Author: CD Staff

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Background

• India realized the need to protect its indigenous, unique, and reputed products through GI when an American company was given a patent of Basmati rice, and India had to resort to an expensive procedure of challenging the patent in the US court of law.
• This necessitated India to enact the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999 in 2003 to give protection for GI through sui generis legislation.
• To facilitate this process, the Geographical Indications Registry of India was set up in Chennai.
• Darjeeling tea was the first Indian product that was awarded the GI tag in 2004 for its naturally occurring quality, flavor, and market potential.

Arriving at GI framework

• The present international framework on the Geographical Indications (GIs) derives its strength from Article 22 of the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement.
• It defines GIs as ‘indications which identify a good as originating in the territory of a member, or a region or locality in that territory, where a given quality, reputation or other characteristics of the good is essentially attributable to its geographical origin’.
• GI are also covered as an element of Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) under Articles 1(2) and 10 of the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property.

What is Geographical Indication (GI)?

• GI is not a property right given to an individual to use it, rather it is attributed to goods or services specific to a region which allows every producer in the specified region to use the said GI.
• It is applicable as long as the quality of the GI goods is similar to the specified qualities of the identified product of the said region.
• This mandates member countries to provide for the protection of all GIs, where the obligation is for the members to provide the’ legal means for interested parties’, to secure protection of their GIs.

Need for GI

In general, GIs backed up by solid business management can bring competitive advantage by:

• More added value to a product
• Increased export opportunities
• Strengthened brand of produce
• Protect Indian products
• Better price and branding
• Recognition of uniqueness

Initiatives taken by India

In a bid to popularize India’s GI-tagged products and works of artisans, the government is aiming to market the products in international markets.

• GI Logo and taglines: While launching the new logo for the GI products, a new tagline for promotion ‘Invaluable Treasure of Incredible India’ has been selected.
• Marketing: The Ministry of Commerce is working with the Ministry of Civil Aviation as well as the Ministry of Railway to arrange a display for GI-tagged products.
• Dedicated GI stores: India’s very first GI Store of Cashew Export Promotion Council of India (CEPCI) was launched in 2019, at the departure terminal of Goa.
• Export promotion: India’s Foreign Trade Policy (FTP) 2021-2026, which targets to achieve the exports value to USD 1.0 trillion by 2025, has recognized GI-tagged Agri commodities as one of the growth drivers.
• Various exemptions: Another small but important step to boost indigenous toys production to support artisans and MSMEs is the government adopting Toys (Quality Control) Second Amendment Order, 2020 which exempts goods manufactured and sold by artisans and those registered as GI from Quality Control Orders.
• Buyer-Seller Meets: Many agencies as well as the State governments are now frequently organizing Buyer-Seller Meet with a specific focus on GI-tagged products.

Way forward

• Awareness: There is a need to prepare a strategy to raise awareness about various GI products, and the difference between GI and non-GI products amongst local farmers, consumers, and other relevant stakeholders.
• Promotions through policy input: The Central Government needs to come out with some long-term policy to provide Indian GI products an assured domestic as well as international market.
• FPOs promotion: The Central Sector Scheme of promotion and nurturing of 10,000 Agri-based Farmers Producers Organisations (FPOs), is being implemented through three national agencies, NABARD, SFAC, and NCDC, and a few other agencies.
• Cluster approach: Ex. One District One Product (ODOP) has been adopted to increase value addition, marketing, and exports which will benefit small, marginal, and landless farmers by giving access to technological inputs, finances, and better markets and prices for their crops.
• Necessary infrastructure: The government needs to make efforts for creating required infrastructures such as customs clearance facilities, laboratory testing facilities, pack-houses, and pre-cooling facilities, which would harness and boost the exports potential of GI products.

Conclusion

• Despite GI tagging, the commercial performance of many GI products is not up to the mark, even in the domestic market.
• Therefore, the govt may identify such product-place clusters and evaluate them commercially to develop them in their entirety.
• Setting up an incubation centre for helping users/farmers/entrepreneurs for obtaining GI and traceability solutions of their produce may help GI products to grow.

Click here to read all GI tags in news:

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Context

• Every year, 24th of December is observed as National Consumer Day.
• On this day, the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 had received the assent of the president.
• The enactment of this Act is considered as a historic milestone in the consumer movement in the country.

This day presents an opportunity to highlight the importance of the consumer movement, the need to make people aware of their rights as consumers, and to ensure consumers with effective safeguards against different types of exploitation such as defective goods, deficiency in services and unfair trade practices.

In this age of e-commerce, which facilitated creation of new approaches to service and product delivery, the challenges of ensuring customer protection have grown manifold. It has raised multiple questions:

1. How are the interests of e-commerce consumers being protected?
2. How free and fair competition in e-com market is being encouraged?
3. How redressal mechanisms for consumer grievances are being strengthened?

E-Commerce boom since Pandemic

• The significance of e-commerce has gained attention especially at time of pandemic where the entire value chain and flow of goods and services were dependent on e-commerce.
• It was discussed that the emergence of the e-commerce market has created several avenues for online frauds, counterfeit products that affect consumer safety.

Various threats to consumers on E-Com platforms

[A] INFORMATION

• Sharing unwanted program- Adware
• Spyware
• Browser parasites
• Cyber-stalking
• Risks to behavioural data

[B] ORDERING OF PRODUCTS

• Risk of misuse of behavioural pattern data
• Malicious recommender algorithm

[C] PAYMENT

• Phishing (Threat to login credentials and credit card numbers)
• Pharming attacks (fake websites)
• Salami attacks (very small amounts of money from thousands of bank accounts is manipulated at once)
• Risks to transaction data

[D] DELIVERY

• Breach of contract. Ex. Product quality, delivery time etc.

[E] SUPPORT

• Processing of cancellation
• Refund
• Service related issues

Rationale for Consumer Protection in E-commerce

• All consumers need to have access to e-commerce.
• To build consumer trust/confidence in e-commerce, the continued development of transparent and effective consumer protection mechanisms is required to check fraudulent, misleading, and unfair practices online.
• All stakeholders-government, businesses, consumers, and their representatives- must pay close attention to creating effective redress systems.

E-Commerce Rules

• Framed under Consumer Protection Act, 2019, it regulates goods and services sold over digital or e-networks.
• It lays down duties, liabilities for all e-commerce entities.
• Rules don’t apply to activities taken in personal capacity. It applies to entities not set up in India, but offering business here.
• Fair pricing: No e-commerce entity should manipulate the price of goods/services offered
• Authentic information: No fake customer reviews, advertisements inconsistent with actual features, access or usage of goods
• Seller information: It must provide details about the sellers including registration status
• Dedicated grievance redressal mechanism: Every e-com company must establish mechanism for grievance redressal
• Compliance officer: The firm has to appoint a person to ensure compliance with this Act
• Headquarters: Platform should provide legal name, address of headquarters and its branches
• Timely resolution of complaints: Grievance officer to acknowledge receipt of complaint within 48 hrs and must resolve the complaint within a month
• Refunds in compliance with RBI: Every entity shall affect all refund payment requests as per rules laid by the RBI

Also read

Various Rights of Customer

• Right to safety
• Right to be informed
• Right to choose
• Right to be heard
• Right to seek redressal
• Right to consumer education

Where to file complaint?

• National Consumer Helpline (NCH) App / Website
• UMANG App
• Toll free number 14404

Way forward

• With the changing technology and trending trade policies it is recommended that there needs to be effective interventions by the government to implement the consumer outreach programmes.
• There is an essential role played by social media in spreading awareness among consumers which can be further promoted and added on to the exemplary campaign like “ Jago Grahak Jago”.
• Special and effective awareness campaigns must be brought into the rural areas.
• Data privacy and data security of the consumers must be ensured to prevent cybercrime threats.

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Context

Formed in 1862, the Indian Penal Code completes 160 years of its existence.  One of the prominent remains of the British era, IPC has been a part of Indian society.  But has it served society according to its needs? Or does it still have a colonial hangover?

More important… has it been able to keep pace with the changing face of crime.

The article looks back at the journey of the Indian Penal Code and discusses the possibilities of reforms.

What is Indian Penal Code (IPC)?

• The IPC is the official criminal code of India. It is a comprehensive code intended to cover all substantive aspects of criminal law.
• The code was drafted on the recommendations of first Law Commission of India established in 1834 under the Charter Act of 1833 under the Chairmanship of Lord Macaulay.
• It came into force in British India during the early British Raj period in 1862.
• However, it did not apply automatically in the Princely States, which had their own courts and legal systems until the 1940s.
• The Code has since been amended several times (more than 70 times) and is now supplemented by other criminal provisions.

Applications beyond India

• After the partition, the IPC was inherited by its successor states, the Dominion of India and the Dominion of Pakistan, where it continues independently as the Pakistan Penal Code.
• After the separation of Bangladesh from Pakistan, the code continued in force there.
• The Code was also adopted by the British colonial authorities in Colonial Burma, Ceylon (modern Sri Lanka), the Straits Settlements (now part of Malaysia), Singapore and Brunei, and remains the basis of the criminal codes there.

Key feature: Versatility of the IPC

• The Code is universally acknowledged as a cogently drafted code, ahead of its time.
• It has substantially survived for over 150 years in several jurisdictions without major amendments.
• The Supreme Court of UK has applauded the efficacy and relevance of IPC while commemorating 150 years of IPC.
• Modern crimes involving technology unheard of during Macaulay’s time fit easily within the Code mainly because of the broadness of the Code’s drafting.

Some controversial sections of IPC

[A] Section 377: Homosexuality

This section prevented private consensual sex between adults of same sex. The Supreme Court of India decriminalised homosexuality by striking off parts of Sec. 377 of which were held violative of Fundamental Rights of LGBTQ Community under Art 14.

[B] Section 309: Attempt to Commit Suicide

The Section 309 of dealt with criminalizing attempt to suicide. This was however in P Rathnam v. Union of India held this section as unconstitutional and void for it violates Article 21.

[C] Section 497: Adultery

The Section was been criticised on the one hand for allegedly treating woman as the private property of her husband. The Supreme Court headed by the then CJI, Deepak Misra, pronounced that Section 497 is unconstitutional and hence, struck it down.

[D] Section 124A: Sedition

This section criminalises anti-national activities and sedition . Throughout India’s history this overbroad provision has been used to silence public figures, including Mahatma Gandhi. More recently it has been used to justify the harassment of protesters.

[E] Section 153A: Hate Speech

Promotion of enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony’, is an offence punishable with three years’ imprisonment.

[F] Section 499: Criminal Defamation,

This section criminalizes defamation, can be used to secure a conviction without proof that actual harm has occurred – the intent or knowledge that harm would likely result is sufficient. Predictably, this provision has been used to silence political speech.

Lacunae in IPC

• Unchallenged and archaic:  The code has been premised on some very basic principles of criminal jurisprudence and hence the underlying expositions and definitions in the IPC mostly remained unchallenged.
• Covers generic offences: The classification of offences was kept generic and wider enough to include a vast array of wrong-doings and therefore it also did not pose major problems until recently.
• Colonial attempt: The IPC was essentially a cultural product that reflects a European lineage which was quite alienated to many indigenous personal laws based on religion.
• Modern crimes not covered:  For instance Cyber Crimes, Drug Offences, Economic Offences, Juvenile Offences, Customs & Excise Offences and further there are many more emerging forms of crime to which IPC does not address.
• Persistence of death penalty: Keeping of death penalty in the IPC had a different objective in colonial times. All such reasons have now vanished and the presence of death penalty in master criminal law of India defies modern principles of penology and rehabilitation.

Other legacy challenges

• Delays in criminal trials pose a major challenge in the way of justice and seek more coordination between the stakeholders of the legal system.
• Lack of awareness among people regarding the criminal laws adds to the weak functioning of the legal system even after the existence of a comprehensive legal framework.
• Complex language of the laws mentioned under IPC forms a barrier for the legal interpreters and the common citizens which results in the delay of justice and adds loopholes in the entire system.

Way forward

The Malimath Committee (2003) has made following suggestions for a comprehensive for reforming and restructuring of IPC:

• Legal research: There is a need to have empirical legal research showing areas required to be contemplated as new offences in the code.
• Enforceability check: The same process should also be applied in case of identification of offences to be dropped from the IPC on account of being outdated nature and issues of enforceability involved in them.
• Gender-based offences: There is no separate chapter on sexual offences in IPC. It is therefore the right time to dedicate a full chapter on this subject to bring all sexual offences at one place.
• Cover modern laws: To be comprehensive enough, the IPC must also include chapters on cyber laws, economic offences, and terrorist offences in the code. This would be helpful in avoiding duplicity and confusion.
• Indigenization: In revision, the indigenousness in the framing of laws must be given space which was completely left out by the IPC.
• Parallel reforms in Policing: Although revamping IPC will lead to reforming the criminal justice system, additional changes in the police structure are also needed.

Conclusion

• Reforming the criminal justice system is not just a one-step process.
• Revamping IPC is a major step to modernize the criminal law of India and make it in accordance with the Indian democracy.
• Fulfilling political agendas should not be the reason behind adding specific provisions.

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Context

• The Parliamentary Standing Committee on ICT has observed that Internet today is an indispensable part of everyday lives of citizens.
• Hence, the government should explore the possibility of banning particular internet services, such as messengers like WhatsApp and social media websites, instead of putting in place blanket internet bans.

Internet shutdowns in India

• Nowadays, India is widely considered to be a world leader in cutting off access to the Net.
• Yet, there are no detailed official data on Internet shutdowns in India.
• Taking a serious note of the situation, the Supreme Court has for the first time set the stage for challenging such suspension orders before courts.
• It has directed the government to mandatorily publish all orders permitting Internet shutdowns. It has opened such decisions amenable to judicial review.

Recent statistics

• India leads the global tally in suspension of internet services.
• An internet tracker internetshudowns.in points out there have been 550 internet shutdowns in India since 2012, more than 50 per cent of which were imposed since 2019.
• The longest shutdown, lasting for 552 days, was imposed in J&K from August 4, 2019 to February 6, 2020.

Mechanisms allowing Internet Shut-downs

[1] Temporary Suspension of Telecom Services Rule, 2017

• Home Departments in the states are mostly the authorities that enforce shutdowns, drawing powers from The Temporary Suspension of Telecom Services (Public Emergency or Public Safety) Rules, 2017.
• The decisions are reviewed by a state government review committee. The central government also has powers under this law, but has not used it.

[2] CrPC

• Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure has enabled many of the shutdowns in the recent past, especially until the time the telecom suspension Rules came into force in 2017.

[3] Telegraph Act, 1885

• Less frequently used is The Indian Telegraph Act, 1885, whose Section 5(2) allows central and state governments to prevent the transmission of messaging during a public emergency or in the interest of public safety or in the interests of the sovereignty and integrity of India etc.
• This act stipulates that only the Home Secretary of the Union or a state can pass an order, and that the order must include the reasons for the decision.
• Under this the government has the power to block the transmission of messages during a public emergency or for public safety.

Need for Internet Shutdowns

• Civil unrest: Internet serves as a medium for the transmission of information through pictures, videos and text that have the potential to cause civil unrest and exacerbate the law and order.
• Fake news: Shutdowns in order to block the flow of information about government actions or to end communication among activists and prevent the spread of rumors and fake news.
• Rumors: Shutdown helps prevent the “spreading of rumors and misinformation using social media platforms which can hinder peace and law and order”.
• Preventive Response: Cutting off the Internet is both an early and preventive response to block restive groups to organize riots against the Government.
• National Interest: The Internet cannot be independent of national sovereignty. Therefore, the necessary regulation of the internet is a reasonable choice of sovereign countries based on national interests.

Issues with the Kashmir Shutdown

• Arbitrary: The Internet shutdown in Kashmir was is often alleged to be non-compliant with the Rules.
• Unnecessary: The Rules require the suspension to be temporary; also, the orders did not provide reasons for the restrictions.
• Discriminatory: Shutdowns in Kashmir often led to obstruction for essential services such as e-banking and hospitals.

Supreme Court Judgment on Internet Shutdowns

• The court ordered the government to review its order, ruling that the freedom of speech and trade on the Internet is a fundamental right under Article 19.
• Non-recognition of technology within the sphere of law is only a disservice to the inevitable.
• The court said that because the Rules require the order to be in accordance with Section 5(2) of The Telegraph Act, the order must be during a “public emergency” or in the “interest of public safety”.
• Also, the suspension must be “necessary” and “unavoidable”.
• In furtherance of the same, the State must assess the existence of an alternate less intrusive remedy,” the court said.

Legal basis for Right to Internet

• The access to the Internet is a right very similar to what the Supreme Court held with respect to the right to privacy in Justice K.S. Puttaswamy.
• The Human Rights Council of the United Nations Resolution dated July 2, 2018, on the promotion, protection and enjoyment of human rights on the Internet, made important declarations.
• It noted with concern the various forms of undue restriction on freedom of opinion and expression online, including where countries have manipulated or suppressed online expression in violation of international law.

Why is the Internet a necessity?

• Information: While the Internet is certainly the main source of information and communication and access to social media, it is so much more than that.
• Education: It is a mode of access to education for students who do courses and take exams online. Access to the Internet is important to facilitate the promotion and enjoyment of the right to education.
• Livelihood: People working in the technology-based gig economy — like the thousands of delivery workers for depend on the Internet for their livelihoods.
• Healthcare: It is also a mode to access to health care for those who avail of health services online. 

Dysfunctions created by shutdowns

[1] Economic impact

• While there is no proven benefit of closing down the internet, there are serious economic repercussions.
• A report by the Brookings Institute adjudged India to have topped the list by incurring losses to the tune of $968 million in 2016 itself.
• Over the past five years, some 16,000 hours of Internet shutdowns cost the economy a little over $3 billion, according to estimates in a report by the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER).

[2] Governance hurdles

• In Sept. 2018, the Dept. of Telecommunication had acknowledged the adverse impact of a rising number of internet shutdowns that State governments are ordering.
• The Govt. has embarked upon a programme to deliver services through mobile and internet apart from promoting a cashless economy.
• Neither banking transactions using credit and debit cards nor internet banking can be done, which leads to hardships to common citizens.

Way Forward

• Internet shutdowns should be used as the option of the last resort.
• There exists no qualitative or quantitative evidence to show that internet shutdowns are effective tools to restore normalcy.
• In fact, the internet itself can be used to resolve the problem.
• For example, the Government can have verified sources to spread legitimate information across various mediums stating areas that are safe/affected the updated status of the situation, etc.
• State interests like security are important because they are the prerequisites for us to exercise our freedoms. However, in pursuing this, the freedoms themselves cannot be suspended.
• Therefore, the government needs to clearly lay down a comprehensive framework, stating the conditions behind such Internet shutdowns.

Conclusion

• It is time that we recognize that the right to access to the Internet is indeed a fundamental right within our constitutional guarantees.
• The Internet is pretty much a basic human right, even if not legally defined as such, for most parts of the world — without access to the virtual world, a very large number of vital human activities simply stops.

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Context

• There were reports of the Centre renewing attempts to build consensus with state governments and High Courts on setting of the AIJS.
• However the government recently informed Parliament that only 2 states – Haryana and Mizoram, and two high courts, Tripura High Court and Sikkim High Court, are in favour of creating the AIJS.
• As per govt data on High Courts, 13 have opposed the proposal, six have sought changes in it and others have not responded.

All India Judicial Service (AIJS): A backgrounder

• The AIJS is a reform push to centralize the recruitment of judges.
• It would work at the level of additional district judges and district judges for all states.
• In the same way that the UPSC conducts a central recruitment process and assigns successful candidates to cadres, judges of the lower judiciary are proposed to be recruited centrally and assigned to states.

This idea has been debated in legal circles for decades, and remains contentious.

How are district judges currently recruited?

• Articles 233 and 234: These articles deal with the appointment of district judges, and place it in the domain of the states.
• State PSC: The selection process is conducted by the State Public Service Commissions and the concerned HC since HCs exercise jurisdiction over the subordinate judiciary in the state.
• Interview by HC judges panelists: They interview candidates after the exam and select them for an appointment.

Why has the AIJS been proposed?

The idea was to ensure:

• Efficient subordinate judiciary
• Address structural issues such as varying pay and remuneration across states
• Fill vacancies faster
• Ensure standard training across states

Beginning of the debate

• The idea of a centralized judicial service was first proposed in the Law Commission 1958 ‘Report on Reforms on Judicial Administration’.
• It was proposed again in the Law Commission Report of 1978, which discussed delays and arrears of cases in the lower courts.
• In 2006, the Parliamentary Standing Committee backed the idea of a pan-Indian judicial service, and also prepared a draft Bill.

What is the judiciary’s view on the AIJS?

• 1992: the Supreme Court directed the Centre to set up an AIJS in All India Judges’ Assam. vs Union of India
• 1993: In review of the judgment, the court left the Centre at liberty to take the initiative on the issue.
• 2017: The Supreme Court took suo motu cognizance of the issue of appointment of district judges, and mooted a “Central Selection Mechanism”.

Need for AJIS

• Huge vacancy of judges and delay in recruitment: Currently there are about 5400 vacant posts in lower judiciary across the country and a pendency of 2.78crore cases in lower judiciary.
• Dearth of good quality judicial officers: The ever continuing decline in their qualityhas led to decline in the competence of overall judiciary.
• Lack of finances: State judicial services are not attractive for ‘best talents’ due to low salaries, rewards and compensations by the state governments.
• Lack of specialized training: Adjudication is a specialization which requires state of the art training institutes and professors but state institutes don’t allow such exposure to interns.
• Discretion of a narrow body: The process of selecting a good judge is a difficult job and should not be left at the discretion of few persons (collegiums) however sagacious they may be.
• Subjectivity in the process: Current judicial appointments suffer subjectivity, corruption and nepotism on the part of Collegium.

Critical views on AJIS

• Blow to federalism: AJIS is seen as an affront to federalism and an encroachment on the powers of states granted by the Constitution.
• Language of Business: Language and representation, for example, are key concerns highlighted by states. Judicial business is conducted in regional languages, whi ch could be affected by central recruitment.
• Quotas: A “national exam” risks shutting out those from less privileged backgrounds from being able to enter the judicial services.
• Separation of power: The opposition is also based on the constitutional concept of the separation of powers.
• Not a complete remedy: Additionally, legal experts have argued that the creation of AIJS will not address the structural issues plaguing the lower judiciary.
• Mismanaged legal education: Curriculum followed by law universities, overseen by Bar Council of India, lacks effective standards barring few National Law Universities.

Other limitations of AJIS

• Legacy issues unaddressed: AIJS addresses neither the problem of disproportionately low pay nor unavailability of adequate judicial infrastructure in states nor the lack of career advancement.
• Problem of local laws and customs: AIJS does not take into account the problem of local laws, practices and customs which vary widely across States, thus increasing the costs of training for judges selected through the mechanism.
• Unnecessary bureaucratization: The argument that the centralization of recruitment processes through the UPSC automatically leads to a more efficient recruitment process is flawed and not a guarantee of a solution.

Why is the government seeking to revive the idea of AIJS?

• The government has targeted the reform of the lower judiciary in its effort to improve India’s Ease of Doing Business ranking.
• It will act as efficient dispute resolution is one of the key indices in determining the rank.
• AIJS is a step in the direction of ensuring an efficient lower judiciary.

Centre’s argument for AJIS

• The government has cited IAS officers’ examples.
• It has argued that if a central mechanism can work for administrative services — IAS officers learn the language required for their cadre — it can work for judicial services too.

Way forward

In its report on Strategy for New India @75 which defines objectives for 2022-23, Niti Aayog suggested that

• An all-India judicial services examination on a ranking basis can be considered to maintain high standards in the judiciary
• There is a need to facilitate the availability and usage of video-conferencing facilities to assist in speedy access to justice and to minimize logistical issues.
• To maintain judicial independence, the cadre should report to the Chief Justice in each High Court.

The Supreme Court has recently suggested the establishment of the National Judicial Infrastructure Corporation (NJIC)  for the modernization of judicial infrastructure. This is also another welcome move in reforming India Judiciary.

Conclusion

• If we want to create a robust judicial system at the subordinate level, the constitution of an Indian judicial service is a sound idea.
• Only a meritocratic service with a competitive recruitment, high-quality uniform training and assured standards of probity and efficiency would be able to ensure speedy and impartial justice in India.