As complicated as it may appear, the UPSC Civil services exam is more about carrying nerves. It’s also about maintaining discipline for the time being and till you succeed. Nor the subjects are esoteric or unheard of. But the character for one to be able to sacrifice the beauty called life and family is rare. Your stay in the game with the zeal to come out winning is very important.
Philosophy aside, but keeping the practical elements in mind, let’s dig a little deeper. Also, find out what it takes for one to jump that threshold and what our toppers have said. Why have they not been able to clear earlier and what changes have they made to succeed?. These are the most sought-after info and are available on the internet. But from an individual’s perspective, one can not ignore his/her inconclusiveness due to lack of a distinct plan or direction.
Hence, we are coming up with an open session. To counter myths and give some facts which will help you see the light on the other side of the tunnel about the exam.
In this open session, we are going to give a clear insight which is important for one to save time, energy, and effort. Which might otherwise be getting wasted in the wrong direction? This is important because for an individual the first year is the year with maximum energy, expectation from self, go-getter attitude, etc..
We tend to get lost in the sea of advice and sources of studies. To save one from such torrents of information, it’s sometimes said that we need to better know “what not to follow than what to follow”.
Anyways such hypotheses aside, your time in this open session is going to be full of interaction. Some previous year aspirants are also expected to be present. We do expect that all your confusion about the exam will get clear.
Attendees can expect some takeaways too in the form of softcopies relevant to the exam. They will be available to you via email once you have done the registration for the open session.
In this webinar, Ajay Verma, Mentor Head at Civilsdaily will give you an overview:
– What UPSC expects out of you?
– Avoiding Mistakes that can cost you an attempt?
– What to do to master the IAS-Exam?
– How to clear the exam -Step-by-Step learning plan?
– An interactive Q&A session with Current Students at Civilsdaily
– How to clear the exam on the very first attempt?
– Important Civilsdaily softcopies takeaway for exam preparation.
A quick bit about Ajay :
Ajay has firsthand experience with 6 Mains and 3 interviews of UPSC. He has gathered experience working as Mentor-Head at CivilsDaily for the past 3 Yrs and helped many cross the threshold.
Q: Would you say that implementation of the Panchayati system has led to a real restructuring of the Indian polity? (15)
Q: ‘Although District planning committees and Metropolitan planning committees have been provided, those remain mostly on paper.’ Comment. (10)
Try these Prelims Questions :
Q1. The fundamental object of the Panchayati Raj system is to ensure which among the following?
People’s participation in development
Political accountability
Democratic decentralization
Financial mobilization
Select the correct answer using the code given below
(a) 1, 2, and 3 only
(b) 2 and 4 only
(c) 1 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2, 3 and 4
Q2. The Government enacted the Panchayat Extension to Scheduled Areas (PESA) Act in 1996. Which one of the following is not identified as its objective?
(1) To provide self-governance
(2) To recognize traditional rights
(3) To create autonomous regions in tribal areas
(4) To free tribal people from exploitation
Which of the above statements are true?
A. 1,2 and 3
B. 2,3 and 4
C. 1,2 and 4
D. all of above
Q3. Consider the following statements:
1. MGNREGA has in-built provisions for social audit
2. Any resident of a panchayat can do a social audit who is part of the gram sabha.
3. CAG conducts accounting and audit of PRIs by the 73rd amendment of the constitution.
Which of the above statements is/are correct regarding social audits in India?
A 1 and 2 only
B 2 and 3 only
C 1 and 3 only
D 1, 2 and 3
Q4. Which the following statements is/are correct with regards to District Planning Committee?
1. It is provided by the 74th Constitutional Amendment Act. 2. It consolidates the plan prepared by the Panchayats and Municipalities of the district. 3. All its members are elected by the elected members of the Panchayats and Municipalities from amongst themselves.
Select the correct answer from the codes given below:
A 1 and 2 only
B 2 only
C 1 and 3 only
D 3 only
Q5. Consider the following statements about State Election Commission?
1. The State Election Commissioner shall be appointed by the Governor of the State.
2. The State Election Commission shall have the power of even preparing the electoral rolls besides the power of superintendence, direction, and control of election to the panchayats.
3. The State Election Commissioner cannot be removed in any manner from his office until he demits himself or completes his tenure.
Which of the above statements is/are correct?
(a) 1, 2 and 3
(b) 1 and 2 only
(c) 2 and 3 only
(d) 1 only
Q6. Which of the following statements are correct regarding Cantonment Boards?
1. A cantonment board is established for municipal administration of defense personnel residing in civilian areas. 2. The executive officer of the cantonment board belongs to Central Cadre. 3. A cantonment board is created by the State Government but administered by the Central government on grounds of national security.
Select the correct answer from the codes given below:
A 1 and 2 only
B 2 only
C 1 and 3 only
D 3 only
Sukanya madam’s video would be out at 7:00 PM and Santosh sir would provide the video at 9:00 PM.
Watch this space for more updates exclusively for you.
The introduction of Covid-19 vaccines has opened up opportunities to help revive travel. However, it is important to carefully design policies that help revive travel demand.
Vaccine certificates
Many countries like China and Israel have introduced vaccine certificates that ease the process of entering and travelling across the destination country for vaccinated travellers.
Can encourage discriminatory treatment: Though these certificates can ensure trade facilitation, they can potentially act as a trade barrier if they encourage discriminatory treatment.
The recent and the most contentious issue in this regard is the European Union’s “Green Pass” scheme.
Issues with European Union’s Green Pass
Through this vaccine certificate, the European Commission intends to remove travel restrictions such as entry bans, quarantine obligations and testing.
Only 4 vaccines listed: The EU has listed only four vaccines approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) for the pass: Pfizer-BioNTech’s Comirnaty, Moderna’s Spikevax, Oxford-AstraZeneca Vaxzevria and Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen.
It makes travellers from countries administering alternate vaccines ineligible for certification.
When it was launched, the policy did not even allow AstraZeneca’s Indian-manufactured vaccine, Covishield.
Against COVAX policy: This goes against the policy of COVAX, which has categorically stated that such measures would effectively create a two-tier system and would negatively impact the growth of economies that are already suffering the most.
Discriminatory against low-income countries: Vaccine doses administered per 100 people is 1.4 for low-income countries as compared to 93.2 for high-income countries.
This makes travellers from low-income countries ineligible to avail these certificates.
As per estimates based on information from the WHO, countries not administering any of the EMA-approved vaccines account for at least 14 per cent of the vaccinated population.
These lie mostly in low and middle-income countries, including India.
Harms domestic sector: Nationals from many of these countries also serve in the hospitality industries in countries across the world, including Europe.
With this exclusion criteria, an indirect cost burden is put on their domestic service sectors that are already reeling due to the pandemic.
Against globalisation policy: With such discriminatory intervention, the EU policy does not go well with the globalisation policy of collective welfare.
Steps to boost vaccine production
Covid vaccine makers across the world have created a platform, led by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, to connect with key raw material suppliers needed for boosting production.
In a recent declaration, WTO members have agreed to review and eliminate unnecessary existing export restrictions on essential medical goods needed to combat the pandemic.
Way forward
Cooperate on vaccine production: To achieve the desired goal, countries need to cooperate on vaccine production to accelerate the global vaccination process.
Remove restrictions and trade barriers: Accelerating global vaccine production makes lifting trade barriers on raw materials for vaccine production critical.
The two relevant bodies, WHO and WTO, should also work together to sort out selective criteria for international movement.
Conclusion
Developed countries should refrain from discriminatory international travel policies against low-income countries and focus on increasing vaccine production to close the vaccination gap at the global level.
National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) stayed the approval granted by the Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) to the resolution plan for the Videocon Group.
Concerns with resolution plan
Resolution plan submitted by Twinstar Technologies, provided for payment of Rs 2,962 crore — a mere 4.15 per cent of Videocon’s total admitted debt of Rs 64,838 crore.
Payment of debt not in fair and equitable manner: Under the IBC (Section 30(2)(b)), the resolution plan must provide for payment of debts amongst creditors in a “fair and equitable” manner.
However, in the plan submitted by Twinstar, unsecured assenting financial creditors and operational creditors are getting a paltry 0.62 per cent and 0.72 per cent of their admitted dues.
Even the secured assenting and dissenting financial creditors had to settle for only 4.9 per cent and 4.56 per cent of their respective dues.
Confidentiality obligation concerns: Twinstar’s bid of Rs 2,962 crore is close to the liquidation value of the Videocon Group estimated at Rs 2,568 crore, thereby raising legitimate suspicion and concern over the confidentiality of the resolution process.
The I&B Regulations, 2016 state that the resolution professional must maintain the confidentiality of the fair market value and liquidation value of the corporate debtor and can only disclose the same to the CoC members after the resolutions plan have been submitted.
Time delay: Status-quo ante has been restored until the next date of hearing by which time more than three years would have passed since the Videocon group was admitted into insolvency proceedings.
This is way beyond the statutory timeline of 330 days.
Confidentiality rules need to be revised
The CoC members must, on receipt of the information, issue an undertaking of confidentiality.
But no such obligation falls on the resolution professional.
Further, Section 29(2) of the code provides that the resolution professional must disclose all “relevant information” to the resolution applicant and it is for the resolution applicant to ensure compliance with confidentiality obligations.
Again, there is no such duty imposed on the resolution professional.
Even under Section 25 of the code, titled “Duties of resolution professional”, the specific duty to maintain confidentiality of sensitive information is absent.
Clearly, the current regime does not have much deterrence value so as to ensure solemn adherence to confidentiality.
Conclusion
Videocon was one of the first test cases to examine the prospects of insolvency jurisprudence in India and the first one, for group insolvency proceedings. However, almost four years and a 95 per cent haircut later, the call for an immediate course correction couldn’t be louder.
Back2Basics: Operational creditor and financial creditors
When a corporate defaulter is brought under the resolution process (Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process or CIRP), there can be two types of creditors to whom the corporate should give back money –
(1) the entities who gave loans or funds to the corporate.
(2) the entities from whom the corporate bought inputs and other services.
The financial creditors are basically entities (lenders like banks) that have provided funds to the corporate.
Their relationship with the entity is a pure financial contract, such as a loan or debt security.
On the other hand, business and other entities that have provided inputs and other materials and services and to whom the defaulted corporate owes a debt are called as operational creditors.
Both have claims on the defaulted corporate or the defaulted corporate owe payments to both these categories.
Rights for these categories under the resolution process are also different.
The IBC gives a clear preference to the claims of the financial creditors over the operational creditors through several procedures.
Haircut
A haircut is the difference between the loan amount and the actual value of the asset used as collateral.
It reflects the lender’s perception of the risk of fall in the value of assets.
But in the context of loan recoveries, it is the difference between the actual dues from a borrower and the amount he settles with the bank.
A proposal to revise the criteria for defining the “creamy layer” among OBCs has been pending for years, and MPs have raised the issue during the ongoing Monsoon Session of Parliament.
What is the Creamy Layer?
Creamy Layer is a concept that sets a threshold within which OBC reservation benefits are applicable.
While there is a 27% quota for OBCs in government jobs and higher educational institutions, those falling within the “creamy layer” cannot get the benefits of this quota.
Basis of Creamy Layer
It is based on the recommendation of the Second Backward Classes Commission (Mandal Commission).
The government in 1990 had notified 27% reservation for Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEBCs) in vacancies in civil posts and services that are to be filled on direct recruitment.
After this was challenged, the Supreme Court in the Indira Sawhney case (1992) upheld 27% reservation for OBCs, subject to exclusion of the creamy layer.
How is it determined?
Following the order in Indra Sawhney, an expert committee headed by Justice (retired) R N Prasad was constituted for fixing the criteria for determining the creamy layer.
In 1993, the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) listed out various categories of people of certain rank/status/income whose children cannot avail the benefit of OBC reservation.
For those not in government, the current threshold is an income of Rs 8 lakh per year.
For children of government employees, the threshold is based on their parents’ rank and not income.
For instance, an individual is considered to fall within the creamy layer if either of his or her parents is in a constitutional post; if either parent has been directly recruited in Group-A; or if both parents are in Group-B services.
If the parents enter Group-A through promotion before the age of 40, their children will be in the creamy layer.
Children of a Colonel or higher-ranked officer in the Army, and children of officers of similar ranks in the Navy and Air Force, too, come under the creamy layer.
Income from salaries or agricultural land is not clubbed while determining the creamy layer (2004).
What is happening now?
MPs have raised questions about the pending proposal for revising the criteria.
They have asked whether the provision of a creamy layer for government services only for OBC candidates is rational and justified.
Has it ever been revised?
Other than the income limit, the current definition of the creamy layer remains the same as the DoPT had spelled out in 1993 and 2004.
The income limit has been revised over the years.
No other orders for the definition of the creamy layer have been issued.
While the DoPT had stipulated that it would be revised every three years, the first revision since 1993 (Rs 1 lakh per year) happened only in 2004 (Rs 2.50 lakh), 2008 (Rs 4.50 lakh), 2013 (Rs 6 lakh), and 2017 (Rs 8 lakh).
It is now more than three years since the last revision.
What does the government propose to do about the revision?
A draft Cabinet note has stated that the creamy layer will be determined on all income, including salary calculated for income tax, but not agriculture income.
The government is considering a consensus on Rs 12 lakh but salary and agriculture income are also being added to the gross annual income.
A conceptual audit of questions related to geopolitics and security concerns while talking or thinking about the Himalaya is perhaps long overdue.
About the Himalayas
The Himalayas are a mountain range in South and East Asia separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau.
The range has many of Earth’s highest peaks, including the highest, Mount Everest, at the border between Nepal and China.
Lifted by the subduction of the Indian tectonic plate under the Eurasian Plate, the Himalayan Mountain range runs west-northwest to east-southeast in an arc 2,400 km.
It consists of parallel mountain ranges: the Sivalik Hills on the south; the Lower Himalayan Range; the Great Himalayas, which is the highest and central range; and the Tibetan Himalayas on the north.
The Karakoram are generally considered separate from the Himalayas.
Identity of Himalayas: Only as a frontier
We have been examining the Himalaya mainly through the coordinates of geopolitics and security while relegating others as either irrelevant or incompatible.
In a certain sense, our intellectual concerns over the Himalaya have been largely shaped by the assumption of fear, suspicion, rivalry, invasion, encroachment and pugnacity.
If during colonial times it was Russophobia, then now it is Sinophobia or Pakistan phobia that in fact determines our concerns over the Himalayas.
Ironically it is the Delhi-Beijing-Islamabad triad, and not the mountain per se, that defines our concerns about the Himalayas.
A national Himalaya
Border issues has given birth to the political compulsion of territorializing the Himalaya on a par with the imperatives of nationalism.
Thus the attempt to create a national Himalaya by each of the five nations (Nepal, Bhutan, India, Pakistan, and Tibet/China) fall within this transnational landmass called the Himalaya.
India and the Himalayas
India’s understanding of the Himalayas is informed by a certain kind of realism, as it continues to remain as space largely defined in terms of sovereign territoriality.
It may be perceived that such an alternative conceptualization of Himalayas is not only possible but also necessary.
Various initiatives
National Mission on Himalayan Studies: It is a classic case in point that provides funds for research and technological innovations, but creating policies only for the Indian Himalayan Region (IHR).
A historical logjam of territorialization
The Himalayas territorialization bears a colonial legacy which also sets up its post-colonial destiny as played out within the dynamics of nation-states.
The arbitration of relationships between and among the five nation-states falling within the Himalayan landmass has failed to transcend.
The lines of peoplehood and the national border never coincided; thus, it was bound to give birth to tensions while working out projects predicated upon national sovereignty.
Given this historical logjam, what we can only expect is the escalation of territorial disputes as the immediate fallout.
Borders and their differences
It needs to be recognized that political borders and cultural borders are not the same things.
Political borders are to be considered as space-making strategies of modern nation-states that do not necessarily coincide with cultural borders.
It needs to be realized that the domain of non-traditional security (cases of ecological devastation, climate change) is equally important.
Conclusion
The Himalaya is a naturally evolved phenomenon should be understood through frameworks that have grown from within the Himalaya.
Viewing the Himalayas as a space of political power is a violent choice, which actually enriched ultra-sensitivity towards territorial claims and border management.
Indian astronomers have found a theoretical explanation for the existence of the Near-Surface Shear Layer (NSSL) of the Sun for the first time.
What is a Near-Surface Shear Layer?
It was long known the Sun’s equator spins faster than the poles.
However, a peek into the internal rotation of the Sun using sound waves revealed the existence of an intriguing layer where the rotation profile of the Sun changes sharply.
The layer is called as a near-surface shear layer (NSSL), and it exists very close to the solar surface, where there is an outward decrease in angular velocity.
What have researchers found?
They have used an equation called the thermal wind balance equation to explain how the slight difference in temperature between solar poles and equator, called thermal wind term.
It is balanced by the centrifugal force appearing due to solar differential rotation.
They have noted that if this condition is true near the solar surface, it can explain the existence of NSSL, which is inferred in helioseismology (technique of using sound waves to peek inside the Sun) based observation.
Why study NSSL?
Understanding NSSL is crucial for the study of several solar phenomena like sunspot formation, solar cycle, and it will also help in understanding such phenomena in other stars.
As complicated as it may appear, the UPSC Civil services exam is more about carrying nerves. It’s also about maintaining discipline for the time being and till you succeed. Nor the subjects are esoteric or unheard of. But the character for one to be able to sacrifice the beauty called life and family is rare. Your stay in the game with the zeal to come out winning is very important.
Philosophy aside, but keeping the practical elements in mind, let’s dig a little deeper. Also, find out what it takes for one to jump that threshold and what our toppers have said. Why have they not been able to clear earlier and what changes have they made to succeed?. These are the most sought-after info and are available on the internet. But from an individual’s perspective, one can not ignore his/her inconclusiveness due to lack of a distinct plan or direction.
Hence, we are coming up with an open session. To counter myths and give some facts which will help you see the light on the other side of the tunnel about the exam.
In this open session, we are going to give a clear insight which is important for one to save time, energy, and effort. Which might otherwise be getting wasted in the wrong direction? This is important because for an individual the first year is the year with maximum energy, expectation from self, go-getter attitude, etc..
We tend to get lost in the sea of advice and sources of studies. To save one from such torrents of information, it’s sometimes said that we need to better know “what not to follow than what to follow”.
Anyways such hypotheses aside, your time in this open session is going to be full of interaction. Some previous year aspirants are also expected to be present. We do expect that all your confusion about the exam will get clear.
Attendees can expect some takeaways too in the form of softcopies relevant to the exam. They will be available to you via email once you have done the registration for the open session.
In this webinar, Ajay Verma, Mentor Head at Civilsdaily will give you an overview:
– What UPSC expects out of you?
– Avoiding Mistakes that can cost you an attempt?
– What to do to master the IAS-Exam?
– How to clear the exam -Step-by-Step learning plan?
– An interactive Q&A session with Current Students at Civilsdaily
– How to clear the exam on the very first attempt?
– Important Civilsdaily softcopies takeaway for exam preparation.
A quick bit about Ajay :
Ajay has firsthand experience with 6 Mains and 3 interviews of UPSC. He has gathered experience working as Mentor-Head at CivilsDaily for the past 3 Yrs and helped many cross the threshold.
The term ‘Under-trial’ denotes an unconvicted prisoner i.e. one who has been detained in prison during the period of investigation, inquiry, or trial for the offense s/he is accused to have committed. The share of undertrials lodged in prisons for more than a year has increased over time as the percentage of cases pending judgment in courts has also increased sharply.
The continued incarceration of under-trials in overcrowded prisons represents a failure of our democratic society as well as the rule of law. After the death of Stan Swamy in custody, questions about the conditions of jails and treatment of the incarcerated have been raised once again.
What is the status of under trial in India?
65% of the people in Indian jails are under trials – those detained in prisons during trial, investigation or inquiry but not convicted of any crime in a court of law.
The share of the prison population awaiting trial or sentencing in India is extremely high. Two of every three persons incarcerated in India have not yet been convicted of any crime.
Comparing this with India, it is 11% in the UK, 20% in the US and 29% in France.
More than 25% of under trial prisoners in 16 out of 36 states and union territories have been detained for more than one year in 2014.
The number of convicts in jails grew by 1.4% from 2012 to 2013, but the number of under trials shot up by 9.3% during the period.
Men make up more than 90% of all prison inmates. Nearly 2,000 children of women inmates live behind bars, 80% of those women being under trials.
What are the issues involved in undertrials in India?
The report ‘Justice Undertrial: A Study of Pre-trial Detention in India’ analyzed data available with the National Crime Records Bureau and records collected by the human rights organization from the country’s 500-odd district and central jails through Right to Information petitions.
The issues involved in under trials are:
(1) Mostly Muslims, Dalits, Adivasis – Marginalized communities form the bulk of the under-trial population in India.
(2) Rarely produced in a court-Records show that in states such as Rajasthan Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka under-trials are routinely not produced in court.
(3) Inadequate legal aid –
According to the report, at least 23 prisons reported having no legal aid lawyers.
Haryana has the highest number of legal aid lawyers in the country but the number of prison visits by each lawyer per month is strikingly low.
This shows that legal aid is not efficiently provided in most of the country’s prisons.
(4) Legal aid lawyers are poorly paid – The paucity of legal aid lawyers is hardly surprising given the poor remuneration they receive for filing bail applications.
(5) Wrongly released –
If under trials are held for a period equal to half their potential sentence then under Section 436A of the Code of Criminal Procedure they are eligible for release on a personal bond.
After release, they are required to appear at all future court dates. However, the report states that a large number of undertrials have been incorrectly released under the law.
(6) Supreme Court guidelines on bail are not followed – Some of the judges even at the High Court level are not following the guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court on bail and grant of the same is dependent upon the attitude of each judge. The right to bail is denied even in genuine cases.
(7) Politicization of Legal Aid Schemes – In the absence of a system that takes a proactive role in providing legal services to prisoners their right to effective Legal Aid is also violated due to the politicization of legal aid schemes as many lawyers are hired on political consideration who get a fixed salary without the pressure of disposing-off cases at the earliest.
(8) Sanitation, unhygienic food, and health problems –
No serious effort is taken about basic human rights once a person falls behind bars. There is a lack of sanitation and many times food offered is not worthy of even offering to the animals.
There are cases of sexual violence, especially in isolated environments people tend to forget all boundaries.
Homosexuality leads to possible HIV/STD cases. For women prisoners, custodial sexual exploitation by fellow prisoners and a male security guard is also prevalent. There is a clear lack of respect for human dignity here.
In 1994, an IPS officer Kiran Bedi tried to offer condoms to prisoners to control STD cases, but it was taken back due to huge protest seen thereafter.
(9) Staff crunch –
While 33% of the total requirement of prison officials still lies vacant, almost 36% of vacancy for supervising officers is still unfulfilled. The manpower recruited inside this prison is almost 50% short of its actual requirement.
States like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Jharkhand have the most scantily guarded jails, seeing over 65% of staff vacancies among jailers.
In the absence of adequate prison staff, overcrowding of prisons leads to rampant violence and other criminal activities inside the jails.
(10) Lack of use of provisions – Even though the provisions to avoid unnecessary detention of prisoners have been in existence for years, they are not implemented because of the following reasons:
Most prisoners are not only unaware of their right to seek release but also too poor to furnish surety.
Lack of sympathy by the administration.
(11) The Right to Speedy Trial – as recognized by the Supreme Court in Hussainara Khatoon vs. Home Secretary Bihar is violated due to protracted delays.
Reasons behind the delays in trials:
Systemic delays
Grossly inadequate number of judges and prosecutors.
Absence or belated service of summons on witnesses.
Presiding judges proceeding on leave.
Remands being extended mechanically due to lack of time and patience with the presiding judge.
Inadequacy of police personnel and vehicles which prevents the production of all prisoners on their due dates.
Many a times the escorting police personnel merely produce the remand papers in the courts instead of actually producing the prisoner in front of the magistrate.
State of Indian Prisons
The ‘Prison Statistics India 2015’report was released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). The data are given in the report tell us about the following things regarding the state of Indian prisons:
(1) The problem of overcrowding – The report calls overcrowding “one of the biggest problems faced by prison inmates.” It results in poor hygiene and lack of sleep among other problems. Dadra & Nagar Haveli is reported to have the most overcrowded prisons followed by Chhattisgarh Delhi and Meghalaya.
(2) Two-thirds of the prisoners are under trial – Sixty-seven per cent of the people in Indian jails are undertrials — people not convicted of any crime and currently on trial in a court of law. Among the larger States, Bihar had the highest proportion of undertrials followed by Jammu & Kashmir, Odisha, Jharkhand, and Delhi.
(3) Foreign Convicts – Over two thousand foreign convicts were lodged in various jails in India at the end of 2015. The highest numbers of foreign convicts were in the jails of West Bengal followed by Andaman & Nicobar Island.
(4) Prisoner Profile – Seventy per cent of the convicts are illiterate or have studied only below class tenth.
(5) Capital Punishment – Over a hundred people were awarded the death penalty (101) in 2015. Forty-nine were commuted to a life sentence.
What are the basic rights of under-trials?
Hence, all such rights except those that are taken away in the legitimate process of incarceration still remain with the prisoner.
These include rights that are related to the protection of basic human dignity as well as those for the development of the prisoner into a better human being.
Every convict and under trial has been conferred with certain rights which have been enumerated in Part III of the Constitution of India so that their life as a prisoner is dignified and comfortable because a prisoner remains a ‘person’ in prisoner.
Custodial death in India
Open secret – In a country where custodial torture and killing is an open secret, it is baffling that we still do not have a domestic law that enables torture prosecution by accounting for the particularities of custodial torture.
There were on an average 5 custodial deaths per day in India during 1st April 2017 and 28th February 2018.
As per the report of National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), the number of deaths in police custody between 2001 and 2018 was 1,727. But, only 810 cases were reported, 334 were charge-sheeted out of which just 26 policemen were convicted.
Legal burdens – If a person dies in police custody the burden should be on the police to show that they are not responsible for it, the law still requires the prosecution to prove that the police caused the death.
UNCAT ratification – India’s political commitment to address torture is symbolized by its failure to ratify the UN Convention Against Torture, and thereby putting itself in the list of only 19 countries to have not adopted it.
Magisterial inquiry – Besides the usual police investigation into a custodial death, the law mandates an independent magisterial inquiry.
Institutional Apathy – It is perhaps a reflection of our institutional apathy that such inquiries have happened in only about 20% of custodial deaths. Prosecution of police officials for custodial torture requires the sanction of the government.
Stan Swami case Father Stan Swamy, the 83-year-old activist, was arrested under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) in October 2020 by the National Investigation Agency. He is alleged to have been involved in the 2018 Bhima Koregaon violence in 2018 and his links with Maoists. Father Swamy reportedly made an application to be provided with a sipper and straw as he was unable to hold a glass as he was suffering from Parkinson’s disease. His request was inexplicably deferred for 20 days. The NIA later informed the court that it did not have a straw and sipper to give to him. The court has sought a report from the jail authorities on allowing Father Swamy to receive a straw and sipper at his own cost. After this, he had been provided with a sipper and straw by the jail authorities. The above events demonstrate the insensitivity of legal procedures. Apart from this, it outlines another fundamental issue which is the rights of prisoners with disabilities. The death of Swamy represents negligence of the prison administration as well as a systematic failure in our legal and prison system. The injustice in his case is magnified by the fact that he still awaits trial. The fundamental tenet on which Indian criminal law operates is that an accused is presumed innocent until proven guilty. His guilt or innocence is ultimately a matter for the court to decide. But the denial of his rights by the justice system not only constitutes a legal wrong but also displays an absence of compassion.
Way forward
Under trials should be lodged in separate institutions away from convicted prisoners. There should be proper and scientific classification even among undertrials to ensure the contamination of first-time and petty offenders into full-fledged and hardcore criminals.
Establishment and strengthening of fast-track courts.
Provisions of Section 167 of the CrPC with regard to the time limit for police investigation in case of accused undertrials should be strictly followed by both the police and courts.
Automatic extension of remands has to stop. All undertrials should be effectively produced before the presiding magistrates on the dates of the hearing.
Video conferencing between jails and courts should be encouraged and tried in all states beginning with the big Central jails and then expanding to District and Sub jails.
Police functions should be separated into investigation and law and order duties and sufficient strength be provided to complete investigations on time and avoid delays.
Alternatives to imprisonment should be tried out and incorporated in the IPC.
Remand orders should be self-limiting and indicate the date on which the undertrials would be automatically entitled to apply for bail.
Computerize the handling of criminal cases and with the help of the National Informatics Centre develop programs that would help in managing pendency and delay of different types of cases.
There should be an immediate increase in the number of judges and magistrates in some reasonable proportion to the general population.
![[Burning Issue] Issue of Undertrials and Custodial Deaths](https://d18x2uyjeekruj.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/prisoner-in-prison_490f3be4-6f7a-11e7-90b5-ba41537c464e.jpg)
