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GS Paper: GS1

  • What is the Affinity Test to Identify Scheduled Tribes?

    The Supreme Court wants to fix foolproof parameters to determine if a person belongs to a Scheduled Tribe and is entitled to the benefits due to the community as it is no longer sure about an “affinity test”.

    What is the Affinity Test?

    • Affinity Test is used to shift through anthropological and ethnological traits to link a person to a tribe.
    • There is the likelihood that contact with other cultures, migration and modernization would have erased the traditional characteristics of a tribe.
    • The claim by an applicant that he is a part of a Scheduled Tribe and is entitled to the benefit extended to that tribe, cannot per se be disregarded on the ground that his present traits do not match his tribes.
    • These include peculiar anthropological and ethnological traits, deity, rituals, mode of marriage, death ceremonies, method of burial of dead bodies etc.
    • Worship is an integral part of the life of a community and tribes have specific modes which need to be ascertained by the officers who decide the claims (for ST status).

    Who are the Scheduled Tribes?

    • The term ‘Scheduled Tribes’ first appeared in the Constitution of India.
    • Article 366 (25) defined scheduled tribes as “such tribes or tribal communities or parts of or groups within such tribes or tribal communities as are deemed under Article 342 to be Scheduled Tribes for the purposes of this constitution”.
    • Article 342, which is reproduced below, prescribes procedure to be followed in the matter of specification of scheduled tribes.
    • The first specification of Scheduled Tribes in relation to a particular State/ Union Territory is by a notified order of the President, after consultation with the State governments concerned.
    • These orders can be modified subsequently only through an Act of Parliament.
    • The above Article also provides for listing of scheduled tribes State/Union Territory wise and not on an all India basis.

    What did the Supreme Court say?

    • It has been considered it best to refer the question of fixing the parameters to a larger Bench.
    • The Bench emphasized that the issue was a “matter of importance” when it came to the issuance of caste certificates.
    • The affinity test may be used to corroborate the documentary evidence and should not be the sole criteria to reject a claim the apex court had warned.

    Why discuss this?

    • The Supreme Court has decided to refer the question to a larger Bench for an authoritative decision.
    • It realised that the courts were faced with varied opinions about the efficacy of the affinity test.

    Status of STs in India

    • The Census 2011 has revealed that there are said to be 705 ethnic groups notified as Scheduled Tribes (STs).
    • Over 10 crore Indians are notified as STs, of which 1.04 crore live in urban areas.
    • The STs constitute 8.6% of the population and 11.3% of the rural population.

    Precursor to this Judgements

    • On one side, a full Bench of the Bombay High Court in Shilpa Vishnu Thakur v State of Maharashtra accepted the “relevance and importance of the affinity test”.
    • The full Bench, in a decision in 2009, held that the affinity test was an “integral part” of the verification process for caste certificates.
    • Scrutiny committees could easily determine the authenticity of a claim by running an affinity test on the basis of ethnicity and anthropology.
    • The HC had said that the term ‘affinity’ meant the ‘association’ of the applicant for a caste certificate with a Scheduled Tribe into which he or she has been born.
    • However, two years later, in 2011, the Supreme Court adopted a cautionary note. It indicated that the affinity test may have run its course.

     

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  • India ranks 136th in the World Happiness Report 2022

    India ranks 136th in the World Happiness Report 2022, while Finland becomes the happiest country for the fifth consecutive year.

    One can definitely question the credibility of such reports whenever India is being grouped with some African countries that too below Pakistan.

    World Happiness Report

    • The WHR is an annual publication of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network.
    • It measures three main well-being indicators: life evaluations, positive emotions, and negative emotions (described in the report as positive and negative affect).
    • Since 2011, the World Happiness Report (WHR) is released every year around the time of International Day of Happiness on March 20.
    • It was adopted by the UN General Assembly based on a resolution tabled by Bhutan.

    How is the WHI derived?

    • The ranking is done on a three-year average based on surveys of ‘Life Evaluation’ conducted by Gallup World Poll which surveys around 1000 people from each country to evaluate their current life on a scale of 0-10.
    • On this scale, 10 marks the best possible and 0 as the worst possible life.
    • Further, six key variables GDP per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom, generosity, and corruption contribute to explaining life evaluations.

    Top performers this year

    • The top five countries in the list are from Europe.
    • While the United States held the 16th spot in the happiest countries list.
    • Following Finland, Denmark bagged the second rank, while Iceland and Switzerland stood at third and fourth rank.
    • The Netherlands was at the fifth rank in the list.
    • Meanwhile, Luxembourg, Norway, Israel, and New Zealand were the remaining countries in the top 10.

    Dismal performers

    • Afghanistan held the last position of 146th in the list, with Lebanon (145th), Zimbabwe (144th), Rwanda (143rd), and Botswana (142nd) following.
    • Bangladesh has improved its ranking by seven notches on the WHI from 101 last year to 94 in 2022 out of 146 countries included in the report.

     

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  • Defining who is ‘Assamese’: Attempts, Challenges

    Last week, the Assam government informed the Assembly that nearly 1.44 lakh illegal foreigners had been identified in the state this year based on the 1985 Assam Accord, and around 30,000 of them had been deported to their country of origin.

    Who is a foreigner under the Assam Accord?

    • The Assam Accord was signed in 1985 by the Centre and the Assam government with the All Assam Student Union (AASU) and the All Assam Gana Sangram Parishad.
    • This movement had spearheaded the 1979-85 Assam Movement against migration from Bangladesh.
    • It was against all migrants from Bangladesh, irrespective of religion.
    • The Accord set March 24, 1971 as a cut-off. (The Assam Movement had demanded 1951 as the cut-off.)
    • Anyone who had come to Assam before midnight on that date would be an Indian citizen, while those who had come after would be dealt with as foreigners.
    • The same cut-off was used in updating the National Register of Citizens (NRC).

    What are the expressions for which the definitions have not been determined? Why are they important?

    • The definitions of phrases mentioned in the Accord such as ‘Axomiya janagan’ (Assamese people), ‘khilonjia’ (indigenous) and ‘adi basinda’ (original inhabitants) were yet to be determined.
    • The context is Clause 6 of the Assam Accord, which promises “constitutional, legislative and administrative safeguards to protect, preserve and promote the cultural, social, linguistic identity and heritage of the Assamese people”.
    • However, it doesn’t  provide clear cut definitions to identify who would be the “Assamese people”.
    • Clause 6 is important because many felt the 1971 cut-off was inadequate.

    Issues with the cut-off date

    • The cut-off for the rest of India is 1948, many noted that the Assam Accord would grant citizenship to a section of migrants who would be counted as foreigners elsewhere in the country.
    • Clause 6 was, therefore, seen as a protective provision which would guarantee certain benefits to the Assamese people, while excluding some sections among those granted citizenship on the basis of the 1971 cut-off.

    Why is the ‘Assamese’ definition difficult?

    • Because Assam’s demography has been shaped by decades of migration.
    • Many of the migrants had settled here during the colonial era.
    • While they might not be native speakers of an indigenous language, such as Assamese or Bodo or Karbi, the question was whether the definition of “Assamese” could exclude someone, for example, whose family might have lived in Assam for 100 years.

    Have any definitions been proposed?

    • A key committee came in 2019, when Assam was rocked by protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) which proposes to grant citizenship to various categories of foreigners including Hindus from Bangladesh.
    • The government set up the committee as a means to quell the protests.

    This committee recommended following persons as Assamese:

    1. All citizens who are part of the Assamese community
    2. Any person of indigenous tribal community of Assam
    3. Any other indigenous community of Assam
    4. Any other citizens of India residing in the territory or Assam on or before January 1, 1951 and
    5. Descendants of these categories
    • In essence, this definition includes not only the indigenous people but also all other Indian citizens, irrespective of mother tongue, as long as their ancestors were staying in Assam before 1951.

     

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  • What is POSH Act?

    The Kerala High Court has asked organizations associated with the film industry to take steps to constitute a joint committee to deal with cases of sexual harassment of women, in line with the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act of 2013.

    Why in news?

    • During the #MeToo movement, a number of women in India called out influential men — actors, standup comics, senior journalists — for alleged sexual harassment.
    • Hence the HC underlined that film production units must comply with the law against sexual harassment, commonly known as the prevention of sexual harassment at workplace (SHW) or POSH Act.

    What is the POSH Act?

    • The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act was passed in 2013.
    • It defined sexual harassment, lay down the procedures for a complaint and inquiry, and the action to be taken.
    • It broadened the Vishaka Guidelines, which were already in place.

    What are Vishakha Guidelines?

    • The Vishakha guidelines were laid down by the Supreme Court in a judgment in 1997. This was in a case filed by women’s rights groups, one of which was Vishakha.
    • In 1992, she had prevented the marriage of a one-year-old girl, leading to the alleged gangrape in an act of revenge.

    Guidelines and the law

    • The Vishakha guidelines, which were legally binding, defined sexual harassment and imposed three key obligations on institutions :
    1. Prohibition
    2. Prevention
    3. Redress
    • The Supreme Court directed that they should establish a Complaints Committee, which would look into matters of sexual harassment of women at the workplace.

    The POSH Act broadened these guidelines:

    • It mandated that every employer must constitute an Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) at each office or branch with 10 or more employees.
    • It lay down procedures and defined various aspects of sexual harassment, including the aggrieved victim, who could be a woman “of any age whether employed or not”, who “alleges to have been subjected to any act of sexual harassment”.
    • This meant that the rights of all women working or visiting any workplace, in any capacity, were protected under the Act.

    Definition of Sexual Harassment

    Under the 2013 law, sexual harassment includes “any one or more” of the following “unwelcome acts or behaviour” committed directly or by implication:

    • Physical contact and advances
    • A demand or request for sexual favours
    • Sexually coloured remarks
    • Showing pornography
    • Any other unwelcome physical, verbal or non-verbal conduct of sexual nature.

    The Ministry of Women & Child Development has published a Handbook on Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace with more detailed instances of behaviour that constitutes sexual harassment at the workplace. These include, broadly:

    • Sexually suggestive remarks or innuendos; serious or repeated offensive remarks; inappropriate questions or remarks about a person’s sex life
    • Display of sexist or offensive pictures, posters, MMS, SMS, WhatsApp, or emails
    • Intimidation, threats, blackmail around sexual favours; also, threats, intimidation or retaliation against an employee who speaks up about these
    • Unwelcome social invitations with sexual overtones, commonly seen as flirting
    • Unwelcome sexual advances.

    Unwelcome behavior

    • The Handbook says “unwelcome behaviour” is experienced when the victim feels bad or powerless; it causes anger/sadness or negative self-esteem.
    • It adds unwelcome behaviour is one which is “illegal, demeaning, invading, one-sided and power based”.

    Circumstance amounting to SHW

    The Act mentions five circumstances that amount to sexual harassment implied or explicit:

    1. Promise of preferential treatment in her employment
    2. Threat of detrimental treatment
    3. Threat about her present or future employment status
    4. Interference with her work or creating an offensive or hostile work environment
    5. Humiliating treatment likely to affect her health or safety

    Procedure for complaint

    • Technically, it is not compulsory for the aggrieved victim to file a complaint for the ICC to act.
    • The Act says that she “may” do so — OR any member of the ICC “shall” render “all reasonable assistance” to her to complain in writing.
    • If the woman cannot complain because of “physical or mental incapacity or death or otherwise”, her legal heir may do so.
    • Under the Act, the complaint must be made “within three months from the date of the incident”.
    • However, the ICC can “extend the time limit” if “it is satisfied that the circumstances were such which prevented the woman from filing a complaint within the said period”.
    • It provides that “no monetary settlement shall be made as a basis of conciliation”.
    • The ICC may either forward the victim’s complaint to the police, or it can start an inquiry that has to be completed within 90 days.
    • The identity of the woman, respondent, witness, any information on the inquiry, recommendation and action taken, the Act states, should not be made public.

    After the ICC report

    • If the allegations of sexual harassment are proved, the ICC recommends that the employer take action “in accordance with the provisions of the service rules” of the company.
    • These may vary from company to company.
    • It also recommends that the company deduct from the salary of the person found guilty, “as it may consider appropriate”.

    Compensation is determined based on five aspects:

    1. Suffering and emotional distress caused to the woman;
    2. Loss in career opportunity;
    3. Her medical expenses;
    4. Income and financial status of the respondent;
    5. Feasibility of such payment.

    Appeal in Court

    • After the recommendations, the aggrieved woman or the respondent can appeal in court within 90 days
    • Section 14 of the Act deals with punishment for false or malicious complaint and false evidence.
    • In such a case, the ICC “may recommend” to the employer that it take action against the woman, or the person who has made the complaint, in “accordance with the provisions of the service rules”.
    • The Act, however, makes it clear that action cannot be taken for “mere inability” to “substantiate the complaint or provide adequate proof”.

     

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  • What is a Heatwave?

    The Konkan region, including Mumbai, has been experiencing sweltering heat in recent days, with the maximum temperatures touching the 40 degrees mark.

    What is a Heatwave and when is it declared?

    • Heatwaves occur over India between March and June.
    • IMD declares a heatwave event when the maximum (day) temperature for a location in the plains crosses 40 degrees Celsius.
    • Over the hills, the threshold temperature is 30 degrees Celsius.

    Following criteria are used to declare heatwave:

    To declare heatwave, the below criteria should be met at least in 2 stations in a Meteorological subdivision for at least two consecutive days and it will be declared on the second day.

    a) Based on Departure from Normal

    • Heat Wave: Departure from normal is 4.5°C to 6.4°C
    • Severe Heat Wave: Departure from normal is >6.4°C

    b) Based on Actual Maximum Temperature (for plains only)

    • Heat Wave: When actual maximum temperature ≥ 45°C
    • Severe Heat Wave: When actual maximum temperature ≥47°C

    How long can a heatwave spell last?

    • A heatwave spell generally lasts for a minimum of four days. On some occasions, it can extend up to seven or ten days.
    • The longest recorded heatwave spell, in recent years, was between 18 – 31 May 2015.

     

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  • Mumbai Climate Action Plan

    The Mumbai Climate Action Plan (MCAP) has laid down a 30-year road map for the city to tackle the challenges of climate change by adopting inclusive and robust mitigation and adaptation strategies.

    What is MCAP ?

    • The MCAP has set short-, medium- and long-term climate goals aimed towards zero emission of greenhouse gas or a net-zero target for 2050.
    • It focuses on priority across six strategic areas:
    1. Sustainable waste management
    2. Urban greening and biodiversity
    3. Urban flooding and water resource management,
    4. Energy and buildings
    5. Air quality and
    6. Sustainable mobility

    Features of the plan

    • The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) prepared the plan with technical support from the World Resources Institute (WRI), India and the C40 Cities network.
    • It concentrates on the city, its ecological, cultural and economical landscapes.
    • The plan throws light on the current climate of the city called Baseline Assessment—climate and air pollution risks, greenhouse gas inventory.
    • The plan then assesses future trajectories in the business-as-usual scenarios and assesses future emission reduction scenarios to make Mumbai net-zero by 2050.

    Why does Mumbai need a climate action plan?

    • As per a study conducted by WRI India on Mumbai’s vulnerability assessment, the city will face two major challenges—temperature rise, and extreme rain events which lead to flooding.
    • The city is already witnessing a warming trend.
    • The analysis has revealed a warming trend over 47 years (1973-2020) with an increase of 0.25°C per decade for the city.

    What is the current greenhouse gas emission?

    • In 2019, which is taken as a base year, Mumbai’s GHG emissions were 23.42 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emission, which is 1.8 tonnes CO2e per person.
    • Out of which, 16.9 million tonnes or 72 per cent is from the energy sector, followed by 4.56 million tonnes of CO2 e or 20 per cent from the transportation sector.
    • The city’s waste sector contributes to a total of eight per cent of the total emissions.
    • Most of the city’s emissions come from energy use in residential buildings followed by commercial buildings and transport.
    • Electricity consumption contributes significantly to total emissions (64.3%), due to the city’s predominantly coal-based grid.

     

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  • Manual Scavenging and its prevalence in India

    Three laborers in Mumbai, allegedly hired for manual scavenging, died after inhaling toxic fumes in a septic tank.

    What is Manual Scavenging?

    • Manual scavenging is the practice of removing human excreta by hand from sewers or septic tanks.
    • India banned the practice under the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013 (PEMSR).
    • The Act bans the use of any individual for manually cleaning, carrying, disposing of or otherwise handling in any manner, human excreta till its disposal.
    • In 2013, the definition of manual scavengers was also broadened to include people employed to clean septic tanks, ditches, or railway tracks.
    • The Act recognizes manual scavenging as a “dehumanizing practice,” and cites a need to “correct the historical injustice and indignity suffered by the manual scavengers.”

    Why is it still prevalent in India?

    • Low awareness: Manual scavenging is mostly done by the marginalized section of the society and they are generally not aware about their rights.
    • Enforcement issues: The lack of enforcement of the Act and exploitation of unskilled labourers are the reasons why the practice is still prevalent in India.
    • High cost of automated: The Mumbai civic body charges anywhere between Rs 20,000 and Rs 30,000 to clean septic tanks.
    • Cheaper availability: The unskilled labourers, meanwhile, are much cheaper to hire and contractors illegally employ them at a daily wage of Rs 300-500.
    • Caste dynamics: Caste hierarchy still exists and it reinforces the caste’s relation with occupation. Almost all the manual scavengers belong to lower castes.

    Various policy initiatives

    • Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation (Amendment) Bill, 2020: It proposes to completely mechanise sewer cleaning, introduce ways for ‘on-site’ protection and provide compensation to manual scavengers in case of sewer deaths.
    • Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013: Superseding the 1993 Act, the 2013 Act goes beyond prohibitions on dry latrines, and outlaws all manual excrement cleaning of insanitary latrines, open drains, or pits.
    • Rashtriya Garima Abhiyan: It started national wide march “Maila Mukti Yatra” for total eradication of manual scavenging from 30th November 2012 from Bhopal.
    • Prevention of Atrocities Act: In 1989, the Prevention of Atrocities Act became an integrated guard for sanitation workers since majority of the manual scavengers belonged to the Scheduled Caste.
    • Compensation: As per the Prohibition of Employment of Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation (PEMSR) Act, 2013 and the Supreme Court’s decision in the Safai Karamchari Andolan vs Union of India case, a compensation of Rs 10 lakh is awarded to the victims family.

    Way forward

    • Regular surveys and social audits must be conducted against the involvement of manual scavengers by public and local authorities.
    • There must be proper identification and capacity building of manual scavengers for alternate sources of livelihood.
    • Creating awareness about the legal protection of manual scavengers is necessary.

     

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  • Art-form in news: Santhali Sohrai Murals

    Santhali communities of Odisha and Jharkhand are changing their ways of painting traditional Sohrai murals to modernity.

    What is Sohrai?

    • Sohrai is a harvest festival of the Indian states of Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, and West Bengal.
    • It also called cattle festival. It is celebrated after harvest and coincide with festival of Diwali.

    What are Sohrai Murals?

    • Sohrai Mural is an indigenous art form is practised by the women of Santhal Community.
    • Ritualistic art is done on mud walls to welcome the harvest and to celebrate the cattle.
    • The women clean their houses and decorate their walls with murals of Sohrai arts.
    • This art form has continued since 10,000-4,000 BC. It was prevalent mostly in caves, but shifted to houses with mud walls.

    Features of this art

    • This Sohrai art form can be monochromatic or colorful.
    • The people coat the wall with a layer of white mud, and while the layer is still wet, they draw with their fingertips on it.
    • Their designs range from flowers and fruits to various other nature-inspired designs.
    • The cow dung that was earlier used to cake the walls of the house is used to add colour.
    • The dark outline is visible due to the previously applied contrasting white mud coat.
    • The artists are spontaneous in their drawing. The designs are usually drawn from the artist’s memory.
    • The personal experience of the artist and their interaction with nature are the biggest influence.

     

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  • In news: Pal-Dadhvav Massacre

    The Gujarat government has marked 100 years of the Pal-Dadhvav killings, calling it a massacre “bigger than the Jallianwala Bagh”.

    Pal-Dadhvav Massacre

    • The massacre took place on March 7, 1922, in the Pal-Chitariya and Dadhvaav villages of Sabarkantha district, then part of Idar state.
    • The day was Amalki Ekadashi, which falls just before Holi, a major festival for tribals.
    • Villagers from Pal, Dadhvav, and Chitariya had gathered on the banks of river Heir as part of the ‘Eki movement’, led by one Motilal Tejawat.
    • The movement was to protest against the land revenue tax (lagaan) imposed on the peasants by the British and feudal lords.
    • Tejawat, who belonged to Koliyari village in the Mewad region of Rajasthan, had also mobilised Bhils from Kotda Chhavni, Sirohi, and Danta to participate.

    The fateful day

    • Tejawat had been outlawed by the Udaipur state, which had announced a Rs-500 reward on his head.
    • The Mewad Bhil Corps (MBC), a paramilitary force raised by the British that was on the lookout for Tejawat, heard of this gathering and reached the spot.
    • On a command from Tejawat, nearly 2000 Bhils raised their bows and arrows and shouted in unison- ‘We will not pay the tax’.
    • The MBC commanding officer, HG Sutton, ordered his men to fire upon them creating a huge stampede.
    • Nearly 1,000 tribals (Bhils) fell to bullets. While the British claimed some 22 people were killed, the Bhils believe 1,200-1,500 of them died.

    Must read:

    Important Rebellions and Peasant Movements

     

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  • Legacy of Savitribai and Jyotirao Phule

    Maharashtra Governor has recently received flak for his remarks on the social reformist couple Jyotirao and Savitribai Phule.

    Who were the Phules?

    • Mahatma Jyotirao and Savitribai Phule stand out as an extraordinary couple in the social and educational history of India.
    • They spearheaded path-breaking work towards female education and empowerment, and towards ending caste- and gender-based discrimination.
    • In 1840, at a time when child marriages were common, Savitri at the age of ten was married to Jyotirao, who was thirteen years old at the time.
    • The couple later in life strove to oppose child marriage and also organised widow remarriages.

    The Phules’ endeavors and legacy

    • Education: Jyotirao, the revolutionary that he was, observed the lack of opportunities for education for young girls and women.
    • Leaders of the masses: He started to educate his wife at home and trained her to become a teacher. Together, by 1848, the Phules started a school for girls, Shudras and Ati-Shudras in Poona.
    • Widow shelter: The historic work was started by Jyotirao when he was just 21 years old, ably supported by his 18-year-old wife. In 1853, Jyotirao-Savitribai opened a care centre for pregnant widows to have safe deliveries and to end the practice of infanticide owing to social norms.
    • Prevention of infanticide: The Balhatya Pratibandhak Griha (Home for the Prevention of Infanticide) started in their own house at 395, Ganj Peth, Pune.

    The Satyashodhak Samaj:

    • Literally meaning ‘The Truth-Seeker’s Society’ was established on September 24, 1873 by Jyotirao-Savitribai and other like-minded people.
    • The Samaj advocated for social changes that went against prevalent traditions, including economical weddings, inter-caste marriages, eradication of child marriages, and widow remarriage.
    • The Phules also had far-sighted goals — popularising female education, establishing an institutional structure of schools in India, and to have a society where women worked in tandem with men.

     

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