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Expressing its anguish and displeasure over hate speeches via debates on TV channels, the Supreme Court called the “visual media” the “chief medium of hate speech” and questioned the government why it is “standing by as a mute witness when all this is happening” and treating it as “a trivial matter”.
Pointing out that “hate speech can be in different forms… sort of ridicule a community” and its spread through the visual media can have a “devastating effect”, the bench of Justices K M Joseph and Hrishikesh Roy, inclined to regulate such debates, asked the Centre to state whether it proposed to come up with any law on the subject.
The bench underlined that “hate drives TRPs, drives profit” and said it will consider laying down some guidelines which will hold the field until the legislature comes up with a law on the matter.
The bench was hearing a clutch of petitions on alleged hate speech via some TV shows. The petitioners have sought directions from the court to the Centre to take steps to curb incidents of such speech.
Justice Joseph said the problem will go on “unless there is an institutional mechanism to deal with it”, and “what can be done till the government acts is” to “possibly consider” acting on the lines of the Vishaka case where the top court laid down guidelines to deal with sexual harassment at workplace.
The counsel for the broadcast regulator apprised the bench how it had been acting with regard to the channels, including by levying penalties.
But Justice Roy said “unless the consequences of infringement come hard on the person who is violating, how will the message go? You have passed 4,000 orders. Has there been any effect of the 4,000 orders that you have passed?”
“Hate drives TRPs, drives profit. So this chicken feed kind of a penalty is flimsy. Their pockets will not even get a little tear there,” he said.
Justice Joseph said, “The most important point is where is our nation headed. If it is hate speech that we are actually feeding on, where is our nation headed?”
Turning to the Centre’s counsel, he asked, “What is your stand? Have you filed a counter-affidavit? What is the stand taken by the Government of India? Why is the Government of India standing by as a mute witness when all this is happening?”
Draft Bill moves to regulate Internet-based, OTT telecom services (Page no. 3)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
The Department of Telecommunications proposed regulating communication services including voice, video, and data offered by over-the-top (OTT) platforms such as Whatsapp as telecom services, requiring them to obtain a licence from the government just like other telecom operators.
In a draft Indian Telecommunication Bill, 2022, released in public domain late Wednesday, the DoT has also proposed to dilute some crucial powers and responsibilities of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on issuing new licences to service providers.
The draft Bill consolidates three separate acts which currently govern the telecommunication sector — the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885, Indian Wireless Telegraphy Act, 1933, and The Telegraph Wires (Unlawful Protection) Act, 1950.
In the draft Bill, the government has included internet-based and OTT communication services such as WhatsApp calls, Facetime, Google Meet etc. under telecom services, addressing a long-standing demand by telecom operators which have on several occasions called for a level playing field. At present, while telecom companies need a licence to offer services, OTT platforms do not.
Bringing OTTs under the ambit of telecom services means that OTT and internet-based communications would require a licence to offer services. In the draft, the DoT has also said it could exempt entities from the requirement of
obtaining a licence if it is in “public interest”.
The draft Bill also states that information transmitted and received over telecommunication services could be intercepted by an authorised official of the government in the interest of the sovereignty, integrity or security of India, friendly relations with foreign states, public order, or preventing incitement to an offence. It is unclear how this particular provision could potentially impact calls over WhatsApp which are typically end-to-end encrypted; meaning the company itself does not have access to the information being transmitted over such calls.
The draft Bill proposes amendments to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Act, 1997. At present, the TRAI Act requires the government to seek the regulator’s recommendations before issuing licences to service providers.
It also allows the TRAI to request the government to furnish information or documents necessary to make recommendations.These powers have been proposed to be removed in the new draft Bill.
The draft Bill also states that the TRAI may direct operators “to abstain from predatory pricing” that is harmful to overall health of telecom sector, competition, long term development and fair market mechanism.
Express Network
CRPF claims big breakthrough, clears Jharkhand Maoist hub (Page no. 9)
(GS Paper 3, Internal Security)
Stating that security forces have cleared Budhapahad, a forested area in the tri-junction of Latehar and Garhwa districts in Jharkhand and Balrampur in neighbouring Chhattisgarh, of Left-Wing Extremism (LWE), CRPF director-general Kuldiep Singh said that Bihar and Jharkhand can now be said to be free of Maoists.
The Budhapahad area was dominated by Maoists for the last three decades. On Monday, the government sent forces with the help of an MI-17 helicopter and a permanent camp was set up for the forces there.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah congratulated CRPF and the state security forces for this “success, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi”, and said the Ministry of Home Affairs will continue the zero-tolerance policy against LWE and terrorism, and this fight will be intensified.
Addressing the media here on Wednesday, Singh said multiple operations conducted in Jharkhand over the last many years in Budhapahad area had come a cropper, as Maoist operatives had planted improvised explosive device (IED), among others, making it nearly impossible for security forces to make a breakthrough.
We are conducting operations in Jharkhand since April this year. We managed to reach Budhapahad for the first time on September 5, and an Mi-17 (helicopter) successfully landed there two days ago.
Singh said CRPF has conducted three big operations in Jharkhand before establishing the camp. “Since April, we are running ‘Operation Octopus’. Before that, there were ‘Operation Double Bull’ and ‘Operation Thunderstorm’, which is still going on in tribal areas. We have also found that Maoists have built a factory in Chhattisgarh and are making an under-barrel grenade launcher to attack us,” he said.
Singh said, “After reclaiming Budhapahad, the Superintendent of Police for the area camped there for almost a week. The District Magistrate has also visited the area twice.”
According to MHA data up to June 30 this year, seven Maoist operatives have been killed and 436 arrested/surrendered in Chhattisgarh; four Maoists killed and 120 arrested/surrendered in Jharkhand; and 36 Maoists arrested/surrendered in Bihar. Three LWE operatives have been killed by security forces in Madhya Pradesh so far this year, data shows.
Besides Jharkhand, Singh said, CRPF also conducted operations in “extremely inaccessible areas of Chakrabandha and Bhimabandh of Bihar”.
Non-communicable diseases led to 66% of deaths in India in 2019: WHO (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 2, Health)
Every two seconds, one person under the age of 70 dies of a non-communicable disease (NCD) with 86 per cent of those deaths occurring in low- and middle-income countries. In India, 66 per cent of total deaths were due to NCDs in 2019, a new WHO report: ‘Invisible numbers – the true scale of non-communicable diseases’ stated.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has also launched a portal, which, for the first time, brings together all WHO data related to NCDs for 194 countries.
Over 60.46 lakh people died due to NCDs in India in 2019, according to the report. The report further revealed that there was a 22 per cent probability of death between the age of 30 and 70 due to any type of non-communicable disease, including cardiovascular diseases, cancer, diabetes or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Over 25.66 lakh deaths in 2019 in the country were due to cardiovascular diseases while 11.46 lakh deaths were due to chronic respiratory diseases. Cancer led to 9.20 lakh deaths while 3.49 lakh deaths in the country were attributed to diabetes.
Globally, one in three deaths – 17.9 million a year – are due to cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). Eighty six per cent of CVD deaths could have been prevented or delayed through prevention and treatment.
Two-thirds of the people with hypertension live in low- and middle-income countries, but almost half of the people with hypertension are not even aware they have it, the report stated. Hypertension currently affects around 1.3 billion adults aged between 30 and 79.This major shift in public health over the last decade has gone largely unnoticed.
When contacted, Dr Srinath Reddy, President, Public Health Foundation of India, who has chaired the research and innovation committee on NCD for WHO, told The Indian Express that 15 years ago, he had described NCDs as a public health emergency in slow motion — a phrase that UN Secretary General later used in 2011.
That threat has grown since then, as NCDs affect all countries, all genders, all social classes and all stages of life. Even in the Covid-19 pandemic, severe morbidity and high mortality were associated with prior affliction with NCDs.
We need a concerted global response, which uses policy instruments that have a population-wide impact on tobacco, alcohol, unhealthy foods and air pollution.
The expert also called for robust health system programmes that promote health, detect and control risk factors early and effectively, treat diseases in a cost-effective manner and prevent untimely deaths.
NCDs need to be accorded higher priority in financial allocation and health system strengthening initiatives, with strong emphasis on primary care.
Panel formed for UGC, AICTE to work together on higher education policies (Page no. 11)
(GS Paper 2, Education)
In a development that sets the stage for establishment of the proposed Higher Education Commission of India (HECI), a committee has been set up to prepare a roadmap for University Grants Commission (UGC) and All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) to work together as a single regulatory entity.
The committee, set up by UGC chairperson Prof M Jagadesh Kumar, will initially identify areas where the two regulators can work with a common approach towards drawing up policies and regulations.
The development comes at a time when the government is planning to introduce the Bill to set up HECI in the winter session of Parliament.
“The development of a joint working strategy is in many ways the harbinger of the proposed Higher Education Commission of India (HECI). After all, regulations on higher education affect students pursuing general as well as technical degrees or courses,” Prof Kumar told The Indian Express.
Members of the committee include vice-chairpersons of UGC and AICTE, as well as the UGC secretary and AICTE member-secretary.
The committee has been entrusted with identifying areas where the two regulators can work together,” Kumar said. “A separate set of sub-committees, comprising officials of the two regulators, will work on those areas.
The idea is to prepare the system to adapt to a situation where HECI will be the overarching body of higher education.” Incidentally, Kumar was given additional charge of AICTE after the retirement of Prof Anil Sahasrabudhe, who has been made the first chief of National Educational Technology Forum (NETF).
The Centre is envisioning NETF as a one-stop platform to roll out technological interventions in school and higher education.
The HECI is the most significant regulatory reform proposed in the National Education Policy (NEP), 2020. The government had attempted merging the two prime regulatory agencies even before NEP’s launch but the decision could not be finalised.
The NEP foregrounded the proposed reform, and since then the Education Ministry has been working on a draft Bill on this.
Idea Page
Objection,your lordship (Page no. 13)
(GS Paper 2, Polity and Governance)
So much has been said and written about some of the disastrous judgments that have recently emanated from the Supreme Court.
Critical observation has been bestowed on the facts and law and the judgments in these cases. But one fundamental faultline has escaped attention, and this may well be one of the main roots of the problem. Simply put, it is the question of picking the judge for the case.
Lay people think of the Court as one institution, somewhat faceless, which follows one body of law and reaches the only conclusion mandated by statute and precedent and reasoning. However, actuality is far different.
The same law and the same set of facts can bring forth entirely different decisions. It is not uncommon to see judges on the same Bench take diametrically opposite views, or to see appellate courts reverse the first one, and sometimes get reversed in turn, all in the same case.
Part of the reason is that judges have their personal ideologies, predilections and philosophies, they can be attuned to state or citizen; one judge can value the liberty of citizens while another may find it permissible to take liberties with liberty for the easier functioning of the government.
That is why the choice of the judge to hear the case becomes so important — choose the man, choose the result as legal observers will often say.
Where the entire Court or a substantial number of its senior-most judges sit as one, the problem of picking the judge for the case is absent.
However when judgments cascade from scattered benches of two and three judges as they do in the Supreme Court, the choice of judge may well be the inarticulate major premise of the result of the case.
That is why both number and composition matter greatly in cases of constitutional and other importance. That is why seminal cases are heard by larger Benches, so that there is compatible seniority and balancing of views. All parties start equal and the battle is not won at the starting line.
Let us illustrate this point with Justice A M Khanwilkar, the judge whose performance has been sharply in focus recently. His judgment upholding the Prevention of Money Laundering Act in its entirety has given vast unchecked powers of search, seizure, summons and recording of statements, arrest and denial of bail to an Enforcement Directorate, which routinely institutes proceedings against those opposed to the ruling powers and other prominent persons.
New Commission, old reservations (Page no. 13)
(GS Paper 2, Polity and Governance)
The government’s move relating to the conspicuously religious footing of the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order of 1950 has hit the headlines.
Reference has been made in a related report to the RanganathMisra Commission’s 2007 recommendation on the issue with a remark that the government of the day “did not accept the recommendation on the ground that it was not substantiated by field studies.
The Constitution of India, brought into force in 1950, guaranteed equality before law and equal protection of laws to the citizens (Article 14). Elaborating upon this basic fundamental right, it declared that the state shall not discriminate against any citizen only on the grounds, inter alia, of religion and caste (Article 15).
Provisions were, however, included in the Constitution regarding the welfare and advancement of the so-called Scheduled Castes (SCs).
To reinforce them, Article 15 was amended next year to clarify that its initial principle would not deter the state from making “any special provision” for the socially and educationally backward classes of citizens, or the SCs and Scheduled Tribes (STs).
The Constitution had left it to the President of India (read central government) to proclaim the first list of SCs, and to Parliament to amend the list from time to time in the future.
A few months later, the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order 1950 was promulgated, containing the first list, with a clear rider under its para 3 that no non-Hindu, even if belonging to any of the castes listed (or to be listed in future), would be covered by its entries.
On persistent protests by the Sikh and Buddhist communities, the rider was modified twice, in 1956 and 1990, to admit lower castes among them to the fold of constitutionally-recognised SCs.
All those belonging to such castes whose forefathers might have converted to Christianity or Islam in the distant past remained, and still remain, out of its purview.
On the eve of the 2004 general elections, the Congress, then out of power, made a promise in its manifesto that on coming to power it would constitute a national commission to examine and report on the issue of reservation for minorities in government jobs and educational institutions, which they had been demanding since long.
Not just a man’s plus one (Page no. 13)
(GS Paper 1, Society)
Globally, one in three women experiences domestic violence, according to a 2018 UN report. Despite under-reporting, many reports suggest a similar figure for India. The financial and space constraints that the Covid pandemic created would have increased this number substantially.
The same UN report suggests that the most dangerous place for women is their home. On the one hand, we talk about equal representation of women in corporate India and on the other we are faced with these troublesome statistics. What is the real situation and how did we get here?
Let’s start with how women are imagined, in historical depictions, myths and epics. The earliest deities were female. Childbirth was a miracle and women were worshipped.
Over the years, the woman moved into the shadow of the man. She was his “plus one”. Yet, some women in history made a mark in spite of being in the shadows. Nur Jahan is one such woman.
While she was beautiful, Emperor Jehangir loved her for her intelligence and competence. Many historians claim that without her, Jehangir’s rule would have been far shorter. In fact, he named her “Padshah Begum” and everyone in the Mughal court was aware of her power.
The representation of women in Hindu mythology follows the same thought. Lord Vishnu is the preserver of the universe. Goddess Lakshmi, his wife, is the enabler, the “plus one”.
She is powerful. She represents wealth, prosperity, luck — all the things that enable a good life — yet Vishnu remains the centre. According to a well-known story, when Vishnu, in his avatar as Vamana, placed his foot on King Bali’s head to control his power and forced him down to hell, he also graciously offered to guard him there for eternity.
This is when Goddess Lakshmi stepped in. She went to hell and asked Bali if she could tie a “rakhi” on his wrist and make him her brother. Bali immediately accepted.
As his sister, Lakshmi was now entitled to a gift from her brother, and she promptly asked for her husband to be returned to her in heaven. What would Lord Vishnu’s legacy be if it was not for his wife Lakshmi?
Explained Page
Live streaming of SC proceedings: the rationale and the concerns (Page no. 15)
(GS Paper 2, Polity and Governance)
The Supreme Court in a full court decided to live stream its proceedings in crucial Constitution Bench cases that will be heard from September 27. The decision comes nearly four years after a plea was made in the interest of transparency.
On August 26, on the day of former Chief Justice of India (CJI) N V Ramana’s retirement, the Supreme Court streamed its proceedings live. But the first steps towards the decision were taken in 2018, when a three-judge Bench comprising then CJI DipakMisra, Justice A M Khanwilkar, and Justice D Y Chandrachud agreed to hear a public interest litigation seeking live streaming of judicial proceedings on matters of constitutional and national importance.
The petitioners, who cited the principle of open access to justice, included Senior Advocate Indira Jaising. In March 2018, the court issued notice to the Attorney General of India K KVenugopal, seeking his views on the issue.
In his response to the court, Venugopal recommended introducing live streaming as a pilot project in Court No.1, which is the CJI’s court, and only in Constitution Bench cases.
The success of this project will determine whether or not live streaming should be introduced in all courts in the Supreme Court and in courts pan India.
The A-G cited de-congestion of courts and improving physical access to courts for litigants who have to otherwise travel long distances to come to the SC in support of his recommendation.
The Supreme Court approved a set of guidelines suggested by the A-G, which included allowing transcripts and archiving the proceedings.
Following the SC’s decision, Gujarat High Court began live streaming its proceedings in July 2021. Currently, the Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, and Patna High Courts live stream their proceedings. Allahabad High Court is learnt to be considering doing the same.
Hearing before death sentence (Page no. 15)
(GS Paper 2, Polity and Governance)
The Supreme Court on September 19 referred to a larger Bench issues relating to procedural norms for imposing the death sentence. The intervention is seen as a major step in plugging gaps in the way in which trial courts award the death sentence.
A three-judge Bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) U ULalit and Justices Ravindra Bhat and Sudhanshu Dhulia said that there are conflicting judgments on when and how the sentencing hearing must take place, and referred the issue to a five-judge Constitution Bench.
This order is necessitated due to a difference of opinion and approach amongst various judgments, on the question of whether, after recording conviction for a capital offence, under law, the court is obligated to conduct a separate hearing on the issue of sentence.
Section 235 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) requires a judge to hear the accused after conviction on the question of sentence, and then pass sentence on him according to law.
In 1980, the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of capital punishment in ‘Bachan Singh v State of Punjab’ on the condition that the punishment will be awarded in the “rarest of the rare” cases.
Crucially, the ruling also stressed that a separate sentencing hearing would be held, where a judge would be persuaded on why the death sentence need not be awarded.
This position was reiterated in several subsequent rulings of the court, including in ‘Mithu v State of Punjab’, a 1982 ruling by a five-judge Bench that struck down mandatory death sentence as it falls foul of the right of an accused to be heard before sentencing.However, there are conflicting rulings on when that separate hearing is supposed to take place.
At least three smaller Bench rulings have held that while a separate sentencing hearing is inviolable, they can be allowed on the same day as the conviction. Other more recent three-judge decisions have ruled that same-day sentencing in capital offences violate the principles of natural justice.
A 2020 study by Project 39A, a criminal reforms advocacy group in the National Law University, Delhi, found that in 44 per cent of cases it studied in Delhi, Maharashtra, and Madhya Pradesh, sentencing hearings took place on the same day as the pronouncement of guilt.
How Ambedkar Circuit is good tourism and good politics for the BJP (Page no. 15)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
Union Tourism and Culture Minister G Kishan Reddy announced a special tourist train to cover the “Ambedkar Circuit”. The modalities — such as the date of journey, ticket price, number of passengers —are still in the works.
The government had first proposed the Ambedkar Circuit, or Panchteerth, in 2016. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said the Panchteerth would include JanmaBhoomi, Ambedkar’s birthplace in Madhya Pradesh’s Mhow; ShikshaBhoomi, the place in London where he stayed while studying in the UK; DeekshaBhoomi in Nagpur where he embraced Buddhism; MahaparinirvanBhoomi or the place of his demise in Delhi; and Chaitya Bhoomi, the place of his cremation, in Mumbai.
With a special AC train, the government is looking to trace the footsteps of Ambedkar in India by giving better connectivity to four of these spots.
The idea is to attract tourists beyond the Dalit community, who mostly visit these places as a pilgrimage. The journey will include meals, ground transportation, and entry to the sites.
The government had identified 15 tourist circuits under the Swadesh Darshan scheme in 2014-15.
Besides the Ramayana and Buddhist Circuits, others include Coastal Circuit, Desert Circuit, Eco Circuit, Heritage, North East, Himalayan, Sufi, Krishna, Rural, Tribal, and Tirthankar Circuits. In terms of train collaboration, the Ramayana, Buddhist, and North East Circuits are already active, while Ambedkar will be fourth.
As far as circuit development is concerned, until March 2022, 76 projects had been sanctioned in these 15 circuits at an estimated cost of Rs 5,445 crore.
As per government officials, the creation of special circuits allows them to focus better on the comprehensive development of all sites related to the theme, including infrastructure, road and rail connectivity, and visitor facilities. However, from the tourist’s point of view, not everyone visits all the sites related to a circuit in one go.
It is to change this travel pattern that train collaborations have been devised, so that people come on board to
make the entire journey in one go.
The tiniest specks of plastic can enter the human food chain, finds study (Page no. 15)
(GS Paper 3, Environment)
There is growing concern about the environmental and health impact of plastic pollution, especially since it breaks down into smaller pieces that begin to accumulate in the environment.
Now, researchers from the University of Eastern Finland have found that small pieces of plastic called nanoplastics can travel up the human food web, through plants, insects and even fish. Nanoplastics are tiny plastic debris particles smaller than 1,000 nanometre (1 nm is equal to one billionth of a metre).
According to findings published in the journal Nano Today on September 12, the team of researchers developed a new, metallic fingerprint-based method to detect and measure the amount of nanoplastics in organisms.
For their study, they applied the technique to a model food chain that contains three trophic levels (trophic level is the position an organism occupies in the food chain) — lettuce, which was the primary producer, black soldier fly larvae, the primary consumer, and insectivorous fish (roach) as the secondary consumer.
For the study, the researchers exposed lettuce plants to nanoplastics from commonly found plastic waste in the environment — polystyrene (PS) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) nanoplastics — through contaminated soil for 14 days. They were then harvested and fed to black soldier fly larvae, insects that are used as a source of protein in many countries, and are also used as feed for chickens and cattle.
After five days of feeding them the lettuce, the insects were then fed to the fish (roach) for five days. The roach, (Rutilusrutilus) is widely found in fresh and brackish water and is sometimes eaten and used as bait.
By using scanning microscopy, the researchers examined the dissected plants, insect larvae and fish. Images showed that the nanoplastics from the soil were taken up the roots of the plants and accumulated in the leaves.
Subsequently, the contaminated lettuce transferred the nanoplastics to the insects. Imaging of the black soldier fly digestive system showed that both PS and PVC nanoplasticswere found in the mouth and gut, despite allowing them to empty their guts for 24 hours. Both the lettuce and insects, however, contained a lower amount of PS particles, as compared to the PVC nanoplastics.
Economy
Semiconductor PLI: Support for 50% of project cost cleared (Page no. 17)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
The Union Cabinet approved changes to the Centre’s Rs 76,000-crore semiconductor production linked incentive (PLI) scheme, allowing for a uniform fiscal support of 50 per cent of project cost for semiconductor fabs across technology nodes and display manufacturing. It also raised the fiscal support for compound semiconductors, packaging and other semiconductor facilities to 50 per cent from 30 per cent earlier.
Earlier, incentives for semiconductor fabs were based on the size of the node — nodes from 45 nanometre (nm) to 65 nm were offered an incentive of 30 per cent of the project cost, those between 28 nm and 45 nm were offered a 40 per cent support, and only nodes from 28 nm and below were offered 50 per cent fiscal support. After the fresh changes, all fab plants will receive fiscal support of 50 per cent, irrespective of node size.
The higher end nodes are typically used for applications ranging from automotive, telecom, and lower-end laptops and desktops.
According to the government, this segment constitutes around 50 per cent of the total semiconductor market, which is among the key reasons why it was increasing support for these legacy nodes.
Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar said that the changes to the semiconductor policy will increase investors’ interest in the scheme and create additional proposals.
He said the government has been in conversation with investors over the last 4-5 months about the scheme, adding that the move has been made to harmonise incentives across semiconductor fab plants, display plants and packaging.
We want the entire integrated semiconductor ecosystem to be present in India. Under the previous terms of the scheme, there was a potential risk that we would have established fabs in the country but the packaging would have happened elsewhere.
On the basis of discussion with potential investors, it is expected that work on setting up of the first semiconductor facility will commence soon, the Cabinet said in a statement.
The government had approved the Rs 76,000-crore (roughly equivalent to $10 billion) semiconductor, display manufacturing, and packaging scheme. So far, three applicants — a Vedanta-Foxconn joint venture, international consortium ISMC and Singapore-based IGSS Ventures — have been approved for setting up semiconductor fabs.