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The Supreme Court Collegium stood firm by its resolve to have the government appoint openly gay lawyer Saurabh Kirpal as Delhi High Court judge, saying every individual is “entitled to maintain their own dignity and individuality based on sexual orientation”.
The three-member collegium of Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, Sanjay Kishan Kaul and K.M. Joseph took the rare decision to publish the full extent of the government’s objections to Mr. Kirpal, based on his sexuality and his “passionate” advocacy for LGBTQ+ rights.
The collegium referred to letters from the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), forwarded by the government, frowning upon Mr. Kirpal’s partner being a Swiss national, that they have an “intimate relationship” and the lawyer is “open about his sexual orientation”.
The government, the collegium said, was also worried that same-sex marriage was not recognised in India though “homosexuality stands decriminalised”.
“Moreover,” the collegium quoted the Law Minister’s missive of April 2021 stating that Mr. Kirpal’s “passionate attachment to gay rights” did not rule out the “possibility of bias and prejudice”.
Opinion
Citizens’ committee to press for heritage panel clearance for work on Chamundi Hills (Page no. 7)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
The citizens’ committee to save the Chamundi Hills has resolved to press for clearance from the heritage committee before the implementation of development works at the hill top under Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual Heritage Augmentation Drive (PRASHAD).
The PRASHAD scheme is a Union government project and infrastructure works worth ₹49.5 crore will be taken up ostensibly for providing amenities to the tourists.
The details of the scheme remain sketchy and has drawn the ire of the citizens, activists and NGOs in the absence of any credible information.
The Chamundi Betta Ulisi Horata Samiti, which is an umbrella organisation of various NGOs and activist citizens, met here and resolved to meet the Deputy Commissioner next week and inform him of their apprehensions about the projects.
Editorial
Judging a decade of the POCSO Act (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 2, Polity and Governance)
Ten years have passed since the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012, enacted in consequence to India’s ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1992, came into effect on November 14, 2012.
The aim of this special law is to address offences of sexual exploitation and sexual abuse of children, which were either not specifically defined or in adequately penalised. Amidst the debate on the poor conviction rate under POCSO and a lowering of the age of consent from 18 years to 16 years (though rejected by the Central government), it is worth evaluating its impact on the ground.
A significant feature of the POCSO Act is its gender-neutral nature. Even though the National Crime Records Bureau has not published data on male and female victims separately, in Chhattisgarh, male child victims accounted for about eight in every 1,000 POCSO cases (0.8%).
Though the reported number is not big, it still endorses society’s apprehension that the sexual exploitation of male children is also a serious issue that has been largely unreported.
Second, there is sufficient general awareness now to report cases of sexual exploitation of children not only by individuals but also by institutions as non-reporting has been made a specific offence under the POCSO Act. This has made it comparatively difficult to hide offences against children.
The storage of child pornography material has been made a new offence. Further, the offence of ‘sexual assault’ has been defined in explicit terms (with increased minimum punishment) unlike an abstract definition of ‘outraging modesty of a woman’ in the Indian Penal Code.
However, a large part of the investigation of offences under the Act is still guided by the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC). The investigation of penetrative sexual assault cases generally involves recording the statement of the prosecutrix, a medical and forensic science laboratory (FSL) examination, and determination of the child’s age.
The POCSO Act provides for recording the statement of the affected child by a woman sub-inspector at the child’s residence or place of choice.
Flip the page to the chapter on middle schoolchildren (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 2, Education)
After a gap of four years, the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) report for 2022 was recently released in New Delhi. This nationwide household survey that covers all rural districts in the country generates estimates for schooling and basic learning for every State in India.
Data from 2018 and 2022 can be compared with longer run trends over the last decade to see how the COVID-19 years have impacted India.
The National Education Policy 2020 gives high priority to the acquisition of foundational literacy and numeracy skills especially for children in early grades.
“NIPUN Bharat” (where NIPUN is National Initiative for Proficiency in Reading with Understanding and Numeracy) the government’s flagship programme designed to translate policy into practice, is beginning to have traction in many States.
Given that the policy and implementation focus currently is on early years in primary school, it may be useful to also understand how older children in upper primary grades are faring.
In 2018, the all-India rural enrolment figure for the age group 6-14 years was 97.2%. In ASER 2022 data, this is now 98.4%. The rise has been accompanied by a significant shift away from private schools to government schools.
Several factors may be at play — decrease in family income, permanent closures of low-cost private schools, and the efforts of many State governments to provide services even when schools were closed such as mid-day meal rations, teaching-learning materials shared remotely, worksheet and textbook distribution.
On the ‘plus’ side, rising enrolment means that more students can benefit for longer, sustained periods of time from schooling. Completion of the entire cycle of eight years of schooling for each cohort of 25 million students is no mean achievement in a country of India’s size and diversity.
On the ‘minus’ side, with more and more students going through the middle school pipeline and attending secondary schools, there is increased competition for post-secondary opportunities.
Board examinations continue to perform a gatekeeping function. Acute examination stress, grade inflation in school-leaving examinations, difficulties of gaining admission into college, and lack of appropriate jobs for many school leavers are all consequences of high enrolment and completion rates.
News
National Export Cooperative Society to trade nano fertilizers, dairy products in 3 months (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
Nano fertilizers produced by IFFCO and dairy products from Amul will be among the first few products that are expected to be exported by the first-ever National Export Cooperative Society that was approved by the Union Cabinet on January 11.
The society’s registration will be complete in the next few days and the first consignment will be exported in three months, a senior government official said on Thursday.
Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Limited (IFFCO), Krishak Bharati Cooperative Limited (KRIBHCO), National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED), Guajrat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), better known as Amul, and National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) will be the promoters of the society and contribute ₹100 crore each.
The society will have an authorised share capital of ₹2,000 crore with the area of operation all over the country. It will have its registered office in Delhi.
Though Amul and IFFCO currently export products to countries such as Brazil, the Philippines, Kenya and Canada, the proposed society is expected to enhance the scale and volume of exports.
“The society will benefit the smallest of farmer or artisan who has a good product but does not have access to the right platform. Through this society, they will get access to international market and good returns too.
Once the product has been tested for international standards, the packaging and export will be done by the society.
The official said there were 8.54 lakh registered cooperatives with more than 29 crore members. “Cooperatives need to think globally and act locally to leverage their comparative advantage in all economic areas. The focus will be on exporting the surplus available in the country in the cooperative sector,” the official said.
The society will be different from the Export Promotion Council under the Ministry of Commerce that only acts as a facilitator and provides information about the potential markets that can be tapped for a particular product.
This society will provide end-to-end services to the cooperatives. It will open foreign bank accounts and complete all the formalities, including necessary permissions for exporting a product.
Women officers in command soon (Page no. 14)
(GS Paper 1, Women Empowerment)
The Army has begun the process for selection of women officers for command postings in the rank of Colonel, which has so far been the domain of male officers.
According to sources, a Special No. 3 Selection Board is being conducted for promotion of women officers from the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel to Colonel from January 9 to 22.
This flows from the Supreme Court judgment in 2021 upholding an earlier judgment granting permanent commission and command postings to women officers in all arms and services other than combat.
A total of 244 women officers are being considered for promotion against 108 vacancies, from 1992 batch to 2006 batch, in various Arms and Services (Engineers, Signals, Army Air Defence, Intelligence Corps, Army Service Corps, Army Ordnance Corps and Electrical & Mechanical Engineers).
At the culmination of the Selection Board, the 108 women officers who are declared fit will be under consideration to be posted on various command assignments. The first set of such postings will be issued by end of January 2023.
The vacancies for this Special No. 3 Selection Board were released by the government to promote affected women officers to ensure gender parity in the Army, the source said.
Elaborating, the source said a total of 60 affected women officers have been called as observers for the Selection Board to ensure fair conduct and clarify their apprehensions, if any.
Following judicial intervention, the Army granted permanent commission (PC) to women officers on a par with their male counterparts.
All women officers granted permanent commission are undergoing special training courses and challenging military assignments to empower them for higher leadership roles in the Army,” the source said, adding that permanent commission to women officers in junior batches had also commenced, in which they are considered for permanent commission in their 10th year of service.
Business
UAE, India discuss rupee non-oil trade’ (Page no. 16)
(GS Paper 2, International Relations)
The United Arab Emirates is in early discussions with India to trade non-oil commodities in Indian rupees, Emirati Minister for Foreign Trade Thani Al Zeyoudi said.
The UAE signed a wide-ranging free trade agreement last year with India, which, along with China, is among the biggest trade partners for Gulf Arab oil and gas producers, most of whose currencies are pegged to the U.S. dollar.
Mr. Al Zeyoudi, asked by Reuters whether trade in rupees with India was on the table, replied "yes, we are in discussion with the Indians". The talks are related to non-oil commodities.
"They are in the early stages," he said in an interview on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos.The UAE's trade deal with India aims to increase bilateral non-oil trade to $100 billion in the next five years.
Other countries, including China, had also raised the issue of settling non-oil trade payments in local currencies, the minister said, but discussions were not at any advanced stage.
The large majority of Gulf trade is conducted in U.S. dollars but countries such as India and China are increasingly seeking to pay in local currencies for various reasons, including lowering transaction costs.
The UAE has said its trade relations were increasingly looking to Asia, while its primary security and investment ties were in the West where Gulf Arab states have long-standing strategic partnerships especially with the United States.
Mr. Zeyoudi said that following bilateral trade deals with India and Indonesia, an agreement with Cambodia was expected to conclude in the first quarter.
China's president visited Saudi Arabia in December where he participated in a Gulf Arab summit and called for oil trade in yuan as Beijing seeks to establish its currency internationally.
Saudi Arabia's Finance Minister said this week that the kingdom, the world's top oil exporter and the largest Arab economy, would be open to trade in other currencies, aside from the U.S. dollar.