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GS Paper: GS2

  • The Supreme Court is walking the talk on citizens’ rights

    Context

    When the bench of the Chief Justice of India passed an order appointing a committee in the Pegasus matter, it served the interest of every Indian.

    What led to the appointment of committee by the Supreme Court

    • Pegasus has allegedly been used against politicians and individuals across the globe, including against politicians, journalists and other private individuals in India.
    • The issue rocked Parliament, but the government was not willing to share any information pertaining to the software or its use, citing national security as a reason.
    • The alleged victims of the software turned to the Supreme Court, and prayed for setting up of an independent enquiry.
    • The government, on being called upon by the Supreme Court, cited national security, contending that any information it let out would become a matter of public debate, which could be used by terror groups to hamper national security.
    • Its unrelenting stand left the court with no option but to take a call on whether to blindly accept the government’s refusal to share no information whatsoever, or lean in favour of a citizen’s right to privacy, a fundamental right guaranteed under the Constitution.
    • The Supreme Court chose the latter course.

    Balancing the fundamental rights  nad judicial review with national security

    • The Supreme Court has observed that “the state cannot get a free pass every time the spectre of national security is raised”.
    • It goes on to say that national security “cannot be the bugbear that the judiciary shies away from, by virtue of its mere mentioning. Although this court should be circumspect in encroaching upon the domain of national security, no omnibus prohibition can be called for against judicial review”.

    Conclusion

    The Pegasus order upholding the individual’s right to a life of dignity and privacy, is music to the ears of those who believe in constitutional values and rule of law.
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  • The Court’s order on Pegasus still falls short

    Context

    The Supreme Court of India appointed an independent committee to inquire into charges that the Union government had used the mobile phone spyware Pegasus to invade, access, and snoop into devices used by India’s citizens.

    Background

    • The petitioners before the Supreme Court relied on an investigation conducted by a consortium of global media.
    • These reports revealed that hundreds of phone numbers from India had appeared on a global list of more than 50,000 numbers that were selected for surveillance by clients of the Israeli firm, the NSO Group.
    • The NSO has since confirmed that its spyware is sold only to governments, chiefly for the purposes of fighting terrorism.

    Government’s defence

    • In response to the allegations made against it, the Government invoked national security.
    • What is more, according to it, the very adoption of this argument virtually forbade the Court from probing further.
    • In matters purportedly involving national security, the Court has shown an extraordinary level of deference to the executive.
    • The cases also posed another hurdle: a contest over facts.
    • The petitioners were asserting the occurrence of illegal surveillance.
    • The Government was offering no explicit response to their claims.
    • Now, to some degree, in its order appointing a committee, the Court has bucked the trend of absolute deference.
    • The Court has held that there is no magic formula to the Government’s incantation of national security, that its power of judicial review is not denuded merely because the state asserts that the country’s safety is at stake.

    Accountability on part of the government

    • The order recognises, correctly, that spying on an individual, whether by the state or by an outside agency, amounts to an infraction of privacy.
    • This is not to suggest that all surveillance is illegal.
    • In holding thus, the Court has effectively recognised that an act of surveillance must be tested on four grounds:
    • First, the action must be supported by legislation.
    • Second, the state must show the Court that the restriction made is aimed at a legitimate governmental end.
    • Third, the state must demonstrate that there are no less intrusive means available to it to achieve the same objective;
    • Finally, the state must establish that there is a rational nexus between the limitation imposed and the aims underlying the measure.
    • The test provides a clear path to holding the Government accountable.

    Way forward

    • The absence of a categorical denial from the Government, the order holds, ought to lead to a prima facie belief, if nothing else, that there is truth in the petitioners’ claims.
    •  Having held thus, one might have expected the Court to frame a set of specific questions demanding answers from the state.
    • If answers to these questions were still not forthcoming, elementary principles of evidence law allow the Court to draw what is known as an “adverse inference”. 
    • A party that fails to answer questions put to it will only risk the Court drawing a conclusion of fact against it.
    • If, on this basis, the petitioners’ case is taken as true, there can be little doubt that there has been an illegitimate violation of a fundamental right.
    • It is, therefore, unclear why we need a committee at all.
    • Ultimately, in the future, the Court must think more carefully about questions of proof and rules of evidence.

    Conclusion

    Ad hoc committees — sterling as their members might be — cannot be the solution. Far too many cases are consigned to the back burner on the appointment of external panels, and, in the process, civil liberties are compromised.

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  • There’s a mismatch between India’s graduate aspirations and job availability

    Context

    There is a huge pool of unemployed university graduates with unfulfilled aspirations. This group of dissatisfied, disgruntled youth can lead to disastrous consequences for our society.

    Enhanced enrollment

    • Reservation: The extension of reservations to OBCs and EWS increased the enrollment of students from these socio-economic backgrounds.
    • Increased education institutions: In addition, the massive increase in the number of higher education institutions has led to an enlargement of the number of available seats — there are more than 45,000 universities and colleges in the country.
    • The Gross Enrollment Ratio for higher education, which is the percentage of the population between the ages of 18-23 who are enrolled, is now 27 per cent.

    Issues of employment opportunities

    • Unfortunately, the spectacular increase in enrollment in recent years has not been matched by a concomitant increase in jobs.
    •  Employment opportunities in the government have not increased proportionately and may, in fact, have decreased with increased contractualisation.
    •  Even in the private sector, though the jobs have increased with economic growth, most of the jobs are contractual.
    • Worse, the highest increase in jobs is at the lowest end, especially in the services sector — delivery boys for e-commerce or fast food for instance.
    • Thus what we see is a huge pool of unemployed university graduates with unfulfilled aspirations.
    • This group of dissatisfied, disgruntled youth can lead to disastrous consequences for our society, some of which we are already witnessing.

    Way forward

    • A reduction in the rate of increase of universities and colleges might not be politically feasible given the huge demand for higher education.
    • Increase vocation institutions: A concurrent increase in the number of high-quality vocational institutions is something that can be done.
    • There are upwards of 15,000 Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) in the country currently.
    • Upgrading the existing ITIs, opening many more new ones with high-quality infrastructure and updated curriculum is something which should be done urgently.
    • There is a scheme to upgrade some ITIs to model ITIs.
    • However, what is required is not a selective approach but a more broad-based one that uplifts the standards of all of them besides adding many more new ones.
    • Industry might be more than willing to pitch in with funding (via the CSR route) as well as equipment, training for the faculty and internships for students.

    Conclusion

    These steps could help mitigate the mismatch between employment opportunities and the increasing number of educated youth in the country.

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  • MGNREGS faces negative net balance

    The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) faces a negative net balance of Rs. 8,686 crores, including payments due.

    About MGNREGA

    • It stands for Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act of 2005.
    • This is labour law and social security measure that aims to guarantee the ‘Right to Work’.
    • The act was first proposed in 1991 by P.V. Narasimha Rao.

    The objectives of the MGNREGA are:

    • To enhance the livelihood security of the rural poor by generating wage employment opportunities.
    • To create a rural asset base that would enhance productive ways of employment, augment and sustain a rural household income.

    Features of MGNREGA

    • MGNREGA is unique in not only ensuring at least 100 days of employment to the willing unskilled workers, but also in ensuring an enforceable commitment on the implementing machinery i.e., the State Governments, and providing a bargaining power to the labourers.
    • The failure of provision for employment within 15 days of the receipt of job application from a prospective household will result in the payment of unemployment allowance to the job seekers.
    • Employment is to be provided within 5 km of an applicant’s residence, and minimum wages are to be paid.
    • Thus, employment under MGNREGA is a legal entitlement.

    News: MGNREGS runs out of fund

    • The MGNREGS has run out of funds halfway through the financial year.
    • Supplementary budgetary allocations will not come until the next Parliamentary session begins.

    Implications on laborers

    • Delayed payment: Due to this, payments for MGNREGA workers as well as material costs will be delayed, unless States dip into their own funds.
    • Livelihood loss: MGNREGA data shows that 13% of households who demanded work under the scheme were not provided work.
    • Halt of work: Many workers are simply turned away by officials when they demand work, without their demand being registered at all.
    • Fall in demands: This has led to stop the generation of work. There is an artificial squeezing of demand.

    Why has MGNREGS acquired so much importance?

    • The MGNREGA, a demand-driven scheme, has provided many returnees relief during the covid imposed a lockdown for a year.
    • During last year’s COVID-19 lockdown it has provided a critical lifeline for a record 11 crore workers.

    Try this PYQ:

    Q. Which principle among the following was added to the Directive Principles of State Policy by the 42nd Amendment to the constitution?

    (a) Equal pay for equal work for both men and women

    (b) Participation of workers in the management of industries

    (c) Right to work, education and public assistance

    (d) Securing living wage and human conditions of work to workers

     

     

    [wpdiscuz-feedback id=”nptq4a88id” question=”Please leave a feedback on this” opened=”1″]Post your answers here.[/wpdiscuz-feedback]

     

    Also read:

    [Burning Issue] Reorienting MGNREGA in times of COVID

     

     

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  • In India, the steady subversion of equality

    Context

    The sharp turns away from democracy seen recently in the country must jolt citizens into stopping the descent.

    Equality in democracy

    • The central edifice of a democracy, or what makes it a revolutionary idea, is equality, or that it accords an equal status to all its people.
    • The promise of the far-sighted Indian Constitution was of equal rights to all.
    • If any benefit was accorded to smaller groups, religious or linguistic minorities or Dalits, it was in order to achieve substantive equality.

    Faith as a differentiator

    • The basis of citizenship under the Citizenship (Amendment) Act 2019, allowing for non-Muslims from three countries to fast-track their citizenship, was the most serious push to introduce religion into citizenship.
    • Impact on marital choice: In terms of marital choices, laws in the country in States where the national ruling party holds sway have drawn harsh attention on inter-faith couples.
    • The Gujarat law criminalising inter-faith marriages has been called out by the Gujarat High Court.
    • But the ordinance introduced in Uttar Pradesh (Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Ordinance, 2020) is now a law.
    • Food has been criminalised: Stringent laws on cattle end up penalising those who have a certain diet, namely beef. The mood in the country created and abetted by people close to the powers that be, has led to lynchings.
    • State governments and the Union government have mostly ignored the Supreme Court’s directions in 2018 to set up fast track courts, advice to take steps to stop hate messages on social media, or compensation to victims, or bringing in an anti-mob lynching law.
    • Circumscribe where on can reside: The Gujarat Prohibition of Transfer of Immovable Property and Provision for Protection of Tenants from Eviction from Premises in Disturbed Areas Act, popularly known as the Disturbed Areas Act, circumscribes where one can reside.
    • The act was brought in an atmosphere where there was communal rioting and forced displacement, to ostensibly protect communities from distress sales, the twist accorded to it over the years firmly makes the forced separation of communities. evident.

    Hostile environment

    • Scholars like Thomas Blom Hansen and Paul Brass have unhesitatingly pointed to the role of violence that has historically been acceptable in Indian society and politics.
    • Scholars like Christophe Jaffrelot have pointed out that there will not be a seamless transition to an “ethnic democracy”.
    • The Indian nation is one formed on the promise of shared and participatory kinship, which recognised Indian nationalism as being distinct from the faith you practised at home.
    • Prioritising any one identity will have disastrous consequences and history provides enough evidence of this.

    Conclusion

    The mobs read together with actions of the Union government and that of State governments mark a sharp turn away from the democracy India claims it is. That must jolt us into recognising the distance we have already travelled down the wrong path. That may be the first step to try to wrest the descent into the darkness of an apartheid state.

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  • Karnataka Gambling Law: Ambit and the High Court Challenge

    Last month, the Karnataka legislature passed a legislation to amend the Karnataka Police Act, 1963, making all forms of gambling, including online, a cognisable and non-bailable offence.

    Gambling Law

    • The Karnataka Police (Amendment) Act, 2021 was notified and came into force.
    • It is aimed for broadening the scope of gambling beyond what has been defined by law.
    • It was passed despite similar laws introduced in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Telangana having faced legal challenges.

    What forms of gambling does the new law cover?

    • The amended law covers all forms of wagering or betting “in connection with any game of chance” with the exception of horse racing and lotteries.
    • It also puts betting on the skills of others in the category of gambling.
    • It provides an exception only to any pure game of skill and not to “wagering by persons taking part in such game of skill”.

    Penalties prescribed

    • It enhances maximum punishment for owners of gambling centres from one year to three years of imprisonment and fines from Rs 1,000 to Rs 1 lakh.
    • The minimum punishment proposed is six months instead of the current one month and the fine is Rs 10,000 instead of Rs 500.

    Implications of the law

    • Since the new law came into effect, several online gaming firms have geo-locked their apps and sites in Karnataka to prevent attracting police action if customers access the sites.

    Legal issues raised by the amended laws

    One of the primary grounds on which the new gaming laws in these states has been challenged is:

    • Games of skill: This been clubbed along with games of chance in the definition of gaming, if the games of skill are played for prizes or bets.
    • Violation of FR: Gaming companies have argued — successfully that competitive games of skill are business activities protected under Article 19 (1) (g) of the Constitution.
    • Other examples: Rummy and horse racing have been classified by the courts as games of skill that do not come under the purview of gaming laws.
    • Competence of the state: It has been argued that states do not have “legislative competence” to prohibit games of skill and that only games of chance can be regulated for gambling and betting.

    Why has Karnataka amended the law?

    • Ban on online gambling: The statement of objects and reasons justify that the new law is needed to make gambling a cognisable and non-bailable offence (gambling in public streets remains cognisable and bailable).
    • More power to Police: Other reasons cited is that police cannot raid gambling dens without a formal written order from a magistrate, since gambling is a non-cognisable and bailable offence.
    • Public demands for ban: Recent public interest litigations seeking a ban on online gaming and betting, too, have been a trigger for the amendments.
    • Illicit use of cyber-space: The new law has also been introduced to include the use of cyberspace as defined in the IT Act 2000 to curb the menace of gaming through internet.

    Will these amendments stand the test of law?

    • As mentioned, a similar law in Tamil Nadu was struck down by the Madras High Court as being ultra vires after it was challenged by online gaming firms.
    • The court ruled that- Games and sporting activities in the physical form cannot be equated with games conducted in virtual mode or in cyberspace.
    • However, when it comes to card games or board games such as chess or Scrabble, there is no distinction between the skill involved in the physical form of the activity or in the virtual form.
    • The HC said both rummy and poker are games of skill.

     

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  • What India’s new water policy seeks to deliver

    Context

    Over a period of one year, the committee set up to draft the new National Water Policy (NWP) received 124 submissions by state and central governments, academics and practitioners. The NWP is based on the striking consensus that emerged through these wide-ranging deliberations.

    Major suggestion in NWP

    Demand-side: Diversification of public procurement operations

    • Irrigation consumes 80-90 per cent of India’s water, most of which is used by rice, wheat and sugarcane.
    • Thus, crop diversification is the single most important step in resolving India’s water crisis.
    • The policy suggests diversifying public procurement operations to include nutri-cereals, pulses and oilseeds.
    • This would incentivise farmers to diversify their cropping patterns, resulting in huge savings of water.

    2) Reduce-Recycle-Reuse

    • Reduce-Recycle-Reuse has been proposed as the basic mantra of integrated urban water supply and wastewater management, with treatment of sewage and eco-restoration of urban river stretches, as far as possible through decentralised wastewater management.
    • All non-potable use, such as flushing, fire protection, vehicle washing must mandatorily shift to treated wastewater.

    3) Supply-side measure: Using technology to utilised stored water in dams

    • Within supply-side options, the NWP points to trillions of litres stored in big dams, which are still not reaching farmers.
    • NWP suggests how the irrigated areas could be greatly expanded at very low cost by deploying pressurised closed conveyance pipelines, combined with Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems and pressurised micro-irrigation.

    4) Supply of water through “nature-based solutions”

    • The NWP places major emphasis on supply of water through “nature-based solutions” such as the rejuvenation of catchment areas, to be incentivised through compensation for ecosystem services.
    • Specially curated “blue-green infrastructure” such as rain gardens and bio-swales, restored rivers with wet meadows, wetlands constructed for bio-remediation, urban parks, permeable pavements, green roofs etc are proposed for urban areas.

    5) Sustainable and equitable management of groundwater

    • Information on aquifer boundaries, water storage capacities and flows provided in a user-friendly manner to stakeholders, designated as custodians of their aquifers, would enable them to develop protocols for effective management of groundwater.

    6) Rights of Rivers

    • The NWP accords river protection and revitalisation prior and primary importance.
    • Steps to restore river flows include: Re-vegetation of catchments, regulation of groundwater extraction, river-bed pumping and mining of sand and boulders.
    • The NWP outlines a process to draft a Rights of Rivers Act, including their right to flow, to meander and to meet the sea.

    7) Emphasis on water quality

    • The new NWP considers water quality as the most serious un-addressed issue in India today.
    • It proposes that every water ministry, at the Centre and states, include a water quality department.
    • The policy advocates adoption of state-of-the-art, low-cost, low-energy, eco-sensitive technologies for sewage treatment.
    • Widespread use of reverse osmosis has led to huge water wastage and adverse impact on water quality.
    • The policy wants RO units to be discouraged if the total dissolved solids count in water is less than 500mg/L.
    • It suggests a task force on emerging water contaminants to better understand and tackle the threats they are likely to pose.

    8) Reforming governance of water

    • The policy makes radical suggestions for reforming governance of water, which suffers from three kinds issues: That between irrigation and drinking water, surface and groundwater, as also water and wastewater.
    • Government departments, working in silos, have generally dealt with just one side of these binaries.
    • Dealing with drinking water and irrigation in silos has meant that aquifers providing assured sources of drinking water dry up because the same aquifers are used for irrigation, which consumes much more water.
    • And when water and wastewater are separated in planning, the result is a fall in water quality.

    9) Creation of National Water Commission

    • The NWP also suggests the creation of a unified multi-disciplinary, multi-stakeholder National Water Commission (NWC), which would become an exemplar for states to follow.
    • Governments should build enduring partnerships with primary stakeholders of water, who must become an integral part of the NWC and its counterparts in the states.

    Conclusion

    The new National Water Policy calls for multi-disciplinary, multi-stakeholder approach to water management.

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  • Should the NDPS Act be amended?

    • The Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has proposed certain changes to some provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act of 1985.
    • The recommendations have assumed importance in the backdrop of some high-profile drug cases including the recent arrest of Bollywood actor’s son.

    What is NDPS Act?

    • The NDPS Act, 1985 is the principal legislation through which the state regulates the operations of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances.
    • It provides a stringent framework for punishing offenses related to illicit traffic in narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances through imprisonments and forfeiture of property.
    • This is a stringent law where the death penalty can be prescribed for repeat offenders.

    Key amendments suggested

    • To decriminalise the possession of narcotic drugs in smaller quantities for personal purposes.
    • Persons using drugs in smaller quantities be treated as victims.

    Issues with the NDPS Act

    Ans. First arrest and then investigate

    • First arrest and then investigate seems to be the principle for investigations under the NDPS Act.
    • Section 50 of the Act (conditions under which search of persons shall be conducted) needs to be followed scrupulously.
    • When officials stumble upon a person carrying drugs during raids or a routine check, the drugs must be seized in front of a Gazetted Officer or a Magistrate.

    Why such provision?

    • In cases of sudden development, the suspect is taken to the nearby Magistrate or the latter is brought to the spot and then only drugs are seized.
    • If this is not adhered to, the court acquits the accused persons. Only then the next stage of investigation commences.
    • While tracking drugs cases, investigators go from consumers to drug suppliers.

    Is there any scope of mi-use?

    • It is not possible at all. Once cannot manage all the people all the time.
    • Since the seizure procedure is to be followed, there could be one Magistrate at the time of seizing drugs, another during further investigation and a different Magistrate at the time of trial.
    • Moreover, governments can change.

    Challenges in enforcing the NDPS Act

    (a) Peddling

    • Since drug peddling is an organised crime, it is challenging for the police to catch the persons involved from the point of source to the point of destination.
    • Identifying drugs that are being transported is a challenge since we cannot stop each and every vehicle that plies on Indian roads.

    (b) Transportation

    • Most drug bust cases are made possible with specific information leads.
    • Unless we check every vehicle with specially trained sniffer dogs, it is difficult to check narcotic drugs transportation.

    (c) Production

    • The main challenge is to catch those producing these substances. Secret cultivation are mostly carried on in LWE affected areas.
    • Going beyond State jurisdiction, finding the source of narcotic substances and destroying them is another big challenge.

    (d) Delay in trials

    • Securing conviction for the accused in drugs cases is yet another arduous task. There are frequent delays in court procedures.
    • Sometimes, cases do not come up for trial even after two years of having registered them.
    • By then, the accused are out on bail and do not turn up for trial.
    • Bringing them back from their States to trial is quite difficult let alone getting them convicted.

    Other Challenges

    (a) Growing hopelessness in society

    • The COVID-19 pandemic, for instance, has aggravated anxieties among the youth.
    • Joblessness and livelihood losses are the major push factors.

    (b) Issues in rehabilitation

    • The proposal to send persons to rehabilitation centres is good on paper but we do not have the infrastructure to ensure that it is properly implemented.
    • We don’t have adequate de-addiction centre counsellors. We face an acute shortage of psychiatrists and counsellors.

    Issues in legalization of drugs

    • Legalisation of drugs usage will only compound the problem.
    • It could lead to the proliferation of drugs.
    • It is dangerous. More and more people may start using them.

    Way forward

    • We need to thoroughly examine why and how people are getting addicted to narcotic drugs.
    • No doubt the NDPS Act is stringent, but we need to make a distinction between the drug peddler and the end user.
    • The person using it in smaller quantities for personal use cannot be bracketed with the person producing narcotic drugs.
    • We need to make a clear distinction between a drug supplier and an end user.
    • A drug user needs to be seen as a patient. The Act as of now prescribes jail for everyone — the end user and the drug supplier.
    • Instead of suggesting proposals to change sections of the law for the entire country, it would be advisable to introduce this on a pilot basis in one State that faces an acute drugs-related problem.

    Conclusion

    • We should examine the root cause of the problem.
    • Relying only on law-enforcing agencies, however hard they are at work to address the problem, is not going to solve it.
    • Civil society and governments will have to work together to create an enabling environment to address the issue.

     

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  • How Political Parties are registered in India?

    Former Punjab CM has announced that he will be forming his own political party in Punjab ahead of the state assembly elections.

    Registering a Political Party

    • The registration of all political parties is governed by the provisions of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.
    • According to the Election Commission (EC), any party seeking registration has to submit an application to the Commission within a period of 30 days.
    • This is done as per guidelines prescribed by the EC in exercise of the powers conferred by Article 324 of the Constitution and Section 29A of the RP Act, 1951.

    Note: There is no procedure available for de-registration of dormant political parties.

    Process of registration

    • The applicant is asked to publish a proposed party name in two national daily newspapers and two local daily newspapers, and provide two days for submitting objections, if any.
    • The notice for publication is also displayed on the website of the Election Commission.

    Why registering with the EC is important?

    • It is not mandatory to register with the Election Commission.
    • However, registering as a political party with the EC has its advantage in terms of intending to avail itself of the provisions of the RP Act, 1951.
    • The candidates set up by a political party registered with the EC will get preference in the matter of allotment of free symbols vis-à-vis purely independent candidates.
    • More importantly, these registered political parties, over course of time, can get recognition as a ‘state party’ or a ‘national party’.

    How EC recognises a political party as a state or national party?

    For recognition as a NATIONAL PARTY, the conditions specified are:

    1. a 6% vote share in the last Assembly polls in each of any four states, as well as four seats in the last Lok Sabha polls; or
    2. 2% of all Lok Sabha seats in the last such election, with MPs elected from at least three states; or
    3. recognition as a state party in at least four states.

    For recognition as a STATE PARTY, any one of five conditions needs to be satisfied:

    1. two seats plus a 6% vote share in the last Assembly election in that state; or
    2. one seat plus a 6% vote share in the last Lok Sabha election from that state; or
    3. 3% of the total Assembly seats or 3 seats, whichever is more; or
    4. one of every 25 Lok Sabha seats (or an equivalent fraction) from a state; or
    5. an 8% state-wide vote share in either the last Lok Sabha or the last Assembly polls.

    Benefits for recognized parties

    • This is subject to the fulfilment of the conditions prescribed by the Commission in the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968.

    (a) Reserved Sybol

    • If a party is recognised as a ‘state party’, it is entitled for exclusive allotment of its reserved symbol to the candidates set up by it in the state in which it is so recognised. If a party is recognised as a ‘national party’ it is entitled for exclusive allotment of its reserved symbol to the candidates set up by it throughout India.

    (b) Proposer for nomination

    • Recognised ‘state’ and ‘national’ parties need only one proposer for filing the nomination.

    (c) Campaigning benefits

    • They are also entitled for two sets of electoral rolls free of cost and broadcast/telecast facilities over state-owned Akashvani/Doordarshan during the general elections.

     

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  • Religious Conversion and Quota Benefits

    In a retaliatory move, a state minister has alleged about a decorated officer serving in the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), has benefitted from the reservation for Scheduled Castes (SCs) despite being Muslim.

    Do you know?

    If the quota/caste certificate is found to be false, the government servant is be removed or dismissed from the service.  There are many who are arranging EWS quota certificates based on forged evidences. Beware.

    Quota and religion

    • The Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950, lays down that no person professing a religion different from the Hindu or Sikh or Buddhist religion can be deemed to be a member of an SC.
    • However, this provision has been amended several times.
    • The original order under which only Hindus were classified as SCs, was amended to include Sikhs in 1956, and Buddhists in 1990.

    Rules of Religion in eligibility for the SC Quota

    • There is a 15 per cent quota for SCs in government jobs.
    • But Hindu SCs who convert to Islam lose their SC status, and are no longer eligible for the quota.

    A brochure on the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), site lays down the position on SC status and conversions:

    1. A person shall be held to be a member of a SC or ST if he belongs to a caste, or a tribe which has been declared as such.
    2. No person who professes a religion different from the Hindu or the Sikh religion shall be deemed to be a member of the SCs.
    3. Further a person belonging to a SC or ST will continue to be deemed as such irrespective of his/her marriage to a non-Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe.
    4. However, a convert or re-convert to Hinduism and Sikhism shall be accepted as a member of SC if he has been received back and accepted as a member of the concerned SC.
    5. No such religion-based bar, however, operates for STs and Other Backward Classes (OBCs).

    What about STs?

    • The rights of a person belonging to a Scheduled Tribe are independent of his/her religious faith.

    Is the exclusion of Muslims and Christians discriminatory?

    • Petitions have been filed in the Supreme Court seeking the inclusion of Muslims and Christians in the SC category.
    • In 2008, the National Commission on Minorities concluded that there was a case for inclusion Dalit Christians and Dalit Muslims in the SC category.
    • In January 2020, the SC agreed to examine a plea by the National Council of Dalit Christians to make the government’s affirmative action programmes religion-neutral.
    • The plea is pending before the court.

    In inter-caste marriages, can mother’s caste be the caste of the couple’s child?

    • The child carries the caste of the father, and caste certificates are issued on this basis.
    • However, courts have taken note of the surroundings in which the child was brought up.
    • In Rameshbhai Dabhai Naika vs State of Gujarat & Ors (2012), the Supreme Court has set a precedence.
    • In an inter-caste marriage or a marriage between a tribal and a non-tribal there may be a presumption that the child has the caste of the father.
    • This presumption may be stronger in the case where husband belongs to a forward caste.
    • In 2006, then Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment has proposed that children born of inter-caste marriages should get SC status if either parent belongs to a SC.

    Govt. stance on this

    • In 2006, then Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment has proposed that children born of inter-caste marriages should get SC status if either parent belongs to a SC.
    • A proposal was to be placed before the Cabinet in April 2008, but was withdrawn at the last minute.
    • There was resistance to the suggestion from many quarters, including the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC).

     

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