Government On Adultery Law

The central government has contended in the Supreme Court (SC) that Section 497 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) which deals with adultery should remain a criminal offense.

• It submitted in the SC that striking down the penal provision of adultery would go against Indian ethos and destroy the institution of marriage.
• It told the top court that Section 497 was enacted so as to safeguard the sanctity of marriage and diluting it would be detrimental to matrimonial bond.

Background

• The Constitution Bench of SC is scheduled to decide whether the provision of adultery in the IPC treats a married woman as her husband’s “subordinate” and violates the constitutional concepts of gender equality and sensitivity.
• The petition seeks to amend the provision to make men and women equally liable for the crime of adultery.
• It will consider whether Section 497 treats the man as the adulterer and the married woman as a victim.
• The bench will also examine why the offense of adultery ceases the moment it is established that the husband connived with or consented to the adulterous act, i.e. the question of a married woman being a mere “property” of her husband or a passive object.
• Earlier in 2017, the Supreme Court observed that the section 497 is archaic.

Section 497 of the IPC

It provides that whoever has sexual intercourse with the wife of another man, without the consent or connivance of that man, such sexual intercourse not amounting the offense of rape is guilty of the offense of adultery and shall be punished. In such case, the wife shall not be punishable as an abettor.

Panel for Automatic Suspension in Rajya Sabha

The rules review committee, in its interim report, has made few key recommendations:

• Automatic Suspension of Willful Offenders

• Currently, the Rajya Sabha Chairman cannot suspend a member of her own and a motion needs to be adopted by the House for the suspension of a member.
• That’s unlike in the Lok Sabha, where the Speaker can suspend a member from the service of the House for five consecutive sittings or the remainder of the session, whichever is less.

• Changing Question-hour Timing

• Question Hour is the slot in which members of Parliament seek replies from the government on subjects related to various ministries.
• The first hour of every sitting of Parliament is generally reserved for the asking and answering of questions.
• Question Hour is mentioned in the Rules of Procedure of Parliament.
• The panel suggested restoring the question hour to 11 a.m. from noon.

• The Rule 267 of Rajya Sabha may be amended, under which business of the day can be suspended to discuss something of extraordinary importance.

It has been noticed that many members had a tendency to use it on a regular basis to disrupt the house.

Background

• Earlier the two-member committee headed by former Secretary General of Rajya Sabha V.K. Agnihotri and S.R. Dhaleta, a former Joint Secretary in the Union Ministry of Law and Justice was formed to review the rules of procedure and conduct of business in the Rajya Sabha.
• The report has to be approved by the Rules Committee of the Upper House, which is headed by the Chairman of Rajya Sabha and has members from across parties.

India Cuts Iranian Oil Imports Ahead of U.S. Sanctions

India has reduced her monthly oil imports from Iran in June by 16% (as compared to May) to avoid sanctions by the United States that are set to take effect in November.

• The Government of India asked Indian oil refiners to prepare for drastic reductions or even zero Iranian oil imports.
• The Indian refiners will have to comply with the limits to maintain their access to the U.S. financial system.

Background

• In June 2018, the United States (US) withdrew from the landmark Iran nuclear deal and re-imposed sanctions that had been suspended in return for curbs on Iran’s nuclear programme.
• The United States has asked India and other countries to cut oil imports from Iran to “zero” by November 4 or face sanctions.
• The US also gave foreign companies either 90 or 180 days to wind down their business with Iranian counterparts.
• The request is part of US efforts to isolate streams of Iranian funding and is looking to highlight the totality of Iran’s ‘malign behavior’ across the region.

How Does it Impact India?

• Given the huge energy needs, Iran is India’s third-largest oil supplier behind Iraq and Saudi Arabia.
• Further, after China, India is Iran’s top oil importer of Iranian oil.
• Iran oil sale terms were the most attractive for Indian refiners - besides a liberal credit period, it also shipped the oil to India for a nominal ocean freight.
• Though Iran understands the ‘challenges’ India faces on the energy front, the former has threatened to end “special privileges” for India if she tried to replace Iranian crude oil with supplies from Saudi Arabia, Russia, and the United States.
• India’s decisions on procuring Iran oil, however, is not so much about securing energy as it is about securing India’s standing in the world.
• If it rejects U.S. pressure, it risks sanctions as well as incurring the displeasure of its all-powerful friend and defence partner.
• If it yields, it risks its relationship with traditional partner Iran, access to important trade routes through Chabahar and the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC), as well as its international reputation.

What is the Iran Nuclear Deal?

• In July 2015, Iran and six countries (United States, Russia, France, UK, China, and Germany) & the EU, reached a historic agreement called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), popularly known as the Iran nuclear deal.
• As part of the deal, Iran agreed to reduce its number of nuclear centrifuges by two-thirds.
• Iran also agreed to reduce its stockpile of enriched uranium by 98% and limit uranium enrichment to 3.67%, i.e., it will have enough enriched uranium to maintain the country's energy needs, without having the ability to build a nuclear bomb.
• The deal aimed to restrict Iran's ability to develop nuclear weapons in exchange for lifting economic sanctions against Iran.
• The JCPOA ensured the comprehensive lifting of all UN Security Council sanctions as well as multilateral and national sanctions related to Iran’s nuclear programme.
• Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) were given access to Iran’s nuclear facilities for inspection on a regular basis.

Spend 4% of GDP on Defense: Trump

The leaders of 29 NATO member countries and many partner nations met in Brussels (Belgium) for the annual NATO summit. The theme for this year’s summit was to strengthen NATO’s deterrence and defense, step up the fight against terrorism, and achieve a fairer burden-sharing mechanism.

Key Highlights

• The summit was held against a backdrop of deepening transatlantic tensions in fields ranging from trade to energy and defense.
• The United States (US) demanded that members double their defence spending commitments.
• At the 2014 summit, NATO allies had agreed to spend 2% of their GDP on defence. However, the US suggested that countries not only meet their commitment of 2% expenditure on defence but also increase it to 4% immediately.
• At the end of the summit, all 29 NATO members backed a joint statement committing themselves to greater ‘burden sharing’ and to the alliance’s founding commitment that an attack on one member is an attack on them all.

North Atlantic Treaty Organisation

• The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 29 North American and European countries.
• The alliance is based on the North Atlantic Treaty that was signed on April 4, 1949.
• It constitutes a system of collective defence whereby its independent member states agree to mutual defence in response to an attack by any external party.
• NATO Headquarters is located in Brussels, Belgium, while the headquarters of Allied Command Operations is near Mons, Belgium.

US to hold Talks with India, Others at WTO over Tariffs

On July 20, 2018, the US will engage in consultations with India and other countries at the World Trade Organization (WTO) over its unilateral increase in steel and aluminum tariffs that has set off a global trade war.

Background

• India had dragged the US to the WTO over the 25% steel tariff and 10% aluminum tariff imposed by it on grounds of national security.
• India in retaliation targeted 29 US products worth $10.6 billion, including almonds, apples and phosphoric acid.
• The US has argued that the tariffs are issues of national security that are not susceptible to review or capable of resolution by WTO dispute settlement, and that the consultations provision in the agreement on safeguards is not applicable.

NOTE: Every member of the WTO retains the authority to determine for itself those matters that it considers necessary for the protection of its essential security interests.

• However, India and other countries and the EU have argued that the tariff hikes by the US need to be treated as safeguard duties that give them the right to retaliate.
• The other countries that have raised the issue at the WTO include China, European Union, Canada, Switzerland, Russia, Norway and Mexico.

India-US Trade Dispute

• The United States has regularly accused India of enjoying a trade surplus by prohibiting US exports through higher tariffs -the latest salvo being the tariffs on Harley-Davidson motorcycles.
• The US has challenged almost all of India’s export subsidies at WTO. It is also reviewing the generalized system of preferences programme, under which India exports goods worth $5.6 billion to the US at preferential rates.
• Earlier, US had dragged India to the WTO over its ban on US poultry imports and its subsidy programme for domestic solar panel manufacturers while India has taken the US to the WTO over allegations of trade-restrictive measures.

WTO Dispute Settlement Body

• Resolving trade disputes is one of the core activities of the WTO.
• A dispute arises when a member government believes another member government is violating an agreement or a commitment that it has made in the WTO.
• The General Council convenes as the Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) to deal with disputes between WTO members.
• The DSB has authority to establish dispute settlement panels, refer matters to arbitration, adopt panel, Appellate Body and arbitration reports, maintain surveillance over the implementation of recommendations and rulings contained in such reports, and authorize suspension of concessions in the event of non-compliance with those recommendations and rulings.

India’s Genetically Modified Crop Area Fifth largest in the World

The International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications’(ISAAA) latest ‘Global Status of Commercialized Biotech/GM Crops in 2017’ report shows farmers across the world to have planted 189.8 million hectares (mh) under transgenic crops.

• The report has estimated the highest share in the world’s total crop area for 2017 to be of soyabean, followed by maize, cotton, canola, alfalfa and sugar-beet.
• The GM traits in these crops included both insect-resistance and tolerance for application of herbicide.

India

• India has the world’s fifth largest cultivated area under genetically modified crops, at 11.4 mh in 2017.
• Unlike other big growers, its entire GM crop area is under a single crop – cotton – incorporating genes from the Bacillus thuringiensis or BT soil bacterium to resist Heliothis bollworm insect pests.
• In India, the GM crops under regulatory consideration – apart from the already commercialized BT Cotton – include glyphosate tolerant cotton and hybrid mustard.
• Though both have undergone all the mandated bio-safety research and open field trials, their commercial release has been delayed due to opposition from environmental activists.

Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee

• The Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) functions in the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC).
• It is responsible for the appraisal of activities involving large-scale use of hazardous microorganisms and recombinants in research and industrial production from the environmental angle.
• The committee is also responsible for the appraisal of proposals relating to the release of genetically engineered (GE) organisms and products into the environment including experimental field trials.
• GEAC is chaired by the Special Secretary/Additional Secretary of MoEF&CC and co-chaired by a representative from the Department of Biotechnology (DBT).

Government Approves Net Neutrality in India

The Government of India has approved the principles of net neutrality in India. The decision will ensure that netizens continue to have free and fair access to the internet. The Telecom Commission had approved the recommendations of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).

Key Highlights

• The recommendations (net neutrality rules) bars service providers from discriminating against Internet content and services by blocking, throttling or granting them higher speed access.
• Telecom and Internet service providers must treat all data on the Internet equally, and not discriminate or charge differently by user, content, site, platform, or application.
• They cannot engage in practices such as blocking, slowing down or granting preferential speeds to any content.
• However, some mission-critical applications or services like remote surgery and autonomous cars will, however, be kept out of the purview of net neutrality framework.

Telecom Commission

• The Telecom Commission was set up with administrative and financial powers of the Government of India to deal with various aspects of Telecommunications.
• It consists of a Chairman, four full-time members, and four part-time members.
• The Secretary in the Department of Telecommunications is the ex-officio Chairman of the Telecom Commission.

The Telecom Commission is responsible for:

1. Formulating the policy of the Department of Telecommunications for approval of the Government
2. Preparing the budget for the Department of Telecommunications for each financial year and getting it approved by the Government
3. Implementation of Government's policy in all matters concerning telecommunication.

Background

• In December 2015, social media giant, Facebook launched ‘Free Basics’ (earlier known as internet.org) while Indian telecom giant Airtel launched ‘Airtel Zero’.
• Both ‘Free Basics’ and ‘Airtel Zero’ let users access certain apps and websites for free (they were just charged for the data used). However, both the companies decided to charge or subsidize other companies that wanted to be a part of the ‘Free Basics’ or ‘Airtel Zero’ program.
• Facebook and Airtel’s arguments were that they were trying to make the internet more accessible to people, especially the ones that could not afford high data charges.
• In 2016, TRAI banned both the projects as it went against the very principles of net neutrality since the companies could inevitably favor some content over the others.

What is Net Neutrality?

• The Oxford dictionary defines net neutrality as ‘the principle that Internet service providers should enable access to all content and applications regardless of the source, and without favoring or blocking particular products or websites.
• This means when a customer pays an internet service provider or ISP for a data plan, he/she should be able to access all content online – news, social media, videos, games etc – at the same broadband speed which he had opted for.

Breathe India

Recently the NITI Aayog proposed a 15-point action plan titled “Breathe India” for combating air pollution in ten most polluted cities in the country, including Delhi, Kanpur and Varanasi.

• According to a recent WHO database (2018), Kanpur, Faridabad, Gaya, Varanasi, Agra, Gurgaon, Muzaffarpur, Lucknow, Delhi and Patna are the top ten most polluted cities in India.
• Major Suggestions:

• Electrify last mile connectivity by 2022, including public transport, taxis and three-wheelers.
• Prohibit transition traffic in these cities.
• Phase out private diesel vehicles by 2022.  
• Survey and analyse power plants around the most polluted cities to prioritise their decommissioning in the next five years.
• Revamp the regulatory framework around industrial air pollution.
• Implement a National Emissions Trading System based on the concept of ‘polluters pay’.
• Establish smog-free towers at all major construction sites by 2019.
• Incentivise procurement and utilization of crop residue.
• Implement a policy on landfill taxes and incentivize waste processing over landfilling by 2019.
• Mandate compulsory mechanized dust removal in the most polluted cities by 2019.
• Integrate Efforts to Tackle Forest Fires.
• Implement a policy on mandatory use of cleaner forms of cooking to reduce indoor air pollution.
• Develop stakeholder-specific awareness campaigns in these cities to ensure that all participants are aware of the impacts of air pollution and the repercussions of engaging in pollution-causing activities.
• Define city-level plans with clear timelines and emission targets across various sources of pollution (construction, vehicular, indoor) by the end of 2018.
• Establish accurate and comprehensive air quality monitoring systems in the worst affected cities by 2019.
• It has suggested the policy towards air pollution adopted in many European countries, i.e. implementation of a large-scale feebate programme from 2020 onwards. (Feebate is a policy by which inefficient or polluting vehicles incur a surcharge (fee), while efficient ones receive a rebate (bate)).

Important Facts for Prelims (July 12, 2018)

India Emerges as World's 6^th Largest Economy

According to an analysis done by the World Bank, India surpassed France to become 6^th largest economy of the world in terms of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Earlier in 2014, India displaced Japan to become the world’s third biggest economy in terms of purchasing power parity (PPP).

Purchasing Power Parity

The rate at which the currency of one country would have to be converted into that of another country to buy the same amount of goods and services in each country.

Nilgiri Tahr Threatened Due to Climate Change

A new study has predicted that most of the existing habitats of the Nilgiri Tahr in the Western Ghats will become unsuitable because of global warming.

Nilgiri Tahr

• Nilgiri tahrs are stocky goats with short, coarse fur and a bristly mane. Males are larger than the females, and have a darker colour when mature.
• Adult males develop a light grey area or “saddle” on their backs and are hence called “saddlebacks”.
• The distribution of Nilgiri tahr is limited to the Western Ghats and that too in the states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu only. They are more or less confined to altitudes of 1,200 to 2,600 meters.
• IUCN Status: Endangered
• Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 : Schedule 1 (absolute protection and offences under these are prescribed the highest penalties)
• The study predicted a maximum habitat loss of 61.2 percent, 61.4 per cent and 63 per cent for 2030, 2050 and 2080 respectively if there is no fall in level of emissions.
• The reasons for decline in Tahr populations are hunting, conflict with livestock grazing and habitat loss over the years.
• This is the first time that a study has looked into the likely effect of climate change on the Nilgiri Tahr.

Anayootu

The ‘Anayootu’ (feeding of elephants) ritual is held annually at the Sree Vadakkunnatha temple, Thrissur, Kerala. The rituals are meant for propitiating Lord Ganesha, and will start with Ashta Dravya Mahaganapathy homam.

Sree Vadakkunnatha Temple

• An ancient Hindu temple dedicated to Shiva.
• It has monumental towers on all four sides and also has a Kuttambalam (theatre hall).
• It has mural paintings depicting various episodes from Mahabharata
• It has been declared as a National Monument under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958.