Whatsapp 93125-11015 For Details
The Supreme Court said that it would not tolerate “subterfuges” that destroy electoral democracy even at the local level, while declaring the Aam Aadmi Party’s Kuldeep Kumar as the new Mayor of the Union Territory of Chandigarh.
A three-judge Bench headed by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud initiated action against Anil Masih, the Returning Officer who presided over the controversial mayoral elections on January 30, whose “defacement” of eight ballot papers was caught on security cameras.
Mr. Masih’s “furtive” conduct had swung the electoral results in favour of the BJP’s Manoj Sonkar. The Supreme Court had intervened on February 5 to sequester the ballot papers and video records of the polling day.
By declaring Mr. Kumar as Chandigarh Mayor in a single stroke, the court dashed the BJP’s hopes for fresh polls to the municipal corporation.
On Monday, Chief Justice Chandrachud had voiced “deep concern” about the “horse trading taking place”.
Maharashtra Assembly clears 10% Maratha quota (Page no. 1)
(GS Paper 2, Governance)
Walking the caste tightrope ahead of the Lok Sabha election, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and his Cabinet approved a Bill to provide a 10% quota for the Maratha community in education and government jobs, which was later passed unanimously by all parties during a special session of the Maharashtra.
The “historic” legislation fulfilled his promise to create a “foolproof” Maratha quota within three months.
However, activist Manoj Jarange-Patil, who has embarked on multiple hunger strikes on this issue, was unsatisfied with the new legislation, terming it a “betrayal” of the community.
He is seeking a Maratha quota carved out from the existing reservation for other backward classes (OBCs), which is more likely to pass Supreme Court scrutiny.
Editorial
The real threat to the ‘India as we know it’ (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 2, Polity and Constitution)
With the 17th Lok Sabha having ended, the stage is now set for the general election. The final session of Parliament, unfortunately, proved to be as divisive as several of the previous sessions, with both the ruling and the Opposition parties trading charges and conceding no quarter to each other.
This unseemly spectacle has given rise to concerns about the future of parliamentary democracy in the country.
We in India have been more fortunate than many other countries in being able to sustain democracy, and in earning a reputation of adherence to the best of parliamentary practices.
The Constitution of India, one of the finest written Constitutions to be found anywhere in the world, includes among other Articles, a set of Fundamental Rights, Fundamental Duties of its citizens and the Directive Principles of State Policy, which have been our safeguards in sustaining democracy.
Looking at the current decline in parliamentary practices, people, however, worry whether Parliament can be depended upon to sustain a stable democracy in the future.
Opinion
Judicial clarity on free speech (Page no. 11)
(GS Paper 2, Judiciary)
The 31st January decision of Justice Gautam Patel of the Bombay High Court in a bunch of petitions, popularly known as the Kunal Kamra’s case, stands out for its compelling articulation of the constitutional fundamentals in relation to the right of free speech on “social media.”
The learned Judge has reiterated the sacrosanctity of the inviolate constitutional guarantee of free speech, not to be tinkered with or read down, except for the reasonable restrictions thereon as envisaged in Article 19(2), (6) of the Constitution.
The affirmation of this constitutional right and its eloquent defence against State encroachment by the Judge is reassuring, even though his decision on the subject is not yet binding, because of a split verdict by the Division Bench.
Text & Context
On the right to maintenance for divorced Muslim women (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 2, Judiciary)
The Supreme Court has decided to examine if a divorced Muslim woman is entitled to a claim of maintenance under Section 125 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) from her former husband — reigniting the debate on whether secular laws should be given precedence over distinct personal laws. A Bench comprising Justices B.V. Nagarathna and Augustine George Masih reserved its verdict in the case.
The law governing maintenance for destitute wives, children, and parents has been codified under Section 125 of the CrPC. It stipulates that if any person “having sufficient means neglects or refuses to maintain” his wife, — then a magistrate of the first class may, upon proof of such neglect or refusal, order such a person to make a monthly allowance for the maintenance of his wife at a monthly rate as the magistrate thinks fit.
The explanation to this provision clarifies that a “wife” includes any woman who has been divorced by, or has obtained a divorce from, her husband and has not remarried.
News
Rules that allow a women from jobs due to marriage illegal: SC (Page no. 16)
(GS Paper 2, Judiciary)
Rules that bully women employees out of their jobs for getting married or having domestic issues amount to “coarse gender discrimination” and are plainly unconstitutional.
Terminating employment because the woman has got married is a coarse case of gender discrimination and inequality.
Acceptance of such patriarchal rule undermines human dignity, right to non-discrimination and fair treatment. Laws and regulations based on gender-based bias are constitutionally impermissible.
The observations were part of an order which upheld the rights of a woman permanent commissioned officer in the Military Nursing Service who was discharged for getting married.
Study finds rise in blood clots, heart inflammation after COVID vaccination (Page no. 16)
(GS Paper 2, Health)
One of the largest assessments of its kind, spanning 99 million people and investigating reports of adverse reactions following COVID-19 vaccination, found that instances of Guillain-Barre Syndrome, myocarditis, pericarditis, and cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST) were at least 1.5 times more than expected following inoculation with mRNA and ChAdOX1 vaccines.
This is in line with previous observations by the World Health Organization and the European Medicines Agency, and was what led to these being classified as rare side effects following the vaccination for COVID-19.
The data set did not include patients from India. However, a majority of Indians were administered the ChAdOX1, or Covishield, vaccines during the pandemic
The need for rapid development and administration of vaccines saw a range of new approaches to vaccination, namely the use of synthetic viral particles, or protein constructs being administered following shortened testing programmes.
Tharoor gets highest civilian award of France (Page no. 16)
(Misc)
Congress leader Shashi Tharoor was conferred the ‘Chevalier de la Legion d’ Honneur’, the highest civilian honour in France, at an intimate ceremony at the French Embassy.
The French government had announced the award for Mr. Tharoor in August 2022, but the formal conferring took place on Tuesday.
Mr. Tharoor said his relationship with France began during his UN stint and that he always “nurtured a sense of profound respect for French democracy” as the land where “the people” first replaced “the king” as the nucleus of the nation.
The conferral of this award to an Indian is also an acknowledgement of deepening of Franco-Indian relations.
Business
‘Consumers upbeat, inflation to cool’ (Page no. 17)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
The outlook for a “reasonably low headline inflation rate is good”, the Finance Ministry said, citing the steady fall in core inflation and moderation in food prices along with higher foodgrain buffer stocks and healthy rabi harvest prospects.
Terming strong private consumption as the “bedrock of high growth”, the ministry in its monthly economic review for January said India’s private consumption trends now reflect “buoyant consumer sentiment that is generally associated with reduced economic uncertainty”.
The ministry said that household consumption was expected to improve, while capital formation prospects were bright owing to an upturn in the private capex cycle, healthy balance sheets of banks and corporates, and the Centre’s capital expenditure thrust.
World
U.S. vetoes UN vote on Gaza ceasefire, pushes alternative (Page no. 18)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
The United States vetoed a UN Security Council resolution that called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, even as President Joe Biden faced mounting pressure to dial back support for Israel.
The resolution, which Algeria had been working on for three weeks, had demanded “an immediate humanitarian ceasefire that must be respected by all parties.”
Proceeding with a vote today was wishful and irresponsible... we cannot support a resolution that would put sensitive negotiations in jeopardy,” said Washington’s Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield, while advocating an alternate resolution drafted by the U.S.
The vote came as Israel prepares to move into the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah, where some 1.4 million people have fled, as part of its mission to destroy the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
India, Sri Lanka move forward with talks on trade agreement (Page no. 18)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
India and Sri Lanka are set to take ongoing discussions on the Economic and Trade Cooperation Agreement (ETCA) forward, with the next two rounds of bilateral talks scheduled later this month and in March.
The progress in negotiations is significant for New Delhi and Colombo, as the much-discussed pact was stalled in the past, owing to stiff opposition from some worker unions and hardline Sinhala-nationalist politicians, who saw the agreement as favouring Indian interests predominantly, while endangering Sri Lankan labour.
At least 11 rounds of discussions were held between 2016 and 2019, when the Maithripala Sirisena-Ranil Wickremesinghe administration was in power, but the two sides failed to reach an agreement amid protests in Sri Lanka.
President Wickremesinghe has emphasised the need for trade pacts to aid the country’s economic recovery. Earlier this month, Sri Lanka inked a free trade pact with Thailand. India, followed by China, are the other two key partners with which Mr. Wickremesinghe is keen to have upgraded agreements, even as Sri Lankans reel under the painful aftermath of a financial meltdown.