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  • In news: Archaeological Survey of India (ASI)

    The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has decided to form a special committee to trace and certify 24 protected monuments that have gone “missing”.

    Why in news?

    • PMO has in a report last month said there was an urgent need to “rationalise” the list of monuments of national importance.

    Sites in news

    • Barakhamba Cemetery temple ruins, Mirzapur (UP) dating to 1000 AD
    • Kos Minars – one at Faridabad’s Mujesar and
    • Inchla Wali Gumti at Mubarakpur Kotla in the capital

    Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) 

    • Founded by Alexander Cunningham, who is also revered as the “Father of Indian Archaeology”
    • He was the protege of James Prinsep.
    • It was Lord Canning who helped pass a statute for ASI’s establishment in 1861.
    • Post-Independence, it is a Statutory body that now works under Ancient monuments and archaeological sites and remains act (AMASR Act), 1958.
    • It works as an attached Office of the Ministry of Culture.
    • ASI has 3678 protected monuments and Archaeology sites of National Importance + 29 cultural under the World Heritage List by UNESCO.

    Initiatives by ASI

    1. Museums
    • ASI’s museums are customarily located right next to the sites that their inventories are associated with “so that they may be studied amid their natural surroundings and not lose focus by being transported”.
    • A dedicated Museums Branch maintains a total of 44 museums spread across the country.
    1. Publications by ASI
    • Epigraphia Indica
    • Ancient India
    • Indian Archaeology: A Review (Annually)
    1. Library
    • Central Archaeological Library in the National Archives building in Janpath, New Delhi

     

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  • [pib] Yuva Sangam Portal

    The Union Ministry of Education has launched the “Yuva Sangam” registration portal.

    Yuva Sangam

    • The Yuva Sangam is an initiative of Hon’ble Prime Minister to build close ties between the youth of North East Region and rest of India under the spirit of Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat.
    • Yuva Sangam embodies the philosophy of our rich culture, our glorious history and ancient heritage.
    • Youth between the ages of 18 and 30 will take part in this program.
    • Over 20000 youth will travel across India and gain a unique opportunity of cross cultural learning.
    • Through the course of the program, students will interact with each other in the areas of language, literature, cuisine, festivals, cultural events and tourism.
    • They will get a first-hand experience of living in a completely different geographical and cultural scenario.

    Significance of the program

    • The program will give an opportunity to see, know, and understand India and do something for the country.
    • This is yet another initiative of PM Modi for cementing the bond between the northeast and the rest of India.
    • Yuva Sangam will celebrate India`s diversity, rejuvenate the spirit of oneness and highlight the strength of India`s democracy as envisioned by the PM.

     

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  • Digital Governance: Are GACs well equipped to deal with grievances?

    GAC

    Context

    • Indian digital governance recently witnessed multiple developments in its appellate mechanisms. In December 2022, Google appealed two of the most significant antitrust decisions that the Competition Commission of India (CCI), issued on the functioning of digital markets.  GAC’s capacity to handle complaints needs to be increased.

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    Background: The Google case of anti-competitive contracts

    • In October 2022, CCI found Google anti-competitive in its Android licensing contracts and app store policies in two separate orders.
    • The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT), an authority for company law, competition law, and insolvency law matters, will hear Google’s appeals from 15-17 February.
    • Simultaneously, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) recently announced the formation of three Grievance Appellate Committees to enforce the accountability of online intermediaries.

    What is the grievance appellate committee (GAC)?

    • Based on IT Act: The Centre established three Grievance Appellate Committees based on the recently amended Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 (IT Rules 2021).
    • Three GAC’s: The Centre has announced three different GACs led by the IT, Home Affairs, and Information and Broadcasting ministries.
    • Composition: The committee is styled as a three-member council out of which one member will be a government officer (holding the post ex officio) while the other two members will be independent representatives.
    • Complaint within 30 days: Users can file a complaint against the order of the grievance officer within 30 days.
    • Online dispute resolution: The GAC is required to adopt an online dispute resolution mechanism which will make it more accessible to the users.

    Importance of appellate jurisdiction

    • Three pillars of regulatory framework: Regulatory frameworks stand on three pillars. These include a governing law, an empowered regulator and a fair appeals mechanism.
    • An appellate mechanism is a critical part: An appellate mechanism is a critical part of this framework because it ensures an opportunity to remedy inappropriate application of governing laws. Therefore, if the framework is incapacitated, there will be an unfair application of law, which defeats the purpose of the legislation.
    • Appellate bodies are essential tools for digital markets: Appellate bodies operate under a specialised mandate, which allows them to adapt their processes to the unique facets of a case. They are an essential tool for digital markets, which tend to be more complex than first meets the eye.
    • For instance: Google allows Android users to bypass the Play Store and directly install apps from the internet known as sideloading. But when they do so, Google issues disclaimers about associated security risks linked to downloads from unknown sources. The CCI’s order on Android calls such disclaimers anti-competitive because they reinforce Google’s monopoly over app distribution.

    Are GACs well equipped to deal with grievances?

    • Not well equipped to deal with the user grievances: The recently formed Grievance Appellate Committees do not seem equipped to deal with the barrage of user grievances linked to online intermediary services.
    • For instance: In October 2022, Facebook received 703 complaints, Twitter 723 and WhatsApp 701. WhatsApp then banned 2.3 million accounts. And this does not even account for all other types of online intermediation, such as e-commerce intermediaries.
    • Multiple steps to arrive at a decision while the online is accessible instantly: Online content is accessible by millions instantly, and the longer unlawful content is accessible, the greater the harm to affected parties. Accordingly, a 30-day disposal period for the appeals to the GAC has been mandated. However, any dispute resolution process involves multiple steps.
    • Prolonged dispute resolution: The principles of natural justice also require the originator of the disputed content to be heard. Therefore, when they’re implicated along with intermediaries and complainants, it prolongs the dispute resolution process.
    • GAC’s may struggle to substantially resolve the grievances in time: The Centre has announced three different GACs led by the IT, Home Affairs, and Information and Broadcasting ministries. However, the sheer volume of online user content suggests that GACs may struggle to substantially resolve these grievances in time.

    Conclusion

    • Effective appeals mechanisms form an integral part of the digital governance toolkit. India has a progressive adjudicatory system that recognises the need for specialised appellate mechanisms, but its potential requires actualisation. The appellate mechanism must be strengthened for any technology policy reforms to succeed.

    Mains question

    Q. Briefly explain what is the grievance appellate committee (GAC)? Are GACs well equipped to deal with grievances? Discuss

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  • Wealth Tax: Does It Distort the Economy Too Much?

    Wealth

    Context

    • There is a good reason we do not tax wealth directly. Actually, there are many good reasons. But that’s not stopping some states from giving it a try. There are much more effective options for targeting wealthy people for tax revenue that are better for the economy. Some the US is already doing, such as state property taxes, federal capital gains taxes and estate taxes on inheritances.

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    What is wealth tax?

    • Wealth tax is a direct tax unlike the goods and services tax or value-added tax, can take several forms, such as property tax, inheritance or gift tax and capital gains tax.
    • It aims to reduce the inequalities of wealth.
    • It is based on the market value of assets owned by a taxpayer and charged on the net wealth of super rich individuals.

    Wealth

    Why in news?

    • The new bills this week by California and Washington propose taxing their richest residents 1% to 1.5% each year.
    • Four other states including New York and Illinois propose taxing unrealized capital gains, or taxing wealth based on how much it grew in the last year whether or not you sold any assets.

    Wealth

    Crafting good tax policy starts with a question: How much will it distort economic behaviour?

    • Creates distortions: Many economists say that wealth taxes create the most distortions, followed by income and consumption taxes.
    • Wealth taxes discourage saving and investment: A 1% or 2% wealth tax may sound small, but it’s very large compared with current tax rates. Since it’s levied each year, it’s better compared to current taxes on realized capital income. These plans drastically reduce the return on risky investment, and rewarding risk is important for economic growth.
    • Unrealized capital gains, are much harder to measure: Income is relatively easy to measure. Your employer sends you money that is well documented and has an objective value. Overall wealth, especially unrealized capital gains, are much harder to measure.
    • Mostly rich people hold Wealth in assets: Very rich people also tend to hold a lot of their wealth in assets that aren’t publicly traded, either in private equity, in their own businesses, fine art, gold bars or other possessions.
    • Hard to implement effectively: Most jurisdictions have abandoned wealth taxes. They are very hard to implement at the federal level, let alone by states with fewer resources to collect and assess data on wealth holdings.
    • Example of Switzerland: A possible model is Switzerland, where individual cantons have their own wealth tax, but the tax accounts for a trivial share of tax revenue.
    • A wealth tax is a bad policy based on the economics and feasibility: Collecting it will require tremendous resources that states don’t have and it won’t produce the revenue they’re counting on.

    Wealth Tax in India

    • Abolished wealth tax: The government abolished wealth tax as announced in the budget 2015. In its place, the government decided to increase the surcharge levied on the ‘super rich’ class by 2% to 12%. (Super rich are persons with incomes of Rs.1 crore or higher and companies that earn Rs.10 crores or higher).
    • Abolished to simplify tax structure and discourage tax evasion: The abolition was a move to do away with high costs of collection and also to simplify the existing tax structure thereby discouraging tax evasion.
    • No wealth tax at present: India presently does not have any wealth tax i.e., a tax levied on one’s entire property in all forms. It did not impose a one-time ‘solidarity tax’ on wealth in post-covid budgets that could have generated resources for essential public investment.

    Wealth

    Way ahead

    • Promising that a few wealthy people can pick up the public tab is bad economics.
    • States would be better off making their consumption taxes larger and more progressive.
    • They can tax luxury goods like designer clothes, private jet travel or second homes heavily.
    • Governments can better enforce our existing wealth taxes by eliminating loopholes in capital gains and estate levies.

    Conclusion

    • Wealth taxes will continue to be in the conversation as states and the federal government need more revenue and are reluctant to raise taxes on anyone who earns more than $400,000 a year. Many economists say that wealth taxes create the most distortions, followed by income and consumption taxes. Wealth taxes need to studied not only from the lens of fiscal challenges that the states face but also market economies and probable distortions.

    Mains question

    Q. What is wealth tax? Highlight the present status of Wealth tax in India. It is said that Wealth tax distorts economic behaviour. Discuss in the context of States in the US proposes taxing the rich.

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  • 6th Feb 23 | Prelims Daily with Previous Year Questions

    6th Feb 23 | Prelims Daily with Previous Year Questions

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  • Micro hydro systems: An alternative source of energy

    hydro

    Context

    • The crisis unfolding in Joshimath for over a month has led to conversations on the relevance of hydropower in the Himalayan region. Two years ago, a glacier burst led to question marks over the Rishiganga hydroelectric project in Uttarakhand.

    What is hydropower

    • Hydropower generates electricity from the natural flow of water without releasing any emissions or pollutants. It also does not rely on fossil fuels. Therefore, it is often considered green energy.

    hydro

    Hydropower Projects in Himalayan region

    • The Himalaya are a major water source for much of South Asia: Most countries in the region, including India, China, Nepal, Bhutan, and Pakistan, have built or are planning to build hydropower projects in the Himalaya.
    • Hydropower one of the key renewable energy sources of India: In India, the government has identified hydropower as a key renewable energy source. Many hydropower projects are under construction or in the planning stages in the Indian Himalaya, including the Subansiri Lower Hydroelectric Project in Arunachal Pradesh and the Teesta Low Dam Hydroelectric Project in Sikkim.
    • Nepal has also identified hydropower as a major source of energy: Nepal has many hydropower projects in the planning and development stages, including the Arun III Hydroelectric Project and the West Seti Hydroelectric Project.
    • Main source of revenue for Bhutan: In Bhutan, hydropower is the main source of revenue, and the government has set a target to export surplus electricity to India. The country has built several hydropower projects, including the Chukha Hydropower Project and the Tala Hydropower Project.

    hydro

    Concerns about the potential conflicts over water resources in the region

    • Fragile ecosystem of Himalaya already under stress: The Himalaya is a fragile ecosystem and home to a diverse range of flora and fauna. It is already threatened by deforestation, overgrazing, and construction activities that harm the environment and local communities that depend on it.
    • Construction of dams can disrupt the characteristics of river flow: The construction of dams can disrupt the flow of rivers, leading to changes in water temperature and chemistry. It can also cause erosion, landslides, and sedimentation which can have a negative impact on the local environment.
    • Construction disrupts well-being of the local population: Dams also disrupt the migration patterns of fish and other aquatic species and impact the local wildlife, particularly if the dam’s construction leads to habitat loss. Large-scale hydroelectric dams displace local communities, affecting their livelihoods and cultural heritage and impacting the overall well-being of the local population.

    hydro

    Micro hydro systems as an alternative to hydropower

    • Micro hydro system of 100 kilowatts (kW): It is a small-scale hydroelectric power generation system that typically generates up to 100 kilowatts (kW) of electricity.
    • Applications: These systems use the energy of falling water to turn a turbine, which, in turn, generates electricity. They can be used for various applications, including powering homes, businesses, and small communities.
    • Less expensive and smaller environmental footprint: They are typically less expensive to build and maintain than large hydroelectric dams and have a smaller environmental footprint.
    • Can be located at inaccessible areas: They can be located even in inaccessible areas where it is difficult to transmit electricity from larger power stations, and they can provide a reliable source of energy to communities that are not connected to the grid.
    • Two types : Micro hydro systems can be classified into two main types i.e., run-of-river and storage systems. 1. Run-of-river systems use the natural flow of water in a stream or river to generate electricity. 2. In contrast, storage systems use a reservoir to store water and release it as needed to generate electricity.

    hydro

    Conclusion

    • The environmental impact of hydropower can vary depending on projects and the ways in which they are implemented. Micro hydro systems can be tailored to minimize the ecosystem’s negative impact and provide sustainable energy solutions. However, it also can have some impact on the environment and local communities. A detailed assessment should be carried out to evaluate the potential impact before proceeding with the project.
  • 4th Feb 23 | Prelims Daily with Previous Year Questions

    4th Feb 23 | Prelims Daily with Previous Year Questions

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  • [Sansad TV] India’s Leadership in Digital Public Goods (DPGs)

    [Sansad TV] India’s Leadership in Digital Public Goods (DPGs)

    Why in news?

    • Digitization initiatives in India and the work with digital public goods have been extraordinary, said Microsoft chairman and CEO Satya Nadella.

    Context

    • India’s digital infrastructure has not only changed how Indians live and operate but it has also caught the fancy of other countries around the world.
    • In this article, we will focus on a global technology commons that has the ability to address some of the world’s toughest challenges which India has much to contribute.

    What are Digital Public Goods (DPGs)?

    • Digital public goods are public goods in the form of software, data sets, AI models, standards or content that are generally free cultural works and contribute to sustainable national and international digital development.
    • Several international agencies, including UNICEF and UNDP, are exploring DPGs as a possible solution to address the issue of digital inclusion, particularly for children in emerging economies.

    How is it different from physical public good?

    • Abundance: The nondepletable, nonexclusive, and nonrivalrous nature of digital public goods means the rules and norms for managing them can be different from how physical public goods are managed.
    • Everlasting: DPGs can be infinitely stored, copied, and distributed without becoming depleted, and at close to zero cost.
    • Inclusiveness: DPG is a good that is both non-excludable (no one can be prevented from consuming this good) and non-rivalrous (the consumption of this good by anyone does not reduce the quantity available to others).

    Examples of DPGs

    1. Wikipedia
    2. DHIS2, an open source health management system.
    3. Free and open-source software (FOSS), since FOSS is licensed to allow it to be shared freely, modified and redistributed, it is available as a digital public good.
    4. Open educational resources, which by their copyright are allowed to be freely re-used, revised and shared.

    Digital public goods in India

    • Aadhaar: Built on the foundation of Aadhaar and India Stack, modular applications, big and small, are transforming the way we make payments, withdraw our PF, get our passport and driving license and check land records, to name just a few activities.
    • Unified Payment Interface (UPI): To give an example, consider the surge in UPI-based payments in India. This kind of growth doesn’t happen with a few entitled and privileged people using UPI more and more; it happens with more and more people using UPI more and more.
    • DIKSHA Portal: The use of DIKSHA, the school education platform built on the open-source platform Sunbird, has followed the same trajectory — today close to 500 million schoolchildren are using it.

    Key Indian initiative: ‘India Stack’

    india stack
    • India Stack is a set of (application programming interface) APIs that allows governments, businesses, startups and developers to utilize a unique digital Infrastructure to solve India’s hard problems towards presence-less, paperless, and cashless service delivery.
    • The Open API team at iSPIRT has been a pro-bono partner in the development, evolution, and evangelization of these APIs and systems.

    APIs included in India Stack:

    The following APIs are considered to be a core part of the India Stack-

    • Aadhaar Authentication
    • Aadhaar e-KYC
    • eSign
    • Digital Locker
    • Unified Payment Interface (UPI)
    • Digital User Consent – still work in progress.
    • GSTN –Goods and Services Tax Network
    • BBPS –Bharat Bill Payment System
    • ETC – Electronic Toll Collection (known under the brand FASTag)

    Why need DPGs?

    • Cost Effectiveness: The cost of setting up an open source-based educational infrastructure, to supplement the physical infrastructure, for an entire country is less than laying two kilometers of high-quality road.
    • Lower investment required: The investments required for transporting digital public goods are minuscule in comparison and there is no chance of a debt trap. Also, the code (platform) is highly reusable.
    • Instantly visible outcomes: Unlike physical infrastructure such as ports and roads, digital public goods have short gestation periods and immediate, and visible impact and benefits.
    • Faster service delivery: Processes get streamlined and wait times for any service come down dramatically. Issuances of passports, PAN cards and driving licences are such examples.
    • Plugging the leakages: It eliminates ghost beneficiaries of government services, removes touts collecting rent, creates an audit trail, makes the individual-government-market interface transparent and provides efficiencies that help recoup the investments quickly.
    • Wider outreach: Productivity goes up and services can be scaled quickly. Benefits can be rapidly extended to cover a much larger portion of the population.

    Most significant utility of DPGs: Digital Diplomacy

     (1) Boost India’s Image as a leading technology player

    • It will take made-in-India digital public goods across the world and boost India’s brand positioning as a leading technology player in the digital age. 
    • India’s digital diplomacy will be beneficial to and welcomed by, all emerging economies from Peru to Polynesia, from Uruguay to Uganda, and from Kenya to Kazakhstan.

    (2) Enhancing the productivity of emerging economies

    • Emerging economies are characterized by gross inefficiencies in the delivery of government services and a consequent trust deficit.
    • Digital public goods spread speed, transparency, ease and productivity across the individual-government-market ecosystem and enhance inclusivity, equity and development at scale.

    Challenges associated with DPG Diplomacy

    • Privacy issues: Potential violations of privacy and possible weaponization of data is a primary issue related to such digital initiatives.
    • Increase in Inequalities: Success in the digital provision of services is dependent on many underlying factors, including digital literacy, education and access to stable and fast telecommunication services.
    • Cybersecurity threats: While channels and databases used by the Government for transmission and storage are usually secure, other players in the ecosystem may not possess the requisite expertise or security to prevent and respond to breaches.
    • Unserved remote areas: With digital services not being uniformly distributed, communities in remote areas often require on-ground staff to deploy and supplement digital tools.

    Global liaison over DPGs: Digital Public Goods Alliance (DPGA)

    • The DPGA is a multi-stakeholder initiative with a mission to accelerate the attainment of sustainable development goals in low- and middle-income countries by facilitating the discovery, development, use of, and investment in digital public goods.
    • It is a UN initiative launched in 2019.

    Way Forward

    • Data localization: India needs to ensure that digital goods diplomacy doesn’t become an exercise to gather data and provisions must be made for data localization.
    • Training of Individuals: Individuals across the countries need to be trained in cyber security for successful digital goods diplomacy. A lead can be taken up by CERT-In.
    • No Authoritative nature: India needs to ensure that data with the state doesn’t lead to authoritarianism in these countries. Decentralized and distributed storage using Blockchain technology can be used by India.
    • Ensuring Inclusivity: Digital ecosystems should be guided by factors of availability, accessibility, affordability, value and trust.
    • Citizen-Centralism: There is a need to ensure the design is citizen-centric and ensures inclusive access to services at the last mile will help drive adoption and sustain these ecosystems.
    • Data privacy robustness: Designing privacy-protection and secure databases are critical. It is, therefore, imperative that regulations governing any digital initiative must take into account provisions of the Personal Data Protection Bill.

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  • MISHTI: Budgetary push for Mangroves

    mangrove

    The Union Budget for 2023-24 announced an initiative for mangrove plantation along the coastline and on saltpan lands, under MISHTI (Mangrove Initiative for Shoreline Habitats & Tangible Incomes).

    MISHTI

    • MISHTI is a new programme that will facilitate mangrove plantation along India’s coastline and on salt pan lands.
    • This new programme will aim at intensive afforestation of coastal mangrove forests.

    Implementation strategy

    • The Budget states that MISHTI will be implemented through convergence between-
    1. MGNREGS (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme),
    2. CAMPA (Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority) Fund and other sources.

    What are Mangroves?

    • Mangroves are salt-tolerant plant communities found in tropical and subtropical intertidal regions.
    • They are important refuges of coastal biodiversity and also act as bio-shields against extreme climatic events.
    • With the threat of climate change and frequent tropical storms looming large, planting more mangroves is a welcome development for India which has a coastline of about 7,500 km.

    Mangroves in India

    • India has about 4,992 sq km (0.49 million hectares) of mangroves, according to the Indian State of Forest Report (IFSR) 2021.
    • Mangroves in India are distributed across nine States and three UTs with West Bengal having the highest mangrove cover of 2,114 sq km.
    • The IFSR report also points out that there has been an increase in the mangrove cover from 4,046 sq km in 1987 to 4,992 sq km in 2021.

    Why protect mangroves?

    • Infrastructure projects — industrial expansion, shifting coastlines, coastal erosion and storms, have resulted in a significant decrease in mangrove habitats.
    • Between 2010 and 2020, around 600 sq km of mangroves were lost of which more than 62% was due to direct human impacts, the Global Mangrove Alliance said in its 2022 report.

    Importance of mangroves

    • Biodiversity: Mangrove forests — consisting of trees and shrub that live in intertidal water in coastal areas — host diverse marine life.
    • Fishing grounds: They also support a rich food web, with molluscs and algae-filled substrate acting as a breeding ground for small fish, mud crabs and shrimps, thus providing a livelihood to local artisanal fishers.
    • Carbon sinks: Equally importantly, they act as effective carbon stores, holding up to four times the amount of carbon as other forested ecosystems.
    • Cyclone buffers: When Cyclone Amphan struck West Bengal in May, its effects were largely mitigated by the Sundarbans flanking its coasts along the Bay of Bengal.

    Threats to Mangroves

    • Anthropogenic activities: They are a major threat to the mangroves. Urbanization, industrialization and the accompanying discharge of industrial effluents, domestic sewage and pesticide residues from agricultural lands threaten these fragile ecosystems.
    • Saltpan and aquaculture: This causes huge damage to the mangroves. Shrimp farming alone destroyed 35,000 hectares of mangroves worldwide.
    • Destruction for farming: 40% of mangroves on the west coast has been converted into farmlands and other settlements in just 3 decades.
    • Sea-level rise: This is another challenge to these mangroves- especially on the Bay of Bengal coast.

    What lies ahead?

    • A contract-based one-time plantation under MGNREGS and CAMPA alone may not work unless the local communities take ownership of the forests.
    • Discharge of untreated domestic and industrial effluents into the rivers should be immediately stopped.
    • The natural inter-tidal flow along the coast should be conserved.

    Try this PYQ:

    Q. Which one of the following is the correct sequence of ecosystems in the order of decreasing productivity?

    (a) Oceans, lakes, grasslands, mangroves

    (b) Mangroves, oceans, grasslands, lakes

    (c) Mangroves, grasslands, lakes, oceans

    (d) Oceans, mangroves, lakes, grasslands

     

    Post your answers here.

     

     

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  • 73rd establishment day of Supreme Court

    supreme court

    The Supreme Court of India is hosting its celebration of the 73rd anniversary of its establishment today.

    Why in news?

    • This year’s event is being aired on social media platforms and will witness Singapore’s Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon, who is of Indian origin, as the chief guest.

    When was the Supreme Court founded?

    • On January 28, 1950, two days after India became a sovereign democratic republic, the Supreme Court of India came into being.
    • The first CJI of India was H. J. Kania.
    • The inauguration took place in the Chamber of Princes in the Parliament building which was the home to the Federal Court of India for 12 years preceding the Supreme Court’s establishment.
    • The Parliament House was to be the home of the Supreme Court for years that were to follow until the court acquired its own present building with lofty domes and its signature spacious colonnaded verandas in 1958.

    History of established

    • In 1861, the Indian High Courts Act 1861 was enacted to create high courts for various provinces and abolished Supreme Courts at Calcutta, Madras and Bombay and also the sadar adalats in presidency towns in their respective regions.
    • These new high courts had the distinction of being the highest courts for all cases till the creation of the Federal Court of India under the Government of India Act 1935.
    • The Federal Court had jurisdiction to solve disputes between provinces and federal states and hear appeals against judgment of the high courts.

    Premise of the Supreme Court

    • In 1958, when the court shifted its premises, the building was shaped to project the image of scales of justice, in the central wing.
    • In 1979, two new wings – the East wing and the West wing – were added to the complex. In all, there are 19 Courtrooms in the various wings of the building.
    • The Chief Justice’s Court is the largest of the Courts located at the Centre of the Central Wing.

     

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