Whatsapp 93125-11015 For Details
The expert committee for a Uniform Civil Code in Uttarakhand is all set to submit its report, along with a draft of the proposed law, to the state government by the end of July.
It is learnt that the Union government is expected to use it as a template for drafting its own UCC Bill and ruling party members hope to take it up in the winter session of Parliament.
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice, headed by BJP’s Sushil Kumar Modi, has convened a meeting of the panel on July 3 to hear the views of the Department of Legal Affairs, Legislative Department and the Law Commission of India on the June 14 public notice by the Law Commission on the UCC.
Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai, a former judge of the Supreme Court who heads the five-member Uttarakhand expert committee, told the media: “It gives me immense pleasure to inform you that the drafting of the proposed Uniform Civil Code of Uttarakhand is now complete. The report of the expert committee along with the draft will be printed and submitted to the Government of Uttarakhand.
The draft Uttarakhand Bill, with an underlying theme of gender equality, will have provisions of equal rights for daughters and sons in property inheritance, equal duty of both to parents and equal grounds for adoption and divorce in all communities, cutting across religions. It will also have provisions that will make a declaration mandatory to start and terminate live-in relationships.
Declaration will be mandatory for live-in relationships – to begin and terminate. This is to avoid both men and women getting cheated later.
Similarly, there were widespread demands for equal rights to both daughters and sons in inheriting properties as well as in children’s duties towards the parents.
Express Network
Another wasted opportunity: India criticises delay in UNSC reforms (Page no. 11)
(GS Paper 2, International Organisation)
As the UN General Assembly decided to roll over the Inter-Governmental Negotiations (IGN) on Security Council reform to its next session, India has termed it as “yet another wasted opportunity” and said the process could well go on for another 75 years without achieving genuine progress.
The UN General Assembly adopted a draft oral decision to continue the intergovernmental negotiations on Security Council reform at the 78th session of the UN General Assembly that will commence in September. The rollover decision marked the end of the IGN for the current 77th session.
India’s Permanent Representative at the UN Ambassador Ruchira Kamboj underscored that the roll-over decision of the IGN simply cannot be reduced to a mindless technical exercise.
We see this technical rollover decision as yet another wasted opportunity to instil a breath of life into a process that has shown no signs of life or growth in over four decades,” Kamboj said, adding that India joined the consensus in the adoption of the draft presented, simply to acknowledge the personal efforts of Csaba Korosi, President of the 77th session of the General Assembly.
Kamboj stressed it is now apparent that the IGN could well go on for yet another 75 years without any progress whatsoever in the direction of genuine reform in its current form and modalities — that is, without application of the GA Rules of Procedure, and without a single negotiating text.
Editorial
Justice not uniformity (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 2, Governance)
The constitutional provision for a uniform civil code (UCC), in view of its inherent intricacies and the widespread misgivings engulfing it, requires abundant caution when its aims, objects, and the ways and means for its implementation are spoken and written about.
Unfortunately, however, it is often read quite superficially and talked about in terms that are irrelevant to its actual logic and rationale. A reality check in this regard is, therefore, a national imperative.
The provision for UCC is there in Article 44 under Part IV of the Constitution formulating a number of Directive Principles of State Policy, which are not enforceable by the courts but are to be “nevertheless fundamental in the governance of the country” (Article 37).
Notably, it speaks of a uniform and not a common civil code — the difference being loud and clear — and directs the State to “endeavour to secure” it, not to enact it at one go.
Reading it with the words of Article 37 — which prompt the State “to apply these principles in making laws” — clearly indicates that the makers of the Constitution wanted uniformity to be gradually effected in the heterogeneous family law system of the country by suitably amending the old laws, and enacting new ones to serve the purpose.
Express Network
1st century BC plaque among 105 antiquities to be returned by US (Page no. 14)
(GS Paper 1, Culture)
A Terracota Yakshi plaque from 1st century BC which was stolen from “eastern India”; a 9th century red sandstone Dancing Ganesha from central India; a 10th century Kubera, also from central India — these are among the 105 antiquities that are set to be returned by the United States to India.
During his state visit to the US last week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced that over 100 stolen antiquities were being returned to India.
These antiquities may have gotten to the international market in different ways — some legal, some illegal. I express my gratitude to the American government for returning these items.
Most of these antiquities are suspected to have been smuggled abroad through jailed antique dealer Subhash Kapoor.
The Indian Express had reported on March 14, following an investigation in collaboration with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and UK-based Finance Uncovered, that the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York had at least 77 antiquities in its catalogue linked to Subhash Kapoor.
The Met said last month that 16 of these antiquities had been returned to India. Some of the 105 antiquities that are set to be returned to India have already been verified by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), which is the custodian of all repatriated artefacts.
A team comprising senior ASI officials will soon be travelling to the US for verification of the remaining objects, The Indian Express has learnt.
World
Oscar-winning 'Little Miss Sunshine' actor Alan Arkin dies at 89 (Page no. 16)
(Miscellaneous)
Alan Arkin, the Oscar-winning Little Miss Sunshine and Argo actor known for his wry wit and improvisation skills, has died at the age of 89, according to his sons. Adam, Matthew and Anthony - who all followed their father into the entertainment industry - said he was "a uniquely talented force of nature, both as an artist and a man."
A loving husband, father, grand and great grandfather, he was adored and will be deeply missed," they said in a statement Friday, without citing a cause of death.
Born in Brooklyn on March 26, 1934 to Russian-German Jewish immigrant parents, Arkin began taking acting classes from a young age.
His family relocated to Los Angeles in the 1950s, and Arkin won scholarships to various Los Angeles drama colleges before dropping out to form a folk music band, The Tarriers, in 1955.
The group had a hit with 1956's The Banana Boat Song and he continued to pursue a music career as well as acting for the next decade.
He was a member of Chicago's storied Second City improvisational troupe, and appeared on the big screen for the first time with The Tarriers in 1957's Calypso Heat Wave.
He made his Broadway debut in From the Second City, which led to a role in acclaimed comedy Enter Laughing, for which he won a Tony Award.
Explained
India’s critical minerals (Page no. 17)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
In a strategic move, the Centre has identified 30 critical minerals, including lithium, cobalt, nickel, graphite, tin and copper, which are essential for the country’s economic development and national security.
The identification of these minerals — which form part of multiple strategic value chains, including clean technologies initiatives such as zero-emission vehicles, wind turbines, solar panels; information and communication technologies, including semiconductors; and advanced manufacturing inputs and materials such as defence applications, permanent magnets, ceramics — was done on the basis of a report on critical minerals prepared by an expert team constituted by the Ministry of Mines last November. The ministry will revisit the list periodically.
While elements such as cobalt, nickel and lithium are required for batteries used in electric vehicles or cellphones, rare earth minerals are critical, in trace amounts, in the semiconductors and high-end electronics manufacturing. Most countries of the world have identified critical minerals as per their national priorities and future requirements.
In India too, some efforts have been made in the past to identify the minerals that are critical for the country, including an initiative in 2011 by the Planning Commission of India (now NITI Aayog) that highlighted the need for the “assured availability of mineral resources for the country’s industrial growth”, with a clear focus on the well-planned exploration and management of already discovered resources.
That report analysed 11 groups of minerals under categories such as metallic, nonmetallic, precious stones and metals, and strategic minerals. From 2017 to 2020, a big thrust was accorded to the study of exploration and development of rare earth elements in the country.
Excessive groundwater extraction has shifted the Earth’s axis (Page no. 17)
(GS Paper 1, Geography)
The excessive extraction of groundwater for drinking and irrigation has shifted the Earth’s axis of rotation, according to a new study. Noting that humans pumped out around 2,150 gigatons of groundwater between 1993 and 2010, the study says that the planet’s axis has drifted at the rate of 4.36 cm per year towards the east.
The study, ‘Drift of Earth’s Pole Confirms Groundwater Depletion as a Significant Contributor to Global Sea Level Rise 1993–2010’, was published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, earlier this month.
It was carried out by Ki-Weon Seo, Taewhan Jeon, Jae-Seung Kim, Kookhyoun Youm of the Seoul National University (South Korea), Dongryeol Ryu of the University of Melbourne (Australia), Jooyoung Eom of the Kyungpook National University (South Korea), Jianli Chen of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (Hong Kong), Clark R Wilson of the University of Texas at Austin (USA).
Although the shift isn’t significant enough to have real-life consequences, the study shows that humans have extracted so much water from the ground that it has impacted the planet’s axis and contributed to global sea level rise.
Earth spins around an imaginary axis which passes through the north pole, its centre of mass and the south pole — just like a top spins around its spindle.
Scientists for years have known that the poles and the axis keep shifting naturally as the mass distribution in and on the planet changes. This phenomenon is known as “polar motion”.
Economy
Merger of HDFC twins to be effective from today (Page no. 19)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
The Boards of mortgage major Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC Ltd) and the country’s largest private sector lender HDFC Bank Friday approved July 1 as the effective date of their merger.
The merger of the HDFC twins was announced in April last year. The Boards of both the companies at their respective meetings held today noted that the merger would be effective from July 1, 2023.
The combined entity with a market capitalisation of Rs 14.37 lakh crore is likely to benefit both the shareholders and customers at a time when the Indian economy is making steady growth.
This is a defining event in our journey and I’m confident that our combined strength will enable us to create a holistic ecosystem of financial services.
We’re truly happy to welcome the talented team of HDFC Ltd into the HDFC Bank family. I believe our journey will be defined by agility, adaptability, and a relentless pursuit of excellence.
The boards of HDFC twins have fixed the ‘Record Date’ for determining the shareholders of HDFC Ltd who would be allotted the shares of HDFC Bank as per the share exchange ratio as July 13.