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Stating that the “creative genre” of satire must be “encouraged and protected”, the Delhi High Court said on Friday that the “right to comment on content created on social media or TV channels also has to be recognised as a facet of the right to free speech and expression”.
Refusing to grant interim relief to TV Today Network in its plea against online news portal Newslaundry, the court said it will “be in the interest of the public that every broadcaster has the right of fair comment on current events and of criticism and review, including of the programmes created by others”.
TV Today Network, which owns news channels like Aaj Tak and India Today, had filed a suit against Newslaundry and its staff for allegedly tarnishing its reputation through its programmes.
It had asked for the allegedly defamatory and commercially disparaging content to be removed from the website. It had also accused the online portal of infringement of copyrighted content.
Senior advocate Saurabh Kirpal, representing Newslaundry, had argued that the online portal was raising the “defence of truth”, and fair criticism, even in harsh words, would not amount to defamatory statements. Satire was the flavour of the portal’s programmes.
Holding that opinions that threaten national security, law and order and are ex facie false, defamatory, derogatory or disparaging in content or presentation are possible exceptions to the right to free expression of opinion, the court said, “Other than that, the ability to express an opinion must be freely available for all who hold an opinion.”
Justice Asha Menon said the comment on the act of reporting itself would be covered under “criticism” or “review” under Sections 52 and 39 of the Copyright Act and would be protected against allegations of infringement.
“But, it would be a question of fact whether the reproduction, which is alleged to be an infringing copy, is protected under Section 39 and/or Section 52 of the Act and is actually in the nature of review and criticism,” said the court.
City
Happiness classes helped reduce number of suicides among school children, says Kejriwal (Page no. 3)
(GS Paper 2, Governance)
The Delhi government’s Happiness Curriculum has reduced the number of suicides in the capital, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal claimed in an address to students and teachers.
Speaking at the closing ceremony of the ‘Happiness Utsav’, organised to mark four years since the introduction of this flagship programme in Delhi government schools, the CM said, “In today’s time, students face immense pressure, especially academic pressure.
Parents also pressure them if their results are not up to the mark. They even compare their performance with other students. This has resulted in suicides at such a young age. Happiness classes changed that…” he said.
He also stated that the programme has helped students deal with peer pressure and problems at home. Students face peer pressure as they are very conscious about what other students and friends think about them.
Sometimes, this peer pressure forces them to commit suicide. Thirdly, there is a lot of family pressure on children.
Many of our students come from families with a lot of problems. I was listening to a girl named Upeksha, a 13-year-old girl from class VIII. Her father is a plumber and her mother is bedridden.
She has four siblings. The entire responsibility of the housework is on her…. Such students face so many issues, and happiness classes help eliminate this stress. We have seen that suicides are committed across the country.
I am thankful to God that such incidents don’t take place in Delhi and a big part of that is because these classes have strengthened the mental balance of the children,” he said.
As part of the ceremony, a meditation session with a teacher from the Brahma Kumaris organisation was conducted.
In Parliament
Govt revives plan for higher education regulatory body, this time in tune with NEP (Page no. 5)
(GS Paper 2, Governance)
Two years after the launch of the National Education Policy 2020, which proposed the setting up of a Higher Education Commission of India (HECI), the Centre is reworking a draft of the Bill that will bring to life the proposed regulatory body for college and university-level education, cutting across disciplines.
Setting up of the proposed HECI is the most significant regulatory reform in higher education that the NEP envisages. On Friday, at an event to celebrate the second anniversary of the policy, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said the policy will lay the foundation for transformative changes in the country.
Sources said while the ultimate objective of the HECI Bill remains bringing the activities of the University Grants Commission, AIl India Council for Technical Education and the National Council for Teacher Education under one roof, it is being changed to incorporate the components of NEP.
The previous draft of the Bill — Higher Education Council of India (Repeal of University Grants Commission Act) Bill’ — was introduced in January, 2018. But it was never finalised, and within two years, the NEP, 2020, was announced.
The previous Bill provided for repealing the UGC Act, 1956, but it would not do much beyond taking over the functions of the UGC.
Simply put, it would not introduce any significant changes in the regulatory framework. The government feels that the draft is too technical and lacks imagination,” a senior government official said.
In his speech at the event, which was also attended by Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, Shah also referred to multidisciplinary education, saying by 2030, the government plans to set up one multidisciplinary higher education institute “in every district or every alternate district in the country.
Need to address energy, food crisis: Jaishankar (Page no. 5)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Friday said he highlighted that the world faces an energy and food crisis due to disruptions from the Covid pandemic and Ukraine conflict and this needs to be “urgently addressed”.
While participating in the SCO Foreign Ministers’ meeting at Tashkent in Uzbekistan, Jaishankar said the response required includes resilient and diversified supply chains as well as reformed multilateralism. He also said that “zero tolerance for terrorism in all its manifestations is a must”.
He also reiterated India’s position on Afghanistan and highlighted India’s humanitarian support that included wheat, medicines, vaccines and clothing.
He also underlined the potential of Chabahar port for SCO’s economic future and spoke of the economic progress in India, stressing the relevance of start-ups and innovation.
Cooperation in traditional medicine is in the common interest of SCO members, he said. He described the meeting of Foreign Ministers as “very useful in preparing for the Samarkand summit” — which is likely to be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in September this year.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov attended the meeting, along with their counterparts from SCO countries.
Jaishankar and Wang attended a regional conference in Uzbekistan on Friday, a day after New Delhi voiced concern over a Chinese military ship’s planned visit to a strategic port in Sri Lanka.
The External Affairs ministry spokesman said the government was monitoring the visit of the Chinese ship, adding that New Delhi would protect its security and economic interests.
Govt. and Politics
Vision of India’s future linked to GIFT City: PM Modi (Page no. 6)
(GS Paper 2, Governance)
The Gujarat International Finance Tech (GIFT) City “celebrates wealth and vision” and is an important gateway to connect to global opportunities, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the launch of the country’s first international bullion exchange.
The vision of the country’s future is connected with GIFT City. It is also connected to the dreams of India’s golden past… GIFT City was an idea ahead of its times,” PM Modi said while addressing a gathering at GIFT City where he laid the foundation stone for “IFSCA Tower”—the 27-storeyed headquarters of the International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA).
He also launched the India International Bullion Exchange (IIBX) and the NSC (National Stock Exchange) IFSC (International Financial Service Centre) and SGX (Singapore Exchange Ltd) Connect platform at the event.
PM Modi also asked IFSCA, the unified regulator, to make GIFT-IFSC competitive with the rest of the world. “I wish that GIFT-IFSC becomes a gateway for global debt and capital for sustainable and climate projects.
Similarly, India needs innovations in aircraft leasing, ship-financing, carbon-trading, digital currency, and investment management. IFSCA should work in this direction.
It should make GIFT-IFSC competitive with regard to regulation and operation cost when compared to even Dubai and Singapore.
It should be your target to become a leader in regulations, set high standards for the rule of law and become an arbitration centre of choice for the world,” he said, adding that GIFT IFSC should emerge as a “global laboratory for the fintech sector.”
Explained
MiG-21:IAF fleet, scheduled phase out by 2025 (Page no. 11)
(GS Paper 3, Defence)
A MiG-21 Bison aircraft of the Indian Air Force (IAF) crashed in Barmer, Rajasthan, , killing the two pilots aboard the trainer version of the fighter aircraft. A look at India’s MiG-21 Bison fleet, the vintage of these aircraft, and the future of their service.
As per information released by the IAF, this was a trainer version of the fighter aircraft with two pilots on board. As is the norm for training missions, there was one senior pilot, Wing Commander M Rana, on board along with a junior pilot, Flight Lieutenant Adivitya Bal.
The typical mission in such sorties is to impart operational training to the junior pilots and also to test their skills in a constant effort to keep their skills and knowledge up to date and to suggest improvements if any.
The reasons behind the crash are still not known and a Court of Inquiry will look into it. In the past, Technical Defects, Human Error (Aircrew) and bird hits have been causes of some of the fighter aircraft accidents in IAF. Spatial disorientation during night sorties too can happen, but IAF pilots are trained to overcome such disorientations.
There have been six MiG-21 Bison crashes in the last two 20 months, with five crashes in 2021 and one in 2022. Five pilots have lost their lives in these crashes. However, this is the first fatal trainer aircraft crash of the MiG-21 Bison in a long time.
There are four squadrons of MiG-21 Bison aircraft currently in service in the IAF with each squadron comprising 16-18 aircraft, including two trainer versions.
Out of these one squadron, Srinagar-based No 51 Squadron, is going to be retired from service or ‘number plated’ in IAF jargon on September 30 this year, leaving three squadrons in service.
Out of these three squadrons, one will be number plated each year and, thus, MiG-21 Bison will be phased out of IAF by 2025. The IAF is looking towards reviving these squadrons back into service with the indigenous Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas.
The MiG-21 Bison is an upgraded version of the MiG-21bis which had been first inducted into service in 1976. The MiG-21 FL, which was an older version of the aircraft and which joined service in the early 1960s, had been phased out of IAF in 2013.
The IAF received the first upgraded MiG-21 Bison, which had a quantum leap of upgrade of avionics, in 2001 and the last of these upgraded fighters was received in 2008.
Editorial Page
Cloudy Days (Page no. 11)
(GS Paper 3, Indian Economy)
Two years after the global economy went through one of the most severe economic downturns in recent history, the economic outlook is once again clouded.
In the July update of its World Economic Outlook, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has slashed its forecast for global growth this year to 3.2 per cent, down from its earlier expectations of 3.6 per cent.
These latest projections imply that world economic growth, after rebounding to 6.1 per cent in 2021, will slow down sharply to 3.2 per cent in 2022.
Equally worrying is the even more severe revision in growth expectations for next year —the Fund now expects growth at 2.9 per cent, down 0.7 percentage points from its April forecast.
In large part, the lowering of growth projections is driven by expectations of a sharp slowdown in developed economies, the US in particular, as central banks tighten policy to fight surging inflation.
Inflation is a global phenomenon —the Fund has upped its forecasts on the back of higher food and energy prices. It now expects inflation at 6.6 per cent in advanced economies and 9.5 per cent in emerging market and developing economies.
The tightening of monetary conditions will impact output. Data released on Thursday showed that the US economy had contracted in the second quarter as spending by business fell, and the pace of consumer expenditure slowed down.
A day prior to that, the US Federal Reserve hiked its policy rate by 75 basis points for the second time, raising the rate to 2.25-2.5 per cent, as inflation hit record highs.
Following the Fed’s decision, the view that the US central bank will ease the pace of rate hikes is gaining traction. However, with the labour market remaining quite tight, there is considerable uncertainty over how much and how quickly the Fed will tighten further.
A recession in the US, differences in the definition notwithstanding, along with a sharp slowdown in China —the Fund has lowered its growth forecast for the country by 1.1 percentage points —will have grave consequences for the world economy.