Whatsapp 93125-11015 For Details
Clearing the decks for a landmark legislation on 33% reservation for women in Lok Sabha and state Assemblies, the Lower House passed the women’s reservation Bill – the Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Eighth Amendment) Bill, 2023 – with near unanimity: 454 votes in favour and two from the AIMIM against it.
Wrapping up a discussion on the Bill, Union Home Minister Shah, assured the Lower House of a “transparent process” to identify seats to be reserved for women.
The empowerment of women is not a political issue, it is a matter of principle” for “my party and my leader Narendra Modi Ji”.
Responding to apprehensions of delay in the Bill’s implementation, Shah urged the House to make a start – “Shri Ganesh toh kijiye” – and said the next government will conduct the census and the delimitation exercise soon after the next Lok Sabha elections and set in motion the process to make reservation for women in Lok Sabha and state Assemblies a reality.
Immunity to legislators on bribery: SC to revisit order (Page no. 1)
(GS Paper 2, Judiciary)
Saying that it is necessary to reconsider “the correctness” of a 1998 5-judge Constitution Bench judgment in the P V Narasimha Rao case — where the majority had held that legislators have immunity against criminal prosecution on bribery charges for any speech or vote in Parliament — the Supreme Court referred the decision to a 7-judge Bench.
A 5-judge Constitution Bench presided by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud said the larger Bench would deal with the question of correctness of the verdict on the interpretation of Articles 105(2) and 194(2) of the Constitution, which extend the privilege to members of Parliament and State Legislatures respectively.
The P V Narasimha Rao case refers to the 1993 JMM bribery case, in which Shibu Soren and some of his party MPs were accused of taking bribes to vote against the no-confidence motion against the then P V Narasimha Rao government.
The Supreme Court had quashed the case against the JMM MPs, citing immunity under Article 105(2).
On Wednesday, the matter came up in another case related to bribery charges against JMM MLA Sita Soren, who was accused of having accepted a bribe to vote for an independent candidate in the 2012 Rajya Sabha elections. A fresh election was held later.
Biden has been invited by Modi as Republic day guest: US envoy (Page no. 1)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
In an indication of the deepening ties between the two countries, US Ambassador Eric Garcetti said that President Joe Biden has been invited by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the Republic Day celebrations in New Delhi on January 26 next year.
During an interaction organised by the Ananta Centre, Garcetti, responding to a question on the Quad leaders being invited to the Republic Day celebrations, said the invitation to Biden was extended by Modi during their bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in New Delhi recently.
Earlier this month, The Indian Express had reported that the government was considering inviting leaders of the Quad grouping for the Republic Day celebrations next year.
A final call, sources had said, would be taken only after ascertaining the availability of the leaders – President Biden, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Japan Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
Govt & Politics
Continuation of reservation is absolutely necessary: Govt to SC (Page no. 7)
(GS Paper 2, Social Justice)
Favouring extension of the period of reservation of seats for Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) in Lok Sabha and state Assemblies, the Centre told the Supreme Court that it will submit more material to strengthen its case.
We want to add more material to strengthen the case of the government that continuation of reservation is absolutely necessary,” Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told a five-judge Constitution bench, which took up the petitions challenging the Constitutional validity of the Constitution 104th (Amendment) Act.
The bench presided by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud and bench also comprising Justices A S Bopanna, M M Sundresh, J B Pardiwala, and Manoj Misra fixed November 21 to hear the matter in detail.
Appearing for the petitioners, senior advocate Arayama Sundaram said the question is whether amendments to Article 334 of the Constitution, extending the period of reservation, are not subject to closer judicial review in view of the limited reservation policy enshrined in the original constitution.
It will also have to be examined whether objective and quantifiable data was present for such extension to save them from manifest arbitrariness and the requirements of Article 14, and whether it violates the basic structure doctrine by taking away judicial review of challenge to delimitation of constituencies or allotment of seats to SCs and STs.
Science awards to be called Rashtriya Vigyan Puraskar (Page no. 7)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Technology)
On the lines of civilian awards, Government of India will now recognise scientists with Rashtriya Vigyan Puruskar under four categories — Vigyan Ratna, Vigyan Shri, Vigyan Yuva–Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar, and Vigyan Team — said Union Minister for Science and Technology Dr Jitendra Singh.
This comes days after the government released the finalised list of Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar awardees that was held back for a year. The highest honour for young scientists retains the name Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar.
Vigyan Ratna will recognise the lifetime achievement of scientists, Vigyan Shri will recognise distinguished contributions to a field, Vigyan Yuva Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar will encourage young scientists who have made exceptional contributions in their field, and Vigyan Team will recognise teams of three or more. The awards will commence in 2024.
In Parliament
India, other Asia – Pacific nations civilizational protectors of human rights says President (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 2, Polity and Constitution)
President Droupadi Murmu said that India and other Asia-Pacific nations were civilisational protectors of human rights who could play a role in attaining a consensus on international issues.
Murmu was speaking after inaugurating the two-day conference organised the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) at Vigyan Bhawan.
The conference of the National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs) was organised in collaboration with the Asia Pacific Forum.
Murmu further mentioned India adopted a universal adult franchise right after gaining independence.
Among other speakers were NHRC chairperson Justice Arun Mishra, Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institution (GANHRI) secretary Amina Bouayach and Asia Pacific Forum of National Human Rights Institutions Chairperson Mr Doo-Hwan Song.
In the keynote address, Mishra spoke of the need for NHRIs of the Asia-Pacific to formulate a joint strategy to solve challenges in areas of climate change, child trafficking, Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) and other crimes in cyberspace, the latest developments in Artificial Intelligence, among others.
Express Network
Diplomatic standoff won’t affect IPACC: Top Army officer (Page no. 11)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
The ongoing diplomatic standoff between India and Canada will not impact the Indo-Pacific Armies Chiefs Conference (IPACC) to be held in Delhi next week which will also see participation from the Canadian Army.
Talking to mediapersons during a curtain raiser to the conference, Major General Abhinaya Rai, who is the Additional Director General, Strategic Planning said the standoff will not impact the multilateral event and Canada being part of IPACC will be an important partner in this journey.
It does not impact us,” he said, adding that India has always continued to engage neighbours diplomatically and militarily even with those it has had a standoff with.
I am referring directly to China here. Our diplomatic and military efforts with Canada will continue to be there and as part of IPACC, they will form an important partner in this journey.
The Canadian deputy Army chief will head the Canadian delegation at the 13th IPACC scheduled from September 25 to 27. Along with IPACC, the 47th Indo Pacific Armies Management Seminar (IPAMS) and the Senior Enlisted Leaders Forum will also be held at the same time.
Editorial
Diaspora, distrust distance (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
Relations between Canada and India are at their lowest ebb. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s statement to Canadian lawmakers alleging that Indian agents killed Khalistani activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar this June has caused relations to plunge to a fresh low. Diplomats have been expelled.
There is little hope of reconciliation which will now require both sides to have a serious, open and layered political dialogue over the role of Canada’s Indian diaspora, their politicisation, and its effects on Canada-India relations.
The current impasse has been precipitated by Nijjar’s murder. Yet, the real culprit is a toxic form of diaspora politics that involves Canadian political parties engaging with and appeasing groups and their jaundiced views of their countries of origin because of their ostensible political value.
Canada-India relations have see-sawed over the last 50 years. During the Cold War, bonhomie developed between Ottawa and New Delhi due to their shared commonwealth status and convergent views on the importance of the United Nations, multilateralism, and advancing global development.
Differences over Cold War crises in Korea, Hungary, and Vietnam strained the relationship. India’s nuclear programme tested ties further.
In the 1980s, Ottawa’s interest in India was rekindled by rising Indian immigration. With limited prospects for trade or security relations, there was no basis for meaningful diplomatic engagement.
Since then, however, much work has gone into reviving the relationship from its nadir in 1998, following Ottawa’s repudiation of India’s nuclear power status.
Investment and trade form the heart of the relationship now, with considerable scope for growth. These issues and the bilateral relationship are held hostage by specific diaspora elements that harbour a deep hatred toward India, abhor its territorial unity and strive to Balkanise it.
Ideas Page
An unclear road ahead (Page no. 13)
(GS Paper 2, International Organisation)
In the G20 New Delhi Leaders’ Declaration, several paragraphs have been devoted to matters relating to renewable energy, climate change, and low carbon growth. In a nutshell, the Declaration states that all efforts will be made to promote low-carbon growth and adopt lifestyles for sustainable development, and conserve biodiversity, forests and oceans.
It also mentions that efforts will be made to implement the Paris Agreement through international cooperation, which would include the transfer of low-cost finance and technology.
The fact that emissions could peak by 2025, as highlighted in the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) is also acknowledged and therefore, the need to go net-zero by 2050 is reiterated.
The oft-quoted figure of committing $100 billion per year is repeated here and the Declaration adds that this figure would probably be reached by 2023 onwards.
In the same breath, however, it is admitted (perhaps for the first time) that the developing countries would need about $5.8 to $5.9 trillion to implement their nationally determined contributions (NDCs).
27 years on, a step closer
(GS Paper 2, Social Justice)
The introduction of the Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Eighth Amendment) Bill, 2023, popularly referred to as the women’s reservation Bill, in the ongoing special session of Parliament by the Modi government, has captured the imagination of the country.
The subject of a gender quota in legislative bodies was extensively discussed during the freedom movement. While framing the Constitution, the women members in the Constituent Assembly did not pursue reservation as a means of ensuring women’s political participation on the grounds that it would limit women’s representation.
In July 1947, Renuka Ray spoke in the Constituent Assembly, “When there is reservation of seats for women, the question of their consideration for general seats, however competent they may be, does not usually arise.
We feel that women will get more chances in the future to come forward and work in free India, if the consideration is of ability alone.”
Unfortunately, the number of women representatives in legislatures remained abysmal even after decades of independence.
After the enactment of the 73rd and 74th constitutional amendments that reserved 33 per cent seats in panchayats and urban local bodies for women, the demand for gender quotas in legislative bodies gained steam.
Economy
Data protection board, major rules likely within a month (Page no. 15)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
The Centre will set up the data protection board (DPB), a key organisation for grievance redressal under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, within the next 30 days, Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar said.
He also said that over the coming month, the government will also issue ‘necessary’ rules that will offer clarity on some of the provisions of the law.
As such some key rules, which are necessary to operationalise the law, will be released within a week, he said. “Around 8-9 key rules will be released, including those dealing with consent mechanisms.
During a meeting with industry executives from top social media companies, lawyers, and industry bodies, Chandrasekhar also clarified that even though the data protection board does not exist as of now, entities that have faced a data breach since the notification of the law in August will be held accountable upon the formation of the board.
The consultation was attended by about 125 people representing various companies, including Meta, Lenovo, Dell, Netflix, among others.
Over 42 % of Indian graduates under 25 unemployed: Report (Page no. 15)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
Even as the overall unemployment rate reduced to 6.6 per cent in 2021-22 from 8.7 per cent in 2017-18, over 42 per cent of India’s graduates under 25 were unemployed in 2021-22, revealed the “State of Working India 2023” report by Azim Premji University’s Centre for Sustainable Employment released.
With regards to women’s participation in the workforce, the report stated that after the coronavirus pandemic, 60 per cent of women were self-employed as compared to 50 per cent before the pandemic.
While this indicates an increase in women’s workforce participation, it was accompanied by a decline in self-employment earnings, which in 2022 were only 85 per cent of what they were in the first quarter of 2019 reflecting the impact of distress induced by the pandemic.
Also, there has been an upward trend in intergenerational mobility, but the trend has been weaker for workers belonging to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes categories as compared to workers belonging to general castes.
ADB lowers India’s GDP estimates to 6.3% for FY 24 (Page no. 15)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Wednesday revised India's growth forecast for FY24 to 6.3 per cent, a change of 10 basis points, attributing it to erratic monsoon patterns that are likely to affect agricultural output.
Meanwhile, India Ratings and Research has increased its FY24 growth estimate for India to 6.2 per cent, up by 30 basis points, citing factors such as sustained government capital expenditure (capex), deleveraged corporate and banking balance sheets, and the likelihood of subdued global commodity prices.
ADB's latest Asian Development Outlook highlighted that strong private consumption and upticks in both public and private investment are expected to support India's economic growth.
The organisation has maintained its growth projection for FY25 at 6.7 per cent, driven by rising private investment and industrial output.
Additionally, ADB revised its inflation projection for India for FY24 to 5.5 per cent, up from the previous 5 per cent. "Food inflation picked up in July due to adverse weather conditions, contributing to a rise in South Asia's overall inflation rate.
If India's agricultural output weakens and the rice export ban remains in place, this could escalate food price inflation in developing Asia.
India Ratings and Research also highlighted challenges facing the Indian economy, such as global headwinds affecting exports and tighter financial conditions that could lead to rising capital costs.
According to the agency's report, meeting the government's FY24 fiscal deficit target of 5.9 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) will be challenging, given that gross tax collection growth has been just 2.8 per cent for the first four months of FY24.
World
President Raisi of Iran urges US to show it wants to return to 2015 nuclear deal (Page no. 19)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi said that his country will never give up its right “to have peaceful nuclear energy” and urged the United States “to demonstrate in a verifiable fashion” that it wants to return to the 2015 nuclear deal.
Addressing the annual high-level meeting of the U.N. General Assembly, Raisi said the American withdrawal from the deal trampled on U.S. commitments and was “an inappropriate response” to Iran’s fulfillment of its commitments.
Then-President Donald Trump unilaterally pulled the U.S. out of the accord in 2018, restoring crippling sanctions. Iran began breaking the terms a year later and formal talks in Vienna to try to restart the deal collapsed in August 2022.
Iran has long denied ever seeking nuclear weapons and continues to insist that its program is entirely for peaceful purposes – points Raisi reiterated Tuesday telling the high-level meeting that “nuclear weapons have no place in the defensive doctrine and the military doctrine” of the country.
At UN, Japan PM tries to get global nuclear disarming bid back on track (Page no. 19)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida vowed night to lead the effort to put the struggling global nuclear disarmament effort back on track, proposing to encourage nuclear weapons states to engage in discussions with non-nuclear weapons states.
Kishida proposed reactivating discussion of the 1993 Fissile Materials Cutoff Treaty, or FMCT, which has never entered negotiations at the United Nations, but its significance remains unchanged.
Earlier Tuesday, he co-hosted FMCT high-level talks with non-nuclear weapons defense partners Australia and the Philippines, in hopes of gaining broad support from the so-called Global South nations for the cause.
Japan will contribute 3 billion yen ($20 million) fund to establish Japan Chairs toward achieving a world without nuclear weapons at overseas research institutions and think tanks.
The aim, Kishida said: to energize the debate that would overcome a polarized choices between deterrence and disarmament.
As a lawmaker representing Hiroshima, the world’s first victim of nuclear attacks, nuclear disarmament is his “life work,” Kishida said. “Japan, as non-permanent member, will cooperate with the U.N. and other involved nations to promote discussion between nuclear and non-nuclear states,” he said.
Armenia separatists in Karbakh surrender enter Azerbaijan truce (Page no. 19)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
Armenian separatist forces in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region of the South Caucasus surrendered and agreed to a ceasefire on, 24 hours after Azerbaijan began an offensive to restore its full control over the territory.
Under the agreement, effective from 09:00 GMT on Wednesday, separatist forces will disband and talks on the future of the region and the ethnic Armenians who live there.
For approximately four decades, territorial disputes and ethnic conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan have severely impacted the Nagorno-Karabakh region.
The two countries went to war over Nagorno-Karabakh in 2020, and months after the war, Russia brokered a truce. But now, with Moscow’s attention diverted by the war in Ukraine, tensions have resurfaced.
For the past nine months, Azerbaijan has imposed a blockade on the only route into the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh from Armenia, known as the Lachin Corridor.
Explained
42nd Amendment that put Socialist secular in preamble (Page no. 20)
(GS Paper 2, Polity and Constitution)
Leader of the Congress in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury has claimed that the words “socialist” and “secular” were missing in the Preamble of the Constitution of India, the copies of which were given to MPs.
These two words were originally not a part of the Preamble. They were added by The Constitution (42nd Amendment) Act, 1976 during the Emergency imposed by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
The description of India as a “secular” country in particular, has been debated intensely over the past four decades; with critics, mostly on the Right, claiming that these “imposed” terms sanction “pseudo-secularism”, “vote-bank politics” and “minority appeasement”.
Every Constitution has a philosophy. The philosophy underlying the Constitution of India was summed up in the Objectives Resolution, which was adopted by the Constituent Assembly on January 22, 1947.
The Preamble of the Constitution puts in words the ideal contained in the Objectives Resolution. It serves as an introduction to the Constitution, and contains its basic principles and goals.
Before quota, delimitation (Page no. 20)
(GS Paper 2, Social Justice)
The Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam — The Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Sixth Amendment) Bill, 2023, which provides for 33% reservation for women in Lok Sabha and state Assemblies — was passed by Lok Sabha on Wednesday, and will likely be cleared by Rajya Sabha as well in Parliament’s ongoing Special Session.
However, it might be several years before the reservation becomes applicable — mainly because it has been made contingent on the delimitation exercise. Home Minister Amit Shah told Lok Sabha that the “delimitation process” to decide which constituency is to be reserved for women will be “transparent”, and will be carried out by a delimitation commission.
The Bill says the provisions of the new law shall come into effect “after an exercise of delimitation” undertaken “after the relevant figures for the first Census” carried out “after the commencement” of this law is “published”.