1. Spiritual journey will begin in knowing yourself READ MORE
2. Free speech is not a licence to kill READ MORE

THE INDIAN POLITY AND GOVERNANCE

1. ASSAM RECORDS MOST VIOLENT CRIMES: NCRB

THE CONTEXT: For the fifth consecutive year, Assam recorded the highest rate of crimes against women in 2021, according to the National Crime Record Bureau’s “Crime in India” report for last year.

THE EXPLANATION:

REPORT HIGHLIGHTS:

• The statistics also showed that Assam has maintained the trend of recording an increase in such crimes after a dip in the previous year.
• “But the crime rate of 76.6 cases per one lakh population – a little more than the 73.7 cases in 2020 – does not give the complete picture,” Assam police officers said.
• They attributed the figure to the high reporting and registration of cases, especially in crimes against women.
• The report places UP on top (56,083) in terms of actual number of cases registered in 2021, although the rate is lesser at 50.5 per cent. The other states that recorded the highest number of crimes against women include Rajasthan, Maharashtra, West Bengal and Odisha.
• Nagaland stood out with the lowest number of crimes against women registered in the past three years — 43 in 2019, 39 in 2020 and 54 in 2021. It also had the lowest crime rate against women for 2021 at 5.5 per cent.
• Among Union Territories, Delhi had the highest rate of crime against women in 2021 at 147.6 per cent. It also topped in absolute numbers of cases registered, recording an increase over the past three years from 13,395 in 2019 to 14,277 in 2021.
• The NCRB also collates data for crime against women in 19 cities across the country with a population of over 2 million.
• Among these cities, the 2021 data shows that Jaipur had the highest rate at over 194 per cent, followed by Delhi, Indore and Lucknow. Chennai and Coimbatore — both in Tamil Nadu — had the lowest rate.
• Cases of “murder with gangrape/rape”, for which the NCRB has maintained records since 2017, have remained steady — 284 cases in 2021, the same as in 2019. In 2020, there were 218 such incidents. The highest number of cases under the category were registered in 2018 with 291.
• The highest number of such cases took place last year in UP with 48, followed closely by Assam with 46. Bihar, Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland and Uttarakhand did not register any cases under this category last year.
• According to NCRB data, rape-murders make up less than 1 per cent of the total rapes in the country annually. In these cases, the NCRB data between 2017-2021 shows that UP, Assam, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra had the highest number of cases in the country annually for rape-murders for the period of 2017-2020.
• Over 28,000 women were abducted last year to be “compelled into marriage’’, including 12,000 minors, with the highest number recorded in UP (8,599) followed by Bihar (6,589), the NCRB report shows.
• Only 507 cases were registered in the country under the Domestic Violence Act in 2021 — 0.1 per cent of the total cases of crime against women. The highest number of cases (270) were filed in Kerala. Meanwhile, 6,589 cases of dowry deaths were registered last year with the highest number of such deaths registered in UP and Bihar.

VALUE ADDITION:

About NCRB:

• In 1986 (based on recommendations of the Tandon Committee, MHA Taskforce and National Police Commission (1977))
• It acts under the Ministry of Home Affairs and functions as a repository of information on crime and criminals so as to assist the investigators in linking crime to the perpetrators.
• NCRB looks after CCTNS (Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems) and Central Finger Print Bureau
• It released reports: Crimes in India, Prison Statistics in India and Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India.

2. JOURNALISTS, ACTIVISTS CONTINUE TO BE TARGETED IN J&K: AMNESTY

THE CONTEXT: Recently, Amnesty International said it had recorded at least 60 instances of crackdowns on journalists and human rights defenders in Jammu and Kashmir since the revocation of special status of the erstwhile State in August 2019.

THE EXPLANATION:

• In a report titled, We are being punished by the law: Three years since of abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu & Kashmir, Amnesty documented interrogations, travel bans and detentions of journalists and human rights defenders.
• “For three years now, civil society and media in Jammu and Kashmir have been subjected to a vicious crackdown by the Indian government, which is determined to stifle dissent using draconian laws, policies and unlawful practices in their arsenal,” said Aakar Patel, the chair of the board of Amnesty International India.

• Amnesty said it had found that at least six persons, including journalists, human rights activists and academics, had been prevented from travelling abroad despite having the requisite documents. At least 27 journalists had been detained and arrested since August 5, 2019.
• “Journalists including Fahad Shah, Aasif Sultan and Sajad Gul have been subjected to ‘revolving door’ arrests. In a continuing pattern, they have been arrested under one law, granted bail by the court, and then re-arrested almost immediately under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) – India’s primary anti-terror law in Jammu & Kashmir, keeping them perpetually detained”.
• The report reviewed 1,346 cases on the website of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court and found that by August 1, 2022, the number of writ petitions had increased by 32%, which it said indicated an increase in unlawful detention. “Amnesty International also reviewed the data published by National Crime Record Bureau and found that there has been a 12% increase in the use of UAPA in Jammu & Kashmir since 2019”.

VALUE ADDITION:

About the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act:

• Passed in 1967, the law aims at effective prevention of unlawful activities associations in India.
• The Act assigns absolute power to the central government, by way of which if the Centre deems an activity as unlawful then it may, by way of an Official Gazette, declare it so.
• It has death penalty and life imprisonment as highest punishments.
• Under UAPA, both Indian and foreign nationals can be charged.
• It will be applicable to the offenders in the same manner, even if crime is committed on a foreign land, outside India.
• Under the UAPA, the investigating agency can file a charge sheet in maximum 180 days after the arrests and the duration can be extended further after intimating the court.

As per amendments of 2019:

• The Act empowers the Director General of National Investigation Agency (NIA) to grant approval of seizure or attachment of property when the case is investigated by the said agency.
• The Act empowers the officers of the NIA, of the rank of Inspector or above, to investigate cases of terrorism in addition to those conducted by the DSP or ACP or above rank officer in the state.
• It also included the provision of designating an individual as a terrorist.

THE INDIAN AGRICULTURE

3. PADDY CULTIVATION SEES DECLINE

THE CONTEXT: According to the data released by the Union Agriculture Ministry, there is a decrease in the area of paddy cultivation is 22.90 lakh hectares, 5.62% less than the area covered in 2021.

THE EXPLANATION:

• The trend of decrease in paddy sowing has continued even as the monsoon season in north India is in its last legs.
• As of now, paddy has been cultivated in 383.99 lakh hectares of area and in the corresponding period of last year, it was 406.89 lakh hectares.
• States such as Jharkhand (decrease of 9.80 lakh hectares), Madhya Pradesh (6.32 lakh hectares), West Bengal (4.45 lakh hectares), Chhattisgarh (3.91 lakh hectares), Uttar Pradesh (2.61 lakh hectares) and Bihar (2.18 lakh hectares) are the major contributors for the decrease in the cultivated area of paddy in this kharif season.
• Meanwhile, States such as Telangana (increase of 4.71 lakh hectares), Haryana (0.94 lakh hectares), Nagaland (0.78 lakh hectares) and Gujarat (0.55 lakh hectares) showed an increase in the area of cultivation of paddy.
• Farmers’ organisations have been maintaining that the higher input cost, particularly the increase in prices of fertilizers, is the main reason for the decrease in paddy cultivation apart from scarcity of water. The government is hopeful about a normal monsoon this year.

Cultivation of pulses

• The coverage of pulses too witnessed a marginal decrease. In this kharif season, the cultivation so far is in 129.55 lakh hectares compared to 135.46 lakh hectares in 2021. Increase in area in cultivation is reported from States such as Madhya Pradesh (4.08 lakh hectares), Uttar Pradesh (0.22 lakh hectares) and Assam (0.11 lakh hectares) while Maharashtra (decrease of 3.23 lakh hectares), Telangana (1.70 lakh hectares), Jharkhand (1.33 lakh hectares) and Karnataka (0.94 lakh hectares).
• Tur/arhar cultivation was down marginally at 44.86 lakh hectares as against 47.56 lakh hectares in 2021.
• Oilseeds have been cultivated in 188.51 lakh hectares in the country, slightly less than 189.66 lakh hectares of 2021. In the case of sugarcane, the cultivation is 55.65 lakh hectares, a slight increase in the production as compared to 54.70 lakh hectares in 2021 kharif.

THE SECURITY AFFAIRS

4. VIKRANT IS A REFLECTION OF SELF-RELIANT INDIA, SAYS PRIME MINISTER

THE CONTEXT: The nation’s first Indigenous Aircraft Carrier (IAC-1) is set to be commissioned soon in the presence of Prime Minister of India.

THE EXPLANATION:

What is the aircraft carrier INS Vikrant?

• The INS Vikrant – the 44,000-tonne indigenous aircraft carrier (IAC) – is the first to be designed and constructed in India.
• After its induction, the warship will be a key component of the Indian Navy’s push to establish itself as a “blue water” force, one with the ability to project its power on distant seas.

Features:

• The Vikrant stretches 262 metres in length, exceeding that of two football fields and is 62 metre wide. Around 20 aircraft can be parked in the hangar.
• It has a top speed of around 28 knots (more than 50 kmph) and a cruising speed of 18 knots with an endurance of about 7,500 nautical miles.
• Over 76 per cent of the material and equipment on board the carrier is indigenous, including 21,500 tonnes of special grade steel developed indigenously and used in Indian naval ships for the first time.
• This is the first time in the country that a ship of the size of an aircraft carrier is completely modelled in 3D and production drawings extracted from the 3D model.
• The Made-in-India warship is a feather in the country’s cap, as only five or six nations have the capacity of building an aircraft carrier.

It will be carrying:

• the Russian-made MiG-29K fighter jet,
• Kamov-31 early warning helicopters,
• the indigenously manufactured Advanced Light Helicopters and
• the MH-60R multirole helicopter made by the American defence major Lockheed Martin.

Why is it named Vikrant?

• INS Vikrant was India’s first aircraft carrier, which it acquired from the United Kingdom in 1961.
• It played a key role in the 1971 war with Pakistan which led to the creation of Bangladesh. It was decommissioned in 1997.
• Now India’s first homemade aircraft carrier will carry the name of her illustrious predecessor.

Other aircraft carriers:

• The Indian Navy has only one operational aircraft carrier at present – the INS Vikramaditya.
• The country’s two earlier carriers, INS Vikrant and INS Viraat, were originally the British-built HMS Hercules and HMS Hermes before being commissioned into the Navy in 1961 and 1987 respectively.

The commissioning of the warship, which will be christened ‘Vikrant’, will mark a “historical milestone of realisation of Nation’s commitment towards AatmaNirbharta” (self-reliance).

THE GOVERNMENT SCHEMES IN NEWS

5. MEGHALAYA: RURAL BACKYARD PIGGERY SCHEME

THE CONTEXT: Recently, Meghalaya Chief Minister launched an ambitious flagship program – “Rural Backyard Piggery Scheme” for farmers under National Livestock Mission at Byrnihat in Ri-Bhoi district of Meghalaya.

THE EXPLANATION:

• The objective of this scheme is to ensure that farmers earn a sustainable livelihood through various animal husbandry activities.
• Meghalaya receives 18,000 metric tonnes of pork from various states and there is acute shortage in supply and demand, the state is planning to bridge the supply shortfall through pig farming scheme.
• Under the Phase 1 of this scheme the government has earmarked Rs 15.18 crore, under which four high yielding improved varieties of pigs will be distributed to 6000 families and an additional Rs 25 crore will be earmarked for starting the second phase of the programme.

Meghalaya Piggery Mission

• The scheme launched on 10th August in Samanda block of East Garo Hills district has received good response and appreciation from the farmers.
• Under this scheme 4 pigs, 3 female and 1 male piglets will be distributed to the farmers to promote pig breeding to provide regular income to the farmers. This livestock package is Rs 25,000 per beneficiary.
• The scheme is envisaged to benefit 6000 poor and marginal farmers and increase the production of pork in the state.

National Livestock Mission

• National Livestock Mission is an initiative of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare launched in 2014-15. The objective of this mission is to ensure quantitative and qualitative improvement in livestock production systems and capacity building of all stakeholders of livestock economy.

6. RAJASTHAN HANDICRAFTS POLICY-2022

THE CONTEXT: The Rajasthan cabinet has recently approved the “Rajasthan Handicrafts Policy-2022”. Through this policy, work will be done for the upliftment of handicrafts in the state and participation in the development of the state will be ensured by empowering them.

THE EXPLANATION:

• With this policy, new employment opportunities will increase in the state. Along with this, the extinct handicrafts will be revived.
• Under this, a national level handicrafts week will be organized every year in December, in which handicrafts men will be rewarded.
• At the same time, e-marketing, social security, loan facility, scholarship, assistance for participation in fairs, expansion of infrastructure facilities in Shilp Gram, Handicraft Park, Museum, Design Center, Sales Center for brand building of handicrafts.
• There will be many important works like support, design bank establishment. The government will also create an online platform to help artisans sell their products.
• Provision will be made by government departments to buy products up to Rs 10 lakh from registered artisans through e-market without tender.
• A Handicraft Design Center will also be set up in Jodhpur to study the techniques and designs used in other states and countries so as to promote new techniques or processes for the products in the state. This center will be set up as a ‘Centre of Excellence’.

THE PRELIMS PERSPECTIVE

7. VOSTOK MILITARY EXERCISE

THE CONTEXT: Recently, a contingent of soldiers from 7/8 Gorkha Rifles of the Indian Army arrived in Russia to participate in the multilateral tactical and command exercise Vostok – 2022 to be held from 1-7 September 2022.

THE EXPLANATION:

Important Facts about Vostok 2022

• In this exercise more than 50 thousand soldiers from India, China, Laos, Mongolia, Nicaragua, Syria and former Soviet countries will participate.
• The seven-day exercise comprises land, air and sea components. However, India has decided to stay away from the maritime component.
• There will be joint exercises of both attack and defense during this exercise.  More than five thousand types of weapons will be used in this exercise. It will have 140 fighter aircraft, 60 warships, gunboats and allied ships.
• The one-week-long exercise has been organized under the auspices of Russia’s Eastern Military District (Theater Command) and Pacific-Fleet in Vladivostok.
• Vladivostok is located in the far east of Russia on the Sea of ​​Japan. In such a situation, Japan has expressed its opposition to this military exercise.
• At the same time, America has also expressed its concern about each country participating in this military exercise, because Russia is fighting a barbaric war in Ukraine. The US has said that any country’s military exercises with Russia are a matter of concern.

1. To Be a Vulture in India Is Still To Be Constantly Threatened READ MORE
2. What Europe saw this summer may just become the norm by 2035, hints study READ MORE

1. Where is freedom of movement for disabled people? READ MORE
2. CRS: Bridging the communication gap READ MORE

1. Stop farmer suicide now READ MORE
2. Why plea on ‘reservation for Dalit Christians’ is a dangerous and divisive move READ MORE
3. One state’s freebie can be another state’s welfare READ MORE
4. An Assault on Democracy: The onslaught against freebies is yet another attempt to disempower the poor. READ MORE
5. New Facts, Constitutional Vision: Agricultural Federalism READ MORE

(Newspapers, PIB and other important sources)

Prelim and Main

1. G7 agrees to implement price cap on Russian oil, seeks inputs from all countries READ MORE
2. In a Surprise, Russia Says the Gas Pipeline to Germany Will Remain Closed READ MORE
3. Special maternity leave in case of infant death READ MORE
4. Indigenous vaccine against lumpy skin disease to hit markets soon, says ICAR READ MORE
5. Naval muscle and seal of Chhatrapati Shivaji, inspiring Indian Navy READ MORE
6. Polio to Covid-19: What accounts for India’s vaccination success story? READ MORE
7. African Swine Fever hits ICAR centre in Assam, state govt’s farm; 292 pigs culled READ MORE
8. International Vulture Awareness Day: India’s numbers increasing, albeit slowly READ MORE
9. India overtakes UK to become fifth-largest economy READ MORE

Main Exam

GS Paper- 1

1. Where is freedom of movement for disabled people? READ MORE

GS Paper- 2

POLITY AND GOVERNANCE

1. Stop farmer suicide now READ MORE
2. Why plea on ‘reservation for Dalit Christians’ is a dangerous and divisive move READ MORE
3. One state’s freebie can be another state’s welfare READ MORE
4. An Assault on Democracy: The onslaught against freebies is yet another attempt to disempower the poor. READ MORE
5. New Facts, Constitutional Vision: Agricultural Federalism READ MORE

SOCIAL ISSUES

1. CRS: Bridging the communication gap READ MORE

INTERNATIONAL ISSUES

1. Political expediency rules terror listing in UNSC READ MORE
2. The NPT is beginning to look shaky: Sustaining it requires facing up to today’s political realities such as the growing rivalries in a multipolar nuclear world READ MORE

GS Paper- 3

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

1. Economy remains under Covid shadow. 6% growth will be a big achievement for India READ MORE
2. FDI, GDP and Regional Disparity READ MORE

ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY

1. To Be a Vulture in India Is Still To Be Constantly Threatened READ MORE
2. What Europe saw this summer may just become the norm by 2035, hints study READ MORE

SECURITY

1. India’s cyber infrastructure needs more than patches: With cybercrime on the rise, the central and State governments need to work in tandem READ MORE

DISASTER MANAGEMENT

1. Community radio helps fight disasters READ MORE

GS Paper- 4

ETHICS EXAMPLES AND CASE STUDY

1. Spiritual journey will begin in knowing yourself READ MORE
2. Free speech is not a licence to kill READ MORE

Questions for the MAIN exam

1. To realize federalism in the true sense, India needs a centre-state cooperative approach, not rivalry in every field, including agriculture. Analyze the statement.
2. How far do you agree with this view that the New Criminal Identification Act will Create a Surveillance State? Analyse your view.

QUOTATIONS AND CAPTIONS

• A good leader leads the people from above them. A great leader leads the people from within them.
• The onslaught against freebies is yet another attempt to disempower the poor.
• By trying to restrict pro-poor election promises labelled freebies, the Prime Minister is clearly trying to hobble the opposition from mobilising the disempowered against his pro-business government.
• World must mitigate and adapt to the climate crisis along three axes: reduce, remove and repair.
• Reservation to Dalit Christians will usurp privileges guaranteed to a section of the Hindu society. The Supreme Court should thwart this dangerous and divisive move.
• Community radio has emerged as an effective tool of social change across the world. India is no different but needs robust policy planning.
• ‘Reforms’ and ‘performance’ are among the most commonly used terms by the powers that be. And these are vital in India’s fuel supply versus electricity generation debate.
• With ‘police’ and ‘public order’ being in the State List, the primary obligation to check crime and create the necessary cyberinfrastructure lies with States.
• Developments in space and cyber domains are blurring the line between conventional and nuclear weapons, leading to nuclear entanglement and rendering command and control systems vulnerable.

50-WORD TALK

• Good that SC granted Teesta Setalvad bail. Its rebuke of Gujarat HC’s procrastination is well-deserved. We must also ask why the SC had nudged the police to take away the liberty of Setalvad and others. It gave the arrest moral legitimacy. This low point in India’s judicial history deserves introspection.
• The commissioning of INS Vikrant is a moment of national pride—but also time to debate India’s naval strategy. Large carriers were twentieth century superpower status-symbols, meant for global power-projection. Facing next-generation precision weapons, navies are pivoting to stealthier, smarter platforms. Future wars will be won by technology—not tonnage.

Things to Remember:

• For prelims-related news try to understand the context of the news and relate with its concepts so that it will be easier for you to answer (or eliminate) from given options.
• Whenever any international place will be in news, you should do map work (marking those areas in maps and exploring other geographical locations nearby including mountains, rivers, etc. same applies to the national places.)
• For economy-related news (banking, agriculture, etc.) you should focus on terms and how these are related to various economic aspects, for example, if inflation has been mentioned, try to relate with prevailing price rises, shortage of essential supplies, banking rates, etc.
• For main exam-related topics, you should focus on the various dimensions of the given topic, the most important topics which occur frequently and are important from the mains point of view will be covered in ED.
• Try to use the given content in your answer. Regular use of this content will bring more enrichment to your writing.

THE CONTEXT: An appeal against the video survey of Varanasi’s Gyanvapi mosque has resurfaced the debate surrounding the Places of Worship Act, 1991. The issue has yet again resurrected the debate related to the credibility of religious institutions and infrastructures and their position in secular India.In this article, we analyse how the Places of Worship Act secures the secular nature of our democracy from the UPSC perspective.

THE PLACES OF WORSHIP (SPECIAL PROVISIONS) ACT, 1991

The act to prohibit conversion of any place of worship and to provide for the maintenance of the religious character of any place of worship as it existed on the 15th day of August 1947, and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.

• It extends to the whole of India except the State of Jammu and Kashmir.
• The provisions of sections 3, 6 and 8 shall come into force at once and the remaining provisions of this Act shall be deemed to have come into force on the 11th day of July 1991.
• “Place of worship” means a temple, mosque, gurudwara, church, monastery or any other place of public religious worship of any religious denomination or any section thereof, by whatever name called.

Key Provisions:

• Section 3: No person shall convert any place of worship of any religious denomination or any section thereof into a place of worship of a different section of the same religious denomination or of a different religious denomination or any section thereof.
• Section 4:

o   Section 4(1): declares that the religious character of a place of worship “shall continue to be the same as it existed” on August 15, 1947.

o   Section 4(2):It declares that all litigation, appeals, or other proceedings ongoing before any court or authority on August 15, 1947, involving converting the status of a place of worship, will cease as soon as the law takes effect. There will be no more legal action taken.

Key Exceptions:

• Section 5:The Act also does not apply to the place of worship commonly referred to as Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid in Ayodhya. This law will have an overriding effect over any other law in force.
• Ancient and historical monuments and archaeological sites and remains that are covered by the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958 are beyond its purview.

RESURGENCE OF THE PLACES OF WORSHIP ACT, 1991

CONTEXT

GENESIS OF GYANVAPI MOSQUE

DEVELOPMENTS/EXPLANATIONS

• Gyanvapi mosque is located in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. It is a stone’s throw away from the Kashi Vishwanath temple, built in 1780 by Ahilyabai Holkar, the Queen of Indore.
• Kashi Vishwanath is a prominent temple dedicated to the Hindu deity Shiva. Recent petitions claim that the Gyanvapi mosque lies on the remains of the ‘original’ Kashi Vishwanath temple.
• Under the reign of Mughal Emperor Akbar, priest Narayan Bhatta rebuilt the Vishweshwara temple in the 16th century. It is believed that in the late 17th century, around 1669, the temple was once again razed on the orders of Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb.

EMERGENCE OF THE GYANVAPI CONUNDRUM

THE CASE OF FLOUTING ORDERS OF A SUPERIOR COURT

• In December 2019, barely a month after the Ayodhya verdict, a fresh petition was filed at a Varanasi Civil Court seeking an archaeological assessment of the Gyanvapi mosque’s origins.
• In 2020, the 1991 petitioners approached the Civil Court in Varanasi to hear the original petition again.The proceedings were stayed by the Allahabad High Court in February 2020, it reserved Judgement on the matter in March 2020.
• Then, despite the stay, the matter was reopened by a Varanasi Civil Court in April 2021, Fast Track Court Civil Judge (Senior Division) Ashutosh Tiwari ordered an Archaeological Survey of India investigation into the mosque’s origins.
• Allahabad High Court came down heavily on the Civil Court for proceeding despite the High Court reserving Judgment on the matter.

CLAIMS AND CONCERNS OF THE HINDU SECT

• Within Holkar’s, Kashi Vishwanath temple is a statue of Nandi, the sacred bull companion of the Hindu deity Shiva. Typically, in Hindu temples, the Nandi statue faces the shiv lingam, a cylindrical monolith representing Shiva.
• In this case, it faces the Gyanvapi mosque bolstering Hindu claims that a Vishweshwara temple once stood in its place and that a shiv lingam is hidden within the mosque’s premises.
• This led to petitions filed by Hindus from 1991 to 2022 requesting permission to pray within its premises. Informal video surveys further identify the Hindu features and motifs that are part of its masonry and structure.

CLAIMS AND CONCERNS OF THE MUSLIM SECT

• Proponents of the Islamic sect suggest that what matters in law is the status of the Gyanvapi mosque on August 15, 1947.
• Its status as a mosque and a waqf were noted by a judgment of the Allahabad high court (AIR 1942 Allahabad 353, Din Mohammed and Others. vs Secretary of State).
• Also, any change in the status of the mosque will amount to flouting of law under the Places of Worship Act, 1991.
• By conducting such investigations into religious sites, the courts have, like they did in the case of Babri Masjid, legitimized the values of an anti-modern polity. They have acted against the values that they are supposed to uphold. Courts cannot be acting on claims of mythology or those of medieval capture.

THE PLACES OF WORSHIP ACT, 1991: COMPARISON OF ARGUMENTS

PROPONENTS OF THE HINDU SHIVA TEMPLE

• Petitioners argue that the law is impotent for delivering justice against the barbarism inflicted on religious institutions, culture and architecture before independence.
• Proponents of this group argue that the demolition of a temple’s structure and subsequent offerings of namaaz did not change the character of land where once a temple stood.
• It is a historical fact that in 1192 the invader Mohammad Ghori after defeating Prithviraj Chauhan established Islamic rule in India and foreign rule continued up to August 15, 1947, thereafter.
• Therefore, any cutoff date in the Places of Worship Act, 1991, could be the date on which India was conquered by Gori and the religious places of Hindus, Jains, Buddhists, and Sikhs, as were existing in 1192, have to be restored with the same glory.

PROPONENTS OF GYANVAPI MOSQUE

• The Muslim bodies, such as the Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind, have countered that a dent in the Places of Worship Act, of 1991 would be the first blow to the secular fabric.
• The Muslim body stressed that the Ayodhya verdict, which upheld the Places of Worship Act, had noted that “historical wrongs cannot be remedied by people taking the law into their own hands”.
• Thus, the status of the Mosque should be preserved as it is presented so as to avoid public upsurges in the name of religion.
• The philosophical and practical understanding of the Places of Worship Act 1991, suggests that the nature of our architectural sites in present times cannot be entertaining mythology or medieval warfare.
• By ordering a survey of the Gyanvapi Mosque, the courts have done exactly the opposite of this inherent idea of the Places of Worship Act 1991.

VIEWS OF THE SUPREME COURT ON ‘PLACES OF WORSHIP ACT, 1991

• In the Ayodhya judgment, the Supreme court categorically held that the law cannot be used as a device to reach back in time and provide a legal remedy to every person who disagrees with the course that history has taken.
• The Places of Worship Act imposes a non-derogable obligation towards enforcing our commitment to secularism under the Indian Constitution.
• The law (Places of Worship Act, 1991) is a legislative instrument designed to protect the secular features of the Indian polity, which is one of the basic features of the Constitution.
• Under the 1991 Act, the Supreme court views that one cannot change a mosque or a church into a Hindu temple, or vice-versa; however, there’s nothing to stop one from trying to find out whether a building is a mosque or a church or a temple.
• Justice Chandrachud is of the opinion that the ascertainment of the religious character of a place as a procedural instrument may not necessarily fall foul of the provisions of Sections 3 and 4 of the Act of 1991.
• The State has by enacting the law, enforced a constitutional commitment and operationalized its constitutional obligations to uphold the equality of all religions and secularism, which is a part of the basic features of the Constitution.

THE GROUNDS FOR THE CHALLENGING PLACES OF WORSHIP ACT, 1991

Along with other petitions in line, BJP’s Rajya Sabha MP from UP, Harnath Singh Yadav, has submitted a private member’s bill with the Rajya Sabha secretariat seeking to repeal The Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991.

It is argued by the ruling party that the 1991 Act not only violates fundamental rights such as the right to equality and the right to life but also infringes on citizen’s constitutionally guaranteed right to religious freedom in the following manner:

PROVISIONS OF THE ACT BEING CHALLENGED

• Section 3 of the Act criminalises ‘conversion’ of a place of worship for one religion or sect into another.
• Section 4 bars filing any suit or initiating any other legal proceeding for the conversion of the religious character of any place of worship, as existing on August 15, 1947.
• Various petitions contend that the choice of date adversely impacts Hindus, Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists. From 1192 onwards, Muslims and the British ruled India and destroyed temples.
• Section 5 of the Act excludes its application to the site known as ‘Ram Janam Bhumi’ or ‘Babri Masjid’.
• It also bars Courts from determining whether any place of worship has been converted after August 15th 1947.

ISSUES WITH RIGHTS & EXCLUSIONS

• Freezing the date in 1947, does not allow these communities to restore their places of worship. This violates Articles 14 and 15 which guarantee equality, and the right to religious freedoms under Articles 25, 26 and 29.
• It offends the right of Hindus, Jains, Buddhists, and Sikhs to pray, profess, practice and prorogate religion (Article 25).
• The Act infringes on the rights of Hindus, Jains, Buddhists, and Sikhs to manage, maintain and administer the places of worship and pilgrimage (Article 26)
• The Act further deprives Hindus, Jains, Buddhists, and Sikhs to take back their places of worship and pilgrimage connected with their cultural heritage (Article 29)
• Sections 3 and 4 of the Act have virtually taken away the right to approach the Court and thus the Right to Judicial Remedy (Article 32) has been closed.
• Some petitioners have argued that ‘Hindus’ are fighting for the restoration of the birthplace of Lord Krishna for hundreds of years with peaceful public agitation, but by enacting the Act, the Centre has excluded the birthplace of Lord Ram at Ayodhya but not the birthplace of Lord Krishna in Mathura, though both are the incarnations of Lord Vishnu- the creator.
• Thus, the exclusion of the birthplace of Lord Krishna in Mathura becomes a challenge in the act.
• Thus, the Act bars judicial review which is a basic structure of the Constitution and cannot be taken away. It also violates the principle of secularism which is a basic feature (Article 13).

WHY PLACES OF WORSHIP ACT, OF 1991 IS FOUNDATION OF SECULAR DEMOCRACY?

The inherent purpose of the Places of Worship Act, of 1991, was the preservation of the religious character of places of public worship at India’s independence. For a complex democracy like ours, it becomes an imperative to ensure the healing of injustices of the past by providing the confidence to every religious community that their places of worship will be preserved and that their character will not be altered.It is necessary to adopt such a law in view of the controversies arising from time to time with regard to the conversion of places of worship which tend to vitiate the communal atmosphere.

Keeping the above-mentioned aspects in mind, the Parliament must retain the Places of Worship Act without amending or repealing it.

THE WAY FORWARD

• In the Ayodhya judgment, the court had categorically held that the law cannot be used as a device to reach back in time and provide a legal remedy to every person who disagrees with the course that history has taken. The courts of today cannot take cognisance of historical rights and wrongs.
• The Supreme Court has reiterated the principle of non-retrogression in a number of cases. The non-retrogression principle holds that government may extend protection beyond what the Constitution requires, but it cannot retreat from that extension once made.
• The doctrine of non-retrogression sets forth that the State should not take measures or steps that deliberately lead to retrogression (or deterioration) on the enjoyment of rights either under the Constitution or otherwise. For example,

o   In Navtej Singh Johar’s judgment in 2018, the court held that there is no place for retreat in a progressive society. Therefore, the state should not take steps that deliberately lead to retrogression(deterioration) on the enjoyment of rights either under the Constitution or otherwise”.

o   In Babri Masjid’s verdict in 2019, it was mentioned that non-retrogression “is a foundational feature of the fundamental constitutional principles of which secularism is a core component”.

o   The Places of Worship Act is thus ‘a legislative intervention which preserves non-retrogression as an essential feature of our secular values.

• The historical wrongs cannot be remedied by people taking the law into their own hands. Through the Places of Worship Act, Parliament has mandated that historical wrongs shall not be used as instruments to oppress the present and the future. Thus, the act must hold its true nature for the times to come.

THE CONCLUSION: It is an established fact that hinging our energies on the past creates panic and loss of personal peace. For any given instance in the past, present laws or rules shouldn’t be promoting communal hatred. Thus, there needs to be peaceful dispute resolution. Despite precedents that speak otherwise, the higher courts must maintain the status quo. The architecture of today shouldn’t be defined by an arbitrarily chosen portion of its history. Such petitions need to be rejected in the interest of harmony and peace both in present times and in the times to come.

QUESTIONS TO PONDER

• “The Parliament, by means of the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991, has fulfilled its constitutional obligations to uphold the idea of secularism and equality of all religions.” Examine critically.
• “Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991 is consciously infringing several Fundamental Rights.” Do you agree? Explain with suitable examples.