.
• At first glance, two broad categories within the OBCs emerge: those who own land (such as the Yadavs and
Kurmis in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh), and those who do not.
FIRST OBC COMMISSION

• The panel, headed by Kaka Kalelkar, was constituted by Jawaharlal Nehru’s government on January 29,
1953, and submitted its report on March 30, 1955.
• To identify socially and educationally backward classes, the commission adopted the following criteria: low
social position in the traditional caste hierarchy of Hindu society; lack of general educational advancement
among the major section of the caste/ community; inadequate or no representation in government service;
and inadequate representation in trade, commerce and industry.
• The First OBC Commission prepared a list of 2,399 backward castes or communities in the country,
categorised 837 of them as “most backward”.
• The Commission also recommended enumerating castes in the 1961 census, providing 25-40% reservation at
different levels of government jobs, and 70% reservation for admission to technical and professional
institutions.
SECOND OBC COMMISSION

• This was the B P Mandal Commission, which was appointed in 1979 by Morarji Desai’s Janata government,
but the implementation of which was announced only in 1990 by the government of V P Singh.
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• The Mandal Commission identified 3,743 castes and communities as OBCs, estimated their population at
52%, and recommended 27% reservation in government jobs and admissions to all government-run
scientific, technical, and professional institutions.
• No subcategories were recognised within the 27% OBC quota.
Subcategories in States
• In Karnataka, 207 OBCs castes are divided into five sub-groups.
• Jharkhand has two groups: Extremely Backward Classes (EBCs) and Backward Classes.
• West Bengal’s 143 OBC castes are divided into More Backwards and Backwards.
• In Maharashtra, the 21% OBC reservation is shared by the Special Backward Category (2%) and Other
Backward Classes (19%).
• In Tamil Nadu, the 50% OBC quota is divided among Backward Classes (26.5%), Backward Class Muslims
(3.5%), and Most Backward Classes/Denotified Community (20%).
• In Kerala, 40% OBC reservation is divided into eight subgroups, including Ezhava/Thiyya/Billava (14%), and
Muslims (12%).
Dam Safety Act
In News
• A new Dam Safety Act (DSA) was passed in late 2021.
• On October 4 this year, a glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) in North Sikkim’s South Lhonak Lake washed
away one of the biggest hydropower projects in India, the Teesta III dam at Chungthang.
• Reports have since revealed there were no early warning systems, no risk assessment or preventive
measures in place as required under the Act.
Dam Safety Act

• The Act listed key responsibilities and mandated that national and State-level bodies be established for
implementation.
• It said a National Committee on Dam Safety would oversee dam safety policies and regulations; a National
Dam Safety Authority would be charged with implementation and resolving State-level disputes;
• the Chairman of the Central Water Commission (CWC) would head dam safety protocols at the national
level; a State Committee on Dam Safety (SCDS) and State Dam Safety Organisation (SDSO) would be set up.
Obligations of States
• Provisions require States to:
• classify dams based on hazard risk,
• conduct regular inspections,
• create emergency action plans,
• institute emergency flood warning systems, and undertake safety reviews and period risk assessment
studies.
• States were asked to report and record incidents of dam failures.
• Until now, no statutory provision required systemic reporting of failures and no single agency was tasked
with tracking this data.
• The CWC keeps a record but the list is not updated regularly.
Punishment
• Failure to comply with any provision of the Act is punishable with imprisonment and/or fines.
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• If such obstruction or refusal to comply with directions results in loss of lives or imminent danger, the
entity shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years.
• In February 2023, the Sikkim High Court ordered the Gati Hydropower Project company to pay ₹70 lakh to
two widowed mothers, for non-compliance with the Dam Safety Act.
Challenges
• The DSA does not promote risk-based decision-making and fails to incentivise transparency.
• The frequency and scale of such disasters reveal a pattern of neglect.
• A robust DSA should allow different stakeholders to access information easily, but India’s framework falls
short.
• Dam safety is a public purpose function.
• Everything about dam safety, functions of all the institutions and committees and authorities, their reports,
decisions minutes and agendas, everything should be promptly available to the public.
• However, nothing is in the public domain.
• Periodic reviews are often not conducted or if they are, their findings are not easily available in the public
domain
• The Act requires dam builders to conduct comprehensive dam safety evaluations. However, there is no
standardisation of how the failure is analysed and reported.
Dam safety is a function of many parts

• designing and constructing dams that adhere to safety margins,
• maintaining and operating them per guidelines,
• recording data in real-time in an accessible format,
• forecasting hazardous events and instituting emergency plans, etc.
Hazard profiling and regular assessment mandated by the Act

• Hazard risk fluctuates at the slightest touch, responding to climate change, urbanisation, and the way
people/companies use water or where they are located.
• Periodic reviews are expected to bring forth fresh inundation maps and new rule curves (which determine
the capacity of dam reservoirs).
• All of these contribute towards the safety of the downstream areas.
• The Act requires dam builders to conduct comprehensive dam safety evaluations, but “there is no
standardisation of how the failure is analysed and reported.
Hattees community
In News
Months after the Hattee community of Himachal Pradesh’s Trans-Giri area was included in the Scheduled Tribes list
of the State, there is confusion in the Tribal Development Department about who the “Hattees” actually are and
whether people already classified as Scheduled Castes should be included as members of this community.
Confusion
• The State government has said that the matter regarding who the Hattees are was referred to the State
Advisory Department (Law Department).
• The department had suggested that the entry added to the ST list does not specifically exclude the
communities already notified as SC and hence the amendment must be construed accordingly.
• But it also noted that in the Bill to add the community, the statement of objects and reasons specifically said
that the intent was to include Hattees, excluding communities that had already been designated as SC.
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• The confusion was over how to interpret the entry that has recently been added to the State’s ST list.
• According to the Registrar-General of India, people who are referred to as Hattees in the region also
include those from communities like Koli, Badhai, Lohar, Dhaki, Dom, Chamar, etc. which are already
designated as SCs.
Hattees Population
• About 1.6 lakh people in Sirmour would benefit from Hattees being added to the ST list.
• The district’s population is around 5 lakh, as per the 2011 Census, of which close to one-third are Scheduled
Castes, with the district already having two Assembly seats reserved for SCs.
• The only other ST in the region are the Gujjars.
• “Hattee” was a term used to refer to the inhabitants of Trans-Giri area and that this included people from
“upper status social groups” like the Khash-Khanet (Rajput) and Bhat (Brahmin) castes and people from
Scheduled Caste communities like the ones mentioned above.
Hattees community
• The Hattis are a close-knit community who got their name from their tradition of selling homegrown
vegetables, crops, meat and wool etc. at small markets called ‘haat’ in towns.
• The Hatti community, whose men generally don a distinctive white headgear during ceremonies, is cut off
from Sirmaur by two rivers called Giri and Tons.
• Tons divides it from the Jaunsar Bawar area of Uttarakhand.
• The Hattis who live in the trans-Giri area and Jaunsar Bawar in Uttarakhand were once part of the royal
estate of Sirmaur until Jaunsar Bawar’s separation in 1815.
• The two clans have similar traditions, and inter-marriages are commonplace.
• There is a fairly rigid caste system among the Hattis — the Bhat and Khash are the upper castes, while the
Badhois are below them.
• Inter-caste marriages have traditionally remained a strict no-no.
• The Hattis are governed by a traditional council called Khumbli, which like the khaps of Haryana, decide
community matters.
• The Khumbli’s power has remained unchallenged despite the establishment of the panchayati raj system.
• The community has been making the demand since 1967, when tribal status was accorded to people living
in the Jaunsar Bawar area of Uttarakhand, which shares a border with Sirmaur district.
One-nation, one-poll
In News
The Law Commission, headed by Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi, former Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court, is likely
to support the idea of holding elections to Parliament and all state assemblies together.
One Nation One Poll

• The EC has never opposed the idea of holding simultaneous elections, as long as the logistical arrangements
for EVM procurement are addressed, there is consensus among political parties, and there are
corresponding amendments to the Constitution.
• The poll panel, however, wants six months to a year to prepare for it.
• One Nation One Election proposes that simultaneous elections be held in all states and the Lok Sabha in a
gap of five years.
• This will involve the restructuring of the Indian election cycle in a manner that elections to the states and the
centre synchronise.
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• This would mean that the voters will cast their vote for electing members of the LS and the state assemblies
on a single day, at the same time (or in a phased manner as the case may be).
• Simultaneous polls to states and Lok Sabha is not a newly conceived norm.
• In fact, simultaneous elections have previously been conducted in India in 1952, 1957, 1962 and 1967.
• Soon after, this norm was discontinued following the dissolution of some Legislative Assemblies between
1968 -69.
Few of the important Articles that need to be amended for implementation of ‘one nation one election’ are:
• Article 172 and Article 83 deal with the duration of the Houses of Parliament, and guarantee a five-year
term to both the elected Lok Sabha and state assemblies, unless they are dissolved sooner.
• Article 85 of the Indian Constitution deals with the powers of the President to summon Parliamentary
sessions, not exceeding a gap of more than six months.
• The President also carries the power to adjourn either House of the Parliament and the dissolution of the Lok
Sabha.
• Article 356 of the Indian Constitution, comes into action in case of governance and constitutional failure in a
state and deals with the President’ Rule.
• Amendments in the People’s Representation Act, 1951(RPA Act 1951) and the Anti Defection Law must be
made for organised conduct and stability in both Lok Sabha and state assemblies.
Concerns
• It is certainly not a virtue for a Central or Cabinet leaders to be relegating the duties of their office to a lower
priority such as contesting state or local elections for the electoral interests of their party.
• Each of India’s States has different political cultures and parties. Furthermore, this is an attack on and an
affront to India’s federalism.
• An elected Chief Minister of a State has the powers to recommend dissolution of their State legislatures and
call for early elections.
• Under a ‘one election’ framework, state parties will not have the right to do this.
• These powers will be taken away from the States and only the Union government will have the powers to
dictate the election schedule for every State.
• In the short term, simultaneous elections will increase the costs for deploying far larger numbers of
electronic voting machines and control units.
• Political parties and candidates may spend a lot more money on elections than the government but that is
not the tax-payers’ money.
• On the contrary, there is economic research to suggest that such election spending by parties and candidates
actually benefits the economy and the government’s tax revenues by boosting private consumption and
serving as a stimulus.
• A single election calendar may work in a presidential system where the survival of the executive is not
dependent upon a legislative majority.
• ‘One nation one election’ is a politically unfeasible, administratively unworkable and constitutionally
unviable proposition.
How are symbols allotted to political parties in India?
In News
The Supreme Court refused to entertain a petition filed by the ruling Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) party in Telangana,
challenging the allotment of election symbols to two other parties.
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Symbols allotment
• The Election Commission of India (ECI) is responsible for the allotment of symbols
• This is done under The Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968, which is meant “to
provide for specification, reservation, choice and allotment of symbols at elections in Parliamentary and
Assembly Constituencies, for the recognition of political parties…”
• Symbols can be either reserved, meaning they are exclusive to a recognised political party (having
garnered a minimum amount of votes or seats at the national or state level elections), or ‘free’.
• 'Unrecognised registered parties’ candidates, for instance, can choose from free, non-exclusive symbols.
• These parties are newly registered or have not secured enough percentage of votes in the Assembly or
General elections to fulfil the prescribed criteria to become a state party.
• After being selected by parties, in subsequent elections, these symbols are declared free again for others to
choose.
• Recognised national and state parties get exclusive symbols.
• For example, when it came to selecting an election symbol for the 1993 Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls,
Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav picked the symbol of a bicycle from the given options,
believing it would represent the farmers, the poor, labourers, and the middle class.
How Symbols enter the EC's lists?

• Records with the ECI show that the commission had symbols sketched by the late MS Sethi, who retired from
the ECI in September 1992.
• He was the last draughtsman (someone tasked with sketching and drawing tasks) employed by the nodal
body to sketch symbols.
• A team of ECI officials would sit together and think of daily objects that the common man could identify with.
• Many established symbols of political parties — bicycle, elephants, brooms — were born of these sessions,
ECI records reveal.”
• Some not-so-familiar objects too were suggested by this group — a pair of glasses, a nail cutter and even a
neck-tie, which was popularly worn by the English-speaking crowd post-Independence.
Lok Sabha Ethics Committee
In News
The Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla referred BJP MP Nishikant Dubey’s complaint against Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP
Mahua Moitra to the House Ethics Committee.
• A Presiding Officers’ Conference in Delhi in 1996 first mooted the idea of ethics panels for the two Houses
of Parliament.
• Vice President and Rajya Sabha Chairman K R Narayanan constituted the Upper House’s Ethics Committee on
March 4, 1997 — it was officially inaugurated two months later in May — to oversee the moral and ethical
conduct of members and examine cases of misconduct referred to it.
• The Rules applicable to the Committee of Privileges also apply to the ethics panel.
• Late Speaker G M C Balayogi constituted an ad-hoc Ethics Committee in 2000 and it became a permanent
part of the House only in 2015.
Working of the committee

• Any person can complain against a member through another Lok Sabha MP along with all evidence of
misconduct and an affidavit stating that the complaint is not “false, frivolous or vexatious”.
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• A member, too, can complain against another member with evidence without any need for an
accompanying affidavit.
• The Committee does not entertain complaints based only on media reports or on sub-judice matters. The
Speaker can refer to the committee any complaint against an MP.
• The committee makes a prima facie enquiry before deciding to examine a complaint and after the
evaluation of the complaint makes its recommendations.
• The committee report is presented to the Speaker who asks the House if the report should be taken up for
consideration.
• There is also a provision for a half-an-hour discussion on the report.
Privileges committee V/S Ethics committee

• The work of the Ethics Committee and the Privileges Committee often overlap.
• A corruption allegation against an MP can be sent to either body as it involves an accusation of serious
breach of privilege and contempt of the House.
• The mandate of the Committee of Privileges is to safeguard the “freedom, authority and dignity of
Parliament”.
• These privileges are enjoyed by individual members as well as the House as a collective.
• Thus, while MPs can be examined for breach of privilege on corruption charges, a person who is not an MP
can also be accused of breach of privilege for actions that attack the authority and dignity of the House.
• In the case of the Ethics Committee, however, only an MP can be examined for misconduct.
One nation, One Student ID
In News
Recently, several state governments requested schools to seek parental consent for the creation of a new student
identity card known as the Automated Permanent Academic Account Registry (APAAR).
Purpose of APAAR
• APAAR, which stands for Automated Permanent Academic Account Registry, is envisioned as a special ID
system for all students in India, starting from childhood.
• Under the initiative, each student would get a lifelong APAAR ID, making it easy for the learners, schools, and
governments to track academic progress from pre-primary education to higher education.
• APAAR would also serve as a gateway to Digilocker, a digital system where students can store their
important documents and achievements, such as exam results and report cards, digitally, making it easier to
access and use them in the future for, say, pursuing higher education or finding a job.
Reason for introduction

• The goal behind introducing APAAR is to make education hassle-free and reduce the need for students to
carry physical documents.
• This initiative was launched as part of the National Education Policy 2020 by the Education Ministry.
• The vision is to create a positive change, allowing state governments to track literacy rates, dropout rates,
and more, helping them make improvements.
• It’s about giving states the tools to enhance their performance.
• APAAR also aims to reduce fraud and duplicate educational certificates by providing a single, trusted
reference for educational institutions.
• Only first party sources that issue certificates will be allowed to deposit credits into the system, ensuring
authenticity.
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Working of APAAR ID
• Every individual will have a unique APAAR ID, which will be linked to the Academic Bank Credit (ABC), which
is a digital storehouse that contains information of the credits earned by students throughout their learning
journey.
• With the APAAR ID, students would be able to store all their certificates and credits, whether they come
from formal education or informal learning.
• When a student completes a course or achieves something, it’s digitally certified and securely stored in her
account by authorised institutions.
• If the student changes schools, whether within the state or to another state, all her data in the ABC gets
transferred to her new school just by sharing the APAAR ID.
• She won’t need to provide physical documents or transfer certificates.
Registration process
• To sign up for APAAR, students will have to provide basic information such as name, age, date of birth,
gender, and a photograph.
• This information will be verified using their Aadhar number.
• It’s important to know that the Aadhar number is only used for verification to match the name and date of
birth.
• APAAR won’t use or share these details with anyone else during registration.
• Students will need to sign a consent form, and they can choose to either accept or decline sharing their
Aadhar number and demographic information with the Ministry of Education for creating the APAAR ID.
• For minors, parents will have to sign the consent form, allowing the Ministry to use the student’s Aadhar
number for authentication with UIDAI.
• Registration for creating APAAR ID is voluntary, not mandatory.
Issues
• Parents and students have concerns about sharing their Aadhar details because they worry that their
personal information could be leaked to outside parties.
• The government, however, says that the information shared by students will be kept confidential and will
not be shared with any third party except for entities engaged in educational activities, such as the Unified
District Information System for Education Plus or the UDISE+ database (the government’s catalogue that
contains data related to schools, teachers and students), scholarships, maintenance academic records,
educational institutions and recruitment agencies.
• At any given time, students have the option to stop sharing their information with the mentioned parties,
and their data processing will be halted.
• However, any personal data already processed will remain unaffected if consent is withdrawn.
Supreme Court allows surrogacy, strikes down rule banning use of donor gametes
In News
• The Supreme Court has protected the right of parenthood of a woman, suffering from a rare medical
condition, by staying the operation of a law which threatened to wreck her hopes to become a mother
through surrogacy.
• The woman, known only as ‘Mrs. ABC’ for anonymity sake, has the Mayer Rokitansky Kuster Hauser (MRKH)
syndrome
• Medical board records showed she has “absent ovaries and absent uterus, hence she cannot produce her
own eggs/oocytes”.
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• The couple had begun the process of gestational surrogacy, through a donor.
Laws for Surrogacy

• A government notification on March 14 this year amended the law, banning the use of donor gametes.
• It said “intending couples” must use their own gametes for surrogacy.
• The petition was filed in the Supreme Court challenging the amendment as a violation of a woman’s right to
parenthood.
• The 2023 amendment contradicted the Sections 2(r) and 4 of the Surrogacy Act, 2021 which recognised the
situation when a medical condition would require a couple to opt for gestational surrogacy in order to
become parents.
• Rule 14(a) of the Surrogacy Rules which listed the medical or congenital conditions owing to which a woman
could choose to become a mother through gestational surrogacy.
• They included “having no uterus or missing uterus or abnormal uterus (like hypoplastic uterus or intrauterine
adhesions or thin endometrium or small unicornuate uterus, T-shaped uterus) or if the uterus is surgically
removed due to any medical condition such as gynecological cancer”.
• The decision to have a surrogate child was entirely based on the woman’s inability to become a mother
owing to her medical or congenital condition. Such a condition included the “absence of a uterus or
repeatedly failed pregnancies, multiple pregnancies or an illness which makes it impossible for her to carry
a pregnancy to term or would make the pregnancy life-threatening”.
• The amendment cannot contradict Rule 14(a) which specifically recognises the absence of a uterus or any
allied condition as a medical indication necessitating gestational surrogacy, the court held.
Surrogacy
• The Act defines surrogacy as a practice where a woman gives birth to a child for an intending couple with
the intention to hand it over to them after the birth. It is permitted only for altruistic purposes or for
couples who suffer proven infertility or disease.
• Surrogacy is prohibited for commercial purposes including for sale, prostitution or any other forms of
exploitation.
• Moreover, once the child is born, it will be deemed to be the biological child of the couple for all intents and
purposes.
• Abortion of such a fetus is allowed only with the consent of the surrogate mother and the authorities and
must adhere to the provisions of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act.
Regulation of Surrogacy
• The Centre and State governments are expected to constitute a National Surrogacy Board (NSB) and State
Surrogacy Boards (SSB) respectively, within 90 days of the passing of the Act.
• This body is tasked with enforcing standards for surrogacy clinics, investigating breaches and recommending
modifications. Further, surrogacy clinics need to apply for registration within 60 days of the appointment of
the appropriate authority.
• Offences under the Act include commercial surrogacy, selling of embryos, exploiting, abandoning a
surrogate child etc. These may invite up to 10 years of imprisonment and a fine of up to Rs. 10 lakh.
DNA systems in Police stations
In News
• The National Crime Records Bureau cautioned against the misuse of the database by ensuring identification
and deployment of appropriate safeguards allowing only designated officials to access the data in real time.
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• The Act enables police and central investigating agencies to collect, store and analyse physical and biological
samples including retina and iris scans of arrested persons.
CrPI act,1920
• The CrPI Act repealed the British-era Identification of Prisoners Act, 1920 whose scope was limited to
collecting and recording finger impressions, footprint impressions and photographs of certain category of
convicted persons and impressions of non-convicted persons on the orders of a Magistrate.
• The government said the new Act made provisions for the use of modern techniques to capture and record
appropriate body measurements.
Role of NCRB
• The central body has been entrusted with the task to “store, process, share, disseminate and destroy
records of measurements.”
• Impressions taken at any police station will be stored in a common database maintained by the NCRB. The
database could be accessed by authorised police and prison officials across the country.
• The NCRB will prescribe the specifications of the equipments or devices to be used for taking
measurements in digital and physical format, the method of handling and storing measurements by the
State police in a format compatible with the NCRB database and also the information technology system to
be used for taking the measurements.
• Police and prison officials have been authorised to take measurements and the Act expanded the scope to
also allow any person skilled in taking the measurements or a registered medical practitioner or any person
authorised to take such measurements.
• The records are to be stored for 75 years.
Condition of Police stations

• Police across States have been trained to record finger impressions through the National Automated
Fingerprint Identification System (NAFIS).
• However, several police officials said the iris scanners and devices that would enable capturing of DNA and
facial-recognition systems are yet to be provided.
• NAFIS, also under the NCRB, is a separate project that was launched in 2022.
• It assigns a unique ten-digit National Fingerprint Number (NFN) to all suspects arrested by the police.
• State police have their own fingerprint database.
• NAFIS integrates the data on a common platform, enabling the police to run a countrywide search to match
fingerprint impressions lifted from a crime scene.
• NAFIS workstations are operational in many States.
Challenges
• A police officer in Uttar Pradesh said that though the rules state that measurement of persons detained or
arrested under prohibitory and preventive sections of law are not to be recorded, not many officers are
aware of it.
• The rule states that unless a person is booked under prohibitory and preventive sections that are clubbed
with other serious criminal charges, the measurements will not be stored in the system.
• It takes the onus of destruction and disposal of records of an individual from the central database in case a
person has been falsely implicated in a crime or has been acquitted by the court. For such a
disposal/destruction, the request will have to be made to the nodal officer.
• The onus for destruction of data in this 75-year time period has also been placed on the people whose
data has been collected.
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• This would impact people from sections of society who do not have access to the law and would therefore
be unable to apply for deletion.
• The provision should be read in terms of the Right to be Forgotten and should not be at the mere
discretion of the Nodal Officer.
• The type of DNA samples that could be collected by the police have not been defined yet.
• The storage is also a concern.
• It is compulsory in offences registered under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
• However, what is its scope in other crimes such as cheating and snatching is yet to be spelt out clearly
• The NCRB has cautioned against the misuse of the database by ensuring identification and deployment of
appropriate safeguards allowing only designated officials to access the data in real time.
• The connectivity is a huge problem and police in smaller States have been unable to fulfil the requirement
of secured Internet lease lines.
Anti -Defection law
In News
The Supreme Court on October 30 directed Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar to decide
disqualification petitions filed under the Tenth Schedule (anti-defection law) of the Constitution against the Chief
Minister Eknath Shinde camp in the Shiv Sena dispute by December 31, 2023.
Tenth Schedule
• The anti-defection law punishes individual Members of Parliament (MPs)/MLAs for leaving one party for
another.
• Parliament added it to the Constitution as the Tenth Schedule in 1985. Its purpose was to bring stability to
governments by discouraging legislators from changing parties.
• The Tenth Schedule - popularly known as the Anti-Defection Act - was included in the Constitution via the
52nd Amendment Act, 1985.
• It sets the provisions for disqualification of elected members on the grounds of defection to another political
party.
• It was a response to the toppling of multiple state governments by party-hopping MLAs after the general
elections of 1967.
• However, it allows a group of MP/MLAs to join (i.e., merge with) another political party without inviting
the penalty for defection. And it does not penalize political parties for encouraging or accepting defecting
legislators.
• As per the 1985 Act, a 'defection' by one-third of the elected members of a political party was considered a
'merger'.
• But the 91st Constitutional Amendment Act, 2003, changed this and now at least two-thirds of the
members of a party must be in Favour of a "merger" for it to have validity in the eyes of the law.
• The members disqualified under the law can stand for elections from any political party for a seat in the
same House.
• The decision on questions as to disqualification on ground of defection are referred to the Chairman or the
Speaker of such House, which is subject to ‘Judicial review’.
• However, the law does not provide a timeframe within which the presiding officer has to decide a defection
case.
Grounds of Disqualification
• If an elected member voluntarily gives up his membership of a political party.
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• If he votes or abstains from voting in such House contrary to any direction issued by his political party or
anyone authorized to do so, without obtaining prior permission.
• As a pre-condition for his disqualification, his abstention from voting should not be condoned by his party or
the authorized person within 15 days of such incident.
• If any independently elected member joins any political party.
• If any nominated member joins any political party after the expiry of six months.
Issues in Electoral Bonds
In News
A five-judge bench of the Supreme Court led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud is expected to hear a batch of
petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the Centre’s electoral bonds scheme.
Electoral Bonds
• First announced during the Union Budget session in 2017, “electoral bonds” are interest-free “bearer
instruments”, which means that they are payable to the bearer on demand, similar to a promissory note.
• Essentially, electoral bonds allow Indian citizens or a body incorporated in India to purchase bonds, enabling
anonymous donations to political parties.
• Usually sold in denominations ranging from Rs1,000 to Rs1 crore, these bonds can be bought from
authorised SBI branches through accounts complying with KYC norms.
• Following this, the political parties can choose to encash the bonds within 15 days of receiving them and
fund their electoral expenses.
• However, they aren’t available for purchase throughout the year and can only be purchased between 10-day
windows falling in the months of January, April, July, and October.
• Importantly, electoral bonds can only be used to donate to political parties registered under Section 29A of
the Representation of the Peoples Act, 1951, securing at least 1% of the votes polled in the last election to
the House of the People or a Legislative Assembly.
• Section 29A of the RPA deals with the registration of associations and bodies as political parties with the
Election Commission.
Why Electoral Bonds?

• The Centre’s rationale behind introducing the electoral bonds scheme was to “cleanse the system of
political funding in the country” and bring about “transparency in electoral funding in India”.
• Even 70 years after Independence, the country has not been able to evolve a transparent method of funding
political parties which is vital to the system of free and fair elections…Political parties continue to receive
most of their funds through anonymous donations shown in cash.
• To tackle these problems, Jaitley proposed electoral bonds while suggesting that the amount of money that
a party could accept in cash from anonymous sources be reduced from Rs 20,000 to Rs 2,000.
• The Finance Act(s) of 2016 and 2017 amended four separate legislations to make way for the electoral
bonds scheme, including the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act, 2010; the RPA, 1951; the Income Tax Act,
1961; and the Companies Act, 2013.
Why these petitions?

• The first batch of petitions was filed by two NGOs, Common Cause and the Association for Democratic
Reforms (ADR), to strike down amendments made through the Finance Acts of 2016 and 2017, passed as
money bills, which “opened doors to unlimited political donations, even from foreign companies,” thereby
legitimising electoral corruption on a huge scale.
• The pleas also argued that the bonds ensured complete non-transparency in political funding.
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• Arguing that the scheme shouldn’t have been introduced “illegally,” bypassing the Rajya Sabha’s approval,
the petitioners sought a stay on the scheme
• In 2019, a three-judge SC bench, in an interim order, directed political parties receiving donations through
electoral bonds to submit the details of the bonds to the ECI.
• The SC said that bonds had been issued in the past, between 2018 and 2020, “without any impediment,”
and it had already ordered “certain safeguards” by way of its April 2019 interim order.
• The “safeguards” the court was referring to here were “requiring all the political parties who have received
donations through Electoral Bonds to submit to the Election Commission of India in sealed cover” along
with particulars of the donors for each bond, including the amount of each bond and credit details received
against each bond, like bank account details and the date of crediting the amount.
ECs' Stance
• In its submission to the Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law, and Justice in May 2017,
the ECI objected to the amendments in the RPA exempting political parties from disclosing donations
received through electoral bonds while describing the move as a “retrograde step”.
• The Commission even asked the government to “reconsider” and “modify” the above amendment.
• On March 25, 2019, as part of the ongoing challenge to electoral bonds in the SC, the ECI filed an affidavit
flagging the issue of laws being changed to allow political parties to receive contributions from foreign
companies, allowing “unchecked foreign funding of political parties” which could lead to “Indian policies
being influenced by foreign companies”.
Maratha quota protest heats up
In News
As Maratha quota protests intensify in Maharashtra, the state government has formed a panel of three former High
Court judges to advise it on the legal battle over the issue in the Supreme Court
Maratha Quota
• The Marathas are a group of castes comprising peasants and landowners, among others, constituting nearly
33 per cent of state’s population.
• The demand for Maratha reservation is not new in the state.
• The first protest over this was held 32 years ago by Mathadi Labour Union leader Annasaheb Patil in
Mumbai.
High court judgement

• The High Court relied heavily on findings of the 11-member Maharashtra State Backward Class Commission
(MSBCC) headed by retired Justice G M Gaikwad.
• The Committee surveyed about 45,000 families, from two villages in each of the 355 talukas that had more
than 50 per cent Maratha population.
• The November 2015 report found the Maratha community to be socially, economically and educationally
backward.
• In social backwardness, the Commission found that around 76.86 % of Maratha families are engaged in
agriculture and agricultural labour for their livelihood and nearly 70% reside in Kachha dwellings, while only
35- 39 % have personal tap water connections.
• Moreover, the report said that in 2013-2018, a total of 2,152 (23.56%) Maratha farmers died by suicide,
against total 13, 368 farmer suicides.
• The Commission also found that 88.81 % Maratha women are involved in physical labour for earning a
livelihood, besides the physical domestic work they perform for the family.
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• In educational backwardness, it found that 13.42 % of Marathas are illiterate, 35.31 % primary educated,
43.79 % HSC and SSC, 6.71 % undergraduates and postgraduates and 0.77 % technically and professionally
qualified.
Supreme court Judgement

• In May 2021, a five-judge Constitution bench of the Supreme Court struck down the Maratha quota, which
took the total reservation in the state above the 50 per cent ceiling set by the court in its 1992 Indra
Sawhney (Mandal) judgment.
• The Apex court said that the 50% ceiling, although an arbitrary determination by the court in 1992, is now
constitutionally recognised. It said there was no extraordinary circumstance to cross the 50% mark, adding
Marathas were a “dominant forward class and are in the main stream of National life”.
• The quota had been challenged in the Supreme Court by lawyer Jaishri Laxmanrao Patil and others.
• In November 2022, after the SC upheld the 10 per cent quota for Economically Weaker Sections, the
Maharashtra government said that until the issue of Maratha reservation was resolved, economically weaker
members of the community could benefit from the EWS quota.
• In April this year, after the SC turned down its review plea, the state government said it would file a
curative petition and form a new panel for a detailed survey of the ‘backwardness’ of the community.
Reservation in Maharashtra
• In the state, following the 2001 State Reservation Act, the total reservation is 52 per cent.
• This included quotas for Scheduled Caster (13%), Scheduled Tribes (7%), Other Backward Classes (19%),
Special Backward Class (2%), Vimukta Jati (3%), Nomadic Tribe B (2.5%), Nomadic Tribe C-Dhangar (3.5%) and
Nomadic Tribe D-Vanjari (2%).
• With the addition of the 12-13 per cent Maratha quota, the total reservation in the state had gone up to
64-65 per cent. The 10 % EWS quota is also effective in the state.
• Besides Marathas, communities including Dhangar, Lingayats and Muslims have also raised demands for
reservation.
UPSC tighetns rules for state Police Chiefs
In News
Only police officers with at least six months of service left before retirement will be considered for appointment as
the Director General of Police of a State, the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) said in amended guidelines
issued recently.
Amended Rules
• The guidelines, which were amended recently also allow officers with 25 years experience to be appointed
as a DGP, against the earlier requirement of a minimum 30 years of service.
• The number of shortlisted officers cannot exceed three, but may consist of less than three officers in
“exceptional circumstances”.
• Officers will not be included in the panel unless they themselves are willing.
• The revised guidelines issued recently indicate the relevant areas to assess the range of experience of an IPS
officer to head a State police department.
• It requires ten years of experience in areas such as law and order, crime branch, economic offences wing,
or intelligence wing, and deputation to central bodies such as the Intelligence Bureau, Research and
Analysis Wing, or Central Bureau of Investigation, among others.
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States bypassing UPSC process

• The amended UPSC guidelines come in the wake of several States, including BJP-ruled States, choosing to
appoint acting DGPs instead of regular DGPs, bypassing the requirement to go through the UPSC-selected
panel of eligible officers.
• States such as Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana have all appointed “in-charge” DGPs,
or DGPs with “full additional charge”.
• In fact, Uttar Pradesh has not had a full-time DGP since 2022.
Recent Examples
• Former Punjab DGP V.K. Bhawra has moved the Central Administrative Tribunal against the appointment of
Gaurav Yadav as acting DGP by the Aam Aadmi Party government in Punjab.
• Mr. Bhawra was transferred midway through his term, although UPSC rules stipulate a two-year fixed
tenure for a State DGP.
• In June this year, Punjab passed a legislation to independently appoint the State DGP, in a bid to circumvent
the UPSC’s empanelment process.
• However, the Punjab Police (Amendment) Bill, 2023 is yet to get the Governor’s assent, without which it
cannot become a law.
• Though the police is a State subject, the IPS officers who are constituents of the All India Services are
appointed by the UPSC on behalf of the Union government, and their services are placed under State
cadres.
Why these norms?

• The UPSC had first framed guidelines for the preparation of a panel for appointment to the post of State
DGPs in 2009, after the Supreme Court verdict in the police reforms case of 2006.
• Prakash Singh, former DGP of Uttar Pradesh had filed a petition regarding police reforms, following which
the top court issued a slew of directions which required that the DGP be selected by the State government
from amongst the three senior-most officers of the department who have been empanelled for promotion
to that rank by the UPSC on the basis of their length of service, very good service record, and range of
experience for heading the police force.
• The committee to appoint the State DGP is headed by the UPSC Chairman and includes the Union Home
Secretary, the State’s Chief Secretary and DGP, and one of the heads of the Central Armed Police Forces
nominated by the MHA who is not from the same State cadre.
Recent amendments
• In 2021, the Union government had proposed to amend the Indian Administrative Service (Cadre) Rules,
1954 to depute IAS, IPS, and IFoS (Indian Forest Service) officers to the Centre without necessarily taking the
State government’s nod. Amid massive protest from the States, the proposal has been put in cold storage.
• The amendment was proposed as the Union government is facing an acute shortage of All India Services
officers.
• Despite existing provisions, States are not sponsoring adequate officers for Central deputation.
• In many cases, officers are also not willing to serve the Union government.
Advocate-on-Record system in the Supreme Court
In News
• The Supreme Court recently pulled up an Advocate-on-Record (AoR) for filing a frivolous case and dismissed
the public interest litigation.
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• The Court censured the lawyer that an AoR cannot merely be a “signing authority.”
Advocate on Record
• Only an AoR can file cases before the Supreme Court.
• An AoR might engage other lawyers including senior counsels to argue before the Court but the AoR is
essentially the link between the litigant and the highest court of the country.
• After fulfilling an eligibility criteria and clearing a rather tough examination, an advocate is qualified to be an
AoR.
• Simply put, AORs are a pool of elite Delhi-based lawyers whose legal practice is mostly before the SC.
• They can appear before other courts too.
• The idea behind this practice is that a lawyer with special qualifications, picked by the Supreme Court itself,
is equipped to appear for a litigant because it is a court of the last opportunity for the litigant.
Criteria for AoR

• The Supreme Court Rules, 2013 prescribe eligibility criteria for an AoR.
• While an advocate has to clear an examination set by the Court itself, the advocate has to meet specific
criteria to be eligible to appear for the exam.
• The advocate must train with a court approved AoR for at least one year to take up the exam.
• She must also have at least four years of practice before starting the training itself.
• An advocate needs to score at least 60% i.e. a minimum of 240 marks out of 400 with at least 50% in each
subject in a three-hour exam.
• The subjects include Practice and Procedure, Drafting, Professional Ethics and Leading Cases.
• Approximately 200-250 lawyers clear the exam to become AoRs.
• An AoR must have an office in Delhi within a 16-kilometre radius of the SC.
• Additionally, she is required to give an undertaking to employ, within one month of being registered as an
AoR, a registered clerk.
Rules for AoR system

• According to Section 30 of the Advocates Act, any lawyer enrolled with the Bar Council is entitled to
practice law before any Court or tribunal in the country. However, the provision also categorically states that
“nothing in the provision shall be deemed to affect the power of the Supreme Court to make rules under
Article 145 of the Constitution.”
• Under Article 145 of the Constitution, the Supreme Court is empowered to make rules and regulate its own
procedure for hearing cases.
• The AoR system is broadly based on the British practice of barristers and solicitors.
• While barristers wear the black gown and wig and argue cases, solicitors take up cases from clients.
• In the Federal Court, the colonial predecessor of the Supreme Court, “agents” would take up cases while
barristers would argue.
• In High Courts, the arguing counsels were referred to as pleaders.
• Senior advocates in India are designated by the Court and wear a distinct gown.
• Like barristers, they cannot solicit clients and are only briefed by other lawyers, say for example, an AoR.
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Rights of trans woman for invoking the Domestic Violence Act
In News
The Supreme Court agreed to examine the question of whether a trans gender woman who underwent a sex-
reassignment surgery may be called an “aggrieved person” within the meaning of Section 2(a) of the Domestic
Violence Act, 2005.
Aggrieved Person
• Section 2(a) of the Domestic Violence Act, 2005 defines an “aggrieved person” as “any woman who is, or
has been, in a domestic relationship with the respondent and who alleges to have been subjected to any act
of domestic violence by the respondent”
• A “domestic relationship” under Section 2(f) of the Act means a relationship between two persons who live
or have, at any point of time, lived together in a shared household when they are related by “consanguinity,
marriage, or through a relationship in the nature of marriage, adoption or are family members living
together as a joint family.”
• The 2005 Act was passed with the objective of providing for “more effective protection of the rights of
women guaranteed under the Constitution”.
• The Act has provisions for monetary relief which can be paid to an aggrieved person by the respondent,
upon the Magistrate’s order, “to meet the expenses incurred and the losses suffered by the aggrieved
person as a result of the domestic violence.”
• In the present case a trans woman who underwent sex reassignment surgery in June 2016, filed a plea for
interim maintenance under the DV Act, contending that they had “converted their gender from transgender
to female”, fell under the definition of “aggrieved person”.
Process for a trans gender to change their gender

• The 2019 Act allows for the recognition of the identity of transgender persons.
• It says, “A transgender person shall have a right to be recognised as such, in accordance with the
provisions of this Act,” adding that transgenders shall also have a “right to self-perceived gender identity”.
• Section 5 of the Act also allows transgenders to file applications before the District Magistrate for issuing a
“certificate of identity” as a transgender person, accompanied by documents, in the form and manner
prescribed.
• Once a certificate of identity is issued to the transgender person, they can also seek to change their
gender, as per the process outlined in Section 7.
• Section 7 states that if a trans person undergoes surgery to change their gender, they can make an
application to the DM, along with a certificate issued to that effect by the Medical Superintendent or Chief
Medical Officer of the medical institution in which they underwent surgery, for a “revised certificate”.
• Upon receiving this certificate, the trans person is entitled to change the first name on their birth certificate
and all other official documents relating to their identity.
• However, in the present case, the trans-woman’s submitted only her medical certificate, confirming the
occurrence of her sex reassignment surgery before the HC.
• Relying on the top court’s 2014 ruling in NALSA vs UOI, her counsel said that SC has recognized the rights of
persons who change their sex in tune with their gender characteristics and thus, their new gender identity
can also be granted recognition.
NALSA Judgement
• The top court’s 2014 ruling in NALSA, the court said, “If person has changed his/her sex in tune with his/her
gender characteristics and perception which has become possible because of the advancement in medical
science, and when that is permitted by in medical ethics with no legal embargo, we do not find any
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impediment, legal or otherwise, in giving due recognition to the gender identity based on the reassign sex
after undergoing SRS.”
• Underlining that the need to pass laws like the DV Act stemmed from the inadequacy in existing civil laws
for women being subjected to cruelty by their husbands and family relatives, the court said that the term
aggrieved person “needs to be interpreted with the broadest possible terms”.
States in Court against their Governors
In News
The Supreme Court expressed acute displeasure at Governors holding back key Bills, especially in Opposition-ruled
States such as Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Telangana, until State governments approach the top court for judicial
intervention.
Deadlock
• Tamil Nadu has accused Governor R.N. Ravi of toying with the citizens’ mandate by sitting on the Bills by
neither assenting nor returning them.
• It said the Governor has positioned himself as a “political rival” who has caused a “constitutional deadlock”
by simply sitting on the Bills for months together.
• Kerala, in its separate petition, said that eight proposed laws passed by its Legislative Assembly were
pending with the Governor, not for months, but years. Of the eight, three Bills were waiting for the
Governor’s word for over two years.
• Punjab complained that seven of its Bills were stuck with the Governor since June, threatening to bring the
administration to a “grinding halt”
Powers of Governor
• Article 200 of the Constitution covers the options before the Governor when a Bill passed by both Houses of
the Legislature is presented to him.
• The first proviso to the Article says the Governor could either declare his assent to the Bill or withhold the
assent if it is not a Money Bill or reserve the law for the consideration of the President if he thinks the Bill
derogates from or endangers the power of judicial review of the High Court.
• In case the Governor chooses to withhold assent, he should return the Bill “as soon as possible” with a
message requesting the Legislative Assembly to reconsider the proposed law or any specified provisions or
suggest amendments.
• The Assembly would reconsider and pass the Bill, and this time, the Governor should not withhold his
assent.
• In short, the constitutional head of the State would bow to the considered decision of the elected
representatives of the people.
Governor discretion
• Governors did have a discretion to return Bills before the first proviso in the draft Article 175 (now Article
200).
• This was amended by the Constituent Assembly in 1949.
• Governor cannot act on his own, he can only act on the advice of the Ministry
• When a Governor sends a Bill back for further consideration, he does so expressly on the advice of his
Council of Ministers.
• If the Bill passed by the Legislative Assembly needs modification or has garnered adverse public opinion, the
government uses the Governor to return the Bill to the Lower House as quickly as possible for re-legislation.
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• The first proviso to Article 200 is thus a “saving clause” and retains the discretion over the fate of the Bill
solely in the hands of the State Cabinet.
• Article 163 makes it clear the Governor is not expected to act independently. The top court in the Shamsher
Singh case verdict has held that as a formal head of the State a “Governor exercises all his powers and
functions conferred on him by or under the Constitution on the aid and advice of his Council of Ministers
save in spheres where the Governor is required by or under the Constitution to exercise his functions in his
discretion.”
• The assent or return of the Bill does not involve the discretion of individuals occupying the Governor’s post.
When bills should be returned?

• The first proviso of Article 200 says it should be “as soon as possible”. The Constitution is silent on what
exactly this phrase means.
• The Supreme Court has interpreted “as soon as possible” in the proviso to mean “as early as practicable
without avoidable delay” in its 1972 judgment in Durga Pada Ghosh versus State of West Bengal. Justice
(now retired) Rohinton F. Nariman, in his 2020 judgment in the Keisham Megha Chandra Singh case, said a
‘reasonable time’ would mean three months.
• The States have urged the court to interpret the phrase in the proviso and fix a time limit by which
Governors should assent or return a Bill.
• The 1988 Sarkaria Commission report on Centre-State relations had suggested consultation with the
Governor while drafting the Bill and fixing a deadline for its disposal.
• Kerala has asked the Supreme Court to form a seven-judge Bench to review a five-judge Bench judgment
in the 1962 Purushothaman Nambudiri versus State of Kerala case which held the view that Article 200 did
not provide “for a time limit within which the Governor….. should come to a decision on the Bill referred to
him for his assent”.
• The State said that, at the time, the court did not consider the possibility of Governors holding back Bills for
an indefinite time.
Move towards e-FIR, but with caution
In News
• The Law Commission of India, in Report No. 282, recommended that “in cases where the accused is not
known, registration of an e-FIR should be allowed for all cognisable offences”
• If the accused is known, as a preliminary step, registration of an e-FIR may be allowed for cognisable
offences wherein the punishment provided under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and other laws is up to three
years.
Verification of complainant
• The verification of the complainant could be done by verifying the mobile number through an OTP and
mandating the uploading of valid ID proof such as Aadhaar.
• It also said that the name of the suspect on the centralised national portal is to be secured until the e-FIR is
signed by the complainant.
• Further, in case the registered information is not signed by the informant deliberately within the prescribed
time, the information shall be deleted within two weeks.
Concept of e-FIR
• The Commission has not demystified the concept of an ‘e-FIR’.
• The procedure laid down in the Report says that the police station will check the contents of information
received from the portal to verify whether a cognisable offence is made out as recommended.
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• Only then will the received information be entered in the prescribed format within three days.
• In other cases (punishable with more than three years of imprisonment), the conventional method
prescribed under the IPC needs to be followed.
• In the next step, the police officer is required to get the signature of the complainant within three days to
register an e-FIR.
• Otherwise, the e-FIR shall not be registered, reasons shall be communicated, and the said information shall
be automatically deleted after two weeks from the portal. The procedure is given only for cases where the
accused is known.
• The concept of ‘e-FIR’ is nothing but obtaining information/complaint through electronic means using a
common national portal and then getting the information/complaint signed by the complainant physically
within three days to convert the complaint into an actual FIR.
• It is obvious that the ‘e-FIR’ is not an automatically registered FIR using electronic means, including
electronic signature of the complainant.
• The online facility will have only limited efficacy.
• Also, any investigation done prior to the actual registration of the FIR shall not be an investigation
undertaken in the true spirit of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
Advantages
• First, the police will have to take cognisance of the complaint as the system will automatically generate
receipt.
• This will ensure almost free registration of crime. Second, they will not be able to change the contents of the
complaint.
Human Intervention
• While most of the eight States are registering FIRs using the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and
Systems or State portals, mostly in property offences where the accused is unknown, the Law Commission
has recommended e-FIR for all cognisable offences where the accused is not known, without discussing
other related aspects.
• For example, the accused may initially be unknown in a case of kidnapping where not only immediate
medical examination of the victim may be important, but also timely visit to the scene of crime. In fact,
interaction with a police officer is valuable in solving blind crimes.
• An experienced police officer may extract a lot of information from the complainant or victim, which may
help in finding the culprit.
• Though the option to approach a police station for reporting any cognisable offence shall always be open,
the legally permissible period of three days may give a false impression to a common man that it will not
affect his case in that period. The complainant may not understand the nuances of a crime.
• Therefore, only cases where human interaction can be postponed for a limited period without having an
adverse impact on the case may be permitted to be registered electronically.
E-authentication technique
• The Commission has also not discussed using the ‘e-authentication technique or digital signature’ as
defined in the Information Technology (IT) Act, 2000, for signing complaints.
• Under the Act, any information ‘rendered or made available in an electronic form; and accessible so as to
be usable for a subsequent reference’ is legally acceptable.
• Similarly, any electronic record can be authenticated by ‘such electronic signature or electronic
authentication technique which is considered reliable...’
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• Thus, one can imply that in case a paper-based signed complaint is to be replaced by an equivalent
document in electronic form, one must affix electronic signature or use e-authentication technique notified
by the government in the Second Schedule to the IT Act.
• In 2015, ‘e-authentication technique using Aadhaar e-KYC services’ was notified in the Second Schedule as a
legally recognised technique.
• This is widely used by the income tax department to facilitate filing of returns electronically.
• The law also recognises ‘digital signature’ which uses an asymmetric cryptosystem and hash function.
• Without affixing digital signature or using e-authentication technique, an electronic record transmitted to
the police would legally be considered not more than an unsigned complaint.
• Therefore, it would be better if the use of e-authentication technique is mandated for the verification of
complainant, and an e-FIR is registered immediately.
Role of CAG
In News
• Today, India stands as the world’s largest democracy, with a vibrant political landscape, a diverse society,
and ongoing efforts to overcome various socio-economic challenges.
• The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) plays a crucial role in this democratic framework by
ensuring transparency, accountability, and financial integrity in government’s functioning.
Role of CAG
• CAG helps maintain the separation of powers between legislature and executive by ensuring that the
government’s financial activities align with legislative intentions.
• Through its audit findings and recommendations, the CAG promotes good governance practices and helps
governments streamline their operations, reduce inefficiencies and adhere to financial discipline.
• As India’s democracy matures, the CAG’s role becomes even more vital in promoting good governance and
safeguarding the people’s interests.
Responsibility of CAG
• By placing the Indian citizen at the centre for implementation of government programmes and as ultimate
beneficiaries, there is an onerous expectation of the CAG to assess the preparedness and planning, as well as
to monitor and recommend corrective actions for realisation of these economic, social and environmental
aspirations.
• To effectively discharge this responsibility, it is important for audit to actively work in tandem with citizens,
appreciating their concerns and feedback.
• Citizen engagement guides audit in identifying high-risk areas of possible mismanagement and
inefficiencies in governance, thereby improving focus and effectiveness.
• In India’s federal, multiparty democracy with both Union and state governments responsible for
implementation of numerous schemes, projects and programmes, enhancing engagement with stakeholders
is imperative for audit.
Benefits of Technology
• Leveraging technology and digital solutions make audit’s citizen engagement more effective and scalable.
• With increasing mobile density, smartphone applications may be used to solicit society’s suggestions.
• Digital reports with interactive data visualisation tools lead to better understanding and appreciation of
our audit products.
• Deployment of 5G connectivity will transform governance.
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• We need to harness the potential of these new technologies in our stakeholders and citizen engagement
as well as overall audit strategies to make processes more efficient and effective.
Social Audit
• Social audit is an interesting tool for facilitating citizen oversight.
• The Parliament passed the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, whereby Gram Sabhas were
required to conduct regular social audits of all projects taken up under the scheme within the Gram
Panchayat.
• The Ministry of Rural Development in consultation with the C&AG office notified the Mahatma Gandhi
National Rural Employment Audit of Scheme Rules in 2011.
• The rules envisaged social audit units in each state as well as the audit process for social audit and follow-up
action. The ambit of social audit has been significantly enlarged since.
• The 73rd and 74th Constitutional amendments marked a quantum leap in India’s democratic set up, as
they created tiers of self-governance below the level of states.
• The structured origins of local governance in India can be traced to the “Janpadi and Pancha” system.
• Fast forwarding to independent India, the 1958 Balwant Rai Mehta Committee recommendations laid the
foundations for a three-tier structure for rural self-governance, culminating in the 73rd and 74th
amendments.
• Empowering PRIs and urban local bodies and municipalities, envisions people’s participation in the process
of planning, decision-making, implementation and delivery of a set of functions to be devolved to local
governments by state legislatures.
Auditing of Local Government

• The primary audit of the accounts of local governments and issue of audit certificates is done by local fund
auditors designated by state governments.
• Hand holding by the CAG to improve local governance, and, hence, strengthen democracy, includes capacity
building of state local fund auditors in Audit Planning and Audit Methodologies, through Technical Guidance
and Support (TGS) as recommended by the 11th Finance Commission.
• Over the years, CAG has issued numerous manuals/ guidance, forming the bedrock of auditing and
accounting by local governments.
• Annual Technical Inspection Reports (ATIR) are issued by CAG’s state audit offices entrusted with TGS.
• The primary focus of CAG’s local government audit is an assessment of how well the delivery of the
services pertaining to devolved functions have reached the last mile or the grassroots, through the efforts
of the local governments
• CAG in collaboration with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India has envisaged a set of online
courses to create a pool of accountants intended to be available at local level, competent to prepare urban
and rural local government accounts.
• Registration for these courses will commence on November 16, 2023, on Audit Diwas.
• Educational qualifications for eligibility have been prescribed at such level that these certified/ qualified
accountants should be available for service on periodic contracts at reasonable cost to local bodies.
Way forward
• Carrying forward this recognition of local self-governance as the true manifestation of democracy and the
CAG’s responsibility for ensuring accountability, an international centre for local governance has been
envisaged.
• This will serve as a centre of excellence for capacity building of local government auditors, both nationally
and internationally; and will serve as a knowledge centre and think-tank, addressing capacity building for
stakeholders at grass-roots level across the nation.
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Regulating political funding
In News
The recent Supreme Court hearing on the constitutionality of electoral bonds has focused attention on an issue that
goes to the heart of Indian democracy — the funding of political parties.
Election campaigning around the world

• US elections revolve around individual candidates’ campaign machinery. Even national presidential
campaigns are run, in large part, by individual candidates.
• On the other hand, in India, like in most other parliamentary systems, parties are central to electoral politics.
• The primary focus of the campaign finance framework in India needs to be parties, not individual
candidates.
A fruitful party funding framework requires attention to at least four key aspects
• Donations- Some individuals or organisations, for instance, foreign citizens or companies, may be banned
from making any donations. There may also be donation limits. Donation limits are aimed at ensuring that a
party is not captured by a few large donors — whether individuals, corporations, or civil society
organisations.
• Therefore, some jurisdictions rely on contribution limits for regulating the influence of money in politics. For
instance, the US federal law imposes different contribution limits on different types of donors. Some other
countries, such as the UK, do not impose contribution limits, but instead, rely on expenditure limits.
• Expenditure limits- If contribution limits are aimed at avoiding a political party capture, expenditure limits
safeguard politics from a financial arms race. It relieves parties from the pressure of competing for money
before they even start to compete for votes. Therefore, some jurisdictions impose an expenditure limit on
political parties.
• In the UK, for instance, a political party is not allowed to spend more than £30,000(approximately 30 Lakh
rupees) per seat contested by that party. However, the US Supreme Court’s highly expansive
interpretation of the First Amendment (freedom of expression) has been a major roadblock for various
legislative attempts at imposing expenditure limits. In addition to the regulation of donations and
expenditure, many countries also provide public funding of parties.
• Public financing- Broadly, there are two ways of implementing public funding. The most commonly used
method around the world is to set predetermined criteria. For instance, in Germany, parties receive public
funds on the basis of their importance within the political system. Generally, this is measured on the basis
of the votes they received in past elections, membership fees, and the amount of donations received from
private sources. Moreover, German “political party foundations” receive special state funding dedicated to
their work as party-affiliated policy think tanks.
• A relatively recent experiment in public funding is that of ‘democracy vouchers’, which is in place for local
elections in Seattle, US. Under this system, the government distributes a certain number of vouchers to
eligible voters.
• Each voucher is worth a certain amount. The voters can use these vouchers to donate to the candidate of
their choice. While the voucher is publicly funded, the decision to allocate the money is taken by
individual voters. Put simply, voters get to “vote” with their money before they cast their vote.
• However, some recent studies have pointed out that while this system may be more egalitarian, it may also
promote more extremist candidates. More generally, one of the problems with public funding is that unless
we decide to ban private funding altogether (likely to be a tall ask in India), public funding only tops up party
funds; it does not solve the challenging task of regulating private money.
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Disclosure requirements
• Disclosure is a less intrusive form of regulation. It does not outrightly prevent parties or donors from
receiving or making donations. Instead, disclosures nudge voters against electing politicians who have used
or are likely to use their public office for quid pro quo arrangements. As such, it may discourage parties from
using public office to benefit their donors.
• Disclosure as regulation rests on an assumption that the information supply and public scrutiny may
influence politicians’ decisions and the electorate’s votes. However, mandatory disclosure of donations to
parties is not always desirable.
• At times, donor anonymity serves a useful purpose of protecting donors. For instance, donors may face the
fear of retribution or extortion by the parties in power. The threat of retaliation may, in turn, deter donors
from donating money to parties of their liking.
• Many jurisdictions have struggled with striking an appropriate balance between the two legitimate concerns
— transparency and anonymity. Indeed, this is the issue that lies at the heart of the electoral bonds case.
Could we reap the benefits of anonymity, and yet, prevent quid pro quo arrangements? One such
experiment was attempted in Chile, which sought to ensure “complete anonymity” of party funding.
Balancing transparency and anonymity

• The most prominent response, then, is to balance legitimate public interests in transparency and anonymity.
Many jurisdictions strike this balance by allowing anonymity for small donors, while requiring disclosures of
large donations. For instance, in the UK, a political party needs to report the donations received from a
single source amounting to a total of more than £7,500 (roughly Rs. 7,50,000) in a calendar year. The
analogous limits in the US and Germany are $ 200 and €10,000 respectively.
• The argument in favour of this approach goes as follows: small donors are likely to be the least influential in
the government and most vulnerable to partisan victimisation. On the other hand, large donors are more
likely to strike quid pro quo arrangements with parties.
India’s challenges
• In India, there are no donation limits on individuals. Moreover, the Finance Act, 2017 also removed any
official contribution limits on companies. In other words, an individual or an organisation can donate as
much as they want to a political party. Similarly, there is no legal expenditure limit on expenditure by
political parties. A party can spend as much as it wants for its national or state-level campaign as long as it
does not spend that money towards the election of any specific candidate.
• However, parties are required to disclose donations of more than Rs 20,000, unless they are made through
electoral bonds. Parties are not required to disclose the sum or the source of any single donation that is
below Rs 20,000. This is where the legal loophole steps in — parties generally break large donations from a
single donor into multiple small donations. This practice exempts them from any disclosure requirement.
• Since 2017, electoral bonds enable large donors to hide their donations if they use official banking
channels. The bonds enable political parties and large donors to strike quid pro quo deals without any public
scrutiny. Even more importantly, the ability of the party in power to access the information about donors of
other parties (through law enforcement agencies) undermines the scheme of electoral bonds on its own
terms, i.e., to prevent victimisation of donors.
• Indian electioneering is no longer restricted to parties and candidates.
• Over the last decade, we have seen a staggering rise in the involvement of political consultancies, campaign
groups and civil society organisations in online and offline political campaigns.
• In the US, for instance, the relatively lax regulation of third-party expenditure has pushed a large amount
of political money to shadow campaigns that influence political outcomes but often fall outside of the
traditional objects of regulation of campaign finance. This should make us rethink the assumptions of 20th-
century Indian politics, which form the basis of our political funding framework.
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The government issued a directive on deepfake
In News
Recently, the Indian government instructed “social media intermediaries” to remove morphed videos or deepfakes
from their platforms within 24 hours of a complaint being filed, in accordance with a requirement outlined in the IT
Rules 2021.
Deepfakes
• Deepfakes have been around since 2017 and refer to videos, audios or images created using a form of
artificial intelligence called deep learning.
• The term became popular when a Reddit contributor used a publicly available AI-driven software to
impose the faces of celebrities onto the bodies of people in pornographic videos.
• Fast forward to 2023, deepfake tech, with the help of AI tools, allows semi- and unskilled individuals to
create fake content with morphed audio-visual clips and images.
• Researchers have observed a 230% increase in deepfake usage by cybercriminals and scammers, and have
predicted the technology would replace phishing in a couple of years, Cyfrima.
• Deepfake tech can be used to fictional material from scratch, unlike the morphing of an existing video seen
in the case of Rashmika Mandanna.
Working of Technology
• The technology involves modifying or creating images and videos using a machine learning technique
called generative adversarial network (GAN).
• The AI-driven software detects and learns the subjects’ movements and facial expressions from the source
material and then duplicates these in another video or image.
• To ensure that the deepfake created is as close to real as possible, creators use a large database of source
images.
• This is why more deepfake videos are created of public figures, celebrities and politicians.
• The dataset is then used by one software to create a fake video, while a second software is used to detect
signs of forgery in it.
• Through the collaborative work of the two software, the fake video is rendered until the second software
package can no longer detect the forgery.
• This is known as “unsupervised learning”, when machine-language models teach themselves. The method
makes it difficult for other software to identify deepfakes.
Laws in India
• Deepfakes are fast becoming a problem and are used by threat actors to spread misinformation online.
• However, there are laws which can be invoked to deter threat actors from creating deep fake videos.
• India’s IT Rules, 2021 require that all content reported to be fake or produced using deep fake be taken
down by intermediary platforms within 36 hours.
• The Indian IT ministry has also issued notices to social media platforms stating that impersonating online was
illegal under Section 66D of the Information Technology Act of 2000.
• The IT Rules, 2021, also prohibit hosting any content that impersonates another person and requires social
media firms to take down artificially morphed images when alerted.
Deepfake Voice
• A voice deepfake is one that closely mimics a real person’s voice.
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• The voice can accurately replicate tonality, accents, cadence, and other unique characteristics of the target
person.
• People use AI and robust computing power to generate such voice clones or synthetic voices.
• Sometimes it can take weeks to produce such voices, according to Speechify, a text-to-speech conversion
app.
Other uses of Deepfake Videos

• Apart from being used to create morphed images or videos to make fun, deepfakes have also been used to
create pornographic content.
• The technology could potentially be used to incite political violence, sabotage elections, unsettle diplomatic
relations, and spread misinformation.
• This technology can also be used to humiliate and blackmail people or attack organisations by presenting
false evidence against leaders and public figures.
• However, as is the case with all new tech, deepfakes have positive usages as well.
Laws around the world

• Different countries around the globe have passed legislations to curb the misuse of deepfake tech.
• The EU has issued guidelines for the creation of an independent network of fact-checkers to help analyse
the sources and processes of content creation.
• The EU’s code also requires tech companies including Google, Meta, and X to take measures in countering
deepfakes and fake accounts on their platforms.
• China has issued guidelines to service providers and users to ensure that any doctored content using
deepfake tech is explicitly labelled and can be traced back to its source.
• The United States of America has also introduced the bipartisan Deepfake Task Force Act to counter
deepfake technology.
Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita Bill
In News
The Government has introduced three Bills to replace the core laws, i.e., the Indian Penal Code (IPC), 1860, the
Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), 1973, and the Indian Evidence Act (IEA), 1872, which form the basis of the
criminal justice system.
Concerns related to the new bill

• First, whether these Bills exclude civil law. Usually, criminal law deals with issues that are seen as an offence
against the broader society or state while civil law deals with loss to a person. However, the CrPC includes
provisions for maintenance of wife and children after divorce.
• It also allows compounding of some offences by the affected person, which means the accused person is
acquitted. For example, a person who is cheated may decide to acquit the accused person.
• The question is whether such matters should be dealt with under the civil code. The new Bills retain these
provisions.
• Second, whether these Bills create a reformative system rather than a punitive system. There is a move
towards this by making community service as a form of punishment.
• However, several minor offences (such as keeping an unauthorised lottery office, which carries a maximum
penalty of six months imprisonment) are not compoundable, which means they will go through the process
of trial and conviction.
• Third, whether maintenance of public order and the process of criminal prosecution should be in the same
law.
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• The CrPC has provisions charting out the process of arrest and trial as well as items such as Section 144 that
empower the district magistrate to impose various restrictions. The new Bill retains this structure.
• Fourth, whether various directions of the Supreme Court of India have been codified in these proposed
laws. The Bill codifies the procedure for mercy petitions. However, there is no codification of various
directions related to arrests and bail
• Fifth, whether the Bills try to ensure consistency of implementation. Typically, penalties for offences
specify a range, with the judge expected to specify the sentence within the range based on the
circumstances of each case.
• However, for some offences, the range may be very wide; for example, the punishment is upto 10 years
imprisonment if a person cohabits with a woman whom he falsely convinces that he is married to her.
That is, the judge may pronounce a sentence anywhere between one day and 10 years. The new Bill retains
such wide ranges.
• Sixth, whether the age provisions have been updated for modern norms. The IPC specifies that a child
below the age of seven years cannot be accused of an offence.
• It provides such exemption until 12 years of age, if the child is found not to have attained the ability to
understand the nature and consequences of his conduct. The question is whether these age thresholds
should be raised.
• Seventh, whether gender related offences have been updated. The Bill is in line with the Supreme Court
judgment which struck down the offence of adultery.
• Section 377 of the IPC, which was read down by the Court to decriminalise same sex intercourse between
consenting adults has been dropped; consequently, the parts retained by that judgment including rape of a
male adult and bestiality have also been removed.
• The Justice Verma Committee, in 2013, had recommended making marital rape an offence; this has not
been done.

• The Bill replacing the IPC provides a person suffering from mental illness as a general exception from being
an offender (this was called unsound mind earlier).
• The definition of mental illness is the same as in the Mental Healthcare Act, 2017.
• That Act aims to provide medical treatment to persons suffering from mental illness, and, therefore,
excludes mental retardation or incomplete development; it also includes abuse of alcohol or drugs.
• Consequently, the new Bill will provide full exemption to someone who is addicted to alcohol or drugs but
not to a person who is unable to understand the consequences of their actions due to mental retardation.
Way forward
• The three laws had a number of illustrations from daily life to clarify their provisions. Some of these
illustrations have become obsolete but have still been retained.
• These include people riding chariots, firing cannons and being carried on palanquins.
• It may be useful to update these illustrations to events from modern life.
• These Bills will become the basis of the criminal justice system. Parliament should examine them with
great care so that they create a fair, just and efficient criminal justice system.
Draft Broadcasting Services (Regulation) Bill, 2023
In News
The Information & Broadcasting Ministry released the draft Broadcasting Services (Regulation) Bill, 2023, which
aims to bring a consolidated legal framework for the broadcasting sector and extend it to OTT content, digital news,
and current affairs as well.
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Key features
• The Bill essentially provides regulatory provisions for various broadcasting services under a single
legislative framework. It seeks to replace the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act of 1995 and other
policy guidelines currently governing the broadcasting sector in India.
• Moreover, the Bill extends its regulatory purview to encompass broadcasting OTT content, digital news and
current affairs currently regulated through the IT Act, 2000. It also includes provisions for emerging
broadcasting technologies, according to a government source.
• Consisting of six chapters, 48 sections and three Schedules, the Bill provides comprehensive definitions for
contemporary broadcasting terms along with other important technical terms to be defined in the statute
for the first time
• It introduces ‘Content evaluation committees’ for self-regulation and ‘Broadcast Advisory Council’ to
“advise the central government on programme code and advertisement code violations,”.
• The Bill provides statutory penalties like advisory, warning, censure, or monetary penalties, for operators
and broadcasters. Provision for imprisonment and/or fines is also there, but only for very serious offences,
such as obtaining registration with a false affidavit.
• “Monetary penalties and fines are linked to the financial capacity of the entity, taking into account their
investment and turnover to ensure fairness and equity,” according to the source.
• The Bill aims to make broadcasting more inclusive and accessible to people with disabilities. It promotes
the use of subtitles, audio descriptors, and sign language. The Bill has a provision for appointing a
“Disability Grievance officer".
• It also has provisions for infrastructure sharing among broadcasting network operators and carriage of
platform services.
• The Bill “streamlines the ‘Right of Way’ section to address relocation and alterations more efficiently, and
establishes a structured dispute resolution mechanism”.
Enhancing representation, for a just electoral system
In News
An Indian Member of Parliament (MP) is said to represent 2.5 million citizens, on average. In comparison, a U.S.
House of Representatives member typically represents approximately 7,00,000 citizens.
Representation of MPs
• In this year so far, India had around 4,126 Members of the Legislative Assembly, 543 Lok Sabha MPs and 245
Rajya Sabha MPs.
• 1,000-plus municipal councils/corporations with between 50 to 100 wards and approximately 2,38,000
panchayats with between five to 30 members on average at the national/State level, there is a clear deficit
in terms of their adequate representation in order to raise critical issues and enable law-making.
• our political system is riven with malapportionment, with legislative weight being skewed towards the
citizens of select States.
• Unlike India, the United States has a political system that seeks to engender malapportionment, with each
State given two senators in the U.S. Senate, enabling a block on legislation.
• In India, with its heterogeneous political system across States, malapportionment can mean empowering
select political outfits over others
Delimitation
• Delimitation could be a potential solution to restore proportionality — it has been utilised in the past.
• The Commission was set up four times in the past as an independent body, to enable redistricting.
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• In 1976, during the Emergency, the number of Lok Sabha seats was frozen, with delimitation pushed out to
2001, citing ongoing family planning policies, with a push to avoid punishing select States with effective
population control measures in place.
• Delimitation may have resumed when States had reduced their fertility rates, enabling parity.
• In February 2002, the 84th Amendment Act of the Constitution was introduced, which froze the number of
Lok Sabha seats until the first Census after 2026 (i.e., 2031).
Increase in seats
• Between 1971 and 2011, Rajasthan and Kerala, at 25 million and 21 million in population in 1971,
respectively, have seen a widening to 68 million and 33 million, respectively.
• Similarly, in the 2019 elections, each MP from Uttar Pradesh represented approximately three million voters,
while an MP from Lakshadweep represented about 55,000 voters.
• Assuming the number of parliamentary seats goes up to say 753 seats, States such as Tamil Nadu, Andhra
Pradesh, Telangana and Kerala might see an increase in seats of about 6%, with Karnataka potentially
seeing an 11% rise.
• Meanwhile, northern States such as Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan would see their
seats rise by 63%.
Factors affecting Delimitation

• States which have performed well in reducing their population growth, such as Tamil Nadu and Kerala, may
be punished.
• Delimitation is inevitable, but its deleterious consequences can be minimised.
• First, the number of seats in Parliament needs to increase significantly (at least around 848 seats to avoid
any State losing seats), helping to enhance democratic representation ratios.
• Delimitation should not be driven only by factors based on population.
• Geographical determinism, economic productivity, linguistic history, and a sense of fairness should also
play a part.
• In simpler terms, Sikkim’s voice must also be heard in Parliament even if Bihar has a greater population.
• The fiscal impact of delimitation on future transfers to States will also need to be rethought.
Reforms in electoral system

• Federalism needs to be promoted (past decades of centralisation that have impacted Centre-State relations),
and we need to give States a better voice and a platform to represent their interests.
• Constitutional reform can be pursued to give each state the same number of Rajya Sabha MPs.
• At the same time, direct elections for Rajya Sabha MPs should be promoted while ensuring that a domicile
requirement is added and stringently adhered to.
• Proportional representation can also be considered, especially for the Lok Sabha and State Assembly
elections.
• In Australia, lower-house elections have voters rank candidates on an alternative preference ballot — if a
candidate does not win a majority of votes in the first round, the weakest candidate is eliminated, with their
votes redistributed to the next preferred candidate.
• This goes on until there is a clear majority behind a candidate.
• In France, a double ballot system is conducted for National Assembly elections; if no candidate wins in the
first round, the second round sees only candidates with over 1/8th of total votes in the prior round
competing.
• India’s first-past-the-post system may ensure quicker election results. But still, it does ensure that a legislator
often represents a constituency without a majority of votes.
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Need of mores states

• The largest State (highest resident population) in the United States, California, has a population of just 39
million, with the average State having a population of about five to six million.
• Around 22 Indian States/Union Territories have a population higher than that. The States Reorganisation
Commission was set up in 1953, creating nearly 14 linguistic States and six Union Territories.
• There is potential for India to have more States (moving up from 29 to say 50 or even 75 States); for
example, a State such as Uttar Pradesh, is simply too big to be governed well as a single unit.
• A concern about North Indian or large States dominating the polity would be alleviated if we had more and
smaller-sized States.
• A New State Reorganisation Commission may be set up after the next election to evaluate the socio-
economic and administrative viability of select to-be States (for example, Bundelkhand, Gorkhaland, Jammu,
Karu Nadu, Kongu Nadu, Mithila, Saurashtra, Tulu Nadu and Vidarbha).
• We have enough linguistic States — States must be split up/redesigned to enhance administrative efficiency
and democratic accountability.
Urban Governance
• India has 8,000-plus urban settlements, but the number of mayors remains in the low hundreds.
• Every Census town may have a fixed-tenure mayor elected in direct elections.
• Direct elections could enhance democratic representation while improving efficiency in urban governance.
• Such mayors must also be empowered, with decision-making ability over 18 critical functions — for example,
urban planning, water supply, fire, land use regulations and slum improvement), as outlined by the
Constitution (74th Amendment Act). Select States such as Bihar and Rajasthan must be pushed to loosen
their grip on city-level authorities/functions.
Way forward
• Enhancing local democratic representation will help strengthen India’s democracy.
• Such measures might help alleviate the concerns of citizens in varied parts of India and to enhance its
democracy.
• Any child from the northeast or south of India could aspire to become a Prime Minister.
• One hopes our policymakers have the wisdom to ensure a just electoral system.
Community rights and forest conservation
In News
The Forest Conservation Amendment Act of 2023 has received limited attention and little discussion about its
impact on forests and its inhabitants.
New Amendments
• At first glance, the amendment primarily aims to tackle the critical issues of climate change and
deforestation’s adverse effects, focusing on effective management and afforestation.
• The law further aims to determine how forests can be utilised for economic gain, and the manner in which it
seeks to achieve this goal is outlined in the legislation.
• The primary method used to achieve this objective involves removing forests from the law’s jurisdiction,
thereby facilitating various forms of economic exploitation.
• As per the amendment, the forest law will now apply exclusively to areas categorised under the 1927
Forest Act and those designated as such on or after October 25, 1980.
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• The Act will not be applicable to forests that were converted for non-forest use on or after December 12,
1996 and land which falls under 100 kilometres from the China and Pakistan border where the central
government can build linear projects.
• To establish security infrastructure and facilities for surveillance, the central government is authorised to
construct security measures in areas up to ten hectares.
• This provision also applies to areas (up to five hectares) which are designated as vulnerable.
• Within these regions, the government, with the necessary approvals, can implement security protocols as
described above. Initiatives like ecotourism, safari, environmental entertainment, and more may be
implemented in these areas.
• The main objective of these initiatives is to improve the livelihoods of those reliant on forest resources, a
goal that has drawn criticism from tribal communities and human rights activists.
Factors behind amendment

• The Godavarman Thirumulkpad case, a prominent legal dispute that came before the Supreme Court in
1996, led to an interpretation of forest land in accordance with its ‘dictionary meaning’.
• Subsequently, all private forests were brought under the ambit of the 1980 law.
• This has been a subject of debate as it was argued that the legislation primarily aims to restrict forest land
from being used for various non-forest purposes, including the conversion of land for large-scale industries.
• The law has faced significant opposition, especially from private landowners, individuals, and
organisations involved in forest conservation, for its perceived adverse impact on the country’s industrial
progress.
• In other words, the need to exclude forest land from the legal framework was mainly driven by the
requirements of the industrial classes in the country.
• It is in this context that concerns regarding the Forest Conservation Act tend to resurface periodically,
echoing the apprehensions of indigenous communities and human rights activists.
Amendments in 2016 & 2017

• The Forest Conservation Act underwent important amendments in 2016 and 2017, which stipulated that
prior consent from the tribal grama sabha was mandatory for any alterations to forests for non-forest
purposes.
• However, the recent revisions to the legislation have removed the necessity for such consent.
• Nevertheless, in this situation, State governments can proactively engage in specific activities within this
framework through the inclusion of grama sabhas, particularly in matters of land acquisition for various
purposes, by establishing State-level steering committees.
Compensatory afforestation
• Compensatory afforestation, as outlined in the new legislation, encompasses various projects and schemes
that can be undertaken by both private individuals and organisations (including large corporations) for
afforestation or reforestation purposes.
• The goal of the new amendment is to streamline the process.
• However, there is apprehension regarding the potential environmental implications of this amendment.
• The law mandates that for every parcel of land that is lost due to afforestation efforts, an equivalent
amount of land must be afforested elsewhere.
• It does not specify the type of trees that should be planted, leaving room for discretion.
Forest rights act

• The FRA has had notable impacts in various regions, such as the Mendha-Lekha in Maharashtra, Loyendi in
Odisha, and Malakkappara in Kerala.
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• Despite the initial enthusiasm, it appears that both the Central and State governments have become less
enthusiastic about implementing the FRA in their States.
• The State government and its bureaucracy hold the view that granting community rights under the FRA
could weaken the State’s authority over the forest.
• They anticipate potential legal challenges to any such endeavours.
• To navigate this situation, the government has opted to reduce or dilute the extent of forest areas, rather
than amend the FRA, thereby limiting the potential for additional Adivasi claims.
• The amendment also fails to address the growing issue of human-animal conflicts in forest areas,
particularly in the Adivasi hamlets of the Western Ghats region.
• This conflict not only endangers the livelihoods of the Adivasis but also poses a threat to wildlife.
Problems
• The concept of afforestation, which offers considerable financial incentives to private individuals and
institutions for afforestation projects, fundamentally clashes with the idea of forest governance.
• Furthermore, it contradicts the concept of decentralised forest governance as forests in the country fall
under the concurrent list.
• Such governance practices are against the spirit of federal norms.
• Moreover, defining strategic linear projects becomes exceptionally complex and vague.
• Unlike external security threats like border disputes and cross-border skirmishes, internal environmental
security should also be considered a significant concern, especially in States that consistently face natural
disasters. Regrettably, this priority is not guaranteed.
Why IAS coaching centres being probed by CCPA?
In News
Recently, the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) said that it was probing 20 IAS coaching institutes for
making misleading claims in their advertisements and for unfair trade practices.
Observation made by CCPA

• Every time the results of any competitive exam, including the UPSC Civil Services, are announced, coaching
institutes would go an advertising spree.
• Names and pictures of the top rankers are used in these ads to indicate their enrolment at the institute.
• However, they do not disclose the nature of the enrolment, that is, the course they might have pursued in
the institute.
• CCPA has observed that most rank holders showcased in the advertisements only took mock interviews from
these institutes.
• In fact, coaching institutes have been found to provide mock interviews free of cost, since it serves their own
interests.
• This information is not disclosed in the advertisements, which ideally must include the course they enrolled
for (which could be a test series, learning course or a revision course).
• Thus, it would qualify as deliberate concealment of important information and categorisation as a
‘misleading advertisement’ under Section 2(28) of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019.
• First time violations may invite penalties up to Rs 10 lakh.
• Subsequent violations may attract penalties up to Rs 50 lakh, with other potential legal action should the
non-compliance continue.
Coaching centre claim

• At present, four institutes have been fined — Chahal Academy, IQRA IAS, Rau’s IAS Study Circle and IAS Baba.
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• While IAS Baba has received a stay on the probe from the Karnataka High Court, Rau’s IAS has appealed
against the order in the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCRDC).
• Other coaching institutes currently being probed include Vajirao and Reddy Institute, KSG- Khan Study Group
IAS, Drishti IAS, Sriram IAS, NEXT IAS and Vision IAS, among others.
• During the probe, the institutes were given the opportunity to make their submissions against the
allegations of exaggerated claims.
• Their submissions reveal some of the same concerns raised by the CCPA.
• For example, Khan Study Group claimed that 682 of the 933 selected belonged to their institute.
• However, their submission indicated that 673 students took mock interviews, and 9 students were enrolled
in test series and general studies programmes.
• Vajirao and Reddy also professed about 617 selections – all of whom took the interview guidance
programme.
• Drishti IAS claimed more than 216 selections in their interviews. All of them had taken the interview
guidance and mentorship programme.
India's Coaching Industry

• Over the last two years, the self-regulatory body has processed more than 3,300 education ads, including
those by coaching classes targeting students for competitive exams.
• Most violations would be in the areas of leadership claims, placement to best colleges, success assurances
etc.
• While there is fierce pressure in education, misleading ads in the category often perpetuate the problem and
end up targeting vulnerable students and parents.
• The coaching class market in India is expected to reach about Rs 1.79 lakh crore by 2030 and grow at a
Compounded Annual Growth Rate of 14.07% over a forecast period of 2023-30.
• Categorising the market based on types and channels, it highlights that higher education holds the largest
market share — of about 32.75% in 2022. This is expected to increase to 34.75% over the same forecast
period.
• There is intense competition in India’s education sector, particularly when it comes to preparing for entrance
exams and board examinations.
• Students and their parents are increasingly turning to coaching classes to gain a competitive edge and
improve their academic performance.
• The CCPA also observed that coaching for students (typically) starts from 10 years of age and goes on until
the next two decades.
• While Delhi is considered the hub of UPSC CSE coaching, approximately two lakh students move to Kota
annually (primarily for IIT-JEE coaching).
• With migration also forming a part of the landscape, the coaching centre system is further complimented
by the demand for associated services such as rented accommodation in nearby areas and local tiffin
services, among other things.
• This according to Infinium Global Research, “has led to a surge in demand for rented accommodation, such
as hostels, paying guest (PG) accommodations and shared apartments,” with local property owners catering
to this demand and, thereby, “creating a thriving real estate market in these areas.”
What is Adultery?
In News
The Parliamentary Committee on Home Affairs has suggested that adultery should be re-instituted as a crime in the
Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023, the proposed law to replace the Indian Penal Code (IPC), 1860.
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Legal Position of Adultery

• Until 2018, the IPC contained Section 497, which defined adultery as a criminal offence that attracted up to
five years in prison, or a fine, or both.
• However, only men could be punished under Section 497, not women.
• The section read: Whoever has sexual intercourse with a person who is and whom he knows or has
reason to believe to be the wife of another man, without the consent or connivance of that man, such
sexual intercourse not amounting to the offence of rape, is guilty of the offence of adultery… In such case
the wife shall not be punishable as an abettor.”
• This was contrary to both the common understanding and the dictionary definition of adultery, which is
simply voluntary sexual intercourse between a married person, man or woman, and someone other than
that person’s current spouse or partner.
• In Joseph Shine vs Union Of India (September 27, 2018), a five-judge Bench of the Supreme Court led by
then Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dipak Misra, and comprising current CJI D Y Chandrachud, and Justices A M
Khanwilkar, R F Nariman, and Indu Malhotra, unanimously struck down Section 497 of the IPC on grounds
that included discrimination.
Recommendation
• The 350-page report on the BNS, 2023, which was adopted by the Committee, said that adultery should be
reinstated as a criminal offence, but it should be made gender-neutral — that is, both men and women
should be punished for it.
• The Committee recommended: “…This section only penalised the married man, and reduced the married
woman to be a property of her husband… The Committee is of the view that the institution of marriage is
considered sacred in Indian society and there is a need to safeguard its sanctity.”
• The report has argued that Section 497 was struck down on grounds of discrimination, and making it gender-
neutral would address this deficiency.
Section 497
• The discriminatory nature of Section 497, and its “manifest arbitrariness” in punishing only men for
adultery, was just one of the grounds on which the court had struck down the provision.
• Section 497 was violative of Articles 14, 15, and 21 of the Constitution (which protect the fundamental
rights to equality, non-discrimination, and life respectively).
• The husband is neither master of his wife, nor does he have legal sovereignty over her — and that “any
system treating a woman with indignity … invites the wrath of the Constitution.
• Section 497 was “replete with anomalies” — for instance, an adulterous relationship would not be an
offence if the married woman had her husband’s consent. Also, a wife could not prosecute her husband or
his lover, even if they committed this offence.
• The court also struck down Section 198(2) of the CrPC to the extent that it applies to the offence of
adultery under Section 497.
• Section 198(2) CrPC says that in certain cases, courts can take cognizance of a matter only if approached by
an aggrieved party and, in cases of adultery, only the husband shall be deemed as “aggrieved”.
State funding of Elections
In News
A Constitution Bench headed by the Chief Justice of India, D.Y. Chandrachud, recently reserved its judgment on
petitions challenging the validity of the electoral bonds scheme.
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Pubic funding of elections

• Public funding of elections can certainly bring transparency in the poll process, but it depends on how it is
done.
• Four reports have looked into the viability of state funding of elections.
• The Indrajit Gupta Committee Report, the Law Commission of India Report of 1999, the Report of the
Second Administrative Reforms Commission in 2008, and the National Commission to review the working
of the Constitution Report of 2001.
• The first three said that state funding is desirable to an extent.
• The Indrajit Gupta Committee Report says state funding should be done only in kind and not in cash.
• It also says that state funding of elections would be a waste of public resources unless it is accompanied by
factors such as democratisation of political parties and decriminalisation of the political process.
• It says unless there is internal democracy in political parties, state funding of elections will be a waste of
public money.
• So, it lays down conditions under which public funding of elections can be, and should be, considered, and
not necessarily adopted.
• State funding is viable only if parties are internally and demonstrably democratic in their functioning,
transparent in their financial affairs, and there is a reliable mechanism of ensuring that parties and
candidates do not accept money from other sources.
Provision for Election Funding

• If an amount is to be set aside for public funding of elections, we need to know how much money was
spent in the last election.
• That number depends on a couple of factors. First, the money that the Election Commission of India spent.
• This data is available and reasonably accurate. Second, the amount spent by political parties and
candidates.
• This figure is known only to political parties and candidates who contest elections.
Models across the World

• There are some 34 countries where state funding of elections is available in some form or the other.
• The highest proportion of state funding of elections is in Norway, which is about 74% of the total expenses
on the election. But there are different models.
• In some countries only parties get the fund, candidates do not. There are countries where it’s the other way
round.
• In most countries where there is public funding of elections, there are also strict transparency requirements.
• In the U.S., there is a rule that if the presidential candidate raises X amount of money, they are eligible to
receive an equal amount of money from the government.
• But this is subject to certain conditions. In the last two or three presidential elections, no candidate has
accepted government money.
• They have said that they do not want to accept these conditions and that they are able to raise enough
money on our own.
Way Forward
• If there is to be any public funding of elections, then there would be complete transparency about the
money spent by the party or the candidate in the election.
• If a candidate or a party is allowed to accept other money in addition to public money, there is a very serious
problem. And that is the reason why no political party has taken it forward.
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Sub-categorisation within castes
In News
Recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi promised to look into the sub-categorisation of Scheduled Castes (SCs) to
identify and help the most backward among them.
Legal issue of Sub-categorisation

• The issue first reached the courts when the Andhra Pradesh government in 1996 formed a one-man
Commission of Justice Ramachandra Raju, which recommended sub-categorisation of SCs in the State based
on evidence that some communities were more backward and had less representation than others.
• When the State government tried to implement this recommendation, the matter went to the judiciary,
eventually making its way to the Supreme Court, which in 2004, held that the State did not have the power
to unilaterally sub-categorise communities in the list of SCs or Scheduled Tribes (STs).
• The Constitution has provided that these lists can only be made by Parliament and notified by the
President.
• However, while hearing a challenge to Punjab’s attempt at doing the same, a five-judge Bench headed by
Justice Arun Mishra had held in a 2020 judgment, that deciding on the quantum of benefits in the lists of
SCs/STs already notified would not amount to “tinkering” with it and that States could do it.
Article 16
• The Union government formed a National Commission to look into the question of sub-categorising SCs in
Andhra Pradesh and the then Cabinet recommended an amendment to Article 341 of the Constitution of
India to allow for it.
• But both the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) and the National Commission for
Scheduled Tribes (NCST) had opined that a constitutional amendment was not necessary.
• They said that Article 16(4) of the Constitution already provided for States to create special laws for any
backward classes it felt was under-represented.
Recommendations of Various Commissions

• Both the SC and ST Commissions have noted that allotting separate reservations within the categories
would not really address the root cause of the problem.
• In an internal note prepared by the NCST, it had explained that the most backward SCs are lagging so far
behind forward SC communities that a separate quota would not help.
• It said that the idea was to ensure representation at all levels. But given the disparity, even if posts were
reserved at higher levels, these most backward SCs would not have enough candidates to be considered for
it in the first place.
• Both the NCSC and the NCST had thus recommended that existing schemes and government benefits
should first reach these sections before any sub-categorisation.
Way Forward
What is primarily needed is concrete population numbers of each community and sub-community and their
respective socio-economic data, which are the only thing that can provide a reasonable ground to decide how castes
can be categorised, how much percentage should be given, etc.”
Mandatory reporting provision under POCSO
In News
Failure to report sexual crimes against minors is a bailable offence, the Himachal Pradesh High Court recently ruled.
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Section 21 of POSCO act

• The classification of offences under the CrPC “clearly” states that offences punishable with imprisonment of
less than three years are bailable and non-cognizable.
• Section 21 of the POCSO Act prescribes imprisonment of 6 months to a year — thus making it a bailable
offence.
• Section 19 of the POCSO states that anyone having “apprehension” that an offence under POCSO is likely to
be committed, or knowledge that such an offence has been committed, “shall” provide such information to
the Special Juvenile Police Unit (SJPU) or the police.
• The term “any person” also includes a child who may report an offence.
• This reporting provision becomes binding due to Section 21 of the POCSO Act, which prescribes
punishment for failing to report the commission of an offence under Section 19.
• Imprisonment of six months to one year, or a fine, or both is prescribed under Section 21.
• children cannot be held liable for failing to report the commission of a sexual offence.
• Similarly, children making false complaints or giving false information are also exempt from punishment
under Section 22 of the Act.
Supreme Court Judgement

• In 2013, a two-judge bench of the SC in Shankar Kisanrao Khade vs. State of Maharashtra ruled that “the
non-reporting of the crime by anybody, after having come to know that a minor child below the age of 18
years was subjected to any sexual assault, is a serious crime.”
• The apex court, in this ruling, put an even greater obligation on certain categories of professionals, such as
medical practitioners and those in charge of educational institutions to report cases of child sexual abuse to
the nearest Juvenile Justice Board, or Special Juvenile Police Unit.
• This created a conundrum for medical practitioners, since their professional ethics require them to maintain
the confidentiality of their clients.
• For the limited purposes of providing medical termination of pregnancy under the MTP Act, the court said
that the registered medical practitioner, only on request of the minor and their guardians, can be exempted
from disclosing the minor’s identity and personal details under Section 19(1) of the POCSO Act or in any
criminal proceedings that may ensue from the RMP’s report under Section 19(1).
Governor’s right to withhold assent
In News
Tamil Nadu’s Governor R N Ravi’s decision to withhold assent to 10 pending Bills has raised fresh legal questions on
the powers of the Governor.
Governor role in Indian Constitution

• While Article 163 of the Constitution deals with the powers of the Governor generally, Article 200
specifically deals with the issue of granting assent to Bills.
• Both the provisions are read together to determine the contours of the power the Governor holds on this
issue.
• When a Bill passed by the legislature of a state is presented to the Governor, the Governor has four
options:
• Grant assent to the Bill;
• Withhold assent to the Bills;
• Return the Bills for reconsideration; or
• Reserve the Bill for the consideration of the President.
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• Article 200 reads: “When a Bill has been passed by the Legislative Assembly of a State or, in the case of a
State having a Legislative Council, has been passed by both Houses of the Legislature of the State, it shall
be presented to the Governor and the Governor shall declare either that he assents to the Bill or that he
withholds assent therefrom or that he reserves the Bill for the consideration of the President.”
• However, the Article has a key proviso. It says that the Governor “may, as soon as possible” return Bills other
than money Bills, with a message requesting that the House reconsider it in parts or in whole. However, once
the Legislative House reconsiders the Bill and sends it to the Governor once again, the Governor “shall not
withhold assent therefrom”.
• The proviso says the Governor must return the Bill “as soon as possible” but does not prescribe a specific
timeframe. Raj Bhavans have exploited this ambiguity to sit on Bills indefinitely without returning them to
the state legislature.
Discretion of Governor
• An indefinite timeline in deciding on Bills can in effect amount to paralysing the elected government.
• At the same time, giving assent to Bills is one of the few areas in which the Governor can exercise his
discretion. But again, this discretion cannot be used arbitrarily or based on a personal preference, but only in
Constitutional terms with cogent reasons.
• Additionally, Article 200 uses the word “shall” which indicates that the framers of the Constitution
intended a mandatory tone for the Governor on this aspect.
• The Supreme Court in its landmark 2016 ruling in the Arunachal Pradesh Assembly case (Nabam Rebia and
Bamang Felix vs Deputy Speaker) discussed this aspect briefly.
• Of course, the Governor cannot withhold assent to a Bill indefinitely but must return it to the Assembly with
a message and this could include his recommendation for amendments to the Bill.
• This is the subject matter of Rule 102 and Rule 103 of the Rules which read as follows: “102 (1) When a Bill
passed by the Assembly is returned to the Assembly by the Governor with a message requesting that the
Assembly do reconsider the Bill or any specified provisions thereof or any such amendments as are
recommended in his message, the Speaker shall read the message of the Governor in the Assembly if in
session, or if the Assembly is not in session, direct that it may be circulated for the information of the
member
• A Governor cannot be made a party before the Supreme Court. Generally, therefore, the court issues
notice to the Secretary of the Governor in such disputes.
HC has struck down Haryana’s private sector quota
In News
The Punjab and Haryana High Court quashed a law passed by the Haryana government in 2020 that provided 75%
reservation in private jobs to residents of the state.
Reservation law
• The Bill passed by the Haryana Assembly in November 2020 reserved 75% of jobs in the private sector that
offered a monthly salary of less than Rs 30,000 (originally Rs 50,000) for residents of Haryana.
• The Bill received the Governor’s assent on March 2, 2021, and came into effect on January 15, 2022.
• Recently, Andhra Pradesh Assembly had passed The Andhra Pradesh Employment of Local Candidates in
the Industries/Factories Bill, 2019, reserving three-fourths of jobs for local candidates within three years
of the commencement of the Act.
• The law was challenged in the Andhra Pradesh High Court, which observed that “it may be unconstitutional”.
However, the challenge is yet to be heard on merits.
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• All companies, societies, trusts, limited liability partnership firms, partnership firms, and large individual
employers were covered under the Act. Any person employing 10 or more people on salary, wages, or
other remuneration for manufacturing or providing any service, as well as any entity that may be notified
by the government, were included.
• However, central or state governments or organisations owned by them were kept outside the ambit of the
Act.
• According to the law, a candidate “domiciled in State of Haryana”, called a “local candidate”, could avail of
the reservation after registering themselves on a designated online portal. Employers were required to make
recruitments only through this portal.
Grounds for Challenge

• The Faridabad Industries Association and other Haryana-based associations went to court, contending that
Haryana wanted to create reservations in the private sector by introducing a policy of “sons of the soil”,
which was an infringement of the constitutional rights of employers.
• The petitioners argued that private sector jobs are purely based on skills and an analytical bent of mind,
and employees have a fundamental right to work in any part of India.
• Therefore, they argued, “The act of the respondent (government) forcing the employers to employ local
candidates in private sector vide this impugned Act is the violation of the federal structure framed by the
Constitution of India, whereby the government cannot act contrary to public interest and cannot benefit one
class”.
• The Haryana government argued that it had the power to create such reservations under Article 16(4) of
the Constitution, which says that the right to equality in public employment does not prevent the State from
“making any provision for the reservation of appointments or posts in favour of any backward class of
citizens which, in the opinion of the State, is not adequately represented in the services under the State”.
Judgement by HC
• The court noted that Section 6 — which required employers to submit quarterly reports with details of local
candidates employed and appointed — and Section 8 — under which authorised officers could call for
documents or verification to ensure the law was being implemented — of the Act amounted to “Inspector
Raj”, and that private employers were being put under the State’s anvil on whom to employ.
• Also, the bar, under Section 20 of the Act, on legal proceedings against any authorised or designated officer
acting in “good faith”, tied the employer’s hands, the court said.
• The court ruled that the state’s action amounted to exercising “absolute control over a private employer,”
which is “forbidden for public employment.”
• The restrictions were “gross to the extent that a person’s right to carry on occupation, trade, or business”
under Article 19(1)(g) of the Constitution was being impaired, the court said.
• Also, the court said, the state “cannot as such discriminate against the individuals on account of the fact that
they do not belong to a certain State”.
The role of the Governor in legislature
In News
• Tamil Nadu Governor R. N. Ravi has ‘withheld’ assent for certain Bills passed by the Tamil Nadu Legislative
Assembly.
• This follows the Supreme Court expressing ‘serious concern’ over inaction by the Governor on Bills presented
for his assent.
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Role of Governor
Article 200 of the Constitution lays down that when a Bill, passed by a State Legislature, is presented to the
Governor for their assent, they have four alternatives — may give assent to the Bill; may withhold assent to the Bill,
that is, reject the Bill in which case the Bill fails to become law; may return the Bill (if it is not a Money Bill) for
reconsideration of the State Legislature; or may reserve the Bill for the consideration of the President.

• As held by the Supreme Court in various cases including the Shamsher Singh case (1974), the Governor
does not exercise their discretionary powers while withholding assent or returning a Bill to the State
Legislature.
• They are required to act as per the advice of the Council of Ministers.
• The situation of ‘withholding assent’ may arise in case of a Private Members’ Bill (any Member of State
Legislature other than a Minister) passed by the State Legislature, which the council of ministers do not want
to be enacted into a law.
• In such an instance, they would advise the Governor to ‘withhold assent’.
• However, this is an unlikely scenario as the council of ministers who enjoy a majority in the Legislative
Assembly would not allow the passage of such a Bill.
• Secondly, if the incumbent government whose Bill has been passed by the legislature falls or resigns
before it is assented to by the Governor, the new council may advise the Governor to ‘withhold assent’.
• The return of any Bill to State Legislature for reconsideration is also to be done based on ministerial advice.
• However, Governors in the past have exercised their discretion in returning Bills, like the Tamil Nadu
Governor with respect to the Bill prohibiting online gambling. However, the Governor shall assent to such a
Bill if it is passed again by the State Legislature.
• The Governor must reserve certain Bills, like those which reduce the powers of the High Court, for the
consideration of the President.
• They may also reserve Bills on concurrent list that are repugnant to a Union law based on ministerial advice.
• It is only under rare circumstances that the Governor may exercise their discretion, where they feel that
the provisions of the Bill will contravene the provisions of the Constitution and therefore, should be
reserved for the consideration of the President.
• It must however be noted that the Constitution does not lay down any time limit within which the Governor
is required to make a decision.
Recommendations
• The Sarkaria Commission (1987) has submitted that it is only the reservation of Bills for consideration of
the President, that too under rare cases of unconstitutionality, that can be implied as a discretionary
power of the Governor.
• Save in such exceptional cases, the Governor must discharge his functions under Article 200 as per the
advice of ministers.
• It further recommended that the President should dispose of such Bills within a maximum period of six
months.
• In the event of the President ‘withholding assent’, the reasons should be communicated to the State
Government wherever possible.
• The Punchhi Commission (2010), had recommended that the Governor should take a decision with respect
to a Bill presented for their assent within a period of six months. However, these recommendations have not
been implemented till date.
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Solution
• The Governor acts as an appointee of the Centre who may be required for maintaining the unity and
integrity of the nation in critical times.
• However, federalism is a basic feature of our Constitution and the Governor’s office should not undermine
the powers of elected governments at the States.
• The Constitution may be amended to provide that the Chief Ministers shall be consulted before appointment
of the Governors.
• The recommendation of the Punchhi Commission that Governors may be removed through an
impeachment by the State Legislature can also be considered.
• This would arm the State legislatures with the power to remove an uncooperative Governor.
• These amendments would have a salutary effect on the Central and State Governments resulting in
responsible cooperation in the matters of appointment and functioning of the Governors.
The debate over appropriate age of admission to Class 1
In News
• Schools in Delhi this year will continue to admit students to Class 1 below the age of 6 years.
• This is contrary to recent letters from the Union government to all states, urging them to align the age of
entry to Class 1 with the new National Education Policy 2020.
NEP 2020
• The new NEP pitches for a “5+3+3+4” design for formal schooling corresponding to the age groups 3-8
years (foundational stage), 8-11 years (preparatory stage), 11-14 years (middle stage), and 14-18 years
(secondary stage).
• This brings early childhood education (also known as pre-school education for children of ages 3 to 5 years)
under the ambit of formal schooling.
• This effectively means that a child should be 6 years old to be eligible for admission into Class 1, after
completing three years of early childhood education.
Rules followed by States

• Since the launch of NEP 2020, the Union Education Ministry has been writing to the States and Union
Territories, urging them to “align” their age for admission to Class 1 at six years, in accordance with the new
national education policy.
• Given that the age of entry varies across states — some admit students to Class 1 after reaching the age of 5,
while others admit at 6 years — whenever the Centre issues a reminder emphasising the NEP provision and
its adherence, the matter gains attention in the news.
• This year, and until very recently, after the Education Ministry sent another reminder to the states regarding
aligning the entry age, the Delhi government decided, at least for this academic year, to continue with its
existing guidelines in accordance with the Delhi School Education Rules (DSEAR 1973), which permit
admission to Class 1 below the age of 6 years.
RTE 2009
• The RTE Act guarantees education from the age of 6 years to 14 years.
• This means that a child is expected to begin elementary education (read: Class 1) at the age of 6 years.
• According to academicians who were associated with the drafting of the Right to Education law, the age of 6
years was identified considering the universal age that most countries across the world have been following,
i.e. to admit a child into grade one at the age of 6 or 7.
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• RTE Act had to specify the entry age for enforcement of formal compulsory education which has been
ignored even now by many States leading to the confusion of the actual age for admitting students
grade1.
• In fact, most of the clauses in the RTE Act have remained unimplemented fully.
Studies across the world

• Studies have compared groups of children in New Zealand who started formal literacy lessons at ages 5 and
7.
• Their results show that the early introduction of formal learning approaches to literacy does not improve
children’s reading development, and may be damaging.
• By the age of 11, there was no difference in reading ability level between the two groups, but the children
who started at 5 developed less positive attitudes to reading and showed poorer text comprehension than
those children who had started later.
• In a separate study of reading achievement in 15-year-olds across 55 countries, researchers showed that
there was no significant association between reading achievement and school entry age.”
Age for formal Education

• Six is the standard age for starting primary school across East Asia, not just in Japan.
• This age is also common in most European countries. It is usual (though not compulsory) for younger
children in these societies to attend some sort of preschool. In this regard, the USA and the UK, where
children generally start school at 5, appear to be outliers.
• Scandinavian countries, on the other hand, start at 7 because they have universal child care.
• The childcare aspect of schooling needs to be borne in mind.
• In England and the USA, childcare provision for under-5s is patchy and expensive, whereas in Scandinavia,
care for the under-7s is universal and state-supported.
A fact check unit that is unconstitutional
In News
The Government of Tamil Nadu issued an order recently to set up a Fact Check Unit with the intent of checking
across all media platforms the authenticity of information related to the Government of Tamil Nadu.
Fact Check Unit

• Recently, Government of India had amended the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and
Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, to set up a fact check unit in order to identify “fake, false or
misleading” information in respect of “any business of the Central Government”.
• These rules were challenged before the Bombay High Court, and the judgment is expected to be delivered
on December 1.
• The Government of India gave an undertaking to the High Court that the fact check unit will not be notified
until the judgment.
• Even though the GO has a passing reference to these provisions of the IT Rules, it does not disclose the
undertaking given by the Government of India to the Bombay High Court.
Powers of Fact Check Unit

• The fact check unit has been given powers to take suo motu cognisance of social media posts/articles that
require fact checking.
• Needless to say, it can also act on complaints received by them from anyone.
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• Identified complaints are then researched using various fact checking tools and verified through
government sources such as websites, press releases, and government social media accounts.
• The information will then be split into actionable and non-actionable pools.
• Complaints under the first category will then be forwarded to the authorities concerned to initiate legal
action.
• Further, after verifying the authenticity of the information from the authorised source of the government,
the fact check unit will disseminate creative contents through its social media platforms to create awareness.
Violation of Fundamental Rights

• There is no doubt that it creates a chilling effect on the freedom of speech and expression, a fundamental
right guaranteed under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution.
• This can only be reasonably restricted under Article 19(2) in the interest of the sovereignty and integrity of
India, security of the state, friendly relations with foreign states, public order, decency or morality, or in
relation to contempt of court, defamation or incitement to an offence.
• More importantly, such restriction under Article 19(2) can only be by way of a “law”, which, as held by the
Supreme Court of India, must be legislation passed by the State. Thus, it is settled law that a GO cannot
impose restrictions on the freedom of speech and expression.
• It is also pertinent to note that “public interest” is not a ground under Article 19(2) to restrict the freedom
of speech and expression
• The fact check unit has been tasked with checking the authenticity of any information related to the
Government of Tamil Nadu.
• Now, the phrase “information related to the Government of Tamil Nadu” has not been defined in the GO,
thereby making it unconstitutionally vague and arbitrary.
• Would an opinion authored by an economist criticising economic/social policies of the government or an
investigative article by a journalist fall under the lens of the fact check unit? This ambiguity will have a
chilling effect on the freedom of speech and expression of Indian citizens.
• This will effectively choke the flow of information to the public, which goes against the principles of
participative democracy.
• The scheme of the GO does not provide for an opportunity of hearing to the author of the post, who can be
a journalist, researcher, comedian, satirist, or members of the opposition political party.
• Thus, the government has become the judge, jury, and executioner on the authenticity of any information
related to the Government of Tamil Nadu.
Way Forward
• GO issued by the Government of Tamil Nadu is not a solution to curb mis/disinformation and fake news.
• Consultations need to be held with all stakeholders including the public and intermediaries such as
Facebook, X, and Google.
• For instance, in Europe, the European Commission issued the Code of Practice on Disinformation on
September 26, 2018, after a broad consultative process and opinion poll covering all member States.
• These measures include support for an independent network of fact-checkers and promoting media literacy.
• There is no magic wand here, but a state-run fact check unit will only cause more harm to society.
Reporting animal cruelty makes children safer
In News
• In 2007, the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development published the largest empirical study about
the incidence of child abuse in India.
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• The study specifically examined the prevalence of physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, and girl
child neglect in India.
Major Findings
• It found that two out of every three children were physically abused, over half the children reported having
faced one or more forms of sexual abuse, and every second child reported facing emotional abuse.
• Despite these troubling statistics, the factors contributing to child abuse remain unaddressed.
• Child abuse in India has been attributed to the structure and size of the family, lack of effective
implementation of law, poverty, illiteracy, and even cultural factors.
Animal cruelty and child abuse

• The link between animal cruelty and human violence first came to light in 1751 with William Hogarth’s
Four Stages of Cruelty.
• A 1980 pilot study conducted in England found evidence that suggested that children are at risk of abuse or
neglect in households that abuse their family pet.
• According to the study, out of the 23 families that had a history of animal abuse, 83% had been identified by
human social service agencies as having children at risk of abuse or neglect.
• A different study of 53 families in which child abuse had occurred, carried out in New Jersey (U.S.), in 1983,
found that animal abuse and child abuse co-occurred in 88% of the cases.
• In a 2019 study on homes with interpersonal violence in the U.S., it was found that in 12.3% of the cases,
threats and violence towards animals are used as a means to coerce children into compliance so that they
do not report the abuser.
• As per the study, since animals are threatened to result in compliance of the child, some of this violence is
done without the knowledge of other caregivers, and children are reluctant to discuss the animal abuse for
fear of what might happen to the animal or themselves.
Abuse Detection
• In many cases, animal abuse is easier to detect than child abuse and is also usually easier for victims of
domestic violence (including children) to report.
• Early identifications of homes with animal abuse may save other human victims encountering abuse.
• This can also serve as circumstantial evidence in custody and child abuse hearings as it is difficult for children
to provide detailed accounts of their own abuse.
• There is a strong link between animal cruelty and child abuse and there is an urgent need to investigate it
further in the Indian context.
Enforcing anti-cruelty laws

• The National Crime Records Bureau does not even collect data on offences registered and prosecuted
under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960.
• Poor enforcement of anti-cruelty laws therefore not only harms animals, but also human victims of violence.
• Reporting animal abuse and consistently enforcing anti-cruelty laws can act as a deterrent for further acts of
violence against not only animals but also humans. It is therefore imperative to report, register and
prosecute cases involving animal cruelty.
• The link shows us that both human and animal victims of crime are prone to victimisation by the same
perpetrator.
• There is an opportunity for stakeholders in the child protection and animal protection movements to
collaborate to meet their collective objective of reducing abuse.
• Reporting and prosecuting animal abuse is not just about saving animals; it is about protecting our
children from violence and securing a brighter future for them.
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• Understanding this important link can stop the cycle of violence at its source and help make our children
safer.
Haryana’s private sector domicile reservation law
In News
The Punjab and Haryana High Court on November 17 quashed a law enacted by the Haryana government in 2021
that guaranteed 75% reservation to locals in private sector jobs in Haryana.
Reservation Law
• In November 2020, the Haryana Assembly passed the Haryana State Employment of Local Candidates Bill,
2020, which made it mandatory for employers in the State to reserve 75% of jobs paying a monthly salary
of less than ₹30,000 (originally ₹50,000) for local residents in the State.
• The law is applicable to all private entities in the State including companies, trusts, societies, partnerships,
and limited liability partnerships.
• It also covers any person employing 10 or more persons on salary, wages, or other remuneration for the
purpose of manufacturing or providing any service; as well as any such entity as may be notified by the
government from time to time. However, central or state governments or organisations owned by them
remain outside the ambit of the Act.
• A ‘local candidate’ has been defined under the law as anyone domiciled in the State of Haryana.
• The original draft of the Bill had the condition that only those who have resided in the State for the past 15
years would be considered local candidates but this was later revised to 5 years.
• Such candidates will have to mandatorily register themselves on a designated portal in order to avail benefits
of this reservation. Employers will also have to make recruitments only through this portal.
• The law is applicable only with respect to new recruitments and is not effective retrospectively.
• Employers will have to register the employees already working with them in the ₹30,000 monthly salary
bracket and can start recruiting new employees in the reserved category only after the completion of this
registration process.
• The local candidates can hail from any district of Haryana, but the employer can exercise the discretion to
restrict the employment of local candidates from any district to 10 percent of the total number of local
candidates.
• However, companies can seek an exemption if an adequate number of local candidates of a desired skill,
qualification, or proficiency are not available.
• But this claim can be rejected by Designated Officers (an officer not below the rank of a Deputy
Commissioner) after conducting an inquiry with respect to its legitimacy. Employers can also be directed to
train the local youth to achieve the desired skill, qualification or proficiency in the event of inadequate
eligible candidates.
• Every employer will have to furnish a quarterly report on the designated portal and mention details about
local candidates employed and appointed during that period.
• These reports will be scrutinised by authorised officers, not below the rank of Sub-Divisional Officers who
will be empowered to call any record, information, or document in possession of any employer for the
purposes of verification.
• Employers found to be violating the Act are liable to a fine between ₹10,000 and ₹2 lakh.
• The penalty, on a subsequent offence, shall not be less than ₹2 lakh but may even extend to ₹ 5 lakh.
Further, a penalty of ₹ 50,000 shall be levied on an employer who produces false records or counterfeits or
knowingly makes a false statement.
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Laws in other States

• Other States have also enacted laws providing reservations for their local residents in the private sector.
• These states include Maharashtra (up to 80%), Karnataka (75%), Andhra Pradesh (75%) and Madhya Pradesh
(70%).
• In November 2019, the Andhra Pradesh Assembly passed The Andhra Pradesh Employment of Local
Candidates in the Industries/Factories Bill, 2019, reserving three-fourths of jobs for local candidates within
three years of the commencement of the Act.
• The law was subsequently challenged in the Andhra Pradesh High Court, which opined that ‘it may be
unconstitutional’.
• In most States, these laws have however not yet been implemented owing to opposition from companies
who have refused to lower their hiring standards and due to the absence of any effective enforcement
mechanisms.
Why was the Law Challenged?

• Several industry associations from Gurugram, Faridabad, and Rewari districts of Haryana challenged the
constitutional validity of the law on the ground that it violates Article 19 of the Constitution, which
guarantees the right to freedom, including to reside and settle in any part of the Indian territory and
practise any profession, business or trade.
• They also contended that the law was an infringement of Article 14 (equality before the law) and Article 15,
which prohibits discrimination on various grounds such as religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth.
• Pointing out that private sector jobs were purely based on skills and the analytical bent of mind of
employees, the petitioners argued that such a law would adversely impact productivity and industrial
competitiveness in the State.
• The court was also apprised that the reservation introduced by way of a ‘sons of the soil’ policy, creates a
fundamental wedge between persons domiciled in different states and is contrary to the concept of
common citizenship envisaged in the Constitution.
• ‘The act of the respondent (government) forcing the employers to employ local candidates in the private
sector vide this bill impugned Act is the violation of the federal structure framed by the Constitution of
India, whereby the government cannot act contrary to the public interest and cannot benefit one class."
State Government argument

• The influx of a large number of migrants competing for low-paid jobs places a significant impact on local
infrastructure and housing and leads to proliferation of slums.
• This has led to environmental and health issues which have been acutely felt in the urban areas of
Haryana affecting the quality of living and livelihood.
• Therefore, giving preference to local candidates in low-paid jobs is socially, economically, and
environmentally desirable and any such preference would be in the interests of the general public’.
• The High Court was apprised that the law intends to ‘protect the right to life/livelihood of people
domiciled in the State’, and that the enactment was rooted in the problem of rising unemployment in
Haryana.
• Arguing that the law will create more jobs for the local youth, the State government pointed out that
industrialisation and urbanisation in the State have drastically reduced employment opportunities in the
agriculture sector.
• Underscoring the importance of domicile reservation, the government cited the example of one of the
biggest industries operating out of the State — Maruti Udyog Limited which ‘does not even have 20% staff
from Haryana’.
• It was also contended that the government has the power to create such reservations under Article 16(4) of
the Constitution, which states that the right to equality in public employment does not prevent the State
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from ‘making any provision for the reservation of appointments or posts in favour of any backward class of
citizens which, in the opinion of the State, is not adequately represented in the services under the State’.
Why did the High Court quash the law?

• While declaring the law to be unconstitutional, the court observed that a ‘wall could not be built around by
the State’ that defeats the ‘spirit and soul of the oneness of the Constitution.’
• It also underscored that a legislative mandamus could not be imposed that treats non-residents of Haryana
as secondary citizens.
• Placing reliance on Article 35 of the Constitution, the court outlined that the provision bars the State
legislature from making laws on matters that fall within the purview of Article 16(3) of the Constitution
(equality of opportunity in matters of public employment) since this is exclusively within the domain of the
Parliament.
• The court underscored that the Act was unconstitutional to the extent that ‘a person’s right to carry on
occupation, trade, or business’ under Article 19(1)(g) of the Constitution was being impaired.
• It was also highlighted that the law discriminates against individuals who do not belong to a certain State and
that it imposes unreasonable restrictions on the right to move freely throughout the territory of India or to
reside and settle in any part of the territory of India.
• The court noted that Section 6 of the Act which requires employers to submit quarterly reports with
details of local candidates employed and appointed and — Section 8, under which authorised officers
could call for documents or verification to ensure the law was being implemented amounted to ‘Inspector
Raj’.
• It was also pointed out that the bar under Section 20 of the Act, on legal proceedings against any authorised
or designated officer acting in ‘good faith’ tied the employer’s hands.
• These provisions the court said amounted to exercising “absolute control over a private employer,” which is
‘forbidden for public employment’.
MGNREGS audit crosses 50% local bodies in just six States
In News
Out of the 34 States and union territories only six have completed social audit of works done under the Mahatma
Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) in more than 50% of gram panchayats.
Audit of panchayats
• Kerala is the only State to cover 100% gram panchayats.
• Section 17 of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) says the gram
sabha “shall monitor the execution of works”.
• Each State has social audit units which are supposed to work independent of the implementing authorities.
• The auditing standards laid down by the Comptroller and Auditor General were issued only on December 19,
2016.
• According to them, every Social Audit Unit is entitled to funds equivalent to 0.5% of the MGNREGA
expenditure incurred by the State in the previous year.
• The audit involves quality checks of infrastructure created under the MGNREGA, financial misappropriation
in wages, and checking for any procedural deviations.
Uniform Problem
• Other than Kerala the only States to cross the 50% mark are Bihar (64.4%), Gujarat (58.8%), Jammu and
Kashmir (64.1%), Odisha (60.42%) and Uttar Pradesh (54.97%).
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• Only three States have covered 40% or more villages — Telangana (40.5%), Himachal Pradesh (45.32%)
and Andhra Pradesh (49.7%).
• Other than Telangana, among the poll-bound States, the numbers are really low — Madhya Pradesh (1.73%),
Mizoram (17.5%) Chhattisgarh (25.06%), and Rajasthan (34.74%). The problem is uniform irrespective of the
party in power across the country.
• The Centre has, multiple times, reminded the States that if the social audits are not conducted regularly,
then the funds under the MGNREGS will be withheld.
• The States complain that the audit is delayed because the Centre does not release the funds for the social
audit units, which work independent of the State governments, in time. There are recurrent complaints of
delayed salaries for the village-level auditors.
MGNREGA
• The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) was passed in 2005 and
aimed at enhancing the livelihood security of households in rural areas.
• Under it, the MGNREGS is a demand-driven scheme that guarantees 100 days of unskilled work per year for
every rural household that wants it, covering all districts in the country except those with a 100% urban
population.
• There are currently 15.51 crore active workers enrolled under the scheme.
• The types of projects undertaken for employment generation under MGNREGA include those related to
water conservation, land development, construction, agriculture and allied works.
Revamping the structure of the Supreme Court
In News
The work of the Supreme Court could be split so that there is a Final Court of Appeal and a permanent Constitution
Bench to ensure greater judicial stability and consistency.
Jurisdiction of the SC
• The Supreme Court serves as a Constitutional Court as well as a Court of Appeal.
• The Court sits in benches of varying sizes, as determined by the Registry on the directions of the Chief Justice
of India (CJI), who is the Master of the Roster.
• Constitution Benches of the Supreme Court typically comprise five, seven, or nine judges who deliberate
on a specific issue related to constitutional law.
• Article 145(3) of the Constitution provides for the setting up of a Constitution Bench.
• It says a minimum of five judges need to sit for deciding a case involving a “substantial question of law as
to the interpretation of the Constitution”, or for hearing any reference under Article 143, which deals with
the power of the President to consult the Court.
Separate Constitution Bench

• In March 1984, the Tenth Law Commission of India proposed that the Supreme Court be split into two
divisions: the Constitutional Division and the Legal Division.
• The proposal stated that only issues pertaining to constitutional law would be brought to the proposed
Constitutional Division.
• Reiterating this, the Eleventh Law Commission stated in 1988 that dividing the Supreme Court into parts
would make justice more widely available and would significantly decrease the fees that litigants have to
pay.
• It was reported that appeals in the top court mostly comprised matters from High Courts that are closer to
the Supreme Court.
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• That is, appeals from the Punjab and Haryana High Court, Allahabad High Court, and Delhi High Court formed
the major chunk of matters, whereas courts far away from the apex court had fewer appeals filed, due to
both difficulties in accessibility and costs.
• The 229th Law Commission Report (2009) recommended four regional benches to be located in Delhi,
Chennai or Hyderabad, Kolkata, and Mumbai to hear non-constitutional issues. It recommended six judges
from each region at four regional benches take up appellate responsibility, with a Constitution Bench in
New Delhi working on a regular basis.
• By dividing the heavy backlog of non-constitutional cases among regional benches, the Supreme Court, it
said, could “deal with constitutional issues and other cases of national importance on a day-to-day basis.”
• Earlier, in Bihar Legal Support Society v. Chief Justice of India (1986), the Supreme Court stated that it was
“desirable” to establish a National Court of Appeal that would be able to entertain special leave petitions.
This would allow the Supreme Court to only entertain constitutional and public law-related questions.
• During colonial times, there were three Supreme Courts: in Bombay, Calcutta, and Madras.
• The Indian High Courts Act of 1861 replaced the Supreme Courts with High Courts for separate regions.
• The Government of India Act, 1935, created the Federal Court of India as an appellate body for the Privy
Council and High Courts.
• India approved the Constitution in 1949.
• The Supreme Court, as we know it now, was founded on January 28, 1950, under Article 124 of the
Constitution, two days after India became an independent, democratic republic.
• It came into being in Delhi as a result of Article 130.
• The first Supreme Court included eight judges, including the CJI.
• As the workload rose year after year and arrears of cases began to accumulate, Parliament increased the
number of judges from eight in 1950 to 11 in 1956, 14 in 1960, 18 in 1978, 26 in 1986, 31 in 2009 and 34 in
2019.
Way Forward
• Today’s Supreme Court issues around 8-10 decisions each year through Constitution Benches of five or more
judges.
• It serves primarily as an appeals court. Only four of the 1,263 decisions issued in 2022 were issued by a
Constitution Bench.
• The Supreme Court hears matters between the Centre and the States, as well as between two or more
States; rules on civil and criminal appeals; and provides legal and factual advice to the President. Any
person can immediately petition the Supreme Court if they consider their basic rights have been infringed.
• The work of the Supreme Court could be split so that there is a Final Court of Appeal and a permanent
Constitution Bench.
• This would ensure greater judicial stability and consistency by explicitly distinguishing cases filed under
constitutional authority from those filed under appellate and review jurisdiction.
Muslim student strength in higher education fell by 1.79 lakh in 2020-21
In News
Enrollment in higher education among Muslim students in the age group of 18-23 dropped by more than 8.5% in
2020-21.
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Major Highlights
• The report prepared from the analysis of data from the Unified District Information System for Education
Plus (UDISE+) and the All India Survey of Higher Education (AISHE).
• While 21 lakh Muslim students had enrolled for higher education in 2019-20, the number fell to 19.21 lakh in
2020-21.
• From 17,39,218 Muslim students enrolled in higher education in 2016-17, the number increased to
19,21,713 in 2020-21.
• However, in 2020-21, the Muslim enrolment in higher education declined to 19,21,713 students from
21,00,860 students in 2019-20, thus showing a decline of 1,79,147 students in absolute terms.
• The percentage of Muslim students enrolled in higher education relative to the total number of students
enrolled also saw a slight decrease, falling from 4.87 in 2016-17 to 4.64 in 2020-21.
• The report says that a significant trend that is observed across all States and Union Territories is that the
enrolment percentage of Muslim students in Class 11 and 12 is lower than that in the previous classes.
• The representation of Muslim students starts declining gradually from Class 6 and is the lowest in Class 11
and 12.
• While Muslims make up around 14.42% of total enrolment of 6.67 crore [students] at the upper primary
level [Class 6-8], it slightly decreases to 12.62% at the secondary level [Class 9-10] and declines to 10.76% at
the higher secondary level [Class 11-12].
• States like Bihar and Madhya Pradesh have relatively low Gross Enrolment Ratio for Muslim students,
which indicates that many Muslim children in these States are still out of the education system. Identifying
and enrolling out-of-school children in age-appropriate classes should be a priority.
• The report says that 18.64% of Muslim students enrolled in the secondary level drop out of schools, which is
higher than the 12.6% dropout rate for all students.
• Assam (29.52%) and West Bengal (23.22%) recorded high dropout rates among Muslim students, while
Jammu and Kashmir recorded 5.1% and Kerala 11.91%.
Recommendations
• Many Muslim students come from low-income families and struggle to afford the cost of higher education.
• To address this issue, it is essential to provide financial assistance and support to deserving students who
face financial constraints.
• Enhancing and increasing the number of scholarships, grants, and financial aid opportunities targeted
explicitly at Muslim students can significantly alleviate the financial burden and help more deserving
students access higher education.
Cabinet clears terms of reference for 16th Finance Commission
In News
The Union Cabinet recently approved the terms of reference (ToR) for the Sixteenth Finance Commission, which will
recommend the formula for sharing revenues between the Centre and the States for the five-year period beginning
on April 1, 2026.
Terms of Reference
• The distribution between the Union and the States of the net proceeds of taxes which are to be, or may be,
divided between them under Chapter I, Part XII of the Constitution and the allocation between the States of
the respective shares of such proceeds.
• The principles which should govern the grants-in-aid of the revenues of the States out of the Consolidated
Fund of India and the sums to be paid to the States by way of grants-in-aid of their revenues under article
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275 of the Constitution for the purposes other than those specified in the provisos to clause (1) of that
article; and
• The measures needed to augment the Consolidated Fund of a State to supplement the resources of the
Panchayats and Municipalities in the State on the basis of the recommendations made by the Finance
Commission of the State.
15th Finance Commission

• The Fifteenth Finance Commission (the 15th FC) was constituted on 27.11.2017 for making
recommendations for a five-year period of 2020-21 to 2024-25.
• The Finance Commission normally takes about two years to make their recommendations. As per the
clause (1) of article 280 of the Constitution, the Finance Commission is to be constituted every fifth year or
earlier.
• Article 280(1) of the Constitutions lays down that the modalities for setting up of a Finance Commission to
make recommendation on the distribution of net proceeds of taxes between the Union and the States,
allocation between the States of respective shares of such proceeds; grants- in-aid and the revenues of the
States and measures needed to supplement the resources of the Panchayats during the award period.
Sexual Education, the need of our times
In News
There are frequent reports in the media on the caste conflicts among adolescents/young adults as well as
consensual sexual relationships between adolescents/young adults of different castes inviting criminal penalties and
action. Education about social change and sexuality are closely related.
Education for democracy

• Electoral democracy encourages and establishes affirmative action of distributing opportunities for the
depressed communities.
• The state even criminalises caste and gender-based discrimination.
• The state as an organisation reflects the structure of society and thus makes the rights of the depressed
difficult to realise.
• The idea of citizenship in a democratic society demands the empathetic understanding of the lives of fellow
citizens and critical thinking about one’s own life.
• Enhancing empathetic understanding of others in a modern society that contains many divisions is the
only hope of sustaining democratic institutions. Education for critical thinking requires challenging our
own lives, beliefs and faith and how they affect the lives of others in a complex world.
• This is what education is supposed to aim and achieve.
Human as sociable
• Children generally look to elders for help. Parents and the elderly try to keep children comfortable and, in
the process, children learn that they can command others.
• On the contrary we should teach them that self-help and at the same time seeking help is not a sign of
weakness.
• No one is perfect. We are all vulnerable in more than one way.
• Rather, weakness is something to be recognised as inevitable. When seeking help is not a shame, helping is a
responsibility. That makes us more humane and sociable.
Learning at home
• Though education is initiated at home, learning abstractions and active learning are what begin in school.
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• Socratic active learning is important in this education venture.

• Humanities and arts provide scope for active learning. Artists move beyond the mental confines of
ideologies. Humanities give us the intellectual training to accept ideas and also search for alternative ideas.
• While society may create ideas that are in conflict with the ideas imbibed from school, it is the continuous
engagement of this conflict that demands critical thinking which in turn invites a daring re-imagination of
one’s own society and relationships.
• Rigorous training in logical reasoning and critical thinking creates the vision that lives in a democracy are full
of reasonable disagreements among citizens of different religions, cultures, wealth, class, physical
impairment, gender and sexuality.
• Teachers are vital in enabling social justice education. Teachers should understand and accept that social
justice education is essential for a well-functioning democracy.
• Teacher absenteeism, blaming children for a lack of learning potential, discouraging children and physically
abusing them are all outcomes of this lack of faith in social justice education.
• If a teacher realises his/her agency in democratic education, then the teacher finds suitable pedagogy to
teach social justice; this is because society is the workshop, and the academic material, the guiding path.
Sexual Education
• Sexual education is also an important aspect of social justice education.
• More than providing knowledge about healthy sexual development and sex education, sexual education
prepares students to respect gender identities and interpersonal relationships.
• The importance of consent in sexual intercourse and a respect for personal boundaries, as well as the
ability to stop perpetrators of sexual abuse are important aspects of sexuality education.
• In a recent judgment, the Calcutta High Court said that children have a right to access sexual education and
sexual and reproductive health services. When education is a right, it is but natural that sexual education is a
part of it.
• Sexual education delays the time of the first sexual intercourse, reduces its frequency and curbs sexual abuse
and risky sexual behaviour.
• Sexual education trains students to understand the social constructs of gender and to respect others’
sexual preferences.
• In this perspective it has a social justice content as boys and girls treat each other with respect and also
develop a deeper understanding of other gender identities (LGBTQA+).
• Sexual education in school will transform gender relationships at home and in society, and will be the most
desirable outcome.
Need for Govt Support

• As in the case of social justice education, sexual education requires a strong impetus from the government.
• Just as there is a questioning of caste and social hierarchy through social justice education, it is essential
that through sexual education, children are given a perceptive understanding of gender relationship
stereotypes, guard against abusive and risky sexual relationships.
• Though sex education is a small part of the general school education curriculum, sexual education has rarely
been taught in Indian schools.
• The Adolescent Reproductive and Sexual Health Strategy (ARSH) (2005) and the National Adolescent
Health Programme (Rashtriya Kishore Swaasthya Karyakram or RKSK) are two recent initiatives by the
Union government. Children, even in the pre-adolescent stage, have a natural curiosity to know more about
sex.
• Capitalising on this curiosity to provide them the right type of sexual education is a prudent strategy to equip
children to have a safe and healthy sexual life and to respect and accommodate gender differences.
• There is no dearth for curriculum design, teaching aids and pedagogy for sexual education.
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• Many international and national bodies have created curricula, reading materials and teaching aids. All
that is needed is to train teachers and implement sexual education as a compulsory part of the school
curriculum.
Way Forward
• The Government of Tamil Nadu has instituted a committee (with Justice K. Chandru as Chairperson) to
recommend measures to remove discriminations based on caste and community in schools and colleges.
• Other States are grappling with this issue. Many a time caste clashes have a link with the sexual behaviour of
adolescents/young adults.
• The sustainable solution to the issues of any form of discrimination is in establishing the fact that all are
equal and that empathetic understanding and an accommodation of differences are essential for a healthy
democratic society.
• The fact is that social justice education and sexual education are the need of our times.
Broadcast regulation 3.0, commissions and omissions
In News
The Broadcasting Services (Regulation) Bill released recently by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB)
is part of an arc of endeavours to regulate broadcasting in an integrated manner.

• It obliges broadcasting network operators and broadcasters to maintain records of subscriber data, and
subject this to periodic external audits, as is the international norm.
• The Bill seeks to stipulate a methodology for audience measurement, and the sale of ratings data.
• Both mechanisms will bring the much-needed transparency in the opaque value chain of the cable and satellite
television business in our country.
• The Bill completely lacks any guardrails to shield the privacy of subscribers and audiences in such practices of
data collection.
• The provision to permit private actors in terrestrial broadcasting will encourage competition to Doordarshan,
the state broadcaster, as is in many G-20 countries.
• Back in 2016, TRAI had initiated consultations on this.
• At that time, there was an opinion about terrestrial broadcasting proving viable only for large players,
including those already in cable and satellite broadcasting; consequently, such a move, it could be argued, is
likely to diminish the diversity of suppliers in broadcasting as a whole.
• This anxiety can be pacified if the Bill allows terrestrial broadcasting to those not involved in other forms of
broadcasting.
• The Bill empowers the government to inspect broadcasters without intimating them in advance, and to
impound their equipment, presumably including those issued to their employees.
Concerns
• A major concern is the Bill including Over-the-Top (OTT) content suppliers in the definition of broadcasting
services — as also proposed in TRAI’s ‘National Broadcasting Policy’.
• The Bill’s expanded definition of broadcasting constricts the conditions in which journalists and news outlets
that are not a part of large, multi-lingual television networks can continue their professional pursuits.
• The issue is not only of feasibility and costs but also of desirability. Since the role of an internal oversight
mechanism is to maintain the accuracy of news and quality of journalism, its design is best left to individual
news outlets.
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• They could decide whether to design this along the lines of an ombudsperson, as some newspapers
attempted in the past, or akin to a ‘Readers’ Editor’, as practised by few online news outlets.
• The Bill is mum on issues of ownership. While the Bill is keen to stipulate a methodology for audience
measurement, there is no desire to measure the extent of cross-media and vertical ownership.
• Both these forms of media power thwart the diversity of suppliers, and perhaps, consequently, that of
viewpoints, in the marketplace of news.
• In fact, just last year, TRAI itself had drawn attention to extensive cross-media ownership between
newspapers and news broadcasters through indirectly owned affiliates, and the need to evolve a system to
capture this.
• The Bill is equally silent on creating an independent broadcast regulator, as hinted in TRAI’s paper.
• This was first mooted in the ‘airwaves’ judgment of 1995, subsequently in the 1997 Broadcasting Bill, and
reiterated in the 2007 iteration of the Bill.
• Instead, this Bill plans a ‘Broadcast Advisory Council’ to examine viewers’ grievances and violations of the
Programme Code and Advertisement Code.
• This raises two concerns: first, the capacity of such a Council to track and address grievances, genuine or
motivated, raised by over 800 million TV viewers; and
• Second, the lack of autonomy accorded to this body, since the Bill empowers the Central government to
ultimately decide on the Council’s advice.
Understanding simultaneous elections
In News
Recently,the Union Government notified the formation of a six-member panel to ‘examine and make
recommendations for holding simultaneous elections’ in the Lok Sabha, State assemblies and local bodies.
Background
• The first four general elections involved simultaneous elections for the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies.
• It was possible then as the Congress was in power both at the national and State levels.
• The bifurcation of elections happened due to the advancing of Lok Sabha elections by the Congress, which
after suffering a split in 1969 was looking to secure a majority of its own, riding on the populist appeal of
Former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
• As of now the Lok Sabha elections coincide with the Assembly elections in four States namely Andhra
Pradesh, Odisha, Arunachal Pradesh, and Sikkim.
Demand for Simultaneous Elections

• The proposal to hold simultaneous elections has been pushed by the BJP since it came to power in 2014.
• The Law Commission released a draft report on August 30, 2018, examining the legal-constitutional aspects
related to the proposal.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi reiterated the need to hold simultaneous elections in his Independence Day
speech in 2019.
• Most recently, the proposal received support in the Law Commission Report, which is reportedly exploring
the feasibility of a common electoral roll.
Benefit of Common elections

• First, holding separate elections incurs massive recurring expenditure for the State and the Central
government.
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• In case of simultaneous elections, there would only be one electoral roll for all elections and the
government would need the services of security forces and civilian officials only once. This would save
public money and human resources that can be put to other public causes.
• Second, the dense electoral cycle involves prolonged deployment of security and police forces on election
duty, thus posing a concern for national security and maintenance of law and order.
• The administration comes under strain due to the mass-scale transfers of officials within the State, either by
the government looking for pliable officers in key positions or by the order of the ECI once code of conduct
comes into force. High-ranking officers from other States are also deputed as observers in the poll-bound
State. There is a climate of political uncertainty, wherein officials remain perpetually in election mode.
• Third, holding separate elections comes in the way of development as the enforcement of the code of
conduct for a longer period leads to the stoppage of ongoing development work.
• No new projects can be started during this period and even on-going projects suffer from inertia. Looking
to reap the electoral dividend, parties in power invariably indulge in populist schemes and do not commit to
long-term investment in primary sectors. This happens frequently, burdening the state exchequer.
• Fourth, simultaneous elections would lessen the role of money in elections as campaign finance of
parties’ would come down. The monitoring of election expenditure by the ECI will also become more
effective due to a concerted effort at the national level.
• Fifth, given the increasing role of divisive politics for electoral gains, the ‘one nation-one election’ plan
would help in reducing the pernicious role of regionalism, casteism, and communalism in mobilising
electorates. It would help in bringing issues of national importance on the electoral agenda.
• And finally, it is being argued that having too many elections creates a sense of fatigue among electorates.
Voter turnout at the national level has stagnated in recent elections.
Disadvantages
• First, the Centre’s initiative is being viewed as being antithetical to the federal spirit as there has not been
wider consultation with constituent States, especially the ones that are being ruled by non-BJP parties.
• Second, holding simultaneous elections would most likely push local and regional issues to the periphery.
There would be a ‘national constituency phenomenon’ favouring polity-wide parties due to their
comparative advantage in terms of their claim to better serve ‘national interest/ national security/national
unity’ rather than regional parties who will be sidelined for focusing on ‘narrow, parochial’ issues.
• Simultaneous elections in a federal polity, would incentivise regional discontent.
• Third, as far as cost saving is concerned, holding simultaneous elections would require large-scale
purchase of Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail Machines (VVPAT).
• Moreover, biennial elections to Legislative councils/Rajya Sabha and by-elections would still be held,
costing money and resources.
• Fourth, frequent elections rather than sagging the enthusiasm of voters keep them enthused, as evident in
the comparatively higher percentage of voting in State and local elections.
• Frequency of elections at different layers also helps in increasing accountability as elected representatives
and their parties remain on their toes.
Legal & Constitutional issues

• First, at least five Articles in the Constitution shall need amendment. These articles are Articles 83(2) and
85(2) that relate respectively to the duration and dissolution of the Lok Sabha.
• Also, on the legislative agenda would be Articles 172(1) and 174(2), which provide for the duration and
dissolution of the State Assemblies.
• Article 85 (1) and 174 (2) allows the President and the Governor to dissolve the Lok Sabha and Vidhan
Sabha before the completion of their tenure of five years, under the circumstances mentioned in the
Constitution.
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• Article 83(2) allows the tenure of the Lok Sabha to be extended for one year at a time in case of an
Emergency being proclaimed under Article 352.
• Article 172(1) makes a similar provision for State assemblies. These provisions would need to be repealed.
• As of now, after the passage of the anti-defection law enshrined in the 10th Schedule (52nd Amendment
Act, 1985) and later the Supreme Court judgment in S.R. Bommai case (1994) followed by the High Court
judgment in Rameswar Prasad (2006), the decision to dissolve the Vidhan Sabha and impose President
Rule under Article 356 is subject to judicial review.
• The Court can revive the Assembly and restore the government if it does not find the grounds of the
President’s rule to be constitutionally valid as has happened in recent years in the case of Nagaland,
Uttarakhand and Arunachal Pradesh.
• Such amendments need not only the two-third-majority support of both Houses of Parliament but also
ratification by at least half of the State Legislatures under Article 368.
• Currently, no party has even simple majority in Rajya Sabha while the States have different parties in
power, many of which are not in favour of such amendments.
• It would also be much more complex and difficult to link general elections with local bodies elections.
• This is because local government is a State subject (seventh schedule, List II) and all the State Legislatures
have passed separate Panchayati Raj Acts and Municipal Acts, fixing the tenure of these bodies (five years)
as per Article 243(E) and 243 (U) respectively.
• Since all 28 States have their own specific Acts, it would require changes in 56 sets of legal provisions.
Way Forward
• Multiple amendments would be required. Since the proposal involves Centre-State relations, judicial
review of the amendment acts shall be a major block.
• What seems doable is to make an attempt to club as many Assembly elections as possible to be held
together or with the Lok Sabha elections in one go and hope that the verdicts favour formation of a stable
government.
• Even for realising this, there is a need for wider consultation across parties and constituent States.
History of UNLF, Meitei insurgent group that signed peace deal with Centre
In News
Union Home Minister Amit Shah recnetly announced the signing of a peace agreement with the Meitei separatist
group United National Liberation Front (UNLF) in Manipur, terming it a “historic milestone.”
UNLF
• The UNLF was formed on November 24, 1964, and is the oldest valley-based insurgent group — distinct from
the insurgent groups active in the state’s Naga-dominated and Kuki-Zomi dominated hills.
• It was formed with the demand of secession from India under the leadership of Arembam Samarendra Singh,
who was the general secretary of the group.
• Two of the top central committee leaders — Khalalung Kamei and Thangkhopao Singsit — were a Naga and a
Kuki.
• The UNLF is believed to have received its initial training from the NSCN (IM), the largest Naga insurgent
group.
• Its armed wing, the Manipur People’s Army, was formed in 1990 and over the years, it has carried out
multiple attacks targeting Indian security personnel.
• There are now two factions of the UNLF and jointly, government estimates place the number of cadres at
400-500.
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• Its area of operation includes all the valley areas of Manipur, as well as some villages in the Kuki-Zomi hill
districts.
• A proscribed group, banned under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, it has largely been functioning
from camps and training bases in Myanmar’s Sagaing Region, Chin state, and Rakhine state with the
patronage of the Myanmar military.
• However, it is now on the backfoot there, with mounting attacks against the military junta by various Ethnic
Armed Organisations (EAOs) and People’s Defence Forces (PDFs).
Peace agreements
• The VBIGs have never entered into an agreement with the Centre or participated in any peace talks.
• In the past, there have been some groups like the UPPK, KCP and Maoist Communist Group — though their
strength may have been insignificant — which have been either disbanded or rendered into insignificance.
• And we don’t know under what terms they did so. Even in this case, we don’t know the terms of the
agreement but this has a spectacular impact since it’s considered to be a major group.
• At a recent flag raising event in Manipur, more than 1000 people attended, and it has its mass organisations.
• The UNLF underwent a formal split in the mid-1990s, when N Oken broke away, and his faction became the
Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup (KYKL, another proscribed group).
Other groups
• While the UNLF is the oldest of such groups, several other Meitei insurgent groups have come into being in
subsequent years. The UNLF is one of the seven “Meitei Extremist Organisations” banned by the Union
government.
• The UNLF faction under Koireng continues to be opposed to talks.
• On the other hand, a tripartite Suspension of Operations (SoO) agreement between the Centre, Manipur
state and the Kuki-Zomi insurgent groups had been reached in 2008.
• In March this year, the Manipur government pulled out of the agreement with the Zomi Revolutionary Army
and the Kuki National Army, saying they were “influencing agitation among forest encroachers”.
President Murmu advocates for All India Judicial Service
In News
During her inaugural address at the Supreme Court’s Constitution Day celebration, President Droupadi Murmu called
for an “all-India judicial service” to recruit judges, saying this will help make the judiciary diverse by increasing
representation from marginalised social groups.
All India Judicial Services

• Article 312 of the Constitution provides for the establishment of an All-India Judicial Service (AIJS), along the
lines of the central civil services.
• If the Rajya Sabha declares through a resolution, supported by at least two-thirds of its present and voting
members, that it is necessary or expedient to create a service in “national interest,” the Parliament “may by
law provide for the creation of one or more all India services (including an all India judicial service) common
to the Union and the States” and regulate the recruitment and service conditions of persons appointed to
any such service.
• However, Article 312 (2) states that the AIJS cannot include any post inferior to that of a district judge, as
defined in Article 236.
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• A district judge can include a city civil court judge, additional district judge, joint district judge, assistant
district judge, chief judge of a small cause court, chief presidency magistrate, additional chief presidency
magistrate, sessions judge, additional sessions judge, and assistant sessions judge
• The AIJS seeks to centralise the recruitment of judges at the level of additional district judges and district
judges for all states.
• Just as the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) conducts a central recruitment process and assigns
successful candidates to cadres, the recruitment of judges of the lower judiciary is being proposed to be
made central, following which they’ll be assigned to states.
Present system of selection

• Articles 233 and 234 of the Constitution of India deal with the appointment of district judges and place it in
the domain of the states.
• The selection process is conducted by the State Public Service Commissions and the concerned High Court,
since HCs exercise jurisdiction over the subordinate judiciary in the state.
• Panels of HC judges interview candidates after the exam and select them for appointment.
• All judges of the lower judiciary up to the level of district judges are selected through the Provincial Civil
Services (Judicial) exam. PCS (J) is commonly referred to as the judicial services exam.
Proposal of AJIS
• The idea of a centralised judicial service was first deliberated in the Law Commission’s 1958 ‘Report on
Reforms on Judicial Administration’.
• It was to ensure an efficient subordinate judiciary to address structural issues such as varying pay and
remuneration across states, filling vacancies faster, and ensuring standard training nationwide.
• A statutory or constitutional body such as the UPSC to conduct a standard, centralised exam to recruit and
train judges was discussed.
• The idea was proposed again in the Law Commission Report of 1978, which discussed delays and arrears of
cases in the lower courts.
• In 2006, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law, and Justice, in its 15th
Report, supported the idea of a pan-Indian judicial service and also prepared a draft bill.
Why was the idea not implemented?

• The Centre took various steps towards the constitution of the AIJS, such as coming up with a
“comprehensive proposal”, which was approved by the Committee of Secretaries in November 2012.
• In April 2013, this proposal was included as an agenda item in the Conference of Chief Ministers and Chief
Justices of the High Court. However, it was agreed upon that the issue needs further deliberation.
Subsequently, the views of state governments and HCs were sought on the proposal, but no consensus could
be reached.
• In January 2017, aspects of AISJ, like eligibility, age, selection criteria, qualification, and reservation, were
discussed in a meeting chaired by the Minister of Law and Justice, with participation from India’s Attorney
General, Solicitor General, and DoJ secretaries. However, the proposal failed to reach the stage of
implementation.
• Till now there is no consensus on the proposal for setting up an All India Judicial Service.
Impact of liquor prohibition in Bihar
In News
The Chief Minister Nitish Kumar announced that there would be a fresh “house-to-house” survey to assess the
impact of liquor prohibition in Bihar.
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State Ban Liquor

• To curb alcoholism, the Bihar government amended the Bihar Excise Act, 1915 and promulgated the Bihar
Prohibition and Excise (Amendment) Act, 2016 from April 5, 2016, introducing total prohibition in the State.
• On October 2, 2016 it promised to “enforce, implement and promote complete prohibition of liquor and
intoxicants in the territory of the State of Bihar and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto”.
However, since then, the Act has been amended several times.
• Despite complete prohibition, illegal liquor bottles are known to have been funnelled into the State through
States such as Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and West Bengal and sometimes, even after crossing the porous
border of the neighbouring country of Nepal.
• Innovative ways are used including ambulances, hearses, gas cylinders, under vegetable sacks in pick-up vans
and trucks and in pantry car coaches of trains.
• In courts, there is a huge pile-up of prohibition-related cases across the State.
• In December 2021, the then Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Justice N.V. Ramana, expressed concern
over the (prohibition) law saying it was enforced with “lack of foresight” which has led to the “clogging of
courts in the State”.
About Survey
• The survey will cover a minimum of 2,500 households in all 38 districts and will be completed in 12 weeks.
• The data of the survey will be collected on a day-to-day basis digitally. The department has already invited
tenders from the institutions willing to conduct the survey.
• There have been two surveys on the impact of the liquor ban in the State — in August 2018 and February
2023, initiated by the State government.
• The first survey, conducted by Patna-based Asian Development Research Institute (ADRI) said there has been
a positive impact after prohibition on people of the State as 1.64 crore have quit drinking, and spent the
money saved to buy milk, vegetables and clothes.
• The second survey was conducted by the Chanakya Law University in association with the Bihar Rural
Livelihood Project (Jeevika) which had covered 33,000-odd villages in 534 blocks across all 38 districts of the
State covering over 10 lakh people.
• The survey had revealed that 1.82 crore have quit drinking but 4.39% admitted that they were still
consuming liquor.
• 99% women and 92% men of the State are in favour of the prohibition,” the survey showed.
• Prohibition has also helped in the economic uplift of families, especially from poor classes among whom
alcoholism has reduced drastically.
Reason for new survey

• Despite the fact that the prohibition law has been amended thrice since April 2016, illegal trade in both
Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) and country-made brew has been thriving.
• The government has been conducting regular raids using drones, breath analysers, and setting up more
check posts with personnel holding hand-held scanners at inter-State borders.
• Over 5.5 lakh cases related to violation of provisions under the amended Act has been registered and over
7.5 lakh people have been arrested, but the conviction rate in such cases has been very low — 21.98% till
February this year.
• Over 1.6 crore litres of illegal IMFL and 97 lakh litres of country-made liquor have been seized in the State
since April 2016.
• As many as 74 special courts (excise) have been made functional and awareness programmes like street
plays and posters are regularly put up but there has been no apparent let-up in the illegal supply of liquor.
• Hundreds of policemen and excise officials have been suspended for violating prohibition laws.
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India, disability inclusion and the power of ‘by’
In News
Disability as an identity and entity exists at the intersection of multiple vulnerabilities — social, economic and
gender — with each facet requiring careful consideration when conceptualising action for equity.
Persons living with disability

• Globally, 1.3 billion people (which is equivalent to nearly the entire population of India) live with some form
of disability.
• Of them, 80% live in developing countries; further, 70% of them live in rural areas.
• Current systems are designed for persons without disabilities and end up being exclusionary to people with
disabilities, resulting in them experiencing higher instances of poverty, lack of access to education and
opportunities, informality and other forms of social and economic discrimination.
• According to the English dictionary, “For” is often used when a person is receiving something and “By” is to
“identify the agent performing an action”.
• This difference is crucial when it comes to disability inclusion, as the approach is completely different if it is
“by” persons with disabilities being a part of the process and not “for” them, without them in the process.
Including in the workforce

• At the outset, the inclusion of persons with disabilities into the economy can help boost global GDP between
3% to 7%, as per the study by the International Labour Organization (ILO), “The price of exclusion: The
economic consequences of excluding people with disabilities from the world of work”.
• The current employment scenario is limited, providing fewer jobs for persons with disabilities and
perpetuating stereotypes that create further barriers for people with disabilities to access the labour market.
• It is also in direct contravention of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities,
which advocates changing attitudes and perceptions towards persons with disabilities and viewing inclusion
from a social development dimension.
• Disability inclusion is rooted in assuring the rights of persons with disabilities and recognising the economic
benefits of inclusion.
Challenges in rural India

• In India, the Central and State governments have various schemes for persons with disabilities and a unique
id for persons with disabilities (UDID) card, established as part of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act
(2016).
• The first step is awareness to ensure last-mile connectivity of the benefits enumerated for people with
disabilities by the government, which begins with the capacity-building of community leaders who can
advocate for this at the grass-roots level.
• This is especially important in rural areas, where persons with disabilities tend to face greater challenges
when compared to their urban counterparts, with even more limited access to education and employment.
• Some developmental schemes, too, exclude them.
• They are viewed as objects of charity and not as persons with agency with an ability to participate in
decision-making processes.
• Rural areas also have high agricultural dependence and face the heightened risk of climate calamities
arising from rising sea levels, reduced access to clean water and food, hurricanes, heatwaves and floods,
with rural people at the frontlines of these challenges.
• A bottom-up approach to disability inclusion is crucial to build productive pathways out of poverty and
ensure that persons with disabilities are recognised as active members of society and the economy.
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• The private sector holds a key in promoting the employment of persons with disabilities. In addition to a
robust legal framework, experience shows the importance of engaging the private sector and building the
confidence of companies to hire and retain workers with disabilities.
• Additionally, engagement of employers’ federations, including those representing small and medium-sized
enterprises, as well as with trade unions, has shown to have great potential to promote the employment of
persons with disabilities.
The SPARK project

• The ILO and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), in collaboration with the Women’s
Development Corporation in Maharashtra, are implementing the Sparking Disability Inclusive Rural
Transformation (SPARK) project.
• Through this project, persons with disabilities were put in the lead, being identified from the villages, and
trained as Disability Inclusion Facilitators (DIFs).
• The DIFs engage with the community, persons with disabilities, caregivers of persons with disabilities,
women from self-help groups and other stakeholders to raise awareness about disability inclusion and
barriers to inclusion.
• The DIFs identify women with disabilities and mainstream them in existing self-help groups for social and
economic development, where these women have been able to access funds to start an enterprise.
• The SPARK project has been able to bring an attitudinal shift towards persons with disabilities, right from the
societal to administrative levels.
Way forward
• The goal of social justice cannot be achieved without the inclusion of persons with disabilities in all spheres
of development, starting with rural areas and rural resilience.
• Evidence shows a bi-directional link to poverty, nutrition, and hunger, and as a consequence, there needs to
be more inclusive opportunities and employment in rural areas.
• Given the historic marginalisation of persons with disabilities and the backsliding of the progress on the
Sustainable Development Goals, a fundamental shift in commitment, solidarity, financing and action is
critical.
• It is about time that the voices and needs of persons with disabilities be prioritised at the centre of the global
development agenda.
Re-criminalising adultery as a gender-neutral offence
In News
Recnetly, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs, examining the three new criminal law Bills set to
replace the Indian Penal Code (IPC), Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), and the Indian Evidence Act,
recommended the criminalisation of adultery but on gender-neutral lines.
Panel recommendations
• The Committee suggested that adultery be reinstated as a criminal offence, but be made gender-neutral,
thereby making both men and women equally culpable under the law.
• Highlighting the need to protect the institution of marriage, the report stipulates, “..the Committee is of the
view that the institution of marriage is considered sacred in Indian society and there is a need to safeguard
its sanctity.
• For the sake of protecting the institution of marriage, this section should be retained in the Sanhita
(Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita) by making it gender neutral.”
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• The Committee also pointed out that the revoked Section 497 of the IPC “only penalised the married man,
and reduced the married woman to be a property of her husband”. The proposed change also seeks to
address this deficiency.
Legislative history
• When the IPC was enacted, Hindus had no law of divorce as marriage was considered to be a sacrament.
• It made little sense to punish a married man for having sexual intercourse with an unmarried woman as he
could easily marry her later since Hindu men were permitted to marry any number of wives till 1955.
• However, with the advent of the Hindu Code, a Hindu man was allowed to have only one wife and as a result
adultery became a ground for divorce in Hindu Law.
• Lord Macaulay, instrumental in the early drafting process of the IPC, was not inclined to make adultery a
penal offence, believing that a better remedy lay in pecuniary compensation.
• In 1971, the Law Commission of India in its 42nd Report deliberated on the benefits of criminalising
adulterous conduct.
• In 2003, the Committee on Reforms of the Criminal Justice System, popularly known as the Malimath
Committee, proposed in its report that adultery be retained an an offence but on gender-neutral terms.
• It observed, “object of the Section is to preserve the sanctity of marriage. Society abhors marital infidelity.
Therefore, there is no reason for not meting out similar treatment to the wife who has sexual intercourse
with a man (other than her husband).”

• A five-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court led by then Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dipak Misra,
and comprising current CJI D. Y. Chandrachud, and Justices A. M. Khanwilkar, R. F. Nariman, and Indu
Malhotra, in its landmark judgmentJoseph Shine v. Union of India (2018), held that adultery is not a crime
and struck it off the IPC.
• It, however, clarified that adultery would continue to remain a civil wrong and a valid ground for divorce. In
2020, a five-judge Bench led by former CJI Sharad A. Bobde dismissed petitions seeking a review of the
verdict for lacking merit.
Legislative overruling
• The Supreme Court in Madras Bar Association v. Union of India (2021) held that “the test for determining
the validity of validating legislation is that the judgment pointing out the defect would not have been passed
if the altered position as sought to be brought in by the validating statute existed before the Court at the
time of rendering its judgment. In other words, the defect pointed out should have been cured such that the
basis of the judgment pointing out the defect is removed. “
• In September this year, a division bench of the Supreme Court in NHPC Ltd. v. State of Himachal Pradesh
Secretary reiterated that the legislature is permitted to remove a defect in an earlier legislation, as pointed
out by a constitutional court, and that laws to this effect can be passed both prospectively and
retrospectively.
• However, the court cautioned, ‘where a legislature merely seeks to validate the acts carried out under a
previous legislation which has been struck down or rendered inoperative by a Court, by a subsequent
legislation without curing the defects in such legislation, the subsequent legislation would also be ultra-
vires.’
RS passes Post Office Bill to amend 125-year-old Indian Post Office Act
In News
The Rajya Sabha recently passed the Post Office Bill, 2023 that seeks to repeal the 125-year-old Indian Post Office
Act and consolidate and amend the law relating to post offices in the country.
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Major Provisions
• The central government may, by notification, empower any officer to intercept, open or detain any item in
the interest of the security of the State, friendly relations with foreign states, public order, emergency or
public safety, or upon the occurrence of any contravention of any of the provisions of any law for the time
being in force.
• The enactment of a new law in place of the Indian Post Office Act, 1898 is with a view to govern the
functioning of the post offices in the country and provide for a simple legislative framework to facilitate the
evolution of the post offices into a network for delivery of citizen-centric services.
• The bill seeks to empower the director general of postal services to frame regulations in respect of activities
necessary to provide those services and fix the charges for such services.
• The government will not have exclusive privilege over conveying letters. Services to be provided by India
Post will be prescribed under Rules.
• The Director General of Postal Services will be appointed to head India Post. He will have powers to make
regulations on various matters including tariffs for services and supply of postage stamps.
• India Post will not incur any liability with regard to its services, except any liability prescribed through Rules.
• Under the Act, an officer in charge may examine a postal article if he suspects that it contains goods which
are prohibited, or are liable to be paid duty upon. The Bill removes the powers of examination. It instead
provides that in such cases, the central government may empower an officer of India Post to deliver the
postal article to the customs authority or any other specified authority. The authority will then deal with the
item in question.
Issues
• The Bill does not specify procedural safeguards for interception of articles transmitted through India Post.
Lack of safeguards may violate freedom of speech and expression, and right to privacy of individuals.
• The grounds for interception include ‘emergency’, which may be beyond reasonable restrictions under the
Constitution.
• The Bill exempts India Post from liability for lapses in postal services. Liability may be prescribed through
Rules by the central government, which also administers India Post. This may lead to conflict of interest.
• The Bill does not specify any offences and penalties. For instance, there are no consequences for
unauthorised opening of postal articles by a postal officer. This may have adverse implications for the right
to privacy of consumers.
Parliament passes Advocates Amendment Bill
In News
The Parliament passed the Advocates (Amendment) Bill, 2023 with Lok Sabha giving assent recently.
Major provisions
• The Bill amends the Advocates Act, 1961. The legislation repeals certain sections related to touts under the
Legal Practitioners Act, 1879.
• It provides that every High Court, district judge, sessions judge, district magistrate, and revenue officer not
below the rank of a district collector, can frame and publish lists of touts.
• Tout refers to a person who either proposes to procure or procures the employment of a legal practitioner in
a legal business in return for any payment.
• Under the legislation, the Court or judge may exclude from the premises of the Court any person whose
name is included in the list of touts.
• The authorities empowered to frame and publish the list of touts may order subordinate courts to hold an
inquiry into the conduct of persons alleged or suspected to be touts. Once such a person is proven to be a
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tout, his name may be included by the authority in the list of touts. No person will be included in such lists
without getting an opportunity of showing cause against his inclusion.
• Any person who acts as a tout while his name is included in the list of touts will be punished with
imprisonment up to three months, a fine up to Rs 500, or both.
Centre of Excellence for transgender healthcare
In News
The All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS), New Delhi, recently announced its plans to open a Centre of
Excellence for transgender healthcare in 2024.
Legal Recognition
• The community was first given legal recognition in India in NALSA v Union of India (2014).
• The Supreme Court endorsed their rights as fundamental rights. The judgment directed central and state
governments to ensure medical care for transgender people and cater to their mental, sexual, and
reproductive health.
• Transgender people have been historically discriminated against and marginalised — pathologised and
labelled mentally diseased.
• They have been subject to unscientific and inhuman practices like “conversion therapy” by medical
practitioners.
• The community lacks access to healthcare because of structural barriers like exclusionary infrastructure, lack
of services and trained and sensitised healthcare workers.
Transgender Protection rights Act

• In 2019, Parliament enacted the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act that re-emphasised the
role of governments in holistic healthcare services to the community — providing sex reassignment surgery,
hormone therapy, counselling services, HIV sero-surveillance and mental health services.
• It also asked for a review of the medical curriculum and medical research that caters to transgender persons.
Most importantly, it called for facilitating trans peoples’ access to hospitals and healthcare institutions.
• The Transgender Persons Rules, 2020 added that state governments shall ensure the provision of separate
wards and washrooms for transgender people in hospitals by 2022.
• It asked states to undertake the sensitisation of healthcare professionals and directed the publishing of an
equal opportunity policy and notification of a complaint officer by every establishment.
• It also suggested that at least one government hospital in a state should provide safe and free gender-
affirming surgery and related services.
Challenges
• State policies in primary and secondary healthcare have made no effort to ensure access for the community.
• Mental healthcare continues to be dominated by tertiary institutes that have failed to provide for gender-
diverse people.
• When it comes to gender-affirming procedures, some private providers have stepped in to tap into the
lucrative market of sex reassignment surgeries but government hospitals, including AIIMS, have largely
stayed away.
• Under such circumstances, the plan to open a Centre of Excellence at AIIMS-Delhi is a welcome step. It,
however, would fulfil some needs of some transgender people and should not be considered a panacea for
all ills.
• The Transgender Act makes it mandatory for a transgender person to undergo surgery to change their
gender within the binaries of male and female.
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• This is in contravention of the NALSA judgment, which states that any insistence on sex reassignment
surgery for declaring one’s gender is illegal. There is a misplaced focus on tertiary care and surgical
procedures.
• This is pushing transgender people to undergo surgery to get a binary gender marker. Certain documents in
India, such as the passport, still do not have the provision of transgender as a gender marker. The aim should
be to cater to felt needs for surgery rather than coercing people into it to gain legal recognition.
Way forward
• One centre cannot cater to the needs of transgender people across India.
• All government medical colleges and hospitals in India should provide gender-affirming services.
• This must be in addition to quality, inclusive, and accessible primary and secondary healthcare.
• Institutions aiming to be Centres of Excellence must comply with legal necessities like transgender-inclusive
wards, washrooms, equal opportunity policy, and grievance mechanisms.
• The medical curriculum needs revision to serve the needs of gender-diverse people. We need more Centres
of Inclusion providing essential healthcare at grassroots levels than Centres of Excellence at premier
institutes.
Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill
In News
Jammu & Kashmir Reservation (Amendment) Bill, 2023 and the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment)
Bill, 2023 aimed at providing “rights to those who faced injustice" and were deprived of their rights in the Union
Territory have been passed in the Lok Sabha.
Major Provisions
• The Act provides for the reorganisation of the state of Jammu and Kashmir into the union territories of
Jammu and Kashmir (with legislature) and Ladakh (without legislature).
• The Second Schedule of the Representation of the People Act, 1950 provides for the number of seats in
legislative assemblies.
• The 2019 Act amended the Second Schedule of the 1950 Act to specify the total number of seats in the
Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly to be 83. It reserved six seats for Scheduled Castes. No seats were
reserved for Scheduled Tribes. The Bill increases the total number of seats to 90. It also reserves seven
seats for Scheduled Castes and nine seats for Scheduled Tribes.
• The Bill adds that the Lieutenant Governor may nominate up to two members from the Kashmiri migrant
community to the Legislative Assembly.
• One of the nominated members must be a woman. Migrants are defined as persons who migrated from the
Kashmir Valley or any other part of the state of Jammu and Kashmir after November 1, 1989, and are
registered with the Relief Commissioner.
• The Bill adds that the Lieutenant Governor may nominate to the Legislative Assembly one member
representing displaced persons from Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir.
• Displaced persons refer to individuals who left or were displaced from their place of residence in Pakistani-
occupied Jammu and Kashmir and continue to reside outside such place. Such displacement should have
taken place in 1947-48, 1965, or 1971 due to civil disturbances or fear of such disturbances.
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Supreme Court hearing on the challenge to Section 6A of the Citizenship Act
In News
The Supreme Court directed the Union Government to furnish data on the number of immigrants who were
conferred Indian citizenship through Section 6A(2) of the Citizenship Act, 1955.
What is the challenge?

• The plea before the Constitutional bench challenges one of the core elements of the Accord — which
determines who is a foreigner in the state. This was also the basis of the final National Register of Citizens in
Assam, published in 2019.
• Clause 5 of the Assam Accord states that January 1, 1966 shall serve as the base cut-off date for the
detection and deletion of “foreigners” but it also contains provisions for the regularisation of those who
arrived in the state after that date and up till March 24, 1971.
• Section 6A of the Citizenship Act was inserted as an amendment to accommodate this.
• It effectively establishes March 24, 1971 as the cut-off date for entry into the state, meaning that those
entering the state after that would be considered “illegal immigrants”.
• While those who came to Assam on or after January 1, 1966, but before March 25, 1971 from Bangladesh
will be detected as “foreigners”, they would have the opportunity to register themselves according to rules
made by the Central Government.
• Except for being included in electoral rolls, they would be granted the same rights and obligations as Indian
citizens for a period of 10 years from the date they were detected as foreigners. At the end of this ten-year
period, however, they would be deemed citizens
• The plea before the bench, while questioning the constitutional validity of Section 6A, wants 1951 to be
established as the cut-off date for inclusion in the National Register of Citizens instead of 1971.
• Their core argument is that by establishing a different cut-off date for Indian citizenship in Assam than in
the rest of India — which is July 1948 — Section 6 A is “discriminatory, arbitrary and illegal” and violative of
the rights of “indigenous” Assamese people.
Supreme Court to deliver verdict on Article 370
In News
The Supreme Court will pronounce its verdict on December 11 on a batch of petitions, which challenged the
abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution in 2019.
Why is the abrogation of Article 370 being challenged in SC?

• On August 5, 2019, the Central government decided to revoke Article 370 of the Indian Constitution.
• President Ram Nath Kovind issued Constitutional Order 272, which made certain changes to Article 367,
affecting how Article 370 would be read. This allowed for changes to be made to Article 370.
• Petitioners have challenged the validity of CO 272 and CO 273, and the President’s power to make the
provision inoperable.
• Some of the petitioners argued that the provision could not have been abrogated, as the term of the Jammu
and Kashmir Constituent Assembly ended in 1957 after it drafted the erstwhile state’s Constitution.
• Its concurrence was required before taking such a step. The SC asked who could recommend the revocation
of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir when no constituent assembly exists there.
Article 370
• Article 370 accorded a special status to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir within the Indian Union.
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• Included in the Constitution on October 17, 1949, Article 370 exempts J&K from the Indian Constitution
(except Article 1 and Article 370 itself) and permits the state to draft its own Constitution.
• It restricts Parliament’s legislative powers in respect of J&K.
• For extending a central law on subjects included in the Instrument of Accession (IoA), mere “consultation”
with the state government is needed.
• But for extending it to other matters, “concurrence” of the state government is mandatory.
• The IoA came into play when the Indian Independence Act, 1947 divided British India into India and Pakistan.
• It followed attempts to bring independent provinces under the Indian Union after British colonial rule over
the subcontinent ended in 1947.
• Some other states (such as Mizoram, Nagaland, Maharashtra, Gujarat, etc.) also enjoy special status under
Article 371, from 371A to 371I.
Why was Article 370 revoked?

• Revocation of Article 370 has found a place in the BJP manifesto at times over the years. It has also been
one of the central issues for the RSS, the ideological parent of the BJP.
• As early as 1953, J&K Praja Parishad, an organisation formed by the late Bharatiya Jana Sangh leader Balraj
Madhok, started a movement for “complete integration”. Syama Prasad Mookerjee, the founder president
of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh.
• Home Minister Amit Shah said Article 370 was “harmful for the unity of the nation”.
• He also said that Article 370 had confined the Kashmiri culture to a geographical corner of the country and
with its removal, the culture of the state would spread to other parts of the nation.
• Shah also criticised Nehru’s decision to take the cause of Kashmir, over which Pakistan also laid claims, to the
United Nations. Read more here on why Nehru did so.
• The Home Minister recently said in parliament that Article 370 was “the root cause” of separatism and
terrorism in J&K, adding that the region suffered due to the “blunders” of Nehru.
J&K Resident
In News
The central government changed the provisions defining permanent residents of Jammu and Kashmir after the
constitutional changes of August 5, 2019.
Four classes of state subjects of Maharaja Hari Singh

• Class I state subjects were those who were born and were resident in the state before the commencement
of the reign of Maharaja Gulab Singh, the first Dogra king, in 1846; as well as those who had settled in J&K
and had been permanently residing in the state before the commencement of Samvat year 1942,
corresponding to 1885.
• Class II included people who had come from other places and permanently settled in J&K, and had acquired
immoveable property there before the close of Samvat year 1968 (1911), when Maharaja Pratap Singh was
on the throne.
• Class III subjects included permanent residents who had acquired under a “rayatnama” (concession) any
immovable property in J&K, and those who might have subsequently acquired any such property under an
“ijazatnama” (permission).
• Class IV included companies of public nature registered within the then state, and in which the
government was financially interested, or satisfied about their financial stability, or which were of economic
benefit to the state. These entities were declared state subjects by a special order of the Maharaja.
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• Under the 1927 order, the state subjects of Class I were to receive preference over other classes of subjects,
and state subjects of Class II were to be privileged over Class III, in matters of grant of state scholarships,
state lands for purposes of agriculture and building a house, and for recruitment to state service.
• The order also said that the descendants of persons who were state subjects of any class would be entitled
to become state subjects of the same class; and the wife or widow of a state subject of any class shall
acquire the status of her husband as state subject of the same class as her husband, so long as she resides in
the state and does not take up permanent residence elsewhere.
• On foreign nationals residing in J&K, the order said they shall not acquire the nationality of the state until
after the age of 18, and on purchasing immovable property under an ijazatnama, and on obtaining a
rayatnama after 10 years of continuous residence as laid down in the 1927 order.
Under the constitution of the erstwhile state of J&K

• On November 17, 1956, the Constituent Assembly of Jammu and Kashmir adopted a separate constitution
for the then state, which redefined state subjects as “permanent residents”.
• It said that every person who is, or is deemed to be a citizen of India under the provisions of the Constitution
of India shall be a permanent resident of the state, if on May 14, 1954, he was a state subject of Class I or of
Class II or, after having lawfully acquired immoveable property had been ordinarily resident in the state for
not less than 10 years prior to that date.
• About people who were Class I/ II state subjects, and who had migrated to areas which later became part of
Pakistan, the J&K constitution said that if such a person returns to the state under a permit for resettlement
or for permanent return issued by or under the authority of any law made by the state legislature, he shall
on such return be a permanent resident of the state.
• After the adoption of the J&K constitution, women were made to lose their status of permanent resident if
they married a person from outside the state.
• This changed after a full bench of the state High Court ruled in a majority verdict in 2003 that there was no
provision in the 1927 notification or in the Jammu and Kashmir constitution that on marrying a non-
permanent resident, the daughter of a permanent resident shall lose her status as a permanent resident of
the state.
New Definition
• After the August 5-6, 2019 amendment of Article 370 and bifurcation of J&K into two Union Territories, the
central government redefined “permanent residents” of J&K as “domiciles”.
• The new definition said that anyone could be a domicile of the UT of J&K if they had resided therein for 15
years; or studied there for seven years and appeared for their Class 10/12 examination in an educational
institution in J&K; or those who had registered as migrants, and their children.
• It included the children of officials of the central government, including All India Service officers, Public
Sector Undertakings, autonomous bodies, recognised research institutes, and central universities who had
served in J&K for a total of 10 years.
The Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners (Appointment,

Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Bill, 2023
In News
The Rajya Sabha passed the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners (Appointment,
Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Bill, the legislation that will guide the appointment of the Chief Election
Commissioner (CEC) and the Election Commissioners (EC) in future.
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• The Bill replaces the Election Commission (Conditions of Service of Election Commissioners and
Transaction of Business) Act, 1991. It provides for the appointment, salary, and removal of the Chief
Election Commissioner (CEC) and Election Commissioners (ECs).
• The CEC and ECs will be appointed by the President upon the recommendation of a Selection Committee.
The Selection Committee will consist of the Prime Minister, a Union Cabinet Minister, and Leader of
Opposition/leader of the largest opposition party in Lok Sabha.
• A Search Committee headed by the Cabinet Secretary will propose a panel of names to the Selection
Committee. Eligibility for the posts includes holding (or having held) a post equivalent to the Secretary to the
central government.
• The salary and conditions of service of the CEC and ECs will be equivalent to that of Cabinet Secretary. Under
the 1991 Act, it was equivalent to the salary of a Supreme Court Judge.
Issues
• Recently,a five-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court had ruled that the Chief Election
Commissioner (CEC) and Election Commissioners (ECs) should be appointed by a committee comprising the
Prime Minister, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, and the Chief Justice of India (CJI).
• The government brought The Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners (Appointment,
Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Bill, 2023, which proposed a committee comprising the PM, Leader
of Opposition and, instead of the CJI, a Cabinet Minister nominated by the PM.
• The ECI currently has the status of a Supreme Court judge and can summon senior officials and even
Ministers; if this status is changed to that of a government official, it would affect their ability to do so.
• Accepting the Selection Committee’s recommendations in spite of a vacancy in its constitution may
effectively lead to a monopoly of government members in selecting candidates.
• Making the CEC and EC’s salary equivalent to the Cabinet Secretary may lead to government influence as it is
fixed by the government. This is unlike the salary of a Supreme Court judge which is fixed through an Act of
Parliament
• CECs and ECs also perform quasi-judicial functions. Limiting these posts to senior bureaucrats may exclude
other suitable candidates.
Crime against women
In News
The crime rate may have declined in 2022 (258.1 per lakh population compared to 268 per lakh population in 2021),
but crimes against women rose 4% in 2022 compared to 2021, according to the annual report of the National Crime
Records Bureau (NCRB) released recently.
Nature of majority of crime

• The majority of crimes against women were of cruelty by husband or his relatives (31.4%), kidnapping and
abduction of women (19.2%), assault on women with intent to outrage her modesty (18.7%) and rape
(7.1%).
• Further, 13,479 cases were registered under the Dowry Prohibition Act.
• Despite high levels of education, male mindsets and societal attitude remain unchanged.
Major findings
• The NCRB’s report reveals that over 4.45 lakh cases of crimes against women were registered in 2022,
equivalent to nearly 51 FIRs (first information report) every hour.
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• The rate of crimes against women per lakh population stood at 66.4 while the filing of charge sheets in such
cases was pegged at 75.8.
• The high crime rate is an indicator of the persistent “lower status and inequality” faced by women and girls.
• The increase in crimes against women shows the attitude of Indian society towards women: “We claim to be
very progressive but we are very primitive.”
• The rise can also be attributed to the fact that though India has tough laws for protection of women, their
implementation remains a challenge.
• With 14,247 cases in 2022, Delhi recorded the highest rate of crimes against women in the country at 144.4
per lakh, way above the country’s average rate of 66.4.
• In many other parts of India, the registration of crime is low and the fear of the police high, says Vipul
Mudgal of Common Cause India.
Key laws for women safety

• The Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956, The Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961, The Commission of Sati
(Prevention) Act, 1987, Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005, The Sexual Harassment of
Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 and The Indecent Representation of
Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986.
• The implementation faces dual problems of shoddy investigation by police and time taken by courts to
deliver justice.
• When it reaches the courts, at trial courts which are the first step, the cases take four to five years. If there is
an appeal, it takes another 10-15 years.
• Despite fast-track courts for looking into grievous crimes, the fact is they remain as slow as ever. There is no
seriousness in dealing with the crime.
• Women police officers are involved in all crimes against women, their proportion in the force is dismal and
the rate of their recruitment is very slow in all States without exception.
• This also causes disproportionate levels of workload on women police personnel leading to slower rates of
charge-sheeting and convictions.
• The representation of women in the police force (as of January 1, 2022) remained at 11.7% of the total state
police force. This puts undue stress on the limited workforce leading to a high pendency, experts point out.
Centre tables Bill to push deadline for regularising illegal colonies in Capital
In News
The Union government recently introduced a Bill in Parliament to extend for a period of three years the validity of a
Central Act, which provides for the recognition of unauthorised colonies and relocation of slum dwellers.
Major Provisions
• The National Capital Territory of Delhi Laws (Special Provisions) Second (Amendment) Bill, 2023,
introduced in the Lok Sabha by Union Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, seeks to provide an
extension to the validity of the Act from January 1, 2024 to December 31, 2026.
• The Master Plan for Delhi-2041 is under finalisation wherein the measures for unauthorised developments
like Jhuggi-Jhompri clusters, unauthorised colonies, etc., are being included.
• The 2011 Act provided for the relocation of slum dwellers in accordance with the provisions of the Delhi
Urban Shelter Improvement Board Act, 2010 and the Master Plan for Delhi-2021. It also permitted
regularising unauthorised colonies, village “Abadi [inhabited]” areas, and their extensions.
• It also allowed the creation of a policy for farmhouses constructed beyond permissible building limits and for
all other areas within the National Capital Territory of Delhi.
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• It gave protection from punitive action and called for minimising inconvenience to people in case of
demolition or sealing of structures as per the Master Plan.
• The Master Plan for Delhi-2021 was notified by the Central government on February 7, 2007.
• The Master Plan is a statutory document that facilitates the Capital’s development by assessing the present
condition and guiding how to achieve the desired development.
• The Bill amends this to provide that unauthorised colonies will be identified for regularisation as per the
National Capital Territory of Delhi (Recognition of Property Rights of Residents in Unauthorised Colonies)
Act, 2019, and the National Capital Territory of Delhi (Recognition of Property Rights of Residents in
Unauthorised Colonies) Regulations, 2019.
Revised criminal reform Bills in Parliament
In News
The Centre introduced three revised criminal reform Bills in Lok Sabha withdrawing the previous versions,
introduced in August this year.
Key changes in the bill

• The use of handcuffs, as allowed in Clause 43(3) of the BNSS, to prevent the escape of individuals accused
of serious offences and ensure the safety of police officers and staff during arrests, was welcomed by the
Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs.
• However, the panel suggested that this should be restricted to select heinous crimes like rape and murder
rather than be extended to persons committing “economic offenses.”
• This is because the term “economic offences” encompasses a wide range of offences, from petty to serious,
and therefore, it may not be suitable for blanket application of handcuffing in all cases falling under this
category.
• The committee, therefore, recommends that Clause 43(3) may be suitably amended to delete the words
‘economic offences’ from the clause.
• Clause 43(3) of the erstwhile BNSS permitted the use of handcuffs while arresting habitual offenders who
escaped from custody or those committing specific offences like human trafficking and counterfeiting,
among others.
• The parliamentary panel’s recommendation to delete “economic offences” from this provision has been
incorporated in the new Bill.
• The new provision extends the use of handcuffs to persons being produced before a court as well.
Mercy Petitions
• Clause 473(1) of the erstwhile BNSS allowed convicts undergoing death sentences or their legal heirs or
relatives to file mercy petitions while providing the procedure and time frame for the same.
• The earlier provision also said that prior to submitting the plea before the Governor or the President, it may
be presented to the Centre or the state government’s Home Department.
• The panel suggested constituting a quasi-judicial board to deal with commutation and remission matters
rather than leaving such judicial functions to the Executive’s discretion. It also proposed that a time frame be
provided within which mercy petitions would be heard.
• Clause 473(7) said, “No appeal shall lie in any Court against the order of the President made under article
72,” the modified Clause 472(7) makes the Governor’s orders under Article 161 unappealable, thereby
broadening the scope of what cannot be challenged.
Preventive detention powers

• Clause 172(2) of the BNSS expanded the police’s powers while taking preventive action.
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• It allowed police officers to detain or remove persons resisting, refusing, ignoring, or disregarding to
conform to any direction given by them under sub-section (1) and take them before a Judicial Magistrate or,
in petty cases, release them “when the occasion is past.”
• However, the panel suggested that the time period for such detention should be specified, and the words
“release him when the occasion is past” need to be clarified to remove ambiguity.
• The new Bill adds a time limit to this provision. It says the person detained may be taken to a magistrate or,
in petty cases, be released as soon as possible, within 24 hours.
Community Service
• The erstwhile BNSS had included “community service” as a penal measure for offences like attempting
suicide, restraining exercise of lawful power theft, defamation of public functionaries, and appearing in
public places while intoxicated and causing annoyance. However, it was silent on the definition of
“community service.”
• The explanation to Clause 23 of the new BNSS defines “community service” to mean work which the Court
may order a convict to perform as a form of punishment that benefits the community, for which he shall not
be entitled to any remuneration.
• The Bill also adds community service as punishment for unlawfully engaging public servants in trade and
non-appearance in response to a proclamation under Section 84.
Supreme Court’s verdict upholding the abrogation of Article 370
In News
A Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court unanimously upheld the power of the President to abrogate Article 370
of the Constitution, which in August 2019 led to the reorganisation of the State of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) into
two Union Territories and denuded it of its special privileges.
Article 370- temporary provision

• The court held that Article 370 was meant to be a ‘temporary provision’ for two primary reasons.
• First, it served a transitional purpose which was to make an interim arrangement to establish a Constituent
Assembly of J&K which would draft the State Constitution.
• Second, it was meant to ease the integration of J&K into the Union of India in the light of the prevailing war-
like situation in the State back in 1947.
• The court pointed out that the provision is placed in Part XXI of the Constitution, titled “Temporary,
Transitional and Special Provisions” which shows the intention of the Constitution framers.
• The provisions were transitional so as to facilitate the transfer of power from the institutions of governance
which were functioning under the Government of India Act 1935 to the duly constituted institutions which
would take over after the commencement of the Constitution.
• Underscoring that J&K became an integral part of the territory of India with the adoption of the
Constitution on January 26, 1950, the Chief Justice observed— “Any interpretation of Article 370 cannot
postulate that the integration of Jammu and Kashmir with India was temporary”.
Supreme Court Observations

• The court underscored that the operation of this paragraph ceased to exist following the proclamation
issued by Karan Singh on November 25, 1949, the ruler of Jammu and Kashmir, which stipulated that the
Constitution of India would govern the relationship between J&K and the Union and had the effect of a
‘merger’ like any other princely state.
• Moreover, the provisions of the Indian Constitution would, according to the Proclamation, supersede and
abrogate all other constitutional provisions inconsistent with it which were then in force in the State.
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• This, the majority opinion stated, reflected the “full and final surrender of sovereignty by Jammu and
Kashmir, through its sovereign ruler, to India”.
• The Chief Justice also outlined that, unlike the Constitution of India, ‘there is a clear absence’ in J&K’s
Constitution of a reference to sovereignty.
• He highlighted that Article 370 was merely a ‘feature of asymmetric federalism’ similar to other provisions in
the Constitution such as Articles 371A to 371J — examples of special arrangements for different States.
President's Rule
• Article 356 authorises the declaration of President’s Rule in a State on the receipt of a report from the
Governor about the failure of the constitutional machinery.
• When a Proclamation under Article 356 is in force, there are innumerable decisions which are taken by the
Union Government on behalf of the State Government for the purpose of day-to-day administration.
• Every decision and action taken by the Union Executive on behalf of the State is not subject to challenge.
Opening up challenge to every decision would lead to chaos and uncertainty. It would in effect put the
administration in the State at a standstill.
• The Chief Justice held that the power of the Parliament in a State under the President’s rule was not
restricted to mere lawmaking. It also extended to executive action.
• The President had issued successive executive orders leading to the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019.
• The court made it clear that neither the President nor the Parliament would be “impeded by an absence of
competence” while assuming the legislative powers of the State legislature during the operation of the
President’s Rule.
Article 370 & 367

• Article 370(3) of the Constitution stipulates that a Presidential Order abrogating the provision can only be
issued pursuant to the recommendation of J&K’s Constituent Assembly.
• However, the Constituent Assembly dissolved in 1957 without extending any such recommendation as a
result of which the President of India was so long powerless to abrogate Article 370.
• The Chief Justice pointed out that the fundamental difference between a ‘Constituent Assembly’ and a
‘Legislative Assembly’ renders the modification of Article 367 a modification of Article 370(3), which has an
effect that is ‘appreciable and substantive’.
• He cautioned that the consequces of permitting amendments through such a circuitous manner would be
disastrous.
Forest Rights Act
In News
Recently,the Rajya Sabha endorsed the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of
Forest Rights) Act, enacted by the Lok Sabha.
Historical background
• Prior to colonialism, local communities enjoyed customary rights over forests in their vicinity or even a large
region.
• Even when kings or chieftains claimed (say) hunting rights in certain forests, local communities continued to
enjoy all other forest benefits.
• The colonial takeover of India’s forests, however, resulted in a massive disruption of these traditions.
• Based on the false idea of ‘eminent domain’ (that the ruler always owns all property), the 1878 (colonial)
Indian Forest Act was passed and the takeover of India’s forests began.
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• The Imperial Forest Department was established to harvest and transform the forest to maximise timber
and revenue, and was also tasked with protecting ‘state’ property against local communities, now deemed
trespassers.
• Colonial forest policy
• Forests were seen as primarily a timber resource, shifting cultivation was banned.
• The so-called survey and settlement of agricultural lands was incomplete and biased in favour of the state.
• Simultaneously, to ensure labour for forestry operations, ‘forest villages’ were created, wherein forest land
was leased for agriculture to (mostly Adivasi) households in return for compulsory (virtually bonded) labour.
• Since forests were now state property, all access to forest produce was limited, temporary and chargeable,
and always at the mercy of the forest bureaucracy that was armed with police powers. Any concessions to
local livelihood needs were termed ‘privileges’ that could be modified or withdrawn any time.
• Even where access was permitted, the local community had no right to manage the forest, as the state
logged valuable forests and made heavily used forest de facto open-access.
After Independence
• In the hurry to assimilate princely States and zamindari estates into the Union, their forest areas were
declared state property without proper inquiry into who was residing in them. Legitimate residents and
cultivators became ‘encroachers’ overnight.
• Later, forest lands were leased out under the ‘Grow More Food’ campaign and other initiatives to meet the
needs of a growing population, but were never ‘regularised’.
• Communities displaced by dams were not given alternative lands, and ended up ‘encroaching’ forest land
elsewhere. And, forest exploitation continued as in colonial times, but in the name of national interest.
Wildlife protection act

• The Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972 and the Forest (Conservation) Act 1980 (FCA), again conceived within the
framework of eminent domain, became the sixth and seventh forms of injustice. Lakhs of communities were
forcibly resettled when creating sanctuaries and national parks.
• And in ‘diverting’ forests for development projects, neither were the views or consent of local communities
taken into consideration, nor, in spite of imposing hefty Net Present Value fees on the project, were the local
communities compensated for the impact on their livelihoods.
Forest rights act

• The FRA is remarkable because it first of all acknowledges these historical (colonial) injustices and their
continuation post-Independence. Redress then takes three broad forms.
• The issue of so-called ‘encroachments’ is addressed through recognising individual forest rights (IFRs) to
continue habitation and cultivation or other activities that existed before December 2005.
• Forest villages are to be converted into revenue villages after full rights recognition.
• The issue of access and control is addressed by recognising the rights of village communities to access and
use forests and to own and sell minor forest produce, and, most importantly, to manage forests within their
customary boundaries, including in sanctuaries and national parks.
• This is the most far-reaching provision in the FRA, as it ensures decentralised forest governance, linking
management authority and responsibility to community rights.
• Finally, the Act lays down a democratic procedure for identifying whether and where wildlife conservation
may require curtailing or extinguishing community rights.
• Simultaneously, having community rights over a forest translates ipso facto into the community having a say
in, if not veto over, any diversion of that forest and a right to compensation if diverted.
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• This right was reaffirmed by the Supreme Court in the Niyamgiri case, and although the Forest Conservation
Rules 2022 and FCA Amendment 2023 seek to bypass this right, States can still put in place such consent
mechanisms.
• But the biggest lacuna in FRA implementation is the extremely slow and incomplete recognition of
community rights to access and manage forests (loosely, community forest rights or CFRs).
• The (still colonially structured) forest bureaucracy is vehemently opposed to these rights, as it stands to lose
its zamindari: our estimates show that 70%-90% of the forests in central India should be under CFRs.
• The other departments and political representatives can only visualise forest-dwellers as ‘labharthis’
(beneficiaries of state largesse), not as autonomous users and managers of their own forests.
• Maharashtra, Odisha, and, more recently, Chhattisgarh, are the only States to recognise CFRs substantially.
• But only Maharashtra has enabled their activation by de-nationalising minor forest produce, at least in
Scheduled Areas, resulting in at least a thousand villages managing their own forests.
Way forward
Unless political leaders, bureaucrats and environmentalists all appreciate the spirit and the intent of the FRA, the
historical injustices will remain unaddressed, forest governance will remain highly undemocratic, and the enormous
potential for community-led forest conservation and sustainable livelihoods will remain unrealised.
Selecting Election Commissioners
In News
Recently,the Rajya Sabha passed The Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners (Appointment,
Conditions of Office and Terms of Office) Bill, 2023.
Article 324
• Article 324 provides for the composition of the Election Commission of India (ECI).
• It consists of the CEC and two other ECs.
• The Constitution provides that the appointment of the CEC and EC shall, subject to the provisions of any law
made by Parliament, be made by the President.
• While the existing parliamentary law provides for their conditions of service, it is silent with respect to
appointments.
• The appointments till date are made by the President, that is the Central Government and there is no
mechanism for ensuring independence during the appointment process.
Supreme court judgement

• A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by Anoop Baranwal in 2015 pleaded for the Supreme Court to issue
directions to set up an independent, collegium-like system for the appointment of the CEC and ECs.
• The Supreme Court in this case, in March 2023, held that there has been a legislative vacuum due to the
absence of any law by Parliament in the last 73 years (since the adoption of the Constitution) with respect to
the appointment of the CEC and EC.
• The independence of the ECI is essential for ensuring free and fair elections that is paramount for a vibrant
democracy.
• The Supreme Court drew reference to various other institutions supporting constitutional democracy that
have independent mechanisms for the appointment of its head/members like the National and State Human
Rights Commission, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Information Commission, Lokpal etc.
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Recommendations by committees
• Dinesh Goswami Committee on Electoral Reforms (1990) and the Law Commission in its 255th report on
Electoral Reforms (2015), had suggested that the CEC and ECs should be appointed by a committee
consisting of the Prime Minister, the Chief Justice of India (CJI) and the Leader of the Opposition or the
largest Opposition party in the Lok Sabha.
• Considering these recommendations, the Supreme Court, exercising its powers under Article 142 (to issue
directions for doing ‘complete justice’ in any matter), laid down that the CEC and ECs shall be appointed by a
committee consisting of the Prime Minister, the CJI and the Leader of the Opposition or the largest
opposition party in the Lok Sabha.
• It said that this mechanism shall be in place till Parliament enacts a law on this matter.
Proposed law
• The CEC and other ECs shall be appointed from persons who are holding or have held a post equivalent to the
rank of Secretary to the Government of India.
• There shall be a search committee headed by the Minister of Law and Justice, who shall prepare a panel of five
persons for consideration to the selection committee.
• The CEC and EC shall be appointed by the President on the recommendation of this selection committee
consisting of the Prime Minister, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha and a Union Cabinet Minister to be
nominated by the Prime Minister.
• It is for the first time that the Parliament is proposing a structured mechanism for identification of suitable
persons for the post of CEC and EC.
• However, this bill removes the CJI from the selection process that was laid down in the Anoop Baranwal case.
Appointment around the world

• The international practices for selection and appointment of members to the electoral body varies between
different democracies.
• In South Africa, the President of the Constitutional Court, representatives of the Human rights Court and
gender equality are involved.
• In the U.K., the House of Commons approves the candidates, whereas in the U.S., the appointment is by the
President and confirmed by the Senate.
One person, one vote, one value
In News
Along with addressing quantitative dilution of vote value, the next Delimitation Commission needs to address
qualitative dilution so that minorities are represented more adequately.
Constitutional safeguards
• To avoid these dilutions, our Constitution framers envisaged appropriate safeguards to ensure equal political
rights for all citizens.
• Articles 81 and 170 of Constitution state that the ratio of the population for the Lok Sabha and State
Legislative Assembly constituencies shall be the same as far as practicable.
• Article 327 empowers Parliament to make laws related to the delimitation of constituencies, which cannot
be questioned in a court of law.
• Based on this, the government forms an independent delimitation commission headed by a retired Supreme
Court judge to avoid qualitative dilution.
• Articles 330 and 332 guarantee reservation of seats for Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) in
Parliament and State Legislative Assemblies, which need to be kept in mind during delimitation.
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• Delimitation of constituencies needs to be carried out regularly based on the decennial Census to maintain
equality of the vote value as far as practicable.
Delimitation Commissions
• The government has constituted four delimitation commissions so far: in 1952, 1962, 1972 and 2002.
• The first delimitation order in 1956 identified 86 constituencies as two-member constituencies, which was
abolished by the Two Member Constituencies (Abolition) Act, 1961.
• The second delimitation order in 1967 increased the number of Lok Sabha seats from 494 to 522 and State
Assembly seats from 3,102 to 3,563.
• The third delimitation order of 1976 increased the number of Lok Sabha and State Assembly constituencies
to 543 and 3,997, respectively.
• Due to the fear of more imbalance of representation, the 42nd Amendment Act in 1976 froze the population
figure of the 1971 Census for delimitation until after the 2001 Census.
• The Delimitation Act of 2002 did not give power to the Delimitation Commission to increase the number of
seats, but said that the boundaries within the existing constituencies should be readjusted.
• The Commission allowed up to 10% variation in the parity principle; yet around 17 parliamentary
constituencies and many more Assembly constituencies violated this so that each representative could
represent more people.
• But the fourth Delimitation Commission was able to reassign reserved constituencies, which increased the
number of seats for SCs from 79 to 84 and STs from 41 to 47 based on the increase in population.
• The moratorium was extended until the first Census after 2026 for any further increase in the number of
seats.
Variation in Vote value

• The population of Rajasthan, Haryana, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, and Gujarat has
increased by more than 125% between 1971 and 2011, whereas the population of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Goa,
and Odisha has increased by less than 100% due to stricter population control measures.
• This also reveals a huge variation in the value of vote for a people between States.
• For example, in U.P., an MP on average represents around 2.53 million people, whereas in Tamil Nadu, an
MP represents on average around 1.84 million people, a quantitative dilution.
• The qualitative dilution of vote value parity can be used as a tool to sideline or make insignificant the votes
of minorities.
This can happen in three ways-

• The first is cracking, where areas dominated by minorities are divided into different constituencies.
• The second is stacking, where the minority population is submerged within constituencies where others are
the majority.
• And the third is packing, where minorities are packed within a few constituencies; their strength is
weakened everywhere else.
• The qualitative dilution of vote value was highlighted in the National Commission to Review the Working of
the Constitution and the Sachar Committee Report: in a majority of the seats reserved for SCs by the
Delimitation Commission (1972-76), the population of Muslims was more than 50% and also higher than the
SC population.
Way forward
• Delimitation cannot be postponed further as it will lead to more deviation in the population-representation
ratio.
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• At the same time, the interests of the southern States have to be protected as their representation in
Parliament might weaken due to more seats being assigned to States with a higher population growth.
• Along with addressing quantitative dilution of vote value, the next Delimitation Commission needs to
address qualitative dilution so that minorities are represented more adequately.
ED’s powers of arrest
In News
The Supreme Court ruled that it is enough for the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to orally inform an accused of the
grounds of their arrest at the time of arrest.
ED's power of arrest

• Section 19 of the PMLA 2002 allows authorised ED officials to arrest persons based on material in their
possession, which gives them a reason to believe that one is guilty of an offence punishable under that law.
• However, the reasons for such belief must be recorded in writing, and the grounds of arrest be informed to
the accused “as soon as may be.”
• Importantly, anyone arrested shall, within 24 hours, be taken to a Special Court, Judicial Magistrate, or
Metropolitan Magistrate.
• However, Article 22(3)(b) exempts the application of these safeguards to persons held under any preventive
detention law, such as the Gujarat Prevention of Antisocial Activities Act, 1985, and the Bihar Control of
Crimes Act, 1981, among others.
Supreme court ruling

• The Bench was acting on a plea by real-estate company Supertech Limited’s founder, Ram Kishor Arora,
challenging an order of the Delhi HC.
• On June 27, the Delhi HC dismissed Arora’s petition to declare his arrest illegal and violative of his
fundamental right(s) to equality, life, and protection in respect of conviction for offences under Articles 14,
21, and 20.
• Justices AS Bopanna and Sanjay Kumar held that to give true meaning to the constitutional and statutory
mandate of Section 19(1) of informing the arrested person of the arrest grounds, “it would be necessary,
henceforth,” that a copy of such written grounds be furnished to the arrested person, as a matter of course,
without exception.
• The SC has now ruled that the word “henceforth” in its earlier ruling implies its application to cases where
the arrest took place after October 3, not before.
Implications
• Although there is no constitutional or statutory prescription on the issue, the rule of precedents has evolved
by practice in India to “prevent the possibility of inconsistent decisions on similar points of law by different
benches of equal strength,” a Constitution Bench of the SC said in its 1989 ruling in UOI vs. Raghubir Singh.
• The court also ruled that a statement of law by a Division Bench “is considered binding on a Division Bench
of the same or lesser number of Judges,” adding that this has been followed in India by several generations
of judges.
• However, in Pradip Chandra Parija vd. Pramod Chandra Patnaik (2002), a Constitution Bench ruled that if two
Benches of equal strength arrive at different conclusions on the same question of law, the matter must be
referred to a higher Bench.
• “If, then, the Bench of three learned Judges also comes to the conclusion that the earlier judgment of a
Bench of three learned Judges is incorrect, reference to a Bench of five learned Judges is justified,” the court
said.
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Indian Penal Code to Nyaya Sanhita
In News
The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi has lauded the passage of Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023,
Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 and Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 by the Parliament and called it a historic
moment in India’s history.
New offences
• Promise to marry: The BNS introduces Clause 69 that seems to ostensibly tackle the “love jihad” narrative by
criminalising “deceitful” promise to marry. The phrase “sexual intercourse not amounting to the offence of
rape” essentially criminalises consensual sexual activity too.
• “Whoever, by deceitful means or by making promise to marry to a woman without any intention of fulfilling
the same, has sexual intercourse with her, such sexual intercourse not amounting to the offence of rape,
shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years and
shall also be liable to fine,”
• Mob lynching: The BNS provisions codify offences linked to mob lynching and hate-crime murders, for
cases when a mob of five or more individuals commits murder based on factors such as race, caste,
community, or personal belief. The provision has punishment that extends from life imprisonment to death.
• In its earlier version, the Bill had proposed a minimum sentence of seven years, but this was brought at par
with murder.
• Organised crime: For the first time, tackling organised crime is brought under the realm of ordinary criminal
law. The punishment for attempt to commit organised crime and for committing organised crime is the
same, but a distinction is drawn based on whether a death is caused or not by the alleged offence.
• For cases involving death, the punishment ranges from life imprisonment to death but where there is no
death involved, a mandatory minimum sentence of five years is prescribed which may extend to life
imprisonment.
• A separate category of “petty organised crime” has also been brought in, which criminalises “theft,
snatching, cheating, unauthorised selling of tickets, unauthorised betting or gambling, selling of public
examination question papers.”
• An earlier version of the Bill used the overbroad words, “Any crime that causes general feelings of insecurity
among citizens”, to describe petty organised crime, but that has been dropped in the current version.
• Terrorism: Importing large parts of the language in defining “terror activities” from the stringent Unlawful
Atrocities Prevention Act, the BNS brings terrorism under the ambit of ordinary criminal law.
• Attempt to suicide: The BNS introduces a new provision that criminalises “whoever attempts to commit
suicide with the intent to compel or restrain any public servant from discharging his official duty”, and
prescribes a jail term which may extend to one year with community service.
Deletions
• Unnatural sexual offences: Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, which criminalised homosexuality among
other “unnatural” sexual activities, has been repealed under the BNS. However, the total omission of Section
377 has raised concerns, since the provision is still helpful to tackle non-consensual sexual acts, especially
when rape laws continue to be gendered.
• Adultery: The offence of adultery, which was struck down by the Supreme Court as unconstitutional in 2018,
has been omitted under the BNS.
• Thugs: The IPC under Section 310 criminalises those who have been “habitually associated with any other or
others for the purpose of committing robbery or child-stealing by means of or accompanied with murder,”
and labels them a thug. This provision is criticised for attaching colonial notions of criminality for certain
tribes. The BNS has fully omitted this provision.
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• Gender neutrality: While rape laws continue to operate only for women, the BNS has tweaked some other
laws, especially those dealing with children, to bring gender neutrality.
• The offences dealing with procuration of a girl (for “illicit intercourse”, 366A of the IPC) has been made
gender neutral. For the offence dealing with kidnapping of minors, the IPC (Section 361) prescribes different
age limits: 16 years for male and 18 years for a female. The BNS makes it 18 for both.
Sedition
• The BNS introduces the offence under a new name and with a wider definition. Apart from a name change
from ‘rajdroh’ to ‘deshdroh’, the new provision brings under its sweep aiding through financial means acts of
“subversive activities”, and those encouraging “feelings of separatist activities.”
• Mandatory minimum sentence: Section 303 of the IPC prescribed a mandatory death sentence for murder
committed by a life-convict. In 1983, the Supreme Court struck down the provision as unconstitutional since
it took away the discretion of judges in awarding a sentence.
• The BNS has now tweaked this provision to prescribe a punishment of “death or imprisonment for life,
which shall mean the remainder of that person’s natural life.”
Number of CAG audits on Union govt. tabled in Parliament hits a low in 2023
In News
In the calendar year 2023, only 18 audit reports on the Union government’s accounts, prepared by the Comptroller
and Auditor General (CAG), were tabled in Parliament.
About CAG
• Comptroller and Auditor General of India, is a constitutional authority which heads the Indian Audit and
Accounts Department (IA&AD). The two entities are known as the Supreme Audit Institution of India (SAI).
• As a “Guardian of the Public Purse”, CAG is vested with the responsibility of inspecting and auditing all the
expenditure of both the Central and the State Governments as well as of those organizations or the bodies
which the government significantly funds.
• This is the reason why Dr. B.R. Ambedkar said that the CAG shall be the most important Officer under the
Constitution of India.
Constitutional provisions
• Article 148 provides for an independent office of the CAG.
• Other Provisions Related to CAG include: Articles 149-151 (Duties & Powers, Form of Accounts of the Union
and the States and Audit Reports), Article 279 (calculation of net proceeds, etc.) and Third Schedule (Oath or
Affirmation) and Sixth Schedule (Administration of Tribal Areas in the States of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura
and Mizoram).
• The CAG is appointed by the president of India by a warrant under his hand and seal.
• He is provided with the security of tenure. He can be removed by the president only in accordance with the
procedure mentioned in the Constitution.
• Period of 6 years or until attaining the age of 65 years whichever is earlier.
• Removal of the CAG from office requires a specific process: an order from the President after receiving an
address from each House of Parliament.
• For removal to take effect, the address must be supported by a majority of the total membership of that
house and by at least a two-thirds majority of the members present and voting in the same session.
• Grounds for removal include proved misbehavior or incapacity.
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Telecom Bill
In News
The Telecommunications Bill, 2023, was passed in Parliament this week.
When it receives the assent of the President, the Bill will replace three archaic laws such as the Telegraph Act of
1885, the Indian Wireless Telegraphy Act of 1933 and The Telegraph Wires (Unlawful Possession) Act, 1950.
Major provisions
• The Bill governs authorisation of telecommunication networks and services, provides for auctioning as well
as administrative allocation of spectrum, defines the mechanism for exercising the right of way for laying
telecom infrastructure such as cables in public as well as private property.
• It also spells out emergency measures the government can take in the interest of national security and
public safety such as intercept messages, suspend telecommunication services as well as take temporary
possession of any telecommunication service or network.
• The Bill also states that rules will be framed to protect consumers with the setting up of a ‘Do Not Disturb’
register to ensure they don’t receive a specified class of messages without prior consent.
• The Bill governs a whole host of services, including over-the-top services such as WhatsApp, Telegram and
email services like Gmail through a broad definition for ‘telecommunication’ which is given as “transmission,
emission or reception of any messages, by wire, radio, optical or other electro-magnetic systems, whether or
not such messages have been subjected to rearrangement, computation or other processes by any means in
the course of their transmission, emission or reception.”
• The Bill also marks a shift from a licensing regime to an authorisation regime, where all telecommunication
services in India “shall obtain an authorisation from the Central Government, subject to such terms and
conditions, including fees or charges, as may be prescribed.” Anyone who offers a service without
authorisation will face an imprisonment of up to three years, or a fine of up to ₹2 crore.
• The Bill allows the government to assign spectrum for telecommunication through auction except for
entities listed in the First Schedule for which assignment will be done by administrative process.
• The First Schedule includes entities engaged in national security, defence, law enforcement and crime
prevention, public broadcasting services, disaster management, promoting scientific research and
exploration, as well as Global Mobile Personal Communication by Satellites such as Space X, and Bharti
Airtel-backed OneWeb, which had been pushing for administrative allocation.
Concerns over the bill

• The new Telecommunications Bill, 2023, is draconian and provides a legal architecture for mass surveillance
and internet shutdowns.
• Among its several contentious clauses is the requirement that all users have to be identified through the
use of “verifiable biometric based identification as may be prescribed” by telecommunication service
providers.
• Further, it requires that no user shall furnish any false particulars or suppress material information.
• This could impede whistle-blowers as well as journalists who operate under anonymity. If users fail to
comply, they will be charged a hefty penalty from ₹25,000 to ₹1,00,000 for some provisions.
• Section 19 (f) empowers the Central government to notify “standards and conformity assessment
measures” in respect of encryption and data processing in telecommunication, which has raised eyebrows
given that most internet communication is increasingly being pushed towards encryption to evade national
state surveillance programmes.
• The government’s interest in breaking up encryption of WhatsApp and Signal has to be seen in the backdrop
of a controversy over Israeli company NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware targeting 300 mobile phone numbers
for illegal surveillance.
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• It also allows the Central or a State government during a public emergency, including disaster
management, and in the interest of public safety to take “temporary possession of any
telecommunication service or network”.
• It can take over control and management of such services or networks. It can intercept messages on the
pretext of “preventing incitement to the commission of any offence”, and direct suspension of
telecommunication services in such circumstances like the shutdown of Internet seen in Manipur and
Jammu and Kashmir.
Press and periodicals Bill 2023
In News
The Press and Registration of Periodicals Bill, 2023 bars persons convicted of terrorist acts or unlawful activities, or
those who have acted against state security, from publishing periodicals. Here's what else it contains.
Why the bill was brought?

• The first is “ease of doing business.”
• Second, it intends to remove “unnecessary procedural obstacles” for publishers.
• Finally, it seeks to “unburden” the publishers and printing press owners from furnishing a declaration before
the District Magistrate (DM) and filing a revised declaration every time there’s a change in its particulars.
Bill difference from 1867

• Books: The 1867 Act was enacted for the regulation of printing presses and newspapers, the preservation of
copies of books and newspapers printed in India, and their registration. However, the 2023 Bill removes
books from its ambit as they are under the HRD Ministry.
• Penalties: The 2023 Bill seeks to decriminalise the colonial-era statute by replacing jail terms with fines,
and providing for an appellate mechanism headed by the Chairman of the Press Council of India. The
Appellate Board (Press and Registration Appellate Board) will comprise, alongside the PCI chairman, two PCI
members and hear appeals against refusal of registration, imposition of penalties, suspension, or
cancellation of registration.
• The 1867 law included up to six-months imprisonment for offences like keeping a press without
declaration, making false statements, and violating printing or publishing requirements under Section 3.
• The new law has replaced all such penal provisions with fines, barring one.
• Section 14(4) allows six-month imprisonment for anyone failing to cease publication even after six months of
the issuance of directions or those publishing without a certificate of registration.
• The upper limit of fines has been hiked considerably — from Rs 2,000 to Rs 5 lakh.
• Shift in power: The new Bill shifts all the power from the DM’s hands to the Press Registrar General, a newly
created position. Although the 1867 Act included a “Press Registrar” or a “Registrar of newspapers for
India” appointed by the Centre, its powers were limited, unlike the PRG’s under the new law.
• Sections 5 and 6 of the Bill delineate the PRG’s functions and powers, respectively.
• The PRG is entrusted with tasks like issuing certificates of registration to periodicals, maintaining records of
registered periodicals, collecting application fees, and disbursing the Centre’s funds for the Act’s
implementation, among others.
Process of declaration
• The 1867 Act mandated a declaration specifying the printer or publisher be made to the DM, who then sent
it to the Press Registrar, who issued a certificate of registration necessary for publication.
• The process was deemed “time-consuming” and “onerous” under the new Bill.
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• Notably, publishers will no longer be required to file a declaration with the DM or the local authorities.
Meanwhile, printing presses can simply give an online “intimation” instead of filing a declaration.
• Another key change is that publishers and printers would not have to file separate applications as the Bill
allows the processing of the title allotment and registration applications simultaneously.
• Once a registration application is filed, the “specified authority” must furnish its no-objection or comments
on the application within 60 days before making an application to the PRG, which eventually decides the
grant of registration.
• Notably, this requirement for such authority’s no-objection has been removed for the registration of
periodicals proposed to be published by the government.
UAPA Provision
• The proviso to Section 4 states that any person who has been convicted of a “terrorist act” or “unlawful
activity” or has acted against the security of the state will not be allowed to publish a periodical.
• “Terrorist act” and “unlawful activity” shall have the same meaning assigned to them in clauses (k) and (o) of
Section 2(1) of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.
• While the former refers to any act done “with intent to threaten or likely to threaten the unity, integrity,
security, economic security, or sovereignty of India or with intent to strike terror or likely to strike terror
among people”, the latter refers to any action by individuals or associations supporting any claim for
secession, separatism, disruption of sovereignty or integrity, among others.
How the Centre plans to regulate content on OTT and digital media?
In News
The Centre’s new draft Bill, which seeks to overhaul the regulatory system for the broadcasting sector, expands
the scope from traditional services like television — both news and entertainment — to OTT (over-the-top)
platforms and digital content.
Major provisions
• No person or broadcasting company can provide services or run a network without formal registration or
intimation to the government, with the exception of a few authorised bodies like Prasar Bharati or
Parliament channels.
• In line with the provisions of the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act of 1995, all cable and satellite
broadcasting network operators must register to operate, while broadcasters should get approval from the
registering authority for transmitting programmes. They are also required to maintain subscriber data.
• Similar provisions apply to terrestrial and radio broadcasting networks.
• Different rules can be made for different types of broadcasters and network operators, allowing for tailored
regulations based on the nature of their operations.
• The draft further expands the purview of broadcasting rules to networks that use the internet to
broadcast services and programmes, such as Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) and OTT broadcasting
services (classified as broadcasting network operators in the draft) if they have the required number of
subscribers or viewers.
• The Bill leaves it to the Union government to prescribe limits at a later stage.
• Under the Act, OTT broadcasting services will, however, not include a social media intermediary or a user of
such intermediary, as defined under the Information Technology Act, 2000.
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Content quality and accessibility

• Any programme or advertisement broadcasted through TV, radio, or other broadcasting services must
adhere to the Programme Code and Advertisement Code, which are yet to be defined.
• These Codes will also apply to individuals and organisations broadcasting news and current affairs
programmes online through e-newspapers, news portals, websites and other similar social media
platforms that operate as a “systematic business” or “professional” entity.
• Digital copies of newspapers and publishers of commercial newspapers, however, will be exempted.
• Broadcasters will have to classify their programmes into different categories based on context, theme,
tone, impact and target audience.
• The classification must be prominently displayed at the beginning of the show so that viewers can make
“informed decisions.”
• The Bill requires network operators to implement access control measures for shows that are classified for
restricted viewing, such as those withadult content.
• The Bill provides for accessibility guidelines to address the needs of persons with disabilities, calling for
broadcasting network operators and broadcasters to make their platform, equipment and programmes
more accessible.
Self-regulation
• One of the highlights of the draft is a proposed self-regulation regime to ensure compliance with the
programme and advertisement codes, and to address other complaints.
• Every broadcaster or broadcasting network operator must establish a Content Evaluation Committee (CEC)
with members from various social groups, including women, child welfare, scheduled castes, scheduled
tribes, and minorities.
• Broadcasters will be allowed to air only those programmes certified by the CEC, except for specific shows
exempted by the government.
The three-tier broad regulatory structure prescribed in the draft has the following components:
• Self-regulation by broadcasters and network operators - Broadcasters and broadcasting network
operators will have to establish and maintain mechanisms for the filing and redressal of complaints.
• A grievance redressal officer will be appointed to handle complaints related to content and contravention of
the programme and advertisement codes. In case the official is unable to decide in the prescribed period or
the complainant is not satisfied with their decision, it can approach the self-regulatory organisation.
Self-regulatory organisations
• It is a proposed body of broadcasters, broadcasting network operators or their associations, which will guide
their members to ensure compliance with the broadcasting rules and deal with grievances related to content
violations not resolved within a specific time frame.
• They can also take up appeals against the decisions of broadcasters or network operators.
• If a broadcaster is found guilty of any wrongdoing, the self-regulatory organisation to which it belongs has
the authority to expel, suspend, or impose penalties in the form of advisories, censures, warnings, or
monetary fines, not exceeding Rs. 5 lakh for each violation.
Broadcast Advisory Council

• The Centre will establish an advisory council, consisting of independent experts and government
representatives, to oversee implementation of the regulations. It will hear content violations complaints and
accordingly make recommendations to the government.
• The government will then, after due consideration, issue appropriate orders and directions.
• The Council can also form review panels to assist with its functions.
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• These panels are assigned specific cases or appeals and provide their recommendations, considered as
recommendations of the Broadcast Advisory Council as per the text of the Bill.
Provision for inspection, seizure of equipment

• The Centre and authorised officers will have the right to “inspect” broadcasting networks and services.
• Operators of these will have to provide the “necessary equipment, services and facilities” to the authorised
officers during an inspection for “interception or monitoring” at its own cost.
• The Bill states that inspections will typically be conducted after providing “reasonable” notice in writing
with details about the reasons for confiscation.
• However, it also allows for inspections to be conducted without prior notice if “providing such notice would
defeat the purpose of the inspection,” thus raising concerns about government overreach.
• The inspecting team can also seize equipment if it believes that the operator has violated norms. Companies
and can be held liable for contraventions unless they prove lack of knowledge or due diligence.
• There is, however, a provision of a written notice to the operator informing it of the grounds for such
confiscation to provide the opportunity of making a representation.
• In case no such notice is given within 10 days from the date of the seizure of the equipment, it has to be
returned to the operator.
Penalties
• The Bill includes provisions for penalties such as removal of objectionable shows, orders, apologies, off-air
periods, or even cancellation of registration in case of non-compliance with the programme and
advertisement codes.
• The Centre may prohibit the transmission of a programme, or operation of broadcaster or broadcasting
network by citing public interest or national security reasons.
• If the programme or channel is “likely to promote disharmony or feelings of enmity, hatred, or ill-will
between different religious, racial, linguistic, or regional groups or castes or communities or if it is likely to
disturb public tranquillity on grounds of religion, race, language, caste, or community,” then it can be
prohibited by order.
• The amount of the penalty will depend on the financial capacity of the company or individual.
• The maximum penalty for unregistered entities and major categories is 100%, while the penalty for medium,
small and micro categories is 50%, 5% and 2%, respectively.
Concerns
• The broad scope of the Bill for traditional broadcasters, such ascable TV, and the evolving OTT space, which
essentially has a different business model and content delivery mechanism, has drawn a mixed response
from legal experts and advocates fordigital freedom.
• Digital rights organisation Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF) has called for a cautious examination of the
Bill due to the proposed codes’ similarity to the Code applicable to cable TV and the increased censorship
of TV programmes as a consequence.
• This may affect the publisher’s online free speech, freedom of journalistic expression and artistic creativity,
& the citizen’s right to access differing points of view because publishers will be compelled to only produce
content which is palatable to the Union Government.
• The group claims that exerting executive control over OTT content will lead to “over-compliance and self-
censorship” because platforms would aim to avoid the government’s broad discretion when it comes to
punishments.
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ULFA peace accord
In News
The pro-talks faction of the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) recently signed a historic tripartite peace deal
with the Government of India and the state government of Assam.
Historical background
• Assamese people have their own, unique culture and language, and a strong sense of identity.
• Starting in the 19th century, however, as the region’s tea, coal and oil economy attracted migrants from all
over, the indigenous population started to feel insecure.
• This was further exacerbated by the Partition, and the subsequent exodus of refugees into the state from
the erstwhile-East Pakistan.
• The competition for resources skyrocketed, resulting in a six-year long mass movement. Eventually, the
Assam Accord, seeking to “find a satisfactory solution to the problem of foreigners in Assam” was signed
in 1985.
• However, amidst all this, a group of more radical thinkers, led by Bhimakanta Buragohain, Arabinda
Rajkhowa, Anup Chetia, Pradip Gogoi, Bhadreshwar Gohain and Paresh Baruah formed ULFA on April 7,
1979.
Struggle of ULFA
• The founders of ULFA wanted to establish a sovereign Assamese nation through an armed struggle against
the Indian state.
• For over 44 years, this ‘struggle’ has been chequered with kidnappings and extortion, executions and
bomb blasts, leading to tragic loss of life in Assam and beyond.
• At the same time, the Indian state’s response has also been unsparing.
• In 1990, the Centre launched Operation Bajrang, leading to the arrest of 1,221 ULFA insurgents.
• Assam was declared a ‘disturbed area’, President’s rule was imposed, and the Armed Forces Special Powers
Act (AFSPA) was invoked.
• The government has also allegedly supported certain factions of ULFA, which has almost always been
plagued with differences of opinion.
• In 1992, one faction, later christened as Surrendered ULFA (SULFA), offered to surrender and engage in
dialogue with the government.
• Later, SULFA would allegedly carry out “secret killings” of ULFA insurgents and their family members, on
behalf of the state government.
• ULFA has links to other insurgent outfits in the Northeast and Myanmar, as well as Islamic terror outfits
like Harkat-ul-Jihad-e-Islami, and Al-Qaeda. Paresh Baruah, ULFA’s self-styled military chief, reportedly
met Osama Bin Laden, the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks.
• It also has links to Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), which has reportedly trained ULFA insurgents in
the past. ULFA openly supported Pakistan in its monthly newsletter Swadhinata during the Kargil War.
Peace agreement
• In 2005, the ULFA formed an 11-member ‘People’s Consultative Group’ (PCG) comprising noted intellectuals
and Jnanpith awardee author late Indira Raisom Goswami.
• The committee mediated three rounds of talks before the ULFA walked out of the discussions and
unleashed a new wave of terror.
• Some ULFA commanders like Arabinda Rajkhowa, 2008 onwards, would again strive for peace talks with the
government. However, Paresh Baruah was staunchly opposed to talks, and consequently “expelled”
Rajkhowa from the outfit in 2012.
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• The Rajkhowa-led pro-talk ULFA faction also “expelled” Baruah, paving the way for the last major split in
ULFA.
• While Baruah floated his own ULFA (Independent), the majority of the outfit joined the peace talks under
Rajkhowa.
• The pro-talks faction, in 2012, submitted a 12-point charter of demands to the central government, which
was finally responded to earlier this year.
• This was followed by a round of discussions between Rajkhowa’s faction and the Centre in April, and the
tripartite peace agreement.
Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machine
In News
In his letter to Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar, Jairam Ramesh said INDIA bloc leaders want a meeting with
the Election Commission to “discuss and provide suggestions on the use of VVPATs”.
VVPATs
• When a vote is cast, the Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machine, which is attached to the ballot
unit (BU) of the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM), prints out a slip of paper with the voter’s choice indicated
on it.
• Though it remains behind glass, the printed slip is visible for seven seconds so the voter can see that the vote
has been recorded correctly, before it falls into a box underneath.
• The idea of the VVPAT machine first emerged in 2010, when the EC held a meeting with political parties to
discuss the EVM and ways to make the polling process more transparent.
• After discussing the idea, the EC referred the matter to its Technical Expert Committee.
• A prototype was prepared by the two PSUs that manufacture EVMs – Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) and
Electronics Corporation of India (ECIL).
• The Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961 were amended in 2013 to allow for a printer with a drop box to be
attached to the EVM.
• The VVPAT was used for the first time in all 21 polling stations of the Noksen Assembly constituency of
Nagaland in 2013, after which the EC decided to introduce VVPATs in a phased manner.
• From June 2017, 100% of VVPATs began to be used in polls, and the 2019 Lok Sabha elections became the
first general election to have 100% of EVMs being attached to VVPATs.
Counting of Slips
• In February 2018, the EC mandated the counting of VVPAT slips of one randomly selected polling station per
Assembly constituency.
• This was increased to five polling stations per Assembly seat, following a Supreme Court judgment in April
201.
• The Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) report in March 2019 recommended that a random sample of 479
EVMs be selected for counting of VVPAT slips.
• “If for each of the selected machines, the EVM count matches with the VVPAT count, then it can be
concluded with an extremely high statistical confidence (more than 99.993665752% confidence) that the
proportion of defective EVMs is less than 2%.
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Arguments in favor of VVPATs

• The EC told the Supreme Court that verification of VVPATs of five randomly selected polling stations per
Assembly seat, with more than 4,000 total Assembly seats in India, translated to 20,600 EVM-VVPAT systems
– well above the ISI’s recommendation of 479.
• In Lok Sabha and Assembly elections so far, the EC said, 38,156 VVPATs have been checked randomly. “Not a
single case of transfer of vote meant for candidate ‘A’ to candidate ‘B’ has been detected.
• Since the introduction of VVPATs in 2017, the EC said it had received 25 complaints (including 17 during
the 2019 Lok Sabha polls) out of the 118 crore voters who have cast their votes. It said all these complaints
were found to be false.
• The EC said pressing for 100% verification was a “regressive thought and tantamount to going back to the
days of manual voting using ballot system”. It said manual counting of all VVPAT slips would take time and
introduce the potential of human error.
Understanding the peace pact with ULFA
In News
The pro-talks faction of the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) signed a tripartite peace deal with the Centre
and the Assam government on December 29, 2023.
Formation of ULFA
• The ULFA is a by-product of the anti-foreigners Assam Agitation that began in 1979 and ended with the
signing of the Assam Accord in August 1985.
• The fear that the Assamese and other indigenous communities would be pushed out of their own backyard
by “illegal immigrants” (people from Bangladesh) one day had triggered the agitation.
• While social organisations and students’ bodies chose the path of agitation, a group of radicals, including
Arabinda Rajkhowa, Anup Chetia, and Paresh Baruah formed the ULFA on April 7, 1979, to launch an armed
struggle with the objective of establishing a sovereign Assam.
• The group took a decade to recruit and train its members in Myanmar, China, and Pakistan before striking
with a series of abductions and executions.
• The government responded in 1990 with an offensive codenamed Operation Bajrang and banned the ULFA.
Assam was declared a disturbed area with the imposition of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act.
Peace process
• Counter-insurgency operations led to the arrest of 1,221 ULFA members in the early 1990s.
• In 1992, a group of ULFA members decided to surrender and engage in dialogue with the government.
• Collectively, they came to be known as SULFA or Surrendered ULFA who were later allegedly used by the
State forces to help identify and execute hardliners and members of their families in what came to be known
as “secret killings”.
• In 2005, the ULFA raised hopes of peace when it formed an 11-member People’s Consultative Group only
to backtrack and unleash a fresh phase of terror.
• After falling in the net of the security forces in India in 2009, the leaders of the Rajkhowa-led faction signed a
ceasefire agreement with the Centre in September 2011.
• Opposed to talks, Baruah “expelled” Rajkhowa from the ULFA in 2012.
• In April 2013, the anti-talks group was renamed ULFA (Independent). The pro-talks group signed the peace
accord 12 years after the agreement to suspend subversive operations.
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Peace agreement
• According to the memorandum of settlement, the ULFA has agreed to renounce violence, disarm, disband
the armed organisation, vacate their occupied camps, and participate in peaceful democratic process
established by the law. Marking a shift toward non-violence, it aims to ensure the integrity of the country
contrary to what the ULFA had initially demanded.
• The Ministry of Home Affairs will make a time-bound programme to fulfil the demands of the outfit and a
committee would be formed for its monitoring.
• The pact underlines a comprehensive package entailing an investment of ₹1.5 lakh crore for the all-round
development of Assam.
• The most significant part of the accord is the commitment to address the political demands of the ULFA.
• These include maintaining the territorial integrity of Assam through amicable settlement of boundary
disputes with neighbouring States in the Northeast and continuation of the “guidelines and methodology”
adopted for the delimitation exercise conducted in 2023 in future delimitation processes.
• The pact envisages ensuring maximum representation for indigenous communities in the 126-member
Assam Assembly by keeping non-original inhabitants, primarily migrant Muslims, out.
• The pact seeks exemption for Assam from Section 3 of the Citizenship Act of 1955 dealing with people who
have renounced Indian citizenship or whose citizenship has been terminated, to conditionally stop people of
one constituency from being registered in another, and prepare an error-free National Register of Citizens,
whose updated complete draft had put 19.06 lakh people out of 3.3 crore applicants on the rejection list.
Challenges
• The ULFA (I) operates from hideouts in the Sagaing Division of Myanmar. Baruah, believed to be based on
the Myanmar-China border, has repeatedly said talks with the “Indian occupational forces” would be
meaningless without discussing the sovereignty of Assam.
• The Chief Minister said the government cannot discuss sovereignty because “no one in Assam wants to
secede from India” but efforts to convince Baruah to come for negotiations would continue.
Selection of tableaux for the Republic Day parade
In News
The latest tussle between the Central government and non-BJP ruled States over the rejection of tableaux proposals
for this year’s Republic Day parade has taken a political tone.
Republic day parade

• Republic Day is an annual celebration to mark the adoption of the Indian Constitution and India’s transition
to a democratic republic.
• Led by the President from the Kartavya Path in New Delhi, the parade exhibits military might and cultural
heritage, which includes tableaux rolled out by States, Union Territories, Central ministries and departments.
• The Ministry of Defence (MoD) is responsible for conducting the parade and coordinating arrangements with
States and other agencies.
• Preparations for the ceremony, which has become synonymous with national pride and patriotism, begin
months in advance.
• This process includes the selection and shortlisting of tableaux.
Selection criteria
• Every year, months ahead of the event, the MoD invites States, UTs and departments to submit sketches or
designs for tableaux on a broad theme.
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• For instance, this year’s theme is ‘Viksit Bharat’ (Developed India) and ‘Bharat-Loktantra ki Matruka’
(India-Mother of Democracy).
• The sketch or design must be simple, colourful, easy to comprehend and avoid statistical data and
unnecessary details.
• Additionally, the Ministry shares basic guidelines that must be included in the proposal like the use of eco-
friendly material and technology.
• Writing or use of logos on the tableaux is not allowed except for the name of State/UT presenting, which can
be in Hindi in the front, English at the back and in the regional language on the sides of the tableau.
• The Ministry constitutes a committee of experts from the fields of arts, culture, painting, sculpture, music,
architecture, and choreography, among others, to screen proposals.
• In the first phase, the panel carries out a basic evaluation and suggests modifications in the sketch or design.
Once the designs are approved post any modifications, participants present a three-dimensional model of
the proposed tableau to the panel.
• These are examined by experts for final selection.
• Only shortlisted candidates are informed about the next round.
• The final selection is dependent upon a combination of factors such as visual appeal, impact on the
masses, idea or theme of the tableaux, degree of detail, accompanying music, and use of local resources.
• The selected models are then moved into the custody of the Ministry of Defence, at a “safe location”.
• The evaluation process typically extends over five to six rounds of meetings.
The need to examine the examination system
In News
Every examination season, the media reports scandals that engulf some universities or even school boards.
Decentralised system
• With more than 1,100 universities, 50,000 affiliated colleges including 700 autonomous colleges and a total
enrolment of 40.15 million students, India has numerous higher education examination systems with
diversified modes of assessment.
• There are also 60 school boards for secondary and higher secondary levels of school education, certifying
more than 15 million students every year.
• Secrecy and standardisation are considered to be the hallmarks of good examination boards.
• Secrecy without proper checks and balances and audits leads to scandals.
• Standardisation through uniformity in examination kills experimentation in assessment and curriculum.
• Rather, the credibility of assessment and standard of education can be ensured only through transparency in
teaching and assessment.
Issues
• An examination is supposed to have tested certain scholastic abilities, from memory to application and
creation of knowledge and critical thinking.
• Often, there are complaints that the examination boards test only memory.
• So, teachers in turn coach students to memorise answers and score marks rather than teach them higher
order thinking.
• There are many instances where we come across question papers that have grave flaws such as language
errors, errors in conceptualisation, irrelevant questions and questions that do not test higher order learning.
Future of education
• The evaluation of answer scripts is indiscriminate, and the grades do not reflect the differences in
students’ learning achievements.
• The employability of a graduate depends on higher order learning, while examination boards do not certify
students on those skills.
• Our institutional examinations fail in this.
• Employers disregard institutional certification and have their own rigorous assessment of a candidate’s
academic achievements and suitability for employment.
• This in turn has created a coaching market for competitive examinations and skilling.
Quality check
• The academic side of courses should lay the foundation for calibrating a good assessment system.
• All regulatory institutions in India have an emphasis on outcome-based learning in institutions.
• There are elaborate advisories on curriculum design, pedagogy, and examination systems from all the
regulatory boards.
• In the absence of regular and effective oversight, these advisories are hardly followed by educational
institutions.
• The syllabi of every graduate/diploma programme will tick most of the boxes such as course objectives,
expected outcomes, and even specifying the finer details of skills to be imparted.
• But a careful reading of the syllabi will expose the inconsistency and inadequacies in them.
• Actual classroom teaching will not meet the requirements of imparting higher order thinking and skills.
• Therefore, a transparent oversight model and greater involvement of professional bodies in curriculum
design and teaching should help in establishing a proper assessment system.
Problems with secrecy

• Regulatory bodies encourage colleges to go in for academic autonomy and certify their students based on
their own examinations, but the degrees/diplomas that are conferred are on a par with all others by the
affiliating university.
• Autonomy regulations give little oversight authority for the affiliating university on the autonomous college
examination system.
• The higher education regulator truly believes in decentralisation through autonomous institutions without
oversight. Standardisation of examinations is a farce.
• In a decentralised education system, confidentiality and standardisation of the examination system matter
little, but ensuring a minimum standard is essential. Transparency and proper oversight take lead roles in the
examination systems to ensure this.
Measures
• The use of technology in assessment enhances credibility.
• The setting of question papers can be standardised in terms of academic content, and evaluation can be
standardised with checks and balances.
• The market provides a variety of software solutions to every aspect of assessment, for both centralised
and distributed systems of assessments.
• All sorts of negligence, fraud and academic inadequacies and other quality issues should be codified, and
corrective measures/punishment also should be linked to such codes.
• Transparency in accessing the evaluation process by students and measures to address their grievances
should be in place.
• An external audit of assessment systems in universities and school boards is essential.
• Such audit reports should cover all the processes based on established principles and benchmarks set by
educationists to ensure reliability and consistency of examination systems.
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• Grading examination boards in terms of transparency, reliability and consistency should be a part of audit
reports.
• Such audit reports should be released soon after the completion of every major cycle of examinations, say
as half-yearly reports.
Why is child marriage still high in West Bengal?
In News
A recent study said that mainly four States, Bihar (16.7%), West Bengal (15.2%), Uttar Pradesh (12.5%), and
Maharashtra (8.2%) accounted for more than half of the total headcount burden of child marriages in girls.
Major findings
• The paper titled ‘Prevalence of girl and boy child marriage across States and Union Territories in India,
1993–2021: a repeated cross-sectional study’ highlights that one in five girls are still married below legal age
in India.
• The publication states that while some States have achieved dramatic decreases in prevalence and
headcount for child marriage in girls, “other states have struggled, such as West Bengal”.
• The largest absolute increase in headcount was observed in West Bengal, representing an increase of 32.3%
in headcount.
• West Bengal saw the largest absolute increase with over 5,00,000 more girls getting married as children.
• The National Family Health Survey-5 carried out in 2019-20, points out that the women aged 20-24 years
who were married before the age of 18 years in West Bengal remains one of the highest in the country at
41.6%.
• The percentage was the same during the National Family Health Survey- 4.
• The all-India figure of women aged 20-24 years getting married before they turn 18 is pegged at 23.3%.
Impact
• While child marriage is considered a human rights violation and a recognised form of sexual and gender-
based violence, the adverse impact of child marriage is manifested across maternal and child health in the
State.
• Murshidabad, one of the economically poorer districts of the State, has one of the highest numbers of
child marriages in West Bengal.
• The NFHS - 5 points out that 55.4% of women aged 20-24 years are married before the age of 18 years in the
district.
• The district saw a rise from NFHS-4 numbers, which stood at 53.5 %.
Schemes by West Bengal Govt.

• The West Bengal government has made a number of policy interventions to stop child marriage.
• Launched in October 2013, Kanyashree Prakalpa is a conditional cash transfer scheme aimed at
incentivising the schooling of all teenage girls between the ages of 13 and 18, and simultaneously
discouraging child marriage.
• The scheme has completed 10 years and was recognised at an international level with a United Nations
Public Service Award 2017.
• The West Bengal Budget for the year 2023-24 said the scheme has covered 81 lakh girls.
• In 2023, the West Bengal Higher Secondary Examination, also referred to as the Class XII board exam, saw
a 14.84% increase in female candidates.
• The number of girls appearing in the examination was 1.27 lakh higher than boys and totalled 57.43% of the
total candidates.
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• The All-India Survey of Higher Education for 2020-21 also puts the number of estimated enrolment of girls in
West Bengal at 9.29 lakh, which is higher than the boys enrolment which stood at 8.63 lakh.
Way forward
• West Bengal has emerged as an example where cash incentives and existing laws have failed to check child
marriages.
• In 2022, the West Bengal government called for a district action plan to curb child marriage and issued
necessary guidelines.
• However, in the absence of a social campaign involving all stakeholders including panchayats, schools and
local communities and without a political will to enforce the existing laws the situation at the grass roots
will not improve as rapidly as it has in other parts of the country.
Push for ethics in Higher education
In News
• Mulya Pravah 2.0, a modified version of Mulya Pravah, which was notified in 2019 by UGC .
• It seeks to inculcate human values and professional ethics in higher education institutions.
Unethical practices
• The most prominent of these are “favouritism in hiring, training, pay and promotion; sexual harassment;
gender discrimination in promotion; inconsistent view on discipline; lack of confidentiality;
• Gender differentiation in compensation; non-performance factors overlooked in appraisals; arrangements
with vendors for personal gain; and gender discrimination during recruitment and hiring”.
Emphasis on transparency
• Mulya Pravah 2.0 underscores the need for utmost transparency in administration and highlights that
decision-making in higher education institutions must be solely guided by institutional and public interest,
and not be vitiated by biases.
• It seeks to abolish the discriminatory privileges of officials and urges the administration to punish the
corrupt. It lays stress on the criticality of ‘encouraging persons at all levels to think and give their advice
freely.
• The guideline expects higher education institutions to ‘ensure integrity, trusteeship, harmony,
accountability, inclusiveness, commitment, respectfulness, belongingness, sustainability, constitutional
values and global citizenship’. This is a laudable and timely intervention, as these values are receding.
• The authorities in and officers of universities must ensure that the provisions of their acts, statutes,
ordinances and regulations are strictly adhered to in letter and spirit.
• The guideline requires higher education administration to conduct matters ensuring accountability,
transparency, fairness, honesty, and the highest degree of ethics.
• It reminds them to act in the best interest of their institution, create a conducive culture and work
environment for teaching, learning, and research and develop the potential of their institution.
• It further asserts that officers and staff must ‘refrain from misappropriating financial and other resources,
and refuse to accept gift, favour, service, or other items from any person, group, private business, or public
agency which may affect the impartial performance of duties’.
Issue of confidentiality
• The emphasis on the need for and the importance of maintaining the confidentiality of information is
bemusing as it runs counter to the right of information as an instrument to ensure accountability.
Future of education
• Higher education institutions must, in fact, be mandated to voluntarily disclose all critical information and
subject themselves to public scrutiny.
• The committees must put up their annual reports and audited accounts in the public domain. This will deter
malpractices and go a long way in restoring public confidence in the workings of the institutions.
• Asserting that teaching is a noble profession, and that teachers play a crucial role in ‘shaping the
character, personality, and career of the students’, it requires them to ‘act’ as role models and set
examples of ‘good conduct, and a good standard of dress, speech and behaviour, worth emulating by
students’.
• It asks them to abide by the provisions of the acts, statutes, ordinances, rules, policies, and procedures of
their universities but maintain silence on the issue of teachers’ associations.
Unions and support

• Mulya Pravah 2.0 expects staff and student unions to ‘support the administration in development activities
and raise issues in a dignified manner’, although this sounds like suggesting that they act and be the team B
of the administration and desist from raising issues concerning their members.
• Associations and unions of stakeholders are pressure groups to exert collective influence to protect the
rights and interests of their members.
• Higher education institutions are communities of scholars where no one should be more equal than the
other. Each stakeholder must be allowed to proactively participate in protecting, preserving and
promoting the culture and standards of their institutions.
• The idea of collegiality must require the administration to engage with and consult stakeholders in decision-
making.
• Mulya Pravah 2.0 insists that staff and students unions must ‘raise issues in a dignified manner’.
• As the guideline does not define or delineate what ‘dignified manner’ entails, the provision could be misused
to threaten, shun, silence or at least undermine the collective voices of the stakeholders.
India’s new hit-and-run law
In News
Transporters and commercial drivers from States like Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, and Punjab have
staged protests against the recent legislation concerning hit-and-run incidents.
Demand of protesters
• Transporters have raised concerns that the offence provides for stringent punishment even where the
accidents are unintentional.
• Their primary concern is the severe punishment of 10 years imprisonment and ₹7 lakh fine for drivers who
flee the scene of an accident without reporting the same.
• They protest that this penalty is excessive and that it fails to consider their challenging work conditions,
including long driving hours and difficult roads.
• Additionally, they argue that accidents may be caused by factors beyond the driver’s control, such as poor
visibility due to fog.
• The same, combined with fears of mob violence against drivers in the event that they stop to assist the
injured at accident sites, has fuelled the protests against the law.
• The general perception among drivers is that they are often unfairly blamed for accidents, regardless of the
actual circumstances.
• They argue that the punishment provided by the law is disproportionate and does not align with the
realities of road transport and the nature of accidents.
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• The drivers are also concerned that the law may be abused by law enforcement agencies to their detriment.
• They think that these harsh penalties could have a negative impact on the transport industry as a whole
given that stringent punishments may deter many from joining or continuing in the profession.
Need for the law

• The new law comes in the backdrop of concerning figures related to road accidents in India.
• In 2022, India registered the highest count of road crash fatalities, exceeding 1.68 lakh deaths.
• This unsettling statistic translates to an average of 462 deaths daily. Despite a 5% global decrease in road
crash deaths, India witnessed a year-on-year increase of 12% in road accidents and 9.4% in fatalities in the
same year.
• The country averages 19 deaths due to road accidents every hour which amounts to nearly one death every
three and a half minutes.
• Over half of all road fatalities occurred on national and State highways, which form less than 5% of the total
road network.
• With only 1% of the world’s vehicles, India accounts for about 10% of crash-related deaths and incurs an
economic loss of 5-7% of its GDP annually due to road crashes.
National crime record Bureau

• The National Crime Records Bureau recorded 47,806 hit and run incidents which resulted in the deaths of
50,815 people in 2022.
• The law creates a positive obligation on part of the offender to report such an incident to the police or
magistrate.
• They are also provisions to criminalise the omission in the performance of such a duty.
• The imposition of this legal duty clearly arises from a legislative intent to enforce moral responsibility on the
part of the offender towards the victim of a road accident.
• Such conversion of moral responsibility into a legal duty is not new to cases pertaining to motor vehicle
accidents.
• For instance, Section 134 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, requires the driver of the vehicle to take all
reasonable steps to secure medical attention for the injured person unless it is not practicable on account
of mob fury or any other reason beyond his control.
Way forward
• The widely circulated view that Section 106 (2) of the BNS stipulates an imprisonment of up to 10 years and
a fine of ₹7 lakh for fleeing an accident spot and failing to report the incident to a police officer/magistrate is
grossly incorrect.
• While this Section discusses a maximum punishment of 10 years and a fine, there is no actual mention in the
BNS about the fine being ₹7 lakh.
• Section 161 of the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act, 2019, provides compensation for victims of hit-and-run
accidents.
• The compensation for death is ₹2 lakh and for grievous hurt it is ₹50,000. Unlike Section 106 (2) of BNS, the
compensation in this case is not recoverable from the drivers.
• Sub-section 1 of Section 106 of the BNS applies to rash or negligent driving where if the driver reports the
matter to the police, they shall incur a punishment of up to five years with a fine.
• However, in the latter case of 106 (2), if the driver fails to report the matter and escapes, they will be
imprisoned for up to 10 years. Despite increase in the quantum of punishment in this section, the offence
has not been made non-bailable.
• The way forward is to revisit and reconcile these two clauses so that more than 35 lakh truck drivers in the
country are not treated unfairly, apart from individual vehicle drivers.
Future of education
• For instance, an exception has been made under 106 (1) of the BNS for doctors in the event of rash or
negligent acts, where the punishment will be up to two years with a fine.
• Section 106 (2) is particularly contested and protested by truck drivers, and this section has the scope to be
revisited.
• This section does not differentiate between rash and negligent driving as two separate types.
• Instead of ruling 10 years of imprisonment for all cases, the same could be categorised in different scales
based on liabilities so that the apprehensions of the drivers could be put to rest.
• The road accidents resulting in minor injuries ought not to be equated with criminal acts. Here measures like
community service or revoking of driving licences or mandatory driving retests etc. could be the ways to
criminalise.
SC report exposes severe gaps in accessibility for people with disabilities at courts across
India
In News
A report by the Centre for Research and Planning revealed lack of wheelchair availability, deficiencies in ramps, and
infrastructure gaps for people with disabilities across court premises in India.
Major findings
• The first-of-its-kind report, sheds light on the glaring inadequacies in the infrastructure of District Courts
across India, raising serious concerns about the impediments faced by people with disabilities in accessing
justice.
• More than half of the District Court complexes in the country do not have ramps, only 25.2% have
availability of wheelchairs, and just 5.1% have tactile paving to assist persons with visual impairments in
navigating the court building.
• The report said while accessible toilets for people with disabilities hold fundamental importance, only 30.4%
of District Court complexes have separate disabled-friendly toilets.
• It highlighted that only 5.1% of District Courts have tactile paving to assist persons with visual impairments in
navigating the court building.
• In a first, the Supreme Court in September last year allowed a deaf lawyer to argue virtually with the help of
a sign language interpreter.
• The Delhi High Court too last year engaged the services of a sign language interpreter to enable a petitioner
who was hearing impaired, to understand the proceedings.
• While these may be positive signs, as per the report sign language interpreters who could be engaged to
assist persons with hearing impairment in accessing court proceedings are available in only 2.8% districts in
India.
• The report revealed that out of a sanctioned strength of 25,081 judges in District Judiciary, there are 20,831
courtrooms highlighting infrastructure gap of 4,250 courtrooms.
• The report said 73.5% of the available court premises are owned by the judiciary, 13.3% are owned by the
respective state government, 2.6% (626 courtrooms) are rented premises, and 10.6% are under
construction.
• From the High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh, 35 courts in the district judiciary of Jammu & Kashmir
and Ladakh are functioning on an ad hoc arrangement from rented accommodation or otherwise.
• The report said when courts function in private rented buildings or in stop-gap arrangements, they not only
face the challenge of non-availability of necessary amenities but also of a secure work environment due to
which all the stakeholders face inconvenience.
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Recommendations
• The report said that the data signifies a “critical shortcoming” in the judicial infrastructure with respect to
accessibility, necessitating concerted attention and action.
• There is a need for regular inspection by the concerned agencies like the Public Works Department in
coordination with the District Judges to explore modifications that can be made in existing court buildings to
make the judicial infrastructure disabled-friendly.
The laws around remission policy
In News
The Supreme Court set aside the remission of 11 convicts sentenced to life imprisonment for the gang rape of Bilkis
Bano and murder of her family, during the 2002 communal riots in Gujarat.
Clemency Powers
• Article 72 and 161 of the Constitution provide powers to the President and Governor respectively to grant
pardon, commutation, remission, respite or reprieve to a convict.
• These are sovereign powers vested in the heads of the Union and State executive to be exercised on the
advice of the council of ministers.
• Apart from this, the appropriate State government under Section 432 of the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973
(CrPC) may remit the whole or part of the punishment to which a convict has been sentenced. In case of life
imprisonment convicts, this remission can be done only after a period of 14 years in jail as per Section 433A
of the CrPC.
Order given by Supreme court

• The Supreme Court in its order categorically held that the Gujarat government is not the appropriate
government to consider the remission petition.
• It held that the May 2022 order of the Supreme Court, that asked the Gujarat government to consider the
remission petitions, was obtained through fraud and suppression of facts before the court.
• Hence, it held the May 2022 order of the Supreme Court to be a nullity. It further ordered the surrender of
all the 11 persons before jail authorities within two weeks.
• It held that the appropriate government for considering the remission petitions in the instant case is
Maharashtra and it may consider their petitions in accordance with law and the guidelines laid down by the
Court.
• This order has reinforced the faith in our judicial system and ‘rule of law’ by setting aside a blatantly
perverse order that shook the conscience of society at large and women in particular.
• It is expected that the Maharashtra government would follow the guidelines laid down by the Supreme
Court in the Laxman Naskar case under which such crimes that affects the society at large deserve no mercy.
Laxman Naskar versus Union of India

• Laxman Naskar versus Union of India (2000) had laid down five grounds on which remission is to be
considered.
• The first of these is whether the offence is an individual act of crime that does not affect society.
• It would be preposterous to surmise that such a heinous crime does not impact the conscience of a civilised
society.
• Thirdly, the Supreme Court in Sangeet versus State of Haryana (2012) had held that a convict serving life
imprisonment does not have a right to be prematurely released on completion of 14 years in jail and that
remission should be considered only on a case-by-case basis.
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• In light of this judgment, the Union Home Ministry had issued an advisory in February 2013 prescribing that
remission should not be granted in a ‘wholesale manner’.
Regulating India’s online gaming industry
In News
The meteoric rise of online gaming has brought with it an array of concerns such as addiction, mental illness,
suicides, financial frauds, privacy and data security concerns.
Digital market
• Online services have become central to how most of us live our lives.
• With a staggering 692 million Internet users, India has the world’s second-largest Internet user base and
ranks eighth globally in terms of time spent on mobile apps.
• The average daily mobile app usage has surged to 4.9 hours, a 32% increase since 2019.
• Notably, a significant 82% of usage is dedicated to media and entertainment with social media accounting
for roughly half of this engagement.
• While this trend has generated significant benefits to people, it has also created new concerns.
• For instance, the Internet has been inundated with AI-generated deep fake videos of celebrities.
• These technologically advanced simulations have blurred the lines between what’s real and what’s not.
• Market failure in online services has taken new characteristics and complexities due to the intricate interplay
of data and algorithms.
Online gaming
• The online gaming industry in India is predominantly a home-grown start-up ecosystem growing at 27%
CAGR.
• It is widely estimated that AI and online gaming can add up to $300 billion to India’s GDP by 2026-27.
• But with great leaps come inherent pitfalls.
• Similar to other forms of digital media, the meteoric rise of online gaming has brought with it an array of
concerns such as addiction, mental illness, suicides, financial frauds, privacy and data security concerns.
• Money laundering and national security concerns are other realities.
• The situation is further exacerbated by the growth of illegal offshore gambling and betting markets wherein
the volume of digital transactions provides fertile ground for financial malpractices.
Challenges
• No mechanism exists for individuals to differentiate between legitimate gaming platforms and illegal
gambling/betting sites.
• In addition, in the absence of a specialised regulatory authority, enforcement is lacking.
• As a result, the number of illegal operators is multiplying by the day.
• The illegal offshore gambling and betting market receives $100 billion per annum in deposits from India and
has registered a growth rate of 20% in the past three years.
• Besides causing user harm, the clandestine and untraceable operations of these platforms are causing
substantial losses to the exchequer.
• Estimates indicate that India lost $45 billion per annum in taxation due to operations of illegal offshore
markets.
Govt. response
• These challenges call for an urgent need for robust regulation of the online gaming industry.
• Some State governments attempt to ban online gaming.
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• However, the inherent cross-border nature of the Internet makes enforcing such a ban almost impossible,
leading to the unintended consequence of legitimate, regulated platforms being replaced by unregulated
and potentially harmful ones.
• In this context, the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules,
2021 marked a commendable step towards oversight.
• However, the delayed notification of Self-Regulatory Bodies has stalled the progress.
• To protect 373 million gamers in India, who are potentially at risk, it is imperative that the sector is strictly
regulated.
• The U.K. has a centralised government regulator. In order to track the efficiency of measures undertaken,
this body publishes quarterly the effects of regulation in the sector.
• The recent reports have shown that since 2017, operators who fell afoul of player protection requirements
have been subjected to significant multi-million-pound fines.
• This strict enforcement, coupled with targeted efforts aimed at harm reduction during 2018-22, has led to a
decline in both disordered gaming and medium-to-low risk gaming behaviour.
Way forward
• An unregulated market may not deliver the greatest benefit to society overall.
• According to the International Monetary Fund, a combination of high taxes and a weak, discretionary
approach to regulatory enforcement creates the most fertile ground for the proliferation of a shadow
economy — an environment in which the Indian online gaming industry is operating.
• Therefore, establishing a strict regulatory framework is an urgent need, not just for protecting our digital
nagriks and national interests, but also to ensure responsible growth of the online gaming sector.
Tenth Schedule
In News
• The Maharashtra Assembly Speaker has refused to disqualify 40 MLAs of the Eknath Shinde faction after
recognising it as the real Shiv Sena.
• He also did not disqualify 14 MLAs of the Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray (UBT) group due to technical reasons
under the Tenth Schedule.
Tenth Schedule
• The defections of legislators during the 1960s and 70s from their parent parties created political instability in
many States, bringing down elected governments.
• Therefore, to ensure the stability of elected governments, the 52nd constitutional amendment introduced
the ‘anti-defection’ law through the Tenth Schedule in 1985.
• This Schedule provides that a member of a House of Parliament or State legislature who voluntarily gives up
the membership of their political party or votes against the instructions of their party in a House are liable
for disqualification from said House.
• This instruction with respect to voting is issued by the ‘whip’ of a party.
• A ‘whip’ is a member of the ‘legislature party’ in a House who is appointed as such by the respective
‘political party’.
• The ‘political party’ is the entire organisation of a party including the legislators, while the ‘legislature party’
is only the members of a political party in a House of Parliament or State legislature.
• The Tenth Schedule originally provided for two exceptions that would not render the members liable for
disqualification.
• First, one-third members of the ‘legislature party’ splitting to form a separate group (para 3).
Future of education
• Second, merger of their ‘political party’ with another party that is approved by two-third members of its
‘legislature party’ (para 4). However, considering the need to strengthen the ‘anti-defection’ law, para 3 was
omitted in 2003.
Issues
• With the deletion of para 3, there have been instances of two-third members of a legislature party
‘practically’ defecting but claiming to be the original political party in order to escape disqualification.
• There have also been instances where more than two-third members of a State ‘legislature party’ of a
national political party merged themselves with another political party to escape disqualification.
• This happened in September 2019, in Rajasthan, when all six Bahujan Samajwadi Party MLAs merged
themselves with the Congress Party and in September 2022, in Goa, when eight out of 11 Congress MLAs
merged themselves with the BJP.
• The authority to decide on the disqualification of members is vested in the Speaker of the House.
• While they are expected to perform this constitutional role in a neutral manner, the past instances have
hardly inspired confidence with Speakers favouring the ruling dispensation.
• The Supreme Court in K. M. Singh versus Speaker of Manipur (2020) recommended that Parliament amend
the Constitution to vest these powers in an independent tribunal headed by judges.
Reforms Needed
• The Supreme Court in Sadiq Ali versus Election Commission of India (1971) laid down the three-test formula
for determining which faction is to be recognised as the original political party by the Election Commission.
• These are aims and objects of the party; its affairs as per the party’s constitution that reflect inner party
democracy; and majority in the legislative and organisation wings.
• The first test is subject to competing claims by rival groups. But it is lack of inner party democracy that
results in most of these defections.
• In fact, the Election Commission in February 2023, recognised the Eknath Shinde faction as the real Shiv
Sena, solely based on votes polled by legislators supporting Eknath Shinde in the Maharashtra Assembly
elections of 2019.
• An authoritative Supreme Court judgment in these matters and setting up of an independent tribunal to
decide on disqualification of members will reduce the ambiguities surrounding the Tenth Schedule.
• The real reform required is institutionalising internal democracy through regular inner-party elections in our
political parties with strict monitoring by the Election Commission.
Indian Media: Quo Vadis
In News
Media now is driven by the “breaking news” culture and the search for the villain of the day: the news must be
broken and so, it seems, must the person.
Social Media
• Social media, with its culture of unverified “fact” and viral opinion, compounds the problem: it offers a ready
platform for material that would not have passed editorial scrutiny.
• Sadly, matters are not much better in the print media, despite its ability to provide context, depth, and
analysis that television cannot.
• However, print media has also been affected; journalists trying to keep up with the relentless 24x7 breaking
news cycle, and the rise of social media, now feel pressed to publish without the traditional recourse to fact-
checking.
Future of education
• Government needs a free and professional media to keep it honest and efficient, to serve as both mirror (to
society) and scalpel (to probe wrongdoing).
• If instead all we have is a blunt axe, society is not well served. The free press is both the mortar that binds
together the bricks of our country’s freedom, and the open window embedded in those bricks.
Measures for free press

• First, we must engender a culture of fact-verification and accuracy that the industry currently appears to
lack.
• Journalists should not feel pressed by their employers to “break the news”, but empowered to hold stories
until they are sure their facts and accusations are accurate. The rush to judgment on the basis of partial
information must stop.
• Second, we must insist on better journalistic training at accredited media institutes that emphasise values of
accuracy, integrity and fairness in their students. These standards should extend to media organisations:
when false claims or intentionally misleading statements are published or broadcast, TV and print news
outlets should issue retractions with equal prominence.
• Third, we must welcome different perspectives in our newsrooms and not allow them to become echo
chambers forcing an opinion onto their viewers in the guise of “the nation wants to know”. Newsrooms must
be required to maintain a more diverse journalistic environment. Every story plugging a point of view must
be required to provide some space for the alternative view, or for a refutation.
• Fourth, journalists must welcome comments and feedback from their viewers and readers, to generate both
an environment of trust between the consumers and the media, and the feeling on the part of the public
that they are not merely passive recipients of a point of view.
• The Hindu is one of the newspapers to have had a Readers’ Editor who serves as an Ombudsman for the
newspaper and acknowledges mistakes of fact or emphasis in the newspaper’s coverage. This helps drive a
natural cycle of loyalty and engagement between the paper and its readers.
• Fifth, the government must introduce laws and regulations that limit control of multiple news organisations
by a single business or political entity, thereby encouraging an independent and robust press in the country.
• A powerful business interest, vulnerable to government pressure, will usually override ethical journalistic
concerns. India is one of the few major countries where no restrictions currently exist when it comes to
media ownership by its affluent citizens.
Way forward
• India’s population is becoming more literate by the day, resulting in an ever-growing mass of media
consumers.
• But they deserve a media that contributes to shaping an informed, educated and politically aware India,
one ready to hold its governments accountable, its society safe and its people ready to push boundaries.
• If India wishes to be taken seriously by the rest of the world as a responsible global player and a model 21st-
century democracy, we will have to take ourselves seriously and responsibly as well. Our media would be a
good place to start.
legal dispute over AMU’s minority status
In News
A seven-judge Bench of the Supreme Court (SC) led by the Chief Justice of India (CJI) D.Y. Chandrachud is currently
hearing the 57-year-long dispute over the minority character of the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU).
Constitutional provisions
• Article 30(1) in Part III of the Constitution empowers all religious and linguistic minorities with a fundamental
right to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice.
Future of education
• Clause 2 ensures that the State maintains ‘equality of treatment’ in granting aid to all educational
institutions, irrespective of their minority status.
• This includes educational institutions at all levels, from primary schools to professional education.
• Notably, these institutions enjoy exemptions from the implementation of SC, ST, and OBC reservations in
both admissions and employment.
• Additionally, they can reserve up to 50% of seats for students from their community and exercise greater
control over employees compared to other institutions. In the
• T.M.A Pai Foundation (2002) case, the SC clarified that a ‘minority’ is to be determined by the concerned
State’s demography, not the national population.
Background of the case

• In 1877, Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, a Muslim reformer, founded the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College (MAO
College) at Aligarh to address Muslim educational backwardness while protecting Islamic values.
• The Aligarh Muslim University Act, 1920 (AMU Act) was passed to incorporate the MAO college and the
Muslim University Association into AMU.
• In 1951, the AMU Act was amended, removing compulsory religious education for Muslims and the exclusive
Muslim representation mandate in the University Court.
• The Act was further amended in 1965, and the powers of the Court were redistributed among other bodies
including the executive, with the President of India nominating members to the governing body.
• The legal dispute began in 1967 when the SC in S. Azeez Basha versus Union of India (UOI), reviewed the
1951 and 1965 amendments. The petitioners argued that since Muslims established AMU, they had the
right to manage it.
• In 2005, AMU reserved 50% of postgraduate medical seats for Muslim candidates.
• The Allahabad High Court struck down the reservation policy in Dr Naresh Agarwal vs UOI (2005) holding
the 1981 amendment ultra vires.
• Consequently, in 2006, the UOI and the University appealed to the SC. However, in 2016, the UOI withdrew
from the appeal, refusing to acknowledge the University’s minority status. The University is now pursuing
the case alone.
Present status of the case

• The apex court is addressing two issues — the criteria for determining the minority status of an educational
institution and whether an institution established under a statute can enjoy such status.
• While the petitioners argue that AMU is entitled to the minority status, the UOI is now endorsing the S.
Azeez Basha verdict.
Incestuous ‘sapinda’ marriages
In News
Delhi High Court rejected a challenge to the constitutionality of Section 5(v) of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955
(HMA), which prohibits marriage between two Hindus if they are “sapindas” of each other — “unless the custom or
usage governing each of them permits of a marriage between the two”.
Sapinda marriage
• A sapinda marriage is one between individuals who are related to each other within a certain degree of
closeness. Sapinda relationships for the purposes of the HMA are defined in Section 3 of the Act.
• Two persons are said to be sapindas of each other if one is a lineal ascendant of the other within the limits
of sapinda relationship, or if they have a common lineal ascendant who is within the limits of sapinda
relationship with reference to each of them,” Section 3(f)(ii) says.
Future of education
• Under the provisions of the HMA, on the mother’s side, a Hindu individual cannot marry anyone who is
within three generations of them in the “line of ascent”.
• On the father’s side, this prohibition applies to anyone within five generations of the individual.
• In practice, this means that on their mother’s side, an individual cannot marry their sibling (first
generation), their parents (second generation), their grandparents (third generation), or an individual who
shares this ancestry within three generations.
• On their father’s side, this prohibition would extend up to their grandparents’ grandparent, and anyone who
shares this ancestry within five generations.
• If a marriage is found to violate Section 5(v) for being a sapinda marriage, and there is no established custom
that allows such a practice, it will be declared void.
• This would mean that the marriage was invalid from the very beginning, and will be treated as though it
never took place.
Exceptions
• The definition of the word “custom” is provided in Section 3(a) of the HMA. It states that a custom has to
be “continuously and uniformly observed for a long time”, and should have gained enough legitimacy
among Hindus in a local area, tribe, group, or family, such that it has obtained “the force of law”.
• A custom may not be protected even after these conditions are fulfilled. The rule in question must be
“certain and not unreasonable or opposed to public policy” and, “in the case of a rule [that is] applicable
only to a family”, it should not have been “discontinued by the family”.
Background of the case

• In 2007, the woman’s marriage was declared void after her husband successfully proved that they had
entered into a sapinda marriage, and that the woman was not from a community where such marriages
could be considered a custom.
• This ruling was challenged before the Delhi HC, which dismissed the appeal in October 2023.
• The woman then approached the HC again, challenging the constitutional validity of the prohibition on
sapinda marriages.
• She argued that sapinda marriages are prevalent even when there is no proof of custom. Hence, Section 5(v)
which prohibits sapinda marriages unless there is an established custom, violates the right to equality under
Article 14 of the Constitution.
• The petitioner also argued that the marriage had received the consent of both families, which proved the
legitimacy of the marriage.
Sapinda marriage around the world

• In several European countries, the laws on relationships that are considered incestuous are less stringent
than in India.
• In France, the crime of incest was abolished under the Penal Code of 1810, so long as the marriage was
between consenting adults.
• This Code was enacted under Napoleon Bonaparte, and was also enforced in Belgium. A new Penal Code was
introduced in Belgium in 1867 to replace the French code, but incest remains legal.
• Portuguese law also does not criminalise incest.
• The Republic of Ireland recognised same-sex marriages in 2015, but the law on incest has not been
updated to include individuals in same-sex relationships.
• Under Italian law, incest is a crime only if it causes a “public scandal”.
• In the United States, incestuous marriages are banned in all 50 states, though incestuous relationships
between consenting adults are allowed in New Jersey and Rhode Island.
Future of education
NAAC to introduce new binary accreditation system in four months
In News
The Executive Committee of the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) decided to bring in major
reforms in its accreditation process.
Accreditation process
• In the first stage, a “binary accreditation system” will be implemented in the next four weeks, which will
replace the present system of ranking (C to A++) of higher education institution (HEIs).
• The new binary accreditation system is in line with the best practices followed globally.
• The current system of ranking is based on the Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) gained by an
institution.
• The second stage of the reforms is the implementation of “Maturity based Graded Accreditation,” which will
be implemented by December 2024.
• There will be five levels (Level 1 to 5) under this system and accredited institutions can raise their bar from
‘Level 1’ to ‘Level 4’ as Institutions of National Excellence, and then to ‘Level 5’ i.e. Institutions of Global
Excellence for Multi-Disciplinary Research and Education.
• The levelled accreditation shall enable Indian institutions to significantly improve their quality and position
themselves among global top institutions.
• The NAAC said there will be a special focus on rural and remote location institutions through mentoring
and handholding.
• “One Nation One Data Platform has been proposed as part of the reform to ensure integrity and
transparency in handling institutional data.
• The new platform shall capture superset of data from HEIs for varied purposes (of approval, accreditation,
ranking) with an in-built design for collateral cross-checking to check authenticity of data.
• The reform is based on recommendations of a panel headed by former Chairman of the ISRO K.
Radhakrishnan.
• The recommendation also focuses on mentoring and incentivising schemes for raising their participation as
well as accreditation levels, towards eminence, significance and global acclaim.
• The system shall be based on Trust and Data Driven with minimal visits to an institution for verification;
however, carrying heavy penalties on giving wrong submissions.
• In addition, there will be provision for customized ranking based on stakeholders such as industry, funding
agencies, students etc.
Uttarakhand Uniform Civil Code
In News
On February 5, the Uttarakhand Assembly will convene to pass the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) Bill.
History of UCC in Uttarakhand

• The introduction of the UCC was a key campaign promise made by the BJP in the lead-up to the 2014 general
elections.
• The party promised to create a uniform set of personal laws, regardless of religion, to govern subjects like
marriage, inheritance, divorce, and adoption.
• This promise stems from Article 44 of the Indian Constitution, which says: “The State shall endeavour to
secure for the citizens a uniform civil code throughout the territory of India.”
Future of education
• It is part of the Directive Principles of State Policy (Part IV of the Constitution), whose provisions are not
enforceable by any court, but the principles laid under them are to be considered as “fundamental in the
governance of the country and it shall be the duty of the State to apply these principles in making laws.”
Uttarakhand UCC
• The Uttarakhand government and the committee have stated that gender equality was one of the key
considerations when preparing the report.
• Along with uniform personal laws for all people residing in the state, the UCC will introduce provisions that
treat men and women equally in issues relating to inheritance.
• The UCC will also reportedly reject the practices of polygamy, iddat, and halal in response to strong
demands from Muslim women in the state.
• However, the minimum age for marriage for both men and women will likely remain the same as it was
previously (18 years for women and 21 years for men).
• The UCC will also regulate live-in relationships and require a mandatory declaration to start and terminate
live-in relationships.
The river-linking project Rajasthan, MP, Centre have signed MoU
In News
Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Union Ministry of Jal
Shakti to implement the Modified Parbati-Kalisindh-Chambal-ERCP (Modified PKC-ERCP) Link Project.
Modified PKC-ERCP
• The Modified PKC-ERCP is an inter-state river linking project.
• Based on the outcome of the DPR, a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) will be finalised among Rajasthan,
Madhya Pradesh, and the Centre, covering the sharing of water, exchange of water, sharing of costs and
benefits, implementation mechanisms, arrangements for management and control of water in the Chambal
basin, etc.
PKC link project

• The Parbati-Kalisindh-Chambal (PKC) link project is one of the 30 links included in the National Perspectives
Plan formulated by the erstwhile Union Ministry of Irrigation (now Ministry of Water Resources) and the
Central Water Commission in the year 1980.
• As per the National Water Development Agency (NWDA), the preliminary feasibility report of the Kalisindh-
Chambal link canal project was prepared and circulated to the states concerned in September 1991.
• The report proposed diversion of water from river Newaj (a tributary of Kalisindh) and Kalisindh to the
river Chambal at either the Rana Pratap Sagar dam or the Gandhi Sagar dam.
• Rajasthan came up with the proposal of the ERCP in 2019, and to utilise water resources optimally, the Task
Force for Interlinking of Rivers (TFILR) discussed its merger with the PKC link project. This integration was
approved by the Special Committee for Interlinking of Rivers in December 2022.
Eastern Rajasthan Canal Project (ERCP)

• The Eastern Rajasthan Canal Project (ERCP) is aimed at intra-basin transfer of water within the Chambal
basin, by utilising surplus monsoon water available in Kalisindh, Parvati, Mej and Chakan subbasins and
diverting it into water deficit sub-basins of Banas, Gambhiri, Banganga and Parbati.
• This will provide drinking and industrial water to 13 districts of eastern Rajasthan, namely Alwar,
Bharatpur, Dholpur, Karauli, Sawai-Madhopur, Dausa, Jaipur, Ajmer, Tonk, Bundi, Kota, Baran, and
Jhalawar.
Future of education
Significance
According to the Jal Shakti Ministry, the link project proposes to provide drinking and industrial water in 13
districts of eastern Rajasthan, and Malwa and Chambal regions of Madhya Pradesh, apart from providing irrigation
in 2.8 lakh ha. area (or more) each in both the states (total of 5.6 lakh ha or more).
The pros and cons of simultaneous elections
In News
A High-Level Committee (HLC) headed by Ramnath Kovind, former President of India, was constituted in
September 2023 to examine the issue of holding simultaneous elections for the Lok Sabha, State Legislative
Assemblies and local bodies of all States.
Background
• During the first four general election cycles in 1952, 1957, 1962 and 1967, the elections to the Lok Sabha
and State legislative assemblies were held simultaneously.
• However, due to the subsequent premature dissolution of the Lok Sabha on seven occasions and the
premature dissolution of legislative assemblies on various occasions, the elections to the Lok Sabha and
various State assemblies are held at different times.
• In 2019, only four States had their assembly elections, along with the Lok Sabha.
• The idea of simultaneous elections has been mooted in the past by the Election Commission of India
(1982) and the Law Commission (1999).
Arguments in favor
• Firstly, it is estimated that the cost of holding general elections to the Lok Sabha is around ₹4,000 crore for
the Central government. Each State assembly election would also cost considerable amount of money
according to the size of the State.
• While this is the official expenditure of the government, the expenditure by parties and candidates are
manifold times higher. Simultaneous elections would entail a reduction in these costs.
• Secondly, there are at least 5-6 State elections that happen every year. This results in political parties,
including Ministers, being in ‘permanent campaign’ mode, which acts as a hindrance to policy making and
governance.
• Further, the Model Code of Conduct that is enforced during the election process ranges usually from 45-60
days where no new schemes or projects can be announced by the Centre and concerned State governments.
• Third, administrative machinery in the districts slow down during the election period with the primary focus
being the conduct of elections.
• There are also paramilitary forces that are withdrawn from the locations in which they are posted and
deployed to the concerned State for the smooth conduct of elections. Frequent elections every year have an
impact on administrative efficiency.
• Lastly but very importantly, high-stake elections each year in various States result in polarising campaigns by
all parties in order to win the elections.
• This trend has exacerbated in the last decade with the advent of social media thereby creating and
deepening the fissures in our multi-religious and multilingual country.
Challenges
• India is a federal country of sub-continental proportions. Various States have their own unique set of
issues that are significantly different from one another.
• The Union and State governments have their respective powers and responsibilities towards the electorate
as per the division of powers under the Constitution.
Future of education
• Conducting elections simultaneously to the Lok Sabha and all State assemblies would result in national issues
overshadowing regional and State specific issues. National political parties would have a significant
advantage over regional parties on account of this mechanism.
• This would be detrimental to the federal spirit of our country which has been declared as a basic structure of
the Constitution.
• Elections also serve as an effective feedback mechanism for governments in power.
• There have been many policies that have been initiated by various Central and State governments in the past
due to such electoral feedback. If elections are held only once in five years, it can affect this process.
• Apart from the federal and democratic issues discussed above, simultaneous polls will also require
constitutional amendments.
• India is a parliamentary democracy where the governments at the Centre and the State need to enjoy
majority in the Lok Sabha and the Legislative Assembly respectively.
• The duration of these houses is five years but it may be dissolved earlier if the party or coalition in power
loses majority, and no alternative government can be formed. It may also be dissolved prematurely by the
council of ministers in power to seek an early election.
• Further, State legislative assemblies can also be dissolved by imposing President’s rule under Article 356 of
the Constitution.
• Having a fixed tenure of five years for the Lok Sabha and State assemblies will therefore require
constitutional amendments to Articles 83, 85, 172 and 174 that deal with the duration and dissolution of
Lok Sabha and Legislative assemblies.
• It will also require the amendment of Article 356.
Recommendations by various commissions

• The elections to the Lok Sabha and nearly half of the State assemblies may be clubbed together in one cycle,
while the rest of the State assembly elections can be held in another cycle after two and half years.
• This will require curtailing or extending the tenures of existing assemblies that will entail amendments to
the Constitution and the Representation of the People Act, 1951;
• any ‘no-confidence motion’ in the Lok Sabha or Legislative Assembly should be mandatorily accompanied by
a ‘confidence motion’ for the formation of an alternate government.
• If for any unavoidable reason, the Lok Sabha or State Assembly is to be dissolved prematurely, the
duration of the newly constituted House should be only for the remainder period of the original House.
• This would act as a deterrent for MPs and MLAs pushing for premature dissolution of the House.
• It would instead encourage the members to explore the possibility of forming an alternate government
through feasible realignments;
• The bye-elections necessitated by death, resignation or disqualification of members can be clubbed together
and conducted once in a year.
Elections around the world

• It may be noted that Parliamentary democracies like South Africa, Sweden and Germany have fixed tenures
for their legislatures.
• The elections to the National Assembly and provincial legislatures happen simultaneously in South Africa
every five years, with the President of the country being elected by the National Assembly.
• The Prime Minister of Sweden and the Chancellor of Germany are elected by their respective legislatures
every four years.
• A lack of confidence against the German Chancellor can be moved only by electing a successor.
Future of education
Way forward
• There is a lack of consensus among various political parties about the conduct of simultaneous elections.
• The ideal middle ground may be to conduct the Lok Sabha election in one cycle and all State assembly
elections in another cycle after two and a half years.
• The rest of the recommendations as discussed in the previous section with respect to the formation of an
alternative government in case of the fall of an incumbent government, the duration of the newly
constituted houses being only for the remainder period in case of premature dissolution and, the clubbing
of bye-elections to be held once every year may be adopted through suitable amendments.
• This will ensure that the major benefits of simultaneous polls are achieved without compromising on
democratic and federal principles. If all political parties are taken into confidence, this may be achieved over
the next decade and continued thereafter.

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