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THE POLITY AND GOVERNANCE

1. NO CLEAR DEFINITION FOR LYNCHING UNDER IPC

THE CONTEXT: The Union Home Ministry informed Parliament in 2019 that there was “no separate” definition for lynching under the IPC, adding that lynching incidents could be dealt with under Sections 300 and 302 of the IPC, pertaining to murder

THE EXPLANATION:

What is Lynching?

• lynching, a form of violence in which a mob, under the pretext of administering justice without trial, executes a presumed offender, often after inflicting torture and corporal mutilation. The term lynch law refers to a self-constituted court that imposes sentence on a person without due process of law.

Anti-mob lynching bills passed by 4 Assemblies at various levels of non-implementation:

1. In 2018, the Manipur Assembly passed the The Manipur Protection from Mob Violence Bill, recommending life imprisonment for those involved in mob violence if it led to death. The bill is still being examined by the Ministry.
2. On August 5, 2019, the Rajasthan Assembly passed the Rajasthan Protection from Lynching Bill, 2019, providing for life imprisonment and a fine from ₹1 lakh to ₹5 lakh to those convicted in cases of mob lynching leading to the victim’s death.
3. On August 30, 2019, the West Bengal Assembly passed a legislation- the West Bengal (Prevention of Lynching) Bill, 2019 that proposes a jail term from three years to life for those involved in assaulting and injuring a person and also defines terms such as “lynching” and “mob.” The government also proposed the West Bengal Lynching Compensation Scheme.
4. On December 22, 2021 the Jharkhand Assembly passed the Prevention of Mob Violence and Mob Lynching Bill, 2021, providing for punishment from three years to life imprisonment. The Bill awaits the Governor’s nod.

Why are the bills pending?

Most bills have been reserved by the Governor for consideration of the President.

The President has to go with the advice given by the Council of Ministers, in the case of such legislations, represented by the MHA.

The Union Home Ministry examines the State legislation’s on three grounds-

• Repugnancy with Central laws
• Deviation from national or central policy and
• Legal and constitutional validity

Supreme Court on Lynching:

• In July 2017, the Supreme Court, while pronouncing its judgment in the case of Tahseen s. Poonawala v. UOI, had laid down several preventives, remedial and punitive measures to deal with lynching and mob violence. States were directed to set up designated fast track courts in every district to exclusively deal with cases involving mob lynching’s.
• The court had also mooted the setting up of a special task force with the objective of procuring intelligence reports about the people involved in spreading hate speeches, provocative statements and fake news which could lead to mob lynchings. Directions were also issued to set up Victim compensation schemes for relief and rehabilitation of victims.

2. THE DIGITAL MAPS OF ALL VILLAGES

THE CONTEXT: According to the Ministry of Science and technology India plans to prepare digital maps of all its 6,00,000 villages and pan-India 3D maps will be prepared for 100 cities

THE EXPLANATION:

• An ongoing scheme, piloted by the Panchayati Raj Ministry, called SVAMITVA (Survey of Villages and Mapping with Improvised Technology in Village Areas) was launched in 2020.
• The updated guidelines help private companies prepare a variety of maps without needing approvals from a host of Ministries and make it easier to use drones and develop applications via location mapping. The “trinity of geospatial systems, drone policy and unlocked space sector will be the hallmark of India’s future economic progress”.
• The complete geospatial policy would be announced soon as the liberalisation of guidelines had yielded very positive outcomes within a year’s time. The geographical information-based system mapping would also be useful in forest management, disaster management, electrical utilities, land records, water distribution, and property taxation.
• Also, the Ministry noted, estimated the size of the Indian geospatial market in 2020 to be ₹23,345 crore, including ₹10,595 crore of export which was likely to grow to ₹36,300 crore by 2025.
• According to current information on the SVAMITVA portal: So far, drone surveys have covered close to 1,00,000 villages and maps of 77,527 villages had been handed over to States. Property cards have been distributed to around 27,000 villages.

THE SOCIAL ISSUES AND SOCIAL JUSTICE

3. BAN ON ONLINE GAMING PLATFORMS

THE CONTEXT: The division bench of the Karnataka High Court delivered a judgment striking down major portions of the Karnataka Police (Amendment) Act, 2021, a new law that was introduced by the State government to ban online gambling and skill-based gaming platforms like rummy, poker and fantasy sports that involved any wagering or risking of money on an uncertain event.

THE EXPLANATION:

Apart from Karnataka, a similar law introduced by the Tamil Nadu government was struck down by the Madras High Court in August 2021. In September 2021, the Kerala High Court had also quashed a notification issued by the State government specifically banning the game of online rummy when played for stakes.

On what grounds did the Karnataka High Court strike down the online gaming law?

The Karnataka High Court struck down the amendments to the Karnataka Police Act on three major grounds: violation of fundamental rights of trade and commerce, liberty and privacy, speech and expression; the law being manifestly arbitrary and irrational insofar as it did not distinguish between two different categories of games, i.e. games of skill and chance; and lastly lack of legislative competence of State legislatures to enact laws on online skill-based games.

Is regulation of online gaming a better solution?

Experts believe that instead of a complete ban, one could look at licensing and regulating the industry with various checks and balances such as diligent KYC and anti-money laundering processes, barring minors from accessing real money games, placing weekly or monthly limits on the money that can be staked or time that can be spent, counselling for addictive players and allowing self-exclusion of such players etc.

4. THE PHENSEDYL SMUGGLING

THE CONTEXT: The Border Security force (BSF) has seized 630 bottles of Phensedyl worth Rs.1,09,905 in two incidents and apprehended two phensedyl smugglers, while they were trying to illegally cross the international border from India to Bangladesh.

THE EXPLANATION:

According to BSF officials, it was difficult to contain the smuggling because Phensedyl is smuggled in low quantities from India to Bangladesh. “In the past few years, BSF has stopped factories in the hinterland that were manufacturing Phensedyl. Sometimes farmers smuggle it, at other times people throw it over the fence on the other side of the border”.

Why Phensedyl?

• Bangladesh had a majority Muslim population, the religious faith prohibited consumption of liquor and cough syrups with codeine phosphate were an easy way for people to get high. Since liquor is banned in Bangladesh, the drug became a popular alternative for alcohol.
• Phensedyl used to contain codeine phosphate along with hydrochloride ephedrine and promethazine, a unique combination for addiction. This is what made it a popular drug of abuse and unfortunately the trend still continues even after the chemical formulation was changed.A bottle costs about ₹200 in India and the moment it crosses the border, the price goes up to thousands.

YABA TABLETS- The Madness Drug

• Along with Phensedyl another narcotic that is smuggled in huge quantities along the international border is Yaba tablets. According to investigative agencies, these tablets usually originate in Myanmar and come to India from Bangladesh.
• Yaba is a mixture of methamphetamine and caffeine sold as cheap red or pink pills and works as stimulant to the central nervous system. In 2021, the BSF south Bengal Frontier seized about 14,147 tablets when it was allegedly being smuggled into India. The seizure in 2019 by the same frontier was 53,763 Yaba tablets.
• The ratio of caffeine to methamphetamine inevitably varies; however, the potent drug makes up approximately 20% of yaba. There is also a crystalline form of this narcotic known as ice, which can almost entirely be made up of methamphetamine.

THE ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY

5. THE INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP ON COMBATING MARINE PLASTIC POLLUTION

THE CONTEXT: The Government of India, in partnership with the Government of Australia and the Government of Singapore, conducted an international workshop on combating marine pollution focusing on marine plastic debris on February 14-15, 2022.

THE EXPLANATION:

• It aimed to discuss research interventions toward monitoring and assessing marine litter and plausible sustainable solutions to address the global marine plastic pollution issue.
• The workshop had four major sessions; the magnitude of the marine litter problem-monitoring program and research on plastic debris in the Indo-Pacific Region; best practices and technologies; solutions to prevent plastic pollution; and polymers and plastics: technology and innovations and opportunities for regional collaboration to remediate or stop plastic pollution.
• The sessions involved panel discussions and interactive break-out sessions to encourage discussion amongst participants from East Asia Summit countries.

Why is it important ?

• Plastic pollution is a widespread problem affecting the marine environment. It threatens ocean health, the health of marine species, food safety and quality, human health, coastal tourism, and contributes to climate change.
• The UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development calls for action to ‘Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources’ (Goal 14) and ‘By 2025, prevent and significantly reduce marine pollution of all kinds, particularly from land-based activities, including marine debris and nutrient pollution’ (Target 14.1).

According to IUCN:

• Over 300 million tons of plastic are produced every year for use in a wide variety of applications.
• At least 14 million tons of plastic end up in the ocean every year, and plastic makes up 80% of all marine debris found from surface waters to deep-sea sediments.
• Plastic pollution threatens food safety and quality, human health, coastal tourism, and contributes to climate change.

Impacts on marine ecosystems

The most visible impacts of plastic debris are the ingestion, suffocation and entanglement of hundreds of marine species. Marine wildlife such as seabirds, whales, fish and turtles mistake plastic waste for prey; most then die of starvation as their stomachs become filled with plastic.

What can be done?

• Efforts should be made to adhere to and strengthen existing international legislative frameworks that address marine plastic pollution. The most important are the 1972 Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping Wastes and Other Matter (the London Convention), the 1996 Protocol to the London Convention (the London Protocol) and the 1978 Protocol to the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL).
• Governments, research institutions and industries need to work collaboratively to redesign products, and rethink their use and disposal to reduce microplastic waste from pellets, synthetic textiles and tyres. Consumers and society must shift to more sustainable consumption patterns.
• More funding for research and innovation should be made available to provide policymakers, manufacturers and consumers with the evidence needed to implement technological, behavioural and policy solutions to address marine plastic pollution.

THE HEALTH AND COVID CORNOR

6. LASSA FEVER CLAIMS 3 LIVES IN UK

THE CONTEXT: For a world grappling with the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), the news of a fresh virus has spared concern. The Lassa fever has claimed three lives in the United Kingdom, and the country’s health officials have said that it has “pandemic potential”. Eight cases of the Lassa fever have been reported in the UK since the 1980s, with the last two coming in 2009.

THE EXPLANATION:

What is Lassa fever?

According to United States’ Centers for Disease Control (CDC), it is an animal-borne, or zoonotic,acute viral illness. The haemorrhagic illness is caused by Lassa virus, a member of the arenavirus family of viruses.

How does it infect the humans?

According to World Health Organization (WHO), humans usually become infected with Lassa virus through exposure to food or household items contaminated with urine or faeces of infected Mastomys rats. The disease is endemic in the rodent population in parts of West Africa.

Person-to-person infections and laboratory transmission can also occur, particularly in health care settings in the absence of adequate infection prevention and control measures, according to further information about the disease from WHO.

When was the first case of Lassa virus reported?

The illness was discovered in 1969 and is named after the town in Nigeria where the first cases occurred. According to CDC, an estimated 100,000 to 300,000 infections of Lassa fever occur annually, with approximately 5,000 deaths.

Treatment: Ribavirin, an antiviral drug, has been used with success in Lassa fever patients.

THE PRELIMS PRACTICE QUESTIONS

QUESTIONS OF THE DAY 16^TH FEBRUARY 2022

Q. Consider the following statements about SVAMITVA scheme:

1. It is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Ministry of Panchayati Raj.
2. The Scheme is implemented with the collaborative efforts of the Ministry of Panchayati Raj, State Revenue Department and Survey of India.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

a 1 only

b 2 only

c Both 1 and 2

d Neither 1 nor 2

ANSWER FOR 15^TH FEB 2022

Answer: B

Explanation:

• Statement 1 is incorrect: It is a polar satellite launched with the help of PSLV C-52 and put in sun-synchronous orbit.

Statement 2 is correct: It is a radar imaging satellite is designed to provide high-quality images in all weather conditions for applications such as agriculture, forestry, plantation, flood mapping, soil moisture and hydrology.