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  • Domestic violence: Why women choose to remain silent?

    Domestic violence

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    Context

    • Just ahead of the International Day for Elimination of All Forms of Violence against Women (November 25), the brutal murder and mutilation of a young woman by her partner has drawn attention to intimate partner violence, also recognized under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act 2005 (PWDVA) as a kind of domestic violence.

    Background

    • Due to prevalence of patriarchy women have been discriminated not only in India but in most parts of the world.
    • According to The United Nations, one out of every three women experience domestic violence. The same UN report suggests that the most dangerous place for women is their home.
    • Gender equality and women’s empowerment are essential for the development and well-being of families, communities and nations.

    Domestic Violence

    • Domestic violence is any pattern of behavior that is used to gain or maintain power and control over an intimate partner. It encompasses all physical, sexual, emotional, economic and psychological actions or threats of actions that influence another person.

    Domestic violence can include the following

    • Physical violence: Use of Physical force or hurting or trying to hurt a partner .it also includes denying medical care.
    • Sexual violence: Forcing a partner to take part in a sex act when the partner does not consent.
    • Psychological violence: Psychological violence involves causing fear, threatening physical harm or forcing isolation from friends, family, school or work.
    • Economic violence: Making or attempting to make a person financially dependent by maintaining total control over financial resources.
    • Emotional violence: Undermining a person’s sense of self-worth through constant criticism; belittling one’s abilities; verbal abuse. 

    Domestic violence

    Analysis of Domestic violence cases and protection of women in India

    • Punishable offence: Domestic violence is a punishable offence under Indian law. It is a violation of human rights.
    • According to NFHS-5: yet, National Family Health Survey-5 (2019-21) reveals that we live in a society where violence against women persists to such an extent that 32% of ever-married women aged 18-49 years have ever experienced emotional, physical, or sexual violence committed by their husband, with more rural than urban women reporting experiences of domestic violence.
    • Protection of women from domestic violence Act 2005: Over 17 years ago the PWDVA, a progressive legislation, was passed, promising a joined-up approach, involving civil and criminal protections, to support and protect women from violence within the household, not just from husbands.
    • Unable to access the law: Despite the law existing on paper, women are still largely unable to access the law in practice. Its promise and provisions are unevenly implemented, unavailable and out of reach for most Indian women.
    • Very less percentage of women who seek help: The most disheartening reality is that despite almost a third of women being subject to domestic violence, the National Family Health Survey-5 (2019-21) reports that only 14% of women who have experienced domestic violence have ever sought help; and this number is much lower in the rural areas.
    • Despite of multiple laws, most women choose not to seek help: In a country where domestic violence is a crime, where there are multiple laws explicitly designed to protect women against violence, most women survivors of domestic violence never seek help.

    Domestic violence

    An interesting first-hand case study on “why women choose to remain silent”?

    • Subject: Research in Maharashtra, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu aims to better understand ‘help seeking’ and the everyday realities, obstacles, prejudices and fears that women experience around sharing and reporting experiences of violence.
    • Questions: Simple and well-meaning questions, “Why didn’t you leave earlier?” “Why didn’t you tell someone about the violence earlier?”
    • Thoughts and Response:
    1. Women were hopeful that things would change, that they could change their husband’s behaviour, that he would listen to them.
    2. Crucially women did not want to be a ‘burden’ on others, in particular their families. ‘My mother has a lot of worries, she has her own life so I didn’t want to add to her own worries, with mine.’
    3. By naming the violence they experienced, women believed that they would become ‘a problem’ or a source of ‘tension’ for their families, in bringing them shame and dishonor, irrespective of the survivor’s level of education, caste, or class.
    4. For migrant women, transpeople or those with several sisters, or ill, older or deceased parents, it was felt even more acutely that the perpetrator’s violence was their individual responsibility to manage.

    Domestic violence

    Findings of the case study on seeking help

    • Majority of parents asks to accommodate: The first group of women mainly turned to their parents who, in a majority of cases, insisted on their daughter preserving the family environment which they should do by ‘adjusting’ to, or accommodating their husband’s (and his family’s) needs better.
    • Minority cases where daughters’ welfare is prioritized: In a minority of cases, the daughter’s welfare was prioritized over the well-being of the ‘the family’ and steps were taken to help mediate or exit the relationship, and much more infrequently approach the police and lawyers.
    • Accepted as patriarchal norm mostly by women themselves: So ingrained are social norms about gender inequality that NFHS-5 data reports that women are more likely than men to justify a scenario in which it is acceptable for a husband to beat or hit his wife.
    • Sharing experience gives relief: For instance, one interviewee explained, ‘the way we are conditioned, it was hard to complain about any suffering’. Though survivors who did (finally) confide in relatives and friends about domestic violence described feeling a ‘sense of a relief’ and that a ‘burden had been lifted’, giving them new ‘hope’ that things might change.
    • Confession is powerful step, seek for help comes with mixed emotions: Whilst sharing experiences of violence was an incredibly powerful step for women, actually transforming their violent domestic experiences and accessing services and support provided by the state and non-state actors proved to be an arduous roller coaster of emotions, promises, uncertainty, fear and disappointment.
    • Financial dependence stops women form accessing legal justice: With few safe houses across India, the simple reality was that many women have nowhere else to go, and access to legal justice through the courts was a material possibility only for women with independent wealth and connections or those supported by specialist non-governmental organizations. So, for many survivors, transforming their situation depended on securing their economic self-sufficiency by pursuing new skills and livelihood opportunities.

    Role of the police

    • Police were the part of problem than the solution: Women who reported experiences of violence to the police were cynical about the outcome. Though a small minority had positive experiences, for the majority of those we interviewed, the police were part of the problem rather than a solution to violence.
    • Police more likely to send women back to reconcile: Across the States, that the police were more likely to send women back to violent households to reconcile with the perpetrator or use violence against perpetrators as a deterrent instead of filing an official complaint or connecting women to protection officers and other service providers, as the PWDVA outlines they should.
    • Absence and under resourced Protection officers: Several States are yet to implement Protection officers. And where they are in post, they are under resourced, under-skilled and overworked, making their remit impossible.

    Domestic violence

    Conclusion

    • Even whilst its legislature recognizes that domestic violence is a crime, and civil remedies exist through protection orders, managing the fallout of domestic violence is still being subcontracted to survivors and the family. That is the biggest crime being committed against women today. Women empowerment without social justice is a futile exercise, State must take appropriate social empowerment steps in this direction.

    Mains question

    Q. What is the status of women facing domestic violence in India? Despite many laws and a country where domestic violence is a crime, most women prefer to remain silent and do not seek help. Discuss.

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  • In news: Kerala’s SilverLine Project

    Protests are taking place across Kerala against SilverLine, a semi high-speed railway project that envisages trains running at 200 km/h between the state’s northern and southern ends.

    What is the SilverLine project?

    • The proposed 529.45-km line will link Thiruvananthapuram in the south to Kasaragod in the north, covering 11 districts through 11 stations.
    • KRDCL, or K-Rail, is a joint venture between the Kerala government and the Union Ministry of Railways created to execute this project.
    • The deadline for the project, being executed by the Kerala Rail Development Corporation Limited (KRDCL), is 2025.

    Features of the Project

    • The project will have trains of electric multiple unit (EMU) type, each with preferably nine cars extendable to 12.
    • A nine-car rake can seat a maximum of 675 passengers in business and standard class settings.
    • The trains can run at a maximum speed of 220 km/hr on a standard gauge track, completing journeys in either direction in fewer than four hours.
    • At every 500 metres, there will be under-passages with service roads.

    Need for the SilverLine project

    • Time saving: On the existing network, it now takes 12 hours. Once the project is completed, one can travel from Kasaragod to Thiruvananthapuram in less than four hours at 200 km/hr.
    • Old infrastructure: Existing railway infrastructure in Kerala cannot meet the demands of the future.
    • Terrain limitations: Most trains run at an average speed of 45 km/hr due to a lot of curves and bends on the existing stretch.
    • De-trafficking: The project can take a significant load of traffic off the existing stretch and make travel faster for commuters, which in turn will reduce congestion on roads and help reduce accidents.
    • Others: The project would reduce greenhouse gas emissions, help in expansion of Ro-Ro services, produce employment opportunities, integrate airports and IT corridors, and enable faster development of cities it passes through.

    Present status of the Project

    Ans. Land acquisition is underway

    • The state government has begun the process of land acquisition after the cabinet approved it this year.
    • As part of the first stage of acquisition, local revenue and K-Rail officials are on the ground, demarcating land and placing boundary stones.
    • This is done to give the officials a sense of how much private land will have to be acquired and the number of families who will be displaced.

    Issues with the Project

    • Political rhetoric: All political parties have been spearheading separate protests.
    • Huge capital requirement: They argue that the project was an “astronomical scam in the making” and would sink the state further into debt.
    • Displacement of families: The project was financially unviable and would lead to the displacement of over 30,000 families.
    • Ecological damage: It would cause great environmental harm as its route cuts through precious wetlands, paddy fields and hills.
    • Flood hazard: The building of embankments on either side of the major portion of the line will block natural drainage and cause floods during heavy rains.

     

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  • SARAS 3 Telescope gives clues to first stars, galaxies of universe

    saras

    India’s SARAS radio telescope has helped scientists determine the properties of the earliest radio luminous galaxies formed 200 million years after the Big Bang, a period known as the Cosmic Dawn.

    SARAS 3 Telescope

    • SARAS stands for Shaped Antenna measurement of the background Radio Spectrum 3 (SARAS) telescope.
    • It is an indigenously designed and built at Raman Research Institute and was deployed over Dandiganahalli Lake and Sharavati backwaters, located in Northern Karnataka, in early 2020.

    What have the researchers found?

    • Researchers have been able to determine properties of radio luminous galaxies formed just 200 million years post the Big Bang, a period known as the Cosmic Dawn.
    • These are the masses of the first generation of galaxies that are bright in radio wavelengths.
    • This helps provide an insight into the properties of the earliest radio loud galaxies that are usually powered by supermassive black holes.

    What is Cosmic Dawn?

    • The ignition of the first stars marks the end of the Dark Ages and the beginning of our “Cosmic Dawn,” some 100 million years after the Big Bang.
    • For the first time, our universe began shining with a light other than the afterglow of the Big Bang.
    • SARAS 3 had improved the understanding of astrophysics of Cosmic Dawn by telling astronomers that less than 3% of the gaseous matter within early galaxies was converted into stars.
    • It found that the earliest galaxies that were bright in radio emission were also strong in X-rays, which heated the cosmic gas in and around the early galaxies.

     

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  • What is Bluebugging?

    Bluebugging

    Cybersecurity experts note that apps that let users connect smartphones or laptops to wireless earplugs can record conversations, and are vulnerable to hacks through a process called Bluebugging.

    What is Bluebugging?

    • It is a form of hacking that lets attackers access a device through its discoverable Bluetooth connection.
    • Once a device or phone is blue-bugged, a hacker can listen to the calls, read and send messages and steal and modify contacts.
    • It started out as a threat for laptops with Bluetooth capability. Later hackers used the technique to target mobile phones and other devices.
    • Independent security researcher Martin Herfurt blogged about the threat of bluebugging as early as 2004.
    • He noted that the bug exploited a loophole in Bluetooth protocol, enabling it to download phone books and call lists from the attacked user’s phone.

    How does bluebugging hack devices?

    • Bluebugging attacks work by exploiting Bluetooth-enabled devices.
    • The device’s Bluetooth must be in discoverable mode, which is the default setting on most devices.
    • The hacker then tries to pair with the device via Bluetooth. Once a connection is established, hackers can use brute force attacks to bypass authentication.
    • They can install malware in the compromised device to gain unauthorised access to it.
    • Bluebugging can happen whenever a Bluetooth enabled device is within a 10-metre radius of the hacker.
    • However, according to a blog by VPN service provider NordVPN, hackers can use booster antennas to widen the attack range.

    Why is it a big threat?

    • Even the most secure smartphones like iPhones are vulnerable to such attacks.
    • Any app with access to Bluetooth can record users’ conversations with Siri and audio from the iOS keyboard dictation feature when using AirPods or Beats headsets, some app developers say.
    • Through Bluebugging, a hacker can gain unauthorised access to these apps and devices and control them as per their wish.

    How can one prevent bluebugging?

    Here are some of the ways to prevent bluebugging-

    1. Turning off Bluetooth and disconnecting paired Bluetooth devices when not in use,
    2. Updating the device’s system software to the latest version,
    3. Limiting the use of public Wi-Fi, and
    4. Using VPN as an additional security measure

     

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  • Understanding the “China’s BRICS” game

    BRICS

    Context

    • At the 14thLeaders’ Meeting of the BRICS, held virtually in June 2022, China dwelt on the issue of expanding the group beyond its five existing members to include more emerging economies. At a time when China-India relations are at a low point, the proposal has raised concerns in New Delhi. As India deliberates its stance on this contentious issue, it is important to understand China’s approach towards BRICS.

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    BRICS

    All you need to know about BRICS

    • BRICS is an acronym for the grouping of the world’s leading emerging economies, namely Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
    • Jim O’Neill, a British economist, coined the term ‘BRIC’ to describe the four emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India, and China. He made a case for BRIC on the basis of econometric analyses projecting that the four economies would individually and collectively occupy far greater economic space and become among the world’s largest economies.
    • The importance of BRICS is self-evident: It represents 42% of the world’s population, 30% of the land area, 24% of global GDP and 16% of international trade.
    • The five BRICS countries are also members of G-20.

    BRICS for China

    • Strategy of multiple engagements: For China, it is the grand strategy that is the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) that threads its many engagements: BRICS, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) where it is not directly a member, the Eurasian Economic Union, and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).
    • Projecting the connection between BRICS and BRI: BRICS as an entity, has not signed any memorandum of cooperation with the BRI, In Chinese strategic thinking, the BRI and BRICS are deeply connected.
    • Repeated assertion by Xi Jinping: President Xi Jinping himself has harped on this notion in his speeches on multiple occasions, such as the 9th BRICS Business Forum in September 2017 and the 11th BRICS Leaders’ Meeting in November 2019. In his speech he stated that China would cooperate with other multilateral development institutions such as the BRICS New Development Bank to support BRI and jointly formulate guidelines to finance development projects. 

    BRICS

    China’s Approach towards BRICS: The Link with BRI

    • Policy of Five connectivities: Chinese scholars are of the opinion that the “five connectivities” in policy, infrastructure, trade, finance, and people-to-people constitute the common way forward for both the BRI and BRICS.
    • Economic development strategy: China has been working towards strengthening the interconnection of economic development strategies of different states along the BRI, particularly the BRICS nations, aligning and integrating BRI and BRICS infrastructure projects, ensuring unimpeded trade, pursuing multiple forms of cooperation.
    • China’s Silk Road Economic Belt and EEU: The most significant progress made so far by China in this regard has been the official docking between China’s Silk Road Economic Belt (the land part of the BRI) and the EEU (where Russia is the dominant player) in May 2015.
    • Infrastructure models that China is emphasising: A high-speed railway project from Moscow to Kazan is being constructed under this strategic cooperation, funded by the BRICS New Development Bank. This is the model that China wants to replicate with other BRICS nations as well. In December 2015, South Africa and China signed a memorandum of understanding on jointly promoting the construction of the “Silk Road Economic Belt” and the “21st Century Maritime Silk Road.”

    Why China needs BRICS to promote the BRI?

    • To avoid direct conflicts: Chinese policymakers believe that although China is the main proponent of the BRI, it needs to avoid both strategic overdraft and direct conflicts with the pillars of the present international order while implementing the strategy.
    • To use resources effectively: To improve efficiency in the use of funds and other resources, China, it is argued, should shift from individually leading specific projects to constructing and leading various international institutions and exerting itself through institutional norms.
    • Strategic alignment and ambition to lead: President Xi emphasised this as well at the ‘Belt and Road’ International Cooperation Summit Forum in May 2017, saying that the BRI “is not about starting from scratch and reinventing the wheel, but realising strategic alignment and (reaping) complementary advantages (of various existing or new mechanisms).”
    • Dominating the financial mechanism through BRI partnership: Chinese scholars point out that all the BRICS countries have already been made part of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), one of China’s key financing mechanisms for the BRI. Further, given China’s clear dominance in the New Development Bank (NDB), Contingency Reserve Fund (CRA), the AIIB, as well as Silk Road Fund, it is only imperative for it to use these institutions to incentivise more BRICS countries to participate in the BRI, and to lay the foundation of a global financial system for the Chinese currency (RMB) trade settlement.
    • Creating an acceptable front: China is aware that the BRI has provoked extensive discussion around the world. It has been interpreted differently by different countries and has even drawn suspicion and caution in certain quarters. China is aware that to implement the BRI smoothly, it needs an additional front that is less controversial and more acceptable to the international community at large, and in particular, to developing countries.

    BRICS

    What are the concerns for India?

    • Promoting priorities in contrast: China prioritises the ‘BRICS + Asia’ cooperation mechanism – ‘BRICS + ASEAN’ on the one hand, and ‘BRICS + Bay of Bengal’ on the other, thereby integrating BRICS more closely with the Southeast Asian countries as well as with the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Economic Corridor (BCIM-EC) and Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) nations.
    • Aligning with BIMSTEC to counter India’s resistance to BRI: The aligning with BIMSTEC is particularly aimed at countering India’s reticence to endorse the BRI, while seeking its cooperation through either coercion (i.e., using other member states of the said groupings as bargaining chips to pressure India to cooperate) or deception (i.e., temporarily ignoring the BRI banner).
    • Using BRICS at its advantage: China wants to use the BRICS platform to establish links and influence policies of these key regional organisations, including the African Union in Africa, the Arab League in West Asia, the SCO in Central Asia, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) in South Asia, and ASEAN in Southeast Asia.
    • Ambition to formulate the world order in its own way: It wants BRICS, especially the BRICS New Development Bank, to strengthen cooperation with the IMF, the World Bank, and the World Trade Organization. This will enable China, through BRICS, to strengthen its international leadership, play a bigger role in the formulation of international rules, and influence the overall global governance mechanism.

    Conclusion

    • As China-US rivalry intensifies and the BRI faces a plethora of challenges, BRICS is increasingly gaining significance for China. Within the grouping, China sees itself as the ‘core’ of BRICS, while India as its weakest link.
    • India needs to accurately grasp the geopolitical shifts taking place within BRICS and deftly navigate the complex dynamics between the member states to safeguard its own interests within the grouping and avoid being drawn passively into China’s Great Game.

    Mains Question

    Q. China has focused on expanding the BRICS group to achieve its own ambitions. Discuss the significance of BRICS for China and India’s concerns.

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  • Assessing The Impact of Falling Rupee

    Context

    • The Indian rupee has been quite the controversial newsmaker this year. Having fallen more than 11 percent against the US dollar so far in 2022, the rupee breached the much-feared 80-mark in July and went on to set record lows, touching 83 to a dollar late in October.

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    Impact on trade

    • Widening trade deficit: The first phenomenon is one of the biggest worries caused by a falling rupee, a rise in import costs, threatening higher inflation and a widening trade deficit.
    • Advantage for export: However, there also exists a ray of hope, a depreciated currency implies cheaper, more competitive exports and therefore, a possible export-led boost to the domestic economy. The net effect of these opposing forces would determine the impact of a depreciating currency on an economy.
    • Robust Purchasing Manager’s Index (PMI): The import bill has risen not only on the back of a raging dollar and hardening crude prices but has also been spurred by strengthening domestic demand and manufacturing, as evidenced by a robust Purchasing Manager’s Index (PMI) of 55.3 in October.
    • Subdued merchandized export: Although service exports have done fairly well in FY 2022-23, merchandise exports have remained subdued and could soon worsen due to economic downturns in Europe and the US.

    Rupee

    Impact on foreign investment

    • Weak rupee low foreign portfolio investors (FPI): The rupee has a complicated relationship with the moody foreign portfolio investors (FPIs). A weaker rupee can discourage FPIs. In turn, FPI outflows can further push the rupee to depreciate.
    • Falling NRI deposits: With the rupee losing value against the dollar, and interest rates around the world rising, NRI deposit flows also fell in the five-month period from April to August 2022, down to US$1.4 billion from US$2.4 billion a year ago.
    • FDI is Rising: Net FDI flows have remained positive and are set to grow, with April-June 2022 seeing an inflow of US$13.6 billion, higher than the same period last year. Even Indian stock markets have remained resilient, particularly on the back of large net-purchases by domestic institutional and retail investors, offsetting the equity sell-off by foreign investors.
    • Negative foreign investment: Net foreign investment (FII) flows did turn negative for a few months in 2022, and while rebounding FPI and resilient FDI do point to a more optimistic opinion of India among foreign investors, foreign investment is absolutely crucial at this juncture in India’s growth story and must be watched closely.

    Rupee

    Efforts taken by RBI

    • Use of forex reserve: In an effort to defend the rupee, the RBI has intervened and sold off some of its foreign exchange reserves. The reserves stood at US$524.52 billion as of 21 October 2022, witnessing a fall of over US$115 billion since the beginning of the year.
    • according to RBI external situation is better: RBI has stated that most external indicators such as external debt to GDP ratio, net international investment position to GDP ratio and the ratio of short-term debt to reserves reflect India’s relatively comfortable position in meeting its external financing requirements–even in contrast to other emerging economies.
    • Careful intervention: Over-tightening of monetary policy and excessive intervention in the currency market can pose significant risks to the country’s growth prospects and the RBI must be careful to intervene just enough to quell volatility, without expending an inordinate amount of reserves.

    Rupee

    Opportunity in crisis

    • Leveraging the growth rate: India has the chance to leverage its relatively healthy growth rates and rising infrastructure and capital expenditure to attract foreign investment, spurring growth and strengthening the capital account.
    • High investor confidence: Investor confidence has been steady, with the country seeing a record high of annual FDI inflows of US$84.8 billion in FY2021-22 in spite of the pandemic and volatile geopolitical scenario.
    • Stability in growth: This confidence needs to be leveraged and by positioning India on the international stage as a thriving and stable haven for investments, both the country’s growth and forex needs can be met.
    • Sufficient policy support is needed: Although the falling rupee has caused worry for a few economic indicators, with sufficient policy support, the domestic economy could emerge as an outlier in a global downturn.

    Conclusion

    • With the United States (US) on a war path to curtail inflation and the supply side stifled by the conflict in Ukraine, even historically strong currencies like the euro and the British pound have plummeted against the raging dollar, more than the rupee. Government and RBI must stay on course of steady growth of economy.

    Mains Question

    Q. Discuss the impact of falling rupee on Trade and foreign investment in India? How India has unique opportunity for growth amidst the crisis around the world?

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  • Juvenile Delinquency in India

    Juvenile

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    Context

    • The Supreme Court (SC) made an observation in its judgment of November 16 in the infamous Kathua rape-murder case that the rising rate of juvenile delinquency in India is a matter of concern and requires immediate attention.

    Present approach and implications towards Juvenile delinquency

    • The goal of reformation: There is a school of thought, that firmly believes that howsoever heinous the crime may be, be it single rape, gangrape, drug peddling or murder but if the accused is a juvenile, he should be dealt with keeping in mind only one thing i.e., the goal of reformation.
    • Continuance of crime: The school of thought, we are talking about, believes that the goal of reformation is ideal. The manner in which brutal and heinous crimes have been committed over a period of time by the juveniles and still continue to be committed, makes us wonder whether the [Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children)] Act, 2015 has subserved its object.
    • No reformation but more crime: We have started gathering an impression that the leniency with which the juveniles are dealt with in the name of goal of reformation is making them more and more emboldened in indulging in such heinous crimes.

    Juvenile

    Provisions of Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children)] Act, 2015

    • Criminal trials are not allowed: The law, contained in successive Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Acts (JJ Acts), places a blanket ban on the power of the criminal court to try and punish a person below the specified age for committing any offence.
    • Lack of clarity on maturity of person: Should a person, who has sufficient maturity of understanding to judge the nature and consequences of his/her action, get blanket immunity from the criminal process without the fear of being prosecuted, tried and punished, merely because that person is below the specified age?
    • Child friendly inquiry: Under the existing law, such a person, at best, could be subjected to a child-friendly enquiry by a Juvenile Justice Board (JJ Board) and reformation for a maximum period of three years in a correctional home.

    Juvenile

    The issue of maturity of Juvenile offender

    • Help of experts to assess maturity: It is well settled that the assessment of whether or not an offender has attained sufficient maturity of understanding to judge the nature and consequences of his/her conduct is to be done by the court with the help of experts, and is a judicial function as exemplified by Section 83 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 and Code of Civil Procedure, 1908.
    • Judicial discretion was not allowed in JJ Act 2000: The JJ Act 2000 to the extent it deprived the criminal court of the power to try and to punish a person below the age of 18 years for committing an offence, when such a person could be assessed to have attained sufficient maturity to judge the nature and consequences of his/her conduct ,encroached upon the judicial domain and was, therefore, unconstitutional.
    • No changes on maturity in JJ act 2015: The current JJ Act, 2015, suffers from the same defect, except that the age of criminal responsibility for heinous offences has been reduced to 16 years.
    • Immature send to correctional homes: It has been overlooked that the fundamental premise of juvenile justice law is that a juvenile offender who lacks such maturity should not be sent to a criminal court to be tried for the commission of an offence, and instead, should be sent to a correctional home for reform and rehabilitation.
    • Mature juvenile must be punished: Conversely, therefore, should the offender have such maturity, he/she must be prosecuted before the criminal court, tried and, if found guilty, punished. The age of the juvenile offender alone cannot, therefore, justify a blanket immunity from the criminal process rather, the question of such immunity must be assessed on a case-by-case basis depending on the maturity of such offender.

    Juvenile

    Trying the mature juvenile as adult

    • Mature juvenile and adults are not same: Indeed, Section 23 of the JJ Act, 2015 mandates that notwithstanding anything contained in Section 223 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of 1973 or in any other law for the time being in force, “there shall be no joint proceedings of a child alleged to be in conflict with the law, with a person who is not a child”.
    • Separate provision for mature juveniles: Provisions already exist in the JJ Act, 2015, as to how a child who has attained the age of 16 years could be tried and punished for a heinous offence.
    • Assessing the maturity of all juvenile irrespective of age: The same provisions could be extended to all juvenile offenders, regardless of age or nature of the crime, once it is found by the competent court that any such offender had sufficient maturity of understanding to judge the nature and consequences of his/her actions.

    Conclusion

    • Government should amend JJ Act 2015. Such an amendment would go a long way in providing the requisite balance between the rationales underlying the juvenile justice system and the criminal justice system and realizing the objectives professed by both.

    Mains Question

    Q. What are the flaws with existing Juvenile Justice Act 2015 vis-e-vis maturity of juveniles? How to address the issue mature juvenile and punishment to them?

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  • The depopulation alert

    depopulation

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    Context

    • Recently, when the world population touched eight billion, several headlines focused on how India was the largest contributor to the last billion and is set to surpass China as the world’s most populous nation by 2023. But missing in this conversation is the real threat of depopulation that parts of India too face, and the country’s complete lack of preparedness to deal with it.

    Note: “The population and Population decline are continuously in the headlines which makes the population and associated topics important for the upcoming Mains Examinations.”

    India’s Population trend

    • The total population of India currently stands at 1.37 billion which is 17.5% of the world population.
    • Between 1992 and 2015, India’s Total fertility rate (TFR) had fallen by 35% from 3.4 to 2.2.
    • Young people (15-29 age years) form 27.2% of the population in 2021. This made India enter the Demographic dividend stage.
    • The percentage of the elderly population has been increasing from 6.8% in 1991 to 9.2% in 2016.

    What is depopulation?

    • The depopulation decline (also sometimes called population decline, underpopulation, or population collapse) in humans is a reduction in a human population size.
    • Over the long term, stretching from prehistory to the present, Earth’s total human population has continued to grow; however, current projections suggest that this long-term trend of steady population growth may be coming to an end.

    depopulation

    The depopulation discussion and the missing links

    • Falling fertility rate and discussing reversal: Demographers, policy experts and politicians in countries such as Japan, South Korea and Europe, which are experiencing falling fertility and nearing the inflection point of population declines, are beginning to talk about what the future holds and whether reversal is possible.
    • The missing key elements in the conversation: Talking about equitable sharing of housework; access to subsidized childcare that allows women to have families as well as a career; and lowered barriers to immigration to enable entry to working-age people from countries which aren’t yet in population decline is missing.

    Fertility in India

    • Falling fertility rate: It is now well-established that fertility in India is falling along expected lines as a direct result of rising incomes and greater female access to health and education. India’s total fertility rate is now below the replacement rate of fertility.
    • Many states are on the verge of population decline: Parts of India have not only achieved replacement fertility, but have been below the replacement rate for so long that they are at the cusp of real declines in population. Kerala, which achieved replacement fertility in 1998, and Tamil Nadu, which achieved this in 2000, are examples.
    • Decline in working age population: In the next four years, both Tamil Nadu and Kerala will see the first absolute declines in their working-age populations in their histories. With falling mortality (barring the pandemic), the total population of these States will continue to grow for the next few decades, which means that fewer working-age people must support more elderly people than ever before.

    What is Replacement Level Fertility (RLF)?

    • Replacement level fertility is the level of fertility at which a population exactly replaces itself from one generation to the next.
    • In simpler terms, it denotes the fertility number required to maintain the same population number of a country over a given period of time.
    • In developed countries, replacement level fertility can be taken as requiring an average of 2.1 children per woman.
    • In countries with high infant and child mortality rates, however, the average number of births may need to be much higher.
    • RLF will lead to zero population growth only if mortality rates remain constant and migration has no effect.

    A depopulating future and the challenges

    • Invisible trend because infuse of migrants: Access to working-age persons notably different from the situation in other States with low fertility. For instance, Delhi and Karnataka which are both net recipients of migrants, and will not confront population decline in the near future.
    • A skewed sex ratio remains a danger: As the latest round of the NFHS showed, families with at least one son are less likely to want more children than families with just one daughter.
    • Difference in education: The stark differences between northern and southern States in terms of basic literacy as well as enrolment in higher education, including in technical fields, will mean that workers from the southern States are not automatically replaceable.

    Conclusion

    • With decades of focus on lowering fertility, the conversation in India is stuck in a rut. It is for the southern States to break away from this outmoded, data-free rhetoric and join the global conversation on depopulation. India’s cannot ignore the depopulation in the name of migration to meet its current labour needs.

    Mains question

    Q. What is depopulation, which has been a hot topic in recent times? Where do you see India in global population trends? Discuss.

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  • Birth Certificate to be made mandatory for jobs, driving licence, passport, voting right

    The Central government proposes to make birth certificates a mandatory document for almost every sphere of life — admission in educational institutions, inclusion in the voter list, appointment in Central and State government jobs, issue of driving licence and passport.

    Why in news?

    • These changes are proposed in the draft Bill to amend the Registration of Birth and Death (RBD) Act, 1969.

    Registration of Births and Deaths Act (RBD), 1969

    • The registration of births, deaths and stillbirths are compulsory under the provisions of RBD Act in all parts of the Country.
    • The normal period of 21 days (from the date of occurrence) has been prescribed for reporting the birth, death and stillbirth events.
    • Registration of birth and death is already compulsory under the RBD Act, 1969 and violating it is a punishable offence.

    Why need amendment?

    • The database may be used to update the Population Register and the electoral register, and Aadhaar, ration card, passport and driving licence databases after the amendment.
    • Presently, the registration of births and deaths is done by the local registrar appointed by States.

    What are the proposed amendments?

    Ans. Unified Database of Birth and Death

    • It is proposed that the Chief Registrar (appointed by the States) would maintain a unified database at the State level.
    • It would then integrate it with the data at the “national level,” maintained by the Registrar General of India (RGI).
    • The amendments will imply that the Centre will be a parallel repository of data.
    • It shall be mandatory for hospitals and medical institutions to provide a copy of all death certificates, stating the cause of death, to the local registrar apart from the relative of the deceased.

    Significance of the database

    • It would help update:
    1. Population Register prepared under the Citizenship Act, 1955;
    2. Electoral registers or electoral rolls prepared under the Representation of the People Act, 1951
    3. Aadhaar database prepared under the Aadhaar Act, 2016;
    4. Ration card database prepared under the National Food Security Act, 2013;
    5. Passport database prepared under the Passport Act; and
    6. Driving licence database under the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act, 2019, and
    7. Other databases at the national level are subject to provisons of Section 17 (1) of the RBD Act, 1969

    What are the newly proposed changes?

    • The centrally-stored birth/death data will be updated in real-time without any human interface required.
    • This would lead to addition and deletion from the electoral roll when an individual turns 18, and after death, respectively.

    Why such move?

    • The government intends to improve compliance by making the registration mandatory to avail basic services such as admission in schools and registration of marriages.
    • Provisions exist for compulsory registration of births and deaths but after the law is amended, it will be

     

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  • Industry urges govt. to establish ‘India Rare Earths Mission’

    To counter India’s reliance on China for imports of critical rare earth minerals, industry has urged the government to establish ‘India Rare Earths Mission’.

    What are Rare Earth Metals?

    • The rare earth elements (REE) are a set of seventeen metallic elements. These include the fifteen lanthanides on the periodic table plus scandium and yttrium.
    • Rare earth elements are an essential part of many high-tech devices.
    • They have a wide range of applications, especially high-tech consumer products, such as cellular telephones, computer hard drives, electric and hybrid vehicles, and flat-screen monitors and televisions.
    • Significant defense applications include electronic displays, guidance systems, lasers, and radar and sonar systems.
    • Rare earth minerals, with names like neodymium, praseodymium, and dysprosium, are crucial to the manufacture of magnets used in industries of the future, such as wind turbines and electric cars.

    Minerals

    Applications of REMs in various fields:

    • Electronics: Television screens, computers, cell phones, silicon chips, monitor displays, long-life rechargeable batteries, camera lenses, light-emitting diodes (LEDs), compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs), baggage scanners, marine propulsion systems.
    • Defense Sector: Rare earth elements play an essential role in our national defense. The military uses night-vision goggles, precision-guided weapons, communications equipment, GPS equipment, batteries, and other defense electronics. These give the United States military an enormous advantage. Rare earth metals are key ingredients for making the very hard alloys used in armored vehicles and projectiles that shatter upon impact.
    • Renewable Energy: Solar panels, Hybrid automobiles, wind turbines, next-generation rechargeable batteries, bio-fuel catalysts.
    • Manufacturing: High strength magnets, metal alloys, stress gauges, ceramic pigments, colorants in glassware, chemical oxidizing agent, polishing powders, plastics creation, as additives for strengthening other metals, automotive catalytic converters
    • Medical Science: Portable x-ray machines, x-ray tubes, magnetic resonance imagery (MRI) contrast agents, nuclear medicine imaging, cancer treatment applications, and for genetic screening tests, medical and dental lasers.
    • Technology: Lasers, optical glass, fiber optics, masers, radar detection devices, nuclear fuel rods, mercury-vapor lamps, highly reflective glass, computer memory, nuclear batteries, high-temperature superconductors.

    DO YOU KNOW?

    Metals such as cadmium, lead are often used in manufacturing plastic and over time can enter coastal waters. These are acutely harmful for coastal wildlife and humans.Different kinds of plastic releases different kinds of metals  that may release when exposed to water and UV lights.

    What are the challenges in accessing Critical minerals?

    • Deposits in geopolitically sensitive regions: Reserves are often concentrated in regions that are geopolitically sensitive or fare poorly from an ease of doing business perspective.
    • Controlled production:  A portion of existing production is controlled by geostrategic competitors. For example, China wields considerable influence in cobalt mining in the Democratic Republic of Congo through direct equity investments and its Belt and Road Initiative.
    • Agreements in advance from outside: Future mine production is often tied up in off take agreements, in advance, by buyers from other countries to cater to upcoming demand.

    MineralsA step taken by Indian government for sourcing strategic minerals

    • For sourcing of strategic minerals, the Indian government established Khanij Bidesh  India Limited (KABIL) in 2019 with the mandate to secure mineral supply for the domestic market.

     India Rare Earths Mission

    • Industries in India have urged to set up a Mission, manned by professionals, like the India Semiconductor Mission and make their exploration a critical component of the Deep Ocean Mission plan of the government.
    • It would seek to encourage private sector mining in the sector and diversify sources of supply for these strategic raw materials.
    • The industry group has mooted making rare earth minerals a part of the ‘Make In India’ campaign, citing China’s ‘Made in China 2025’ initiative that focuses on new materials, including permanent magnets that are made using rare earth minerals.

    Why such move?

    • Though India has 6% of the world’s rare earth reserves, it only produces 1% of global output, and meets most of its requirements of such minerals from China.
    • In 2018-19, for instance, 92% of rare earth metal imports by value and 97% by quantity were sourced from China.

    What lies ahead?

    • There is a need to harness the potential of the country’s own rare earth reserves.
    • This would help build domestic capability and broad-base supply sources for such an important and strategic raw material.