House panel pushes for 18 yrs as minimum age for contesting polls (GS Paper 2, Governance)
Why in news?
- A parliamentary panel recently batted for bringing down the minimum age for candidacy in national elections to 18 years.
- The panel also suggested reducing the minimum age requirement for candidacy in assembly elections.
Details:
- The Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice was headed by BJP Rajya Sabha member Sushil Modi.
- Most European countries mandate that candidates for national general elections must be at least 18 years old.
- Reducing the minimum age requirement for candidacy in elections would give young individuals equal opportunities to engage in democracy. This viewpoint is reinforced by a vast amount of evidence, such as global practices, the increasing political consciousness among young people, and the advantages of youth representation.
- He also pushed for increasing punishment for candidates making false declarations/affidavits from the current six-month jail term to two years to ensure fair elections and to protect citizens’ rights.
Eligibility criteria:
- As per the present legal mandate to contest in Lok Sabha or Assembly elections, candidates must be at least 25 years old, ensuring that they possess the necessary maturity, experience, and understanding of their responsibilities.
- Article 84 of the Constitution outlines the qualifications for Members of Parliament, requiring a person to be at least 30 years old to hold a seat in the Council of States and at least 25 years old to hold a seat in the House of the People.
Age of Lok Sabha MPs:
- In 2019, 47 percent of Lok Sabha MPs are over the age of 55.
- This trend is particularly disconcerting, given that India’s median age is only 27.9 years. Further, only 2.2 percent of Lok Sabha MPs are under the age of 30, while less than 1.7 percent of MPs worldwide fall within this age bracket.
- In the 17th Lok Sabha, there are currently 34 sitting Members of Parliament between the ages of 30 and 40.
Affidavit under the Conduct of Elections Rules:
- The Representation of the People Act sets out qualifications and disqualifications for candidates running for public office and provides a structured framework that promotes free and fair elections. Candidates contesting elections must file an affidavit in Form 26 under the Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961.
- This affidavit discloses various details, such as their assets, liabilities, and educational qualifications, among others.
- It is mandatory for candidates to provide truthful information, failing which will be considered a violation of the law and can result in imprisonment under Section 125A of the Act.
- The panel also recommends that if a candidate is found to have provided false information, under the updated/new provision proposed by the Committee, they should be deemed ineligible for any benefits resulting from such election. This measure is aimed at ensuring a level playing field for all candidates and upholding the integrity of the election process.
Harsher punishment for filing false affidavit:
- It has said that in order to ensure fair elections and to protect citizens’ rights according to Article 19(1)(a), punishment under Section 125A of the Representation of People Act, 1951 should be increased to a maximum of two years imprisonment and a fine.
- However, this penalty should only be applied in exceptional cases, and not for minor errors or unintentional mistakes.
- Under the new provision, submitting a false affidavit should be considered a violation of constitutional provisions, and an election may be invalidated under sub-Section 1(d)(iv) of Section 100 of the Act.
- Currently, the punishment under Section 125A is only six months.
The enigmatic Indian eagle-owl
(GS Paper 3, Environment)
Context:
- The Indian eagle-owl was classified as a species only in recent years, thus distinguishing it from the Eurasian eagle-owl.
Characteristic features of Indian species:
- The slightly larger female can reach a total length of two and a half feet, with a wingspan of six feet. Prominent ear tufts that look like horns are seen to project from its head.
Lack of data:
- Its nocturnal habits have meant that very little is known about this bird.
- The widespread range would seem to indicate that it is a stable population. Their total numbers have never been estimated.
Food habits:
- Many bird species face decline today as the total forested area in our country has suffered a decline. But the Indian eagle-owl does not have a dependency on forests.
- The regular items on their menu, such as rats, bandicoots, and even bats and doves are best hunted over open scrubland and agricultural tracts.
Nesting habits:
- Nearby rocky perches and crags provide ideal settings for its nests.
- Near human settlements, they prefer mango trees.
- The nest, with up to four eggs, is often no more than a scratched out hollow, easily approached by a mongoose or a human.
- These owls show heckling behaviour, and will swoop down on the intruding person, striking the head from behind with its talons.
Benefits to agriculture:
- Farmers definitely profit from the presence of this owl. Research done by the Ela Foundation and the Zoological Survey of India has shown that Indian eagle-owls nesting near agricultural lands had more, and healthier, owlets than scrubland nesters.
- The former benefited from the abundant populations of rodents near farms.
What lies ahead?
- Birding, as the hobby is called, attracts more and more enthusiastic volunteers, who add data to bird counts, surveys and migration maps.
- But these are mostly daytime activities in which owls are always under-represented. It is hoped that nocturnal birds such as the Indian eagle-owl will have their day too.
What is a Privilege Motion and how does the Committee of Privileges in Parliament examine it?
(GS Paper 2, Polity and Constitution)
Why in news?
- Recently, the Rajya Sabha Chairman referred complaints related to the privilege of the House against TMC’s Derek O’Brien and AAP’s Raghav Chadha to the privileges committee.
- He has referred the matter under Rule 203 of Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business to the Committee of Privileges for examination, investigation and report.
- This comes amid differences between the ruling party and some opposition parties that have plagued the ongoing Monsoon Session of its sittings.
What is a privilege motion?
- The two rules referred here relate to the concept of parliamentary privilege, which are certain rights conferred to the Members of Parliament for conducting the business of the Parliament.
- There is no codified list of the exact privileges, but it includes the right of free expression in the course of Parliamentary debates and Members of Parliament will not be liable for court proceedings for this.
- If there is a belief that such a privilege has been breached, a motion can be raised by any member. It can be admitted by the Chairman. They can then refer it to the Privileges Committee.
- The Chairman can, from time to time, nominate such a Committee, consisting of ten members. It will also have a Chairman appointed by the Rajya Sabha Chairman.
- The right to raise a question of privilege is based on satisfying two conditions, namely:
- the question shall be restricted to a specific matter of recent occurrence, and
- the matter requires the intervention of the Council.
Provision in both Houses:
- Similar provisions exist in Lok Sabha with the Speaker having the power to make such decisions. The Speaker/RS chairperson is the first level of scrutiny of a privilege motion.
- Therefore, the Speaker/Chair can decide on the privilege motion himself or herself or refer it to the privileges committee of Parliament.
What action can the privileges committee take?
- The mandate of the committee is to examine such cases and “make such recommendations as it may deem fit”. It can call the relevant people as part of its examination and look at related documents.
- It has to then make a report and if the Council has not fixed any time for its presentation, the report shall be presented within one month of the date on which reference to the Committee was made.
- A motion has to be passed for the consideration of the report and amendments can be suggested.
- The Chairman or any member of the Committee or any other member can move that the Council agrees, disagrees, or agrees with amendments, with the recommendations contained in the report.
Are privilege notices rejected often?
- A large number of notices are rejected, with penal action recommended in only a few cases.
- The most significant case was in 1978 when Indira Gandhi, who had just won the Lok Sabha elections from Chikmaglur, was expelled from the House.
- Then home minister Charan Singh moved a resolution of breach of privilege against her following observations made by the Justice Shah Commission, which probed excesses during the Emergency.
- Another case was the expulsion of Subramanian Swamy from the Rajya Sabha in 1976. Swamy was charged with bringing disrepute to Parliament through his activities through interviews in foreign publications that were construed as “anti-India propaganda”.
