THE POLITY AND GOVERNANCE
1. MARITAL RAPE: CENTRE SEEKS TIME IN HC
THE CONTEXT: The Centre told the Delhi High Court that the issue of criminalisation of marital rape involves “family issues” and the dignity of a woman and cannot be looked at from a “microscopic angle”.
WHAT IS THE DEFINITION OF MARITAL RAPE?
Marital rape refers to undesirable sexual intercourse by a man with his own wife, which is achieved by unlawful force, the threat of force, or physical violence, or when she is incompetent to give her consent to such sexual intercourse. Marital rape is a non-consensual act of violence perversion by a husband against the wife where she is physically and sexually abused.
INDIAN LAW ON MARITAL RAPE:
- Section 375, the IPC section which deals with rape, states, “Sexual intercourse by a man with his wife, the wife not being under 15 (18 by SC 2017 judgement), is not rape.”
- Section 376 of IPC, which provides punishment for rape status, the rapist should be punished with imprisonment and fine “unless the raped woman his own wife”.
- Domestic Violence Act, 2005 provides a civil remedy to marital rape.
- Section 122 of the Indian Evidence Act prevents evidence of marital rape from being admissible in court unless it is a prosecution for battery or a physical and mental case.
- India is one of the 15 countries that have not criminalised marital rape.
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VARIOUS COMMITTEES AND RECOMMENDATIONS RECOMMENDATION OF JUSTICE JS VERMA COMMITTEE The Committee was constituted after the Nirbhaya Rape case to recommend changes to India’s rape laws. It was recommended in 2013 that forced sex/sexual violence between married partners should be considered rape and punished as a criminal offence. However, it was not accepted by the government. RECOMMENDATION BY UN COMMITTEE ON ELIMINATION OF DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMEN The UN Committee on Elimination of Discrimination against Women had twice (in 2007 and 2014) urged India to criminalise marital rape. However, the recommendation was not accepted by the government. The Women’s Sexual Reproductive and Menstrual Rights Bill, 2018 1. The now lapsed Bill was a private member bill by Shashi Tharoor. It seeks to take away the exception to Section 375 of IPC in relation to sexual relations between a husband and his wife. 1. It also seeks to allow women the choice of legal termination of pregnancy below 24 weeks and provide for public schools to provide girls with sanitary napkins. |
Government Stand:
The concept of marital rape cannot be applied in the country since marriage was treated as a sacrament or sacred in the Indian society. The government’s stand came against the backdrop of the UN Committee on Elimination of Discrimination against Women recommending to India to criminalise marital rape. According to United Nations Population Fund, 75% of the married women in India were subjected to marital rape and whether government had taken cognisance of the fact.
THE INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
2. AUSTRALIA’S ONLINE SAFETY BILL
THE CONTEXT: The Australian Parliament passed the Online Safety Bill 2021. The bill is to address the issue of cyber abuse and cyber bullying against Australian adults and to establish an enforcement mechanism through the eSafety Commissioner.
THE EXPLANATION:
- A report by the Australia Communications and Media Authority in 2019 found that 90 percent of Australians had access to the internet, with 63% of Australian adults using social networking to communicate in the previous six months (from 2020) (this increased to 99% and 72%, respectively, in ACMA’s 2020 report).
- According to the Australia Institute, 39% of adult Australian users experienced online harassment and reputational damage. Amnesty International found that three in ten women experienced online abuse, and a report by the eSafety Commissioner found that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, as well as those who identify as LGBTQI, “are more than twice as likely to experience online hate speech.”
- The bill also seeks to address terrorist and extreme violent material online. The explanatory memorandum refers to the Christchurch terrorist attacks and emphasizes the gap in the regulatory framework at that time. While internet service providers complied with the government’s request to block footage of the attacks, the previous regulatory framework did not provide the government with the authority to order such actions.
Highlights of the Bill:
- The act allows adults to report cases of online bullying in Australia, to the eSafety Commissioner.
- With this act, the eSafety commissioner is empowered to order social media websites to take down content related to bullying against Australian adults.
- Content shall be removed within 24 hours. In case, they failed to do so, they will face fines up to USD 555,000.
THE ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY
3. SUNDARBANS IS CYCLONE CAPITAL OF INDIA: IMD REPORT
THE CONTEXT: According to the report, the Climate hazards and vulnerability atlas of India by the Indian Meteorological Department, West Bengal’s South 24 Parganas district, within which the larger share of the Sundarbans is located, is impacted by cyclones the most frequently among Indian districts. The return period of cyclonic storms in the district was 1.67 years on a scale of 1.5 to 60 years.
THE EXPLANATION:
- In 2021, the Sunderbans saw two (Yaas and Jawad cyclones) out of the 10 cyclonic disturbances that swept the country.
- “The web atlas is depicted using Geographic Information System (GIS) tools and provides districts maps on hazard events and vulnerability; and are prepared based on the climatological data, census data on population and housing density’.
- Around four per cent of the districts and seven per cent of the population in India are highly vulnerable for cyclones, the report stated. Most of the coastal districts of the east coast are highly vulnerable for cyclones.
- According to the study, around 25 districts in the east coast — 10 in Tamil Nadu, seven in Andhra Pradesh, six in Odisha and two in West Bengal — are vulnerable to cyclonic storms.
Value Addition:
About Sundarbans:
- The Sundarbans mangrove forest, one of the largest such forests in the world (140,000 ha), lies on the delta of the Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna rivers on the Bay of Bengal. It is adjacent to the border of India’s Sundarbans World Heritage site inscribed in 1987.
- The Indian Sundarbans constitutes over 60% of the country’s total mangrove forest area.
- The Muriganga River runs through the Indian Sunderbans on the west, and the Harinbhahga and Raimangal rivers run through it on the east.
- Saptamukhi, Thakura, Malta, and Goasaba are some of the other major rivers that flow through this ecosystem.
- In the year 1973, the Sundarbans were designated as a Tiger Reserve. In the year 1977, it was designated as a Wildlife Sanctuary.
- In the year 1984, the Sundarbans Wildlife Sanctuary was designated as a National Park.
- In 2001, UNESCO designated the Sunderbans as a Biosphere Reserve.
- In January 2019, the Ramsar Convention designated the Sundarban Wetland in India as a “Wetland of International Importance.”
THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
4.‘INDIA CAN MAKE $300-BN ELECTRONICS BY 2026’
THE CONTEXT: The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and the India Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA) recently released a five-year roadmap and vision document for the Indian electronics sector.
THE EXPLANATION:
- The document, titled “$300 bn Sustainable Electronics Manufacturing & Exports by 2026”, is the second volume of a two-part report, the first of which, “Increasing India’s Electronics Exports and Share in GVCs”.
- This second volume provides year-wise break-up and production projections for several products that are expected to lead India’s transformation into a US$ 300 billion electronics manufacturing powerhouse, from the current US$ 75 billion. Mobile manufacturing, which could cross US$100 billion annual productions (up from the current US$30 billion), is expected to constitute nearly 40% of the growth.
- The domestic market is expected to increase from US$65 billion to US$180 billion over the next five years. This will make electronics amongst India’s top-ranking exports by 2026.
- The multi-billion target comes on the back of the government’s US$10 billion Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme to boost the semiconductor and display ecosystem. The government has committed nearly US$17 billion over the next six years across four PLI schemes: semiconductor and design, smartphones, IT hardware, and components.
THE PRELIMS PRACTICE QUESTIONS
QUESTION OF THE DAY 25TH JANUARY 2022
Q1. Consider the following statements about Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar:
- The award is administered by the Ministry of Women and Child Development.
- It is conferred by the Prime Minister of India in the week preceding Republic Day.
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 24TH JAN 2022
Answer: d)
Explanation:
About Hogenakkal falls:
- Hogenakkal Falls is a waterfall in South India on the Kaveri river on the border
- between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
- It is sometimes referred to as the "Niagara Falls of India”.
- The word Hogenakkal is formed of two Kannada words hoge and kal. When the water falls on the rocks it appears as if hoge (smoke) is emanating from the top of the kal (rock) because of the force of the water, hence Hogenakkal (smoking rocks).
