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A day after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was convicted by a Surat court and sentenced to two years in jail in a defamation case over his Modi surname remark, the Lok Sabha Secretariat issued a notification, announcing that he is no longer a member of the Lower House.
The Wayanad Lok Sabha seat, which he represented, is now vacant. Gandhi, who was serving his fourth Lok Sabha term, will be barred from contesting elections for eight years unless the conviction is stayed by a higher court.
The Congress called the disqualification an attempt to “silence” his voice and said it would fight the battle legally and politically. The BJP dismissed the charge and said the disqualification was “lawful”.
The Secretariat notification was issued hours after Gandhi made a brief appearance in Lok Sabha. Earlier, he entered the Lok Sabha minutes before 11 am – when the day’s proceedings commenced – and stood near his seat, watching his agitated party colleagues who said he should be allowed to make a statement on the floor of the House, but that did not happen.
Gandhi was convicted Thursday by a Surat court in the defamation case over his Modi surname remark during a public rally in Karnataka in 2019. His two-year jail sentence was suspended for 30 days to allow him to appeal.
Ideas page
Cold war, again (Page no. 13)
(GS Paper 2, International Relations)
At the height of tensions between the US and China over the South China Sea, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi chose the annual Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore in 2018 to unveil his strategy for the Indo-Pacific.
He spoke about freedom of navigation and open sealines, but his emphasis was on inclusivity and ASEAN centrality, which distinguished him from then US president Donald Trump and his Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
Five years later, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida chose India to unveil Japan’s Indo-Pacific strategy. As the regime change in Washington DC did not mitigate tensions in the region, and the conflicts in Eurasia like the Russia-Ukraine war precipitated the divide between the West and the Russia-China alliance, Kishida’s choice of location had a clear message.
Days before Kishida’s Delhi visit, media outlets in Japan indicated that the objective of Tokyo’s Indo-Pacific strategy was to curb China’s influence.
While the ostensible focus of the strategy would be to promote a “free and open Indo-Pacific” (FOIP), a phrase Kishida invoked at least 35 times in his Delhi speech, the initiative is aimed at “curbing China’s growing regional assertiveness.
Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe fathered the phrase Indo-Pacific, first in his 2006 address to the Indian Parliament, saying that the two oceans are “bringing about a dynamic coupling as seas of freedom and prosperity”.
Later, in 2012, he emphasised “peace, stability, and freedom of navigation”. Thus, the concept of FOIP came into vogue. While Abe initially looked at the Indo-Pacific from the prism of regional peace and prosperity, developments in the South China Sea led to the concept acquiring a greater security dimension in the last few years.
Express network
‘Mere membership of unlawful outfit is UAPA offence’: SC reverses past orders (Page no. 14)
(GS Paper 3, Internal Security)
The Supreme Court reversed its earlier ruling which said that “mere membership of a banned organisation will not incriminate a person” under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, and Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act, 1987, “unless he resorts to violence or incites people to violence and does an act intended to create disorder or disturbance of public peace by resort to violence”.
A three-judge bench of Justices M R Shah, C T Ravikumar and Sanjay Carol held that the court’s three decisions in 2011 which took this view were “not a good law”.
When an association is declared unlawful by notification issued under Section 3 (of UAPA), a person who is and continues to be a member of such association is liable to be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years, and shall also be liable to fine under Section 10(a)(i) of the UAPA, 1967.
As per Section 10(a)(i), a person cannot be punished merely because he was the member of such unlawful association… The language of Section 10(a)(i) is also very cautiously worded, ‘who is and continues to be a member of such association.
Therefore, on true interpretation, if a person has been a member but does not continue to be a member after declaration, that does not attract mischief of Section 10.
The court was examining three of its judgments delivered in 2011 — State of Kerala vs Raneef; Arup Bhuyan vs Union of India; and Indra Das vs State of Assam.
On February 3, 2011, the court had acquitted suspected ULFA member Arup Bhuyan, who was held guilty by a TADA court on the basis of his alleged confessional statement, and said mere membership of a banned organisation will not make a person a criminal. Similar views were taken by the court in the two other verdicts.
The Centre and Assam had appealed against the ruling in the Arup Bhuyan case, following which a two-judge bench referred the matter to a larger bench in 2014.
50 years of Project Tiger: India considers translocating a few big cats to Cambodia (Page no. 14)
(GS Paper 3, Environment)
In the 50th year of ‘Project Tiger’ in India, the Centre is considering translocating a few big cats to Cambodia, where the species have become extinct in the last decade.
The last tiger spotted on camera trap in Cambodia was in 2007. India, following the success of first-of-its-kind transcontinental translocation of the African Cheetahs last September, signed a memorandum of understanding with Cambodia in November to assist it with “all technical details and knowledge’’ regarding the reintroduction of tiger in the country.
‘Project Tiger’, which began in 1973 at the Corbett national park, completes 50 years on April 1 this year. Tigers have gone locally extinct in Vietnam and Laos as well but officials in the Union environment ministry said the other countries have shown no interest in similar translocations.
Tigers disappeared from the Cambodian landscape due to excessive poaching and loss of habitat, said officials. In late 2017, the Cambodian Prime Minister had announced the country’s plan to reintroduce the big cat.
The translocation of our tigers to Cambodia is under consideration. This has never been done in India before, although we have been translocating tigers within the country as and when it has been required.
For instance, we will be translocating tigers from Corbett (Uttarakhand), which has the largest tiger population in India, to Rajaji National Park in the same state.
If we finally decide on translocating tigers to Cambodia, it will be done based on IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) protocol,’’ said member secretary, National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA).
Explained
Rahul’s disqualification &after (Page no. 15)
(GS Paper 2, Polity and Governance)
Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi’s membership of Parliament has been cancelled following his conviction and sentencing by a local court in Surat.
A notification issued by the Lok Sabha Secretariat on Friday said Rahul “stands disqualified from the membership of Lok Sabha from the date of his conviction i.e. 23 March, 2023 in terms of the provisions of Article 102(1)(e) of the Constitution of India read with Section 8 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951”.
It is part of the procedure. In a note on October 13, 2015, the Election Commission of India had asked state chief secretaries to issue appropriate instructions to the department dealing with prosecutions to ensure that cases of conviction of sitting MPs or MLAs were brought to the notice of the Speaker or Chairman of the House, and to the Chief Electoral Officer of the state, along with the order of conviction within seven days of the order.
Section 8(3) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 states that “a person convicted of any offence and sentenced to imprisonment for not less than two years shall be disqualified from the date of such conviction and shall continue to be disqualified for a further period of six years since his release.
Thus, the disqualification is triggered by the conviction itself, and not by the Lok Sabha notification. The notification is merely a formal notice to Rahul, who was in Lok Sabha before the House was adjourned.
In the case of a disqualified MLA, the notice is issued by the Vidhan Sabha concerned. For example, in the case of Samajwadi Party MLA Azam Khan, the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly Secretariat issued the notice of disqualification in October last year.
The Supreme Court in its ruling in Lok Prahari v Union of India (2018) clarified that a disqualification triggered by a conviction will be reversed if the conviction is stayed by a court.
Once the conviction has been stayed during the pendency of an appeal, the disqualification which operates as a consequence of the conviction cannot take or remain in effect.
Abel Prize (Page no. 15)
(Miscellaneous)
Luis Caffarelli, 74, has won the 2023 Abel Prize “for his seminal contributions to regularity theory for nonlinear partial differential equations including free-boundary problems and the Monge-Ampère equation”, his citation read.
First awarded in 2003, the Abel prize “recognises pioneering scientific achievements in mathematics”. It is named after Norwegian mathematician Niels Henrik Abel (1802-29), who in his short life made pioneering contributions in a multitude of fields. It is often considered to be an equivalent of the Nobel prize – which does not have a category for mathematics – and has been modelled as such.
The prize includes a monetary award of 7.5 million kroner (roughly $ 720,000) and a glass plaque designed by Norwegian artist Henrik Haugan. It is awarded by The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, on behalf of the Ministry of Education.
Caffarelli was born and raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina, making him the first Abel laureate from South America. Currently, he is a professor at the University of Texas, Austin. He is married to fellow Argentinian mathematician Irene Martínez Gamba, who teaches at UT, Austin as well.
Cafarelli has been one of the leading figures in the study of partial differential equations for over five decades. According to his Abel citation, “Partial differential equations arise naturally as laws of nature, whether to describe the flow of water or the growth of populations. These equations have been a constant source of intense study since the days of Newton and Leibniz.”
The Abel citation states that Caffarelli has made “groundbreaking contributions” that have “radically changed our understanding of classes of nonlinear partial differential equations with wide applications.
The results are technically virtuous, covering many different areas of mathematics and its applications.” Notably, he has been recognised for “combining brilliant geometric insight with ingenious analytical tools and methods” in this field of mathematics.
Why transgender female athletes can’t compete in female events (Page no. 15)
(GS Paper 1, Social Issues)
Transgender women have been barred from competing in the female category by World Athletics (WA), the international governing body for track and field, following a vote.
WA has followed the path of FINA, the international swimming federation, which enforced a similar ban in June last year.
Transgender women who have experienced male puberty will not be able to compete in the female competition after March 31 this year. However, the World Athletics Council has set up a working group to conduct research “to further consider the issue of transgender inclusion”.
The former double Olympic gold medalist in the 1,500 metres emphasised on “fair and meaningful” female competition. Decisions are always difficult when they involve conflicting needs and rights between different groups, but we continue to take the view that we must maintain fairness for female athletes above all other considerations.
In its ‘Eligibility Regulations for Transgender Athletes’, WA focuses on the physical advantages men have over women post-puberty.
The substantial sex difference in sports performance that emerges from puberty onwards means that the only way to achieve the objectives set out…is to maintain separate classifications (competition categories) for male and female athletes.
The debate has raged since New Zealand weightlifter Laurel Hubbard competed in the women’s 87-kg class at the Tokyo Olympics, although she had participated in the men’s category earlier.
Economy
Govt extends Ujjwala subsidy for another year (Page no. 19)
(GS Paper 2, Welfare Schemes)
The Union government has extended the cooking gas subsidy for households under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana to the end of 2023-24 to “shield” beneficiaries from high LPG prices.
The Rs 200 subsidy will be provided on a maximum of 12 refills and the total estimated expenditure on this count will be Rs 7,680 crore for 2023-24, the government said in a release after a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, which approved the proposal.
The government had stopped providing cooking gas subsidy since the crash in oil and fuel prices in the initial weeks of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.
However, in May last year, the government announced a subsidy of Rs 200 per cylinder for Ujjwala beneficiaries as part of its efforts to cushion the impact of high energy prices in the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. For 2022-23, government’s outgo for this subsidy is pegged at Rs 6,100 crore.
Under the Ujjwala scheme, beneficiaries pay market price for LPG refills and receive cash subsidy in their bank accounts.
Targeted support to PMUY consumers encourages them for continuous usage of LPG. It is important to ensure sustained LPG adoption and usage among PMUY consumers so that they can completely switch to cleaner cooking fuel.
The Ujjwala scheme was launched in 2016 to encourage poor households, particularly those in rural areas, to shift to LPG from conventional fuels like firewood and cow dung cakes, which are considered hazardous.