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[Sansad TV] Perspective: Legalizing Same-Sex Marriage
Context
- The Supreme Court has issued notice to the Centre Govt on a plea by two gay couples seeking recognition of same-sex marriage under the Special Marriage Act, 1954.
- The petition drew on earlier landmark rulings including one declaring privacy a fundamental right and another that decriminalized gay sex in 2018.
- Centre has to now file its response on this matter before the Supreme Court in four weeks.
What is Same-Sex Marriage?
- Same-sex marriage is marriage between partners of the same sex and/or gender identity.
- For example, a marriage between two men or two women.
- In the west, it is considered a civil partnership as a legally registered relationship which offers same sex couples rights similar to those of married couples of the opposite sex.
Judicial basis for same-sex marriage: Decriminalization of IPC section 377
Ans. Navtej Singh Johar & Ors. V. Union of India (2018)
- In this landmark verdict, the Supreme Court today scrapped the controversial Section 377– a 158-year-old colonial law on consensual gay sex.
- Section 377, which is part of an IPC 1861, banned “carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal” — which was interpreted to refer to homosexual sex.
- The Supreme Court reversed its own decision and said Sectuion 377 is irrational and arbitrary.
- The judgment was delivered by a Bench of Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra and Justices Rohinton Nariman, AM Khanwilkar, DY Chandrachud and Indu Malhotra.
Centre’s earlier stance
- Directly opposed: In 2021 central Government had opposed same sex marriage in Delhi High Court citing it against the provisions of the Special Marriage Act, 1954.
- Considers biological gender: It stated that a marriage in India can be recognised only if it’s between a biological man and biological woman capable of producing progeny.
- Societal morality clause: In its argument then Central govt had also said that considerations of “societal morality” are relevant in considering the validity of a law.
- Claiming responsibility: It argued that, it is for the Legislature to enforce such societal morality and public acceptance based upon Indian ethos.
Reasons behind centre’s opposition
- Legal revamp required: The registration of marriage of same-sex persons also results in a violation of existing personal as well as codified law provisions — such as ‘degrees of prohibited relationship’; ‘conditions of marriage’; ‘ceremonial and ritual requirements’ under the personal laws governing the individuals”.
- Definition of spouse: In a same-sex marriage, it is neither possible nor feasible to term one as ‘husband’ and the other as ‘wife’ in the context of the legislative scheme of various personal laws.
- Against cultural norms: The social order in our Country is religion based which views procreation as an obligation for the execution of various religious ceremonies.
- Property and other civil rights: Property rights post marriage is a much contested issues in India. Same sex marriage will not create any immunity for the law but increase complex interpretations.
Issues with such marriages
The issue of homosexual conduct to this fore in recent legal and political debate for main reasons, which are as follows:
- Morality: This has brought with it a change in social attitudes, so that the stigma attached to the homosexuality has to a greater extent disappeared.
- Rising activism: Campaigns for lesbian and gay rights taken on an increasingly radical character, arguing for an end to all forms of discrimination against homosexuality.
- Religious sanctions: Same sex acts are punishable by death in Arab countries. No religion openly embraces same sex marriage. More or less, they are considered un-natural everywhere.
- Social stigma: Apart from the harsh legal scenario, homosexuals face social stigma as well. Same sex marriages are still unimaginable as any instance of sexual relations between a couple of the same sex draws hatred and disgust.
- Patriarchy: It must not be forgotten that the Indian society is patriarchal in nature and the fact that certain women and men have different choices, which is not sanctioned by the ‘order’, frightens them in a way.
- Burden of collectivity: Our society is very community oriented and individualism is not encouraged in the least, any expression of homosexuality is seen as an attempt to renounce tradition and promote individualism.
Arguments in favor
- Pursuit of happiness: Homosexuality is not an offence, it is just a way of pursuit of happiness, a way to achieve sexual happiness or desire.
- Right to privacy: The fundamental right to liberty (under Article-21) prohibits the state from interfering with the private personal activities of the individual.
- Arbitrariness: Infringement of, the right to equal protection before law requires the determination of whether there is a rational and objective basis to the classification introduced.
- Issues with definition: Section-377 assumes that natural sexual act is that which is performed for procreation. Hence, it thereby labels all forms of non-procreative sexual act as unnatural.
- Discrimination: Section-377 discriminates on the basis of sexual orientation which is forbidden under Article-15 of the Constitution. Article-15 prohibits discrimination on several grounds, which includes Sex.
- Human rights: The universal law of Human Rights states that social norms, tradition, custom or culture cannot be used to curb a person from asserting his fundamental and constitutional rights.
- Many countries recognizing: According to global think tank Council of Foreign Relations, same sex marriages are legal in at least 30 countries, including the United States, Australia, Canada and France.
Way forward
- Dissociating from religion: Such marriages are forbidden in almost every religion. Hence no single religion should be considered a hindrance in creating a legal sanction.
- Doing away with discrimination: The same-sex community needs an anti-discrimination law that empowers them to build productive lives and relationships irrespective of gender identity.
- Letting the society evolve: The society has to imbibe the doctrine of progressive realization of rights and it cannot be forcibly convinced by law.
- Creating awareness: Certainly this is not an overnight phenomenon. We are society where practice of Sati and Nikah halala was considered a religious order.
Conclusion
- What should be the right approach to deal with same sex marriages, the issues are quite vast and complex.
- However, the desirability and feasibility of such an approach remain to be ascertained.
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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:
- Population Register prepared under the Citizenship Act, 1955;
- Electoral registers or electoral rolls prepared under the Representation of the People Act, 1951
- Aadhaar database prepared under the Aadhaar Act, 2016;
- Ration card database prepared under the National Food Security Act, 2013;
- Passport database prepared under the Passport Act; and
- Driving licence database under the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act, 2019, and
- 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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What are Sacred Grooves?
This newscard is an excerpt from the original article published in the Sunday edition of TH.
What are Sacred Grooves?
- Sacred groves of India are forest fragments of varying sizes, which are communally protected, and which usually have a significant religious connotation for the protecting community.
- It usually consists of a dense cover of vegetation including climbers, herbs, shrubs and trees, with the presence of a village deity and is mostly situated near a perennial water source.
- Sacred groves are considered to be symbols of the primitive practice of nature worship and support nature conservation to a great extent.
- The introduction of the protected area category community reserves under the Wild Life (Protection) Amendment Act, 2002 has introduced legislation for providing government protection to community-held lands, which could include sacred groves.
Historical references
- Indian sacred groves are often associated with temples, monasteries, shrines, pilgrimage sites, or with burial grounds.
- Historically, sacred groves find their mentions in Hindu, Jain and Buddhist texts, from sacred tree groves in Hinduism to sacred deer parks in Buddhism for example.
- Sacred groves may be loosely used to refer to natural habitat protected on religious grounds.
- Other historical references to sacred groves can be obtained in Vrukshayurveda an ancient treatise, ancient classics such as Kalidasa’s Vikramuurvashiiya.
- There has been a growing interest in creating green patches such as Nakshatravana
Regulation of activities in Sacred Grooves
- Hunting and logging are usually strictly prohibited within these patches.
- Other forms of forest usage like honey collection and deadwood collection are sometimes allowed on a sustainable basis.
- NGOs work with local villagers to protect such groves.
- Traditionally, and in some cases even today, members of the community take turns to protect the grove.
Threats to such grooves
- Threats to the groves include urbanization, and over-exploitation of resources.
- While many of the groves are looked upon as abode of Hindu deities, in the recent past a number of them have been partially cleared for construction of shrines and temples.
Total grooves in India
- Around 14,000 sacred groves have been reported from all over India, which act as reservoirs of rare fauna, and more often rare flora, amid rural and even urban settings.
- Experts believe that the total number of sacred groves could be as high as 100,000.
- They are called by different names in different states:
- Sarna in Bihar
- Dev Van in Himachal Pradesh
- Devarakadu in Karnataka
- Kavu in Kerala
- Dev in Madhya Pradesh
- Devarahati or Devarai in Maharashtra
- Lai Umang in Maharashtra
- Law Kyntang or Asong Khosi in Meghalaya
- Oran in Rajasthan
- Kovil Kadu or Sarpa Kavu in Tamil Nadu
What lies ahead?
- The groves have great research value in in situ conservation of rare, endangered and threatened plant species.
- It is high time that public awareness is created about the importance of these sacred groves, developmental activities are banned and the felling of trees or removal of any other vegetation is completely stopped.
- This is possible only by way of enacting a special law for the protection and management of sacred groves.
- As the management practices and other rituals vary from state to state, the concerned state governments may promulgate such an act as suitable for the state.
- The idea should be to protect certain rare, endangered and threatened plant species in the era of global warming and climate change.
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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.
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.
A 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.
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Darjeeling Tea Industry in Crisis
Tea Board officials admitted that Indian tea had not been able to establish itself globally, and that one of its key brands, Darjeeling Tea, was under acute stress.
About Darjeeling Tea
- Darjeeling Tea, called the ‘Champagne of Teas’, was the first Indian product to get the GI (Geographical Identification) tag in 2004 for its distinctive aroma and flavour.
- About 87 gardens in Darjeeling which employ about 55,000 workers produce approximately 7 million kg of tea, most of which is exported.
Why is it under distress?
- Garden owners are reeling under higher costs of production and other issues.
- Inferior quality tea from Nepal is being imported, and then sold and re-exported as premium Darjeeling Tea.
- Nepal shares similar climatic conditions and terrain, produces tea at a lower price because of less input costs, particularly labour, and fewer quality checks.
- In 2017, the production of Darjeeling Tea hit a low of 3.21 million kg. Since a substantial market of Darjeeling Tea switched to cheaper varieties of tea, including the imported variety from Nepal.
- Tea planters and industry experts admit that the tea industry in Darjeeling has not recovered from the damage it incurred in 2017.
Is climate change impacting production?
- The decline in production is due to multiple factors, which include climate change, declining yields, and high absenteeism among workers.
- Because of the hilly terrain of Darjeeling, there is no land left for expansion of tea gardens.
- The tea bushes are older than other parts of the country.
- Uprooting and planting them is both time and cost-intensive.
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Places in news: Shiveluch Volcano
The Shiveluch volcano on the Kamchatka Peninsula in the Russian Far East has increased its activity and is now in danger of erupting violently.
About Shiveluch
- Shiveluch is one of the largest and most active volcanoes in Kamchatka, having erupted at least 60 times in the past 10,000 years.
- Kamchatka is home to 29 active volcanoes, part of a vast belt of Earth known as the “Ring of Fire” which circles the Pacific Ocean and is prone to eruptions and frequent earthquakes.
- It has two main parts: Old Shiveluch, which tops 3,283 metres (10,771 ft), and Young Shiveluch – a smaller, 2,800-metre peak protruding from its side.
- Young Shiveluch lies within an ancient caldera – a large crater-like basin that likely formed when the older part underwent a catastrophic eruption at least 10,000 years ago.
- It is this part that has become extremely active; the lava dome continues to grow and that stronger “fumarole activity” has been observed.
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Who was Srimanta Sankardeva?
‘Gurujana’ a musical tribute to 15th–16th century Assamese polymath Srimanta Sankardeva was recently released by the PIB.
Srimanta Sankardeva (1449–1568)
- Sankardeva was a 15th–16th century Assamese polymath; a saint-scholar, poet, playwright, dancer, actor, musician, artist social-religious reformer and a figure of importance.
- He is widely credited with building on past cultural relics and devising-
- New forms of music (Borgeet)
- Theatrical performance (Ankia Naat, Bhaona),
- Dance (Sattriya)
- Literary language (Brajavali)
Literary works
- He has left extensive literary trans-created scriptures (Bhagavat of Sankardev), poetry and theological works written in Sanskrit, Assamese and Brajavali.
Political influence
- The Bhagavatic religious movement he started, Ekasarana Dharma and also called the Neo-Vaishnavite movement, influenced two medieval kingdoms – Koch and the Ahom kingdom.
- His influence spread even to some kingdoms as the Matak Kingdom founded by Bharat Singha, and consolidated by Sarbananda Singha in the latter 18th century endorsed his teachings.
- The assembly of devotees he initiated evolved over time into monastic centers called Sattras, which continue to be important socio-religious institutions in Assam and to a lesser extent in North Bengal even today.
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800 subscribers in just 5 days: 500+ answers, 100+ conversations| CD Warzone is on fire | Join CD War Zone
CD war zone is an initiative started by Civils daily IAS, it is a community where we are collectively writing answers on a daily basis, apart from doing various other productive activities, like doing Daily Check-in, making timetables, discussing current affairs and likewise.
Why CD War zone?
1) Primarily because of Daily Answer Writing, we call it Daily Answer wars. Here we give you one question daily early in the morning, after that Aspirants submit their Answers, Aspirants get to Peer review each other answers as well. In the evening our mentor comes with the feedback of the answer.
Join the telegram group here : https://t.me/cdwarzone
Why are we writing only one answer?
(https://www.civilsdaily.com/cd-warzone-daily-answer-writing-for-upsc-mains/)
2) Aspirants get to make “War Notes”, these War notes will help you with UPSC Mains Preparation.
3) Aspirants become a part of a Close- knit community, who are disciplined and motivated enough to prepare for UPSC CSE exam.
4) Active mentors of Civilsdaily who are there to solve your UPSC related queries.
Here is how we start the day
Daily Check-in
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Night owl discussions
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Escape the Snooze Mode In Your UPSC Preparation | FREE Samanvaya mentorship form released
UPSC CSE is a hard nut to crack. Nowadays, due to easy access to UPSC toppers and self-professed gurus (all thanks to YouTube), even most of beginners ‘supposedly’ know what it takes to clear UPSC still, not every UPSC aspirant can reach LBSNAA.
We talked to 10000+ aspirants in the last couple of years and mentored over 5000, and it became clear to us that 99.99% of failed candidates get preyed on their self-complacency.
Self-complacency breeds inconsistency!
Most of them think that 1) revising PYQs 2) Revision of textbooks and 3) Solving mock test series are the primary weapon to penetrate UPSC Prelims. At the end of the Prelims exam, they realize their mistakes. UPSC prelims exam is the first phase but not the simplest one. Toppers say, “Prelims is enough to kill your IAS dream”.
Reading books, and newspapers, making notes, taking classes, and attempting mock tests are the most important psychological factors for the exam. But, a lack of consistency & mentor guidance it’s a deadly setback.
Most of the aspirants are always in ‘snooze mode’
Inconsistency in UPSC preparation is like getting up at 5 am. A night before you set up your alarm. The motivation to get up is high at this point. But in the morning, when the alarm rings, we swipe it to the right with a thought “IN 5 MINUTES…FOR SURE!!”. This snooze cycle usually continues for some time till we realize it is 8 am. Already a bad start to the day! To add to it, you will spend the whole day repenting for not being able to get up early, instead of focusing on the time you have. The same goes for UPSC preparation. You set your targets but one slight glitch and your whole preparation go off track. Till the time you yourself realize this mismanagement, it is a bit too late. Anxiety builds up, and performance levels fall. You are not able to achieve even 10% OF YOUR TRUE POTENTIAL on D-day.
WE ASKED 10000+ STUDENTS ONE SIMPLE QUESTION –
“WHAT IS THE BIGGEST OBSTACLE THAT YOU ARE FACING IN YOUR UPSC PREPARATION?”
YOU WILL BE ASTOUNDED THAT ONE ANSWER WAS COMMON IN REPLIES – INCONSISTENCY.
They are Consistently Inconsistent. Meaning, they go through these highs and lows in their preparation. They are able to study for days or a week but they hit a sudden gap in preparation. Then, they find it very hard to come back. The good news is that we have the solution.
Our philosophy behind MENTORSHIP is to get you out of this Snooze cycle. This ensures that you are the BEST VERSION of yourself in this journey. If you are under the impression that mentorship is weekly calls you attend, then you are mistaken, my friend. Trust us, your mentor will be your ‘FRIEND, PHILOSOPHER, AND GUIDE’.
What The Hindu mentioned about Civilsdaily Mentorship
The Hindu has acknowledged the success rate of CD’s Smash mains Mentorship 
CD’s FREE Mentorship fulfills the IAS dreams of thousands
How Mentorship can fight inconsistency in preparation?
TO EACH THEIR OWN – Every aspirant is different. Their strengths and weaknesses are different. Their time availability is also different. Identifying this is important so you don’t end up making unrealistic targets and lose momentum. Your mentor will make sure you start slow but remain consistent to build your confidence. Making your schedule structured based on our experience of working with 2500+ students is our first priority.
Tavishi failed thrice in the Prelims before but after joining CD’s mentorship cleared Prelim 2022 on her 4th attempt. TRACK YOUR PROGRESS – When you see yourself grow, it becomes easier to motivate yourself to push boundaries. Tracking your progress can happen in many ways like mentorship calls or chat sessions or regular tests. The idea is to ensure that you don’t go off track in your preparation, and even if you do, we have your back.
EVOLUTION – Constant guidance is important to bring consistency to your UPSC preparation. Guidance is not about clearing your doubts or asking you to study when you don’t. It is also about the evolution of your preparation. This is where you and your mentor work as a team. A constant effort to PLAN AND BUILD UP YOUR ABILITY to learn in a faster and more efficient way.
TALK IT OUT – The biggest hurdle in achieving your highest level of consistency is the emotional part. Every now and then, you. surround yourself with negative thoughts, you feel scared and depressed. Instead of resolving these emotional issues, you avoid them as it seems like a waste of your precious time. You have to understand that ignoring emotional troubles does not solve them. What your doing is building an emotional time bomb that may burst a week before your mains or prelims! This is where your MENTOR AS A FRIEND comes in. All our mentors have been through this journey. We understand your fears and anxieties. So, TALK IT OUT.
Don’t let inconsistency keep you away from your dreams.
Fill up the SAMANVAYA form given below. Let us know your problems and we will find a solution to them, just like our students say ” TOGETHER WE CAN AND WE WILL”.
