Live-streaming the Supreme Court’s Proceedings

The Supreme Court has stated that it is ready to go live on camera while the government has mooted a separate TV channel for live-streaming of court proceedings.

• The court said a live stream is only an extension of the ‘open court’ system, where the public can walk in and watch court proceedings. However, with court proceedings beamed live on air, litigants, law students and the public can watch them as they happen and in their own comfort.
• The government has proposed a dedicated channel like the Rajya Sabha TV and the Lok Sabha TV for the Supreme Court.

Benefits

• A live stream would help litigants follow the proceedings in their case and also assess their lawyers’ performance. People from far-flung States such as Tamil Nadu and Kerala do not have to travel all the way to the national capital for a day’s hearing.
• It would keep a check on lawyers’ conduct inside the courtrooms. With the entire country watching them, there would be fewer interruptions, raised voices and adjournments from the lawyers.
• Live-streaming will bring transparency and access to justice.

Concerns

• Live-streaming cases can involve national security concerns and can amount to a violation of the fundamental right to privacy in matrimonial disputes and rape cases.
• Concerns have also been raised about the commercial aspect of the whole issue. The agreements with broadcasters should be on a non-commercial basis. No one should profit from the arrangement.
• The unauthorised reproduction of the live streaming videos is another cause for concern as its regulation will be very difficult at the government’s end.

Way Forward

• Citizens have the right to information and technology exists to make matters of constitutional and national importance available for the public viewership. Moreover, if a live stream of the top court’s proceedings is not possible, alternatively video recording of the proceedings should be allowed.

SC Questions Female Genital Mutilation

The Supreme Court expressed concern over the practice of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) prevalent in the Bohra Muslim community (who are Shia Muslims), saying it compromises and violates the bodily integrity and privacy of a woman in the name of religion.

• The Chief Justice of India (CJI) observed that the practice will fall under POCSO Act and that “these petitions have been filed by women. And if they do not want it, then it cannot be imposed”.
• The practice violates various fundamental rights of the girl child and moreover, such kind of genital mutilation has serious repercussions on their health (WHO).
• The countries like the USA, the United Kingdom, Australia and around 27 African countries have already banned this practice.
• According to the petition, FGM violates both the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights to both of which India is a signatory.
• While the trust belonging to women of Bohra community, opposed the petitions and said that FGM was in vogue among Dawoodi Bohra women since centuries, and it would be protected under Articles 25 and 26 of Constitution and demanded that the matter is referred to a Constitution bench.

Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)

• FGM refers to the practice of complete or partial removal of female external genitalia, apparently in an attempt to keep their sexual desires under control.
• FGM is prevalent in India and is one among the many violations which make our country the world’s most dangerous place for women.
• Despite being perpetuated by small minorities, the prevalence of cultural practices such as FGM is symptomatic of a larger problem at the root of it.
• Irrespective of the community or religion, in India, there is an understanding of the female body being ‘impure’, ‘excessive’ and in some cultures, even ‘evil’.
• One can even draw parallels between cultural ideas of pollution and purity, wherein many Indian cultures, a menstruating woman is considered ‘impure’.
• There are grave health repercussions associated with the barbaric act of FGM - in the short-term, there may be a pain, excessive bleeding, fever, infections, shock, or even death.
• In the long term, there may be urinary or vaginal problems and complications at childbirth. Correcting the damage may need surgery.

Government Declares 6 Educational ‘Institutions of Eminence’

The Government has shortlisted Six Institutions of Eminence (IoEs) including 3 from Public Sector and 3 from Private Sector. Each public Institution selected as ‘Institution of Eminence’ will get financial assistance up to Rs. 1000 Crore over the period of five years under this scheme. The government has also made it clear that it will offer no financial assistance to the private institutions under this scheme, though they will get autonomy to pursue academic excellence.

• Public Sector: Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, Karnataka; Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, Maharashtra; and Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi.
• Private Sector: Jio Institute (Reliance Foundation), Pune under Green Field Category; Birla Institute of Technology & Sciences, Pilani, Rajasthan; and Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, Karnataka.

NOTE: The term greenfield was originally used in construction and development to reference land that has never been used, where there was no need to demolish or rebuild any existing structures. The term greenfield project’ generally refers to the initiation of a project without the need to consider any prior work. In contrast to this, the term brownfield project refers to the project based on prior work or to rebuild (engineer) a product from an existing one.

Background

The move is a part of government’s scheme to provide the regulatory architecture for setting up or upgrading of 20 Institutions (10 from public sector & 10 from the private sector) as a world-class teaching and research institutions called as ‘Institutions of Eminence’.

Key points

• This will ensure complete autonomy to the selected institutions and help them grow more rapidly.
• The institutions will get more opportunity to scale up their operations with more skills and quality improvement so that they become World Class Institutions in the field of education.
• It is expected that the above-selected Institutions will figure in the top 500 list of the major global rankings within 10 years and in top 100 of the world ranking eventually over time.
• To achieve top global rankings, these Institutions shall be provided with greater autonomy to admit foreign students to 30% of admitted students.
• The institutions can also recruit foreign faculty up to 25% of faculty strength and offer online courses up to 20% of its programmes.
• The institutions can enter into academic collaboration with other top 500 rankers in the world ranking Institutions without permission of UGC.
• The institutions will be free to fix and charge fees from foreign students without restriction.
• They will have the flexibility to design course structure in terms of a number of credit hours and years to take a degree.

Free Treatment to EWS Patients

The Supreme Court ruled that private hospitals in Delhi, allotted land at subsidized rates, will have to provide free treatment to patients from the economically weaker sections (EWS) category.

• The free treatment will be given to 25 per cent Out Patient Department (OPD) and 10 per cent Inpatient Department (IPD) patients belonging to EWS category.
• Any violation in the agreement between the hospitals and the government, according to which beds were to be reserved for patients of the EWS category, might lead to cancellation of the lease.
• The SC bench reversed an earlier order of the Delhi High Court.

Background

• Earlier in 2014, the Delhi High Court had quashed the order of Ministry of Urban Development and the Delhi government that made it mandatory for hospitals to provide free treatment to persons from EWS category.
• The High Court had lauded the intention of the Government to bring the Directive Principle (to provide free treatment to poor) to fruition, but questioned its execution and emphasized the need for a legislation.
• The hospitals had argued that the government could not issue such orders since they had purchased the land at market rates and the original lease deeds for the land did not contain the freeship clause.
• Moreover, they argued that the fundamental right of the hospitals to do business cannot be taken away by an executive order and it can be done only by enacting a law.

Issues

• The majority of patients visiting private hospitals in Delhi are from other states who are clueless about the availability of reserved free beds.
• Therefore, for effective and efficient delivery of free health care for the EWS, robust information disbursal system is a prerequisite.
• Though the Delhi Government introduced an online monitoring system and appointed patient welfare officers to assist EWS patients - these decisions were not properly implemented.
• Once more, the Judiciary has taken a stand, but it's up to the executive to uphold the letter and spirit of Directive Principles of the Constitution by proper implementation of already existing mechanisms.

Trade Monitoring Report Highlights Trade-Restrictive Measures of G20

Recently, the World Trade Organization released its Trade Monitoring Report. The report reveals a number of important trends in global trade policy-making.

Key findings

• At a juncture where the global economy is finally beginning to generate sustained economic momentum following the global financial crisis, the uncertainty created by a proliferation of trade restrictive actions could place economic recovery in jeopardy.
• The increase in trade-restrictive measures has come at a time of increasing trade tensions and associated rhetoric.
• G20 economies have applied 39 new trade-restrictive measures including tariff increases, stricter customs procedures, the imposition of taxes and export duties.
• G20 economies also implemented 47 measures aimed at facilitating trade, including eliminated or reduced tariffs, simplified import and export customs procedures and reduction of import taxes.
• The estimated trade coverage of import-facilitating measures (US$ 82.7 billion) is higher than that of import-restrictive measures (Us$ 74.1 billion).

Trade Monitoring Report

• Trade Monitoring Report is intended to be a purely factual and transparency exercise and has no legal effect on the rights and obligations of WTO Members.
• The Report aims to shed light on the latest trends in the implementation of a broad range of policy measures that facilitate as well as restrict the flow of trade, and to provide an update on the state of global trade.

NOTE: Group of Twenty (G20)

• G20 is an international forum that brings together the world's 20 leading industrialised and emerging economies
• The G20 consists of Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States of America, China, South Africa and the European Union.

Long-term Financing in India

Recently the Union Finance Minister raised concerns over long-term financing in India.

• Long-term finance for industries includes those financial resources which are advanced to the industries for a period of more than a year.
• Long-term finance is quite important for the expansion and modernization of industrial projects and also to meet its fixed capital expenditure requirement.
• Long-term finance is mostly available from the sale of shares and debentures, and a loan from banks and financial institutions like etc.

Issues/Concerns

• The phenomenal growth in bank credit, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 39.31% over the last 15 years, without the requisite due-diligence invited certain undesirable consequences, like high stressed assets.
• Rising NPAs are forcing banks to resist from lending especially to major projects. Therefore, the need of the hour is to ensure assured and guaranteed long-term funding.
• The projects needing long-term financing are often complex and involve a large number of parties. Secondly, these are subject to various risks including those due to changes in policies, delays in clearances, etc.
• Thirdly, where debt financing is dominated by the banking system, the fundamental problem posed by the asset-liability mismatch is critical.

Asset-Liability Mismatch

• Providing longer duration loans from much shorter maturity funds is called an asset-liability mismatch.
• For example, Banks’ primary source of funds is deposited (their liabilities), typically having short- to medium-term maturities which need to be paid back to the investor in 3-5 years. In contrast, banks usually provide loans (their assets) for a longer period to borrowers.  This could be a cause for payment crisis as the money is locked with the borrower.

Way Forward

• A sharp decline in public and private funding for key growth sectors and basic infrastructure are creating huge gaps in long-term finance for development.
• Attracting private sector finance and investment is necessary to help India meet its development goals.
• As per an estimate, India needs Rs 31 trillion (US$ 454.83 billion) to be spent on infrastructure development over the next five years.

Treat Gaming as a Disorder: WHO

The World Health Organization (WHO) has announced a plan to include “gaming disorder” as a mental health condition. The reclassification is part of the WHO’s 11th revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD- 11).

Background

• ICD-11 draft defines gaming disorder as “… a pattern of gaming behavior (‘digital-gaming’ or ‘video-gaming’) characterized by impaired control over gaming, increasing priority given to gaming over other activities to the extent that gaming takes precedence over other interests and daily activities, and continuation or escalation of gaming despite the occurrence of negative consequences”.

Should India be concerned?

• India has a fast-growing gaming population. A 2017 Google-KPMG study estimated that the Indian online gaming industry was worth $290 million, and projected it to hit $1 billion by 2021.

Opposition towards Classification

• The classification is intended to act as a set of guidelines and many countries in determining healthcare policies, diagnosis and treatment options. Hence, the detrimental effect this “premature classification” could have on treatment and policymaking.
• Addiction to gaming as a phenomenon merits further study; hence a classification as a disorder could result in abuse of diagnosis.
• The addiction could also be a symptom of a deeper issue such as depression. The new classification could result in a trend where clinicians treat the symptom instead of the underlying issue

World Health Organisation

• The World Health Organisation (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that is concerned with international public health.
• It is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland and the WHO’s constitution came into force on April 7, 1948.
• The World Health Assembly is the supreme decision-making body in WHO. The assembly meets annually and is attended by delegations from 194 member states.

International Classification of Diseases (ICD)

• The ICD is the foundation for identifying health trends and statistics worldwide and contains around 55000 unique codes for injuries, diseases, and causes of death.
• It provides a common language that allows health professionals to share health information across the globe.
• It helps in understanding what makes people get sick and die, and to take action to prevent suffering and save lives.

Important Facts for Prelims (July 10th, 2018)

Light ‘Sadmridangam’ gets a patent

• The Controller General of Patents, Designs, and Trademarks has given the patent for light ‘sadmridangam’ under the ‘drum’ category.
• The lightweight version of South Indian percussion instrument ‘mridangam’ was developed by Kuzhalmannam Ramakrishnan.
• The improvised instrument has all the features of a ‘mridangam’ and ensures more mobility for artists.

Note:

• A Patent is a statutory right for an invention granted for a limited period of time to the patentee by the Government, in exchange of full disclosure of his invention for excluding others, from making, using, selling, importing the patented product or process for producing that product for those purposes without his consent.
• The patent system in India is governed by the Patents Act, 1970 (No.39 of 1970) as amended by the Patents (Amendment) Act, 2005 and the Patents Rules, 2003.
• Patent protection is a territorial right and therefore it is effective only within the territory of India. There is no concept of a global patent.

Seven new Wasp Species Discovered in the Amazon Forests

• Researchers have discovered seven new wasp species belonging to the genus Clistopyga from Peru, Venezuela and Colombia.
• The most notable among them is Clistopyga crassicaudata, named after its distinctly thickened ovipositor. The ovipositor is a tube-like organ present in many insects that helps in laying eggs and also in injecting venom
• The other new species include C.kalima, C. panchei and C. taironae, named in honour of Kalimas, Panches and Toiranas, indigenous tribe groups of Colombo.
• Another species was named C. nigriventri, indicating its entirely black body, and another C. splendida because of its multicoloured body. The seventh species, named C.isayae has a white and brown body.

First Quolls born in Australian Wild in 50 years

• The first eastern Quolls in 50 years have been born in the wild on the Australian mainland.
• This has raised hopes for the revival of the species of marsupial, which was devastated by foxes.