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Deoxyribonucleic acid or DNA tests occupy a grey area in the quest for justice, vacillating between the dangers of slipping into self-incrimination and encroachment of individual privacy and the ‘eminent need’ to unearth the truth, be in the form of evidence in a criminal case, a claim of marital infidelity or proving paternity.
More and more complainants are seeking DNA tests — a senior official associated with a government laboratory estimates such requests increasing by around 20% each year.
DNA Forensics Laboratory Private Limited, one of the biggest centres which is accredited with the National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL), says it tests around 300-400 samples each month that are both private requests and court-mandated. The numbers were only around 30-40 till five years ago.
The Supreme Court has recently held — in a case concerning a woman known only as ‘XX’ to protect her identity — that compelling an unwilling person to undergo a DNA test would be a violation of his/her personal liberty and right to privacy, turning the spotlight on the spreading use of a technology that aids the cause of justice on the one hand but violates privacy on the other. But the issue is problematised by the varying stances of both the apex court and High Courts that tend to focus on the particularities of each case.
Women’s rights activists, however, hold that a DNA test is the only tool which can deliver justice in cases of abandonment of mothers and children.
Take the example of Keerti (name changed) from Delhi, who asked for a DNA test to determine the paternity of her child after her husband deserted her making claims of infidelity.
Left to fend for herself with a six-month-old child, she knocked on judicial doors after the husband’s family denied the request; the case is pending before the family court.
“Is physical autonomy above justice to the child,” asks Brinda Adige of Global Concerns India, an organisation working for human rights and gender equality.
The woman can establish the paternity of the child only if the DNA of the man matches.” While determining paternity goes a long way towards securing financial support from an estranged partner, lawyer Sumithra Acharya says it is not so much about women’s rights as child rights.
“DNA tests may not be conclusive proof in cases of heinous crimes like rape but for paternity, protection has always been towards the children.
Precedents set by the Supreme Court through the years show that judges cannot order genetic tests as a “roving enquiry” (Bhabani Prasad Jena, 2010) and they must balance “the interests of the parties” (Banarsi Dass, 2005); DNA tests should also not be ordered if there was other material evidence at hand to prove the case.
In its Ashok Kumar judgment last year, the court said judges, before ordering a genetic test, should examine “proportionality of the legitimate aims” being pursued. But seven years ago, the court heard a man’s plea for a DNA test. He wanted to prove his wife’s infidelity and the parentage of their child and sought a test to be done on himself and the child in the presence of his wife.
Share of stubble burning in city’s pollution rises (Page no. 1)
(GS Paper 3, Environment)
The share of stubble burning in the neighboring States that contributes to Delhi’s pollution rose to 26%, the highest this year so far. It was 21% on Saturday.
Atmospheric conditions are such that smoke from the farm fires are now blowing towards the Capital, alerting agencies to take localised measures to minimise the impact.
Until Friday, the impact of stubble burning remained low, contributing to 7% of the pollution due to a prolonged rain spell in October and slow transport-level winds.
The Delhi government on Sunday said that it has formed 586 teams that will monitor the construction-demolition ban that has come into force due to rising pollution levels.
It also announced a host of local measures like water sprinkling and anti-smog guns to control localised sources of pollution.
During the winter season, there is usually a spike in pollution in the Capital due to an increase of biomass burning and localised factors such as vehicular pollution and dust.
These factors, combined with meteorological situations like change in the speed of wind or changes in the direction of the wind, lead to a further spike in pollution levels.
The Central government’s System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting Research (SAFAR) in its bulletin on Sunday said, “Local surface winds are 6 to 8 km/hr for the next three days that cause weak dispersion of pollutants.
Share of stubble burning emissions in Delhi’s PM2.5 is 26% due to winds at transport-level blowing from north-west direction.
Air quality is likely to remain within ‘very poor’ for next three days due to combined effect of transport as well as local weather conditions.
Addressing a press conference, Environment Minster Gopal Rai said that according to experts, the information that the government has received is that after November 1, the air quality is likely to worsen and deteriorate from the current “very poor” category to the “severe” category.
Editorial
United against terror (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 2, International Relations)
India’s decision to host the United Nations Security Council’s Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC) is an important marker of the Government’s ongoing effort to highlight terrorism issues at a time the global body has been more focused on the Ukraine war.
Held in Mumbai and Delhi, it brought UN officials, and ministers and diplomats from all members of the Security Council (UNSC), to discuss challenges to the global counter-terrorism architecture.
In Mumbai, the spotlight was on the 26/11 attacks. Despite the global nature of the terror targets, India has had an uphill battle since 2008 in international cooperation to pursue the case, and in bringing the lone surviving attacker, Ajmal Kasab, through a full trial and execution.
After a brief period of information sharing, Pakistan has dragged its feet on prosecuting even LeT commanders Hafiz Saeed, Zaki-ur-Rahman Lakhvi and others that its Federal Investigative Agency held responsible for the attacks.
During the UNSC conference, the attendees heard not only from victims of the attacks but also voice samples of LeT recruiter Sajid Mir directing terrorists during the attacks; even so Mir, now in a Pakistani prison on terror financing charges, after Pakistan’s grey-listing at the Financial Action Task Force mandated action, has not been tried.
The U.S., which has cooperated in many other ways with India on terrorism, convicted conspirators David Headley and Tahawwur Rana for the attacks, but has refused to extradite them.
Meanwhile, China continues to block designating LeT leaders on the UNSC 1267 terror list, a problem External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken specifically mentioned at the conference.
In Delhi, the CTC focus was on online radicalisation and terror recruitment, terror financing through crypto-currency and virtual assets, and unmanned aerial system use including drones for terror strikes, transporting drugs and arms.
The deliberations led to the “Delhi Declaration on countering the use of new and emerging technologies for terrorist purposes”.
The extra-constitutional delusions of Raj Bhavan (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 2, Indian Polity)
A tweet put out recently by the office of the Kerala Governor evoked nationwide attention for all the wrong reasons. It said: “... the statements of individual Ministers that lower the dignity of the office of the Governor can invite action including withdrawal of pleasure”.
Raj Bhavan did not explicitly say that such Ministers would be expelled. But, going by the text of Article 164(1) of the Constitution — that the “Ministers shall hold office during the pleasure of the Governor” — the indication was clear.
This was made even more apparent when the Governor sent a letter to the Kerala Chief Minister asking him to act against the State Finance Minister, who, according to the Governor, had “ceased to enjoy” the Governor’s “pleasure”. The Chief Minister declined to do so.
This unprecedented and curious gubernatorial gesture has political and constitutional facets. The Governor’s other move, in the meantime, for ousting Vice-Chancellors of universities in the State, alleging deficits in their appointment process, is purported to be in exercise of his statutory power as Chancellor. As against the Ministers, he has no such special power. He can only act within the bounds of the Constitution.
The function of the appointed Governor is always subject to the policies of the elected government, and not vice-versa. This is a foundational theory of India’s constitutional democracy.
Constitutional provisions cannot be read in isolation. Article 163(1) says that the Council of Ministers must aid and advise the Governor. However, according to Article 163(2), the Governor can act in his discretion in certain matters as permitted by the Constitution.
This would mean that the Governor is generally bound by the Cabinet decision except when he has a legitimate right to invoke his discretion, say, for example, in deciding on sanction to prosecute a Cabinet Minister or in his decisions as Administrator of a Union Territory, as per the orders of the President of India, etc.
Article 164, which contains the provision relevant in the context of the Kerala Governor’s tweet and letter is inseparable from Article 163. Therefore, it follows that unless the Cabinet or the Chief Minister advises the expulsion of a Minister, the Governor cannot cause the exit of a particular Minister by “withdrawing pleasure”.
The jurist H.M. Seervai gave an explanation about the spirit of Article 163, which, in a way, is a prologue to Article 164(1) dealing with “pleasure”.
He said, “if Governors have discretion in all matters under Article 163(1), it would be unnecessary to confer on Governors an express power to act in their discretion in a few specified matters (by way of Article 163(2))”.
One finds a democratic reading of Article 164 in the Constitution Bench judgment of the Supreme Court of India in Shamsher Singh vs State of Punjab (1974).
A check over of the U.S.’s much anticipated NSS (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 2, International Relations)
The United States has launched its much anticipated National Security Strategy (NSS). All U.S. Presidents are mandated by the Goldwater-Nichols Department of Defense Reorganization Act of 1986 to bring out their NSS, to communicate the executive’s vision of national security to the legislative.
As a comprehensive document, the NSS reflects certainty about how the government of the day views the national security agenda.
Alternatively, the NSS also gives the Congress an opportunity to assess the cost that the country will have to bear and the areas of investments to achieve the nation’s security goals.
The Biden administration’s NSS primarily focuses on the current decade as a ‘decisive’ one in which the U.S. seeks to sustain U.S. leadership, improve the U.S. economy, build on a vast network of alliances and partnerships; counter China as its strategic competitor and Russia as a disruptor, and boost U.S. competitiveness and defend democracy.
The document portrays the ambitious agenda of the Biden administration to cover a comprehensive set of transnational challenges tying the domestic with the international.
These include climate change, food insecurity, pandemics, terrorism, energy shortages and inflation. Besides, the administration’s NSS has considerable focus on outer space security and governance.
The NSS lays down three main fulcrums of U.S. strategy going forward: invest; build and modernise. It seeks to invest in the “tools of American power and influence” by strengthening the economy at home, improving critical infrastructure and investing in technologies such as microchips and semiconductors.
Consistent with this approach, effective October 12, the Biden administration has imposed a slew of sanctions impacting the U.S. sale of semiconductors to China as well as the ability of U.S. citizens and residents to work in chip companies in China.
Furthermore, the NSS seeks to build ‘the strongest possible coalition of nations’ — a recognition of both the U.S.’s ambitions as well as limitations in driving global geopolitics unilaterally.
Finally, the modernisation sought by the U.S. is intended to cater to the wide-ranging demands of internal and external security, simultaneously.
These capability enhancements underscore the recognition by the U.S. of the unprecedented scale and scope of strategic competition with China. It names China as the ‘only competitor’ with the capability and intent to shape the international order in a fundamental way.
Explainer
Why was the Miya Museum sealed? (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 1, Art & Culture)
The inauguration of a museum showcasing the culture of Bengali-speaking or Bengal-origin Muslims in Assam was sealed on October 25 after it sparked controversy.
Officials said that the action was taken as a house allotted under the Prime Minister’s Awas Yojana-Gramin scheme was converted into a museum in violation of the rules.
Leaders of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party say it was opened to appropriate Assamese culture and intimidate indigenous communities.
A private centre showcasing the culture and heritage of Bengal-origin or Bengali-speaking Muslims was inaugurated primarily by members of the All Assam Miya Parishad at Dapkarbhita in the Lakhipur circle of Goalpara district on October 23.
They named it the Miya Museum. The Parishad had on October 17 intimated the district head about the opening of the museum.
Some legislators and former MLAs of the BJP interpreted the museum as a cultural aggression and asked the government to pull it down. Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said the museum was a bid to appropriate Assamese culture and asked the local authorities to take necessary action.
The local authorities sealed the museum after BJP’s minority morcha leader, Abdur Rahim Gibran filed a complaint against it.
According to an official notice, the museum was sealed because Mohar Ali, the chairperson of the Parishad, had established the museum, in violation of the rules, at his house allotted in 2018 under the Prime Minister’s Awas Yojana-Gramin. Ali was subsequently detained along with Parishad member Abdul Baten and a non-Muslim named Tanu Dhadumia, but in connection with a terror case registered in faraway Nalbari district’s Ghograpar.
The genesis of the controversy lies in the politics of polarisation in Assam fuelled by the fear of a demographic invasion by the so-called “illegal immigrants” or “Bangladeshis”.
Although a respectable form of address across the Hindi and Urdu-speaking belts, ‘Miya’ is used pejoratively against the Bengali-speaking Muslims and also to sift them from the Assamese Muslims who the BJP have been wooing.
The migrant Muslims form the bulk of Assam’s Muslims accounting for more than 34% of the State’s 3.3 crore people. The BJP has allegedly been pitting Assamese Muslims, considered ‘khilonjia’ (indigenous), against the Bengali-speaking Muslims and had in July approved the awarding of special status to five groups of indigenous Muslims.
This is in line with the BJP’s vow to protect the ‘bhumiputras’ (sons of the soil) from illegal immigrants. The museum was thus seen as a bid to assert the ‘Miya’ identity and by default, intimidation to the current dispensation.
News
CAA is a benign piece of legislation, Home Ministry tells SC (Page no. 14)
(GS Paper 2, Polity & Governance)
The Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) is a “benign piece of legislation” which seeks to provide a relaxation, in the nature of an amnesty, to specific communities from specified countries with a clear cut-off date, the Home Ministry told the Supreme Court.
The Act fast-tracks citizenship-by-naturalisation process for "illegal migrants" from six religious communities, other than Muslims, who have fled persecution from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. The Supreme Court had fixed the hearing on 220 petitions challenging the CAA of 2019 on October 31.
The government, in an affidavit filed late on Sunday, said “the CAA is a specific amendment which seeks to tackle a specific problem, i.e., the persecution on the ground of religion in the light of the undisputable theocratic constitutional position in these specified countries, the systematic functioning of these States and the perception of fear that may be prevalent amongst minorities as per the de facto situation in these countries”.
The Parliament, in its competence, has passed the law taking into consideration the acknowledged class of minorities in three countries.
It said the plight of these classified communities in neighbouring Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan had been attracting the attention of successive governments in India.
But no government took any legislative measure and merely acknowledged the problem and took some administrative action through executive instructions regarding entry, stay and citizenship issues of these classified communities.
The CAA, the government said, was a “narrowly tailored legislation” seeking to address the problem which awaited India’s attention for a solution since several decades.
The CAA does not seek to recognise or seek to provide answers to all or any kind of purported persecution that may be taking place across the world or that may have taken place previously anywhere in the world.
The affidavit said the CAA does not in any manner affect the legal, democratic or secular rights of any Indian citizen.
In matters concerning foreign policy, citizenship, economic policy, etc, a wider latitude is available to the Parliament/Legislature.
The Ministry said the CAA had been challenged as arbitrary and discriminatory on the ground that federal structure was breached and on the exclusion of certain areas.
Attempts being made for presidential form of govt., says Mamata (Page no. 14)
(GS Paper 2, Indian Polity)
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday alleged that democratic powers were being seized by a “section of people” which, she felt, may lead to a presidential form of government in the country.
Urging the judiciary and leaders in different fields to “save democracy”, the Chief Minister said if this trend continued, then a day would come when a presidential form of government would be brought in the country.
Without naming the BJP, she implied that the ruling party was behind the move. Speaking at the convocation ceremony of the West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences (NUJS), she urged the judiciary to ensure that the federal structure of the country remained intact.
All the democratic powers are being seized by a section of people; this might be going on for (bringing in) a presidential form of government.
She said people were being harassed “unnecessarily”. The Chief Minister has tussled with the NDA government at the Centre on several occasions over the powers of the State government and the Union government.
Claiming that people were “crying behind closed doors”, Ms. Banerjee said she believed that the judiciary had to act as their saviour.
She came down on the media accusing it of conducting media trials and making accusations against persons even before the judiciary could deliver its verdict. “Our only prestige is our respect... it cannot come back if it is taken away.
India now enables low-cost production, high output: PM (Page no. 16)
(GS Paper 3, Indian Economy)
Former Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on October 30 defeated incumbent Jair Bolsonaro in an election that marked a stunning comeback for the leftist leader and the end of the country’s most right-wing government in decades.
In his third term, Mr. Lula will confront a sluggish economy, tighter budget constraints and a more hostile legislature. Mr. Bolsonaro’s allies form the largest bloc in Congress after this month’s general election revealed the enduring strength of his conservative coalition.
At least 120 were killed after more than 350 people fell into the Machchu river when a newly renovated colonial-era suspension bridge collapsed on October 30 evening in Morbi town of Gujarat.
According to sources, the BJP is contemplating cancelling the Prime Minister’s roadshow and other political events in the State. There is also a possibility of Mr. Modi visiting Morbi on October 31 to take stock of the situation.
India’s growth momentum has been maintained despite the COVID-19 pandemic, war, and supply-chain disruptions, and India is presenting opportunities for low cost manufacturing and high output, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday after laying the foundation stone for the C-295 transport aircraft manufacturing facility to be set up by a consortium of Tata Advanced Systems Limited (TASL) and Airbus Defence and Space in Vadodara.
The star Indian pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty won the French Open Super 750 crown with a straight-game demolition of Chinese Taipei’s Lu Ching Yao and Yang Po Han in the men’s doubles final.
The world number 8 pair, who had finished runners-up in the 2019 edition, rode on their formidable attack to outwit the 25th ranked Lu and Yang 21-13 21-19 in the summit clash that lasted 48 minutes.
The CAA is a specific amendment which seeks to tackle a specific problem, i.e., the persecution on the ground of religion in the light of the undisputable theocratic constitutional position in these specified countries, the systematic functioning of these States and the perception of fear that may be prevalent amongst minorities as per the de facto situation in these countries.
Red Bull’s double world champion Max Verstappen won the Mexico City Grand Prix on Sunday to set a Formula One record of 14 victories in a single season.
The Dutch driver led from pole position at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez and made one stop before a long stint on the medium tyres to take the chequered flag 15.186 seconds clear of Mercedes’s Lewis Hamilton.
The instruction followed the detention and deportation of 27 foreign nationals — 17 Bangladeshi and 10 Europeans — from three districts of eastern Assam in about a month. All of them came on a tourist visa and not a missionary visa that allows restricted religious activities.
OneWeb satellites will enhance rural connectivity: Modi (Page no. 16)
(GS Paper 3, Science & Technology)
Describing the simultaneous placement of 36 OneWeb satellites in space a week ago as a major feat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the move would strengthen digital connectivity across the whole country.
In his “Mann Ki Baat” address, Mr. Modi said, “With the help of this, even the remotest areas will be more easily connected with the rest of the country...India has emerged as a strong player in the global commercial market.”
The Prime Minister said that after the space sector had been opened up for the country’s youth, revolutionary changes had started coming into it.
Domestic industries and start-ups were engaged in bringing new innovations and new technologies. Non-government companies were also getting the facility to launch their payloads and satellites through IN-SPACe, he said.
Stating that today’s youth had been exhibiting immense problem-solving skills, Mr. Modi noted that on October 14-15, all 23 Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) came together on one platform for the first time to showcase their innovations and research projects.
Over 75 best projects on themes ranging from healthcare, agriculture, robotics and semiconductors to 5G communications were on display.
Highlighting the significance of Chhath Puja, Mr. Modi said the tradition of sun worship was proof of how deeply Indian culture and faith was related to nature.
The festival was celebrated with the cooperation of a myriad of people in society and it also encouraged cleanliness at the community level. “...along with worshipping the sun, why not also discuss his boon!
This blessing of Sun God is — ‘solar energy’...today, we have become one of the largest countries to generate electricity from solar energy.
Mr. Modi spoke about a farmer from Tamil Nadu’s Kancheepuram who benefited from the Pradhan Mantri Kusum Yojana scheme and had a solar pump set installed on his farm.
Now, they do not have to spend anything on electricity for their farm,” he said, adding that a Kusum Yojana beneficiary farmer in Rajasthan’s Bharatpur had also installed a solar pump and it had increased his income. The farmer was also connecting many other small industries with solar electricity.
Mr. Modi interacted with some residents of the country’s first “solar village”, Modhera in Gujarat, who said that the initiative had brought in great transformation in their lives. “...the day is not far when the construction of Suryagrams in India will become a big mass movement and the people of Modhera village have already begun.