LS passes Bills to replace British-era criminal laws (GS Paper 2, Governance)
Why in news?
- The Lok Sabha passed three amended Bills that seek to repeal and replace criminal laws which date back to colonial times.
- This criminal law reform brings terrorism offences into a general crime law for the first time, drops the crime of sedition, and makes mob lynching punishable by death.
Details:
- The Bharatiya Nyaya (Second) Sanhita Bill (BNSS) will replace the Indian Penal Code, 1860; the Bharatiya Sakshya (Second) Bill (BSS) will replace the Indian Evidence Act, 1872; and the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha (Second) Sanhita Bill (BNSSS) will replace the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898.
- All three were discussed and passed with a voice-vote, in the absence of the majority of Opposition members from INDIA bloc parties, as 97 of them have been suspended during this session.
Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha (Second) Sanhita, 2023:
- CrPC had 484 sections, now the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha (Second) Sanhita, 2023 will have 531 sections; 177 sections have been changed; 9 new sections and 39 sub-sections have been included; 44 new explanations have been added; timelines have been added in 35 sections; and 14 sections have been repealed.
Bharatiya Nyaya (Second) Sanhita:
- The IPC had 511 sections, and the Bharatiya Nyaya (Second) Sanhita will have 358 sections; 31 new offences have been included in the purview of the new law; the imprisonment period has been increased for 41 offences; penalty has been hiked in 82 offences; compulsory minimum punishment has been introduced in 25 offences; community service has been added as a penalty for 6 offences; and 19 sections have been repealed.
Bharatiya Sakshya (Second) Bill, 2023:
- The Bharatiya Sakshya (Second) Bill, 2023 has 170 sections as compared to 167 sections in the Indian Evidence Act; 24 sections have been changed; two new sections have been added; and six sections have been repealed.
Lok Sabha passes Telecom Bill 2023 to replace 138-year-old Telegraph Act
(GS Paper 2, Governance)
Why in news?
- The Lok Sabha recently passed the omnibus Telecom Bill, 2023, which will replace existing laws, including the 138-year-old Indian Telegraph Act.
- The bill seeks to supersede the existing regulatory framework for the telecommunication sector, based on the Indian Telegraph Act, of 1885, the Wireless Telegraphy Act (1933), and the Telegraph Wires (Unlawful Possession) Act (1950).
Details:
- The Bill seeks to reform and simplify the regulatory and licensing regime for telecommunications and remove bottlenecks in creating telecom infrastructure.
- It also allows the government to temporarily take control of telecom services in the interest of national security and provide a non-auction route for the allocation of satellite spectrum.
Key Highlights:
- The Telecom Bill, 2023 provides a mechanism to exercise the right of way for laying telecom infrastructure in public as well as private property.
- The Central government may provide for measures to protect users such as requiring prior consent to receive specified messages, and creation of a do not disturb register.
- Authorisation will be also be required from the Central government to establish and operate telecommunications networks, provide telecommunications services or possess radio equipment.
- Spectrum will be allocated through auction, except for specified entities and purposes for which it will be assigned administratively.
- Telecommunication may be intercepted on specified grounds, including security of the state, public order, or prevention of offences. Telecom services may be suspended on similar grounds.
- On the occurrence of any public emergency, including disaster management, or in the interest of public safety, the Central government or a State government or any officer specially authorised in this behalf by the Central government or a State government, if satisfied that it is necessary or expedient so to do, by notification, take temporary possession of any telecommunication service or telecommunication network from an authorised entity.
Other features:
- It has paved the way for the allocation of satellite spectrum, as opposed to the auction.
- The central government will be empowered to establish rules for the protection and assurance of cybersecurity in telecommunication networks and services.
- The new version of the bill includes a provision mandating biometric identification by telecom companies (telcos) before issuing SIM cards to consumers.
Way Forward:
- When it gets enacted into law, it will bring sweeping regulatory changes, such as an authorisation regime, clarity on the assignment of satellite spectrum and so on.
Bihar, Reduced human activity, including mining bans, helped increase tiger numbers in Valmiki reserve
(GS Paper 3, Environment)
Why in news?
- Authorities in Bihar’s Valmiki Tiger Reserve (VTR) have credited the rise in the protected area (PA)’s big cat numbers to a reduction in human activities, including restrictions on illegal mining in its eco-sensitive zone.
Key Highlights:
- A total ban on sand and stone mining inside VTR, and strict restrictions on mining in its eco-sensitive zone, helped increase grassland cover.
- This, in turn, caused tiger numbers in the PA to rise to 54 earlier this year, up from 31 in 2018. In 2014, there were only 28 tigers in VTR.
- Herbivores depend on grasslands. An increase in grassland cover thus helps in supporting the prey population, in turn increasing the chances of the carnivores’ survival.
- More than half a dozen Himalayan rivers flow through VTR, and the sand mafia harvest sand from them in gross violation of the ban on mining in the eco-sensitive zone.
VTR’s tiger population:
- The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) had officially announced the increase in VTR’s tiger population in July.
- The reserve has witnessed a 75 per cent increase in tiger count that was praised by NTCA. The organisation placed the reserve in the ‘Very Good’ category.
- VTR is spread over 899 square kilometres (89,900 ha) in the Valmiki Wildlife Sanctuary. It is located in Bihar’s West Champaran district, bordering Nepal to its north and Uttar Pradesh to its west.
Second tiger reserve in Bihar:
- Bihar is working for a second tiger reserve in Kaimur district by 2024.
- The state government is waiting to obtain NTCA approval for declaring Kaimur Wildlife Sanctuary as the state’s second tiger reserve after VTR.
