Whatsapp 93125-11015 For Details
Supreme Court judge, Justice Bela M. Trivedi, on December 13, 2022 recused herself from hearing a writ petition filed by BilkisBano against a Gujarat government decision to prematurely release 11 men sentenced to life imprisonment for gang-raping her during the 2002 riots.
Justice Ajay Rastogi, who led the Bench, said the writ petition would be returned to the Chief Justice of India to be listed before another Bench of the apex court.
Justice Trivedi hails from Gujarat. She started her judicial career in the district judiciary in 1995. Justice Trivedi had worked in different posts like Registrar — Vigilance in the High Court, Law Secretary in the Gujarat government, CBI court judge, Special Judge, etc. She was elevated as a Gujarat High Court judge in February 2011.
A review petition of Ms. Bano was also listed for a decision via circulation by a Bench led by Justice Ajay Rastogi. Ms. Bano has sought a review of a Supreme Court judgment of May 2022.
The judgment had paved the way for the Gujarat government to consider and release 11 convicts serving life sentence in her case under the State’s Premature Release Policy of 1992.
In her writ petition, Ms. Bano, through advocate Shobha Gupta, has argued that the early release of the convicts amounted to a violation of her fundamental right to life.
She has said the remission policy of the State of Maharashtra, where the trial happened, and not Gujarat would have governed the case.
Others like CPI (M) leader Subhashini Ali and others like TMC leader MahiaMoitra have also challenged the early release of the convicts.
The court had then given petitioners time to respond to a Gujarat government affidavit which showed that the Special Judge and the CBI in Mumbai had opposed the premature release of the 11 convicts.
The affidavit by the State of Gujarat had revealed that while the Superintendent of Police, CBI, Special Crime Branch, Mumbai and the Special Judge (CBI) of Greater Bombay opposed the premature release all the authorities in Gujarat and the Home Ministry recommended their release.
Chinese tried to change LAC status quo: Rajnath (Page no. 1)
(GS Paper 2, International Relations)
The Chinese troops unilaterally tried to alter the status quo on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Arunachal Pradesh on December 9 and the move was contested by Indian soldiers in a firm and resolute manner.
Making a statement in both Houses of Parliament on the clash at Yangtse in Tawang sector, Mr. Singh said: “The ensuing face-off led to a physical scuffle in which the Indian Army bravely prevented the PLA from transgressing into our territory and compelled them to return to their posts. The scuffle led to injuries to a few personnel on both sides.
As a follow-up to the incident, the local commander in the area held a flag meeting with his counterpart on December 11 to discuss the issues in accordance with established mechanisms, Mr. Singh said in the statement first made in the Lok Sabha and then in the Rajya Sabha.
The Chinese side was asked to refrain from such actions and maintain peace and tranquillity along the border. The issue was also taken up with the Chinese side through diplomatic channels.
The Hindu first reported on December 12 that a clash occurred as a very large PLA patrol of around 600 soldiers tried to transgress the LAC in the area and some injured soldiers are currently being treated at a hospital in Guwahati.
While the number of injured on the Chinese side wasn’t available, several defence sources said they were higher than that on the Indian side.
Earlier in the day, Mr. Singh chaired a high-level meeting during which he was briefed by the Services on the incident as well as the overall situation along the LAC.
In a short statement on the face-off on Monday evening, the Army, while nothing that there are areas of differing perception on the LAC, said both sides immediately disengaged from the area after the scuffle.
Speaking to the media outside Parliament, Home Minister Amit Shah said: “No one can capture an inch of land till the Narendra Modi government is in power.
The BJP government will not allow any incursion on land. We will not leave an inch of land. The bravery shown by soldiers is appreciable, they have saved our land.
Editorial
The attack on the last bastion — the judiciary (Page no. 6)
(GS Paper 2, Polity and Governance)
Recent comments by the Vice-President, JagdeepDhankar, and the Law Minister, KirenRijiju, can be read as a concerted attack on the collegium system, the Supreme Court of India, and even the basic structure doctrine (conveniently forgetting that it is this doctrine that has kept the Indian Constitution intact).
Clearly, the present government continues to try and undermine judicial independence, which it has been doing since it first came to power in 2014.
As a long-standing critic of the collegium system, I might have joined a chorus that called out the problems with judicial appointments. But this onslaught from the Government has been particularly disturbing and wholly unwarranted.
The Supreme Court, conceived as the custodian of the Constitution and the final arbiter of the law, has had an inconsistent history. The ghosts of ADM Jabalpur continue to haunt to this day. While the government under Indira Gandhi intended to destroy the judiciary during the Emergency, the entire Court, barring Justice H.R. Khanna, was also complicit in the erosion of citizens’ rights that took place then.
Over the decades, after much reflection and repair, from both within and outside the judiciary, those dark days have been seemingly left behind. But what worried us then has now re-emerged to torment us again.
The present move — of attempting to undermine and discredit the judiciary, as seen in the comments — is part of the larger mission to make the executive the most powerful entity.
Today, executive accountability is a thing of memory, for no one raises any questions about its actions. Since 2014, the Government has undertaken a well-crafted, deliberate takedown of various institutions and mechanisms that could hold the executive accountable. Its efforts may not be as brazen as the Indira Gandhi-led government, but the same ends are being achieved: the state is rendered practically comatose, and the executive, most often, has the upper hand.
Parallels can be drawn with ‘elected autocracies’, where elected governments use the very institutions integral to democracy to kill democracy itself and destroy civil liberties.
We have heard nothing of the Lokpal since. The National Human Rights Commission has been made dormant. Investigation agencies are misused at the slightest opportunity, with action against activists, journalists, students, political opponents, or anyone who protests against the government.
The Election Commission of India appears to have been clearly compromised. The Information Commission is almost non-functional.
A conservation Bill that endangers forest rights (Page no. 6)
(GS Paper 3, Environment)
The expeditious passage of the Wild Life (Protection) Amendment Bill, 2021 in the Rajya Sabha this winter session — this followed its passing in the Lok Sabha during the monsoon session — needs comment.
The Wildlife Protection Act (WPA), 1972 has safeguarded numerous species of wild animals and plants by prohibiting all forms of hunting and, more importantly, creating inviolate areas where wildlife conservation may be carried out.
The amendment further invests in this conception of protected areas and species by bringing in newer species to be protected, augmenting the penal repercussions.
While the aspects of protecting species from the wildlife trade, in line with international standards, have received thoughtful scrutiny by civil society, Members of Parliament and the Parliamentary Standing Committee, the impact of the criminal legal framework adopted by the WPA is less known.
The need for criminal laws to assist wildlife conservation has remained unchallenged since its conception. From regulated hunting to complete prohibition and the creation of ‘Protected Areas (PA)’ where conservation can be undertaken without the interference of local forest-dwelling communities, State and Forest Department control over forests and the casteist underpinnings of conservation would not have been possible without criminal law.
In this context, pitting wildlife species against communities as human-animal conflict has eluded the true cost of criminalisation under the WPA
Opinion
The rise of rural manufacturing (Page no. 7)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
There is growing evidence to suggest that the most conspicuous trend in the manufacturing sector in India has been a shift of manufacturing activity and employment from bigger cities to smaller towns and rural areas.
This ‘urban-rural manufacturing shift’ has often been interpreted as a mixed bag, as it has its share of advantages that could transform the rural economy, as well as a set of constraints, which could hamper higher growth.
Given the size of the Indian economy and the need for balanced regional development, the dispersal of manufacturing activities is a welcome sign.
However, the compulsions of global competition often extend beyond the considerations of low-wage production and depend on the virtues of ‘conducive ecosystems’ for firms to grow.
The movement of manufacturing away from urban locations was brought out by the Work Bank in a report a decade ago (Ghani, Ejaz et al (2012) “Is India’s Manufacturing Sector Moving Away from Cities? Policy Research Working Paper, World Bank”).
This study investigated the urbanisation of the Indian manufacturing sector by “combining enterprise data from formal and informal sectors and found that manufacturing plants in the formal sector are moving away from urban areas and into rural locations, while the informal sector is moving from rural to urban locations”. Their results suggested that higher urban-rural cost ratios caused this shift.
Recent data from the Annual Survey of Industries for 2019-20, shows that the rural segment is a significant contributor to the manufacturing sector’s output.
While 42% of factories are in rural areas, 62% of fixed capital is in the rural side. This is the result of a steady stream of investments in rural locations over the last two decades.
In terms of output and value addition, rural factories contributed to exactly half of the total sector. In terms of employment, it accounted for 44%, but had only a 41% share in the total wages of the sector.
Explainer
AnalysingU.S.China bilateral ties (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 2, International Relations)
U.S.-China relations have witnessed an unprecedented downturn in 2022. Nancy Pelosi’s historic visit to Taiwan in August has deeply upset bilateral ties.
The imposition of heavy restrictions on China’s semiconductor industry by the U.S. in October has fanned the flames of rivalry further.
Amid this escalation, the U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping had their first in-person interaction on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Bali in November, signalling a probable relaxation of the growing tensions.
The U.S. and China, ever since the establishment of diplomatic relations in the later part of the Cold War, have worked toward enmeshing their economic systems from the perspective of economic complementarity and strategic convergence.
As a result, China rose to the status of the second largest economy and got itself ingrained into the global economy. This eventually translated into China’s growing economic competence as well as its rising political ambition and might.
China then started to systematically undermine U.S. global dominance through military and diplomatic means. This happened at a time when there was a growing perception of U.S. decline amidst the global financial crisis and its entrenchment in the “forever wars” of Afghanistan and Iraq.
Under Xi Jinping, China’s assertiveness rose further, as its quest for primacy in the world stage became increasingly apparent. With Donald Trump’s entry into the White House, the U.S. concerns about the threat from China reached critical levels.
The Trump administration took progressively confrontational steps towards China, with growing bipartisan backing. The administration’s imposition of tariffs on China’s exports turned into a “trade war” which started to reverse the trajectory of U.S.-China relations.
Though Mr. Biden succeeded Mr. Trump, the policy on China did not change significantly, as the momentum for “decoupling” bilateral relations did not just continue, but kept on gathering pace.
China’s crackdown in Xinjiang and Hong Kong, its “wolf warrior diplomacy” during the COVID-19 blame game, its evident support to Russia during the Ukraine crisis, and its escalating offensive posturing towards Taiwan, made it imperative for the U.S. to continue with a confrontational posture towards China.
News
Ministry evades direct reply on demand to include Ladakh under 6th Schedule (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 2, Polity and Governance)
Evading a direct reply on the possible inclusion of Ladakh under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution, the Union Home Ministry has informed a Parliamentary panel that the main objective of the inclusion of tribal populations under the said schedule is to ensure their overall socio-economic development, which the Union Territory’s administration “has already been taking care of since its creation.
On August 5, 2019, the former State of Jammu & Kashmir was bifurcated into two Union Territories — Jammu & Kashmir, and Ladakh, the latter without a Legislative Assembly.
After its special status was removed, several political groups in Ladakh have been demanding that land, employment, and the cultural identity of Ladakh, should be protected under the Sixth Schedule.
The Schedule protects tribal populations, providing autonomy to communities through the creation of Autonomous Development Councils, which can frame laws on land, public health and agriculture. As of now, ten autonomous councils exist in Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram.
In 2021, Ladakh’s only member in the Lok Sabha, the BJP’s JamyangTseringNamgyal, demanded constitutional safeguards by amending the Ladakh Autonomous Hill District Council (LAHDC) Act for the protection of land, employment, and the cultural identity of Ladakh under the Sixth Schedule.
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs tabled a report in the Rajya Sabha which said that, according to the 2011 Census, the tribal population in the Union Territory of Ladakh is 2,18,355, that is 79.61% of the total population of 2,74,289.
The committee recommended that special status may be granted to the Union Territory of Ladakh considering the developmental requirements of the tribal population.
It added that the Ladakh administration had recently increased the reservation for Scheduled Tribes in direct recruitment from 10% to 45%, which would help the tribal population significantly in its development.
Aurobindo inspired many generations, left his mark wherever he went: Modi (Page no. 11)
(GS Paper 1, Personalities)
Hailing Sri Aurobindo’s life and work as reflecting the oneness and cultural pre-eminence of the country, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said the poet-philosopher’s modern thoughts, higher consciousness and uncompromising nationalism should inspire India’s leadership role in the world in greater measure.
In his address after virtually releasing a commemorative coin and postage stamp to mark the ongoing 150th birth anniversary celebrations of Sri Aurobindo at a function hosted at the KambanKalaiarangam, Mr. Modi likened the country to an immortal seed which may be suppressed a little under adverse circumstances, even wither a little, but cannot die.
India is the most refined idea of human civilisation, the most natural voice of humanity. India has a pivotal role in tackling challenges faced by the world today.
He noted that in the life of Sri Aurobindo, who was born in Bengal but spent most of his life in Gujarat and Puducherry, one could get the fundamental philosophy of India’s soul and its development journey. The poet-philosopher had left an imprint wherever he went.
Sri Aurobindo, along with Swami Vivekananda and Mahatma Gandhi, were the three icons whose lives and contributions around the same period shaped the destiny of the nation, the Prime Minister noted.
He recalled that Sri Aurobindo on his return to India after education and global exposure in England, had become proficient in several languages, and had studied the scriptures and translated texts ranging from the Ramayana, the Mahabharata and the Upanishads to Kalidasa, Bhavabhuti and Bharatthari.
Noting that apart from emerging as the “loudest voice of Indian culture”, the Prime Minister said Sri Aurobindo’s ideological clarity, cultural strength and patriotism made him a role model for freedom fighters of that time.
He was among the first freedom fighters to call for full Independence and instrumental in helping India break free from the colonial mindset, Mr. Modi said.
Sri Aurobindo, whose uncompromising patriotism inspired the likes of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, had even declared that, “If we want to rebuild our country we have to stop genuflecting before British Parliament.
Assam Accord: Constitution Bench lists citizenship case for January 10 (Page no. 11)
(GS Paper 2, Polity and Governance)
A Constitution Bench listed for January 10, 2023 a series of long-pending petitions challenging Section 6A of the Citizenship Act, 1955 which allows citizenship to illegal immigrants, mostly from neighbouring Bangladesh, who entered Assam before March 1971.
These petitions had been lying dormant while the court had gone ahead and monitored the publication of the final Assam NRC list in August 2019 and the government had enacted the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.
Section 6A was a special provision inserted into the 1955 Act in furtherance of a Memorandum of Settlement called the ‘Assam Accord’ signed on August 15, 1985 by the then Rajiv Gandhi government with the leaders of the Assam Movement to preserve and protect the Assamese culture, heritage, linguistic and social identity.
The Accord came at the end of a six-year-long agitation by the All Assam Students Union (AASU) to identify and deport illegal immigrants, mostly from neighbouring Bangladesh, from the State.
Under Section 6A, foreigners who had entered Assam before January 1, 1966, and been “ordinarily resident” in the State, would have all the rights and obligations of Indian citizens.
Those who had entered the State between January 1, 1966 and March 25, 1971 would have the same rights and obligations except that they would not be able to vote for 10 years.
Petitions were filed challenging the “discriminatory” nature of Section 6A in granting citizenship to immigrants, illegal ones at that. The petitioners, including Assam Public Works and others, argued that the special provision was in violation of Article 6 of the Constitution which fixed the cut-off date for granting citizenship to immigrants at July 19, 1948.
Only one fourth of sanctioned solar projects have taken off, says Minister (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 3, Environment)
The Union government has so far sanctioned the development of solar projects with a capacity of nearly 39,000 MW but only a fourth have actually been commissioned so far, reveal figures presented by R.K. Singh, Minister for New and Renewable Energy.
Under the ‘Scheme for Development of Solar Parks and Ultra Mega Solar Power Projects’, a total of 57 solar parks of aggregate capacity of 39,285 MW were sanctioned until November-end. However, only solar power projects of 10,027 MW have been commissioned in these parks.
Citing reasons for the shortfall, Mr. Singh said some solar parks had been cancelled due to their “slow progress”. The key challenges in this scheme included hurdles in acquisition of land with clear title; a “mismatch” in the time taken to set up a project and the infrastructure to route the power produced to the grid; “environmental issues” and the halt in economic activity due to COVID-19.
In his reference to “environmental issues,” Mr. Singh mentioned the “Great Indian Bustard (GIB) issue.” In recent years, the habitat of the GIB — a critically endangered species numbering less than 200 in Rajasthan — has been encroached upon by solar power projects particularly by transmission lines that endanger the bird.
The Supreme Court last April, had directed that power companies lay underground cables in solar parks in Rajasthan though few companies have actually complied. Mr. Singh’s Ministry had told the Supreme Court in December 2021 that laying underground cables were impractical and would greatly raise the cost of solar power.
Business
‘India may be first to hold satellite spectrum auction’ (Page no. 14)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Technology)
India will be the first country to auction spectrum for satellite communication (SatCom), and it should be designed to attract investments in the sector.
Speaking at a Broadband India Forum summit on SatCom, Mr. Vaghela said the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) will soon make recommendations to make permissions required for satellite communication from various Ministries -- Information and Broadcasting, Space and Telecom -- seamless to enhance ease of doing business in the sector.
He also said TRAI had received a reference from the Department of Telecommunication for the spectrum required to be put to auction and associated aspects of satellite-based communication.
That is very important. Any system that we will be bringing is to actually encourage and promote investment in the sector, and not increase any burden. I mean, that is the biggest challenge which we have, and we are conscious of that fact.
TRAI is yet to come up with a consultation paper on the spectrum auction as per the standard process meant for satellite communication.
When asked about the status of the paper, Mr. Vaghela said that TRAI was in discussion with experts and regulators worldwide for a suitable model and the consultation paper would be floated after those discussions are over.
While telecom operators have proposed allocation of spectrum through an auction for satellite communication, satellite industry players have opposed it.