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Terming as “historic” the August 2019 changes made to the constitutional provision that had given special status to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, the Centre told the Supreme Court that they have “brought unprecedented development, progress, security and stability to the region, which was often missing during the old Article 370 regime” and that this is “testament to the fact that Parliamentary wisdom” was “exercised prudently”.
In a fresh affidavit filed before the court, which is due to take up petitions challenging the 2019 changes and the reconstitution of the state into the Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh, the Centre said that “since 2019, the entire region has witnessed an unprecedented era of peace, progress and prosperity. It is submitted that, life has returned to normalcy in the region after over three decades of turmoil”.
The flow of benefits resulting from the decision dated 5th/6th August, 2019 has started showing its impact on the common man of the region who is now getting accustomed to peace, prosperity and stability with substantial income.
For the first time, after independence, the residents of the region are enjoying the same rights which the residents of other parts of the country are enjoying.
This has resulted into bringing the people of the region into the mainstream and thereby inevitably frustrating the sinister design of secessionist and anti-national forces.
Concern over minors booked under POCSO, Law panel not for lowering consent age (Page no. 3)
(GS Paper 2, Governance)
While the Supreme Court and several High Courts have underlined concerns over criminalisation of adolescent sex, the 22nd Law Commission of India is not in favour of lowering the age of consent for minors.
The Commission is set to release its report on the minimum age of consent under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. Under the 2012 legislation, the minimum age of consent is 18.
Sources indicated that the Commission is likely to recommend awareness measures on adolescent health care including making sex education mandatory and teaching the basics of consent under the POCSO Act in schools.
In December 2022, Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud asked lawmakers to look into “growing concern” over criminalisation under the POCSO Act of adolescents who engage in consensual sexual activity.
In his keynote address at the National Annual Stakeholders Consultation on Child Protection, CJI Chandrachud said, “As you are no doubt aware, the POCSO Act symbolises all sexual activity for those under the age of 18, regardless of whether consent is factually present between the two minors in a particular case. In my time as a judge, I have observed that this category of cases poses difficult questions for judges across the spectrum.”
Foxconn pulls out of 19.5 billion chip plan with Vedanta, Govt asks it to set up independent unit (Page no. 3)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
The centre has reached out to Taiwanese contract manufacturer Foxconn to set up a semiconductor fabrication facility independently in India after the company announced that it was pulling out of its joint venture with Vedanta to set up a $19.5 billion chip manufacturing plant in the country.
In what is being seen as a setback to India’s chip-making ambitions, Foxconn on Monday said that it will not move forward on the joint venture with Vedanta, marking a clear fall-out between the two partners. India has identified chip-making as a key priority for future economic growth, hoping to capitalise on companies looking to diversify their operations from China.
Foxconn is working to remove the Foxconn name from what now is a fully-owned entity of Vedanta. Foxconn has no connection to the entity and efforts to keep its original name will cause confusion for future stakeholders.
Vedanta and Foxconn had signed a memorandum of understanding with the Gujarat government to set up separate chip and display manufacturing plants in the state for an estimated $19.5 billion. The plant had triggered a political firestorm as Gujarat was picked over Maharashtra.
We were aware that the joint venture between Vedanta and Foxconn was not going well, there were some differences and it became clear to us a few months ago that Foxconn wasgoing to pull out of it, the government is in touch with Foxconn and is encouraging it to set up a fab independently.
Govt & Politics
At G20 meet a guiness effort to shine light on Karnataka’s Lambani craft (Page no. 7)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
As part of the third G20 culture working group (CWG) meeting in Hampi, a Guinness world record was created on evening for the largest display of Lambani items.
Over 450 women artisans and cultural practitioners from Lambani — a nomadic community inhabiting Karnataka — came together to create embroidered patches with GI-tagged Sandur Lambani embroidery, creating 1,755 patchwork pieces.
The display titled ‘Threads of Unity’ celebrates the aesthetic expressions and design vocabulary of Lambani embroidery, said officials from the Ministry of Culture.
Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Coal and Mines Pralhad Joshi, who inaugurated the exhibition, said the Lambani patchwork embroidery exemplifies many traditional sustainable practices of India.
The Lambani embroidery is an intricate form of textile embellishment characterised by colourful threads, mirror-work and stitch patterns practised in several villages of Karnataka such as Sandur, Keri Tanda, Mariyammanahalli, Kadirampur, Sitaram Tanda, Bijapur and Kamalapur.
The promotion of this craft will not only preserve a living heritage practice of India but will also support the economic independence of women, officials said, adding that the initiative is congruent with the third priority of the CWG, ‘Promotion of Cultural and Creative Industries and Creative Economy’.
Editorial
Quota, diversity, adversity (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 1, Social Issues)
Last month, the United States Supreme Court barred universities like Harvard from using affirmative action policies in college admissions.
The case, Students for Fair Admissions, Inc v President and Fellows of Harvard College, struck down more than 50 years of affirmative action policies in American higher education.
Elite universities play an outsized role in US politics — 10 of 46 American Presidents have attended Harvard, and five went to Yale. Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) will prove as influential for American society as when, in 2022, the Supreme Court struck down Roe v Wade, withdrawing abortion rights that American women had enjoyed for almost 50 years.
The US Supreme Court first upheld affirmative action in 1978 in Regents of the University of California v Bakke, justifying these policies in the name of “diversity”.
Bakke found that a university’s only justification for affirmative action was that viewpoints from students of diverse racial backgrounds would enhance university life.
Diversity has since spread from classrooms to boardrooms. “Diversity, equity and inclusion” offices are ubiquitous in American corporations.
The diversity justification makes affirmative action under American law starkly different from reservation under the Indian Constitution, which locates reservation firmly within a rights framework.
Diversity is a benefit enjoyed by an employer or a university, whereas reservation is a fundamental right guaranteed to citizens. Bakke rejected the argument that affirmative action is a reparation for historical discrimination.
It also prohibited universities from fixing quotas for different races. By contrast, while the Indian Constitution prohibits discrimination on grounds of race, caste, religion and sex, it also allows the state to pass laws benefitting women, children, socially and educationally backward classes, and Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. It specifically permits reservation, including quotas.
Ideas Page
UCC lessons from Goa (Page no. 11)
(GS Paper 2, Governance)
At a time when there is a clamour from the portals of power for a legislated Uniform Civil Code, it is only befitting that eyes must turn to Goa and the lived experiences of its family laws, which are projected as a uniform civil code — which it is, to an extent.
The Goa family laws more or less comprise the portion of the Portuguese Civil Code, as amended upto 1936, (the uniform portion) that directly relates to the family laws, Code of Customs and Usages of Gentile Hindus, and the Goa Succession, Special Notaries and Inventory Proceedings Act, 2012, enacted in 2016.
The announcement that the Uniform Civil Code is around the corner, otherwise accompanied by the drum beats of uniformity across religions (to be read as out with polygamy for Muslims), also carries the additional, lighter beat of “equality” for men and women more recently.
Firstly, does the uniform portion of the family law have any discriminatory provisions? The management of the matrimonial property is the prerogative of the male spouse whether the couple hold the property together as a unit, or even if the couple have decided to hold the properties separately.
Similarly, the husband can dispose of moveable properties of the couple, without the consent of his wife, if they are not gratuitous contracts. Provisions such as these are uniform in discrimination across all religious communities.
World
In a first, Germany sends troops to Australia as Berlin shifts focus to Indo-Pacific (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
Germany will, for the first time, send troops to Australia as part of joint drills with some 30,000 service members from 12 other nations, underlining Berlin’s increased focus on the Indo-Pacific amid rising tensions with China in the region.
In recent years, Germany has had a greater military presence in the Indo-Pacific, even as this means walking a tightrope between its security and economic interests.
“It is a region of extremely high importance for us in Germany as well as for the European Union due to the economic interdependencies”, Army Chief Alfons Mais told Reuters in an interview published on Monday, hours before the first German troops were to leave for Australia.
China is Berlin’s most important trading partner, and 40% of Europe’s foreign trade flows through the South China Sea, a waterway that is a focal point for territorial disputes in the Indo-Pacific.
In 2021, a German warship sailed into the South China Sea for the first time in almost 20 years. Last year, Berlin sent 13 military aircraft to joint exercises in Australia, the air force’s largest peacetime deployment.
Mais said up to 240 German soldiers, among them 170 paratroopers and 40 marines, will take part in the Talisman Sabre exercise from July 22 to August 4, the largest drills between Australia and the U.S., held bi-annually.
Explained
Challenge to J&K changes (Page no. 13)
(GS Paper 2, Governance)
The Supreme Court on Tuesday (July 11) said it will begin hearing petitions challenging the changes to Article 370 and downgrading of Jammu & Kashmir state into two Union Territories on August 2, and will then proceed on a day-to-day basis.
The Centre told the SC in its afidavit that they have “brought unprecedented development, progress, security and stability to the region, which was often missing during the old Article 370 regime” and that this is “testament to the fact that Parliamentary wisdom…” was “exercised prudently”.
Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud said that the affidavit on the present status of Jammu and Kashmir would not have any bearing on the constitutional issues raised in the petitions “and shall not be relied upon for that purpose”.
The petitions, involving important legal and constitutional questions, will be taken up by a Bench led by CJI Chandrachud, also comprising Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Sanjiv Khanna, B R Gavai, and Surya Kant.
Governor’s Rule was imposed in J&K on June 19, 2018, after the BJP withdrew support to the coalition government led by Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti.
Under Article 92 of the J&K Constitution, six months of Governor’s Rule was mandatory before the state could be put under President’s Rule.
The Legislative Assembly was dissolved on November 21 and, on December 12, before the end of six months, President’s rule was imposed on J&K. President’s Rule was subsequently approved by both Houses of the Parliament.
China view on SCO summit (Page no. 13)
(GS Paper 2, International Organisation)
While the membership of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) is growing — with Iran being the newest entrant at the just-concluded 23rd leaders’ summit in New Delhi — debate is also heating up over the role of India in the China-dominated grouping.
India’s association with the SCO began in 2005 as an Observer country, and it became a full Member State at the Astana Summit in 2017.
Interestingly, in China, despite the government eventually “allowing” India’s accession, the strategic affairs community was opposed to the membership, comparing India’s role and presence within the grouping to that of Turkey in North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
Now, foreign policy analysts in China have welcomed Iran’s entry, saying it can “prevent India from completely destroying the SCO.”
In a popular Left-leaning social media platform, a blog by Xusheng (Empty Voice) “accused” India of spreading disharmony within the SCO, as being the host and only member country to openly oppose the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and unwilling to support the initiative to set up an SCO Development Bank.
Commenting on the “troublemaker” role of India at the conclusion of the SCO virtual summit in New Delhi, Pan Guang, a well-known Chinese scholar in Shanghai, wrote in an article in the popular Chinese-language digital news platform guancha.cn on July 6: “Many scholars, including me, and former ambassadors and diplomats, opposed India’s entry into the SCO. But the government in Beijing made the decision.”
Economy
Inflows into small cap funds at record high of ₹5471.75 cr in June (Page no. 15)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
Inflows into small cap equity mutual funds touched record high of Rs 5,471.75 crore in June due to higher traction in the segment amid rally in the stock market, according to the data released by the Association of Mutual Fund (AMFI).
In May, total inflows into small cap funds stood at Rs 3,282.5 crore. In June, net inflows into equity mutual fund schemes stood at Rs 8,637.49 crore compared to inflows of Rs 3,240.3 crore in May. Within equity schemes, there were outflows of Rs 2,049.61 crore from large cap funds and Rs 1,018.31 from focussed funds.
Essentially there is a rotation of stocks happening. People are withdrawing money from large cap funds and trying to put it back in the small cap fund because they find that there is a potential to make more gains in the small cap funds,” said N S Venkatesh, Chief Executive Officer (CEO). In June, the BSE Sensex rose by almost 4 per cent.
Recently, due to higher-than-usual inflows into small cap funds, Nippon Life India Asset Management, announced that it will not accept lump-sum investments in one of its schemes – Nippon India Small Cap Fund (NISF).
Debt mutual funds saw outflows of Rs 14,135.52 crore in June compared to inflows of Rs 45,959.03 crore in the previous month. The outflows from liquid funds were Rs 28,545.45 crore. Ultra short duration fund witnessed outflows of Rs 1,886.57 in June.