Daily Current Affairs

India kickstarts G20 presidency from Hornbill Festival in Nagaland (GS Paper 2, International Organisation)

Why in news?

• Coinciding with India’s assumption of the G20 presidency, the Hornbill festival became the first venue for the launch of India’s G20 presidency.
• Vice President of India inaugurated the festival, which is also the 60th statehood day of Nagaland.

 

Details:

• India assumed G20 presidency for a year from December 1, 2022, till November 30, 2023.
• The ten-day-long Hornbill Festival kicked off with cultural exhibitions, music, and more from December 1 at the Naga Heritage Village in Kisama, Nagaland.
• Organised by the State Tourism and Art and Culture Departments, the festival is named after the Indian hornbill, which is often mentioned in the folklore of most of Nagaland's tribes and is commonly sighted in the state forests.

 

G20 Summit:

• India will host the G-20 leaders' summit in New Delhi on September 9 and 10 in 2023 under its Presidency.
• The meetings will take place in less explored parts of the country at very exotic locations of India.
• Prime Minister’s vision is to connect all districts and blocks with G-20 so that the message will reach to masses through Jan Bhagidari initiatives.
• "Jan Bhagidari" refers to the participation of people in governance at the local level.

 

About G20:

• The Group of 20 is a premier forum comprising world’s advanced and developing economies, as well as the European Union, which meets every year to discuss global issues.
• The G20 was formed in 1999 in the backdrop of the financial crisis of the late 1990s that hit East Asia and Southeast Asia in particular.
• Together, the G20 countries include 60 % of the world’s population, 80 % of global GDP, and 75 % of global trade.

 

Members:

• Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States and the EU.
• Spain is invited as a permanent guest.

 

India assumes Presidency of UN Security Council for month of December

(GS Paper 2, International Organisation)

 

Why in news?

• Recently, India assumed the rotating Presidency of the 15-nation UN Security Council for the month of December, during which it will host signature events on countering terrorism and reformed multilateralism.
• India’s first woman Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Ruchira Kamboj will sit in the President's seat at the horse-shoe table.

 

Key Highlights:

• India assumes the monthly rotating Presidency of the Security Council from December 1, the second time after August 2021 that India will preside over the Council during its two-year tenure as elected UNSC member.
• India's 2021-2022 term on the Council ends December 31.
• Countering terrorism and reformed multilateralism will be among the key priorities for India during its UNSC presidency that will culminate in the completion of its two-year tenure as non-permanent member of the 15-nation powerful body.

About UN Security Council: 

• The UN Security Council has 15 members: the five permanent members and ten non-permanent members elected for two-year terms.
• The five permanent members are the United States, the Russian Federation, France, China and the United Kingdom.
• India, for the eighth time, has entered the UNSC as a non-permanent member last year (2021) and will stay on the council for two years i.e 2021-22.
• Each year, the General Assembly elects five non-permanent members (out of ten in total) for a two-year term. The ten non-permanent seats are distributed on a regional basis.
• The council's presidency is a capacity that rotates every month among its 15 members.

 

Personality Rights

(GS Paper 2, Judiciary)

Why in news?

• The Delhi High Court recently passed an interim order to prevent the unlawful use of Bollywood star Amitabh Bachchan’s name, image and voice.
• The court, through its order, restrained persons at large from infringing the personality rights of the actor.

 

What are personality rights?

• Personality rights refer to the right of a person to protect his/her personality under the right to privacy or property.
• These rights are important to celebrities as their names, photographs or even voices can easily be misused in various advertisements by different companies to boost their sales. Therefore, it is necessary for renowned personalities/celebrities to register their names to save their personality rights.
• A large list of unique personal attributes contribute to the making of a celebrity. All of these attributes need to be protected, such as name, nickname, stage name, picture, likeness, image and any identifiable personal property, such as a distinctive race car.

 

Are personality rights different from publicity rights?

• Personality rights are different from publicity rights.
• Personality rights consist of two types of rights:

1. The right of publicity, or the right to keep one’s image and likeness from being commercially exploited without permission or contractual compensation, which is similar (but not identical) to the use of a trademark; and
2. The right to privacy or the right to not have one’s personality represented publicly without permission. However, under common law jurisdictions, publicity rights fall into the realm of the ‘tort of passing off’.

• Passing off takes place when someone intentionally or unintentionally passes off their goods or services as those belonging to another party.  Often, this type of misrepresentation damages the goodwill of a person or business, resulting in financial or reputational damage.
• Publicity rights are governed by statutes like the Trade marks Act 1999 and the Copyright Act 1957.

 

Does the use of a name on the internet affect personality rights?

• The Delhi High Court in 2011 made an observation in the case of Arun Jaitley vs Network Solutions Private Limited and Ors., in which Mr. Jaitley filed a suit seeking permanent injunction against the defendants from misuse and immediate transfer of the domain name www.arunjaitley.com.
• The Court stated that “the popularity or fame of individual will be no different on the internet than in reality.”
• The Court decided in the favour of Mr. Arun Jaitley, stating that the “name also falls in the category wherein it besides being a personal name has attained distinctive indicia of its own.
• Therefore, the said name due its peculiar nature/distinctive character coupled with the gained popularity in several fields whether being in politics, or in advocacy, ...has become a well-known personal name/mark under the trade mark law which enures him the benefit to refrain others from using this name unjustifiably in addition to his personal right to sue them for the misuse of his name.”

 

What about consumer rights?

• While celebrities are protected from commercial misuse of their name and personality, there have also been instances where the consumers are misled owing to false advertisements or endorsements by such personalities.
• Due to such cases, the Ministry of Consumer Affairs has made a notification in 2022 to keep a check on misleading adverts and endorsements of consumer products by imposing a penalty on the endorser.